(Untitled)

[due_caution]

Red Alert had briefly considered tagging along with Kitten Prime and Company, if only to make sure Rodimus stayed safe and out of trouble, but thought better of it after contemplation. Right now, at a glance, who would even know that the small orange Terran cat is the Autobot Prime, unless someone draws undue attention to him

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[attair_al_fada]

Hmm, now what? Starscream muses as he threads Slingshot's hydraulic lines into place. Red's going to be watching his systems like, well, a paranoid security chief, and my secure reconnaissance just turned out to be not-so-secure. 65% chance she's told Red, but if she hasn't, he's going to be even more suspicious of me.

As he carefully screws a connector into place, Starscream continues to consider the matter. Getting tossed in the brig out of general paranoia would not do. Red or Frostbite, then? Red picked up on my advice about Spike--smart move to check Drath's remains--but Frostbite knows. She's up to something, as well. Slag, we underestimated her for years!

Starscream secures another hydraulic line. Duskwing will protect the younger brat of his own accord--and possibly the girl as well, whether I want him to or not. Not my problem, in any case. If Drath starts playing games with Transformer sparks again, though...Starscream carefully tightens the last connector; Slingshot's hydraulics are complete. He turns his head toward

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream replies drily, //Nothing's exploding down there? You're not in the middle of a firefight or someone having a psychotic breakdown, are you? Galvatron isn't gracing one of Red Alert's guest chairs is he? None of the above? Sounds like I called at a good time.//

// Shall I come up there, or do you prefer to meet elsewhere? It was just brought to my attention that I underestimated you yet again... not to mention that we all were criminally incompetent in underestimating Drath! //

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream finished putting away his tools and headed for the Medbay door.

// Part of what I want to talk about involves Drath and this concept of intelligence-sharing I'd like to explain to Red Alert! // Starscream's tone is such that if he were human, Frostbite would be able to hear teeth grinding.

// I think I got it through Steadfast's head that you Autobots are allies and assets when it comes to external enemies like the Quintesson and people like Drath. Please don't tell me Red is as petty-minded as Onslaught. I'll be terribly disappointed in him. //

// As for the other matter... I put the odds at 60-40 you'd already told Red. You surprise me. If you do find it necessary, I ask that you do me the favor of telling him securely and privately. It's not information that needs to be hanging out on a security log. //

Hesitation. // If Red knew... would it help or hinder, do you think? I'll see you in Red's office in any case. //

[due_caution]

Oblivious to the comm conversation between Frostbite and Starscream - or rather, ignoring it for the moment, as Frostbite seems to have whatever it is she is working on well in hand - Red Alert is busy pouring through the security logs and communications from his security detail. What he is finding should be impossible. Utterly, and completely impossible.

How in the ever-loving slag does anyone, even a human trying to be inconspicuous, manage to vanish from the confines of Autobot City!? HOW!?"We need to speak to Starscream again," Red observes tiredly, apropos of nothing. Or at least nothing he's said aloud yet, although it's clear from his tone and his expression that when he says "speak to Starscream," he doesn't mean "politely interrogate" so much as "grudgingly collaborate

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream smirks to himself as he saunters out the door.

// Oh, good. I'm not disappointed in him then! //

Starscream is quite pleased; he'd been bitterly disappointed by Onslaught's inability to grasp the responsibility of command over indulging in his petty grievances. He had perhaps overrated Steadfast because she had been able to put her animosities on hold for the sake of the Decepticons. Or perhaps not. Red Alert seems to be turning out neither better nor worse than Starscream expects; it's a relief that his assessment of someone is correct.

// You're not in his office? Where's your office? I don't think I have that information. I actually meant to meet you where you were. //

[due_caution]

"How convenient," Red replies drily. "Checking up on his spy was he

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream only takes one wrong turn, and backtracks as soon as he figures out that the human commissary isn't where he intended to go. He smirks at the jaw-dropped looks he gets from the humans and a small red minibot who is apparently too surprised to do more than stutter incoherently before Starscream saunters out of audial range.

"Third door on corridor 3-A... Ah, here we go. 'Legal Affairs, T. MacBride'." Starscream tilts his head curiously; who was 'T. MacBride'? Something to ask once he located everyone. With the same non-chalance he'd used visiting Red Alert's office, he brushed a blue thumb across the door button, as if he were just passing by and just happened to bump it.

[kaci_celica]

Kaci's about to ask Bumper if he wants any help with dismantling the ah... wall display, shall we say, when the door suddenly opens.

A stunned kind of silence drops into the office like an anvil from some ridiculously comical cartoon show. There's a loud clatter from somewhere near Bumper.

"...Starscream!"

Whilst not quite as shocked as Bumper evidently was, Kaci is still surprised to see the Seeker standing in the doorway. Bumper's question mostly answered her immediate 'What's he doing here?' thoughts, though.

Poor Bumper. She glances over to him and notes the axe still on the floor. For lack of anything better to do instead of standing there and watching Starscream with a surprised-curious look on her face, she heads over and carefully picks up the rather large weapon before stepping back again, giving Bumper some space so he could continue doing the talking.

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream watches the yellow minibot stagger about with an odd expression