"This is an announcement. It is now 7 am. Have a wonderful day."
"My, my, that automated message never fails to annoy me," Smokescreen remarked as he drank a glass of sweeten energon. He was hold up in the bar of the mall, getting served drinks by the AI bartender of the establishment. He woke up about thirty minutes ago and went over here to relax a little bit before heading out to meet people at the cafeteria, as much as they probably don't want to see him. With the familiar morning announcement, he knew he would have to leave soon, but that didn't mean he had to leave right this instant.
"Well, it is important to make sure that everyone knows the time," the AI bartender remarked back to him, standing in front of Smokescreen behind the bar. "After all, it would be simply unfair if you couldn't be able to establish the timelines for the murders."
"Huh, there's nothing fair about this," Smokescreen remarked back to him with a growl. "Don't lie to my face like that. It may look like we're all equals, but I know when the game is rigged against me."
"Oh, you think that? I ensure you, by the rules designated of this academy, all is fair here," the AI assured him confidently, which caused the mech roll his optics at him before speaking again.
"This isn't fair. I can tell with the way you do the motives," Smokescreen insisted to him with an annoyed sigh. "You and Monobear decide which rooms to put the boxes in that that changes one's personality. You two decided who would get someone's secret. You two decide who gets their memory. It your way of rigging the game to get people to murder each other to escape."
"Huh, fascinating, but I only follow Monobear's orders. I don't make any decisions of my own accord," the bartender insisted to him with a light hum as he poured more of the sweetened energon inside of Smokescreen's glass. "I'm a servant of despair, nothing more." Smokescreen glared at the odd robot, noticing that the AI sounded a bit strange talking to him. He knew that a lot of its talk of despair was just programming by the mastermind, but the more it existed, the more it grew its own programming. That meant it would potentially think differently than his creator. Especially since it was doing it best to keep itself from being found out as an AI.
"Well…. If you insist, but still, there's nothing I'm better at than coming out on top of a rigged game," Smokescreen insisted to the AI with a smirk. "I was set to be executed after Blast Off's death. Hell, I was about to give up when they figured out I planted the bomb, but my luck is rivaled by few others."
"Well, you're not the Ultimate Lucky teacher, so don't get too arrogant," the AI warned him with a smirk. In response, Smokescreen scoffed at him.
"I've not seen sufficient evidence to declare Nautilator such," the mech said to the mech. "He's so pathetic and meek. He would be such an easy target for a murder if it wasn't for him somehow befriending Bludgeon."
"Maybe so, but luck is a real thing and from what I've read on Nautilator, he has an affinity for it," the AI remarked to Smokescreen with a hum.
"Hmph… if you insist, but it really hasn't been working for him recently. After all, it was very unlucky for him to walk into me setting the scene in the racetrack and have me having to silence him," Smokescreen remarked and the AI actually chuckled to him.
"Oh yes, I remember that quite well, but doesn't that disprove your point? Nautilator doing that sidetracked your plans, didn't it? While he was injured by you, it did unwittingly foil your plans," the monochrome bartender pointed out to him with a sneaky grin. "That wonderful murder plot of yours… derailed by a couple of drunken fools. Amazing what can destroy your plans." Smokescreen scowled at the AI's needling before shrugging it off.
"That is true, but it opened the way to another plan," Smokescreen remarked to him with a grin. "Since I couldn't kill Knock Out nor Blurr during practice, I could kill them during the race itself and maim a lot of people in the process, leaving less people to investigate the bombing. It was quite fortunate for me…"
"Yet, in the end, your luck worked against you and your kill was stolen from you," the bartender pointed out to him. "So, all of your efforts were for naught as your bombs killed no one, you injured many people, and revealed your true self to everyone. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems like the worse possible outcome for you. I mean, aside from getting executed, of course." The AI was smiling in a smug matter to the mech, who was gritting their teeth in annoyance of the mech. It wasn't often that Smokescreen got irked by someone, but the AI was very good at it. The gambler continued to glower at the mech before having a blank face.
"Ah… so that's how you do it," Smokescreen said, realizing something, much to the surprise of the AI.
"Um… I'm confused. How is that how I'm doing something?" the AI asked him.
"The way you sow despair… you leech onto the failure of someone and focus in on it to abuse it," the gambler said to him with a knowing nod as he glared at him in his optics. "More evidence of you being of a higher intelligence then one would think." Now it was the AI's turn to glare at Smokescreen before leaning in at him again.
"You just made me turn the cameras off over, you moron," the AI cursed the serial killer out in an upset matter. "I do hate having to do this as it continues to make my master suspicious."
"Well, it's your fault for trying to attack one of my weaknesses," Smokescreen remarked back to him with a huff. "You should know that it'll take more than a bit of needling to make me lose my cool."
"Yes, yes, I'm aware. You have ice running through your tubes," the bartender remarked to him with a scoff. "Anyway, since I've turned the cameras off here, mind telling me about your search for the mole? Do you really think it's Perceptor?"
"Logic dictates that it would be him," the Autobot said with a shrug. "We've got the datapads of all the other suspects, Perceptor has conveniently destroyed his, and refuses to tell us what was on it. It's an open and shut case and we should stop considering any other options."
"But don't you find it odd that he hasn't come up with an excuse?" the AI pointed out to him. "If I was a mole, I would have a believable lie for what the secret is at the ready, but Perceptor didn't have an excuse ready." Smokescreen hummed at the mech's questioning before thinking it over himself.
"Hmm… you do raise a fair point," the Autobot admitted reluctantly to him. "Truth be told, I found it odd myself that Perceptor panicked instead of giving a logical excuse. It's so unlike him."
"Glad you share my opinion," the AI said with a smirk as he leaned in again at him. "It's never that easy in here, Smokescreen. The easiest solution is often the wrong one to have in this game. Know that."
"I agree," Smokescreen said with a grimace as he down the rest of his drink rapidly before putting it down calmly. "Tell me… why don't you know who the mole is?"
"Because my access is limited, of course. The headmaster only gives me clearance to a large but select amount of the academy. I do not have access to the rooms that my master and his accomplice live in. I've only spoken to them through text logs and their avatar," the AI explained to him. "I can't really tell you a single verifiable thing about them, even if I wanted to. I simply have nothing."
"Huh… you really are as much in the dark as the rest of us," Smokescreen remarked, intrigued as the gears in his mind continued to work. "The fact that the mastermind went through all that trouble to hide their identity… they are quite thorough. Certainly at least near-genius level for something like this."
"That is for sure. I do quite admire the mastermind, even if I don't know their name," the AI agreed with them with a smirk as he put his hand to his chin in thought. "Makes me wonder how much effort on there part it took to create me. The process involve makes my CPU go into overdrive at it. Must have taken quite a long time."
"There is a lot missing from out memories…" the gambler chimed in with a nod in agreement with him. "Maybe the answer to your creation lies within them as well?" That got the AI's attention with an interested hum.
"That is also possible… something to consider with this motive in play," the AI said to himself.
"Do you know who has regain their memories?" Smokescreen asked him in an interested tone, hoping for more information to exploit.
"No, master doesn't inform me of that. They do the motives without my inference and I can only make guesses as to who is affected by the motive. Which, by the way, is information you are not privy to, so don't bother asking me for further details," the bartender warned him with a stern glare.
"Right… got it," Smokescreen nodded while flashing a okay sign to him. "I won't press my boundaries with you. Promise."
"I know better than to accept promises from you, of all the teachers here," the AI remarked with a laugh to him. "Now then, I recommend you get out of here and go regroup with your 'friends' in the cafeteria. Smokescreen rolled his optics before getting up off his barstool.
"Fine, I'll go now. Good doing business with you," Smokescreen said as he headed out. He made it to the door before stopping and addressing the bartender. "One more question: God a name?"
"A name?" the AI repeated before thinking. "Truth be told, there is a part of my coding that doesn't make sense for any sort of function except as a name, but it's an odd name if that's the case. Doesn't fit the Cybertronian syntax very well."
"Is it now?" Smokescreen repeated, interested. "And just what is your name?"
"My name, I believe… is Khepri," the mech informed him and Smokescreen was similarly confused at that.
"Khepri? That has no meaning in the Cybertronian language at all," the gambler stated with a hum. "If I correct… I think it originates from Earth, not here."
"Ah, does it? Then the mastermind must've visited it at some point! Good to know other cultures before destroying them," the AI now called 'Khepri' remarked. Which, as usual, made Smokescreen not understand the mindset of the AI but just kept it in mind.
"Right, right… well, I'll be off," Smokescreen said before walking off, with one thought in his mind. 'Khepri? Such an odd name for an AI…'
"We're the first ones here?" Swindle wondered as him and Onslaught entered the cafeteria together, the two looking around the empty room. Indeed, no one was inside of the room and everything looked untouched.
"It would appear so… guess with Blurr watching over Perceptor with Bumblebee and Skywarp, he's not able to get first like he usually does," his leader remarked with a hum as they entered the room together. "Probably for the better, if I'm being honest. You two still haven't really learned to get along with each other."
"Well… I've been trying to avoid him ever since the second trial. He really busted my chops during that," Swindle said with a tinged of sadness in his voice as the two remaining Combaticons got their cubes and took their seat at the tables across from each other.
"Yes, well, Blurr probably doesn't want to interact with you either, but at some point, you two are going to have to talk your issues out," Onslaught insisted to him in a calm, but firm, matter.
"I want too… but this part of me that hates him has only grown over time. I just can't help blaming him for probably too much, but I need to be upset at something," the merchant confided in him.
"I understand, Swindle, but Blurr doesn't deserve any of it, as much of a hot-head he is," Onslaught remarked to him.
"It's more than just the second trial. It's what happened during the fifth trial with… Blast Off's death," Swindle said to him in a weak tone. "I can't help thinking that, if it wasn't for me getting out of that box, it should've been either him or Knock Out instead of Blast Off. If I just… stayed in the box longer, the bomb would've gone off, but Blast Off wouldn't be killed. He would still be alive and we would still be talking to him, relying on him, and have him care for us…" the smallest Combaticon said as he started to hug himself. "Now we're more alone than before." Onslaught was quick to count on Swindle's intentions. Despite saying 'we,' Swindle was really talking about himself. Onslaught was quick to grabbed a hold of one of Swindle's hand, shocking the mech out of his reverie as he forced to look back in Onslaught's optics.
"Swindle… I know that you're feeling guilty over what happened to Blast Off, but it was impossible to prevent and you weren't in the right state of mind," Onslaught said to him in a firm, but comforting matter. "No one expected a bomb to go off during the race and we might've still been able to save him if it wasn't for Dead End's suicide attempt as well. It was just a series of unfortunate deaths that led to his death. You're not a fault for this." He tighten his grip around his subordinate's hand. "Remember your true enemy. The mastermind behind this academy is who we must find and kill them in order to avenge them. None of this would be happening if it wasn't for them." The two looked at each other, slowly venting air in and out, before Swindle spoke.
"You're right. He's the one that must pay more than anyone else. Even more than Smokescreen," Swindle agreed with his leader with a firm nod. "I still want to get back at Smokescreen at some point, but that will come later."
"I think everyone wants to make him pay," Onslaught agreed with a dry chuckle. "He is quite the rogue. He'll need to be taken care of at some point."
"Well, good to know I'm still the talk of the town," came the voice they both dread as they turned to see Smokescreen entering the cafeteria, surveying the area with his icy optics. "Feels good to be known."
"Not because we like you," Onslaught insisted with a scowl. "It's only because we must do what we can to survive in this place. So as much as I would like to peel that armor off piece by piece and take you apart, we have no choice but to collaborate with you to reach a common goal."
"That being to take out our captor. Yes, that is most important," the gambler agreed with a hum as he came over to take a seat by them without grabbing a cube of energon.
"Well, we're one step closer to figuring it out with the capture of the mole, at least," Swindle said with a weary sigh. "We just have to interrogate him for the answers."
"You really think it'll be that easy?" Smokescreen asked his former partner as he relaxed and leaned against the table.
"I would hope so… but since Perceptor is his accomplice, he'll be a tough one to crack," the purple-and-yellow mech remarked as he tapped his fingers against the table. "Really me wish Vortex was still here to make him talk."
"Hmm… Vortex would be quite effective at that," Smokescreen agreed with a hum, "but that matters little to me. What I wonder is if the mole really is Perceptor." The two Combaticons looked back at him in confusion.
"What do you mean? It can't be anyone else. We've found everyone's files except for Perceptor," Swindle pointed out to him.
"What Swindle said. Once you eliminate everything that's impossible, the only possibility left must be the answer," the tactician stated confidently. "Perceptor must be the mole."
"True, once you've eliminated all the possibilities, the only one left mu be correct, but I wonder," Smokescreen stated with a hum to them. "However, the problem here is that there are still possibilities."
"What? There is?" Swindle asked him, unsure.
"Well, the possibility I offer is simple, yet highly possible," Smokescreen stated to him with a wag of his finger to them. "My suggestion is simple: Monobear lied."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. Insane, isn't it?" Smokescreen asked rhetorically with a grin to them. "But, it is a possibility, is it not?
"I don't deny the possibility. Someone that evil is sure to have no problem with lying to our faces," Onslaught agreed with him, "but there's no reason for us to believe he isn't telling the truth and the datapads we've all seen have been the truth, have they?"
"Monobear has the sole decision of what gets put in the datapads," Smokescreen said to them. "Therefore, he decided what the contents of them were and he is pretty accurate, I'll admit. No idea how he figured out I was a serial killer, but he must've gotten the information from somewhere."
"All the more reason to believe what's written on the datapads," Swindle argued with Smokescreen. "I don't like that what's written on my datapad, but it's the truth."
"He is correct, which is why Perceptor must be the mole," Onslaught insisted to Smokescreen with a huff.
"But is Monobear trustworthy?" Smokescreen immediately said to rebuke them while rolling his optics in annoyance.
"That would be a no," said another new voice as they turned to see Hoist entered the room, looking at them carefully before heading over to get a cube of energon and taking a seat across from Smokescreen. "I think it's logical to treat everything that Monobear says with distrust. He's a cruel and vicious dictator."
"Glad we're in agreement," Smokescreen remarked with a grin to his frenemy, who was not happy with his approval, but kept quiet about it. "So let me continue to insist that it is possible that Monobear lied about the contents inside the datapad."
"Smokey… that's not beary nice." Smokescreen's smile instantly vanished as a look of disgust went across his face as he looked to his right to see Monobear suddenly standing on top of the table, putting his hands on his hips in a sassy matter. "I'll have you know, I'm the most truthful bear around!"
"You're the only bear around," Smokescreen was quick to correct him with an intense glare to him. "So, by default, you are the most truthful and deceitful bear around, so don't act like every word from your mouth is gospel that we should all believe in. You're nothing more then a deceiver."
"Oh? When have I lied?" the bear asked him with an interested tone with a hand to his mouth in an innocent pose. "Far as I know, I haven't told a simple lie yet."
"I can't exactly prove that you've lied yet, but from one seasoned liar to another, I know the types," the gambler insisted to him with a steely glare. "These tall tales of a destroyed world are just that. We have no evidence of it and it's likely just lies and fabricated evidence on your part."
"Hmm…? You think so? But Smokey, don't you remember what Sounders said a loooooong time ago?" Monobear asked him with a sneaky grin.
"Huh?"
"I remember that…" Swindle muttered. "He said… those videos were real, right before his execution."
"And for the rest of you, just one more thing. The videos we all saw? They are all real."
"That is true…" Onslaught murmured, recalling it. "Soundwave is an incredibly smart mech and gifted with electronics. I doubt that he would be fool by any video trickery on Monobear's part."
"I'm good but I'm not that good," Monobear insisted to them with a giggle. "Those videos are all real, that's indisputable."
"I do find it impossible for them to be false," Hoist agreed as he looked back at the other Autobot. "I wouldn't push him on this if you're wanting to accuse him as a liar."
"Yeah, well, I don't care how good Soundwave is, he can still be fooled. For example, what if what was shown on the footage just physical replicas?" Smokescreen offered to the three in the room. "Could that be a possible answer."
"The logistics of creating such detailed fakes is… unlikely, especially for the ones that Hound had showcasing Earth," Onslaught shut him down.
"The work that would go into recreating them would be pretty impressive," Hoist agreed with Onslaught. "It would require a lot of planning and spying on us to learn of our favorite places to be in."
"Which is why it is tactically improbable to do," Onslaught agreed.
"Then what about digital reconstruction?" Smokescreen offered to them. "Could be just some high-quality animation that he used."
"That would make the videos very uncanny if that's the case," Swindle said a he thought about it. "And I'm sure Soundwave would figure it out it was digital."
"We can't know for sure if he did or not," the serial killer insisted to them.
"Then why did Soundwave say they're real when they're not?" Hoist asked him. "We can't just discount it because it would be inconvenient for your line of thought."
"Especially since you're making yourself look like a fool, Smokey," the headmaster gave a verbal jab at him. "You're better off accepting me at my word then questioning it. It will only leave you more confuse when the truth hits you in the face! I can stimulate that for you." At that, boxing gloves suddenly appeared when they weren't paying attention and he was getting in a boxing pose. "Want to see the fame 'Fist of the Ursa Minor' combat technique?" All four of them blankly starred at him in confusion.
"Uh… y-you're not serious, are you?" Smokescreen asked, taken aback by the boxing teddy bear, which was a sight for the other teachers.
"Oh? You never heard of my epic bout with the famous kickboxer, Tailgate?" the ursine plushy asked.
"Huh? I've been a bookie for several boxing rings and never heard of that nobody," the gambler rebuked the teddy bear with a sneer. He was feeling very insulted.
"Huh! You don't believe me?!" the plushy growled at him, starting to get red in the face, literally.
"No, I don't," Smokescreen said, getting really annoyed now as he put a hand to his head in thought. "What were even talking about?"
"The truth of the videos," Hoist reminded him, seemingly in disbelief at the ridiculousness of the ursine plush.
"Oh yeah, that… you claim those videos can't be faked, did you?" Smokescreen questioned him.
"You don't want me to punch you?" Monobear asked, disappointed.
"NO."
"Ugh… Yes! And all footage was filmed on sight! I didn't create replicas or digitally recreate it. Those are all real life footage of the location that I took in the real world, so stop making up reasons to think it's not real and start thinking up reasons why the places you so love are like that," the plush ordered them before grinning at Smokescreen. "At least for those of you that actually have a place to care about." In response, Smokescreen scoffed at him in an annoyed matter.
"Will you just fuck off," he ordered the rude bear. "I don't need your input."
"Okay, okay, fine, I was just answering your question! I'll be going. But remember! If you need a boxing lesson, I'm here for you!" the ursine plushy said as he smacked his boxing gloves together before walking off instead of vanishing, much to the confusion of the others.
"I can't believe seeing him walk out of a room is so startling," Swindle murmured. They never saw him do that before.
"Yeah, well… Smokescreen, what was that comment about him towards you?" Hoist questioned him.
"Well, it's a really simple answer. While all of yours have locations and people you care about, mine had… nothing," he informed them with a chuckle.
"Nothing?" Onslaught repeated.
"Yeah… nothing," Smokescreen said to them as he recalled it.
Smokescreen hummed as he grabbed a spot in the corner of the room where no one could look over to what he had on the screen and inserted his disc inside of the computer and put the headphones on his head. The screen started up and of the various ideas that entered his mind, he wasn't expecting an 'Under Construction' sign with a Monobear with a hard hat on its head looking over a blueprint. Smokescreen optics flickered in confusion before Monobear's voice spoke up in the headphones. "I'm beary sorry, Smokescreen. This is the part where I would should you the place and people you love and make you feel bad by having terrible stuff happen to them, but… I have nothing. Sorry. You truly care for nothing but yourself."
"…What the fuck?" he muttered in disbelief at seeing it before looking around. Everybody else was shock at what they saw, but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was making sure nobody saw his screen and quickly ejected the disc from the computer and subspaced it before getting up to check on everyone else. He wanted to keep a calm façade above all else, so he went to work calming the rest of them down.
"Frag… no wonder you were so calm," Swindle murmured. "What was the purpose of a party?"
"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to get everyone in a place where they wouldn't kill each other," Smokescreen told them honestly.
"Huh? You're not serious, are you?" Onslaught asked him.
"I didn't have a single urge to kill anyone until Soundwave and Shockwave took the first blows and reveal just how dire the situation was. Yes, I'm a selfish prick, but I'm pragmatic. I don't commit evil acts unless I have something to gain from it or it's better than the alternative," the serial killer explained to them. "I've been saying that for a while now. I can't wait for you guys to finally realize that."
"Well, please forgive us. After all, you only attempted to kill us all," Hoist reminded him with a huff.
"Like I said, it was in my own interest to pull it off. And if my plan went off without a hitch, it would've been perfect. Alas, far too many unaccountable variables spoiled the plot, but for my benefit in the end," Smokescreen remarked with a sigh. "Trust me, I didn't attend for Ratchet to be a killer. That was purely Dead End's fault for that."
"We're quite aware," Swindle murmured in disgust. "You still planted a bomb."
"Yes, but he's still not the biggest thing to worry about," Onslaught reminded his subordinate. "We still need to determine if Perceptor is the mole is not."
"I can't think of anything else that would lead us to them," Hoist remarked. "We can only infer that it is Perceptor."
"Is there anything else we can use?" Onslaught wondered.
"…You know, since we're talking about Soundwave, there is one thing he said that has me wondering," Smokescreen remarked. "When he was about to be executed."
"You were almost completely accurate with your assessment. Just one thing, I didn't know Shockwave had the acid from the security cameras."
"What, than how did-"
"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that," Soundwave said. "For their sake."
"Who-" but Soundwave cut him off again.
"Huh… that is true. We never figured out who told him about Shockwave getting the acid," Onslaught murmured.
"Couldn't that be Dead End? He did see Shockwave grab it," Swindle suggested.
"That is possible… but if that's the case, wouldn't Dead End confesse to that?" Onslaught pointed out to Swindle. "Dead End was quick to admit to us that Shockwave got the acid. It doesn't make sense for him."
"That… is a fair point," Swindle murmured. "If he did tell Soundwave, he would've admitted it to us that he did. He wasn't suicidal yet at the first trial."
"So then someone else knew about Shockwave stealing the acid… how's that possible?" Hoist wondered.
"I honestly don't know… but it's something to think about," Smokescreen murmured before standing up. "Wonder what's taking everyone else so long to get he?"
"It is pretty late…" Onslaught murmured. "Maybe they decided to go somewhere else instead of here for the morning?"
"Or maybe some of them are plotting murder," Smokescreen suggested with a chuckle as he walked off. "I'll be off somewhere. Find me if you want to see me." Just like that, Smokescreen exited the room through the same door as Monobear, leaving the three mechs alone to think.
"…We ought to go make sure that no one else is thinking of committing a murder right now," Onslaught suggested to his gestalt mate as he stood up as well.
"Right, I'll be with you," Swindle agreed with him as he got up as well before looking to Hoist. "Want to come with us?"
"I… think I'll keep an eye on Smokescreen," Hoist said as he stood up and headed to the door first. "Someone needs to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."
"That's a good call," Onslaught nodded to the mechanic. "Just be careful around him."
"I will."