Chapter 9: Whirl's Triumphant Return


A.N. I must apologize that this chapter took so long to get here. I've been busy with moving into a new apartment that I just haven't found the time for it. No matter, it's here now, so enjoy.


Meanwhile, on Cybertron, Optimus and Magnus were convening with the rest of the Autobot High Council, who consisted of Optimus' lover, Elita One, war veteran Ironhide, former Wreckers Topspin and Twintwist, and cityspeaker Windblade, in the High Council Chambers for Whirl's trial. Magnus, needless to say, was pretty somber about having to try his own "niece" for a crime she may not have even committed. Optimus obviously noticed this, and he made an effort to try and comfort his friend.

"I know this is difficult for you to bear, Magnus." he said. "But I still have the hope that new evidence will come to light that could prove Whirl Jr. is indeed innocent. After all, no matter how bleak the circumstances may be, there is always hope."

"You're right, Prime." Magnus agreed.

Just then, a guard came in.

"There's three bots here who want to speak with you." the guard said. "They say it's urgent."

Optimus looked at Magnus and the rest of the High Council, and they all exchanged a nod.

"Show them in." said Optimus.

The guard nodded and went on his way. Soon, Wedge, Strongarm, and Laserbeak came in. Laserbeak's appearance caused initial alarm from Elita, Ironhide, Topspin, Twintwist, and Windblade, but that quickly subsided when Optimus informed them of the former Decepticon's reformation into an Autobot and pointed out the Autobot insignia on Laserbeak's head.

"Now that that's out of the way, what is this urgent matter that brings you here before us?" asked Elita.

"We're here with evidence that proves Whirl's innocence." said Strongarm.

Strongarm then turned to Wedge.

"Wedge, care to do the honors?" she asked.

"Don't mind if I do." said Wedge. "Laserbeak, show Optimus and the others what you showed us."

Laserbeak nodded, and then he displayed the incriminating evidence he had gathered against Wrangle and the twins to Optimus and the High Council. As the older bots watched the footage, they all became angered at what they were seeing. Magnus was the most angered.

"This is an outrage!" he growled as he slammed his fists at his seat. "I move that we drop the charges against Whirl Jr. immediately!"

"So be it." Optimus agreed with a nod. "All in favor of this motion, raise your hands."

Optimus, Magnus, Elita, Ironhide, Topspin, Twintwist, and Windblade all raised their hands.

"All who oppose this motion, raise your hands." Optimus then said.

This time, nobody raised their hands.

"Then it's unanimous." Optimus nodded in affirment. "As of now, the charges against Whirl Jr. are dropped. I will order her release at once, and I shall see to it that the true culprits do not escape punishment for this."

Wedge, Strongarm, and Laserbeak reacted jubilantly to this news as Optimus turned on his comm.

"Hello, Kup? This is Prime." he said. "I have new orders for you."

Meanwhile, at the prison she was being held at awaiting her trial, Whirl was sitting in her cell, feeling very sorry for herself.

"I guess this is it for me, then..." Whirl sighed. "I'll probably be found guilty and sent to prison for the rest of my life, and I'll never get to see the other bots at the Academy again, especially Hot Shot...neither will I get to see my Papa ever again..."

Just then, Whirl noticed Kup approaching her cell. She was quick to notice that Kup had a friendly smile on his face.

"Kup?" Whirl asked. "What's going on?"

"Good news for you, Whirl Jr." said Kup as he stopped in front of the cell door. "You're off the hook. The High Council dropped the charges against you."

Whirl could not believe what she just heard.

"Seriously?!" she gasped.

"Yep." Kup nodded.

Kup then reached for the door control panel and pressed the button that unlocked the door. This was immediately followed by him pressing the button that opened the cell.

"You're free to go." Kup then said.

Whirl could not have been any happier, and she immediately walked out of the cell and into the prison lobby, where Wedge, Strongarm, and Laserbeak were waiting. Whirl immediately ran to them and shared a hug with them.

"Whirl, I am so sorry for believing you were the thief..." Wedge then said with a sigh.

"We'll worry about that later." said Whirl, whose cheerful smile had now turned into a bitter frown. "For now, it's time we brought the real thieves to justice."

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, Wrangle and the twins were watching the timer on the remote counting down and the Academy. The current time on the clock said detonation was in thirty minutes. The twins had grabbed hold of Hot Shot.

"Only half an hour now." Wrangle said with an evil grin. "In half an hour, that building will go ka-boom!"

"Not if my Mom and Chase can deactivate it in time!" Hot Shot replied.

"Well, they're going to have a hard time trying." Wrangle went on. "The bomb can only be deactivated by means of a code. Only I know this code."

"Then you're just going to have to give it to us." said a familiar voice.

At that moment, as Hot Shot, Wrangle, and the twins watched with amazement, Whirl, Strongarm, Laserbeak, and Wedge stepped through a Space bridge portal. Kup was also with them, with an entourage of four Autobot soldiers accompanying him.

"Whirl!" Hot Shot gasped. "You're back!"

"I sure am." Whirl replied confidently.

Wrangle, needless to say, was at a total loss for words at this.

"How is this possible?!" he gasped.

"I can answer that." replied Kup. "Once Whirl Jr. and her friends here showed the High Council the evidence proving her innocence in stealing the Matrix, they dropped the charges and ordered her release."

Wrangle couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No...no!" he cried. "This can't be!"

"Oh, yes it can." said Whirl. "Now, give us the code!"

"And what makes you think I would willingly give up the code that easily?" scoffed Wrangle.

"How about that?" asked Strongarm.

Strongarm pointed to two of the four Autobot soldiers, who had grabbed the twins and were placing them into stasis cuffs.

"You better listen to them, Wrangle." said Blitzkrieg.

Rippounder just nodded.

"Well, alright." said Wrangle. "But, there is one small catch."

"And that is?" asked Whirl.

Wrangle then transformed into his jet mode.

"You have to catch me first!" he cackled.

Wrangle then zoomed off into the sky. Whirl transformed into her helicopter mode and took after him, followed by Hot Shot in his own jet form. Despite the injuries he received during his fight with Wrangle in the previous chapter, Hot Shot had still somehow managed to make a full transformation into jet mode.

"This isn't funny anymore, Wrangle!" Whirl cried out to her former friend as they zoomed through the sky. "Give us the code right now or be guilty for the murder of sixteen bots!"

"I'd much rather prefer the second one!" Wrangle replied. "Nobody interferes with my plans and lives to tell the tale! Besides, it's already too late! Very soon, the bomb will detonate!"

Just then, Hot Shot spotted something.

"Pull up!" he shouted.

Hot Shot and Whirl pulled up. Wrangle, who was oblivious to what Hot Shot had spotted, noticed.

"What's the matter, groundpounders?" he mocked. "Not giving up already, are you?"

"A. Don't call us that." said Whirl. "B. Seriously, pull up!"

"Why?" asked Wrangle. "What's there to avoid crashing into?"

He found out soon enough, because he suddenly spotted a flock of seagulls in flight.

"Oh, scrap!" he cried.

Wrangle tried to avoid hitting the seagulls, but one of the seagulls got its tail caught in one of Wrangle's wing fans, sending the young Decepticon plunging downward. Luckily, they were over a lake at the time, so rather than crashing and burning on the dry ground, Wrangle crashed into the lake with a mighty splash. Hot Shot and Whirl landed on the shoreline and transformed back into robot mode. Soon, Wrangle emerged from the water, himself in robot mode. He quickly looked at his remote, and he noticed that it had sustained major water damage to the point where it was no longer operable, hinted by the timer screen now being blank, and the device itself was emitting sparks.

"Dammit!" Wrangle growled.

Wrangle then turned towards the lake and hurled the remote into the water. Whirl used this to her advantage and slapped some stasis cuffs on him.

"Your plans are over, Wrangle." she said. "You're under arrest."

Wrangle just shook his head in disgust and defeat.

"So, Wrangle, now will you give us the code?" Hot Shot then asked.

Wrangle let out a frustrated grunt, signifying that he had finally acknowledge that he had no choice but to give in.

"Fine." he said. "You want the code? Here it is. 2-1-8-1-2."

"Thank you." said Hot Shot.

Hot Shot then called Quickshadow on his comm and gave her the code.

"Thank you, Hot Shot." said Quickshadow.

"No problem, Mom." replied Hot Shot.

Meanwhile, at the Griffin Rock Firehouse, all the bots were anxiously waiting with Chief Burns and his family. When the Burnses had heard about the bomb and everything Wrangle and his friends had done, they were all shocked and angered about it.

"Why would they do such things?!" Cody cried out.

"Yeah, I know, right?" agreed Kade. "Sheesh, and I thought I was an asshole at times..."

"I'm just more scared about the bomb..." said Hoist.

"Don't worry, buddy." said Bumblebee. "Chase and Quickshadow are working as fast as they can."

"Tell that to Heatwave." scoffed Kade.

Kade gestured his thumb at Heatwave, who was frantically pacing back and forth, thinking about what his wife and second-in-command were doing.

"I do hope they can get that bomb deactivated in time..." Heatwave sighed. "I just don't think I can make it without her. And poor Hot Shot. If the bomb does go off and Chase and Quickshadow die during it, Hot Shot won't even have a mother, and he'll be more upset than me..."

Just then, Heatwave heard his comm chirp, and he answered. Although they couldn't hear his caller's voice, the other bots noticed Heatwave becoming more relaxed. Finally, he turned to face them with a wide smile on his face.

"Who was it, Heatwave?" asked Graham.

"It was Chase." Heatwave replied. "He was just giving me the all clear. The bomb has been successfully deactivated and is being properly disposed of by means of sending it to the Island of Misfit Tech as we speak."

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Does this mean we can go back to the Academy now?" asked Hoist.

"Well, I am." said Heatwave. "But the rest of you may stay if you want."

"Sounds good." nodded Boulder.

With that, Heatwave started making his way to the firehouse's Ground Bridge. As he went along his way, his then-relaxed expression tensed up to form one of pure scorn.

"I'm going to be having a long chat with Wrangle and his two buddies..." said Heatwave.

Elsewhere, Hot Shot, who had since been patched up from his injuries, Whirl, Wedge, Laserbeak, Strongarm, Kup, and Kup's troops were waiting at the Academy. Wrangle and the twins had been tied to some chairs with energon chains while still in stasis cuffs. Neither were happy about their current situation.

"Well, I guess this is the end of the road for us." said Blitzkrieg.

"Yep." nodded Rippounder. "With a capital "E", "O", "T", and "R"."

Wrangle, however, said nothing. He just sat there sulking in his seat and restraints.

"Great, just great." his mind told him. "Everything was going so smoothly until that stupid bird ratted me and my friends out! Oh, well. I guess there's nothing I can do about it now..."

End Of Chapter 9