Red Alert shoved the energon around in his cube, staring at the sleeping Inferno. Once again, Inferno was asleep in the middle of his action movie. He wondered if it was his fault that Inferno was asleep, and if he was truly that boring, demanding, or otherwise stupefying.

He never seemed to have this amount of trouble getting attention when he was Luckysteal-

His CPU flinched away from the thought of the guild and the demand Prowl had given him. He was… going to go insane. The thought of loosing the guild, something that he had worked so hard to make, made him completely nuts.

His head buried into his hands. All of his equipment… it was tried and true, he himself as Luckysteal was the top of the pack. It would be impossible to suddenly announce that he would no longer be at the head. Because he knew himself too well. He would watch, insist on watching the guild to make sure it ran smoothly.

And there would be no way to stop himself, because he was Luckysteal, and Luckysteal couldn't be denied, caught, or stopped. Unless my hands got blown off and I was told that I would never be able to have steady hands due to poor reconnection.

Red Alert snorted. Such things happened only in stories, not in real life. There was no slagging way any medic could be poor enough to reconnect the wires so poorly that-

A soft beep of his comm. link made him pause. "Yes?"

"Red Alert."

"Prowl…"

"Have you decided yet?"

"No."

Prowl said nothing, and Red Alert sourly wondered when he had stopped liking the police officer. Maybe when he had been given an unreasonable demand? "Prowl- Give me more time."

"I'll give you three months. After that, I will take it you said no."

"Very well. Three months…" Three months suddenly seemed like an incredibly short time.

Inferno stirred, as a particularly loud explosion echoed in the room. Red Alert ignored it, believing it to be the movie still playing, until he glanced at the screen. Soft music, the couple kissing- No- that wasn't explosion material-

With a shout, he was out of the room and sliding into the control room. The former guard lay murdered in his seat, the screens showing Decepticons pouring in-

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! The alarms shrilled as Red Alert pressed the attack button. Hs carefully slid the murdered mech off of his seat, before sitting down, ignoring the energon soaked padding. He had bigger fish to fry-

"Decepticons have breeched the perimeter on the Northern side. I repeat, Decepticons have breeched the perimeter on the Northern side, everyone report for duty-"

"Red?" Infernos startled voice broke over the comm. link. "Red? What-"

"Inferno- I need you to go to the northern side of base now! We got Decepticons pouring through-"

"Right-"

Inferno back could be seen in the cameras as he took off down the corridors, and Red Alert settled in to watch. He had to make sure no one would attempt to circle up from behind…

Screens split as his optics flickered, taking it all in. Without even realizing it, his hand twitched, as if about to pick a lock. He wanted a lock to pick; that was for certain. At least with locks the only thing you had to worry about was getting shot at, not having to worry that everyone else was going to be shot at.

The slightest sound behind him was the only warning he had that someone had sneaked up behind him. And the sound was only the softest clink of metal. With a yelp he ducked and turned, gun subspacing into his hand to stare at three pairs of optics. It's one of those Reflector Units. Red Alert had one dizzy moment to think-

Those units had made good thieves. Too bad most of them were cruel enough that they had gone over to the 'Con side. But he didn't think that even they would betray Luckysteal. Not that they knew he was Luckysteal at this moment.

He threw himself forward, cannonball-like into one of the mechs, and fired. The other two flinched as their third component was violently offlined. Red Alert stood slowly, optics warily on the other two. He didn't want to kill them, even if they were 'Cons, for the simple fact that they were part of the thief's guild.

They had no compunction about killing him however, and the two charged. Red Alert brought up his gun, and fired. There was a brief moment in which he actually thought he was going to die- before one of them dropped. "Red?"

"Inferno? What are you doing back here-"

"The medic needed help, and he claimed that you had medical background. And you weren't answering your comm. link so I came to check up on you."

Red Alert quickly checked the time. Five breems since the fight had started. Five. It was like someone was trying to kill him. First, earlier, there had been the raid, now there was a second raid, all in a single day. Yes, something was going wrong with his life. Horribly, badly wrong.

Was someone out to get him? Or was it simply a warning? Inferno knelt down next to the unconscious mech. "Here, I'll take them to the brig-" Red Alert heard the whistling sound moments before blackness ate at the corner of his optics. Inferno bellowed in anger, and charged.

That was all he saw before darkness covered his vision, and there was nothing more.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert twitched, and groaned softly, making Inferno sigh in relief, even as he nursed his own CPU ache. Captured. Slag it… I hope that the rest of the base managed to escape. Red Alert twitched again, and Inferno bent over his smaller friend, sighing in relief.

At last Red Alert was waking up. Inferno had been getting worried by the long, long recharge. "Red? Are ya awake?"

Optics blearily onlined, and Infernos spark, despite the extraneous circumstances, skipped a beat as Red Alert gazed up at him. "Inferno? Wha-"

He curled up, clutching his CPU. Inferno automatically reached out, hand resting on the side of the head. "Red? Are ya alright?" His warmly accented voice grew thick with worry.

"I-I'm fine." Red Alert said after a moment. "I simply- ow…"

For a moment Red Alerts body went limp, before Red Alert slowly shook his head, climbing to his feet. "We- We have to get out of here."

"How? The keys are on the opposite side of the room Red."

Red Alert staggered to the bars, optics darting around. "Inferno- how good are you at keeping a secret?"

Inferno glanced at Red Alert, confused. "It depends on what the secret is Red. If it's something that can hurt others, then Ah ain't gonna keep it."

"No-" Red Alert whispered the words so softly, Inferno almost missed them. "No- you wouldn't. But, in the end, this secret is only going to hurt our friendship."

"Red?" The fire truck was becoming really confused now. Surely Red didn't have that big of a secret-

The glint of a thin metal sliver glinted in the light, as Red Alert twitched it into the hole. Inferno watched in stupefaction as Red Alert worked, optics half-shuttered. Different slivers of metal flicked in and out of subspace as the Lamborghini prodded the lock. Less then half a breem later, the lock opened. "Come one Inferno."

Inferno didn't hesitate to follow after the slowly walking Red Alert. "Red, where are we going?"

"Nearest ventilation shaft big enough. I recognize where we are."

"Really? Where are we?"

"We're in a former police station in Iacon. I was here… once long ago. In my quest to capture Luckysteal-" An ugly laugh tore itself out of his vocalizer, while Inferno had the bad feeling that the situation was spiraling out of control.

"Red." Red Alert didn't turn around. Inferno stopped, crossing both arms, and glowered at the back of Red Alert. Once upon a time he would've enjoyed the view. He was still enjoying the view in fact- but he wanted answers. A deep, uneasy gut feeling had risen from within him, warning him to go no further until he had answers.

Inferno had long ago accepted the fact that Red Alert would never be as talkative, or as open as Inferno sometimes wished he could be. The fire truck had also come to accept the fact that Red Alert would explain nothing until he had fully carried out whatever plan he had designed, and even then security issues would keep him from revealing the full scope. But nowhere, not even once, had Inferno ever heard of a security director that was able to pick a lock within a breem. "Red- What- how-"

"I'll… I'll tell you everything Inferno, as soon as we get somewhere safe. But as for now- will you please come with me?" The soft plea in his voice was impossible to miss, and tugged on his heart strings. But he wasn't stupid.

"Red- we can walk straight into a 'Con!"

"No- just up ahead is a special place where we can escape Inferno. Come on-"

Inferno gave in, uneasily following the smaller Lamborghini around the corner. There, Red Alert bent to tear up a corner of the floor. A large hollow area was shown under the tile. "Come on Inferno."

Red Alert jumped in without hesitating. Inferno paused, only for a moment, before jumping in after.

The black darkness waiting up ahead was only broken by the light that fell from above onto the Autobots. "Red?"

"One moment while I slide the ceiling back in place."

Inferno watched as Red Alert, quick and agile, climbed the tiny hand and foot holds up to the ceiling to slide it back into place. Complete darkness fell now, unbroken. "Erm… Red?" Inferno was proud that he could keep a level tone, because he felt a lot more like shouting his head off. "Ah don't think I can get through this."

A hand descended upon his. Inferno automatically clenched onto it. "Don't worry, I'll guide you out."

"You know the way?"

"Yes… I know the way."

The hand tugged him forward, and Inferno followed quietly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert listened to Inferno move behind him, his own senses concentrating on what was before him. It was a lucky thing that the 'Cons had only taken out the weapons and nothing else out of the subspace. He was left with all of the highly-sensitive equipment that helped him get through the area.

He wondered how long he had been out- his internal chronometer wasn't working. Nor could he seem to figure out how they had landed themselves back in Iacon, instead of being at the Dome. Why had the 'Cons brought them so far? What did they want?

Inferno stumbled behind him, hand tightening around Red Alerts. Red Alert felt the slightest smile twitch across his face as he attempted to guide his friend through the darkness. Inferno hissed a soft curse as his head slammed against a wall. "Red- can I turn on my lights?"

"No- It might shine through the ceiling above us." Red Alert whispered back.

"Where are we?"

"We're leaving the police station now-"

Unexpected light flooded the area, and both froze. Red Alert slid into a defensive crouch, hand automatically tightening on Inferno. He wasn't going to let go- Inferno hand tightened on his, as the fire truck shifted behind him.

"Red Alert, I thought you'd come here soon enough."

"What?" Red Alert flinched as he glanced around, searching for the source of the voice. "Show yourself!"

A femme stepped out of the shadows, her red optics a cruel red in the harsh light. "Red, so pleasant to see you after so long. I thought you would escape from the brig soon enough."

Inferno was rapidly tensing behind Red Alert, he could hear the cables tightening inside of the fire truck. Quickly the Lamborghini snapped, "Why did you save us?"

"Fair is fair. I thought you'd probably leave the fire truck behind, but judging from the way you two are holding hands…" The femme smirked. "Looks like you've grown up some."

"What the slag do you mean by that?" Red Alert demanded. The femmes optics narrowed.

"Don't get fresh with me. Even if you did decide to no longer claim that you're my creation _I_ still remember that you are. And I don't think you want to make any loud noises. Mechs might hear us."

"Red?" Inferno questioned, glancing from femme to Lamborghini in surprise, "What-"

Red Alert brutally cut him off. "Inferno, meet my creator. Creator, Inferno."

The femme smiled, red optics glinting. "How's your baby brother doing?"

"Just fine. What do you want?"

"So directly to the point. I actually came here to warn you. The Thief Guild has had a leak, and the Decepticons are trying to gain information enough to blackmail all of the thieves into their army. They should be on a raid, oh, in a breem."

Red Alert body stiffened, optics resting heavily on her. "They what?"

"You got a traitor in your ranks. He offered the meeting places of the Thief Guild in each city in exchange for money. The other Decepticons are more then willing to capture the thieves and reprogram them into the army. I would suggest getting out of here."

Red Alert stared at his creator for a long moment. "Why- are you telling me this?"

"You're still my creation. No matter how much you hate me, I cannot forget one of my own blood. Besides, I think you would suicide if anything too bad happened to your precious Thief Guild Luckysteal."

Red Alert didn't hear Inferno take in a sharp intake, nor did he hear the softly creeping footsteps. "When did you learn-"

"It didn't take us too long to figure it out. I have to say I'm proud of you. It isn't often you can brag that your child managed to create a guild and keep it running through the war. Of course, I wouldn't suggest keeping it around until after the Decepticons forget about it."

Red Alert had the uneasy feeling that the ground was dropping away from beneath his feet- The sound of a gun being cocked was his only warning as he threw himself backwards, screaming, "Look out!"

There was the moments confusion as Inferno automatically tried to yank his friend back, and both went slamming into the wall from combined inertia. The femme skipped backwards, her own gun rising up. A pained scream tore through the room, as Red Alert doubled over, cradling his destroyed hand.

A/n: Yes, I know I'm evil. Poor Inferno, he be so confused :)