Chapter 3
A day later, the officers were gathered again in the conference room, this time Hound and Smokescreen standing with them.
"We got somethin', it ain't much but it'll narrow things down a bit." Ironhide was saying, data pad in hand. "Show 'im Hound."
The scout raised one hand and projected a hologram of the control room on the table, a small image of Prowl seated at his workstation to the side of the main control panel. Ironhide consulted his datapad for a moment. "Goin' by what we found, Prowl must've heard somethin' cause he stopped typin' at 0234." The old mech began. Hound twitched his fingers and the tiny Prowl stopped working and swiveled around. "It must've been someone he knew, cause he was still sittin' when he waz shot. Blue' calculated th' trajectory an' damage, an' he figures that th' attacker was around about th' same height as Prowl, standin' two meters away when he fired. From th' burn pattern, he used his left hand t' do th' shootin'."
A blue wireframe silhouette appeared in the hologram and shot Prowl, the tactician slumping back in his chair, arms dangling. Ironhide continued. "After that, we figure that 'e had 'bout two minutes t' download th' virus, position Prowl an' get out." The wireframe quickly went through the described actions before re-positioning the body and fleeing the scene.
"Any thoughts, Smokescreen?" Prime asked the psychologist.
"Yes." The Subaru replied, speaking in tones of clinical detachment. "Placement of the body suggests familiarity with the victim, and wish to cause as little distress to the finders as possible. Someone with malicious intent would have turned the body to face the door, and if this were just a normal hit, they would have left the victim lying and not have taken the time to position him away from the door. Both actions appear to point to the attacker knowing both Prowl and us."
The Prime's forehead creased in thought. "Thank you Hound, Smokescreen. You're dismissed." The two Autobots saluted and left.
"It all seems t' point back t' one o' us." Ironhide shook his head. "Ah jest don't get it. Who coulda done this?"
"I am unsure." Optimus replied. "We must investigate all and any options before drawing a conclusion, Ironhide. Has there been any new information Jazz?"
"Nothin' that we didn't know already." The Porsche answered. "All o' Prowl's enemies that we know about are either dead an' gone or are accounted for, Bumblebee hasn't found anyone without an alibi, an' Mirage an' Chip are still wrestlin' with Teletran."
"Ah'm gonna go over th' evidence again." Ironhide suddenly announced. "Thar's somethang missin' here. If anyone finds anythang, send it over t' me."
0o0o0
Hours later, the russet hued Autobot was still standing over the tables strewn with various items and samples recovered from the control room. He picked up Prowl's scorched and punctured chest plate, studied it for a moment, then laid it aside, instead selecting two datapads. Ratchet had meticulously listed every damaged or missing component for the investigation, and Ironhide carefully scrutinised both the list and the inventory of items identified as coming from Prowl.
"Hold up a cycle, what's this?" He muttered to himself, sorting through the bagged components, even going as far as to open one or two containers to get a better look at their contents and jotting his findings down on another data pad.
That task complete, Ironhide decided to take another look through the holograms that Hound had recorded before turning in. Nothing in particular jumped out at him, until about the sixth image.
Ironhide paused, checked the timestamp, then cross-referenced with his own visual recordings. "Slaggin' little construct of an electro-glitch!" He roared in fury, activating his radio. "Prahme, git down t' th' evidence lab!"
There was a startled pause, then a quick "On my way."