Chapter 1 – A Gift

Inferno sighed heavily through his intakes and leaned against the base entrance. He watched with hungry optics as the late afternoon sunlight played on the red and white armor plating of the mech standing a ways off. Always from a distance; ain't that the truth Inferno thought sadly. Red Alert was completely absorbed in the conversation he was having with the local human fire chief giving Inferno the opportunity to admire the Lamborghini's sleek frame without fear of being noticed. He felt his fuel pump stutter when the security director leaned down to accept something from the human and inadvertently giving Inferno a most spectacular view. Red Alert straightened back to his full height and began walking back towards the base as the human departed.

Inferno gave himself a shake to clear his processor and put on his best smile as Red Alert approached. Courage big guy! "Heya Red! Wanna grab some energon an a movie?" The smaller mech stopped and looked up at him with confused optics. Before Inferno could say anything more Red Alert raised his upturned hand and tilted it slightly. Inferno blinked at the tiny ball of black and white fur that lay curled up on the exposed palm. He gave a small jump when the furry thing blinked back at him. "What in the…?" He leaned down until his optics were on a level with the creature. "It…itsa dog!"

"According to Chief Jenkins it is a Dalmatian. It is still a sparkling, or puppy as the humans call them."

"Chief Jenkins gave ya a dog errr….puppy?"

"A gift for our assistance with last week's forest fire. Apparently it is tradition for these creatures to reside in fire stations. Since we have mechs with emergency vehicle alt modes, Chief Jenkins decided that our base needed one of…these."

Inferno ran a finger gently along the back of the pup and smiled when it began to wag it's tail. "Cute lil feller. Whatcha gonna call it?"

Red Alert jerked and gave the fire truck an incredulous look. "Call it? Call it?! No, absolutely not! We are not naming it because we are not keeping it! I can't even begin to name all the security, hygiene, and general Autobot protocols we'd be breaking if we allowed it to live in our base!"

"Awwww come on Red. I'm sure he won't be no trouble."

Red Alert shook his head and continued his trek into the base with Inferno walking beside him. "No Inferno."

"Ya know they say pets help soothe stress. Maybe the lil guy could help with yer glitch?"

"No."

"What bout morale? The others'll love em!"

"No."

"Bet he could chase out the lil pests like mice an rats."

"Cats do that, not dogs; and we are not getting one of those either."

"Humans use em fer security…"

"Inferno! Exactly what is a dog going to safeguard us from here?"

"I dunno…cassetticons?"

"Soundwave's minions would make short work of this mammal."

"I'll wager Wheeljack could rig somethin' up ta make it a match fer…"

"I am not asking our chief engineer to add upgrades to this or any other native inhabitant of this planet. The puppy is staying only for as long as it takes me to find a suitable home for it and not a nanoclick longer. That. Is. Final!" he snapped as he turned down the corridor containing the security control center. A slight growling sound reached his audios and he turned to face the fire truck. "Alright look, I apologize for snapping at you; but I cannot back down on this. Now will you please stop growling at me?"

"I'm not growlin'…" Inferno replied as he pointed at Red Alert's hand "…but yer pooch is." Both mechs blinked as the Dalmatian tried it's best to look and sound menacing. Inferno turned disapproving optics on his friend. "See what ya did? Ya upset em!"

"I did no such thing! It started growling as soon as we turned the corner, not…" he cut himself off abruptly at the sound of a door opening. He looked down the hallway to see a black helmed mech cautiously pop his head out from the security control center. "Twins in the office" Red Alert whispered. "Twins in the office!! No, no, no, no, no!!!" He dropped the puppy into Inferno's hands and ran down the hallway towards the open door.

"Move Sunny! The spaz is back!" Sideswipe yelled as he made a run for it. Sunstreaker ran out of the office a split second later quickly following his twin.

"Halt! I order you to stop!" Red Alert shouted as he gave chase.

Inferno shook his head and sat down on the ground with his back against the wall. "Ya figure Prowl an Red would know that line dun work with those two by now. Dun worry, he'll be back" he smiled down at the pup in his hand. A few moments later a red Lamborghini slid back around the corner followed closely by a golden one; a white and red Lamborghini in fire chief's decor tore around the corner after them with sirens blaring. "Five, four, three, two, one" Inferno counted down and then shoved a leg out across the hallway forcing all three cars to screech to a halt.

"Move it Inferno!" Sunstreaker snapped.

Inferno grinned and aimed his water nozzle at the yellow car. "Or you'll what?" He looked down in surprise when the puppy stood on the edge of his fingers and began barking at the twins between growls.

Sideswipe transformed and looked down at Inferno in confusion. "Is that a dog?"

Sunstreaker followed suit and leaned down to get a better look. "What happened to it's paint job? It looks like a black paint can exploded over his base coat."

"I rather think the black and white coloring is quite charming." Both twins winced and turned to face Prowl standing next to a smug looking Red Alert. "Of course this could be a biased opinion based on my own color scheme. Perhaps we should discuss the matter further in my office?" The Second in command placed a hand on each twin and gave them a gentle shove in the direction of his office. "I am sure I don't need to tell you to be wary when you decide to re-enter your control center Red Alert. Let me know what damage they've done so that I can assign the proper punishments." At Red Alert's nod the Datsun turned and followed the twins.

Inferno, who had been trying to get the pup in his hands to quiet down during the exchange, blinked in surprise when the dog suddenly sat down and stopped barking. He looked down the hallway where the twins were dragging their feet with Prowl shadowing them and then back down at the dog. "Hey Prowl! Hold on a sec would ya?" He stood and began slowly walking towards the officer and his charges.

"What are you doing?" Red Alert asked as he joined the fire truck.

"Jus…jus gimme a sec." As he got about halfway down the hallway from the others the dog began to growl again. "Well now ain't that somethin?" He stopped his approach and backed up until the dog calmed down. "Hey Prowl, c'mere a sec." Prowl glanced at the twins giving them a silent warning and then walked back to Inferno. Inferno watched the dog carefully for any kind of reaction to the approaching Datsun and chuckled when the dog just yawned. "Alright, now follow an watch" he told the two officers as he began to walk towards the twins once more. Sure enough, the Dalmatian began to growl. Red Alert and Prowl looked down at the tiny dog in shock.

"It makes noise when the twins are near" Red Alert said in awe. "It even knew they were in the office. Amazing."

Inferno chuckled again and carefully rubbed the puppy's head with a finger. "Yer a regular twin detector on legs aintcha?" He turned his smile over to Red Alert and gave the security director a small nudge with his elbow. "Can we keep em now?"