While Arcee was fully on board with getting revenge on Ravage, she did not have Wheelie's back when it came to returning to the tunnels. To Wheelie's dismay, all the ranking Autobots were in agreement that he should stay on the surface until the shuttle returned with reinforcements from Earth. That meant working alongside the others for the next forty-one hours.

He'd rather take his chances with Ravage.

To be fair to the Autobots, they made the effort to include him. Arcee and Blurr gave him basic firearms training, while Springer offered to take him into orbit on a satellite maintenance run.

When Wheelie refused the trip, Springer assumed that the shuttle triggered memories of his crash on Quintessa; Wheelie was more concerned it would trigger memories from before the crash.

Instead, Wheelie worked as much as possible on salvage detail alongside the Dinobots who were clearing debris; the Dinobots appreciated anti-social behaviour and disliked complex conversations.

Yet he left his com-link on the Iacon band for a change, listened to the back and forth and even joined in, if only to clarify Grimlock's updates on what their team were doing—though he wasn't sure how useful his additional couplets were. At least, Perceptor and Arcee were used to his rhyming by now, and although Wheelie suspected his mode of speech annoyed Springer, the big triple-changer made no comment. Blurr complained each and every time Wheelie spoke, but Blurr complained about everything, and baiting the hyperactive Autobot seemed to be the leading form of recreation on this largely empty planet.

Wheelie noticed that Blurr craved attention too much to care.

That Arcee became wittier in conversation with Springer.

That Springer effortlessly understood all Perceptor's fancy words.

That social interaction relaxed Perceptor more than anything else.

That by getting to know these Autobots properly, he was no longer reminded of transformers long dead.

What really surprised Wheelie was that he wasn't the only one who was reluctant for the arrival of more Autobots and supplies from Earth. As unaccustomed as the others might be to scavenging for their existence, they were enjoying the relative lack of discipline and had mixed feelings about (as Springer put it) "when Roddy comes back with the grown-ups."

Nevertheless, almost everybody was there to greet the shuttle when it landed—aside from Arcee whose idea of keeping a low profile around Rodimus Prime was to be conspicuously absent. Wheelie chose to blend in with the crowd instead. He wasn't afraid of the leadership group since he had helped to save Rodimus' life less than twenty-four hours before he became Prime—by any social convention, that was a good start for his clean slate.

But it was curiosity that really drove him today: Wheelie had never met a transformer smaller than himself, so he was eager for his first glimpse of the two cassettes who had made the trip to Cybertron. As Perceptor greeted the new arrivals, the group fanned out gradually, and the smallest figures moved to its edge, looking around with interest.

Steeljaw was similar in configuration to Ravage, but despite the clearly displayed weapons on either flank, there was no hint of aggression in him as he casually sniffed the air. Beside him, Rewind looked more excited, his mouth plate moving rapidly, though whatever he was saying was too hushed for Wheelie to hear. He had been told Rewind's secondary field of expertise was historical research, which was why he had come to Cybertron with Steeljaw. Steeljaw, of course, was the Autobot best suited to hunt down Ravage in his own territory, and solving the Ravage problem was their immediate priority.

When Rewind's roving optics found Wheelie in his spot amidst the Dinobots' legs, he nudged Steeljaw and both cassettes studied the minibot. They had been briefed on him, then. Wheelie calmly met their gaze, nodding a tacit greeting.

As soon as they looked back to Perceptor, he stepped away from his original position, letting himself be obscured by Swoop's wing and Sludge's tail. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus were beginning to assign jobs, and Wheelie slipped away before he could be tasked with taking the cassettes to munitions. It was a petty rebellion, but he wasn't feeling up to fielding their questions on his own.

Instead, he got there ahead of them, meeting Arcee where she was logging the weapons for their mission—her excuse for not being at the landing.

"You can take this blaster, if you want," she offered. "Basic firearms training covers you for that as a defence weapon."

Wheelie didn't feel he was any better trained in firearms than Arcee was in stealth. "Hit or miss," he remarked, before pulling out one of his self-made slingshots from Quintessa. "Won't miss with this."

Arcee laughed and returned the blaster to their stores. "Carry what you feel comfortable with, then. Rewind's a crack shot anyway, so this is just a precaution."

Wheelie nodded without sincerity. He was playing at collaboration today, but he would rather rely on his own protection. Even if he had never had the chance to use his slingshot in his last encounter with Ravage… Being rescued still felt more like a fluke than something to take for granted.

Rewind and Steeljaw arrived then, escorted by Blurr who gave Wheelie a thorough dressing down in four seconds for shirking his responsibilities with the cassettes before making it very clear that he had better things to do than play guide and flouncing off. Wheelie made a mental note that Blurr might lack self-awareness, but he was perceptive about others.

The others were delighted to reunite after a violent parting, and Arcee dropped down to one knee to greet the cassettes. "It's so good to see you both in one piece again!"

"Glad to confirm that he can see you," Rewind told her, nudging Steeljaw who rumbled amiably. Rewind waggled his fingers at Arcee. "And look, two working hands at your disposal!"

"Good, because downtime is in short supply on the rosters for the next few days." She glanced round to where Wheelie was watching. He was perfectly happy staying out of the social interaction, but she included him anyway. "Here's Wheelie. You guys have all been briefed on each other, but have you been properly introduced yet?"

"No, not yet." Rewind was every bit as eager for redundant niceties as Arcee. "I'm Rewind, and this is Steeljaw." He left a pause for Steeljaw to add his own greeting, but the lion simply nodded. "Ah, yeah… he can talk for the record, he just doesn't do it much."

Wheelie was relieved only one of them would require effort, as he experienced the unfamiliar sensation of looking down at another robot. Rewind was a head shorter than him, and Steeljaw barely reached his chest. He had been told that their transformations made use of mass-shifting technology—their alternate modes would fit in his hand. Now, however, Rewind was extending his own hand in greeting, and Wheelie cautiously shook it, murmuring, "Meet and greet."

Rewind was not put off by his reticence. "So, I heard you were stranded—"

"No inquisitions, Rewind," Arcee interrupted firmly. "Wheelie doesn't like talking about his past, so don't make him duck your questions. We've got a Decepticon to catch."

That surprised Wheelie as much as it did Rewind. He had known on one level that the Autobots were allowing him to keep his secrets, at least for the time being, but it had never been explicitly stated, let alone defended.

"Right, Cassettes," Arcee bustled on. "Remember Wheelie has combat experience but not military experience. He mapped out the levels below Iacon so he's more familiar with the terrain than anyone—listen to what he says. Wheelie, these guys have the field experience, so follow their lead at all times." Her optics locked sternly on his as he nodded again. He would play by their rules today. "I'm coming with you. I probably won't be able to help actually catch Ravage, but I've never been the muscle of the team before, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts!"

Rewind grinned up at her, hefting a scaled down rifle. "Sounds good to me. Shall we roll out?"

Arcee slung a pack of ammunition over her shoulder and nodded to a stairwell. "No rides, Rewind. This hunt's on foot."

Author's Note:

I don't think there's any canon for Rewind to be a crackshot, but we do see him making successful hits in Forever is a Long Time Coming, so why not? He is seen shooting Ravage in the Movie too, though as Frenzy is wrestling Eject at the time, the bit about him crushing Rewind's hand in revenge is a callback to an earlier fic: in Earth Calling I said that Steeljaw had been blinded and Rewind had lost a hand.