"You say freak, I say unique."

~Christian Baloga

>>•<<

"Rrrrragh!" Jack yelled as he leaped into the air, his blades coming out and slicing off the head of the Vehicon, using his momentum to land a few feet from where the body crashed to the ground. Standing up with a turn, he gazed at all the carnage, his glower soon settling on the silent, masked communications officer at the opposite end of the training area.

"Good enough for you?" He spats, servos reverting back to normal as he kicked a Vehicon body aside, stalking back to the other end. He was tired, and what he could only describe as hungry, his body desperately wanting some energon. Soundwave had yet to reward him- like some kind of dog -with such a luxury; he wanted to push the boy to his breaking point.

"He seems to be able to go on forever." Knock Out mused, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. He was simply there for his medical skills, which Soundwave had to admit were better than his own, and as such his commentary was unneeded. Yet Soundwave didn't have the right audio yet to make the Decepticon be quiet.

Jack snapped, clearly not in a good mood. "How about I behead you next?"

Tempting idea, but Soundwave wouldn't allow it.

The communications officer simply held up an arm to block Jack from Knock Out, his mask lighting up briefly.

"Again!"

It angered Jack to no end, his patience stripped raw along with his throat and body. He could take out the Vehicons, wasn't that the only thing that mattered?

He kept his mouth shut, though he didn't stop the growl from rising in his throat. Already he sported marks and scratches from when he had tried to attack Soundwave, only to be defeated in a few seconds while Knock Out gleefully watched. Lashing out wasn't going to do him any good in this scenario, not matter how badly he wanted to break that emotionless mask.

Turning away from the two Decepticons, Jack once again stood in the middle of the empty room, which he decided to call a training arena. Five Vehicons stepped out this time, as opposed to the three he had dispatched with ease. They stepped over their dead comrades with slight unease, gazing up at the intimidating, grey bot that had rage flickering off his body like an aura.

"Just going to keep throwing Vehicons at me until I burn through the ship's supply? Fine by me." Jack curled his servos into fists, squatting into a low-ready position. The Vehicons were like paper puppets, easy to break. It would be just as easy, he supposed, to just let them shoot him until he died, but again, he couldn't do that.

Not for Arcee. And definitely not for my mom. I can't leave her.

Soundwave ignored the boy's jab, instead waiting and watching for the action to begin. The Vehicons had one order: stay alive. It was a futile order that they could not obey, but it was a stronger objective than to simply kill the enemy. This entire thing was a psychological game to Soundwave, one he enjoyed as he slowly peeled away the layers of Jack Darby that made him human, intending to break him and then build him back up as a Decepticon.

Blue optics narrow, dilating into small points as he became completely focused, hands coming up as the Vehicons raised their weapons. It was all the same, from start to finish. They would raise their guns, shoot, miss, maybe hit- but that was what his shields were for -and he would charge and destroy them one by one.

He wasn't very optimistic about his shielding any more, however, as it had dropped down significantly to only 25%, whatever that meant. It wasn't good, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. He attributed it to the lack of energon, tiredness, and overall pummeling he had received the past couple of days.

The red shots came almost too fast, but he had already leaped into the air, his servos transforming into cannons in the blink of an eye, at his command, firing when he wanted and hitting where he aimed. He knocked down two of the five in that one instance, rolling so he dodged more shots and finishing the job with one by destroying his head. Ducking as more shots blasted toward him, his cannons became blades and he was slicing, dismantling one while dodging the shots of another.

The one that had been shot got up slowly, only to get punched back down by his fists, Jack grabbing his body and throwing it with all his might at another one, taking them both out briefly and focusing his attention on the last one that was currently standing. He charged, swords returning and he began cutting, first slicing open the chest before beheading, the head rolling and coming to a shock at Soundwave's feet, Knock Out giving a small, manly squeal of fear.

As the last one, that had not been killed but simply knocked down, got back onto its feet he immediately shot it to death, once again standing in the middle of a massacre. His cannons returned to servos, venting labored as his head spun. The shooting had cost him quite a bit of energon, a mental notification reminding him constantly that he needed-

"Gah!" Knock Out ran over as Jack collapsed. "He needs energon, quickly! Otherwise lord Megatron will have our heads!!"

Soundwave quickly produced the cube he had been saving for this moment, handing it to Knock Out to hand to Jack, the boy strong enough to gulp it down himself, greedily draining the cube. Knock Out checked his vitals before standing back up and brushing himself off.

"Was all that really necessary, Soundwave? You're lucky he didn't go into stasis, or worse!"

Soundwave just simply stared at him, giving him the silent answer. Yes, it was necessary. Going to question me further?

Rolling his optics, the Decepticon medic crossed his arms. "I think that is enough for the time being. Our liege already gave him quite the beating yesterday, so he should rest some more today."

Jack sat up on his own, glaring at the two Decepticons when he got up on shaky legs, swaying slightly as he refuses aid to right himself. "Going to take me back to my room now?" He asks in a bitter tone, words clipped.

"If Soundwave allows it." Knock Out replies casually, indifferent to his suffering or anger.

Again, Soundwave silently walked away, expecting Jack to follow him, rather satisfied with the day's work. He would give Megatron a status update on the boy's condition, as well as his plan for mentally warping him into a Decepticon. It only made sense, that when he was stripped of his humanity and left to be nothing, that they could build up a new identity, a Decepticon identity within him. As long as the Autobots no longer interfered, everything would run smoothly, and Jack would be everything Megatron had hoped he would be.

>>•<<

Ratchet was almost finished with his scanner. He had a few important parts he needed to add onto it, as well as a temporary power source to get it started. Agent Fowler was currently on the hunt for a car that fit Rafael's specifications, so he volunteered to "add that to his grocery list," whatever that meant.

But first, before he could continue or wait to receive that power source, he had to take Nurse Darby home. She had already spent a lot of time away from work, and Agent Fowler had moved her car back at home to avoid suspicion from the neighbors. It was quiet the entire drive there.

As soon as he pulled up he was approached by a taller woman with glasses, who looked suspiciously like Rafael, her eyes filled with concern as a heavily accented voice leaves her lips.

"Ms. Darby, have you heard any news of Rafael?" She asked, hands clasped in a prayer-like manner. Her brown eyes looked very much like her son's, big and innocent-like, yet full of intelligence. She didn't sound very intelligent when she seemed to struggle for the correct words for brief moment. Ratchet wondered why she had a hard time.

June hesitated, her shoulders slumping slightly. How was she supposed to tell Mrs. Esquivel about what had happened? She couldn't reveal the existence of the Cybertronians to the woman, or her family, or either of Miko's, her biological or host family.

"I . . . He's working on it." She lies, thinking hurriedly to come up with an explanation. "Th-there was actually a sighting of Rafael and Miko earlier today, so they're hot on the trail. We don't know who may have taken them, or why, but they're working on it."

"Oh, thank God." Mrs. Esquivel burst into thankful tears. "Are they alright?"

"From what Agent Fowler could see, yes." June hesitated, knowing Ratchet was more than likely listening. "But it's going to take some time. This is a delicate operation, after all."

"As long as my Rafael is safe." The grateful woman nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." June felt a pang in her heart as she thought of Jack. The Esquivel family didn't know it, but they were lucky to have Raf with the Autobots. June was stuck worrying for the safety of her boy, and wondering if he would ever come back to her.

"I will stop bothering you now." Mrs. Esquivel gave the nurse an unexpected hug. "I will keep the children in my prayers tonight."

"Thank you." June forced herself to smile and hug the woman back, bidding her goodbye before trudging up to her trailer, Ratchet not daring to call out to her for fear of being detected by Rafael's mother, who was quickly walking away. He counted a full minute before pulling out of the gravel driveway under the cover of darkness and back to Autobot base, leaving June.

There is nothing, nothing in the world you could offer him to get your son back.

June pursed her lips and refused to let the tears fall as she shed her scrubs and got in the shower, taking a much needed bath. Unfortunately, her loneliness only made her more ready to cry, and so she did, leaning against the shower under the hot water, and sobbed.

She had wanted to tell the Esquivels everything, just to make it clear that they had nothing to worry about, that their son was safe. But her kind nature wouldn't allow her. It refused her urges to scream and cry and use whatever power she had within her to destroy the Decepticons and end the petty war.

That's all it was, petty. Petty and stupid. Their planet was dead, ravaged by the war, and these selfish beings brought it to Earth. And thanks to fate, her son was caught up in the middle of it.

Don't be angry with the Autobots. Don't be.

Her angry body slackened, making way to more crying. This wasn't their fault any more than it was hers. Like any war, there had to be two sides. The ones that want to violently change, and the ones that want to violently remain. But yet there were some who had that violence thrust upon them in the kill-or-be-killed scenario.

Don't be angry.

And so instead she was sad, curling up under the water and crying softly in the lonesome trailer.

>>•<<

"Shockwave, I have an inquiry."

The one eye of the Decepticon scientist looks up at his master as they exit his off-site laboratory, footsteps shaking the rock foundations around them. "And what is that inquiry, lord Megatron?"

"I have noticed over the past few days that Jack has been continuously receiving emotions from me due to the shard of my spark that he possesses. However, after the initial transference of his consciousness into the Cybertronian body, I have yet to receive any similar information from him. How is that possible?"

"The pain may have been due to the fact that your spark was forced to start up and maintain his own. As for the transferred emotions, I believe it is because you yourself do not have a piece of his spark in return. Therefore, the bond is not complete." Shockwave mulled over his words carefully, processing his theories.

"I suppose that explanation is . . . Logical." As it should be, Megatron mused. Shockwave only processed scenarios using logic. A quirk of his that actually became quite useful in the scientific field.

"Indeed. Those are the only two logical theories I can come up with." Shockwave continued. "I would not be surprised if the other two experiments and their donors exhibited similar situations."

"Unfortunately, we may never know, because they escaped!" Megatron seethed. "When do you believe that Jack's processors would be able to handle a cortical psychic patch?"

"It is difficult to say." Shockwave admitted. "It is also potentially dangerous to guesstimate too soon. If his processors took too much damage due to resistance or . . . Rough handling, then it could be permanent."

Megatron was impatient, but with such a risk he would have to force himself to remain patient. So far, the fruits of Shockwave's labor was extraordinary, and to destroy that would be a monumental waste of resources.

He had spent many years searching for and discovering Dark energon, which in itself took a lot of patience. He could wait a little more for the perfect opportunity to get his hands on the experiments and annihilate Team Prime. This time, he suspected, he wouldn't have to wait several years. Perhaps several weeks, at most.

Yes, he could afford to be patient.