The Next Generation

C24: Out of Your Mind

Optimus was furious.

After the last time he tried to escape UA supervision, he'd learned his lesson. He needed extra clothes with him, as well as money, and he needed to get rid of whatever means they used to track him. The tracker was in the sole of his only pair of shoes, so Optimus crushed it. His scent was another thing, since they had Hound Dog at their disposal. Optimus sprayed himself with a bottle of overwhelming manly scents that Kirishima had got him. 

He pulled the hood of his jacket over his helm. It wasn't totally concealing, since his audio receivers still stuck up a little, but hopefully the bumps were perceived as horns. 

It was just as the sun was starting to set that Optimus noticed the first sign of them searching for him. He walked by a hotel and noticed a police car parked outside. A quick glance through the glass doors informed Optimus that they were getting identification from anyone who walked inside. He decided to steer clear of similar establishments after that.

There was somewhere else he needed to go.

Heroes Digest, the biggest news channel in Japan that reported solely on heroic activities. It was located in the same city as UA and always had the scope on UA affairs. Optimus walked inside, looking for someone hungry for information.

"Hi," Optimus tried to keep his voice meek and his optics down. "Do you have a picture of that kid who went missing? I want to help search."

The lady frowned at him. "What kid?"

That told Optimus exactly what he needed to know. UA hadn't made a public statement about his disappearance yet. Optimus might have felt bad to slander this image like he was about to, but after they deceived him? He could handle the guilt just fine.

"Optimus Prime," Optimus answered. "You know, the quirkless kid from the UA sports festival? I overheard Eraserhead talking to someone on the phone about how he went missing. I want to help look."

The lady's eyes widened. "No, I had no idea. UA must be hiding it, those sneaky bastards! Did he say how or why?"

"No, that's all I heard," Optimus told her. "Do you have a picture?"

"No, no..." she rubbed her chin. "I've got to go let everyone know. Watch the news! I'll send one out, okay?"

"Okay," Optimus gave her a thumbs up and then quickly left the building.

He walked further out of the city, thinking over his plan and occasionally passing by a big screen with the news on it. It wasn't until the sun started to come up until Optimus finally spotted a news report on himself.

"It has just been confirmed that Optimus Prime, a quirkless UA student, has gone missing!" the reported exclaimed as a picture of himself appeared on the screen. "UA has not released details or reasons, but an anonymous source explained that the student went looking for something called 'what they built for me at home.' We're still trying to figure out what that means, so stay tuned for more information."

Megatron took the bait. Optimus smiled wryly as he quickly connected the dots to a location. He thought it would take more time and multiple reports before Megatron gave him a response, but Megatron was paying closer attention to the media than he thought.

Optimus changed direction and headed for the famed statue of All Might. It was in a public space, but it was one of those few locations Optimus knew about. It took a while to get there, and the more he walked, the more the streets thickened with heroes. Optimus kept his helm down and put his servos together in front of him, doing his best to mimic someone absorbed by their phone. It was less suspicious.