Hello All!! Sorry, it's been so long. I had to finish my summer semester term papers and my computer crashed. The boyfriend let me use his for my papers, but I didn't have computer time for my fanfic. Which by the way are more interesting than doing my term papers. I've made up for the wait with a sorta long chapter (for me anyway). On the upside of my life I did get to go on a beach weekend last week. I wrote most of this chapter in my head while driving through Alabama on the way to Destin. Let me tell you if you have the opprotunity to drive by yourself through Alabama, don't do it. Kidnap a friend to go with you if you have to. I was so bored. The only upshot was being able to think about this story. And I should have my other story updated by Monday (fingers crossed).
This hasn't been ran pass a beta. Please feel free to gently point out any glaring and not so glaring errors. I know I get comma happy at times.
Anyway we all know the summary by now. Still no Fireflight jumping Red Alert. The plot foxes still insist on an actual plot. Go Figure.
Disclaimer: Still own nothing.
Chapter summary: Brothers being brothers.
"Twins are headed to you," Prowl commed Red Alert almost as soon as he had walked into the security room the next morning. With those five words he knew his morning wasn't going to start out as uneventfully as he had hoped. And the fact that his friend had sounded rather chipper, at least for the SIC, almost caused him to shiver.
"What did they do now?" Maybe he should have investigated what they were up to last night? He should have realized then that he would have to still deal with them later. There were days, and this going to be one of them, that he regretted ever asking that he be the one to handle the twins when they required punishment of any kind.
"They wanted to show you themselves. Apparently they obtained image captures. Speaking of which, please do your best to convince them not to pass those captures around or use them as Teletraan 1's wallpaper. Prowl out." By the tone of Prowl's voice he could be assured that whatever his brothers did this time it was at least going to be interesting.
The twins had indeed used the rubber cement on Cliffjumper in such an elaborate way that it was almost a shame no one was awarding points based on creativity. Red Alert didn't bother to ask where they had gotten bunny ears large enough to fit the mini-bot. Or where they had obtained enough cotton to make the tail for that matter. He knew without asking that he had Jazz to thank however for introducing the twins to the concept of a "Playboy Bunny."
There was just one question he wanted to ask. "Just exactly why did you decide to play dress-up with Cliffjumper?" he asked. "Sideswipe? Sunstreaker?" he prompted after a few moments of silence.
He didn't miss the uneasy look the two exchanged. The only time they don't give me a reason is....oh. I wonder what Cliffjumper said about me this time. Red Alert knew from experience that the only time the twins remained silent on their reasons was when they were trying to protect his feelings. It was actually kind of sweet of them to seek revenge on his behalf.
Still he had to maintain order. After extracting a promise not to show the image captures to anyone and to delete all copies he gave them an extra long lecture, his own weird way of expressing his gratitude, and sent them off to be Ratchet's helpers/whipping 'Bots for the day.
Cliffjumper then came to complain to the security director personally. He at least was smart enough not to mention why the twins targeted him. It was hard to take him seriously since the ears and what appeared to be some sort of bow tie were still attached, but Red Alert made an effort to at least pretend to care at first. After an hour however, he had to resort to remotely triggering a camera failure to get away from the red mini-bot and his complaints. Short of locking up the twins and throwing away the key there was nothing would satisfy Cliffjumper. And while that may have seemed like a good plan on some days, Optimus Prime would never agree. Red Alert had asked before.
The day improved slightly after that. Beachcomber was assigned the afternoon shift in the monitor room. He was one of the few mechs Red Alert would trust to do his job without constant supervision. This allowed the Lamborghini to retreat into his private office to finish some reports that he wouldn't have time to do after Fireflight's lessons and before recharge.
Fireflight's morning by comparison started out better. The first thing that caught his attention when he left his room was Slingshot was indeed mopping and cursing in English rather fluently. Silverbolt must have noticed the mud from the night before. As quietly as possible Fireflight slipped out the door before he could be noticed by his brother. No doubt Slingshot would blame him for the mess and and make some mean comments about it. Fireflight was conveniently ignoring the fact that the mess actually was his fault.
He was halfway to the Rec room to get his morning energon when his commed beeped. "Yes?" he asked ducking into a side hallway and out of the flow of foot traffic. He was a little worried it was Slingshot and almost sagged in relief when he heard Silverbolt's voice.
"Hey, 'Flight. Optimus called a meeting for the team leaders today. Our training session has been cancelled. Enjoy your free day," Silverbolt got straight to the point.
"Sweet." The day was getting even better.
"Oh, and don't forget your appointment with Red Alert."
"I won't forget, 'Bolt," Fireflight assured his leader while fighting the urge to vent a sigh. He wasn't that scatterbrained after all. "Fireflight out." He ended the transmission and stepped back into the main hallway.
"Watch it, Airhead," someone growled as they pushed past the jet.
"Sorry, Cliffjumper. I didn't...." Fireflight trailed off when he got a good look at the mini-bot.
"What are you staring at?" Cliffjumper demanded.
Fireflight shook his helm when he realized that he was indeed staring. He almost didn't say what popped into his processor. But his CPU to vocalizer filter failed. "Nothing. I just didn't realized it was the time of the year that the humans celebrate Easter," he quipped before quickly heading in the opposite direction.
By the time Fireflight showed up that evening Red Alert had finished his reports for the evening and arranged for Jazz to monitor the control room. Not wanting to tax the younger mech's admittedly limited attention span they would keep the lessons as distraction free as possible. That meant that Red Alert would hold the first few lessons in his private office.
They would start out with the basic safety rules of the Ark and work their way up from there. Red Alert's eventual goal was to take Fireflight outside and teach him situational awareness. And maybe make the world a safer place for shrubbery everywhere.
Red Alert was almost surprised when Fireflight turned out to be a rather quick study when given a structured learning environment. The younger mech easily caught on to the rules as Red Alert went over them. Fireflight was even able to offer more than a few examples of when he or his brothers had broken a specific rule if prompted. They had actually managed to cover two days worth of lessons by the end of the day.
"Do you have any questions?" Red Alert asked right before he was ready to 'call it a day' as Spike would say.
Fireflight couldn't stop the question that leapt into his processor even though he knew it wasn't what Red Alert meant. "Why did Cliffjumper look like a bunny today?" He mentally winced. Until that moment he had done a good job of not embarrassing his teammates.
It took Red Alert a moment before he could trust himself to answer and not laugh. It wasn't the first question he would have come up with. "The twins decided to play a joke on him."
"Oh. Why?" Another mental wince. He really needed to get his vocalizer filter fixed.
Red Alert considered his answer. He didn't want to tell Fireflight it was probably due to Cliffjumper insulting the security director. He decided to settle on the truth, but not the whole truth. "I didn't ask. With my brothers it's best not to know sometimes."
"That makes sense I guess," Fireflight offered. Finally, something he didn't want to smack himself for saying. Unfortunately that feeling didn't last long. "Kind of like when 'Shot returns with a part that looks like it belongs to Blades and then Hotspot contacts Silverbolt and then Silverbolt calls him into his office and yells at him. I mean he yells at 'Shot and not Hotspot. I think Optimus is the only one that can yell at team leaders. Well him and Prowl. Although, now that I think about it I don't think they yell. I mean, I've never heard Optimus actually yell..."
"Uh...yeah something like that," Red Alert interrupted. He also made a mental note to keep a closer optic on Slingshot and Blades. "Anyway, I'll see you at the same time tomorrow. Now scoot," Red Alert stood to escort him out of his office and the security room.
Red Alert watched him head down the hall from the doorway. Fireflight was a good youngling. All he needed was a little guidance. Red Alert thanked Jazz for covering the monitors and sent him on his way to Prowl. He turned back to the monitors and followed Fireflight's progress back toward the Aerialbots' hanger.
Red Alert saw Fireflight tense when he ran into Slingshot in the hallway right outside the hanger doors. Without really processing the thought he flipped on the audio for that camera.
"So, rumor has it Red Alert nailed you for reckless flying and he's making you sit through his boring lectures," Slingshot taunted. He knew Red Alert was giving his brother lessons, but he was just mad enough about having to mop up Fireflight's mess to feel justified in being a little mean.
"They're 'lessons' and not 'lectures'. And it wasn't reckless flying. Some lightning just screwed up a few of my sensors," Fireflight wasn't going to take the bait. Starting an argument with Slingshot was the last thing he wanted. He reasoned that Slingshot was just angry about the mud. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that Fireflight was the one who left the mess.
"Yeah, whatever. Just don't embarrass us in front of him," Slingshot echoed Silverbolt's earlier warning. Just not as nicely. "Bad enough our own air commander is afraid of heights," and with that Slingshot shouldered past Fireflight and headed toward the rec room.
"Jerk," Fireflight muttered, offended on both his own behalf and Silverbolt's. Shaking his helm he finally headed inside their hanger.
A thoughtful look crossed Red Alert's facial plates as he flipped the audio off once again. Shrugging to himself he pressed a few keys on one of the terminals before setting the systems on automatic. Teletraan 1 would let him know if anything came up he needed to concern himself with.
Meanwhile, Slingshot couldn't figure out why he just got messaged a new duty roster for the next day. Or why he was now assigned to help Perceptor clean and rearrange his lab.
Review responses: First, thanks to everyone who has reviewed and/or put this story under "alerts". I was actually surprised. I've read each and every one of them and appreciate them all. Sorry if I'm both rambling and gushing. Now to address a few:
Phish with no pen-yes they are probably going to be one of those teeth rotting pairs. Fireflight is so adorable he could do it himself.
Grey Grapevines-don't worry. The drama will come. It wouldn't be fun if it was all smooth sailing. There's still an ex to deal with. This chapter just wanted to lean toward the funny.
TicTac- J'accuse!! It was your plot bunny that attacked my mind and is responsible for this. Thanks!!
Aya-Chan-I also think he has a glitch in the main universe. I like to think of this as a kind of AU, unofficially dubbed "Redflight" where he really is just hyper aware of his surroundings and he lets others believe what they want. Like he said earlier it helps to be underestiated sometimes.
Asher-thanks! Your review was the last email I recieved before taking off for the beach. It was a nice way to end a week of mostly school emails and spam.
PS: I know Slingshot is a jerk in this, but every family has the one (or more in mine) who sometimes acts like a jerk just to be a jerk.
PPS: A new poll will be up soon. Check it out.