AN: Alternative title for this chapter: It was YOU all along?!
Megatron was now stood at the front of the meeting room. He had no questions to ask and so the voice came over the speakers; telling them to choose who to kill, if anyone, and who to lock up. Tarn and Overlord were glaring at each other, looking like they were about to start fighting.
"Are you two going to gaze into each other's optics like that all day?" Leozack asked, getting a few giggles at the way he put it.
"He's clearly trying to get at me by killing the others!" Tarn shouted, pointing accusingly at Overlord.
"I've already told you, I would have killed you if I could, not go after your subordinates."
"Then you're an assassin!" Onslaught suggested.
"I can't kill anyone actually, and I would have picked the mechs who I dislike the most to die first if I was the coup leader."
"Then, if you are the coup leader, why is Tarn still alive? Is that to try and direct attention away from you?" Shockwave inquired.
"What is this? An inquisition? Do you want me to admit to something I didn't do?" Overlord remained surprisingly calm, considering all of the mechs who appeared to be out for his energon.
"I am not killing Overlord until I have evidence to suggest he is the coup leader, or an assassin." Megatron told everyone, silencing them all. He then glanced over the nine mechs who were left and chose one he knew hadn't been in solitary.
"Shockwave. You are going to spend the night in the cell." Shockwave agreed and followed Megatron to the cell.
"Do you really think Overlord is the coup leader, Shockwave?"
"He could be. But at this point, so could I. So could Tarn, or Sixshot, or Leozack." Shockwave's answer didn't help Megatron at all.
XxX
Megatron glared at the screen, knowing that he once again didn't know who his investigator was. He picked someone for him to investigate and hoped for the best. The investigator was then woken and told to investigate Leozack.
"I suppose he might be an assassin; Skywarp did say he could be." The investigator pondered. The coup leader was then roused. He decided he was going to kill one poor mech himself and so waited to be told he could visit mechs. He was told as such quite soon afterwards and headed out. Dirge also headed out, to speak to Thundercracker. He wanted to know how he was staying so calm after both of his wing mates had been killed.
XxX
"You are the last mech I would expect to visit me." Leozack said to the mech that had come through his door. Leozack then noticed that the mech had pulled a gun out.
"You're an assassin! Were you the one who killed Deathsaurus? Or was that Skywarp or Scrapper?"
"I didn't kill Deathsaurus…" Leozack then figured it was one of the other two, until the mech spoke again.
"I ordered it." Leozack then felt a powerful shock go through his body and he did the only thing that felt right. Much to the coup leader's annoyance, Leozack screamed in pain, before collapsing on to his front on the ground. The coup leader turned him over, before performing a triple tap and heading back to his room.
XxX
'I kept an optic on Leozack, as ordered. He didn't leave his room, and he received one visitor.' Megatron decided he could ask Leozack who that was when he got back from the cell. Shockwave would probably want to be let out of it by now. He went outside and saw that Leozack was missing. I'll have to ask, but no one is going to own up to visiting him. I wouldn't, knowing he was dead. He went and let Shockwave out of the cell.
"Did Overlord kill anyone, or order someone to kill anyone last night?" Shockwave had apparently decided Overlord was the coup leader during the night in the cell.
"Leozack has been killed; I would assume this makes him an innocent. I haven't checked yet." Megatron told Shockwave. Both of them then went to Leozack's room. They saw that he'd been triple tapped; just like the others. There didn't appear to be any differences. So, Shockwave isn't an assassin. Megatron thought. Megatron read the data-pad from beside Leozack and saw it read 'Leozack was an innocent.' Both of them then went back to the meeting room. Megatron stood at the front, not expecting anyone to answer his query this time.
"Would anyone like to own up to visiting Leozack last night?" Megatron unsurprisingly was met by silence.
"I didn't think so." Megatron then heard the voice over the speakers, telling them to decide if they were going to kill anyone and who to lock up.
"Lock him up! He's the coup leader!" Tarn pointed at Overlord, still apparently angry at all of his Justice Division being killed.
"Where does your logic come from for that?" Overlord asked him, starting to glare.
"Couldn't the coup leader be any of us?" Shockwave suggested. Everyone went silent. Shockwave was right; the mech who was the coup leader would say he was an innocent if queried; just like everyone else had been told to.
"I will take your suggestion Tarn. Overlord, come with me." Megatron told them. Overlord looked annoyed; this was the third time he'd been chosen to be put in jail. He followed Megatron to the cell and sat on the berth.
"I wish Tarn would get over himself… Thinking I killed all of his Justice Division… Why would I do that; I've got nothing against them…?" Megatron had closed the door while Overlord was speaking; so he only heard the first sentence.
"The least you could do is actually listen to what I have to say!" Overlord shouted at the door.
XxX
Megatron pondered who his remaining investigator could be. He picked a target for the investigator, deciding that if they investigated themselves; he'd find out. The investigator was woken up and told to investigate Shockwave. The investigator smirked, before heading out to bug Shockwave's door. After he'd headed back, the coup leader was woken up. He decided he wasn't going to kill anyone tonight. He lay back on his berth, for all intents and purposes going back to recharge. The voice then spoke to all of the mechs; telling them they might be receiving visitors or could visit others. Shockwave was the only mech who decided to head out. After Shockwave had went back to his room and lay on his berth, the voice roused them all again; telling them to head to the meeting room. Megatron looked at his one report; 'I kept an optic on Shockwave, as ordered. He left his room once, and he didn't receive any visitors.' He'd have to ask Shockwave what he was doing last night. He went outside and saw that the only mech that was missing was Overlord. He went to retrieve him from the cell.
"You could have listened to what I had to say yesterday!" Megatron was very tempted to shut the door in Overlord's face for that comment.
"Or, you could come with me, and say what you have to say in front of everyone else." Megatron began to walk back to the meeting room. Overlord followed, a little annoyed that Megatron didn't seem to care what he had to say.
"Funny, no one died last night…" Onslaught pointed out.
"And Overlord was in jail again! He's the coup leader!" Astrotrain glared at him.
"I have a question to ask before you all start shouting at each other!" Megatron shouted at them. The room fell silent.
"Who did you visit last night Shockwave?" The mech's optic widened. He pointed at Tarn, who confirmed it. Megatron looked a little suspicious, but let it slide for now. The voice came over the speakers, asking them to determine if they were going to kill anyone, and who to lock up.
"Kill Overlord! He's the coup leader!" Astrotrain pointed at him.
"What do you have against me? I didn't kill Blitzwing, nor would me not voting to do so have saved him." Astrotrain still glared at Overlord.
"He's right." Thundercracker then earned a glare as well; being accused of being Overlord's one remaining assassin.
"I'll put this to the vote; but you all have to stop arguing!" Megatron's shout again silenced them.
"All who vote to kill Overlord; raise your right arm." Megatron saw Tarn's arm shoot up, which didn't surprise him. It did surprise him that Shockwave, Astrotrain, Onslaught and Sixshot also raised their arms. That was a winning vote.
"And all who vote not to kill Overlord; raise your right arm." Megatron saw Thundercracker raise his, with Overlord raising his arm only a second later. Megatron knew what that meant.
"Overlord, make your way to the front." The mech shrugged; making Megatron ponder if Overlord actually was the coup leader.
"Let me guess, sit with my back to that wall." Overlord received a nod, and did so.
"Any last words?" Megatron asked.
"No; they'll only suspect me of lying if I say I'm innocent anyway." Overlord pointed out. Megatron noticed that Overlord hadn't shut his optics. Megatron fired the stun gun, a little proud that Overlord didn't seem to fear death. Megatron then shot him once, in the spark. He noticed a data-pad had appeared from somewhere. He picked it up and looked shocked at what it said.
"Overlord was an innocent." He read out, prompting shock from the others as well.
"So, who is the coup leader?" Thundercracker pondered; he didn't think it was Overlord, or he didn't want to kill anyone.
"And, more importantly, who do we lock up?" Onslaught asked, glancing around the six remaining mechs.
"You." Megatron pointed out.
"You kind of asked for that." Sixshot sniggered. Onslaught followed his leader out of the room, and towards the cell at the end of the corridor.
"I can't help noticing there is one mech who hasn't been in here at all…" Megatron pondered who it was as he closed the door.
XxX
He couldn't work it out. Who was Onslaught getting at? He put it out of his mind for now, and picked a target for his investigator. Said investigator was roused and, once again, told to keep watch on Shockwave.
"Well, I did catch him sneaking around last night…" The mech went out of his room to, once again, bug Shockwave's room. The coup leader was also roused; he decided who he was going to kill and sent his assassin to do it. He then lay on his berth and waited for the voice to tell him he could visit others or be receiving visitors, so he could go back to recharge. He heard the voice saying just that and he did so. His assassin was told who he was going to kill.
"He seems to be on our side though…" The assassin headed out though. Dirge went out, to speak to Sixshot; see if he knew who the coup leader was.
XxX
"Are you here because you were ordered to be? Because I know for a fact you wouldn't visit me under any other circumstance." Astrotrain asked the mech stood at his door. The mech answered by pulling out his stun gun.
"I… didn't expect you to be an assassin; but that does explain why you decided to visit me." Astrotrain shivered; he didn't want to die!
"I wouldn't worry; none of the other four mechs I killed expected me to be an assassin either." The mech then fired the stun gun, making his quarry drop. He went and performed the triple tap, before heading back to his room.
XxX
The mechs who could reported to the meeting room. Megatron checked his one report. He seemed pleased when it read the same as last time. 'I kept an optic on Shockwave, as ordered. He left his room once, and he didn't receive any visitors.' He decided he could ask Shockwave who he'd visited last night when he'd let Onslaught out of the cell. He looked a little surprised that there were only five mechs waiting outside in the meeting room. Astrotrain. He must have been killed by the assassin. He thought, making a mental note to check on him on the way back. He let Onslaught out of the cell, informing him what had happened to Astrotrain. Both of them checked on him and saw that he'd been triple tapped; just like the others. The data-pad read, as Megatron knew it would, 'Astrotrain was an innocent'. They headed back to the meeting room.
"Who did you visit last night Shockwave?"
"Astrotrain. But when I found him… he'd been triple tapped!" Megatron decided to believe that for now.
"Did anyone else head out last night?"
"Me, and I visited Sixshot." Dirge told them, Sixshot confirmed it.
"How do we know that? You could have visited Astrotrain first." Tarn suggested. Dirge glared at him in response.
"And Shockwave also could be lying about there being another visitor." Shockwave didn't answer that one; but Tarn's suggestion made a lot of sense to the others.
"Yours is the only suggestion that can't be backed up Shockwave." Thundercracker pointed out.
"Care to change what you said?" Onslaught smirked behind his mask.
"Can we put it to the vote?" Sixshot asked. Megatron seemed to like this idea.
"All who vote to kill Shockwave; raise your right arm." Megatron seemed surprised at how quickly the mech's arms went up. The only mechs who didn't were Thundercracker and Shockwave.
"Right, and against?" Megatron asked, not surprised when the two remaining mechs raised their arms.
"The ayes have it I'm afraid Shockwave; make your way to the front." Shockwave did as instructed. He sat with his back to the wall.
"Any last words?" Megatron asked.
"I only wish I could have had a camera for one thing in here." Shockwave told them all cryptically. He fell silent afterwards, leaving all of them pondering what he was getting at. Megatron realised he wasn't going to say anything more and shot him with the stun gun. He quickly followed up with a shot to the spark. A data-pad appeared beside Shockwave. Megatron picked it up, and had a vague idea what he might have been getting at when he'd said that.
"Shockwave was an assassin." Each mech then realised what that meant. One of the five remaining mechs was the coup leader. All but one suspected each of the others.
"Now then, any of you want to volunteer to be locked up?" Megatron asked.
"Sixshot." Onslaught decided to point at him.
"No, I don't!"
"You thought it was funny when I got locked up!"
"Sixshot, follow me." Megatron told him. Sixshot looked reluctant, but did so. Megatron wondered if that meant Sixshot was his investigator. Or the coup leader… A darker thought suggested.
XxX
I still have no idea who this investigator is… Maybe… uh… Didn't Skywarp suggest Onslaught might be an assassin? Megatron chose to investigate him. The investigator shrugged, before bugging the mech's door. Each mech was then woken up by a voice telling them they could go and visit other mechs, if they wanted to. Only one mech did go out; the coup leader, he had a mech to dispatch.
XxX
"Decided to venture out? Are you sure that's wise, since Megatron still has an investigator?" Dirge asked of the mech who was now in his room.
"I'm fully aware of that; but I am the last mech that Megatron would suspect of… this!" The coup leader pulled his stun gun out.
"So, it was you. I need to know. Which of your assassins killed Ramjet and Thrust?" Dirge then felt a powerful shock go through his body and he screamed in pain. The coup leader performed a triple tap and went back to his room; hoping he wouldn't be caught the way Shockwave had.
XxX
Megatron looked at his one report; so his investigator hadn't been killed. He also saw that he had been given a report. A not very helpful one. 'I kept an optic on Onslaught, as ordered. He didn't leave his room, and he didn't receive any visitors.' Megatron had no questions to ask, but he headed out to release Onslaught from jail. He saw there was one mech fewer than he expected. Dirge. Guess that means I'll have to check his room… Megatron headed there first. He wasn't surprised to find Dirge had been killed; he was surprised that he couldn't tell the difference between his means of death and the means of death of every other mech that had been killed. Guess that means that the coup leader killed Leozack; since Shockwave was the remaining assassin. He also found the data-pad, which read 'Dirge was an innocent' as he expected. He went to let Sixshot out of jail. Sixshot must be an innocent; since Dirge died last night and I got a report. Megatron thought as he opened the cell door.
"Did anyone die last night?" Sixshot was informed what happened as they walked back to the meeting room.
"Maybe… Onslaught is the coup leader, since he wasn't in jail last night." What Sixshot had said made sense; thought Megatron. He'd made his way back to the front and had heard the voice tell them to decide if they wanted to kill someone and who to lock up.
"I'm not killing anyone; I'm not having you all argue." Megatron told them; sure he could guess who the coup leader was; but he had the same chance of killing his one remaining investigator.
"So, who should I lock up?"
"Tarn." All three of the others pointed at him.
"Why? You don't honestly think I'm the killer do you? That would mean I ordered the deaths of my Justice Division. I wouldn't do that; they are too important to me."
"You are still being locked up; if just to prove your innocence Tarn." Megatron told him. Tarn followed his leader to the cell.
"I'll let you out in the morning Tarn; if you are innocent you have nothing to fear." Megatron wasn't completely believing his story; if Tarn was the coup leader he would definitely kill the rest of the Justice Division, just to make him look innocent. Megatron went back to the meeting room and he and the remaining three mechs went back to their rooms when told to by the voice. Megatron decided that he could catch Onslaught in the act if Sixshot was right. His investigator planted the bug, and the voice then woke up each of the mechs. No one went out that night; too worried about being caught by the investigator, or not wanting to kill anyone in the case of the coup leader. Megatron read over his report a short while afterwards. 'I kept an optic on Onslaught, as ordered. He didn't leave his room, and he didn't receive any visitors.' Megatron wondered if this meant no one had died, or if Tarn; the jailed mech, was the coup leader. He went outside and saw Thundercracker, Onslaught and Sixshot waiting for him. No one died last night… Didn't that happen the last two times that Tarn was in jail? Megatron had an idea what he was going to do and what the other three were going to suggest. Tarn was let out of jail and they walked back to the meeting room.
"That's the third time you've been in jail…" Sixshot noted idly.
"And the third time that no one has died." Onslaught sounded very smug; like he'd worked everything out. Megatron went back to the front and the voice told them to nominate who they wanted to kill and who to lock up.
"Kill Tarn; once is a coincidence, twice is potentially still a coincidence, three times is a pattern." Onslaught pointed out.
"I'm being framed! Probably by you; since you seem awfully eager to kill me!" Tarn glared at Onslaught.
"You're not fooling anyone Tarn." Thundercracker pointed out, the only mech who hadn't voted to kill anyone so far.
"All who vote to kill Tarn; raise your right arm." Megatron intoned; he agreed with them, three times was definitely a pattern. It didn't surprise him when three arms were raised; Tarn's being the only one which wasn't.
"Tarn, make your way to the front. Sit with your back to that wall." Tarn did as asked. Megatron noted he looked a little nervous.
"Any last words?" Megatron asked. Tarn shook his head; shivering at the prospect of being shot. Megatron fired the stun gun, before firing the other gun directly into Tarn's spark. Everything went black after that.
XxX
Congratulations Megatron! You managed to discover who the Decepticons were that were planning a coup. Megatron grinned; he'd worked it out… except the investigator. But at that point… it had to be Thundercracker. It wasn't Sixshot or Onslaught, so it had to be him by process of elimination. Every mech now had a line of white text appear in front of their optics. Tarn was the Coup Leader.
"What!?" Starscream shrieked in shock.
"No way." Each member of the Justice Division made similar comments to Kaon's and wondered if that meant their leader was willing to kill them in real life.
"I knew it!" Overlord smirked. Another line of white text appeared. Scrapper, Skywarp and Shockwave were the assassins.
"Oh, so that's who the other two assassins were." Deathsaurus shrugged.
"Why'd I have to die first? I would have liked to have played the guess who the assassins are game!" Motormaster grumbled, crossing his arms. This time, three lines of white text appeared one after the other;
Scrapper killed Motormaster and Soundwave.
Skywarp killed Ramjet, Tesarus, Thrust and Vos.
Shockwave killed Starscream, Deathsaurus, Helex, Kaon and Astrotrain.
"Skywarp killed both of them?!" Dirge looked shocked.
"So that's who the other mech Scrapper killed was…" Thrust thought, not really that fussy about it. Another line of text appeared. Tarn killed Leozack and Dirge.
"Oh! So Tarn did actually have a go at killing mechs himself!" Scrapper smirked.
"Hah! None of the Cone-heads survived!" Skywarp crowed. Another line of text appeared. Megatron ordered executions of two innocents, Blitzwing and Overlord.
"Maybe if he'd had my advice, he wouldn't have killed any innocents." Starscream was rather sure of himself.
"So, I wasn't the only innocent Megatron killed? I wonder how they convinced him to kill Overlord…" Blitzwing pondered. A final line of text appeared, to clear up one last thing. Thundercracker, Kaon and Deathsaurus were the investigators.
"Deathsaurus-sama was an investigator?" Leozack's jaw dropped; hoping that he hadn't been spied on by Deathsaurus.
"Kaon was doing his normal job!" Vos laughed.
"Never would have picked Thundercracker to be an investigator…" Ramjet shook his head.
"I never investigated Thundercracker! The one time I did, Kaon was in jail!" Megatron realised with a shocked expression crossing his features. It was at that time that all of the cables disengaged from the backs of the mech's necks; jarring them all out of recharge. They all opened the lids of the pods, climbing out slowly; they were a little stiff from lying still.
"How long did that take?" Megatron pondered.
"Statement: Just shy of two hours." Soundwave informed him.
"You mean we've only been in recharge for two hours? But it said that many nights had passed…" Astrotrain pondered.
"Days are only programmed to last long enough for arguments to be had… and nights last long enough for mechs to wander about and do their assignments." Shockwave informed them.
"I knew it! Days and nights were really short!" Helex smiled; happy he'd worked that much out.
"I want you to clarify your 'last words' Shockwave." Sixshot turned to him.
"What do you mean… oh, you mean what I wanted the camera for?" Sixshot nodded, so Shockwave answered him.
"To capture the look on Starscream's face when he realised I was an assassin!"
"Hey! You would have been shocked too!" Starscream crossed his arms, huffing a bit.
"I'll bet he screamed!" Overlord laughed when Shockwave nodded.
"Anyway, did you find this simulation useful?" Shockwave pointed out before everyone ignored him in favour of ridiculing Starscream; like normal.
"Yes actually; some of you are rather good at lying or acting!" Megatron seemed impressed by the assassins and coup leader.
"One thing that would make it better, though…" Deathsaurus chose to point out.
"What would that be?"
"If any of us could be the leader." All of them agreed on that. Shockwave realised he would have to make that possible for if Megatron decided there should be a next time.
"Now, all of you get back to work; I'm sure you have things to be doing!" Megatron shouted at them all, before heading for the door himself. The revolution wasn't going to plan itself.
AN: And with that, it's over! Yes, the 'I don't like that at all' in chapter 1 was said by Tarn! The first chapter was posted on Friday the 13th and this chapter was posted on Halloween, for anyone reading this in the future. If you would like a follow up where the leader is chosen randomly, please leave a review saying who you would like to be the randomly chosen leader. This is really different from what I normally write, but I really enjoyed writing it! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
