The Guard, The Scout, and The Wrecker

Wheeljack

"Now that chores are done, can we go dune bashing?" Miko asked as she sat on her guardian's shoulder as they walked into the base's central part. "Miko the last time we did that I spent a week picking sand out of my articulators but there is a monster truck rally in town," Bulkhead said to his charge. When they had arrived and saw the rest of the team as Ratchet said they had picked up an Autobot identification beacon coming. "Unidentified ship this is Autobot Outpost Omega One identify yourself," Optimus said. "I had a warmer welcome from Dispitcon Combat Brigades," the voice said. "Wheeljack that you?" Bulkhead said with excitement in his voice and Nightshard with a smile on her face. "Bulk that you?" the voice now identified as Wheeljack asked. The conversation went on and Optimus asked if that was Wheeljack to his two resident Wreckers. "It's 1000 % the real deal Optimus," Bulkhead said with Nightshard nodding in agreement. With that, the communication had ended and the two wreckers on Earth had gotten excited about seeing their friend who they hadn't seen in eons. : So who's the mech and don't you dare lie to me I could feel how excited you are: Bee asked his sister. Raf translated the question to both Jack and Miko so they would know what Bee said. Arcee asked a similar question to Bulkhead but worded it in a way that Bulk and Wheeljack were something more. "Wheeljack served with Shard and me in the same war unit the Wreckers back Cybertron," Bulkhead said with a smile on her faceplates. "The cons aren't going to know what hit them," Nightshard said. 

The next day, the entire team had gotten together in the main area of the base to wait for Wheeljack to let them know that he was close to the landing zone. " Why isn't he landing nearby instead of landing here?" Jack asked looking at the computer. "Just in case the Decepticons are tracking his ship," Ratchet said making sure that everything was in place. Miko saw that her guardian was pacing the floor near the rest of the group. "I've never seen you stoked before," Miko said to Bulk. Nightshard laughed at the scene which caught the attention of the rest of the team before looking down at her peds. "What are you laughing about?" Raf asked the groundflyer. "It's just Bulk and Jackie are close friends long before I met them at the start of the war so it makes that Bulkhead is excited to see his old friend," Nightshard said with a smile on her faceplate. Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead knew what she meant between the lines that she had a group of close friends like Bulkhead and Wheeljack. "Come on Shay you know Wheeljack and I aren't that close," Bulkhead said picking up what his friend was trying to say. "I know that Bulk and you know that am just teasing you," Nightshard said as they saw the Con flyers tailing Wheeljack's ship. 

Once passing through the groundbridge, the group of four arrived to see Wheeljack taking down several vehicons. "Took you guys long enough," Wheeljack said. "Missed one," Arcee said pointing out a stray vehicon that was getting up. Wheeljack shot the vehicon as he walked up to the four Autobots. "Jackie!!!" Bulkhead yelled as he ran to his friend before hugging him. Nightshard took a sniff of the breeze that was coming from Wheeljack's direction when she noticed that his scent had completely changed from the last time they saw each other. 'Are you ok sis?' Bumblebee asked Nightshard through their sibling bond. 'I'm fine,' Nightshard said in response. Wheeljack said hello to the Autobot second-in-command knowing that Nightshard was going to be the one bot that he knew that could throw his plan out the window. When the five bots arrived back at base, Bulkhead introduced Wheeljack to Miko, Raf, and Jack before starting a small party. Bulkhead and Wheeljack started to play Lob before the ball landed near the Groundbridge controls. "What's that?" Jack asked Arcee and Nightshard as they watched the two wreckers play the game. "That's Lob ball which was a favorite pass time back on Cybertron, especially among the warrior class," Arcee said. "I played a few games of lob during the early days of the war with the Wreckers along with a friend of mine though I prefer a good game of cube," said Nightshard remembering the games of cube and lob that she played with her teams. 

"That's it Wheeljack's signature: one grenade one shot," Bulkhead said pointing out the grenade on Wheeljack's hip. He also commented that he was still taking shrapnel out of his backside. "Considering the size of your backside," Arcee said before laughing at him with Bumblebee and Nightshard. "In that same fight, I got shrapnel zigzagging up my backstrut and hurt like the Pits of Kaon," Nightshard said before rolling her shoulders to ease the tension between her wings. A few minutes later, Miko went to show Wheeljack around while the rest of the team stayed in the main area to talk. "Something's off with Wheeljack," Bulkhead said watching the pair walking into one of the hallways. "You haven't seen him in eons so bots change," Arcee said pointing out the fact. "Bulkhead's right when he said something was off with Wheeljack," Nightshard said. Everyone looked at her like she grew another head wanting to know what was going on. "What do you mean that something's off with Wheeljack?" Jack asked the groundflyer. "What I mean is that whoever that is with Miko isn't Wheeljack," Nightshard said which got her weird looks. "Meaning someone swapped places with Wheeljack before we got to the wreck of his ship," she said.

"What someone swapped places with Wheeljack and how did you figure out that?" Arcee asked knowing that everyone had the same question. "His scent is off from the last time I saw him and I picked up Wheeljack's scent in the air but it was faint by the time we got there," Nightshard said which made something click in both Bulkhead and Bumblebee's processors when Night said knowing that she was able to tell who was who and track them down by scent alone. "What do you mean you can tell which bot is who by their scent?" Raf asked wanting to know how it worked. "Am what the bots call a multi-changer which means I can transform into multiple alt-forms one of which is a Cyberwolf. Cyberwolves can memorize every scent of their pack and can tell others from their pack from the scent alone," Night said before being asked how that goes back to Wheeljack. "Since I can remember every scent of my family blood or team, I can remember Wheeljack's scent from others and tell you that whoever that is isn't him by scent alone," Nightshard said. That alone got everyone on edge when they realized that Nightshard could help them tell who is who by scent alone. "What's going here?" said the imposter when he and Miko returned. 

"Nothing just telling them about the Battle of Thunderhead Pass," Bulkhead said before telling him to tell it. The Wheeljack imposter told the story but both Bulkhead and Nightshard knew he got it wrong. "That's exactly how it went except for one thing Bulk and I weren't there," Nightshard said which got the attention of everyone. "Bulkhead had transferred out of the Wreckers to join up with Optimus and I was attached to Ultra Mangus' unit as their tracker but you won't get that if you just read Wheeljack's public service record," Nightshard said before the imposter grabbed Miko and backed up in front of the groundbridge controls. Once he opened the groundbridge, it didn't take long before the real Wheeljack came running through the open groundbridge knocking down the imposter who dropped Miko though Bulkhead caught her. Once putting Miko on the ground, Bulkhead was about to head into the fight before Wheeljack stopped him. "Ugly's mine," Wheeljack said. With that, both Wheeljack and the imposter started to fight with the groundbridge still open behind him.  Once Wheeljack took down his imposter, Bulkhead grabbed his out-cold body and turned on the grenade before throwing him out through the groundbridge. "Nice Lob," Wheeljack said before turning to see his honorary younger sister. 

Everyone looked over to Nightshard wanting to see if that was Wheeljack. "He's in the clear," Nightshard said before hugging her old friend. "Never underestimated your sense of smell when it comes it sniffing me out huh Shay," Wheeljack said as he let go and smiled. Bulkhead smiled at the scene before reintroducing Wheeljack to Miko. Once Optimus had returned from his drive, he saw that nothing had changed minus seeing his adoptive niece smiling on seeing her old friend in Wheeljack watching him play Lob with Bulkhead. Once the game was over, he called the trio over wanting to talk about letting Wheeljack join the team. "Now that you're here, I have several ideas for your alt-mode," Bulkhead said and Nightshard noticed the subtle change in Wheeljack's body change. "'Bout that Bulk I wanna see what else is out maybe some of the old crew," Wheeljack said. Nightshard knew that Wheeljack had a wonderer's spirit always wanting to move from one place to another.

The next day everyone, minus Ratchet and Optimus, were saying goodbye to Wheeljack before he left. "You know Bulk there is room for one more even with a backside like yours," Wheeljack said offering the other seat to the green Wrecker. "I can't my place is with them with her," Bulkhead said looking over to Miko. "Well Shay you up for it and you can find Hot Rod," Wheeljack said giving the open seat to the former Rescue Bot. "Sorry Wheelie but like Bulk my place is here plus some bot has to stay here to make sure Hatchet doesn't wound up renching my brother and Bulk to death," Nightshard said which got a groan from the sword-wielding bomb-loving wrecker. "I thought I got you to stop calling me that," Wheeljack said before a smile went on his face. "No can't do Wheeljack, it's the nickname that I gave you after our first mission together remember," Nightshard said with a smile on her faceplate before hugging Wheeljack.