This fic was previously on a different account. I switched accounts and wanted to bring this one with me.

I ask that you please read my Author's Note before continuing. Thank you!

Author's Note: All right, so, this is something that I dreamt about. I don't really write things based after my dreams because usually they don't make sense. And, to be honest, this one doesn't make too much sense either—it feels like it's chopped right out of the middle of a story.
But it kinda stuck with me and gnawed on my brain all day. So I'm taking some time to type it out before I go to bed. So, like I said, probably doesn't make much sense. It's based after a dream, after all. Just please keep that in mind.

She'd Fight

The light was dim. Not dim enough that he couldn't see, but dim enough to block things. Dim enough to shroud corners from his view and make him turn his head at little noises. He clenched his fists and launched forward in false hope that his binds would fail to hold him.

They didn't budge, of course.

A door opened, making his heart jump into this throat. His eyes searched frantically about the room, finally focusing on a figure when it stepped out of the shadows. The man was well dressed as usual; adjusting his tie and smoothing out his suit. It took a few moments before the man actually decided to acknowledge his presence, but when he did, his eyes lit as if he had not noticed him there before.

But he knew the man had. It was an act.

"Ah, Jack," he said. "Good morning. Sleep well?" A venomous glare was all he got in response. "...I guess not. You know this could all end in a heartbeat, Jack. You just need to tell me what I want to know."

"I don't need to tell you anything," Jack responded, lunging forward again. His binds caught him and held him back, preventing any harm to the suited man before him. "You haven't held me for very long. Arcee will be here soon and then you'll be sorry."

"And how do you know that, hm?" The man said and leaned in a bit. "How do you know we haven't already gotten to your little robot?"

"Arcee?" Jack said, pulse jolting in anxiety. "Arcee!"

A grinding sound echoed throughout the large room, and he winced. He could just see a large door rising in the shadows. Straining his eyes, Jack glared into the darkness, barely making out small, glowing optics and the shape of a large blue body. His heart skipped a beat, and he closed his eyes. Before the men pulling the bot into the room made it into the light, Jack shook his head.

"That's not Arcee."

Everyone stopped. The silence rang in the ears of all present, and the suited man's smirk turned into an enraged frown. Taking a step closer, he snapped his head towards the darkness that shrouded the so-called "fake Arcee".

"And what makes you so sure, Jack?"

"You mean besides some obvious mistakes?" Jack answered, voice sharp with sarcasm.

"Mistakes?"

"I don't know what type of... prototype or whatever you have in there... but even in this light I can see that bot's colors are wrong. Arcee's accents are pink, not yellow."

"I... see," the suited man muttered, his teeth grinding together in frustration. Jack's gaze remained on the ground. "Fine, then. What else?"

"...She wasn't fighting," Jack said simply. The man beside him gave no response for a few moments as if confused. He folded his arms.

"What?"

"She wasn't fighting," Jack repeated, head snapping up and eyes meeting those of the suited man. "I saw the optics—that means she'd be awake. But she wasn't fighting."

"She couldn't fight if we'd gotten to her, you stupid boy!" The man snarled and backhanded Jack right across the face. The boy coughed, sputtered, and spat out a drop of blood. Yet he turned right back again, glaring.

"You're wrong," he said. "No matter how exhausted she is, no matter how much she's been beaten, no matter how many binds hold her, Arcee keeps fighting. If that was her in there, she'd—she'd be fighting. She'd be screaming. She'd be struggling. She'd fight! SHE'D FIGHT AND SHE'D WIN!"

The suited man raised his hand to slap Jack again, but he was cut off. The wall shattered, rubble and dust flying everywhere. The ground shook, and through the must and dirt, Jack saw a flash of blue and pink. A battered, beaten, exhausted flash of blue and pink, that still whirled and kept on moving. And then a strong, booming voice.

"JACK! JAAACK!"

Just like he said.

"ARCEE!"

She'd fight.