"I'd been terrified. It was just supposed to be a training exercise!"

Look and Listen Book 1

There's a Reason

Chapter 1: Prologue

Rating: PG-13 (violence/gore, character death, physical disabilities, light language)

Major Characters: Wheelie, Daniel, Kup, Rodimus Prime, Sideswipe, Blurr

POV: Wheelie

Look and Listen Book 1 There's a Reason Chapter 1: Prologue Rating: PG-13 (violence/gore, character death, physical disabilities, light language) Major Characters: Wheelie, Daniel, Kup, Rodimus Prime, Sideswipe, Blurr POV: Wheelie (mainly through journal entry)

A young adult male with moppy brown hair that stuck up at odd angles hops onto a metal berth and lays back with his arms crossed behind his head. In the same instant, a young mech about the human's height sits at a desk near the foot of the berth and starts searching through drawers and sorting papers, books, and data-pads. The human rolls light brown eyes, looking to his orange-armored comrade from between his feet. "Ugh, ya done yet?" he asks the mech, propping himself up onto his elbows.

Using his right servo, the mech looks up to his friend and touches his index finger to both sides of his chest, and does a series of other movements with it that make the human groan and dramatically fall back onto the berth. "I know we just got here- but you're always sorting through that stuff! Let's jus-" The human stops and sits up, then swings his legs off the berth and hops to the floor. He crosses the room and goes over to the couch that his parents had brought there when he and the Cybertronian were younger; it's where he used to sleep when he'd spend the night there. He picks up a data-pad- it's what caught his eye. Not that it wasn't uncommon to find them in here; his friend had dozens of them!- but what wasn't common was for them to just be laying around. He always had them organized very neatly on shelves or at his desk. "Hey Wheelie!" The human waves the data-pad around a little until he's got his metal-friend's attention. "What's this doing here? I though you only used them at your desk!"

Having heard his name, the Mini-Bot glances over his shoulder. His optical-ridges furrow and he stands up. That wasn't h-... His optics widen a little and he gestures for the human to come over to him as he sits down on the edge of the berth. He makes quick and graceful movements of his servos and digits.

"Wait...you thought you threw this out? Then what's it doing here, buddy?" The 'bot shrugs mutely and moves his hands again. "Wait...you mean the one where you...?" Wheelie nods and turns on the data-pad, accessing he only file that it possessed.

He offers it to his friend with nudge from his elbow and the organic takes it. "Look! There's a note at the top of the entry!" He narrows his eyes to look at it, before reading the note aloud.

"Wheelwasher, I discovered this within the trash-heap some time ago. You should not simply discard of such a work; what did I teach you about expressing yourself and letting others know the true stories? After all this time, I figure it was time to return this to you. Read it through again; perhaps make some edits- you know where to come if you wish to have something done with this work in the future. - Alpha Trion."

The human looks up to his friend, light brown meeting crystal blue. "Well...ya wanna read it? Or at least let me?"

Wheelie touches his digits to his chin, then huffs out a vent (which causes his human friend to jump a little) and nods. He scoots closer to the organic, and they hold the device between each other.

...

There was a reason that things happened. Right? There...there had to be! But was there a reason for that...? I'd been terrified. I can remember that it was just supposed to be a training exercise!

And I guess that made it perfect for the 'cons to choose their attack at that time... My comrades hadn't realized it at first when they shut down the holographic programs, taking place of what should have been false enemies.

I'd been one of the last ones to realize the Decepticon ploy after using my slingshot to shoot an explosive in the direction of what I thought had been a holographic Scavenger- only to have heard him howl and collapse to his knees, clutching his shoulder after his arm had been blown off.

That...it wasn't what I went to the training field for! Only a firm servo taking my arm and pulling me off my pedes had saved me when Hook (who'd gone to his fellow Constructicon's aid) got me in his sights and took aim. He'd shot the very spot I'd been standing just seconds before he'd pulled the trigger.

"Snap out of it, lad."

I'd blinked, looking up when I heard the familiar voice. Until the other had spoken, I hadn't realized how rigidly I'd been standing. I had taken in a slow, shaky vent- that had been too close. "Thank you, Kup. But how did they get here? It just doesn't add up." I shifted my weapon in my grasp so that I held the butt of a gun instead of the barrel that acted as my slingshot's handle, peeking over the edge of the trench that the old mech had pulled me into. They'd been everywhere...

Kup just shook his head when I looked back at him, two digits pressed to the side of his head. He lowered his servo and his optics moved to his pedes after a few seconds. I was afraid to ask what was wrong, but he answered my silent question. "First Aid answered; Red Alert and Inferno're offline, kid. No wonder we weren't warned 'bout the attack."

I hadn't known the mechs very well, personally; but I knew the old mech was chief of security, so he wouldn't known Red Alert pretty well. In turn, he probably knew Inferno well too since those two seemed pretty inseparable the few times I'd run into them. He looked down at me, over the edge of the trench, then back down at me again. "Ya ever been in a firefight, lad?" I shook my head. Sure, I'd fought with Sharkticons all the time on Quintessa so that I could survive on my own- but they didn't have guns and rockets like Decepticons did. "Well you're in one now... Follow my lead, got it kiddo?"

I'd nodded mutely, putting my weapon at my hip and moving into an army-crawl just as Kup did. I followed him as he moved through the high-sided trench; we paused constantly and covered our helms as the fliers went past, dropping missiles on the training field from above, before we'd continue on. We'd been closer to the center since there hadn't been as many Autobots training there. I know we were both probably wishing we'd stuck with the larger groups of training mecha...

I'd started going through a list of names in my processors then, mechs I knew had been on the training field. Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus had both been sticking to the sidelines to watch the troops, Kup had stuck close to me (good thing too), Blurr was supposedly racing the Lamborghini-twins off to the side of the field (like they would've had a chance at winning). Who else...? Ah, Wreck-Gar too. He'd come from Junk by request of Rodimus to teach some of the troops how to make fast repairs with whatever was at hand. Arcee...the Dino-Bots...I thought I'd remembered seeing Springer earlier too. That made thirteen of us in all against a few dozen Decepticons.

I knew the Constructicons were there and that Hook probably would've had Scavenger repaired shortly. I'd also bet that Galvatron was leading the whole thing with Cyclonus and the Sweeps at his side. Just them alone would have been so much trouble...

I'd peeked over the edge of the trench just as Kup did- and we'd both started cursing. The old mech had cast me a scolding look for my language. But the reason for it had been clear: there came Astrotrain in shuttle mode, and he was hauling in the Combaticons and Stunticons. Frag, oh frag, oh frag... If all three Combiner teams got themselves put together we'd be facing not only most of the Decepticons, but Devastator, Bruticus, and Menasor too. The Aerialbots were patrolling on the other side of Cybertron, the Protectobots were on Earth.

I could tell just by looking at Kup that things could have very well turned south for the Autobots. I saw him cringe and slowly close his optics, turning his head to the side- I'd peeked back at the field in time to see Springer spiral out of the sky in his helicopter mode; two of his blades gone and tail broken off. He crashed down hard in front of the Combaticons. I remember my optics widening and that I'd covered my mouth when Onslaught took aim...and fired on the downed triple-changer.

I tore my gaze away from the disturbing sight and looked right up to my caretaker. "Kup...our chances don't seem too bright... But we can still win this, right?"

"Eh? Uh, yeah, sure lad- 'course we can!" The glint in his optics didn't match his smile- and even the smile hadn't quite looked natural. We'd been caught off-guard; the 'cons had planned it freaking perfectly. None of our Combiner teams were available, our space-travelers (Cosmos and Omega Supreme namely) weren't on the planet; we'd been caught while training. Most of the 'weapons' we had on hand were going to either had limited ammunition or not even have the actual rounds and just have blanks. I mean, I'm sure everyone was calling whoever they could get hold of over their comm.s, and I knew that the base wouldn't have just been left completely unprotected, but...

No! We could pull through! We'd defeated Unicron, we'd faced the damn Quintessons so many times; we could do this! I had kept telling myself that as Kup and I both eased back into a crawl, headed toward where I'd last seen Wreck-Gar teaching Arcee how to make rapid repairs that'd hold up in a fight- Rodimus and Magnus had been close to them, too.

"Get your fraggin' head down!" Kup had shouted from ahead of me by just a few paces, pressing himself to the ground and covering his head with his servos. I copied his action, and not nanoseconds later rubble had rained down around us as an explosion went off. Once we knew it was safe, we'd pressed on.

"Kup! Wheelie! You're alright!" I couldn't really see past my caretaker as we moved through the narrow trench, but that didn't mean that I couldn't hear Rodimus when he called to us from somewhere ahead. When we reached him, I'd also spotted Magnus and Wreck-Gar; off to the side, Arcee was on her knees and gently holding a sobbing Sideswipe's shoulders. The black- and red-armored mech was holding his head in his servos, and coolant streamed from his tightly shut optics. I remember looking at the mech with narrowed optics and rigid plates; I'd immediately wanted to know where Sunstreaker was.

I looked up at Kup with wide optics, and then toward Rodimus. "Sunstreaker didn't make it into a trench before Bruticus was formed," Rodimus had murmured softly, "and Sideswipe broke down as soon as their twin-bond was shattered."

I could've sworn that my hexagonal optics rounded out a little as I covered my mouth. I personally didn't know what it was like to have a sibling bond since I had none, and I'd been so young when my creators offlined that I can't remember exactly what the breaking of the bond felt like. But I did have someone close to me- who I considered a brother- and who was in that very fight... I looked at Sideswipe one last time, and then back to the Prime. Two words were all that escaped me: "Where's Blurr?"

Magnus was the one to answer me, "He and the twins were helping get troops further out in the field get to safety."

My optical-ridges had furrowed, then Kup spoke in an attempt to sooth my circuits. "Come on, lad- if anyone can make it 'round the field safely, it'll be 'im."

I could only not a little; Blurr was the fastest grounder alive. Sure he'd be able to make it!- I told myself. But still...it couldn't fully chase away the unease that'd settled in the pit of my tank. Kup and Blurr were both family to me; I didn't want to have to watch as their frames were dragged off the field with no more energy beating in their chests. So of course I was worried since my best friend, a mech I happily consider a brother, wasn't in my sight and no one knew his location at the moment.

I'd tipped my head back when I felt a reassuring servo on my shoulder, and I met my caretaker's optics. "He ain't goin' to the AllSpark if I've got any say in it, lad."

The old mech stood after giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze, and I watched him approach Rodimus and Magnus- all three of the taller mechs had kept their heads low as they spoke quietly amongst themselves. I watched as all three of them had pressed their digits to the sides of their heads- relief overtaking their features even as explosions kept throwing rubble in and around our trench.

The first thing I heard was a rocket and Sky Lynx landing not moments later, standing up on his hind legs to tussle with Bruticus. A red jet flew overhead, shooting at Decepticon fliers and...narrating himself? I'd gone through the names in my processors until settling on Powerglide for that one. Following in not long after him was a red-armored tank rolling over the ground, its well-kept canon firing on Menasor. The Constructicons still hadn't combined by that point, but when I'd peeked over the edge of the trench, I could see that Scavenger's repairs were about finished, and his other comrades were all gathered- clearly ready to form Devastator the second the last weld was finished.

I could hear familiar engines growling, turbines purring, motors revving as our reinforcements started pouring onto the not-so-training field battle. A Sweep spiraled out of the sky after a direct hit, and I'd blinked when I'd seen the winged car that'd taken it down. Tracks. Frag...I always forgot that even though he was a car, he'd been upgraded with wings and was always helping out in the skies...

The Sweep had crashed down in front of Warpath, but I hadn't been able to see if he actually got run over by the tank-mech or if he'd moved out of the way before he could get flattened like a turbo-fox trying to stop a moving steamroller.

"Wheelie," I glanced over my shoulder at Rodimus when he'd called my name, and then I'd scurried over to the three older mechs, "Powerglide just spotted Blurr. He's about a klick," he pointed out toward his left, just beyond when I'd last been able to see Menasor's head from the trench, "that way, helping Swoop find safety. Swoop's suffered some heavy damages and wouldn't be able to make it back without someone aiding him."

I nodded in thanks, but stayed quiet- I'd just wanted to see Blurr come back safely. I went back to the edge of the trench, peeking over it; I saw Magnus and Wreck-Gar run by after exiting the trench, and they'd heading off in the direction of Tracks. I could see that he was now fighting on the ground, one of his wings bent in a way I can't imagine could have been very comfortable. I could see Sky Lynx from the corner of my gaze, and he had Brawl in his jaws and was shaking him around- looked like he'd managed to make Bruticus collapse from combined form. Despite that Menasor still stood, and it'd sounded like the Constructicons had finally combined too.

I hated being so small... I had missed a lot of details of that fight that were happening beyond the trench.

And then I saw Swoop, and he wasn't that far off; limping in our direction and taking cover whenever he could. Following directly after him was a blur of silver and blue, and it drew a lot of fire away from the injured Dino-Bot. My optics had widened a little, my pedes scrabbling against the wall of the trench until my toes had a good hold against it and I'd been perked up onto one elbow. Spotting another Sweep trying to blast at my friend, I'd ignored when Kup told me to get my head down, holding up my blaster and firing. A curse had left me when the shot barely nicked the Sweep's wing; I clearly needed work with a gun back then... Slingshots were easy. Blasters were a little harder in my opinion.

I'd started waving my weapon to get Swoop to spot me; he'd seen me, just before one of my pedes had slipped and I fell with a grunt onto my back on the ground. I remember that I'd stayed there for a minute until Arcee'd come over thinking I was injured. As soon as she'd knelt over me to check me for damages, I'd sprung back to my feet and returned to where I'd initially been.

Swoop...was down. That was the first thing I saw when I'd propped myself up onto the edge again. The Dino-Bot had been on the ground, and Astrotrain was pulling a cruel-looking blade from the mech's chest. I remember staring at the sight. It hadn't been as cruel with Springer. A quick shot to the head from Onslaught, and it was over. But Swoop's optics were flickering; the energy from his spark was weakly flicking out of the gaping wound in his chest as oil had pooled around his frame. I'd flinched when I heard Grimlock let out a screeching-roar, and the Dino-Bot leader had then lunged out of another trench quite a distance from where I'd been with the others. He'd charged Astrotrain like he himself was a freight train and the large triple-changer was nothing more than a little car.

I'd been able to hear Kup behind me with Rodimus at his side. "Kid, c'mon; get down. Y-... Oh, Primus dammit..."

At the same time that he'd said those final words, I'd dropped my weapon to cover my mouth in an attempt to silence the splitting scream trying so desperately to claw its way out of my throat.

There was Blurr, zipping to Swoop's side to try helping the dying mech. I don't...I still don't know where it came from, who it came from, but it had happened so quickly...

The explosion threw him violently to one side after it'd landed literally only feet from him. He'd hit the ground rolling like a cyclist being hit by a semi...

I can faintly remember scrabbling over the edge of the wall, hearing Kup's voice in the back of my processors like a distant fog and feeling a servo around my ankle. I'd kicked out in an attempt to pull myself free, screaming Blurr's name. My pede had met its mark on the corner of my caretaker's jaw, and his grip had loosened just enough for me to pull free and drag myself up onto the ground above the trench.

I'd run across the short stretch of open ground until reaching my 'brother's' side- I hadn't even cared at that moment that I could have been shot. "Blurr?! Blurr?!" I'd shouted at him, shaking his shoulder when he hadn't responded. My vision had started to blur when coolant threatened to spill from my optics. His...his legs... I could see them but they...th-they weren't attached to his frame; one missing at the knee down, and the other detached completely from his pelvis. The detached legs had been lying a few yards away from his frame.

"Bl- gck!" The noise was strange to me. I hadn't known where it came from, not initially. It was a choking, gurgling sound that made me feel sick to my tank. I knew I didn't quite feel right after hearing the noise; I knew I hadn't imagined the way my optics started dimming, the way I'd felt a warm substance running down my neck. But it hadn't been until oil dripped down onto Blurr's still face-plates that I'd brought a shaky servo to my neck. The digits had immediately been coated in the black, iridescent substance.

I'd started feeling dizzy, and had been forced to move to my hands and knees. One servo had clutched at my throat where a stray shot had hit me; I'd started hacking, coughing up oil and energon, before the arm supporting me gave out under my weight. I...don't remember actually collapsing, but it had seemed like one moment I'd been on hands and knees, then the next instant I'd blinked I'd been on my side; optics flickering in and out. I tried, Primus, I had tried not to let my processors drift away from me; I needed to help my friend! I needed to get Blurr to safety! I needed to make sure Sideswipe would be able to cope with the loss of his brother! The other Dino-Bots with Swoop. That Gnaw was being well cared for! I needed to know that Daniel was still safe on Earth!

But...I remember that recharge had seemed such a peaceful idea. I wouldn't need to feel the oil bubbling out of the severed lines in my throat, feel the sparking of singed circuits against my sensitive digittips. I...I could see my creators again!

Everything around me had started to spin and blur together in the most nauseating yet captivating of ways. I could've sworn, in the back of my processors, that I'd heard someone calling my name before the suffocating blackness had fallen over my gaze.

I remember that I'd drifted in and out of consciousness after that; remember feeling myself being moved in different ways, or a voice trying to penetrate through the fogginess of my processors before I'd drift out again.

The next time I'd woken fully, I'd flinched away from the blinding white light above me. It took my optics a while to recalibrate; when they did, I'd found myself in a medical room- one of the rooms where First Aid often moved his recovering patients so that he'd have the medical bay itself free for whenever it was needed. I'd sat up slowly; glancing about the room as I had. Daniel was the first thing to catch my gaze; he'd been curled up in a chair next to the berth that was clearly meant for someone much larger than the human, a blanket wrapped around himself and head laying on a very uncomfortable-looking pillow. I hadn't been able to see his face because he had his back to me, but he looked like he'd been in their for a while considering there were wrappers and water bottles scattered about the chair and floor around it.

I remember that I'd sat quietly, so clueless as to what'd happened. I'd figured that First Aid had made the needed repairs on whatever components might've been shot, grazed, or singed in my neck, so I thought I'd just been in the room to recover from the repairs he'd made.

Daniel was given my usual smile when he sat straight up with awful bedhead and half-closed eyes- he'd smiled tiredly back, giving me a lazy wave before stretching and then struggling a bit to climb up onto the berth. My human friend had wrapped his arms around me, hugging me gently- as if he was the one afraid to break me.

"I was so worried, Wheelie!" he'd chirped, pulling back from the embrace and sitting down next to me. "You should'a seen the fit Kup threw when he wasn't allowed to leave his medical berth to come see you!"

My smile'd faltered a little when my organic friend said that; my caretaker was bound to be furious with me, right? And...wait...I remember wanting to ask what injuries the old 'bot might've had that dictated he needed to be in a medical berth- but my first priority (even though I'd been terrified for the answer) was to know if Blurr'd survived.

I'd opened my mouth to ask about my 'big brother'. I...hadn't noticed initially when no sound came out. It wasn't until I'd looked at Daniel and seen his peppy expression had immediately turned downcast that I knew something was wrong. I'd tried to ask what was wrong, but stopped- noticing my silence. I wasn't sure what to think of it; I thought that maybe my vocoder needed to be reset, so I'd taken a look at my HUD to view internal systems. My vocoder wasn't giving any readings to me- that could have only meant...

My servos had immediately moved around my neck; my optics had widened. There were welds on my neck- and I could tell, just by feeling with the tips of my digits, that there were some components missing from it.

I'd felt something soft and organic rest on my shoulder; Daniel's hand. "First Aid said he couldn't repair it and that the...uh...circuitry in your neck's too fried to do anything 'bout it but just keep it closed up."

My voice, the way I'd speak in verse, rhyme; that's what used to make me unique, make me who I was. I rhymed by choice, to...remember someone I'd lost long before I'd found Kup, Rodimus, and the Dino-Bots on Quintessa. I...didn't know what I'd do without my voice. I didn't know how I'd even be able to communicate.

I remember that I'd drawn my knees against my chest, wrapping one arm around them and burying my face; one servo had remained on my neck. I remember feeling Daniel wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, Wheelie..."

...

The juveniles lower the data-pad so that it's rested half-and-half on the knees they had touching each other. The human male reaches one arm around his friend, wrapping it around his shoulders. "I know that fight'd cost ya a lot- but reading how you saw it..."

Wheelie only shrugs, offering his friend a small smile. That was in the past.

Silence was all anyone could get from him anymore- not that he was able to help it of course. It had taken some of the mecha who'd been part of that battle so long ago now a long time to recover. Some of them still were recovering. Wheelie had been released from the medical room a lot earlier than many of the damaged mecha- the first place he'd gone was to Blurr. His brother-figure had looked so weak, his optics glowing so dulling; he'd been connected to countless machines (most of which Wheelie hadn't been able to name). His legs had been replaced, but he moved...normally; no blurred after-imaged, no sped up words.

First Aid had informed Wheelie, after his clear question had been asked by Daniel, that whatever speed programming the former courier had was destroyed in the explosion due to heavy damages to his neural net, and that the mech'd be lucky if he could even walk unaided ever again. It always made the young soldier's spark ache when he'd see Blurr nowadays limping through the halls on his crutches, the way the mech would turn his head away and abandon a conversation when others started talking about running, driving...racing.

Kup had been the next one he'd visited. Wheelie had walked in to see Rodimus holding up a data-pad that held images on it, questioning the old mech what they were. "Galvatron. Skyfire. Teletraan II. ...Not sure I know that one, lad." It had been an Ick-Yak, and Kup hadn't recognized it- even though Wheelie'd learned that just the day prior he'd been telling one of his Ick-Yak stories. His memory banks had been damaged after he'd received a hard blow to the head shortly after Wheelie'd been shot. Some days, the mech could remember something in crystal-clear detail; the next he'd have no idea what the slag it was, only to remember it again perfectly after getting a bit of recharge.

Wheelie can remember a day about two years ago when he'd bone to see his childhood caretaker, just like he would every morning- and...the mech hadn't recognized him. It broke his spark when his sire-figure had looked him right in the optics and asked who he was. No one ever told Kup about that particular memory being forgotten. But it always had the mute soldier terrified of having it happen again.

he'd visited the Dino-Bots too- they'd seemed more infuriated than anything about Swoop's deactivation. But Wheelie still swears he'd seen a glint of sorrow in Grimlock's optic when he'd climbed off the tyrannosaurus' nose all those years ago.

Sideswipe didn't talk about Sunstreaker- not then, and not now. He'd grown serious, and no one could even remember the last prank he'd pulled on another Autobot. He stuck to the sidelines and he he'd only talk to a select few by choice; Wheelie had been surprised when he'd found himself a part of that short list.

And Wheelie? Carly had come up with the idea of getting him a download for American Sign Language (ASL) so that he'd be able to communicate. Daniel had immediately started learning it so that he'd be able to understand his mute friend; and gradually more and more of the 'bots started downloading it too. It started as just the ones who'd interacted with him on a daily basin- the others were just 'jumping the boat' as Spike had laughingly stated.

It didn't mean he wasn't completely alright with it; he missed being able to speak.

"Hey, quick question?" the organic asks as Wheelie hops off the berth with the data-pad and goes to his desk to find a place for it.

Wheelie gains a quizzical expression and upturns his palms; 'What?'

"You free this Saturday? Raoul and Tracks are gonna be hosting the usual circuit around the old Outpost. They asked if I'd like to come- maybe take part. I think Mom, Dad, and Bee're gonna be in it too."

The mech smiles a bit, though taps his wrist with a digit and quirks an optical-ridge.

"It'll be around noon. So, ya comin'?"

Wheelie narrows his crystal blue optics, accessing his schedule through his HUD. He holds one servo up, but he doesn't make any movements with it at first. When he does, he fists it and bends it at the wrist a few times- it almost looks like he'd knocking on a nonexistent door.

"Great!" The human claps his hands together and gets off the berth with no difficulty- he and Wheelie were about the same height, after all! "So...finished sorting yet?"

Pushing one other data-pad into an upright position so that it's in the correct spot, Wheelie uses his free servo- again fisting it and 'knocking'."

"Great! Then let's go- I'm starving!"