"what did you say?" she asked in shock

"they were an inter-faction couple. They are almost never seen, even in these days. Lots of judgment floats around. There is still plenty of animosity among the still loyal autobots and decepticons. They mostly kept it a secret, and I was one of the few privileged with the knowledge"

"wow, I just, this means a lot. I mean it changes everything about this investigation. We may very well be looking at a hate crime. I can't believe this"

"it can be a lot to handle. If it's a hate crime your dealing with, you may want to look to the diehards; the bots and cons who still hold pretty close-to-spark values from their sides of the war"

"I…I'll do that. Thank you maccadam, thank you for everything"

Snowstorm and her team, now including a sobering riptide, left to meet and update jazz on their investigation. Maccadam called his staff together; autobot Roller and decepticons waspinator and spacewarp.

"bots, I'm giving y'all the night off, but only so you can go out and gather some info. I want to give prime all the help she can get in her investigation. Them two were my friends to and I want whoever snuffed their sparks brought to justice to"

Snowstorm returned to security HQ and revealed everything she had learned to jazz.

"hmm, based on all this, it seems my initial intention to investigate the radicals..."

"the what?"

"like maccadam told you, there are plenty of hardcore loyal bots and cons, plenty I imagine would have an issue with bulk and slipstreams relationship"

"so how do we follow up on that?"

"there is a place up town that a lot of the autobot war horses hang. Kup, elita-one, what's left of the wreckers and others of the like. Me and chromia can hit there and get some answers no problem. It's the cons that can be a handful. I would send barricade or one of the others, but I don't know how much they'll get"

"why?"

"well, I mean they are cops, and cons don't trust each other much under even regular circumstances"

"scrud, I guess...I'll go then"

"that…is not a very good idea. You have and all autobot escort. I might just end up with 4 more murders on my hands"

"then…I'll go alone, I'm not an autobot after all"

"that is an even worse idea! And you know drift and lancer aren't gonna go along with it. And as the head of security I can't just…"

"yes you can, I'm asking you to. And not to pull rank here but I am a prime and that's an order"

"but…"

"jazz, you said I was acting like a prime. You fought with optimus, the greatest prime that ever lived. Did you ever tell him no, did he ever put his life on the line for justice?"

"heh…all the time, and he would let absolutely nothing stand in his way of doing what was right" he smiled

"and I can't either...as much I really don't want to go"

They proceeded with their plans, with jazz, chromia, lancer and skids heading to the mid-north end to "little Iacon", while Prime drove for the far west part of the city, in the section built upon the remains of trypticon, where Prominent decepticon figure Soundblaster owned an establishment for the more loyal of the former decepticon forces. Barricade, who had been there before, gave her the password that would earn her entry. Jazz insisted she take a weapon for protection, something she was unsure about. Regardless, as she transformed near the location, she indeed had an ion blaster affixed to her back. She found the place easily; not very hard with a large stylized decepticon symbol on the front. She knocked on the large metal door and a after a few seconds a small slot opened, through which two bright red optics stared down at her.

"starscream is a bigger coward than a turbofox in a driller nest" she recited

The red eyes narrowed to slits before the hatch slammed closed, then after a few more moments of silence the door opened. She entered slowly, her eyes having to adjust to the low lighting of the inside. It was primary a lounge and bar, at least in the main room that she walked into. Red and yellow optics followed her as she walked to the bar. From reports she had been given after taking office, she recognized many of the decpeticons; Sixshot, tankor and ramjet all sat at one table looking nasty. The massive blackout lurked behind her, having been the doorman. Swindle and needlenose sat together at one table, while strika, mindwipe, Astraea and slugslinger sat at another. Astrotrain, dead end, flip sides, acid storm and spinister all sat spaced out at the bar. switchblade was slumped over, passed out on a sofa of sorts. Sitting alone acting like she owned the place was thunderblast and finally, at a table tucked in a corner were scorponok and blackarachnia, looking more shady then the rest.

"well well, it appears our prime has paid us an honored visit" came a deep, synthesized voice

She turned to see soundblaster appear from behind the bar; a boxy black and gold bot with a blank visor and mouth plate, reclined and bound in a levitating life support chair. She had heard that he had long been in this state. Astrotrain, massive as he was, hopped up to loyally move some chairs for the owner to get past. Waddling beside the chair was the malformed mini bot Igor, acting as his aid. Buzzsaw came to perch on his shoulder, the last as most of the spy masters' mini bot minions had either perished in the war or gone rogue.

"it's good to finally meet you soundblaster. As a master of information, I imagine you understand why I am here"

"I do"

"we don't answer to no prime" astrotrain scowled

A chorus of growls and grunts of agreement rose from around the room.

"show some respect, a prime she may be but she shows no more favoritism for the autobots than for us" soundblaster lectured

"thank you, I do try to be mostly impartial, though if I'm being honest decepticons do have a tendency to cause more trouble"

"I can't quite argue that point. Two of our associates were apprehended by the security force today on what I have been told are trumped up charges"

"yeah, shatter and dropkick got slammed for trouble they didn't start"

Snowstorm felt the room was turning against her and her first instinct was to just get out of there. However, she needed to earn their respect, same as the council, to get the info she needed. This felt like the hardest trial of her primehood so far, and she fought to put on a stern face.

"if they were taken in then it's because they did something wrong. I don't interfere or tell the security force how to do their job and as they are made of autobots AND decepticons, I do trust them to act fairly to all bots. As a show of good faith, I will look into the case to ensure all was done in fairness" she announced

Astrotrain frowned in disdain, and all other eyes were on soundblaster. He looked blankly back at her, showing his usual lack of emotion to her words.

"I consider that an acceptable response"

"good. Tell me what you know about bulkhead and slipstream, together. I take it as "ring leader" of the local cons you knew"

"Affirmative, there is nothing that I do not know"

"go on"

"I was well aware of their…collusion; I had no feelings or interest either way about it. I do know that many decepticons did consider it a betrayal on her part. There are some among us that may have the ability to act on it, but none that I am associated with. None of the bots here or connected with us were in involved. That is all I know"

"really" she asked skeptically

"you heard him, soundblaster don't lie, now get lost lady" astrotrain growled

Soundblaster eyed astrotrain menacingly before turning back to the prime.

"I'm afraid there is no other way I can assist you at this juncture. But slipstream was one of use, and I do want justice for who killed her. Should you need any additional help, you know where to find us. I suggest astrotrain go with you to assist in your investigation…"

"what?!" the triple changer choked

"…as a show of good faith in our prime, and as a means of settling his tab"

"no...but…grrrr….ah fine"

The pair left the establishment amid a symphony of cruel decepticon laughter at their comrades' predicament. Snowstorm transformed and astrotrain went to his land based alt mode and they took off. They went only a few blocks when two bots pounced out to corner them.

"back off con" drift growled

He and riptide drew their weapons before snowstorm stepped in front of them.

"stand down you two, astrotrain has…volunteered to aid in the investigation. He's part of team prime now"

"I am not saying that" he growled

"yeah me either, sounds lame" riptide added

"well I like it and I'm using it"

"we headed right here after Lancer confirmed that they got nothing from little iacon. Jazz just radioed us that the science guild had responded that they were done with their examination of the bodies. What next?" Drift reported

"tell jazz we will head to meet them. He can send lancer to meet us there and he and the others can return to the station"

"will do prime"

"huh, you're a bit more commanding then I thought you were. Im a little impressed" astrotrain admitted

"thank you" she smiled

The 4 bots rendezvoused with lancer at the new science academy. They were met by its head, Perceptor, who brought them to meet with the rest of the guild members; brainstorm, deluge, oil slick, proxima nautica and the mini-con Brains. Perceptor led them away to the examination room where the greyed bodies of bulkhead and slipstream lay. Knowing what she did now, it was much harder to look upon the deactivated forms of the poor couple.

"After examination of the bodies, we have deduced that it was clearly an energy enhanced blade of unknown origin that was the cause of the fatal injuries. Also strange is that the pattern of the strikes and wounds indicate the attack was random and apparently rage fueled. It was not a strategic killing or assasination" he reported

Astrotrain had spent many years fighting in the war; he'd seen lots of terrible things, done plenty himself, but he found a strange tinge of sympathy and sadness at it all.

"thank you, is there anything else?"

"well, we did notice some abnormalities in slipstreams physiology, suggesting…"

Suddenly the diminutive autobot cosmos, who acted as a messenger and courier, burst in.

"Snowstorm prime, jazz sends an urgent message for you to come to security central, there is an emergency!"

"oh great. thank you perceptor, let us know if you find out anything else"

"of course prime" he frowned, disappointed about not finishing his report

The team left quickly and headed to meet with jazz, though astrotrain switched to his flight mode and took off ahead of them. So many worries went through the primes mind on what else could be wrong. They arrived and were led to a secluded room, but jazz and astrotrain met them at the door before they entered, a look of misery on the formers face.

"jazz, what's wrong?"

"there's been another killing"