Disclaimer: I don't own the Matrix or Three Days Grace.
CHAPTER 14
"Report."
"Yes, Sir."
Demetri Darby dutifully reported his mission and recounted the events that occurred at June Darby's residence. Silas raised an eyebrow at the mention of the woman's name but otherwise kept silent. Their success at incapacitating two of the Cybertronians did not appease Silas. Their main objective, capturing Jack, was a complete mission failure. Demetri tensed as he saw the anger burning in Silas's eyes and knew a backlash was imminent as the other man tightened his jaw, clenching teeth in barely controlled fury.
"You returned empty-handed. A shame."
"We were unprepared for the appearance of the Decepticons, Sir. They stole my son from me!"
"You could have chosen to pursue them. Obviously you didn't."
"Sir, please. Give me another chance!"
"No." Silas's lips curled back into a disgusted sneer. "I can't trust you with a simple snatch and grab mission. That's the last time I ever allow you to run an op."
Demetri wisely kept his mouth shut. He was treading on very thin ice here. It wouldn't take much for him to fall completely through.
"I'm going to deal with the brat, myself," Silas stated. "You are dismissed."
"Yes, Sir!" Demetri saluted. He turned sharply on his heel and returned to the barracks. He doubted he would sleep that night, knowing that Silas himself was going to capture his son. The man felt a small measure of relief. Maybe this was all going to work out in the end. One way or another, Jack would be his and there would be no escape this time.
June bit deeply into an apple, relishing the sweet flavor and savory juices of the fruit. It was gone in seconds. She ate a carrot next and a handful of lettuce. The Decepticons did not do much research into human food but they understood enough to procure this meager meal for her. She had Shockwave to thank, who seemed to be a bit more interested in her bio-functions, than the prissy red medic, Knock Out.
Her stomach rumbled as she savored every bite, uncertain when she would be fed again. It's not like they did so regularly. They decided to feed her when she became too weak to stand. June had to will herself to ignore the penetrating gaze of the Decepticon scientist as he watched her consume the produce with something akin to fascination. It unnerved the woman, the way tall, dark, and creepy was eyeballing her. Like a predator eyeing a tasty morsel.
She felt a miniscule measure of relief when Megatron returned. While the Dark Lord of the Decepticons made it very clear that she was a prisoner, so far as she knew, he was keeping his word when it came to the welfare of her only son. She in turn kept her end of the bargain and cooperated whenever Shockwave wanted to scan her or run simple tests.
That cooperation was about to be put to the test.
"Shockwave! Report."
"Project: Dominate Mind is ready, my Lord."
"Excellent. I want you to begin the beta test immediately."
June felt her stomach churn with butterflies as the titans clearly spoke in English, no doubt for her benefit. She felt the blood draining out of her face. Whatever this so-called project was…it couldn't be good for her. June began to regret eating as her stomach roiled from nauseous anxiety.
Megatron gave her a very pointed look, one that demanded she cooperate or suffer the consequences. June felt her body slightly trembling as she was lifted out of her prison.
"No! STOP! Put me down! I don't like to be manhandled!" Her fists bounced futilely against alien metal. Her request to be set down was granted, much to her relief. That relief was very short-lived when Shockwave brought the dreaded cortical psychic patch cable into view.
"Oh, no-no-nnooo!" June wailed as the back of her neck was exposed. Her fight or flight instincts screamed to the surface. The young woman flailed against the hand that was now gripping her waist. She heard the chilling growls of Megatron beside her.
"Remember our agreement? Cooperate or Jack dies."
June felt tears slipping past her eyelids as she realized the gravity of the situation.
"F-fine. Just get it over with," she hissed angrily, bowing her head to allow them access to the port.
Once again, her senses were robbed as the world around her disappeared.
Soon she found herself inside a house. A messy one at that. It definitely wasn't her house. There were piles of dirty laundry and trash littering the rooms and hallways. It was pretty disgusting actually. She turned a corner and had to do a double take. There was a much smaller version of Megatron sitting on a throne of crap hastily thrown together. She snorted at the sight and had to fight back a sardonic laugh.
"You have no need to fear me. I could use you in my army," Megatron grinned.
June raised an eyebrow and scoffed.
"I'm just a human. I'm useless to you."
He leaned forward with a wicked leer on his face.
"That's where you are wrong, June. You are far from useless. In fact, you are going to help us, whether you want to or not…"
June wasn't prepared when Megatron suddenly leaped upon her, pulling a weird electrical, super advanced helmet made of clay from seemingly nowhere. He shoved it over her head and everything went black…
When June awoke something was definitely different. Her body felt less sluggish than it had the last time she'd been forced into the patch. To her horror, things began to happen against her will and words spewed from her mouth unbidden as she dropped to one knee in reverent respect for her new Lord.
"How may I serve you, my master?"
The words both terrified and disgusted June considerably.
"How many Autobots are currently under Optimus Prime's command?"
She found herself answering automatically.
"Only four."
"What are their designations and specialties?"
"Bumblebee: Scout…"
NO! She had to fight this!
Megatron raised an eye ridge and softly prodded, no doubt sensing her internal struggle.
"Go on."
"N-no…." June hissed through the stabbing pain in her skull as she struggled to stand.
"You don't have a choice, my dear. Your mind belongs to us now."
Like a damn robot, her mouth started yapping before her brain could form coherent strings of thought. June was stubborn though and kept fighting despite the virtual knives digging into her head. She ignored Shockwave who was presently scanning her again.
"Bulkhead: weapons specialist… Arcceeee: Tracker… Ratchet: Chief Medical Officer." She struggled to fight, to regain her senses, but only succeeded in slurring her words.
Shockwave completed the scan and turned to the silver titan.
"Despite her resistance, Project: Dominate Mind is a success, Lord Megatron. The slave coding is holding."
"That wasn't so difficult now, was it?"
"No, master." June stared almost blankly at the sterling demon.
"You will go and retrieve something for me…" Megatron purred with a grin.
June wanted to snarl, to scream, to shoot the Decepticon leader the bird, shake her head and curse, or just DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!
She remained a prisoner in her own body. June couldn't stop the traitorous words from slipping past her lips, nor stop herself from climbing into Knock Out's interior as she silently and mentally despaired.
"I live to serve you, Lord Megatron. It will be done."
Something within her heart twisted and finally broke, making June feel hopeless and alone.
Jack Darby exited the school after the final bell rang, toting his backpack over one shoulder. He met Miko and Raf by the curb where they usually met up with their guardians. For some strange reason, there was no sign of them yet. He saw them parked out here during lunch… did something happen? Did they get called away on a mission?
The three teens stood there talking in hushed voices for about five minutes before Miko got impatient and decided to phone Bulkhead. After the fifth ring the Asian girl slammed her flip phone shut with a huff.
"How rude! He's ignoring me!"
"Something important must have come up," Raf suggested with a shrug.
After another twenty minutes went by, Jack decided to walk home. He bid his friends farewell and left the school grounds just as Bumblebee pulled up. Feeling committed and needing the fresh air, he declined a ride from the bot and kept walking.
It was a bright, sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. It was springtime, one of Optimus and Jack's favorite seasons of the year. The flowers and blossom trees were in full bloom and the birds were happily singing overhead. It was a good day, so far. He spotted Arcee parked innocently by the curb next to his mailbox again. The boy smiled, happy to see his friend. He jogged over to her with a greeting on his lips.
"Hey, Arcee! You weren't at school…what gives? Is everyone ok? A-Arcee?" Jack touched her handlebar and yelped in fright when her kickstand broke, toppling the blue motorcycle over onto one side.
Jack's breathing hitched in his throat as he bent down tapping the motorcycle worriedly.
"Arcee, this isn't funny! Wake up!"
The boy was really worried now... someway, somehow…something or someone had incapacitated her! Was it the Decepticons?! Jack noticed that her warm body was stone cold. Then that meant...
A loud screeching of tires filled the air, the smell of burning rubber filled his nose, as a white van with no windows sped around the street corner. Jack's eyes widened; a breath caught in his throat when the side door opened right beside him. Before the teen could run, fight, or even protest, strong arms grabbed him and hauled him headfirst into the vehicle.
"What the hell?! Who are you guys! Let me go!"
Jack struck a foot out and sent a solid kick into the masked face of one of the goons that nabbed him. He heard a cry of pain from the man before an even stronger set of arms wrapped around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. He kept thrashing his legs in a valiant attempt to get free but his struggles ceased when he felt the cold barrel of a gun resting against the side of his temple.
A voice Jack recognized spoke gruffly into his ear as a rag was held firmly over his nose and mouth.
"This will all be over soon…I promise."
Just as Jack began to lose consciousness, he realized. He knew this man…
Silas.
Silas had him…
Jack was now a prisoner of MECH.
The last terrified thought that ran through his mind…was, where is Optimus?
A pained moan filled the air.
"She's waking up! Stand aside!"
June's eyes fluttered open and were immediately assaulted by a bright light. She hissed in pain and turned her head away, trying to ward off the offender invading her space. For a moment she panicked. The Decepticons! She was their prisoner! What more did they want from her?! She already revealed the location of the Autobot base… what—
"June! It's me, Ratchet!"
Ratchet? Then that meant…
Horror filled her chest as she clearly took in her surroundings. Yep. She was in the Autobot base. Surrounded by the concerned faces of Ratchet, Optimus, and Bulkhead.
"W-what…what happened?"
"We were hoping you could tell us." Ratchet huffed in annoyance. He was already fuming over the fact that the Decepticons had created a medical port in June's neck. Something that would have to be carefully and closely monitored. He already ran initial scans on June, and apart from mild bruising and abrasions, she was ok. Physically at least.
"Knock Out…he–"
"We know," Ratchet gently interrupted as June's eyes widened in horror as her memory apparently came back.
"How did I get here? I'm…really thirsty." June realized as her mouth felt dry as sand.
"Megatron contacted us and gave us your coordinates. You were left to die out in the middle of the desert."
"I don't remember that…I'm sorry…"
"You have no need to apologize," Optimus softly spoke in his regal tone.
June's eyes landed on the spare holo-emitter sitting innocently atop Ratchet's workstation. She licked her dry lips and turned pleading eyes on the doc bot.
"Do you have water? And food…I'm starving actually."
"There are water bottles and snacks in the refrigerator in the lounge," Ratchet supplied helpfully.
June felt her body moving again of its own accord and wanted to scream and rant at the unfairness of it all!
The Autobots, she had to warn them! The Decepticons knew where their base was because of her! If only she could speak her mind.
June felt herself smile, thanking Ratchet, and felt sick inside as she continued to play the innocent victim routine. How could she tell them? There had to be a way! June much to her surprise began to hum a song by Three Days Grace, "Get Out Alive". The words would not come…but the melody did. She turned pleading eyes on Ratchet but he mistook her expression for silent begging and offered her his hand to climb onto. Her legs moved her against her will and before she knew it, she was sitting on Ratchet's palm.
Her humming ceased as the song ended inside her mind and was able to mutter three words under her breath.
"Danger Will Robinson…"
June internally cheered as she received a confused expression from all three bots. They glanced at each other before Bulkhead shrugged, the other two bots leaving June alone with Ratchet and the lounge fridge up in the catwalks.
"June, are you ok?"
"Never better," June answered automatically and mentally cursed in frustration, as her traitorous lips uttered the words. Her hands reached into the fridge and grabbed two water bottles and an assortment of snack items. She couldn't deny that she was thirsty, no doubt from her exposure in the hot desert sun. An experience she couldn't remember. The last thing she remembered was climbing into Knock Out's alt form and driving.
Well, Knock Out was the one driving since there was no way a Decepticon would allow a weak human like her, mind controlled or otherwise, to control his movements.
The young woman hungrily snarfed down the food and drank both bottles of water in minutes. June was horrified when the three bots got an emergency call from Arcee moments later, claiming that MECH took Jack whilst the boy had been distracted looking over a fake replica of her vehicle form. She followed MECH but lost them in the neighboring city. June frowned, her eyebrows furrowed, as she turned to Ratchet.
"If you are going to look for Jack, I'm coming too."
"No, June. You will be much safer here," Ratchet firmly said. "I promise, we will do everything in our power to bring Jack home safely."
"Like you brought me back home safely from the Decepticons? Pfft…pathetic." June snarked much to her internal horror. She'd never once insulted Ratchet before. The medic himself appeared to be stunned by her sudden snarky outburst.
Rather than responding he muttered softly to her before joining the others at the entrance.
"I'm sorry…truly I am."
June watched them go internally wanting to shout out her own apology at his retreating back but gave a wicked, nasty smirk of triumph instead. Trying to fight the Decepticons' mental control was like trying to mentally bench press a locomotive. It was next to impossible, although June felt a small measure of hope when she thought back to the hummed song and her rather odd 'warning' she'd left with the bots, hoping and praying that somehow, they would decipher it.
June had to climb down the catwalk to retrieve the spare hologram emitter. It was spherical in shape, about the size of a large beach ball. She hefted it up into her arms, thankful it wasn't as heavy as she'd assumed it would be.
Wait…what was she thinking? Thankful?! She shouldn't be thankful she was stealing this for Megatron!
June grit her teeth in pain, nearly dropping the damn thing as she neared one of the human computers lining the catwalk. It was connected to Ratchet's own terminal. Before June could really stop herself, she was dialing in a foreign frequency, one that she somehow subconsciously just knew.
Megatron's gravelly voice broke through the still silence.
"Status report."
"I have what you require, Lord Megatron."
"Good. Knock Out will retrieve you."
The warlord severed the connection without another word.
June despaired when Knock Out rolled right into the Autobot base, as if he owned the place. He transformed and placed hidden surveillance equipment around the room, mini cameras included, and made sure to leave the Autobots an explosive parting gift. The mad doctor transformed back into his car mode and popped open his passenger door for June. She mentally screamed at her legs to stop moving her closer to the Decepticon medic, but nothing happened. June sobbed within herself, tired and frustrated…as she was helpless to stop herself.
It was then that she decided…that this was a fate, far worse than death.
When Jack awoke, he was handcuffed to an army cot. He found that out the hard way when he tried to lift his arm, only to feel and hear the solid clink of metal on metal, a tug halting his wrist's movement. A cold chill raced down his spine when he heard a voice he wished never to hear again.
"You're awake. Good."
Jack's eyes widened when the currently masked man removed his facial covering.
"D-dad?! What are you doing here?"
"I work here. That's all you need to know."
Jack glared at the man that dared to call himself a father, his anger stirring.
"Obviously I'm not here for the hell of it. What do you want?"
"Tell us the location or the last known whereabouts of Optimus Prime."
"NEVER," Jack hissed, recoiling away from Demetri as if the man had physically burned him.
The man mock sighed in false pity.
"You bring this upon yourself, boy. Guards!"
Two uniformed MECH soldiers entered the room. One came to uncuff Jack while the other moved to stand on his other side. As one, both of the guards hefted Jack up and handcuffed his wrists behind his back. Demetri grabbed Jack's arm and roughly hauled him out of the barren barracks and down the hallway.
How long was he out? Daylight filtered through the windows of a spare storage room nearby. He felt mildly confused. How the hell did MECH find out where he lived?! The boy had a feeling he wasn't going to be the one asking the questions as he was brought into what looked, for all intents and purposes, like an interrogation room…complete with 'tools'. Jack eyeballed them and hoped to God that these lunatics weren't going to torture him…
He soon got his answer as he was roughly shoved down into a sitting position on a hard, metal chair.
"You will tell us what we want to know. NOW."
"Fuck you!" Jack spat in defiance with an angry snarl.
"Remember Jacky boy…you bring this pain to yourself. All you have to do is tell us where Optimus is...and you can go free."
Jack shook his head so hard he thought it might fall off.
"Never. I'll never tell you what you want to know."
Demetri was handed two prepped syringes and jabbed first one and then the other needle into Jack's arms, injecting the contents into his body. One was definitely truth serum, Jack guessed, since he suddenly felt like blurting out his deepest secrets. The other was a mystery.
Demetri waited about ten minutes before roughly slapping the boy across the face with a growl.
Jack yelped as pain ten times worse than it should have been, blossomed in his right cheek.
Oh…that's what that other serum was for. To amplify physical pain. Lovely.
"Where is Optimus Prime?!"
"GO TO HELL!" Jack snarled as fear blossomed in his chest. Demetri struck him again…only this time with a fist. Jack's head snapped back from the cruel blow, blood running out of his nose.
It hurt. Like really, really hurt.
He felt his eyes watering but promised himself he would stay strong. For Optimus. For his dad…
"Just tell me where he is!"
"He's up your ass!"
Every time Jack refused to answer a question, he was struck repeatedly by Demetri until at last, the man's patience wore thin. He picked up a knife, the sharp edges glinting in the dim lighting.
Jack felt one of his eyes swelling shut as he received another blow. The teenaged boy sat panting, blood, sweat, and tears running down his face as his skin began to bruise.
He felt his chest blossom with the fledgling bond he had with Optimus and sent him a silent plea for help along with his feelings of fear.
Jack yowled when Demetri yanked roughly on his hair, pulling his scalp. The man hissed venomously at Jack.
"I can do this all day, Jack…but I know you can't."
Suddenly the door was flung open, and an irritated looking Silas stepped into the room. He glanced at the guards and barked an order.
"OUT."
The two guards saluted and hastily left the room, leaving Demetri babbling like an idiot as Silas marched over and punched Demetri in the face…HARD.
"It must make you feel like a man to beat a child. Explain yourself!"
"The boy won't talk! I had to resort to extreme measures!"
"I did not give you permission to abuse our 'guest'. Get. Out. Now."
Demetri wiped the blood off of his split lip and scrambled out of the open door himself, leaving Jack alone with the MECH leader.
Silas gave Jack an unidentifiable look and then used a key to uncuff the boy. Jack immediately held his hands to his abused face, wincing in pain.
"Believe me when I say, I am sorry for what my men did to you."
"He's not a man. He's a monster… like you." Jack quipped softly as he wiped blood away from a handkerchief that Silas tossed him. The military extremist smiled but it wasn't warm or friendly.
"I'm no monster. I'm an idealist. I am trying to make the world a better place."
"You don't have to kill my friends to do that."
"Ah. Yes. The Autobots. I don't truly plan on killing them. I wish to study them. I would very much like to know more about this Optimus Prime. What's he like?"
"He's noble, loyal, and true. He defends the weak and fights for justice. He doesn't hurt other people to get what he wants."
"I see. Well…I suppose you will not tell me where Optimus is but that's ok. I have a feeling he will come looking for you…"
"No…" Jack whispered in abject horror as he realized where this was going.
"Like Optimus, I don't need to hurt you, son, to get what I want." Silas grinned darkly as he took the bloodied handkerchief back from the teen and stuffed it in his pants pocket. With those chilling words, Silas left the room, leaving the boy Jack to his potentially morbid thoughts.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Author's Note: I'm so mean… *Runs and hides*