A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

By Uniasus

Chapter 12 - Family

The ride was quite. For the most part. Sam had screamed so much throughout the first day that he lost his voice and even a few days later his voice still sounded like a raspy whisper and it would go out at random times, leaving Sam mouthing the words.

Not that he was in much of a condition to talk much (or had pleasurable company). He was sick again, like he had been in the lab. He had a killer headache, was always shivering, and found it hard to concentrate on things. Barricade was being nice for some reason, telling Scorponok to fetch things like canned soup, blankets, and warm clothes. Sally was back in his field of vision, as were various other black shapes. He kept ducking, thinking it was one of the Decepticons finally attacking him, but it was always just a hallucination. Sam had had more seizures too, two at least by his count, but Sally never took over. She learned her lesson from last time. There never was any reason to anyway; there wasn't anything around that could be used to create a sparkling. He was inside Barricade for the most part as the Con drove.

Sam ate a lot too, was constantly hungry. Sometimes when a bad shiver hit him, his hands would slip and instead of the soup going from can to mouth, it landed on his shirt. But Sam didn't care, Sally didn't care, and the Cybertronians certainly didn't. And the fact that his mind was playing tricks on him, turning cans into piles of cookies and potted plants? They didn't care about that either, and Sally just found it funny.

As it was, he couldn't travel on his own. Open doorways ended up being metal poles, and he was pretty sure the old Western Saloon a day back wasn't real, if only because he didn't think they existed in Switzerland. If he still was in Switzerland. He kept asking Sally for advice on what was real; she had become more solid, more real as the time went on, human shaped but certainly not human with her bronze skin, electric blue eyes and matching hair. She liked to wear a pink dress of such a vibrant color Sam couldn't tell if clashed with her appearance or not.

He didn't walk, was either carried by Scorponok in a variety of ways or simply laid on the back seat of Barricade's car. That was his favorite actually, because it was so easy to tell what was real and what wasn't when he knew what he was supposed to be seeing. And the Cons had a lot longer legs that Sam, so they could travel faster either on foot or via road. For all he knew, he was in Russia right now. Or India. Or hell, maybe just one mountain away from the Swiss military base.

But Sam didn't care. He felt too miserable to do anything other than focusing on trying to get his headache to go away, control his tremors, and figure out what in the world he was actually seeing. He followed Barricade's orders like a drone, because he couldn't think of anything else to do, didn't want to put the effort into it.

Scorponok wasn't capable of speech, even in Cybertronian he only made sounds and half words similar to a human baby's babbling. And Barricade didn't really talk much, aside from giving directions and asking questions about his well-being. That was really weird, having the Decepticon be nice to him. Sally found it to be as things should be.

Sam paused, hand still in his bag of chips (cuz he was always eating, always and yet so thin) while he contemplated the large circus tent in front of him.

"You see that Sally? We're going to the circus. I bet you haven't seen an elephant before. Or a clown."

Sally shook her head, pigtail braids swinging.

There was the rumble he attributed to Barricade's footsteps, and suddenly the cop was next to the tent, a couple of trapeze artists on his shoulders. "It's a plane. Get in."

Sam gave a long blink and the tent washed away, the red and white melting to a dull gray as the opening was revealed to be the entrance to a plane's cargo hold. Barricade was indeed standing next to it, but instead of girls in sparkly costumes, his shoulders were draped in the largest canvas bags Sam had ever seen.

He blinked again, not quite understanding.

"Get in."

There was a nudge at his back, the end of Scorponok's tail, and he moved forward at the shuffling, lopsided step he'd developed since being taken from the hospital, still eat the chips. His cast was greasy. It was dirty too. He wondered if it was time for it to come off. How long he'd been gone. But the thoughts just drifted through his mind, too wispy to do anything with and so they scooted along for the next one and disappeared.

The inside of the plane was bare, no first class seats in the underbelly. Gray walls, brown boxes, and what looked like a pile of dirty laundry in a corner. But it was the softest thing around so Sam made a bee-line for it and collapsed in the center, not willing to do much more than sit there for the duration of the flight to who knows where. Do nothing but eat, sleep, and shiver.

His chips were gone, he noticed sadly, but then more bags appeared at his side and went to work on opening one. Questioning the food was a bad idea, it might stop coming.

It was dark in the plane; Sam didn't think people were normally supposed to be there so there weren't any light bulbs. When the floor started vibrating, Barricade opened a door to his back seat.

"Get in."

He grabbed four bags of chips and did as the evil police car said. The door closed with a click, and for the duration of the plane flight Sam found himself inside the Decepticon. Sam couldn't see Scorponok, Barricade's headlights weren't on, but he could hear the other Cybertronian scuttling around for a little bit before stopping. He probably got bored, there wasn't much to explore.

Sam drifted off, woke up to find himself at the head of a Thanksgiving dinner table and Sally at the end, went back into lala land, and woke up a second time to the sudden stream of light through Barricade's window. He stayed down on the seat for a while, running his finger over the fuzzy caterpillar on the floor, but when his stomach growled he sat up and started looking for something to eat. His chips were gone but Barricade adjusted his back seat and a hole into the trunk appeared. Sam stuck his hand in, never choosy, and grabbed a large bag of beef jerky and a ten-pack of apple juice boxes packaged together. He wondered if the cop had simply emptied out a Sam's Club.

Sipping on a straw, Sam looked out of the window. Tall buildings. Lots of people walking around. Bikes. And they were all Asian.

"Hey Sally, did you know this is my first time to China?" Yes, my first time too. "Figured. They eat a lot of rice here, you know." Does it taste good? "Yes."

"Japan." Barricade edged in. "We're in Japan, not China."

"We haven't been here before either."

The Saleen didn't say anything, and Sam continued to watch people through the windows.

Eventually, the buildings started to shrink and the people disappear. They were driving along a harbor, docks where huge freighters were kept and sheds were waiting to be filled with or emptied of crates. Barricade kept driving, and the docks became empty, the buildings smaller, more rust covered.

Sally was excited about something, she kept repeating the word sparklings, but Sam was still confused until Barricade pulled into an empty dock building and commanded him out.

There were sparklings in the shed. Three of them, and his Grandma Jonnie. No, four. No…three sparklings and a fourth mech who was only about eight feet high. But it looked liked his Grammy. Sometimes. From an angle. It must be the face.

Sally was jumping up and down, excited to see the sparklings, and taking a measured look Sam could see why. They were the sparklings she had awakened in Mission City; unplanned and sadly retarded.

The lack of a connection to them startled him; Sam was so used to feeling it from the other sparklings, expecting it, that the lack forced all his bodily ills from his mind for a moment. He was reaching, actively, not just letting the connection hum in a relaxed manner between them, but there was barely any response. And what he did get was wrong as a Taco Bell smelling like Panda Express. It stung at first, like chewing foil, but faded to a dull ache he was wishing would go away.

The short mech hurdled the sparklings towards Sam and Barricade walked around to be behind them all, looking like a chicken girl herding her wares into a pen. But he was gentle, guiding, and Sam got the sudden understanding that Barricade was taking care of all them, as well as he could. Scorponok just curled up like a cat in a corner.

The sparklings clustered together, a Mountain Dew machine, an X-Box, and car Sam couldn't tell the model of since the sparkling was upright. There was something wrong with them, and suddenly he knew what. There was no connection, because they didn't have the full spark to form a connection with. No spark, no bond.

Sam rubbed his chest with his casted hand. He had a spark? But like all previous thoughts that should have been given more attention, it faded away because he's mind couldn't handle it. What mattered was the sparklings, something Sally was constantly nagging him about. Fix, fix, fix, fix, she said, jumping from one sparkling to another.

"Can you help them?" Barricade asked.

Sally had her hands on the DewBot's side, nuzzling the plating. "Yeah," He said.

Beachbreak had spent a long time at the bottom of that waterfall in Zambia, waiting. Waiting, for nothing. He had tumbled over the edge of the waterfall at the end of battle, crashed into the rocks below, and washed to shore not far from where the turbulent water calmed down. His systems had taken quite a beating, one leg was useless, the force of the water had ripped out lines and then water mixed with his fluids to wreck havoc throughout his body. Comm line, ID beacon, all knocked off line. But it was okay. His fellow Autobots would come and look for him, make their way down the side and assist him to a location where he could heal.

They never came.

Never even looked over the edge of the waterfall he had helped save Prime himself from going over.

He lay there for months, sinking into the mud all by himself. No humans came by. No Cybertronians, the NEST team had chased off the Decepticons, and why would the Autobots come back now? And since he couldn't move slowly resigned himself to be stuck here on Earth for the remainder of the planet's life.

And then Barricade showed up on the other side of the river.

They had stared at each other, Beachbreak covered in mud and broken, Barricade clean and whole, and then the Mustang just turned around and walked away, leaving a perfect target, if not whole, at least untouched. For a while anyway, because three hours later Barricade showed up behind him. Beachbreak hadn't known he was there until the cop kneeled next to him and started scooping away the mud.

"What are you doing?"

"How long have you been here?"

They stared at each other until Beachbreak looked away. "A couple of months."

The Con grunted, but went back to digging. It took awhile, but eventually Beachbreak was no longer in danger of being swallowed by mud and was leaning back against a tree.

"I don't need your help." He directed the comment at Barricade, but looked out towards the waterfall. The Mustang didn't answer, just continued to work on Beachbreak's damaged leg.

"The Autobots will be here soon, so you better leave."

Barricade continued pounding out dents.

"That means you have no use."

The Con stopped. "Is that what you think, why they abandoned you?"

Beachbreak flinched, the only acknowledgement he was going to give towards thinking the thought.

"I did too," Barricade said lowly before returning his attention to Beachbreak's leg. The Autobot turned his head to watch the Decepticon work. Despite being at least half the size of Barricade, the cop seemed to have no trouble working with the smaller parts.

"Are you a medic?" he asked, but Barricade shook his head.

"I did a lot of solo missions, and when I was given my first partner he was always getting into things he shouldn't have had. He was smaller than you." The police car closed a leg panel. "That's all I can do here, without spare parts. Can you transform? It would be easier I think than you trying to fit in my cab."

Was it wrong he didn't have a single doubt about getting into this particular Decepticon? "Yes, but my alt's a jet ski and you don't have a holder on your roof."

"You'll fit in the trunk, if I keep it open."

Beachbreak still didn't know why Barricade was there that day, but he was grateful for the help. For the sense of belonging that suddenly seemed a whole lot truer than before.

He never left, thought he could have at any moment. The half-sparked sparklings Barricade had collected, Fizz, Dagger, and Dundee, needed help. They weren't fully aware of their surroundings, prone to just staring at walls and didn't seem to know when their systems needed fuel. They needed Beachbreak to feed them, look after them. He couldn't abandon them, not such sweet things. And Barricade's new partner, Scorponok, was so gentle it was hard not to like him. They were a family unit, of a sort. He was the caretaker, looking after the sparklings while Barricade went out for supplies: fuel they could use, or at least convert, parts, news, a new home as they could never stay long for fear of discovery. This time, Barricade said he had found something that could help the sparklings.

Beachbreak was excited at the prospect, if confused. He didn't think there was anything on Earth that had that power, not any more. Maybe not on Cybertron either.

So he was surprised to see Barricade bring in Samuel Witwicky. Beachbreak had never met the boy, but had heard a lot about him, read his file, and had be taken in by the teen's courage. The human was Bumblebee's charge and Beachbreak found himself looking towards the shed's door for his friend. But Bee didn't show up, and Beachbreak had to wonder if Cade had taken Samuel from the scout.

Beachbreak turned his attention to the human himself and was surprised at Samuel's condition. He was scruffy, his clothes were filthy, and he seemed wired, looking from one place to another. Samuel was trembling too, apparently from cold besides the two sizes too large down coat he was wearing. There was a cast on his right arm too. Beachbreak scanned the human's vitals, and the results were troubling. Nothing was stable: heartbeat, respiratory rate, neurochemistry.

::He needs to be in hospital Cade!:: Beachbreak sent over the comms.

::Scorponok rescued him from one. They had a firing squad ready to shoot him down::

Pause.

::You're bringing the entire fraction of the Autobots on our afts by brining him here::

::Maybe. If they show up, their welcome to have him. I couldn't just leave him there BB, he was countries away from where he was supposed to be and he needed help. He hasn't put up a fight the entire trip here::

Beachbreak acknowledged the point. He would have done the same thing, despite his desire to stay out of sight. ::I thought you said you'd bring back something to help the sparklings::

Cade bobbed his head in the direction of Samuel and walked towards Beachbreak. ::They wanted to kill him, because he can create sparklings::

::An organic absorbed the All Spark?:: He was already shepherding the sparklings towards Samuel.

::Maybe::

Beachbreak watched apprehensively as Samuel approached the sparkling, heading towards Fizz first. The green mech wasn't paying attention to the human, none of them were that aware of their surroundings. Fizz was hunched over, but still taller than Samuel by over a foot. When the vending machine stood up to his full height, he was taller than Beachbreak by half a head.

Samuel lightly placed a hand on Fizz's side and the sparkling turned to look at him. But the human didn't return the glance; instead he looked to his left. "Sally?" he asked, looking for an opinion. But there wasn't anyone there.

Beachbreak shot a look at Cade, who rolled his shoulders backwards in an expression of indifference.

::He talks to her all the time, but I've never seen her::

::Is she even real?:: Last he checked, Samuel was involved with someone named Mikaela.

::No clue::

::So the All Spark's crazy::

Cade didn't respond and Beachbreak mentally cursed.

Samuel was not doing much, he had sunk to the ground and was sitting crossed legged with his back against Fizz's foot. Dagger had crawled forward on his four legs and had settled into the human's lap, legs hanging over Samuel's thighs. The human was petting the X-Box's back plates and Dagger was emitting an electronic hum. Dundee was just looking at Samuel, actually seeing him, and not simply looking in the same direction. As Beachbreak watched, the sparkling first knelt, and then laid down on his front with a hand stretched towards Samuel to hesitantly touch the human's hair. Samuel leaned into the touch, rubbing his face into the fingertip.

The all looked to be in some sort of trance, which was more than a little discouraging in Beachbreak's point of view. And maybe he was a little jealous too, the sparklings had never really seemed that aware of him. Curious as to what was going on, the mech scanned Samuel again. He was surprised to see the fever he had detected earlier was lessoning, as were the tremors that had been a side effect. The biggest concern of note though was the slow steadying of his biorhythms. Ratchet would be having a field day.

The four of them stayed that way for a good hour. Beachbreak and Cade had retreated towards Scorponok's corner and the scorpion reveled in the company. They kept sending glances towards the other side of the shed, checking up on the sparklings, checking up on Samuel (it would do no good to give him back to the Autobot's more damaged than need be). Cade pulled out a polishing cloth and was going over his partner's armor, Beachbreak joining in after a few minutes.

"Beachbreak?" The mech looked over to find Fizz looking around the shed. "Beachbreak?"

Beachbreak set aside the cloth and stood up. "Here." He hadn't thought Fizz even knew his name.

Fizz stood up, careful of Samuel, and made his way towards Beachbreak, who headed over to meet him. Though taller than Beachbreak, Fizz still managed to snuggle in under his chin. Beachbreak wrapped his arms around the vending machine, so happy that this was real, wasn't one of those fantasies he fell into from time to time.

He looked towards Samuel, the human looked exhausted. Dundee scooped him and Dagger up and made his way toward Beachbreak. The mech removed one arm from Fizz and wrapped it as far as he could around Dundee when the Navigator was close enough. Together they headed towards Cade and Scorponok.

A/N: I was sort pissed at Prime after reading the novels, can you tell? Anywho, here you are. Sorry for the sudden influx of characters, but they are all canon so I hope it's not that big of an issue.

Reviews are lovely, they lift my spirits during my failing job search. As do the cupcakes my sister is making. Who knew she baked? Any one else want one?