Autobot Bomb Search: NB, LH, and FA

[Nightbeat]

I hate it when I'm right. Things have a way of only getting worse, whether you're in Iacon, Pzz-zazz, or some other Primus-forsaken world.

Case in point, "Hardwire"'s gone running and kidnapped Holi. Sweet kid. Idealistic in a world where idealism gets you killed. Surprised something hadn't happened to him already.

And then there was the bomb. Explosions are messy. They tend to get people killed. Who'd bite the big one this time?

I had a feeling I was going to be sorry I asked.

Cautiously, weapon drawn, Nightbeat moved stealthily through his assigned sector, looking for any sign of what might be the bomb, as well as waiting on his partner Bumblebee.

He dropped to one knee so he could peer into one of the buildings. "Dammit... I'm to big for this place."

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee was making his way through the area. No weapon drawn since his hand WAS a weapon. Besides, what was he going to do, shoot the bomb?

//so was hardwire. if he tried to place a bomb in one of the buildings, we could tell from how it was disturbed.// Bumblebee is used to searching and securing an area in advance, being able to do that with a companion was somewhat awkward, but he welcomed the change.

There appeared to be no squashed grass or plantlife. And 'Hardwire' didn't strike Bumblebee as the kind of person who was terribly subtle. Unless that was another trick...

//if he was here, he did a good job covering his tracks.// Bumblebee 'said' to Nightbeat.

[Nightbeat]

Ah, Bumblebee. He had a face only a mother could love, and I'm not sure I'd want to see that mother. Still, if he was anything like the Bumblebee from my universe, he was bound to be very good at what he did. Maybe lacking in the confidence department, but he'd either courage-up or be very dead. Either way, the problem would be solved.

"Yeah, and the guy strikes me as being a hypo-spanner short of a tool kit, if you know what I mean," he agrees.

Still, his detective radar was beeping. Something was definitely not right about this area. If only he could put his finger on what.

Maybe it was something small he could squish. There weren't enough easy answers, and today probably wouldn't be any different.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee turned his head as the all-clear notice was announced on Autobot broadband.

//apparently he is also a bomb short of a truthful threat.// Bumblebee says in his same monotonous radio-voice.

He noticed that Nightbeat hadn't relaxed from the announcement. //what is the problem.//

[Nightbeat]

Aaah, the big fake out. One of the oldest tricks in the book. And considering I'm almost old enough to have written the book, I should have seen it coming. Instead, I was played for a fool and left without an ace to play.

If it wasn't for the fact that I always keep an ace up my sleeve, this might be real trouble.

He pointed to a near-by garage. "That's been used recently. Which either means our 'friend' passed through here... or someone else did."

[Bumblebee]

Hesitantly, Bumblebee made his way towards the garage. Not sure what to expect, his right hand unfolded again into his weapon. He carefully maneuvered around the building. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the other side..

//nothing out of the ordinary here. open it and i'll cover you.//

[Nightbeat]

In Nightbeat's world, locks were something that happened to other people. Breaking and entering 101 was all part of the standard detective package.

That and it wasn't actually locked to begin with. But he won't be telling anyone that. Instead, if pressed, he'll be making up a story about multiple combination locks and possibly a death-wired booby trap.

When he does get inside--surprisingly roomy, even for a garage--what he sees actually causes the detective to drop his weapon. "Ngh... what the heck?"

It was... what was the word when organics were involved? It was a charnel house crossed with a chop shop. Very dead, very messily dead animals were scattered across the garage, along with devices that he didn't have the scientific training to understand, but some of which were most certainly weapons.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee edged around to have a look inside. What he saw shocked him. Not just the slaughtered creatures and what amounted to a secret munitions warehouse.

There was the fact he recognized the style of the toys.

//screwdriver. she had designed things like this.//

Bumblebee needed to let Xaaron know about this. Immediately.

[Nightbeat]

"Knew that cockamamie kid was more trouble than she was worth," Nightbeat mutters. Then again, he says that about most people. And then he usually has to get involved with saving their afts and being proven wrong about his first guess.

It's a disturbingly reoccurring pattern, really.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee didn't agree with that logic at all. He spoke with Screwdriver, she seemed to be.. well she was certainly laking in social graces, but Bumblebee would not have called her evil.

//i have transmitted imagery to xaaron and told him my suspicions. but we need proof. how can we confirm that this is her work.//

Come on, Nightbeat, you're a detective. Detect something!

[Nightbeat]

Nightbeat never said she was evil, just nuts. In fact, if she was keeping this kind of secret, no wonder she reacted so negatively to the presence of something of a lawman like himself.

Nightbeat gently prods one of the devices sitting on the ground with the barrel of his rifle. Satisfied that it wasn't going to blow up in his face, he picks it up and examines it critically.

"This looks like her handiwork. Looks like it should work, but not in any way which would tell you how it works. Next level up of engineering from even Cybertronian stock."

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee took a step back as Nightbeat picked up the device. Shouldn't he be wearing gloves or putting it into a bag or something?¹

//the last time i touched her work three of us were magnetized to a table. be careful.// And Bumblebee was certain that what he had encountered wasn't the worst of it.

---

¹ Bumblebee watched too many episodes of CSI on Youtube.

[Nightbeat]

Why bother? It's not like they've got fingerprints or anything.

"You know... this explains one heck of a lot of things. Dollface had dried blood on her before. Probably from doing all of this. Not to mention she bolted when I started talkin'."

[Bumblebee]

//what did you ask her.//

As sad as it made Bumblebee, Nightbeat's words were making him accept more and more that there is only one person who this could be. But Screwdriver was one of their own, surely!

//i think we need someone with more experience with this equipment. i do not want to create an explosion.//

[Nightbeat]

"That's the funny thing. I didn't ask her nothin'. My speech patterns set her off," Nightbeat replies. "Plenty o' the Earth-based 'bots have said I talk like somethin' out of a bad detective movie. One o' the white hats, if you will."

He looks around. "And I don't think she's had much good luck with the white hats. But yeah... we need Perceptor, maybe Long Haul or Wedge out here."