Experiment
When Prowl heard noises, he onlined his optics and stood up, ready.
But Megatron just walked by his cell with little more than a short look.
Prowl stepped up to the bars.
He heard some shuffling and banging of metal on metal and rolled his optics. Had Hot Rod seriously just tried to run the leader of the Decepticons down with his hands bound?
"Hush, little one" he heard Megatron say in a mocking voice. "You got your name alright, uh?"
In the next moment Megatron passed Prowl's cell again, dragging Hot Rot along.
"What are you doing with him?" the tactician asked calmly.
"Making an experiment" the decepticon only said without halting.
"Leave him, take me for it!" Prowl suggested, not able to stand the thought of the youngster undergoing a decepticon "experiment".
"Since you so fiercely protect your precious programming – no, I prefer the easy path for now. You will participate in the experiment soon enough."
And with that he was gone.
Prowl closed his optics and counted to three, waiting for the wave of anger that wanted to overpower him to subside.
What a mess. What would they do to the poor inexperience Hot Rod who didn't know when to keep his head down? In a way he was thankful that they had deactivated his capability to speak – perhaps that spared him things that would have come over him if he had been able to curse the decepticon against better knowledge.
--
Hot Rod tried his best to put up a fight – but no chance. It was horribly frustrating to see how strong that cursed decepticon was!
He was brought to a laboratory that didn't exactly look comforting.
It was dominated by a huge treating table with strong metal cuffs and along the walls were computers and machines which could do who knew what to a mech.
Within a minute Megatron had his prisoner down on the treating table, shackled and effectively immobilised.
Hot Rod bit his lip, trying to keep the frustrated sob down.
It vexed him to no end that the decepticon leader just totally ignored him. He hated it to be ignored! He hated it how obviously insignificant he was!
A moment later that horrible Soundwave stepped in.
Megatron only nodded into the autobot's direction and the officer immediately went to work.
He bent Hot Rod's head back and occupied himself with the ports under his chin. He plugged on several cables and then sat down at a computer terminal.
Hot Rod tried to erect a new firewall – but it was useless. The decepticon already was in his very system, obviously monitoring each of his thoughts.
Dear Primus.
Soundwave thoroughly checked the autobot's programming. It was rather easy and seemed not to be equipped with automatic backups and complicated self repair systems.
"Object: Ready" he said.
"Continue" said Megatron, sitting comfortably on a chair overlooking their helpless victim.
He found the autobot had a weird design. It was smoother, rounder than what he was used to.
Seems we really have become yesterday's model by now, he thought and grinned about it.
The doorframe darkened, being filled up with the silhouette of a seeker.
Starscream leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"So, what's your plan for your prisoner, mighty Megatron?" he said with a note of spite in his voice.
"You will soon see, Starscream, you will soon see."
Hot Rod wasn't at all happy.
The scary comm officer meddled around with his programming! Primus alone knew what he was doing! And what he would be doing with an altered programming!
Leave me alone! He mouthed but was still ignored.
By now he was downright scared. When he had gone to earth to fight decepticons, he had imagined fierce courageous battles on the open field and not cowardly kidnapping and reprogramming of a helpless victim!
He only hoped they would be rescued in time.
"I need to shut him down to replace some circuits" announced Soundwave.
"Go ahead."
The comm officer rose and loomed over Hot Rod menacingly.
The young autobot fiercely shook his head, optics bright with panic, when he opened his chest armour and reached out for the security shutdown knob. It was normally there to set a badly injured mech to stasis lock state.
Hot Rod had never been shut down, and he had no desire to be so.
But in his current state… there was nothing he could do.
Soundwave grabbed the knob and turned it determinedly.
Immediately, all of the autobot's systems died down. Engines went silent, fans spun out, optics dimmed off and all servos relaxed.
Concentrated, Soundwave disassembled parts of Hot Rod's helmet and took some circuits out, replacing them with new ones.
When he had put the helmet back together, protecting the fragile and vital central circuitry and processors, he reached out and turned the knob back into "on" position.
They heard fans hiss up, the engines restarted and servos hummed.
Hot Rod's blue optics flashed online and he gasped voicelessly.
For several minutes he stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Firmware of behaviour circuitry is replaced" Soundwave explained.
After several minutes, Hot Rod suddenly moved, jerking sharply in his bonds.
"Was it that?" Megatron asked interested.
Soundwave gave a nod. "Affirmative. Changes implanted."
A sly grin curled Megatron's face. "Very good."
--
Prime hit the table angrily.
No word from Megatron, even after four hours. What was he doing with Prowl and Hot Rod? And what were his plans?
Finally he decided to send Mirage out for an espionage mission. Though he knew he would not be exactly happy to be sent down to the Nemesis.
He assigned Silverbolt to carry him and Air Raid to accompany him. It was Mirage's task only to find out what was going on, not to interfere in the slightest.
On the edge, Prime waited eagerly for the outcome back at the Ark.
--
When Hot Rod came online again, he at first didn't feel any difference.
He was still in the lab, lying on his back, bound and Soundwave was hovering above him.
"Reactivate his vocal processor" he heard the voice of Megatron from a corner.
The comm officer, obviously also technically adept, repaired the broken vocalizer.
"Done."
"Very well." Megatron rose and stepped up beside the table. "How do you feel, Hot Rod?"
For the moment, the autobot didn't dare to answer.
The decepticon freed him from the table but shackled his hands behind his back again.
When he did that, Hot Rod was overwhelmed by a strange urge to squirm in his grip and bite him…
"So, mighty leader… what was the use of that?" Starscream asked, sneering.
"You will still see, Starscream. You really have to learn some patience" said the decepticon leader smugly and with ease threw the bound autobot over his shoulder and carried him off.
Both his officers followed him – up to the torture room.
He put Hot Rod down there and left him, locking the door behind himself.
The decepticons gathered in the control room.
"Oh, seldom that I'm on this side of the window to enjoy the show" Starscream muttered and immediately received a blow to his face.
"Silence. Don't ruin my mood with your stupid bickering" boomed Megatron.
Then he opened the shackles via remote control, freeing their prisoner.
Hot Rod felt the pressure on his wrist lessen. The cuffs fell off.
Unbelieving, he waited for a while to see if something was to come over him.
But when nothing happened, he rolled over to his front with a quick movement and darted off, jumping on one of the random boxes standing around in the room.
Hastily he looked around, standing on all fours.
The room was quite obviously designed to keep someone in who didn't want to be there, offering no way to get out.
There was a mirrored plane, and he could quite guess that the decepticons were on the other side, watching him.
Indeed a moment later he heard Megatron's voice over a speaker.
"And, what do you say, little autobot?"
Overcome by a wave of anger, Hot Rod bared his dental band and growled at the window.
