A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

By Uniasus

Chapter 11 – Killing What You Can't Control

Sam woke to a bright harsh light, causing him to squint his eyes. He tried to bring his right arm to cover his face, but it was heavy and restrained, not moving. So he gave up, closed his eyes, and tried to figure out what had happened.

Sally helped him, explained things in fuzzy images and little bits of thoughts. She didn't always sleep when he did it seemed.

The guards had drugged him, brought him to wherever he was now, a place that was full of beeps and strange people in uniforms and the harsh light and lots and lots of needles. Hospital, he told her, it's called a hospital. It's where human medics work.

Where we wait for parts? she asked. Sam shock his head, wincing at the pain it brought. No, humans don't get parts replaced, we grow them. Can you always grow them? No. Then what happens? We go offline. What's offline? When…a spark disappears. But sparks never disappear, just move. When they no longer have a body then. Oh.

Sally mulled the thought over, Sam slightly taken back by her lack of knowledge about death. But it made sense, a being in charge of transporting souls, or sparks, from one plane to the other she probably didn't even think about death, just change. It was…a rather nice outlook.

Does it take long to grow parts? Sally asked, picking up on the dropped thread. Depends on the part, depends on the human. Take us long? I don't know, maybe.

She retreated to that corner of his mind she had claimed. He wanted to talk to her, yell at her for what she did, but laying in a hospital bed and staring at the ceiling Sam didn't feel up to it. It would require him to bring up things he would rather not, explain why it was a bad thing, and he wasn't too sure Sally would understand that. She got that it was bad, that it made him angry and she shouldn't do it again, and at the moment that was all Sam could ask for. He was too tired to care much at this point.

He didn't know how long he stared at the spotted ceiling, making dot constellations of Autobot silhouettes, but eventually he became aware of the fact his butt was going numb. Sam tried shifting, propping himself up a bit to maybe look around the room, but came short when he felt resistance.

There were straps keeping him down.

One per ankle, one per wrist, the one on his right over the cast for his broken arm. Now that he knew they were there he could feel them, loose enough to be comfortable but taunt enough against the bed so he couldn't move much.

Well, that wouldn't do. A hospital, not the lab Lenz worked out of, meant civilization and the best chance yet of escaping, hiding, and contacting the Bots. Sam struggled, rotating between pulling at his legs and left arm. He grunted, swore, was surprised no one came into to see what the commotion was, but ultimately had to collapse back in the bed with nothing to show for his efforts aside from red skin and dents from the bindings digging into his wrist and ankles.

Help? Sally offered tentatively. I don't think you can, he sent back bitterly, you don't have hands. But maybe they can.

The beeping that had retreated to the background represented itself, and with it the knowledge that they were monitoring machines. He had failed to notice the sticky patches on his chest and head under his scrubs, used to the sensation from his time with Lenz and the other doctors. The devices monitoring his various biorhythms, maybe they could help, at least free his left hand so he could free himself.

Sparklings? Sally asked, hopeful. Sam hesitated. It was a bad, bad idea, giving life just so he would escape. He didn't want to use sparklings, he wanted them to have a good life and here wasn't the place for it. But before all that could happen he need to get out of her. So he gave his consent and put all his energy into waking a machine a quickly as possible. His vision went blue and then he found himself sagging heavily into the bed, exhausted. Closing his eyes for a few minutes, catching his breath, was something he could afford for a little bit surly.

He overslept, if the shouting next to his room was anything to go by. But the absence of beeping was telling in and of itself.

"Five, five! of those robots attacked hospital staff and the power went out wing wide for a minute, resulting in three deaths in the ICU below us. I thought you told me this wouldn't happen Lenz! That it took time for anything to show! He awakened five robots and knocked out the power in less than a minute!"

"Its not my fault! HCH 01 is unstable, who knows what he is capable of? I wanted to move him as soon as we could! But the hospital refused to release him! Isn't that your job, to take care of things like this?"

"You could have smuggled him out! The fact that he is here is supposed to be a secret, you shouldn't had even brought him here!"

"Well, I would have had the supplies to set and cast his arm myself if your soldiers would stop getting hurt during training exercises."

Sam didn't know who the person arguing with Lenz was, but he was an officer for sure. It sounded like his chance to escape had slipped by him, disrupting the hospital affairs. There was no longer any type of machine in his room, just the bed, not with heavy-duty belts stretching across his entire body. The lack of remains of his old restraints was a small concession, proof his (our) plan had worked to some extent.

"Report!"

"Sir, we've managed to take out one of the robots, but the other four have gotten away. We're still looking."

"I want them found!" the officer barked, and Sam listened while the solider marched away.

So hope wasn't completely lost, four of his (our) sparklings were still out there, maybe in the hospital. He was just bound to his bed like a mental patient and…understanding German?

Puzzle solved! Sally chimed and Sam couldn't help but smile. He had (was) his own personal bablefish.

"Those robots are dangerous," the officer continued, "and so is that…thing. He's out of your hands, your project is over."

"But what of the glory of Switzerland? Proving we are not cowards who hide behind inaction, to be acknowledged throughout the world as something other than where watches are made," Lenz snarled. "The hybrid can help use get there! This is proof of his powers."

"Powers, Doctor Lenz, that you cannot control."

"Just give me time!" Lenz shouted, most likely to a receding back.

Sam held his breath, expecting the Swiss scientist to walk through his door, but it remained shut and he emptied his lungs. Sparklings will help, Sally sent, bouncing with happiness. We can grow parts outside, yes? Yes, but first we have to get outside. Window. And drop a couple of stories? I can't grow that many parts. So, we sneak out ground door? Sounds good, and we need food. I'm starving. And pain meds. Lots of lots of pain meds. Why? There's no pain now. There will be, trust me. Pain is…bad? Yes. It means I can't function properly.

Sally retreated and Sam started trying to figure out if he could wiggle his way from the straps, but it proved too much. He slammed his head back into the pillow in frustration.

A scratching sound made him look up and a sense of achievement and possession rushed through his body. On of the ceiling panels moved to reveal the form of one of the sparklings. It was a heart rate monitor, with the screen displaying 'searching…searching…FOUND!'. The last word shouting from the screen as soon as it made eye/optic contact with him. Not that Sam was sure how he knew that, for the sparkling lacked optics to begin with.

It dropped to the floor and landed in an awkward crouch; while not a full transformer Sally seemed to have given it joints so it could bend its four short legs and tall single strut. After a quick look towards the ground to check if anyone was coming in to check at the noise, it approached the bed and examined the restraints.

"If you can't undo them, just get out of here!" Sam hissed. The sparkling seemed to ignore him and jumped up on the bed. Sam tensed, expecting to be landed on, but the heart monitor avoided landing on his legs. Due to a lack of arms it started working at the belts with its feet which Sam could now see had three fingers each.

This close to a sparkling, Sally was squirming with happiness and Sam couldn't help but feel joyful as well. Because that sparkling was his, theirs. And there was some type of connection that came with that which lifted his spirits and made him feel just a little bit tipsy on an odd sort of feeling that felt like a little bit like love, but not of a variety he knew.

There was the sound of booted feet tramping down the hallway and Sam did his best to buck his legs and get the sparkling's attention. "You have to leave! If they find you they're going to kill you."

'Help Creator' scrolled across the monitor when the heart monitor turned to look at him before focusing back on it task.

"You can't help me if you're dead, please, leave!"

The door burst open and in flowed four soldiers. On seeing the mech on Sam's bed, they all brought their guns up and pointed at it.

"No!" Sam shouted, just as the sparkling jumped up towards the air vent. A pair of metal arms belonging to another sparkling caught him and pulled the monitor up. Sam watched the heart monitor disappear into the duct with a sense of relief. His heart sped up when the other mech, a TV, revealed itself. It was going to get shot! The TV played a short clip, of the Terminator saying 'I'll be back' before it disappeared and the sound of clanking sounded through the ceiling moving across the hallway. Was it wrong of Sam to smile at that?

Of course, the lack of a mechanical target meant that four guns were now pointing at him. Sam would have put his hands if he could, but the sparkling hadn't even freed his legs, let alone his arms. Someone of rank strode through the door and stopped in the center of the soldiers. He didn't say a word, just looked Sam over and diminished him. He jerked his head and another two soldiers appeared and started working at the bindings.

Once free, Sam was jerked to his feet and roughly pushed forward.

"Easy!" Sam hissed, "I was in the hospital for a reason you know!"

His reply was a gun butt to the small of back and Sam stumbled forward. Sparklings will help, Sally said, but Sam didn't want them too. He wanted them to stay put, stay underground and not come out. As their mother (he would say father, but he kinda gave birth to them), he wanted them all safe! But Sally just seemed to want them to come bursting around a corner and save the day. Sam tried to talk her into worrying about the sparklings' well-being, but she couldn't see how anyone could be more important than her. She was Sally! The All Spark! Everyone should protect her, not her protect anyone else! Where were her saviors?

Sam blinked as he was led outside, the sun brighter than he thought it would be. Then again, when was the last time he had seen it? Looking around, he figured he was in the back of the hospital. There looked to be an employee parking lot across a service drive. The soldiers forced him to walk along the building and when they came to an alley pushed him down it. For an alley it was pretty clean, the garbage bins were graffiti free and there wasn't any over flow on the ground.

The six soldiers and commanding officer filtered in behind him, cutting off his escape. Sally went quite and Sam turned to face the Swiss army men. The sun, once really bright, seemed to disappear and he felt himself good cold. Six guns were pointed straight at him.

"Turn around," the CO barked.

"Why?"

"Turn around!"

Sam closed his eyes. This was not how he imagined going. It was either old age, or being discovered by a Decepticon and squashed. But a gun squad? The thought had never crossed his mind. He opened his eyes and looked at the CO.

"No."

The officer narrowed his eyes. Sam stood up straighter. "Fire!"

The bullets ricocheted off metal plates because suddenly there was a Cybertronian between him and the soldiers. But it wasn't Bee. Or Prime. Or Ironhide. Or any other Autobot. It was a Decepticon not much taller than a human, with six legs and a stinger tail. Scorponok.

"Shit." He breathed, looking behind him for a door. There was a grey service one, but it was locked by a key code. He could hack it, no problem, but he didn't have tools! And trying possible combinations would take to long. In frustration, he yanked at the handle, slammed his fist on the door. But it didn't open.

He gave a yelp as a tail of metal wrapped around his midriff and yanked him backward. The ground fell away beneath him as Scorponok lifted him up to hold him above the Con's back. Sam saw four bodies lying still on the ground, blood pulling underneath them. The other three bodies had been torn apart, parts scattered around Scorponok. There looked to be an arm caught behind the Con's neck, the fingers caught between neck plates. Sam would have vomited if there was anything in his stomach.

Scorponok leaped and gripped the bricks on the side of the building with his legs. They grasped for a good hold, sending bricks down where they shattered on the ground of the alleyway, before digging in deeply and starting to climb. From the roof of the hospital Sam could see what looked like a small western city. There weren't too many people walking around, meaning there was less of a change of being seen. Which was disappointing, as it reduced his chance of being rescued.

He really, really just want to be home.

Scorponok scuttled back to the edge of the rooftop and then ran forward. The Con leaped and Sam followed behind like a balloon tied to a kid's wrist, Scorponok's tail stretched out behind him. With a thud, they landed on the roof of a building two away.

After about a few minutes of building hopping, Scorponok dropped down to ground level and scuttled along a service road. After a full hour of traveling, Sam hanging relatively stable as Scorponok moved, the Con slowed down and entered a clearing.

Where a very familiar police car was sitting.

Their search was going nowhere. They knew Sam wasn't within the borders of the Untied States, that he had been taken by another country, but from there the trail went cold. And on top of that, Wheeljack had reported that Starscream was also looking for the engineer, saying not only did Sam have the knowledge of the All Spark, but it's abilities too. Bee was worried, strongly so, to the point where it was a constant tight band around his spark.

They had taken the first freight flight they could, had been loaded into the cargo hold of a plane taking off for Amsterdam. From there they had split up, running on the information that the person who had taken Sam out of the country spoke a Germanic language. Which, really, wasn't much to go on.

Bumblebee had been assigned the south end of Germany and Austria. It was a tense drive, with his scanners constantly stretched out as far as they could be and a continuous monitoring of the airwaves. He couldn't decide to go fast or slow; Sam could be someplace in danger, but there was also the idea that information on the human would only come to light after he had left a region.

Spidey, still riding along in his cup holder, couldn't help him much either. He provided an empty sort of comfort, there to keep him from being alone but at the same time reminding him of who he'd rather talk to. Not that Spidey could really talk. The spider-bot found the best YouTube videos though.

Bumblebee was about to cross over the border into Austria when he picked up a signal that caused him to pull over. It was weak, but due to distance and not the strength of the source. And there was something familiar about the energy signature…

Spidey, for all useless he was at picking up far off signals compared to the cybertronian, also seemed to sense it. He scurried out of the cup holder and up his passenger side door to tap on the window, the direction the signal had come from.

Bee teetered, unsure as to whether he should investigate or not. But Austria was such a long shot as to be the country that had taken Sam. Granted, so was Switzerland, the direction the signal was coming from. Still, the thought of veering from the path he had been told to follow made him on edge.

"What do you think Spidey?" He needed a second opinion to balance out his processor.

GO! The little bot responded, tapping a couple of times on the window.

Usually, he made decisions based on the pro/con list his processor constructed. In this case it was telling him to ignore the signal; note it for another time, but for now continue through Austria. But something naggled at his processor, some…feeling that told him to turn west. It was illogical, it was emotional, it was –human.

Bee wondered if this is what Sam meant by his 'gut feeling', a strange ability the human shared with others of his species that ended up being right more often than wrong. He didn't question his ability to develop such a thing; it simply had to be Sam rubbing off on him, before turning around and heading for the Swiss Alps.

It had been hard to track the signal, but as he got further into Switzerland he picked up a weak news broadcast about a hospital loosing power mysteriously. Bee gunned his engines and raced ahead.

A/N: As proof as how much I read and internalize your reviews, I added Spidey to this chapter. He wasn't in it originally, but seeing as how a number of you liked him I figured I might be murdered if I didn't add him in where I could.

Like I mentioned previously, this is the unbeta'd version of this story and it's really from this chapter and onward that things are rough. I'd love any additional input you guys may have, in addition to what my beta tells me. More voices gives me an accurate view of what works and what doesn't for most readers.

Also, in a dA style I've decided to hold a review kiriban. My dA account isn't active enough to warrant one, so I'm doing it here on where I spend most of my time. The prize goes to whoever write the 800th review to any of my stories. More details on my profile.

I grow more and more attached to Sally every time I write for this. Though she is a bit odd for wanting to do nothing but create babies :/