A/N: My first ever Transformers fic was about an out of character emotionally unstable post G1 Movie Hound entitled Lost Mechs. I liked it at the time, now I see it as one of my worse fics. I've recently been struck with an idea on how to make the idea much better. This is not set in any particular universe.

Chapter 1: The Adventure of a Lifetime

Hound was always an interesting case. Everybody knew him in some way. Some new his as Optimus Prime's best scout, some knew him as that weirdo who longed to return to Earth, some knew him as one of the friendliest mechs on Cybertron, and some just knew him as "that green guy", that is until a mech by the name of Hoist came along, but that's not all that relevant to the story.

This Autobot wasn't quite sure what he was going to do after the war, in fact, he never really thought he'd see the end of the war. After all fighting was all he knew for nearly his whole life, so when Optimus addressed his higher ranking officers and soldiers one morning on their Earth stationed headquarters, it was a bit of a punch to the gut.

"Autobots..." Optimus spoke, in the same stoic, commanding tone he always had spoke in, his bodyguard, Ironhide, and his SIC, Prowl to each side of him. "Alpha Trion has declared that the state of high alert is no longer enforced." He stated. "We have been told to report home to Cybertron to our own cities and families for some well earned rest." For years the Autobots had been fighting the Decepticons, and about fifty earth years ago they stationed a team of thirty two Autobots on Earth. Coincidentally that was right around when the tide started to turn in their favor, and now, the war had been declared finished after word had spread that Megatron and his top soldiers had been imprisoned, thanks to Optimus and his crew.

"Omega Supreme is on his way from Cybertron. He'll be picking us up tomorrow morning." Prowl stated. "For the rest of the day, we need to focus on making this base as if nobot had ever resided here." That was a little cold Hound thought, they had lived in this base for fifty years, even for a Cybertronian that was a significant amount of time, and now they just had to up and pack like nothing ever happened here? This was a thought that would stay with the scout for the rest of the day.

"I tell ya, Hound, the sooner we're off this dumb rock the better." Hound's assigned roommate, an orange and blue Convoy framed minibot named Huffer remarked as he packed what he had into a small crate. Hound didn't reply, which was rather peculiar since Hound usually loved some friendly conversation, even with a mech who had a disposition like Huffer. Huffer could be a little caught up with himself now and then, but he could read a room. "I've been getting into that online dating stuff, met a nice femme on a chat room, thinking I'll take her out when we get back to Cybertron." He made conversation.

"That's nice." Hound replied.

"I can't say I pity Powerglide right now, sure it sucks he's gotta leave his lady friend behind, but he was dumb enough to get with an organic in the first place, so he brought it on himself." Huffer attempted to continue conversation.

"Powerglide and Seaspray are in the same boat actually." Hound stated. "Seaspray met an organic on another world... Alana is her name, I believe."

"Cripes." Huffer scoffed. "I always thought being chummy with organics was weird enough." He remarked, he could tell that even though he got Hound to form a full sentence, he wasn't getting anywhere with him. "I'm gonna go see what Gears is up to, see ya later." The little orange mech said as he slowly stepped out of the room. Hound sighed and shuffled down to the common area of the base. He strode over to the bar where two of his best friends were, one of them behind the bar, the other at the bar.

"You should be packing." The mech behind the bar said. He was a sleek blue and white mech with yellow optics, rare for an Autobot. He sported an uncharacteristic missile launcher on his shoulder and his helm was shaped like a snow globe that got sliced in two.

"You should be packing too, Raj." Hound replied.

"I am," Raj, or Mirage said as he lifted up a crate full of empty cubes. "Visages is officially closing." He said, flicking off the neon sign behind him before taking it off the wall.

"Now ain't this just the saddest day in Cybertronian history." Hound's other close friend, a big black and gray Hylux build mech with a gleaming blue visor remarked. "Now where am I gonna drink?" He bemoaned.

"It's one day, Trailbreaker," Mirage couldn't help but chuckle. "There's a million bars on Cybertron."

"Yeah, but nobody knows how to make a White Camien as good as you do, Raj." Trailbreaker shrugged.

"Hey mechs, we drinking?" A new voice to the conversation said, stepping forward and taking a place at the bar, this mech was a Tranzam frame minibot with a gray blocky head and body with red arms and legs.

"I suppose we are now, Windcharger." Mirage said with an annoyed tone, fishing four cubes out of the crate and filling them. "There's no need for you all to he acting so solemn, it's not like we're all parting ways when we get to Cybertron, we all grew up in the same city."

"It's gonna be different, Raj. You know that." Trailbreaker said, sipping his cube. "Sure, we've got each other, but we're a servo without it's ring digit." He said, making a sloppy analogy of their unit. See, a few years back there was a fifth member of their clan. A member that wouldn't be going home with them.

"Hey, Trails," Windcharger set a servo on Trailbreaker's arm. "It'll be alright."

"Windcharger is right. It'll all be okay, he might be gone, but we'll remember him." Hound raised his cube. "He was a good mech, a good fighter, but above all, a great friend." Hound toasted.

"Here here." Trailbreaker, Mirage, and Windcharger toasted their fallen friend.

"Now, you all drink up, I still have my own room to pack after all." Mirage said as he finished his cube and started to clean it.

"Alright, alright." Trailbreaker shook his helm fondly as he downed his cube. "C'mon Windy. Let's pack up." He pet his smaller friend's helm, knowing it irritated the smaller mech. He laughed heartily as he walked off.

"Anybot else wanna sit next to him on the way home?" Windchrager huffed as he got up and followed Trailbreaker. Hound and Mirage shook their helms and sighed fondly watching the two bicker as they went back to their rooms.

"Must be nice not having to share a room with Huffer after today." Mirage made conversation.

"I suppose that's an upside." Hound nodded. "Say, you gonna open up Visages again when we get home?" He asked.

"I just may." Mirage grinned slyly. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"I suppose I will." Hound nodded with a little grin.

Fifteen years later

Where everybody knows your na-a-ame." Hound, Mirage, Trailbreaker, and Windcharger sang along in the reopened Visages one evening.

"Bom bom bom!" Trailbreaker exclaimed.

"And they're always glad you ca-a-ame!" They sang along, and so forth until the song concluded, and they sat back as the song faded into the four friends laughing and chatting.

"So how was Gobotron?" Trailbreaker asked Windchrager, who had just returned from vacation. "I've always wanted to visit there."

"It was alright, kinda reminded me of the old days here on Cybertron." Windcharger said. "Not necessarily in a good way, since it reminded me of the days leading up to the war."

"Oh boy..." Hound droned, shaking his helm.

"Well, I remember the fat load of good they were helping us with our war. You certainly won't see me enlisting." Mirage stated. "I have a cousin who lives on Gobotron though, hopefully she'll be alright."

"Mm." Hound nodded. "Any of you fellas hear from Optimus or any of the higher ups lately?" He asked.

"Last I heard Prowl was the new commissioner for the IPD." Trailbreaker said. "Saw Bumblebee the other day, out on a date with a little blue bot. His frame type."

"Glyph?" Windcharger sputtered. "That's his sister!"

"Well maybe it wasn't a date." Trailbreaker shrugged. "Course then I told a couple other folks it was a date... uh oh."

"I see you haven't changed, Trails." Mirage remarked. "Think at least a little before you talk, for Primus' sake, mech."

"I only told Bluestreak and Blaster, those guys never talk to anyone." Trailbreaker reasoned.

"All they ever do is talk, Trailbreaker." Mirage deadpanned. "Jazz strode in here last week."

"You guys talk?" Hound asked.

"No." Mirage shook his helm. "Why would we? We were never exactly chummy."

"You two were more chummy than you and Cliffjunper ever were." Windcharger snickered.

"Ugh, don't remind me of that little blowhard." Mirage groaned. "What are we doing talking like this? We aren't old mechs like Ironhide or Kup, c'mon fellas, we're young. We've gotta start acting like it again."

"What's there to do? A peaceful Cybertron is a boring Cybertron, I hate to say it." Trailbreaker replied.

"Then who said it has to be Cybertron?" Mirage asked. "They still send ships out to do patrol the Cybersystem and beyond, we could join one of those."

"Hey, that's... actually a pretty good idea." Hound grinned.

"I dunno, going out into deep space with no high grade..." Trailbreaker shrugged.

"We'll make a pitstop on Earth and move out the old bar from the base into the ship, those shuttles have the room for it." Mirage offered.

"Adventure and high grade? Count me in!" Trailbreaker grinned.

"So we're in agreement," Hound said. "Let's go out to enlist." He grinned, leading the four to the shuttle docks. However, once they got there, they couldn't help but be met with a slight aura of disappointment.

"Do you have any positions left?" Mirage asked the mech at the recruitment office, a stout blue and white Convoy build minibot.

"C'mon Pipes, you gotta have something." Windcharger insisted.

"I got one thing," Pipes nodded. "But you're not gonna like it." He warned.

"We'll take that Rodimus guy if it means getting up to an adventure." Hound assured Pipes.

"Heh, well it ain't Rodimus." Pipes chuckled. "It's worse." He mumbled.

The four friends sat on a bench, waiting for their ship to land with their new captain. The last captain available, they were sure he couldn't be that bad, after all he was made captain. But when that ship landed and the ramp opened, what they saw proved Pipes' statement. The captain stepped out, an exceptionally tall Transport build mech with a garish white, gold, red, and blue color scheme, his chest sported a blue flame decal with his Autobot symbol centered. This was Thunder Clash.

"Aha! You must be my crew." Thunder Clash remarked. "Well, mechs, are you ready to set out on the adventure of a lifetime? Helmed by the bravest, most skilled, vigilant, and most devilishly handsome captain in the Cybersystem?"

"Oh boy." Hound huffed.

The crew situated themselves in Thunder Clash's ship, titled the SS Supercomet. The four seated themselves in various positions as the ship took off.

"Where to mechs? Where does this grand exploit begin?" Thunder Clash asked.

"We figured we'd stop at our old Earth base, pick a few things up before the adventure begins." Trailbreaker spoke up.

"Earth? That's one of those organic places. Yuck." Thunder Clash gagged. "I suppose we could make a pit stop." He shrugged. "We certainly won't be getting comfortable there."

"Wasn't the plan." Hound murmured. "Alright mechs, Earth it is."

"It'll be nice to take a look around the old base again, I think the old holochess table is still there." Windcharger remarked. "Hey, did we ever pack his old things?"

"I think they're still there." Mirage answered.

"Who's old things?" Thunder Clash asked.

"An old friend." Hound answered. "An old friend that never came home with us."

"Ah yes, Treadsmoke." Thunder Clash stated. "The only member of Squadron Terraria to be KIA." He elaborated. That was the first time that name had been spoken (around Hound and his gang anyway) in years, and it stung as bad as they worried it would.

"Hey, it's okay." Hound assured Trailbreaker, who's face did droop in visible sadness in response. "We were gonna have to hear that name eventually."

"Good mech, good fighter, great friend. Remember?" Mirage nodded.

"Here here." Trailbreaker nodded. However, what Thunder Clash, Trailbreaker, Hound, or any other Autobot didn't know was this Treadsmoke wasn't quite as dead as they all seemed to think.

"C'mon Cadie, sing it loud and sing it proud!" A voice coming from the radio of a big red pickup truck chanted as a teenage human sang along to "I'm On My Way" by The Proclaimers.

"You were right," Cadie, a teenage human female with an exceptionally tall and slender build with raven black hair and raven black nearly everything from the neck down clothing wise remarked during an instrumental break. "This is a better road trip song than '500 Miles'."

"Yet it's so much less well known. It's a crime, really." The voice in the radio remarked as the truck parked outside what looked like an abandoned customs shop. "Alright, get out, I've gotta stretch my legs after all that time on the road." He instructed, the girl jumped out and the truck transformed into his Cybertronian robot mode, he was a Hylux build, like Trailbreaker, only instead of black he was a bright red and instead of a boxy flat top helm he had a curvy dome that evoked a human afro that was split down the middle with a tall arch like a Roman soldier's helmet.

"Thanks for driving me to Atlantic City for my birthday, Tread. I had a great time." Cadie looked up at the robot as he pulled open the garage door.

"I'm glad you had fun, Cadie." Tread, or Treadsmoke rather, said as he stepped inside and flicked on the lights. "I have one more thing though." He said, moseying over to the fridge and opening the freezer door carefully. "Set this out to thaw a bit." He hummed, carefully pulling the birthday cake out and setting it on a makeshift table.

"Tread, you didn't have to do that." Cadie remarked, looking at the cake. Her response was partially in response to the kindness of the gesture and the mech's track record for cooking human foods.

"I followed the recipe this time, don't worry." Treadsmoke replied, sitting down on a monster truck tire he used as a chair. "I got you a little something too." He said, sliding a shoebox across the table to her, wrapped up in a bow. Cadie opened the box and looked inside, smiling immediately at what she saw inside.

"What are all these?" She asked, taking out things that to anyone but Cadie and Treadsmoke would be seen as garbage.

"Little things here and there from over the years." He said modestly. "Speeding tickets, parking tickets, a ticket stub from that drive-in flick we got kicked out of."

"You mean the one you got us kicked out from when you stepped on that Volkswagen." Cadie mentioned with a little grin.

"It was dark!" Tread exclaimed. "Take everything out, I want you to see what's under it." He said excitedly. She complied and took the other knick knacks and trinkets out to see a framed picture of her and Treadsmoke.

"From our trip to Niagra Falls." She smiled widely, reminiscing. "That was years ago..."

"Just a month after we met if I remember correctly." Tread nodded, slicing a large piece off the cake and giving it to her. "Happy big 1 - 9, Cadie." He smiled widely.

"Thanks, Treadsmoke." She smiled up at him before she started to eat. "Wow, I have to admit, this is actually quite good." She remarked. "Good job, big guy." She said, stuffing cake into her mouth.

"Told you I'd followed the recipe." The mech chuckled, getting up from where he sat and moving over to the car lift that he recharged on each night. "This bot's gonna get a goodnight's rest." He yawned as he laid back on the lift.

"Wait," Cadie said, scurrying over to the lift. "You think you could tell me a story?" She asked.

"You're a little old for bedtime stories, don't you think?" He arched an optic ridge, looking down to her.

"I don't want a bedtime story," she rolled her eyes. "You're a robot from another planet who fought in an intergalactic war, I wanna know more about it, mech." She remarked. Cadie always liked his stories of the war, not only was Treadsmoke a hilarious story teller, but his unique ability allowed him to become the bots in his story he was referring to, she knew practically everyone on his old team by now.

"Alright alright," Tread chuckled. "Uhh... I ever tell you about the time me and my buddies saved Alpha Trion from a smoldering Hall of Records?" He asked.

"Yeah, you threw out your spinal piston lifting that pillar off of that mech." Cadie nodded. "It's okay, you can tell it again."

"Alright," he nodded, sitting up and lifting his human friend up to sit beside him. "It was one of our last days on Cybertron, a militia group of Decepticons called Combaticons had waged an assault on the Autobot capital of Cybertron..." He shifted into the story.

After the story was over, Cadie resided to her bed, a relatively clean mattress with a beanbag chair for a pillow and a heavy comforter, she shifted a little before falling asleep. Treadsmoke sighed quietly as he gazed at her. His best friend in the whole world, his only friend that he knew for sure he still had.

Treadsmoke had been living on Earth for twelve years now ever since his accidental reactivation. He had been a former member of Optimus Prime's team for their stay on Earth, but one day, during battle with the Decepticons, he had been critically wounded and fell into stasis trapped in his vehicle mode. Years after the Autobots left for Cybertron he was found by a mechanic and brought into his garage, to be eventually scrapped for parts. Then one day, when the mechanic started to strip the truck, he accidentally triggered his reactivation, effectively ending his stasis, Treadsmoke was reborn and all alone in the world.

Treadsmoke tried desparetly to contact his fellow Autobots, but his communicator was still damaged, one of the few wounds that didn't heal with time in stasis. Then one day, after eight years of wandering on his lonesome, he and Cadie crossed paths, she was alone, just like him. He felt for her, he couldn't in his right mind leave her, it was a scary enough world to be lost in as a Cybertronian let alone a little adolescent human. Since that day, the two had become the best of friends. He vowed to himself to always be there for her to protect her, and she needed the help, what with her habit of getting into trouble. Even though part of him still longed to see his old friends again, just for some assurance as to what happened to them at the very least. As he thought of Cadie and then thought of his old friends, a thought occurred to him. He should show her their old base! She'd love that! He grinned, thrilled with the idea that he'd present to her the next morning.

"So, I was thinking." Treadsmoke said to Cadie, who sat inside his truck mode eating her breakfast while they sat parked outside a McDanny's the following morning. Now I know what you're thinking, that's not a healthy everyday breakfast, to be fair, they only did this Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, any other day they'd go to International House of Breakfast.

"That's dangerous." Cadie joked, bits of hasbrown flying out of her mouth as she spoke and ate simultainiously.

"That gunk you spew when you talk with your mouth full is a nightmare to clean out, by the way." Treadsmoke interjected. "But I was thinking it was time I showed you someplace pretty special. I was thinking we take a trip Northwest to Oregon."

"What's so special in Oregon?" Cadie asked.

"Oh... just... oh I dunno, my old base." Tread told her. She immediately jumped with excitement, spilling her coffee all over his interior. "OW!" He remarked. "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

"Sorry!" Cadie winced, wiping the spill as best as she could with her napkins. "Tread, you really want to take me to see your old base?" She asked.

"If you want, Cadie." He replied. "Do you?"

"You know it Treads!" She squealed, hugging his steering wheel, that being the only thing about him she could really hug at the moment. "When are we heading out?"

"We'll be on our way as soon as we stop at a car wash, and I mean one with interior cleaning too." He said, starting up his engine and pulling out of the parking lot.

"If I remember correctly... the passcode is... 1,7,9... 8,4." Treadsmoke said, pressing numbers on he keypad. The doors swung open to reveal the long dormant base. "Lights are off and nobot is home." He mumbled as he and Cadie stepped inside, he flipped a switch and turned the lights on, lighting up the large base.

"Wow..." Cadie breathed, taken aback with the giant scale of the base. "This place is enormous..."

"It gets cramped when you have thirty two packed in here, lemme tell you." Treadsmoke replied ad they walked through the base. "Looks like whenever they went, they packed the place up." He remarked. "I wonder if Brawn's old lob ball is kicking around." He thought out loud, when the pair strode into the commons, Tread was very happy to see that for the most part it was still intact, the old monitor the crew would bicker and argue over, the old holochess table, even Mirage's bar!

"Wow!" Cadie exclaimed, running over to the monitor and activating it. "This is so cool!" She beamed, looking at security cameras, old inboxes, and other features. Treadsmoke meanwhile made his way to the bar.

"Should be a little left." He hummed, pressing a tap and holding an empty cube to it. "Bingo." He grinned as it started to fill. He sipped the drink and gagged, he spat flakes of lead out of his mouth that had made their way into the energon reservoir.

"Hey, Tread?" Cadie asked.

"Mm?" He asked, draining the cube down a disposal drain.

"What's this?" She asked, pointing to a picture on the screen of Treadsmoke accompanied by a brief description, she had stumbled across the crew manifest.

"That's my profile on the manifest." He answered. "Let's see now, Iacon born and raised, Hylux frame... Outlier... waitasec..." He arched a brow. "I'm dead!?"

"You're dead?" Cadie asked.

"According to this I am!" He exclaimed. "Primus..." He flipped through the manifest, checking to make sure his friends were still okay. They were, fortunately. But the realization that according to his old crew he was dead was strange.

"Wow..." He murmured. "What happened to everyone?" He asked himself, catching himself up on every inbox and log since he had disappeared. "They went back to Cybertron three years before I even woke up." He remarked. "They never even looked for me I bet." He murmured.

"Tread..." Cadie set a hand on Treadsmoke's servo. "I'm sorry." She said sincerely.

"For what?" He asked. "This? Cadie, don't worry about it. I'm happy with how my life is now. Me and you. If they had of found me we never would have met, and I wouldn't give these past four years with you up for anything. I promise." He smiled. Cadie smiled widely and climbed up Tread's arm, sitting down on his shoulder.

"You mean a whole lot to me, you know?" Cadie asked, leaning on his helm.

"You mean a lot to me too, Cadie." Treadsmoke nodded. "Oh! My buddy Wheeljack made some complialtions of funny security footage, I'll find them for you. You can watch those while I take a quick nap, how's that sound?" He asked.

"Sounds perfect, Treads." Cadie grinned, hugging his helm.

"I told you it was 17984, not 91784." Mirage said to Trailbreaker as the crew entered the base to grab what they were looking for. "Who left the lights on?" He remarked.

"Good thing this place runs on solar." Hound murmured. "Do you guys hear something?" He could hear something from the commons room, the monitor was on and playing, and someone was laughing.

"There's been a break in!" Thunder Clash deduced. "Get behind me, mechs. This could get hostile." He cocked his blaster and stepped toward the commons room, the four mechs behind him. He hummed as he got closer, his own theme music. Hound and Mirage rolled their optics in reply to how ridiculous this mech was.

"Alright, put your servos where I can see them!" Thunder Clash barked before jumping through the door way, blaster aimed at the perpetrator, but neither Thunder Clash or the organic perpetrator were quite ready for the other...