Ch. 42
Bumblebee beeped over his COMM unit as he pushed his engine to go faster, taking hard turns in his car mode with stride. The scout was doing what he did best; scouting. The yellow mech chatted as he did so, beeping again in question when Bulkhead didn't respond.
"You know, I'm a little worried too," the green mech sighed, his voice tired, "It's been almost a week and a half since Megatron caught him. If Miko keeps asking where Screamy is at this rate, my audials are gonna fall out of my helm!"
Bumblebee beeped in understanding, explaining how Raf thought Starscream was purposefully avoiding everyone because he was scared.
Bulkhead laughed loudly over the COMM, "Starscream? Scared? Maybe a couple months ago I could've agreed with that! But I'm not so sure. It feels more like he doesn't want to stand by anyone anymore..."
The yellow mech suddenly beeped loudly, a blip on his monitor lighting up.
Bulkhead confirmed within seconds, "Yeah, I just got the same signal. Could be another homing beacon. Let's rendezvous at the coordinates."
Bumblebee drove faster as the sun over the mountains became little more than a glow, night overtaking the roads. The yellow mech drove off the asphalt and onto dirt, transforming as his form became hidden by large boulders. Bumblebee walked cautiously to where the beacon was coming from, an odd green device with orange lights sitting atop a large stone. Was it a relic?
The scout's optics brightened as he looked it over. It didn't exactly look... Cybertronian. Bumblebee beeped in confusion then whirled around when he heard a noise, like static. The yellow mech saw a bright, blue light shoot at him from some distance away, then felt a pain from behind him, like someone had knocked him down.
Starscream snarled and rolled with the smaller mech to the side to avoid another electrical pulse, his blasters raised, "Bumblebee, you better be battle ready!"
The scout beeped in surprise, but transformed out his blasters, aiming where the seeker was aiming. A loud, slow clap resonated through the small canyon and Silas stepped out through the shadows, MECH soldiers ready with their weapons.
"I have to say, I'm impressed," he chuckled, "but I shouldn't be surprised, knowing what you're capable of, Starscream."
The man said his name snidely and the seeker growled, "You know nothing of what I am capable of, you parasite. And if you don't want to die, you'll lower your weapons and give yourselves up to the authorities when they arrive," he glanced at Bumblebee, who nodded and activated his COMM.
The yellow mech beeped quietly, then wailed, grabbing at his helm as a loud ringing pounded into his processor. Starscream winced in surprise at Bumblebee's cry, but kept his blasters trained on the MECH soldiers.
"What happened?! What did you do?!"
"External communications aren't going to be allowed in this area," Silas smirked, "It's a dead zone."
The seeker snarled and fired rapidly with a blaster, grabbing up Bumblebee by the arm with his other servo to guide him back, "Forget calling for help, just fire with me!"
The yellow mech shook his helm with a whimper but nodded, adding his blue blaster fire to Stasrcream's red.
The MECH troops easily dove for cover behind a rock formation, but didn't fire back. It didn't make much sense. There were only a handful of MECH soldiers beside Silas. There should have been dozens more, all armed, waiting for this. Starscream remembered more than just the three next to the sadistic human. What was going on?
Silas sighed, looking at a device on his belt, "Well, this has been a treat, but I think their time is up," he clicked a button on the side of the device, "Send in wave two."
Starscream and Bumblebee halted their blaster fire when an odd noise hit their audials. It sounded big, as the rumbling in the ground could clearly indicate. The darkness betrayed the two mechs as this big, unseen vehicle drove closer. Then there was another, coming from a different direction. The seeker growled. A second trap.
Silas stood high on the rock that had been his cover, calling out, "Wave two, begin your assault!"
Bright lights exploded into the area, blinding Bumblebee and Starscream. The whirring of helicopters above them added to the lights and through the painful rays, the seeker could just make out the two large, military grade transport vehicles circling them. Frag.
Starscream watched as one of the vehicles opened and more than two dozen soldiers piled out, all aiming the same type of gun.
Silas pointed, "Take aim! ... Fire!"
The seeker grumbled, "Figures."
Starscream felt a searing hot burn crawl through his chassis as a well aimed shot to his side rolled around in his systems like a fiery tornado. He collapsed with a scream as his optics blanked out and shuttered closed. Bumblebee beeped loudly, kneeling over the silver mech as he tried to fire back. But the blinding lights effected his aim and then he felt an electrical crack against his chest plate, the surge forcing him into a power down as he collapsed on top of Starscream.
The MECH soldiers held their fire and the lights dimmed. Silas frowned as a soldier walked up to him with a radar device.
"Sir, we have another one inbound. Our police plant can hold it off, but maybe for only a few minutes."
The man frowned harder. They didn't have enough time to pull the silver mech out from underneath the yellow scout.
Silas stared a moment longer at Bumblebee and Starscream then turned, waving, "Load them both up, we're leaving!"
Long hooks and cords were deployed and wrapped around both mechs, winches groaning loudly as they pulled their hapless chassises into a near empty vehicle. Starscream felt his optics online for but a moment as the doors closed, locking them in, and in the blurriness of his vision, he thought he saw Silas standing over them, smirking.
His helm hurt. And he swore to Primus if he ever felt this pain again, he'd...
Starscream groaned and winced when he felt a strain in his arms. He didn't have to online his optics to guess where he was. The adorable, little MECH lab. The one a good few miles from where he and Bumblebee were attacked, in the middle of a forest. A soft chirp stopped him from growling and his optics onlined, red locking with bright blue orbs that stared from across the warehouse.
Bumblebee was chained, hanging from his arms on a large construction crane and he kicked his wrapped legs lightly in a tired struggle, beeping softly to ask if Starscream was alright.
The seeker did his best to shrug, he himself chained in a similar way, then snarled when he saw Silas walk out from the shadows, MECH soldiers and scientists bustling around as they prepped for whatever they had in mind.
"Good, now you're both awake," he sneered, "We were wondering if we would have to be forced into using... alternative methods."
Starscream glared and tugged hard on his chains but Silas only shook his head, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he growled, "We need you in pristine condition. If we have to put you out again to ensure that," around the seeker MECH soldiers aimed their guns, "we won't hesitate to do so."
Bumblebee beeped again, asking Starscream to stop and wait. He didn't want to see him get hurt.
The seeker huffed, flexing his claws to get feeling back into them, "So, to what do we owe this displeasure then?"
Silas pointed to a large monitor on the far wall, both the seeker's and the scout's chassis specs highlighted, "We're going to be running a few tests. Neither of you are likely to survive, but you'll be doing us a great service, so allow me to thank you in advance."
Starscream hissed deeply as a team of scientists traveled by catwalk behind him, looking over the back of his helm. He flinched away, but that didn't seem to deter them.
"Sir," one of the scientists reported, "same entry way, just like the scraps on the battlefield. It should be a simple link."
"Good," Silas replied, walking up to the monitors to watch, "we'll start with him then," the man looked over at Starscream, "We've waited a while to crack you open," he explained, "so I don't see any reason why we should have to wait any longer."
A troop of MECH soldiers walked in carrying a tightly bound, thick coil of cord. The seeker frowned at the coil in confusion until they began to unravel it. Bumblebee whirled loudly in disapproval and struggled hard in his bonds. Starscream grit his dentals tightly as he held in an intake. The uncoiled mess looked like a primitive cortical patch cord. And the seeker didn't need anyone to tell him who they intended to use it on.