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[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]

"I'm a guest now?" Starscream smirks slightly. "And not the ironic sort who finds his quarters locked from the outside."

Ruby optics glitter with amusement as he steps past Bumper into the interview room.

"Hello again, Red. I hear things are getting interesting again."

[due_caution]

Red Alert spares a moment to scold himself for letting Starscream's presence get to him again as that faint discomfort slides along his circuits upon the Seeker's entrance.

"I doubt it would work, anyway. You seem to have a truly annoying tendancy to get yourself out of some incredibly impossible situations, so I doubt a locked door would be much of an impediment," Red replies drily as he waves his hand towards an unoccupied chair beside him.

"And, Starscream, whenever you're involved, things tend to start at 'interesting' and go downhill from there." Is that a joke? Surely not. Red Alert has no sense of humor, especially where the former Air Commander is concerned

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream glances at both of them, his expression even, concealing any emotions. Red Alert is plainly Not Happy with the current situation; neither Drath's machinations nor having to put with Starscream as an ally of sorts appeared to sit well with the Autobot Security Chief.

Something else (or perhaps the same thing) seemed to disturb Frostbite. She held herself like a wounded Autobot, trying bravely not to show her pain. She evidently likes to play Go--Starscream notes the mech-sized board on the desk in front of her, with a Go problem partway to a solution. So. A strategist. Holds her emotions close, and probably her grudges closer. Dangerous!

"I doubt it would work, anyway. You seem to have a truly annoying tendancy to get yourself out of some incredibly impossible situations, so I doubt a locked door would be much of an impediment," Red replies drily as he waves his hand towards an unoccupied chair beside him. Starscream turns the chair around and leans against the back of it. Unlike humans or some Autobots, he's not well-

[due_caution]

Red Alert would like to think that someone in the laboratory handling the DNA testing is clever enough to already be working on Starscream's recommendations, however too many assumptions having been made are what had allowed Drath and Not-Spike to slip through their very fingertips. He's not taking any more chances and nothing for granted

[due_caution]

Orders sent, he settles back in his chair once more, thinking hard. "Spike has access to all of the top officials of Earth, the EDC, the Autobots, and, potentially even the Decepticons. The damage he is capable of right now is... incalculable," he observes thoughtfully before meeting Starscream's gaze. There's a faint shadow of bleak despair in his optics... but under that, fierce determination. "If we are not careful, this may yet end in war... with the humans

[attair_al_fada]

Starscream leans against the wall and folds him arms.

"Pretty tangle we have here. Red, Drath strikes me as a vindictive slagger. Reducing a mech to fragile, short-lived, weak organic form and then selling him into slavery to aliens--that's nasty, even for me. Your dark-skinned Americans aren't the only people who have bad memories of their ancestors being sold as so much valuable goods." Starscream ponders that for a moment

[due_caution]

Although Starscream had brought up several points, it is one of the last that Red Alert finds himself a little fixated on for the moment. Too many little things that had seemed insignificant in and of themselves drop into place into a whole, big picture that is much greater than the sum if its parts.

Duskwing gets a shifty-optic'd look. "There's a couple. Can't tell you who; they both want it kept quiet. They want you to know they're dead, they'll tell you. They got personal stuff to take care off, see?"

That vague, uncomfortable sense of unease he'd felt when Duskwing had appeared, both times, and before Red had even known he'd been there. The same sense of unease that he feels right now, that he'd felt the last time Starscream had dropped by and that Red had shrugged off as lingering wariness and bias

[attair_al_fada]

"The dead," Starscream said evenly, "are not much concerned with the problems of the living. Factions don't matter; there's only friends and memories

[due_caution]

Red stares thoughtfully at Starscream for a long moment, finally nodding. "Fair enough," he replies evenly.

Leaning forward, he rests his elbows on the table, chin on his clasped hands as he stares off in deep thought, having returned his attention to the previous problem. "So. Drath is willing to forgo expedience for revenge. That could very well work in our favor. He's gotten away from us twice now; the last time he tried this, and now with his synthoid replacement taking the fall for him. We can't count on it, but he'll likely be overconfident now. He has every reason to be, with the absolute scrap-pile we've made of this thus far," he growls in frustration.

"Everyone except Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge were sent off to the slave trade, and those three were used as a distraction. Even Daniel was shipped off with the others to be sold, which argues for him being the genuine Daniel," he observes, meeting Starscream's optics again. "Let's hope that's a correct guess." For Duskwing's sake, at least.Red is surprised to realize

[attair_al_fada]

The gathered shadows dispersed as if they never were, and all three of them sat or stood in a normal, well-lighted room that smelled faintly of air freshener