Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Michael Bay/Hasbro do. I'm not making any money from this.

The beginning

Subject Seventeen awoke with a start: someone was entering her cell. As always, her anonymous jailor wore one of those awful, full-bodied yellow gears, which made it impossible for her to make out anything besides the fact that he was a male of average height. As he unlocked the restraining that chained her to the walls and ceiling, she glared at him with all the intensity she could muster, but stopped momentarily to stretch the best she could after the latest chain was removed. It was a difficult task, considering that her arms were stuck at her back with bulky, one-pieced handcuffs and her feet were tied together, giving just the minimal length needed to walk.

A distorted voice came out from his elongated mask.

"Out."

The girl paused her actions and cursed mentally. The device that impeded her to bite down her tongue made articulating an imposible feat, so she did the only thing she could do: growl and glare at her captor.

He lifted the electrified black stick as a warning and she obediently moved out her cage, where another yellow clad man waited with identical stick in hand. While the second one hooked the metallic leash to the cuffs, the first man, slightly taller that the other, motioned the direction to take.

"Move."

After the first turns were taken, it was clear they were up to something big, judging by the amount of people joining them little by little. They paid no mind to her, and she was fine by that; the less they interacted with her, the better for everyone.

All the way, Subject Seventeen walked slowly, her head low and her eyes unfocused. Each step she took, that strange pull she felt gained force. Ever since she was branded as Seventeen, she had been… aware of things, beyond what before had been possible. More acute hearing, clearer sight, sharper reflexes – even strange, unexplicable things. Seventeen knew who was Subject; she felt it, the same she felt this very pull she had come to associate to long, painful sessions of data-gathering.

The subject came to a halt as soon as the though came and, even with her eyes closed, she could tell the atmosphere was thick with tension.

"Move."

She swallowed and shut her eyes even more tightly when she felt a hand at her back, trying to push her, but she had no intention to take another step.

Another voice talked, she wasn't sure who it was, but his tone was hard and uneasy at the same time. Perhaps they knew as well as her what was to come.

"Move." A pause. "Subject number 17, move."

Sometimes it was difficult to think she was her own person. Between the disorientation, the drugs, the weakness, time blending until no one knew how many days had passed since they last saw the sun… There had been others who had forgotten so much that had to rely on others completely to know who they were beyond these four walls. She knew she forgot little bits as of late. Thing was, there was no one left to remind her she wasn't something, so she had to make extra efforts to remind herself that she was her own person.

Shaking, she moved her head from left to right:

No.

A muffled cry escaped her as soon as the stick made contact with her nape, and her knees gave up on her, the cuffed girl sweating and breathing quickly through her nose. She was grabbed roughly by her upper arms, but there was nothing she could do, the electrical charge had stunned her.

When she came to her senses, she was already strapped to a table, with those suction pad-like sensors attached to her head and a really large group of people around her, some of their gears gone, but that was not what attracted her attention.

There was another Subject with her. An unusual one.

A robot. A half-frozen, trashing, wailing yellow robot. He – calling him an it would be like equating herself to a something – was chained to a table, like her, and it seemed like he was giving a hard time to anyone who dared to approach him.

"We need the N.B.E. to be still. Nitrogen!" As soon as those words were heard, the being besides her was sprayed with gas and his joints froze. Taking their chance, the operators freed his first tying and strapped him down too. More orders were barked, but she was not paying attention to them anymore.

He was looking at her, with the most innocent, bluest eyes, and that plus his rounded head reminded her to a pouting, confused child – like Fourteen -, as if silently asking 'What's gonna happen?'

Her heart jolted at the sight.

Subject Seventeen diverted her eyes to the ground for a short moment before shaking her head, and then locking eyes with him again, hoping he understood.

I'm sorry.

Before she could see if her mimicked apology had reached its destination, a wave of pain went through her back. The experimentation had begun, and it was her turn. Ladies first, wasn't it?

Labored, yet muffled screams echoed through the enormous room they were in, and she wasn't sure anymore if they were hers, or his, for he was already being tortured too.

"Sir, we've interferences in our system!"

"Energy's going low, Main generator's stopped working!"

"Use the Emergency generator, contact with Energy Department!"

There were some moments of respite as the scientists read their constants and discussed between themselves about their meaning. It was in then, while she focused in taking spaced breaths, that she felt the weirdest of things at the back of her mind. It was like another… presence.

"Brain's activity has spiked up!"

.:: What the…?::.

.:: You can hear me? ::.

"Analysis!"

It was official, Seventeen had lost her mind.

Scared as the first times she had been in captivity, the girl trashed and wiggled and another round of electrical charges took place, but it was shorter than the others. Exhausted and dizzied, she had not been aware they had stopped until she was grabbed by cold metal and put against something smooth and cooler than the table. Faintly, she heard some people shouting, and new sounds yet to identify, it was so difficult to understand what was being said.

"Listen to me, the cube's here and the Decepticons are coming-"

She was lifted in the air against the same surface as before, and she was sure she had seen that yellow somewhere, but her brain simply refused to cooperate.

"No, no, forget them! Let them be, Bee! They won't harm you!"

"Back off, he ain't an enemy!"

Subject Seventeen regained her focus little by little, and only then she noticed the rev-like sound at her back or the buzz coming from the right arm of her unusual, yellow-colored companion. She glared frightened at the large group of people surrounding them, and tried to hide between her newfound ally and his left arm, wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and the scientists.

.:: I won't let them harm us anymore ::.

"Lower your weapons, they won't harm you, they're going to take you to the All Spark."

Seventeen shaking only grew when he did lower his weapon.

.:: No, no, no, no! Don't trust them; they'll only hurt us more! ::.

She heard some chirps coming from him and felt him steadying his posture, but he made no further movements to attack any of the people surrounding them. Then, the girl was lifted higher until she sat in his shoulders –with a protuberance between her legs as the only means she had to avoid falling and still handcuffed –, then he took off after the people leading the way.

When they reached their apparent destination, she gazed wide-eyed at the big, huge, metallic cube, and the pull was stronger than ever. The thing was huge, with ladders and such all around it, and some sparks escaped its carved depths from time to time. Then, she shot a questioning look to her fellow subject, who was gazing at with… devotion? Awe?

.:: What is that? ::.

Seeing he was not paying attention, she mumbled at him and shoved him with her shoulder, and he in turn gave her an apologizing look. So curious, how well he was conveying emotions through his metal features. The robot bent down and placed her on the ground, but her legs gave out and she fell on her butt. He grabbed her shirt and lifted her up, but she fell again, this time against his hand.

.:: Can't you stand? ::.

She tested the unwilling limbs carefully, and denied with her head.

.:: It hurts ::.

.:: It'll be a moment ::.

After he… 'said' that, he approached the giant cube and lifted up his arms. Without warning, as he touched its surface, it began to fold in itself and it lost size until it fitted in the yellow being's grasp. The curious thing was that the sparks that were released in the process repaired all damage he had, maybe even charged him, for he made a little victory dance at the end. Then, as if recalling something, he spun around and approached the girl, to whom he moved the sparkling cube. Subject number Seventeen frowned at it, and the robot chirped in return, encouraging her to get a closer look.

Unsure, she did so, sniffing the cube a little as she went down, and released a surprised yelp when its energy went over from nose to toes, but not in a painful way. In fact, she felt better than ever, or at least, better than ever since she was imprisoned by those crazy Scientifics. Slowly, she tested her body and its parts one by one as she could, and then stood up by herself – almost – smiling triumphantly.

"Message from star fleet Captain – Roll out!" A mix of voices came out from her big friend, and she eyed him almost giggling, plainly ignoring all the fuss happening with the other people around them.

.:: You can read minds, yet you speak though radio stations? ::.

He seemed offended by that, and chirped almost angrily at her.

.:: It's not mind reading! It doesn't work that way! ::.

"…Megatron is in the other hangar, Mission City…"

Seventeen lifted incredulously an eyebrow, got as answer a final chirp and a rolling of eyes from his part before the yellow robot transformed into a car, cube and all inside. As two people approached them, she watched at the two nervously before taking in their looks: a boy and a girl, teenagers, maybe younger than her. No Scientifics, no workers; plain adolescents, as she once was. Just what the hell was going on…?

The car's horn called out and she was taken from her thoughts as someone pushed her to the car, its – no, his – doors opening by themselves.

"Kids, get into the car! Mr. Secretary, you must get the Air Force to take off! When we reach the town, Epps will signal our position!"

The doors closed and almost immediately the car speeded up, the security belt fasting around her by itself.

Not like she could have done a thing with those cuffs of hers, though.

.:: What's going on? ::.

.:: We must get the All Spark away form Megatron ::.

.:: Mega-what? What? ::.

.:: We don't have time! We're in the middle of war! ::.

"Erh, hello?" The black haired girl sitting in the co-pilot seat spoke tentatively.

"Hello?" The girl seemed taken aback by a pair of piercing, green, feral eyes, but tried it again. "Ermm, I'm Mikaela, and he's my… friend, Sam." Seventeen closed her eyes and bowed a little her head as salute. Sam, who was sitting in the driver seat but was not driving – he wasn't even touching the steering wheel, and it moved by itself, probably due to the car's own movements – tried to put in an introduction of his own, but it was pretty much clear that he was nervous and he didn't fare very well.

"Y-yeah, I'm Sam, who are you?" Both girls glared at him, for it was obvious she could not talk while muzzled.

.:: Dude, are all your acquaintances like this, or not all need special assistance? ::.

.:: Don't take it on him! He's a good boy, we're friends ::.

"Wait, let me see that thing… can you bent down your head a little?" The Subject gave the girl a wary look before bending her head, giving her full access of her nape. She felt her fingers testing the restraining, but it did not loosen a bit.

"This needs a security code, three digits… I can't remove it without it."

The Sam-boy spoke up, wanting to help "Have you tried the common ones…? You know, one, two, three, one, one, one…"

Seventeen huffed, exasperated.

Why me…?

.:: Do you know the code? ::.

.:: No, but I'm sure it's harder than that, Banachek became paranoid after Nine managed to get out his cage using a spoon. Lemme think… ::.

She was interrupted by a struggle between the couple at front; she wouldn't have cared less if it wasn't for Sam nearly strangling in the process.

.:: Make them stop! ::.

"Let me see Mikaela! I think I know it, it's Seven! You know, Sector Seven, their S-Seven underwe-"

"Sam, stop! You're choking her!" Seventeen wasn't sure how his mechanical friend did it, but perhaps it had something to do with his seat moving back and forth until Sam released her.

She could only breathe and count to ten; she would let it slipat the moment.

.:: Can you tell them to try seven, one, seven? ::.

Almost instantly, the radio blasted to life and those numbers were heard in-between static and various voices. "Is that the code, Bee? Ok, let's try out!" It was Sam who spoke, but she was positive it was Mikaela who introduced the combination.

The girl felt joyous as the confirmation voice pooped up 'Caution, releasing subject number Seventeen' and the muzzle unstrained, letting her spit it out maneuvering with her mandible.

Ah, sweet, merciful air thought I'd never taste you again!

For the first time in months, the girl spoke out loud, her voice coming cracked and low "Thank you, guys."

.:: And thank you, too. ::.

A/N: So, after months on end spent in silence, I return. All I can say to excuse myself is personal cricumstances and thethe death by shortcut of my loyal laptop. Because I feel my writing has changed and I wish to do my best, I'll be revising and reposting all SS17 content, and then try to post as quickly as I can new content without damaging it's usual quality. As always, this is not revised by second parties, so if you see something that does not belong, please contact me about it. Until next time, guys.

23/11/2014