Chapter Thirty-Five
New Arrival
The next day, everyone was gathered at the screens watching the icon of Wheeljack's star ship approaching Earth.
April and Casey were on the raised platform with the Hamato Clan and both were excited to learn that another Autobot was coming to earth.
"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone." Arcee reported.
"You think he's here to visit?" Kemeko questioned.
"More than likely to crush some cons." Donatello commented.
"Hopefully he'll stay!" Pandora said excitedly to which Bulkhead shared her look.
Ratchet typed some commands into the Ground Bridge controls.
"GroundBridge cycling up." He proclaimed proudly but he jumped back in shock as electricity cackled from the control system and he banged his fist on the controls.
"Blasted Scraplets! The equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation." He grumbled.
Leonardo watched the screen and he soon realised that Wheeljack's ship was landing in a location that wasn't near where they were located, but rather in the Sahara Desert in Africa.
"So Wheeljack's gonna land halfway around the world and then you'll bridge him here." he asked.
"Indeed Leonardo." Optimus confirmed "We can't risk revealing the location of our base, just in case the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship."
"Makes perfect sense!" Monalisa said "Give how the Decepticons are searching, just like the Foot have done with us over the years!"
"It is wise to be vigilant." Splinter spoke up at Optimus "Having your new friend land somewhere far away from the base."
Pandora meanwhile observed Bulkhead who was pacing up and down as well as had a bounce in his step.
"Dude! I've never seen you so stoked!" She commented.
"Oh! You're gonna love Wheeljack!" Bulkhead promised excitedly. "We were like brothers! And tonight, we're gonna party!"
"Awesome!" Pandora cheered but just then, the alarms went off making everyone jump and they looked to the screens to see some red icons following Wheeljack's ship icon.
"Bogies! Closing fast on Wheeljack's position!" Ironhide reported.
"Con scum!" Bulkhead cursed angrily as he glared at the computer screen.
"Shit!" Raphael said, "It's a good thing Wheeljack's on the other side of the planet rather than near here!"
"Yeah! Or the Cons would be swarming this place like the Scraplets!" Michelangelo agreed.
"Come on guys!" Bulkhead said, "We better get over there and help!"
"Darn tootin!" Ironhide agreed "We're missing all the action!"
Ratchet put in the co-ordinates and the Ground Bridge fired up.
"I'll prepare sickbay!" he assured.
Bulkhead laughed.
"For what?" he asked, "The cons? This is Wheeljack we're talking about!"
"Take care guys!" Raphael called out.
"Go kick some butt!" Pandora followed up.
"Will do kiddo!" Bulkhead promised as he, Bumblebee and Arcee ran through the Ground Bridge vortex to Wheeljack's location.
No sooner had they arrived at the location all armed and ready to fight than they were greeted by many Decepticons laying either dead or knocked out cold and Wheeljack armed with twin katana blades equal to Leonardo's weapons heading towards the last remaining Decepticon and running his katana blade through him and the Decepticon fell to the ground and never moved again.
"I taught him that." Bulkhead chuckled proudly as he watched.
Wheeljack turned around as he saw the Autobots walk over.
"Ever think I might need a hand here?" he asked as he disposed of his blades and walked up to the Autobots.
"What? And spoil the show?" Bulkhead scoffed.
Wheeljack strode over to them, yet as he did, a fallen Decepticon lifted himself onto his knees and aimed his blaster at the new arrival.
"You missed one." Arcee called out spotting him, yet Wheeljack unfolded his blaster from his arm and shot the Decepticon in the chest, causing him to stay down permanently.
As he got close to Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee, he retracted a facemask he had over his mouth and nose plates.
"If this is all you got, then this planet is in bigger trouble then I thought." he remarked.
Bulkhead so happy and overjoyed to see his best friend and brother in arms, ran up to his old friend and hugged him tight, lifting him up in the air whilst laughing in glee.
"Jackie!" He shouted happily, surprising Wheeljack yet the Autobot laughed heartily.
"Watch the finish, you old wrecking ball!" He teased.
Meanwhile, Arcee and Bumblebee just watched with surprise as well as happiness.
They had never seen this side of Bulkhead before, and it was funny to watch.
They soon arrived back at the base and just in the nick of time as the ground-bridge short circuited.
Ratchet grumbled at the fact the Ground Bridge would be down again for a bit and he turned to the group, and he rolled his optics seeing how excited Bulkhead was as he arrived with his friend Wheeljack.
One wrecker was bad enough but now there were two of them, there was bound to be chaos.
As Wheeljack arrived, the Hamato Clan and April and Casey rushed to the front of the raised platform to see him.
"Is that Wheeljack?" April asked as she looked at the Autobot with white and grey colours and red and green details.
"Yep! This is my brother in arms! My fellow Wrecker Wheeljack!" Bulkhead stated proudly then turned to Wheeljack.
"Jackie, these are our friends." He gestured to the Hamato Clan and April and Casey.
"Wow!" Wheeljack said "Three humans and seven..." he paused "What are they exactly?"
"We're mutants." Michelangelo called up "Well, mutant turtles, a rat and two lizards!" he said.
"Way da go Blabbermouth!" Raphael hissed.
"My Sons!" Splinter said warningly.
Leonardo rolled his eyes.
"Forgive my brothers, they are immature sometimes." He said, "We're the Hamato Clan," he gestured to his brothers, Monalisa, Pandora, Kemeko, Splinter and April and Casey introducing them then gesturing to himself saying who he was.
"Nice to meet yeh." Wheeljack said.
"Likewise!" Pandora said clicking her tongue and winking.
"You guys keeping Bulkhead out of trouble?" Wheeljack asked with a teasing tone in his voice.
"We do our best." Michelangelo said.
"But trouble finds us anyway." Pandora piped up jokingly.
"Heh!" Wheeljack chuckled "We're gonna get along just fine."
He then turned to Optimus, who was approaching them with Ironhide.
"Optimus Prime, it's a privilege." Wheeljack stated looking up at the Autobot leader.
"Likewise, soldier." Optimus replied, "What have you to report on your long journey?" he asked.
"Been bouncing from rock to rock, searching for signs of friend or foe. Now, I've found both." Wheeljack answered looking at Bulkhead behind him then back at Optimus.
"We are few, but strong." The Prime stated.
"We had suffered great losses, but we have grown, and we would relish welcoming a new member into our fold."
"I would be honoured." Wheeljack stated enthusiastically.
"Then let's get this party started." Bulkhead announced and pounded his hand on Wheeljack's back.
Wheeljack turned to Bulkhead and the two former Wreckers then did a chest pump.
"Oh joy." Ratchet said with sarcasm, fearing that with the two noisy and clumsy wreckers in the silo, there was bound to be a few incidents and he would get no peace and quiet to work properly for a while.
Meanwhile on the Decepticon Warship Starscream and Soundwave walked through the corridor of the Warship to the holding cells deep in conversation, or rather Starscream was doing all the talking whilst Soundwave just walked silently and listened.
"The moment Makeshift passed through their Ground Bridge, we lost their signal, the Autobot base is no doubt heavily shielded to prevent us from locating it."
Starscream knew that the Autobots would be careful in making sure no-one learnt of their secret base, it had been like that everywhere during the war, whether back on Cybertron or when all scattered from the Planet to go into hiding or form secret resistances against Megatron.
Before long, they then came to the entrance of one of the holding cells that was being guarded by a couple of Vehicons.
"No matter, I have complete faith in Makeshift." Starscream reassured as they entered the holding cell and were greeted by a figure hanging from electrical restraining bonds, his pedes about four meters from the ground so he was hanging solely by his arms.
Starscream smirked as he approached the prisoner who appeared to be none other than Wheeljack!
"Our inside man is already inside." Starscream proclaimed to the Autobot, his eyes flashing as he thought about how they were able to snag Wheeljack and replace him with Makeshift.
Flashback
Starscream watched on the screens in the Control room, Five Decepticon fliers he had commanded to go after Wheeljack surrounded the Autobot's ship taking their shots at the Wrecker.
As they did, Wheeljack managed to pull some manoeuvres to avoid the enemy fire, but a stray Decepticon laser beam hit his engine!
With the rear end burning bright orange flames and black smoke emitting from the blaze, Wheeljack went down. The ship made a huge dent on the desert as it crashed and skidded for a few feet.
As that happened, the fliers landed in the crash path and transformed into their bipedal forms as they approached the fallen ship. As one Decepticon walked towards the ship, a blast came from the sandy smoke and hit the Decepticon warrior square in the chest, knocking it to the ground.
The remaining Decepticon warriors charged their blasters as Wheeljack stepped through the smoke with his gun smoking.
"If you're trying to ruin my day, you're gonna have to try harder." Wheeljack remarked as his faceguard slid over his mouth.
The Decepticons immediately started firing lasers at Wheeljack, yet the Autobot danced around the crater his crashed ship had created then he jumped high in the air and body slammed into one of the Decepticons before moving away and began shooting at the Decepticons one by one including fighting in close combat, which involved ripping one flier's arm off and beating another with it!
"You Cons have grown soft on me." Wheeljack tormented as he drew his swords and charged at the remaining Decepticons.
Starscream narrowed his eyes then turned to Soundwave.
"Swiftly! Before the Autobot's arrive!" he ordered.
Soundwave nodded then turned to Makeshift next to him who was made up to look exactly like Wheeljack thanks to Soundwave downloading his likeness onto him.
Makeshift smirked and turned to Soundwave who activated a Ground-Bridge to the co-ordinates and he ran through it, Soundwave not far behind him.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack heard the roar of the Ground-Bridge behind him, and he turned around only to see a mirror image of himself running towards him!
The Autobot didn't have a chance to react before the clone punched him hard in the face and Wheeljack fell backwards.
He shook off stars then saw Soundwave appear before several tenacles appeared from behind him and grabbed the wrecker before he could move and dragged him back through the Ground Bridge whilst the clone Makeshift remained behind to take Wheeljack's place to meet the Autobots.
End Flashback
Starscream chuckled at his devious cleverness as he looked up at Wheeljack cockily.
"Pretty clever strategy hmmm?" he asked to which the Autobot lifted his head and glowered.
"Tell Megatron he's fragged in the head if he thinks Bulkhead won't sniff out an imposter." Wheeljack reported defiantly.
Starscream scoffed.
"Haven't you heard?" he informed "I lead the Decepticons now."
"You?! HA!" Wheeljack scoffed in disbelief.
Starscream snarled angrily and raised his clawed hand to strike, he was getting sick and tired of everyone doubting that he could lead the Decepticons.
He was about to spill out Wheeljack's energon, but he was stopped by Soundwave who grabbed his arm and stared at him, sending him a silent reminder that Wheeljack was too valuable to be killed...yet.
"Yes…you're right, Soundwave." Starscream said as he pulled his arm free from Soundwave's grip.
"He may yet be of use." Starscream then turned back the Wheeljack.
"Makeshift is very good at keeping up appearances." He sneered confidently "He need only fool your friends long enough to open their Ground Bridge from within so that we may finally learn the location of the Autobot base and send in our strike team to stain its floor with spilled Energon of Optimus Prime and everyone he holds dear to him."
Uh Oh! The Autobots and the Hamato Cla have no idea that the Decepticons have sent a mole into the base disguised as Wheeljack!
The Flashback Scene was what I made up myself as it wasn't protrayed in the show, hope you liked how I did it?
Stay tuned to for more coming soon!