Ratchet sighed as he rubbing the cleaning rag over his hands before tossing it to the side and exiting from behind the privacy curtain he had set up to be able to work in peace.
He gave Ironhide a nod when the mech looked up at him with a worried glance. Again, Ratchet sighed, folding his arms over his chest.
"The worst of the repair work is done. Chromia is stable, but it'll take a little time for her self-repair systems to full repair her, but other than that she's in good condition." Ratchet said, pausing for a moment before adding. "But there were some oddities."
"What kind of oddities?" Ironhide demanded, standing up quickly, ignoring Sideswipe when the twin had taken a step forward to try and keep him calm.
"Nothing serious, Ironhide. It would appear that someone had already done some repair work on her. Me and Mikeala found some welding marks and wiring jobs that were not done by her self-repair system. But it wasn't done by any human mechanic either."
"Do you think she did it to herself when she landed and realized she was injured?" Sunstreaker asked, genuinely interested in what happened to Chromia. After all, she had help him numerous times in pranks against Ironhide, as well as saved his aft on the field.
Ratchet shook his head as an answer, thinking for a moment. "It's not likely. The places we found the marks in where all spots that would be extremely hard for her to reach in even her most healthy state. These had to have been done by another Autobot."
"First Aid?" Asked Ironhide, seemingly more relaxed.
Ratchet shook his head again. "I'd recognize his work, it's almost identical to mine. No... all the weld marks have a left sided tilt to them, and the splicing in the wires are all to the left, not to the right." There was a pause as he let the information sink in. "This almost looks like Wheeljack's work."
"Wheeljack?" Ironhide echoed.
"Hey, look at that, something he worked on didn't blow up for once." Sunstreaker quipped, completely ignoring the glare from his twin and Ironhide.
"What makes you say 'almost'?" Ironhide asked, turning his attention back to the medic.
"Because, he doesn't have the same resources he would on the ship or in my med bay, so some of the stuff looks improvised. But I'd bet what's ever left of Sunstreaker's high grade that Wheeljack did these repairs."
"So then... where is our resident engineer?" Sideswipe wondered aloud. "And why hasn't he contacted us?"
"Well, it's possible that he was damaged in his landing as well, but more likely, he sensed Starscream's presence before he was hacked and has decided to lay low." Ratchet supplied.
"Makes you wonder who else is around without us knowing about it." Ironhide said, moving past Ratchet to go sit next to Chromia as she laid on Ratchet's repair table, still in stasis.
"So..." Bryan spoke for the first time since the Autobot's had started talking. "How would we spot Wheeljack if he's around here?"
"Well that is simple." Sideswipe answered with a grin. "Look for a hole in the ground." But just as soon as the grin was there, it faded. "Wait... wasn't Wheeljack part of Prowl's company when we all left Cybertron?"
Sunstreaker mirrored his twin's expression. "Yes, he was. So was Red Alert."
"Prowl? Red Alert?" Anna said, looking up from her sandwich. "How many of you guys are there?"
"Before the war?" Ratchet started. "Over one-hundred. Now? Who knows, our numbers seem to dwindle by the days. But with nearly no Decepticon activity in the past few months, maybe things will finally even themselves out."
"Hey, you're missing the point!" Sunstreaker half yelled, half cried out. "Prowl may be on the planet! Sides, we've gotta hide!"
Ratchet chuckled to himself when the twins transformed and sped out of the hanger. Noticing the look on just about every human's face he added. "Prowl was always the first one to dish out a punishment whenever the twins pulled a prank."
Collective "ahs" sounded in the room.
xxxxxx
"Any new reports, Jazz?" Optimus asked, seeing his second in command pacing about the main hanger.
"Ratchet sent me one half an hour ago. He says that they found Chromia there. She's hurt, but she'll be okay. But he added to his report that they have one person in custody."
Optimus quirked an brow, his silent version of a drawn out 'and'.
"Oh, and Ratchet says that there had already been some repairs done to Chromia before he started work on her. He says they look like Wheeljack's doing."
Optimus nodded, there it was, the reason Jazz had been pacing.
"And Optimus, you know that if Wheeljack is around then-"
"I know." Answer the Autobot leader, nodding at the silver mech. "I hope the others find them soon. It would be good to see Prowl, Red Alert, and Wheeljack again."
Jazz nodded, understanding the underlying tone in Optimus' voice. "How is Will doing?" He asked, noticing that the Army Commander hadn't returning with Optimus.
"Will is currently at his home looking through some things. I sent Mei and Bumblebee out to help him. They also took Maya with them as well, they will return later." Optimus took a look around him. "Have you seen Bryan's parents?"
Jazz nodded towards the hanger's door. "They asked me to bring them into town to do some looking around and shopping. I gave them my comm. number and told them to call me when they were ready to return here."
Optimus nodded. "That is good." There was a pause before Optimus added. "You need not worry yourself, Jazz. I am sure that Prowl is just fine."
"I hope so."
xxxxxx
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sat parked underneath a highway overpass, they had parked themselves there a little while ago and where now just talking amongst each other.
"So where do you think Prowl is Sunny? I mean, if Chromia is here, and she had work done on her by Wheeljack and Wheeljack was with Prowl when we left Cybertron, then where did Wheeljack and Prowl end up?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Bro." Sunstreaker said. "I've been search the internet for news articles that could be related to any of them, but nothing sticks out. That's probably Red Alert's work, he's probably worried about a Decepticon plot against them if they end up on the Internet."
That earned him a chuckle from Sideswipe. "Too true." There was a pause. "Does it feel weird to you too to have Barricade just hanging around?"
Sunstreaker rocked on his suspension. "It kind of does. But I mean... he doesn't seem like he used to on the battlefield."
Now it was Sideswipe's turn to rock on his suspension. "I know what you mean. Ever wonder if some of the Decepticons just ended up on the wrong side of things and only fought us because it was either us or them?"
"No." Came Sunstreaker's reply. "You and I both know that Prime was willing to take in anyone who defected. I'm willing to admit the fact that maybe, just maybe, Barricade wasn't as bad as some of the seekers were, but he was still a Decepticon, through and through."
"Think that the fact that his own brother was an Autobot deterred him one bit?"
There was a pause on Sunstreaker's end. "Maybe."
Sideswipe chuckled just as another vehicle pulled onto the street behind them.
Sunstreaker didn't scan the vehicle, but took a good look at it instead. It was a large black SUV, sporting a yellow stripe down each side and another yellow stripe on either side of the hood. It's most attention grabbing feature was the set of police lights mounted onto of the vehicle.
"Frag, Sides, human law enforcement has taken an interest in us." He sent his brother of the comm. link. He was now paying attention to the vehicle's driver, who was just sitting in the seat, grinning at the two exotic cars in front of him.
"Make a run for it, Sunny!" Sideswipe yelled over the comm., starting his engine and quickly speeding off. His brother was quick to follow, and it wasn't long until they heard the siren start up behind them as the vehicle started to chase.
xxxxxx
Anna nearly jumped when her cell phone suddenly shouted at her.
"We're being chased by the cops!"
Kasey looked over at her with a strange look. "That's a... interesting ring tone."
"And a new one." Anna answered, picking her cell phone off her belt, looking at it, seeing the words 'Connected: Sideswipe' on the screen. "Shit."
"Hey, can you hear me! We're being chased by the police! What should we do?"
Kasey grabbed the phone from Anna. "Bring them to the hanger, I've got an idea." She said, giving the phone back to Anna and turning to look at Bryan over her shoulder. "They're going to bring the cops here, we'll need to play the part of Military Police if we plan to make this work."
Bryan nodded to her, walking towards Ratchet's makeshift medbay. "Hey, Ironhide, we need your help with something." He then returning to the main area. "You too Barricade."
xxxxxx
The twins gave a sigh of relief when they made it to the air field and found that Ironhide and Barricade were sitting outside of the hangers in their vehicle forms, leaving enough space between them for the twins to get through and into the hanger. On either side of Ironhide and Barricade; Kasey, Anna, Maria, and Bryan had taken up positions, waiting for the twins to pass before they raised up their M4 rifles.
"Military Police! You do not have jurisdiction here! Turn around and head back!" Bryan yelled, his voice amplified by Barricade's loudspeaker.
The black police SUV came to a stop a few feet away from the blockade, the siren going silent with the lights still flashing. They kept close eyes on the cop sitting on the driver's seat, he was just staring back at them, a slight grin plastered across his face.
"Isn't it odd," Maria whispered to Bryan. "That a cop would chase them all the way here by himself and not once call for back up?"
"Very." He confirmed, raising his voice again for Barricade's PA to catch. "I repeat, turn back and do not proceed any further or we will use deadly force!"
The last thing he wanted to do was shoot at a cop. He prayed silently that he would just turn around and go back to HQ.
But that's when a new problem presented itself, pulling into the lot from the same gate the cop car had came in, was a white SUV sporting yellow security lights on top. This vehicle stopped next to the cop car, the driver had a paranoid look on his face like there were tons upon tons of other places he'd rather be.
Slowly, Bryan felt himself getting nervous. Just what was going on here?
And as if things were not odd enough, not a white HazMat Hummer truck had pulled in through the same gate and parked itself next to the police SUV, it's red lights flashing almost in sync with the cop car's.
"Final warning! Leave now or we will use deadly force!" Kasey called, giving a slight nod to Maria who nodding in return. She readjusted her grip on her rifle, steadying her aim by leaning slightly on Barricade's roof, she aimed at the grill of the police SUV, steadying her breathing as she waited for permission to take the shot.
Kasey herself was aiming at the lights on top of the security SUV, aiming from the middle where the spotlight was. While she knew Maria had no problem doing damage to property, she didn't want to do damage to the vehicle itself that couldn't be easily repaired since they would most likely be paying for it later.
Bryan gave them the nod.
Maria's bullet landed square center of the police SUV's radiator grill, the vehicle suddenly throwing into reverse and pulling back. Kasey's shot shattered the security spotlight on top of the security car, that vehicle also pulling back. The HazMat truck pulled into reverse as well, not wanting to take a shot too.
They thought they had won until suddenly, panels started shifting, gears whirled, and metal clanked as both SUVs and the HazMat truck started transforming.
"Ho-oh, shit." Kasey groaned, taking a few steps back from her cover behind Ironhide. "Robots? Ironhide, Barricade, your turn!"
Ironhide and Barricade did transform and draw weapons against the three other robots. There was a silence in the air before a single shot rang out. It had come from the chain gun attached to the police SUV turned walking robot. It had hit Ironhide in his knee joint.
The Weapons Specialist buckled slightly before striating up.
"Why you slag sucking son of a glitch! You know that knee joint hurts!" Ironhide yelled at the cop car, causing the four humans to look up at him in surprise.
"Aw, quite your whining 'Hide. It wasn't even a jacketed shot. You'll be fine." The police SUV retorted, lowering his weapon. The HazMat robot had done the same, but the security 'bot still had his weapon trained on Barricade.
"If anyone gets to complain," The police car continued. "It should be me! I'm the one leaking coolant here."
Maria groaned, slinging her rifle over her shoulder on it's strap. "I take it you all know each other?"
"Of course." Ironhide stated, looking down at them with a grin.
"And when were you going to tell us this?" Kasey asked, tapping her foot.
"What, and ruin all the fun?" Responded the Weapons Specialist.
"Sorry about shooting at you." Maria said, looking up at the cop robot.
"Eh, doesn't hurt too bad. I'll live." He then looked at the security robot. "Will you lower that weapon? Its obvious he's not hurting anyone!"
"He is still a Decepticon." Was the quick response.
"He isn't anymore. He's been helping us for some time." Bryan said quickly, taking a step away from Barricade just in case there was a sudden droid deathmatch.
There was a pause before the weapon was lowered. It was then that Kasey noticed the HazMat truck was studying them with extreme interest.
"Anyone else think a proper introduction is in order?" Anna said, poking Ironhide's foot. The black mech looked down at her before shrugging.
"This is Wheeljack, Prowl, and Red Alert."
xxxxxx
A/N: Check my profile for links to pictures of the vehicles I used for Wheeljack, Prowl, and Red Alert's new forms.