"Sir?" Vesper asked as she strode over to her mentor, who was busy finishing his work on the weapon that he had created before the war. They were standing on the Nemesis, Megatron's warship, and Vesper's Decepticon symbol – sitting on her right shoulder – gleamed in the waning light. "Sir, it has been hours since you rested. Would you like me to finish the power source's container?" she asked, kneeling down next to her mentor and frowning as he looked over at her.
Haeres' expression – a focused, intense frown as he continued his work – changed into his familiar, comforting smile. On his chest gleamed the same emblem as the one on Vesper's shoulder. "No, my dear student. It is fine." He looked at the power source container, which was sitting in his left servo; in his right he held a blow torch. "All that needs doing now is putting the cannon together." He placed the part down next to the other two parts of the weapon before standing and stretching.
"And then we shall be able to defend ourselves against the Autobots?" Vesper asked as Haeres walked towards the door, heading towards his workshop. He stopped at the doorway and turned to the femme, nodded, then motioned for her to follow. She sighed heavily before stepping after her mentor, biting her lip and rubbing her shoulder as the two walked through the hallways of the battleship. Below them was the planet of Cybertron, and as Vesper's thoughts turned to the numerous battles taking place on the surface, she shivered and shook her head. "Sir, can I ask you something?" the femme suddenly asked, and Haeres stopped before turning to her and raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, my dear," he said, his voice still warm and kindly. His optics – a strange colour of red, which unnerved Vesper considering she was used to seeing blue optics – still regarded her the same way that he'd always regarded her, but there was a sharp edge to them, one that the femme didn't like. "Does something plague you?"
"Why are the Autobots fighting against us anyway?" she asked, looking out one of the nearby windows. "Is it not peace that both factions desire? Unity?" She looked at her mentor, her eyes filled with grief and pain. "Why must we continually fight like this?"
Haeres shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, but I do not know. All I know is that the Autobot leader – Optimus Prime, in case you wanted to know – stole the Matrix from wherever it was located and hidden." He shook his head as he turned on his heel and continued to walk. The two bots walked in silence until they got to Vesper's room, and after Haeres bid the femme goodnight, he left her alone. Immediately Starscream seemed to appear from nowhere, and Vesper whimpered as he walked over and ran a finger up her arm.
"Hello, dear Vesper," he drawled, his eyes flashing with lust, and Vesper shuddered as the Seeker opened her door and roughly shoved her inside. Then he pushed her over to her berth and down onto it before shoving her thighs apart. Vesper knew that there was no point in struggling; she'd learned ages ago that resisting would only result in agonising pain. Starscream hungrily, forcefully kissed her and touched her in all the places she had only wanted to be touched by her sparkmate, and she felt disgust bloom within her chest. She did not return the kiss, did not touch Starscream in return, but the Decepticon didn't appear to care.
After he'd finished with Vesper, he pulled his spike from her valve – which he had forced open, for there was no way the femme would willingly open it for him – and stood up from her berth. As she cringed and curled up, closing her legs and pressing her thighs tightly together, the Seeker gave her a disgusted look before turning on his heel and walking out of the door. Vesper felt like her spark was lodged in her throat, and she curled into foetal position and desperately willed her spark to stop. She felt utterly disgusted and violated… and also felt confused.
She had always known rape to be a crime of the highest degree. She wondered, then, why Starscream – the commander of the Seeker armada that were a key component in fending off the usurper Autobots – continually raped her.
A half hour later, she sighed as she sat up, then looked out of a nearby window. She stood, her knees shaking, and stumbled over to the door before opening it. The corridors around her room were deserted, and she found it a simple matter to sneak around. She walked into one of the prison and interrogation areas then, and found herself frozen with horror at what she saw.
Megatron was pressing one large pede on the chassis of a bot, a cruel grin plastered on his face. His dentas gleamed in the light as he put pressure on the bot's chest, and Vesper heard a pleading cry from the doomed bot as the Decepticon leader crushed his spark chamber, and then the femme watched as the life left the poor bot's optics, its body going completely limp.
"No…," she breathed to herself as she looked over and saw Haeres standing nearby, an equally cruel smile on his face. Standing next to him was Starscream, who looked gleeful at seeing the spilled energon from the bot. Keeping her distance, remaining hidden, and checking the bot briefly for a symbol and finding none, Vesper realised that Megatron had just killed someone who was aligned with neither side, who probably wanted nothing more than to survive.
"Bravo, Lord Megatron," Haeres said as he strode over and looked down at the innocent bot. "Yet another one of those stupid Autobots dealt with." He looked up at Megatron, who seemed quite pleased with himself. "Are you going after Optimus Prime next?"
Vesper's optics snapped open and she sat up abruptly, panting heavily. Her spark was beating frantically within the confines of her chassis, and she placed a shaky hand to her chest and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself desperately.
She stood and paced around, trying to soothe her rapidly beating spark. She tried to forget the memory that had just been dredged up, but she found that every time she closed her optics those horrific images kept flicking underneath her eyelids, and she shuddered with horror. She had felt every single horrible touch over again, and she sat down on the edge of her berth, burying her face in her servos. She felt disgusted, filthy, violated all over again, and she hated herself for allowing herself to be penetrated by anyone else but her sparkmate.
She decided that it would be best to clear her processor, so she decided to go for a drive in the night air. She'd always loved to gaze into the sky, to see the innumerable stars and galaxies above her, and it usually helped to calm her.
Walking out of her room, she took note of the fact that nobody – not even Ratchet – was around, and she sighed as she realised that she was up incredibly early. Checking the time as it was recorded on Earth, she noticed that it was three in the morning, and she understood that it was quite a ridiculous time for anyone to be up. She considering going back and restarting the recharge cycle, but when she recalled the horrible memory that had terrorised her, she thought against it and instead transformed into her vehicle mode and drove out of the base.
As soon as the cold night wind touched her, Vesper instantly felt better. She drove along the roads, avoiding the towns and never straying too far from the Autobot base. She occasionally pulled over and simply idled on the roadside, observing the stars. But most of the time she moved around, driving until the sun began to rise over the horizon, and when that started to happen she began to return to the Autobot base, driving slowly as the warm, radiant sunbeams trailed over her body. She liked the sunlight's warmth, for it calmed her in the same manner that stargazing did.
When she finally drove into the base, she noticed that only Ratchet and Alice were awake, and they were chatting among themselves. Turning to look at her as she drove in and transformed, both of them smiled and greeted her. Then Ratchet asked, "Why were you awake and out so early?"
The femme shook her head. "I could not sleep," she said simply. Not exactly a lie, but not exactly truth either. "I was just clearing my thoughts."
Ratchet crossed his arms over his chassis and frowned, seeming to understand that she wasn't telling him everything. "Have you had difficulties sleeping for a while?" he asked, his tone concerned.
Vesper stiffened, not sure how she should answer that, but then she sighed and turned her head away, rubbing her left arm nervously. "I… I guess you could say that."
"How long has this been happening?" Alice suddenly enquired, and Vesper, using the corner of her optics, looked down at the one-armed human girl. "Your insomnia, I mean."
Vesper shrugged. "It… is an on-off kind of thing… It can stop happening for some time, but then it will re-emerge…" She shook her head as she turned her head back to the two. "Last night was the first time it has happened for months."
Ratchet grumbled something to himself, turning away and gripping his chin before turning back to Vesper and nodding. "In any case, if it happens again, inform me and I'll see if I can prescribe something that will help."
Vesper nodded. "Thank you, Doctor," she said just as she began to hear footsteps, and soon enough Bulkhead lumbered out, looking absolutely exhausted. Vesper frowned, as did Ratchet and Alice, as the armoured car yawned.
"I hope you're not intending to go and pick Miko up," Ratchet warned, and Bulkhead shook his head. This made Ratchet release a relieved sigh as he said, "Good, because you look absolutely exhausted. You'll have an accident if you went to get her."
The others walked out just after Ratchet had spoken, and Optimus immediately noticed that Vesper was keeping her optics pointed at the floor, attempting to not meet with his. He wanted to go and ask her what was wrong, but he respected her, and refused to force her to tell him anything if she didn't want to. Instead, the Prime decided to send everyone out on energon scouting missions as soon as Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack entered the base. The kids, having school, were not attending the missions, so Optimus paired bots together. Bulkhead and Wheeljack were to head to one set of coordinates. Arcee and Bumblebee were to head to another set of coordinates. Ultra Magnus opted to go on his own, and while Optimus didn't feel necessarily alright with that, he knew that the commander was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
"Ratchet, are you willing to stay here?" he asked, turning to the medic as the others departed to go complete their missions.
Ratchet frowned and looked down at Alice. "Well, sure, but…" He turned to look at Vesper, who was still avoiding Optimus' optics. "I also believe that Vesper should stay behind."
This caused the femme to look up and smile softly. "On the contrary, Doctor, it may do me some good to go on a scouting mission."
Ratchet seemed very concerned by this, but sighed and relented with a nod of his head. "Alright. And what would you have Alice and I do?" he asked, turning back to Optimus.
"If we are not back before school ends, please pick up the kids," he said, typing in a set of coordinates and opening the Ground Bridge. "And make sure our prisoner does not escape."
Ratchet had completely forgotten about the Decepticon femme that had faked being Arcee, and he grimaced as he thought back to her. After the others had returned and Vesper had headed off to get some shuteye, Bulkhead and Wheeljack had taken the femme to another room, where she'd been locked in stasis cuffs and left. However, he still nodded, and Optimus nodded once before turning to Vesper.
"Are you coming?" he asked, and the femme nodded before walking into the Ground Bridge, following Optimus. Ratchet waited until the two had left before closing the vortex and turning to Alice.
"We best check on our prisoner," he said, and Alice nodded before the two walked down the hallway. They soon reached the room the Decepticon femme was in, and Ratchet opened the door to find her sitting in the corner, her blazing red optics glaring right at the two. Alice flinched a little but didn't back down, and Ratchet didn't appear to even be bothered by the harsh look he was receiving. Instead, he strode directly over and transformed one of his servos into a blade. Then, in a cheerful voice, he said, "Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and if you don't answer…" He held up his blade so that it gleamed in the light. "I will inflict pain on you until you do."
The Decepticon growled. "I will never give you the information you seek," she hissed.
Ratchet's eyes narrowed as he put the blade to her shoulder. "What is your name?" he asked. The Decepticon sealed her lips, and Ratchet gritted his dentas before stabbing the femme. She cried out as energon started dripping from the wound, and Ratchet repeated his question with a bit more ferocity.
"My name… is… Duplicon," the femme hissed, her optics blazing angrily as Ratchet pulled his blade from her shoulder.
"How did you camouflage as Arcee?" he asked, putting the blade to her other shoulder. For a few brief moments, Duplicon looked as if she was going to refrain from telling the doctor what he wanted to know, but then she seemed to recall what the doctor had done, and with an angry sigh, she conceded.
"Camouflage paint," the 'Con growled.
Alice frowned as she looked up at her guardian. "What's that?"
Ratchet shook his head. "Camouflage paint is a miraculous substance that can make one Cybertronian look like another, even if the two have completely different robot modes." He then frowned at Duplicon. "The two Cybertronians need to have the same alternate mode for the paint to work, however."
"Woah," was all the human girl managed to gasp before Ratchet nodded and returned his attention back to the Decepticon femme.
"Now, why did you disguise yourself as Arcee?" he asked, tapping her shoulder lightly with his blade. Again the femme hesitated, not wanting to give information up, but her fear of pain won out and she relented yet again.
"Lord Megatron ordered me to infiltrate your ranks, open a bridge to your location, and allow his armies to kill you all off." She looked away. "In order to do that, he sent me, as I possess the same alternate mode as your Autobot femme." She looked back at Ratchet and growled. "Any more questions, doctor?"
"Just one," Ratchet said, smiling. "Megatron already knows where our base is… or did he forget?"
Duplicon didn't even need convincing to spill. "During that explosion, the one the defector caused," she hissed, putting particular emphasis on 'defector' – it was quite obvious who Duplicon meant – before shaking her head and saying, "The Nemesis' systems were damaged. We can no longer track you down… and Megatron isn't stupid enough to send a scout out."
"On the contrary," Ratchet chuckled, "I say he's stupid to not send a scout out. After all, if he sent Laserbeak…" He trailed off as Duplicon's eyes widened. Then she grinned maliciously, and Ratchet instantly knew that something was up. "What are you—"
"You're a fool, Autobot," Duplicon hissed before her body suddenly convulsed, and Ratchet's eyes widened as he realised what she was doing.
"No!" he cried, but it was already too late. By the time the word left his lips, Duplicon had already offlined herself. He knelt down and scanned her for any signs of life, even though he already knew that there was absolutely nothing to detect, and sighed as his suspicions were confirmed. "Scrap," he muttered as he stood and turned back to a shocked Alice.
"What… what just happened?" the girl exclaimed, looking up at her guardian as he knelt down.
He shook his head. "What would you humans call killing yourself?" he asked.
Alice felt the blood in her veins run cold, and she looked down at the floor before mumbling, "Suicide. It's called suicide."
Ratchet frowned, noticing that Alice's tone seemed a bit unhappy and despondent, but said nothing about it. Instead he nodded and said, "That's what Duplicon just did," before scooping Alice up and walking out of the room. He walked down the hallway, and when he finally got to the main foyer, he set Alice down near one of the medical tables and checked the time. Then he groaned. "It's nearly time for school to let out… and the others aren't back yet."
Alice snorted with amusement. "You could sound a little happier about picking them up. I know you cherish the kids," she said, poking him in the arm.
Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Okay, only to you will I ever admit that I do like having them around," he eventually muttered, and Alice snickered. Then the Autobot medic sighed. "Someone will have to stay here and monitor the comm lines," he said, frowning, "But you can't stay here on your own."
"Why not?" Alice asked. "I won't get up to anything naughty."
Ratchet shook his head. "That's not what I mean."
The human girl frowned. "Then what did you mean?"
The medic reached over, plucked the girl from the table, then set her down on the ground. "You can't even reach the Ground Bridge lever," he said, transforming into vehicle mode and opening his door. Alice sighed as she got in, shut the door, and put her seatbelt on. "So the others are just going to have to wait until I return." He drove away from the base then, leaving it completely devoid of life.
And mere seconds later, an emergency beacon went off.