The cold wall he was sitting against had long since numbed his back, and the tiny, barred window at the top was clouded with what Jack suspected was snow.
He was alone; they had been separated not long after waking up. After inflicting his torture on Raf and delivering a firm ultimatum of Jack's cooperation with a knife to Miko's throat, Silas called in his men to untie them and took Raf for himself while the other masked brutes dragged a screaming Miko away despite Jack's desperate pleas for them to stay.
He had no idea how long it had been since then.
It killed him, to know his friends may be in pain and danger and he could do nothing to protect them. What did Silas want with them? All the MECH leader had said was the Jack need only do what he said to keep Raf and Miko safe, yet he ended up taking the other two anyway. Anger crept into his thoughts; how was he supposed to know what to do?!
'Calm down, we're going to be fine. The Autobots have to know we're missing by now; they'll find us soon enough.' Jack let his head fall back to rest against the wall, tipping it up to look to the window. White flecks dotted the night sky, showering down like confetti. 'Snow, huh? Then we aren't in Jasper anymore.'
Where could they be? He had to be ready to give any information on his whereabouts to the Autobots if he got the opportunity to make contact with them. If the guard came in, could he slip through the door? But then Miko and Raf would be in danger, and Jack would not leave them to Silas' mercy.
Jack sighed, bringing both hands up to cover his face in exhaustion and helplessness.
-o-o-o-
To say Special Agent William Fowler was pissed off was injustice. His rage was leaking through his eyes as he stepped out of his helicopter on the landing pad of the Pentagon, wind whipping his jacket around him.
A man stood erect on the edge of the landing pad, clad in a black suit with reflective sunglasses sitting on a crooked nose. "Well, aren't we in a mood?" he shouted at Fowler over the sound of a dying helicopter rotor.
Fowler paid him no mind and continued his march to the entrance, shoving the door open and all but leaping down the stairs, the other man following. As they burst into the busy hallway, Fowler paused, whirled around, and grabbed the man; hauling him along as he stormed around each corner. "Take it easy, Fowlie, I only got two of those."
Fowler chose to ignore the nickname, "Did we get anything?"
If a response had been uttered, it was drowned out by the sounds of footsteps and military going-ons from the other personnel. Fowler kept dragging his companion until they reached a guarded door at the end of a glass-encased hallway, stopping to flash his badge and allow the other man to do the same before pressing a palm to a scanner sitting on the wall and waiting for a beeping chime, signaling the door opening.
Fowler shoved the man inside the awaiting darkness and walked in behind him.
The other man rubbed his arm, wincing as he glared at Fowler, "Y'know, you should really warn a guy when you're in one of these moods; it'll save some bruising."
"Simmons, do not test me right now. Did. We. Get. ANYTHING." Fowler continued as he moved into the dimly lit control room. Agents dressed much like Simmons were leaning over computer personnel, a low murmur of verbal communications providing a background noise. They walked into another glass hall as Simmons inhaled, "Sorta."
Simmons took the lead and beckoned Fowler to follow into a smaller room off to the side with rows of silent workers sitting behind multiple computer screens. Looming on the wall in front was a giant screen with a rotating Earth, tiny red dots blinking all over it, and a continuous scroll of information about each point running on the right side.
"Two hours ago, a hacker wannabe from Princeton and his two buddies hacked a Satellite camera and held control over it for several minutes; long enough to be noticed by the feds, and long enough," Simmons snapped his fingers and the globe onscreen disappeared; replaced by the feed from the satellite, "To capture a clip of three chartreuse muscle cars driving through a southwestern Wyoming forest."
The video played, zooming in onto the trio of vehicles as they could be seen in glimpses through the trees overshadowing the road they were driving on. A tree had fallen on the side of the road, clearing an area that was perfect for a much better birds eyes view. Fowler could see, as the cars drove under the clearing, that they were MECH's preferred transport.
His heart sped up and his eyes narrowed, "Do we know where they were headed?"
Simmons turned to look at his comrade, "Middle of nowhere; there's no town for a hundred and seventy miles from that location."
The agent nodded, "So a hidden base in Wyoming." Suddenly, he remembered the first day the children went missing, "Wait, we homed in on one of the kid's cell phone signal, it was in the Southwest, not the West."
Simmons arched a thick eyebrow, "This Silas guy is kinda special ops, right? Wouldn't be too hard to throw off a trace to make it look like they were close to home. I mean, Hell, WE can do that."
Fowler remained skeptical; he couldn't afford blind hope just yet, "Just in case, I want a recon team in that area. If Silas thinks he can throw us off, this'd be a good way to do it."
"You got it," Simmons shrugged.
Fowler took another look at the screen; the satellite feed now frozen onscreen, "I want this son of a bitch in cuffs ASAP."
"You and everyone else." Simmons commented over his shoulder as he sauntered out the door.
-o-o-o-
Miko was cold.
And wet.
Taking a breath in yielded nothing but a rush of stale water in her mouth. Choking, she spat it out and coughed; trying to get her head above the line of water at her mouth. Frantically, her eyes darted to her surroundings, but it was pitch black, and her vision yielded nothing.
Moving her arms and legs were pointless, Miko could feel them tied up and hitched onto the walls of the tub/pool she was sitting in; rendering her struggles futile. She remembered being separated from Jack and Raf, the MECH agent hauling he away by her arm with a grip hard enough to leave a bruise, she was sure. After that, not much.
"Miss Nakadai."
Miko froze, she recognized that voice. In terror, she remained motionless; trying to keep her breath even to not even ripple the water.
Silas was somewhere in this darkness. And she was all alone.
"Do you know how long you've been here?"
There was a strangle tingle that went through her whole body, not quite a shiver. But Miko ignored it, focusing on the voice that seemed to come from every corner of the room.
"It's been almost three days."
'Three days?!' It had all felt like one hellish night. Had it really been so long?
The tingle came again, this time she brushed it off as the water.
"And," the sensation again, this time, more, like a jolt, it made her jump unconsciously, "You're still here, Miko."
There was a tense moment of silence as Miko's mind reeled, trying to figure out the strange phenomenon, and footsteps echoed through the room.
The next time Silas spoke, it sounded too close to her, just too close, "The Autobots have not come for you."
And there it was; a horrid, lurching pain raced through her body like a lightning strike. A shrill scream left her throat as her eyes went impossibly wide, her body thrashing against her restraints and splashing water everywhere.
It stopped just as quickly as it had started, leaving Miko convulsing and frightened.
"Strange isn't it?" Silas drawled on as Miko shook violently.
Her stomach dropped as she heard footsteps again, they echoed like they were coming from every direction, "Optimus Prime and his minions swore to protect you children, and yet, they clearly aren't even going to try and get you back."
A whimper escaped her unconsciously as the static-like tingling returned.
It was quiet for a moment, and then, "I'm sure the green one, Bulkhead, is most relieved to not have to worry about you interfering with their operations anymore."
A shock ran through her again, this time significantly weaker than the previous one, but enough for her to cry out regardless. But this time, it didn't stop for a few minutes, finally ceasing to let her slump in the water again.
Miko couldn't hold in the pain anymore; every nerve in her body felt like it was on fire and she just couldn't breathe. Silas probably was going to just kill her this way, mocking her as doubt crept into her strained mind. Tears began to fill her vision.
And just like that Silas was next to her again, grabbing her head in a painful grip, "Let me assure you, Miko, Bulkhead knows what's happening right now. He knows exactly what's happening to you."
One more, powerful, ripping shock took her; her vision blurred, her voice peaked in a bloody scream until she went hoarse, she thrashed, she pulled, she sent water spilling everywhere, and finally she sobbed, "Stop! Stop, please!" Miko begged, wether for those awful words or for the pain to stop, she couldn't tell.
The electricity halted and she fell back again, her body shaking like an earthquake, Miko felt numb. Her breath came short and broken, tears falling down her face, and her heart broken in two.
Footsteps again came from the darkness, and finally a door opened, yielding light into the abyss and showing Silas' silhouette as he left her alone in the water tub, "I'll be sure to give the Autobots a hello for you, Miss Nakadai, if they care at all, that is…"
The door shut behind him, leaving Miko in complete darkness to begin sobbing again, as loud as her broken voice could carry.
She had not noticed when the open door had illuminated the room, the camera set in the corner; recording the whole thing on night vision.