I write stuff sometimes

Snapshot lurches forward, optic bright with overcharge. He yanks at his bindings, shaking violently.

Firewatch crosses his legs, staring boredly at the mech.

Snapshot wines, staring blankly at Firewatch. His intake is still open. He continues to struggle.

Firewatch gets up from his chair, kicking it to the side with a loud bang. “You caused quite the chaos today.” He said, approaching the mech with inflated confidence.

Snapshot flinches, his emf a swirling chaos of fear, hunger, confusion, and frustration. His sparkhunter code is still in full swing.

Firewatch grabs snapshot by the face, holding his twitching helm in place. “Look. At. Me.”

Snapshot lets out a shrill shriek as tears prick the corner of his optic.

“Answer. Don’t feign incompetence to me.” He walked off, brightening the light in the room to shine only on Snapshot, the heat of the bulb burning into his armor. “After all, everyone knows what you’re capable of.”

Snapshot whimpers, still unable to form complete thoughts. He's scared. So very very scared. He has no idea where he is and can't make sense of anything.

There was a sudden bang against the head of the chair — right next to Snapshot’s left audial.

Snapshot flinches and lets out another shrill noise. He opens up his chassis and bares his spark chamber, the Sparkhunter code reaching critical. He desperate for something, anything to feed his processor. He squirms once more. Two words ring out in his mind, deafening everything else around him. Kill. Eat. His processor repeats them like a mantra. He doesn't stop squirming.

Something plunged. Hard. Into his chassis.

Snapshot lets out a loud, deafening shriek, the sound echoing throughout the walls of the agency.

Firewatch punched him. Directly in his spark. “Talk,“ he growled.

Snapshot wails, sobbing freely. He's trembling. Every neuron in his processor is still being overwritten by the Sparkhunter code. His intake is leaking with drool, desperate to be fed.

Firewatch grew impatient, withdrawing his servo. “You think you’re a sparkling, don’t you? Wailing. Sobbing. Grow up and spit it out like a mech. I don’t have all day.”

The smallest whimper leaves Snapshot's mouth, two words can barely be made out. "Kill. Eat."

Firewatch’s optics glinted with a hint of disdain. This was a start. “Say something useful. I already know that.” He brandished a fist, warning Snapshot the consequences.

Snapshot trembles, he feels like his spark is going to implode from being overtaxed by his code. A small puddle forms beneath where his intake is. He's never felt this type of hunger in his life. He feels like he's going to pass out. Tears stream down Snapshot's face as he shakes his head violently. Bile rises to the back of his throat.

Firewatch notices Snapshot’s distress, and a wave of sadism washes over him. This was his favorite part, watching his suspects crack underneath the pressure. If only he could just break him.

Snapshot purges energon all over himself. His head lolls to the side, optic dimming as he wanes in and out of consciousness.

A hard slap. “Wake up. We’re not finished.” Snapshot’s helm was jerked upright, his jugular exposed. “In fact, we haven’t even started. You barely said a single. Word. Since you woke up here.” Firewatch was losing it.

Another small warble of a word trembles out. "Please." It's barely legible, laced with static. Glitched. Corrupted.

“So tell me, little disaster.” Firewatch’s grip hardened, creating an uncomfortable pressure on an already dazed Snapshot. “Tell me. Exactly what you are. Everyone’s lives are on the line, and it’s all because of ** you."**

Snapshot trembles and flails his head, a series of beeps ringing out in binary sequence. 01000001 01000110 01010010 01000001 01001001 01000100 00001010 AFRAID He feels like he's under the swarm queen once more, the memories coming back violently. He can't see what's in front of him. Snapshot sobs loudly. No longer able to distinguish reality from his own memories, he calls out for the one mech he remembers. "Hot Rod. Hot Rod." He sounds broken. He wants his friend to save him again. But this isn't the Lost Light. And Rodimus is nowhere to be seen.

Firewatch sneers, remembering the mech by name. “No one’s coming to save you. It’s just you and me. I could easily offline you if I wanted to.”

Snapshot looks at Firewatch. Begging. Pleading. He knew Mortilus wouldn't be kind to him. But he at least hoped he would die surrounded by his friends. He closes his optic and braces. Waiting for the jaws of death to close around him. This time for good.

Firewatch relaxes his threatening stance over the mech. “So you do listen. You do understand me, don’t you?”

Snapshot stills. His emf faintly radiating his blinding voracity.

“Fine. I can work with this.” He calms down, lulling Snapshot into a false sense of security. “Can you speak? Shake head for no, nod for yes.”

Snapshot feels himself calm down a little. If he strains his senses it almost sounds like someone is speaking to him. The only movement he shows is more trembling. He's still terrified.

“That’s it.” Firewatch says, noticing Snapshot’s posture change. “Do you want me to repeat myself, Snapshot?”

Snapshot still can't hear past the pounding in his processor. His emf grows a little stronger. He can't swallow around his tongue. More drool joins his lap, soiled by purged energon.

Firewatch looks at the pathetic state the bot was in. How he wanted to laugh! The rogue and monstrous Snapshot, now helpless and deflated in the confines of a rusty chair. Firewatch wondered how to get Snapshot to revert to his previous state, eying the intricate cables and modifications of the bot. Everything different about Snapshot, Firewatch noted as part of his mutant form.

Snapshot opens his optic and stares up at Firewatch. It's like he's looking through him. He lets out a droning beep. Quiet. Pitiful.

“Don’t look at me like that. I almost feel bad.” Firewatch said, holding back a chuckle.

Snapshot closes his optic again. It hurts to keep it open. His head lolls to the side. He feels so directionless and defeated. So painfully hungry. Maybe he should've stayed with Tarn after all.

Firewatch sighed. He wasn’t going anywhere playing bad cop, so he might as well play good cop. “Hey.”

Snapshot doesn't move.

“How do I…. Turn you back?” Firewatch says cautiously, not knowing what the proper terminology was.

Snapshot beeps. He can only muster half of the mantra now. "…Eat."

PLACEHOLDER (bc I wanna get this out. I'll come back and fix this later!) [TLDR, Firewatch figures out Snapshot hungers for innermost energon. He saw the datapad from Aperture and took it from him. Fire saw the synthetic recipe and figured it out from there.]

With a soft hiss of folding armor, Firewatch exposed the area of his chassis.

Snapshot jolts his head at the noise and opens his eye, staring at Firewatch's spark chamber.

“So that’s why you’ve been wreaking havoc in my facility these past two days.” Firewatch stared, something darker in his optics. He could make something of this.

Snapshot's mandibles twitch, opening and closing.

Firewatch thought better of exposing his spark to the mech. Ugh. He shut his armor plates, rubbing at a line in his wrist instead. “I think we can both work out on an agreement.”

Snapshot wines, still staring at his chassis.

Firewatch bit into his wrist hard — his fangs cracking open the sheer metal underneath. A line of innermost beaded out. Firewatch gritted his teeth, keeping his optics on Snapshot’s at all times as he dug into the line with his fingers, opening the flow up to a soft, slow dripple.

Snapshot stares at the fuel, his sparkbeat can be seen through his open chassis.

“Hold your head back.” Firewatch gauged to see Snapshot’s reaction.

Snapshot blinks, staring at the innermost welling up from the wrist. He whines.

Firewatch rolled his optics, grabbing Snapshot’s forehelm with one servo and tilting it back, holding his wrist over the gaping intake. The energon slowly dropped. Drip by drip.

Snapshot squirms, but he doesn't have any strength left to fight it. He groans, starting to cry once more. He sobs as he feels relief wash over his systems. His chassis closes.

“Finished?” Firewatch eyes the mech, plot behind his optics.

Snapshot can hear him. He shakes his head. "More."

“Not yet.” Firewatch withdraws his wrist, lapping up the excess weeping energon, as he has nowhere else to wipe it. “You’re going to tell me everything, won't you?” He says, rather gently, but there was a sense of finality in his tone.

Snapshot shudders, the taste finally registering as his racing sparkbeat starts to calm down. It tastes awful. Rotten even. "Yuck." He blinks. Once. Twice. Staring at Firewatch. "Fire…watch…?"

“I asked you something.” The mech shook his wrist, innermost flecking everywhere, the flow steadily marching. “You’re gonna waste it if you don’t answer.”

Snapshot stares at his wrist, reality dawning on him all at once. His voice steadily rises in volume.

"NononononoNONONONONO!!!"

His intake slams closed, almost catching his tongue. He looks around, jerking his head violently.

Firewatch shoved his open wrist against the mech’s mouth plates, trying to shut him up. “Calm down. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

Snapshot starts hyperventilating, refusing to open his intake back up. He's thrashing now, desperate to get out.

“This is what calmed you down earlier, didn’t it?” Firewatch said, his optics lacking any ounce of concern for Snapshot’s wellbeing. “Here. I’m offering it again.”

"This is just all a bad dream. Like one of my nightmares. I'll wake up and everything will go back to normal again."

Firewatch smiled. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Snapshot looks up at Firewatch's face. "Am I dead? Did the Sparkhunter finally kill me?"

“No.” He took back his wrist, the stench of his innermost still fresh against Snapshot’s mouth plates

He stills. "…This isn't a dream." He looks down and stares at the purged energon in his lap. Snapshot mutters. "Kill me. Please."

Firewatch looked at Snapshot up and down, his tone suddenly sweetening. “And why would I offline a poor mech like you?”

Snapshot's shoulders are shaking, he sounds like he's going to cry. "I'm a monster."

Firewatch tilted his helm. Perfect. “I went through all this trouble, cleaning up the havoc you wreaked upon your peers, Pikestrike, and Aperture. I held you, in your twitching form, here, and I nursed you back to sanity with my own innermost. Let’s not forget something, hm?” Firewatch inquired, leaning in close as he began to whisper. “I. Saved. You. ”

Snapshot stares back up at him, optic defiant. "I don't want to be saved. I deserve to rot and die."

“Tell me, Snapshot.” He drew himself back. “Why would I waste all of that effort on offlining you?”

Snapshot stares at him with all the contempt he can muster. His voice dripping with vitriol. "I hate you. Let me die."

Firewatch just smiled, tapping his wrist. “Who’d going to keep you from hurting the others? Tell me.”

He trembles. "Please… anything but that…"

He hits the back of the chair loudly. “Don’t make me ask twice.”

Snapshot refuses to back down. "I refuse to work with vile scum like you. You're worse than Tarn."

Firewatch crossed his arms, circling the mech. Many reasons, actually. “You'll die without me. You’ll go hungry and insane, with no one Here knowing how to satiate that disgusting desire you have.” He stopped in his tracks. “You’ll turn again, and hurt everyone.” “You want to prevent disaster? this is your answer.”

Snapshot refuses to look at Firewatch. "What's stopping me from just leaving?"

Firewatch tilted the lamp so that it shone behind his head, like a halo. “I’ll tell everyone.” Firewatch grinned. He needn’t say more.

"Tell them what? They already know everything. And you-* Snapshot bares his maw. "Know nothing. I'm not some beast that can be tamed."

“I know you’re dangerous. Energon thirsty. Sadistic. You even hurt Aperture. You’d hurt an innocent bot, and possibly more if it wasn’t for my donation.”

Snapshot feels old thought patterns rise to the surface. Deep, repressed anger that burns red-hot. He doesn't like indulging them, but who's there to see him now? "Hell exists and it's for bots like you. I'll kill everyone in this goddamn agency. But you-" He eyes Firewatch hungrily. "I'll save you for last. Not for your taste, no, you taste vile. For your screams. You reek of sin and I'll ruin your whole organization. Expose you for the sham you are. I'll watch as they all tear you apart. And only then will I snuff out your damn spark. I'll be the last thing you fragging see."

Firewatch held up a fist, eyeing snapshot’s chassis. “Careful now.”

Snapshot spits at Firewatch. "I'm not scared of lying cowards like you. I've reduced mechs like Starscream to whimpering messes beneath me."

Firewatch just twisted his chassis, eyeing the spit as it flew past him A shadow grew over Firewatch’s face, the light behind his head brighter than ever. “I’ll hurt him.”

Snapshot snarls. "I don't care who you hurt. I'm not fragging working with you."

“It’s a shame, and he speaks so highly of you, too.”

"Tarn made me a similar offer once, I only took his out of desperation. But you. You have no factions to hide behind. You're nothing. Just like him. A waste of materials, and an ego the size of fucking Cybertron. I know you need Aperture. You're bluffing slagstain. He's a coward because you have him wrapped around your little finger. You've intimidated him. But I was forged by the war." He snarls "I won't cave so easily."

Firewatch smiles, tapping his helm as he pings someone in.

"You made the same damn gesture when we first met. You using your processor for once?"

“Aperture. Come here, please. Quickly.” There was a soft clawing at the door. Sounded hesitant.

Panic paints Snapshot's emf. "You're bluffing."

Firewatch just gave him a knowing look, and opened the door. He looked left and right, and roughly pulled Aperture inside, locking the door behind them.

Snapshot stills, he refuses to look at Aperture.

“What’s wrong, Snapshot?” He smiled, tossing the young mech to the ground as if it were routine.

He stares at the mech. "He's been through enough."

Firewatch nestled a crouching Aperture’s head between his elbow, holding his pistol against his head. Aperture didn’t seem to flinch much, just staring blankly past Snapshot — ashamed. Familiar with the situation. “You’re a lost light member, that so?”

Snapshot doesn't look at Aperture, ashamed of himself. "What of it?"

“What’s your motto again?” Firewatch shook Aperture violently — causing him to gasp and whirr with mild distress. “Of course. All living creatures deserve freedom, or something like that.”

Snapshot clenches his servos. "Let him go you pile of slag."

“Wouldn’t your dear Captain Rodimus be so disappointed to know, you single-handedly let this young mech offline?”

Snapshot closes his intake, shame starting to crawl across his frame. "Rodimus already knows what I've done, and who I am."

“He’ll be disappointed to know you haven’t changed a single bit.”

Snapshot freezes, his energon running cold.

Firewatch tossed the pistol away, using the sharp of his arm armor to gouge a sharp line into the back of Aperture’s helm — causing the mech’s emf field to pulse crazy “You really are a monster.” Aperture shook his head frantically — “Don’t! Don’t listen to him!” He wanted to say. Firewatch grabbed the young mech again, throwing his helm against the floor, his frame following, as he pinned his chassis to the floor with a single pede.

Snapshot finally starts to sound desperate. He's killed so many, so much energon on his hands. He can't stand the thought of being responsible for the death of another innocent. "Let him go Firewatch." His voice is shaky. "You're the one who would be killing him." He's lying to himself. This is all his fault. He should've never come here.

Firewatch wasn’t listening. He was focused more on Aperture’s defiance. “I gave you a career. I let you follow your passions. I housed and fed your gluttonous aft.” Firewatch hissed quietly at Aperture. “What do you say?” “S…sorry. Sir.” Aperture mumbled. “I’m indebted to you…” Firewatch turned towards Snapshot, clasping his hands together as he walked towards him, pressing all of his weight on Aperture with his first step. “I give you an ultimatum."

Snapshot hisses, plating flaring out violently. "Hurt an inch of his frame and I'll tear you limb from limb." He looks at Aperture, swallowed by guilt. The one mech that's shown him kindness, in all of this hellish chaos. The one mech that gave him a way out. He deserves better than this. He can't stomach the idea of being responsible for his death. He swallows.

“I’ll spare him. I’ll pay you. I’ll house you. Pit, I’ll even feed you” he held him his wrist. “Or, if you’d prefer something different.” He said, letting the implication sort itself out. “All I want, is your loyalty. And your compliance.” He paused. “And that goes for intel, as well. Transparency is welcome here at the RDA.” He half-laughed. Aperture trembled on the ground, laying there, not doing anything.

Snapshot looks up at him, thinking about what he said earlier. He was bluffing, he's not Verator anymore.

He can't let Aperture die like Quark did, knowing he could've be saved. "I…"

“Come on, now.” Firewatch said, hands on his hips. He had the upper ground.

Snapshot's shoulders slump. He really has gotten soft, hasn't he? "I yield."

Firewatch smiles, his face exuding warmth with flick of a nano-klik. “Ah, wonderful. I’ll be pleased to be working with you. And you know what the best part of this is?” Firewatch grinned, cupping his servos together. He leans in close to snapshot’s audial, whispering. “They won’t believe a thing you say.” It was true, with Snapshot nearly killing innocents twice, he lost all chance at redemption, or so it seems.

Snapshot hisses, but it doesn't have any real bite to it. Not anymore. "Don't get smug with me. You've won. I'll do whatever you want. Just-" He looks down at Aperture's trembling frame. "Just don't hurt him."

Aperture’s posture dropped on the floor, an expression of defeat — as if to say, “You’re in the same boat as me." “Let him go, boy.” Aperture got up from the floor, uncuffing snapshot’s restraints. In this angle of light, one could see many, many dents and healed gashes in Aperture’s armor. This was not the first time.

Snapshot stands up, rolling his wrists. He looks at Aperture and walks up to Firewatch. Shoulders broad, he almost towers over him. "I could kill you right now, and he would be the only witness."

Firewatch turned his back towards Snapshot, a sign of vulnerability, or was it… Trust? Aperture quickly grabbed Snapshot squarely by the shoulders, his grip nearly putting a dent into his armor.

Snapshot stills.

Aperture looked ashamed — divided between his unwavering loyalty to Firewatch, and his new friend.

Snapshot pushes Aperture off him, feeling guilty for the poor mech. He's truly seen the worst side of Snapshot. He walks up behind Firewatch and leans down to whisper in his audial. "Sleep with one optic open, Firewatch."

Aperture grabbed Snapshot again. “Don’t. Hurt. Him.” Aperture whispers. “Please.”

Snapshot looks at Aperture. 'You're safe. For now." He side eyes Firewatch, a glare that says everything he leaves unsaid.

BREAK ROOM

Snapshot tries to slink down the hall quietly, curious as to the state of the energon dispenser. He tries his best to not draw attention to himself, but his large frame makes it difficult with how many mechs are in the room. Triagen looks up as a large mech enters his line of sight. “Don’t think we’ve met,” he comments, waving slightly. “Triagen. You?”

Snapshot looks up at Triagen, his mind seemingly elsewhere as he walks up to the dispenser. Renwing watches the interaction warily.

Snapshot looks down at the half-repaired dispenser and doesn't speak to any one person in particular. "Is it…?" Triagen quirks a browplate under his visor and shrugs. RW: “It’s fixed, mostly, if that’s what you’re asking”

SS: He quietly curses to himself in frustration, grabbing a cube, but looking up at the mecha and refusing to take a sip. After all, to the others, he doesn't appear to have a mouth. "Name's Snapshot." Aeolus watches silently, the blue optics behind his visor burning hot into Snapshot. Curious.

Snapshot grips his cube and looks up at Aeolus, wings twitching in agitation. "Got something you wanna say?" AE: Silence, processing… “Negative.” RW: His plating flares just slightly at the interaction, finials canted back as a warning sign. SS: Frag it all, he feels like making a statement. He makes direct eye contact with Renwing. The bottom part of his helm splits off into two mandibles, revealing an odd intake. Four sharp teeth line the top of the mouth and a tongue that doesn't quite make sense can be seen deeper in the mouth. He brings the cube up and takes a sip. RW: His optics brighten slightly, as he fully snarls at the mech, bearing his fangs. “What’s your deal mech?” he demanded, stepping close to Aeolus Aeolus raised a servo and placed it on Renwing’s pauldron. Both for Ren’s saftey and Snapshot’s. Giving a small grunt.

Snapshot's head kibble flares out, his voice taking a teasing tone. "What, never seen an empurata mech before?" Ren snapped his head back towards Aeolus, plating slightly relaxing. “I’ve seen things no one should have ever seen in their lifetime.”

SS: He finishes his cube with a grumble and closes his mouth, it becoming invisible once more. "Likewise. And I know having a weakness like that will get you killed." He points a clawed servo at Aeolus. Aeolus stood firm and intimidating, venting slowly. He knew that the mech was trying to get him to snap, competitors would always try the same on him in the arena. It wouldn’t work on him. The blue and white mech just stared down into Snapshot’s spark.

Snapshot's engine growls. He won't be intimidated. "Aeolus, right? Tell me, how is Stimpack doing?" His tone mocking.

AE: Now, that DID tick him off! He clenched his faceplates a bit as his engine revved loud and clear. However he did not move. “How do you know that?”

Snapshot keeps his composure, smug with how easy it was to get under Aeolus' frame. He answers the question with another. "I take it not well then?" “Don’t think BugByte can fix the dispenser if it gets destroyed a second time,” Triagen interjects mildly, though a tinge of irritation flares in his EMF field. “You mechs don’t have to be amica endurae, but you both could at least stand to spare us your quarrels until we find out what we’re doing here.”

Snapshot mutters to himself. "I'm surprised he was able to fix it at all." AE: The mech silently raised a servo towards Triagen. Flaring his blades he stared back with the anger of Primus himself. “I asked you a question. Speak.” Ren fully snarled. “THATS IT!!!! Don’t you dare speak to him that way!!!”

Snapshot takes a defensive stance. He doesn't want to fight anyone. Not yet anyway. "I do my research."

Aeolus squeezed Renwing’s Pauldron ever so slightly as he thought through how the pit this mech knew about Stimpack. He made sure that checking accounts were separate, sneaking through alleyways, pit even not speaking about her. Maybe he was a high class mech..? That was the only time the two were together in public. Events that he was invited to. All of this swept through his mind like the wind of a hurricane.

Renwing reached up and placed a clawed servo on Aeolus’s reassuring that he wasn’t going to fight the mech in front of them, no badly how much his coding was screaming at him to do so

Snapshot scoffs at Aeolus, that gnawing feeling rising again. Damn doctor probably didn't get the formula right. He should leave before things get messy. "Choose your battles wisely gladiator. I'm not some damn turbofox that'll cower with their tail between their legs."

RW: “Glitch” he hissed through fangs

Suddenly, the door slides open “Excuse me!” A USB cord bobs high in the air as a minibot of all things rolls inside, data pad in a pair of strange, floating servos “Is this the right… uh… room-?” He looks up at the room about to tip over into total chaos. Oh boy.

Triagen stands abruptly, almost trips over the new minibot. “Sweet primus,” he grunts, shoulder jarring into the wall as he twists.

Snapshot jerks his head to the sudden noise. "Who the frag're you?"

Aeolus’s optics shot down to the new bot for not even a klick before going back up to Snapshot. Primus he did not want to make more issues for the RDA but Snapshot was on stupid thin ice.

“D-Designstion Bit? … I’m a recruit-??” As if he couldn’t feel smaller, the scanner the minibot had for a head shrank under the other bot’s gaze. Yknow, he’d been pretty nervous arriving, but what was the worst that could happen? He’d meet new bots and explore! Well, evidentially, this is just about the worst thing that could happen.

“Hey Bit,” Triagen greets, finally regaining his balance. “We’re all new too. Nobody knows what’s happening.”

Snapshot also didn't want to cause any more issues. The last thing he needs is to draw even more attention to himself. He can't run the risk of others uncovering his closely guarded secrets. Frag it all, how does he always find himself in these situations? "I know I'm not getting paid enough for this slag." Snapshot leaves the breakroom and sets his mind on finding Aperture again. Hopefully he's in his lab and okay with house calls.

Aeolus let the fragging mech go now, but once they were on even terms and somewhere where they could beat the slag out of each other. It would be game on.

APERTURE'S LAB

Snapshot walks down the halls, stopping at Aperture's lab once more. He knocks on the door. "Hey doc, you in?" The knocking pushes the door open a little. No answer. Seems like Aperture isn't in his lab and he left his door unlocked. Again. Snapshot sighs "Kid, you gotta be more careful." He groans, that gnawing feeling returning a little. Opting to make more bad decisions and worry about the consequences later, Snapshot enters Aperture's lab again and closes the door behind him.

Snapshot looks around and talks to himself. "Now where the hell is my datapad…" He rummages around the lab a bit, but can't seem to find it. He swears loudly. "SLAG! That rascal pocketed my damn datapad!" "I need to get that back from him. The last thing I need is for someone to rummage through that." He thinks back to Aeolus' reaction when he revealed to the gladiatior that he knew about Stimpack. "Primus help me if someone finds out what I've been up to."

He continues to rummage around the lab, looking for the ingredients to his synthetic energon recipe. "I don't know what he gave me, but it definitely wasn't what I needed. Must've been just regular active energon." His engine growls a little, his code kicking in and jacking up his spark sensitivity. "Frag frag frag. Please, please just wait a little longer."

His movements become rushed and shaky, panic setting in. It's a good thing Ratchet made him memorize the recipe. He's not a metallurgist, but he can make a batch in a pinch.

"I won't let this damn Sparkhunter code control me again." Snapshot lets his cables unspool, helping him grab the materials he needs. Carefully, he measures out all of the ingredients and pours it all into a jar. He feels charge crawling across his frame and opens his mouth to help with ventilation. He clenches his fist and punches the desk, determined to stay lucid.

Aperture slinked into the lab unnoticed. With one servo, he nearly shakes the room by pounding it onto an empty workbench — as if to say, “what do you think you’re doing?!”

Snapshot's head jerks up. He drops everything and bolts to a corner, scared out of his wits. "Don't-" He resets his vocalizer a couple times. "Don't come any closer to me."

Aperture remained focused on the state of his workbench — ignoring snapshot. He was more concerned with his samples and organization being messed up — especially after Triagen took so long to clean it.

Snapshot eyes the mech like a predator would their prey. He can feel Aperture's sparkbeat, and it's taking every ounce of self control to not jump the mech and- "I need my energon."

Aperture held his helm — a charge of stress building up in his processor. He shakily sighed, “…I’ll make you another batch like last time…” The mech stood up fallen vials, wincing at cracks that formed in several of them.

Snapshot growls "NO, that's not-" He takes a shaky breath in to try and calm his racing processor. He swallows, intake dry. "That's not what I need."

Aperture froze, and The mech began to tremble. A glitched “oh” was all he could utter out as his vocalizer stalled.

Snapshot doesn't move from his corner of the room. "The- the datapad. My energon recipe." "It's a synthetic form of innermost energon."

Aperture ran a servo unconsciously over his subspace. A shrug Was all he could feign — as if he had no idea what Snapshot was talking about. if he found out that aperture was the one who held onto his possession, he could be in big trouble.

Snapshot starts to lose control of his carefully hidden emf. It feels like before, suffocating and dangerous. He's starting to lose his higher cognitive functions as his processor can only think about the spark underneath the mech's servo.

Aperture grabbed a stool — throwing it towards snapshot’s direction as he scrambled for the exit.

Snapshot growls as he goes on all fours and lunges at Aperture, his mind a hazy cloud, desperate for innermost energon like his life depends on it.

Aperture was too afraid to scream — and the two mechs were sent silently tumbling to the floor. Aperture’s free servo felt around for anything — anything to throw at Snapshot.

A cable shoots out to grab Aperture's leg, preventing him from getting up and running away. He starts to drag Aperture closer and slinks towards him.

Aperture’s stalled vocalizer didn’t do anything to help him — and the mech wanted to curse at primus for the inconvenience of his condition. With a deep breath, aperture yowled a strained noise. “HELPPPP!”

Snapshot snarls and slams a servo on Aperture's neck, cutting off his intake to stop the screams. He leans over Aperture, drool dripping onto his chassis. The servo around his neck trails down, scratching the front of his chest. "OPEN."

Aperture clawed at the mech’s servoss desperately, trying to pry them away from him. He was quite a large mech and had a strength unaccounted for — but for some reason he couldn’t overpower this mech. Aperture shook his head profusely — “No, nope, nope!” Was what he wished he could say.

RW: Shouting outside the door “AEOLUS GET THIS DOOR OPEN”

Snapshot stares down at Aperture, red optic overbright like a mech posessed.

Aeolus was dealing with this fragging scrap today, however he now knew how sturdy the door was in front of him. Aeolus stepped back one moment before slamming his pede into the door full force!

SS: He barks again. "OPEN."

Aperture bucked his frame — trying to tilt his head at an awkward angle to see who was intervening.

Snapshot lets his other cables hold Aperture down, pinning the other mech in place. His helm leans down to Aperture's shoulder, and he bites down.

Aperture lets out a series of distress signals — moving in near-agony.

Aeolus saw the sight before him and immediately tackled Snapshot off the poor bot “AUGH!”

Snapshot growls as he wasn't able to fully sink his jaws into the shoulder. His engine roars as he's slammed into he wall.

Pikestrike’s pedesteps were fast-approaching. “What happened now?!” She looked for swiftsheild , groaning as she approached the door to the lab. Aperture meanwhile, scrambles away, shaking with terror.

Snapshot goes back into a corner, cables and limbs taking the area up like a spider. He snarls at Aperture.

Swiftshield jogged to a slower pace as both him and Pikestrike reached the lab.

RW: “WHAT IN PRIMUS’ NAME?!” quickly aims rifle at Snapshot “Move out of that corner and you’re a dead mech”

Aeolus using his strength, forced Snapshot’s servos behind his frame and slammed him into the wall full on. “The fragging mech was trying to eat the doctor!” He spoke trying to disarm the bot for safety reasons of course.

Pikestrike pulled a rod from her back — the array extending to form a lance.

RW: “Aeolus, do you have a good grip on him?”

Snapshot growls, flailing violently. He breaks out and scrambles to the door, trying to get away.

Pikestrike kicks the door closed with one pede. “Don’t.”

Aeolus cursed under his breath, the mech was slippery, he pulled out his blade again. “Watch for cables.”

Renwing fires a stun round at Snapshot.

Swiftshield simply stands to the side, optics wide as he's unsure as to what to do.

Snapshot jolts at the round, reaching out for Pikestrike. Too many sparks, he can't isolate a single one to hunt down.

AE: “Someone get the doctor out of here!” Engine revving loudly, his eyes were trained on Snapshot. He knew there was something up with this mech.

Pikestrike barks to swiftshield. “You. Follow my actions. Don’t leave a single opening, this mech’s a high-level threat.” The femme leaped over a flying cable and twisted in the air, swinging her lance as she came crashing down.

Snapshot flails around, trying to get up, he lets out a high pitched whine that almost sounds like a sob.

SW: "He's… Scared?" Swiftshield breathes shakily, before snapping his attention to Pikestrike.

“He tried to hurt Aperture. He doesn’t deserve mercy-“ Pikestrike narrowed her optics. “I don’t trust it .”

Snapshot hones in on Swiftshield, sensing his hesitation. His engine roars as he grabs his leg, yanking him down to the ground and pulling him towards him.

Ren quickly draws his blades and pins Snapshot down by the shoulders with them. “Scrap!! Snapshot let them go!!”

SS: He cries out at being stabbed, wrapping his cables around Swiftshield.

Aperture crawls across the ground, his shoulder bleeding out with bright energon — and he noticed an usually small cybertronian.

RW: “Whose grand idea was it to bring a slagging spark eater on board!?” he shouted as he tried to keep him pinned while trying to free swiftshield

SS: His sparkbeat races as he takes a hold of Swifshield and bites down on his shoulder.

Swiftshield lets out a pained snarl, digging his sharp claws into Snapshots side.

Aeolus cursed once more before placing his large pede on the small of Snapshot’s back “You all get away now!”

SS: He holds Swiftshield tight like a python, refusing to let go this time.

Pikestrike noticed Renwing’s struggle and assisted in subduing the mech. “Listen to the gladiator. “

Ren looks at Aeolus with concern before jumping off Snapshot.

PS: She backed away — holding her lance right with a servo.

RW: “We need to kill this thing!!” he snarled as he continued to watch in alarm.

Swiftshield begins to elbow Snapshots stomach, over, and over, in an attempt to free himself. He blinked back pained tears as his shoulder began to throb hellishly

Snapshot whines as he laps up the energon from Swiftshield, desperately trying to feed from the mech's wound.

“ENOUGH! This is a sentient being!” Aeolus put all his weight on Snapshot, he wasn’t going to let him go this time.

Bit very cautiously peeks his head through the door, hands over where his audial sensors are. The room was in chaos, filled with pain, anguish, rage, fear- It was all too much for the little mech. This certainly wasn’t the impression he expected. He quickly took his head out of the room as the fighting continued, pressing himself into the wall as if it would calm his quickening spark.

A loud shot echoed throughout the room.

Snaps falls on Swifshield, body going limp. His optic dims.

Fired bull’s eye straight into his chassis — was a tranquilizer. But who could it belong to?

"Let- GO!" Swiftshield snaps as he bares his sharp dentas before suddenly getting crushed by the weight of Snapshot as the mech fell limp.

“Primus.” Ren said as he breathed heavily, and then proceeded to heave up his energon.

Aperture nearly crushed Bit by accident — crawling around aimlessly with panic.

Snapshot's cables loosen their hold on Swiftshield as he's knocked unconscious. His jaws loosen their hold on his shoulder.

Firewatch held his pistol, blowing at the billowing smoke. “Looks like I still got it.” He smiled.

Aeolus slowly stepped off the mech and vented deeply, his spark still burning in his chassis.

"Hey, is everything-- oh-- oh frag." Astrospark had no idea what he just walked into. He just came back from a good sleep, and was woken up from some ruckus. Now here he is, standing next to bit as he peeks through the door. "Jeez, what the hell happen??" He breaths out in surprise.

Bugbyte quietly walked up to the doorframe, trying to get a peek at what was happening inside.

Bit gasped, stumbled out of the way as Aperture crawled to safety. Setting aside his own worry, he gathered what courage he had to help the mech. “Are you alright?!” he stayed at a hovering distance “Can I do anything to help-?”

Aperture nodded, pointing to the hallway.

Swiftshield heaves as he struggles under the mech, the open wound on his shoulder oozing bright energon.

FW: He looked around at the state of the lab, everybody and their mamas were here. “Hm, what happened here?” He raised an optic ridge rather too cooly for the situation at hand.

Ren looks to Firewatch in shock and apprehension “You brought a sparkeater on board!!!! That’s what’s happened!!!”

Aeolus looked at Ren- Firewatch- then back to the tranquilized mech. “Affirmative, tried to eat the Doctor.”

Astrospark grimaced at the wounded bots. "Yuck." He muttered under his breath. "This place looks like a murder house." He slowly approached into the room, glancing down at the fallen mech that seems to have done all this damage. He kicks him slightly with the tip of his pede.

Firewatch held up his servo. “Those of you who are still functional, follow me. And bring Snapshot.” He walks out of the room.

Swiftshield finally pulls himself up onto his pedes, his frame feeling shaky. He lets out a low, guttural sound as he clutches his shoulder.

Bit was already down the hall, searching for what might be useful to help poor Aperture.

Snapshot doesn't move. He's down and out for the count.

Aeolus, used his big servo, grabbed the unconscious mech around the back and followed.

Ren follows quickly after Aeolus.

INTERROGATION ROOM

Firewatch opened the door, walking in. There were several chairs — one of which was industrial-sized — and looked more like an electric chair of death than anything.

RW: “Please tell me we have something to keep this thing contained until we figure out what in the pits it is?”

Firewatch grunted, opening up the rusty cuffs on the largest chair. “Of course.” He grimaced.

Aeolus sat Snapshot down in the seat and backed up, his spark still trying to calm down from the incident. “He knows things he shouldn’t.” And that was all the mech would say-

Renwing walks over to stand close to Aeolus, looking at him with understanding. “I don’t understand how he could possibly know confidential information about us. It makes no sense” “You’ve never met him before have you Aeolus?”

Firewatch was fascinated by the conversation the two mechs were holding. “Ah, so snapshot has been getting into more trouble than he should’ve. “

The large mech shook his head, he didn’t recognize Snapshot at all. “High class..?”

Ren whips his helm towards Firewatch “Answer me this, officer, did you or did you not know what you willingly brought on this ship?” he stated with dead seriousness.

Firewatch crossed his servos. “Truthfully, I had no idea. I knew snapshot was… a bit accident-prone, but not to this…level.” “Help me secure him.” He said with a soft grunt, as he pulled snapshot’s limbs into each cuff, closing them with a harsh screech.

Ren assists him in doing so. “What if he doesn’t want to speak with us? Or worse, gets loose again and goes on another rampage?”

Aeolus grunted and stared directly at Renwing, his frame sturdy and rotor blades flaring.

“I’ll handle the rest.” Firewatch says. “You two just help me secure him.”

Renwing continues in helping him.

FW: “Thank you, Renwing.”

“You’re not going to…force him to talk right?” Ren seems insanely on edge, and looks as if he may heave up more energon.

Aeolus walked over to start helping as well.

Firewatch notices Renwing’s sickly complexion, bobbing his head towards the doorway. “There’s a waste receptacle in the break room, if your fuel tank is weak.”

AE: “I can take over, go.” He patted Renwing on the pauldron and continued to work.

RW: “It’s just…you could say I’ve dealt with a spark eater for most of my functioning. This just brought back some hard memories…regardless of what this mech is.” His finials pin back as far as they can go in some indiscernible emotion.

Aeolus huffed, nodding silently. He understood what Renwing meant. Finishing the restraints, he stood up straight and looked down at his partner. After a moment he shuttered his optics and placed a servo on the mech’s Pauldron again.

Ren looked up at Aeolus with a solemn expression, his normal snarky attitude completely gone.

“Snapshot is secure. “ Firewatch declared, testing the restraints. “The tranquilizer will be in worn off within the next 10 kliks, gauging his size.”

Nodding, Aeolus motioned for him and Renwing to leave. This seemed too distressing for the mech and he was fragging sure wasn’t going to leave him hanging.

Renwing nods and follows Aeolus.

Snapshot's servo twitches.

Firewatch thanks the two mechs briefly as he closes the door. He sits on the far end of the room — watching. Waiting. Firewatch closes the shutters to the interrogation room, blocking out all sources of light and sound. There is complete and total silence beyond the walls. .

Check the footage | Open the door

(About Locked Door scenes)

.

The door clicked open, and Aperture stumbled out — ignoring the two little bots. Firewatch also slinked out, walking the other day, smoking a stick of high-grade.

Snapshot slinks behind him, squinting at the bright light. He was in there for a while. He glares at Firewatch and turns to the medical bay. He needs to… clean himself off.

BugByte stepped back to get out of their ways. He turned to Bit, antennae askew in confusion and curiosity.

MEDICAL BAY

Snapshot stomps into the medic bay, pedesteps echoing loudly. But no one is around to listen. [themes of loneliness for snaps] He finds a cloth and dampens it, sitting down on a medical berth before wiping himself down. He sighs and opens his intake, taking great care of his mandibles. He shudders, thinking about what happened. He's filthy, both on the inside and out.

Aperture slipped past the bay, did a double take, and slowly entered.

Snapshot closes his intake and looks up at him. Almost apologetic.

Aperture wouldn’t even look him at the face.

Snapshot stands up and walks away. He feels deeply ashamed. He turns and throws away the washcloth, leaving the med bay Doesn't matter how much he tries to cleanse himself, he'll never be able to wash away his sins.

Aperture grabbed a bundle of patch-sticks, and walked away.

RECHARGE SUITE

Snapshot goes and finds an empty suite. He… he needs to lie down. He opens and locks the door behind him, back to it as he slumps down and holds his knees close to his face. "I'm getting too old for this slag."

BREAK ROOM

Snapshot cautiously waits for Firewatch and Triagen to leave before walking to the energon dispenser. Grimacing as he fills up a cube and fishes a vial out of his subspace, emptying the contents into his cube. He swirls the contents around to mix them up before making sure no one was around and taking a sip. "Ugh, this tastes awful. Wonder if I can get Rodimus to send me some better fuel."

He thinks back to Aperture, who appears to be the scientist. "If he wasn't so skittish, I'd ask him to mix some specialized energon for me. Primus knows I'm gonna need it here."

"Maybe I'll try talking to him, couldn't do any harm."

He lets his shoulders relax as he finishes the cube and closes his intake. Snapshot looks at Firewatch and walks away, searching for Aperture.

COMMON AREA

Aperture is speaking with Swiftshield and Aeolus. Snapshot enters a corner of the common area, quietly walking despite his bulky frame. He eyes Aperture, not saying anything. Seemingly waiting to speak with him.

He shifts his weight from pede to pede, growing restless. Eventually deciding to walk up behind Aperture, pedesteps careful and measured. He clears his intake, voice barely above a whisper. "When you have time, please meet me by the front of your lab. There is something I wish to discuss with you…" He looks up at the mechs in the area. "Alone."

Snapshot steps back and walks away. The energy in the common area grows uncomfortable. The mechs disperse and go to do other things.

APERTURE'S LAB

Snapshot walks up to the door and leans his back against the wall, waiting for Aperture. Aperture suddenly appeared behind them. For a large and rather clumsy mech, aperture was somehow a quiet slinker. He tapped his servos together — as if to say, “what gives?”

Snapshot looks down both ends of the hallway and points at the door. "Mind if we talk in there?" Aperture looks reserved — knowing the mech previously talked illy of him and the RDA. He let himself have the benefit of the doubt, pushing open the door with a flick of his fat digit.

Snapshot walks in and waits for Aperture to close the door before speaking. "Name's Snapshot, and I've got a little request for you Aperture." Aperture flinched as he closed the door — his optics blinking repeatedly from behind his visor. Did he ever tell Snapshot his name? The mech tilted his head sideways, pressing himself up against the wall, eyeing snapshot cautiously.

Snapshot folds his arms across his chassis, ignoring his panic as he continues. "Do you have any experience with mixing energon?* Aperture stared ahead — as if taking snapshot’s query in consideration. He slowly moved past the mech and pulled open a drawer full of trace energon remains still in-process, in hastily labeled vials.

Snapshot nods and grabs something from his subspace- a datapad. "Good, can you mix up a batch of this blend for me?' Aperture shook his head wildly, shielding the samples with a large servo as if they were his children.

Snapshot huffs a bit. "If you want shanix, I can get you shanix." Aperture emits a disapproving drone. He pops an energon goodie left out on his work bench into his mouth before chuffing.

"Listen kid, the stuff you have here isn't-" He cuts himself off, looking for the words. "It's not gonna cut it." He looms behind Aperture ominoiusly, despite being smaller than him. Aperture shut the drawer rather loudly — then flinched at the bang. He raised an apprehensive servo, rubbing the back of his helm. Aperture took a small circle to the other side of the bench, holding his servos up in confusion.

Snapshot sets the datapad with the recipe on the desk, staring at Aperture. "Please." His antennae pitch back in mild distress. "For everyone's well-being." Aperture’s body language softened, almost as if mulling it over, and he went over to a nearby storage room — pulling out a tank of nanite solution. He reopened the sample drawer, carefully selecting a few samples — as if he was looking for a specific quality in them.

Snapshot eyes him cautiously, hoping Aperture agrees to his request. He can't- He can't risk something happening. Aperture pipettes a few droplets of each the energon, and the nanite solution into several Petri dishes, before turning to the mech, speaking almost like reciting a memory. “The nanites will adapt to these energon samples, replicating CNA cells of the same type if given a warm environment of between 450 and 500 Kelvin, and a Hydrogen ion concentration of 1x10^-4.” He set a timer. “Several hours. These samples will grow.” He shoved about 23 petri-like dishes into a warming chamber and locked it.

Snapshot tilts his head in confusion as he watches the little doctor scurry arround his lab. "Uh, hello? Do we- Do we have an arrangement?" Aperture was too deep in his work, nodding half-heartedly as he peered into the warming chamber’s tiny window.

He sighs "Listen kid, I need this specialized energon. I'm too far for Rodimus to teleport some to me. You're the only one I can think of to make me some." Aperture corrected him with barely above a whisper. “Doctor.”

Snapshot huffs again, his emf flaring out in agitation. It becomes something all-encompassing and threatening. Like the look of a turbofox in the shadows, only visible by their eyes. It bares its teeth at Aperture, warning him. "I don't want to be held responsible if something happens, Doctor." Aperture immediately swatted at snapshot, a large and heavy servo flying towards Snapshot’s chassis as he let out a high-pitched distress signal.

Snapshot's engine growls as he covers Aperture's mouth with a servo, muffling his noises. "Quiet, you!" "Listen, nothing is going to happen if you just do as I ask." "Just make me the damn energon." "And we can forget this all happened." Aperture started trembling on the floor, frightened by the mech despite being clearly larger than him. He clutched the timer with two shaky servos, pointing to the countdown. In the warming chambers, the energon samples had seemed to double in volume. Promising.

Snapshot looks at the samples out of the corner of his eye. "If I let you take care of that, you promise not to scream or run away?" (he thought it was gonna blow up or something) Aperture nods profusely, tapping on the timer like his spark was on the line — well, it was.

Snapshot's head kibble flares out as he lets go of Aperture, opting to stand between the doctor and the door. "So help me Primus, if you try anything I'll-" He suppresses a full body shudder, suppressing that vile code of his. The timer marked 2 hours. Aperture defensively held a single micropipette in front of him, watching the mech convulse while he scoots himself to the far wall. He stares at the tool, forgetting his own strength as he tosses it down and holds up a fist, intake agape with threat and anticipation.

Snapshot takes a deep breath and his pauldrons slump. "Listen kid, you don't know what you're getting yourself into." He walks towards the door, leaving his datapad behind. "Let me know if you change your mind." He looks over his shoulder and stares into Aperture's optics. "But if you still refuse and something happens, know that you could've prevented it." Snapshot opens the door to the lab and walks away.

Aperture makes an exasperated whine — flailing his servos at the warming chamber and the ticking timer. He clutches his helm — he should’ve talked. He wanted to, it could’ve made everything easier. If snapshot knew that all he had to do was wait until the energon samples finished replicating under the nanite solution, he could have what he wanted without any conflict. Aperture turned an optic to the datapad on the counter — the nosy side of the mech kicking into play. He nudged the timer aside, rising from the floor to tap on the screen.

RIGHT HALL

Snapshot lets the walk calm himself down, looking around before leaning against a wall and slumping down. "Frag." He lets his legs splay out in front of him, servo coming to rest on his chassis above his spark. "Could've handled that a lot better. I'll be lucky if Aperture actually helps me." He sighs, servo shaking a bit as it tenses, scratching his glass a bit. "I don't want to hurt anyone." He draws his knees close to his chest and holds them. "Not anymore."

Snapshot sighs and brings his head up, contemplating calling one of his friends on the Lost Light. He shakes his head, deciding against it. After all, he always feels the most lonely when surrounded by others. And right now is no acception. Rodimus sent him here to make new friends, not enemies. And right now he scared the slag out of the one mech that could help him keep his processor in check.

He could really use some high grade now. But Swerve's is on the other side of the galaxy. He lets his intake open, mandibles shaking as he traces a finger across them. He really is a monster.

Snapshot thinks about when he was in a similar situation on the Lost Light. But Ratchet isn't here to help him this time. He's surrounded by strangers once more, but there's no memories to take advantage of. No one here he knows. Just him and his ability to make awful decisions. Snapshot shakes his head and stands up, the last thing he wants is for someone to see him like this. Moping. Weak.

Because the last time someone took advantage of his weakness… He shudders, old memories bubbling to the surface. The screams of Grindcore. Pharma calling him worthless. Megatron taking him in when the Autobots turned their backs on him. Tarn being the devil on his shoulder.

He feels his sparkbeat quicken as his intake starts to dry, his thoughts spiraling. Snapshot gets up, stumbling to the break room to grab another cube of energon.

BREAK ROOM

Snapshot almost trips over his own pedes, code threatening to override his central processing sequence. He eyes the dispenser in the corner, optic glazing over as his vision becomes distorted. One thought rings in his head. "Food" He grabs the body of the dispenser, two cable-like appendages springing out of his back. They stab into the tank, draining it of energon. He groans as his tanks are filled, but its not enough. It's not alive. He unfortunately has to settle for the sub-par energon. The cloudiness in his mind clears now that his hunger is gone. But that gnawing feeling…

He sighs and hopes Aperture forgives him for lashing out. Retracting his cables fully, Snapshot grimaces as he looks at the state of the energon dispenser. It's crushed beyond repair, energon leaking out of the holes he stabbed into it. He hopes Firewatch will forgive him. His head perks up. "When did it get so quiet around here?" Aperture appeared in the doorway.

Snapshot stares at him dumbly. Looking at him and then back to the dispenser, then back to him. He mutters under his breath. "Why did it have to be you?" Aperture took a wide step back. He quickly pulled out a shimmery jar, holding it out like he was offering a steak to a lion.

Snapshot chirps. "Is that…" The jar was moderately sized — about the size of Aperture’s servo. He shook it once, the contents fading blue into pink, and vice versa.

Snapshot draws back, heasitant of Aperture's seemingly good will. He has no reason to help someone like him, especially not after he threatened the poor guy. He grumbles. "Why should I trust you?" "You have every reason to poison that energon and throw it at me like a mech starved." Aperture whirred, stepping nervously in place. He set the jar on the floor and rolled it towards him, the glass container bumping into Snapshot’s servo with a soft clink. He opened his intake, a weak voice straining out. “Everyone’s lives were on the line, you…. You said…” was all he could say before he started to tremble violently.

He shoves it away with his foot. "I don't want it." "You're poisoning me." Aperture took a deep vent — rolling it back with his servo.

Snapshot looks up at him, voice shaky and meek. "…Why?" He sacrificed old evidence from cold cases for Snapshot, and suddenly he didn’t want it?! Aperture’s servos twitched with anticipation. “Lives.” One word this time, He said.

Snapshot turns his head. "I'm sorry." The words stumble out before he can stop them. He picks up the vial and uncorks it, letting Aperture see his deformed, modded intake as he opens his mouth. Aperture shields his visor with his servos, turning away. He hoped it was just enough. The yield wasn’t great, it was supposed to incubate for far longer. Aperture didn’t respond to Snapshot’s apology, he just waited.

Closing his optic, he throws the solution back. If Aperture wanted to kill him, he hoped his death would be swift. But death did not come. Aperture looks at the jar, inspecting if the it was fully empty.

Snapshot opens his optic again, staring at Aperture. That gnawing feeling calms down, becoming a dull thorn he can easily ignore. He closes his intake, his mouth now invisible once more. "Thanks," he mutters. Aperture tilts his head — as if to say, “was that enough?” Deep inside his chassis, Aperture’s spark pulses with worry. Growing living components like energon using nanites was a tedious process, and required something living to serve as the “seed.” He couldn’t bear to sacrifice any more evidence if this was an routine thing

"Should keep me in check for now." Snapshot approaches the mech and gently puts a servo on his pauldron. "If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, let me know." Aperture drew back immediately — his faceplate flashing with caution. He reached for something in his subspace — perhaps the datapad snapshot left behind, but thought better of it.

He laughs a bit. "Please, I know not to bite the hand that feeds me." Aperture paused, unsure of how to act. If only Firewatch or Pikestrike were here to tell him what to do! The mech slowly leaned into Snapshot’s servo, his frame jittering a bit.

"You're a good kid." He pats Aperture a little. "Sorry, Doctor." He walks off, waving to Aperture as he leaves. "I'll swing by your lab if I run into any more issues." Aperture’s mouthplates make a few shapes — and he readjusted his goggles. He nods, making note to figure out how to keep this new recruit satisfied.

[A few kliks later Firewatch whistles an old tune as he looks for a cube of energon. “What the FRAG?!?” The entire room and connecting corridor shook. Firewatch fell to his kneepads. “I spent half of the yearly budget on this dispenser…it’s…” Firewatch suddenly remembered he was a detective. He traced the holes in the leaking dispenser with precise digits. “Snapshot.”']

FIREWATCH'S OFFICE

A crackling sound echoes throughout the agency, coming from the intercom system. “Snapshot. Report to my office. “

Snapshot knocks on the door to Firewatch's office. "Sir? You called." Firewatch clasped his servos neatly together “Enter.”

Snapshot sheepishly enters, closing the door behind him. "…is this about the dispenser?" “How did you know?” Firewatch smiled — his faceplates reflecting professional cordiality .

Snapshot sighs, he feels like he's about to be scolded by Ultra Magnus for throwing Whirl again. "I take full responsibility and I offer to pay you back for the damages." “Rule number one in the field of justice.” Firewatch grinned. “Don’t admit your wrongdoings unless proven guilty through evidence.” He produced several shards of glass, all came from the energon dispenser from earlier. He leaned back in his chair, taking a breath from his high-grade stick. “You could’ve talked your way out of this, kid.” He said, almost teasingly.

Snapshot's antennae twitch with excitement. "Then how did you know it was me?" Firewatch stared at the ceiling, replying without missing a beat. “The shape of the holes left in the dispenser are roughly the same circumference as… “ Firewatch gets up and walks up to Snapshot, nudging at a seam in his back plating. “Got some ion cannons in there or something, Snapshot? He laughs.

Snapshot twitches violently at the sudden contact. "AH, uh, please don't touch me there." He takes a deep breath, recomposing himself. "No sir, I don't have any weapons on my frame." Firewatch just looks up smugly at Snapshot, his servo drawing back just shy of his metal, and an uncomfortable silence ensues.

Snapshot clears his intake. "I have two pairs of cables on my back. I had the mod installed after my empurata due to uh…" He holds out his hands, three claws on each servo. "For dexterity." “You must be a recent empuratee, no?” Firewatch raised an optic ridge, walking back to sit at his desk.

Snapshot averts his gaze and brings his hands back. "Quite the contrary." "Happened during the war." Firewatch bared his fangs. “Being a recent empuratee could have explained the lack of coordination needed to…destroy my energon dispenser.” “But I guess that possibility is ruled out.” He taps his smoking high-grade stick, several crumbs of the energon falling to the floor. “I know the how, and I know the who. But my question is, why ?” Firewatch felt a strange sense of vigor in him — the field of criminal justice was his true calling, and he savored every moment he got to put his processor to use.

Snapshot puts his servos behind his back and stares at Firewatch. "That is confidential information." “Ah.” Firewatch started at the mech up and down. “I won’t press any further. I don’t want to lose any new recruits .” He states, brushing his servos against his chassis. “That energon dispenser was costly though, and I might need someone to help replace it.”

Snapshot relaxes, that was clearly a sore subject and he's grateful Firewatch wanted to change the topic. "Rest assured shanix is not an issue for me." “Of course.” Firewatch gazed at his servo, smiling. “Now go. I’m hoping that was the only trouble you caused for one day, hm? “

Snapshot's venting hitches. There's no way he knows about the incident with Aperture. He looks at Firewatch and chooses to cross that bridge when he gets to it. "Thank you sir, I will make sure you have the money by tomorrow." He remembers something. "A question before I leave though." “Yes, Snapshot?”

"What is your agency's policy in regards to factions?" “I myself am a neutral mech. You see your coworkers, autobot, decepticon. Neither.” “Put two and two together, we let the light guide us to peace and justice. Not the divide of war.”

Snapshot relaxes, thankful that he won't have that kind of issue here. "That will be all sir, have a pleasent evening." He turns and walks out before any more questions can be asked by either party. Firewatch takes a final vent from his stick as he watches the mech leave. “Likewise.” As the door closes, Firewatch buries his head into his desk. “That was my favorite and only energon dispenser…” he nearly sobbed.

LEFT HALL

Snapshot wanders down a quiet hall, grumbling to himself as he feels a headache coming on. "This stupid slag doesn't make any sense." He quickens his pace, antennae twitching as he keeps an audial out for anyone.

A tall mech walks down the hall with uneven steps, eyes glued to the floor as he sucks on an energon stick

Snapshot freezes in place, staring at the unfamiliar mech.

The mech freezes likewise — his knees bent in agitation. Despite his goggles covering half his face, it’s clear the mech is afraid.

Snapshot continues to walk down and out of the corridor, sideying the mech as he walks past him while muttering under his breath. "Go make friends! Rodimus said. It'll be fun! He said. What a load of slag."

The mech’s finials drooped down as he overheard Snapshot — almost droning in distress as the energon stick fell from his mouth. The mech drones even more — holding his helm in sorrow as he looked down at his dirtied energon stick.

RIGHT HALL

A weeping, dark-colored cybertronian exits a private room and waits for another navy-blue femme to follow her. “Please, hurry! Find him.” The cybertronian sobbed — grasping at the femme’s arm. The femme merely peeled their servo away from her arm, crossing her servos against her chassis. “Just clean yourself up and don’t fret. I’ll take care of this.”

Snapshot continues to wander around and hears the conversation. He ducks behind a corner, careful to stay out of sight as he recomposes himself.

The cybertronian left, her pedesteps echoing in the dark corridor before fading away. A distant slamming of the door could be heard. Pinching her olfactor, she grunted. “Damn It. This is the one case we can’t just seem to get a lead on.” The femme looks around. “Reveal yourself. I know you’re here.”

Snapshot puts two and two together and takes a deep invent as he squares his shoulders, trying to appear friendly as he steps out and approaches the femme. "Ah, hello there. You must be Pikestrike."

Pikestrike places a servo on her hipstrut— leaning to one side. “Yeah. And you’re one of Firewatch’s… new guys.” She seemed to stress the last two words — almost condescendingly

Snapshot's head kibble flares out a bit at the tone, but he keeps his voice calm and steady as he holds out a servo. "Snapshot of Vos, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

“I don’t touch.” Pikestrike huffs. “But a Vosnian, wow.” Her tone seems to lighten a little. “Haven’t crossed paths with one of you in a long time. That’s far.”

Snapshot sheepishly brings his servo back, processor spinning to try and come up with an appropriate response. "Yep, born and raised."

“You’re a flier, aren’t you?” Pikestrike says almost amusedly — but the sternness in her voice remains. “It isn’t hard to…be that high in the sky?”

Snapshot pats his chest with confidence. "Only when I'm full up on cargo."

“Hmph.” Pikestrike hums — not a grunt of malice, but subtle impressment. “Courier. I guess Firewatch made the right choice with the lot of you.” She turns to walk away. “I’m busy. Don’t bother me much longer.”

"Ah, may I ask you a question about your organization real quick? Firewatch left the interview before I could bring it up."

“No.” Pikestrike delivers — disappearing around the hall.

Snapshot's engine lets out a small growl, his emf flaring up with indignation. He quickly walks out of the hall, making a mental note while muttering to himself. "Aft."

COMMON HALL

Swiftshield hesitantly takes a few steps into the common's area, his colorful ankle and wrist cuffs emitting a bell like jingle with every step. He pauses as he feels the tension in the air, not knowing how to proceed forth

Snapshot walks down the hallway towards the common area, slowing down when he hears an unfamiliar jingling sound. He chooses to stay hidden from the noise.