23. Collapse.

Faint light found its way into the darkness, tentatively as a pinprick in the center before slowly spreading toward the edges. Allison opened her eyes slowly, the dull sensation of pain, almost like a migraine pounded around in her orbital sockets. As her vision focused, the pinprick turned into many. Stars. She was lying on her back, staring up into the sky. Beneath her hands something soft threaded through her fingers as she flexed them experimentally. A cold carpet of grass was under her body. Her arms were outstretched on either side, and she moved them slightly, finally managing to close her hands into fists to make sure nothing was broken. Nothing seemed to be.

Rotating her neck slightly to the side, Allison finally detected the smell of something burning as it assaulted her nose. She was met with more grass, the earthy smell mingling with the acrid bite of charred asphalt and metal. Her body was splayed out on a grassy incline, but how she'd gotten there was fuzzy. She and Wheeljack had been traveling alongside a ditch on the side of the road, but she barely remembered the scant few moments that preceded her blacking out. What she did know was that Wheeljack was driving, she was falling asleep and then something happened before there was the sensation of flying. A few faint impressions of light, a crackling of noise and sharp pain like a static jolt, then what might have been a surprised noise coming from Wheeljack was followed by nothing. It slowly dawned on her that the Autobot had thrown her out onto the road.

Confused, Allison rolled slowly over onto her side, and then onto her stomach with a pained grunt. Something wet slipped over her brow and into her left eye, blurring her vision into a haze of crimson. Blood. She was bleeding. Weakly lifting her fingers to gingerly touch the gnarled road rash on her forehead only confirmed as much. She had to ignore the sharp sting and press forward for answers. Wheeljack was MIA, but she had a pretty good idea as to where he was. Finally testing her legs, she was relieved to find that she could move, but her limbs felt weak. Her whole body felt as if it had been sapped of all its energy. The last time she'd felt such overwhelming fatigue was after waking up in Ratchet's medbay for the first time; after she'd been dosed with energon—had she been hit by some kind of weapon? This meant Wheeljack had taken the brunt of whatever that source of light and snapping energy had been, so finding him became an immediate concern. Allison managed to crawl up the incline of the ditch, eventually climbing over the top where she could see her surroundings.

The origin of the burning smell was immediately apparent as her eyes followed a long trail of smoke that ran down the road. At the end of this path of travel, Wheeljack was laying face-down and slightly off to the other side, completely still. Ribbons of smoke, or steam curled from somewhere beneath him, billowing out from seams of stressed, overheated metal. The concrete around him was upturned and shattered, telling the story of where his body had fully collided with the ground and somehow bounced dozens of feet like a massive stone skipping on water. Allison could trace the obvious procession of chilling circumstances to the source: a smoking crater in the road where it unfolded.

A couple very important pieces of the puzzle came together in rapid succession. Wheeljack had thrown her out, at a very high speed for a reason. She remembered feeling like she was spinning, which meant Wheeljack lost control or skid sideways to avoid… something before forcing her to meet the asphalt in a very inconvenient manner. Looking at him now, he was no longer in his car configuration, which meant he had very abruptly changed forms. They had joked before about him accidentally transforming while she was inside, and he'd flippantly mused that if they ever met something big enough to take him out, they would have big problems. It seemed like fate had finally decided it was time, and the evidence suggested this had been involuntary. He'd been forced out of transformation by something. Or someone.

Allison shuddered, briefly entertaining the macabre thought that if Wheeljack hadn't been quick enough, she would have been crushed within the mechanisms of his body and killed by actions outside of his control. By some miracle, he saved her life by calculating the right angle and speed to eject her without doing lasting damage; and fast enough to thwart a fate more gruesome. That left one last question: why.

The need to reach Wheeljack and check on him was profound, forcing Allison to crawl the rest of the grassy slope before attempting to stand. She felt like a fawn learning to walk, and was immediately unbalanced as her legs wobbled. Blinking the red haze of blood out of her left eye, she staggered several steps forward, each hard slap against the concrete met with a jumping gasp in her lungs. Slowly, she was able to regain some semblance of control over her legs as her hearing and spatial awareness returned. It was hard to tell if Wheeljack was moving. Fear and worry clouded her as she tried to take the last dozen or so steps towards the prone Autobot. One of his arms was stretched away from his body and in her direction. His massive hand twitched: a sign of life, and renewed hope filled her breast as that small bit of movement was followed by a slight shift of his head. Dust and debris was sent soaring around his body as he vented out a trapped breath. He was breathing, that was a good sign. Allison was filled with relief. He was alive.

The moment Allison began to open her mouth to call his name, was when she realized he was much further than she realized. Or, she was moving slower than she thought. Just when her voice was about to emerge from her throat, a sudden, powerful roar from a monstrous engine descended from the sky above. The first thought she had in that panicked span of a second was that something was crashing on top of them; an aircraft, a missile, a satellite, a damn meteor, the list was endless. Her emergent wail of terror was drowned out by the thunderous whine of unspooling mechanisms as a wall of red, blue and silver slammed into the road between her and Wheeljack. The hot blast of air nearly sent her flying back onto the ground, but she managed to stop her fall by bracing her knees and shielding her head.

Whatever it was had its back to Allison, but it was massive. Long, slender legs nearly blocked her view of Wheeljack completely, and as her eyes traveled skyward she saw what should have already been obvious: wings. It had massive wings, clueing her into the no-brainer conclusion that this thing could fly. The inverted emblem she remembered seeing on Rumble, Frenzy and Soundwave adorned each outstretched appendage leaving her with only the blood-chilling conclusion that this was a Decepticon. One she had not seen yet.

The fleeting seconds she had to take in the features of this threat amalgamated into the clear realization that this Decepticon had taken on the form of an aircraft; a military fighter jet, based on the details she had the spare seconds to acknowledge. While Allison had enjoyed the occasional airshow with her dad as a child, that did not translate into any renewed childlike wonder when being faced with such a construct that was sentient and had murderous intent.

The first, and only pitiful instinct Allison had was to not move. It wasn't a shining example of human evolutionary adaptation, but her mind was wiped in the face of this terrifying new threat. The animal brain had taken over, and this time fight or flight lost in the face of its more unfortunate bedfellow called freeze. She waited with shallow, panicked breaths for the figure to spin around and crush her like a bug, but seconds later it became clear that it hadn't noticed her. The noise it emitted then was rumbling and sinister. It was laughing, even as it slammed one foot down onto Wheeljack's back, pinning him back into the asphalt. The restrained, garbled snarl of surprise and pain that was ripped from the Autobot shattered every sense of control Allison had left. There was nothing she could do.

Something in the back of Allison's mind where there was still a sliver of cognitive clarity warned her that she had gotten insanely lucky with Soundwave. There were no tools, obstacles or other physical hazards out here that could be used to her advantage to distract or discombobulate. Whatever this Decepticon was, it was singularly focused on Wheeljack, and she was only an insect that would get in the way. Never had Allison felt so sorry for killing a bug in her apartment, and she swore that if she lived through this she would never do it again—why was she thinking about this now? Because she was the bug. At least to whatever this monster was, and if she allowed it to notice her in the slightest she was dead. She was woefully unequipped and powerless to help Wheeljack, and she knew in her heart that he would forbid her from even trying.

Holding her breath, Allison hunched over and tried to make herself small. Slowly, she walked backwards the same path she'd already traveled, one silent foot after another as she kept her eyes on the Decepticon above. Her heart jumped when she felt soft grass beneath her feet, and slowly she lowered her body to lay flat on the ground. Bending her knees, she dropped down the slope, below the line of sight of Wheeljack, but could still see the shoulders of the new figure as it laughed again. It sounded high pitched and maniacal, and was easily the most unpleasant sound Allison had ever heard. Then she heard more noise. The figure was speaking, but its jagged, menacing words were in Cybertronian. She'd heard the language before, but somehow this was not the beautiful alien tongue she was familiar with. This was filled with danger.

A second voice spoke, weak, frustrated, and pained, and Allison recognized the pitch and intonation as belonging to Wheeljack. He was responding back to this Decepticon in Cybertronian, and somehow his emphasis sounded familiar. He knew who this was. Allison felt lost, unable to determine what to do without being seen. She felt her phone in her pocket and frantically checked to make sure it was on silent. She'd seen enough horror and thriller movies to know how much of a danger such an everyday object could pose when under threat. Above her, the two Cybertronians were conversing in a manner that was less than friendly. The Decepticon's shoulders flinched just as an angry, ear-splitting crack of metal assaulted Allison's ears. Wheeljack had been struck but made no noise, and all she could do was lay there terrified.


Damage warnings and critical alerts filled Wheeljack's field of view even before his optic sensors came back online. Internal systems initiated as his vision recalibrated back into focus, immediately revealing nothing but the ground beneath his face. But—why? What happened?

The processor delay was minute, but it was enough to initially put Wheeljack at a disadvantage. He wasn't immediately aware of what had happened to leave him in his primary form, overheated and aching and face-down on the road. Thank Primus for his mask, or he would have come back online to his face grated into transformium metal shavings and even more damaged than it already was. That would have pissed him off.

In short order Wheeljack felt the sensation of his systems booting back up, the relays for his arms being the first things he felt come online. He shifted slightly, moving his hand and trying to remember the sequence of events that led to him now trying to pick his face up from the ground. He vented heavily with the effort, scattering rocks and dust around him, until suddenly the memory hit him fast, and it hit him hard; almost as hard as the null-ray blast that caught him off guard and completely unprepared. He'd been forced out of transformation and slid a painful distance down the road, but not before—

—Allison was with him. He'd only had microseconds to calculate the trajectory needed to eject her out and away from him without hurting her. She was out there somewhere, and the fervent need to get to her directed his movements as he began to push his body off the ground. The clear sequence of events finally came back to him as he began to call out to her. There was only one place that a null-ray blast could have come from…

The word never left his mouth, vocalizer dying as sensory alarms blared. He sensed the Decepticon energy signature even before the full might of Cybertronian engines crashed down on him. The crunch of heavy weight hitting the ground in front of him was followed by immense pain as his front chassis was ground back into the road. The sinister, all-to-familiar laugh instilled a flare of panic, and rage, through every circuit in his frame.

It was painful, but Wheeljack managed to force the utterance through the pressure against his back. "Starscream."

The Decepticon looming above him laughed again. It was a sound Wheeljack had not been subjected to for a very, very long time, but it was just as grating as if it were yesterday. Starscream dug his heel between the seams of his back, the heated plating of his boosters burning through pain receptors. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Wheeljack? How lucky for me, that you're just the Autobot I was hoping to find after detecting that foul stench of your kind." A sharp jolt of anger, and panic ripped through him. Starscream had been hunting him, but to what end? "What a pity for you that you were always incredibly bad at staying discreet." Short-lived relief flooded through Wheeljack as the Decepticon removed his heel from his back, only to step around to his side. The Autobot tried to stand, but that only gave Starscream the needed room to thrust his pede into Wheeljack's abdominal plating. The brutal kick sent him sprawled back on the ground, sensors bursting in pain, but he bit back the involuntary urge to cry out. Starscream would not get that satisfaction out of him. "A pity for you, but not for me."

The Decepticon came in for another kick, but Wheeljack was ready for it this time, rolling over onto his back to catch it with his hands. "Shooting me with my own invention, that's low even for you." He should have never developed that Pit-forsaken null-ray in the early days of the war, but he would have never considered that Starscream would betray him and steal it. Nevermind that its original purpose had been to aid manual labor in the energon mines.

Right now, he had to focus on getting out from under the Decepticon looming above him, currently leaned over to gloat over his Autobot prey. Starscream's red optics were narrowed and ablaze with all the arrogant fury Wheeljack spent cycles trying to forget. His self-satisfied smirk was the tell that the Seeker was too confident. It was one against one, and while Starscream had the maneuverability advantage, Wheeljack had the bulk and weight. He could use that to throw Starscream off and set him off balance. He needed time until the effects of the null-ray wore off and he could transform again. Wheeljack was about to twist the Decepticon's foot when, in the recesses of his field of view, he caught the slight movement of Allison peering over the top of the ditch. She was not as far away as he would like, and if he saw her, it was only a matter of time before Starscream did. Slag.


Against her better judgment Allison had to see what was happening.

Slowly, and as silently as possible, she crawled back up the incline, just enough that she could glimpse what was happening above. She was just in time to see a foot coming in hard for Wheeljack before he caught it in his hands. The Decepticon snarled in disgust, trying to yank himself free before giving up. His massive shoulders slumped in defeat, but the gesture was almost taunting in its unseriousness. Wheeljack said something in Cybertronian to his would-be captor that would not immediately be responded to. Suddenly, and without warning, Wheeljack's eyes locked with hers, marking her with a mixture of terror and anger. Allison's blood froze; she'd made a mistake. She'd given herself away, and now she'd put Wheeljack at more risk…

The Autobot's eyes flickered slightly in the night, and there was a distinct rumble in her pocket that was immediately recognized. Sliding back down the embankment on her back, Allison pulled her phone out, keeping it close to her chest to avoid the light giving her away. Without needing to unlock the screen, the message notification stood in stark contrast against her cheerful, colorful background screen. There was a single word on it: run.

Allison didn't hesitate, that one, simple idea spurring her to action with the need to remain as quiet as possible. She managed to turn her body while staying low to begin a fumbling scramble down to the bottom, her eyes scanning for any direction that would be the most ideal. They were surrounded by trees, meadows and cornfields, but she was going to end up hopelessly lost. She was just about to make it to the other side of the slope before another sonic boom plummeted straight down on top of her. Something slammed into the ground at the top of the ditch where she was trying to go.

The force of the impact sent Allison sprawling backwards painfully, landing on the opposite incline and staring upwards. Her eyes took in this new hulking figure, similarly some type of high-speed aircraft but more slender than the first Decepticon. Broad, angled wings silhouetted against the night sky like a giant, bloodthirsty eagle shadowing its kill. This purple and black creature stood between her and freedom, and in the same sinister tongue as the first it spoke. A curdling terror gripped Allison as the foreign words taunted her, spoken directly to her as searing red eyes met hers. All hope disappeared.


Helpless fury surged in Wheeljack as he watched the Seeker fall from the sky; Skywarp. That was a very bad omen, knowing what this particular Decepticon was capable of. His spark nearly surged in his chest, threatening to tear straight through his chassis just as the splitting whine of boosters cooling down dissipated. Wheeljack could not see Allison, but he knew from where Skywarp towered over the top of the ditch, she was staring straight down at a single, vulnerable human. A smile curved along her slight face, almost gleeful despite the vile words that spilled from her mouth like hot venom.

"The Autobot has picked up a parasite." Skywarp's head tilted slightly, curious of this new fixation below. Allison made no noise, leaving Wheeljack with no way of knowing her state.

Starscream's heel twisted in Wheeljack's grip, grinding against more sensitive seams while he showed no sign of concern or urgency for being ensnared. The Autobot knew he did not exactly have the upper-hand at this moment, even as Starscream's optics remained fixed on his face. He gave his pede a tug, but Wheeljack held on, spitefully. "That's no surprise, Skywarp. This planet is festering with them. You can't step anywhere without them crawling underfoot." He waved a hand dismissively at his subordinate. "Feel free to crush it. There are plenty of them around, so one of them won't be missed." Skywarp sneered, and Wheeljack saw her raising her leg.

Rage coursed through him, unconscious instinct taking hold and channeling that energy into Wheeljack's arms as he twisted Starscream's leg. A loud, satisfying rendering of metal plating was met with a haggard yelp as the Decepticon staggered off of him. Wheeljack shot up, retrieving his hidden blaster in a blur of motion from an open paneling on his leg. Without hesitation he fired at Skywarp, the shot going wide thanks to an attempted lunge from Starscream. The Seeker femme was forced back as the blast hit her shoulder, sending a shower of sparks and energon into the air. Her face disappeared behind a plume of red and brown smoke.

Wheeljack lunged towards the ditch, with only one goal in mind, near frantic as he called out. "RUN!"

Another blast shattered the night, this one finding Wheeljack as its target, striking his arm in a mass of electricity. The force of it knocked his arm sideways at an unnatural angle, sending his blaster out of his grip to skid across the road. The next blow came with more pain, as Starscream's fist crunched into the side of his head, forcing Wheeljack to his knees.

Starscream snarled angrily, directing his outburst at Skywarp. "The human!?"

The other Decepticon's dentae were bared in a disgusted grimace. Skywarp was not going to let Wheeljack forget the disrespect of shooting her. Until that time for repercussions, Starscream's command forced her to look down at her pedes, searching, her expression becoming puzzled. "It's gone!" Allison heard him and used the opening he'd given her to disappear. The relief was fleeting, but it was enough.

It wouldn't be for long. Starscream growled, pointing emphatically. "FIND IT!"

Skywarp turned her focus to the field behind her. "Don't worry. Worms don't get very far."


The entirety of Allison's life flashed before her eyes as the shadow of the Decepticon's foot hovered over her. She knew what was coming. That foot was going to come straight down and crush her into paste and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Acceptance was not the word to describe the instinctive impulse to throw her arms up in weak defense. She didn't know what else to do, screaming as an overwhelming CRACK of electrically charged noise sailed over her. A bolt of light sliced through the sky, and then suddenly the Decepticon above her vanished beneath smoke and sparks. Something pattered down to the ground around her like rain, and immediately she knew as it hit the arm covering her face that it was their blood.

Somewhere out there, Allison heard Wheeljack yell "RUN!" and it was the only catalyst that could have spurred her to move. The Decepticon hovering above her stumbled away, so this was the only opening she was going to get. Despite the pain, despite the terror, despite the sheer panic that threatened to root her to the spot, something inside her seized onto that word. Her eyes locked on an opening beside the fumbling legs of the distracted assailant above her, and she bolted into a corn field.

Allison half tumbled, picking up speed as she found sure footing and broke into a sprint. Flight finally won the day as she fled into the corn stalks, worried that any minute her feet could give way and she would be sent cartwheeling into a rock. She half expected to be vaporized on the spot with an expertly aimed shot to the back, but mercifully it never came. Somehow the Decepticon lost her amidst the chaos, her smaller size eking out a shred of advantage despite the odds.

Fleeing between the rows of towering brush, Allison tried her best to dodge them so that her pursuers couldn't track her movements. There wasn't time to think beyond that. She was thrust back to that terrible night, alone, running from threats she had no chance of escaping. This time, there wasn't just Soundwave. She wasn't going to be as lucky this time.

That luck apparently only extended to the brief opening that allowed her to slip into the field. As soon as she came to terms with being forced into this nightmare once again, the rapid, heavy footfalls of something massive entered the corn behind her. Allison dropped with a restrained gasp, trying to make herself scarce below the tall vegetation. The Decepticon didn't seem to know where she was, its lunging gait taking it somewhere parallel to her position. Not wanting to waste this opportunity Allison crawled away through the brush, hoping to put as much distance between them as possible.

Her heart was pounding wildly, and she almost froze once she heard the Decepticon speak. It was obvious who the words were meant for. "Where did you go, little parasite?" There was something about the cold, emotionless inflection of the question that made Allison shudder. The thrashing of dried corn stalks being trampled made enough noise to drown out Allison's frantic breaths. Abruptly being able to understand them was a unique horror. The uncanny ease in which they slipped between the alien and mundane language she knew was disturbing, only because it highlighted the disparity of cognitive prowess and technical ability between their species. Humans could be multilingual, but this felt different. Hearing taunts and threats bouncing around her yanked Allison back to that night at the mall as if she'd never left it. Reliving the trauma of being hunted all over again was a drain on her sanity and she feared going manic. She couldn't lose it now and had to focus. The height of the Decepticon ensured that if she maneuvered the wrong way she would be seen.

Thankfully they were looking everywhere but the direction she was in, so Allison kept moving. She could just see the tips of their wings above the upper-reaches of the growing corn, but she didn't dare linger long enough to follow its movement other than a vague knowledge of their location.

"I'm supposed to bring you back to Starscream. Don't make me disappoint him…" Starscream? Was that the name of the other Decepticon that was trampling Wheeljack, or was that someone else? A scratching at Allison's brain was telling her that there was familiarity in this Decepticon's tone but she couldn't pinpoint why. That was a question she'd need to investigate later, because they had chosen that moment to shift their path slightly back in her direction. Allison was forced to pivot and change her own trajectory. She was moving further into the field and into the middle of nowhere, which was bad.

The Decepticon stopped moving. Allison knew this because everything suddenly went silent. She froze, bottling her breath in her lungs in a vain attempt to not give her own movements away. Her pulse surged in her ears while she strained to listen for a clue as to what was happening. All she heard was more threats.

"I wonder what sound you'll make when I pluck off your limbs?" Oh fuck … Sour bile flooded Allison's mouth and her hands grew cold. She was dead for sure. It was infinitely more important to stay as far away from this monster as possible. At least Soundwave seemed to want her alive, for reasons she still couldn't fathom. Was that actually better?

There was an infernal laugh somewhere off in the distance, then more crashing of corn stalks as the large figure began to move in the other direction. Allison heard the receding muttering of a psychopath growing quieter in the distance. "Will it be a pop? Or a squelch?"

The sound of heavy steps and corn being crushed faded into the night, leaving no noise behind except for the whoosh of the air moving through the starchy forest, lifting up the dried ears and making everything sway around her. It was hypnotic and eerie, and the fact that Allison couldn't hear anything anymore only created a frightening dilemma. Was Wheeljack okay? It wasn't like she could check on him. She didn't even dare move, crouched in the dirt, her knees burning and her back on fire from her stooped posture. Her hands were clasped tight over her mouth, struggling to keep her breath from escaping lest it give her away. Allison strained her ears to listen for something—anything unnatural in the night.

Somewhere in the field, as clear as day, the night laughed back at her. A low, rumbling chuckle that sounded nothing like either of the two large Decepticons, echoed through the corn stalks to scatter in all directions. Allison couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, and unfortunately it was familiar to her.

Seconds later the grinding whirr of an otherworldly drill bounced back to her position from an entirely new, unidentifiable direction. Allison now knew why the jet Decepticon had left. Frenzy was in the field with her, and she had no idea where he was. Somehow, this was worse.

If Frenzy was here, that had to mean Soundwave was too, which brought with it its own horrifying conclusion that his other little stalkers were somewhere close. This was a one-sided game they were playing and she was the toy.

Allison's eyes darted around, scanning the darkness between the corn stalks looking for any sign of movement. She had no idea where to run. The sound of Frenzy's freakish arm rang out again in a completely different location now which meant he was moving. Anything else that was out there was deadly silent, which only compounded her fear. She was being hunted.

Something moved to her left, brushing against dried leaves, and that was what finally forced her to break back into a sprint. It was an action that was completely out of her control. Running was the only option. She didn't bother to control her path anymore because it didn't matter.

If there had been any vague sensation of where she was going, that was now lost. Everywhere Allison turned, she thought she heard the spinning death close to her, so she turned sharply and ran anywhere that she felt might be away. For all she knew, she was heading back towards the road. In her mad dash, she tripped over the desiccated corpse of a corn stalk, landing on her chin with a painful oomph, scraping up her hands in the process of trying to stop her fall. Dirt kicked up around her from the parched ground, and the corn parted in front of her at the mercy of a large, feline-like form emerging from the darkness. The leading glare of its red, glowing eyes were followed by sharp, metallic teeth. The same teeth that had once sunk into her shoulder to tear her apart.

The beast she knew as Ravage snarled, snapping its jaw in Allison's face causing her to flinch, whimpering at the memory of being pinned down. A sharp throb of pain in her still-healing shoulder sent her scurrying back. Somehow Allison managed to clamber back up on her feet, and before she could give it any opportunity to destroy her other shoulder she fled. Terrified, she heard the ferocity of something heavy hurtling its way through the corn after her.

Against all common sense, Allison threw her head back to locate the hunter behind her. Maybe if she could see it she could better avoid it, even if outrunning it was never going to be an option. That decision was why she didn't see the giant wall of blue in time to stop herself from running headfirst into it.

The pain was excruciating, and Allison was dropped to the ground like a sack of stones. A kaleidoscope of colors swam through her vision, effectively blinding her for the terrifying seconds she lay stunned on the ground. She was nearly knocked out cold, and just as unconsciousness was about to take her down, a familiar burning red visor leered down at her prostrate body. The creeping darkness evaporated from her eyes as a shock of adrenaline surged. The hulking presence grew larger, filling her handicapped field of view as the familiar vision of Rumble crouched over her, close enough that she could feel radiating heat.

The grin is what Allison saw next, as it broke his face open wide and tinged with a touch of voyeurism, as if watching her squirm on the ground helpless and at his mercy was alluring. "Lookie what we have here…"

"...Why? " Allison croaked, her voice hoarse and small but it was all she could manage through the pounding heat of her face. The coppery taste of blood washed over her tongue, her throat tightening around the sickening color of metal. Her nose was broken for sure.

Rumble snickered, his grin widening. " Why? Well we was so disappointed when you got away from us last time…" Allison could make out the barest impression of Ravage emerging in the periphery, circling wide around its brethren in a silent patrol. As if Allison had any chance of getting away. "We weren't done with you. The fun wasn't over yet!" This was of course, not presented as an actual attempt at placation, but rather a means of intimidation. Rumble was mocking her.

Startled flares of pure terror surged each time the Decepticon cracked a knuckle over her face; a show of strength to intimidate and scare the shit out of her and it was working. She didn't know what sort of bones Rumble was cracking, his gigantic fists flexing as a reminder that he could pop her skull like an egg. While he was busy doing this he didn't notice the earth and pebbles Allison managed to gather in her fist.

"Alright, up you get" As soon as Rumble made a grab for the front of her clothing to lift her to her feet, that's when Allison moved. She didn't logically know what she was doing, but the only thing she was certain of was that she wasn't going down without a fight.

The caked together blob of moist dirt and stone exploded on impact with Rumble's face, Allison's aim hitting her mark: the visor-like eye, or whatever was over his eyes. He shrieked, reeling back as he brought a hand to his face to shield it. She tasted dirt in her mouth as the blast poured clumps of soil and debris back down, but Allison was already moving. Refreshed by a renewed hope, vigor surged as she clamored to her feet. Ravage was startled for only a second long enough to allow her to disappear back into the corn—

—Except, there was no corn. There was only a mass of red and black to greet her as it came surging out of the darkness. Before Allison could pivot, or even see what was coming towards her, a metal hand shot out and snatched her face, snapping her neck back in the opposite direction her body was traveling. She was swept off her feet to hang helplessly entangled, Metal fingers digging into her scalp as she struggled to breath. No, this wasn't happening.

The hand held her off the ground, her back bending at an odd angle as she flailed to find solid footing and just barely scraping the dirt with her feet. The chilling, maniacal laugh that cut through her muffled screams only made her double her efforts, even as she felt herself being dragged lengthwise through the corn.

"Still reeks of Autobot." The source of the voice, the hand that was suffocating her, was Frenzy. There was whirring metal somewhere near her face but she could barely hear it over the roar in her ears. Allison tried with all the strength she had left to twist out of his grip, kicking with her feet only to feel nothing but air and dirt. Punching uselessly at his arm did nothing other than bruise her own chilled skin.

"Ugh, gonna be picking this slag out of my optics forever." Rumble complained, his voice filtering in through the haze of her hoarse attempts to shout her way out of this fresh hell. "Maybe Soundwave will let me shove things in its squishy, wet optics once they're done with it " His tone went low, vicious, and the two of them shared a laugh at the possibility of said torture. It was obvious they were dragging her back out to the road where the two, likely three other Decepticons were now waiting. Wheeljack was completely overwhelmed and outnumbered.

Allison would have done anything possible to not be pulled back out to that nightmare. She felt cold air, which meant they were no longer in the shelter of the corn field. In a final bid for survival she found an open seam on Frenzy's wrist and dug her fingers in. A startled growl told her that he noticed, and despite the obvious warning from a slight squeeze that this was probably a bad move, she found a bundle of cables and pulled.

It was already too late, as she would learn, but her prediction that these had to be sensitive came back true and she succeeded in hurting him enough that he let go. Frenzy did not do so gently. With a furious roar he slammed her down onto the ground, where she hit cold, hard asphalt at a shocking speed. Her shoulder caught the brunt of the impact, the pain exploding anew from her injury effectively stunlocking her. Panting, her face and shoulder throbbing in agony, she lay there on her side where through the messy curtain of her hair she could see that Wheeljack was on his knees.

"Special delivery," Frenzy barked, before she could sense him take several steps back. He sounded angry, and under normal circumstances that would have been satisfying but these were not normal.

Slightly unfocused and confused, it wasn't immediately obvious to Allison what exactly was going on. Her first thought was to wonder why Wheeljack wasn't moving, until she noticed his hands were bound in some kind of alien handcuffs. They glowed slightly, and through the muck that her brain had become she wondered if the hazy illumination was from energon. Why not, everything else is.

The swaying, barely coherent way Wheeljack looked at her was the sorriest thing she had ever seen. His eyes were haunted; terrified and filled to overflowing with guilt and it was the first time through this entire ordeal Allison feared she was going to burst into tears. They were so very screwed. She almost considered letting it happen on the off chance that a pathetic, wailing human might freak the Decepticons out enough that they'd let their guard down. Or they would just shoot her to shut her up. Not a chance in hell that was going to work.

Perhaps seeing this reunion was enough to elicit deeply-seated rage, because as soon as they had a few moments to take each other in, Wheeljack was socked in the face by the first Decepticon: the one that seemed especially focused on him as if it were personal.

The Autobot did not react, simply letting it happen as his body followed the swing to sag heavily towards the ground. Wheeljack was perhaps far more injured than she initially realized, either from the blast, or whatever they'd done to him while she was getting chased through the corn field.

Against her better judgment, Allison opened her mouth. "Don't…" She mumbled, instantly regretting it as the red and blue Decepticon swiveled his focus to her. He raised a hand to the side of his head, miming the very familiar action of one cupping their ear. The gesture was exaggerated and theatrical, and so weird to see coming from such a being that did not have obvious ears, but Allison found little reason to be entertained.

"Are my audials malfunctioning, or did the insect attempt to speak?" He spoke in words she could understand. They were not pleasant words. "What makes you think you have the right to address me?" His voice was raspy and grating, sinuously slipping between higher and lower registers and it made Allison want to collapse and disappear into her own gravity. The simple act of having his attention made her want to get up and flee, to chase her own skin that was crawling away in its own desperate hope for freedom. Subconsciously she was already trying to lift her body off the ground to that end until the Decepticon took one heavy step towards her. The heat from his red eyes burned straight through flesh, muscle, and bone until she was nothing but a pile of frightened organic mass on the street. There was something especially upsetting about the look of his eyes, having spent so much time finding care and kindness in ones of a different color.

Wheeljack lunged, a sudden burst of speed that was startling but having only the goal to stop this Decepticon from getting any closer. It was only then that Allison noticed Soundwave had been standing behind him the entire time, hidden in the night so well that she didn't see the red band of hellish light until he moved. Heavy, forceful hands gripped Wheeljack's shoulders, yanking him back to his knees.
"Stay." It was the only word the Decepticon spoke, his voice the distorted melody of tones Allison remembered from the brief, direct interaction she had the first time. If it had been anyone else it could have been a beautiful harmony, but it was tainted.

"How unusual," the first Decepticon mused. "Normally one wishes to be rid of parasites, but I see this one has an energon signature. Fascinating." His voice dropped low again, a grating string of laughter as he raised one arm, pointing a long, clawed finger down at her. "One can only imagine what you've been up to in order to manage that." They knew. Allison's gag reflex threatened to say hello and empty the paltry contents of her stomach as the words sunk in. What was she thinking, of course they could sense the energon inside her.

"Let the human go…" Hearing Wheeljack finally string a sentence together was unexpected. Even more unexpected were the words he spoke. Human. He'd done that for a reason, and when Allison saw the sharp way he was looking at her she understood. "... Just an experiment. I'll come with you, just let it go…" He sounded exhausted. Maybe it was fear. The words lashed at her insides even if she knew it was for good reason.

"You know I can't do that, Wheeljack. Parasites must be terminated. Consider this a favor for an old friend…" The unmistakable sounds of a weapon powered up came next, and Allison finally saw the immense barrel of a weapon that followed the line of the Decepticon's pointing arm. This was it. She was about to die, automatically turning her head so she couldn't see it coming. She hadn't spoken to her dad that morning. His daughter was about to get blasted to paste on a rural road and he had no idea. It was possible Wheeljack yelled something but she couldn't hear it over the hum of death in her ears.

The blast never came, the whine of the weapon pitched down and dissipated. Allison opened her eyes when she heard the simple utterance that could have only come from Soundwave. "No, Starscream." The identification was nice, so that she now knew who to hate.

The scene Allison saw once she looked was confusing. Wheeljack was doubled over again, Soundwave having stepped around him to stop the other Decepticon from killing her, his arm now yanked in a direction away from her. Starscream's eyes were blown wide open, glaring so hard they appeared pink as he gaped at Soundwave with a curling snarl. "What—what insubordination is this?! I give the orders!"

"Incorrect," was the simple reply. "Megatron in command. Starscream…subcommand." Allison noticed the prolonged pause. Was Soundwave mocking Starscream? "Preserve organic for further analysis." Her stomach clenched. That was a very bad sign.

The way Starscream ripped his arm out of Soundwave's grasp was so petulant, that Allison could scarcely believe what she was watching: in-fighting. This monstrous horde of war machines were squabbling over hierarchy right in front of her.

"Ugh, fine. I suppose there'll be time to torment it later." Starscream shrugged, impervious and with the attention span of a brick. He spun, re-directing his ire at Wheeljack once again, motioning with a clawed finger upward. "Get up, Autobot." When it became clear Wheeljack was not going to follow his orders, Starscream impatiently slinked around to his side and forced him up by the back of the neck. The next action was so fast Allison didn't realize what happened at first, until she saw the hot glow of blood; something clicked, followed by a very fast motion where Starscream thrust his hand right at Wheeljack's mid-section. The Autobot made a startled noise that sounded like a breathy grunt, as one knee buckled under his own weight. Starscream had stabbed him, and he was laughing about it.

Allison wasn't aware of the noise she made, so focused on the fact that the Decepticon was leering at her the entire time he kept Wheeljack suffering and struggling to stand. He was waiting for her reaction, and whatever he saw apparently amused him. She only realized her mouth was open in shock and she was trembling once Starscream finally dumped Wheeljack back onto the ground at Soundwave's feet. This time he didn't find it important to intervene apparently.

"A most intriguing reaction for a mere… experiment." Oh. Allison understood what just happened. Starscream sounded like a sniveling brat, but he was not stupid. He called Wheeljack on his bluff, violently. This Decepticon was completely deranged, clearly primed to snap to extreme brutality on a whim. She couldn't help Wheeljack. She couldn't run to him, even as a glow of pink liquid began to pool beneath him. Not with a crowd of pissed off enemies around him who would probably do even more harm if she so much as moved in his direction. Soundwave was regarding the bleeding Autobot beneath him in passive silence. No attempt was made to stabilize Wheeljack and the lack of emotion was chilling.

Eventually, after a prolonged silence, "Suspend action. Autobot functioning required." The relief was small, and short-lived, because Allison knew it wasn't compassion.

"Yeah, uuh, 'Screamer? Don't we want the Autobot alive?" Allison had almost forgotten about the third very large Decepticon sharing the space with them, until they finally spoke up. "Might want to stop beating the slag out of him, because he's not going to do what we want if he's dead."

Starscream shook his arm, some of the pink liquid—Wheeljack's blood. There was nothing else to call it—splattered off a long, thin blade that came from somewhere within his arm. It was possibly one of the most disgusting vessels of violence she had ever seen; designed for delicate maiming that had to be precise. Personal. "Ugh, you're all such absolute killjoys, aren't you? Stuck on this abysmal little rock and I'm not even allowed a little fun." He looked down at the energon blood, a look of disgust on his face that was very quickly replaced with a broad, grotesque grin. His eyes meandered back down to Wheeljack, who very clearly wasn't listening. "You hear that, Autobot? Skywarp has just saved your life. I'd insist you thank her, but you seem to be a little caught up at the moment." Allison figured it out. Something obvious snapped into place after Starscream spoke; after watching this other purple and black Decepticon chide him for his impulsive violence. "We're done here. Wrap them both up in a nice little bow for Megatron." He waved with a dismissive flourish in the general area for effect, prompting the finally named Decepticon—Skywarp—to approach her.

Frightened, and not at all liking what wrap them up actually implied, Allison barely had enough energy to scan over their features. Nothing was inherently obvious, except for maybe a slightly smaller frame, and a narrower, softer face, but she was also applying her own human understanding when it was not inherently relevant. Starscream's wording was enough to conclude that this Decepticon was female.

Allison could have mused and mulled that over in her head for longer because it was fascinating, but she was too terrified to find any of that important. Finding the energy to half drag herself in Wheeljack's direction was her final act—to hell with it, it was obvious they were going to beat the shit out of them both regardless of what she did. It didn't matter if the fallen Autobot was any form of protection or not, it was needed. Several paces was all she managed before a shadow descended and hard, metallic fingers plucked her off the ground. Nothing about it was delicate, and her breath was forced out of her in a startled wheeze as the Earth dropped out from under her. Arms hanging limp, her lungs collapsing once the Decepticon gave her a small squeeze for emphasis. She was a prisoner now.

"Heavier than I expected it to be." Skywarp remarked. Hilarious, Allison thought through the delirium, but she didn't have the lung capacity to laugh. With each step the Decepticon took her neck rolled uncontrollably and it was going to make her sick, assuming she didn't pass out first. The encroaching haze of unconsciousness was beginning to smother her mind, the tethers breaking loose that were anchoring it to her body. Vague shapes belonging to Soundwave's little minions passed beneath her as a sorry reminder that they'd been there the entire time. A captivated audience. Somewhere behind her, she heard Starscream sigh.

"Hurry up and collect the Autobot before Megatron makes me explain why we took so long."

"You mean before he beats the scrap out of you again?" What a weird response. The tone of voice from her captor sounded concerned, suggesting that this was a literal threat. If Allison had the capacity to muster up any empathy she might have, but consciousness was slipping away. Of course the maniacal asshole traipsing the universe just to hunt down the Autobot refugees would be a destructive, abusive monster.

"Choose your words carefully, Skywarp." Apparently Starscream didn't like that. Allison was learning so much tonight. How fun. If only it mattered. Blood was rushing to her head while she dangled upside down, the road a frightening reminder of what would happen to her if Skywarp decided to let go. That very thought made her scream once the Decepticon shifted their grip, the fear of that exact fate rushing forward until Allison realized she was being pulled towards their body.

"Sorry, little worm. You're coming with me." There was a metallic hiss, followed by the distinct sound of shifting metal as the transparent compartment on Skywarp's chest opened, revealing what was clearly the cockpit of an aircraft. Oxygen flooded Allison's lungs as the pressure around her ribcage released, and she gasped loudly as the subsequent rush of air was accompanied by immense pain. It only got worse as the world moved fast around her, her body flung carelessly inside. Nothing was right about it. It was just another facade, an empty cavity, a new cell for her to be trapped in. There was nothing for her to hang onto as the panel snapped closed behind her forced entrance, leaving her body weight to sag against the translucent yellow barrier. She didn't dare move, fearing gravity alone would be all that was needed to force it back open again.

Terrified, Allison was a captive spectator and could only watch as Skywarp roughly pulled Wheeljack to his knees by his shoulders. The Autobot struggled—tried to struggle by grabbing the Decepticon's wrists, a cold fury in his eyes that Allison had never seen. The laugh from all around her rattled about in her skull, amplified from her location inside the source. She tried to cover her ears, knowing that spoken words would sound much worse, but even that didn't help but prevent them from almost cracking her skull open.

"Time to fly."

The world collapsed on itself, shrinking to a point of light before there was nothing.

/