"Everything about you is a conspiracy. Just like your love you have for me. It's all a broken dream, with things that are never what they seem."

~Unknown

>>•<<

Wheeljack hung there in silence, his servos clenching into fists as he waged war inside himself. He was doing something he normally didn't do: stop and think. Would Miko's life be worth it? Was the base's location really more important than the life of one of his best friends?

Megatron stood and waited, gaze leveled. He couldn't tell which answer the Wrecker would give, though either one would surprise him. A dangerous grin formed on his faceplate. He had the mech trapped, and it was pleasant to watch him squirm.

"I . . . I can't." Wheeljack grinds his dentas together, forcing his spark to stay together despite the feeling of it being ripped apart. "I won't. You will never get the location out of me!"

The warlord's vocalizers produce a disappointed sound. "What a pity. It seems I was wrong about the Autobots and their attachment to their pets." The door opens behind him, and Soundwave walks in with something clutched in his thin digits. Opening them, a pink and black head pops up.

"Wheeljack!" Miko exclaims, standing up and attempting to escape Soundwave. The mech, however, simply grabs her foot and dangles her in the air, her fists flying toward his face as she made a spectacle of herself. "Lemme go you scrapheap!" She yells. "I'm going to tear you into little pieces once I get my hands on you!"

"No!" Wheeljack sags in defeat. Maybe he could have taken it if they didn't kill her right in front of him. But now . . .

"No what?" Megatron sneers. "Are you reconsidering your earlier statement? Rest assured Wheeljack I am a very lenient and merciful mech; I won't harm a hair on her organic head if you tell me exactly what I want to hear."

Miko stops her thrashing, the blood draining into her head, making her dizzy. She arches her back like a worm, bending so she gets a good look at Wheeljack. "Don't do whatever you're about to do, Jackie! I can take it!" Her fierce gaze almost convinced him she could.

Almost.

"Soundwave, if he doesn't give me an adequate answer in the next ten seconds, I want you to snap her neck." Megatron orders.

Soundwave gives an affirmative nod, continuing to dangle Miko by her leg as he watches Wheeljack, waiting for him to give them an answer. Wheeljack look conflicted, his optics locked on Miko as he fought with himself. Finally, after a long moment, he hung his head and sighed.

"I'll tell you where it is . . ."

>>•<<

June woke up on the couch with a start, the furniture squeaking as her body jerked. Gasping, she shakes her head to clear her vision of the nightmare that had been dancing before her eyes. The kids, horribly transformed into . . . . things. Abominations. And Megatron stood behind them, laughing his rough, sick laugh.

Heart hammering, she looks around the Autobot base to see Arcee was looking better, and Bumblebee was even sitting up, still looking a bit dazed- for a robot anyway. Ratchet was currently looking at the scout, doing an analysis on him with a scanner.

A shame we humans aren't advanced enough to come up with that kind of technology yet. June thinks to herself with a bit of jealousy. It would make diagnosis much easier.

Ah, well. Not like she could just have Ratchet develop a smaller version for humans, patent it as her own, and have it reproduced and sold worldwide without any explanation or research background. An out of the blue invention would raise quite a few eyebrows.

"Stop squirming." Ratchet snaps to Bumblebee. "My scanners can't magically work while you move however you want. What kind of advanced technology do you think I have?"

Bumblebee whirrs and buzzes out his answer, speaking in a language foreign to June. Rafael could understand him, but how she didn't know; it was strange, not even Ratchet had an adequate answer as to why. He just could.

Like his hacking skills. June's phone felt much heavier, the texts between her and Megatron having yet to be deleted. She felt like a traitor, and selfish. Selfish that she kept the albeit threatening texts, but they reassured her Jack was okay . . . then. She was traitorous to her Autobot friends, who worked to protect her from evil beings like Megatron.

And she was texting him of all things. Granted, they were formal texts; not shortcuts or emoticons, but all the same.

It was honestly the last thing she ever expected herself to do.

Ratchet grunts again in annoyance but says nothing else, finishing his assessment with Bumblebee and making the scout lie back down to recharge, Bulkhead and Smokescreen loitering around- the former had healed very swiftly and nicely. Optimus and Shovel were still searching for Wheeljack, but June had a nasty feeling that they wouldn't find him. She hated the feeling, but her intuition strongly suggested so. And Ultra Magnus was still in surgery, but this time Ratchet was fixing his optic. So, it was a bit of improvement since the back surgery; but June didn't even know if his back was properly repaired yet.

Arcee stared at the ceiling, optics dim and expression blank. She was awake, but her processor was somewhere else. Ratchet wasn't letting her up anytime soon, and so she took the free time to wallow in self pity. Memories of Tailgate and Cliffjumper surfaced, making her spark ache. While active she could distract herself, but now with nothing to do the memory files opened and attacked her viciously.

I won't lose a third partner. No, I will do everything in my power to get Jack away from that . . . that monster and bring him back to his mother. Tailgate and Cliffjumper may be gone, but perhaps Primus was just leading me to Jack; a human that works at a fast-food restaurant and gets paid what may or may not be minimum wage.

She wondered what her previous partners would think of Jack. He and Cliff would definitely get along; they both had a tendency to get themselves in the worst of situations. Practical jokers too, she could imagine them laughing at something . . . like covering Vince's car with burgers.

Jack and Tailgate? Yeah, they'd get along too. Tailgate knew how to focus on the mission, get things accomplished. He was brave too, a little too brave. Her optics close as the traumatizing memories surface. He tried to be so strong for her, but in the end . . .

Stop. She commands herself, optics brightening as she pulls herself back into the present. You can't help Jack if you're lying here like a pitiful scrap-heap. Heal, rest up, and then kick some aft. Major aft.

Bzzzzt.

Her sensitive audio receptors picked up a loud buzz, one that even made Ratchet look up. And by the direction he looked it was June that had made the noise.

"Sorry." June says sheepishly. "My phone had a reminder on it."

"Your phone vibrates that loud?" Ratchet asks with disbelief.

June felt herself blushing as she picked up her phone. "Resting on the table it does. Just reminding myself I need to . . . um, do yoga at one. For exercise."

Ratchet gives her a skeptical look. "You need to remind yourself of that?"

"Usually my days are busy." She replies defensively. "Especially when I have clinic duty." Retreating to the couch, June feels her empty stomach twist as she looks at who contacted her.

Megatron.

Never had she anticipated him to initiate a conversation with her, much less over text. She was almost too afraid to open the message, but nevertheless she did, steeling herself in the process.

"If you wish to live in order to meet your son once again in the future, I suggest evacuating the Autobot base. However, you must not tell your friends; if you do I will not hesitate to kill Jackson at the precise moment I learn of your betrayal to me."

Her heart leaps into her throat. Please no . . .

Looking up from her phone her eyes wander around the base, the five present Autobots busying themselves with something. She couldn't . . . just leave them. But she didn't want to die, and she didn't want Jack to die.

Selfish.

Her fingers fly frantically across the keyboard. "How do you know of the location?! You told me you weren't tracking my phone!"

"I told the truth when I said I was not. I received my information from a . . . reliable source."

June didn't want to even know who he tortured to find that out. She felt sick again, because no matter what she did, she would betray and kill the Autobots. Was she brave enough to die with them? Or was she too selfish to let that happen to herself?

"You're a monster." She finally texts back, knuckles white as she clutched her phone.

She could almost hear his dark chuckle as he replied. "Oh, Ms. Darby, you have no idea."

Leaning back in the sofa, she suppresses a distressed cry and instead bites her lip and lets out a long sigh. He just couldn't stop at torturing those within his grasp, he had to make sure she was in pain as well. His twisted mind enjoyed as much destruction as it could, and it made her ill to think of it.

He was right, she had no idea how much of a monster he truly was. But he was definitely an ugly one.

>>•<<

"Shovel, have you found any sign of Wheeljack?" Optimus asks from his vantage point above the cave, looking for any signs of the mech having clawed his way out of the cave. He had yet to find any.

"No." The Vehicon replies, emerging from the little hole he had managed to dig into the cave, armor dull from dust. "But if this cave had not appeared before due to geological phenomena, then won't it disappear again after a certain amount of time?"

Optimus had to admit he was impressed with the Vehicon. He proved to be more intelligent that they were originally stereotyped to be. "You are probably right, which is why we need to hurry."

Walking down from his original position, Optimus scans the area for any human activity. It would be most inopportune for them to be discovered here, yet at the same time humans proved to be ambitious creatures. If they wanted they could dig out this cave-in within a matter of hours if they found it necessary. But this was a delicate operation; going too fast could end up making them hurt Wheeljack by not being gentle, but they couldn't go too slow or the cave could close again.

"Are we alone out here?" Shovel asks suddenly, having stood straight up and looked at Optimus.

The Prime was most definitely confused by the question. "I believe so. I haven't seen any human activity, not has Ratchet contacted us about any Decepticon activity-"

The Vehicon's small servos turn into guns in mere half seconds, bringing them level with Optimus's hips in another few seconds. "Don't move."

Optimus stares at Shovel with disbelief. He is more clever than we realized. More clever than we believed possible for a mech of his status.