CHAPTER 21

Aaron's least favorite part about transferring, by far, was the fact he now had to stay after school. Everyone had left for the day, and of course, that was when he finally got the chance to clean out his locker. To say it unnerved Aaron to be in such a public place, alone, at this point would have been putting it lightly. Ever since Parents Night, Aaron had had a rather, unusual feeling of dread inside of him that he couldn't totally explain, like he was constantly being watched and stalked. If he knew what Rumble was there to do that day, he may have found his fears justified. The young minibot sat in the shadows of the hallway, carefully waiting. A net carefully clutched between his talons. Being the size of an adult human, gnabbing Aaron would be easy. He'd simply snag him up in the net like an animal, throw him over his shoulder, and be out the backdoor before whatever escort he had to and from school knew what had happened.

If Aaron didn't come easily, he had sedatives and guns to keep him co-operating. As such, regardless of what Aaron tried, he was alone in the hallway, vulnerable, he wasn't getting away. Aaron sighed, grabbing his final book carefully from the locker, he slammed it shut, making his way down the hallway. Rumble made the mistake of exposing his talons, hearing the humans barely audible cursing under his breath, Rumble leapt out of his hiding place with a snarl. Aaron was already bolting off in the direction he planned to take him, as if he was making it too easy. "Oh no you DON'T fleshling!" Rumble snarled, bounding after him on all fours for a moment, his left palm became a flat hammer. Which he slammed against the ground knocking Aaron onto his side "I'm taking you to Meagtron, you try to fight me, and you'll just make this MORE difficult." He added.

Aaron kicked outward at Rumble, hitting him in the face as the red mech stumbled backward. The net went flying from his hands, landing inches away. Rumble felt the side of his face slowly, it was bleeding energon, but only because the brat had managed to crack part of his optic. "You little slagger!"

Rumble gripped Aaron by the throat tightly, pulling him up slowly. His left arm morphing back into the hammer, he threw Aaron against the lockers. Aaron's eyes widened, but quickly shut tightly, refusing to watch. "RUMBLE!" The red mech turned to the police uniform clad holoform of Barricade "We need Prime's sparkling alive. Tag him and bag him, but do not hurt him!" He added loudly.

Rumble grumbled to himself, reaching into his subspace, he removed a large burlap sack. Dropping Aaron in carelessly before tying up the top, he shook his head a bit, throwing the squirming sack over his shoulder. Rumble ignored Aaron's cries of help, turning towards Barricade slowly. "For the record, the little slagger struck the first blow! Look what he did to my OPTIC!" He said pointing at the cracked optic "Now I'll have to fragging see Hook, and pit if he won't have my head!" Rumble held the sack out in front of him for a moment "He's lucky I don't slit his THROAT." Rumble moved his talons along, cutting a VERY tiny hole in the sack to allow Aaron just enough air to breathe.

Aaron gripped both sides of the sack tightly as they began to move at a brisk pace. From outside of the sack he could barely see anything through the tiny hole. All he knew was that he was completely terrified. His first encounter with the Decepticons, in all fourteen years of life, had to be being abducted. He knew it would happen, but never this soon, not just when things were starting to look up. He felt the sack tossed into the back seat of what he guessed was the holoform's real form, before a door slam shut behind him. "If you move or make a sound, you will be killed." Was the only thing Barricade told him before the car beneath him began to move.

Aaron sobbed quietly, wondering what they'd do with him, torture him? Use him as target practice? Or was he really simply bait to draw Optimus out? The worst part of it all was that Aaron had no way of knowing what these two or Megatron wanted with him. No doubt Megatron had some rather harsh plans for him, and even worse for Optimus, but what were they? It felt like days, but was likely only a few hours when Aaron felt them come to a stop, the top of his sack unbinded, Rumble reached inside and yanked him out roughly. The first thing he got to was binding the prisoners wrists behind his back, then blindfolding him so he'd have no idea where he had been taken.

"Walk."

The word alone was enough to get Aaron to follow his captor's instructions, knowing full well he would be killed otherwise. "That isn't Robbie." Came a voice, displeased sounding "We had a deal Megatron, we had a fucking deal! You get Robbie, I get-."

A blast silenced the man, Jerry, for good, Aaron flinched slightly, but kept walking. Feeling Rumble's claw against his left arm, dragging him along if he even slightly fell behind. "It's pathetic, the human actually believed I would keep my word. Perhaps I would have given him the money... Had the better opportunity not arisen." As doors closed behind him and the blindfold was removed, Aaron stared up at Megatron with wide eyes, the mech was abnormally large, a tarp covering his horribly mangled left side of his face "Welcome nephew, we've been expecting you. I do hope my minions weren't too rough on you." Megatron barely got the sentence out with a straight face.

"What do you want?"

"Oh please, don't give me that line." Megatron rolled his optics tapping the side of his helm "If you are so daft, I may as well kill you now. You'll serve little use to me dumb." He admitted flatly "From now on, I suggest you act smart, fleshling, don't EVER speak unless spoken to first." He told him flatly, coldly, he point at Rumble "Remove his binds and his backpack, as I understand it's called. I will not risk our young prisoner contacting his friends for help." He grinned wickedly "Until the time is right, at least." He said with a wicked chuckle.

Aaron felt his bonds cut and his backpack ripped from his shoulder, taken away by Rumble within moments. Megatron gripped him in his talons, throwing him onto a high surface, clearly not about to risk him running off. Megatron clicked slightly, pleased, he crossed his arms, and smirked. "Not even putting up a fight I see." Megatron laughed a little "No doubt, your Father warned you not to. A smart mech, as you no doubt know, angering me will be your last mistake." He pointed towards the charred remains of Jerry "Lest you end up like the idiotic flesh creature who honestly believed I would help him out of this 'debt'." He laughed coldly.

Aaron stared at Megatron slowly, gulping, he felt his stomach churning with knots, he had never been so scared before. But Megatron was far more massive, and far more intimidating then Aaron had ever expected. And considering his previous mental image of Megatron, that was indeed saying something. Megatron grinned lightly, watching the fear in his eyes, which only served to amuse him, knowing he had something that meant so much to his brother, completely at his mercy. "To answer your question, I have wished for revenge for some time. Or have you never heard what your Father did to me?" He chuckled lowly "You my little organic friend, are the answer to my problems. So vulnerable..." He moved one talon under Aaron's chin and drew him closer "Yet the son of a Prime, to have you in my possession, this is a grand accomplishment." He noted "Never before have I had the chance to take such a valuable hostage." He added.

Aaron whimpered slightly, fear clearly present in his eyes, such fear only served to amuse Megatron more. Now, he simply had to decide what to do with his prisoner. Perhaps, making him his pet would anger Optimus, but at the same time, not quite enough. Though it was, at the very least, a start. "Soundwave." Megatron turned towards the mech, who made his way forward from the gathered Decepticons "Find an open cage for our little guest in my quarters, see to it he is fit into a comfortable collar. He will not be suffocated. For he will soon be of use to us." He added, then tapped his new pet on the head his mouth curving into a smile "Welcome to the Decepticons, my little pet." He chided.

...

The cage Soundwave had stuck Aaron in hung from the ceiling in front of Megatron's recharging berth, suspended like an oversized bird cage. The room was dark and drab, clearly Megatron's room, Aaron had deduced, not only by Megatron's own words, but at the battle plans that seemed to line the walls. The collar tightly wound around his neck was a light metal, it was extremely tight, but not enough to strangle him, the tag was shaped like a Decepticon shield, decidedly purple, with a number in Cybertronian engraved on it. If there was a way to remove it easily, Aaron had yet to find it. The tears had long extinguished from his eyes, clearly, Aaron hated to admit it, however, he was beginning to give up.

Megatron entered his quarters nearly an hour after Aaron had been dropped off. The sneer on Megatron's face said it all in Aaron's eyes, he was pleased. Whether it was to have a new pet, or at his fear, Aaron didn't know, nor did he really care. "Comfortable, Aaron?" Aaron glared at Megatron, not letting his fear show "Ooooh so tough, you don't even speak when spoken too. Always the defiant one, I see." He noted, chuckling a bit "Are you sure your not my brother's true son? You have more of his stuborness then his real sparkling." He laughed lightly.

"Fuck you."

"Now, now, there's no reason for that language." Megatron flicked the side of the cage, causing Aaron to fall back against the bars as it swayed "You'll learn to show me more respect, my pet, if you wish to live. If not, I will kill you, make no mistake. Robert Magnus was my first choice. I will happily 'settle' for him." He cackled a bit, looking towards Aaron "Now, I need my recharge, kidnapping you was tough work." He added sarcastically "Do sleep as long as you allow yourself to, Aaron, you'll want your energy. You'll most certainly be performing tricks for my amusement." He teased coldly.

Aaron watched the leader lounge against the berth, grinning at him sinisterly. Aaron had to wonder where he had been taken , surely it couldn't be that late. Then again, what did it matter. and frankly, how would he know? He didn't even know if it was daytime when they arrived, only knowing he had been abducted in practically broad daylight. Leaning against the bars of the massive cage, Aaron pulled his legs against his chest, burying his head into his knees, and allowed choked sobs to break out of him. He was terrified, moreso then he had ever been in his life. The thought of Megatron not even knowing what he had planned for him quite yet only fueled the fear. For all he knew, this was all a ruse to lul him into a sense of safety, if you could even call being Megatron's pet that.

"Dad, where are you?" He questioned quietly.

Eventually bringing himself to lay against the floor of the cage and sleep, Aaron could only hope that when he next opened his eyes, it would all be one big nightmare.