30 Days and 30 Nights: Day 23
Title: 30 Days and 30 Nights
Day: 23
Prompt: "It's always the quiet ones."
*Verse: G1 AU
Rating: pg
*Words: 1288
Other Characters: Prowl, Jazz, Red Alert, Wheeljack
Warnings: fluttering winglets
Summary: Red and Jazz settle a bet about which sparkling that's stealing the energon goodies from the jar!
Notes: I know I skipped prompt 22. I'm still working on it. I desperately tried to get it done on time. Alas, it didn't work. It about three quarters done so I plan on posting it this weekend. That aside, I hope you enjoy prompt 23.
Cybertronian time references similar but not equal to our own: astrosecond ~ second, klick ~ minute, joor ~ hour, cycle ~ day, deca-cycle ~ week, orn ~ month, vorn ~ year
A/N: I was undecided about this one. My one thought was that it had to be centered around a sparkling or youngling Prowl. Taralynden suggest a mischievous Prowl. Well, I'm not sure if he turned out mischievous or not but some bot did by the end!
Day 23: "It's always the quiet ones."
"Hey Red, what's going on? What'd you need me for?"
"Ah, just in time Wheeljack. We need a third party witness so that there is no rescinding on the bet."
"Mista Paranoid Glitch here thinks I'm not gonna pay up if he wins the bet basically," Jazz smirked, slightly tilting his chair back and propping his peds up on the edge of the security console. "Ya know us special ops mechs can't be trusted."
"That's when I win the bet," Red Alert countered, shoving Jazz's peds off the equipment. "And no, I cannot trust you. All special ops mechs are devious to their cores."
"Ouch, Red, that cut me deep," Jazz joked, clutching his chest with one servo.
"So what's the bet?" Wheeljack asked excitedly taking the offered seat.
"As you know, we've got sparklin's…"
"Technically they're younglings now," Red interrupted.
"They still stand only knee high, so I consider 'em sparklin's," Jazz countered. "Anyways, ya know where Ratchet stores the energon treats he makes for special occasions right?"
"Everyone knows not to touch them too unless they want to be reformatted," Wheeljack stated.
"Exactly, everyone who knows better won't touch them," Red added. "Everyone except the younglings."
"It can't be the younglings. They're too small," Wheeljack pointed out.
"They are the only logical culprits," Red Alert reiterated. "The camera levels do not pan down that low to the floor and there are no camera's in private offices at this point in time."
"An' we've narrowed it down to one or a pair of sparklin's," Jazz smiled.
"Really?" Wheeljack asked curiously.
"Bluestreak is eliminated simply because he can't keep his vocal processor silent. He would either say who it was or incriminate himself without even knowing it with as much as he talks," Red explained.
"It's not Bumblebee 'coz he's under constant protection an' Optimus and Elita would never allow their son to wonder the base alone no matta how mischievous he is," Jazz grinned.
"It's not Chromia either as the femling follows Ironhide and his weapons around like a mechano-puppy," Red added.
"Mirage?" Wheeljack offered.
"He's too shy," Red answered. "He sneaks around to hide. Not to get into things. No I believe its Sunstreaker and Sideswipe - regular pit spawns who love getting into trouble. They're always plotting and scheming and getting into no good."
"So that would mean that Jazz suspects it's Prowl."
"It's always the quiet ones, I keep tellin' Red but he won't listen to me," Jazz chuckled.
"I was always quiet when I was little but I jumped on my berth a lot," Wheeljack smiled brightly.
"Yeah, I caught Prowl doing that just the other cycle," Jazz giggled. "He's so cute when he gets flustered. His little winglets twitch nervously."
"Jazz you think all the sparklings are cute," Wheeljack pointed out.
Jazz merely shrugged a shoulder, smiling.
"Anyway, before we get too sidetracked. We want you here Wheeljack to bear witness to what we see and confirm who the winner is," Red Alert smiled. "We've already set up a special camera in Ratchet's office to record the incriminating evidence."
"Care of my exceptional skills," Jazz said proudly. "Doc bot doesn't even know it's in there."
"It's known all over the base that Ratchet made a fresh batch so the targets or target should make their move tonight," Red explained pulling up the new camera feed on the main monitor.
"One more question," Wheeljack said. "How do they get the treats? Ratchet keeps them on the top shelf of his medical-data file collection."
"Ya see, sparkin's are prolific climbers," Jazz answered. "Ironhide caught Sunny and Sides…"
"We have movement," Red Alert announced interrupting Jazz.
Sure enough, the lights in Ratchet's office automatically came as someone entered his office. All optics were on the monitor watching intently from that point on. Almost instantly, a crooked smirk spread across Jazz's face plates when the familiar little black and white winged mechlet made his way across the room. The first thing Prowl did was push Ratchet's chair closer to the data-file case. Then he proceeded to pull himself up onto the chair, his little winglets fluttering to and fro for balance. Next he masterfully scaled each shelve to the very top where he pulled himself up and sat next to the energon goodie contain.
"Fearless, isn't he," Wheeljack commented as Prowl's little black peds dangled over the side, swinging back and forth.
"But he so quiet. Never complains or cries, not even when he has a system upset. He's always so neat and clean. And he always does what's asked of him," Red Alert exclaimed flabbergasted as Prowl opened the container and shoved two energon treats into his mouth, one after the other.
"Typical mech manners though," Jazz chuckled. "I've seen how ya eat, Red."
"Look, he figured out his subspace pocket!" Wheeljack cried out with excitement as they watched several energon goodies disappeared into Prowl's subspace pocket.
Then the mechlet shoved one more in his mouth before he replaced the lid on the container. Only when he was done chewing did he then climb down. He even pushed the chair back where it belonged before he left the office.
"Clever li'l mech too. So that settles it. Pay up Red," Jazz grinned wide with his hand held out.
Red Alert reluctantly withdrew the allotted amount of credits for the wager and handed them over to Jazz. The smug saboteur subspaced his winnings and left the still stunned Security Director and excited Engineer to themselves.
From there Jazz appeared to be meandering through the halls with no particular destination in mind, typical of them mech when he hasn't decided what to occupy his free time with. Only this time he knew precisely where he was going. He was simply making sure he wasn't being followed while avoiding the security monitors at the same time. As a saboteur he was always honing and fine tuning his skills. When he reached the designated room he quickly ducked inside and then head out the window, climbing up to the roof.
His final destination…a well used spot on the roof above the sparklings' dormitory was.
"Hey li'l mech," he whispered as the black and white winged mechlet smiled up at him.
"I did what you told me," he grinned and handed over three energon goodies to Jazz. "It was easy. Just like last time."
"Ya did good, Prowl. Ya did real good," Jazz said, rubbing the sparkin's helm. "But I thought I said four energon goodies."
"Well…I got hungry," Prowl answered, shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, I suppose I can't have my li'l mech goin' hungry. Here, a credit for yar efforts."
"You promised me a story though!" Prowl exclaimed, white hands on his little black hips, winglets twitching.
"I did, didn't I. Ya're far too intelligent for yar age, ya know that?" Jazz chuckled, rubbing the back of his helm.
Prowl cocked his head to one side, unsure as to what Jazz was laughing about.
"Very well, come 'ere," Jazz smiled, sitting down, lifting up and setting down the sparkling on his lap.
Jazz proceeded to tell Prowl one of the mechlet's favorite stories all the while they shared the remaining energon treats together.
The End.