"please…don't tell me that" prime pleaded
"well, it is" astrotrain answered with no attempt at tact
Jazz chose not to show the body, for it was in a graphic state. Drift alone requested a closer look and was brought in by barricade, who for once displayed no animosity under the situation. Even he was not prepared for the gruesome sight; poor nightbeats' chest was ripped open and his spark yanked out, dangling by a few wires and his head looked like it had been half wrenched off his torso.
"what happened?" prime demanded
"nightbeat is one of the best investigators ever. I decided to send him and flareup to investigate by the south end. According to her, he got a lead and they were following it when she was knocked out from behind. When she came to, nightbeat was real dead"
"what was the lead?"
"he didn't tell her, that wasn't really his style; he just kinda mutters and does everything in his head and expected everyone else to keep up"
"how is she?"
Jazz pointed over to where the emotional femme was sitting and being comforted by other officers. Snowstorm moved to go over to her but riptide stopped her and shook his head with a frown.
"not the time prime, not the time"
"Worse to is trainee megaplex, who I sent on another lead in the mid-city, has gone missing. Signs of a struggle were found and we are following up but we fear the worst. Obviously he must have found something too"
"oh primus, this is all going to the pit and there's nothing I can do. I'm failing as prime" she grimaced
"I've seen worse" astrotrain managed a smirk
Drift soon returned from the room, revealing from what he could see, a different method was used to kill nightbeat. Weather the killer did it intentionally or it was done by another were not clear. What was clear was that under the circumstances, it was no coincidence. Nightbeat was killed because he was close to discovering the identity or motive of the original murderer. The team spent hours at the station resting, comparing notes and theories. The prime, exhausted, watched the light snow fall as the day slipped into sunset. The first theory that was thrown out but rejected was that the humans were involved. She had limited the humans access to the city when she took office and save for special circumstances or select bots, the two species didn't fraternize much. She considered it an unnecessary extra worry.
The most prominent counter to that rule was the well-known autobots like bumblebee, Ratchet and a few others she couldn't remember, who had moved away from the city to live with the human family the autobots had worked with when they came to earth. Snowstorm couldn't really remember their name either, only that it was hard to pronounce. Outside of them, the primary transformers that lived away from the city were the "exiles", usually called the earth bots. They were certain bots that had greater connections to earth. There were the dinobots, or rather the 3 members of the second generation of the warriors built; a group of wild warriors who were created on earth by the autobots. They proved less civilized or otherwise did not feel accepted by the greater cybertronian society and now lived out of the autobots original ship base a few miles outside the city. There was Nightbird, a human-made ninja robot that was augmented and inducted by the decepticons that later gained sentience and Autobot X, a Frankenstein monster of spare autobot parts, which retained a replica of the mind of a human who had previously been bonded to it. Transmutate and Rampage were another duo; from the files prime read on her, she was an unstable bot, both in mind and power, who simply had too much difficulty adjusting to large crowds and areas. Rampage on the other hand was a mere murderous psychopath, with only his friendship with the gentle transmutate curbing his violent tendencies. Flamesnort was a beastly decepticon veteran stationed on earth for centuries and more than a bit senile. Also part of the group was the autobots jetfire and sky lynx; the former was a bot of cybertrons distant past, a scientist and explorer, who had spent centuries entombed in stasis on earth. He felt a much closer connection to the human world than his own after being freed. Sky Lynx on the other hand was simply too big and awkwardly shaped of a bot, being dragonian in design, to properly coexist with other bots within the city. Upon thinking of the outsiders, snowstorm suddenly had an epiphany and ran back to the others.
"I have it!" she shouted
"have what?" lancer asked
"According to perceptor, the first murders were perpetrated by a bladed weapon, correct?"
"sure prime, so?" jazz responded
"and I assume you compiled a list of all registered bots with them?"
"of course, but none met the qualifications of being the killer"
"then we would perhaps be looking for unregistered bots, like the dinobots perhaps"
"the dinobots wouldn't do this, ain't their style"
"maybe by your account but all options must be considered. From my point of view, they are rogue bots living off the grid and outside the law with unregistered weapons, including blades; even nightbird is known to wield swords if I recall"
"huh, I still say it's bunk but if you insist we can follow up"
"I intend to. Please radio the ark base and let them know we will be paying them a visit tomorrow but do not disclose the reason"
"but their our autobots, friends, we should…"
"that's an order, jazz"
"yes prime" he relented
Team Prime made for the ark the next day around noon, but hit a snag in another mild snow fall. The others found it cumbersome but as usual, it put the old ice inferno behind the prime at ease and content. She was surprised to come across another snow based bot on the road to the ark. Snowcat was a hardy decepticon but lacked the factions' signature ruthless nature. A bot of white and blue and mint highlights, not different from her own shades. He had a bright purple visor, a mouth plate and a breathing mask like apparatus over it. He had a pair of retractable skis from his legs ejected as he swerved down a snowy hill beside the road, yodeling all the way down.
"yohohoh, how we doing today?" he cackled madly
His comment seemed directed only to the other snow based bot. She transformed and smiled, laughing at the flabbergasting of his realization of who she was.
"it's good to see another bot who can properly appreciate this kind of lovely weather" she said
"it's what I'm built, or rebuilt for hahahah. Used to be a copter-bot but got reformatted into this, but I like this much better though"
"That thing you're doing in the snow, it's very interesting, what is it"
"I always just called it ice gliding, but the humans call it skiing. Either works"
"I'd love to learn some time though I don't think I have the balance needed"
"you'd be surprised"
They were interrupted by drift clearing his voice and the others gesturing for them to continue. After exchanging a friendly goodbye they transformed and left snowcat behind. He watched them go but as he went to head back up the hill again, he spotted a dark figure sticking out in the clear snow. It was a bot and given their position, they appeared to have been following the caravan.
"eh, you there, what you think you're doing?!" he stormed over for an answer
"well, seeing a prime flirt is quite a traumatizing sight" riptide spoke up
"I was not flirting; I just appreciate other bots who like extreme weather"
"riiiight" lancer teased playfully
"I did not get forced into this hunt to help a prime get a sparkmate" astrotrain groaned
"one, it's not a hunt; two, if any bot says that again, as prime, I will throw you in a cell for the rest of your miserable life"
There was only silence the rest of the drive to mount St. Hilary and the entrance to the ark base. Jetfire, acting as de-facto leader, was waiting at the entrance to welcome them. He was big, standing even a deal taller than astrotrain, which threw them all off.
"welcome snowstorm prime, we are honored by your visit"
"it's a pleasure to see where it all began for the autobots here on earth. I am just here to do an inspection for myself, figured it would be good to do in my position; talk to and get to know the bots and the such" she bluffed
"no problem at all, please come in"
They entered up the ramp of the ark cargo bay due to most of the ship being lodged into the rock of the mountainside, in actuality a dormant volcano. They passed through the large cargo bay, then through the rest of the ship, with jetfire acting as a very willing tour guide. Though it was all fascinating, it was far from what the prime was interested in. Finally they took an elevator up to a long hallway that opened into the command room, where the other residents were gathered. Nightbird sat alone on an old console, brooding; transmutate and Autobot X stood together beside an old conference table. Rampage stood in the shadows in the corner of the room, menacing and repellant in appearance. Flamesnort, who looked like a massive mechanical reptile, was curled up in the corner in oblivious recharge. But the true target of snowstorms investigation were standing grouped together to the left of the room; the dinobots; they were large, a bit bigger than astrotrain but clearly stronger. As she remembered, there had been an original trio of dinobots constructed, and then a secondary trio of reserve members. The original group had perished in a forgotten battle during the war, the remaining three remained aligned with the autbots until it's end before striking out on their own. She had read their stats and profiles the previous night, making it easy to recognize them. There was large and famously bad tempered snarl, who had become the de-facto head of the trio after the death of the legendary Grimlock. There was also the more friendly flyer swoop and the silent and reserved Slash. They certainly did live up to their reputation, looking like a real tough bunch; snarl and swoop stood taller than the prime, though slash was a deal shorter than them and even her. Surprising though was a min-con sized bot wearing a decepticon symbol standing over by the sleeping flamesnort.
"I beleive you know most of the bots here already, and this here is nickel; she moved in with us not to long ago" jetfire spoke up
"hm, small prime" snarl growled, unimpressed
The other two dinobots made varying noises of agreement.
She had grown tired of the charade and of other bots constantly judging her.
"I'm sorry to spoil this visit but the reason we are here is that we are investigating a series of murders" snowstorm spoke up
"wow, right to the point, nice" astrotrain smirked
That comment got the rooms full attention. All of the exiles eyes turned to ramapage instinctively, given his history. He shook his head, denying credit; he was always open about his atrocities, if he had done it, he would have admitted it.
"wait, what! Then why come here, are you actually saying we are suspect?" jetfire said defensively
"not all of you, and not officially" drift tried to make peace
"the first two murders were committed by an unknown assailant using a bladed weapon. All users within the city have been investigated and cleared. However, we do have 4 blade wielders here that needed to be checked"
Snarl stomped forward to within a few feet of the prime and glared down at her.
"you want my sword" he growled
Team prime stepped forward defensively but a hand gesture from snowstorm told them to stand back. The other ark bots likewise moved forward and tensed in case of a fight. She glared right back up at him intently. The last two days had really tested her qualifications as a prime and she was daring to believe she may actually be one. She was not going to let her resolve melt away now, not after the deaths and everything she was giving to this city and its people; and if she was gonna have to get trashed by a moody dinobot for them, then she would.
"turn over your sword for inspection, now!" she said in firm strong voice
Snarl continued to stare down, unmoving for almost a minute before her drew the sword menacingly. All eyes darted about nervously; hands were ready on triggers and weapon handles. He brought the sword over his head to strike, but instead twirled the handle is his hands and leaned downward and slowly handed it to her.
"stubborn, snarl like that" he growled
"I bet"
The sword was scanned and compared, as were swoops, slashs and nighbirds blades; all came up as negative matches to the wounds of the deceased. All bots were also confirmed as being within the perimeter of the mountain at the time of the murders. she never got to see sky lynx, who she was told recharged in a larger cavern of the mountain due to his size. With another dead end hit, goodbyes were exchanged and team prime headed out. Snarl however stopped her at the ship exit.
"wait, snarl want you to know, of all primes he seen…"
"yeah yeah, living up to the title, I've heard it"
"actually, wanna say you smallest of primes he know"
"oh"
"but pretty tough too"
"thanks, take care of things here ok"
She transformed and led her team back toward the city. Snarl, joined by jetfire, watched as they winded around the mountain road. With only the slightest glance over his shoulder, snarl could detect nightbird hiding in the shadows, as she usually did.
"follow her" jetfire ordered