Hey everyone. This chapter is based off the episode of the same name ('Con Job' s1e8).
A few days later, Liliy was sitting in her usual spot in the rec area, the stuffed chair, occupied with reading something on her phone when Ratchet announced that he was receiving a signal on a restricted band.
"It appears to be coming from a starship inside this solar system," he explained to Optimus.
Curious, Liliy got up and moved over to the rail while Ratchet tapped a few keys.
"It's an Autobot identification beacon."
"So there are other Bots out there?" Jack asked, turning to look at the bots in the room. He stood on the catwalk that crossed in front of the three big monitors for the bots' main computer console.
"The masses scattered to the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark," Arcee answered. "But Cons have been known to bait traps with false beacons."
"Unknown vessel, this is Autobot Outpost Omega One. Identify yourself," Optimus spoke into the comm link, his tone hard.
{I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon combat brigades,} replied a smooth voice from the link after a bit of static.
"Wheeljack?!" blurted Bulkhead. "You old Con crusher, what are you doing all the way out here?" The ex-wrecker stepped closer to the console.
{Bulkhead? That you? What's with all the security?}
"The rock we're on is crawling with Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?"
{Sometime tomorrow if I put metal to the pedal.}
"Another bot's coming here," commented Miko from her spot on Bulkhead's shoulder. "How cool is that?"
"Wheeljack…" mused Prime. "I know of him by reputation only. Can you verify his voice print?" he asked Bulkhead.
"He is one thousand percent the real deal, Optimus."
Prime turned back to the comm. "We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack. Safe journey."
"See ya soon, buddy," added Bulkhead "I'll make sure you get a proper welcome."
The call dropped.
"So who's the boyfriend?" Arcee asked Bulkhead.
"Ha ha. Me and Jackie go way back. We were part of the same war unit, the Wreckers." He slammed his fist into his palm. "Which means the Cons are gonna wish he never found us."
Liliy hummed to herself with interest as she returned to the chair and sent instructions to Echo to be on the lookout for Wheeljack's ship and any Con activity upon his arrival. During the night, she received a coded message from Ucon, her spy on the Nemesis, warning her that the Cons were planning something and to be on guard.
The next day everyone was gathered in the main room for the new Bot's arrival. The children stood in front of the big monitors while Liliy leaned on the railing around the top tier.
"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone," said Arcee.
"Do you think he's here to visit?" Raf asked his human friends.
"Maybe he'll stay. Hmm. Have to find his own human though," said Miko. "Oh, I know. Liliy can be his partner. How bout it, Liliy?"
"No thanks. I'm fine with being a homebody," replied Liliy.
The humans looked over when they heard Ratchet at the bridge controls.
"Ground bridge cycling up."
The controls suddenly sparked and the monitor flicked with snow. Ratchet, annoyed, slammed his fist on the top of the panel and it started working again.
"Blasted scraplets. The equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation," he commented.
Yikes. Scraplets? Glad I wasn't here for that, thought Liliy.
"So Wheeljack's gonna land halfway around the world and then you'll bridge him here?" Jack asked Prime.
"We can't risk revealing the location of our base," answered Optimus while Miko noticed Bulkhead was pacing. "Just in case the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship."
"Which they are," Liliy muttered to herself as Miko moved so she could talk to Bulkhead.
"Dude, I've never seen you so stoked," Miko pointed out.
Bulk turned to her. "Oh, you're gonna love Wheeljack. We were like brothers and tonight we are gonna party!"
"Sweet!" Miko exclaimed.
The alarm started sounding then.
"Bogies," Arcee stated. "Closing fast on Wheeljack's position."
"Con scum!" growled Bulk.
"So it begins," Liliy sighed as she moved away from the monitors. She pulled out her phone and texted Echo. They were going to let things play out but they needed to keep track of Wheeljack's signal at all times. Liliy glanced up at the monitors.
"They stopped moving," she observed. "Do you think they shot down his ship?"
"Probably," replied Prime. "But the signal is still there so the ship must not be too damaged."
"Open the bridge, Ratchet," Bulkhead demanded. "We're missing all the action."
"I'll prepare sickbay," Ratchet said as he activated the controls and the bridge whirled to life.
"Ha ha. Who for? The Cons?" replied Bulk. "This is Wheeljack we're talking about."
Liliy's phone beeped as the ex-wrecker, Arcee and Bee disappeared. Wheeljack's signal was no longer on the ground in the desert but far, far above it. Liliy was about to tell Prime that it might be a trap when Arcee called for a bridge back to base.
Well, well, well, who do we have here? she thought, eyeing the newcomer as he met Miko and then greeted Prime. According to the report she just received, he was actually the Decepticon known as Makeshift, a bot with the ability to transform into almost anyone. This is going to be interesting.
She wandered up to her corner to get her notebook. Then she came down and sat in a computer chair near Ratchet while he worked on the ground bridge controls. That was her effort to 'join the party' that was now taking place. She had noticed that the medic looked as if he wanted to follow his leader when Prime left to go for a drive.
There was a game of lobing in play. Liliy flinched when the ball crashed into the wall after 'Wheeljack' failed to catch it.
"You know, I am attempting to perform sensitive calibrations here?" complained Ratchet.
"Sorry, Doc," the imposter said as he picked up the ball, "I guess we're a little charged up."
He paused behind Ratchet who had gone back to working on the controls.
"You built this bridge from scratch huh?" he inquired.
That got Liliy's attention but she pretended to not be listening.
"I did," Ratchet answered.
"That's quite a feat of engineering."
"Yes, it is."
"Something wrong with it?"
"I didn't care for the way it sounded this last jump. I put it in shutdown."
"What if you need to use it?"
"Oh, I can't disrupt the defrag process without causing irreparable damage."
"So, uh, how long will the defrag take?"
"A few hours," he said, turning to glance at him, "if we're lucky. Maybe longer." He shrugged and turned back to the controls.
"Huh." The imposter moved on.
"Nosy, isn't he?" commented Liliy.
"Hm?" Ratchet glanced up at her.
"Nothing." She got up and moved over to the rec area.
A little later, Bulkhead gathered everyone, except Ratchet, around for storytime. He told about some of the missions he and Jackie went on together.
"Have you guys ever had to improvise? You know, like make a makeshift grenade or something," Liliy asked, putting a little extra emphasis on the Con's name as she looked him in the optics.
He stared at her in shock. She just shrugged with a smirk and looked up at Bulkhead when he answered.
"Hm, yeah. Once or twice, I think." He noticed the other mech's shocked gaze. "Hey, you alright?" He waved his servo in the other's face.
"What?" asked the imposter.
"You don't seem like yourself."
"Well, what do ya mean?"
"I don't know. You seem… quiet."
"Ah. I've been stuck in a can too long. I should go topside before I go stir crazy."
"I have patrol in the morning. You can come with."
"Well, let's go now."
"And break up the party? Come on. The gang's loving you. You gotta tell 'em about the battle of Darkmount Pass."
"You tell 'em. You're better at it. How bout Miko here shows me the rest of your base?"
"Yeah. Sure, Jackie. Go ahead."
"Tour starts now," Miko said, hopping off the storage crate she and Raf were sitting on. "Do you play any instruments? Can you fly? Have you thrashed more Decepticons than Bulkhead?" she asked as they walked off.
Bulkhead watched them go.
"You alright?" Arcee asked him.
"Yeah. Just out of sorts I guess."
"Don't tell me, you're jealous?"
"That Miko's making a new friend? Come on." He looked at the hall. "Something… Something's just not right about Wheeljack."
"Bulk, really? He's traveled galaxies. You haven't seen him for centuries. He could just be rocket-lagged. Or… Well, bots do change, ya know."
"Not Jackie."
"I kind of agree with Bulkhead."
They looked at Liliy after she spoke.
"I mean, obviously I've never met the guy before so I really don't know but… something about him just doesn't feel right. Like the way he was questioning Ratchet about the ground bridge."
"He could just be concerned about an escape route in case of an emergency," countered Arcee.
Meanwhile, in the brig on the Nemesis…
Wheeljack pretended not to notice the guard change. His shoulder joints were beginning to ache from hanging there. He groaned and shifted, momentarily relieving the strain on one arm. He caught the attention of the new guard, an eradicon, who approached him. But he stopped just out of his reach, much to the Wrecker's disappointment. The Con crossed his arms over his chassis.
"I'm not as dumb as you think, Autobot. I know what you are trying to do."
The Wrecker frowned. "And what am I trying to do?"
"Lure me in close and use me to escape."
Wheeljack looked away. Then the eradicon said something that made the Bot stare with wide-eyed surprise.
"It's alright though. I was intending to let you escape anyway. But you have to do one thing for me."
Jackie narrowed his optics suspiciously.
"What is it?"
"Don't kill me."
The Con activated his blaster and stepped within range of the Wrecker's ped.
"You got it."
Wheeljack smirked as he twisted and kicked the eradicon in the face.
The guard spun and fired three shots at the control panel before he hit the floor. Two of the blasts found their mark, successfully freeing Wheeljack. He dropped to his peds.
"Thanks," he muttered as he stepped over the offline Con and headed for the door.
Back at Omega One...
"Look. I know Wheeljack better than anyone," Bulk said.
"Hey," the imposter said, coming back from his tour. "What are you guys talking about?"
"I was just telling the guys all about you and me… at the battle of Darkmount Pass."
"That's a heck of a story."
"Yep. Tell it."
"Talk, talk, talk," interrupted Miko. "How bout after we go offroading?"
"Miko, stay out of this."
"Bulkhead," cautioned Arcee, "easy."
"I'm not sure I-" started the imposter.
"Tell it!" demanded Bulkhead
"Fine. You wanna live in the past, Bulkhead."
Knowing Bulkhead was about to call the Con out on his lies, Liliy came down to the main floor to join the others while the imposter told the story.
"Isn't that how it happened?" he asked Bulk after he finished the tale.
"Yeah. That's exactly how it happened."
The Con smirked.
"Except for one little thing... I wasn't there!"
That shocked everyone. The Con glared, knowing he was caught.
"I had already left the Wreckers to join up with Optimus. But you wouldn't know that if all you did was access Wheeljack's public service record."
"Bulkhead, what does that have to do with- Woah!"
Anticipating the Con's movements, Liliy shoved Miko out of the way and got grabbed up by the white mech instead.
"Liliy!" cried Miko as the mech moved over to bridge controls with the woman in his grasp.
"Stay back," the Con said in a gravelly voice. "Or I'll squeeze her into pulp." He glared at Ratchet who backed off.
"Wheeljack, what are you doing?" asked Miko.
"Con coward," growled Bulk. "Let the woman go and face me."
"Don't fret, plenty of fighting to come."
"Is there a real Wheeljack?" asked Jack.
"Oh, indeed. And I expect Lord Starscream is making sport of him."
All the while, Liliy pretended to be helpless but was prepared to cut his hand if he did try to crush her. However she couldn't help taunting him.
"So does this mean you are a makeshift Autobot?"
He squeezed a little harder making her grimace.
"How in the Pit did you know my name?" he growled.
She shrugged. "Lucky guess."
With a snarl, Makeshift tapped away at the controls.
"About time," he snapped, opening a bridge to the Con ship. He moved to the opening. "Let's get this party started."
Suddenly he was knocked down by the real Wheeljack who came through the portal before the Cons could. Liliy flew out of Makeshift's hand and was caught by Bulkhead, who set her gently back on her feet. Miko instantly hugged her for a moment before turning to look at Wheeljack.
"I'd shut that hole before the stink comes through," he suggested.
Ratchet shut off the ground bridge as Makeshift got to his feet. He drew his swords and Jackie did the same. They circled. Pounding his fist into his palm, Bulkhead took a step forward to join the fight but Wheeljack stopped him with a blade.
"Ugly's mine."
They went at it.
"Which one is the real Wheeljack?" asked Raf as the Bot and Con battled.
"Uh…" Miko pointed from one to the other. "I lost track."
Wheeljack finished the fight by knocking Makeshift out.
"That's my Jackie," commented Bulk proudly.
The wrecker sheathed his swords and looked at Ratchet.
"You, hit the switch. It's time to take out the trash." He turned to Bulkhead who came up next to him. "All yours, buddy."
Bulkhead picked the Con up, spun him around, threw him into the portal.
"Nice lobe," complimented Wheeljack as the portal closed.
Since Makeshift was thrown out, Liliy went back up to her easel to draw.
When it was time for the Wrecker to leave, she went with the others to see him off.
"Wheeljack?" she asked.
He looked down at her.
"What's up?"
"You don't really seem like the sentimental type to me but," she held up a page out of her poster-sized drawing pad, "I wanted you to have this."
Bulk looked over Wheeljack's shoulder as he took the paper. It was a pencil drawing of the two Wreckers together with Miko sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder and they were all smiling.
"I don't remember posing for that," said Bulk.
Liliy laughed. "It's pretty good for drawing from memory, huh?"
Wheeljack smiled and looked at her. "You're right. I'm really not. But I will keep this. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.