Snowstorm dodged and swung in a flurry of clumsy moves. In the year since her appointment, she had been convinced by her body guards to be trained in self-defense. Per them, a leader should know the ways of combat, if only as a point of experience. From hand-to-hand to ranged target practice and today was a session of close combat. She and her trainers each wielded an energy staff and they doubled down on their assault. As she grew aggravated and finally pushed back in her own offensive, she was suddenly halted as she received a message from Playback, a pardronian and the cities head of communication. As she went to answer she was struck in the face by a blow from drifts staff.
"remember, an enemy is never going to give you a breather"
"no, but a prime can order an execution" she scowled
After receiving Playbacks report that the council was assembled, she and her bodyguards headed to the meeting chamber. The hall entrance was guarded by the decepticon blitzwing, who merely nodded to her as she entered but frowned at her autobot escorts with disdain. She took her seat at the large round table and nodded for the others to do the same. Politics was the part of her job she was the least comfortable with so she was glad she had the council members to fall back on. First was windblade, a friendly and idealistic femme from Caminus who acted as the representative for the unaligned masses and colonists. The eager young Sandstorm sat as the elected speaker for the bots of Paradron. Wreck-gar and Rum-maj , as the duel leaders of the junkions, represented their people. The autobots and decepticons also held seats among the council, represented by hot shot and obsidian respectively. The debating and arguing concerning the murders went on for some time, and as usual, she could hardly get a word in. Though none of the council were ever openly hostile towards her, she knew that collectively they would prefer she step aside more and allow them to once again handle state affairs. She imagined their inducting of her was more from public pressure. However, her pride would not allow her to be stand down. She needed a way to force them to properly acknowledge her as an equal. In her boredom, she pulled up archived images of bulkhead and slipstream on her console. In life she now saw that he was dominantly green and she was purple and teal in color. He was a laborer turned soldier turned laborer again after the war. She was a renowned seeker commander and tactician who remained unemployed while in the city.
"prime, ma'am" came a meek voice
She was jolted from her thoughts at the realization that the diminutive Tailgate was standing beside her with a data pad. She took it and saw a report on the murder investigation. Hinting on a course of action that may improve her standings, she cleared her voice to gain the council members' attention.
"council members, due to the severity of this situation and the desire to see the issue resolved, I intend to head the investigation myself"
The declaration earned a few gasps and at least one snicker, though from who she could not tell.
"prime, that is not necessary " windblade argued
"im afraid it is. As prime, protecting this city is my duty, and I shall see it through. My ah…personal agents have made a possible breakthrough and I shall follow up on it and investigate further. In my absence I name ah…" she looked to tailgate inquisitively
"tailgate" the mini bot answered
"tailgate, yes! one of my trusted agents, to sit in on any further council meetings to take notes for me. Please treat him with the same respect that you would me. Good day all"
With that the prime quickly left, followed by her bodyguards. All eyes then turned to the nervous little white autobot, who shyly slid into the primes large seat and crossed his hands in a respectful manner.
"sooooo, hi" he waved
The trio drove down to the security force station where, per the report tailgate delivered, they had a suspect in custody. They made their way through the complex and met jazz. He was just as surprised as the council at her taking charge, but ever the adaptable bot, he relented. She was however informed that their suspect had a solid alibi and was innocent. She was shown the large repulsive sight of the decepticon Spittor sitting in the interrogation room. They had found him apparently wet not far from the crime scene, and believed him to be the owner of the moist footprints. However, what he was covered in was in fact his natural slime, and witnesses were able to confirm his presence at a local store. Released from custody, he was led out, though snowstorm made a point to stop him.
"Spittor was it, I want to formally apologize for your trouble in this and assure you that this issue will be dealt with and you will have no further trouble. Please, have a nice day"
Everyone stared blankly at here for a few moments as she pulled him into a hand shake.
"aaaah…thank you, prime…ah ma'am" he croaked in confusion
He was led away by security staff while drift, lancer, barricade and chromia all looked to the prime with surprise; jazz simple smiled and gave a thumbs up. He then handed her a rag to wipe off the decepticons natural slime, in which her hand was now coated.
"that was pretty decent of you prime but you didn't need to do that"
"yes, I did" she smiled
"so, where does the case go now?" lancer asked
"unfortunately, at the moment the water is our only lead. The science guild has been brought in to do forensics on the bodies but until they get back to us with results we have little to go on" chromia reports
"not quite, the water is a clear clue, if you stop and think about it; there are no easy access water sources in the city aside from the dam and river…" she hinted
"and all the aquatic bots that hang there" jazz nodded
"yes, our killer may very likely be one of them!" drift declared
"alright, we'll get the force down there to…" barricade started
"no, no good or progress will come from marching down there in force. "WE" will head down there and see what we can find out. This investigation is still important but the security force still has its usual duties to see to"
"are you sure it's safe?" chromia asked
"that is why we are here" drift brandished his sword
"pathetic as ever deadlock" barricade scowled, his words dripping with venom
Drifts eyes flared and he tensed, looking as if he would pounce on the decepticon. jazz quickly put himself between them and broke it up firmly. As the trio turned to leave, jazz stopped snowstorm.
"just so you know, I have known my fair share of primes, and you are more than livin' up to the title" he smiled
"thanks jazz" she smiled back
It took nearly an hour for them to reach the waterfront. As they waited for the guard to secure them security passes to proceed, snowstorm looked to drift, who sat on a crate, staring down with a solemn look. He held his sword so the point was in the ground and he twisted it slowly, digging at it with the tip. Wanting to finally learn more about the bot she had entrusted her safety to, she knelt down next to him.
"decepticons really don't like you huh. did you cause them a lot of trouble during the war?" she asked
He smirked and let out a sound of amusement, looking off into the distance like he was reminiscing.
"I keep forgetting that you weren't there for the war; not out there with the rest of us; not knowing what everyone else knows"
"which is?"
"in the early years of the war...I was a decepticon"
"wait...what. you must be joking"
"never, not about this. I went by deadlock back then. I was a violent young punk swayed by megatron and his ideals. I worked close with barricade, I wouldn't call us fiends but, yeah, we were close. In my fervor for battle I wound up damaged and forgotten on the battle field. An...order of neutrals, warriors and scholars they were, found me, repaired me and taunt me their ways. I found a peace in their ideals and realized I had been living my life wrong. I cast aside my guns, took up the sword and swore my life to the autobots. Many, on both sides, would resent my choice, barricade included. I caused both sides much...trouble"
"drift, primus, I didn't know"
"ha, you're one of the few" he smiled
They were interrupted by the old security guard, Landmine, returning with their passes and he pointed them down to the aquatic bots there were of various backgrounds, most of which was ignored due to their shared function. They all mostly congregated at the marina downstream from the massive city dam. They spoke to most of the bots there; autobots sea spray, paddles and broadside, decepticons tidal wave, the remaining 5 seacons and the neutrals sharp edge, manta ray, claw jaw, depth charge and torca. The only unaccounted bot was the neutral nautica, who was confirmed as working at the science guild. The rarity of them straying from their usual element, as well as security cameras confirming it, apparently led them to another dead end.
"hey, now that I think about it, riptide ain't here" broadside spoke up
"yeah, he hasn't been seen in a while I think" manta ray realized
"went into city in morning" tidal wave bellowed
Further security footage confirmed it; the autobot hydrobot Riptide had indeed gone into the city that morning and not yet returned. After confirming he was known to hang out and at the bar "new Maccadams", they followed their next clue. They got to the bar eventually, though hit lots of traffic due to the big race today. Top racers knockout, mirage, blurr and override were going head to head in the finales of a new circuit. Prime remembered seeing some of the the last race, where ransack, crumplezone and tracks were knocked out of the finals. The prime was happy the citizens could find enjoyment and entertainment but surprised a race would take place in such weather, though from the display screens they passed, the track was in perfectly cleaned condition. That got her circuits sizzling as whoever was in charge of clearing snow from the roads they were on had clearly done a half ass job. As a hard worker from the moment she was sparked, nothing was more infuriating to her than slacking off. Worse was that it is essential work that needs to be completed for public safety. She suddenly kicked into her prime mode.
"snowstorm prime to tailgate"
"this is tailgate"
"please pull the records for what workers were in charge of clearing snow from street G184. I want them identified and put on double shift for the next week, understood"
"ahh..yes, yes ma'am"
"prime out"
"man, you can be scary when you mean business" lancer spoke up
"no one shirks work in my city"
They made it to the new bar, which was an exact recreation of the original on cybertron, and still run by maccadam himself. They trio made their way through the crowd, despite their notoriety; maccadam himself came from behind the counter to welcome the prime. He was an orange and silver bot with some blue highlights here and there; average in height but stout and with large hands. His eyes were big and round like magnifying lenses and he always had a smile on his face. However, her body guards were forced to put themselves between them to keep on mission. Maccadam took on stern look, warning against trouble; his most longstanding and enforced rule that conflict be kept out of his establishment.
They found riptide hunched over at the bar. A mostly dark blue and moody looking bot, his boat mode kibble was a dead giveaway.
"riptide?" the prime asked
"what!?" he jumped, clearly intoxicated
The interrogation was short but tense and full of accusation, but maccadam himself confirmed that the bot had spent his whole day there drinking. Apparently, due to subpar intelligence scores, he was rejected from joining the security force that morning. That technically still could have made him a prime suspect for the murders, but maccadam vouched for him; though that meant little to her, it was a big deal to many others. She couldn't argue much. Out of pride, and in no small part due to his mindset, riptide volunteered his aid to the prime, which she reluctantly accepted. Taking a break, snowstorm and the bar owner sat and talked amongst themselves over a drink. Drift and lancer meanwhile sat with riptide to try and cheer the bot up and get to know him better.
"I think it's very brave you taking this investigation on yourself" maccadam smiled
"thanks, just doing what I think I'm supposed to" she shrugged
"well, I have known my share of primes, and you are certainly living up to the title" he nodded
"why do bots keep saying that?" she thought to herself
"so, obviously this tragedy must be affecting a lot of bots"
"I suppose, I never really considered that part of it" she admitted
"I know it is me. I knew both bulkhead and slipstream well; they were just adorable together"
"what do you mean?"
He looked blankly at her then frowned.
"you don't know, do you?"
"know what?"
He set down his drink and gestured for her to follow him to a back room for privacy. She gestured for the others to stay put and after she was ready he looked at her with a slightly calmer face.
"I…think I know why they may have been killed"
"what?!"
"Obviously I'm a bot that gets all sorts types and have a lot of information that flows through here and certain…"
"maccadam, what is it?" she placed her hands on his shoulders
"they…were in an relationship"