Finally, I was given an opportunity to submit this third final chapter to this little trilogy. Sorry it took so long guys, finals were coming up, and so is graduation.
As he worked on his portion of the ship, Hotshot heard the doors hiss open. He turned to see Wheeljack walking in. "Good morning, Wheeljack," he greeted, "Recharge well?"
"Yeah, but that's the last time I'm putting in late night training," Wheeljack replied as he rubbed an optic, "I didn't get enough sleep last night."
Hotshot grinned and shook his head, "Tried to warn you."
"Aw, shut up," said Wheeljack as he shoved the yellow mech's head down in a playful manner. Before he could get to work, Wheeljack's com-link came to life.
"Wheeljack, come in," said Optimus' voice.
"Yes, Optimus?" Wheeljack replied.
"If you've got a minute, I'd like to see you in my quarters," the voice instructed.
"I'm on my way, sir," said Wheeljack, and he deactivated his com-link.
"What do you think Optimus wants with you?" a curious Smokescreen asked as he poked his head out from behind the ship's hull.
"No clue," answered Wheeljack, "I'll be back when we're done." When Wheeljack walked out of the room, Sideswipe silently let out a sigh of relief.
Optimus was going through some documents when he heard the door chime ring, "Enter," he called as he stood up from his chair, and Wheeljack walked in.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
"I did," Optimus nodded, "Wheeljack, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind participating in Hotshot's and Sideswipe's training sessions?"
As if by impulse, Wheeljack replied, "Not at all, sir."
"Good," Prime nodded again, "You'll start today, then."
"Yes sir," Wheeljack saluted.
Prime chuckled, "At ease, soldier, and dismissed," and Wheeljack left. However, once he was out of Prime's office he stopped.
'Stupid,' he said to himself as he slapped himself on the forehead, 'What was I think--that's just it, I didn't think; I just responded. Great, this is going to be an accident waiting to happen.' Knowing he couldn't go back into the office to tell Optimus he changed his mind just because he got cold feet, he walked back to the backside of the base.
Later that day, Wheeljack entered the room where Hotshot and Sideswipe were training. With a determined nod, he proceeded. "Hey, Wheeljack," Hotshot greeted him, "what brings you here?"
"Came here to train," Wheeljack simply answered.
"Really?" asked Hotshot, and Wheeljack responded with a nod. "Great," said Hotshot, "maybe after I'm done with you, Sideswipe can have his turn, then we'll finish off with all three of us at the same time." As Sideswipe walked to a wall to rest, Wheeljack stepped up in his place and they got started on their little sparring session. After fifteen minutes had passed, Hotshot and Sideswipe switched. As he passed him, Hotshot noticed that the young blue mech had a determined look on his face. As the two sparred, both Hotshot and Wheeljack noticed that, to Sideswipe, this wasn't training--this was a real fight. Sideswipe did his best, but Wheeljack emerged as the victor.
"Good moves," Wheeljack said as he offered his hand to help Sideswipe onto his feet.
"Thanks," said Sideswipe as he got up on his own. Four hours later, the trio decided to call it a day with the training and they went their separate ways around the base.
It had been about three weeks since Wheeljack came back to the Autobot fold. For Hotshot, it was like old times; but, he somehow had the feeling that there was still something bothering the dark gray-blackish mech. He also noticed that Sideswipe was still very suspicious of Wheeljack, which was no secret to anyone, especially Wheeljack. In a way, he couldn't blame him; Wheeljack did use him to get to Hotshot and almost got them both killed. He tried to get it into the young mech's cerebral unit to at least quit being so uptight and give the recruit a chance, but his words only landed on what the kids called 'deaf ears'. With a sigh, both out of fatigue and uncertainty of how to deal with his surrogate younger brother, he stepped into his quarters.
As he laid on his recharge berth, Sideswipe could think of little else but Wheeljack. While everyone else saw him as a returning Autobot, he saw him as a Decepticon just waiting for the right moment to strike. That's why he would follow him when he was with Hotshot, secretly or with an invitation, and even though it almost made his circuits sizzle; he didn't trust him to be alone with his bro'. 'Hotshot's always been there for me, especially when I needed him most, now it's my turn to be there for him; when that creep makes his move, I'll be ready,' he said to himself.
In his quarters, Wheeljack was also lying on his recharge berth. He had been that way for the past ten minutes, but to his Minicon, Wind Sheer, it felt like an eternity. In fact, sometimes, whenever he was done for the day, Wheeljack would come in, just lay down, and remain perfectly still and quiet. Wind Sheer sensed that whenever this happened, it meant his partner was thinking, but it bothered him to not know what Wheeljack was thinking about. On top of that, the complete silence would eventually get to the point that it unnerved him. Finally, Wheeljack reached for a remote, pushed a button, and a fast beat song came up on the speaker system in his room. Wind Sheer leaped into the air, somersaulted, landed on Wheeljack's left leg, which was propped up by the right one, and did a one handed headstand. Wheeljack couldn't help but smile, "Slick move there, little buddy."
One night, Wheeljack was in the main computer room, minding his own business, when the main screen came to life with a soft beeping tone and a squiggly line of some sort. He recognized the signal--it was the kind the Decepticons used. "Meeting at these coordinates," he deciphered, "Come alone." With a sprint, Wheeljack took off down the hallway towards the exit, but he didn't go unnoticed. While he was headed to his quarters, Sideswipe caught sight of Wheeljack running in the hall just ahead of him.
"Now where is he going in such a hurry?" he asked himself quietly, and took off after the former mech.
At a secluded area out in the desert, Megatron waited. He tried to wait patiently, but his patience was wearing extremely thin, especially with Wheeljack. For the past three weeks he had done nothing but fume over how Wheeljack betrayed him and vented his anger out on his own troops. Even when the tiniest smart-mouth remark or mistake was made, he'd totally lose it and send the unfortunate 'Con flying with a mighty punch that would render him unconscious anywhere from mere seconds to a matter of minutes. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore--he had to find out what led Wheeljack to this decision, so he sent a message to Wheeljack at the Autobot Base. Just then, Megatron saw the dark gray-blackish form of Wheeljack's car mode approaching at top speed. Transforming to robot mode, Wheeljack grabbed his gun and aimed it at the Decepticon leader.
"There's no need for that, I'm not here to fight," Megatron said as coolly as he could with a wave of his hand. Personally, he wanted to blast Wheeljack to spacedust, however, he disciplined himself to not lose his temper. He came to talk, not to fight.
"How do I know you're not lying, you won't try anything, and that you came alone yourself?" Wheeljack demanded without faltering his aim.
"First of all, I don't need any of the other Decepticons to take care of such things as shutting you down for good," Megatron replied, "Second, you know me better than that, Wheeljack." Wheeljack knew Megatron was right; contrary to popular Autobot belief, Megatron was not a being without any sense of honor whatsoever. On a few occasions, especially where Optimus Prime was involved, Megatron had demonstrated that he was actually an honorable warrior. With that resolved, he put his gun away and they began to talk. Although, unbeknownst to either one of them, they were being watched by an uninvited guest.
It was hard, but Sideswipe managed to follow Wheeljack without being spotted. The young mech picked a large boulder on a hillside as his spypost. He felt his energon begin to boil when he saw Wheeljack with Megatron. "I knew that sleazebag was up to no good," he growled to himself. From his post, Sideswipe couldn't hear what they were saying, but seeing them together was good enough for him. Transforming to car mode, he took off back to headquarters to report what he saw. However, what he didn't see was Wheeljack pulling a gun on Megatron due to arriving just a minute after Wheeljack stashed the weapon.
"What caused you to have a change of heart, Wheeljack?" asked Megatron, " What made you change your allegiance so suddenly?" After a moment's hesitation for reasons unknown to him, Wheeljack responded.
"I was looking through some personal documents on my computer when I accidentally came across a High Class file. My curiosity got the best of me and I hacked into it. That's where and how I learned about your intentions for getting me to join the Decepticons. As for the so called abandonment, I took the liberty of paying our then prisoner, Hotshot, a little visit before you did."
"And you believed him?"
"Yes. Your report, his side of the story, the Autobot report of the same incident--it's just too coincidental to be a coincidence; and, I wouldn't bother trying to get me to change my mind with more lies if I were you."
Megatron nodded with understanding, he knew that the young mech had made up his mind and there was no way of getting him to change it.
"Where did you learn to hack?"
"A former Decepticon teammate taught me a few things."
"You do know that the humans have a saying: 'curiosity kill the cat'."
Wheeljack knew where Megatron was going, yet he still put on a mischievous grin and placed his hands on his waist in a cocky manner.
"But I'm not a cat."
Megatron took a moment to let out a short growl.
"Spare me the sarcasm, Wheeljack. You know what I mean."
"Yeah, whatever," Wheeljack sighed with a wave of his hand.
Megatron clenched his hand, he was now so tempted to blast the Autobot with his hip-cannon, but he held himself in check. Now that he had his questions answered, he turned to leave. However, after taking a few steps and just before Wheeljack was about to depart, Megatron turned to face him again. "I'll let you go this once, Wheeljack," he warned as he pointed a finger at the mech, "But, mark my words, I will destroy you the next time we meet in battle," and with that, the Decepticon leader warped out of the area.
"We'll see," Wheeljack said to no one in particular, except the spot where Megatron stood just a moment before. He transformed into car mode and raced down the path back to the base.
"What! Are you sure?" Smokescreen exclaimed when Sideswipe had finished telling the gathered group in the computer room what he saw.
"Positive," said Sideswipe, " I saw it with my own optics, Wheeljack's meeting with Megatron."
"Why would he be meeting with Megatron, Sideswipe?" asked Red Alert.
"Why else?" Sideswipe retorted as if that was a rhetorical question, "He's a spy, that's why; he must be meeting with Megatron to tell him what he's found out so far." While the other bots were discussing what Sideswipe encountered, Hotshot had a hard time believing what he was hearing. Wheeljack acting as a spy for Megatron? After all that Wheeljack had done for him?
'It can't be,' he said to himself.
"What do you think, bro'?" asked Sideswipe.
"Well . . . I. . uh," Hotshot struggled, but was saved from having to answer when Wheeljack walked in, and all of the optics in the room were on the dark gray mech. He noticed.
"What's goin' on?" he asked.
"That's what we'd like to know," said Blurr in kind of a low tone that instantly made Wheeljack very uncomfortable.
"What do you mean?" he asked nervously.
Smokescreen approached him, "How was your little meeting with Megatron, Wheeljack?" Wheeljack took a step back.
"Wha-? How did you know?"
"Let's just say a little blue bot told us."
Wheeljack looked beyond Smokescreen to see Sideswipe with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "What's going on here?" a voice asked. It was Optimus with Jetfire and Scavenger.
"To tell you the truth, sir," Smokescreen spoke up, "that's what we're trying to figure out."
"How do you mean?" Optimus inquired.
"Optimus, Sideswipe caught Wheeljack meeting with Megatron out in the desert about twenty miles away from the base," Blurr reported.
"Yeah," Sideswipe confirmed, "and he looked like he was in a real hurry when I saw him leave the base." Not at all liking what he was hearing, Optimus turned to the mech-in-question.
"Wheeljack, explain yourself," he commanded in a firm tone, the same one he used on Starscream when it was found out that the Decepticon had a meeting with Thrust right outside the base and was suspected to have surrendered the Skyboom Shield Minicons to the other side.
Wheeljack remained silent, for some reason unsure of what to do or say, but Jetfire interrupted the silence when he reminded, "Your commander gave you an order, soldier."
With a sigh, Wheeljack spilled his guts, "I was in here earlier tonight, when the main computer came to life with a cryptographic message. It was from Megatron. He wanted me to meet him at some area out in the desert and he wanted me to come alone."
"What did he want?" Scavenger asked with his hands on his waist.
"To talk," Wheeljack replied, then decided to elaborate, "He wanted to know why I switched allegiances so drastically."
After a pause, possibly out of confusion, Red Alert stepped in, "Why would he want to know that?"
"I don't know," Wheeljack shrugged, "probably going through one of those weird phases of his, I guess."
"Wheeljack," said Jetfire, "you realize that there was the possibility that the whole thing could've been a trap? Why didn't tell us about this message?"
"Like I said, he made it clear that he wanted me to come alone," the dark gray-blackish mech pleaded his case, "In fact, I'd say both Sideswipe and I are very lucky; if Megatron did happen to spot him, there's a very good chance that we both could've been destroyed on the spot." The said mech just quietly 'hrmhped' to himself, not at all believing what Wheeljack had said.
"If all Megatron wanted was to talk, why would he ask you to come alone?" the rookie asked with suspicion in his voice.
"He must've figured it was a matter that concerned only him and me," was Wheeljack's honest reply.
"Well," Optimus said with a nod, " I think that settles things, men, now why don't we go to our quarters and get some rest."
As everyone headed out of the computer room, Sideswipe walked close enough to whisper in Wheeljack's audio sensor, "I'm not finished with you yet," and disappeared down the hall. Hotshot, however, caught this transaction.
"I'll go talk to him, if you want," the yellow mech offered, but his old friend declined.
"I want him to trust me under his own free will, and, believe me, he will, eventually."
"I just don't understand, Wheeljack. It's been about five weeks since you moved in. You'd think he would've at least started getting over this little grudge of his."
"Hey, don't worry about it. Just give 'im some more time. In a way I can't blame him for his attitude; when we first met it wasn't exactly in the most 'friendliest' of terms."
"But that's no excuse for his attitude. After all that you've done, he doesn't have a reason to suspect you for every little thing that goes wrong, or looks even remotely suspicious."
"He's just trying to look out for you and the team, Hotshot. He looks up to you, just like a certain other rookie-bot I used to know."
Facing Wheeljack and seeing the mischievous smile on his face, the corner of Hotshot's mouth lifted up, showing a shy smile. They both remembered that time all too well--the time when Hotshot was first put in charge of a newcomer, Wheeljack, who seemed to have potential, but no battle experience. Hotshot recalled how excited and proud Wheeljack mentioned he was that his mentor was the very bot he heard so much about and admired. It was a real honor to him. Finally, the two exited memory lane and went into their quarters. Although, as soon as he laid down on his recharge berth, Wheeljack's thoughts continued down into his past. He noted as Hotshot helped him hone his skills, the two had become really good friends who thought nothing could ever tear their friendship apart because on the day they first met they vowed they would always keep that bond between them. Then came the day when he was stupid enough to believe that his best friend would actually leave him behind, leave him to die like everyone else did.
The next morning, everyone who was scheduled to work on the spaceship reported for duty; Hotshot, Wheeljack, and Sideswipe included. Hotshot tried to keep a weary eye on the blue mech and work on his portion of the ship at the same time, but it was proving to be difficult to focus. Red Alert had already corrected him on three separate occasions. "Hotshot," the medic called as he approached the yellow mech, "I wonder if I could have a word with you in private?"
"Uh, sure," Hotshot replied, and he put down his tools. Following Red Alert, Hotshot and the medic went to the far end of the room, where Red Alert could still keep an eye on the ship's construction and their conversation wouldn't be overheard so easily.
After taking a moment to look the yellow mech in the optic, Red Alert asked, "What's up with you today, Hotshot? I know mechanics is not exactly your forte' but you're better than this."
"It's Sideswipe that's with me today, Red Alert," Hotshot sighed, "He's been more than a handful ever since Wheeljack joined us." Red Alert nodded in understanding. Just like Hotshot, he knew the young mech had this idea in his head that Wheeljack's presence among the Autobots was not as sincere as he was letting on. "I tried telling him to give Wheeljack a chance, but he either doesn't listen or chooses not to," Hotshot continued, "I just don't know what to do with him any more, and I've got a feeling that it's only going to get worse."
"Have you asked Optimus to talk to him?"
"No, I haven't. I was afraid that that might be a little too harsh, considering he hasn't done anything stupid enough to even earn that." Suddenly, they heard a crash coming from the vicinity of the ship. "What the-?" asked Hotshot, and the two bots ran towards the other side of the ship where they met up with Blurr.
"Blurr," called Red Alert, "what in the world's going on here?"
"Sideswipe pounced Wheeljack and now they're at it," growled the blue and white sniper. Looking at the floor, Red Alert and Hotshot discovered Blurr wasn't kidding--Sideswipe and Wheeljack were rolling around with Sideswipe trying to stay on top of Wheeljack while the grayish-black mech was trying to get the rookie off. Smokescreen, meanwhile, was trying to separate the two while Blurr and Hotshot tried to pull Sideswipe off and Red Alert tried to get Wheeljack away from his attacker.
The gang just managed to get the two apart when a familiar and commanding voice rang throughout the room, "What's going on?" It was Optimus with Jetfire. When no one responded, the Autobot leader tried again, "Somebody better talk to me," and he narrowed his optics. It was obvious to the others that his patience for an answer was running a tad bit too thin.
"Sideswipe jumped Wheeljack, sir," Smokescreen finally replied.
"I saw him about to put a box in the tool cabinet," Sideswipe immediately spoke up before Optimus could say anything, "I thought it might be a bomb or something."
"You mean this box?" Blurr asked holding up the box in question, and the sniper knew the answer from the confused look on the rookie's face, Sideswipe recognized it. "This 'bomb' is Smokescreen's toolbox," Blurr clarified.
"I was wondering where this walked off to," said Smokescreen as he took the box from Blurr's hands.
"Sorry," Wheeljack apologized, "when I suddenly didn't see you anywhere I thought you were done for the day or something, so I put it away, or at least I tried to," as he turned to face Sideswipe.
"I appreciate what you tried to do Wheeljack, but, first of all, the reason for my 'disappearance' was because Blurr had asked me for help in the ship's hull, and second, I don't keep my tools in the tool cabinet," Smokescreen said with a friendly smile, and Wheeljack replied with an embarrassed grin.
"Alright people," said Jetfire, " party's over, let's get back to work," and everyone scrambled to get back to their stations.
"Sideswipe," Optimus called, "during your break, I expect to see you in my office. Understood?"
Nervously, the blue mech replied, "Y-Yes. Yes, sir," and got back to work.
While he was waiting for his subordinate's arrival, Optimus stood behind the desk in his office with his hands behind his back and facing the wall. He finally just finished looking over some files, and now he was trying to think of how to reprimand Sideswipe. His train of thought was interrupted by the door chime ringing. "Enter," he called, and was not disappointed to find Sideswipe walking through the doors.
"Reporting to your office during break session, as ordered, sir," the young mech saluted.
Optimus nodded, said, "At ease," and got right to the point of the meeting as soon as Sideswipe put his hand down.
"I don't know what exactly brought all of this on, but it stops now."
"I'm not sure what you're referring to, sir."
"I'm referring to the shaky relationship you seem to have with a certain teammate. Or am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong and I'll apologize right now."
Looking at his feet, the rookie shook his head. There was no use in even trying to hide it now.
"I thought so. Sideswipe, I understand that you and Wheeljack had, as the humans say, a 'rocky start' when you two first met, but he's back on our team now."
"Sir, I just think that there's more to his resignation than what we know. I mean, what if it's all some kind of trick to get us to lower our guard or something?"
"If it does turn out to be a ruse, I will take full responsibility, and your suspicions do not excuse your unnecessary hostile attitude towards Wheeljack. In fact, that's the second time that you've attacked Wheeljack because your emotions got the best of you."
Realizing that he was unintentionally beginning to raise his voice, Optimus calmed himself down and continued with his lecture.
"Sideswipe, there's a big difference between caution and paranoia, and you're bordering on the latter, which can not only make you a danger to the team, but to yourself as well. I know I can't force you to trust or respect Wheeljack, and I'm not asking you to, for I probably understand better than anyone else that those two things have to be earned. Yet, part of the problem I see here is that you're not bothering to put your prejudices aside long enough to even give Wheeljack a chance to prove himself to you. Plus, if this team is to fully function, we can't be going at each other's throats."
After all that, Optimus, for a reason unknown even to him, decided now was a good time for a pause and he sat down in his chair. Although, now that he thought about it, maybe the reason why he paused is because he wanted to give the young mech some time to get all of that sunk into his head. "Sir?" Sideswipe inquired, and Optimus stood back up.
"Sideswipe, I'm afraid I can't let your actions go unpunished any longer," the Autobot leader began, "which is why I've thought long and hard about a firm, but fair penalty, and this is what I've decided: you are confined to the base for the remainder of the week--no joy rides, no battles, no nothing. I'll inform Hotshot that your training is also restricted to the base."
Sideswipe gave his commander a surprised look, that meant he was going to be stuck in the base for five Earth days.
"I'm only going to give you this fair warning once, Sideswipe--if you so much as open any one of the outer doors, I will not hesitate to extend your punishment to being confined to your quarters for another week. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, you're dismissed."
Sideswipe saluted, and made his way to the door, but before he could exit, Optimus called to him again.
"One more thing Sideswipe."
"Yes sir?"
"The next time you decide to play 'Detective', please, try to back up your remarks with proof," the Autobot commander asked in a pleading tone, as if in attempt to lighten the mood that had settled in the room.
"I will," Sideswipe replied, "Anything else, sir?"
"No Sideswipe, that'll be all," said Prime, and the rookie headed out.
The next day seemed to pass by way too slowly for Sideswipe. He was the type of bot who couldn't stand being cooped up all day, let alone three. True, Optimus made a point that they had to keep themselves hidden from public view and the best way to do that was to stay in the base, but, as long as they stayed near the base or not let the humans see them in their robot forms when they went out in public, they were allowed to go outside. Staying in the base for days on end, without even one window to allow some sunlight, could get pretty dull after a while. Sideswipe couldn't figure out how bot's like Red Alert could stand it. Now, due to his punishment, the only sunlight he could observe was on the computer screen from one of their security cameras. However, it wasn't the same as feeling the warmth of the sun's rays on his hood during a short drive. 'These are going to be some loooong four remaining days', he thought to himself.
Later that week, around mid-morning, the quiet of the desert was broken by the revving of an engine as a blue sports car leaped off a cliff-side with a, "Yeee-hoo," and landed with thud. Sideswipe continued driving through the countryside, as happy as a hare in a field full of clover. Finally, the term of his penalty was over; the five days had passed. He had to admit that there were some times where he felt tempted to sneak a peek outside, but immediately thought the better of it for fear of getting caught and reprimanded again. Since he was having a hard time coping with staying in the base for five days, he knew chances were he'd go practically insane if he had to stay in his quarters for a whole week. Although, Smokescreen and Hotshot, even Blurr, kind of helped keep his mind off of counting down the days on the calendar and the hours, minutes, and seconds on the clock by either talking or playing card games with him during their free time. Afterall, Optimus my have banned him from going outside, but he didn't say Sideswipe couldn't do those activities. However, though the punishment did make him more mindful of not forming unfounded allegations without solid proof, it did not change the way he felt about Wheeljack. Therefore, when he got back and found the blackish-gray mech at the door, he gave the 'guard' a bit of a harsh look as he walked back inside. That's when the Minicon alarm went off and everyone rushed to the Command Center as fast as they could make their legs go.
"Where's the Minicon, Red Alert?" asked Optimus as he entered.
"It appears to be in a geographical location known as the Outback on the continent of Australia, sir," the medic responded.
"Wow!" exclaimed Carlos, "Australia? I've always wanted to go there. Can I go with you?"
"Sorry, Carlos, no can do," Jetfire apologized, "Maybe some other time, when there are no Decepticons to worry about." Carlos groaned. It was just too boring for him to just sit around at the base with nothing to do while his robot friends got to have all of the fun. He had to admit, he was beginning to really miss the 'old days' when he and the other kids could help them on the battlefield.
"Alright men, lets move out," ordered Optimus, and the Autobots followed him to the Warp Gate, all except Wheeljack and Red Alert.
"You go on ahead, Red, I'll stay here," Wheeljack volunteered.
Before the medic could protest, Optimus did it for him, "No, Wheeljack, I want you to come with us. Red Alert can take care of things here."
"But-"
"That's an order, Wheeljack."
With a defeated sigh, Wheeljack complied and joined the others. Optimus followed them, leaving Red Alert to keep an eye on the base and the kids.
A few minutes later, the Autobots were taking in the sights of the Australian Outback. "Boy," gasped Smokescreen, "just look at this place!"
"Yeah," agreed Hotshot, "I never knew that this place was so expansive!"
"We'll have time for sightseeing later," said Optimus, "right now we've got to find that Minicon. We'll have to split up and search in every direction possible." However, before the assigned groups could go in their assigned directions, a blast of laser fire exploded near their location--it was Megatron with the Decepticons. The Autobots immediately took cover behind anything they could get to. Wheeljack and Sideswipe ended up behind the same boulder.
"Man, your old friends never miss a beat, do they?" asked Sideswipe.
"Apparently not," answered Wheeljack, and the two returned fire. Suddenly, Wheeljack noticed something and called to Sideswipe, "Incoming!", pointing at a laser heading right for them. The two mechs managed to jump out of the way, Sideswipe to the left while Wheeljack leaped to the right, just before the stone was reduced to gravel. As he shielded his face from the debris, Wheeljack heard a very familiar, and annoying, cackle. 'I don't need three guesses to know who that is,' he said to himself as he spotted Cyclonus heading towards him.
"You can run, butchya can't hide, traitor," the helicopter chuckled as he opened fire on him. Transforming to car mode, Wheeljack dodged the strafing laser fire, but couldn't shake him. Reverting back to robot mode, Wheeljack grabbed one of his rifles and threw it towards Cyclonus. The rifle hit the Decepticon's rotor dead-on, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to the ground with metal-denting thud.
Wheeljack caught the weapon that came whirring back to him like a boomerang and called to the fallen Decepticon, "Hey, Blenderbutt, nice of you to drop in." Wheeljack was about to make his way back to the battlefield when a laser shot singed the exo-structure on his leg. He looked to the source and found Cyclonus trying to get up as his arm laser was aimed at him.
"You just made a big mistake, Wheeljack," Cyclonus said as he got to feet, and restarted his laser barrage.
Wheeljack just barely managed to avoid a shot to his shoulder as reached for his laser rifles, "No, Rotor-mouth, you did," and fired both simultaneously. Both shots hit their mark and Cyclonus was sent flying a good mile or two, "Guess I oughta thank Blurr for the marksmanship training," he said to himself as he took a moment to look at his weapons. Suddenly, he heard a call, looked up, and saw Megatron. Without really thinking about it, Wheeljack jumped back just before Megatron was about to descend on top of him, and felt a slight tremor when Megatron landed.
"I was beginning to wonder if you dared to show your face here," the Decepticon leader said with the deepest frown Wheeljack had ever seen as he summoned the Star Saber. Megatron charged toward Wheeljack with the sword ready for a downward strike and he brought it down with the intent to slice the former Decepticon in half. However, Wheeljack waited until the last possible moment to step aside, catching his former leader off guard, and threw in a cross-upper cut-sidekick combo. Megatron fell to the ground on his back, a little dazed for a minute and with dents, courtesy of Wheeljack, but otherwise not out. In fact, now he was really ticked off. After the two took a moment to just glare at each other, Megatron called out, "Thrust, throw me the Requiem Blaster."
"Yes, sir," Thrust called as he passed over in jet mode, and threw the gun to Megatron, who deftly caught it and aimed it straight at Wheeljack. Wheeljack barely succeeded in dodging the blasts and knew he couldn't keep it up much longer when he remembered he still had his laser rifles out. Out of what felt to be pure instinct, Wheeljack shot a blast from one of his guns, hitting Megatron's wrist, thus blasting the Requiem Blaster right out of Megatron's hand. Just when Wheeljack was about to fire another round, Megatron grabbed something from a compartment in his waist and threw what looked like a little metallic ball at his present combatant. As the ball flew, it unwound and expanded into a long tentacle that wrapped itself completely around Wheeljack's body, from his shoulders to his ankles, causing him to drop his laser rifles in the process. Losing his balance, Wheeljack fell onto his side with a grunt. With his quarry secure, Megatron walked to where he left the Star Saber, and pulled it out of the ground. Wheeljack struggled against his restraint to free himself as he tossed and turned from one side to the other; if Megatron were in a better mood, he would've found it rather amusing to watch Wheeljack try in vain to escape and wiggling around like a worm as he approached him. When he reached him, Megatron took a moment to give Wheeljack another glare that would've killed him on the spot if it were a weapon. Wheeljack stopped squirming when Megatron's shadow casted over him and looked up, waiting for he-didn't-know-what. Megatron bent over, grabbed the coil closest to Wheeljack's feet, and, with a yell, threw the bot toward the leftside of a ravine. Wheeljack hit the cliffside real hard and tumbled down to the bottom, crashing and bumping into a lot of edges along the way. He let out a loud, harsh gasp from having the wind knocked out of him when he fell to the ground. As Wheeljack lay there, gasping for air, Megatron approached him, and kicked him towards the center of the path leading into the ravine. Wheeljack knew Megatron wanted him dead, but right now he was torturing him--he wanted him to suffer for rejoining the Autobots. Megatron once again approached Wheeljack and placed the very tip of the sword on his throat, causing Wheeljack to, upon instinct, instantly freeze.
"I promised you that when we next met I would destroy you, Wheeljack," Megatron said in a low and dangerous voice, "Did you really think you could escape my wrath that easily?"
"The thought . . . crossed my mind," Wheeljack replied as he continued his struggle against his bonds.
"Don't even bother trying to escape," said Megatron, "You know that that's a Restraining Coil; it immediately immobilizes it's target by tightly wrapping itself around it. Once you're caught, there's no hope of breaking free on your own." Wheeljack knew Megatron was right. He also knew that the only ways to get free from the device was when either a release signal was sent to the Coil's main control panel, or a special laser was used to cut through it. Megatron renewed the pressure on Wheeljack's neck and placed his right foot on the bot's chest to hold him still. He clasped the sword's hilt with both hands and rose it toward his right side in a swooping motion, watching the fear build up in Wheeljack's optics. "I'll have your head as a personal trophy, TRAITOR!" he roared as he prepared to bring the sword down. Wheeljack turned his head and shut his optics tight, waiting for the death blow to come--but it didn't. He opened one optic and was quite surprised to find Megatron a few yards away from him, on the ground, and groaning in pain.
"This a private party, or can I join in?" a familiar voice asked.
"Scavenger!" Wheeljack called as he turned his head towards his backside in an upward angle to discover the light green and purple mech sliding down a slope that lead into the ravine.
"Hang on, kid," said Scavenger when he reached his young comrade, "I'll have you out fast," then, with Rollbar attached, he activated his Dozer Cannon. "Lucky for you my Dozer Cannon's equipped with the same frequency of the type of laser needed to cut through that thing," Scavenger informed Wheeljack as the laser cut through the coil like a knife through semi-warm butter.
"Thanks, big guy," said Wheeljack as the mech offered a hand and helped the young mech up to his feet, and the two climbed back up the ravine to join their comrades. They just managed to get over the edge when Megatron woke up.
'What hit me?' he asked himself as he rubbed the back of his head. He started to remember being hit by a powerful laser blast just when he was about to kill Wheeljack, "Wheeljack!" he gasped, and looked over to where he left off. Seeing only the empty remains of the Restraining Coil, the Decepticon growled in frustration and punched at the ground, leaving a small crater. "I'll get him next time," he said as calmed down a bit, there was a Minicon to be found and he had to get back to the battle.
The battle for the latest Minicon continued, neither side willing to give in. However, while trying to dodge a laser, Demolisher tripped over a rock. He managed to avoid the laser, but he also discovered the Minicon, he picked it up, and called, "Megatron, I've got the-ow!" only to have it shot out of his hand by Blurr.
"Jetfire, catch it!" Blurr called to the Autobot second-in-command.
"Got it," said Jetfire as he caught the panel.
"Decepticons, retreat," Megatron commanded, and all of the Decepticons warped out--all except for himself as he hid behind a giant rock pillar. "But, before I go," he whispered to himself, "I'll take this opportunity to get rid of a little pest," and he aimed his hip cannon at Sideswipe, who was on top of a cliff. Wheeljack noticed the cannon's barrel peeking out from the pillar out of the corner of his optic, recognized it as Megatron's, and saw that it was aimed right at Sideswipe.
"Sideswipe, look out!" Wheeljack shouted as he pushed the blue mech out of the way--only to be shot himself. Everyone felt nothing but shock at what they were seeing; it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. The shot had hit Wheeljack a little off center of his back, leaving a really nasty wound that nearly took out his entire left side. Gasping and optics wide, Wheeljack fell to the ground on his back with a crash.
"NOOOOOO!" shouted Hotshot, who ran to the cliffside and started scaling it. Within moments, he reached the top and ran to his old friend's side.
"Well," Megatron smiled as he watched, "It's a bit of a shame that I won't get to have even a finger to take back as trophy, still everything turned out alright," and he warped out, but not before he was spotted by Jetfire.
"Megatron," he growled under his breath, "you're gonna pay for that, big time." Back on the cliffside, Hotshot gathered Wheeljack's upper torso as gently as he could into his right arm while he held his head in his left hand.
"Take it easy, buddy, you're gonna be alright," he said quietly, more to comfort himself than anything else.
Groaning, Wheeljack turned his head to face Hotshot, "Hotshot," he said weakly, "I'm . . . s-so . . sorry . . . for all the trouble I caused you . . . when I arrived on Earth." That's when it hit Hotshot, the answer to what was bothering Wheeljack after he rejoined the Autobot team--he still felt bad about what he did to him when they first saw each other on Earth.
However, that didn't matter right now, "Don't talk," was all he could say. Meanwhile, behind Hotshot was Sideswipe with mouth agape and optics wide, he sat where he fell after Wheeljack pushed him in complete and utter shock, staring at the fallen mech.
'I . . don't . . believe it,' he said to himself as scenes from over the past few weeks started flashing in his head, 'After what I've done . . after how I accused him, he still took the fall for me.'
"Wheeljack," said Hotshot, bringing Sideswipe out of his daydream and, getting on his feet, he managed to get a look at Wheeljack's face. The mech's optics were flickering and starting to dim, not a good sign. "Wheeljack, hold on buddy," Hotshot begged, "Please, Wheeljack, you're gonna make it, just don't die on me, don't give up."
"Autobots, return to base," Optimus commanded with a heavy, sad voice, and the group warped out of the area. This was a troublesome victory for them. They'd won the latest Minicon, but were in danger of also losing a comrade.
Red Alert was waiting for the gang back at the base and wasted no time in having Wheeljack brought to the Repair Bay and getting to work on his latest patient. As the medic worked frantically to stabilize Wheeljack, the remaining Autobots and the kids watched from the observation deck. No one could take their eyes off of the operation that was going on below them. "Hey, do you think Wheeljack will be ok?" asked Fred.
"I'm pretty sure everything will turn out fine, Fred," said Rad.
"Wheeljack's tough," Billy agreed, "he'll be ok."
Alexis nodded, and Carlos spoke, "Yeah, Wheeljack will pull through, he . . he's got to." Finally, after working with various instruments and typing a lot of buttons, Red Alert breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing this, Optimus activated the com system.
"How's it going, Red Alert?"
"I've managed to stabilize his condition for now, sir."
"For now? You mean he could get worse?"
"Well, Megatron's laser did blast out a good chunk out of his side, plus he lost quite a bit of energon. A lot of the components are so badly damaged they'll have to be totally R & R'd."
"R & R'd?" asked Hotshot.
"'Removed and Rebuilt'," answered Red Alert, "Not only that, I'll have to rebuild his side from scratch, and even after all that, he's going to be in for a long recovery."
"Just do what you can, Red," said Prime, "We're counting on you."
Nodding, Red Alert got back to work.
Two hours after the group came back from Australia, it was getting dark outside and the kids headed home, the other Autobots got back to work on the spaceship, and Red Alert was still hard at work on Wheeljack. "C'mon, Wheeljack," said the medic, "I know you've had a rough life, but you can't give up, and don't you even think about giving up 'cause we won't let you, we haven't given up on you." It was getting late, and Red Alert was exhausted; as much as he didn't want to leave the job undone, Red Alert knew that he needed to get some rest, else he wouldn't even be able to do the job properly. After making sure that Wheeljack's condition was still stable, he walked through the doors, and found a rather tired Sideswipe leaning against the wall. This took him a bit by surprise. He thought all of the other Autobots had gone to their quarters for the night hours ago. "Sideswipe, what are you doing here at this time of night?" asked the medic.
"How's Wheeljack?" the rookie asked, "I couldn't sleep right without knowing."
After observing the look on the young mech's face, a look of sorrow and anxiety, Red Alert answered, "His condition hasn't changed, for better or for worse; he's still stable."
"Thanks," Sideswipe nodded, and headed down the hall with a tired medic behind him.
The next morning, while everyone worked on the spaceship, Red Alert worked where he left off on Wheeljack's repairs. The fact that Wheeljack's systems didn't crash during the period of the night gave him some relief, but he was not out of the woods yet, as the humans say. The morning was halfway over when Red Alert finished replacing Wheeljack's side, paint job and all. Now all that remained was for the patient to wake up and there was no telling when that was going to be. Walking up to the table where his comrade lay, the medic sighed, "I've done all I can for you old friend, the rest is up to you," and left the Repair Bay. Later, Red Alert returned to the Repair Bay to fetch a tool he forgot to bring with him, only to find Sideswipe at Wheeljack's bedside.
The young mech turned to face the medic, "Thought I'd come see how he's doing," he explained, and Red Alert nodded. Locating the tool he was looking for, he proceeded to the exit, then turned to Sideswipe when he noticed that the rookie didn't move.
"Aren't you coming to help with the ship, too?"
"Maybe later. I thought I'd stay here for a while, if that's ok?"
"Just don't disturb him."
"I won't, and thanks, Red."
Then, with a nod, Red Alert left the room. Sideswipe never came to help with the ship's construction, nor did he return to his quarters for the night, as Optimus discovered when he went to the observation deck to see Wheeljack and noticed that Sideswipe was still there, seated on a chair. Sideswipe remained by Wheeljack's side throughout the night and into the morning without even getting a wink of sleep because he was unable to power down. As he sat there, elbows on his legs and head down, he was so still he almost looked like a statue. Since he never left to even get energon, the others would offer to get him some when they were on their way to get some themselves. He hardly said a word to anyone, which was unlike his very talkative nature. Optimus tried to get him to get out of the room and do something active, for watching the usually hyperactive and cheerful Autobot so down was a depressing sight, but Sideswipe politely declined at every turn. Optimus figured that he knew why Sideswipe insisted on being at Wheeljack's side and, although he thought about telling the young mech that guilt was not going to help the situation, he still felt somewhat compelled to let Sideswipe do what he thought he needed to do, so he let him continue his vigil over their fallen friend. The kids dropped by to leave a 'get well' card they made and signed for their new friend. Once, during the third day since Wheeljack was incapacitated, Red Alert came by to check on Wheeljack's diagnostics, which hadn't changed much. As he was leaving, he paused and looked at Sideswipe, placed a comforting hand on the mech's shoulder, and quietly tried to reassure him, "He'll be ok". The only response he got was a nod, leaving the medic wondering if the rookie really believed him. The next day, during the afternoon, Hotshot stopped by. Even though he wouldn't admit it aloud, he was beginning to really miss the blue bot's company and was starting to get concerned about him.
"Hey."
"Hi, bro'."
"How's he doing?"
"No change."
"And, how about you?"
"To tell you the truth--miserable."
"Funny, from what I hear, that's all you've been for the past four days."
For a while there was a pause, then Hotshot couldn't take it anymore.
"Listen Sideswipe, no one's blaming you for what happened; it wasn't your fault."
Sideswipe clenched his fists.
"I can't help it, I . . I've been such an idiot for the past month or so."
Hotshot looked on with a question written on his face, then Sideswipe continued.
"I've been nothin' but a first class creep towards Wheeljack since the moment he arrived after he saved you from the Decepticons. I was so dead-set on not trusting him, just because of what happened when we first met. Man, how could I be so stupid!"
"Sideswipe?"
"I felt so sure that it was all a trick, so, since no one else was going to keep an eye on him, I did. If he did try something, I wanted to be ready. Optimus was right, everytime I saw Wheeljack do something that I thought was suspicious, I let my emotions get the best of me and attacked him, verbally and physically."
Suddenly, Sideswipe got to his feet so fast, he was a blur of blue, and punched the wall, surprising the heck out of Hotshot, who wasn't expecting that at all.
"What a jerk I've been," said Sideswipe, "I can't do anything right."
Walking up to his surrogate brother, Hotshot placed a hand gently on Sideswipe's shoulder, causing the young mech to look at him.
"That's not true, Sideswipe. Don't be so hard on yourself."
Sideswipe looked down at the floor as he removed his fist from where he punched the wall, leaving a good dent in it's wake.
"Sides, look at me," Hotshot commanded in a firm tone, and Sideswipe looked up to meet his 'brother's' face. "Like I said, no one's blaming you but yourself. What happened to Wheeljack back in Australia wasn't your fault, you know that."
"Yeah, I know it, but I don't believe it. I screwed up; I had no real reason to give Wheeljack such a bad time, and now we're gonna lose him."
"No we're not, Red Alert won't let him go without a huge fight first."
Another pause followed before Sideswipe broke the silence.
"I just wish I could make it up to him somehow, you know, at least get the chance to apologize and, maybe even a chance to start over."
"You will."
Hotshot stayed in the Repair Bay with Sideswipe, joining him in his vigil, for another half hour when he stretched.
"I think I'm gonna head to my quarters for the night, can I getchya anything?"
"Some energon would be nice."
Ten minutes later, Hotshot came back with a can for Sideswipe. "From what I've heard it's been a while since you had a decent recharge, maybe you should be heading back to your room, too," Hotshot commented as Sideswipe opened the can and took a sip.
"Yeah, maybe," Sideswipe agreed, though Hotshot had the nagging suspicion that the rookie wasn't going anywhere.
"Night, Sides."
"G'night, bro'."
Later that night, for the first time since Wheeljack was allowed visitors, Sideswipe found himself actually looking at him in the optics. He looked so still, so peaceful, Sideswipe could've sworn he was just recharging. "Wheeljack, wake up," he found himself pleading quietly to the fallen mech, as if he could hear him, "C'mon, buddy, you gotta wake up. There're some things I wanna tell you, so much I want to explain. But, most of all, I want to apologize." Silence settled in the room once more. Twenty-five minutes later, Red Alert came in to check on Wheeljack when he noticed Sideswipe sleeping in the chair where he sat. The rookie didn't even stir when the doors hissed open a second ago.
'Poor kid,' the medic said to himself with a sympathetic smile and a shake of his head. Deciding against his better judgement, he left Sideswipe alone to get some much needed rest and tended to Wheeljack as quietly as he could. When he was done, he left the room without a sound.
The next morning, Sideswipe found himself waking up and feeling a little groggy. At first, he wasn't sure where he was, until the memories from the night before started coming back to him. 'I must've dozed off in here,' he said to himself as he groaned and rubbed his optics when he heard another groan. Looking around the room, he located the source, "Wheeljack," and he trotted over to the table, "Can you hear me?"
His flickering optics starting to steadily glow blue, Wheeljack turned his head to where he thought he heard a voice, and saw the last person he thought he'd see by his bedside, "Sideswipe?"
"In the metal," Sideswipe replied with a smile.
"What happened and where am I?"
"You almost got your entire left side blasted out of you when took that shot from Megatron. You're in the ICU at the base."
"H-How long have I been out?"
"Four days."
As Sideswipe answered his questions, Wheeljack noted that there was patience in his voice and the dark tone was gone, but the one thing that he was the most perplexed about was the friendly smile on the rookie's face. This was not the same Sideswipe he remembered who, a few weeks ago, tried to take his head off when he thought he was implanting a bomb. He was about to ask something when the two bots heard the doors hiss open. "Well," Red Alert greeted, "nice to see that you decided to join your friends in the world of the living." Wheeljack would've chuckled at that, except, when he did, a jolt of pain erupted in his left side. "Sideswipe," Red Alert said to the rookie, "why don't you go spread the word that Wheeljack's awake while I check on his prognosis."
"Okey-dokey, Red," and Sideswipe took off out of the Repair Bay.
When the doors hissed closed, Wheeljack asked the medic, "Did that kid take a bonk to the head during our latest mission in Australia or something?"
Red Alert chuckled, "No, but he did take it pretty hard when you went down saving him." Slowly, but surely, Wheeljack started to remember as Red Alert looked over his systems.
"Yeah, Megatron's cannon was aimed right at him. I got to him and pushed him out of the way when I felt the blast in my backside. The next thing I remember is seeing Hotshot's face and then I blacked out again."
"Hmm-phmm, and after that, Sideswipe stayed by your bedside over the past few days."
"Really?"
Red Alert nodded and checked the scan of Wheeljack's internal structure that was loading onto the computer screen as a beam slowly went down the mech's body. Finally, the scan was loaded and the medic carefully studied the results on the screen.
"Hmm, it looks like you're out of the crisis point, but I 've got to admit, you sure gave all of us, especially Sideswipe, a good scare when you took that blast from Megatron."
"Believe me, Red Alert, I've been through worse."
"I'm sure you have, judging by that scar on your chest."
If Wheeljack had been human, he would've turned hot pink at that moment.
By that mid-morning, word of Wheeljack's awakening had spread throughout the base via Sideswipe. All of the Autobots visited Wheeljack either individually or in groups of two or three. Even the kids were glad to see that he was going to be all right. Although, out of all of his comrades, Sideswipe and Hotshot turned out to be Wheeljack's most frequent visitors while he was stuck in recovery for the next three days. During the course of these three days, another Minicon was discovered and Sideswipe had to join the recovery team. When he got back, he limped his way into the Repair Bay and Red Alert helped him onto a table. Apparently, the young mech took it upon himself to get back at a certain Decepticon leader for nearly killing Wheeljack and he amazingly succeeded--though not without taking a few 'licks' himself. "Well, it's not as bad as it looks, the damage is mostly just structural, but what you did back there had to be one of the craziest things I've ever seen you do, Sideswipe; you could've easily gotten yourself killed," the medic scolded as he grabbed the tools he would need to repair young mech, for he saw the whole thing via Laserbeak.
"Hey, chill out Red Alert," said Sideswipe with a cocky grin on his face, "it's just a scratch." However, as he tried to sit up, he only got as far as elbows when he felt a jolt of pain and he clutched his side with his right hand.
"Yeah, right," Red Alert sarcastically agreed, and got to work on Sideswipe's wounds. An hour later, Red Alert was done and ordered Sideswipe to rest up in the Repair Bay for the remainder of the day and left to report to Prime. Almost immediately, Sideswipe turned to face Wheeljack.
"Hey, Wheeljack."
"Yeah?"
"I . . I just want to say that I'm sorry. I've been a real jerk towards you ever since you joined the team. It's just . . I really wanted to believe that you were up to no good, and since you came here to kill Hotshot--. I guess the memory of being used as bait to lure Hotshot into that fire at the abandoned factory had hit me harder than I thought because when I saw you, all I could see was an enemy. I guess my emotions about that day got the best of me and that's why I couldn't trust you, let alone work with you. But, I promise, from now on things are gonna be different. So, I'm sorry for all of the trouble I caused you and the team."
"It's ok, really."
A short pause followed Wheeljack's acceptance of Sideswipe's apology. Then Wheeljack spoke up, breaking the rather peaceful quiet between the two, "Ta think, it took me nearly getting the crap blasted out of me to finally earn your trust." Sideswipe looked at him with an ambiguous look on his face, to which Wheeljack just smiled and chuckled. Finding the smile to be contagious, Sideswipe offered a smile and chuckle of his own. Pretty soon, the chuckles the two kept exchanging ended up turning into a good shared laugh. That is, until they both managed to regain some composure after half a minute or so.
"Yeah," said Sideswipe, picking up where their conversation left off, "I gotta admit, that was the last thing I expected you to do, what with all those things I said and all. Why did you do it?"
"We're a team, remember?" asked Wheeljack, "Teammates gotta look out for one another, right?"
"Right," Sideswipe agreed, "Thanks for saving me, Wheeljack."
"Heh, it was nothin'," replied Wheeljack, then, the two silently agreed that now would be a good time to get some sleep and powered down, unaware that they were being observed. Up in the observation deck, Hotshot, Jetfire, and Alexis, who was seated on Hotshot's shoulder, had seen the whole thing and were grinning at each other.
"Aww, I love happy endings," Alexis giggled.
"Yep, it almost makes me wanna shed a tear," said Hotshot.
"I'd say those two are gonna get along just fine, now," Jetfire agreed.
"Well, as much as I hate to, I should be getting home along with the boys," said Alexis as she looked at her watch. It was getting late in the day and her parents were going to wonder where she was if she didn't get home soon. Hotshot helped her down from his shoulder to the ground, and the girl ran down the hallway as she waved goodbye to her friends, who waved back.
The next morning, both Sideswipe and Wheeljack were given a clean bill of health from Red Alert, and the two of them went down to the bridge to help with the spaceship's construction. When Hotshot spotted Wheeljack working on installing a power circuit, he smirked as a thought came to his head. "Hey, Sideswipe," he called to his surrogate brother, "Ya sure you don't wanna pounce on Wheeljack over there, for all we know he could be installing a bomb." Sideswipe and Wheeljack looked at each other, then at Hotshot, and, the next thing Hotshot knew, he was being bombarded by tools that were being thrown at him, courtesy of the two mechs. Then, when he dared to look, he saw Wheeljack and Sideswipe coming at him, and he took off at a run.
"Grab that small laser, Sides, and set it on it's lowest setting," Wheeljack called to the mech behind him as he passed a counter with tools, and Sideswipe picked it up. Finally, Wheeljack tackled Hotshot to the ground, managed to get him turned onto his back, and pinned his bent arms to the floor. Sideswipe got on top of his 'brother', activated the laser, opened some panels on Hotshot's abdomen and sides, and placed the instrument inside. Then, Hotshot started laughing hysterically. If the laser were set on it's normal setting, it would cut through the wires in the bot's body, but, at it's lowest, it wasn't able to cut through anything; although, it was giving Hotshot a good 'tickle torture'.
"C-Cut it out you g-u-uys," Hotshot tried to talk as he laughed and continued struggling to get free, "That tickles."
"That's the whole idea," replied Wheeljack.
"Guys, help me!" Hotshot managed to call out, but the others were too busy laughing as they watched the show. "Stop!" Hotshot begged his torturers, "St-o-o-op i-i-it!" Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and somehow managed to wrestle his right hand out of Wheeljack's hand. He snatched the laser out of Sideswipe's hand, skidded it across the floor to the other end of the room, gently pushed the blue mech off of him, then turned and playfully tackled Wheeljack. In no time flat, the three bots were play-wrestling on the floor, with no real target in particular, except maybe Hotshot, pretty much laughing their head units off. The rest of the gang continued to watch the three grapple, unable to help but laugh themselves.
Optimus was the first one to calm himself down and he walked up to the trio, "Alright you three, break it up," he chuckled as he got the three bots to stop their little game, "You'll have time to roughhouse later, right now we've got a ship to complete."
"Yes, sir," said the three bots, who were still sitting or lying on the floor and grinning like 10-year old human boys. As they got back on their feet, everyone got back to their stations and to work. While he worked on his part of the ship, Wheeljack felt a great relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted off chest and conscience--he had finally earned Hotshot's forgiveness, and Sideswipe's trust, as well as the respect of all the Autobots and humans.
Please, tell me what you think.