Thoughts and criticisms are encouraged and appreciated.

Since he'd first been introduced to the Autobot team, Jack had found himself in some unfortunate situations, but he was having a hard time thinking of a time where things had gone this badly this fast.

Optimus, Arcee, and Bumblebee were all offline and piled up in a heap as Jack and Raf found themselves in the clutches of Soundwave and Knockout. Clinging to the side of the Autobot relic, Jack felt his hands growing tired from the strain of keeping the weak grip he had on the device. He considered letting go, but looking down and seeing just how high he was gave him second thoughts about this plan. Suddenly, he was lifted even higher and was just a few feet from the screen plating of Soundwave's face. He stared into the reflection on that emotionless visor knowing that, although he couldn't see it, Soundwave was staring right back at the boy and wondering what to do with the little vermin that had attached itself to his prize.

"Stop! L-let go! That's mine!" Jack glanced over and saw Knockout pulling Raf's laptop out of his grasp with the tips of his claws. He gave the device a once over look and gave a brief laugh.

"Seems like you're awfully attached to this. Maybe I'll just hang on to it, then." the 'Con mused, closing his servo around it, "This device wouldn't have anything to do with that virus you mentioned, would it? Because I'd love to hear more about that."

Raf squirmed about trying to loosen himself from the backpack that Knockout was holding him up by, but the straps were pressed tight against his arms, preventing any attempt to wiggle out of them. Failing to free himself, he cried out, "BUMBLEBEE!"

Knockout took a short glimpse back at the immobilized Autobots with a grin, "Sorry, looks like you're on your own here." But as he turned his attention back to the human in his clutches, behind him Bumblebee did start to stir. Making a quiet beep somewhat reminiscent of a whine, he lifted his good arm and brought his servo to the side of his helm, his optics half-open. His senses were all still somewhat fuzzy, but through the pounding in his audio receptors he heard that small, familiar voice:

"HELP! BUMBLEBEE, WAKE UP!"

Bee's optics shot open as the words registered in his processor. Raf was in trouble! With a loud, angry whirr he leapt from the ground and charged at the 'Cons. Knockout was able to look back just in time to get a face-full of Bumblebee fist. Raf was sent flying towards the trees, but Bee was quick to snatch him out of the air. However, the awkward angle he took as he caught the human sent him tumbling into the underbrush, landing even more awkwardly on top of the 'Con medic he'd just punched out.

Soundwave, still holding tight to the relic (with Jack still hanging on), backed away from the tree line and raised his other arm, readying the Resonance Blaster for when Bumblebee got back up. However, he was startled by sudden blaster fire from the opposite direction. He turned his head and saw Arcee and Optimus had regained consciousness and were coming for him. Looking back, he saw Bumblebee had also crawled out of the forest and was charging as well.

Reluctant to wave a sonic weapon back and forth as he fired it, and not having time to pause and fire in both directions, Soundwave decided on another way to stop the 'Bots. Quickly reaching up with one of his tentacles, he wrapped it tightly around Jack and held the human out in front of him, squeezing tight and causing the human to cry out in pain.

The Autobots immediately froze where they stood, blasters still at the ready, but not daring to take another step towards Soundwave for fear of his captive's safety. Arcee was particularly distraught at this new turn of events.

"STOP! Don't hurt him!" she called out. Her voice was commanding but the fear was still very apparent, and Soundwave picked up on it. He looked slowly from Arcee to the human in his grip, considering his next move. After a short pause, his screen lit up and began processing their coordinates. A moment later, a groundbridge portal opened directly behind him.

Knockout, who had finally gotten up, heard the bridge open and mumbled a relieved, "Finally!" He rushed forward, knocking Bumblebee aside, "Out of the way, pipsqueak!" Leaping forward, he transformed into his vehicle mode and zoomed through the bridge and disappeared. Soundwave, glanced at him as he passed, but still remained in his place keeping his focus on the 'Bots. Another tense moment passed before Optimus stepped forward.

"Soundwave, you have the relic. We will not fight you for it." he said. He transformed his gun back into a hand and extended it out to the 'Con, "I implore you, release the boy. He is no threat to you."

Soundwave looked slowly from Arcee back to Jack one last time, then suddenly turned and dashed into the portal with Jack!

"NO! JACK!" Arcee bolted for the portal, blasters firing wildly, but it was no use. Before she could even get close the bridge had vanished, Soundwave and Jack with it.

Falling to her knees, Arcee stared sadly forwards where the portal had disappeared, "No….. no no no no no NO NO!" the femme pitched herself forward, pounding her fists on the ground as she cried out. Behind her, Bumblebee gave a solemn whirr as he looked over to Optimus, but the Autobot leader made no response. His optics were fixed forward, the servo he had extended to Soundwave pulled back and clutched tightly in front of his chassis.

After a long silence, he finally reached up to his audio receptor and pressed to activate his communicator, "Ratchet… We require a groundbridge." he began, "There has been an… incident."

As Knockout made his escape through the groundbridge, he suddenly realized he wasn't really so keen on going back to the Nemesis.

Of course getting away from the Autobots was a relief, but at the same time it meant having to face Megatron… and the Decepticon Lord would certainly not be pleased to hear that Soundwave did indeed have to step in. As he came through the other side of the portal it crossed his mind to actually turn around and try to find a way to help Soundwave deal with the three 'Bots; then at least he could say he contributed something to the success of his assignment… if you could even call it a success.

However, any notion of going back to redeem himself was put out of his head once he noticed just where he'd bridged into. Slamming on his brakes, Knockout skidded to a stop just in time to avoid crashing into the back of Megatron's legs. Soundwave had bridged him straight into the Nemesis Main Command Center! Of course he did! Soundwave must have known he would be anxious to face their leader after that debacle of a mission, so the first thing that fragger would do would be to drop him right in front of Megatron.

The 'Con leader turned around just as Knockout transformed back into his robot mode. Knockout began to stutter apologetically as Megatron looked him up and down. Seeing the sorry state of Knockout's face his optics narrowed accusingly.

"I see I was right to send Soundwave to keep an eye on you, after all." He said, still glaring down at the medic.

"What? NO!" Knockout realized immediately how aggressive he sounded and adjusted his tone, "Uh, I mean… My Liege- it wasn't my fault! The Autobots were-"

"Pathetic, Knockout." Megatron interrupted, "You can't even be trusted with a simple retrieval mission on your own? You really are useless without Breakdown."

Knockout felt a sudden jolt through his spark at that name. He had been so consumed with his frustration he had hardly even thought about his former partner recently, but hearing something like that… Knockout quickly bowed his head so Megatron wouldn't see the look on his face. He wasn't even sure if he was angry or sad, but it was probably better if he didn't display any combination of the two in front of the present company.

He was saved from further patronizing by his master when Soundwave came through the portal behind him. Megatron pushed Knockout out of the way and approached his third-in-command. "Soundwave. I trust you were able to successfully retrieve my relic."

Soundwave responded by presenting the red disk in his servo.

"Excellent." Megatron said taking the relic and looking it over. "Hmm. Autobot technology? Not what I was expecting, but-" he suddenly paused as he noticed what was squirming away in Soundwave's tentacle, "Oh, and what's this? A human?"

Behind Megatron, Knockout finally looked up again. "You took one of their humans?" he asked. "Why?"

Soundwave looked over at him and responded by playing back his own words, "Seems like you're awfully attached to this. Maybe I'll just hang on to it, then."

"Good thinking, Soundwave." Megatron lifted a digit to poke at Jack, "Optimus is just foolish enough to let one of these fleshy creatures in on all of their Autobot secrets."

Jack recoiled at the cold touch of Megatron's claw, but despite that he glared defiantly at the Decepticon leader, "I won't tell you anything!" he shouted.

Megatron let out a loud, terrifying laugh at this, "We'll see about that, won't we?" he smirked. Looking back to Soundwave he continued, "Take the human down to the brig. I'll be there shortly to deal with him personally." Soundwave nodded and turned to leave.

Looking back to Knockout, Megatron held out the relic to him, "Knockout. Take this Autobot tech back to your lab and see if you can't discern what its function is." Knockout stepped forward and reached out to receive the disk, but before he could Megatron pulled his servo away and leaned in close to the medic, "But do not think that your recent string of failures has gone unnoticed. Just consider yourself lucky that I still have some use for you besides as a warrior… From now on you're to stay in the labs and medical bay where you belong. Do I make myself clear, doctor?"

"…Explicitly, Lord Megatron." Knockout then snatched the relic from his master's servo and trudged past him out of the command center.

Out in the hallway, as he continued towards his lab, Knockout looked down at the red disk in his servo. The glowing white patterns reflected off the metallic, embossed Autobot symbol on its surface making it shine up at him. Like the slagging thing was mocking him. A low growl escaped his throat as a snarl formed across his face.

"Fragging Autobots…" he grumbled, "How did they even get to the coordinates before we-"

Knockout suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up. That actually wasn't a bad question… how had the Autobots gotten there before him? They had already figured that when the relics were unearthed they sent out some sort of beacon, so it was obvious why the Autobots had shown up all the other times the 'Cons had found relics… but this time the 'Bots themselves had done the digging. How did they know where to look in the first place?

The doctor clenched his fist tightly around the relic as he tried to think of a possible explanation. As he did, he felt something in his other servo. He uncurled his fist and looked down. Sure enough, still clutched in his other hand was a tiny silver computer. His thoughts turned back to the little human boy from earlier; he had mentioned something about a virus and…

Soundwave!

He was the 'Con who had been working with the Iacon Database for the last two days. There must have been a connection to him and however it was the 'Bots had been able to beat them to the relic. Knockout, firmly grasping both the relic and Raf's computer, turned and rushed off in the opposite direction; back towards the Archives where Soundwave had been working on the database.

Jack had finally stopped struggling against the tight grip of the tentacle around him. Even if he could somehow wiggle free, he had realized by now that there was nowhere to go… Actually, that wasn't exactly true. He could go about fifty feet straight down and smash onto the floor, but that was about it. And since it was clear he wasn't about to escape on his own, he started trying to think of ways to get help.

He did have his cell phone in his pocket, but he imagined that on the Nemesis, like in the Autobot base, he would hit trouble trying to even find a signal let alone get through to anyone.

As Soundwave made his way down the hallway, they passed a number of Vehicons. Each of them looking down at the human curiously as they went by. One actually stopped and seemed about to ask Soundwave about him, but then shook his head and briskly continued on his way. Jack thought about calling out to one of them for help, but he knew that would be pointless. Not only because he was in the grasp of Soundwave, but because they wouldn't help him even if he wasn't already a prisoner… but the longer their walk went on the more desperate Jack began to feel.

He looked back up at Soundwave, his blank screen facing forward, not looking down at the human. For one crazy moment he even considered appealing to the 'Con to let him go. That was probably his worst idea yet.

Jack started to think back on when Agent Fowler had been captured by the Decepticons and the state he'd been in when they'd finally found him… and he was lucky enough to be rescued right away. A knot formed in Jack's throat as he began to imagine what kind of horrors Megatron might have in store for him.

What if he couldn't take it? What if the 'Cons kept him there for days and weeks on end and he finally cracked under the pressure and spilled everything?! The Autobots, his friends and family, the entire world could potentially be destroyed by the Decepticons if he let the wrong information slip out. Just as Jack felt he was going to be sick all over the side of Soundwave's tentacle, the 'Con suddenly stopped.

Jack looked up and noticed the previously blank screen of his face was now covered by a flurry of data. Soundwave's head perked up and he stood perfectly still for almost a full minute, presumably focused on whatever data had found its way into his head. After that long pause where Jack was unsure of what the 'Con was up to, Soundwave turned on his heel and sprinted down the hallway back the way they'd came. Jack grasped tightly to the side of the tentacle around him; he knew Soundwave had a tight grip on him, but it helped against being jarred about by his running.

After he'd gone flying down several hallways, Soundwave finally turned through a doorway and came to an abrupt halt. Jack was dizzy from all the motion, but as he looked forward he was able to see Knockout standing in front of an expansive computer console. When he heard the door sliding open the medic turned to see who had come in.

"Ohhhhh, Soundwave-" he laughed with a wicked smirk plastered across his face, "You've really done it this time!"