Unstable Experiments
Prologue: Wheeljack
A/N: Umm, in 'Mixed-Up 2' chapter...3? I asked if anyone wanted to do an illustration of the graveyard scene. Is anyone doing that? I don't really care; I was just wondering cuz a couple of you guys mentioned doing it. You don't have too; I was just curious.
The lab was so quiet that even the slightest little sound was amplified a million times louder. Wheeljack winced as he walked across the floor as silently as possible; each step sounding like an entire army was marching through the room. Making his way to one of the many tables he switched on his headlights in an effort to illuminate the items on the table. He glanced around nervously as he picked up one of his inventions which looked an awful lot like a plain, metal box. He turned it over a pressed a certain spot on the bottom causing it to slide back revealing a small hiding place. Reaching inside he pulled out six video chips. He stared at them for a minute, sadness welling up inside of him. It was…difficult to believe that these chips would be responsible for…his thoughts were interrupted when something tapped him on the shoulder strut. "Hey," a voice said from behind him.
Startled, Wheeljack spun around, weapons at the ready then relaxed when he saw who it was. "What are you doing here?" he hissed. "You're not supposed to be in here," he scolded.
The other bot laughed and said, "Since when has that ever stopped me, Wheeljack?"
"That's true," the scientist admitted. "So what are you doing here?"
"You haven't been yourself lately," his visitor shrugged "so I came to see what was wrong."
"That was very nice of you," Wheeljack said as he hid the video chips behind his back.
The blue optics in front of Wheeljack narrowed. "What are you hiding?" he asked suspiciously.
"N-nothing," Wheeljack stammered feeling like a guilty sparkling that had just been caught stealing an energon goodie. That was not a feeling he had ever planned on associating with this particular bot but, then again, nothing had ever gone as planned; especially not with this bot.
"Let me see," a servo reached out, digits wiggling impatiently. His optics widened when he saw what Wheeljack had been hiding. "Are those what I think they are?" he gasped.
Wheeljack nodded reluctantly and said, "Yes. That's all of them."
"You're slagged," the other bot informed Wheeljack.
"I know," Wheeljack moaned. "I know."
"What are you going to do with them?" the voice was serious yet worry shone in his blue optics.
Wheeljack opened his mouth to answer when he heard the sound of footsteps and voices drawing near. "Quick," Wheeljack whispered. "In there," he pointed to a ventilation shaft.
"No, I'm not leaving you," the visitor argued.
Wheeljack smiled softly and pressed a servo against the gray metal cheek, caressing it. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered. He shoved the video chips into the other bot's servos. "Take this," he whispered. "Use it to free yourself and the others."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me; just go and I'll be fine," Wheeljack assured him. "Now go!"
Reluctantly his visitor climbed into the ventilation shaft, looking at Wheeljack longingly as he did so.
The doors opened mere seconds later and two bots entered. One of them was Sentinel Magnus, head of the Elite Guard with a blue-and-orange paintjob and a condescending sneer on his faceplate. The other bot was Sparkplug, head of the research facility and brown with white arms and interfacing panel.
"Hello, sirs," Wheeljack smiled nervously, his fins flashing light yellow. "What brings you down here?"
Sparkplug gave him a look and said, "You know why we're here, Wheeljack. So why don't you give us the video chips and we'll leave you alone."
"I don't know what you're talking about," the engineer said, glancing around the room.
Sparkplug sighed and shook his head from side to side. "Wheeljack, you are my best scientist and engineer and have been ever since Perceptor's unfortunate accident."
"You mean since you had him killed," Wheeljack corrected.
Sparkplug continued speaking as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I really don't want to lose you but I will make you regret it if you don't hand over those video chips."
"I don't have them," Wheeljack insisted.
"Then that's too bad, for you at least," Sparkplug gestured to Sentinel who smirked and pulled out a pair of stasis cuffs.
"You know scientists aren't well liked or well treated in prison," Sentinel said as he placed the cuffs on Wheeljack. "Especially those that are uncooperative with the Elite Guard. However, if you tell me where the video chips are I might be tempted to let you go."
"I'll never tell you where they are. You bots are evil. Cybertron has the right to know what you are doing here!"
"No they don't. Cybertron doesn't want to know anything," Sparkplug said. Then he turned around and walked out of the room with Sentinel and Wheeljack behind him, not noticing the blue optics that followed them until they were out of sight.
A/N/N: 5 reviews please. Will settle for 3.
A/N/N/N: You will have to wait until later in the story to find out who was Wheeljack's visitor. The same applies to what's on the video chips.