[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Youth Gone Wild [Sideswipe]

[Hot Rod]

Timeline: Week 1 | Day 5
Location: Omega Outpost- Rec Room to various
Characters: Hot Rod | Sideswipe

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     "Ugh! Is there NOTHING to do here?"

     The base was boring. Hot Rod had been brought here by the two femmes, gotten a quick run down of what he was and wasn't supposed to do and pretty much had been dropped off like he had just been rejected on the production line. He was regretting his decision to come back here even with the promise of finally meeting this Autobot Leader firsthand being dangled infront of him. That lure had been chomped on, spit out, and had since lost its appeal. There hadn't been any attempt for anyone to greet him or welcome him to base either so he felt that perhaps all these bots were just too stuck up for his liking. Even his teacher wasn't such a prick...

     "No wonder they picked this location.. It's just as much of a drag as the town! Perfect fit." Hot Rod grumbled and vented as loud as he could as he lay on his back on the crates that acted as seating for the large mechs. He had shoved some together to provide him with a couch space to sprawl on, but had now folded into himself some with pedes crossed at the ankles and digits linked together behind his helm as he cast his bright cyan optics upward. When counting imperfections in the ceiling proved to be the most entertainment around here, he found that to be an issue.

     Did he dare wander off? Journey outside the base in hopes of finding some form of entertainment? He had been warned that he wasn't supposed to unless he had a buddy since no one was to leave with any less than two. Well, that and he was to get rid of his Autobrand and traded it for something smaller and not so flashy, which he still hadn't been able to bring himself to do. It'd only been a single cycle and that hadn't quite processed in its entirety. Hot Rod almost wanted to hold off until he got clarity on just what 'not to flashy' meant. After all, modest and reclusive wasn't exactly his style so that would take some learning.

     There was only so much recharging he could do before his systems screamed enough at him and refused to do so anymore... and he had pretty much reached that point.

[Deleted]

In the four days since his arrival, Sideswipe had taken to prowling the base in search of something to do. He was fairly certain he’d annoyed someone with his constant wandering, or that they’d gotten word of his plan to rig a bucket of sludge over the ground bridge entrance, because he’d been shipped off to investigate a dead end trail to what they had originally thought was a promising energon source. He was fairly certain that it had just been something to occupy him, because he knew that Prime knew just as well as he did that the ‘Cons had done a fragging good job of stripping this planet. Still, the warning on his HUD had caused him to go without complaint, hoping that there was something there. Which, of course, there hadn’t been.

Upon his return, he’d gone to recharge in peace, something that he truly did enjoy after being out on his own, exposed, for so long. It was damn hard to recharge when you never knew if a Decepticon was going to jump your aft. Or if a human child was going to shove something up your tailpipe. It had happened once in Europe when he’d powered down on the side of a street in a residential district. It’d taken him weeks to get whatever the nasty, sticky stuff was out. Having filled the position of resident prankster himself, he didn’t have to worry about that on base.

As soon as he awoke, his prowling had resumed. The sludge bucket wasn’t good enough, he decided, he needed something bigger. Something that said ‘Sideswipe’s back, baby!’ with no ifs, ands, or buts. Okay, he wasn’t being completely honest in saying that he’d just been wandering around, wracking his processor for something to do. It wasn’t that he was dying of boredom or anything. They did have some pretty rad video games. He didn’t know who to thank for that, but, when he found out, he was thanking them. With a match in a two player game. Still, video games could only entertain him for a few cycles, then, he needed to move. Sitting on his aft, staring at a screen for extensive periods of time didn’t suit him.

As he thought about it, though, a few cycles of an action game sounded good. He directed his wanderings toward the rec room.

Damn, he needed Sunny there to entertain him. This had never been an issue when he had his twin around to bounce ideas off of. It was fun to listen to Sunny talk him out of them. Without him, he felt like at least seventy five percent of his impulse control was gone, probably more. That was most likely a bad thing.

The frontliner’s heavy steps carried him into the rec room, his processor already running through his choices of video gaming entertainment. When he entered the room, however, he found someone already there. He paused. He didn’t recognize this bot. A mech, pretty young by the look of him. By the way he was staring restlessly at the ceiling, he wasn’t as relaxed as his position on the crates he’d pushed together might suggest. A potential opponent, then?

He stepped further into the room, grinning.

“Hey, man, find anything interesting on that ceiling?” Sideswipe’s tone, was, as ever, cheerful with a teasing undertone.

He paused beside the makeshift couch and leaned his head back, making a show of looking for himself.

[Hot Rod]

     Hot Rod was busying himself with this mindless task of finding pictures in the ceiling. He didn't understand the concept of the video game thing, or at least couldn't figure it out. He hadn't been shown how to use anything in the rec room and definitely didn't want to go around touching things that he didn't know how to operate. The couple of things he did touch around base? The experience didn't go over too well- Such as the door to one of the corridors that didn't want to open that he assisted in doing so with a friendly punch to the hinges that had finally broke it the rest of the way. Then there was one of the shelves in the storage room that he had accidentally knocked over and had led him to book the hell outta there before the storage room gate keeper ( Hot Rod thought his designation was ZZ or some nonsense like that from what he heard but he didn't stick around for introductions ) could discover what had happened. So he had learned to keep his nosy little butterfingers off of things.

     This, though? It was almost giving him a clear reason as to why rules were made to be challenged and broken and mischief was much more entertaining than behaving. Who was he supposed to drag into the chaos with him, though? He was the youngest one here mentally, if not by creation standards as well, and everyone else was off doing adult things and dealing with truce crap or running errands while he was stuck staying put until he could think about how to be of use.

     Bor-ing!

     Thoughts were lost to him until a voice came to his audials. He side-eyed the mech that had joined him and quirked an optic ridge at him as he took his own turn to look at the ceiling. Hot Rod snorted some and swung his pedes around to hang over the side of the crates as he pushed himself to sitting up with a forward slouch.

     "Not really. The fact that I can almost see faces in the cracks and marks on it should be sign enough that I should stop staring because someone can claim that I'm losing my mind cause I'll swear that I see Primus or somethin'." There was an irritated grumble that came from somewhere within his chassis. "If I didn't know any better I'd say this place is makin' my processor malfunction. If I gotta read over one more datapad of 'how to adult while on Earth 101' I think I may just finally snap." 

     It wasn't really 'adult 101' as much as it was 'These are the rules and where we are so far' reading that Hot Rod should have been making a mental note of, but he wasn't ever one for coloring inside the lines anyway. At least now he had someone who at least seemed mildly interested in holding a conversation. Hot Rod cross-crossed his legs where he sat on the crates and set one servo on a knee while the other reached out to Sideswipe.

     "Hot Rod. You can call me Roddy if ya want, or if you prefer something more colorful I'm sure there's a personnel folder on me somewhere in their fancy computer system that'll have an entire list of both common and original designations for you to chose from."

[Deleted]

If there was one thing that Sideswipe had learned during his time as a law enforcement officer, it was how to profile a bot. Body language, voice inflection, word choice, face plate movement, it all factored in. It wasn’t even that he’d necessarily wanted to learn it, it was just one of those things that his instructors had beaten into him until he got it. Well, his instructors and Sunny. He could still hear his twin’s nagging voice: ‘You know, this could actually be useful. If you don’t pay attention, you really will end up catching a nova.’ He almost laughed at the memory. Good ol’ Sunny, probably the only reason he was still online. His twin and schooling aside, his profiling senses were speaking to him. They said that this bot was the bot he’d been looking for. Someone who was just as bored as he was.

His grin faded to mock seriousness as he took in the bot’s complaints about the processor-numbing quiet of the base. Yup. This was the one he was looking for. Little did this guy know, his prayers had just been answered. He nodded solemnly.

“I know what you mean. I spent a little time in here myself. That one there,” he pointed up at one ceiling tile specifically, “Looks like old Bucket Head himself,” the configuration of marks made from wear did indeed resemble something vaguely like a face, “I mean, you kinda gotta turn your head a bit, but it’s just as ugly.”

He seated himself on one of the crates Hot Rod had vacated when he sat up, the material creaking beneath his weight as he dropped heavily onto it. Placing one servo on the back edge, he leaned back, perfectly at ease despite his unfamiliarity with the bot next to him. He hardly knew a stranger, though, at least, not an Autobot stranger. When a bot belonged to the same faction, they were automatically a friend. Even if they didn’t know it yet.

He made a sound that was almost a snort of amusement in response to Hot Rod’s comment about adulting. In his experience, adulting was severely overrated. Sometimes, it had its uses, but, Sideswipe left the adulating to Sunstreaker. Which was another reason it was probably a bad thing that the flashier twin wasn’t around. Huh. The list just kept growing.

“Adulting’s for old bots. We’re constantly fighting for our lives. Live while you can, I say.”

That was another thing he liked about humans. Some of them really got that they had short lives and did all they could to live it loud. The first time he’d heard the phrase “YOLO”, he’d known that Earth definitely had a fun side that he wanted to be a part of.

When Hot Rod offered his servo, Sideswipe slapped his own into it, giving a firm shake. His grin had returned full-blast and his optics shone with unadulterated friendliness.

“I’ll settle for Roddy right now. I haven’t hacked the computer system yet. Figured I might give ‘em about a week before trying that, see if they actually put any extra countermeasures in place,” he sat up, withdrawing his servo to give his own chassis a firm thump, “Name’s Sideswipe. Call me Sides if you like.”

[Javelin]

“I can see Red Alert is going to have his hands full.”

Javelin had appeared seconds after Sideswipe, but instead of entering the Rec Room, she stayed just outside, leaning against the archway of the door. Arms crossed, she smiled at the two inside, her voice friendly and gently amused.

“I know this place can be boring. Not enough room for any real action to take place and with the buddy system in place, you can’t even go for a spin.”

Blue green optics scanned the other Cybertronians. Her dark blue coloring caught the light of the room as she pushed off from the doorframe and took a few steps inside, glints in her paint reflecting back, arms lightly crossed in front of her, though not in an annoyed or irritated manner.

“I came looking for Hot Rod, to see if he would be interested in heading outside to blow off some steam. Figured he was ready to climb the walls about now. A cruise around the city, or even out to the flats to race some.”

Javelin had actually been sent to check up on Hot Rod, make sure he wasn’t destroying anything, and to see if he would be able to go to the human town and not go tearing around too much. In essence, she was tasked with seeing if he had cooled his jets any. In all fairness, though, she liked the hot head, and felt sorry that he was indeed shut up inside the base, so her duty was superimposed with a little mercy as well. Maybe a good race around the flatlands nearby would help him burn off his energy, and maybe smooth over their first encounter.

Javelin also wasn’t aware Sideswipe had been at the base longer than she had, and assumed it was her duty to keep an eye on him as well, at first, anyway.

“We can take a spin around Jasper, or go racing on the flatlands, or just about anything else you guys want to do that won’t end up with us arrested or making the evening news,” she laughed.

[Hot Rod]

     He stared at the indicated mark for a bit and tilted his helm to the side for a better view of it. He hadn't seen it at first but now that he was getting a better look? Oh yeah, he could spot it now.

      "Your intentions are good, but I can honestly say... that spot on the ceiling is offended that you would dare compare it to the ol' Rust Bucket. I got to see that mech up close and personal, and I can agree. It looks a lot better than he does on a good day." Hot Rod stared at the mark on the ceiling for a moment more, then snorted some. "I don't think I wanna see his good day, though. Megatron all spruced up with a fresh polishing and a pep in his step like a newly forged mech sounds like nightmare fuel."

     He made a face, a little disgusted by the mental image that description provided. There was a chance he would need to wipe his processor later to completely get rid of that. It was enough of a distraction when Sides slapped his servo into his own, at least for the time being. He returned the other's grin with one of his own and even finished it up with a snort while firmly gripping the other's servo.

     "You got that scrap right, Sides. We've got enough adults at this base to cover the entire faction. If we don't show these old losers how to lighten up then they'll turn to rust before we got a chance to get off this giant sandbox." Hot Rod finally released Side's servo. "Be careful about the computer system. I hear we got some pretty tech savvy ones hanging around here now."

     Hot Rod turned his helm to look at the new voice that had interjected into their private conversation and he rolled his optics some. He didn't really want to face her, figuring that she was coming to rick roll the only enjoyment he'd had since arriving to this dust bowl. He turned to walk away a few paces, pretending to find something interesting on the wall to look at. The first part of what she had to say reminded him of the beginning of some lecture he usually got and he was prepared for it.

     Then she said the next part and it made him squint his optics and turn to look at her suspiciously.

     "Just what hand are you playing, Javelin? Last time I ran into you you were a hard ass who played me to get me here then sided with Xero to convince me to remove my brand. Now you wanna take me cruising around Jasper? If it's supposed to be some ploy to get me to forgive you for it then just forget it. I don't need a babysitter." Hot Rod crossed his arms, fully prepared to stand with his back to her the entire rest of the time. Though... the prospect of going out did lure him in, as blinded as it may have been. He was probably being led into some fire again but...

     "What do you think, Sides?" Hot Rod uncrossed his arms and moved to stand at the other mech's side, looking at him. "Think she's cool enough to hang with us? I mean, we can play the buddy system just fine on our own. I don't care either way, so it's up to you. Optimus would probably be calmer about us venturing out if we had one of his adults with us."

     Yeah, so he was just a little bitter...

[Deleted]

Sideswipe laughed at Hot Rod’s analysis of the spot on the ceiling, a sharp bark of surprised amusement. He hadn’t expected him to be so quick with his wits. The mech was right, though, a spruced-up Megatron would be completely horrifying. Though, the image of the Decepticon leader strolling down a hall with a bounce in his step threatened to send him into a full-on fit. As it was, he managed to contain himself.

“Don’t worry, Roddy, I’ve got plans to help the old bots lighten up. It’d be a shame if they rusted over before the ceasefire ended.”

He had decided he liked Hot Rod. The kid was sharp and had the same appreciation for fun that Sideswipe did. He might even prove to be a competent prank buddy! It was with that thought that he settled further against the crates, ready to either issue a challenge in video gaming or an adventure in pranking.

Then he heard a female voice.

And everything paused for a nanosec.

Now, Sideswipe liked to think of himself as both a lover and a fighter. His twin was an artist, for Primus’ sake, it was practically a requirement that he appreciate certain aesthetic beauty. Like that of planet Earth. Or a femme.

Which meant that, as soon as Javelin spoke from the doorway, the frontliner perked up and immediately looked in her direction, pranking and video games temporarily forgotten. How long had it been since he’d seen a femme? A while, he knew that much. His optics were just a bit wide. Female Cybertronians were so scarce in comparison to their male counterparts that the thought of running into one here, on this backwater planet where it seemed the remnants of their race were popping up, was a bit odd. But not unwelcome.

Sideswipe rose from where he’d settled himself on the crates, folding his arms over his chassis. His grin remained well in pace, a chuckle leaving him at the mention of Red Alert. He gave a small shrug.

 
“Can’t help it. Gotta have some way to provide entertainment around here.”

Being the prankster he was, he saw it as his duty to ensure that something was happening to interrupt the monotony of day-to-day life. As she said, a drive wasn’t an option.

When Javelin mentioned having come for Hot Rod, Sideswipe’s expression registered surprise. He glanced down at the mech, just in time to hear his grouching about their last encounter. Hard ass? Removing brands? Woah. He hadn’t heard about this. If the femme was one of those rusty old adults, that wasn’t nearly as appealing. He hadn’t gotten that impression, but, first impressions could be deceiving….

He shifted his weight to his other leg, thinking for a long moment as Hot Rod came to stand next to him. Then, he reached out and slung an arm over the bot’s shoulders, leaning in to mutter to him as he pulled him around so that their backs were to Javelin.

“I think it’s a shame that she’s gotten pulled into the adult realm,” he said quietly, “A hard ass, you said?” he vented softly and shook his head, “Dude, we’ve gotta do something about this. Show her how to be fun. The way I see it, she thinks she’ll be babysitting us, but, we’ll be the ones influencing her. Double win. Prime’s happy, and we’re working on pulling her from the ranks of the adults.”

He stepped back just a bit, taking his arm from around Hot Rod’s shoulders and slapping him lightly on the back in a purely friendly way.

“That alright with you?” he asked at a normal volume, grinning.

[Javelin]

Javelin glanced around the room before looking back to the two mechs. It was a habit of hers, always checking out the area.

She smiled as Sideswipe rose, and laughed a little at his comment about entertainment.

“Yeah, there’s not much else around here, I guess.”

When Hot Rod, spoke, moving to stand beside Sideswipe, she continued smiling, but arched an optic brow.

“You know perfectly well I was trying to keep you from getting jumped by MECH, which, by the way, you didn’t know about when you got here. You don’t have to like me, Hot Rod. I like you, and I don’t want to see you in trouble, on the evening news, or a prisoner of MECH’s. Keeping Autobots safe is my first priority on this planet. If that makes me a hard ass to you,” - she shrugged - “so be it.”

Javelin watched as Sides slung an arm around Hot Rod, turning him to talk quietly to him.

Oh, that wasn’t suspicious at all.

Well, she figured either the large red mech was trying to talk some sense into Hot Rod, or they were planning on doing something to make her life hell.

Javelin usually gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, so decided she’d go with the former. If they did decide to make her life hell, well…..that could always be played back in spades, after all.

Javelin suddenly felt a flash of fatigue. It had been so long on all those distant planets, away from her own kind, maybe she still hadn’t caught up with how to behave around her own kind. Maybe she had come off way too harsh to the younger mech. More than once since she came here did she feel distant, unable to really settle in and just be normal.

Can one lose the ability to interact with their own species?

She suddenly spoke, a little weary, dropping her arms to hang at her sides, looking defeated, “You know, maybe you two should just go on. I can start downloading the other Earth Languages package. I really only know Earth English at the moment.”

[Hot Rod]

"Trying to get an adult to convert in a place like this? Yeah, right. You'd be more likely to convince bucket head to doodle pansies on his armor before THAT would happen," Hot Rod shot back to Sides before he could fully pull away, then managed to stay pretty well planted in spite of the slap to the back he hadn't been expecting. “I dunno, Sides. She may be a little too hard-aft for-”

He paused when he saw the stance she held. Noticing the change in Javelin's posture did bother him a bit and it made him feel a little bad about what he had said before. Had he offended her? Not that that was something he often thought about when he opened his mouth so he didn’t know for sure. Then again, maybe he WAS being a little too childish for his own good. Afterall, they were in the middle of a war with the Decepticons for one, but now they were under some stupid truce drawn up to bring down MECH. He supposed he could be just a little more... well... responsible?

Nyah.

“Ya know what? Getting outta this stuck up outfit may be good for all of us. Now, we could always do a tour of what this one-horse town has to offer, which I figure is about as fun as the Rust Sea, or we can try to find something a little more entertaining. I’ve got enough steam building up in my frame that I could probably set this place on fire.” If only they knew how true that was, but hopefully it would never come to that. “As for MECH? They ain’t met anyone like me yet, cause not only do I doubt anyone in this base could even touch the speeds I can, but I’ve got a few other tricks up my sleeves. Not only do they gotta catch me first, but then they gotta make sure they can keep hold of me. No one so far has been able to. Color me impressed if they do.”

[Deleted]

Megatron with pansies on his armor. Primus, what a thought.

Sideswipe forced himself to focus before he started giggling over that mental image. No way was he letting the only femme he’d seen in…a long time get away with being a hard-aft. He was in the midst of preparing a counterargument when Hot Rod passed, seeming to think if over. Then…he agreed.

Oh, hell yes. He’d found a friend and a femme, who could possibly be another friend, within five minutes of each other. Score.

He whipped around quickly, grinning widely at Javelin.

“Nope,” he said in response to her suggestion that she go off alone to download languages, “If there’s one thing I know, it’s that a femme should get out and have a good time once in a while. And you’ve just found two good-looking bots who are willing to show you one.”

He said it factually, with only the barest hint of playfulness in his tone.

Then, he looked back at Hot Rod, folding his arms over his chassis as his expression turned thoughtful. The mech was right. They had limited options. They were literally in the middle of nowhere and no one was going to approve of them using the groundbridge for a pleasure jaunt, no matter how bored they were.

“Hmm…I think you’re right about the tour. Could be pretty boring…Though, there’s an off-chance we might find something interesting,” he shrugged, “I just finished coding a holoform, too…other than Jasper, I don’t know much about the area. I just got in…four days ago? Earth time is weird.”

He looked between his new compatriots, open to more ideas. They had a crew. Now, they needed something to do.

[Javelin]

Javelin was getting ready to turn and head back when Hot Rod spoke. She had been so sure he was going to tell her that yeah, go away and do something else, that she was honestly startled when he spoke up, offering a sort of half hearted hand in acceptance, looking back with a startled look on her face, optics wide. She really hadn’t expected that – it seemed every time she tried to befriend Hot Rod she said something to piss him off instead. This offered her a little hope.

And when Sideswipe turned back, cheerfully agreeing to have her join them, a huge smile broke out on her face, and the tight, desperately unhappy feeling in her chest vanished. She truly felt warmed by their apparent inclusion.

Maybe she wasn't hopeless!

Javelin took a step forward, beaming, “Hey, I’m not going to complain about having two handsome mechs to hang around with.”

She listened to Sideswipe speak, and nodded, “While you guys will eventually have to go to the town and at least learn where the kids live, we don’t have to go now. In Jasper we’d have to be more....constrained in our actions, we’d have to stay in our alt modes constantly, and I get the feeling you two are more eager to spin your wheels than stick to a speed limit.

To be honest, I am too. It’s been too long since I was able to slam down my accelerator. I used to run the Hexagonal Highway back on Cybertron in 12 kliks.” She beamed.

“There are some flats not far from here....racing, maybe? Or anything else you guys want to do, I’m open to just about anything.”

Javelin nodded again to Sideswipe, “Earth time is weird, yeah. Their days are so short, huh?”

[Hot Rod]

     Handsome? Okay, she was trying to get out from under Hot Rod's shell, which he got the hint of almost right away. She was trying, Sides was trying, Hot Rod just... was. Maybe he was a third wheel, though the pair had been ready to plan something before the femme had come around. So he didn't really feel completely that way. He just stood silently, listening to the exchange and took everything in.

     Hexagonal Highway? 12 kliks... okay, that may have been impressive to some, but to Hot Road? He just shrugged it off as though it weren't all that spectacular. While he hadn't done the run himself, he knew what his own speeds were and wasn't one to sell himself short on anything like that. Though he didn't say anything aloud. Sideswipe was tryin' to impress Jav and make friends at the base so Hot Rod really didn't wanna do or say anything that would ruin his chances of that. She was offering to babysit the two around town and take them cruising to get out of this facility, so Hot Rod had to play nice or they may have ended up grounded.

     "I've been stuck on Earth for a while, just decided to take my time getting here. Being stuck on a no-name planet filled with a bunch of peace lovers can make your processor kinda screwy when you know you're caught up in the middle of a war and they just don't wanna face the reality of it." Hot Rod scoffed some and looked between the two. "I wanted to do some sightseeing before I got myself thrown into this teamwork thing. Kinda wishin' I had taken a little more time, but hey, can't change it now. Here I am... standing around not doing anything because the adults think I'm more efficient indoors rather than outdoors. I'm kinda bitter as I wonder if it has to do with my apparent lack of combat experience or the fact I'm too flashy for my own good. Maybe I'm not scared enough of Megatron and his team of glorified piss ant schoolyard bullies."

     He shrugged some and vented.

     "I really need to get outta these walls. Can we go now?"

[Deleted]

Sideswipe honestly wasn’t quite sure what to make of Hot Rod, so, he didn’t make much. Dude seemed cool enough, and, damn, he wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion. Sides could respect that. He’d lived with Sunstreaker for long enough that the self-centered nature of Hot Rod’s complaints simply rolled off the red mech like water rolls off a duck. Still, he felt a dark flash of something at Hot Rod’s metaphor for the Decepticons. Bullies, they definitely were. But they’d done enough damage that, while Hot Rod may not be afraid, Sideswipe was definitely more than a little wary. He liked pounding ‘Cons, but he knew what they were capable of, and it wasn’t pretty.

The frontliner forced that moment to pass quickly, refocusing on the present.
He shifted his shoulders in a shrug and grinned cheerfully. He didn’t particularly care either way when it came to what they would do, as long as it was fun. A race would be cool, but, with the rationed energon, he wasn’t sure he would even have enough fuel to make it really worth-while. Might as well give it a shot. Besides, he’d seen of few of these things called ‘cacti’ during his travels, and, if there more nearby, they were ending up in his next prank.

“We’ll figure it out once we hit the road. Javelin’s right, my wheels just need the spin right now.”

After driving around as much as he had, being in bipedal mode so much felt weird. He needed to go for a spin, return to what had become a more comfortable form for a bit before settling in.

He motioned toward the outer hall, bowing playfully to both.

“After you.”

[Javelin]

After listening to Hot Rod, Javelin nodded faintly, “You might not believe me, but it’s neither of those things. Things are just up in the air right now. Even regular patrols have been scarce as of late.”

Her attention was shifted to Sideswipe as he spoke.

Hearing Hot Rod ask to leave, and Sideswipe second the motion, she smiled at the frontliner and stepped ahead, slipping out of the room and into the hall outside. She turned to looked back at them as they joined her, laughing.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on overgrown, organic planets. Been neglecting my alt mode, so you two have to be nice and excuse any sloppy driving at higher speeds at first. I’ll get into the groove shortly, promise.”

Resting her servos on her hips as they started walking, she spoke, “So, anyplace you two want to see first, or just head straight to the flats and open up? It’s pretty abandoned out there, so shouldn’t be any humans around. Dusty as the pit, so make sure your vents are clear.”

She glanced over at Hot Rod, “You said you were on a planet of peace-lovers? How long were you stuck there?”