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Wheeljack hadn’t heard from Starscream in a few days, which was a little unusual for the slightly lustful seeker. He went looking for him, and when that turned up nothing, he went looking for Bumblebee, figuring he might know something about the current ruler of Cybertron’s whereabouts.
He found him in a heated argument with Prowl in his office, and Bumblebee broke off to say shortly “What is it, Wheeljack?” when the inventor popped his helm into the room.
“Have either of you seen Starscream anywhere?” Wheeljack said sheepishly. “I have a, uh, report that I need to go over with him.”
Bumblebee hesitated and looked at Prowl, who said bluntly, “We have reason to believe Starscream is behind the attack at the Hall of Records. We’re currently holding him until we know more.”
Wheeljack went absolutely white, “You’re holding him–You have reason? What reason?”
Prowl frowned, unsure how he felt about this sort of attitude from Wheeljack, “That information is classified.”
“Uh-huh, classified,” Wheeljack scoffed. “Which is Prowl-talk for you don’t have scrap.” He looked directly at Bumblebee and added, “You’re both very disappointing,” before turning and stalking out.
Prowl’s mouth dropped open and Bumblebee said, shocked, “What do you think he’s–”
“Probably something not good,” Prowl strode out quickly, closely followed by Bumblebee.
Wheeljack headed directly for the holding cells, incapacitating a caught off-guard Cliffjumper on his way with a containment bubble. “Sorry Cliff, no time to explain,” he muttered as he concentrated on overriding the door lock.
Cliffjumper, to his credit, mouthed, “What the Pit, Wheeljack??” at him as he did so, and then gave up and resigned himself to hanging out in this bubble for a five minute break while Wheeljack did whatever Wheeljack was gonna do.
Wheeljack quickly overrode the door lock and rushed in to find Starscream sitting in a cell, both servos behind him in stasis cuffs, with a metal clamp bolting his mouth shut. He had assumed a defensive sneer when the door had opened, but then his optics widened when he saw Wheeljack.
Wheeljack overrode the second lock on the cell door and went, “Hey, Star” as he began undoing the mouth clamp and cuffs.
“Wheeljack,” Starscream said once his mouth was free, a little surprised, “You look…I’ve actually never seen you angry before, but you look pissed.”
“I am pissed,” Wheeljack muttered. “C’mon, we’ve got to go. Prowl was right behind me.”
They stepped out of the holding cell to find Prowl and Bumblebee. Prowl said icily, “What do you think you’re doing, Wheeljack?”
“I’m really, really sick of you hurting everyone else’s chances at peace, Prowl,” Wheeljack said directly. “So, I’ve decided to do something about it.”
Prowl leveled his gun at Wheeljack, “So you’re a traitor now?”
“Prowl, whoa–put the gun down,” Bumblebee said, optics wide. “This is Wheeljack. We’ve both known him forever.”
“And yet, he’s disobeying direct orders and aiding a prisoner in escaping,” Prowl gritted out.
“You wrongfully imprisoned him,” Wheeljack said furiously. “You don’t have any authority to imprison anyone, you don’t even have the slightest shred of evidence, and you’re not gonna find any! You’re just looking for any reason to lock him up, because you can’t get over the fact that the war is over and the Decepticons aren’t our enemies anymore.”
He said the last part with emphasis and Starscream said hesitantly, “Listen, I don’t want to turn this into a whole thing. Just put the gun down, Prowl, and I’ll let you lock me back up again.”
Wheeljack glanced back at him, “That won’t be happening. And for the record, your trust in me is astounding.”
Starscream just looked at him uncertainly, and Wheeljack turned back to face Prowl, “No one’s going anywhere with you, Prowl. Let us leave.”
Prowl cocked the gun, “I’m going to give you until the count of three, Wheeljack, and then teammate or not, I’m going to open fire.”
“Prowl!” Bumblebee said furiously, helpless.
“Have it your way,” Wheeljack said.
“One.”
“Wheeljack, please just let me–” Starscream started
“Quit worrying, alright?”
“Two.”
“Wheeljack–”
“I’ve got this.”
“Three.”
Three things happened almost simultaneously. Prowl opened fire. The invisible forcefield that Wheeljack had set up deflected all the shots. And Starscream dove in front of Wheeljack and shielded him with his wings.
Prowl lowered his gun, staring at the two of them.
Starscream had his back to Prowl and Bumblebee now and was just looking down at Wheeljack, who said, a bit breathless, “Forcefield. I had a forcefield set up. I had it.”
“You had it,” Starscream repeated, a bit mortified. He ran a servo over his helm, optics still a bit wide, and said shakily, “Sorry, I–um–” and then just shook his helm and stood next to Wheeljack wordlessly, avoiding optic-contact with anyone.
Wheeljack smiled a little bit under his mask. Prowl looked disgusted and Bumblebee managed an “Oh!” in a strangled sort of voice.
Prowl let out a sarcastic laugh, “So all that noble scrap about not letting me ‘ruin other people’s chance at peace’–it was all fake. You were just justifying your shacking up with–”
At this point, Bumblebee had either had enough or didn’t really want to hear exactly what Prowl was going to finish that thought with. Perhaps both. But regardless, he did bonk Prowl over the helm with his cane very hard, knocking the tactician out.
Wheeljack and Starscream looked a little surprised at this turn of events, and Bee sighed, “Sorry about that, he’s–There’s really nothing to say. You’re free to go, Starscream. We’ll find you if we come across anything in our investigation that points your way.”
“I should hope,” Starscream seethed.
He transformed, and for a second Wheeljack felt a little hurt that Starscream was about to just fly off without him, until Starscream threw down his ladder. Wheeljack grinned and climbed on.
They managed to get back to Starscream’s quarters in one piece, and the seeker said heatedly over his shoulder as he transformed back, “That was a little reckless of you.”
“Reckless of me ? I’m sorry, I believe I was the one who had everything planned out, whereas you were the one offering to sacrifice himself and literally throwing himself in front of me–”
“I meant –” Starscream snapped and then sighed and said in a calmer tone, “I meant, being reckless with your personal life. You’ve risked your affiliation with the Autobots, with your friends. And now–” he scrubbed his faceplates, “everyone is going to associate you with me. Which is bad.”
Wheeljack sighed, “The people who are my real friends will stick with me. We see optic to optic about the issues between the factions.” He paused and then said, “If you’re worried about word getting around about,” he gestured between them, “this, then I can talk to Bee and ask him not to say anything. Can’t say the same for Prowl though.”
“Right,” Starscream sighed.
He glanced at Wheeljack out of the corner of his optic and then looked away, “You didn’t even ask if I had done it. You just–” he smiled a little, “busted in there, like it was nothing.”
“Well, unlike some people, I have a little faith,” Wheeljack teased.
Starscream’s smile faded and he said uncertainly, “You shouldn’t trust me so much, Wheeljack. I’m a liar and a manipulator. You know this.”
“You’ve never lied to me, have you?” Wheeljack said smoothly. “Manipulated me?”
“No, but–” Starscream started and then promptly gave up.
Wheeljack grinned, “It doesn’t have to be so much pressure, Star. I just think you’re working on not being that person anymore. And if I’m wrong, then,” he shrugged and added, “Plus, I think you get a few brownie points for the sacrifice play; that was really out of character. And also dumb. But,” he scratched his helm and muttered, “Still made me feel a lil special.”
Starscream smiled softly, but his wings twitched anxiously, “Don’t read too much into it, alright?”
Wheeljack eyed him but said, “Sure.”
***
Starscream decided he should lay low for a few days after that–which his version of “laying low” was really quite high. He set up shop up in the rafters of Wheeljack’s workshop so he could keep an optic on his favorite little grounder in case someone decided to cause trouble for him. And, of course, someone did.
Prowl stormed into Wheeljack’s lab the very next day and Starscream readied himself to jump down. He needn’t have, of course, because as soon as Prowl got a few steps into the lab and began his tirade, Wheeljack raised an optic ridge, pushed a button on a remote, and triggered his traps.
Magnetic stasis cuffs and a mouth clamp flew up off the workbench and at Prowl. Once he was incapacitated, wide-opticed, and furious, Wheeljack stood up from his workbench slowly and stepped over to him.
He let the tactician bot sit for a minute as he just looked at him, helm cocked to the side, optics bright with a specific sort of madness that gave Prowl a chill, and then said, “So. This is the same set-up you had Starscream in for over twenty-four hours .”
He ground out the last part, and then added “Little bit terrifying, huh? Especially if you haven’t done anything to deserve it. Which you certainly have, so I’d feel pretty justified leaving you here for double that amount of time.”
Prowl’s optics widened and up in the rafters Starscream sucked in a breath; they were both a little blown away by how scary Wheeljack was being–and Starscream, of course, was a little into it.
Wheeljack let Prowl sit with that thought for a second and then muttered, “Luckily for you, I’m not a sadistic afthole unless you push me too far. Let me make this clear: if you ever try to hurt my partner again, I will turn you into one of my fragging science projects. You got that, Prowl?”
Prowl nodded quickly and Wheeljack released the magnets, “Good. Now get outta my lab.”
He turned back to his workbench and Prowl left almost immediately.
Once he was gone, Starscream dropped down from the rafters, making Wheeljack jump a little, “Couldn’t help but overhear.”
Wheeljack glanced up, “I had no idea you–how long have you been up there?”
“Not long,” Starscream shrugged. “Sorry for the breach of privacy. I just wanted to keep an optic on you. Figured Prowl might try something.”
“Well, you figured right,” Wheeljack muttered. “Fortunately, I did too.”
Starscream examined the magnets on the workbench, “Seems like you can more than handle yourself though, you scary little bot.”
Wheeljack grinned crookedly, “I keep tellin’ ya.”
There’s a pause and then Starscream said, “So, I’m your ‘partner’ now?”
Wheeljack smirked, “Don’t read into it, Star.”
Starscream chuckled, “Alright, that one was deserved.”