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Wedge strode through the halls of Autobot HQ beside Hot Shot, nervously rubbing the treads over his hands against each other. It was enough of a motion that the Spy Changer couldn’t miss it.
“Relax, kid,” the black-and-white bot soothed, an amused grin hinted in his tone. “This isn’t anything serious. It’s a laidback sort of meeting. For fun to keep morale up.”
“Right…” the small bot uttered with an uncharacteristically soft tone. It wasn’t so much that he was worried about what kind of meeting it was. It was just that… he was going to be gathering with the leaders of every Autobot team on Earth right now. And sure, that wasn’t a lot, but that didn’t matter. He was going to be in the presence of a handful of bots who all took to their positions better than Wedge did. Who all knew what they were doing. The feeling of inadequacy that had built up out of anticipation was frustrating, but he wasn’t about to spill all that to Hot Shot.
Taking a look around the meeting room as they strode in, it was clear that they were the last ones to arrive. Not a great look for them… For him. Hot Shot’s reputation was probably fine… Everyone was staring. Optimus Prime, Railspike, X-Brawn… Was TAI around?? After casting a quick glance around the scene, Wedge was at least relieved to see that the feisty AI hologram was nowhere to be found.
“Hey there, pardners!” X-Brawn greeted warmly, raising a hand at them while they took the two remaining empty seats. “Glad y’all could make it!”
“Welcome, both of you,” Optimus chimed in gently. “Wedge—”
“Yes sir!” the Build Team leader barked out almost instinctively, straightening up in his seat as his entire body tensed.
“Ease up there, kid,” Railspike chuckled, earning an embarrassed blush from the small bot. “No need for any of that right now.”
Wedge glanced from the Bullet Train leader to the Prime watching him with amusement dancing in his optics. “R…Right…” he murmured bashfully, bringing an arm up to rub a tread against his neck as he dropped his tension. “Sorry…”
“Perfectly alright,” Optimus soothed. “I just wanted to make sure Hot Shot caught you up on what we’re doing here.”
“Uh… He said we’re just gathered to tell stories?” the young bot recalled. To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure if this was what they were actually doing or if he was being hazed, being the youngest and newest leader and all. He tossed a quick look at Hot Shot for a form of confirmation, and the Spy Changer leader responded by giving him a nod.
“Whatever your team did that you found inspiring or fun or amusing, yes,” the Autobot commander confirmed. “Since you’re a little nervous, we’ll have you go last so you have time to figure out a story to tell. Now, as far as who goes first, I believe it was Hot Shot who went first last time, so Railspike, that would make you our starting mech today.”
“Well, you guys know how things go between Midnight an’ Rapid Run. On each other’s case more often than not,” Railspike started, leaning back in his chair as he recalled the particular story he had in mind. “This week, though, I caught ‘em bickering over Midnight’s way of thinking. Got turned into a real heated debate. I don’t remember all the details; it was a pretty stupid argument, if ya ask me. But anyway, by the time I got to ‘em to intervene, Rapid Run had reeled his arm back and chucked a wrench right at Midnight Express’ noggin. It was a good shot, too! Nailed the poor guy right between the optics. An’ as he gave that wrench a sling, he shouted, ‘Tighten your lost screws!’” The old trainbot paused a moment to chuckle. “I can laugh now, but at the time, it took everything I could not to bust my sides laughing so I could reprimand Rapid Run.”
The older mechs in the room shook their heads with what seemed like amusement. It was hard to tell since they all had masks on. Personally, Wedge wasn’t sure what there was to laugh about in that story, but maybe it was just a type of mature thing he hadn’t caught onto yet.
“What do ya do?” X-Brawn sympathized with a breathy laugh, though Wedge did know that the question was rhetorical. Maybe he was going to share a similar situation with Side Burn and Prowl? The smaller bot knew well enough that the two brothers bickered quite a lot over the smallest of things.
“So then, X-Brawn,” Optimus directed, “what experience stuck out to you this week?”
“Alright, hang on to your britches for this one,” the eldest Autobot brother warned with a smug tone. “This one’s a hoot. So we all know about Side Burn’s fascination with li’l red sports cars. This week, Prowl—in his infinite wisdom—decided that he was gonna trick Side Burn and put him off the things for good. An’ the way he was gonna do this was by painting himself red and waiting for Side Burn to talk sweet on him for a bit before making the reveal. Gross him into staying away from the li’l red ones.”
“You can’t tell me it worked,” Hot Shot snorted.
“Yer darn tootin’ I can’t! ‘Cause it didn’t!” X-Brawn exclaimed. “Side Burn knew it was him right away an’ told him his paint job made him look like he’d propped in a slasher film! Sped right off afterwards! Prowl sulked for days!”
That was funnier. Wedge actually grinned and snickered at that one. As did the older mechs.
“He shouldn’t take it to spark,” Prime said. “I highly doubt anyone will get Side Burn away from those sports cars.”
“Not even Ultra Magnus,” X-Brawn remarked with a knowing nod.
This earned a lightly contemplative look from their leader. “Oh… That’s right. He and Magnus have developed a sort of chemistry, haven’t they? I think I’d like to see how that turns out.” Side Burn had a thing for Prime’s brother? Why was Wedge always the last bot to know this sort of gossip among the ranks? “Anyway… My turn, is it?” Optimus checked.
“Sure is, boss,” Hot Shot confirmed. “Think you can top that last one?”
“Probably not,” the Prime admitted. “I didn’t witness anything particularly funny this week, but I did get to watch Koji teaching TAI about various species of animals found on Earth. Her demeanor was oddly… light during the conversation. When I asked her about it later once he’d left, she admitted that she already had a large amount of that knowledge stored away. She just didn’t want to discourage Koji. so pretended it was new. They both seemed to enjoy the experience, regardless.”
“Mighty nice of her,” Railspike commented with a soft smile.
It felt weird, hearing that TAI had a soft and considerate side to her. More often than not, she was on Wedge’s case about one thing or another. They just didn’t get along all that well, personally. Not for his lack of trying, but…
“A rather endearing experience, it sounds like,” Hot Shot agreed before straightening up with a proud aura wafting off him. “I guarantee my story will trump everyone’s.”
“Whoa, so confident that you’re counting Wedge out before he’s even shared?” the bullet train teased.
The Build Team leader rubbed his treads together with awkward uncertainty as he realized he was rapidly running out of time to think of a story. He should have been thinking of one back when Railspike was still sharing his! Something funny! Or tender? Something positive in some way!
“Nothing against Wedge’s story when he tells us, but I am pretty confident,” the Spy Changer leader boasted. “This week, we started a new training exercise to hone our craft as Spy Changers. To keep us on our toes, I instructed everyone that while they go about their business at the base, they ought to see if they can find a way to blend into the environment and give anyone passing by a good scare. Everybody was on board with the chance to have some fun pranking the rest of the team. And some of them got pretty creative! But the one that stuck out to me the most was when Mirage got Ironhide.
“I got to witness that one firsthand. Mirage and I were discussing battle tactics when we heard footsteps coming from the other side of a door we were passing. Mirage quickly stopped me in front of the door, then moved to press himself against the wall beside it, waiting. Ironhide came out shortly after, and he spotted me right away. He was a little startled, so because of that he assumed I had tried to give him a scare. He was about to tell me to try harder when Mirage lunged forward and grabbed his sides while letting out a fierce, ‘RAH!!’
“Ironhide about jumped out of his plating! He let out this audial-piercing shriek and tried to whip around instinctively to punch him!” Hot Shot paused to soak in the roars and howls of laughter that erupted from his fellow Autobots before finishing with, “Mirage left me behind as he booked it down the hall with Ironhide chasing him loudly. I was laughing so hard, I about collapsed to the floor.”
“Hooey! Alright, pardner, you might just have the reigning story this time,” X-Brawn admitted after he’d recovered enough to speak.
It had taken Wedge a few seconds to wipe the tears from his optics and catch his breath before he realized that suddenly all optics were on him.
“Your turn, li’l buddy,” Railspike informed.
“No need to be concerned with embellishments,” Optimus soothed. “Whether your story is simple or detailed, it makes no difference.”
That was easy for him to say… He wasn’t competing with Hot Shot’s story… Wedge hemmed and hawed for a few seconds as he anxiously tried to recall anything that stood out to him that week. Why was his brain locking up now?!
“Can’t think of anything?” X-Brawn inquired gently.
“N-No no!” the small bot denied quickly. “I have something, I just—” And then a story finally came to him. He wasn’t confident about its humor level, but at least it was something. After clearing his throat and relaxing as best he could, he started. “So this week, we were doing some routine maintenance on the Global Space Bridge. Pretty standard stuff we’ve done a million times before. It should have been simple. But this time, when Grimlock had shifted the gravity fields so we could get to the harder-to-reach areas, there was a glitch in the system that sent them haywire. All of us were flung around, spun, sent this way and that—”
Wedge had shifted in his seat to demonstrate, gesturing with his hands as he explained. “Made me feel all sick. But anyway, Hightower got all frustrated as we were trying to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. He and Grimlock were getting snippy with each other, throwing accusations and things back and forth. And then he shouted to Grimlock, ‘You think your safe now, but just you wait! Soon my body will realign with the Z-Axis, and then you’ll be fragged!’”
Several snorts and snickers left the bots gathered around the table, giving Wedge’s confidence a much needed stroke. He relaxed a little more in his seat with a small grin on his face as he finished, “I didn’t let him do anything he’d regret, and they’ve made up, but thinking back on it, I liked the sound of that line.”
“How’d you guys break free?” Hot Shot queried.
“We had to shoot the computer in control of the gravity field,” the smaller bot admitted. “Kind of annoying, but Grimlock’s been working on it and will have it fixed soon.”
“I’m glad everyone was alright, despite the disturbance,” Optimus said. “Alright. Thank you all for gathering and sharing these moments. Let’s keep up the good work and be ever vigilant in watching for more experiences that bring our teams together or make for an entertaining recollection.”
“Oh, but… wasn’t… this a competition?” Wedge inquired with confusion. “Who won?”
“Well, see, it’s not really a competition,” X-Brawn confessed. “Hot Shot, Railspike, an’ I just like ta see who can get the most or loudest laughs.”
“And unfortunately, Hot Shot’s got the record to beat,” Railspike informed with a weary tone. “He just claimed his sixth win tonight.”
“Ten in a row and the guys treat me to some premium oil,” Hot Shot announced, a smirk clearly hiding under his mask.
Wedge processed that for a moment before developing a competitive grin. “So I’m hearing incentive to break your record and make my own,” he declared.
“Ohhh, you wanna get in on the action now, do you?” the Spy Changer mused. “Well, a good luck to you, my friend.” He finished the sentiment by sticking out a hand toward him.
The smaller bot promptly extended his own hand and clutched Hot Shot’s firmly, giving it a shake while they locked optics. Wedge was so going to come prepared next time. He’d bring the funniest darn story this group of leaders had ever heard. That premium was as good as his.