Ten Silver Spoons Part 1 of 2
Title: Ten Silver Spoons
Rating:T
Pairing: Ratchet/Wheeljack
Continuity: Transformers Prime
WARNING: Mentions of Ed Gein and treatment of his victims.
Prompt: Written for TF_Rare_Pairing June Challenge. "Different States of Viewing" Sub-cat. "Hallucinations".
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack laid silently on his berth as he tried to recharge, but instead was online for the fourth night in a row. This was getting ridiculous. He needed to recharge or soon he would be in such need of it, he may offline during one of his missions. Sighing, he sent a comm to Ratchet asking if he was still awake and much to his surprise the comm was answered.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I am awake, are you in need of me?"
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I am, can we meet near your equipment, Doc?" he replied.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"See you there,""Times New Roman""> came Ratchet's irritated voice as the comm link was cut.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack shook his head as he stood up and walked silently into the main room and towards Ratchet's small Medbay area. Since he decided to stay on Earth, Ratchet and him had talked some and received one mission together, but they still weren't as close as he was to Bulkhead. Part of him wanted to find a way for that to change, but at the same time, he was afraid that maybe that would be for the worse.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"You do know that it is the middle of the night on this planet," Ratchet spoke up as he interrupted Wheeljack's thoughts.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"I understand that and trust me, I wish that I wasn't having to comm you. This is the forth night that I haven't been able to recharge and I am beginning to worry that something may be wrong," Wheeljack explained to the grumpy mech in front of him.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Have you tried offlining your optics and just laying there?"
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Yes and I have tried warming my energon and drinking it hot. Neither one has helped."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Go and lay down. Come morning, I will run a few tests and see what pulls up. Let's just hope that those stupid cons decide to stay away until we figure out what is going on with you," Ratchet said as he handed the wrecker a cube of energon before turning and heading back to his recharge quarters. "Try again to warm that and see if it helps."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Thanks Doc," Wheeljack smiled.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Don't call me that," Ratchet almost yelled as he slammed his door and left Wheeljack alone in the main room with a cube of room temperature energon in his hand.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">He crossed the room silently and placed it on the warmer as he sat and waited for it to warm. Talking to Ratchet turned out a lot better than he thought it would. Now all he would have to do is wait until morning for Ratchet to start running tests and find a cure to this. Hopefully it would be something simple and tomorrow night, he would be able to sleep normal again. That would make him feel better about the entire situation. Glancing at the clock on the way, he noticed that Ratchet was right. It was only three in the morning. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead don't leave until ten in the morning to get the squishies. That meant he had seven hours until the base would be awake and Ratchet would start the tests.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Sighing, Wheeljack lifted the cube of hot energon and began to drink it as he turned off the warmer and headed back to his silent room. Of course what he didn't plan on was sipping the energon and reading a book for the next several hours. He wasn't even sure that he was hearing stuff right till Miko's voice started to echo through-out the base. Placing his almost completely read book down, he stood up and left the safety of his room and make his way towards Ratchet once again. Ratchet was checking all of his equipment and making sure they were reading correctly as the human kids played a racing fame. Usually the humans weren’t here this early, but they didn’t have school. Reaching Ratchet’s Medbay area, he spoke up.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Good morning, Doc.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Wheeljack, for the last time, don’t call me that. I am not in the mood to deal with that this morning. I need to do a check-up on you, the kids are here all day, and the ‘cons are still on the low. I am positive they are up to something. I am just not sure what yet,” Ratchet said as he put a scanner down. “As far as you, sit and I will be right with you.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Ratchet walked off as Wheeljack sat down as Arcee and the others went about their normal business. Watching Ratchet shake an instrument at Bulkhead, he walked back over to Wheeljack with a sigh as he placed it down.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“I swear if he breaks one more thing I need,” he began as he lifted the scanner he was holding earlier and started to scan Wheeljack.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack smiled slightly as he shook his head. He knew from tales that Ratchet was a very uptight mech, but seeing him run his Medbay was a different story. This mech has so much stress placed upon him that he understood why he was always busy and working. Hearing a beep on the scanner, Ratchet looked at the results and shook his head before plugging into Wheeljack’s medical port to further access his systems. Ratchet stood silently for a moment before unplugging him and writing down some information.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“It seems that you are fine. I am going to give you some N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine or N5MT for short. This will allow you to sleep. Normally your body would produce it naturally, but your levels seem a little low,” Ratchet explained as he started to prepare a shot to give Wheeljack. “You should be asleep in about an hour after receiving this.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack nodded as he watched Ratchet stick the shot in his energon line and slowly pushed the medicine into him. As it finished entering his systems, Ratchet pulled the needle out and put it in the proper container.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Go ahead and lay down. It should work soon.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Thanks Ratchet,” Wheeljack smiled as he stood up and walked back to his room.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Upon lying down, he picked back up his book and opened to the page he left off on. He was not one to become interested in human literature, but this particular book had seemed to catch his attention. It was based off the human that went by the name Ed Gein. He was a serial killer that killed women and used their faces as masks. He also wore a uniform that included the chest and genitalia of women. There had been a few modern day movies made about this man, but what was kept out of the movies was the fact that he did this because he wanted to be a female instead of a man. Back on Cybertron, there would never be a story like this. Sure there were stories of meches and femmes that had killed others and some were in mass numbers, but the thought of a mech wanting to be a femme was unheard of. One of the most interesting facts about Ed was his first victim was his brother. He killed him after being criticized for worshipping his mother. What disturbed him the most was the fact that he would use the skull skins of his victims as soup bowls.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack continued to read the story and started to lose track of time as he did so. That’s what he enjoyed so much about a good book. He could start a book and before he knew it, almost half the day could be gone. But as he read his book, something caught the corner of his optic causing him to turn and look, but there was nothing there. He looked around for a moment trying to find out what had went past him, but couldn’t find so he went back to working on his book. Maybe his mind was just coming up with images due to his lack of sleep, he thought as he read. He had heard of plenty of meches and/or femmes that had images come into view caused by lack of sleep, but it didn’t bother him due to the fact that majority of the time, they would disappear soon after they appear and that would mean that he would sleep.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Reading the last few pages of the book, he continued to see shadow like images move across his vision. Shaking his head, he placed the book down and looked straight ahead to see a ghost like image of a spoon with angry eyes and sharp teeth glaring at him. It looked as if Megatron had taken the form of the shiny, silver cutlery as was standing before him. Jumping up, Wheeljack rushed out of his room and all the way to Ratchet with wide optics.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Ratchet…” Wheeljack panted as he reached the Medbay, “There is… a silver spoon… with angry eyes… and sharp teeth… in my room.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Wheeljack, are you sure that’s what you saw?” Ratchet asked calmly as he placed his hand on his comrade’s shoulder.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Ratchet, I swear that’s what I saw. It had eyes and teeth like Megatron, but its entire body was a silver spoon. He looked like he was coming to get me,” he said clearly. “You need to go and see if it’s still there because if so, I am not going back.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Ratchet looked at Optimus Prime who was listening from the other side of the room. He was a little confused as to why Wheeljack was seeing spoons. He had given him a small dose of N5MT to make him sleep and it shouldn’t have this affect on him. Nodding, he walked across the room and pushed open Wheeljack’s door to look inside.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Wheeljack, all that’s in here is your berth and a book,” Ratchet said calmly. “Where did you see the spoon?”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack walked over to his room slowly as he looked in there and saw that Ratchet was right. There wasn’t anything in his room. Blinking his optics a few times, he looked around the room before turning to face Ratchet. Before he could say anything, he saw the spoon appear behind Ratchet.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“It’s behind you,” he yelled as he stepped back a few steps in fear.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Ratchet turned around and looked at the empty space that was behind him.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“Jackie, I don’t see anything,” Ratchet said looking back at the startled mech.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">“He was just there and now it’s gone. Ratchet, I promise I am seeing this. I am not telling you a lie. There really is an angry spoon running around the base,” Wheeljack said as he looked at Ratchet’s confused face. “You have to believe me, Ratchet.”
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Optimus Prime walked over to join Ratchet and Wheeljack in the doorway as they all looked at each other not quite sure what to do at this point.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"You don't believe me, do you?" Wheeljack asked as he looked into the optics of his medic and leader.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Wheeljack, we aren't seeing anything. There are no spoons around the base," Optimus Prime told him.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack was at a lost of words. He had clearly seen the ghostly outlines of a spoon and they were saying that they hadn't. Was it his mind playing tricks on him? If it was, maybe it was time for him to go into stasis. But there was still the thought that he wasn't just seeing things and that there really were spoons coming after him. He offlined his optics for a moment before onlining them again and seeing not just one spoon, but two this time. They were behind each of the meches in front of him and this time they looked as if they wanted to eat them.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Behind you," Wheeljack yelled as he pulled the two meches into the room with him and slammed the door hoping that it would prevent them from entering. "There were two of them this time. They looked like they were going to eat you."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"They were going to eat us?" Ratchet asked in almost disbelief.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">He had heard stories of crazy medical conditions, but never had he heard of one thinking that spoons were going to eat them. Maybe if they could get out of Wheeljack's room, he could search in his medical data base for information containing any information on Wheeljack's current condition.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Wheeljack, we need to leave the room," Ratchet said as he looked into his friends optics seeing the fear in them.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"But they will get us if we leave," he spoke in a frightened voice. "We need to stay here where..."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack was cut off when he turned to face his berth and saw three spoons standing around the foot of it and moving towards them. His optics widened as he looked upon them with fear. The more there were, the clearer they were becoming.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"RUN!" Wheeljack screamed and ran towards the door and out into the main room where Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and the kids were sitting looking at the door wondering what was going on.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Jackie, what's going on?" Bulkhead asked as he went towards his fellow wrecker in hopes of comforting him.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"There are three demonic spoons in my room. They are going to kill us," Wheeljack said in hopes that his friend would believe him unlike his medic and leader.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Spoons?" Bulkhead asked confused.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Bulkhead, do you not know what a spoon is?" Miko spoke up as she moved towards them. "They are silver ... sometimes white, rounded at one end. They have a long handle, you use it to eat with."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Miko, I know what a spoon is. I am just confused as to why they are out to kill us," Bulkhead responded calmly.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"You have to believe me Bulkhead. The others don't and they are going to die horrible deaths," he spat out hoping that someone would believe him and not succome to the fate of the spoons.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Jackie, I don't see any spoons. Where were they?" Bulkhead asked as Arcee moved towards Ratchet and Optimus Prime who were emerging from his room.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"They were at the foot of my berth. There were two of them to begin with behind Ratchet and Optimus Prime before I pulled them in the room to protect them. They are coming for us. Why didn't they choose to go after the 'cons though?" Wheeljack asked as he took a step towards Bulkhead only to stop when he saw yet another shiny, silver, demonic spoon behind him.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"BULKHEAD, behind you."
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Wheeljack pulled Bulkhead towards him as the spoon faded only to appear on the other side of him with two more by its side.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"Jackie, are you sure there are spoons?" Bulkhead asked as he put his servo on his helm and looked around the room.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">"They are appearing everywhere," he freaked as he started to move back in every way he could to try and avoid the spoons. "Don't you see them?"
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Ratchet watched in shock as Wheeljack seemed to lose his mind. Nowhere in the room was anyone other than Wheeljack seeing spoons. And without the spoons there, it looked as if he was hallucinating and fighting an invisible partner. As entertaining as it was, he knew that it wasn't a laughing matter because Wheeljack could seriously hurt himself in the process.