First, thank you so much for your reviews, fav's and follows. I hope you continue to enjoy where this story is going.
On that note, the bunnies have appeared and apparently there is a plotline developing. I don't know where we're going but hey, it's an adventure. A sexy, sexy adventure.
Arcee's optics onlined slowly, her internal warning system informed her that she was low on energon and would need to refuel soon. She wasn't surprised; the way she had been used by Knock Out had been savage. Arcee was partially surprised that he hadn't put her into stasis. Three overloads in the space of a few hours had wrung their systems dry. She vaguely recalled Knock Out recharging against her briefly in-between bouts.
She shuttered her optics again, trying to block out the memories of what had happened. They crept unwelcome into her processor; the feeling of his hands on her, under her plating, his lips on hers, the sharp pleasure of jacking in and the sensual climb that came after. The image of Knock Out's face during overload locked in the forefront her processor. She swore softly as she felt her spark heat in response.
Damn the mech!
She forced her mind away by looking around the lab, it was tidy. No unnecessary clutter or dust. Figures that the Decepticon medic would be just as habitually clean as Ratchet. It was comforting in a weird sort of way; she could almost imagine Ratchet coming through the doors.
She flicked her optics to the doors in question and tilted her head to hear better. She was sure she had heard something just before. It was faint but Arcee was certain she had heard something.
The sound came again, a faint scratching, and she frowned. What was that? It couldn't be Knock Out, he would just saunter in as if he were lord of the ship. Besides, he had left not too long ago for his berth. Her optics widened as his taunting laughter echoed through her head.
"You'll be fine here, won't you, dear? I'm afraid I can't stay; our spider friend is waiting for me to leave... Best of luck, little Autobot."
He'd grinned at her in that infuriating way of his, drinking from an energon cube that made her mouth water. Then he'd left, Arcee would have screamed at him but she hadn't had the energy to do so.
She was at least partially grateful that he'd locked the doors to give her a chance to recuperate before Airachnid's arrival. Arcee heard the sound again and tested her bonds, her wrists rattled in a way that told her Knock Out had made good on his promise. Her feet were another matter; she would have to do those herself.
Damn the mech!
Judging her time to escape as minimal, Arcee withdrew her hands from the bindings and sat up. Her whole body protested the movement, abused cables pulled taught and the circuitry exposed by the missing panels on her shoulder and hip screamed. She clenched her denta tightly and hunched down to her feet.
The bolts that kept her in place were standard issue and Arcee had no difficulty removing them. She sheered of the bolts at the head using the table edge as leverage and placed the heads back in the holes. She made sure the restraints didn't look tampered with before she lay back down and placed her hands back in their bonds.
She kept her optics offline as she heard the doors whish open, the sound loud in the silence. Light clicking heralded Airachnid's approach and Arcee contained her shiver of disgust. She hated having to wait for the Decepticon femme to get close, she wanted to lash out now and get as far away from her as possible. Unfortunately, Arcee's best chance for escape was to take Airachnid by surprise and that meant waiting until the last moment.
She could practically feel the cold purple optics roving over her, a hand touched her wrist lightly and Arcee exploded.
Airachnid's triumphant laugh was cut short as Arcee slammed a fist into her face. The Decepticon fell backwards, her face shocked and dented. Arcee didn't waste time as she jumped on the femme, tearing into armour and wiring hoping to disable her enough to get away. She grabbed one of the spindly spider legs before Airachnid got a chance to recover and jumped back over the table. Airachnid screeched as her leg was pulled unmercifully, almost coming free from her body. Arcee contained her satisfaction at Airachnid's scream as she smashed the leg into the table edge, bending it at an almost ninety degree angle.
Arcee darted to the side as Airachnid struggled to get back on her feet. With her leg damaged she would be less agile while transformed but still quick and dangerous. Looking around quickly, Arcee's gaze landed on the electro-prod. Had Knock Out left it there for her?
She shook that thought away and grabbed the prod as Airachnid advanced on her. The scuttling sound of her remaining good legs never failed to send chills through Arcee's chassis. Arcee dodged a blow, sliding around the enraged Decepticon.
"Hold still, Arcee, and I might make your death quick."
She ducked under another charge by Airachnid and jabbed the electro-prod into the femme's abdomen. Arcee winced at the shriek that assaulted her audios; she pressed the prod in harder and increased the voltage. Airachnid's vocaliser shorted out and Arcee allowed herself a smile as the femme collapsed.
Arcee stood over her enemy and sneered at the still twitching frame. It wouldn't take too much to finally deactivate the femme; a quick slash across her neck to remove her head from her body and a hard stomp to destroy her processor.
Arcee was trying to reactivate her weapons systems when an alarm went off. The room was suddenly covered in flashing red light and she knew she had to get out before any of the Decepticons found her. With a regretful glance at the fallen Decepticon, Arcee ran out into the corridor.
She stealthily made her way towards the ground bridge. Knock Out had told her the quickest route during their last interface session. No doubt he had expected her to be too far gone in the pleasure to hear what he was saying, slagging glitch. But hear him she did, mostly.
She shook her head to focus; lack of energy was making her thoughts fuzzy and thick. She needed to get off the ship or find some energon.
Pushing away from the wall she was leaning on, Arcee continued down the hallway. It looked exactly the same as when she had come through before but this time she knew where she was going…mostly.
The sound of heavy footsteps had her hiding in a doorway; she sagged against the metal as a troop of Vehicons hurried past her. Arcee clutched the electro-prod to her chest, without being able to activate her weapons system all she had was the prod. She thanked Primus that the Decepticons were proving to be as stupid as they looked when they didn't notice her on the ground.
Arcee reviewed the instructions Knock Out had given her while consciously pushing away the other memories that came with it. She had two more corridors to go down and a door on the right would lead her to the ground bridge.
She pushed air through her systems and stood shakily. She would definitely need energon as soon as she made it to safety. Her footsteps were slow as she moved through the ship. The lack of guards was disconcerting but Arcee didn't have the energy to worry about it, everything she had left was scanning the hallways ahead of her and keeping her upright. She paused to rest at an intersection, peeking around her to make sure there was no one hunting her. One more stretch before the door, she could just see the edge of the doorway from her position.
A tired smile grew on her face as she started forwards again. Her vision narrowed until all she could see was the doorway. Unessential systems had already shut down automatically when there was no power to run them, now Arcee purposefully shut down other, more necessary systems that were draining her.
Arcee didn't register that she had made it until the doors had closed behind her and she was facing the ground bridge. With a soft sigh she locked the doors and made her way to the control panel. She couldn't send herself back to base, that would be stupid; instead Arcee entered the first set of coordinates that she could remember.
The familiar hum of a ground bridge powering up gave Arcee a great deal of relief. The sound of the doors opening didn't. She spun around as she stood on the edge of the bridge, Knock Out and Breakdown glared at her from the doorway. With one last burst of energy, Arcee threw herself backwards and aimed the electro-prod at the control panel. The prod landed just off centre but did the job of shorting out the bridge. Arcee was rewarded with a stunned Knock Out watching her disappear.
She landed hard on the sandy ground, satisfaction thrumming through her circuits that she had successfully escaped the Decepticon warship alive. She might be on the verge of a full system shut down but she was alive.
Staring up at the bright blue sky Arcee touched the side of her head, hoping her communications were working again.
"Arcee to base. Please come in."
There was a moment of static before she heard. :Arcee! Where have you been?:
She smiled wearily at Ratchet's aggravated tone. "Just took a little detour on the way home, Ratchet. You got a ground bridge for me?"
He grumbled before replying. :Just locking onto your signature now. Bumblebee will be coming through to help you.:
Arcee forced herself to stand up. "I just need the bridge, Ratch." She stumbled. "Scratch that, I might need support."
She let the drop out and waited for the Autobot's ground bridge to appear. She rerouted all remaining energy into keeping her standing and optics online. All other systems shut down, as a result Arcee felt blind as her scanners and sensory receptors disappeared. Her body, already warmed in the harsh sun began to overheat.
Arcee's optics flickered out as her power reserves dropped well below operational levels. Now she was literally blind. With her audio sensors turned down low, she could only just hear the space bridge activate near her. A touch on her arm surprised her.
"Arcee, it's just me." Bumblebee said with his usual clicks and whirrs.
Arcee relaxed slightly and boosted the power to her optics again. Bee's yellow head was tilted down to her, concern evident in his optics.
"I'm going to need some help, Bumblebee. My energon levels are gone."
The yellow scout nodded and placed an arm around her waist as support. He moved her arm around his neck and started towards the ground bridge.
Arcee focused on putting one foot in front of the other, thankful the Bumblebee was there supporting her weight. As they reached the bridge Arcee acknowledged that it was more Bee carrying her than her walking. Her legs lost whatever tension they had after a few steps.
The slight lurch of crossing through a ground bridge had never felt so welcome. Once they were inside the base Ratchet descended, his brusque manner would have made Arcee smile if she hadn't been on the verge of offlining.
"Scrap! She's running on fumes. Give her to me Bumblebee, go and get two cubes from our stores."
Arcee was aware that she had been picked up, completely off her feet and was being carried to Ratchet's med-station. She onlined her optics long enough to catch the medic's gaze before she gave in to her system's demands.
…...
Optimus Prime looked down at his femme soldier and felt an ache in his spark. He had always hated seeing those under his command injured and Arcee had never looked so vulnerable. She was a fighter, always on the frontline, always helping save a bot's life. Now, she was hooked up to multiple wires and pipes that were doing everything for her; from monitoring her spark to pushing energon through her body and operating her internal systems.
"What can you tell me, Ratchet?"
Their medic tapped at the console near Arcee's head, when he faced Optimus he looked far older and more tired than he ever had previously.
"She has been through something terrible, Optimus. There is evidence of severe physical abuse. I suspect torture instruments were used. There was plating missing from her shoulder and hip; in both sections the circuitry had claw marks, there were dental marks on the shoulder as well. The conduits in her body were fried, probably from the torture. There were some anomalies in her spark reading as well but that could be from the abuse or the energon deprivation. All of her internal operations were shut down due to the lack of energy and some are struggling to come back online."
Optimus frowned. "When do you think she will be conscious?"
Ratchet shrugged. "It could be in a few minutes, could be in a few more days. It depends on how quickly her body can recover from what she went though."
Optimus nodded and placed a hand on Arcee's motionless frame, willing her not to give in. "We will keep the children away. Good work, Ratchet."
He turned away and made sure the makeshift partition was in place. The human children didn't usually like to explore into Ratchet's domain but Optimus had decided it would be prudent to discourage them from trying to now.
His foresight was rewarded as Jack came running over, his eyes trying to see through the metal partition. Optimus placed himself in front of the small human.
"Jack, you should not be here."
"I know, Optimus, but can I just see her? I need to know she's okay."
Optimus knelt down. "Arcee is not able to respond to you, right now. Ratchet is doing everything he can to bring her back online but you must be patient, Jack. Arcee was hurt badly aboard the Nemesis."
Jack's face furrowed, his eyes dropped to the floor. "All right, Optimus. Will you let me know when she's better?"
"Of course, Jack."
Sorry for the short update but I am at work and this is absolutely what I should be doing instead :/
There will be more Knock Out in the next chap. It's half written, so please review and you'll get it faster :)
TammyCat.