His arrival was met with mush skeptics but he eventually was able to convince the rest of the Autobots that he had indeed joined their side although it wasn't easy. He was now settling in well into Autobot life, forming bonds with humans and Autobots alike over the past five months.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!" a soldier yelled as the sound of gunfire filled the air.
The Autobots and their N.E.S.T allies were conducting drills on a military base in the outskirts of Virginia. Soldiers fired their weapons safely from behind sandbags which they used as cover while the Autobots provided cover for them. The aim was to practice and sharpen their formations and combat skills, as well as strengthen bonds between them.
Targets were spread through out the open area and their aim was to take all of them down, the humans used blank bullets while the Autobots were charged with using their light weapons to avoid excessive damage to the terrain. It was three days of gruesome drills with assault missions being simulated as well as recon situations and exercises like capture the flag. After their time was served, they were all looking forward to kicking back and relaxing for a while at the N.E.S.T base.
"Jetstream please report to bay 25 for weapons assessment" the N.E.S.T announcer said through the speakers as Jetstream drove into the Autobot hanger.
The mustang revved his engine as he drove to the twenty fifth bay and then transformed with four humans, three male and one female stood in front of him.
"Your weapons' accuracy was a bit off in the last drill so we want to check them out" the woman said.
"No problem Brenda" he answered.
Metal covering between his shoulder and neck moved back as eight red headed missiles, four on each side, revealed themselves. The middle of his forearms opened up as a cannon appeared on each arm with machine guns forming on both sides of the cannons.
"Alright, let's run diagnostics" Brenda said.
They hooked him up to a machine to begin their analysis, it took about twenty minutes for them to finalize their results and for him to fine tune their calibration.
"Thank you Brenda" he said walking away.
"Jetstream please report to bay 32 for vehicle assessment" the announcer said once again.
"Vehicle assessment? There was nothing wrong with my driving around all the terrains they threw at us. Oh well" Jet sighed as he transformed and drove out of the Autobot hanger and headed to the vehicle hanger.
Jetstream arrived and found a black Lexus LFA with a front and back splitter and a red under glow. Parked a few feet away was a Harrier jumpjet armed with missiles and all, then he was instructed to scan their forms. He parked in the middle of the two and scanned the jet first seeing that he wouldn't transform into it straight away, then he now scanned the Lexus and that's when a physical change occurred as sparks began to fly.
The lights of the mustang merged together as it took the triangular shape of the Lexus', the grill of the car appeared and took form from the pre-existing one as the new front bumper came over the older one. The style of the car changed as it moved closer to the ground with the windscreens and roof all making the necessary adjustments. The body of the car also got wider and the wheels changed to accomodate the black seven spoked rims. The tail lights had formed with no trouble as the three exhausts appeared on the back as the two below disappeared.
As that went on, a change of interior also took place, with the dash, steering, and gear lever all taking a change for the better with the latter moving from the middle of the car to behind the steering. The old leather seats were changed to a racing inspired ones as they were covered in black aesthetic fabric. The Autobot symbol was placed on the headrests and on the steering as well while that of the Lexus remained intact on the outside. A rev of the engine signified the end of the transformation as Jetstream rolled smoothly away from the hanger.
Jetstream drove back to the Autobot hanger with a rev every now and then as he was in love with the exhaust of the car. It sounded even better than a formula one's in his ears.
"Love the new look Jet" a soldier named Brian said. He was your average looking American with green eyes and blonde hair. He was usually Jet's wingman on missions.
Jetstream began to transform with the respective parts of the Lexus taking the place of the Mustang's such as the lights on the chest, the fender upside down on the hip and so on. Some notable did come such as the tailpipes resting on the base of his spine, grey metal strips also ran across the sides of his thighs and calf. The air vents from the Harrier were placed on the side of his torso as the only major change of the transformation appeared. The two turbines of the jet engines appeared on his back as they were being held up like the doors of Bumblebee were. On the respective sides of the turbines, parts of his wings laid mostly unchanged with the flaps as an addition. Just like how Shatter's was from the Bumblebee movie.
"Thanks" he replied.
"Alright guys, we have two missions so let's get to it!" Lennox announced as he walked towards the Autobots.
They gathered, soldiers included, around him as they underwent their mission's briefing.
"Okay we have two missions, one in Iran and one in Ukraine. The first is destroying an illegal nuclear facility, we will need Wheeljack to pose as the Iranian defense minister's car for you all to gain entry. Mirage, Sideswipe and Bumblebee will be your back up" he explained.
"The second is a bit trickier. We've been tipped on the suspected use of alien technology at a decommissioned nuclear power plant. The place is radioactive so you better pack your radiation gear as that place won't be inhabitable for the next 20,000 years and I don't want to say I told you so when you get kids with gills. Optimus, Ratchet and Jetstream have been drafted for this mission"
"When will I get some action?" Ironhide asked.
"You'll be the first to know when some gunslinging is needed. But we did pick up some energon signals in North Dakota if you like?" Lennox said.
"I'll check it out" Ironhide answered.
"Alright people, wheels up in twenty!!" he announced.
He transformed into his vehicle mode and waited eagerly to get going. When all was set, he rolled out with five men, Brian included, hitching a ride with him as they drove to a private military airstrip to be loaded up. Prime brought his trailer for good measure and to transport some soldiers as well.
It was a long flight but they finally landed in Ukraine and began their approach to the Chernobyl with Mr. Voshkod leading the way, as Optimus, Ratchet and Jetstream followed closely. They made it to the plant as they all got out, Lennox who rode in Optimus alongside two other soldiers as they hopped out. About seven men were in his trailer and four in Ratchet. The Autobots looked for a safe place to park as they awaited word from their allies.
"So Mr. Voshkod" Lennoz said approaching him with soldiers behind him. "Uninhabited since '86. I hear it won't be livable again for another twenty thousand years?"
"At least. Ukraine was the most fertile land. It's a tragedy"
"This way" he said pointing ahead for them to follow.
"Gear up! We have sixty minutes on the ground. Watch your radiation levels. Mr. Voshkod, where's your protective gear?" Lennox asked as his men put on their radiation masks but he just kept on walking ahead.
They made their way through a hallway and into a classroom.
"Where is your protective gear?' he asked again.
"It would not matter. For me, it's only a matter of time. Come through the school" he said.
They walked passed were some welding was going on and then stopped when Mr. Voshkod was about to hand them over to someone to help them get to what they came for.
"Yuri will take you below" he said as Yuri stood by his side. "And one more thing, Colonel. In private... he said taking him to the side there were energy experiments-"
His eyes soon strayed up as he saw Laserbeak hanging on the roof then growled at him.
"Ahh! It can wait" he said hesitantly.
"Keep moving, Keep moving, Stay tight" a N.E.S.T soldier said as they advanced with Yuri leading them.
"Okay, right here. I think I found it" another said as they stumbled upon a weird looking structure with wires and tubed all running towards it.
The soldiers ventured forward and soon discovered a piece of cybertronian technology laid there in the middle of it all.
"Optimus, Jet, we got a visual. Looks like the object's clamped in some kind of metal harness" he reported with the two receiving his transmission.
Then another soldier stumbles upon a dusty old box and when he cleans the dust of it, he discovers something even more intriguing.
"Guys, I just found a box with Soviet space program markings on them" he stated.
"Sputnik?" Lennox asked.
"Energon readings sir" a soldier said calling all their attention as he looked at his reader. "It's strong....below us. It's coming in fast"
"That's not good" Jetstream said.
"We must prepare to engage" Prime told him.
From below the soldiers, Driller emerged with a menacing roar. Men went flying about as the mechanical worm caused an unprecedented amount of damage to the room. The soldiers opened fire on it but it still managed to grab the piece.
"Contact, contact!!!" one yelled as he fired his rifle.
"Let's give them help" Optimus said.
"Way ahead of you" Jet replied as he set off towards Lennox and his squad with Optimus trailing.
"We have to get out of here now! Move, move, move!!" Lennox odered.
The team ran as fast as they could trying to get topside as quickly as possible. Jetstream and Optimus were on it's tail with the former decepticon getting a hunch on who could be controlling it.
"If Driller is here, Shockwave might be here too" he said as a part of Driller suddenly shot out of the ground in front of him. He ran straight into it and transformed, grunting about the damage he had taken as he flipped through the air.
He landed on his feet facing the beast with is battle mask and got his weapons out as he opened fire on it. "You're not getting away that easy" he said following the drill worm.
Optimus slammed on his brakes as Driller made a sharp left turn and this caused his trailer to swing out. He quickly detached from it as he transformed and got out his battle mask. Lennox and his team finally made it to top soil and were running to give Optimus back up.
"Get the heavy weapons! Get the heavy weapons!! Let's go, let's go!!!" Lennox barked.
"Stay behind me" Optimus said as he got a sword and shield out from his weapons bay.
Jetstream jumped unto the scene spraying the worm with a flurry of bullets and projectiles from his cannons. The worm began to circle around the humans and began to take them out.
"Optimus!" Lennox yelled.
Jetstream retracted his weapons as he resorted to his wrist blades, he then flipped over the group cutting one of Driller's tendrils. Optimus used his shield to block some nasty tendrils as well as he dove-twirled over a duo and cut another and this one had the part they were after. Jetstream reacted quickly and stabbed one gunning for his chest and then twirled around cutting off another.
"Fallback! Fallback!!" soldiers yelled.
The rider of Driller now finally revealed himself from within the being as none other than Shockwave himself.
"Optimus! Deathstrike!" he said.
Optimus rolled into his attack stance holding his shield and sword out in front of him with Jetstream also taking a similar pose. Driller and Shockwave retreated beneath the surface of the Earth disappearing from their sights.
The soldiers walked out of their cover positions after seeing that the coast was clear. Jet retracted his blades and mask also sensing that the danger had gone.
"What on Earth was that thing?" Lennox asked.
"That..... was Shockwave" Optimus answered.
"Haven't seen him and his pet in a long time. Not many pleasant memories" Jetstream added.
"Why was he after this?" the Colonel asked as he walked over to to the part on the ground.
Optimus dropped his sword and shield as he approached the part and couldn't believe his eyes.
"It's impossible" he said as he crouched down to take a closer look. "This is an engine part... from a long lost Autobot ship"
"It doesn't look familiar" Jetstream said.
"That's because we were able to secure it before you and your team got to know about our plan" Optimus explained.
"Then it must be pretty important if the Decepticons are after it" a soldier said.
"Yes it is but I have no clue what for" Optimus said.
"Maybe they're trying to finally get off this planet for good" Jet suggested.
"Maybe. But knowing Megatron, I highly doubt that's what he's up to" said Prime.
"Well whatever it is, we will have enough time to talk about it when we get back" Lennox said.
Voshkod panted heavily as he ran in a zig-zag manner towards his car with his eyes scanning frantically for Laserbeak. He got into his car and looked around as he tried to get his keys out, Laserbeak made his way out of the window of a house and opened fire on the car killing the man as he landed on the bonnet to inspect the job.
"Pleasure doing business with you" the Decepticon said with a sinister tone.