Disclaimer: The Transformers do not belong to me, the humans do not belong to me.

Set at the end of 'Gale', and perpetrated for the hell of it. Also because I wanted to write Spiral. No shoulder joints were harmed in the making of this fic. May contain Minicons.

Welcoming Committee

"Greetings!"

"And welcome!"

"We've been expecting you."

The newest arrival to the Autobot base gave the three 'bots barring her way a wary look. "Well, hello to you, too. You're the welcoming committee, are you?"

"Since you ask," said Runway, "yes we are."

"Self-appointed, of course," added Jetstorm.

"We couldn't think of anyone better," Sonar explained.

If the blue warrior was amused, she didn't show it. "Figures you three wouldn't wait to get out of your panels."

"Oh, we would wait," said Runway.

"For some things," added Sonar quietly.

"But we don't like being cooped up." Jetstorm shrugged.

The warrior tilted her head, bright green optics studying the three fliers. "You've been combining, haven't you?"

Jetstorm nodded. "Oh yes."

"Lots."

"Almost, one might say, too much," said Runway.

"Except there's really no such thing," said Sonar.

"For us, anyway," agreed Jetstorm.

"For everyone else is another story, eh?" the newcomer concluded. They sniggered and nodded. "Hah. Which way to my quarters?"

"Don't you remember?" Runway feigned astonishment.

"We were briefed before we left Cybertron," Jetstorm reminded her.

"Spiral must be out of sorts from reactivation," Sonar suggested to the others.

"Right," they said together.

"If you're done," said Spiral, amusement finally creeping into her voice, "you can show me where to go. You know damn well we were in chaos and confusion when we went."

"And protocol has gone to pot since then," sighed Runway.

"So there's no medic to check out your head," grinned Jetstorm.

"But we'll see to the rest of you," Sonar went on.

The Air Defence Minicons transformed and flew away down the hall, Jetstorm calling, "This way, sleepyhead!"

"Hrmph." Spiral transformed and sped after them. She was, after all, the leader of the Street Speed Team, and nothing if not fast. Still, she wished the Air Defence Team were in better mental shape themselves: they were always a bit odd after combining, and if they'd been doing it often and long…

She wondered how long it would take them to recover. She didn't know them very well, but she'd worked with them enough to know she much preferred them when they were entirely individual.

"Here we are!" Runway transformed and landed outside a door, his teammates robot-moding and touching down on either side.

Spiral transformed. "Would it have killed you to wait?"

"Not really. Sorry."

"It's all right, I guess." Spiral stretched her arms. "Gave me a chance to get some speed up, anyway."

"Yeah, being all cramped up in a little panel is really bad on the joints," said Jetstorm.

"Bet you're stiff," said Sonar.

"We spent ages in an oil bath after we activated," added Runway. "You wouldn't believe what happened."

"Oh?" Spiral opened the door and clung to the doorframe with one arm so she could lean inside and peer around.

"We had to combine right after we woke up," explained Sonar.

Spiral nodded, still peering into the room. "Explains a lot."

"It was agony," groaned Jetstorm, remembering. "I stretched things I never knew I had."

That was a good sign, Spiral decided, if they were starting to speak in singular again. "Got any solutions for it?" she asked. Her joints were aching. "Nice room," she added. "I thought I was gonna have to fix the walls and kit it out myself."

Runway grinned. "We thought we'd set it up for you."

"You have been bored." The blue Minicon pulled herself back into a standing position and turned to them.

"As for the stiffness," Runway went on, emanating vast amusement, "I had something of an idea on that score…"

"Tell me or I threaten you for the information."

"You're doing that already," Jetstorm pointed out.

"Anyway," said Runway, "we got the humans – those little organic youngsters - to help us with the oil bath: filling it and so on."

"By the end," chuckled Sonar, "they were dumping the stuff over us."

"Sounds fun," said Spiral wistfully, feeling every ache in her joints.

"Oh, I can tell you, it's the life," said Runway.

Jetstorm nodded. "Lounging in an oil bath, attended by adoring native worshippers…"

"Take it from us," said Sonar, "it's the way Minicons were meant to live!"

"No kidding."

"Spiral!"

All four of them turned, but the approaching bot hurried over to Spiral first.

"Sureshock," greeted Spiral, "good to see you!"

"Glad to hear so." The Street Action Minicon glanced past her. "Hello, you three. Done making Hot Shot look bad?"

"Hey, it's not our fault we're so great."

Sureshock shook her head. "Come and see the others," she said to Spiral. "High Wire and Grindor want to talk to you as much as I do – there's a lot to tell you – and you'd better meet the humans."

"A briefing already?" Spiral grimaced. "Can't it wait?"

"No," said Sureshock firmly. "Come." She transformed to scooter mode; Spiral stared down at her in dismay.

"Urge… to giggle…" murmured Jetstorm quietly.

"Could we walk?" she asked, ignoring the Air Defence Team's sniggers behind her.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that."

"Yeah, well… transforming's kinda painful right now…"

The scooter chuckled. "Walking will hurt more than rolling."

"Point." Spiral turned and shook her fist at the giggling jets. "Stop it, you three."

"…Can't…" managed Runway.

"See you in the training room, then," she decided. "I'll have my revenge." She transformed, groaning as her joints ached further. "Tomorrow, I mean."

"Right-o!"

"We'll be there."

"Wouldn't miss it."

The rest of the Street Action Team was waiting for them outside. Grindor and two of the humans were watching High Wire help a third human mount an Autobot's vehicle mode. Whoever it was had a purple motorbike for an alt-mode; whether that or something else was getting the fleshies so excited, Spiral didn't know. She remembered an Autobot with a design like that from earlier, though. She'd ask their name later.

The mounted human secured, High Wire took a step or two back, towards his partner and the other two organics.

"So after him it's my go, right?" one of them was saying.

Spiral didn't hear if he got an answer; the motorcycle revved its engine and shot forward, just as High Wire came over. Grindor left the shouting humans and fell into step behind him.

"Good to see you made it, commander." High Wire nodded cheerfully. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk earlier, but our attention was demanded elsewhere."

Spiral glanced over at the humans and chuckled. "Rookie-sitting duty?"

"Not even rookies," said Grindor, shrugging. "They can't fight yet."

Spiral tilted her head, giving a quiet, high-pitched whistle that meant, roughly, 'Is that so?' "Odd," she commented.

"Interesting," countered Sureshock.

"Never said it wasn't. I'm glad I'm not public relations, all the same."

"It has its moments," said High Wire. "On the whole, we quite like it."

"They just… need to learn a bit more," agreed Grindor, looking back towards the two humans.

Sureshock followed his gaze. "Where's Alexis?" she asked.

"She went inside just after you, to use the computers. Rad followed her a few minutes ago."

"What's wrong with him?" asked Spiral, watching one of the standing humans. His vocalisations had started to sound a bit high-pitched, desperate, even.

Grindor listened for a few seconds, then told her, "He wants to have a ride, but his friends are taking too long on their turns."

"You don't say." Spiral stared at the human, optics narrowed thoughtfully. "Hm…"

Fred was beginning to despair of ever getting a ride from Sideways. Carlos was beginning to despair of Fred ever shutting up about it. This wasn't a very fair point of view, since Carlos had already had a go, and Fred had been waiting for a good half hour.

Fred was not expecting the blue Minicon they'd found earlier to come up and start beeping at him. He also had no clue what said Minicon was saying.

"The Minicon said he'll take you for a ride," Carlos translated, still lounging against the rocks.

Fred brightened up. "Yeah? Seriously? Okay, transform into something super-cool, all right?"

"Always do," Spiral muttered, transforming. "And later… well, we'll find out if you know how to return a favour…"

(Quick note at the end, before anyone points it out... Carlos referring to Spiral as 'he'? Not a typo. The line was spoken in canon, hence it stays. Which just goes to show that the kids are new to the language, can't differentiate very well between individual speech patterns... and that Spiral wouldn't care if someone called her 'the whatchamacallit over there'. Much.)