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It was just an unfortunate decision.
Blue Cop and Heavy Iron (don't ask) were on patrol together when their road went under a bridge. More accurately phrased, it was like a short tunnel.
"Ah, the bridge is too short for you. We'll have to go around." Blue Cop said, already preparing to turn.
"How would you know that?" Heavy Iron rolled to a stop.
"The sign." Blue Cop motioned with his hood. "We took your measurements back at the garage, remember? Edo said that trucks have more restrictions on the road. You can't go that way."
"It's just a bridge. I'll fit." Heavy Iron huffed. "And if I don't, I'll make it fit." And he proceeded to drive right through.
"Heavy Iron-!"
Fine, maybe he should have listened. But it was a long day, and going under the bridge back to the main road was probably faster. And he never liked being told he couldn't do something.
To his credit, he did pass under. Initially. His cab was short enough, but he simply forgot that his trailer was taller.
There was a loud scraping sound, followed by an uncomfortable pressure on top of his trailer. When he tried to pull forward, his trailer wouldn't give. Pushing back returned the same result. He tried driving forward again, but then he felt something tug so he stopped.
He was stuck. Unbelievable.
It's fine, it's fine, he can just transform out.
Transform.
Wait... no, he can't. His configuration required some space above his trailer for the disconnect. Of which, he currently has none. Maybe if he slid off the hitch...
And now Blue Cop was in front of him trying to push him back out in vehicle mode. He wasn't even half Heavy Iron's size like this, but he was still trying.
(Heavy Iron is reminded of the time he chased Blue Cop down and pushed him out of the way. At the time, he didn't feel bad watching him spin out of control. But now, watching Blue Cop try his best to help him, he did, just a little bit.)
"Blue Cop, stop that. You look ridiculous."
"I have to try something, at least. I can't just leave you here."
"Then tansform back first. You'll have hands."
"I can't. Someone might see us."
"We're on a side street after rush hour. Who would-"
"Hey, officer! You're here already?"
They both jumped at the voice, quickly turning off their eyes. Blue Cop backed up and saw a young man on the sidewalk. He must have come over from the other side.
"Er, yes, citizen. I was just passing by, so I thought I would lend my assistance." Blue Cop did his best impression of a regular human police officer.
Heavy Iron let out a groan.
"Oh. I was just taking a walk when I saw the truck. Figured it was stuck and I didn't see any flames, so I called the, uh, non-emergency line? Operator said they'll send someone over right away." The man explained, waving his phone.
"..."
"..."
Well great. More humans. What were they supposed to do now?
"Hey, you wanna wait outside?" The man called out. And it took a moment before Heavy Iron realized he was talking to him.
"Ah-ahem. It's fine. I'll just wait inside my- the cab." Ugh, he really had no experience talking with humans.
"You sure? You look like you're wedged in pretty tight. It might take a while."
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I can wait, I can wait. Go away now, please."
"Alright, suit yourself." The man shrugged before walking away and taking a seat on a nearby bench.
"Is he watching?" Heavy Iron asked quietly. "He's watching us, isn't he?"
"He might be waiting for the police to get here. Maybe he's going to give a statement? He is a witness to an 'accident,' so..." Blue Cop whispered back.
"... He's not leaving, is he?"
"No."
Which meant that Blue Cop, being a 'responding police officer,' couldn't leave either. And now calling one of the others for help was out of the question.
(It wasn't like he wanted help, he was Heavy Iron, for Deus Machina's sake! But at least it would be better than letting the humans swarm around his predicament.)
They didn't wait long. The humans brought along some police cars, a tow truck, and a fire engine. And now they were poking around Heavy Iron, trying to figure out how to get him out.
Blue Cop was shooed away by some well-meaning officers who said they had things under control. Which meant that Heavy Iron had to put up with human help by himself.
And they were trying really hard to be helpful.
"Maybe we can let the air out of the tires?" (Smart, but his tires weren't made that way.)
"We can try to disassemble the hitch assembly." (He didn't trust them to mess around with his internals, much less his externals.)
"Can we take off the tires and put smaller ones on?" (Absolutely not.)
Finally, they simply decided to try and manually tow him out. It wouldn't take long. It's not going to take that long, right?
...
It took three hours to pry Heavy Iron out. It was the most embarrassing three hours he'd ever spent on this planet.
"Not one word of this to anyone."
"I won't say anything. But Edo will want to know why we're so late."
"You were with me, remember?"
"I suppose..."
On the bright side, the only thing seriously damaged was his ego. There wasn't even a dent on his trailer. Maybe some scratches, but that was normal. And nobody asked any questions either.
Life went on.
Heavy Iron just happened to pass by that bridge some time later. There was another stuck truck, surrounded by emergency vehicles. A man, presumably the driver, was off on the side looking appropriately cowed while getting scolded by a police officer.
Did he feel vindication? Maybe just a little. But he was also annoyed.
On the one hand, you see? Anyone could have done the same thing. He's not the only one.
On the other, it was a rookie mistake, easily avoidable, and there was no way he was going to live it down if the others, especially Black Hook, found out about it.
Heavy Iron sighed. If there was one good thing about hiding from humans, it was that any stupid mistake they made could be attributed to a human and not a Metal Cardbot. Their collective dignity could still remain intact for a little longer.
He drove away, opting to put the incident out of his mind. He also decided he wasn't going to make that mistake again. He was keen to forget the whole thing otherwise and never think about it again.
"Hey, that's the truck that was stuck under the bridge last year!"
What were the odds? What were the odds? And it was the exact same guy as before! (He had a friend with him, but that was irrelevant.)
"You're mistaken." Heavy Iron growled. He made a show of looming over the man. Yes, Blue Cop, he knew that he shouldn't scare the humans, but frankly he was not going to deal with this today.
"... I... I was mistaken. I'm sorry." The man shrank back. He quickly biked away, his friend following close behind.
"So," Black Hook sidled up next to him. "Got yourself stuck somewhere, did you?" And Heavy Iron didn't even have to turn to see the smirk on his face.