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Three days ago…

Camille screamed as the towering being stared at her, its inky, faceless face watching, almost in awe as she scrambled back, passing over gigantic keys and tumbling down slopes bigger than her whole body. It watched as she cried, panicked and fearful and so impossibly small in the expanse of room that the creation inhabited.

So frightfully small was she, facing this metal behemoth with tentacles and limbs so much longer than her. It towered over her, eclipsing the low purple light and bathed in red from the holographic computer at her back. And yet even as it looked, never once did it stop its diligent working. Cables and feelers skipping over keys and controls faster than she could hope to catch.

It watched, almost transfixed as she panicked, heaving heavy breaths as her mad scrambling turned into a more muted rush, never taking her eyes off the creature as she backed up as quickly as her exhausted body would allow.

And then one of those long, flat arms reached out, spindly fingers open wide as it snatched her up, digits awkwardly circling her waist in a cage of thin metal. She screamed in the beasts frighteningly loose hold, hands pounding against the warm metal, faint bruises already forming along her palms and hands. But still, it lifted her, so far and impossibly high in the air so quickly, and her heart leapt into her throat as she foolishly looked down.

Even as she rose, she knew that any fall would kill her instantly, and the thought alone was painfully sobering. The fall, almost three stories, she figured, would leave her as nothing but a grotesque smear. A neat little mess for these metal titans to disregard.

But then, oh so sweetly, she was placed in a metal box, a faint, sickly sweet smell invading every space. Sharp corners and jagged edges and a nauseating violet glow invaded every corner and crevice, and bathed Camille in it. Her blond hair turning a deep mulberry wine while her skin glittered a deep candy red and purple. The lid too was sealed, the darkness cloying and suffocating.

While the box was not alarmingly compact, being about as tall as it was wide, with her trapped inside, the space was almost cramped.

And then, with the faintest scratch of metal skittering along the confines of her cage serving as her only warning, she fell to the ground as the box moved, falling from the sky like a lead weight and throwing her around before crashing to an abrupt stop.

Shaken, she tried to rise, a full-body shudder companion the fresh tears staining her cheeks and eyes a watery ruby. She could already feel the new bruises forming on her legs, and regretting the daggy shorts and shirt she had chosen for the trip.

If she was going to be abducted by giant robots, she at least wanted to be presentable. This could be first contact, for all she knew! They could have at least waited until she had something other than her laundry day best. A pair of jeans, or a fitted shirt even!

Camille knew she was being unreasonable, but she also knew that she had just been kidnapped by giant fuck-off robots, so wanting some decent clothes couldn’t be that preposterous.

And then, much to her dismay, the box was moving again, though thankfully, much more smoothly, and all she could do was wait and see what fate had in store for her.

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Alex awoke with a groan, every joint stiff and sore, the hard ground cold beneath him. ‘Damit’, he thought to himself, sure that the rude awakening was his neighbours. “Another fight”

“God, I hope not”. A voice, sweet and soft and familiar and…and…and who the fuck was in his apartment! With a jolt, he staggered to his feet, legs numb and bones aching as he listed off names rapid-fire in his head.

Jenna had a key, but she was out of town. Troy had a key, but he didn’t sound so soft-spoken. Did Marcy have a key? Fuck, did Brad have a key!?

And then the blurriness faded from his vision and he found an unfamiliar woman looking down at him from her perch on a shelf far above him. “I was wondering when you were gonna wake up”, The woman, bathed in a constant, obnoxious, headache-inducing purple glow, slunk from the shelf with but a stumble, bouncing onto a baritone bed and following the momentum to the floor, till she was standing a step or two away. And even from there, he towered over her, something that, based on the sudden scowl on her face, was a development she was not at all pleased with.

“Sorry, I’m Irish”

“You have to be fucking shitting me”

What the hell? “Hey! What the fuck was that for-“

“Tim-Tam-Jesus!?”

Well, that was definitely the last thing Alex expected from a tiny, angry blond when they were both trapped in what looked like a giant metal box…Wait a minute…Weird room. Blond girl. Online alias…“Mangoo!?”

“What the fuck are you doing here!”

“Are you alright!?”

The silence following the shuts of surprise was impossibly loud, the creaks and groans of the world outside their dark prison so loud and muted. And then Mangoo laughed, a wild, rambunctious thing bursting from the confines of a wide, toothy smile. It wasn’t a pretty smile, not in the way a model or celebrity’s smile was called beautiful, but it was so much more stunning, so free and full of life. So much so that he almost forgot how to breathe. So much so that he almost missed when she spoke.

“You go first”

“Oh-uh…Are you ok? All we heard was you scream and then you disconnected…And then BaseDropWhat said you got abducted by a giant slender man and next thing I know, I’m being chased by the giant slender man!”, He was pacing now, hands rubbing at his face as she watched, transfixed by the worry in his words. “Do you know how scary that is? Watching a car get torn in two and one of your friends kidnapped? That thing looked at the camera, you know? Right into my fucking soul!

“And then, when the video finished, do you know at I saw! Picture this: it's dark and you're walking home, watching a video of your friend getting abducted after worrying over her fate. And when the video finished, the monsters face being the last thing you saw. There it is! Staring at you from the screen! From behind you! Do you know how facing horrifying that is! Swear to god, I almost shat myself and died…Actually… Am I dead? Did it kill me?”

The sudden iron grip on her shoulders spurred Mangoo into action, as she deftly slipped her fingers under his. Reciting the words her grandmother drilled into her, she clasped Tim-Tam’s hands, catching the brunette's stormy eyes. “Hey, Hey I need you to listen to me. Focus on me. That's it, good”. Eyes like a cerulean storm were locked on hers, wide and panicked but with a calmness that she sought to bring out. “Good. Now I need you to breathe. Deep breaths, that’s right. Just like me. Hold for one…two…three…four…five…Good. Now release, slowly”

“Th-Thanks”, Still breathing heavily, but much calmer, Tim-Tam pried his clammy hands out of her grip, staggering over to the unclaimed cot behind him. “So…Uh…Shit. We should properly introduce ourselves, huh?”

“Considering we will probably be sharing a box for the foreseeable future, yeah”

“Uh…You wanna go first? Or should I?”

“I can”

“Cool”

“Well, I’m Camille Everest, but most people call me Milli or Cam. I'm 19, 20 in a couple of days. My hobbies include painting and sleeping, and I have been here for…However long it's been”, laughing, she held her hand out for him to shake. “Your turn”

“Uh, I'm Alex Noeton, most…people just call me Alex, one person called me Lex one time and I guess it stuck. My hobbies include staying up late studying, power napping in class, and consuming a shit tonne of coffee. I'm 22, 23 in…six months? And I just woke up here”. His grip was strong, albeit shaky as he smiled, a charming, lopsided thing that made her own smile widen. And then he rubbed the back of his neck, averting his gaze to look around their small space, purple fracturing his tan skin. “So what’s the deal? We got abducted and now were what…test subjects? Entertainment? Weird prizes?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, honestly. They chucked me in here the second I woke up. I didn’t get much time to ask questions”

“So we're in the dark. Brilliant”

The following silence was immeasurable as Camille retreated back to her perch on the shelf, looking lost and far away.

“Sorry”

“What?”

“About your birthday. That must suck”

“Yeah”

“How many days…was it?”

“Four…I think. When did I get abducted?”

“How long was I out?”

Neither had an answer to each other's questions, and they were left to hang in the quiet around them, heavy and mournful.

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“So, how’d you escape?”, Miko leant over the couch, encroaching far too much into Jacks personal space as he groaned. The fluorescent lights of the mountain base proved to be horrible when one was trying to sleep. “I mean, one minute, we get ‘con activity in Canada. Ten minutes later, you guys are walking back into base without a groundbridge! Like, dude! How does that even happen!”

Jack stole a glance at his guardian, the blue motorcycle emerging from Ratchets care looking exhausted and drained. But still, she met his eyes, and with a harsh narrowness, the message was clear.

This was a conversation for private ears.

“I don’t know. Everything was happening so fast. I just want to get some sleep”

“Uch, lame. Come on, tell me something!”

“Miko, I just want to get some sleep”

“Sorry Jack”, Arcee interrupted the boy's attempts at brushing the girl away, motioning to Optimus, who stood off in the distance, with a tilt of her head.

“Right”, was all he could say, dejectedly pulling himself off the couch to follow the Cybertronian. Through the twists and turns of the base did they venture, down into the darkest depths of the mountain, into a wide expanse of a room that not many of the bots used. Originally, they had planned for it to be a place to spar, but with the constant deception activity, it didn’t see much use. But awaiting them in the empty room this time was Optimus, arms crossed and staring thoughtfully at the wall.

“Optimus?”

“Tell me what happened”

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Soundwave, third in command of the deception armada, stared down at them, ever silent and every frightening. The standoff lasted an eternity.

Him, a silent guardian, standing over the portal controls, a statue in all but the faintest flickers of life behind the faint pulsing of biolights.

She, hydraulics hissing in time with her rapid spark as she stared up at the TIC, blasters drawn and poised to strike.

And him, curled up awkwardly against his guardian's thigh, shaking and nauseous from the fall and the bridge, staring up and up and up at his demise.

And then, in a quick motion that made Arcee flinch, Soundwave turned away, looking now at the door, a stiffness locking his frame as some unheard sound caught his attention. And when the distraction came to pass, he turned back to the controls, typing faster than anything either of them had seen, inputting commands and running codes faster than light.

So caught up in the hypnotising motions of the drones typing, nether noticed the tendrils slinking silently across the floor, until one was grabbing at Jack and the other was wrapped tightly around Arcee. With a curse, she took aim, one hand reaching towards Jack, desperate to get him out of the deceptions grasp, while the other fired a volley of rounds into Soundwave’s armour.

The TIC glanced at her, halfheartedly brushing off the blaster fire as the ground bridge whirled to life, bathing the dark room in green and blue. And then, with an inhuman quickness, both were carelessly tossed through the swirling vortex, and somewhere in there, Jack was sure that he had lost his lunch.

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