Well, here I am at an assembly to hand out special awards, and here I am, waiting for an nonexistent award. Red Alert thought dryly. Only the smart, perfect students ever got an award. Glitchy students did not.
"Settle down!" Came the booming voice of the leader of the school. Teenaged younglings began to settle into their seats, looking up at the stage expectantly. Then came the Award Ceremony.
Red Alert sighed, wishing he had brought along something to do. He was already bored, and it had only been a breem. And this would last for nearly an orn. "And now, for photography and camera class-"
Red Alert looked up, noticing that three other mechs ahead of him by two rows also stiffened. Red Alert frowned at them. He didn't recall seeing much of them before, and they were always together. "In class we had a hard time choosing, and we at last came to a tie. One of which will be announced now, and the other later. And the mech that won Best Pictures was…. Reflector!"
All three mechs stood up, and as one they moved to take the certificate. Red Alert watched them come back. All were scowling about something. Red Alert stared at them for a moment longer, and at last shrugged.
It wasn't his problem. He was too busy trying to decide whether the rumor about Datasurface dating four others at a time was true. He had already caught him in the act twice now, but the other two, while they hung around, didn't seem to be making any covert moves-
Red Alert smirked as one of the unknown two leaned over, briefly trailing a hand down his leg in a most suggestive way. Quickly he glanced around, and seeing no teachers, he subspaced a datapad and scribbled down time, place, and made a mental note to follow them after the assembly.
Then, he straightened, subspacing the datapad in time to see 'Reflector' looking at him slightly curiously. Red Alert easily ignored it, and listened half-heartedly as everyone else received his or her certificates. Then, the ceremony at last came to an end.
Red Alert easily tracked the two mechs, by now giggling, as they left the school hall, casually drifting away from the main body of students. Reflector followed them as well, and Red Alert guessed he wasn't the only one who was digging up blackmail on others around school. For Red Alert, it was necessary. His paranoia demanded a shield against hurt, and blackmail was the most effective shield yet.
Red Alert moved from sight as the two threw glances over their shoulders to make sure that no other students were following. Reflector also was out of sight, and Red Alert could see one of them pressed against the side of the building, the other two somewhere beyond optic range. He could find them using scanners, but the scans would no doubt tip off the two students that he was there.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Reflector regarded the other mech coolly, wondering if the red and white Lamborghini would disappear any time soon. Then, to their surprise, the mech suddenly swung up a ladder, heading towards the second floor, just as the two students he was stalking entered the building. The Lamborghini leaned out the window, and motioned to one of him, Viewfinder, and then disappeared back inside.
Spectro was the closest, and he easily swung up before waiting for Viewfinder and Spyglass to get in. They then confronted the Lamborghini. "Who are you?"
The mech made a shushing gesture before opening a private pager line to them. : I'm Red Alert. I take it you're on the hunt for Blackmail as well?:
: Yes…: They replied warily. Red Alert nodded at them, and gestured.
: I heard them talk about the second floor, third door.: Red Alert said, optics cutting into their optics sharply. : Do you wish to work together?:
Reflector considered for a moment, and they nodded.
Smoothly they transformed into a camera, which Red Alert picked up. : You know how to use me properly, right?: Reflector asked warily.
Red Alert eyed him for a moment, and then nodded. He slipped backwards, silent as a ghost, as the two, now kissing, mechs made their way past them onto their way to the room.
Quieter then what Reflector would've thought possible, Red Alert crept after them with all of the skills he had learned from avoiding various caretakers since he had first glitched.
As the two began to engage in interfacing and overloading each other, Red Alert raised Reflector, allowing Reflector to zoom in as far as he wanted. Then, he shifted to various spots, just hidden outside of their range.
At last, Red Alert moved backwards, and Reflector printed the pictures. "Here you go. A copy for you."
Red Alert nodded, and the three mechs that made up Reflector nodded back, and they separated.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0ol
Red Alert saw Viewfinder the next day as they both scouted out a possible blackmail material. Datasurface had yet another mech after them, and was taking full advantage of this fact. Red Alert had a camera for recording in one hand, and he had apparently used this location before, for their was a peek hole around the corner which would perfectly capture both. As the two stared at each other, Reflector offered, "Do you wish to go into a partnership? I get some of the blackmail material, you get the things I can not, and we trade?"
Red Alert considered it thoughtfully, and then shrugged. "I need to see how good of a mech you are first."
Red Alert froze as he heard something Reflector couldn't, and he turned, abruptly vanishing into a nearby building. Viewfinder followed quickly, wondering what had tipped Red Alert off. Half a breem later, a teacher came by.
Red Alert smirked, bringing up the camera as he eased into position. "Datasurface!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll give you the usual."
Both Reflector and Red Alert perked up at that. Viewfinder began recording, as the other two pelted off to join him. Red Alert made minute adjustments to his camera, muttering about quality and the shooting. Reflector transformed into a camera a few moments later, and together they began gathering the blackmail of the teacher being bribed off by Datasurface.
A few breems later they were satisfied. Red Alert hummed to himself as he stored several different recording on different datapads, flicking them into different subspaces.
Huh. I've done a little digging up on him, but he seem to have a blank background- Red Alert stood up, and waved goodbye to Reflector absent mindedly before setting off once more.
Reflector balanced on the edge of following him, and at last Spyglass slipped after him as the other two headed back for home. Red Alert moved through the streets quickly, never once glancing back, until he at last turned the corner to an sparkling home where unwanted sparks were abandoned. Reflector paused at that, and Red Alert said over his shoulder, "Spyglass, isn't it?"
Spyglass came out warily. "You know my name?"
"I did a little digging on you, just like you did with me." Red Alert said, and turned. "Satisfied?"
There was a dangerous hint to his voice, a danger which threatened Spyglass that if it wasn't enough, Red Alert would make it enough. Spyglass nodded, mirroring Reflectors thoughts, before turning and vanishing into the crowds, wondering how Red Alert had managed to realize he was there. But, his work here was done. He now knew where Red Alert lived, and could base his blackmailing opportunities about him around the orphanage.
Red Alert watched him go, before turning back to the orphanage. He entered silently, gliding up the stair to his room, where he disassembled and began cleaning out his camera.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
For the next few months, wherever Red Alert went during school for blackmail purposes, he could expect another one of Reflectors three bodies to pop up. It's a wonder we didn't bump into each other more often. Red Alert thought dryly. There were other times, when both were out wandering the streets that they might bump into each other. Red Alert scouting for potential blackmail, or just enjoying the day when he wasn't glitchy, Reflector doing something that he never told Red Alert.
And Red Alert frankly didn't really care. He had his own problems, and he had to deal with them as they came.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Spectro froze as a large group of mechs surrounded him, each of them looking angry. There was no escape. Spyglass and Viewfinder were rushing to him, but Reflector knew they'd be too late. Spectro would be beaten painfully by the time they got their. And he didn't have his blackmail-
Red Alert squeaked as he was roughly shoved into the circle as well. Spectro looked at him, and both their optics met each others, terrified, and knowing exactly what was about to happen.
And, because Reflector had one mind, three bodies, but one mind, when the first blows began to land, all three crumpled up in agony. He could distantly hear Red Alert struggling somewhere, and there was a sudden scream of pain from the mechs as Red Alert shrieked, horns going bright blue.
In some, fascinated part of Reflectors CPU, he simply watched as Red Alert fought back, his glitch demanding nothing less.
Mechs began to leave Reflector alone to try to deal with Red Alert as his maniacal shrieks and screams began to rent the air, drawing unwanted attention. "Mute him already!" Someone yelled.
Someone attempted to get close, but was stopped as Red Alert bit them; fear and hatred making him resort to the lowest form of fighting. There was a yelp of pain, and then they drew back as a teachers voice drifted out of nowhere. "What's going on?"
The mechs who had been ganging up on them quickly and smoothly vanished. The teacher reached them, and instantly stopped. Red Alert stared at her, and slowly began backing up, terrified. Reflector slowly picked himself off the ground as she grabbed her comm. link, speaking into it. "Principal, Red Alerts glitched! We need a couple of medics, and theirs another student who was harmed. We need someone to find the other two mechs of Reflector-"
Spyglass and Viewfinder came out of the darkness, Reflector drawing them to him. Red Alert stiffened as they came perilously close. But the two ignored him as they bent over Spectro. Adult mechs began encircling the area, and Red Alert instantly seemed to recognize them, for he broke and ran, attempting to get away. "Catch him!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Red Alert sat down at the small table in the very corner of the cafeteria, back against the wall. His optics tracked the other mechs flowing about him, twice as jumpy and nervous after the beating he had gotten two cycles ago. Both cycles had spent in the hospital, and now Red Alert was finally back at school.
Reflector entered the cafeteria, and instantly spotted him. To keep from seeming like he was crowding Red Alert, Spyglass and Viewfinder separated to separate corners of the cafeteria to keep track of the gossip going on as Spectro approached Red Alert.
"Red Alert."
"Reflector?" Red Alert looked startled to see him.
"Yes, have you give testimony as to who attacked you?"
"No, but I plan on hacking into the school cameras to see if I can't find out that way." Red Alert replied evenly.
Reflector looked at him steadily, and Red Alert smirked as he reached up, a small computer Reflector hadn't noticed before, attaching itself to the camera above. "School cameras are rather old, so it's easy to hack into their memory files." Red Alert explained.
"And you're doing it in full view of the cafeteria?"
Red Alerts hand retracted, and he pulled out a holopad, and began to move through the cameras history. Reflector watched, impressed. Red Alert cursed after a few moments. "Their horrible! Camera angle all wrong, the video feed all wrong-"
Reflector leaned across Red Alerts shoulder, and Red Alert stiffened. Reflector ignored this as Reflector tapped the pad. "Tilt the camera up a degree and the pictures would actually look nice."
Red Alert nodded, and twitched out from beneath Reflector. "Why were they after you anyways?"
"Oh, I managed to beat one of their members at a photography competition." Reflector said airily. "As if there was any competition! I obviously have the best of the pictures."
Red Alert was mildly curious. "May I see?"
Reflector stared at Red Alert for a moment, surprised, and then handed them off. "Certainly."
Red Alert flipped through the pictures, lingering on each one, noticing small things in the picture. "I like how you got the acid rain to reflect off of these low-flying jets." Red Alert said at last, tapping one of them. "But… the building in the background was ugly and unnecessary."
Reflector nodded. "It was, but they wouldn't allow us to edit the pictures at all. Not even to define or blur a few edges."
"Like here, right? You wanted to blur a few of these edges."
Reflector nodded eagerly. "You know a little about taking pictures obviously."
"I studied it a little, to help be better at what I do." Red Alert replied. Still looking intently at eh pictures. Reflector smirked triumphantly. Maybe now he could finally have a intelligent conversation about the merits of picture taking.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Red Alert didn't twitch as the three mechs flanked him. It was becoming more and more often for the past few months, and Reflector said softly, "I thought you'd might like to see this."
Curious, Red Alert took the pictures. He loved the clarity of which Reflector was able to get the pictures at, and had to admit that they were all beautiful. And the conversations they had about the pictures were stimulating. "Oh, wow. These are good. I like this one of the towers. Did you ever think of becoming a professional?"
"That's what I'm planning on doing. To become a professional tabloid mech. I've been practicing here at school." Reflector admitted.
Red Alert nodded, and Reflector looked at Red Alert. "And you?"
"Me? I've… never really thought about it. School isn't a necessity for me. I'm to be shipped off after I finish school to a psychiatrist faculty where they'll study me and try to help me." Red Alert said musingly. "I really haven't thought about it."
"That's a waste. With your blackmail skills you could become a good tabloid mech yourself." Reflector said, searching for Red Alerts expression.
Red Alert shook his head. "No. I'd rather become security."
"Security?"
"Yeah, they can control the entire building you know. I've seen a couple of security systems working, and their amazing. Just a single flip of a switch, and all of the mechs in a certain room can be cut off from the outside world for however long you want." Red Alert said, optics shining at the thought.
Reflector stared at Red Alert, and then looked away. "Hmph. If you say so."
Red Alert looked down at the pictures. "What sort of camera angle did you use for this one?" he asked, pointing to it.
Eager to explain and extol his virtues, all three mechs crowded close, pointing out the different angles, special things they liked- Red Alert listened avidly, interested in the explanations, and more then ready to absorb whatever tips he could get.
"By the way, about working together to gather blackmail…" Reflector said, leaving the sentence hanging. Red Alert stared at him, and then nodded.
"Deal."
SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs
Ok…. Now that I have completely ruined Reflectors personality, just one more chapter. XD next chapter shall be about Earth.