"Eh, Steel, don't tell me ya already forgot what my Slagmaker Cannon does!" The new mech teased, brandishing his weapon as he moseyed on over to Steeljaw. When the Lupicon didn't answer, the mech grew concerned.
"Steel, you good?"
Despite what transpired, or because of just that, nobody moved. Even the ones whose instincts were to get this stranger as far away from Steeljaw as possible couldn't force themselves to go anywhere. Then again, this mech knows Steeljaw, and apparently, Steeljaw knows who they are, too. Whether that's a good or bad thing…
Steeljaw suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around the new mech.
"Ramulus, you're alive! I never thought I'd ever see you again!" Steeljaw cried, pressing his helm against the other's chassis.
"Clearly," Ramulus chuckled, relishing in the comfort of his mate.
"Where have you been all this time?"
"Busy."
Steeljaw leaned back and looked up at Ramulus, silently asking him to explain further.
"Well, after I had to… ya know… for your own good, I had to pretend that you died on the battlefield that day. Believe me, it wasn't easy. You remember how paranoid Lio Convoy was?"
"Oh, yes, how could I possibly forget?" Steeljaw retorted, rolling his optics.
"Right. Anyway, he got worse. I couldn't risk our secret being found out, so I had to…"
Ramulus vented and leaned forward, resting his helm atop Steeljaw's shoulder plate.
"Really commit to the false reality that you were actually gone. I hated it. Didn't feel right about the whole thing, but I kept telling myself that I did it for a very important reason: to keep you safe."
Steeljaw sighed and tightened his hold on his mate.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that on my account. If I wasn't injured during the battle, things could have been different. Maybe even better."
Ramulus barked out a laugh. Steeljaw twisted his helm to stare at the other mech.
"What?"
"You seriously think things would've been better if you returned from that battle unscathed?" Ramulus questioned. "In the end, you and Lio Convoy would have just gotten into another argument!"
"Of course, because Lio Convoy always made rash decisions that cost us more in the long run than any waiting game I ever played!"
While Steeljaw continued to rant about stuff from the past to Ramulus, Wreck-Gar called for a bridge and, along with Slipstream, Sandstorm, and Octane, took the remaining Star Seekers into custody.
Everyone else stood idly by, determining when the best time to intervene would be…
Which wasn't very long as, not even five minutes later, Knockout and Moonracer come running out of a new bridge-portal.
"Did I hear right? Is he here? Where's the mystery mech?" Knockout bombarded with questions, practically bouncing on his pedes.
"We don't mean to interrupt, but we would very much like to meet him!" Moonracer added a lot more calmly, but even she appeared just as anxious and giddy as Knockout.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on! Who told you..?" Bumblebee began to ask.
"Starscream." Both medics interrupted.
The yellow and black mech turned to look at the silver Seeker.
"Hey, I thought I would let them know beforehand," Starscream said while holding his servos up in defense. "Figured I might as well save us the trouble of explaining it to them later."
"Starscream, I'm not sure if you can tell, but Steeljaw and his mystery mech are sharing a moment!" Bumblebee exclaimed, exasperated. "If I were them…"
"It's alright, Lieutenant."
Steeljaw's voice caught Bumblebee and the others completely by surprise. They all turned and spotted Steeljaw limping over to them, accepting support from Ramulus.
"Steeljaw, are you okay?" Bumblebee fussed, looking over his team-mate's injuries: dents, scratches, and puncture wounds; a bruised neck, chafed wrists, and a slightly mangled leg.
Steeljaw answered with a rhetorical question.
"You mean aside from everything that just happened with Thundertron before Ramulus killed him?"
Bumblebee was not amused.
"How can you joke about this?"
"First of all, I'm not. Second, I don't have to worry anymore."
Everyone present looked at him, confused.
"Thundertron is gone, and no doubt Slipstream is going to handle his crew…"
Steeljaw chuckled, sounding slightly embarrassed.
"But, I have Ramulus back, and that's all I really care about right now."
"By the stars, have you gone soft!" Ramulus teased.
Steeljaw responded with a hard yet playful slap to his mate's helm.
"Shut up! You try living with the bots I've been stuck with this whole time and see how well you turn out by the end!"
Ramulus burst out laughing. With his optics closed, he didn't notice the blue tint to Steeljaw's faceplate. Everyone else did, but they didn't point it out…
And, in all honesty, Steeljaw couldn't possibly care less.
He is way too happy just being with Ramulus to bother with anyone else.