I don't own transformers, obviously
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I stared, standing as straight as possible as a little girl hid behind me. She had even went under my backpack to hide in the back of my shirt. I could feel myself shaking, but I wasn't crying or screaming like the others in the large room. I felt the girl grab my shirt and I winced in fear as the large robot stepped closer. It didn't have a face or eyes, its entire face was covered by a black screen. It walked slowly, taking a picture of each person as he, it was obviously male, stalked down the room. He stopped at me, end of the line. He took my picture and I winced as I saw the fearful glare. He then pointed at the little girl behind me. "Her?" I asked and he nodded.
"Nonononononononono!" The word blurred as she repeated it. I hushed her, grabbing her wrist and gently tugging her in front of me.
"Hey, hey, it's just a picture. It's just a picture." I whispered and the girl whimpered a bit.I look around with wide eyes at the cells, more like cages, actually, as transparent versions of the pictures taken are projected onto the glass walls. I spin around, watching as ladders and elevators lower. Are they testing us? I watch as about a third of the group load into the elevator. I see that the little girl doesn’t have a cage and only then I notice that there’s a cage with the picture of me holding the girl protectively in front of me on it. Are we supposed to share the cage? Do they think we’re related? I grab the girl’s hand as she started to move towards the elevator.
“Why not... ?” She asks quietly, staring at the elevator as the doors closed.
“I don’t like the vibe it’s giving off.” I told her quietly and she just nodded, holding my hand as I walked towards the ladders. “Go up first, I can catch you if you fall.” I mumbled and the girl glanced at me fearfully.
“...Alright…” She said nervously. I let her get up a few rungs before climbing up behind her. I stared at the metal, seeing how some of the rungs were barely connected.
“Don’t grab that one. Skip it.” I ordered, seeing the girl about to grab one of the loose ones.
“Why?” She asked, glancing back at me. She let out a fearful squeak and I urged her to not look down again and to just continue climbing.
“It’s like a tree. Some of the branches are just too fragile and wobbly. You have to pay attention to what’s going on around you, alright? I-” I was cut off by the sounds of screams. I grabbed the girl with one arm as she fell a bit, pulling her onto my chest with a pained grunt. It felt like my arm had been momentarily pulled off.
“W-What is-” An explosion drowned out the girls words and I held her close to protect her from any debris.
“Don’t look, just keep climbing.” I ordered and the girl looked up at me with wide eyes.
“What-”
“Just don’t look.” I helped the girl climb up and into the cage with our image on it. I looked around, wincing as I saw that we were unable to see outside of the room. The walls seemed to be giant mirrors. The floor was bare and there was a large box in a corner of the room. Things would easily slip down it. Maybe it was for food or something. There was a body pillow on one end and a bathroom behind a door that swung into the wall.
“What do we do now?” The girl asked and I looked around.
“Look at the room, examine every nook and cranny that you can. Maybe it has secrets.” I mumbled, looking around. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to see what happened. Stay here.” I saw the girl nod as she walked hesitantly to the wall that hadn’t been visible in the large metal room we had woken up in.
