If you can't find them on the TF Wiki, they're mine. Also, a quick warning: this chapter contains torture and some really nasty implications. Sorry Prowl, Jazz, and sparkling (and no, I'm not telling you who it is if you didn't already guess).

Answer to the last trivia question: Darkmount Pass is mentioned in Transformers Prime episode "Con Job". Bulkhead uses it to spot a traitor. Lynn Jones gets energon cookies for guessing it was from Prime. :)

Torture Chamber

Iceheart followed Thunderwing through the other door into what must have been the main part of the lab. The lights were brighter, and there were several doors along each wall. Thunderwing stopped at the third one on the right and keyed in a code, which Iceheart quickly memorized. Just in case.

"I've been keeping the Autobot prisoners through here. I'm aware it's not the most secure facility – " He shrugged apologetically in her direction. "But I felt the lab would be a good place to have them if I needed more incentive for them to talk." His smirk made her feel sick.

"I see." Iceheart studied the equipment along the walls. "And this is where Gamma worked on her portal project."

"That's right, although we don't know where it is." Thunderwing nodded to the door on the left. "That would be where she left the results of her test subjects."

Test subjects? That explains the bodies. This portal must require massive amounts of energy. And one was still alive? Oh Primus. "Where were these 'test subjects' from? I may require more."

Thunderwing sighed a little. "Well, that's the problem. She went through them fast. They were all prisoners who had no information. I can't let you have these two, though...and even if I did, it wouldn't work."

As if I would. Iceheart winced at the sense Riella was getting from the bond. I know, I know. "Why not?"

"Gamma Ray determined that adult test subjects don't seem to work well. What you need is something young, with higher immediate energy."

Iceheart had to stop herself from reacting visibly to the implications. "The sparkling."

"That's right." Thunderwing looked proud. "We got him after the Seekers took Helix. The only problem is I don't think we can sustain him for long. He doesn't seem able to keep down energon."

"Well, of course he can't!" Iceheart snapped, fury rising in her throat as Riella's spark constricted. "A sparkling that young still needs preprocessed energon, preferably direct from his creator's feeding lines. Everyone knows that."

Thunderwing winced at her tone. "I – I don't – "

"Never mind. I'll find a solution." She crushed the fury relentlessly. "Now, the prisoners. And you had better hope you don't disappoint me with your lack of ability a third time."

Almost cowering, Thunderwing turned toward the door on the far side of the lab. "Right away."


After hours of fighting it, Prowl had finally slipped into a shallow recharge. The stasis cuffs clicked as the tactician stirred restlessly.

Riella waves and turns to leave the safety of Praxus's walls… "I'll be fine, don't worry about me. You've got the hard job, dealing with 'I can't rest, I have things to do' Jazz …"

He laughs, she's right, she's not going far and she's got all the backup she could ever need. It's overkill for such a small 'Con patrol; he'll see her in a few hours, why can't he remember where exactly she's going?

An hour, then two hours, then three, something's not right, wasn't it longer? Did this happen before? … Then the message comes in, it was an ambush and most of the team is down…no word on Riella's condition but that's normal if she's okay but didn't she send it last time?…but he's still going, because something is wrong, very very wrong…

It was a massacre, there's bodies everywhere but shouldn't there be more energon? And the fog is wrong too…and then he knows he's dreaming and he knows where this is and he knows what Ratchet will find and he has to stop it but he can't…

His mate's body is twisted and broken…crumpled over another dead soldier, younger than she is, so young, she tried to protect him, of course she did…and he's screaming her name and shaking her, she's got to be just tired, she can't be dead, no wait this is wrong, he shouldn't be doing this, he knows better…then a medic, shouldn't it be Signal Flare? It was, wasn't it? but it's not, and he's being dragged away from Riella…Ratchet's yelling at him but the words don't make sense…

The medbay, quiet, no one there except him, and her, and Ratchet, and the medic is talking to them but it's all wrong, he didn't tell them in the medbay, this isn't how it happened… "I'm so sorry…we did everything we could, but the new spark was extinguished the minute she was hit, we had to save her…" And he can't take it in but she already did, something's changing, this is wrong, she didn't do this in front of Ratchet, did it even happen? She's not crying, not screaming, nothing, and then her optics are changing, they're fading out, they're losing her too, that's why they didn't tell her in the medbay, she wasn't strong enough, she's dying, but her spark is getting stronger, she's so angry, if she doesn't die someone else will, she'll kill them, this isn't right, it has to be a dream, wake up, wake up… "RIELLA!"

Prowl's optics flared as the shock jolted him back to consciousness. His injuries throbbed as he struggled to reorient himself, vents working frantically in an effort to slow his racing spark. Jazz stared at him from the other side of the cell.

"Hey, you okay, mech?"

"Yeah. Fine." Prowl slumped forward, wincing at the pressure on his shoulders. Something wasn't right. That fury he'd sensed from Riella's spark was still there, quieter but no less fierce. She's in Iacon. The bond is still blocked. It was just a dream. She's fine.

Then the door slid open, and entering the room behind the Seeker was the one femme on the entire planet he'd hoped never to see again.

Oh Riella. No. Not like this. You promised. No more Iceheart missions.


It didn't take a medic to recognize the types of injuries the two Autobots had sustained. Besides the very visible dents, gashes, and energon stains, both showed signs of acid corrosion and damaged joints. The occasional uncontrollable twitch from Jazz indicated that some kind of high-level energy pulse had been used at least once to disorient his nervous system.

Even Iceheart had trouble keeping her tone level. If Riella had been in control, there wouldn't have been much left of Thunderwing. "Was all this really necessary?"

"You'd be surprised at these two," Thunderwing shrugged. "So far, even with this, I've got nothing except defiance out of them. It's only been a couple of days, though; I've still got more than enough left – not to mention an extra weapon no Autobot can fight. They'll talk."

"Sure we will," Jazz rasped, glaring at him from behind a cracked visor. "Right after I watch your spark chamber get ripped out."

Thunderwing smirked and pressed a button on the nearest console. Prowl's optics whited out and he failed to smother a scream as the energy pulse tore through his frame, sending him into uncontrollable convulsions against the stasis cuffs. "You'd enjoy watching that, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, you'll just have to settle for watching your friend here."

Iceheart's fists clenched and unclenched as she fought the urge to slam the mech into the wall and shred him. "I believe you have this, at least, handled. I will leave you to it." She forced herself not to look at Prowl's still-thrashing frame. "Once I have dealt with the results of your incompetence in other areas, I will return and we will discuss what should be done."

"Understood." Thunderwing turned back to the console as Iceheart left the room.

The moment they were out of the lab and heading back toward the room with the sparkling, Riella's personality took over once more. The long claws on her fingertips shot free and raked a deep furrow into the wall as the femme hissed.

"You will pay for every moment they were in there, Seeker, and every moment you kept that sparkling here. That's not a threat. It's a promise."