Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers

Third Time's a Charm

Chapter 4: Gathering Info

Silverstreak slowly awoke with the worse processor ache he had ever had. He clearly remembered only having one cube of high grade that, as far as he knew, wasn't tainted with anything.

He didn't feel as if he had a hangover. If anything, it was more as if he had been hit really hard, perhaps repeatedly, in the helm.

Silverstreak remembered hunting down Static after the mech escaped the Rec Room and had called Bodycount things that he couldn't believe would ever be used to describe such a hardworking, caring leader.

He had been following Static down the hallway and that's where his memory went blank.

"He's so cute when he's not fully online. TC, do you think Screamer will let us keep him?" A hand gently brushed one of his doorwings.

"Warp, I don't care where you found him, Bodycount's going to want him back." Thundercracker replied before pressing a hand to Silverstreak's forehelm. "Let's have Hook look him over. I don't want to get the blame if he's not fully functional, especially after what you did when you got ahold of him."

"I still think we should keep him." Skywarp paused, "He's more fun than Screamer. If Bodycount wants him back, why don't we give him Screamer and say it's a trade?"

"It doesn't work like that." Thundercracker sighed, "But it's a tempting."

"Why don't we make it official? Both trines will mismatched, but complete. We get the fun and feisty one, they get the grump and you can be leader."

Silverstreak sat up and looked around, "Where am I?"

Skywarp leaned up against him, a fond smile adorning his face, "You're in our quarters. Screamer's off 'facing Megy again so he won't be back anytime soon. Stay as long as you want."

Silverstreak leaned closer to Thundercracker who was sitting on his other side on their large berth. "How'd I get here?"

Thundercracker answered, slightly amused, "I found you knocked out in the hallway ventilation system. It took a while to get you out, but Skywarp wanted to keep you ever since."

Silverstreak scooted himself off of the berth, much to Skywarp's dismay, and stood up on wobbly legs as a hand went to his helm. "Can you help me to the medbay?"

"Sure." Thundercracker got up and grabbed Silverstreak's arm, pulling it over his shoulder as he supported the mech. "Skywarp, get some recharge."

"What?! I want to help!"

"No. You didn't get any recharge last night and you need it before our shift starts." Thundercracker reasoned as he and Silverstreak headed out of the room.

"Are you sure this is the correct layout of this base?" Static questioned as he looked over the display.

"This is the only one that was ever posted for this base." Darkshade answered, "Why? Is something wrong with it?"

Static lightly traced the dimensions for the room that they were in, "Yeah. According to this, our room is wider than it is."

"How odd. It could be a small mistake. It's not very different than what this room actually is."

"That's what they want you to think." Static said as he narrowed his optics at the rest of the map, "No, this isn't the only problem."

"How do you know this?" Darkshade asked with disbelief.

"Simple," Static paused, "I know the dimensions of every room I've been in since I got here."

"Why do you have that?"

"I get curious and it's good to know if you're in one place for long periods of time." Static hummed, "There's mistakes everywhere. Someone's hiding something and I think I might know what it is."

Darkshade raised an optic bridge, "What could that be?"

"You said Soundwave might be in charge of the Special Ops and when I was talking to Bodycount, I confirmed that he's an officer. There's no office for Bodycount, not even an empty one, and none of the rooms are designated for only special ops. If 'Wave is the head of special ops, he's going to need somewhere for all of his high security info other than in that processor of his."

"You should talk to the Constructicons about this. They're the ones who built this base and it might be how my last roommate figured out where Bodycount was hiding."

Static frowned, "That's info they're going to freely give away."

"I wasn't the only one he was 'facing." Darkshade chuckled, "He picked up some interesting kinks from the Constructicons."

"Looks like I'm going to have to make some friends." Static stated nonchalantly as he headed out of the room.

Gambler watched Static leave his room and carefully followed the mech, making sure that he wasn't seen or heard in the process.

Not many could get away from Silverstreak unscathed when the praxian put his mind something and the new recruit was up to something. Static was almost too good to be new, let alone possessing such a low position in the base for the skills he possessed. Rank aside, Gambler had a feeling Static knew more than he was letting on and Gambler was determined to find out what that was.

Either Static was a dangerous enemy in disguise or an extremely useful potential ally.

Gambler wasn't one to get suspicious very easily, but he had a hunch about Static and he didn't accumulate so many credits from sitting around doing nothing.

Static made sure no one else was around before approaching the Decepticon. "Scrapper, I heard you're the leader of the Constructicons."

"You heard correctly." Scrapper replied, giving Static a curious look as the mech wandered closer to get a good look at the blueprints he was working on.

"Ah, you're the designer as well?" Static whistled, "I've been a great fan of your work. Honestly, who could design an entire city as beautiful and complex as Crystal City?"

"Well… It took me a while to get the designs right, I had a lot of ideas, you know?" Scrapper crossed his arms, "But once I got it figured out, my team and I got to work. It's a lot of fun designing and building all sorts of places. Bonecrusher prefers the Demolition work, but what comes up will one day come down. It's all a matter of when."

Static smiled, "I agree completely."

"Not everyone understands that." Scrapper muttered as he looked back to his work.

"What are you working on?"

"It's no Crystal City, but it's another base Megatron wants us to build. The old base they had got blown up by the Autobots. What they have now is completely useless as far as I'm concerned." Scrapper drew a few lines, "So this one will be better than the last one. It'll hold more Decepticons as well. I was thinking a larger brig would be better seeing how it's near the area where Autobots have been repeatedly sighted."

"Oh, then you'll need more interrogation rooms. It won't matter how big you make the brig if you can't get the info you need."

"Good idea. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Static watched Scrapper work for a while before speaking up once again, "Did the Constructicons build this base?"

"Of course we did. The place isn't even two vorns old yet. We just finished making repairs from when the Autobots attacked. That was before you got here, but they made quite a mess." Scrapper sighed, "I was surprised when they retreated. I thought they weren't going to stop until the place was a pile of rubble, though it would have made our jobs easier since we'd be able to get away with starting from scratch instead of relying on the old blueprints."

"Is it a common practice to stray from the blueprints?"

"Primus no! I work hard on those. What's the point in making them if we're going to improvise the entire time?!"

Static hummed in agreement, "It's just when I was looking over the blueprints of this base and I noticed the dimensions of the entire place were off. It wasn't by much, but still."

"Which blueprints were you looking at?" Scrapper asked suspiciously, "And why?"

"Curiosity. I wanted to know my way around and not get lost." Static shrugged, "It was the blueprints available to the entire base, no access codes required. I can bring it to you if you'd like."

"Ah, those blueprints." Scrapper gave a sigh of relief, "You had me worried. Those ones were doctored up. For the most part, they're true, but not entirely. You have a sharp optic to have noticed the discrepancy. I never got your designation."

"Static." Static smirked, "I've been around to a lot of places in my functioning and one of the most important skills to have is being attentive to your surroundings."

"Static… Static. Hm… Nice to meet you." Scrapper paused, "You should spend time with the Constructicons. You're not like everyone else and your advice is rather invaluable."

"It's nice to meet you as well. I'd love to spend more time with you and your team."

Scrapper redrew one of his lines, making it shorter than it had previously been, "We're in room 238, but you probably already knew that."

"Yes, but you never know seeing how the blueprints I have access to are somewhat incorrect. I'd love to see the actual blueprints, if you don't mind."

"Just don't get yourself killed like the last one who asked to see it." Scrapper waited for Static's response.

"I got away from Silverstreak last night. I can't make any promises, this is a war after all, but I won't go out without a fight."

"Good enough." Scrapper pulled the blueprints out and spread them out over the blueprints he had been working on. "The blueprints you saw for this base were doctored to hide the fact that an entire section of the base is missing."

Static secretly took a few image captures of the blueprints, "So there is a special ops division housed here."

"Yes, the entrance is well hidden and you better keep this knowledge to yourself. I don't care if you try to find it yourself, but I better not hear of your discovery from the gossip mill." Scrapper warned, "If I do, you'll regret it."

Static brushed his fingers across the blueprints, "I'll do some exploring, but the secret's safe with me."

Scrapper put the blueprints away and started working on his new designs once more, "Good luck with Silverstreak. That sniper doesn't give up easily. Whatever you did to upset him, I hope it wasn't from insulting Bodycount."

Static frowned, "Does he normally hunt down his fellow Decepticons?"

"It all depends on what they did." Scrapper replied, "Now I need to get more of this completed before Hook finishes his shift or else I won't get anything done."

"Thanks again." Static left the room, intent on looking into what he had learned.

Bodycount narrowed his optics at his trinemate, "So the only reason why you're here is to inform me that Static has been snooping around in order to find my office?"

"Pretty much." Gambler agreed, "Though why he wants to find it, I have no idea. Surely he doesn't want your datapads though today you have so many of them, I can barely see you as it is."

"Then you should leave and let me work on them." Bodycount suggested.

Gambler shifted slightly in his chair, how Silverstreak managed to get instantly comfortable in it, he'd never know. "I was thinking he's an assassin, spy or he's a masochist. Honestly Bodycount, you can't convince me it's out of curiosity."

Bodycount set the completed datapad aside and reached for another, "You think he wants to kill me or is after what I know?"

Gambler nodded, "Or he's a masochist because he insulted you and somehow managed to give Silverstreak the slip. Our trinemate is getting a checkup from Hook at the moment after he woke up in the Command Trine's room. Starscream was gone 'facing Buckethead again."

"You shouldn't call Megatron that and I don't understand why the third option has anything to do with the situation."

"He wants to interface with you." Gambler clarified, "It's been a while since you were last with anyone and he's not all that bad on the optics. Static's symmetrical, even to your meticulously high standards."

Bodycount huffed in agitation, "Why must everything boil down to my 'face life?"

Gambler smirked, "It's because there's a bet going on for a while now is based on you getting fragged and how it effects your mood. Some think that you'll be less strict and be more… oh what's the word, social?"

"I was with Shockwave when he was here."

"Don't remind me." Gambler rubbed his chevron, "I'm still trying to get rid of the mental image when Silverstreak and I walked in. You know what, he doesn't count and even if he did count, everyone's made a point of having at least one good interface after you last had one. Even Silverstreak got laid since then."

Bodycount stiffened, "He did what?"

"Oh you heard me. Silverstreak isn't as innocent as you repeatedly fool yourself into believing. Primus, my last 'face was about two decacycles ago, but don't worry, we're picky with our berthmates."

"That's oddly comforting." Bodycount muttered as he relaxed a bit in his chair, doorwings lowering enough to rest on his chair.

"If you want to give Static a try, you could always use your desk, or let us know beforehand and we'll figure out different sleeping arrangements for the night." Gambler paused, "You'll want to do so before Silverstreak gets ahold of him or somehow convince Silverstreak to leave him alone. Good luck if you chose the latter because I refuse to get involved."

"What happened to 'safety in numbers'?" Bodycount amusedly questioned.

Gambler crossed his arms, a smirk on his faceplate, "That ceased to apply the moment you gave him that rifle."

Bodycount chuckled, "Then it's a good thing he won't attack us."

"There are times where I consider that to be a blessing from Primus." Gambler checked the time and with a groan of frustration, he got up, "It's about time for the nightly bets and card games. I'll see you later this evening and you better not get yourself killed."

"Since when was I not prepared?" Bodycount pulled his acid pelt rifle from its hiding spot next to him with great ease and had it aimed at the door in a matter of astroseconds.

"And if you can't get that?" Gambler questioned. He already knew what the alternatives were, but he just wanted to make sure, especially if Static was an assassin.

Bodycount put the rifle away only to reach inside the desk and pull out a throwing knife. Then, knowing the drill all too well, he put that away and pulled a dagger from his subspace, followed by a loaded pistol. "Satisfied?"

"How about if they're behind you?"

Bodycount looked to the ceiling and let out a small sigh. Getting himself set up in the most likely situation, working on a datapad, he paused his writing only to swing the datapad behind him, letting go of his work as he got up, and picked up his desk chair, posed to strike.

"Now how about if they're mostly unaffected from that?"

Bodycount set the chair back down, grabbed the tossed datapad and got comfortable in his chair once again, "You already know of my skills in hand to hand combat. It's pointless for me to indulge you any further. Besides, didn't you say you needed to go?"

"Alright, alright. Just be careful. We worry about you."

Static slipped out of the shadows once he was certain Gambler was far enough away before approaching the well hidden door to the secret hallway. When Soundwave entered quarter of a joor ago, the mech didn't press any buttons or connect to the door itself, so there had to be a sensor of some sort. He hadn't seen any motion detectors or cameras, so Soundwave must have pinged the door.

Static was tempted to do the same, but he already knew the possible outcomes. He'd most likely get a message informing him his access was denied and if he was lucky, that would it. If he wasn't, the inhabitants would be notified and he'd lose all chances of surprising them.

Taking a closer look, he spotted a port to the right of the door. Taking the chance, he pulled out his cable and made a direct connection with the system. The first thing he did was make sure it wasn't going to notify anyone of his activities before looking into how the door system worked. As he thought, those with access to the hallway pinged the door and it would automatically open without even notifying anyone else. The tricky part was getting his identification into the system without anyone finding out or else he'd be in some serious, life threatening trouble.

After making a few changes in the coding, he made a hiding spot for his information that he could only hope would be undetectable. He disconnected from the system and with a tense exhale, he pinged the door.

The door silently opened.

Carefully he entered the hallway, only to be startled when it closed behind him.

The hallway was just as well lit as the one he had just left. It was eerie how easy that had all been. The security for the door was as easy as taking an energon goodie from a sparkling which in of itself sent off alarms in his mind seeing how this was supposed to be a an important, but hidden area.

Motion detectors.

Sound detectors.

Cameras.

Static loosened up, a grin appearing on his faceplate right before the mech began disabling and in some cases, completely taking out the device and bringing it with him as he made his way down the hallway.

It didn't take long for him to make it to a door whose label caught his optic.

Tactics

He opened the door and quietly slid in. It was an office, a well-kept one with…

Oh.

Frag.

Static put on his most charming smile, "Fancy meeting you here."

"You're not supposed to be here." Bodycount growled, doorwings rigid as he aimed at Static's spark chamber with his rifle.

"Me? Oh, I was just taking a look around." Static paused, "Why are you allowed to be here? Last I saw, you didn't have an office."

"This is my office."

"Ah, so you're an officer after all. You know, Counter, I never knew the Decepticons had anything to do with tactics, let alone have a tactical officer. So do you make plans for the Decepticon army or just for the Special Ops?"

Bodycount narrowed his optics, "That is classified information."

Static motioned around the room, "Just like this office?"

"How did you get in here without triggering any alarms?"

Static shrugged, "Cameras. Sound detectors. Motion detectors. They're not all that difficult to get around if you know what you're doing." He innocently pulled the detached motion sensors from his subspace.

"Why are you here?"

Static came closer, only to plop down into the vacant chair and put his pedes up on the desk. "Checking out a few rumors and decided I might as well visit the resident drone if they were true."

Bodycount lowered his rifle and sat down, keeping a close optic on his visitor's movements.

"You know, I'm not here to kill you. If I was, you'd already be dead." Static laughed, "So you might as well stop watching me like a turbohawk.

"Static, it's not every day someone manages to find this area of the base and infiltrate it while avoiding all security measures that are in place." Bodycount explained, "There must be a reason why you're here."

"I already told you. I'm just checking out some rumors and our resident tactician."

"Where did you acquire your skills?"

Static smirked, "Life."

Bodycount did several calculations before voicing his next question, "How are you settling down into life on this base? Are you finding your duties to your liking?"

"It could be better." Static put his pedes down and straightened out, if only marginally. "Monitor duty is too dull for my tastes and it'd be nice if my shifts where a tad bit more mentally stimulating. There's only so much brig duty one mech can handle."

"I see."

"Why? What's going through processor of yours? You need an assistant or something?"

Bodycount shuddered, "Primus forbid someone touch my uncompleted work."

"You know, I wouldn't mind a promotion. It'd be nice to do something different for a change, so what will it be?" Static paused, "Filing?"

"My filing system is perfect as it is and I will not have someone messing it up. It took joors to get it right after Soundwave rummaged through it without my prior knowledge."

"Then what will it be, Counter?"

"My designation is Bodycount." Bodycount flicked his doorwings in mild irritation.

Static crossed his arms, "I'm not going to call you Bodycount all the time. Which would you prefer: Counter, Drone or Spike Rag?"

"You did this on purpose."

"What fun would it be if I didn't?" Static grinned, "Counter it is."

"Fine." Bodycount grumbled, "Would you be interested in becoming a member of the Special Operations Division?"

"A Special Ops agent?"

"Yes."

"I've always wanted to be a secret agent!" Static put his pedes back up on the desk much to Bodycount's irritations, "Will I get to officially be allowed back here whenever I want?"

"Yes."

"Can I hack stuff?"

"Yes."

"Do I get new stuff?"

"Yes."

"Can I blow stuff up?"

"Yes, but only if Soundwave or I okay it first."

"Good enough. How about…" Static paused, "Can I get away with watching 'cons sleep?"

"Yes."

"Will you bail me out of the brig like you do your trinemates?"

Bodycount blinked before answering, "It depends on why you're there in the first place."

"Why not all the time?" Static questioned, moving his pedes over so he could better see Bodycount.

"Because the brig is there for a reason and I am the tactician for the Special Ops, not their sparkling sitter. If you want one, talk to Soundwave."

"Will I go undercover?"

Bodycount hesitated, "Quite possibly, but that is, in part, up to Soundwave."

"Deal. So now that we're done with all of that official slag," Static pushed a stack of datapads to the side with a ped, "you wanna test the strength of your desk?"

"No. My desk is as strong as it needs to be." Bodycount replied as he moved the datapads back into place.

"Huh, I had you figured for a desk loving 'con." Static nudged a different stack of datapads in which Bodycount automatically moved back. "Do you prefer using a berth?"

"Of course I do." Bodycount replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "My office is a place of work and as such, shouldn't be defiled. As a high ranking officer, there are certain expectations that I'm supposed to meet and I refuse to make exceptions."

"Shouldn't doesn't mean no." Static teased, "Top or bottom?"

"That is none of your business." Bodycount huffed.

Static laughed, "It's bottom, isn't it?"

Bodycount stood up, pointing at the door with a stern look on his faceplate, "Get out."

"I'm right, aren't I?" Static grinned, "Spike or valve? Or do you not care?"

"Get. Out." Bodycount repeated, doorwings in an angry 'v' as he glared daggers at the other mech.

Static got up, giving Bodycount a mock salute, "It's been great chatting with you, Counter. We'll have to do this again sometime soon."

Darkshade caught Static in the hallway, "You do know Silverstreak has been hunting you, right?"

"Again? I thought I lost him." Static groaned in frustration, "Doesn't he ever give up?"

Darkshade shrugged, "It depends on what you did to frag him off, just tell me you didn't insult Bodycount."

Static tensed, "If I did?"

Darkshade grabbed Static, pulling him into a different hallway, "Then whatever you do, don't turn yourself in. The first individual who did that thought it would be best to do so and well…" He opened an unused room and pulled Static in after him, "What do you see?"

Static looked around in the otherwise vacant room, the light occasionally flickering in disuse, "An optic, ped, finger, glossia… spark chamber? Primus, there's a whole bot in here!"

"Yes, this is that bot. Silverstreak slowly took him apart and as you can tell, even though his frame has been spread across this room, he was still functioning and aware when Silverstreak finished." Darkshade watched Static grimace, "The only reason why he offlined was because Silverstreak grew bored of him and forgot to refuel him for a few decacycles."

"What happened to the others?" Static questioned, still examining the bot from a respectful distance.

Darkshade shook his helm, "There were no others. We simply learned from this glitch's mistake, until now that is."

"Any ideas on how to stop Silverstreak other than killing him?"

Darkshade shrugged, "You could try talking to Gambler or Bodycount. They might be able to convince him to let it go, but that's unlikely."

"Where's Gambler?"

Darkshade led him out of the room and to the Rec Room where the praxian was in the middle of the action, taking bets of all kinds.

"Hey, Gambler!" Static called out to the praxian as he worked his way through the crowd.

Gambler chuckled, "You're still kicking after all this time?"

"I need help with Silverstreak."

Gambler smirked, "That's what this betting pool is about. How long does Static evade Silverstreak, what does Silverstreak do with Static and how long does he survive? The pot is already double the size of the last one."

"Which was?" Static questioned.

"Does Bodycount know how to play cards and how well?"

Static glanced towards the door and immediately spotted Silverstreak. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"No. I'd rather watch." Gambler paused, moving his doorwings in greeting to Silverstreak, "If you make a strong enough case with Bodycount, he might help, but the best course of action is to avoid getting shot by Silverstreak and hope he gets bored. Then again, you did call Bodycount a spike rag, so I doubt Silverstreak will let you get away with it."

Static pushed further into the crowd and hid behind some of the larger 'cons before slipping unnoticed into the air vents. He needed to come up with a plan soon or else someone was going to die.