Everybody's Looking For Something

[Hot Shot]

Characters: Hot Shot, @stepper
Location: Just outside of Jasper
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Deciding to pay Jasper a visit, Hot Shot finds himself screaming down the freeway when he's spotted by another Autobot. Will the Wrecker be able to befriend the hacker, or will they end up driving each other insane?

[Hot Shot]

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something~

The young Wrecker had thought long and hard on it, and decided that now was probably a good time to give Jasper a visit. That had been where Optimus Prime was, and that's where the signal to come to this planet had originated anyway. Except.. Hot Shot was a bit of a free spirit, and wasn't the only Wrecker to be the same way. All that time spent after the Wreckers had split up had done him some good (in some ways), and made him a bit more adventurous. Traveling everywhere was fun, especially when there was a race involved.

His current favorite song blared from his speakers, flying down the freeway as he made his way towards Jasper. They view of this place was not exactly the most pleasant of things he'd seen, but it could've been worse. He could've been sharing this view with Kup!

Mentally shaking his helm, Hot Shot continued to speed down the highway, not caring who saw him going way faster than he should've. While he wasn't exactly in a hurry, the blue mech did have a thing about getting to places as fast as he could. After all, why make a vehicle mode that can go so fast and not do so?

[Deleted]

Some of them want to use you,
Some of them want to be used by you.

Meanwhile, the young hacker himself had chosen to visit Jasper for a different reason. Mind you, he was happy with his life at Autobot Outpost Omega-1; it was a nice life to have somewhere to stay when you needed a safe place. However, he didn't do well with crowds, and often when he left his quarters, there was a crowd about. It was no one's fault, really. Other Autobots had a need to socialize and crowds were a great way to socialize, if you weren't anxious in large groups. But frankly, that was the problem right there. Stepper was, in fact, one of those mecha who tended to be anxious in a large group.

Sure, the view was a little bleak, but apparently what he could find in his research of this landscape was that the sand here was made of silica and silicon, and therefore this sand was possibly future circuits and conductors and semiconductors. However, he was snapped out of his musing by a vehicle zooming by, cutting it a little close.

He took off in hot pursuit, blurting. "Hey, slow down! Ya almost hit me!" His voice seemed to be sharp, sharper than he intended it to sound. "Whaddya think you're doin'?"

[Hot Shot]

As Hot Shot flew down the freeway, it didn't even come to his attention that he'd nearly plowed right into someone. He remained blissfully unaware, that was until said car started to chase after him. Seriously, what was this guy's problem? Did he want to race or something? If that was the case, a race he was gonna get! The Wrecker sped up, pushing the limits to his speed, only this guy was still tailing after him.

And yelling at him for nearly hitting him.

Huh.. Since when were humans so loud and audible from this distance?

Maybe this guy wasn't a human driver after all, but another Cybertronian. Primus he'd hoped so, but at the same time he would've been happier to know that it was an Autobot and not a Decepticon. He'd been so focused on his driving that he wasn't even paying attention to even that little detail. "Hey, you a 'Bot or a 'Con?! Cause if you're a 'Con you're gonna have a bad time, 'k?!"

[Deleted]

Ah yes, how Stepper had a bit of a temper about nearly being plowed into. Not that he normally had a temper. But that was because he didn't like the prospect of being harped at by Ratchet and crowded around by comrades trying to well-wish him after the injuries. Eugh.

He continued zooming after the other when he heard the bellow. "I'm an Autobot! You a 'Bot too?!" Asking the important questions, Stepper was. And the important question was whether or not this new mech was an Autobot or a Decepticon. And maybe even what kind of Autobot he was.

[Hot Shot]

So this guy was an Autobot? Could be a Decepticon trick, but who was to say really? Wasn't like Hot Shot was going to jump to that conclusion.

...right?

He chuckled a bit to himself, swerving around and switching his gears so that he was driving backwards while facing this unknown mech. He kept this up for a short distance, pleased that the road behind him was straight and that there wasn't a single human driver around him to get in the way. As he continued his trek backwards, he transformed, landing on one hand, then springing back onto his peds. Hot Shot stood in front of the mech driving his way, wondering how quickly he'd come to a halt.

"Yeah, I'm an Autobot, and I'm a Wrecker too. So why don't'cha tell me more 'bout yourself?"

[Deleted]

Stepper himself marveled at the transformation. It was so seamless and quick, unlike his own. Then again, he himself was awkward, ungainly, clumsy. No, he shouldn't think of himself negatively. He had been trying to teach himself this.

He attempted a showy transformation of his own and tumbled, ending up on his aft, legs sprawled in front of himself, his servos folded in his lap. His blue visor glinted and he gave an awkward, broken smile. He wasn't exactly the greatest with most social graces, even basics like smiles.

"The name's Stepper. I'm sort of a hacker. Tech's my specialty though...uh...I guess I'm also a bit of a sniper? But not a good one yet. I'm...I'm trying though." He lifted his left servo to rub the back of his helm sheepishly. Hopefully the other didn't ask about the now visible rifle strapped to his back. "So, a Wrecker, huh? I hear you guys are some of the best of the best fighters!"

[Hot Shot]

Hot Shot watched as Stepper transformed, though his transformation hadn't exactly been the most graceful of them all.  Looked like the guy tried to get a little fancy, and ended up flat on his aft.  The young Wrecker gave the other mech a look of sympathy, but held out his hand to at least help the guy up.

"Stepper, huh?  Name's Hot Shot."

He couldn't help but be curious when it came to this guy's skills.  A hacker and a sniper?  That was actually pretty freakin' cool!  Certainly explained that sweet rifle he'd had behind his back.  "Hey, practice makes perfect, doesn't it?  I gotta admit though.. that's a pretty awesome rifle you got there."  Hot Shot wasn't going to question where the guy got it.  It wasn't that he knew Stepper didn't want to speak of it, but he didn't really see much of a point in asking.

"Yeah.. I haven't been a Wrecker for a super long time, but that's the gist of it, really.  Awesome fighters who just wanna go out and kick Decepticon skid plates.. and not listen to old war stories in the middle of battle."

[Deleted]

It had taken a few moments before the young mech got his bearings enough to stop blinking behind the visor. It wasn't exactly the "dumb" blink of someone playing dumb. It was the blink of someone trying to process exactly what happened. Once he had his bearings enough, he reached out for Hot Shot's hand to stand once more.

"Hot Shot, eh? Sounds like such a cool name." He hoped that was a good compliment. He wasn't exactly socially the best mech.

He felt an internal sigh of relief that Hot Shot had merely complimented the rifle. "Isn't it? I plan to do it justice and become as awesome as it." He gave a bright look. He didn't have to admit that he also wanted to become as awesome as his mentor was--but in his own right. He didn't want to be "the most awesome sniper" and "the bravest soldier". He just wanted to be "one of the brightest hackers" and maybe if he was lucky, a great deal-maker.

"W-wait. I've never even heard old war stories so that'd be a real treat for me!" He then paused. "But kicking skidplate would be great too!" He then paused and tapped his chin. "Maybe even pick 'em off with a sniper rifle!"

[Hot Shot]

"Heh.  You know it, pal.  Although I think your name's pretty cool too.  Stepper's got that kinda ring to it."

If Hot Shot had known that Stepper had felt so much relief when he hadn't asked where he got the rifle from, he would've smiled even more.  To be fair it wasn't any of his business, but the worst he would've asked was something to the effect of 'hey, where can I get one of those bad boys?'  It was wicked sweet, and he wanted to see just what it could do in the heat of battle.  "I sure hope so.  I bet it needs a lot of training before you get skilled with something like that.  I'm sure you'll be an expert with that thing one day.  Heck, maybe I could get myself a cool weapon like that.  All I got are my blasters built into my arms and my visor.. and that last one's not even a weapon really."

Scrap.  He was rambling again.

"Yeah.. That's how Kup was.  I swear that old geezer never ran out of stories to tell no matter what kinda situation we were in."  Sure, the guy was the one that scouted him out and made him a Wrecker, but man did the guy never shut up.  "Half his stories made no sense at all.  He'd always be going on about things that he so couldn't have been there for."

[Deleted]

"You mean it doesn't sound like the name of a huge nerd?" Stepper quirked his optics behind his visor. He had been convinced it was a huge target that screamed "nerd".

He then gulped. It took a lot of training. "Yeah, tons. I'd love to learn to be a crack shot with it, even if I gotta find a sniper's nest to fire it from. I don't really have any other weapons yet unless you count my smarts and my computer skills. But, well, not everyone does. I can't blame them though. It's not front-line stuff."

Oh great, this was one of those things his mentor had said. He was putting himself down.

"Weird. You'd think he heard from others or somethin'." He laughed and rubbed the back of his helm. "How much you wanna bet he heard some of them from others, and made a few of 'em up to sound wiser?"

[Hot Shot]

"Like a nerd?  Of course not!  It's kinda like.. I dunno.. a name you would wanna hear a skilled dancer have or even the name of a guy who's stepping all over ya in battle.  I mean that in a good way."

Hot Shot grinned, listening to Stepper as he spoke more about that sweet rifle of his.  "I've never really been a sniper guy, but it's always sounded pretty cool to me.  Just being super far away and then pow!  Never knew what hit 'em.  If you ever reach that sorta level, you gotta have me watch some time.  I think it could be a lotta fun, don't you think?"  He was super excited about it, perhaps a bit too much.  Stepper might've been worried about it, but this young Wrecker just loved jumping into the fray.

He chuckled as they spoke of Kup, thinking back on some of the stories that the old mech would tell him at the most in opportune times.  "Well.. I guess you gotta point there.  Creative story telling or something like that?  Guess you do have to spice things up a bit when you're telling boring stories."

[Deleted]

Stepper paused. "So the kind of tough name a nerd and a merchant would give their kid in hopes that he becomes strong and graceful. My...creators' wishes for me." His optics suddenly widened softly.

He then grinned eagerly. "Of course! I hope that I can get a good sight to compensate for my terrible optic sight though." It wasn't him putting himself down. It was an honest sentiment. "I'm not going to be afraid. Especially when you believe in me."[/color] His expression became a bright one.

He mused about how this Kup might tell his story. "Yeah. See? Creative. Unlike bots who might rehash the same story fifty times to make themselves sound tough." He then tapped his chin. "I wish I could hear some of his war stories. You know? I still remember mostly...commerce stories that others used to tell me, of course. Like about the weird customers or the really rude ones. One of my creators used to tell all sorts of merchant stories about bad customers."