Non Solum Fugere

Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?

"SNAKE!" Slingshot and Fireflight exchanged a confused look and then ran in the direction the scream had come from to see who was screaming. They quickly found a group of Autobots, all of whom were gathered around the funny-looking, moving tube thing he'd seen earlier. The group included Red Alert, Inferno, Beachcomber, Windcharger, Bluestreak, and Hound. Red Alert looked both really angry and really scared, so Fireflight thought that he was probably the one who had screamed.
"Yep, that sure is a snake, Red Alert...and quite a beautiful one at that," Hound said.
"I KNOW it's a snake! What I want to know is how this hideous, tubular, carbon-based life form got past my security system!" Red Alert screamed.
"Easy, Red old buddy. Even a snake as big as that one can't hurt Autobots," Inferno said. Red Alert glared at him.
"That's not the point, Inferno! The point is that it shouldn't have been able to get past my security system! For all we know, the entire security network has malfunctioned, and the Decepticons are going to attack any minute! If a snake can get in, so can our enemies!" Red Alert exclaimed. Fireflight frowned. Poor Red Alert. He always seemed so upset. Hopefully he would like his security blanket once Fireflight found it. Suddenly, he heard a loud snicker, and then Sideswipe emerged from a storage room, laughing loudly.
"The look on your faceplates....it was priceless!" he exclaimed. Red Alert glared at him.
"Oh, yes, because tricking me into believing that we might be at risk for a Deception attack is absolutely hilarious, I'm sure," he spat.
"Are you kidding? It's comedy gold!" Sideswipe exclaimed. Then he started laughing even harder....only for the smile to slip off of his face when Prowl arrived.
"What is going on here, Sideswipe?" he asked sternly.
"Why do you always assume that things like this are my fault?" Sideswipe replied.
"Because they usually are. What happened?"
"This impudent, irreverent, insolent cretin used a snake-a snake, of all creatures!-to make me think that my security had been compromised!" Red Alert exclaimed.
"C'mon, Red, it was only a prank. Can't you take a joke?" Sideswipe asked.
"Our security is not a joke!" Red Alert yelled. Inferno put his hand on his friend's shoulder, probably in an attempt to calm him down.
"Easy, Red. You're okay," he said gently.
"Where did you get a snake that large anyway, Sideswipe? I'm pretty sure the snakes around here don't get that big," Hound asked.
"The local zoo," Sideswipe replied. Then he looked nervous, glanced at Prowl, and added,
"What? I was gonna return it."
"It doesn't matter if you were going to return the snake, or what your motives were for pulling this stunt. Our security is of the utmost importance, and tricking Red Alert into thinking that it had been compromised is both potentially dangerous and cruel to him. You're going to the brig for the next three days, and then you're going to be on security duty with Red Alert for the next two weeks to make up for what you did to him," Prowl told Sideswipe. Sideswipe just shrugged. Fireflight would've been very upset if he'd been put in the brig, but Sideswipe seemed to take getting in trouble in stride. Then he seemed to notice Slingshot and Fireflight and frowned.
"I get three days in the brig and two weeks of punishment detail for a stupid prank when these 'Con sympathizers got off with a slap on the wrist for trying to defect? How's that fair?" he snarled. Fireflight whimpered. Sideswipe was usually so happy. It was scary to see him angry, especially when it was directed at him.
"First, I'd hardly call nearly being killed by Megatron a "slap on the wrist". Second, the Aerialbots were less than three weeks old when they "attempted to defect"-which, incidentally, was more of a naive decision to try to talk with the Decepticons than an actual attempt at treachery-and understood very little about our cause or the war. You, on the other hand, are a mature mech, who knows and fully understands the Autobot rules but still chooses to break them. The two situations are not at all comparable," Prowl replied.
"Not at all comparable? I pranked Red Alert. They were playing nice with the enemy! Of course, I don't know what else you'd expect from a bunch of Seekers," Sideswipe exclaimed.
"Who're you callin' a Seeker, ya stupid groundpounder?" Slingshot exclaimed.
"Slingshot, you shouldn't be fighting with him. Silverbolt won't like that," Fireflight said. He didn't want the Autobots to have another reason to be mad at them!
"Why not? Fighting is what Seekers do, isn't it?" Sideswipe asked. Fireflight frowned. He and his brothers weren't Seekers. Seekers were Decepticons, and they were mean. He wasn't mean, and neither were his brothers! Well, Slingshot could be mean sometimes, but not usually.
"Sideswipe, cease antagonizing the Aerialbots, or I will increase the amount of time you spend in the brig to a week," Prowl said. Sideswipe glared at him.
"Why are you sticking up for them? Can't you see it? They were modeled off of a Decepticon body type. They tried to defect the first chance they got. They talk like Seekers, they think they're too good for a bunch of grounders like us, and nobody ever punishes them for anything! There's never been a Seeker in the Autobot army, and for good reason! How long do you think it'll be before they follow their programming and defect for real?" Slingshot frowned.
"I. Hate. Megatron. I ain't a Seeker, and I don't care what scrap you spew about my "programming". I saw what he does to innocent mechs. I will never follow him, ya hear me?" Sideswipe laughed coldly, and Fireflight shuddered.
"Say what you want. It'll convince Optimus. It'll convince Prowl. It might even convince Red Alert. But it'll never convince me. You're a Seeker, and you're all the same. You think you're better than all of us because you can fly, and once you realize that we won't put up with it, you'll go running to Starscream. Your kind already destroyed my old home. I'm not gonna let you destroy my new home, too-Decepticon," he said.
"That's it. You're going in the brig for a week and a half," Prowl said. With that, he put stasis cuffs on Sideswipe and led him out of the room. An awkward silence then descended over the room as Fireflight started to cry. His brothers were right-some of the Autobots really did hate them, and that made him very sad.
"Does anyone else wanna accuse us of bein' Seekers?" Slingshot demanded.
"Of course not. Sideswipe shouldn't have said the things he did to you," Hound replied.
"Yeah. I don't think you're traitors or anything, because you're all pretty nice. But-please don't get mad-I can kinda understand why a lot of mechs think you might be. I mean, you look a lot like Seekers, and the Seekers did a lot of damage on Cybertron. Most Autobots are used to thinking of anyone with your design as the enemy, and the fact that you didn't know any better and liked the Decepticons at first didn't help. It's not right to call you traitors, 'cause you're really nice for a bunch of aerials-" Bluestreak babbled. Slingshot frowned and cut him off.
"Nice for a bunch of aerials? What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped. Fireflight was equally confused. What did their frametypes have to do with being nice?
"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that you're so smart and well-spoken and nice, and it's weird because most aerials are Decepticons, who aren't nice at all even though you are, and Brawn is always talking about how Silverbolt is so well-behaved that you'd never know he was a Seek-" At this point, Hound interrupted.
"Bluestreak?"
"Yes, Hound?"
"As Spike likes to say, "put a sock in it". You're just making things worse." Bluestreak ducked his head, clearly embarrassed.
"Sorry," he whispered.
"I forgive you," Fireflight replied. He knew Bluestreak hadn't meant to hurt them. Much like Fireflight himself, he just spoke without thinking. A lot.
"That's great, Bluestreak. Now, if you'll excuse a pair of stupid, violent Seekers, we're gonna go back to our room where we won't bother the rest of you," Slingshot snapped. With that, he dragged Fireflight back to the Aerialbots' quarters and stormed off to the room he shared with Air Raid, leaving Fireflight with his sad feelings. His brothers were right-some of the other Autobots really didn't like them, and for a reason he really didn't fully understand. He had to go through with his plans to give the other Autobots presents now. It was the only way to make the other Autobots realize that they weren't mean because they were jets.