Niave

Chapter 13: Either Terrifying or Terrific

Megatron was furious. No. Furious was an understatement.

The Autobots had taken his weapon. They'd taken his pet. They'd gained an advantage that Megatron knew his pathetic excuse of an army would never overcome. In Optimus's servos, the staff had unlimited potential.

If he had Lila, then perhaps she could return it with her strange magical connection, but they'd taken her too and Megatron doubted Optimus was planning on revealing her location anytime soon.

Megatron refused to allow the Autobots to have an advantage over him, especially if it was an advantage they stole from him. Megatron had rightfully kidnapped the girl and she belonged to him.

He could only imagine all the propaganda Prime was now putting in her head, turning her into a weapon against him. Megatron's servos clenched at the thought of it.

Now, Megatron was deep in thought and brooding in his anger. He'd manually disabled his communicator and he doubted anyone who spotted him standing at the edge of the flight deck would dare bother him. The last vehicon who approached him when he was like this had been promptly ripped in half and thrown off the side of the ship.

So when Soundwave approached him from behind, Megatron knew his third must have something of importance.

"Soundwave," Megatron turned to look at the communicatons officer, "what is it?"

Soundwave's visor lit up with a picture of the staff. Megatron's optics narrowed as the screen changed to a map with a blinking red light.

"The Autobots would not be so stupid as to leave the beacon intact while transporting it," Megatron stated.

Soundwave didn't respond, and yet, the light continued to blink. After a moment of silence, Megatron growled and onlined his communicatons.

"Send me the coordinates. I will investigate this myself."

He stepped off the flight deck and transformed before Soundwave had even sent him the data. His engines burst to life soon enough, Megatron was sailing toward the suspected staff beacon.

The coordinates had been moving at first, but now they were stationary. Megatron looked toward the ground, which was tan and dry, and the sight he found below was... well, either terrifying or terrific.

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"Clearly you know how to use it for teleportation," Agent Henches stated. "How does it work? What do you do?"

Lila said nothing from where she was laying on her stomach across the backseat. She was light-headed and immobile, and at the moment, it was all she could focus on. Henches glanced back at her in annoyance, but the sight of blood leaking down the seats captured his attention immediately.

"God dammit!" he exclaimed, immediately changing course to land. "What the hell did you do!?"

The landing was hurried and rocky, resulting in Lila sliding off the seat onto the floor. She moaned and feebly attempted to pull herself up, but to no avail. Henches launched out of the front seat and threw the back doors open. Grabbing her arms, he dragged Lila out and searched her for wounds.

Lila's head lolled back as her pants were yanked off and she groaned as they rubbed against her wound. The bandages were completely soaked and two of her three stitches had popped. Henches immediately got to work. Despite his dislike for her, there was no doubt in his mind that he also needed her alive.