Being Human (Transformers Prime)

Chapter Eighteen | New Looks

"You say freak, I say unique."

~Christian Baloga

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"Rrrrragh!" Jack yelled as he leaped into the air, his blades coming out and slicing off the head of the Vehicon, using his momentum to land a few feet from where the body crashed to the ground. Standing up with a turn, he gazed at all the carnage, his glower soon settling on the silent, masked communications officer at the opposite end of the training area.

"Good enough for you?" He spats, servos reverting back to normal as he kicked a Vehicon body aside, stalking back to the other end. He was tired, and what he could only describe as hungry, his body desperately wanting some energon. Soundwave had yet to reward him- like some kind of dog -with such a luxury; he wanted to push the boy to his breaking point.

"He seems to be able to go on forever." Knock Out mused, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. He was simply there for his medical skills, which Soundwave had to admit were better than his own, and as such his commentary was unneeded. Yet Soundwave didn't have the right audio yet to make the Decepticon be quiet.

Jack snapped, clearly not in a good mood. "How about I behead you next?"

Tempting idea, but Soundwave wouldn't allow it.

The communications officer simply held up an arm to block Jack from Knock Out, his mask lighting up briefly.

"Again!"

It angered Jack to no end, his patience stripped raw along with his throat and body. He could take out the Vehicons, wasn't that the only thing that mattered?

He kept his mouth shut, though he didn't stop the growl from rising in his throat. Already he sported marks and scratches from when he had tried to attack Soundwave, only to be defeated in a few seconds while Knock Out gleefully watched. Lashing out wasn't going to do him any good in this scenario, not matter how badly he wanted to break that emotionless mask.

Turning away from the two Decepticons, Jack once again stood in the middle of the empty room, which he decided to call a training arena. Five Vehicons stepped out this time, as opposed to the three he had dispatched with ease. They stepped over their dead comrades with slight unease, gazing up at the intimidating, grey bot that had rage flickering off his body like an aura.

"Just going to keep throwing Vehicons at me until I burn through the ship's supply? Fine by me." Jack curled his servos into fists, squatting into a low-ready position. The Vehicons were like paper puppets, easy to break. It would be just as easy, he supposed, to just let them shoot him until he died, but again, he couldn't do that.

Not for Arcee. And definitely not for my mom. I can't leave her.

Soundwave ignored the boy's jab, instead waiting and watching for the action to begin. The Vehicons had one order: stay alive. It was a futile order that they could not obey, but it was a stronger objective than to simply kill the enemy. This entire thing was a psychological game to Soundwave, one he enjoyed as he slowly peeled away the layers of Jack Darby that made him human, intending to break him and then build him back up as a Decepticon.

Blue optics narrow, dilating into small points as he became completely focused, hands coming up as the Vehicons raised their weapons. It was all the same, from start to finish. They would raise their guns, shoot, miss, maybe hit- but that was what his shields were for -and he would charge and destroy them one by one.

He wasn't very optimistic about his shielding any more, however, as it had dropped down significantly to only 25%, whatever that meant. It wasn't good, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. He attributed it to the lack of energon, tiredness, and overall pummeling he had received the past couple of days.