Hostile Territory

Written by: Okami

Chapter 14- Sacrifices

~

Show me the meaning of being lonely

So many words for the broken heart

It's hard to see in a crimson love

So hard to breathe

Lyrics: Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely_Backstreet Boys

~

Authors Note: I do not own Robots in Disguise. I do however own Alana and Suzuki, therefore they can not be used anywhere other than this fanfic without my permission.

Helpful Hints: ****** - Means a change in scenery, or from Autobots to Decepticons

~~~ - Means a change in point of view but the same scenery

* * - Indicates a comlink conversation

******

Alana felt her body instantly cool as the blood drained from her face. How can I not be related to him? He is my uncle…isn't he?

"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.

Her uncle's smirk deepened at her reaction. "They never told you did they?" The man did not wait for answer before continuing. "My sister and her husband found you when you were a baby inside a dumpster, ditched by your birth parents and left to die. They took you in a raised you but without problems. Ever since you arrived their lives had been a disaster; and it was all because of you."

"But-"

"Think about it. Why were your parents always poor? Why was your father constantly unemployed? Why did they spend their savings going on a ski trip with their daughter? Why were you the only to survive the accident when no one else could have?"

Alana's mind whirled in confusion and despair. She had never wanted to hurt her parents, but by simply being near them she'd caused them pain.

"I never knew," she whispered. Her head hung low at the thought of causing her parents so much pain. "Then it was all my fault. The accident, their deaths, everything…it was all my fault." Hot tears streamed down her face as the words spiraled through her mind. Looking up at the man she had thought to be her uncle, she attempted to continue but the lump in her throat the words from emerging.

"I'm sorry," she croaked before rushing past the man and around the house towards the rocky hills. Alana ignored the calls from her Autobot companion, instead squeezing her eyes shut and pushing her legs to move faster. It was all my fault. I killed them. I filled their lives with sorrow and despair, so why was I spared? she thought sadly. The human ran into the cover of the rocks before stopping to sob. She leaned against a large boulder then slowly slid to the ground.

Tears continued to fall from her eyes and down her flushed cheeks as Alana sobbed behind the rock. She did not even bother to lift her head from her knees when the sound of heavy footsteps stopped in front of her.

"Well, well, what have we here?" a slightly familiar voice snickered.

Alana lifted her head and raised her gaze high in order to look into the eyes of the large robot before her. He seemed vaguely familiar until a toothy grin spread across his face, only then did it register who was staring down at her.

"Hello again," Skybyte greeted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Leave me alone," Alana whispered, lowering her head once more.

Skybyte cocked his head. He had not expected that reaction from her. He had thought the human would scream and call for help, or at least act a bit more frightened. Puffing up his chest in pride, he thought that maybe she was simply too afraid to move or scream.

The Predacon reached down to nab the human when a choked cry reached his audio receptors. Staring down at the female Earthling, he noticed her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she smothered down another sob. Even though he was the leader of the Predacons and right-hand man of Gigatron, he could not help but feel sorry for the human.

"Ah, now, don't cry. I didn't mean to scare you like that," Skybyte apologized, actually sounding sincere.

Alana shook her head. "No, no, it wasn't you. You don't have to feel bad."

Skybyte pondered this response. Well if I didn't do anything to upset her, then why is she crying? he asked himself, but unfortunately received no answer. He was about to voice his question when many dark shadows encompassed the ground around him.

"What do you think you are doing?" Scourge asked roughly, glaring down at the Predacon and human. "You were supposed to have that human back at base cycles ago."

"Yes, I know that," Skybyte replied harshly. "there were some unexpected circumstances and-"

"Save your pitiful excuses for Gigatron," Scourge snapped. Reaching down, the Decepticon leader roughly grabbed the female human and lifted her to his optic level. "What's so important about this human anyway? Why can't we just get rid of her now?"

"Because, our master said to use her as a bargaining chip for the stasis pod," MegaOctane replied quickly. He knew that look in Scourge's optics all too well; his leader wanted to crush the fragile human in his hands and be done with it.

Scourge reluctantly nodded in agreement and carelessly tossed Alana to Skybyte. "You will take her to Gigatron while we deal with the Autobot."

Skybyte frowned deeply but did as he was directed. Transforming into his beast mode, the Predacon held Alana in his teeth by the back of her shirt so that she was hanging by literally a thread.

"HELP!!" she screamed loudly. Fear had managed to paralyze her lungs for the past few moments, but she was finally able to break its hold and cry for help.

~~~

X-Brawn heard her cry and raced to the rescue. Unfortunately, he ended up in a Decepticon trap with no way out. With no other choice but to fight, he was forced watch helplessly as Skybyte carried off his human friend. His CPU ached from not being able to help, even though he called for backup, he knew they would be too late. Clenching his fists tightly, he summoned all the power he had within and brought it to the surface, changing to super charge mode.

"X-Brawn super-charge!" The Autobot's body became encompassed with light as his power surfaced. The energy was so intense it even changed the coloring on his metal exterior.

"Outta my way!" he shouted, firing at MegaOctane and RoTor until his gun glowed white from the extreme heat. X-Brawn managed to hold off the evil transformers long enough for his brothers and Ultra Magnus to arrive on the scene. With their added firepower, the Decepticons fled before receiving severe damage.

"Come back here!" X-Brawn hollered after the retreating Decepticons. When he attempted to follow the transformers, Ultra Magnus surprisingly held him back.

"Where do you think you're going?" the rogue Autobot asked. He had come to accept Sideburn's hot-headedness but had never thought X-Brawn had it too. Then again they were brothers.

"We've got to get her back," he replied, glancing quickly at the spot where he had last seen Skybyte.

"Get who back?" Magnus asked.

"The little lady, who else?"

Ultra Magnus did the equivalent of a human raising an eyebrow. "The little lady?" he repeated. "What little lady?"

"Alana. Ya know, the human who has been staying at the base for the past few days," the Autobot brother answered, becoming a bit frustrated. "That Pred Skybyte took her."

"We should organize a rescue operation immediately," Prowl stated suggestively. He began blurting out several different types of plans when he was cut off by a message from Prime.

*Everyone report back to base ASAP. We are receiving an incoming message from Gigatron.*

******

Gigatron drummed his fingers on the arm of his throne, his mouth component clenched tight. It had been several hours since he had sent Skybyte to retrieve the human and his loyal second in command had yet to return. He rose and began pacing the room impatiently. This human was essential to his plans for defeating the Autobots and stealing all of the earth's energy. Without her whom could he use as a bargaining chip? The boy Koji was too well protected by the Autobots so there was no way to kidnap him, and any other human would not pose as definite enough motivation for the Autobots and would not produce the panicked expressions Gigatron enjoyed so much.

The Predacon leader continued to stomp around his throne room, growling and muttering under his breath occasionally. He would snap at anyone who was not Skybyte and dared to disturb him for trivial requests.

"Gigatron, sir," Skybyte began, kneeling before his leader. He opened his mouth component to continue when Gigatron nearly bit his head.

"Skybyte! Where have you been! You know this human is essential in my plans, don't you! Well? Don't' you!" Gigatron roared, not giving his most loyal underling a chance to explain. When Skybyte opened his mouth to answer, the Predacon leader cut him off.

"I don't want to hear your excuses, Skybyte! Where is the human? Did you manage to retrieve her? You do remember what will happen if you fail me again, don't you? That's right, Scourge will take your place and I will make sure to turn you into-"

Skybyte remained in his kneeling position throughout the entire berating, wincing whenever Gigatron would raise his voice or cut him off. He waited patiently for his master to allow him a moment to explain and present his prize, but the chance did not come for some time. Finally, the Predacon shark raised his optics from the ground and brought his fingered hand into view. Clasped between his large, metal fingers was the human Gigatron had asked for.

The Predacon leader stopped in mid sentence upon seeing a human in Skybyte's grasp staring up at him with tear-filled eyes. Gigatron began congratulating his underling for his excellent work. Laughter filled his throat then exploded out of his mouth, filling the chamber with a booming roar. My plans are finally coming into play. With this human in my possession the Autobots won't dare do a thing if they want her to live. Their kind hearts will be the end of them once and for all.

"I do believe it's time to enact the first part of my brilliant plan," Gigatron chuckled. Summoning his viewing oval, he was successful in patching a link to the Autobots base. "There's no time like the present," he grinned to himself.

Optimus Prime's face appeared in the viewing screen, optics flashing dangerously. As the screen widened, all Autobots could be seen in the background, awaiting the Predacon leader's message.

Gigatron smiled evilly as he scanned the expressions of each Autobot. They all seemed curious but three in particular glared at him with piercing optics; they knew what this was about.

"Greetings Optimus Prime," Gigatron began sweetly. "How is that human friend of yours?"

Prime narrowed his optics. "What is it you want Gigatron?"

"No need for rude comments, Optimus. But, if you insist, I'll get to the point. I want that stasis pod," he stated harshly.

"And what makes you think we're going to give it to you? You overgrown dumpster!" Sideburn replied, shaking his fist at the enemy leader.

Gigatron's face suddenly twisted with anger, which was quickly replaced with one of mock humor as he donned a lop-sided smile. "I would choose your words carefully, young Autobot. If you at all value that human's pathetic life."

"What did you just say?" Prowl asked aloud, surprise etched on his face.

Gigatron laughed loudly at the startled expressions of the Autobots. Holding up his hand, he proudly displayed his prisoner.

"Why you no good, cowardly varmint!" X-Brawn hissed.

The Predacon tisked, shacking his head sadly. "Did you hearing nothing I just said? Well, let me give you a demonstration." Gigatron proceeded to clench his hand around the fragile human. She screamed in pain as the fingers surrounding her body tightened, literally crushing her.

This continued for only a few moments yet it seemed like hours. The human's painful cries echoed throughout the room, occasionally overlapping to produce an overwhelming effect on the Autobots. Only when they begged him to stop did the Predacon relinquish his hold on Alana. When the pressure subsided, she began gasping for breath and a few painful tears dripped down her cheeks.

The Autobots clenched their fists as well, imagining Gigatron's neck between their fingers. They refrained from commenting any more for fear of causing their friend more unnecessary harm.

"Listen carefully, Optimus Prime, because I will only say this once. If you want your little friend here back alive and in one piece, bring the stasis pod to this location [a map appeared on the screen below Gigatron's face]. No tricks." With that, the link was disconnected, leaving a room full of stunned Autobots.

"What are we going to do, Optimus?" Koji asked, breaking the silence.

All optics turned to their leader and most trusted friend. Everyone knew Optimus wished more than anything to keep the humans out of this fight, but would he willing to sacrifice one life to save the protoform or would he give the Decepticons another troop?

"We will give them what they want. I will not sit by and watch an innocent human die," Prime replied, his voice strong and powerful. Glancing at the pod then at his warriors, he ordered everyone to remain at base, except the Autobot brothers, who were to accompany him to the destined meeting place.