Being Human (Transformers Prime)

Chapter Four | Private Conversations

"I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good."

~Andrew Solomon

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"What have you done with my son?"

Megatron did not recognize the number, as it was definitely not one of the Autobot's hailing frequencies, and the message did not come with a voice- just a string of words in English that popped in his processor, which he could read and understand as easily as if someone had been speaking to him. A text message.

Son also narrowed down the options by quite a lot. There were two people aboard this ship that anyone would call a son. Jackson Darby and Rafael Esquivel, both of which (as far as he knew) had human parental units. So that raised an interesting question: how did a human get his personal hailing frequency?

Well, the answer wasn't going to suddenly hit him across the face; he would have to do some digging.

"If I had an idea of who I was speaking to, then perhaps I could tell you." He didn't speak aloud, no need for such a thing when he was replying to a text message. A dangerous grin formed on his face as he eagerly opened the new message that arrived moments later.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about, so I'm betting you can take a guess." He could practically hear the snappy tone of a protective parental unit. "Tell me what you did with the kids."

"Well, I would at least like an idea." He couldn't just demand the answers with this one, it seemed. He would have to play nice, how tedious. "Given I have a total of three children aboard my ship."

"I'll give you a hint: I'm his mother, and I'm ticked. And if you know anything, you'll do well to no make me any angrier than I already am. Answer my question."

Did he know the exact names of the human's parents? No. But he knew of one who most definitely knew of the Autobots-he had seen her at the base with his own optics-so he could accurately guess who she was using last names.

"Mrs. Darby. A pleasure."

"It's Ms. Darby, thank you." Came the bitter remark. "You still haven't answered my question."

He was surprised by the correction. So either she had conceived the boy without sparkbonding, or somehow broken ties with her mate. Did humans even have permanent relationships, or were they seriously just made to reproduce as much as possible?

"My sincerest apologies." He couldn't keep the sneer off of his face. Whatever had happened, he didn't feel the least bit sorry for her. "As for your question, I assure you that the children are in the safest of hands. Shockwave is not barbaric, he will make sure they are properly cared for."

He hoped that last sentence left a sick feeling toiling inside her, his mental torture of the human rather entertaining. If the Autobots told her anything about Shockwave, it would be how demented the scientist was. Now, demented was harsh. Shockwave was anything but crazy- he was quite the cold calculator, and crystal clear when it came to explanations.

"And I should take your word for it?" Ms. Darby barely feared him, it seemed. He could recall seeing an adult human female rushing out after the kids when he had visited the Autobot base, and now he could pinpoint similarities between Jack and her, if his processor was reliable. Dark hair, blue eyes, the boy took after his carrier very much physically, and it was proving he had her personality and, perhaps morals, too.