The day the Optimus's crew captured Magatron…
Rodimus sighed heavily. The loss still hung strong with his team, especially Brawn. But this was a day to celebrate. Optimus Prime and his crew had returned with captured Decepticons, including Megatron himself. He needed to be there to support the heroes, along with Prowl, who died to stop the Decepticons.
His only wish was that Hot Shot had been there to see this. So far, he had only convinced Red Alert to go with him to the parade. Ironhide wanted to watch the ship. Rodimus had only one more to go. He stopped in front of a large silver door. He knocked.
"Too late," was the response.
"Brawn," said Rodimus "Megatron has been captured. There is a parade. Would you like to go?"
"Too late," Brawn said. Rodimus knew this was 'No.'
"Are you sure?" asked Rodimus.
"Too late," said Brawn again.
"If you're sure," said Rodimus. He walked away, shaking his head. Red Alert was waiting for him outside. He put his arm around her for his own comfort.
He had taken Hot Shot's advice and begun to intervene more with the lives of his teammates. He had learned Ironhide was still angry at himself for not finding the late Ultra Magnus sooner. Ironhide blamed himself for the recent death of their leader. He tried to comfort the bot, but it made little difference.
Rodimus learned Red Alert had been cut deeply by the loss of Hot Shot. She missed the young bot's annoying voice. She missed it when he asked her for a second opinion. She missed everything about him.
Brawn was the only one he had found out nothing for. Brawn had locked himself up in his room with a boat load of JaAm, if for no reason, but to honor Hot Shot. Brawn now only said "Too late." The Morse code message Hot Shot had given. These were, basically, his last words.
Rodimus sighed a lot nowadays. He did so once again and he and Red Alert left for the parade.
A Lunar Cycle* Later…
On Omega Supreme, Optimus's team is heading back to Earth. Optimus is now leader of Cybertron as Optimus Prime. The people of Cybertron decided that a Prime should lead, not a Magnus. Sentinel was not happy, until Optimus put him in charge of seeing over Cybertron in his place.
Optimus's team now is a team of ten. They were Optimus (of course), Ratchet, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Sari, Jazz, Jetfire, Jetstorm, and Prowl (revived by the Allspark).
Sari is messing with her pigtails, angrily. She remained techno-organic because they could find no way to purge her of it. Bumblebee was playing paper football (Sari had brought paper) with himself. Ratchet and Arcee were in another room. Optimus was overseeing the ship. The Jet Twins (who desperately wanted to play paper football) were watching the scanners. Prowl was reading a data-pad novel. Jazz was doing something strange.
He had seen an Earth movie called 'Cool Runnins', now he couldn't stop singing 'Jamaica, we got a bobsled team," over and over and those six words were the only ones to the song he knew. It was getting on everyone's neves. Then Jetfire and Jetstorm ran over to Optimus.
"Optimus Prime, sir," said Jetfire "Ship, dead ahead."
"Who's?" asked Optimus.
"Rodimus, sir," said Jetstorm.
"I haven't seen him in forever," said Optimus, thinking out loud "I wonder why he hasn't been in touch."
"He has suffered great loss, sir," said Jetstrom.
"Meaning?" asked Optimus.
"A few lunar cycles ago, his teammate Hot Shot drove over edge of asteroid," said Jetfire.
"His body was never found. He is supposed dead," said Jetstorm.
"And don't forget Brawn," said Jetfire.
"What happened to Brawn?" Optimus wondered out loud to the twins.
"Let us just say he went to coo-coo hut in processor," the twins said at the same time.
"Someone, go get Ratchet and Arcee," said Optimus "Pull the ship over and tell it to stop. I wish to talk with Rodimus."
Five cycles later, Ratchet and Arcee were with the rest of the crew as they ships pulled up to each other. Optimus's crew went on Rodimus's ship. Rodimus had a stern look on his face. Red Alert, the medic, had a similar on hers. The other two teammates were missing.
"Optimus Prime, to what do I owe this honor?" said Rodimus.
"Rodimus," Optimus rolled his optics "Don't act like that. I'm still the same bot, even if you're not."
"Yes, I suppose," said Rodimus.
"I want to know what exactly happened to Hot Shot," said Optimus "We may talk alone." Rodimus spilled the whole story. He told Optimus about Red Alert and about Brawn. He shared his own grief. He shared how he had loved Hot Shot like a son. He shared how the words Hot Shot had said cut through him like a knife. And he didn't stop sharing until Optimus and crew had to leave.
"I know how you feel to lose a teammate," said Optimus.
"No," answered Rodimus "You don't. You got yours back? I haven't."
Somewhere Out in Space…
They didn't care. He knew they didn't care. He hated them. They hadn't gone looking for him. He hated them. He hated them all, especially Brawn.
Hot Shot floated around space in statis lock. He could not survive much longer without energon. Well, at least conscious survival. But he doubted he survive at all. Like he told his ex-team, 'Too Late'.
This is the sequel to Hate is a Strong Word by Consuelo Higdon. Consuelo Higdon gave me permission to do this when I found out there was not to be a sequel. I do not own anything, including Transformers.