"You can start over, you can run free,
You can find other fish in the sea,
You can pretend it's meant to be,
But you can't stay away from me"

»«

Shockwave watched his screen with intensity as he attempted to create the correct dimensions needed for his prototype. Time was of the essence, according to Megatron, and so there was very little room for error. Everything had to be perfect, functional, and lasting. Not a single mechanism could be out of place.

Another factor against him was the size. He could create delicate components like this with the help of Soundwave, but installing them in an organism only slightly larger than his longest digit would be an immense challenge. Not to mention it took extensive research of human anatomy and physiology to learn what made the organic body operate, and he still felt lacking in the field.

He calculated the chances of compatibility between a human and Cybertronian technology, and found that it was almost 50/50. The best course of action would be to take a sample from the human in order to determine just how closely related the two species are to one another, but the size of the sample he would have to get would kill the human. And that was something he could not afford to do.

A Cybertronian spinal cable, taken from a gracious Vehicon donor, rested on the table beside him, as well as several jars of growing Cybertronian material. The living metal had to be made from scratch in order to be shaped and fitted appropriately, a process that thus far had taken a few days. During those days Megatron often stalked by the lab in a foul mood, demanding to know when it would be done. The scientists constantly asked for his patience, lucky enough to have been granted the courtesy of a prototype first before creating the real thing. There was plenty material to spare as long as he preserved it well.

It did not take long for the scientist to run into another problem, especially when looking through the various files of the humans in order to gain a better understanding of them. One had a history of energon poisoning, proving that it was incredibly toxic to humans. Living metal required energon to function; if the body did not reject the metal, it would surely die from exposure to energon.

The best course of action would be to create some sort of protective shielding, which would not only protect the organic material, but also protect the living metal from being eaten or "digested" by the host tissue. How he would do that . . . There had to be some sort of human creation, or perhaps an alloy which he could combine to make such a shielding.

Lord Megatron would not be pleased with any setbacks, so this had to be done quickly and efficiently.

With a few taps the Decepticon had several different suggestions pulled up for him, none of which seemed incredibly safe for the human body. Lead, though resistant to radiation, was also incredibly toxic to humans, regardless of amount. The lighter metals, such as aluminum, were ideal, but they didn't resist radiation.

This was going to take some time.

Deciding he could pawn that research off to Soundwave, he returned to looking at his monitor screen and making adjustments to his blueprint, altering some dimensions as he settled on a design that was efficient in structure and function. To simplify things, he imagined he was building a bridge, meant to attach one side to another while also adding in some extra functions. The electric signals of the human nervous system would be hard to replicate, but it was doable.

After another few hours he gazed at his creation, then turned his attention to the growing materials in his lab.

It was time to start building.

»«

Megatron once again watched the human as she slipped out of her chair with little grace, landing on her broken spine and wincing, then dragging herself to the food and water. They were still not on good speaking terms, but the past few days have seen minute improvements. After learning about her potentially suicidal tendencies, the warlord had learned to back off, change the subject, or otherwise be gentle.

Gentle. It was not a concept he was entirely familiar with. The Decepticon had never been gentle, save for the few occasions where he mentored Orion Pax. The timid archivist had needed a guiding hand to help build his confidence, and Megatronus had done that for him.

This gentle, he felt, was different. He wasn't trying to boost someone's confidence; in this scenario, Megatron just didn't want to break her. The thrilling idea of crushing the human girl and turning her into dust no longer had any appeal. The destruction of her body was nothing of interest now that he had destroyed her mentally, perhaps emotionally, by breaking her physically.

All he wanted now was to just put her back together.

But Dana resisted. He had violated some unspoken trust between the two of them, resulting in her refusal to cooperate with him. It in turn frustrated him, however the warlord was learning something else as well: patience.

He was learning the hard way that she wasn't just going to change overnight. Within the past couple of days he had managed to tease one small smile out of her, a victory he relished. Before that smile, there had been only screaming, yelling, hateful words, spiteful gestures, and a storm.

The next big step would be to make that smile reach her eyes.

By fixing her physical self, he hoped to make the process go a lot quicker. Forgiveness was too much to hope for at the time, that much he understood, however helping her would bring them that much closer to it.

Shockwave was doing the best he could with the materials he had, and Megatron had full faith that the scientist would do nothing less than perfection. The warlord wanted it done as fast as possible; he didn't know if organic bodies had a time limit when it came to damages, and he was not about to risk it. So far, however, Shockwave seemed to be going along just fine.

His urgency could be sensed throughout the entire ship, putting the Vehicons on edge as they feared their master's rage should Shockwave fail. Starscream thought it absolutely ridiculous that their master would obsess over a human to this extreme, though the second in command wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Ugh . . ." Megatron was forcefully snapped out of his thoughts as the human femme made a sound of annoyance and pain, struggling once again to drag herself into the chair. As he stepped forward, feeling the desire to help, he quickly recalled her angry remark from earlier.

After what you did, you have the audacity to think you can touch me?!

Taking a long ex-vent, and trying to forget, he silently offered her a single digit.

The human femme stopped struggling for a moment, looking at his claw in disbelief before giving him a glare. His helpfulness, because it was not asked of him, was not welcome. He dismissed her feelings of offense for the moment, just wanting to let her know he was there, should she need him.

There was a long pause as neither of them moved, and finally, almost as if by a miracle, she grabbed onto his digit, wrapping her arms around his sharp edges and letting him effortlessly pick her up, and place her in the chair.

"Thanks." She muttered, one of the few grateful words she had ever spoken to him.

"You're welcome." He rumbled, unable to help but feel very pleased with himself. Another small victory, one he had not entirely expected. She may still see him as a monster, but for now, she did not mind initiating the touch. For him, it was more than enough to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as monstrous as she first believed him to be.

There was no more to be said between the two of them, Dana mulling over her own thoughts. As the days wore on she felt herself getting less and less angry, but the bitterness was still there. She didn't think they could go back to being what they once were, not after the . . . "accident," as he called it. Not without lots and lots of time.

She did sense a secret that he was keeping, and it made him antsy. It also made him come visit her more often, check on her condition, have Soundwave replenish her goods. She could only guess as to what it was, but she was certain it pertained to her. As much as she wanted to ask, there was probably a reason he hadn't told her yet; and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

I don't think I can take any more bad news.

Worse case scenario, he had either captured her family, or Ratchet, and was going to use them for some kind of bargaining tool. She couldn't imagine what he would want from her, except some kind of validation. That, she deemed, he had not yet earned. She had been nothing but a play toy, something to break, to him. So she was going to deny him any greatness until she determined otherwise.

Her back was to him as she faced the window, not having much else to do but unable to cause any mischief thanks to her disability. If she had her legs, oh, there would have been something to pay for her capture. That was no longer the case, and so she was bored out of her mind.

Megatron must have sense her boredom, because he finally spoke again.

"Is there anything you require for Soundwave to retrieve?" He asked. "Idle minds cause mischief."

"And idle legs prevent mischief." She set her jaw. "I'm fine right where I am."

He wanted to call her bluff, yet that would only make her angrier. So he only pressed.

"Anything within reason, Soundwave may retrieve. All you must do is ask."

"Is there something I should be requesting, since you're pushing?" She snapped back, looking over her shoulder at him as she waited for an answer.

"No." Came the reply. "But I know you haven't had much to do. Our ship is not equipped for human entertainment."

Dana crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. "I don't want anything. Not from you."

Silence fell over the room again. Megatron didn't want to ignite her anger again. Their arguments lost their fun a long time ago; now he just wanted to talk to her. Perhaps taunt, or lightly tease, but not fight. For once, he was done fighting.

"I'm going to fix you." The bombshell was finally dropped. "Shockwave is working on the components right now. We are going to install a working mechanism which will restore you leg function."

This time, the silence was due to her shock, not having expected to be told such a thing. She turned her chair to completely look at him, scrutinizing his face.

"You're lying to me."

"I have no reason to lie." He said. "I find no pleasure in menacing you. I can even bring you to Shockwave's lab; he is working on the spinal components as we speak."

Her green eyes dropped, indicating she was in deep thought. They also moved, as if she was reading what she was thinking, eventually stilling when she returned to making eye contact with him.

"Why would you do this? What benefits do you gain from allowing me to walk again?"

She was cautious, almost unbelieving. He could understand that.

"I have very little benefits," the warlord was reluctant to confess the truth, not wanting to reveal his small emotional weakness, "but I . . . I admit, what I have done to you was undeserved."

She raised a single eyebrow. "Was that an apology? Because it was a poor excuse for one."

He resisted the urge to get angry, instead giving her a touch of a glare. "I suppose it was too much to hope that you would be grateful."

Almost immediately, her temper flared. "Well, excuse me for my apprehensiveness. I didn't realize that was all the sorry-ness you could muster."

"I've tried apologizing!" Now he snapped. "But none of it seems to appease you! So I have been doing the best I can. If you would prefer, I will have Shockwave stop his experimentations. We have other projects that would be a far less waste of time."

"Go ahead." She snarled. "You've already done the best you can to make my life miserable. Snatching away another chance to heal will just add to the list."

Patience.

Gentle.

He stopped himself from speaking again, instead taking the moment to pause, and collect his thoughts. Her injury was an extremely touchy subject, and he had - though unintentionally -provoked it. Dana was miserable, and wanted to stay that way. He would have to drag her out himself.

Fixing her could do that.

After almost a full minute of silence and controlling his temper, Megatron let out a long ex-vent.

"I will have Shockwave repair the damage that has been done." He looked at her. "Regardless of how angry you are with me. That is an apology in and of itself. I want to help you, Dana. But the process will go much easier if we are working together."

Almost angry with the fact she hadn't provoked him into stopping Shockwave, she jerked her wheelchair around and wheeled back over to the window, angry look on her face. "Fine."

The warlord felt a small bit of relief.

Fine.

Fine is good. Fine is not refusal.

»«

Hey y'all, sorry if this is a bit of a shifty chapter. I'm on a tad of a time crunch.

But I wanted to share this video with you:

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

This is Animals by MsLightningPrime on YouTube. Fantastic stuff. The remix is by Gryffin, which you can also find on YouTube. This song is just awesome, in my opinion.

So there you go! Hopefully I can get better updates in as time goes by, thanks!!