Wheelie On Ice
...
The months passed by without mercy, only leaving behind their icy breeze and looming darkness. Winter had come, and the snow with it.
Instead of nice dresses, Aria wore sweaters and coats. Never daring to go outside without a scarf wrapped tightly from her chest to her nose. After the ocean incident, the cold felt especially nippy on her fingers and toes.
Azimuth and Zenith sported coats of their own, their fur having grown twice its length. Sirius only ventured outside for as long as he had to.
But this winter was different. This winter she had a friend. Even if he denied it.
Occasionally the other Autobots would show up as well. Sideswipe and Bumblebee mostly. Skidz and Mudflap even came once, but Ironhide showed up shortly after and threatened to blow up their afts if they ever returned, whatever those were. That's when she found out Optimus didn't know about her covert operation.
"I thought you said you'd ask Optimus"
"I decided against it. The military watches him too closely. Even with his consent, it's a risk."
"But you told Sideswipe and Bee?"
"They may be rash, but they're not naive."
"How did Skidz and Mudflap find out then?"
Ironhide crossed his arms, looking away. "They followed me."
Aria had laughed a little too hard at that one.
Opera rehearsals were going well. Every Sunday Ironhide would show up to give her a ride there and back. Sometimes he would come early, and sometimes he'd stay after. Sometimes he had to leave right away.
It was strange, he never finished that story about the Constructicons, nor ever told a war story again.
In fact, he seemed to ignore the topic all together.
The phone rang, rousing Aria from her half sleep. She rolled over and grabbed it, squinting at the small display. Lennox.
"Hello?" she said loudly, trying to hide the sleepiness from her voice.
"Aria. This is Colonel Lennox."
"Yeah, I know you."
There was a pause.
"What's up?" she added, rubbing her eyes.
"We need you down at the base in an hour."
"Huh, why?"
"I'll tell you when you get here. A ride will be arriving shortly."
"Ah, okay?"
After a terse goodbye and a voice in the background, Lennox hung up.
Aria just finished dressing before the sound of an engine purred through the widows. It wasn't the deep rumble of Ironhide, or the rowdy rasp of Bumblebee. It was smooth, not too loud, but loud enough. Sideswipe.
When Lennox said a ride, she'd expected a military escort, or even a taxi, not an Autobot. And speaking of Autobots, why wasn't Ironhide the one to pick her up?
Guess it really didn't matter.
"Hey Sideswipe, can't say I've seen you for a while." Aria greeted while the sleek car opened its door for her.
"Did you miss me?" The Corvette's voice came off smug.
Aria hummed. "Maybe if you came around more often, I wouldn't have to."
"Not all of us can sneak off the base like Ironhide."
This was news to her. "Why?"
"He's the only one they're afraid will actually blow it up when he gets angry."
"Everyone says that, but I haven't really seen him angry. Annoyed, sure, but not angry."
Angry Ironhide was a scary image. Just the way he talked normally was intimidating, well it had been at first. Turned out, that was just how he spoke.
"Well today might be your lucky day, little lady."
"Why? What's the special occasion?" Aria asked once they took off.
The radio snickered. "It's a surprise."
Surprises were one thing, but Autobot surprises were a completely different story. Aria squirmed in the sporty seat. Her coat made it hard to get comfortable in the small interior. All kinds of scenarios popped into her mind.
"Am I in trouble?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I get a call first thing in the morning to come to a top secret base with no explanation. Seems pretty suspicious to me." She kept her tone light. "So are you going to erase my memory or put me in prison?"
"That depends, is there one you would prefer?" Sideswipe shot back.
Well that was an obvious one. "How long would the sentence be?"
"Wow, I didn't know you liked us that much!"
She leaned her head back and sighed.
Prison would suck, but never knowing the Autobots? Way worse. Life would go back to being the way it was, no friends, no spontaneous visits from beings from a far away planet. No Ironhide to make fun of her.
"Yeah, I do," she finally answered. "I would do anything but forget."
She looked out the tinted window as the cars and buildings passed by in a blur. Skyscrapers in the distance blocked the horizon. It was almost ten AM.
The radio broke her train of thought. "Woah didn't mean for you to get all serious there, I was just joking."
"Well then stop making me think so hard!" Aria laughed. Nothing bad was going to happen. Sideswipe wouldn't be joking around if that was the case, right?
...
Entering the base, Aria was greeted by Colonel Lennox.
His mouth was pulled into a tight line. "Aria," he said simply and gestured her to follow.
She swallowed. Maybe she was in trouble.
Beyond him were the Autobots who stood around the bridge. Most of them looked down towards her. Skidz and Mudflap were the only two that didn't look like an important meeting was about to take place.
Something important that she was a part of. And something that Ironhide wasn't going to be happy about.
Said Autobot stood beside Optimus, his arms crossed. His sharp blue gaze glaring off into the distance.
Skidz nudged Mudflap. "Hey, she looks like the Colonels kid, all dressed up like that."
"Yeah, one of those marshmallow things!" Mudflap enthusiastically replied.
Yes, she was dressed up for the next ice age, but there was nothing worse than being cold. She took her gloved hands out of her puffy coat and loosened her scarf from around her face.
"Marshmallows, the strange gelatinous white things made of sugar that humans consume even though it negatively affects their blood glucose?" Ratchet was the only one to acknowledge the pair.
"Those breadsticks are like crack!" Played a female voice from Bumblebee's radio as he nodded.
"This is an official meeting, so let's start acting like it." Lennox moved back to the main area where a tall rail platform now stood.
The sound of Sideswipe transforming came from behind Aira. He joined the other Autobots a few steps away from Ironhide who had not so much as moved since she arrived.
It wasn't until she came to a stop that a small blue robot caught her eye. It sat on the ground not far from Lennox.
Wait, he was the little runt from back at the museum!
Mikaela had told her his name was Wheelie along with a story that included mouse traps and torching his eye. He must have heeled or been fixed since then, both his buggy red eyes looked fine now.
He looked up at her, unimpressed. "So this is the chick, huh?" His voice grated against the silent backdrop.
"Aria this is Wheelie, he's going to be your new uh," Lennox looked at the Prime briefly, "guardian." He scratched his head looking embarrassed.
Aria could only let out an unintelligent noise looking between the small alien and the Colonel. "Didn't Mikaela catch him and put him in a box?"
"Look, Aria. It's come to my knowledge that some of the Autobots have been going out to your place and transforming. Without my permission." His eyes never left hers. "What I should have done was cut off all contact, because both you and them have gone against military orders straight from the Sec Def," he paused. "But I also know that's it's ridiculous to not give the Autobots any freedom outside of the base."
Lennox looked up to Optimus who nodded. They must have come up with the idea together.
Optimus' gaze turned to her. "Because any contact with us puts you at risk, you need a guardian."
"I still don't trust him," Ironhide growled and turned his hardened gaze from Optimus down to the tiny Cybertonian who shrunk at the attention.
"He has done nothing to make us doubt," Optimus sounded like he challenging Ironhide.
"One of us should be protecting her, not this piece of scrap." Ironhide turned to fully face his superior.
"You know that's impossible. It would raise too much suspicion. She does not have a license or own a vehicle" Optimus replied, unfazed by Ironhide's harsh tone.
"He is a Decepticon."
Optimus gave Ironhide a lingering look. "He has changed sides. I do not understand why you fail to see that."
"He has nothing to gain by joining us. His presence would only put a larger target on her back. He could lead them right to her. He's a spy. He doesn't have the capacity to be anything more."
"You don't give him enough credit. We all have the capacity to change, Ironhide." Optimus's tone dropped. "You know that."
Ironhide stepped closer to Optimus, chest to chest. "Do not," his words died.
"Ironhide," Lennox's voice broke the sudden silence. "You're excused."
Ironhide turned away from Optimus. His optic eyes swept over Lennox, to Wheelie, then settled on her.
"It'll be fine," Aria found herself saying. To reassure him?
The metal that made up his face twisted into an expression of rage. "You place your trust on a Decepticon?"
It took all that she had to keep her voice firm. "He's not."
His eyes narrowed into an intense blue glare. "Whose side are you on?"
"Ironhide!" Lennox repeated.
Ironhide huffed, loudly transforming into his alt form and flying past her and out of the base.
Everyone except Wheelie took a collected breath. The tension lifted from the stifling air.
Aria just stood. Sideswipe had been right. Ironhide was terrifying when he was angry. Even more so when it was directed at her. He was wrong to distrust Wheelie just because he had once been a Decepticon. Jetfire had made that clear. Anyone could be capable of anything if they tried.
A wolf whistle broke the silence. Everyone looked over to Skids. "Awe, look at dat, he like little squishy!"
"I know, we'll be her guardians!" Mudflap gestured to himself and Skids. They then both made crude heroic poses and encouraged each other.
"I really don't think Ironhide would like that any better," Lennox said, rubbing his eyes.
Optimus, Sideswipe and Bumblebee nodded in agreement.
She threw the twins an unconvincing smile. "I'll stick with Wheelie."
...
Aria and Wheelie stepped out of Sideswipe's alt form after arriving back at her house that afternoon.
The rest of the meeting had been uneventful, with no sign of Ironhide's return. Lennox went over the basics of having an Autobot guardian and had her sign more paperwork. It was pretty straight forward. Don't talk about him and don't let anyone see him. Who knew?
Wheelie himself had to sign some papers. Apparently, he couldn't let himself be discovered, and could only venture off the property in alt form with Aria nearby.
Lennox told her that Wheelie did have an attitude, but was indeed loyal to the Autobots.
Wheelie had gone through interrogations by both humans and Autobots for months. He then aided the Autobots in a few missions that had a high probability of him defecting back to the Decepticons to save himself from danger. He also gave the military locations of many hiding Decepticons and long forgotten Seekers like Jetfire.
"Thanks for the ride, Sideswipe." Aria waived to the reversing Autobot. Wheelie gave a half hearted wave as well. The Corvette revved in response while rolling out of sight behind the trees. At least the neighbors hadn't said anything about the unusual traffic.
Aria turned to go back to the house. Her feet crunching in the snow. Stupid winter.
There were no other fresh tire tracks in the snow which meant Ironhide had not come.
Of course he didn't. He was mad at her.
"Wow, nice place. Way better than that crazy broad's apartment."
"So her and Sam broke up?" Aria questioned.
The tiny robot marched through the snow. For him, it was probably pretty deep. He seemed to have decent traction though, despite his wheel feet.
"Yep, that's why I'm here. Kid's in College and she freaked and kicked me out."
Aria gave an "ah" in response as they climbed the steps to her front door. As soon as she opened it, Sirius bolted out and jumped on Wheelie, catching an arm in his jaw and shaking the robot.
"Sirius no!" she shouted over the screaming Autobot. "Sirius!" she commanded again when the dog hesitated to respond.
One the second command the Doberman released Wheelie and sat between him and Aria looking fully alert.
"What in the hell!" Wheelie screeched. "Do all you crazy woman have giant mutts?!"
Oh yes, Aria did recall Mikaela mentioning she had a Mastiff at some point. "Sorry Wheelie, it didn't even cross my mind that he would attack you." She smiled innocently at him.
"Yeah sure. Whatever you say, kid." Wheelie's eyes didn't leave Sirius.
They entered the warm house while Sirius remained outside to do his business for the time being. Wheelie immediately rushed away to explore his new home while Aria removed layers of outerwear by the coat rack.
Staticky hair stuck to her face. Patting it down she glanced at the floor, only to see wet tracks trailing into her kitchen.
"Oh my god, I just cleaned the floor!" she yelled loud enough for Wheelie to hear from wherever he went.
No answer. What was that damn robot doing? She followed the tracks up the stairs. He wasn't in the upstairs bathroom or the guest bedroom. That only left her room. If that little shit was snooping through her things, he was staying in Sirius's dog house!
Aria pushed open the door and marched in. There in the middle of her bed, lying on her white blanket, was Wheelie. He had his hands behind his head propped up on her pillows looking a little too comfortable.
"I'm liking this place, mind if I crash here?" he asked casually.
Aria could only blink. Maybe she should have gone for Skids and Mudflap. At least they couldn't violate her peaceful home. The shock passed.
"Get out of my room!" she shrieked, pointing out the door. Not the most intelligent comeback she's come up with, but the rudeness of this Autobot was…unreal. No wonder Mikaela kicked him out. Did the thing even know was boundaries were?
Wheelie jumped up and out of her bed instantly at the harsh sound of her voice. "Okay, okay!"
The little robot transformed into a toy monster truck and whizzed out of the room with the high-pitched whine of his tiny motor. She adjusted her glasses when she heard Wheelie half drive, half fall down the stairs. At least he didn't get her bed dirty.
While she made her way back down the stairs, a gasp came from the living room. Wheelie was by the couch looking at something in horror.
"What is it now?" She walked around the couch to see what he was looking at.
Wheelie stared at the blue orb on her side table. "Are you going to kill me?"
"What? Why?" She looked between it and the Autobot.
"You have a spark on display in your living room!"
"Oh that? Why, what's a spark?"
Now that he mentioned it, the word did sound familiar. Did one of the other Autobots mention it in the past? Perhaps it was Ironhide during one of his stories.
"It's our life force, our soul!" It was Wheelie's turn to look at her like she was the insane one.
Oh.
She had the equivalent of a human heart sitting on her table. It made sense now, Jetfire pulled it out of his own body before sacrificing himself.
"Do I bury it?" she asked, looking out the large window behind the side table. She could see Sirius frolicking in the snow.
"Yeah," Wheelie looked up at her. "Who does it belong to anyway?"
"The glorious Jetfire" Aria found herself smiling at the thought of grandpa Blackbird.
"Holy crap."
...