One could do stupid things when they'd been hurt. Alexis knew refusing Thundercracker's help was stupid. But she didn't regret it.
She was left alone after that, if one didn't include the times when Starscream would come and watch her as she lay there, sat there or even ate. He had come to see her often enough that she knew when he was back.
So when he spoke to her exactly five days later, Alexis knew he was there.
"Why didn't you go with him?"
From where she sat in the corner of the cell, legs drawn up tight to her body, she answered, "I don't trust him."
A steady illumination lit up the area, brightening quickly as Alexis covered her eyes from the assault of light.
"You smell," the Seeker stated calmly. "It's time for you to go clean yourself." He twisted his head and barked out an order at the nearest Decepticon.
So that was how she found herself back in the slave quarters, a guard left outside the barracks while she went and took a shower. The surrounding halls had been empty, the beds vacant, a musty smell penetrable that let her know the area had not been used in a while. She had heard rumors that the humans had escaped and was glad to see it was true.
Suddenly self-conscious and more alert, she stripped down to her underclothes, the hot shower steaming already. If felt good. So good that the emotions she was still fighting with, of betrayal of loss of Timothy's death that might as well been real, worked itself up through her barricade of a wall, forcing tears to begin. Crying in the shower was better than her cell. They couldn't see her here, or so she hoped. Alexis let it out, sobbing loudly as her body bent and folded against the wall of the shower stall. She kept crying until her skin wrinkled and spots started to form behind the lids of her eyes.
Drying herself off, she slowly got dressed. New clothes had been provided for her, simple jeans and a plain shirt. They fit her perfectly and smelled so clean that she didn't allow herself to think beyond the rest.
Gazing at her feet before she put her socks on, she saw they were nearly healed completely. She put her shoes on and allowed herself a moment. But she knew that was a waste. And nothing she could do would ever prepare her for what she knew was going to come.
Alexis found her guard was gone after stepping out into the hallway. Confused and unsettled, she shifted and turned while trying to figure out what she should do. But there was no need.
"No one is here, only me." A figure stepped around the corner. "And you do remember me, don't you? Thundercracker wouldn't share you even for credits, but I can be patient. And your guard was certainly more willing, although you were expensive. Which means I will get my creds worth."
The empty halls suddenly seemed desolate and barren. Fear came like a dart, quickening her breath and making her heart hammer. She did remember Barricade, and even if she never saw him, his description and rumors of character would never be forgotten.
The black-and-white mech took a small jarring step. "He said to break my own slaves. Well, you're mine now," he grumbled.
"What do you want?" Alexis managed to force out.
His hand came forward. It shifted and folded, a blaster emerging. He fired. The wall above Alexis fell down in fat chunks. The smaller pieces that broke up on impact with the floor crashed against Alexis' exposed arms.
"I want you to run."
When he took another step forward, Alexis did just that.
Yes, she managed to run as long as her adrenaline allowed, even found spots in the slave area to hide in. She knew the rooms better than Barricade, which is probably why he didn't catch her immediately. But Alexis also understood that he was equipped with scanning abilities. No matter how well she hid, or how far away from him that she got, he always found her.
She was terrified. While the slave compartments were large, there were only so many places to run to and few places to hide. He found her in the end. He said nothing when he pulled her out of the under counter compartment, just tugged her and dragged her out. Unchecked tears were damaging her vision, and by the time he was leaning over her, a triumph sneer on his sharp features, she only saw a blur, which was probably for the best. For when the blaster disappeared and a thin blade took its place; she remained respectively quiet when the weapon disappeared inside her upper body.
The pain was sharp and quick. The effects of the intrusion were immediate. The area blackened and faded. She saw his face above her, a blotchy floated head that was speaking to her.
His words were garbled, but she heard the demented chuckle that followed when he left. She felt the warmth of the blood that was flowing out of her body. And was aware of too much at once that all she could do was focus on the loud sounds of her lungs working. Alexis didn't know how long she lay there, long enough to wonder why she hadn't passed out, long enough to wish that she would. If this was to be her death, it was going to be a long time coming and the pain was building.
"What have we here?" a new voice questioned. Alexis' head rolled slowly toward the sound of the speaker. She fought to see, but the realization came that her vision was gone. Blind and immobile on a Decepticon base, things just couldn't get worse. Scared from that thought, she found enough strength to continue the prayer in her head, the words losing cohesion as the pain sharpened.
"I suppose I should do something," the voice said. A hand reached for her, pushing under her body and bringing her upwards. The action was enough to send her to highly sought oblivion.
"You're awake," that same voice said.
Alexis opened her eyes. Relief came when she found her sight functioning again. Trying to sit up, she saw a strange bandage resting beneath her left shoulder. Flushing, she grabbed the sheet tight to her body before falling back down on the small bed she was placed. There might not have been pain, but she was tender and sore.
"Where is my shirt?"
"I save you from the pit, and the first thing you do is ask where your article of clothing is?" the mech spoke. He turned away from a monitor he was looking at and walked to her.
She stared. The Decepticon was lean, colored in gray and streaks of shiny silver. He wasn't as large as other Cybertronians that she had seen, but as they all were, he was large enough.
"It seems that Barricade didn't want to kill you, which means he was probably expecting me to patch you back together so that he could chase you again. He toys with his humans far too much." He shook his head.
"I am not his human," Alexis spoke firmly. "I am no one's human... Who are you?"
"I am the designated medic of this area. I am also the one that examined you upon your arrival before you were given to Thundercracker. You don't recall?" He sat down, his head level with the inclined table where her bed was positioned.
She didn't remember him and told him such.
"So, I am going to live?"
"Why do you seem disappointed?"
"It's been one of those weeks," Alexis answered glumly.
He chuckled at her words. That caused Alexis to freeze up when she realized what was happening. She was having a conversation with a Decepticon, one who wasn't trying to kill her or even speaking to her in that tone of voice that only Decepticons seemed capable of. But of course, there could be motive behind his actions.
"Why did you help me?"
She turned her head more toward him, watching him carefully. She saw large doors behind his back shift and fall backwards when he moved closer toward her. Tires rotated slowly on the back of his arms, a minute swishing sound momentarily commencing.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Why... did you help me?" The words remained the same, but her infliction and stress upon the first words strengthened and held.
"Oh, I see." He smiled, a regular smile, not an arrogant, pompous smile. "You want to know my motivation, my reason." He shrugged his multilayered shoulders and bent forward, allowing her to see the faint lines of green that splashed along his chassis and circled around his neckpiece. "Truthfully, I haven't had much to do for some time. So consider yourself a distraction, a most pleasant one, I assure you."
"You aren't a Decepticon," Alexis shook her head, regretting it immediately when a glimmer of pain shot through her shoulder. She grimaced and gasped as she felt the blood rush out of her face.
The medic stood. "I would advise that you avoid movement for the moment. I have managed to stitch you up, as you humans say, but the Triolun I applied to your body will need a little longer to settle. Fortunately, for you, I have worked on its formula for some time, and have devised a way to not only heal you, but do it quicker than any of your human medics could," he added with a flicker of pride.
Alexis was staring at him again. He left her for a moment and returned with a scanner rod. The device rotated above her body, a tingling sensation spreading through her skin until he was through. He spoke gently to her as he examined her, mindful of her unease.
It was all a ploy, a tactic, an illusion. He wasn't real. She had to be dead or hallucinating.
Decepticons weren't nice.
He was real. Waking up another day in the medical lab, she found the doctor still there and still the same. Having nothing to do, he kept her company while talking to her at such lengths that she quickly became accustomed to his voice.
"I knew that when a slave was brought to me to be prepared for Thundercracker that things were going to get interesting." He lowered his voice. "And when the Seeker came and started to question me about the master controller for the slave's punishment devises; I should have known that their escape was going to follow."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I may be locked away in my medical compartments most of the time, but I also know a lot more than most would assume. And when a certain stoic Seeker comes and starts browsing through my data logs for information regarding human anatomy, I can read between the actions... He freed you as well, you know."
She wanted to cry at the irony, to shift and bury her head under a pillow and forget what she was told. Alexis didn't need to know that, not now when everything was in a muddle of a mess, and she was stuck in a chasm of pain and hurt.
"You shouldn't be telling me this. Why haven't you reported him if he has done all that?"
"Just because I see something, doesn't mean I have to get involved. I observe to learn, not to manipulate and use. Which brings me what to another point, as to what is to be done with you as soon as you have healed." He frowned. "You are to become Starscream's attendant."
Hearing that didn't affect Alexis. "I have been a slave before, I will..."
The medic interrupted, "Not slave, Alexis, attendant, as in attend to everything."
She bent up at that or tried to. A large finger gently pressed her back down.
"That is not going to happen."
"You are in no position to say otherwise," a too familiar voice declared.
Starscream moved away from the door and stepped forward.
"Report on the condition of the human," he ordered the medic.
"Alexis is stable, and healing within normal parameters."
"How soon until she is... of use?"
"Before Megatron's plans are complete."
The Seeker smiled, optics brightening as he looked at her. Alexis wanted to look away, but her neck wouldn't bend. Her skin crawled when one of Starscream's fingers found its way to her arm. It slowly wound down the length, drifting along the side of her body, lingering near her hip and flattening out around her knee. He pulled back.
"She is still quite warm."
"Alexis has had a temperature since I found her, it will dissipate as her body adjusts and heals."
"Alexis, Alexis," Starscream mocked. "You say her name with far too much ease. This human is not for you to become familiar with but to fix."
"I understand but..."
"Do not address the female by her name. Do not converse with her when not necessary. Just do as you are told and nothing more. I want her healthy when we leave, fail to meet that requirement, and I will send you back to where I found you." He took a step toward the doctor, his tone softening with acidic delight. "And we both know you don't want that."
The medic shifted his gaze.
"As I thought," Starscream chuckled. He turned his attention back to Alexis. She tried to fold herself away, but between the pain and discomfort, Alexis had to remain as she was. This time his finger found her hair. It curled the tendrils around.
"Alexis," Starscream addressed her by name, causing her insides to wrap and coil as shivers tore down her spine. "You smell quite tantalizing now. Recover quickly, and rest well knowing that the guard that allowed this to happen to you has been dismantled. As for Barricade..." he got down closer, words drifting smooth and low. "I will allow you to decide what to do with him... after of course... you have attended me satisfactorily."
Alexis jerked her neck back, grimacing when she lost some of her hair. But it was worth it to get out of his hold.
Moving away from her, the medic and the Seeker talked, a heated discussion that ended with Starscream stalking out of the room.
The medic returned to her side. He was frowning hard.
"What am I going to do with you, Alexis?"
"Free me?"
The frown deepened.