The Past Always Comes Back to Bite (RID2015 Fanfiction)

11. Attacked

Sideswipe wasn't sure what time it was when he came back out of sleep-mode, but it must be at least early morning because he could hear machinery getting started somewhere to the right of him.

His sensors were compensating for his lack of sight by increasing the input of the others. Sounds that had been tolerable now seemed incredibly loud, he could feel every individual grain in the wood forming the trailer he laid on, and he could smell someone had opened a canister of fresh energon recently.

He sat up, putting a hand to his helm as it retained an ongoing ache from before. He still couldn't see, he was still disabled.

He felt the trailer shift underneath him, and then someone's plating brushing against his down by his leg.

"Good morning, Sideswipe!" Flashdrive's eager voice greeted, though fortunately remaining somewhat quiet.

"Morning, Flash..."

Sideswipe swung his legs off of the trailer, feeling the dusty ground under his feet.

"Do you want anything?"

"I'd like to be able to see," He admitted, "But for now...If you could get me a small energon canister?"

"Be right back!"

The trailer bounced a little as the virocon hopped from it, and then he heard her footsteps slowly get quieter as she got further. Other footsteps told him his team was up and moving as well, a shuffling sound being Transmutate's limps across the yard. They'd told him that her twitching was much better than before, but she was still struggling.

"Feeling any better?"

"Gyah!"

Sideswipe jumped from Swoop's voice suddenly being in his audio receptor, and he gripped the trailer to keep himself from falling over. "How in the Allspark does someone as big as Grimlock move around so quietly...!?"

"Sorry... I've just learned how to place my feet in order to reduce noise in my steps."

"Could you teach that to Grim?"

"But his loud, ground-shaking footsteps are part of his charm. I doubt that Tyrannosaurus Rexes were very quiet when they hunted, they just waited until their prey was close enough and then thundered after them."

"I guess...I've never actually seen an organic one, so we may never know."

Flashdrive's quick footsteps alerted Sideswipe to her arrival.

"The Rescue Bots have seen real ones." She informed while slipping the cube into his hands, "That's one of the reasons they have dino modes."

"You know bots who scanned organic lifeforms?" Swoop inquired, "But wouldn't that cause issues with their systems?"

"It does..." Optimus informed from a little bit away. "...I once had a dino mode myself, but it was removed when I was reformatted by the Hammer of Solus Prime."

"That would explain why we've never seen it." Sideswipe concluded. "Although, there's been quite a bit of things I haven't seen lately."

"Yeah...About that."

Sunstreaker walked over to his brother's side, taking a seat by him. "We were talking last night, and... Ratchet's not sure how long it'll take for your optics to repair themselves normally."

"Is there a way he could speed it up?"

"There is a procedure that has an eighty-percent chance of success, but... He can't do it here, he doesn't have the equipment."