So, Chai and I have co-authored another fic! The story began with us wondering what would happen if the Autobots captured a Vehicon. Anyway, we're proud to present Strict Machines. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Get back!" Optimus shouted when he heard the tremors shake from the ceiling of the mine shaft. A massive, metal-buckling boulder fell and then rocks began falling like a stream. Optimus jumped back one way and the other Autobots leapt backed the other, and watched each other through the shower of rock. Optimus gritted his denta as he watched the last of the cave-in separate him from his comrades. 'Arcee, Bulkhead,' he commed, 'Have you sustained any injuries?'

Coughing to clear her intakes, Arcee attempted to wave the cloud of dust and grit away - with minimal success. 'None here...Optimus, are you alright?'
Bulkhead inspected himself quickly, finding only a scatter of golf ball sized dents across his right side. It wasn't painful and may as well have been a tap on the shoulder to a Wrecker. 'Say the word, this pile of dirt goes down.'

'I'm unharmed. And Bulkhead, hold off until further order.' Optimus looked behind his shoulder, listening. He took a few steps away from the pile and down the shaft, then turned a corner. There it was: the detected storage location for Decepticon-mined energon. There were a number of miners bringing energon in and stacking it, and then retreating again through the lower tunnel. There were only a few actual eradicons, less than he'd previously taken out in a matter of minutes. He returned to the cave-in. 'I don't think the cave-in has disturbed their work, but I fear the noise of breaking it down will seem too unnatural to ignore. While we still have the element of surprise, I will clear the room first and send for you.'

'Understood,' Arcee commed back. Bulkhead, while looking slightly disappointed not to be smashing through the cave in site and taking the room full of vehicons by storm, nodded and accepted the order without complaint. He placed his back to the stones, prepared to deal with anyone who may have been coming down the path, alerted by the sound of rocks falling.

KA-R1-302 had no expectations for that day, high or low. He was an unremarkable looking Vehicon even by Vehicon standards, his body marked with the usual layer of mining dust and a patchwork of scratches beneath it. The sound of the cave-in had him slightly on edge, but his workmates had been quick to reassure him; it had only been a small one and anyhow, it was common knowledge that the passage was unstable.

Against all odds, this had managed to relax him and he carried on stacking cubes without dwelling too much on the matter. When the shifts changed and he rotated up towards the surface, he would feel even better.

Optimus quietly slipped forward, narrowing his optics as at the eradicon nearest to the exit tunnel. He'd formed a trail in his mind, which order he would proceed so that all armed mechs were down with as little time to retaliate as possible. In warfare with Decepticons on Cybertron, he would also note the hiding places closest to each of the targets, the assumed place they would take cover. But he had enough experience with Shockwave's drone soldiers to know that they rarely ever took cover. Their bravery only increased his distaste for war. He took aim at the targeted eradicon and opened fire.

The target dropped like a stone. It took the gathered Eradicons only a few short nano-kliks to collect themselves, for the first wave of panic and confusion to settle and the weapons to be drawn. While they were more prepared for the daily reality of mining accidents, the threat of Autobot attack was something that loomed over all of their heads.

But the eradicon known as KA-R1-302 did not open fire. As his comrades were backing up, trying to move into better positions, aiming for the unprotected areas around the neck and torso, he was looking for any other means of fighting back.

One down, two down, three down, f- Optimus paused at the fourth, who didn't have his weapon raised. As second nature as it was to fire his weapon, it was equally so to avoid the unarmed. He hesitated, and was immediately struck by one of the remaining drones. He felt the blast graze the side of his abdomen and he fell back, turning the corner in the cave. He put a servo on the wound and decided he'd live, then looked back out and saw the last of the miners leave. Good. He leapt forward, and fired two shots before hitting another drone. He leapt over the edge and slid down the steep wall before landing at ground level with the enemy.

As quickly as it had all begun, KA-R1-302 knew he was alone. His gaze shot from one fallen Vehicon to the other, not knowing if they were offlined or just unconscious, but unable to do anything for any of them. Then something caught the edge of his visual feed; with only a sense of the inevitable in his spark, he made up his mind.

He scrambled for one of the openings leading further down into the mine, a passage he knew had been stripped of energon and would be empty today. If only he could make it that far, he thought that he might draw the Autobot leader as far from his retreating comrades as possible.

'The coast is clear,' Optimus commed Bulkhead and Arcee. But then he spotted movement in his peripheral and he turned to see one last drone running toward another exit. If there was a chance he was finding quick backup, he would have to act soon. Perhaps he'd be able to knock him out, but if the drone finally decided to use force, he would have no choice.

Although the urge tore at him like a hook, the drone had long since learned to never look back. Capture was inevitable, termination most probable, but he would delay it for as long as anyone possibly could...it was all he could do now. He ducked around the long, swooping corner, pressing his back struts to the wall and waiting, listening for the sounds of the Autobot's approach to overcome those of his own intakes.

The hall quieted, and Optimus no longer could hear the sound of the drone's footfalls. He had stopped somewhere. He was hiding, and the only reason Optimus could imagine was that he'd found a weapon and no longer felt the need to flee. He slowed his run to a careful walk, quieting his systems as best he could as he listened, and waited for the whining charge of a weapon. He turned a corner and looked down at a bright red visor. He aimed quickly, narrowing his optics at the drone. "Do not move." He watched him, waiting for him to aim, for him to defend himself.

KA-R1-302 stared up at the hardened optics, the face half concealed by solid metal, and suddenly knew for certain that he was about to be offlined. His memory banks ran through it all, from being a soldier, to waking up in the med bay and learning those days were over, to the friends he hoped he'd meet again soon. The useless gun set into his arm felt heavy and useless as he wished for just one round...for his weapons system to reawaken just once, and give this mech something to always remember him

by. "Go ahead and shoot me, Autobot. Try and finish the job this time."

So they had crossed paths before? Optimus' optics momentarily flicked over him, looking for some sign of old injury, but in the darkness there wasn't much to see. He wasn't a medic, but it only stood to reason that the drone's refusal to fight was related to an injury. After all, Optimus had never encountered an eradicon who didn't arm themselves. "I am no executioner," Optimus said. "If you refuse to draw your weapon then I will not finish anything." He looked over the drone and wondered, perhaps, if this was an opportunity to learn something. In the past he had asked himself if there was any benefit in interrogating a soldier, but the Autobots had never found an opportune moment. He reverted his weapon to a servo, knowing that a lone eradicon was no match for him, armed or not. He took a step closer and lowered his tone. "Turn around and place your servos on the wall."

The drone quickly weighed his option of running. If the Autobot leader truly wasn't going to harm him, then it would be worth the risk to try...particularly when the alternative was capture, in many ways worse than death. Maybe if he transformed, his cog would actually decide to cooperate and let him change into vehicle mode without any problems. He took a single step backwards, glancing at what little space stood between the wall and Optimus Prime, hesitating. He did not place his servos on the wall.

Optimus suddenly regretted being so honest. He wasn't going to shoot an unarmed mech but he hadn't needed to tell him that much. A little more fear would have helped with cooperation, but it was too late for that now. He watched the drone's stance change, one pede slipping to the side, elbow joints pulling back. He was going to shift. "Don't," Optimus warned.

KA-R1-302 did. With a painful, unnatural screech of metal on metal, he lurched forward into his vehicle mode, gunning the engine and shooting straight for the gap.

With a sigh, Optimus straightened up and activated his comm. He knew Arcee and Bulkhead would be in the main cave by now, and the ground bridge would likely be opened as they carried the supply through. 'Bulkhead, there's a drone heading your way. He is most likely unarmed and I would like you to capture him with as little harm as is possible.' He switched comm links and continued. 'Arcee, retrieve stasis cuffs through the ground bridge and return promptly."

He almost didn't dare to believe it, but the way was clear. He'd made it through The grit was flying behind his rear tires and amongst it was the leader of the Autobots - the one KA-R1-302 had been so completely certain would deal out his death blow. Putting as much power into it as he could, the Vehicon raced for the mine exit, for open air and safety and -

Suddenly, he was being ripped off the ground. Blunt, powerful servos had him around the back wheel wells, holding him perfectly immobile as a voice spoke over the squeal of tires. 'All yours, Arcee!' Then blue and silver flashed before his vision; the heat of a recently fired weapon was pressed to his hood.

"You've got three nano-klicks to change back."

Optimus ran after, not in so much of a hurry as to need his alt mode. When he reached the cave he saw that Bulkhead and Arcee had successfully apprehended the drone. "Easy," he said, though he didn't interrupt them. He'd told them not to harm him once, and trusted that he wouldn't have to say it again.

No sooner had the Vehicon transformed back than those servos were pinning him down, and the femme forcing his wrists into stasis cuffs. When they closed, he felt his systems lock up accordingly; he couldn't do much more than look around and writhe. Walking would have been possible, but only just.

"He's not injured, Optimus," said the femme, although only her pedes were visible from the Vehicon's current angle.

"Not until you give the order," added the larger bot, sounding as though he were longing to get a kick in.

"Bulkhead, get him to his pedes and make sure he doesn't run." He turned to Arcee. "I'll have Ratchet determine his injury status once we bring him home."

The Vehicon was hoisted to his pedes. He felt himself sway under the systems lock, but otherwise remain upright. Still, running was an impossibility - and even if he'd been free, the heavy servo that clapped down on his shoulder plating discouraged any thoughts of it. As a ground bridge was being called in, he glanced up at the dark green Autobot, voice soft and cold. "I'm not telling you anything."

Said Autobot chuckled, annoying in its lightheartedness. "We didn't ask."

Ratchet's optics widened when he saw an eradicon being guided through the ground bridge. "What in Primus' name are you doing with that soldier?!"

"I'll tell you my thoughts on it, Ratchet, as soon as Arcee and I have secured the last of the energon."

"And what about him? Will you have Bulkhead hold him right here beside the children?"

Optimus glanced at the kids. "I believe you're right. Bulkhead, bring the Eradicon to one of our empty storage vaults. Bumblebee, take them home. The base is unfit for humans with a Decepticon present."

Miko watched with wide, glowing eyes, practically shaking as the Vehicon was led out, helm held low. "Are you kidding?! You're going to play good cop, bad cop with a Decepticon and you expect us to just clear out?"

"Pretty much," Bulkhead replied from the hallway entrance, pushing their prisoner forward as he tried to crane around for a better look at the children. "I'll give you all the details later, Miko!"

"Awww..." The young girl's shoulders sagged dramatically. Jack gave a curious glance around the corner as the sound of heavy metal footfalls grew further and further away.

"Since when did you start taking prisoners? You've never done that before."

Optimus avoided the question, not having a solid answer to it. "We'll discuss that in the future. At the moment we still have energon to collect and you need to be going home."

He and Arcee continued to transfer energon until reinforcements attacked, and by then there was more than enough to warrant a retreat without further engagement. Ratchet closed the ground bridge.

When they returned from the mine, their supplies contained more energon than they had been privilege to in a long while. As the two stepped through the ground bridge for the last time, Arcee looked around the room for Bulkhead, but assumed he was still down below, guarding the Vehicon. "Well, at least we can afford to feed a prisoner, now. Probably could have grabbed another one..." It was often difficult to tell whether or not she was joking.

Optimus stared at her for a moment in acknowledge of the statement. "I suppose I should explain. Once or twice in the past I've wondered if interrogating a drone might be to our advantage. I know they're not told much from the top, but it stands to reason that we could still learn something from them if we managed to get the soldier to tell us. Even things such as their schedule on the Nemesis would be beneficial. I have a number of questions I'd like to ask."

"So how do you plan on making him talk?" Ratchet asked, brow raised.

Optimus looked away. "That I haven't determined yet. If he refuses to speak without torture then I will give it up."

Arcee frowned slightly. She had always known full well that someday, the Decepticon drones would factor into their plans - it was simply a logical step to take. Now that they had one, the possible concerns seemed to arise as fast as their plans could form. "And if he doesn't talk, then what will we do? He's seen the inside of our base, and not just one room, either. We can't just turn him loose out in the desert; he'd go running back to Megatron with a full report on our layout."

"Don't forget that Megatron too has seen the inside of our base. Perhaps not all of it, but the difference seems minimal enough to me. He's only been here a short while, I think we can put away anything that we don't want him to see. As for release, if we were to let him loose it would be through the ground bridge, not directly out of the mountain. We will all just have to take care in what we say in his presence. In the meantime I want to have his vitals checked; I think that will tell us a lot in itself. Ratchet, if you would join me?" Optimus didn't mention what the vehicon had said, and his mild curiosity in the connection between past damage and the drone's inability to use his weapon.

The Vehicon sat in his makeshift cell, far below the base - servos still cuffed tightly, systems still sluggish with the lock they had placed. His energon reserves were dipping just below standard level and he was coated in a layer of dust from the mine, but he knew things could be much worse. He wondered if they were planning on leaving him here until he was sufficiently starved and jammed from the stasis lock, then dragging him out for questioning.

It would have been the most logical thing to do, he thought while digging a clump of red rock out from a seam in his knee.

Optimus and Ratchet reached the door to the 'cell' and stopped. He was torn. On one hand he felt it was his responsibility to ask the questions, and on the other he felt he was the last mech the drone would want to talk to. Today alone he'd shot down half a dozen of his comrades. Optimus sighed and unlocked the door to enter.

KA-R1-302 looked up as they entered the cell. Immediately he was on the alert, although he knew full well how little this would actually help him. By color scheme alone, he recognized the Autobot medic; thoughts of medical torture raced through his processor and he once again braced for the worst.

Ratchet looked at his leader, knowing that the first move had to be his.

Optimus looked the drone over, who was seated against the wall, looking incredibly tense. "Tell me what you can without touching him and we'll work from there. I'm interested in his fuel levels, and finding a cause for his lack of weaponry."

The Vehicon inched back, the visored glare quietly challenging, albeit in an expressionless sort of way. Ratchet gave him a once over. "You said he was able to shift into vehicle mode? It could be exclusive damage to upper-right hemisphere of the T-cog, or else a disruption between the Affine path and the weapon itself...there's no way to know without running a scan."

Optimus nodded, knowing that a trip to the med bay would have to be saved for later.

He also found himself interested in the drone's fuel level because the level of the lowest soldier could shed light on the Nemesis' current stocks. Even working in a mine filled with energon, he doubted Megatron just let them refuel whenever they liked. Drones with full tanks meant large rations, which meant they were doing well. Low level tanks meant smaller rations. Even a hard day's work wouldn't send a full drone down too far.

He turned to the drone pointedly. "I don't suppose you'd save us the struggle and tell us anything? How is your fuel level?"

"And what happens if I don't want to tell you?" the drone replied without heat.

Ratchet crossed his arms. "Then Optimus holds you down, I go in through your mouth and pass a gauge down into your fuel tank. You're still cuffed, so it won't be too much extra effort on our part, but you'll feel like the underside of a rustpile for the remainder of the day."

"...Three quarters of a tank."

Optimus sighed. "I hardly think you could manage a day's work and still have three quarters of a tank, unless you've been sitting completely still and controlling your intakes since the morning." He approached the drone. "Is telling us your level really going to bring down the Nemesis?"

The Vehicon stared levelly up at him. His answers were short, simple, and almost tired. "You would't ask if you didn't have a reason."

Ratchet stayed back, letting his leader negotiate the matter, but working out how best to restrain the drone if it came down to that. He knew of quite a few ways to make a bot hurt, more than he ever wanted to admit out loud, and privately he dreaded the idea.

Optimus studied him. He had certainly misjudged the Eradicons, and knew now that this one wouldn't be tricked into giving him answers. And as was true to the Autobot way, he wouldn't torture him.

He knelt to one knee, crossing his arms as he continued to look at him, as if enough staring would bring something out of the red optical visor. The Eradicon was dirty and battered. And it wasn't what one would gain from a day's work. It was a life time of neglect.

"You're hungry," he finally said. "If you were satisfied you would say so right away. You would be proud to be in an army that was refueled often, not being in need. But to say nothing, you're saving your pride. It seems I already have my answer, even if it's not exact."

The more he looked at him, the sadder he felt. "Let me tell you something, soldier. When I release you, you will not be met with a warm welcome by your higher ranks, as my fellow Autobots have been on the rare occasions that they escape Decepticon hold. No, the interrogation will continue for you. You will not see your friends right away. You will see Megatron, and he will torture you until he is sure that you've said nothing to me, not a drop of information that might hurt his long misguided cause. And no matter how exhausted you are, how in need of refueling or recharge you may be, he will keep you until you've told him about every moment you stood in my presence. I hope you're paying attention, because you will need to remember this. I've known Megatron longer than you've been online in this world and the last, and I can promise that this is your fate."

Optimus stood and went to Ratchet, speaking in a lowered voice. "I would appreciate if you could bring a full cube of energon."

The silence in the room was almost penetrative, keen and thin as a surgical blade. Without a word to break it, the medic slipped from the room, locking the door behind him with a reverberating click.

KA-R1-302 locked gazes with his captor. The emptiness in his fuel tank, the grit beneath his plating...behind his visor, he could just feel the old familiar static beginning again. Pain he was accustomed to, exhaustion he could handle, and death was always hovering near the Eradicon ranks - but the never ending uncertainty of what would come next weighed on his shoulder plating in a way nothing else had. "...What do you want from me?"

Optimus' brow plating pulled together at the sound of his tone. He leaned against the wall with his side facing the Eradicon. "I want any knowledge I can gain from your presence, as any captor wants, I suppose." He looked at the other. "I'm compelled, out of personal curiosity, to ask about our last encounter, about the damage I inflicted on you. I trust you're wise enough to determine if it's safe to tell me that much."

KA-R1-302 glanced toward his side, considering. His personal injury had little to do with the Decepticon cause and if anything could be considered a freak accident. Maybe allowing this much would be enough of a start, could buy him some time. "Your medic guessed right. Damage to the T-cog. You probably don't remember running into us near that lake, do you?" He gestured vaguely over the affected side. "Got me right there."

Optimus nodded once. "I remember the lake. But I suppose that is only the beginning of the story. For what reason were you guarding an energon mine with other Eradicons if you were unable to fight?"

The Vehicon was slightly thrown off by this. He thought it would have been apparent why they'd sent him underground. "Hmm? I move the cubes, run the machinery. You don't think we're all down there to guard it, do you?"

"Yes, that is what I believed." Optimus said, looking at the wall thoughtfully. "If Megatron has soldiers assisting with the work force that far underground then the Decepticon circumstances may be more pressing than I imagined. Or perhaps I've overestimated the population of miners." He turned back to the drone. "Not that I was trying to gain information from your story. I had honestly asked on a personal basis." Optimus looked away, suddenly wondering if that was an unnecessary detail.

"I don't see what you could have gotten out of it," said the Vehicon, wondering if his resolve may have been slipping with the medic out of sight. In addition to the static, his body was beginning to ache everywhere. It always did late at night. Where lying had failed him, he made an attempt at the truth. "Look...you don't need me to tell you that the best fighting mechs aren't working the mine. You probably won't believe it, but I really don't know anything."

Optimus watched the vehicon squirm, shifting and repositioning and looking tenser than he had before. He tried to think of what it was, if he'd said anything that stood out from the rest. But the truth was that tonight it felt like everything stood out in the wrong way. Even though he always spoke from the spark, it seemed that he was filled with the wrong words far too often. Perhaps he had forced the disconnect to form as a means of self preservation. After taking so many lives, it was necessary for a mech to do. He tried to force it back, to look at the vehicon and understand, but he couldn't be sure he understood him. He watched the Eradicon fidgeting restlessly and saw the clots of dirt and rock falling to the floor from his joints. At least he knew one thing could be done. He came over to the drone and effortlessly pulled him up to his feet.

"Come with me."

The room swayed slightly, a combination of an empty fuel tank and too much time spent in stasis cuffs. Stirred free by the motion, pieces of red grit rolled down KA-R1-302's plating like dozens of tiny bolders. The Vehicon was no longer bracing himself for an impending session of physical torture, and he could no longer say that being offlined was inevitable. Nothing had gone the way he'd expected, so he simply stopped expecting any particular thing.

Even so, he tried not to look around too freely as Optimus led him down the hallway.

Optimus led him into the wash racks, a long, brightly lit room with concrete floors that dipped slightly to a central drain. It wasn't exactly set up the way Cybertronians would build a wash rack, but the old military car washing facility had good pressure and the added water heater worked well enough. He brought the Eradicon to stand beside one of the Autobot-installed shower heads and turned on the water, adjusting the heat until it steamed. "Help yourself," he said, gesturing to the cleanser dispenser and cleaning supplies seated on a shelf in the wall.

KA-R1-302 looked from Optimus to the wash rack, unsure if he was going to be released from his cuffs. When it became apparent that no such thing was forthcoming, he stepped forward to the shower head; the dirt was caked on and itching terribly, and he just wanted it off before the Autobot could change his mind.

Even cuffed, he managed to switch the rack on and turn the spray towards himself, every fiber automatically relaxing under the hot blast...for a moment, it didn't matter that it was just turning to mud.

Only the fact of his audience could have cut the Vehicon's enjoyment short, and he awkwardly applied cleanser to the cleaning sponge. It seemed natural to start at his upper thighs, the only place within immediate reach, which he did with only a slight aversion to Optimus's optics on him.

To be Continued.