replacement ch. 9

Red Alert entered the room, his optics scanning fast. There was nothing to hide behind. With a growl he wondered if he could make it to the library. No, he could hear the footsteps coming behind him.

Desperate he searched the room. Stopped, looked around the room once more. Something was off here… His optics looked out of the window. It had no bars. It led to the outside easily. He grinned, and slipped out the window.

Red Alert could hear the confused babble of voices behind him as he made his way back to the party. True, they might be searching for him there, but instincts honed from dodging irate commanders about false alarms told him that they wouldn’t look where they had already searched.

O0o0o0o0oo0o0o0

Arcwelder was just beginning to panic about his missing charge when Red Alert appeared on the edges of the crowd, casually making his way through. Arcwelder stormed over to where Red Alert was, scolding. “Red Alert, I was worried that you had gone and vanished!”

Red Alert said nothing. Arcwelder continued, “I just got the news that tomorrow you’ll be blasting off at 1800, so you should come and have at least a single sip. Don’t worry, it isn’t high-grade. I specially requested some medium grade because you haven’t eaten for awhile.”

Arcwelder held out the energon. Red Alert took it slowly, but didn’t touch the contents. Arcwelder sighed in frustration. He wondered how Waveshaft was dealing with his group.

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Jazz charged out of Prowls office, shouting for Prime. Prime appeared, slightly confused, Ratchet on his heels. “Good, both of you are here.” Jazz snarled. “Listen to this!”

Puzzled, Prime flicked on the recording, and both of them stiffened as they listened. Ratchets gaze turned to Prime. “Those-those absolute, pit-slaggin’ morons! If Red Alert glitches serious enough, it’ll be irreparable! And here they are, trying to make him glitch.”

Prime was silent, and then he looked up. “Jazz, where’s Prowl?”

“He’s currently trying to get a bit of peace, and some sort of resemblance of quiet onboard. I offered to do his paperwork for him.”

“Good. Page him, and tell him to get the entire crew off to the main meeting hall. I don’t think that Lantem is going to give Red Alert back to us unless we ask directly.”

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

All mechs onboard jostled each other for space as they crowded into the only room able to hold all of them at once. Inferno glanced around, and smiled wryly as he saw Waveshaft wedged into a corner, being interrogated by the arielbots. He was stammering, and shaking his head.

Sunstreaker muttered, “Maybe Prime’s gonna tell us what’s going on finally.”

Prime entered at that moment. Grimlock was the first to step foreword. “Me Grimlock want to know where Red Alert go now!”

Optimus Prime said coolly, “I’m about to explain. Please back up Grimlock.”

Angrily Grimlock obeyed, muttering and scowling to himself. Optimus Prime took a deep breath, and began explaining. “About a week ago, a rather grave concern was brought up in a conference about whether Red Alert should be allowed on the Ark. In order to prove that Red Alert was the only one who could handle this job, we agreed to take whomever they wanted until they cracked. Then, never again would they bring up Red Alert’s glitch.”

A loud, angry mutter swept through the mechs. Why hadn’t they been told? They would’ve sent the other packing, gone to that planet, and demanded Red Alert back. “In order to make sure that it was a real test, we agreed not to tell anyone. Red Alert was sent somewhere else, and we got Waveshaft.”

Gazes were switched to Waveshaft, none of them friendly. Even Bluestreak had no sympathy for the now quivering mech. Optimus Prime cleared his throat for attention. “We just requested that Red Alert to be sent back. But we were refused. In another two orns, Red Alert is scheduled to be taken off planet. Where, no one knows, but it defiantly isn’t the Ark.”

The angry murmur grew to a crackling rage. They had fought hundreds of battles together. They might fight within themselves, and against each other, but pity upon the poor mech who actually hurt one of them, for they were family. One of the most oddest, most unusual families ever to roam the galaxy, each coming from different walks of life, and different types of likes and dislikes, but they were family. And the number one rule of family is to stick together and protect your own.

The planet Lantem had made a serious mistake messing with the Ark. After all, were they not the best of the best? Inferno snarled, “Why did you let him go anyways?”

“We didn’t have much choice in the matter. The entire council had agreed on the plan. Only Ratchet, Prowl, Jazz and I were the ones against it. We were overruled.”

“Well, why are we standing around?” Sideswipe asked grumpily. “Let’s go get our security director back! I want to light some firecrackers under his chair!”

The entire crew raced through the Ark, preparing for battle. Prowl beckoned to his tacticians, and said, “We must figure out a plan. We cannot just charge on, and expect to find Red Alert. If he does go glitchy, he might not even be able to trust us.”

Inferno said over shoulder, “Leave the Red Alert to me. He trusts me despite his glitch since we’re sparkmates and all.”

Prowl shook his head. “That’s good enough for you, but Red Alert is still likely to run at first unless we trap him somewhere.”

Inferno shook his head, but his optics became worried. “Alright, I suppose.” He muttered. “Red Alert will shut down if even a bolt of electricity is near his horns.”

Prowl nodded, filing the information away for later. “Just don’t tell the twins.”

“If they do ever learn, I’ll ask that Ratchet completely wipes their memory.” Prowl promised.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Red Alert shifted nervously, feeling very uneasy. He had kept in the middle of the party, trying to keep his glitch under control, but it wasn’t working. He flinched when a hand descended upon his back.

He turned around, fist flying out. The security guard caught it, twisting it so that the nuts keeping it up snapped. Red Alert wrenched backwards, his optics narrowing, glitch completely taking over.

There was no rational thought in Red Alerts CPU, just Destroy! Kill them, and make sure that they can never betray you. Make sure that they won’t be able to destroy those you love. He shook his head, his logic processor working for a single clear moment, Run. You can’t fight them all.

Red Alert ran, quickly vanishing into the darkness, figuring on going into his room. Sirens blared around him, but he didn’t care, he was going to find a gun, get into a tiny, defensible room, and kill all those who came close- CRUNCH!

Red Alert whimpered in pain as he collapsed on the badly damaged leg. Many mechs would have been unconscious, but Red Alert dragged himself upright, back to the wall. Ark is coming, have to hold on flashed across his CPU, before he remembered, no, I’m not on the Ark, I’m beyond the Ark, and they don’t know-

Three security guards appeared out of the gloom, holding weapons. Red Alert held still, pretending that he couldn’t move. When the five guards got close enough, he charged the astonished guards, screaming a war cry.