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.

27. The Last Chance (pt 2)

So, um… I'm back? I know it's been months since I updated anything and I hate myself for that and you can all hate me for it too, I don't care. I deserve it. I won't bother giving excuses this time around, and just say it took so long because it just did. But now I'm hoping I can get back on a better writing schedule and hopefully update more quickly than I have these last two times. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

This is the second half of the last chapter. I'm keeping the separate right now so that everyone won't be confused about where they should start reading and what not, but when I eventually go back to rework this story a bit—as I know I will—I'll combine them into one long-ass chapter. Yay.

So, I last time I updated, I said the next time I updated I'd post up two chapters, the second half of the last update and then a chapter that took us back to present day with Optimus and Ally. To this promise I hold. I am posting this chapter today and tomorrow the next chapter will be up. I mean, I'm a sadistic bitch, I can't give you guys it all at once, ya know? So be looking tomorrow. And, like I said, hopefully all the chapters from here on out will come out in a more timely manner. This second half is the one that took up most of the time and I don't know why it was so hard to write, but it just was. Ugh!

For anybody who is wondering, I'm getting closer to my book being published. I'd say it should be out before September of this year. I will definitely let you guys know prospective dates when I have them. Now, speaking of the book, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and review the last draft of the page design for it.

Enjoy and be expecting the next chapter sometime tomorrow. Peace!

REMEMBER, I OWN NOTHING EXCEPTMY OCS AND THE HYBRID PEOPLE.

---

X-Ray Dog; Fighting Chance

25 pt. 2

Ω Urbibus Ultimam Spem Ω

(The Last Chance)

"For the love of Primus! Would you stop moaning and groaning back there? It's not like you're dying!"

After several minutes rest, Hunter and Malice were on the move again, the old Hybrid again on the younger's back. They weren't moving quite as quickly now, since Hunter had only taken the time to allow herself to heal to the point where the pain was bearable and she could move, but at least they were moving. And it wouldn't be very much longer until Hunter was back to normal—so there was the good news. The bad news was that they still had a long way to go before they reached the outside, and Primus only knew what still lay between them and the end. The worse news was that Malice was back to complaining again.

"You don't know that for sure!" Scarface snapped. "I'm old and frail—I could die from over-exertion! My spark almost gave out from the sheer panic of just seeing those beasts come my way! It still could!"

Hunter sighed heavily. "Don't worry," she assured him. "I'm nowhere near that lucky."

"What the hell does that mean?" her great-great-grandsire growled.

The teen glared over her shoulder into obsidian eyes and snarled back, "It means you'll live. So shut up, be happy, and stop bein' a pain in my ass." That comment didn't seem to make the old geezer any happier with her, but it did make him shut up, so Hunter couldn't complain.

For a while the two traveled on in silence, keeping an eye out for anything ahead of them that might signal some sort of trap or other significant trouble. Then Malice broke the silence.

"Not that I'm overly impressed," he said, "but I have to admit that you got a fire in you, Girl. Completely drained of power and you still fought against those things and didn't give up. Pit, you fought better and harder than any omey who had powers would've—course that's not sayin' much. But still."

Hunter probably would have been surprised by this veiled compliment, if it wasn't for the fact that she'd snagged onto a familiar word. "What does that word mean?" she asked.

"What word?"

"'Omey'—you used it before talking about my dad. What does it mean?"

"… You can't be serious. How can you possibly not know that?"

"Well, I'm guessing it's a Hybrid word and I didn't exactly grow up in a Hybrid household for most of my life. And the little time I did I never heard it used. So what's it mean?"

Malice sighed heavily, as if the very thought of explaining tired him out. "You know the classes?"

"The what?"
"Oh for the love—you gotta be kidding! The power classes?! How Hybrids are split up according to how strong they are? What the pit do they teach you in that school of yours?"

"Okay, okay, chill. Power classes—that makes sense. What's "omey" gotta do with 'em?"

"There's three classes: Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Alphas are the strongest, Betas would be the second strongest, and Omegas are the weak."

"You mean the weakest compared to everyone else."

"No. Just the weak and the worthless."

Hunter actually stopped short, because it was then that she understood. She understood exactly what "omey" meant and what it was. "It's an insult?!" the teen shrieked with fury. She glowered back over her shoulder at the old Hybrid.

"Insult?" Malice snorted. "It's what they are."

"What they are, are Hybrids like you and me!"

"Now that's an insult."

"It's not their fault they're not as powerful! Being an Omega doesn't make them worthless!"

"That's debatable."

"My father was not worthless! And he was not weak, whatever little power he actually had!"

"Well, you would say that—he's your sire."

"Shut up!" Hunter spat. "Shut up, or I'll dump you and leave your crusty ass here!"

Another derisive snort. "Sure you will."

So he didn't believe her, huh? Without a second thought, Hunter began to unbuckle and untie the makeshift harness they'd fashioned as if she had every intention of completely taking it off and letting her great-great-grandsire off there to leave him behind. And she did have every intention of doing just that.

This definitely got Scarface's attention. Seeing the girl fiddling with the straps, the old man began panicking. "What'd'you think you're doin'?!" he screeched, trying to reach around to slap her hands away and redo the buckles and knots she'd already managed to undo. "What're'ya doin'?! You can't leave me here! You can't leave me here!"

"The hell I can't!"

"You can't! You need me! How else are you gonna find your way outta here? You need me!"

"Well, considerin' you didn't know anything about the Anubis statues—not to mention how many times you've said Luna's probably changed things down here—I don't think my chances without you would be any worse than with you! Besides, ever since getting through the gate I've been getting whiffs of fresh air. I could prob'ly sniff my way out from here."

Malice was frantic now, grasping and clinging to his great-great-granddaughter for dear life as if that would somehow prevent her from dumping him off and leaving. "We made a deal!" he bellowed. "You can't leave me here—we made a deal!"

"I never said it wasn't conditional."

"You can't do that!"

"Actually, I can," Hunter stated. And with that, she got the last of the buckles and ties undone and dropped the old geezer right there. She turned around and glared down at him. The utterly terrified expression on his face nearly brought a smirk to her own. "Look," she said firmly, "if you wanna get outta here—if you want me to get you out—there's rules; and the first one is that you don't get to use that word ever again, especially when referring to my father. I won't tolerate it. When we get outta here and you go… wherever the hell you'll go, I don't care—but as long as you're with me that slur does not exist."

Malice's face had changed slightly from horrified to mildly annoyed at the mention of their being rules, and had continuously darkened and hardened with each word until he looked absolutely infuriated. Clearly he had issues with being told what to do. And being told what to do by a sixteen-year-old girl didn't seem to help matters at all. "Now, you look here, you little brat-"

"Second rule is that you shut the frag up. I can take insults as good as the next person, but you're annoying as hell and give me a headache. So unless I ask you something or you're giving me directions, I don't wanna hear you talk or mumble or grumble or whisper or even mouth anything. Just zip it."

"You can't tell me-"

"I'm the only one that can give you half a shot of getting outta this hell hole in one piece!" Hunter shouted viciously. "The hell I can't tell you what you fucking can and can't do!"

A tense silence fell over the pair for a moment as they both glared each other down. The only sound was the echo of Hunter's bellow off the walls of the caverns as it bounced deep down them. At the back of their minds, the man and girl must have been worrying that that noise probably just gave away their position, but at the moment they were both too angry at each other to care.

Finally Malice was the first one to back down. "All right," he conceded begrudgingly, "fine. I'll keep quiet from here on out."

"Thank you," Hunter said. "Now was that really so hard?" She didn't bother to try and keep the condescension out of her tone.

Scarface's mouth twisted in obvious irritation at that comment, but he seemed to think better of snapping back. "I guess you do got a point, after all," he grumbled. "I'm sure as hell not gettin' outta here without you. So fine, I'll play along." His black eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. "Got any more rules for me, while I'm in a givin' mood?"

"You can walk for a bit. Not all the time—you'll slow me down—but sometimes, like now. I need a break from the harness or else I'll go insane with the rubbing."

"Ah. So that explains the piss-poor attitude."

"Oh, it definitely doesn't help. But I was already pissed with you, and you deserved that."

"So you say."

"So I know. Now shut up and let's move." She stepped off to the side and motioned down the trail. "You first."

Malice gazed wide-eyed down the path and then looked back at the girl. "Why me?"

"Because I don't trust you to not try something stupid."

"Because you want me to set off any traps ahead of us first, you mean."

Hunter couldn't stop the smirk. "Better you than me. Besides, if I get caught in one first, how do you expect to get outta here all on your own?"

Malice glared at her, but remained quiet. Then, with a long-suffering sigh, he began to make his slow, shuffling way down the hall. He grumbled something under his breath.

"What did I say about shutting up?" Hunter sharply called after him.

With that Scarface went quiet.

Hunter watched his small, withered form totter off down the passage and guilt overcame her for a moment. What was she doing? This wasn't like her; sending a helpless—whoever they were or had been—off into unknown danger before her just so she could avoid it in advance.

… Or was it like her? After all, she'd never truly thought manipulating someone's energon to control them was like her either, and, yet, she'd just proven not too long ago that it was like her. Very much like her, with as easy as it had been. Maybe her great-great-grandsire's streak ran deeper than she'd thought.

Hunter shook her head. "No!" she scolded herself. "You don't have time to think about this! Focus on what's going on; you're escaping—you have to get away from Luna. This could be your last chance of escape—you have to do whatever it takes to get out of here." And with that thought process firmly implanted, the teenager strode out after the old Hybrid, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might signal danger… for the both of them.

The pair made their way along several more miles. Neither of them spoke much, not even Malice to give directions as it seemed he really didn't know the way out anymore, which left Hunter to bloodhound their way out. After a mile or so, Hunter was back to carrying Scarface, though she thought that he could walk on a while longer if he really put his mind to it. Still, she was itching to get out and letting Malice walk was slow going.

As she followed her nose, Hunter found herself having to turn down another dark and closed in tunnel. She just hoped what was beyond this one was better than the last time. Things looked up a bit when the passage turned out a good deal shorter than the last one had been and the smell of fresh air rapidly became fresher. But then they were suddenly standing on the edge of a large drop off with a vast pit splayed before them. And at the bottom of that pit was a maze.

"Well… that's better than giant, homicidal, stone statues I suppose," Hunter murmured.

"Hmm, depends on what the she-devil's got down in there," Malice remarked. "Doubt it's your simple standard maze; could be anything from stocked with monsters to enchanted to go on forever."

Hunter pursed her lips, knowing the man was probably right; Luna would never let a maze just be a maze. Sighing, the girl turned her eyes away from the maze and brought them up to gaze across the pit. She used her telescopic vision to get a closer look at what was over there. The teen swore her spark flew from her chest. "I can see the exit!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" Malice sounded in total disbelief.

"The exit—it's just on the other side of the pit!"

"That's still a long ways away."

"I know, but it's there! It's right there! We're almost out!"

"Don't suppose you could jet us over there, could ya?"

Turning her focus away from the exit back to the large expanse in front of them, Hunter considered the prospect for a moment. "Doubt it," she said. "But might as well try." And with that, she slightly crouched down before leaping into the air at the same time as forcing fire out the bottoms of her feet. She soared into the open air over the maze. Almost instantly she hit an invisible barrier that forced her to bounce back. "Ugh!" She tumbled through the air a moment before regaining her bearings and landing back on solid ground. "Figures there'd be barriers over the top," she grumbled. This predicament wasn't unexpected, considering her grandmother, but it was still annoying and disheartening.

"So the only way out is down and through then," Malice said, sounding just as irked as the teenager did.

"Yup." And with that, Hunter leapt into the pit, using her pyrokinesis to slowly descend to the bottom.

"You like mazes?" Scarface asked once they'd landed safely within the outer wall of the maze.

"Hate 'em," Hunter answered, looking one way and then the other. She was trying to decide which way to go; as well as makes sure they hadn't triggered anything by entering the maze. "I was always the kid that drew a line directly around the maze in all the activity books."

"Oh, well, that's reassuring."

"I can do 'em if I take the time," Hunter snapped, not wanting to hear another comment about her "inferior intellect". "I just don't like to do them, so I don't take the time. Sudoku's my thing. And maybe a word find sometimes."

"… What in pit is Sudoku?" Malice sounded utterly confused.

Hunter sighed. "Never mind." She turned her attention to the wall directly in front of her and gazed at it for a moment, wondering. All at once she drew a fist back and let it fly, slamming it with as much strength as she could into the stone. Nothing happened; the wall didn't even quiver. "I didn't think that would work, but it was worth a shot." Looking either which way again, the teen asked, "So which way?"

"You're guess's as good as mine."

Pursing her lips, Hunter turned to her left and strode down the path until she found the first opening in the wall. It led further into the maze. The girl then turned back around and jogged back down the way she'd come until she came to another opening and gazed down that one. It, too, led further into the maze. "Well, that doesn't narrow it down," Hunter grumbled. "Okay, fine. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Catch a tiger by the toe-"

"What in pit are you doing?" Malice asked incredulously.

"Basically flipping a coin," Hunter explained, pausing the ritual. "When you don't know what to do, you let Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo show the way."

"That is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard."

"You got any better ideas?"

"… Fine. Continue."

Starting over, Hunter recited the rhyme and ended up picking the first opening. "Guess that settles that." So, without further ado, Hunter made her way back towards the first opening and passed through. She paused and waited. Once again, nothing happened; no bells and sirens, no monsters popping out of the walls, no deadly spells of any kind—all quiet. Hunter just wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Well?" Malice's voice brought her back out of her thoughts. "What're'ya waitin' for? Move!"

Hunter scowled and sent a glare over her shoulder. "Okay, we're gonna go back to the shutting up rule now," she said. But she moved on anyway.

Hunter trekked deeper and deeper into the maze. More than once she met a dead end and had to turn around and try again. She tried to gauge her position by looking at the wall of the pit around them, but she'd gotten turned around so many times that she couldn't tell which direction was which anymore. Unfortunately she wasn't able to jet up above the walls of the maze to see; Luna's spells kept them trapped right in the maze—there wasn't even a little bit of give.

And what was worse is that nothing bad had happened yet. They were deep in the maze now and still there were no beasts or spells to deal with. Hunter was really starting to grow paranoid over it. It just didn't seem enough like Luna: The maze and spells to keep them in it were just too simple! Where was the little extra, sadistic spice that she so enjoyed conjuring up? Maybe it was beyond the maze? Hunter didn't know—she just knew that she wished something would happen, ironically enough. It would have made her feel more at ease. She hated the tension of uncertainty of going through every doorway and going around every corner as she waited for something—anything—to happen. "Just get it over with already!" she silently screamed at the maze, as if that would cause it to reveal whatever it was hiding. "I know you're gonna do something to me, so just do it!"

Evidently the maze didn't take orders, though, because nothing appeared.

Several more suspenseful twists and turns later, Hunter came to a cubicle-esque dead end. She let out a frustrated groan. "Damn it!" she growled, punching a fist into the wall. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

"Did that little tantrum help the situation?" Malice asked patronizingly.

"Shut up!" Hunter snapped. She started to fumble with the harness once again. "And get off my back. I need time to think and this rubbing is not helping."

Scarface made a longsuffering sigh. "Fine." He cooperatively slipped down from the teen's back when the harness was loose enough. "Now what?" he asked, slowly lowering himself to sit against a wall.

Massaging an irritated spot on her shoulder, Hunter paced back and forth, her mind racing. "I dunno," she admitted. "I just… I don't know. I am completely turned around—I have no idea if I'm heading out or going back in the direction we came. I…" she dropped off and forced herself to take a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to start freaking out, it was the time to focus. "Okay, Girl, think—think! What can you do to get outta here?"

"Oh, yes, talk to yourself—that'll help."

Hunter was too busy trying to figure out something to do to pay any attention to Malice's quip. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Okay, I think I've got an idea." Then the teen glanced over at the old man rather cautiously as she added, "I don't think you're gonna like it."

"Oh, that's comforting," Scarface grumbled sardonically. "What is it?"

"I think I should scout on ahead and see if I can find the right direction-"

"You're gonna leave me here?!"

"Not forever!" Hunter insisted. "Just until I can find a way out. That way if I run into anything—and I'm sure I will—I don't have you on my back to deal with."

"Oh, sure, blame me for being your handicap."

"And even if I don't run into anything, at least I won't have you ragging on me in my ear," Hunter growled, more to herself than her great-great-grandsire.

"And what if you can't find your way back here?" Malice demanded, on his feet again now. "What then? I'll be stuck here, lost forever!"

Hunter rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "If only."

"I heard that!"

"I'll find my way back to get you."

"How?"

Hunter was quiet for a moment, and then turned her attention to the harness. Taking up one of the ends, she easily ripped off a piece and dropped it on the floor. "I'll tear this up and leave a trail," she stated. "Happy?"

"And how am I supposed to stay on your back after we get outta here?"

"Uh, you won't be on my back after we get outta here: The exit can't be that far after this—you can walk. And, if you really do need to piggy-back, I think you can hold on long enough on your own to make it out."

Scarface gave her a dubious look and motioned to himself. "You honestly think I'm in any kind of shape to do that?" he snorted.

"I think you're in good enough shape to do anything you really set your mind to," Hunter stated. "So I think you'll manage just fine. Now stay here. I promise I'll be back for you." Turning away, the redhead started to exit the dead end cubicle, only stopping at the entrance to make a big deal out of tearing off another piece of the harness and dropping it to the ground. She stared Scarface square in the eyes as she did this. Then she left, going back the way they had come to the dead end.

"I still have no idea where I'm going," Hunter sighed. She had come to a junction where she had several choices of paths to pick, and she had no clue which one to pick or even if any of these were worth taking. The teen was beginning to think that maybe her grandmother would actually win this round: She would never find a way out of this maze, and she would be taken back and thrown in a cell again with Luna gloating over her triumph.

"You're assuming there even is a way out," Hunter reminded herself. For all she knew Luna could have charmed this place to be never-ending and she'd just continue on looking for a way out forever. But she had to keep going anyway—she had to have hope! So picking a path, Hunter strode with purpose down it, continuing to mark her way.

The teen had barely stepped onto the path she'd picked when she froze, her spark stopping in her chest. She stood stiff as a board, straining her ears to listen. She'd heard him! But how could she have heard him here? Was he here? How could he possibly be here? There was no way he could be here in the maze!

And then she heard it again, very distinctly and very close—a familiar voice calling her name. "Hunter!"

"Daddy?" the girl squeaked out, her voice suddenly gone.

"Hey, Red! Where are ya?!"

That was Bulkhead!

/Hunter!\\

"Bumblebee?!" Now Hunter was running towards the voices, stuck somewhere between disbelief, relief, and hopefulness all at once. She could hear them! She could hear them all—Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead; she could hear them all calling to her! They were all here! Somehow they were all here! She had to get to them! She had to see them again! She was going to see them again: She was going to go home! "Guys?! Bulkhead! Arcee! Bumblebee! I'm here! I'm here—I'm coming! I'm coming! Dad?! DAD!"

All at once a horrible wind struck up, whipping around Hunter with such sudden force that it whipped her around and off her feet. "Oof!" The teen just managed to hit her knees and keep herself from falling flat on her face. Evidently she'd finally triggered something. The wind seemed to be trying to push her back the way she'd come, and it felt strong enough to be able to do so. Hunter quickly transformed to her cyber-mode, thinking maybe it would weigh her down against the wind: It worked.

The girl couldn't hear her team over the wind, but she knew they still had to be there, calling and looking. She had to get to them!

"Dad!" Hunter shouted again, earning herself a mouthful of sand and grit. She coughed and spat. That's when she heard the roar, and it wasn't the wind. Whipping around and squinting through the dust storm, the girl saw what looked like a large wave of blackness coming straight for her. That wasn't good!

As quickly as she could, Hunter lunged to her feet and started running back the way she'd come. Escaping the trap was her top priority now; she could get to her team later. But the teen hadn't even taken three steps and something was twining around her legs and yanking her feet out from under her. "Oof!" She barely had time to register what was happening before being jerked backwards towards the oncoming blackness. When her senses finally did kick back in, Hunter rolled onto her back and kicked both feet up, bursting out flames from her feet to break her bonds and release herself. Then she was back up on her feet.

But the dark wave was still coming, and it quickly surrounded her on all sides, trapping her in an ever tightening eye.

Hunter was very near panicking now. "Back off! Hah!" She used her flames on the blackness, trying to beat it back and make an escape route, but for every little bit she made it recede in one place, it surged in tenfold in another. It simply refused to be stopped!

Another black tendril shot out from the darkness and tightly wrapped itself around one of the Hybrid's wrists. Then another tangled itself around one of her ankles. Then another and another, until Hunter's arms and legs were completely ensnared in a hopeless, thick tangle of the things. They all simultaneously tightened with such a jerk that it brought the Autobot to her knees.

Determined to keep fighting, Hunter pulled at her bonds with all her might, trying to free even one of her limbs. "Let! Me! Go! Aahh!" She was held fast. And then the darkness started creeping in, moving at a pace that was frighteningly slow compared to how swiftly it had just moved before. The teen couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the spell: to instill dread.

Slowly, inch by agonizing inch, the shadow overtook the femmling, creeping higher and higher. Hunter kept fighting, trying to ignore the sensation that she was drowning or being eaten alive—she couldn't decide which. Finally the shadow was at her shoulders. Then it was over her shoulders and creeping up her neck. Hunter lifted her head, trying to keep it above the darkness for as long as she could. She screamed, "Help! Arcee! Bulkhead! 'Bee! Anybody! Help! Dad! DAD!"

The shadow consumed her.

---

There was a voice, a voice that was both foreign and familiar at the same time. It didn't seem to be coming from outside of her, but rather within her. And it was calling to her—commanding her: ~Huntress. Huntress! Get up. Get up! You must run.~

"Run?" Hunter asked the voice. "Why do I have to run?"

~It is not safe—you must run!~

"Who are you?" But before her question could be answered, Hunter found herself waking up. Or was she waking up? She didn't really feel like she was sleeping, but at the same time she wasn't awake either.

Slowly the sixteen-year-old opened her eyes and looked around her before abruptly sitting up with a gasp. She stared around in utter disbelief, taking in everything from the familiar thermal tarp around her to the crater in the wall that Bulkhead had left after being pinned there in order for his checkup to be completed. Not possible! She was in the med. bay of the Autobot base! Hunter swallowed hard, her mouth and throat suddenly dry as she squeaked, "I… I'm home…?"

The Hybrid was too dumbstruck to do anything but gawk at her surroundings. It took the sound of a familiar voice to finally break her from her reverie and draw her attention. "Ah, you're finally awake."

Hunter's head whipped around towards the voice. Her already wide optics tripled in size as she gaped at the loveably cantankerous white and amber mech standing at the tool bench across the way. "Ratchet?" she croaked.

The old medic smiled warmly at her as he came towards her. "Welcome home, Hunter," he said.

As if that statement had been some sort of official notice that she was, in fact, home, the femmling leaped off the medical berth and, in two lunges, had cleared the distance between herself and the mech and tackled him in a desperate hug. It was something she'd never thought she'd ever do—or that Ratchet would ever allow. "Ratchet!"

"Oof! By Primus, Girl!"

"I missed you, Ratchet," Hunter sniffled, burying her face in her grandfather-figure's chestplate. "I missed you all so much."

"Shh, there, there," Ratchet murmured back, awkwardly patting her helm. "You're home, now. Everything's all right."

"I can't believe I'm finally home," Hunter said. She held Ratchet closer and tighter, as if she was afraid he'd disappear if she let him go. Maybe he would; maybe this was all a dream….

"You are," Ratchet assured her. "And we're all very happy you are. Now, could you please put me back down, Hunter?"

At that, Hunter did a double take and found that she was indeed holding Ratchet up off the floor—very high up off the floor. And he looked less than amused by it. Faceplate flushing, the Hybrid chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, sorry, Ratch." She quickly set him on his own two feet on the floor and backed off, despite how much she didn't really want to. She hadn't seen any of her family in days! She wanted to see all of them, hug all of them, kiss all of them—just be with all of them again.

Her wish came true, because at that very moment, the rest of her loved ones came rushing in through the door. Bumblebee came first, blazing towards her with speed that could rival that of his vehicular form. He tackled her in the same way she'd done to Ratchet. Hugging her as tightly as he could, the yellow and black scout hoisted her up into the air and spun her around, buzzing in absolute joy. It was all Hunter could do to embrace him back and half-sob, half-laugh into his shoulder-plating. "'Bee!"

Without warning, the two young 'bots were picked up off the floor and all but crushed to a big green chest by massive arms. "Bulkhead!" Hunter choked out, reaching up with one arm and wrap it around the huge mech's neck as best she could.

"Good to see ya, Red," the ex-Wrecker sniffled, trying to blink back the lubricant-tears in his eyes.

A hand placed on her leg caused Hunter to look down into the sincerely smiling face of Arcee. "Good to have you home, Hunter," the blue femme said.

Hunter sniffled and gave half-hearted chuckle. "Good to be home," she replied with a small smile of her own. The teen closed her sapphire optics and relished in the closeness of her family and friends. It really was good to be home.

Then there it came—the unmistakable sound of long striding footfalls; footfalls Hunter knew all too well.

The Hybrid looked up over Bulkhead's shoulder to see him standing there, staring on and waiting, smiling in that way that melted her spark every time. Suddenly, Hunter's eyes—which had remained remarkably dry up to now—were overflowing with tears that she couldn't stop. Her spark felt like it would implode. "Dad!" she cried, forcing herself out of Bumblebee's and Bulkhead's grasps. She was running before she even hit the floor: She wanted him—needed him—now. "Daddy!"

"Hunter," Optimus purred back, moving to her.

The two met half-way, Hunter leaping up into the Prime's arms and Optimus slightly crouching down to scoop the femmling up into the biggest, warmest, tightest embrace he could give. And there they stood, clinging to each other, refusing to let go.

Hunter's face was buried into the crook of Optimus' neck as she breathed in as much of his rich, comforting scent as she could. Her arms and legs tightened around him to try and pull him closer. She would never be able to hold him close enough: She would never be able to hold him long enough: "Daddy!" she wailed into his shoulder over and over again. Her spark-father was here! He was holding her again; she was wrapped in the shelter of his big, strong arms again. She was surrounded by his scent and warmth and love again. He was here: She was home. She was home! To further express her joy, Hunter pressed a kiss to her father's cheek and then another, and another, and another until she was showering his face with kisses, unable to stop herself.

Cupping the back of his daughter's helm in a massive hand, Optimus stilled her for a moment to allow himself time to press his own lingering kiss to her brow before touching their foreheads together. He gazed into her tear filled optics. "My Hunter," he whispered, voice wavering as he battled with his own tears. "You're home. Thank Primus, you're home."

The Hybrid nuzzled him. "I missed you," she sniffled meekly, "so much."

Optimus kissed Hunter's forehead one more time before tucking her head under his chin and rocking her. He released a shuddering vent. "I thought I lost you."

Hunter managed to smile and laugh through her tears. She reached up and stroked her father's cheek as she hugged him extra tight. "You can't lose me," she said. "You can never lose me."

Optimus chuckled. "And thank Primus for that."

Slowly loosening her grip on the mech, Hunter allowed herself to slip down and stand on her own two feet. She kept her arms around her father however, not ready to let him go just yet. "How did you find me?" she finally asked, wiping at her tears. "How did you find Luna's estate?"

"That's not important," Optimus responded simply. He smoothed a hand over her helm and down her long, fine, and currently tangled copper wires. "All that matters is that you're home now and you're safe. Nothing else needs discussing."

Hunter was surprised by this statement. Had her spark-father really just said that it didn't matter how they'd found her and brought her back home? Was he really keeping information from her? He didn't ever hold back information this big from her: He couldn't if he tried, so he typically just didn't try. So why was he trying to now? "But I wanna know," the Hybrid declared. "It's not like you can find the estates by satellite; nobody knows where they are except people who are in the Lunation, and even then I don't think all of the members know where they are for sure. Besides, how did you know I'd be at that estate? She has a lot. Were you just lucky? And you were even down below the estate! There were traps all over the place down there! How did you not activate them? How did you get by them? Can you even set them off coming in?"

A hard look had started shadowing Optimus' face as Hunter continued prodding and pressing for answers, and it darkened with each question. He didn't just seem annoyed with the interrogation—he seemed quite angry. Finally he forcefully held up a hand to stop the teen's rambling. "Huntress Starstreaker James!" he barked warningly. "I have made it quite clear that nothing else needs to be discussed. You are home and safe: Take joy in that and leave it be."

"But I-"

"Enough!"

And with that, Hunter fell into a stunned silence and just stared in disbelief at her father. Something didn't feel right. She couldn't quite place it, but something in her spark just didn't feel right about this entire situation. As if to emphasize that niggling sensation, the words that the femmling had heard in her head earlier reverberated at the back of her processor now: "It is not safe—you must run!"

Just as quickly as he'd become angry and scowling, Optimus was back to smiling and gazing lovingly down at her. Giving her a warm squeeze, he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her helm. "Now," he purred, tilting her head up so they were face to face. "Why don't you go freshen up? The Lennoxes, Epps, and your friends will be here soon—they are very anxious to see you." And he gently pushed her along to the door.

Still dazed, Hunter went along with it. "Yeah," she murmured softly. "Okay." She slowly moved through the doors, still thinking about everything that had transpired and trying to make sense of it all. For a moment she paused and looked back at her spark-father and the others. They were all just standing there watching after her, smiling happily. It was actually rather unnerving.

Trying to ignore the chill that ran down her spine, Hunter turned and continued walking. Yeah. Something was definitely off here….

Hunter was still trying to make sense of it all when she finally reached her berthroom. Transforming down to her organic form, she went to her dresser up on the catwalk and rummaged around for a new set of clothes to take to the showers, that way they'd be there and ready for her. She was turning away with her items when the sixteen-year-old caught her reflection in the mirror on her armoire and she paused. Taking a good look at herself, she grimaced. "Yeah, definitely need a shower," she said to herself. She walked a bit closer to get a better look.

She was absolutely caked in dirt and grime and energon. Her hair was a filthy, tangled, matted rat's nest. She'd never be able to wear these clothes again—they were far beyond repair.

And, above all else, she reeked like a hot, stinking garbage heap of rotting food that had just been sprayed by a skunk. Hunter couldn't believe how she hadn't noticed the stench before—she was the source of it, after all. "Then again, you've been busy trying to escape and get back home," the girl murmured to herself, reaching up to brush some muck off her cheek as it started to itch. "So it's not like you haven't been pre…" Hunter suddenly dropped off as she noticed something rather strange. She stared closer at her reflection. "Wait, what?"

There, under the muck and grime she'd wiped off her cheek, was dirty but otherwise clear and fair skin, free of marks. The problem was that was not how it was supposed to be. "Where's my scar?" Hunter asked of no one in particular. She rubbed off a bit more grime, clearing it away from her left eye and up onto her forehead and temple, the area which her scar should have occupied. Then she looked closely again. It wasn't there! Her scar—the one Arcee had left on her face—was gone!

Hunter was beyond confused now. How could something like that happen? It wasn't like it was a pimple of a blackhead or some other sort of skin blemish like that; it was a scar—a permanent mark. A fairly substantial one at that! And it wasn't that she was upset over it; more often than not the teen wished she could be free of the thing, if only because it was a constant reminder of her heritage. But for it to be there and then just suddenly disappear off her face? This was not normal, even by her life's standards.

"This is so weird…." Hunter reached up to delicately touch the now scar-free area of her face, as if feeling it would somehow give her an answer as to how this phenomena had happened. The redhead jerked her hand away from her face as if she'd been stung. "No way!" She could feel it! She could still feel her scar! "What?!" As if to make sure, she reached up again and ran her finger along the same area she had just before, and sure enough, there it was: the familiarly sensation of a smooth, slightly raised area of flesh cutting up over her left cheek bone, over her left eye, through her left eyebrow, and up the left side of her forehead to the temple. Hunter ran her fingers over it again and again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. It was there—the scar was definitely still there. Then why didn't it show up in the mirror then?

It was a very weird sensation for Hunter as she stood there staring at her apparently scarless face in the mirror while she continued stroking her finger over her scar that was obviously still there. The teen was very confused: What in pit was going on here?

That's when something even stranger happened. Hunter's surroundings flashed away, and for a brief second she wasn't standing in her room. She wasn't standing anywhere for that matter: She was just standing there in a middle of an endless shadow, nothing around her but darkness. Some of the darkness seemed to been molded into shapes—not perfect shapes, as the shadow still moved and wavered, but fixed shapes nonetheless. And these forms of shadow were the respectively the same size and shape as the things in her room. And in the same places. That rectangular shadow there—that was where her dresser was. And that large, long shadow over there—her bed was supposed to be there. And this shadow standing right in front of her where she'd been staring into her mirror….

Just like that her surroundings were back to normal. Hunter was dumbfounded. What in pit had happened just now?! What had she just seen?! What was all that darkness and what were all those shadows?!

And then Hunter recalled what had happened back in the maze. She remembered the wave of darkness coming upon her, blocking her off from the team as she'd tried to make her way to them. She remembered trying to fend it off, and she remembered it overtaking her.

Hunter's spark plummeted. The maze…. She never did leave the maze did she? She was still there! She was still in the maze! Everything going on around her, everything she saw and felt, it wasn't real! None of this was real! It was all the shadow; it was all another trick of Luna's! It had to be. That was why, for whatever reason, she couldn't see her scar in the mirror; that was why everyone had acted so strangely; that was why Optimus hadn't explained anything to her, because she hadn't been rescued—she was still trapped in the maze!

And that voice she'd heard in her head—that voice that had told her to run—that had to have been Primus! Hunter felt a flutter of excited butterflies in her stomach at the prospect. Primus had somehow managed to make contact with her, despite how out of touch they were! But how? Nothing like that had ever happened before, not since they'd first bonded. Did it have something to do with the spell? If it affected her mind to see and feel things as if they were extremely real and right there, did it weaken the mental wall between Primus and her so that he could reach her across it? Or had he always had the ability and just chose to use it this time because of the danger? And had he been the one to open her eyes to what was really going on around her? Had he enabled her to see the spell?

~Huntress!~ Primus' voice echoed through her head again, sounding a bit more distant now than it had before. ~Run! Now!~

Hunter shook herself out of her thoughts. Right, run and escape now, think about this later. "How do I get out of this though?" Hunter asked aloud, not sure if she was just talking to herself or asking Primus the question. "Which way is out?" That's when Hunter remembered what the Optimus illusion had said: Epps, the Lennoxes, and all her friends were coming here to see her. She wasn't going out to see them, they were all coming here to the "base". "The front door," the girl concluded. She had no way of knowing yet if she was right or not, but there had to be a way out of all this—a way that led to the exit of the maze—and the front door was what made sense. It was her best bet.

Wait a second! What about Scarface?

Hunter groaned and rolled her eyes as her mind finally landed upon the old geezer again. He was still back in the maze waiting for her to come back and get him so they could get out of here together. She'd given him her word she'd come back. And despite how annoying and abrasive he was and how much she despised him, Hunter was determined to keep her promise to him. She would always keep her promises: Just like her spark-father.

"I'll see if my theory is right first," Hunter said to her reflection. "And if it is and that is the way out, I'll come back in to get him. Besides, if I can break through the spell once maybe I won't have to deal with it again."

With the decision made, she dropped the "clothes" she was holding and leaped over the railing of her catwalk down to the floor before moving back to the open door of her berthroom. She carefully peeked out into the hall. No one coming from the left; no one coming from the right either. Maybe she'd get lucky and not be noticed. "You know better than to think that when it comes to Luna's magic," the teen scolded herself on her wishful thinking. "The spell's all around you—you honestly think it won't catch you trying to sneak away?" Not that it mattered if she was caught or not, she had to get out of here so she'd push through whatever came her way.

Staying in organic form so that, maybe, she wouldn't be quite so conspicuous, Hunter darted out of her room and down the hall. When she reached the entrance to the main room of the base, she pressed herself close to the wall and peeked out into it. "Doesn't look like anyone's around," she whispered to herself. "Yet." She turned her gaze towards the hall that led to the front entrance of the Autobot base. The way was clear. But she knew deep down it wouldn't stay that way once she set a single foot in the direction. Her best bet was to book it.

Without a second thought, Hunter bolted.

That's when what looked like headlights appeared in the gloom of the exit hall.

Hunter's spark dropped, and she felt her feet come to a stop on their own accord. "Scrap." The teen remained frozen in place as the lights came closer. "Move!" she screamed at herself. "For the love of Primus, move!" But she couldn't move. Or else she didn't want to. Either way she was still standing there by the time the muscle car was stopping in front of her and transforming. "'Bee…"

"Bumblebee" gave her an adorably innocent look that just about broke the teen's spark. /Hunter? Where are you going?\\

Hunter struggled to find her voice. "N-Nowhere, 'Bee," she stuttered. "Just… just out." She didn't even know why she was talking to these things anymore—that would just strengthen the spell's hold on her—but the fact was she felt that she had to. She knew these things weren't actually her family, but they still felt so real. They looked like them; sounded like them; smelled like them. They made her feel safe and at home even when she knew she wasn't. These illusions were just so real it set all of her natural instincts off and twisted everything around, leaving her feeling completely dazed and confused.

/Why are you going out?\\ the yellow and black mech asked. /Everyone's coming here to see you.\\

Hunter opened her mouth, but once again struggled with something to say. "Just shut up and walk by it, idiot!" her common sense berated her again. "Run! Move! Stop talking to it!" But she couldn't move—she just couldn't! "I… just… need some fresh air," she finally said.

/Before you've cleaned up at all?\\

"Yeah, well, you know the road, 'Bee. It calls to your treads and you just gotta go, am I right?" She laughed awkwardly, trying to play it off. All the while she kept screaming at herself to move, run, get away, but she simply couldn't budge.

"I think it would be best of you remained here, Sweet-spark," a deep voice rumbled.

Hunter's spark simultaneously soared and dropped down her toes—it was an incredibly strange sensation. "Slag." Slowly she turned around to see the illusion of her spark-father coming up behind her, followed by the rest of the team, all of whom seemed to materialize out of nowhere and yet seemed to come out of such logical places at the same time. "Hey, Dad," the teen greeted the Prime. It felt so completely wrong to call this thing 'Dad', and yet so completely right at the same time. What was this spell doing to her?! Pretty soon she wouldn't know right from left or up from down!

"Hunter," the Optimus illusion replied, perfectly mimicking the real Optimus' scolding tone, "I thought I instructed you to clean yourself up. Our company is almost here."

"Um… w-well, yeah, I-I know. I just… just thought I'd go for a quick drive—work out the tires, ya know? Couldn't exactly do that when I was imprisoned by Luna. You wouldn't believe how much you miss it when you can't do it."

"Mm, regardless, I believe it's best that you remain here for the time being. It would be rather rude to our guests otherwise."

"But-"

"Go and clean up now."

Without realizing it, almost as if it were a natural reflex, Hunter had been slowly lifting her hand up to her chest throughout the entire conversation. Now her finger tips just brushed against the wolf-head charm on her necklace. A jolt of strength burst through her. "No," she said. Her voice was so soft nobody else but she could have heard it, but it was unwavering and definite all the same. The teen looked up at the fake Prime and glared at it as she clenched her fist around her necklace. "No," she repeated more loudly this time. "I'm not going to clean up. I'm not going back in there—I'm leaving." She was feeling stronger and more confident with each word now, and she was holding her charm so tightly she was sure there would be a deep indentation of it in her palm when she finally let it go, but she wouldn't let it go. For whatever reason it seemed to be helping her battle the spell's effects.

"What was that?" the Optimus questioned, not sounding at all amused by this.

Much as it would have when her real spark-father used that tone, Hunter's confidence faded a bit, but she forced it back up again. Squeezing her necklace all the tighter, she went on to growl, "You heard me. I'm. Leaving."

The Optimus stepped closer, completely towering over her organic form in his Cybertronian one. He scowled at her. "You listen to me, young femme," he rumbled, "you are not going anywhere I do not give you leave to go."

"Take it and shove it," Hunter snarled back. It felt so wrong to be talking to her spark-father this way. "But it's not Dad," the teen reminded herself. "None of them are real. Keep going and get out!"

"Watch your tone!" illusion Arcee rebuked. "Optimus is your commanding officer as well as your spark-father, Hunter. You'd do well to remember that."

"You're right," Hunter conceded with a nod as she met the fake two-wheeler's gaze. "He is my C.O. as well as my dad. But he-" she turned back to glower at the Prime illusion again, "-isn't. He isn't real—none of you are. And I am sick of tricks and games, so I'm leaving." With that she turned on her heel and made to break for the exit hall again.

"You will never pass through here," all of the illusions spoke in unison. They're voices were now lifeless and cold, though they still sounded like the forms they'd taken on.

Hunter shivered at the eeriness of it. "Watch me," she said.

Without warning the illusion broke, and Hunter was left standing in the middle of a tornado of shadows again, wind ripping and tearing around her with such force it was nearly impossible to stay on her feet. She transformed back into her Autobot form to try and combat this.

Catching movement out of the corner of her optic, the Hybrid looked and quickly dodged out of the way as another black tendril struck out at her trying. She extracted her razors and sliced down through the tendril. "Ha!" The severed half of the tendril became a smoke-like substance and quickly blew back to join the rest of the shadow. Then more tendrils reached out. Hunter dodged and cut through more of them, sometimes quickly ripping her arm or leg out of one if it managed to snag her. This wasn't working! How in Primus' name was she supposed to get out of here?

"Hunter."

Hunter spun around at her name to see the Optimus illusion was back. Of course it would be that one to show up again; her spark-father was without a doubt her biggest and most apparent weakness. This spell of Luna's was nasty. "Shut up!" she spat. "Shut up and stay away from me."

Much to the femmling's dismay, a hurt look came over the illusion's face. "Hunter," it murmured, "Sweet-spark, why would you say that to me?"

"Don't!" Hunter snapped, trying to ignore the hurt his expression brought to her. No, not his expression—its expression! She had to keep thinking of these things as "its"! "Don't call me that. Don't call me "sweet-spark"!"

The fake Prime smiled softly. "Now, Hunter, I know you're very nearly a grown femme, but I'm your spark-father—you'll always be my sweet-spark." It was starting to move towards her now. If it got a hold of her, it would probably try to drag her down into the illusion again and hold her there: It was difficult enough trying to escape already!

Hunter backed away only to have to wrench her foot up as a tendril nearly snaked around it. Damn! She couldn't back away from the illusion, she couldn't go towards it; she was trapped! "No!" she yelled. "I'm not your sweet-spark—you're not my spark-father! You're not real!"

"Of course I'm your spark-father, Hunter. Who else would I be?"

"You're not! You're not my dad! You're not Optimus Prime! You're a spell, an illusion, a curse! You're something from Luna—you're not real. You're not real!"

The illusion reached out. "Hunter-"

Hunter swiped out at the outstretched hand with her razors, causing the fake Optimus to recoil. "Don't touch me! Stay away!" The Hybrid blinked hard as she fought back the bitter tears welling up in her optics. This was torture! All of this—telling her dad to stay away and not touch her, and yelling at him like he was some sort of monster—it was all complete torture. "But it's not Dad!" her mind kept screaming. "It's not! Stop thinking of it as Dad because it's not! It's not Dad! It's not Dad! IT'S. NOT. DAD!" But this didn't stop the painful ache in Hunter's spark: It only seemed to make it worse.

That's when illusion Optimus pulled out the big guns: "My Shooting Star."

Hunter froze. Everything around them seemed to stop, and she was sure her spark stopped beating too. She stared at the illusion as if in a daze. "Wh-what did you call me?"

The illusion smiled lovingly. "Hunter, my Shooting Star," he purred again.

The tears started flowing. "You don't get to call me that," Hunter murmured, but the venom was completely missing from her voice. Somehow by calling her that—a name that nobody except Optimus was supposed to know and use—the illusion had sucked all of the fight out of her. Now there was nothing in her except an odd sensation of despair, longing, and weariness. She wanted to escape, but she didn't want to fight; she wanted to go to the illusion, but she didn't want to; and above all else, she just wanted her spark-father. "You don't get to call me that."

The illusion kept coming, and was reaching out for her again. "My Shooting Star," it repeated. "Come to me, my Shooting Star."

Hunter didn't move towards the imposter, but she didn't try to move away or force it away from her either. "You don't get to call me that…" she mumbled dumbly. A hand was suddenly on her arm, and the femmling slowly looked up to see the illusion gazing down at her. Its optics were sky blue and adoring, just like Optimus' were. Its smile was soft, just like Optimus' was. And the way it held her arm—so gentle but strong at the same time—was just the way Optimus' grip felt, too. It even smelled just like him. "Daddy," she whispered.

"Hunter," the illusion purred. It gently pulled her into its arms, enveloping her like a warm, comfy blanket… just like Optimus would. It held her head to its chest.

"It even sounds like his spark," Hunter murmured to herself. Her optics automatically drifted shut as she began to lose herself in the cadence of it. At the far back of her mind alarm bells were going off, but she didn't pay attention to them. She didn't have the strength to fight anymore; it was so much easier to just surrender. And nicer too.

"But it's not real!" her common sense kept screaming. "It's not real—none of it! He's not real!" But this Optimus certainly seemed real enough. Maybe… maybe this was all real, and she'd just finally woken up from some strange nightmare. Maybe she really was home. Maybe her dad really was holding her. Maybe she was right where she was meant to be all along.

"Girl, what in pit do you think you're doing?!"

The sudden bellow jerked Hunter out of her stupor. "Huh? Ugh!"

All at once the Optimus illusion had crushed the Hybrid to its body, trapping her there. Its attention was turned behind it and it released an ungodly screech of rage.

Straining to get out of the imposter's grip, Hunter managed to crane her neck around where she could peek around to see who was there. "Scarface?!"

Yes indeed, Malice was making his way through the wave of black shadow. He looked less than amused. "Get away from that thing!" he bellowed.

"What'd'ya think… I'm tryin'… to do?!" Hunter shouted back. She managed to get one of her arms moved around so that she could brace her hand against the illusion's chest and try to push away from it; but what little progress she made this way was quickly dashed as the fake Prime tightened its grip on her. She was stuck fast. "Ahh! Let… me… go!" Hunter reached up and tried to hit the imposter in the face, but she was at such an odd angle that she couldn't make decent contact. Finally she tried a different tactic, and released a sonic scream.

At point-blank range, the Optimus imposter basically disintegrated into a cloud of smoky shadow upon the impact of the soundwaves. Slowly the cloud drifted back to rejoin the rest of the shadow around them.

"So," Scarface said as he reached Hunter's side, "finally triggered the spell, huh?"

"What was your first clue?" Hunter snapped, still trying to shake off the residual haze of the spell. She stood up and looked around. The wind—which had stopped when the Optimus illusion had embraced her—was starting to pick up again. Something else was bound to happen and soon. "We need to get outta here," Hunter stated. "Fast."

"Ya think?" Malice replied sarcastically.

Without thinking, Hunter reached down and snagged her great-great-grandsire up into her fist. Then she transformed into her vehicular mode. She buckled Malice into her driver's seat. "Don't touch anything," she ordered. "And hang on." With that, she threw it into drive and floored it, shooting off in the direction the Optimus illusion had appeared from. And apparently this was the right way to go, because the farther she drove into the shadows the darker everything became and the more viciously the wind blew. Hunter was using every last bit of mental strength and willpower to keep the effects of the spell at bay and not let them overpower her mind again. But, slag, it was hard! Along with feeling it tug at her mind and spark, she could hear the voices of her loved ones calling out to her. They all sounded so real….

"They're not real!" Hunter hissed firmly to herself. "It's not them! Don't think about 'em—focus on driving. Focus on getting outta here. Focus on anything but the team and the voices!" The advice seemed to be working; she felt the haze of the spell there, but it definitely wasn't taking hold of her like it had before. But it was still there, fighting her every step of the way.

Suddenly something twined around Hunter's truck bed and snaked into her back wheels, trapping her. Hunter angled her mirrors to see that the tendrils were back. "Scrap!" Throwing her driver's side door open, she ejected Scarface out. "Run!" she shouted. "Keep going!" And with that she was yanked back through the darkness.

When she was finally let go, Hunter quickly transformed back to her Cybertronian form, certain she was going to have to try and fight again. "Come on then!" she bellowed through the wind at the shadows. "Bring it! You wanna keep me here, you gotta fight me up front! Let's go!" She waited in anticipation. What would the spell spit out next? Who would she have to face?

Apparently the spell decided it was "go big, or go home", because, at that point, literally everyone that held any sort of great importance in her life—the 'bots, Jack, Miko, Raf, Epps, Greasy, Will, Sarah, Annabelle, even Fowler—came stalking out of the darkness. They came at her from all sides, hemming her in.

Hunter had never regretted a choice of words so much. Her will was beginning to waver greatly with all of this, and it was incredibly painful to see the faces of everyone she cared for used against her. "You're not you," she snarled, casting frantic glances about. "None of you are you. You're not real! None of you are real!"

All at once the Annabelle illusion teared up and started whimpering. Hunter tried not to focus on it, but it was like she couldn't look away from the thing. "Why are you yelling like that, Hunter?" the Annabelle cried. "A-are you mad at me? Do you not like me anymore? Do you not wanna be my big sister anymore?"

"No, Annab-I mean, yes! I mean, no! Ugh! Shut up!"

"Why are you being mean to me, Hunter?"

"Shut up! You're not Annabelle! You're not real!"

"Well, that's sure a nice way to treat the people who took you in and treated you like family," the Will imposter spat. "Like their own daughter!"

"Hunter, sweetie," it was the Sarah illusion talking now, "I know you're scared and upset and confused, but it's alright now, honey. You're safe. We're all here, just come with us." It reached out towards the teen.

"No!" Hunter stepped away. "Stay away!"

"Hunter," it was the Raf now, "please come with us. We miss you."

"Yeah!" the Miko chirruped. "Come on! Let's go dune-bashing! I bet you can't bash near as many as Bulk and I can!"

"Hunter," the Jack said softly, "come home with us. Please."

"I-I… no! Nonononono! Shut up, all of you! Get away from me! You're not real!"

All of the imposters were speaking at once now. Some of them were imploring her, pleading with her to come with them, others were berating and scolding her, trying to make her feel horrible for how she was treating them. (They really didn't need to—she already felt bad enough about it.) One way or another, they were all calling to her, saying her name, trying to break her will to fight down just like they were supposed to; just like the spell was supposed to. And it was working.

Hunter screamed, "No! Shut up! You're not real! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Screwing her eyes shut, the Hybrid pressed her hands over her audio-receptors and did her best to try and shut out the voices. It didn't work; she could still hear them in her head. She slowly sank down to sit on the floor and curled into a ball, whispering to herself the entire time, "Not real. Not real, not real, not real, not real, not real. Not real. Not real." The girl startled at the touch of a hand on her face and lurched back, falling back on her elbows. She opened her optics to see the Optimus illusion knelt before her, reaching out to her. "Get away," she said. Her voice sounded tired and weak. She was getting tired of all this; emotionally, mentally, physically—she was just getting tired.

But the imposter didn't leave. "Hunter," he purred, "Sweet-spark, my Shooting Star-" that brought tears to Hunter's eyes, "-you have no reason to fight us. We will not harm you—we are your family and we love you. Please, Sweet-spark, stop fighting and come home with us. We have missed you." The Optimus reached out and caressed her cheekplate.

Hunter couldn't stop the tears that trickled down her cheeks. Closing her optics again, she tried to turn her face away from the hand of the imposter. "No." She had to get away from these things! The more they touched her and talked to her and the more she paid attention to them the stronger the spell's grip on her became. She couldn't afford to tire out and give in—she had to keep fighting!

The teen tried to bring up happy memories of the people she cared for, hoping maybe they'd give her strength. She remembered meeting the Lennoxes for the first time and how Annabelle had hugged her and called her "big sister" then. She remembered jamming out on guitars with Miko, and Jack trying to teach her the harmonica, and dancing with Raf. She remembered lobbing with Bulkhead and Bumblebee, and racing with Arcee. She remembered dodging wrenches from Ratchet (it actually became a rather enjoyable game after a while). Most of all she remembered spending time with her father, laughing with him, dancing, hugging him, calling him 'Dad' for the very first time. "Daddy," she whispered.

"Shh, Sweet-spark," the Optimus imposter whispered, moving closer. "I'm here. Daddy's here."

With that Hunter opened her eyes and met the gaze of the illusion. The pull of the spell was definitely still there, but now, with her happy memories firmly in place in her mind, it wasn't quite as strong. Hunter just hoped she could keep it that way for as long as she needed to. "No," she repeated. "You're not him."

"Hunter-"

"No!" And with that last exclamation, Hunter ignited herself and let loose an explosion of nearly white flames.

The illusions all shrieked as if in pain as they evaporated away and the darkness was pushed away from her by the light.

Hunter was on her feet and running before the light faded. Her fire had opened the shadow wave up enough that she could see the exit of the maze, and she made a beeline straight for it. The light was long gone now, and the shadows were quickly closing in again—the teen could feel tendrils snatching at her heel-struts—but she had the position of the exit fixed in her mind (as well as her happy memories) and nothing would stop her from reaching it.

"Hell, yeah!" Hunter cheered as the exit appeared in front of her. Without a second thought she dived through, completely home free. Or so she thought.

"Ah!" Hunter screamed as something snagged her arm in a crushing grip. She whipped around, expecting a tendril, but was instead met with the sky blue optics of her spark-father yet again. This thing just didn't give up did it? "Let me go!" the Hybrid screeched, trying in vain to pull away, but the imposter held her fast.

"Hunter, why are you doing this?" the illusion questioned, sounding hurt once again. "Why are you running from us? From me? I am your spark-father and I love you more than life itself. Do you not feel the same way?"

Maybe it was the tone of the illusion's voice, maybe it was the mention of Optimus as well as his face looking down at her, maybe it was the implication that she didn't love Optimus, but whatever it was, Hunter felt her optics well up once again. She set her jaw to keep it steady. "Of course I do," she croaked softly. "I love my dad more than anything and I always will: He saved me." Swallowing hard, the teen managed a glare at the illusion. "But you're not him!" she hissed bitterly. Without thinking, the femmling released her free set of razors and thrust them forward through the "spark-chamber" of the fake Optimus, using so much force he was basically kabobbed on her arm

The illusion cried out in obvious agony, doubling over around her arm so that they were exactly faceplate-to-faceplate.

Hunter watched on in horror as what appeared to be energon started cascading out of the imposter's mouth (immediately turning to little puffs of shadow clouds as it dripped off its chin). It was so real! Why did it have to be so real?! It was as though she really was killing her spark-father instead of dispelling a piece of magic. "It's not real, though," she kept telling herself. "It's not real—it's not Dad—it's not real!" All the same, it felt extremely real.

For what felt like an eternity the two of them stood there, staring at each other. The "life" slowly drained from the illusion's eyes as the young Hybrid watched on, too stricken to move. As if making one last attempt to persuade her, the imposter tried to tighten its grip on the femmling and pull her closer. "My Shooting Star…" it gasped feebly.

Hunter swallowed hard, her lip quivering. It was both painful and infuriating to hear that term coming from this dying spell's mouth. Trying to focus on the fury it brought, the sixteen-year-old bared her teeth and growled right in the illusion's face, "I am not your shooting star. You do not get to call me that."

"Hunter… please…."

"Take it and shove it." And with that Hunter had summoned up enough of her emotional strength to wrench her arm back through the illusion and yank away from the monstrosity's grip. She jumped back and watched on as the illusion continued to stand there, gasping and shaking as it reached a quivering hand up to the gaping (and smoking) hole in its chest.

The illusion took a shaky step backwards and then another and another. Its lifeless gaze drifted around before it finally settled on Hunter again and it slowly reached out to her again as if seeking her help. "H-Hunter…" it croaked.

"Bye-bye," Hunter whispered with as much venom as she could muster, "Daddy."

At this point the illusion let loose a scream. At first it still sounded like Optimus' voice, but as it went on and the thing continued to recede further back into the shadows and dissolve into it, it became more shrill and unearthly. And then it all stopped: the illusion and the black shadow were gone. Everything was quiet. The exit of the maze looked normal and unthreatening, as if you could simply re-enter it without the risk of triggering some godawful trap. It was as if nothing had happened.

All at once Hunter was quivering; her body quaking from the very core. Her legs felt rubbery, and she stumbled back against the side of the tunnel before sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. Her spark was racing a mile a second and her head was spacey. She felt far, far away, in some other place or time or dimension or planet. She couldn't think—she didn't know what or even how to think. All she could do was sit there shaking.

Slowly the Hybrid looked down at her still extracted razors, and the image of the dying face of the Optimus' illusion flashed into her mind. Like that, she was retching, vomiting up whatever little contents her tank had to purge. Hunter didn't know what triggered it. She didn't know if it was because of the trauma of everything she'd just endured—seeing the faces of all her loved ones being used against her; or because she'd witnessed what it would be like to have her spark-father die by her hands; or simply because it brought up all the emotion of being separated from her loved ones that she'd been pushing away. She just knew she felt unbearably sick. So she let everything go until she couldn't do either anymore.

Finally Hunter sat back up, wiping her mouth off with a quivering hand. She was still trembling and still felt out of sorts, but at least it wasn't as bad as before; she could move, now, and she felt more tired than weak.

"Feel better?" a disdainful voice hissed.

Too worn out to startle, Hunter simply turned her gaze on her great-great-grandsire. "No," she answered flatly. "You're here."

"Hmm, well I can see the enchantment didn't beat the attitude out of you. Shame."

"Maybe you didn't notice, but I'm in Cybertronian form right now, and I can crush you like a bug with my pinkie."

"I'm shaking. Come on, Girl, let's go. We're almost out and I'd like to actually get out, so if you're done acting like an infant…."

Sniffling, Hunter wiped her optics. "Yeah," she agreed. "Let's go." She stood and returned to human form. "Let's get outta here." Without thinking, she grabbed Scarface, swung him up on her shoulders, and set out at a swift jog. They were so close to the exit now she could practically taste the freedom!

"Well," Malice spoke up again after a moment, "aren't you gonna thank me?"

Hunter glanced back over her shoulder at him, completely taken aback by this question. "Thank you?" she snorted. "For what?"

"Well, looks to me if I hadn'ta come along when I did, you woulda been completely taken in by the spell."

"I would've broken out of it!"

"When? When you were back in Luna's clutches again?"

Hunter pursed her lips together and shook her head in annoyance because she knew Malice was probably right. She had almost been pulled under by that Optimus illusion; it had felt so completely real. If she was being honest with herself, she'd wanted more than anything for it to be real. And she would have been lying if she said she'd wanted to fight back against the spell in that moment, never mind whether she'd been able to or not.

Trying to take the attention off herself, Hunter asked, "How did you show up there anyway? Were you following me or something?"

Malice snorted. "Of course," he stated.

"Why?"

"You honestly think I was just gonna sit there in the maze and wait for you? You really think I believe that you would come back for me?"

"I would have!"

"Yeah, sure."

"I would have. I promised you, remember?"

"And?"
"And I don't make promises I don't keep."

"Everyone makes a promise they don't keep at some point, Girl."

"Let's go back to not talking."

It was a short while before the pair found themselves climbing upwards and away from the godforsaken maze they'd left behind. With the ever strengthening scent of fresh air in her nostrils, Hunter picked up the pace. So close! She was almost out! Soon she'd be back on the team's radar and they could bridge to her and she'd be home. She'd finally be home! The thought spurred the teen on so that soon she was running up the incline. "Almost there!" she kept telling herself. "I'm almost there!"

When they finally reached the top of the path, Hunter paused and let Malice slip to the ground. "Next time you decide to go galloping around with me on your back without any sort of support," the old Hybrid grumbled as he rubbed at his shoulders, "don't. I'll be feelin' this for the rest of my life now."

Hunter glowered at her great-great-grandsire. Did this guy ever do anything but complain about everything? "Well, maybe you'll get lucky and the rest of your life won't be that long," she snapped back.

Scarface returned her glare. "Impudent child," he grumbled.

"Like I said, it comes from you," the girl returned with a smirk.

The man's glare narrowed, but he didn't say anything else to that.

"Okay," Hunter sighed, looking away from Malice, "there's the exit." Her gaze was on a cave opening that sat about a hundred yards away from them across an expanse of open cave. There weren't any statues around, or guards of any kind. In fact there didn't seem to be any kind of trap or deterrent here; this part of the cave seemed completely innocuous. Of course Hunter knew better. "So here's what I'm thinkin'," she said. "I'll go out there first. You wait until I'm about half-way across before you come out and meet me, that way I can deal with whatever might pop up without having to worry about you."

"By all means," Scarface immediately agreed. He made an "after you" gesture out towards the open cave. "Try not to die before you clear out all the booby-traps."

The teenager shot the old man a glare, but quickly returned her focus to the task at hand. "Okay," she murmured to herself. "Here goes nothing." Taking a deep breath, she took a few steps out into the open cavern before stopping and waiting. She looked around. Nothing moved, nothing made noise; everything was as ordinary and normal-cave-like as before. Okay. So she hadn't triggered anything yet. Maybe the triggers were further down the cavern towards the exit, like they had been in the maze? The only way to find out was to keep going, but Hunter wanted to test her powers out before she made it that far: If Luna had put up another power-negating barrier, the teen would rather know now than later.

"Hah!" Hunter punched out a fist and a blue fireball shot out from it. "Well, that's promising," she remarked, though she really didn't feel that much better about all of this. After all, who was to say the next barrier wasn't actually three more steps in front of her? Or one? Or even half a step? She'd just have to keep checking and be prepared. "Okay, then," the girl sighed as she started walking towards the exit. After a few steps she tried shooting off a fireball again. She succeeded. Well, so far everything was looking fine; she hadn't gone through a barrier yet and she hadn't set off any sort of trap. And that's what she didn't like.

She continued on towards the middle of the cavern, trying out her pyrokinesis every so often and continuously finding that it worked. She walked through no barrier. She set off no magical trap. She wasn't liking this one bit. "Come on," Hunter muttered. "I know there's somethin' here somewhere, so come out already!" She took another couple steps and, without warning, there was a cracking noise and she was falling, tumbling through empty air down into Primus only knew where. The girl hardly had time to scream before she was slamming hard into solid rock, falling again, and hitting what had to be the ground.

"Ugh! Oh… scrap!" Hunter slowly pushed herself up. Her body protested with each movement, tired and sore as it was, but she forced herself to up onto all fours nevertheless and then into a sitting position, which was slightly more comfortable. She rubbed her aching head and closed her eyes to try and stop the world from spinning. "Looks like I found the trap," she muttered to herself. But what was this trap? Slowly opening her eyes to find the world had settled a great deal, the redhead looked up to find herself at the bottom of a roundish pit that had to be half a football field deep. The hole she'd fallen through was as wide as the pit was, about thirty yards around. Judging from the dust hanging in the air and the rubble around her, it must have been concealed with a thin crust of earth that had all completely crumbled and gave way under her weight.

Punching out her fist once again, Hunter found that she could no longer summon up her fire. "Well, that explains why the spidey-sense didn't go off," she muttered. "Luna must've had a barrier right at the edge of this thing." Wincing, the teen looked up towards the top of the pit again. There was no way she was going to be able to jump out of here—it was way too high: She wouldn't even be able to make it by standing on one of those big boulders she smashed into. The teen looked at the walls. Smooth; as smooth as the gate had been back with the jackals—she wasn't rock-climbing out either. Hunter sighed. "Wolverine climbing it is then."

Extracting her razors, the Hybrid approached the wall, drew a fist back, and punched it forward to sink the blades into the rock. Her blades glanced off the wall. "Ahh!" Hunter yelped as painful reverberations traveled up her arm from the blow and instinctively held the appendage to her chest. Scrap! The pit had been spelled like the walls of her cell! She was trapped down here! After everything she'd gone through to get here, she got stuck at the bottom of a simple, stupid, Primus-forsaken hole! Hunter spewed out every foul word she knew in every language she knew curse words to. She just couldn't believe it: She couldn't believe how stupid and careless she'd been for not double-checking where she stepped. Now all she could do was sit here until Luna's lackeys finally decided to show up, haul her out, and take her back to Luna. And once that happened, that would be it; Hunter would never have the chance to escape again—Luna would make sure of that.

No! She couldn't give up that easily—she'd fought too hard to just lay down and quit now. Even if she couldn't escape, she wasn't going back to Luna without being able to say that she'd given her escape attempt everything she had. The Lunation would not take that from her! So with her determination firmly in place, Hunter began to explore the pit further, hoping beyond home that she could find something down here to potentially help get her out.

It was at this point that Hunter took notice of what was down in the pit with her: bones. There was dozens of bones down here, more of them human than Hybrid. The teen grimaced. "Looks like I haven't been the only one down here," she remarked as she picked her way around femurs and ribs and skull fragments. It was strange; many of the bones were broken, like they'd been snapped in half. That was when the redhead spotted half a Hybrid body—completely rusting metal muscle and skeleton now—with a large, pearly-white spike embedded in its back. Curious, Hunter moved closer. Once she was close enough, she concluded what the spike was: "It's a tooth!"

The tooth appeared to be fully intact, was curved, and was about a foot long, making Hunter think of a giant cat tooth, or maybe even a Tyrannosaurs tooth. Wrapping a hand around the tooth like the hilt of a sword, Hunter gave a sharp tug. The tooth moved a bit but didn't come out: It took a few more tugs before the thing finally came, revealing a sharp, energon-stained point at its business end. The teen felt that all too familiar sensation of apprehension twisting around in her gut as she stared at the deadly fang. What in Primus' name could this thing possibly come from? What did Luna have living down here? And was it still here?

"Well, well, well!" a sudden voice drew Hunter's attention back up towards the top of the pit. Malice was standing there at the edge, leering down at her. "What happened here?"

"I think I found Luna's last trap!" Hunter called up to him. Dropping the tooth she sprinted towards a large boulder and leapt atop it so that she could be just that much closer so Malice might hear her better. "I can't get out!" she shouted up. "There's a negation barrier right there at the edge that I went through, and the walls are enchanted like the walls in the cells and too smooth to climb!"

"Well, that's unfortunate isn't it?" Malice replied. He seemed completely unconcerned by all of this.

"Ya think?!" Hunter snapped exasperatedly. With that, the teen lifted an open hand and fired off her grapnel hook and cable. It soared up until it clanked down by Malice's feet. "Find a rock or something up there to wrap that around and anchor it so I can pull myself up. Hurry!"

For a long time Malice just stood there staring at the hook but made no move to pick it up. Finally he turned his gaze back to the girl. "Why would I help you?" he asked.

Hunter paused for a moment at that question. There was something a little sinister in her great-great-grandsire's tone that made a chill run down her spine. "What do you mean?" she asked back. "Why wouldn't you?" She could hear the nervous tremble in her own voice.

Malice snorted in amusement. "Did you forget who you're talking to here, Girl? Who I am?"

That's when Hunter knew exactly what the ancient Hybrid was implying: He wasn't going to help her—he was going to abandon her. Unwanted tears immediately flooded the teen's eyes and a tight lump formed in her throat. "We had a deal," she squeaked pathetically.

"Oh, I know we made a deal," Malice continued on. "But you see, if I remember correctly, my contribution was to train you in energon manipulation just enough for you to get out of your cell while yours was to help me escape this slagpit. So, as I'm sure you can agree, my part has been long done; I have no other obligations to fulfill towards you."

Hunter just stood there and stared in horror. The last little bit of hope she'd managed to reinforce was quickly crumbling down into nothingness again. This couldn't be happening! He couldn't be doing this!

"And as for your part—well, you've brought me within a safe walking distance of the exit, so I'd say you've played your role quite well." Malice smiled and winked at the girl. "Thank you, Huntress. I see no further need for your services."

"You can't do this," Hunter croaked. "After everything I've done to get you this far—after everything I went through to bring you here—you can't do this to me!" She was seething in anger now; anger and desperation, hurt and betrayal—it was all coming out in one fell swoop now. Seizing up a stone, the young Hybrid chucked it as hard as she could up towards her great-great-grandsire. It hit the wall of the pit just below his feet. "You can't leave me here!"

"Oh, but I am," Malice assured her. "See?" To prove his point he kicked her grapnel hook back into the pit.

Had she had her powers right then, Hunter was sure she would have been literally on fire she was so furious. This rat! This traitor! She knew he was sick and twisted and evil, but how could he not even have the slightest touch of honor within him? Even Luna held to deals! Hunter never thought she could possibly hate anyone as much as her grandmother in her lifetime but right now she found herself hating Malice much, much more. She'd been beaten—physically, mentally, and emotionally—to get this fragger this far! She'd taken the brunt of all the punishments! She'd done everything she possibly could in every situation to keep him as safe as she could! And he cared about none of that: He had absolutely no regard for it at all! "You bastard!" the redhead screamed. "You son of a bitch!"

"Is that the best you have?"

"Ya know, ever since I found out I can control energon I've been terrified of turning out like you," Hunter growled. "I've been terrified of the darkness inside me because I thought that, since I was part of your blood, it would eventually get strong enough to drag me under. Now I know I have nothing to worry about, 'cuz I am nothing like you! I would never do this to anyone!"

"If it took you this long and to go through something like this to come to that conclusion, you are very badly off, my girl. Anyone could blatantly see that."

"You can't leave me here, Malice!"

The old Hybrid's dry, cracked lips curled into a sneer at that statement. "Watch me," he murmured. He began to walk away.

"Malice!" Hunter screamed. "Malice, get back here! You can't leave me here! Malice! Scarface! Scarface come back here!" But not so surprisingly, the old rat didn't come back, and he never would again. He was leaving her stuck there, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Hunter fell to her knees atop the boulder and released an enraged, desperate wail to the heavens. What else could she do? She'd fought with everything she had for so long to get so far and for what?! What?! She was officially trapped. The only way out of this pit was to be taken back to the cult, back to Luna. There was nothing she could possibly do but scream. Scream until her throat was sore and head hurt. Scream until she'd nearly pushed everything out of her lungs and fell forward on all fours gasping for air. The teen watched as tears speckled the space of stone between her hands. Reaching up, she swiped at her wet face, feebly trying to get rid of the waterfalls of tears. Why? Why?! Everyone had their burdens to bear—their hardships—but why was this hers? And why did it seem like she had more than anyone else combined? Hunter slammed a fist against the rock. "Rah! What else could possibly go wrong?!"

A sudden whoosh came from behind her, followed by the sound of metallic clanking, as if some sort of ancient drawbridge was being lowered. Hunter turned her head to see that a hole was slowly opening up in the floor on the far side of the pit. Her stomach bottomed out. "Me and my big mouth..."

Finally the trap door made one final clank as it settled into place out of sight and an ominous silence settled over the pit. Hunter didn't dare move. She barely dared to breathe. Something told her she was just about to discover the owner to the fang she'd found earlier.

A low, rumbling growl emitted from the hole, followed by an unnerving roar, making Hunter's spark leap into her throat. Without warning, a huge, furry, white paw reached out of the hole and splayed on the ground. Razor sharp tips of claws just peaked out from the toes.

Hunter slowly and shakily rose to her feet, praying that whatever the thing was decided not to come out and play. If only she could be so lucky. The teenager could only stand there on her boulder and watch in terror as a massive tiger—an absolute mammoth of a tiger!—crawled out of the hole inch by inch. How could it even fit through that opening?! Soon enough, Hunter found herself staring up at a towering beast.

And what a magnificent beast! Big as a house, the creature was all sinewy muscle and ferociousness. Its silvery-white and black striped hide was sleek, its body slim and athletic, its muscles rippling beneath its skin. But the teeth and claws were what held Hunter's attention; long, gleaming, and razor sharp. Yes, the tooth from earlier definitely belonged to this animal.

For a long moment the Hybrid and the big cat stared at each other, terrified sapphire eyes gazing into menacing blue-green ones. The tiger licked its lips and made a quiet growl as its tail twitched. It moved slightly in the teenager's direction, while Hunter, in turn, slightly moved away. "Nice kitty," she murmured. "Good kitty. We can be friends, right? I mean, I like tigers. Can I call you "Stripey"?

The tiger released a none too friendly roar in response to this.

"Okay, maybe not. Ahh!" Without warning the cat lunged and Hunter leapt backwards, forgetting she was on top of a boulder. She crashed to the stony pit floor. "Ugh!" The teen quickly glanced back up to see the tiger was now crouched atop the rock she'd been on, looking down at her like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. Compared to the tiger she was one! And she'd be a mutilated mouse real quick if she didn't get up and move!

Quickly scrambling to her feet, Hunter sprinted away towards a cluster of more rocks and boulders against the farthest wall of the pit. She didn't know if the sensation of hot breath at her back was real or if her mind was making it up, but she didn't turn to look and see—she just kept running as fast as she could. Even if the breath wasn't real yet, it would be soon! A roar behind her caused the girl to sprint faster. Once she was at the rocks she quickly leapt atop them, making her way up to the tops of the biggest boulders. There was just enough space between them for her to get down between them. The redhead quickly glanced back to see the tiger climbing towards her before making her decision and jumping down into the crevice. Just in time too; she just felt the wind of a massive paw swiping at her head as she descended down between the rocks.

---

"Almost there," Malice puffed as he jogged as quickly as he could away from the pit and down the cave towards the exit to the outside world. "Almost there!" Light was streaming through the hole of the cave and he could almost feel it on his pallid, crusty skin already, he was that close to it; could almost feel the breeze on his face. The very idea of the sensations spurred him on faster than he even believed he could move. He had no idea what he would do once he reached the outside or where he would go, but at the moment that didn't matter. The only thing important now was getting to freedom!

All at once a large plume of dark smoke surrounded him and the ancient Hybrid was forced to stop in his tracks. He covered his face to try and protect his nose, mouth, and eyes, but ended up coughing from the haze regardless. When he finally opened his eyes again he looked around and found himself completely surrounded by a ring of Field Acolytes, two thick. His spark dropped to his toes. "Irrumabo…."

---

It was a very tight squeeze between the rocks. For a moment Hunter worried she might actually get caught up and trapped between the boulders as the crevice kept getting tighter and tighter, but luckily it didn't get quite that closed in. However, Hunter didn't have much choice in avoiding landing on the skeleton at the bottom of the hole. She completely shattered the thing. "Ugh! Sorry!" Hunter groaned as she crawled away from the broken skeleton. "Please don't haunt me for this." Once she was away from the skeleton, the teen took time to sit and catch her breath. She wasn't by any means in the clear—the tiger was scrambling away at the top of the hole, trying to reach down and snag her but failing because its paws and legs were too big to reach far enough. Eventually it'd probably start chipping away at the rocks or maybe shift them enough to move them, and then she'd have to start running again. But for now the sixteen-year-old was safe enough to rest and think a bit.

"This is bad," Hunter mumbled the obvious to herself. She kept an ever watchful eye on the tiger as it continued trying to reach down to her. "How the hell do I get outta this one?" Her best bet was to take the beast head on, and this is something she would have done right from the get-go if it weren't for one little detail: her powers. They were still long gone. It was going to be extremely hard to get close enough to the tiger to do damage without getting torn up herself without her superspeed. Without her healing factor, she would easily get too hurt to do anything before she got close enough. Yes she was durable, but those claws and teeth were no joke! And she'd already seen plenty of evidence that this thing could make a meal of a powerless Hybrid.

Hunter shrieked as one of the rocks beside her slightly shifted. She was quickly on her knees again, crawling through the crevice. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" It was getting tighter in here, and so far there wasn't any path leading outside of the cluster of boulders, just deeper into them. Eventually she wouldn't be able to go any further, either from lack of space or coming to meet the pit wall. If the tiger didn't manage to push some of these boulders out of the way in order to reach her before then, and some of those rocks were already moving too much for the teen's liking. She needed to get out! Out of this crevice, out of this pit, out of this cave—just out! But getting out meant having to go through the tiger… and its claws… and its teeth… and a whole lot of pain.

Hunter continued to crawl on, trying to decide what to do. After a few feet she squeezed between some rocks to come to a slightly wider space in the crevice, only to find that she could go no further; the path onward from there was hardly wide enough for a toddler to crawl, let alone someone big as she was. "Scrud!" she hissed. A boulder close by shifted and Hunter turned to gaze up at the large, deadly paws trying to grab at her and the angry tiger face just above them. She could feel the beast's hot breath—smell it. "Ugh!" Hunter covered her nose, trying not to gag from the foulness of the scent. "That does it!" she groaned. "I'd rather die by mauling than being gassed." The problem was going to be trying to get past those claws so she'd at least have a chance of survival. Climbing was out; she had to be much faster than that, and the only way she could manage that was to grapnel cable her way out. She'd have to manage to anchor the cable to the cat somehow—probably hook it into its teeth.

Hunter sighed heavily at this. "Let's just pray I can summon up decent aiming skills," she muttered. Lifting up a hand, Hunter closed one eye and took as careful of aim as she could. Unfortunately she couldn't get a completely clear shot because of the tiger's paws and claws, but it was a shot she was going to have to take regardless and just pray for the best. After a moment, she fired. The hook and cable deployed out of her palm and soared through the air, miraculously slipping between the claws of the beast and soaring into its mouth to the back of the throat where the hook deployed: She'd overshot. "Whoops…."

Almost immediately the tiger stopped its assault on the rocks and made a gagging sound, like a cat trying to cough up a furball. When the thing in its throat didn't come up, it coughed again, harder, and again. It reached up to its mouth to paw at the cable entering it, trying to pull whatever was in its throat out. It didn't work. That was when the beast started to vigorously shake its massive head back a forth and jump around, trying to dislodged whatever it was caught in its mouth.

Hunter's stomach plummeted at this. "Uh-o-oooooohhhhhh!" The teen was wrenched up off the ground as the tiger, spun and jumped and twisted around, coughing and pawing at its mouth. "Ack! Ugh!" She slammed into the boulders on either side of her more than a few times before she was pulled out from the crevice and went flying through the air, screaming. The tiger started to leap around the pit, taking her with it, flinging her every which way it tossed its head or jumped. "Ahhh! Wah! Oof! Whoa-oohh!" Hunter was bashed around like a pinball, hitting the walls and floor, slamming into the animal's own body a couple times. It wasn't long before the teen decided she'd had enough. "Okay, I'm done with this rollercoaster!" So extracting her razors once more, Hunter managed to bring them down through her grapnel cable, splicing it in two. Then she was free-flying. "Aaahhh!" Smacking into a wall, the sixteen-year-old crumpled face-first to the floor with a sickening thud! She moaned in agony. It felt like she'd just been smashed between four high-speed, oncoming locomotives pulling a hundred cars each. "Okay," she groaned, trying to breathe through the pain, "I'm not ever gonna be able to look at paddle-ball in the same way again. Frag!" Hunter slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows and shook her head before rubbing it. She'd definitely be feeling this for a long time afterwards.

A sudden clank caused Hunter to finally look up. Her severed cable and hook was lying on the floor in front of her, having finally been hacked up by the tiger. The tiger itself was standing just beyond the saliva coated grapnel, glaring down at her, growling. It was almost as if it knew that she was the one that had caused it the recent discomfort and it was angry with her for it. Hunter giggled nervously. "Sorry," she squeaked, trying to smile apologetically. Evidently the tiger didn't like her apology, because it was leaping at her, claws splayed wide and jaws wide with fangs flashing.

Hunter just barely managed to roll out of the way from being crushed and found herself beneath the beast's belly. Without a second thought she extracted her blades again and charged towards the tiger's back legs. "Hrah!" She slashed her razors down across the ankles of the cat's legs. Nothing happened! No marks were left behind, no gashes, not even a small scratch or a single drop a blood—just some lines in the fur where it had been disturbed. Absolutely zero damage! The Hybrid could hardly believe it. "What?!"

She didn't have time to wonder at this as the tiger was moving, turning around to come after her again. Thinking fast, Hunter grabbed hold of one of the back legs and hitched a ride. She wrapped her legs tight around the appendage, as well as an arm to anchor herself securely, then she raised a set of blades and stabbed them down on the tiger again as hard as she could. She couldn't sink them in! It was like the flesh was made of some kind of impenetrable armor! "What the frag?! Whoa!" The girl suddenly found herself in for a jerky ride as the beast vigorously shook the leg she was attached to, trying to dislodge her. By some miracle, Hunter managed to hold on. But then, instead of shaking its leg, the tiger was lifting it up, and the teen craned her neck around to see the tiger twisting around, its jaws open wide, head coming closer and closer. Without a second thought, Hunter jumped off the leg, just narrowly missing those sharp fangs.

The tiger bit down on its own leg. Immediately it released his appendage with an ear-splitting yowl of pain.

Hunter's eyes widened as she saw blood begin to ooze from the punctures on the beast's leg. The tiger could injure itself! It was impervious to her; no weapon she had could make a mark on the animal, no matter how much force she put behind it, but its own teeth and claws were another story! That's when something clicked in Hunter's mind. "The tooth she whispered. She quickly stole a glance over her shoulder to where the Hybrid corpse and tooth were laying. "I wonder…." The redhead looked back at the cat to see it sitting on its haunches and tending to its wound, nevertheless keeping an eye on her the entire time. It growled at her when they made eye contact, an accusatory glare in its gaze that made Hunter feel like it was blaming her for its hurt leg. Hunter looked back towards the tooth. After one more quick glance at the tiger, she took her chance. Lurching to her feet she sprinted towards the tooth. A roar sounded off behind her. She didn't stop—she couldn't stop. She had to get to that tooth before the beast got to her, and once she had the thing, she had to figure out how to take the tiger down with it. But one thing at a time; now—getting the tooth.

As it turned out, that was the easy part of the plan. Thanks to its injured leg, the tiger was moving more slowly, giving Hunter a better chance to outrun it, as well as avoid being swiped at. Soon enough she was coming back upon the corpse and tooth. Quickly swiping it up, she turned to face the tiger and asked herself, "Okay, now what?" She had the tooth in hand and, with it, and chance to do damage to the tiger, but how was she going to get close enough? Where should she hit to try and do the most damage? And how could she get close enough to that area? "If I can get on top of it that'd be best," Hunter thought. "But how?" The tiger was too tall for her to attempt leaping onto his back in her powerless state. The girl's eyes landed on one of the boulders. None of them were as tall as the tiger, but they would give her enough height advantage that should could jump onto its back from the top of them, or at least get her close enough to snag a hold on its fur and climb up. Assuming the tiger didn't snag her out of midair, of course.

It was her best option, and Hunter took it. She ran out to make a wide berth around the tiger before leaping atop a rock closest to the cat. Once there, she gathered her strength, and jumped again, this time, aiming for the beast's back. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Hunter quickly glanced away from her target and had just enough time to activate her shield and bring it up before a large, clawed paw smacked against her and knocked her to the ground. The paw hit the shield, jamming Hunter's arm into her side. There were several sickening snaps. Tears immediately flooded Hunter's eyes and streamed down her face as her mouth opened in a scream, except nothing came out. Her shield deactivated and she slammed into a boulder which she bounced across the top of before hitting the rock floor of the pit. And then she lay there, quivering in pain. She gasped for air, but each inhale sent white hot agony through her side and lung making her feel like she absolutely couldn't breathe. And as if that wasn't enough, her shoulder and arm were just as painful. They were broken—everything on her left side broken: her arm, her shoulder, and her ribs—they all had to be shattered. Nothing else could possibly feel this horrible.

The ground beneath her shook and Hunter slowly moved her head just enough to see a giant paw through her blurry vision. She felt hot breath whoosh down over her. She didn't dare to move or breathe (not that she could then anyway). "I knew I'd die again eventually," she thought to herself, "but I didn't think this was the way it would go—eaten by giant tiger." She didn't even want to think what coming back from that would be like. Was reawakening even a possibility in that scenario? Ripped apart and digested—seemed pretty final.

Sharp teeth crunched down on one of her legs, finally forcing a broken scream to rip from the Hybrid's chapped, bloody lips. Then she was being wrenched up into the air and tossed, every broken bone in her body protesting by grating their broken ends together. It was almost more than Hunter could take. But then the teeth came into play again, snagging both of her legs this time, tearing flesh and cracking bones beneath their force. Hunter shrieked. It hurt like hell to do, but she was in far too much pain at this point to do anything else but that. Every single part of her hurt! She hadn't felt anything like this since facing Bombardier, and even then she'd been half out of it and in shock, so the sheer magnitude of the pain hadn't completely registered then. It was literally all she could feel right now—her reality: pain and horror and desperation to make it stop somehow.

It must have been that desperation that drove Hunter to what she did next. She didn't even know how she'd managed to keep hold of the fang the entire time, or how she'd managed to register that she, in fact, was still holding it. She didn't know how she'd managed to find the strength in her broken body to swing herself up and jab the tooth down with enough force to stab the tiger in the nose with it, but she did. In one quick moment the fang was jammed into the side of the beast's nose and it was crying out in pain and Hunter was falling from those deadly jaws to the floor again. "Ahhhhhhhh!" Hunter wailed upon impact, every nerve ending in her body on fire, every shattered bone fragment clashing together, every part of her body just wanting to give up and die.

The tiger was still roaring and growling and stumbling around as it swiped at its face, trying to get rid of whatever was stuck there and causing the discomfort. Finally it managed to dislodge its own fang. Once it had done that, it turned its attention back to the helpless teenager sprawled across the rock floor of its pit. In one leap it was standing over her again, glaring down at her as it bared its teeth.

Hunter didn't even move. She couldn't. All she could do was stare up into those livid blue-green eyes and feel her stomach completely bottom out as it completely sank in that she wasn't going to be able to do anything to try and help herself this time. She was spent; all of her strength and will was gone, completely sapped away with the pain. This was it. However she came back from this death, she would be back in Luna's clutches again, and her final chance of escape—her final hope—would be long gone. She'd failed: She'd let everyone down. Silent tears that weren't about the physical pain began to trickle down Hunter's cheeks. The redhead let her eyes drift slowly shut and waited.

There was a roar and a strong waft of hot stinking breath, but at almost the same time there was a loud zapping sound. A pained and startled yowl quickly followed. "Back!" a familiar voice bellowed. "Get back!"

Hunter slowly opened her eyes at the sound of that voice. "Steel?" she croaked, blinking blearily at the dark figure standing over her trying to bring him into focus. Everything was hazy and her head felt like it was swimming, but the blurry blob of dark purple topped with warm gold at the top—along with the voice—meant it couldn't possibly meant it couldn't possibly be anybody else but Steel. As the girl's vision came back into focus somewhat, she could see that Steel was standing over her and wielding his wand, powerful bursts of brilliant light shooting out the end of it. Each burst that hit the tiger seemed to be physically pushing it back rather than simply scaring it to back away, though that tactic seemed to be working as well.

"Back!" Steel was still shouting. "Get back, Tiberius! Back! To your pen! Back!"

Finally, apparently having had enough, the tiger turned away from the onslaught of magic and fled back across the pit towards the hole it had originally come out of. Despite only really having three good legs, the animal had quickly disappeared down the hole and the door to it closed. The only things living in the pit now were the two Hybrid teenagers.

Sighing heavily, Steel pocketed his wand and turned his attention to his beaten and bloody cousin. "Hunter!" he exclaimed, crouching down beside her. Gently brushing her dirty hair out of her face, the boy looked the girl over with urgent concern. "What hurts?" he asked.

Hunter couldn't help but make a small snort at that: She immediately regretted it with her ribs. "Ask me…" she gasped out as she winced, "… what doesn't hurt. Save ya time."

"Don't move," Steel ordered her.

Hunter rolled her eyes. "Because… I'm moving around… so much right now."

"I'm serious, Hunter. Keep still, or you could hurt yourself worse."

"You mean 'die'."

"Hush. I'm going to check you over. This might feel a little weird, but stay still." With that, Steel held out his hands over Hunter, his palms glowing, and slowly ran them through the air just above her, travelling the entire length of her body.

Just as he'd stated, Hunter felt a slight tingle in her body that moved along with his hands. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was strange all the same. She wasn't entirely sure if she was comfortable with it or not.

Finally, Steel lowered his hands, the magical glow receding from his palms, and gave the redhead a grim look. "Well," he sighed, "you're not in imminent danger of dying right here on the spot in the blink of an eye, but you're definitely in bad shape, Phoenix."

Hunter tried to look shocked by this, but it was difficult when her face was swelling up with bruises. "Really?" she croaked ironically.

Steel's mouth twisted in annoyance at her sarcasm in a moment like this, but he decided to let it go. "We need to get you back to the healers as soon as possible," he stated, "otherwise you will die. And I know you're the Fuser, but watching my little cousin die isn't exactly something I want to experience." The young man moved to scoop her up into his arms, but stopped as the girl weakly braced a trembling hand against his chest. He was almost certain he heard a faint 'no' come from her mouth. "What?"

"No," Hunter repeated, more loudly this time. She looked her cousin square in the eyes with as much resolve as she could muster up in her condition. "You can't… take me back there, Steel," she told him firmly. "I won't… go back. I worked… too hard… to get this far—I won't go back there."

"Hunter," Steel said sternly, giving her a look that was just as determined, "listen to me. You are seriously injured and need medical attention as soon as possible."

"Then you do it," Hunter commanded.

Steel stared at the redhead as though she'd gone insane. "Do you have any idea what you're asking me? I can't do that!"

Hunter's gaze narrowed. "Can't… or won't?"

Steel glared right back at her. "Do not throw that in my face! You're my cousin, Hunter; I love you, and if I could heal you myself, I would, but I'm not trained for that kind of healing magic—I'm basically a field medic when it comes to that stuff. You need a professional healer with advanced healing spells and potions—none of which I know or have."

"Fine. Then get me outta here… and take me through the negation barrier… on the other side… so my powers come back. If you won't heal me… I'll heal myself."

"You have several broken ribs, a shattered shoulder and collar-bone, two broken legs, and your left arm is fractured in three places. Don't even get me started on the internal trauma! If your energy levels weren't so depleted, the trauma would heal fast enough, but even then it would take days for everything else to heal enough for you to be able to move on your own."

"And I… can do that at home… in the med bay… under the watchful eye of Ratchet. I just need you… to get me outta here."

"Hunter-"

"We can leave… together, Steel," Hunter tried to persuade him. "We can… leave the cult together. You can go home… be with Ally… and your parents again. And we can… take Scarface with us… and give him to the Council… and I can rip into his aft when I heal up. He'll wish… he'd never betrayed me… when I'm done with 'im."

Steel couldn't help but slightly smirk at this. He'd never been the biggest fan of their great-great-grandsire either, and he had no doubt Hunter would make some fine work out of Malice if she ever got her hands on him again. But that wasn't going to happen. "Scarface is the least of your problems right now, trust me," the blond replied. "Come on, now."

"No!" Hunter rasped forcefully. She winced and trembled at the agony it cost her.

"Hunter," Steel pleaded, stroking her face, "for the love of Primus, please let me take you to a healer. Please let me help you."

"The only way… you can help me…" Hunter stated, weakly, "… is by not taking me back… to that hellhole."

"Hunter-"

"You took me away… from my loved ones, Steel," Hunter stated. There was an accusatory glare in sapphire eyes which were tearing up once more at the thought of her cousin's betrayal. "I might not… even be here if… it weren't for you. Take me… through the barrier and to the exit. You owe me… at least that much."

For the longest moment, Steel simply stared at his young cousin, trying to decipher the emotions her words brought to him. Onthe one hand, he was still extremely concerned and worried for Hunter's health: The longer they stayed there arguing instead of getting to a healer meant the closer to death Hunter became. Steel truly had no desire to witness such a thing, and he was sure it would be no picnic for Hunter either.

On the other hand, he was furious that she would throw that accusation in his face again to try and guilt-trip him. He hadn't meant for such a thing to happen! He hadn't expected their grandmother to actually use his idea! And he hadn't been trying to hurt her! He'd just wanted to see her again—they were still family after all, despite their differences. Right? There had been good times in the past between them: He'd just wanted to try and get some of that back again—to feel that happiness again.

But what really made him angry was that Hunter's attempted guilt-trip was working. No one else had taken the time to discover that Hunter was to be adopted, and nobody else had come up with the idea of a false familial claim to derail it—that had all been him. Just him. Even if he hadn't meant for their grandmother to use the idea, he'd still devised the plan and suggested it. He'd been the one behind it. Even if he hadn't meant to cause his cousin pain he had—there was no denying that. And there was also no denying that Hunter had a point. But… he couldn't take her where she wanted to go! Could he? No. No, he couldn't take her anywhere but back to Luna—it was the only thing to do, as well as the best option considering Hunter's condition.

With a heavy sigh, Steel shook his head and regretfully told Hunter, "I'm sorry. But I can't do what you're asking of me."

"Stormcrow," Hunter whimpered, "please." The hopelessness was setting in again. This was her last chance to escape and if she couldn't get out this time, that was it; Team Prime would never find her. She would be at the mercy of Luna and the cult forever, and the rest of the universe was likely to be doomed. She had to get Steel to help her escape! "Please, Steel. You can't… take me back there! You can't!"

"I don't have a choice, Hunter."

"Yes, you do! Steel, p… please!"

"I'm sorry."

"No! St… Steel! Please! You… can't! Steel… please don't! Plea-"

Steel flicked a tiny, sparkling, purplish orb into Hunter's face. The girl's eyes immediately rolled back into her head and she slumped to the ground in a deep, peaceful sleep; no more pain and no more pleas for the time being. Steel sighed, both in relief and regret. "I'm sorry, Phoenix," he murmured as he stroked Hunter's hair affectionately, "but I don't have a choice. And you need medical attention as soon as possible." With that, the young man stood, pulled his wand back out, and circled it through the air over the unconscious redhead. Her body gracefully rose up off the ground and floated in the air, just level with the tip of Steel's wand.

It was at this point a door in the side of the pit opened. Through it came Luna, regally dressed as ever, and an utterly irate expression shadowing her face. "You've apprehended her," she observed as she came towards her grandson. "Excellent."

"She's severely wounded, Grandmother," Steel stated.

"I would hope so," Luna scoffed, "otherwise that tiger of yours isn't earning his keep."

Something inside Steel snapped a bit at that comment, and he wasn't sure why. All he was sure of was that he didn't like the way his grandmother seemed, maybe not happy, but satisfied that Hunter had been injured. Nor did he appreciate how she implied his tiger on could ever be worthless. "Tiberius would have killed Hunter if I hadn't gotten here when I did," he remarked, just managing to keep his annoyance out of his tone. The wound from his last punishment had healed, but he could still feel the burning sting of his grandmother's claw-like nails and poisoned polish as easily as freshly as if it had just happened. He had no intention of feeling that pain again.

"You should have let him," Luna replied. She turned her gaze away from her grandson to her unconscious granddaughter. "Maybe death is what will teach this girl obedience."

Steel felt his spark clench at that and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from snapping. His loyalty lay with his grandmother, and it always would, but even he could hear the unnecessary harshness of that comment.

Luna went on to heavily sigh and moved closer to Steel before reaching up with both hands to cup his face. "Never mind," she crooned, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs. "What's done is done now. Let's take her to the infirmary." She looked over at Hunter one more time and was quiet for a moment before remarking, "I assume you put her to sleep so that she wouldn't struggle."

"And hurt herself further, yes."

"Hmm. I'll leave it alone for now, as I don't feel like being degraded at the moment, but once we have her secured in the infirmary I want you to wake her before the healers do their work."

"What?" Steel asked, not sure he was hearing this right.

Luna looked back at him with a dangerous glint in her raspberry eyes. "Was I not clear?" she asked in a frighteningly quiet way. "Did you not hear my instruction?"

"No, o-of course I did, Grandmother," Steel quickly assured her, pulling his face from her hands which were starting to grip him a little more tightly than was comfortable, "but… I just assumed it would be less of a hassle to simply leave her sleeping."

"It would be, that's true, but when it comes to discipline, principles are more important that ease. Therefore, you will lift your spell once she is secured."

"But the healing process she'll have to endure will be excruciating!"

"Yes. That is the point. Huntress much be disciplined for her transgression, Steel—she must learn her lesson. And clearly pain is the only thing that makes any sort of impression with her."

"Because that worked before," Steel thought the ironic remark to himself. If he very well said it allowed, that would guarantee his tongue removed. "But, Grandmother," he went on to say, "wouldn't it make a much better impression of you in Hunter's eyes if you were to show mercy-"

Luna cut her grandson off harshly. "Mercy," she rumbled, "is granted only to those who have earned it, and your cousin is far from even the idea of being granted any." With that, she turned away, her skirts rustling to punctuate the finality of her statement and began to take her leave. "Do as I have instructed," she called over her shoulder. "I have other matters to attend to."

Steel knew that meant Malice. His stomach churned. He didn't feel any sort of affinity for his great-great-grandsire, and, indeed, subscribed to the notion that the world would be a much better place without him, but he just couldn't stomach the idea of torturing the ancient man after everything he'd already gone through. And he knew that was what was going to happen. "What do you plan on doing with him?" the boy softly asked, not wanting to stir his grandmother's ire even more than it was already.

"Never you mind," Luna snapped back. "Take care of your cousin. I will deal with old bat myself."

"Yes, Grandmother."

"And once you've left Huntress with the healers, tell them to prep the stasis chamber. I've grown weary of Huntress' failed escape attempts as well as her less than desirable attitude, and it seems the only time she is ever obedient and agreeable is when she's unconscious. I believe the chamber will take care of that nicely." And with that Luna disappeared into the darkness of the door she'd come from, leaving Steel standing there with an unconscious Hunter suspended in the air beside him.

Steel felt his spark had dropped to his toes. He didn't like this; Hunter being awake for her healing process, Luna dealing with Scarface, prepping the stasis chamber for Hunter to go into—he didn't like any of it! But he couldn't disobey his mistress… could he? The phantom sting of his previous punishment came back to his cheek, as well as those of every other punishment he'd ever received by his grandmother's hand, and—while he wasn't like Hunter in terms of number of punishments—it was more than enough to quash any thoughts of rebellion against Luna in that moment. After all, it wasn't so bad was it? Yes, Hunter would experience suffering, but it would be nothing worse than what she'd already endured, and she was strong: She would endure it well. The stasis chamber would ensure that Hunter wouldn't make things harder on herself than they had to be; she would remain out of trouble that way. And as for Malice… well… he'd tortured and caused harm to many in his time, including Luna. Though Steel couldn't quite get behind the idea, he supposed this was just part of what the old bastard had coming to him. So, no, things weren't quite so bad. Not really. Maybe.

"Yes… Grandmother," Steel murmured to himself, still not liking any of this. Not even the littlest bit.