Author's Notes: Behold, a chapter! We're very close to finishing this story!
O================================O
This is a notice that the prank war has ended. This day forward, pranking is no longer tolerated, and any pranks reported will be punished accordingly. Any pranks already set up must be removed by the end of the day, or the mech responsible will be duly punished.
See Prowl if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
O================================O
It had been several hours since Prowl had sent out the notice to end the prank war, and he left his office fully expecting there to be pranks still set up around the Ark, but it was surprisingly quiet as he walked through the hallways. Nothing seemed suspicious, except for several mean looks that were tossed his way, but that was to be expected. He made his way to the rec room without incident, and when he entered the room, things seemed just as normal. He quickly grabbed a cube of energon, then glanced around, looking for a place to sit. The only available spot – that he was moderately okay with that is – was an empty chair at the table Jazz was sitting at.
The saboteur looked up as Prowl approached, then leaned back. "Well if it isn't Mr. I'm-gonna-pull-th'-plug-on-th'-prank-war-without-consulting-your-right-hand-man. What've you gotta say 'bout that?" he said.
"It had to be done," Prowl replied as he took a seat.
"Really?" said Jazz, skeptical.
"Optimus figured out what was going on," explained Prowl.
"Hm," the saboteur mused. "Well, really we're lucky we got as far as we did. But don't bet tha' those two are gonna be deterred from pullin' more pranks, it's what they do after all," he said and jabbed a thumb in the direction behind him.
Just then, Sideswipe noticed the two officers nearby, and came strutting up to their table. "Soooo, you guys surrender then!" he bragged as he waved a data pad in their faces with Prowl's notice on it.
Jazz pushed the device away. "I dunno man, I've got a vid of you admittin' my victory," he said and waved his own device in the air with a grin. "Pretty soon everybot's goin' t' know who really lost!"
Sideswipe frowned. "You tricked me, that's cheating."
"There ain't no cheatin' in a prank war," the saboteur returned.
"Yeah well, you just watch your backs, because we're not done with you!" Sideswipe proclaimed.
"You have read the notice," Prowl cut in. "I will no longer sanction pranking among the crew. Be aware of the consequences of your actions."
"Well then," Sideswipe began. "Just like old times." He squinted at them with what he assumed to be a threatening look, before leaving.
Once they were alone again, Jazz turned back to Prowl. "Wha'did I say?"
"The point is to get things back to normal," Prowl returned. "I don't expect to change their ways, but at least everybody else will be deterred. I just need things to get back to a manageable state."
Jazz hummed, then snickered.
"What?" Prowl asked.
"It's jus', th' rest o' th' crew has had a taste o' th' prankin' life now. It might not be so easy t' get things back to normal as y' think."
"I beg to differ; the Ark seems to be fairly normal this morning."
"Hm," was all Jazz had to say.
There was a brief moment of silence between them. Nearby, Sunstreaker picked up a cube of energon to take a drink. As he lifted it, a large, red boxing fist suddenly streaked out of the cube and towards his face, slamming into it with a loud WHAP! Everybody in the room looked to see Sunstreaker and the table splattered with energon, and an expression of shock but quickly growing rage on his face.
A burst of laughter came from Jazz, and Prowl turned his glare onto him. Jazz managed to subdue his laughter long enough to hold his hands out in innocence. "Hey man, it wasn't me!"
Sunstreaker stood up violently. "Who did this?" he growled to the room in general. The snickers died down and everyone turned back to their own business. Sunstreaker looked at the 2nd and 3rd in command, his gaze still smoldering.
"We didn't do it!" Jazz insisted.
Sunstreaker snorted in derision before turning and storming out of the room.
"Sunstreaker," a deep voice said in greeting from the hallway, followed by a grunt of acknowledgement from the golden warrior. The next moment, Optimus Prime walked in. He surveyed the room for a moment, before approaching his officers
"Prowl, Jazz," Optimus addressed them. "I trust everything is going well this morning?"
"Yes sir," Prowl was quick to respond.
"Yeah boss, everythin's under control!" Jazz added smoothly.
"Hm," Optimus hummed. He turned to look at the mess around Sideswipe's table, where the red warrior was doing his best to clean energon from his armor, the strange energon cube contraption next to him. The Prime turned back to Prowl. "A mishap?"
After a moment, the second in command sighed. "I've just sent out the announcement about no more pranking, it'll take a little more time for everyone to see it."
Optimus nodded. "Very well, I trust you to handle things with the crew, Prowl." He then turned and walked towards the energon dispensers.
Jazz turned towards the tactician. "Dude, tha' was a zinger if I ever heard one."
Prowl frowned. He quickly finished his cube, then stood up. "I have work to get done, as I'm sure you do too." He promptly left the room.
o~o~o
Prowl pulled out his data pad again and read as he walked the hallway. He was just getting his processor into the data he was analyzing, when heavy footsteps approaching his position called his attention. He looked up to see a large, metallic tyrannosaurus-rex heading his way. "You, Prowl," the Dinobot announced.
"Hello Grimlock," Prowl responded as he turned his gaze back to the data pad, hoping the 'Bot would ignore him.
Grimlock didn't ignore him, though. "Him Wheeljack say you Prowl don't let pranks happen anymore. Why?"
Prowl glanced up before responding. "Putting a stop to the pranking was necessary, for everyone's sake."
Grimlock let out a low, growling hum. "Wheeljack sad he don't get to make pranks anymore. Why you make Wheeljack sad?"
The tactician sighed and stopped walking. "I had no intentions to… make Wheeljack sad. But Wheeljack must return to his work, his real work. Making pranking devices is not his job."
The Dinobot growled. "Him Wheeljack not happy. You Prowl make Wheeljack happy again!"
Prowl's doorwings dipped slightly. "Um…" he stuttered, but he was cut off when a tall, lanky form suddenly rushed towards him.
"You Prowl must come!" Swoop said as he grabbed the tactician's arm and tugged. "Him Wheeljack have accident! Need help!"
"An accident?" Prowl repeated, concern in his voice.
"Yes, terrible accident! You help!" The Dinobot confirmed.
Without hesitation, Prowl hustled after Swoop, with Grimlock thudding behind them, toward the engineer's lab. He was quick to activate his comm-link. "Ratchet, this is Prowl. I've been told there's been some kind of accident in Wheeljack's lab."
"An accident? How serious this time?" Ratchet responded, sounding mildly worried.
"I don't know, but I'm on my way now."
"I'll meet you there," the medic said before the link was cut.
In a moment, the tactician and two Dinobots arrived at the laboratory. When the doors opened, the scene that met them was… bazaar to say the least. Most of the floor, walls, and even ceiling was covered in a strange, fluffy white concoction with a few rubber duckies and lots of glitter mixed in. Several shelves had been knocked over, and there was a rather large scorch mark decorating the center of the room. Nearby, Wheeljack was lying on his back on the floor, with Sludge, Slag, and Snarl all hovering over him. In the moment it took for Prowl to observe the scene, Swoop and Grimlock went to join their fellow Dinobots around their creator. The pterodactyl 'Bot bent down by the engineer's head. "You Wheeljack hang in there!" he said, a bit dramatically.
Prowl approached the group, slogging his way through the surprisingly deep, glittery white mixture to do so. When he was finally next to the engineer, he bent down to get a better view. "Wheeljack!" he called.
The downed mech groaned slightly and shifted his head.
"Wheeljack, can you hear me?" Prowl prompted. Behind him, Sludge reached out to poke Wheeljack in the foot.
Finally, Wheeljack's optics flickered online. "Prowl, is that you?" he said weakly and reached up with a wobbly hand.
"What happened Wheeljack?" the tactician then asked.
"Ugh… the – the prank devices. I – I couldn't contain them. They just… just…" his arm flopped back down into the fluffy muck and his head lolled slightly, optics flickering. "kaboom," he then whispered.
Prowl raised an optic ridge. "Don't worry, Ratchet will be here soon."
"Will him, Wheeljack, be okay?" Swoop asked, looking up at Prowl.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Prowl replied.
"If Wheeljack no make it, you Prowl make him sad last," Slag growled. "Me Slag no like that."
Several of the other Dinobots growled in Prowl's direction, and the tactician stiffened his doorwings in mild alarm. Just in time, the lab doors opened and the figures of Ratchet and First Aid appeared.
The CMO took a sweeping glance around the room. "Primus alive, what happened?" he wondered, before spotting the group and heading towards them. His assistant, optic band wide with curiosity and concern, followed.
"That is yet to be known," said Prowl.
Ratchet grunted as he glanced down at the semi-conscious engineer. "Well, knowing Wheeljack, it could be any number of things. First Aid, help me." He bent down and heaved the engineer up by the shoulders. The small Protectobot trudged his way towards Wheeljack's feet.
"Do you need help?" Prowl asked.
"We've got it," Ratchet grunted as he lifted the mech. "I'll keep you updated on his condition." He and his assistant then carried the fluff-covered engineer out of the lab.
Prowl watched the three go. They were followed by the Dinobots, some of them growling lowly at the tactician as they passed by.
He vented once he was alone in the lab. After a final glace around at the chaotic scene, he left as well.
On his way to his office, Prowl pulled out a data pad to report the incident. The hallways were relatively quiet, and Prowl was glad that he encountered no pranks along the way. He had almost made it back to his office, when he was approached by two mechs. They stopped in front of him, forcing him to glace up. It was Groove and Streetwise. Once they had his attention, they both gave him a quick salute. "Reporting for duty, sir!" Streetwise said stiffly.
Prowl blinked in confusion before responding. "I am sorry, but I don't believe you have any duties assigned with me today."
Groove gave a slanted grin. "Nah man, but we got your notice this morning. No more pranks huh?"
"We're here to enforce that rule," Streetwise added, looking serious.
The tactician frowned in confusion. "That shouldn't be necessary, but I appreciate your enthusiasm."
"You don't understand sir, we need your help!" Streetwise claimed.
"Yeah man, there's a few mechs who didn't take a liking to that order you gave this morning," Groove said. "They've formed a resistance."
"A… resistance?" Prowl repeated, more confused now than ever.
Streetwise turned halfway and motioned for his fellow police-bot to follow. "Come with us, we'll show you."
Both Protectobots turned fully and began to walk away. After a moment's hesitation, Prowl followed.
"I'm guessing by now you know what happened to Wheeljack?" Streetwise then asked.
"Yes," Prowl responded.
"Well, we think that was no accident. Based on our intel, when you sent out that order, some of the resistance went to Wheeljack to stock up on prank supplies. Wheeljack refused, because he was afraid of getting into more trouble. Well, naturally the resistance wasn't happy, so they staged that accident to get rid of the prank stuff, so nobody could have them."
"Wait, are you saying that that was an assault against Wheeljack?" Prowl questioned.
"Yes," confirmed Streetwise.
"That is a serious accusation," said Prowl sternly.
"Yes it is."
"Which is why we need your help, man!" Groove said.
Prowl's frown deepened. Just then, they rounded a corner, and were forced to stop in their tracks. A wall of sheets blocked their path. Cloth sheets, obviously human made. The wall comprised of two sides that met in the middle to form a flap. Tacked onto the right side was a sign, and crudely written on it were the words: "Resistance HQ"
"We're here, the Resistance headquarters," Streetwise explained ominously.
Prowl could only stare, slightly dumbfounded, as Streetwise and Groove approached the wall of sheets. Groove knocked on the metal wall next to them, and only a moment later a head poked through the sheet flaps. It was Air Raid. The Aerialbot frowned suspiciously and glanced between the three of them, before settling on Streetwise. "What do you want?" he asked gruffly.
"We're here on official business, let us in." Streetwise commanded.
Air Raid grinned. "No police bots allowed!"
"Now see here, fancy boy! You let us through or…"
Groove put a hand on his raging brother's shoulder. "Let me handle this." Streetwise frowned, but stepped aside.
"Hey, come on man, we're all Autobots here, just trying to make our way through the Ark," Groove soothed. "We got as much right as you, no matter our opinions. So how about you let us through, buddy? We ain't got nothing against you!"
The Aerialbot pursed his lips in contemplation. "What's the magic word?"
The three paused. "Please." Prowl stated.
"HA! No."
"Um, open sesame?" Groove tried.
Air Raid shook his head, grinning.
"Prowl sucks," Streetwise said matter-of-factly.
"Hmm… close enough!" announced Air Raid. His head disappeared behind the sheets again, before he pulled one side back for them.
The Protectobots walked through immediately, while it took a moment for Prowl to enter. "That was more than one word," he muttered.
Prowl glanced at Air Raid's smug face as he passed by, then proceeded to follow the Protectobots.
o~o~o
Over at the Nemesis, Megatron and Starscream stood at the head of a large group of mechs. Behind them was the elevator that led to the surface, ready to receive a load of occupants. The leader of the Decepticons turned to his band, raising his hands dramatically. "Decepticons, today we vanquish our foes!" The crowd of 'Cons cheered. "They hide in their base like cowards, but they are not safe. We will meet them on their home turf, where they shall meet their doom!"
As the 'Cons cheered again, Starscream turned to his leader. "Aren't we missing someone, Megatron?!" he sneered.
Megatron glowered at the seeker. But he couldn't deny the noticeable absence of his communications officer, Soundwave. He switched on his comm. "Soundwave, get up here now!"
In the lower levels of the Decepticon warship, the mech in question lurked in the shadows of the narrow hallways. The order from Megatron came through suddenly, and Soundwave paused. "Soundwave shall join shortly," he returned.
"Just make it quick!" Megatron snapped back before leaving the conversation.
Soundwave vented slightly, before continuing to lurk. He glanced inside dark doorways as he passed them, hardly pausing for long. After several moments of this behavior, his routine was interrupted when the subtle flutter of metallic bat wings broke the silence. Ratbat flew into the hallway and hung upside down from a rafter above. "They're in there," he announced in a bored voice.
Soundwave walked up to the doorway that had been indicated, and opened it. Immediately, two cassettacons jumped back from the open doorway. Above them, some sort of contraption hung from the wall above the door, it appeared to be some sort of catapult. But Soundwave didn't bother inspecting the device.
"Rumble, Frenzy, return," Soundwave ordered.
"Aw, come on boss we're just having some fun!" Frenzy whined.
Soundwave opened his chest compartment expectantly. "Return immediately."
The two small Decepticons glanced at each other. "Five more minutes?" Rumble implored, an uncertain grin on his face.
The larger mech simply stood still and silent this time. After a moment, Rumble heaved a sigh. "Alright, alright, just one more minute." Soundwave hardly moved as his cassettes put a few finishing touches on the catapult, then transformed and returned to their places in Soundwave's chest.
The Communications Officer turned to leave, but Ratbat hung back. In no time, even while Soundwave was still in the corridor, there was a VOP and Skywarp appeared in front of the very door that had just closed moments ago. Without a glance around the seeker entered the room. SPLAT! He stood for a moment in shock, then turned around with a face full of oil.
A chittering laughter erupted from Ratbat, echoing the sound of Rumble and Frenzy's snickering in his comm, and the bat cassette flew off towards Soundwave. Skywarp growled lowly, balling his fists, and warped away.
o~o~o
As soon as Prowl stepped through the flaps, he had to stop dead for a moment to take in the scene. The sheets he had just walked through weren't just a barrier to mark where the Resistance HQ was located, it was the entrance to a large and elaborate tent fortress. Many more sheets had been hung up along the walls and draped across the ceiling. The main hallway lights filtered through the sheets to create a soft, yellowy glow that created a soft and otherworldly feel to the hall.
Prowl must have been standing and staring for too long, since Groove turned around and waved him to follow. "Come on man, no time to gape."
The tactician shook himself out of his stupor, and hustled to catch up. "Might I ask who we are looking for?" He wondered.
"There's one mech who might have some information for us," Groove explained. "Just follow me'n Streetwise, and make sure nobody's trailing us."
Prowl cocked an optic ridge, before glancing behind them. They walked on through the hallway of sheets for several moments, passing by several mecha as they did so, all of whom shot the trio some nasty looks. They even passed by Powerglide, who was lounging on a large pile of pillows in the corner. Streetwise returned the glares, while Groove grinned back and Prowl looked very suspicious. Finally, the Protectobots stopped in front of a flap that had been made in the wall of sheets, much like the entrance to the headquarters, but to the side against the wall. Streetwise pushed back the flap to reveal the door to a conference room. Streetwise and Groove glanced around warily, before entering, Prowl following suit. One inside, Prowl was glad to see that the room had not been given the tent fortress treatment, and he felt like he was inside the Ark again. His guides turned left and walked up to the wall, before stopping.
"Is this it?" the tactician questioned skeptically.
Streetwise motioned for his superior to be silent, before rapping on the wall with his knuckles. Rap rappity rappity rap… tap tap. A moment of silence passed, then there came a squeaking sound from above. They all glanced up, to see the grate to the ventilation system shutter, then swing open as if on its own. Then, a small, yellow head peered out at them.
"Bumblebee?" Prowl exclaimed.
"Hiya guys!" the minibot greeted.
"What've you got for us?" Streetwise was quick to question.
"Well, not a whole lot. But, I do know who formed the resistance."
Groove grinned. "Good work Bee, who is it?"
"It's Blaster!" Bumblebee revealed.
"Blaster… figures," Streetwise growled.
"Yeah," Bumblebee confirmed. "I overheard him telling one of his cassettes how unfair he thought Prowl's ruling about the prank war was. Said he'd show Prowl how much the pranking meant to the crew, and that he had recruited much of the crew. Sounds to me like he's running the show."
Streetwise nodded. "And have you heard anything about Wheeljack's accident?"
Bumblebee shook his head. "Sorry, no. But if anyone knows, I bet Blaster does."
"Thank you Bumblebee," Groove said and he and his brother turned to leave. Bumblebee started to pull the grate closed behind himself.
"Wait a minute," Prowl suddenly interrupted. The Protectobots turned to look back at him, while the minibot poked his head out again. The tactician turned to the yellow 'Bot. "What are you doing in the ventilation system?"
"I'm spying on the resistance," Bumblebee stated. "Jazz sent me, said he'd do it himself but he can't fit in the vents."
"Jazz?" Prowl pondered. "He knows about all this?"
"Well yeah, he heard rumors about this resistance, so he sent me in to investigate. We only just learned about Wheeljack's accident, though."
"Hmm," Prowl narrowed his optics, wondering why he hadn't been informed about this.
"I guess he figured it wasn't going to amount to much, which is why he didn't mention anything to you," Bumblebee finished, as if reading Prowl's mind.
"Prowl, we should go and catch Blaster. He could be behind Wheeljack's accident." Streetwise urged.
Prowl glanced at the Protectobot, then back at Bumblebee. "Do you mean to tell me you suspect Blaster of starting this – uprising, and assaulting Wheeljack?"
"Well, heh," Bumblebee grinned a bit nervously. "'Uprising' and 'assault' are strong words…"
"This 'uprising' is a protest against your command, and the 'assault' against Wheeljack may have been no more than a prank gone wrong," Streetwise explained. "Nevertheless, somebody is hurt because of this, don't you want to find out who?"
The tactician glanced between the minibot and Protectobots, then vented. "Very well, but I do hope that your intentions are as clean as you indicate. I will find out otherwise."
"Great!" Groove grinned. "Let's go then."
The three then left the room, setting off back down the soft, sheet-draped hallway.
"So how do we find Blaster? I doubt any of the resistance will tell us where he is," Groove said.
In response, Prowl activated his comm. "Blaster, where are you?" he said into the communication link. After a moment, he turned to the others. "He's not answering his comm."
"Well where do we look first then?" Groove wondered.
"Blaster is supposed to be on monitor duty at Teletraan 1 right now," Prowl stated.
"Right then, to the communications room!" Groove announced.
As they travelled, Prowl couldn't help but ask. "How in the Pit was this all set up since this morning?"
Groove turned to him with a shrug. "A rumor probably spread about you ending the prank war last night. Did you tell anybody what you were going to do?"
"No, I didn't. The only other mech who knew was… Optimus."
Streetwise laughed. "Oh yeah, Optimus set this all up! That's definitely something he would do," he said with sarcasm.
"Hmm," Prowl mused.
"There's no way," Groove added. "This entire Resistance is about anarchy, a rage against the machine if you will. It started because they hate that you thought you could put an end to the pranking with one order."
"I see," Prowl stated.
They walked in silence for a moment, when all of a sudden from behind them they heard two voices, rapidly approaching. "WHOOHOO!" They turned to see Beachcomber and Seaspray sprinting towards them, whooping and hollering. As they ran past, they threw small packages up into the air. The bundles exploded into clouds of rainbow glitter that gently rained down onto them. "STICK IT TO THE MAN!" The two shouted as they ran down the hall, decorating it with glittery rainbows.
"See," Streetwise said. "Complete anarchy."
The trio continued on, brushing the colorful glitter off of themselves. In no time, they arrived at the room where Teletraan 1 was housed. Before they even entered, they could feel more than hear a heavy beat coming from inside.
"Listening to such abhorrent music while on monitor duty," Streetwise growled. "That hooligan."
Prowl didn't respond as he signaled the door to open. They all flinched when they were fully exposed to the horrendous music that had been turned up to an audio-splitting level. After a moment of shock, they looked into the room to see the back of Blaster as the mech sat at Teletraan's main console.
"Blaster!" Prowl attempted to yell over the din. The mech in question didn't appear to notice, so Prowl stepped further into the room. "BLASTER!"
The red 'Bot seemed to have heard this time, for he finally turned off the music. There was a brief moment where their audios rang in the sudden silence, and Blaster swiveled around in his chair to face them. Prowl was slightly bemused to see that Steeljaw had somehow managed to curl up into a tiny ball on Blaster's lap, while Blaster had his hand on the big cat's head, stroking it between the ears.
"Why hello Prowl," Blaster grinned. "I've been expecting you."
Prowl narrowed his optics. "Blaster, I have reason to believe you are responsible for this protest. What do you have to say about this?"
Blaster tilted his head back to laugh quite raucously. "Protest? No Prowl, this is a resistance! You see, there were more than a few 'Bots who weren't happy with your attempt to put a stop to the pranking. They found it quite unfair how you thought you could end their fun, just like that. I saw the chance to give them what they wanted, and they came flocking to me."
"This is a direct violation of the law," Prowl warned. "Considering the circumstances, your punishment will be light if you put an end to this now. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to charge you with insubordination."
Blaster frowned slightly. "This is exactly what I'm talking about Prowl. You want to rule this crew with an iron fist, don't you?" He leaned forward. "Have you forgotten that you yourself participated in the pranking just as of yesterday? Suddenly, you feel guilty for partaking in the activities, so you try to end everyone else's fun, isn't that right?" From his lap, Steeljaw hissed at them.
The tactician's doorwings lifted slightly in defense. "That endless pranking was compromising this army, and it was my responsibility to put a stop to it. Now, I will not tolerate another question against my authority. Will you put a stop to this… 'resistance'?"
Blaster leaned back again. "You know Prowl, you can put a stop to me, but you can't put a stop to the resistance. Nor can I, it's got a mind of its own now. The mecha want what they want, and what they want is to have their voices heard."
Suddenly, Streetwise stepped up next to Prowl. "Is that why you did what you did with Wheeljack? So that your voice could be heard?" He accused.
Blaster looked genuinely bemused. "Wheeljack? What happened with Wheeljack?"
Now it was Groove's turn to step up. "Come on man, don't play that game with us. You know very well that there was a prank pulled against Wheeljack in his lab. Well, that prank went horribly wrong, and now he's in the medbay! What do you have to say about that?"
"I swear I have no idea!" Blaster insisted. "I would not condone such an act against a fellow Autobot. I will admit that I talked to him about supplying us for our pranks, and yes, he did refuse my offer. But I wouldn't do anything against him, it's not his fault how he feels. But that's all I know."
"If it wasn't you, then who did it?" Groove wondered.
"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?" Streetwise theorized.
"As I said, I don't know," said Blaster. "If somebody in my resistance is responsible, then it was without my knowledge. The twins? They're not part of the resistance. I tried to recruit them, but in Sideswipe's words, they 'work alone.'" The mech snorted. "However, I will say this: I do remember seeing Perceptor enter Wheeljack's lab this morning."
"Perceptor?" Streetwise repeated. "What could he possibly have to do with this?"
Blaster shrugged. "Your gonna have to ask him yourself."
"Thank you, Blaster," Prowl suddenly said. "I will be speaking to Perceptor. However, for the part you played in this 'resistance,' I must write you up. Expect to receive your punishment soon." And with that, Prowl turned to leave, followed closely by the Protectobots.
Just before the doors to the communication room closed, they heard Blaster's voice behind them. "Yes Prowl, write up your reports. See where they get you. MWAHAHAHAHAAA!"
o~o~o
"Where is Soundwave?!" Megatron griped as he tapped his foot in aggravation. "I told him we were leaving ten minutes ago!"
"Your loyal communications officer has abandoned you, huh Megatron?" Starscream gloated. "How does that make you feel?"
Megatron turned a smoldering glare towards his second. "I swear to Primus Starscream, one more word and you're not coming with us."
The seeker scowled, but kept quiet. A few minutes passed while Megatron paced and the crowd of Decepticons nearby grew rowdy with impatience. Finally, the scene was broken when with a VOP, Skywarp appeared next to Starscream, still completely covered in oil.
Starscream took one look at his trine mate and snickered nastily. "What happened to you, you warped into the oil vats again?"
While Starscream laughed, Skywarp glared at his trine leader. Then he reached out an oil-coated hand, and smeared the black all over Starscream's face.
"AARG!" Starscream growled and took a swipe at the purple seeker. But Skywarp warped away at the last second, appearing behind the other seeker and splattered more oil onto one of his wings. Starscream swung again, but Skywarp only disappeared. The two continued this dance, while Thundercracker watched a distance away. The blue seeker only shook his head at their antics.
"Fools!" Megatron snarled at the seekers, before activating his comm. "SOUNDWAVE…!" he yelled, but was startled when a tall, blue frame appeared next to him.
"Present," Soundwave announced.
"Finally!" The Decepticon leader growled. "Let's go!" And he led his army of Decepticons into the elevator.
As they were lifted up towards the surface, Starscream's shrill voice rose above the rest. "Skywarp, you idiot!"
Megatron's voice boomed over the seeker's. "Starscream, shut up! Don't make me turn back this elevator!"
o~o~o
When Prowl, Groove, and Streetwise walked into Perceptor's lab, it was easy to spot the scientist working just on the opposite side of the room. They approached him, Prowl leading the way.
"Perceptor," Prowl announced, but the scientists didn't seem to notice. It appeared as if the mech had something plugged into his audios, and as he poured liquid into a beaker, he even swung his hips to the rhythm of some unheard beat. Unwilling to yell to get a mech's attention again, Prowl simply walked up to the scientists and reached out to touch his shoulder.
Perceptor nearly jumped a foot and whirled around. "Oh, Prowl, I apologize, I did not know you were there." He hastily removed the speakers from his audios and set down his beaker of liquid, which he had not spilled a drop from. "How may I help you?"
"Yeah, we're here to talk about Wheeljack," Streetwise stated firmly as he crossed his arms.
"Oh? What about him?" Perceptor queried.
Prowl held up his hand to stop Streetwise from commenting further, and spoke himself. "Are you aware that Wheeljack had an accident in his lab earlier today?"
Perceptor looked surprised. "Why no, I did not know this."
"The dude's in the medbay," Groove added. "You sure you don't know anything?"
"The meday? Oh dear, this must be serious. But I assure you, I do not know anything about this accident."
"Blaster reported seeing you ent… are you reading from that datapad?" Prowl noticed that Perceptor had pulled out a datapad and was glancing between it and them.
"What? This?" The scientist glanced again at the device in his hands. "Well – I – yes, you see…" he stopped when Prowl extended his hand expectantly. Sheepishly, Perceptor handed over the device.
The tactician quickly glanced over the datapad's contents. Then looked up. "Is this a… script?"
"Why yes, I uh, I have scripts for daily interactions to speed up conversations. I have a subroutine in my processor that runs in the background whose task is to auto generate scripts for the day based on the probability of what sort of topics may be brought up. I find with a script, I can share my ideas much easier and quicker, and spend more time working. It's quite efficient."
"So… you have a script for when Wheeljack gets into an accident and gets sent to the medbay?" Streetwise asked.
"Yes – yes I do. You know, the statistical chance of Wheeljack getting into an accident is quite high. Every day, there is a 73.8% chance that something will explode in his lab, and when something does go wrong, there is a 38.2% chance that he will need to visit the medbay because of it. And for every hour of extra time he spends in his lab each day, the chance of an accident…" Perceptor was cut off again by Prowl's hand in the air.
The tactician handed the datapad back. "Alright Perceptor. But you are positive that you don't know anything about Wheeljack's accident? You were in his lab this morning, weren't you?"
"Yes, that is correct," Perceptor said, beginning to glance at the datapad again. "I was there to drop off some supplies."
"Nothing seemed suspicious to you?" Prowl prompted.
"Oh, well, the only notable thing that comes to mind is the fact that Wheeljack was getting ready to destroy all of the pranking devices he had made. I remember he mentioned something about the prank war ending, and how he didn't want to look at them anymore."
"Prowl!" Groove suddenly exclaimed, earning himself the tactician's attention. "What if this was an accident?"
Perceptor nodded. "As I mentioned, every day there is a 73.8% chance of Wheeljack getting into an accident."
"Hm," Prowl pondered the situation. But he didn't get much time to think before his comm-unit buzzed at him. It was Ratchet. He held up a hand to indicate the private conversation. "Yes Ratchet?"
"Prowl, it's Wheeljack," Ratchet said gravely. "His condition – is worse than I previously thought."
"What? What's wrong?" Prowl insisted.
"You'd better come and see for yourself," Ratchet returned.
"I'll be there right away," said Prowl. The call dropped, and he turned to the others. "I need to go, thank you for your information Perceptor." And he left the three behind in the lab.
In no time, Prowl was out of the tent fortress, and walking through the doors to the medbay. He was met with quite a scene. Near the center of the bay was a berth with Wheeljack laying on it, looking quite sickly in Cybertronian standards. He had an Energon I.V. in his wrist, and several monitors nearby showed his vitals. Around the berth stood Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, and First Aid, all looking solemn. Grimlock was present as well, and he sat by Wheeljack's side and had his dino head resting on the inventor's lap.
"What's going on?" Prowl asked as he rapidly approached the group.
Wheeljack turned his head slightly in the Praxian's direction. "Prowl…?" he mumbled.
"The situation is quite serious," Ratchet said glumly. "Wheeljack… is dying."
"WHAT?!" Prowl exclaimed, unwilling to believe what he had just heard.
"Prowl…" Wheeljack muttered again. "I – we – we just wanted to have some fun."
Prowl shuttered his optics as he tried to process what Wheeljack was getting at.
"The pranks – the crew really loved them. And I – loved helping make them possible. Then you said no more pranks – and I – I just couldn't look at the prank devices anymore. I had to get rid of them – but it backfired. Now them and my lab – all gone!" Wheeljack finished his monologue by flinging his arm over his face.
"Wheeljack, I…" Prowl didn't know what to say. Although this was a serious situation, something about it just felt – off.
"Look a' whatcha did, Prowl," Jazz spoke up then. "Poor Wheeljack, he loved th' prankin' so. But then you jus' ended it, an' it tore th' poor mech apart!"
"You see Prowl," Ratchet cut in. "Wheeljack is dying… of a broken spark!"
There was a moment of silence, as all the 'Bots looked at Prowl, and Prowl stared back. He shuttered his optics a couple more times. A broken spark? That was…
"BWAHAHAHA!" Jazz suddenly burst into a fit of laughter.
Now Prowl was really confused. "What? I don't…"
"You shoulda seen yore face, man!" Jazz wheezed, then continued to laugh.
Prowl looked down at Wheeljack, but the mech no longer looked so sickly. In fact, he was laughing as well. He looked back up at the others. "This – this was a joke?"
"All of it, man! We gotcha good!" Jazz burst.
Even Grimlock was laughing. "Hur hur hur, him Prowl made look stupid."
Prowl turned his still confused gaze to Ratchet. The medic wasn't laughing, but had an odd sort of smirk on his face. "Serves you right for starting all of this infernal nonsense."
"Optimus?" Finally, the tactician looked to the Prime himself. Optimus didn't say anything, but his optics were crinkled in what was obviously a grin.
"But – the resistance?" Prowl just couldn't believe it yet.
Jazz, who's fit of laughter had just subsided, snorted. "All of it man, all of it!"
Wheeljack sat up. "I'm sorry Prowl, but did ya really believe in all of that?"
"Well – I –" Prowl was lost for words.
"Alright, you've had your fun," Ratchet intervened. "But it's over now, so get out of my medbay!" The medic then shoed them all towards the door.
Once outside, Grimlock stomped away, while Prowl, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Optimus congregated. "I'm sorry, I still don't fully understand," Prowl spoke up. "How did this happen so quickly? I sent out the ban on pranks this morning?"
"As soon as O.P. was done talkin' with ya yesterday, he came straight t' me an' we got everybody recruited and th' tent fortress set up overnight!" Jazz explained.
Prowl looked to Optimus, but the Prime merely looked back knowingly. "But… how did you get the Dinobots to play along?" Prowl wondered.
"I seem to recall promising them a lifetime supply of – rubber duckies," Optimus finally said.
"And… Ratchet?"
Now Wheeljack spoke up. "That took some convincing, but eventually the urge to get back at ya for starting the prank war won out."
Prowl frowned and looked down briefly. "I understand this was all for fun, but I have wasted my entire day on this…" he was cut off when a large hand fell on his shoulder. He looked up at Optimus Prime.
"Prowl, learn to take a joke," the Prime said.
"Yeah man, everythin's always so serious with you. All work an' no play!" Jazz added. "Even with th' prank war, th' only reason why y' did it was t' punish th' twins."
Prowl's frown didn't lessen, but he ex-vented in slight resignation. "I…"
The tactician didn't get to finish his sentence, as just then all three officers' comm-links came to life with a high priority override. "DECEPTICONS! DECEPTICONS!" Red Alert's panicked voice cut into their audios.
"What is happening, Red Alert?" Optimus responded with a suddenly serious voice.
"Outside the Ark, Decepticons! ALL OF THEM" the director of security sputtered.
Prowl, Jazz, and Optimus all glanced at each other before taking off towards the front entrance to the Ark, leaving Wheeljack behind. "Hey, what's going on guys?" The engineer called after their retreating backs.