this town belongs to OVERLORD - A Transformers Murder Mystery Wild West AU

interrogation.

"It's not me! It's not me! I'm being framed!" Starscream shrieked to the sleepy crowd before him. "I didn't poison Magnus, and I didn't put Megatron's body in my hole! Why would a killer put the body in his own hole? That's stupid!"

Starscream pushed against the restraints holding him to the chair, and the audience simply watched his struggle. After finding the poisoned tea, I had rushed from the closet, my guns held out. Starscream had screamed in fear and cowered down before I violently tackled him. I pushed him to the floor, and his wild caterwauls eventually awoke those in the homes around the saloon. Red Alert was the first to find us, and Overlord closely followed in his wake. I explained what I had discovered to them, and Overlord called the meeting.

"I'm being framed, I'm being framed!" Starscream cried again.

"Oh, shut it!" Ratchet snapped, his optics dull from exhaustion. "We get it that you are trying to convince us of that. I think you framed yourself to make yourself seem innocent. How the hell could you have scraplet poison in a tea tin and not know it? You think we are that daft?"

Starscream's eyes bugged out in horror, and he bit onto his lip. His fists went limp as he ended his struggle against us, and Ratchet turned to Airachnid.

"Do we have the first one?" he asked her.

A small smirk slithered across Airachnid's slender face, and her fangs glinted in the soft light. "He's the accomplice."

"Starscream?" Trailcutter whimpered, and his face grew incredibly distraught.

I felt tears bubble up in my own eyes; Starscream was a fellow friend. But I was prepared for this when Tarn told me of it. I approached Starscream and glowered at him with sorrowful and disappointed optics.

"Tarn's dying because of you," I informed him. "Is he also a target?"

Starscream's brow pulled down into a dark, furious scowl. "No. He just got caught in the crossfire."

Someone abandoned their seat, and Bumblebee approached the captive before me. His normally dilated, beautiful pupils were small and trembling, and he angrily stared down Starscream. He buzzed something rapid and furious, and it was so fast that even I could not comprehend what he was saying. I screamed at Bee when he suddenly lashed out and punched Starscream on the cheek, and I grabbed my compatriot's wrists. Bee continued to blurt unkind things at Starscream, and Cliffjumper eventually had to rise from his seat to bear hug Bumblebee, allowing me to return to my work.

"We aren't going to interrogate you in private." I jabbed Starscream's chest, and he grinned up at me, excited. "This will be a public event. Everyone here is involved. Ratchet, Swerve, get up here and represent your groups."

The two of them ambled to the front of the room, uneasy about what was about to take place, and Swerve joined at Overlord's side. Red Alert was pressed up against the town's leader on his other. I sucked in a deep breath before facing the second killer again.

"Why, Starscream? Two people are dead because of you."

Starscream shook his head a bit, his smile continuing to grow. "I've been in this town for the past ten thousand years, and I am so fucking bored. I'm digging a damn hole I am so bored. Helping someone commit murders? Now that's some entertainment right there."

Ratchet slammed his foot against Starscream's chair, and the captive toppled to the floor, his head cracking against the tile. Ratchet spat, "You killed our beloved leader because you were bored?! You killed Megatron because you were bored?! You psychopath!"

"Oh, Ratchet, Ratchet," Starscream cooed. "Didn't you hear Airachnid? I'm an accomplice, not a killer. I'm just the eyes and ears. I listen for the signs of who the next victim should be."

Ratchet rounded the chair and kicked Starscream in the nose, and a piercing crack bounced through the chamber as his nose fractured. Starscream yelped, and this time, I did nothing to stop it. I would only put an end to it if Starscream was about to have his spark extinguished; we needed him for information.

"I'm going to kill you, you little fucker!" Ratchet barked. "Why didn't you just leave this town if you were so bored?"

Overlord rubbed his temple. "He's wanted in many cities across Cybertron for illegal drug trafficking. He can't leave. He is hidden here."

I whipped towards my love. "What?! You didn't bother to tell me, to tell us, that he has a criminal record?"

"It's just drugs! It's not like he killed people!"

"Overlord, a criminal is still a criminal! We needed information like that! You hide those files like it's no tomorrow! You got anything else to share?"

"No."

I shook my head at him, enraged that he didn't have the common sense and decency to tell me such critical facts such as that. I faced Starscream again. "Why is the killer killing certain people and not others? Why Magnus and Megatron?"

Starscream lifted his broken head. "I would tell you, but wouldn't that just put an end to my fun?"

Ratchet snatched Starscream by his frail neck and yanked him up off the floor, his fist pulled back and ready to launch. "Tell her, you dumbass! When we are done with you, I will drench the town with your energon!"

I held up a hand to the newcomer's leader. "Ratchet, slow down. Starscream, please."

"'Oh, Starscream, please!'" he mocked. "'Please, please, would you tell us? Please, please, oh please do tell!'"

"That's enough!" Overlord rushed forward to Starscream and kneed the small male in the head, and Starscream grew limp after the incredible impact. Overlord untied the unconscious bartender and dragged him to the center of the aisle between the two sections of seats, holding Starscream's lax body in the air. "Come on, you bastard, join your little accomplice! Come join him in the jail!"