The Human Prime
Chapter 11: MECH's Final Preparations Part 2
Agent Fowler sat in front of one of the captured MECH agents that were sitting across the table. He seemed rather normal yet stubborn. A while longer he found that the man would not speak to him willing now that he was unmasked and unprotected. Fowler became very serious, knowing that Optimus waiting for him outside the building to hear news of any kind.
"What's your name son?" He leaned onto the table and waited for a response. Within moments, the man became like a child and looked at him with saddening eyes.
"Benjamin." The man twiddled his fingers on the table, shifting his eyes away when he sensed the questions.
"So where's your boss now?" Fowler noticed Benjamin's uncooperativeness and asked again with a harsher tone.
"I won't say anything. MECH agents were taught not to say one word no matter what the consequences." Benjamin growled at him through broken eyes which Fowler sensed as a point of weakness.
"Come on boy, it's not worth the trials you'll go through if you don't confess. Silas has taken something of importance and we want it back." Though Fowler seemed to have shown progress, the man did not budge. "They've taken a girl."
"Nonsense, MECH doesn't deal with kidnapping children."
"Artemis, the X-Tech industries owner."
"Then good riddance, it's because of that girl that I'm in here to begin with."
"Now listen bud," Fowler stood up from his chair so abruptly that it shifted the table and startled Benjamin. "What MECH would do to her is questionable, but what that girl you've sided with could do is unlimited. If we find her harmed it is guaranteed that you will go down for it."
"Harm? No, Silas would not harm her."
"But Mira, would."
"Mira, I've never heard of her, but if what you say is true then my leader could be in danger." Benjamin thought for a while. It was obvious that he cared for MECH's cause and its leader. If not help them for Artemis' sake, he would for Silas'. "I know that they'd be at the abandoned jail house, but there are several layers of fencing. I'm sure they'll be many guards. If what you say is very important, he will want no interruptions, despite the loyalties of those helping him. "
"That's fine, where is it exactly?"
Autobot Base
"According to the Intel we got from agent, it is expected that we will find Artemis here." Ratchet pointed to a point on the screen which was the location of an old jail.
"It says that jail had seven barbed wire fences, security cameras at each post, and pretty much fork knocks simplified." Rafael looked up some information on the abandoned jail trying to aid the plan for break in. "All they would need to do is tap into the wiring to get everything up and working again."
"Why did they shut it down in the first place?" Miko hung on the back of the office chair, looking at Rafael's computer screen. He complied by searching for the answer.
"It saws that the jail had a devastating blind spot that made it unfit to be a jail for criminals. It was supposed to be converted into a mental hospital, but the project was canceled when it got bought out by a mysterious bidder." He continued typing and scrolling until he found a map of the jail's perimeter. "The red zone on the map here shows the blind spot of the security."
"It looks like the further you get from the first fence the easier it is to get past security." Jack made the picture bigger than looked at his robotic friends. "Which means the closer we get to the building, the harder the element surprise is going to be."
"Not to mention these numbers were calculated for people, convicts. Who knows how hard it's going to be sneaking a huge robot past the fences without anyone noticing." Rafael tried to calculate the numbers himself, but it was just to variable.
"Then let's strike fast and hard. Another thing is that we could bust right through the gates. By the time they responded to it, we'd probably be half way inside the building. I mean no scrawny fence can keep out two Wreckers like Bulk and me, Right?" Wheeljack nodded at his partner who completely agreed.
"I would have to agree that a direct assault would be our best option; for if we were to fail, MECH could induce countless harm onto Artemis without us even realizing it. We must retrieve her as quickly as possible." Optimus announced to his debating Autobots who, in turn, trusted his judgment.
"Wait a second Prime, who's to say that breaking through these barriers won't slow us down enough to be too late to begin with? Then we'd be exposing ourselves for nothing." Fowler argued since no one else would. Sam stepped forward and with intelligence beyond her, spoke.
"The three S'." Sam said the words as if they were obvious, but when she noticed confused faces she began to explain. "Artemis once told me of a story, during a battle on Cybertron, with a hostage situation, same scenario. So, to get the damsel, they had a strike team to take down the wall, a sneak team to move quickly within enemy territory, and a support team to cause a commotion so no one suspected a thing, the three S'"
"That's actually not a bad idea." Arcee pointed out with the utmost surprise.
"Arcee, you're the smallest, I'm sure you could sneak in and back without anyone noticing." Sam smiled up at her which, despite pointing out her size, Arcee responded with a confident nod.
"Bulk and I can be the strike team." Wheeljack took the grenade off his belt and tossed it in the air for show.
"Bumblebee and I will cause a distraction, enough so that Arcee's presence will remain secret." Optimus looked at Ratchet with sad eyes. "Ratchet, I would recommend preparing sick bay." Ratchet only nodded knowing too well that there would be at least one wounded when the day was done.
"Hold on Prime, I'm coming too. I'll help Arcee bring back Artemis. Besides, I have a few loose ends to tie up with Si." Fowler pointed at himself, determined not to take no for an answer. Optimus was wildly conflicted. Everyone knew that Agent Fowler was a highly qualified military trained operative, but even he would slow down Arcee progress. On the other hand, the job is very complex for Arcee to perform alone.
"As you wish Agent Fowler." He finally agreed feeling that when the gunfire started, Artemis might just need human legs to stand on. Ratchet was already setting coordinates. "Autobots, prepare to roll out."
Jail
Artemis fought with all she had to stay conscious. The memories came in never ending waves, never giving her a chance to recover or even breathe, only enough to feel the pain and sadness of all who fell. Silas came up to Mira who was impatiently watching the goons she assigned to alternate the torture with breaks. He gripped her shoulder tightly which made her shift her glance towards him.
"What is taking so long?" He saw her stare at him with cold, unyielding eyes.
"Her spirit is taking harder to break than I thought. Before one can have a direct link to the brain you must go through layers upon layers until its left with raw will power, then you chip away at that. It's a long process." Mira went back to watching her sister then switched back to Silas. "You have a lot of resources."
"I'm sensing déjà vu."
"Medical resources?"
"What do you have in mind?"
Artemis POV
I wouldn't let myself give up. I wouldn't let her get that satisfaction. Though, when the next wave of memories didn't come and I had a chance to look at the world I was really in, I let out a sigh of relief. Taking the time to gather myself, I looked around to see where my tortures had gone. The dark room was so vast; the light couldn't allow me to see past the set up around me.
I didn't have to wait long for my sister to come out of the cover of darkness. Mira leaned against the metal table smiling a little and held up a syringe. With no self-control left in me, I bit my lip in nervousness while becoming genuinely scared. She must have known I was becoming scared because she traced the needle over my exposed cheek just so I could feel how sharp it was. The whole experience made me break out in uncontrollable shaking.
"Something to help you loosen up sis, don't worry the actual shot won't hurt too badly." Mira stretched the cloth over my skin so it was thin enough to puncture through then jammed the needle into my skin. It pinched, but it didn't hurt. I had become exceedingly concerned when my arm started to spread a numbing feeling throughout my body.
"What did you-?"
"Why must you always insist on talking?" She bent over to my ear and hissed in it like a sinister snake. "I just want you to suffer. I want you to scream." Mira tied the blindfold over my eyes again then the waves began again.
It was much different than before. Before it was just images and emotional pain, but now I could feel the coldness of the knife as if it were being pressed into my own stomach. I felt the tense killer essence of the situation and the fear became my own. I silently wished my limbs were not restrained just so I could feel over my body and make sure I was still in on piece. Without the embrace of my arms, my body felt exposed and, even worse, my insides felt exposed.
"Stop…please, please stop!" I finally cried out. I don't know how long I was in that state, it was non-stop so I questioned if I even survived a few minutes.
"What? Say again, I didn't hear you." I could hear my sister walking away so it didn't matter how loud I screamed, how high pitched my voice was, she wouldn't have really cared, but I needed it to stop.
"STOP!"
Jail
"She's ready." Mira smiled at Silas who was standing in front of a computer, watching Artemis struggle and scream in the room next door. "Tell me what you need; I can get it for you."
"Audio files." Silas said immediately and handed the computer to her.
"Audio?" Mira was surprised. She expected him to say blueprints of a Transformers or biology hints, anything except audios.
"Of Optimus Prime, as many as possible and any important details." He finished and nodded to his second in command to join her.
"Alright, whatever floats your boat." Mira went back to her sister's side carrying the cables from the ride here in her hand. She took the two patched with small needles from one end of the cable and stuck them on either side of Artemis' head. "Put this end in your computer."
"What's that going to do?" He did as he was told not wanting to waste too much time with questions.
"Think of Artemis' brain as a broken hard drive that turned all the information in contained into electric jumbles, unreadable. My job is to take said information, translate it, and send it to your computer through the cable. Your job is to copy it and save it, think you can handle that?" She growled at him and waited for him to nod. "Good. We got to do this quick before she can recover."
Mira pressed her finger against her sister's head. With Artemis weak and unable to block her out, her gifts from the Spark of Unicron allowed her to bore into her memories and pick through them. However interesting they were, she didn't not pause her search one second, only taking the audio of her memories and sending them to the computer. Near the end of her clean sweep, she heard a loud rumbling.
"What was that?" Mira removed her hand from her sister's head, breaking the chain and sending what information she sent to the computer funneling back into Artemis' mind. The assistant was about to yell in protests being that he was not finished copying all that she sent him. "Hush."
"We're under attack." Someone announced over the intercom.
"Autobots."
Autobot POV
Bulkhead and Wheeljack bashed through the fences, just as planned. When the alarms began to sound, they signaled Arcee and Agent Fowler to come through while no one has yet to respond to the alert. Arcee held Agent Fowler loosely as she ran past the Wrecker team and then around to the side where she was sure no one would be. Arcee placed Fowler on the ground then transformed so she could fit through the door. Agent Fowler peeked through the door first.
"Coast is clear." He opened the door the rest of the way and waited for Arcee to come through and transform. "Wonder where they'd keep a kid like Artemis?"
"I'm not sure, but we better get moving. We need to find her before they move her, or worse." Arcee cocked her blaster and began to walk deeper into the jail house. Peeking around the corner, she found to be a split hall. "You take the left, I'll-"
"Wait. Listen." Agent Fowler inched closer to the corner on the left side. He could hear an almost haunting girl's voice and a voice he knew too well, Silas. He poked his head out and found the two consulting.
"You kept up your part of our deal; the girl is yours to deal with." Silas looked through files on a computer then handed it to his second in command.
"Pleasure doing business with you Silas." The girl waited for him to be further down the hall before turning back to the room she was in.
"Mira." Arcee growled remembering what she did to Rafael.
"You know that girl?" Fowler turned back to his Autobot friend.
"She's Artemis' twin sister. Though their looks are the only thing that's alike, she's twisted and merciless." Arcee took off around the corner and pointed her blaster into the door way. "Don't move Mira!" Mira turned to see Arcee and then Agent Fowler stepping next to her. She growled then looked back at Artemis before looking back at them.
"It's not worth it." She activated her armor's own blasters and shot a quick shot at Agent Fowler to distract Arcee then took off passed them and down the hall. Arcee got them both out of the way but completely lost Mira. If they weren't pressed for time, she would have chased Mira down.
Agent Fowler hustled over to Artemis who was strapped to a metal slab. She was blindfolded, secured with metal bounds, and the syringe on the table next to her suggested they were pumping some kind of drug into her. Her skin was dangerously pale and the cloth clothing that was not covered with scratched armor was drenched in sweat.
"Artemis, can you hear me?" Arcee asked with both urgency and worry as she came and kneeled behind the slab.
"Arcee?" Artemis shifted her head slowly towards Arcee's voice which made her look weaker. Fowler removed the blindfold slowly which she winced from the light; it was obvious she was blindfolded for a long time.
"It's okay kid, we're going to get you out of here." He nodded at Arcee who began breaking the bonds that held Artemis' limbs in place.
"I can't feel my body. Everything's numb." She said in almost a whisper with a raspy voice as if she were screaming. Agent Fowler took it as a sign that she was weaker than they both suspected. He took her in his arms feeling the wait of his armor slowing him down.
"Let's go." Arcee led the way out.
Optimus POV
I stayed in front, taking on the direct line of fire. I wondered why it was taking so long for Arcee and Agent Fowler which made me suggest something went wrong. With every exchange of fire I wondered if Artemis was okay. She had once told me that there were some things he could not protect her from, but this could have been prevented.
If I had just tried harder to keep her safe, if I just fought harder to keep her from getting taken in the first place, she wouldn't be in this situation. I couldn't help, but feel a large amount of guilt and despair. Bumblebee buzzed at me telling me of Arcee approaching. I felt better, but still extremely tense, we weren't out yet.
"Ratchet, bridge us back now!" I said through the com-link and began blasting at certain points to cause cover. We all began to funnel into the ground bridge after Arcee and Fowler, myself going in last. Before I left, I noticed a helicopter taking flight followed by a familiar jet taking off, seems Mira and Silas got away.
When I finally got back to base and could calm my nerves, I looked over at sick bay and found Artemis already hooked up to an IV and on a gurney. She looked so helpless, so abnormal from her usual strong nature. Jack and Miko were helping her out of her armor so that she could be more comfortable which ended up revealing more sweat.
Sam was by her side crying against her chest in joy that she was alive. Jack luckily called his mom who was listing some equipment she would need from the hospital. I leaned down beside the bed and extended my hand to her. Artemis smiled and raised her hand weakly to touch my servo.
"That's my truck." Her words surprised me as if she was pleased with everything that went down. "I knew you'd save me, I knew you'd come. Thank you." She put down her hand, running completely out of energy to hold it up then turned her head towards Sam. "So tired."
"It's okay Artemis, your safe now." Sam smiled and with that Artemis fell into a deep sleep.
The Nemesis
Mira sat on a table of weapons as Dreadwing cleaned them thoroughly. They were silent with each other, but she was smiling joyfully. Sometimes she would begin scrapping her index finger and thumb together creating a screeching metallic sound. She watched him when he turned and smiled at the puncture wound in his back.
"You might want to get that looked at, you have no idea if I'm contagious." She toyed with him, but he did not respond. The lack of response made her frown and feel disappointed.
"You tortured your sister."
"No, I failed to kill my sister, but I have to admit torturing her was the highlight of my day." She lied against the table and watched him turn again. "Maybe you didn't get it checked because you like it, makes you feel tough after that horrible failure with Airachnid."
"Perhaps you are here because you don't want to face lord Megatron and inform him you failed to assassinate your sister." He went back to wiring a bomb and smirked a little when she sighed heavily.
"You're no fun."
Days Later
Artemis woke up stiff and sore. She found a dialysis machine turned off next to her, apparently at some point they were flushing out the drugs MECH had put into her or what they might have put into her in their case. She felt the tubing of her IV and found it to be hooked up to a banana bag still. She tried to sit up.
"Oh no, you need to rest." Ratchet's voice came without warning. She looked around and found him staring at her from where he stood at sick bay's computer.
"Whatever you say Doctor Ratchet." Artemis lied back down then let her eyes roam around the rest of the room. "Where's Optimus?"
"Out on patrol, he decided he needed to go back to looking for MECH and the Decepticons." Ratchet went back to his work, but his words worried her.
"How long was I out?"
"A couple days, three at the most." He said with little concern, but she shook her head and cover he line of sight with her hand.
"Why do I always seem to lose a big chunk of my life when I encounter my sister?" She looked back at him, but he turned suddenly and seemed almost angry.
"Well at least you're alive! MECH are savages, they could have done so much worse and so could have Mira if we let her get her grimy claws on you. I mean, I was- I mean we were very worried!" His slip of the tongue didn't go unnoticed. She found that the grumpy old medic had found a soft spot for her, he finally considered her a great friend.
"Thank you, Ratchet. That means a lot. It's been a long time since I've had so many people care about this much." She felt her stomach and sighed heavily. "Ratchet, one more thing?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Can we go get a burger or something? I'm starving." With his look of surprise followed a roll of amused laughter.
"Alright, I guess I have enough time for one drive to town."