Breakfast arrived the next morning without death and everyone seemed able to talk, if slightly tensed still over the videos last night. Nobody wanted to talk about the videos for fear of getting everyone hopes down. For now, everybody tried to kept it on casual topics, but they were running out of things to talk about. Talking serious about the war would just open old wounds and it didn't have many humorous moments either. Boredom was settling in.

Once breakfast was over, small groups set off to separate areas, Vortex and Drift staying behind to cover the energon in there. Hoist and Soundwave went off to the groundbridge in the hopes of using it to get out of the academy, Soundwave doing most of the work on the groundbridge due to his extreme familiarity with the device, leaving Hoist to work on the control panel controlling it. "Currently reattaching the wires from the spacebridge to the control panel," Hoist told Soundwave as he attached the wires, a few hours into the repairs. "How's the groundbridge coming along?"

"Going well," Soundwave answered in Shockwave's voice as he stood back from the bridge and looked at it. "if I'm correct, everything is in place and only the control panel is needed to work it."

"Alright. Just let me place this back," Hoist replied as he put the panel back in place. "Okay. Do it." Soundwave did immediately, inputting a location inside the building and pressed a button, making the bridge come alive and bathe the room in a green light.

"It turns on, now to see if it works," Soundwave said, entering the bridge and leaving Hoist by himself. 10 seconds later, the bridge turned off automatically. Hoist went and turned the thing back on, keeping it on. Hoist waited for roughly a minute before Soundwave came back in and Hoist took his hand off the button, leaving the spacebridge to turn off by himself.

"Looks like it works just fine," Hoist noticed.

"Yes and it's almost time for lunch. We should leave," Soundwave told him.

"Go on ahead. There are a couple of things here that will take me a minute to do. Don't let me keep you up," Hoist told him, heading to the back of the panel again and removed it.

"As you wished," Soundwave agreed, walking out of the room. Hoist took poff the panel and quickly inserted a RAM, ROM, and memory drive on it and closed the panel shut and headed out of the room.

25 minutes into lunch and the majority of the people had already left, leaving the few dredges of people behind: Shockwave, Soundwave, Hoist, Perceptor, and Ratchet. Everyone else was heading for separate areas to prepare for later. A small party was going to be initiated after dinner today. The idea was co-opted by Swindle and Smokescreen, who reason that the group needed a moral boost. The group consented, on the grounds that no low-grade or anything like that would be used, as overloaded robots was the perfect timing to let a murder go unnoticed. The two relented and got the place set up for it, with the help from some others, leaving the rest to do whatever.

The five left behind agreed that they wouldn't be going to the party and would just spend the day by themselves. They were currently just idling chatting with each other. "So, what's with up with the injector?" Ratchet asked, nodding his head to the device in front of Shockwave.

"Since I have no orifice in which to ingest the energon, I have to inject it with this," Shockwave answered. I always inject in thirty minute intervals for a quarter of the injector," Shockwave answered.

"Oh, yes, you did had that most deplorable punishment, am I correct? Empurta?" Perceptor questioned.

"Indeed, I did. It's something that I resented, but have grown to appreciate for making me what I am now."

"Doesn't explain where the giant arm cannon come from," Hoist mentioned.

"It was simply an attachment that I decided to add after losing it to the gaping maw of Grimlock," Shockwave answered.

"It was a painful procedure, if medical records are correct," Soundwave said, in Thundercracker's voice.

"Who was it that added it?" Ratchet asked.

"Knock Out, correct?" Soundwave asked Shockwave.

"That would be correct," Shockwave agreed.

"Hmph, makes sense. I may fight with him a lot, but he almost as good a medic as me. Almost," Ratchet consented.

"Where did the gun come from?" Hoist wondered.

"Do I really need to answer that?" Shockwave asked.

"Swindle," Hoist answered his owned question. "Don't know why I even asked that."

"I have no logical answer for that," Shockwave replied, injecting himself with another quarter of the energon, leaving half left. "If you excuse me, I need to head back to the lab," Shockwave told them, getting up, grabbing the injector, and heading out of the room.

"Wait for me," Perceptor said, heading up to the lab, leaving the three by themselves.

"Well then, looks like lunch is officially over," Hoist muttered. "Hey Soundwave, since we're done with the groundbridge for now, you want to take watch over the energon?" Hoist asked him.

"I will," Soundwave agreed.

"Alright, so, I'll go do, something," Ratchet said, heading out of the room.

"Alright, so we got the poker table over here," Smokescreen said at one of the corners of the lounge. "Can easily fit nine players and a dealer."

"Got the pool table over here," Swindle told him, adjusting the table. "The guy took a lot of cues from human culture."

"Tell me about it," Smokescreen agreed, looking over at place. "Although, I guess it isn't too bad. Humans have got quite a few entertaining gambling games. I've seen a few of them around Cybertron and played a few of them," Smokescreen mentioned.

"Makes sense. I mean, we've been maintaining good relations with humans. Makes sense a few of them would get imported over here."

"Right," Smokescreen muttered as Swindle inspected the table before granting it a seal of approval. "Hey, Swindle?"

"What."

"Do you think anybody is actually going to murder anybody?" he asked. Swindle thought that through before answering.

"I'd say probably," he answered, causing a grimace to form on Smokescreen's face. "Hey, don't give me that look! I'm just stating my opinion. I could be wrong, you know," Swindle told him.

"Yeah, I know, but you're probably right," Smokescreen said, looking stress. "Best we can do is wait until Optimus rescues us and hope no one dies."

"Do you honestly still think Optimus is still capable of saving us?" Swindle asked.

"Hey, doesn't hurt to hope," he told him.

"Yeah, you try saying that when the first murder happens," Swindle mocked, before heading to the bar and getting himself some low-grade.

"Hey, no low-grade. Remember?"

"They said none during the party. Didn't say anything about before," Swindle reminded him before talking a gulp.

"Aren't you afraid someone is going to murder you if you get overloaded?" Smokescreen asked.

"Maybe, but I got a 1 in 29 chance of being murder, so I won't worry too much," Swindle told him.

"You realize you will increase your chances of dying by a lot if you drink anything," Smokescreen reminded him. "Also, you are a light-weight." Swindle glanced at him a second with a cube in his hand before shrugging him off and downing some. "You just sealed your fate," Smokescreen snarked which was responded by Swindle's middle finger.

"Exactly why are you going to the party?" Wildrider asked Dead End as he was buffing himself in preparation for the party.

"To see if I can prevent any murder. Why else would I go?" Dead End told him. "Lots of drinks going around, plenty of people trying to relax and not think of the killer slipping them some acid in their drink. The killer could move their plan ahead of time in order to take advantage of the opportunity," Dead End told him simply. "I'm sure I'm not the only one with that thought in mind. I'm sure Nightbeat will be watching the whole thing from the corner of a room by himself. While he's doing that, we'll try and socialize with the rest."

"Are you capable of socializing with people without freaking them out with all your death talk?" Wildrider asked.

"Probably not, but it's worth a shot."

"Can you at least tell me who killer is supposed to be?" Wildrider asked.

"I guess I can," Dead End conceded. "The killer is..."

Nightbeat walked in the third floor lounge to see Swindle blubbering sadly to himself on the bar while Smokescreen was busy making the final touches. "What's up with Swindle?" Nightbeat asked as he entered.

"Uh, yeah, he decided to exploit a loophole in your rule and drink some low-grade before the party started," Smokescreen answered.

"Dammit, really?" he asked and Smokescreen gave a shake of confirmation. "How many?" Smokescreen raised a single finger. "One? Seriously?"

"Yeah, he's quite a lightweight," Smokescreen replied, turning to Swindle. "Isn't that right, Swindle?"

"Yeah, you're right, which makes sense. I'm nothing but a criminal who takes advantage of people's weaknesses. I'm so disgusting, so I deserve this," Swindle gloomily replied.

"Yeah, another thing. He's not a happy drunk, but a sad one."

"A-another thing. Everybody is just going out and selling themselves out these days. They just go out there and sell their bodies like they are a fresh batch of high-grade to a bunch of wreckers. It's so depressing."

"Wow. I thought it was impossible to out-depress Dead End," Nightbeat replied, his optics widening at the revelation. "I owe him an apology."

"Yeah, well, it looks like we're ready for the party and I might let Swindle turned in early for the day," he said, glancing at Swindle, who was tilting his cube over to see if anything was left.

"Nothing left, just like this life," Swindle murmured, looking for another cube.

"If that is a look into Swindle inner psyche, I don't want to see anything else," Nightbeat said. "I'll get him to my room."

"Why you're room?" Smokescreen asked.

"Because, you're going to tell everybody that he's in his room for tonight at dinner. That way, any killers wishing to take advantage of an overloaded Swindle doesn't know where he is."

"I'm worried," Chromedome said as he and Rewind hung around his room.

"Why?" Rewind asked.

"I got a bad feeling that a bad thing will be happening in the party," Chromedome told him.

"That's just your nerves talking," Rewind told him. "I'm sure we'll just go there, have a good time, and no one will be murder at the party."

"Yeah, maybe. Still, I think we should play it safe and stay in our rooms," Chromedome suggested.

"Chromey, it's a large amount of people in one area. Everyone will be watching each other and no one will dare make a murder," Rewind told him.

"Yeah, I guess you make a point," Chromedome agreed.

"Plus, I will be as paranoid as the pits at the party and will make sure I'm easily seen at all times and every cube of energon I drink will be easily seen," Rewind comforted.

Chromedome thought it over before saying, "I guess that can work out."

"Great, I know no one will be murder at the party."

Nightbeat quickly slide his electroID down his door, unlocking it. He quickly opened the door, and let him and Swindle in. "You know what I did before I... became an arms dealer," Swindle slurred as Nightbeat supported him in.

"What?" Nightbeat asked. Swindle had been saying depressing stuff during the whole way down, making Nightbeat slightly question his fate in life.

"I used to be an arsonist," he told him as the door closed behind them.

"What?!" Nightbeat asked loudly.

"Yeah, see, the Iacon Fire Department was not having enough calls to fit their budget, so they needed a little help. So they hired me to set fires in abandoned buildings to increased calls. More fires means the budget stays good and I got paid pretty nicely for it. I know a lot about fires now," Swindle told him. He slightly giggled to himself, which was odd, considering his current behavior. "One time, I made a mistake. I thought a building was empty, when really, some of the homeless was staying in a secret room. Thirteen people die that day, and I didn't even gave it a second thought." At that, he gave a sharp bitter laugh. "I'm a horrible person. You must hate me," Swindle chanted.

"You need to rest, now go to recharge," he told him.

"Alright, no need to be pushy," Swindle told him as he took a rested on Nightbeat's berth. Nightbeat watched him as he recharged and then silently made out of the room, letting the sleeping drunk sleep off his alcohol. He closed his door silently, before noticing two other people step out of their rooms.

"I can't believe you lied to me," Wildrider complained.

"Wouldn't be the first time. Now come on, it's time we head to dinner."

Dinner came and everybody attended. Some people, mainly the Combaticons, wondered where Swindle was, but Smokescreen assured them that Swindle was sleeping off a cube of high-grade he drank. "Lightwight," Vortex murmured to himself. The other person missing was Shockwave, which worried some people, but Soundwave explained that Shockwave wished to remained in his room to conduct a couple of experiments with some chemicals he brought into his room. That eased their thoughts and they kept on socializing until eight, where they all ended dinner and Smokescreen led everybody who wanted to party to the third floor lounge.

The only ones left behind were Nautilator and Bludgeon. The former because he was sure no one wanted him and the latter because he didn't do parties, period. The two were practically sitting next to each other, due to their positions at the table usually has Drift in-between them. Nautilator tried not to be freaked about by the killing machine sitting next to him. If there was someone he was sure would kill first, it would be him, which is why he was wondering to himself why the frag was he sitting next to him.

"I gotta go," Nautilator said, standing up.

"Stay," Bludgeon ordered. Nautilator sat his aft back down.

"Uh, why?" Nautilator asked, fearing for his life.

"I need someone to talk too," he answered simply, which confused the Seacon. "Go ahead, regale me with tales from your past."

"Uh, why?" he repeated.

"We were all chosen for our talents. I simply wished to know how far your luck extends," he answered. Nautilator had to admit, Bludgeon was acting not quite how he expected him to. Then again, all he heard were legends of his brutality from other people. He never actually met the guy in person.

"Ugh, it's nothing special-"

BANG

"Don't you dare say that!" Bludgeon yelled at him "You were named the Ultimate Luck for a reason, which fits you, as the only way someone as pathetic as you could've survive on the battlefield so long is if you were extremely lucky. So, tell me," Bludgeon said, edging his face closer to Nautilator, "how an insignificant worm like you outlast for so many eons of war without dying. I'm listening with rapt attention."

Hoist stood outside his door, trying to consider whether he should go to the party or not. On the one hand, he had always been the quiet type and didn't enjoy events with large groups. He barely heard the footsteps behind him, but noticed them all the same to turn around and noticed Soundwave knocking on Shockwave's door. Shockwave answered almost immediately and took the injector full of energon from Shockwave. "You have my gratitude," Shockwave told him.

"Noted," Soundwave answered, walking off, leaving Shockwave to close the door behind him. Hoist watched the two go before deciding on what to do. He didn't want to do nothing all day, but he didn't want to go party. He quickly made an idea. He entered his room for a few moments and exited, carrying a chair in his grip. He laid his chair down at the stairs and took and seat. He decided to play hall monitor to make sure nothing goes wrong in the lower floors and lead any early quitters to their room.

"Alright, are we all ready?" Smokescreen asked everybody. "Good, I officially declare it party time!" he told the crowd and was met with a chorus of approvals. Smokescreen could barely hold his smirk back.

They might just make it through this party time.