The Return of Wheeljack

Before reading the return of Wheeljack, it might prove beneficial to read Protectobot in order to understand the treatment of transformation cogs here. These events occur right after the Movie and are concurrent with the early third season of the show.

AUTOBOT CITY: METROPLEX CANTON

Slag bemoaned his fate, stuck back on Earth after all the things he had contributed to. Grimlock had been allowed to stay on Cybertron with Rodimus, but the Dinobots had otherwise been sent back to help secure Metroplex. Who knows what the battle for Autobot City might have looked like if Metroplex had been able to transform.

As it was, there was no interesting duty here. On Cybertron, no one cared if the Dinobot fished in the pools. On Earth, the fish were largely reserved for the humans. If Slag had known better, he would have realized how vulnerable Metroplex was. All Slag knew was that the Decepticons were away and weak. There should have time for fishing.

As Slag waited for the monotony to end, a newcomer made his appearance at the City. He was black all over as he approached Blaster. He tapped the shoulder of the current commander at Autobot City.

"Cerebros reporting, sir," said the black robot.

"Reporting for what?" asked Blaster.

"I was interested in Metroplex's damaged cog. I have been sent here to study it," said Cerebros.

"Oh. Wish I knew where that thing was," said Blaster. "Between organizing the dead and repairing the City, it might have gone anywhere."

"You don't mind if I look for it, then?" asked Cerebros.

"Not at all. If you can fix it, let me know. It would save some time. Cybertron is sending us a replacement, but rebuilding Cybertron seems to have eaten everyone's priorities," said Blaster. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you interested in the cog?"

Cerebros transformed into a village. That was his secret, he was kin to the giant city-bots.

"Neat, just watch out for dead bodies. They're building a orbital graveyard on Cybertron, but they haven't asked for these guys yet," said Blaster.

Cerebros nodded. He took out a device tuned to the radiation of the cog. Blaster was right, the signal led to a pile of honored Autobot dead. Cerebrs started shifting through the pile. He moved Windcharger gently over. Then he found Trailbreaker. Cerebros began to regret this scientific duty of his. Then his transmitter began to beep. It was not the beep of the cog, but rather radiation transmissions of another sort. There was something alive down there! He was fortunate to have the radiation detector, as no other tool would have noted the difference.

Cerebros pushed Trailbreaker aside, revealing Red Alert. Yes, Red was barely alive. Cerebros signaled Blaster.

"Hey! There's someone alive here!" said Cerebros, waving his arms wildly.

"Well, I'll be. Red Alert must have been to hip of a cat for the Matrix," said Blaster.

"Can we fix him?" asked Cerebros.

"No, no one here can do the job. Ratchet's gone. That new guy First Aid was recalled to Cybertron. There might be a way, if you can get to Teletraan I. That computer can fix anything. Give me a chance to contact Warpath at the old base and give him a head's up," said Blaster. He backed into the communications center of Metroplex.

Cerebros wondered how he would get the body to Teletraan when his eyes came over an EDC shuttle parked on the runway. That would do nicely. He gingerly placed Red inside and made his way back to the corpse pile. There were still the cog readings to decipher, and as Cerebros got closer to them, he found a second set of dim power readings. He had to move Windcharger for a second time, and found what he was looking for. There was the engineer Wheeljack, clutching the cog in his left hand as if he had been trying to repair it before he was killed. Except that he wasn't quite dead either. He too was barely functioning in deep stasis.

Cerebros wildly shifted the detector around the pile. He detected no other readings. He had the cog. He had Red Alert. He had Wheeljack. This was more than he had expected to find. He noticed Blaster rushing out off the communications room.

"Look, man. Galvatron's been sighted attacking a human base in the outer part of the system. Decepticon attack is likely imminent. You're clear for the trip out to the old base. Warpath is expecting you, but I'm sending Slag here with you just in case," said Blaster.

Slag merely shrugged. At least he no wait around no more.

"Did you find the cog?" asked Blaster.

Cerebros smiled, "Yes, and Wheeljack too. He's like the other one though. Stasis."

"Well, if you can get those two back on line, I'll be one happy music box," said Blaster.

Cerebros nodded. He grabbed the cog where it had slipped from Wheeljack's grasp. Before he could pick up Wheeljack and load him into the shuttle, he found Slag had already done so. Cerebros wondered about these Earthbound Autobots. They seemed to share a connection that was foreign to former Cybertronian resistance. Could this Slag have known this Wheeljack before? Cerebros dismissed the thought. He would have to fly the shuttle.

AUTOBOT BASE

Warpath looked at Bumblebee. Were they really all that was left? He thought Beachcomber might be around somewhere, but the rest of the base was a new crew. The new guys were trying their hardest to impress him too. He and Bumblebee had become celebrities to Pipes, Swerve, and Tailgate. Oh and Powerglide too, but Warpath knew that Powerglide needed little prompting in the direction of celebrity.

"Shuttle coming in, Warpath," said Bumblebee. "Call sign's Slag."

"Oh, BLAM, uh," Warpath was shaken from his thoughts. His feelings about Pipes and the others had reminded him of how a much younger tank robot had once tried to prove himself by taking on Space Slugs under the watchful eye of Optimus and Ironhide. Now he was basically Ironhide. He regretted some of the things he had said back then. He understood, now. "Go, WHAM, and meet them Bee. Find out what they want."

Bumblebee too was missing the old days under Optimus. He had nothing against Rodimus Prime, but Rodimus trusted his own inner circle. Bumblebee and Warpath were basically babysitting recruits instead of seeing action on Cybertron. Then there was always Powerglide's ego to massage. He too was chafing at the inactivity.

Bumblebee exited the headquarters and greeted the shuttle occupants. He knew Slag on sight, but did not recognize his companion. "Hey there! Welcome to our base!" he said in a friendly fashion.

Cerebros was caught up in unloading, but turned to acknowledge Bumblebee. "It's good to be here. I am afraid we have something of an emergency though."

"Okay, anything we can help with?" asked Bumblebee.

"Yes, I need help moving these two to your medical facilities," said Cerebros. He was tugging on Red Alert. Slag had already picked up Wheeljack and was moving him toward the base.

"Wait I thought Red and Wheeljack were…" said Bumblebee in disbelief.

"Close, and they could go offline any minute," said Cerebros. He found Bumblebee helping him carry Red Alert. They followed Slag through the entrance toward the old medical bay that Ratchet used to occupy. Outside there was an explosion.

"Autobots, we're under attack! Let's BANG and roll," said Warpath as he flashed by. Pipes and the others in the base followed him out to meet the foe. Bumblebee looked conflicted. His duty told him both to aid Red and to aid Warpath.

"You coming?" he asked Cerebros.

"I'm a scientist, not a fighter. I can do better by getting these two fired up," said Cerebros. "Slag, if you would move them into position, please."

Slag snorted his displeasure. He wanted to fight. He could hear the roaring outside. The name Trypticon meant nothing to him, but he could sense the presence. Yet, he could not leave the engineer for some reason he was sure he was supposed to know. Slag brain not move so fast. A shot ended the debate as the cave entrance was closed up. The area was jostled around, but Cerebros and Slag survived the pummeling that Trypticon inflicted on the base.

Cerebros quickly directed Teletraan's beam at Wheeljack's limp body. It began to repair him. Then everything went dark. A blast could be heard from outside. Slag was beginning to get impatient. Cerebros had fallen over. The lights slowly flicked back on.

"Where am I?" asked a voice that did not belong to Slag. The form in front of him was the revived Autobot engineer, good as new.

"Wheeljack in base," said Slag.

"But the last thing I remember was trying to repair Metroplex's cog while we were under attack," said Wheeljack.

"Wheeljack no make it, Autobot City overrun," said Slag.

"What about the others?" asked a concerned Wheeljack.

"Not many make it. We regroup on Junkion, fight Unicron. Win battle," said Slag.

"What's a Unicron?" asked Wheeljack.

"A giant transforming planet that devoured everything in its path and almost ate Cybertron too. Moonbases 1 and 2 were lost. But our new leader Rodimus Prime used the Matrix to destroy him and the Decepticons were largely defeated by the planet eater. They are in exile now, somewhere. Cybertron is ours again. Of course we picked the moment that the Decepticons have finally returned to wake you up," said Cerebros.

"Yeah, I noticed the jostling. Is that Red Alert?" asked Wheeljack.

"Yes, we found him barely alive too," said Cerebros.

"Well, let's hurry before Teletraan goes offline for good," said Wheeljack. The three used the beam on Red, but error messages sounded.

Energy distributor malfunctioning, unable to complete repair.

"Looks like his power supply is shot. Until we can fix that, he won't be any good to us," said Wheeljack. "There should be a stasis pod in my lab that should keep him from dying. Of course if we can't get out of here, it won't mean much."

At that moment, Wheeljack, Cerebros, and Slag froze. They unfroze a moment later, not knowing what had just happened.

With the entrance closed and the base flattened, Cerebros understood what Wheeljack meant. He had not really thought about the possibility of getting trapped. Was there any reserve energon? Was there another way out?

"Slag make way out," said the Dinobot. He transformed and began blasting away at the wall with his breath. He made no headway.

"Whoah, Slag, careful. We need all the emergency power we can get. But you have given me an idea. We're going to blast our way out of here," said Wheeljack.

"How are we going to do that?" asked Cerebros.

"Well, it's going to take some supplies and an engine or two, Metroplex's cog, and maybe some other stuff," muttered Wheeljack as he held his chin. "And it would be nice if my lab had some power."

"How do you know if any of that is true?" asked Cerebros.

"It's all right here on Teletraan," said Wheeljack pointing at the low power computer. "Power is still running to my lab, and if the matter duplicator is working…" he smiled.

"What Slag do?" asked the Dinobot.

"Just hang out for the time being," said Wheeljack. "I have to hope the Ark's spare rocket engine is still in that crawl space off my lab. Are you coming?"

Cerebros was in disbelief. The engineer had been offline not two hours ago, but now seemed to have the improvising talent of a bot who had never left. He followed Wheeljack. Much was as the engineer described. The matter duplicator was working and it sped up the work. Building materials from around the base were stripped and reproduced. Metroplex's cog was copied several times. The Ark's spare engine was duplicated.

Wheeljack could not help looking over his shoulder at Red Alert in the pod. Once he had explained to Cerebros what he was trying to do, he turned over the welding and programming duties to the new scientist. Wheeljack used the matter duplicator on some of his spare parts. He looked back at Red Alert. The Teletraan healing ray had never gotten the opportunity to truly do its job. Red's helmet was a mess. That was the one thing Wheeljack did not dare try to duplicate from himself.

He removed Red from the pod and began to add some the duplicated paneling. He was hoping to have an answer for the head question while he worked. Then there was the power source issue. Without it, Red would never be more than a vegetable or slightly better a talking art piece. Metroplex's cog might answer, but it was too foreign to be implanted into Red's systems. If an adapter might be made…maybe.

"You no change head, yet," said Slag. "You change Dinobot heads once. What stop you now?"

"Dinobot heads…you're right Slag. Think I might have stowed the old ones in the lab. With a little adjustment they might be perfect for Red Alert," said Wheeljack. He tiptoed around Cerebros and found a damaged footlocker. Sure enough there were the heads. None were complete, but from Grimlock's old face shield and Sludge's old helmet, Wheeljack was pretty sure he could come up with something. Once he had it figured out, he attached the new head and returned Red Alert to the pod. Until he figured out the power problem, he was not going to mess with Red anymore.

The next few hours found Slag once again waiting for something to happen. There was no telling what happened to the Decepticon attack that leveled the base. It could be there were no Autobots to find. Slag knew there was no battle to fight here.

"Hey, Slag, we're ready," said Wheeljack from inside his lab.

Slag walked in as a robot and saw a strange sight. It was a car, but not just any car. It was enormous, filling the lab. Slag was perplexed. "What car going to help?"

Wheeljack patted the side of the red car. "It's our ticket out of here."

Slag was unimpressed. He noted the missiles on the tail fins, but they were small. He also noted the cockpit of the car had only two seats. "Where Slag sit?"

Wheeljack pulled out a remote and pushed a button. The modified Ark engines which looked like booster rockets, but they pulled forward and formed something like a cannon. This revealed a turret station for a third crewman.

Slag smiled cruelly. Those big guns in his hands… "Slag like cannons, but Slag no see how cannons get out when Slag could not."

Wheeljack adjusted the cannons up and pressed a button on the dashboard and a belch of energy emerged and went up and punched a hole through the roof. "That's how. The top debris is easier and shallower than the debris at the bottom."

Slag shook his head, "Car no go up wall. Car too big."

Wheeljack hit a second button. The giant car began to transform as the front panels came back. A grey nose appeared in the front. The rear wheels retracted from the sides, opening a storage space below the vehicle. The vehicle suspended itself above the ground, floating there. It could fly.

Cerebros was thrilled with Wheeljack's use of the Metroplex cog. They could leave and then he could continue his research with another of Metroplex's cog copies. Maybe they could fix Red Alert better. There only remained one problem.

"What car called?" asked Slag.

"What about Action Master?" asked Cerebros.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Wheeljack dismissiely.

"Slag name Turbo Racer," said Slag.

"Better," answered Wheeljack. "Now, let's load Red in the bottom. Slag, man the turret. Let's go see what is left of Autobot City."

The Turbo Racer's back engines roared to life and Slag had to brace himself on the turret in order to maintain his balance. He could see the hole coming closer and closer. For the first time he could its size. He was not sure hole was big enough. However the craft popped through and out. The Turbo Racer then descended and Wheeljack converted it back to a large car.

AUTOBOT CITY

Blaster shook his head. The affair with Trypticon had been too close. Blurr and Wheelie had arrived just in time. Metroplex had done his job, and after the freezing had finished, everything was back to normal. Everything was nice and easy…and the then the alarms started.

"Give me a break! For just one day…I mean…" pouted Blaster. "Bumblebee, this is Blaster, report on the disturbance." Blaster watched the picture of his comrade cover the screen as he looked to see what it was.

"Looks like a car, Blaster. A big car. Wait there's something inside of it…it's Wheeljack! And Slag! And the other guy! They made it back. I was afraid they had bought it when the base collapsed," said Bumblebee on the screen from his scout station.

Blaster relaxed. "Sky Lynx, report to headquarters," said the robot. "Bumblebee, send me those three when they arrive."

Bumblebee stood at the entrance with Outback as the massive car pulled up, dwarfing the yellow robot. "Hello there!" he shouted.

Slag jumped down from the turret. Cerebros and Wheeljack climbed over the side of the panels. Cerebros still held a copy of the Metroplex cog for his studies. He felt fortunate to have escaped, and he felt that he had seen enough action for now. He stood with Outback as Bumblebee and Wheeljack shook hands. There was something about these Earth experienced robots, he thought. Looking at Slag, he thought back to how the ornery Dinobot had still made sure Wheeljack was healed. Made you kinda wish you were one of them, he thought.

"Wheeljack! It's great to see you!" said Bumblebee.

"You too, little guy. I understand I missed a lot while I was in that coma. Which reminds me, do you have a medical bay where I can put Red? Teletraan cut out on us. We made some repairs ourselves, but until we find a way to restore his power converter, he's still on life support. We have him in a pod at the moment," said Wheeljack.

"I don't know about that. We do have room in the medical bay for him, but if Teletraan couldn't fix him we probably can't either. We miss Ratchet dearly, and First Aid splits his time between here and Cybertron," said Bumblebee.

"They got Ratchet too? Man, that hurts. Still help me get Red into a better place. I may not be able to fix him now, but someday I will," said Wheeljack.

"Okay. Outback! Pipes! Can you guys carry Red Alert to the medical bay?" asked Bumblebee.

Outback nodded and waved Pipes over. The two unloaded Red Alert and took him inside Metroplex still in his pod. They took out of the pod and placed him on a bed and attached him to exterior life support. Then they returned to their duties.

"Blaster wants to see you," said Bumblebee to Wheeljack.

"Blaster? Why does he…" Wheeljack was cut off in mid-sentence.

"He's our boss now. He is Autobot City Commander with control over all Earth operations that don't involve Rodimus Prime," said Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, there is something I need to do first. I want to see the others," said Wheeljack.

"I can't do that. We launched the Mausoleum already while you were lost," said Bumblebee.

"Who's left, Bumblebee?" asked Wheeljack firmly.

"Hard to say, really. Jazz and Cliffjumper. Warpath. Powerglide. Cosmos. Seaspray. Omega…" started Bumblebee.

"From our crew, from the Ark," restated Wheeljack.

"Jazz, Cliffjumper, me, and I don't know who else. It could be that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe made it, but I asked for Earth duty after the Unicron battle. I haven't really seen anyone else since," said Bumblebee.

"And Optimus?" asked Wheeljack.

"He's gone. Rodimus Prime is our leader now. He was killed in a final battle with Megatron. Believe you me, it still burns me up that I was on the Moonbase that entire time. He passed in one of Metroplex's medical bays," said Bumblebee.

"Can I see it?" asked Wheeljack.

"I think so. I have not been there myself. Too tough. I think I can even have Blaster meet us there," said Bumblebee.

A light flickered in a medical bay. Wheeljack and Bumblebee entered and stood over an empty bed. Slag came in too, with Cerebros. The room was spacious. There was a monitor on the far side with its power off. Wheeljack just looked and contemplated the absence of Optimus. He placed a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. He could imagine his great leader expiring on the bed.

Blaster and Sky Lynx broke the moment. Now the room felt a bit cramped.

"Well I'll be a monkey-bot's uncle. It is Wheeljack! Welcome back to Earth, buddy," said Blaster.

"Yea, Blaster, it's me," said Wheeljack, still lost in thought.

"Good to have you back. I'm sure Rodimus will have something for you to do. Cybertron needs fixing, Metroplex might need work, and the war appears back on the charts of things to do," said Blaster. "I've got Sky Lynx ready to take you, Slag, and Cerebros back as soon as you are ready to fly."

"I'm not ready, Blaster. I just came back from the dead and learned that my Arkmates are mostly gone. Is there some other job I could do for a while? Something away from all the fighting and dying?" asked Wheeljack.

"I suppose. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus will miss you though. The human Earth Defense Command is building a new moon base. An engineer of your rep would be to groovy for words," said Blaster.

"Very well. I have one more request," said Wheeljack.

"Name it," replied Blaster.

"I want Optimus' trailer. If I can modify the designs, I can bring more capable weapons to the moon," said Wheeljack.

"Wait, Optimus is gone…" started Bumblebee. "Roller and Station should be gone too."

"They should be, but they didn't fit in mausoleum. They shared Optimus' spark or the Matrix or something. But the components are still here, intact, but not sentient," said Blaster. "I can ship it to you on the Moon when you get there. Better than cluttering Metroplex and better knowing that in some small way, Optimus is still fighting the Decepticons."

"Thanks, Blaster, I won't forget this," said Wheeljack.

"Well chaps, that's my cue. Everyone outside for the ride of their life!" said Sky Lynx. "I can even make a stop at the Moon."

"I'm not ready to leave just yet, Sky Lynx," said Wheeljack. "Go on without me."

"How do you intend to get to the moon if not by first class Lynx?" asked Sky Lynx.

"Turbo Racer. It has enough kick to get me to the Moon. It can serve as defensive weapon or small shuttle, but I'm not leaving here til I see Red one more time," said Wheeljack.

"Everybody else, let's go to Cybertron!" said Sky Lynx, heading for the outside with Slag and Cerebros in tow. Blaster also left to resume his duties and to inform the EDC and Rodimus of Wheeljack's decision.

Consciousness felt like a heavy burden to Red Alert. He opened his eyes gently, but something was wrong. His optics were different. Perhaps he could see better, but it was strange. He decided to raise his arm to check for certain. Yes, he was right. His arm was blue, and his arm had never been blue. Maybe the other one was different. No, it was blue as well.

Red began to feel around. His chest was different, he had a large windshield there. He felt more his missile launcher. It wasn't there. Red felt a paranoid shiver run down his wiring. What has happened to me. He wanted to scream but found he was too scared. He also noted the cords that connected him to the table and the monitor. He thought about making a break for it, but then he saw a familiar thing.

"Wheeljack! He's conscious!" said Bumblebee, all smiles.

Red Alert saw the smiles and felt better. He was not in a lab, this was just a hospital. And still…

"Red! You okay, buddy?" asked Wheeljack.

"I'm not sure," said Red with a clearly different voice, deeper as though his voicebox had been altered. He studied Wheeljack. "You look different."

"Someone finally noticed. I guess Teletraan's repair tool got a little wrong," said Wheeljack. "I can survive without my shoulder launcher though. I now have two smaller back launchers."

"I have changed too. What happened?" asked Red Alert.

"Records of the battle of Autobot City have you listed as killed in action. You were part of a team led by Ultra Magnus. You engaged the Constructicons and were destroyed. Blaster told me that a new scientist named Cerebros found you alive in the pile of dead with Wheeljack and took you to the Ark for repairs," said Bumblebee.

"Unfortunately, the Ark was under attack by Trypticon. I was revived, but you were only beginning repair when the power to Teletraan went the first time. We rerouted all power to my lab, so that the way to repair you was manually. I was able to use spare parts from the Ark to rebuild your structure, but none of them matched your old design that well. I had to improvise, but I could not fix your power regulator. That's why you are here on life support. I'm afraid if you were to leave, you would run out of power and die after a few minutes or maybe an hour," said Wheeljack.

"So I'm stuck here in this new form that I can't even see. Well, Wheeljack and Bumblebee, I have one favor to ask of you," said Red in his new deep voice.

"Name it, friend," said Bumblebee.

"If I ever get off this bed, I want a new start. Let's let Red Alert stay KIA in the battle. I want to getaway from those memories and I want to getaway from here," said Red Alert.

"Red, you can't mean that," said Bumblebee.

"Red's dead, bud. He died heroically at Autobot City. As for this getaway, I will do what I can. We'll inform Blaster of your demise and of his new recruit wounded fighting Trypticon. Don't fret old friend, I will find that getaway you need," answered Wheeljack.

"Thank you," answered the new robot with the old brain of Autobot security director Red Alert.

Wheeljack and Bumblebee withdrew from the room and walked outside toward Turbo Racer. Wheeljack turned to his yellow friend, "Look after Red or whatever we are going to call him."

"I won't let him getaway, unless that's what the situation calls for," said Bumblebee. He waved as Wheeljack transformed the Turbo Racer into a spaceship and took off for the EDC moon base. He wondered if he would see the engineer again. Of course he would, he thought. The moon is not that far away.