Amelia wheezed as she desperately attempted to suck precious air into her lungs as she was thrown onto the metal slab she used for a bed. How long had she been here for? Two days? Three? A week? Everything hurt, even her legs and right arm which she had been unable to move since the destruction of her town. This is it this time, Amelia thought to herself. He's gone too far this time. Amelia gave a small cough causing her lungs to burn, the little energy she had left dispersed from her body, unable to move herself into a more comfortable position. Her ears filled with a deep rhythmic thumping; she felt as sick as a dog, as her mum would have said.

Oh Mum. Amelia gasped at the realisation she would never see her mum or dad again. There was no way they could have survived that, she knew it, but at the back of her mind she couldn't let go of the hope that maybe they had lived. Maybe it's best they hadn't, rather than be treated like this with me. Amelia spat out the blood from her mouth which had trailed down from her nose. She wouldn't wish this on anyone. Amelia gave one last sigh before allowing her heavy eyes to close.

~A~

"NO, NO, NO!" Starscream punched the wall next to the computer before roughly picking up the young girl's body and running through the archway of the ship towards Dr. Arkeville. He threw the body on to another metal slab with leather restraints on the top and bottom. She wasn't breathing. Megatron would rip him apart for this.

"I told you Starscream! I told you, you pushed her too far. Human bodies are delicate!" Dr. Arkeville shouted, already attaching the restraints around the girl's wrists and ankles. "You fix this Dr. Arkeville or so help me I will use you instead of her!" Starscream growled, folding his arms in refusal to help. Dr. Arkeville scoffed, continuing to attach wires to the girl's forehead and over her chest with nimble fingers. Rapidly typing into the computer, he watched as the body jolted, eliciting a groan from the girl and colour slowly returned to her face. "There she's still alive," Dr. Arkeville stated. "Miraculously." Starscream walked towards the screen next to the bionic human, observing the data showing the girl's heart rhythm and blood gas levels. He smirked, "Excellent. You see Dr. Arkeville, even you do not give your own species credit. Human's bodies can be more resilient than I though." Dr. Arkeville snarled. "She only survived because of me and my ingenuity. Had I not programmed the computer with the best medical systems on Earth to be able to manage human slaves she would be dead!" Dr. Arkeville flinched as Starscream turned on his heel. "Are you questioning my intelligence, Doctor?" he asked, his voice sickly sweet. "N-no Starscream."

Sirens began to sound throughout the Decepticon base accompanied by red flashing lights. "WARNING. WARNING. AUTOBOT ALERT. AUTOBOTS FOUND WITHIN SURROUNDING VICINITY. WARNING."

Starscream sauntered towards the exit before halting to examine the two humans. "If I return and find our experiment has deteriorated Doctor, you will be used as a replacement. Or face the wrath of Megatron for your insolence. Do I make myself clear?" Dr. Arkeville ground his teeth before nodding and turning back to the computer screen.

~A~

Rewind sat quietly within Blaster's chest compartment as watched the road run alongside what appeared to be miles of ocean water. The cliff they drove on had a steep drop on to the rocks below them, the waves crashed against them rebelliously. It was strange to him to think that somewhere a few miles from the shore lay the Decepticons headquarters, hidden deep within the sea. He calmed his nerves, preparing himself for their recon mission with his cassette brothers as he'd done many times before. There had been reports the Decepticons had been making random attacks on villages around the world. At first it appeared only to be in America; small ones with no real unique interest to them. It was strange, unlike all the previous attack sites these had no real connection to each other. The attacks themselves did not appear to have any real purpose to them other than mindless destruction. Not that the decepticons were above that being their sole objective, however. But even this was terrifying for the tyrant's actions. All those lifeless human bodies…

Try not to think too hard about it, buddy. Blaster advised gently across their bond. Rewind nodded sadly, trying to clear his CPU and prepare himself for the mission ahead of him. A gentle nudging at his spark made him smile, Steel jaw he realised, was offering a little comfort as his creator continued towards their destination. This had been by far one of the more traumatic attacks the decepticons had unleashed. The survivors were few and far between, many dying by the time the autobots found them. Bumblebee he had remembered found it particularly hard after finding a body which looked nearly identical to Spike with his curly brown hair and skin beginning to melt from the flames …

"You ready, Blaster?" Jazz asked, the red cassette sat waiting in the back of the Porsche. "You betcha" Blaster said confidently, watching as his comrade drove in the direction of what appeared to be the decepticons base. Not that it was difficult to ascertain who it belonged to, shaped like a giant purple insignia of the group, not exactly subtle … Ready mechs? Blaster felt his younglings fire through with approval and determination through the bond as Jazz pulled closer to the base. They could only drive so far, the rest they would either have to fly or swim. Flying would attract too much attention. It was actually Prowl who found out information about the decepticons coordinates. He'd managed to intercept a comm. Link frequency between Thundercracker and Skywarp, pure luck really, but what they had been discussing was just as horrifying as the events they had been sent to help people from. Not only were they killing innocent humans, but the ones that did survive had actually been taken hostage. Why they had not used them for ransom though, no one could really present a good theory.

Jazz transformed, sending the cassette player up in the air, Blaster effortlessly transformed landing on his feet almost noiselessly. His optics carefully scanned over rest of the scout mission arriving; Cliffjumper, Mirage, Hound and the lambo brothers all ready and waiting for orders from the saboteur. Optimus was already waiting to the lead the other mechs for a full fledge assault once Jazz has formed the distraction as part of their plan.

-A-

Amelia woke in complete darkness. Everything about her was sore. Her body involuntarily shivered against the steel bed she had been thrown down on and her skin felt as if it was on fire. She didn't think she could keep going like this much longer. Honestly, she was starting to feel like she didn't care if she woke up anymore just so the torture would end. Even now she didn't fully understand why they continued to keep her alive. Dr. Arkeville had a sick sense of humour though. She learnt very quickly just how insane this man was with his metal arm and metal skull cap; did he just enjoy causing pain? Did he think he might be allowed to live if he joined the decepticons? Or did he just have a god complex and enjoy being able to effectively kill someone and bring them back again? A whimper passed through her dry cracked lips and she tried again for the thousandth time to wiggle her legs to allow her to sink more comfortably on the table. Nothing happened. Furrowing her brow, Amelia strained her neck to allow herself to look down her barely covered body; a wave of nausea flew over her. Her legs were gone. In their place lay two grey pieces of metal, the top hiding under the thin cloth that had been thrown over her torso to protect her modesty (at least they had some decency to protect that!). She struggled again, thrashing her shoulders as much as she could but her legs still wouldn't move.

"Ah I see you've seen your upgrade? Quite lovely don't you think?" Amelia dropped her head down hard against the table and glanced sideways. The familiar white coat of the crazy doctor swept to the side as he sidled around the table to fiddle with the computer behind her head. "What have you done!? Where are my legs!?" Arkeville ignored her screaming as if it was nothing more than a fly buzzing by his ear as his continued to fiddle with the keys. Amelia's face contorted into lines of malice and anger, "Answer me!" A hard cold hand clutched her throat and squeezed, forcing any other argument or fight she had left from her mouth in a gurgling cough. Blood red visor set deep in a purple helm drew close to her face and smirked, sadistically. "Still haven't learnt to keep your mouth shut have you!" Rumble. Amelia despised him, probably more than Starscream. He'd often be ordered to watch her with the doctor, normally if they thought an attack was imminent, which was quite often. Actually, in fairness she hated all of them. "Just … kill me" she all but mouthed, but she couldn't help but sob as he just gave one last hard squeeze around her throat and let go. "Sorry fleshie, not this time. Megatron's got big plans for you!" She noted he held his gun in his right hand as he marched to Arkeville watching him continue his work. Would there really be an attack? More times than not it was a false alarm, Rumble always had a firearm on him but never out in his hand, ready to fight.

"Hurry up, Doc. Before the autoboobs land in our laps!" Rumble growled. "Do not rush me. Do you know how complex it is to transfer a life support machine to a temporary pod? Unless you want to explain to Megatron why his experiment died after we just managed to do half of the transplant?" Rumble audibly snapped his jaw shut. No one wanted to take on Megatron, Amelia learnt. She couldn't really say she blamed them. She had heard about the autobots and she remembered seeing a parade on the television with her brother after they had stopped a massive explosion from happening in an American oil plant, with much gratitude for the decepticons for that as well. They had saved everyone that day. Too bad they couldn't save her family. Her heart began to race and bit her lip; if she screamed at the right moment, maybe she could get their attention? Would that be stupid to try? If she, did it too early, she'd be hurt again no doubt, probably by Rumble. The thought made her shudder. But if she didn't call them, would she have missed her one opportunity for freedom? The irony taste of blood trickled on her tongue as she hardened herself for what might come, and she waited for the right time. They'd never find her now. They were already preparing their escape and would probably be out before the autobots got here. With any luck, the transfer would fail and she'd finally be spared of the rest of the experiments Arkeville had planned for her. I'll be with you and Dad and Joey then, Mum.

"Hurry up! Seriously, they'll be here soon!" Rumble panicked, grabbing the half robot doctor by his white coat, pulling him back from the computer console to see his progress. Inadvertently in doing so, he caused Arkeville to grip the wires he had connected to Amelia and pulled them loose. The computer began deafening the room with warning noises as the screen flashed red. Amelia could feel the pain surge through her body like electricity and her breath became harder to catch. "You, incompetent twit!" Arkeville screamed. Amelia felt as if her eyes were pulsing and ready to explode within her head, agony coursing through every vein within her body. She couldn't focus on much else but the last thing she remembered was seeing the pure panic in the doctor's face as she continued to gasp like a fish, black filling her vision. I'm coming Mum.

Rumble stared at the screen in horror. Megatron would have his head for this! Unless he could find a way-

A sharp stinging in his shoulder tore away any other thought he could have, sending him headfirst into the wall of the room, over the doctor's head. He forced himself up quickly to his feet, glaring toward the door the intruders must have forced themselves through, all though a lot quicker than he or anyone else would have expected. They should have had at least another cycle! "You wanna go with Rumble ay?" He jeered, before his face dropped. Mere inches from his face were the barrel of a steaming black gun held by a steady golden arm. Sunstreaker.

"Go ahead. Finish your sentence. I wanna hear what your last words are before I rip your vocal cords out?" the larger mech growled lowly. Rumble noted this sickening grin across his derma plates indicated he wasn't joking. He didn't even trembler as he pushed the barrel to the decepticons forehead.

"Sunny, no time! We need Ratchet, now!" Rumble took advantage of the yellow mechs distraction to connect his fist with his jaw before grabbing hold of the human doctor by the back of his coat and ran for it. At least he could blame the autobots for the death of that little freak. "Stop! Go back! We need my creation! She was so nearly ready!" Arkeville squirmed. "Frag her! We need out!" Rumble got himself to the door of the room before turning abruptly on his heel to face the two mechs now beginning to detach the human from the bed. "Let me give you a hand, fellas!"

Sunstreaker growled, barely dodging the blast the smaller mech aimed as it hit the berth the human had been laying on. Thankfully Sideswipe had already scooped her from it, cradling her against his red chassis as he desperately called for help along their comm. link. Sunstreaker visibly deflated as his optics stared at the damage caused to the young human, a rare time he showed any form of sympathy.

They went too far this time. His twins normally stoic voice was murderous across their bond. Sunstreaker clenched his servos seeing his brother's normally soft and friendly optics harsh and icy; Sunstreaker was well-known for his vicious gladiator like fighting, but he knew his twin could be just as bloodthirsty. It was rare to see, but here it was threatening to come out in full force. Sunstreaker merely grunted, looking down at the mangled metal, crudely folded into some representation of limbs attached to the pale women in his brother's arms.

We'll get them back for this, that little purple slagger's gonna be missing his legs next time. His own optics flashed mercilessly as he watched their medic rush in with Wheeljack hot on his tail. Oh, Rumble would definitely pay next time.