A/N: I don't own Transformers.

For all of you Wheeljack lovers out there, I love him too. Why I decided to pick on him is beyond me. Prolly the same reason I picked on Starscream, but you all see what happened to him! Anyways. No flames, not in the mood to deal with them.

-italics- Wheeljack speaking from within his silent prison.


Weeks went by and nothing had changed in the inventor on the outside, inside, however, he was screaming that someone would hear him, but to no avail. It was as if he was speaking only to himself, because no one would respond, and even he wasn't sure why. It was confusing and depressing in the same note.

On the outside, everyone took their turns caring for the forever dazed Wheeljack, including the twins who spent the most time with the Engineer when they weren't called into battle which was unusual, although no one questioned them. Wheeljack would even refuse to be fed for some reason at times, which made them have to hook him up to external Energon feeds, meaning he had to be sedated and fed a tube into his systems, giving him the nourishment to help keep him alive, no matter how out of it he was, no one lost hope on him or turned away when help was needed.

He was in very bad shape and things were only getting worse for him deep in his mind. Sometimes he could hear them talking, other times he couldn't make out what they were saying and it frustrated him. No one complained about the caring of him, and even Optimus took his turn, spending hours with his officer, wishing that some miracle would bring him back, sometimes others just hung out in his little room with him to give him some company, hoping every day that he would snap out of his stupor. Nothing seemed to work for him, even ideas that Perceptor or Ratchet had come up with. All the while, Ratchet and Perceptor had been hunting wildly on a way to repair the fallen Engineer in other ways if the ways they tried didn't work. Even Hoist had gotten into it, hoping that he might be of some service.

There was a viewing room next to Wheeljack's room which gave the observers plenty of space to see how he was doing and watch him. Oftentimes no one wanted to bare witness to what was happening, especially when he would thrash about, his body jerking in ways that not only seemed uncomfortable, but downright looked as if he was going to tear one of his own limbs off, there were also a few cameras supplied by Red Alert to help keep watch on him. At times the cameras had to be replaced since he would go on a rampage out of nowhere and destroy them. Red Alert stood by and watched sometimes, and other times, others were on watch for differences in his actions, differences in his programming, all praying to Primus that he would wake from his daze. It was sad to watch him. Their once proud inventor brought down to this heap of Autobot that barely moved, stared into space as if he had no spark of life left of him at all.

"Sunny," Sideswipe asked gloomily, "what do they do with Autobots that are no longer functioning normally?"

"I don't know, bro," He sadly looked to Wheeljack, ignoring his brother's pet name for him, "but I hope it doesn't mean they have to deactivate him,"

Sideswipe huffed. He did like Wheeljack, hell everyone like Wheeljack. All the while, they continued to sit in the room with their Engineer, talking to him quietly, bounding out of the way when he would have a violent outburst. Sometimes they would hold him down for his own good, because he would attack himself, reaching for internal wires and yanking hard. It was sad to see Wheeljack like this, and it ripped into the sparks of everyone on the base, "Maybe we can do something?"

"Like what, 'Swipe? We aren't medics!" Sunny argued, although hoping deep down that Sideswipe was right, "They've been doing everything they can,"

-I know guys, I know,- Wheeljack responded in his own mind, hearing those words, somewhat muffled and garbled, but getting the point, -but it's not working!-

"Have they even gotten into his head? Figured out what exactly is causing this?"

-I know what's causing it guys! I know! Just let me explain it to you! Can't you understand?-

"Not as far as I know, but you know how tight mouthed medics and scientists can be," Sunstreaker moved closer to Wheeljack, he reached an arm around the Catatonic bot, Wheeljack never responded, "We will get you out of this, 'Jack, we will,"

-I sure hope so,- Wheeljack was talking to them, even though they could not hear him. Each time he understood them, he would answer, sometimes he would even question what they were saying. He knew they were trying to help! Knew it! But there was nothing that could get through to them while his body defied him.

Sideswipe was a bit surprised to see Sunstreaker acting so affectionately towards the Engineer, but he wouldn't question, save his brother's dignity.

"Out-t-t of-of-of the ash-ash-ashes it ri-rises-ses anew-ew-ew," Wheeljack sputtered, his head swaying slowly back and forth. It pained the brothers, and they really couldn't stand to hear their once intelligent inventor sputtering words they didn't even understand. Sunstreaker gave Sideswipe a gloomy look, "Maybe we should leave him alone for now?"

"No, bro, we can't. He needs us." Sideswipe sighed, kneeling in front of the Engineer, waving a hand sometimes in front of his optics, even though it was in vain, "even if he doesn't know we are here, we can't just leave him,"

"He doesn't even acknowledge we are here, Sides," Sunstreaker said sadly, "who we even are,"

"I know, but deep down, I think he knows that we all care. I think he knows that we are here to help him,"

"But… but what if he doesn't? What if he's in like some kinda coma or something?"

"It doesn't matter, I just want to make sure he's comfortable, no matter what."

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, I need you out of there for now," A voice spoke over an intercom, and both brothers looked up from comforting their engineer, "Huh? Why?"

"Because I need some time alone with him, I need to run a few tests, I think I may have found a way to help him," it was Perceptor. If anyone were to come through, it would be him. He was a scientist, after all.

Both twins stood slowly. They didn't want to leave Wheeljack, who hummed quietly to himself when they both moved away from him. Frowns overtook their faceplates and they exited the room. After a few moments, Perceptor entered, standing near the engineer, "Wheeljack, I think we have found a possible solution to your problem,"

No response. Wheeljack's head dumbly went back and forth slowly as he stared at the floor, his mind reeling. He had heard Perceptor, unbeknownst to the scientist.

-Can't anyone hear me? I'm right here!- he cried in misery from his little hole, but no one responded, as if his voice was nothing but silence in this already dark little world.

"We will have to erase most of your memory, erase most of all of your data. I'm sorry, my friend, it's the only way," Perceptor's optics shown the sorrow as he explained to his friend how he would have to erase his memory, pretty much starting him over from scratch. He lightly placed a hand on Wheeljack's shoulder, and the Engineer whined softly, as if he knew what Perceptor was telling him. Ratchet entered not long after, looking at both of the bots with sadness, "Did you tell him?"

"Yes, Ratchet, but I don't think he understands,"

"I didn't think he would, my friend, but this is the only way. We will move him in a few breems to my medical bay, and prep him," Ratchet slowly left, leaving the scientist with the engineer. Optimus had no idea what they were about to do, and Ratchet and Perceptor feared bringing up the bad news to their leader, knowing how much he liked Wheeljack.

Wheeljack hummed and whined softly, his optics never moving as he stared at the floor, "A-a-a-ashes to-to-to-to ash-ash-ashes, dust-t-t-t to du-du-du-dust,"

Perceptor sighed softly, "This is for you own good, buddy." He moved to stand, and walked towards the exit, opening the door slowly, he hunted down a couple of bots who could help lift the engineer safely to the berth that waited for him.

Wheeljack sat quietly in the room, mumbling words, sometimes garbled, other times stuttering, swaying his head back and forth as a bored horse would do in a stall. His mind staggered over the terror of explosions. They were everywhere, consuming his very being, frightening him for not only himself, but others around him. One second he was on fire, the next the walls around him were exploding. Was there no way out of this horror?

In the box in his mind, he was fully aware, but his body would not show that he was responsive. He hadn't heard what the others were planning to do to him, only thing he heard was explosions. Oftentimes when others were in the room with them, they were on fire themselves, sometimes melting from the heat of the fire, but his body never responded, as if it was the will of his destiny to be taken by fire.

Core Processor failure by proxy – Attempting Repair.

Firewalls established – Code 678.56 – Unbreakable.

Logic systems failure – Attempting Repair.

Even though he could see what was being screened across his HUD, he could not react to it. Even if his systems started into a total failure, there was nothing he could do. Sometimes he could understand what was reading, other times, it was as if it was a completely different language.

"Rea-p-p-p wha-what y-y-yo-you sow-w-w-w, re-re-re-rea-reap wh-wh-wha-what you-u-u-u so-w-w-w." he whispered.

Why did Primus do this to him? Why? He was only an inventor, he wasn't mean, he wasn't evil, he wasn't a bad bot. He was only trying to do the better good for the Autobots. He meant no harm. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone in the explosion. He was only trying to figure out another way to help the Autobots, why had he been wracked by this last one. This one that would force him so deep in his own mind that there was no escape.

-I'm ok! I'm really ok!- More explosions wracked his mind, -I think.- The walls were on fire, and his body would react by thrashing wildly with no precise reason outwardly. He wished that his body would listen to him, he wished the others would hear him. Know that all he really needed was that box opened so he could call out to his friends, but nothing. As despair gripped him, he curled in more on himself. Was this the way he was to end? He signed, deep in his mind, trying to access vital information, yet the firewalls blocked him, and he didn't have the processing power to break them. This was going to be hell, he knew it.

A few breems later, as promised, Ironhide and Brawn entered the room. They both gave a grimaced look towards Wheeljack, and went to reach for him. The bot never moved, holding the position they took him in and started to lift him slowly. It was only then that his external units fired up and thrashed, knocking Brawn into the wall and Ironhide into the looking glass, almost shattering it, "Ratchet! He needs a sedative!" came Ironhide's burly voice. Ratchet wasted no time entering the room, making for very little moving room since it was already small and already taken up by three bots, "Hold him," Ratchet's finger reformed into a needle as he accessed the needed fluids from within his own systems and administered the sedative and Wheeljack's body went limp.

Sedative Administered – System Overload – Power 20 percent.

Brawn and Ironhide lifted the Engineer with no problems, moving him quickly before the sedatives wore off. When they lied him down on the berth, Ratchet had already gotten into the med bay before them, pointing to the cuffs that waited Wheeljack's extremities, "I really hate to do this, old friend," Ratchet whispered, unknowing Wheeljack heard him.

-Do what?- Wheeljack asked, but his body gave no outward appearance he had heard. What were they going to do to him? He couldn't see out of his own optics, he could barely make out anything around him. Ironhide stood by the berth a few moments as Ratchet started hooking Wheeljack up to ports and wires, and an Energon line.

System interface established – Preparing to connect.

Ratchet worked quickly, hooking up other lines to the inventor, so that he was on full life support. As he finished that, he started hard wiring Wheeljack into the computer readying him for their procedure.

System interface connected – Preparing power leverage.

Energon lines connected – Outside feed established.

What were they doing to him? Why weren't they answering him? He was right here! He was perfectly fine! Come on guys, answer me! Don't hook me up to that machine, I don't need it!

Ports connected – External processor feed established.

Wheeljack tried to claw his way from the box that held him, explosions or not, he needed to get free. He needed to tell them that he was alright, that they were making a mistake! He felt the mainframe computer's intrusion, and fought it back, but without all of his processing power, it wasn't working at all.

External system power down imminent – Preparing to shut down.

-No! No, please, guys, please don't do this! Please don't shut me down! I'm alive, can't you see?- Wheeljack called from his darkness of a box. His prison.

Ratchet stood with Perceptor. They were both looking down at the lifeless body of the engineer. What they were going to perform saddened them both deeply. This wasn't something that they did every day, in fact, they only did it to systems that were already crashed in which there was no other option, "I hope you're ready for this," Ratchet said as he moved around the body of the engineer, continuing to connect him to the external systems, "This will be tedious and will take a few earth hours to complete. But hopefully when we are done, he will be like new."

"Like new, you say," Perceptor said in a more questioning tone, " You do realize that he will have to relearn everything he's ever known. He may never be the same person again, Ratchet,"

"I know, Perceptor," Ratchet sighed, this was the last thing he ever wanted to do to one of his own friends, it was like a lobotomy, only worse, "but it's the only chance he has,"

Mainframe interface compliance succeeded – Starting data transfer.

-Guys, guys, guys,- Wheeljack cried from his prison. He was getting scared. He felt his spark wanting to explode from its chamber. He needed to tell them, had to get through to them, -Guys, guys, wait, you can't do this! I'm fine!- he cried out, despair washing over him as he felt the mainframe intruding more into his processor, inching it's way through his databanks, into his memory and his core, where he thrived, -Please, please stop. Please!- he begged, trying to fight off the massive swarm of information that was being downloaded and uploaded at the same time.

Ratchet moved to the other side of the berth where he stared at a monitor. Even though Wheeljack was perfectly ok deep in his processor, the computer was giving readings of being stone cold. The medic's hands moved furiously over the keyboard of the computer as he started to set up sequences, "What is going on in here?" Optimus' voice came from the once closed doors. Why hadn't they heard him or even seen him for that matter?

"Optimus," Ratchet turned, his hands moving from the keyboard, "We think we may have figured out a way to help him, but it won't be pretty,"

"What are you trying to say?"

"We will have to erase his memory banks completely, start him over from scratch, give him basic data and he will have to relearn everything,"

-What!? Noooo! Come on, guys, please, can't anyone hear me? You can't do this to me! You can't!-

Optimus stared at the medic a moment, deciding what to say, as if he was at a loss for words, "What are you going to do?"

"We are going to start him over, like being reborn,"

"Are you sure that is the best thing to do?"

"Well we can't leave him like this, Prime, he's a vegetable." Perceptor cut in, "I fear that he may never recover, we have done everything in our power to restore him,"

Ratchet moved back to the keyboard, as he did, Wheeljack's body thrashed against it's holds, "Nuhhhhh! Ex-ex-explosion im-im-im-imminent! Seek-k-k-k me-me-med-me-medical at-t-t-t-t-tention im-m-m-mmediate-ly-ly-ly!"

Optimus shook his head as the Engineer's body thrashed and his vocal processors spat wildly. He didn't want to lose his friend, but anything was better than this... anything. He couldn't bear to feel the agony in his own spark as he watched the bot react like he did. Move like he did. Talk like he did, like it was some kind of computer gone haywire. He only hoped that Perceptor and Ratchet could bring him back safely.


Next Chapter: Will Wheeljack make it through to everyone else before it's too late? Or will he have to be reverted to a Sparkling? Guess you'll have to wait and see, huh?