Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.
The Greater Good
Chapter Two: Strange Behaviour
Hot Rod had always found going to Cybertronian labs interesting, even when he had been Rodimus Prime. There was something about being surrounded by so much he didn't understand that was kind of humbling and heartening at the same time. It made him feel that perhaps it wasn't necessary for him to know all and see all. That he could rely on others.
As he had come to know Optimus Prime since his resurrection, he had found that he also enjoyed the labs for that very same reason.
Of course, there was the reason Optimus didn't like to come to labs (which, coincidentally, was also why Hot Rod didn't enjoy them);
Inventions.
The scientists in the labs were always coming up with new inventions. Some were useful, some were even impressive, but one thing never changed, and that was how damn excited their creators became.
Even Wheeljack, with his Autobot version of a toothbrush (even though Transformers didn't have teeth) was excited beyond all reason.
And, apparently, Brainstorm was the same.
"Isn't it great?" he said, holding up the box for him and Kup to see.
Hot Rod leaned forward to get a better view. "Yes. Yes it is."
Kup scratched the side of his face. "Not to sound ignorant, but what exactly does it do again?"
Hot Rod glared at Kup as Brainstorm gladly jumped into another explanation.
"Well, Omicron particles have always been very difficult to comprehend, let alone control, and this device allows me, through a complicated series of procedures involving-"
"Brainstorm," Hot Rod interrupted, doing his best to sound diplomatic. "Maybe you could tell us about this another time. We've really got to have the contents of that datapad as soon as possible."
"But-"
"Brainstorm…"
The excitable young scientist sighed. "All right…" He took the datapad from Kup's hand and took it over to his examination table. "But you promise you'll come back and take a look at it later?"
Hot Rod held up his hand. "Scout's honour."
A grin spread across Brainstorm's face beneath his faceplate, and he go to work examining the pad.
Kup tapped Hot Rod on the shoulder. "'Scout's honour'?"
"Earth expression. Ask-"
"-Daniel, right." He shook his head. "You spend too much time with that youngster, lad."
"Hey, I'm a youngster too. I figure I should surround myself with youth before I become old and crusty like yourself."
"All right, I'll give you old, but crusty?"
"Earth expression. Ask-"
"-Daniel. Yes, I get it."
Hot Rod crossed his arms. "You do it too."
"Do what?"
"Use Earth expressions."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do. Except all of yours come from Carly. Which would explain why they all involve human curse words."
"I refuse to get drawn into this argument," Kup said, turning his head away slightly.
"Oh, because you're losing?"
Kup's head whipped back around to face him. "No, because-" He stopped himself and sighed. "Because Brainstorm is trying to work, and we're distracting him."
"That's a very good point," Brainstorm added irritably from the other side of the room, still examining the damaged pad. "What's on here, anyway?"
"I'm afraid that's classified," Kup said tersely. Brainstorm's head quickly shot up to look at him.
"Really? Is it dangerous?"
"It's a pad. Pads aren't dangerous. The information on it is what we want."
"Is the information dangerous?"
"No."
The scientist's optics thinned. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Now if you would kindly-"
"Because I doubt you would tell me if it actually was dangerous, would you?"
Kup seemed to grow to twice his size as he glowered at Brainstorm. "Now, listen here, lad. We-"
Hot Rod brought a finger up between them. "I think that you need to calm down," he said, pointing at Kup, "And that you," he continued, bringing his finger around to Brainstorm, "should stop asking questions and get on with your job. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir," Brainstorm replied, slowly and reluctantly getting back to his inspection. Hot Rod turned to Kup.
"Are we clear?"
"You're not my superior officer."
Hot Rod did his best leader glare.
Kup sighed. "Fine."
Hot Rod smiled.
Still got it.
He turned to Brainstorm. "Get to work, and call us when you're done."
Brainstorm nodded, and, satisfied with his work, Hot Rod turned to Kup and gestured for him to follow him out of the room. Just as he stepped into the doorway, he stopped and whirled on his heel to look at Brainstorm, who had already gotten to work.
"Remember. No peeking. Believe me; we'll know if you do."
"Uh… yes sir."
With a wink at Kup, Hot Rod was down the corridor. The older Autobot sighed and shook his head before following.
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Optimus sighed and rubbed his weary optics. Why did the smarter ones always have such atrocious handwriting? It was nigh-on impossible to read anything Brainstorm and Perceptor had written. Humans had learnt to type, Optimus couldn't see why Brainstorm and Perceptor couldn't.
And worse, he had to sign off on the pair's reports so they could go ahead with… whatever it was they were describing in their reports.
The door chime sounded, and Optimus leant back in his chair, tossing the datapad lightly onto the table.
"Come in," he said, his deep growl of a voice resonating throughout his office. He frowned as he heard something rattle.
The door opened and Trailbreaker stepped in, holding a checklist in front of him. The rattling sounded with every heavy footstep of Optimus' second in command. Trailbreaker had become the second in command on Cybertron in Jazz's absence. Since Trailbreaker had moved his possessions to Autobot City by the time Trypticon had destroyed the Ark, he had felt no need to go down to Earth, especially since Prime needed someone to help him run things up on Cybertron.
Prime held up his hand.
"Stop."
The bulky Autobot stopped in his tracks. "Sir?"
Optimus got to his feet and stamped. There it was again. That rattling.
"Do you hear that?"
"Hear what, sir?"
"That… rattling noise."
Optimus stamped again to demonstrate. Trailbreaker held up his head to better receive any noise. He was silent for a moment, and Optimus began to fear he was going mad.
Probably from stress.
Trailbreaker looked over at him. "Sounds like loose plating. I'll have some of the tech boys come over and sort it out."
Prime let out a small sigh of relief. "Thank you, Trailbreaker. Now," he said, moving back to his desk, now ignorant of the rattle. "What can I do for you?"
"Perceptor and Brainstorm would like to know if you've signed off on their reports yet."
A low, almost imperceptible growl emerged from Prime's voice emitter. Trailbreaker smiled.
"Handwriting that bad, huh?"
The Autobot leader sighed. "Look at it," he said, lifting up a datapad and turning it around for Trailbreaker to see. "What am I supposed to make of that?" he said, pointing at one word in particular.
Trailbreaker leaned forward, his optics thinning beneath his visor. "It looks like it says… 'Cow'?"
"And somehow, I doubt Brainstorm and Perceptor's experiment involves 'shunting high levels of energon through the Cow converter, thereby creating…'" He turned the pad around again, and pointed to another word. "What does that say?" he sighed, causing a small grin to spread across Trailbreaker's face.
"Looks like you've got your work cut out for you."
Optimus took a deep breath through his intake valve, nodding. "When do they want confirmation by?"
"As soon as possible, they said."
His shoulders drooped, and he let the pad clatter to the desk in front of him. "…fine, fine. Tell them to give me… a few hours. I should be done translating by then."
Trailbreaker nodded. "Right."
"Anything else?"
"Uh, let's see…" he said, looking back down at the datapad in front of him. "Blaster has been playing his music too loud, which is causing quite a few complaints. He's asking if he can have permission to ask Perceptor to make him an iPod."
Optimus smiled beneath his faceplate. "Permission granted."
"Right, right…"
He ticked it off the list, and moved on to the next order of business.
"One more thing – the fellas down at the Ark are wondering when they have to come back up." He smiled. "Seems they're having more fun down there than they thought they would."
Prime nodded. "They can stay down there as like, so long as they're still working on excavating the Ark."
"Right. I think that's all for the moment. I'll tell Perceptor and Brainstorm to come and find you in a few hours."
"Make that a day," Optimus said, squinting at the datapad in front of him.
Trailbreaker grinned. "Will do."
"Thank you, Trailbreaker."
The door to Optimus' room slid open, and Kup and Hot Rod were revealed on the other side. After giving them a small nod and a smile, Trailbreaker slid past them and out into the command center.
Kup cleared his throat. "Uh, Prime?"
Optimus' head came up. "Oh. Hello, Kup. Hot Rod. Come in, have a seat."
The two cautiously made their way in and sat down on the two chairs opposite Prime's desk. Optimus groaned again and tossed away the datapad.
Hot Rod smiled. "Perceptor, right?"
Prime nodded.
"Wait until you get a report from Blurr."
That just made Prime groan again. "What can I do for you?"
Hot Rod's smile faded, and he glanced over at Kup nervously.
Optimus frowned. "Is there a problem?"
"It's uh…" Hot Rod looked over at Kup for support.
The older Autobot sighed. "…it's about something we found in the Ark."
The Autobot leader put a weary hand over his optics. "Sunstreaker… who's hurt?"
"No, no… it's, uh… nothing like that."
Prime cocked an optic ridge. "Then what?"
Kup took a deep breath. "Well… we found… an old file of Prowl's. He was looking into something. Something bad."
"What, exactly?"
Kup was silent as he tried to find some way to say it.
"Murder."
The word hung in the air like a bad odour.
"Does it…" Optimus paused. "Does it say who?"
Kup shrugged. "We don't know. The pad was damaged. We've brought it up here to be repaired."
Prime nodded. "I don't think this is anything you need to concern yourself with."
Hot Rod almost stood up. "What? But it's-"
Optimus put up a silencing hand. "However, I would like you to find out exactly what Prowl's investigation was about."
The flame coloured 'Bot looked at his superior officer suspiciously. "You know, don't you?"
"I have a suspicion. Nothing more, nothing less. And before I start telling you about events that are sensitive enough as it is, I would rather we get the facts straight first. All right?"
After a brief silence, Hot Rod nodded.
"Good. Report back to me when you've found out anything more."
Hot Rod got up out his chair and made for the door. It slid open, and he paused as he realised Kup hadn't followed him. He was still sat in his chair, looking at Optimus.
"Dismissed, Kup."
The older Autobot slowly nodded and made his way out. After waiting for the door to slide shut behind him, he turned to Hot Rod.
"He has a lot more than a suspicion. I'm sure of it."
"You think he's lying? Optimus Prime?"
"I didn't say lying, lad. I just said he knows more than he's telling."
"Well, we'll find out soon enough." Hot Rod took said as he led the way to the commissary. "How about some fresh, high grade energon while we wait? My treat."
"Sounds good!" a loud voice said, coming down the corridor towards them.
Hot Rod and Kup looked over at the source of the voice, and saw Springer and Arcee approaching them. The larger green Autobot wrapped his arm around Hot Rod's shoulders.
"Really, kiddo, you're too kind."
The flame coloured 'Bot sighed as Springer led him away down the corridor, the two laughing and shouting at each other as they walked away.
Kup paused at Optimus' door, his gaze lingering on it.
"Kup?"
He turned to look at Arcee.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
She smiled. "Then come on. I don't think we want to leave those two alone together for too long at a time."
He smiled at his old friend good naturedly as she led the way down the corridor.
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"So," Springer asked between munches of hardened energon, "what were you fellas seeing Prime about?"
Hot Rod and Kup looked at each other. "Uh…"
The green 'Bot smiled. "Personal stuff, huh?"
"No!" Hot Rod said quickly, his voice going up a defensive octave.
Kup shook his head. "We were seeing him about some business. Sorry, lad, but we can't tell you anymore than that."
Springer paused for a moment. "I see."
Arcee cocked an optic ridge. "Is it serious?"
Kup just sighed, and Arcee nodded.
"Right, right. Classified. Sorry."
Hot Rod frowned, feeling slightly saddened by how they had to shut the two out. It had come as quite an adjustment for them to make when Hot Rod had been promoted above them by Optimus. They had gotten used to being on the same level as the impulsive young Autobot. Hell, they were like a miniature family within the Autobots, much the same as the Dinobots or Aerialbots were. All they needed was some combined form to make it complete.
Then Hot Rod had become Rodimus Prime. Although that still didn't change much in terms of them still working together, it did change the dynamic of their relationship. Now, Hot Rod was giving them orders, while becoming much more serious than the Hot Rod they were used to. Hot Rod had thought that Optimus Prime's return from the dead would also return everything to normal.
He was wrong. Optimus promoted him. Now Hot Rod was on a par with Kup, the two now being co-security chief's of Cybertron. And that meant keeping certain details from their two old friends. Looking over at Kup, Hot Rod could see the same saddened look in his optics as well.
"So, uh," Hot Rod began, trying to alleviate the tension between them. "How're the repairs on the eastern quadrant going?"
"It's good, it's good. Getting along nicely," Arcee said. Hot Rod almost winced at how forced her words sounded.
Just as Kup was about to contribute to the conversation, his wrist communicator buzzed. He brought it up, revealing the face of Brainstorm.
"I'm done with the reconstruction, if you want to come down here and take a look."
Kup nodded. "Understood. Will do, lad."
He stood, as did Hot Rod.
"Uh… nice talking to you again."
Arcee nodded, a polite smile on her lips. "Yeah… we'll… have to do it again sometime."
"Right."
Kup gave a nod to the two before leaving with Hot Rod.
Hot Rod couldn't help but overhear Springer's muttering as they left.
"So much for friendship…"
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"All right, lad, what have you got?"
Brainstorm lifted the datapad. "I wasn't able to get all of it, but it looks like about eighty-five percent of it is intact now. The rest of it is pretty irretrievable at this point."
Kup nodded slowly as he took the pad and looked it over. "All right. Thank you, lad."
He was about to start going through it, but stopped when he noticed Brainstorm still stood in front of him.
"Would you mind, lad?"
The scientist just shrugged. "Oh, of course. I mean, it's not as if it's my lab or anything," he said as he left.
Hot Rod and Kup looked over at each other. The flame coloured 'Bot just smiled and shrugged.
"Am I the only one reminded of Wheeljack?" Kup asked.
Hot Rod laughed. "No. Now come on, let's uh… get to it." he said, gesturing to the pad.
Kup nodded. "Right, right…"
He pressed a button on the pad, and began reading.
There were quite a lot of details in there, which didn't surprise Kup in the least. Call Prowl what you wanted, but lazy he most definitely wasn't. When he ran an investigation, it was the most thorough and complete investigation that anyone had every seen. There was information about the different suspects, witnesses…
They both froze as they saw who the supposed murder victim was.
"No wonder Prime wanted us to leave it alone…" Hot Rod muttered.
Kup could only stare at the name, his mouth slightly agape.
Elita One.
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(A/N: I don't know what it is about this story, but I'm struggling to get the chapters to my usual length for my stories. But, I figured that if I couldn't write in any more for this chapter, then I shouldn't force it.
It's amazing how much guesswork is required for some of these characters. For Brainstorm, I've only got 3 episodes to work with. I've tried to make him a mix of Wheeljack and Perceptor. He's got Wheeljack's brains, and Perceptor's enthusiasm for… everything he makes. He's also got a little bit of Ratchet's crotchety demeanour.
But the most interesting one is Optimus Prime. For having so many episodes devoted to him (I think there was only two episodes in the entirety of season one and two where he didn't appear), there is precious little about his personality or character in there, except for the fact that he's Abraham Lincoln in a robot body.
I've tried to insert some wry, tongue-in-cheek humour into his character, since he did show a very dry sense of humour in episodes like 'Kremzeek!' and 'Enter the Nightbird'. I also figure that, since the Decepticons are out of the picture, he would start to loosen up a bit. If any of you have seen Justice League Unlimited, I'm sort of playing him like J'onn J'onnz (the green Martian guy).
In any case, I have no idea where the idea to make Optimus and Rodimus love and hate labs came from. With Rodimus, it's pretty clear why he wouldn't like hanging around in a lab, but Optimus…
Well, I was just trying to give him some human characteristics. Not human, but… you know what I mean.
And just to make it clear, the chain of command goes: Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Jazz, Trailbreaker. Ultra Magnus is on Earth all the time running Autobot City, though, leaving Jazz as Optimus' right hand man on Cybertron. Except now, though, obviously, since he's on Earth at the Ark.
And about Springer and the gang eating energon… I'm not sure of the exact science of the stuff. It's a power source in most episodes, but then you see Decepticons getting drunk on the stuff ('Microbots'), and then you see Octane and Sandstorm eating orange stuff on sticks that they call energon ('Starscream's Ghost'). So I just figured that they can eat it too.
…Well.
That author note went on for way too long.
Anyway, review!)