Author's Notes: Happy Halloween! Wait, what was that? Halloween was two months ago? No, LIES! It is Halloween time and you're getting a Halloween chapter!
Two days later, as Prowl had promised Optimus, the Autobots underwent a very well organized battle simulation. They had all driven out to the woods that were near The Ark, and performed their operation. Jazz, Bumblebee and Mirage had been tasked to hold Bluestreak "hostage," while Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Slingshot, Blades, and Air Raid acted as their support. Prowl had headed a team responsible for rescuing Bluestreak and Ironhide had headed a team to "take out" the opposing forces. The objective for the "bad guys": to maintain their hostage until the three hours were up. The objective for the "good guys": to rescue Bluestreak and escort him out of the woods within the time limit.
The simulation went well enough. Outside of Optimus's awareness, Prowl had ordered all who were participating to be on their best behavior during the event. After all, if Optimus found out about the prank war, and especially if said prank war messed with their highly organized battle simulation, he surely would not be pleased. Therefore, all went according to plan in the woods that day. Jazz's team fought fiercely to keep their hostage, but Prowl's team managed to rescue him about two hours into the exercise. Bluestreak was briefly recaptured, but thanks to Ironhide's team effectively taking out their opposing side, the young gunner was re-rescued and safely escorted out of the woods with ten minutes left to spare.
On their way back home in their altmodes, Optimus and Prowl conversed through the comm. system. "I am impressed with the performance of our Autobots," the Prime commented. "You have done a good job keeping them alert over the last few weeks."
"Thank you, Prime," Prowl returned graciously.
"These simulations seem to keep the Autobots well trained," Optimus continued. "I would suggest we conduct these on a regular basis."
"I agree," said Prowl. "We have let them become lazy. However, I need time to prepare each simulation."
"Of course. Feel free to take the time you need, and please inform me when the next exercise is ready."
Prowl agreed, and as their conversation died out, he was left to wonder if Optimus really intended to enforce the regularity of these simulations. If he did, then that just meant there was one more thing on Prowl's plate to deal with now.
o~o~o
Over the next few weeks, the weather got colder, the leaves started to fall from the trees, and all the humans became focused on the upcoming holiday season. For it was October, and Halloween was rapidly approaching. This being their second year on Earth, the holidays were still a bit of a mystery for the Autobots, but Halloween was by far the most confusing. How in the world does a holiday get created that's about dressing up in costumes, scaring each other, and getting candy out of it? Well, the Autobots couldn't really dress up in costumes (although last year the twins were quite creative in that department), nor could they eat candy (but plenty of the 'Bots were content with their high-grade), but one thing's for sure, and that is that some 'Bots are absolutely delighted in the idea of scaring each other for fun.
During the several weeks of October, the theme that dominated the pranking was undoubtedly influenced by this factor. Mechs were hanging white sheets from the ceiling to look like ghosts, hiding skeletons in every place imaginable, and doing everything possible to make each other jump. So far, the most popular prank is when somebody put a bunch of jack-o-lanterns on stakes and set them up outside of the door to Prowl's office.
One week before Halloween, Sideswipe walked through the halls of the Ark, hardly noticing the several skeletons that popped out at him and the sheet ghosts above his head. He was a mech on a mission, and when he had a goal to accomplish he didn't let anything distract him until it was done.
Hound was usually not a hard mech to find. He was a friendly guy who usually answered when you called him. But this time around he wasn't answering and that just won't do. According to the schedule Hound had the day off, but having wandered around the Ark for the last hour and not finding him, Sideswipe was forced to contact the one mech who would surely know where the scout would be.
"Hey Trailbreaker!"
Trailbreaker sighed when he recognized the voice over his comm. link, regretting that he answered the hail. Nevertheless, he had to respond now. "Hey Sideswipe," he said with a falsely chipper tone. "What is it?"
"Where's Hound?" the frontliner asked right off the bat.
Trailbreaker frowned. "Why do you need to know where he is?"
"None of your biz!" Sideswipe said. "But I need to talk to him and I can't find him. You always know where he is, so tell me!"
"Hound doesn't really want to be disturbed right now," Trailbreaker said reservedly.
Sideswipe scoffed. "Come on, I just need to ask him something. It'll take like, five minutes of his time!"
"I don't know..." Trailbreaker said.
"Pleeeaaase?" Sideswipe begged.
Trailbreaker sighed. "Alright fine. He's in the woods east of the Ark. About ten minutes off the road, just after the big fallen tree, going north."
"Alright thanks!" Sideswipe said and cut the link. Trailbreaker sighed again and hoped that Sideswipe really didn't intend on bothering his friend too much.
Sideswipe wasted no time heading out to where Hound was. It took longer than what he would have liked driving out there, and then he had to backtrack several times because there must have been at least five fallen trees along the road! How the heck was he supposed to know which one was the one he was looking for? But eventually, after several more minutes of trekking through the woods, he spotted the dark green form that was Hound up ahead. The scout was holding some binocular-like devices up to his optics and was staring intently at a flock of birds in the trees ahead of him with his back turned to Sideswipe.
"Hey Hound!" the red mech said loudly as he crashed through the brush towards him.
Hound jumped at the unexpected voice, and then sighed with disappointment when his flock of birds flew away at the ruckus. He turned around to identify the mech greeting him, and put on an overly cheery face. "Hey Sides, what is it?"
"I need your help," Sideswipe said. "Can you spare your hologram projector?"
"Um, may I ask why?" said Hound.
"It's uh, for a little prank I'm doing." Sideswipe responded casually. "I only want to borrow it."
"Well, why can't you get some from Wheeljack?"
Sideswipe frowned. "He said he used up all of his projectors for somebody else, and he doesn't have the resources to make any more right now."
"Well, I don't know," Hound was skeptical. "My hologram projector is kind of important, I can't just let people use it..."
"Pleeeeaaaase?" Sideswipe intoned as he rather dramatically dropped to his knees and took Hound by the hand. "It'll only be for like a day. Maybe two days... maybe a week. But not long, I swear, and then you can have it right back! Pretty please?"
"Well, uh..." Hound said as he glanced around, hoping that nobody was around to witness Sideswipe begging from him on his knees. He looked back at the red mech in front of him, and slumped slightly at the exaggerated look of innocence about him. He knew the guy was up to no good, but he just couldn't... "Alright," he caved.
Sideswipe popped up from the ground with a grin of victory on his face. "Great! Thanks Hound! Now let's get back to the Ark, we've got work to do!"
The frontliner grabbed the scout by the arm and rushed him back towards the road. "But..." Hound started, and then realized it would be useless to try and protest now. With a frown he followed Sideswipe. This was not how he had planned on spending his day off. How had the mech find him way out here in the woods in the first place, anyway?
o~o~o
That night, and several hours of hard work later, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Hound stood in the middle of a hallway in the Ark. This hall was on the opposite side of the base from the Pieway, and was similar in length and function to it, except there was one other hallway that branched off from this one. And although this hall was used fairly often, hardly anyone went down the second one because it lead to a portion of the engine room that was pretty much useless and abandoned at this point. The main passageway, though, was now changed from its normal appearance. Portions of the walls were lined with mirrors, fake cobwebs hung from the corners, and some of the lights on the ceiling appeared to be broken and hung haphazardly from wires and paneling. And what couldn't be seen were the sound projectors hidden in the ventilation ducts, just behind the vent grates.
Unlike Jazz, Bumblebee, and Mirage, who had had Prowl to cover for them while they had set up their own hallway prank, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had Red Alert, who was arguably equally as capable in that area and had ensured that this hall would be clear of other mechs tonight. And now the three gazed upon their handiwork, Sideswipe pleased and confident, Sunstreaker smug, and Hound somewhat perplexed. "I still don't know how you convinced me to help you with all of this," he said.
"Because we need you for the last part!" Sideswipe responded. "Come on, now hand it over!" And he held out his hand expectantly towards Hound.
The scout frowned as he carefully removed the hologram projector that had been installed in his chest compartment. It still didn't feel right just giving his projector away, especially to Sideswipe, but he had agreed to do this and Sideswipe had promised to return it as soon as he was done with it. Besides, it would be amusing to see his holograms put to some playful use.
As soon as he had ahold of the projector, Sideswipe immediately switched it on with a gleeful grin. A hologram emerged from the device and revealed itself in front of them. It appeared to be some kind of ghost, floating several feet above the floor. Although it was rightfully spooky, it wasn't necessarily convincing or realistic. The red mech frowned. "Hm, is this the best you can do?"
Hound shrugged. "I'm sorry I've never seen a ghost before!"
As Sideswipe inspected the hologram before him, Sunstreaker suddenly snatched the projector from his hand. "Here," he said gruffly and inserted a small data chip into a port on the device. He turned the projector back on and what came out of it was quite a bit scarier than the one before it. The ghost mech that the hologram represented was that of a greyed out chassis, its armor pocketed with rusted out holes and old, peeling paint. Its optics were missing and so was a large section of armor around the midsection, revealing bundles of grossly contorted wires.
Hound recoiled slightly at the gruesome sight, but Sideswipe grinned proudly. "That's my artistic brother!" he said. "It's perfect! Now, let's get this installed."
The three then spent the next half hour or so installing and programing the projector. And after that they were done. The twins gleefully fled the scene, anxious to see their prank at work the next day. Hound, however, lingered for a moment at the entrance to the hallway, looking back at what they had done. Although his precious hologram projector was no longer with him, he grinned a bit at the prank he had helped set up. It was a pretty good idea, he'd admit, especially with Halloween coming up and all, and he too was excited to see who would fall for it.
o~o~o
The very next day, Blaster was walking through the Ark with Steeljaw in tow. The two were on their way outside for a training session for the cybercat to keep his skills up. "This time, try ta leave the training toy unbroken, okay 'Jaw?" Blaster mentioned. The cat only growled in response.
The two continued on their way for some time, Blaster chatting idly and Steeljaw not really paying attention. Eventually they made it to a certain hallway in their path. They were almost outside, just a few more halls to go through. They approached this hallway without even thinking, when suddenly music popped into existence around them:
DA NA NAAA, DA NA NA NAA NAAAAAA!
They both stopped in their tracks as they attempted to locate the source of the noise. Blaster, the music savvy mech that he was, immediately identified the song as Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, written by Bach. It's a song that humans usually associate with horror films and haunted houses.
"That was weird," he remarked when nothing else happened after a moment's hesitation. The Cybercat hardly responded as he scented the air.
Blaster shrugged with a dismissive "hm" before continuing on his way, Steeljaw a few steps behind. They entered the hallway, still completely unsuspecting. However, it was only a moment later that the mech noticed the mirrors that had been set up on the walls further ahead. "What on Cybertron?" he wondered as he curiously and unwittingly stepped forward. That's when suddenly and with a *POP* all the lights shut off in the hallway, plunging them into relative darkness. A moment later, several emergency lights switched on, but they appeared to be broken and were flickering severely.
Steeljaw bared his fangs and growled lowly in defense, but nevertheless scooted closer to his master's leg. The 'Bot, on the other hand, glanced around the hallway curiously. Connecting the dots, he couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Well, it looks like we've got a little prank here!" he said. Looking down at the cybercat, he continued. "Let's see what else happens!" And with that, he continued on his way down the hall. Steeljaw hesitated for a moment, but was quick to catch up.
As they made their way further in, the flickering lights only worsened, and the light from the rest of the Ark behind them slowly faded away. In addition, soft music could be heard floating around them, almost too quiet to hear. But this wasn't Toccata and Fugue anymore, in fact Blaster couldn't identify it. But it was slightly jarring to the audio, discordant and echoey, and despite the fact that he knew this was all a prank, Blaster couldn't help but feel a little disconcerted by it. They eventually reached the mirrors that lined the walls, and they soon discovered that they were like fun house mirrors, as they distorted whatever image that reflected off of them. "This is kinda trippy," Blaster remarked as he watched his oddly shaped reflections move about around him. Occasionally he could swear he would see glimpses of something in the mirrors other than himself and his cassette, but whenever he looked around, there was never anything there.
The two were now about halfway down the hall, and were just passing the extra passageway that led to the abandoned section of the Ark. The entire hall had been blacked out, and they could hear soft sounds coming from within it. Sounds like the clanging of rusty chains or armor, scuffling, a faint screeching, and even what Blaster thought sounded like a labored and rattling ventilation system.
Although all this ambient creep factor was indeed slightly unnerving, Blaster couldn't help but grin at it all. He appreciated the thought and work that must have gone into this prank, and was enjoying the experience. However, what came next was enough to wipe that grin from his face. Both he and Steeljaw heard a quiet but distinctive laugh come from behind them:
Eeeee hee hee hee he he yaa haa haa aaaaahh!
They both whirled around, Steeljaw snarling and Blaster instinctively pulling out a weapon. Like the music, the laugh had been faint and hard to hear. But the two of them knew that emotionless and metallic laugh too well not to recognize it. Soundwave.
After a moment of looking around, Blaster grinned again, but this time it was a bit of a nervous grin. "Ha, that was just a recording, 'Jaw! Come on, did ya really think tha..."
But the mech suddenly cut his sentence short when he turned around and received quite the surprise. With a loud screeching sound, what appeared to be the ghost of a rusted out, deactivated chassis came rushing at them from out of the darkness.
"YEAOW!" Blaster shouted as the form swept towards him, and then proceeded to pass right through his body. Steeljaw roared at it, but when it didn't stop he turned tail and ran at full speed out of that hallway, leaving his master behind in the dust.
Once the cybercat was out of the hall and back into the light, he skidded to a stop and turned around, snarling at whatever might still be chasing him. But there was nothing there, and after a moment of silence, Blaster emerged from the hall. He had to lean against a wall as he wheezed with laughter. "HAHAHA, you should have seen yourself, Steeljaw you scaredy cat!" he said and then kept on laughing.
The cassette growled lowly at him. Once Blaster was done laughing, he stood up straight and started to walk away. "Whew, come on 'Jaw, let's go tell somebody about this!"
After a moment of hesitation, Steeljaw slunk after Blaster. For this, he was going to miss out on a hunting session.
o~o~o
Word spread fast around the Ark about the haunted hallway. Just by that afternoon, five more mechs had fallen for the prank. Most who had initially fallen for it had stumbled upon it unwittingly, like Blaster had done. However, as news of it reached more audios, mechs began to go to it just for the fun of it, even those who affiliated themselves with Sideswipe's team. With Halloween only a couple of days away, they all got a kick out of daring each other to go through it, and then going through it themselves. But of course, with something so big and obvious causing so much of a buzz, there was no way that the 'Bots could hide this from their Prime, and Prowl knew that.
The tactician found the twins hanging out by the main storage room, both leaning over a data pad and inspecting it intensely and with apparent amusement. With a gruff noise, akin to a human clearing his throat, Prowl announced his presence to them. Sideswipe hardly glanced up at the officer before looking back at his data pad. "Oh, hey Prowl, what's up?" he said.
Prowl frowned slightly at the casual greeting, but got straight to the point. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, I need you to take down your hallway prank immediately."
Now he had Sideswipe's full attention. "What? Why? It's not even Halloween yet!"
"Your prank is too obvious, Optimus is very likely to discover it if it is not removed soon," Prowl replied.
"So what? It's not even really a prank anymore, people love it!" Sideswipe protested.
"Have you considered actually telling Optimus about the pranks?" Deadpanned Sunstreaker.
Prowl's optics narrowed. "Optimus could not approve of it."
Suddenly Sideswipe's face split into a grin. "You just don't want Optimus to chew you out for letting this happen under your watch, don't you?"
"That is not what we are discussing," Prowl retorted.
But Sideswipe wasn't going to let the matter go that easily. He grinned cheekily, "And then you'd have to admit defeat to us!"
Prowl's frown deepened, but he was prevented from responding when suddenly he was halted by a call from behind them. "Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker."
They all turned around and saw that it was Optimus himself approaching them. "Sir," Prowl greeted respectfully while Sideswipe discretely slipped his data pad into his subspace.
"Would you mind telling me why one of our hallways has been converted into a haunted house?" Optimus asked pointedly.
"Well, sir you see," Prowl started off, scrambling to come up with a reasonable explanation. "It was a..."
"A gift to Spike and Carly!" Sideswipe suddenly jumped in, earning himself a warning glare from the tactician.
"Oh?" Optimus questioned curiously.
"Yeah!" Sideswipe continued. "For a Halloween, uh, date!"
Optimus's optics twinkled mischievously. "That is awfully kind of you. But, if I am correct, Halloween is still two days away. Why must it be set up so early?"
"A trial run," Prowl spoke up before Sideswipe could ruin this any further. "We wanted to test the haunted hall out on the other 'Bots, see what they thought of it."
"I see," the Prime responded. "Thank you for informing me. I hope it all goes well for Spike and Carly, please send them my regards." And then Optimus turned and left, and strangely Prowl could have sworn that the Prime had winked at him just before he turned around.
Prowl stared at the Prime's back, wondering at that odd event, when he was snapped out of it by Sideswipe. "You're welcome Prowl!" the mech said before he and his brother turned and left as well.
The tactician could only sigh in frustration. Then he, too, left the scene, because now he needed to talk to Bumblebee.
o~o~o
The yellow minibot thought that the whole situation was the funniest thing ever. After Prowl told him what Sideswipe had done, he just had to call Spike and tell him what was happening.
"Hey Spike!" Bumblebee greeted once the human had answered the phone.
"Hey Bee! What's up?" Spike greeted back.
"So uh, do you have plans for Halloween?" the 'Bot asked.
"Sort of. Why?"
"And what about Carly?" furthered Bumblebee.
"Yeah, sort of," Spike said cautiously. "What's this about?"
"Well, you see," Bumblebee started. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker set up a haunted hallway over here in the Ark, and it's been a real hit!"
"Oh yeah?" Spike chuckled, while wondering where this was going.
"Well the thing is, it was initially a prank. But when Optimus asked Prowl and Sideswipe why there was a haunted hallway in the Ark, they told him it was for you and Carly!"
"They did?" Spike asked, perplexed. "Why would they do that?"
"Actually, Sideswipe's the one that told him. They were trying to keep him from knowing about the prank war!"
On the other end of the line, Spike shook his head. "What's wrong with telling Optimus about it, again?"
"Prowl and Jazz tell us that Optimus won't approve of it and will put an end to it," Bumblebee explained. "But word around the Ark is that they just don't want to get in trouble with him for allowing it to happen!"
Spike just chuckled at that thought.
"But anyway, can you two make it here on Halloween?" Bumblebee asked.
Oh, gee I don't know, we have plans that night," Spike explained.
"Really? What kind of plans?"
"We have a reservation at a restaurant."
"On Halloween?"
"It was Carly's idea," Spike admitted.
"Come on, it won't take long. Hey, how about you two come down here that night, go through the hallway, and then go straight to your date!" Bumblebee suggested.
"Hm," Spike mused. "I'll ask Carly, and I'll get back to you."
"Okay, bye Spike!"
"See ya Bee!"
o~o~o
Turns out Carly was okay with the plan, so two days later, at about 5 in the evening on Halloween, she and Spike arrived at the Ark. Bumblebee carried them in both his hands as he walked through the halls. As they chatted and walked, 'Bots kept finding and greeting them on their way.
"Yo what's shakin'?" Jazz had greeted. "Now don't you two go clingin' ta each other too tightly in tha' hallway, ya hear!" he said with a roguish grin.
"You know I helped set up the holograms in that hallway!" Hound boasted.
"Carly, you're not the screaming type, are you?" Tracks had asked cryptically.
And finally, a certain red mech spotted them and bounced onto the scene. "Hey guys!" Sideswipe greeted enthusiastically. "You two ready for my little haunted hallway?" he grinned, running his hands.
"Sure are!" Spike said.
"So, how scary is this hallway, exactly?" Carly asked.
"Oh, I think you'll find it plenty scary!" Sideswipe reassured. "We've added a few special touches, just for you humans!"
"I feel so honored," Carly grinned back.
"Tracks is betting that you won't scream," Bumblebee informed Carly.
"But if you do, he has to wear a big, feathery hat all day," Sideswipe explained. "So, you know, even just a little scream will do!"
Carly just laughed. After another minute of walking, the group finally arrived at the hallway in question.
"Well I'll be going now. You kids, enjoy yourselves!" Sideswipe said cheekily before he turned and pranced away.
Bumblebee then set the two humans down on the floor. "I'll meet you on the other side, unless you get too scared and have to run back?" the minibot teased.
Spike shook his head, grinning. "Oh no, you're going to have to hurry to the other side, because this is going to be a cake walk!"
Bumblebee laughed and then was on his way. Spike smiled at his date and offered his arm. "You ready?"
"Born ready!" she said and took the offered arm.
The two then set off into the hallway, both grinning when the Toccata and Fugue welcomed them in. At first, things were turning out pretty similar to the original set up. The lights burned out and flickered, and soft, disconcerting music played in the background.
"This is nice," Carly commented as they slowly walked through the hall.
"Yeah," Spike agreed. "I was kind of expecting more."
As they continued, they first came upon the fun house mirrors on the walls. This time around though, streams of fog came billowing out from the walls, and pretty soon they were shrouded in a massive cloud of it as thick as pea soup. With the lights still flickering, it became very hard to tell where they were going. Plus, the shifting fog created strange shapes in the mirrors around them. Spike and Carly were both looking around them warily, when Carly suddenly pulled on Spike's shirt with a "Look!' and pointed behind them. He looked, and saw what appeared to be the shadowy forms of giant, spindly spiders approaching them, each with eight, beady, glowing red eyes staring at them.
"Run Spike!" Carly shouted, but with a laugh in her voice. They both hustled on their way, laughing but also anxiously glancing behind them as the spiders appeared to chase after them. Eventually they made it out of the fog, and the spiders finally left them alone.
They emerged right by the second hallway that led to the abandoned part of the Ark. It was again all blacked out, and they were greeted with a very realistic looking body hanging from the ceiling right by the entrance. Entrants, Beware! was written in fake, drippy blood all over the wall. They could hear noises coming from the black passageway, such as moaning, rattling chains, and some distant screams.
The two would have walked past the dark hall, but their path was blocked off ahead of them by what appeared to be a cave in. The metallic walls had split open and rocks from the mountain around them had spilled into the hall and clogged up the entire way.
"I don't remember that being there?" Carly said.
'It's probably just a hologram," Spike explained as he walked up to the apparent blockage. "I bet we can go right through it! ...Hm," he then mused as he reached out to prove his point, but his hand was stopped by the rocks that appeared to be very much solid.
"I think we're supposed to go down that way," said Carly as she pointed down the second hall.
"But I never see the 'Bots use that hallway!" Spike said.
"Maybe that's the point?" Carly mused.
Spike turned around to answer, but stopped suddenly and stared beyond Carly back the way they had come, into the cloud of fog. "Spike, what is it?" Carly asked when Spike began to look a bit nervous.
"Uh...!" Spike intoned as he suddenly looked a lot more freaked out. He pointed into the fog, and Carly turned to see what he was seeing. The spiders were back, and this time a single giant one was emerging out of the cloud. No longer a shadow, it was black, hairy, and had huge, dripping fangs. Along the walls, millions of smaller spiders were flowing out from the fog towards them, absolutely covering the walls as they went with their black bodies and glowing red eyes.
"AAHH!" They both screamed and immediately turned and ran into the only open pathway available to them. As they ran into the darkness, Carly glanced behind them and saw that the spiders were once again leaving them alone, as they seemed incapable of entering the passageway. They slowed down, and cautiously continued on their way, now clinging to each other.
As they walked on, more red eyes stared at them from the darkness. They soon discovered that the hall wasn't completely pitch black. The hallway curved to the left, and they could see some light up ahead beyond the curve. So they hustled towards the light.
When they rounded the corner, they were met with a passageway that was dimly lit and lined with doorways, some closed and some opened wide, revealing black interiors. At the very end they could see what appeared to be two large sheets hanging across the hall, creating a sort of doorway in their path.
"I think that's the end," Spike whispered.
Carly nodded. "Well then let's get there," she said and tugged Spike's arm to go forward.
As the two walked past the various doorways along the hall, they were scared multiple times by things popping out of them. From an open doorway, several zombies had slowly emerged from the darkness next to them, one even placing a decomposing hand on Spike's shoulder. From another, rattling skeletons emerged. A closed door to a room had popped open to reveal a maniacal clown that chased them for several feet. Basically, every cliché Halloween scare that they could think of popped out at them in that hallway. By the time they both made it to the end, they were jittery but laughing.
They pushed through the sheets and were immediately greeted by Bumblebee on the other side. "Hey guys!" the minibot said. "So, were you scared?"
"Psht, no," Spike responded with exaggerated confidence.
Carly punched him in the shoulder. "He was so scared!" she grinned up at Bumblebee with a mischievous wink.
Bumblebee grinned too while he lowered his hands for them to get on. "Come on, I'll take you out while you tell me about it!"
o~o~o
Almost as soon as Spike and Carly were out of the Ark, Prowl ordered the hallway taken down. After some protests, he consented to leave it up for the rest of the night. They all had some more fun with it, but by morning it was time for it to go.
Of course, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were the only ones assigned to clean up duty. Sunstreaker, as always, grumbled about it, but this time Sideswipe actually didn't mind so much. He was pleased with the results of his haunted hallway, and taking it down wasn't so much of an insult this time around. And of course, all this tedious work made perfect conditions for him to plot. Although the haunted hallway had been a hit, it had been a failure when it came to pranking, and so he still needed to get back at Prowl and Jazz. As he stood on a ladder, reaching into a ventilation vent to retrieve a sound machine, a sudden idea struck him. The vent system, why hadn't he ever gone that way before? He'd have to explore this idea, he could feel a good prank in it somewhere. He grinned as he stared at the sound machine in his hand, before getting back to work, his ever mischievous mind whirring away.
o~o~o
By that afternoon, everybody who had gone through the haunted hallway over the last few days received a special email from Sideswipe. Attached to that email were images of everyone's reactions when confronted with the hologram scare in the hall. Even Spike and Carly got one, which depicted them reacting to the spiders emerging from the fog. And in addition, Carly received a special image of a very grumpy looking Tracks wearing a giant, feathery hat, and a huge thank you note from Sideswipe!
Author's Notes: And by the way, if you don't know what G1 Soundwave's laugh sounds like, just YouTube search "Soundwave laughs", and you should get some results ;). It is quite creepy, I think.
And yes, there will be a Christmas chapter next. Unfortunately, I was a little late getting the holiday chapters up in time, but better late than never, right? I'm certainly not going to wait a whole other year before posting these!
I hope all your Halloweens were good and spooky and that you got lots of candy! (*cough* two months ago).