"You need to get up before your enemy can get upon you!" shouted Megatron as he tossed Optimus across the training room.
"I can't," wheezed Optimus not being able to feel his legs all too much.
"You have no choice!" said Megatron kicking Optimus in the face and tossing him on his back. "In war there is no room for the weak such as yourself!"
"I never wanted to be Prime in the first place," said Optimus trying to get up and stand before his stronger brother.
Optimus then fell to one knee as his body began to quit on him again. Megatron then came and gripped Optimus' shoulder and as he tossed him once again he said-
"Being a Prime means you can't be weak!"
Optimus hit the wall hard and after that toss he was out. He couldn't move and he couldn't think straight. War was not for him. He didn't want to fight.
As Megatron came up to him he nudged him with his foot on his face saying-
"You don't deserve to bear the matrix of leadership brother."
"Why must we fight?" asked Optimus gazing upward at him.
"Because it is the only way to gain peace," said Megatron bending low to Optimus' face.
"I don't believe so," said Optimus still trying to catch his breath.
"Well it doesn't matter on what you believe Prime it matter on what the ones you fight against believe," said Megatron pulling Optimus to his feet.
"If I was ever to fight it would be my last resort," said Optimus wiping all the ruble off himself from the training with Megatron.
"You just don't understand," said Megatron shaking his head. "Some people, races, think of nothing but war and so know no else. Sometimes they just never listen."
"Father always-" started Optimus.
"I know what father always did. He was somewhat like you. Try and talk them out of it first and then fight," said Megatron remembering his deceased father. "I believe . . . that is what got him killed."
"No, what killed him was that he came back for some of his injured men and he was ambushed. He gave his life for the weak. Do you dare call him weak?" asked Optimus.
"Yes," grumbled Megatron deep in his throat and walking away from Optimus. "If it was up to me I would only have the strong and if you are not strong than you don't deserve to live in war."
"That doesn't sound like democracy Megatron," said Optimus carefully watching his brother's movements and moods.
"Democracy is of the past brother," said Megatron keeping his dark optics away from Optimus.
Optimus then sighed and said-
"Megatron . . . since I am Prime I have decided that we two are to rule . . . together."
Megatron turned to Optimus with confused expressions on his faces and said-
"That cannot be Optimus. You and I both know this."
"I am Prime am I not. Therefore I am such as King of cybertron and so I can say what I will. The high counsel does not rule above me or any Prime. They only help make our decisions . . . well this is mine . . . will you rule with me brother?"
Optimus extended his hand out toward Megatron. Megatron did not want to rule with him or anyone. He wanted to rule alone, but because of the high counsel he couldn't and so this would be his only chance to rule at least part of cybertron.
"I was thinking that since I can't hardly fight at the moment that you take command of the cybertron army while I train to be at my fullest. I shall take care of the politics and you the fighting? . . . for now at least."
Megatron thought of so many things as he gazed at Optimus' outstretched hand. This could be the only way. Optimus offered him alot to be his partner and rule beside him. This had never been done in the history of cybertron but Megatron could tell this is what Optimus wanted and was going to stick to.
Megatron then sighed and smiled lightly as he took Optimus' hand and shook it.
"Very well Prime," he said. "But for now."
Optimus just smiled seeing his brother take his proposal. He was glad he did. He wanted him to be at his side to help make his decisions with him. He could always give him the right choices.
Alex was kept under close optics 24/7 now. Sometimes he hated it, but sometimes he liked it. All this protection made him feel special like he was he president of the united states or something. The autobots were his own special body guards.
But then sometimes they could be a real pain in the butt. He couldn't ever act so easy with his dad around his car or friends. He had to lie to him all the time. Also his dad driving Optimus everywhere still made him uneasy and ever he wished to tell his dad that his car and his truck and his friend's car were super advanced alien robots that had come from a planet in the far space called cybertron and that they are there to protect him 'cause he has something that replaced his heart that actually creates their kind and it is the only thing keeping him alive at the moment till they can actually find out why the allspark did what it did and why him and how to get it out.
So many things he should tell him but he couldn't. He didn't like keeping all these secrets from his dad, but he had no choice at the moment and so he just had to go along with his lies. Every day when he would go to his daily check-up he would have to say he was going over to Sam's or to a study group or to a baseball practice. It got very tiring thinking of all these excuses to go meet giant alien robots, but it was all he could do at that moment.
One day when Alex waited for Wheeljack and Ratchet to tell them some results of his testing he was sitting with Hot Shot just waiting for the news. He looked over at Hot Shot and he could tell he was thinking of many things. Seeing Hot Shot like this only reminded Alex of something that he had been meaning to ask him for a couple of days now.
"Hot Shot what happened with you and Barricade?" asked Alex looking at him and wanting him to finally tell him.
At that Hot Shot let out a small chuckle and shook his head. He sighed as he stared off into space. He then said-
"So you now want to hear huh?"
"You said you would tell me later and I guess now is later right?" asked Alex.
"You're right," sighed Hot Shot bowing his head a bit. "I guess you need to know as much about me as I know about you."
Alex got comfortable as he prepared to listen to Hot Shot's long story, but as Hot Shot told him he found that it wasn't as long as he thought, but it was very harsh hearing how Hot Shot was captured by the decepticons being a prisoner of war and then tortured by one of their crazed doctors Barricade.
"Well it all started with one of the battles on cybertron . . . I had been shot . . . and at that time the decepticons took all the wounded as their prisoners so their doctors could experiment on them and . . . change them," started Hot Shot.
FLASHBACK
Hot Shot had been shot in two places. His shoulder which was very close to his spark and his thigh so he he could not move anywhere. The battle had ended and he had found the autobots were gone.
They had not yet come to count the dead and so the decepticons had come to make sure all were dead . . . or so Hot Shot thought. The decepticons had these minitransformers who would go out after a battle and make sure all were dead. If any lived then they would dig in their chests and kill their sparks, but the minitransformers were not scouting around to make sure all were dead this time. One of the minitransformers by the name of Frenzy came near Hot Shot and found he was still alive.
Hot Shot saw him and so only knew it was a matter of time till he would be killed and he, for once, would be counted among the dead. Hot Shot gasped seeing the small transformer scramble around him squeaking out his name every now and then. Hot Shot wished he would just get it over with and kill him already, but he soon left, but he came back with other decepticons and they took him as a prisoner back to their side and after that Hot Shot didn't know. Hot Shot had went offline from his injuries and so knew no more.
When he awoke again he found himself being dragged down some dark hall. He was very dazed and so he didn't exactly know where he was and what was going on, but all at the same time he did. He looked around and saw that he was placed before a decepticon that held a clipboard of all the patients they had captured making sure it was them. That decepticon's name was Barricade and ever he grew tired with all these nobody autobots till he saw him.
Barricade gasped in surprise seeing Hot Shot drug before him and so he tossed his clipboard aside saying-
"Him?! He shall be one of my patients?! Aw, Is it my birthday or something? Oh he shall be fun. I always wanted to do either him or Prime. Oh this is a happy day indeed."
Barricade then looked around as if making sure no one was looking or a certain no one was looking. He then turned to the decepticons who carried him and said-
"Hurry bolt him down to my table!"
They then took Hot Shot and placed him on a table and bolted him down nice and tight. Hot Shot looked at them as they did so and was ever confused with what was going on.
"Hurry, before he sees!" said Barricade looking around.
But then Hot Shot heard a decepticon call out saying-
"Megatron is coming, Megatron is coming!"
Barricade then sighed in disappointment and so had the two decepticons leave as Megatron came to him.
"What do you wish my lord?" he bowed.
Megatron kept his gaze on Hot Shot as Barricade spoke to him. Megatron then smiled and turned to the doctor saying-
"I had heard my dear nephew had been captured. I knew he would be brought here and so came here as fast as I could to make sure you haven't changed him yet."
"I shall release him if that is what you want my lord," bowed Barricade ready to release Hot Shot.
"No, no," smiled Megatron as he and Starscream looked down at the poor autobot. "I just came here to tell you that you may do with him what you will, but DON'T kill him. I want him alive."
"But sir, he is Optimus Prime's son. Why would you-?" started Barricade.
Megatron then hissed and turned to the decepticon saying-
"I know who he is Barricade. I want you to make him to unrecognizable that even his own father would not recognize him. Turn him into a . . . weapon one that we can use, but just make it to where he can't even think for himself anymore. Make it to where is as one dead, but still living . . . in a way."
Barricade turned to Hot Shot and smiled at the thought of doing all these things to the boy. He then turned to Megatron and bowed saying-
"It shall be my pleasure . . . my lord."
Megatron then smacked Hot Shot on the side of his face saying-
"You shall wished you were this much dazed all the time son."
He then turned to Starscream saying-
"Come Starscream, let us leave Barricade to do with whatever he wants to your dear cousin."
And so they left and Barricade took out his tools and began to do what Megatron had ordered him to do. Barricade made sure Hot Shot was awake and well before he began changing him. He made sure Hot Shot could feel every ounce of pain on purpose and as he cried out in pain this only made him smile.
"Are you certain he was not among the dead?!" asked Optimus fearing for his son's life.
"We looked sir, but he is not there," said one of his men.
"What about the wounded?" asked Optimus.
"There are none sir," said Ironhide. "Megatron has taken them all for his evil experiments. If he was taken prisoner then we may never find him."
"But we can't just leave him to die!" said Jazz pointing out the obvious. "Would he let us die in those experiments?!"
"No," said Bumblebee. "But what do you suppose we do Jazz. How can we rescue him when he is deep within the decepticon territory?"
"We got to think of a way!" said Jazz determined to save his best friend.
"Well Prime?" asked Ironhide as all turned to Optimus.
Optimus was deep in thought, but he was not going to leave his son out there. He had to rescue him, but quietly.
"Jazz is right," said Optimus. "We shall rescue him, but secretly."
All wondered what Optimus meant by this, but he soon told them and so they all agreed it had to be this way.
Barricade had completed something on Hot Shot he had been meaning to do on a patient for quite some time. Twin blades. They suited the young one. It hurt the first times as Hot Shot was forced to pull them out and then in again, but he managed.
One time as Barricade made him bring them out again Barricade pressed his lips against one of the cool slick blades and kissed his creation. He then smiled and patted it as he stood up straight and looked at Hot Shot who looked in so much pain.
"They are nice aren't they Hot Shot?" he smiled running his finger up and down gently the side of Hot Shot's face.
Hot Shot just jerked his head away from Barricade hating when he would touch him like so.
"Aw, don't be like that," played Barricade. "You hurt my feelings."
He then sent out a nice laugh that Hot Shot now hated hearing and only wished to kill him.
"I still have a lot more to do with you boy," smiled Barricade as he took his blade down upon Hot Shot's leg.
Hot Shot opened his mouth as if to cry out in pain, but he couldn't. He didn't want to give that to Barricade. Not him. As Barricade did this Starscream came in and looked at his work.
He never liked being there in the first place, but Megatron ordered him to go check up on Hot Shot and so he had no choice but to.
"Don't you kill him Barricade," growled Starscream looking at Hot Shot in disgust.
"Does it look like I am?" smiled Barricade rubbing Hot Shot's leg that he was cutting.
Starscream just rolled his optics seeing Barricade act this way around his patients. He could never understand why the decepticon loved torturing so many bots and got satisfaction out of it. He would never know and would never want to know and so he left him to do whatever he saw fit to do to his cousin.
"Carry on," sighed Starscream leaving. "Just be careful."
"I will," smiled Barricade digging his sharp claws into Hot Shot's metal skin. "I will."
Barricade did so many other things to Hot Shot. Hot Shot knew this would happen if he was caught but he never pictured it quite like this before. Barricade then made Hot Shot's arms come together to create a large gun that could blast just about anything and everything. He then needed to fix up the rest of his body to fit it.
Hot Shot was so strong that he kept his cries to himself. Barricade didn't mind as a matter of fact he admired this . . . a little too much. Hot Shot would bit his lip to keep from crying Barricade saw this and didn't much like him biting his lip and so he placed his slim index finger on his lips and gently caressing them saying 'shh, shh' all the time. Hot Shot hated him doing this and so often bit his finger, but Barricade still continued this and so Hot Shot gave up this seeing Barricade enjoying this too much.
Barricade was sick, this Hot Shot knew, but he never did picture him doing things such as this to him. This could be one of the reasons why he was one of the top torture doctors of the decepticons. After Barricade prepared to fix Hot Shot's body to fit the weapon he planned to make him into he decided to take a break letting Hot Shot be able to think for himself the last days he could. He came to Megatron saying what he had progressed on and Megatron just couldn't wait to see Optimus' face when they showed his dear son to him when they finished on him.
"Just hurry and finish him Barricade," said Megatron gazing out his window at the dark smoke clouds that always rose in his land.
"I shall sir, but may I ask to have him for tonight," said Barricade.
"Why?" asked Megatron turning to him.
"For . . . my own personal pleasure," smiled Barricade.
Megatron thought of this. He knew that Barricade would take the young one and just try and bring him to the point of death. That was his personal pleasure in his strange way. Barricade had done this to a couple of other patients before, more or likely femmes, but they would always end up dead the next morning.
"Hhh, very well," said Megatron turning to him. "But don't kill him! If you do . . . !"
"I know sir," bowed Barricade. "He shall still be alive, but barely."
He then left and Megatron wondered now if it was a good thing to give over his nephew to that particular torture doctor. It was too late now and besides if he killed Hot Shot then Megatron would just delight himself in killing another one of his men because they did not listen to him and ever Megatron ached to kill another.
The autobots secretly made their way into the decepticon's land. They made their plan very careful and each had an appointed job to do if they were going to rescue Hot Shot. Optimus just prayed they weren't too late.
Hot Shot was now bolted to a bed. It was a bit more comfortable than the table he had been bolted to for weeks but he still didn't like the company he had. Barricade had brought many of his own personal tools he could never use on his patients for they'd die too quick, but he was a Prime so perhaps he'd last longer. He knew that Megatron would kill him if he killed Hot Shot, but at that moment he didn't care. He had Hot Shot all to himself with no one watching and he could do whatever practice he wanted on him.
He took one of his tools that looked like some sort of drill to implant a virus or something, but it looked a little different than what Hot Shot was used to seeing.
No, no, no! Hot Shot's mind screamed as Barricade came to his throat.
"How would you like to lose your voice my little Hot Shot," grinned Barricade gripping Hot Shot's throat tight with one hand and held the tool over it with the other.
Hot Shot just gulped as Barricade almost drilled through his metal skin into his throat, but Barricade then turned somewhere else.
"Or your spark," smiled Barricade moving his hand down Hot Shot's chest to where his spark was.
Hot Shot was scared at what Barricade was going to do to him, but he'd rather kill him than sliding his hands all over his body like some sick freak!
"Well Hot Shot," smiled Barricade his face but inches away from Hot Shot's.
He then slid his hand on Hot Shot's side and then pointed the drill right to his spark. He smiled and said-
"I like that spot don't you?"
Then as he began to drill downward his door burst open and in marched the autobots tackling him off Hot Shot and then shooting him multiple times. Optimus Prime then came in and scooped Hot Shot up in his arms and carried him out. Hot Shot was at the point of tears as they rescued him. Seeing Hot Shot like this only reminded Optimus of Elita after something similar to this happened to her before Hot Shot was born.
Optimus held his son close as he got him out of that place and him out of that twisted decepticon's grip. Optimus vowed this would never happen to him again. He knew that Hot Shot would never be able to forget this terrible happening that happened to him, but he would try his best to help him to forget.
END FLASHBACK
Alex's mouth would have dropped wide open at hearing this, but he stopped himself at seeing how distraught Hot Shot was over this. He never knew how close Hot Shot had come to being a mindless transformer. To being dead. Alex now knew that even robots could be tortured in the most unpleasant ways.
"I . . . I didn't know," said Alex. "So that is why they keep bringing up Barricade and you?"
"Yes," gasped Hot Shot bowing his head and looking at his hands. "They know that is one of the few things that gets me angry and I hate remembering."
"Well I'm glad they rescued you Hot Shot," smiled Alex. "For who would be my best friend if not for you?"
Hot Shot turned to Alex and just smiled.
"Thanks Alex," he smiled.
"So I guess it takes you transformers a long time to get over things huh?" asked Alex.
"Yea it does," sighed Hot Shot starring off into space a bit.
"Well if I can help just let me know," smiled Alex.
"Well what do you do to get rid of awful memories?" asked Hot Shot curious to know.
Alex just smiled as he looked at Hot Shot. He had an idea and so wondered if the autobots would like it. So he stood up and simply replied-
"I play ball."