(A/N)

Eyyyyyyy- Happy New Year everybody! Finally on to 2018! I'm sorry that this one took a while but I was kinda struggling with what I wanted to be in this chapter while at the same time I also wanted it to be a little longer as a make-up for how long you've been waiting. I am kinda slowing down with chapter updates and I'm sorry but it's probably not going to get faster anytime soon. I am still in school and I have finals coming, but I wanted to get this up and out of the way.

Anyway, enough of my rambling, here it is!


A depressing mood hung over the Autobot base in the week that passed. For their safety, Jack, Miko, and June were to be confined to base, which meant no school and that the Darby's had to quit their jobs. After the transmission with Megatron, Agent Fowler had no choice but to inform the government of Rafael's capture, which would also mean informing them of the other humans.

Fowler managed to convince his superiors to allow June and the kids to stay under the Autobot's protection, while the government would provide them with the proper necessities.

Meanwhile, Miko and Rafael's family had to be relocated, should the Decepticons return for them as well. Miko's host family were confused by why they were being forced to move, yet the answer they received did not answer all their questions. Both families were told that Miko and Rafael had accidentally gotten involved with a terrorist organization, and therefore had to be put under government protection. However, for the Esquivel family, they were told that their son was kidnapped by said terrorists and that they were being moved should the terrorists come back to try and captured more of them. The family, of course, demanded to know who exactly took their son and why they wanted him, but their questions merely fell on deaf ears.

Rafael's other family, the Autobots, were in disarray. Ratchet was on a constant search for any of the Decepticons' frequencies, while Jack and Miko looked for public sightings of their warship. Optimus, Bulkhead, and Arcee went on frequent patrols to try and track down any leads to the Decepticon's whereabouts. Bumblebee, however, was the most active. The second he was back in base, he bridged himself to another location, determined to spot the Nemesis and get back his human charge. The bot rarely was in the base long enough to refuel or rest.

The team had multiple times tried to tell him to not push himself so much, but the young scout ignored them. Finally, when the scout began showing signs of energon depletion, did Optimus put his pede down.

"Bumblebee," the Prime said, trying to get the scouts attention before he could head out of the base for the fifth time that day. "While your motives are reasonable and your assistance appreciated, I would implore you to let your systems rest so that- "

"Rest?" He beeped, cutting his leader off and looking him in the optics. "You want me to rest while Raf is in the hands of the Decepticons? Rest while Megatron is doing Primus knows what to him?!"

Bulkhead stepped up. "Bee... he didn't mean it like that..."

"Then what did he mean?" Bumblebee snapped, silencing the green mech. He felt a gentle yet firm servo grasp his shoulder, causing him to spin around and face Optimus.

"Bumblebee, we will find Rafael, however, in order to do so, we need to be fully refueled and recharged." He said in a stern manner, yet his optics were gentle and held only worry for his youngest soldier.

Bumblebee looked down at the ground, his optics dimming in what looked like defeat. Then, his servo suddenly tightened into a first before he ripped his shoulder from Optimus's grasp. "If you guys want to recharge then be my guest, but I'm not resting until I find Raf."

With that, he began to make his way into the tunnel leading outside, but before he could leave, a voice thundered behind him.

"Then I have no choice but to confine you to the base."

Bumblebee stopped and his helm whipped around to look at the Prime in silent shock. The other members of Team Prime also looked at their leader. The young scout searched Optimus's faceplates for any sign that he was lying, yet he found none.

"But Raf- "

"What will you do when you finally find Megatron's ship?" Ratchet interrupted harshly, silencing the younger mech. He had been standing at the computer terminal, just watching their conversation, but now he decided best to step in. "Nothing. Why? Because you would have so exhausted that you wouldn't be able to defend yourself, much less Rafael."

Bumblebee glared at Ratchet before looking down at his pedes. The scout knew they were right, and he did indeed feel incredibly tired. He also knew better than to disobey Optimus, and so, he retreated past his team and down the hall that led to his recharge quarters. The other bots in the room watched him go with sorrowful gazes. Bulkhead was the first to follow Bumblebee's lead to get some rest, and thus bid goodnight to his teammates before walking down the hall. Arcee stood next to Optimus and Ratchet before saying her own farewell and following. Now only the Prime and medic stood alone in the silent room.

"He's not going to give up." Ratchet told his leader. "None of them are, but Bumblebee more than the others. He's become so reckless since Rafael's kidnapping."

"Bumblebee was closer to Rafael than any of us, it is only reasonable for him to be the most worried of our young ally's well being," Optimus responded, his gaze still on the hallway that Team Prime had vanished down.

Ratchet hesitated before asking the Prime a question that had been bothering him since their transmission with the Decepticon's Leader. "Do you believe what Megatron said? About not... harming Rafael." The medic looked at the taller mech, who returned his gaze.

"I am not sure, Old Friend. However, if Megatron planned on bringing such harm to our human companion, I believe he would have made a ransom for Rafael's life." Optimus's optics narrowed grimly. "Whatever Megatron wants with Rafael, he wants him alive."


"Prime!" Agent Fowler's voice rang through the Autobot's computer terminal when Ratchet accepted the call. However, instead of the human's voice being full of anger or frustration, as it usually was, it sounded more like sudden urgency.

"Yes, what is it, Agent Fowler?" Optimus answered.

"Are all the bots there, cause they might want to hear this." The African-American asked him, to which the Prime gave him the affirmative, and the human continued.

"Two nights ago there were three total stores robbed in one night. Now, this wouldn't usually be brought up with you guys if all three robberies weren't made by the exact same person." The man hesitated as if he was still going through shock from the information. "Prime... it's Raf."

"Agent Fowler are you certain?" Optimus urged quickly before he or his team got their hopes up.

"I'm sending you the footage now."

Sure enough, a ding from the monitor alerted them that they received a data package. Ratchet opened it and the entirety of Team Prime, including the humans, watched as video footage from a security camera appeared on the terminal screen. It showed a familiar human in pajamas enter the store and move between multiple clothing racks while grabbing a backpack and a blanket, before bolting towards the store's entrance. The employees and security guards tried to catch him, but Rafael escaped by jumping into a red vehicle, which then sped off with a purple one right behind it. There were no license plats, however, the familiar insignia that bore their features told the Autobots that such information would be useless anyway.

"Knockout," Arcee spat, glaring at the video.

"Accompanied by a vehicon," Optimus added as they watched the other videos. They noticed that Rafael had changed his appearance before entering a food store and repeating the same process as the previous store. He grabbed non-perishable items before running out of the building and jumping into the vehicon this time.

The last store, Rafael seemed to only be able to grab a towel as he was almost caught by an already skeptical employee.

"We sure that's Raf?" Miko asked from the human's platform. "I mean, he'd never steal from anyone. Plus, why didn't he just contact us?"

"I don't doubt that the Decepticons somehow threatened Rafael into not contacting us, and even if he did, Soundwave was most likely monitoring all cellular frequencies." Ratchet theorized.

"There's a list of the items stolen, it came with the data package." Agent Fowler told them. Ratchet pulled it up and Team Prime all read it over.

June looked at the list, and while it might seem almost random, she as a nurse noticed a pattern immediately. "These are all items for basic needs." She realized.

The others looked at the woman, who quickly concluded that the Autobots were not following exactly. She then explained. "For physical survival, a human needs five things: food, drink, sleep, shelter, and oxygen. The Decepticon's warship provides for the last two, but if the others aren't taken care of, it would be problematic." June told them in a serious tone. She recalled the few patients she would get who were homeless and starving or suffering from the harsh temperatures of Nevada.

"The types of items on the list prove that Rafael must have known this too. A blanket and clothing for sleep and warmth, and non-perishable items for long-lasting food and drink sources." The nurse finished. "It's part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Basic Needs."

"June's right," Fowler spoke. "The kid was smart enough to know this, but with the list of items, it brings up another problem."

"And what's that?" Bulkhead asked.

"Non-perishable items," Ratchet repeated, emphasizing the words as he turned to the team. "Things that can last quite a while, at least by human standards."

"Which means that the Decepticons plan on keeping Rafael their prisoner for longer than we first suspected," Optimus confirmed everyone's thoughts.

It was in that moment of silence that Jack noticed a certain yellow scout was missing from the room. "Hey," the others looked at him. "Where's Bumblebee?"

They all looked around and indeed, their youngest ally was missing. The sound of a door closing echoed from down the hall, informing the team that the scout had closed himself off in his berthroom.


RRafael looked up at the Decepticon medic when he told him that Megatron would be coming by again for another "test". Rafael nodded silently, even if the medic ignored it, and then turned to look back at his 'home'.

Since he had stolen all those things from the stores, he had been moved from the glass cylinder to an empty shelf in the med-bay. With the things he stole, he made a makeshift bed that consisted of the blanket and his backpack as a pillow. A 'pantry', which was just all the food and water organized in a pile, was placed next to his bed. All his clothes were stuffed in his backpack and the towel was draped over it.

For the past three days, he had just been sitting there, watching Knockout go about his daily routine of tending to injured vehicons. Rafael noticed how they looked at him strangely like they were curious as to why he was there. The boy felt a bit uncomfortable when they would just stare at him and occasionally whisper among themselves, but besides that, Raf didn't mind their presence. It was interesting to actually be able to look at them without the barrel of their guns blocking his view. They seemed a lot more docile than what he was used to.

The sound of the med bay doors opening brought his attention to the Decepticon warlord that entered the room. Despite Rafael slowly getting used to being surrounded by Decepticons, he still always flinched under their leader's gaze.

Knockout walked into the room. "The human is ready for testing, Lord Megatron."

"Good," He said before making his way to Rafael, who pressed against the wall, not able to run anywhere on the shelf where he couldn't be reached.

And then it began, the rapid heating of his body, followed by the same powerful headache that he felt not that long ago. He slid to his knees and brought both hands up to his head. However, unlike last time, the pain stopped before he could pass out again. He stood up from where he fell on the floor, using the wall as a support, before looking up at Megatron, who's optic ridges were furrowed in deep thought.

"My Liege, if I may..." Knockout spoke up.

"Continue," was the Warlord's curt reply.

"Perhaps the human can't be controlled, he is, after all, a living creature rather than the terrorcons, who are dead." Knockout pointed out, being careful to mind his words.

"Oh really, Knockout?" The sarcasm seemed to drip from Megatron's words as he glared at his medic. "I hadn't noticed." The cherry red mech gave a sheepish smile.

The warlord then turned back to the human before deciding to go a different route with his experiment. Perhaps there was another way to control the Autobot's pet. The insignia on his chest pulsed once again as he focused on the boy, or more specifically, the dark energon that acted like white blood cells in his body. The silver mech, using the Blood of Unicron, search through the vital systems of the child, who was expecting another wave a pain to hit him, yet instead, nothing happened.

~ Hmm, perhaps not, then, ~ Rafael heard Megatron say, yet his mouth didn't move and Knockout made no acknowledgment that the warlord spoke.

~ What? ~ Rafael thought to himself and as if he heard him, Megatron reacted by narrowing his optics out of suspicion. Perhaps he did do something after all.

~ Can you understand my words? ~ The silver mech tested and, at first, Rafael thought that his voice boomed through the room, but instead, the boy realized that the voice was inside his head.

Rafael gave a hesitant nod.

"Fascinating," The warlord muttered, his optic ridges furrowing in thought.

"Uhh... what's fascinating?" Knockout spoke up, completely confused.

Megatron did not take his optics off the child, who was slowly becoming uncomfortable and more puzzled. "The dark energon seems to be acting like a spark bond, allowing telepathic communication."

Knockout blinked in surprise. "A spark bond?" He questioned but received no answer, for Megatron abruptly walked out, leaving behind two confounded beings.

"A spark bond?" Rafael recalled Ratchet briefly mentioning it, but he never went into much detail. "What exactly is a spark bond?"

Knockout eyed the human. "It's when two mechs, femmes, or both combine their sparks, trading one piece of their own with the other and vise-versa. It's most commonly used as a romantic union between two people, tying them to one another until they offline."

"So it's like a marriage? Only more..."

"Important, sacred, spiritual, depends on how one looks at it really." Knockout shrugged. "But it can be used in a sibling or parent-child sense as well." The cherry red mech blinked before rolling his optics. "Why am I even telling this to a useless flesh bag like you?" He muttered.

Rafael ignored his insult. "So family bonds? Are those also eternal, like the marriage one?"

"Yes and yes," the medic replied as he walked over to his buffer, hoping that the fleshie would drop the topic. His wish went ignored.

"Is there no way to... end a spark bond?" The boy asked, trying to hide the hope in his voice. If it was true that the dark Energon created a sort of spark bond between him and Megatron, however unusual that was, maybe there was a way that he could block him out.

The cherry red mech blinked before looking down at the boy, giving a sly grin. "You're clever for an Autobot pet, but you should know..." The mech leaned over to the human. "You can never con a 'Con." He then hit the button of his rotter and walked off to begin polishing his already shiny paint.

Rafael watched the mech leave before his mind traveled to a different thought. 'How?' It was a word that was constantly running through his mind. Telepathic communication between two bonded cybertronians was normal, or at least normal for them, but a 'spark bond' between a cybertronian and a human was impossible, wasn't it? Rafael didn't have a spark, so how was he able to connect to Megatron?

'If the dark energon is really like a spark bond...' Rafael looked in the direction that Megatron left in, his thoughts recalling the brief communication that they shared. 'Then what kind of bond do we have?'


(A/N)

Uh oh, things are beginning to heat up back at the Autobot base. Meanwhile, Knockout and Megatron have discovered something quite unexpected, and Rafael doesn't know what to make of it.

About the whole "spark-bond" thing... I have no idea if it's canon or mentioned in any previous continuity, I'm just gonna go off of what most fanfictions say about it while adding my own 'two cents', so to speak. I have my own opinions and ideas about the subject, but I'm currently unsure if they're going to be explained in this story.

Oh, and Maslow's Hierarchy of Basic Needs is a real thing, I didn't make it up/create it.

Until next time, have a good day or night!