"You fraggers!" Ratchet yelled as he twisted and writhed in the surprisingly strong grip of Frenzy.
Prowl was doing his best impersonation of a cat that didn't want to be held, including the hissing. "Release me this instant!" the normally calm and stoic man snarled before getting an arm free and clawing at Rumble.
The purple twin jerked his head back, "Ow! You glitch!" He quickly grabbed the free arm again before trekking quickly after his twin, looking behind him to see if they were being followed. They'd just exited a shipyard Rumble could vaguely remember being a part of the human city they inhabited, but Rumble wasn't ready to believe they were safe just yet.
They continued their hurried escape, dragging the two resisting Autobots, for quite some time, until Frenzy snapped when Ratchet managed to punch him. "Are you Autobots always so ungrateful?!" he demanded loudly.
"'Ungrateful'?" the blond Autobot repeated incredulously. "You want us to be grateful that you took us from our teammate?"
"I want you to be grateful that your teammate sacrificed himself to save you two!" the red twin snapped back vehemently.
"Autobots don't leave anyone behind," Prowl growled.
Ratchet put on a renewed burst of energy, thrashing violently. "We could've saved him! The other Autobots were on the ship. If we'd waited we would've all gotten out, you fools!"
"Okay, that's it!" Ratchet grunted as he was suddenly thrown to the ground before scrambling to his feet and looking at the Decepticon twins warily. Frenzy glared at the pair as Prowl dusted himself off with an air of dignity. "There was no one else on that Primus forsaken ship, do you understand? It was just me and Bumblebee."
Prowl's eyes widened and he glanced at Ratchet to see if he was on the same page as him, which the doctor was. "What?" he asked softly. "Bee went in alone?"
Frenzy scoffed and crossed his arms. "Weren't you listening? I said I was with him."
Rumble rubbed his eyes tiredly, but still snorted disdainfully. "I didn't think an Autobot would be stupid enough to do something like that."
Cue indignant punch from Frenzy. "Hey! You're lumping me in with the Autodolt by saying that."
"Well, you are an idiot. I bet you didn't even tell Barricade about this, did you?"
"So what if I didn't?"
"You're a suicidal idiot. Choosing an Autobot over your own allies? Yeah. Right."
Ratchet tuned out the bickering Decepticons in his stunned thoughts. Alex had done the rescue on his own? What the Pit? The others would never let him do something like that. Pit, none of them would let anyone do something so dangerous alone. So Alex didn't tell anyone? Why? It…He was such a smart kid. How could he do something so…reckless?
Without realizing it, Ratchet pulled a phone from his pocket. Bee's phone. He'd been given it before they made their exit and he didn't understand why the kid would even bother with it. What was so important about the phone that Alex just had to give it to him in the middle of a risky rescue operation being done by two people?
He clicked the unlock button and swiped the screen and was a little surprised when there was no password to unlock the device. Alex was touchy about things he considered his and his alone. His backpack and phone being the primary possessions he didn't like anyone touching. Seb had actually been a bit shocked when Alex had so readily given his room up to one of the twins.
The blond man's fingers went to the contact list and scrolled the short list to find Ironhide's name. He tapped the phone icon and lifted the phone to his ear, listening to the ringing with baited breath and trembling hands. He could already imagine his spark mate's voice answering and hearing it for the first time in what felt like years.
But then the ringing suddenly stopped and it went straight to voicemail. Ratchet pulled the device away from his ear and frowned at it. That wasn't nearly enough ringing in order for the phone to switch to voicemail. Gabe had ended the call when he saw who was calling. Well, that couldn't be right.
He dialed again and got an even quicker call decline than last time.
Ratchet shared a puzzled and concerned look with Prowl, who had been watching and knew what had happened. Why would Gabe not answer Bee's phone, especially when he was calling in the middle of the night and obviously not home?
"Try Optimus," Prowl suggested quietly. Optimus would never ignore Bumblebee. The man would move the moon for the teen if he asked and he most certainly would pick up the phone for his spark mate.
Except Optimus declined the call as well.
"What the hell?" Ratchet murmured softly, his spark spinning in worried and concerned circles. This wasn't right.
"I don't know what happened," Frenzy interrupted, startling both the Autobots out of their troubled thoughts. "But when Bumblebee showed up tonight he looked really upset. Like someone killed his pet, upset." Rumble yawned and leaned heavily onto his brother's shoulder. The red twin looked at him for a moment before facing the Autobots again. "Look. This is as far as my alliance with Bumblebee goes. You're on your own. If you get killed, it's on you. And if I see you again, I'll be the one killing you." And, with that, the Decepticon twins started their trek to their home base.
Prowl plucked the phone from Ratchet's unresponsive fingers and opened the texting app. He selected Jazz and typed out a phrase in French, battling auto-correct to do so. He sent the text and looked at the phone screen expectantly. Not seven seconds later the phone lit up with a call from Jazz and Prowl put the phone on speaker. To say he and Ratchet were shocked by the greeting was to say the least.
"Alexander Steek, I swear to Primus I will rip your guts out! Where did you learn that? That's something only for Prowl and I and if I find out this is a joke after tonight I will not hesitate to—"
"Jazz?" Prowl interrupted, startled by the hatred and anger in the voice and directed at the boy that they all loved and adored. Ratchet and him shared a similar look. What the hell had happened for the others to turn their backs on Bumblebee?
There was a long pause before a broken voice called back softly, "Prowler?"
A rare relieved smile broke out across the officer's face. "Yes, Jazz. It's me. Ratchet and I are free now."
"W-wha? How?!"
"Bumblebee got us out," Ratchet answered. "At the cost of his own freedom."
There was another long pause and the faint sound of questioning voices in the background. Then they heard Jazz's breath hitch. "Oh, Primus forgive me."
(OoO)
It was absolutely silent in the house even though every one of its inhabitants were awake and occupying the living room.
No one knew what to say.
Seb and Prowl had been filled in on what had happened that night and everyone finally understood Alex's out of character behavior. He'd been acting. He played them and made them so angry. He made them not care if something like this happened to him.
But why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
The same question echoed in everyone's head. Even the twins' heads. They might not fully understand what happened or just what all this strange talk of 'Primus' and 'Deceptions' and 'Sparks' were, but they were happy that their uncle was home now and safe. All because of Alex.
Sid and Sunny shared a look before Sid cleared his throat. Empty and distant eyes switched to him from where he sat next to his uncle. "Um. Alex was lying earlier."
"We know, kid," Gabriel rumbled from behind them, arms wrapped securely around his spark mate.
"No. Not like that. Alex and Roddy are just friends." Sid's blue eyes switched over to where a practically catatonic Eric sat. "They don't like each other that way. Alex was always leaving to look for Uncle Seb and Chase." Eric slowly buried his face in his hands and Prowl rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"He's still alive, Prime," the officer said quietly. "You know he is."
The Autobot leader nodded before turning to look at his stoic friend. He did, in fact, sense his spark mate's presence. He knew Bee was still alive, but he didn't have a direction or a feeling if Bee was safe or hurt. All he knew was that his spark mate was now at the mercy of the humans. "But you know better than I do, Prowl, that sometimes death is better than enduring what's being done to you."
"I don't think they'll hurt him," Ratchet offered, nuzzling the wrist of his spark mate when the hand caressed his cheek. "They never hurt Prowl, Rumble, or I. They just watched and took notes. The worst they did was lower our food rations to keep us weak. Though I don't like the thought of that boy being any lighter than he already is, Alex will survive."
Optimus nodded again and patted Prowl's hand on his shoulder and the officer pulled back and allowed Jazz to pull him into a tighter hug. "It is good to have the two of you back. You've been missed."
Ratchet smiled. "It's good to be—Primus!" Everyone jumped as a song started playing loudly. Ratchet fumbled for Bee's phone from his pocket, which was now playing the song 'Imma Bee'. He was about to disable the sound when he saw that it was an alarm with a banner that read "ERIC WATCH 'STAKEOUT VIDEOS'". The blond Autobot wordlessly handed the device over to his leader.
Optimus accepted his spark mate's phone, confused over the banner, but trusting that Alex had prepared this for him. Just in case he was caught. Oh, Primus, Alex knew there was going to be a good chance he wasn't going to make it and he still went ahead alone. Why didn't Bee trust him with this?
Pushing aside his swamping guilt and confusion, he disabled the alarm and opened up the camera app on the phone before going to the camera roll. Sure enough, there was a folder titled 'Stakeout Videos' with seven videos under it. Wordlessly, he tapped the first video and set the phone on the table, letting everyone see the recording.
The screen was dark, but they could hear the sounds of shuffling before a soft yellow light illuminated the screen and Bee came into view. The blond teen was lying on his stomach, one arm reaching to hold the phone in place and the other bracing so he could lift himself up and peer at something in the distance with the stillness of prey that sighted a predator. After a moment, Alex settled back down and flicked his wings, looking at the screen in concentration and lowering his brightness before smiling uncertainly at the camera.
"As cheesy as it sounds, if you're watching this then I fucked up." There was no reaction from anyone in the room as they all crowded closer to see and hear. "I guess I should say I'm sorry. For a lot of things." Alex looked away from the camera and settled his chin on his arm comfortably, looking back in the direction he'd been watching in the first place. "I'm sorry for all the sneaking around, lying, keeping things from you, and overall just doing stupid shit. And I know what I'm doing is stupid, which makes it all the worse. But that's the reason I'm making these videos. It's just in case my stupidity catches up on me and this way you'll know everything I know. Incredibly cheesy and cliché, but it works. So I'll start with the obvious." Those light blue eyes flick back to the camera and a small smile touches those lips. "I found Ratchet and Prowl. It's December 6th. Around 1:15 in the morning."
"This was one week ago exactly," Jazz murmured.
"Ratchet and Prowl are being held in the East Shipyard in an old retired ship called the Yellow Sky. As of right now I know there are a total of 14 guards on board for, I assume, 24 hours a day. Known prisoners include Ratchet, Prowl, and Decepticon Rumble."
The video continues with more facts and numbers and picked up before Bumblebee sighed and laid his head down on his arm like a pillow. Eric's spark clenched. His spark mate looked so tired. "I know what I'm doing is stupid and dangerous," the teen whispered, looking off at something. "I know it's stupid to even think about doing this alone, but I can't tell any of you. I can't. Eric, I…I was this close to telling you about Ratchet and Prowl the other night. And I was going to tell you everything until you told me that you were going to kill all the humans involved. And I believed you."
A stab of guilt went through Optimus' spark. What? He…Oh, Primus. If he hadn't have said anything this would've never happened. Bee would be safe and with him and…
"Eric Phoenix." Optimus jolted at the sound of his full name being hissed and his eyes focused back on the phone's screen. He was a bit surprised to see Bumblebee glaring at the camera. "Don't you dare think this is your fault. Don't. You. Fucking. Dare." Well, Bee's guess of his reaction was spot on. Leave it to his spark mate to know him so well. But that still didn't excuse the fact that he could've done… "Look at me, Eric. Look at me." Optimus obligingly met the recording-Bumblebee's softer gaze and Bee sighed. "I love you, firebird. But this was my decision and my decision alone. You had no part in this. I eventually would've come to this decision anyway. I could see you, 'Hide, and Jazz working so hard and becoming so single-minded in finding Ratchet and Prowl. I knew you would all come to the conclusion that the only way to rescue them would be to kill the humans. And I know what that would do to you. All of you.
"You've all been…warped—scarred—by taking another's life. I don't know what it would do to you to kill more humans in the name of saving our family, but I know it would've been irrevocable. You would've all changed." Bee sighed and closed his eyes tiredly, rubbing one. "I do know that if I were caught I wouldn't want anyone to die in rescuing me. Human or you guys. We're not the only ones with a family, ya know? And I'm sure I'll look back on this reasoning or have someone lecture me that I was so incredibly stupid for believing this bullshit or even thinking it was okay, but…If there's one thing I like to think that I know it's how to protect my family.
"So there you have it. My twisted logic on what the hell was going through my head before I was caught. I'll make more videos for each night, but I plan on going after Seb and Chase in a week. Oh. And be careful and the twins and Roddy, they're uh…Very demanding and touchy when it comes to their emerging sparks and wings."
The video ends there and Sunny and Sid look at Ratchet expectantly. The doctor sighed. "Don't worry about it. We all went through it, but I'll tell you everything when we're done here, okay?" The twins nod and everyone watches as Prime selects the second video.
There was less fuss this time about lighting and positioning and Bee comes into view, holding the phone with one hand and sipping a Monster with the other. "So," Bee started in a whisper with a small smile. "I'm jacked up on three Monsters and still feeling exhausted and awful. But. Guess what? I'm no longer stupid enough to be doing this on my own. Nope." Bee popped the 'p' and took another drink of his energy drink. "I'm stupid enough to do something worse. I'd like you to meet…" Bee adopted a game show host voice as he rolled over and brought someone else into view. "Our friendly neighborhood Decepticon, Frenzy!"
The young Decepticon gave Bee an irritated look before pushing him away. "What the Pit are you doing?"
Bee took another drink of the Monster. "Making videos so my team can learn everything. Anything you want to say to the Autobots back home?" Alex obnoxiously shoved his camera in Frenzy's face and Jazz and Gabe chuckled lightly at the show as the Decepticon balked and shoved the phone away before getting a thoughtful look.
"Well," the red twin drawled with a mischievous smirk. "You Autodolts can go frag yourselves with a rifle and—"
"Nope!" Bee whisper shouted, slapping his hand over the 'Con's mouth and darkening the screen since it was his phone hand. "There are children watching, Frenzy. Censor yourself."
Frenzy scoffed and pushed the phone away. "Get that thing away from me. Shouldn't we be focusing on the plan?"
"Yup." Bee popped his 'p' again and took another drink of the Monster.
"What is that you keep drinking?"
"Wanna try it?"
"No. I'll get infected with your Autobot squeamishness."
"Whatever. Now. Onto the plan."
And that video and the next four were basically the same. Bee and Frenzy hashed out and bickered over different aspect of the plan of entry and exit. All the following videos were basically the same thing and they all watched as the final plan came to be and what had to be done. It was easy to see that Alex was being very thorough and obsessive about the details of the plan.
But, when Optimus selected the last video, they knew instantly that this one was different. The screen was a blur of blackness that didn't seem to abate even as the speakers rang with the sound of clattering objects, heavy downpour, and crying.
Optimus visibly shifted and hissed at the sound of his spark mate in such emotional distress, even just a recording, and his entire focus fell on the sound.
"I'm so sorry!" Alex's voice gasped out. It almost sounded like he was hyperventilating in between heaving sobs. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean a single word. I-I was just…And then…I needed you to hate me and…" An inhuman keen came over the speaker. "I didn't mean anything! I swear. Please forgive me. Please, please, please forgive me. I never wanted to hurt any of you. Never! I could never do that! But I did and I'm sorry and I wish I could take it back. Please! I'm so sorry!"
There was a long moment of heaving breaths and broken keens before Bumblebee spoke again. And not to them. "What are you doing?" he whispered harshly in between his gasps for breath. "Are you just going to sit here? Y-you can't be weak! Not now! Not when the others are counting on you. Man up, Alex. Stop your fucking crying. Stop it now!"
And the tone changed again. "B-But everything I said to them… How can they ever forgive me? Did you see their faces when we…?" The sound of puking came over the speakers. "My head," the teen whimpered before dry heaving could be heard.
Ratchet gritted his teeth and turned his head away like it could block the sounds. "Symptoms of severe stress," he murmured quietly. "It's not easy at all for someone like Alex to get." The implications were understood by all in the room.
Sunny shifted and bit and leaned forward, trying to hear the words being said. "What is he saying?" he asked quietly, only hearing humming and harsh constants instead of intelligible English, though it seemed vaguely familiar.
Eric took a deep shuddering breath as he and the others understood the Cybertronian words being spoken. "He's saying, 'Be strong. You've been through worse. You don't…'" Eric stopped and buried his face in his hands before he broke down at his spark mate's chant.
Prowl continued softly, spark breaking as he listened to Bumblebee. "'You don't need them. They don't want you. But you're going to help anyway. So get up. Get up and walk. Get up and walk.'"
A broken cry came over the speaker before it suddenly stopped, replaced by faint wheezes and gasps.
"He's choking himself," Jazz stated as he recognized the sounds no one else did. "To silence himself."
Eric sobbed and hunched over. "Bumblebee," he called softly, begging to soothe his mate.
The silence in the phone continued until a big gasp finally came back. It sounded like Alex was catching his breath, which was nearly drowned out with the sound of the rain. Then the sound of Alex picking up his phone reached them.
"I'm so sorry, guys," the bright teen whispered dully. "I'll bring Ratchet and Prowl home."
And the video ended.
(OoO)
Roddy pulled his pride and joy to the curb of Alex's house with a careless jerk of the wheel and a stomp on his brakes. The red-headed teen didn't care that he felt one of his tires jump up onto the curb or how he was crooked. He didn't care that it was three in the morning as he jumped out of his car, barely remembering to grab his keys let alone close his door, as he ran up to the orange door and opened it.
He stopped just inside, staring at the assembly of Alex's family waiting in the living room, including Seb and Chase. He was sure that if it were any other moment he'd wonder how the pair had suddenly gotten back from being kidnapped, but Roddy's focus zeroed in on the twins as they stood up from where they sat by their Uncle.
Rodney Velocidad's eyes scanned the room for the shock of yellow, but his dread increased when there was no sign of it. His green eyes went back to the older twins. "Where's Alex? What happened?" he demanded, hoping against hope that Alex was just in the bathroom or something. "You called me and said something happened to him and…"
"Roddy," Sid cut in, grief and guilt shining in his eyes. "Alex…" The other red head trailed off, eyes shining with unshed tears. Roddy saw this and felt like something hit him in the gut. He wildly turned to the adults, refusing to put any suspicions to actual worded thought.
"He's been captured," Officer Chase started, recognizing the nightmare brewing in the teenager's eyes. "By the same people who once held Sebastian and I."
The world physically felt like it turned and twisted and Sunny had to help his twin keep the youngest from falling over. "Wha?" Roddy gasped. "But he was…" Roddy looked desperately up at the twins, who had been with him and Alex practically from the start. "After everything I said?" he wheezed.
"All of you, please sit down," Eric rumbled, and Roddy recognized the devastated and weary look on his face. "We have a lot to explain."
(OoO)
I inhaled.
And smelled.
I opened my mouth.
And tasted.
I twitched.
And felt.
I listened.
And heard.
I opened my eyes.
And stared.
This wasn't right.
I was supposed to be dead.
Wasn't I?
The image of a finger pulling the trigger of a gun pointed at me came to mind.
Yeah. I was shot.
Right.
…Was I in the Well?
It was certainly white and bright enough.
I blinked and focused my eyes, wondering why what I was seeing looked so shiny and smooth and yet so abrasive at the same time. It felt like I stared at the surface for only a few seconds, but something told me I'd been doing it for a few minutes. Finally, I figured out that I was looking at two different surfaces. The closest one was clear and looked like glass and the one behind it was a rough looking surface that reminded me of a ceiling. Well, I was laying on my back so it probably was a ceiling.
I slowly turned my head, looking around. I saw more white and more glass and two guards. My focus zeroed in on the guards. They weren't facing me, but I could tell that they weren't wearing as much body armor as the guards I dealt with on the ship. Their clothes, still black, weren't quite so bulky, and I could actually see skin showing, which told me one guard was black and the other was white. Another flick of my eyes told me that I was in the glass cell I'd found all previous Cybertronian prisoners in. But now it felt like a cage.
I sat up slowly, frowning at how stiff I was. They must've had me asleep for a long time with those sick Allspark energy weapons. Ugh. Allspark and weapon should never go in one sentence. It was just wrong.
Quietly, I placed my bare feet on the floor and stood up, looking beyond my cage. It was situated in the dead center of a larger, white room that only had one entrance, a hallway. It was so brightly lit that I squinted for a brief moment.
Just then, the black guard turned and looked over his shoulder. My curious blue eyes met his startled brown ones. I watched as his elbow snapped out and hit his companions arm, making the white guard turn to see what he was seeing. This gave me a perfect display of the strange rifles they carried. They were the same ones that shot me.
The white guard with brown eyes and slight facial hair blinked at the sight of me before lifting one hand to the radio pinned to his soldier. "Cell 1 to Command. NBE 2 is awake."
The response came back a second later. "Command to Cell 1. We copy. Doctor Robinson will be notified. Standby." And then the two guards looked away.
I blinked and frowned. That was it? Well, what did I expect? They have me in what I assume is a secure cage and all alone.
Wait.
Alone?
Did the others get out?
I approached the door to my cage that the guards were standing by. "Hey," I called. "Do you—"
They both swing around and aimed their guns at me. I balked and froze, lifting my hands in the air. "Stay where you are," the white guard ordered calmly, eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Alright," I soothed, taking a step back, watching to see if they were actually going to shoot me. Even if there was a wall of glass between me and them, just the memory of the pain those guns caused made me nervous. "I got it." I waited until they lowered their guns before casually crossing my arms. "Do you guys know if I'm the only one here?" They turned their backs to me. Again. "Rude," I scoff. "I'm talking to you guys. Just a simple yes-or-no question. Am I the only prisoner here?" Silence.
I began to get frustrated. Was my capture for nothing? "Damn it," I cursed softly before stomping up to the door, ignoring how they aimed their guns at me again. "Look. Just fucking answer me. Am. I. The. Only. One. Here? Comprende?"
I stared the pair down, trying to force them to answer me, but it's not so easy to do when I don't know these two at all. If it were the twins and convincing them not to go out and do their not-so-legal activity I would have my work cut out for me, but I would at least have a chance. It was also sad that the guys seemed to be invincible to the begging eyes that Jazz taught me how to do.
"Yes."
I jolted out of my small line of thought when the white guard suddenly spoke. I stared at him, "Yes? I'm the only one here?" No response. Only a steady stare. I nodded and smiled a bit. "Good. Thank you." I backed up to the center of my cage and watched as the pair uneasily turned their backs to me, though I noticed the black guard still looked over his shoulder at me a few times.
Well, now that that was out of the way. I turned my attention to the cage. Man, if I didn't feel like a rat right now. I was in a clear box that was situated in the middle of a larger room in such a way that somebody could walk around my cage and observe me from all angles. A quick glance around didn't reveal any easy escape options and four cameras, one to each wall. There was a row of circular holes in the middle of the glass wall, breathing holes, and then there was the sliding door the guards were standing by. Those were the only structural anomalies in the design.
My cage was completely bare except for a slab of metal with a blanket and pillow on it attached to the wall. My bed apparently. And then there was a little prison toilet over in the corner. Joy. No privacy of any kind. I frowned as I looked at how close the breathing holes were to my bed. The holes were just big enough that I could stick my hand through with some work, which meant that at any time I was sleeping someone could reach in and do something to me. Uh. No. Bad touch.
"You know good touch, bad touch, right? Of course you do. You're a smart kid. See, I can just tell by looking at you. But if you ever get a bad touch you come tell me and I'll have all my cop buddies come down and arrest their asses. They'd be here two minutes flat. Ah, the perks of being a cop."
"Does this count as bad touch?"
Jazz. Oh shit, the others. Why did I just now remember them?
I raised a hand and gently touched my cheek where Jazz had punched me before wincing at how tender it felt. My feet took me over to the nearest wall and I peered at my faint reflection. My cheek was bruised from the punch and I turned to lift up the white shirt I was wearing. Apparently someone had changed me while I was unconscious. Bad touch. Seriously.
My disgruntled thoughts changed as I saw the bruises littering my back. From the table.
No. Don't think about any of that. At least not right now. You just need to focus on getting out of here.
Oh, look. Here come some scientists.
I crossed my arms and watched as a nice looking lady walked into the room with two hurrying assistants following her. Her short black hair was up in a ponytail and her brown eyes never left mine as she approached my cage. She wore a smooth black pencil skirt and a red blouse under her stereotypical white coat. In her hands she carried a clipboard even though the assistants following her were walking and writing at the same time.
I made sure to project a neutral sense as she stopped just on the other side of the glass wall and just watched me, looking me up and down from my head to my bare feet. There was something about her that made me uncomfortable. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was something about her eyes and the way she was looking at me.
After a long minute where everyone looked to the lady to signal what to do next, she finally broke her stare with me and nodded to the guards. "Restrain him. I want him in examination room one."
"Yes, Ma'am," the guards replied in synch before turning and pulling cards out of their pockets. My eyes watched their every movement as they slid their cards in two different scanners at the same time and how the guards immediately put the cards back into a zipped pocket. Looks like they upped the security on the locks. Pity.
The door beeped after a moment and the guards were immediately swinging their guns up and pointing them at me. I raised my hands in the air and stood stock still as the black guard stayed by the door, keeping me in his sights at all times, and the white guards approached me cautiously. "Turn around slowly," the white guards instructed and I obeyed. My mind flashed to every single police movie/show/video I'd ever seen when my wrists were grabbed and firmly dragged behind my back. But it wasn't normal silver cuffs that were slapped onto my wrists. It felt like thick manacles that enveloped my entire forearm and held my arms together. It was uncomfortable to have my arms held at such an angle, but I didn't show anything as the white guard grabbed my shoulder and spun my around before pushing me towards the door.
I quirked an eyebrow as the black guard shuffled backwards out the door, still aiming at my chest. I didn't know whether to be flattered or miffed that they thought they needed such caution when it came to me.
"Follow me," the lady instructed the second I stepped out of my cage, spinning on her high heels and walking out of the room, assistants on her heels. I glanced briefly over my shoulder at the two guards, who were right behind me with guns at the ready, before doing as I was told.
The second I was out of the room I began cataloguing every scrap of information I could see and hear. The hallway was roughly twenty paces long and wide enough for five people to walk down shoulder to shoulder. Two cameras were fastened to the ceiling at the beginning and end of the hall, turning to follow our progress.
The hallway then split into two, going left and right, and the lady went left. I marked the beginning of my mental map of this place. My eyes marked each place there was a camera, a doorway, and an intersection. The further we went the more I was reminded of SI's raptor facility and the facility under the skyscraper in the city. White halls, informative arrows on the walls, cameras, guards, scientists. It was a bit disconcerting that I was on open display for everyone to see given that the past two times I was in a place like this I was skulking about and trying to hide my presence. Not so much here. Anyone watching the cameras or walking the halls saw me and knew what I was.
In fact, whenever anyone without a gun saw me in the halls, they quickly shied and gave me as much space as possible as we walked past. I frowned as I watched them, which just made them hurry even more until they were out of sight. Strange. Those were looks of fear on their faces. Maybe it was because I was an alien.
I faced forward once more when the lady opened a door and stepped through. It looked exactly like an examination room, which was entirely anti-climactic given what the lady had called it. The entire room looked exactly like a checkup room at the hospital Seb worked at except for the table with the restraints on it and the incredibly high tech and sophisticated equipment in the room. Some of which I couldn't even identify.
One of the three nurses already present in the room looked up at our entrance. "Dr. Robinson," he greeted respectfully. "Everything is prepped and ready like you asked."
"Excellent." The lady, Dr. Robinson, turned to look at the guards still following me. "Get it on the table."
'It'? Oh, now that was cold. I worked to keep my frown off my face. Right now, I just needed to evaluate my surroundings and circumstances and then act accordingly.
I felt one of the rifles from the guards press to the back of my head. "You make one move and you won't be hit with stun round this time." Obligingly, I didn't even nod as the strange cuffs were deactivated and I was pushed towards the table. Slowly, I climbed up onto the metal surface and laid my wrists and ankles in the restraints, waiting. The guards quickly snapped them into place before stepping back and lowering their guns slightly.
Then the doctor and nurses came over. It felt like they were doing a really in depth checkup on me. They took my blood, tested my pupil dilation, checked my ears and breathing, and did my blood pressure. They even tapped the little rubber hammer to my knee to test my reflexes. But what worried me were the other things they did. They took a lock of my hair, poked me with a needle to see how I clotted, swabbed my mouth, took x-rays, and looked at the tattoo of my wings on my back, which they were able to do without releasing me by having the surprisingly fancy table I was laying on move and flip over entirely. Now that was surprising. And it took everything I had to not move or shiver when the nurses traced the six curving, yellow designs on my back. They just had to go and touch the part of me that was practically the most sensitive, didn't they? The nerve. Didn't even ask me on a date first.
I was flipped back over just as the nurses wheeled over a machine I didn't recognize in the least.
My eyes watched everything they did as they held the hanging machine over my chest and pressed a few buttons. To my surprise, when I craned my head to look at the screen, I could see inside my chest and at the white pulsing orb sitting in there. My spark. What the fuck? They could see my spark.
"Readings are off the charts," one nurse announced as he worked on the other side of the machine. "Its power source is easily ten times more powerful than all past subjects combined." Huh. So my spark was actually stronger than the others' sparks? Maybe that was why I was so sensitive to everything. I'll bring it up to Ratchet when this was all over.
"Curious," Dr. Robinson murmured as he wrote on her clipboard. "But, aside from its power source, NBE2 is no different than NBE3 and 4 and the only difference between NBE9 and NBE 2 is their skin color. NBE2 is capable of mimicking human bodily functions and responses just like the others, though his behavior is intriguing. Vastly different from all the others. Conclusions on NBE behavioral analysis will need to be reevaluated."
NBE? Like NBEO? Non-biological Extraterrestrial? And I was number two? Well, assuming Starscream was number one because he was the first one caught, I could guess that Prowl, Ratchet, and Rumble where three, four, and nine. Primus, we really weren't even test subjects to these people. We were numbers.
I turned over the observation of how different my behavior was to them. The others had probably struggled and fought this entire thing, so they didn't know what to expect with me. I'll have to consider that and see what I could do with it. But right now I was back to observing.
My eyes traced the name Julia Robinson on the name tag of the good doctor. Why did that sound vaguely familiar?
My mind went off on a new tangent.
Until Robinson spoke something. "We will need to do extensive testing on NBE2. It is obvious it is of a different caliber from the past subjects. I want a battery of . . ." She went off on a bunch of medical jargon words that I didn't understand despite living with a doctor. It was the ending of the run-on sentence that caught my attention. "I want to study this one much more closely than the others. No more passive observations. I want to know everything and anything that goes on in its body and I want it to reveal its true form as soon as possible. We have our work cut out for us, ladies and gentlemen."
I watched as the room buzzed with energy and the guards came forward to take me off the table and restrain me once more. Concern and wariness settled uncomfortably in my spark as I was lead out of the room by the guards. None of that at all sounded good.
When I was returned to my cage and the door sealed shut, I sat cross-legged and stared at nothing, trying to process everything I'd learned and observed. When I couldn't seem to reach a conclusion after thinking for a little bit I sighed and closed my eyes. It was never my favorite thing to do when I was learning martial arts, but meditating did have some benefits when it came to thinking and remembering. Pit, I'd been using it a lot more lately because of my efforts to access my memories. But now I needed it to compartmentalize and analyze information. It was something I'd never actively done before.
I took a deep breath and set my hands on my knees. Though my instincts were telling me to pay attention to my surroundings, I ignored them in favor of focusing on my thoughts.
Alright, let's start with the lay out of the facility. Four cameras were in my cell, watching my every move and allowing no blind spots. There was even a camera in the hall that had a view of my cell. The door to my cell was to be unlocked with simultaneous slides of authorized cards, nearly impossible to grab. The guards were constantly listening and waiting for me to do something, which could be worked around as long as I moved silently. I might actually get a lot of practice seeing how far I could move before alerting the guards to my position. Maybe see how close I could get to them before they aimed those guns at me. And those guns were something to worry about given that they felt…
Focus. Focus. Remember. The layout of the facility.
Right.
The hallway was decently sized and had absolutely no hiding spot during its length. There were two cameras at the beginning and end of the hall and were either manually moved to follow me or programmed to do so. Either way, I wouldn't be getting down that hallway without being scene. T-intersection at the end of the hall. Left takes me down a hallway with a few doors with no marked signs telling me what was behind them, though I assume they were probably filled with counter-measures since they were so close to my cage.
I traced over the path I'd taken to the examination room, purposely recalling every door and camera position and adding it to my mental map. There seemed to be cameras at regular thirty foot intervals down long hallways and around every corner. Very little blind spots and equally avid in following me.
Okay. You've got the layout. Now onto the personnel.
Dr. Robinson was the only notably person right now. She seemed to be in charge of anything that happened to me. It worried me the way that she refused to look at me like a living being so far. I really was just NBE2 to her. An alien to be studied. And studied deeply if her instructions were anything to go by. No more passive observations. They wanted to know everything that was happening in my body. With my luck that would mean cliché evil scientist surgeries and experiments. Not looking forward to that at all.
And then there was her name. Where have I heard it before? I know I've heard it. But not recently. Not during all this kidnapping crap. No, it was farther back. Back when we fought in SI?...No. Farther. When I infiltrated SI. Dr. Robinson. Dr. Robinson. Where art thou, Dr. Robinson? Thou art…
NBEO. Dr. Robinson. She was the one who was in charge of studying the Allspark. That's right. I used her as an excuse to get Starscream out of his cage. And this was an SI operation, so it would make sense if this was the same Dr. Robinson. But what was she doing studying…studying NBEs now that the Allspark was in shattered remains?
Maybe they have a few shards. I'll have to look into that.
Alright. So based on the information you have what do you think the best course of action is?
Well, they're a bit thrown off by my complacency and cooperation, but that won't last for long. But they will begin to think that it's normal for me. They will begin to lower their guard. Yes! Alright, so I'll still cooperate and wait for them to become so lax in security that I have a chance in escaping.
But what do I do when they try and ask questions that could give away vital information? Answer, not say anything, or lie? Option 1 is a definite no. Option 2 is plausible, but it could ruin my cooperative image. Option 3 is also plausible, but I didn't know if the others have given information in the past. If they caught me lying once they would always be suspicious. I debated it for a bit more before going with my spark feeling and favoring the third option.
All it would take was a lot of acting and luck, which I seemed to be using a lot lately.
I frowned a tiny bit at the thought. I didn't want to act or lie to the others. Primus, if I'd actually told the truth I wouldn't be here. A small sigh escaped me as my spark twisted uncomfortably in my chest. I didn't want to hurt them. Any of them. I just wanted to get Ratchet and Prowl back with minimal loses and now I've lost any sort of respect between Roddy and the Twins and destroyed any relationship I had with Jazz, Gabe, and Optimus.
Unidentified dark emotions bombarded my spark and I struggled not to show my discomfort. Unwanted questions came to mind.
Did they know I was gone?
Did they want to try to rescue me?
Did they want me?
Did I want to escape?
I opened my eyes and looked down at my lap as all the negative emotions drove away any chance I had at focusing my mind. What was there for me out there? I once told the guys that they were all I had and that was true. I had no friends. No promise to anyone to keep me going. Nothing to motivate me.
Almost foreign anger lit in my spark.
Are you even hearing yourself?! 'Oh, I just can't go on!', 'There's nothing for me!', 'I have nobody!'. Boo-fucking-hoo. Get over it, you pussy. There are thousands of people in this world who have it worse off than you at any given point and you want to wallow in your self-pity because you think some people don't want you? Grow up! You don't need anyone but yourself, you needy bitch. You motivate yourself, you lazy bastard.
So what if you said some words and hurt some feelings? If they really don't forgive you than move on. They obviously don't want you so why stay somewhere you aren't wanted. You can take care of yourself. You've proven it over and over again and yet you're still determined to remain blind and whine like a baby every time you feel lonely. You are an alien warrior thousands of years old. Don't shame your name just because you buckle under a little pressure.
For some reason, a few tears came to my eyes as I berated myself for all my stupid and ridiculous thoughts, but I quickly blinked them away and squared my shoulders. I could be strong. I could rescue myself. I could survive.
"Man, you are one strange alien."
The only thing that moved was my eyes as I looked to see the black guard obviously watching me from where I sat on the floor. My mind saw an opportunity to start some kind of relationship with the guards. The first step in escape.
"How so?" I asked. "By definition of the word alien, I am a nonnative to this place and therefore different from you. So how am I different beyond my very nature?"
The guard blinked at my lengthy response, but just snorted a bit before answering, "You don't act like the others did. They fought every step of the way during the examination and were cursing up a storm pretty much every chance they got."
My emotions cooled dangerously as I casually got to my feet and dusted off my white shorts. "So you're saying you held my brothers at gun point as they were worked on without their consent?" The black guard shifted uncomfortably and even the white guard glanced over his shoulder.
The white guard elbows his companion. "Stop it, Epps. You know we're not supposed to talk with him."
Despite the usage of a name, I focused on something different. 'Him'. Not 'it'. He called me a 'him'.
The black guard rolls his eyes. "Sure thing, Daddy Lennox. You wanna wipe my ass for me to?"
"If you really need me to wipe your ass I'm checking you into a hospital."
"I knew there was a reason I was friends with you."
I smiled slightly at the obviously familiar banter between the two, but I covered it up by turning towards my bed, though I didn't lay down on it. I pulled the blanket, pillow, and slight padding off the metal slab and placed all of it underneath the slab before crawling on top of it and wrapping myself up in the scratchy blanket. This way, no one had access to me while I slept and I was hidden at an unusual angle, putting me slightly out of sight from the cameras.
I bunched the thin pillow under my head and turned on my side to face the guards and the door to the room before curling up and hiding most of my face with the blanket. It took a little bit, especially with my ever present anxiety and nervousness at being some place I didn't know, but I eventually fell asleep.
Oh my god you guys have scared me. Have you taken a look at the reviews I got for chapter 6? Ah! I've never seen you guys rage so hard! Not even in CtF. So you guys can thank yourselves for this immediate update. All those reviews kinda pushed me to do this…
I know I didn't make up the last chapter with happiness and fluff, but believe me it'll be a long in the coming when it actually shows up and we'll all be feeling those silly warm bunnies in our tummies. Btw have you guys figured out that is was your REVIEWS that made me post again? Just saying hint hint wink wink
Mailbox:
FoxoftheTemple: Holy Shit! *runs away from F-Bombs and projectiles* Not the small child! Oh my god I'm so sorry! Don't kill me!
Sigh-Ah: (1st review): I'm so sorry *nurses bruises from FoxoftheTemple* (2nd review) *freezes under creepy stare* I said I was sorry!
Rea: *hides behind Rea* At least you're not raging at me. Fuck, OceanSprings fucking lost it she had to PM me her review cuz she was a little afraid of innocent eyes and being reported. Btw I love your rambly reviews. They make my day. And let me tell you, you need to stop thinking like me. It's just creepy. Am I really that predictable? Love you anyway 3
