Red Alert toyed with his energon cube, optics turned off. "You are to go to the newest city where Luckysteal has been located. It's a city he's already hit once before, but since he's already hit the major cities, he's probably going back to see if its any better then last time he visited."

Red Alert nodded wearily, before one optic onlined to look up at the police officer. "Remind me again why I have been carted around after Luckysteal? I am rather certain that I am not the resident expert on him."

The police officer muttered something, before reminding Red Alert, "You've been on his tail since four vorns ago when he first began stealing. You do realize he's got one of the longest streaks for not getting caught, after stealing multiple times."

"I thought several other people have claimed that title."

"If he can hold out until the end of the vorn, he'll claim the title. And the end of the vorn is about fifty cycles away, so it's not very long at all. Especially since he seems to love waiting that long in-between jobs."

Red Alert sipped at the cube, the first sip he had taken since getting it nearly an orn ago. The energon was cold and turning stale. "Nobody cares anymore."

The officer laughed hollowly. "That's what you think. The public eats his exploits up like one of those cheep literature novels. They all want to know who he is, how he avoided capture for so long, etc. They even have a fan site of him-"

The energon in Red Alerts mouth spewed out. "Fan site?"

"Yep. You probably didn't realize it because you've been too busy looking, but my own bonded visits the site every day. And since she lives with me-"

The officer broke off. "Here, do you want me to show you some of the things we've been getting?"

"Just media titles please." Red Alert said, sitting up straight in his chair.

The mech handed off the chips, and Red Alert began leafing through the files. The titles screamed 'highly-daring' and 'incredibly smart'. His lips compressed. "This is absolute hogwash. I've been after him for nearly four vorns, and if he's pushing his luck like that then he's stupid."

The officer shook his head. But he couldn't help but agree with what Red Alert was saying. "We have a police officer that's coming to pick you up. From the sound of it, he's brand new to the task force, but amazingly smart. This might just be what we need to break the deadlock we've been in with Luckysteal."

Red Alert made a slight noise, setting aside the cube. "When is he going to pick me up?"

The door slid open; Red Alert didn't bother looking up. It had to be either Shocklight or Electricsteam as they were the only ones who were assigned to the case.

Although Luckysteal was well known among those in the media, the police had given up nearly a vorn after the famous burglar had appeared. Now they kept up a token force, but most police were concentrated on helping to keep the thin, stretched line between law and lawlessness solid. It was hard work for the understaffed, badly paid officers. Bribes were easily passed, and even the common citizen knew that it was just easier to bribe the police officers from doing anything.

So it was with great surprise Red Alert realized with a start that he couldn't recognize the mechs footsteps. He looked up warily, CPU rapidly running through the possibilities of who it could be-

A police officer stood there, his white paint glinting in the bright lights. Red Alerts optics shuttered once in surprised stupefaction. The police mech standing there was sleeker and newer looking then the other mechs. Newbie indeed. Primus, he looks fresh off the rack. Primus he's rather familiar looking as well- Red Alert firmly broke off the train of thought before it could go any further.

"Prowl, reporting here to pick up Red Alert."

Red Alert stood up as the monotone voice swirled around the room. "I'm Red Alert. You're here to pick me up?"

"Yes."

Words burst from Red Alert before he could stop it. "What are you of all mechs doing on board this case? Who did you manage to make mad enough that they'd assign you to this case?"

Prowls optic ridge rose. Red Alert muttered under his breath at the look, before looking at the other police officer. The other mech cleared his vocalizer awkwardly. "Being assigned to this case has gotten a bad reputation. You're guaranteed to have the rest of your job career go down the drain. Nobody is assigned to this case unless you manage to piss off your commander bad enough that he assigns you to it. I'll have to agree with Red Alert here. What are you doing on this case? You're new and young enough that you should be on a solvable, smaller case."

Prowls door wings twitched. However his monotone voice said softly, "I can solve this case I believe. All I need for him to do is strike."

Red Alert shook his head. "Good luck with that. He should strike in another five cycles, if he doesn't decide to be ornery. Where, I can't tell you."

Before Prowl could say anything, Red Alert began walking out of the room. "I'll give you a full rundown on the information later. Just let me pack up what few possessions I have left."

Prowl allowed Red Alert to walk on by, before turning to the police officer. He didn't give an indication of his feelings, but the mech could guess what he was wondering. After all, he had wondered it himself upon the first meeting of Red Alert.

"Red Alert, although he may seem odd, is our best expert on Luckysteal. He's been to every single crime scene where Luckysteal has even been hinted at. What small amount of information we have on Luckysteal we give all credit to him."

The police officer chewed on his lower lip for a moment, "You're new, so I guess I'll warn you. Don't even think about actually catching Luckysteal. We have no funding, he moves around too much, and the public is too protective. They all want to hear what he'll do next."

Prowl nodded, optics glinting feral in the light. "The higher they go, the faster and harder the fall."

0o0o0o0o0o0

The completely black mech slipped into the room, optics traveling over the rambunctious crowd. He could hear insults being traded in one corner, while in another two mechs made out. Silently he eased his way through the crowd, not drawing any attention to himself.

At last he found whom he was looking for. With an inward sigh he sat down next to the smaller, silvery mech. "Well? Did you get the information?"

"Yep, I did. Old Ramble was once a good trader. He sells spare parts to hospitals, but- I've found that several of his operations buy younglings and then when the parts are needed they'll rip it out of the younglings while they're still living to keep the parts nice and fresh. He stopped after awhile once the police pulled off the raid, however it's been picking up again."

The head tilted. "Where?"

The silver mech shrugged. "Search me Chief. He's keeping it as quiet as the pits though. Took nearly an entire two gallons of high-grade and careful questioning to get the information I got, and at the best that's sketchy."

'Chief' nodded, visor hiding what he felt. "True. Any chance of you finding out more?"

The mech shook his head. "Nope. I left the crowd, and there were instantly four or five mechs on my trail. I just barely managed to shake them off. I'm going have to lay low for awhile."

The black mech nodded, standing up. "Alright, I'll just check on the technology department, make sure my acting chief is ready to take over, and then I'll be leaving the thieves guild in his hands."

"Sure he's the right mech? I could do much better."

A soft snort dispelled the weak protest. "You were caught nearly every single time you bulled off a burglary, although you could get the information just fine. Stick to research, and content yourself with getting a third of the spoils."

A hand waved in the air. "Alright, alright, I get it already. Good luck in the next city chief."

"I already established the thief's guild there. I'm merely going back to see if there might be some new information on what I want."

The silvery mech decided to take a chance. "Why are you asking about those mechs that deal in spare parts anyways? They don't make as much money as you'd think-"

"One of them stole something from me." Came back the dangerous reply. "I'm going to take it back."

A shiver ran down the mechs back as Chief stood up to stroll off. Chief rarely got that angry, but when he did, it was bad news for whoever made him mad. The mech vowed inwardly to keep his auditory receptors open. No need to make it look as if he was helping them.

Several mechs finally realized that the mech was there, and several called out, "Hey, Luckysteal!"

The mech turned, arms crossing impatiently. "I'm on a bit of a schedule. What is it?"

"Did you hear who just got assigned to your case?"

Luckysteals head shook. The mech who was talking took a deep rattling intake. "Prowl."

"Prowl?" Someone murmured in the back.

"Yeah, the same mech that managed to nail old Flare."

Luckysteal stiffened. "Prowl managed to convict Flare? Flare, the mech that had nearly a thousand different disguises?"

The other mech nodded desperately. "That's right Chief! What are you going to do now?"

Luckysteal turned around. "I am going to pay a little visit to the equipment department."

He stepped along the dimly lit hallway quickly, well used to the twisting, turning uneven pathway. It had been built just for the purpose of tripping up anyone new. "Hey, Welder?"

"Luckysteal!" A grin split the mechs face as he looked up from where he was muttering. Luckysteal smirked as he remembered how he had found the genius mechanic nearly starving out on the streets. Nobody would hire him simply because he didn't have the proper registration forms.

Luckysteal had put him in charge of developing new technology to break through all security systems designed. It had paid off well.

"I was wondering if you'd come before you left. I got the coolest new thing. You know how they have those new infrared security systems? Well, I developed a new tool to get around them. If you use it, it'll reflect the beams back using the most amusing-"

Luckysteal took the long, black cylinder object. "Simply point and press the button on the handle. I've already had someone else test it out."

Luckysteal subspaced it, before questioning, "Have you seen Shiftingblaze? He's supposed to be here, and I'm going to have him take over for me here."

"Oh, finally trusting someone else to take over?"

"I don't trust him, but I do know he won't make a move until he feels sure enough, and that should take awhile."

Welder shook his head. As far as he knew, Shiftingblaze worshiped the ground Luckysteal walked on. Most of the mechs did actually, due to the fact that he had pulled their afts out of a tight spot more then once. And his incredible reputation. Not many had even thought of stealing from some of the more high security places, and Luckysteal had done it multiple times without getting caught. Most burglars were now becoming a little bit bolder on what they were stealing-

Luckysteal turned, weapon pointing right between the optics of the taller, bigger mech. "There you are Shiftingblaze. I'm headed back to Iacon. Take care of duties here."

Shiftingblaze looked about ready to panic for a moment. "Take over duties here?"

Luckysteal nodded, muttering. "Gotta get to Iacon and check how the guild is doing elsewhere."

Welder took pity on the still nearly panicked expression, "You'll do fine."

Luckysteal checked his comm. link as it dinged. "Hmm, time for departure."

Before either of them could object, Luckysteal had vanished.

A/N: Second chapter, several more to go... Sorry that it took me so long to get this next chapter up. Someone pointed out a major problem which required me to do so major rehauling on my work...