I only own my OC's!


Graphic child abuse in this chapter! Please, if you can't handle child abuse, don't read. I don't want to cause others to feel what I did writing this one...


Abused

10:00 AM, Nemesis, Starscream's Lab

Starscream throws something black at each of us, causing us to give him a confused look. "Put those on!"

We share a look before getting out of our pukey outfits and changing into what he threw at us. Mine and Star's are black camisoles and matching dance shorts. Star and I recognize them because we wear them under our formal outfits and the super-suits we made with Ratchet's help. Bee's got what looks like boxers and a tank top on, also both in black.

He picks our dirty clothes up with two fingers and tosses them into a cage in the corner. "Now…" He reaches over and grabs a full cube of energon. Instead of drinking it, like we expect, he sets it down near us, then picks Bee up and sticks his feet into the cube. He screams, and Starscream sets him back on his feet. Bee stumbles, hits his knees, and leans on the edge of the cube before having his hands shoved inside too. The phantom pains I get from Bee are making me very light-headed, like I usually get when I get hurt. He then scoops Star up and dips her feet into the energon before sticking her hands into the cube.

The next thing I know, I'm being picked up, and my feet are being shoved into the cube. He tosses me down, and I do my best to lie down before I pass out or crash, but he shoves my hands into the cube too.

He leaves us crying our eyes out in pain and fear.


Griffin Rock, MAine

Optimus' comm signal echoes through the bunker. Heatwave walks over to the comm screen and answers it. "Heatwave, I need the Protectobots to prepare themselves for a trip to Nevada."

"What? Why?"

"Heatwave, my eldest daughters and son have been captured by the Decepticons, and we need Defensor."

"Understood. I'll let them know."

"Thank you."


4:00 PM, Nemesis, Starscream's Lab

Bee, Star, and I are in our bot forms now, walking through the lab while Starscream works at his desk. I took a few minutes to heal the three of us while Starscream was busy outside, and we went to bot form so he couldn't use energon to hurt us again. ~Mari, I stepped on a nail! It's stuck in my foot!~

~Mari, I got nails in my feet!~

~Hold still, I'll—OW!~

~Mari?~

~I stepted on poikeys!~ I hit my knees and crawl over to him and look at his feet before hugging him. ~You boff got poikeys on boff feets, Guys!~

~What about you?~ He looks at my feet. ~You too!~

I reach down and pull Bee's out before using my thumbs to keep him from leaking. Once the holes on his protoform's feet close up, I pull the nails out of Star's and do the same, then finally pull the nails in my own out and seal them off with a hidden use of my inferno.

I stand and point up. ~We need to get up there.~

Bee gives me a look. ~Why?~

I huff and cross my arms. ~We have to get to his level so we can find out why he's doing this to us.~

~Mari, he's doing it because of Uncle Megatron. You know that!~

~Still…~ I sigh heavily. ~Bumbee, we need to get our clothes back first off, and we needs makey Screamy be nice.~

~I thought Seekers were kind to Sparkles.~

~I thought so too, but apparently not…~ I start to climb up the cabinets. ~Oh, for Primus' sake…~ He follows me up, being less careful than I am.

We roll onto the table-top and sit up. I look up into Starscream's ruby eyes and smile gently. He gives me an infuriated look and pushes me down before throwing Bee and Star down on top of me. "OWWW!" He looks down at us and laughs. "OWIE! OWIE!"

~You okay, Mari? What did you hit?~

~My helm, on'a floor, an' you hi' my wings.~

~I think I hit my helm on your doorwings, and my doorwings on the cabinets.~

~I hit my wings on Bee, and my head on'a floor.~
"You're going to get it for that, Younglings!" He leaves the room and comes back with a burner, which he plugs into the ship and lights before turning to us with a sinister smile.

~Uh-oh…~

~Uh-oh what?~

I turn his head to face where I am and point up. ~Burners only mean one thing if they're seen after what he said, Bumbee…~

~You never should have gone through that kind of thing, Mari.~

~I should have been kept with you, but that's not the problem anymore.~ He picks me up and sits me on the counter beside him. He grabs my right hand—apparently not familiar enough with Bee and I to know that the two of us, along with Starlight, are all lefties or that Star is ambidextrous.

He holds my hand over the flame until it glows yellow. I start out just watching him, but start to scream before it even starts to turn red. He tosses me back, then does the same to Bumblebee's and Brightstar's right hands, whom have a less extreme reaction due to my sensitive medic hands—though Star's is almost as bad as mine because of her own medic hands. I look down at my hand, cradled in my left hand, and watch as my hand cools and leaves the paint at my wrist blistered.

Before we have time to recover from having our hands roasted over an open energon fire, he shoves us back to the floor again, leaving me and Star wailing in pain, and Bee screaming. This time, I land on my butt, and hit my doorwings on the floor, and Star hits her wings on the cabinet and butt on the floor, while Bee hits his butt on my toes, and his doorwings on the floor as well.


Autobot Base Omega One, Third POV

"Tell me what happened again."

Prowl turns to the hulking form of Defensor, looking up to him calmly. "We got the call from Ms. Olivia Wilson to her private kindergarten daycare at approximately 8:31 this morning. Ms. Wilson claimed "Code D", and that three children were missing from her lockdown shelter disguised as a closet that Red Alert and I helped her design. I was able to determine that the Decepticon had already absconded with the three younglings that had been missing from her shelter. I led the other children, as well as Ms. Wilson, to safety, and sent the children home with their guardians."

"And the younglings they took were those who make up the smaller form of my little sister."

"Yes." The combiner separates into his components, who turn to each other.

"Poor Mari… She must be scared to death…"

"I'm more worried about Bee and Star. Mari's been through this kind of thing before…"

"But Mari's more vulnerable to this kind of treatment because of what she went through before we got to her…"

"Those cons are going to regret hurting my little sisters!"

"What about Bumblebee?"

"Him too, duh!"

"All of you, calm down. We'll find out where they are. Recovery comes after a rescue, unless the four of you forgot that since Mari saved us from the Alpha…" With the bond falling silent, Hot Spot turns to Prowl and the worried Creators. "We'll do our best to find them, Sir."

"Thank you, Hot Spot."

"Streetwise, check the school. We'll go from there."


6:00 PM, Nemesis, Starscream's LAb, Third POV

Starscream walks back into the room with a winged child on either hip. After setting them down with special cups made for the younglings, he turns back to the Autobot younglings in disgust. They're curled together on the floor of his lab in recharge.


Normal POV

I jerk awake to a hard kick between my doorwings. "Wake up, detestable Autobot filth!"

I sit up, trying to reach the spot he kicked me in with my non-injured hand as he does the same to Bee and Star. Once we're awake, he sets us none-too-gently on the countertop. Once we're there, we attempt to get to our sore feet, only for Starscream to slash across our tummies—first mine, then Bee's, and finally Star's. As we're watching the energon dribble down our tummies to our little pedes incased in armor, he starts stabbing his talons into our hands and cheeks, as well as around our badly-leaking middles.

"See what I'm doing, Younglings?" The two, a mech and a femme, nod. "All right. I need to report to the bridge so I can manage the troops. Can you take over for a few breem?" The Seekerlings nod. "Good. I'll be back soon."

Bee and I share a scared look as Starscream sets us on the floor, followed by the two youngling seekers. The seeker's high-heeled pedes walk away, and a door opens and shuts, before we're left with the two Seekerlings. "H-Hi, sparklies! I'm Mari!"

"I'm Star!"

~What are you doing?~

~Being friendly. It's all we have going for us right now!~

~Good point…~ He steps over painfully. "I'm Bee. What's your name?"

"Venom."

"Don't talk to the prisoners, Veni." The mechling scowls at us. "They're not worth our time." He laughs evilly, just like his Carrier. "I'm Bloodracer, soon to be Prince of Cybertron!" He pushes us back-first into the corner of the bookshelf. "And you'll have to bow to me! Come on, Veni! Help me!"

"But…I don't want to…"

I rub Bee's and Star's back, where corner-shaped dents go from their neck (right under the flat dent where Bee hit the cabinets) to their butts, knowing I've got one just like them.

Bloodracer scoffs. "You're just a big softie." He chuckles "Sire's gonna have you for breakfast if you don't toughen up!" He turns back to us and shoves us back-first into the desk leg, then starts throwing shapes from his metal shape-fitting toy in the corner. I wind up with circle, square, heart, and star dents all over, and, looking at Bee and Star, so does he. I flinch when a heart-shaped block hits me on the optic, only to watch as Bee gets hit with a star-shaped block in the same place, and a circle one hits Star.

Moments later, a toy wrench hits Bee in the knee, denting it so bad it has to be broken, and a toy screwdriver hits Star on the elbow. I hit my knees as a toy hammer hits my doorwing head-on.

~MARI!~

~'M fine. Still awake.~

~Good. I know you're weak against pain…~

~I think all of Cybertron knows that by now, Bee. I don't exactly keep that a secret, Goofball!~

~Right…~

I cringe when I feel teeth on my elbows—first one, then the other, and watch as the same thing happens to Bee and Star.

"Racer, what are you doing?" Venom walks over to us and starts looking at my elbow.

"What Carrier told us to, Wimp!"

"Venom! I told you to torture the captives, not be their friends! Bloodracer, good job." He throws three pull-ups on the floor. "Put those on, Vermin! I won't have you making my lab smell like lubricant!" He takes us, still staring at the pull-ups in our hands, and tosses us into a cage, then picks up his younglings. "Come on, Little Ones. Let's get you two to berth."

Bee, Star, and I share a look before shifting into holoform so we can both sit on the floor of the cage, then put on the pull-ups and put our underwear in the corner with our puke-stained clothes from school today. "Now what, Mari? How will we get out of here to get help?"

I pat his shoulder—the one place where he's not hurt—and take Star's uninjured hand in my own. "It'll be okay, Bumbee. We'll get out of here somehow."

"How?"

I can't help but smirk. "I have friends in low places, same as Uncle Jazz. You forget how many people I got to know before this war started." I sigh softly and curl into Bee for warmth. "Jerk could have left us a blankie, though…I'm cold… Wan' sissy…bubby…"

"I'm here, Mari…"

"I'm here too. I promised you before—I'll never leave you."

He takes my injured hand in his. In holoform, it looks almost black—as close to third degree as it can be while still being in pain. "How's your hands?"

I pull it away as carefully as I can. "No touchie Bumbee! Ouchies!"

"I'm sorry…"

I sigh and hug him gently. I can see that the dents in our normal forms are replaced with bruises of various shapes. "We should try to get some recharge, Bumbee. Morning'll come earlier than we want it to…"