Introduction to Spare Parts

One of the wonderful-but also frustrating-things about writing in the Transformers universe is that there are sooooooo many characters. Right now in my main story we only get to spend time with a few of them. But lots of other stuff is going on in the background. All of the other characters have lives and stories of their own. There are even a couple more canon characters who go to the same school as my main characters, who just don't show up much until later.

I wanted to share some of the scenes I've written that don't quite fit in the main story, but I don't want to post a whole bunch of stories that are only one chapter long. So this is the natural solution.

The chapters in Spare Parts will have a wide variety of lengths and topics. Some of them are funny, some are sad. Some happen during the story, some happen before. I'll give you a little context at the beginning of each chapter to let you know when and where we are.

I'll also lable the chapter titles so you know what story and chapter each chapter of Spare Parts is associated with.

ex: Instructions are Boring (MV 3-4)

Meaning the chapter "Instructions are Boring" fits best when read between chapters 3 and 4 of Many Voices.

Simple enough, right?

Instructions are Boring

Context: This takes place at the same school Soundwave goes to. Chronologically, it's sometime between chapters 3 and 4 of Many Voices.

Ratchet had expected that the intelligence and maturity of his classmates would be closer to his now that he was studying with students who were older than him. But so far this widely-renowned private school seemed to be entirely full of idiots and lunatics. His new roommate was messy and talked too much, the hallways were filled with bullies and creepy drones, and to cap it all off Ratchet was now stuck with a chemistry lab partner who wasn't paying attention!

He shot a quick glare at the mech sitting next to him. Yes. Still doing something on his datapad. How did these mecha even get in to this school? Why didn't the teacher notice and call him out on it? Ratchet looked around the room, scowling.

It was terrible, really. Chemistry was one of his favorite classes. Why hadn't he been paired with a different student? Most of the others seemed to be at least looking at the teacher.

He shot another glance at his distracted lab partner. Now the mech was tapping the desk, frowning down thoughtfully at whatever was on the datapad. Ratchet leaned over, trying to see what it was. Earlier, it had looked like he was drawing something.

"All right, let's get to work," the teacher said. "One partner from each table can come up and get your supplies."

Ratchet's lab partner finally looked up. Other students started getting up from their desks.

Ratchet couldn't remember what the teacher had been talking about. "What do we need to get?" he asked.

"Weren't you paying attention?" his partner said. "Here, I'll go get it."

"I…" Ratchet said, but his lab partner had already hopped off of his chair and was headed to the front of the room.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Ratchet muttered. "He was the one doodling."

As he watched, his lab partner got a box with the supplies and a datapad that probably had instructions and a worksheet to fill out.

Then he came back. "Here are the instructions," he said cheerfully as he set the datapad down in front of Ratchet. "Looks like we have to make two different solutions. Which one do you want to do?"

"Aren't we supposed to both work on both of them?"

"Uh…" he set down the box of supplies and came around to look over Ratchet's shoulder. "I don't think it says you can't each do one. But if you want to do them one by one, I'm ok with that. It'll just take longer."

Ratchet huffed. "Yes." He said.

"Ok," the other student sat down in his chair again.

At least he was being sort of accommodating. Maybe this wasn't going to be as terrible a disaster as Ratchet had expected. He should at least try to work with this idiot. "Wheeljack, was it?"

"Yup," The other student reached for the supplies box, and started pulling everything out. "You can call me Jackie, though."

"Wait!" Ratchet said. "Leave all that in there! What if you get things mixed up? Just do it in order… here." He shoved the datapad across the table. "You read me the instructions. I'll do it all myself."

His partner, Wheeljack, frowned.

"Well?" Ratchet said.

"Why don't we just each do one?" Wheeljack said.

The other groups were already started. If they argued too long, they'd run out of time. "Fine," Ratchet said. "Just don't mess it up."

"Here's all the stuff for the first one," Wheeljack pushed the things he'd taken out over to Ratchet's side, then pulled the box closer to him to finish emptying it.

Ratchet didn't quite feel comfortable with this arrangement. What if Wheeljack did something wrong and the teacher took points off?

But he forced himself to look down at the instructions. Then he started organizing his supplies, to make sure he had everything he needed. Then he glanced over at Wheeljack again. The other student was humming to himself quietly as he stirred a beaker full of liquid.

"Don't you need this?" Ratchet asked, holding up the datapad with the instructions on it.

"Nah," Wheeljack said. "You can use it for now." He looked down at his beaker for a moment, thoughtfully. "I wonder what would happen if I drank this."

"What!"

"I mean, I don't think it's toxic, but there might be some sort of reaction if it mixed with energon..."

"Are you insane?" Ratchet said.

Wheeljack looked at him for a moment, then smiled. "It's ok. I wouldn't actually do it."

Ratchet took in a deep vent and went back to what he was doing. He was going to fail. This other mech was going to ruin everything.

"I know what would happen if you drank yours," he said. "But it's not very exciting…"

Wheeljack kept talking as they worked. Ratchet's frustration and anxiety grew. The other mech still didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was doing. And Ratchet hadn't seen him actually measure anything, or so much as glance at the instructions. Before Ratchet was finished, Wheeljack pushed everything out of the way and went back to doodling on his datapad.

"What are you doing?" Ratchet hissed.

"Inventing something," Wheeljack said.

"We're in the middle of class…"

"So?" Wheeljack said, then leaned forward and scribbled something on whatever he was drawing. "I'm done with the assignment."

Ratchet pulled Wheeljack's beaker of solution over to his side of the desk. It seemed to be the right color.

"If you want I can help you with yours." Wheeljack asked.

"No." Ratchet went back to working on his solution. He finished in a breem or so, and went back to trying to see what Wheeljack was drawing.

The teacher came by. Ratchet expected him to reprimand his lab partner for doing something other than the assignment, but he didn't.

"Good job. Looks like you two are doing really well. Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack looked up.

"Thank you for following the instructions."

Wheeljack shrugged. "No worries."

The teacher walked away.

"Did you even look at the instructions?" Ratchet said.

Wheeljack grinned, and shrugged again. "Instructions are boring." He shoved his datapad in his bag and started digging around in it, muttering to himself.

"All right class, looks like everyone's finished. Put all your spare materials back in the boxes and bring them up here again. Leave the two solutions you should have made on your desks."

Ratchet stood on his chair and started packing everything else back in the box. He wished he'd been allowed to do the whole assignment on his own.

"Hey Ratchet," Wheeljack whispered.

Ratchet looked over at his lab partner. Wheeljack was was holding a little vial of glowing blue liquid. "What?" Ratchet asked.

"Watch this," Wheeljack grinned, and dumped the vial into his solution.

"No…"

The liquid fizzed, churning and rapidly changing colors.

It darkened to a deep maroon, hissing louder.

Ratchet leaned away, putting his arms up to protect his faceplate.

BANG!

A wave of heat washed over him and suddenly the atmosphere was filled with smoke and the sound of other students screaming. Ratchet wondered whether he was about to die.

Slowly the smoke cleared and silence fell. He hesitantly put his arms down.

All the attention in the room was on them.

Wheeljack cautiously un-shuttered his optics. His faceplate was singed black.

He grinned. "That was awesome!"

Ratchet stared at him, horrified.

"Wheeljack, I need to talk to you after class," the teacher said.

"Aw, come on…"

The teacher glared at them, then turned his attention to the rest of the room. "Everyone bring me your extra materials please," he repeated.

The other students slowly started moving again, gathering supplies and taking them up to the front of the class.

The sound of the explosion was still echoing in Ratchet's audios.

They both looked at the place on the desk where Wheeljack's solution had once been. There was only a ring of soot there now. It was ruined. They'd get half credit for this assignment, at best.

This was a nightmare.

"Well…" Wheeljack said. "I'm glad I didn't drink it."

Ratchet stared at him. "We… needed that."

"It was pretty exciting, though. Maybe we should try it again..."

Ratchet put his helm down on the desk with a moan. He should never have come to this stupid school.

Notes:

Note 1: But wait, you say. This is supposed to be consistent with Transformers Prime. This Wheeljack isn't Prime Wheeljack, this is more like G1 Wheeljack.

Note 2: I know. I'm sorry. G1 Wheeljack really really REALLY wanted to be in my story. I told him no. But he kept bugging me about it. I warned him that his being here would create problems I'd have to resolve by making his life miserable, but he said he didn't care. So, here he is. The goofy, adorable, blows-everything-up-on-accident G1 Wheeljack.