Hackers: Word of Warning

Disclaimer: No I don't own Transformers in any form nor am I a writer on the show, with the blah, blah, blah and all that other legal jazz.

A/N: Yes I am working on my story Better World, no, this is not part of it and yes this is a one shot. I was sitting at work when this popped in my head and I had type it up all quick like.

Mina cracked her neck as she wandered down the halls of the base. The bots within hearing range cringed like they normally did. No one, bot or human should make that crunch sound. She sighed lacing her fingers behind her head and continued down the long hall. Ratchet was going to kill her for walking off. It had somehow gotten to him that she wasn't feeling good and he had asked nicely for her to come to the med bay. Mina snorted with laughter at her own thoughts, nice as in grabbing her off the table where she was talking to Jazz and Ironhide then storming off to the med bay, cursing.

It was his own fault the programmer walked off. Well more like WheelJack's fault. They had just arrived in the bay when a rumbled echoed through the floor, strong enough that she could feel it. Ratchet put her down on a berth and pointed at her snapping "Stay!" like she was a dog. Mina did stay for about two minutes after he left the room then she was down the berth and out the door. So it was his fault in the end because he left her to get bored.

"Yet that won't stop him from killing me." She moaned letting her shoulders slump. "I better go back." Turning around on one foot she stopped at the sound of typing and a couple of soft trills.

Mina knew what those trills meant from behind closed doors. Prowl was frustrated. That combined with typing meant there was a computer in there that she may be able to use. She had been lock up in the Ark for nearly two weeks with no access to a computer. It was time to change that.

Approaching the door she looked up at the control panel nearly ten feet above her head. She glared up at it as if it would lower. Damn the Autobots, all the Cybertroians for being so tall. Sighing she knocked on the frame of the door. No way Prowl would hear it but The Ark could feel it. Over time she had learned that The Ark, the ship they were on was alive and actually very nice. Yet it did follow the rules Optimus had set up for her.

The large door slid open and she stepped over the threshold quickly as the door just missed closing on her. The Ark was nice if not impatient. Mina gave a half glare at the door before running across the room to Prowl's chair. She listened to another series of trills and tapped on his leg. The Datsun looked up from his screen then down at her.

"Hi ya Prowler." She said grinning.

"Mina what have I told you?" He lowered his servo for her. In a swift movement she was deposited on his desk.

"To always call you Prowler and nothing else?" She asked innocently.

He looked directly at her as her grin grew wider. "You have been around Jazz a lot haven't you?"

"Better than the twins." She looked up at the screen. Mina recognized those codes. Prowl was being a bad, bad bot. "So what ya working on?"

"Optimus believes that your government is keeping something from us." Prowl said leaning back in his chair trying to relax his processor.

"Well duh…" she mumbled reading more of the code. "It's a government. It's what they do." Mina typed in a few key strokes. "They keep secrets from their citizens, form each other, and most importantly from their allies."

"That just seems counterproductive."

"I guess it is but anyone could turn out to be the enemy of a totalitarian government."

"But your government is democratic from what I understand." Prowl added leaning forward to see what she was doing.

Snorting back laughter she glanced over her shoulder. "Yeah keep telling yourself that." Looking back to the screen she scanned the codes there. Her voice dropped low and sad. "So many tell themselves that just to get by in life. The security increase is for your protection. The new agencies are for your protection. All these people are here to make decisions on behalf of you. While they take bribes from companies, other countries, from criminals just to sway the vote in their favor. Yeah all very democratic and in the name of security."

She sighed looking at the computer. "I guess it's not totally a totalitarian government, yet it has gotten out of hand. People are losing their grip on reality. They see these people that are elected to be in charge and assume that all their troubles will just disappear." Mina looked back at Prowl. The bot had leaned forward and was watching her, listening to every word she said.

"Change takes time but as people we don't want to wait or act properly. That's what you get for living in a world of instant gratification. I mean if people want to feel safer they shouldn't give up their right and liberties for it. They should do something, peacefully protest or something like that. I don't know." She waved her hand absently.

"Yes but peaceful protests normally end in violence." Brown eyes turned up to him almost asking. "It has been demonstrated on your world as well as mine." His door wings twitched in the slightest and Mina frowned.

She stood walking closer. "I'm sorry Prowl." Her hand ghosted over his faceplates in a soothing motion. His optics shuttered of for a moment. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Pulling away she watched for the slight movements on his face and his door wings. "From what I can tell they are keeping a small amount of Energon hidden in a lab and a few locations secret. They are trying to see if it can be used safely by humans for fuel."

Prowl nodded before the silence drifted over them. He on-lined his optics when Mina touched his hand. Opening his hand she hopped into it then lowered her to the ground. Crossing the floor she stopped at the door looking back at the police bot. He had turned back to the computer to read over the information that she had retrieved.

"Prowl…" She said softly. He never averted his attention but this door wings twitched faintly. "…word of advice. Any human, I mean any human you meet you can't trust them. They look out for themselves first then their family, even if that." She sighed tapping on the door. "Humans are selfish no matter how loyal they say they are. Don't trust them." The door opened and Mina she started to head out.

"What about you?" It was low almost inaudible but it was there freezing her in place. The silence was excruciating. It seemed like hours but it was only several seconds had passed.

"I'm human." She answered just as low and walked out of the room.

Prowl raised his head as the door slid shut. His processor couldn't quite grip her answer. Was she warning them about another human or about herself? Had she found something else in her search but didn't tell him? He was about to rise when he heard a voice he knew all too well pass through the door.

"Hey Mina-girl is Prowler in `ere?"

"Yeah but he's busy like always and…" Her voice was clear and happy.

"MINA!" The roar echoed throughout the ship and Prowl flinched inwardly.

"Hey let's play a game Jazz." An almost fear fill voice rang out from the human.

"Hide the human." The TIC said with a laugh.

"Yes please!"

He heard the laughter fade as they took off away from his door with the wrath of Ratchet on them. Prowl turned back to his screen and frowned. There was a strange code on the screen. In the midst of the code he was scanning through was the short phrase "loststep12". It looked familiar but he just could put his servo on it.

Author Note: So what did ya think? This is a standalone or sort of an unneeded chapter to a story from G1 I am working on called Hackers. This was just something that popped into my head and I wanted write. I don't stand behind Mina's thoughts. If you are going to review then please review on the story and not the political aspect you may take from this. Thank you for your time.