Whoo~ Another chapter. Arcee is proving difficult to write. But no worries, she'll show up at some point…so until then you get Springer. I love the triple-changers of Transformers so much~ Thank-you for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 2

As it turned out, Hot Rod's punishment for missing his assignment due to "negligence" (Magnus' words, not his) wasn't all that harsh. He was mostly being punished for going out to a somewhat hazardous target range alone instead of going AWOL for assignment. As such, Hot Rod found himself cleaning the firing range. Kup had mentioned something along the lines of "Maybe if he cleans the thing he'll remember we have one instead of goin' off on his own in the middle of no where."

Hot Rod chuckled as he polished the counters. Considering Kup never used the official firing range himself (if his stories were to be believed), the punishment was rather ironic. In fact, unless you were an officer or Bluestreak, most of the Autobots did their target practice out in the desert or some other area void of life. Granted, most of them also went out in groups or pairs, but that was beside the point. Either way, Hot Rod was getting close to having finished cleaning the entire area and then he was off to the wash racks for a long soak.

"Having fun, there Roddy?" A hearty voice chuckled, laced with just the slightest bit of amusement from the suffering of a fellow.

"Hi Springo." Hot Rod threw a rag at his taller friend. The triple-changer caught it, of course. Springer had that twitch in his optic that said he had spent maybe just a bit too much time with Blurr earlier in the day and was looking to take it out on his dear, dear best friend. "How was the beach?"

"Great, if you ignore listening to Blurr complain about everything under the sun for five hours." Springer threw the rag right back at Hot Rod; who did not catch it. He chuckled when it smacked into his spoiler and hung there. "Otherwise, not too bad. Mostly cleaning up stuff humans left lying around and then hanging out. Bit of a pain having to watch where you step with kids running about underfoot."

"Was that it?" Hot Rod chuckled. Springer wasn't very good with kids. He was too serious and too hard-headed to deal with them. It made Hot Rod wonder sometimes how they got to be good friends in the first place. "I'm surprised they weren't asking you for helicopter rides."

"Oh, they asked." Springer groaned and leant on the counter, his buddy was polishing. He smiled smugly. "I just said no."

"Big surprise." Hot Rod snorted with a laugh. "How many cried?"

"None, I'll have you know." Springer smirked. "I came up with something good about safety and not having any proper equipment since my model doesn't really match most earth helicopters. Parents ate it up and agreed with me." Springer brushed his nose, clearly proud of himself. "Arcee gave 'um rides instead."

"Well that's good. Arcee probably loved that." The red 'bot sighed thinking of his two friends playing on the beach with a bunch of kids. Hot Rod loved hauling Danny around when Spike and Carly would let him. It was so damn easy to make those kids happy Hot Rod couldn't help but love it. "Wish I could have been there. I bet the water was gorgeous."

"Yeah well. Believe it or not nobody did any fishing so you didn't miss too much." Springer shrugged, never quite understanding how someone as energetic and jittery as Hot Rod enjoyed fishing. Sitting still was all you did for hours on end! How could he stand it? "Speaking, what's this about dropping a building on yourself?"

"Never try and drawing pictures using laser fire into the side of a condemned building."

"Don't," Springer groaned, "just don't say anymore."

"Will do, good buddy." Hot Rod saluted him. "Not a peep."

"Sometimes I don't know how you don't offline yourself, sometimes."

"Just lucky I guess." Springer continued to give Hot Rod a disbelieving smirk. "What brings you down here? Figured you'd be washing up with Arcee. You guys just got back, right?"

"Wanted to see what kept you. Ultra Magnus filled us in briefly and said you were down here. Arcee went ahead to the racks while I decided to be a good friend and find you." Springer pushed off the counter when Hot Rod started to clean up his things. "Tried comming you to see if you were ready to wash up yet, but you didn't answer. Forced me to come down here and get you myself."

"Oh. Guess Ultra Magnus forgot to tell you." Hot Rod picked up his bucket and threw the last of the cleaning supplies in. "My comm's broken. I can send out but not receive. Well, to start anyway. If I ping you first it'll work okay."

"That's weird."

"Yeah, Ratchet hasn't figured out what's wrong yet. Must have hit my head or something when Grimlock pulled me out of the way. He said it's probably something tiny that'll get worse as it goes on." Hot Rod chuckled. "Ratchet said it'll be easier to find and fix once it gets worse."

"Yeah." Springer nodded. "Gonna' make it a pain to get a hold of you."

"Yeah, until it's fixed I have to report to Magnus or Kup more often to make sure no one's looking for me." Hot Rod started to head out of the range with Springer following in step. "It's not a huge deal. I can still call out if I need to and I'm sure Ratchet'll fix it." Hot Rod threw his arms behind his back, bucket clanging against his spoiler. "But right now a trip to the washracks sounds like a dream."

"Yeah, you're filthy buddy." Springer laughed and slapped Hot Rod on the back."

"Says the guy covered in sand."

"Least I spent the day on the beach." Springer smirked and started off in a jog before transforming quickly into his land mode. "Race you to the racks!"

"You're on!"

Ultra Magnus was a follower by nature, not a leader. He left such things to his brother, Optimus, happily. At the end of the day, Ultra Magnus was a soldier first and foremost. He served, fought and obeyed orders passed down to him and he enjoyed it. Even if currently there were very few mechs ahead of him in the command chain. He would blame experience alone for his position, but it fell more along the lines of his brother forcing him to accept promotions.

His brother was unreasonable stubborn some days.

At the very least he still was still under the command of someone else be it Optimus or one of the other officers. That was at least a small comfort. Though, leading wasn't all bad, Ultra Magnus could admit. There was something fun about working with younger, less experienced soldiers and helping them fulfill their duties and obligations. Teach them how to obey orders, follow a code of conduct that all others could live up to and above all protect what is precious.

Sadly, today he was left dealing with the miscreants.

"Can you tell me, Cliffjumper, why you thought it was a good idea to go head first into a small troop of Decepticons?" Ultra Magnus continued before the minibot before him could open his mouth. "I fully understand that you probably could have handled three or four yourself with your experience, but there were seven. Well over any comfortable range to be handling a problem by yourself especially if back-up was near and you could have afforded to wait."

"Back-up wasn't near and I couldn't afford to wait." Cliffjumper scowled. Those 'cons were up to no good and the longer he waited the more energy they had ripped from the power plant. Time was of the essence! What was so hard to understand about that? "The situation needed handling right then and I took care of it just fine."

"At the expense of two days in the medical bay."

"I beat them all."

"What I am saying, is regardless of your victory, had you back-up you probably would have left the battle unscathed and not only saved us using limited resources for repairs, but also lightened Ratchet and First Aid's work load." Ultra Magnus sat the data pad with the incident on the table. "This isn't about whether or not you can win a fight it's about consideration to your team and your fellow soldiers."

"Look, I've been gettin' this speech longer than even you can probably remember. Just punish me already or let me go." The red bot huffed and crossed his arms.

"Cliffjump-" Magnus was cut off by a loud 'whoop' emanating from the hall. Both he and the minibot turned towards the open doorway in time to see Springer rush past at full speed in his car mode. Hot Rod soon sped past after him with a laugh, nothing more than a red and orange blurr. Ultra Magnus sighed and held his face in his hand.

"True examples of consideration and followin' the rules if I ever saw 'um." Cliffjumper chuckled. "Quite a team you've got. Reckless, energetic, and apparently fearless of authority." Cliffjumper paused. "I like 'em."

"You're dismissed, soldier." Ultra Magnus pushed up from his desk. "Do at least attempt to think about what we discussed."

"Of course." Cliffjumper winked. "Just like every other time."

"That's what worries me."

"Have fun chasin' down the kids, sir." Cliffjumper laughed and exited the office. Man he loved having the younger 'bots around the base. This place needed some of that fearless belief of invincibility that seemed to fade away with age.

Ultra Magnus started to put a few of his data pads in a stack in preparation for finding his wayward charges. Maybe he was getting too old for this. Then again, when he was young he didn't go charging around the base at top speeds. Magnus just couldn't understand where they got all that excess energy from. Magnus turned on his comm. As he headed outside into the hallway. Red Alert?

Yes sir, Ultra Magnus. Red Alert reporting.

I'm sure you have noticed Springer and Hot Rod racing in the hallway. Could you please give me their approximate destination? Magnus started walking in the direction they had gone in fairly certain they'd be on that end of the building. It would be most appreciated.

Of course, sir. There was a pause on the line. Camera's have them heading in the direction of the wash racks A second pause.. Yes, they've just arrived and transformed. They'll probably be there for a bit.

Magnus almost chuckled. A race to the wash racks sounded familiar. Perhaps it was Kup who was telling a story about it. He always had such interesting stories about Hot Rod when he was a sparkling. Thank-you, Red Alert. That will be all.

Of course, sir! A click signaled the end of the comm.

By the time Ultra Magnus reached the wash, Springer and Hot Rod were down to drying off after a final polish. He wondered how long it would take for them to get gritty again with that matte look and feel. A polished shine never seemed to last for more than a day on this planet (Unless you were Sunstreaker or Tracks, but Ultra Magnus wasn't quite sure yet how they managed it. He was sure it involved more work than proper…). Ultra Magnus put his arms behind his back and stood up a bit straighter. "Have a fun racing through the halls, boys?"

"Ultra Magnus, sir!" Springer started a bit and had the decency to look embarrassed. "Uh, you saw that?"

"You raced right by my office." Ultra Magnus chuckled and relaxed his pose slightly. "It would be difficult to miss, I'd imagine."

"Are we in trouble?" Hot Rod asked rather suddenly. He had already done a punishment detail today already and if he was going to get another he'd rather jump straight to the point. "Because we were watching where we were going and the halls were empty! So I don't see what the problem would be and it's not like there's a rule against it."

"Hot Rod." Springer hissed. Was he trying to get them in trouble?

"I think, that perhaps this would do well with a warning." Ultra Magnus chuckled. "I do remember what it's like to be young." Well, not really in this sense, but it was what those two needed to hear. "But next time, no rules against it or not, perhaps you could take your race outside?"

"Yeah, okay." Hot Rod sighed in relief. Ultra Magnus could be pretty cool when he wanted to be. "We'll keep it outside."

"Thank-you." Ultra Magnus paused momentarily and remembered what Hot Rod was supposed to be doing this afternoon. "Is the firing range clean?"

"Yup, finished up and Springer came to get me to clean myself up pretty to match." Hot Rod motioned towards his shiny finish, the varying colors in his paint now much more distinct. The flames painted along his chest were much more obvious when they weren't obscured with dirt and grime. Hot Rod smiled. "And sand of course."

"Ha ha." Springer grumbled. He was never agreeing to one of those 'make the Autobots look friendly' missions again. The triple-changer jerked when his comm. came to life. Instead of a voice, he got a short message from Arcee. "Hey Hot Rod, I'll catch up with you later. It seems Arcee got hijacked by Wheeljack to test something or other."

The red racer chuckled at the thought of Arcee at the mercy of the mad inventor. Maybe the Dinobots were involved, too. "Want some help?"

"Nah, Arcee's embarrassed enough as it is. She'll probably be mad I even told ya' this much." Springer chuckled with a soft smile. He could picture Arcee's angry face now as she smacked him in the shoulder for 'being a jerk.'

"Okay." Hot Rod forced a smile and waved as Springer raced out of the room leaving the young 'bot alone with Ultra Magnus in the now obviously empty wash racks. Springer and Arcee had been getting really close lately and often times, Hot Rod felt like the stereotypical third wheel.

Ultra Magnus knew that look.

It was no secret on base that Hot Rod had developed a small crush on Arcee that had probably been there for years. The lad just, hadn't yet realized what it was that he felt, Ultra Magnus assumed. Or surely he would have acted on it. Hot Rod oozed confidence in himself and didn't seem the type to be shy in relations with others. However, it seemed the pretty pink femme had her eyes set on someone, in a color that didn't quite clash so much. Springer was a lucky 'bot. Ultra Magnus wondered if he noticed what it was doing to his friend. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Huh?" Hot Rod turned to his superior who was looking at him in with a weird expression. Like he was thinking too hard. "Not yet, why?"

"I haven't either and after a rather lengthy disciplinary discussion with Cliffjumper I could really use a cube right now." Ultra Magnus smiled. Hot Rod looked like he could use some company after being left alone. "Care to join me?"

Hot Rod stuttered. Ultra Magnus usually didn't eat with him or the others. In fact, the only one of the older 'bots that usually hung out with them was Kup. And Hot Rod was sure that had to do with being his caretaker and taking joy in embarrassing him with old stories. "Uh, sure."

There was an unsure pause in Hot Rod's voice that made Ultra Magnus hesitate. Perhaps, he had been out of line asking in asking to share his company? There was a rather large age gap between the two of them that could possibly be seen as uncomfortable. "Unless of course you don't want to. You don't have to say 'yes' just because you feel the need to be polite."

"Huh? Oh! That's not it." Hot Rod back tracked quickly. Ultra Magnus almost looked wounded; it wasn't a face Hot Rod liked seeing on the older 'bot. "I don't mind. It's just the first time you've asked and it threw me off a little."

"Is it really?" Ultra Magnus was thrown off himself. Had he really disconnected himself so much it was odd to hang out with his fellows? "Then I think it would be a good time to change that, don't you?"

"Yeah." Hot Rod smiled and started to put away his personal cleaning supplies before trailing behind Magnus towards the mess. The officer smiled at him when he pulled up to walk alongside and Hot Rod found himself forgetting about Springer and Arcee for the moment. Sometimes, change was good.