Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wedge had trained and worked and crawled his way upwards everyday to get to where he was now, to become a Rescue Bot. Others had tried to drag him down, for being a construction vehicle, for being a Neutral, for being a…

Others had tried to stop him from succeeding, whether it be his old teachers or peers or Cybertron as a whole, but he had risen to the top despite them. He had become the best recruit on Cybertron. He had gotten admitted to the first Rescue Bot Academy on Earth, taught and founded by heroes of both planets. He was here and he was finally surrounded by bots who knew nothing of his past. He could finally work his hardest and be the best, without anything in his past or anyone here in his present to drag him down.

He would carve his own destiny. Become a true hero of Cybertron. He would make up for his past and for everything that he once was. 

He would save lives. 

Long story short, Wedge had worked hard to get here. So all that is to say-

Wedge did not like Hotshot. He didn't like the way the bot didn't take anything seriously. He didn’t like the way he had just waltzed into the Academy expecting to become a Rescue Bot with absolutely no training whatsoever. He didn't like the way he had seemed just so absolutely sure of himself. All of it, just because he was some big Cube star. Wedge had worked hard to be here. Worked harder than any other bot. Worked hard because nobody had wanted him here and this sports bot got to just walk right in?

Just “Welcome to our amazing and prestigious academy, we know you don't have any experience or rescue skills or integrity but come right on in!”

It wasn't fair. 

And so Wedge may have gone a little bit overboard, trying to get his point across. It hadn't been his intention to run the other recruit off. Or, well, maybe it had. It really was just in his nature, wasn't it? Hardly a solar cycle had passed and Wedge was already proving that he didn't belong here. Proving all those bots back at his old academy right.

Well… well… it didn't matter! He was right! If that rookie had stuck around he was going to get someone killed. They didn't need him on this team. 

So he did not feel guilty when Whirl and Hoist came back from the Space Bridge without Hotshot in tow. No, not at all.

Whirl dragged her pedes as the two made their way back into the common area, the characteristic pep to her step nowhere to be found. The lack of annoying quips ringing high-pitched through his audials made it clear that their attempt to bring back Hotshot had failed.

“That wasn't very nice, Wedge.” Whirl scolded him, servos on her hips.

“Look- if he gave up that easily, he's clearly not cut out to be a Rescue Bot anyway.” Wedge reasoned, being sure to meet her optics. That part was true anyway. Wedge had dealt with plenty of scrap back on Cybertron, if Hotshot couldn't deal with a single earth day of it, how badly did he really want to be a Rescue Bot?

“I concur, do you really see any good coming from a Rescue Bot recruit without even the most basic training?" Medix agreed. Thank Primus someone else around here actually had some sense.

“Yes, exactly! A recruit. A recruit who was here to learn, just like the rest of us.” Whirl frowned at them both. “And now because someone ran him off,” the femme shot an uncharacteristically sharp glance Wedge’s way, “he’s never even going to get the chance to try.” 

Wedge wasn't unused to glares, but under Whirl's he squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't feel guilty. He didn't! Not as the time ticked by and it got clearer and clearer that Hotshot wasn’t coming back. Not when the next class started in Hero Hall and Chase questioned where Hotshot had gone. Not when the other recruits had all unsubtly glanced his way. Not when Whirl had explained what happened, her tone resigned and all glares traded for soft looks of disappointment. Not when he spent the rest of class spacing in and out, not beating himself up for proving exactly what type of bot he was less than a day into class. NOPE. He didn’t feel guilty at all over-

“Hotshot!” Hoist exclaimed as the bot in question strode suddenly up next to them into Hero Hall.

“You're still here?” Wedge scoffed, all not-feelings buried away at the sight of his smug face. Looks like he hadn't chased him off after all. So there really was nothing for him to not feel guilty about anyway.

“That’s right! So you better watch your step!” Hotshot said stepping into his place, which of course had to be right beside Wedge. He winked and sent what the humans called a ‘finger gun’ his way. Who does this bot think he is?

“The precise answer is — proceed with caution,” Professor Chase corrected. Oh right, Wedge had almost forgot they were in the middle of a lesson. “But I will accept ‘watch your step.’”

Wedge narrowed his optics, “Lucky guess.” Everything about this sports bot was lucky, like it was the only real skill he had. “But luck won’t save you when things get real.”

“Sounds like a challenge.” The sports bot stepped closer, practically chassis-to-chassis with him. In under the span of an hour since being humiliated, he was already back to radiating off that same unearned confidence. “Which I accept!”

“Ahem.” Chase cut into their argument, once again pulling him from his focus on the other bot. Again, Wedge had already forgotten where he was, his vision going narrow whenever the other bot stepped into his line of sight. Another reason why Hotshot didn’t need to be a part of this team, the way he so easily kept throwing Wedge off-task.

“For today’s class you’re going to be learning the importance of completing a mission in a timely, efficient, and most importantly, safe manner. You’ll be competing two at a time to complete the track first, while still obeying the rules of the road.” The older bot continued to explain the course they would be running. All Wedge heard was that they would be competing against one another.

That they would be competing one-on-one. 

“Who would like to-?”

“I WILL!”

“ME!”

The two were yelling in unison, racing towards the track before Chase had even finished his explanation.

“Let’s do this!” Hotshot bounded up to the starting line, beaming with the overconfidence of a bot who was nothing but concentrated luck.

“You and me, rookie. We’ll see who’s the better bot.” Wedge smirked, taking his place beside him, shoulder-to-shoulder with the sports bot.

“Now wait just a moment.” Chase cut in, freezing both recruits in place in a half running position. “I still need to explain how the race works.” Wedge felt his face heat up at his over-eagerness and pretended not to notice Medix, Whirl, and Hoist snickering from behind their teacher. “Now, you are going to start the course in bot-mode-”

Wedge had to fight to keep processing Chase’s instructions, his voice fading into the background as he stared the sports bot down. It became near impossible when the other took notice and began staring right back.

Wedge knew he didn't have the advantage of speed, but what he did have was his training. All he needed to do was get to the vehicle-mode portion of the race before Hotshot. He wasn't going to get beaten by a rookie. He was going to win this.

“-understood?” Chase finished. Both bots raced to acknowledge their understanding — everything was a race with this sports bot, everything was a competition, one that he couldn’t afford to lose.

“See ya at the finish line!” Hotshot mocked.

And the race began.

We’ll see about that.

“Not if I see you first!” Wedge yelled back as he overtook the other bot at their first obstacle, racing past the crosswalk as Chuck hobbled into Hotshot’s path. He didn’t bother to keep the smirk off his face as he heard Hotshot’s loud complaining at Chuck behind him and kept running. No need to pace himself for such a short race. 

Wedge vaulted over the next obstacle as quickly as he could, but even with the advantage the crosswalk had given him, Hotshot was already catching back up. He could hear the rapid pedesteps of the sports bot behind him, then right at his side. Not good. He needed to be as far ahead as he could for the vehicle portion.

Before Hotshot could get too far ahead, however, they came to a stop at the rock wall. He swore the wall must have reached to the ceiling, (Primus, did this room even have a ceiling???) daunting him greatly with just a quick glance, but he didn’t hesitate. In a rescue there was never time to hesitate. Wedge used his momentum and leapt up onto the rocky red wall, while Hotshot sat paused beside him. After only a nanoklik(the type of nanoklik that would cost lives in the field) he heard the bot leap up swiftly after him.

The other bot overtook him quickly, but Wedge knew his training would be to his advantage. His assumption was quickly confirmed, as a foothold crumbled beneath Hotshot and he fell right back down to his level. While his opponent regained his bearings, Wedge kept climbing. 

Don’t look down, don’t look down, the bot’s thoughts raced frantically as he hauled himself overtop the wall — a cliff face, he realized — and onto the sturdy hill on the other side.

Without pause he transformed to his vehicle mode, and began racing down the slope at top speed.

Wedge had this. He was going to show the teachers just how great of a rescuer he was. Show the other recruits that he deserved to be here. And most importantly he was going to beat Hotshot.

A gust of wind whipped past him.

A red jet whooshed through the finish line. 

And flipping around to face him, he watched as it transformed back into a certain gloating sports bot.

What.

In.

CYBERTRON?!

And so, it had turned out that Hotshot was not just a triple changer. No, he wasn't even just a quadruple changer. It turned out that Optimus had entrusted in him a rare Cybertronian artifact to make him a quadruple changer. Why had he given it to Hotshot and not Wedge? Did Optimus not trust him? Would he always just be some dirty Decep-

Wedge forced the thought out of his processor. Whatever, who cares.  

It's not like it would suddenly make him a good rescuer. Rescuing was about what was in your spark, and clearly all Hotshot wanted was glory. This only cemented further in Wedge’s mind just how undeserving the other bot was to be here. Just how much of his life was nothing but luck.

Wedge was NOT sulking as he stayed back behind the other bots on the walk to the common area, all of whom were bombarding Hotshot with questions. He stuck to himself as the other recruits all went to sit down on the sunken couch and listen to Hotshot as he regaled his story to them. He knew it all had to be embellished. HIM? Friends with Optimus? There was no way.

“Isn’t this amazing Wedge? We have our own quadruple changer!” Whirl exclaimed as Hotshot finished his tall tale. 

Wedge huffed. He told them exactly what he had been thinking. Leaving out the more self-deprecating details.

“Please,” he rolled his optics. “You think your vehicle mode is what makes you a hero? Rescue work is about who you are in your spark.”

“But it’s also about being the first one there to save the day.” Hotshot argued back smugly. “Which I totally just was.”

Wedge grumbled, but before he had a chance to formulate a response, the Rescue Alarm started beaming through the academy, flashing red and shaking the walls.

“GAH! WHAT IS THAT ANNOYING SOUND!?” Hotshot yelled over the alarm, servos clamped over his audials. If Wedge were just a slightly lesser bot he might’ve taken the very easy bait.

“The Rescue Alarm!” Whirl gasped, the look of concern in her optics only just barely masking the spark of excitement. “Hurry!”

Argument forgotten, Wedge ran through the winding halls alongside the others as fast as his pedes would take him. He felt a-kin to the others in that moment, nervousness roiling together into exhilaration at the thought of performing a rescue on an entirely new planet. The feeling radiated through almost all of them and all around the group as they ran. Wedge tried to focus on that feeling of camaraderie and shove the worries out of his mind at the thought of rescue work in such a new and unfamiliar place. It didn't exactly work, but it didn't matter. Being a rescuer meant adapting, trusting your spark and not your fears, and he would do his best to save whoever he could, however he could. He would be ready to roll to the rescue on his first Earth mission.

High energy sputtered all around them as he and the other recruits came skittering to a halt into the tube room. Heatwave sat the front looking as awesomely impressive as Wedge expected from a hero of cybertron.

“Nice hustle recruits," he said. Then after a moment added: "We'll work on that time when it comes to it,” in his gruff voice. The voice of a hero, one you can’t disappoint. Wedge's own voice spoke up in the back of his mind. “Tonight, we’re going to test how you all do working on your first ‘mission’ together. You’re going to be practicing a cave rescue with Cody, our human instructor. He’s hidden in the caverns near Milford. Deep in the caverns,” he emphasized.

Behind Heatwave a screen lit up. It at first showed an overhead map of the tunnels, before zooming in on a particular highlighted point until a human male popped up on screen. Cody waved at them from where he sat. On a boulder in a damp, dark cavern. “It’s your mission to find him and bring him back to safety in the academy.”

“I’ll be in contact with Heatwave to let him know how your mission goes. Hope to see you all soon!” Cody waved, before the screen switched back to a map of interwoven tunnels and dead ends.

“We know how easy it is to get lost in a cave system, so follow this map and stay together. And remember, I’m going to be in contact with Cody, so don’t do anything stupid.” Heatwave said.

Wedge — along with all the other recruits — glanced over at Hotshot.

“What?” the sports bot hmphed as he looked around at them all, incredulous.

Heatwave cleared his throat and the recruits quickly turned their attention back to him. “That's all recruits, you should be ready to go.”

“Alright! Rescue Bots, roll to the rescue!” Hotshot whooped, pumping his arms in the air.

Wedge sighed, sending an exasperated glance to Whirl, who responded with her own raised optical ridge.

“What? That’s what we say, right?” the bot questioned, looking unsure now, maybe for the first time since he came back with that stupid glowing blue artifact. Why was it blue anyway? Gold was clearly the cooler choice. Just Wedge’s opinion.

“That’s what I say,” Heatwave huffed. “You’re still a recruit.”

“Oh. Heh.” Hotshot scratched the back of his helm awkwardly.

It wasn’t even a minute into the caverns rescue that Hotshot was already racing off and ignoring protocol.

“Wait, Hotshot!” Wedge called after him, only to be predictably ignored. He groaned under his breath and ran after the other. He distantly heard the others yelling after him to stay together, but the words bounced right off his helm as he chased after Hotshot.

“Hey!” Wedge called again, making an effort to run while also trying not to stumble in the dark, winding tunnels. He used his headlights reflection off Hotshot’s flashy paint job and kept him in sight. He caught up just in time, yanking Hotshot back by the shoulder to avoid the other running helm first into a dead end wall. 

Hotshot blinked at the wall in surprise as if he hadn’t noticed it until that very nanoklik. He quickly recovered though, yanking himself from Wedge’s grip. “I was totally fine,” he excused.

Wedge felt his anger flare at the clear lack of forethought. “We’re supposed to stay together! You know, work as a team?” he snapped.

“Oh like you’re ‘working as a team’ right now either—!” Hotshot shot back, pushing himself into Wedge’s space.

"—I'm sure doing it better than you—!"

“Guys!” Whirl yelled over their arguing. Wedge hadn’t even noticed her arrival, nor that of Medix and Hoist standing right beside her. “Cut it out! Neither of you are acting a lot like teammates right now.” She frowned, servos crossed over her chestplate.

Hoist looked warily between the three of them, while Medix just rolled his optics. “And this is why we use a map.” He deadpanned, popping open a panel on his arm to bring up the cave schematics. Dammit, why hadn't he just listened before, instead of running off after Hotshot? How did he keep getting distracted by this annoying sports bot?

Whirl gasped, her attention quickly shifting from his and Hotshot’s argument back to the mission. “Look how close we are! CODY!!! CODY, WHERE ARE YOU??” She yelled loudly through cupped servos. Medix flinched back with a grimace.

The cave got quiet enough to hear a scraplet squeak. And then distantly, a decidedly human voice called, “I’m over here!”

Wedge didn’t even have to look at Hotshot to know that he was thinking the exact same thing as him. He looked anyway. 

“Oh, you’re kidding-” Wedge barely heard Medix’s complaint before he was already sprinting through the dark tunnels once more, this time knocking shoulder-to-shoulder with Hotshot as they raced to get to Cody first. It was always a race. Always a competition. And Wedge being himself, he didn’t get to lose competitions. Best firefighter stats, fastest maze time, number one first responder rank, first place competition winner, none of it mattered, not to his teachers, not to his peers, if he lost even once. Once and he proved them all right. Once and he was right back where he started. Because Wedge was himself and he didn’t get that luxury.

He wasn’t sure who pushed first but soon enough they were knocking into the walls, back and forth and push and shove. He heard Cody before he saw him, then suddenly he was out of sight again as rocks were crashing down from the ceiling, blocking the entrance to the cave. 

Wedge froze.

“Scrap…” Hotshot swore. 

“Guys! Where’s Cody?” Hoist called after a moment, the others finally catching up with them after their rampage through the tunnels.

“Behind those rocks!” Hotshot pointed.

“Really? I didn’t see obstructions in the path anywhere on the map,” Medix noted quizzically, glancing down at the panel in his arm.

“Uh, well… about that-” Hotshot tapped digits together sheepishly. Medix blinked stone-faced at him and Hotshot was forced to continue his explanation. “That may sort have been… our fault?”

“Seriously!?” Medix fixed them both with a harsh glare, one that Wedge didn’t have it in him to flinch back from as Hotshot had, although he certainly did mentally. “What is wrong with you two? Cody could have gotten hurt!”

“Cody?” Whirl called, pressing herself up to the giant pile of boulders now in their way, worry lacing her voice, “Cody! Are you alright?!”

It might have been the longest three nanokliks of his life, waiting before they heard the call of, “I’m fine! I’d be better if you could get me out of here, though!” A muffled voice sounding through the rocks.

The other recruits all ex-vented a collective sigh of relief. 

“Thank Primus.” Hotshot breathed, running a stressed servo over his face. “Now let's get him out of there.”

Whirl, Medix, and Hoist all nodded, turning to start digging through the boulders. But Wedge didn’t move. He couldn’t. Not even a digit. 

“Hey Wedge we need your-”

He hadn’t since he had seen those massive rocks fall right on — no, it has been in front of, remember that, in front of — Cody. But he-

“Wedge?”

He almost-

“Uh Wedge? Are you alright?” Someone asked — was it Whirl, maybe Hotshot? He couldn’t tell, he couldn’t think.

“Wedge-” A gentle touch to his shoulder.

“Scrap… scrap SCRAP! ” Suddenly it was like a wire pulled too thin had snapped, and where he was frozen just a moment before now he couldn’t stop thinking and moving and- 

NO! He wasn’t fragging alright! He had almost just gotten someone KILLED over the stupidest fragging reason. He shouldn’t have come here, he was just like everyone had always said. It had always been in his energon to be a killer, never a savior. Primus, why did he think he could change why did he- Why-

“Why did I do that? Dammit to the Pits, I’m no better than a-” On blessed instinct Wedge clamped his jaw shut before he could finish the thought. He felt the cold rock wall against his back. When had he even begun to move? He couldn’t remember, everything was blurring together. He could see the colorful shapes of his teammates, watch their mouths move and hear their words, but his processor couldn’t decode any meaning, and his blurry optics could hardly tell Whirl from Hoist. Was he crying? When had that started? He brought a servo up to his face and felt no coolant, not crying then. Just panicking beyond all belief and reason.

There was a red and white shape in front of him, larger than the others, closer. Medix, he recognized. He could hear his voice but not his words. It suddenly hit him that he was having a panic attack in front of people. In front of his peers- This was NOT OKAY. This was actually distinctly one of the worst things that could ever happen within the first day of meeting his team. 

Slag- he was here to have a fresh start- to be the best, not to be seen as weak and vulnerable on the first fragging day. Not to have the other recruits look at him as a foolish sparkling with dreams too big for a Decepticon kid. He tried to force himself to calm down but the added panic of the others seeing him like this only made it worse. He recognized his vents getting shallower, the room spinning and blurring — he knew logically he wasn’t dying but it sure as frag felt like it.

He tried to remember the techniques Lowbeam had taught him, the ones that they had used for themself when the memories stung the worst, but his mind was racing too fast to remember their words.

Scrap, something about touch, right? Wedge forced himself to bring one of his servos out of a fist — when had he even done that? — and to feel the cold stone beneath him. He recognized that he was on the ground now, and that he probably had been for some time. Scrap – how long had it been? He had lost all sense of time since it had started. He tried counting the nanokliks, to get a grip on his other senses but trying to keep focused on it just made his ex-venting quicken. He went back to focusing on the feeling of the floor, letting the coldness seep into his plating, bringing his other servo down to the floor as well. 

Eventually, after an indeterminate amount of time — he honestly could never tell you how long or short it had been — his venting became even once more. He could hear Medix properly now, his words forming meaning rather than just sound.

“-nobody hurt. Everything is fine.” The world became sharper and he was able to see Medix clearly now. Wedge looked up to meet his optics and Medix startled, his own optics jumping towards the wall behind him. “Oh! Wedge! Do you understand me now?”

“Y-yeah.” He responded shortly, not having the energy yet to say much more.

“Oh, good!”

“I don’t know about good..” Wedge grumbled weakly. “Frag… how much of that did everyone see?”

“Don’t worry, once I realized what was happening, I made sure to give you some privacy and let the others continue their work.” Medix reassured, which didn’t really answer his question.

Wedge hummed weakly, just sitting and staring at the ground for a while, letting his processor catch up to him. “I — frag — I’m sorry—” He said after a few minutes, utter embarrassment churning in his gears.

“There’s no need to apologize, I am the team medic afterall, this is, quite literally, my job.”

“No, I just— Slag, I should have known—” He trailed off before flicking his gaze back up to Medix. “I’m ruining the mission!”

“Hrm.” Wedge felt anxiety prickling under his plating as Medix seemed to consider his words, waiting for him to confirm his frag up. “I won’t deny that your bickering with Hotshot made things significantly more difficult, but what didn’t ruin the mission was you having a panic attack.”

Wedge’s sparkrate jumped at Medix speaking the words ‘panic attack’ aloud. “Did they— does everyone—”

“They only saw so much before I helped you move over here for privacy sake, like I clarified before,” Medix assured him once more.

“Primus. I didn't even notice that happening…”

“That’s understandable, given you were in quite a bit of distress,” the other bot said.

Wedge sent a glance over towards the other three recruits, still working diligently at the wall while he sat here like a shivering sparkling. They had barely made a dent in it so far without his vehicle's scoop-bucket.

“I need to get back over there,” Wedge said suddenly.

“Are you sure you’re well enough?” Medix asked, a surprised look in his optics as Wedge made to stand up on his still slightly shaky pedes.

“A Rescue Bot never gives up,” Wedge grunted, something like determination or stubbornness sparking in his wires.

“I’m not sure this would be giving up, so much as a tactical retreat out of concern for your health.”

“I’ve dealt with worse, I’ll be okay Medix.” Wedge waved the other off casually.

“That really isn’t as reassuring as you think it sounds,” Medix sighed, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

“Wedge! Are you okay?” Whirl transformed quickly, running up to Wedge’s side as the two bots walked back up to the other recruits.

Wedge nodded awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He was still unsure of exactly how much of his panic attack the rest of his team had seen. “I’m fine now, thanks to Medix.”

“And I’m going to go look for an alternate air source for Cody, in case we can’t get these rocks moved within the next few hours.” Medix sighed in exasperation. “Humans and their annoying habit of needing to breathe.”

“And while Medix is off doing the chores, you can help us get these rocks out of the way!” Hotshot grunted from where he was carrying a rock nearly the size of himself, unfathomably still in his normal bot-mode. 

Inwardly, Wedge let out a sigh of relief. At least everything seemed normal, like they weren’t about to start thinking of him as an incapable sparkling. “On it!” Wedge exclaimed as he transformed, joining the others as he gathered as many rocks as he could in his scoop-bucket, driving back and forth to dump them away from the pile. He continued this for several minutes alongside the others, a dent still barely being made.

“Geez, this really is going to take hours!” Hoist sighed as he pulled another rock loose with his winch.

“You know, Hotshot, this would go a lot faster if you actually transformed into your ATV and helped us out.” Wedge criticized, pulling up alongside Hotshot, who was trying to pull another rock from the pile with just his servos.

Hotshot made a very obvious show of avoiding looking in his direction, trying to pull the rock out, before giving up entirely with his fruitless endeavor. “I can’t.” He sighed. 

“What do you mean you can’t?” Wedge flickered his headlights in confusion and more than a little annoyance.

“I can only choose one vehicle a day and I chose a stupid jet! I’m useless down here.” 

And damn. Didn’t that sound familiar.

“Hey, c’mon, I thought you were a Rescue Bot!”

“So?” Hotshot whined, frowning.

“So, don’t you know that Rescue Bots never give up, no matter how hard it gets?” Wedge prodded.

“But how am I even supposed to help down here?! I’m a jet. Underground.”

“I thought I already told you this. Being a Rescue Bot isn’t about your vehicle-mode,” Wedge said. If he had any optics at the moment he would have rolled them. “It’s about what’s in your spark. Finding solutions with what you have, not what everyone else thinks you should do. Tell me, sports-bot, what would you do if this was a Cube Game?”

There was a pause for a moment, as Hotshot considered his words. He glanced down at his fists, then smirked with that overconfident look that Wedge would never admit he was starting to grow fond of.

“I’d win,” the other bot said simply. Hotshot looked down at his fists before turning to raise them, two blasts of water shot straight at the rock pile. And just like that, the rocks started to slide out of place, a gap finally beginning to form just at the top.

“Now we're getting somewhere!” Hoist cheered.

“GO HOTSHOT!” Whirl whooped as she knocked the slippery rocks from the pile.

“Yeah!”

“Finally!”

The other recruits — no — his team all cheered as the cave in finally began to collapse. 

Their work moved quickly with the water loosening the rocks structural integrity, and within minutes the rock pile fell away to reveal Cody on the other side, waving happily — and completely unharmed — thank Primus. “Woah! That was great thinking guys! Using water to make the rock pile unstable? Noble!” The human boy congratulated them as he vaulted over the remaining rocks.

“And it was all Hotshot’s idea!” Wedge beamed, throwing an arm around the other bot.

“Pfft- yeah right, I couldn’t have done it without all of you guys,” Hotshot defended, for once not hogging all the glory.

“Aww, Hotshot!” Whirl chirped, throwing her arms around the two, and suddenly Wedge was in the middle of a big team hug, even Medix had reappeared back from wherever he had gone, and was awkwardly standing aside giving Hoist a pat on the back.

Wedge drove slowly behind the other recruits on the ride back to the Academy, taking up the rear. His team was pretty far up ahead, and Cody was driving back in Medix, so the solitude gave him a moment to think. A moment of reflection. He had been just so... angry all day, and he didn't even know why. Something about Hotshot's situation had just irked him, activating some part of his processor that just wanted to prove that he was better, to prove that he was capable. But after what the other bot had said back in the cave... maybe the two of them weren't so different after all. The sports bot could be impulsive and annoying and reckless for sure... but the only thing that had really seemed to ruin the mission was, well, their fighting. It had taken two to cause that awful cave in, afterall. Wedge sighed, his attention drifting off to the scenery along the road. Earth was so green and full of life, he had never seen anything like it. Cybertron — his home — it was beautiful, but this organic world held a unique beauty all of its own as well.

Wedge was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice Hotshot slowing down and dropping back from formation, sliding into the lane beside him.

“Uh, hey, thanks for hyping me up back in there,” Hotshot said sheepishly, causing Wedge to startle at the other's presence. “I really don’t think I could have done it without you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Wedge reassured, recovering quickly. “We’re a team now, it’s part of the job.”

“Yeah yeah, you just really seemed to know the right thing to say, you know? I think there’s more to you than meets the eye, Wedge.” Hotshot said in a way where Wedge knew he would be smirking if he could. He swerved a bit closer then back into his own lane, like a pseudo nudge of the shoulder.

Wedge chuckled. He had hardly thought about his words, they came so naturally in the moment. It was only the same things that he had to tell himself everyday to keep going, afterall.

“I think I could say the same thing about you. I guess you’re worth keeping around after all, rookie.”

“Duh! That’s what I’ve been telling you!” he laughed.

So, maybe Hotshot wasn't so bad.

“Are we there yet?” Wedge asked again, his small digits drumming along the console.

“No,” the older Decepticon answered. She sat beside him, optics glued to her section of the controls.

He waited a few moments. The nearby planets passed by the window in a blurr. Yellow, blue, gray, yellow, blue, purple. One with rings. One with seven moons. He wondered if Cybertron had any rings or moons. 

“What about now?” the Constructicon asked once again.

“You'll know when we’re there.”

“But what if I don't? I've never been to Cybertron before,” he said nervously, pausing his drumming. “Are you sure we can't just stay at the outpost? I like it there. And there aren't any Autobots.”

“No. All Decepticon outposts are being shut down. The war is over, they don't need us there anymore,” someone else said from across the control room.

“Hmph.” The youngling crossed his arms.

A while passed, planets stopped rushing by as the ship slowed. Through the window he saw it. Metallic, glowing warmly where the light of the sun peeked past the planet from behind. He didn’t yet know what those strange blue circles were, but they shone like the color of energon. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. New, yet familiar all at once. He pressed his faceplate up against the glass as the planet continued to grow closer.

“I told you that you would know,” the femme purred.

The starship’s voice rang out.

“Now approaching Cybertron.”

Chapter Text

Wedge ran eagerly through the city as fast as his short youngling struts could carry him, weaving easily through the crowds of Cybertronians lining up and down every street of the strange city the others had called Polyhex. He had hardly arrived a solar cycle ago, yet already the planet was calling to him. Energon pumping excitedly through his veins as he attempted the impossible task of seeing absolutely everything right now before he exploded from anticipation. The countless stories from before the war swirled through his processor as he gazed around the city in awe. For all of his life — so short compared to the millennia the adults had already lived through — Cybertron had always felt like nothing more than some sort of legend to him. He had never thought the day would come that his own pedes would trudge across the ground, that his own optics would follow the rising sun across the horizon. But he was here. And now there was no other option than to see it all.

Heavy pede steps sounded from behind him, “Woah there, little bot!” Came the call from Groundwork as he ran to catch up. “You gotta slow down!” Shoving past a disgruntled older bot, his cousin finally managed to reach him, pulling Wedge back to his side and stopping the starry-optic-ed youngling from rushing any further into the crowd of strange bots. 

“Sorry!” he squeaked. “There's just so much to see! I’ve never been on a planet even close to anything like this before!”

“Oh, let the little guy have some fun, ‘eh Groundwork? It wasn’t exactly a short ride.” Hazard laughed, strutting up to his side with much more ease than Groundwork had. Her bright orange paint made her stick out like a sore diode among the crowd, bots parting as she made her way towards them. Hazard always moved with such a confidence that it left no room for any other bot to stand in her way. Most sensible bots tended to make the decision to keep out of her path before they got pushed. These new bots seemed to understand that as well as the old.

“Hazard!” Groundwork scolded her, unbothered by said confidence. And in fact, it was much more often than not that he would be provoked by it, as was pretty much the natural law of siblings. He had learned that from many cycles of bearing witness to their arguments.

Hazard simply rolled her optics as her brother sent her a disgruntled look, glancing pointedly between her and Wedge. After a few nanokliks she relented. “Alright, alright.”

She sighed and dropped down to meet him at optic-level. “Look, Wedge, this isn’t like the outpost,” She said, looking very much like she would rather be allowed to stay the cool cousin instead of having to dedicate even a fraction of her processing power towards being responsible. “There’s more bots around here than you’ll have ever seen in your entire time online, so you’ve gotta stay close to us.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine, c’mon! Like you guys know anything more about Cybertron than I do!” He rolled his optics.

Hazard stood up, exchanging a glance with her brother that he couldn’t quite decipher, before their gazes returned to him. They had done that a lot since they had all left the starship. A lot of the older bots had.

“Look, we told your creators we’d keep you safe, so that’s what we're gonna do. Right, Hazard?”

“Yeah, yeah. We will.” She sighed, expressively dragging out the last word. She paused for a moment, a bit of mischief beginning to spark in her optics. “But we’re also gonna have an awesome fragging time!” She punctuated her sentence by putting both servos on Wedge’s shoulders and shaking his frame while he laughed.

“Hazard, language!”

“Aw frag off,” Hazard rolled her optics.

“Yeah, frag off!" Wedge snickered mischievously. Hazard held a servo up to her faceplate as she failed not to laugh.

“Primus, your creators are gonna kill us.” Groundwork grumbled. He glared at Hazard for a moment before his gaze flickered down to Wedge. He sighed. “So, where do you wanna go first?”

“Ooh!” Wedge fidgeted in place as he eagerly recalled the countless stories he had been told. “Uh!! I don’t know but we’ve gotta at least see Iacon and the Rust Sea and the races and the Helix Gardens and the energon rivers and—!” 

“Wedge– Wedge, maybe let’s just stick to one place for now.” Groundwork lifted both servos in defense against the younger bot’s onslaught of words. “Preferably somewhere not half-way across the planet.”

“Aww.. oh fine. Hrmmmm….” Wedge hummed, scrunching up his faceplates as he deliberated. There were so many new places to visit, how was he supposed to choose just one? 

“What about the Sea of Rust? I think I saw it just before we landed,” Hazard suggested with a shrug.

Wedge gasped excitedly. “Yes yes yes yes! Pleasseeeeee Groundwork, please can we go?”

“Hazard, you know that's past the outskirts of the city.” Groundwork said, his optical ridge furrowing. “We should just stick to Polyhex, I don’t think it’d be a good idea to wander too far.”

“C’monnnn! It can’t be that far out, besides it’s not like we’re making it anywhere close to Iacon today.” 

“...Or any other day.” Groundwork huffed under his breath in a way Wedge was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear. He crossed his servos, his face plates scrunched up as he seemed to contemplate the idea before speaking up once more. “I guess Windwhip did say that it was pretty close.” He let out a heavy sigh, one servo coming up to rub at the top of his face plate.

“Alright! Sea of Rust it is!” Hazard exclaimed, giving Wedge another shake as he laughed and made a half-hearted attempt to slap her away.

“Calm down guys. We still need to figure out where we’re going,” Groundwork cut in. “I don’t have an internal map of this planet downloaded yet.”

“Ha! Mr. Prepared Con of the Cycle didn’t download an internal map of an entire planet the very day that he arrives? Color me completely and utterly shocked,” Hazard quipped smugly.

“Ha ha. My vents are sore from laughter, now can we hurry up and find a map? There’s gotta be some sort of directory around here, I’m sure.”

“Mm. Yeah, okay.” Hazard, shrugged once more. She let go of Wedge’s shoulders and moved to hold one of his servos. That was a bit odd for her, and much more of a typical Groundwork thing to do, but both of his cousins were being a bit overprotective today. He decided to let her and not point it out. It wasn’t like he particularly wanted to get lost. Despite having quite literally seen it from the starship, it was still hard to imagine the whole of Cybertron itself. Even just this one city seemed to be bigger than the entirety of the far moon outpost they had left behind. There, he could have walked the entire settlement in root mode in just a few hours. “Stick close, kiddo.” Hazard said as she set a quick pace through the crowd.

“Gah, Hazard! Wait up you exhaust-breather!” Groundwork shouted from somewhere behind them. The femme snickered from above.

His cousins, unsure of exactly where they were going, began their search around the city for a map as Wedge trailed along. He kept to their sides as best he could while they wandered, deciding to stick to their warnings, even if he still didn't exactly understand why. They navigated through the crowds with little trouble as Hazard led the way, excitedly bee-lining towards any wall or large board they saw. 

But after a third preemptively celebrated victory, group morale was beginning to dwindle. 

“Hungry… tired… BORED…” Wedge voiced his thoughts. He had expected Cybertron to be a ton more interesting than just a lot of walking… so much walking. For Primus' sake, it was too crowded to even use his vehicle mode!

Hazard groaned. Their failed attempts to find a map seemed to be getting to her too. “How hard is it to find some stupid fragging map!” She kicked a nearby fuel can angrily, hitting the mistaken wall with a loud clang.

“Let’s not give up just yet.” Groundwork assured, although his tone let slip that he wasn’t too far from kicking cans and denting walls himself. “I bet there's one towards the center of the city, that would make sense, right? Right?” His vocalizer pitched up an octave.

“Augh,” was Hazard’s only acknowledgment.

Wedge huffed, leaning against Hazard’s strut grumpily as he watched bots mull around them. The two were talking above him as they argued about where to try next. That’s when he noticed it, the way the crowd had thinned out in this area, everyone moving towards the same direction. No… It couldn’t be… could it? Wedge stood up straighter as he watched where the bots around them were all headed. 

“Guys.. guys look!” Wedge said urgently, tugging at his cousin's servo. Both looked down at him, pausing mid-argument with their intakes still hung open sillily. Wedge pointed towards the direction of the crowd.

“Holy frag,” Groundwork said as his optics followed the direction Wedge had pointed. They were all running before Wedge had even processed it.

“If this isn’t it I’m going to lose my scrap!” Hazard shouted over the noise as they rounded the corner to see — !

— a giant statue of the Thirteen Primes.

“PRIMUS FRAGGING DAMMIT!”

After what felt like an eternity to his youngling processor and far too many stops for stupid pictures in front of sacred monuments — Wedge had never thought he’d be disappointed to see something so awesome — his older cousin finally groaned in defeat. 

“That’s it! Me and Wedge are gonna go scout out some energon. You keep doing your whole.. map thing.” Hazard said, grabbing Wedge’s servo as she started towards a neon sign along one of the old buildings indicating an energon bar. 

“Absolutely not!” Groundwork protested, yoinking her back by a shoulder wing. “We are not splitting up in these crowds, are you insane?”

“Fine, fine. Guess you're coming with us then.”

“Fine, fine.” Groundwork mocked back in the same tone and Wedge openly laughed.

“Oh wow, a sense of humor. I almost thought that was as undiscoverable as this so-called map.” Hazard shot back, yanking her brother’s servo off her wing by the wrist and dragging them both along behind her through the door.

The inside was a bit run-down compared to the shiny new city outside. Some older ‘Cons lingered in the corners or at the bar, and the place certainly wasn't quiet, but Wedge found it hardly very busy compared to the innumerable amount of bots outside.

Hazard finally dropped their servos as they got up to the bar. “Do you think I look old enough to get some low-grade?” She looked at Groundwork with a scrap-eating grin.

“No.”

“I’m kidding. Ooh.. energon slushies. Whaddaya think Grounddork?”

“Don't call me that.” He sighed, his face in his servos. “And I think that this is a stupid waste of time.”

“You're no fun.” Hazard frowned, then turned to the bartender as she walked up. “Isn't he no fun?” She asked the stranger, theatrically leaning against the bar on her servos.

The bartender chuckled gruffly behind the counter. She towered over them all with scratched up paint and a dented chassis, but her eyes were warm and amused. “Depends what you kids are arguing about over here. Anything I can help you with?”

“Nah, we’re just trying to find some map of the city."

“Oh! That's it? I've got one right here behind the counter. Most places do these days. The city is so old, and a lot's changed since all us older bots have been back here,” she said, as she reached under the counter, pulling out a map tablet and sliding it easily in front of them onto the bar.

“Oh my Primus… fragging finally! You are a spark saver!” Hazard celebrated, punching her brother lightheartedly in the arm. Groundwork didn’t respond, his mouth hanging open in shock, despair, and relief, servos dropping down his face plates. Hazard hovered over the tablet with reverence, bringing a digit up to one of the glowing lines along the map. “Alright, so if we’re here… the ship is here… Ah- HA ! There’s the Rust Sea!” She said as she tapped at one corner of the map. “Augh. We could have found it fragging faster if we had just looked for it ourselves!”

“You kids aren't planning on heading out to the sea? You know it’s not such a good idea for a bunch of ‘Con kids to be running around outside the city.”

“Yeah…” Groundwork said, scratching at his green paint nervously as he studied the map. “That's way further out than I thought it would be.”

“Relax. We’ll be careful.” Hazard said placatingly. “We already spent this much time trying to find directions, we might as well go.”

Groundwork didn't look convinced. He glanced down at Wedge. The youngling paused where he had been stretched up on his pedes, tracing his digits along all the lines and dots in the map as he tried to figure out all the locations they had already been. Groundwork then glanced back up to his sister, lowering his voice into a whisper. 

“What if there’s-?” was all that Wedge was able to hear. 

Hazard said something in reply, but her voice didn't reach his curious audials at all, leaving him to puzzle over what the two older ‘Cons were talking about. The youngling huffed in annoyance, they always did this when they didn't want him to hear about their big-bot things.

The two continued like that for a while. Wedge was beginning to attempt to inch subtly closer, when suddenly Groundwork let out a sigh and raised his voice once more. “Okay, okay. We're going to the Rust Sea.” The announcement doused all his curiosity in place of sheer excitement.

“Oh wait!” Hazard turned abruptly to the bartender. “First, can we get three energon slushies?”

“Careful, little bot,” Groundwork warned as buildings started to grow smaller and more sparse, the skyscrapers of the city shrinking into the distance. Wedge sat in bot-mode the back of his pick-up-truck bed, watching them go by as he slurped at the last of his slushie. He was practically vibrating with excitement. “We’re nearing the outskirts of the city now, there’s gonna be a lot more factions around here.”

“Other factions? Didn’t everyone say Polyhex was a Decepticon place?” Wedge questioned, his faceplates scrunched up in confusion.

“It is… for the most part. There’s alotta ‘Cons coming back around here after the war. There’s alotta everyone coming back around here.” His cousin answered. “But that doesn’t mean you can trust them, most ‘Cons aren’t that nice. Autobots are even worse. Remember, stick close.”

Wedge nodded, not sure what else to say in response. Cybertron was so different from back home. It was a lot like the older bots said… but also a lot not. He threw his emptied cup onto the already littered and tattered road. In Polyhex he — almost, the tattered bar coming to mind — couldn’t believe the planet had been rotting in despair for millenia. But whoever had been doing repairs to the city clearly hadn’t gotten around to the outskirts yet. 

Wedge was happy to be here, really, he was! But in the back of his processor, it was hard to silence the small voice that missed the predictability and always familiar faces of the outpost.

A woosh sounded from beside them as Hazard swooped down from where she was flying just above.

“I think I can see it,” the glider said. “Just up the cliff face!”

Hardly moments later the shape of a crowd began to come into view at the top of the horizon. A few nanokliks and suddenly they were engulfed in it, surrounded on all sides by unfamiliar bots once more. They milled about all along the open cliffside, just above the roaring edge of the sea.

Hazard transformed mid-air, dropping down beside them as they slowed to a halt inside the crowd.

“Remember Wedge—” she began.

“Stay close! I know, I know.” He repeated back the mantra his cousins had been drilling into his processor all day. “I heard you all those fifty other times too.” He stuck out his glossa and jumped out of the truck bed.

Groundwork transformed, his disgruntled expression returning. He glanced around nervously.

Hazard rolled her eyes, “Let’s just get you to see your dumb sea.”

Wedge blanched offendedly, “It is not dumb, it’s historical and epic and EEK— !” The youngling was cut off as Hazard hoisted him up onto her shoulders. 

“You’ve gotta be my eye in the sky little bot! Tell me where we're going.” Hazard said. Wedge looked down at her dubiously. He knew that if any bot was going to be able to get through this crowd it was her, she was just using it as an excuse to mess around. But to be honest… who cared! He was tall! Fragging awesome!

“Uh, okay!” Wedge nodded determinedly. Even with both their heights added together, Wedge just barely was up high enough to see over all the fully grown bots. “Hmm…” He strained to peer over the heads of all the bots around them. Sitting up as tall as he could, Wedge was able to make out a sliver of rickety fence through the crowd. Noting the thin spot among the densely packed bots, he yelled down to his cousin. “This way! Right through here.”

“You got it! Try to keep up, Groundmuncher!” She cackled, glancing back at her brother before she took off. Through the noise Wedge heard an irritated “hey!”

Hazard followed his directions as he led her through the mass of bots. After a bit of navigating, she broke through the crowd at the edge of the cliff. The drop off extended down far below them, plunging straight into the sea. But that was hardly the sight that caught his attention… Wedge felt his processor filled with an overwhelming sense of awe as he looked out at the expanse beyond the horizon. The seemingly never ending Sea of Rust, colors of auburn overlapping and reflecting brilliant gold off the fading light of the sun. They swayed dangerously among each other as the molten sea swished and waved. The murmur of the crowd behind them seemed to fade into the background against the sound of the crashing waves below and the rushing wind above. 

Wedge didn’t even notice that he was being set down until his pedes hit the ground. “Huh, not bad.” Hazard crossed her servos appreciatively from above him.

“I knew Cybertron was different but… woah,” Groundwork said in awe, making his way to their side.

“Yeah… just, woah.” Hazard agreed.

As the two stood in awe above him, Wedge took the chance to wander further along the edge. He wasn't intending on going too far, he just wanted to be able to see every bit of the sea he could before Groundwork dragged them all out of here. 

But it only took a few moments in the throes of the crowd before he had completely lost track of where his cousins had been. Wedge debated turning back, but he had already come this far, wherever it was that he had come from. At this point he would just need to find them again later. Although the further he went, the more he began to feel a bit nervous, like there was the feeling of optics following him. He tried his best to ignore it. He stuck near the edge of the crowd, not wanting to get too close to the cliff face, even with the short, dilapidated fence running along the edge.

Eventually he had wandered far enough that the crowd was beginning to thin out, as the cliff got steeper and steeper, the fence shorter and more broken down, and the bot felt less and less comfortable standing on uneven ground.

The crowd had all but disappeared at the more treacherous terrain. Wedge began to debate in his processor whether he should turn around and start creeping back along towards his cousins who no doubt had noticed his lack of “staying close” by now and were almost definitely getting more and more concerned the longer he was gone. But it felt unlikely that he would be able to make it back through the crowd on his own, lost as he was. He was just about head back towards the sea of people for a bit of fruitless navigation when, out of nowhere, he heard a shriek.

Wedge whipped his helm up from the sight of the sea towards the cliff face further along.

There, dangling from the edge in terror, was a bot that couldn’t have been too much younger than Wedge himself. The broken fence bent towards his small frame. The rusted, creaking scraps of metal dropping into the sea below, never to be seen again.

The young bot met his optics from over the cliff edge. “Help!!!” He shrieked again as rock and metal crumbled around him and Wedge was suddenly acting on instinct, dashing towards the section of broken fence before he had even a chance to wonder of possible danger. 

“Hang on!” Wedge yelled over the rushing of the wind and sea as he dropped to his knees in front of the dangling bot. Grabbing the other’s wrists he leveraged his weight as a Constructicon and pulled as hard as he could at the youngling’s servos. He pulled and tugged and tried his best not to pay attention to the long drop to the beautifully-deadly sea below them both.

Slowly the kid was dragged back over, his shoulders, then his chassis, back onto the unsteady rock.

With a final tug, Wedge hauled the bot back onto solid ground, throwing them both onto their backs and far away from the terrifyingly high edge of the cliff.

They both laid there motionless. Neither speaking for a long while. Personally, Wedge could still feel his spark pulsing in his chest, so he imagined it was about the same for the bot who had actually almost died, vents cycling laboriously from right beside him. Eventually, the other bot sat up from the ground, and Wedge followed.

“Th-thank you,” the smaller younglin spoke softly, clearly still shaken, his ex-vents heavy. After several more long moments, he seemed to finally be calming down. As they both got their bearings, the ‘Con was finally able to get a good look at him. Immediately Wedge spotted the Autobot insignia on his chest. And the other clearly seemed to do the same from how suddenly he tensed up again. “You’re a Decepticon.” He stated, his expression blank.

“You’re an Autobot.” Wedge ex-vented. There was a long pause and the sea seemed both very loud and very quiet in the background behind them.

“Why did you save me?” he said finally. “Did you think I was… one of you?” Disgust laced his voice at the idea. Wedge realized he must have made a face, the way the other’s expression quickly twisted up in guilt. “Sorry.”

“I-” Wedge spoke, before realizing he had no idea where to go with that sentence. Slowly, he started again, “I don’t know. I… don’t know. I don’t think it would have changed anything. I couldn’t just let you fall.”

“Oh.” The bot said. Different emotions flashed across his faceplates at unprecedented speeds, Wedge couldn't read any of them. “My people are probably looking for me. You should go before they see you.” He said after a while. 

“What about the crowd? What if they can’t find you?” Wedge questioned, then horror dawned on him as he realized, “Oh slag! What if mine can't find me?”

The other bot considered him for a long moment, before finally saying, “Do you wanna look for them together?”

“I’m not sure how mine will react.”

“Me neither.”

The two stared at each other for a while, before seeming to come to a silent agreement. Wedge stood up on his pedes, brushing the dust off his paint before offering his servo to the other bot. “I’m Wedge, by the way.”

“Outburst.” The bot — Outburst — said, taking his servo to haul himself up once again. “Not that it's really important.”

The two didn't say anything else as they trekked back towards the crowd. 

Quickly the amount of bots surrounding them began to grow and they became engulfed in the crowd once more, optics searching for any sign of their respective bots.

The two had been walking together through the crowd for quite a while, helms stretched to see above the crowd as they weaved between the struts of older bots. When suddenly, “Sire!” Outburst yelled from beside him and then the two of them were running, Wedge pulled along by the servo towards a worried looking femme, her optics flicking searchingly through the crowd. “Sire!” He yelled again as they got closer through the mass of bots.

The adult bot turned instantly. Her eyes searching the crowd and locking onto Outburst in less than a nanoklik “Outburst!” she cried out and began shoving her way through towards them with reckless abandon.

When they had reached each other, Outburst finally dropped his servo, leaping to hug his sire around the waist. “Sire! We finally found you!”

“Outburst.. oh thank frag..” she ex-vented, stress and overwhelming relief mixing together in her voice. She cupped his face in her servos as Wedge shuffled awkwardly nearby, the crowd still pressing in on him. “Wait, who’s we?” She asked, as if the detail had just now finally occurred to her.

“Oh! Uhm.. that's Wedge! He's my friend. He sa-”

“Your friend?” the ‘Bot said, suddenly frantic. “Outburst that's a Deception. You were running around with a Deception, didn't I tell you how dangerous they are?” 

“But he—!”

“You could have been hurt!”

“Sire, we have to help him! He's lost just like I was!” Outburst argued.

“Yeah, right.” She scoffed. “Sparkling, that's how they trick you. It's in their name, in their nature. Come with me, we have to let the others know you're safe.”

“But wait—!”

And then they were both gone into the crowd, and Wedge was alone again. Strange bots pressing in around him on all sides, no friend to anchor him. His vents came in short bursts as he tried desperately to blink away the coolant gathering in his optics, a burning at the back of his throat. Why had he wandered off like an idiot? He was never going to find Hazard and Groundwork again! He was going to be lost forever when they finally gave up looking and would never see anybody he loved ever again!  

Wedge was running, pushing through the crowd as best he could before he even noticed his struts were moving. He didn’t know how long he continued like that, running and turning and never finding an end to the mass of bots. Coolant began to prick at the corners of his optics in frustration rather than despair. He just needed to find an end to it, to get some space again! Then everything would be alright, he was sure of it. He just needed to find—

Finally, his optics cleared and he saw it up ahead! A lull in the crowd, a small circle of sparseness. He ran towards as fast as his struts would allow. And then—

“EEEEP—!!” Wedge yelped as he ran helm-first into the struts of a random bot in said lull, finally having enough room that he knocked himself onto the ground below.

“Hey! Watch it ‘Con!”

“I—”

“Wedge! Wedge thank frag,” Groundwork’s voice appeared from within the crowd and he had never been happier to hear it. He was standing in front of the youngling in less than a nanoklik, helping him to his pedes. “You can’t wander off like that! We—”

“Is that thing yours?” The bot spoke up once more. Wedge peeked around Groundwork, suddenly nervous, he froze when he saw an Autobot insignia branding the ‘Bot’s chassis. “You know it owes me an apology.”

His cousin seemed to have the same reaction, freezing in place as his eyes landed on the insignia. “Wedge apologize. Now.” Groundwork spoke tersely, his voice high and tense. His optics flicked nervously between the large Autobot and youngling ‘Con.

“I-I’m sorry!” Wedge squeaked out, his voice barely audible from fear.

“That the best you can do ya little twerp? You could have tripped me right over!” The Autobot glared down at him, optics piercing holes through his shivering frame. The ‘Bot turned to Groundwork. “You better keep a good optic on it next time. I’ve killed ‘Con scum like you for less.”

“Leave him alone!” Hazard defended, jumping in front of the two and coming helm-to-helm with the Autobot, glaring up at him defiantly. Wedge wasn’t sure when she had gotten here. “He’s just a kid! He doesn’t have anything to do with your slag-brained, cesium-munching war.”

“Hazard!” The Groundwork yelped, panic flashing in his optics.

“WHAT?” She snapped, turning to the truck in fury.

“Buncha ‘Cons fighting amongst themselves.” the ‘Bot huffed, an unimpressed twitch to his lip. “Typical.”

“I’ll show you typical!” she directed her anger back at the source.

“Hazard, stop!” the truck begged, attempting helplessly to physically pull his sister back.

“Frag off, Groundwork!” the femme snarled, yanking her arm from his grasp, optics not leaving the ‘Bot. “Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it!”

“Oh, is that so?” The ‘Bot snarked condescendingly.

The Autobot looked them up and down with a menacing gaze. Wedge thought that he must have been bigger than all of them combined, tougher too. Hazard stood her ground regardless, her servo held out defensively in front of Wedge, her optics icy enough to freeze. Wedge would never have noticed the tremble in her frame if her servo hadn’t been sat on top of his chestplate. 

There was a long, tense moment where nobody moved or vented. Wedge felt a pit in his chassis growing with every nanoklik, worried that his cousin was going to have to actually fight this huge ‘Bot.

Finally the tension snapped, as the Autobot shifted his optics to the murmuring crowd. A crowd that consisted of a fair amount of ‘Bots, but a whole lot of ‘Cons as well, whose attention was now focused solely on the four.

“You’re lucky about the truce.” He huffed, a smarmy grin marring his faceplates. “You kids better learn to watch who you’re messing with in the future, or it’s gonna come back to bite you in the aft.” Then he turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd of bots. Wedge let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Hazard’s whole frame went slack, her servos dropping to her sides as she untensed. “Fragging Autobots,” she sniffed, her voice venomous.

As the energon slowly stopped rushing loudly through his audials Wedge was finally able to make out the murmurs of the crowd around them. 

“What are these Decepticon scum doing here—”

“—should have stayed off planet—”

“What did you just say—!?”

“—gonna regret coming back—”

“—thought before they showed their faces around here.”

“—’Bots thinking they can mess with us—”

Wedge felt a sense of shame building up inside his spark as the whispers swelled into shouts, then a wave of anger washing over it. They were Cybertronians too, they all were, just as much as any other bot. Who cared about some stupid war? Didn’t they deserve to exist here in their home as well? 

He kept his glare to the ground as he marched forward, Hazard’s servo sitting protectively on his shoulder. Groundwork stayed instep beside them, glancing around defensively as they maneuvered through the crowd and back towards the city.