AN: Hey everyone, sorry for making ya wait so long, but you know how it is, last week was Thanksgiving weekend, and then there's getting ready for that time of year that we all know and love, yeah I'm talking about Christmas, and well I just had to really work at it just to find time to write this. Anyways no worries though as the new chapter's here now and I'll try to have the next chapter up as quickly as possible so that you don't wait as long so enjoy! Oh and I've posted a teaser story for my next Gundam crossover story, not in this series but for another series that I plan on starting so please read that when you get a chance.

I don't own anything in either the Gundam or Transformers franchises.

Chapter 14: Wrecker Rumble

The desert is normally a rather desolate place where there is not much activity to be found, even on roadways which have been abandoned for some time, but today was a different story as a small squad of cars were apparently cruising along steadily. At least that was the case until a police car had sounded its siren causing the other vehicles to either slow down or move aside. The next thing anyone knew though, a large dump truck had started smashing its way through the moving vehicles and an arm extended from it to scoop up the others. Not a moment later, a large military helicopter had flown in and started firing on the remaining vehicles that the dump truck had missed or had remained untouched by the police car that was now ramming through some stragglers.

Watching all this from the side of the road, were three familiar faces of the Zala team, particularly those of Yzak, Nicol, and Jaylen. "Remind me again what the point of all this is," Yzak moaned, clearly preferring to be back in Orb with Dearka and Athrun. "I mean they're not even taking out actual targets so why do we even need to be here?"

Jaylen just sighed at how annoying Yzak's whining was starting to get as she replied, "Because Megatron asked us to. You got a problem with that silver scar?"

Nicol then intervened before the two got into another argument, silently wishing that he could have been back in Orb himself. "Megatron stated that the Decepticons would need to be able to take advantage of the forms that their alt modes give them so that they could be more effective for both themselves and for Z.A.F.T. on future missions so being able to fight without revealing their true forms too obviously is the first step. Since these three have forms that would normally be used for such missions and it's their first time on Earth, he asked us to help them with their training so that we can point out any flaws that would be a major blow to their cover."

Yzak just growled a bit in acknowledgement before he turned away with a huff. Jaylen simply crossed her arms, slightly disappointed that her chance to one up Yzak again was spoiled but at the same time grateful that Nicol had interrupted as they did need to concentrate on watching the three Decepticons at work in their training. They resumed watching the three until the small simulation ended and the vehicles other than the police car, dump truck, and helicopter all disappeared, and said three vehicles pulled up to park in front of them for their critiques.

Jaylen then felt the need to ask, "How much longer do you think it will be before someone finds out about this?"

"You do remember that this is Z.A.F.T. territory right," Yzak reminded her. "Even if the Naturals found out what we were doing they can't do anything. Besides it's not like they'd be able to figure out exactly what's going on here."

"I'm not talking about the Earth Forces silver scar," Jaylen retorted. "This may be out of their jurisdiction, but what about the Autobots? There hasn't really been any official word that they really are with the Earth Forces so what if they find out and show up here?"

"Then we would welcome the change and the challenge," the police car growled. "And when they do show up, they will wish that they hadn't, because they will face the wrath of…the Decimators!"

"Why are we out here in the middle of a massive sand trap again," Wheeljack asked grumpily as he drove along down an empty roadway in vehicle mode with Hound and Bulkhead close behind him in a triangular formation in vehicle mode as well.

"Ratchet said that there were signs of Decepticon activity out here, namely on this roadway and he needed someone to investigate it," Bulkhead stated, trying to reason with his old friend. "And since it had been a while since the three of us had a mission as the old team, it seemed like something right up our alley."

"That and the fact that just about all the other Bots, including Prime, are currently either on Omega II repair duty or scouting out possible energon sources leaving us the only ones available for this," Hound added in a joking tone. "Plus I think the ol' Doc Bot was getting fed up with putting up with us being around and breaking all his stuff was a pretty big contributing factor."

"Well to be fair you guys did break half of the stuff in his toolbox just this morning alone," Mu's voice cut in from inside of Wheeljack.

"And why are you, four eyes, and scruffy here again," Wheeljack retorted, his mood clearly not getting any better.

"Well according to Ratchet," Murdoch called over the radio inside of Hound. "It was to give a few extra eyes that were of this planet and in case ya needed a human or two to run interference for you guys, but if ya ask me I think he was mostly just getting fed up with me and the commander buggin' him almost as much as you guys were. The kid on the other hand though well…"

"You could call me a victim of circumstances, but I think it was because Ratchet thinks having someone a bit more levelheaded, at least in his opinion, around would come in handy," Sai called from inside Bulkhead.

"Well it doesn't change the fact that this whole assignment frags," Wheeljack snapped. A moment later, the white, red, and green striped sports car revved his engine and raced off ahead of the others before they could stop him. While just about everything that they had all said was true, it did little to help the fact that Wheeljack had been in a bad mood since he got up that morning. Ratchet found himself losing more of his tools and saying what everyone had come to consider his catchphrase, "I needed that!", than he usually did that day. It did not take him long to figure out that the Wrecker in a foul mood was behind it, but before he could protest further the first few times Bulkhead had asked the medic to try and take it easy on Wheeljack that day, but he did not say why exactly.

Sadly, Ratchet's already thin patience with the Wreckers in general had its limits, and eventually Wheeljack did not just push him past those limits, he barreled through them. The three Wreckers did not need to be geniuses to figure out that Ratchet used the latest in a number of readings of Decepticon activity that had been coming from this desert as an excuse to get rid of all three of them for a while, along with Mu and Murdoch, the former of which seemed to actually enjoy annoying Ratchet almost as much as some of the Bots sometimes did.

Sai ended up coming along just because he was visiting on his own because his other friends were doing things to help out with the Archangel's repairs or whatever else they needed to be doing at the moment, and he was not lying when he said that Ratchet had considered him the most levelheaded out of all three of the humans that had been present at the time. After driving along in the desert for so long though, the fact that Wheeljack's mood had been getting more and more sour had all three humans more than concerned which prompted him to ask his current large, green ride, "Hey Bulkhead, what's wrong with Wheeljack?"

Bulkhead hesitated for a moment before he eventually let out a long sigh as he stated, "Jackie's gonna kill me for telling you guys this."

Mu had heard what Bulkhead said over his own headset that Ratchet had given to all the Autobots' new friends, and he quickly made sure that his brooding friend was unable to hear anything. When he was certain, he turned his attention back to the conversation, and the resulting story that Bulkhead had begun to share. "Today's actually not a day that Jackie likes to remember, because a few years back before we left Cybertron, on this exact day, Jackie lost the most important thing in his life cycle."

"What happened," Sai asked, suddenly feeling certain that this was one Wrecker tale that he would definitely not like.

Bulkhead took a deep breath as he continued. "Around a couple of years after he joined the Wreckers, Jackie met this femme named Glyph, and well he fell for her hard. She was one of the Bots in the unit that was directly under Elita One's command at the time, and she was hard core enough to be a Wrecker. Jackie was instantly helm over pedes for her when he first saw her, which was after he saved a small group in her unit single-handedly, but no matter what he said, Glyph was not impressed. Even so, as you've probably seen Jackie doesn't give up that easily and was more than determined to get her to go on at least one date with him. It wasn't until she ended up being transferred to the Wreckers, making her the first femme on the Wreckers that she said yes. After that, the two of them had an…interesting relationship to say the least. Some days it was hard to tell if they were together or not given how their arguments sometimes got, but even so no one could deny that they had a thing for each other. Eventually, Jackie decided to take the big step and propose, but before he could, the Wreckers received an assignment that led them into a faceoff with what some Bots called the Decepticon countermeasure to the Wreckers, the Decimators."

"Like the Wreckers, the Decimators handle more high risk missions for the 'Cons and they have been known for making sure that there was usually nothing left of whoever they fought against. The worst thing of all is that if a Bot does survive an encounter with the Decimators, they usually end up changed forever, and not in a good way."

"Yeah I remember that day all too well," Hound cut in, adding his two cents. "Those fragging Decimators ambushed us as soon as they had the chance, and we all had to give it everything we had. Most of the fight was a blur for us but whenever we think back to it we remember it being nothing less than a brutal brawl that you would expect from savage animals. Wheeljack did more damage to them than any of us, but once the battle was over, we thought we had them running off like cowards, but that was before we took notice of the number of casualties we had taken from that battle."

"And among those casualties was Glyph," Bulkhead finished. "Jackie broke down completely. To this day, I have never seen Jackie more shattered than he was back then. Ever since, Wheeljack had sworn to not get as close to anyone as he had Glyph ever again and went more lone wolf on even the Wreckers, which led to some of his most notable accomplishments. It was a long time before we got Jackie to at least let go of it a little, but even so, every year when this time comes around he can't help but remember what had happened to Glyph, or the fact that he swore on her life that he would bring down the Con who took her from him."

As Bulkhead finished his story, Mu and Murdoch found themselves agreeing with Sai's earlier sentiment on this being a Wrecker story they would not like. They had all considered Wheeljack to be one of the toughest, and yet most easygoing Autobots there was, and to hear that he went through something so horrible gave them all a lot to think about in reference to the sword wielding Autobot.

Being the one who was actually riding with Wheeljack, Mu found himself in a rather awkward position, because now he wanted to try and do what he could to cheer Wheeljack up but he was not sure how to do so. He had not forgotten how he tried to make the people of Tassil feel better and ended up putting his foot in his mouth as he got everyone upset with him. Still he felt he should say something to Wheeljack, but at the same time he knew that if he said the wrong thing it could make things worse. How do I get myself into these situations, the commander ended up thinking to himself.

Everyone was soon brought out of there musings though when the Autobots' sensors all started going off, indicating that a team of Decepticons was nearby. "Wheeljack, do you see anything from where you are," Hound called out.

"Not yet," Wheeljack answered. "But to be on the safe side, I'm gonna move to cover and get some higher ground just to be safe."

"Roger that, we'll be right behind you in a moment."

With that said, everyone quickly moved to a cliff top and made their way to the edge of said cliff as they started to scope out the area, with the Wreckers now in robot mode. As they surveyed the area, Mu, Sai, and Murdoch saw something through the binoculars that Mu had brought along with him. Not wanting to raise alarm unless it was necessary, he zoomed in on the point and saw the familiar sight of Z.A.F.T. red uniforms. "Hey guys, we've got Z.A.F.T. soldiers in the area over that way," Mu alerted them.

Everyone looked in the direction that Mu had indicated and saw the three Z.A.F.T. soldiers sitting on the side of the road, but there was something strange about the whole thing. A matter Bulkhead voiced for them as he wondered, "What are they doing just sitting there? And watching an apparently busy street that we know for a fact shouldn't be busy period?"

Bulkhead was right, as the three were just watching cars pass in a fashion more suitable for a freeway than the all-but-abandoned road that they were traveling on. How that paradox was possible did not make any sense until they saw a strange set of three vehicles starting to smash their way through the strangely busy street, destroying every vehicle they came across. That was when it struck them. "Those three vehicles are 'Cons," Hound whispered. "They must be running some kind of undercover combat exercise."

"Makes sense," Bulkhead replied. "Given the choice of vehicle modes that those three have they would be some of the ideal choices for tackling an undercover assignment on Earth." He then noticed that their little simulation had ended and the three Cons had transformed to robot mode. The three seemed familiar to Bulkhead, but he could not quite place it. He was about to Wheeljack if he recognized them when he saw that his friend was shaking in anger. "Uh Jackie," Bulkhead asked cautiously. "You okay?"

"No Bulk I'm not," Wheeljack snarled. "But I will be in a moment."

"Why's that," Hound asked, worry more than evident in his tone.

"It's him you guys," Wheeljack replied. "It's the fragging 'Con who stole Glyph from me. It's Barricade!"

That was when it all clicked for the Wreckers, the three Cons were as Wheeljack had identified, Barricade and the Decimators. Before anyone could say anything though, Wheeljack had already engaged his battle mask, whipped out his swords from the holsters on his back and jumped down the mountain towards the three Decepticons, with a look of vengeance in his eyes.

That got the attention of the three members of the Zala team, as they spun around and saw the sword wielding Autobot charging towards them. "Still think we've got nothing to worry about silver scar," Jaylen asked Yzak rhetorically.

Yzak just growled at her as he had to concede her point, and since none of the three of them had their mobile suits with them, there was nothing they could do. That was when the Autobot landed on the ground in front of them with a loud crash, and as soon as the black and white Con that was a police car just a moment ago got a good look at who their opponent was, he simply chuckled, "Well, well, well this is a surprise. Gentlemen I'm sure you remember Wheeljack?"

The other two chuckled lightly at Barricade's comment. A moment later Barricade ordered, "Kill him."

"The only one who's gonna be killed here today is you BARRICADE," Wheeljack shouted as he charged in. Wheeljack's swords were quickly met by Barricade's fist as he brought out a pair of Cybertronian nun-chucks. The two were quickly going at it hard, nearly matching one and other blow for blow but to others it was clear that Wheeljack was not getting an upper hand easily.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Bulkhead began to move in to help his friend, but before he could he and the others on the cliff were being fired upon from above. They all looked up to see that the helicopter was firing down on them and was preparing an EMP grenade for launch, giving the Bots his identity in no time at all. "It's Blackout," Bulkhead cried out as he started returning fire with his default blaster.

Hound looked and saw the dump truck 'Con was quickly moving to fire on them as well. Readying his own default cannon, Hound shouted out to Bulkhead, "Bulk, Junkheap is headed our way! I'll handle him, can you take care of Blackout?"

"Just go Hound," Bulkhead replied. "I've got this!"

Hound nodded and then quickly moved to intercept Junkheap, firing as he went. In no time at all, the three Wreckers were going toe-to-toe with all three of their opponents. Hound threw a punch that was quickly countered by Junkheap despite his large size, and then found himself getting knocked back by Junkheap's large claw that acted as his right hand. Bulkhead was doing his best to avoid Blackout's ability to shut down enemy weapons for a brief time while he returned fire on the helicopter Decepticon. Both of them were showing Sai, Mu, and Murdoch quite clearly why the Decimators were called the Decepticons' countermeasure for the Wreckers, because they had seen the three Autobots handle larger numbers with ease, and these three Decepticons were matching them like it was second nature.

Sai felt helpless just sitting there watching, but then he noticed that the three Z.A.F.T. soldiers seemed to be moving somewhere. At first he figured they were just moving out of the way, but then Sai saw them grab some sophisticated looking guns and start firing on their Autobot friends. To his surprise, the Autobots actually seemed to be getting hurt by the weapons that the Z.A.F.T. soldiers were firing. He then let both of the adult men know what he had saw, and as soon as he did, Mu quickly stated, "Okay you guys, we need to get down there and stop them. Our guys are already having a hard time as it is so we need to get the playing field as even as we can get it to be again."

"Hey hold up a second," Murdoch then called out, getting their attention. "Where'd Wheeljack go?"

Sai and Mu both looked and saw that Wheeljack had in fact disappeared. After looking around for another moment, Mu saw that Wheeljack was in pursuit of Barricade in vehicle mode, which told him one thing. Barricade was trying to lure Wheeljack into a trap. Mu knew that he could not catch up to them on foot, but at the same time he could not get a ride from Hound or Bulkhead, that was when he saw that the Z.A.F.T. soldiers had brought motorcycles, indicating that they had not Ground Bridged directly here.

"I'll go after Wheeljack," Mu then stated as he started running over to grab one of those bikes. "You two help the other Wreckers. This is one time that I think that the Wreckers want to call for backup."

Sai and Murdoch just nodded to each other, seeing that Mu was already practically there and ran to confront the three members of the Zala team. As soon as he was close enough, Sai threw as hard a punch as he could, which hit Yzak right in the face, sending him to the ground as he dropped his weapon. Sai moved quickly to grab the gun before Yzak could, and then hit the scarred man on the head with the butt of the weapon, knocking him out.

Nicol saw this and moved to start shooting at Sai, only to be tackled by Murdoch. "Get off me," Nicol shouted as the two started to wrestle against each other in the desert sand.

"Not a chance ya little brat," Murdoch roared as he threw a punch at the green haired boy.

Sai would have moved to help, but he found himself moving to cover as Jaylen started shooting at him. Having never handled a gun before, Sai did not want to risk using the one he now held only to shoot his eye out. As he did, he noticed that the case the three had pulled the weapons from was unguarded, as Jaylen had moved away while she was shooting to get Yzak's unconscious form out of harm's way.

Making a split decision, Sai quickly pointed his gun towards the crate of weapons, and fired off a few shots. Seeing as it was his first time shooting a gun, his shots were rather sloppy, but even so they were not so sloppy that they ended up hitting far away from his target. Most of his shots had ended up hitting the crate and a few moments later, the whole thing exploded, preventing Jaylen and the others from getting new guns. Smiling to himself for his accomplishment, Sai quickly ducked back down to avoid being hit by Jaylen who had resumed trying to shoot him directly instead of just shooting covering fire at him. As he hid, he noticed that Murdoch was still slugging it out with Nicol, and knew from the look on the engineer's face, that Murdoch was just as worried about Wheeljack and the commander as he was.

When Barricade pulled a fast one on him to cover an escape, Wheeljack's anger had skyrocketed, and he immediately took off after the object of his vengeance in vehicle mode. At that point, Wheeljack did not even care what happened or if he was driving into a trap, because all he cared about was ending Barricade once and for all. This explained the only thought running through his mind at the moment. He's not getting away! Not this time!

Barricade was smirking to himself as Wheeljack chased him, mentally begging the Autobot to keep coming after him as he shouted out, "So the big tough Wheeljack considers little me as an important target huh? Or are you still upset about that little run in we had years ago? By the way how's your little girlfriend?"

"A lot better than you'll be when I get my hands on you ya fragging murder," Wheeljack snapped. Wheeljack then decided to put metal to the pedal and charged after Barricade with every ounce of speed his vehicle mode had to offer. Despite the fact that his mind was mostly clouded with rage, Wheeljack was extremely grateful that this road was straight and narrow for the most part, and rarely had that many sharp or steep turns that would have caused him to slow down. That quickly changed when Barricade swerved off to the side and Wheeljack saw that the police car Decepticon had led him right towards a sharp turn that would divert cars away from the face of a mountain. Wheeljack did not even have enough time to hit the brakes before he collided with the rock wall.

Barricade quickly transformed and laughed manically at the crashed Wrecker, "Well looks like the Wreckers are just as good at wrecking themselves as they are others. What's the matter Jackie, still too sad and broken up over your girl to fight back with your usual ferocity? Ha! Like you could ever really match us Decepticons. I knew all those stories about your so-called victories were over exaggerated."

He would have continued, but he felt something hit his head as the sound of a gun shot rang out. Turning towards the source, he saw Mu racing down the street towards them, his hand gun pulled out as he shot at Barricade. Normally Barricade would have scoffed at the pathetic attempt to injure him, but then one of Mu's shots hit him in his eye, causing him to cry out in pain and run for cover as he tried to make it stop.

Seeing that his the Decepticon who dared to take on the form of a peacekeeper's vehicle had moved out of the way and taken cover for the moment, Mu quickly pulled the borrowed motorcycle to a stop as he ran over to where Wheeljack had crashed. "Wheeljack," Mu called out. "You okay? Answer me Wheeljack!"

A moment later, the tell-tale sound of a Cybertronian transforming sounded and Wheeljack burst out of the rumble. Mu smiled in relief but when he saw Wheeljack's face, he knew that if Wheeljack was mad before, then he was beyond pissed at this point. Wheeljack looked around and saw where Barricade had run off to, but before the sword wielding Autobot could move more than a few steps in that direction Mu stopped him as he shouted out, "Wheeljack stop! You're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up!"

"Fine, then it'll be worth it," Wheeljack hollered in reply. "I'm not stopping until there's nothing left of that lousy 'Con!"

"Wheeljack, if you keep letting your anger control you like this, then you'll just be playing right into Barricade's hands!"

"SHUT UP! HE DESERVES THIS AND MORE!" Mu just looked on at Wheeljack in shock, as he had never seen any of the Autobots so angry before. If Wheeljack expected him to him to back down though, then the Autobot was quickly disappointed as Mu stood his ground and leveled a hard stare with Wheeljack.

"I get how you feel Wheeljack," Mu told him in a calm, neutral tone. "I've got an enemy that I want to finish off once and for all myself, but I don't let him get to me like your letting Barricade get to you. I try my best to play it cool and keep my emotions in check, only letting them out when I face him when it's absolutely necessary, because otherwise I know that I'll be letting him win if I take him down in the state that you're currently in. So, what are you going to do Jackie, are you going to let him win by letting him dictate how things go, or are you gonna do what an Autobot would do, and what Glyph would want you to do?"

When he heard Mu say those words, Wheeljack instantly started to cool down from his enraged state. Thinking of Glyph, he knew that she would not want him to let Barricade or any of his enemies get the better him like this. He quickly realized that he was acting more like a Decepticon instead of the Autobot he was. With this revelation in mind, Wheeljack made his decision.

"Aw how sweet," Barricade called out, leading both Autobot and Earth Forces soldier to spin around and see him climbing out of his hiding place, holding the left side of his face. "Little Jackie needs his pet human to make him feel better does he? How about I show him what happens to the ones who get close to you?"

Before Barricade could raise his free arm to arm his arm blaster, Wheeljack had beat him to the punch and fired his own blaster at Barricade, sending him to the ground. Wheeljack then slowly walked over as he pulled his swords out once more and stated in a soft, dangerous tone, "You're not hurting any of my or anyone's friends and loved ones ever again, because if I don't take you down alone, then my new partner and I will be taking you down together, right Mu?"

Mu smirked in reply as he reloaded his gun and grinned, "You know it Jackie."

A moment later, Mu had moved to higher ground and commenced shooting at Barricade, trying to give him more of a distraction than what he already was dealing with after losing the use of one eye and hopefully get lucky enough to hit another soft spot. Wheeljack took advantage of Barricade's current lack of sight in his left eye and made sure to stay on the 'Con's left side with both his movements and attacks as much as possible.

Needless to say, Barricade found himself quickly overwhelmed and needed a way to get away. Thinking quickly, Barricade slammed a fist into the mountain side, causing an avalanche that was headed in Mu's direction. He smirked to himself as he got what little of a glimpse he could of this as he mocked Wheeljack, "What now Wheeljack? You still gonna choose to be the pathetic weak Autobot and let me get away in order to save him or are you gonna end this at the cost of his life?"

"That's an easy choice," Wheeljack stated as he holstered his swords and ran towards Mu. With one mighty leap, Wheeljack scooped Mu up into his hands and transformed to vehicle mode after he rolled across the ground and raced out of the way of the falling rocks.

As Wheeljack screeched to a stop on the road, he saw a Ground Bridge closing and he called out, "This isn't over Barricade! Even if I have to chase you to the ends of the universe I will make sure that your spark is extinguished once and for all for every single Bot you've ended including Glyph!"

He then let out a breath that he did not know he was holding and told Mu, "Thanks for watching my back partner."

"Anytime," Mu shrugged. "Now let's go help the others. After all we can't let your fellow Wreckers go it alone for long."

"You know it, after all Wreckers don't call for backup," Wheeljack started.

"They call for clean up," the two shouted simultaneously, and he could have, Wheeljack would have exchanged a fist bump with Mu, but instead he opted for revving his engines and racing off back towards the others.

Sai was now considering this to be just as a bad a day for him as it was for Wheeljack. Okay maybe not as bad as that, but when you are getting shot at in the middle of a desert, with giant alien robot warriors slugging it out nearby, and the only backup you have is an old mechanic who was still wrestling on the ground with a green haired enemy soldier, you tend to really not care! While Murdoch was slugging it out with said green haired youth, Sai was still pinned down by the enemy fire that Jaylen was sending his way. Needless to say Sai was really wishing that Wheeljack and Mu were there with them right then.

Jaylen was not that much happier, as every time she paused for a moment, her glasses wearing opponent would start shooting back. It was clear by his shooting that he was an amateur, but that did not stop his shots from coming a little too close for comfort for Jaylen. The reason she paused so often, aside from reloading the weapon, was that she was doing everything she could to wake up Yzak. "Come on Silver Scar! Snap out of it already," she shouted as she slapped him for the umpteenth time. Honestly she was starting to consider trying a sleeping beauty approach and kissing him to wake him up. The keywords being "starting to" and "consider", as in she was not actually planning to do so anytime soon.

Bulkhead and Hound were not feeling all that well off themselves. Every time they got close to putting a decent hurt on Blackout and Junkheap respectively, something happened that turned it around. Bulkhead had been able to get Blackout grounded, but as a result he had to deal with the flying Decimator's copter blades. Hound's problem was that Junkheap had a lot of weapons in the trunk on his back from his dump truck mode which he kept pulling out and seemed to replace themselves so long as he was able to scope something up and store into his back. Needless to say, being a Bot down when facing the Decimators was not a good situation for the Wreckers.

Finally Murdoch was able to knock Nicol away from him and swipe his weapon from him. He growled a bit when Nicol hit him with a nasty left hook, but had to admit, "I'll say this much for ya kid. Ya throw a good punch."

Nicol let out a small smile at that. "You're not so bad a fighter yourself for an old Natural," he commented.

"Hey who're you callin' old!"

Nicol just chuckled before he asked, "So are you really a soldier on the Legged Ship?"

Now it was Murdoch's turn to chuckle. "Nah kid. I'm not a soldier on the Archangel. I'm an engineer." With that said the two were soon slugging it out once again, something that was not left unnoticed by Sai, who growled in annoyance at Murdoch's need to continue fighting with the green haired Z.A.F.T. soldier.

As soon as he ducked behind cover again after firing a few rounds from his gun, Sai reached up and tapped his comm. link and shouted into it, "Commander, if you and Wheeljack would be so kind, we could really use some help here NOW!"

"Relax kid," Commander La Flaga replied. "Haven't you noticed, you're working with the man who can make the impossible possible and the Autobots who don't call for backup…"

The sound of an engine drove everyone's attention towards the source, and what they saw shocked both the Decimators and the conscious Z.A.F.T. soldiers while the Autobots, Sai, and Murdoch all grinned widely or gained similar expressions of joy. Racing down the street and transforming a moment later to throw a double slash with his swords at Junkheap sending the large garbage truck Decepticon down to the ground hard, was Wheeljack as he finished what Mu's earlier statement saying, "They call for clean up!"

With Wheeljack's return to the current battlefield, and showing signs of being back to his old self, the Wreckers found their morale up to new levels that allowed them to quickly turn the tide of the battle to their side. Junkheap tried to recover and reached for his trunk backpack for another weapon only pull out an active grenade to which he looked at Wheeljack, who was smirking with pride, and simply commented, "Uh oh."

The next thing that anyone knew, Junkheap had been knocked out cold by the explosion of Wheeljack's grenade. Blackout noticed this and quickly transformed to his helicopter mode once again and laid down a set of aerial covering fire as he flew over to pull Junkheap out his situation. Yzak then chose that moment to finally wake up, and needless to say, he was pissed with the situation as he quickly tapped his comm. link and shouted, "Yzak Joule to whoever the hell controls that blasted Ground Bridge! We need a Ground Bridge out of here now!"

A moment later, the Decepticon Ground Bridge opened and Blackout swiftly carried Junkheap through, with Yzak, Jaylen, and Nicol not too far behind them. As the six heroes watched them leave, they ceased firing and holstered their respective weapons and then all but Mu turned to look at Wheeljack. The only one who dared ask the question the question they were all wondering was Bulkhead. "Uh Jackie…you doin' okay now?"

Wheeljack looked from his Wrecker friends and comrades, to Sai and Murdoch, to Mu La Flaga, and finally let his gaze drift to everyone as he smiled and stated, "Yeah Bulk I'm good. Course I would've been a lot worse off if it weren't for a guy who can make the impossible possible, and who I'm now considering to be like my new partner as an honorary Wrecker."

Mu smiled in appreciation for that as Wheeljack gave him a small wink while Bulkhead and Hound simply gave one and other a relieved shrug while Murdoch and Sai both gave an impressed smile to La Flaga, knowing they'd have quite the story to tell the others back at the Archangel when they got back. Before that though, there was something they all knew they had to talk with Ratchet and probably Erica Simmons about when they got back to Orb, and Sai was still holding it in his hands.

"Hm, interesting. Very interesting," Ratchet mumbled as he scanned the weapon that Sai, Murdoch, La Flaga, and the Wreckers brought back. Though she would have used other words to describe her own fascination with the Z.A.F.T. weapon, Erica had to agree with Ratchet's sentiment.

"Hey Doc, mind tellin' us what's so interesting about this weapon that was actually able to hurt us," Wheeljack asked, starting to get slightly annoyed, but not as upset as he was that morning, which everyone had noted.

"This weapon is actually made with Cybertronian technology and Z.A.F.T. technology," Ratchet answered. "In fact from what Erica and I have seen of the ammunition pack, it would seem to use the same energon ammunition packs that our own weapons use."

"So the 'Cons are helping Z.A.F.T. make sure they're geared up for fighting us in and out of their mobile suits," Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah that certainly seems to be the case," Erica confirmed. "And there's no telling what else they'll be coming up with at this rate if this rifle is any indication."

"Do you think we can reverse engineer it and make our own versions of the things," Ironhide asked.

"Theoretically we might be able to but it will take some time," Ratchet replied.

"Then I suggest that you get to work on doing so as quickly as possible," Optimus stated. "If the Decepticons are aiding the Z.A.F.T. forces in creating new armaments with Cybertronian technology then we cannot allow our own allies to be unprepared for whatever effect these weapons may have on humans whether it involved prolonged exposure or simply being hit by one. We are fortunate that none of our human friends were harmed by these weapons themselves."

Ratchet and Erica nodded, as they knew Optimus was right and both set to work right away with the analysis of the weapon, and with planning out when they would be able to do further work with the weapon.

The Wreckers then turned to their human partners for this past mission, and Wheeljack smiled and said, "Come on you guys. Let's get some lobbing done. We're gonna need some referees after all."

Mu, Sai, and Murdoch all grinned in excitement and raced over to both referee and watch the favorite past time of the warrior class Cybertronian soldiers. As he went, Wheeljack told Mu, "You know, if you ever decide to switch from mobile armor to mobile suit pilot, you'd make that much more of a fine Wrecker."

Mu smiled as he paused to reply, "You know I might just consider doing that, and I may be able to give you a few tips on how to fight with your vehicle mode as effectively as the best mobile armor pilots. I should know about that seeing as I am one of those best."

Wheeljack chuckled and stopped in his tracks for a moment as he stated, "Hey in all seriousness though, thanks for what you said and did out there today. It really…well…"

Mu just gave the Wrecker a thumbs up as he replied, "Hey anytime. Gotta watch out for my new wingman don't I?"

Wheeljack nodded in reply. He then grabbed the lobbing ball and cried out, "Now then, think fast Bulk!"

He then chucked the large metal ball as hard as he could towards his brother like figure. Bulkhead tried to catch it but it slipped through his fingers and hit a tool on Ratchet's work table with a loud crash, getting the medical Autobot's attention. Ratchet then turned to the six which led the two new partners and wingmen to point to Bulkhead and shout out, "He did it!"

Ratchet did not need anyone to specify who really did it as he shouted out, for the umpteenth time that day alone, "Wheeljack I needed that!"

"You know sometimes I can't help but wonder if he really always needs whatever tool they happen to break or if it's become something he says on reflex," Murdoch commented, leading the Wreckers and the other two humans in his group to laugh aloud at this.

Yzak, Jaylen, and Nicol all stood at attention before the holographic representation of Megatron as they reported on both the Decimators' efforts in the simulations that day and on the battle that they had with the Wreckers and their human partners. Megatron was not happy about the fact that the Autobots were able to obtain one of Z.A.F.T.'s experimental energon rifles, and the fact that Barricade had lost use of one of his eyes did little alleviate his bad mood. He then sighed as he asked, "And your opinions on the Decimators?"

Yzak stepped forward for a moment and requested, "Permission to speak freely Lord Megatron?"

"Make certain that you choose your words carefully all the same Yzak Joule," Megatron warned him.

Yzak nodded in reply as he gave his report. "Speaking personally, I think they're all a load of loose cannons that would sooner blow an entire undercover operation than actually give a damn about maintaining cover. Their combat abilities in vehicle form were impressive, but they almost always moved to engage prematurely before they received a signal. However, speaking professionally, I do believe that they have potential and that they would benefit from working with a preexisting unit that is already on Earth."

Megatron gave a small pause for a moment as he thought over Yzak's words and then finally chuckled a bit as he stated, "You appear to have the analytical mind of a potential future military leader Yzak Joule." He then glanced at Jaylen and Nicol as he asked, "Is that sentiment shared by the two of you as well?"

When the two nodded in affirmative reply Megatron then nodded as he stated, "Very well, then inform Dreadwing that I will be having Barricade and the Decimators joining him with your team as soon as Knockout has cleared them for active duty once more. I believe that having the added might of the Decimators will provide quite the amount of extra muscle that you will need in your next engagement with the Legged Ship and Prime's ship."

"Understood sir," Yzak replied, clearly taken aback by that as he did not mean for them to be assigned to the unit he was already serving in, but at the same time he was not complaining. There was just something about the Decimators that Yzak had to admit he liked.

AN: I'll be honest, I always kind of wondered what a Decepticon version of the Wreckers would be like ever since I first heard of the Autobots Black Ops unit and I figured I'd at least try to put that in this story as I was working on it. It was a little difficult coming up with members for it, but it was more of a challenge coming up with a name for such a group that I thought would work. In the end Decimators seemed like the best thing. As for the whole thing with Wheeljack, well I always figured that Wheeljack could've used both more screen time on Transformers Prime, but even so he was this complex guy who simply preferred to do things the way he figured worked best so I thought I'd dive a little more into his character this time around. Wow first I give Arcee a sister, then I make Wheeljack turn into a brooding, moody hero on a specific day of the year because he lost the one he lost most. Makes you wonder how many Autobots I'm gonna set up with similar back stories like that and how many will have such serious arch nemesis, but then again it is pretty cool to give a serious arch nemesis to the other Autobots and not just leave it at Optimus and Megatron being the only ones with a serious arch enemy relationship a majority of the time. Oh and just so you know, the poll's done for good, as I've now got a basic idea for how I want things in the Orb Missions Arc to pan out and how everything will get setup for later on down the line so look forward to it.

Also, in case you didn't see the note at the beginning, I've now posted a teaser for my next Gundam crossover story and I'd like everyone's thoughts on it, or simply if your excited about it, please post reviews for that teaser story if you want to tell me what you think and whether or not you think I should get started on it right away. Anyways, onto the preview...

A simple cave exploration mission to locate a possible new energon mine goes wrong, as Ratchet and Jazz are trapped underground with Natarle Badgiruel and Murrue Ramius. But is this cave in due to natural causes, or is something else down there with them? And just what will Murrue and Natarle discover about themselves and each other while trapped underground with two Autobots that are probably the most similar to them? Next time on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime…Chapter 15: Cave Crawlers. Hunt down the mysteries that lie beneath Murrue, Natarle, Jazz, and Ratchet!

Read and review please, and I'll see you next time! Same Gundam/Transformers channel, same Gundam/Transformers time!...Sorry couldn't resist