Two Rods in a Pod

[Hot Shot]

Characters: Hot Shot, Rodimus
Location: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Hot Shot takes a trip down to a lake to enjoy some sightseeing, but who he encounters there is the last mech he ever thought he'd get the chance to meet. Will Rodimus turn out to be the mech from the stories he'd heard in his youth, or were they all tall tales?

[Hot Shot]

If Hot Shot was going to be stuck here in Nevada for awhile now that things were starting to shake up a bit with the Decepticons, he was at least going to find some way of enjoying it. He'd taken a trip to the west of the state, happy to find more than just rocks and some dirt. There was actually some green in this place, and even some trees!

But what had interested him all the more was the lake he'd found. It was massive! In all his travels, he'd never seen anything like it. Hot Shot was awed by the beauty of his surroundings, and since it had been fairly early in the morning, there wasn't a single human in site.

Perfect~.

The young Wrecker approached the water, sitting right at it's edge as he enjoyed the view, as well as the sounds of all the life around him. Birds primarily, but life all the same. Why couldn't all places be like this? It was peaceful and relaxing, and Primus help him he almost didn't want to leave. Of course he knew that eventually humans would start coming and then he'd be forced to go, but.. he at least had this chance to unwind for awhile.

"Wonder if this was the kinda peace everyone had before the war.."

[Deleted]

Rodimus used up the road whenever he drove. He was a big rig, the fastest around, and who was going to stop him really? It also made it much easier to navigate these backwoods roads at speed if he just took the optimal angle and let his sensors warn him of approaching vehicles before they could become a problem. It would also allow him to spot police before they spotted him, which was a good thing given how fast he was going for the predominant conditions. Nevada was an interesting state, it had both kinds of roads he was interested in. Flat and straight, and of course meandering hilly curves. Both were fun, for different reasons. And subtextually speaking, in femmes too. But that was something his mun would deal with later.

He was on his way east, assigned to rendezvous with a young bot who'd been assigned to the area, and get a general canvas of the area together, when his sensors happened to pick up an Autobot signal long before he'd had any reason to expect one. But then again, the bot he was looking for had been assigned to the state, not to any particular portion of it, so why not? It's exactly the kind of thing Rodimus would have been doing had he been sent out here to the middle of nowhere.

When his mapping program said he was coming up on the right turn to get closer to the signal he mentally shrugged and turned down the dirt road. He road it for better than three miles before he came to a sort of dirt lot that didn't appear to be currently in use. More importantly, there was no more road because there was a lake a few hundred meters away through the woods. He detached from his trailer, a split second after it's bracer legs dropped, and his wind foil snapped up into place from where it had been disguised as mud flaps. He then transformed into robot mode where the wind foil became a pair of non-functional wings over his shoulders as he strode through the thinest part of the forested area.

He arrived just in time to hear a bot ask himself a somewhat rhetorical question, but Rodimus was more than happy to answer it. "The peace ran out a good long time before the war started, actually. It took the Decepticons a little while to gain traction, and there were other problems before them." He stepped to the edge of the water and looked out across the lake, seeing what the bot was comparing it all too. "But there were moments, cruising at high speed along one of the skyways where the vibrations of the driving surface start to match the hum of your processors and the rest of the galaxy just melts away... I'm Rodimus by the way. You the one they call Hot Shot?" He turned and held out his hand for a shake.

[Hot Shot]

Hot Shot stared into the water, lost in thought until he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. It'd been all too tempting to get up and point his blasters at the incoming company, but he decided to wait it out for once. If he really wanted to, he could use the water as a mirror of sorts, see who was coming up from behind and knock 'em dead if he so desired.

Boy was he glad that he didn't!

The Wrecker listened as the mech spoke up, speaking of how the peace had run out long before the beginning of the war. He couldn't even remember a time before the war as he'd been sparked after it had begun, but it came to him as a surprise. He'd thought it was all peace until the whole war thing began. The mech came closer, Hot Shot now getting to see him through the reflection of the water. His spark nearly stopped the second he saw him. Primus.. there was no way. No fragging way this was real. There was no way a mech like him would be here, right?

Hot Shot turned his helm, looking directly at the red and yellow mech standing next to him as the other mech introduced himself. It was him! It really was Rodimus! The guy was practically a legend from the stories he'd heard, even if some of them had been a little exaggerated, but nevertheless this was the guy. What had him confused even more was the fact that Rodimus actually knew his name. Granted, he had been accepted into the Wreckers at a fairly young age, and something like that certainly wouldn't have gone unnoticed by others, but.. the fact that the one mech that inspired him indirectly to join to begin with knew his name filled him with such glee.

So much glee, he had no idea how to respond to that without stammering. Words.. words! What were words again?

"I, uh.. You.. erm.."

Quickly he found himself saluting after he got up onto his feet, practically embarrassed that he'd even lost the ability to speak for a moment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rodimus sir!" Dropping his servo back down, he grasped the red mech's servo firmly, shaking it. "I've heard so much about you, and I.. uh.. Wow I never thought I'd actually get to meet you." The young Wrecker let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his helm with his free hand. "You're right. My name's Hot Shot, but, uh.. how did you know?"

[Deleted]

I "Yup."
You... "Two for two."

Then the kid went and saluted, causing Rodimus to raise an eyebrow. Then he called him 'sir'. "Swing and a miss. Put your hand down. There, good. Just Rodimus will do fine, Hot Shot. Cool name, by the way. Reminds me of me." He shook the younger bot's hand firmly before letting it go and handling the rest of the back and forth. "If it was easy to make me unmeetable you wouldn't have heard so much about me."

Rodimus smirked and looked back across the lake, making a sweeping gesture at the pristine surroundings. "We sent a Wrecker to Nevada and nothing has exploded. You were presumed dead and I was sent to retrieve your remains... just kidding, kid. I'm just checking on you and seeing if you've come up with any observations or concerns during your time here. Drudge work but I get to chase the dotted line so why not, right?"

[Hot Shot]

Oh he should have expected that reaction to the sudden salute. It'd been more of a thing he fell back on when he wasn't sure how to talk to someone, especially when he had to deal with Ultra Magnus.. being a Wrecker and all. One of the youngest, and the last, to join before everyone scattered. At least he'd gotten a little fun in there before being stuck with Kup for what felt like a lifetime. Primus, he didn't miss those old war stories one bit. He placed his servo back down, shaking Rodimus' hand with sheer awe.

"You kidding? There wasn't a youngling around me growing up that didn't know your name. Just listening to the stories of your exploits were enough to get some of us through the harder days of the war. To be honest.. I probably wouldn't have even considered joining the Wreckers if it hadn't been for that. Kick some Decepticon skidplate!"

Primus.. did he actually just say that out loud..?

Hot Shot looked to the red and yellow mech as he glanced out towards the lake, optics widening at Rodimus' reasoning for being here. "Wait, what?!" Talk about giving a kid a spark attack! At least Rodimus had been kidding, but still.. he almost had to admit that would've been a cool way to go out. Have the one guy you looked up to drag you back to Cybertron. It was a nice thought, to be fair. "Just checking up on me, huh? Weeelll.." Did he have anything to report to him about this place?

"It, uh.. it looks nice? I mean.. it has nice views and such like this place. I.. should probably admit that I've kinda.. been a bit distracted by it all instead of looking for 'Cons, but hey! What better reason to get back on track than someone like you here, right?" Hot Shot laughed nervously, thinking. Wait, there was one other thing. "There's this really cool hacker guy I met out in Jasper, where the main Autobot base is? Goes by the name Stepper. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a hacker as skilled as him before."

[Deleted]

"Am I really that old..." Rodimus asked himself distantly, quietly, and then immediately decided he didn't want to think about all the cycles. So he didn't.

Rodimus looked the kid over for a long moment. He didn't actually have the chassis of a Wrecker, he was a speedster like Rodimus had been in his own youth. Besides, what was he doing going on about how Rodimus had inspired him when it all came down to the decision to join the Wreckers. There was just problem with all that. "Well, I'm glad I could be a positive role model to somebody... but you do realize that I was never a Wrecker, right? I joined the academy to become one of the Guard, fell out and joined up with a resistance movement, met Optimus, and then signed up for the Autobots after refusing a very generous offer from the Depticons. After that it was all flying by the seat of my manifold bolts."

He got a chuckle out of the kid's reaction to the idea that Wreckers were supposed to indiscriminately destroy things until they got indiscriminately destroyed. They were, by and large, smarter than that. But only in small numbers where they weren't all working each other up to something ill advised. Rodimus liked them, that was a given.

He could hear Ultra Magnus, dressing Hot Shot down for sight seeing when he was supposed to be operating in an official capacity. Thank the Spark that Rodimus wasn't Big Blue. "Well, that's kinda what scouting is. If you didn't happen across any Decepticons then we can call it a successful but uneventful mission. Tell me more about this Stepper, that has potential." Why reprimand a bot when you could confirm their effort, encourage them to be more mindful in the future, and then move on to the results they'd manage to produce anyway.

[Hot Shot]

"Ah.. No. No! You're not that old, Rodimus!" Hot Shot started waving his servos in front of him dramatically, embarrassed that he'd even made that implication that Rodimus was old. Though honestly, he didn't believe anyone would ever reach the level of Kup-old. Now there was a friggin' old mech that compared to no other. Well, ok.. maybe Ratchet from the stories he'd heard, but still. He couldn't have been that bad if he didn't tell old war stories like it was no one's business.

Hot Shot would've been the first to admit that he was sort of an odd fit for the Wreckers, but it'd been what he wanted to do. He was determined as frag to get in, and get in he did. "Yeah, I know. I just felt that I'd do better with the Wreckers than be a Guard or somethin'. Besides, I didn't wanna do everything that you did. People would kinda get the wrong idea, you know?"

At least the red and yellow mech had gotten a chuckle out of Hot Shot's reaction. Once he'd gotten over the initial surprise of the thought of being listed as deceased, he himself chuckled a bit. Ok, maybe it was slightly funny given who he was talking to, but regardless it'd completely caught him off guard.

Thank Primus that this guy wasn't Ultra Magnus, though. As a Wrecker, and one of the youngest and last ones to join before they all split across the galaxy, he was fully aware of the kind of mech Magnus was. Honestly, he intimidated the smaller, blue mech sometimes, but he'd do as he was told just to get the guy off his back. "You think so? Well then I think I did a job well done then. Ha! But, uh.. Stepper.. Hm.." What all else could he say about the other blue mech he'd run across? "Well, he's a pretty skilled codebreaker and a programmer from what I can tell, and he's out in Jasper, too! You just don't see skills like that too often anymore these days, and I think they'd be pretty useful against the Decepticons, don't you think?"

Hot Shot stretched a bit, looking to Rodimus. "So, you enjoying Earth so far? I guess it's a pretty cool place once you get used to it."

[Deleted]

"Relax, friend. I'm just having a little fun at the expense of your processors. I know how long I've been around, longer than most and not as long as some. Optimus and Magnus both recall the golden age." Rodimus bumped Hot Shot's shoulder with his forearm motivator. "And that's to say nothing of some units I've served with since the exodus. Did a mission with one once, long time ago, who would tell stories almost constantly."

He nodded, watching the light glint off the water of the lake while listening to the other bot explain why he'd gone the way of the Wreckers. Rodimus nodded, yes indeed, but what he translated it to was something a bit more practical. The Wreckers always had open slots in their ranks, they were one of the easiest of the 'elite' units to get into. And, from there, one could usually make their way to another unit if they survived for very long at all. The constant loss of bots was the reason that Ultra Magnus had been thrown at the group, in fact. At least, that was the way Rodimus had learned it. "Fair enough, though Elite Guard... I sometimes wish I had made it." He'd not have had to blow up a city if he had.

Rodimus looked to Hot Shot. "And this stepper isn't one of us? An Autobot, I mean. If they are interested, then yes. It would be great to get Stepper on our side. Somebody who can give Soundwave a run for his creds would be spectacular. So you're going to need to give us everything you learned, everything you saw, and I mean everything. Ultra Magnus will breathe down the back of your neck for things you don't even realize you noticed. Then Optimus will decide who to send recruiting."

[Hot Shot]

Oh thank Primus Rodimus was just joshing him and wasn't serious. He'd seemed like a pretty nice guy, laid back from the stories he'd heard, and simply chuckled as the older mech lightly punched him in the arm. His chuckles quickly came to a halt, however, as Rodimus spoke of a mech he'd once gone on missions with. One who, if he was connecting the dots correctly, sounded suspiciously like a certain Wrecker the younger mech had gone on a fair amount of missions with. "His name wouldn't happen to be Kup, would it? Can't tell ya how many times I got stuck with that guy, him and all of his old-war stories."

Things had been a bit different than Hot Shot had expected when he'd initially signed up for the Wreckers. He'd heard so many stories of how they'd go on all these wild and crazy missions, especially dangerous ones. He'd thought, if nothing else, it'd give him a chance to show off. Of course, things hadn't exactly turned out that way once he'd gotten in. Ultra Magnus definitely ran things a bit differently, and while there were still some dangerous missions.. they weren't quite as epic as he'd been hoping. It didn't stop him from trying to show off, however, which usually only landed him in trouble one way or another. "Yeah, it would've been cool if you'd made it into the Elite Guard. Not sure if I would've lasted through that boot camp of theirs, though. I just wanted to get out there and see some action."

The Wrecker looked to Rodimus, nodding. "Well, yeah. He's an Autobot. One of the ones based out in Jasper, but if we could all do a team up? That would be awesome! Uhh.. I mean.. If you wanted to." He rubbed the back of his helm nervously, listening carefully to what the taller mech had to say. He, as well as Ultra Magnus, were going to want to know everything he's learned thus far. "Before I play the literal card on ya.. do you mean about Stepper or do you mean about Earth? I mean.. there's not all that much more I can say on Stepper's behalf without him showing you what all he can do. But about the Earth? Oh I could go on for quite awhile."