Mystery Solved

"I'm surprised it took you so long to contact me. I have a very busy job with schoolwork and taking care of the Vehicon triplets. You better have something for me to experiment on."

The Mystery Gang was sitting in the living room of Megara's penthouse were she served the kids some of her homemade cookies and berry smoothies. Tanya got to meet the lovely young adult and her family for the first time. Optimus was glad to see his auntie after the whole Thanksgiving fiasco and resolution. Shockwave was at the table with his science kit in one servo and a laptop in the other. Soundwave plugged in the data he got from the scene of the crime and started analyzing it with him.

"Thanks for the snacks Miss Drake! Your chocolate chip cookies are to die for!" Tanya complimented the blue haired woman. "And these berry smoothies are so refreshing."

Meg chuckled as she cleaned up the kitchen. "You really think so? I was hoping you would try them out since I have to turn them in for my baking class midterm. My little bots have been helping me get them to be top notch quality."

Steve nodded, munching into another cookie. "Plus we get free treats to bring to our preparatory school."

"You guys are in prep school? Since when did you get into such a high in line school?" Starscream exclaimed, shocked at what he was hearing.

"When you have a mother who works in the fashion industry and bakes for French Patisseries, you get to go to the best schools for the arts and science!" Gary said, sipping the smoothie he had.

"Can you please keep it down? I need to analyze this hair sample that you gave me." Shockwave said, playing with his kit. "Soundwave, can you help me by hooking this machine up to your laptop? That way we can figure out who it belongs to."

Soundwave nodded, hooking the laptop to his DNA scanner machine. Shockwav inserted the hair piece as the scanner did its work. Meg picked up the textbook, examining the cover intensely.

"Where did you guys get this old thing? I haven't seen this textbook since my middle school years." She commented, flipping through the book.

"Wait...middle school? So this book isn't found at our elementary school?" Optimus asked, looking at the book with her.

"I totes remember this book vividly. Only the honors students got books this fancy. I should know, I was one in the first place." Meg flipped her hair and smirked. "I'm more than just a pretty face hon."

"And on that note, can you show us who that sample belongs to?" Tanya said, slightly impressed at Megara. "We need to wrap this up and sole this mystery."

"It would appear that this hair sample belongs to a William Penbrooke. Do you know who that is?" Shockwave asked the group. They shook their heads while Soundwave cross referenced their suspect.

Meg's face scrunched up at the name. "He wouldn't happened to be related to Benjamin Penbrooke would he?"

"Who's that Auntie Meg?" Ultra Magnus asked curiously. "Do you know something about the suspect?"

"Well I don't know a William Penbrooke, but if he is the older brother to this one guy I knew from high school then it makes sense. Ben was bullied into doing assignments for other people in order to save his hide. That backfired as soon as we got out of high school since he now runs a major cooperation that employed most of his tormentors."

"Then William Penbrooke must be his kid brother!" Tanya gasped, snapping her fingers. "I think I got this mystery solved guys!"

"I agree, I think we know who did the crime." Optimus turned to Soundwave. "Can you alert Mr. McGregor and the police department of this revelation?"

Soundwave's screen showed a thumbs up as he contacted the elderly man. Tanya took out the burger wrapper and gave it one last look.

"Say Shockwave, can you do me a favor?"

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A crowd of people stood outside the library with bated breath to see what had happened to their beloved library. Mr. McGregor stood next to the police with a worried look on his face.

"I hope those kids know what they are doing." Mr. McGregor said aloud.

Penny walked up with the group. She had really become to designated driver for this bunch of mystery solvers. She waved at close friends and neighbors as she lead them up to the front of the stairs. Optimus gestured to the microphone as he began to speak.

"Through a few days of investigation, my team and I were able to find the culprit or should we say culprits of this small crime." A murmur rose from the crowd as the townspeople began to talk to another. "Thanks to the efforts of my family and Tanya Black, we will reveal the true identity of the book thieves."

Tanya took the mic from him and proceeded to point into the audience. "We know you are out there William Penbrooke! You might as well confess!"

"What! How dare you accuse my son of vandalism!" A shrill voice came from the crowd. A woman with black hair in a bun wearing spectacles walked up the stairs with a scrawny young man by her side. His black hair was oily and all over the place.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but all the evidence is pointed towards him." Ultra Magnus took out the briefcase and retrieved the items. "At first, we thought the main culprit was Marion Taft due to a likely source. But after doing some digging, we found not only his textbook but a lock of his hair."

"So what? He could've left it there while he was studying for cram school!"

"Well ma'am, he may have not been telling the full truth. Keep in mind that he could've been at the library with an ulterior motive in mind." Ultra Magnus said, shutting her up. "Anyways, the video footage that Soundwave analyzed showed two figures at the scene of the crime that night. They were too small to be adults and by the textbook we found, one of them went to the middle school from down the road."

"Thanks to one of our informants," Starscream picked up where he left off. "We learned that William Penbrooke was the school's resident nerd and writer for the school paper. While none of this has no use for the crime, we did realize that his accomplice needed someone with an above average writing skill to help her out with her business."

"Isn't that right...Stacks!" Tanya pointed to the small girl in the crowd, making her eyes widen. "Everyone in school knows that you take books that are unwanted by people or you check them out from the school library. But you also gave us one key clue when we investigated you."

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Stacks tapped her chin. "Nothing I know about. I usually leave around six o'clock because mom wants me home before the sun goes down. I end up staying a bit longer sometimes if I have homework. But I'm usually in the adult section. The computers are faster over there and not much goes on."

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"You usually leave around six o'clock because your mom wants you home by then. But you also say you'd stay in the adult section when you have homework! You know who else goes to the adult section?" Tanya looked at William, who eyes were becoming more and more guilty. "The reason why they both did all this is simple."

"They knew that the fifth graders were doing book reports this week." Optimus finished off, glaring at the fifth graders in the crowd. "Stacks gets paid for every book she reads for other people. Since book reports are to analyze and summarize a book, she needed help from a higher power. That's when she met William, who was already a great writer at his school. In order to get the bullies off her back, he would write the reports for the books she stole and she would give them to the others. It was a scheme that took months of planning and I'm impressed it took you parents that long to figure out that the typed book reports were too good to be true."

Suddenly, there was an uproar in the crowd as the parents of these said fifth graders started yelling at their kids. Stacks looked downwards as her mother scolded her. The Mystery Team smiled and high fived each other. William's mother just shook her head in disappointment and gave her child a good smack on the head.

"You sir are so grounded when we get home! I think you just lost your books for a whole two weeks!" She screeched at him, making the poor boy flinch.

"Yes mother..." He sighed before glaring at the group. "I would've gotten away with this crime too if it weren't for-"

"Us meddling kids! Yes, I finally get to say the line!" Starscream cheered, getting an eye roll from the others.

"Thank you kids for helping with the mystery. I guess all that reading was put to good use." Mr. McGregor said, a twinkle in his eyes. "I think this calls for a reward. How about you meddling kids join me at the ice cream shop for some victory sundaes?"

"We would love to! Can we invite our mom too?" Optimus asked, the older man nodding with a smile. "Then I guess this mystery is history!"

"Can we do this again some time? I liked being Sherlock Holmes!" Ultra Magnus said.

"And I got to be a Scooby-Doo character!" Starscream also said.

"Soundwave: Got to use hacking skills. Mystery: Would do again." Soundwave had a smiley face on his screen.

"Every mystery crew needs a leader. Will you lead us Optimus?" Tanya held his servo while giving him a close eyed smile.

Optimus nodded. "Anytime, anyplace."

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Next time:

My name's Izzy, the bots and cons babysitter, and their next door neighbor! I just got a job at the local mall and it's been going great! However, Wheeljack makes a mistake of bringing the All-Spark box with him and causes the birth to little terrors that call themselves Botbots! Now with the mall overrun by mini robots, it's up to me, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Wheeljack to wrangle them up and stop them from causing mischief! Join us next time in...

ATTACK OF THE BOTBOTS!