Chapter 2! Whoo! I wasn't going to include an Author's Note, but someone mentioned something silly that I did with Inferno's name and I figured I'd better explain.
I watched Energon almost all the way through the series, and then started over on the Super Link fansubs and watched the series all the way through on that. I know slightly more about Super Link than Energon, and have seen it much more recently. So, I use the English names in fics, but I've seen the Japanese ones used more often. That means that in my head, Inferno is Inferno to the end of the series. In any case, all the random renaming in the official dubs drive my crazy, so I always called him by Inferno even before I saw Super Link. That's why he hasn't been renamed. So, yeah. No deep explanation, just an author flub. You can pretend he's called Roadblock if you want.
Hypocrite
Chapter 2
Rewound stared dubiously at the door to the High Command Center. To get in, he had to type in the code number, but the door rotated through five codes over a period of three days to prevent someone from learning one code and getting in. If he didn't get it right on the first try, all the security in the building would be swarming on him in seconds. He had narrowed it down to 2477180 or 9536452, unless he was off by a day…
The door slid open before Rewound even touched the keypad. "What took you so long?"
"Hi, Inferno. Do ya know the number?" Rewound said nonchalantly.
"You were not almost an hour late trying to remember the number," Inferno said, crossing his arms. "Even if the main roads were blocked, it shouldn't take any more than twenty minutes to drive here."
"Didn't drive," Rewound said. He hunched his shoulders slightly, showing the two empty axels where his tires had been attached to his back. He had been a three-wheeled red-orange motorcycle, with his third wheel as part of his lower back in robot mode, but if he transformed now the one wheel would be dragging the rest of him behind it.
Inferno glanced at the axels curiously, but didn't ask a question Rewound usually got. "Who has your tires now?"
"Er… I dunno. I sold 'em to some Terrorcon in the black market, how should I know what he did with…" Rewound shut his mouth. He'd just completely slagged himself. Inferno had put him off guard with that question, the jerk.
To Rewound's shock, Inferno just nodded. "If it was a Terrorcon, you might meet someone in the junkyard with your tires. Come on." Inferno typed in the code number too quickly for Rewound to see it and walked into the High Command Center without waiting for Rewound.
Fuming, Rewound followed. How dare Inferno make him freak out like that! And he was completely overlooking a highly treasonous crime. Rewound would report him without a second thought if his own skidplate wasn't on the line. Not that he cared about the authorities in the least; after all, he'd commited the original crime with complete disregard for authority. He just wanted an opportunity to get the hypocrite in trouble. Rewound spent the next few minutes alternating between shooting burning glares at Inferno's back and ignoring him completely.
"So, are ya gonna tell me what I need to do or what?" Rewound asked. They had spent five minutes walking through the High Command Center, which was apparently much bigger than it looked, and they were still on the first floor. From the outside, it was a plain red building with blue-tinted windows, supposedly some kind of representation of the Autobot sigil and common optic color. On the inside, however, it was merely halls and offices, white and an ugly shade of brown. Rewound wondered wryly if this was supposed to be a representation of what Autobots actually looked like on the inside.
Inferno didn't rely.
Rewound ran beside Inferno and leaned forward, looking at his face from an angle. "Hey, are yer audio circuits fried or what? I asked a question!"
"And I chose not to answer," Inferno said sharply. "Don't forget, I'm ranked higher than you'd ever want to be."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rewound snapped. "How do ya know anything about what I'd want, huh? And what gives ya the right to say that anyway? Do ya have any manners at all, or did ya lose them fighting the Decepticons?"
Inferno chuckled. "You should speak for yourself. If I want to, I could have you discharged from the Autobots for almost anything you've said to me today." He paused long enough for Rewound to break optic contact and glare at the floor. "We're headed to my office so I can give you your instructions."
"Primus, this guy is real prompt," Rewound muttered, and cringed when he heard Inferno laugh.
Inferno had also said enough to get himself in serious trouble. He'd allowed Rewound to get away with fraternizing with the enemy, and even seemed to know a bit about the black market and junkyard.
Rewound shuffled along behind Inferno, glaring sulkily at the floor. He, personally, was far from the model Autobot, but at least he wasn't pretending anything. The only reason he was a 'Bot was because it paid for his Energon and gave him an excuse to fight. He didn't profess any loyalty, and wouldn't as long as he didn't feel it. He was no hypocrite, at least.
So why did Inferno keep acting like a perfect Autobot? And why was he letting Rewound see behind the act?
"So, did you get all that?" Inferno asked, rolling up a map of the junkyard.
"Course I did." It had hardly been worth the effort of coming down to Inferno's office, in the back of the building and then up two flights of stairs. All Inferno had done was show him a map of the junkyard with several routes though it, pointing out which one Snowcat and Demolisher had probably taken based on the background elements in the memory scan.
"Well, that's that." Rewound pulled himself out of the chair he had taken upon entering the room (based on the size, it was probably Inferno's, he noted cheerfully) and headed towards the door.
"Wait a moment." Inferno blocked Rewound with one arm. "Remember, you're on reconnaissance. If you see anything, you're to report to me before doing anything. And if I ask for visuals, I expect you to obey."
"What, don't want me to catch 'em before ya come save the day?" Rewound asked.
"Yes, that's it exactly. Sometimes your brilliance astounds me," Inferno said flatly. He withdrew his arm but didn't open the door. "Any questions?"
It took a moment for Rewound to realize he hadn't actually been complimented and come up with a suitably sarcastic retort. "Yeah, sure. Do I get a bonus for this?"
"If you want, we can give you the Decepticons' leftover parts to sell to the Terrorcons. Anything else?"
His retort shot down, Rewound thought a moment, but couldn't come up with anything else particularly snarky. Instead, he asked, "So what happens when ya catch those guys?"
"Hopefully, the end of their race," Inferno said. He flashed one of those smiles and opened the door for Rewound before he could ask anything else. It was almost like he'd been waiting for that question.