Three orns passed with little change. Prowl continued to perform his duty flawlessly. Giving reports and orders with the skill that came with years of leadership and practice. For the most part his lack of emotional actions, and workaholic nature meant most mechs left him alone and he wasn't bothered by this. Only Jazz made it a point to greet the black and white daily and invite him out when they were both off duty.
A typical morning found Prowl in his office pouring over datapads and reports from recent missions and battles. The explosion that then rocked the base was certainly unexpected. This was especially worrisome because no alarm had sounded, and he knew very well that Red Alert set off the alarm any time a turbo rat got too close to the base for his liking.
He'd barely been able to stand when Jazz let himself into the larger mech's office. "Come on Prowler, that one sounded pretty big, Inferno might need some help."
The black and white tried to keep a puzzled expression from his features as he moved to follow the saboteur. Half way across the base an alert came out, informing certain personal to report to the science wing, and warning others to remain away until the situation was under control. The specific area they were headed to was relatively close to the medbay and searching through a list of the base personal Prowl could only come up with one mech would could be at the center of this disturbance.
An inventor by the name of Wheeljack.
Records showed this wouldn't be the first time the mech had blown himself, and a large portion of the base up. Well, it wasn't the first but Prowl was certain this would be the last time.
When they arrived on the scene the engineer had already been moved to the medbay. Inferno had the fires under control and others were already beginning the process of cleaning up the wrecked lab. Finding the mech in charge of the clean up Prowl ordered him aside, "I want all dangerous material removed from this lab. Have Red Alert assign it to protective storage."
Jazz, still by his side frowned, "What are you doin' Prowler?"
"The occurrence of these explosions goes far beyond mere accident. The mech power, and supplies needed to rebuild afterwards is not an appropriate use of limited resources."
"Yeah but Wheeljack didn't mean no harm. He's just tryin' to come up with stuff to help us against the 'cons."
"I understand that, however, until he learns to safely and properly handle dangerous substances we cannot afford to let him continue. The medbay is directly beside this lab, should it be affected during an explosion it would leave us in a very vulnerable state."
"Yeah but Prowler…" Jazz honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing, sure he knew Prowl had his quirks but he never thought the mech would go this far, it almost confirmed the twin's constant comments of the black and white having a stick in his tailpipe.
"Jazz if you have an issue with my order I suggest you appeal to Prime."
The silver mech did so, having his first real dispute with the tactician. Prime saw both sides of their argument, in the end he stood by his SIC and ordered that, for the time being, Wheeljack would only be allowed access to the more dangerous material under direct supervision and only after all components of his invention had been planned, simulated, and tested.
For the first time Prowl felt that Prime had taken him seriously, treated him with the respect a mech in his position was due. Yet he couldn't help the nagging sensation, he certainly didn't feel proud when Jazz had accepted the ruling with a curt 'Yes, sir' before retreating from the room. Similarly a glance to Prime showed the other didn't seem particularly happy with the decision he'd made, giving his tactician a short look, "Is there anything else Prowl?"
With a small frown the black and white shook his head, "No sir." Retreating from the other's office he was left to mull over the situation in solitude, as Jazz never came to visit.