Author's Notes: Yay! Chapter 2 is out in a timely manner! I shouldn't celebrate something so mundane, but focus isn't my strong suit. Stubbornness yes, focus no. Anyway, now we get further introduced to the suspects and what Prowl has to deal with in his investigation. Detective work isn't all car chases and gun blazing after all, and no one would know that better than Prowl. Thank you for reading this new story of mine, and please review :)

Chapter 2

Surveillance

There was a palpable pressure on board the Ark. Those that had been cleared of Prowl's investigation, namely Optimus Prime, Inferno, Hound, and Trailbreaker, were put in charge of the mission to retrieve the ionic destabilizer from Decepticon Headquarters...that is, if they could do so without getting killed. For everyone else however the air was tense for quite a different reason. Everyone left was considered a suspect in a plot to overthrow the Autobots.

The rec room was mostly quiet except for the hushed gossip wafting from table to table. One of those tables was occupied by Blaster, Perceptor, Jazz, and Cosmos. Like everyone else, they worried about what Prowl's findings would mean for them as well as the rest of the Autobots.

"I still can't believe it," Cosmos murmured as he shook his helm in disbelief, "I'm gone for a measly two months, and I come back to find the Ark has been hurled into an episode of As The Kitchen Sinks!"

"Don't I know it," Blaster replied ruefully, "Everybody accusin' everybody else, it's disgraceful!"

"Indeed, though I must admit that there's a bit of excitement in attempting to solve the mystery," Perceptor interjected.

"What'chu talkin' about, Percy?" Blaster asked crossly, "You can't seriously think this is some sort of game."

"Indeed not," Perceptor replied defensively, "I'm just saying that I've been putting my own detective skills to work to try to determine who Prowl will most likely accuse first."

"Oh, yeah?" Jazz asked curiously, "Who you figure it is then?"

"Now keep in mind that I cannot be conclusive as to who the traitor is," Perceptor whispered conspiratorially, "However, I can deduce who I believe is most likely to be accused by Prowl. First of all, the ionic destabilizer was stolen. Second, the investigation started the very day after the ionic destabilizer was stolen. Third, no one has yet been told why the investigation is taking place. Therefore, the theft provides correlation and most likely causation. That means the traitor gave away information to our enemies."

"So we have a mole?" Blaster asked incredulously.

"Indeed," Perceptor nodded, "That means the culprit will be someone that had access to the security codes for the stolen weapon and also had the ability to encrypt their transmission to the Decepticons. That would mean senior staff only. Given the method and the timeframe of the crime, I believe the first one that will be accused is you, Blaster."

"Me?!" Blaster yelped, "But I'm innocent!"

"I never said you weren't," Perceptor replied coolly, "I'm merely saying that you would be the most likely candidate to be accused. I'm not even sure it was a member of our senior staff at all, considering we were all chosen for our loyalty and skill sets. Cliffjumper told me his theory on the matter-"

"Lemme guess, Mirage," Jazz replied with wry wit, "Man, Cliff's been ridin' Mirage's bumper practically since those two met. I dunno why he can't just let go of his anger. So Mirage was an elite mech? So what? He's a decent guy."

"You certainly know Mirage better than I do," Perceptor admitted, "Though his invisibility means he would be able to sneak into a briefing unseen and transmit all he knew. I'm not saying Cliffjumper is right, but I wouldn't discount the theory either."

The others didn't reply. It was hard to know what to say after something like that. Blaster knew Perceptor meant no harm by trying to deduce what happened, but it still meant they were trying to prove one of their friends committed treason. Jazz stared down at his drink, Cosmos scratched the back of his helm awkwardly, and Blaster looked around the room to see if anyone else heard them. Perceptor cleared his vocalizer and shifted in his seat. He knew he had gone too far, but he didn't know how to make it right.

They looked at each other after a few awkward minutes, but every faceplate said the exact same thing. It could be you. It could be any of you.

Prowl had commandeered Red Alert's office despite the objections of the irate security mech. Prowl wouldn't stay long. He just needed security footage from all of the pertinent rooms on the day of the Decepticon battle. The videos wouldn't show Prowl anything useful if the transmission went out during the fight, but if there was coordination in advance or any suspicious activity he would find out.

Once Prowl got all the tapes he needed he went to leave the room. As he opened the door Red Alert, who had been leaning against the door to listen in on Prowl, fell over and landed flat on his face. Prowl didn't even look back as Red Alert cursed him out and shook his fist at the Datsun.

Back in his office, Prowl started playing the first tape he grabbed out of the stack; the medbay on the morning before the battle.

The camera had been placed near the ceiling, and looked down on Ratchet as he cleaned up the medbay; for once free of patients. A tiny speck could be seen on the floor, and once it climbed the ladder to the nearest berth Prowl could see it was Sparkplug.

"I hear the Decepticons have been awful quiet," Sparkplug commented as he wiped his hands with an old oil rag.

"I doubt it'll remain that way for long," Ratchet grumbled, "I just hope they haven't learned about the ionic destabilizer. That thing could level entire cities within a matter of seconds, destroying buildings piece by piece and burning the flesh from human bones with pinpoint precision. I don't know why Wheeljack and Perceptor built that thing!"

"Jealous they didn't ask you?" Sparkplug teased.

"Oh, please! Spare me from wacky engineers and their flights of fancy!" Ratchet groused, "Every time Wheeljack asks me to help him with a project it ends in disaster. There was that time on Cybertron he asked me to help him with a research project he was doing on cybermatter. By the end of the experiment part of the cybermatter had fused to his arm. Then there was the time he wanted my help with an invention that would improve communications, and the blasted thing blew out our audials for an orn! No wonder he wanted me there, he needed someone to patch together his hearing circuits!"

"Then there's the Dinobots," Sparkplug smirked.

"Don't even get me started on those unruly beasts," Ratchet spat in annoyance as he checked the readouts on one of the berths, "Wheeljack begged and begged me to help him with their skeletal structure. He said having earth-based Autobots would help us understand the culture better. I didn't know he was going to use his own spark to infuse them with life! They were only supposed to be drones!"

"Drones? Wait, you mean building a Cybertronian isn't enough to bring them to life?" Sparkplug asked in confusion.

"If it were that simple, then every electronic device on your planet would be alive," Ratchet pointed out, "No, most Cybertronians are either given a spark through Vector Sigma or are created through the merging of a mech and femme. Apparently though Wheeljack decided to slice up his own spark like he was a cassette carrier! I don't even know how he survived that procedure, or why he made two more when the first three almost turned evil. I'm telling you Sparkplug, as brilliant as Wheeljack is sometimes it's like having an overgrown sparkling for a colleague."

Sparkplug laughed at Ratchet's peeved expression and then climbed down from the berth. After that the alarm went off around the base to meet in the control room, and Ratchet immediately left to see what was going on.

Prowl ejected the tape and went over that conversation in his memory banks. Ratchet seemed preoccupied with the ionic destabilizer. Was he feeling guilty about potentially giving it to the Decepticons, or was it merely genuine concern? Prowl decided to go to the next tape, the one from the rec room.

There were several cameras in the rec room, and Prowl had to select which tape he wanted to see from a list. He noted that Jazz was in the rec room with Powerglide, and Powerglide was showing off a photo of his new human girlfriend Astoria. Jazz smiled and nodded, and Prowl wondered how Jazz could be so invested in such an asinine conversation.

"I'm tellin' ya, she's the biggest pain in the afterburners I've ever met, but it's nice to know someone's out there waitin' for me," Powerglide said wistfully, "Besides, I think she riles me up just so we can make up later. Humans are funny that way."

"Sounds like a real soap opera to me," Jazz commented with an easy grin.

"Yeah, it is," Powerglide replied tiredly, "You know, I'm glad I can talk to you. Not everybody understands a mech that's attracted to organics. Frankly sometimes I don't understand it myself. Still, I can't remember the last time I felt so alive! She really knows how to live on the edge, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Jazz nodded, though Prowl could see Jazz's visor go dim for a few seconds as he spoke to Powerglide.

The conversation continued down a mundane path until the alarm blared and they left for battle. Prowl wondered if the dimming visor really was just Jazz being bored, or if he was sending or receiving a transmission. Jazz still looked like a viable suspect, which Prowl found distressing since Jazz was his friend. He still couldn't ignore any evidence gathered however, since if Jazz turned to the Decepticons they would gather even more valuable intel.

The next tape he grabbed was from Wheeljack's lab. Oddly enough, Wheeljack wasn't in his lab for the duration of the tape. Prowl found that odd, so he searched the logs until he found Wheeljack's location; the Dinobot's lair. Prowl was relieved to find that he had a tape for the Dinobot's room in his confiscated collection, though how Red Alert got a secret camera in there Prowl wasn't sure he wanted to know. Heaving a deep intake before beginning his task, Prowl played the tape.

The tape showed the Dinobots in their beast modes roughly pushing each other around as they gathered around Wheeljack and adjusted their sleeping cushions. Wheeljack had a bucket full of small toys, and Prowl was sure this was going to reveal no useful information.

"Hurry up!" Grimlock demanded of Wheeljack.

"Yeah, we Dinobots ready for story!" Swoop squawked.

"Okay, okay, settle down," Wheeljack called for calm and rifled through the bucket of toys.

Prowl watched impassively as Wheeljack pulled out two action figures and then lifted them up so the Dinobots could see.

"Once upon a time, there were two little boys named Red Power Ranger and Blue Power Ranger," Wheeljack told his creations, "Red Power Ranger and Blue Power Ranger weren't just ordinary little boys though. They had a special destiny. They were on a quest to learn how to combine to become the most powerful defender of justice around: Power Ranger Prime!"

The Dinobots were entranced by Wheeljack's storytelling, though Prowl didn't see why. Those characters were not little boys, they did not become a Prime in the original story told about them on television, and Wheeljack's voice was excited virtually to the point of baby talk, which was distracting.

"Unfortunately, the little power rangers had to contend with the most evil force known to the universe," Wheeljack said as he dug into the bucket looking for the right toy, and then as he pulled it up he dramatically cried out, "Megatronus Barbie!"

Wheeljack had pulled out a Barbie doll was messy blonde hair and a silver dress that had been chewed up by one of the Dinobots. It was three times larger than the power rangers, so Wheeljack thought it was a fairly menacing villain for his story. Apparently the Dinobots thought so too.

"Boo, Megatronus Barbie! Boo!" Swoop hissed.

"Tear her apart, Power Rangers!" Slag cheered for the designated heroes of the story.

Wheeljack put both power rangers in one hand and the Barbie in the other, and then clanked them together to simulate a fight.

"The battle raged on for many orns!" Wheeljack exclaimed with dramatic flare, "The little power rangers fought bravely against Megatronus Barbie and her army of spark eater ninjas. The villagers could only watch and hope that the power rangers prevailed against the tyrannical femme that had held them captives for deca-orns."

Then Wheeljack's voice got deeper as he said "Your tyranny will never win, Megatronus Barbie. We fight for the freedom of all sentient beings," then in a high pitched girly voice he said, "You will never defeat me, powerless rangers! I'm the baddest femme in the universe, now face my glittery doom!"

Wheeljack then pretended the Barbie shot the power rangers, and he threw away the power ranger toys and reached for another; a handmade plush of Optimus Prime.

"Everyone thought they were gone, but instead they had realized their destiny," Wheeljack staged whispered, and the Dinobots leaned in closer, "No longer were they younglings, for now they had merged into one super powerful being; Power Ranger Prime!"

"Yay!" The Dinobots all cheered.

Wheeljack then enacted another epic fight scene between the big plush toy and the chewed up Barbie doll. The Dinobots all cheered for their plush toy to kick that Barbie's glittery aft, and were surprised when the Barbie landed a blow that "knocked" the Prime down.

"And now," Wheeljack said in his girly voice, "I shall crush the spark of my most hated enemy, and then I shall rule the world! Mwahaha!"

Prowl was just as surprised as the Dinobots by this turn of events, but not even Prowl's logic calculator could have prepared him for what Wheeljack did next.

Wheeljack scooped a cardboard pizza box off the ground and in an excited voice said "Megatronus Barbie thought she had won, but she was no match for the might of Omega Supreme Pizza! Omnomnomnomnom!" Wheeljack then put the Barbie in the box and lifted the lid up and down so the pizza box could "eat" Megatronus Barbie.

"Yay!" The Dinobots cheered again.

"Me Grimlock like Omega Supreme Pizza!" Grimlock exclaimed happily.

"You Grimlock ate Omega Supreme Pizza!" Slag quipped.

"Say, that reminds me," Wheeljack piped up as he put away the toys, "How are those organic matter converters working out?"

"Not good," Grimlock grumbled in discomfort, "Me Grimlock still have tank ache, ooh!"

"Oh, well let me have a look at it," Wheeljack replied worriedly, "Maybe I can fix it for you. If this works out you'll be able to eat anything on-"

Just then the alarm blared, and the Dinobots looked at Wheeljack expectantly.

"You four can come with me," Wheeljack said as he pointed to four of the Dinobots, "Grimlock, I'm afraid you have to stay here to guard the Ark. Your tank ache puts you at a disadvantage in battle."

"D'aww! Me Grimlock never get to have any fun!" Grimlock pouted.

Prowl took out the tape, feeling like he had thoroughly wasted his time watching Wheeljack play with dolls to amuse his Frankenstein's monsters. That didn't really seem like the best way to train a group of soldiers in Prowl's opinion. He would also need to inform Prime that Wheeljack was messing with the Dinobot's digestive systems...again.

Prowl then popped in the tape from the communications hub where Blaster worked, and while he wasn't sure if he would find evidence of treason he did find something almost as bad; evidence that Blaster was goofing off at work.

Blaster spent the duration of his recording talking to Beachcomber on the view screen and playing demo after demo of music they had both recorded from their respective radios. Blaster even got up and danced at one point. Then he stopped when he noticed a flashing red light.

"Oops, gotta go my mech!" Blaster informed Beachcomber, "There's a Decepticon signal at a power plant on the west coast. Catch ya later!"

Blaster then cut off his conversation and then proceeded to send a message to Optimus Prime about the Decepticon activity. Prowl noted that they could have been informed 1.4 minutes sooner if Blaster hadn't been chatting during work hours. Prowl would have to have a talk with the boombox-former about that.

His next tape was of Ironhide, who was as thoroughly uninteresting as the others. He was in the armory talking with Brawn about the best techniques for getting within close range of the Decepticons. Both mechs seemed really enthused about the idea of blasting Decepti-creeps out of the sky and grappling with them on the ground. When the alarm went off Brawn left first, and Ironhide stayed behind for an extra few minutes because he couldn't decide which cannons he wanted in his subspace. It took him 5 minutes to leave the armory after the alarm went off.

"I knew Ironhide was getting old, but this ridiculous," Prowl muttered to himself.

So far Ironhide's behavior had been commendable and completely within the realm of his ordinary character. Prowl was fairly certain that he could rule Ironhide out as a potential suspect. Well, at least that was one he could rule out, and he was grateful for that. Ironhide was Optimus Prime's oldest living friend. It would've broke Prime's spark if Ironhide had betrayed them.

Prowl then checked Perceptor's lab, but couldn't find the microscope-former. In fact, no matter where Prowl checked on the tapes he couldn't find Perceptor. Prowl then searched the logs like he did with Wheeljack, only to find that Perceptor was in the security room with Red Alert.

Prowl searched for the security room footage, only to find there was none. Prowl then hacked into live feeds to confirm or disprove a suspicion, and it was confirmed...Red Alert had no cameras installed within the sanctum of his office.

The tactician furrowed his optic ridges in frustration. It seemed he had hit a wall. He couldn't figure out whether or not Red Alert and/or Perceptor transmitted that information to the Decepticons before the mission because neither of them had been recorded then. It was strange that Perceptor would even be in the security office. There was nothing of scientific import there, and Perceptor had no personal friendship with either Red Alert or Inferno.

This evidence alone proved nothing. There were other variables regarding the stolen weapon and whoever had given the Decepticons their security codes. With what Prowl had though, he had three major persons of interest: Jazz, Perceptor, and Red Alert.