And Eyes 5
And Eyes That I Might See
Chapter 5
[Transformers 2007] The Autobots get cornered in a canyon after a Decepticon attack, along with a handful of humans. Unfortunately, one of them happens to be blind...
Characters/Pairings: Wheeljack, Sam, Amanda (OC); non-pairing.
Ratings and Warnings: Odd sense of humor, physical disabilities, G1 characters, OCs. T for language.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
At FFnet
And Eyes: Chapter 5
Author's Note: Thank you, mmouse15, for betaing!
oOoOoOo
Amanda was jolted out of soft, peaceful sleep by the sudden, insistent vibration of the earth underneath her, punctuated with the loud noise of Autobot feet walking.
The sudden realization that the source of the noise and vibrations had to be really really close made her sit bolt upright and scream out loud.
There was an echoing shout of surprise, considerably lower than hers had been.
“Who’s there?” she called out, voice hesitant, after she had scrambled back up into a sitting position, pushing her back into the rough, irregular surface of the boulder she’d eaten lunch against and fallen asleep against.
“Uh, I’m Wheeljack,” said the voice. “Sorry to have surprised you… I didn’t see you there, behind the rock.”
“It’s fine,” said Amanda automatically, although it wasn’t, really. There was just something about being woken up from a sound sleep to realize that there was someone/thing who could crush you to death by misstepping very, very close to your prone, helpless and very human body that induced panic.
“-you’re shaking.”
“That’ll pass.” Amanda curled tighter around her knees.
There was a rustle of movement, the slight mechanical shiver of Wheeljack’s limbs moving, and his voice was suddenly a lot closer. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m really very sorry, I-I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
“Amanda,” she said automatically. There were some questions you answered without thought, even if you were half-panicking.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. And really, I am sorry. I’m more-or-less new here, new to earth, that is, and it’s taking a bit of adjustment-wait a minute, you’re the blind one?”
Amanda sighed. “Damn it,” she muttered, mostly to herself. Louder, and in a considerably more polite tone, she said “Yes, that’s me. Really, though, I have distinguishing characteristics aside from being blind. A personality and everything, I promise.”
“Sorry. …I just-we haven’t got any equivalent, in our own culture. It’s just not something that happens. Do you know any technical details? I wonder if I could do something to fix it… It shouldn’t be too hard, with the correct tweaking. And yes, here’s some files on biotechnical engineering, this is just what I need-”
Something about the phrase ‘biotechnical engineering’ set off warning bells in Amanda’s head.
“Whoah, there,” she said feelingly. “No messing around with this stuff until you’ve been through medical school. At the very least. And then specialization classes.”
There was a sound remarkably like a sigh. “If you’re sure,” he said, not sounding very sure at all, himself.
“Thank you,” she said, not sure why. She had the distinct feeling that she sounded a little too relieved at Wheeljack backing down.
There was a brief silence. “Do you need some help getting somewhere?” said Wheeljack finally.
“Uh, yeah, thanks. How…?” There were size differences, naturally. She couldn’t prop an arm around his shoulder, or walk arm in arm with him. A hand on his shin-or ankle-would be more realistic, but even then his stride would be far greater than hers was ever going to be.
“Just a second,” said Wheeljack and there was a stranger series of clicks, whirrs, hums and clacks. “There. I’m seven-point-four-three feet in front of you.”
“Um…” said Amanda, before something in her mind clicked into gear. “Oh. Transforming, right… God this is weird.”
She edged carefully forward until she could feel the sudden cool as she stepped into Wheeljack’s shadow, and the shifting air pressure as he blocked the slight wind, sending it buffeting in different, odd directions. One outstretched hand encountered an open car door and, hesitant, she crawled inside.
It was really, really weird. Especially when she considered that she was actually inside of somebody.
“It’s okay; calm down,” said Wheeljack after a minute, sounding slightly concerned. Amanda jumped at the words-his voice seemed to surround her (probably the car stereos, some part of her noted) and it was really, really disconcerting. She forcibly relaxed her tight grip on the door handle, realizing with a start that Wheeljack might be actually able to feel it. And she had no idea what the handles corresponded to, in Autobot anatomy terms. She let go with a jump.
No, she wasn’t particularly relaxed, in fact.
It wasn’t a long trip, just a few minutes, even going pretty slowly-at least, Amanda thought they hadn’t been moving very fast. Admittedly, she couldn’t see the scenery, the best way to check that sort of thing, she’d been told, but the ride had seemed slow, and not just because of the interminable awkwardness of being inside another living creature. (And Lord that was awkward, indeed. The last time she’d been in this sort of situation, she had been still attached to her mother. In the most literal sense of the word ‘attached.’)
Of course, there was a fair chance that the Autobots worked better than your average ordinary car did, being incredibly advanced robots as well. Amanda would imagine so, at least, especially considering how one of her friends with a car ranted about all the problems it had and caused. And who was to say that giant alien robots didn’t make for an easy ride?
“We’re here,” announced Wheeljack at last. Amanda climbed out perhaps a bit faster than was seemly.
“Thank you,” she said, but she thought that the scientist might have missed it, the words drowned out by the noise of his re-transformation.
“So,” he said. “We’re at-Hello, Sam!”
“Hey, Wheeljack, Amanda. How are you two doing?”
“Not that you all aren’t wonderful, but can I go home now, please?”
Sam laughed a little, but he also sounded like he might feel a little guilty about the situation. “Right. Sorry to skip to business, Amanda, but Wheeljack, would you please com whoever’s in charge of the humans right now? Another person woke up, the older woman. Her name’s Maude Marke, and she’s married to someone named Steve. That’s all we could get out of her-she’s something of a battleaxe. She’s back with Mikaela and Sarah and the baby, and Phenomena too, I think. Oh! And we have the baby’s name-it’s Cynthia, Cynthia Ballestero. She’s the daughter of one of Maude’s neighbors, and Maude was watching her while her mother ran to the store when the attack happened.”
“Will do, Sam. I’ll contact Ratchet, too-he’ll probably be annoyed if he’s still working on Ironhide, but he wanted to be told when the older woman-when Maude-woke up. She’s older-by human standards, anyways-and he’s worried about how she’ll do.”
“I pity whatever tries to kill her,” Sam said, only halfway sounding like he was joking. Before he could say any more, he was interrupted by a cell phone ringing. “Hang on a second, that’s my mom calling.”
There was a long, awkward pause. Amanda half-listened to the one side of the conversation she could hear-there was nothing but a tinny buzz from his mom’s end, at the distance Sam was from her-but didn’t pay it much attention. It wasn’t a particularly interesting conversation.
“So… You really can’t see?” said Wheeljack at last, sounding well and truly puzzled.
Amanda sighed loudly, and clenched then unclenched her fists. “No. No, I can’t. Just leave it alone, would you?”
“…Why?” he said. Amanda assumed, correctly, that Wheeljack was asking why she was blind, not why she didn’t want to talk about it, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t answer the other question you could get out of the situation.
“-It was a horrible accident. Very traumatizing. I try not to speak of it-in fact, I’m getting flashbacks again. I should probably go lie down somewhere nice and peaceful for a while.”
“…your sense of humor is so messed up,” interjected Sam who had, presumably, finished his phone conversation.
“It’s my mother. She never loved me.” Amanda’s voice was expressively mournful-she knew it would be. It was one of the ones she practiced. (And there was nothing like mournful when it came to adding humor to certain situations-ones involving nosey giant robots included, apparently.)
“So why can’t you see?” continued Wheeljack, ignoring the more confusing parts of the conversation. He really was curious.
“I was born like this. Please excuse my sense of humor or lack thereof at the moment-I really am feeling a little hysterical, and some time alone sounds fantastic.”
“I can understand that,” said Sam. “But maybe later? I’ve got a little time, now, and I really would like to introduce you to Bee… Bumblebee, really. He’s great-my best friend.”
Amanda sighed defeatedly. “Okay. Fine. Let’s go introduce me to new robots-people-robots-whatever. I suppose that something else on top of everything else isn’t going to do too much more damage at this point.”
“Actually, the best term would be ‘mech,’” provided Wheeljack helpfully.
“Okay, then, let’s go!” Sam said, before Amanda could respond to Wheeljack. “Mikaela will probably catch up with us once she gets Maude settled in, so you can meet her, finally. She’s my girlfriend.”
“I remember you telling me, Sam,” said Amanda, voice perhaps slightly more pointed than it should have been. She didn’t like it when people kept on telling her the same things over and over again. “Goodbye, Wheeljack,” she added, in a considerably nicer tone. “It was nice to meet you. And, really, thanks for the ride.”
“I’m glad you appreciated it,” he said. “I wasn’t sure-you were very tense. Accelerated heart rate and everything.” Amanda had the distinct feeling she was blushing, from how hot her face was-just how much could the Autobots see in their cabins? And how the hell did he know her heart rate?
“I have to say, it’s kind of weird to think about riding around in someone once you’ve had a conversation with them,” said Sam. “I don’t blame Amanda at all. Man, my first times riding with Bee… Especially once the whole Mission City thing was over and I started trying to figure out ‘normal’ again. But anyways, bye, ’Jack. Hey, if you see the new guy around, tell him Optimus wants to talk to him, okay? I have no idea where he is. Or even what he looks like, actually… I still haven’t gotten the chance to see him.”
“Good bye,” he replied. “I’ll see you both later. Right now, I should probably go finish up my patrol… I never really did get that done. Ended up with Amanda, instead.”
“That’s probably for the best,” said Sam, and Amanda guessed that he was having trouble keeping a straight face from his tone of voice.
“Good God but this is surreal,” she said as she found Sam’s shoulder and rested a hand on it, and the two headed out to find his best friend who was a transforming robot.
“Yes,” said Sam. You really couldn’t argue with the fact.
--End chapter 5--
Chapter 5
[Transformers 2007] The Autobots get cornered in a canyon after a Decepticon attack, along with a handful of humans. Unfortunately, one of them happens to be blind...
Characters/Pairings: Wheeljack, Sam, Amanda (OC); non-pairing.
Ratings and Warnings: Odd sense of humor, physical disabilities, G1 characters, OCs. T for language.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
At FFnet
And Eyes: Chapter 5
Author's Note: Thank you, mmouse15, for betaing!
oOoOoOo
Amanda was jolted out of soft, peaceful sleep by the sudden, insistent vibration of the earth underneath her, punctuated with the loud noise of Autobot feet walking.
The sudden realization that the source of the noise and vibrations had to be really really close made her sit bolt upright and scream out loud.
There was an echoing shout of surprise, considerably lower than hers had been.
“Who’s there?” she called out, voice hesitant, after she had scrambled back up into a sitting position, pushing her back into the rough, irregular surface of the boulder she’d eaten lunch against and fallen asleep against.
“Uh, I’m Wheeljack,” said the voice. “Sorry to have surprised you… I didn’t see you there, behind the rock.”
“It’s fine,” said Amanda automatically, although it wasn’t, really. There was just something about being woken up from a sound sleep to realize that there was someone/thing who could crush you to death by misstepping very, very close to your prone, helpless and very human body that induced panic.
“-you’re shaking.”
“That’ll pass.” Amanda curled tighter around her knees.
There was a rustle of movement, the slight mechanical shiver of Wheeljack’s limbs moving, and his voice was suddenly a lot closer. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m really very sorry, I-I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
“Amanda,” she said automatically. There were some questions you answered without thought, even if you were half-panicking.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. And really, I am sorry. I’m more-or-less new here, new to earth, that is, and it’s taking a bit of adjustment-wait a minute, you’re the blind one?”
Amanda sighed. “Damn it,” she muttered, mostly to herself. Louder, and in a considerably more polite tone, she said “Yes, that’s me. Really, though, I have distinguishing characteristics aside from being blind. A personality and everything, I promise.”
“Sorry. …I just-we haven’t got any equivalent, in our own culture. It’s just not something that happens. Do you know any technical details? I wonder if I could do something to fix it… It shouldn’t be too hard, with the correct tweaking. And yes, here’s some files on biotechnical engineering, this is just what I need-”
Something about the phrase ‘biotechnical engineering’ set off warning bells in Amanda’s head.
“Whoah, there,” she said feelingly. “No messing around with this stuff until you’ve been through medical school. At the very least. And then specialization classes.”
There was a sound remarkably like a sigh. “If you’re sure,” he said, not sounding very sure at all, himself.
“Thank you,” she said, not sure why. She had the distinct feeling that she sounded a little too relieved at Wheeljack backing down.
There was a brief silence. “Do you need some help getting somewhere?” said Wheeljack finally.
“Uh, yeah, thanks. How…?” There were size differences, naturally. She couldn’t prop an arm around his shoulder, or walk arm in arm with him. A hand on his shin-or ankle-would be more realistic, but even then his stride would be far greater than hers was ever going to be.
“Just a second,” said Wheeljack and there was a stranger series of clicks, whirrs, hums and clacks. “There. I’m seven-point-four-three feet in front of you.”
“Um…” said Amanda, before something in her mind clicked into gear. “Oh. Transforming, right… God this is weird.”
She edged carefully forward until she could feel the sudden cool as she stepped into Wheeljack’s shadow, and the shifting air pressure as he blocked the slight wind, sending it buffeting in different, odd directions. One outstretched hand encountered an open car door and, hesitant, she crawled inside.
It was really, really weird. Especially when she considered that she was actually inside of somebody.
“It’s okay; calm down,” said Wheeljack after a minute, sounding slightly concerned. Amanda jumped at the words-his voice seemed to surround her (probably the car stereos, some part of her noted) and it was really, really disconcerting. She forcibly relaxed her tight grip on the door handle, realizing with a start that Wheeljack might be actually able to feel it. And she had no idea what the handles corresponded to, in Autobot anatomy terms. She let go with a jump.
No, she wasn’t particularly relaxed, in fact.
It wasn’t a long trip, just a few minutes, even going pretty slowly-at least, Amanda thought they hadn’t been moving very fast. Admittedly, she couldn’t see the scenery, the best way to check that sort of thing, she’d been told, but the ride had seemed slow, and not just because of the interminable awkwardness of being inside another living creature. (And Lord that was awkward, indeed. The last time she’d been in this sort of situation, she had been still attached to her mother. In the most literal sense of the word ‘attached.’)
Of course, there was a fair chance that the Autobots worked better than your average ordinary car did, being incredibly advanced robots as well. Amanda would imagine so, at least, especially considering how one of her friends with a car ranted about all the problems it had and caused. And who was to say that giant alien robots didn’t make for an easy ride?
“We’re here,” announced Wheeljack at last. Amanda climbed out perhaps a bit faster than was seemly.
“Thank you,” she said, but she thought that the scientist might have missed it, the words drowned out by the noise of his re-transformation.
“So,” he said. “We’re at-Hello, Sam!”
“Hey, Wheeljack, Amanda. How are you two doing?”
“Not that you all aren’t wonderful, but can I go home now, please?”
Sam laughed a little, but he also sounded like he might feel a little guilty about the situation. “Right. Sorry to skip to business, Amanda, but Wheeljack, would you please com whoever’s in charge of the humans right now? Another person woke up, the older woman. Her name’s Maude Marke, and she’s married to someone named Steve. That’s all we could get out of her-she’s something of a battleaxe. She’s back with Mikaela and Sarah and the baby, and Phenomena too, I think. Oh! And we have the baby’s name-it’s Cynthia, Cynthia Ballestero. She’s the daughter of one of Maude’s neighbors, and Maude was watching her while her mother ran to the store when the attack happened.”
“Will do, Sam. I’ll contact Ratchet, too-he’ll probably be annoyed if he’s still working on Ironhide, but he wanted to be told when the older woman-when Maude-woke up. She’s older-by human standards, anyways-and he’s worried about how she’ll do.”
“I pity whatever tries to kill her,” Sam said, only halfway sounding like he was joking. Before he could say any more, he was interrupted by a cell phone ringing. “Hang on a second, that’s my mom calling.”
There was a long, awkward pause. Amanda half-listened to the one side of the conversation she could hear-there was nothing but a tinny buzz from his mom’s end, at the distance Sam was from her-but didn’t pay it much attention. It wasn’t a particularly interesting conversation.
“So… You really can’t see?” said Wheeljack at last, sounding well and truly puzzled.
Amanda sighed loudly, and clenched then unclenched her fists. “No. No, I can’t. Just leave it alone, would you?”
“…Why?” he said. Amanda assumed, correctly, that Wheeljack was asking why she was blind, not why she didn’t want to talk about it, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t answer the other question you could get out of the situation.
“-It was a horrible accident. Very traumatizing. I try not to speak of it-in fact, I’m getting flashbacks again. I should probably go lie down somewhere nice and peaceful for a while.”
“…your sense of humor is so messed up,” interjected Sam who had, presumably, finished his phone conversation.
“It’s my mother. She never loved me.” Amanda’s voice was expressively mournful-she knew it would be. It was one of the ones she practiced. (And there was nothing like mournful when it came to adding humor to certain situations-ones involving nosey giant robots included, apparently.)
“So why can’t you see?” continued Wheeljack, ignoring the more confusing parts of the conversation. He really was curious.
“I was born like this. Please excuse my sense of humor or lack thereof at the moment-I really am feeling a little hysterical, and some time alone sounds fantastic.”
“I can understand that,” said Sam. “But maybe later? I’ve got a little time, now, and I really would like to introduce you to Bee… Bumblebee, really. He’s great-my best friend.”
Amanda sighed defeatedly. “Okay. Fine. Let’s go introduce me to new robots-people-robots-whatever. I suppose that something else on top of everything else isn’t going to do too much more damage at this point.”
“Actually, the best term would be ‘mech,’” provided Wheeljack helpfully.
“Okay, then, let’s go!” Sam said, before Amanda could respond to Wheeljack. “Mikaela will probably catch up with us once she gets Maude settled in, so you can meet her, finally. She’s my girlfriend.”
“I remember you telling me, Sam,” said Amanda, voice perhaps slightly more pointed than it should have been. She didn’t like it when people kept on telling her the same things over and over again. “Goodbye, Wheeljack,” she added, in a considerably nicer tone. “It was nice to meet you. And, really, thanks for the ride.”
“I’m glad you appreciated it,” he said. “I wasn’t sure-you were very tense. Accelerated heart rate and everything.” Amanda had the distinct feeling she was blushing, from how hot her face was-just how much could the Autobots see in their cabins? And how the hell did he know her heart rate?
“I have to say, it’s kind of weird to think about riding around in someone once you’ve had a conversation with them,” said Sam. “I don’t blame Amanda at all. Man, my first times riding with Bee… Especially once the whole Mission City thing was over and I started trying to figure out ‘normal’ again. But anyways, bye, ’Jack. Hey, if you see the new guy around, tell him Optimus wants to talk to him, okay? I have no idea where he is. Or even what he looks like, actually… I still haven’t gotten the chance to see him.”
“Good bye,” he replied. “I’ll see you both later. Right now, I should probably go finish up my patrol… I never really did get that done. Ended up with Amanda, instead.”
“That’s probably for the best,” said Sam, and Amanda guessed that he was having trouble keeping a straight face from his tone of voice.
“Good God but this is surreal,” she said as she found Sam’s shoulder and rested a hand on it, and the two headed out to find his best friend who was a transforming robot.
“Yes,” said Sam. You really couldn’t argue with the fact.
--End chapter 5--