Transformers Prime: Through Hell & Back Again

by xXBlack'BladeXx

She is his daughter; he loves her with his entire spark. He would do anything to protect her and keep her safe. Now both her fate and that of the universe lies in his hands. He will be tested, and he will not fail. He can't. He will do whatever it takes to bring her back home again safe and sound... even if it means going through Hell and back again.

26. The Last Chance (pt 1)

*rises from a haze of smoke* I LIIIIIIVVVVVEEEEE!

IT. HAS BEEN. MONTHS. And I am so, so, so friggin' sorry about it! Things have happened that have taken up my time, writer's block has happened which had me writing and rewriting so many different parts of this, and you know what? Even will all of that, even with how damn long this chapter is, it's still not the entire friggin' thing. This is only half! Which is why I'm splitting it into two different posts. I'm still deciding if, when I update again later on, I'll post up the rest of the chapter with this one or if it'll be a separate chapter and just be like a "part 2" kind of thing. I don't know yet. But I will tell you that next time, when I post up the second half of this chapter, I should be posting up the other chapter with it that will take us back to present day with Optimus and Ally and the team and them. So yeah. This was all supposed to go up at once, but I have lots of stuff going on in my life right now that's taking up my time, not to mention the craziness that's going to be amped up with Christmas coming. Ideally, I would like to get out the next two parts by Christmas time as my present to you guys, but I can make no guarantees of that happening. LIFE HAPPENS.

"But, Chuck! You're not giving us any real good reasons as to why it took you, like an entire year to update again!"

Ah, you're right, I haven't given you any good reasons. And the truth is, there really aren't any good reasons as to why it took me so long, but I might as well attempt to justify my actions:

Jobs. As I said in my author's note, I worked over the summer, so that, along with my responsibilities here on my family farm took up quite a bit of time. Now I am back to my regular job.

Health. As I also mention in my author's note, I had some issues with my health over the summer that left me in no mental condition to write anything. On top of that, I'm still learning a lot about my Lupus and how it affects me. I'm just a little over a year into it now, and it's still throws me for a loop sometimes. Especially when it seems to affect my thought process. It's very frustrating.

Extracurricular(?) activities and responsibilities. I am involved in our local thespian group, and worked on my things with that over the summer. I enjoy theater and try my hardest to do my very best at it and bring the best out of everyone else who happens to be in a play/skit with me, so that takes a bit of my time as well. And now, at this time of year, I'm even more busy than ever with such things; I'm currently helping out with the One Act Play Production at my old high school and I'm in several holiday choirs. Both of these require practice, both with the group and on their own. Well… the one acts not so much for me on my own because I'm just kind of like an advisor for that really, but I still go to the kids' practices and meets and stuff and… okay. I'll shut up about this now.

And probably the most important one: I AM HAVING A BOOK PUBLISHED! Yes. A real book. Actually published. As you can probably guess, this has taken up a lot of my focus, especially since I'm new to everything that deals with publishing. And because I want to get as much of it right as I can right off the bat so that the book can maybe be pushed out sooner, I take as much time as I can on whatever the publisher sends me and make sure it's just so. This has been my goal for so long now: I want to get it right!

So, anyway, those are my excuses. They're not good excuses, but they are excuses, so in lieu of those, I hope you can enjoy this… partial chapter and not be too pissed off at me that it took so long and I provided so little by comparison. But if you are pissed off about that, it's perfectly okay. Trust me, I'm not the happiest with myself, but I figured something is better than nothing after all this time.

So anyway, enjoy!

---

X-Ray Dog; Fighting Chance

25

Ω Urbibus Ultimam Spem Ω

(The Last Chance)

"Scarface… Malice?" Hunter could hardly believe what she was asking. This wasn't Scarface Malice—it couldn't be! Malice was dead—he'd been killed by the bounty hunter Bombardier; Bomber himself had even admitted it to Hunter! And yet it appeared that Malice was right here in front of her, alive and well. And extremely rude.

But how? Was this really Scarface Malice, or was it someone else that was unfortunate enough to resemble him? It had to be the real Malice, didn't it? With all the things he'd said about Comet Thunder being of his bloodline and being back on Cybertron and Luna listening to him as if he had some kind of authority over her… who else could it possibly be?

"How does a young whelp like you know who I am?" Scarface practically demanded, though Hunter got the feeling he was rather pleased that she did. He seemed to be the type that would love his own notoriety.

"Mostly stories," Hunter answered, pulling back from the window as he leaned back in again. She didn't really have a desire to be close to him. Just knowing he was on the other side of this stone wall was enough to make her skin crawl. "Luna has some pictures of you: depictions of some of your "greatest"," the teen couldn't help herself from using air quotes as she said this, "triumphs. She'd tell Steel, Ally, and me the stories of them all the time when we were kids."

Malice looked a bit taken aback by this information. "Huh," he mumbled. "And here I thought my granddaughter didn't have any respect for me."

"Yeah, well, the lessons weren't so much about you as your accomplishments themselves," the teenager informed the man a bit spitefully, "so I don't think whatever feelings she has towards you have changed. And to be honest I can't really blame her. If there's one thing Luna and I will probably ever agree on it's that you're worthless scum."

At this declaration Malice actually appeared to be amused, the slightest of smirks twisting his thin, withered lips. "Now, don't tell me you're not my biggest fan either, Girl," he half-chuckled. He seemed almost pleased about Hunter's loathing for him!

"Oh, was I that obvious about it?" Hunter snarled back ironically.

"We've only just met. What could I have possibly done to you that would make you think so poorly of me?"

"Let's just say that being one of your descendants isn't exactly the easiest gig in the world once people find out."

"And how would they find that out? I hardly expect that information would be part of your introduction, and as for your looks, I can see your father through and through."

"Suffice to say my Cybertronian form gets its looks from you."

"Oh, I see," Malice replied. "Well, be happy for that; you could have gotten your great-great-grandcreator's looks and, believe you me, she wasn't much to look at."

"That's a lovely thing to say about your wife," Hunter sneered, disliking this man more and more the more he opened his mouth.

Malice gave her a cold look, apparently not appreciating her sarcasm. "I didn't marry for love, Girl," he stated defiantly, "and I've never claimed to. Stellara was as ruthless as I was and as powerful a mate as I could ask for. She served her purpose well."

"What? Bearing your demon spawn and raising it up to be just like you?"

A cold, twisted smile parted Malice's cracked and wrinkled lips, exposing rotting but pointed teeth. "Should I remind you, Girl," he murmured, "that you are a part of that "demon spawn"."

Hunter fell silent at this statement, unable to think of anything to snap back because, as infuriating as it was, the old devil was right. She was a part of his blood-line; she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. "Okay," she finally rumbled, turning away from the window to try and hide her burning face, "we're done talking."

Realizing he'd shut the teen up, Malice started to snicker and then chuckle and then laugh, his roaring voice echoing through the hallways of the dungeons. "Got nothin' to say to that, sweetheart?!" he guffawed. "Not such a smart-mouth now, huh?" The old geezer continued to laugh himself into a wheezing and coughing state even as he continued to chortle on.

Pressing her lips together in a thin line, Hunter did her best to ignore the man as she laid down on her cot, curling in on herself to fit on it. She slightly winced at the objection from her yet-healing wounds. Well wasn't this all just fan-flippin'-tastic? She was whipped raw and left naked until she healed in a cell in her grandmother's dungeon and her great-great-grandsire—who should have been dead but wasn't and, as it turns out, was as infuriating and annoying as he was evil—was in the cell right next door and could see into hers. What beef did the universe have with her exactly? She'd literally agreed to house the soul one of its gods within her own spark and all this crap is what she got in return? Cheap deal!

Bitter, angry tears pricked at her eyes and Hunter tried to blink them back. That's just what she needed right now, to start crying while her great-great-grandsire was next door already laughing at and degrading her. No, now was the time to try and keep her emotions in check and try to think of what to do next. But it would be a lot easier to do that if Malice would stop laughing and keel over and die already!

Huffing, the teen pulled the energon-soaked sheet around her closer and closed her eyes. Maybe she'd manage to fall asleep and get away from the old psycho that way. And maybe she'd be able to dream a way out….

Hunter hardly slept that night. She'd been unable to fall asleep with Malice's deranged cackling echoing around her (it had lasted a freakishly long time) and when he'd finally shut up and gone to bed himself all the teen could do was lie awake and think. Her train of thought didn't seem to have any sort of track: One moment she was trying to think of how to get out here; the next she was wondering how in the world Malice was alive and kicking (though perhaps not very high or vigorously); and in the next moment she was pining for her family with tears threatening to spill over.

Her family…. What was going on back home—was everyone all right? She knew without a doubt they'd be searching but were they making that a priority or were Decepticons getting in the way and forcing them to turn attention elsewhere? Hunter couldn't help but feel a bit selfish in thinking that, even if the 'cons were stirring up trouble, her situation earned her the topmost priority. After all, she was the one being held against her will and beaten by a sociopathic witch that wanted to use her for Primus only knew what.

The teen quickly tried to quash those opinions and turn her focus back to the important thing: finding a means of escape.

In the dim, eerie light granted by the electrical field locking her in the cell, Hunter's gaze traveled around her surroundings as she calculated. There'd be no tunneling out; there was nothing below her on the detention level except solid earth, and it would take too long as well as draw too much attention to dig a tunnel to the outside. She wouldn't be able to get through the electrical field, at least not without drawing a lot of attention to herself. … Maybe she could break her way through the walls into an empty cell?

Only one way to find out.

Getting up and checking to make sure Malice really was asleep, Hunter quickly dressed in her clothes (having healed enough by this point to accomplish the task without much difficulty or pain) and began to go around the cell's perimeter. She searched for anything out of the ordinary first: loose stones, cracks, holes or spaces—anything that would signify weakness. She found nothing. Then she began trying her luck at breaking through.

"Huh! Hah! Ah! Rah!" Drawing up all the strength she'd regained in the hours after her whipping, Hunter pummeled her fists and feet against the wall as hard as she could. Again and again she hit and punched and kicked and even threw her whole body against the walls, and again and again nothing happened. Not even so much as a crack to mark any kind of progress. Still Hunter kept trying, not about to give up. She went from wall to wall to ceiling, hitting and kicking until her feet were sore and bruised, her knuckles were scuffed and bloodied, and sweat poured down her face and soaked into her clothing. Still nothing.

But she kept at it. She wouldn't give up! Something would give at some point—it had to!

"That's not going to work," a voice suddenly drew the teen's attention away from her activity.

Pausing for a brief second, Hunter glared over her shoulder towards the entrance of the cell to see Luna standing there, prim and poised, watching her in some amusement. The girl growled. Determined to not give the witch any more attention, Hunter turned back to the task at hand and continued her desperate assault on the wall she'd most recently re-attempted to break through.

"The walls, ceiling, and floor are all magically reinforced," Luna went on, her voice raised to be heard above the resounding blows and strains of Hunter's barrage. "You can hit them with every last bit of strength you possess until every bone in your body breaks, they will not crumble for you."

"Shut up," Hunter snarled, unable to help herself from snapping back at the woman. With an enraged grunt, she bashed a fist against the wall one last, futile time, and then stopped. As infuriating as it was, the redhead could see that her grandmother was right; none of these walls were going to give to whatever physical force she used against them. But the teen's stubborn spirit continued to wage on, forbidding her to quite fighting. She couldn't give up! Something had to work—something!

Hunter quickly jumped across the cell and took as deep a breath as she could muster before releasing it in an earsplitting shriek. The soundwaves of the scream crashed into the opposing wall and immediately rebounded back at their creator, blowing her back to slam into the wall behind her. "Ahh!" The redhead cried out in pain as some of the half-healed wounds on her back split open again.

"You see?" Luna chuckled, mighty and superior as she looked down her nose at the girl writhing in pain on the cell floor. "Impenetrable. You're not going anywhere, my dear."

"Take it and shove it!" Hunter hissed through clenched teeth.

The witch sighed. "Such cheek," she remarked, shaking her head hopelessly. "I really should find a way to silence that tongue of yours, but something tells me it would be utterly futile."

Hunter snorted. "Never stopped you before," she grumbled. Seriously, since when did Luna not take up the chance to punish for anything, even though she knew Hunter wouldn't learn from it? Causing pain just to cause pain was one of her favorite hobbies!

"Well, you see, that's the difference between us, Huntress," Luna replied, the tone of her voice making it sound as though she was trying to explain something to a small child. "Where you fail to learn from your past failings, I grow and change with mine."

"Oh, believe me, I grow and change with mine," Hunter countered with a snarl and a glare. "It's just not in the way you'd like, am I right?"

The witch simply arched an eyebrow and pursed her lips.

Hunter continued to glower at her grandmother for a moment longer before finally turning her gaze away and sighing heavily. "What are you doing down here, Luna?" she asked, genuinely curious as well as paranoid about her grandmother's presence.

It was at this that the witch smiled sweetly. "Can't a grandmother simply check to see that her granddaughter is comfortably settled in for the night?" she crooned much too innocently. Why did she keep trying to play up the sweet, caring grandmother routine when she failed so miserably at it?

Hunter slightly scowled. "She can," she replied. "Problem is, you're not that kind of grandmother."

Luna's sickening, grandmotherly expression slightly slipped, a flash of anger briefly appearing in her raspberry eyes. "Believe it or not," she huffed, "I did come down here to see that you were settled in for the night. I know spending the night in a cell is far from ideal. Or comfortable."

"Then why throw me in here?"

"To teach you a lesson, my dear. Have we not been through this?"

"To try and break me, you mean. Which I'm guessing is also at least part of the reason you're down here—to see if I'm bawling my eyes out and ready to start begging to be let out of here."

Luna said nothing, neither confirming nor denying this allegation.

At her grandmother's silence, Hunter looked up to meet that raspberry gaze again. "Well, guess what, Witch?" she spat. "Didn't work."

Luna's dark lips stretched as a corner of her mouth quirked up into a slight smirk. In her eyes something between a taunt and a challenge gleamed and she chuckled ever so quietly. "Give it time, my sweet," she murmured, causing a chill to shiver across Hunter's body. "Give it time." And with that haunting remark, the woman turned and began to retreat back down the hall, her skirts rustling and heels clicking.

"Why did you bring me here?" Hunter called after her. Up until this point, all of Hunter's focus and energy and been centered on keeping her mind off her family and trying to find a way to escape her grandmother's clutches, so she hadn't much considered the concept of why Luna had even come after her again. But now the teenager was stuck in a seemingly inescapable cell. So what else was there to do than demand answers of her captors and try to make sense of all this?

Just out of the dim glow of the force-field of Hunter's cell, Luna paused. For a moment she simply stood there in silence, but then she finally looked back and when she did the most wicked of sneers marred her otherwise attractive face. "You mean, you haven't figured that out yet?" she inquired in a mocking tone. "And here I thought you were such a smart one."

Hackles rising, Hunter snarled and got to her feet. "Tell me what I want to know," she rumbled. "What do you want with me?"

Luna turned so that she was halfway facing her granddaughter. Much to Hunter's chagrin, that plastic "grandmotherly" look of the witch's was back. "It's not what I want with you, Hunter," she replied enigmatically. "Not really. It's what I want to help you with—what I want you to help me with."

Hunter quirked an eyebrow and cocked her head in confusion as she tried to make sense of that statement. Not that that was possible. The brightest minds throughout the ages of the earth could ponder on that declaration for a million and one years and not come close to being able to decipher what it meant. "What the hell does that mean?" the redhead finally demanded.

But Luna didn't answer. She only chuckled, the sneer coming back to claim her face, and then turned away to leave again.

"You can't keep me here forever!" Hunter bellowed after her. "You hear me?! I'm gonna get outta here and when I do all y'all can kiss your asses goodbye! Luna?! LUNA!"

The sorceress kept walking. "Sleep well, Dear," she called back over her shoulder, her voice far down the hall, but echoing around them. "Sweet dreams." And with that, she was gone, leaving her seething granddaughter to stew and try to decipher the riddle she'd posed.

The bottom had dropped out of Hunter's stomach; she felt as though she was going to be violently ill. She'd never entertained the idea that whatever Luna wanted her for was something good and family oriented, but now that she knew for sure that her grandmother indeed wanted her for something other than a family reunion terrified the girl to her very core. What exactly did the sorceress want her for? And what the heck did Luna mean by "wanting to help and want help with"? Help with what? What did Hunter need help with? And just how bad was the thing Luna wanted help accomplishing?

One thing was for certain, if she wasn't already completely incentivized to get out of here before, Hunter most definitely was now. And she needed to do it soon. Very soon.

---

Two days. That was how long it had been since Luna's midnight visit and threatening riddle.

Two days was a long time to sit in a cell and do nothing but strategize a potential escape, but that was exactly what Hunter did. Well, maybe not exactly. There was the occasional break up of this pastime with the arrival of meals and a few times the sixteen-year-old managed to doze off and catnap, but mostly her brain was in overdrive trying to devise an escape plan. It was far from easy. Not only was her cell nearly impossible to escape, she also had to the constant demeaning chatter and deranged laughter of her next-door neighbor to distract her.

"You mean you actually tried to break through the cell walls? I'd ask if you were that desperate, but it's pretty clear you're just simply that stupid." "Do you actually think you can escape, Girl? Sure, you did it once, but flukes tend to happen to anybody, you know. And to be honest, I'm still dubious that attempt even happened: You're not clever or skilled enough to accomplish something like that." "So explain to me exactly why Primus picked you to be the Fuser again? You don't seem at all worthy of anything even remotely that prestigious."

Hunter was already strung out; Luna's threat was looming over her and she'd only gotten a handful of hours of sleep since she'd arrived back in the witch's clutches. So to say that Malice's degrading comments got on the teen's nerves was an understatement. She tried to ignore him for as long as she could—she really did. But eventually something had to snap.

"SHUT UP!" Hunter finally screeched. She lurched to her feet and whirled around with an incensed (and rather delirious) glare to face the ancient Hybrid sneering down at her from the barred window. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU RANCID, DECREPIT, CRYPT-KEEPER-LOOKING JACKASS!"

Much to the redhead's ire, the old geezer simply grinned, apparently amused by her enraged outburst. "Oh-ho, what's this now?" he taunted. "What's the matter, little girl? Did I strike a nerve? Are we feeling a little over-sensitive today? Is it that time of the month?"

The raging inferno inside Hunter only grew hotter at her great-great-grandsire's comments, and all just kept bubbling higher and hotter and faster until there was nothing left to do except explode. And when it did, the teenager thrust both hands—which had been clenched at her sides—out towards the old Hybrid with a furious scream.

"Ahhh!" With an alarmed yell, Scarface Malice suddenly disappeared from the window, flying backwards in such a way that it appeared as though he was pushed.

Hunter stepped up onto her cot and peered through the barred window into Malice's cell. The man was slumped against the force-field door of his cell, looking rather stunned and loopy. "Hmm, well that shut you up," Hunter remarked, unable to suppress a slight smirk.

It took a few moments but finally Malice started to come back to his senses. Shaking and then rubbing his head, the ancient Hybrid sat up and sent a dazed look in Hunter's direction. "What did you just do?" he questioned, voice hardly above a whisper.

"Well, what'd it feel like?" Hunter shot back.

"Did you just…" Malice dropped off as if too in shock to claim what it was that his great-great-granddaughter had done to him. "You… you can manipulate energon…."

Hunter smiled ironically. "Yeah. Just like you. Proud, Grandpa?"

"You know, there's only ever been two Hybrids in existence to possess that ability," Malice murmured, slowly rising from the floor, a distant look in his eyes. "My sire was the first, and then myself. But now…"

"What about Bombardier?" Hunter inquired. She very clearly remembered the bounty hunter possessing that ability.

Scarface snorted derisively and made a waving motion with his hand. "That bounty hunter scum? He stole it from me when he drained me—I'm talking about possessing it naturally."

"Yeah, explain that to me."

"Explain what?"

"How "bounty hunter scum" like Bomber is able to get the drop on you so that he can completely drain you of your life-force and kill you? I mean, you're Scarface Malice—one of the most powerful Hybrids of all time. Not that Bombardier wasn't powerful—that absorption thing of his was seriously nasty—but to take you out? What was it?"

Malice scoffed and shook his head. "Do you have any idea how old I am, Girl? I was part of the second generation of our race; I've lived both here and on Cybertron—by the time I married, I was old enough to be a long deceased ancestor of my mate. Not that I looked it, mind you."

Feeling more than a little disgusted by this information, Hunter sucked her teeth and turned away from the window to step back down off her cot. "Did not need or want to know that," she muttered, moving towards the front of her cell.

Malice quickly jumped up to reclaim his spot at the window. "Hey!" he barked after her, sounding almost desperate to defend himself from any thoughts of the girl's that portrayed him as weak. "It wasn't just age, ya know. Yes, I wasn't as spry and quick and alert as I had once been, but I still could've handled the punk easily had I known he was coming for me; I had no idea he'd been hired to come after me."

"Fitting though," Hunter replied, voice snippy in tone. She turned back around to scowl at the ancient Hybrid as she continued on, "I mean, you send him after my dad and then he gets hired to kill you in turn. I couldn't think of better karma than that."

Malice gave the teen a look of befuddlement. Actually, 'befuddlement' didn't even cover it—he looked at her as though she was straight up insane. "Wh-what are you talking about?" he scoffed, shaking his head. "'Sent him after your dad"? What is that?"

Hunter's gaze narrowed. "Oh, please spare me the "I'm innocent" crap," she growled. "You know exactly what I'm talking about: You hired Bombardier to track down my father and kill him."
"Oh, did I now?" Malice's tone was patronizing. "And why did I do that?"

"Because he wasn't powerful," Hunter answered accusingly. "Because he saw things differently than you—because he fell in love with a human."

"Huh. So, I guess you got it all figured out then, huh?"

"Seems pretty obvious from where I stand."

"Oh, I'm sure it does. And there again is another perfect example of just how completely stupid you are."

Hunter's lips parted a bit as she growled. Where did this jackass get the nerve?!

"Listen, Girly," Malice snarled. "If I'd wanted your dear daddy dead, I'd've killed him long before he'd ever brought further shame upon the family. And I nearly did. I told Luna he was a weakling, that'd he'd never amount to anything. 'Only good omey is a dead omey,' I told her: Would've made all our lives so much easier. But, no, just like a braindead femme, my clueless granddaughter was convinced that he was a late-bloomer—that more of his powers would come later. And then she was convinced that she could use magic to power 'im up. Only it never happened and we had to end up hidin' him away. Not that it did any good, mind you; him runnin' off and abandoning the family only to mate-up with a damn fleshy—as if him bein' an omey wasn't bad enough!"

"So you didn't hire Bombardier to kill my father then?" Hunter's tone was heavily skeptical.

"Course not, you ignorant brat!" Malice snapped. "Are you deaf as well as dumb? I just told you I'd've killed your father ages ago if Luna hadn't gone and stopped me. What good would it've done now? The damage had already been done!"

"And I should believe you because?"

Scarface sighed heavily and massaged his forehead as he mumbled under his breath. "Look, Kid," he explained, gazing right into Hunter's sapphire eyes with his own onyx ones, "you obviously got a pretty good idea about how I am. Do you honestly think I would've sent a bounty hunter to kill someone instead of doing the job myself?"

Hunter had to admit that he had her there; everything she'd ever heard of her great-great-grandsire indicated that he lived for the kill. There was no way he'd delegate something like that out. Not as long as he was able to do it himself. "Maybe you were too old to get it done," Hunter challenged, narrowing her gaze.

Malice snorted. "That would never be an issue," he declared, brushing off the insinuation. "My powers allowed me to stay in peak condition, no matter how old I got."

Hunter raised an eyebrow at that. He didn't appear to be in any form of "peak condition" at the moment.

Almost as if he'd read her mind, Scarface scowled and said defensively, "I'm nothing like what I was, Girl. Luna made sure of that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" And then suddenly Hunter understood. She understood why Malice was alive; she understood why his appearance was a slightly livelier version of a walking corpse; she understood it all. Spark stopping in her chest, Hunter's eyes widened and absentmindedly raised a hand to cover her mouth in shock. "Oh Primus…. Luna… brought you back from the dead?" Her voice was hardly above a horrified murmur.

Malice's face became grave, almost pained, and that was all the answer the teenager needed.

"But… h-how is that even possible?" Hunter wondered.

"It's actually simpler than you'd think; takes a few sacrifices, some of the darkest spells and incantations, a heap of some of the most powerful magic—but for someone like Luna, that's not much of a challenge."

"Why?"

"Why did she resurrect me, you mean? Something to do with gaining enough power to be able to control you when you're in that overpowered, god-mode of yours."

Hunter's eyes tripled in size as her stomach bottomed out. Luna wanted to be able to control her when she was in the Primus-state? Why? The only answer to that Hunter could come up with was that Luna wanted to use her Primus-state for something and needed a trump card in her corner to reign the teen back in if she got out of hand. The question was: what? What could Luna possibly want to use her Primus-state to do? Seeing as the simple thought of her grandmother wanting to use it for something was horrifying, Hunter didn't want to know what. The only comfort she had was in knowing that Luna couldn't use her Primus-state for anything, because Hunter couldn't go into the Primus-state. At least not yet.

Still the idea of Luna wanting to be powerful enough to overpower Hunter's god-mode was scary enough itself to cause a problem. Being able to control a god-mode meant you basically had to have a god-mode yourself. Luna as strong as a god? That would not be good for anybody!

"Is that… even possible?" Hunter gulped, hoping beyond hope Malice would say it wasn't. "I mean… when I'm in the Primus-state I have all of Primus' power flowing through me because we're synced up, and Primus is a god. Is it possible for someone to overpower a god?"

Without a second's hesitation, Malice answered, "Oh, yes, it is. Believe me. Just because you were picked by a godly being to be his vessel and use his power, don't think for a second that you're the only one who can wield that kind of strength, Girl. There are many things with that kind of power, if not more of it. And just because they aren't as willing to share it with someone as Primus is doesn't mean they can't and won't if enticed enough."

There was just something in the tone of his voice that told Hunter the ancient Hybrid knew what he was talking about first hand—that he'd experienced such a thing personally. "You were bonded to something like that." It wasn't a question: The redhead knew for sure what her great-great-grandfather's answer would be.

A rather proud smirk curled the shriveled old lips of the man and he snorted, lifting his head in a haughty way. "How do you think I managed to wipe out the entire army of rusties that came to take me out back on the homeworld before they even knew where I was?" he replied with a deadly chuckle.

Hunter could only stare up into those black eyes in silent horror. "I gotta get out of here," she murmured to herself. She turned away from Malice and automatically began searching for a way out of the cell, though she already knew all too well there wasn't one.

"You'll never break your way out of here," Malice commented. "Or don't you remember that?"

Hunter wheeled back around to glare at the man. "I have to try!" she snapped. "I have to get outta here! Do you have any idea what'll happen if I don't? Look, I don't know what Luna has planned and how it involves me and I'd like to keep it that way, okay? So if you have any better ideas and would ever feel so inclined as to help me out here, then be my friggin' guest! Otherwise shut up and-"

"Of course I have a better idea," Scarface cut her off.

Hunter paused. "Come again?"

"And, for your information, it's not a "better" idea it's the best idea and the only answer." The old coot looked more than a little satisfied with himself as he said this.

The sixteen-year-old glared furiously. "And you've been keeping this to yourself this entire time because why?" she demanded, muscles and fingers twitching to leap up to that window and wring the remaining life from his walking corpse of a body.

"You never asked," Malice replied that self-pleased air never leaving his face.

Hunter's eye twitched. A thousand comebacks raged through her head and burned to be spat out like acid but the teenager found she was unable to speak any of them and simply plopped to the floor, her head hanging between her knees. "I'm too tired for this crap," she mumbled.

"Forget it!" Hunter screeched. She could hardly believe what Malice had just suggested. Then again it was Scarface Malice, so she really could believe what he'd just suggested.

"Oh, don't get all uppity!" Malice barked in annoyance. "It's not as if you haven't done it before."

"Control people with energon manipulation? I've only done that three times in my life and both times were under emotional duress."

Malice gave the teenager a flat look. "You were under emotional duress with me?" he mumbled skeptically.

The redhead snarled and spat back, "I've been torn away from the people I love, had memories I got rid of for a reason shoved back into my head, been attacked by zombies, whipped raw, thrown into a cell, and have barely slept at all since I've been back in the cult. So pardon me if I feel completely justified that you ragging on me—on top of everything else—counts as emotional duress!"

"Okay, okay, fine," Malice conceded. "Whatever you say. Point is you've done it before, so what's the problem?"

"The problem," Hunter growled, getting up on the cot so she could meet her great-great-grandsire's obsidian glare to sapphire glare, "is that I don't use it on people unless I'm forced."

Malice stared at her in shock. "You're joking," he murmured, as if he couldn't believe she'd actually said that. "You moronic imbecile! Don't you understand the gift you have here? You are among the few that has the power to control people and make them do what you want!"

"And that is exactly why I choose not to use it!" Hunter snapped. "I'm not like you, Malice; I don't want to control people. I don't like how it feels—how it makes me feel. I don't want to control people if I don't have to, so I don't control people. And I won't control people now. End of story."

For a second Malice remained in a state of disbelief, then his face contorted into a scowl and he looked like he was about ready to sass back at the teenager. But then his features unexpectedly slackened and calmed. Closing his eyes and sighing he conceded: "Fine. Have it your way. I'm giving you a surefire way out that I'll even help you accomplish, but you have your morals and you're going to respect them — fine. Don't take my advice. Sit here in that cell and continue to fail to escape in every other way you can think of. Sit here until Luna's ready to do whatever she wants to use you for. Sure the world's in danger—not to mention that family you keep talkin' about—but that's not more important than your values right?" With that the old coot turned away from the window, flopped down on his cot with such force Hunter was surprised he didn't crumble to pieces with how frail he appeared, folded his arms under his bald head, and looked as though he was about ready to take a nap. (Or maybe just go to bed—it was impossible to tell how time was going down here.)

Hunter chewed her lip, unsure what to say as the torrent of emotions swirled around inside her like a tornado in a hurricane. Scarface's words prickled uncomfortably at her. Her great-great-grandsire had a good point to what he was saying and she didn't like that. Malice was a bad guy; he wasn't supposed to have good points! Hunter had never felt so conflicted.

"I only brought it up," Malice added after a moment, "because I guess I figured you really wanted to get out of here and before Luna managed to do anything. But I guess not, huh?"

Oh, that was a low blow!

And it was one Hunter couldn't ignore. So, steeling up her nerve, Hunter took a deep breath and murmured in a voice barely audible, "If… um… ahem!" She cleared her throat. "If I did, uh… agree to do this… I'd need some… help."

A slight smirk curved Malice's craggy lips. He knew that would do the trick. "Hmph," he huffed, getting back up and looking up to meet the sixteen-year-old's face. "You didn't seem to need much help when you threw me across my cell with it."

"How many times do I have to say it?" Hunter growled, face burning brick red. "Emotional. Duress."

"So you want me to train you in energon manipulation, then."

"I'm pretty close to getting the hang of it when it's raw or liquefied—"

"Controlling energon as it's pumping through somebody is something different entirely," the ancient Hybrid interrupted.

Hunter nodded. "I figured. It felt different just the couple times I've done it; it was…" she dropped off, not really sure how to describe it.

"More powerful," Scarface supplied with a nod. "More dangerous, deadly. That's because it takes more skill, or—I suppose in your cases—power." Malice sighed. "I don't have enough time to help you master it-"

"I don't want to master it!" Hunter snarled.

"—but I can teach you to use it good enough to get done what we need done."

"And how long will that take?" Hunter questioned glumly. She hated the idea of learning this skill almost as much as she hated the idea of having to use it, and she wanted to spend as less time as possible on either task.

Malice sneered. "That all depends on how good a student you are," he declared. His black eyes gleamed dark and dangerous as he added in a bone-chilling tone of voice, "And how dark you're willing to go."

A chill went through Hunter's body, causing goosebumps to rise on her skin. An unsettling feeling sank into the pit of her stomach and all of a sudden everything felt a little bit heavier. She thought, "I got a bad feeling about this."

"Oh," Malice added after a moment. "And one other thing: If I help you, you break me out of this hellhole too."

Hunter couldn't help but feel utterly appalled by this part of the deal. Help Scarface Malice—the most evil, twisted, and sinister Hybrid ever to exist in history—break out of his cell and escape to the world beyond?! Unlike Hunter, he actually belonged here! The world was far safer with him locked away deep in Luna's dungeons, unable to escape, no matter how frail and weak he was now.

As if reading her mind (or probably just judging correctly from her affronted expression) the ancient Hybrid scowled severely and rumbled menacingly, "You need my help, Girl, and you know it. Take me with you and you got it—that's the deal. Take it or sit here and wait for Luna to do whatever she wants with you."

Hunter pressed her lips into a thin line and chewed on the bottom one. She hated this; she hated being trapped between a rock and a hard place with no room for negotiation, but this was her position. And Malice was right. She desperately needed his help if she had any chance of breaking out of this cell as soon as possible. And, even more desperately, she needed to get out. If he could give her what she needed, this is what she had to do, and she'd just have to stomach it as best she could, no matter how sick it made her. "Oh, yeah," she thought again, "I definitely got a bad feeling about this…."

For the next couple days Hunter and Scarface worked hard. Well, Hunter worked hard, Scarface just stood there at the window scrutinizing, criticizing, and further insulting her as he tried to teach her what she needed to know about energon manipulation in order to break out. (Or at least that was her opinion on the matter; she was the one doing most of the physical exertion after all.)

It was far from easy, yet at the same time it wasn't quite as difficult as the sixteen-year-old had expected either. Hunter wasn't entirely sure if that was because of her will to get out of here; her—what Greasy referred to as—"innate capability" to learn with her powers quickly; or the sheer fact that, with Malice continuing to yell and degrade her the whole time, she stayed angry, and being angry seemed to help a good deal in this kind of energon manipulation. (It also seemed to make the sensation of the power far more exhilarating and intoxicating.) Whatever the reason, the girl wasn't at all happy about any of it: learning it, the feel of it, everything about it. It made her feel as sick and twisted as the man who was teaching it to her. And at the pit of her stomach—now more than at any other point since she'd discovered the power—was that niggling fear that this would change her and twist her up to be just like Malice. She was of his blood after all, and she had been granted (or cursed) with the same power. If something was to send her down the same path as he had… well, what could possibly be more effective than this?

However, Hunter did realize that this was her one opportunity—the only surefire way of getting out of her cell; her final chance of escaping Luna and her plans. So the redhead would deal with it. She'd learn as much about this power as she could from Scarface while she had the chance and take into account any of the damage it did to her morality later. After all, she didn't have the luxury of choice right now. Nor could she afford to be morally upholding. As of right now, nobody could afford for her to be….

---

It was in the early morning hours and Hunter lay curled up on her bunk. She wasn't asleep—very far from it: She was waiting for the perfect chance—her only chance—to break out of this hellhole. All she had to do was wait for the guard that brought her breakfast.

"Now remember what I taught you over the last 48 hours," Malice's voice hissed from the other side of the wall. "No hesitation, no mercy, and mean it when you use it. And, for the love of Unicron, pour your emotions into it if you have to!"

Hunter wanted nothing more than to snark something back and tell the old coot to shut up, but she bit her tongue. She had to concentrate on this. And, besides, it wasn't like he'd be able to hear her whisper back to him, since he didn't have any sort of Hybrid power anymore.

The minutes ticked on and seemed to pass like hours when finally Hunter's ears caught the far off sound of a door opening and closing and footsteps coming her way. (Thank Primus her Hybrid powers were definitely still intact….) Quickly shutting her eyes, the teen tried to steady out her breathing to make it seem as though she was really asleep. She listened intently as the footsteps came ever closer. Finally they stopped in front of her cell. Hunter didn't move.

"Hey!" a rough voice barked. "Kid! Breakfast! Up and at it while it's warm."

Hunter heard the tell-tale poof of her food being magically teleported through the barrier into her cell. At that she sprung.

Reaching out with a hand, Hunter poured all of her focus, determination, and, yes, anger into the attempt to take control of the Acolyte's body. There was the sensation of strings attached to her fingertips, and a second or two later there was another—a warm tingle that ran from her palm straight up her arm to her head, leaving the girl feeling a bit buzzed. The teen smirked. Success!

The Acolyte seemed to have frozen in place, her body twitching with spasms as it instinctively fought the grip of the energon manipulation. "Hey!" she yelped in alarm. "Wh-what's going… what are you—ahh!" She was suddenly lifted up off the floor and suspended in midair.

"Why don't you see if you can figure it out," Hunter snarled, rising to her feet and moving towards the front of the cell.

A joyous whoop sounded off. "Atta girl!" Scarface praised.

"Y-You… bitch!" the Acolyte spat.

Hunter wanted nothing more than to make a comment about how the Acolyte shouldn't be insulting someone who could literally rip the very energon from her body, but she bit her tongue and squashed the desire. Now wasn't a time for quips; now was the time for getting this cell open and getting out of here. Hopefully she could pull off the skill to do that. "Shut up and do your job," the teenager snarled back, slightly changing the position of her thumb to effectively clamp the woman's jaw shut.

"Excellent!" Malice complimented. "Shut her up so she can't scream—excellent! You do have some sense after all."

Hunter's mouth twisted in annoyance at her great-great-grandfather's comment, but she said nothing. She had to focus now; the hardest part of this was coming up. The girl pulled the Acolyte towards the cell.

"That's it," Scarface continued to chatter on as he coached his great-great-grandaughter along. "Bring her closer—take her to the control panel. That's it. Now, you're going to need two hands to do this part; you're not skilled enough to do it one-handed yet…."

In the far back of her mind Hunter made the remark that she never wanted to get skilled enough to do this one-handed. As it was, she wasn't all the thrilled she could do it with two hands. Well, in theory she could at least. She had yet to actually carry out the act and succeed at it….

Directing the Acolyte over to the control panel, just as Malice had coached, (though he didn't need to and Hunter greatly wished he wouldn't) Hunter held out her other hand. Then she focused on the Acolyte's arm and used her power to force the appendage to extend. She then forced the hand open. It was all very difficult, but Hunter couldn't afford to fail. Once the Acolyte's hand was splayed open, the girl forced the woman to press it to the control panel. The force-field immediately fell—she was out!

"Whoo-hoo!" Malice whooped. "Now we're talkin'!"

Without a second thought, Hunter jerked the Acolyte towards her and skewered the woman through the spark. The teen retracted her razors. Closing her eyes, she exhaled deeply and tried to let go of the lingering sensation of elation that the task had left her with. She couldn't tell if that inkling of power-hungriness she felt was all in her head, brought on by her fear of the power she'd just used, or the actual thing. "Have to figure that out later," she thought to herself.

Shoving the thought to the back of her mind, Hunter stepped around the dead Acolyte and exited her cell where she turned around and activated the force-field. More than a few times since she'd been down here the girl had heard footsteps only come part way down the hall before retreating in the other direction. Evidently the Acolytes sent to check up on her throughout the day only looked down the hall to see if the force-field was still up and then left after seeing that it was, concluding that she was still in the cell. With luck, they'd do the same thing and it'd buy her more time to escape. Unless this Acolyte ended up being missed and some more were sent down here to check on the situation, and if that was the case she'd have to hurry.

"Hey!" a sudden bark caused the girl to turn and direct her gaze up to the window in the back wall of the cell. Black eyes were glaring out at her. "Don't you go forgetting about me now," Scarface snarled. "We had a deal, remember?"

Hunter rolled her eyes and groaned. The last thing she wanted right now was to bring the doddering old loudmouth along with her in her escape; she had no desire to be condescended and ridiculed the whole time. It would be so easy to just walk off and leave him there….

"We had a deal, Girl," Malice rumbled menacingly. "You leave without me and I'll make sure they know you're out before you've even had a chance to get out of the dungeons."

The teenager glared at the old man. "You would, too," she remarked sourly.

"Of course I would," Scarface declared. "If I don't leave this hellhole, you don't either, Girl. Take it or leave it."

Hunter sighed in exasperation and pursed her lips as she continued to scowl at the ancient Hybrid. He was completely right. Why did the evil, old bastard have to be so damn right?! It was utterly infuriating! "Fine," she conceded, turning around to head down the hall in the direction the Acolyte had come, "you're coming. Wait there."

"As if I have anywhere else to go!" Malice remarked dryly.

Considering how expansive the dungeons were, it took Hunter a surprising amount of time to make her way over to Scarface's cell, but once she'd finally arrived there she made quick work of releasing him. Not that it was extra difficult. Luna really should have considered a hand or retina scan or even a simple code to power the force-fields on and off, rather than a simple button. Luckily for Hunter and Scarface, she hadn't.

"There," Hunter stated in annoyance as she turned off Malice's force-field, "you're out. Happy now?" Not waiting for an answer, the teen turned and began to stalk back down the hall away from the man. She had no desire to be any closer to the old coot than she had to be.

"And where do you think you're going?" said old coot called after her.

Hunter stopped and turned to glare over her shoulder at her great-great-grandfather. "Uh, where do you think?" she responded. "To find a way out of here."

Malice, standing just outside his cell, looked at her incredulously. "Do you have any idea where to even go?"

Mouth twisting in annoyance, the redhead turned back to face the man and perched her fists on her hips. "No, I don't," she admitted. "But that's why you're coming, isn't it?"

Scarface snorted. "And just how exactly did you see me coming along on this little adventure?"

Hunter was silent for a long time, trying to decipher what he was saying. "The hell do you mean?" she finally asked.

"I'm older than this dustball of a planet, Girl," the man stated. "Not to mention the fact that I have, in fact, been brought back from the dead into a body that the life force was completely drained from. I'm not exactly in any kind of shape to go skipping around after you."

Hunter's eyes narrowed. "Then don't skip."

Malice sneered. "You know what I mean."

"I am not carrying you, Crypt-Keeper."

"You want to get out of here?"

"Stupid question."

"Then looks like you're stuck carrying me."

Hunter's lip curled. "Ya know," she murmured dangerously, "you're out of your cell now—I could just slit your throat and take off on my own. You wouldn't be able to squeal that way." As she said this, the teen unsheathed her blades again and stepped closer to the old man, raising them close to his throat. She could do it. One quick motion and she would be all she had to worry about. Just the idea of making the old bastard shut up so he couldn't degrade her again was more satisfying than Hunter was willing to admit. Again that niggling worry made itself known. "I'm definitely gonna have to do some soul-searching when I get outta here…."

"Yeah, you could," Scarface conceded, looking completely unconcerned. "And I have no doubt you probably would; you're of my blood after all, with at least part of my power."

Oh, great. He just had to point that out. That made Hunter feel so much better about what was going on inside of her….

"But, considering you do seem to possess some sense," the ancient Hybrid went on, earning a heated glare from the girl, "maybe you'd think better of it. After all, you don't know the way out of this dungeon."

"And you do?" Hunter challenged raising an eyebrow.

"I've been imprisoned here since Luna resurrected me-"

"'Imprisoned' as in "kept in a cell"? Not exactly an ideal location to figure a way out of here."

"Would you shut up for once and wait and let me finish?! Younglings! No wonder you're all so stupid—you never listen and can't wait five seconds to spout off whatever's on your mind. Thank Unicron I left the child-rearing to Stellara."

"Well, maybe if you'd get to your point rather than ramble on about how much of a moron I am…."

"Oh, if only I could, Girl."

Hunter growled savagely. Her arm, still extended as she had kept her razors near Malice's throat, trembled as the sixteen-year-old fought the desperate urge to slash. Somehow she managed to control it. "Fine," she finally huffed. Retracting her blades yet again, the redhead stepped back from Malice and crossed her arms as she gave him a hard glower. "Continue."

Malice was silent for a minute, narrowing his gaze at the girl as he watched her closely, as if waiting to see if she really would be quiet and let him continue on. When it seemed that she would, he spoke again. "As I was saying," he stated, "I've been imprisoned here since Luna resurrected me. Before she finally got the idea to enchant the cells so breaking out of them is impossible, I managed to get out several times. Needless to say, I know ways outta these dungeons Luna herself doesn't even know about; all the little cracks and crevices someone could manage to squeeze through if they wanted it enough."

At this information, Hunter perked up. Now they were talking! "Do you know how to get all the way to the outside?" she asked eagerly.

Scarface crossed his arms and gave the teen a hard look. "Well, you'll just have to take me along to find that out, won't'cha?"

---

"Would you stop squirming around?" Hunter rumbled at the living skeleton strapped to her back. She was seriously starting to regret caving to Malice's demands that he be carried rather than walk on their journey to freedom. To make things worse, in order to have her hands free in case she needed to defend herself and because she knew that Malice probably wouldn't be strong enough to hold on to her himself for an extended period of time, the teen had come up with the idea to jerry-rig a harness out of her over-shirt and belts, straps, and bits and pieces of the dead Acolyte's uniform in order to carry her guide that way. Due to this, the act of simply dumping Scarface off whenever she got too annoyed with him in order to teach him a lesson (or just leave him there) wasn't a convenient option.

"I would," the man grunted, "if I could get comfortable. Ugh! This harness rubs in places."

Hunter grumbled. He didn't need to tell her that—she knew. "Well, you'll just have to suck it up and deal with it," the girl snarled. "I'm not stopping to fix it, we need to move; it took us longer than I wanted to get out of the dungeons as it is." They'd only been traveling the tunnels deep below the estate for about an hour now, and it had taken them at least an hour to sneak out of the dungeons themselves. Malice had assured her that the tunnels did indeed lead to the outside, but Hunter still had no idea how long it would take to reach that. It was a given their disappearances would be discovered before too long, and it was likely they'd get caught before reaching the outside if they didn't keep moving steadily along. And that was all without any interferences that Luna had potentially set up down here.

Malice huffed. "Ya know," he remarked, "you're less than desirable company."

"Hmm, really?" the girl sardonically asked, looking back over her shoulder to meet her great-great-grandsire's dark eyes. "I guess that's just one more thing I get from you." Oh, that little dig felt so much more satisfying than it should have!

At that declaration, Scarface's cracked and lined mouth twisted in an angry sneer, but he said nothing more. In fact he seemed to have decided to go quiet. Hunter could have fallen flat on her face in gratefulness to Primus for that phenomenal feat.

For the next several miles along the tunnels neither Hybrid spoke, except for an occasional direction from Malice, which was usually delivered with a simple point and grunt. Hunter was absolutely fine with this situation. No talking made it easier for her to listen for the sounds of someone coming up behind them, and she wanted as much time as she could to get prepared before they ran up on her. Being able to stay a step ahead of the Acolytes was always a blessing.

On they travelled, first going down and then up again and then back down, sometimes evening out for a while before traveling upwards or downwards again. So far no one seemed to be following them. But they also didn't seem to be getting close to any exits yet. In all honesty, the only place they seemed to be getting closer to so far was the very center of the earth. Hunter told herself this was an exaggeration, but with as far as they traveled downwards so often, it certainly made one feel that way.

Just how far below the grounds of the estate were they anyway? The sixteen-year-old couldn't help but ponder this at the back of her mind. It had to be at least a mile; maybe even two or three. Okay, maybe three was pushing it, but they were certainly a ways down below it all. Maybe they weren't even below the estate anymore; maybe they were out of range of it: She could actually be out! Not that it would matter much until she was above ground again where her energy signature could be detected; all the earth overhead would undoubtedly shield it at the moment.

"Luna could still find me though," Hunter reminded herself. With her wide array of magical abilities and spells, it would be nothing for her Sorceress grandmother to snap her fingers and send out some sort of magic spell to pinpoint her exact location… maybe even instantly teleport her back inside that godforsaken cell! And that was exactly why the girl wanted to get out of the tunnels and above ground as quickly as possible!

With that in mind, Hunter picked up the speed a bit. What she wouldn't give to just kick it into hyperspeed and light-speed it out of here! Unfortunately, in such closed in spaces that she didn't know herself and where magical booby-traps could be set up, it wasn't a good idea. So the teen would just have to settle for getting out as quickly as humanly possible.

Again Hunter found herself descending further downwards. Once she reached the bottom of the steep descent, she found the path levelled out and led into a dark, closed passageway. The redhead stopped. "I don't like this," she murmured.

A sudden snort sounded in her ear. "Huh? Wha? What's that?" Malice muttered drowsily, sounding only half-awake. Evidently he'd decided to have a nap during their trek and had dozed off. What a nice luxury to have.

Not taking her eyes off the dark hole before them, in case something were to suddenly spring out of it, Hunter simply jutted her chin ahead. "That passage ahead" she remarked.

Scarface focused his bleary gaze on the subject in question and blinked a few times, weary mind still trying to process and put together all the facts of the situation. "Huh," he finally grunted. "Well, that's new."

"New"? Hunted didn't like the sound of that in the least bit! She chanced a questioning glance over her shoulder at the old man. "You've never seen that before?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Never. Like I said, Luna might've had some renovating done since my last escape. You're positive we're on the same trail I pointed out to you? You didn't go veering off some side-tunnel, did ya?"

"No!"

"Watch the attitude, Girl. I'm just asking."

"Well, I'm not an idiot! I know how to follow directions."

"Do you?"

"Do you want to get dropped and left here? Because you're this close to it, Fossil-Ass!"

Malice's eyes narrowed. The little, smart-mouthed shrew! Leaning forward he hissed dangerously in her ear, "Use that disrespectful tone with me again and I'll-"

"Oh-ho, you'll what?" Hunter interrupted, glaring back over her shoulder at him. "What? Gum me to death? Talk me to death? You're half-way there already, pal."

That, miraculously, shut the old geezer up, though Hunter could sense he wasn't at all happy about being mouthed off to. Nor reminded just how unintimidating he was.

"So," Hunter sighed, turning attention back to the conspicuous passageway-shaped problem before them, "now what?"

"Well, unless you wanna turn around and head back to the slag-pit," Malice grumbled, still sounding grumpy from Hunter's taunt, "we go through."

Hunter's brows furrowed and she made a tentative humming noise in the back of her throat. "Honestly, I'd rather not get caught up in whatever magic traps Luna's got rigged down here," she admitted, ever so slightly stepping backwards. The girl knew her grandmother, and she knew how her grandmother felt about people trying to escape her clutches, and that all pointed to whatever awaited them if they went through the opening being downright nasty. Hunter had no desire to get tangled up with anything like that now. "Maybe we can back-track? Find another way to go?"

"And possibly get caught by Luna's lackeys that are undoubtedly following us now?" Malice scoffed disdainfully. "If you weren't so raw using your hemokinesis and had more mastery of it, I might let you go back just to see how well you could handle controlling multiple bodies at once. … Actually come to think of it, that might not be a bad way to teach you…."

Hunter went rigid, her stomach clenching. The last thing she wanted was more lesson on controlling people's energon from her great-great grandsire: She was still trying to get over some of the after effects of the last time she'd used it, and that had been at least three hours ago now. "Okay, fine," she quickly conceded, stepping out towards the passageway once again. "We'll go through." Malice simply made a snorting sound as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.

Once inside the passage, Hunter stopped and waited. She listened, felt, and smelled as hard as she could, waiting for anything to happen, anything at all. Nothing did. Unsure if she felt encouraged by or even more suspicious about that, the teenager began walking again. She moved slowly, testing the ground in front of her with each foot before placing it down and running her hands along the wall.

The tunnel wasn't wide at all; she could press her hands flat against the sides of it while her arms bent significantly—though not uncomfortably—at the elbows. The redhead wasn't sure how high the ceiling was, but she couldn't feel the crown of her head brushing against it, so it had to be at least a couple inches above her. And it was probably smooth, too, if the walls were any indication.

Hunter didn't like the smoothness: It was completely unnatural compared to the rest of the tunnels they'd been traveling, and it only solidified the suspicion that Luna had had the passage built to lead to somewhere or something that Hunter had no desire to go or meet. But it was too late to turn back now. Assuming they'd even be able to turn around and go back at all; it would be just like Luna to have charms on this passage to prevent anyone from changing their mind and turning around.

Hunter was so busy pondering and wondering and worrying about the passage and where it could possibly take them that, she didn't even take notice of Malice talking to her until he smacked her on the cheek.

"Hey! You listenin' to me?" the old codger inquired, clearly offended that he'd been ignored.

"Prob'ly not," Hunter grumbled back. The girl glared back over her shoulder. Not that she could actually see him or anything—it was completely pitch black in this passageway. "What?" she snarled, voice hard.

"Watch your tone, Girl," Scarface growled.

"Talk," Hunter demanded, ignoring his warning.

Apparently realizing they would get nowhere with this argument, Malice went on to repeat himself: "Didn't take much convincing to get you to come through here once I brought up your hemokinesis,"

"I just didn't want to risk my freedom if we ran into Acolytes. You said yourself my energon-bending leaves a lot to be desired, after all."
"Yes, well, that's true—you've got a lot of work ahead of if you want to learn to master controlling the energon in someone's body. But I think there's something more to it."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know—how about your reaction back in the cell when I brought it up as your means of escape?"

Hunter said nothing to that.

"Or just now, when I mentioned how much work is a head of you if you want to master it?"

"I didn't act weird just now."
"You didn't, but your muscles did. I'm strapped right up against you, Girl—I wouldn't be able to feel you not tense up if I tried."

Hunter grimaced. As if it wasn't bad enough having the old bastard strapped right up against her back like a second skin so that she could feel all of him! Did he really have to go and make a comment like that? "That's real creepy, ya know that?"

"Yes, well, creepy's never been a bad thing for me."

"There's a shock."

"What'd I say about attitude, Girl?"

"What have you learned about my thoughts on your feelings toward my attitude?"

"Smart-mouthed little-"

"I'm sorry, but you were asking me about my reaction toward mentions of my hemokinesis. Would you care to continue with that? Or we can find a completely new topic to discuss, because I assure you, Scarface, we're not getting anywhere with this one."

Malice grumbled. "Fine," he conceded, sounding more than a little tetchy. "You act like being able to control energon is the most despicable thing in the world, yet you have no issue with threatening to snuff my spark or actually snuffing the sparks of others—case in point, that Acolyte rotting back in your cell. Controlling people from the inside out isn't your cup of tea but killing people is? Seems like you've got a pretty twisted set of priorities there, Girl. What's that Prime been teachin' you?"

Hunter pursed her lips, willing her temper to remain under her control. It wasn't an easy task, considering the old bastard had implied something so offensive as her spark-father being a ruthless, sparkless killer of a mech. "First of all," she rumbled after a moment when she managed to rein in her ire, though she still sounded bad-tempered, "let me warn you that anymore implications towards or outright bad-mouthing of Optimus will get your aft dumped and left behind for good. That is my spark-father you're talking about and you will shut up about him, just like Luna. Got it?" Hunter waited until she'd received a conceding grunt from Malice before continuing on. "Second, my feelings towards controlling energon are… complicated."

"Uncomplicate it."

"Why do you even care?"

"I care because strength of bloodline—in all possible ways—is the most important thing to me. You've got several claims to weakness in your lineage, and I would like to try and keep the tally low."

Hunter groaned. "Fine. Just shut up already." With a sigh, she went on, trying to explain; "Being able to control energon just feels… I dunno… wrong to me. But it's not being able to control energon, or really even controlling other people's energon, that makes me feel wrong; it's more… the feeling I have when I use it. Or at least the feeling I get when I use it on others."

"That's not uncomplicating it."

The teenager groaned in exasperation. "Okay, let me try it this way. When I kill or threaten to kill, I don't do it towards innocent people, and I never will—I know I never will. And because of that, I don't think or feel too much about it because I'm taking lives of people who would take or cause the lives of innocent people to be taken: I can justify it. I've never held the mindset that killing is inherently wrong or that no one deserves to die. Maybe that's part of being the Fuser; being able to make tough judgement calls like that—I dunno.

An involuntary shuddering caused the redhead to suddenly tremble. "But controlling people? Forcing them to do something against their will? That seems wrong. But I could even make my peace with that and justify it for the greater good if it weren't for the fact that it makes me feel so powerful. Powerful to the point that I enjoy it, even when I don't want too. And because I've only been able to do it so far when I'm angry or desperate or something like that, it just makes the feeling stronger… almost addicting. Point is I know I won't kill innocent people… but if I know how to use hemokinesis… I don't know I won't use this power to control them because of how it makes me feel and how much I like the feeling of it. Not to mention the track record it has for corrupting people who use it!"

"What'd'ya mean by that?"

"Besides me, you said there's only been two other Hybrids to have this ability. If you ignore the stipulation for having been born naturally with it, then there's three: You, your sire, and Bombardier. I don't know about your sire, but you and Bombardier both went mad with power. I know it was a key factor for Bomber, and I'd be damn surprised if it wasn't one for you, too."

Malice said nothing in reply, but that was more than enough confirmation to let Hunter know she was at least partially right about all of this.

The girl suddenly found herself coming to a stop in the middle of the passage, feeling as though she couldn't—or maybe shouldn't—take another step. And for a moment, Hunter truly wondered if she should. After all, she had information about how to use her energon manipulation now—dangerous information—and the ability to actually use it. In here she wouldn't be able to use it against innocent people, but out there…. Hunter hung her head, staring down in the general direction of her feet. "I have your hemokinesis, Scarface," she whispered, unable to keep the fear from trembling into her voice, "and I have your blood pumping through me—that's a bad combination. Luna… she doesn't even have hemokinesis and she's gone deep dark anyway. I have both. What kind of chance do I have against going down the same path?"

Malice didn't answer.

"Primus, what do I do?" Hunter thought. "If I stay here, I guarantee putting everyone in the universe in danger. But, if I go out there, knowing how to use my hemokinesis, I'm risking unleashing it on people who don't deserve it without knowing if I can—or will even want to—control myself." With her whole spark, the sixteen-year-old willed the Cybertronian god inside her to answer her, for once. But like usual, she couldn't hear his voice. Maybe if she was sleeping or in the Primus-state… but neither situation was going to happen anytime soon.

"Just so you know," Malice stated after a moment of silence, "the dark side isn't the bad place everyone thinks it is."

Hunter couldn't help the dry laugh that escaped her at that. "Yeah," she remarked sardonically, "you got cookies right?" She stepped out again, carefully feeling her way down the dark tunnel. Potentially losing her head and using hemokinesis on innocent people or not, it was in everyone's best interests that she get out of this place. The hemokinesis was an if; Luna using her for something dastardly was an absolute certainty.

"… What?"

"Doesn't matter. I have no desire to explain pop culture references to you."

"Fine. I have no desire to listen to such a topic."

And with that said, silence fell again. Or as much silence as there could be in such an echo-y little passage way: It didn't seem to matter how carefully and quietly Hunter put her feet down, her footsteps seemed to demand that they make enough noise to resonate off the perfectly smooth walls. Her palms made soft rasping sounds against the stone. It would be difficult to tell if someone was trying to sneak up on them in this tunnel. With that in mind, the teen cemented the sound of the echo of her own feet into her memory and kept her ears alert and sharp for any change in it that could signal they weren't alone.

The minutes of darkness dragged on. No end to the tunnel, or even a hint of an end, came into sight. Hunter began to quietly panic, thinking that maybe this passage was charmed to be endless and keep whoever entered it trapped in darkness for all eternity. It wouldn't be anything new for the Witch. But then, finally, far off in the distance was a hint of light.

"Hey!" Hunter chirped. "Check it out!"

Malice snorted himself awake (evidently he'd decided to take a nap again) and turned his attention in the direction Hunter was pointing. "He-hey!" he laughed. "Finish line!"

Feeling giddy over the prospect of finally getting out of the dark, Hunter picked up her pace. She forced herself to keep from breaking into a run, however, reminding herself that this was still her grandmother's territory and nothing could be taken at face-value. Besides, there was still a lot of black between them and that faint light; a lot of black to hide a number of booby-traps yet. And who's to say that light ahead wasn't one of them? Or some kind of illusion to lead her into one?

Well whatever it was, it appeared to be fixed in position, because the closer Hunter moved towards it the closer it became, and that was far better than it getting farther away. Now they were close enough to it that it did appear to be the exit of the tunnel. What it led to was anyone's guess. Hunter could just about bet whatever it would be wouldn't be nice at all, but at the moment she would take that unknown over travelling much further through this claustrophobic darkness. She'd just have to be prepared for anything.

When there was no more than a few feet of tunnel left between them and the exit—and most of it was at least dimly illuminated by the light from the other side—Hunter broke into a sprint, unable to contain herself any longer. In two strides of her long legs, the sixteen-year-old was leaving the passage way behind. She was out! The overwhelming joy at this fact didn't last long, however, as it was quickly made clear that Hunter's instincts had been right: What was on this side of the exit was definitely not nice.

Hunter skidded to a stop and froze, a gasp escaping her and her sapphire eyes widening in horror. Towering before them and blocking a gate that sat across an arena about the size of a football field, were two statues. They were about as tall as Optimus—maybe even taller—with bodies of men carved from stone and heads like jackals crafted of gold, and held long, merciless looking spears of bronze. And despite being made of stone and gold they were very much alive: That couldn't be made any clearer than when the closest statue to them trust its spear down at them.

Cursing, Hunter leapt back out of the way just before the spearhead skewered the stone where she'd been standing. She quickly dove behind one of the boulders that rimmed the arena. "What the hell?!" she breathed, peeking back out at the statues. So far they weren't coming towards the boulder: Apparently these things only attacked if she tried to advance towards the gate on the other side. But shouldn't they have tried to keep her from going back the way she came? Hunter quickly glanced over towards were the exit to the tunnel was only to find that it had completely disappeared. She growled under her breath. Well, no going back that way, not that it was really even a big surprise….

"Anubis!" Malice hissed. "They're guarding the way out!"

"No, duh, Gramps!" Hunter spat, quickly ducking back down behind the rock as the Anubises looked their way. She didn't think they'd advance as long as she and Malice stayed in their current position, but she didn't want to take a chance. "Congratulations, you just won gold for Slowest Uptake of the Year. Hey!" A decent sized chunk of the teen's ratty hair was given a sharp and sudden tug.

"Anymore lip and I'll bust yours!" Malice snarled furiously.

"Yeah, well, you'll have to live through this in order to do that," Hunter rumbled back, absently reaching up to massage her scalp as she continued tried to think of what to do. The jackals blocked the path; they'd attack if she tried advancing on the gate. Getting passed them to the gate wouldn't be the biggest issue—she could just hyper-speed over there—but once at the gate she'd have to open it, and knowing Luna there'd be a trick to doing that and it'd probably take some time to figure out. (Hunter wasn't stupid enough to think she could just smash through the gate; Luna would definitely have spelled it, just like she'd done the cells.) The problem was going to be fending off the statues while figuring out the combination.

"I'm gonna have to distract 'em," the teenager mumbled to herself.

"What?" Malice asked, clearly not understanding what she was talking about yet.

Without a word, Hunter carefully peeked back up over the boulder and let her eyes trail along the edge of the arena. It wasn't completely lined with rocks, but there were enough to provide decent cover as long as someone else drew the jackals' attentions. That was it then. Crouching back down, the girl began to undo the bonds that strapped her great-great-grandsire to her back.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Malice hissed, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor. He was clearly offended that he hadn't been consulted in whatever was happening.

"Working out a plan," Hunter muttered, shooting a heated glare the old man's way as she coiled up the straps and secured them around her waist to they'd be there for later. She knew they'd probably need them again. "Which is more than what you've been doing." She couldn't help but add the last little jibe in there; it was just too sweet an opportunity.

Malice glowered dangerously. "You stupid, impudent, selfish child!" he rumbled. "You plan to sacrifice me?!"

Hunter gave him an incredulous look. "What?!"

"You intend for us to make a dash for the gate separately!" Malice accused bitterly. He seemed to be absolutely quaking with rage. "You plan on leaving me for the guardians while you escape! You coward! You pathetic-"

"Will you shut up?!" Hunter snarled, shoving her young face in his ancient one. Fire raged in her sapphire eyes. "You absolute moron! I'm not sacrificing you to make my escape—my Primus! I'm sending you around the edge behind these rocks to the gate to figure out how to get it open while I distract the jackals!"

Malice was quiet for a long time after that, staring at the girl with wide eyes. Finally he blinked and croaked out a shocked, "What?"

"Look, maybe that whole sacrifice thing is what you'd do if you were in charge here but—news flash!—you're not in charge here, I am! And I am not you! I don't think like you and I certainly don't plan like you. And maybe if you'd get out of your paranoia riddled head for five damn seconds you'd realize that! I'm not leaving you behind or sacrificing you for my escape—I don't do that crap. We're in this together, whether we like it or not—got it?"

Once again, Scarface was at a loss for words, so he simply nodded in response.

"Good! 'Bout damn time!" Hunter growled. Then she pointed off around the side of the arena. "You're strong enough to make it over to the other side by yourself, right?" When she received another nod, the redhead continued; "Good. Sneak around the edge behind these rocks and see if you can work out how to open the gate when you get to the other side. I'll keep the jackals busy. Good? Good. Now move it!"

With that, Malice scrambled to his rickety legs and took off as quickly as he could around the edge of the arena.

Watching him stagger off, Hunter waited until he was out of her sight around a few boulders before turning her mind back to focusing on her own task at hand. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. "Okay," she finally murmured. "Let's go." And with that she leapt out from behind the boulder and charged. "Come at me, boys!"

Just as expected, the statues came towards her, raising their weapons and jabbing them down at the girl.

Hunter hit her knees and arched backwards, dodging the bronze spearheads. The shafts crossed each other and spearheads impaled the stone floor on either side of the teen as she slid between them. The sixteen-year-old quickly got back up on her feet once she'd passed beneath the spears and rushed towards the legs of one Anubis. Reeling her fist back, she let it fly. "Hrah!" Her fist made hard contact with the ankle of the statue: Hunter regretted it to the bitter end. "Ahh!" Clutching her throbbing hand tightly, the redhead squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip as tears stung her eyes. Damn! She'd just busted her hand! Well, probably not, but it sure as hell felt like it!

"That didn't feel like a spell," Hunter thought to herself as she massaged her aching knuckles. "That felt like punching a wall back when my powers were capped off!" And that's when it hit her: negation spell! Of course! Luna would definitely have cast some sort of barrier down here with it; she was a sick, twisted bitch like that—as if giant, stone Anubis statues guarding the way out weren't enough of a deterrent already. They had to get out of here. Fast!

"Whoa! Uh! Ha!" Hunter quickly ducked and dodged as the Anubis she'd punched kicked at her, only to have to do it all again to dodge the spear of the other Anubis. "Malice!" she shouted towards the gate, where the ancient Hybrid was currently stationed, trying to work out how to open the gate. "My powers aren't working; Luna must've cast negation spells down here! Make it fast! Wah!" She narrowly sidled out of the way of another stomping foot. "NOW WOULD BE GOOD!"

Hunter back-hand-sprung out of the path of another jabbing spear, simultaneously wishing more than anything for Malice to open the gate so they could get out of here and that she could just duck behind a boulder back at the other end for protection. She stood no chance against these statues without her powers! She may have been just as durable as a Hybrid yet, but in every other sense she was as weak as a human now; a fit and above-averagely strong human, but a human nevertheless. And her Hybrid durability would only hold out so long in this form: Eventually she would be crushed or pummeled to death—if she didn't get skewered first. No situation sounded ideal.

No! She was not going to die in here! Dying here would just mean she'd come back, back in that damned cell again or someplace worse and she was not about to let that happen! She was going to make it out of here and get back home if it was the last thing she ever did!

As if to put that whole thought process into question, one of the Anubises kicked out at the teenager again, and this time she wasn't quick enough to dodge it. The toe of its foot made contact with Hunter's back, sending her flying across the arena to slam into the stone wall with such force a crater formed around her. Slowly Hunter fell away from the wall and hit the floor with a sickening thud! "Ack!" The girl continued to lay there in pain, tears stinging her eyes, unable to force herself to move due to the hurt. Even breathing was torture! "Okay," she gasped, "this must be what it's like when humans throw their backs out. Ugh!" Finally the teen forced herself to sit up, her spinal column sharply snapping and crackling in protest. "Ahh-ah!" Hunter screamed and then breathed in relief as the worst and sharpest of the pain disappeared as her back popped back into place. Thank God for Hybrid durability!

"Girl! Look out!"

Malice sudden yell called Hunter to quickly turn her attention back to the statutes to find a sharp spear coming her way. "Yah!" She quickly rolled out of the way and the spearhead pierced the stone floor just beside her. The girl growled up at the Anubis. Okay that was it! She had no idea just how long they were going to be stuck in here, so she had to try and do something to get rid of this bastards! Or at least decrease the threat they provided! Question was what could she do? She didn't have her powers at the moment, and it was unlikely she'd be able to transform either, so she was severely limited in the capability of causing damage. What did she have at her disposal? Her razors, that was about it. And it would hurt to pop those out now without her healing factor. But she'd have to do it, because she had to do something.

Speaking of that, what exactly was the something she could do with her blades? Hunter considered the Anubises for a moment. They had to be able to at least see, right—otherwise how would they be able to follow her around the arena? Maybe if she could do some damage to their eyes…. Yeah. That could work. Problem was going to be getting up there though.

Hunter's eyes were suddenly drawn back to the spear as it was pulled back out of the stone and she quickly judged the width of the shaft. If she could get on top of that thing, she could run up the shaft, up the statue's arm, and have a clean path to the eyes. It wouldn't be easy, but she did have pretty good balance. She'd have to at least try!

The decision made, the sixteen-year-old leapt to her feet and began running as fast as she could towards the gate, all the while keeping an eye on the statues. She almost couldn't believe her good luck! Instead of stabbing a spear down at her again, one of the jackals threw a fist down at her. Hunter leaped up to avoid being crushed into stone and came down atop the Anubis' fist. She released her razors, trying her best to ignore the sharp pain as they tore through the flesh of her knuckles, then began charging up the statue's arm. "Hrah!" Once she was close enough on the jackal's shoulder she lunged. "Rrraaahhh!" Swinging a fist forward, she did her best to slice into the Anubis' eye, but she hardly made much more than a graze on the gold. Damn! Damn Luna and her fragging magic wards!

As if to add insult to injury, on her way back down to the ground, the Anubis reached up with its other hand and smacked the teen in the direction of the other statue. All Hunter had time to see was a stone fist flying her way before she was punched across arena. "Huh-oof!" She slammed into a wall with a booming crack! before tumbling through the air once more hitting the stone floor once again. "Ahh! Ugh!" And then she just laid there, dazed stupid. Even as the ground beneath her rumbled, signaling the oncoming statues, the girl remained flat on her face. She just didn't have the strength to move.

"Huntress!" Malice barked from his refuge behind a boulder a few feet away. "Get up, Girl! Get up!"

Slowly Hunter tried to pull up a bit more of her strength and tried to move. The pain was horrible, but she did her best to grit through it. "Uh! Ahh!" She only succeeded in moving an arm up under herself in order to push up off the floor enough to raise her head. Trying to breathe through the agony, she settled her sights on the Anubises. They were standing right before her now. Terror seeped into the femmling's spark as she stared wide-eyed up at the massive statues. They were right on top of her: One jab from a spear or one hard stomp and it was over for her.

This was it then. She didn't have the time to gather up what little strength she had left in order to move out of the way. Assuming she'd even be able to move quickly enough to dodge anyway—she was pretty beat up. She'd have come this far only to come back to life in another cell. An argument could be made for at least having tried, but that was nowhere near good enough. "Try" didn't get her out of Luna's clutches; "Try" didn't stop Luna's plans from using her for Primus only knew what; and "try" didn't get her home to her friends… her family… her father. The sudden sting of frustrated tears bit Hunter's eyes at this realization, and she found she had neither the strength nor the desire to blink them away. "Go ahead and do it then," she whispered bitterly. "At least my soul will get outta this Pit for a little bit."

As if taking her up on the surrender, both jackals raised their weapons.

Hunter closed her eyes and lowered her head, waiting for the blow. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She didn't know who she was apologizing to—her family, the rest of the universe, herself—but she simply couldn't stop the words from falling. A single tear trickled down her cheek.

"Hey!" a sudden, ragged voice hollered. "Hey! Look here, ya mangy mutts!"

Hunter's eyes snapped open and she looked towards the sound of the voice to see Malice out from behind the safety of his rock, waving his arms and jumping around—or at least attempting to do so—as if to get the jackals attention. Apparently it was working. When the girl took a quick glance back at the statues their attention was most definitely diverted away from her. "What are you doing?!" she croaked out, looking back at her great-great-grandsire.

Scarface suddenly moved into a staggering, stumbling, doddering attempt at running and came straight at the Anubises. "What's it look like?" he said. "I'm distracting! Those things kill you—ah!" he was suddenly cut off as he just barely managed to dodged a spear. "I'm trapped here!" he continued on as he took a different course. "Like I said, I have no intentions of being stuck here! So get your head off the chopping block and back into the game, Girl! Wah!" He barely managed to dodge again.

Hunter stared at the ancient mech for a long moment, so caught off guard by this sudden act of—at the very least, almost—selflessness. Scarface Malice was really risking his safety to give her time to get her breath back and come up with a new strategy. Had that Anubis punched her into a different universe?

"Quite starin' and get a move on!" Malice growled at her as he continued to clumsily dodge Anubis attacks as best as an utterly ancient and powerless Hybrid could.

That seemed to snap Hunter back to reality. She shook her head of the dazed confusion and set her brain to working on a solution to all of this. "Right," she muttered to herself. "Focus." First thing first was to get up off the floor. Taking a deep, and somewhat pained, breath, the redhead summoned up all her strength and slowly began to push herself up, first rising to all fours, then up into a kneeling position, then up onto unsteady feet. "Whoa-oh." She stumbled backwards into the stone wall behind her and managed to brace herself there before falling back to the ground. The girl quickly glanced over at the statues to see if they'd reacted to her movement. Apparently Malice was doing a pretty good job of distracting them; they hadn't seemed to notice her at all. Thank Primus! Hunter breathed a sigh of relief.

Without warning something bounced off Hunter's head and fell to the floor with a clattering sound. "Yeow!" The teenager reached up to rub at the sudden sore spot on her crown. "What in…?" She looked down at her feet to see a small chunk of rock, about the size of her inner palm. She raised an eyebrow. Where had that come from? As if to answer her silent question, a sudden shower of dust and gravel came raining down over the girl from above. Hunter turned around so that she faced the wall and squinted up through the grit to see where it was coming from. High up above her was a large fissure that led up to a crater from which several other cracks and fissures of varying sizing were branching out. That had to be where she'd hit the wall after the Anubis had punched her into it.

Wait! Was this a wall? It seemed a lot smoother than the rest of the surrounding arena walls. Hunter looked to both sides to see carved, stone posts, separating this section of wall from the others. This wasn't a wall—this was the gate!

And that's when it all clicked. The gate! It showed damage from where'd she'd slammed into it! If the gate had been warded like the cells, that wouldn't be the case—she would have simply rebounded off the magic protecting it. So that gate wasn't warded! And if it wasn't warded that meant it could be broken through!

Hunter looked over her shoulder towards the jackals, which were still doing their best to skewer Scarface and coming damn close to doing so. That was it! That was how they'd get out of here! She'd have to be extremely careful in timing it though, considering that she was hurt. One delayed or even early move and she'd be right where she was before Malice came to her aid. The girl's stomach knotted and unknotted itself. This definitely wasn't the best idea she'd ever had; so many things could go wrong. The gate could be studier than she expected; the spell on the jackals could prevent them from attacking the gate itself, even with her on it. "But it's the only and best idea I have right now," she thought to herself.

So it was settled then. Extracting her blades once more, Hunter pulled a fist back and threw it forward as if to punch something in order to force the razors into the wall. Then she did the same with the other set. Slowly she began to climb up the gate, and once she deemed herself high enough, she put her plan into action. Turning her eyes towards the Anubises again, she put her thumb and finger in her mouth, and let loose a shrill whistle. She smirked as that quickly gained their attention. "Hey, boys!" she called and waved at the jackals.

Instantly the jackals seemed to forget about Malice, who seemed more than a little relieved by this development, and turned to start coming in the direction of the gate. So far, so good.

"That's right, fellas," Hunter growled. "Come and get me." The teen waited as the statues came closer, hoping that they would attack her and yet hoping that they wouldn't at the same time. It went without say that she had very mixed feelings when one of the Anubises raised its spear. Hunter sank her free set of blades back in the gate, watching and waiting carefully.

The jackal stabbed forward.

Hunter kicked her legs up and out of the way of the spear-head. It was impressive work of acrobatics—basically doing a handstand with on her razors stuck in the wall for support. It was also quit strenuous and actually somewhat painful on her knuckles. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to hold that position, but it didn't seem to matter because the other jackal was attacking now at well. Hunter swung down just in time to avoid his weapon. However, she swung down with such force that her dislodged her blades from the stone. "Ahh! Oof!" The teen landed on the first jackal's spear as he was pulling it out of the gate and clung to it for dear life. She glanced back over her shoulder at the Anubis. He was reaching out to grab her! "Not happening!" Hunter adjusted her grip on the spear shaft and got her feet under her before launching herself upwards to grab into the shaft of the other spear. She swung herself up atop it and, before this Anubis had a chance to grab at her too, ran across the spear and leapt towards the gate again. There was enough force behind her jump to allow her to deeply sink her blades back into the stone gate.

Hunter barely had time to breathe before she was forced to swing out of the way of an oncoming fist. She caught onto a fissure to help hold herself in place. Yes! It was working! Her plan was working! She just hoped she could last as long as it would take for the jackals to break the gate down.

Another fist was coming at her. Bracing her feet against the stone, the girl launched herself back and up into the air where she arched backwards into the flip before landing atop the attacking Anubis's head. Then she was running back down the jackal's forehead and snout and launching herself back onto the wall. "Come on, guys!" she panted. "You gotta do better than that! Hup!" The girl dodged yet another spear. She managed to get a foot in a hole to help launch herself further up the gate. She had to keep moving. She had to.

This kept up for several more minutes, Hunter scuttling her away along the gate, digging her claws into the stone and finding hand and footholds on any crack or hole she could use, and often times using the statues themselves as launch pads to get from place to place, and the Anubises attacking in a continuous attempt to carry out their duty and keep her from escaping the arena. The gate was slowly being chipped away. Every punch or stab with a spear weakened the gate a bit more as the stone cracked and caved under the barrage. All it would take was one or two good hits before the whole thing came tumbling down and Hunter and Malice would be able to pass through and continue their escape.

"Let's go then, boys!" Hunter panted, trying to blink the sweat out of her eyes. She was covered in dust and grime and had more than a few cuts and scrapes at varying places on her body. Her knuckles looked particularly raw and bloody and her arms and legs trembled with all the exertion of the situation. The girl wouldn't be able to continue this for much longer and she knew it. She had to get the jackals to break down this wall now! "Come on!" she urged furiously. "Hit me! Give me everything you got!"

As if responding to her request, one Anubis stabbed its spear forward again.

Hunter leapt off the wall, dodging the attack. That's when the second attack came. She was snagged up out of the air in a crushing grip that very literally stole her breath away. And then she was being hurled down into the floor. "Ugh!" The teen just had enough time and strength left to get back up on all fours before she was suddenly broadsided with a kick that smashed her into the gate. "Ahh!"

And just like that, the stone gate came crumbling down.

Malice watched on in shocked silence. He couldn't believe it! The gate—it was down! Hunter had succeeded in getting the Anubises to break it down! (He'd guessed her plan upon seeing her scaling the wall.) They might actually still have had a shot of getting out of here! He might actually still have had a shot of getting out!

A sudden, deafening shriek that sounded like death itself turned to noise pierced the air. Malice cried out and covered his ears. What the hell was that ungodly sound?! Turning his attention back to the jackals, the Hybrid's question was quickly answered as the sound seemed to be coming from them. Both of the statues were quivering and cringing as if in severe pain; one of them even sank to its knees. Then Scarface took notice that, not only did the Anubises appear to be in pain, the looked as if they were eroding away. It was hard to make out through the dust that was still hanging in the air from the crumbled gate, but, yes—the statues definitely seemed to be turning into dust. In stark contrast, their golden heads appeared to be melting.

Despite his age, Malice's mind was still very much intact and percolating, particularly in terms of magic. Thus, he quickly recognized what was occurring: the jackals had failed. Whatever spell Luna had put upon them had meant for them to be brought to life if ever someone should enter their chamber and to stop that someone from ever escaping it alive. But his granddaughter tolerated failure even less than he had, so it was no surprise that she'd twisted in a punishment with the spell, and that punishment seemed to be total, and painful, destruction of the Anubises should they fail to fulfill their purpose. And if that was what was happening now, it meant that Hunter was out! She was beyond the gate! "And in prime position to take off and continue on without me!" Scarface frantically thought.

No! He was not about to be left behind!

Limping along as quickly as he could, Malice made his way between the shrieking, eroding, and melting Anubises towards the wide open space where the gate once stood. He began clambering his way up the rubble. "No, sir!" he muttered with angry determination. "No way in hell am I gonna be left here. Not by some smart-mouthed, emotionally-driven little girl least of all! Why, I-" he was cut off of his ramblings as a scraped, bloody, and bruised arm suddenly broke from the pile of rubble not too far below him.

Another arm quickly joined the first. The hands grabbed and clawed at the surrounding rocks, trying to find some sort of purchase of anchor, and the wreckage immediately around their area shifted and moved. Before too long, a head, topped with ratty, dirty, dusty, grimy red hair appeared, followed quickly by a pair of heaving shoulders. Then the rest of the torso appeared. Then hips and long legs. Bloody, bruised, and battered Hunter crawled her way out of the rubble.

Gasping, Hunter immediately collapsed into the debris and laid their sprawled on the rocks, heaving for air. She was too exhausted to smile, but a certain lightness of victory pervaded her spark. She'd done it! She'd managed to get the jackals to bring down the gate! She was that much closer to getting home—that much closer to being back with Optimus!

"Huh."

A sudden voice caused the teen to just barely raise her head and wearily turn it in the direction the voice had come from. She greeted with the sight of Malice looking down at her, his expression unreadable. "What?" Hunter panted.

"I guess I was just getting all worked up for nothin'," Scarface replied. "Here I figured you'd already be tryin' to make your way on without me and leavin' me behind. But seems like you were a little too busy diggin' yourself out to try and do a double-cross like that."

Hunter's eyes narrowed, but she was too spent to make much a glare at the old man. "I already told you I'm not leavin' you behind," she puffed.

Malice conceded a nod. "You did," he agreed. "But I've come to learn never to trust the word of others, so forgive me if I don't take everything you say to heart."

The femmling could only roll her eyes in response before laying her head back down again. A sudden and terrible pain wracked her frame and she inhaled sharply and trembled, trying to bite back the cry. She was healing. There must have been a spell surrounding that gate that cancelled the first negation spell and allowed her powers to flow again. Hunter knew it was another one of Luna's cruel and sadistic ways—render someone helpless and give their power back, only to, no doubt, take it away again—but she couldn't help but be thankful for it. She was so beaten and bruised up she doubted she'd be able to move otherwise without healing at least a little bit first. The girl sighed a bit as some of the pain went away.

"Well?" Malice grating voice came back. "What are you waiting for? Let's move!"

"Wait a few minutes," Hunter snarled back.

"Why?"

"I need to heal a little first before we move out again."

"Are you serious?"

"Oh, I'm sorry—did you get kicked through a stone wall after getting beat around?"

"The longer we stay here the more chance we have of getting caught by Luna and her cronies."

"No slag. But it'll take me longer to heal on the go, and the longer I'm hurt and in pain the longer it'll take us to get anywhere. Not to mention how it'll hinder me in case we run into another obstacle that wants to fight. And I'd bet anything you're gonna make me carry you again, right? Or do you expect to walk the rest of the way?"

This question was only met with silence.

"Okay, then," Hunter rumbled after a moment. "We give it a few minutes and then we move." And that was the end of that discussion.

Malice stared at the girl for a long moment, both amazed and offended that she'd, yet again, had the gall to push her authority over his and force him to submit to it, whether he liked it or not. She may have been young, and she may have been a female, but one thing was for sure, his great-great-granddaughter was hardly a pushover. The ancient Hybrid wasn't sure whether he admired or was annoyed by that. But one thing he did know for sure: "You are utterly vexing," Scarface snarled as he sank to sit on the rubble pile.

Now, at that, Hunter couldn't help but crack a smirk and remark, "Well, I am part of your demon spawn, am I not?" She snickered at the sounded of offended grumbling, only to wince at the pain the laughter caused. "Ow…."