Optimus stared emotionlessly at the screen that he and Ratchet were studying, trying to find either Jack or Arcee. Finding either of them would be an achievement at this present moment in time as a whole day had passed since their disappearances.
"Bulkhead here, no sign of them in Jasper"
A clicking sounded afterwards informing Optimus that Bumblebee had heard nothing either. It was disheartening but Optimus refused to give up, Autobots never leave Autobots behind.
"Optimus! I've got a signal" Ratchet snapped over and Optimus turned to stare at the bleeping signal on the screen.
"Arcee or Jack?" Optimus asked as Bulkhead and Bumblebee rolled into base after a failed search.
"Not sure, the signal is weak, either it's being jammed or the Cybertronian sending the signal is seriously injured" Ratchet replied frowning at the signal as he studied the coordinates.
"Autobots, roll out"
Jack twitched, and it felt…wrong. He blinked and still it felt wrong. He opened his eyes and lifted his head, it hurt and when he stretched his neck, it creaked and clicked. Then he stretched his fingers…and they whirred.
He wanted to look down, but his head was being held in some kind of brace that he could barely move in. He looked around the dimly lit room, but his eyes adjusted quickly to the little artificial light.
"So far the body has adjusted perfectly and the conscious appears to be in full control" Came a voice from below and Jack tried to look down, but his vision was limited and all he could see was the floor, not who was talking.
But the floor was a long way down, and it didn't feel like he was being suspended at all. In fact, he could feel the floor if he moved his feet. He couldn't move his toes, they wouldn't move like he wanted them to.
"And it appears as though he is awake" The voice came again and he heard a grunt and then a deep scratchy reply.
"Remarkable, only twenty four hours and he's already up. This is perfect" The scratchy voice sounded pleased and that instantly angered Jack.
Whatever they had done to him, it had worked. Perfectly.
"Do we release some of the binds?" The first voice asked with interest.
"Yes, release the head and the chest. Keep the arms and legs tightly bound" The scratchy voice ordered from below and Jack felt his head being released with a click and a whirr from his left, and the same for his chest.
He stretched his chest forwards and lifted his neck back and then looked down, and he froze, staring down.
The two speakers, were small. They were very small.
"Welcome to the world Jack, operation Riptide was a success" The scratchy voice man called up with a toothy grin and Jack almost screamed.
They weren't small. He was a robot.
Megatron was not a nice con, he was nastier than any other being in the entire universe. In every universe he doubted that there was a being half as evil as he was.
And oh how he enjoyed torture. Especially when a femme was involved.
He sauntered into the room as the Autobot femme hung by her arms from the ceiling of her prison, looking fierce and worried. No doubt concerned over the human he had mentioned earlier.
Megatron remembered his name to be Jack. He never forgot a face, not even of a human.
"Greetings Arcee, how are you finding your room?" He asked in a taunting voice along with a sneer that she obviously found distasteful as she didn't reply.
Clever femme knew her place.
"I have been assured you have received the best treatment available, and by the looks of you I have been informed correctly" He noted lifting her face and grinning at the several indents in her face and helm.
"Do you think Optimus would like to know what activities we have been up to all alone in here? I think it might please him to know" He hissed dragging his longest claw along her breast plates and leaving a long tear in the metal plating.
Arcee hissed but remained silent and Megatron grinned from behind her, pressing the point of his claw in her back, in a spot where he knew a femme kept her energon distillation tank.
He pushed forwards, and his claw broke through the metal and into the tank with a hiss, and he pulled away as a slow trickle of energon poured from the wound.
Megatron was clever, he wanted to break her, and that wouldn't happen if he allowed her to go into stasis. He knew how to torture a bot, he was an expert in the matter of torture and injury without death.
The femme would be in for a long stay.
Optimus shot along the highway towards the last place that Arcee's and Jack's signals had been detectable. He slowed and parked on the side of the busy road with his emergency lights on, and allowed his holoform to materialise inside the cab.
The holoform was a gift from Wheeljack as he travelled Earth, they allowed the Autobots to obtain a physical human form and interact with humans easily.
His holoform was around thirty years old with short brown hair and shining blue eyes, his skin was tan and he was muscular. He glanced around and ran quickly to the other side of the motorway without getting hit and observe the scene.
Other than a few skid marks and a scorch mark on the ground there was nothing to show that a fight between several giant alien robots had taken place only a day ago. He looked around and leant over and brushed his fingers in the blackened ground and lifted them up to get a better look at, but there was nothing he could learn from it other than shots had been fired.
One thing that had obviously been overlooked before was the phone. He walked over to the edge of the road and reached down to inspect the phone. It was open and there was a crack along the screen and when Optimus pressed the on button the screen flickered for a moment before fading into darkness.
It wasn't a good sign, it confirmed that Jack had been present but it also confirmed something else.
The phone was lying in the bushes to the left of the road, in the direction his signal had been taken before the phone had been destroyed.
Arcee's signal went right.
Not both of them had been taken by the cons.
He had one hope left, so he stood up and looked out into the greenery beside the road.
"Jack?" He called out and he waited, he waited a good five minutes but he received no reply.
Jack was gone.
Hey peeps! Tulip here!
So this was a bit jumbled up cause I had to rewrite the torture scene and I'm not one hundred percent content with it but I'm feeling a bit drained today so it's not the best chapter I've written but better one's will be coming once the ball is rolling.
BlackWolf, you certainly do, I had a look at some of your stories and they are brilliant. Please continue to read and review.
Inkcrafter, I'm glad your enjoying it because I loved your story 'wait wasn't I human' when the three humans were turned into bots. Loved it.
Lionfire, Haha, you always make me laugh Lion, and now you have me wondering if Josh Keaton uses fan fiction…hmm…
Negima Uzumaki, Your on the right wave length but not quite, though this chapter has no doubt answered your question (at least I hope it has anyway)
Panther-Freedom, No! I don't like to hurt other people, but I just like torturing my favourite characters, because I know their not real and can't actually feel it. Which is much better than actually hurting people don't you think?
Read and Review guys!
Tulip Out.
