Day 23

"This is an announcement. It is now 7AM. Have a good day."

"As irritating as always," Blurr grunted as he was standing guard in his room, looking over to the two mechs, Perceptor and Bumblebee, that were still asleep on the berth, the announcement not waking either of them up from their recharge state. Skywarp decided after waking Blurr up to sleep in his room. It was time for him to rest up soon, but he figured he could let them sleep in a little bit longer.

*Knock* *Knock*

Blurr hummed at the gentle knocks as he looked to the door before turning back to the other two mechs, who wasn't stirred by the sudden noise. 'Guess I'll go answer it,' he decided as he got up from the table of his room and went on over to the door to open it. Behind the other end of the door was Jazz, looking around the hallway to make sure he's not being seen. "Jazz? What up?"

"Hey, Blurr? Mind if I come on inside?" the spy asked him as he kept an optic out.

"Of course," the racer agreed as he ushered the senior Autobot inside of the room and close it behind him. The two went on over to the bathroom and close the door behind them to hold a private conversation. "Alright, what's up?"

"You first. Can you give me a rundown of yours and Bumblebee's interrogation of Perceptor?" Jazz requested of him, which earned a sigh from the blue mech.

"Wish I had more to tell you, but we've been unable to get him to admit to anything. He keeps saying he's not the mole but refuses to tell us what his dark secret is. We've hit a wall and we're not going to be able to get any new information from him without some sort of leverage," he informed his superior about the situation.

"He's that stubborn?" Jazz remarked, astounded by the scientist's need to keep quiet about his life.

"He's that and then some," the racer confirmed to him with a scoff. "So, what about you? Found anything?"

"Well, I've mostly been doing more research into the school itself. As you expect, the mastermind has done a good job of keeping all pertinent information from us. I still have no information on who the mastermind is or if the outside world has truly falling apart," Jazz explained to him.

"Well, that's not very useful," Blurr remarked to him with a huff. "Did you come all the way here just to tell me you found nothing?"

"Thankfully, no, I didn't. I was also doing some research into Perceptor myself to see if I can learn any new information about him," Jazz informed him. "It's not much, but I did find a couple of new stuff about him."

"Like what?"

"Well… for one thing, during our supposed tenure here, it's noted in a few articles that Perceptor seemed to be one of the biggest supporters of the headmaster and would often get an audience with him in his office," the spymaster informed him.

"Wait, really? That's info I can definitely use against him," Blurr remarked with a grin to that.

"If the headmaster is the one responsible for our plight here, this is fairly damning evidence for him," Jazz concurred with him, "but we still don't know if the headmaster and the mastermind is one and the same. We don't even have a positive identity of them. We know nothing about who they are or where they came from, so it's impossible to say for certain exactly what their relationship is and if Perceptor's working with him right now against us."

"Oh, well… scrap, that won't help. Anything else?" the racer asked.

"Well, I found a couple of reports about everyone. The headmaster encouraged us to evaluate each other and written entries to him and I noticed one written by both Shockwave and Vortex about him," Jazz informed him.

"Hmm… anything important about that?"

"Well, not really. I don't know how it's decided who writes what. For all I know, it's completely random, but it's something to note," Jazz remarked. "At the very least, Vortex and Shockwave both give very unique observations about him that only they can make. They both spoke positively of him, which I find a little odd. Shockwave, I understand. They're both intellectuals and certainly capable of a higher caliber of thinking then the rest of us, but Vortex? Even he had good things to say about him intelligent he is."

"Hmm, odd… but I don't think that really means anything to us, right?" Blurr asked him. "We're looking for proof that Perceptor is the mole to the mastermind and that doesn't mean jack shit to us."

"No, it doesn't, so really… I found nothing new on whether Perceptor is the mole or not, but I did find something else interesting," the Autobot spy informed him as he brought a datapad out and presented it to him. "Take a look at this." The racer looked at Jazz, wondering just what it was that was making the mech so excited to show him.

"Alright, alright," Blurr murmured as he took the datapad from him and looked at what it had to show him. As he looked through it, he realized very quickly that it was going to be difficult to read it because so much of what was in it was redacted, most of the information in it being covered in black bars from top to bottom. "Okay… what the hell is all this, Jazz?"

"What you're looking at is some classified info that has been redacted all over the place. Now, what is this? Well, I don't know, but there is something very important about this," Jazz said as he leaned in to point a certain part of it out.

"Hmm… 'will be considered as an equal of the other thirty teachers, despite the irregular circumstances and public belief surrounding this fact.' Huh," Blurr huffed as he pondered that statement in the datapad. "Wait a minute… equal to the other thirty teachers?"

"Yes. In simple terms, we secretly have a thirty-first teacher that's not with us right now," Jazz informed him.

"And that teacher is likely to be involved with the mastermind in some way, correct?" the blue Autobot asked him excitedly, eager to learn of any new leads.

"Almost certainly, whether they're working with the mastermind or they are the mastermind themselves. Furthermore, if you read some of the passage in their bio, while there isn't much, it does say they are skilled in manipulation and deception as well," the spy further explained to him. "I think it's evident that this person is a major suspect in all this."

"Damn right he is… now if only we can figure out any information on who this guy is. I think it's obvious that they're the mastermind."

"Now, Blurr, you know the problems with making hasty assumptions," Jazz warned him with a hand on his shoulder. "While I agree this unknown person is suspect number one, we still don't know anything about him nor his relation to all of this. For all we know, they're a victim in all this as well. For all we know, this thirty-first person they're referencing is Punch himself. Until we know for sure, just keep your mind open for possible solutions." Blurr frowned to that order but just sighed in annoyance.

"Fine, fine, fine, I won't jump the gun this time, but you need to decrypt this as soon as possible," he insisted to him. "I'm sick and tired of not knowing anything about this sick game."

"On that, we're in agreement with each other," The lead Autobot agreed as he headed for the exit. "For now, keep quiet about it and let's keep it between the two of us for now. I want to wait a while before unloading this information onto everyone."

"Why?" Blurr questioned him, sounding annoyed. "Is there any reason to?"

"Because I work my best when nobody knows all the facts I know," he responded as he turned back to him. "I'm a spy, Blurr. My job is to gather all the information possible and let everyone in on it when the time is right. I will decide when everyone knows and learns of this. I know this sounds selfish, but right now, they need to worry more about any potential killers out there inspired by the motive rather than about this thirty-first student."

"So you're saying after this motive is done?" the racer suggested to him.

"That or, more likely, until someone dies," Jazz explained to him morosely. "I got a bad feeling about today, for some reason."

"Hey, now, don't you talk like that," Blurr warned him hastily, not liking the sound of that. "No more murders are going to happen today."

"I want to believe that, Blurr. Trust me, I really do, but this is the perfect time for it. Who knows what those memories are triggering inside the minds of these people. I think shit's about to go down soon and I don't think we're going to be able to stop it from happening again. Not this one," the audiophile informed Blurr dourly. "Best we can do is keep an optic out for any suspicious activities from anyone."

"Dammit…" Blurr seethed as he paced around the room, letting Jazz see how agitated he clearly was. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."

"Neither do I. Trust me, but best you can do is make sure you, Skywarp, and Bumblebee don't let Perceptor out of your sight and don't let anyone hurt him or you three. The possible info that Perceptor could have is too valuable to lose," Jazz told him seriously.

"If he's the mole, he'll be lucky if I don't cave his face in," the racer responded back to Jazz as he got in Jazz's face.

"Hey now, trust me, I'll want a piece of him too if that's the case, but I want the information out of him first before getting to that," he responded back to his subordinate. "Now, just keep calm and survive, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he waved him off and opened the door to exit, only to find Perceptor eavesdropping on the other end, who jumped at the door opening. "Oh. what are you doing? Listening in to us like a spy," Blurr asked him as he stepped in close to him, with Jazz looking at the scientist suspiciously as well.

"No, no, well, yes. I just wondered where everyone is since I onlined and saw no one around," Perceptor quickly explained to them both as he backed off with both hands in the air in a defensive position.

"No one around here?" Jazz repeated as he pushed Blurr aside to look around the room. "Where the hell is Bumblebee?"

"Huh? He was charging right there on the berth? Why would he just leave so suddenly without telling me?" the racer wondered as he looked around the room nervously.

"Scrap… you two, stay here. I'll go look for him," Jazz explained to the two of them as he rushed to the doorway. The two Autobots left behind looked at each other at that statement before Blurr went over to the door and closed it before addressing him again.

"Are you sure you didn't see Bumblebee leave?" the racer asked him as he walked back over to him.

"No, I didn't. I swear! I just woke up by myself on the berth and wondered where everyone was until I heard you two in the bathroom. I thought you were talking to Bumblebee. I didn't know Jazz was in there," Perceptor promised him, sounding slightly nervous. "Don't know why he's acting like this."

"Neither do I. It's so unlike him…" the blue mech agreed as they sat in an awkward silence.

An hour later…

"Bumblebee?" Jazz asked out as he entered the lunchroom after an unsuccessful search of the dorms and the entire first building. However, he instead find several of the other mechs there, none of them being Bumblebee, looking at him.

"What's up with you today?" Swindle asked him with a raised optic ridge at him.

"More importantly, why are you looking for Bumblebee?" Onslaught asked him.

"He disappeared this morning from the room and I'm trying to find him," Jazz informed them.

"He's gone?" Beachcomber asked aloud, afraid for him.

"We should go look for him," Bludgeon ordered them as he stood up.

"Is that really necessary?" Nautilator asked nervously.

"I don't see why we shouldn't go find him. Let's head out," Mixmaster announced to them as he stood up as well and the rest followed as well, with Nautilator reluctantly following them along.

"Right, let's spread out and search for him. He's only been gone for a few minutes, so it shouldn't be that hard to find him," Jazz advised.

"Woah, woah, what's with all the yelling about?" came a voice behind Jazz as he jerked around quickly to find the missing mech standing right in front of him, looking confused at his overblown reaction.

"B-Bumblebee… where were you?" Jazz questioned him. "You weren't in the room with Perceptor when me and Blurr got out of the bathroom."

"Look, look, it's just a misunderstanding, Jazz. I just went out for a bit. I haven't left that room at all since I started watching Perceptor, so I just wanted to go out for a little bit. I figured you and Blurr had it under control up there," the yellow mech explained himself to him in a defensive matter. "I'm sorry for causing any problems." Jazz just sighed at this explanation before addressing him.

"Where did you go?"

"I went to the mall and did some shopping. You can ask the AI there. He'll tell you I've been shopping over there," Bumblebee offered proof to him. "Just talk to him and he'll confirm it to you easily."

"Promise?" he growled to him.

"Promise. Chill out, please," Bumblebee insisted to him and Jazz gave a sigh before stepping back.

"Alright, alright…" he turned around to the others to say reluctantly, "False alarm. Back to breakfast."

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Onslaught murmured for everybody as they all sat back down to continue on with their breakfast, everything quickly going back to normal. Bumblebee sighed as he embarrassingly went by Jazz to the cubes of energon and grabbed several of them for himself, Blurr, and Perceptor, as well as Skywarp if he stopped by, before heading out. Jazz just sighed before he came over to the table in a defeated matter and just sat next to Onslaught.

"Well… I look like an idiot now," the Autobot spymaster remarked with a sigh.

"We've all been there before. Don't worry about it too much," the tactician assured him with a pat on the back.

"Yeah, not everything is a conspiracy theory," Beachcomber assured him with a smile to him. "I don't blame you for being so worried for him though. Anything could happen here You never know what may've happened to him."

"Or what he could've been doing," Bludgeon added with a with a weary sigh.

"That's true… he could secretly be planning a murder!" Nautilator added to his thoughts.

"Bumblebee? No, that's not him. Even if he's affected by the motive, he wouldn't plan such a cold-blooded murder," Jazz immediately disputed his claims. "That doesn't mean he could do something suspicious. You never know what someone might be doing."

"Like murdering someone," came the deeply cynical voice of Dead End as he arrived at the lunchroom as well. "I heard quite the commotion here regarding Bumblebee. I take it he did something incredibly suspicious?"

"He left the room without telling us, which I found to be very suspicious," Jazz informed him with a sigh. "I was worried about him… but it appeared to have been for nothing."

"No one does anything for nothing," Dead End remarked to him with a scoff as he grabbed himself a cube of energon and took a seat across from Jazz. "You can't just trust that Bumblebee is not planning a murder. If he does something suspicious, you must question if he's really got the group's best interest at spark. He's just as likely to be planning to kill us then he us on saving us."

"There's no evidence either way that it is the case," Mixmaster immediately rebuked him. "Besides, you have no room to judge him after the trick with the acid." The rest seemed to agree with that as they all glared at the nihilistic poet.

"I'm not judging him. Merely pointed out the potential hidden agenda that he could have. I'm speaking from experience here," he pointed out to them. "Just like Wildrider right now…"

"Wildrider? What's up with him?" Swindle asked him. "He doing something shady?"

"Maybe. He's doing some odd stuff, which is normal for him, I'll admit, but he's also not checking up as often as he did before. It just seems a bit… odd for him," the moody poet explained to him. "Says he visits Rewind a lot."

"Well, hasn't he always had a bit of a weird connection with Rewind?" Beachcomber wondered to him.

"He does. Always has that weird affection for him, although whether he cared or he was just toying with him, I don't really know."

"I wouldn't trust him with Rewind either," Onslaught agreed with him. "He's too dangerous to leave alone with a grieving widower. Who knows what he could do?"

"I know what he could do and it isn't pretty," the Stunticon insisted to him with a scowl.

"And with Hound still in the Med-Bay, he's not there to keep Wildrider from doing any harm," Onslaught muttered with distaste. "We're going to have to keep him away from Rewind if he intends to harm him in any way."

"You do that. He's been annoying me and ignoring me with each passing day," Dead End insisted to them. "It matters little to me if you want to rough him up a little to make him behave. Motormaster did that all the time to make him fall in line."

"I rather not stoop to physical abuse, but we'll have to make sure he doesn't stray out of line," Onslaught insist to them.

"Mech's straight up crazy. Abuse is about the only way to send a message to that mad mech," Mixmaster remarked to them with a scowl. "He was always causing problems for our construction projects. One time, in the middle of construction, he destroyed several support beams and caused the whole things to collapse! A month of progress ruined because of that slagger."

"Sounds like business as usual with him," Dead End stated with a scoff to them. "He's a troublemaker now more then ever. You all remember what he did to Counterpunch's body right?"

"How could we forget something like that?" Beachcomber asked him rhetorically. "He defiled a body just to give us a hint! That's fucked up!"

"He still hasn't tried to harm anybody yet," Jazz reminded him. "We need to keep a close optic on him at all times, but for now, he hasn't done anything to make us suspicious of him."

"Far as you know," Dead End remarked vaguely to them.

"Oh, you know something that we don't?" Mixmaster questioned him.

"Yes, I do. Quite frankly, I'm done keeping his secrets," Dead End told them with a scoff. "His big secret that he wants to hide is the fact that he's not the Ultimate Maniac, as he so wishes to be called. Not like the school would even give him a title like that, as that's not even a damn occupation."

"Huh… that's… not really surprising," Jazz remarked with a sigh.

"Yeah, it's not that surprising," Onslaught agreed.

"Yeah, I mean, a gambler is one thing, but a maniac? I didn't believe it for a second," Beachcomber remarked with a huff.

"Don't know what his actual occupation is anyway," Mixmaster remarked with a huff.

"His actual occupation is that of a violinist," Dead End informed him with a hum as he crossed his arms.

"A violinist… really now?" Jazz wondered.

"Yes, he is quite the savant with one, much as he doesn't want people to know. He quite clearly has a gift for making music."

"Huh… we might actually get along there," the Autobot remarked with a huff. "Guess you can't really just someone by the front they put up."

"He's still a dangerous individual, though," Onslaught stated. "Just because he isn't as insane as he wants us to think, he's still desecrated Counterpunch's body and messed with our investigation of his death for his own needs. We can't just leave him alone and assume that he won't cause us any problems."

"Especially if he gets his memory back," Mixmaster added.

"Anyone getting their memory back is dangerous, if Monobear is telling the truth about this," Onslaught stated.

"How would it even be possible to do that?" Bludgeon wondered.

"A mnemosurgeon could do it or someone who studied up on it," Beachcomber remarked with a hum. "Considering the alterations that one can do, it wouldn't be possible for them to give their memories back to them, especially if they can commit remote mnemosurgery."

"You mean accessing their minds without touching them?" Swindle asked him.

"Yeah. Pretty weird. If the mastermind can do that, they really do know their stuff," the geologist remarked.

"You seem to know your stuff," the merchant remarked back to him.

"Well, scientist don't just focus exclusively on their field of work. They read up on other fields on well," Beachcomber reminded him. "While my talent is in Geology, I am skilled in all of the earth sciences in general."

"Every scientist has a field to specialize in, unless you're Perceptor," Onslaught remarked at that.

"Speaking of Perceptor, have you found any evidence that he's our mole?" Dead End questioned Jazz with a glare.

"I've found some information on that, but I'm still looking for that smoking gun to prove it definitively," Jazz informed him. "Until I find that, I don't find it safe declaring him as the mole."

"Good to see your investigation is panning out nicely. Won't even give us details on it," Mixmaster remarked to him with a scoff.

"Well, I just want to be sure before I tell everyone the facts. I have uncovered some interesting information, but I'm saving it for now," Jazz informed him.

"Waiting to see if any one of us makes a mistake and lets something slip?" Bludgeon questioned him with a glare.

"Potentially. You never know," Jazz said to him with a shrug before standing up, empty cube in hand. "If you don't mind, I have to go and do some more light reading."

"I'm sure you do," Onslaught remarked to him with a hand motion for him to continue onward. Jazz just hummed to him as he walked out of the room.

"I shall leave as well. Don't check up on me," Dead End remarked to them as he started walking out of the room.

"What if something happens to Wildrider while you're hold up in your room?" Swindle remarked to him.

"I won't care, even if he dies," he hissed venomously to them as he exited the room.

"Well, I see Dead End is extra cynical today," Swindle remarked with a scowl to the moody poet. "The hell's wrong with him today?"

"I don't know, and I rather not question him," his leader stated with a pat to his subordinate's back. "Let's just leave him be." His remaining gestaltmate looked up to him at that before nodding his head to the suggestion.

"Well… guess I'm heading off as well. I need to see Scavenger. He should be with Knock Out right now," Mixmaster informed that as he got up as well. "Stay safe, all of you."

"And you do the same," Bludgeon stated as he got up. "I agreed to take him to the cleaning room today. Not sure why he could not just use a shower…"

"Because I need a really deep, thorough cleansing and I'm not getting that from a shower," his smaller friend insisted to him with a huff as he stood up as well. "I just want to wash all that happened to me over the last few days away. I mean, I was in a coma, for Primus sake."

"Yes, yes, it's understandable. You all can head on out," Onslaught assured them all.

"Thanks," Nautilator said as he and Bludgeon left together, Mixmaster following them out of the room, leaving only Onslaught, Swindle, and Beachcomber at the cafeteria.

"Well, just the three of us. You two want to help Jazz out with his little project?" Onslaught asked them.

"Dude, I had enough of that yesterday. Let's just leave him alone," Beachcomber insisted to him. "I just want to relax today instead of doing work."

"On that, I agree with," Swindle agreed with the other mech with a huff. "I just want to go rest a while. This school is driving me insane."

"Yes, I'm well aware, Swindle…" his commander noted dourly. "Want to head to the mall for a little while?"

"Yeah, sure. That sounds good," Swindle agreed with him as the three of them all got up together. "I could definitely use some time there to relax, so long as we stay away from the damn VOF room."

"Oh, trust me, I'm keeping us far away from there," Onslaught assured him with a pat on the back. "Now, let's head off."

"I like to thank you, Hound, for being Scavenger's practice dummy," Knock Out remarked to the Autobot as Scavenger was looking over the mech's shoulder.

"It's not a problem. Just make sure you're keeping a good optic on him," the environmentalist stated to him as he relaxed on the medical slab. "You said that after this check-up, I can finally leave."

"If we run into no complications, I believe so," Knock Out reminded him. "Hopefully, you're a healthy mech now."

"I better be. Rewind needs me, now more than ever," the Autobot reminded them. "I need to talk to him. Make sure he's okay."

"I understand. I'll do good," Scavenger assured him with a hum. "Well, your shoulder looks good. I'll close this up and start on the leg."

"Good work, Scavenger. You did a good job and I agree with your assessment," the Decepticon informed the younger mech with a pat on the back. "Good work."

"Thank you… thank you so much," Scavenger stated happily with a slight giggle.

"Focus," the doctor immediately snapped at him and the shovel-tailed mech. The younger mech jumped at that before nodding along to continue working.

"Sorry, sorry," he muttered as he kept on closing the wound.

"You should never lose focus, even when you hear some good news," the doctor stated to Scavenger. I know it can be hard to do, but every good doctor does so. This skill is especially important. When you are in the battlefield and the sounds of gunfire and explosions pierce the air. The only way you can do your job in such a situation is to focus."

"Right, right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again, hopefully," Scavenger told him as he worked.

"Hey, the doc should go easier on you. You're still new at trying to be a doctor, right?" Hound asked the green-and-purple mech.

"It doesn't matter if he's new, he still has to prove himself. Besides, Ratchet would give me hell if I decide to slack off on Scavenger's training," Knock Out told the Autobot. "I'm just trying to train him how Ratchet would want to."

"Yeah… Ratchet was quite the hardass," Hound agreed with the sentiment with a weary sigh. "Wouldn't have him any other way."

"Agreed. Much as we argued and bickered with each other, he was quite the doctor," the one-eyed mech stated with a huff.

"But he does care about everyone," Scavenger remarked. "He made sure I could have the chance and stand up for myself."

"And it's good that he did so. I know about a lot of the things Hook did to you," Knock Out remarked with revulsion.

"What's up with that?" Hound asked them.

"Nothing you need to know about," the red mech sniped at him before looking at the shoulder. "Alright, looks like you're done. Go take a look at the leg."

"You got it, sir," the Constructicon stated as he went to work on the thigh.

"Anyway… let's just say there's a lot of internal power struggles within the Constructicon. They're still a tight-mesh unit, but they have more than their fair share of arguments," the doctor explained to him. "Just like any other gestalt."

"Between Hook and Scrapper, right?" Hound asked.

"The two of them like to argue," Scavenger stated with a sigh. "I wish they didn't."

"There's nothing wrong with healthy debate, but I remembered stuff being thrown around the room," the doctor remarked with a huff. "They even did it in the medical centers in front of the patients."

"Definitely an interesting group," the Autobot remarked to them with a hum. "You have to get along in some capacity in order to function, right?"

"So long as you're not one of the insane Stunticons, you must," the doctor remarked with a dismissive sneer. "That group is so dysfunctional, I don't see how they are even able to spend a minute with each other, much less form a cohesive fighting unit for the Decepticons. Sheer luck, I imagine."

"Or by sheer force of will," the green mech offered. "They're crazy but they all have a certain tenacity to them. Dead End cut his own damn arm off just to fulfill his own insane plans, the crazy fucker."

"Crazy, he is, but he is crafty and intelligent all the same," Knock Out remarked mirthlessly. "He's helped us with solving cases in here as well as attempt to get us all killed. Same for Smokescreen. Both are as equally likely to kill us as they are to help us."

"Well, that's sure putting it in a grim matter. Let's hope we don't have to figure out which one it is," Scavenger remarked to them.

"So, what do you think I am? You think I'm still likely to kill somebody?" Smokescreen asked Hoist with a grin to him as they sat at the bar in the mall together, drinking energon.

"I don't know… I guess that you're unlikely to kill someone, but I don't know if you'll just use that knowledge against me to kill someone else or even me," Hoist told him.

"Oh, come on, I'm a cold killer, but even I wouldn't do that," Smokescreen scoffed at his accusation. "You know as well as I do that the next time someone's murdered, I'm the prime suspect. And since very few people are even willing to spend time with me, it is very unlikely that I will have someone to give me an alibi when it happens," Smokescreen explained to him.

"Well, yeah, I suppose that's true… I'm the only person right now who could potentially give you an alibi," Hoist remarked with a sigh. "I really don't like that."

"Well, like it or not, all I'm focusing on right now is not becoming a murder victim here. I know a lot of people here would mind seeing me dead right now, so believe me, I'm here to help as much as I can," the gambler told him as he took a sip of his drink.

"Right… it makes sense, from a logical standpoint," Hoist muttered as he sipped his drink.

"It doesn't make much sense to me," came a voice behind them and the two of them turned around to see Drift behind them, his attention on the serial killer. "Then again, nothing about you makes sense."

"Well… not sure I agree with you on that," Smokescreen remarked with a toothy grin to him as he turned to face him. "I think every decision I make is justifiable in some capacity."

"Not to me? What did you do? Get a bunch of people injured, you helped get Blast Off killed, and Ratchet was executed for it. I mean, that doesn't seem like a good ending for you," the mech remarked as he walked over and took a seat next to Hoist.

"Well, that's results-oriented thinking. My plan was pretty damn good. I think that if I retried this bombing 100 more times, most of the time, no one would be able to solve my crime. I just got unlucky. A few unpredictable variables threw the whole thing off, especially Dead End, that crazy bastard," he remarked with a chuckle.

"You bastard," Drift growled to him. "We're all people, not pawns on a chessboard."

"I was never one for chess," he remarked with a grin back to him. "Not my kind of game. You ought to know that."

"Of course not," the mech huffed back to him as the bartender offered a glass of energon, which Drift took and started drinking out of. "You just want to play games where peoples' life are at stake."

"Well, those are fun too," was all Smokescreen had to say to that as he drank his. "So, why are you here today?"

"Just… looking around. Buying a couple of things here and there, trying to find some way to fill the void Ratchet left behind," The swordsmech explained to them. "It's hard living without him. If it wasn't for him, I would just be another victim of the Dead End."

"The Dead End?" Hoist repeated.

"No relation to our lovely friend here, I assume?" Smokescreen asked.

"No, it's a place. A district. Everyone there was lower-class, barely making ends meet or failing it. I was one of those unfortunate souls," he explained to them.

"Let me guess. The place was rampant with all sorts of crime," Smokescreen remarked.

"Yeah, place was filled with drug dens with plenty of muggings, robberies, and murder to go around," Drift told them all. "Needless to say, I learned how to fight pretty quickly there."

"I'm sure you did. Life there sounds like nothing but pain and suffering," Smokescreen remarked.

"It was. It's something I never want to live through again," he affirmed to him with a sigh. "It's always in the back of my mind, reminding me to never fall back to those hard times."

"So, you don't want to be reminded that you're Deadlock, you don't want to be reminded of the Dead End, and you hate Dead End, the person. I swear, you got to avoid stuff that starts with Dead or you'll end up like that," Smokescreen advised him.

"Sage-like advice from you," the swordsmech remarked sarcastically to him. "I'll remember that."

"Right…" Hoist murmured as he finished his drink. "I'm going somewhere else, if y ou two don't mind."

"Did I upset you?" the gambler asked him curiously.

"Since when do you don't?" Hoist asked him rhetorically before he left, leaving him alone with the swordsmech.

"Whelp… that ended well," Smokescreen remarked with a sigh as he was about to take another drink. "Well, anything else you want to- URK!" he grunted as he suddenly a hand on the back of his head and slammed his headed on the edge of the counter. Several times. The serial killer groaned after the fifth strike as his head was pulled back, energon dripping down from a gash on his head. Above him, he could see Drift glaring with him, hatred in his optics.

"I can't kill you yet, but know this, when it's time, I'll make it as painful as possible for you," Drift warned him as he pulled his other hand back and punched him across the jaw, making him crumble to the floor. Smokescreen vented hard on the floor as he just heard Drift's footsteps leaving the area, leaving him alone again.

"Well, it is certainly not looking good for you," came another voice and the mech looked up at the bartender peering down at him from over the counter.

"No, it is not," the Autobot agreed as he rolled around onto his chest and got on all fours before spitting up energon four. "Drift's sure got a good right hook."

"And I do love cleaning messes," the AI remarked sarcastically as he looked to his stained countertops with Smokescreen's energon on them and the spilled glass of energon on the floor.

"Sorry about that," he apologized as he got on his knees before using a nearby chair for support to get himself back on his feet.

"Hey, you're not the one throwing blows here," the bartender assured him. "Now, I advise you get your wounds mended somewhere."

"I'll consider it," was all the Autobot as he walked, or rather stumbled, out of the bar.

"Hey, guys," Bumblebee greeted the other mechs in the room as Blurr let him back in with Skywarp back in the room and Perceptor sitting in a chair by the table. It was lunch time now and Bumblebee once again went back down to the cafeteria to get the cubes of energon.

"How is everyone?" the yellow mech asked all of them as he started handing out cubes of energon out to everyone, starting with Blurr. "For you."

"Thank you, and we're doing fine," Blurr said as he grabbed his cube and took a swig from it.

"About the same as it always is," Skywarp remarked gruffly as he took the cube offered to him. "Thanks."

"With me under the eternal suspicion of everyone," Perceptor remarked to him.

"Well, it'll get better for you, so long as you're innocent," Bumblebee said to him as he handed him his cube as well.

"It's sad that I haven't generated enough trust with you after millions of years of service," he remarked to him with a scoff.

"Hey, we've said we're sorry many times, but we're just being cautious," Blurr said to him as he drank his cube quickly, Skywarp doing the same as he guzzled it down.

"Yeah, yeah, I haven't talked to anyone but you guys and Jazz for several days now. I want out," Perceptor demanded of them.

"You'll get out when we know the truth. Want to start telling us?" Skywarp badgered him.

"There's nothing to tell. I'm not the mole," Perceptor insisted to him with a scowl.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the seeker waved his hand at him in indifference as he downed his cube before putting it aside.

"It would be easier if you just told us what this secret you're so desperate to hide is," Blurr agreed as he slurped his down rapidly as well, finishing it in a couple of swift chugs before putting it aside.

"And we're back to business as usual, I see," Perceptor grumbled as he rested in his chair while Skywarp went over to the berth and lay on it.

"Wake me up in a little while. I'm feeling tired," Skywarp ordered them as he stretched himself out on the berth.

"You're tired already?" Blurr asked him with a raised eyeridge.

"Yeah. Didn't sleep well last night, to be honest," the purple mech explained to him.

"Well then, make some room for me. I haven't got to sleep since you woke me up," Blurr remarked to him as he went over tot the berth as well.

"Can't you go in your own room?" Skywarp whined to him as he nonetheless moved aside to let him get on as well.

"Eh, I think we should both be on hand if anything happens, if Bumblebee needs us," Blurr remarked as he laid next to him. "You can handle Perceptor if he does anything suspicious, right?"

"Of course, you don't have to worry about me," the scout encouraged them with a nod and a smile.

"Good," Blurr stated with a smirk as the two mechs started to rest, recharge state coming to them quickly.

Skywarp sighed as he woke up from recharge, grumbling as he online his optics and got into a sitting position. "Primus, how long was I out for? Feels like a few hours," he asked the room. He waited for an answer, but to his surprise, he got no response. He looked up to glance around the room and saw neither Bumblebee nor Perceptor around and the bathroom was wide open with no one inside of it. "Huh…? Where the hell are they?" Skywarp wondered before he smacked Blurr on the shoulder.

"Huh, huh? What's going on?" Blurr asked as he stood up as well, confused by the sudden shaking.

"Bumblebee and Perceptor aren't here," Skywarp told him in a panicked tone.

"What? Shit, we need to find them," Blurr urged him as the two of them both stood up and head to the door. "Whatever the reason is, it can't be any good."

"No kidding. I mean, who knows what Perceptor is-"

DING! DONG!

"A body has been found. A quick period of investigation will occur before a class trial."

The two of them stood there, speechless at the news that was given. A few seconds went by for them to process this before Blurr reacted swiftly. "Come on, we need to go find Jazz and figure out where this murder is," he told him as he quickly opened the door and exited the room to look around the hallway to see if Jazz was already outside. However, he paused as he saw something. "What the…?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Skywarp asked as he exited the room as well to see what he was staring at before being equally as confused as he was. Ahead of them, kneeling in front of the infirmary, was what looked like Dead End, over someone else who was sitting against the wall. The two mechs looked at each other before they walked over carefully. They could hear him muttering to himself, not sure what it was. But what really got their attention was the bodily energon nearby. They could see several bodily energon stains there and the two of them felt a deep sense of unease as they neared him.

And as they got closer and closer, the two could start to make out words from the kneeling mech. "I'm sorry. So sorry. I never wanted this to happen to you," he ranted, seemingly apologizing to the person on the ground. The two of them soon got very close, enough to identify the person he was kneeling next to as Wildrider. And the minute they got a clear look at his face, they could tell he was the victim announced over the speaker when they saw a large knife embedded in his left optic.

"Oh slag…" Skywarp murmured as he the two watched, which was loud enough for Dead End to hear.

"You two?! Did you see anything?!" he asked them angrily as he stood up to glare at them.

"Woah! Calm down there, Dead End. We just woke up, so we couldn't have done this. We're looking for Bumblebee and Perceptor. They disappeared when we woke up," Blurr explained to him.

"Then Perceptor caused this somehow. We need to find him before he kills anyone else. He may've already killed Bumblebee for all we know," Dead End told them.

"No way! I may not know as much about Perceptor as I want, but he wouldn't hurt Bumblebee," Blurr yelled back at him.

"Uh, guys, I'm seeing a bunch more energon in the infirmary over here," Skywarp advised them in a worried tone. The two mechs looked at the seeker before looking towards the infirmary, seeing a lot of bodily energon in the floor in there. The three of them looked at each other before they decided to carefully walk inside of the room. As soon as they stepped inside, they could tell something went very wrong in here as they saw bodily energon all over the place and laying on the table nearby was the unmoving body of Bumblebee.

DING! DONG!

"A body has been found. A quick period of investigation will occur before a class train."

"No…" Blurr murmured as they saw the yellow mech laying there, still bleeding from several stab wounds on his chest, his offlined optics starring back at them.

"Dammit… what the frag happen here?" Skywarp asked them.

"There may be more to find here," Dead End said to them as he pointed out a trail of energon leading to the back of the room to behind a curtain semi-opaque curtain. They could see energon splattered all over the other side of it and the shape of someone else behind it. The three of them walked over to it, unnerved at the idea of find another body here, but all knowing that it was very likely. The three of them reached the curtain and Skywarp reached out to pull the curtain to see what was behind it. There, on the other side, was Perceptor, his abdomen split open and his varying wiring and entrails hanging out, barely connected to his body.

"DAMMIT! Guess we're never getting the truth out of him now," Blurr uttered in anger and disappointment.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about him anymore," Dead End remarked with a scoff.

"Hey, you two, he was still a person," Skywar reminded them with a glare to them. Dead End just rolled his optics while Blurr did feel a bit guilty about it as he looked away. Skywarp sighed as he went over to him and kneeled in front of him and placed a hand on his shoulder in sympathy, looking at all the energon and entrails in front of him. "Primus. Even if he' guilty, you didn't deserve-"

"GAH!" Perceptor yelled as he hands wrapped around Skywarp's arm tightly, his servos digging into the arm, as his optics looked deeply into his. "Help. Me."