By the time Wheeljack had made it to the cells, most of the mangled bodies had been scraped off the floor and put into body bags. Their armor and metal would be melted down to make new protoforms. A scarce commodity in a never-ending war.

Wheeljack shook his helm vigorously. He couldn't think of that now.

All that he could think about was the fact that Jetstorm was off-base, in the servos of his twin.

"'Jack," Jazz slowly approached the broken mech. Wheeljack didn't seem to hear him.

"Wheeljack," the ninja-bot replied.

"I should have gone with him," Wheeljack whispered.

"Mech, you couldn't have known-"

"You told me yourself after you interviewed Jetfire. The mech is unpredictable," Wheeljack retorted pointedly. "And judging from what I saw from those bodies-"

"Hey, hey!" Jazz gripped the mech's shoulders. "Wheeljack, you can't think like that, ok? Jetstorm's resourceful."

"Yeah, yeah, but he's only had basic training and a few deca-cycles of field experience!" Wheeljack slapped the other mech's servos off his shoulders. "I know you, Sentinel, Optimus and various others did their best to prepare him for situations like this, but this is just-"

"Nuts?" Jazz interjected. He tilted his helm to the side, a frown on his face-plates.

"Insane? Unpredictable? I can go on if you like mech-"

"No!" Wheeljack sighed. He shook his helm as his helm fins slowly flickered with gray lights.

"I . . . I know you said I shouldn't think like this, but I went off on him before he went to see the transfer . . . I don't want the last thing he hears from me is that I was angry with him." The scientist's shoulders slumped.

Jazz placed a reassuring servo on Wheeljack's shoulder. "When he gets back, talk to him," Jazz suggested.

"Yeah, yeah," Wheeljack sighed


Later . . .

Jazz offered to take Wheeljack out to get some energon. However, the mech had gently turned down the Cyber-Ninja's offer.

In the darkened room, the Autobot engineer was cocooned in a number of blankets. He tossed and turned; his helm fins flashed a trill of colors. Multiple exhalations escaped his frame.

O*O*O

Outside his room, the hallway was mostly clear, albeit a shadow that slowly moved in the hallways, scarcely avoiding guards. The silhouette waited for a guard to pass by before it crept toward the door. It looked left and right before it reached for the door with a raised fist. After it knocked several times, it left something behind before it escaped through a hall.

O*O*O

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK.

Wheeljack groaned quietly. The mech rolled over to his other side, curling up more.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

For Primus's sake, he was trying to get some decent recharge!

The engineer blinked blearily, rubbing his optics. He glanced over to the chronometer on his nightstand.

Who in their not-so bright processor thought it apt to wake a mech at such an ungodly hour?!

Wheeljack exhaled and forced himself to sit up. Once he got his bearings, he shuffled over to the door. He opened it a crack, but no one was there.

"H-hello?" Wheeljack opened the door wider. He stepped out into the hallway and looked around.

No one was there at all.

As Wheeljack took a step, his pedes knocked into something. He jumped several feet into the air; an undignified squeak quickly made itself out of himself.

When he looked down, the data pad's screen had lit up. Once the mech read the line, he picked it up. It beeped once before the screen changed.

There was a set of coordinates, and an arrow that pointed the way.

With his processor made up, Wheeljack shut his door and left the safety of Fortress Maximus.


A/N: It's been a long time. I thought I'd give this story a little chapter while I dust off all my plot lines and other drafts for this. ^^