I'm getting really good at this whole updating 2 days before it's been a month since the last update...and I assure you, it's not on purpose. If I could bang out chapters once a week like I was originally doing, I would be so completely stoked you wouldn't believe it. I have no idea why I can't seem to get rid of this writer's block I've been dealing with for the last 8 months or so, but it's driving me insane. I actually had over half this chapter written the night I posted the last chapter, and then I went to bed and when I woke up...allllll of my ideas were gone. So it's taken me forever to be able to finish it. I hope it's not too terribly obvious that the first half came so easy and I struggled with the other half.
Either way, I hope you guys like it. I'm starting on the next chapter as soon as I post this one, and I really, really, really hope I can crank this one out and get it up quicker 'cause you guys definitely deserve it. You all are the best readers everrrrrrr :) I pretty much know what I want to do and where I want to go with the next one, so maybe I'll get lucky.
Yep, I'm still shamefully begging for reviews. You know you guys love it when I beg!
Three months.
94 days, seven hours, and 46 minutes since Mikaela had been seen.
Sam was beyond consolation at this point. He still believed in his heart that she was still alive somewhere out there. Anything else was unacceptable. Several others had lost hope; there was no way the Decepticons would let her live this long under their control. Nobody dared mention their hopelessness in front of Sam; they knew his mind was fragile enough.
Christian and Leo had gone back to Philadelphia after the first week. Sam had basically ordered them to go. He didn't want them failing all their classes—it wasn't fair to them. The drive back and forth was only an hour and a half, so they came back every weekend as soon as they were both done with classes on Friday.
12 close calls.
12 times they'd been so sure they'd figured out where Mikaela was being held hostage. Each time they'd followed the same routine, used the same strategy, and ambushed the location the exact same way. Yet every time it ended the same way: no Mikaela. No sign of Mikaela or any of the Neo Decepticon thugs. Every single mission ended up being a dead end, and with each dead end more and more hope was lost.
After the first, Sam was barred from going with the soldiers. He'd been ordered up, down, and sideways before they left the first time to not rush ahead of the soldiers and the Autobots into the house they'd originally believed held their hostage but as soon as they'd gotten close enough, he'd done exactly that. Fortunately for them, there hadn't been any threat in the end or they would have had a dead Sam and still missing Mikaela.
The second through sixth times, Ratchet had actually had to sedate Sam because he refused to sit back and stay at the base while everyone else was on a mission to find his fiancée. Finally, though, Will had sat him down and had a long, serious talk about it being safer for everyone involved if Sam wasn't present. He finally realized that both he and his fiancée were safer if he didn't tag along. That didn't mean he took the order easily; when the soldiers left on another hunch, he paced the hanger restlessly until they returned.
Four videos.
For the first month, they'd sent a video each week at the same time on the same day that was almost identical to the first. The drone would belittle Sam and mock him for not having found his fiancée yet, then the camera would pan to Mikaela who would beg and plead for Sam to find her in amongst her repeated 'I love you's and 'I'm so sorry's. They would be forced to watch as the second drone beat her or tortured her in some inventive new way. Each video featured a new weapon, a new pain, and Sam couldn't help retching after every one of them. The love of his life was going through an unspeakable, inhumane experience all because of what he'd done. The videos caused him to absolutely despise himself. She'd done nothing to deserve what was happening to her.
The fourth video ended with the promise that it was the final one. Originally, there was only supposed to be the one video but the drones enjoyed what they knew was complete and utter despair by forcing Sam to watch the videos that they'd had to send the new ones. Once they'd gotten their kicks out of it, they'd decided they'd go back to making Sam, the soldiers, and the Autobots wonder endlessly whether or not their loved one was alive. The images from the videos haunted their thoughts, and seldom of them managed to sleep through a whole night. Every one of them was plagued with nightmares, Sam obviously being the worst.
The last two weeks, Sam had been secretly scouring through the information the soldiers and Autobots had managed to put together. At night, when all the others were asleep in their bunks or recharging in one of the other hangars, he was poring through papers and notes and computerized information under the littlest amount of light necessary. Sleep didn't come anymore; not when he spent the nights barely falling into a light doze before the nightmares hit and he woke up in a cold sweat before spending the next hour or two puking up what little was in his stomach.
He was weakening by the minute, and he knew it, but it was nothing compared to what Mikaela was experiencing. Somehow, someway he would figure out where she was and his sheer will to find her and bring her home alive would give him strength enough to do it.
From the moment the first video started, he'd felt a sense of familiarity with the room. In some part of his mind, he knew where they were keeping her. No matter how hard he tried, how many times he reread the same information over and over and over—the answer wouldn't come to him. That was, perhaps, the hardest part of it all. If only he could just remember where he knew that room from, they could find her and rescue her from the hell she was enduring. It was his fault she was there in the first place, and it was his fault she was still there three agonizingly long months later. Every bruise she had, every tear she cried, every single ounce of pain they inflicted upon her…he'd caused it. He'd put her there by the decisions he'd made. They were toying with him. They knew he'd know that room. He could save her instead of letting her down every second that passed by with them separated. If only he could remember where he'd seen that fucking room before.
All she knew was light and dark. Numbness had long since consumed her. After the first month, she'd lost all semblance of time. The only reason she'd been aware that length of time had passed was because of the videos these…things kept sending to the base in New Jersey. From the hushed conversations between the two men who'd guarded her, she knew they were in a place Sam had been before. She had no idea where that place was since they'd blindfolded her throughout the whole ride here. The windows in the room were boarded up, but even if she'd known their exact location there was no way for her to get the message to Sam without them knowing and her death would be immediate.
The beatings weren't as bad as the videos portrayed them to be, although they were still beatings. Whenever the camera was off, they generally just took turns slapping her around and kicking her a few times and occasionally brought out the leather whip. The videos had held more sadistic means of torture simply to affect Sam more. She tried not to think about those times, but like Sam her nights were wrought with nightmares.
Whatever these…humans were, they knew at the very least they had to feed her the barest amount of food and give her water. At this point, she truly believed they had no desire to kill her unless they absolutely had to. No, she was a trap to get the soldiers and the Autobots and, most of all, Sam to come to them. Their lives were the end game, she was just a pawn.
All that kept her sane was the memories she had. Thoughts of Sam kept her from succumbing to the pain and allowing it to consume her to the point it literally drove her crazy.
Their first kiss.
Their first date.
The first time they'd made love.
The first time they exchanged 'I love you's.
The first time they exchanged 'I love you's when he hadn't just almost died.
The night he'd proposed to her.
The week they'd spent in Daytona Beach.
God, if she'd have known what was coming she never would have gotten mad about Kelsey. Looking back now, it was such an insignificant and stupid thing to get upset over and fight with him about. If she could just see him now, she'd kiss him and tell him how much she loved him and that she didn't blame him for any of this. She knew him inside and out, and there was no doubt in her mind he'd spent this entire time she'd been kidnapped blaming himself for what was happening to her.
The thugs were back. They disappeared every now and then to do who knows what, but she was completely tied up so there was no way for her to escape. She'd already tried. In the beginning, they'd simply tied her up with duct tape and a rope but it hadn't taken her long to break through that. When they'd figured it out, they'd beat her with a dog chain until she'd passed out from the pain. It had been hard enough to hurt, but not so heavy of a chain that it broke bones or caused any major damage. After that incident, they'd chained her up with a thick chain and there was no way she could break the links that bound her.
She could hear them talking in hushed voices to each other, and her ears perked up at the mention of a four letter word that was the clue her boy needed to find her. It was the be all and end all of all of this madness; she had to find some way to get the message to him without them knowing so they could find her.
Mikaela knew now exactly where they were and it was the one place she knew Sam would never think to look.
The camera turned on, and the lens focused on one of the men. It was the same one who talked every single time.
"Miss me yet, Witwicky?" He laughed evilly. That damn laugh would likely haunt her until the day she died. "You're getting closer. That makes, what, 12 unsuccessful tries? I would think by now your ingenious military could have found our location, but I guess it's not so infallible after all. I have to say I've greatly enjoyed watching you fail miserably every single time, but it's gotten a little boring. Where's your fire? Where's your passion? I haven't seen you on any of the missions since that first one. Have you given up now? Decided she wasn't worth it after all? Your lovely little fiancée has been surprisingly strong. She doesn't even cry anymore when we beat her. Oh yes, you'll be glad to know she's still alive. Have a look at her if you don't believe me."
He picked up the camera and crossed the room until he stood right in front of her.
"Don't worry, my friend, we won't force you to sit through watching her suffer any longer," The second man spoke into the camera with a malicious smirk on his face only she could see. "Go on, honey, beg and plead for that man of yours to come save you but I wouldn't waste too much breath because he hasn't found you yet. How much could he possibly love you if he hasn't managed to find you here in the most obvious of places?"
"Sam, baby…God, I love you so much. I know you're still looking for me. I know you haven't given up. I can't wait to see you again, and I know I will. None of this is your fault, alright?" She paused a moment to keep her tears at bay and looked directly into the camera. "No matter what happens, I'm really glad I got in that car with you. I love you baby, I need you to be strong for me okay? You've gotta stay strong."
"Well isn't that sweet?" The second man mocked and turned the camera so that it faced him. "Here's the deal, Witwicky. We've been gracious enough to keep her alive this long to give you a chance to find her and see her one last time before we kill you and those stupid Autobot friends of yours, but our patience is gone. You have 24 hours…if we don't see you by then, the girl is dead. We told you this in the beginning…game on, Witwicky. Only we know if you're going to win or lose. What's it going to be?"
The recording stopped and was soon transmitted to the military's feed. All that was left to do was wait. The threat was real; she could feel it in her bones.
Mikaela was left with only the remaining thought that if Sam and the rest didn't come barging down the door in the next 24 hours, they would have lost out on the last chance they ever had to talk…all because he didn't answer his phone.
Sam was just about done with his hidden research for the night when the video feed was received. It was such a shock to finally get another one that he couldn't help but freeze. A part of him was terrified to watch the video: the way these things were controlled by the Decepticons, there was no telling what he would see. At the same time, the chance to finally have some sort of concrete evidence after two months of uncertainty was almost too much too resist.
He just didn't know if he was ready to find out they'd killed her.
"Hey, wake up," He said softly minutes later after coming to a decision. He had to see that video, but he couldn't do it alone.
"What are you doing here Sam?" A glance at the red numbers on the digital clock beside the bed displayed the wee hours of the morning. "It's 3:30 in the morning."
"You need to get up right now."
"Why?"
"'Cause it's really important."
"What's going on Sam?"
"Another video just came through."
"What?" The other person shot up in bed now fully wide awake.
"I haven't seen it yet," He answered the unasked question. "I can't watch it alone."
They retreated quietly out of the room so as not to wake anyone else. Back in the hangar, the screen was frozen on a picture of the man who had haunted their every unspoken thought. What could he possibly want now, two months after stating plainly there would be no more videos?
"What if she's dead?" He asked softly and there was more fear in his eyes than they'd seen before. "Christian, I can't live without her."
"She's gonna be okay, honey," Christian said softly and placed a hand on his arm. "We're gonna find her and bring her back."
"What if she hates me? It's my fault for all of this."
"You couldn't predict this Sam, none of us could. She knows that," She said seriously and motioned towards the monitor. "Let's just watch the video and then we'll talk okay?"
Sam slowly nodded and sat down on a chair. Christian quietly took control and started the video. The tension was rolling off of him in waves as the first Neo Decepticon began to speak. As he began to question his love for Mikaela, Sam grabbed the edge of the table so hard his knuckles whitened almost instantly. Christian half expected another chair to go flying through the just replaced computer screen, but she guessed that was why he was holding onto the table for dear life.
She felt, more than heard, him release the breath he was holding when they finally learned she was still alive. Both sets of eyes lit up when Mikaela's face filled the frame despite the fact that her face was more gaunt than they'd ever seen it. Of course, that was to be expected but Sam couldn't help the pang of relief that she at least looked somewhat healthy considering the situation she was in.
Tears streamed down his face unashamedly. There was really no other reaction he could emit. Finally, they had proof Mikaela was still alive. They were no longer giving every waking moment of their lives to hunting down a body that may or may not be alive; now, they were fighting to save a life.
The 24 hour time limit likely gave the Decepticons a false sense of security by thinking the momentum had shifted to their side, but their careless decision to give away their biggest bargaining chip—whether or not Mikaela was still alive—nullified the advantage they gained by threatening Sam and the others to find them in a day or she would die. They had the strategy all planned out and deciphering the location would likely not cause any major changes. Again they were back at square one trying to determine where they were keeping her, but the daunting task of figuring it out in the next couple of hours only heightened their motivation.
"Epps and Lennox need to see this," Christian finally said.
"I know," He agreed. "Go wake up Leo and have him get everybody else."
While Christian disappeared to do just that, Sam replayed all five of the videos focusing, this time, on the room and every little detail. Somewhere in amongst everything going on, there had to be a clue that would tell him where they were.
Will, Robert, Leo, and Christian sat atop the elevated desk with the Autobots surrounding them. It'd been an hour since the video had been received and every minute following had been dedicated to going back over all of the information they had and reviewing briefs from the 12 failed missions trying to find anything that may have originally been overlooked.
"We've searched the entire state of Florida and every other place there's been some sort of activity in the last six months," Christian said tiredly. "How have they managed to virtually disappear and hold her hostage completely undetected by the most advanced technology available in the world? How can we possibly find her in 24 hours if you can't find any kind of clue to lead us to her?"
"We're going to find her," Will's voice had the same tired edge to it.
"How are you going to do that?" She pushed. "You couldn't even protect them."
"Baby, calm down," Leo reached for his girlfriend. "They couldn't prevent this. The Decepticons were one step ahead this time and they knew they could pull it off. These guys are doing everything they can to find her. Every one of them has put their life on hold for the last three months to spend every waking moment searching for Mikaela."
"They're supposed to be getting married in like a month," Christian angrily tossed down the pen she was fiddling with and stood up. "But now we don't even know if she'll be alive to walk down the aisle because you're too incompetent to do your job and keep her safe."
The three men watched in shock as the young woman stalked off after her angry outburst. It was the first such reaction she'd had. So far, she'd managed to stay relatively calm and collected given the whole situation, but it seemed it'd finally become too much.
"I'm sorry," Leo was the first to regain his bearings and apologized on behalf of his girlfriend. "She didn't mean it. She's just upset and stressed."
"It's okay," Epps spoke up and it was obvious the two men were hurt by the angry remark but they both understood. "Christian's been tough this entire time. To be honest, I've been expecting something like this for a while. She and Mikaela are almost like sisters despite the short time they've known each other and she's still relatively new to all this."
"He's right Leo," Will agreed. "Don't worry. I know she's just worried we won't find her in time. I'll talk to her."
Will's shoulders were hunched as he followed Christian's footsteps out of the hangar. The success or failure of this mission rested on his shoulders and his alone. Sure, the others were just as involved as he, but he was the leader.
In all his time in the military, no other moment had ever held such significance. At no other point had he put his entire life so completely on hold in order to insure he made absolutely no mistakes. It wasn't as if this was the most important mission he'd ever had per say, but it was the only one that had ever hit so close to home. The battles in Mission City and Egypt had been more important in terms of the fate of the world and the human race being at stake, but this was a direct attack on people that he deeply cared about.
It was times like this he missed psychotic terrorists and suicide bombers. With them, at least they knew what to expect. They knew how defend that type of threat. They were trained to defend against attacks like that. Throw in some super advanced robots and, even two years later, it was still all so…new. New information was learned every day. Just when they thought they were finally getting to the point it didn't feel like they weren't fighting completely blind, the Decepticons just had to throw this whole new weapon at them.
Three and a half months of intense, nonstop research and they still knew virtually nothing about these Neo Decepticons. Ninety percent of the men and women on base had been delegated solely to this one thing. The Autobots were working just as hard, if not more so considering the sheer amount of information they had that the humans did not have yet.
Now they weren't just fighting against some untraceable, totally undetectable, foe…they were fighting against time.
"Leo, just go away," Christian said upon hearing footsteps behind her. "I don't wanna talk to you right now."
"Good thing I'm not Leo then," Will spoke with a small smile on his face but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.
"And I really don't want to talk to you either," She retorted bitterly.
"I know," He said softly.
"Go away then."
"We're going to find Mikaela."
"God, do you even realize how many times you have said that?" She spat and spun around to face him. "And yet, you're not any closer to figuring out where the fuck she is than you were three months ago!"
"Somehow, someway we're going to find her," Will repeated. "And we're going to bring her home alive."
"How can you be so certain?" In that moment, he realized Christian wasn't angry at him or anyone else for their seemingly lack of progress. She was angry at herself because she was losing faith. She was giving up on her best friend coming back alive. It was disgust that she was so weak at a time she needed to be her strongest.
"Like you said, they're supposed to be getting married in a month. A love like that…" He trailed off searching for the right words.
"And there's a very real possibility they won't now," Christian said brokenly. "We have 20 hours to find her or they're going to kill her and we still don't know where she is."
"Sam and Mikaela…they're that Hollywood-esque, storybook love," He was still trying to form the words he needed to say, but he understood that all she really needed right now was someone to give her a reason to believe again. " They're...it. I'm not saying they love each other more than I love Sarah or that their love is bigger, but they're the type of couple you look at and know that fate exists, that there's some higher power up there. They're totally cheesy and Sam puts the rest of us men to shame the way he treats Mikaela, but they're the couple you walk into a room and, even if you've never seen either of them before, you know that they're hopelessly in love with each other. You ask how I'm so certain? That's how. Their love isn't meant to end like this."
"Wow, Will," She let out a small chuckle. "Sappy much?"
"Tell anyone and I'll completely deny it," He teased playfully and then turned serious. "I promise you, Christian, even if I die trying Mikaela will come home alive."
"Thank you Will," Christian said sincerely. "I really needed to hear that."
"I know. And you need to know it's okay to feel weak," He warmly hugged her. "Nobody can be strong all the time. Just have faith in them, in us, in whatever you believe in. Lean on us when you need to. We're not gonna be mad at you or look at you any different."
"Now I know why Mikaela spoke so highly of you. You're like a big brother to her."
"I love that girl to death. She's part of our family. I'll do anything in the world for her. Any of you for that matter."
Christian followed Will back inside and gave the others an apologetic smile, but no other words were spoken on the subject. Instead, they jumped right back into studying different locations and searching for patterns in the Decepticon activity they'd recorded in an attempt to find out where they were holding Mikaela hostage. Nothing they'd looked at so far had given them any indication it was the right place, and most of the locations they'd already searched had been nothing more than a semieducated guess. As if dealing with a detectable Decepticon wasn't bad enough, now they suddenly had these new untraceable ones to deal with.
It was now almost 11 o'clock that morning, seven and a half hours after receiving the video that set the base alive in a way none of the inhabitants had ever seen before. Sam had isolated himself in a room once he and Christian had awakened everyone and they'd seen the videos themselves. He knew he should probably be in the hangar with the others, but he'd needed to be alone to try and uncover the information they were all desperately searching for. The five videos had been uploaded to his laptop, and he'd replayed them in order continuously since locking himself in his room. It was a tortuously painful task to watch the videos repeatedly and see his fiancée being abused over and over, but it was something he had to do. Deep down, he knew he was the only one who would ever be able to figure out where they had her. His gut told him no matter how hard Will, Leo, Epps, and the others looked, Mikaela's life and their future rested on his shoulders.
"It can't be," Sam whispered to himself disbelievingly. After countless times of seeing those videos, recognition flickered in his mind. Still though, he didn't want to get his hopes up for nothing. This was their last chance to find her and bring her home alive.
One more time, he replayed the videos in order from the first they'd received three months ago to the one that came through just hours before. With each scene that played on the screen, he became more and more certain that he'd figured it out. He scrutinized every aspect of the room and every word Mikaela spoke to him and when all five were through, he knew without a doubt where they were keeping her. It seemed so obvious to him now that he didn't know how they'd ever missed it, but it just proved the Decepticon's intelligence. They'd somehow known that the humans would overlook the location and never even question the possibility.
Sam busted into the hangar and the others looked at him in surprise at his sudden entrance. By the look on his face, they knew something was up. Will watched as Sam climbed the stairs to where they were all sitting and waited for him to speak.
"I know where she is," Sam declared seriously.
I didn't wanna give this away at the beginning (couldn't have you knowing she was still missing before you ever read the chapter, could I?) so I wanna know how many of you can guess where she is so that means you have to leave a review and tell me!