Aniyu: So, this idea smacked me upside the head while I was outlining the next chapter of my other Transformers fic, Because of Renegade. So, I decided I will work on them as simultaneously as I can. BTW, the next chapter of that will be up soon, I'm still fleshing it out.
Anayi: Assuming you don't get distracted…Again.
Aniyu: (sticks out tongue) Hush up, I can't help how my brain and my attention span plot against me.
Anayi: If you say so, dear.
Aniyu: Anyway, hey Optimus! Can you do the disclaimer, pretty please?
Optimus: (vents softly) Aniyu does not own Transformers in any of its incarnations. Therefore suing would be a pointless endeavor.
Aniyu: Also, a warning! There will be slash of the mech/mech variety, but surprisingly no bot/human pairings this time around. Well, not in the normal sense. You'll see what I mean! Also, this story is not has not been Beta-read, so if anyone would like to point out any particularly glaring grammar and spelling mistakes, I would be much obliged.
Anayi: R&R, but don't bother flaming; you will be laughed at and ignored. Or used to roast Sentinel, which ever comes to mind first.
::…Blah…:: is Cybertronian
/...Blah…/ is mental speech through a bond or comm
Cybertronian Time and Terms (courtesy of and adjusted from Pagen Godess www. fanfiction s/ 4489172/ 1/ Transformers-Dictionary):
Astrosecond ~.498 seconds
Breem ~8.3 minutes
Cycle ~1.25 hours
Deca-cycle ~10 days
Groon ~45 minutes
Joor ~6.5 hours
Klik ~1.2 minutes
Megacycle ~1 hour
Meta Cycle ~1 year
Nano-klik ~1-2 seconds
Orbital Cycle ~1 day
Orn ~20 days
Solar Cycle ~14.6 hours
Stellar Cycle ~16.2 months
Vorn ~83 years
Holoform: hardlight projections formed by Cybertronian nannies for another method of inconspicuous movement among natives of a planet. Example-Humans.
Frag: 'fuck', 'fuck it all'
Slag: 'shit', 'crap', 'damn it'
Sparkmate: Cybertronian equivalent of soul mate
Guardian: a protection bond between a Cybertronian and a charge; capable of mental link if bond is strong enough
Prologue
It should have been the beginning of at least a short-lived peace when the Fallen was killed and the sun harvester was destroyed. The Decepticons had gone into hiding to lick their wounds, N.E.S.T. was expanding and gaining better funding –though the lack of a competent, tolerant liaison was still a problem–, and Sam had decided to give his first semester of college one more try before deciding if he wanted to switch to online classes instead.
Even better, Optimus and Sam were able to use the Matrix of Leadership to reignite the sparks of Arcee and Jazz, just in time for their Sparkmates', Cliffjumper and Prowl respectively, arrival on Earth. At the time, the only sorrow was that Flareup and Moonracer were unable to be reignited, and so Arcee was without her partners.
They should have realized something was bound to go wrong when Simmons voiced concerns that some of the disbanded Sector Seven members had completely vanished off the grid.
…
"You sure you can't stick around for a little bit, 'Hide? You know Sarah is always happy to see you," Will asked as he unbuckled himself, absently stroking a hand over the Topkick's dash. "And Annabelle never passes up an opportunity to see her 'Papa Hide'."
Ironhide shifted a bit, wavering before his engine gave an audible sigh. "If I wasn't sure Prowl would have my aft for being late for patrol, I would, Will. I'll swing by before you all sit down for breakfast so I can greet Sarah and the sparklet before we head back to base."
Smiling as Ironhide grumbled about Prowl being a pain in his aft, Will hopped out and firmly patted the hood. "All right then, we'll see you in the morning, 'Hide."
The Topkick rumbled under Will's hand in acknowledgement and the transformer's own brand of affection before carefully backing out. The recently promoted Lieutenant-Colonel lingered on the dirt drive as he watched Ironhide leave before heading inside to wait for his wife and daughter to come home, Sarah having already texted him to say they were at the town farmers' market.
About an hour later, Will heard the old family pick-up pull in and went out to help his girls unload, scooping up Annabelle as she ran to greet him.
"Daddy, daddy! Papa Hide here?"
"No, sweetheart, he'll be here at breakfast in the morning though," Will assured the excitable five year-old, setting her back down so she could take a seat on the porch to watch her parents.
Will had just greeted Sarah and was reaching for the bag of potatoes when he heard the sound of another vehicle coming down the drive. Straightening back up, Will narrowed his eyes at the black SUV, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up even as he waited for the vehicle to stop. The SUV did stop, the driver's side window rolling down to reveal a nondescript balding male in what Will would guess to be his mid-forties, a sheepish smile on the worn face.
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but could we get some directions? We were trying to take a back route to Interstate 5, but I think we got turned around."
Blinking in surprise, Will couldn't help but let out a low whistle at that. "Wow, you over-shot fair bit. How long have you been driving around out this way?"
That sheepish smile deepened a bit. "Uh, about two hours, give or take…"
"Only because you refused to stop sooner!" Will heard a distinctly female voice gripe from inside the SUV. "What is it with men and asking for directions?!"
Unable to help but chuckle at that, Will slowly strolled forward to not only better speak with the driver, but to hopefully get a look inside the vehicle to reassure himself that these were just lost civilians. He barely got even with the front bumper of the vehicle when a mini-dart bit into his chest.
"Fuck!" Will hissed as whatever was in the dart acted terrifyingly fast, his vision swimming and darkness closing in as he fell to his knees. "Sarah, run…!"
The beautiful blonde gasped in horror as she saw and heard her husband, turning to run and grab Annabelle. She made it three strides before a dart hit her too. "Run, 'Belle!"
Little Annabelle let out a cry, clutching her black teddy bear Blackhide tightly as she got up and ran into the house. As she hid in the space between the living room wall and the couch, Annabelle remembered her Papa Hide telling her that if anything happened to her mommy and daddy to take the bow off Blackhide's neck and push the button attached to the ribbon so he could find her. She did exactly as she was told, and out of a need for comfort, retied the bow around her own neck.
Annabelle had just picked her bear back up when the man from the SUV found her and leveled a gun at her. "All right, little girl. You and your parents are coming on a little trip."
Crying, as she remembered her daddy and Papa Hide telling her that guns hurt a lot, Annabelle asked, "W-Why you hurt them?"
"They're asleep, not hurt," the man replied promptly before reaching forward to grab her arm firmly. "Now come on; you can even keep your bear if you want."
Scared and not knowing what else she could do, Annabelle clutched her bear tighter and stood still, shaking. The man sighed in annoyance before just picking her up and tucking her under an arm.
He never once questioned the gray ribbon that had not been on her when she was outside.
…
Sam sighed as he leaned back in his childhood bed, back at home for mid-term break. Bumblebee had dropped him off yesterday before needing to return to base due to Prowl's patrol schedules, but had promised to come hang out with him in a couple days. Mikaela was busy at the shop for the next two days, and Miles' mid-term break didn't start until tomorrow.
In other words, Sam was stuck at home bored out of his mind.
His dad was actually away at the moment for some two day gardener's convention a couple towns over, but his mom was at home, using the opportunity to bake without restrain. Sam would stop her, but since half of what she made was going to go back with him to college, he felt it better to let her have at it.
So he was bored and being tortured by the smell of baked goodies.
Just as he was trying to figure out if it would be worth it to see if he could coax Mikaela into coming over for dinner when the shop closed for the night, Sam heard the doorbell ring. Confused, as he knew no one was expected and the mailman had already been by, Sam got up and moved to his window. He intended to just peek and see who was outside.
He instead froze in shock as he spotted two black SUVs parked on the street on either side of his driveway, mind flashing back to when Sector Seven came after him and took Bumblebee.
Acting on instinct, Sam grabbed hold of the special dog tags around his neck, gifted to him by Optimus and Will Lennox to signify him as an honorary N.E.S.T. member and Autobot ally. There was a third tag hanging on the chain, a sort of panic button the Autobots had all insisted he have. Popping out the center of the tag to activate the tracking chips in the other two tags, Sam then snapped the removed portion to signal an emergency situation.
That was all he had time to do before he heard his mother yell in what was either shock or pain. Dashing to his bedroom door, Sam swung it open just as a man dressed just like the Sector Seven agents had been got to the top of the stairs.
Sam managed to dodge the first shot, but the second caught him in the hip, the little dart glinting up at him menacingly. Darkness took him, and he barely managed a single plea before he lost consciousness.
"Bee…"
…
It was supposed to be a surprise visit to her favorite spaz out of all her human friends that knew about the Autobots. Maggie was not expecting to pull up to the Witwicky house to see black SUVs out front.
Getting out, worried that something had happened to Sam's parents, Maggie didn't even have time to scream when someone emerged from one of the vans as another, unseen, person shouted, "That's one of the targets!"
The mini dart caught her in the shoulder, and she was down before she even had time to process what was happening.
…
Robert Epps was not a superstitious man. But the fact that he had needed to dodge three black cats and was nearly brained by a falling ladder in the hardware store on his first day of leave from base, made him certain he was not getting any rest for the next few days.
That he never saw any attackers before the dart hit him in the back just solidified his prediction. He did make sure to drop and crush his cell phone in a 'frag you' move to the forces against him, knowing that his buddy Sideswipe would sense the signal from it offline.
…
Ironhide had only been on the road for one hour, nine minutes, and forty-three seconds human time when everything went to the Pit. A panicked transmission from Bumblebee directed to all Autobots stated that Sam had set off both his tracer and panic button, followed immediately by a transmission from Sideswipe that Epps' cell phone had been destroyed.
And then he received the panic signal he'd had specially made for Annabelle go active, his tires squealing as he veered off the highway on the nearest exit so he could get turned around.
/Slag! The tracer and emergency signal I gave Annabelle just went live! What in the Pit is going on?!/
/Decepticons?/ was the half accusation, half query from Sideswipe, but Optimus seemed unsure.
/Perhaps, but there is also the unpleasant possibility of other forces. We will start tracking the tracers immediately, but I want Bumblebee to fetch Samuel's parents and Mikaela and bring them to the nearest base for safety. Mudflap and Skids, you both are in closest proximity to Leo and Simmons, bring them to the D.C. base./
/I'm following Annabelle's trace right now; she's on the move at a fast pace, but I can catch whoever the glitches are that have her./ Ironhide growled as he kicked up his speed several notches.
Only to have to skid to a dead halt when traffic became completely blocked due to a collapsed bridge. Slag! Why now?!
Unable to get out of the traffic jam due to being in the middle lane and boxed in, not to mention he couldn't transform in a public place outside of combat, Ironhide could only growl helplessly as he observed Annabelle's signal getting farther away.
Several hours later, both Sam's and Annabelle's tracers converged, stopped, and then vanished. But at least they had a location: Hoover Dam.
…
When he woke up, Sam was scared to discover he was strapped down to a table, flashes of his torture at the hands of Megatron and Scalpel flashing through his mind. He was downright horrified when he glanced around and saw not only his mom, but Will and his family, Maggie, and Epps strapped down on matching tables to either side of him.
At the moment, Annabelle was the only other one awake, and Sam felt he had to try and at least comfort her when he heard her quiet, hiccuping cries. "Annabelle? Are you hurt?"
The little girl turned her head towards Sam, answering the familiar voice. "N-No… Sc-Scared…"
Sam smiled shakily at her, wishing her could reach over to her. "I know. This is very scary, but I bet Ironhide and Bumblebee are already on their way. You know they won't let anyone hurt us without a fight."
That seemed to work wonders for the girl as she agreed fiercely. "U-Uh huh! Papa Hide make mean p-people go boom!"
"He might, but frankly it will be too late for all of you."
Sam and Annabelle both looked around when they heard the voice, both flinching as bright lights snapped on. Once the dots cleared from his vision, Sam glanced around to see several things that made him choke with fear.
First, the tables they were strapped to were in a clear room or box of some kind with a directional tube of some kind hanging down over each of them. It was so similar to the test box Simmons had demonstrated the power of the Allspark with that Sam felt ill.
Second, there was an observation deck outside the box occupied by several people and a few computer stations. None of the people were familiar to Sam, and he was unnerved to see the protective goggles on their faces.
Glancing back as best he could, Sam stared as he saw seven shambling, inert wrecks of what appeared to be giant robots behind the box. He saw cables attached to the chest framework –They're practically just skeletons!– and he was chilled to track their path with his eyes until they met with the box.
As if he had been waiting for Sam to finish observing the room, the intercom voice spoke up when Sam looked back to the observation deck. "The NBEs have proven extremely formidable, both in conflict and in politics. There's nothing really stopping them from taking over; but this is our world, not theirs. Sector Seven may have been disbanded, but that doesn't mean we've stopped existing, and we will give humanity the weapons to both fight back and progress. You seven."
Swallowing rapidly in an attempt to keep from being sick, Sam demanded, "W-What are you talking about?! What the Pit are you going to do to us?!"
"The NBEs under N.E.S.T. supervision have a no harming humans policy, but considering they hold you seven as assets, we have to assume that policy will not hold when they find us. Therefore we are going to use what we have left of the power cube to make you seven into our shields first, and then our weapons once we've warded the NBEs off."
About to ask what he meant, Sam's eyes widened as symbols suddenly flashed across his vision, right as a pair of men in hazard suits unveiled a small clear box on the walkway. Sam didn't need to be close to know that the box contained a fragment of the Allspark. He wasn't stupid, he knew trying to argue with these fanatics was not going to save them, nor was he sure if the Autobots had enough time to reach them. But as he glanced to the side at the teary Annabelle, who was trying so hard to be brave, Sam knew he had to at least try to stall them.
"Why are you using Annabelle?! She's just a kid, she's got nothing to do with this!"
Activity on the walkway did pause at that, but the voice simply replied, "She is connected to the NBE associated with her father. It's also bad policy to leave loose ends that can trip you up later."
Before Sam could say another word, a man strode up to the holding box, opened a panel, and shot both him and Annabelle with darts. As he blacked out again, the last thing he heard was:
"Be glad neither of you will be awake to feel the transfer."
…
Bumblebee was trembling on his shocks as he sped with the core team and a full N.E.S.T. contingent toward the place he had once been held captive. But his memories of the place were overshadowed by his fear for his precious charge, because now their roles were reversed: Sam was being held captive and possibly being tortured and it was Bumblebee who needed to save him.
It had been a while since he had felt the need to pray, but at that moment he was praying to Primus with every circuit he could spare that Sam and the others would make it through this.
Ratchet was mentally going through every bit of medical equipment he had brought in his subspace pockets, trying to keep focused on what damage their human friends were likely to have from this situation, rather than needlessly process worst case scenarios. It was the only way to keep himself from getting too angry to be useful, or to reach the point of shooting first and asking questions later like Ironhide was.
Not that he blamed his friend for that. With little Annabelle in danger, as well as her parents, it was a miracle that the Topkick hadn't shot off ahead of them to kill everything between him and his charges.
Jazz was worried. Worried for Bumblebee, who likely didn't realize the extent of how much he cared for Sam, and just how broken he would be if the boy died this day. Worried for Ratchet, whose spark would likely break if they lost all of those captured, which was not a pleasant thing for anyone but especially not a medic. Worried for Ironhide, who was radiating killing intent for those who had taken the family he guarded, the family he had come to love as his own. Worried for Optimus, who was having an obvious inner battle between worry for those taken and rage for the kidnappers, and there was no way to tell at the moment which emotion would win the battle.
And he worried for their captured friends, praying that Primus either spare them or take them to the Well with as little suffering as possible.
Ironhide's vision was tinged with red; if he had been in his bi-pedal form at that moment, there were few doubts that he could have given the Decepticons a run for their money on who's optics were a more hellish color. There was no way to truly confirm at the moment what the condition of any of his three charges were, but Ironhide would bet his precious cannons that were not in perfect health mentally or physically, based solely on the feeling in his spark.
It would be a miracle if there were anything more than ashes to send to the Pit when Ironhide was through with those who had taken his family.
One would think Optimus would be used to struggling between his emotions, but that couldn't be further from the truth. There was the Prime, who was calm and duty oriented, who was worried for his friends, comrades, and soldiers. And there was Orion Pax, who felt burning anger that some of his precious friends and allies had been kidnapped and were likely being harmed even as they drew close.
The only thing both halves that made up Optimus agreed on was that he would save his friends or die trying. Something that the mech felt would not be easy as the Matrix of Leadership pulsed in its hidden compartment with something like recognition the closer they came to the dam, which only left him feeling dread.
The next thirty minutes it took to reach the dam and burst down through the levels of the hidden base went by like lightning. The events of the five minutes after that, starting when they broke into a sub-level even Simmons hadn't known about, crawled by so agonizingly slow it was hard to tell time was passing at all…
TBC…
Anayi: …Should there be a warning for character death at this point?
Aniyu: Nope…Yes… Maybe?
Anayi: (sighs) Again, please R&R. But, proceed to the next chapter first, since my charge is posting two together.