Captain: Whoops, didn't mean to let so much time pass, that's my bad! Gonna be honest, I haven't written a single word in like two weeks. Been trying to enjoy the summer weather while we have it and then work sent out RIFF notices so everyone is freaking out and I'm 95% certain my job is about to go belly-up so I gotta try to find a new job in all this that will no doubt require my relocation. So that's fun. Wish me luck, yeah?
Anyway, tomorrow (the 4th) is my birthday and I'll probably spend the day hiking/chasing birds and then kayaking, so I wanted to get this up before then. Maybe ya'll could leave me a present with reviews? I do so shamelessly love them. :D
Warning: A'ight, this chap really gonna dive into the depths of the 'Cons abilities to be evil and not care about human life (if the chap title didn't give it away already), so be prepared.
On that note, Enjoy! :D
Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man. ~Nietzsche
Two weeks passed, as best as Darcy could tell. Two weeks of back-breaking labor. Two weeks of taunts and jabs about her Guardian failing her, about all the ways they were going to kill her in front of him. Barricade was especially creative and enjoyed flashing all of the weapons at his disposal at her. Some of the larger had it out for Ironhide more than Prowl and so directed their jeers at Lennox. She tried to ignore them like he did, tried not to let the images of those weapons dance too long in her mind. She couldn't shake the chill it sent to her bones or the knotting of her stomach that refused to go away, couldn't stop the dreams that forced her to live out every one of those threats.
Yet it was the belief of Prowl being her Guardian that was keeping her alive, so she didn't correct them.
Her shoulder refused to stay in place during their hours in the mine every day. Given no chance to heal, it continuously popped out of place when she swung the axe or hammer. John and Lennox tried to help get it back into socket, but it wouldn't get better until they got out of there. The soldier tried to come up with a plan, but Ravage kept utter silence at night when he was on guard duty and Darcy found herself quickly too exhausted to keep her eyes open when he wasn't.
No plan, no escape, and no hope.
Every day one of them would drop and be taken away, replaced by a new terrified face. Another woman had thrown out her shoulder, had insisted she could still work, but they took her away anyway. It wasn't long before her screams made it all the way down to the mine. Darcy doubted that even the belief of being Prowl's charge would keep her safe if she stopped, so she forced her body to keep moving, no matter how sluggish or numb it felt.
"We have to get out of here soon; we're not going to last much longer," John stated quietly as they worked on uncovering the buried Decepticon's midsection. It was a rare occasion that no guard was up top to supervise and listen so everyone was taking the chance to slow down and catch their breath. No one dared to stop, just in case, but every swing was a little slower, with a little less force behind it.
"I know," Lennox sighed, glancing at the younger detective who was attempting to study the revealed hip joint. Even in the poor light she looked pale and he doubted she was able to make much sense of the mess of wires and support struts under her gaze. "We have to find a way to the surface; the Autobots will have gathered reinforcements by now. All they need is to know where to look."
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Darcy snapped, her voice rough and scratching her parched throat. The axe was limp in her grip, the weight resting against the dead alien as she leaned against the cool metal in an effort to expel some of the heat in her body. She dared not sit completely for fear of being unable to stand again. "It's been weeks and they haven't changed a thing they do with us."
John hardly looked better than she did. Very few in their group had been there as long as he had, but only Lennox appeared to still be in any sort of fighting form.
"Follow the tunnels that go uphill, there has to be ways to get out on foot, they have too many grounders for there not to be," the Major suggested barely above a whisper. Such talk had been had before, but the problems that had prevented them before were all still very much present. There were too many people to move and too many Decepticons to get out unnoticed, especially when they didn't even know the layout of the upper tunnels.
"Sounds like a fantastic plan, what could possibly go wrong? When?" Darcy braced her weak arm up on a metal plate, a relieved breath escaping the moment the weight was off her shoulder.
Lennox glanced around, dropping his voice even further so that no one else could chance overhearing. "Tonight."
The detective choked, "Are you insane? How are we supposed to get all these people on board by tonight? And for that matter what about Ravage?"
The Major sighed, running a hand over his weary and filthy face. He was almost unrecognizable as the man she'd met a month ago. It was John who caught the look and realized what it meant. "You don't mean to take anyone else with us."
Darcy couldn't stop the accusatory glare she threw at the soldier, her head spinning. "I am not going to just leave everyone else to be tortured when they find out we're gone."
Lennox met her glare with resignation, he hated the thought as much as she did, but he recognized the lack of choice in the manner. If any of them were going to get saved, then someone had to get out. "We have to. There are too many for us all to get out unnoticed. Once we're out, the Autobots will tear this place apart and get everyone else."
John dropped his hand on the woman's good shoulder, marking with concern the way it dropped under the light weight. "There isn't a choice, Darce, the sooner we get out, the sooner we can come back for the rest."
She hated the very idea and couldn't help looking around the dark mine at all the dirty faces forcing themselves to keep working. Unless the return was near immediate, some of them would no doubt be killed in anger at their escape. But continuing like this wasn't going to save any of them. She closed her eyes as the room spun and her gut twisted. It was signing the death warrants of a few to save the many, but it was the only choice they had. "What about Ravage? I don't imagine he'll be easy to sneak past."
"There's been a pattern to his guarding duties, he won't be there tonight," Lennox assured, picking up a piece of the dead robot and sticking it in his pocket.
Darcy chewed her cheek, baffled that something so simple had escaped her notice. "Fine, but the second we reach the Autobots we're coming back."
Both men nodded. "We wait until everyone is asleep."
The rest of the shift in the mine passed in a blur and Darcy felt her nerves on edge the entire time. It just seemed too simple and yet loaded with so many ways it could go wrong. Just what would happen to them if they were caught? John had no safety net to keep him alive and she doubted hers would hold more importance over punishing an escape attempt. She wanted to throw up, the feeling made only worse by knowing they had to act.
True to Lennox's observations, Ravage did not show up that night. The room was silent in sleep quickly. Despite the overwhelming exhaustion, Darcy's heart pounded in her ears as time ticked by and she pretended to sleep. A Decepticon passed a few hours in, glancing into the room before continuing on his way. They would not check again until they came to take them back to the mine. It was go time.
Choking back a few mouthfuls of musty water from the small pool in the corner, the three slowly made their way towards the door. No one around them stirred, too lost in the blissful oblivion of sleep to notice anything amiss. Darcy tried not to wonder how few might be left alive after the Decepticons' retribution. It was the only way, she reminded herself, they were all dead if they didn't do something. If all they could save was one, it would be worth it. Tightening her hold on the thin determination, she paused for only a moment once they reached the doorway as Lennox stuck his head out first, glancing both ways down the dim corridor before motioning them to follow. It was eerily quiet, only the soft hum of the lights gave any sound, the soft patter of their steps sounding like drums. Darcy swore the Decepticons would be able to hear her heart trying to pound its way out of her chest. But there seemed to be none around to hear a thing and they came upon the first split in the tunnel easily. Too easily. It put the detective on edge and she waited for one to step around the corner and crow in triumph about how they knew of the plan all along. None did, and the soldier took less than a minute to pick which direction to go, leading them down the tunnel that appeared to be sloped uphill.
"These fragging organics get their mess everywhere! It's revolting." The voice had them jumping through the closest opening into a hopefully empty room just as the red mech came around the bend. Knock Out, the psychotic medic, and he wasn't alone. As per usual, the giant blue bulk of Breakdown followed after him. "I say we should just get rid of the lot and be done with it."
The three humans held their breath as the two 'Cons passed, neither even glancing in their direction as Breakdown showed little sympathy for the sports car's issue. "You wouldn't get the mess everywhere if you didn't skewer them."
"They dared scratch my paint!" Knock Out waved a bloodied hand in his assistant's direction, "It's not like I wanted to shish-kabob them, their armor is just so pathetically weak!"
"It's called skin," Breakdown shrugged.
The medic snorted as the two turned down another hall, his voice echoing back to them, "I don't care what the fleshbags call it, it's a mess and will take forever to clean. Ha! I'll make the other squishes clean it, a good lesson for the rest of them!"
Darcy released her breath once she was sure the two were long gone, amazed that they hadn't been discovered and feeling a stab of pity for whoever was going to have to clean the blood from those deadly claws. She turned to John, who slowly brought his finger to his lips and pointed behind her. She stiffened, slowly spinning to face the room they had taken refuge in. It was relatively dark, the little light reflecting off of gleaming black and white metal. Barricade. Sucking in a breath, she waited for the moment he would face them and shoot. He didn't so much as twitch. Darcy belatedly realized he wasn't going to. While there was the ever present hum of his systems, it was muted and his optics were dark. He was asleep, or whatever their equivalent of it was.
He'd slept through the talking 'Cons, but there was no telling how little it might take to wake him. As quietly as they could they crept out of the room and back into the hall, hurrying to the next split. It was a nerve-frying hour of wandering down different tunnels and praying they were going the right way before they finally reached a place that tasted of familiarity. It was a large cavern and after a moment, Darcy realized it was the place Starscream and Barricade had had their spat when she was first brought in. That meant they were close to the exit.
Now her heart pounded in excitement and adrenaline. They were almost free! Taking point as she recalled the last sways of the Mustang those weeks ago, she led them to the fork that slanted down. The pace picked up, exhaustion forgotten as escape finally seemed real. There! At the end of the tunnel, a tiny pinprick of yellow light beckoning them forward. This was it; they were going to get out!
A bone chilling chuckle echoed, bouncing off the walls and surrounding them. "And just where do you fleshbags think you're going?"
Dread froze the blood in her veins at the confirmation that it was over, they'd been caught. Freedom and hope so close she could taste the fresh air. So close and now impossibly far. It sounded like Starscream, but Darcy refused to look at him, to turn away from that little spot of growing daylight.
A flash of metal was her only warning before a clawed hand slammed against her ribs, shoving her into the two men and compressing them all together. Lifting them up, the hand turned them to face its owner. It was the jet, and he had a maniacal grin on his face. "The pets, how….fitting."
He turned away from the exit, closing them back in the darkness. Defeat brought the detective's head down, the adrenaline fading, replaced by a physical and emotional exhaustion that was too much even for tears. All she could muster was a bitten challenge that was half a plea. "If you're going to kill us then just get it over with."
Starscream cackled, jostling them as he brought her to eye level. "Kill you? No, I'm not going to kill you; pets are too valuable at the moment. I'm simply going to teach you a lesson."
The mad laughter surrounded them from all sides and Darcy felt true terror slide down to her bones. What lesson would a mad alien come up with that wouldn't kill them?
The answer was worse than anything she could imagine.
He strolled to a room they'd never seen before that housed some twenty people. Slamming a large foot against the rocky floor, he jolted them all awake. "Get up, skinjobs!"
They obediently did so, falling into order and following behind him. Darcy had never seen these people before, but she soon recognized where they were heading: towards the mine.
If he had continued all the way to it, it would have been a mercy, but he didn't. Instead he turned into the room that had created so many tortured screams. "Shockwave, find a fitting use for these meat-sacks that will teach these ones to obey!"
He dropped the three of them unceremoniously onto the table before the huge, one-eyed purple mech before turning and retreating from the room, pausing only long enough to shove the stragglers all the way into the room with a mad laugh and a threat from his gun. Shockwave, whose entire right arm with a giant cannon, regarded them with no emotion whatsoever as a metal door slammed shut. "Attempting escape is futile."
Turning to face the group of terrified victims huddled in the furthest corner, he easily plucked up three of them. Bringing them back to the table, he injected each with a black liquid and deposited them into what appeared to be giant beakers. "Record reaction time of energon contact."
His voice was like a computer, like a true A.I. as he addressed another alien Darcy had failed to notice until now. The smaller 'Con was too happy to comply.
"Oh I just love the screams!" he cackled, leaning towards them, a cube of bright blue clutched in his clawed hand. Energon, the liquified and purified fuel made from the crystals they'd been mining from below.
Without preamble, he dumped equal amounts of the fluid over the heads of the three women in the beakers. They screamed the moment it made contact. Clawing at their burning skin, they tried and failed to climb out of the waist-deep acid. Darcy turned away, clamping her hands over her ears as she tried to block out their wails, tried to ignore the smell of burning flesh, and desperately tried to wipe the image of their terror and pain from her mind. She failed on all accounts, tears slipping free.
"No, no, no, no! You must watch! This is the best part!" the grey and red giggled, jabbing the detective with a claw hard enough to rip the midsection of her shirt and spin her around.
She refused to open her eyes as the screams reached a new crescendo, making her want to scratch her own ears off as it pierced through her clamped hands. The unknown Decepticon clucked, the noise barely discernible. "'Screamer's orders, squishy, watch or more die!"
A part of her died when she forced her eyes open. They were unrecognizable. Hair and clothing were gone, skin peeling and being eaten away. Muscle and bone started to protrude where they continued to claw at themselves. One scream cut short as the body dropped fully into the acid, the bright blue now stained purple. The other two choked out soon after. Two minutes. Two horrendously long minutes and they were gone, leaving nothing behind but bone and chunks of floating meat.
The purple monster cocked his head just slightly. "New serum ineffective, human plating still intolerant."
"Try again, Shockwave, try again!" the grey urged, already reaching for another.
"Wild Rider, cease speaking. My calculations determine there is no level of dampener that will make them immune. Further synthesizing is required." The sheer lack of anything in the giant's voice made him that much more terrifying than the psychotic one. That he could feel absolutely nothing in the face of what he was doing put him on a level of dangerous that Darcy had never encountered before. They weren't human, she knew, but most of them at least displayed similar reactions and feelings, even if it was only similar to a serial killer. Not this one. He was a computer that thought only of what he was doing in terms of whatever science issue he was trying to resolve. Or create.
Wild Rider seemed thoroughly disappointed that the tortuous murders wouldn't continue. His dimming red optics didn't last long though, blasting bright after only a few seconds. "So back to the sampling then?"
Shockwave didn't spare him a glance from his single optic. "Obviously."
The sheer glee that radiated from the grey and red 'Con served to evaporate whatever hope Darcy had left for those remaining people. Whatever was coming was sure to be as monstrous as the acid, and it was her fault. If she had just listened to her gut, gone with what her subconscious was telling her and stayed put, then none of this would have happened. These people, these helpless victims she had sworn to protect wouldn't be dying at the hands of these things. She was a fool to think they could escape, that they could stand a chance of outsmarting aliens that were millions of years old, now humans were paying for her mistake. Paying with just their lives would have been a mercy, but they were forced to pay in terror and agony that ravaged them until death finally claimed them.
Wild Rider bound to the group, plucking up five and depositing them into a clear tray. Darcy cringed, gripping onto John's arm as a few cried out following the tell-tale crack of breaking bones. Shockwave moved to the other side of the room, returning with five nasty looking syringes filled with a dark grey substance. The detective blinked several times, sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her. Whatever was inside those syringes appeared to be moving. Like a liquid with a mind of its own, the matter swirled in a random pattern that did not match the movement from the alien.
Darcy tried to turn away when the purple beast turned with a needle to the first victim, but Wild Rider was there in an instant, tut-tut-ing and shoving her closer. Her grip on John only tightened and the second the mech had backed off, Lennox was on her other side.
The first, a middle aged man, groaned when the needle was shoved into his arm, but he did not scream. Once the injection was complete he simply lay still, blinking up at the rocky ceiling. Shockwave paused, staring for a long moment before turning to the rest. The remaining four went the same and the scientist took as step back as he watched his test subjects and a some sort of computer screen off to the side spitting out writing in some indecipherable language.
Then the first convulsed and scratched at his arm. He scratched harder, moving from the injection site up his arm, to the other arm, then a leg, his movements becoming more violent and panicked with every second until his scratches were leaving gouges in his own skin.
"Get it out! Get it out!" he shrieked, lurching to his feet only to stumble and fall back down. Struggling, he tried to get his legs under him, but they wouldn't cooperate. Then he screamed. Like a dying animal he yowled as blood leaked from his eyes. His skin boiled and moved as if an infestation of insects lay under it, crawling and skittering about, looking for some way out. Blood dripped from an increasing number of places and new cuts along his body, sliding across the outside of his skin just as it appeared to be doing on the inside. Darcy gagged, the lump in her throat as suffocating as it was nauseating. Whatever had been injected into the man was alive in some way and it was clawing its way out.
A sickening crack echoed in Darcy's mind as the man's back bent unnaturally, limbs flailing as if he'd lost control of his own body. Blood burst from every pore and he went limp and quiet. Panicking terror was on the faces of the other four, but it was too late for them, too late to help them. The second to be injected twitched and scratched at her arm, and the horror started again.
By the time the last dropped into a pile of his own moving blood, Wild Rider was giggling. "That's a new one! Round two!"
Shockwave cut him off from the rest of the people by bashing him with his cannon arm, sending the mad mech crashing into the far wall. "You are useless, leave."
The unspoken 'or I'll find a use for you' hung in the air for even the humans to hear and the brief flash of fear that flittered over the smaller alien's face was enough to say the Decepticon would make good on that threat. Wild Rider wasted no time, huffing to compose himself, he walked out of the lab, throwing over his shoulder as he went, "Fine, you're no fun anyway."
Once he was gone, the scientist turned back to the shredded remains of his experiment. Whether he was talking to himself or the computers, Darcy wasn't sure. The way the monitor's responded, they appeared almost one in the same. "Nanobot size still too large for human adaptment; bots unaccepting of aqueous environment. Still seeks escape from organic cells."
Cocking his head, he regarded the remaining twelve. "Need more brain tissue for testing."
"Please, don't kill us!" one of the women pleadingly shrieked as he swept up half of the group.
Shockwave latched each down onto human-sized slabs, sliding the one with the woman who had spoek under what appeared to be a giant microscope. "Brain activity and responses require live subjects."
Any sort of relief that admission granted was quickly destroyed as a thick needle protruded from the bottom of the scope, perfectly aligned with the woman's forehead. Without the psychotic mech around to monitor, Darcy spun away the second the pointed tip hit skin.
"Oooh, that's got to hurt," Knock Out whistled as he strolled in.
"What do you want?" Shockwave didn't look away from his study subject and the monotone made it sound less like a question than an acknowledgement of the annoyance of the red medic's presence.
Knock Out was unruffled by the response. Instead he studied his fingers, frowning at the red that still painted the sharp tips. "What I want is to finish getting this organic filth off, but that's not why I'm here. Starscream wants the pets back. Ah! There you squishies are!"
He didn't wait for a reply, simply plucked the three humans up, a clawed digit digging harshly into Darcy's side. "Oh! He also wanted me to pass along a message: we're resetting, in a manner. The fleshbags in section D are yours to play with."
With that, he strut out, leaving the handful of doomed people and a now untold number of others to share in their wretched fate behind him.
Darcy bit her lip as the claw supporting her threatened to slit into the flesh it was pressed against. She could feel her bones shifting, cracking at the abuse, but she would not cry out. As the scream of the next helpless victim echoed down the hall in their wake, she refused to make a sound. Her pain was nothing compared to theirs.
Despite her best efforts, a groan slipped out as the claw shifted between her ribs and sunk into the skin. He jostled them, intentionally no doubt, adding pressure to his grip. Glancing up, she could see the smirk on his face. These things truly were remorseless, they felt nothing but satisfaction at the pain and fear they were causing.
"As you requested, my liege." He gave a sweeping mock bow once he stood before Starscream, dropping them in a heap at the jet's feet.
"Learn your lesson yet, meatbags?" the grey beast sneered. Darcy nodded, not trusting herself to speak between her gasping breaths, hand clamped to her bleeding side. The two men repeated the action, neither able to form words in the face of what they had been forced to witness.
Starscream chuckled. "No, you've learned not to get caught. You haven't learned never to attempt it again. You humans are a tenacious lot, but I have learned how to break you."
Motioning to someone behind them, the detective turned to see Breakdown lumbering into the room, leading the convoy of people they had left behind just hours ago. They were all exhausted and terrified, but those expressions soon turned to distrust and anger the second they noticed the three. Darcy couldn't meet their eyes and struggled around a lump in her throat. Whatever happened to them was her fault and they all knew it. The jet motioned to the small crowd. "I'm going to set you all free."
A murmur swept through and Darcy felt her head spin at this random turn of events. There had to be a catch. Strangely, Starscream waited for the murmur to die down before addressing them again, a wicked grin spreading across his metal face. "Make it to the bottom of the mountain by dawn and you're free from us for the rest of your pathetic lives."
He paused, allowing the whispers to spring up again. It wasn't hard to read between the lines. By dawn meant that he wouldn't be releasing them until nightfall, if it wasn't well into night already. The detective looked up and noticed the glint to his red eyes that said such an endeavor would be no simple task of hiking down. "Fail to breach the base by first light and your life is mine."
Flicking his wrist in dismissal, he let the blue mech file the humans out before turning back to the three still before him. He swept his arm out as he leaned back into his throne, "You're welcome to join them tonight, I swear none of my soldiers will harm you."
Warning bells tried to sound off that it wasn't right, but Darcy was finding it hard to gain her bearings after such a shock. Her gut rolled, was there something she was missing? It seemed like it yet she couldn't put her finger on it.
He dismissed them then and they followed Ravage back towards their prison. Darcy wondered when it got so unbearably muggy and hot and how she was the only one sweating. She winced as the salt burned the cut from the medic. They were halfway back when the tunnel tilted and spun out from under her feet. She hit the wall, Lennox catching her other side and she struggled to muddle through what had happened. Neither of the men had lost their balance.
"You don't look so good," Lennox intoned with quiet concern.
She waved him off, wishing the corridor would stop bloody moving.
"I'm fine, just tired," she slurred and forced herself forward. Miscalculating the step, she tripped and stumbled into the soldier. John was at her other side in an instant, placing a freezing hand on her forehead.
"She's burning up," he said over her head. Why wasn't he talking to her? Of course she was burning though, it was roasting in here! He should be too, she frowned, why was he so cold? There had to be something wrong. A spike of fear shot through her, he wasn't sick, was he? Getting sick in this place would be a guaranteed death sentence. Lennox mumbled something back but it was too muffled for her to make out. Why was he slurring now? Was he sick too? His hand was impossibly cold against her side where he supported her. Or was she supporting him? How could they possibly make it down the mountain at night if both men were sick? The tunnel tilted strangely again and she groaned as pressure was put on her wounded side.
"Hold on, Darcy," Lennox ordered in her ear, his voice breaking through the haze and it took her a moment to realize he was no carrying her. Oh. She was the one who was sick. That wasn't good. They wouldn't be able to take her; she'd only hold them back.
They made it back to their temporary prison, the cat taking up his post at the door once they were through. When they reached their mats and the Major set her down, Darcy used all her will to force her hand up and grabbed onto his vest. "Go tonight. Leave me. You need to get out, warn the others. I'll only slow you down."
She knew she was rambling, that most of the garble that left her mouth probably didn't make sense, but she had to get her message across, make them understand that they had to leave her. She was getting worse too fast to be able to get herself down the mountain. They had to go without her. Her life was not worth both of theirs.
"We're not going anywhere," the soldier swore. John glanced at him and he raised his voice so everyone could hear, the cat at the door made no move to stop the chatter this time. "No one should go tonight. It's a trick. Whoever leaves will die."
"You don't know that!" one of the other men shouted. "If we make it to the bottom, they'll let us go. He told us so."
"And risk you telling someone about this place and them?" Lennox stood to face the group, hoping they might understand. "Think about it. They've stayed hidden this long, they aren't about to just give it up. I've fought these things, I know them. Their word means nothing."
"He's only guessing," the same man sneered, "I say it's worth the risk. We're all dead staying here anyway. These things can't track all of us! There's a chance some might make it."
The Major seethed, "Anyone who walks out will be dead long before dawn, you can count on that. Our best chance is to make a get away without them knowing about it."
His opponent crossed his arms, leveling the three with a disgusted glare. "Because that worked so well for you three. Let's not forget they abandoned us, made a run for themselves."
"We could actually get help!" John jumped in, standing next to the soldier in support. The rest of the crowd stood opposite, behind their volunteer spokesman.
The stranger snorted, addressing his followers rather than the two men. "That's what they say since they were caught. Rest assured, if they had made it out we would have never heard from them again. They only don't want us to go now that their girl is down and can't make the run herself. I'm going tonight, the rest of you can make the obvious decision."
It was a unanimous and instantaneous choice, made clear when no one made a move to come out from behind him. There was nothing Lennox or John could say to sway them. The entire room was going and Darcy wasn't sure any of them would be alive by morning.
"He's right," she whispered, her voice ragged. "You have to try, get out, get word to our friends."
Lennox shook his head, "There is no chance."
"The badge," John cut in as quietly as he could.
Darcy frowned, what about her badge? She patted her neck where she always kept it. It wasn't there. Where did that go? The soldier shook his head, silention motioning something to the older man, who turned and placed a cool hand on her shoulder. "He's right, Darce. We aren't going anywhere and I'd never leave you behind."
She stared at the ceiling as it drifted in and out of focus, wondering if there was any way she might convince them otherwise. Her mind was too muddled to think of one. Throat burning, she coughed once, twice. When had it dried out and set itself aflame? Their supply of water still dripped in the corner, but try as she might, she was too damn tired and weak to move. Where had all her strength gone? Moaning, she could only hope one of the men might hear her as she forced her throat to rumble, "Water".
John noticed and took only a moment to scavenge up a 'cup' and bring it to her. She reached for it, bringing it to her lips only to have Lennox reach over and tear it from her gasp.
"The water!" He studied the color, the gritty contents, and the smell before nodding to himself. "It's the water making her sick."
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the liquid dripping into the pool wasn't treated, but John frowned. "Then why isn't everyone sick? We all drank it. I have for longer."
The soldier shrugged. "Her injuries have probably made her more susceptible. Others have gotten sick, they were just taken away before the symptoms onset this much. It's either the water or the food, probably both since neither are in a condition we should be taking.
"What do we need for her?" John rested a hand on his ex-partner's forehead, swearing that she was getting hotter by the minute.
Lennox sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Nothing we have here. She needs a hospital and if she doesn't get to one soon…"
He trailed off, neither man wanting to finish that particular thought. John frowned, shifting in place as he glanced towards the others that had yet to come close to them. "Then we don't have a choice, we have to try for tonight."
He was met with a shaking head.
"No," Lennox paused, placing a hand over one of his pockets, "but I have an idea."
Some hours later that Darcy couldn't totally recall, she found herself strung between the two men as all of the humans from their cell stood before Starscream. The three were off to the side, away from those attempting the run as the jet reminded them of the rules and gave the first direction. "Following this tunnel will lead you outside."
He motioned down the very tunnel he'd caught them in earlier, the pin prick of light at the end dim and fading. Lennox passed the detective off to the other man, slipping away towards the unofficial leader of the other group. He offered his hand, and once accepted, patted the other man's back. "Good luck."
Then he returned to his place and together the three watched as Starscream gestured for the people to go. "Your time starts now."
They wasted none of it, bolting down the passageway, their footsteps bouncing off of the rock and echoing behind them. Starscream turned to them several minutes after the group had made it out of the tunnel's end. "Not joining them, hmm?"
Darcy was dimly aware of what he was saying and wanted to tell him where to shove that question, but her mouth refused to cooperate. Probably better it didn't. Lennox, instead, was the one who spoke up. "You're not just going to let us all go."
A wicked grin nearly slit his face in half, clearly stating the soldier had been right all along. "Indeed, I am not."
He turned to walk away and it was then the detective finally forced her lips to move and her voice scratched its way out. "But you swore."
She didn't know how it was possible, but the crazed smile got wider as he paused to look back at her. "Oh I swore that you wouldn't be hurt, fleshbags, you're still valuable to me. They are not."
With that he walked out and some unheard signal was given to send Ravage and Wild Rider taking off for the exit, guns charging. Lennox grimaced, wishing for once that he had been wrong. But his prediction would come true, no one was going to make it to dawn alive. All he could hope was that one human got far enough.
Soon muted screams and gunfire filled the air. The three turned away, back towards a now painfully empty chamber.
Dave had a lot of regrets in his life, like that fight with his father over ten years ago, or the girl he should have fought harder for, or selling that Corvette, but they all paled in comparison to his regret about his most recent decision.
He should have listened to the soldier.
Instead he had blindly led almost forty people to their deaths as they stumbled around in the dark, trying in vain to escape the two psychotic things that were gunning them down. The humanoid one had thankfully gone a different direction, the mad cackling echoing through the night back to him. He'd caught a glimpse of the one-eyed cat only once, but the thing was far too quiet to ever know where it was.
A single snap of a twig and a shift in the air was the only warning he got before a massive weight hit him from behind. The force snapped his lower spine immediately as sharp metal claws dug and scraped their way down his back. He hit the ground, pain overwhelming every other sense he possessed. It was all he could feel, all he could focus on, pain and a single glowing red eye floating around and in front of him. A crack and a flash and he knew nothing more.
Ravage dispatched the pathetic, broken human with a single shot to the head, sparing it not a single extra thought as he trotted off to find the next one. Really, it was disappointingly easy; the organics made so much noise he didn't even need his optic to find them. Hmm, now that could be a better game. Shutting off the optic, he used only his other senses to continue his hunt.
It was still boringly easy.
As the alien predator dashed through the trees, he never gave another thought to Dave, nor the jacket he'd worn, or the shiny, golden badge that had fallen out of the pocket.
Captain: Duh, duh, duuuuuhhhhh! Oh yes, death and destruction and our dear Darcy is not doing very well, now is she? Certainly no soft Screamer to be found here! But the badge! The badge is in the open! Did it get far enough? Will Prowl make it in time to rescue our three heroes? Well, you'll find out next time ;)
Please leave a review!