Chapter 2- Humiliation
Mikaela arrived not ten minutes after Optimus last spoke with Sam. Optimus had indeed asked Bumblebee what was wrong, and Bee solemnly told his leader about the breakup, and how hard Sam was taking it. He too didn't know whether or not Mikaela was coming, but just as he finished talking to Optimus, Mikaela drove up and got out, all but looking over the others to obviously seek out Sam.
Optimus himself looked back where he had last seen Sam, but the boy was gone. He figured Sam was having some 'alone' time, and didn't think much of it. For some reason, he felt that he needed to ask Mikaela about what happened between them, but after seeing her busy herself with reacquainting with old friends, he put it off for later.
But now it was nearing sunset. It had been three hours since Sam had left, and Optimus was getting worried. Him, and everyone else, especially Bee. Bee understood that Sam needed his space, but this was ridiculous. He did a quick scan of the area, but Sam wasn't anywhere within the two-mile radius he scanned.
"Optimus, Sir?" he said quietly, but urgently, so not to alarm everyone. Optimus turned around and saw the scared concern on Bee's visage.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Sir…Sam isn't anywhere within two miles of here!" he said, his voice wavering. "Something's not right, Optimus…Sam's in trouble!"
He said that last part a little too loudly, which made everyone look up and stare, especially Mikaela.
"What's wrong with Sam?" she asked, her concern showing. She had broken it off with Sam because she felt like she didn't fit in with the picture as a whole, but she still cared about Sam with all her heart. When she heard Bumblebee say that Sam was in trouble, her heart skipped about four beats.
Optimus looked at everyone's troubled faces and sighed. "Sam's been missing for three hours, and he's nowhere in or around this vicinity," he said calmly. "Bumblebee and I believe that foul play is involved."
"Decepticons," Ironhide immediately growled, his cannons making a small charging sound. "I'm betting my cannons and every piece of ammunition I own they're the cause!"
"Calm down, Ironhide, we don't know that for sure," Ratchet said, though his voice carried just as much venom at the thought of Decepticons with their hands on Sam.
PB
Barricade checked his internal clock and sighed. "Are you DONE yet, Frenzy!?" he called over to the area where Frenzy had dragged the Witwicky boy. He heard a short screech in reply, which he interpreted as 'up yours', and rolled his optics. The little bastard-con had been at it for an hour; how long did it take!? He was brought out of his thoughts with a small transforming sound, and then Frenzy came into view, lazily walking up to Barricade like nothing had happened. The soft sounds from the sodomy area, however, confirmed otherwise.
Barricade's curiosity got the best of him, and he quietly got up to go survey the damage himself. He walked over to the area and leaned down to look at the boy.
Sam had scratches all over his now completely nude body; well, not completely. His shirt sleeves were still covering his forearms while the rest of it was ripped to pieces and littered all around him. His bound wrists were red and almost bleeding from the restraints around them, and there was blood between his legs and down his thighs. His face, unscratched, was however bruised and tear-streaked.
Pitiful sounds like none Barricade ever heard before emitted from the poor creature before him. He almost felt sorry for the boy, but nonetheless had to admit Frenzy did to a hell of a job on him.
He snapped to attention when Sam's face turned to him, his eyes red and full of tears. Sam stared at him for a moment before—Barricade couldn't really believe it—reaching his bound hands out to him.
"H-help me…" came that pitiful sound that made his audio receptors ache. "P-please…"
Barricade backed up from the human, not wanting to see or hear anymore. Seeing a tortured Autobot was one thing—he'd been seeing that for thousands of years. Seeing a small, fragile, helpless thing like this creature before him—it wasn't quite…right…
"…Don't go…." He almost didn't catch it. "…please…!" He paused, looked at the boy again, let out something between a sigh and a growl and used a retractable blade in his hand to cut the wrist restraints apart. Seeing that his hands were no longer bound, Sam wrapped his arms around himself and curled up in a pitiful attempt to preserve whatever modesty he had left. Barricade knew that the Autobots would be looking for him soon, and knew now was the time to leave. He turned around, paused again, then took something the size of a tennis ball out of his chest, fiddled with it, then laid it next to Sam, transformed into police car, and drove off, letting Frenzy jump in through the open window en route.
PB
"Optimus!"
Optimus turned his focus on Ratchet's voice over his comm. link. "What is it, Ratchet?" he asked.
"I have a Decepticon tracking signal, five and a half miles, west!"
No one had to be told twice; they made a left at the next turn and followed the signal. Ironhide had Lennox and Epps, Ratchet had Maggie and Glen, and Bumblebee had Mikaela in tow, and every single one of them were on edge about Sam. They'd been driving for nearly two hours, and were becoming more and more anxious. The sun had set an hour ago, and now it would be even harder to find Sam.
"Closing in on the signal," Ratchet said, driving through the wooded, secluded area. He slowed down and had Maggie and Glen look out the windows for any sign of anything—human or Decepticon.
"What even makes you think Sam could be—?"
"Oh my GOD!!!"
Everyone screeched to a halt at the sound of Maggie screaming. She practically leapt out Ratchet's window and ran in the direction of something lying on the ground about forty feet away. The humans piled out of the vehicles to allow them to transform, and they watched as Maggie slowly reached out for the figure on the ground.
"…Sam…?" she said softly. Her fingertips touching his shoulder might as well have been a branding iron; as soon as she made contact, Sam began to shriek and scramble away from her, his arms and legs tucked close to his body for protection.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" he screamed at her, and everyone else who had come running at the sound of him screaming. Mikaela ran up and knelt beside him, but not touching.
"Sam!" she said quietly, but urgently. "Sam, it's me! You're okay…you're safe now…"
Sam eyed them all warily with wide, tear-filled eyes, then suddenly began to cry. He buried his face in his hands and let out a gut-wrenching sob. "Oh God!" he shrieked into his hands. "Oh God, don't look at me…!" His body curled up tighter into itself. "…Don't look at me…!"
Mikaela burst into tears as Ratchet carefully stepped forward to do a medic body scan. When he finished, Optimus saw him trembling. "Oh, Sam…"
……Full of so much angst, I'm hearing Hawthorn Heights in the background…eh, gets better…I hope…
