Important Information
"Blah" Speaking
::Blah:: comm. link
'Blah' bonded speech
'Blah' thinking
Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
Night Cycle: star down to star up
Day Cycle: Star up to star down
Authors Note: Alright everyone, please heed the warnings for this chapter. It's a bit of a doozy.
Not beta'd
Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.
The sun was out and bright, and Sunstreaker stretched with a sigh. As far as the gold frontliner was concerned this was a very easy mission. Take the scanner out, put it in the ground and then move. Wheeljack was monitoring the scanners back on the Ark and these scanners would give them an earlier warning if anyone in Nemesis so much as twitched.
He polished the smudge on his arm while Jazz and Sideswipe finished their energon.
"We should do this more often." Sunstreaker said suddenly, blue optics still down as he finished polishing his arm.
"What's that?" Jazz asked.
Sideswipe snorted. "Creeping like little creepers around the beaches near Nemesis?"
Sunstreaker mirrored his twin's snort. "No. This, this camping thing."
Jazz and Sideswipe both looked at him, looked at each other then back to the golden mech.
"But…it's dirty out here." Sideswipe said simply.
Giving his twin a flat look, Sunstreaker huffed. "Well…yeah. But, you know." He struggled with his words so Jazz and Sideswipe gave him the moment to sort his thoughts and feelings. "It's nice to get away with just….you know… us."
A smile curled around Jazz's lips and his dark blue optics lightened with joy.
"And you know… it'd be nice to have Prowl here too."
Sideswipe laughed. "Daww. You want to go camping with our care takers?"
Sunstreaker glared. "Well I was thinking of spending time with my family, but you can just stay home if you're going to be a jerk about it."
Nudging his twin, Sideswipe smirked. "Oh come on Sunshine, you know I'm only playing."
"I think it's a great idea." Jazz said with a grin. "Didn't expect you to want to camp Sunny." Sunstreaker gave a shy shrug.
"Thought it would be a…nice break."
Jazz grinned. "Yeah. I reckon it would be." His grin became more genuine. "We'll chat with Prowl when we get home. Have some time for just the four of us."
Sunstreaker gave a little nod, barely suppressing the smirk. "Thanks Jazz."
"I spy." Callie said with a smirk as she lay on her back on Thundercracker's thigh. "With my little eye something that is….blue."
Thundercracker snorted, crimson optics still on the data pad. They had been doing well, working hard at completing their mission, it didn't matter that it was a training mission.
Skywarp hummed and looked around. "Is it…Thundercracker?"
"Nope!" she chirped.
Skywarp hummed and looked around. "Sky?"
"Try again." Callie yawned.
They hadn't had much in the way of down time until now, and Thundercracker wasn't going to waste an opportunity for his mate and his friend to get along.
"Flowers?" came the next guess.
"Nope!"
"Hmmmm." Skywarp hummed.
"Butterflies." Thundercracker said without looking up, a smirk curling around his mouth.
Callie's own smirk grew. "Butterflies." She confirmed.
"Heh." Thundercracker laughed at Skywarp's pout.
"Alright." The blue seeker smirked as he looked up from his data pad, one that Callie had given him for his sudo-creation day. "I spy with my little optic, something that is green."
"Thundercracker," Callie was pouting now to. "Were in the forest. Everything is green."
"Mhmm."
"Everything?" came a hesitant question from Skywarp.
"That doesn't count." Thundercracker smirked.
Callie sighed and Skywarp frowned. "Is it moss?"
"Nope."
They both sighed again, much to Thundercracker's amusement.
Mia was sick of crying, that much she was sure of. She was an ugly crier. Her cheeks got blotchy and red, her eyes were wide and watery, and her nose would not stop running and it was just gross. Mia was sick of being afraid.
When they were rescued, and Mia was so, so certain that they would be rescued, she was going to have Epps show her how to defend herself. She was going to have Starscream teach her something that would make her useful in a situation like this.
For now, she followed Starscream's instructions. She stayed quiet and low, didn't draw attention to herself. She shook in Megatron's hand as he smirked down at her, his blood red optics bright with nasty intent. He was enjoying this, Mia realized. He enjoyed frightening her and hurting Starscream.
The seeker managed to stay on his pedes as Onslaught pushed him lightly down the halls of Nemesis, not pushing hard enough to send Starscream to the floor. Yet he still stumbled and tripped down the fall way, only staying up when Onslaught's discreet hand would catch him and quietly right him.
Hands shaking badly, Mia looked up at the dark walls and tried to remember the turns they took. They were going deeper into Nemesis, deeper then Mia had been before. The air was cooler and musty down here, damp, and the walls were wet with sea water.
Starscream coughed, his vents still wheezed and crackled from the day before, still full of wetness and moisture. Onslaught had been right, it would take days for Starscream's systems to completely dry out and Mia worried that he wouldn't properly under the ocean. She worried that rust would set in and eat away at his ventilation system. It wouldn't take long.
She gnawed on her lip and green eyes glanced up worriedly; Starscream was still panting, his systems had started to spark and short circuit, causing him to glitch and twitch. Mia was not sure how long his systems would function like that before they just sort of gave out.
"I wouldn't be so worried about him." Megatron smirked down at her, a mammoth to her small form. "Today, you should be worried about yourself."
She frowned up at him and tried to glare. He just laughed at her attempt to be fearless and she knew that Danny and Callie wouldn't have sobbed like this. They would be nasty and mocking to the bitter end.
Mia, she realized, was as weak as everyone thought she was. She was small and useless and she got Starscream caught by a sociopath who would hurt him for the sake of hurting him.
Wiping the wetness from her face, Mia tried to push down on her fear and bottle it up.
"What?" Megatron's words were mocking and full of sadistic laughter. "You've nothing to say? No witty comebacks? No scathing remarks?" he tsked at her, his smirk still wide and gleeful. "I must say, the others like you had much more fight in them."
Fear slipped from her shaky control and crept into Mia's chest, and she held back the sob that threatened to break free. She would not give Megatron the satisfaction of seeing her afraid again. Risking a glance up, dismay filled Mia as she realized that it was too late.
Coming into a new room, Vortex leaned against a table with his hip, arms crossed over his grey chest. "Lord Megatron." He intoned respectfully with a nod of his helm.
Megatron dumped Mia roughly onto the table and she tumbled from his hand with an 'Unff!' as she landed awkwardly among Vortex's interrogation equipment. Pushing herself up, she looked at what surrounded her with horror, the light catching the silver metal in the way a horror movie would be set up.
She inched away from the tools, trying to curl into a tight ball away from them.
Megatron turned with a smirk to look at Starscream. "Tell me Onslaught, Vortex, how does it feel to have Starscream, the mech who liberated you, here? In Vortex's interrogation room?"
Vortex shrugged and Onslaught responded in a dead voice. "There is nothing to feel about it. Starscream is a traitor and he is here."
Starscream's optics flashed and he wasn't sure he believed Onslaughts words completely. Megatron still laughed. "Of course. Of course Onslaught."
Megatron smirked and without looking back reached out a hand with a twist of his upper frame. "Vortex, your cement gun."
Vortex paused, red optics glancing to the weapon on the table before he slowly picked it up. Mia's eyes went wide at the weapon, it was heavily modified for a heavier bolt. Megatron took it with easy, lifting it over his shoulder like it was weightless.
Megatron held it away from his frame, admiring Vortex's handy work, the carful carvings in the stalk of the weapon. "I must say Vortex you truly missed your calling."
The interrogators head dipped, his arms crossing tighter over his chest and his rotors pulled in tightly. It was an attempt to make himself smaller, an attempt to show modesty.
"Fleshling." Megatron said with a smirk. "What is your name?"
"M-Mia." Her small voice came.
"Mia." Megatron repeated the name slowly. Carefully, tasting the human's name and she shivered when he said it. "Tell me Mia, do you think Vortex missed his calling? He can create such powerful and beautiful weapons. Some truly destructive things, don't you think?"
Panicked poured into Mia's belly and she glanced desperately to Starscream first for guidance. The seeker glared coldly at Megatron, not giving her any indication as to what she should say or do. She glanced to Onslaught, he had been kind in the simple fact he hadn't been an asshole to her, but as always he was an immovable wall of cold.
Vortex just curled silently into himself, leaning against the table and avoiding everyone's attention. He knew this was a set up, and he was helpless to stop it.
"Umm." She said eventually. "I-I guess so. He did…I guess he did a good job."
Megatron smirked cruelly, and the tension in the room increased. "You hear that Vortex? You've impressed a human."
"Of course, Lord Megatron." Vortex said robotically, not really paying attention to what was being said around him. Not really.
Mia frowned despite her fear. She found it disturbing that all the Decepticons called Megatron 'Lord'. It made her uncomfortable, and she knew that Prime would never force his people to call him 'Lord.' He was putting himself above the rest of the Decepticon's, where Prime saw everyone as equals.
"Such a beautiful weapon." He crooned and fell oddly quiet. Megatron suddenly turned back towards Onslaught and Starscream, his massive grey fist wrapping around Starscream's throat and threw him against a wall. "Let's see how well it works." He purred pressing his nose against Starscream's cheek in a very intimate gesture.
Snarling and struggling against Megatron's hold, Starscream kicked out at him in a desperate attempt to free himself, his vents wheezing and struggling as he fought. Still smirking wide, Megatron released Starscream's throat and grasped his wrist and pinned his hand to the bulk head in the room.
Megatron sighed happily at Starscream's wide and panicked optics, color bleeding out to white in his distress. "Primus, I've missed this." And he pressed the muzzle of the cement gun to the palm of Starscream's hand.
"Fuck-" Starscream's curse was cut off by his shriek and he struggled as Megatron fired a bolt into his hand, pinning the Seeker to the bulk head.
Mia gasped and pressed her hands to her ears at the painful noise Starscream made.
Calmly as ever, Megatron took Starscream's other hand and pressed the cement gun to the palm of his already ruined hand and again pulled the trigger. His broken digits twitched open with the pain as the bolt forced its way through the metal of his hand.
Braced for the pain, Starscream bit out a pained curse, biting his glossa hard enough to taste energon. His arms shook and energon leaked down the corner of his mouth as Starscream tried to catch his venting.
Energon leaked down from the puncture holes from his ruined hands and leaked steadily down Starscream's arms. All Mia could do was watch on, horrified at what she was witnessing, and sickened by how much Megatron enjoyed this.
How, she wondered, could someone hurt one of their own like this? This, Mia suddenly understood with horrific clarity was the reason Starscream had been so easily swayed to leave. Why Thundercracker had not tried to convince Callie to join the Decepticons.
Megatron was an abusive tyrant who toyed with his own people to meet his own ends. Something shifted inside of Mia then, something hard and heavy deep in her chest. Something that made her feel things she never had in her life, made her feel a blood boiling hate that she had heard Danny describe as blood lust.
Before Megatron, Mia had never hated anyone. Not truly. But she hated Megatron, and suddenly she didn't have it in her to cry any longer.
Glancing to Onslaught and Vortex, both had their heads down and looked away. Beaten, she suddenly realized, by the same mech who had beaten the seekers down to nearly nothing. Megatron had done to the Combaticons what he had done to Starscream, only they were trapped and bound by the loyalty program. That awful thing that Thundercracker had told them about so many months ago.
For a moment, brief as it was, Mia relived that memory; she was sitting at a table for breakfast with Danny and Callie. Sunstreaker had just gotten out of the medbay and was fueling with Sideswipe, Thundercracker and Skywarp. It was a happy memory and it fed her strength she hadn't felt since she and Starscream had been captured a whole four days ago.
Starscream hyperventilated as Megatron watched on with delight, and that something broke further inside of Mia. That something, that kind thing, that gentle smile, that softness of heart she was so well known for twisted, and Mia swore she would survive this. She and Starscream, because god help her she was taking him home too, where getting out of here.
Megatron's helm tilted, optics glittering with delight. "Vortex." He said softly, gently that was awkward and stilted. "I want you to torture the human. Our Miss Mia."
Green eyes brightened with panic and horror, but she managed to bite her tongue and she shed no tears. Wide eyes turned to Vortex, who had frozen and stiffened at the order.
He coughed. "Lord Megatron, she is a human." He said simply, slowly to state a very obvious fact.
"She is." Megaton said firmly, turning back to watch Starscream as the seeker snarled, pinned to the bulk head.
"I…ah. I don't know how to…" his hand peeled away from his chest and made a vague gesture. "I don't know how to interrogate a human. With…out…killing her."
"Don't kill her." Came the firm order. "Just make her scream."
Vortex shifted and scratched at his arm. He knew he would not be able to not kill her, she was too little and the loyalty program made him flinch as he was unable to follow the order. "But. She's so small." His voice was getting smaller, unsure.
Megatron turned away from Starscream, a large, grey hand landing on the seeker's hip. Starscream tried to cringe away, wincing at the pull of his hands that kept him traped. "You will figure it out Vortex. I want her to scream and I want her alive."
Terror filled Mia, her eyes wide as they turned up to the Decepticon. She had heard about Vortex, so she doubted she would receive mercy. His face was covered by a mask and unreadable, but his frame was tense and shoulders hunched.
"I don't know how." The visor flashed to Onslaught, unsure and the gestalt bond pleaded for help.
Megatron's blood red optics narrowed. "Are you disobeying an order Vortex?"
The interrogator flinched, the loyalty programing demanding unquestioning devotion. "N-No Lord Megatron."
Megatron nodded. "Then continue."
"But I do not know how to harm a human and not kill them. If I hurt her, she will die."
Mia shuttered, they spoke about her death so easily. Starscream snarled through the pain as energon leaked down the side of his mouth and poured from his hands. "Just stop it Megatron!" he managed to spit, his voice raspy and angry. "You've scared her enough. Move on."
With a snarl that promised violence, Megatron spun around and his fist found Starscream's middle with a sickening thud.
Mia flinched at the noise as the hit forced all the air from Starscream's wet vents. His optic sparked and whited out with pain as he gasped and struggled for air. Grey claws wrapped around Starscream's throat before he could catch his vents, and Megatron began to pull him from the bulk head. He stopped only as Starscream's palm began to give, and the bolts that pinned him threatened to tare completely through his servos.
"Shut. Up." He said bitterly to Starscream, spit wetting the Seeker's face before Megaton landed a blow to the side of Starscream's helm.
Starscream's black helm dented and his optic sparked as he fell limp. His head lolled down wards and all his weight was put into his hands.
Megatron snorted, gently stroking Starscream's wings as he hung semi-unconscious and he groaned. Megatron's other hand trailed down the seeker's chest, a crazed smile spreading over his mouth, fingers digging into Starscream's damaged pectoral vent. "Continue Vortex."
The crimson visor flashed to Mia and his claws dug into his forearms. "Lord Megatron, allow me to work Starscream over. He will scream just as sweetly and live what I am able to do to him. The girl will not." Vortex almost pleaded. "Anything I do to the human she will not be able to withstand. I have no knowledge of what human limits are, but Starscream, I know what he can withstand."
Megatron sighed, his hand moving from Starscream's wing to his face, gently stroking the seeker's face in a mockery of a lover. Grunting, Starscream tried to pull out of his touch, and he tried to get his pedes back underneath of him.
Pushing away from Starscream, Megatron suddenly swung around with a balled fist that slammed hard into Onslaught's helm.
The Combaticon's helm dented at the contact and Onslaught dropped to his knees. Mia's glittering green eyes widened and her mouth opened for a gasp in shock, but she managed to swallow it back. Vortex tensed, taking a half step before the loyalty bond froze him in place.
The loyalty bond making him shutter in pain and his tank churned. Onslaught was taking the punishment in his stead.
"Stahp." Starscream swayed from his hands and continued to struggle to stand, his optics flickered in and out of focus, sparking.
Megatron ignored the Seeker, instead pressed a hand flat to a wall for better leverage to kick Onslaught from above. The Commander didn't even bother to try to lift a hand to protect himself, knew it was a pointless endeavor as kick after kick rained down over his head.
Instead he put his head down to protect his optics and visor and took blow after blow to his helm and shoulders. His thick armor dented, and one shoulder dislocated from a particularly bad blow. A blow to the back of Onslaught's helm send him forward onto his single good arm, and yet Megatron did not let up.
Even then Onslaught did not utter a groan. He swallowed his pain and pride and rode out the punishment that Megatron decided to dole out. Decided that he would receive the punishment for Vortex's refusal to interrogate the human, even when getting conflicting orders.
That shift inside of Mia twisted further, and the wetness in her eyes dried. Onslaught had been kind to her by the simple fact that he had not been an asshole, and she mourned what was being done to him. That guilt fueled her rage, and that rage fed her hate. One thing was certain, Mia hated Megatron more then any other being in the world.
Panting, Megatron stumbled forward after the heel of his pede awkwardly caught Onslaught's helm. The War Lord caught himself on the wall, his pede coming to stomp down hard onto Onslaught's fingers. Still the commander didn't utter a word and Mia bit her lower lip so hard she tasted the coppery tang of blood.
Vortex was stiff and still, his servos trembled with rage as he fought the loyalty program that kept him rooted. He looked away, his brow furrowed and his claws bit into his arms.
Starscream managed to get his pedes under him and staggered back up the wall. He panted, his head spun and blood energon dripping down his chin. He could no longer feel his digits and his processor was having a hard time making sense of what was going on, and even then Starscream knew this was wrong.
Panting over his dented commander, Megatron looked to Vortex's table of toys and a smirk grew slowly across his lips. Slowly reaching over, his massive grey fist slipped over head of the human, and he promptly ignored her to reach for something long and thick.
Horror filled Mia's green eyes and Vortex hissed as Megatron picked up a cattle prod. Modified, like the cement gun before it, but the blue electricity that danced around the end of silver metal was thick and crackled.
Still, Onslaught did not move or utter a noise.
Megatron bent to grasp the back of his neck and hauled Onslaught to his pedes before slamming him chest first into a table. The large grey servo pined Onslaught's helm to the table, keeping him pressed into the cold metal. The commander's hand went flat to the table and his frame tensed as to brace itself.
Megatron laughed, enjoying himself as he shoved the cattle prod between Onslaught's lateral abdominal plates; it did not reach deep enough to brush the sensitive protoform beneath the thick armor. Yet it was deep enough that when Megatron flicked it on and electricity coursed through his large frame, Onslaught sucked in a gulp of air in pain. His fingers sought the edge of the table he was pinned to, his strength crushing the edge as electricity shot through him.
Agony erupted through Onslaught's frame and he gritted his denta against the cry that worked its way up from his chest. He swallowed the pain that made his vision swim and his hands shake.
Onslaught's knees went weak when Megatron pulled the prod from his side and he fought to stay up right. Once the electric attack stopped, and the pain ebbed a little, Onslaught realized the gestalt bond was lit with panic and Vortex reached out. Need Help? The bond rang hallow between them.
No. There was no point in both of them going down. Besides, Ace needed Vortex to care for him tonight. Blast Off was out on patrol, and Onslaught was going to be in the med bay after this.
Vortex grit his denta and stood at attention, determined to bear witness to his Commander's pain.
Panting, Onslaught tried to push himself up with his good arm but he felt weak from the attack. Megatron shoved him back down by pressing into the center of his back and face first into the table. Onslaught clamped his denta together and chocked back the pain as Megatron shoved the prod in again, forcing it deeper under his armour.
Onslaught swallowed the guttural noise that threatened to work passed his denta, barley swallowing the noise back. He knew he should be embarrassed, to be tortured like this in front if Starscream and the human, but he couldn't bother to.
He didn't have much in the way of pride left anyways.
But he kept Ace safe. He kept his team safe. He would give his pound of flesh and sate Megatron's rage for now.
He swallowed the cry of pain as electricity crawled under his plating. Pain touched every inch of his frame, and even then he did not allow even the smallest of noises escape. He refused to give Megatron the satisfaction.
Mia bit her lip and thought about looking away. She refused to, green eyes focused on Onslaught writhing in pain, and knew this would haunt her for years to come. She jutted her chin, her cheeks still blotchy but she refused to cry this time.
The prod was pulled roughly away again, and Megatron's optics glittered with devious intent. "What do you think Vortex? Do you think we can wring a scream from your commander?"
"No." Vortex responded firmly, the loyalty bond demanding the truth from his lips.
NOTE- the rest of this chapter does not meet Fan Fiction's rules and regulations. Thus I will not be posting the rest of this chapter on this platform. The rest of this chapter can be read on Archive of Our Own under the same pen name.