Before I begin I will give a heads up warning that there will be swearing in this chapter, usage of the f-bomb mostly. Reader Discretion is advised.

Chapter 8

Soon after I had been cut free and allowed to exit the vehicle, Silas led me into a large room that looked like it had been part of a factory at some point. "Where are we?" I asked.

"An old concrete factory outside of Jasper," Silas answered. "Why are you hiding your right arm?"

I glanced down and looked back at my adoptive father. I was still in the habit of wearing long sleeves and a glove on my right hand. "Injury." I said.

"How bad?"

"Bad enough." I answered narrowing my eyes. "What are you planning to do with miss Darby?"

"Use her as a tool to get what we need for MECH to thrive." Silas replied.

"And as a tool for vengeance." A voice from my nightmares replied.

Airachnid. I cursed. I turned around and sure enough the spider robot was there. Her purple eyes widened in shock when they saw me, "Surprised?" I asked her.

"Well, I see that you're still alive," Airachnid said approaching cautiously. "I guess that's a good thing."

"Airachnid," Silas said. "How do you know my son?"

"You're the youngling's sire?" she asked in surprise.

"Adoptive." I put in. I turned to Silas and said, "She hunted me and I escaped. She also gave me this." I pointed to the scar that spanned my face.

"I take it that was when you ran away?" Silas asked. I nodded. Silas looked at Airachnid and asked, "What else did you do to him?"

"Nothing, that was all the harm I did to your youngling," Airachnid replied. "He harmed himself."

"What?" Silas asked in confusion.

I pulled up the long sleeve and removed my glove. "I cut off my own arm to avoid being killed by her." I said my voice laced with venom. "She gave me one hour to live before she would come back and kill me, I did the only logical thing, I took my arm and I survived."

"But how?" Silas asked.

"I'm not sure, I woke up in a hospital." I lied. "The government came and said that they'd give me a prosthetic one and I agreed to it."

"Well I think that's enough of the chit chat for now, we have guests that we need to prepare for." Silas said. I frowned and Silas looked at me and clarified, "We're getting an Autobot and its human here."

"Jack, Jack Darby?" I asked in shock. "You're going to kill a kid that's a year younger than I am, just so you can get a fuckin prize!"

"Much must be sacrificed in war." Silas said coldly.

"In case you haven't noticed, the only war that is going on is the one that you fucking started!" I yelled. "Sometimes I wonder where the hell the man that adopted me has gone!"

"I'm right here, Beau." Silas said softly.

"No," I said quietly shaking my head. "No you're not. You're different and you're not the same loving man that I had come to love as my new father. Your worse than she is!" I pointed to Airachnid.

Silas sighed and motioned for men that he had to step forward. Two stepped forward and he said, "Take Beau to a separate room and guard the door. No one goes in there and he doesn't leave until I speak to him."

"Yes, sir." The two men said in unison.

"We'll talk later, Beau." Silas said.

"You bet we will." I spat.

One of the men placed his hand on my left arm and I shrugged him off. I was led through the room until we reached a hallway. I was mapping this out in my mind for when I made my escape. We took a left down the hallway and to a room that had a simple wooden door. One of the men opened the door and I was shoved in. I heard the door click and lock and I cursed. This is going to be harder than I anticipated. I thought.

I sat down on the floor and wished for the first time that I wasn't wearing shorts. It made it easier if I got into a fight, but the jeans offered protection from the splintered covered ground. I looked at my prosthetic and sighed, Agent Fowler had told me that it was an experimental one, what was so special about it? I never had noticed anything different. The forearm was the same size as my real one and the hand was the same size as my left as well. It functioned like a real hand and forearm did, but that was about it. I ran my hand over the prosthetic forearm and I was surprised when I found a small indent in the middle of the forearm. My forehead furrowed in confusion and I placed my thumb there. I pushed up and my thumb opened the hidden latch that had been there. My eyes widened as I saw buttons that I had never laid eyes on before, and the best part was they were labeled. There were six buttons and they were arranged in two columns and three rows. The first button on the top left read, Gun, underneath that read, Knife, the final button of that column read, Flares. The next column started with a button that was labeled, Ammunition, then Knife 2 and the last button was labeled, Communications Relay (Com Unit).

I pressed the button that was labeled Knife 2 and a one-foot long blade extended from the top of my wrist and above my hand. So this is what they meant by experimental. I pressed that button again and the blade retracted back into my forearm. I pressed Knife and a double-edged knife that I estimated to be ten inches long emerged from the bottom of my forearm. I shook my head in amazement and I pressed the button again to retract the blade. I pressed Gun and was surprised when my hand folded in a weird way and formed a small hole where the hand should have been. I looked and saw that my index finger was on a trigger and I surmised that I was staring down the barrel of a forty-five. I pressed the button again and my hand folded back into place and formed my right hand again. I pressed the Com Unit and I was disappointed that nothing transformed or changed. I held the arm towards my ear and all I heard was static. I sighed in disappointment and pressed the button. The static ended and I was left feeling better about my chances of escaping.

Careful, Beau, a voice in the back of my mind whispered. You might have to either kill someone again to get out of here alive and get Jack and his mother out of this too. Or you might have to critically injure them.

"Shut up!" I told the voice. I looked outside the barred window and saw that it was dark out. I wondered what the time was and I pounded on the door.

"Forget it Beau, we heard what you did to the last person that guarded you," a voice said. "We're not falling for that."

I rolled my eyes and yelled, "What time is it?"

"Close to eleven forty." Another voice answered.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Dick wad." I mumbled under my breath. Time to see what this thing can do! I clenched the prosthetic in a fist. I punched through the dry wall and I heard a startled cry and I pulled the prosthetic back and punched through the dry wall again.

"Beau, what are you doing?"

"Something that I should've done when I was first placed in here." I growled.

The door opened and I pressed the button that transformed my hand into a 45. I shot just as one of the guards walked in. I had been aiming low and it hit him in the thigh, away from major arteries and veins. He dropped and cursed, "Fuck that hurts!" I ran over to the fallen body and I knelt down so that I could punch him in the face with my real hand. He was now laying on the ground, unconscious, and I stood up over the limp body. I exited and dodged the Taser that was shot out from the other guard and I tackled him. I pressed the button and my prosthetic turned back to a normal looking prosthetic. I punched the guard in the face with the prosthetic and his head connected with the ground with a sickening crunch. I ran back the way I had been lead just in time to see Arcee get knocked to the ground unconscious.

"No." I whispered. "This can't be happening! This cannot be fucking happening!"

"Gentlemen." Silas said.

Two men walked towards Jack and took his cell phone and some sort of communication's device that MECH was known for. Airachnid stepped forward and knelt in front of Jack. "I'm still learning about human kind," Airachnid was saying. "But one thing was clear to me, Jack, you people care deeply about family." My eyes widened in realization, June had been the bait! "Therefore the sweetest revenge I could possibly devise would to be to make you watch as I take your family apart."

I wanted so desperately to help Jack, but I knew that helping Arcee recover would be the only way to help him. I might have to kill again, I thought with dread. I closed my eyes and heard Jack reply, "If you hurt my mother I…"

"You remember how much I enjoy sport, don't you Jack?" Airachnid asked. "So, I'll give you an opportunity to save your mother. I've stashed her close by. If you do rescue her before the stroke of twelve, I will let both of you go unharmed. Deal?"

"And if I can't?" Jack asked.

"What do you think?" Airachnid asked.

Jack ran to Silas and pleaded with him, I didn't catch the words Jack used. My blood boiled when I saw Silas shove Jack to the ground. Jack stood up and ran out to search for his mother and I emerged slowly from behind a crate as Silas turned his back.

Silas seemed to be talking to himself, but I didn't catch what he was saying to himself or to those underneath him. I heard the sound of a saw starting and my heart went faster, they were going to kill Arcee! "Make haste, gentlemen! Don't worry about making a mess." Silas said.

The two soldiers finished removing the webbing and that's when I made my move. I yelled and tackled the one on the left and knocked him out with a solid punch to the temple. "We only have time to take one part." Silas said turning around. The other soldier brought the drill towards Arcee's chest and I stood up only to find myself restrained by Silas, "Don't do this, son." He said.

"You. Are. Not. My. Father!" I yelled head-butting him. Silas let go of me just as Arcee woke up and took care of the soldiers. Two started firing at her as she transformed and rode off in search of Jack and his mother.

"Let her go." Silas ordered. "No matter the outcome, the spoils will be ours."

"What about him?" a soldier asked as he grabbed me.

"Keep him here with me." Silas said.

"Of course, sir." The man said shoving me towards Silas.

"I can't believe you!" I yelled in his face. "You'd let to innocents die for something that you cannot possibly hope to comprehend! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Beau, calm down," Silas ordered. "There is much you don't understand."

"Like hell there is." I retorted crossing my arms and turning away from him. I would not watch what was going to give him the perverse pleasure of a robot slugfest. Everything was silent for a couple of minutes until the sound of helicopter's firing was heard.

"How did they find us?" Silas asked.

I turned around to face him and saw the look of shock on his face. I smirked; Jack must've stolen his radio or communicator to contact Fowler. Smart kid. Silas watched the video feed of Airachnid scanning one of the helicopters and then transforming and taking off. "So, that's how it's done." he said with a pleased tone pausing it. "Time to go, move out."

"Yes, sir." All of the soldiers said.

I remained as the others walked away and I think Silas finally noticed I wasn't by his side. "Beau! Come along." Silas said.

I shook my head and said, "Sorry dad, that's not happening."

"What?" Silas asked in shock.

I looked my adoptive father, a man whom I loved in the eye and said, "I'm not coming with. You've changed and not for the better. I cannot be a part of something like this anymore. I need to get out of this."

"Beau…" Silas said.

"Why do you think I left MECH the first time?" I demanded. "I left because I couldn't stand seeing you go down a path that I will not follow. It hurts me to do this to you, but I have to stop you from harming others."

"You're abandoning us? Just like that?" Silas asked getting angry.

"Yes," I said feeling oddly calm. "I am."

"Sir, we need to go," a soldier said. "The agency could come through these walls and take us any minute now."

Silas nodded and signaled for his soldiers to move out. "We'll meet again, son," he said.

"No doubt on opposite sides of the battle line." I said watching the pained expression cross Silas' face.

My father turned and left, following the soldiers that I now felt were following him blindly. I walked out of the front door only to have my chest get pointed at with a lot of red lasers. "Scrap."

"Beau?" Agent Fowler asked in surprise.

"Sup?" I called back to the man that was walking towards me.

"Lower your weapons, that's an order!" Fowler said.

The red dots disappeared and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"What are you doing here?" Agent Fowler asked when he reached me.

I scratched the back of my head and then told him everything that had transpired; how I saw Ms. Darby getting abducted, how I stepped in and tried to help and how that led to me getting brought to this place along with her. I then told him of how I found the panel hidden under a plate in my forearm. I told him of how I broke out of the room I had been imprisoned in and then how I had come to be in that main room. I finished and Agent Fowler whistled. "That's all I got." I lied, leaving out the part of the argument between Silas and me.

"Do you have any idea where they could've gone?" Agent Fowler asked.

"Who?"

"MECH."

I inwardly cringed and shook my head. "Sorry, Agent Fowler, but I can't help you there." I said.

"Let's get ya home, kid."

"I can find my own way." I said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I need to mull some things over." I turned and started running towards the gateway to the factory. I ran until I came to an intersection that I didn't recognize and I frowned. I heard the sound of a motorcycle behind be and I turned around.

I lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the headlights and when the motorcycle stopped I heard a familiar voice, "Don't you ever do that to me again, kid!"

"Flare?" I asked.

A snort. "Who else?"

I laughed and lowered my hand. "Sorry about that, but Miss Darby was being abducted."

"And you decided to be a hero and help out," Flare said. "Look where that got ya."

I cringed and sighed in defeat. "Yeah, yeah, I know," I said. "I'm sorry, Flare, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to help out."

"I know, get on, I'm taking you home." Flare said softly.

I mounted Flare and she took me home. The garage door opened and I looked down at Flare curiously. We pulled into the garage and the door closed. "Let me guess, you hacked into the system and learned to operate it yourself?" I asked.

Flare chuckled and replied, "Yeah, I did. It makes it easier for me to come and go if I need to."

I nodded and said, "Night, Flare, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a nice recharge." Flare replied.

"I'll do my best," I said with a slight smile. "You have a nice one yourself." I opened the door and didn't wait for her reply.

I went straight to my room and got into some new shorts that I could sleep in. I climbed into bed and my last conscious thought was, What a long ass day.