Chapter 2: Hope Shattering on the Ground (Begin)
(Ab)normal Days
Day 5
"This is an announcement. It is now 7 am. Have a wonderful day."
Bludgeon awoken to the sound of the annoying high pitch voice of the bear. He gave a grunt as he blitzed out of his room and down the steps. He would be lying if he said that the events of the previous day hadn't affected him. Before, he thought about participating in the games, but the risk of doing that proven to be too much risk. Soundwave's crime was complex and he was caught and executed. It was likely he would be caught as well and executed. It was best for him to stay back, observe the others, and help when he needed to. He didn't cooperate much with people, but this was an exception. He just needed to figure out which ones to actually trust.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and headed into the lunchroom. He quickly grabbed a cube and left the room. Of course, he wanted to isolate himself from the others for a little while as well. Everyone was bound to be on edge today. He reached the top of the stairs and headed for his room, but was stopped by a peculiar sight.
The door which blocked the way to a new section of the building was opened.
Bludgeon was confuse by this until he remember one of the rules.
4. Available areas of the academy may be explored without limitations. More areas will be explored as time goes on.
The execution must've prompted the bear to open it. Bludgeon glared at it before walking towards it. He might as well take the risk. He entered what appeared to be a walkway. Right next to him, he saw stairs that led up and down. He looked down to see the ground that looked very similar to his. He looked up to see three similar walkway on top, matching the amount of floors on the building. His observation complete, he head down the walkway, which curved slightly to the right at a 45 degree angle. He reached the end to see the set of stairs again and an open door. Slowly, Bludgeon entered the room.
It didn't take long to figure out what the room was. It was a large, well-built room with a blue color scheme to it. There was shelves everywhere that contained datapads with a variety of different information on them. The outer sections above the first floor all had shelves on them with a catwalk at four points leading to the center where a stairwell was. In the center on the first floor were a bunch of desks where people could sit at.
The room was a library.
Bludgeon gazed at the massive amount of information around him. He knew that the attempts to preserve Cybertronan texts were mostly successful, but he didn't know they were this good. He thought for sure that eons of war would render most texts destroyed and no longer able to be read. Obviously, he underestimated them.
And it didn't take long for him to realize he wasn't the only one there. At one of the desks, he could see Dead End reading something, more than likely poetry about death of some sort, and Wildrider looking and throwing away datapads. Over in the shelves near him was Beachcomber, perusing the shelves a bit. The first ones didn't surprised him as they have always been early risers, but the second one did. He had never seen that one risen up this early before. He was suspicious of this until he noticed his movements. Slow, sluggish, not much energy. It was then that Bludgeon realize that he didn't wake up early, he didn't sleep at all. He must've been one of the more heavily effected of the people here. If his information about him was correct, he was pacifistic by nature and abhor violence, but still participated in the war as a soldier. Bludgeon wondered how he was this heavily affected when he participated in that conflict.
"So this is what the doors opened," he heard behind him, surprising him. He reached around for his sword, before realizing that his sword was still missing, and turned around to meet his intruder, Jazz.
"You are a quiet one," Bludgeon said, glaring at him.
"Yeah, well, I'm head of espionage for a reason," Jazz reminded him as he looked around the area. "This place is pretty nifty."
"This place is well-stocked with information," Bludgeon agreed, heading down the catwalk with Jazz following right behind him. "Perhaps we could use the information granted to us here to find out who exactly locked us in this prison."
"My thoughts exactly," Jazz said, as they headed down the catwalk. The second they reached the first floor, Bludgeon was greeted by a datapad smacking him in the face from Wildrider as he haphazardly tossed them around.
"Would you stop you careless tossing of information?" Bludgeon asked. Wildrider looked over at the dangerous being before complying with a grunt. He picked up a random datapad from ground and went over to take a seat.
"I see you two have finally discover the new area," Dead End greeted the two as he continue to read his datapad.
"Yeah, the place is pretty nice," Jazz complimented.
"You know they have human reading material here as well," Dead End told them.
"They do?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah, I found them," Beachcomber said as he brought some more datapads with him. "We're trying to look for more information about what happened to Earth."
"That's why the manic one was throwing datapads left and right. He was looking for more information on the current situations."
"Yes, correct. Thank you Beachcomber for informing me about that, by the way," he thanked the geologist.
"No problem," he said, taking a seat and slumping down in it.
"What is wrong with you," Bludgeon asked him.
"I didn't sleep much last night," Beachcomber confessed.
"Yes, why is that?" Dead End asked.
"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to," Jazz told him, indicating to the others that he already know.
"Nah, that's alright," Beachcomber said, prepping himself to explain. "You see, I have post-traumatic stress disorder," Beachcomber told them. "If I see any violent scenes, I run the risk of breaking down. I was freaking out a lot when I saw Soundwave get executed and those scenes from Earth. I spent most of the night calming myself down," Beachcomber explained.
"How did that happen?" Bludgeon asked.
"Shockwave, that fragger," Beachcomber cursed. "Look, I didn't said anything yesterday out of respect for the dead, but I'm happy he died. That dude messed me up and I'm glad karma finally got around to finishing him off. He had it coming."
"Maybe," Jazz agreed, "but he was still critical in rebuilding Cybertron. Without him, we've probably been set back a couple of years," Jazz told him.
"Soundwave was also useful in the whole directing of resources scrap he always do," Wildrider mentioned. "He knew had to get stuff from places to place the best out of anyone."
"I'm surprised you know that," Dead End mentioned.
"Hey, I pay attention sometimes," Wildrider remind him. "It just that most of the time, it comes across as blah, blah, blah. It gets so annoying that I have no choice but to pay attention to what you say to keep me entertain."
"Oh no, listening. How terrible," Dead End snarked from beside him.
"I know, right?" Wildrider ignorantly agreed. Dead End glared at his comrade for a split second before heading back to his source material.
"Anyway, back to current affairs," Dead End said, trying to get back on track, "we've been looking at Earth sources to find out what happen over there, but so far, we've come up with nothing."
"It's kind of a bummer," Beachcomber mentioned. "You think a world-wide catastrophe would have more news behind it."
"How about any news about what happen outside?" Bludgeon asked.
"I doubt we'd find anything about it," Jazz said. "What happen outside could only happen within the past couple of days and I doubt the library is that updated," Jazz explained.
"Do you think what's happening in here could have any connection with what going on outside?" Beachcomber asked.
"I doubt it, but it's a possibility," Dead End agreed. "The fact that both events are happening at the same time could mean something."
"First rule of espionage: there are no coincidences," Jazz told him. "They have to be connected somehow."
"Probably, but how?" Dead End asked. "Why do something like this?"
"According to the bear, he says his goals are to cause despair by getting us to kill each other, but there has to be an ulterior motive behind it," Bludgeon mentioned.
"Wait, remember what we said about Shockwave and Soundwave? We said that reconstruction efforts would take longer without them. What if that was there plan?"
"Then why is Wildrider here?" Dead End asked, glaring at the manic. "Reconstruction efforts would probably be quicker if he wasn't around."
"Eh, he might be right about that," Wildrider conceded. "I'm not much help at building things."
"Yeah, that's a point, but still. There are many people here critical to the reconstruction efforts. You think they target some of us for that?"
"You know, if his goal was to cause despair, I would make sense. Less people to help the reconstruction effort would take longer and may cause despair."
"If that's correct, than why didn't they target more of us?"
"Maybe they kidnapped some of them to lessen suspicion?" Beachcomber said. "If everyone was a member of the reconstruction, it would seem very suspicious so they get others that have no involvement to decrease initial suspicion."
"That… makes sense," Jazz agreed. "If there was more people here connected to the reconstruction project, we probably would've assume something was up and not come at all."
"Which means this was nothing but a trap from the very beginning," Bludgeon finished.
"More than likely," Dead End agreed.
"We should head to the lunchroom. Everybody's probably up and wondering where we are," Jazz mentioned. "We can tell them about the new information we found."
"Let's move."
The five of them entered the room at eight. When they entered, they saw that a couple of them were already standing and getting ready to go search for them, even though Swindle was telling them they were probably already searching the new area. The five quickly grabbed there cubes and took their place at the table, noticing the gaps where Shockwave and Soundwave usually sit, isolating Hound, Vortex, and Nightbeat by themselves. Immediately, the group was asking questions and they explained to them what they had found and their hypothesis for being there.
"Wow, that's a lot to take in," Nautilator said.
"How did you already know about the new area, Swindle?" Dead End asked.
"I woke up early, at about five, and went out to see the open door. I just took a cursory look before grabbing a couple datapads on finance and heading back to my room," Swindle told them.
"I guess that explanation is acceptable."
"So, back to the point, the main reason why we're here is to stymie reconstruction efforts?" Onslaught asked.
"We think that is just a step they are making for their true purpose, which is to cause despair," Jazz told them.
"Despair?"
"Yeah, it's probably some underground terrorist group who decided to jump up into the big leagues."
"And the headmaster is more than likely one of the terrorist involved in this operation," Nightbeat answered.
"More than likely," Jazz answered. "When we get out, we have to try our hardest to stop them before they grow any bigger."
"They are probably also the ones involved with what's going on outside," Beachcomber added. "At the very least, they're involved."
"Alright, is there anything else you can tell us?" Mirage asked.
"Not that I can think of," Jazz said.
"Alright, than I say we end breakfast and searched the library thoroughly," Mirage told them. "Any objections?" Not a single person said anything. "Alright, let's go."
The next three hours was spent scouring the impressively sized library for information. At the end of it, they all convene in the center.
"So, anybody find anything?" Blast Off asked the group.
Everybody answered with a negative
"Scrap, let's all head to lunch and plan the next search better."
An hour later, they were all done, but came up with a plan to search in pairs in order to not miss anything. At that moment Bludgeon and Beachcomber were searching one side of the fourth floor together. It was mostly quiet between the two as they searched the area. Finally, one of the, spoke up.
"So, Bludgeon, why are you here?" Beachcomber asked.
"Why do you ask that?" Bludgeon questioned, not liking where this was going.
"Well, you were the trusted bodyguard for Jhiaxus until his death and you dropped off the map, never to be seen again until you showed up here. Seriously, no one should be able to keep off the grid for that long."
Bludgeon thought this through before replying. "They found me."
"Huh?"
"I was holed up inside a newly active volcano in-between Ibex and Helex. I felled asleep one day and saw a message lying next to me. They left no traces. I had to know how they found me so I came here," Bludgeon explained. "If they could find me, than the Autobots could as well."
"A take no chances kind of person?" Beachcomber asked.
"Correct."
"Ah," Beachcomber said, before he started up again "how did Jhiaxus die? I wasn't there when he was finished off. I was trapped inside Shockwave's lab at the time," Beachcomber asked.
"That… is a bit of a personal question," Bludgeon told him.
"I told you I was tortured and have PTSD. I'm sure you can handle it," Beachcomber told him.
"Emph," Bludgeon grunted, "fine. He was developing annihilation generators in a space generators," Bludgeon told him.
"Annihilation generators? Holy scrap!" Beachcomber exclaimed.
"Yes, I know. Anyway, the Autobots attacked and cause heavy damage to one of the generators, causing a meltdown. Within minutes, the place would blow up. The Autobots escape through the space bridge. We headed to the escape pods when an explosion separated us. I reached one, but Jhiaxus didn't," Bludgeon explained. "He was turned into particles while I crashed into the wasteland Cybertron."
"Wow, that's pretty bad."
"Yes, it was."
"Did they found a body?"
"No and for good reason. His body was crushed into particles, like I said before. It would be impossible to find anything from his corpse."
"Yesh, talk about going out with a bang."
"Quite."
"Oh, did you see the new rules?"
"New rules?"
"Yeah, look," Beachcomber said as he got his electroID out and went to the rules. "Look," he said, showing it to him.
11. All teachers MUST vote in the trial. Failure to do so will result in punishment for the individuals who didn't vote.
12. No one is allow to lend their electoID's out to anyone.
13. More rules will be added when necessary.
"I understand why he included the first one, but the second?"
"Something tells me we'll find out about the meaning for the rule soon."
"Found anything," Nightbeat asked of Mirage.
"I'm looking at Earth's files on planetary cataclysms, but I'm find nothing," Mirage told him.
"Ah, shame."
"Hey, Nightbeat?" Mirage asked.
"What?"
"Thanks for solving the case," Mirage thanked.
"It's what I do. They don't call me the Ultimate Detective for nothing."
"Eh, that's true." A few minutes of silence.
"Hey, Nightbeat?"
"Hmph?"
"I don't know about this being a trap from the start," Mirage told him.
"Oh? And why is that?" Nightbeat asked.
"Because you're here," Mirage told him.
"Come again?" Nightbeat asked, confused.
"I mean, if they were going to do this whole murder mystery thing amongst all of you, why did they invite you?" Nightbeat pondered that.
"Maybe to make things fairer," he theorize.
"No, terrorist wouldn't do that. They would want to make sure that we have the highest percentage of failure as they possibly can," Mirage explained.
"What are you getting at?"
"Two suggestions. Both of them aren't pretty."
"Worse first."
"They expect you to commit the perfect murder," Mirage explained.
"What?!" Nightbeat said, shocked, nearly dropping his datapad.
"Look, you're the Ultimate Detective. That means you know everything about leaving evidence. You wouldn't leave anything for us to find," Mirage told him. "What if that was your entire reason to being here. To win this," Mirage told him.
"That is a-" He wanted to say ridiculous idea, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it makes. Who else could commit a better plan murder than him? No one, that's who. "Other suggestion?" Nightbeat asked.
"That it was hastily planned," Mirage told him. "The Headmaster would be innocent in this scenario, but what if the terrorist dispose of him and created the game we're in?" Mirage told him.
"No, that can't be it. Something like this would take several weeks to prep for. To do it simply on a whim is unlikely."
"Well then, I see no other reason to have you here," Mirage told him. "They expect you to be the one that succeeds. Best try your hardest to disappoint them."
"You would think they would have more than this," Swindle complained to Brawl as he looked over the latest gossip about celebrities on Earth. "I could really care less about the type of clothes a celebrity wears, especially sense they mostly follow the same pattern. They wear a custom article of clothing from some swanky custom brand. It's almost sad how they all follow the same trend."
"I don't think gossiping about the gossip on celebrities is very productive," Brawl told him, looking through some more articles.
"Yeah, whatever. I'll continue to look- oh! Now this is interesting. I think I may have found our first real lead," Swindle told him.
"Oh?" Brawl said as he came to look. "What is it? Did a celebrity set off a nuke?"
"Nah, paparazzi would be on them in a heartbeat. Look at this headline," he ordered, turning his datapad over to show him a head.
"Opening of new school," Brawl read. "I don't see how this relates to a global riot on Earth."
"Because, it takes place at the prestigious, one-of-a-kind Hope's Peak Academy."
"Say what?!" Brawl exclaimed as he read through this. "There's one on Earth too?"
"Yep, I decided to check the backlogs to real late back and check local news in popular cities. Here you have the school, right in the 1930's."
"A few years after we made contact with the humans and the war ended."
"Uh-huh. According to this, some Cybertronians may have been involved in the construction of it," Swindle told him.
"Alright, this is pretty good, but how do we know this Hope's Peak is related to ours?"
"Read the way to gain admittance into it," Swindle told him.
"'In order to gain admittance into the school, Students must have good grades and… be exceptional in a certain field above all else,'" Brawl stretch the last part out as he realized that the schools had to be related now.
"See what I'm getting at now?" Swindle asked him.
"Yes, I do," Brawl muttered. "They have to be related with each other. There is no other way to describe why they have the same name and the same way of getting in. But the question is still how?"
"That's going to take a lot more time," Swindle answered. "Onslaught is going to be on our spinal struts for this."
"No kidding. "
After a few more hours of searching, the group reconvene and headed back to the lunchroom at 9:00 P.M. They quickly exchange what they found. Most of the information had been useless until they got down to Brawl and Swindle, who quickly disclose the information about the other Hope's Peak academy over on Earth.
"That's a good fine," Onslaught praised the two. "We finally got a lead about this place."
"All in a day's work," Swindle said with a nod from Brawl.
"So, what exactly does this mean?" Smokescreen asked. "Why is there another Hope's Peak Academy here on Cybertron?"
"And who commissioned it?" Counterpunch asked them.
"We'll have to continue this tomorrow," Onslaught told them.
"Sounds reasonable," Jazz agreed.
"Combaticons," he commanded. Each one raise their head in interest. "We're getting up at six tomorrow." Immediately, this was meant with groans of disapproval from most of them.
"Onslaught, I doubt waking up early is going to change how our search results go," Vortex told him.
"Yeah, boss. This is completely unneeded."
"Agree," Blast Off shot off.
"Too bad, we're doing it anyway. Most of you have been slacking off and I need to make sure we're all fit when the time comes to take revenge on the bear."
"Speaking of the bear, where is he? I haven't seen him all day," Blurr asked.
"Must be too busy planning to deal with us," Onslaught told them. "We should take this time to investigate as much as we can!"
"He has a point," Chromedome agreed. "He's obviously working out the next motive so we should take this time to investigate as much as we can."
"Well then, since it's almost ten, we should all go to sleep," Onslaught told them. "Especially you, Beachcomber. You don't look good."
Beachcomber, who was in the middle the middle of falling asleep, snap his head up when he was called. "Oh, thanks dude. I really need it."
"You should probably sleep in longer than usual," Onslaught ordered. "Now then, meeting adjourned."