Captain: Alright guys, the hits just keep on coming. This year is just fan-fricken-tastically bad. Long story short, I lost my job due to Covid. I know I am only one of many, but I could really use ya'lls love this chap!
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. ~Edmond Burke
Ratchet let them be and Darcy soon found herself helped back into bed, the previous notion of energy all but gone. John reclined next to her and every few minutes she'd glance over and shift so that her bandaged arm would brush against him. It reminded her, grounded her to the reality that he was there, he was alive, they had made it out. At least one of her goals had been accomplished, even if she wasn't the reason for it. She sighed for the umpteenth time, wondering, among other things, what was going to happen when she went back home. She was under no delusions, the case was as closed as it was ever going to get; she was done. There was no job waiting for her return. Law enforcement was her life, but there was no way the chief would take her back, which meant applying to the neighboring jurisdictions. It wasn't ideal, given the distance of the other departments, but she would deal with the commute if it meant she could carry a badge. All she could hope for was that the chief hadn't turned her name to mud.
Turning to her mentor, she pondered what he would do upon their release. Would he continue his retirement in that same house or would he move? She wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to stay in that town, but she selfishly wished he wouldn't leave.
"Darcy," his voice broke through her thoughts and his tone suggested it wasn't his first attempt at capturing her attention. She hummed in response and felt him tense, alerting her that she wouldn't like what he had to say. "Ratchet needs to check you over and make sure you're healing alright."
She stiffened, brain stalling for a long moment before sputtering back to life. "Can't I just go to the doctors at a hospital?"
It was unspoken that if the base had a human doctor, she'd prefer him as well. John sighed, "And how will you explain your injuries? Or your experience? Ratchet saved you, you can trust him."
Darcy frowned, pulling away. "How can you trust them so much? You were with the Decepticons longer than I was."
"I've also been awake the last three days that you've been out and I've talked with them, including your 'Agent Row'. I can't say I like them just yet, but they risked a lot to save us when they could have just blown the tunnels without coming in after us. They aren't going to hurt us."
She scowled when he mentioned the faux-agent, the false human, the lying bastard that was the reason for all of this, and she wasn't happy John had talked to him. The older man ran a hand over his tired face, "Just let the CMO look you over, then we can debrief and go home."
Swallowing hard, she struggled to fight against the unsettling feeling at the notion of allowing one of them to check her over. But...if it got her out of there sooner...it may just be worth the short time of discomfort. Reluctantly, she nodded. John let out a breath and moved to stand. Darcy felt very much like a child when she reached out to him and asked pathetically, "Stay with me?"
He tipped his chin, lightly patting her back as he stepped away to retrieve the 'doctor'. It took him less than a minute to return with Ratchet's holoform in tow. Every muscle tensed as the thing approached her side, refusing to relax even when John reclaimed his place on her left.
"You had a dangerously high fever on top of the bacterial infection the unfiltered water gave you. The food you were given further weakened your immune system which is why it set upon you so quickly. You also had a rapid infection from whatever was on Knock Out's servo-tips when he pierced your side," he explained in a no-nonsense tone, motioning to the IV drip that was leaking onto the floor and her arm that lightly bled from where she'd carelessly ripped the needle free. "That was returning nutrients your body still desperately needs as well as antibiotics to boost your white blood cell strength and flush out whatever may still remain in your system. Now that you are awake, you can be removed from the drip on the condition that you strictly follow a set dietary plan for the next few weeks and take these twice a day until the bottle is empty."
He held up a pill bottle before setting it on the small table next to the bed when she made no move to take it from him. Darcy nodded at the instructions, stiffening when he reached for her arm. John's tightening grip on her other arm kept her from moving and the medic lightly lifted her arm to wipe away the blood before securing it with a bandage wrap. "Your shoulder joint never had the chance to properly heal and the tendons stretched too much to properly hold it in place."
Motioning to her tightly wrapped and taped shoulder, he warned, "You'll need to keep it as still as possible for a while before moving up to specific exercises, but it may never completely return to normal."
Darcy felt her world tilt, now concerned about how such an injury would affect her future job prospects. As long as she regained enough use of it to fire a gun and handcuff someone, she didn't much care about the specifics. It had to heal enough.
The medic paused to look her over. "I want to monitor you for the next few days, but I will release you on a few conditions."
He waited for her to agree. Even though her muscles were still tired and worn, her mind was not and she very much wanted to know about where she was. The holoform locked startling blue eyes with hers. "You will not go anywhere without a chaperone."
She growled low to herself. She did not need a babysitter! The medic snapped right over her wordless protest. "Your body is still weak and I didn't spend six hours putting you back together only to have you collapse in some unused hallway. Second, you report directly to me if your condition changes at all, even the smallest thing. And thirdly, you allow me to scan you before you go."
Cocking her head at the last request, she frowned as she glanced around for whatever equipment that could scan her. The memory of finding John's totalled car flashed behind her eyes. She leaned away from Ratchet. A blue light had come from Row's Charger-she mentally shook herself, had come from Prowl-to scan the mangled car and herself. The scanner was on their body, which meant that to scan her, the medic would need his actual self in the room. Taking a deep, steadying breath while squeezing John's hand, she silently assented. Suffering the alien's presence for a few minutes trumped being stuck here with him all day.
It was disconcerting when Ratchet simply vanished without a sound, much as the red mech Lennox had called Mirage had done. Speaking of the Major…
"Did Lennox make it out?" she asked the man at her side, drawing strength from him as the growl of an engine and heavy footfalls became progressively louder.
John nodded, "We all did."
"All?" She frowned, shifting through the disjointed haze that was her memory of that night.
The older man gave her a scrutinizing look. "What do you remember?"
Bits and pieces were definitely missing, but she thought she had put together most of it, if not the little details. "I remember Starscream having all those people killed and then someone Lennox called Mirage was there, and...something blew up?"
She was sure she'd seen a giant ball of flames at one point, but she couldn't honestly be certain what or where. It was unnerving to realize how much was missing, but it only continued to elude her the more she fought to remember.
"Given the condition she was in when she arrived, that doesn't surprise me. She may have been conscious for it, but her mind was not actively registering what was going on. I doubt she remembers any of the times she's awoken in the last few days," Ratchet's voice reached him, though his body was still out of sight.
Darcy turned to John. She'd woken up? He winced, answering with reluctance, "You woke up four times, screaming. Ratchet had to sedate you so you wouldn't hurt anyone else."
"Else?" She looked around, as if expecting a mangled body to be on the floor from her doing.
He gave her a light shrug, as if it were no huge deal. "You decked the first doctor who tried to restrain you, broke his nose. That's when Ratchet took over."
She blew out a breath, rubbing her face as guilt tried to make an appearance. She didn't remember any of that. As far as she was aware, there was nothing after the fireball until she'd come to an hour ago. John gave her a light smile. "He'll be fine, Darce, you've got a hell of a right hook and they'll never let him live it down, but he'll be fine."
Any lightheartedness was gone the instant a large, yellow-green bot came into view. Darcy gripped John's arm tightly as it approached the other side of the railing she'd failed to notice some yards from the end of the bed. The human-sized beds were apparently on some platform that was half the height of the alien. He could easily reach over the rail and grab her if he so chose.
He made no move for her, only raising his forearm up to his chest. The same blue light that had emitted from Prowl's Charger ejected from some location on his arm, humming along her skin with its phantom touch for only a few brief seconds before fading out. "Vitals appear to be stabilizing."
He was talking to himself more than either of them as he continued to rumble updates and values she didn't hope to comprehend. After a moment the big mech turned away to look at something out of their sight line. Even Darcy could make out the alien's frown and slight growl.
"Unless you're injured, out. She's in no condition for a debrief right now," he snapped at whoever was around the corner.
"We've waited three days, both civilians have to be debriefed and sign silence contracts immediately," a male voice, full of pomp and self-importance, attempted to command back. The disgust on the medic's face made evident that not many went against him, and whoever this was was decidedly not well liked.
John huffed himself at the voice and stood, taking up a cross-armed stance at the foot of the bed. Apparently he knew who this was as well. For a man with impressive diplomacy skills when he wanted to use them, the defensive posturing indicated he was in no mood to tap into those skills for this individual.
A balding man who stood at least a head shorter than her mentor rounded the corner of the walkway, all crisp suit and oozing arrogance. He faltered to a halt when he came against the wall that was John. Despite being older, the retired detective could still cut an intimidating figure. Darcy fought a small grin; she'd seen that very stance get confessions without the man having to say a word.
"Mr. Williams, I'm glad you're here," the newcomer started, as if the older man's presence was all according to his plan. "You and Ms. Blake need to come with me. There is a lot we need to know about your involvement in all of this."
Darcy glanced from the scowling medic to John to the politician. Up an hour and they wanted all of the nitty gritty details even she wasn't completely sure of right this moment? It was inevitable, she knew, but surprising they'd be this on top of it. Even so, she found herself willing to get it over with. The sooner it was done, the sooner she could go on forgetting all of it. "I'll do it, let's just get it over with, John."
The politician appeared far too pleased with himself at her decision, as if he'd been detrimental in her choice. One of those, she rolled her eyes; a man who saw far too much importance in himself and his influence. It was no wonder neither John nor the medic liked him. In fact, she'd say the two were barely tolerating his presence.
Standing on shaky legs, John immediately appeared by her side, wrapping an arm around her waist for support. The self-important man who'd yet to introduce himself turned and led the way. With her mentor guiding her along, Darcy let her eyes wander. It appeared that the raised platform with the human-sized beds took up less than half of the massive room. The rest was covered in an assortment of odd tools and heaps of scrap metal. Giant slab tables and the like were scattered throughout. It was a medbay for both humans and aliens, set up for the alien doctor to be able to reach all of his patients. She'd known they could die from a cave-in, but the fact that they could get hurt enough to require the equivalent of a hospital was strangely comforting. The dragons, she mused, were not as omnipotent as they appeared.
The suited man led them down several empty halls and Darcy didn't miss the wide berth and disgruntled looks nearly every soldier they came across gave the man. The dislike for him was evidently universal. Politics had no place in justice or defending the peace in her experience. All it served to do was push personal agendas and bury the truth under a chosen narrative, and those doing the pushing and burying always thought too highly of themselves.
He finally reached a door he didn't pass and instead opened it, gesturing inside. "Miss Blake."
She frowned at him, casting a side glance to John. "You're separating us?"
"We want to get your stories separately to ensure authenticity."
"You think we have a reason to lie?" John growled, his grip on her hip tightening in reflex. They were being treated like criminals now? Why in the hell did they think they might hide something? Just what was going on here?
"I will be with you shortly." He motioned for her to enter again, impatience flashing across his speckled face.
Hesitatingly, she left John's support and stiffly limped her way through the doorway. Once clear, the door shut firmly behind her. On impulse she tested the handle; locked. Suspicion rocketed high as she glanced around at the single steel table, two metal chairs, and a large one-way window. An interrogation room, tucked down halls too small to accomodate the aliens.
Not that they couldn't simply bust through the walls if they so chose to.
Forcing herself to sit in the chair facing away from the window, she tried several breathing techniques to get her racing heart back under control. They wouldn't have saved her just to harm her again. Ratchet, though gruff and massive and alien, had heavily implied he'd be rather cross if she did manage to get hurt again so soon after he'd fixed her up.
But when it came to potentially having information on terrorists, all bets were off on how humans with political agendas might act.
Time ticked slowly, more noticeable with the absence of a clock. Her leg bounced of its own volition, the deafening silence spiking her nerves. Would it be an alien holoform that came for what she knew of their enemy? Would it be Row-Prowl?
She scowled to herself. He better not show his not-face.
Without a clock and the quiet waiting driving her mad, her perception of time was rather skewed, but she was certain at least an hour passed before the door finally opened, emitting the damn politician from before.
"What the hell is this about?" she snapped, drumming her fingers on her wrapped arm.
"I need to know everything you saw while in Decepticon care," he started, no apology for the wait, no explanation, just diving straight to what he wanted.
As if he knew he didn't have much time.
Darcy narrowed her eyes. "I was in their care for damn near three weeks, I saw a lot."
His eyes flashed in...was that excitement? The hell was wrong with this guy? "Including Shockwave. What exactly was he doing?"
A shudder racked through her, screams echoing in her ears, the smell of burning flesh invading her nose. Her nails bit into her palm, dragging her back to the hard chair and the man in front of her. "He was experimenting on them."
"What was he trying to accomplish?" he pressed further, leaning across the table towards her.
Darcy leaned back. "I don't know, he didn't explain why he was horrifically murdering people and calling it data collection."
He dropped a notepad on the table and slid it towards her. "I need the details of the tools and methods."
Her wariness was through the roof and reaching the stratosphere. If everyone on base didn't like this guy, was it because he was in charge or because he only thought he should be?
"I don't know details, I was a little distracted by people screaming and dying and those things enjoying it so much," she bit, losing the fight to shove Wild Rider's mad cackling out of her mind.
Disappointment flashed across his face for a brief moment before he was pressing again. "What about the robots themselves? You got a close look at several of them. See anything special about their build? Weapons?"
Past panic and concern was quickly being overruled by annoyance as a growl worked its way up her throat. "I. Don't. Know. I was too busy trying to stay alive to try to figure out what made them tick."
He tsked under his breath, leaning back. "You're a detective aren't you? Isn't it your job to notice details?"
The dig had her bristling. Just what was he insinuating with that? The interrogation-for that was exactly what it was-continued for some time; but he picked the wrong person to attempt his poor tactics on. She knew the tricks, had done them herself many times. No matter how he rephrased or reworded or danced around, he always circled back to one thing, the details of the aliens' technology and what they were doing with it.
Darcy soon fell back to snapping out negatives to everything, no longer caring if she actually knew the answer or not. Yes, she had partially worked out some of their make-up due to studying the dead one they'd been tasked with unburying, but she was so far beyond willing to cooperate with this bastard.
The door slammed open, revealing an irate soldier in his dress blues. Darcy didn't recognize him at first until she realized it was a clean Major Lennox. "Galloway, what the hell are you doing?"
Darcy didn't miss the soldier's fists tightening and neither did the suited man, judging by his minor flinch.
"Debriefing, Major." Despite the silent threat from the Major, Galloway replied with the haughtiness and arrogance he seemed unable to shed. He was confident his position would keep him safe and he expected it to garner himself respect from everyone else.
If only he had the slightest clue of how real people worked.
"Interrogating more like," Darcy growled.
"Debriefs are not under your authority, Galloway, nor is fishing for information you don't have clearance for." Lennox appeared angrier for the latter more than anything. Clearly this wasn't the first time an attempt had been made like this. Turning away and all but dismissing the man, Lennox offered Darcy a hand up and led her from the room. "I'm sorry about that. We'd hoped to keep you away from him a bit longer, but he's a persistent pain in the ass."
"What was that about?" she asked, watching John emerge from another door with a dark-skinned soldier.
"Galloway has an obsession with getting the technology the Autobots aren't willing to share, particularly their weapons," he sighed, nodding to the other men as they fell into step behind them.
The woman frowned. She'd seen very little of their weapons in real action, but by looks most of them appeared like enlarged forms of human tech, guns and saws and the like. "Why?"
The other soldier whose patch read 'Epps' answered, "They destroyed their planet in a civil war with those weapons and we humans are too quick to start a fight. They share the tech that helps us, but they don't want us to destroy our world too."
Lennox picked up from there, "Galloway and his ilk don't like being denied and they hate the 'bots for it. If they ever got their hands on the tech, it wouldn't surprise me if they turned on the Autobots."
"But...they saved us. You said yourself that they risked everything to stop the Decepticons in Mission City. Why turn on the alliance?" Not that she liked these things in any way, but in a fight against aliens, the best bet was always to work with aliens who understood who they were up against.
Lennox lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "They hate relying on the Autobots for protection and even more the idea of needing help. They think if they have the tech, then they have no need for an alien alliance to beat the 'Cons."
Darcy shook her head in disbelief. Arrogance and pride at its finest. While she had no desire to be totally reliant on an alien for safety, there was no shame in relying on help to defeat a common enemy.
Cops relied on their partners to watch their backs, trusted them with their lives. Without that trust and loyalty, they couldn't do their jobs, couldn't put their lives on the line to protect the innocent.
The corridors they walked down widened out, soon becoming large enough for a robotic alien. Whether by chance or organizing, they came across none, for which Darcy was grateful. She might not want to see them betrayed by arrogant bureaucrats, but that didn't mean she wanted anything to do with them herself ever again.
"You are late, Major," a familiar monotone had Darcy freezing, a wave of conflicting emotions crashing down over her. Fear was first and foremost, because she knew what he was, one of them. Despite having saved her, their very nature and ability to kill her spiked the need to flee. Yet the fight was very much present as well, fed by the anger that followed the fear and threatened to overtake it. Anger at him, anger for the lies, the secrets, his role in her abduction, his role in all of it.
Lennox either didn't notice her raging emotions or chose to ignore them as he addressed the tactician's Karl Urban holoform. Seeing it now while knowing what it really was, she wasn't sure how she had ever missed it before. He wasn't just a spitting image, he was an exact copy of the actor except for too-blue eyes. "Galloway tried interrogating them while we were setting up."
It was all he offered as he tugged Darcy forward. The impassionate holoform gave her a scrutinizing look. "And what did you tell him?"
"Nothing," she snipped, sick of being questioned so much already. This version of the man-alien-was easy to be mad at, was simple to push aside the fear. She didn't even consider being thankful to him for it.
Row, Prowl, whatever the hell she was supposed to call him now, remained staring at her. "And what exactly did you say 'nothing' about?"
"Are you seriously interrogating me about being interrogated?" She ripped herself from Lennox's support to stand in front of the alien facade, the flames of fury giving her the illusion of strength. "It's because of you that I'm in this mess to begin with!"
The two soldiers flinched and John placed a calming hand on her shoulder that she roughly shrugged off. The fake man's brow hitched mildly. "On the contrary, I attempted to keep you out of it. Had you simply listened to my orders then you never would have been involved further."
The detective scoffed, fist clenching at her side as different emotions fought for control. "If you had given me some clue of what was actually going on instead of trying to trick me away, I would have been able to avoid trouble!"
She was aware she was shouting, that they were gaining an audience, but adrenaline was firing through her, egging and urging her to keep going, to not care about the stares. His head made a slight movement that suggested he'd probably have snorted had he been human. "You look for trouble. You would have only avoided it had you followed my instructions. This information is need-to-know, and until now you had no business knowing. The only one to blame for being captured is yourself."
Incredulous fury won by a landslide. Not a thought was given to the two ranking soldiers behind her, or the audience, or the fact that the man before her wasn't even real. Her fist flew and connected solidly to his face.
She really wished the resounding crack had been his nose, but the flaring pain erupting from her knuckles told otherwise.
Still, the force snapped his head to the side and true surprise etched across his face and that gave her some satisfaction, even more so when the form blurred and dissipated.
John pulled her away the moment his shock wore off and she let him, cradling her pulsing hand against her chest. Most of the surrounding crowd wore varying expressions of shock and surprise, while others began to lose the fight against hiding their grins.
Lennox sighed, rubbing a tired hand across his face. That was not going to go over well, even if she hadn't done any real damage except to herself.
"That was not a very good idea," he reprimanded her lightly.
"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Darcy hissed as John pulled her hand towards him and prodded the knuckles. Definitely bruised bones and the skin was split a fair way, oozing blood. Damn his face was hard.
"Ratchet will be furious you've managed to hurt yourself so soon after getting out of his medbay," the Major cautioned, though his look was tinged with amusement.
"I think even the Hatchet will give her a break once he hears how she hurt herself," Epps cut in with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Do you know how many people have wanted to do that? Even the twins will be impressed!"
Half of his statement flew straight over her head, but by the bit she did understand, she gathered that it wasn't any form of special treatment reserved for her; Prowl was just a dick to everyone. Lennox shook his head, hiding a tiny grin as he motioned them over. "Come on, Ratchet will be at the actual debrief so he can fix your hand there."
He turned, passing through a door she'd failed to notice but must have been where Prowl's holoform had come through. Halting at the threshold, she tensed as her eyes scanned the open room before her. It was more apt to call the thing a hanger, really, and mostly likely it had been at one point in its life. The door opened out to a raised walkway that skirted the wall, ending in a large platform that jutted out into the room. It boasted a large table pressed against the rail, chairs lining the opposite length. It resembled half of a conference room really, which was odd but not all that jarring. What set her on edge was the rest of the hanger, specifically the part on the other side of that table that mirrored the other platform except for being colossally larger.
And lined by massive, alien, robots.
John urged her completely through the doorway from behind, forcing her stiff limbs to carry her forward. Several of the Autobots turned to glance their way and she felt what little bravado she had left race for the hills. Lennox fell back to her other side and between the two men, she felt barely enough security to walk closer.
She recognized Prowl first, handing off a small smoking electrical box of some sort to a green robot who turned and walked off with it. The recognizable features of the Charger were more prominent now that she was seeing him in real light. The light bar was even completely whole and strung across his back below the two doors that jutted out like little wings. The fear was there, but it was left to simmer under the anger and annoyance she felt towards him.
So long as she only looked at him.
The others were an entirely different story. Looking at the largest-and leader, she thought she heard Lennox saying-made her feel distinctly faint.
Before she could finish taking in the massive red and blue tower of an alien, Dr. Wilson's twin appeared in front of her. She lurched away, practically shoving herself into the Major. The medic's holoform raised a brow and held out a hand expectantly. He was utterly unimpressed by her timidly offering her bloodied hand, and she swore he wrapped it more tightly than was strictly necessary.
"I suggest not punching holoforms anymore," he snarked once he was finished and the human form disappeared, his real body shifting from beside the leader.
"Ms. Blake, I apologize for the stress of the situation, we will try to make this as brief as possible." The deep baritone of the biggest bot rattled her very bones. That is, until she realized it wasn't his voice that was shaking her. Her body was trembling of its own accord, anger forgotten in the face of something so much larger. She was an ant compared to this alien, insignificant, tiny. He probably wouldn't even be able to notice if he stepped on her, or crushed her under a massive fist.
"With your permission, Optimus, I'd like to run the debrief," Prowl stated as the two men convinced the detective to sit before her traitorous legs gave out or bolted for the door. She didn't like sitting, didn't like making herself even smaller than these things, but she wasn't sure she would have been able to keep standing much longer. The cold ice in her veins ensured she wouldn't have.
The tactician was staring at the leader, some kind of silent communication taking place before the red and blue gave a nod. Darcy frowned at the black and white, a sour taste in her tongue knowing he would be questioning her again. This time she definitely couldn't hit him.
To her surprise, he didn't immediately turn to her, but rather to the man seated next to her. "Mr. Williams, if you could walk us through your experience starting the day Barricade abducted you."
John was somehow as steady as a rock beside her, even as he recounted the ordeal of the alien Mustang's attack and the following days, which sounded identical to the days Darcy spent in the Decepticon's 'care'. The tactician let him continue uninterrupted all the way through to their rescue, in which he turned to Lennox and asked for his tale, should it differ from John's.
The Major's account was more detailed when it came to the Decepticons involved and the discussions he'd overheard, but otherwise little new to add. By the time Prowl turned his attention on Darcy, the only memory that was hers alone was the journey to the enemy base, and it seemed rather unimportant given the silence Barricade had ensured lasted the entire way. No, wait, there was another memory there, fuzzy at best, sharpening a little the more she thought about it, from when she'd first been brought before Starscream. Nothing stood out as truly important though. No doubt these things already knew of the discord between the Mustang and the jet.
"Now detective, do you remember anything else?" It was an innocent enough question, but coming from him, despite barely having a tone, rang a little too close to what Galloway had been insinuating earlier. Irritation raised its head again, glaring at the faux-cop car.
"Barricade blacked out the windows and kept silent the entire time except to threaten me if I said anything," she snapped, daring to meet those glowing blue optics and locking on. Spine tightening, she latched onto the bravado and the faint memory. "Starscream was pissed, said that he didn't want attention brought to them so soon and to get rid of me. He changed his mind after saying the plan could still be salvaged if they started Stage Two early."
A multitude of murmurs broke out at her statement and Prowl shifted, his attention solely on her. "Did you hear anything about what their plans might be?"
She shook her head, "Only that having the pets would be extra leverage against you."
"And yet they wiped out most of the humans they had and didn't try to use you when we attacked." It was more of a curious statement to himself than a question, but answered by Lennox nonetheless.
"They didn't totally kill all the NEST relatives, only those they'd taken primarily for labor. The relatives were kept alive, or at least they gave the equivalent of trying to keep them alive by not intentionally killing them for no reason."
The tactician's optics brightened. "They are targeting you then. The leverage is not so much for us, though they can still be used as such, but rather for our allies. They have noticed the advantage working with humans has given us and wish to nullify it."
Lennox frowned, "But targeting our families will make us fight harder for them."
His metal expression didn't change, but somehow the look was still challenging. "Would you fight if a Decepticon held your wife in their claws? Would you make a move if her life would end the moment you did so?"
The man gave no answer, nor did he need to, they all knew what they would do in that situation. The same thing Prowl had done for her when Barricade had her, Darcy realized; give them their best chance of survival by backing down and to hell with the consequences. Prowl continued, "Your weakness as humans is in your emotional ties to your family units and they are exploiting that."
Epps jumped in and Darcy startled, having forgotten he was even there. "We need to bring those families in then, get them protection. They'll be looking for more since we rescued who they had."
"And how do you propose we do that? You humans have large units; cousins and grandparents and the like," Prowl countered. "If the Decepticons cannot get to one, they will get to the others. The only way to make them safe is to figure out what Starscream is planning and stop it."
"That still doesn't explain why they didn't use them or us yet. Barricade ran right by us when the base was under attack. He didn't know Mirage was there yet he made no move to grab anyone before joining the fight," Darcy cocked her head at the tactician as Lennox finished. There was light scorching across his chest that indicated he had been involved in the fighting, so why hadn't Barricade grabbed her to do as he'd promised so many times and kill her in front of his enemy?
Prowl regarded her, his head dipping in a partial nod. "There are two reasons I can postulate having the most likelihood of being valid. Either they simply forgot about the humans in the surprise of the attack, as we had hoped, or they were sure of their victory, unaware of our spies planting bombs throughout the tunnels."
"Or," Darcy offered with a wince, scratching at her bandaged arm, "part of Stage Two was letting us get rescued."
Which was a far more terrifying notion than anything else.
"You knew about the tracker?" Skywarp asked in bewilderment, leaning over the console that sat smack in the center of the bridge of the Nemesis. The colossal ship was still grounded, had been since it crash landed over a year ago, but repairs were on-going and even flightless it gave them an advantage.
"Of course I did, you idiot! Why do you think Soundwave didn't block it?" Starscream snapped, shoving the purple jet back. The mountainous base had been useful for its energon mine and giving Shockwave a place to work on one of his experiments, but it had hardly been the most functional base they had at their disposal, even barring the Nemesis. Though he loathed the loss of the energon, the base itself was nothing he was loathe to lose.
"Why let the pets get away then?" Breakdown stood with Wild Rider, the only remaining Stunticons after the other three had been buried under the mountain. Starscream saw no great loss there either.
"Where would the Autoscum take their precious pets?" he grinned as he brought up the radar screen on the console, which showed a grey-scaled 3D map of the country.
"Back to base, which we don't know where it is, and they already found the chips we put in them," Thundercracker stated, arms crossed as he looked blankly at the map.
The trine leader smirked, pressing commands into the computer that had the blank radar flashing two red dots, nearly on top of each other. "They found the chips we wanted them to find. And now, now we know their location."
He turned, facing the assembled mechs before him. "Decepticons! Our victory is here! Soon the Autoscum will be nothing but a bad memory!"
The bridge erupted into cheers and laughs before the small army filed out. They had a heading, and once there, they would rain fire and destruction on their enemy. Thundercracker vented softly as he watched the mechs go. Since when had victory meant mindless slaughter? It wasn't a battle he was going to relish. Casting a glance at Starscream, he made sure that particular thought didn't cross the bond. Trine or not, the silver jet would have his head for such traitorous thinking.
With the leader deep in the plotting of the coming attack, Thundercracker decided a good recharge was sorely needed. With Shockwave's lab still the center of repairs and out of commission on board, he at least had a decently fair chance at a peaceful one.
Soon, hellfire would reign and perhaps after, he could return to his long abandoned work.
Captain: Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun! That's it folks! That is the end of the rewrites! Everything from here on out is brand new content! Hope you have enjoyed the journey so far, seen improvements if you're an original reader, and continue to hang around for the long road ahead! Please drop a review :)