Ratchet kept quiet as everyone was busy calculating who they can trust and who they couldn't. They all wanted to trust to each other, but that was impossible when one of them set a bomb that killed Blast Off and maimed several people. They all recognize the person who set the bomb was despicable and had to be expunged from the group.

"Right," Monobear cut through everyone's thought as they were reminded of his awful existence, "I've uploaded the Monobear file to your electroID. Ta-da and have fun on your hunt!" With that, it disappeared, letting everyone be able to do their investigation.

"Right," Blurr said, the first to do so. "Let's all begin the search. Remember to keep an optic on everyone as someone here tried to kill me!" he shouted out and with that everyone dispersed, most of them heading to the racetrack to find any evidence of who could've planted the bomb. Ratchet wanted to just care for the patients, but they probably would've had a better chance of survival if he investigated as well, probably by asking the people around here for their testimony, that being the remaining Combaticons, Rewind, Smokescreen, Bludgeon, Wildrider, and Skywarp. Before he went over there, he took his electroID out, went to his truth bullets, and looked at the Monobear file.

Ammo Gained: Monobear File #5

Victim: Blast Off

Location: Medical Bay

Time of Death: 12:47

Cause of Death: Exsanguination

Additional Notes: Victim was caught in an explosion.

"Exsanguination," Ratchet muttered that familiar word. "That's one way of putting it."

"I would personally write FUBAR for his cause of death," Skywarp muttered.

"That's certainly another way of putting it," Ratchet murmured.

"Say, you wanna pair up?" Skywarp asked him. "I doubt we're going to find anything on Blast Off's body since it was a remote kill, so it's best to go look for info."

"Glad you're offering."

Investigation Start!

Head Detective: Ratchet

Assistant Detective: Skywarp

"Know anything that could possibly help?" Ratchet questioned him quickly.

"Nah, not really?" Skywarp answered. "All I was caring about was adding more to the betting pool."

"Betting pool?" Ratchet questioned him. "Yeah, I participated in that, although it was only because Smokescreen got in my face this morning and practically force me to place a bet. Say, think you can explain when everyone else placed bets."

"Yeah, sure. As you know, Smokescreen's hosted a betting pool for people to bet on the race between Blurr and Knock Out. He took bets yesterday afternoon and the way to night and opened up briefly for the morning. He must've had the monocoins stored somewhere as the container was empty in the morning and I remember a lot of monocoins being involved, at least a thousand."

"Right, thanks for telling me that," Ratchet murmured as he added it in.

"You're really adding that?" Skywarp asked him.

"You never know. A lot of irrelevant things become a lot more important at the trial," he told him.

"That's true," the seeker agreed.

Ammo Gained: Betting Pool

Smokescreen is hosting a betting pool among everyone for the race between Knock Out and Blurr with over a thousand monocoins involved.

"Let's go talk to Smokescreen about this betting pool of his," Ratchet directed and the two of them head on over to the gambler, standing near the two Combaticons. "Hey, Smokescreen."

"Oh, hey," Smokescreen greeted him, a bit thrown off. "You're alright? I know you had your work cut out for you."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. What about you?" Ratchet questioned him and he looked over to the catatonic Swindle, his face furrowed into a frown, before turning back to him.

"About as good as finding your best friend in a catatonic state," Smokescreen told them.

"I'm sorry for that. I tried my best, but I couldn't save Blast Off," he murmured. "What can you tell me about your betting pool?"

"Nothing more than any one of the gamblers could," Smokescreen told them.

"Skywarp did tell me quite a bit, but where do you store the monocoins?" Ratchet questioned him.

"At the storage room, what else? No one else can enter my storage room except me," Smokescreen told them. "Safest place for them."

Ammo Gained: Storage of Betting Pool

Smokescreen has placed the betting pool in his storage room to safeguard it against any thieves.

"By the way, can you give me my monocoins back?" Skywarp asked him.

"Huh?" Smokescreen asked, shocked.

"What?"

"Someone just died, you uncaring asshole," Smokescreen pointed out. "Can you at least wait until the trial is over and we execute the bastard who planted the bomb?"

"Urk, fine. It's a bit too soon for that," Skywarp reluctantly agreed.

"Good. Once you're in the pool, you're in. No refunds, although no one won in this one. Good thing I kept records of who bet what amount."

"No one was able to withdraw their funds back?" Ratchet questioned him.

"Yeah. No one wanted to anyway. Everyone was certain their racer was going to win, but I guess they'll never find out if there bet was a smart choice or not."

Ammo Gained: No Refunds

Smokescreen is not giving monocoins back until the trial is over. It's generally agreed that to ask for a refund now is an assholish thing to do.

"Thanks for the info," Ratchet thanked him.

"No idea how it pertains to the investigation, but I hope it serves you well," Smokescreen sent them off as they went off to the Combaticons. The two halted and stared at them. Onslaught was giving a half-hearted attempt at trying to get kneeling Swindle out of his catatonic state. Everything from his voice to his posture made it looked like Onslaught was checked out, along with Swindle's sanity.

"Let's just stay away from them for now," Skywarp recommended.

"Agreed," Ratchet murmured as they backed off to encounter Wildrider, who was nervously walking over to them.

"Hey, guys," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

"Got something to say?" Ratchet questioned him.

"Well, I know our primary concern is with the bombing, but I want to find out for sure what happened to Dead End," he told them.

"What? Come on, why should we waste time on this when we can investigate it later?" Skywarp asked, annoyed.

"Because, Monobear always cleans the place up pretty well while we're busy with the trial. I'm afraid all evidence will disappeared," Wildrider told them. "I have a feeling I know what happened, but I need evidence to confront him with, preferably at the trial where he has nowhere to run."

"What do you think happened?" Ratchet questioned.

"Isn't it obvious? It was a suicide attempt."

"Suicide attempt?" Skywarp asked him.

"Yeah, because everyone had an alibi. The only one who might've done it is Bludgeon, but he didn't look like he cleaned himself recently. Just looking at everyone's alibi, he's the only who could've done this to himself," Wildrider told them.

"That wouldn't make sense," Ratchet argued. "His records point to many fail suicide attempt, always having no injury to shallow wounds. He doesn't have the backstrut to do it."

"I know, but these are extraordinary circumstances," he reminded him. "Who knows what could be going through his screwed-up mind."

"Ugh… fine, I'll see to it if Dead End's loss of limb was a suicide attempt," Ratchet confirmed.

"Great. I want to find closure for this, so thanks," Wildrider thank him.

"It's no problem."

Ammo Gained: Wildrider's Theory

Believes that Dead End's assault was a suicide attempt.

Ammo Gained: Alibis

Almost everyone was at the racetrack at the time of the assault and Bludgeon hasn't cleaned himself recently, leaving no one to be capable of assaulting Dead End at the time.

With the conversation done, they headed over to Bludgeon real quick. "Hello, Bludgeon. First off, thanks for your assistance in the surgery," Ratchet thanked him.

"It is no problem," Bludgeon told them. "Now, what do you need from me?"

"About Dead End, did you see him before his assault?" he questioned him.

"Yes, I did. After I woke up in the sleeping area of the mall at around 12:20. I know I said I was heading to my room, but I was honestly too tired to walk all the way there. I saw Dead End heading inside this building, presumably to the Med-Lab," he answered his question.

"So he was up and walking? He should've still been resting on the slab," Ratchet muttered.

"Well, he was. And I'm sure I saw him carrying something in his hand, but I am unsure of what it was. Possibly a small container of some sort," he told him.

"Really? Skywarp wondered. "Did you find it?"

"I haven't noticed it since I've been here," Bludgeon muttered. "Might want to look around for it somewhere. If you bring it to me, I might be able to identify it."

Ammo Gained: Bludgeon's Testimony

While in the sleeping area of 12:20, saw Dead End entered the triple-area building, assumingly heading to the medical bay with an object in his hands.

"You may want to examine where we found Dead End. We found him in the operation room over there," he pointed out to a nearby room.

"Alright, thanks," Ratchet nodded and the two headed off to the room and opened it. On the floor, they could see Dead End's arm and the energon surrounding it with a knife in the pool as well. Ratchet walked on over to the knife and examined it.

"Kitchen knife. Serrated edge. Could cut through Dead End's arm if it goes through the right spot, but it isn't exactly one swipe and you're done," Ratchet murmured.

"So it isn't exactly a weapon to use if you want to chop someone's arm off in a fight," Skywarp concluded.

"Yeah. Probably involve multiple strikes or sawing it off," he said as he put it aside.

Ammo Gained: Energon-Stained Kitchen Knife

Found in the operating room. Thought to be the weapon that chopped Dead End's arm off, although it wouldn't be done in one strike.

"And of course, we can't neglect his arms," Ratchet murmured as he grabbed the arm and investigate the cut-off point. "Wires in multiple directions. Looks like it was cut off in a sawing motion."

"So that's the method. Anything else you can find on it?" Skywarp asked him.

"Well, the angle of the cuts are certainly weird, as it's consistent with a right-handed user, yet the angle makes it impossible for one to do so," he told him.

"Huh? So, how does that work?" Skywarp wondered, scratching his head.

"Simple," Ratchet told him as he grabbed the knife again and began positioning it with his right hand to cut into his left shoulder, matching the wound perfectly. "The wound was self-inflected."

Ammo Gained: Dead End's Severed Arm

Wire directions indicate a sawing motion and the angle suggests it was self-inflicted.

"You know, all this talk about Dead End has made me think about another piece of evidence that strikes me as very odd," Ratchet told him.

"What would that be?"

"Well, when Dead End was found, he had a tourniquet on his arm with energon splattered all over it. That is… quite odd," Ratchet murmured.

"Whatever. I know that it's pretty important to do if you want to cut an arm off," Skywarp muttered.

"True… but there's something off about it," Ratchet muttered as he wrote it down.

Ammo Gained: Tourniquet

Wrapped around the stump of what used to be Dead End's arm with energon splattered all over it. Was on him when he was found by Wildrider and Bludgeon.

"Huh. Looks like Wildrider was right. Everything we're finding is pointing to suicide," Skywarp muttered. "Honestly seems to be a bit too simple."

"I know," Ratchet muttered as he put the knife back down. "I want to find that container and see what's in it. Might explain some of it."

"Yeah," he muttered as he looked around. "I don't see it around here, so maybe it's in back out among the slabs."

"Good idea. Let's check the place out," Ratchet ordered as the two stepped out and looked around. The two looked around the slabs before looking around the chemicals for something that didn't fit. That didn't work until Ratchet shifted his gaze to the sink. "Huh, I think I found it," he said as he grabbed a small, glass container and lid and held them up.

"Why is that in the sink?" Skywarp asked as he stared at it.

"To be cleaned, obviously. I can still see some water droplets in it, which meant that someone washed it out," Ratchet told him.

"Think Dead End cleaned it?" Skywarp asked him.

"Well, he does seem like the one most likely to do so, but why would he clean it when he was about to attempt suicide? Seems a bit weird from his behavior," Ratchet murmured.

"Yeah, it does," Skywarp murmured as they silently contemplated it.

Ammo Gained: Glass Container

Found in the sink of the Medical Bay having been recently washed.

"Huh, looks like you're going to have to restock your anesthesia syringes," Skywarp noticed as he tapped the dispenser. "Only got one left."

"Not surprising. I had five of them before I headed out to the racetrack and I used a lot of them to put the patients in a recharge state before surgery," Ratchet told him.

"Huh, probably want to mention that. Just to make sure you got everything in order," he told him. "We need all that we can get to make sure the order of events is correct"

"That is true," Ratchet nodded. "It could help everyone else realize the order of events."

Ammo Gained: Anesthesia Dispenser

Had one syringe left out of the five original one that Ratchet made before the race started.

"Say, speaking of the injuries, could you write down the surgery notes?" Skywarp asked him.

"Yeah, sure. Could be useful to have if anyone has any questions about the injuries," Ratchet agreed to his suggestion.

Ammo Gained: Ratchet's Surgery Notes

Blast Off: Legs blown off as well as several fingers with injuries from shrapnel and force of explosion. Injected anesthesia to calm him down so surgery could happen uncomplicated, but he died shortly after injection.

Dead End: Arm was sawed off, but tourniquet prevented bleedout. Administered anesthesia to calm his struggles before patching the stump.

Knock Out: Heavy damage to upper body and head. Administered anesthesia to seize his writhing as wounds were patched

Laserbeak: Left wing was sliced halfway through. Administered anesthesia to soothe pain as wing was fixed and bandaged

Drift: Large head wound caused by rubble. Bandaged with additional steps needed to be taken later when he wakes up.

Hound: Large cuts on left shoulder and thigh as well as being impaled through the upper-left side of his body. Scavenger fixed the thighs and shoulder in the stands before cutting part of the rod off to free him and bring him over to me. Anesthesia was administered before removing the rod and fixing his wounds.

"So… is that all the info we can find here?" Skywarp questioned him.

"Yeah… unless you want to talk to the Combaticons or Rewind about the bombing," he told him.

"Well… Onslaught might have some info and Rewind could've recorded the explosion as it happened," Skywarp shrugged. "Could have something for us to use, even though both of them are decidedly not one to talk concerning the circumstance, especially since Swindle still looks catatonic," he muttered as he looked around at the three of them.

"Well, we can try Rewind. He might be a bit more open," he said as he look Rewind over, who was standing on Hound's slab and sitting quietly.

"Alright, look, you can talk to him. I'm not good with sentimental stuff. I'll show off the glass container to Bludgeon and see if he recognizes it as the container Dead End was holding," Skywarp told him as he grabbed the container.

"Alright, I'll go talk to him," Ratchet said as the two separated to their chosen targets. He stood in front of Rewind, who was looking down at Hound, and talk to him.

"Hey, Rewind, I'm sorry about Hound, but he should survive," he told him.

"Yeah, thanks Ratchet. You're a lifesaver," Rewind thanked him.

"Yes, although, looking at his thigh and shoulder wound, he'll probably need physical therapy for them. The wires and struts could be malformed. I would recommend it over just getting a new arm and leg," he told him.

"Right, I'll make sure to tell Hound about it," Rewind told him, not looking up.

"Right, well, I came to talk to you about the bombing. You recorded everything, so can you tell me anything you saw there that could help the investigation?" Ratchet questioned him. Rewind stayed quiet as he thought it through. Ratchet was feeling a bit awkward as he just stand there quietly as Rewind thought it through.

"You know, looking back at previous footage, something is odd," Rewind said, looking back up inquisitively.

"Huh? What would that be?" Ratchet questioned him.

"That white line at the racetrack representing the halfway point… it wasn't there before," Rewind answered him.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he questioned him.

"I mean that there was a grate there before," Rewind told him.

"Wait… there was?" Ratchet murmured.

"Yeah. That white sheet must've been placed the night before the night we found Dead End and Nautilator at the racetrack because I remember the white line being there the other day, but the grate being there the day before that. My footage proves it," he told him.

"That's… strange."

Ammo Gained: White Line

Had a grate there, but was replaced with a white line the night Dead End and Nautilator was at the VOF.

"Yeah… and that's not all that has change. The crate Swindle was stuffed in was by the checkered line at that same night, but today, it was by the white line," he told him.

"Huh?" Ratchet wondered. "Why was it moved?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure of it. If I recorded it, it's true," Rewind told him.

Ammo Gained: Location of Crate

The crate Swindle saw trapped in was at the checker line before Nautilator and Dead End were found in the VOF, but at the white line after that.

"Right. Thanks Rewind. This information should prove useful at the trail," Ratchet assured him.

"Thanks. Glad I can help if it solves who killed Blast Off and injured Hound," Rewind murmured as he looked back at Hound. "I already lost Chromedome and I couldn't stand Hound. They'll pay for this."

"Good, but remember. The killer may be our enemy this time, but we all know who force us into this situation," Ratchet reminded.

"Yeah… the mastermind, but his time will come later. Now, it's all about this bomber," he said as Ratchet walked away towards Skywarp, who just got done with Bludgeon.

"Hey, Ratchet. I talked to Bludgeon and he can confirmed that this is definitely what Dead End held in his hand," Skywarp told him.

Ammo Updated: Glass Container

Found in the sink of the Medical Bay having been recently washed.

Bludgeon confirmed that it belongs to Dead End.

"Good to hear," Ratchet nodded. "You know, Rewind reminded me of something when I talked to him. Dead End and Nautilator both had a dent on the back of their heads."

"Really? Why would they have that? They weren't at the explosion like Drift was," he asked him.

"I found them before the racing event, so they had it before the bombing. They looked like it was caused by a blunt object of some sort," he told him.

"Well, write it down. Sounds like good information to have," Skywarp ordered, "although I have no idea how it relates to the case."

Ammo Gained: Dead End and Nautilator's Head Injuries

Both of them were hit in the back of the head by a blunt object of some sort on their night out to the VOF.

"Right, we've held out for long enough. Let's go talk to Onslaught and Swindle and see if we can manage to get anything from those two," Ratchet said as the two walked on over to the remaining Combaticons. The stopped in front of the two to see Swindle muttering the same words over and over again and Onslaught continuing his half-hearted attempts to knock some sense to Swindle.

"Hey, Onslaught. I see Swindle isn't listening," Skywarp muttered, which caused Onslaught to look up at them.

"No, he hasn't. He's going to be in shock for a while," he told them.

"Yeah… Onslaught, you wanna tell us anything about the bombing or Swindle's kidnapping?" Ratchet questioned him.

"What can I say? I looked all day yesterday and didn't find him. Only Blast Off and Smokescreen went through most of the night with me," he told them.

"So, you three were up most of last night?" Skywarp questioned.

"Yes. I was briefly the only one searching the evening for a little while, but Blast Off and Smokescreen assisted at around 11:00. Blast Off and I searched the first building while Smokescreen took the much more wide open buildings. We did this until 2 o'clock. After that, Blast Off and Smokescreen were too tired to search and went to recharge while I continue the search. That's about all the relevant info about the search I can give you," he finished recounting.

"Right, thanks," Ratchet nodded.

Ammo Added: Onslaught's Nighttime Search Crew

Onslaught, Blast Off, and Smokescreen were searching at night from 11 PM to 2 AM with the former two taking the first building and Smokescreen taking the others.

"So, I guess we can safely assume the bomb was being planted after 2 AM, but before morning, am I right?" Skywarp questioned.

"It would be a safe assumption," Onslaught murmured. "After 2, I was the only one up, so they could avoid me easily if they pay attention."

"Hmm, seems like the safest bet, so let's keep that for now," Ratchet nodded. "The bomber probably would've set it off earlier to take out Blurr or Knock Out while they were practicing for the race."

"So… I guess you should be on your way. Bomber out there. Will kill us all if you don't find him," he told him matter-of-factly.

"True. Thanks for the information, Onslaught. We'll find Blast Off's killer," Ratchet thanked him as him and the seeker walked off. "Right, I believe that's all we can find here," he told Skywarp.

"Yeah, I believe so too. We've pretty much asked everyone and everything related to the case," Skywarp agreed with him. "Let's head to the racetrack. I'm sure everyone there has found enough time to find something of use," he said.

"Right, let's head on out."