After some time I came round again. My head hurt badly. Pistol whips are very dangerous. People think it only knocks people out like in the movies. But hit the right part of the head and you kill that person. It doesn't take much to kill someone if you know what your doing.
I was still lying on the metal floor on the van. It was still dark outside from what I could see through the bag over my head. I tried to look up. I was pulled up and forced onto one of the side benches of the back of the van. I sat there. Bag over my head. Arms cuffed behind my back. One man held onto my arm to stop me falling over. We went on for half an hour then the van stopped. I could hear the doors open. I was lead out. I could hear a number of men doing whatever. Then I heard the sound of a helicopter and it stopped to the sound of a cybertronian transforming. I heard it enough now to know what it was. Arachnid had been flying overhead.
As I got on my feet someone punched me really hard in the stomach and it winded me. I keeled over and I received a knock to the back of my head. I hit the ground. I head was swimming. I was uncuffed and my arms brought around in front and cuffed again. I was dragged along the floor by my arms. I had no idea where I was. I hoped that somehow the Autobots did, and would soon mount a rescue because this is not what I expected to happen.
I was dragged around for ages. I could tell we were in a big space and then brought into a smaller room which produced a lot of echo. I was force into a chair. My arms uncuffed again and each were cuffed to a rear corner of the chair with my legs tied to the legs of the chair. The bag was removed and I squinted as a bright light shone on me. I heard the ones who dragged me here leave and the sound of a metal door closing.
My eyes soon adjusted and I found myself in a dusty room with nothing in it. No windows. Nothing. Only the chair I was sitting on, a single light hanging from a high ceiling and a big sized blast door. The walls were made from grey breeze blocks. I could only assume I'm in some old military facility. I was on my own.
I had been left there for ten minutes. This wait is a physiological thing they do. It's a tactic that makes most people scared, frightened and make them more persuadable to give up whatever it is. But I wasn't most people. I've even been put through training to help me deal this kind of scenario. I just sat there waiting. Another ten and they will come through. They usually wait twenty minutes. Long enough for the prisoner to think there's not coming, but short enough before the prisoner can mentally sort themselves out.
The twenty minutes deadline came. And like clockwork the door unlocked. In came Silas with a big bruise to his chin, followed by Arachnid. Only them, no one else.
He came up to me and punched me hard in the chin too. It gave me a cut in the mouth. I started spitting out blood every so often.
Silas started the interrogation. "Mr Michael James Rickers. Born on the 20th of April 1992. Place of birth, Stanley, in the Falkland Islands. Son of Markus Alexander Rickers and Sarah Rickers. Lived with Rear Admiral Baines from 1997 to 2008 in Cardiff and from then on no address of residency until January of this year in the village of Warsash, Hampshire. Where you enrolled at Warsash Maritime Academy at the same time, also joining the merchant navy at the rank of deck cadet. Employed by ship management company, Seawave Maritime Agencies on November last year also as the rank of deck cadet. And an interesting note, you have been arrested on multiple occasions for football related violence. Every time let off without charge" He read out from his head.
"Very clever of you. Well done" I said mockingly.
"A well done is indeed in order. Finding that out proved very difficult. You're a hard person to track down Mr Rickers. When we tried to hack the British Home Office servers we found your passport details were classified. I'm not a stupid person as I know only one way that can be authorised. I take it you know what that is?" He asked.
"Yes" I simply said.
"Have you met him in person?" He asked.
"No, I've never met the Home Secretary"
It's quite complicated to explain this. But it was agreed that to ensure my safety, people wouldn't be able to track me with my passport details. So then I couldn't been traced so easily by other means. I am one of those people who are anonymous as any human can be. Apart from the passport database, shipping and seaman's registry and one or two other small databases I don't exist. I'm a well guarded secret. Or so I thought.
"Ok. So you know who I am. What else you got?" I taunted them.
"What do you know about the Autobots?" Silas asked.
"Oh fuck off. I'm telling you nothing" I spat at him.
"You're very quick to become loyal to them" He said.
"I've got every reason to. They saved me from certain death and took me in. Giving me a home, security and most importantly friendship. Something I haven't had in a long time. So yeah I'm loyal to them" I answered.
"What is the location of there base?" He asked calmly.
"Anywhere you want it to be" I laughed and then suddenly stopped. "I'm saying nothing. So fuck off"
Arachnid leaned in closer. "You know Decepticon radio chatter is all about the work you did to Knockout. I'm sure he would like to meet you properly. It would be wise to answer the questions" She stood back up.
"Piss off. I don't care about your empty threats. You can't touch me. Simply put it, if you kill me. You won't get answers. And you certainly couldn't get to the others. The Autobots defend them tightly. I just simply like to work by myself so that's why there not with me. I can handle things myself" I told her.
"You sound like as if you think all Autobots care deeply for humans" He said.
"And what's that got to do with the price of bread?" They looked at each other.
Silas pulled out his side arm. Couldn't tell of the make. Arachnid cut the binds of my legs and my arms and cuffed my arms behind like earlier. I stood up. Silas indicated me to the open blast door with the gun. I walked, they followed behind. Silas pointing the gun an inch from my back. We walked through a large dimly lit corridor. The place was rusted and dusty. Hadn't been used in a long time. A few large doors on each side.
We walked about a hundred and a bit yards. We came to door. Silas told me to stand next to it. It was a large blast door with a normal size one built into it.
"What's this all about?" I asked.
Silas still had the gun on me. Arachnid undid the cuffs and chucked them behind. I didn't bother running as there was no point. I didn't know my way out, or where I was, or how many of them there were. She opened the small door which opened out wards. It was one of those doors where you had to turn a wheel to open it. Just like watertight doors on ships.
She opened it and shoved me inside. I fell on the floor in this room. They closed the door behind me and locked it. I was sealed inside. I tried to open the door, but it was no use. I was completely trapped.
"Hey!" I shouted through the door. "What's this all about! Let me out right now!" They probably couldn't hear me.
I looked back in the room. It was very dark I could only see about ten meters ahead and nothing else. It was empty but I could tell the room was massive. Sometimes you can just tell. Hard to describe how. But you just can. I took a few steps forward to see further into the dark.
I heard something stir. I could make out two bright blue lights from the far end of the room. Then I heard a feminine growl. I heard what I believe to be another cybertronian stand up. They just have this particular sound about them when they move. The cybertronian growled again only this time much more aggressively. I back up a few paces.
It spoke. "What's this? They decided to give me a chew toy or something" It had a female voice. The voice sounded like a human woman in her late thirties, maybe older.
I backed up even more. I heard the giant robot take strides towards me, making every footstep as loud as possible causing the floor to quake, just like Megatron did before.
I back right up to the door. Then started bashing it. "GET ME OUT!" I shouted almost screamed it panic. Nothing. They were leaving me in here with this beast. It got closer and closer. Still in the dark.
"You humans are filthy, vile, disgusting little things. You lock me up like an animal and you side with the Decepticons. You fleshlings are so incredibly stupid with your tiny minds"
It came into the light. It was clearly female. Taller than Arcee. Taller than Bumblebee but shorter than Ratchet and Bulkhead. It didn't matter. To me she was still huge. She was a light shade of pink and silver like Arcee's blue and silver. But had very striking lines everywhere and she had curves that if she were human, I would have a hard time not looking. Also she sported much bigger wings than either Arcee or Bumblebee. And she had this spike on her head like Arcee. Her face was also similar too, but it had this more mature look about on it.
But right now she had this murderous look. I saw on her wing the Autobot symbol. My fear dipped. For a moment I felt safe again. But I couldn't have been more wrong.
She quickly grabbed me with her huge hand completely wrapping around my upper body. My arms were clamped to my side. She lifted me up right to her face. Still displaying that look. She snarled with a low quiet growl. I was visibly shaking with fear. I would expected this from a Decepticon, not an Autobot.
"P-Please put me down" I half squeaked.
She growled again this time loader and she gritted her teeth. I was shaking even more.
"Maybe I should just crush you now, and I can put you out of your miserable existence" She said through those gritted teeth.
She tightened her grip on me. She was squeezing the air out of my lungs. I was having trouble breathing. I was taking short sharp breaths.
"N...no...pl...please...don't...k...kill...me" I said struggling for air.
She squeezed more I was barely able to get any air in. I was slowly passing out
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't crush your pathetic body" She said still with gritted teeth.
"Be...cause...I...work...with...Op...timus...Prime" I was just able to say. My head lulling forward as I couldn't keep it up.
"What? Optimus Prime?" She said much softer. Surprised I had said his name.
She loosened her grip on me. I took in big lung full breaths. I slowly came round still held in a vice like grip.
"You better not be lying to me" Her grip tightened slightly.
"Please, I'm telling you the truth. He's not the only one. There's Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ratchet" I said quickly.
"Ratchet? That old timer still around?" She asked. Probably I test to see if I was really was telling the truth.
"Yeah, he's a real crazy mad scientist, when he wants to be. And he still has his wretch" I said.
It was enough proof for her. She set me back on the floor. I sat down still getting my breath back. I think she might have cracked one of my ribs from the previous time they were broken. It hurt so much I had to lie down and take deep breaths. I clutched my side.
"So you not with the Decepticons" She said to clarify.
"Yeah, I'm with the Autobots. Or I should say, I actually live with them" I said.
I winced in pain. She'd defiantly broken a rib. The pain was increasing more and more.
"I'm so sorry about all that. I didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked very gently. Kneeling down next to me. I was lying flat on the floor.
"No" I took a deep breath. "You…just...cracked a rib. Don't worry not entirely your fault. It was still healing after what Megatron did to me" I said.
"Megatron?" She gasped as I said the name.
"Yeah, bastard almost killed me. He tried to crush me to death as well" Laughed a bit. "He tried to squash me under his foot though"
She put a hand under my back giving me some support as I tried to sit up. "I'm so sorry anyway"
"Hey it's alright. If I was in your position I'd have done the same" I took another deep breath. "I don't know who you are though but an enemy of my enemy is a friend. You agree with that?" I asked. She nodded. "By the way my name's Michael Rickers. My friends call me Michael" I put a hand out. She just stared at it. "For most humans it's customary to shake someone's hand when you meet them" I told her.
"Oh" She took my hand with a finger and thumb and shook it carefully. Her grip on my hand so gentle. She's probably worrying about crushing my hand. Her finger were like Arcee's. Long slender and pointed at the tips.
"So what's your name?" I asked.
"Elita One" My mouth was wide open.
"Oh that's fucking brilliant that is. HA!" I said. She was a bit confused by my reaction. "Optimus not long ago told me about you. I said to him as a bit of a joke to see if I could find you and reunited the two of you as a challenge" I laughed with joy.
"He told you about me?" She was surprised.
"Yeah, he misses you. And from what I can tell, he misses you dearly" I told her. "It's great to meet you even if we had a bad start. Now before we go any further. I think I should tell you, my species is not on the Decepticons side. This group of humans don't speak for all humans. Most humans don't even know your species even exists" I said to her.
"Sorry for saying all those things. Please I did-"
"It's fine, you were held captive by an alien race vastly different to your own. Only to find they were working with your mortal enemies. I can understand. No need to apologize" I interrupted.
The pain in my chest eased off. Elita helped me back to my feet.
Soon the door unlocked. We both backed away. Silas, Arachnid and some soldiers came in. Elita put one leg in front of me protectively. I walked around. I wasn't going to hide.
"Mr Rickers" Silas started. "You amaze me. I would have expected you to be dead by now. Everyone before you who has walked in here, she has crushed to death. But you actually survived. And now I see she's defending you. Remarkable"
"Get to the point Silas" I said.
"As you can see we have an Autobot here. But we want them all. You will tell us the location of the base" He said.
"Yeah. Well Wales will win the football world cup before I tell you" I said. He was slightly perplexed by my statement. Wales have never won the world cup. Most of the time never even qualifies. Silas quickly saw what I was getting at. I wasn't going to give in that easily.
He motioned to his soldiers with a flick of the hand. One stepped forward and aim his weapon at Elita. She instantly backed off. I ran at the man, grabbed his gun and with the butt smashed it into the side of his head. He fell over from the hit. I threw the gun away and I kicked him in the side, hard.
"FUCK YOU!" I screamed down at him.
He scooted away terrified of my brooding six foot eight, full of muscle build. Elita stepped forward again. Now knowing I was looking out for her.
"If you want answers from me, then you have to try a lot harder. And don't threaten others. Like a coward. Come at me like a man. Take away your armour and your guns. I could take you all on. Come on then, what you waiting for" He said nothing.
"COME ON THEN! COME AT ME! FACE ME LIKE A MAN YOU FUCKING COWARD!"
I raised my arms out wide like when I used to in my football hooligan years. It was scary to whoever it was aimed at. It made him step back.
"You fucking coward" I then cursed at him in Welsh for good measure. That too is intimidating. Welsh is a very throaty language so it sounds scary when shouted.
Arachnid had enough. She fired her web like stuff at me and it cocooned me. I was on the floor. The guy I attacked got up and kicked me around a few times.
Elita clearly didn't like to see me get hurt. With a loud roar, she in turn kicked the soldier with full force. He went flying into the darkness. I heard his body smash against a wall or something hard. Certainly dead. She ripped open the webbing and helped me to my feet.
"You alright?" She asked concerned.
"Yeah, fine thanks" I returned.
More soldiers came in all aiming at Elita. She moved back again. And again I stood my ground. Even more entered surrounding me. I gestured to Elita it was fine. One approached me armed with a Taser. He fired at me. The wires penetrated my shirt where my jacket was open and dug into my skin. My body fitted violently as the current went through me. I collapsed. Still fitting violently as the current kept on going.
"Please let him go" I heard Elita plea. She didn't dare move.
The current stopped. I couldn't move my limbs for a moment. In those few moments, I was cuffed behind my back and heaved to my feet. They brought me before Silas. I snarled at him. I attempted to break my cuffs. One punched me in the stomach. Again hard. I gave up on it.
Silas again did that flicking of the hand. More men turned up. Must be over twenty five here now. This lot wheeled in an old rusty bath tub. It was full of water with ice. I knew what was coming. I again tried to break free but with all my strength. It took at least eight of them to drag me over to the tub. Then forced me onto my knees. Silas and Arachnid moved over. Both bended over to get a closer look. I snarled harder at them both.
"Now I will ask again. Where is the base?"
I said nothing. Just snarled. They plunged my head in the water. The cold water shock almost drowning me. My head was pulled out. I gasped for air.
"Where?" He asked.
I learned that by not answering at all they can't worm there way into your mind until it just cracks. By saying nothing, nothing they could say would make me give up the information.
My head went in the ice cold water again. It was truly horrible I thought I was going to drown every time. It went on and on and on. It went on for a good fifteen minutes. I was exhausted. But I still hadn't said a single word. They stood me back up clearly seeing it was getting them no where.
"Hmm, you're harder to crack than we first thought. Looks like we will have to take a different approach" Again, used the flick of his hand. Two soldiers broke off and ran out of the room. They were getting something.
While we waited for their return I had a question of my own.
"There's one thing I haven't worked out yet" I said with my face and hair soaking wet. "I see why you have been shipping energon, so to keep her alive. But that fire on my ship. It wasn't an accident, was it?" I asked.
"Again Mr Rickers you amaze me" He said. "Your right it wasn't an accident. We caused the fire and blew up the energon"
"Why?"
"Well, when we did our usual checks to see if agents were tracking us. You should have seen my surprise when your name appeared on the crew list. We went through all our contacts saying we had tracked you down, and they all said to eliminate you. In return we would receive a healthy amount of funds. For the amount it costs us to mine that energon, your death would have paid for it ten times over. So that's why" He told me.
"So my friend was killed just so you could make a few quid. When I get the chance I'll kill you" I again snarled.
"HA! HA! HA! That's what we all like to see from a Rickers. That infinite confidence, being the brave hero to keep others safe. You'd make your father proud" I looked at him. Hard.
"You knew my father?" I asked wanting to know so badly anything about him.
"I've never met him. But your father is a legend. In our… line of work, you know all about Markus Rickers" He said.
The two came back. One holding a solid silver briefcase. I didn't like the look of it.
"The problem everyone seemed to have when it came to your father is that he could always muster up courage from out of nothing. He couldn't be broken as he never was truly scared to death by anything. And it would seem you have that quality to. And with it almost nothing will make you break. So long as you can keep your courage up" I looked at the case.
Did I really want to know what was inside? I was slightly fearful. Fearful of the unknown.
He asked me. "Have you ever heard of a thing called a true serum?"
"Yes" I answered. "Although it's just an urban myth. There no such thing"
"Yes, you are right. There is no such thing. However in the last few years scientist think they have a much better understanding of how the human brain works. We were particularly interested in the part about fear and bravery"
I didn't like this, I think I might have an idea where this is going.
He carried on "It would seem that it's all to do with chemistry. And by altering it, it can make any person go from super brave hero into a scared nobody. Only for short periods"
He opened the case and produced a syringe. He came at me.
"Hey! The last time someone injected me without my consent I started seeing faces in the walls"
I started to squirm as much as Jack did when I injected into him. Only I had other reasons.
I wriggled about, breaking my cuffs and I tried to scrabble free. Arachnid clamped her hands down on me. Crushing me to the floor flat. I still struggled. Silas knelt down on one knee.
Elita roared at the soldiers and she made an advance at Arachnid, trying to save me. But she was fired on with a strange bolt of light from there guns. She keeled over and went unconscious.
"ELITA!" I cried. She didn't stir.
Silas pointed the needle at my neck. I kept moving my head around. Arachnid changed her hold on me and clamped a hand around my head and started to crush it, holding it still. I screamed in pain. The pain was unbearable. No matter what I did my head just stayed there.
"NOW HOLD STILL!" She shouted in my ear.
She was so loud, my ear rang. I stopped. I gave in. In the needle went. Down on the plunger. And back out again. Arachnid realised the tension on my head. Just holding it. She rolled me over onto my back. I couldn't break free of her hold on me. She was much to strong.
"Strip him" Silas said.
Two soldiers removed my jacket, shirt, my boots, jeans and socks. Leaving me only in my boxers. While doing so, Arachnid still kept me to the floor.
When they were done she clamped one hand around my torso keeping my arms to my side. The other holding my legs. She lifted me from the ground and dunked my entire body in the ice cold water. She held me there for over a minute. Every moment I struggled to get out and shivering from the cold. She lifted me out of the water and dropped me on the floor. I was shivering badly. I couldn't get up. That's what the cold can do to you. Your muscles go into spasm and you find yourself unable to do anything. They quickly left the room. Locked the door. Both of us lying on the floor. She didn't move. I was breathing rapidly, shivering like never before.