A Mute Friendship

Heritage

(A/N: Here's the next chapter guys! Thanks for all of the reviews follows and favs! It's so exciting! I never thought I'd reach 40 much less 84! Thanks!)

Chapter 16: Heritage

"Can Orion hear me?" The voice asked, breaking through Tegan's rampant thoughts and causing him to turn towards the voice.

Tegan allowed a wide grin to spread over his face. "Like a bell." He responded happily before deciding to ask a question. "Who are you?" He asked. "Wait! I can talk to?!"

There was silence for several moments before the voice spoke again. "Orion can hear and speak but not see?" It asked.

Shaking his head slowly, Tegan realized that he could see nothing. Absolutely nothing. The world around him was black, no familiar blurs of objects or people anywhere. "No. I can't see anything." He answered slowly.

Tegan felt hands touch his face. They were large hands, and cold, but he didn't turn his face away, letting them turn his face where the unknown person wanted. He felt a thumb move up to his eyes and pull his lower eyelid down.

A sigh of what sounded like relief filled the room. "Orion cannot yet see because he has not yet onlined his optics."

Relaxing slightly, Tegan turned his head towards the voice again. "Who are you?" He asked. From what he could hear, he knew the speaker was male.

A chuckle filled the room. "Soundwave." The voice answered and Tegan's smile widened. "I can hear, Soundwave." He said slowly, a large smile on his face.

There was a few moments of silence before Soundwave answered. "You're not hearing as a normal human does, Orion." Soundwave answered slowly, almost hesitantly.

"What do you mean not like a normal human?" Tegan asked nervously now. "I can hear perfectly fine! It feels strange, but I'm hearing."

Soundwave sighed softly. "You aren't hearing through your ears Orion." He answered. "You're hearing telepathically."

Tegan was silent for several moments as he tried to figure that out. "Telepathically?" He asked slowly as he tried to wrap his mind around that.

"I have completely Cyberformed your body, Orion." Soundwave continued on in explaining. "I have made you with the alt mode of an armoured human. I have downloaded Cybertronian information into your processor and done many more things with your body. I created a voice for you as well, your voice box is a chip that holds a voice which I created and is like a normal voicebox." Soundwave continued, trying to explain everything. "I took a voicebox from..." Soundwave paused, not wanting to say that he had offlined a Vehicon to take it's voicebox for Orion. "I took a voicebox that we had in storage and shrank it. I then uploaded and downloaded a voice for you."

Silence fell to give Tegan the opportunity to ask questions, but he remained silent, waiting for Soundwave to keep explaining. He would ask questions later.

Soundwave seemed to realize this and continued. "I have hopefully restored your sight, but that can only be told when you figure out how to online your optics."

Tegan heard movement now as Soundwave moved away from him. "But your hearing was irreparable." Soundwave said slowly. "But luckily for you, you are telepathically inclined like I myself am."

There was footsteps as Soundwave moved back over to his side again. "You do not hear through your ears, Orion. You hear through your mind."

Looking over towards the sound, Tegan felt confused. "How can I hear your footsteps then?" He asked.

Soundwave let out a soft chuckle. "I have wired your processor with your helmet of your alt mode." The Cybertronian responded. "It will pick up other sounds and translate them for your processor. Because of being deaf your whole life, it will feel normal for you and you won't have to go through any kind of adaption to this new way of hearing." He explained.

"But what if I'm not in my... alt mode?" Tegan asked slowly.

"I have made sure that when you transform out of your alt mode, anything that would be out of place among your peers will pull back under your flesh." Soundwave answered. "Your helmet will retract into the back of your skull but still work in picking up the sounds."

Tegan stared in the direction of Soundwave in shock and awe. "Amazing." He murmured, lifting a heavy arm.

"You may feel weighed down for a while." Soundwave spoke again. "But that is normal until you get used to the upgrades. You will also be faster, stronger and more intelligent than the other humans."

Shaking his head with a wide smile on his face, Tegan looked over at Soundwave. "Thank you so much."

"You are not in your alt-mode, and I would advise not trying to transform until tomorrow, after your body has had time to adjust to the new add-ons." Soundwave ordered again, standing up. "You will be able to read people's thoughts as well, which will help you as you learn to fight."

Tegan lifted his head at that. "Fight?" He asked.

"Of course." Soundwave answered. "And you must consume Energon every day. I would advise drinking it instead of the human water."

"Why?" Tegan asked, hearing Soundwave sigh. "Because of the Energon I have replaced much of your human blood with, and the Cybertronian metals will need to be fed."

Tegan nodded at that. "What else can I do?" He asked excitedly.

Soundwave chuckled again. "Your helmet will be able to recognize voices as well as record, display and save memories, information, everything. You're processor has just as much room as I did when I first began my own life." The Cybertronian answered.

With a wide smile on his face, Tegan settled back down as Soundwave got up and moved away from him again. "I would advise that you try to online your optics." The Decepticon TIC said as he moved away to looked at the console.

Frowning, Tegan began trying to see, not knowing where to start. But if they could online, then he knew that he could get them to at some point. He tried forcing himself to see, closing and opening his optics, everything.

Just as Tegan was beginning to get discoraged, he heard a tiny click and bright light blinded him, making him grunt as he brought his hands up to his eyes and sat up.

Blinking rapidly, Tegan opened his optics again and looked around the room. He could see! He could see everything! Grinning widely, he looked around at the tools, the... blood which made him a little squeamish, then at everything else before his eyes landed on Soundwave, who was standing at a console typing.

"Soundwave!" Tegan cried excitedly, loving the sound of his new voice and the sight and the hearing. "I can see now, Soundwave!"

Soundwave smiled at the young boy's excited voice and turned to look at him, stopping stalk still. Tegan was looking at him with a wide smile on his face, but that's not what bothered Soundwave.

Tegan's optics were onlined... And they were blood red.