Reviews sustain me, please feed the starving grad student. :)
"Sometimes there are no words. No clever quotes to neatly sum up what's happened that day..."
"Given the circumstances, I suggest restricting the Detective's movements outside of the base to Autobot accompaniment, until we can move her to another base." Prowl crossed his metal arms over his chassis, his doorwings shifting just so as he shifted into his SIC role.
Lennox grimaced, but his head dipped down in agreement. Darcy stared at him in disbelief, figuring he at least, could have been counted on to take her side.
"I'm sorry, what? Restrict my movements? Move me? Do I not get a say?"
Optimus remained annoyingly silent, his gaze shifting to the tactician.
"It is a matter of security…"
"Security!" She cut Prowl off with a growl, waving her hand that was definitely showing some impressive coloration now. "I wouldn't give up the base just to save my own skin!"
A part of her had counted on Prowl knowing that, a part that now couldn't decide if it wanted to shrivel up into hurt or burst out in anger that he doubted her.
"We know, but they have ways of getting humans to talk, when the mood strikes them. Shockwave wasn't buried in the Cascades." Lennox's words sent a chill down her spine. Of all the mechs, it was Shockwave she'd most hoped had died. To know he was still out there...why hadn't they told her this before?
"It is a matter of security and your safety," Prowl finished, his optics narrowed just slightly.
Darcy glared up at him. The fear of Shockwave, while very real, couldn't be allowed to control how she lived. Fear had not been enough to stop her from joining the police force, it couldn't, wouldn't be now. Her safety had been under threat every morning she went to work. Sure that threat was reduced being in a smaller town, but still, a deer darting across the road at the wrong time was just as capable of ending her as a criminal. "Would you do the same for any other soldier on this base?"
Really, given the rate the men went out during their off hours, it was just as likely Barricade could have come across any of them, might have already, without either ever knowing.
The tactician's brow ridges furrowed just the smallest bit. "Barricade has not singled out any of those men, nor does he have reason to."
"Because his beef is with you and I'm just the unlucky fleshbag that got caught in the middle of it." His doorwings flared and she knew the comment rankled. Her eyes shifted to the leader of the Autobots, to the one who had the final say in the matter. "My month is almost up, what if I decide I want to go home?"
Would she be allowed? Or was letting her know the base's exact location a way to trap her permanently?
Optimus regarded her silently for several pounding heartbeats. "I must ensure the safety of my Autobots, but we will not hold you captive."
Ratchet growled, "Even if it's a suicidal decision?"
The leader looked at his medic, a soft vent escaping his system. "Even if I would strongly advise against such a choice to leave, it is yours to make, Ms. Blake."
Prowl's stance somehow tightened further, but it was Lennox who commanded her immediate attention as he spoke up, his voice low, his tone tinged with regret but unwavering. "If you choose to leave Autobot protection, you will fall into NEST protective custody."
She stared at him, certain she must have misheard, positive he hadn't really threatened what he'd just implied. "What?"
To his credit, he did not appear to relish what he was saying, but there was a steel behind his gaze that told her he would not bow from it, no matter what she said. "SOP would be to move you immediately to D.C. to a designated safehouse you would share with a rotation of NEST operatives. We would find work for you, but it couldn't be anything in law enforcement, too easy to track. It would have to be something totally unrelated, until such a time the threat is neutralized."
"Neutralized." Her voice dropped, her gaze boring into the unflinching Major next to her. "Given their current record for war length, the cage doors wouldn't open until my bones were dust."
Lennox frowned, Prowl shifted in her peripheral, but it was Optimus' stern voice that rumbled sharply, her body jerking back in her seat at the force of it. "Enough. I suggest no rash decisions be made tonight. Ms. Blake, should you choose to remain under Autobot protection, you will require an escort to leave the base. Major, given the circumstances, I advise limiting the trips of your men, as I shall do with my own, until we can garner Barricade's true intent."
Frustration won out over common sense.
"Intent?" she snapped at the massive Autobot who could so easily crush her if he wasn't careful. "His thing is causing fear! Distress, paranoia, take your pick, he gets off on all of it! Why else would he blast his signal if not to tell all of you he was here? To make you wonder if some grand plan was at play and afraid to go outside? That's what he wants, to have everyone afraid and cowering."
"And what purpose would that serve him, Ms. Blake? I will not change my orders on a theory alone," Optimus rumbled, but his voice lacked the sharpness it had held just moments before.
"The purpose is fear! Make us all afraid to wander, to leave the base, to limit patrols…" her tone settled as her mind whirled with the words her own mouth had spit out. "To take our attention away from something else. If everyone is here, response times will be longer. If we're all focused on finding him, we might miss something the others are doing. Hell, he could lead a goose chase in the opposite direction of whatever they're after."
The more the words spilled out, the more convinced of it she was. Barricade loved scaring the piss out of everyone he could, but he wasn't in charge. No matter how much he hated Starscream, at some point he still had to follow orders in some fashion.
Her gaze wandered up to Prowl's and he tipped his head, a silent prodding to let her train of thought continue.
"Taking me the first time wasn't part of Starscream's plans, he was pissed about it. He could be doing this for his own amusement, but if their leader has a shred of sense, he could be letting Barricade do all this for the benefit of his grand plan. If we're so focused on the Mustang, the jet might get the drop on us." Not that any of that came close to answering just what said grand plan could be, didn't come close to unveiling what Starscream might want to keep them blind to. And like Optimus had said, it was all just a theory based on a very limited glimpse into the inner workings of the dynamics between the jet and muscle car. She could be totally wrong. They could guess that at least Prowl might figure out the same thing and be using that likelihood to execute their plans. She could be wrong and worse, she could be pointing them exactly where the Decepticons wanted them to go.
"Shockwave is many things, but a fool he is not. He may have calculated Prowl coming to such a conclusion and informed Starscream of such," Ratchet vented, curling a hand up to tap his chin.
Lennox chewed his lip, hands planting on his hips in thought. "What are the odds Starscream would follow such advice?"
Darcy hadn't seen much of any exchanges between those two Decepticons. They seemed ruthless enough to get along, but then again, so was Barricade. Yet there had to be some cohesion for them to have stood against the Autobots for so long, right? Or had it really all been because of their leader, defeated years ago in Mission City?
The Autobots paused for a beat before Prowl released a barely perceptible vent. "Shockwave's loyalty gives credence to Starscream's leadership. I would give it an eighty-seven percent chance he would follow such a suggestion."
"Unless?" Darcy felt it hung there unspoken and wondered if irritation might lend a reduction to those odds.
Optimus folded massive arms over the truck doors on his chest. "Starscream's greatest weakness is his arrogance. He believes a leader does not need the advice of those in stations below him and sees it as a weakness to change his plans in accordance to offered insight."
There was something there in his words that had Darcy looking up to meet his gaze. He wasn't about to change the orders he'd already given, not yet at least, but in a way, she thought he might be conceding to take what she was saying into consideration.
Not a victory in that she was about to get her way, but Darcy felt a swell of respect for the commander. At the least, it was a statement that her voice wasn't being completely ignored in all of this. Regardless of what decision he made, it was not done without consideration of all points of view.
Considering he was ancient, experienced beyond comprehension, and held more power in his smallest digit than she ever would in her life, that was no little thing.
Now she could understand why every Autobot she'd met had chosen to follow Optimus through a war without end.
Prowl tipped his chin in agreement, bringing the detective back to their main problem at hand. "If he feels his authority has been undermined, particularly in front of others, the likelihood he would acknowledge anything Shockwave would say falls to thirty-two percent."
Well then, perhaps there was something to be said for having an enemy who thought just a little too much of himself.
Lennox blew out a breath, running a hand through already ruffled hair. "We still have no idea what his original plan is and basically a fifty-fifty chance what Barricade is doing is a trap. Hardly decisive on if we need to act now or not."
"Inaction is as much an action as marching onto a battlefield, Major." Prowl shifted his stance just enough to avoid being brushed by the metal of Ironhide's cannons as they rolled in his irritation.
"Well I'm sick of our action being sittin' on our afts waitin for the 'Cons to do something," the black mech grumbled heavily, pounding his fists together in want of an enemy face to bury them into.
Optimus laid a hand on the heavy shoulder plates of the weapons specialist. "I know, old friend, but I will not lightly risk lives on a rash decision. The hour is late and we need rest. We will reconvene in the morning when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have returned from their search."
They didn't need rest, the humans needed rest, but that was a distinction the Autobot leader intentionally left out. Whether she agreed with his orders or not, Darcy had to marvel that the alien worked with people better than most people worked with people.
With the meeting officially over, Ratchet gestured sharply for her to hold her hand out for a proper scanning, tsking to himself when she did so and he looked at the results.
"Minor contusions on the metacarpus, as I suspected. You will be unable to punch any holoforms for a few weeks." Ironhide snorted in amusement on his way out the door while the detective stared up at the medic. Did he just...did he just make a joke? About the time she'd punched Prowl no less?
The briefest narrowing of Prowl's glowing eyes indicated that she hadn't been hearing things. Ratchet had definitely just made a joke about it.
Prowl's large hand settled over the railing, palm open in invitation. Darcy blinked at it. The need for a speedy ride to this meeting had made sense, but now….now this was an invite to be carried without reason. At least, without a reason that she could determine. Her hand was bruised, her legs were fine. Even if he wanted to talk, it was just as easy to do so from the floor.
Darcy climbed up into his palm, feeling her stomach drop to her toes as he raised her. This was not a feeling she'd ever get used to, that was for sure.
Prowl's stride was significantly slower than when he'd brought her there. In fact, she would dare say that it was even slower than his usual pace.
Despite the commotion she had caused with her entry, the base was quiet and fairly dark outside of the conference room. It reminded her just how late the hour had to be. No doubt Lennox had been dragged from bed just to attend the meeting in the first place. Now with him and the rest of the Autobots dispersed, she was alone with the tactician.
Who was looking at her rather critically. She sighed, tucking her abused hand against her chest and mentally preparing herself for the safety speech that had to be coming. "Out with it already."
"Detective... are you alright?" She blinked, staring up to meet his gaze in disbelief. Well, that was unexpected.
"Uh, yeah, bruised hand is all, he let me off easy, I know." She gingerly waved said hand to show off the array of colors as if he hadn't just witnessed Ratchet scanning it.
A blast of warm air rolled across her skin as he vented, his pace slowing. "That is...not what I meant. Are you well, mentally? Barricade's most efficient attacks leave no physical wounds and you are still healing. Tearing such a scab in such a way...I wish to know the state of your being that Ratchet's scans cannot see."
Right, if she was mentally screwed up, she might miss something with the cases.
No, she berated herself, that wasn't fair. He was checking in, making sure there wasn't some other emotional trauma that would eventually bite them all in the ass. Jazz would have done the same. Prowl was just...more pragmatic about it.
"I...am not sure. I think I'm okay." But she'd been in a full on panic attack the second she'd stepped foot on base, she'd been unable to think clearly until Prowl arrived to send Sideswipe away. For a moment, she'd slid right back into being unable to differentiate the good guys from the bad.
She'd probably need to apologize to Sideswipe the next time she saw him and hoped he hadn't taken her panic personally. He didn't seem the type to, but she should address it anyway.
Prowl raised a brow as if he didn't quite believe her but wasn't willing to push too hard.
"I just…" She rubbed her eyes, the adrenaline having worn off and leaving her exhausted. "I don't know."
It would take a lie to say she wasn't afraid she would backslide, that her mind would betray her and see enemies where there were allies. She was tired of being afraid and she didn't want her body's flight instinct to kick in the next time she saw Jazz.
The tactician nodded, his walk returning to his usual gait. "If you need anything, you need only ask. Now get some rest, Detective, you need it."
His hand lowered, tipping just slightly to let her slide easily to her feet. They'd made it to the corridor that led to the barracks and living apartments. The Autobot could make it no closer to her room in his real body, a fact that she'd once been thankful for but now found somewhat unsettling.
"Right, rest." She wondered if she would be able to get any despite the weariness seeping into her bones. Her mind still refused to slow, though the thoughts dashed by too quickly for her to grasp.
The hallway stretched out longer than usual. Darcy cursed the senseless twisting of her gut. This base was practically the safest place in the whole damn solar system. Barricade couldn't touch her here, none of them could.
She hesitated at the threshold of her doorway, glancing back down the hall. Prowl still waited at the end, watching her with a slight tilt of his head. He nodded once, turning away.
Panic seized her by the throat, but she forced herself through the doorway. For a small apartment packed with case files, it felt too large and empty.
Dragging a hand through her hair, Darcy flipped the lights off and felt her way to bed. Prowl was right, she needed sleep. It would be better in the morning. Hopefully.
She shot up panting, drenched in sweat, and fighting the sheets tangled around her legs. Red eyes glowed in the dark, unflinching as Darcy threw the closest thing within reach at them. The pillow bounced harmlessly off the fire and carbon monoxide detectors.
With a low groan, she fell back, rubbing her eyes while reminding herself she was on base. A glance at the clock showed barely an hour had passed.
A short rap on the door made her jolt. Gripping her chest over her still-racing heart, she kicked the last remaining blankets onto the floor and stumbled to the door to find out who in the hell would come calling so early in the morning.
"Prowl?" She scrunched her brow at the holoform on the other side. "Are the twins back?"
He tipped his head slightly, "No, they are not. Your heart rate was elevated and your breathing irregular. Are you alright?"
"Oh." She blinked, feeling her pulse evening out. "Just...dreams."
"Do you wish to discuss them?" The slightest inflection in his voice told her he was not quite sure of his own offer. What could he do for nightmares, after all, other than tell her the obvious that they were not real?
"I barely remember it." She could still see flashes behind her eyes, but the details were fading away.
Prowl raised a brow and she belatedly remembered she'd used that excuse to avoid confronting her dreams in the not-so-distant past.
She offered a weak and likely unconvincing smile. "Honest, just shadows of bits and pieces."
He continued to regard her carefully for a moment longer before tipping his chin. "Very well, do try to get more rest, Detective."
The fake body began to dissipate and her mouth worked faster than her brain. "Prowl, stay."
For half a second, he looked just as surprised as she was, the holoform re-solidifying as Darcy tried to figure out why she'd said that. All she knew was that she didn't want to be alone right now, that she would get no more rest in an empty apartment. And Prowl...Prowl made her feel safe, even if it was just his holoform.
But he wasn't her guardian and he definitely had more important things to do than waste time babysitting her frayed nerves.
Shaking her head, she pinched the bridge of her nose, waving him off with the other hand. "Ignore me, I know you've got duties to attend to."
He didn't leave, watching her as if his CPU was running faster than light attempting to figure out what she wanted.
"You wish for me to stay?" His head cocked to one side as he completely ignored her follow up.
Pride clogged her throat and Darcy swallowed it thickly. Not like she had much pride to hold onto around Prowl anyway. "I just...don't really want to be alone right now, but I'll be fine."
She stepped back to signal she was going to close the door and release the tactician from any imagined obligation to humor her request. The holoform took a single step forward with her, effectively blocking the doorway. While hitting him in the face with said door wouldn't hurt him whatsoever, it could break her door.
His blue eyes seemed somehow brighter, more piercing as they bore into her. What he could be looking for, she wouldn't even hazard a guess.
"You would rest more if I were near?"
He wasn't using his SIC tone, or the tone he used when he wanted information. He wasn't even using his regular conversation voice, nor was it the lit he slipped into when he wasn't sure of his own words. His tone was soft, low, and more effective than anything else he had in his arsenal.
She couldn't stop herself from answering truthfully. "I don't know, maybe...probably."
Even if he calmed her waking mind, there really was no telling if her sleeping conscious would react the same. Maybe it would do the opposite, maybe he would have no effect on the presence of her dreams, but maybe he would. It wasn't as if she spent much time sleeping around the Autobots to know for sure.
He considered for all of a second before he held his hand out to her. Darcy would swear that he didn't look quite sure of himself, but refused to retract the limb now that it was offered. "While my seats may not be as comfortable as your mattress, my doors are open to you."
She stared at his hand, surprised at such an offer. Sure, she'd spent time in his seats since learning of his sentient status, but never with the intention of sleeping. It was...slightly unnerving, in a way. Other than Jazz, she did not typically interact with the Autobots without a purpose, a mission, as it were. Here there was no objective, just an offer to fill the empty space.
"Or," he started, his hand not budging an inch, "I can stay, and you may use my holoform as a...pillow."
Darcy's already poorly functioning brain stalled for a moment, as if she were experiencing a crash herself, before it found a reasonable explanation for such a suggestion. "Jazz put you up to that one, didn't he?"
Prowl didn't miss a beat. "He told me such utilization of another person for sleeping arrangements was common among humans. The choice is up to you, Detective."
Had this offer come from Jazz, it wouldn't have surprised her. Hell, she wasn't close to Sideswipe by any stretch, but she likely wouldn't have thought twice had he been the one saying what Prowl was. Coming from the tactician...well she wasn't sure what it meant exactly, but she knew it carried more weight than it would have from the saboteur or the frontliner. So the question remained, stay here with his holoform, go to his real form, or send him away and deal with a restless night on her own?
She didn't want to be alone. There was no question to that. And the holoform...it was him, but it wasn't, not really, just an illusion, a fake.
She trusted him and even in her dreams his presence soothed her fear.
Telling herself to stop thinking, she placed her hand in his faux one and stepped into the hall with him, shutting her door firmly behind her. At the end of the narrow hall, his real body awaited as the Charger, door already propped open.
"Are you sure?" Her mouth ran of its own accord. Of course he was, Prowl didn't offer things insincerely.
"Do you trust me?" he asked in turn.
She'd already answered that for herself only a few hours ago. "Yes."
"Then I am certain."
The holoform faded away as she reached Prowl's side, warm air washing over her from his vents. Somehow he'd shifted his interior so the backseats lay flat, offering plenty of room for her to lay down. The leather seats were no mattress, but they weren't uncomfortable either. If the thin blanket and pillow that were there were real or a hologram, she couldn't tell.
His tires rolled slowly across the smooth concrete floor, though where he was going she couldn't see; he'd completely blacked out his windows, the only light a dim glow cast from his Autobot insignia on his steering wheel.
Darcy felt as awake as she did ready to fall asleep. A confusing notion, one she hadn't felt since the last time she pulled double shifts. How long ago had that been now? How long since she'd been doing normal detective work in a relatively small town? She couldn't remember. The longer she spent with the Autobots, the more her old life felt like a distant dream.
A dream that each day slipped further away from reach.
Prowl's windshield lightened just enough to reveal the array of stars overhead. He'd taken her up to the overlook where not so long ago Jazz had knocked her coffee from. Human lights twinkled on the opposite shore, innocent and oblivious to the aliens nearby. It was as much a glimpse at the outside world of peace as it was a place of solitude. No one, human or Autobot, was likely to find them up here.
Darcy opened her mouth, but Prowl rumbled softly over her gratitude. "Sleep, Detective."
So she did. And though Barricade attempted to reach her again and again, he could not. Her own laughter rang in her ears, mocking his frustration.
Starscream stalked the corridors of the Nemesis, roughly plowing through an unwitting Decepticon whose designation the jet didn't bother to note. Annoyance radiated from him, his wings flexed tightly.
Breakdown watched him go, waiting until he was well and gone to other parts of the downed ship before trekking the hall himself, a crate of parts precariously balanced in his grip.
The relieved vent he released upon making it to the medbay unaccosted was imperceptible to any who might have been around to hear it. The only functioning being around was Knock Out, too absorbed in his own rant to notice the larger mech's entrance until the box clanked against an empty berth.
The red medic turned, scowling harshly at the crate as if it had personally offended him, or worse, ruined his paint job. "Why is it that I am taking all the risk for Shockwave's idea? I'll be scrapped if it doesn't work!"
Breakdown shrugged, the gears in his right shoulder grinding at the movement. It hadn't sat quite right since his last bout with Bulkhead, a fact that rankled the bulky 4x4. "We'll both be scrapped if it doesn't work and he finds out. Can it even work?"
Knock Out lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug, plucking a hunk of metal from the crate to look it over before dropping it again with a dissatisfied huff. "Logically it should. Won't know until Soundwave gets the final piece."
The blue mech vented, crossing his arms. "I don't like this sneaking around."
He wasn't built for subterfuge, he was built for loud and violent destruction and he liked it. With a gross lack of Autobots to fight recently, he was itching for a brawl, not sneaking supplies past Starscream. His spark always ached now and that made him want to hit something more than usual. He'd have to settle for a decent power down for now.
"At least you get to go out! I haven't gotten to race in weeks! Weeks!"
Breakdown rolled his optics skyward. Of course Knock Out would be most upset about his inability to go beat human cars in a test of speed whenever he felt the urge. "And you're still functioning."
Knock Out growled, reaching for the splicer before thinking better of hurling it at the other mech. No need risking his paint job. "Oh go drive over a log."
It was hardly an exceptional number of hours later when Darcy found herself blearily taking in the details of Prowl's roof. In fact, it was probably hardly enough considering the day before. But dawn had come and with it most likely the twins, which meant that another meeting would soon be necessary to determine what they were going to do next. And for Optimus to decide if she was free to go or if she was to be kept in their equivalent of witness protection.
Despite the need for answers and a plan, she found herself loathe to move. Prowl had made no indication of being aware that she was awake yet. In fact, she'd dare say that he may very well be asleep, or whatever they called their shut down. The light coming from his dash was even dimmer than it was last night, and even straining, she could hear no hum coming from his systems. It was as if he were a perfectly normal car. Granted, she'd believed that before, so perhaps he was just allowing her solitude while she mentally prepared for the day ahead.
Oddly enough, the silence seemed too loud without the sound of life coming from him. She wondered how it was possible he could mute the sound or slow down his systems enough for it to be so quiet. She supposed it had to be necessary to stay undetected around those not in the know, although thinking back on it, she couldn't say for certain if he'd been so quiet before she'd found out about him or if she'd simply been so focused on the case that she missed it entirely.
She hoped John was doing okay, hoped he was enjoying his retirement to Florida, dodging alligators on the golf course, only worrying about deciding where to have lunch that day. She wondered about her town and the department. Who was acting detective now? Had things calmed since she left or were they still haunted by what they'd found in the mountains? Was anyone going to go hiking this summer or would they close the trails?
She wondered if she'd ever be able to go back, physically and mentally. The curtain had been pulled back, could she ever go back to chasing human criminals? Could she investigate without thinking aliens could be involved?
There were no answers for those questions, not right now, probably not for a while. It would take a lie to say the answer didn't worry her.
For several minutes she lay in silence and let herself ponder over all of it before shoving it aside and to the back of her mind. Those were concerns for an uncertain future. She had to make it there first for it to matter.
So she shifted her mind to the case files she'd managed to go over so far, the locations where they clustered around, and to the purpose of Barricade's threat.
There were no clear answers there either, but it was a puzzle she could work with.
Noting that Prowl's systems were audible again, she sat up, stretching out the knot in her back. His seats were definitely not a mattress, but she wasn't about to complain about the sleep she'd managed to get.
"Rest well, Detective?" Prowl questioned, his tires slowly rolling them away from the overlook and back into the base.
"I did, thank you, Prowl. Sorry I commandeered you for the night." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a little embarrassed for needing him like that. Yet she couldn't regret asking him to stay. She knew she wouldn't have gotten any real rest if she'd let pride win out and push him away last night.
"Your apology is unnecessary. I am the one who offered." Of course he'd probably either slept himself or been running through scenarios the whole time. He didn't seem the type to need to pace unless something was really bothering him, so no doubt he found some way to utilize the quiet.
A handful of soldiers and Autobots milled about as the base woke up, but it was still early. No doubt the majority of the men were in the mess hall, which Prowl rolled by without slowing. Not that Darcy minded, she'd much rather not face the entire base in pajamas. Something which Prowl must have already accounted for, as he took her right to the hall that led to her room. Though no daylight entered this hallway, it appeared…lighter…than it had the night before. Walking down it did not cause her heart to race or stutter like it had. A welcome respite, certainly.
"Detective," Prowl's voice stopped her at her door and she turned, surprised to find his holoform at her side. She hadn't even realized he'd sent it down with her. "Our meeting shall resume in one hour."
Right, just enough time to shower, change, and grab a coffee. Nodding, she left him in the hallway determined to do just that.
In half that time she exited the bathroom in fresh clothes, dragging the towel over her wet hair. She jolted to a stop, towel still draped over her head, as she found Prowl in her kitchen, staring perplexedly at the coffee maker that was growling at him.
Darcy stared between the innocent pot and the tactician, the image of him standing in her old kitchen holding bags of IHop flashing behind her eyes. Except this time there was no Lennox having pushed him into doing it. No Jazz as far as she could tell either. Just Prowl, frowning at the pot as if it mocked him.
"You…made me coffee?" Alright, had Jazz stolen Prowl's holoform and voice?
Prowl raised a brow as if to ask if she thought someone else had snuck in and started the pot. "Though I do not agree with your excessive consumption of caffeine, you do function more optimally with at least one cup. As this is expected to be an extended meeting, you will need to be adequately fueled."
He gestured to the counter behind him, where Darcy had failed to notice the plate stacked with food from the mess hall. "Dig in, I believe you humans say."
Pancakes stacked with strawberries, bacon, and a healthy helping of eggs on the side greeted her with a steady stream of steam rising from the plate. A distantly familiar sight, as it was what she had taken from the offered IHop feast so long ago. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised he remembered, it'd be more shocking if he forgot something.
"Uh thanks, Prowl."
She expected the holoform to disappear now that his good deeds were delivered. There was still a half an hour before the meeting would start, after all. Plenty of time for him to…do Second-in-Command things. But he didn't. While she hunched over the plate to eat, he leaned against the counter next to the coffee pot, frowning lightly towards the wall covered in her map and pins. She'd had to mix up the pin shapes as well as colors and sizes in order to visualize dates yet even so there was still no clear pattern, save for one.
"They have a preference for rugged terrain, mountains mostly. Probably for security's sake. Less likely to be accidentally discovered by people or you and any tunneling activity would be ignored since…." she paused, tapping her chin and narrowing her eyes. While pins were scattered all over the map, there was a pattern when looking at terrain beyond just 'rugged'.
"Detective?" Prowl prompted with a raised brow.
Darcy abandoned the food to approach her wall, running her finger along the pins dotting the coast. "These ranges, Cascades, Sierra Nevadas, Coastal, they're all a part of the Ring of Fire. Daily seismic activity is normal in these places, which means mining could go unnoticed as long as they aren't blowing mountaintops. Could be worth checking seismographs for unnatural patterns of activity."
"You are confident in this lead?" Prowl stood next to her, looking at the right side of the map, at the handful of pins near the other major mountain range.
"Yes, maybe, the Appalachians have tons of caves that hikers go missing around every year, but they aren't on a plate border, so they don't have the earthquakes." She chewed her lip, blue crystals flashing behind her eyes. "They were looking for energon crystals."
"Which do not require volcanic activity to form." Prowl cut in.
"Maybe not, but they probably aren't just sitting exposed either. Cracks from earthquakes, lava tubes, they'll be easy ways to get deep underground quickly. Less work and less likely they'll be noticed." She tapped the pins on the eastern side. "These aren't out of the ordinary."
She nodded, knowing she could be totally off, but convincing herself that she had to be right. Nothing else was pointing them towards the Decepticon base and well, it wasn't as if Prowl's supercomputer processor couldn't find a fatal flaw in her theory if there was one. "We check the seismographs, look for irregularities, that's how we find their other bases."
The tactician looked at her map, no doubt committing it to memory. He nodded once. "Very good, Detective."
"Should we go to the meeting?" She raised a brow at him. Despite the praise, he appeared utterly unhurried to pursue their lead.
Prowl turned with a nod towards her kitchen and the forgotten plate. "I shall submit the request for the records while you finish eating. We have time before the meeting still."
Her mind was jittery now, she wanted to see those records even though she knew getting them would take time. How could she think about food?
But Prowl was also not budging or adjusting his purposeful stare. There stood a good chance that he would block the hall if she tried to walk out without clearing at least a portion of the plate.
With a huff, she gave in. He was right, after all, it was bound to be a long meeting.
She pushed the plate closer, shoveling down the food while looking over the map. Small clusters were up in Canada, but the heavy majority ran from the northern US border down through western Mexico, following the lines of the volcanic mountains. She didn't know how many Decepticons were planet-side, but if there were enough of them, she'd bet the same patterns would crop up in South America as well. But that wasn't data she had. She hoped it was because there simply weren't enough Cons to be down there, but she wouldn't put much stock in that hope.
A frown furrowed her brow as she followed the line to where it faded away. "Is there a reason they would avoid Alaska?"
Prowl glanced at the map. "While we can withstand extreme temperatures longer than humans, long exposure to the cold can shut down our systems and put us into stasis lock. It is likely the Decepticons are avoiding the low temperatures."
"Can you get the seismograph records for it anyway?"
He raised a brow at her, the holoform's arms crossing over his chest. "You suspect they may be there despite a lack of cases stemming from the area?"
She shrugged. "Sparser population might mean they don't need to kill to stay undetected and it would be smart to be the one place we don't have a reason to look. And once they got underground, the cold wouldn't be as much of a threat."
He nodded once. "I shall add it to the requisition request."
Only once she'd cleared the plate did he lead the way back to the conference room, which was considerably more crowded this time. Several soldiers had joined Lennox, but the Autobot twins were now also present, dirt and dust splattered across their frames. Jazz appeared the moment her feet touched the platform, taking a place alongside the railing while his visor glowed steadily as he looked her over. There was no time to assure him that she was fine, as the twins launched into an account of their search that ultimately led to a failure to catch up to the Decepticon.
"He led us on a merry goose chase," Sideswipe growled, arms crossed over his chest.
"The human is likely right, the only purpose of this is to make us question what he's up to. We should be increasing patrols, not decreasing them," Sunstreaker added with a disgusted huff.
Prowl vented lightly. "Increased patrols offer more opportunity for ambush attacks, something Barricade is known for."
The silver frontliner snorted, "I welcome him to try it."
"Increasing our presence will likely only draw them closer to the base," Ratchet hummed, fingers tapping against his metal forearm.
Optimus tipped his head in agreement, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a shrill alarm and the screen behind them lighting up with the face of a general. "Major Lennox, Prime. Our patrols have discovered an irregularity in the trench."
Every Autobot in the room went stock still, as if they'd suddenly been turned to stone. Lennox straightened sharply. "Do we have eyes?"
The general nodded, his face grim, "Coming online now."
His face was replaced by a view of dark water, lit up by a few lights on the front of what had to be some kind of submersible drone. The lights revealed little, only a line of jagged rocks of what had to be the ocean floor. They gleamed in the darkness, some taking on unnatural shapes.
Darcy sucked in a breath as she realized it wasn't rocks at all. It was the pieces of Cybertronians. It was the bodies of Decepticons.
The sub crested over a large mound that resembled a tank, pausing as the camera found only dark water ahead of it. The camera tipped down, down, down, to a large hole in the middle of the debris, a patch of bare ground that didn't belong.
Engines rumbled and growled all around her, apprehension growing tangible in the air. Darcy didn't know who was supposed to have been there on that ocean floor, but whoever it was, was someone that put even Optimus Prime on edge.
Her eyes found Jazz, an Autobot who had been dead and now walked again. If he could be brought back, could this enemy be as well?
"Previous recordings indicate that this was where NBE-1 had been," the general confirmed unnecessarily. The resignation on the faces around her told her that they all knew exactly who it was, though the acronym meant little to nothing to her. "Is he back then, Prime?"
Optimus vented. "Unclear. They do not possess the shard, nor is there any other equivalent on this planet."
"Is this what Starscream has been planning?" Lennox asked, beginning to pace rapidly.
Prime turned towards his tactician, who offered a negative. "It is likely a secret attempt by those still loyal to their former master. Starscream's desire for power would never allow him to entertain the idea of bringing back the one mech he could never overthrow."
The Prime tipped his head in agreement. "Primus willing, it will not come to pass, but regardless we should prepare for the return of Megatron."
"...sometimes the day just...ends." ~Hotchner
End Act I
Captain: Dun dun duuuhhhh! The Cons have stolen Megsy's body, do they have a plan to bring him back? Will it work? Does Starscream know about it? Is Darcy onto something with finding their base? Whatever shall our heroes do next?! Until next time!