Author's Note: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, I know I did. Sorry it took so long to update, but here is a holiday gift for you all! God Bless!
Pain tore through his whole entire being, leaving him screaming in agony. That continued on as the probing and torture continued. He was subjected to needles, shocks, and beatings that seemed to be for pointless fun and entertainment. At least once a day, he would be submerged into liquid that would cause him to freeze up in terror. Sooner or later, his voice grew hoarse with all the screaming as the days turned into weeks, but he still found some new way to express his terror and pain. He had ceased trying to hide his fear and pain; it seemed pointless as the days blended together.
The witch took great delight in his torment, though it did not show as she conducted her research. His yellow armor was faded from all the experiments she had conducted, yet he still retained some part of his identity.
He was her subject. Her new plaything.
"Have you questioned them yet?" a familiar voice snapped, catching her attention and disturbing her silence.
She growled in annoyance, pulling back from her work. The mech trapped in chains sagged forward and panted as the pain and terror ceased for the time being.
"No," she growled. "I have made such strides in my discoveries with this one and the others. It will be soon before I can conduct the full experiment."
"Well, question them first before you turn them into mindless beasts!" the tall mech snapped.
She rolled her optics, striding forward before grabbing an electric rode and jabbing it at the mech's helm. "Hey, do you know anything about the Key to Vector Sigma?"
The prisoner blinked tiredly. "The...Key?"
"Hmph," she sighed, jabbing him with the now active electric rode and causing him to scream once more. "Guess not," she said simply.
"What of the others?" the mech asked, folding his arms behind his back.
"Question them yourselves," she said, bored. "I'm about to perform the next phase into my studies. His body is strong, so he should be able to survive it. The question is whether or not he will be strong enough to transform back like the others."
The mech in chains was suddenly alert and jerking around violently as the witch approached him. The machines powered to life as the med table the mech was on lifted upwards. Electric shocks caused the prisoners systems to shut down, his optics growing dim. Large, clawed hands from machines lifted the mech upwards before dumping him in a container that rapidly filled with yellow liquid.
"Would you like to stick around and witness this transformation?" she asked sweetly, turning to look at her guest.
He shrugged, descending the stairs. "Why not?" he asked casually, still standing at a safe distance.
The prisoner awoke once more just as the liquid covered his helm. Blue optics were wide with fright as he started to bang on the glass franticly. At that moment, machines powered up as the liquid grew warm and started to glow to a steady, pulsing rhythm. The mech was incased with the glow as his entire being began to pulse.
Screams could be heard from the outside of the container, and the witch began to smile in anticipation. The mech beside her, while concerned, showed no such emotion on the outside. He simply raised an optic ridge and watched.
Soon, the screams transformed into shrieks that was unheard of for a Cybertronian. The shrieks grew deep as they transformed into growls before becoming overpowered by the breaking of the glass from the tube. Liquid pulsed everywhere as the glass tube shattered and the composed mech stumbled out of the way. Yet the witch did not move as the liquid pooled at her pedes. She smiled, striding forward as the smoke cleared to reveal a moaning, winged beast lying in a heap on the floor.
The beast looked up, blinking its blue optics before growling as the witch approached. It stumbled to its clawed pedes before letting out a shriek as it charged at her. The witch merely clenched her claws together, and a blue spark exploded near the the beast's neck, sending him collapsing back down.
"A shocker," she said simply, twirling the device around with a smug smirk. "While it may be barbaric to use such a device on these wild, beautiful creatures, I am not stupid." She leaned forward to get a good look at the groaning predacons face. "Now," she said simply. "What a beautiful creature you are," she purred, stroking the defenceless creature. "Now," she stated, straightening up. "Can you transform back?"
The beast just let out a tired, broken growl.
She shrugged. "Maybe you'll change your mind when I introduce you to your new best friend."
At that moment, shadows blocked out the light as the large predacon descended down and hovered over the trapped beast. A broken moan escaped the trapped creature's mouth as the clawed servos of the larger predacon wrapped around him. "You know what to do," the witch said to the larger predacon. "Break him," she ordered.
The predacon growled, and with barely any effort, he was lifted off of the soaking ground and carried away. As they flew upward, they vanished from the cavern and from sight.
The witch waved a servo in the air in a farewell gesture. "Have fun!" she called out, cackling.
Smokescreen tiredly raised his helm as he looked around. He feebly moved his chained servos, already knowing that the gesture would be useless.
But that small act of perseverance awoke his numb arms. The small noise of the chains clanging in the still silence reminded him that this was not an endless void of darkness.
He spat out a mouthful of energon from his bleeding mouth, wincing as he felt his body throb from the pain.
He breathed in heavily, feeling stasis come upon him once more.
With stasis came the memories that he was still struggling to process over.
Mechs and femmes were falling from the sky as spilled energon rained down on them from their falling bodies. Creatures of fire and steel clawed at their victims, unholy shrieks filling the air.
He remembered the terror as he ran alongside Bumblebee.
He remembered the guns blazing as the Cybertronians tried in vain to shoot at something.
He remembered something sharp digging into him as his pedes left the ground.
He remembered the terror when he realized what this meant when he looked down to see Bumblebee's horrified face as the creature carried him away.
He had felt nothing but terror as he was carried away, the clawed grip of his captor firm as the lands faded below and were hidden in the clouds.
Now he was alone in this cavern, chained and awaiting the next torture and whatever mechanism this femme was going to use on him.
The doors hissed open, and he winced in anticipation of what this could mean for him.
"Good, you are awake," a different voice said.
Smokescreen blearily blinked in confusion as he wondered what this could mean. The only other Cybertronian who had come to see him was that unpleasant, crazy femme. He narrowed his optics, something in that mechs voice ringing familiar bells for him, though his tired mind could not place where he had heard this mech before. He raised his tired helm upwards to regard this new visitor of his, but the shadows hid his face.
"I am going to ask you a simple, easy answer," the mech continued. "And I will offer you a proposition in return. Right behind that door is a crazed witch who is most eager to try out a new serum on you. I can and will stop her if you will only answer my question."
Smokescreen cleared his throat hoarsely. "What is your question?"
He could hear the mech straighten back, as if surprise. "So that means you accept my offer?"
"What...is the question," Smokescreen breathed once more tiredly. His helm sagged down as he felt his wounds taking a toll on his body.
"The Key to Vector Sigma," the mech answered after a moment. "Where is it?"
"T-the Key…" Smokescreen said, blinking in surprise. "Vector Sigma?"
"You've no doubt heard of the stories of Vector Sigma," the mech said. "An ancient device containing all the knowledge of the Primes. It is passed down from one Prime to the next, should the heir be deemed worthy of such a prize."
"Must be more to the story if you are looking for the Key," Smokescreen commented, voice wavering.
"Where is it?" the mech repeated.
"In finding the Key," Smokescreen continued, his voice now growing steady as the pieces fell into place. "You would locate the Heir of the Autobots, as only the Prime would give it to his heir."
"Where is-?"
"But that wouldn't matter to you," Smokescreen interrupted. "You are only looking for the knowledge and power of the Primes. With it, you could topple and control all of Cybertron, and many other worlds after it."
The mech roughly grabbed Smokescreens helm, snarling in his face. "Where is it? The Key! I know you have it."
Smokescreen could not resist smirking. "Yeah, I know where the Key is. Or maybe I don't. Hard to tell what anyone knows these days." He grinned. "But I do know one thing-" He choked suddenly as the pressure on his throat tightened and the mech holding him captive made himself known in the dim lighting.
Triumph showed in Smokescreens optics as he got a good look at the mech's face. "You won't get anything out of me, Sentinel. You traitorous scraplet!"
Sentinel growled, servos digging into Smokescreens wounds and drawing energon. Smokescreen let out a pained gasp as he felt the precious life blood flow out of him and splatter on the cold, stone floor.
"You are nothing," Sentinel snarled.
Smokescreen glared defiantly at him. "Go to the Pit," he spat out.
Sentinel roughly pushed him back, the chains rattling as Smokescreen hung limply.
"Start with this one next!" roared Sentinel as he stormed out of the room. The doors hissed open once more to reveal another figure as Sentinel strode past.
"No need to shout," the witch said in annoyance, a blue syringe in her servo. "Now then," she said, and Smokescreen could hear the smirk in her voice. "It's time for you to join your yellow friend on making history!"
Smokescreens optics widened slightly. Yellow friend? Bumblebee!
"Bee," he muttered as he fought the stasis that was overpowering him.
"Oh," the witch said thoughtfully. "So that's his name? What a cute name for a fragile, cute mech. You know, his screams were the loudest out of all three of you."
"Go...to…" he gasped, struggling to form words. "The Pit."
The witch smirked. "Darling," she crooned. "This is the Pit."
Bumblebee fell forward as the winged beast released him, hitting the hard, dirty stone floor. He groaned, limbs protesting as he struggled to rise. He let out a gasp as he felt his armor suddenly shut and transform back, the beastly appearance being replaced once more with that of a mech.
He panted, trying to regain his bearings. He lifted his helm at the sound of mighty wings descending from above. He scrambled back when the large beast landed, letting out a loud, audio splitting roar before looming over Bumblebee and transforming.
Golden optics stared down as Bumblebee stared up at the large, beastly mech in shock.
"Get up," the mech ordered, golden optics glowing.
Bumblebee said nothing, his senses on overload.
His wounded side exploded with pain as the larger mech kicked him across the room. "I said get up," the mech ordered.
Bumblebee grunted, pushing himself to his pedes as he tried to face the larger mech who was striding toward him with determined steps. Bumblebee went to activate his weapons, only to receive a protested, feeble whine from his guns. His optics widened when he realized with shock that his weapons had been deactivated.
"Transform," the beast ordered gruffly. "Now!"
"I-I can't!" Bumblebee exclaimed helplessly, staring up at the mech.
The mech growled, grabbing Bumblebee by the throat and lifting him up. Bumblebee let out a choked gasp, kicking feebly at the other mech who held him captive.
"When I give you an order," the other mech snarled, bringing Bumblebee close. "You obey it. Around here, you will obey me. This is my domain. I am King!" With an enraged yell, the mech threw Bumblebee across the room. "Transform!" he bellowed.
"I can't!" Bumblebee shouted, his wounds reopening up as pain flooded through him.
"Then defend yourself," the mech growled, transforming once more into the large, fanged beast. Fire erupted from his mouth, and Bumblebee did his best to scramble away. The fire burnt at his armor, and he yelped in pain as he fell forward.
He gasped when sharp talons dug into his legs and dragged him back. He lashed out, optics narrowing as he flipped himself over to lash out fiercely with a violent kick. The beast let him go, and Bumblebee used this as his moment to escape.
Only, there was no way to escape. A quick look up showed that his only way of escape was upwards. Everywhere was a circle with no way in or out. Just upwards.
While he was looking upwards, the beast lashed out at him, pinning him down to the ground. Bumblebee groaned, managing to turn to sharply look at his captor. "What...are you?" he ground out.
The beast transformed back into the large mech, golden optics narrowed. "What I am is a predacon," he growled, leaning forward. "But who I am, is entirely different." He shoved at Bumblebee, earning a pained cry from the yellow mech. "I am my own being, my own master. I am Predaking!"