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“Inferno, I require your assistance in section 28-gamma.”
The curt command crackled across Inferno’s commlink, startling him and making him jerk, almost spilling the contents of the energon cube he held in his hand.
“Careful, Inferno!” Smokescreen exclaimed, stepping out of the way. “What gives?”
“Sorry, Smokey,” Inferno said. “Here, you take this. I’ll refuel later – duty calls.”
“But your shift just ended-” Smokescreen’s bewildered voice faded and then cut off as Inferno turned and walked quickly out of the commissary.
“I’m on my way, Sir.”
“The security feed from the cameras in this section has been exhibiting increasing amounts of interference and static,” Red Alert said as Inferno rounded the corner. He was crouched down by a box of tools on the floor, and an access hatch on the ceiling was opened. A ladder was built into the other side of ceiling plating, providing an easy way to perform maintenance on the systems concealed behind it.
“What do you think is causing it, Sir?” Inferno found his attention caught by Red Alert’s deft, competent movements. He knelt down next to him, listening with only half an audio as he watched Red Alert preparing the tools they would need.
“It could be anything – normal wear and tear on the wires,” Red Alert picked up two spanners, looked at each critically, and placed one in the smaller carry-case and the other back in the larger maintenance kit. “We might have picked up some glitchmice the last time we stopped in at Moonbase 2 for re-supply. That has been an ongoing issue with that base.” He picked up a power modulator, and examined it critically. Inferno had to stifle a moan when he slowly and carefully twisted the output dial on the side. “Of course, the most likely scenario is sabotage.”
“Of course,” Inferno murmured.
Red Alert added the modulator to his kit and closed it with a snap before standing.
Inferno remained kneeling, the better to enjoy the view of his superior. His optics traveled up the length of Red Alert’s legs, over his pelvic unit and across his chest. Red Alert’s paint job was so striking – red on white, crisp and polished, but not too polished. Businesslike. Black accents provided just the right touch. As Red Alert walked over to the ladder, his movements were graceful, the reflections of the lighting units moving over his plating, sublime.
When he paused with one hand on the ladder and looked back over his shoulder wheel at Inferno, Inferno thought he might just melt through the plating.
“Remember to turn off your high-frequency electromagnetic spectrum sensors,” said Red Alert as Inferno scrambled to his pedes. “There will be no shielding between us and the energy conduits. I don’t want to have to take you into Ratchet because you burned out your relays.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Sir. I’ll do it right now.” Inferno moved behind Red Alert, and Red Alert held his optics for a moment before turning and ascending up the ladder.
Inferno waited until Red Alert had disappeared over the lip of the ceiling plates before starting up the ladder. So he could make sure Red Alert was safely up before adding his considerable mass to the structure, of course. Not because it allowed him several extra nanokliks to watch that pert aft from below, oh no. Definitely not.
When he emerged into the crawlspace above the ceiling, said aft was already several meters ahead of him. Inferno knew he had no need to hurry to catch it – they had a long crawl ahead of them before they reached the nexus for the security feeds.
Inferno had always felt vaguely uncomfortable in the maintenance spaces on board the Ark. Because of the massive amounts of energy running through the conduits, the ceilings of public spaces were actually fine mesh, made out of some material that was impenetrable to the average mech’s sensors, so the conduits didn’t “blind” the crew. That meant that when you were actually in crawlspace, you had to shut down all proximity sensors other than optics and audios.
He looked down at the mesh underneath his palms as he crawled forwards. Inferno always marveled at how it appeared nearly transparent with the glow from the corridor behind it, while remaining opaque to those below it. In fact, if they were silent, no one would even know they were here…
Inferno’s helm hit something with a clang and a yelp.
“Ow!” “Inferno!”
He looked up and found himself staring at Red Alert’s aft from a mere handsbreadth away. You can barely see the seam around his interface array-
“Inferno, it is vitally important that you keep your processor on the task at hand!” Red Alert scolded, looking back indignantly.
“Of course, Sir.”
“I will be very disappointed if you don’t.” Red Alert twisted around to crouch down facing Inferno, the glow from his optics creating an ephemeral aura around his helm.
“I wouldn’t want that…Sir,” Inferno replied, still moving closer, optics focusing on the glimmering reflections that danced along Red Alert’s lip plating.
“I might have to put a mark on your record.”
“That would be a shame,” Inferno was crawling over Red Alert’s pedes now. “Sir.”
“It would be, such a promising, spotless record having a disciplinary note.” Red Alert leaned back, away from Inferno, partially reclining against the bulkhead.
“I guess I’ll have to be very…thorough.” Now he was to Red Alert’s chest, the Autobot symbol emblazoned there moving minutely in time with Red Alert’s ventilations. Inferno could feel them wafting over his plating, they were so close. But he only had optics for Red Alert’s lips.
They were parted, and Red Alert’s vocoder rebooted several times as he tried to make several abortive attempts at a retort. Inferno was fully over Red Alert now, his knee planted firmly between Red Alert’s thighs, the brows of their helms just touching.
“Did you want to tell me something…Sir?” Inferno rumbled in Red Alert’s audio, a smile slowly spreading across his face plates.
“Shut up and frag me.”
And then the distance between them was closed, and his lips were claiming Red Alert’s and he was bearing Red Alert down onto the floor of the crawlspace. Red Alert’s plating was burning and Inferno knew that he had been restraining his desire as much as Inferno had. But then Inferno had known that since he’d received Red Alert’s transmission.
All that work on the disaster plan for the meeting with Prime must have been too much for the poor mech.
Red Alert’s fans roared to life as his hold on them was released and they worked to dump the excess heat that had been building up his chassis. Inferno’s hands scrambled to claim the chassis beneath him, mapping out every corner and seam. He shivered as he felt Red Alert’s hands doing likewise, their small size ensuring that they could exploit every nook and cranny they found.
When one of those wonderful hands found his ladder and grabbed a rung, Inferno threw back his head and gritted his teeth, biting back a bellow at the sensation that coursed through him.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Inferno, did I hurt you? I-”
“No…no, that didn’t hurt,” Inferno said with a smile as he leaned down to resume his interrupted exploration. “I just didn’t want to advertise to every mech within three sections what we’re doing.” He bowed his head and sucked on a sensor node in Red Alert’s neck. “I don’t think you want that either.”
“No…don’t want that…oh…oh, yes,” Red Alert gasped as he writhed against Inferno’s chassis.
The thought of being discovered made Inferno’s spark clench. What they were doing broke a good half-dozen regulations that he knew of, and probably another dozen he didn’t. If the fact that their relationship went beyond that of commander-subordinate was known, Red Alert would be punished for fraternization, and Inferno would be reassigned, and they would probably never see each other again. Pit, the Decepticons could attack any cycle, and one of them could be offlined. In the orn since they first interfaced, it had been difficult to keep his passion in check at times, but what was at stake always kept Inferno from being too rash.
For a moment he paused, relishing the feeling of the small mech in his arms, beneath his lips. He savored every tremor, every soft cry of pleasure, the taste of the cables and plating… For a moment it all became too much and his arms tightened around Red Alert spasmodically, crushing him to his chassis, desiring nothing more than to stay like this until the Unmaker came and they both returned to the Well of Allsparks.
It was only Red Alert’s grunt of discomfort and the sound of his own armor creaking that made Inferno come back to himself. He propped himself up on one arm, and gazed down at Red Alert affectionately. When he reached out to run a gentle finger down Red Alert’s cheek plating, Red Alert sighed and leaned into the touch, nipping gently at Inferno’s fingertips when they strayed close to his mouth.
How did this happen? What did I do to deserve this? Inferno wondered, not for the first time. One breem he was going through life, carefree and confident that there were no surprises in store for him. He enjoyed interfacing with a variety of mechs, his work on the search and rescue squad, and of course, fighting Decepticons. He’d been happy. Then something terrible had happened: he’d been assigned to a ship. Sure it was the Autobot flagship, but that just meant that good fights would be few and far between and hardly ever hand-to-hand. Not only that, but he’d been assigned as a direct report to the most paranoid, uptight, infuriating mech.
Then he’d fallen shell and spark in love.
Red Alert was gazing up at him, wearing that small, secret half-smile that only appeared when they were alone together.
“What are you thinking about, Inferno?”
Inferno smiled and slipped an arm behind Red Alert’s helm, pulling him up into a deep kiss. “You,” he whispered into Red Alert’s audio when they broke apart. Red Alert shivered. “About how much I love you.”
“Inferno…” Red Alert’s voice held a note of sadness and uncertainty.
“I know, I know.” Inferno pressed his mouth to Red Alert’s neck cables. “I won’t say it again,” he murmured. He stifled Red Alert’s apology with another heated kiss.
When it ended Red Alert was moaning and pressing wantonly up against Inferno’s chassis, grinding his pelvic unit shamelessly into Inferno’s thigh.
“Please, Inferno…we can’t take too long,” he panted.
Red Alert’s breathy voice was inflaming Inferno’s passion – the knowledge that he could bring such a normally reserved mech to this state of needy arousal was a potent aphrodisiac. He revved his engine, allowing the rumbling vibrations to be transmitted to Red Alert. For a moment Red Alert stiffened against him and turned off his optics as his hyper-acute sensors were overwhelmed.
Inferno’s fans activated, their muffled whir a counterpoint to Red Alert’s ventilation system.
“Inferno…” Red Alert pleaded, moving his hips so that his panel bumped Inferno’s leg once more.
The protective armor over Red Alert’s interfacing array was hot, and it slid aside as soon as Inferno traced the seam around its perimeter. He ran his hand over the outside of the components, and Red Alert arched up, mouth opening wide.
The cry of pleasure was never voiced, as the arm Inferno had behind his helm immediately wrapped around and stifled it. Red Alert thrashed as Inferno continued to caress the rim of his valve and stimulate the external sensors there, but Inferno kept hold of him easily, and his broad hand clamped tightly over Red Alert’s mouth kept Red Alert’s vocalizations quiet. The ceiling grates may have been obfuscating to high-energy EM sensors, but it certainly didn’t do anything for sound.
He allowed Red Alert to rest for a klik, waiting for the waves of tension that had begun to travel through Red Alert to die down. As soon as Inferno felt the tell-tale relaxation of Red Alert’s abdominal plates, and saw his knee-joints fall marginally outward, he released Red Alert’s mouth and started again. This time he paid special attention to the back rim of Red Alert’s valve – the sensors there were buried deep, but if one took the time…
Ah, yes – a soft crackle of static came from Red Alert’s vocoder, and his optics flickered on and off in ecstasy.
“You’re so beautiful, Red.” Inferno’s thumb stroked firmly up a line of sensor nodes on the rim of Red Alert’s valve, and Red Alert’s entire chassis jerked like a whip, his hands scrabbled at Inferno’s plating, searching for any handhold or purchase.
“Inferno, Inferno, yes, yes-”
“Do you know what you do to me, when you say my name?” Red Alert shook his head as Inferno gently slipped a single digit into the entrance of his valve. Already lubricant had pooled in the vestibule, and Inferno carefully smeared it around Red Alert’s exterior components. Red Alert made another quiet needy noise and his legs spread and closed a few times as he lifted his pedes and tried to grind down on Inferno’s fingers.
“Hurry, Inferno,” Red Alert said, tugging at Inferno’s shoulder struts. “Hurry, I need you, I’m close-”
“Just watching you makes my circuits heat up. Watching you move, hearing you speak,” Inferno pressed a kiss to Red Alert’s neck cables and whispered. “Do you want to know how much that revs my engine?”
Red Alert moaned his assent.
Inferno released the catches on his own pelvic armor, and allowed his spike to release, positioning himself so that its length moved along Red Alert’s thigh as it extended. Red Alert whimpered, a tremor chasing over his plating. Inferno moaned at the delicious friction, and had to pause for a nanoklik to master himself.
When he was no longer in danger of losing control and simply thrusting into Red Alert’s waiting valve with abandon, Inferno shifted two that his spike rubbed against the apex of Red Alert’s thighs and the exterior of his interface array.
“Yes…yes Red, you’re so beautiful…” Inferno tried to keep up his quiet verbal stream, but it was quickly becoming difficult to form coherent thoughts. He inserted another finger while his thumb moved around the sensor nexus anterior to Red Alert’s valve. His fingers pushed deeper, feeling the lining of Red Alert’s valve clench and then relax around them as Red Alert’s systems reacted to his invasion.
Red Alert’s whimpers grew more urgent as Inferno pulled his fingers out a little ways, stroking along the top of the valve as he did so, finding as many sensors as he could. He dipped his head, and kissed Red Alert’s shoulder strut, before moving on to lavishing attention to his shoulder wheel.
Inferno was just about to slide his glossa along Red Alert’s rim when Red Alert suddenly went still and stiff beneath him. He looked up in confusion but then heard what Red Alert’s sensitive audios had already picked up: the sounds of pede steps echoing along the corridor beneath them. Inferno froze as well, not daring to move lest his heavier frame make the struts and grating that supported them creak. Red Alert was gripping his arm, optics wide with apprehension.
The pedesteps paused.
“Hey, anyone still working down here?” a voice called out. “You forgot your tools!” Huffer.
Inferno cycled his vocoder before answering. “Yes! We’re working on rewiring some of the security feeds. Don’t close up the access hatch on us!” Primus, just go away.
“Don’t worry, Inferno. I won’t.” The pedesteps advanced a few mechanometers, and Huffer came into view just beneath them, gazing up at the ceiling a few grids to the left of their location. “Do you need any help?”
Inferno felt as if his spark had turned to ice, one wrong move, and Huffer would know exactly what he was doing, and it wouldn’t take long to figure out with whom he was doing it, and then it would all be over and he’d never see Red again-
Red Alert’s hand grasped the edge of his cowl, grounding him and bringing his panicked thoughts to a halt. Inferno cycled his vents and rebooted his vocoder before answering.
“No, thank you. I’ve got things well in hand.”
The indignant look Red Alert shot him made Inferno want to kick himself for his unfortunate turn of phrase.
“All right then. If you do need anything, I’m just a comm away.”
“Thanks Huffer, have a good shift.”
They remained still and quiet for sometime after Huffer’s pedesteps had faded back along the passage. Inferno’s systems had begun to cool down when Red Alert ran a leg slowly along the back of Inferno’s thigh, and the fire in his circuits was stoked once more.
“You’re not going to let that stop yo-mmph!” Red Alert’s sultry whisper was interrupted by Inferno claiming his lips in a passionate kiss. He pressed Red Alert back against the grating, claiming him thoroughly.
The terror of almost being found out was overwhelmed by a wave of giddy relief. Inferno buried his face in Red Alert’s neck, stifling his laughter in his lover’s plating. Red Alert was moving and making more urgent sounds against Inferno now, and the close call made prolonging the teasing an unsavory proposition. Inferno plunged his fingers into Red Alert’s valve, and at first Red Alert shied away, almost climbing up Inferno to escape from the sensation, but then Inferno felt the walls relax even more, and Red Alert’s struggles turned into another attempt to grind down on Inferno’s fingers. Inferno used his thumb to stimulate the main exterior sensor node while moving within Red Alert’s valve, and it was clear that Red Alert was losing control. His helm rocked back and forth as far as Inferno’s hold allowed, and his optics flickered on and off, his groans and pants coming fast.
Yes, almost, let me see it… This was what Inferno functioned for now – the sight of his lover helpless, writhing beneath him, lost to ecstasy. The power to reduce Red Alert to this state was a heady feeling, and Inferno held onto it with his spark for as long as possible after their encounters.
Suddenly Red Alert’s optics lit up, so bright they were almost white, and his back strut arched. Inferno clapped his hand over Red Alert’s mouth again a nanosecond before a shout of pleasure erupted from his vocoder. The muffled yell came as Red Alert’s helm sensors glowed with energy and his frame convulsed, bathing the small space in bright blue light and singeing Inferno’s plating with the sparks they emitted. The walls of the valve clamped down on Inferno’s fingers and then released several times in quick succession before one last convulsion wracked Red Alert’s frame, and he offlined beneath Inferno, his chassis going strutless in Inferno’s arms.
Inferno gently removed his arms from behind Red Alert, carefully positioning himself so that his weight was supported on his forearms before he placed his spike at the entrance to Red Alert’s valve and pushed in slowly. The tight, slick heat that surrounded his spike almost made him come undone, and Inferno held himself still for a moment, trembling with the effort to not buck and thrust into the body beneath him with abandon.
When he began to move once more, Red Alert groaned, his optics gazing up at Inferno as he rebooted. His hands reached up to caress Inferno’s arms and shoulder struts.
“Inferno…”
“Red, Red, Red…you feel so good…”
He grabbed the back of Red Alert’s knee joint, hiking up Red Alert’s leg to change the angle of his thrusts, to hit Red Alert’s deepest sensors. Red Alert groaned again, his head falling back and his face a picture of ecstasy. Inferno kissed and caressed Red Alert’s helm at the apex of each thrust, allowing his actions to express what he’d promised not to say. The feel of the smooth, polished armor beneath his lips, the scent of Red Alert’s polish in his olfactory node, and the quiet words Red Alert was whispering into his audio was overwhelming. The rest of the universe fell away, until all that existed was the mech beneath him.
This must be the Well! It could not be possible for a mech to function and experience such joy.
Red Alert’s arms barely reached around his broad back, but the feeling of his embrace sent fire coursing through Inferno’s circuits. Red Alert’s legs wrapped around his pelvic unit, encouraging Inferno to thrust harder into that wonderful tight heat between them.
Inferno pulled back, holding himself up on his forearms so that he could look into Red Alert’s optics.
“Red,” Inferno groaned. “Red, I’m-”
“Inferno, let go,” Red Alert said, in a voice half groan and half whisper. “let go-”
The fire that had been building in Inferno’s pelvic unit erupted, coursing down his legs and up along his back strut. Inferno pushed hard, recklessly hard into Red Alert. His sirens blared and his emergency strobes cast flashing light and dancing shadows over the bulkhead and floor as the energy surge reached his systems. The flames licking and singing through his circuits drowned out all other sensation until his failsafe tripped and he fell into oblivion.
A hand was stroking his helm. Deft fingers traced along the winglets that adorned his cowling, sought out the seams where his sensor nodes were hidden, and ran along his face. Inferno felt blissfully disconnected, as if his processor was floating free, and only getting reports of reports on the feedback from his sensors.
It hadn’t been like this with any of the others.
It was always like this with Red Alert.
When the fingers ghosted along his lips again he pursed them, attempting to catch them in a fleeting kiss. A soft chuckle gently shook the plating beneath his helm.
“And you were worried about my noise level.” Red Alert’s voice came from somewhere both above his helm and deep beneath the plating under his audio.
Inferno winced as his memory banks supplied an internal playback of the racket he’d made.
“Did anyone hear it?” he asked, switching on his optics and lifting his head to gaze up blearily at Red Alert.
“No, your outburst seems to have been unnoticed. I did not detect any disturbances in adjacent corridors.”
Inferno lifted himself off of Red Alert, carefully withdrawing his spike from Red Alert’s valve before retracting it fully and latching his panel cover. He quickly checked himself, and could not see any scratches or dents that would need explaining. Beside him Red Alert did the same.
“The conduits in this section appear to be functioning within normal parameters, Inferno.” Once again, Red Alert’s voice was cold and businesslike. He hated to linger after a rendezvous, and Inferno was loath to push the issue, despite how much he longed to hold Red Alert for joors and whisper words of affection into his audios post-coupling. He did not want to do anything to jeopardize the fragile understanding they had.
He would take this over nothing at all.
“I really thought we had tracked down the source of the interference this time, Sir.” Inferno replied. “Maybe it’s in the port thruster conduits? I know some of the feeds run through there and the engine core could be causing feedback.” He gathered up their toolkit and turned to start the crawl back to the maintenance hatch.
“That is a likely spot for the feed wires to be neglected. Good thinking, Inferno. I will comm you when I can take time from my duties again.”
“I look forward to it, Sir.”