GG23: Despite the weather being crappy and I am not the most prepared for my last exam tomorrow I still feel incredible! I know I just rocked my last exam! On another note this chapter was actually suppose to be something else entirely, but as the length stretched on I decided to change it, meaning you guys got a filler chapter lol.

THANKS TO:

LynxbyLynx: I tried to do as you wished, but Scalpel is too creepy and needs to exist for the...oh dear almost let something slip there ;D

Tailsdoll123: I agree, Starscream is only good for imagining him as a giant dorrito that can kill you lol.

Dontgotaclue88: I love you for reviewing,but your reviews make it hard to comment back xD

Chocokoko: "Headtilt" Uh...something wrong with age?...You have me confused lol.

Standout4Christ: Im with the other authors in believing that Optimus and Megatron are siblings "shrugs." As for a sequel...weeeelll...that's a secret x3

Hedgi: Tehe, the time I get for all this writing actually comes from bringing my notebook into class, I think my profs just think Im diligently taking notes xD But my secret was discovered by my sci-fi prof from last semester...She just let it slide and read a couple chapters lol!

Latina Shewolf: The real surprise won't be coming until the next chapter, but I hope you get some kind of reaction from this chapter. As for Roxie's guts for standing up to the 'Cons, that was all done off of adrenaline and anger xD

Londongirl007: I'M GOING!

Psychoninja7: Lol, you're ending comment there made me think I need to get Mr. Narrator to start narrating the beginning and end of each chapter xD

BlazingXDarkness: For you my lovely new reviewer I shall write more and more until the end!

KingofJesters: xD Your review made me think, "Silly Roxie, secrets are for yourself!" Really bad but it amuses me lol.

Supergirlprime: 0.0...Bet you Scalpel would make his holoform that doctor just because of the resemblance. And as I told LynxbyLynx, Scalpel needs to survive for a reason.

AutobotSyds643: "Pats" Don't worry, I'm doing my best to make the chapters really long and juicy so the last few will be the best and worth ending :3

DISCLAIMER: TRANSFORMERS BELONGS TO HASBRO. ROXANNE BELONGS TO ME. TOOLS BELONGS TO IRONAFT30

Chapter Twenty Two - Scream For Me

The temporary base that the Decepticons were using was made entirely out of metal, and the thing about metal was that it was good for making echoes. Roxie had been dumped in the room they'd been in before, the doorway ended up not having a door but bars were placed in the frame to prevent any escape attempts. With there being no door to muffle the sound Roxie heard the beginning of Tools' torture. Tools' voice had always sounded pleasant to her ears no matter what he said. To hear that kind voice scream in agony was torture for her, Jolt's own pained cries joined Tools' not long after.

She put her hands over her ears to try and block the screams but to no avail. It slowly drove her to curl up into a ball and reassure herself that they would still be alive. The screaming abruptly stopped from both Tools and Jolt. For a while silence engulfed her, for which she was grateful. Footsteps came to the doorway of her cell, the bars were pulled back and Tools was thrown in.

Holes with scorched edges covered his clothes revealing horrible burn marks all over his skin. It looked like the Decepticons had burned cigarettes all over him. "Oh thank God, Tools are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Tools groaned, his throat raw and hoarse from screaming. He thought Demolisher would never tire of jabbing him with the electrodes and watch his body spasm. Him and Jolt had been brought to a room with tables and gruesome looking devices. He'd been strapped to a table and told point blank that he'd better tell them information or they would extract it from him. Tools told them just as frankly that they could kiss his ass first. That had started the game of ' Shock the human here and see what he does.' They had started on the lower levels tat only stung enough to make him hiss. Jolt was brought in shortly after and chained to the wall not too far from him. Not long after Tools figured out that he was being made an example for Jolt. Jolt didn't get the luxury of low power settings, he didn't know exactly what they were doing to his systems but Jolt had to fight not to scream. It was only then that Cyclonus had joined them and turned up the settings on his own torture device. Starscream had been the one to stop the 'Cons from continuing. They didn't get a single bit of information from him or Jolt, only the satisfaction of their screams.

With much effort Tools rolled himself over onto his back, the only place that wasn't covered in scorch marks and burnt skin. His brain wanted to shut down to stop feeling the burns but he fought against it with the sole thought that Roxie needed him. He forced his eyes open and felt his heart break, Roxie looked so scared and concerned. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying and her skin was far too pale. Doing his best to keep the pain from showing he smiled," Hey, if you can bitch at Megatron I can tolerate a bit of interrogation."

"You have no idea how much I regret doing that right now." His voice was scratchy but his words were the best reassurance she'd heard all day. Her relief was shattered when Jolt's screams started up again, and they sounded much worse.

Needy for physical comfort Roxie put her forehead on Tools', he didn't comment or complain. As he'd been tortured he cold really only hear his own screaming, hearing Jolt his heart went out to the mech, and even more of it went out to Roxie. She'd endured listening to both of their pain for the past two hours or however long it had actually been. Reaching up he dared to run his hand through her hair, she gave him a small smile to let him know he was doing the right thing.

Approaching foot steps caused him to stop, Roxie took hold of his hand and glared at the door. Starscream was the one to remove the bars and enter the cell. "Come here girl."

She couldn't hear the secrets of Starscream's spark and couldn't tell if he was going to take her to Megatron or carrying her off for her own torture session. Tools' grip on her and became painful, his thoughts clearly matching her own.

Starscream lost his patience waiting for her to make up her mind. Like everyone else he simply grabbed her breaking her grip on Tools' hand. But Starscream didn't leave, he raised her to optic level and did a scan three ways over her head. And just like that he dropped her back on the ground and left. Holding a hand to her throbbing head Roxie groaned," I'm starting to get worried."

"What did you hear from him?" For Roxie to say something like that made Tools worry even more than he had been since Cyclonus had showed up back in the city.

Roxie went back over to Tools to hold his hand again, staring over at the bar covered doorway Roxie quietly replied," It was faint but Starscream's spark said something about orders from Megatron to make something…for me."

"That really can't be good." Tools tightened his grip on Roxie's hand, his mind racing with all the possibilities of what Starscream had been ordered to make.

"Tools, I can't hear Jolt anymore." Roxie squeezed his hand to show her concern. More footsteps approached with voices laughing in Cybertronian, Roxie cringed from the added sound of metal dragging across metal.

Demolisher and Cyclonus opened the bars," Aw how cute, they're holding hands." Cyclonus used a phony sweet voice to say this.

"Elton John lover." Roxie smiled in smug victory when Tools broke out laughing and Demolisher gave Cyclonus a disgusted look.

"D-don't listen to her! She's a stupid squishy that's making slag up!" Cyclonus had to defend himself and keep his reputation.

Demolisher looked thoughtfully at the human girl, she'd claimed to be making up those things about himself. And she called Thrust out on things that they had never known him to do. Maybe a thorough look into her background was necessary.

They stepped further into the cell and let go of the burden they'd been carrying. Jolt's body fell limply to the floor, Tools released Roxie's hand to let her run over to the motionless mech. Demolisher and Cyclonus left, Demolisher clearly making fun of Cyclonus in Cybertronian. On her hands and knees next to Jolt's head Roxie looked over his body, he was missing some fingers and armour all over particularly around his chest area. His spark was still going but not as strongly, whatever they had done to him had taken a real toll on him, "He didn't deserve this, and you didn't deserve it either. Maybe if I hadn't -"

"Don't even finish that sentence. Stop blaming yourself right now Roxie. Being part of NEST means this was a risk from the very beginning. This is a result of MY decisions, not just because I was with you. Jolt would tell you the same thing. So please, just stop thinking like that." Tools wouldn't stand to hear Roxie say she blamed or regretted associating herself with him and all the others.

Roxie sighed," Still, you guys are going through hell and I was the original target. It just doesn't make sense to me."

"You're complaining you haven't been hurt?…Are you into S and M?" Roxie made a face at Tools even though he couldn't see it, 'Glad to know his sense of humour is intact still.'

Jolt's spark hummed a bit louder and a whine came from his systems. His optics lit up making Roxie smile, groaning he tried to sit up," Jolt? Are you okay?"

He got himself up and put his back against the wall, a check over his systems told him he was in pretty bad shape. "Bad enough. What about you and Tools?"

"Still alive Jolt, good to see you're still with us." Tools waved his arm to show Jolt he could still move.

"And I'm doing much better now that you're conscious. Should I even ask what they did to you?" Roxie lightly brushed a hand over a nasty looking patch of exposed wires. Jolt hissed at the contact causing Roxie to withdraw her hand.

"No, you don't want to know. Plus it would be difficult to explain. What has happened since I went into stasis?" Jolt adjusted himself a bit more to properly take in Roxie and Tools' condition. Roxie looked slightly ruffled but much better in physical condition than what his scanners told of Tools.

Roxie rested her hand on a piece of armour plating, feeling it warm under hand. The contact gave her more comfort that she needed," Before you were brought in Starscream came and scanned me. From what I heard from his spark Megatron has him working on a special project for me."

"The only thing Megatron ever gives anyone is an early death." Jolt's systems were repairing themselves as quickly as they could but it wouldn't be fast enough by the sounds of things.

That was the answer Roxie had guessed she would get. Having exhausted herself from everything that had happened Roxie went to the other side of Jolt where she wouldn't be visible from the doorway. Laying down next to his hand she mumbled," I'm sorry all this happened to you guys. When we ge out I'll make it up to you." Jolt was amazed that the human body could relax in such a hostile environment. She even began to snore as if she were just back at base perfectly safe and content.

His hand was missing the middle and index finger and protested to any movement. He ignored the pain and protectively placed his hand over her body as a kind of shield. A scan over of Tools showed he'd also fallen asleep.

'Megatron won't likely send his men after us again. They must be in their recharge cycles.' Jolt thought this while attempting to reach out with his comm, he received only static. He would have been surprised if they hadn't blocked all and any possible way for them to call out for help. Jolt glanced down at Roxie once more. She was sleeping deeply only out of sheer exhaustion, nightmares would follow her out of the Decepticon base for years to come. He just hoped he would be there to calm her down after.

Knowing he wouldn't get another chance for a while Jolt allowed himself to go into recharge, he was going to need all the strength he could get to help Roxie anyway he could.

-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-I-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z

Back at Diego Garcia Will, Epps and Simmons at a table in the mess hall with a map in front of them. Ever since they got back to base the three men had been trying to theorize where they could find the damn Decepticons. So far they were getting no where with it and only getting closer to killing each other.

"Those marks looked like they took off due East." Epps had a collection of pictures from the battle grounds on the table, one of them he pointed to furiously.

"We can't tell if that was their final track of a transitional one. This tread mark was on the very edge of the fight, there weren't any other tracks heading in that direction. These are Decepticons, I'm sure they'd have enough intelligence to cover their tracks on their way out." Will pointed to another picture to repeat his argument that the Decepticons had headed north.

Simmons had given no suggestions, only commentary on all their ideas. Instead he glared at the map demanding it to start glowing where the Decepticon base was located.

"What's that beeping noise?" Simmons broke out of his concentration from the question. He listened himself and heard the same faint beeping.

Practically leaping out of his chair he dug around through his pockets until he pulled out a small flashing pager. "YES! YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Will and Epps stared after the man that had just taken off running yelling the same word. They exchanged a quick look before going after him.

Simmons went straight to the communications platform and hopped on one of the unused computers. Will, Epps, Sam, Maggie, Mikeala, Leo, and Glenn came up on the platform just as Simmons began to laugh while typing away like a mad man. Watching the screen go from a site they could tell was classified to a jumble of codes and numbers Sam had to ask," Simmons, what are you doing?"

Glenn put on his glasses and answered for the man," He's tracking a hacker. What did they hack into?"

"Roxie's medical background. I've had a personal detector on it for years. It's been almost hacked a few times by the government but we stopped then before they got anything. This is different. The hacker got in within a nanosecond, and there's only one way to do that." Simmons had a smug air to his explanation. His paranoia had finally paid off where it mattered most.

Everyone was on the same page now and watched without blinking to see if they could get their miracle. The codes and numbers abruptly turned into all zeros and filled the screen," NO! I was so close!" Simmons grabbed fistfuls of his hair in frustration. Right before the trace had completed the hacker completely nullified their connection, thus making the data trail non-existent.

"Did you learn anything? A general direction, the nearest city, something?" Will wasn't a tech specialist so he didn't know what they could get from this.

Glenn looked through the info that hadn't turned into zeros," Hey, found the last town your trace hit. Looks like…Moapa Town. Where the hell is Moapa Town?"

Simmons was already on it with his hand help GPS. "Moapa Town. Latitude 37, Longitude negative 115. It's right between St. George and Las Vegas."

Will and Epps took off in separate directions. Epps went to go let the bots know they had a starting point, Will went to gather the troops. Mooreshower had been given advanced warning that they would be on the move the second they learned something.

The teens left standing on the communications platform allowed themselves a small amount of hope, with this lead there was a slim chance that Will and Optimus would get to Roxie, Tools and Jolt before there was nothing left to hope for.

-z-y-x-w-v-u-t-s-r-q-p-o-n-m-l-k-j-I-h-g-f-e-d-c-b-a

Jolt had come out of recharge earlier than was good for him, it was done to keep guard for the two humans. Close to seven hours had passed which was plenty of recharge time for any Cybertronian. Tools woke up not long after on full alert once he felt and remembered what had happened the day before. Still incredibly sore from his burns Tools winced as he made himself sit up and try and get a better look at the cell for any kind of window. There was of course non, the only way in or out was the door with bars over it. Looking over at Roxie he had to wonder what her life would have been like had she not been born with acute hearing. 'Probably something much better than the hell she's in now.'

A draft from the door swept into the cell and brushed against Roxie's face. She sneezed and shivered, bleary from a dreamless sleep she sat up rubbing her eyes," Hey guys….How you feeling?"

"Same as yesterday, plus hungry. Too bad the 'Cons made me hand over my stash of granola and chocolate bars." Tools and Roxie groaned in unison at the loss of chocolate. Their stomachs growled a second after at the loss of food in general.

Jolt rolled his optics and popped open a compartment on his left leg. Inside were water bottles and various boxes of granola bars. "Jolt, have I ever told you you're incredible?" Roxie reached in and pulled out a bottle for herself and one for Tools. With the granola bars she figured the best would be the trail mix, she never liked them but it was the healthiest. Since Tools was in no condition to really walk she brought the water and food over to him.

"How come they emptied Tools but not you Jolt?" Roxie stayed standing to turn in a circle and see more. Like Tools she hoped to find some kind of little nook or cranny to aid in escape. Nothing.

"With subspace pockets it would be pointless….I'm not explaining subspace to either of you." At the mention of subspace both Roxie and Tools had looked over at Jolt with interest written all over their faces, being denied they pouted like four year old children.

The sounds of voices drew all three of them to glare at the barred door. Footsteps soon accompanied the voices. Fearing they were coming to drag Jolt away for more torture Roxie ran over to him and clung to his leg. Demolisher and Cyclonus came to the door, their face plates contorted to devious intentions," Get over here femme."

"Why should I?" Jolt had called Roxie a rebel, so she was going to act like one.

"Do as we say or we'll have fun with your friends again." Cyclonus jestered with his head to Tools, who flipped him the finger.

Roxie glanced up at Jolt, he didn't seen to concerned, giving the sense that the two Decepticons were behaving on their own actions. Slowly she detached herself from Jolt and walked towards the bars of her cell," What do you want?"

"I read your files girl, it says you have much better hearing than other humans. So how did you hear our secrets?" Demolisher gave Roxie a look that dared her to try and lie again.

'Damn!' "Who else knows about my hearing? Answer me that and I'll answer you." Roxie's ill kept secret about her hearing may have gotten out, but it could still be a secret.

"Just myself and Cyclonus." Demolisher didn't see why she wanted to know and simply answered to get his answer.

She pointed to the exact spot where his spark was located in his chest," I can hear things from your spark. Will you leave now?"

Cyclonus snickered and Demolisher smiled just a bit bigger. Instead of leaving Demolisher opened the bars, Roxie back stepped quickly but was still snatched up. "Ugh! What the hell are you doing?"

Jolt struggled to stand, his weapons had been deactivated but he could still use his fists. Cyclonus ended his attempt by pointing his gun at Tools, this had also gotten Roxie to hold still. "You're coming with us for a klik. And be quiet, the others are still in recharge." Not sure what they were planning Roxie motioned to Tools and Jolt to just wait. The untrusting glared they gave to the two 'Cons gave her some reassurance that they would be monsters to deal with if anything happened to her.

Keeping quiet as asked Roxie did her best to memorize the hallways they walked down. They passed the main chamber where Megatron sat recharging on his throne. With his optics shuttered he looked like he had back in her childhood, the position of his body and memory of yesterday kept the nostalgia at bay.

They continued further down the hall to another larger room where Thrust and Starscream recharged in their alt modes. Thrust had chosen his alt mode to be an FA 18-D Hornet, explaining his cone head in his bi-pedal mode. Demolisher quietly stepped past Thrust, which was quite successful due to his treads. He got very close to Starscream and placed her on the floor next to him. Roxie first looked at Starscream, then up at Demolisher with a "what?"" expression. Demolisher pointed to where he would have ear then to Starscream and then his spark chamber.

Roxie slapped herself on the face, 'Of course, get the dirt on the guy in higher ranking so you can black mail him. Really should have seen that coming. Oh well, not complaining. I can get a better listen to what it is that he's making for Megatron.' Roxie dared to step three steps closer to Starscream, almost putting her right under him. Squinting she focused only on the horrible music of his spark, if there was an instrument to match it it was the recorder on steroids being played by someone who was deaf. 'Starcream…Scientist…Create enhancer… restrainer… kill… Megatron…Wake up.' 'Uh oh.' Sucking in a frightened squeak Roxie ran back towards Demolisher while making the motions to make a run for it. Demolisher figured out her frantic charades and scooped her up to then make it appear that he was casually walking out after waking up. Cyclonus had been monitoring Thrust but had taken off when Roxie began running.

Shifting metal and gears gave them fair warning just as they got to the door. "Demolisher, what are you doing with the human femme?" They'd both forgotten about the heat sensor thing, which made Roxie wonder what the temperature difference was.

Demolisher must not have thought this far ahead, to save her own life she made herself appear unamused. Jerking a thumb at Demolisher she covered for him" Nuts and bolts for brains here thought it would be funny to see Jolt and Tools' reaction when they woke up and found me missing."

Demolisher jumped on the lie," Who are you calling nuts and bolts? And it will be funny, right Starscream?"

Starscream's face plates seemed to mirror Roxie's improvised expression. "She is correct in her assumption of your intelligence. Hand her over, I will return her to the cell. Prepare the equipment for today's interrogation."

"What? No! You did enough yesterday! Leave them alone!" Panic overtook her charade, just thinking of Jolt and Tools enduring further pain made her stomach cramp in fear and worry.

"Since we did not acquire any information from either of them, it is clear we didn't use enough persuasion. That shall be corrected with today's interrogation, this time the good doctor will be lending us a hand. He is even more persuasive than Cyclonus and Thrust combined."

"Oh ho ho, yes. I am very persuasive indeed. Ze human shall answer ze questions we ask. And I shall learn much more about you alien species." Scalpel had been close to Starscream during recharge, that or he'd been in Starscream's cock pit for some reason. He crawled down Starscream's arm and got right into Roxie's face scanning her gleefully.

"Touch Tools or Jolt and I will tear you into pieces you nasty bug! STOP SCANNING ME DAMMIT!" Roxie's anger forced back her fear, she managed to get one of her arms free from Starscream's fist and grab Scalpel by what she thought was the throat. Scalpel laughed and stabbed her arm. She released him with a yelp, Scalpel had driven his arm in deep, a promise for a new scar. Starscream ha deliberately walked slowly past the main chamber and the recharging Megatron, his sensors focused on his leader. Megatron didn't make any movement or indication that he'd heard Roxie's threats to the doctor. It was a test to see if Megatron's audio dampeners had been properly installed.

Scalpel was vivid with joy, he had been given permission to run tests on the human male having done well in putting Megatron's audio dampeners back in place. His first alien specimen had been taken away by the Autobots before he could properly explore his systems. To plunge his claws into a specimen's flesh would be quite pleasing. His specimen came into view through the bars of the containment cell.

Roxie saw the creepy crab turn in Tools' direction, excitement vibrating off its tiny spark. 'Oh no you don't!' Scalpel jumped off of Starscream's hand a second before Starscream dumped Roxie on the floor. Tools glared at the tony doctor that eagerly crawled towards him. Putting faith in her green converse Roxie made a jump for Scalpel, he scuttled out of the way at the last second. "You will have your turn once Lord Megatron gives me permission. It is his turn first."

"How about you die…first!" Roxie chased Scalpel around the cell trying to stomp on him. Tools wanted to stop her, worried that Scalpel would turn the tables and kill her instead. Starscream watched from the doorway finding great amusement in the girl's feeble attempt to destroy the doctor. Jolt wished it was him doing the chasing, he would have crushed Scalpel in one stomp.

'Starscream, the equipment is all set. Cyclonus and I will be there in a moment.' Demolisher's update let Starscream know the fun was to end. ' Scalpel, quit messing around and sedate both of the humans.'

Scalpel acted immediately, he let Roxie stomp down on a couple legs. He detached them to cling to Roxie's leg, two more of his arms switched out for a needle which he stabbed into the back of her leg. "Ah! What did you just…Oh…Dammit." It wa a fast acting drug that gave Roxie barely a second to realize she'd been sedated. Tools wasn't able to move to catch her and winced when she hit the floor. 'No blood or strangely bent limbs, she'll just have a bump on her head.'

He felt something stab into his own leg, glaring down at the crafty doctor," You better pray to Primus… We don't…catch…you." Tools had it a bit better when he lost consciousness, since he was only sitting up the fall wasn't bad enough to even give him a lump.

Demolisher and Cyclonus entered the cell to see Jolt trying to stand to go after Scalpel, Scalpel had taken hold of Tools' shirt collar and was dragging him off. (Which caused the two Cons to wonder what kind of strength their field medic had.) "Don't just stand there gawking, grab the Autobot. Lord Megatron will be expecting us to have started by the time he comes out of recharge." Starscream stepped forward and picked up Tools along with Scalpel. Demolisher and Cyclonus gave him dirty looks for taking the easy job. Jolt was going to be a handful for them.

GG23: JUST A REMINDER THAT YOU GUYS SHOULD CHECK MY PROFILE PAGE FOR PICTURE LINKS, I DON'T UPDATE AND ADD LINKS THE SAME DAY ;D