WARNING: This chapter has a bit of sexual assault in it, there's no rape so don't worry about that. There's just some touchy-feely from a certain mech that can't keep his servos to himself. -_-

Darkness was all Arcee could see all around her. She couldn't feel any more pain. Was she dead? Did Megatron actually kill her? No, she can't be dead, Megatron didn't beat her up that badly. Besides she knows the well of all-sparks isn't an empty void, she would be seeing lights right now and Primus if she actually was dead. She starts feeling confused and a bit scared because she doesn't know what's happening. Then a light appears in front of her which scares her more, she becomes even more confused when she sees her two dead partners, Cliffjumper and Tailgate. They both come through the light and stand in front of her, smiling at her. Her confusion then turns to happiness as she runs to them and gives them a hug, so happy to see them. Then fear takes her again as she realizes, if she's seeing them then she is for sure dead.

Tailgate chuckles as he starts speaking, "You're not dead Arcee."

Arcee looks at him in confusion, "Then how am I seeing you two?"

"You're trapped in your subconscious. Megatron beat you until you blacked out and so you're here until you wake up." Cliffjumper chimed in.

"...I see..."

"Since we're basically a part of your thoughts you're able to see us in this state..." Tailgate said before taking a pause. He got this concerned look on his face as he continued, "Also we asked for permission to come talk to you while you were in this state so we can warn you..."

Arcee looked between the two as worry started to fill her, especially when she noticed that Cliffjumper had a concerned look just like Tailgate did. She then mustards up the courage to ask the question, "Warn me about what?"

Tailgate and Cliffjumper look at each other then back to Arcee, "We believe that soon the Decepticons will do something to you that could make you lose yourself and forget who you are as an Autobot for good." Tailgate replies with sorrow in his tone. The thought of Arcee going through such things pains both him and Cliffjumper, and the thought of them not being able to do anything to stop it and protect her pains them even more.

"You must fight Arcee, fight to keep your true self." Cliffjumper adds in.

Arcee starts feeling even more scared after hearing this but she keeps her composure and won't show any signs of her fear. But she has to ask, "What do the Decepticons plan on doing to me?"

"We don't know for sure. All we know is that it's something that could make you lose yourself as an Autobot and become a Decepticon for the rest of your life unless you fight against it." Tailgate responds.

"You must fight back Arcee, fight back with all of your might. We believe in you, we know you can do it. Find a way to get back to team Prime." Cliffjumper puts in just before the two turns around to go back to the light.

"I will fight, I promise." Arcee says as she watches them return to the light.

The two turn to look at her one last time and give her a smile, "It's time for you to wake up now." They both say as they disappear into the light.

Arcee watches them disappear then feels a tug as she finds herself heading for a light as well. She soon wakes up to flashes of light shining into her optics, the light goes away and she can see she's on a medical berth in med-bay on the Nemesis with Knockout right in front of her. The surge of pain instantly hits her as she becomes more aware, she wishes she was still in the black void. She looks down to look at herself and notices she's strapped down to the berth, which is no surprise since she is an enemy and she's no longer under their control.

"Good to see you awake."

Arcee looks over to Knockout who was checking over her vitals, "How long was I out?"

"Almost two Earth days." He replies as he looks up at her, "Maybe now you know better than to refuse the help that is given to you. Would be best not to anger Megatron again, would hate to see your beautiful frame be turned to scrap." He then added with a devious smirk.

Arcee sneered in disgust and rolled her optics, "Why would you even care? I'm an Autobot, remember?"

"Well, you still have the Decepticon symbol so that can make it a bit difficult to remember." Knockout said mockingly, "But even though you are an Autobot you do have a great body." He then added as he let his servo gracefully glide down her frame.

Arcee furrowed her brows in a scornful scowl as she struggles to get free and kick his aft, "Don't touch me!"

"Why not?" Knockout asked as he leaned down to get closer to her face. His servo ran over her abdomen before sliding up to her breastplate to start undoing it. He grins in amusement as he watches her struggle to get free.

Arcee is repulsed by his actions and struggles, even more, to get free so she can knock the smirk right off his face and break his servo. But no matter how hard she tries she can't get free so she's left to deal with what is happening. All she can do is hope and pray this will be stopped. But she's on a Decepticon ship and they don't care what the others be doing, and defiantly wouldn't care if one was about to rape an Autobot. So she just lays there and closes her optics as Knockout begins to have his way with her, knowing there is nothing that can stop him.

But just as he finishes undoing her breastplate he gets pulled away from her and thrown to the other side of the room. Arcee opens her optics and looks to see who had saved her and sees Soundwave standing there next to her in a stance that shows he is ready to fight if Knockout wants to try anything. She looks at him in shock and is baffled why he would save her like this, but she is also really grateful.

Knockout gains his composure and gets to his feet. He then looks to see who had attacked him and interrupted his moment of pleasure, "Soundwave? Why are you here?" He asked with a hint of venom in his voice. He's quite upset he was interrupted but he wouldn't try to attack Soundwave or even try to get to the femme with Soundwave standing in the way, he's not stupid. Every 'Con and 'Bot knows about Soundwave's history as a Gladiator and all knows he's the best fighter in the Decepticons, with the exception of Megatron. Soundwave is Megatron's right-hand mech for a reason.

Soundwave didn't bother answering Knockout's question and turned to look at Arcee. He scanned her over to make sure she was alright then he removed the straps and turned back around to watch Knockout as she fixed her breastplate. He's happy he reached the med-bay in time to stop Knockout before he went too far. He glares at the red mech from behind his visor, disgusted with him.

Arcee was glad Soundwave had turned around to face Knockout as she felt a hint of a blush creep up onto her faceplate. To think that if Soundwave had reached med-bay a little later than he did then she would have been exposed to him. But why would that make her blush? She wasn't embarrassed at the thought of being exposed to Knockout but the thought of being exposed to Soundwave embarrasses her, why? She couldn't be getting attracted to him, could she?

She remembers when he approached her in the brig she couldn't get too hostile with him and she couldn't figure out why. Why is she holding back from being too hostile with him? Why is she blushing right now? There's no way she could be attracted to him. No way in pit would she ever fall for a Decepticon. She pushes them thoughts out of her processor as she makes sure her breastplate is fixed correctly.

Soundwave continued to watch Knockout with a scornful look, but Knockout can't see it because of the visor. He then decided to finally speak, "Don't ever... touch her... again." The words were put as a threatening warning towards the medic. Soundwave then turned back around to face Arcee again and helped her off the berth.

Knockout watches them in confusion, "Where do you think you're going with her? She hasn't been cleared!"

Soundwave looks back at him and made it clear she was leaving med-bay with him. Knockout just backed off and let the two leave, again he's not stupid enough to start a fight with the mech that is the best-known fighter of the Decepticons next to Megatron. Soundwave turns back around and continues to help Arcee out of med-bay.

The two head to Soundwave's room with Soundwave supporting Arcee who is having trouble walking due to slight weakness from the beating and lack of Energon. She knows she needs to get some Energon in her systems but she's still skeptical about taking Energon from her enemies, but she's starting to see that she'll have to take some if she wants to survive. She looks over at Soundwave who is steadily walking with her and helping her and she starts to see him in a new way. The way he stood up to Knockout and protected her, something she thought a 'Con would never do. He came to her rescue when she had given up hope of being saved from that predicament and he seemed so concerned with her wellbeing. But why? Why would a Decepticon do such a thing for an Autobot? It was puzzling to Arcee but for the moment she decides to let it be and just be thankful he did show up and stop Knockout before it could go any further.

Once they get to Soundwave's room they go inside and Soundwave closes the door before he helps Arcee over to his berth. The room seems familiar to Arcee but she's not sure why. Has she been in this room before? She has no recollection of ever being in here but she feels as though she has. So many things are whirling in her processor, so many questions, it's starting to give her a helm ache.

Soundwave goes to a cupboard he has in his room and opens the doors and Arcee sees a stash of Energon cubes inside. Of course, he would have his own little stash. Soundwave grabs a cube and closes the doors, he then turns and walks back over to Arcee and hands her the cube. Arcee is hesitant at first but she takes the cube and drinks it, it's the least she can do for the mech that helped her.

"Thank you..." She then says after swallowing the gulp of Energon she had in her mouth, "...for helping me and for the Energon. I am really grateful to you."

Soundwave just nods to show his appreciation of her gratitude.

"How come you don't talk?" Arcee asked him with curiosity.

Soundwave looked away as he debated on what to tell her. Then he looked back at her, "Just... don't."

Arcee just slightly nods, she doesn't want to push it further and seem like she's trying to pry into his life. The two stay in silence for a moment as Arcee continues to drink her Energon when Soundwave gets a call from Megatron on the comm, :: Soundwave, meet me on the bridge. ::

"Stay here." Soundwave tells Arcee as he turns to head out of the room, locking the door behind him. Arcee just leans back on the berth and drinks the Energon.

Soundwave gets to the bridge where Megatron is waiting for him and walks up to him. Megatron turns to face him, "Soundwave, I heard there was trouble in the med-bay earlier. Was our little femme being troublesome?"

Soundwave shook his helm then played on his visor what he caught Knockout doing, "I see. So you intervened and stopped Knockout causing a dispute between you two." Soundwave just gives a nod, "You were right in doing so, Knockout should have kept his servos to himself!" Megatron growled a bit and sneered before giving a sly grin as he came to the realization of something and got an idea, "You love her, don't you Soundwave?"

Soundwave just looks at him for a moment as he ponders on if he should tell him, especially since he revealed to him not long ago that he had some feelings for her. But in the end, he decided, to be honest, no matter what consequence it may cause. He nods to confirm that he does.

Megatron lets out a chuckle, "I suspected as much. That's good because I want you to mate with her."

Soundwave is confused as to why he would want that and he starts playing the recording of Megatron confessing his feelings for the femme. Megatron turns away from Soundwave, "I know I said that to you not long ago, but I've been thinking it over and came to the conclusion that I more see her as a valuable weapon than a mate or lover of any sort. She impresses and intrigues me and I do have some feelings for her but I just can't see her as more than a weapon I can use against the Autobots, against Optimus." He then turns back towards Soundwave, "I've also noticed you have feelings for her as well, I been noticing it. So I decided to let you have her. Think of it as my reward to you for being so loyal all these millennias. It will also help keep her in the ranks as she can't leave her mate, and if she does leave you can follow her anywhere she goes."

Soundwave takes in everything his lord is saying and as much as it would thrill him to have the femme that he loves as his mate there's just one problem... He plays the recording of Arcee telling him she could never love a Decepticon and will never be with him, which still pains him to hear.

"I see. It will be difficult since she doesn't love you and that would be required, but maybe the next device we use to bring her back under my control will help us with that."

Before anything else can be said Knockout comes onto the comm, :: Lord Megatron, I found something that will bring the Autobot femme back under your control once more. ::

:: What is it? ::

:: Come to med-bay my lord and I will show you. But I will say it's something that the Autobots won't be able to counter with a simple remote device, would take a lot more to bring her back from this. ::

:: Sounds promising already. I'll be there shortly to see what you found. :: Megatron said as he ended the call, "You heard that Soundwave, we have something that could very well help." He says as he heads off the bridge and heads to med-bay. Soundwave follows close behind as he wonders what it is Knockout has found and wonders what it would do to Arcee.