Healed [Sequel to Burned](Transformers Prime)

Chapter Fourteen | Prisoner

"I'm a prisoner to my addiction,
I'm addicted to a life that's so empty and so cold,
I'm a prisoner to my decisions,"

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Ratchet threw the relic's empty container in rage, whirling on Chromia.

"They took her, and not one of you thought to pursue?!"

"I was busy not getting blown up at the time," Chromia snapped back, thrusting a digit at the stabilizing and unconscious Megatron. "He saved my life, Ratchet, and in the process, gave up his chance to get Dana back. If I could have had it any other way, then I would have told him to go after her. But he made his decision. Now, we need to figure out a way to track them down and find her."

The medic's digits curled into fists. She was right, but it was driving him crazy, not knowing what those monsters intended to do with his charge. If they found out about the Cybertronian technology beneath her skin . . . He shuddered to think about who Lockdown would sell her to if he mistook her for a real techno-organic creature.

Soundwave projected a map of the world, highlighting where the relic had been found - Germany - and the fastest route to it from the United States, if that was even where MECH was located. Megatron had made extraordinary time at the cost of copious amounts of energon, and Lockdown's party arrived before he had. Surely, they were stationed somewhere closer.

Agent Fowler gazed at the map. "What I can't wrap my head around is how quickly MECH got to the site. Yes, they have military grade jets and helicopters, but to get from the States to Europe is easily an eight-hour flight, cut in half by fighter jets. They were there in minutes."

"Then maybe they are not in this country," Chromia suggested, gesturing to the world map. "They could be stationed somewhere else. Is MECH central only to America?"

"Well . . . I assumed that was the case, since their leader Silas was here. But maybe not?" The agent shrugged. "Maybe I can get Jack, Miko, and Rafael on that."

"We don't have time to put Dana's fate in the hands of children." Ratchet was becoming more perturbed by the minute. "We have to locate them now-"

Soundwave pointed to the relic, his screen fluttering to life. "Why not just - snatch - the relic?" A flurry of different voices asked.

"Or take the Apex Armor?" Chromia saw what he was saying. "You think they took her as some sort of ransom? Or bait?"

"Precisely."

Agent Fowler frowned. "So we wait for a ransom call."

"That's just a theory, and it could be wrong!" Ratchet pointed out. "They could be torturing her, experimenting on her, killing her! And you want to wait?"

The femme's blue optics focused on him, hard as steel. "I doubt they are going to do the latter part, or even experiment on her. As long as they believe she's human, she's more than likely safe. Besides, Lockdown is Cybertronian; he would recognize our technology. So why grab her, and not the relics? It makes sense that they are going to use her for something."

Ratchet put his helm in his servos. "I can't just sit around here and do nothing."

"Then let's figure out what this relic does," Chromia picked it up, the device easily larger than her servo. "Megatron, Dana, and I almost all collectively died to get it. Let's see if it's worth our efforts."