AN: The frmatting in a couple of things is a bit confusing. I'm sorry for that.
The two of them stared at each other as they, really hoping this was just some shared dream they were having. One of them killing someone again? That was… that shouldn't happen. It wasn't supposed to happen. It's impossible. This was all nothing more than a dream. That's it. Just a
BZZZK
Their electroID buzzed to life, startling the two. The glance at each other before taking their electroID out and turning them on. The Evidence Bullet had an update symbol on it. The two glanced at each other.
"So, I guess this isn't a dream," Skywarp muttered, clicking the button. Jazz did the same and it took them to the evidence list of the second case. The only thing available was Monobear File #2. The two glanced at each other again. "Ready to figured out who died?" he asked him.
"Yeah, let's get it over with," Jazz murmured. Skywarp gave a slow nod before him and Jazz clicked it at the same time.
Ammo Gained: Monobear File #2
Victim: Vortex
Location of Discovery: Archives.
Additional Notes: Victim's body has sustained massive amounts of blunt force injury, multiple parts being dismember. Multiple stab wounds littered the body. Head decapitated.
"Vortex," Skywarp said, surprised. "I didn't think he would be a victim."
"Neither did I," Jazz agreed, putting up his electroID. "Well, let's make our way to the archives," Jazz told him.
"Wait, there's something odd about this," Skywarp noticed.
"Uh," Jazz said, before getting it back out and taking a second look. "Wait, I see what you mean. Neither the time nor the cause of death is listed. Now why is that?" Jazz questioned.
"I don't know. Let's go find out," Skywarp said, opening the door. Jazz followed quickly and the two of them quickly made their way over to the library. In there, everyone else was waiting, Most of them was looking confused, wondering how another murder could be committed. However, one individual was mad as hell.
"Which one of you did it!?" Onslaught yelled at the crowd of people, his remaining gestaltmates behind him. Brawl, like Onslaught, was angry, but was keeping his cool better than Onslaught, surprisingly. In fact, it looked like he was moving sluggishly. Blast Off was watching over everyone with an air of contempt for everyone around him. Swindle was staring at everyone, regarding them with suspicion, grasping a knife close to his chest.
"Onslaught, if you wish to solve the case, I recommend that instead of yelling at everyone, we look for evidence," Blast Off told his leader. Onslaught glared at his subordinate before backing off, heading towards the archives.
"Fine," he muttered, heading in. Jazz and Skywarp watched this with confusion at the scene in front of them. "Well, guess we'd better go help them," Jazz said, heading down the catwalks and down the staircase, Skywarp closed behind him. The two reached the bottom, and made their way to the entrance.
"Woah, what are you doing?" Brawl asked, getting in front of them. "Are you suicidal?"
"Huh?" Skywarp asked.
"In case you couldn't tell, Onslaught is on a rampage," Brawl told them.
"Okay, look. Me and Skywarp? Full-proof alibis. There was no way we could've murder him," Jazz told the brawler.
"Really? Why?"
"Me and him were slag-faced before 10 PM and didn't leave his room. There's high-grade stains and the room is trashed," Skywarp told Brawl. "I know, weird excuse for an alibi, but it's the truth." Brawl looked at the two suspiciously, before relenting, standing out of the way.
"Alright, truth is, we need as much help as we can," Brawl told the two, before glancing at Ratchet.
"Hey, you," he yelled for him.
"Yes?" Ratchet asked
"We need someone examining the body," Brawl told him.
"Right," Ratchet agreed, heading in the archives with the group. Jazz and Skywarp were a bit tensed at the first encounter of the body, but braved up and looked inside.
The archive looked very much the same, none of the computers being affected, but that didn't stop the sight before them. In a clearing the center, they could see two halves of a broken tables. Vortex's lower half was tied to it with strands of wires, one of the legs separated from the rest of the body. The other half was tossed over like the other, but Vortex's upper half wasn't connected to it. Instead, his upper half had broken free. An energon trail was there, leading to Vortex's body just a little bit away from it. It looked like he was crawling away when someone took his head off, it resting just a little away from him with the back of it crushed in.
It was a gruesome sight.
"Okay, I think they may have overdone it," Skywarp muttered.
"Overkill doesn't even begin to describe it," Jazz muttered.
"You!" Onslaught yelled, walking over to them. "Why are you here?" Onslaught asked.
"We got alibis," Jazz explained. "It was impossible for either of us to kill Vortex."
"Is this true?" Onslaught asked Brawl.
"Yes, sir."
"Alright." He turned to Ratchet. "Start checking Vortex's body. Now."
"Okay, I'll start looking over the scene," Ratchet agreed, heading over to the body.
"You two," Onslaught growled to the other two non-Combaticons. "I'm heading the investigation, you understand? You two are assisting along with my men. Together, I expect us to find a killer, understand?"
"Crystal," Skywarp answered.
"You got it," Jazz answered.
"Good, now then," he murmured, looking over at the crowd, "let's figure out which of them killed Vortex."
Investigation Start
Head Detective: Onslaught
Assistant Detectives: Blast Off, Brawl, Swindle, Ratchet, Jazz, Skywarp
The first thing Onslaught and the duo did was head over to investigate the body with Ratchet. "Found anything?" Onslaught asked.
"Well, I found a knife stuck in his body," he said, pointing to the lower half of the corpse. "I tried to remove it to get a better look, but it was stuck."
"Stuck?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah. Judging by where the knife is, it hit him right where the T-cog is. It's probably one of the first thing the culprit did. Vortex probably tried to transform, causing it to get stuck in there. You should add the knife and the T-cogs state in there."
"Interesting," Onslaught murmured before adding it in.
Ammo Gained: Knife
Found embedded in the victim's chest where the T-cog resides. Unable to be removed.
Ammo Gained: Vortex's T-cog
Tried to use it when the knife hit him.
"Anything else?" Onslaught asked.
"Well, he's got several knife wounds on him, but they look different from the knife stuck in his chest."
"Good."
Ammo Gained: Knife Wounds
Victim was covered in Knife wounds, but they looked different from the knife embedded in his chest.
"Anything else?"
"Well, cause of death is going to be difficult, but I'll try and figure it out," Ratchet told him. "The wire looks like it came from the tool room, so you should investigate it for any evidence," Ratchet told him.
Ammo Gained: Wire
Used to restrain the victim to the table.
"Also, I'm sure this table came from the library. It looks like it's missing one."
Ammo Gained: Broken Table
Table used to torture Vortex was from the library and split in half.
"Right," Onslaught murmured.
"Also, there is something odd about the table. Look what's under it," Ratchet told him. Onslaught agreed, looking under both ends of the table.
"Huh, bit hard to tell, but it looks like a eight."
"Yes, and there's usually sixteen tables in the library."
"Hmm, could be useful to look into that," Onslaught thought.
Ammo Gained: Numbers under the table
Numbers are etched under the tables. The one Vortex was tied to was number eight.
"Anything else you want to tell me?"
"If I find anything else, I'll informed you," Ratchet told him briskly.
"Good. I want this bastard caught quickly," Onslaught growled, ordering Skywarp to watch over him and heading out of the room, bring Jazz with him. "Blast Off, you've found anything?"
"Nothing, sir. I spent most of last night in my room alone," Blast Off told him.
"I was about the same, but I kept my door open all throughout the night. I saw a few people crossing my door."
"Uh, quick question?" Jazz asked, butting in. Onslaught turned towards him.
"What?" Onslaught asked.
"Huh, since Vortex's body is in the archive, why did it take you so long to open it? Did you used it last night?" Jazz asked.
"No, we didn't," Brawl answered.
"And yet, we couldn't opened until 12:30 today," Blast Off murmured, "which means it was opened at 11:30 last night."
Ammo Gained: Archive Door Opening.
Door was opened at 11:30 PM last night.
"So, between 11:30 and 12:30, we can assume that Vortex was tortured in that time frame," Onslaught said. "Swindle, you see anybody about at that time frame or anytime after it?" Onslaught asked.
"I saw Hound at a little past 1 AM," Swindle replied.
Ammo Gained: Swindle's Testimony
Saw Hound passed his door at 1:00 PM.
"Can we pull up when the archive was used?" Onslaught asked.
"You can only do that once that door's closed," Jazz told him.
"Alright, then we'll checked that out last," Onslaught agreed.
"Hy u!" the still-gibberish voice of Nightbeat called out, heading over to them.
"What do you want?"
"ltj mh hvp," Nightbeat 'said.'
"Ugh, where's Wildrider?" Onslaught asked the crowd.
"Right here!" Wildrider said, getting closer.
"Translate him," Onslaught ordered.
"Ugh, yeah, I think he says that he wants to help," Wildrider answered.
"Yarp!" Nightbeat replied.
"That's an affirmative."
"Can I trust you?" Onslaught asked.
"Why don't you send me, him and Dead End together?" Wildrider asked.
"That could be a good idea," Jazz agreed.
"Humph, fine. That table Vortex's was tortured. There's a number four etched under it. Figure out where it usually is," Onslaught told them.
"Right, you got it!" Wildrider confimed, him and Nightbeat heading off to retrieve Dead End.
Assistant Detectives Gained: Nightbeat, Wildrider, and Dead End
"Blast Off! Brawl! Check out everyone's whereabouts last night!" Onslaught ordered.
"Orders confirmed," Blast Off agreed, heading into the crowd.
"Moving, boss," Brawl agreed, heading off as well.
"Swindle, do a thorough sweep of the archives and find any evidence," Onslaugh ordered.
"Got it," Swindle muttered, heading back inside.
"What should we do?" Jazz asked.
"Simple, we're going to talk with the good doctor," Onslaught explained, heading for the first floor entrance.
"Knock Out?" Jazz asked.
"Yes. I need to check to see if his door's still locked and get a testimony from him. If the door is broken, he's automatically one of the more suspicious people in this case," Onslaught explained, going through the connecting halls and into the first floor.
"Good point. He does seem like the most violent one here. He could've escaped last night," Jazz agreed, as him and Onslaught took a couple of turns and arrived at the door.
"Huh, looks like I was wrong," Onslaught murmured, seeing the piece of metal used to jammed the door closed.
Ammo Gained: First Floor Infirmary
Still barred shut to keep Knock Out in.
"Still, couldn't hurt to get his testimony," Jazz said, removing the metal bar from it and opening it. Inside, they could see Knock Out relaxing, a cube of energon in his hand, looking nonchalant.
"Ah, took you long enough," he said coolly, taking another sip of his cube. "So, Vortex got himself killed."
"Are you alright?" Jazz asked.
"I've been alright since yesterday," he answered.
"How did you get out of your bindings?" Onslaught asked, surprised.
"Did you forget that my hands can turned into buzz saws?" Knock Out asked. "It was easy to get out and keep myself well-fed with the energon here," Knock Out answered. "Plus, it kept me safe from any murderers outside, which is a plus."
"Well, you probably don't know anything," Onslaught murmured.
"Hey, I'll let you know, I was up during my whole imprisonment here," Knock Out explained.
"You were?"
"Yes, I was. Someone could've sneaked in during my beauty sleep and there's a rule against sleeping in areas outside your dormroom. Unlike my room, this place doesn't have any locks. If someone messed with the bar, I could prepare myself and deliver the first blow," Knock Out explained.
"Well, did you see anything past 11:30?" Onslaught asked.
"Well, I didn't hear anything," Knock Out said, to their disappointment, "but I did heared something."
"You did?" Jazz asked.
"Yes, at some time after 12:30, I heard footsteps walking pasted my room. It sounded like they were heading for the stairs near here," Knock Out explained.
"That… really helpful," Jazz thanked.
"Well, what do you expect? My life is on the line here, ust like the rest of you. I'll do anything to ensure my survival," Knock Out explained. "Answering honestly increases our chance of success and I, along with the rest of you, get to live."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Jazz agreed.
"Anyway, thanks for opening the door. If you need anything else, I'll head to my room and see if I can get some rest and buffer myself a little bit."
"Alright, I guess that's fine," Onslaught said. "I doubt you have any more useful information."
"Hmph, no appreciation. That's great," Knock Out muttered, heading for the stairs nearby.
Ammo Gained: Knock Out's testimony
Heard footsteps walking past the first floor infirmary to the stairs at a little after 12:30.
"Well, guess we'll head back to the archives," Jazz said.
"Yes, I think we've given Nightbeat's group enough time to examine the table and Ratchet enough time to examine the body," Onslaught agreed. The two quickly headed over to the library, where Dead End was waiting for hem
"Ah, good news!" Dead End replied cheerily. "All the tables do have a number on them and we made a chart to show it from the point of view of the entrance," Dead End explained, showing them the chart.
13 14 15 16
Archives 10 11 12
5 6 7 9
1 2 3 4
Entrance
"What the- there's something wrong with the desks," Jazz noticed immediately.
"Yeah, there is a pattern evident, but for some reason, the nine is out of ordered. Now why is that?" Dead End replied
"The number nine desk is closest to the archives if it followed the ordered," Onslaught noticed.
"Yeah, it would be," Jazz agreed.
Ammo Gained: Chart of Desks
Shows placement of desks. The number nine desks appeared to be out of ordered and the number eight desk missing.
"Let's go check out that number nine desk," Onslaught said, heading over there.
"Right," Jazz agreed.
"I'll come with you," Dead End said, the three of them heading over to desk nine to find no one there. "Hmm, I thought I left Wildrider and Nightbeat here. They must be working on a hunch," Dead End said.
"Whatever, let's check it out," Onslaught said, flipping the desk over.
"Woah, what are you doing!?" Jazz asked.
"Getting answers," Onslaught told him, looing under the desk. "Definitely a nine under here," Onslaught said, as he noticed the nine on it, identifiable from a six by a line under it.
"Huh, I don't see anything wrong with… it…." Jazz paused at as he looked at the ground. "Woooooow," he drawled out.
"Huh," Onslaught questioned.
"That's one big crack," Jazz noticed. Onslaught turned his gaze downward to what Jazz saw. He saw a major spiral cracked on the floor. "Looks like a major impact on the floor."
"Yeah. Very interesting."
Ammo Gained: Giant Crack in Floor
A crack on the floor that came from a massive impact. Found under table nine.
"I wonder what could've caused it," Jazz wondered.
"Hey!" someone yelled, causing the two to look above at the third floor balcony. "Look what we found up here," Wildrider said, wanting them to come up there.
"What did they found?" Jazz wondered.
"Let's find out," Onslaught ordered, heading up the steps. The three headed up and saw Nightbeat and Wildrider looking at the railing.
"What's up?" Jazz asked.
"Te rilng," Nightbeat said.
"The railing," Wildrider translated.
"The railing?" Jazz asked, looking at the railing and seeing something strange. "It's bent inward."
"And there is some bodily energon on it," Onslaught noticed.
"Only a little bit. The impact must've been quick," Dead End noticed.
Ammo Gained: Third Floor Railing
Railing on third floor catwalk was bent inward.
"So, the culprit cased Vortex around the library first before subduing him somewhere around the library," Onslaught noticed. He glanced at Wildrider and Nightbeat. "Find the place where the culprit attacked him, quickly, before time runs out. And take Dead End with you."
"You got it," Wildrider agreed, the two of them heading off. Dead End gave a slight nod before heading out.
"Okay, let's see if any of the testimonies are useful," Onslaught said, the two of them going back to the first floor to where Brawl and Blast Off were waiting for them. "Found anything?" Onslaught asked.
"Beachcomber was up at the A/V room at 8:30 until 1:00," Blast Off told Onslaught. "Not much to go on.
Ammo Gained: Beachcomber's Testimony
Up at A/V room from 8:30 PM until 1:00 AM.
"Mixmaster was drinking," Brawl said. "Up at fourth-floor lounge at 10:30 'til 12:45, after which he head to his room. Had a clear view of the hallway leading to staircase. Saw no one."
"Was he alone?"
"No. Blurr was with him, but he didn't drink any of the high-grade. Stayed at lounge until 1:15. He stayed sober and can collaborate Mixmaster's statement," Brawl answered.
"Well, I guess we can count those two off," Onslaught agreed.
Ammo Gained: Mixmaster and Blurr's Testimony
Up at fourth-floor lounge together. Saw no one. Both were there at 10:30 PM. Mixmaster left at 12:45 AM while Blurr left at 1:15 AM.
"Any more information?" Onslaught asked.
"No one else was around at the time of the murder, from the people we could question," Blast Off answered.
"Could question?"
"Well, Hound is missing. We can't find him around the library. He's probably in the other building somewhere," Brawl told him.
"Can someone go find him?" Onslaught asked.
"Look, we want too, but we've seen a couple trying to sneak through and looked through the crime scene?" Brawl explained.
"Who?"
"The Constructicons. They're both trying to look into the archives,"
"They are?" Onslaught questioned.
"Yes, it's very suspicious," Blast Off said. Onslaught and Jazz looked at each other.
"I'll put it in," Jazz murmured.
Ammo Gained: Constructicons' Strange Behavior
Both of the Constructicons were trying to sneak into archive.
"Right, let's check out Ratchet," Onslaught said, heading back inside. The two left Blast Off and Brawl alone and went back into the room.
"Aw, hello. How are the both of you?" Ratchet asked.
"Pissed," Onslaught growled.
"Alright," Jazz hesitated.
"Well, I'll tell you a few things. First off, I've confirmed that the energon here is definitely bodily energon. Looks like he was tortured here," Ratchet explained.
"Nice to see that test you did is working wonders," Skywarp said.
Ammo Gained: Energon at Body
Definitely bodily energon.
"Second, the neck."
"Neck?"
"There is an odd pattern to it. See, look," he said, holding up Vortex's head. "Look at the neck cables. Most of it appears to have ripped off."
"Yeah, good. So the culprit used some blunt force weaponry to take it off.," Onslaught said, feeling a little sick.
"That's not important," Ratchet told him.
"What are you talking about?" Ratchet asked, about ready to punch Ratchet's head off.
"Looked at the last pieces of wire here," Ratchet said, showing them off. "Unlike the rest, they look like they're cut with an extremely fine knife," Ratchet explained.
"I've ripped heads off. They don't do something like this," Skywarp muttered.
"What? Why take most of someone's head off with a blunt force object, then slice the rest of it off?" Jazz asked.
"I don't know," Ratchet said. "I just explained what killed them, not how it happened, Ratchet explained.
"Well, this is very strange," Onslaught murmured.
Ammo Gained: Strange Neck Wound Pattern
Neck was mostly ripped apart except for a small part that was cut off.
"Any more information?" Onslaught asked.
"Yeah, something very weird," Ratchet said.
"What would that be, Ratch," Jazz asked.
"I found what looked like black glass inside one of the stab wounds," Ratchet said, showing him.
"Black glass?" came a voice behind them, leading to Swindle coming up to them.
"Yes," Ratchet said.
"Let me see it," Swindle asked. Ratchet handed it to him. "Obsidian," he answered immediately.
"Obsidian?" Ratchet asked.
"Yes, remember?" Swindle asked. "The infirmary had a set of obsidian blades in the infirmaries," Swindle told the group.
"Wait, I remember. First night here, we explored the fourth floor together. You pointed out to me that and the diamond alloy blades."
"Both would be sharp enough to slice Vortex opened," Swindle said. "I'll check the infirmaries now."
"Skip the first floor. That's clear. Check the others," Onslaught told him.
"Roger," Swindle agreed, heading out.
Ammo Added: Obsidian Shard
A piece of Obsidian found in the body.
"Wait!" Onslaught called out for him
"What?" Swindle asked, frustrated.
"Found anything in here," Onslaught asked.
"There's a side room," Swindle answered. "There's nothing much of used. In the side room, there's a jagged piece of metal most people wouldn't see when entering a rom. On it, green paint scrape that looked like it came from a body, but it doesn't match any of the paint jobs here, so it's useless," Swindle explained.
"Never assumed anything is worthless," Onslaught told him. "I'm sure this will help crack the case."
Ammo Gained: Green Paint Scrape
A jagged piece of metal had green paint scrape on it. Doesn't match any of the paint jobs in the school.
"Suit yourself," Swindle muttered, heading out.
"Right, want to see if Nightbeat's group found where Vortex was assaulted," Jazz asked.
"Let's go," Onslaught agreed.
"Wait, there's also something wrong with one of his hands," Ratchet said, picking up his right hand off the ground. "See his index figure?" he pointed out, it being covered in energon. "The rest of his fingers were clean," Ratchet told them.
"What does that mean?" Onslaught asked.
"My guess, he tried writing something," he answered.
"He did?" Jazz asked.
"My best guess," Ratchet answered.
Ammo Gained: Energon-Stained Figure
Vortex's right index-finger is stained with energon.
"Anything else?" Onslaught asked.
"No. You can go," Ratchet told them.
"Good. Let's go," Onslaught said, him and Jazz getting out.
"Come on back later," Ratchet told them. "I'll cut this knife out to get a better look at it. Might be able to get a clue off it," Ratchet told them.
"Good," Onslaught agreed, him and Jazz heading back out of the room.
"Head!" they heard upstairs. They turned their head up to see Nightbeat, Wildrider, and Dead End staring down at them from the fifth floor. "Get up here," Wildrider told them.
"Looks like they found it," Jazz noticed, the two of them quickly heading up the stairs.
"Hey there," Dead End greeted them. "We found another bent railing," he said, showing them the bent railing.
"Just like the previous one," Onslaught said.
"Nt extly," Nightbeat 'told' them.
"Not exactly," Wildrider translated.
"Uh?" Jazz wondered.
"Oh, yeah, we were talking about it," Dead End said. "This railing is bent outward."
"Outward?" Onslaught wondered.
"Yeah, a bit odd," Dead End wondered.
Ammo Gained: Fifth Floor Railing
Railing at fifth floor outlier was bent outward.
"Along with that, there was some sloppily cleaned up energon stains on the ground. Someone tried to cleaned it up," Wildrider told them, indicating to the ground near the railing.
Ammo Gained: Messily Cleaned Energon
Energon stains found on the fifth floor next to bent railing.
"Anything else?" Onslaught asked.
"Not that we kn-"
"Hre!" Nightbeat yelled from behind a shelf.
"What?" Onslaught asked, coming over. Nightbeat's face had a sense of sorrow to it.
"Nom," Nightbeat told him.
"Name," Wildrider told them.
"Who?" Onslaught asked. Nightbeat hesitated before answering.
"Sviwdon," Nightbeat answered.
"Swindle," Wildrider translated.
"What?!" Onslaught yelled, coming over to look at it. Right there, written on the floor, was Swindle's name written messily, along with a pool of energon.
"Frag! I guess that's open and shut," Wildrider muttered.
"No, it isn't. If it was Swindle, then why didn't he try to clean this up when he tried to clean up the one by the railing?" Dead End asked the group.
"I expect answers from him the next time we see him," Onslaught guttered.
Ammo Gained: Energon Pool
A pool of unclean energon found behind a datapad shelf.
Ammo Gained: Swindle's Name
Found behind a datapad shelf behind written on the floor.
"Hey, shelf," Jazz pointed. "Look at the corner jutting out."
"There's energon on it," Onslaught said.
"Yeah, like someone landed on it," Dead End muttered. "Very sloppy craftsmanship."
Ammo Gained: Bookshelf Corner
Jutting corner from bookshelf with energon dripping from it.
"What does all this means?" Jazz asked. Nightbeat whispered something to Wildrider.
"Nighty says that Vortex's falling on the corner could have left him unconscious," Wildrdier said.
"And then they dragged him to the archives to torture him," Onslaught finished.
"Exactly," Jazz agreed.
"It still leaves a lot of unanswered questions," Dead End said.
"Like that energon trail we missed," Jazz said, crouching down in front of a trail of energon droplets.
"Huh, look at that," Onslaught muttered, examining it. Nightbeat muttered something to Wildrider.
"Nightbeat says, judging by the ways it splatters, that Vortex was walking out of the Book shelf," Wildrider translated.
"Out, where it was scrubbed up along with the other energon," Onslaught said.
Ammo Gained: Energon Trail
Trail starting at bookshelf and leading away from it.
"Right, I think that's all we'll get up here," Jazz said. "I don't think we'll find anything else up here."
"Hey, wait," Dead End said, looking over the abnormally tall railing. "This spot is right above the number nine table," Dead End said.
"It is?" Onslaught asked, looking over the railing easily with his tall stature.
"Well, that's interesting," Jazz said.
Ammo Gained: Location of Fifth Floor Struggle
The location of the struggle is right above the number nine desk's position.
"Sounds fine to me. We need to find Swindle and Hound. We need to hear from them," Onslaught said, heading down the steps. "Wait for me!" Jazz yelled. Together, the two of them descended down the steps to the third floor.
"Right, Hound or Swindle may be in here. Search carefully," Onslaught said as he looked into a door. "Never mind. Found Hound," he said. Jazz came up behind him to see Hound surrounded by pictures and paintings of flames.
"Oh, hey," he said casually.
"Uh, hi," Jazz greeted. "Nice collection you got here," he complimented nervously.
"Thanks. I've been working on them for most of the previous night," Hound explained.
"You have?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah, uh, last night I was here from 7 PM to 1 AM. I met Beachcomber on the way down to my room. I like him you know. I feel like we're kindred sparks," Hounds said.
"Yeah, cool," Jazz muttered. "Thanks for the information."
"You're welcome," he said, as he went back to his painting.
Ammo Gained: Hound's Testimony.
In art room next to library's third floor entrance.
The two of them got out of there and quickly head to the third floor infirmary, not finding him there. The two quickly departed the floor and upped to the fourth floor and made a beeline for the infirmary on that floor near the entrance to the library. The two entered to see Swindle examining an obsidian scalpel with a broken tip.
"Found it" he said, showing them the obsidian scalpel. "This looks like the scalpel that had a piece ripped out of it."
"Ah, good," Onslaught muttered.
Ammo Gained: Broken Obsidian Scalpel.
An obsidian scalpel that had the tip broken off.
"That's not the only suspicious thing I found here," Swindle said, picking a garbage can off the ground and showing ti to them. Inside it was a bit of tubing with some energon in it. "This was used somehow, although I really don't know how," Swindle told them.
"Well, that complicates thing," Jazz said to himself.
Ammo Gained: Bit of Tubing.
Found in the trash with some energon in it.
"Also, I've been looking over the tools. It looks like they have been clean recently. Both sets," Swindle told them. "I think this is the stuff that was used to tortured Vortex," he told the two gloomily.
"That's disturbing," Jazz muttered.
Ammo Gained: Clean Medical Equipment
The fourth floor infirmary equipment was cleaned recently.
"I also checked the miscellaneous supplies. Some wire was used recently," Swindle told them.
Ammo Gained: Missing Wire
Wire in the fourth floor infirmary was missing.
"Swindle, that's all well and good, but that's not what we came here for," Onslaught told him.
"Really? Than why are you here?" Swindle asked. The two stayed silent before Onslaught answered.
"We found your name written in Vortex's energon," he told him.
"What?!" Swindle yelled surprised. "But, I wasn't there," Swindle told them.
"Swindle, I'm pretty sure you're lying, so tell-"
"Shut it! I didn't found all this evidence just so I can get badgered by you two. I'm heading to the library. Inform me when you actually think I'm innocent," Swindle told them, heading out of the room.
"Well, that was wasted time," Jazz muttered.
"But, Swindle did found some interesting things," Onslaught said.
"Yes, I wondered how they will be used during the trial," he muttered to himself.
"We should head back to Ratchet before Monobear calls for the trials," Jazz said, quickly heading out of the room, Onslaught following him. They quickly went back to the archive to see Ratchet had just finished cutting the knife out of Vortex's body.
"Ah, good to see you. As you see, the knife is a kitchen knife," he said, showing it to them.
Ammo Updated: Knife
Found embedded in the victim's chest where the T-cog resides. Unable to be removed.
Is a regular kitchen knife.
"Also, since I've been getting really closed to the body, I've been able to take a closer look and there's a massive gash in his head. Probably enough to severely weaken him and bring him here. Maybe ever enough to kill if it pierce his CPU or other vital stuff in his head," Ratchet told them.
"Pretty nasty. I've gotten gashes like these before and they weren't pretty," Skywarp told them.
Ammo Gained: Gash in Victim's head.
Severely damaging attack done to Vortex's head. Could've killed him or majorly injured him.
"And, this is truly weird, I think is spinal strut is broken," Ratchet told them.
"Well, duh," Skywarp said. "He's split in half. What do you expect?"
"The location is wrong. The place where the spinal strut is broken is near the base of the neck," Ratchet told them.
Ammo Gained: Broken Spinal Strut
Spinal strut at base of neck is broken.
"Also, his face is broken by what looks to be a cylindrical object, judging by the markings it left."
Ammo Gained: Broken Face
Face appear to be broken by a cylindrical object.
"Thanks, Ratch," Jazz gave his gratitude.
"No problem. I'm guessing we're nearing the school trial," Ratchet said.
"Yeah, it's about 1:30," Jazz said.
"And the door will closed soon," Onslaught said. "We can finally identified who opened the door at 11:30 last night," Onslaught said. The group quickly got out of the archives as the archive door closed behind them, sealing them off for another 12 hours. Jazz quickly turned the machine on and gazed at the archives of the archives.
"And the person to open it at 11:30 is… Scavenger?" Jazz asked confused.
"The constructicon with the tail," Onslaught said.
Ammo Gained: Archive Door Opening
Door was opened at 11:30 PM last night.
Scavenger was the one who opened.
"Okay, let's make one last stop before the trial," Onslaught said.
"Where?" Jazz asked.
"The second floor," Onslaught answered. The two of them quickly found themselves on the second floor. "Swindle's room," Onslaught said. The door was still opened from Swindle's paranoia and the two entered it. The two entered the room. "What are we searching for?" Jazz asked, looking through a drawer.
"This," Onslaught said, heading to the knife block. There was two knives missing.
Ammo Gained: Swindle's Knife Block
Two knives were missing.
"Hey, there's something in this drawer," Jazz said, taking out a datapad.
"What is it?" Onslaught asked.
"It's a note, asking him to come at the library's fifth floor at 11:00 PM," he told him.
Ammo Gained: Swindle's Note
Note asking Swindle to come to library at 11:30 PM
"Could this be another frame-up like Skywarp's" Jazz asked.
"Let's head to Vortex's room real quick," Onslaught said.
"Probably best," Jazz agreed. The two exited the room and head to Vortex's room. "Alright, what is there in this room that we can used?" Jazz asked. The two of them quickly did a search of the room, coming up with almost nothing.
"Well, I found this datapad," Onslaught noticed, reading it. "Oh, frag," Onslaught murmured.
"It's a journal entry, about Vortex sending notes to my other subordinates to meet him in the fifth floor of the library," Onslaught murmured.
"None of them mentioned it," Jazz said.
"Which means they are all lying to me in some way. Just great," Onslaught dragged it out.
Ammo Gained: Vortex's Journal
Send notes to the Combaticons beside Onslaught to meet him in the fifth floor of the library.
"Well, looks like we're done here. I want to go talk to them real quick," Onslaught said.
"What the frag!" a voiced yelled. The two looked at each other before heading out to see Knock Out investigating a strange prism device.
"Knock Out. What's wrong?" Onslaught asked.
"I searched my room and fond this in the vents," Knock Out answered. "I have no idea what it is," he said before smashing it with his feet, "but it doesn't matter anymore."
Ammo Gained: Strange Device
Knock Out found it in his room
"Hey!" Wildrider yelled, running over to them "Nightbeat told me to give you this," he said, handing them a datapad. "It's a chart of the dorm rooms and who stays in them," he said.
Stairs
Beachcomber Brawl
Swindle Perceptor
Ratchet Skywarp
Bludgeon Counterpunch
Drift Shockwave
Nautilator Blurr
Mirage Dead End
Blast Off Hound
Nightbeat Soundwave
Wildrider Chromedome
Rewind Mixmaster
Onslaught Smokescreen
Bumblebee Vortex
Scavenger Jazz
Hoist Knock Out
Library Entrance
"What's the point of this?" Jazz asked, holding hit up in the air.
"I dunno," Wildrider murmured. "He just says that it's a hunch."
Ammo Gained: Map of dorm rooms
A map that identifies which dorm room someone lives in.
DING DONG!
"Attention, the investigation is over. Everyone head to the cargo elevator for the trial!"
The four of them looked at each other.
"Well, I guess it's time to send someone else to the gallows," Knock Out murmured, heading out to the stairs. The other three looked at each other before following him down the stairs and reaching the cargo elevator. The four of them were the first to arrive and took their place in the elevator. Everyone else slowly drifted in, preparing themselves for the trial on hand. Once the last person entered, Blurr hit the button liked he usually does and send the elevator down. The elevator descended slowly, lasting for what felt like eons for everyone before it finally stopped and opened up.
They entered the family trial room, and quickly took their places. In Soundwave and Vortex's place was pictures of them. Vortex's was a blue, bloody X like Shockwave's while Soundwave's was in an X with what looked like Laserbeak. Hound and Nightbeat looked nervous, standing in-between two portraits of their dead comrades.
"Welcome, everyone, to your second trial! It's good to see that you're very proactive with illing each other," Monobear said cheerily.
"Would you shut up!?" Onslaught ordered.
"Huh," Monobear gasped, offended. "Anyway, the rules, as you know is to discuss amongst each other to find the culprit of the case. If you succeed, the culprit is the only one that gets punished. If you fail, the culprit is the only one that gets unpunished. Everyone understand?" Everyone agreed. "Good. I pronounce the second school trial to be in session!"