AN: On with the show! This takes place after chapter 55.
{Wheeljack's Diplomacy at its Best} requested by The Magnetic Witch
All Wheeljack needed was a bucket of those energon snacks and this would be perfect. The former Autobot Wrecker was leaning against a large purplish boulder, his leg joints propped up on a smaller rock, the very picture of laziness. Wheeljack was surprised that he was not feeling bored, as he usually felt when there was a fight going on that he was not in, but the mech found himself oddly entertained.
Not more than seventy feet away, a Decepticon and an Autobot were having at it. Wheeljack had never seen the Autobot before, though judging by the red and white paint job and the mech's fighting style, the 'bot was young and not a warrior. Probably a medic, but Wheeljack had never seen one who had taken the healers' oath so violent in a fight. The Autobot looked more than upset, thoroughly ticked off by whatever the Decepticon had done and was not prepared to give any leeway.
For his own part, the Decepticon was giving as good as he got, but he too was not what Wheeljack would have labeled as 'an experienced fighter'. There was no real finesse to either of the combatants, as they appeared to be more willing to just punch at each other like two rookies who did not know how to fight. It was amusing to watch, and Wheeljack could not help but call out tips to both of them, especially since it made the Autobot and Decepticon mad.
"His armor plating is weaker near the arm joints," Wheeljack called, smirking as both fighters paused and looked at one another, no doubt trying to determine which one he was speaking to and about. The ex-Wrecker chortled as the Autobot medic and the Decepticon heavyweight then continued their fight, ignoring his suggestion.
He had certainly given them a shock when he had dropped in at what must have been the beginning of their fight. He had identified himself and given his former faction, to which the red and white Autobot had demanded his aid in defeating the Decepticon but when he said he was not an Autobot anymore the red and white mech called him a traitor while the Decepticon had asked, whilst avoiding a punch, if Wheeljack had switched sides like he had.
Since neither combatant would stop when he told them there was no longer a need to fight. The war was over, peace had been made, blah blah blah, needless to say it had not worked so Wheeljack decided to take a backseat and let the two fight it out. That seemed to be the best decision after all since Wheeljack was too wise in the art of war to foolishly think that he could break apart a fight that was being so furiously fought as this one.
For there was fury, Wheeljack could see that, but not the normal fury one found in a battle between Autobots and Decepticons. Wheeljack tilted his helm, watching the range of emotions between the two mechs, delivered with each punch and the silent words thrown at each other with their optics and frame language. There was a history here, Wheeljack was sure of it.
This was not simply a case of an Autobot stumbling upon a Decepticon and attacking because their factions were enemies, no, there was more to it than that. There was anger in the Autobot, a deep-seated anger that border lined on betrayal. The Decepticon was just an angry, but his was more of a frustrated anger and after studying his moves Wheeljack noted that the greenish gray mech was deliberately not going for any vital areas, though there were plenty to be found on the Autobot medic.
Definitely a history there, and Wheeljack suspected that the war was at the root of the bad energon between the two fighters.
"Go for the head!"
"Will you shut up already?" The Decepticon yelled, ducking a swing from the Autobot who had decided to take the ex-Wrecker's advice. "You're turning into a bothersome pest!"
"Pest?" Wheeljack was affronted, or at least his tone implied that he was even though he did not move. "Now, that's kinda rude, isn't it? Here I was, minding my own business, and I saw the two of ya scrapping away down here. Thought the least I could was come down and tell ya'll there's no need, but since ya won't listen I might as well stick around to make sure ya'll don't kill one another."
"I don't want to kill—"
The Autobot cut off the Decepticon's protest, "I'm not going to kill him! I'm going to tear him apart!"
"Is there a difference?" Wheeljack asked, now feeling a little bored. Bulkhead used to say that a bored Jackie was a dangerous Jackie. Wheeljack sighed, he had tried not to feel the pain of his old partner's death, he had tried not mourn Bulkhead and justified this action with the thought that he had avenged the green mech's death, but some days that was not enough. The truth was he missed Bulkhead, despite their differences of opinion Bulkhead had always been there for him; no matter what Wheeljack did he could always count on the big lug.
He owed it to Bulkhead to make sure the alliance Orion Prime and Megatron had forged was not destroyed, especially by two hotheads such as these.
A shift in the fight happened when the Autobot tripped the Decepticon, and the 'con fell to the blackish ground with a thud. Instantly the red and white mech was on top of him, transforming a servo into a blaster and leveling it at his enemy's faceplate. A blue blast hit the medic's servo, making it jerk and discharge harmlessly into the ground.
Both mechs looked at Wheeljack, who was no longer leaning against the boulder but had stood up and was holding his blaster aimed at them. "Now, that's enough of that."
"It is indeed." The Decepticon took advantage of the Autobot's distraction and flipped their positions, pinning the red and white mech in his far stronger grasp, "I think now you'll be willing to listen to me, won't you brother?"
"Hmph!" Wheeljack said, walking over to them, "I might have known this was a family feud."
"I've got nothing to say to you!" The Autobot spat. "You traitor!"
"Ouch," Wheeljack muttered. "That's harsh."
"I kind of deserve it," the Decepticon said, not letting up on his hold as he peered down into the blue optics below him. "But, Red, I swear to you that if you would just let me hook up a link to your CPU it will all make sense."
The Autobot did not answer, instead he tried furiously to break free of his brother's hold. Wheeljack watched with a growing smirk as the red and white mech's efforts proved to be fruitless. "Would ya mind introducing yourselves? Can't say I remember meeting with if ya on Cybertron during the war."
"That's because we weren't on Cybertron during the war." The Decepticon answered. "I am Brawl, and this is my little brother, Red Alert."
"Pleased to meet ya." Wheeljack crouched so that Red Alert could look at him without snapping his neck joints, "I must say, Red Alert, that you are the angriest medic I've ever seen. And I've seen quite a few who were down-right cranky."
"Scrap off!"
Brawl head-butted his brother, smashing the red and white helm into the ground for good measure, "You watch that language, Red, you may not like me right now but I'm still your big brother and I will scrub out your mouthpiece with polishing wax if you don't watch it. Now let's listen to what he has to say."
"It's not much really," Wheeljack shifted his weight. "Basically the war is over, Optimus Prime is now going by the name Orion Prime and he and Megatron forged an alliance and dissolved the factions. There are no more Autobots and Decepticons, we are now all Cybertronians, or from whichever colony planet we hail from, we can even distinguish ourselves by the cities we lived in if we want, and while Cybertron may be uninhabitable, there is a home waiting for those who want it on the organic planet, Earth, which has plenty of resources for everyone."
"If that was your definition of 'not much' I'd hate to hear the full version," Red Alert grumbled, having sagged in Brawl's grasp and was no longer struggling.
"Agreed," Brawl said, not letting up his tight hold even though Red Alert had gone still. The Decepticon might have been young and inexperienced on the battlefield, but that did not mean that he was going to be taken advantage by one of the oldest tricks in the book. "Although, I think I can guess as to why Optimus Prime changed his name and agreed to an alliance with Megatron. Does it have anything to do with a certain code being found and erased?"
Wheeljack was surprised, and found himself nodding in reply. "You know about protocol 371?"
Brawl sighed, "Red Alert and I are from the colony Velocitron, and the war did not reach our planet for a three hundred years. We had heard whispers of Megatron's rebellion of course, Autobot propaganda being the only video feed that we received, but on the Speed Planet there were not many who were concerned with anything beyond our own planet. When the war finally reached us both Red Alert and I signed up for the Autobot cause, we had both heard whispered stories of the atrocities the Decepticons were committing throughout our sparklinghood and youngling stage, and we wanted to keep our planet from being defiled by them. Prime's forces turned our world into an Autobot base and everyone was 'encouraged' to enlist. I was injured in my first combat zone and took a lot of damage to my helm. When I onlined I found that some things were not processing right in my CPU. Red Alert was my attending medic and so I lied to him when I said everything was working fine, but as soon as I was discharged I found some tools and operated on myself."
"Idiot!" Red Alert thrashed, glaring up at Brawl. "Do you have any idea the damage you could have done to your processor?"
"Yes, I did, but things were scrambled and not being computed right. My internal sensors were recognizing that there was a foreign code in my system but at the same time I my diagnostics were telling me everything was fine. So, yes, I cut myself open and it hurt, a lot, but I found the code and erased it. After it was gone I realized that it had been the Autobots who had put it in me, back when I had through my evaluation after had enlisted. I immediately went back to the medical bay and found Red Alert, I tried to get him to listen to me but he kept insisting that I had suffered CPU damage and needed to be treated at once."
"Because you had!" Red Alert shouted. "Just listen to yourself. You were obviously experiencing ghost feelings, that's why your CPU was confused and operating on yourself has only messed everything up! But it may not be too late, brother, I may be able to save you. Just let me get you back to my ship where I have all my medical tools and I'll—"
Wheeljack had had enough, so he pushed one digit in between Red Alert's neck joints until he found the medic's stasis lock button. The red and white mech powered down and went 'boneless', as the humans say, and Brawl slowly released him. "Sorry about that," Wheeljack apologized, though he did not sound sorry at all. "But I'd heard enough. Ya got to hand it to the golden council; they really knew how to mess with someone's processor. I can guess that when Red Alert would not believe you he gave the alarm when you refused treatment, and you ran to join the Decepticons. Then Red Alert was most likely outfitted with more codes to ensure his continued loyalty and with strategy chips on what to do should you ever come near him again."
Brawl stood and looked down at his unconscious brother, "I can believe that. Considering how hostile he had been when we met, I suspected that the Autobots had changed him further but never had the opportunity to overpower him and get him help."
"Well now ya do. Do you have a ship?" When Brawl nodded, Wheeljack continued, "I'll give ya Earth's coordinates and ya can take your brother there. Ratchet and Knockout have erased the council's codes before, I bet they can take care of your brother without doing any damage. When ya get there, tell Megatron or Prime where you met me and let them know I'm passing the word like they asked."
"You're not coming with me?" Brawl asked.
"Nope. There's lots more of the galaxy to see and still plenty of Autobots and Decepticons who don't know that the war is over. Since I'm the only one from Earth with a working ship at the moment I'm kinda like an unofficial ambassador," Wheeljack's mouthpiece twisted into a sardonic smile, if Bulkhead could hear him now the green lug would be laughing his chin guard piece off.
Wheeljack helped Brawl secure Red Alert on the greenish gray mech's ship and then he turned to leave, pausing to look back. "Oh, did ya really operate in yourself?"
Brawl grinned, "No, I just said that to see how he would react. I found a Decepticon medic named Flatline amongst the newest batch of prisoners some an Autobot specialist team had brought in and I held him at gunpoint while he operated."
Wheeljack chuckled and both mechs raised a servo in farewell before Brawl disappeared up the ramp. The ship lifted off and the ex-Wrecker watched it depart, then he turned and surveyed the area around him. This was a new planet and he was not in any hurry to leave, since he had only seen a small part of it because of the fight he had stumbled across. There might be more Cybertronians around, though he doubted it. Still, it would not hurt to walk around a bit before climbing back on board his ship.
"I did good, Bulk, didn't I?"
Wheeljack did not get a response, and he had not been expecting one anyway. Despite that though he did feel better in his spark for the good deed had done, for Red Alert might have off-lined his brother since Brawl had been so reluctant to hurt his younger sibling. If Red Alert had ever found his way to Earth on his own and been scrubbed of the command codes, the young medic would have had to bear the weight of being his brother's murderer.
"You did good, Jackie."
AN: Next up will be Megatron and Bumblebee.
