Chapter 14: Quietus
(Latin: something that serves to suppress, check, or eliminate; release from life; a final discharge, as of a duty or debt)
AN: Short and sweet (ehehehe) and necessary. Sorry, guys – next one'll be longer.
I've gotten lots of reviewers wondering when/if Sideswipe knows about her torture. And if Ratchet knows. Don't worry – I have it all planned out, and some stuff is happening within the next… 5? chapters. Sunstreaker will be getting his. For sure. In... not all that long. Until then, rest assured I have it under control.
–shifty eyes– You guys actually believe I have this group of trouble-makers under control, right? How gullible are you guys?
Haa… just kidding (mostly…) Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Terms: NoBEL-one – Sunstreaker
Jace
The man in front of the light lifted something to his lips. Jace squinted in the harsh light, smelling the coffee. Or was he hallucinating the coffee smell?
No, he wasn't.
"Well? Will you listen to my proposition, Jace Wells?"
He stepped forwards one step, hand still clenched. "What is this proposition of yours, Q?" he sneered, nearly gaping at this overly dramatic man.
What started out as a clenched fist tightened dramatically when the man chuckled again. If he tightened his fist much more, his nails were going to cut into his skin.
The tall man swirled his cup in one hand, other hand in his pocket. He looked relaxed and lazy.
"When you hacked into the government's files, you found Mission City data – images, videos, and sound-bytes. Along with fan websites, removed content from YouTube, and conspiracy pages. But where did this idea of car-turning-robot conspiracy idea stem from?"
Jace's eyes flared wide then narrowed drastically. He stayed silent.
The man took a step forwards. "Alexandra Wells. Your younger sister."
Jace's eyes narrowed into thin slits, fists coming up, still tightly clenched. "What did you do with my family, you bastard?"
A lazy hand was waved, coffee still in grip. "Oh, nothing too awful. The usual."
Then Q moved, only a few steps, but to Jace's light-blinded eyes, he disappeared.
"Right this way, Jace."
Pretentious bastard. Flashy, showy tricks. Pointless. Jace blew out a breath, and grit his teeth. This was probably not going to end well.
Why had he just done computer hacking and not taken any physical courses? Then again, he could just pop this Q one in the face if he got too annoying. And then he'd end up back in the cell, with less chance of escaping and helping his family.
He followed after a moment, squinting in the sudden light hitting his eyes. His dislike for this guy was creeping up, making him cautiously move into the room. Q had imprisoned him for however long, and had had his family taken as well.
"Please, sit."
Q was already sitting in one of the soft leather chairs around a small coffee table. There was a stack of brown manila envelopes on the table, and the walls were pale blue with dark wood accenting. Q looked relaxed and calm, the epitome of cool and collected. The dark haired man sipped his coffee, and then gestured with the cup to the other chair.
He got his first good look at the other man. Tall, slim and pale. Dark hair. Old eyes; eyes that hinted at madness and brilliance in equal volumes. He looked vaguely familiar, but in a generic good-looking guy sort of way. He didn't know where he'd seen the man before, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling he knew him.
Jace moved and sat down carefully, like the chair would rise up with leather shackles and metal cuffs and trap him down. It was soft.
"Get to the point," he growled out, fingers tight.
Q blithely ignored him, taking a sip from his coffee. "Your sister. Involved in an incident a year and four months ago in which she was permanently scarred, and blinded."
Jace stood up. "Put me bac-"
"And now she's been kidnapped by those self-same aliens and is currently being tortured and held hostage by them."
He was instantly silenced; listening intently. The young hacker sat back down.
"Tortured?" His voice broke half-way through.
Q nodded once, eyes intent on his own.
"What's your proposition?" Jace questioned. 'Lex was being tortured and held as a hostage? When had this happened? Why did they want her?
"My men got the information only hours before the planned raid on your house. We barely managed to get your family out before this happened."
He slipped an envelope that had been sitting on the coffee table over to Jace, who took it slowly. The computer hacker flipped it open and pulled out a sheaf of glossy eight by eleven photos. His face tightened and his eyes narrowed at the pictures. Some were taken above the house, detailing a silver Corvette waiting at the curb. Twelve other photos were of the same car, with different dates. Each about a month later. The same silver Corvette was sitting outside the house.
He had seen that silver Corvette in later government data.
Glancing at the next photo, he sharpened his gaze. A black GMC Topkick truck – the next was of a black alien, eyes gleaming bright blue.
Q leaned back in his chair, coffee cup curled in both hands. Jace flipped through the photos swiftly - he'd seen them all before in his hacking.
Jace laid the photos out on the table quickly, inspecting the next one. An alien robot with red eyes. A red and blue Peterbilt. An oddly painted jet. An Audi R8, silver paint gleaming in the light. The Peterbilt, mid-transformation, in a hangar bay somewhere, with military men around it.
A small alien, pincers deep into a human. He shuddered, and looked at the next one swiftly.
A smoking pod in the ground, with the next photo of a brilliant yellow Lamborghini. He whistled through his teeth when he saw that one – damn, the aliens came in fancy cars. This was the first he'd seen of a yellow Lambo.
He looked up at Q, hands still splayed on the photos. These looked really precise for photoshopping, and his gut was telling him that these photos were real.
"I've seen all these – you have anything new for me?"
Q quirked an eyebrow. "All of them?"
Jace stared him down. "All except the yellow Lamborghini and the pod. They happened too recently."
"I expected nothing less from you, Jace Wells."
"Yeah, yeah. Where is she?"
Q set his coffee cup down; the exotic smell of ground beans wafting in the air between them.
"My men have been working to triangulate her position, but is almost impossible. This is where you come in."
Q steepled his fingers. "I need you on my team, Jace Wells."
Jace leaned backwards, arms crossed across his chest.
The thin man continued. "From what I can tell, one of them – most probably, the yellow Lamborghini and the silver Corvette – have an interest in your sister, and have taken steps to detain her. We managed to remove the rest of your family, but the yellow Lamborghini – we call it NoBEL-one – made it into our facility and took your sister."
He slipped another envelope across the table. "Be warned – these photos are a bit more…gruesome."
Jace nodded, and opened the envelope, pulling out another thick sheaf of photos. Immediately, his stomach churned.
Alex, eyes closed and purple-tinted blood streaked down her face. Her eye was swollen and purplish-blue. Her shirt was gone, but that wasn't the part that had Jace fixated. The yellow robot alien had her clenched in its fist, other fist blasting bolts of blue. A snarl was fixated on its face, and it's eyes gleamed a demonic blue. Scientists were coated in red blood, liberally smeared. Some were flung against the wall, and draped carelessly at the base of the wall like broken dolls. One man was bent literally in half; his knees were touching the back of his head. The other photos were more of the same, indicating that it wasn't photoshopped. Not so many shots detailing the same thing, with the same robot, transforming into a Lamborghini and roaring off with his sister, lying in the front seat. Blood liberally streaked the windows in grotesque patterns.
Jace swallowed. This alien had his sister?
"Why did they want 'Lex?" he asked, not looking at the photos.
Q shrugged ever so slightly, before leaning forwards again, folding his fingers under his chin. "What my tech team and research teams have been able to decipher is that they want her because of an odd energy she has been broadcasting. We were barely able to intercept your family before, but we failed in regards to your sister.
"I want your help in taking down these monsters. She isn't the only person they've done this to – we need you. You're one of the most talented I've seen at hacking."
Jace glanced down at the photos again and felt his stomach roil. They'd do this for an energy signal?
"Why have I been kept in a cell then?" Jace questioned, leaning forwards and eyeing Q.
The thin man shrugged, arms laid out on the rests of the chair. "I needed to make sure that you were the right type of person for my organization."
An eyebrow was raised by Jace.
"I was kept in a locked room, and guarded, for two weeks because you wanted to test me? Seems rather extreme."
"These are an extreme threat. I need to make sure I can rely on the people in my teams."
"And my family? How have they been treated?"
Q smiled, a smile filled with cunning and frightening in its benign appearance. "See for yourself."
He swivelled the chair around, and stood up.
Jace stood up, and followed the slender man out of the room, and down a different hall. Q opened a door, and motioned Jace in.
He walked in, almost expecting the door to slam shut behind him, trapping him inside. The door didn't shut. His mother leapt up, beaming at him.
"Jace!"
The hacker grinned at his mom, giving her a massive hug. "You're okay!"
She laughed. "Of course, thanks to those government men – they saved us! Our house was destroyed, don't you know. Have you seen Alex lately?"
He blinked, and then smiled. Mom was exactly the same as she always was, jumping from subject to subject – easily excited and highly optimistic.
She called into the other room, her red-tinted hair bouncing softly around her shoulders as she dragged him with her, hanging on to his sleeve. "George! Jace is here!"
"How are you, Mom?" he asked, giving her another hug. After seeing those pictures of 'Lex, bloody and unconscious, it was good to see his mother safe and sound.
She smiled at him, and his father came into the room. They talked for a while, relief filling Jace.
Jace moved out of the room after a few hours, reassured that his parents were fine and safe. The time had flown by. They didn't know anything about 'Lex, but they had been kept safe for the two weeks they had been here. They had been told that it was for their own safety that they had been removed so fast. Macy was in the room with them, tail wagging and brown eyes sparkling warmly. He had ruffled her ears.
He needed to find out more – curiosity was driving him. Something that he had been chasing after for over a year was finally within his grasp. And the idea that he could understand the whole thing was irresistible. He was going to do it – and get his little sister back.
It wasn't like he trusted Q, but he was going to do this – it was the most he could do to help his little sister, so he would do it. No matter what it took, he'd get her back.
Not to mention that his family was still technically hostages – he'd probably have to do their bidding either way. This way, they'd trust him more. It was all still part of Q's plan.
Q was waiting back in the blue room, another mug of coffee steaming in his hand.
Jace sat down across from him.
"Prove it to me."
"Prove what?" Q asked, taking a small sip of coffee.
"Prove you're a government agent. Prove you are on the level with me."
"Of course."
He pulled out a different black wallet. The dark haired man handed it over to Jace. His fingers slipped on the matte black case, nearly dropping it. When he flipped it open, the gold of a government badge glinted at him.
Sector Seven. Strange. He flicked a glance up at the thin man.
"What is Sector Seven?"
Q shrugged. "A secret government sector based on detecting and neutralizing alien threats to the United States of America. I am the head of that organization."
"What would I be doing?"
"Helping triangulate the alien's location, and gaining as much information about them to help us take them down, permanently. These aliens are a threat to humanity – their whole purpose here is to use us. That is why we need to stop them."
"So, what's in the deal for me?"
There was a sharp gleam in dark eyes. "Your parents will be set up with a very nice home, and new jobs. They will have to relocate, and might have to again if the aliens discover them to use as leverage against Alexandra."
Jace leaned forwards again. "What are they going to be told about 'Lex?"
Q breathed out through his nose, and inhaled again before starting. "As you probably know, the existence of giant alien robots that transform into cars is an international secret that you happened to come across. So they will not be told the truth, for their own safety. However, my people have created a story that incorporates part of the truth – in which your sister is in witness protection for something that happened in the café a year and four months ago, that was hidden as a gas leak. Now, it has caught up to her and it was no longer safe. So she is in witness protection."
Jace nodded. "And me?"
"You have a new job – out of state. You felt it was time to start somewhere else." Q quirked an eyebrow. "Simple, and easy."
The blond hacker nodded again.
"And when we rescue 'Lex?"
Q smirked. "I'm sure something can be arranged. They will have to be told another story when we get her back."
Jace spoke. "Where is the new house? Their jobs?"
Q pulled a thick folder from the side of the chair. "Here – the information is all ready."
The hacker checked out the folder, examining the papers. Their new house was in a different city in the state of Nevada, and his dad's job was quite similar to what it had been before. Same level of a business, owned by Sector Seven.
"My parents will be in no danger?"
Q sipped his coffee. "I can't make any guarantees, but we will do our best to watch over them and keep them safe."
The young hacker nodded.
As Jace finished the folder, Q handed him a two inch thick binder. "In here is your contract. One year, to start with – but I think you'll find you don't want to leave. Secrets of the nation? Who could resist?"
The hacker flipped open the binder, and was silent for a few minutes, before speaking.
"If I don't want to?"
"Then we let you and your family go, set you up in a new house, and disappear."
Jace nodded. "Seems fair."
He couldn't help but doubt Q was really being completely honest with him, but he knew that if he wanted to even get closer to where 'Lex was, he'd need some help. And power. Q held both – and he knew it.
He looked through the binder some more, and then closed it, holding it in his lap.
"I'm going to need more time to look through this. Would you be able to tell me what type of system I'd be working with?"
Q smiled. "We have various systems working in different locations around the world. I'm sure we can find something that fit your tastes, Jace."
He'd do it. If it meant that he could save Alex from the aliens who were torturing her, he'd definitely do it. He needed to save his little sister.
Before it was too late.
The hacker looked up, nonchalantly speaking. "Have you found out anything more about the invisible aliens?"
Q stilled, and then set his coffee cup down carefully. "Invisible. How do you mean, 'invisible'?"
Jace expanded on his knowledge. "As in, able to see physically, but not through infra-red scanners. Physically, if that was a human, their heat would have been through the whole body, strongest in the center of their body – and what heat they did have was focused in their fingers. Which was beyond bizarre."
"Hm. And it was a person?"
"Yeah, the doctor for 'Lex when she was in the hospital a year and four months ago. He was the one to fix her up. He called himself 'Doctor Ratch'."
A smirk curled Q's lips. " Doctor Ratch. Cute."
Jace looked deeply at the other man. "You know it?"
Q inclined his head, tilting it slightly to the side as he examined the cup. "You might say that. Do you have any images or video of this?"
Jace nodded. "I have the data locked on my computer, secured so that no one else can access it," he said, shooting Q a hard look. It was almost inevitable that Q would have had people trying to crack his computer since the beginning. Hopefully they had only gotten through the preliminary firewalls, but it would have taken him months to crack his own computer, unless one knew the way in.
Q had the guts to smirk at him. "Yes, your firewalls are quite impressive. I'm hoping you can work on upgrading our own, once you've signed the documents. Once you have, I can let you get started work."
Jace nodded. "Give me a few more hours to go through the papers, and then I'll get started with whatever you want."
He stood up.
Q smiled and offered his hand. "Already, I can see I've made a great choice – welcome to the team, Jace Wells. Or do you prefer Scientia?"
The hacker stilled a little in moving towards the door, before moving outside the door. "Scientia does sound pretty cool, but I think I'll stick to Jace."
"A wise choice." He could almost see the leader of Sector Seven's eyes gleaming at him from behind the coffee cup as he turned away, gaze hot and piercing into his back.
Alex
Diego Garcia was big. And hot. And weird-feeling.
So far, all I'd done involved sitting in a small room, after being flown here in a massive plane. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had bickered the whole way here, mostly Sunstreaker bemoaning about the state of his paint, and Sideswipe grumbling about being tied down. There was something about how he couldn't feel his toes. Sunstreaker had smacked him for being an idiot, mumbling that he didn't have toes.
It had been hot and dirty when we landed, dust blowing into my face. It was much like Nevada.
I coughed once, feeling dizzy as I did so.
Gripping my sweater tightly in both hands, I curled into a small space. I was in the med-bay right now, listening to Ratchet mutter and make metal clatter. Some alien named Ironhide was in the med-bay right now, getting his physical. From what I could make out of Ratchet's muttering and wrench-banging, this Ironhide had lost a leg or something like that, and he was getting it checked out. Ratchet was annoyed because the alien had been an idiot and gone out, wrecking some of the wires underneath the metal.
It was amazing how easily they were repaired compared to humans – if we lost a leg, that was it. Or an eye. Or both. Humans noticed the loss right away.
From what Ironhide was saying, it sounded like losing limbs was quite commonplace. Ratchet had a different story – about how all the aliens in his care were idiots.
Ratchet was amusing to listen to.
A few hours passed. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were leaving me alone – I didn't want any company. I was leaving their bond open, and that was it.
I didn't owe them anything else. I wasn't scared, per say, but I didn't have to trust them.
There was a voice over the base's internal communication system. "This is Lennox – all personnel to the main hangar, immediately."
Idly, I wondered if that meant me too. I wasn't personnel, was I? I didn't really contribute anything other than mental bond space. So he didn't mean me, I wasn't military.
I curled up tighter, until Ratchet's voice intruded. "Alex, come out."
"Why?" I asked, arms tightening around my knees.
"To make sure that everyone made it. And talk to Optimus."
I crawled out, and Ratchet lifted me up. It was sort of comforting; being in a warm metal shell that I knew would catch me if I fell.
I trusted the medical officer. He'd knocked me out with blunt trauma force and scanned me, because I was not going back into Sideswipe's mind. I didn't trust those two.
Just until the bond was fixed. Then I would be gone.
They still needed to keep their part of the bargain. They needed to find my family.
Ratchet turned, keeping me safe in his palm.
He kept me in his palm, even when he stopped moving. I appreciated it. If I was on the ground, I'd probably just curl up into a little ball – it was scary in the middle of a room. Then he set me down and I heard the transformation noise.
"Get in, Alex."
I moved towards his voice, feeling with my fingers. Warm metal was underneath them, and I pulled myself into the cab. I could feel both of the twins in the large room, but ignored it.
"Ratchet, why are you not… you know, you?"
There was a long, gutsy sigh that seemed to come from all around and the chair I was sitting on shivered. "Some of the humans… are not as accepting as we would have hoped. Although this was expected."
I snorted. "Some of them had the same experiences as me, huh?"
Ratchet paused. "Some have had worse."
Even though I couldn't see, I lowered my eyes. Instinct. "How?"
"The Decepticons are not like us. They have no care for human lives."
Like Sunstreaker had really cared what I thought. "That's no worse than what happened to me."
The seat under me shifted a little bit, and he seemed about to speak, when he stiffened again. "Colonel Lennox is speaking."
One of the windows rolled down, and I heard all the noise in the hangar rush into the vehicle.
Loud noises and sounds bombarded my ears, completely ruining any sense of equilibrium I had. I had no idea where walls or anything was – the room was too large to know where anything was because of the sound echoing off every surface.
The clanging of metal caught my ears, and a strong voice started speaking. It sounded human.
"I'm Colonel Lennox, of NEST. Welcome to Diego Garcia, which is the first base created for the purpose of humans working with Autobots."
What was an Autobot? For that matter, what was a Decepticon? I knew I had heard the terms before, but I only had a faint idea what they were.
"Now, we're going to break into squads to continue working with the 'bots. Those in Squad Seven, Nine and Fifteen, I need to speak to all of you ASAP.
"For now, that will be all."
That was it? What a short meeting. His voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.
Ratchet chuckled, most likely guessing my thought process.
"Lennox is a man of few words."
I nodded, and sat on my cold fingers. Despite the heat in the air, my fingers were cold. They were always cold.
A thin shiver in the air made me even colder – what was up with the air here? I could feel something. I wanted to figure out what I was feeling.
There was a thin pain crackling over my skin, and then the seat warmed up.
My head pounded, and my stomach churned heavily.
I was still wondering where I had heard Lennox's voice before.
It came to me suddenly, with a flash of remembered pain and hospital smells.
"I'm with the local police force, I'm Captain Lennox. Can I speak privately to you for a minute?"
I had met him long ago – back in the hospital. Which just proved that I really wasn't crazy – this was all interconnected. Along with… I smiled a little bit.
"You were the doctor. I mean, I knew it was you, but now I really get it. You've been watching me all along."
The seat shifted a bit, but didn't relent on the delicious warmth hitting my fingers.
"I've not been the only one."
Sideswipe. Another shiver over my skin; I felt tingly and itchy.
"But you are the one I trust the most," I said, the slightest of smiles hinting at my lips. I didn't have to trust the other two, but I didn't fear them. Well, I was scared of Sunstreaker. I'd have to be suicidal to not be scared. The only one who wasn't scared was Sideswipe, and that was probably just because he was the same size as the homicidal twin and had been around him for who-knows-how-long.
Even though Sideswipe and Sunstreaker wanted me to not be scared of them, it was impossible when I thought of Sunstreaker's torture.
I was not going to commit suicide, or die in some pathetic manner, but I wasn't going to help them if I could help it. I was going to be the conduit because I had made a deal with them to save my family. And when Ratchet figured out how to fix the bond, I was done. I would go back home. And they would be fine.
My head throbbed again, pounding in agonizing bursts. It was getting worse.
Ratchet drove out of the hangar, and let me out.
"To your right is your new room."
I smiled and nodded once, shuffling out of the cab and moving to the right.
"Alex, I will pick you up later this evening to scan you again. Do you want Si-"
"No," I cut him off. "I'll take being unconscious this time."
"Very well," he said, after a slight pause. I moved to the right.
I could feel my fingers touch cold metal, and then the knob of the door. I opened it carefully, and moved into the room. After I closed the door, I heard Ratchet drive away.
I listened at the door, feeling for rumbles in the floor indicating people or aliens. Nothing.
Time to figure out that weird, crawly feeling over my skin.
I needed to figure out what I was dealing with here – if it wasn't the twins, what was it?
Slipping the door open, I took a deep breath.
I must still be feeling suicidal. Wandering around a military base filled with giant metal aliens. I was going to get squished. Fantastic.
In the very back of my mind, I could feel Sideswipe. He felt almost concerned, and slightly amused.
Eh, he'd survive. I was on a mission – find the odd feeling.
It was almost like something was leading me, a faint tugging sensation on my hands and behind my eyes.
I hadn't passed any other people or aliens in my trek, which was really odd for a military based stuffed full of them. But I'd take it.
I walked down the hall, pulled by the urging that had gotten stronger and stronger the further I walked. My body had started burning; aching. But I couldn't stop – I needed to find it, needed it.
::Alex, where are you going?:: Sideswipe sounded curious.
I ignored him.
::Alex?::
::Let me explore in peace, Sideswipe,:: I growled.
He relented. ::Okay, but…be careful, Alex.::
The wall was cold beneath my fingers. Suddenly, the odd feeling disappeared; my stomach was burning.
Here, it's here, I'm here.
A pounding throbbed in my head, erasing the world around me.
Here.
My heart raced, pounding faster than before, reaching new speeds. I breathed out fast, sucking in another breath frantically.
Here.
I stood still, and then curled down into a ball. Closer, I was almost there.
Now. I placed my hands against the ground, breathing out deeply and trying to calm my heart.
My eyes throbbed, pain streaking through my head. Inhaling deeply, my eyes opened wide.
There was a bang in my mind, a heavy sound.
::Alex!:: Sideswipe cried.
Pain washed over my arms and legs.
My body convulsed once, and then the pounding in my head reached a crescendo, before blanking into a bright white light.
It is time. Here. Now.
I blacked out, the calls of the twins echoing in my ears, seeing white flashes.
AN: So, anyone else think Q is hilarious? I actually really like my drama-queen evil guy. :) He's so much fun to write – all dramatics and flair and show. Hehe.
Can't deny he knows how to twist words though.
So… what happened to Alex? Gasp! She's blacked out, again, for Primus-sakes! Can't the girl stay awake for more than a chapter?