Note: I have decided to change the 'Coroners Council' to 'the Psychiatric Risk Assessment Authority at the High Court of Justiciary' to hopefully make it a bit more clear what it is. the 'Coroners Council' is a danish authority that evaluates an offender's mental ability to stand trial, and the danger the offender poses to society. They can suggest treatment instead of a prison sentence. 'The Psychiatric Risk Assessment Authority at the High Court of Justiciary', does the same.
Torment is impressed at what he had read about Athena's educational information.
Professor in Forensic Psychiatry at Institute of Forensic Medicine in Kalis.
Member of the Psychiatric Risk Assessment Authority at the High Court of Justiciary.
Doctorate in Clinical- and Developmental Psychopathology.
Master of Science in Neurochemistry and Experimental Psychology.
Ph.D. in Behavioral Disorders.
Ph.D. in Risk Assessment and Treatment of the Psychopathic Patient.
This is not what he had expected to find on her, but it doesn't change his plans.
Instead it opens up for some possibilities that he hadn't even considered.
This means that she is fully aware of what he is and explains her rational reactions at their confrontation. He had been curious, when instead of reacting with panic, she had stared into his optics. Had studied him.
Now he knows why.
She had assessed him, had come to a conclusion, and had later bravely acted on it when he foolishly gave her a chance to flee.
A thrill flows through him at the thought of her unwavering bravery in the face of her certain death, and a wide predatory smile curves on his lips while he checks that his integrated weapons are at their maximum power.
It is always wise to be prepared for everything that can happen.
He is after all about to make some very overprotective JIU officers angry when he kidnaps her right in front of them, and it is predictable how they will react. Usually he prefers to work from a distance, but this time he needs to get up close to accomplish the first step in his plan, and he has spent the past two days on perfecting it and choosing the most optimal location for the confrontation.
She holds to a predictable pattern where she lectures for her students in the Institute's conference hall, teaches small groups of specialized psychiatrists in the newest research within their area of expertise or is working at the Institute's laboratory, and he has noticed how she now and then has to return to her office to fetch the datapads, that she require for her next lecture or teaching session.
The officers have been following her constantly and while he invisibly has been following them, he has analyzed them and singled out their individual weaknesses, in case she doesn't fall into his trap and he will have to force a direct confrontation.
It won't be the optimal outcome, but if it becomes necessary, then he will have to kill.
"Good morning."
He turns towards the voice and his gaze softens at the sight of Celerity.
Shift's bondmate steps into the room with a gentle smile and offers him a cube of energon. His optics hardens again as his gaze wanders to her midsection, and he wonders if Shift has lost her mind.
With everything that currently is going on around them, she should have known that it's far from the best time to create a sparkling, but at least Shift enjoys a certain amount of respect and protection from her clients. And since she supplies a fairly large portion of the criminal underworld with information, her bondmate is one of the most protected carriers on Cybertron.
He takes the cube with a grateful nod, but she doesn't leave him afterwards and he looks curiously at her.
"Shift has told me what happened." She sits down on his berth and stares up at him with an uncommonly hard expression, "That you convinced them, that her frame wouldn't be compatible with the... warp-gate technology?"
"Yes..."
"It could have been her too... if not for you, and I don't know what I would have done without her. Is it evil of me to be relieved at the fact, that she doesn't suffer your fate?"
Her gaze turns confused and a tear slowly runs down her cheek.
He kneels in front of her and takes her trembling hands.
"You are not evil, Celerity." He reassures her.
She meets his cold optics and gains strength from the determination in them.
"Promise me that you will kill them."
It surprises him to hear those words from her and he ascribes it to her state as a sparked carrier. She knows what he is, what he does, and has always kept a distance when he has spoken with Shift about his work.
To hear her encourage him to kill...
"I have other plans this time." He answers her with a smile that promises pain.
"...there is no reason for you to follow me inside my office. I just need to pick up a datapad." Athena says in growing annoyance to the JIU officers who have been constantly following her the past three days.
She knows that they mean it well, but she needs space and normalcy to recover from her traumatic experience. It has been good for her psyche to return to the Institute and her educational work with her students, and she just wants to drown out any thought of him in complex research results and her students' extensive Ph.D. theses, but she can't because the constant presence of the officers keeps reminding her of him.
Stormrunner shares a hesitant glance with her colleagues.
"If you are sure..."
"It won't take long." Athena steps into her office located within the main building of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the door closes softly behind her while she walks over to the desk and begins to look for the specific datapad that she needs amongst the many stacks of datapads on it.
"Hello again, Athena."
She looks up in alarm and sees the air shimmer before he becomes visible.
No!
He moves calmly towards her and she matches his movements, keeping the desk between them.
His lips curves into a dangerous smile and she knows that he is about to teleport.
NO!
She throws herself towards the door, but just like in Retrograde's laboratory it is futile and his strong arms wrap around her in a firm and restraining hold.
Her internal begins to tickle pleasantly while her spark fills with emotions that she doesn't understand, that she can feel in this moment, when he inhales and exhales deeply against her audio.
"You are a brave one, Professor." Torment growls lowly, aware of the enemy right on the other side of the door, "So I need to know if you are going to behave nicely before I loosens my grip on you. I have no intention to hurt you, but if you force my hand, then I won't hesitate to do what is necessary. Is that understood?"
She nods slowly and he removes his arms around her only to take a firm grip of her head. She resists the strong urge to fight when he forces her head to the side to bare her vulnerable neck cables, and she feels a sharp sting of pain.
Her optics widens in alarm when he pulls the empty syringe out of the main energon line in her neck.
"Relax."
His voice is suddenly uncommonly gentle, but she loses consciousness before she has the chance to think further about this sudden change in his behavior.
Torment lifts her in his arms and looks triumphantly down at her.
So far so good.
Now for the important part.
He looks up with a cruel smile when the door as predicted opens, and he locks his gaze with the JIU officer's that steps into the office, before he with a deep taunting laughter swiftly teleports away.
Stormrunner only manages to pull her weapon before they are gone and a scream of powerlessness leaves her.
"Athena!"
They failed her.
Her weapon lowers and she stares fixated at the purple mist while it slowly dissipates.
"We got an situation, Prowl."
She hears one of her colleagues contact their headquarter, but all she can do is stare at the spot where HE had been.
The infamous Torment.
If she had reacted just a little bit faster...
...could she have killed him?
Her gaze gets drawn to something on the wall behind where Torment had stood and she frowns while she steps closer to investigate it.
A datapad has been fastened to it.
She takes it and sees the note on it.
To the Joint Investigation Unit's Director of Intelligence.
"How is she doing?" Shift asks curiously without taking her attention away from the screen when Torment joins her at the computer.
"She is fine. Still anesthetized." He answers and leans against the only wall not occupied by hardware or screens, "I assume that our 'friends' have found the message. Are there anything interesting going on?"
"Not yet."
He looks to his right, where a monitor shows a rotating map of the planet and eleven blinking dots.
His team.
It would be so much easier if he could trust them under the current circumstances.
The decision to betray them had not been easy, but right now they pose just as great a risk to him as to the society.
"Are you going to give them access to their tracking devices?" Shift asks hesitantly when she notices what has caught his attention, "They will instantly know who betrayed them and won't take this betrayal so lightly since there are no death threat hanging over their heads, if they decide to attack you. Torrent will most likely even encourage them to take revenge."
"Not yet." He answers, "I prefer not to sacrifice some of our best agents before it is absolutely necessary. And I'd like to stay informed about what the Joint Investigation Unit plans and the special forces movements in the upcoming crisis."
"I want them to panic for a little while before I decide to give them the ability to take back the control." He adds with a humorous smile, and Shift laughs heartily.
"You are growing soft, Torment."
"Never."
But there isn't any of the usual rage in his voice when he responds to Shift's teasing accusation, and it surprises him.
Where is the cold-sparked tactician?
Where is the merciless assassin?
He frowns in deep thought and Shift's laughter takes on a louder tone when she sees the shock on his face, when the horrifying dawning realization hits.
"You're in love."