32- Loose Cannons.
It was a peaceful night in the Autobot base, until someone very mad called.
"Optimus! What in the galaxy are your people doing out here?! We had an agreement: no collateral damage."
"I am sorry, master Skywalker, but all Autobots are present and accounted for." Optimus answered, showing everyone with him.
"Then explain why we're receiving reports of two giant droids brawling 20 miles from the fueling station of Orondia."
"Decepticons?" Ratchet suggested.
"That makes more sense: there has been plenty of infighting lately." Cliffjumper deduced.
"Megatron can't seem to keep his ranks in line." Arcee added.
"Well, we are just arriving to the scene. Have a look." Anakin said before showing them a visual.
On the screen appeared a cybertronian ship crash-landed, and a big blue with yellow details big robot next to it holding a big gun with both hands.
"I don't know. Paint job aside, it can't be Skyquake. You and Optimus pounded him into the ground." Bulkhead said to Bumblebee.
"Before Starscream yanked him back out as some kind of undead Terrorcon." Cliff added.
"The question still stands: who's the dance partner?" Arcee asked.
The camera rotated to a familiar landed ship and zoomed until it spotted a very familiar figure.
"By the Allspark, it is one of ours." Ratchet recognized.
"Wheeljack. Haha, Jackie is back!" Bulkhead cheered as he hit the others in the back with joy, causing them to almost fall over.
"Whoa, take it easy, wrecking ball." Cliff asked.
"I don't care it is someone really important. We have to contain this situation before this gets caught by at least one reporter." Anakin declared.
Orondia
On the crash site, Wheeljack peered behind his ship before the new Decepticon fired a huge laser shot. Next, he came out and fired him back.
"You got nowhere let to run, Con!"
The Decepticon continued firing until he was forced to fall back since Wheeljack advanced at him, still firing.
"This is master Anakin Skywalker, from…"
Instantly, Wheeljack fired at where the new voice came, but he almost hit the Twilight: Anakin's ship. Fortunately, he dodged.
"Whoa. Stand down, hothead, we're on your side!"
"I guess that Bot has never encounter Republic allies before." Rex deduced.
The Decepticon saw Wheeljack distracted and took the chance to fire at him. Wheeljack jumped and dodged the first shot, but the second one hit him on the shoulder. Fortunately, the Twilight fired all its cannons at him, forcing him to cover. In that moment, Wheeljack saw a ground bridge portal appearing a few meters from him.
"I had a feeling the gang might show."
And he was right: Team Prime came out from the portal with guns ready. Immediately, the team divided: Arcee, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper went after the Decepticon as Bulkhead and Optimus went with Wheeljack. The Decepticon tried to shot Bulkhead and Optimus, but he missed them and Bulkhead fired back, forcing him to cover and allowing them to reach their friend.
"Jackie!" Bulkhead said helping him.
The three Autobots fired at the Decepticon, forcing him to keep his weapon and put some distance between him and them. In that moment, he spotted next to him a ship hidden under a cloth: the same vehicle form that Skyquake scanned: a Sabaoth Defender.
"That will do." He said before launching two beams of light from his eyes and scanned the ship as his new alt form.
The Twilight saw that.
"Sir, what's that?"
"I don't know, Rex. But I have a bad feeling about this." Anakin answered.
Once the scan was done, the Decepticon started to run away.
"Oh no, you don't!"
"Wheeljack!" Optimus called.
"Jackie, no!" Bulk added.
But too late: Wheeljack already fired his guns at the Decepticon, but missed and instead hit a fuel station, which started to explode. The explosion was so big that the Autobots had to cover their eyes. From the smoke, a Sabaoth Defender, but with the same colors as the Decepticon, appeared and took flight, leaving the planet. Wheeljack continued firing at him, but it was no use.
"Dreadwing rigged the place to blow." Wheeljack snarled stopping firing.
"Dreadwing?" Bulkhead repeated.
"Actually, that was your handiwork, Sparky." Arcee corrected.
"That was a fuel station, kind of like an energon depot. Doesn't mix well with blaster fire." Cliffjumper explained.
"Huh. Well our Con's getting away." Wheeljack said as he was about to go after Dreadwing, but Optimus stopped him.
"Wheeljack, there are other considerations. While upon this galaxy, you would do well to follow my lead."
Time later, everyone was back at base, including Wheeljack, who was letting Ratchet fix the injure he received on his shoulder.
"Ow! Take it easy, doc. I need that arm."
"Hold still and maybe you'll keep it." Ratchet retorted as he continued his job.
"Look commander, apologies for the fireworks, won't happen again. But I tracked Dreadwing across a hundred light-years of exogalactic space."
"We thought you were roaming other galaxies. You know, looking for Autobot refugees." Cliff reminded.
"I was. Until I found one: a Wrecker."
"Who?" Bulkhead asked excited.
"Impactor."
"Ha! How is our old buddy?" Bulkhead asked happy.
"Not so good, Bulk. Blown to bits actually." Wheeljack answered, making Bulkhead's expression to change from happy to a shocked one.
"What? No."
"Dreadwing." Optimus realized.
"My flyer, the Jackhammer, picked up Impactor's signal a couple of light years from a newborn star. We made contact and arranged a rendezvous in an asteroid field. But Dreadwing must have intercepted the transmission, cause he got to Impactor first. Proximity bomb, supposed to take us both out. Guess I should be glad the Jackhammer can take a punch. I picked up Dreadwing's ion trail and tracked to a dozen solar systems before catching up with him."
In his memories, Wheeljack's ship located a ship similar to him, another Wrecker starfighter, but it exploded before he could reach it. Next, he followed a Decepticon ship, Dreadwing's, and managed to damage it with his ship's laser cannons, making it to fall to Orondia.
"And he led me right back to this galaxy. Some coincidence, huh?"
"I know of this Dreadwing: he was captain of the Seeker armada, and as such, like his twin Skyquake, fiercely loyal to the Decepticon cause. Dreadwing has no doubt traveled to the galaxy to pay allegiance to his one true master." Optimus told.
"Hope he's enjoying the visit, it's gonna be his last."
"Wheeljack, this galaxy is heavily inhabited. Any strike we make against the Decepticons must be carefully measured, as a team. Lest we risk endangering the native population."
"Are you suggesting we sit back and do nothing?"
"You, loose cannon!" Anakin called out as he walked at the new Autobot. "Your cowboy antics almost blew our cover."
"Cover?"
"We're robots in disguise, Jackie. You need a native-based vehicle mode outside of here." Bulkhead explained.
"And that spaceship you shot down is not from any technology anyone could find here. We have to call a lot of gunships to get it haul out of the sight." Rex added.
"You need to keep a tighter leash on your people, Optimus." Anakin concluded.
"A tighter leash? Let me clarify, tiny." Wheeljack said annoyed as he walked toward Anakin.
"Jackie." Bulkhead warned.
"I'm not one of Optimus Prime's people." Wheeljack corrected to the Jedi, face-to-face before leaving.
"I'll talk to him. Uh, with your permission." Bulkhead said to Optimus.
"Of course."
And Bulkhead went after his fellow Wrecker.
"So, the new guy has a little problem with authority." Rex observed.
"Wheeljack and Bulkhead served together in the Wreckers: a combat unit that operated outside the normal chain of command." Optimus explained.
"Hum, black ops." Anakin deduced.
"They accepted missions no one else would, and many of them did not come back."
Meanwhile, Dreadwing stood at top of an asteroid in middle of space as he held a device that sent a beam of light to the space. It was a beacon, and it worked, because moments later the Nemesis appeared near to him. He changed to vehicle form and flew to the ship. Moments later, he was on the ship's bridge, bowing before his leader.
"Lord Megatron, I live to serve."
"Rise, Dreadwing. Loyalty such as yours is a rare commodity."
"Mine runs deep and true. Yet, it is not loyalty alone that brought me here."
"Oh?"
"I seek confirmation of the demise of one whom I considered a brother."
"How did you learn of his passing?"
"My twin and I share a split spark. A metal but two halves of the same lifeforce. Even across the universe I sensed when he emerged from stasis on this galaxy. And when his spark was no more."
Megatron looked at Soundwave, who showed on his screen images of the raid the Autobots had with Skyquake, with some images of Starscream.
"It is true. Skyquake perished at the hands of the Autobots, though not in fact under my watch."
"Then by the pit, every last Autobot on this accursed galaxy will pay."
"The Autobots will be punished for their crime, and many others. How and when I see fit."
"But master…"
"Conflicting agendas will only result in chaos and failure. You'll be wise to remember that, Dreadwing. You are under my command now, and as such you must follow my lead."
Moments later, inside a small cave on the base's top, where Wheeljack's ship was parked, Bulkhead was having a conversation with Wheeljack.
"Jackie, look, even if it weren't for the natives we couldn't take on the Cons right now. We're outnumbered."
"Roadbuster, Pyro, Rotorstorm, Impactor, all dust."
"That's what I'm talking about: Wreckers are Autobots. There just aren't that many of us left, but if we get behind Optimus, we have a chance to end this, once and for all."
"Guys like Optimus, they talk a good game, but when you're in the scrap they don't want to get their hands dirty."
"Whoa whoa whoa, you don't know Optimus like I do. Being a Wrecker meant everything to me, but I left that behind."
"Because Prime was the real thing, blah blah blah."
Then, a beeping sound came from inside the ship, from the main terminal.
"Wheeljack, I know you're out there, listening. I have a proposition for you."
"Is that…?" Bulkhead started.
"Dreadwing." Wheeljack confirmed.
"Meet me at these coordinates, if you have the spark."
"I'll see you there, Con. Just to watch you fry." Wheeljack answered before the com-link turned off and his ship received the coordinates.
"Jackie, it's a trap." Bulk warned.
"I know, but when does that ever stop me?" He said as he prepared the ship for take-off. "You're coming with?"
Bulkhead was not so sure, but even so he sat on the copilot seat. "At least let me call for backup."
"You know Wreckers don't call for backup."
"They call for cleanup!" They both proclaimed in union as they hi-five each other.
And the ship took off and left the base, and the planet.
Corulag
Dreadwing was waiting in a clearing of a forest, until he turned around when Wheeljack appeared.
"I wasn't certain you'd come." Dreadwing admitted.
"I don't like unfinished business." Wheeljack answered.
Both opponents got ready as they looked each other, waiting for the first move. Until Dreadwing threw a proximity bomb at Wheeljack, who did the same with one grenade. Both explosives hit each other, making a huge explosion between the robots. While Dreadwing covered himself from the explosion, Wheeljack took advantage and ran toward him through the smoke, with his swords at hand. He jumped above Dreadwing with a battle cry and tried to strike him with his swords, but the Seeker dodged and simply ran away. Wheeljack activated his battle mask and went after him. Dreadwing jumped into a trench with Wheeljack following him close. But that was what he wanted, because he pulled out a detonator and pressed a button, activating a proximity bomb near to Wheeljack that exploded, but the Autobot dodged it with a jump.
That all you got?" Wheeljack teased.
Another bomb exploded, but Wheeljack dodged it too. Finally, Dreadwing ended in a dead end, with Wheeljack approaching from behind.
"If you're thinking about flying out of here…" Wheeljack started.
"Think again." Bulkhead answered, appearing suddenly above them with guns ready.
Dreadwing seemed trapped, but instead he smirked. Then Wheeljack spotted another bomb, placed right beneath where Bulkhead was standing.
"Bulkhead!"
The bomb exploded, making the rocks collapse, and making Bulkhead fall in, while the rocks buried Wheeljack completely. The only thing that exited was Dreadwing in vehicle form, who transformed and landed at top of the rubble. Fortunately, Bulkhead's absence was detected in the base.
"Bulkhead's signal, right on another planet: on Corulag. And I would have to imagine that Wheeljack is with him." Ratchet saw.
"Have you attempted contact?" Optimus asked.
"No response."
Optimus started to see what that could mean. Time later, some rocks from the rubble started to move: it was Wheeljack, starting to make his way out. Then, someone else was helping him removing the rocks above him.
"What took you so long, Bulk? Don't tell me riding with Prime has made you…" Wheeljack said, until he saw that was Optimus who was helping him. "Soft?"
Optimus offered him his hand, which he took and allowed Prime to pull him out of the rubble.
"If you will not take orders from me that is one thing. But when you place one of my Autobots in danger…"
"With all due respect, sir, Bulkhead knew the risks. Every Wrecker does. Now I'm sure he's just somewhere in this rubble."
"Optimus, Bulkhead's signal has moved from your current position. The good news is that he's still on the planet." Ratchet reported through the com-link.
Wheeljack also heard that, because he headed for his ship. "You're coming with?"
Wheeljack set course for the position Ratchet located Bulkhead with his ship. For Optimus, the trip was not pleasant, because the space was not exactly proper for a robot for his size, he was a little squishy.
"You and Bulkhead share quite a history, and yet you prefer to work alone."
"The Wreckers scattered a long time ago, and alone is usually a lot less complicated."
They finally reached their destination: a loading port next to the sea and a local city. After landing the ship in a safe place, both Autobots started to look for Bulkhead between the labyrinth of containers, Wheeljack with the tracker device and Optimus with his weapons ready.
"We are close to population. Remember." Optimus started.
"Blasters and fuel pumps don't mix." Wheeljack answered as he looked at the tracker. "Our boy is just up ahead."
When they may a left turn they froze in shock: Bulkhead was chained against a wall of containers, with his hands hooked by electrified cuffs, but the worse was that he had a proximity bomb strapped on his chest, and with a countdown.
"Hey guys." He saluted.
"Scrap." Wheeljack cursed. "You really got yourself in a head of scrap this time, partner."
"Stay back, Jackie."
"Better get to work."
"Have you defused one of these before?" Optimus asked.
Wheeljack opened the bomb to reveal multiple wires within it. "Fail safes, dummy leads, booby traps, it's a work of art."
They didn't notice that Dreadwing was seeing them from the top of a crate operator.
Then, someone called him through the com-link. "Dreadwing, where are you?"
"Merely pursuing my destiny, Lord Megatron."
"Did I not order you to stand down?"
"Forgive me, one true master. But it is my hope that vanquishing Optimus Prime will earn your respect."
"Optimus is not so easily disposed of, as I keep trying to explain to all of those who foolish attempt it."
Meanwhile, Wheeljack continued trying to disable the bomb.
"Jackie, if you don't abort, we're both gonna need cleanup."
"Trying to focus here, Bulk."
Then Bulkhead saw someone was missing. "Where is Optimus?"
Wheeljack simply scoffed. "Like I told you: when the scrap hits the fan blades, the generals are the first to bail."
"No, not Optimus."
Back with Dreadwing…
"I assure you, master, in but a few moments Optimus and two others will be blown to atoms."
"I will allow it, Dreadwing, in memory of your departed twin. But only this once." Megatron said before turning off the com-link and looking at Soundwave. "I will be quite surprised if we ever set eyes upon Dreadwing again."
When Dreadwing continued observing the Autobots' situation, he realized there were only two.
"Where is the Prime?"
"Dreadwing, if you are anything like Skyquake, I know that you value loyalty and honor." Optimus's voice sounded all around the area.
"Is there a point to your bluster, Prime?"
"Only that Megatron knows nothing of those principles. He lives only for destruction and conquest. But there is another path: deactivate the bomb."
Dreadwing pulled out his big weapon and as he jumped to the floor he fired at where he though Prime was hidden, but when he went to check it out, there was no one there. Meanwhile, the Wreckers…
"Get out of here already." Bulkhead begged.
"I didn't leave you on Sandokan and I'm not leaving you here." Wheeljack answered as they started hearing more blaster fire.
"Face it: there's only one bot who can defuse this mess and his name is Dreadwing."
"Blaster fire is getting closer. Is if the commander…"
But before Wheeljack could continue, Bulkhead hit him suddenly on the head with his now free hand and free his other hand.
"Sorry Jackie, is because I love ya." Bulkhead said as he started running.
At other part of the labyrinth, Dreadwing finally found Optimus. Now they were shooting each other and hiding from the other's shots. Optimus continued firing at Dreadwing from top of the containers, forcing him to roll out of the shots' way before chasing him. At the end, Dreadwing lost sight of his enemy, but he continued to search for him by his own. As for Bulkhead, he also was looking for the labyrinth's exit, and finally spotted the sea. So he ran for it, with intention of jumping into the water.
"Sorry fishes."
Then, Wheeljack jumped in front of him.
"Bulkhead, wait!"
"Out of my way!"
Bulkhead tried to continue his way to the water, even with Wheeljack pushing him, trying to stop him.
"Will you listen to me, Bulk?"
Right at the edge, Bulkhead stopped before Wheeljack ended falling to the water.
"You were right. Dreadwing is the only one who can defuse it, and Optimus knows it too." He said looking at Optimus, who was climbing on top of a crane.
Dreadwing advanced silently toward under the crane. And when he was at the current position, Optimus jumped on the claw, making it trap the Decepticon against the ground. The Autobots gathered around him.
"Dreadwing, defuse the bomb or fall victim to your own device." Optimus advised.
Or course, Bulkhead got nervous.
"I will gladly sacrifice myself to avenge my brother."
"Then we will in turn gladly join the Allspark with our brother." Optimus declared.
"And with you. You'll never shake us." Wheeljack added.
Bulkhead closed the eyes in fear expecting the worse after an unpleasant silence. Until…
"Very well."
Optimus and Wheeljack lifted the claw so Dreadwing could get up. Next, the Decepticon walked over to Bulkhead, and pulled a blue wire, stopping the countdown, making Bulkhead to sigh in relief.
"I had it narrowed down to the blue or the yellow. Or the red." Wheeljack shrugged.
But without them to know, Dreadwing pressed the detonator. A lot of explosions began to set off, blowing lots of containers all across the port. That distracted the Autobots so he changed to vehicle form and took flight, despite they tried to shot him down.
"So, who do we call for cleanup?" Wheeljack asked looking the mess.
Moments later, Dreadwing returned to the Nemesis, and reported to his master.
"Optimus Prime still lives, as do you, Dreadwing. And that is a victory, however small. That Skyquake so tragically discovered."
"Speak to me not of my twin, Lord Megatron. For I am here, on this galaxy, to obey your will, and yours alone."
Dreadwing's answer made Megatron smirk. Everyone also returned to the Autobot base.
"Listen commander. I just want to say it was an honor watching you work. I…uh, think maybe I had the wrong idea about you." Wheeljack apologized.
"And it would seem that you place a greater value on community than you otherwise let on." Optimus answered, offering his hand.
"Whoa, let's not jump the gun here." Wheeljack said surprised before Bulkhead punched him on the back playfully.
"Come on, Jackie. If you leave, you probably just wind up coming right back again."
"All that wasted fuel." Cliffjumper added.
"And energon is in short supply." Arcee followed.
"(You could help us so much with your abilities if you stay.)"
"Then again, we do have limited space." Ratchet simply said before getting back to his terminal.
"Not sure if I'm ready to give up my freedom just yet. Maybe I could do some exploring, see if this galaxy's worlds suit me." Wheeljack admitted.
"No offense to the Jackhammer, but you'll need a native-based vehicle mode." Bulkhead reminded.
"And we might have some ideas for you, if you want them." Cliff added.
"Show me what you got." Wheeljack accepted.
Moments later, Wheeljack was on the ground, ready to test his recently new acquired vehicle mode. He took a run, jumped high and transformed. His new vehicle form was a Praxis Mk. 1 turbo speeder, or Jedi speeder. Now he was equipped to start exploring the galaxy by his own.