Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers…

I don't have a beta, so there are probably some mistakes I didn't catch.

Summary: There are many Transformers universes: SG, G1, Animated, Prime, etc. This is just another. Warning: All sorts of unpleasant material. AU, so characters are different from originals.

Warning: Sinister Autobots, Fraction mixing, AU, M for reasons, not an actual Transformer universe.

AN: This is NOT Transformers (Shattered Glass) universe. This is just taking the TF characters, altering their personalities a bit, and then creating an AU story with them. This is for my own dark amusement, so update regularity will depend on the reviewers.

Twisted Perception

Chapter One: Petty Games Part I

The inventor tilted his helm inquisitively, watching with morbid satisfaction as a python squeezed the life from the small deer that had been put in its cage. His fins flashed in delight when an eye burst from its socket, bounding off the glass before thumping to the ground, only to be snatched up by the roving, mechanical claw looming over the organic creatures. With the flip of a switch, the ground beneath the predator and prey slipped open, sending them tumbling gracelessly to the heated coils beneath.

With a hiss, the snake regurgitated its half swallowed meal and writhed in pain, its scales sizzling and peeling beautifully from its delicate flesh as it curled in on itself. The spilt intestine of the young deer boiled, vapor from its body fluids coating the glass in a fine layer of condensation, its mutilated carcass burning as its fur caught fire.

The inventor's optics widened in delight as he bent down lower to get a better look at the still struggling creature, now skinless, much like an organic earthworm. "Fascinating." He tapped on the glass to try to rouse the serpent's attention, failing as it finally ceased struggling and succumbed to death.

"Organics are such fragile creatures. Wouldn't you agree, Wheeljack?" The soft, metallic voice that spoke naught but a few yards beside him roused the inventor from his distant stare.

He tensed, knowing that becoming distracted had not been his wisest choice, but relaxed when he recognized the voice. His helm fins flashed twice in amusement at the warnings flashing across his central database programming, alerting him to the sudden rush of chemicals that had flushed into his systems from the fright.

Wheeljack turned from his now useless test subjects and faced the other with a disarming smile, or as close as one could get to smiling with a mask covering most of his face. It wasn't like he'd have to worry too much about Perceptor, since everyone knew just how much of a prude the other scientist was.

Wheeljack gave a pleasant laugh and put a hand on Perceptor's shoulder, patting it in a friendly enough manner. The red scientist merely removed the hand with the very tips of his fingers and preceded to wipe off any impurities the other might have left on him.

"Nice to know we're such great friends." Wheeljack laughed charmingly, fins flashing in glee, as the smile grew brighter in his optics. "Reminds me of the good old days."

"You mean when we had actual test subjects and not…" Perceptor cast a cold glance towards the unrecognizable organic corpses still sizzling on the heat coils and crossed his arms.

"Aw, Percy, don't be like that." Wheeljack hummed comfortingly, swaying a bit on his feet as he leaned towards the shorter scientist. "I find the organics rather intriguing. One would never hypothesize all the diverse chemical reactions their bodies have towards any one substance till they've observed it themselves." His arms began waving about, gesturing wildly as his excitement grew. "And they're copious and-"

Perceptor raised a hand in a gesture for silence. "As fascinating as they may be, I grow weary of the smell they emit every time you chose to be rid of one."

Wheeljack gave the other a blank stare, before an impish grin shone in his optics as he began looking around the room, taking deep intakes. He shrugged his shoulders exaggeratingly and put his hands on his hips to stare amusedly at the shorter bot.

Perceptor's optics narrowed warningly, and Wheeljack finally decided he'd pushed his colleague far enough. "Maybe you should get a mask too. Then we could be friends and twins!" Almost enough.

Perceptor growled silently, but Wheeljack still felt the vibrations of it through his helm fins and smiled pleasantly. Perceptor's face went blank again. "As much as my spark-"

Wheeljack gasped in mock horror and put his hands to his cheek plates. "You have a spark? Why was I not informed of this?"

Perceptor chose to ignore him. "-is enthralled by the shenanigans of a 'no-talent, academy flunky'," Wheeljack rolled his optics, but continued to smile at the other. "I require an actual cybertronian frame so that I may finish my work."

Wheeljack shuttered his optics and put a finger to his chin, as if contemplating what his fellow scientist had just said. The smaller bot frowned at the mocking gesture, feeling his patience quickly beginning to run out, but chose not to rise to the bait. It would only encourage the other.

"Why not ask Prime for one of the prisoners?" Wheeljack suggested happily. "I heard that the Aerialbots captured a whole seeker trine this morning while scouting the perimeter. They're still immaculate, you know. Jazz hasn't even gotten to them yet."

The microscope stared blankly at the other. "And Smokescreen? He's never been fond of permitting his captives escape from his cells before he's had his way with them."

Wheeljack didn't even pause. "You could compensate him. It's hard to find a bottom that's not loose. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

Perceptor was not amused.

A brief silence settled over them, Perceptor staring coldly at Wheeljack and Wheeljack's helm fins flashing brightly in soundless laughter. But when that cold stare turned to a vaguely amused expression, Wheeljack felt his whole chassis suppress a shiver. Only two things amused the small scientist: Knowing something the other doesn't, or knowing he's about to get his way in the worst way possible.

Wheeljack got the disconcerting suspicion it was the latter.

"Ratchet always has an extra frame stored away in his office for when he wishes to occupy himself." At the Medic's name, the smile in Wheeljack's optics promptly faded and turned to a silent snarl, before he schooled his expression once more to soft placidity. "I'm sure you could compensate him." The inventor didn't even flinch at the jibe.

"I could." Wheeljack nodded agreeably, in that pleasant way he always did when dealing with others. "But what incentive would I have to do such a thing for you?" Despite his pleasant expression, he could not keep the bitterness completely from his tone.

Perceptor didn't hesitate in answering. "I'll give him the override code to the lab."

Wheeljack's optics narrowed, even as he fought to maintain control of his anger- and unfathomable fear. Perceptor, thoroughly pleased by the change in the other's demeanor, opted to once again maintain his usual impassive expression and stare blankly into the other's blazing optics.

"Do that…" Wheeljack warned darkly. "And you won't escape him either. You'll be leaving yourself just as susceptible to his 'tender loving care' as me."

For any other bot, this would have been enough of a threat. No one, not even The Prime, wanted anything to do with the medic when it directly affected his or her own security. However, this was Perceptor, and if there was one thing everyone knew about Perceptor, it's that he can't be threatened into anything.

But Wheeljack was running out of options. This was not the first time Perceptor had used Wheeljack to get something from the medic.

Perceptor shuttered his optics once. "He doesn't want me, now does he?" His optics flickered once, knowingly. "Jackie."

A heavy tension settled over them, made all the heavier by the limited space of the lab. There was a moment somewhere between Perceptor turning away to work on another project and Wheeljack tilting his head once more in wonderment at the smaller bot, that Wheeljack's expression once again perked up to a beaming grin.

He really hated Perceptor, Wheeljack mused silently, helm fins flashing. He'd find a way to kill the microscope one-day, even if he had to blow half the Ark back to Cybertron to do it.

That was a promise.

It was interesting really, how much enjoyment his significant other- if he could be called that- got from watching the daily lives of their fellow Autobots. Not many could understand it- Pits, he couldn't understand it, but he wasn't complaining about his superior's odd quirk.

He himself also found great pleasure in watching another's life play out, chiefly Red Alert's, but he did it for sport, a hobby if you will, without purpose. For Red Alert however, the fire truck turned a glance over to his partner's back from where he was sprawled out across the floor, watching others was an obsession.

Not that he was complaining. There was something incredibly arousing in watching his partner observing the lives of the Ark residence, pulling switches to mess with bots he disliked when he wanted entertainment, or just scowling when he noticed something amiss, the sharp glow of the screen light playing off the shadows on Red Alerts face, giving his appearance a feral edge. It sent shivers down the fire truck's spinal cord.

"Inferno, get this to Prowl. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to learn of Wheeljack and Perceptor's latest…" Red Alert paused for a moment, thinking of the right word. "Development."

Inferno laughed full heartedly at that, sitting up and turning to face the smaller bot. "A little gossip bug aren't you?" He gave Red Alert a charmingly goofy grin. "Anything good this time around?"

Gossip was always fun to indulge in, so long as the gossip was not about you, or in Inferno's case, was only partly about you. Red Alert's little glitch had taught him that.

The smaller bot put his helm in his palm, elbow resting on the monitor consol. His optics bright from the steady exposure to the electrical fields humming off the monitor screens, his lips pulled into a tight line; focused. In a dark room such as the Security Director's domain, it had for an intimidation sight.

"I am not a gossip bug you dimwitted hypocrite, I'm upholding my part of our agreement." This interested Inferno, since he had never heard of this agreement between his partner and the Autobot's SIC, but knowing the other was not finished, held his silence. "And yes, it would seem Perceptor has persuaded Wheeljack to acquire a cybertronian frame from Ratchet."

All else was forgotten once that little piece of information got out. "No way." Now it was his turn to be the 'little gossip bug', but who won't honestly when Wheeljack and Ratchet were concerned. "How'd he manage that?" This was something he had to hear.

Red Alert narrowed his optics as if it were the most obvious answer in the world, but indulged his dimwitted partner anyway. "He threatened to give Ratchet their lab's access codes." He drawled disinterestedly.

Inferno shuttered his optics. "No way." He said stupidly, managing to pull off an expression of stupidity just as well. "He's glitched. Wouldn't that mean Ratchet could get to him as well?" That was a good, honest question, but Red Alert was not a tolerable bot by nature.

Once again, an irritable glare came from the Security Director. "Ratchet doesn't want Perceptor, now does he?" He said slowly, bitingly, laying on as much insult to the other's intelligence as he could in those few simple words. "Among other things." He whispered, too low for the larger bot to catch, tapping his fingers impatiently along his cheek.

"Wow, Perceptor is as smart as they say." Inferno laughed, optics bright in amusement. Then a thought crossed his mind. "Can we watch?" He was positively gritty at the thought of watching Ratchet torment the inventor- it was one of the residents of the Ark's pastimes after all.

Red Alert gave him that look again, optics narrowing dangerously. "Of course you fool! Now get these files to Prowl before I lock you in the Rec room lone with Sunstreaker for the next cycle!"

Inferno thought on the matter for a breem, before rubbing the back of his helm sheepishly and turning a silly smile up at his superior. "Sorry about that. Got carried away there." He apologized lamely, reaching out for the files Red Alert was holding.

Red Alert quickly handed the paperwork over to the larger mech and huffed in exasperation, pointing towards the door before Inferno could get another word in. "Just..." Red Alert snarled bitterly, whole frame tense as his paranoia once again kicked in at the thought of the door to his little sanctuary being opened for any amount of time. "Go."

Inferno laughed inwardly, knowing that to show the full extent of his amusement towards his partner's paranoid glitch would have repercussions he'd prefer not to deal with, but still could not suppressed a pleased smirk. "Don't worry Red. I'll be back before you know it." He assured with an upbeat chuckle, waving off-handedly.

"You'd better- and no detours!" Red Alert commanded ominously, watching his partner's back with narrowed optics as he slipped thought the door. His fingers tapped once more on his cheek plates in contemplation, optics glowing eerily from within the dark room.

The larger bot nodded in understanding and began working away at the code panel, typing in the codes to reengage the monitor room's numerous locks. It usually took awhile since Red Alert had to have no less than thirty codes going at once to feel anything close to safe.

Just before the fire truck could slip down the hall after getting the codes in though, he stilled at the soft warning that followed just before the door slid shut. "If you leave me, I'll know. I see everything."

Inferno turned to the side to look back to the now closed door, optics shuttering slightly. Then a smirk spread across his face, shielded away from the camera overhead by the positioning of his frame. His whole frame was buzzing with excited static.

Oh yes, Inferno thought gleefully, face once again neutral as he continued down the hall, playing with his superior's suspicious nature was fun. It was fun to observe, fun to watch, but even better to prod at: his paranoid little officer.

Inferno smiled idiotically and tilted his helm in an ever-inquisitive manner, being sure that Red Alert would be able to see it clearly through the many cameras that were now focused solely on him. He even waved sheepishly at one of the bigger ones that turned to follow him down the hall.

He wondered if could find someone to play with him this cycle. Red Alert would love that.

NA: So, what'd you think? Good? Bad? Continue? As you may have been able to tell, I love mind games. Just a heads up: I'm making this up as I go. Of course, I have a basic idea as to the plot and character personas, but everything is up for debate, so if you drop in a request to see a character in this AU, I may very well put them in. This is mainly just experimentation with characters and somewhere to create lolz that the original cast would not entertain due to their virtuous personalities. LOL!

Please review, it makes me happy and encourages me to write faster…