"Beautiful."

Mirage barely whispered the pronouncement, lying almost flat on his belly among the torn up landscape of the Habitat Zone, the tract of land reserved for the sole purpose of housing most of Cybertron's mechanimals, the larger and more dangerous ones at least.

Below him in a small dip lounged a mixed pack of cyberwolves. Any one of them would make an enviable trophy. But, Mirage decided as he sighted down the scope of his borrowed hunting rifle, there was only one target for him: the largest 'wolf of them all, a massive creature with long slats of metal for hackles and in near-perfect trophy condition. If he could bag that 'animal, that would shut that swaggering Quickstep up once and for all.

His right index finger stroked the trigger as he carefully lined up his sights on the mechanimal's chest, every servo and cable in his body tensed and bracing himself for the recoil. Smiling grimly, he flicked off the safety and worked the bolt, loading an explosive-tipped round into the firing chamber. His target rose and shook itself, hackles rattling with the motion. Mirage paused for a moment. It would almost be a shame to kill such a creature, but he needed this trophy to make his mark among the ranks of the Towers' young Elite.

With that in mind he readjusted his aim and prepared to fire.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Mirage barely swallowed a yelp of surprise as what he had assumed was a mound of rubble beside him shifted and was ultimately thrown aside, revealing a young looking mech that might have been black on white under the camouflaging grease he wore.

"Not only are there laws against hunting cyberwolves, but if you kill their pack leader I'd hate to have to pick up what little would be left after they catch you." The stranger continued, indicating a spot on the other side of the dip.

The noblemech looked, astonished as three more 'wolves suddenly appeared out of the rubble one after another. Once they had reached the pack three others arose to take their places, blending right into the ground. He hadn't even noticed them! Who knew how many more could be out there?

"It appears that I owe you thanks." Mirage somewhat stiffly replied. "I am Mirage of the Towers."
The stranger acknowledged him with a polite nod, then glanced back at the pack. They were all standing by now, milling around the dip and the largest 'wolf standing in their midst. "I think we'd better continue this later. A rival pack is coming and it won't be safe for either of us." He stood and collected what Mirage now recognised as a camouflaged tarp. "Follow me, it's not far."

'It' turned out to be a well concealed hunter's blind, probably constructed near the beginning of the Golden Age and now converted into what appeared to be the stranger's base of operations. Mirage couldn't help a look of distain as he glanced around the sparsely furnished room while his host locked the door behind them and carefully folded his tarp. There wasn't even a holovid viewscreen here!

"Rather…spartan." Mirage commented.
"Necessity." His host replied. "Any more technology than this and this place would be a magnet for energy scavengers."
"I take it that's not a good thing?" Mirage ventured.
"No. They would draw in retrorats and petrorabbits, who would draw in more predators, until finally the entire hunting system is affected." The other mech explained. "My presence here has to be as low impact as possible."
"Ah." Mirage replied, then changed the subject. "I still don't know your name yet."

At this his host gave a rueful smile. "My apologies, but I do not really have one at the moment. I am between names. My old one no longer fits me, and I am yet to decide on a new one. At the moment I go by my identity number, but my room mates all insisted on dubbing me 'Red' in the interim."

Mirage frowned, looking the other mech over for some reason for the designation. His host noted the blue and white's querying expression and wordlessly tapped the smudged red chevron affixed to his brow. Ah, that explained it.

There was silence for a time as Red quickly tidied up and transferred what were probably field notes from a datapad to a small terminal in a corner. Mirage couldn't help but notice how quietly he moved despite the size of his feet.

"So," he asked after a moment, wishing to break the silence, "what brings you to this place?"
"Research." Was the crisp reply. Red paused a moment to peer through a scanner stationed at the room's only horizontal slit window and jot down a couple of notes. "I am a student from the Iacon Institute of Research, doing field work on a paper into the behaviour of cyberwolves."
"Oh…so how long have you been here?"
"Several lunars."
The noblemech frowned. "That long?"
Red nodded. "At first I thought that I could gain quality data by simply observing from here, in safety. But there was simply too much that I couldn't observe properly, so I have been in the process of getting adopted into the pack we just saw. Hence the reason why I have been out here so long. It is a…careful process."

That surprised the youngnoble mech. "But…they're just a pack of dumb mechanimals. It can't be that hard, just bring them energon regularly and they'll accept you right away."
Red frowned. "Cyberwolves are not 'dumb mechanimals'," he corrected, "they have a highly organised society, are very intelligent, and I believe that some of the older alpha 'animals may be starting to become sentient."
"But…they're mechanimals, surely they can't be that smart!" Mirage protested.

Red crossed the room to where a number of hand-drawn charts were carefully hung on the wall. "Look," he instructed, indicating one, "they already have a hierarchy, one alpha, the leader, generally the oldest of their pack. Under the alpha are a number of betas, lieutenants really. They tend to lead the hunts and attacks. Under them are the gammas, the experienced hunters, and the rest are the very inexperienced and the crippled who tend to the youngest. As you saw before they even have an organised sentry system. And," he pointed to another chart, this one a colour-coded map of the area, "they have well defined territories for their packs. We were watching the Blue pack, and the Yellow pack was intruding on their territory just as we left. That pack has recently become more aggressive towards their neighbours, claiming the buffer zones between packs," he tapped the appropriate areas, "I believe their alpha has been recently replaced with a younger 'wolf, hence the change in tactics, but I am yet to confirm it."

A frown creased the young noblemech's brow. "But before, how did you know something was about to happen?"
"The 'wolves scented the approach of another pack and Blue Alpha started marking her pack. That was the milling around you saw."
"Marking?"
"Cyberwolves have artificial pheromones." Red explained. "Concentrated in two spots on their cheeks. An alpha will regularly mark their pack, and territory incidentally, by rubbing cheeks with them, but will also do it just before a possible confrontation." He frowned. "I'm still trying to figure out why."

"You called the Blue Alpha 'she', I thought 'wolves were genderless?" Mirage asked; head slightly titled to one side.
"They are." Red shrugged. "But I have difficulty referring to such intelligent creatures as 'it' when they display such clear personalities. Blue Alpha seemed to act like a female, whereas other alphas are most certainly male."

"But what about…" Mirage started, only to be interrupted by a savage snarl from outside, answered by a second and echoed by a third. His host dashed to the slit window and peered out, blue optics narrowed against the glare from outside. "Yellow pack has made their attack." He announced. "Excuse me, I have to document this."

Mirage stepped back and sat on the berth pushed into a corner at the back of the room, watching as Red alternated between leaning out the slit window (an act that seemed exceptionally foolhardy to Mirage considering the circumstances), jotting down notes and peering through the antiquated scanner again. All throughout he was still startlingly silent in his movements. Mirage quietly made a few notes of his own. To be able to move like that would be an incredible advantage in the hunt instead of clanking around like most of his brassy, loudmouthed contemporaries.

The commotion outside died down as the battle moved out of sight and Red somewhat reluctantly jotted down what final notes he could and sat down with his guest. It still wouldn't be safe for some time yet so they talked to pass the time. He discovered that Red's talent at walking unheard had stemmed from long lessons from his adopted pack. Apparently, he explained with a small smile, two of the gammas had decided to take him under their tutelage so that this strange looking cub could go hunting with them in the near future.

Mirage was also pleasantly surprised to find his host had a very sharp intellect and was well versed on several topics outside of his field of study, something he hadn't expected at all from a non-Tower dweller, the likes of which he had been schooled to believe were uncouth and semi-barbaric.

They were deep into a discussion on Cybertron's economy by the time the territory battle died down and the combatants returned to their dens. The blue and white couldn't help but let out a startled yelp as a canine head and forepaws appeared at the slit window. "Lookout!"

Red smiled again, the expression barely curving his pale lips. "It's alright, Blue Alpha just wants to give me the all clear." He explained, crossing the room to gently stroke the brushed steel cheek of the massive creature. Mirage hesitantly approached to get a closer look but not daring to get within arm's reach. "She's…bigger than I thought." He jumped back as the mechanimal fixed her yellow optics on him and snarled, malleable metal lip curling up to expose the row of serrated metal fangs and ears twitching back in an unmistakeable expression of aggression. "..and I think she remembers me…"

That was when Red did something strange. Uttering a low, guttural noise that seemed to emanate from somewhere deeper than the back of his throat but not from his chest, he dipped his head and lowered his shoulders and the short ailerons from his alt mode attached there. The noise changed pitch as he did so, becoming softer and sounding more like a question than anything else. Blue Alpha turned her attention to him and flicker her ears forward again, seemingly studying the mech's submissive posture and answering with a soft noise of her own before vanishing from the window.

Red straightened and turned to his guest. "It should be safe for you to leave now, but I would recommend it if you do not return. The pack recognises you as a possible threat, and at this time they may decide to drive you off instead of ignoring you." He advised. "If you have to hunt, stick to turbofoxes."
"Thank you Red, I'll keep it in mind." Mirage replied, visibly shaken by the encounter as he retrieved his borrowed rifle from the corner he had placed it. "When you do wish to pick a new name, perhaps these suggestions may help." He held out a datapad to his host. "If you get a chance, you're welcome to visit me at the Towers."
A third small smile graced his host's features. "Thank you Mirage. I shall if I get the opportunity."

With that Mirage offered his host a polite nod of gratitude and struck out towards the closest road at a quick jog. Perhaps if he was quick, he could make it to the 'foxgrounds before the older Tower youths could take the best kills.

Fin