Zomygawd, ROTF comes out tomorrow at midnight *flails*

Disclaimer: No, no. Still don't own.

20 -- Daring

"One must work and dare if one really wants to live." -- Vincent van Gogh

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Skids mentally berated himself as he crept along the dim hallways of the Ark like an intruder. It was well into the night and the dimmed corridors were, thankfully, more or less deserted of any surprises that could catch him skulking about as he drew closer to his target The cameras might have had posed a problem if Smokescreen hadn't promised that they were already taken care of but that didn't make him feel any better about the situation. Curse Sideswipe and his high-grade to the pits! This isn't worth the next four months prank-free immunity I won! He continued, turning into an adjacent hallway which housed his destination.

The blue Honda was currently fulfilling his 'agreement' with Smokescreen…if one could even call it that. 'Taking advantage of a barely conscious mech' was more of an apt description. Skids irritably reminded himself to give the accused Datsun a piece of his mind if he was still in the land of the functioning once this was all done and over with.

He cautiously edged towards the targeted door after making sure that the hallway was empty of unwanted visitors. The stolen lock code was inputted with barely there soft beeps and the door opened just as silently after the last number was pushed. Skids braced himself, listening hard for any indicator of movement within. After a too long soundless minute passed, he relaxed. Well, no turning back now, he thought and allowed himself in.

Even though the room was almost completely incased in shadows he could still faintly make out the occupant's outline with the help of the muted light spilling in from the hallway. His target was sprawled upon his berth, mouth agape, optics loosely shuttered, oblivious that his sanctuary had been invaded. Skids closed and locked the door behind him and in doing so plunged himself into near darkness. He hoped that he wasn't trapping himself in.

He fervently hoped that the rumors of his target being able to recharge through almost anything was true. Skids had no desire to be caught doing the dirty deed by the mech in his crosshairs. He couldn't even image how horrifyingly awkward it would be.

With that thought looming in his processor, Skids steeled his courage and set out to work. He was almost done in ten minutes, hacking into the unfortunate mech's programming being ridiculously easy, making tiny alterations to certain programs even easier. The blue Honda left in just under twenty minutes after making sure his hacking attempt was thoroughly erased and left everything just as it was before he had intruded. Just to be sure, he even retraced his steps back to the door. Throughout the entire episode, the pranked bot didn't even twitch a servo.

Skids left as silently as he entered and quickly fled back to his quarters, passing no one on the return trip. He didn't realize that his hands were minutely shaking till after he entered his quarters and sat heavily on his berth. He was irrationally glad that Smokescreen was out on night patrol and didn't have to watch his pathetic display of nerves.

The blue Honda slowly released a pent up air take to calm his anxiety, thinking about what he had just done…and started quietly chuckle. It soon exploded into full out laughter which he did best to muffle lest somebot out in the hall hear him even though it was highly unlikely. After a bit, Skids managed to get his sudden mirth under control and eased down onto his berth, smiling. He made sure to set his alarm early though his shift wasn't until the late afternoon by human standards.

He wanted to be there to see their faces.