Nightshade POV
They were alone again. Definitely not at the Decepticon base anymore. They seemed to be in a dimly lit prison cell, or maybe it was a cave.
They looked around, only to see strings on all of their appendages, as if they were a puppet.
Suddenly the ground seemed to disappear, leaving them at the mercy of whatever or whomever the strings were attached to.
Suddenly they felt what seemed to be an electric shock, and a strong one at that, like being struck by lightning. Pain seared through them.
Another shock surged through them. Followed by another, leaving them in constant agony.
Shortly thereafter, they heard cruel, familiar voice of mandroid. "No one is coming to save you. Accept your fate."
Nightshade tried to yell back, but no sound came.
"Actually… you aren't entirely useless. No I think you could be…" he paused revealing a inhibitor chip, just like the one he used to control their sister, and them just hours earlier.
Please no! I can't go through that again… I beg, have mercy on me. Someone.. anyone.. help!
They fought against the chips control but all was futile.
It hurts too much. I can't keep fighting this battle…
"Once I'm done with you, the others, your family, will be next, won't that be exciting?" Mandroid smugly grinned.
NO! Their inner voice screamed…
And then… it was done.
Nightshade opened their eyes. They were back in the base. Safe again.
Hearing footsteps, they feared that Mandroid somehow found them, but their fears were soon extinguished by recognizing the eyes of Starscream.
Starscream took notice of them. "Is something wrong?" He asked in a concerned, but more-so confused tone.
"Oh- um just a bad dream… it's nothing, don't worry about it." Nightshade said in a tiny voice.
"Well that doesn't make me worry any less…"
He replied calmly. "Would talking about it help? It might take more effort to go back to sleep while scared."
"It's worth a try. It can't make me feel worse." Nightshade said before recounting what took place in their nightmare.
"This.. Mandroid you speak of.. is he Dr. Meridian, the man we rescued you from?" Starscream had already made this connection in his head, but asked for confirmation anyways.
Nightshade nodded.
"Did he also do the things you described in real life?" Starscream inquired, stroking his chin as if he were a man with a goatee.
Nightshade nodded once more. "But he never tied me down. And I was in a lab, not a prison. I think those were my mind visualising captivity."
"I have no further questions." Starscream responded in an oddly soft voice. "I already knew he tortured his captives. But until now I had assumed it was only Decepticons who received that treatment. I hadn't realized he was doing this to young, unaffiliated, innocent bots. How heinous, how disgusting." He said with a grimace and a voice dripping with contempt.
"He also used the inhibitor chip on my sister."
Nightshade responded, looking down.
"Sister?" Starscream repeated, shifting his focus
"Yes, I have 3, 2 of them are Terrans like me, not cybertronian like you." Nightshade answered before getting cut off.
"Fascinating. Tell me more about Terran siblings." He asked with a grin.
"There are five of us. My sisters, Twitch and Hashtag, and my brothers, Thrash and Jawbreaker. Twitch and Thrash were the first two. Then me, Hashtag and Jawbreaker. Twitch's alt mode is a drone, Thrash's is a motorcycle, Hashtag's is a G.H.O.S.T van, and Jawbreaker is still a protoform, but that's fine he'll find his alt mode eventually. Or not." Nightshade smiled as they talked about their family.
"Well I hope someday I'll meet them." Starscream responds kindly.
"I as well, Lord Starscream, they're a wonderful family." Nightshade replied happily.
Deciding it was time to change the subject, Starscream asked "So, feel any better?"
Nightshade nodded in response.
"Brilliant, now you should have no trouble getting back to sleep, hopefully I won't either." Starscream said with a grin, getting in his own bed.
"Thank you so much, Lord Starscream, sleep well." Nightshade replied kindly.
"Anytime, gnight." Starscream replied, already back in bed.
Nightshade finally went back to sleep. Only this time there were no nightmares.