Yehaha! So far you've all guessed right who the mystery mec is, but Inferno threatened to leave me in a vat of boiling water if I even so much as looked at Red alert, so sorry… No Red Alert for us.
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Red Alert dropped down into the dark, slightly damp tunnels that wove an intricate web below the city. For a second he was caught up in old memories, of a much younger Red Alert,
"C'mon, mom say's we're not to play with him."
"Why not?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it's because he has a glitch. Mom doesn't like those people."
The small femme clung to her brothers hand as she glanced back at the small youngling, standing very much alone in the alley way of the city. He looked at her, optics met for a second. The youngling seemed about to take a step foreword, then turned and vanished into the darkness, as her brother continued, "Besides, he likes to play underground apparently."
"So?"
"Look, not only does he have a glitch, but he likes playing in the forbidden tunnels! Don't you know that's a dangerous combination? Listen, just ignore him."
Prowl's soft thud beside Red Alert brought him out of memories. "We're right underneath the police section of town. We want to get over to the poor. I know of a couple places where others might of stored energon."
"What do you mean by that?"
"About half of the population of Remnacon actually lived underground. The Decepticons, when they came through and slaughtered everyone, still might have missed some of the energon cubes. I know the most likely places where we can probably find them."
Prowl followed, Red Alert's optic's anxiously shifting from side to side, all of his older, more deeply buried memories rising. For a moment, he could almost hear the acid gurgling…
Red Alert frowned, and listened closer. No, he wasn't imagining it, there was a slight gurgling sound coming from behind… Optic's widened in horror, and Red Alert snarled, "RUN!"
Prowl dashed behind Red Alert, not questioning. He would, later. But for now he had to concentrate on his footing. The slight wetness that coated the floor made his uneasy, and the buildup of rubble made the footing treacherous.
Red Alert whirled into the doorway he had spotted, just as the slight gurgling sound became louder. Prowl stumbled into the room, as Red Alert slammed and locked the door behind him. The room fell into utter darkness, and Prowl asked, "Red Alert, what are we doing here?"
"That gurgling noise wasn't water. It was acid. Once every few breems, they sent acid down the halls to clear them of bats."
"What?"
"The bat's that live in the underground here aren't normal. They can suck out your energon without you noticing. Not enough to kill you, and they'll run if you do notice, but they are a nuisance. And too many of them could suck out enough energon to kill you."
Light's slowly flickered on, and Red Alert looked up from where he had apparently rigged a makeshift flashlight. The light traveled around the room as the gurgling sound became a roaring rush.
Prowl was beginning to understand a little better how Red Alert had gotten his paranoia.
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The entire Arc had volunteered to go after the two missing bot's, Prime nodded his agreement with the general consensus. "Very well, we need to figure out a plan of attack, and we need information on the city."
Dead silence fell. Prime stared at them, in disbelief. "No one has any idea what to do at all?"
Jazz decided to step up to bat. "I say that we send in four teams. Three will go in through the city's main gates, and the last team will comb the underground for the two." It was the best Jazz had at the moment. He hadn't worked on it very long, and wasn't very good at juggling numbers.
Prime murmured softly, "Primus save us all."
It was only by a supreme act of will that Inferno kept from screaming. He elected to join those above ground, figuring he'd get a faster crack at whoever had gone after Red Alert that way.
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The Decepticon watched angrily as the acid roared beneath him. No sooner had he dropped down the shaft to follow the two, and then he had heard the acid beginning to gurgle. He had instantly shot back up the ladder, with not a moment to spare. Acid was soon flowing over where he had been just 80 nanoclicks before.
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Me; Personally, I figure mech's with permanent glitches to be treated like humans with mental problems. People may joke about them, and tease and be cruel to them, but nobody wants to get close. They act as if you could catch mental illness!
Inferno: Calm down.
Me: sorry, it's a sore point. Mom was a teacher to those with mental illnesses, and personally, I found some of those children to be angels on earth.
