Author's Notes: I don't know what's worse, the fact that I waited a year to update this fic or the fact that this chapter introduces new characters nobody asked for. Don't worry though; I think this chapter, while short, turned out pretty well. Also, I just noticed the new feature in the Doc Manager section where you can keep your files up to a year. That's pretty handy. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has checked out this story, and I hope you will favorite, follow, and review :)

Chapter 5

Heroism

Ron and Judy Witwicky were happy to see their son, who was visiting them from college. He had been upset ever since his breakup with Mikaela, but things were finally starting to look up for him since he met a new girl that made him happy; a White House correspondent named Carly Spencer.

Sam didn't come alone, however, as he also had two roommates now. Well, more like two mechanical pests, but he seemed to get along with them well enough. His parents were surprisingly nonchalant about the whole alien robot thing ever since they met Bumblebee, and Sam was grateful for that.

That evening the family had eaten dinner together for the first time in a while, and Wheelie and Brains loafed about on the couch yelling at contestants on Wheel of Fortune. The rain trickled outside and the sky was dark, but inside the house was warm and bright. It was a peaceful scene at the Witwicky house, but everything was interrupted when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Judy called out as she rushed to see who was at the door.

She peered through the peephole to see who was on the other side of the door, and was surprised to see it was Mikaela's father standing out in the rain holding a bottleneck under a wet brown paper bag and holding onto a dog's leash. Judy opened the door and could instantly smell the whiskey on his breath.

"Cal, what are you doing out this late?" Judy exclaimed as she tried not to wince from the smell of alcohol.

"Howya doin'?" Mr. Banes slurred, "The dog keeps crappin' immy g'rage,"

"Um...okay," Judy nodded to humor him, but in reality had no idea what that had to do with anything, "You should come inside. I can get you a towel to dry off with."

"I don' wan' this no more," Cal mumbled as he handed Judy the leash, "Mikaela's been gone for two weeks. Here ya go. Have a good one."

"What? Hey, come back here!" Judy ran outside in her slippers holding the dog's leash and trying to catch up with Cal, "You can't leave your dog with us! Hey, don't you get in that car, mister! Hey, don't you dare turn that key!"

Of course he turned the key, and then quickly drove away leaving a soaked Mrs. Witwicky standing out on the sidewalk with the newly abandoned mastiff.

"Oh dear, what are we going to do with you?" Judy asked wearily as she looked into the animal's innocent brown eyes.

Judy walked back into the house with the dog in tow, and Ron immediately freaked out when he saw his wife was bringing a big dog in the house.

"Hey! Don't bring that mutt in here! He's getting his muddy paw prints all over the carpet!" Ron yelled.

"Aw, scrap! It's slobberpuss!" Wheelie shouted as he jumped up on the mantle to avoid the big dog, "Brains, it's the monster mutt!"

"Yikes, and I thought organics couldn't get any uglier!" Brains commented critically of the dog as it stared boredly back at them.

"Mom, Dad, what's the problem?" Sam asked as he walked in the room, "Oh, hey! It's Bones! What is he doing here? Is Mikaela here?"

"No, Mr. Banes dropped off his dog," Judy explained; still bewildered about the situation, "He said Mikaela's been gone for two weeks and never came back for this poor little fella. What are we supposed to do with this thing? I don't think Cal is coming back. Even if he does I don't think a lush like that should be responsible for the poor thing's care."

"I say we call the pound," Ron replied as he headed for the phone, "We already have two dogs and can't handle another. It's the only way to get rid of that thing."

"They're not open at night, Ron," Judy pointed out.

"I-I'll take him. I want him," Sam stammered.

"Nooo!" Wheelie screamed, "Anything but that!"

"Honey, are you sure?" Judy asked; concerned.

"I'm sure, Mom," Sam replied with slightly more confidence than a second ago, "That dog is Mikaela's baby. I'll take him until she comes back for him. Bones is a good boy anyway, aren't you Bones?"

Sam then ruffled the dog's floppy face and ears, and the dog replied by affectionately licking Sam's face. He hugged the dog and looked up at his mom with his own puppy dog eyes.

"See? He likes me. He'll be fine," Sam told her, "I can leave in the morning and drive back to my place with the 'Bots and Bones. I've already got a doghouse outside. Everything will work out, you'll see."

"Well, at least he'll have someone that cares about him," Judy replied with a warm smile, "Look at my son, such a responsible grown up man."

Meanwhile, Brains was still giving the dog the skunk-optic while Wheelie avoided looking at the dog altogether. That overgrown beast reminded Wheelie way too much of Ravage for his comfort.

"You think he'll really make us give up our bachelor pad if he adopts that creature?" Brains asked warily.

"Somethin' ain't right about this," Wheelie declared in a low tone of voice as he touched a servo to his chin, "My beautiful warrior princess would never leave her mutt with her dad for that long. She knew he could step back into his old habits without her around, and the dog don't belong to him. It belongs to her. Brains, I think somethin' terrible has happened to my Mikaela!"

"You're Mikaela? She's Sam's ex, you idiot," Brains pointed out.

"Exactly, his ex!" Wheelie waved a digit in Brain's face in triumph, "I still have a chance with her. That's not really the point though. My warrior princess has been gone for two weeks, and she didn't even contact her old mech about the dog. So, that tells me she can't get to a comm system."

"They call them phones, Wheelie," Brains replied sardonically.

"Will you stop interruptin' me!?" Wheelie shouted at Brains irately, "I'm tryin' to say Mikaela is missing! She's gone, and we've gotta do somethin'! What's the comm code for the national guard? We need the national guard, the coast guard, and a lifeguard! No wait, I have an even better idea! We should save her ourselves!"

"I'm not getting off this couch," Brains scoffed, "Do whatever you want Wheelie, but you're wasting your time. Mikaela is probably off doing some femme thing like shopping or polishing a lightweight pistol or something."

"Fine! I'll save Mikaela even if I'm the only one who cares!" Wheelie proclaimed, "You can still make yourself useful though. I want you to call every person you can think of that knows Mikaela. Find out where she's been and where she might be going. I'll be out in the field searchin' for our missing comrade. Maybe when I find her she'll even kiss me!"

"I'm not-" Brains started to say.

"You don't have to get off the couch!" Wheelie finished his sentence with exasperation in his tone, "Here, here's the phone or whatever you call it. Just go through Mikaela's social media accounts and contact anyone who might know where she is! I'm gonna start with all the places in town I know she likes to go. Comm me when you have a lead."

With that Wheelie hopped off the couch and transformed into his toy truck mode. He gave one final honk to scare the dog, and then drove away with a whine in his engines and a purpose on his processor. He would save his beautiful organic queen and maybe finally be considered good enough for her.

It was getting dark out in the streets of Tranquility and Wheelie still hadn't found a single clue. Mikaela wasn't at the mall, the bike shop, or any of the burger joints she liked to frequent. He checked her college only to find her dorm room had three new girls living there and no sign of his beautiful organic femme. It was as if she had been sucked off the face of the earth.

Wheelie wondered if there was Decepticon involvement. Wheelie had been the minicon of Megatron's right hand mech Soundwave, so he knew how efficient Decepticons could be when they wanted somebody gone. Perhaps Megatron was trying to get to Sam Witwicky and therefore was going to use Mikaela as bait. That would so be like him, Wheelie thought with disgust.

Wheelie never thought he would miss the information network his old master used to employ to spy on everyone, but if Wheelie had access to that now he could locate the human femme. Soundwave was nothing if not efficient, though admittedly he looked really weird when he wired himself into satellite systems; kind of like a kraken wrapping around a boat. Those tentacles sure did hurt, too. Wheelie could still remember being shocked and whipped whenever he would mess up...

"Don't think about that, Wheelie," Wheelie said out loud to himself, "Don't go to that dark place in your processor that makes you freeze up. This is no time for a trip down memory lane. Just stay focused, and figure out what to do next. Okay, so...if I were a human, where would I go? I checked the movie theatre, I checked Burger King, I checked the mall, I checked school, hm...If I were a human, I would go...to the bathroom! Yes, humans are always usin' the crapper! I just have to check every bathroom in town! Yes! I'm a genius!"

Just as Wheelie was about to enter the first public restroom he could find, he got a comm from Brains.

/Hey Romeo, you busy?/ Brains asked sardonically.

/What do you want, Brains? I'm hot on the trail!/ Wheelie snapped as he entered a gas station men's room.

/You in your alt mode? 'Cause you might wanna be stabilized by your tires when you hear this one,/ Brains told him, and Wheelie could tell from his tone of voice that this was big, /I thought about what you said about something being wrong, so I hacked into the main Decepticon radio chatter. You won't believe who's on the planet./

/Is it Soundwave?/ Wheelie gulped fearfully.

/Nah, but it is a name you'll recognize,/ Brains replied almost casually, /Swindle./

Wheelie's engine seized up and he had to fight himself to keep from screaming. Swindle. That was a name he never wanted to hear again. Wheelie felt himself growling before he could stop himself, and was grateful there was no one else in the restroom with him.

/You okay, buddy?/ Brains asked in concern.

/Y-Yeah, I'm...I'm fine,/ Wheelie stammered shakily, /I just...can't believe he's back. I kinda hoped he caught an interfacing-transmitted disease and died, to be honest. Will I be able to avoid him where I'm at?/

/For now,/ Brains replied with a hint of caution, /I heard over the channels that he was last seen near the east coast of this country. Don't worry, he's far away from California. Even if he were here though, he wouldn't find you again./

/You don't know him like I do, Brains,/ Wheelie replied nervously, /He would sell his own creator for the right price, and he'd- wait. Oh no..."

/What?/ Brains asked impatiently.

/OH NO!/ Wheelie screamed, /Mikaela! Oh, I am so stupid!/

/So what else is new?/ Brains joked.

/Shut up, frag wad! This is serious!/ Wheelie snapped, /Mikaela was Sam's accomplice, and Sam destroyed the Allspark and nearly destroyed Megatron. Megatron would do anythin' to make Sam suffer...and he would pay any price to make it happen. You see where I'm goin' with this?/

/You think Swindle-/ Brains began.

/Has my warrior queen! Yes!/ Wheelie finished; on the verge of panic, /Brains, don't wait up for me. I have some investigatin' to do./

With those words Wheelie disconnected the comm and then started comming another number. Where there was one Combaticon there was more, and Wheelie knew if Swindle was on the job he didn't have much time.

/Who is this?/ A proper sounding voice asked suspiciously.

/Hello, is this Blast Off?/ Wheelie whispered into the comm, /I got your number from Ravage. He said you were the Combaticon to call for a traffickin' job./

Wheelie was grateful he couldn't sweat in that moment. He only hoped his lie was convincing enough and that Blast Off didn't try to contact his former fellow spy for confirmation.

/I'm guessing this is about live cargo since you didn't say smuggling,/ Blast Off surmised, /What are you looking for, and what is your designation?/

/Call me, uh...Beavis,/ Wheelie threw out the name on the spot, /And I'm lookin' for a human. She did me wrong, and I want revenge./

/I'm going to need location, age, and any defining characteristics about this female,/ Blast Off rattled off disinterestedly.

/Her name is Mikaela Banes,/ Wheelie whispered sinisterly; hamming up his role as a mysterious bad guy, /She has tan skin and brown hair follicles. She's also-/

/Stop right there,/ Blast Off sighed, /I'm afraid I can't help you. My associate Swindle has already laid claim to that human and it is on its way to Megatron. Now, if you would like another specimen I would be happy to oblige./

/Nah. That's okay. I'll just go blow up Tokyo or somethin',/ Wheelie said casually to try to sound intimidating, /Thanks anyway. I'll refer the Combaticons to all my Decepticon friends./

/Very good. Blast Off out./

Once the comm was cut Wheelie rolled behind a bush, transformed into robot mode, and keened loudly as he held his helm in his servos. This was bad, and Wheelie knew bad. Soundwave was probably the scariest mech Wheelie had ever known, but Swindle was the literal worst.

Wheelie remembered the orn his innocence and freedom had been taken away from him. It was back when he lived in Zetax, a small town (literally) that was home to thousands of minicons. The Decepticons had killed most of the minicons. Some were enslaved, and others had managed to flee to the Autobots for safety. Wheelie was one of the unlucky ones that had been found by Swindle and taken to Combaticon HQ. From there, Wheelie had been starved, neglected, and told repeatedly that if nobody bought him he would be killed. Their resident interrogator Vortex eyed him like a scraplet eyes a carcass, and Wheelie knew his death would be a slow one if he wasn't rescued soon.

Eventually Wheelie was sold to Soundwave, who was a known collector of minicons and animal symbiotes. Minicons were meant to bond with their masters, but Wheelie could never bring himself to do it. Soundwave hated Wheelie's stubbornness and frequently punished the minicon, but Wheelie knew Soundwave would not kill him. It was weird that he trusted Soundwave that much, but spending so much time with a mech means you get to know their habits. Soundwave preferred bigger targets for his wrath as opposed to his own slaves.

Even to this very orn Wheelie still had nightmares about Swindle and the other Combaticons. Now Swindle had his sweet Mikaela, his strong brave warrior princess. Mikaela had saved him from the Decepticons and helped him settle into a new life. As afraid as Wheelie was, he knew he needed to do the same for her. Wheelie knew what Swindle was capable of, and he couldn't let that happen to the femme he loved, even if she didn't love him back...yet.