Hey everyone! as promised I have worked my ass of over the last week to get this up. I haven't really been in a writing mood lately, so sorry if it seems forced.
WARNING: Contains torture, hearing another be tortured and some violence.
Wheeljack cringed at the sound scraping of metal from the room next to him, sounded like another Autobot was being tortured next door. A shrill scream pierced the air, this one sounded more animal than mech. It made a shudder run down Wheeljack's spinal strut, he was probably next. The screams rang on for what seemed like hours. Eventually the crazed shrieks quieted down to soft sobs and wet chokes. The scraping metal sounds were replaces with shifting and what Wheeljack guessed was the typing on a data base. Shockwave must be typing up how the session was, the wrecker thought glumly. He was still in the same room as last time, tied up in heavy chains that bit into his wrists painfully. Wheeljack had long ago given up on trying breaking the bonds; those chains were solid, besides, the more he struggled the more energy he used up. It was grim, but he had to save his energy for keeping himself alive. Who knows how much energon Decepticons give their prisoners, probably none. He let his frame relax; now that the screams were diminished he may as well try to get some shut eye before Shockwave comes to visit him. The more energy the better, he reminded himself as he began to cycle down.
But before he could fall into much needed slumber, Wheeljack noticed something strange. There was silence, no more sobs from the previous torture subject, no typing sounds, nothing. Just dead air. Wheeljack bristled, something wasn't right. He craned his neck forward, trying to see into the other room, but it was pitch black. The wreckers spark thumbed quickly against his chamber as panic rose in his stiff body. He swallowed a think lump in his throat and turned up his audio sensors. Nothing. Suddenly, the metallic tang of energon filled the air. It was so strong that Wheeljack choked on thin air at the scent, before gracefully hacking up all of the remaining energon in his tanks. Wonderful, he thought to himself, just when he was trying to save up his energy. He glared down at the pink puddle on the ground venomously. But the smell of spilt energon sickened him more, so Wheeljack continued to dry gag and hack, but there was no more fuel to spill, so he finally calmed down. The eerie silence covered him like a thick blanket, trapping all of the heat and panic in him. Slowly Wheeljack began to piece together what happened. Shockwave had just killed the last torture subject, leaving him.
The silence was interrupted by a loud banging sound, Wheeljack jumped and his spark raced. Shockwave calmly walked into the room, but the wreckers spark skipped a beat at the sight of him. The Cyclops was covered in energon splatters, stray wires dangled from his servos, stuck in claw joints… obviously they belonged to the last subject, or what had beenthe last subject. The Decepticon looked like something out of a horror story that the wreakers would tell to spook their friends at night.
"Well," shockwave said in his crisp voice, "Shall we get started?"
Not much later Wheeljack found himself swimming in a world of pain. He tried hard to hold back his screams, he wouldn't allow that Decepticon the pleasure of knowing he was in pain. Though, how could he not know? Wheeljack stubbornly looked away; refusing to see when was being done to him. He did know that his chest plates were open, and he did know that those claws, still covered in another bots energon, were viciously raking through him. He bit his lip, and despite it all, felt more energon dribble from his now bleeding lip. A broken groan crackled from his busted vocalizer and he rolled his head to the side. As painful as this all was, Wheeljack had been through worse. That is until he felt those cold claws start prying at his spark chamber. Jackie let out a gasp and locked his chamber, refusing to let shockwave get anywhere near his spark. Primus forbid that monster from getting at his bare spark. Yet it seemed that primus was against him today, as his spark chamber was ripped clean open. Wheeljack let out a horrified scream.
"NO!" he cried out "PLEASE!" Never before had he stooped to the level of begging for mercy.
A dark chuckle answered him, "Don't worry wrecker, I don't intend on mating with you. However sparks are very sensitive, and easily damaged." Wheeljack wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or horrified. Before Wheeljack could say anything more, dark claws ripped through his spark. He let out a wail of agony and tried again to struggle from his bonds. Again and again claws were torn through his life source, leaving ugly scars that would most likely stay forever.
The pain was processor blowing, he couldn't think straight, the room moved around him and he felt his vocalizer blow out, silencing his screams. Sometime during the mind numbing pain he felt coolant tears stream down his face. Countless warnings popped up in his HUD, telling him of major damage through his system. Agony mixed with humiliation as Shockwave continued to brutally maim his life source. Wheeljack silently thanked primus that he wasn't bonded to anyone yet, only he could feel this pain. Something in him let out a sickening snapping sound, Wheeljack choked on his own energon. Everything blended together; he faintly remembered purging again, this time all over himself. Shockwave laughed darkly at every jerk and spasm that happened to Jackie's frame. The room whirled around him, and finally, Wheeljack slipped from reality.
"Anything?"
"Absolutely nothing."
"not even a trace?"
"No". The only thing that could come close to describing how bulkhead felt was anguish. It had been over 24 hours since Jackie disappeared. They had looked franticly through Nevada, even the surrounding dunes, yet the Autobots just couldn't find the wrecker. Ratchet hadn't left the computer station all day, searching for signals of any kind. "It's like he just disappeared into thin air" Ratchet murmured "no traces, no signals, just nothing". Bulkhead felt his spark sink, what if Jackie had left? What if it was his fault? He had been laughing at Wheeljack' science data pad. Stupid science, he thought to himself, storming out to the lifts. If he hadn't been snooping around in the first place, none of this would have happened. The elevator stopped at the top of the building, Bulkhead stepped out into the dry desert air. It was dark again; too dangerous to look around for Wheeljack, for all they know it could be a Decepticon trap. Miko had been upset as well, and a hot wash of shame swept through the round transformer, he should have been comforting her. Yet how could he help her when all he wanted to do was storm out into the night and slag up the first 'con he sees. Bulkhead stepped forward; he looked out at the vast dessert before his optics.
A warm servo rested on his shoulder, making him jump and whirl around. Optimus stood behind him with an apologetic look in his blue optics.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" he said gently. Bulkhead frowned, he had been so caught up in his musings that he didn't even hear the creaky lift open behind him.
"It's ok, you didn't mean to" Bulkhead muttered, before turning around to look back out at the desert, wondering if Jackie was somewhere out there. The prime stood beside him, a peaceful silence settled between them.
"I know you're taking this hard, Bulkhead" Optimus softly broke the silence, "But we will find him."
"What if he's already gone?!" snapped Bulkhead, whirling on his leader. The look of betrayed shock in the primes optics made Bulkhead shrink back, "Sorry" he whispered, looking at his peds.
"Bulkhead, I promise you that we will find-"started Optimus, but then the alarm rang loudly from inside the base. They both looked at each other in shock before booking it back to the first level. Bumblebee and Arcee sprinted in through the hallway the moment the other 2 mech's came out of the lift. Bulkhead instantly launched all the questions at Ratchet, who shut down the alarm when everyone stood before him.
"Did you find Wheeljack? Is he ok? Are we in danger? Is he here? Do the Cons have him? Did he just get lost? Is he hurt?" His voice let out endless amounts of hope.
"Ppuuleease," Ratchet sighed, "I haven't found him". Instantly Bulkhead's shoulders slumped and a look of defeat took over his face plates. "But I have found Starscream's signal" Ratchet said in a gentler voice, noticing the pained look on Bulkhead's face. A glimmer of hope returned to the green mech's spark.
"excellent work Ratchet," Optimus said, "We could try to get Wheeljack's info from him".
"Give us the co-ordinates and bridge us out" Optimus ordered quickly. As soon as those words came from his mouth the doors to the ground bridge opened. " Arcee and Bulkhead come with me, Bumblebee you and Ratchet stay here. " The orders were swift; salutes were done before everyone got into position, the first three transforming. "Autobots, roll out" The prime said the three words, before driving through the bridge.
It was dark; they were in the streets of Nevada.
"Why would he be here?" Arcee wondered. None dared to transform into their robot modes, even though the only light came from street lamps.
Before anyone could reply bullets were flying. The Autobots transformed and pulled out their weapons, franticly taking cover behind a large advertisement sign. A frustrated screech came from a dark alley.
"Well he's definitely here" Muttered Bulkhead, feeling a dark anticipation went through him. The sound of thrusters signalled that the Decepticon was approaching overhead.
"What if humans see us?" Arcee hissed as she scanned the streets for any sign of life. Before the prime could reply, a slim blade struck through the wooden board they were hiding from. Bulkhead squealed and stumbled away from the sword that hardly missed his face. Instantly Starscream jump on him and started franticly clawing at his face. Arcee swerved and kicked the small seeker off of her friend, before aiming her gun at the seeker. Optimus had sprinted around Starscream, his gun up as well. Bulkhead jumped up and aimed, ignoring the throbbing on his left cheek. The surrounded seeker snarled aggressively at the Autobots, but didn't dare move. Silence filled the streets again.
"Drop the gun, Starscream." Optimus commanded, the seeker didn't move. The soft hum of a gun being charged filled the air, yet the Decepticon refused to budge. The whirring of Arcee's and bulkhead's cannons followed, yet there was no movement.
"I'll give you the count to 3 to drop your weapon and surrender." Optimus boomed, though there was a new tense tone in his voice. Bulkhead fidgeted, wanting nothing more than to shoot at the 'con for not helping them find his Jackie… his Jackie.
"One," Optimus began, Starscream crinkled up his nose and hissed at the larger grounder. Suspense filled the air as all transformers waited for a surrender or attack.
"Two" Optimus drew out the word, trying to get across to the Decepticon. Arcee's trigger finger twitched.
"Three!" All at once the three guns fired. They all completely missed the Decepticon as he shot off the ground and powered his thrusters, hovering 10 meters above. The three shots missed and instead continued in a straight path, one hit Arcee. She let out a surprised gasp as it hit her in the gut, sending her flying backwards. Arcee grunted as her back slammed into a wall of a building, sending dust and sand flying, she collapsed. The seeker cackled and taunted the bots, "Fools!" he shrieked and flew off. He disappeared into the thick clouds. Both remaining mechs ran toward their fallen comrade, worry masked their faces. Luckily, Arcee was pushing herself up on her elbows, coughing, but alive.
Once again the ground bridge opened, letting in all three bots. They each wore a disappointed look; Ratchet instantly knew nothing went to plan. The medic patted Optimus on the back, and silently guided Arcee to a repair station. To be frank he was too exhausted to curse, which meant he was practically asleep as he repaired the femme. Bulkhead didn't say a word; he stormed off to his berth room. The entire way he could feel Optimus's gaze on his back. As soon as the door shut behind him, Bulkhead launched onto his berth, pulling the covers over him and flicking off the lights. The base was dead silent, he could dimly hear Ratchet shutting down the main computer and walking to his own room. Once again disappointment ebbed into his body, pure terrifying sadness. How could one mech manage to make him feel like this? It's not like Wheeljack couldn't handle himself, right? With a sigh bulkhead scrubbed at his face plates, wishing to feel those warm lips against his again. His spark yearned to hold that small red, white and green body against his, but now he couldn't.
For the first in what felt like eons, Bulkhead felt pure hopelessness wash over him. "Where are you Jackie?" he whispered to the empty room. "Where could you be?"
Well I hope you enjoyed that, there is much more to come. please comment, fave, or follow.
Thanks -kaileeyp