"I've always believed in savoring the moments. In the end, they are the only things we'll have."

~Anna Godbersen, The Luxe

>>·<<

Jack was angry. In fact, he was so much more than angry; he was livid. Just when he thought nothing could get any worse, he was proven wrong again by Megatron. He realized now why Optimus was reluctant at first to stop him, before coming to his own conclusion that the only way to make this war end was to end Megatron.

The warmonger was like the winter frost. The day before, one would think it is too warm for the winter freeze to take over, but then the next day realize their mistake. The frost came at night, and killed everything in its path while everyone was asleep.

That is just what Megatron did. He killed the Autobots.

"I won't let you get away with this!" His voice tears through his throat as he struggles against the energon bonds, grunting with rage. "I will avenge their deaths!"

"And how exactly do you propose to do that?" Megatron leers above him, clawed servo resting on the boy's metal slab. He could easily smash the boy into oblivion with one careless flick on his hand; he was rather amused at the fact that the human was convinced he could take him. Him, a seasoned gladiator no less.

"I will." There was a gleam in his eyes, a gleam Megatron was all too familiar with. "Even if it kills me!"

"Jack . . ." For once in her life Miko was warning Jack to stop. Perhaps it was the shock of nearly dying, but something about her had changed a little. Now, instead of fighting the Decepticons, she tried to avoid any conflict. But only an hour or so had passed; she would probably regain her gun-ho demeanor soon enough.

Rafael was silent. His wide eyes and shaking body suggested that he was terrified, but what exactly he was scared of was uncertain. Shockwave knew the little human better than Megatron did, he could probably decipher whatever he was fearing now.

Megatron hardly cared, he was too busy taunting Jack to even really take any notice of the other two humans.

Sharp teeth gleaming as he grins, Megatron chuckles. "I'm not sure your mother would be pleased with that, Jackson. She is very concerned about your current health status especially now that your Autobot friends are gone."

Jack's blue eyes widened a little, his anger dissolving as a lump forms in his throat. Voice coming out at a higher pitch, the warlord didn't need his sensors to know that Jack was very, very afraid.

"Y-you talked to my mom . . .?" His voice returned a little stronger, escaping his mouth as desperate. "Where is she?! You better not have layed your hands on her!"

Laughing, Megatron scrapes the tips of his claws against the metal, leaving a few scratch marks. "Wouldn't you like to know? Unfortunately, she has yet to disclose to me her current location." His red optics glitter with malice. "I could let you talk to her . . . For a certain price."

Jack grits his teeth. "And what would that be?"

The warlord leaned in close, close enough that Jack could see the small scars that littered his face, and the details composing the deep ones by his mouth and eyes.

"You willingly go through with Shockwave's experiments. You follow each instruction given to the letter." Though Jack expected there to be warm, possibly repulsive breath hitting him, there was none. It was an odd and slightly uncomfortable feeling. "Besides," Megatron was grinning even more, sharp teeth dangerously close to Jack's delicate skin and clothes. "it's not like you have a choice as to whether or not you go through with the experiment, so why not make the process all the more easier?"

"All of that, just so I can have a phone conversation with my mom?" Jack spats. "I feel like this 'deal' you want to make is heavily biased."

Megatron just chuckled, standing upright again and waving a hand. "Well then, if that is a no, I suppose I will let her know that her son has no interest in sharing his last moments with her . . ."

"You better tell her why!" Mike suddenly explodes, jerking up and fighting against her restraints. "I wanna hear you tell her that you were going to force Jack to make a stupid deal, and he said no!!"

The Decepticon's red gaze falls on her, twisted grin still plaster on that faceplate of his; Jack had the strong urge to slap it right off. "Ah, so she can still speak. I was worried that Soundwave had somehow damaged you when he had you upside down."

The growl that came from Miko was far from human. "It takes a lot more than some stupid threats to make Miko Nakadai back down from anything!" The fire that had been temporary dimmed by a reality check was blazing again, burning hot and bright in her eyes.

"A shame I couldn't have more Decepticons like you." His tone sent chills down Jack's spine, the boy's one good fist gripping in rage, his other throbbing too much for him to even move. "We need foolish bravery like yours in the front lines; however that only seems like an Autobot quality."

"Yeah." Miko hisses back. "And that's why you can't make me into whatever Decepticon lackey you're hoping to turn me into!"

"We'll see about that, Miko." The sharpness of his voice suggested that he had a way of doing just what Miko said he couldn't do, the horror of what he may be implying dawning on Jack. Somehow, he was going to try and turn them into some kind of killing Decepticon machines . . .

"My lord!!" A distressed comlink call comes from Knock Out. "Th-there's something I need to tell you . . . Now!"

Frowning, the Decepticon leader turns his back to the children. "Meet me on the bridge, Knock Out. I will attend to you shortly." He was clearly annoyed by the interruption, but decided that if Knock Out of all mechs needed him, it must be something worth his time.

"Forgive me, but there is another matter I must attend to." He doesn't turn back around to face them, but instead begins walking slowly to the lab doors. "Think about it, Jackson. I will return tomorrow to hear your final answer."

Jack grit his teeth but said nothing, watching with absolute hatred as Megatron exited the lab and the doors closed behind them, leaving the three of them alone. While that didn't seem like such a good idea considering the last time the three kids were left unattended, Jack would bet money with absolute certainty that Soundwave was watching them 24/7 through surveillance cameras.

"Jack . . ." Rafael finally spoke, his first words in a long time. "Don't do it. It's not worth it, even if he does try to convince your mom otherwise."

"I know." The older boy slumps back down in defeat, closing his eyes. "I know I can't. I want to, so badly, but I shouldn't. Not when that . . . That monster is going to force me to do this willingly. Mom wouldn't want that."

"She wouldn't." Miko agreed. "Besides, your mom's strong. She trusts that you can make this, that you'll be fine, and you will take care of Raf and me." She tries to joke. "Well, more like Raf. I can take care of music!"

"Yeah." As much as Jack wanted to believe her, he couldn't. He knew his mom would be absolutely frantic, if she wasn't already. She would do something crazy if he didn't tell her otherwise.

She had already lost a husband, she didn't want to lose her only son too.

>>·<<

June watched Ratchet mend Ultra Magnus absentmindedly, phone in hand. Megatron had not attempted to contact her since their last conversation, and she wondered of he would again. Who was to say he would keep his word and let Jack call her? He had lied plenty of times before, so what was to stop him from doing it again and again?

Her phone buzzed in her hand again and she jumped, glancing down as it buzzed a short while later. Her heart leapt when she read the caller I.D. No way . . . Did he . . .?

Ratchet looked up at June with annoyance, then suspicious confusion as she looked like the happiest woman on Earth, ignoring him and rushing out of the base to take the call. Pausing, the old medic puts down his tools and sits up, looking at the spot where the woman had been with a puzzled expression. Why would June Darby, who just lost her son, be completely ecstatic about receiving a phone call? Who could possibly be calling her at this point in time that would make her so happy?

Meanwhile June had exited the base and was pacing back and forth on the ground, hesitating for just a moment before she flips her phone up and puts it to her ear. "H-hello?"

The few seconds that followed were excruciatingly slow and painful, an equally unsure and reluctant voice responding to her. "Mom . . .?"

"Jack?! Oh, Primus above, is it really you?" She sobs into the phone, leaning against the base wall with relief.

"Yeah, it's me." His voice alone told her all she needed to know: he was safe, he was healthy, he was alive. "Mom, is it true? Have you been talking to him, Megatron?"

Lower lip trembling, June felt her heart break a little as she heard the betrayal in Jack's voice. "I was scared, Jack. I thought he had killed you. I needed to know you were okay." Tears flow down her cheeks freely. "Did he hurt you?"

"Not . . . Not exactly." Her breath and heart stopped for a moment, freezing in place as her eyes widened with horror. "I tried to escape, and ended up breaking a thumb. Then Shockwave dislocated my wrist. Knock Out patched it up, but he did about as good of a job as you can imagine."

"Let me look at it!" She blurts, hand clutching the phone.

"No mom! NO!! He'll capture you too, and I won't allow that to happen." There is a pause as neither of them know what to say next. "I'm fine, mom, really."

"What about Miko and Rafael? Are they okay?" June wasn't about to go and tell their families, but for her own sake she wanted to know. To her, they were just as good as her kids.

"They're fine. Miko is a bit rattled; they used her to get information out of Wheeljack-"

"Wheeljack is alive?!" Once again she explodes without meaning to, her head swirling with questions and hands shaking, unsure of how much time the Decepticons were willing to give Jack.

"Yes; I'm guessing they took him captive during the explosion. How or why, I don't know." A sigh escapes him. "Is it true? Did Starscream . . . kill all of the Autobots?"

June squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make herself sound more broken and defeated. "He did." Her lower lip trembles again, sniffing and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry Jack." She can't help but sob again as she says his name. "I'm s-sorry."

"It's okay, mom." Just hearing him say that made her heart both clench and relax. Jack didn't realize it, but he was her rock, and she appreciated how strong and independent he was becoming. She had supported him when he was younger, and now he is returning.g the favor by supporting him as he gets older. "I . . . I don't know what the Decepticons are planning to do. But we have Wheeljack, and Miko, so you can bet that they won't get too far in their plan."

A strangled laugh escapes her. "You're right, you're right." Feeling as if the conversation was coming too soon to a close she asks another question. "Will you be able to call me again?"

Jack's hesitation told her all she needed to know, but yet she didn't stop him from saying it.

"I don't know. But, mom, I want you to remember something, okay?"

"Okay." She replies without missing a beat, listening carefully.

"I love you. No matter what happens, I always will."

Her words, though simple, catch in her throat. Instead, she shakes her head. "No, Jack. This isn't goodbye, please . . . Don't go." Her words were small and meek.

"I don't want to." There was a pause. "Shockwave wants me back in the lab as soon as possible . . . He'll get angry."

Her broken heart could barely take it. "Jack-"

"Mom, Soundwave is ending the call."

"I love you too." She rushes, crying into her phone. "I love you too baby, so much."

"Mom-"

Whatever Jack was going to say next was cut off, the line buzzing as it went dead. June stood there, with her mouth hanging open in shock, for a long time.

>>·<<

"Wheeljack is alive?!"

"June has been communicating with Megatron?"

Bulkhead and Arcee's initial reactions indicated their priorities on the matter at hand, Ratchet nodding grimly as he looks up at the screen.

"It seems to be that way." He replies, digits resting on the keyboard. Though the medic didn't want to do it, he had listened in on June's conversation, and what he found was both shocking and concerning. The other Autobots, having been summoned, listened in on the conversation as well.

"Let us not jump to any conclusions." Optimus spoke slowly from behind them all. "June hasn't given us any reason to believe she is conspiring with the Decepticons."

"Hey, in her defense, she said she only called Megatron to make sure Jack was doing alright." Smokescreen adds. "And when that water wall thing was destroyed, she didn't say anything to Megatron about the wrong base. Maybe she's working as a spy or something."

"Megatron wouldn't be stupid enough to give her any information." Arcee replies. "At least, none that would be of any real use to us in savings the kids. Whatever he told her is either purely informational or false."

"So, she's not very good for a spy." Bulkhead shrugs. "At least we know Wheeljack is alive, and that all the kids are okay!"

"I, for once, agree with Bulkhead." Ratchet adds. "Knowing that the children are still human and have not been harmed is telling us how slow whatever the plan the Decepticons have is. That gives us more time for a rescue and a better chance at succeeding with said rescue."

"So why hasn't June told us about her buddy Megatron?" Arcee asks, annoyed. Jack was her responsibility as well, and yet typical June had taken things into her own hands because she thought she could handle it on her own. Arcee begrudgingly respected June, but sometimes she wondered if the human woman had any respect for anyone else trying to help her and Jack.

"She is probably afraid." Optimus looks at each of his men- and woman. "Because of that, no one will say anything about the matter to her. You are all to act as if you have never come upon this information. Ratchet has a point, June could be vital to revealing the Decepticon plan or simply keeping us update on the children's conditions. And you will not treat her as a traitor; I believe June Darby is far from that."

The Autobots, with the exception of the still-out Ultra Magnus, nod.

"Yes sir."