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In Hot Rod's defense, he did try to keep the rules of interacting with the humans at the front of his mind. He really hadn't meant to make a public relations blunder like that, pointing out the humans meeting with them were seven percent synthetic. No one had told him that humans hid the fact they upgraded themselves, especially women who chose to upgrade their front bumpers.
To get assigned lab duty for punishment seemed way more than the offense called for, but Kup (once he'd stopped laughing) had told him to behave and fall in line.
"This is boring," Hot Rod said before he thought it out, and Perceptor looked over at where the mech was assigned to inventory the chemicals.
"I do apologize, Hot Rod, but you are performing an integral duty that none of us have had time to do," Perceptor told him politely. The scientist looked warily at the blast shielded inner laboratory. "And, I do not believe it will remain boring much longer."
"Oh?" Hot Rod looked very eager at that thought.
"Wheeljack and Hoist are cooperatively creating a new drone today, one designed to be what the humans call a 'sapper', for undermining any works the Constructicons make."
"How does that mean things won't be boring?" the still mostly-new-to-Earth mech asked. Perceptor merely smiled and went back to work, leaving Hot Rod confused.
A few minutes later and a muffled thump, a relatively quiet explosion, and then Cybertronian cursing spilled out with the smoke from the explosion, Hoist loudly proclaiming he could not work with such volatile substances, and Wheeljack insisting the nitro-nine was a perfectly safe compound if Hoist would just give him a bit to work out the bugs.
Hot Rod had to grin as the fireworks seemed to just be starting.