Autobot City on Earth. Established shortly before the Decepticons conquered Cybertron. For a time, it had been the Autobots' primary base. After the defeat of Unicron, Cybertron was taken back, and Autobot city was delegated to being a secondary base. Now commanded by Hound and Arcee, it was home to a motley crew of second stringers and basket cases. In short, everyone the Autobots on Cybertron didn't want around.
Case in point: the control room, the central nervous system of the city. Currently manning the monotoring equipment were the jittery Red Alert, the egomaniacal Sunstreaker, the borderline suicidal Trailbreaker, and Wheelie, who quite frankly, was second only to Galvatron in terms of how disliked he was by the other Autobots.
Red Alert was nervous. Paranoid, even. But why not? His fellow Autobots had just fended off a Decepticon attack, at the cost of one of their own. While Red Alert couldn't say he knew Steeljaw, a 'bot's a 'bot.
What worried him more was the fact the attack came with so little warning. It was shear luck that the space probe saw the Nemesis II coming. If it hadn't, the Autobots on Cybertron would have been decimated, and he'd probably be wearing a purple insignia right now. Or be dead. Or be undergoing torture so unimaginably horrible that--
"Red Alert! Snap out of it!" it was Arcee, who had just entered the control room.
Getting up from the monitoring station, Red Alert stammered, "Snap out of what? No ma'am, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary! Hey, look at Wheelie! I bet he's slacking--"
"What's that, 'fraidy cat?" said Wheelie indignantly from across the room. "Wheelie say--"
"Shut up, Wheelie!" shouted Arcee and Red Alert, along with Trailbreaker and Sunstreaker.
Wheelie sat returned to his station, depressed.
"And you," said Arcee, getting back to the point, "I saw you jittering. Your paranoia is getting out of hand, even for you."
"Well, you know what happened on Cybertron," Red Alert said, "we came this close," gesturing with his thumb and forefinger "to getting our tailplates handed to us. That, and I got a hunch."
Arcee sighrd, "A hunch? Remember the last time you had a hunch?"
"This is hardly the time for recriminations..."
"It turned out to be a tour bus full of seniors!"
"Hey!" said Red Alert, "You should've seen the look in their eyes! They wanted us dead!"
Barely audible, Arcee said, "I wish Kup was still..."
"I heard that! I'm TWICE the security chief Kup ever was!"
"We'll see about that," Arcee said as she turned her communicator on. "Hound? Hound, you there?"
"What is it?" replied Hound.
"Why did you appoint Red Alert chief of security?"
"Because Prowl's gone, and Kup's back on Cybertron."
"Oh come on!" said Red Alert, "I'm not that bad! What about Wheelie, why's he here?"
Hound growled, "Because I lost that bet with Springer," and under his breath, "and Grimlock wont let me kill him... uh, end transmission!"
Wheelie got up to respond, but Trailbreaker slapped the back of his head.
"Thank you." Arcee said, "And you! Get back to work!"
Red Alert returned his station. Unfortunately, while talking to Arcee, he missed the scout ship that passed over the Earth while looking for a suitable planet for colonization...
"Springer, I don't know if I can do this anymore."
Slag, here we go again, Springer thought to himself. Rodimus Prime, as usual, was pacing around his office. Springer had arrived with an acquisitions form from maintenance, and now he was going to be subject to another of Rodimus' diatribes.
"Steeljaw just died." Rodimus started, "Was it because of me? Could I have done anything to prevent it? What right do I have to lead the Autobots into battle? I got the Matrix almost by accident! And Optimus! I may as well of pulled the trigger! I--" but before he could finish the sentence, Springer punched him in the face. Unprepared for the assault, Rodimus was knocked to the floor. He sat there in stunned silence for a few moments, until he took Springer's offered hand. "I could have you executed for treason, you know."
"You're an Autobot," Springer said, "You wouldn't execute anyone. Besides, someone had to do it."
"Someone had to do what?" asked Rodimus.
Springer sighed. "Knock some sense into you. This 'woe is me' garbage is really starting to grate on us. This whole 'I'm not worthy!' thing."
"But I'm not--"
"There you go!" Springer shouted. "I've heard that Magnus said the same thing when Optimus gave him the Matrix. Maybe he was right. But you? You defeated Galvatron, took back the Matrix, destroyed Unicron, and led all of us out before it all exploded. And that was your first day! Do you think Optimus got that much done on HIS first day?"
"I got lucky." Began Rodimus, dishearted. "I was in the right place at the right time. If it had been you, or Jazz, the result would have been the same."
"You know that's not true. Every time you've gone on one of your 'spirit quests' into the Matrix, it's always told you that you're worthy. When the Quintessons brought him back, Optimus himself told you that you were worthy. But not a week later, you were questioning your skills as a leader." Springer looked Rodimus straight in the eye. "It's hurting morale. Me and the guys have been talking, and if you don't shape up soon, we're giving the Matrix to Bumblebee."
Rodimus couldn't help but smile when he heard that. "You're right, of course. I have been too hard on myself. It's just hard to deal with Optimus' old crew. Some of them still resent me for what happened to him. Hound, especially."
"Give Hound some time," Springer said. "I'm sure that killing Galvatron will change his tune."
Before Rodimus could respond, his communicator beeped. "Rodimus here."
"Prime, I'm in Perceptor's lab." said Ultra Magnus from the other end. "You should come down here right away. Something big is happening."