A/N:

It's not a good day for Tina, Volt and Dr. Tanaka. Life just took a nasty turn.

Tina has no where to go to in the cave.

Dead end.

She turns her back to the wall and faces the entrance as Rumble reaches the mouth of the cave. She walks backward until her back strikes the wall and sits down curling into a little ball hoping this simple act, as childish as it seems, will at least make it as hard as hell for him to get her. It's of no use, as two strong hands put her in enough pain that she breaks her protective posture and cries out. He pretty much yanks her up to a standing position as he pulls her out of the corner. All the red mech does while he practically tosses her around is let out a small evil and annoying little laugh.

Rumble shoves Tina forward, out of the protection of the cave entrance and down to where the others await. Rolling her eyes and cursing under her breath, she stops dead in one last act of defiance. The small mech shakes his head in disgust at the silly human's actions and grabs her left arm with a wrestlers grip. Tina cries out from the pain, straining against his grip, stops walking and digs her heels into the dirt and gravel, an act that is promptly met with her being dragged down the hill kicking and yelling through the rocks and scrub brush. What the small red mech doesn't see while he smiles at his ingenuity of catching the troublesome human, is her small hand covered in minuscule sparks of energy come slamming down on his arm. It isn't until he falls down into a convulsive fit that he realizes what is happening.

Tina watches the red mech, who isn't much bigger than her fall into a shaking and convulsing lump on the ground. She smiles at what happens before her, raising her closed fist into the air and brining it down in triumph, she lets out a small, "Yes!" and breaks to run away. Her escape is interrupted by a smirking Starscream towering over her with one of his null rays pointed directly and quite menacingly, at her. Upon seeing this sight, she can only let out one word, "Damn" as she comes to a skidding halt on the loose desert pavement below her puma clad feet.

"Damn indeed, human." Starscream snickers at her.

"Starscream, I thought we aren't going to kill her." Barricade comments from behind the Seeker, holding onto the frightened looking Doctor with a strong vice like grip.

"Oh, I'm not." Starscream says in feigned innocence.

Tina tries backing up but is stopped as her back strikes a solid object behind her that she doesn't remember being there before. Looking up she sees the faceless visage of Soundwave above her, staring down at her without a single emotion through his two face shields.

Starscream smirks at the worried expression on the female human's face while the cold reality that she is going nowhere kicks in. In one last act of desperation, Tina reaches back and tries to send a wave of incapacitating energy into Soundwave's leg. But to her dismay, sparks and streamers of electric energy bounce off as if deflected by a body hugging energy field around the blue mech. Shock and curiosity registers on her face where before there was only worry. Her head drops solemnly as she tries to think of another escape plan.

"It's useless, human." Starscream laughs at her, enjoying the look of defeat that crosses her face. He leans back in surprise as she takes a step forward, towards him. Not fazed a bit he continues to smirk and snicker at her.

"Starscream..." Barricade warns from beside them all, the doctor still from shock in the black and white mech's hands.

"I'm not worried. I managed to find the one human that null rays work on." He says, looking over towards Barricade.

Tina stops dead in her tracks and considers what he had just said for a moment. Looking up at the muzzle of the towering mech's null ray guns, she thinks about all that she knows of him,all that he is capable of, her physiology and she surmises that the damned Decepticon is right. Pretty painful, a few of the Autobots had told her. How painful, she doesn't really know. They're concept of pain may be incredibly higher than what a human may consider and she isn't ready to find out just what the difference in tolerance may be. She lowers her hands beside her and stares up with nothing but absolute contempt in her green eyes.

"See, Barricade? She knows. I guess the humans are a bit more intelligent than we originally thought."

"Asshole," Tina hisses from exactly between he and Soundwave. "One of these days, you're going to find out exactly how intelligent we are or at least me you, son of bitch."

"Words I'm sure would sting, if only I cared. She comes with us now."

Volt stands still between the grip of Runamuck and Runabout, careful not to make a move until he knows that the two are well distracted. He silently chastises himself for staying behind. For not leaving when the others did. It was stupid. Tina, the Doctor and he had fun but now look what had happened. He's alone, seriously out manned, in the middle of the desert with Tina and Doctor Tanaka's lives at stake. One Decepticon he can handle, two is pushing it, but here they are now, he and two humans, stuck in some remote desert pass with the threat of eight Decepticons in front of them. Five of those 'Cons being some of the more powerful, violent and dangerous of their like.

He watches the dialog between the ever vain and boastful Starscream and a scared but still rebellious Tina before him. He can't help but be impressed at the courage that Tina is exhibiting. How many humans would cry and cower at the possibility of meeting fate at the hands of a seriously demented tyrant like Starscream or the cold, sinister nature of Soundwave? Skywarps biggest threat is his spatial warps; the Battlechargers, their lust for destruction; and Rumble and Frenzy well, they just do what their told to avoid becoming recycled scrap metal. Right now, she stands surrounded by all of them. He can see the fear on her but he can also see a defiant glimmer in her eye and knows that more than likely she's already plotting a way to distract them. Volt watches in awe as Tina continues to verbally stand up to Starscream, a mech who is literally 4 times her size.

"Frenzy, give our guest something to relax her a bit." Starscream says without turning, his distrustful gaze still aimed at the small human before him. Tina jerks her head to the right, watching the little silver mech, who only reaches her ribs approach with what appears to be a liquid filled syringe in his hand. Tina steps forward, as threatening as she can towards Starscream, a twisted and evil grimace crossing her usually happy face. Feeling the Battlecharger's grips lessen just enough, Volt breaks free and lunges forward to block Frenzy from Tina and to hopefully knock her out of the way.

What happens next neither he nor Tina expected. The last thing he sees is Tina reach out towards Starscream as the Decepticon lowers his null ray at her. Volt knocks Frenzy aside and the small metallic 'con lets out a chattering shriek, breaking Tina's concentration as she turns violently to the right. Her outstretched hand meets his armor instead of Starscream's, who she had intended the hit for. Searing pain travels through his frame at a lightning fast speed as he falls into a lump on to the rocky desert floor, shaking from the strike. The last thing he hears before his systems overload is a pained, "Nooooooooo!" from Tina and that wicked laughter of Starscream's.

"No. No. No. NO." Tina looks at her hands in disbelief. Through the parted fingers covering her face, fingers that had just tried to defend the Doctor, Volt and her only a moment ago, upon which the typical lines and swirls of design, were traces of wrong doing. She didn't intend for it to happen. He stepped to close, she instinctively swug her hand to keep him out, not injure him. An accidental strike that sent the energy, powered by her anger into him, knocking the protective blue mech to the ground. She watched helplessly as he fell and seemed to have a seizure from the pain. How could she? Anyone but him.

All around her stands the enemy. It was 8 on 1, well 7 on 1 as long as Barricade is holding onto the Doctor. Though a feeble human in their eyes, with her power she was quite the adversary. If only she could control it. Rage was her worst enemy these days but right now guilt was her companion.

Starscream makes an odd noise that almost sounds like comforting, like a drawn out "Awww..." How odd considering that just a minute ago, he was the target of her rage. Now he attempted to care.Was that even possible? Can he care about anything other than himself? She doubted it and then realized it was his attempt at sarcasm but she is weekend by the strength of that surge and her body is now attempting to recover. It's all just been too much. Too many strikes in too short a time and now she's beat. Any attempt to attack them or defend herself right now would result in unconsciousness or getting squished just by pissing the wrong one of them off. Tina turns her face up slowly to meet the cold gaze of Starscream's red optics staring down at her. Standing up, she is only meagerly blocking Volt's fallen frame with her small, soft body. If she tries to run, they'll catch her. There is no where left to hide and no one else knows where they are right now. She now knows that she will have to surrender. If she, Volt and Doctor Tanaka are to make it out of here alive, she'll have to play Starscream's game and do what the demented 'Con does best. Lie, steal, cheat and swindle her way into and out of everything and somehow do so with only minimal damage to her own hide. Gulp

She has to become her worst enemy. Looking up at them all, with a burdened soul and a heavy conscious, she does not drop her head but raises it up defying her own fear. The next step she makes, steals her dignity but taking a painfully dry swallow she does what she knows she must. She kneels down on one knee and says three words that she knows she'll regret while raising both hands up to shoulder level, "Okay, You win." She looks up only to see that the smirk on Starscream's face is enough to cut her soul in half and drive her to more rage but now is not the time and here is not the place. She follows humbly only speaking up when the others get too rough with Volt's limp frame. "If you want me to continue to cooperate and not self terminate, you'll treat him with the respect that he would treat you with."

Starscream and Skywarp both give her a scathing look of distaste at her disresepect but at this point, she was so tortured by what she did, she may just self terminate. Starscream waves his hand to the others to do as she asked, he doesn't smirk this time.

"Where are they?" Optimus asks with nothing but concern in his voice.

"We don't know." Jazz stands with one hand on his chin and his optics narrowed in frustration. Bluestreak sits off to the side cycling through the transmission logs. "We lost them. Volt tried to transmit something but was abruptly cut off. We have no signal off of him, can't confirm any transmissions, it's like they disappeared off of the face of the planet." the white and dark blue mech slowly turns to Optimus with the utmost concern on his face. Volt and Tina are his friends. They wouldn't disappear unless something had happened. Something bad, real bad. Something that wears a purple badge and is always looking for the next great thing. Right now, that great thing is Tina. They've already tried taking her once and almost succeeded. Since that fateful day, they've probably created some sort of defense against her, meaning they would be able to snatch the girl if left unprotected.

Almost as if reading Jazz's mind, Optimus speaks up, breaking the silence,"I would bet a lot that the Decepticons are behind this. The next question is where could they have taken them?"

"I'll tell you," Both mechs turn in the direction of the voice that could answer them. Enigma stands with her mask up and her optics glowing a fierce dark red. No hiding her anger not now. The black femme walks into the room and taps on a panel below a monitor. Looking up at the screen she points to coordinates on the satellite image. "Oregon. Thats where they hide. In an old extinct volcano."

"But which one? Theres a ton." Jazz stares intently at the screen before him.

"ThatI don't know," the black femme shrugs."You'd have to ask Thundercracker but who knows where on Earth he is right now." She steps back a few feet and stares intently at the screens before them all. They all watch her carefully as she brings Oregon up on a satellite map. "Find the most remote on possible. Miles from any towns, heavily wooded and far from any curious hikers. Something off the beaten path. That's where you're going to find them. Starscream has always loved his private little lairs." She rolls her optics dramatically at the thought.

"They're more than likely using the girl as a weapon," Prowl says as he enters the room. The mech had managed to spot a modified Nissan 350Z and a California Highway patrol car at a traffic stop as soon as he was introduced to a human highway. He managed to scan both, creating an unusual hybrid between the two. A black and white japanese sports car with low profile lighting. He stood before them in the robot version of that configuration, exuding the confidence that seems to come naturally to all high ranking military commanders.

"Or they're using her as a power source." Enigma added dryly. The black femme, much like the others, never cared for Prowl's one sided view of everything and his inability to think outside of the box as Captain Lennox would joke about when talking about his bosses.

"I think she'd be better used as a weapon." Prowl says matter of factly.

"Well, Prowl," Enigma says with irritation dripping from her tone, hands on her hips and looking every bit an irritated femme, "I think I have more experience with Starscream's thought process than you. So I'm going to say, energy source now, weapon later; after he has a chance to experiment on her. Which is what we're trying to avoid." Enigma has never cared for Prowl, a feeling that is mutual. He has never trusted her origins, she'll never trust his lack of ability to think on the fly. Winging it, was not a skill the strategist was capable of accomplishing. Being a former Decepticon, she was a constant threat in his mind.

"Okay, you two. Lets all think about the possibilities of Starscream's next move." Optimus says calmly moving between them both. "Enigma, do you think you can find Thundercracker?"

"Yes. I think I may know where he his." She answers him calmly and less standoffish.

"Good. Please, find him as soon as possible."

Enigma nods respectfully and turns to leave, feeling Prowl's stare upon her, she glares back at him with angry red optics, attempting to burn holes into his armor as she exits.

"Jazz, Prowl, lets use every resource we have in the meantime to find them, please. Blue Streak, keep monitoring the transmissions just incase you get something." Optimus says to them all as he too turns to exit. His two highest ranking officers nodding and sitting down to figure out exactly how to find them, their best gunner doing his best to locate their last transmission.

Whatever was in that sedative that Frenzy had given her, it's long term effects were proving to be just as strong as it's initial effect. Tina's head was spinning and swimming all at once. She found it hard to focus on anything in particular and the sounds around her were indistinguishable from anything she could recognize. To add insult in injury, her lack of concentration made her feel as if every single object in her surroundings was oddly fascinating and hilarious at the same time.

It's hard to deal with reality if one is waking up from a sedative induced slumber with such after effects as mentioned before only to find themselves strapped down to what appears to be a metal table in an underground lair of some sort, surrounded by alien computer equipment.

"Oh my god," She giggles to herself," this is just too cliche." Tina looks round, bending her head at any angle she possibly can to make out the room she is in; a hard task considering her still drugged state. Staring upside down at the wall behind her, she feels the presence of someone else in the room. Tina lowers and turns her head back to her right causing her vision to waver and blurr, making her feel dizzy. "Oh whoa. Note to self, slow down." followed by more giggles. She sees Dr. Tanaka hastily walking towards her with some sort of massive laptop like device in his hands.

"Hey, Doc..." She says in a slightly slurred voice, waving her right hand weakly from where it is clamped down to the table beneath her. "What's with the Frankenstein Lair?"

"Tina, you're awake!" Dr. Tanaka drops the massive laptop down on the floor next to the metal table that she's on and rushes to her side and stops to check her pulse and pupils. He leans in close to her and studies her intently before frowning and taking a step backwards. "I see the after effects are still lingering." He says as he rubs his chin.

"Oh so that wasn't all some weird dream. Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick." Tina lurches as far forwards as the straps on the table will allow before collapsing back onto the cool metal, breathing heavily. A small bead of sweat trails down her forehead. "I'm so dizzy."

Dr. Tanaka rests a hand on her forehead checking her temperature and attempting to calm her. He watches as her hands begin to tremble, yet another side effect of the sedative. There's noting he can do to help her right now. There are no supplies for him to work with or at least none that they've told him about. He wishes he had the ability to get her the hell away from here. Unfortunately the only one of the three of them who has the closest chance of getting her out of there is locked away somewhere inside of the Decepticon's large underground base and he has no idea how he'd break Volt out even if he knew where the Autobot was. Tina would have the greatest chance of saving Volt but she isn't physically capable at the moment. Well, or mentally for that matter either. Plus, should any of them try to even escape, one of them will be killed quite painfully. When Starscream threatened him and explained his strange web of torture should he, Tina or Volt try anything, be it escape or to fight, he believed him.

"Oh, I see she's finally awake." Dr. Tanaka looks up from the metal table to see that Starscream has entered the room. The current Decepticon leader is actually not smirking for once as he studies the prone and immobilized Tina on the table. He presses a button on one of the computer keyboards and the straps hiss and pop as they release Tina and allow her to move.

Tohiro helps her sit up since she appeared to be struggling to do so.

"How long has she been awake?" Starscream asks inquisitively.

"About 5 minutes." Dr. Tanaka glares up at the giant robot. Angry and annoyed at he and Tina's current predicament.

"Will she survive without you in the room?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean," The Doctor growls back.

Starscream makes a sound that sounds not too much unlike that of a human drawing a deep breath in between clenched teeth before narrowing his gaze at Dr. Tanaka. "Not that I see any point in answering your request, but will she be 'Okay'? Or is she having too many adverse effects from the tranquilizer and may need your assistance?" Starscream looks her over as if he is scanning her. "Tina and I need to talk. Alone."

Doctor Tanaka looks back at Tina who nods assuringly at him. "I'll be alright, 'Hiro. Go. He's not going to do anything to me."

Starscream raises an optic ridge out of surprise at her assuredness to which she only gives him a smirk that is almost as cocky as the very one he is known for. Concerned but seeing how sure she is of her current safety, the doctor nods and gives her a caring pat on her shoulder. Both Tina and Starscream watch as the doctor leaves the room, only looking back once to make sure she is still okay. She smiles at him. Neither she nor Starscream speak for a moment after the door closes behind Dr. Tanaka. Tina then breaks the silence with a irritated sigh and a glare while sitting up and crossing her arms.

"What the hell did you bring me here for? You might as well tell me what kind of twisted experiment you're going to be using me in. I know you used to be a Scientist so I can only guess... hm.. lets see." She starts to lower a finger on her left hand with each guess,"Dismemberment is out of the question. I don't want to be a robot, I enjoy being a human so you can forget that one. Weapon or energy source, Starscream? Entertain me." She sets her jaw, her eyes narrowed in irritation.

"So sure of that are you?" He asks with a snicker. This human is one of the most interesting he's come across. Actually, she is the only interesting one of her kind he has come across.Being a rather fragile race, the humans are usually scared to death of them which they should be since the Decepticons would be more than happy to utterly destroy the wretched race of bacteria infected and disease ridden, soft, easily squished, carbon lifeforms which appears to spread more like a virus than intelligent life. But this human, this Tina girl, is a fighter. So sure of herself. It's probably her physiology that has made her uncannily cocky towards him. She almost reminds him of some of the femmes that used to be on Cybertron millions of years ago. Physically weaker than her male human counterparts, she will still find a way to fight to the death or victory regardless of the odds against her and she'll stand up to just about any threat, no matter how large.

"I am. You haven't answered me." She continues to give him an icy glare.

Now she's getting demanding. Interesting. "I want you to listen carefully. Yes. You will be experimented on. It will be very painful, I promise you that. It's just part of the process. I would never consider," He grimaces at the very thought as the words escape his vocal circuits," turning you into a robot or anything close to one. While skilled and gifted, you human, are not worthy of what we are." He smiles as she glares at him, he continues on." But I'm not going to tell you what my goals are for you. I'll let you figure it out as we go along.

"Now for what I expect of you. You will not try to escape. You will not try to incapacitate me or any of the other Decepticons. If you do, your friends will pay. Dr. Tanaka and the Autobot Volt." He pauses to watch her expression as she thinks about what he has just told her.

"I want to see Volt." She hisses at him.

He chuckles at her again, "Of course you do." He points to one of the monitors on the wall which shows Volt sitting inside of some sort of energy cell. The blue mech looks forlorn and sad in the cell. "See? He's fine."

"You bastard, if you..."

"What, Tina? Hurt him. Such a predictable statement. You humans are all the same with your words. Words backed up by nothing." He crosses his hands over his chest and stares her down, no smirk this time." Like I said, should you decide to retaliate, one of them, either the Doctor or the Autobot, will be punished. If that isn't enough," Starscream looks over to the monitor again as another picture appears. This time the picture is a scene she hasn't seen in ages. She watches as the monitor cycles through scene after scene of all too familiar places. "we may have to pay a surprise visit to your aunt and uncle back home in Maryland. Or even better yet, your brothers. An unfortunate accident..."

The color drains from Tina's face as she stares at the screens in shock. "You son of a bitch!" A tear rolls down her cheek as more pictures of her family's everyday life play out before her on the screen in a slide show.

"These pictures were taken this morning by one of the cassettes that you haven't had the pleasure of meeting. I just want you to see how serious I am, human. We'll talk later. I'll let you enjoy the family photos for now." Taking one last glance at the angered girl he feels rather pleased with himself.

Tina watches Starscream turn to leave and she imagines him blowing up over and over again until the doors close behind him and she is all alone in the room. She knows that there has to be cameras somewhere in the room and she doesn't want to give that bastard the joy of seeing her cry. She chokes back her tears and fights the urge to scream and kick anything. Shaking on the table she only balls up her fists and holds them stiffly under her chin. She looks up as the door opens and Dr. Tanaka walks in.

"They're like the friggin' Mafia, 'Hiro." She points to the screen.

Dr. Tanaka looks up at the monitors and shakes his head as she tells him what Starscream told her. Dr. Tanaka gives her a hug and tells her, "No, they're too advanced to be the Mafia, 'Teen. They're more like Yakuza." Tina can't help but start laughing at his comment. Her laughter dies down to a sigh as she again thinks of how trapped they are.

"Damn it. Like a rat in a maze with no incentive at the end. No cheese. No snacks to nibble on. I'm screwed." She pulls her knees up to her chin and rests her arms on them.

"Tina, it may take a while but we'll figure out a way to get out of here. All of us."

The two exchange weak smiles as they watch the replay of the images on the screen...