Captain: IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ! I've got some huge news that isn't the best thing for speedy updates of this story. I have been offered a graduate assistantship at a school on the literal other side of the country and it starts January 1. Not only will I be in classes and doing research for my thesis, but I will also be managing a captive whitetail deer herd facility, so my free time is very rapidly about to reduce to zero, especially as I work to make the move, get settled, and then figure out a research proposal in time to start the research this summer. It's the critical next step in moving forward in my career and it's been something I've been trying for for two years, so I am *stoked*. I do hope to have the time to continue writing this story and Firewall, but updates are certainly going to slow dramatically, especially to start. I really appreciate all of you who continue to read and drop reviews, and hope you will hang around with me through the crazy turn life is about to take.
Unfortunately I do not have a projected update date for Firewall at this time, I am still primarily focusing on NaNoWriMo and getting that original novel finished and the next chapter for that fic is a heavy one with a lot going on, so it's going to take some time to get written. With that being said, enjoy the next chapter of NRFTW!
Texas, here I come! (and could there be a more fitting quote?)
"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." ~MLK Jr.
"With all due respect, Prime, this is not working. We are no closer to uncovering Starscream's plans and ending them."
Optimus released a heavy vent as he glanced at his tactician. "I know what you would have me do, old friend, but that is not an order I am yet ready to give. The Wreckers will continue to scout the other locations and maintain radio silence until their scheduled check in. We do not have the numbers for raiding all of them at once and if we take one, they may eradicate all humans they may have at the others."
"There stands a good probability that they have already done so given our destruction of their Cascade base," Prowl reasoned. While he wanted to stave off as much human death as possible, sitting on their hands while the Wreckers scouted out the other areas that held unusual levels of disappearances was helping no one.
Prime tipped his head. "Even so, I will give my orders as if they have not, until we know for certain one way or the other."
Not exactly the answer that Prowl had wanted, but the one he'd suspected he would get anyway. Prime had a soft spark when it came to the humans, he wouldn't make a move if it meant some could die. And yet, not moving was only guaranteeing the same, in the long run. It was just a matter of numbers in the end.
Briefly, the thought flickered across his processor on what the detective would think of all this. Would a human be all for raids? Or would she push to wait, to hold back until they had all the information? As much as Lennox hated it, he sided firmly with the latter. Yet the tactician did not believe the woman would be as willing to sit by.
Now there was a possibility.
"As for the other matter?" he asked, his processor already running through the potential routes to be taken regardless of the answer.
Optimus regarded the other mech for a long moment, wondering what the hidden agenda was in the query. There was always something when it came to such an….unexpected request. Ironhide would no doubt brush it off as the black-and-white finally getting attached, but the Prime knew his tactician better than that. There may have been something, but he held doubt that it was purely for the benefit of the human. So he hesitated, running through any way in which a positive reply may possibly hurt the detective in some way. He did not have a processor designed for seeing every possible outcome, yet he could come up with no true harm.
"Permission granted on condition."
"Understood," Prowl nodded once. It would be a thin line to tread, but one that he was accustomed to walking.
According to some of the advice from Jazz, it may even help the detective as much as it could benefit him. But as Prowl left Optimus, he carefully considered how best to approach the situation. He could plan a hundred possibilities, but he was quickly learning that he could not always accurately predict the woman's response. He would just have to be prepared for any and all reactions she might throw at him...and still be prepared to be surprised.
Accessing the tracking frequency in the phone, he started for her assigned quarters. The phone was not moving, but perhaps she was attempting to find that normalcy by cooking. A good change as he was well aware the detective's nutrition intake had been subpar at best when they met and had yet to change for the better since her rescue.
Brow ridges furrowed as he got closer, signalling for the low level scanners to activate; they flashed back no signs of life. His trek paused. Wasn't the first time she'd left the phone in her room while she was out and he had a suspicion it was exactly for this reason. She could not intentionally avoid them, but neither could he find her with ease.
Well, except for the rather large number of Autobots still on the base.
"Haven' seen 'er in a few joors," Jazz replied to the inquiry he sent over the general comms. "Wha' ya plannin', Prowls?"
The tactician chose to ignore the question as negatives came in from the others.
"Lose your human again already?" Sunstreaker snipped, his general view of the human race only further darkened by the disciplinary action he was forced through to make up for his part in sabotaging Prowl's holoprojector.
"Care to extend your time as a field target?" Prowl replied easily, receiving a dangerously low snarl from the frontliner before a sharply bitten negative confirmed the detective was not among the NEST operatives currently attempting to splatter his frame with paintballs.
"Saw her a few kliks ago. Took one look around and turned tail. Don't think she was quite with us," Hound answered from just outside the rec room.
Prowl vented as he headed that way. The name may have changed among the humans over the centuries and the Cybertronians may have had an entirely different term for it, but the signs were all the same. Post-traumatic stress, shell shock, battle fatigue, all meant one thing in their language: she was Crash Looping.
Jazz had already confirmed she'd slipped into it more than once when with him and the tactician was certain she had during her brief trip into the store and that she woke trapped in it sometimes.
Somehow he didn't believe she would come to cope with it the same way that Bluestreak did.
"Found her!" Sideswipe chipped cheerfully, adding the exact hallway and that she had yet to spot him.
"Do not approach," Prowl ordered, immediately starting in the direction of the wheeled frontliner.
"Can't hog her to yourself forever." Sideswipe's pout could be seen even through the comms. Prowl was tempted towards the human tick of rolling his optics at the ridiculous statement. He hardly cared who the detective spent her time with; his concern lay solely on Sideswipe's inability to filter himself.
"Prowler I can practic'ly feel ya processor spinnin'," Jazz mused moments before his body came into view down the hall, blocking the tactician's immediate path. "Come on an' tell 'ole Jazzy what you're plottin'."
"It is a matter between the Detective and I," Prowl stated flatly, pausing as the smaller mech refused to budge from his place.
Jazz was raising a brow at him, he just knew it. "Are ya totally confiden' in yer planned delivereh?"
Prowl hesitated. The saboteur did have better experience with people and had developed a rapport with the woman. It couldn't hurt...much.
"Hey, Baby Girl!" Darcy frowned, turning at the voice that sounded vaguely familiar but that she couldn't immediately place. Most likely he wasn't even addressing her, but a cursory glance around as she rotated revealed an utter lack of anyone else.
Heart thudding in her ears, she cursed the tires the silver alien rode in on in silence. No running, she commanded herself, no hoping Jazz might come save her again. She could handle this. At least the surly yellow twin was nowhere to be seen.
"Sideswipe," she greeted warily. A fearsome warrior on the battlefield, she'd been told of him, but the danger outside of a fight was getting roped into one of his ill-planned pranks. Otherwise he was harmless, as harmless as a multi-ton alien could be. "Don't tell me you're going to start with that name too."
She blamed Jazz entirely for that particular moniker getting around. The human soldiers hadn't picked up on it yet, but a few of the Autobots seemed to enjoy using it when greeting her in the halls.
Sideswipe shrugged loosely, rolling back and forth as if pent up energy refused to let him stand still. "Well, darlin' you never did give me a name."
He winked at her and Darcy knew for a fact that he did actually know her real name, he was just choosing to be a pain.
"It's Darcy," she supplied rather than call him on it. "I saw you took advantage of Prowl's projector being repaired."
Best way to get on the good side of a prankster? Acknowledge the pranks. That was her theory anyway and she had no intention of finding out how a robotic alien might choose to mess with humans.
Sideswipe practically beamed with pride, his back straightening and tires locking into place. Darcy suddenly had an image flash behind her eyes of a frat boy about to peacock. She barely contained her snorted laugh. "Not our best work, but not bad for the limited access we had. The trick was setting it up so he wouldn't notice the coding change."
"Uh huh." Darcy didn't pretend to have a clue about how the damn projectors worked, nor did she want to encourage what would probably be a long explanation that would fly over her head anyway. "I will forever be haunted by that shirt, so thanks for that."
Prowl hadn't used his projector in the few days since, but she doubted she'd be able to see that Karl Urban face without also seeing that yellow and orange monstrosity.
The silver alien barked a laugh, leaning back in as he confessed in a conspiratory stage whisper, "I'm tryin' to get the company to make one that'll fit Prowl himself, but they're balking at a 137X."
Darcy stared at him, brows hiking towards her hairline. "You're not serious."
Sideswipe made a motion that was like waggling his brows at her. "It was tricky, but I took the measurements myself."
This time she didn't bother hiding her laugh. "I would be impressed if you could get someone to make it, but I'd be even more impressed if you could actually get Prowl into it."
There was definitely no possible way this frontliner could get the tactician into an actual shirt.
A devious grin swept over Sideswipe's face and Darcy belatedly recalled Jazz warning her to never challenge a prankster to anything. "Oh, I'll find a way, you can be sure of that. Of course, it will be easier if I have a little help with the distraction."
He was looking at her expectantly and eagerly, the gears in his mind damn near audibly whirling as his plan hatched out before him. Darcy backpedaled, holding up her hands in denial. "Uh uh, no way. You are not dragging me into a prank against Prowl. That would be suicide and I like living, thank you."
"Tsk, tsk," he rumbled, rolling forward and skating around her to block her retreat. Turning to follow the motion, she found his face much closer than she was comfortable with. "Darcy, Darcy, Darcy. It'll happen with or without you, but without...well...it would be such a shame if that particular nickname you are not so fond of were to make it around and become an official callsign."
Darcy's jaw dropped. "Are you blackmailing me?"
Sideswipe straightened again, victory clear on his smug face. "I do what is necessary. So what do ya say, Baby Girl?"
The detective narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips as she tried to find an out. Her options were not ideal either way. Of course, she could always go to Prowl with the ultimatum and let him deal with the silver alien, but she had a feeling it would only make her the target of his next mischief, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"Fine."
"Fine what?" He raised a brow ridge, his smirk growing.
Darcy weighed the pros and cons of throwing her boot at him. "Fine I will help you distract him when the time comes."
Of course that all relied exclusively on the alien finding a company willing to make a hideous shirt in a size 137X, which she rather doubted he'd be able to do. So really, even agreeing she was safe. He wouldn't help spread that moniker and she wouldn't have to assist him in pranking Prowl. A win-win.
"I knew you'd see it my way, darlin'," Sideswipe purred, flashing a wink.
Darcy held up a warning finger, wagging it at him. "Uh uh, no. I agreed to help so that means no nicknames. My name is Darcy."
He leaned back with a dramatic roll of his head and a heavy vent that blasted air across her face. "Fine, Darcy, I look forward to our scheming together."
Now there was a threat if she'd ever heard one. She grimaced, wondering just what she might have unintentionally signed on for.
"I still don' like it, Prowler," Jazz's voice came around the corner moments before he appeared, the tactician at his side. Both of them looked tense, a fact Darcy marveled at for a moment; not that they were, but that she could tell.
"It is not up to you to like it, nor, in the end, is it your business," Prowl replied tersely, halting as they reached the pair. He nodded once at her. "Detective."
Jazz waved, his customary smile flashing across his face as his hand then slapped against Sideswipe's shoulder. "Hiya, Darce. Sides'."
"Prowl, Jazz," Darcy greeted, sidestepping out of the middle of the hall and towards the wall.
The tactician eyed her movement while Sideswipe sputtered, gesturing between the two other Autobots. "They get to call you nicknames, but I don't? What gives!?"
Darcy raised a brow and, emboldened by the newcomers that would back her up, jerked her thumb at them while giving the frontliner a smirk of her own. "I actually like them."
Sideswipe gasped dramatically, hand flying over his chassis. "And here I thought we were making our way to friends."
"Are you not required to be elsewhere?" Prowl rumbled in a tone that screamed commanding officer.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin', I'm goin'." Snapping what had to be the laziest salute Darcy had ever seen, Sideswipe skated backwards down the hall. "I'll catch ya later, dollface."
"Wha-NO!" Darcy hollered after him, but he was already around the next corner and gone. Trouble that one was, with a capital 'T'.
It was silent for a beat before Prowl turned to the other remaining silver mech, brow ridges raised. Jazz met his stare hard, looking larger than normal. "Don't muff it."
Deflating, his look softened as he turned to the detective. "We'll ge' some coffeh later, yeah?"
Cocking her head, Darcy frowned as she nodded. "Yeah, sure thing."
As if this encounter hadn't stirred up enough red flags, Jazz gave one last sharp look to Prowl before stiffly following Sideswipe's exit.
"Well that was tense," Darcy noted dryly, looking up at the black-and-white for some sort of explanation as to what the hell that was all about. "Care to share?"
He blinked down at her for a brief moment before turning back the way he had come, tipping his head. "No. Follow me...if you will."
Briefly she entertained the idea of refusing until he shared before shoving that thought away and trekking after him. It wasn't her business, the less she knew at the end of all this, the better.
"So where are we going?" She dared ask after the silence stretched a moment too long.
"To follow through with what I said I was going to do," he replied simply, making no further effort to elaborate.
Yeah, cause that totally cleared things up.
Darcy rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Are you intentionally being obtuse or is this just your natural state?"
Of course it was his natural state, this was hardly anything new. He only ever shared exactly as much as he wanted to at any given time. Annoying as all hell, but something she was finding herself almost expecting. At least it wasn't a surprise. Jazz made a nice opposition to the tactician, able to launch into an over-explanation or amusing story from any question posed to him. Now if only they could combine forces to balance each other out, she mused, lips pulling into a smirk at the thought. The saboteur had made clear that the two were friends, had been for a long time, once they learned to stop hating each other. They'd worked well together and definitely challenged each other. But not quite in the same way, he'd made sure to mention, that she challenged Prowl. Darcy chose not to read into anything in that particular statement.
"I am certain Jazz would claim it is my natural state," Prowl tossed out casually. Darcy blinked up at him, noting that the tenseness had eased somewhat and his doorwings appeared slightly more relaxed. Huh, she didn't expect that. A tense Prowl usually stayed that way for at least a solid few hours. Certainly wasn't his talk with Jazz that eased it.
The less she knew the better, she reminded herself.
They reached the end of the large hall, the walkway shrinking down through a human sized door. Prowl seamlessly dropped down into his alt mode, backing his rear bumper into the corner before his holoform stepped out. No longer sporting a Hawaiian shirt or multicolored hair, the holoform looked as crisp and strict-business as when they'd first met. Bummer. Cocking her head as he held the door open and motioned for her to enter first, she flashed him an innocent smile. "You know, I think the other shirt really did suit you. Sideswipe has better taste than I thought."
The scowl he shot her was worth it.
"Do not let Sideswipe hear you say that. It will only encourage him." Something else tinged his tone and Darcy wondered if he was not actually all that cross at the pranks pulled by the twins. At least not with this latest one. Sure it was against regulations to sabotage a commanding officer's equipment, but it was harmless fun. No doubt a boost to morale. Perhaps the punishments had been the favor returned in kind. Hmm, she might have to ask Jazz later just what the punishment had been for the twins.
And what it might be if the silver frontliner succeeded in his follow-up plan. For a moment, Darcy almost hoped he would successfully find what he needed to pull it off.
Mentally shaking herself, she pushed the thought from her mind. The less involved she was the better. The less she knew of them and they of her, the better. The more she could keep herself apart, the sooner she could go home and put it all behind her.
Blowing out a breath to shove the twisting thoughts aside, she looked around as Prowl led her down several twists and turns. She'd never been to this part of the base before. These doors were all protected by security codes or card readers, both of which Prowl bypassed by placing his hand against the box. An electrical trick or was it reading something from the hologram?
No, she didn't want to know.
"I told you before that I would get you the opportunity to observe training practice with the soldiers. They are running drills today, shooting with paintballs to mark their targets. The Autobot assigned to their group will respond accordingly to which shots would have caused the most damage and which would have been wasted ammunition." There was definitely a note of amusement in his tone as he told her about the practice, gesturing for her to enter a room where one wall was overtaken by an opening that looked down over a cavernous room crowded with machinery in haphazard fashion. There was little to no order to it all, appearing more like a little-cared about storage room than a real obstacle course.
Figures in full tactical gear duck and dove about, their shouted orders muffled by the space between them.
Darcy raised her brows at Prowl's holoform before looking out at the movement below. It was all humans, looking as if they were attempting to surround something that wasn't there.
The guns they raised looked real enough, except for the paintball cartridges loaded on top. A common enough training method, she recalled, absentmindedly rubbing her collar where she'd been hit by one during her time in the Academy. Not fatal by any means, but they still hurt like a bitch and offered a valuable lesson.
A roar of a powerful engine drowned out the human voices as a sunny yellow car launched itself out from under the ragged brown tarp it'd been hiding under, nearly running over a soldier who barely dove out of the way in time. Darcy felt her heart skip a beat as the Lamborghini bore down on another person who refused to move, raising the paintball gun to their shoulder and firing. The car exploded upwards, the Autobot launching themself clear over the human and avoiding the ball that then splattered orange paint over the crates behind it.
Darcy knew she hadn't met all of the Autobots on this base, but so far she only knew of one that was that shade of yellow and who sported the logo to such a car: Sideswipe's twin, the other half who'd had such a look of disdain on his face that she was sure he held no love for humans. Prowl had also made a comment about not being him and caring if his paint got scratched when they went on their first drive together. This was Sunstreaker, the ill-tempered one who occasionally got into mischief but above all else kept his paint perfect.
And these NEST soldiers were attempting to pepper him with paintballs.
She glanced at Prowl, wondering and suspecting he had something to do with this. From what she'd heard from Jazz's stories, Sunstreaker would be the last to ever volunteer for such a duty, though others got a kick from it.
A nasty curse came from the yellow bot as blue paint splattered the panel on his left shoulder and a smirk tugged at the corner of the holoform's lips.
Yeah, Prowl was definitely behind this. No wonder Sideswipe felt the need to blackmail her for future help. His twin would probably refuse after having to go through this. Darcy knew from experience that the paint wasn't the easiest thing to get off, especially from a car.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked the tactician at her side, eyes transfixed as the Autobot below vaulted himself over more humans, crashing to the ground with a force that shook the floor beneath her feet. None of the soldiers faltered or hesitated to follow their target with their guns, letting more paint fly at the being that could kill them by not watching where he put his monstrously sized foot. It would take nothing to kill them all, certainly it was a tempting thought for a short-fused Autobot who did not like humanity for some reason or another.
And yet, he did not unleash hell upon the soldiers. He stayed on the defensive, firing shots of enlarged paintballs himself here and there but otherwise only attempting to move fast enough to avoid the paint sent his way.
Maybe it was because he knew Prowl was watching, maybe it was only out of fear for retaliation from his Commander or maybe his self control outweighed his dislike. The longer Darcy watched, the more she noticed the purpose in the way he moved. Though he came close to squishing more than one person, he never actually did. He knew exactly what and where and how to move to scare them back but to not actually hurt them.
"I enjoy justice," Prowl answered the question she'd already forgotten she'd asked, cocking his head as his attention focused on the movements of the humans. Belatedly, Darcy realized that that was why she was here, to see how people could fight such a being, how they could survive an encounter with one who meant to do them harm. "When the soldiers deliver an effective hit, he will act wounded as such."
Purple paint exploded next to the blue, slipping between the plates and into the complex machinery below. Immediately the left arm went limp and lifeless as the yellow warrior let loose another string of sounds that was most likely expletives in their native language. He scowled at the shoulder where the paint had hit before turning that glare to the human who had shot it. A volley of large yellow balls shot from the right arm at the man, knocking him back a clear ten feet as they exploded and covered him in the cheerfully bright color.
The revenge cost him. More paint struck plated joints, some getting lucky and hitting between the protective panels.
"Does the paint not mess up your...ah….circuits?" She tried to remember some of the terms Jazz so casually tossed around when talking about their internal workings. The words they adopted were similar to that of the innards of a car or computer. Though not exactly the same, the saboteur had noted, it was the easiest way to bridge the gap of understanding.
"No, Wheeljack developed a special mixture for this purpose. It washes out of circuitry without damaging it." Another name she didn't have a face to match, though she was certain she'd heard it in passing before.
Sunstreaker snarled as he was surrounded, key points shot out and rendering him 'unable' to escape or fight back. Thoroughly swarmed with only three soldiers painted yellow standing off to the side, he dropped back into his expensive alt mode. Immediately the soldiers paused, lowering their guns and high-fiving each other. Simulation over, human victory.
"Humans are smaller than us, weaker and more fragile, but it does not make you altogether helpless. Your strength is in your numbers and in your size. We are accustomed to fighting beings of equal size to us, sometimes larger. It may not appear so at first, but your maneuverability is higher than ours. You can use the landscape to your advantage much more than we can. While our vulnerable parts are much better protected in our vehicle modes, it is harder for us to fight back or to follow into rough terrain if we do not have a mode built for such," Prowl explained as the yellow Lambo was forced to shift back into his standing form to step over a pile of broken car parts and reach the large doors on the opposite side.
A memory flashed before her eyes of Barricade attempting to grab her after she'd dove into the ditch. He'd been unable, giving her the chance to shoot out one of his optics before attempting the failed dash to reach the incoming Prowl. Prowl, who'd gotten much better traction in the snow than a Charger should have been able to, but had not driven the mountain roads once it piled up. "Is that why you sent Ironhide and Lennox after me when I went up to check on Davis?"
When she'd walked right into Barricade's trap, when all he'd done was stab her palm to take her blood and totalled her SUV. A Mustang never should have been able to drive through that, but even then he'd skid.
Prowl dipped his chin. "I knew that Barricade was around but I did not suspect him to be there. I sent Ironhide knowing the snow conditions may be too deep for my lowered frame to pass through. Though we can handle more than our chosen alt modes are designed for, we have limits. Hound can reach places none of the rest of us can, but the twins are faster. Ironhide can weather harsher conditions, but I have better sensors."
Specialists, all of them, with assignments to match. She chewed her lip as she watched a new batch of soldiers enter below, only half the number. A massive green Autobot entered from the same door Sunstreaker had left moments before. This one she hadn't seen before and the bulky frame was unlike any other on base.
Prowl tipped his head in the direction of the newcomer. "Bulkhead is a Wrecker. He is among the strongest of us and can take the heaviest hits without sustaining severe damage, but because of that he is also one of the slowest. The key here is quick and concise attacks. Never stay engaged for long."
"Guerilla attacks, but because Sunstreaker is fast, stay close?"
He nodded once. "Precisely. Sunstreaker is dangerous when he has room to move, Bulkhead is deadly in close combat."
Knock Out was a sports car, the key would be the same as the Lamborghini, swarm and immobilize. Barricade wasn't as fast and had used her as leverage to avoid a shootout with Prowl and Ironhide, he couldn't take a hit like a Wrecker. "What about...what about flyers? Like Starscream?"
How could humans have an advantage over flight? Air superiority had won wars, after all, how could they defeat a master of the skies?
Prowl tipped his head, watching her rather than the exercise beginning below. The soldiers appeared to be playing a game of cat and mouse, taking pot shots at Bulkhead that only splattered against the intricately overlapping panels of armor as they moved away from him. Yet it all looked well coordinated. The soldiers had a plan.
"The rules for flyers are much the same as for those of us on the ground. Starscream is fast, exceptionally so. His mastery in the air is unmatched despite the larger size of his alternate mode, but that has cost him armor strength and the ability to fight up close. Box him into a location where he does not have the space to turn and he can be defeated. His other weakness is his own arrogance, he believes that he is above all else and so," he gestured towards the rafters above, where the other half of the NEST team was descending on repel lines, "he never expects an attack from above."
The soldiers on the ground stopped their retreat, flanking around to surround Bulkhead while moving in and out of his reach before he could swing the massive club his hand had turned into. They kept him pivoting, turning to follow their motions while remaining in the same location. The other half dropped fast, waiting until the last second to release a torrent of paintball fire around Bulkhead's head and neck. Orange and blue paint coated the exposed portions, places that would be impossible to hit from the ground. The spiked ball that was his weapon was replaced by his hand as he dramatically swayed back and forth. The soldiers scrambled, the ones of the lines dropping the rest of the way to the ground and retreating with the rest. The Wrecker crashed backwards into a pile of wooden pallets that promptly gave way under his weight.
"I see the light! So weak, so faint, Primus take me home!" the deep voice of the mech rumbled out, the back of his hand placed on his forehead.
Prowl shook his head as the men laughed, tossing joking farewells to the 'dying' Autobot. Darcy couldn't stop the soft smile as she watched the easy camaraderie being displayed. These men didn't see an alien from another planet, they didn't see a foreign being who could so easily snuff the life from them. They saw a brother in arms, they saw a friend, they saw someone they would gladly fight and die next to on the battlefield.
They were something else, all of them, and Darcy appreciated what they were willing to do for the planet. So much more than anything she could ever hope to do. They were the real heroes and yet the world would never know about them or what they did.
"Thank you, Prowl," she uttered as they reset with a new batch of colors, this time without the men in the rafters.
"Of course. I...could not protect you before, so I will do what I can to help you now. If you would find me when you are finished here, I have one more thing." Placing a hesitant hand on her shoulder, he offered a soft squeeze before heading out the way they had come in.
Curiosity almost drove her to follow him immediately, but the logical side won out and kept her firmly in place. While it did not necessarily make her feel more powerful to see the way in which these teams of highly trained soldiers worked together to overcome their target, it eased….something buried inside, to know that they were not totally at the mercy of their enemy or allies.
So she stayed and she watched as the teams went through a variety of drills with Bulkhead. As the humans began to tire, they were forced to face the Autobot solo, their goal to reach the 'safety zone' on the other side of the room. A seemingly impossible feat and yet more than half successfully made it. The ones that did not were met with that weaponized wrecking ball slamming into the ground less than a foot from their face and then given tips on why their plan failed. It wasn't just an exercise to test what they knew, it was a chance to try new tactics and learn from them without getting killed, both for the humans and the Autobot.
Eventually the session ended, several of the men and women calling out to Bulkhead that they would meet him for drinks later.
Another group did not follow, but even so Darcy stayed in the overlook for some time after, thinking about what she saw and the Decepticons she'd faced. Ravage was small and fast, which had to mean he'd be weak to direct hits if one could land. Shockwave was huge, though she didn't know what he could transform into. Whatever it was, it couldn't be fast. Barricade was like Prowl then, maybe. Neither the fastest nor the strongest, they sat somewhere in the middle, relying more heavily on other specialties than the abilities of their bodies. Prowl was a tactician, but what was Barricade?
And why was the personal beef between them so severe?
The less she knew the better.
Turning for the door she'd come through, she paused, noting another option. It was probably locked, but curiosity had her trying the handle anyway. It opened smoothly, revealing a descending staircase. Possibly down to the training arena?
Since it didn't look like anyone else was coming for a session, Darcy followed it down, reaching another unlocked door that did, in fact, open out to where the soldiers had been not long ago.
Running her finger over the bright paint adorning the wall, she was surprised to find it already dry. The color even appeared to be fading, especially the sunny yellow shots Sunstreaker had taken. Looking closer at the spots of unpainted wall, the layers of gunmetal gray almost appeared….random and splotted, like it'd been paintball shots itself.
"I designed the ammunition to replicate the blast radius each bot's weapons are capable of, keeps the humans from getting comfortable taking close range hits. Paint fades to grey after a few hours, makes it so we don't have to clean this place every time," a deep voice resonated behind her. Darcy whirled, expecting an Autobot, and frowning at a familiar human face. Familiar, but not one that she had ever seen in person before. A holoform for certain, but whose?
Turning back to the wall and surrounding obstacles, she noticed the yellow shots from the frontliner were significantly larger than the lime green that had been Bulkhead's paintball colors.
"I thought Wreckers delivered bigger hits?" she asked, turning away from the paint and towards the newcomer sporting the resemblance of one Robin Williams.
He flashed a winning smile at her, head nodding eagerly. "Exactly, bigger hits, but their firepower is lessened due to the strain of maintaining a larger mass. Frontliners like Sunny use their guns as a primary weapon, so it's stronger. Not like Ironhide's of course, but a speedster has a longer range than a Wrecker."
Huh, go figure. She raised a brow as she looked over the holoform, hosting a suspicion of who he was. "And where does your firepower register?"
Damn it all, the less she knew…
He waved his hand in a 'so-so' motion. "Middle range, though I prefer using my inventions to turn the tide."
There was only one so far that she'd heard off who liked to create new things from nothing, but he jumped ahead before she could venture a guess, sweeping a bow as he did so. "Wheeljack, at your service."
Which explained the younger visage of the late comedian, complete with glasses and vest. The Autobot inventor had chosen a holoform of another inventor, albeit a fictional one. Hopefully he wouldn't push the mimicry too far, they didn't need to end up with a green Flubber bouncing around the base. Now that would get under Prowl's plates in no time.
For a second, she wondered if Sideswipe was aware of the movie. Roughly shoving the thought aside, she tipped her head in mutual greeting. "Darcy Blake at yours."
"Oh I know," Wheeljack straightened, adjusting the glasses that had slipped down his nose, though they ended up more askew than before. "In fact, I've been working on a new tool for the human charges…"
"Absoluteleh not," Jazz cut in as he strut across the arena, deftly weaving between and over obstacles as if he'd done it a thousand times. Darcy would dare say he looked smoother doing it than either the Wrecker or frontliner before had. Just what was a saboteur's weakness against humans?
No, she didn't need to know or work it out. She wouldn't be here long enough for it to matter.
"It doesn't explode!" Wheeljack defended with a hint of a whine to his voice, pouting and looking for all the world like a child told there was no ice cream left on the planet.
"No, it ain't supposed ta explode. Ge' all the bugs out and then we'll talk volunteers." Jazz crossed his arms over his chassis and stared down at the holoform.
Wheeljack visibly deflated, blowing out a disappointed sigh. "Yes you are right, of course. But it was nothing like that. I simply need a few drops of blood!"
He looked hopefully at Darcy, who took a sharp step back. Jazz shook his head, "Ge' it from Lennox if ya must."
The inventor gave one last look to the detective before shrugging, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Yes, yes, that will work fine. Of course I could always….no no, ah, but that could work. Perhaps if I just….no….yes. Hmm, excuse me."
Darcy blinked back the image of Knock Out with his syringe, pulled back before the memory could truly take over by the bewilderment of the sudden change in the inventor. One moment he was the epitome of a kicked puppy and the next he was as giddy as a child with a new toy, talking seemingly to himself and only barely remembering to address them one last time as the holoform faded out.
"What was that?" she asked, lightly shaking her head to clear the last of the red from her vision.
"Tha' was 'ole Jackie. Don' mind 'im too much, 'is mind is always on a hundred differen' projects. 'E's only dangerous in the lab and humans ain't allowed near it." His tone held a warning to not even try looking for it. An unnecessary warning, as the detective had no intentions of going anywhere near the inventions of an alien, particularly creations that stood a good chance of exploding.
At least the saboteur looked a great deal less tense than the last time she'd seen him, Perhaps it was really nothing after all…
"Do you know where Prowl is? He asked me to find him after." Subtler than before, but Jazz's posture tightened the moment the question left her lips.
Then again, perhaps it was.
Jazz tipped his head as if he was looking for something. Whatever it was, she couldn't say if he was disappointed in finding it or not. Releasing a vent she didn't understand, Jazz shifted to gesture back towards the door he'd come through. "'E's in the conference room. Jus'...don' let 'im push ya inta anythin' a'ight?"
"Yeah, uh, alright." With those words of warning rattling around in her mind, Darcy navigated her way across the arena and out through the large doors meant for the Autobots. On the other side she found a vaguely familiar hallway. She'd been down this way before, only the bay doors she'd just come through had always been closed. A staircase opened up to her right and she hesitated before it. She'd never intentionally made her way back to the conference room before and she didn't have her phone on her to use the tracking app. She could go back to her room for it, but she didn't want to leave Prowl waiting for too long.
She took the stairs. The medical bay wasn't too far from here. Worse case scenario she could always ask Ratchet for directions.
No, she'd go back to her room for the phone before she resorted to that.
Neither option ended up necessary, as the staircase led her up straight to a single door labeled 'Conference'. If there happened to be more than one on the base...well it wouldn't be the first time she'd interrupted a meeting.
The door opened up to the catwalk she'd remembered before, only now she was looking at it from a different angle. It'd been a backway in, but she'd found her way anyway.
Prowl was there, the mass of screens before him sporting only a NEST logo as he focused on something that looked like a giant tablet in his hands.
"Detective, I trust your time observing was illuminating," he greeted, vaguely gesturing with one hand for her to come around to join him without looking up from the steroid-infused touch screen.
"That's one way to put it." It would take a lie to say she didn't feel a little empowered to know that humans could take them down, with the right weapons and know-how. A single person couldn't do much, but they could use a Cybertronian's strengths against them; could potentially avoid capture if they knew their enemy well enough. "You said there was something else?"
Prowl finally looked up from the tablet screen she couldn't see, nodding towards the conference table still pressed up against the railing. On it sat six evidence boxes, pristine in condition but all looking near full to bursting. "Yes. You indicated that a return to normalcy would aid in your mental recovery. You also expressed a wish to continue with your line of work."
She blinked at the boxes and the thousands of sheets of paper they no doubt individually held. "Is this...is this all one case?"
Sure she'd wanted to get back in the saddle of detective work, but just how good did he think she was?! Even all the caseload of the dumping ground victims and the remaining missing had taken up only two boxes by the end.
And if it was all separate cases...then he was either grossly overestimating her abilities to solve a crime without ever being at the scene or interviewing witnesses, or he was underestimating her willingness to leave once her month was up.
"Literally speaking, no, there is no official connection between them all, but in the end, yes, this is all one case." He was watching her acutely. Enough so it made her skin itch, as if he'd started a scan.
She knew what he meant.
Victims across the country.
Victims with no clear connection to each other or a perp.
Victims who officials all considered separate cases.
Victims of the Decepticons.
He wasn't just asking her to get back in the saddle, he was asking her to climb back on the horse that had bucked her off into a brick wall.
The thought made her blood run hot and cold all at once, icing over her hands while her heart attempted to beat its way out of her chest.
"Prowl...I...what do you expect of me with this?" Surely he didn't actually need her. It was an olive branch of sorts. A way for her to get back into detective work with nothing real behind it. He'd already made the connections he needed to, drawn the conclusions that were there. This was all just...a dry run, a practice. It had to be.
Prowl's gaze burned and she refused to meet it, staring at the boxes that called her as much as they repulsed her. She wanted to look. She wanted to run.
"We know that Decepticons are ultimately responsible, we know that some of the victims were taken out of opportunity while others were targeted for their familial NEST connections. But others I believe were targeted without those connections and I cannot postulate as to why. Nor can we get a firm enough location of their other bases to move against them."
He was lying. He had to be. It was just to make her feel useful, to urge her to do it. His brain was a super computer, there was no way he hadn't thought of everything and come up with the most probable answer. "Any working theories?"
His head cocked slightly to one side. "A few, weak at best I am afraid. I would rather not skew your thinking from the start by sharing just yet."
A tricky bastard he was. Basically confirming what she thought while also not indicating he had a solid lead.
"I'm not a profiler and I don't...I don't know the Decepticons enough to be able to predict why they might be doing what they're doing." She worried her lower lip with her teeth, a hand reaching out for the closest box, retreating before touching the cardboard. She shouldn't. She should be focusing on human only cases. Helping people she could actually stand a chance to help.
There were so many here. So many who could be alive, praying for rescue, so many families, desperate for answers.
"Then do not think of them as such. You know what they are capable of, but for now, consider their motivations as if humans had them. We are not so different, our species, in how we think and act. The conclusions you might consider for human criminals may be relevant for their plans. It was you who discovered the NEST connection before. I am asking only that you give it a look, in case you may see something that I have missed." There it was, pulling the trump card and all but making the decision for her.
It was just a look. Just looking at what they had and comparing notes once she was finished. Whether she saw anything differently from the tactician or not, he would take that information to his leader and they would do whatever they needed to do. It was just looking at paper while safely tucked away on a secure base under a dam. She wouldn't even have to step outside.
It was just a look.
Releasing a sigh, she dropped her chin for a moment to curse herself before looking up to meet Prowl's gaze. "Fine, I'll look at it. Do I have to do it all here?"
Half a conference table looking out over a massive hangar was hardly the kind of setting she was used to working in. The severity of his gaze softened considerably, the doorwings on his back dipping down a margin. "Of course not. Human sized offices abound in this structure. I am certain I could negotiate…"
Raising her hands to end his line of thought before it could finish, Darcy shook her head. "No, no office, please. I'll take them to my room. It'll….it'll be easier to work there."
That scrutinizing look was back in a flash and for a moment she wondered if he would refuse, but after a pause, he dipped his chin in a single nod. "I shall arrange for the files to be delivered to your quarters."
Her skin continued to itch, the space around them feeling too damn large and empty. "It's okay, I can make a few trips."
Grabbing the first box before she could retract her hand again, she almost immediately regretted the offer. Full to bursting it definitely was and because of that, the damn thing was heavy. She grunted as she adjusted her grip, propping the box on her hip. "It'll be good for me."
Prowl made the motion of raising a brow, his tone equally lighter than earlier but edged with warning. "I do not believe Ratchet would approve of you straining yourself so."
Darcy was already backing towards the door. The trips to the little-used makeshift gym had steadily been building back her strength, but she still had miles to go before she was back to the condition she'd been at before her capture. Already it pulled awkwardly at her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she pushed through the doorway. "Then don't tell Ratchet."
While strongly doubting the mech would listen if he felt informing the medic was necessary in any way, she could only hold out hope that he wouldn't think it necessary.
Turned out her mind was more prepared for the task than her body and she was forced to take several breaks along the way, hefting the box from one side to the other and then back again. Why oh why did they have to make these boxes capable of holding so much paper? Eventually, she made it, breathing hard, arms shaking, and shoulder screaming at the abuse as she dropped the box onto the kitchen counter.
One down, five to go.
Groaning, Darcy decided against immediately going for another. She would get them and drag them over eventually, but first she'd take a peak at what she was in for and just what she'd agreed to expose herself to. Stealing herself, she pried off the lid, tossing it carelessly to the side as she took in the mass of manila folders now exposed. Some hosted only a few sheets of paper while others boasted extensive pages of information to wade through. It took several more steadying breaths to reach in and pull the first file out. Nothing on the front but a name and location.
Her hand shook as it hovered over the edge. Clenching her fist, she willed the nerves to calm. It didn't work, but she forced herself to grip the corner and flip it open.
And promptly dove back into the horror.
Captain: Duh, duh, duuuuhhhhh! Get back on that horse, Darcy! But Jazz, man, what is up with you? You against this plan of Prowl's? Or do you know something we don't? Also don't prank Prowl...and dear Darcy how did you let Sideswipe hook you? There's no way this can end well...XD Please drop a review and let me know what you think!