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Spike visited the Ark nearly every day, and despite that, he still could get surprised by new mechs who were still randomly showing up on Earth without warning. Sometimes, like today, the Ark would also be completely empty since the Autobots went off to fight the Decepticons. These two possibilities usually didn’t happen at the same time, and yet here Spike is in an empty Ark looking at a bot he’s never seen before. At least the mech had an Autobot symbol.
The new bot was the smallest he’d ever seen. He knew the Transformers came in many shapes and sizes, but Spike had never thought that he’d ever be taller than an Autobot. The second the bot spotted Spike, he got into a fighting stance.
“Who goes there?”
“I’m Spike. I’m one of the humans. Nice to meet you,”
“Oh yeah, well I’m Ballpoint; the best Autobot ever,” The mech stuck his servo out to shake Spike’s hand. They shook hands. Best Autobot ever? This would be interesting.
“What makes you the best Autobot ever?”
“My spywork,” Ballpoint said confidently.
“What spywork have you done for the Autobots?”
Ballpoint paused, looked surprised, and then looked distressed, “Oh, Primus, I haven’t done any spywork for the Autobots yet. I’m a fraud,” Ballpoint wailed in distress.
“No, no, no, no. It’s ok, Ballpoint. I’m sure that when you put yourself out there, you’ll live up to that best Autobot ever title,”
“Put myself out there? You're right! I’m off to the Decepticons.” Ballpoint declared before running out of the ark.
Spike stood there, stunned for a moment, staring at Ballpoint as he ran off. He thought about it for a second and decided that it probably wouldn’t be smart to let the mech go off on his own. From their short conversation, Spike could tell that Ballpoint was impulsive and perhaps slightly overconfident in his skills. He ran after Ballpoint; at least if something happened, there’d be two people able to call for help.
Spike had no idea where Ballpoint was taking the two of them, but Ballpoint assured Spike that he knew where they were going every time Spike tried to ask. Spike wishes he’d warned someone before leaving, or at least brought a way to find his way back. He didn’t exactly trust this new mech’s navigation skills.
They did end up somewhere, though. It looked like an abandoned energy facility. Ballpoint was carefully rolling between cover to cover, trying to be sneaky, while Spike just walked forward. There was clearly no one here, and clearly no one had been here for a while.
“How did you know about this place, Ballpoint?”
“I worked here at one point when I was a Decepticon,”
“You used to be a Decepticon?”
“Yes, before I became the world’s greatest Autobot, I was the world’s greatest Decepticon. Oh, all those Decepticons were so jealous of me. They always told me how much they hated me and wanted me dead, but I know what they were thinking behind closed doors. Decepticons aren’t very sappy, so they couldn’t admit their admiration of me,”
“Admiration, huh? Are you sure that’s what it was?”
“What else would it be?” Ballpoint looked straight at Spike with big eyes full of joy, and Spike just couldn’t do it.
“I’m not sure. Nevermind. What’s your plan? You said you were gonna spy on something,”
“Well, I remember the passcode to the computer that should be in here.”
Ballpoint was right about there being a computer, and Spike helped hoist him up to reach the keyboard. Spike watched from a distance as Ballpoint slowly and clumsily went through the computer files. It reminded him of his dad using computers. Spike really wishes he could be up there doing it himself.
Ballpoint gasped, “I found something!”
“What is it?”
“An attack plan. An attack on the Ark,”
“Really? Well, we need to take this back to the Autobots. This is big,”
“Lemme download it all quick.”
Ballpoint finished and jumped down from the computer. The mech practically ran back to the Ark, which was hard for Spike since they had walked for a while to get to the abandoned facility, and Ballpoint was his only way back. When the two of them went back to the Ark, the Autobots were there. Ballpoint excitedly told Optimus all about what they found. When Ballpoint was finished, he wished Spike goodbye and went off to somewhere else in the Ark.
Spike turned to Optimus, “I can’t believe that mech used to be a Decepticon,”
“I don’t think the Decepticons can believe it either,”
“What do you plan on doing with what we found?”
“Nothing, it’s old intent,”
“It is? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because Ballpoint always wants to help, but I can’t let him fight the Decepticons. If letting him believe he’s stopped an attack stops him from running out onto the battlefield, then the lie was worth it,”
“Makes sense. He ran out of the Ark the second I mentioned spying,”
Optimus chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ballpoint was supposed to be guarding the Ark while we were away.”