Shadowfire

Chapter 53

Shadis awoke disconnected from half her circuits. She was affixed to a medical berth, chained down, a bolt of true fear striking her as she realised she was unable to initiate a commlink, nor speak. Someone had cut her vocal processors. In the next moment it became clear why, she had been betrayed by her own kind. They clearly didn't want to leave her the option of ordering them to release her and turn the bonds on themselves. She understood what had happened, but she had no idea as to why. Why had these mechs turned on the leader of their species? If they didn't want to live under her rule on Cybertron they were welcome to try their luck in empty space, she wasn't forcing anyone to follow her. So why had they felt the need to ambush her, and what did they plan to do now?

She tried to speak as a mech she didn't recognise approached, medical tools in hand. Was he a medic or simply an unskilled mech going to give it an attempt? But give what an attempt? Surely they weren't going to torture her? Didn't they know Primus had prepared for that? That over the years many mechs had attempted to torture the secrets of Primus from rightly chosen Primes? And he had drawn their minds away to save them from that fate, to prevent their betrayal?

A human entered now, climbing the side of the medical berth, device in their hands, scanning her. The mech disappeared from her field of view and a second later she felt tools scraping at the back of her helm, a servo tilting her head back. She struggled, slamming her helm against the berth, trapping the mech's servo between her helm and the hard unyielding slab. He cried out, in surprise that quickly became pain as she worked to crush his hand with her head, struggling in earnest now.
"Knockout!" The human cried, uselessly taking a step forward. Not a threat, the Matrix decided, powering her as she began to lever herself against the bonds holding her, stretching them. She was almost free.

"Tessa, press the second button on the left hand side" the human stared uncomprehendingly at the tablet, unable to read the Cybertronian glyphs. "Tessa! Do it!" The human pressed the button, engaging the electrode still clutched in the mech- Knockout's, servo. She grunted as pain sparked along her helm where it was in contact with the small disc, the mech actually holding it screaming in agony. His servos twitched, shuddering as the electric shock tore through his hand. He let go, magnetic attraction catching the device and pulling it to her helm. Now it was her turn to cry out, pain electrifying her systems as the disc fastened itself to the cables at the base of her helm, sending the signal into her frame, targeting her nervous and motor control systems. Her body went limp, slumping against the bonds.

The mech retreated, clutching at his injured servo. The human dithered, not knowing what to do. Eventually the mech returned, an ethernet cable clutched in his non-injured hand. A cortical psychic link, the Matrix told her, fight. And Shadis did.

"Unicron frag it!" The medic yelped "shock her again". The chip engaged, pain rocketing through her systems, tearing her nerves open. She didn't give in. She was a Prime dammit, she would fight even if she could defy a direct instruction through the Matrix. The bonds stretched, servos scrabbling against the medical berth even as they twitched under the assault of the electricity, searching for the button to disengage the bonds. "We need to get someone else in here!"
"But we weren't– we didn't want them to see–"
"She's going to escape and probably kill us all!" The mech shouted, holding her shoulders against the berth "I can't keep her down on my own!"

The doors slid open and three other mechs burst into the room. Decepticons, she recognised, the very ones she had expelled from Cybertron. She renewed her struggling, she didn't want to know what they were going to do to her. She was so close to freedom, just a few more inches until she could disengage the bonds.
"Tessa! Get more of those chips up here! Now!" The human obeyed, throwing a handful of the chips onto the berth where their magnetic function activated and they suctioned themselves onto her chassis. There was a moment of glittering, intolerable pain and then everything went dark.