"Why do I even play these games? I loose every time!" I throw the controller onto the couch and crossed my arms like a child. Bumblebee beeps out a laugh. "Why not a game of...who can make the biggest dent on the floor?" I re-think that, seeing Bumblebee's figure and my puny one, "Never mind, I wont win at that either," I let out a sigh. Bumblebee beeps as he points towards Ratchet, who was standing in front of the computer. Which, was receiving some ball. I followed Bumblebee to see what was going on along with the rest of the Autobots and humans.

"Optimus, I'm getting a signal on a restricted band. It seems to be coming from a star ship inside the solar system," Ratchet says. "That's never happened before..." I made a questioning look. Ratchet types into the computer, finding what was causing the signal. "It's an Autobot identification signal," He says, surprised. "So, they're other Autobots out there?" Jack asked.

"A mass was scattered to galaxies when Cybertron went dark. But, 'Cons have been known to set traps by using false beacons," Arcee answered.

"Unknown vessel, this is Autobot outpost: Omega 1. Identify yourself," Optimus calls out. The computer statics, then a voice replies, "I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon combat,"

"Oh slag..." I breathed out, narrowing my optics in disbelief. "Wheeljack!" Bulkhead says in surprise, "You old 'Con crusher, what're you doing all the way out here!"

"Bulkhead? That's you? What's with all the security?" Wheeljack's voice asked. "The rock we're on is crawling with 'Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?" Bulkhead asked. "Sometime tomorrow, if I put petal to the petal," Wheeljack replies in a show off way. "Another Bot's coming here, how cool is that?" Miko says in excitement. "Would be a lot more cool if it wasn't him," I scowled. "What's with you all of a sudden?" Jack asked. "Let's just say Wheeljack and Ariona haven't really been on the best of terms," Bulkhead answered.

"Wheeljack, I only known him by reputation. Can you verify his voice print?" Optimus asked Bulkhead. "He is one thousand percent the real deal, Optimus," Bulkhead replied. "We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack," Optimus says to the Autobot, "Safe journey,"

"See you soon, buddy, I'll make sure you get a proper welcome" Bulkhead smiled. The connection was then switched off. "So, who's the boyfriend," Arcee asked. I stifle a laugh. "Me and Jackie go way back. We were part of the same war unit: The Wreckers. Which means the 'Cons are going to wish he never made contact with us," Bulkhead smirked. I continued to stand stiff with my arms crossed in concern.

"Ariona, can't you at least show Wheeljack a decent welcome?" Bulkhead asked, knowing well about how Wheeljack and I never really got along well on Cybertron. "Pfft, that show off?" I raised an optic ridge. Bulkhead makes a face at me. I groaned, "Fine..."

:

"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone," Arcee states. Miko gasps in excitement. "You think he's here to visit?" Raf asked. "Maybe he'll stay! He'll have to find his own human though," Miko says after thinking. "Hopefully he has more important stuff to do..." I mumbled. Ratchet puts in the location to pick up Wheeljack on the ground bridge, "Ground bridge is cycling," The lever goes on a frizz again. Ratchet slams his fist to make it work, "Blasted Scraplets! The equipment hasn't been the same ever sense,"

"So, Wheeljack's going to land half way around the world, and we're going to pick him up using the ground bridge?" Jack asked, confused on how that works. "We can't risk giving the location of our base, just in case the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship," Optimus answers Jack's confusion. I made a face at Bulkhead, who was still pacing back and forth. "Can't you chill? You're going to give me a processor malfunction," I say.

"I've never seen you so stoked," Miko chuckles at Bulkhead. "You bet! You're going to love Wheeljack. We were like brothers! Tonight, we're going to party!" Bulkhead fist pumps the air. "Sweet!" Miko cheers. I rolled my optics, sighing. I snapped my head towards the computer screen, seeing red dots close to Wheeljack's ship, which meant that Decepticons were behind him.

"Bogies," Arcee narrowed her optics, "And they're moving fast towards Wheeljack's position,"

"'Con scum!" Bulkhead shouts. "We'll go help him," Arcee says, walking towards the entrance to the bridge opening with Bulkhead and Bumblebee. "Hurry, Ratchet, we're missing all the action!" Bulkhead says. Ratchet activates the ground bridge to the location, "I'll prepare to bring you all back in,"

Bulkhead chuckles, "This is Wheeljack we're talking about," He runs into the bridge with Arcee and Bumblebee following behind. Within minutes, all three of the Autobots returned with Wheeljack. "That was fast..." I commented while raising an optic ridge. The ground bridge was deactivated behind them. "Hey, Jackie, I want you to meet my other best buddy, Miko. She could wreck with the best of us," Bulkhead smiled at Wheeljack, acting as if there were no Decepticons giving us a trouble at all.

"Hiya," Miko waves at Wheeljack. The white Autobot walks up to her, bending down a bit to look at her better, "You keeping Bulkhead out of trouble?" He asked with a smirk. "I try, but trouble finds us anyway," Miko shakes her head. "We're gonna get along just fine," Wheeljack said to Bulkhead. His optics set on me once I was in view, giving him a look while having my arms crossed. "Ariona, it's been a while. Still looking fine as ever, I see," Wheeljack smirks at me. "Yeah, right," I narrow my optics more, not impressed.

Wheeljack lets out a chuckle and turns around to see Optimus walking up to him. "Optimus Prime. It's a privilege,"

"Likewise, soldier. What have you to report from your journey?" Optimus asked. "Been bouncing from rock to rock, searching for signs of friend or foe," Wheeljack replied in his laid-back way, "Now, I find both.

"We are few, but strong. We have suffered loses, but, we have grown," Optimus says, glancing at the humans, "And we would welcome a new member into our fold,"

"I would be honored," Wheeljack says. "Then, let's get this party started!" Bulkhead cheers, slamming his hand onto the unexpected Wheeljack's back. I let out a long groan.

:

I sat on the ground, looking as if my life was ruined. I watched the metal ball being tossed back and forth across the room by Bulkhead and Wheeljack, following with the loud metal music Miko was making with her electric guitar. I face palmed myself and let out a groan. "So, what's that about?" Jack asked Arcee. "It's called "lobbing", favorite pass time on Cybertron. Especially among the warrior class," Arcee answered. "C'mon you guys, show some moves!" Miko says to Jack and I. "Oh, okay then," Raf starts to do a dance called the robot. Bumblebee examines Raf's moves and starts to do the robot along with him. Seeing this, caused me to giggle a bit.

"Get up, lazy metal!" Miko smiles at me. "Uh, maybe some other time," I recover from my giggle fest. "Where's Optimus," Jack asked, looking around the room. "Went for a drive," Arcee replied, then seeing Jack's questioning look, "Primes don't party," "Kind of wished that I've gone with him," I sighed. "I thought you were a party bot, Ariona," Miko said. "Well, I am, but with him around, it ruins my mood," I tilt my head over to Wheeljack.

"What's the deal between you guys anyway? You're usually-always in a cheerful mood," Jack says with a confused look. I let out a sigh, "It's not that I hate Wheeljack, I can never hate. It's when he's showing off that bugs me a lot," I answer, "Especially when he rubs it in,"

The metal ball Bulkhead and Wheeljack were throwing around wounds up smashing the ground bridge controls. "You know, I'm trying to do some fixing here!" Ratchet yells in annoyance. "Sorry doc, guess we were a little, charged up," Wheeljack says. "Well, maybe you should learn how to catch," I say. "Ariona, you're taking your grudge a bit too far," Bulkhead said. "So?" I crossed my arms. "It's alright Bulk. I know how she gets around me," Wheeljack smirks as he winks at me. Instead of reacting with a scoff, I blinked and made a questioning look. That's never happened before...

"Hey, do you guys want to listen to one of the stories about Wheeljack and I?" Bulkhead asked everyone, directing mostly to the humans. "Of course!" Miko grinned, leaning her guitar against the stereo. "...Might as well," I sighed and and made myself comfortable.

:

"So there we were, no communications, low on Energon, surrounded by 'Cons, so what does Wheeljack do?" Bulkhead turns to the kids, who were excited to hear rest. Bulkhead let's out a heartily laugh, "Tell them, Jackie!" Everyone's attention was now on Wheeljack. "...Well, what I do best," Wheeljack says with a smile. Bulkhead laughs some more, "He chucks his only grenade smack into the primary heat exchanger!"

"Yeah, seemed like a good idea at the time," Wheeljack said. "The joint went super nova!" Bulkhead raises his arms for dramatic effect. "Awesome," Miko said with an excited expression. "Yeah, I'm still picking shrapnel out of my backside," Bulkhead smiled. "I'm not surprised, giving the size of your back side," Arcee remarks. Bumblebee beeps out in laughter.

"I guess it was a good story," I smiled a bit. Bulkhead smiles at me. "There it is, Jackie's signiture: One grenade, One shot," Bulkhead looks over at Wheeljack, "Hey, you alright?" "What?" Wheeljack blinks his optics. "You don't seem like yourself," Bulkhead said. "I'll say," I mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack asked as he stood up. "I don't know, you seem...quiet," Bulkhead answered. Isn't that a good thing?

"Aw, I've been stuck in a can too long," Wheeljack says, "I should go topside before it gets stir-crazy," "I have patrol in the morning, you can come along," Bulkhead offers. "Let's go now," Wheeljack suggests.

"And break up the party? Come on, the gang's loving you!" Bulkhead says, "You got to tell them about the battle on Dark Mount Pass," "You tell them. You're better at it," Wheeljack said. He turns around and looks at me, "How about Ariona touring me the rest of your base?"

"What?" I clicked, surprised. "Oh yeah, sure. You guys can catch up," Bulkhead said, stuttering a bit. "Catch up? On what? Trying to beat each other up into scraps?" I asked as I stood up from the floor, "I don't think so,"

"Come on, it wont be that bad," Arcee said. I looked at her, then at the smirking Wheeljack. I let out a sigh, "Fine," I walk towards the other rooms, punching Wheeljack in the chest as I went, "Come on, I want to get this over with," Wheeljack stifles a chuckle and followed behind.

:

"There's the Energon storage, power generator, armory, no idea we had that, that's really it for the tour," I said with an emotionless voice. I halt in place twirled around, almost causing Wheeljack to bump into me, "Satisfied? Also, I do appreciate some space. I've told you a lot of times about my bubble," I crossed my arms with an unamused look. "Yeah, sorry..." Wheeljack takes a step back, "Do you...know the location of this bunker..?"

"Well, if you really want to know, somewhere near a small town, Jasper, Nevada...not really important to you, anyway," I turned around again and start to walk, but a little slower than my normal pace. "Can't say it does..." Wheeljack says from behind, "So, is there any way out besides bridging?"

"How come? You feel like leaving...? That's really not a bad idea..." I chuckled a bit while turning around again, finding Wheeljack still too close behind. "Seriously.." I took two steps back. Wheeljack remained silent. "Well, if it really makes you feel any better, I'll show you," I shrugged as I walked around Wheeljack to lead him towards the exit. "At least I don't have to deal with you anymore...come to think of it," I turn around to face him again, "You haven't really gotten on my circuits than you normally do... Care to tell me why?"

"What do you mean?" Wheeljack asked. "Well, first off, 'you' would usually punch my shoulder or my back to "cheer me up". Plus, you're usually not as friendly with me- Wait, why am I remainding you of this?" I realized what I was saying.

"Look, Ariona, I've been thinking over the years, and I thought that we've gone off to a bad start. So, why don't we just have a fresh start. How about it?" Wheeljack asked with a smirk as he walks up to me. "Don't know...but one thing I do know, is that you're a lot more different from before," I said. Wheeljack leans his face towards mine, "Is that so..?"

"It is so..." I narrowed my optics, remaining in place. There was a long silence between us as we stared at each other. I then clapped, causing Wheeljack to blink, "Well, I say that we get back to the group!" I said with a wide smile. I turned around and start to walk again. Because I've got my job done...

:

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Wheeljack asked as we both walked into the room everyone else was in. "I was just telling the guys all about you and me. About the battle at Dark Mount Pass," Bulkhead replied, his voice strange. "That's uh, heck of a story," Wheeljack says. "Yep," Bulkhead's optics start to glare at Wheeljack. "Tell it,"

"All we've done is talk, how about after we go off roding?" Miko asked. "Miko, stay out of this!" Bulkhead shouts. I blinked at him. Has he realized a bit, too?

"Bulkhead, easy," Arcee says, trying to calm the Autobot down. "I'm not sure I-" "Tell it!" Bulkhead interrupts Wheeljack. There was a short pause.

"Fine, you wanna live in the past, Bulkhead...? The Wreckers were trapped between a Decepticon patrol and a smelting pit. The 'Cons were vicious, baring down on us with everything they had. Me and Bulkhead engaged the enemy, left 'em for scrap. Then, i made us a way out, using their back sides as stepping stones across the pit...ain't that how it happened?" Wheeljack asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, that's exactly how it happened..." Bulkhead still glaring, "Except for one little thing..." Wheeljack blinks.

"I wasn't there," Bulkhead narrowed his optics. Everyone looked at Bulkhead and Wheeljack in surprise. I looked at Wheeljack, seeing him scowling. "I've already left the Wreckers to join Optimus," Bulkhead points at "Wheeljack", "But you wouldn't know that if all you did was access Wheeljack's public service record,"

I let out a small chuckle as I smirked, "Now to finally beat him to a scrap-Ah!"

An arm stretched out to me and wraps around my body. "Wheeljack" easily pulls me along with him as he shoves through the Autobots to get towards the ground bridge controls.

"Ariona!"

"Stay back, or the trash gets slagged," "Wheeljack" says menacingly, tightening is grip on me. I widen my optics in shock, feeling sore pain coming from my stomach area, the scar. Everyone stood their ground, keeping their eyes and optics on "Wheeljack". He turns around to glare at Ratchet to stay put. I whimpered slightly as I tried to free my arms from the grasp, trying to bare my blades as well. But, the grip restrained the opening. I couldn't blast my way out either without the use of my blades.

"Ugh! [Let go of me!]" I hissed. "Decepticon coward! Let her go and face me!" Bulkhead shouts. "Don't fret. Plenty of fighting to come," "Wheeljack" says, his voice now different and scratchy. I growled and struggle some more. "Is there a real Wheeljack!" Jack asked.

"Oh indeed. And I expect Lord Starscream is making sport of him," "Wheeljack replied. "L-*bzzt* Lord...?" I couldn't help but let out a weak laugh. The grip tightens on me and I scrunch up my face, squeezing one optic shut. I hear coordinates being put into the ground bridge controls and the sound of the lever being pulled down. "About time," "Wheeljack" hisses. I look over my shoulder, seeing the ground bridge being activated.

I gasped as I was pulled back along with "Wheeljack" as he walked backwards in front of the bridge opening in caution. "Let's get this party started," "Wheeljack" says in amusement. "Ah-! [Slag it!]" I struggled more to get out of the grasp.

Suddenly, something kicks the back of "Wheeljack's" back, causing him to fall forward and loosing my grip. Tumbling, I quickly rolled forward and got back onto my feet. I quickly turn around, curious to see what happened. I blinked with a click, seeing another Wheeljack, the real one. "I'd shut that bridge before the stink comes through," He says. Doing as said, Ratchet quickly closes the gate.

The two Wheeljacks look at each other, unsheathing their swords from their backs. Bulkhead grabs my shoulder and pulls me farther away from the Bot and 'Con. Then, they start to fight. "Uh, which one is the real one?" Raf asked, fixing his glasses. "Uh...I lost track," Miko said. After a few swings, one Wheeljack grab's the others sword out of his hand and strikes him down at the chance. The defeated Wheeljack fell back, defeated. "That's my Jackie," Bulkhead smiled. I guess the real one was the victor.

Wheeljack sheaths his swords and turns to face Ratchet, "You, flip the switch. Time to take out the trash,"

Bulkhead walks next to him. "All yours, buddy," Wheeljack says to him. Bulkhead gladly takes the fake and throws him into the bridge opening, sending the 'Con away for good. Along with a present. "Nice 'lob'," Wheeljack comments on Bulkhead's throw. The bridge was closed, causing me to let out a sigh. "Glad that's over," Jack sighs as well. "You know what I think should finish this awesome day?" Miko asked with a suspicious look. I clicked as I tilt my head at her, bearing a questionable look.

"Finishing the party!" Miko makes a rock sign as she grabs her guitar and starts jamming out. I let out a nervous laugh and slip out the group of humans, a dancing Bumblebee and a calm Arcee. "Phew," I breathed out as I leaned on the platform's railing. "Ariona, how are you holding up?" Bulkhead asked, walking up to me with Wheeljack by his side.

"Still a bit shaken up, but no wounds," I lift up part of my mouth to form half a smile. I looked at Wheeljack, "...Thanks to him," "It's not like I did that to save your skidplate," Wheeljack raises and optic ridge at me. My half smile disappeared, replace by narrowed optics. Wheeljack lets out a laugh and come over to pat my back roughly, "Just playing. Glad to see that you're the same Grey-'Bot I know,"

"R-right," I slightly laugh along. I looked up to see Optimus returning inside the base. "Welcome back," I said with a nervous smile. Optimus greets with a nod, glancing over at the party group at the other side of the room. "It's like I'm re-living a nightmare," Ratchet sighs in dread. "You're going to have to get use to it, I guess," I shrug a bit with a smile. "So, now that you're apart of team Prime, we've got to get a vehicle mode for you. I have some ideas," Bulkhead elbows Wheeljack.

"Actually, about that. Now that my ship's repaired, I'm itching to know what else I might find out there," Wheeljack replied. I tilt my head to the side. "Wait, you're leaving?" Miko asked, running up to us, "Why?" Wheeljack doesn't reply. I quickly read his expression, seeing a bit of disappointment in it, "Huh?"

"Well," Wheeljack snaps his attention back at Bulkhead, "Because some Bots never change..." Bulkhead chuckles a bit. Wheeljack forms a small smile. "Wheeljack, know that you are always welcome here," Optimus says. Wheeljack nods a bit. "Jackie never stays," Bulkhead slaps his buddy's back, "But, he always comes back," I let out a slight giggle while smiling widely.

:

The ground bridge closes behind us, reaching the destination of where Wheeljack's ship was at to say good bye. "There's room for two," Wheeljack offers Bulkhead, "Even with a back side like yours. Who knows what we'll find out there. Some of the old crew,"

Bulkhead thought, looking back at our group, Arcee, Bumblebee, the three humans and I. "Sounds like but, but," Bulkhead faces Wheelack, "My ties are here now. With them. With her," Bulkhead smiles at Miko. Wheeljack nods, and looks at Miko, "If anything happens to my favorite Wrecker, I'm coming after you," Wheeljack teases. "I'll take care of him. Now, say 'cheese'," Miko takes out her phone and snaps a picture of Bulkhead and Wheeljack.

After putting her phone away, I walk up to Bulkhead and Wheeljack. "Have a good trip, Wheeljack. You can come back and visit in, oh, I don't know, a couple of decades?" I joke with a smirk. "Sure thing," Wheeljack laughs, playing along. He reaches his hand out to me and I prepare for a fist to my forehead. Instead, I got a pat on the head, not rough at all. I blinked at him in surprise. Wheeljack laughs at my expression and takes his hand off my head. "Take care, Ariona,"

:

"See, I told you it would be better to lighten up to Jackie instead of picking fights with him all of the time," Bulkhead smiled at me once we've got back to base.

"Yeah, you're right," I smiled, "We just got off at a bad start, I guess,"

: