Warning: this chapter is really feelsy just so you know. Soooo yeah.

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----- MECH HQ about a week later -----

Ever since the two arrived Kari had kept causing trouble and kept trying to escape, no matter what they did. She was hurt more than Kaiser, who just did as she was told and did not fight back much. Kari was growling and looking around her cage at all the dried blood and some fresh from recent struggles. She sighed and took her wounded left hand and staggered to the right far corner from the door and sat there, legs flat on the ground. She began to draw something that resembled the autobots vaguely. She then narrowed her eyes at the drawing and frowned. Kari was frightened and wanted to go home badly.

"I wanna come home... I miss you... I need help... They're hurting me... Please, I can't leave..." Kari gulped in a low raspy tone, her voice almost gone because she had been screaming in either anger or pain and it was taking a toll on her. She sniffled and gulped.

"Thirteen, lets go." A man said, referring to Kari's brand number. They had tattooed roman numerals on her and Kaiser when they got there. Kari's was thirteen and located on her left shoulder blade and was silver while Kaiser's was three and was located on the right side of her hip.

"... No..." Kari growled and the man sighed.

"Don't make me get Bishop..." He said, crossing his arms and Kari blinked, adjusted the hood of her black hoodie that covered her face and stood up slowly and wobbled to the door, her stomach growling. "Food first then more tests." The man grumbled and shoved Kari forward to keep her moving towards the cafeteria.

Kaiser sighed as she had to listen to Kari's screaming and shouting, Kaiser wanted out just as badly as Kari but even she wasn't that stupid. "I guess now she'll understand what I had to go through at the beginning of this all, the only difference is that I couldn't even try to escape at all." Kaiser thought to herself as her thoughts when to Megatron and the other two.

"You guys are coming right, you wouldn't leave me to be all alone..." Kaiser said talking to herself hoping they'd come get her sometime soon because if they can get her out then they'd be able to get Kari out of here too. Soon it was time for the two girls to be tested on, as always. Like the tests the day before these ones hurt bad. When they were done with their tests Kaiser and Kari were taken back to their cells, Kari tried to make a break for it, like yesterday, and failed, like yesterday. She was sedated and thrown into her cell then locked in there for the rest of the day.

"Little brat... She ain't even human! Why do we even put up with this, can't we just kill this one? She's just too much and won't cooperate like the other one."

"Boss says to keep them both alive since they are both different and unique."

"... Fine, but if something goes wrong I'm taking the first shot." Two men talked to each other as they walked away from Kari's cell, passing Kaiser's. Kaiser had over heard the two men's conversation and punched the door hard.

"Kari is as human as I am! And if any of you try to kill her I'll slit your throats!" Kaiser shouted, angrily threatening them.

"Shut up three! You aren't human either you brat!" the taller of the two, the one who wanted to kill Kari, growled.

"I don't think you'd want to do that anyway." The shorter of the two huffed. "Come on, let's go." The two then left the area. Kaiser wiped the blood off her left hand from punching the door as she went and sat down leaning her back onto the wall.

"We need to get out of here, scrap even if the autobots saved us I couldn't care less." Kaiser said softly to herself just wanting to go back.

----- a few months since they arrived -----

Kari had stopped fighting the MECH people and just sat in the right far corner from the door. Her left leg was broken while her right was wounded badly and hurt to walk on. Her left eye had an eye patch over it while the bandages around her right arm were ripped up to reveal parts of a nasty scar. Her left cheek was bruised slightly and her whole face was cut up and scared, like the rest of her body. Her neck, though hidden by her scarf, had been bandaged because she was cut there and now was unable to speak for who knows how long. She had the same lifeless gaze she had back when she was controlled by the decepticons and she was put on break for tests for about an hour so she could rest. The old drawing of the autobots had an "x" over them with the words "They aren't coming, are they?" above it. She gulped and heard the door creak open and someone walked in then forced Kari onto a wheelchair and took her to the testing room, where Kaiser was but a glass screen separated them.

Kaiser had a few bandages that covered up her right arm, her torso, her left leg, and a big band aid on her left cheek covering up a large cut she had. Her body had cuts, bruises and some almost hand like in prints on her skin. Her sapphire eyes a bit more emotionless than normal with a permanent frown that tugged on her lips. There have been an increase of her illusions turning on her while alone in her cell as they would try to kill her since she hasn't been using them often. Once again Kaiser was being held against her will still waiting to be saved from this rotten place along with Kari.

"Starscream, where are you and the others.... Have you and the others given up on looking for me? I thought you cared..." Kaiser thought sadly as she was in the testing room once again as Leland was watching as usual. Kari was rolled into her half of the room, her gaze to the floor and her hood up. The tests began and this one triggered something. The two girls were in so much pain that they sent out a distress signal to their guardians, Chase and Snowflake respectively, without knowing it. Leland knew and blamed Kari, since she had always caused trouble for MECH. So when she was back in the room he personally went in and began to punish her with a beating.

----- Autobots HQ, moments after signal was sent -----

Chase and Snowflake were chilling when their eyes began to glow as well as Chase's diamond symbols. Chase looked to Snowflake and they nodded in unison then roared out loudly together and raced to the ground bridge control panel and typed in a few coordinates and looked to the bots then the ground bridge, not open yet, and bounced up and down in a hurry as if they were telling the bots to open the ground bridge and get going. Bumblebee looked at the two confused.

"What's gotten into them?" Bumblebee asked looking around to the other bots in the room. Arcee watched the two as if they found something. Optimus went over and looked to see what was going on. Chase roared and pointed his tail to the lever then to the ground bridge and growled then bounced again. Optimus grabbed the lever and pulled it turning on the ground bridge.

"I wonder where they're trying to take us, it better not be a waste of time!" Arcee said as Snowflake let out a mewl and ran into the ground bridge. Megatron looked to Starscream and Knockout as he followed after Kaiser's Guardian. Starscream raced in after Megatron went then Knockout. Chase let out a happy cooing sound and raced in quickly after gesturing for the autobots to follow. Ratchet did not come, he stayed behind to watch Rebecca since everyone else was busy. He also got the first aid kit ready just in case. Optimus followed Chase as Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead followed behind him as the ground bridge closed behind them as they were taken to the location that Snowflake and Chase was leading them to. Chase roared happily and sniffed the air, smelling Kari. He looked to the autobots, sneezed then bounded off towards a building with an ominous feeling around it. They all walked around the building, looking into windows and seeing inside the cells. Optimus looked into one that a man was beating up a girl... That girl was Kari. Optimus frowned at Kari as she was getting hurt, but he couldn't do anything or they'd have their cover blown.

Leland punched Kari in the stomach for once again causing trouble, both of the girls were causing trouble so he had someone dealing with number three until he could.

"How much longer is it gonna take you to realize that no one is coming for you or your friend! You and three belong to us!" Leland shouted in Kari's face.

The voiceless child shivered and bit her thumb to cause some blood to seep out. "It won't happen again sir. I promise." She wrote, her face kept hidden by her hoodie and her head hung low as her gaze stared at the ground between her legs that were slightly spread apart. Leland smirked as he turned to leave the cell room to make sure the other girl was getting her punishment as well. Optimus and the others hid themselves so they weren't seen by the unknown man. Kari looked up slightly with a frown then looked back down. She wanted to get up and walk but she was not able to because the MECH people had her crutches and wheelchair. So, she stayed where she was, making a weak barrier around herself as she narrowed her eyes slightly, holding herself and crying silently, knowing that what Leland said was right. He had broken her and made her believe no one was coming for her, made her feel like she was nothing at all. Once the man was gone into another cell Optimus moved and grabbed the top of Kari's cell and pried it off completely. Bumblebee was frowning as he saw her completely hurt and sad. Optimus reached his hand inside for Kari.

"Kari, I'm deeply sorry we took so long to find you." Optimus said in a low tone, but enough for her to hear him feeling awful about having such a hard time locating her until now. Kari did not look up. She struggled to curl deeper into the corner she was in, trying not to hurt her legs any more than she already had. She trembled quickly as the barrier around her began to flash and lose shape as Kari's negative emotions spiraled.

"Go away..." She wrote on the wall. "You're just hallucinations again. No one's coming for me. Security's too tight and I've tried to leave. No one's coming for me, Leland said." She wrote with a trembling hand. Bumblebee frowned as he moved over and reached his hand in.

"Kari it's really us, we couldn't find a trace of how to find you and-and we've all missed you so much and have been worried... We're here now to take you home, that mean guy is lying to you, please take my hand Kari." Bumblebee said feeling his chest area hurt a lot seeing her as she couldn't speak. Arcee frowned as she watched Bumblebee try to get Kari come with him. Kari did not move.

"I can't..." She wrote. "They'll kill me... And... My left leg is broken while my right might as well be broken... I can't walk..." Kari began to grit her teeth. Bumblebee frowned more as his anger grew for those who hurt Kari.

"Kari we will protect you, all you have to do is put down your barrier and I'll carry you... We made a promise to play video games when you came home... Please Kari, we want you to come home." Bumblebee pleaded to her. Optimus watched as Bumblebee talked to Kari. Kari did not move and kept her barrier up.

"Sir! Sir!!" A voice called and Kari jolted. She knew what was going to happen. Leland was going to come back any minute now. Kari looked up with a frown, taking down her hood and revealing her beaten face to them. Her right eye showed she was crying and tears stained her face as her lips quivered. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She looked to the door and then made up her mind. The barrier came down and Kari looked down, avoiding eye contact with the autobots. Bumblebee gently scooped up Kari in his hands being careful with her as he held her to his chest.

"We must be careful now. Now all that left is ----" Optimus was speaking until a loud scream could be heard down the hall a bit. Arcee looked in the direction as Snowflake whimpered at the screaming. Starscream went to Snowflake and looked in the window of the cell she was at and saw Kaiser. Kaiser was back handed across the face by Leland as she snapped her head back and spitted at his face.

"Get away from me!" Kaiser shouted only to have her hair grabbed and kneed in the stomach. Leland released her hair as she dropped to the floor curled up.

"You're a disappointment, I thought you'd be a much better example on how to be a good girl but I guess I was wrong. You have no hope of getting out of here because no one is coming to save you." Leland gave her one more kick before leaving the cell, closing and locking the door behind him. Kaiser winced as she was alone, again in pain having a taser mark on her left shoulder from before Leland got in the room. Starscream growled then pulled up the roof of Kaiser's cell.

"Kaiser, I'm here." He said and put his hand down for her to get on. Kaiser looked up as she heard the voice that sounded so familiar to her and her eyes light up like Christmas lights.

"S-starscream!" Kaiser shouted scrambling up and running to get on his hand regardless the pain she was in at the moment, she was happy to see him. Snowflake made a purring noise as she heard Kaiser from inside the cell. Megatron waited for Starscream to pull Kaiser out of her cell so he could see her, he was worried about what they had done to her. Starscream smiled lightly as he pulled her up and held her close. Kaiser smiled and hugged part of him.

"I'm so happy to see you! I got really scared that day they kidnapped me, I thought I wasn't gonna see you, or Megatron, or-or Knockout... I missed you guys." Kaiser said as she tried to move her extremely long bangs out of the way.

"Hey, hey! Kaiser it's ok. We're here now. Sorry it took so long." Starscream chuckled, trying to calm the girl. Optimus and the others watched as Kaiser was now free as well. Megatron walked over and saw that her hair was a lot longer and needed a haircut and bruised and cuts all over. Kaiser looked over to Megatron and smiled as she jumped from Starscream to Megatron safely landing on his shoulder and hugging side of his face.

"Dad! I'm sorry, I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble!" Kaiser said feeling like Kari when she gets food. Megatron was shocked, but smiled and patted her head gently.

"As long as you're safe it's no trouble, we need to go now." Megatron said as he looked to Optimus to call Ratchet. Kari looked over to Optimus and frowned then she shifted her gaze back to the ground. She gulped own her tears and hugged herself as they went back while Optimus called Ratchet.

"Optimus, do you have them?" Ratchet answered.

"Is Kari ok?!" Rebecca called from the back ground loudly.

"Yes, Ratchet, we have them. Open the ground bridge now." Optimus said as he looked over to the two girls, but mostly to Kari because she must of been so hurt.

"Alright." Ratchet called then opened the ground bridge for everyone to go through. Bumblebee went through first as he held Kari, then Arcee, Bulkhead went after Chase. Starscream then walked in after Bulkhead and Knockout after him then finally Megatron and then Snowflake followed him and finally Optimus went through as the ground bridge closed behind him leaving the awful place that had hurt Kari and Kaiser. Kari looked at Rebecca and then hid her face. Rebecca frowned at her then gulped.

"Where is everyone else?" She asked Kari. The girl did not answer. She then gulped and wanted to be put down in her room, trying to tell Bumblebee, but was unsuccessful. Bulkhead looked to Kari and blinked.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Why aren't you talking?" Kari gritted her teeth and removed her scarf a bit to reveal her bandages around her neck she frowned and glanced down, putting her right hand to her throat and winced. Kari was upset about losing her voice and wanted it back. But she feared she would never get it back. This made her sad and she sniffled and Bulkhead jolted. "K-kari d-don't cry, please." He gulped and tried to cheer Kari up but it didn't work at all. Tears streamed from Kari's right eye while the left had some tears and blood coming from her eye patch since her eye wound had re-opened slightly. Bumblebee looked down at Kari frowning as it pained him to see her like it. Kaiser looked over and frowned as she turned into black mist and reappeared on Bumblebee as she hugged Kari like she used to.

"Shhh Kari, it's okay, we're both safe. Leland isn't going to hurt us anymore, we're free." Kaiser said gently smoothing out Kari's hair being the old big sister figure.

Kari kept crying, her mouth moving as she tried to let even a small peep escaped her throat but nothing came out. She hugged Kaiser back hesitantly, wanting comfort even if it was from Kaiser. She sniffled and sobbed as the tears kept coming down her face, happy she was out but upset and hurt that she had to endure that nightmare for so long.

"Why aren't you being like that Kaiser?" Arcee asked with a little bit of an attitude. Kaiser looked over and glared at her a bit.

"Because I've already had to gone through being kidnapped once and been held against my will, we've both tried getting out of there Kari more than myself, but it was useless we'd always get tased and sedated every time. Then we were woken up they'd beat us up as punishment. So that's why I'm not as broken." Kaiser said referring to the very beginning of this all. Bumblebee frowned wishing they had been able to find them sooner so they didn't have to get hurt. Kari then let go of Kaiser and sniffled, wiping her face and nuzzled into Bumblebee trying to hide or get protection, maybe a little of both. Kaiser looked up to Bumblebee before giving a nod, a small frown and jumped down to head over to Knockout since she didn't get to talk to him yet. Bumblebee watched as he held Kari gently closer to him wanting her to feel safe in his arms. Optimus watched them from a small distance away with a soft smile, but there was still a part of him frowning while Arcee watched Bumblebee hold Kari, glad the young girl was ok now, to an extent. Kaiser got to Knockout and smiled up at him.

Kari shivered and blinked, looking to Ratchet. The old bot nodded and gestured for Bumblebee to bring Kari to the infirmary and for Kaiser to join them. He then began to check on them and take care of their wounds as best as he could, changing the bandages as well.

"Ok, Kari I'm going to take off your eye patch so I can see what I'm dealing with. Okay." Kari frowned then nodded slowly as Ratchet took off her eye patch to reveal a big slash along her eye as if she was mauled by a wild animal. This could have easily left her without an eye but thankfully she still had one. Ratchet gulped and cleaned the big gash and put a fresh eyepatch over her eye. He then got to work on her leg, putting a cast on the left one then wrapping up the right one after cleaning it. He then went to bandage her right arm, since the bandages she had on at the moment were barely there. Kari's right arm had no wounds but he knew she liked to keep it wrapped up. But as Ratchet went to put on bandages around her right arm Kari stopped him and pointed to Kaiser, knowing that she needed the bandages more than her and that they were running low on supplies. "You sure?" Kari nodded as her answer. Kaiser sighed as she took a knife and cut her bangs to a length so it wasn't completely in her face then cut her hair so it stopped mid-back as she waited. Snowflake was sitting next Kaiser swaging her tail while Chase lying next to Kari, his head near her lap as he sighed. Soon the two were done getting patched up and Chase walked out with Kari on his back, Ratchet close behind Kaiser and Snowflake as they left the room.

Kari put her scarf back on and gulped, patting Chase's neck and pointed to her room. Chase nodded and went that way and helped Kari onto her bed then closed her door and locked it like Kari told him to do. Kaiser looked at the door and frowned a bit but then walked over to Megatron since they were going to leave.

"So as of now we're enemies again. Goodbye." Megatron exit as he transformed and took off. Kaiser looked over to Knockout as she was going to go with Knockout. The bot transformed and let her in happily, glad she was ok. Kaiser smiled as she got in and shut the door then buckled up.

"Let's go home Knockout." Kaiser said as Snowflake sat on her lap.

"Very well." He said then was off after Starscream and Megatron left. Optimus watched as the decepticons left with Kaiser and went back inside to check on Kari. The girl kept her room locked, even as she heard footsteps approaching her room. She hoped whoever it was just passed by. Optimus stopped in front of her door and knocked.

"Kari, can you please let me in." Optimus asked from the other side of the door. Kari blinked then flicked her head from Chase towards the door and he opened it, letting Optimus in then grabbed a notepad and pencil and gave them to Kari. Optimus entered the room and pulled up a chair to Kari's bed and sat down.

"I am really sorry about taking so long to save you." Optimus apologized again. Kari weakly took her pencil in hand and wrote in her notepad.

"... It's ok... I'm... Glad to be home... I... missed you all... So much..." She showed Optimus and sniffled lightly.

"We missed you a lot too... Bumblebee was really worried about you." Optimus said gently. Kari tilted her head, slightly confused. Wouldn't everyone be just as worried? So why did he mention Bumblebee being the most worried? Kari didn't question it.

"You all were worried, right? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. If I had known that we were being watched then... Then I'd still have my voice and I wouldn't have worried you guys so much... I'm so sorry..." She wrote down and showed Optimus.

"No it's fine, we're just glad you're finally back home." Optimus said with a smile.

"Kay... I'll try to be better if I'm threatened like that again." Kari wrote down with a small cough and showed Optimus, her throat wound opening slightly because of that silly tickle in her throat that made her cough ever so slightly. Optimus shook his head.

"Don't push yourself too much alright Kari, you rest and get better." Optimus said. Kari nodded and then glanced to her exposed right arm. It had a nasty scar on it that zig zagged down her arm and forked out in three directions once it was an inch above her wrist. The three paths then stopped about a centimeter above her wrist. She frowned as her eyes narrowed at it sadly.

"You should get some rest." Optimus said as he gently patted her head making sure not to hurt her. Kari nodded her head and looked to Optimus then Chase came up and helped her under the covers then tucked her in happily. Optimus was leaving the room as he took one more look at Kari as she was laying in her bed all tucked in and then left as the door closed behind him once he was out.