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(Sorry, I haven't updated in a while, I've been really busy... So I think this is where I say 'Sorry, I'm not dead... uh... Surprise!'. Anyway, enjoy!)

===Cybertron=Iacon=The Towers=Mirage's Office===

"By the Allspark," Sideswipe gasped as Mirage slowly reached forward and picked up the fragment, almost as if he were afraid it would vanish into thin air. "It's a fragment of the ARK's processor."

"The ARK?" Jazz asked in confusion as he extracted the data-pad that fizzed with static before the turned off again, the battery spent.

"The ARK is the ship that we served on during the Great War and the shuttle that our Sire disappeared in..." Sunstreaker said softly as his little brother passed him the powerless data-pad, the golden mech running servos over it, almost as if he was remembering fond memories. "This is our Sire's data-pad. He was never seen without it."

"Meister must have found it, when he went on that solo mission a few hundred vorns back, before he went missing." Sideswipe speculated as Mirage examined the jet black fragment and the glowing light filaments before he put it back in the box with the data-pad that Sunstreaker dropped in, the lid folding over and sealing with a hiss of hidden hydraulics.

"So our Carrier wasn't just a casual bar owner was he?" Jazz asked, his voice strained with confusion and rising anger as Mirage reached forward and took the box, slotting it into the lockable drawer in the desk, hidden from view.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker winced, the ploy broken, before Mirage interrupted with a subtle cough off his vents, training his golden optics onto the young cyber ninja. "Twins, if you would see to updating Red Alert on these events, I will tell Jazz all he needs to know."

Rising without a word, the frontline Twins left the office, leaving Jazz to stare after them with a confused, betrayed frown.

"Jazz. Come walk with me." Mirage beckoned softly, rising from his chair and walking beside the quiet Cyber ninja as they traversed the expansive corridors of the noble's penthouse. "Ask me what you need to know."

"Who, exactly, was my Carrier?" the white and black youngster asked gravely as they reached the grand window overlooking the Crystal Gardens below, the blue and white noble pausing as he took in the glittering crystal that hummed and twirled in methane.

"He was my boss, mentor and one of my closest friends after the fall of the first Towers." Mirage said seriously, "Meister was the Third in Command of the whole Autobot faction and the Head of Special Operations."

"Like Longarm Prime is now." Jazz nodded in understanding, but frowned, "But why was I raised by my brothers and not my Carrier?"

"Meister… didn't understand where he stood after your Sire and our Commander presumably deactivated out in space. In a panic, he came to me begging to look after you and the Twin's when he inevitably followed Mach Alert into the Well of Allsparks. When he didn't deactivate due to bond-loss, he organised a solo mission to the last beaconed coordinates of the ARK in hopes of finding the reason for their disappearance, he left you with your brothers. He returned quiet and hollow. That was the recharge cycle he, like those on the ARK, vanished."

"But the Decepticon's must have him." Jazz suddenly pointed out. "Why else would a Decepticon Drone be in his old apartment?"

"Megatron never left anything to chance." Mirage said sourly, his faceplate contorting in distaste. "But if we can gather the right help, we may eventually find both the ARK and your Carrier."

"The right help?" Jazz asked, tilting his helm curiously as the noble gave him a grin, like a leering fox, and showed him to the lounge where Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were both trying to get a panicky Red Alert to calm down.

"Red Alert," Mirage rumbled, the red and white mech pausing in his rant, "Until we can find a mech better connected to the old crew, please just do your allocated job."

"Easy for you to say." The Security Director huffed moodily gesturing at the Twins snickering from behind the noble that had shoved them out of the way to see the screen better. "Troublesome Twins."

"Love you too Red!" Sideswipe giggled.

"Focus on the task, Red Alert." Mirage said stiffly, "Can you connect me to Wheeljack and Perceptor?"

"I could." The red and white mech nodded, with a thoughtful hum, "It'll be a while though, I'll have to get past the security network and trudge through all the business numbers."

"Good." Mirage nodded, "Please get back to me as soon as you can Red Alert."

===Cybertron=New Praxus= Central Precinct===

Bluestreak sighed in aggravation as he finished his patrol, striding through the doors of the Enforcer station with a single minded ambition. The officers under his command greeted him with casual nods as he made his way through the precinct, many of the more troublesome criminals quieting in his presence, and Bluestreak had to struggle not to growl. Ever since the news had leaked into the general population that he had been a Great War sniper, criminals now cowered at his very image.

"I take it that the patrol didn't go well?" asked a visitor sitting outside his office, the crowd behind him going silent as they realised a Prime was in their midst.

"Longarm." Bluestreak acknowledged, his optics narrowing into a withering glare, he really had no time this orn for bureaucratic tape. "To whom do I owe the pleasure of your presence in my precinct?"

"Ultra Magnus'," the Head of Special Operations shrugged, his pleasant demeanour rubbing the ex-sharpshooter the wrong way. "It is a private matter."

"He knows I cannot come to Iacon. I am needed here." The grey Enforcer Commander snapped as he swiped his keycard over his office's lock, the door hissing open with a cheery beep. "And if this is about stationing Primes in New Praxus again…"

"Nothing of the sort," Longarm quickly hastened as they entered the pristine office and sat in the chairs, the Prime taking in the long image capture that stretched most of the wall, depicting an orange ship and a large gaggle of crew. "So the rumours are true. You are the Sniper Bluestreak of the Great War."

The glare that the grey mech offered the Prime was downright nasty and hostile. "Please refrain from digging where you are not wanted, Longarm Prime. Now to business, my schedule does not allow me much in the way of a break."

"Of course." The mech nodded, taking out a briefcase like object from his subspace and sliding it across the table. "I'm afraid it is old fashioned, but it decreases the chance of a hacker listening in." the pleasant natured Prime explained as an ancient computer model sprang open, much to Bluestreak's distaste. "Ultra Magnus stated that if you couldn't make it to the Prime meetings, you should use this."

"I am not a Prime." Bluestreak said, his temper soothing slightly as he turned to his personal terminal on his desk and finding a message from Sunstreaker sitting in his inbox which opened with a few taps on his keyboard and reading through it as he talked. "I am not needed at those meetings."

"You qualify as one." Longarm Prime argued, "Hence why you are required to be at the meetings, you represent New Praxus as its chief law enforcer, which is basically what a Prime does, yet you refused the title."

"That's because it is sacrilege to my belief." Bluestreak muttered, making sure that the Special Operation's Prime could not hear his rebellious words which would be turned on him at half a glance if he was reading the Prime across from him correctly. "Tell Ultra Magnus, I will attend the next meeting in person."

"Sir?" Longarm Prime looked startled, "But you just said your schedule…"

"It can wait," Bluestreak said lowly, interrupting the mech, "I realise that I have business to attend to in Iacon. Anyway, I don't trust these old terminals, bad memories from the War of one exploding when I was near it."

"Uhh… yes sir." Longarm nodded, tilting his helm curiously as Bluestreak subconsciously massaged his wrist plating, remembering a time when his whole servo had been blown off aboard a bright orange ship, and in the Enforcer Commander's distraction, he didn't notice the red circle on the Prime's forehead glow Decepticon red. "I'll tell Ultra Magnus right away."