A lone figure crouched down behind an oversized box breathing heavily. Sweat pouring down a too pale face and over an even thinner frame. A long, tattered dress, once white but now more pinkish red than anything, barely covered the wisp of a human. Lank, dirty brown hair fell into the woman's face. Anxiously she brushed it away, eyes darting around to make sure she was safe, for the moment. Her face would have been beautiful if it wasn't so thin and pale, if it wasn't covered in dirt, sweat, tears and pain. Her eyes, though as green as the trees in early summer, were dull, dulled by fear and the hunger for her freedom. She clutched at her chest, struggling to even out her breathing so she could carry on. The physical exertion alone was enough to kill her as malnourished as she was. But she had to keep moving. The woman darted out from the cover and raced down the corridor. The black walls stretching upwards of fifty feet, an almost unimaginable height, then again, it wasn't meant to house a human. She hid quickly, pressing herself down and into a corner created by a lower support strut from the massive walls that loomed all around her.
Three equally massive robotic figures stormed down the corridor, shouting at each other, "Quick, we have to recapture the specimen for Shockwave!" the first stated, their task was blaringly obvious to the life form that was shivering in fear not even three meters from them, but the distance grew steadily.
The second replied in a dark growl, "Why does Shockwave even want the flesh-creatures anyway? They are helpless worms!"
The third made a noise akin to a snort, "Do you want him to experiment on us?"
The second looked taken aback, "Your right, I don't want that. Come on, it has to be around here somewhere. It couldn't have gotten far with those tiny legs."
The first snapped at them, "Quiet, both of you! You know it is the only one that even survived the injection," The girl touched her chest, flinching in remembrance before crouching down farther- trying to become one with the walls. "How it escaped in that condition I have no fragging idea, but we have to find it or we'll all be offlined!" Her eyes widened at the term, tears filling them quickly for it had become synonymous with termination and death, with her future.
The second one's optics glowed a little brighter as a cross-hatched beam scanned the corners of the area slowly, starting at one end and stopping right on top of her hiding place. Her instincts screamed at her to run, to stand up and bolt as fast as she could, but her legs wouldn't work. They refused to move. A smirk formed on the second's face, the way the metal twisted almost made her gag, then he moved forward, picking her up by the collar of her dress. Her only thoughts were, 'This is it; I'm going to die, and no one will ever know at the hands of what. I don't even know what the hell these things are!' The second laughed, tossing her up into the air then catching her roughly, "So, you're the one that got away? I'm impressed that such a weak, helpless, thing could do that." She squeaked when he squeezed her, writhing in pain as he crushed a rib or two in the process, the tears flowing freely down her face.
Then she started screaming, begging for death, pleading for the pain to stop, praying to whatever God was out there to give her an end, any end, but to just end it. The trio of robotic lifeforms just laughed at her, starting back to Shockwave with their prize.
"You fools! You've damaged her!" Shockwave snarled at them, they shrank back, bowing their heads.
"We apologize, Shockwave, but she was trying to escape our grasps, it was necessa-"
"She isn't in any condition to put up enough struggle for you to use as much force as you did. Now I will have to wait for her to heal before I can continue my experiment!" He backhanded them, at the same time forcing them from the room, "Go, before I decide to offline all three of you." Shockwave turned around, knowing that they all ran for their live by the clank of metal on metal at a rapid- now fading- pace. His optic scanned over the human. So frail yet so strong, and still awake, the female must have been in an incredible amount of pain, malnutrition had made her frail body even frailer, he would have to see to it that she was given at least one meal a day during her recovery to maintain some strength so that she would survive the next injection. He tilted her head to one side and watched as her eyes started to flicker open. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out, "What do you require, subject 625?" He spoke with exasperation.
"…Wat-er…" She croaked in a small voice, barely a whisper.
His optic narrowed, "Very well." He half turned from her, "FISTFIGHT!"
Said mech appeared within moments, "Yes, Chugway?"
"Fetch the human water and some form of liquid nourishment. I believe the humans call it, soup." He turned back to his subject, wondering if she would survive a DNA change in this state. Fistfight wandered off to find the requested objects, leaving the two alone. Shockwave observed her. Watching as she tried to sit up only to have the air rush out of her in pain. She did not scream, she had grown tired of that after the three drones brought her in. She managed to roll onto her side, then slam her fist down onto the berth she had been placed on. Strong was the only way the Shockwave could have described her, but she wasn't strong enough. Megatron wanted results on his newest project, and he wanted them now.
As if on cue Megatron himself entered the laboratory, his usual look of anger on his face, "Well, Shockwave, how goes your experiments?"
Shockwave bowed, "They are proceeding, though I have been delayed in my progress, the subject you see before you is the only one that had survived the injection of the CNA and aviary DNA native to this planet. I had planned to inject the activating agent today, but recent events will delay me until she is strong enough to withstand the change."
Megatron looked at the human who was struggling to sit up, a dull look on his face, "Do it now."
"But- Lord Megatron, she is the only one who has made it this far, if she dies it may be more than a few cycles before someone as strong is brought here."
His master glared at him, "Do. It. Now."
"As you wish, Lord Megatron," Shockwave said with a bow. He began to prep the utensil he would use to inject her with the glowing purple substance that would ignite the change in her. He set them down on the tray near the berth, then grabbed her none too gently. She opened her mouth as if she was going to scream, but no sound came out, just a low hissing inhale of air as fresh tears streamed down her face. She didn't move, perhaps she couldn't, but the pain was about to increase ten-fold. He held her in the palm of his servo for a moment longer, trying to judge how she would react then he picked up the syringe, injecting her straight in the chest.
Her eyes widened, glowing, as a true scream erupted from her. The pain must have been excruciating, but still she was awake. He set her back down on the berth as her dirt brown hair lengthened, turning black. Her original wounds healed themselves enough for her to flip to her stomach. She doubled over, her screams intensifying as silvery protrusions erupted from her back, morphing into metallic wings similar to those of a Seeker, but more like the native Earth creature – a bird. Then suddenly everything stopped. She slumped back down, curled into a ball, her screams had become whimpers, just as suddenly as the change had begun it was over. Megatron stalked forward, reaching out to touch her, only to retract his hand as sparks flew off her body. "Impressive, Shockwave, very impressive. Perhaps next time you could use some form of predator rather than a bird, hm?"
"Of course, Lord Megatron, whatever you wish." Shockwave picked her up, watching her closely as she started to flap her new appendages fearfully, she started to lift herself off the palm of his servo, the beating of the long wings- he estimated that they were 15 feet long- was erratic. He pushed her down with one digit, glaring at her. "Stop moving, you'll harm yourself." He moved her back into her cage, closing the door and placing an explosive lock on it, "This lock will explode if anyone who isn't me or Lord Megatron tries to open it." She stood up on shaky legs, her pale, glowing green eyes wide with fear. She leaped around, pulling at the bars and flapping her wings.
"Why? Why would you do this to me? Why couldn't you have just killed me? WHY COULDN'T I HAVE DIED LIKE THE REST?! TAKE IT BACK! TAKE IT BACK!" Her voice rose to a shrill screaming cry, she screamed out the final sentence over and over, then it became a mechanical sound. Much like the voices of the Cybertronians, only much younger, that of a sparkling crying for its sparkmarker. She shook the bars until she was too weak to move, all the while Shockwave watched, his face plates twisted into an unholy grin, until her screeches turning to a true sparkling's cry. All of the mechs and femmes within hearing distance would go to her to try and comfort her unless they were like Shockwave and had no parental instincts. Even Megatron came back into the room, instinctively opening the cage and pulling her out to comfort her, "How is she making that sound, I thought that only our kind could do that."
Shockwave picked up his tablet, tapping on the holographic screen, "Technically speaking she is part of our race now. It's not that surprising that she would be able to mimic the sound our young makes. She is… for all purposes.. A newborn sparkling." Part of Shockwave wanted to tear her from his master's hands. She was his after all. "Shut her up. She doesn't need to be crying like that." Reluctance strained Megatron's movements as she was returned to her cage. Sedation would be best for her at this point. Or removal of her vocal cords.