C14

I hit the ground hard, but it was soft, somehow nearly comfortable. I looked around. Grass, trees, bushes. A clearing. I was in a forest. Wherever this forest was. My head hurt, I was bleeding but my body already was healing itself.

"Quite a crashlanding, Jane."

I looked up. "You? But... Why?"

The smiling face in front of me was a high contrast to the weapon pointed at me. I wished I had help. I wished I had Miko with me. Miko, she wouldn't stare back at him, she would fight. But I couldn't. I was unable to fight him. I knew I wasn't allowed to, but I had something like feelings for him.

XXX

Miko was teared out of her sleep. How long has she been sleeping? She got up and ran back to the Bots.

"Have you heard that?" She asked.

"Heard what?" Asked Jack.

"That blaster fire, dumphead! Don't tell me you haven't heard it!"

"Miko, there was no blaster fire."

"What? But... I heard it, I felt it, I..." She stopped and continued very calm. "I felt it. It wasn't here, it was with her. Jane."

"Okay, stop. What?!"

"I don't know. I was sleeping, but somehow, I felt fear. There was a strong smell of grass and blaster fire."

"It's your connection, Jane must have tried to contact you."

"But why isn't her signal on the screen then?" Bulkhead asked.

"It must be scrambled. I mean, someone is with her, someone who was shooting and I can only think of..."

Jack interrupted Miko.

"No, no way. It's not the Cons. It's someone else."

"And why are you that sure about it?"

"I am not sure. I just don't want it to be like that."

Miko turned to Optimus and wanted to ask something, but then she heard a voice in her head and there was the strong feeling of fear again.

"Aahhh!" She held her head and sank to the ground.

"I am sorry, Miko." She heard in her head.

"Jane, where are you? What are you doing?"

The Bots couldn't believe what she just had said. Of course they couldn't hear me inside her a head.

"Allow me to show you."

"Show me."

Jack stared at Miko. He was just fast enough to catch her slipping body before her head hit the ground. Miko was unconscious.

"Well, let's hope she will wake up with some information." He said.

XXX

It took eight hours but finally, Miko woke up again. She was in the back again but this time, she was not alone.

"Welcome back." Jack smiled at her.

"How long..."

"Nearly eight hours. Bulkhead doesn't stop worrying since the last three."

"Then we better tell him to stop." Miko smiled.

"Good. Do you know anything...?"

"Yes. And you won't like it."

Jack helped her out of the bed and together they went into the main hall where Bulkhead and Arcee were in a deep argument.

"She is somewhere out there, alive. We can not give up." Bulkhead stated.

"No one is talking about giving up, but without a trace..." Arcee replied. She wasn't able to finish the sentence.

"We have a trace. A pretty clear one, too." Miko called.

It was now that they recognised her.

"Miko, what news do you have?" Optimus asked.

"Betrayal. A soldier. I know I have seen his face before, but I can't remember his name. There was something dark, something familiar, but it's definitely not the Cons. And there is fear. Jane is scared of something, nearly terrified, but I can't tell what it is." She said.

"Well, that's at least more than we had before. Let's tell Agent Fowler about it, maybe he can find out more." Bulkhead said but the proximity sensor already sounded, telling Agent Fowler's arrival.

Ratchet quickly looked at the monitor. "He is not alone." He stated.

But it was only Agent Fowler who left the elevator.

"Prime, any news? Colonel Brice is going crazy, he even thought I might need assistance managing this alliance." He called.

"Assistance?" Optimus asked and Agent Fowler turned around to open the elevator.

Miko grabbed Jack and Raf's arms and pulled them back. "Evil. I can feel it."

The boys smiled at Agent Clark. They had seen him before, as Miko had. But the girl backed off, stepped away from him.

"Miko, what's going on with you?" Arcee asked.

"I told you that I know the face, it was him! He knows where Jane is!"

"That's ridiculous, Miko. Jane trusts him." Jack said, ignoring her fear.

"Someone tell me what's going on?!" Agent Fowler demanded.

"Didn't you listen? He knows where Jane is!" Miko yelled.

"Impossible."

"Oh, no. She is right." Agent Clark smiled evilly. "And I am only here to deliver two messages."

The team stared at him. The man I had trusted, a soldier, a traitor.

June and Agent Fowler had stepped in front of the boys, the Bots armed their weapons and Miko got ready to fight.

"You will never find her if you shoot me." Agent Clark said and throw a USB flash-drive out of his pocket. It made it half way to Agent Fowler and slid over the floor. "Oh, and speaking of it." He had pulled the blaster out of nowhere. Within a second he had armed at his target and fired. The green glowing bullet stroke into Miko's shoulder, pushing her backwards. Things got to worse. She crashed into the railing and lost balance.

Miko landed on a glowing blue matter and jumped up immediately. But she only made two steps before she hit the ground again.

Agent Clark had used the second of chaos to escape, leaving the flash-drive.

"Miko, are you alright?" Jack needed a second to realise what had happened.

The girl didn't move.

June rushed down the stairs, followed by Agent Fowler, while Jack stared down at them and Raf picked the flash-drive up and connected it to his laptop.

Miko had been injured.

"I have hever seen this before." June said and stepped aside so Arcee could pick the girl up and Ratchet had a look. But Arcee could already tell by the second she touched Miko's body.

"It's Tox-En." She said.

Ratched stabilised Miko's condition, but couldn't do much for her.

"I could do more damage if I remove it. On the other hand, it might weaken her to death if not." He stated.

June was about to give her statement when Raf interrupted them.

"Uhm, guys..."

He projected his desktop onto the big monitor. It was black, with a small triangle in the middle. Raf pressed play and a video started.

"You might be wondering where your precious weapon went. Well, here is your answer." It was unmistakably Silas's voice. The black screen faded to show a silhouette, obviously exhausted, blind-folded and chained to a wall.

"No..." Jack's eyes widened as he saw me like this.

I was helpless, exhausted, terrified, too weak to fight.

"Now as you already might have noticed that your cybertronian Tox-En is a serious threat to your two precious weapons, you might wonder what I want." Silas voice sounded again. "It is easy, we already have what we want. We have her. But she doesn't want to do as I say. Fortunately, she cares deeply about one of yours. So this is a warning to you, Jackson Darby. You better hope that your little girlfriend here brakes. Otherwise, we will come for you."

The video stopped.

Unbelieving, Jack stared at the now black monitor.

"Arcee, you will not leave Jack's side till this is over. Bumblebee, it's the same for you and Raf. Bulkhead, as Miko will not require your guardiance at the moment, you will protect June. Don't leave them alone at any time."

"Understood." The guardians nodded.

"Uhm, Optimus, when Agent Clark is a MECH soldier... Then this location might already be revealed to Silas." Raf mentioned.

"I am aware. But saving Miko and Jane must be our priority." Optimus answered.