So, I decided it needed a second chapter. 
I know there will be some disappointment, but I wrote this mostly for myself. Hope whoever reads this enjoys!

(Y/M/N) - You Mother's Name

Takes place in the Transformers: Prime continuity.

_/-\_

     Days passed, and the Decepticon known as (Y/N) had become infamous to the Autobots. 

         "You don't have to stay with them!" Jack informed, his usual monologue when the deranged woman gave him the opportunity to say it. "The Decepticons are monsters, they want to destroy us and Cybertron!"

         "I know, silly boy." The blade shrank back in her gauntlet as her heavy, metal laden steps cornered the youth. "I wasn't groomed into thinking the Decepticons were the good guys. I was tortured into breaking like a glass window! I still hear his screams in my head and all I want is more of it."

     Jack felt his back press against the rock of the grey cliff. Moss hung low but none of it would allow him to climb the formation. The humidity wouldn't let him either as rain clouds began to form in the jungle. His only way out was if Arcee came in time, but who knew how far (Y/N) had flown him after practically sniping him off of Arcee's alt. mode. 

         "Look," Jack decided to change his usual speech to buy some time, "you want someone to yell at you? We've got a perfectly good, grumpy medic to do that, and I'm sure Arcee hates you enough to kick you across the room even-" he spotted a snake slither up a vine, making the hairs at the back of his neck prickle as it came closer.

     The thought merely made the woman laugh. The sound echoed darkly through the foliage, bouncing off the cliff in front of her. Jack could only describe it as Megatron-like as it settled into a dark chuckle. His eyes were drawn to hers, a deep, menacing red that had somehow been changed from their original (E/C) hue. The color matched the crazed joy as her sword was unsheathed once more, and she pointed it at his chest, the visor coming down as her canon warmed behind her.

         "How considerate. And your Prime would allow such mistreatment to a poor, tortured human? I think not." 

     Twirling her head, (Y/N) watched as her blast forced the two-wheeler back from the large tree she had been hiding behind. Her canon may be small, but it packed enough punch to blow a hole in her servo. She turned to face Jack once more with a cruel smile.

         "I hear a groundbridge, how exciting."

         "Back away from the boy!" Optimus ordered as Bumblebee helped Arcee up from being shot in the shoulder.

         "So, I'm that level of a threat now?" (Y/N) chuckled, still holding her arm up with her sword pointed at Jack's chest if he decided to bolt. "I'm flattered, Optimus Prime, that you think I'm worth your while."

         "This does not have to result in bloodshed." The mighty Prime stated boldly, (Y/N)'s expression falling to near boredom as her head swiveled once more. "You can return to your family and friends, find a new life among your own kind. Agent Fowler has uncovered their where-abouts."

     There was no expression on the woman's face, even with her eyes uncovered after her canon had powered down. The artificial red hue of her stare was as dull as beige, and her now scarred face revealed no desire to return to her family. Taking a dangerous step closer to Jack, (Y/N) let the tip of her sword touch his chest.

         "There is no place for me except as a Decepticon." She confirmed Optimus' worst fear. "I am not the woman I was. She was kind, and willing to fight so that those in her town could escape. I'm sure your little government pet even has the pistol I shot Megatron with. I have the casing of the bullet that pierced his optic. That woman is gone, replaced by the war lord himself!"

         "He's got her hook, line and sinker, Optimus-" Jack's voice wavered as he tried to escape the menacing blade by backing up. He wished he could just melt into the mountain.

         "I say give her the same treatment we would give Megatron when he's jailed." Arcee suggested icily, nursing her bleeding shoulder. "If she's been replaced by that tyrant, trial her for every war crime he's committed."

         "That's- that's a death sentence on earth." Jack informed, earning (Y/N)'s strange, broken laugh.

     For what felt like hours, the group were left at a stand-off. (Y/N) kept her blade at Jack's chest, and the three Autobots who arrived were unable to make a single shot or risk incinerating their precious human. Her smile had come back as the silence wore on, the only interruption being the 'click' of her visor returning as she sent a message to Soundwave. She was about to simply let the boy go and fly out on her quickly returning hovercraft when her weight suddenly plunged her sword into rock.

     Whipping her head around, (Y/N) saw the cliff, not Jack. Growling, she realized their Rookie, Smokescreen, had used the Phase-Shifter to come through the rock and steal Jack from her clutches. Within those moments, Optimus lunged for her, his canon no longer in sight. She dodged his large servo with a practiced ease, knowing the Prime had no intention of trialing her for any crimes. 

     The returning alternate form replica glinted in a sun ray from the canopy, so the woman doubled back and climbed Optimus' pede dangling from his back plates. When the hovercraft was close enough, (Y/N) launched from the Prime's form, landing on it and aiming for the canopy of the jungle. Her path ahead was clear, but Bumblebee climbed up the trees and jumped from a trunk, catching the human femme in mid-air. 

     Her yelp was not expected, but she recovered from the sudden stop and used her free canon arm to aim at the Scout. The voiceless mech dodged it by throwing the femme at Optimus who caught her and wrapped his servo around her arms and torso. The woman screamed as her canon and sword were slipped off her arms, and the hover craft was snapped in two by Arcee. Rage filled eyes stared at the Rookie and human boy as they revealed themselves, both with a triumphant smile. 

         She had been led into a trap.

     The woman's helmet was also removed, revealing her mangled, sick, short hair. It was clear she hadn't washed it in a long time. The bruises on her face were obviously not done by the Autobots, and the healing cuts were not there the last time the group had seen her. Jack recognized a scar on her lip from when the tortured woman had fallen on a rock, but that was it.

         "You're not seriously considering helping her, are you?" Smokescreen questioned, the idea bringing forth a desperate cry of anger and rage from the struggling woman. 

         "Not all damage is irreparable." Optimus noted. "(Y/N) had been with the Decepticons for at least two years, perhaps more. I believe there is still hope she can be reunited with her family and friends. Agent Fowler said they described her as a very brave individual, and that trait is still found even now, despite the dark turn she had been forced to endure."

         "And what if Megatron is too far rooted in her mind?" Arcee huffed.

         "Yeah." Jack nodded, still in Smokescreen's palm. "I mean- look at her. She's biting your hand like that's going to do something!"

     Optimus had already noted her feral nature, but the human femme had been treated like an animal for a long time. Megatron himself had already acted so primal in many situations.

         "Let's hope that is not the case."

     Agent Fowler wasn't too privy on the idea of reforming or healing the woman who had been a hypothetical thorn in his side for the past several months. However, he did understand that she had been tortured to the point of insanity, so he was willing to let it slide if she improved. (Y/N) didn't show signs of said improvement until the second month of being visited by Nurse Darby and a number of therapists. All they could do was heal her physical wounds and determine exactly what mental disorder she had developed.

     With the help of Ratchet, June discovered a few of the atrocious experiments the Decepticons had done. (Y/N) admitted to being a willing participant in only two; those being the strengthening of her feet and legs to endure higher falls and the implantation of metal gears in her shoulder and elbow to lock her joints in place as a means of steadying her aim. Those she was not a willing participant in were a number of energon infusion experiments, memory tests and how long it took her to heal from various injuries. These were most of what she could remember and all of what the two doctors could find out on their own.

     As for her mental health, the three therapists on her case were at a loss. What they could explain was that she had developed a form of Stockholm Syndrome mixed with Schizophrenia, PTSD and Imposter Syndrome. They had no word for it, and they weren't sure about Stockholm Syndrome because (Y/N) had admitted to hating Megatron "with all her being". Miko had poked fun of it by calling it Megatron Syndrome (the only other one to laugh at it being Smokescreen).

     As for the woman's treatment, she had originally been placed in a human-sized cell on the Autobot's new base, but her constant screaming made them realize she had become claustrophobic to human-sized spaces. So, a Cybertronian sized cell was configured. She kept her peace for the most part, except that she swore up and down that the Decepticons would find her until the second month when a strange knock she didn't recognize came to the door of her cell. She ignored it, staring at her cot.

     It opened with a strange hesitance, and a woman with a worry filled face stepped in. (Y/N)'s mother gasped at the state of her daughter: bruised, cut and thin. She noticed the tray of vegetables, meat and fruit on the floor near a far wall, so she knew the young woman wasn't eating.

         "(Y/N)," she squeaked, "do you remember me?"

     (Y/N) ignored the woman, knowing full well who she was. Part of her wanted to hug the aged human, while the other wanted to push her out the door where a guard was sliding in, in case something went wrong. Picking at the stitches in her cot, (Y/N) huffed, acting like she didn't care.

         "And if I said I do?"

     The nonchalance struck the mother's heart like a dagger as she risked going closer.

         "Then you remember your friend, Rebecca? She's waiting outside. (Y/N) we thought you had died!"

         "I did." Came another huff as she finally looked at her mother. "Just not physically."

         "Oh my gosh- your eyes are red! What did they do to you?"

     (Y/M/N) rushed to her baby girl, startling the younger woman who fell from the cot. She sat the tortured woman up and examined her thinned shirt and torn jeans. Her arms were clearly altered but not thin, same as her legs, and upon closer inspection, the red of her eyes were merely contacts (quite a relief to the frantic mother). She hugged the stunned woman, held back tears spilling from her eyes as she rambled her apologies for simply leaving her little girl.

     (Y/N) simply sat there, stunned and awestruck. She hadn't felt human touch in two years. Slowly her own eyes began to water, and her arms wrapped around the bent form of her mother. The bots monitoring the event stood in awe at the sight. 

         "Optimus was right." Ratchet hummed. "She wasn't irreparable."

     The Prime held a small smile behind the group.

         "How'd you know?" Jack frowned. "She's been a miniature Megatron since we captured her."

         "(Y/N) (L/N) has felt there was no going back to her old life," their leader explained, "she may never be the same again, but she can rebuild if she is given the chance. Allowing her to see her mother released those original feelings and memories of wanting to protect someone. She is much like Megatronus, when I had first known him, in that way. He wanted to protect those around him from the caste system. Unlike Megatron, however, (Y/N) had not taken a single life, even under his rule. That alone was proof that she was still there, waiting to be rescued."

     (Y/N) was allowed to see her friend, and she explained what all had happened after she took her stand against Megatron. They noticed her change quite quickly, as she spared no detail in her torture as she told the many stories of her time on the Nemesis. Both would glance at each other when she would laugh at her own misery and admitting having wanted more of it as time went on. They explained the psychology of her condition as best they could without the woman denying it with harsh words and hollering, but their attempts weren't always fruitful.

     It took another three months before (Y/N) was let out of her cell. She was watched by Optimus Prime himself and several human guards. As became habit, the woman would chuckle and speak of how honored she was to feel threatening enough to need the Prime's watchful optic, but she did nothing to warrant any violent action. 

     Another month went by, and she stopped wearing the red contacts, admitting that they stung her eyes. She had seemed to accept the fact that the Decepticons were not going to rescue her, so stopped even mentioning them unless asked. (Y/N)'s cooperation was gradual and slow, but she never betrayed the Decepticons as Ratchet hoped she would. The human likely knew a lot if she was constantly by Megatron's side as she said. (Y/N) would only shake her head if she was asked about specific information. 

         "What happens when the Decepticons get defeated?" Miko decided to push her luck, earning pointed stares from the guards around. "You gonna go berserk again?"

         "I don't know, am I?" (Y/N) smirked. "I bet your pretty little pigtails I'll go berserk long before that if you keep pestering me about it."

     Her smile made the teen back off, though not without sticking her tongue out defiantly. (Y/N) merely chuckled, her arms crossed as she reveled in her verbal victory. Optimus obviously did not approve. 

         "Your frown says I should keep my mouth shut more often." His charge hummed. "Megatron never could, huh?"

         "He has always made his opinion known." Optimus admitted.

     A short pause.

         "If the 'Cons do lose," (Y/N) started, earning the Prime's full attention, "I want to see Megatron's rotting corpse. Maybe I won't feel like copying him if I see him dead. I never wanted to die. Or maybe I will want to perish, since my obsession will no longer be here."

     Optimus hummed in response, thinking of what he could say before giving her a reply.

         "If you do not find closure," he suggested, "perhaps find a new individual to emulate. Nurse Darby helps others, as you did when you were captured. Agent Fowler is a genuine person and does not hide his emotions toward important matters. Your mother is caring, but willing to give harsh instruction if it's needed."

     (Y/N) stared at nothing as she mulled over his words. Her feet shuffled, and her folded arms fell to her sides. Her fists clenched as she looked up at the Prime.

         "I don't hate them, though." She admitted. "I want to be the very being that had control over me. I want control over my own life."

         "And you do." Optimus assured. "You simply have to make the choice of whether or not you will give Megatron authority over your life when he is not even here. By being Megatron, it is as if you are still in that cell on the Nemesis."

     Thinking for another long moment, (Y/N) came to the same conclusion, but she didn't think she could simply shirk off the amount of hate that fueled her ambition. She still felt trapped and wanted freedom. There was only one thing that made her think of freedom, and that was the flight given to her by Megatron. Something about fresh air and meeting the birds above the trees made her heart swell with an unfamiliar happiness. Who said she had to emulate someone, when she could emulate something?

         "I want to be a bird." She stated, earning a confused look from her guardian. It made her giggle, a genuine sound that cracked her lips into a sheepish, shy smile. "I want to fly freely, south for the winter even. I still don't want to help you guys, but if I can just fly, I won't want to help the Decepticons either. Megatron let me experience flight, but in it, I found an envy towards birds and their care-free lives. I couldn't place that feeling when I flew, not in the depth of my despair, but now I know it was joy."

     The two took to staring out the hangar doors, into the sky. No jets flew but (Y/N) admired the colors of the bright blue day. Optimus knew she was mending, both physically and mentally. He found no reason to keep her from her one joy. He was only glad she had found it herself. 

         "You will make a beautiful little bird."

The End