*********6*********

Chainbreak lounged on her perch, relaxing a bit, slowly drawing a sharpener across one of her forearm blades. Ratchet's taping on the display screen was calming and she found that her spot here was very tranquil, both of which she was in need of as of late. Bulkhead had snuck out on patrol without her and she didn't have the motivation to follow after him at the moment. She had been rather…quiet and aloof lately, concentrating more on her own thoughts than what was going on around her. Her current cool and calculating demeanor was adopted whenever events got a bit overwhelming for her. She just wanted to be able to clear her processor, but didn't want to be alone either; hence why she was lounging on a perch in the base proper. She still struggled to deal with Megatron's influence within the personal confines of her processor, but Ratchet promised he was working on a solution.

At least the ground bridge was working more efficiently, after Miko and Raf helped her finish the maintenance. Little fingers get into the tiny spaces so much easier than hers. Miko was fine after the accident where Chainbreak got fried, and Ratchet had repaired the damage to her arm without a problem.

Her only problem was the growing reoccurrence of the nightmares where Megatron took center stage.

And after nightmares like that, Chainbreak had trouble sleeping, and often kept to herself, only really talking much with Bulkhead. Even her old friend Arcee couldn't get her to open up much. Miko just chatted with Chainbreak one-sidedly about music or school, trying to distract her processor she thought.

"This is very curious Optimus," the medic stated, gazing intently at the screen he stood in front of. "The Decepticons have chosen to mobilize here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I'm searching for any residual traces of energy, but none have come up…"

"Which means there are no artifacts or energon deposits at their current location," Optimus finished.

"Precisely," Ratchet stated confidently turning around. "I'm concerned that this is a trap, but it warrants investigation as well." The medic's optics traveled up the wall of the silo to where Chainbreak was perched, sharpening her weapon, no doubt listening to their conversation.

Optimus followed the medics gaze, turning to see the femme warrior perched on the ledge of the vent shaft. Chainbreak felt the gaze of the two mechs and glanced up, looking down along the edge of her blade at them. A lesser mech would've flinched under a gaze that intimidating, neither of the mechs that held her gaze winked an optic. She raised an optic ridge in question, not bothering to speak.

"Chainbreak, would you accompany me on a scouting mission?" the Prime asked.

She set her blade down, surprise ruling her faceplate, "I thought Bumblebee was the scout?"

"He's on patrol," Ratchet said before turning around to attend to the notification on the screen.

Optimus held her gaze, making it clear he would turn it into an order but he would prefer not to. She retracted her blade into her arm and stowed the sharpening block in a compartment. Hopping down, landing gracefully on her pedes, she stated, "I'll join, been a while since I've gotten to see some action."

"It's just a scouting mission," Ratchet reaffirmed, activating the newly overhauled ground bridge.

"Aren't they always?" she retorted, turning to follow the Prime through the blue-green portal.

--------


Emerging from the bridge, Chainbreak followed Optimus closely, weapons at the ready. Optimus crouched behind a boulder in the woods, observing the Decepticon's mull about the site in question.

"Is it an artifact?" Chainbreak whispered.

"I do not believe so" he returned, and motioned for silence with a finger to his mouth.

Chainbreak leaned carefully around the boulder, using nearby foliage for cover. Sneaking was a thing Optimus couldn't do, heck Bumblebee had problems. The only one that was on her level was Arcee, merely because they were femmes and had trained together previously. However, Chainbreak could easily use her stealth training to get a closer look at what the 'Cons were up to, without alerting to their presence.

She motioned her intention to more around for a better view. Optimus grudgingly nodded, trying to prevent her from doing something more rash.

Using the natural foliage and shadows of the evening forest for cover she made her way closer to the epicenter of activity that waited below them. Barely a sound was heard as she skirted the edge of the forest clearing, the fall of leaves and pine needles the only remnant of her passing.

She narrowed her optics, zooming in on the site. Her examination came up with nothing abnormal, no energon spikes, or ancient beacons, muted by the rocks.

This screamed trap and a horrible feeling developed in the pit of her tanks.

A high speed jet whooshed by overhead, she ducked under the bushes to avoid detection, hoping Optimus wasn't spotted. She heard the sound as the bot transformed and felt the ground shaking thud as they landed. She cowered smaller into the bushes, and closed her optics tightly, in hope to avoid being caught.

The gravelly voice that began barking out orders was one from her nightmares. Megatron had showed up. She had no clue if he was wise to her presence or not, considering their recent disturbing connection, she had a sick feeling that he could sense her.

The Decepticon lord gave orders to secure the perimeter. Optimus was out of range of their search, Chainbreak was not. To flee would be giving her position away and leaving Optimus without backup.

If only she could communicate with her Prime.

When the servo clamped down on her shoulder plates, she froze. She found herself being dragged out of the bushes by a pair of vehicons and held at blaster-point at Megatron's pedes.

"Well, now. What do we have here?" he growled with curiosity, "An Autobot spy, hiding in the woods, or desperate and so naively fallen for a simple trap." He hooked a claw under her chin to tilt her helm up. One look into those fierce and disturbing purple optics and she jerked her helm away defiantly. Now was not the time for weakness, and succumbing to his terror would show her dark struggles of late.

Megatron looked around, "Now she can't be alone out here. Where is her backup?"

Probably expecting Bulkhead or some other member of the squad, he would be surprised to see Optimus. She glared up at Megatron, "I'm alone on a recon mission." She emphasized her distaste of the Decepticon leader by spitting on his pedes.

That earned her a backslap to her faceplate. Just the chance she needed, as Megatron himself released her from the hold of the drones, which she could've broken herself, but why take all the fun? She was a trained intelligence operative of the elite guard, though she never chose to don the symbol, too ostentatious for her taste.

She exploded into action, flipping herself away from the dark mech and landing nimbly on her pedes. She fired few quick shots, quickly dispatching the nearby drones, as more poured in. Optimus was battling Megatron when she finished, however another servo grabbed her. She struggled against the bot, and glanced up. Breakdown. Ugh, she had to talk with Bulkhead about taking better care of his arch nemesis.

"Hello there," Knockout crooned as he appeared beside them. Just the mech she wanted to see, she rolled her optics.

"Can it 'con scum," she spat, kicking against Breakdown's armor, trying to reach and scratch the offending vain mech's pretty paint.


He held fast and waited for the two leaders to reach a stalemate. Optimus stood up, after being thrown against the boulder, clearly beaten as part of his arm blade lay a short distance away from their battle site. Megatron flaunted his sword, reveling in his victory.

This was clearly a one sided battle.

And it seemed like it was meant to be, such a trap.

Speaking of which, Soundwave must be near as well, and jamming communications and blocking signals. She couldn't reach out to call for back up if she wanted to, which in this case, she really wanted to.

But they had the advantage, but weren't taking it…..a knot formed in the pit of her tanks. She should be scrap, and Optimus should be getting cozy in the brig on the Nemesis by now.

"Optimus surely, you've realized the connection between your spy and myself," he strode forward slowly, then stopped, motioning towards me. "The good doctor made sure when he used the Dark energon as a punishment for her digression." He glared back at Optimus. "You should really train your operatives better Optimus."

Optimus glanced towards me, his mask retracting, clearly unsure of how to proceed. We needed backup badly, or I was as good as captured, or dead depending on Megatron's plan.

"What is it that you want Megatron?" he questioned.

He smiled evilly, showing his pointed fangs, "Merely to show how unreliable she is now."

His glare now turned to her, the glow flaring in his optics, as her processor split open in pain. Vaguely she was aware of being released by Breakdown as he and Knockout engaged Optimus, who launched forward into action, Megatron flaunting his new power over me.

"You see, she can't be trusted, Optimus. I can merely wish to be inside her processor and from the power of Unicron; I can either steal information, or demolish her sanity."

Chainbreak was kneeled over beneath Megatron, moaning, holding the sides of her helm as if her servos could stop the agony. This was something new. Never before in any of the nightmares had she experienced anything like this. And what was worse, she heard Unicron's ancient rumblings inside her pounding processor as well.

He was reaching into her memories, and raiding her processor. She scrambled to prevent sensitive information from being acquired, but doing so allowed him access to her emotional connected memories. She was forced to painfully witness Megatron laughing at every moment he encountered. Every intimate moment with Bulkhead, every laugh with Miko, Raf, and Jack, reuniting with Wheeljack, her joy at fixing the Jackhammer again and repairing and upgrading the spacebridge. Her love of their new home, though she would never admit how much she loved the organic orb.

The last thing she remembered before fading into stasis lock, was the sounds of Knockout and Breakdown, getting thrown aside, as reinforcements, finally poured out of a groundbridge she had failed to notice.

---------------


Beeping equipment was the only evidence Chainbreak still retained brain activity. Bulkhead sat near her, Wheeljack chatting quietly with Arcee across the base proper. Everyone was worried. Bumblebee was keeping Raf and Miko busy, Jack was home studying.

Chainbreak had been in stasis lock for a few days, with Ratchet unable to rouse her.

Optimus walked over quietly, "How is she?"

Ratchet sighed, turning from the medical computer's display, "The stasis lock still hasn't shown any signs of lessening. It's like her systems are locked down to prevent access of any kind; blocking any attempts from myself or Megatron…"

The medic glanced at the still femme before continuing, "It's unlikely that we'll be able to rouse her. She'll have to do so herself, or remain in this limbo. I only hope that she isn't suffering from her recent string of nightmares…."

He addressed the single most worrying thing. No one knew, was she merely in stasis lock, or was she frozen in the unbearable agony of her nightmares?

Wheeljack couldn't sit still for long, and hearing such news didn't make it better. Without another word he walked out of the base, searching for some fresh air.

He couldn't stand being in that room, the beeping of her monitors so clearly sounding her life force. The others encouraged him to stay, that Chainbreak needed him, but he felt she was no longer there, that she had left in order to relieve the pain and nightmares she was suffering from. He couldn't bring himself to leave though. Maybe it was Chainbreak, maybe he couldn't leave his best friend to deal with the loss of Chainbreak alone.

Maybe he wasn't losing her. Maybe it was just stasis like Ratchet ….

No.

He squashed such thoughts immediately, and transformed, peeling off into the red-brown Nevada desert.

The day young, the road long, good way to clear his head as any.

All he had wanted throughout the war was to get Chainbreak back. And now Megatron had ripped what slim opportunity he had away from him.

He was going to rip the vocal processor out of the mech if it was the last thing he did.

---------

Pain.

She was aware of pain.

Aware, she was aware. It was a start. She could start there. Everyone did at some point.

A strange beeping sound began softly. As it got louder she could make out a beat. Much like a spark, her spark.

'I'm in med bay? Again?'

Her processor struggled to come up with the reason she would be so incapacitated to result in a spark monitor.

The pain began to fade, and clarity replaced it.

She had been forced to bear witness to the dark inner workings of Megatron's processor.

And had been subjected to Unicron's wrath.

'Primus save me now' she pleaded mentally, as she felt only the long absent god of Cybertronians could do anything to save her.

She was unconscious now. Megatron and Unicron both had access to her processor, her memories; they had access to her very being.

Awake. That's what she aimed for.

Wake up. She told herself

The beeping grew louder. She became aware of talking, and other machine noises. Video games.

Video games. The kids. Miko.

Bulkhead.

She had to wake up. She had to, Bulkhead needed her, she needed him.

Her optics responded, the lights above her blinding. She squinted.

"Bulkhead?" she croaked weekly.

Silence fell over the silo. The only sound was the monitor's constant beeping.

A large servo enveloped her smaller one. "Chains?" she heard anxiety and relief in his vocal pattern.

"Hey" she managed, opening her optics again, finding his body to be blocking the harsh light.

A collective breath seemed to be released.

"What happened? In the battle….what happened after I blacked out?" she whispered hoarsely, unable to get her vocal processor to do much more.

"Bee, Arcee, and I came in for backup when Ratchet realized he couldn't contact you and he saw all the Con's surrounding you and Optimus." Bulkhead answered.

"When we got through, you were on the ground and Optimus was battling the entire Con horde," Arcee continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "You okay Chainbreak?"

She nodded weekly, and tried to sit up in vain. Her metallic muscles protesting.

"Easy Chainbreak. Your not going anywhere," Ratchet held her shoulder plate down gently, easily keeping her on the berth. She almost growled, she was so weak!
"Chains, Ratchet's just trying to help okay. Just relax." Bulkhead soothed moving his faceplate closer and brushing a chain back with his servo. She flushed, feeling her faceplate turn red she turned her helm away, feeling awkward about public affection still.

Everyone got the message and cleared out, Bee heading over to keep the kids occupied playing games, Arcee went on patrol, disappearing out the tunnel, and Ratchet had grabbed a scanner which he proceeded to run over her frame.


She got the sense that she had been out for quite some time. "How long have I been out?" she forced her voice not to croak or whisper, and coughed a few times for her determination.

Bulkhead held her gently as she coughed. "You've been out for a few days."

"Three to be exact, "Ratchet countered. He moved over to the other side of his patient a light in his hand. He flashed it in both of her optics; she glared at the older medic and swatted his servos away. He gave her a scolding look, "You experienced some kind of mental connection with Megatron through the dark energon torture you received while captive on their warship."

She rolled her optics, "Well that's obvious doc. Anything else you'd like to rub in?" Ratchet glowered at the femme that was so obviously Wheeljack's younger sibling at this moment.

"Yes, your systems are not as responsive as they should be for some reason, so take it easy. Other than that your free to go, as long as you rest. I'd suggest your quarters."

Hmmm, quarters, she liked the sound of that. Hell remembering all the nasty and lust filled psychosis that seemed to be Megatron's processor was all that convinced her that a good frag with her bondmate would be welcome.

The servo that was on her upper back supporting her as she sat up fell to the small of her back as provocatively as he dared in the confines of the silo proper, but the green mech seemed to have the same though process.

They really didn't get much time to just be together. Intimacy between them consisted of patrolling together, true intimacy was a real treat.

After they passed into the hall, their progress slowed by her body which was slowly gaining strength, she leaned into him, placing her hand on his chest plates as they walked. He smiled down at her.

"You'll have to be gentle, can't handle the rough stuff tonight Bulk." She cooed.
He smirked, and in his best deep gravely seductive voice "Oh don't worry you'll enjoy it either way."

It was like they couldn't get to their quarters fast enough. Chainbreak didn't much care even if she was sore. As she hit the button to open to door so they could enter their quarters she felt herself being lifted into the air. She giggled as she realized her large green bondmate had lifted her up bridal style to carry her to the berth. She curled into his arms, happy to be in them once again.

"I'm glad your relaxed and happy enough to laugh so freely, Chains. I've really missed spending time with you. Just the two of us," the green mech's words only scrapping the top of his pent up emotions regarding his bondmate and her predicament of late. "You scared the spark out of me."

She laughed again, smiling and tapped on his spark chamber as he gently laid her on their berth. "Seems like you still have one, so I'm not worried at all." A mischievous smile broke across her features. She gently pulled her war crest, that framed her faceplate and kept her chains back, off, letting her small hair like chains fall down around her faceplate.

Her soreness only took away from the enjoyment at first, as Bulkhead was gentle and took his time preparing his recovering mate. Soon enough she was begging for more as her overload built to an unbearable level.

"Bulkhe--…AH, frag I'm close, BULKHEAD!" she growled out as he forced overload onto her small frame, growling in time with her systems as he rejoiced in his own ecstasy.

Still screaming from pleasure that was so much it glitched her systems forcing a reboot, she collapsed onto the berth beneath him, deathly still after such an interfacing session.

"Chains?" he whispered breathless, wanting his spark mate to simply be in stasis from his sexual prowess. He gently reached his servo up to brush a stray chain back from her faceplate.

"Chainbreak, please?" he begged, rubbing her cheek gently. He tried to shake her, his helm falling to her chest plates as a few stray drops of lubricant found their way from his azure optics.

She remained unresponsive, appearing dead except for her spark beat, and the steady intake and output of breath.

Nothing he could do would rouse her. She was again in the clutches of her nightmares.