"Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds."

~Niccolo Machiavelli

>>•<<

"Hah! Too quick for ya, huh?" Miko taunted as she dodged yet another slow attack from a Vehicon, grabbing their shoulders and tossing them across the room into the wall, her servos transforming into blasters and giving her the long distance reach she needed to finish the job. She gave the observing Decepticons a grin, her servos reverting back. "That wasn't hard at all. Got more for me to smash?!"

Jack and Rafael stood against the wall, being forced to watch the carnage Miko had caused, the two of them flinching every time a Vehicon managed to score a hit. Their friend did not seem to be hurt in the slightest, but Jack suspected her shields had been lowered by about 75%. And because she was still bouncing on her feet, Megatron would keep her going until she collapsed from exhaustion. Jack was slowly learning how to fake it, and he wished he had told Miko how to as well.

Megatron did not dignify her with an answer, simply nodding at Soudnwave, the two sharing a silent conversation. The communications officer pushed a button, and double the amount of Vehicons poured in, their guns raised. Miko grinned, enjoying the challenge.

Faster than expected she dodged the shots and attacked her first victim, shooting the Vehicon in the face before dodging punches from the two Vehicons next to him, letting them hit each other and then using her own fists to hit them again. Next came out her blades as she went in for a more personal attack, slicing up a Vehicon unlucky enough to get close to her, a whirlwind of destruction that was the pink and black blur.

Rafael flinched, hard, when she was shot in the back, but the girl recovered by using he momentum to somersault away, turning and shooting at her assailant, who went down almost immediately. Getting to her feet, Miko strolled back into the middle of the room, blue optics challenging Megatron. "Piece of cake. That's human for 'easy.'" She put a servo in front of her mouth and faked a yawn. "Do you really not have something harder?"

Megatron let the servos that were clasped behind his back loosen and hang at his sides, Jack immediately straightening with a horrified expression.

"I have something in mind." The warlord hissed, stalking closer to her. "Since you don't seem to know how to speak to your superiors, I will give you a lesson."

Miko felt some of the energon leave her helm as he unsheathed his sword, backing up until she hit the opposite wall, her optics wide. She had gotten ahead of herself, and now she was mentally bracing for the pain that was to come. If Jack was scared, she should be scared.

"What is it, Miko?" Megatron mocked. "Have you become a coward now?"

A newfound fire sprang up in her optics. She would not let anyone call her a coward, much less the leader of the Decepticons! Her parents did not instill many things into their daughter, but the traditional feeling of honor in oneself and their family was rooted deeply within the girl. She would not let the Nakadai name be tainted by such a word as cowardly.

"I am not a coward!" She yelled angrily before lashing out, her side blades coming out of her arms as she cut at the warlord, momentarily surprised when he countered her just as fast. For a mech his sized he moved incredibly fast-

"Gah!" She cried out as his left fist smashed into her, causing her to sail across the room and hit the wall with a crash, the girl dropping like a sack of bricks.

"Stop!" Jack shouted, not caring that it sounded like an order.

The warlord ignored him, instead striding over to Miko.

The girl attacked again, trying to be faster, noting his attacks and counterattacks and for a brief moment avoiding them. She darted back and forth, sometimes dodging his sword and other times his fist, however he was equally adept at anticipating her moves. Not long after her spurt of energy he catches her off guard again, knee driving up into her abdomen before he grabbed her and tossed her across the room again, this time the girl skidding to a stop.

Miko had never felt anything hurt so much. Sure, she had gone through a lot with the Autobots, but she had never been physically hurt. Not like this.

Megatron sneered. "Is this too hard for you, Miko?" He reached down and grabbed her by the throat, denta gleaming at her as she whimpered and choked, energon leaking from her optics. "I thought you wanted something challenging-"

Something slammed into him from the side, breaking Miko out of his grip and sending him rolling. It only took him half a second to realise he was tussling with Jac, the boy initiating some wrestling match that had them rolling back and forth on the ground, occasionally getting a punch in from one or the other. The boy was enraged, anger fueling him and a loathing for the warlord making each hit potentially lethal, not caring if he killed Megatron.

All he received in return was an infuriating grin, and though he wanted his fist to wipe it right off the Decepticon leader's face, Megaron didn't allow it to fade. It was a victory grin, one that is never easily lost.

When Megatron gazed into the red optics of Jack Darby, he knew he had won.

Tentacles latched onto Jack's back and pulled him off of Megatron, brutally throwing him into a nearby wall. Soundwave stalked closer, intending to subdue him further, when his master sat up and wiped energon from his mouth piece.

"Leave him, Soundwave."

The communications officer stopped, his tentacles retracting back, watching as Jack blinked away the red haze, brilliant blue returning to his optics. That didn't last, however, when he saw Miko roll onto her back painfully and groan.

He had hurt Miko, and that was unforgivable.

Jack screamed in rage, fist flying forward and smashing into Soundwave's visor, shattering it, flying past the silent Decepticon like a vengeful banshee and slammed his knee into Megatron's helm, a nasty crack resounding and the warlord slumping over, unconscious.

"Run!!" He yelled once he realized what he had done, grabbing Miko. "Run! Run!"

Soundwave covered the bit of his exposed face with his servo, one half of his visor completely gone, the pieces crunching beneath his pedes as he walked. He immediately alerted Knock Out that Megaron was unconscious and most likely hurt, beginning to run as he silently pursued the kids down the corridor of the Nemesis. He was lucky that his visor had saved him from the brunt of the nasty punch that would have also knocked him out as well.

Jack slung the injured Miko over his shoulder as he and Rafael ran, servo transforming into a gun and shooting at the pursuing communications officer. It would be luck if he were to wound Soundwave again and stop his pursuit, but the most he was hoping for was to at least slow him down, give them room to go hide somewhere for the time being.

"Keep running!" He instructed Raf as he shot, Miko being of service by shooting as well, her aim only slightly better. Her shots hit their mark, and it didn't take much for Soundwave to lose his shielding altogether, internal warnings alerting him to the threat. Begrudgingly, he slowed, but immediately tripped the ships alarms, everyone on board knowing what was going on instantly.

"Scrap!" Jack cursed. "We need to hide!"

"In here!" Rafael ducked inside a room, Jack following. The boy immediately tapped on a few buttons and locked the door, but he knew it would only keep Soundwave out for so long.

"We need to contact the Autobots." Jack said desperately, optics fading back to blue before either of the other former humans could notice. "If Megatron finds us, he'll hurt Miko again, or worse, all of us will be punished!"

"Why didn't you just let him beat the scrap out of me?" Miko coughed, her main energon lines in her neck throbbing.

Jack set her down, having her lean against the wall. "I couldn't let him hurt you, and I won't let him do it again." He turned to the youngest bot. "Raf, could you contact the Autobots?"

"As long as Soundwave doesn't try to stop me, yeah." Rafael went to adjust non-existent glasses before stopping, hand moving up and acting like he was scratching the back of his helm.

"I doubt Soundwave has that on his priority list, after I shattered his visor." Jack noted, nodding toward the computers. Rafael immediately set to work typing, murmuring softly to himself, and occasionally letting out a little prayer. He was met with little interference, and it wasn't long before he found Optimus Prime's comlink. He allowed himself no hesitation.

"Optimus? Do you read me? Optimus?"

[Rafael?] Came the bewildered reply.

"Yes, it's me. We gave Soundwave and Megatron the slip, but the whole ship's on high alert. Miko is hurt too! We need you guys here immediately!!"

[Do not worry, Rafael. We are coming. Ratchet is finding your coordinates as we speak.] Optimus spoke firmly, confidently, not betraying the worry he felt. Miko was hurt, and that sounded far from good.

"Please, hurry." The boy pleaded. "If they find us, Megatron will hurt us all!"

[Only a few more moments, Rafael. And then we will be there.] Optimus did not, for one second, think about ending the call. He would not abandon them, not until he saw them himself. [Ratchet has your coordinates, we are Groundbridging as we speak.]

"Thank the Allspark." Jack breathed, turning his head to look as a Groundbridge opened. Everything, then, began to slow down. The Autobots leaping out, Arcee running towards him while Bee and Bulkhead collected their respective charges as Optimus provided cover. His much smaller guardian lead him through the Groundbridge, and for once Jack felt that it was over, that he was free from the Decepticons. Stepping into the Autobot base was an almost alien feeling, seeing all of his Autobot companions together making his spark swell. His connection to Megatron had numbed, though whether that was due to the base or the fact he was unconscious was uncertain. Nevertheless, it was all very, very surreal.

"We're all here." Arcee announced to Ratchet, who looked incredibly relieved.

"I was told Miko needs medical attention?" The medic prodded, and the bruised but otherwise fine girl was taken to a berth, where the good doctor looked her over carefully, noting the substantial amount of abuse. "Jack, you're next." He grunted, realizing that the boy had probably sustained even more damage, having been exposed longer to Megatron and his wrath.

"Okay . . ." Jack looked around, optics constricted slightly more than usual, still in a bit of a surreal state.

"Jack, you okay?" Arcee inquired worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just . . . Overwhelmed." He smiled. "It's good to be back." After a moment his optics brightened, and he looked around excitedly, searching for someone. "Where is my mother?"

The base went silent, activity stopping as some Autobots looked away guilty and others with immense pity. As he was her charge, Arcee felt obligated to be the one to tell him.

"Jack . . ." She said slowly, wincing as she could see no other way to tell him but bluntly and straight to the point. "After the exchange, Megatron, he . . . He killed your mother. He killed June."

>>•<<

It was a long time after the painfully loud alarms had stopped that they came for her. Only this time, he was with them as well.

Megatron looked angrier than she had ever seen him, which was only slightly leased when he saw that she was still "safely" stuck inside her cell. He stalked over to her without a word and picked her up, none too gently either, and turned to Soundwave, who oddly enough had one servo covering a part of his cracked visor.

"They didn't find her, which means our plan- your plan, Soundwave -worked just as we intended. They believe her to be dead, and so had no reason to search for her here." He spoke aloud, clutching her as he took her away from the cell.

"Of course they did, you shot me!" She shouted, crying out when he squeezed her tightly.

"My patience is at an all-time low, Ms. Darby. Do not test it." He growled, taking her into the same laboratory she had been in before. He dumped her onto the table, Soundwave selecting food items for her with his tentacles. "The Autobots may have the experiments once again, but we still have leverage against them."

The kids. They had escaped! June suppressed a cry of joy. They're safe now.

"But how to go about this?" Megatron mused to Soundwave, not finding June a big enough threat to keep secrets from her. "I doubt the trade will work a second time, not after I duped them so. We will need something better than simply June Darby's life. Something that will tip the scales in our favor for the long-term betterment of the Decepticon cause."

Soundwave gave her the food and water as Megatron speculated, pausing for a moment before he pointed to the computer.

"What is it, Soundwave?" Megatron inquired curiously.

Soundwave silently stalked over and pressed a few keys, pulling up a blueprint for another Cybertronian body, Megatron understanding his meaning immediately.

"We threaten to turn her into an experiment if they don't comply?" His master looked very amused and pleased at the idea.

June felt very, very cold all of a sudden, chilled trickling up her arms. They intended to make her into a Cybertronian as well? And use her like they did the kids? Her mind raced, and she looked around desperately. Was there a way she could escape? Hide? She did not want to die, she was not that desperate, but she couldn't let them-

"We have yet to try and create a Predacon fit for a human mind, have we?" Megatron grinned maliciously. "I'm sure the Autobots wouldn't want us to try that. Especially since they are just now finding our other Predacon experiments, and are dealing with them accordingly."

Her skin began to feel clammy, and she knew she was getting pale. The Autobots were walking into yet another trap, and they didn't even know it . . .

"Excellent work, Soundwave. I will see to it that Knock Out repairs your visor immediately." Megatron turned his back to his third-in-command as he sent the message summoning their medic. "Once he arrives here, you are dismissed to follow him to his medical laboratory. I will take care of June Darby myself."

The woman curled up as she watched the silent Soundwave nod, smaller pieces of his visor falling to the floor, his hand still  covering his exposed face and giving her all the room for imagination. Whatever it was about this mech, he did not want to be seen.

Regardless, she didn't want to be alone with Megatron. His mood was terrible, only temporarily fixed by this new plan. He could snap on her any moment, and she doubted he would be gentle with her, however he decided to punish her. A small bit of anger wormed its way into her heart, and she felt her face warm as her eyes watered.

Why didn't they look for me? I was here, why didn't they look for me?? Do they not care?!

And in a brief moment of that sadness, she hated the Autobots just as much as she hated Megatron and his Decepticons.