Author's Notes: Wow, has it really been 6 months? That's like, half a year! ...Yeah, I think that's a record for me. Not a good one. Well, here I am now! Better late than never... right? But man, I had such a hard time getting my head back into this story! I restarted this chapter twice, had to read through the entire story, and then just forced myself to write! Although it turns out that bus rides are perfect times to write for me. I get super distracted by the internet when I'm trying to write, but guess what? No internet on the bus! So anyway, fun fact, almost this entire chapter was written on the bus!
Anyway, I'm still pretty pleased with how this chapter turned out, hope you all are too!
Winter passed by slowly, and around The Ark the Autobots idled away the cold months. The Insta-Blizzard was never caught, but after a week or so it finally ran out of fuel. Now nobody knew where the machine hid itself, but occasionally a mech would report hearing the haunting sound of Christmas music in the dark corners of the ship…
It was the night of the last day of March, and everybody in The Ark was preparing themselves for what Sideswipe liked to call the greatest day on Earth. Prowl, for his part, was in his office finishing up some last minute business when he received a hail from Jazz.
"Hey Prowler!" the saboteur nearly shouted into his internal comm. "Y' know what t'morrow is, don'cha?"
"Thursday April 1st," Prowl responded dryly, even though he knew exactly what the third in command was talking about.
"Yes, an' it's April Fool's Day, man! An' y' can bet your tailpipe tha' Sides and Sunny are gonna have somethin' big cooking up for it. So what's your counter attack strategy?"
"I have them taken care of," Prowl said dryly.
"What? What're ya talkin' about?" Jazz asked.
"They'll be occupied for a while, they won't have time to plant anything tonight," was Prowl's cryptic reply.
"Oookay, well then what're we gonna do? Any ideas? I've got some great ones in mind!" Jazz said, hardly missing a beat after the strange response from the tactician.
Prowl sighed. "Jazz, don't you think this whole thing has gone on long enough?"
There was a brief silence on Jazz's side, but then he came back sounding confused and slightly worried. "What? Dude, you're not jus' givin' up like tha,' are ya?"
"You do realize that this prank war has been going on for nearly nine months, don't you? It's a miracle we've been able to keep Optimus from noticing it. Somebody has to stop it eventually." Prowl explained.
"Wow, tha' long huh? Oh, an' come on, who ever said somebody has to end it? Is tha' really a good reason ta jus' throw in th' towel?"
"I am not giving up," Prowl explained calmly. "I'm putting an end to this madness."
"… Ya know you're th' one who started this madness?" Jazz pointed out shrewdly.
"And I'm putting an end to it. Now I have to get back to my work, as should you Jazz. Prowl out." And the tactician swiftly cut the link.
"Huh," Jazz harrumphed and leaned back in his chair. "Well this jus' won' do."
o~o~o
At about 3 in the morning the next day, two Lamborghinis, one red and one yellow, were just exiting Portland, heading towards Mt. St. Hilary. The red one pinged the other on his comm-unit. "This sucks!" he proclaimed for the hundredth time this trip. The yellow car merely grunted a response. Yesterday Prowl had assigned Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to go on a previously non-existent patrol route all the way along the Oregon coast. Starting at the Washington border, and going all the way down to California and back. They had left at noon yesterday and were just now heading back to the Ark.
"This really sucks!" Sideswipe complained again.
"I get it," Sunstreaker grunted.
"I really shouldn't be surprised that he did something like this, I really shouldn't." Sideswipe continued. "But there was no point to this stupid patrol route except to keep us away from the Ark! Prowl's not even trying to be subtle anymore!"
Sunstreaker didn't respond, and the two drove on in silence for a while longer, both of them fuming in silence. Finally Sideswipe couldn't keep quite any longer. He revved his engines angrily. "Well I'm not standing for this!" he proclaimed before transforming into root mode. He did it so fast that Sunstreaker kept on driving for another several seconds before stopping. He didn't transform out of his own altmode though.
"What are you doing?" Sunstreaker asked in irritation.
Sideswipe didn't respond as he marched over to the pole of a traffic signal nearby. He grabbed ahold of it and began to heave. "Grab that one over there" he ordered.
It took a moment before Sunstreaker finally transformed with a growl. But he stomped over to the traffic signal pole on the other side of the street and started to tug at it.
Several minutes later, the two were able to uproot both of their traffic signals. Placing them on their shoulders they marched away with them.
The only car around was a police cruiser sitting nearby. The officer inside was left speechless by what he just saw. He picked up his radio. "Uh, dispatch? Do we have a number for 'giant alien robots stealing traffic signals?'"
"…What?" was the response.
o~o~o
The next morning, the residents of The Ark woke up to an unexpectedly quite scene. Without Sideswipe and Sunstreaker around the night before to plot and scheme, there were only a few odd end pranks set up around base. The main attraction, however, was the one that had been put up by the main entrance.
Prowl was the first to discover it. He was heading outside to conduct a regular inspection, but as he approached the main entrance, he slowed down by what he saw ahead. Two traffic lights had been set up by the doorway, one facing in and the other facing out. Prowl stared curiously at the light. It was currently green, but as he drew closer it suddenly turned to red, and Prowl instinctively halted in his tracks. He stood there for a second, before glancing around, a bit perturbed. There was nobody else in sight. He turned back with a slight glare before activating his comm.
"Red Alert," he said once his hail had been accepted. "Do you know about this traffic light by the main entrance?"
"Oh, the traffic signal, yes," was Red Alert's reply. "I think it's an improvement, don't you? We always needed a way to moderate the traffic flow through the entrance, I think."
Prowl was not impressed. "It's an obstruction and a distraction, I want it removed."
"Hm, that's not really my job, so I'll let you handle that," said Red Alert. "Oh, but I do already have it filed as a completed installation on base, so if you want to get rid of it, you'll have to fill out a request form."
Prowl vented his frustration, knowing that this was a losing battle against the security officer. "Fine, send me the form," he practically growled.
"My pleasure," Red Alert responded smoothly before cutting the link.
Prowl's frown deepened. He noticed then that the light hadn't changed from red the entire time he'd been standing there, and he realized how ridiculous this situation was. So he forced himself to walk past the red light, and almost immediately a flash caught the corner of his optic. He sighed and moved on, already guessing where this was going.
o~o~o
Down in the training room, Cliffjumper had just arrived to get some practice done. He was not interested in being around others on April Fool's Day, so he was looking forward to spending the day with his guns. Unfortunately for him though, he currently wasn't alone. He had crossed paths with Bluestreak along the way, and as it turns out they were both heading in the same direction. The Praxian sharpshooter had practically talked Cliffjumper's audios off already. Cliffjumper was glad to have arrived and was ready to shrug off the gabby 'Bot and just shoot some things.
The two walked through the doors of the training room and headed towards the firing range, Bluestreak's chatter ringing in his audios. "I wonder what's going to happen today, you know with it being April Fool's Day and everything. That traffic light thing was pretty good, I mean it fooled me when I first saw it, haha! Although I guess that's the point, right? It being April Fool's Day, the point is to get fooled. What a weird holiday too, I mean not as weird as Easter where a bunny lays eggs that people look for. But that's the thing, I don't think bunnies even lay eggs, do they? It must be a special bunny…"
"Uh huh," Cliffjumper grumbled. He walked up to a firing station, venting a sigh of relief when Bluestreak did the same and the talking died away. Peace, finally. Cliffjumper picked up one of the training weapons provided. It was a good one to warm up on. He did a quick inspection before lifting it up and aiming at the target ahead. He pulled the trigger, ready for the satisfying sound of the gun fire and the feel of the recoil. But… neither happened. Instead only weak puh sound had come from the weapon, no bullet. Confused, Cliffjumper pulled back and took a look at it, to immediately notice something sticking out of the muzzle. It was a little flag, with bold lettering that read: "BANG!"
Cliffjumper growled and pulled the flag out. He went to shoot again, only to receive the same results. Only this time the flag said: "KA-BOOM!" Frustrated, the mech shoved the gun away and opted to take out one of his own. Now he really just wanted to blow something up, so he grabbed his favorite cannon-like weapon from subspace. Once again he aimed and fired. Fiizz, a pathetic high pitched air horn sound came from the gun, and a bunch of sparkles and confetti burst from the barrel… but no ammunition.
"GRAH!" Cliffjumper snarled, earning himself a few odd looks from those nearby. He shoved the gun back into his subspace, and then marched over to the physical training section of the room. He stepped into a station, and slammed his fist into the button that activated the training hologram. A sort of punching bag made into the likeness of a Decepticon appeared in front of him. Cliffjumper quickly attacked the hologram, satisfied by the solid feeling behind the punch. But once again he was taken by surprise, when suddenly a spiky speech bubble hologram popped up in front of this face, with the text "POW!" written on it in bright, bold colors. The speech bubble disappeared quickly, and with another growl Cliffjumper punched the hologram again, willing to forget that event ever happened. But almost immediately another bubble appeared, this time with the text: "BIFF!" Fed up with these ridiculous things, the minibot snarled and assaulted the dummy. With every punch, though, another bubble would appear; "WHAM!", "THUD!", "KUR-CHOW!" The minibot finally lost complete control of his anger and tackled the hologram to the ground with a yell.
Back in the firing range, a loud SPLASH! echoed throughout the room. Bluestreak had just hit a target dead center, only to be rewarded by a giant bucket of water being dumped on his head. He stood in his firing station, dripping wet, clutching his rifle. "Again?" he muttered in dismay.
o~o~o
Prowl marched through the hallways of The Ark. He had just received a very interesting email, and he now had a bone to pick with the twins. He wasn't surprised by this, he had foreseen it after all, but he was irritated. It seems like everything they do anymore aggravates him.
They see me rollin', they hatin'!
Patrolling they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty!
Trying to catch me ridin' dirty!
Trying to catch me ridin' dirty!
The music suddenly hit his audios as he walked along. Perturbed, he quickly located the source of the noise, to find Streetwise as the culprit. There was a grin plastered on the Protectobot's face as he stared back at Prowl, all the while playing that music from his speakers.
Slightly irritated, Prowl was tempted to tell the mech to shut that music off, it was blaring throughout the entire hallway. But he shrugged it away, right now he had bigger fish to fry. So he moved on, the song fading away behind him.
He eventually found Sideswipe lurking in a hallway. The mech had his back to Prowl and he leaned over a data pad and perused it.
"Sideswipe!" Prowl said rather loudly.
Sideswipe jumped slightly and turned around. "Geez Prowl, what is it?" Sideswipe said, obviously annoyed by the interruption.
"I just received this in my mail from the Portland Police Department," Prowl said and held out a data pad for the other to see. On it was a video, and curious Sideswipe hit the play button. It was a video taken from a cop car's dashboard camera, and it clearly showed Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's theft of the traffic lights.
Sideswipe laughed. "Oh haha, look at that! I didn't realize there was a cop right there."
Prowl's optics narrowed. "This is theft of Portland city property. Either you two pay for the damages, or go to the brig."
"Well, y'know Prowl," Sideswipe said as he leaned back and brought up his own data pad. He opened up a document and started to scroll through it. "I don't see anything about stealing in the 'battle simulation' rules. I just assumed it was all legal in this setting!"
"Theft is always a crime," Prowl stated flatly but with a dangerous under tone.
Sideswipe shrugged. "Then you've gotta make it clear, Prowler!"
Prowl wasn't convinced. "I will repeat, if you don't pay for the damages, then you'll be confined to the brig."
"Y'know," Sideswipe retorted. "Maybe I don't think that's a very just ruling? I'm going to exercise my right to remain silent and walk away." And with that Sideswipe subspaced his data pad and did just that.
Prowl just stared at the retreating form, dumfounded. Then he frowned. Those two were not getting away with this.
o~o~o
A while later found Sideswipe and Sunstreaker in the rec room. Sideswipe was leaning casually against the energon dispenser unit while Sunstreaker sat at a table nearby. The red twin casually sipped at an energon cube while watching the other occupants of the room carefully.
"Just do it," Sunstreaker growled over the comm-unit.
"Not yet, bro!" Sideswipe retorted. "Gears is still giving me the stink-eye. I can't shake him." Sideswipe then turned a what-are-you-looking-at glare towards Gears, and the minibot finally turned away to sip at his own cube. Spotting his chance, Sideswipe whirled around and was about to dump the contents of his cube into the dispenser, when he was interrupted by a large, red mech entering the room.
"Alraht you two, yer comin' with me," Ironhide said as he marched towards the twins.
"Wha-? What did we do?" the red frontliner said, feigning confusion.
Ironhide was having none of it. "Come on," he said again as he grabbed ahold of Sideswipe's arm and reached for Sunstreaker's. The golden twin jerked away, but Ironhide grabbed ahold of his collar strut instead and proceeded to drag the two out of the room.
"Ow, 'Hiiide!" Sideswipe wined, while Sunstreaker gave his brother a death glare.
The occupants of the room snickered once the three mechs were gone. Nearby, Air Raid glanced curiously at the cube that had once been in Sideswipe's hand, but was now sitting on the counter top. He grabbed it and took a sip, but then gagged at the dose of concentrated high-grade that entered his system. Once the shock of the high-grade wore off, though, he glanced around. Nobody was watching, and so with a mischievous twinkle in his optic, he dumped the high-grade into the energon dispenser. He quickly hid the empty cube, and then leaned back to watch the show.
o~o~o
It was about noon now, and so far April Fool's Day was turning out to be an interesting one. Several mechs had already received "tickets" in their mail, which were apparently from the Portland Police Department, fining them for running a red light. Of course, Prowl could tell immediately that they were fake, the dead giveaway being that the ticket was asking the victim to send their fee directly to a bank account, and that account being Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's. However, It was pretty well done and Prowl could see several mechs falling for the prank. He was just making his way to his office to deal with the situation, when suddenly a slightly familiar tune caught his audios:
They see me rollin', they hatin'!
Patrolling they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty!
Trying to catch me ridin' dirty!
Trying to catch me ridin' dirty!
Prowl whipped his head around, to find that he was being followed by Groove. The Protectobot grinned and gave Prowl a wave. The tactician slowed down to let the other mech pass, and the music faded down the hallway with him. Prowl frowned, but moved on.
As he made his way down the hallway, something near the floor caught his optic. Actually, several somthings. Two rows of bright orange human traffic cones had been lined up along one side of the hall. Almost like they were outlining a path to follow, but for who and why Prowl couldn't figure out. He stared at the cones while he walked, confused. It wasn't until he had almost made it back to his office that he discovered the who. A human passed by his foot, traveling between the two lines of cones at a speed that a human would call a jog. Prowl almost didn't think about it, just assuming that it was Spike or another one of the humans who regularly visited The Ark. But then he did a double-take. He didn't recognize that human. It was a male, appearing to be about Spike's age, but dressed in what Prowl could discern as a tank top and shorts, with a sweat band around his head. Prowl stopped, and stared after the human as he continued down the hallway. He must've been staring for a good whole ten seconds before more humans started to jog by. A whole crowd of them, all dressed similarly as the first, and all jogging between the cones. A few gave him a wave as they ran by.
Utterly confused, Prowl activated his comm. "Optimus, do you have any idea why there are unfamiliar humans running through The Ark?" he asked.
"Humans running through The Ark?" Optimus responded. "That is unusual, no I am sorry I don't know."
"Okay, thank you sir," Prowl said and ended the call. Unusual indeed. He started to follow the cone-lined path towards the main entrance, when he yet another group of humans passed by. This time, however, they were accompanied by Beachcomber and Seaspray, who were moving at a fast stroll to keep up with them. Prowl stopped the two mechs.
"Do you know what this is about?" Prowl asked of them.
Beachcomber just gave a shrug. "Don't know. Just go with the flow man!" he said, before the two hustled off to catch up with the humans.
Unsatisfied, Prowl continued to follow the cones, which eventually did lead him outside. Prowl quickly spotted a human standing nearby, one that looked older than the joggers who were running through base. Prowl approached him, and the man looked up when he noticed the 'Bot get closer.
The human shoved back a hat on his head and gave Prowl a friendly grin. "Howdy-do, partner! What can I do for ya?" he greeted.
"Hello," Prowl returned the greeting. "Could you explain what's going on with the joggers inside The Ark?"
"Well this here's the annual Portland Community College Youth Run, to raise funds for scientific research," the man explained. "Special event this year, a run through the Autobot's very own ship!"
"And may I ask who gave you authorization to do this?" Prowl further questioned.
"Well I've been in contact with a fella named Prowl, apparently some high rankin' officer around here," the human responded.
"Hm," Prowl frowned. "I am Prowl."
The man's grin widened. "Well nice ta meet'cha! I wanna then personally thank ya for making this event happen! I'll tell ya, attendance for the run shot sky high when people heard they were gonna get the chance to run through the home of the Autobots! I'm Bob!" The man then extended his hand out towards Prowl.
Prowl hesitated slightly before reaching out and carefully shaking Bob's hand with two of his fingers. "It's… my pleasure," he said, a bit unsure of himself at this point. "Do you have documentation of our… contract?"
"I sure do, here," said Bob before fishing around in his backpack for a moment. He then produced a sheet of paper and offered it to the Autobot.
Prowl carefully took the paper and held it close to his optics in order to read the fine print. It looked very convincing, professional even, and sure enough there was Prowl's very own signature at the bottom. If he didn't know any better, Prowl would've said he had sent this out himself. After a moment of thought he handed the paper back to the man. "Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day here at The Ark."
"I sure will, thanks a ton!" Bob responded with grin and a wave. "Oh, and hey," he said, earning himself a second glance from Prowl. "Those traffic lights by the entrance were a nice touch, really helped moderate the flow of runners through the doorway!"
The tactician blinked before giving a polite nod. He then turned and walked back into base, thinking. Who could have, and would have wanted to, pull off a prank like this? He had a hard time believing that Sideswipe or Sunstreaker could have created a document as professional looking as that.
They see me rollin', they hatin'!
Patrolling they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty!
Prowl aptly ignored Blades, who was leaning against a wall with a grin and playing that incredibly annoying song at full blast.
o~o~o
The human runners have so far earned themselves quite a few odd glances from the 'Bots. Beachcomber and Seaspray had started a bit of a movement, though, and a few other mechs including Groove, Streetwise, and even Swoop, were now following the crowd. They were just making it past the rec room, and unfortunately a few 'Bots were now starting to stumble out of the rec room, fully intoxicated by the concoction that had been dumped into the energon. Bumblebee had stationed himself between the runners and the rec room door and was acting as a kind of body guard.
Blaster walked into the hallway, a bit wobbly. He spotted the minibot and a huge grin split his face. "Beebumble, m' man! C'mon, le's… le's go places! We're gonna go far, Bumblybumbee, you'n me!" He put an arm around Bumblebee's shoulders, stooping a little bit to do so, and tried to continue on.
Bumblebee ducked under the arm, and gave Blaster a guiding push down a hallway that had no orange cones in it. "No, Blaster, you should go and find a place to lie down."
The communications officer gave a shaky thumbs up and stumbled forward. "Right on, man."
The minibot watched as Blaster was followed by Eject and Rewind, who were hiccupping and giggling. And behind them came Steeljaw, who was hunched over slightly and clearly not enjoying the experience. The cybercat started to list to one side, and had to stumble to catch himself before slinking off after his fellow cassettes.
A few humans had stopped to gawk at the scene, and they snickered as the drunk Autobots disappeared down the hall. Bumblebee turned his attention to them. "Come on, move along. Nothing else to see here," he said and ushered them on their way.
o~o~o
By the time the humans had left The Ark, nearly half of the Autobots had left with them. And another quarter of the 'Bots were completely drunk and mostly passed out in random places, plus Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were safely tucked away in the brig. As a result, it was very quiet around base that afternoon. Prowl wasn't too pleased with how the day had gone, and he now walked the hallways trying to evaluate the situation. He had a list of names that he would check off from every time he passed by a mech, passed out drunk or otherwise. As he walked, he was suddenly approached by Red Alert.
"Prowl, where is everybody?" he asked.
"Most of them left with the human runners," Prowl responded flatly.
Red Alert's frown deepened. "What? Why would they do that? This is a disaster, what if the Decepticons attacked right now?!"
"We would call them back," said Prowl, rather calmly.
Red Alert scoffed. "Why would you approve of something like this anyway? It's completely ridiculous! We are not a human amusement attraction!"
"I did not approve of this," Prowl said.
"What?" Red Alert responded. "But I heard you signed the agreement?"
Prowl shook his head. "I did no such thing."
"But… I didn't do it. So who did?" Red Alert asked.
"I don't know," said Prowl.
Red Alert merely huffed and moved on, muttering something to himself. Prowl, for his part went his own way and turned into the rec room. He glanced around, taking note of who was inside. And then suddenly, that irritating song hit his audios again:
They see me rollin', they hatin'!
This time it was Hot Spot, of all mechs. The Protectobot leader was sitting casually at a table nearby, a small music device resting on the tabletop was blaring the noise. Prowl marched over to the table.
Patrolling they tryin' to catch me ri~
The tactician snatched up the music device and quickly turned it off.
Hot Spot glanced up. "Hey, I was listening to that!" he complained.
"Not anymore," Prowl refuted as he started to walk away with the device. "I'm confiscating this."
Hot Spot would have complained further if he wasn't chuckling at the obviously ruffled tactician, satisfied that their prank had finally gotten to him.
o~o~o
When the other half of the Autobot army got back to base later that evening, they all found that they had been fined for going absent without leave. Although many grumbled about that, most mechs were feeling good enough by their long walk to shrug off the annoying ticket. They also found a second message from Prowl:
O================================O
"Battle Simulation" Rules and Regulations:
New Rule:
8. Theft is always a crime, any prank involving stolen property will be treated as such and the perpetrators fined and/or confined to the brig.
Refer to Prowl if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
O================================O
Down in the brig, Sideswipe scoffed and threw his data pad to the floor. "Sure, now he puts it in the rules. I say he's violating our ex-post -facto rights! We should sue him, or something. Right Sunny?"
Sunstreaker, who was sitting in the cell next to his brother, ignored the question.
"Come on, really? Are you seriously mad at me for you being here?" When his twin didn't respond, Sideswipe spoke up again. "You didn't have to help me with those street lights, you know. That was all you!"
Sunstreaker remained silent, so Sideswipe leaned back against the wall of his cell, hands behind his helm, and stared out thoughtfully. Finally he picked up a small pebble from the ground and flicked it at Sunstreaker. It pinged off his golden armor, but the mech stiffly ignored the annoyance. Sideswipe flicked another, and this time Sunstreaker turned to glare back. "Stop it," he growled.
Sideswipe grinned. "Now you speak!" he said. Next he pulled out a rubber ball from his subspace and threw it. It bounced off Sunstreaker's helm, and the golden mech hunched in aggravation.
Sunstreaker finally turned around and, pulling an old paint bottle from his own subspace, threw it back. Sideswipe dodged and the paint splattered all over the wall. The red mech retaliated and pretty soon the two were caught up in a full out battle, with all kinds of odd-end objects being thrown back and forth and full speed.
The two were well into their fight when another 'Bot silently slipped into the brig. It was Mirage, and he stopped when he caught sight of what was going on in front of him. He vented in irritation. "This isn't part of my job description," he muttered to himself as he took another step forward. He stopped again when he was in front of the two cells, but the twins didn't even seem to notice him. After a moment of waiting, Mirage finally cleared his vents loudly enough to catch their attention.
The feuding Lamborghinis halted suddenly and glanced over. "What do you want, we're in the middle of something here!" Sideswipe exclaimed.
"Good day to you too," Mirage said sarcastically. Sunstreaker's optics narrowed, and so he continued. "We need to talk."
"About what?" Sunstreaker asked warily.
Mirage took a moment to glance around surreptitiously before responding. "I'm here to make a deal with you," he said.
Sideswipe cocked an optic ridge. "Oh yeah? What kind of deal?"
"I will… help you in your endeavors, if you're willing to pay the right price," Mirage said.
Sideswipe crossed his arms. "What kind of price are we talking about?"
Mirage gave a half shrug. "I hear you've got some stocks of vintage High Tower energon… and access to some transferrable funds back on Cybertron."
Sideswipe tilted his head from one side to the other and gave Sunstreaker a sidelong look. "And if we give you what you want… you and Prowl and Jazz?"
"I may not be so inclined to side with them on certain issues," Mirage supplemented.
A minute passed as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker seemed to communicate something together. Then Sideswipe turned back to Mirage. "Okay," he said.
"Okay?" Mirage repeated.
"Okay," Sideswipe confirmed.
Mirage nodded then, and offered his hand. The two shook. "I'll expect my payment to be in my possession by the time your confinement is over."
"Not a klik longer," Sideswipe confirmed.
"Very well then," Mirage said. With a final nod he turned and left the brig.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stared as the door closed shut. "What just happened?" Sideswipe asked.
"Fragged if I know," Sunstreaker grunted as he flopped back against his cell wall.
Sideswipe took a moment to mull over the strange situation. It wasn't long, however, before he picked up some debris from the floor and flung it his brother's way. He grinned when Sunstreaker growled in irritation.
o~o~o
Deeper within the Ark, Mirage stepped up to a door and rang the chime. When he received permission to enter, the door slid open and he stepped into the room. As the door slid shut behind him, Mirage could make out the form of Jazz in the dimly lit space, sitting behind a desk. Mirage stepped further in, casually glancing around the room as he went. In truth he hadn't stepped foot inside Jazz's office since the Ark's crash landing on Earth, and he had been expecting the place to be a bit sparse, since he assumed that the saboteur rarely used it. However, there were several shelves full of data pads and random objects – both from Cybertron and Earth, and the desk wasn't as dusty and barren as it should have been if it had been left unused…
"Well?" Jazz asked as Mirage arrived at the guest chair and took a seat. "How'd it go?"
"It's done," Mirage responded.
A grin spread across Jazz's face. "Good!" he said. He then slid a data pad across the desktop. "You know what to do next."
Author's Notes: I've gotta give a shout out and huge thanks to Worstcase for giving me some awesome prank ideas! The traffic signal light was Worstcase's. Worstcase also suggested a prank where a random human shows up randomly around the Ark, and Nova and I sort of took the idea and ran with it! (No pun intended, ha!). But the original idea belongs to Worstcase! So thank you Worstcase, hope you enjoyed the chapter!