The Sound of Scrap's Heart

By Storylady35 and ThemSoundwaves

Edited by CountryDream14

This, I should say, is not a continuation of Scrap or even an alternative of Scrap. This is a whole new story that just has some of the same names and there is some OCC-ness in this story. And there are a few… none prime but cannon characters in here.

You'll see what I mean in the first few lines.

Storylady: I want to thank my wonderful co-writer and editor for a really crazy but great time chatting at the strangest of times on the weirdest of subjects. Thanks Butter and Rocky, you're the best!

ThemSoundWaves: I have had a GREAT time reading and Writing this story with Story and Rocky! They are amazing people; we've been having so much fun with this. Story likes to call taunt me by calling me Butter :P I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as we enjoy creating it! All I have to say is Scrap/Soudwave fans out there, you will be pleased, love you all and have a great read!

CountryDream14: Howdy there! This is CountryDream14, a.k.a Rocky, and I help with the editing of this story. It's a lot of fun working with these two and I hope I did good at my job. If you have any questions or helpful hints, feel free to PM me on my profile. Thank you for reading!

SL: I'm sure the three of us will be leaving other A/Ns as the story continues but for now;

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin;

Chapter 1: Home Far Away from Home

Eleanor Tripson huffed loudly as she gripped the steering wheel of her car, looking out the side window to see what was behind her since the back of her vehicle was filled with all that was left of her worldly possessions. She sighed and looked up at the sky, trying how to understand how her life had turned around and upside down in the space of three weeks to a point that she was now forced to flee everything she knew.

Three long weeks ago she had everything; a loving boyfriend, her own central apartment and a post as a trainee nurse being well on her way to fulfilling her dream.

Everything was going great for her until a senior doctor at the hospital cornered her in a stock room, expecting a little 'doctor nurse' business. However, he picked the wrong girl as Eleanor wasn't like that. She might look weak and powerless but she would never just lie down and take it. She fought back and managed to stab a pencil into the doctor's wandering hand to get away from him.

She had expected him to forget it, wanting to preserve his pride and reputation, but she'd been wrong, VERY wrong.

The doctor had claimed she attacked him, that she stabbed him to sabotage his career and with no way to prove what had really happened, it was one man's word against hers and she was promptly fired within twenty-four hours. Then, with talk of her now being a violent whore, her boyfriend, David, had the nerve to dump her through a text, then, to put the icing on the cake, her flat flooded and her landlord was being the usual insufferable snot he was and heaving the blame onto her shoulders, saying that she must've broken something.

So Eleanor did the only option she could think of doing at the moment; she withdrew all her money, packed up whatever she could carry in the back of her vehicle, took her car and drove. With no plan, nowhere to go, and no one to call upon, she'd been living in the old beat up Tonka for a week, quickly going through cash for food and fuel. Depression was beginning to set in as she pulled in to the side of a road as the sun began to lower its blazing disc in the sky and turned off the engine.

Yawning, Eleanor shut her eyes and tried to sleep once again but her mind was filled with too many thoughts and fears circling her mind to really settle. Realising she would never get a wink of sleep tonight, the ex-trainee nurse turned the car's radio on low to a rather soothing station and turned the head lights on.

That was when she saw him lying in the middle of the road. At first she thought he was just another road-kill that often littered the country roads, but then it pushed up on one hand and rolled onto its back, showing itself to be human. Gasping, Eleanor wasted no time grabbing her medical kit from the other seat and ran out to help the poor man and comfort him, hopefully in time to get him to a hospitable. The man was covered in rather nasty-looking gashes a thick, dark blue liquid and his damaged hand was loosely holding his shoulder where a majority of the liquid seemed to be. He looked barely conscious.

"It's alright." She said softly to him as she kneeled next to the prone form and put on some gloves. "I'm a nurse. Now, can you tell me what happened?"

The man groaned but said nothing, appearing to be out cold. Eleanor knew that this was not a very good sign if he wasn't able to answer her and decided to get straight to work, first moving him off to the side of the road as gently as she could before checking the man's injuries over until she found the problem. There was a nasty hole on his shoulder, the one he had been holding, but what was confusing her was that the blue liquid appeared to be coming from inside his body. His blood was a glowing blue!

Well. She thought to herself. At least I can see it in the dark.

For a good five minutes she used all her medical knowledge and skill to get the man's bleeding under control, watching as his chest went up and down calmly and his pulse began to stabilise, which was reassuring.

Then, while her hands tied the bandaged in place, Eleanor realised she needed help, but her phone was dead without a place to plug the charger in and she didn't want to leave this man, even if her car was just a few feet away. Thinking quickly, she looked at the man and patted his clothes down in case he had a cell on his person.

Eleanor started to take in the clothing the man wore and she deduced that he was probably a cyclist as his clothing tight fitting to his body like a jumpsuit, but it was completely black, pardon some red lines down the arms and across the chest. What was strange, though, was that he was lacking protective gear, like a helmet, and there didn't seem to be a bike nearby, to Eleanor's knowledge, though the fading light didn't help things any. Never mind him having a phone on him or even pockets for that matter. Was this guy robbed or something? This just seemed to get odder.

Swearing under her breath, the nurse looked frustratingly at the car, wondering how long it would take her to get to the car and back again and if the man could last that long, though he was stabilised somewhat, he was still injured and vulnerable. As she beginning to come to a decision, another set of headlights came at her from the other direction.

"Hey!" She yelled, silently praising the Lord above and erratically waving her free hand above her head. "Hey! Stop!"

The car did stop just ahead of her, momentarily blinding her with the headlights. Bloody, gloved hand over her eyes, the nurse peeked to see who was climbing out but all she could see was a black shape in the light. "Hey, I… I need you to call an ambulance. This man is really badly hurt and needs help." She said, pointing to her patient lying on the side of the road.

"No he's not." Eleanor gave a little jump at the voice. It sounded smooth with a bit of a high pitch to it. It seemed like it was almost chuckling as it spoke to her.

"What?"

"He's dead."

The nurse looked back at her patient, seeing how the man's chest was rising and falling and the blue blood was continuing to seep from the wound. Incredulous, she stated with a defiant tone to her voice. "He's still alive. Please, I need an ambulance now."

The form walked over to her and knelt at the other side of the body and Eleanor was able to see who it was. She'd known it was a man by his voice, at least 30 years old with slicked back spiky red hair and a small goatee down the middle of his chin. The young woman felt her face grow warm suddenly. He is hot!

But then he looked at her and she was amazed that his eyes were a bright, glowing red and the grin he gave her made her almost take a step back, feeling as if it sucked her confidence and self-security out. "How long you been here?" He asked, not sounding worried or rushed in the slightest.

"A… about five minutes." She managed to croak out. "I'm a nurse so I knew what to do and… and please, can you go get my phone? It's in the front of the car."

The man looked at the vehicle but made no move towards it. "You do realise you are trying to keep a corpse alive, right?"

"He is still breathing!" She snapped, growing annoyed at his defiance to help. "He is still alive so will you PLEASE get my phone!"

"Look human, he's dead. His spark's gone."

"His what?"

"Spark." The man said, pointing to the hole she was trying to cover. "Without it, he's just a body, a corpse." He tipped his head and hummed a little. "Have to admit, you've done a good job, though. The body should have caved out by now… but you kept it going." He knelt silent for a moment then his eyes turned back to her as he stood back up and brushed his knees down, straightening the long, red jacket he was wearing. "Get up." He ordered.

"What?"

"Get up. You're coming with me." He reached over to grab her shoulder but Eleanor was having none of it. Her flight or fight instincts were screaming at her to take off, but she couldn't leave her patient, not with this man.

She pulled herself free and turned back to her patient. "If you are not going to help then please leave. I'm trying to save a man's life."

She heard the chuckle then the single blast of some sort of laser gun as it hit the man before her in the centre of his chest which sent his blue blood gushing out among the grass and pavement and then fell still. Shocked and bug-eyed at the brutal attack, Eleanor jumped back and landed on her backside, looking at the now large blue splatter on the man's jumpsuit. Her eyes instantly found the man who had shot him. "You… you killed him!" She accused with a heated glare and voice seething with anger. Hot tears threatened to burst forth. She had failed her patient, now he was dead.

"He was already offline stupid." He said, putting the odd weapon back on his side before stepping over to her and grabbing her arm again, pulling her to her feet. "I just made you see it. Now, come along human."

Stunned by the display, Eleanor couldn't even register what the murderer was doing, never mind react to it, as she was dragged away from the corpse and her Tonka towards the other vehicle, hardly noticing as she was thrown into the passenger seat and the door beside her.

It wasn't until the ignition turned on that she even snapped out of it. "Wait, w-what are you doing?!" She was scared out of her wits and felt about ready to jump out of the vehicle.

The driver grinned as he hit the gas. "Told you, you're coming with me."

Well. Eleanor thought. That doesn't sound creepy or full of malicious intent at all.

"Why! Where are you taking me!" She yelled, beginning to panic as she reached for the door handle, pulling it madly to try and get out but found it was locked; she turned to the other man. "Stop this car! Let me out!"

"No way. I might have a use for you."

The blood in her veins froze. "What… kind of use?" She asked as fear quickly trickled into her.

"Medical of course." He said, looking at her as if disgusted she'd thought otherwise. "What? Did you think I was taking you for some other reason?"

"I-I dunno! I've never been kidnapped before!" She exclaimed, exasperated.

The driver laughed coldly then pulled the car off the side of the road, following a small dirt track.

"Well, you might want to do your restraint up."

Reaching for the seatbelt, Eleanor did and gave the man a wary look. "Why?"

"Because we're going up."

Confused, and more than a little petrified, she looked out the front window to see that the earth just ended ahead of them and she was facing a sheer drop. Panic washed over her. "HOLY SHIT!" She screamed, grabbing the car's door and the man's arm. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

The man said nothing, just drove faster to the edge, the headlights the only thing lighting the way until the earth just dropped off and the car was left in the hands of gravity.

Ground approaching rapidly, Eleanor covered her eyes with her arm while the man just pressed a button on the controls. There was a loud whirring, clunking noise and vibrations shot over the car but then it pulled up from its dive and swooped up into the air, causing the poor woman's stomach to roll.

Panting out of fear and nausea, Eleanor lowered her arms and hesitantly looked out the side window, afraid of what she would find. In the darkness she could make out clusters of lights as towns and cities began to slowly pass them by. She looked closer and saw a long wing coming from the side of the car, which also appeared to have become a stream-lined shape.

"Ok, what the hell just happened!" She snapped, her anger breaking the grip of both fear and self-preservation and throwing them to the wind.

The man smiled but kept his eyes ahead, not looking at her. "What's your name?"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"Now you decide to ask my name?" She huffed, her mind unable to take it all in as she sank back in the seat. "It's Eleanor." She spoke, feeling exhausted and resigned all of a sudden.

"Eleanor?" He repeated with a distasteful look. "What a strange name. Well, I'm Knockout."

"And you say I have a strange name?" She looked at him incredulously. "So, Knockout, are you going to tell me what the HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

Knockout nodded out the front window. "You'll see. But tell me, what were you all the way doing out here at this time of night?"

Arms crossed, Eleanor turned her head away. "None of your business."

"Were you going somewhere?"

"No."

"Will anyone miss you?"

"No."

"Good."

"Why?"

He said nothing, just went back to flying the plane-car until nodding. "Ah, home sweet home."

Eleanor looked where he was looking but she couldn't see anything, just the night sky. Then, out of mid-air, a bright square hole appeared which Knockout flew right into and a whole hanger appeared, filled to the brim with dark, strange looking jets that held large, powerful engines on the back, some of them being tended to by people dressed similarly to the person she had been tending to a few minutes previous, though it honestly felt like days to Eleanor.

Knockout parked the car in what looked like a reserved space and climbed out, walked around to the passenger door and opened it, holding out his hand in a gentlemanly gesture. "Come on." He ordered and the woman took his hand to pull herself out. The place was very dark and had a dark aura in the air, making her feel very nervous and self-conscious to the fact her shirt and hands were covered in dry, blue blood.

Keeping herself close to the plane-car, vehicle thing, she held her own hands over her heart and grasped her shirt as her nerves were taking over when she began to see people staring at her before a short whistle brought her attention back to Knockout who was stood between two yellow lines on the floor. "Come on!" He yelled, nodding down the hanger.

Eleanor ran after him and kept a step or two behind, watching his back as he strutted down the hanger and through a door, entering a long hallway with a high ceiling. As people walked past, always in the same uniform, she noticed the number of eyes on her and walked a little quicker to Knockout's side.

"W-where are you taking me?" Eleanor inwardly scolded herself at how pathetic she sounded.

"If I want to keep you, I have to ask Starscream's permission."

"Keep me!" She gasped, not liking the way he made her sound like a possession.

"Yeah." He said with a grin. "I've been really over worked recently and could do with a second pair of more… experienced hands. You seem to have a knack for it."

Eleanor blinked as she walked beside him. "So… you're offering me a job?"

"I guess. In a way." He said, looking down on her. "Would you like to work for us?"

"I hardly know you."

Knockout chuckled. "Ah well, you will. Right, in here." He nodded to a large tube before them that he quickly ushered her into and pressed a button. "Bridge." He stated clearly.

Before Eleanor could ask what he was doing, a door suddenly slammed shut in front of them and cut off the hallway and the floor began to rise at an alarming pace revealing the tube to be an elevator. "Yikes." She mumbled, hardly able to breath. If there's anybody up there. She prayed. Please make this waking up nightmare end.

Just as she got herself back together, the door opened, revealing a large open space with people milling around over consoles, tapping way while speaking in hushed tones. Knockout nodded her forwards as he walked behind her. "Yo, Starscream!" he yelled. No one responded to him, but that didn't faze the odd man at all.

One man stood in the middle of the room, looking out the panoramic view at the night sky and turned around. Knockout and the others she'd seen all wore that same tight skin like jumpsuit, even if Knockout had his under a long coat, this man, who Eleanor assumed was Starscream, had what could be defined as real 'clothes'; a long grey jacket down to the hip, a pair of high –heeled, military style boots and grey pants with a matching shirt with a red collar. His face was cold and sharp with impressive grey sideburns that came down from his matching hair with a red skunk-stripe down the middle, and he had a general appearance that just made the woman want to hide behind her red haired companion.

Starscream scanned her and scowled. "Knockout, what is the reason for this you bringing this… thing here?"

"Starscream, as you commanded, I went to the last known coordinates of the missing team and found this human keeping a sparkless husk alive. She actually was managing pretty well too."

Starscream locked his hands behind his back and gave Knockout a look that Eleanor could clearly tell was a 'so what?'

"Your point being?"

"As you know, I'm the only qualified medic on this ship and I have something that requires most of my time at the moment." Knockout said with a certain grin. "If you want to keep this army functional, you need a second skilled medic, and I think this human is the one for the job."

"A human would know nothing of our biology!" Starscream snapped, bringing out a scrawny hand and flourishing it in the air. "She would be more trouble than use!"

"Well if you would rather I was spending my time fixing every little cut, graze and stiff back on this ship…."

Starscream's frown showed he didn't like that idea either. "Fine! Keep it!" He pointed at Eleanor. "You, come here!"

When she didn't comply, Knockout pushed her forwards until she was nearly toe-to-toe with the man. She could feel herself trembling uncontrollably but all she could do was stare at the man before her, noticing that his eyes were an even darker red than Knockout's.

Starscream appeared to realise he was striking fear into her and grinned, reaching out and grabbing the woman by the wrist with his scrawny hand and pulling it up above her head. "What's your name human." His voice had a screechy quality and he failed miserably, in Eleanor's eyes, to make it sound smooth and commanding.

"E-Eleanor, sir." She said, adding the formality at the end. She never would allow herself to get in this situation normally but these people just scared her to death.

Starscream huffed, leaning even closer to her. "Humm, what a strange name. If you're going to stay, you're gonna need a more… suitable name." He looked on her as she stood there then he gave a horrid, cold grin. "Scrap."

"What?"

"That's your name from now on. You are now 'Scrap'." He chuckled as if it was some cruel joke; lifting her hand even higher to a point her feet almost didn't touch the floor. "You better make sure you remain helpful, Scrap. Or else…"

Something suddenly cold and round pressed under her chin, lifting her head upwards. Eleanor might not have seen it but she could tell it was the barrel of a gun being pressed under her chin. And if Knockout was willing to kill a dying man, she had no doubts Starscream could, and would, end her life just as easily. Holding onto the last part of her control, she minutely nodded. "I- I understand… sir."

Starscream grinned then, quite roughly, threw her at Knockout who caught her clumsily in his arms. "She's your responsibility now, Knockout. Do not disappoint me."

"I will ensure she is chipped and knows the rules at once Starscream." Knockout said then nodded and gripped the girl's arm to pull her out and back into the lift and away from Starscream who had once again turned to supervise the crew. "Level 5." He said and the door closed then let out a deep breath that he must've been holding in. "Wow, well done kid."

"Huh?" How could anything she did back be stated as being 'well done'?

"I was expecting you to cry or something. You held yourself together pretty well for a human."

"That's not the first time you've called me human. Why?"

Knockout grinned at her as the door opened. "We are not human." He stated, walking down the hall. "We are from another planet, called Cybertron."

It wasn't that much of a shock really, the flight, the eyes, and the blue blood had already told her that but it was relieving to have it confirmed. "Why are you on earth?"

"Cybertron is now dead and this dirt ball has enough energon deposits across it to last us years if we use it wisely."

"What's energon?"

"The blue stuff all over your front."

Looking down at herself, Eleanor scowled. "I don't understand."

"Energon is everything to us. It's our blood, but it's also our 'food' and fuel for our crafts and weapons. Basically, Energon is life."

Grabbing her forehead, the nurse shook herself. "This is too much to take in." She muttered.

"You'll get the hang of it."

"I better; my life is on the line thanks to you."

Knockout stopped as he walked and turned to look at her, a gentle, calmer smile on his lips as he reached out and held her shoulder. "Don't worry Scrap, I will look after you. Promise."

There was something soothing in his voice that time, not the arrogance and pride he held normally but a deeper protective nature that made her smile. She nodded to him. "Thanks Knockout."

"Come on, I'll show you the med bay and our quarters. We don't live up on level three with the others but in our own little set up next door to our station."

Scrap nodded and hurried to follow him. "You really think I'll be alright for this? I mean, I'm only a trainee nurse." Eleanor had decided to keep the 'ex-nurse' part out.

Knockout nodded. "Well then you are in the right point to start learning how to look after a cybertronian. Don't worry; the war is pretty calm at the moment so I can teach you all you need to learn."

"War!" the human scoffed. "No one said anything about a war!"

"Yeah, we're at war with the fragging 'Autobots'. Good for nothing scrapheaps."

"And… they are like you?"

"Well we are the same species. It's a civil war that dates back centuries. You are either a Decepticon, an Autobot, or a traitorous, cowardly neutral who would be shot on sight."

"So you're the Decepticons?"

"Yep."

"Right, I think I'm getting it."

Knockout stopped walking as he stood outside a large door, pressing a button to open it. "Well, here we are. Med bay."

Scrap stepped in first, her eyes looking over the strange set up of the room. Everything was so cold looking but brightly lit. Six long beds on one side of the room while the other side was a collection of computers and highly technical looking machines. The room was empty pardon one man walking among the gadgets.

"Yo, Breakdown!"

The standing man looked over to the pair as they came closer. "Knockout." He said, his voice deeper than the red man at her side. "What is this?"

"This is Scrap. She's going to be working with us from now on."

Scrap tried not to swallow. Breakdown was huge, imposing figure, towering over herself with enormous shoulders, incredibly wide chest, heavy duty arms and bright yellow eyes that scanned her. "Humm." He said then hit the centre of his chest with his palm.

The action was strange but then his shoulders bent inwards like metal and began folding over each other, bending and collapsing down while the rest of his body began retracting. Finally he was left looking like any other normal human. A very well worked out one, but normal. His hair was a thick black while he wore a blue and yellow jumpsuit similar to Knockout's, just not as well looked after.

Scrap blinked back in shock as she watched the last of what had been some form of armour collect into a small trapezoid shaped metal badge with sharp horns at each side, sitting in the middle of his chest. Breakdown wasn't bothered by her fascination in his transformation and turned to Knockout. "Why?" He asked.

"We need the help." Knockout explained. "And it does mean you can go out in the field more. Now would you get me a tracking chip please? Starscream's orders."

"I guess." Breakdown said, looking over the girl then went to the side, picking something up and began messing with it before passing it to Knockout.

Holding the device, which looked like a large complicated gun, Knockout took hold of Scrap's wrist, pressing the point into her skin. "Now, keep still, this won't hurt a bit." Then he pulled the trigger.

When he pulled the trigger, Eleanor jumped back, holding her wrist. "OWW!"

Knockout grinned. "I lied."

Rubbing her sore wrist, Eleanor eyed the gun. "What is that?"

"A tracker." He said, smiling. "Just so we know where you are and if you go somewhere you're not meant to."

Breakdown chuckled a little but then looked at the human as she rubbed her arm. "So… your name's Scrap hey?"

"My name is Eleanor but… Starscream said I needed a more suitable name for around here."

Breakdown pulled a face. "And he picked Scrap? Well that's just typical of him."

"Why?"

"Scrap is a curse word! We say it when something goes wrong. Scrap is… is…"

The woman sighed deeply. "Why couldn't he call me something nice, like, I don't know, Sunshine?"

"There's an Autobot called that." Breakdown said quickly. "Cheery little fragger if I remember."

Scrap looked up, unimpressed by the response. "Well why did I have to be called 'Scrap' if it's a curse word?"

Knockout touched her shoulder gently. "Give it time, you'll grow into it. Now, why don't we show you to your room?"

Scrap looked up in surprise. "I have my own room?"

"Of course, we all do. The med bay was designed to house three; a ship medic, a field one and the nurse. You'll be getting that room."

Amazed at the generosity, Scrap followed them to a small door out back of the med bay and into a small, remarkably clean living area with its own sofa and dining table while there was also some kind of cooking device on a surface near the other wall. Off from this room were three more doors. Knockout led the human to one in the far corner. "Here we go."

Entering, Scrap turned to look over it. "It's wonderful!" She exclaimed with a smile. The room was reasonably large if a little empty and emotionless and empty pardon a blank sheet of metal coming out of the wall to create a large, almost double bed, with a purple comforter, and a small round plastic room that sort of looked like a bathroom near the door and there was a unmistakeable desk with chair looking out the large window on the far wall that showed the night sky above them. The walls were all grey, like everything else but it warm and clean. She turned and grabbed Knockout by the neck. "I love it!"

Knockout looked back at Breakdown who just shrugged before Scrap let go on her own and he looked down at. He gave her with a smile and winked. "Well, it's all yours. But should warn you…" He knocked on the door beside him. "No lock. We'll try and respect your privacy but this is a warship. Locked doors are not a good thing."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, still amazed by the room. She'd expected a cot and cell. Not of her own room with an ensuite.

Knockout nodded gently. "Well, I'll leave you to get cleaned up. We'll start work tomorrow. Bright and early, Scrap."

"You know." She said before the door could close behind the door. "I'm starting to like being called that. Night Knockout. Night Breakdown."

SL : Well, that's all for now. You can expect the next update… soon. Not saying when because it depends on Rocky and Butter. But for now, hope you enjoy and are waiting for the next chapter!

Don't forget to review! And all three of us will be getting you reviews so be sure to put Rocky and Butter in your thanks!