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WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF TORTURE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Miko glared daggers at Silas. She didn't like Mr. Ugly Face one bit. Everything about him—the way he spoke, the way he smirked, and the way he carried himself with that... that stupid smugness! —made her want to punch him square in the jaw.

Silas had just declared that they were "chimeras," whatever the hell that meant, and then casually mentioned that they were going to be replacement Transformers. What kind of sick, twisted logic was that?

Ever since meeting Bulk and the gang, Miko had dreamed of what it would be like to be a Cybertronian. She'd sketched countless doodles of herself as a badass robot warrior, fantasized during boring classes about speeding through battlefields in her awesome alt-mode, and even written stories about the epic adventures she'd have alongside the Autobots, kicking Buckethead's butt.

But this? This wasn't her dream. This was a nightmare.

Her thoughts drifted to the green stuff they'd injected into her during their torture sessions. Was that supposed to be the thing that turned them into Transformers? If so, it sure didn't feel like it. Right now, she felt nothing but cold and exposed, dressed in nothing but her undergarments. She was very much aware of Silas and the sadistic creep standing nearby.

This is messed up on so many levels.

Silas finally turned his attention to the sadist. "They're all yours. Try not to break them too much." With that, he turned on his heel and left the room without another glance.

Miko's stomach twisted as she watched him go. The door shut with a heavy metallic clang, leaving her and Jack alone with the sadist.

A twisted grin spread across the man's face, making her insides churn. It was the same sick, gleeful expression he'd worn when she'd been strapped into that chair, writhing in agony as they injected her with the green substance. Freak! Weirdo! Creep!

His pale blue eyes gleamed with excitement as he reached for something on the table—a knife.

Miko's body betrayed her as a shiver running down her spine despite her best efforts to stay calm. The man ran his fingers over the blade almost lovingly. Ew, gross. That's not your girlfriend dude.

"Now," he started, lifting the knife so that it caught the light, "who should I start with?"

His gaze flicked back and forth between Jack and Miko, before settling on the Japanese girl, who scowled at the weirdo.

"Don't you dare touch her!" he snarled, thrashing against his restraints, blue eyes blazing with protective fury.

The sadist's grin widened, delighted by Jack's outburst. "How noble," he mocked, turning his sharklike grin toward Miko. "But all you've done is make my decision easier."

He turned to the exchange student. "Ladies first."

"No—!"

Every instinct inside of the girl screamed at her to fight back. But she couldn't do anything. Still, she wasn't about to go down quietly. "Touch me, and I'll make sure you regret it," she hissed, baring her teeth into a snarl.

The sadist chuckled. "Oh, I like the fiery ones," he said, lowly and mockingly. "It's always so satisfying when they break."

As if! Miko thrashed in her restraints, straining her muscles painfully as she glared daggers at the sadist. "Get away from me, you creep!" she spat, wincing as she felt something pull in her arms.

Realizing that her legs were the only things that had full range, she out with them, managing to kick him in his groin. Hard.

He wheezed, hands immediately shooting down to cradle the sensitive area. Ha ha! Take that!

"You little brat," he hissed, looking up at her darkly, only to receive a kick to his face that sent his head snapping to the side. Revenge from earlier. She noticed his hand groping the floor before finding the knife.

Miko opened her mouth to retort, but a white-hot pain exploded in her shoulder as he drove the knife into her flesh. She gasped, the air leaving her lungs in a sharp, involuntary exhale, but she refused to cry out. She clenched her jaw so tightly her teeth ached, determined not to give him the satisfaction of her scream.

Jack cried out nearby, thrashing and spitting curses at the man.

The sadist stepped back, coldly glaring at her as he grabbed a length of rope from the nearby table. It seemed 'Mr. Nice Guy' was gone. Before he attempted to do anything with the rope, he punched her in the temple hard enough to make her see stars in her vision.

"No! Get off her!"

The ropes bit into her skin as her legs were tied to the pole behind her, leaving her weight to rest on her arms. The position was extremely uncomfortable, body bent back and muscles pulled tight. If she squirmed, she'd end up making the ropes dig into her skin, burning.

"Leave her alone!" Jack bellowed, furiously. "You hear me, you piece of slag? I'll kill you!"

Mr. Baldie Creep ignored him, yanking the knife out of her shoulder. A scream nearly escaped her lips at the sudden, white-hot pain, but she bit down hard on her lip, refusing to scream. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as her teeth broke the skin, but she wouldn't give in.

"Much better." A smile that only a devil could give twisted his ugly features. "Now, the more your squirm, the more it hurts. Feel free to do so."

Miko shot him a glare that could've melted steel. "Go to hell!"

The man smiled and pressed the blade of the knife against her skin, just below her collarbone. Miko instinctively flinched, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape.

"You know," he began conversationally as he started carving into her flesh, "Silas says these won't scar. Not physically, at least. But you'll remember this. Every stroke, every second of it. Until he's done with you, of course."

The first cut felt like fire as she fought to suppress the cry clawing its way up her throat. A whimper escaped her lips, and the sadist glanced at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt? My bad," he said but it was obvious he didn't mean it.

The pain was unbearable. With each stroke, it felt like her nerves were being set ablaze. At first, Miko managed to hold back, swallowing the sounds of pain. After he carved some ugly shape into her skin, marring it will an M, he moved down to her abdomen where he carved out the shape of a skull, intertwined with a snake.

It seemed this creep was good at drawing. He was just using the wrong piece of paper, aka her fragile, thin skin. Jack added a colorful commentary the entire time, though she couldn't make out half of the words because of how much attention the pain demanded from her.

Hisses of pain escaped her lips, followed by low whimpers. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to disappear. A tear slipped past her eyes as a cry slipped past her lips, then another. Before long, she couldn't hold back anymore. The room was filled with her wails, raw and filled with anguish.

When the pain reached its peak, Miko finally screamed. Mr. Baldie Creep grinned madly, cutting into her skin. "There it is," he purred, carving something onto her cheek. She could feel the warm, sticky blood dripping down her body.

Jack was beside himself, pulling against his chains so violently the metal groaned under the strain. "Stop it!" he roared. "Leave her alone, you sick freak!"

But the sadist didn't even glance his way. He was entirely absorbed in his work, a grotesque artist reveling in the suffering he inflicted. He gave her ten minutes of respite, ten minutes of just quietly staring at her with a terrible grin. Her wounds, shockingly, had already closed over some. No! No! No! Curse her superhuman healing!

Then he began again.

The blade sliced into the soft skin of her midriff, and Miko's entire body flinched violently against the restraints. She whined as the man, with a surgeon's precision, cut agonizing patterns into her exposed flesh. Her muscles quivered as she fought against the pain.

The cold, hard realization that he was an artist—a gross, weird one—and she was the canvas made it all the worse. When he shifted to her legs, she felt the blade drag across her thighs, across the sensitive area and she screeched, flailing. That made it all the worse, the blade cutting in deeper. Her stomach churned as the smell of blood—her blood—wafted up to her nose, making her want to gag.

Her arms were next. He carved into the soft underside of her biceps, the sensitive skin there sending fresh waves of agony through her body. Oh it huuuurrrtt! She prayed, begged, chanted, in her mind, wishing that it would all stop.

He reached her face again, and she was able to faintly see her bloody visage visible in his dark, soulless eyes. She jerked her head away as the knife hovered near her cheek by the wound that he had already opened but he grabbed her jaw with a vice grip, forcing her to hold still.

The blade kissed her skin, dragging slowly across her cheekbone. Her teeth ground together as she fought the urge to scream, though it eventually came. Jack seemed to give up his struggles on the chain, just glaring balefully at the man, cursing him.

The tormentor moved back to her midriff, cutting into the same wounds he'd already opened. Her throat was already hoarse from screaming as she thrashed and squirmed, but it only seemed to spur him on. The cycle continued, the man methodically revisiting each area, cutting deeper into the same wounds.

It started all over again. The hisses turned to whimpers, the whimpers to wails, and finally, the screams came. Tears streamed down her face as the pain overwhelmed her, and for the first time, she broke.

"Please," she begged, her voice cracking as sobs wracked her body. "Please, stop. I—I'll do anything! Just stop!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears. The tormentor didn't even glance at her face, didn't acknowledge her words. Across the room, Jack was a storm of fury, threatening the sadist. His threats were met with the same silence.

Miko whined loudly, letting her gaze drift to Jack, whose wrists were bleeding from pulling so much. She felt a shiver run down her spine when she saw sickly green eyes meet hers, filled with rage. Weren't Jack's eyes blue?

You're nothing but a coward! Picking on someone who can't fight back? Let her go and face me, you spineless scrapheap! Stop it!"

But the tormentor didn't stop. And Jack's rage burned hotter than the fires of hell.

The Japanese girl's head jerked up at the sound of the door creaking open, and through blurry vision, she saw two soldiers step into the room. Mr. Baldie Creepy Face—her tormentor—turned to them, lips curling into that same grin that made her stomach churn. "Take her down."

Miko's eyes widened at the tone of his voice, and she thrashed against the chains that bound her, not even caring as the motion started to cut into her skin and inflame her open, aching body. "No! Stay away from me!" she screamed, wincing as her wounds flared in protest.

The soldiers ignored her pleas. One of them unlocked the chains above her head while the other slipped held her arms to prevent her from falling over from the treatment she had just received. Maybe it was over. Maybe she could—

"Do you like baths, Miko?"

Her blood turned to ice, all the blood draining out of her voice. Those words. That voice. The sinister grin stretching across his face. It all dragged her back to the warehouse.

The memory slammed into her like a freight train.

Her head had been yanked back by her hair, dragged toward a large tank filled with icy water. Floating in its depths were jagged chunks of something white and sharp, like shards of glass or bone. But it was ice.

Rough hands shoved her forward, plunging her face into the frigid depths. It huurrrt! It felt like a thousand needles had been stuck in her skin all at once. Its icy tendrils seeped into every pore, lungs screaming for air as they were flooded with water. She desperately tried to pull herself up, only to be forced down, deeper and deeper.

Her screams were muffled by the water, bubbles rising to the surface as she panicked. The world around her was filled with nothing but the murky white of the water and the jagged pieces swirling within. The cold was everywhere,suffocating her, numbing her. Her lungs burned as they filled with water, and the crushing pressure in her chest became unbearable.

She thought she was going to die.

The memory released her back into the present, but its cruel grip on her heart remained. Her eyes widened with horror. "No," she whispered, struggling against her captors. "No, no, no!"

She fought with every ounce of strength she had left, legs kicking and her arms flailing as the soldiers dragged her toward the door. "Don't do this! Please! I'll do anything—just don't take me there!"

Jack's voice erupted behind her, filled with rage. "Let her go!" he bellowed, chains rattling as he fought against them. "You hear me? Let her go, you sick bastards!"

Miko craned her neck to look back at him, tears streaming down her face. "Jack!" she cried. "Don't let them—"

"MIKO!"

The exchange student screeched, cursing them in English and Japanese. "You bastards!" she screamed in English before switching to Japanese. 「殺してやる!行かせてください!」She twisted her body violently, aggravating her injuries, but she didn't care. She wasn't about to make this easy for them.

The soldiers didn't say anything, merely following Mr. Baldie Creep in a room, taking in the horrifying sight before her—a large bathtub sat in the center. Just as promised. Floating on the water were jagged shards of something white and sharp. Ice.

Miko's heart plummeted into her stomach. No. No. No. NO.

"Get away from me!" she screamed, planting her feet against the floor in a futile attempt to stop them. "I'm not going in there! I won't go!"

Her English was broken with frantic Japanese curses as she thrashed violently, twisting her body, kicking out, and throwing her weight against her captors. They didn't even flinch against her pitiful struggles, even as they intensified as they grew closer to the edge of the water.

"I said no! No! NO!" she shrieked, clawing at their arms and kicking her legs, trying to push herself away. But it was no use. Her weakened state, the agony of her wounds, and their brute strength overpowered her.

One of the soldiers placed a hand on her back and shoved her forward. Miko shrieked, trying to brace herself against the edge of the tub, but her hands slipped on the cold metal. Her desperate attempts to push herself away only delayed the inevitable as the other soldier grabbed her legs and lifted her.

With a violent shove, they plunged her into the icy water.

Miko gasped as the freezing liquid enveloped her, feeling the unforgiving cold seeping into every inch of her skin. The water amplified her burning wounds, making the pain ten times worse. She flailed wildly, trying to pull herself free, but she couldn't tell which way was up or down.

She managed to break the surface for a moment, gasping and coughing, before a rough hand shoved her back under. The freezing water rushed into her mouth and nose as she screamed, choking her cries and filling her lungs with icy liquid.

Panic set in as her vision blurred as she clawed at the air, nails scraping uselessly against the hands holding her down. Eventually, she was brought back up and her tormentor, Mr. Baldie Creepy Face, grinned, explaining his twisted plan.

"Your wounds heal fast," he remarked, studying the bloody knife he used to cut her. "So we thought we'd do this before they closed over completely."

Her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she gasped for air. "S-s-s-t-top it!" she sobbed. "Y-y-y-o-ou're k-k-k-il-l-ling me! S-s-stop i-t-t!"

Another shove sent her plunging back beneath the surface. The icy water closed over her head, muffling her screams and dragging her into its frigid embrace. Her lungs screamed for oxygen as the freezing liquid poured into them, making her chest tighten with unbearable pressure.

Her body grew weaker with every second, black dots dotted her vision as blackness closed in. The icy water numbed her limbs and the fight slowly, but surely drained out of her as her body went limp.

She was drowning.

She going to die.

The realization hit her hard, filling her with a sense of helplessness and despair she had never known before. She was going to die. She had never been so close to death, never feared it before. But now, staring in its face, she was terrified.

The screams in her mind were deafening as she fought with everything she had left.

But the water didn't care.

And neither did the monsters above it.

.

Miko must have blacked out at some point. She became aware of rough hands hauling her through the horror hallways, dragging her body across the cold floor. All she could see was a hazy blur of flickering lights and indistinct shapes. Every movement sent fresh waves of agony through her battered body. Her head hurt the most with the never-ending pounding.

The soldiers came to a stop, and with little regard, dumped her unceremoniously onto the freezing floor. Bastards!

The impact jarred her ribs, that had been abused during her time in the bathtub, and a weak, strangled cry escaped her lips. Before she could even attempt to move, the heavy slam of a door closing rang painfully in her ears, followed by the metallic clank of a lock turning.

The girl couldn't move. She tried to lift her head, to push herself up, but her body betrayed her. the pain was too much, and her strength was completely drained. She hoped Jack was okay.

She just lay there, curled into a pitiful ball, shivering uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her face, warm trails cutting through the cold that seeped into her skin. Miko hated this. She hated MECH, hated the soldiers, hated that sadistic bastard Mr. Baldie Creepy Face. Most of all, she hated herself for feeling so helpless, for being unable to fight back against the horrors they were putting her through.

"I just want to go home," she whispered brokenly. But not to her parents' home in Japan. That wasn't home. Her real home was with her host family, with people who actually cared about her.

She thought of them now, her mind conjuring the image of her host parents' warm smiles and kind eyes. She could almost hear them calling her name, filled with warmth and affection. They'd never once treated her as an outsider, even though she wasn't their biological child. They'd opened their home and hearts to her, offering the love and stability she'd never known before.

She wanted that back.

Miko let out a broken sob as the cold realization that she might never see them again hit her. She might never get the chance to apologize for all the times she'd been a brat, for every moment she'd taken their kindness for granted.

She wouldn't even mind going back to school, to the boring classes and annoying homework. And even detention! She'd take that over this nightmare a million times over. Anything would be better than this.

But she wasn't going back.

Deep down, Miko knew the truth. MECH wasn't going to let her go. She wasn't a person to them; she was a thing, a tool for their sick experiments.

Her tears fell harder as the cold, brutal reality of her situation settled over her. She wasn't going home. She might never go home.

Curling tighter into herself, Miko clung to the warmth of her memories, the only comfort she had in this hellhole. Her body trembled as exhaustion began to claim her once more, and the dark abyss dragged her down to the void, where there was relief.

Raf rubbed his face, staring at the screen blearily. His heart ached for Miko and Jack. Were they okay? Would he see them again? He bit his lip to keep the tears at bay and forced himself to focus on the screen. He could only pray that they'd survive this nightmare.

The preteen squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his temples. His vision, no matter how he focused it, was blurry. What was wrong with his eyes? He was so tired. Raf opened his eyes, only to be greeted with a blurry screen. Again.

The boy glanced around, noticing that the guards that had been assigned to watch him weren't there anymore. Did they really think he wasn't a threat? The thought stung, but it wasn't far from the truth. What could a twelve-year-old (and a quarter) boy going to do against a base filled with MECH personnel.

Raf took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, finding it strange that his glasses weren't helping him anymore. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see clearly. The preteen blinked and rubbed his eyes many more times, unbelieving.

He... didn't need his glasses anymore?! Was it something to do with the serum?

The boy was distracted when the restrained Eradicon moved for the first time today, raising its head weakly. Its visor was alarmingly dim. The mech growled something in Cybertronian, its tone dripping with venom. "I will tear all of you fleshies apart!"

"How are you going to do that strapped down?" Raf replied without thinking. Then, he realized his mistake.

The Vehicon jerked in surprise, twisting awkwardly against its restraints to get a better view of him. "You can understand me?" the mech asked in disbelief.

"Yeah... yeah, I can."

"A fleshling? Knowing our language? How?"

Raf shrugged, trying to keep his tone casual even as his skin prickled under the mech's intense scrutiny. "I just do." He turned his attention back to the computer, trying not to feel unnerved by the Eradicon and the fact that his eyes were working perfectly, without glasses.

Maybe the Decepticon would stop asking questions.

But the Vehicon wasn't satisfied. "That's not an answer!"

The preteen sighed, slumping slightly in his chair. He knew the mech wouldn't drop it so easily. "I've always been able to understand it," he admitted quietly. "Ever since I first heard it. I don't know why."

The Vehicon fell silent, processing his words.

Raf glanced up cautiously. "I guess it's kind of like math," he added after a moment, thoughtfully. "If math could talk, it would probably sound like Cybertronian."

"You... equate our language to your numbers? Your equations?"

Raf nodded. "Cybertronian makes sense to me in the same way math does."

The Vehicon's visor dimmed again.

The preteen hesitated before speaking again. "What's your name?" he asked.

"ST-3V3."

He frowned. "ST-3V3?" He repeated the designation, tilting his head thoughtfully. "That's a mouthful. How about... Steve?"

The Vehicon's visor brightened with indignation. "Steve?" it echoed, growling lowly. "I am not a Steve!"

"Well, you are now. Steve it is."

The Vehicon growled. "You dare rename me?Fleshling, I should—"

"—tear me apart, I know," Raf interrupted dryly, turning back to the computer. "But, like I said, you're strapped down. Steve."

The mech let out a frustrated huff, clearly displeased but unable to do anything about it.

Raf rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache forming behind them. He started to feel strange after the last dose of the serum, E-X1, mostly dizzy and tingly. Now, he miraculously had excellent vision. Something had to be going on with the serum, if it had cured him.

Steve muttered something under his breath in Cybertronian. Raf couldn't make out the words, but he didn't need to. He knew the Vehicon was sulking. After fifteen minutes of silence, the Eradicon spoke again.

"You don't seem like the rest of the fleshies here."

Raf didn't immediately respond, fixing another error that he saw in the coding. "I have a name," he said quietly but firmly. "It's Rafael. Or Raf."

Steve scoffed.

The preteen sighed, leaning back slightly in his chair. "For what it's worth, I'm not like them. I'm a prisoner, just like you."

The Vehicon let out a derisive snort, shifting slightly. "Prisoner? You're free to move, to work. I am bolted to this table, my circuits exposed to your meddling."

Raf's jaw tightened. He glanced up at the mech, eyes darkening. "I'm just trying to help my friends," he snapped, the words spilling out before he could stop them.

"By hacking into my processor," Steve stated flatly.

I—I don't want to," he admitted, sighing. "But if I don't... my friends will get hurt. Worse than they already have."

Steve didn't reply immediately. His optics dimmed and he merely stared, studying him. Raf, for his part, turned back to his work, trying to ignore the uncomfortable silence between them.

"Your friends... they are important to you, aren't they?"

Raf paused, thinking of Miko's crooked grin, Jack's annoyed sigh as he watched over her, and all the moments they had shared—the good, the bad, and everything in between. Eventually he nodded. "Yeah, they are."

The preteen couldn't believe he was having this conversation with a Decepticon of all people erm, mechs? He didn't think that Vehicons were much more than cannon fodder, mindless drones to obey Megatron's will. It was honestly surprising, and it made Raf feel worse about reprogramming him.

"You would risk your life for them?" he asked after a moment, sounding genuinely curious.

"Yes," Raf said simply.

My favorite Vehicon got his spotlight :D

Also, I used Google Translate for the Japanese sentence, which is supposed to mean 'I'll kill you! Let me go!'. However, Google Translate is not the most accurate and I have no idea if it says something else. If anyone speaks Japanese and it doesn't say what it's supposed to say, feel free to reach out and correct it, thanks :)