"Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity. "

~Hippocrates

>>•<<

Jack made a small sound of distress. His wrist and hand were swelling immensely, the discomforting feeling of blood filling his hand making him shudder. Elevating it helped, but in doing so caused pain from it being jostled. He felt his pulse make the thumb throb, and he wanted to scream again in frustration.

"I heard I had a new patient to take care of." Knock Out clicks his glossa against his denta as the door opens for him and he takes in the sight of the humans. "I also heard a grand escape was being attempted." Shaking his head as he approaches them, Rafael heard the mockery in his voice. "Naughty naughty humans."

"I warned Shockwave they would be difficult." A rough, gravelly voice adds, a taller, winged Cybertronian following behind the medic. It was obvious he had come purely out of curiosity and not to help Knock Out. "I even suggested that Soundwave should watch them. But no, what were the odds that the humans would escape?"

"Your input is unnecessary, Starscream." Shockwave interrupts, his distaste for the Seeker evident. "I had not calculated the will of the human race. But I have learned from my mistake once, and I will not commit the error again."

"Which Starscream seems to have a problem doing." Knock Out muttered quietly, ignoring the glare he got from Starscream and instead focusing on Jack . . . well, tried to.

"You're not touching him!" Miko yelled as loud as she could, grabbing on to the hand that had reached for her friend. Knock Out gave a small shriek of fear, shaking his hand in hopes of getting Miko off. She hung on tight though, not letting go as he shook.

Shockwave walked over, plucking the Japanese girl off. "It would be wise to not damage my subjects any more than necessary." He states, reactivating the tables and strapping Miko back down. "Silence." He tells her as she continued to yell. "Unless you wish to inflict further harm upon your friends, restrain your vocalizers."

Miko quieted down, her hazel eyes filling with fear as she looked at Jack.

"About time that fleshie shut up." Starscream muttered, looking at Rafael with a dangerous gaze. "What about the other one?"

Shockwave looked at Rafael for a moment, the human's terrified expression making him debate. He could set up a compromise with the human, but at the same time he was losing patience and did not want to deal with the human sneaking away again a second time. So he silently extends his hand to Rafael, who gives Jack one last worried look before he reluctantly steps into Shockwave's awaiting hand, not a single protest to be heard.

Knock Out noticed the human before him shrinking back in fear as he reached out, the medic frowning in displeasure before gently- ever so gently -pulling the human's hand into view. Its twisted shape was hardly sickening to Knock Out, as he had seen worse happen to a mech. Human and Cybertronian anatomy was rather similar, so he sususpected their physiology could not be much different either. Carefully using his sensitive digit tips, he feels the wound.

Jack watched with careful, bloodshot eyes as the Decepticon handled him, expecting Knock Out to twist his wrist with a mocking laugh as he played dumb. But the medic was taking his job more seriously than Jack anticipated, being extremely careful to not aggravate the limb any more than it already was.

"I'm thinking a broken thumb and sprained wrist." The doctor finally says, his diagnosis holding little meaning to Shockwave and Starscream. "A cast will have to do, I suppose. Human technology is so primitive. If he was Cybertronian a simple welding-"

"When will you be able to do the procedure?" Shockwave asks, his impatience clear.

Knock Out continued to speak slowly, his laid back demeanor an annoying trait of the sports car. "Well, if I had the necessary supplies, I could get it done in a few Earth minutes. But I hadn't prepared for your abuse of the fleshies."

"He brought the injury upon himself." Shockwave turns back to his computers, typing away once again and opting to multitask. "Send Soundwave or Starscream to get the supplies necessary for the treatment. You will remain here to monitor Jack's condition."

The medic didn't like how Shockwave ordered him about, his expression a clear indicator to his new human charge. Red optics looking at Starscream for a moment, he decided who would be the best mech to get what he needed with good efficiency.

::Soundwave, I've got a shopping list for you.:: He sings, not expecting the mech to answer him. Sending a mental shopping list to the communications officer, he continues to elaborate on his request. ::I need these supplies ASAP. That's human abbreviation for "as soon as possible."::

As expected, Soundwave did not answer him but instead cut the comlink, his silent answer that he heard Knock Out and would do as he asked. Why Soundwave never spoke was anyone's guess, but as long as he got the job done he could do sacrificial rituals to Unicron for all Knock Out cared.

Rafael squirmed under Starscream's observant and sneering gaze, the second-in-command taking pleasure in watch the youngest human become extremely uncomfortable. Shockwave also noticed, the scientist rather protective of his subjects- regardless who or what they were.

"Your presence here is unwelcome, Starscream."

The Seeker's wings snapped up rigidly in agitation. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"That seems to be a reoccuring problem." Shockwave replies, not processing the fact he gave Starscream a third-degree burn. "You are making the humans uncomfortable, which is interfering with my studies. Leave."

Straightening, Starscream stalks out of the room as he mutters choice Cybertronian to the scientist, the doors closing behind him. Rafael didn't voluntarily relax, but his heart rate slowed a measurable amount. Satisfied with the change, Shockwave returns to his typing. It irked him that the humans had tried to escape, but no matter. He would find a way to monitor their movements when he had to leave the room. Perhaps Soundwave would be patient enough to watch them while he was away.

He created a new template and began making a list of supplies he would need and knew he need off the top of his processor. Measurements still needed to be made, so he didn't try to estimate the amount and instead listed the names. The next question would be proportion. Should it be times two? Five? Ten?

Opening up several other files, he does a quick conversion in his head of how tall- in human measurements -the children's respective guardians were. Arcee was 15, Bumblebee 20, and Bulkhead 26 feet. He decided the heights would be good enough for a rough estimate of how tall he should make the children. However, he didn't like how small Jack would turn out if he decided to go by Arcee's measurements. Megatron wanted this one to be a reflection of someone he had known long ago . . .

Shockwave could see that subconsciously the warlord was searching for a replacement for his diplomatic friend Orion Pax, and Jackson Darby had unintentionally fallen into his sights. Yes, the boy was similar, but so much similar that Shockwave could only see the boy turning against Megatron much in the same way Orion did.

But he digressed. Megatron had given him an order, so therefore he would follow through with it.

Pulling up another file, he browses through it carefully before coming upon an interesting fact. Optimus Prime had previously been about 29 feet in height, but now he had grown to 32 feet, not to mention his upgrade had given him more stamina and strength. Megatron himself was still 30 feet and had nothing different about his vital statistics. He was sure that irked his master to no end.

Deciding he would shoot for a height of approximately 29 feet, Shockwave closes the files and returns to his list, an idea popping into his processor. Calculating the risks, he decides the pros were worth the cons.

"Knock Out." He speaks, making the red Decepticon jump a little. He had been busy fiddling with Jack's hand, always glancing at the other two humans every once in a while to make sure they weren't trying anything. "Are your scanners equipped to read organic signatures?"

The medic raised an optic ridge. "Well, I've never tried, seeing that we've never had humans aboard this ship before."

Not appreciating the sarcasm, Shockwave debates something in his head before voicing his choice out loud. "Test it on the little one." He commands, feeling no attachment to any of the humans and choosing the most likely weakest link.

"This one?" Knock Out asks as he walks over to Rafael, the boy beginning to shake and whimper violently. Jack got up to his knees, cradling his hand close to his chest.

"No!" He shouts. "Test it on me instead! Please," he begs both Shockwave and Knock Out, his pleading gaze turned on the medic, "don't hurt Raf."

"No. Use it on me instead." Miko spoke up, her hands curling into fists as she looked determinedly at Shockwave. The intensity of her look held his gaze for a long time, neither of them making a move to look away or blink. Finally, Shockwave gestured to her.

"If the human wishes to induce harm upon herself, that is not my problem." He says, digits flicking in Miko's direction.

"Doesn't lord Megatron want these humans in tip-top shape?" Knock Out asks, leaving the shaking Rafael alone and making his way past Jack again, who looked at Miko helplessly.

"He only wants one in particular to be." Shockwave didn't specify who, but the humans could guess if they wanted to. "The others he cares less about."

Knock Out opens the console on his arm, a scanner popping out and ready to take in information when he so pleased. "We only need their mentality to stay intact anyways. So Jackie-boy's little broken hand isn't a big concern."

"Not until he gets an infection." Shockwave wasn't happy with how ignorant and indifferent Knock Out seemed to be. "And we must always keep them fed and watered if we want them to survive for more than a week."

"Three days, actually." Knock Out corrects as he activates his scanner, the green beam hovering just above Miko's head. "Humans can only live three days without water. I learned that on the Discovery Channel."

Miko closed her eyes and held her breath as he began moving the beam of light down her body, a tickling sensation making her gasp and writhe. It didn't hurt, per se, it was just highly uncomfortable and left her tingling and throbbing. What made it worse was that Knock Out scanned her up and down twice more before getting satisfactory results, his smile showing his success.

"She isn't dead, so I would say this works just fine on organics." He says, looking down at his readings and grinning. "I've got statistics on her vitals, her approximate height and weight, and even a scan of her brain. Despite what you might believe Shockwave, she isn't damaged in the slightest."

Miko glares. "Hey! I wasn't dropped on my head as a baby, unlike some!"

"And her vocals are as strong as ever." Knock Out rolls his optics, looking towards the scientist that had continued to work on his computers during the scans. "Do you want me to download this information into the computer?"

"Scan the two others first." Shockwave orders. "Soundwave should be arriving soon with the necessary supplies to fix the oldest human's broken hand."

Knock Out does as he's told, Jack surprisingly compliant with the medic's command to lie flat and stretch out, wincing as he moved his hand but otherwise not saying a word. Knock Out was correct in his diagnosis, the medic taking a little time to brag as he prepared to scan Rafael.

"I'll take this." Knock Out takes off Rafael's glasses, the boy's world suddenly going blurry and distorted. "They'll interfere with the scans."

"He needs those to see!" Jack protests.

"He'll get them back." Knock Out didn't say nor imply that what he said was a promise, all Jack and Rafael could do was take his word for it. Setting the glasses aside, Knock Out readies his scanner and gives no warning as he begins absorbing information. Rafael squirmed and cried out, but Knock Out didn't stop. The child only ceased his discomforting movements when the medic was done, red optics showing no pity or remorse as he replaced Rafael's glasses. Jack wanted to spat at the medic, but his throbbing hand told him otherwise. He had taken enough pain for today.

"His optical nerves are weaker than normal, and his eyeballs seem a little . . . misshapen. But other than that he is in perfect health." Knock Out reports, Shockwave caring less about what the medic had to say. "His brain is an interesting one. It seems we have a smarty pants in our midst."

"I have an astigmatism." Rafael defends his eyes quietly. "And I skipped three grades."

"See?" Knock Out takes a cord and plugs it into a port on his arm, downloading the necessary information to the computer without consent from Shockwave, interrupting the scientist's work, much to the mech's annoyance. He knew Knock Out had done that on purpose. "And from what I've heard, his hacking skills rival that of Soundwave's. I don't know about you, but if I had to choose which human I wanted to keep it would be-"

"Your input is noted." Shockwave interrupts with a annoyed tone. He was about to add more when the doors opened and a tall, lithe Decepticon walked in, his pede steps quiet and careful. He held several boxes in his hands, Vehicons standing behind him with similarly full hands.

"Soundwave, you came back fast." Knock Out looked surprised, Shockwave speaking as if he had expected the communications officer to walk in at any moment.

"He understands his priorities." Shockwave gestures to another lab table, several shelve doors waiting to be opened. "For the sake of organization, place medical supplies, supplements, and other types of human necessities in seperate drawers."

Soundwave didn't nod, but instead emptied one hand carefully on the top of the lab table, opening a drawer and stacking his prizes neatly inside, catagorizing them appropriately. Taking supplies from the Vehicons that had formed a line behind him, he begins to sort through seperate items, filling the drawers slowly but surely. It was probably an overkill of supplies, but he would rather be safe than sorry.

"Did you get the casting supplies I ordered?" Knock Out asks impatiently, Soundwave complying to his demand and handing him several boxes of the material. Stacked,those boxes were about as tall as Jack- and there were several more coming in.

"Thank you." Taking the supplies, Knock Out opens the boxes gently and fiddles with the packaging, Jack crawling over with a few grunts of pain to help. Ripping open the plastic with his teeth, he made sure to be careful so he minimized his contaminating the material. His mother was a nurse, so he knew all about the antiseptic technique. He couldn't necessarily practice that here, but he could do his best.

Knock Out surveyed each supply carefully, noting that there was a stiff fabric that came in mutliple colors.

"Would you like failure-of-an-Autobot blue or Decepticon red?" Knock Out asks, his sing-song voice grating on Jack's nerves. The human glared back at him, blue eyes intense and angry.

"I like broken-down orange." He seethes, insulting Knock Out- and his deceased partner -directly.

The Decepticon medic didn't take that kindly. "All right then you little twerp, nothing-after-death white it is!" He snaps, flicking Jack rather harshly so the boy fell on his side, broken arm up. The boy grunts in pain, moaning as Knock Out takes his hand and begins to wrap it first with white, friction-reducing material.

"Be grateful that I'm even taking time out of my very busy day to do this for you." Knock Out glares. "I've got better things to do than care for a human who got himself into this situation in the first place!"

"Knock Out." Shockwave warns as he picks up Jack's sounds of pain. "Be gentle."

The medic looked absolutely bewildered by the command. Shockwave had said it with his usual monotonous voice, but he didn't think that the scientist would actually care if the human was in pain. Either the scientist felt compassion for the human or he just didn't want Knock Out damaging the merchandise any more than what already had been done. He put his credits on the latter.

"Whatever you say." He replies, glaring at Jack before roughly jerking the human's hand closer. Jack groaned, but otherwise didn't make a sound. Knock Out had a vague idea on what he was doing, wrapping the stiffer, now colorless material tighter around Jack's arm. "Just tell me if you suddenly begin to lose circulation in your arm." He says with fake cheerfulness to Jack. "It would be just tragic for you to lose it."

"Knock Out." This time, however, it wasn't Shockwave who had spoken. At least, not directly. Turning to look, Knock Out frowned at the line that had appeared on Soundwave's visor.

"What?" He asks with annoyance. "I was just stating the truth!"

"Your- truth- is a- lie." Soundwave replies, approaching the medic but not intending any harm.

Knock Out knew this, and didn't feel threatened in the slightest. "Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, isn't it?" He huffs, turning back around and finishing Jack's cast. "Maybe I should cast the other arm too, just so he won't be able to escape."

"Your reasoning is logical, but unnecessary." Shockwave replies, satsified by the information the medic had given him via the scans. It seems that, when given a specific task, the medic can do fairly well. "He will have learned his lesson, and shouldn't escape now."

"What about the other two?" Knock Out questions.

Soundwave, who normally didn't "say" much, gave a warning that even chilled Knock Out to the bone. "They will- either- take an- example- from him- or face the consequences- themselves."

>>•<<

"There you go." Ratchet says as June jumps down from his hand and onto the floor, her throat raw and parched but she was otherwise okay. "The smoke is mostly cleared out now. Whatever is left won't hurt you." He promises, noting the red rimmed around her eyes and the way she kept sniffing.

"Thank you." Her voice was scratchy and harsh, and she hugged herself tightly as she climbed up the stairs to the little area where there was a couch, TV, and even work table for- for Raf. A rock seemed to lodge itself in her throat as she saw the boy's computer still booted up and on whatever it was he had been doing with Ratchet before . . . before the incident.

Her heart ached immensely. There had still been no ransom call, not even a mocking word from Megatron about how once again they had managed to snatch their human companions away. If the children were still alive-

No, they must. They have to be. June squeezes her eyes shut and breathes, as painful as it was. She needed water, and soon. A headache was already beginning to form.

Stumbling to Agent Fowler's office, she opens up a small fridge and notices a little note taped to a box of Oreos. Leaning closer, she almost instantly recognized the handwriting.

"Couldn't resist taking one. One whole roll I mean. But don't worry, you could afford to lay off these double-stuffed things anyways.

Rock on!

Miko~ :)"

June didn't know whether to laugh or cry again. Below the note was a cute little drawing of a cat eating a cookie. Stroking the post-it, she sighs before grabbing a water bottle and closing the refridgerator door. The cool water made her headache dissipate, the magical elixir soothing her throat but doing nothing for her heart.

Walking out, she heard Ratchet groan in agitation.

"No, no, no!" He huffs, shooing Shovel's hands away from where the two of them were working on fixing Ultra Magnus. "You're doing it all wrong!"

"I'm sorry." Shovel backed away slightly, tilting his head and watching Ratchet work. His voice sounded monotonous, but June was getting used to the way he spoke and could pick up certain emotional cues. Right now, he sounded apologetic.

"Sure, sure." Ratchet grumbles. "This is a complicated body system, I wouldn't expect you to know any better . . ." He fixes whatever Shovel had messed up, the Vehicon watching intently. He reminded June of a dog. Not necessarily the most intelligent, but loyal and always ready to help. She figured Shovel looked up to Ratchet like a dog would its owner.

"I really am sorry-"

"You're fine!" Ratchet snips. "Just not very good at medical procedures."

"I'll do better, promise!"

"Whatever. Just let me work." Ratchet was beginning to wonder why he didn't just kill the silly Vehicon. Sure, he was useful at odd jobs, but he insisted on helping Ratchet with every little thing, including putting Ultra Magnus' spine back together- which was no easy task. A Cybertronian's wiring was extremely sensitive here, and Ratchet couldn't properly put a mech under anymore, not after the base was destroyed. He was trying his best, and Ultra Magnus tried to be tough and not give pained noises every once in a while, but it was extremely difficult work.

Shovel went silent, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched Ratchet work. Smokescreen hadn't been so kind to him at first, but a scolding from Optimus Prime (the Optimus Prime, no less) damped the insults Shovel received. The Prime had taking a very good liking to their new ally, always giving the Vehicon a ghost of a smile whenever they made optic contact. Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee were still out cold, and Shovel wondered how they would react when they woke up.

June fiddles with her water bottle, looking at Rafael's laptop and sighing yet again. Dragging her feet, she opens it to check the battery and debate if she should shut it down, and risk Raf loosing all his hard work.

Opening the screen, a blaze of Cybertronian greets her eyes. It was complete and utter gibberish to her, but she suspected Rafael knew something. Maybe, like he understood Bumblebee, he could understand Cybertronian?

The battery was achingly low, 15%. She found a charger in his little backpack and plugged it in, finding an outlet and using that to charge the laptop. Since she couldn't understand what Raf was doing, she better not mess with it-

The screen suddenly went blank, and her eyes widened in horror. What had she done? What had she messed up?

Press Enter

PressEnter

Press Enter

Thinking she couldn't make anything worse for the computer, she tentatively, hesitantly, presses the enter key. A message pops up instantly, along with a list of numbers and letters:

Personal Hailing Frequencies accessed.

•M328D1651

•S784S3384

•S374W8920

•K412O3035

•S552W3479

•Terminated

•Terminated

•Terminated

Her eyes narrow in confusion. Personal Hailing Frequencies? What was that, like a phone number? Three of which were terminated. Her brain nagged her, telling her there was an obvious pattern-

Oh my gosh.

Rafael has found the Decepticon comlink codes.

Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. Did Ratchet know about this? Did Raf even know what he was doing? She was staring at Decepticon phone numbers, and she didn't even know how or why Raf found them- but she suspected he had translated them.

The next question: should she use them? Was it possible that Soundwave could track them, despite the shielded base? Was she willing to take that risk?

Who should she call anyways, if she decided to take the risk?

M is definitely for Megatron. The two S's for Starscream. S and W for Soundwave . . . or Shockwave. And KO for Knock Out. Who should I call? Should I even consider calling?

Soundwave would surely report her to Megatron, Starscream was too unpredictable to even reckon with, Shockwave she didn't know much about, Knock Out would probably just ignore her . . . and what would Megatron do?

You're crazy if you think you're just going to text the bloodthirsty leader of the Decepticons like you've been long-time buddies.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She just had to know though. Was the risk worth it if she could find out what had happened with the kids?

Absolutely.

Taking a deep breath and glancing at the Autobots to make sure no one was watching, she typed the number in her cell phone (less suspicious than if she started using Raf's computer) and clicked text message. The question was simple, albeit demanding.

"What have you done with my son?"

>>•<<

Scene: Shockwave unintentionally burns Starscream after trying to shoo him from the lab.

Starscream: I have no idea what you're talking about!
Shockwave: That seems to be a reoccurring problem.