Yay! Finally got this thing done! Took me a while to write this thing because I actually changed a major detail about mid-way through this. Originally Optimus wasn't supposed to find out that Hunter was abducted until like a week or so later. Then I got to thinking that it didn't make a lot of sense that way. Wouldn't he be suspicious if Hunter didn't contact him for a week? Especially when he told her to call when she was settled in? He could let it go for a day maybe—deciding she was tired and what not, but a whole week? I don't think so! So, in order to do this I had to rethink a few things that I already had planned/mentioned in the preview (which will probably change a tiny bit regardless) to make it fit. But I'm really happy with the way it's going now.

(Note: Also watching 'Taken' again may have caused me to change the detail a bit too. Just saying!)

SunnSides—Well, depression is going to be a part of Optimus' mood change, but we'll also see rage and other unpleasantness with him before it's over. Not like seriously dark stuff but… yeah, you get the picture. I mean, come on, it's his kid! Why wouldn't he go a bit rogue?

AND: I'm not entirely sure yet, I hope soon. So far Ratchet hasn't given me much to type up yet. And, hey, Hunt! Question for you!

*Hunter reads question over my shoulder* Heck no!

AllSpark Princess—Greasy will be back, but not for a while yet.

Alice Gone Madd—Oh, he will be. You can bet on that!

WolfAssassin369-*beams with pride* Mwah-ha-ha-ha…. MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

Epic Score; Prepare for the Onslaught

16

Ω Solus itaque Procul E Domus Ω

(Alone and Far From Home)

With a soft moan, Hunter began to wake up. The first thing she realized was the fact that she felt cramped—it was almost like she wasn't folded doubled- but tripled-up with very little room to move at all. The second thing she realized was the fact that she was chained up, and that didn't make things any more comfortable. Groaning, the sixteen-year-old opened her eyes—blinking some residual dust out of them—and was met with pure blackness. For a brief moment, she panicked. She couldn't see anything! Had she been blinded by whatever that dust was the Jacobs had dumped in her face? Why couldn't she see?! It took a moment for the girl to calm down and realize that she was not in fact blinded; there was enough light to allow her to see that, though it was fairly dim. There was also just enough light for her to make out her surroundings. A trunk. She was in the trunk of a car.

Hunter was confused until she remembered what had happened at the convenience station. It all came together. There had never been any real out of state adoption at all. That had all just been a ruse to get her away from Optimus and her team so that she didn't have protection—this purported aunt and uncle of hers probably didn't even exist! Sure, the papers Jacobs had submitted to them when they'd requested them had looked official enough, but it wasn't that difficult to forge documents. Then once Jacobs had gotten her alone and far enough away from home he'd dropped the social worker act, knocked her out with some kind of sleep powder, and flat out kidnapped her. Question was: who was he working for? Hunter was willing to bet it was this Hybrid group who she'd gone into hiding from. They'd probably paid Jacobs off to come and get her and then bring her to them, rather than go after her themselves and risk and full frontal confrontation with her family. The teen doubted Jacobs was one of them. He'd been stupid enough to try and knock her out by using a jack handle before he'd thrown the powder in her face. Had he been a Hybrid, the handle probably would have done the job, but there'd been hardly enough force behind the blow to knock her dizzy. He was definitely human.

The redhead's attention then turned to the chains wound around her. Focusing on the coils around her wrists, Hunter—as quietly as she could—tried pulling her hands apart. It worked! The chains snapped with a quiet chink! Hunter couldn't help the grin that parted her lips as she realized that the idiot Jacobs had restrained with standard chains. Yes! Suddenly a new sound drew the girl's attention. Slightly shifting and craning her neck around, the young Hybrid listened intently at the muffled noises coming through the trunk of the car. Voices. Definite voices. Two distinct ones; Jacobs' and another that was deep but definitely female. Judging from the echoing sound, they were all in some kind of large building—maybe a warehouse.

"You're late," the woman said. "Care to explain yourself?"

"Not my fault," Jacobs quickly answered. He was obviously afraid of this woman—whoever she was. "First of all the kid had to say goodbye to every single last one of the people in her life—I swear they put on a family reunion in order to say goodbye! I thought I'd be 80 before we finally got outta there! Second it's not like I have somebody with me in the car who can read the map! I don't got a photographic memory and it's not like I can drive and read the map all at the same time—not if you want me to get here at all."

"Calm yourself," the woman ordered. "The important thing is that you got the girl here, which you did. I don't care about anything else."

"All right then," Jacobs huffed. "So, uh… where's my reward for my, uh, services?"

There was silence for a moment before the woman ordered in Latin, "Adducet partibus pecunia." (Bring the money.) A second later there was the sound of canvas bags exchanging hands. "Here's your money," the woman said. "And a bonus."

"Uh…" Jacobs stammered, "… not that I'm the kinda guy to turn down free money or nothin' but, what's the bonus for?"

"Your silence," the woman answered. "This transaction never happened. I have no doubt this'll keep your lips sealed, but just so you know, if you ever talk to anyone about what happened here or anything involving any of this you will be severely punished. And I don't mean being sent back to prison. Am I understood?"

There was the sound of a nervous gulp. "Wh-whatever you say, Lady," Jacobs replied. "Whatever you say."

"Good," the woman praised him, a sneer in her voice. "You did well, Philips. We never could have done this without you."

Hunter's eyes widened and her stomach plummeted. Jacobs wasn't Jacobs—he was Philips! He'd conned them in more ways than just the adoption scam!

"So," Philips replied with a hinting sort of tone, "does that mean I get a "never-coulda-done-this-without-you" bonus too?"

"You're teetering very close to the edge, Philips," the woman replied dangerously. "Don't press your luck."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"But as a matter of fact," the woman went on. "you more or less do." There was the sound of a tarp being whipped around in the air and then Philips let loose a sudden, obviously excited holler. "I take it you approve?"

"You kiddin'?!" Philips laughed. "It's a Lamborghini, woman!"

"Right," the woman replied monotonously. "It's yours; just try not to wreck it. Our generosity stops here—we owe you nothing else." There was a heavy sigh and the sound of feet coming towards the car. "So you got her chained up?"

"Yeah," Philips answered, though from how distant his voice sounded, it was a safe bet he was still ogling his new wheels. "In the trunk." He snorted. "At first I thought that stuff you gave me to knock her out wasn't gonna work—I thought I was a dead man!"

"You didn't use it on her first thing?"

"I didn't think I needed too—y'all didn't tell me she was some kinda super-bitch."

"We assumed you were smart enough to figure out that we gave you the sleeping dust for a specific reason and would know to use it."

"You know what happens when you assume, sweetheart," Philips chuckled. "You make an ass out of you and…"

"You," the woman interrupted. "Just you, Philips. And if you want to live to take that car 15,000 mile check I suggest you don't ever call me "sweetheart" again." There was suddenly pat on the trunk, startling Hunter. "Remove the girl," it didn't sound like the woman was talking to Philips now, "and everyone remain on high alert. She could be waking up, and I don't care if she's chained up or not—you all know what happened to the last group that was sent after her. We don't give her that kind of chance again." The woman's footsteps retreated, but at the same time it sounded like more were coming towards the car.

Trying to think of how to play this as quickly as she could—which was hard to do when you could hear hands on the trunk and the latch thunking open—the teen finally decided to close her eyes and try to lay as still as possible. Maybe if they thought she was still asleep they would be less on their guard.

The masked, Hybrid soldiers opened the trunk and looked down as the still form of the girl chained up there. "Looks like she's still out," one of them commented. He couldn't have been more wrong. Right then and there Hunter acted. Opening her eyes she kicked a leg up and back, successfully breaking the chains and sending out a wave of intense blue flames from her foot right into the faces of the soldiers. With a yell, they all fell back, some having to stop, drop and roll as their uniforms caught aflame.

The woman whose voice Hunter had heard before suddenly whirled on Philips. Behind her mask her face was twisted into rage. "You chained her up with standard chains?!" she shrieked. "Imbecile! Where are the Leviathan chains—why didn't you use them?!"

"I forgot and left 'em back in my motel room!" Philips answered, looking horrified. "I figured what's the difference!"

"You idiot!"

No longer hemmed in in the trunk, Hunter jumped out and shook the rest of the chains loose. Yes! She was free! Immediately turning her gaze to the soldiers that had attempted to unload her, the sixteen-year-old snarled, clenched her fists, and released her blades. She charged. "Rraahh!" The young Hybrid leapt into the air and planted both feet into the chest of one of the men as she came down, driving him forcefully down into the ground. "Hrah!" She made two quick slashes of her razors through his face, killing him. There would be no holding back this time—no mercy. These people had taken her away from her family. They were going to learn just how severe the mistake they'd made was. They were going to pay!

Hearing footsteps running towards her, Hunter glanced over her shoulder to see the other four soldiers coming at her. A growl thundered out from her throat. Without a second to spare she leapt into the air and backflipped down into the middle of them, clawing one of the women down her back as she came down. "Hup!" Standing up, the teen quickly looked to the right and threw her arm up, catching a sword on her blades. "Uh!" Then she pivoted and drove her other set of blades into the man's spark chamber. "Huh!" Whirling around again, Hunter ran up the front of another soldier and ripped his yet sheathed sword out of its holster before shoving off the Hybrid's chest towards the other woman. "Hah! Huh!" She slammed her knee into the female's face, knocking her backwards and then spun around again, swinging the sword and decapitating the solider she'd relieved it from before turning back towards the woman she'd knocked away. Running for her she used the woman—struggling to get up—as a springboard. "Hrah!" Hunter landed in a kneeling position on the ground and quickly pushed herself up, sword up and at the ready. She found herself surrounded by at least two dozen more armed soldiers. Seriously, where the heck did these people come from?! They were like roaches!

"Huntress James!" one of them shouted. "Stand down!"

"You first!" Hunter snapped back, quickly moving around the circle to keep an eye on as many of them as she could. The teen was backed into a corner—she knew that—and she more than likely wasn't going to win, but she wasn't going down without a fight. Win or lose, she would make her stand!

"Screw this!" Philips—who was somewhere beyond the ring of Hybrids—shouted. "I'm out!" There was the sound of a door slamming, a car engine roaring to life, and tires quickly peeling away and out of the warehouse.

Hunter continued to pivot around the center of the circle, doing her best to keep her attackers back, but she knew that if they decided to come at her there wouldn't be much she could do. She might be able to take out a few, but with this many against her and with them all around her… her odds weren't good. A sudden chuckle drew the girl's attention to one section of the ring and she quickly turned in that direction, ready for anything.

The sea of soldiers parted and through the way they made came sauntering a tall woman. It was easy to see that she was the commanding officer here. "Well, well, well," she murmured, "face to face with the Fuser herself at last." Hunter recognized her voice as that of the woman who had been talking with Philips. For another moment or two, the woman was quiet as she looked the teenager over before finally stating, "You're not as impressive as I envisioned you to be." That earned a growl from the child. "Oh, please excuse me," the woman suddenly pardoned herself, "I haven't properly introduced myself and it only proper you know the name of the person who will be taking you captive. I am Dusk."

"Good to know," Hunter snarled. "I'll be sure the people who carve your headstone know that."

Dusk chuckled. "You're a blusterous one, aren't you?"

"It's not bluster," Hunter insisted, but even that was a lie. Of course it was bluster. I mean even she knew by taking just one look at this woman that there was next to no chance of putting her in the ground! Maybe in a decade or so but not today!

"Hmm, I believe you," Dusk conceded, taking a few more steps towards the teen. "Or at least I would if you had a couple hundred years more of training and battle experience under your belt. I have no doubt that you are a natural born warrior, Hunter, and a powerful one at that. For your age and the time you've been fighting you are rather accomplished, I won't lie. But you're still very much a neophyte, little girl. Do you honestly think you have what it takes to defeat—not just myself—but my entire squad?" The woman chuckled darkly and shook her head. "This isn't like all of your battles before, little one," she said. "You're all alone in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to go and nobody to come to your aid, surrounded armed and highly trained soldiers who—in addition to having strict orders to bring you back to the Mistress—are out for revenge because of what you did to their brothers back at Olympus High." A growl rumbled up from Dusk's throat. "Nox and Umbra were my best apprentices."

Hunter couldn't help the smirk that curled her lips. "I wasn't impressed," she taunted.

Dusk made a snorting sound. "I assure you, child," she stated, "I will be a much tougher challenge than my former pupils. I may have taught them everything they knew, but I did not teach them everything I know." She sighed and held her hands out in motion to all of the soldiers that were now surrounding both herself and the sixteen-year-old now. "Question is; are you willing to take that challenge?"

Hunter looked left, looked right, and slowly turned around to once again take all of the soldiers into her view. It didn't take long for her to come up with the answer to the question. No. With that decided Hunter dropped the sword, slightly crouched, and exploded of the dirt floor of the warehouse, leaving a large scorch mark where she'd been standing. She busted through the roof of the building out into the open air, leveled out, and took off.

Picking up and dusting herself off Dusk glared after the girl and snarled. "After her!" she ordered. "Don't let her get away!" With that she transformed to her Cybertronian mode and leapt into the air. Transforming mid-air into her alternate mode—a Eurofighter Typhoon—she flew out through the hole in the ceiling, the rest of her squad following after her.

Meanwhile, Hunter was panicking. She had no idea what to do, where she was, where to go, anything! Judging from the position of the sun it was sometime in the afternoon but what the heck did that mean? The afternoon of what day? How long had Philips been driving? She could be anywhere between Jasper and the Canadian border now! Hunter was literally all by herself and that terrified her.

Hearing the roar of jet engines, Hunter looked over her shoulder to see an entire squad of aircraft coming up behind her. She snarled. Turning her nose up, she shot up higher into the clouds above. At the moment she wished more than anything that she had the ability to fly itself and not the extension of pyrokenesis. It would've been so much easier to sneak away. Instead she had a blue fireball jetting out behind her to signal wherever she was at! And she could forget about hiding in the clouds: Heat and condensed ice crystals? Not a concealing mix.

For a while the jets sounded farther off, but then they sounded close again so Hunter looked back once more. Dang it! This time the sixteen-year-old dived, hard, steep, and fast only leveling out just above the top of a tree grove. That's when her nerves tingled. Hunter dove quickly to the left, just barely avoiding a missile, but the shockwaves from the explosion knocked her off course and the teen went wheeling through the air. "Ahhh!" The girl clipped the top branch of a tree—that was enough to drag her down. The teen went crashing down through the forest carving out a decent sized scar of broken and scorched trees and wreckage before finally skidding into the ground beneath a pile of pines.

"Everybody down!" Dusk ordered as she and her squadron circled the area. "Down, now!"

Down below, the pine pile began to move and shift and, slowly a torn up and bloody redhead pushed her way out from among the trunks. Moaning loudly, Hunter rolled down the pile and faceplanted into the ground, crying out in agony. Damn that hurt! The sixteen-year-old remained face down in the dirt and pine needles, quivering and biting her lip through the pain as her beaten and bruised body began healing itself. It seemed an eternity before she could finally move again without fear of being wracked with paralytic pain. Oh, it still hurt, but most of the worst damage was almost completely healed. With a groan, Hunter pushed herself up onto her knees and shakily stood up. Clutching at her left side she fell against the pine trunks with a hiss of pain. Her stomach gurgled. "Oh, scrap…" Doubling over, she noisily puked up three mouthfuls of her own energon and whatever little bit of digested food was left in her stomach before collapsing to sit on the ground beside the mess. The child wiped her lips and closed her eyes as she took slow deep breaths, allowing herself more time to heal. That felt better.

It was only a minute or two later when her sensitive hearing picked up voices and footsteps. Hunter opened her eyes as the adrenalin came back. Time to move. Forcing herself through the ache, the redhead got back up on her feet and started limping off as quickly as she could in the opposite direction of the sounds. By the time she made it ten feet into the trees the pain had lessened even more and she forced herself to run. She didn't look back.

Marching up to the tree pile, Dusk raised a hand and brushed it over the streaks of energon on the wood and rubbed it between her fingers. She looked down at the energon staining the ground and then the puddle of vomit. "She's definitely wounded," the woman declared, her gaze now following a slight energon trail that led off into the woods. "But with her healing ability she won't stay that way for long." She turned to face her squad. "Fan out and search to the west, every one of you," she ordered, pointing in the direction the trail went. "Even once she's healed she won't get very far—I want this girl in our custody within the next hour."

"Shouldn't we designate a brigade to the sky, Captain?" one of the soldiers asked. "In case she tries to fly off again?"

"Not necessary," Dusk replied with a shake of her head. "That missile I let off was a little present our Mistress gave to me before we left. It released a curse—a curse that wipes out the powers of any Hybrid that gets caught in its blast range. Once it sets in, the brat will practically be human."

Hunter was still running. She could hear them in the trees behind her—distant yes, but still too close for her comfort. She had to get out of here! The teen really wanted to take to the skies again, but there were too many trees around to make a clean takeoff. She'd take some of these trees down blasting out of here, make a ruckus, and they know exactly where she was and what she was doing. She needed some open space. Finally she came upon a break in the trees. It was small—barely constituting a clearing, but it was enough. Taking a running start, Hunter leapt into the air, pushing fire out of her soles once again, but the flames suddenly cut out. She crashed. "Oof!" The redhead remained laying on the ground in shock and confusion for a moment before standing back up. She tried again. She couldn't even get the flames out this times. Once more, the girl tried, but still nothing. What the heck was going on? Then Hunter looked at her hands to see that her palms were slightly scuffed and scraped. Those definitely weren't from her big crash—everything from that had been healed up already. These were fresh. She'd just gotten them now from this fall. But they were so little—shouldn't they have been healed up before she'd even noticed them? She wasn't healing, and her pyrokenesis had suddenly cut out…. Hunter quickly looked around and spotted a thick dead branch lying on the ground. She went to and picked it up. Taking it in her hands, the teen tried as hard as she could to break it… but it wouldn't so much as crack. The redhead's sapphire blue eyes widened in horror. Her powers… they were gone! But how…?

Hunter shook her head. She didn't have to ponder about and come up with a solution for that right now. She'd barely had time to waste before, and now that she didn't have her powers she definitely didn't have time to spare: She had to keep running. With that, Hunter turned in another direction (it wasn't a good idea to keep running the same way) and started moving again, disappearing back into the trees and brush. However, she knew this couldn't go on forever. They were keep searching until they finally found her and if she had been unable to fight them off before, there was no way she was going to be able to do it now. She was lost, alone, powerless—she needed help! But she was in the middle of nowhere! Where the heck was she supposed to find help?

That's when Hunter once again became aware of the phone in her pocket. Her phone! She could call the base, let them know what was going on, get back up! Only slowing up her stride, the teenager pulled the device out of her pocket—somehow it had miraculously remained undamaged in the crash—and checked the signal. One bar. Calling wouldn't work, but it was enough to text! But who to text? All of her friends would most likely be at school so they wouldn't be any help. Will and Epps would probably be out of range. Sarah was a definite no: she was pregnant and Hunter didn't want her freaking out. Atlas didn't have a phone. That only left one person and the girl could only pray to God that he wasn't on a quote-unquote "intensive training retreat". Finding him in her contacts, the redhead added him to her texting list and quickly began to type out the message.

The Pentagon;

Groaning, Fowler leaned back from his computer and rubbed his eyes. Time for a break from staring at the computer screen and right on time too; he could smell the fresh brewed pot of coffee down the hall. The agent stretched and swiveled his chair around. He was just about ready to stand when all of a sudden his phone chimed. Fowler picked it up and raised an eyebrow as he read the contact name. Hunter? What was she doing texting him? She never texted him. Or called him. In fact she just basically tried to avoid him as just as she could, and he did the same in return: It was the only way they could maintain their "amicable acquaintanceship" status. The government agent opened the text. Now he was even more bewildered. "SOS?" he murmured. What was this? Some kind of joke? He texted back.

Hunter's phone buzzed in her hand and she looked down to see that Fowler had replied back. Thank Primus! She opened the text and read the reply—a simple question mark. Trying to text and see where she was going, the teen replied, "Not joke." Send.

A moment later: ~What's wrong?~

Hunter responded: ~Adpt. fke! Bng hntd! No pwrs! Need bck up ASAP!~

~Why don't you have powers and where are you?~

~IDK~

~Have you contacted the base?~

~Brly srvce. U hve 2.~

~Will do. Don't worry, kid.~

~Plz hrry!~

Autobot Outpost Omega One;

"So I take it that's all the information you have for me then?" Atlas questioned the Prime. As Hunter's substitute mentor in all things Hybrid/Fuser, the mech had taken it upon himself to gain all the new information that had come out of the situation of Hunter's adoption. No, she wasn't going to living with the Autobots anymore, but she was still the Fuser. She still had to train and learn and ultimately fulfill her destiny when the time came. Until Greasy came back, it was Atlas' responsibility to make sure everything was moved around and settled. He took that responsibility seriously.

With a heavy sigh, Optimus slowly nodded. "Yes," he answered the doctor's question. "I believe it is." Despite his best efforts, the Prime just couldn't bring himself to pull his gaze up off the floor or hold his head up. He didn't have the strength. His sparked ached so much the mech wouldn't have been surprised to find out that it was in actuality broken. And he wouldn't have cared much either. His spark-daughter was gone—what was there to care about anymore?

Atlas couldn't help but gaze sympathetically at the Purebred. He could only imagine what the Autobot commander was going through—it would kill him outright if he had to be separated from his own children in the way Optimus was. Atlas felt he should say or do something to buoy the 'bot's spirits… but what could he possibly say or do? Coming from a father's perspective, he knew that there would be nothing to ever ease that pain, except bringing Hunter back. But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So Atlas did the one thing he could think of: He placed an empathetic, brotherly servo on the Prime's shoulder plating and gently squeezed. "I'm terribly sorry it didn't work out, Optimus," he murmured. It was the only thing he could think of to say.

"As am I, Atlas," Optimus just barely whispered. "As am I."

All at once, the tone for the base's communication system beeped out and an icon of Agent Fowler's face appeared on one of the computer screens. /Prime,/ Fowler's voice clipped out over the frequency urgently, /we've got a code red!/

Polishing one of his infamous wrenches, Ratchet came out of the lab to join Optimus and Atlas.

"What is the trouble, Agent Fowler?" Optimus questioned, somehow managing to pull himself out of his slump and sound like his usual, authoritative, confident, strong self. It wasn't an easy task.

/I just had a conversation with Hunter,/ the government agent reported. /She texted me 'SOS' and from the sounds of it, it's a big one at that./

That certainly grabbed Optimus' resolute attention, along with that of both Ratchet and Atlas. "What do you mean?" the Prime demanded almost dangerously. "What SOS? What is the problem?"

/She didn't get into specifics, but what I got out of the texts she sent it sounds like she's powerless and bein' hunted down. Said she barely has cell service—that's why I'm callin' you./

Optimus could've sworn his spark froze. Hunter was out there somewhere, all alone, powerless, and being Hunted down?! Why hadn't he sensed anything through their link?! The question weighed heavily on the Prime's processor (along with about a hundred other questions and worries) but he forced himself to push it aside and focus on the task at hand. He could figure that out later. Right now he needed to find Hunter and get to her side as quickly as possible. "Agent Fowler," he replied, "tell Hunter to hold on and we will contact her from our end."

/On it, Prime./ And with that the call ended.

Prime turned towards Ratchet. "Ratchet," he ordered, "bring up the frequency for Hunter's cellphone. Hurry!"

Hunter's phone buzzed in her hand and she glanced down to see another message from Fowler. Opening it she read: ~Prime's working on contacting you now. Hang in there, Hunt.~ The message couldn't have been more correct. It wasn't a three seconds later that her phone buzzed again, and this time it was an incoming call. The sixteen-year-old quickly answered it. "Dad?" she panted, unable to keep some of the terror out of her voice.

/Hunter!/ Optimus' comforting and welcome voice greeted her. /What's going on? What's happened?/

"It was a lie," Hunter answered. "Everything was a lie: the adoption, Jacobs—his name isn't even 'Jacobs' it's 'Philips' for Primus' sakes! I wouldn't even be surprised to find out if this so call Aunt and Uncle of mine don't even exist either."

/What happened?/

"Philips and I were on the interstate leaving Nevada when suddenly he blows a tire and pulls over to a gas station to change it. He asks me to help him and when I go to pull the spare out of the trunk he whacks me across the back with the jack handle. I get pissed and go at him then he throws some sort of dust in my face: the next thing I know I'm waking up in the trunk with chains wrapped around me. When I break out I'm surrounded by a whole squad of soldiers wearing the same symbol as the ones that came to Olympus High."

/Where are you now?/

"I don't know! I have no idea where I am—all I know is I'm in some kinda never-ending forest." Hunter gulped and a dry sob escaped her before she could stop it. "Daddy, I don't have my powers and I'm alone and scared!"

/I know,/ the spark-break was clear in Optimus' voice. /I know, Sweet-spark, and I am so sorry./

"Dad, I wanna come home!"

/I know, Sparkling, I know. We are working on triangulating your position now—just keep moving and do not hang up. I will come for you, I promise./

Hunter nodded. "Yes, sir."

/Are you able to transform?/

"No idea, but I'm willing to risk finding out. I'm a smaller target in organ—ahhh!" Hunter was suddenly tackled and she found herself locked in a very one-sided wrestling match rolling down a small incline. Her phone—Optimus screaming asking what was wrong over the open line—went flying out of her hand and collided with a nearby rock with enough force to knock the battery out of it.

Autobot Outpost Omega One;

/… I'm a smaller target in organ—ahhh!/ Hunter screamed unexpectedly.

Optimus jumped closer to the comm.-system, instinctively trying to go to Hunter in order to protect her. "Hunter!" he bellowed. "Hunter, Sweet-spark, talk to me, please! What is going on there?! Hunter!" The call suddenly disconnected.

For a long moment all the three mechs could do was stand there in utter shock and silence and the computer screen. Then Optimus quickly turned to Ratchet. "Get her back!" he ordered, desperation and horror in his sky blue optics. "Ratchet, get her back on the phone! Now!"

Fighting back with all her strength (which now was only about as much as an average human possessed), the teen tried to fend off her attacker. It was almost completely hopeless. While relatively her height, he was at least twice her weight without the armor on; plus he was absolutely stronger than she was at the moment. He had her outmatched and pinned. "Let. Me. Go!" Hunter howled, trying to shove him off her middle. "Ahhh!"

"Not so tough now, huh?" the man rumbled, pinning her hands above her head with one of his. "What are you without your powers, huh? Huh?!" He smacked her hard across the face.

"Ugh!" Hunter's eyes stung with involuntary tears.

"What are you?!" He slapped her again.

"Ahh!" Hunter shook her head, trying to clear it. The world was spinning in painful white stars around her.

"Nox was my cousin," the older Hybrid growled. "We were practically brothers."

"Really?" Hunter panted opening her eyes and smirking up at him through the tears. "Well that explains it then; Nox was a blowhard moron, too." She really should have kept her mouth shut—she would have made things for herself so much easier and a lot less painful if she had. But the redhead just couldn't help herself.

Even behind his mask, Hunter could see her attacker's scowl deepen. "You smart-mouthed shrew," he hissed. He smacked the girl across the kisser again, causing her to yelp.

"Actually that's kind of an insult to you," the girl suddenly admitted. "Nox thought it'd be smart to take me on at full strength and when I had somebody helping me—you were smart enough to go after me when I have no powers and no back up. Of course, on the other hand, that does make you a complete wuss."

"That's it," the man spat, almost shaking with fury. "That's it—I've heard enough!" He lurched to his feet and, seizing Hunter by the hair, yanked her up off the ground. "Get up. Get up!"

"Let go!" Hunter shrieked. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up off the ground, and she struggled for all she was worth. "Let me go!" She slammed her fists against his forearms, trying to force him to let go.

"The Mistress wants you brought back," her attacker snarled in her ear, "but she never said in what condition. Huh!" He threw the child up against a tree, ripping a scream from her lips, and stormed towards her to pull her off of the ground again. "You killed my brother. Hrah!" He threw her against a boulder and went to her again. "Now it's my turn to kill you. Yah!" He slammed her down into the ground. Again he went to her, knelt down, and started to pick her up again, and that's when Hunter reacted.

Despite the pain of it, the girl released her razors and jabbed them into his spark-chamber, grabbing his armor to pull herself closer and drive her blades further in as she did so. Hunter met his goggled eyes. "Guess what?" she whispered raggedly. "Your brother tried to do the same thing." She shook her head. "It didn't work out for him either. Hmm!" She forced her attacker to roll off her and onto his backside while she sat on his middle, razors still embedded in his spark and eyes still locked with his. "Say 'hi' to Nox for me," she murmured. With that she retracted her claws and wobbly stood up. The redhead stumbled away a bit before turning and running up the incline practically on her hands and knees. She frantically searched for her phone. Finally finding it, she put the device back together and turned it on again only to see that there was no signal. "Damn it!" Hunter screamed. Tears of desperation came to her eyes. The sixteen-year-old felt so hopeless she wanted nothing more than to just break down into a snotty, crying mess right then and there. But that wasn't going to fly, and she knew it. Optimus and Ratchet were out there trying to find her, and for that to happen she had to keep moving. They'd call her again—she was sure of it—and she needed to be somewhere to answer that call when it finally came. Gathering up her will, Hunter began running again.

She didn't know how long she ran or how far, but Hunter was beyond winded when she finally stumbled into a wide, grassy clearing. Panting heavily, the teen looked up to see that there were five buildings on the other side of the open space. They looked very old—a few of them fallen in and nothing more but piles of boards—and appeared to be clustered together like some sort of town. A ghost town. Not a bad place to try and hide out until help finally arrived. Pushing away her weariness, Hunter forced herself up on her feet and began to run towards the buildings. After a quick examination of the buildings still standing, the redhead made her way a bit further into the trees and up a slight hill towards a two story house that was almost completely overgrown by weeds. She quickly bounded into the house, slamming the door behind her. Once inside, however, she forced herself to move more slowly. Any of these floorboards could give away at any moment, and, without her healing factor, she didn't want to get caught in that.

The teen retreated back into the shadows of the far corners of the house and all but collapsed to the dusty floor, trying to her breath back. Her phone suddenly vibrated and she answered. "Dad," she weazed.

/Hunter!/ Optimus sighed heavily in relief. /Thank the AllSpark! What happened?/

"I got tackled," the girl explained. "My phone went flying and the battery got knocked out. By the time I got back to it and put it back together I didn't have service anymore."

/Are you all right?/

"I'm tired," Hunter answered, "and sore, and bloody, and still seriously freaked out, but I think I'll be okay. I'll be even better when you get here."

/I will be there, Hunter, I promise. We're restarting the triangulation now. Keep the line open./

"Okay," Hunter grunted, getting back to her feet. "I will." Movement out the far window caught the teenager's eye. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly crept towards the window, trying to stay in the shadows as much as possible. Once at the window, she pressed herself against the wall and carefully peeked out the pain. The energon froze in her veins and her stomach dropped in horror. "They're here," she gulped, backing away from the window.

/Hunter?/

The redhead frantically looked around the room, trying to decide what to do next. She was too tired to run anymore. If she tried to she wouldn't get far before they finally caught up to her, plus here she knew she had service so she wouldn't lose the call. Staying here was her only option. Finally Hunter's eyes lit on the stairs that led up to the second level of the house. It was barely half there and looked unstable—and who knew how stable the second floor was—but it was her best chance. Trying to move as quickly and quietly as she could, the teen, made for the stairs and carefully began scaling them. She was about half-way up the steps when one of them gave out. "Ahh!" The yelped escaped Hunter before she could stop it as she grabbed onto part of the banister.

/Hunter?! Hunter what is happening?/

Hauling herself up onto the stairs again, Hunter crawled the rest of the way up and then down the hall at the top. She opened the door to one of the rooms and went inside, quietly closing it behind her. Then she went to a corner of the room and curled up there, trying to hide in the shadows and be as small as she could. That's when she finally turned her attention back to her father. "Dad," she whispered, "you can't talk to me anymore."

/What?/

"I'm gonna leave the call open, but you can't talk to me. They'll hear you."

/Hunter…/

"Daddy… please get here soon." And with that, Hunter pulled the phone away from her ear and wrapped her hands around it, in order to muffle the sound of the Prime's worried voice coming over the speaker. She pressed herself against the wall, wishing more than anything she could melt into it, or at least blend into the color of it.

Minutes passed like hours before the sound of the door squeaking open downstairs came to Hunter ears. Then she heard footsteps. One set… two… three… four… five… Hunter finally stopped counting at ten. Biting her lip, the teen pressed a trembling hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet. Tears bit at her eyes and she tried to blink them away. Her spark was pounding so loudly in her chest she knew that they could hear it downstairs, but she couldn't make herself calm down to quiet it. She barely dared to breathe. Then she heard another set of footsteps enter the house, the floorboards creaking as the person stopped right within the door.

"Report?" the voice was Dusk's.

"No sign of her in here, Commander," a female voice answered.

"Have you checked everywhere?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Both floors?"

"Not upstairs, Ma'am," a man answered. "The stairway is so dilapidated we assumed the girl wouldn't risk trying to scale it."

"Hmm…." Dusk's footsteps came further into the house and further and further until suddenly they stopped.

Hunter completely froze. She knew Dusk was standing right below her; she could practically feel heat coming off the woman's body. The girl pressed her hand fisted around her phone closer to her spark, hoping that she could muffle the beat of it. Her ears strained to hear any sort of sound. A single drop of sweet rolled down her temple to her cheek, to her chin before dripping off and splashing on her bloody knuckles. The footsteps started again as Dusk moved further into the house below and Hunter relaxed a bit, thinking maybe she could actually get away after all. And that's when it happened. Large, sharp, red blade was suddenly thrust through the floor boards at the center of Hunter's room and raked through it. The action was enough to cause the weakened boards to collapse. The floor caved in, taking Hunter with it. "Ahhh-ugh!" Hunter faceplanted into the dust on the floor of the room below, the wind forced from her lungs.

/Hunter?!/ Optimus' voice scream over her cellphone, which was now lying half-way across the room. /Hunter, Sparkling, what is going on?! Hunter, answer me! HUNTER!/

Wheezing, Hunter slowly pushed herself up off her face and looked up to see Dusk standing right in front of her and over half her squad surrounding her. They were all looking at Hunter. For a long time nobody moved.

Autobot Outpost Omega One;

/DADDYYYY!/ Hunter's bone-chilling shriek rang out through the halls of the base.

Optimus tensed, looking ready to lunge, ready to rush headlong into danger to protect his daughter. But he couldn't. He couldn't go anywhere! He had no idea where she was yet—she could've easily been hundreds of miles away! It didn't matter how badly he wanted to, how badly he needed to he couldn't rush to Hunter's side and help her. And it killed him! Hunter needed him; she was screaming for him to save her and all he could do was stand there and listen to her peril and imagine what was happening to her and what would happen next. He'd never felt this helpless!

As the sounds of Hunter's screams and breaking boards and fighting carried on over the comm.-system, the Prime turned towards Ratchet, who was still trying to find Hunter's location. "Ratchet!"

"I can't trace it, Optimus!" Ratchet bellowed back, not looking away from the screen. "Something isn't allowing me to. All I've deduced is that Hunter is somewhere in the state of South Dakota, but I can't be specific as to where!"

Atlas suddenly jumped into action, rushing over to the console and actually shoving Ratchet away from it. "Let me!" he ordered. "I know a few tricks." His hands were flying over the controls and he tried to bypass whatever was scrambling the signal. "Come on…."

Optimus looked from Atlas and Ratchet back to the comm.-system. "Hunter!" he shouted. "Hunter, we are almost there! We'll find you! I promise I will find you and I will come for you! Do not give up—keep fighting!"

/DADDY! DADDY, HELP ME, PLEASE! PLEASE! STOP! NOOO!/

"I've almost got it!" Atlas cried.

"Let her go!" Optimsu screamed, practically throwing himself into the comm.-system. "LET MY DAUGHTER GO!"

/DAD, PLEASE!/

"Just a little bit longer!"

"HUNTER!"

/DADDY! AHHHHH! AHHhhh…/ Hunter's screams were suddenly quieted and the sound of struggling became less and less until it stopped altogether. Then the line went dead.

"Ahhhh, damn it!" Atlas howled, slamming a palm down on the console and breaking it.

"Atlas!" Ratchet bellowed with a snarl. "I needed that!"

For a long moment Optimus remained staring at the now blank computer screen in utter silence, optics three times their size, before slowly, sinking to his knees on the floor. Even then he continued to stare up at the screen. He was completely numb. He couldn't feel or hear or think of see anything except one idea that seemed to possess all of his senses at once. Hunter was taken.

Dusk stamped on the phone, crushing it beneath her boot and grinding it into the floor boards for good measure. Then she turned to Hunter, who was now being tightly held in the arms of one of her men, with his hand clamped over her mouth. A dark chuckle rumbled in Dusk's chest. "Daddy can't save you now, little girl," she murmured. Stepping away from the destroyed cellphone she came towards the child who was glaring at her even through her tears. However, despite the glare, the terror was evident in those stunning sapphire depths. "You're with the big dogs now!" The woman slammed her fist between Hunter's eyes.

Confession #41:

The Leviathan chains are what I have officially named the chains that are made of that super strong metal that Hybrids can't break. I figured it'd be a fitting name.

Confession #42:

I'm a bit jealous of whoever got that motel room after Philips. They just got a totally awesome set of super strong, nearly indestructible chains for free. Do you have any idea how handy a set of those would be on a farm?!

Confession #43:

I truly have no idea where Fowler really works, y'all, but my best guess is the Pentagon. It only makes sense.

Confession #44:

To be perfectly honest, this story was inspire quite a bit by the movie 'Taken'. Seriously one of my favorite movies of all time.

REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR HYBRID QUESTIONS!