Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers.
Chapter Summary: When Wheeljack finds out a painful truth, will he risk his life to save the Decepticon's prisoner, Hotshot?
He had come to the planet Earth seeking revenge. The one he wanted the spark of was the one he thought he could trust; one who was his friend and comrade. But, that all changed when he was left for dead that fateful day on Cybertron; the day when Hotshot left his side, claiming he was going for help, but was only saving his own skin. Wheeljack would never forget that day. Even though years had passed since that time, every once in a while he would have nightmares of that day. Nightmares of the fear he experienced while being trapped under debris, unable to pull himself out and surrounded by flames that threatened to engulf him and calling for help. 'I will have my revenge,' he thought to himself as he stared at the blue and green planet, 'Mark my words, Hotshot, I will get my revenge on you.' Just then, the Minicon alarm started blaring.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Hotshot was sitting on the chair in his quarters at the Autobot base. He had been there ever since he was done training with Sideswipe for the day, and that was about an hour ago. For some reason or another, he couldn't stop thinking about what led his old friend, Wheeljack, to join the other side. 'And, I thought I had put it behind me,' he said to himself. After all, he did agree that their friendship was over shortly after Wheeljack arrived. Suddenly, he heard a familiar beeping sound. It was Jolt, seated on his recharge berth. The Minicon beeped some more as he cocked his head to the side. "Oh, nothing really," Hotshot replied to Jolt's question about what was up, "just thinking, that's all." Immediately, the Minicon alarm goes off.
A battle ensues at the latest Minicon site. During the fight, Tidal Wave unleashes a powerful barrage of lasers right at the spot where Hotshot and Optimus are hiding. Both robots are unhurt, but their boulder's gone and the huge Decepticon's heading right for them. "Quick," calls Optimus, "into the trees," and they run into the wooded area of the field with Tidal Wave right behind them.
"What good is this gonna do, Optimus," called Hotshot, who was right behind Optimus.
"The trees get denser further down," Prime explained, "if we can just get into that area, we might be able to double back to the battlefield without Tidal Wave noticing." After five minutes of running, Hotshot couldn't help but notice that the sound of the giant's footsteps seemed to be getting louder. He dared to take a peek behind his back.
"Optimus," he called again, despite the fact he was almost out of breath, "he's gaining on us."
"Just keep running, it's our only chance," Optimus called back. 'We're almost there,' he said to himself, they had to make it to the deeper part of the forest. Tidal Wave was getting tired of running, so he made his move; he lunged his left arm forward, and reached for Hotshot. Hotshot cried out as he felt something grab his left leg and pull. Optimus heard Hotshot's voice call his name, stopped running, and turned around. "Hotshot!" the Autobot leader exclaimed with concern. The titanic Decepticon had Hotshot by the leg and the yellow mech was hanging upside down. Worst of all, there wasn't really anything he could do to help his friend. 'It's times like this I feel so helpless,' he said to himself, feeling both scared and frustrated.
Hotshot instinctively struggled in the Decepticon's grasp until he found himself facing him. "Now I know how a caught fish feels like when it's being examined by a fisherman," he said aloud to himself. With a low chuckle, Tidal Wave trained all of his weapons onto his captive. Hotshot could see the lasers building up inside the barrels, ready to fire. Optimus had had enough; he had do something and he had to do it now.
Just when the Autobot leader was about to make his move, Megatron's voice called out from somewhere in the distance, "Decepticons, withdraw."
Just as Tidal Wave warped out, with his Autobot prisoner still in his grasp, Hotshot called as he reached out a hand, "Optimus!"
"No!" Optimus gasped, and he ran towards the Decepticon, "Hotshot!" But, before he could catch up with them, they were gone.
At their moon-base, the Decepticons began appearing in their Warpgate one by one. Megatron was not in the best of moods right now, so his soldiers thought it best to keep their distance and only speak when they were spoken to. But, that seemed to change when Tidal Wave warped in and Megatron turned to face him. "Mmm, not bad work, Tidal Wave," he commented. Looking confused, Tidal Wave looked at his hand and noticed he was still holding Hotshot.
"I guess I forgot," the giant replied. Hotshot, on the other hand, had just about enough of this.
"Let go of me," he demanded as he started struggling again.
"Do what he says, Tidal Wave," Megatron encouraged.
"Really?" asked the bewildered giant.
"Really," his leader confirmed, with a nod accompanied by a wicked smile. Tidal Wave then threw Hotshot toward a wall. The Autobot collided into it with a loud crashing sound and a force that nearly shook the entire room.
He could've sworn that he barely heard Megatron say something like, "Cyclonus, Demolisher." And, the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was two forms heading right for him.
Back at the Autobot base, Red Alert and the Minicons were doing their best to repair the Autobots as quickly, yet as efficiently, as possible. When Prime told them that Hotshot was taken captive, they all wanted to go after the Decepticons right then and there. But, Optimus made the point that they were not in the best of shape for a rescue mission; many of them had sustained some damage from their previous battle, and Red Alert and Scavenger backed him up. So, reluctantly, the other Autobots warped back to base. While his soldiers were receiving their repairs, Optimus was in the Command Center, trying to formulate a plan and hoping that Megatron hadn't decided to turn the young soldier into scrap metal yet. That's when the kids came in. "Yo, Optimus," Rad called as he hopped off of Highwire.
"Hello, kids," Optimus greeted.
"We hear you guys managed to get another Minicon," said Carlos.
"Yes, Carlos, we did," the Autobot leader confirmed.
"All right," Fred cheered.
"Way ta go," Billy joined in. However, Alexis noticed that Optimus looked a little far off, like there was something on his mind.
"What's up, Optimus?" she asked.
"Nothing much," he fibbed. He didn't like it when he had to do that, but he knew if kids knew there was going to be a rescue mission in order soon, they'd want to help, and he didn't want them to get hurt.
But, Alexis wouldn't be put off that easily, "C'mon Optimus, I know something's up in that head of yours." Prime gave a low chuckle, sometimes he underestimated how smart Alexis really was.
"I'm that transparent, am I?" he asked.
"I can practically see the gears in your head turning," she replied with a triumphant smile. And so, Optimus gave in and told the kids about Hotshot's abduction.
"Now, before you say anything," he said quickly as soon as he was done, "I'm afraid I'll have to say no, the rescue plan will not include you kids coming with us."
'Darn,' Billy said to himself as he snapped his fingers.
"But, we didn't say anything," said Carlos.
"You didn't have to," replied Optimus.
"Optimus," Rad spoke up, and Optimus turned to him, "we know you won't let us come with you guys to the moon, but we still want to do our part in this rescue mission in any we can."
"Yeah," Alexis agreed, "don't forget, Hotshot's our friend, too." Optimus nodded, fully understanding what Rad was saying.
"So," Fred spoke up, "even though we can't go with you, is there anything else we can do to help?"
"We'll see, Fred," Optimus replied, "first, I have to think of a plan."
Meanwhile, on the moon, the Decepticons had secured their prisoner. Because he was still unconscious, Megatron told his men to rest themselves up from their last battle; he wanted to talk to the Autobot when we awoke on his own. For Starscream, that was a relief, he needed some time to think. True, the Autobot wasn't too fond of accepting him into his team's ranks at first, but that changed when his friend didn't end up dying after all. In fact, when the Autobots suspected him of taking the Skyboom Shield Minicons, Hotshot was the only one who came to his defense, claiming the Decepticon was innocent till proven guilty. Hotshot even tried to help him by asking him to tell him his side of the story of the incident; the problem was, Starscream didn't tell him anything, believing there was no point in trying to defend himself since it looked like the jury had already declared him guilty. And, it was his silence that caused the Autobots to suspect him even more. Still, Hotshot told them to get off his back. No one had ever done that for him before, no one had ever came to his defense anymore than he had ever received a gift from anyone. He had never expected anyone, least of all an Autobot, to do anything kind to him. However, Starscream wasn't sure what to do now that Hotshot was their prisoner. A part of him wanted to help the Autobot escape while the other half just wanted to let his brethren do whatever they wanted with him, and he had a pretty good idea of what that was and that it would be very painful, to the Autobot at least. Why did he want to help Hotshot? 'Because I feel I owe him,' he answered to himself. But, that only ended up getting countered with, 'What are you talking about? You don't owe him anything, so quit being a softy, let the others have their fun with him, and have some too, like you did before.' And, Starscream didn't like to be thought of as a softy in front of the other Decepticons.
While the Autobots were being repaired, Optimus was trying to formulate a rescue plan, and Starscream was pondering his decision, Wheeljack was in his quarters going over some personal documents on his computer. He personally couldn't wait until he would have his turn with Hotshot, like Megatron promised. He would finish what he started that day at the abandoned factory. "'Ello," he said a little surprised, "what's this?" He accidentally stumbled across a High Class file. Computer files of this nature were the equivalent of a 'Confidential' file on Earth. "Mmm, lets just take a little peek," said Wheeljack, curiosity getting the best of him, and he hacked into the file. Not only was the file about him, it turned out it was created and entered into the Decepticon Archives personally by Megatron. Intrigued, Wheeljack began to read it, only to twenty minutes later, wish he hadn't. All of these years, Wheeljack thought Megatron actually saved him that fateful day on Cybertron out of the goodness of his heart. However, that was not the case, as Wheeljack discovered. It turned out that Megatron, due to the battle that occurred before he got trapped under a pile of rubble, also recognized the potential Wheeljack possessed, just like Fortress Maximus did. When Hotshot left him behind, it only gave Megatron the opportunity he needed to gain the young Autobot's trust and give Wheeljack a reason to willingly join the Decepticons- to destroy the ones who abandoned him. All he had to do was mix that raw potential with pure rage and hate, and he succeeded there as well. Wheeljack had fallen for the trick, hook, line, and sinker. Unfortunately, that was not all that was in the report. It turned out that Megatron also noted that once Wheeljack outlived his usefulness, the Decepticon leader would do to him what he did to other soldiers he didn't need anymore. Remembering the incident with Starscream, Wheeljack needed only one guess as to what that meant. 'I don't believe this,' Wheeljack said to himself disbelievingly, 'This can't be real'. But, judging how the report was written, he knew it was Megatron's work because he'd seen reports written by the leader before. "I've go to get more information on this," he quietly said aloud to himself. Closing out of the file, he got to work on some hacking.
Wheeljack managed to hack his way into the Autobot's computerized file archive, found the one he was looking for, and carefully read through it. There, he learned all about their platoon leader giving the order to leave the scene without him, Hotshot trying to get through fellow soldiers and disobeying orders attempting to go back into the fire to get him, and him being presumed dead when they couldn't find him. "It explains some things," Wheeljack mused to himself, "but not very much." He paused for a moment, absorbing all of this new, incredible information. "So," he said to himself aloud, disbelief in his voice, "all of this time, I was being used, manipulated? How do I know what's true? How do I know what to believe?" All of a sudden, Wheeljack saw a rock lying on the floor. He was still pondering the answers to his own questions as he picked it up without really thinking about it. The intensity of this revelation was too much, he crushed the rock into dust with a crunch. When he did, something from his past came to his mind, someone asking, "If you can't trust your heart, who or what can you believe?" That someone was Hotshot. 'That's it," he snapped his fingers, and he exited the room, heading for D-sector.
D-sector was where Hotshot had been kept for the last hour and a half. When Wheeljack entered the room, he found that Hotshot was strapped down to a table by belt-like metal clamps that gripped his ankles, wrists and waist, and upper arms and chest. The Autobot lifted his head when he heard the doors hiss open, but didn't say anything to the Decepticon. Wheeljack approached the table, almost hesitantly, thought Hotshot. "You're in a bit early," Hotshot said with a low voice.
"I'm here because I was hoping you could provide me with some information," Wheeljack reluctantly admitted. When Hotshot looked at him with a confused expression, he told Hotshot of his discovery.
"And, what have I got to do with this?" Hotshot suspiciously asked.
"Hotshot," Wheeljack began to plead, "I need to know, and I need to hear it from you; what happened on that day on Cybertron?" Hotshot wasn't sure what it was, but something about Wheeljack's behavior just seemed to tell him how sincere his former friend really was. That's why he found himself telling Wheeljack everything he knew: finding Wheelie and Zaaron, their platoon leader; fighting through the two 'Bots to go back for him; Zaaron's court marshal threat; his passing out from the heat of the fire; waking up in the base repair bay; his emotional pain and guilt; and being placed under Optimus' direct command after he recovered.
"So, you see Wheeljack, I learned a lot that day. I just wish it didn't have to turn out the way it did. I realized that I should've stayed by your side, even if it meant we'd both perish; and, even though I did it with the best of intentions, still, by leaving you behind I only ended up putting you in an even worse situation. Even to this day, I still can't believe I left you trapped and alone, and surrounded by those flames when you needed me the most."
All of this time, Wheeljack just sat in a chair he pulled up and listened. All of these years, he thought Hotshot abandoned him without looking back. However, as he found out, Hotshot actually tried to go back for him, like he promised he would. In fact, if the Autobot rescue team didn't find him when they did, there's the possibility that Hotshot could've died in that fire while he was unconscious. He couldn't believe that he hated Hotshot all of this time for something he never did and that Megatron, who he had looked up to and to whom he believed he owed his life, had manipulated him into joining the enemy. He got up and headed for the door. He needed to be alone, to try and sort out this new information. Without thinking about it, he turned to glance at Hotshot, who just stared back at him. He didn't need to hear the words, Hotshot's stare was loud enough. He could tell that Hotshot wasn't expecting Wheeljack to believe him, but that he gave him what he asked for. And with that, Wheeljack walked out the door.
Wheeljack had been wandering aimlessly throughout the base for about forty-five minutes when the PA system activated with the speakers booming with Megatron's voice. "Attention, all Decepticons report to D-sector if you don't want to miss the show." Wheeljack ran back there as fast as he could.
"Everything's all set and ready to go, boss," said Cyclonus after he ran a maintenance check on some equipment.
"Excellent, Cyclonus," Megatron praised, "Now, all we need are the guests." Megatron chuckled as he observed Hotshot straining in his bonds. "You can struggle all you want, Autobot, but you're not going anywhere." Knowing Megatron was right, Hotshot resigned from his efforts of escape. Finally, the rest of the gang had arrived: Starscream followed by Demolishor, Thrust, Tidal Wave, and Wheeljack in the back.
"All right!" Cyclonus cheered, "Finally, we can get this party started," and he casted an evil grin toward Hotshot. Hotshot, however, was not paying any attention to Cyclonus. Instead, he was solely focused on Wheeljack. He kind of expected Wheeljack to come as close to the front as he could, but instead, the Decepticon kind of stood in the middle, closer to the back. There was something else, too. Hotshot could've sworn there was something different in Wheeljack's optics. However, he wasn't given much of a chance to figure out what it was, because then he felt the table start to vibrate a little and it made some kind of mechanical humming sound. Thus, his attention was immediately switched to Megatron, who was at the controls with an evil grin on his faceplate.
"Now," the Decepticon leader said darkly, "it's time for you to pay for all of the humiliation you've caused me." Hotshot could only breathe in and out fast breaths as he watched Megatron's finger push a button. The next thing he knew, his entire form was engulfed in a powerful voltage of electricity and he was screaming in pain.
Normally, Hotshot's screams of agony would've been music to his audio receptors, like they were last time; but, with all of the new information he found out, Wheeljack couldn't believe he was just standing there letting this happen. Little did he know that he wasn't the only 'Con feeling this way. Starscream thought if he watched the Autobot being tortured, it would reawaken something in him. He had witnessed a lot of prisoners being tortured, and, like any other Decepticon, he enjoyed watching an Autobot captive writhe in pain. But, it wasn't working. "Kinda' looks like somethin' from a movie, huh?" Demolisher asked.
"Yeah," Cyclonus agreed, "Speakin' of which, who's got popcorn?" Hearing that just made Starscream sick and want to bash their cerebral units out of their helmets. Suddenly, Hotshot stopped screaming for longer than a minute. All of the Decepticons observed that Hotshot was shaking and groaning in pain. He managed to lift his head and the first 'Con he saw was Wheeljack. Now, he could see what it was in his eyes that he saw earlier. It was pity.
Smiling, Megatron turned to Thrust, "Thrust, care to do the honors?"
"It would be a pleasure, sir," Thrust bowed, and he headed for the controls where he fetched a visor that fitted completely around the head.
"A mind scan!" Wheeljack gasped, "That'll kill him!"
"Oh, don't worry, Wheeljack," Megatron assured, "we'll make sure to stop before he's too far gone." Lucky for Wheeljack, Megatron mistook his outburst for concern that he wouldn't get the revenge he was promised. Hotshot, meanwhile, started struggling again. He had heard about the mind scan. The Autobots used it as a lie detector when interrogating Decepticon prisoners, but the Decepticons found another use for it. They found out that the mind scan could be used to download every bit of data a cranial unit contained. In other words, it could suck out whatever information a prisoner was trying to mentally hide, like a vacuum cleaner. However, if the person was subjected to the mind scan for too long, or if he wasn't in the best physical shape, which Hotshot wasn't thanks to his shock treatment, there was a high probability that the mind scan's power output could kill him.
"No," Hotshot pleaded as Thrust fitted the visor over his optics, "Don't." Hotshot shook his head this way and that, as if trying to shake the thing off, but it was secure around his head. Because the vision slit was so thin and the dark shade of red the glass was made of, Hotshot couldn't see very well. To him, this was as good as being in a completely dark room. Suddenly, he felt a little tingle that soon developed into a little headache; the mind scan was getting warmed up for the real assault. Hotshot started struggling again, which the Decepticons found amusing. "No," he started again as the pain in his head started to increase in intensity, "Stop it!" No one had noticed that Wheeljack was no longer in the room.
Just when the warming-up process was nearly complete, Hotshot gave a jolt when everything turned off. The lights, the machinery, everything just turned off. The Decepticons had a blackout. "I thought you said everything was in working order, Cyclonus," Megatron growled.
"I did, and I'm sure it was, sir," Cyclonus pleaded his case.
"Uh, it's possible that the main power generator failed, sir," Demolishor stepped up.
"Thrust, Cyclonus, Wheeljack- come with me to the main power generator," Megatron ordered, "Demolishor, Starscream, Tidal Wave- you see if you can get the auxiliary power on."
"What about the prisoner?" asked Tidal Wave.
"He's not going anywhere, now move," Megatron commanded, and everyone headed out, leaving Hotshot alone. He continued to try to free himself, but it was no use. He started hoping against hope that the other Autobots would be coming soon when he suddenly became aware of the sound of another mech's sparkbeat. Someone was still in the room with him. Suddenly, he felt the visor being removed, which was quickly followed by a hand covering his mouth when he nearly gasped in surprise. With the visor off, his optics got accustomed to the darkness within minutes, but he couldn't see the hand that clamped his mouth shut. He did, however, hear a quiet shushing sound. He nodded and felt the invisible hand lift off of his mouth.
"Who's there?" he quietly asked as he looked around and, on his left, Wheeljack uncloaked himself. "What're you doing here?" Hotshot asked.
"We've gotta hurry," urged Wheeljack as he started working on the middle clamp, "This blackout won't keep them busy for long."
"Why are you doing this?" Hotshot tried again as he worked on the top clamp now that his hands were free.
"Why do you think?" Wheeljack retorted while undoing the clamp that secured Hotshot's ankles, "I'm trying to help you, just as you tried to help me." Finally, Hotshot was free. "C'mon," Wheeljack said as he grabbed Hotshot's arm, and they took off.
The two were heading for the Warpgate as fast as they could. They were about halfway there when the lights turned back on. "We've gotta hurry," Wheeljack urged, "we're running out of time." Suddenly they heard someone coming. "Quick," said Wheeljack, "back here," and they took cover in a closet. Both of them hardly dared to breath, let alone move, when the footsteps got louder. They only came out when they were absolutely sure whoever was coming was gone.
However, shortly after that, they were spotted by Cyclonus. "Hey, Wheeljack what's-" Cyclonus got cut off when Wheeljack aimed his gun at him. Cyclonus dodged the blast just in the nick of time, and fired some blasts of his own; but the two escapees rounded a corner and disappeared from view. "Man, I don't believe this," Cyclonus as he pressed a button. The alarm started blaring throughout the compound. Wheeljack and Hotshot really had to hurry now.
"There they are," they heard Thrust from behind them, "Fire!" and they were strafed by laser fire. Hotshot took out his gun and fired back at the pursuing Decepticons, causing a wall to fall on top of them.
"Keep moving," Wheeljack urged, "We're almost there."
"Right behind ya," Hotshot acknowledged.
"Stop them," Thrust shouted from behind, "don't let them get away. Finally, they made it to the Warpgate, where they came face to face with Starscream. Wheeljack was about to grab his gun when Starscream held up his hand.
"I know what you're up to, and, I promise, I won't stop you," the Decepticon stated.
Wheeljack kept his weapon trained on Starscream, "Then why are you here?"
"In case you needed help or something," was Starscream's reply. The two locked gazes, and Wheeljack knew what he had to do.
Suddenly, every single Decepticon heard Starscream scream in agony. They rushed to the Warpgate. There, they found Starscream lying on the ground with a bad laser wound in his side. Megatron approached him. "What happened? Where did they go?" he demanded. Starscream could only point to the Warpgate before he lost consciousness.
On Earth, the Autobots were going over their rescue plan when the intruder alert went off. Someone was trying to warp into the base. "Everyone, to the Warp Room, on the double," Optimus commanded.
The 'Bots only had to wait a few minutes until the intruders warped in. "Hotshot!" Smokescreen exclaimed when he saw the yellow mech.
"Hotshot, get back," Jetfire called as he and the others trained their weapons on Wheeljack.
"No!" Hotshot said as he stepped in front of the Decepticon, "If you want him, you'll have to go through me." When his comrades gave him confused looks, Hotshot elaborated, "Wheeljack's the reason why I'm here and am alive." Then, Optimus lowered his gun, with the others following suit, and approached the two mechs.
"Somehow, I get the feeling that we've got a lot to talk about."
Later, in the Command Center, Wheeljack and Hotshot filled the 'Bots in on what had happened since Hotshot's abduction, down to the part where Starscream silently convinced Wheeljack to shoot him so Megatron wouldn't suspect he let them walk away. Sideswipe, meanwhile, was keeping his optics focused on Wheeljack and his hand on his blaster, just in case the Decepticon tried something. "And, that's our report, sir," Hotshot closed.
"I see," Optimus nodded, and he turned to Wheeljack. "So, Wheeljack, now that you know the truth, what are you gonna do now?"
"To tell you the truth, Optimus," Wheeljack replied, "I don't really know."
"Why don't join up with us?" Rad asked, "You were an Autobot once, why not be one again?"
"Yeah," Carlos agreed, "I'm sure if any Autobots are skeptical about it, Optimus can sort things out and drop the charges and all, right Optimus?"
"Well," Optimus thought aloud, "chances are it won't be that easy, but if that it is what you want, Wheeljack, we can work something out." Wheeljack could hardly believe his audio receptors. Some of the Autobot team were actually willing to give him another chance and let him into their ranks? While Wheeljack pondered his decision, Sideswipe was just as shocked. Let that creep into their midst? He couldn't believe it either. Optimus noticed that the usually talkative young 'Bot had been unusually quiet for the past ten minutes. "Is something on your mind, Sideswipe?" he asked, and Sideswipe proceeded with his case.
"Sir, I, for one, don't think it's a good idea that we trust this Decepticon just yet. Don't forget, this guy almost succeeded in killing both Hotshot and me once. In fact, how do we know this isn't some kind of trick, that he's not waiting for us to lower our guard to make his move?"
"Sideswipe!" Hotshot exclaimed, and would've approached his surrogate brother if Wheeljack didn't stop him.
"I don't blame you for not trusting me," said Wheeljack, "and I don't expect you to believe me, either. I just did what I had to do." Sideswipe, however, just glared spears at Wheeljack.
"Sideswipe," Jetfire spoke up, "we all know where you're coming from, but you gotta understand, Megatron took advantage of the situation Wheeljack was trapped in in the most despicable way possible. And, just like Starscream, he nearly paid the ultimate price for his loyalty to him."
"Right," Optimus agreed, "he was tricked into defecting to the Decepticons therefore, I believe Wheeljack deserves a second chance."
"Don't you guys remember what happened the last time we let a Decepticon into our ranks?" Sideswipe continued. "Just when we thought Starscream was ok, he stole the Skyboom Shield and turned his back on us."
"But Sideswipe," said Red Alert, "Starscream let Wheeljack and Hotshot use the Warpgate to make their escape. He let them go instead of trying to stop them." Sideswipe just growled in frustration. Just then, Wheeljack headed for the exit.
"Where are you going?" asked Scavenger.
"I think it's best that I leave. I need to go out on my own for a while," Wheeljack replied.
"Wheeljack, wait," Alexis called, "You don't have to go. If Hotshot thinks he can trust you, than I think I can, too."
"Yeah, me too," said Rad, "Besides, you belong with the Autobots, even though Megatron tried to change all that." Wheeljack paused for a moment.
"I appreciate the offer," he said, "but this is something I have to do, because I don't know where I belong anymore; I need to 'discover' myself." As Wheeljack continued on his way toward the exit, Hotshot followed him to 'escort' him outside.
Once they were out in the open, Hotshot asked, "When will you be back?"
After giving it some thought, Wheeljack turned to face him and replied solemnly, "I don't know," and he transformed to car mode.
"Wheeljack," called Hotshot, "thanks." Wheeljack gave an acknowledging sigh and drove off into the distance, beginning his 'vision quest'. As Hotshot watched his friend disappear in the distance, wishing the best of luck for him, Sideswipe was standing in the tunnel. He followed the two bots to make sure the 'Con didn't try anything. He wore an unconvinced frown on his face.
Next Chapter: Wheeljack returns. Will he rejoin the Autobots?