TF (OC): Searchin’
Rating: PG
Series: G1
Summary: This is the back-story for my OC Tracer. The calm before the storm breaks and the tornado hits, resulting in the capture of a team member
Warnings: Torture (nothing graphic or too painful)
Disclaimer: As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I’ve forgotten… Tracer belongs to me… as do Kicker and Rollback
Feedback makes friends. Flames dealt with by the masters of paranoia and fire, Red Alert and Inferno.
Searchin' Part One
Searchin' Part Two
Searchin' Part Three
It wasn’t until a stellar-cycle and several large battles later that the Search and Rescue team would see Soundwave in battle again. It was only when Rollback nearly tripped over a suddenly stationary Tracer that they realised something was amiss. He put a hand on her shoulder to steady himself whilst scanning her for any injuries.
“Trace?”
“He’s here. I can feel him.”
“Slag. Red, we got a problem!” Rollback quickly transmitted what Tracer had told him to Red Alert and the rest of the team, thoroughly surprised as Inferno and Kicker appeared beside them mere astroseconds later.
“How did you get here so fast?”
“Red says that Soundwave hasn’t given any sign that he’s noticed she’s here. Him and Firestar are gonna keep an optic on him. Meanwhile, me and Kicker gonna keep our optics on you.” Inferno didn’t answer Rollback’s question and focussed on Tracer. “You okay kid?”
“I’ll be fine. We’ve just got to get on with it, right?”
“Sure. You just say if he gets too close to ya?”
“Sure.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Soundwave stayed on the edge of her sensors for breems, never moving closer, but staying just close enough that she registered his presence as constant.
“He’s always there.” She muttered to Kicker as Inferno and Rollback worked to stabilise a downed mech.
“We ain’t gonna let him get to you kid.” He tried to reassure her.
“Down!” She shouted, registering tetrajets in the air heading towards their position. They dived out of the way as laser fire scorched the ground between them.
“Fragging ‘Cons!” Kicker cursed as he fired back at the tetrajets, distracting them from Rollback and Inferno.
“Kicker…” Tracer faltered as the air around her suddenly seemed cloyingly thick. Her sensors couldn’t penetrate it and that disturbed her. She ducked as laser fire riddled the ground again, looking up only to see a look of horror on Kicker’s faceplate. She barely had time to process anything before he collapsed in a blaze of flames. Starting towards him, Tracer was stopped short as pain exploded in her shoulder joint, lancing through every circuit and wire, sending her into a forced stasis.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Stifling a cry of pain as her systems rebooted, Tracer did a quick external sensor sweep, which turned out to be very limited. Wherever she was, she wasn’t on the battlefield anymore. Optics came online and she could see she was in a cell, presumably on a Decepticon base somewhere. Where, she couldn’t tell; sensors dampened by fields around the room. She was hanging from energon chains attached to the wall and a small shift in her position told her that her shoulder wound had not been repaired. Not that she expected anything less. Communications were evidently out as she took inventory of the torn wiring in her arm. The sound of the door being opened drew her attention and she looked up to see Soundwave standing in the doorway.
“Slag.” She muttered to herself.
“Talk irrelevant. Information required.”
“Oh please, like I’d tell you anything.” She managed to get out, fighting the urge to shy away as he advanced towards her.
“I know how good your sensors are. We could use you.” Tracer shook her head, trying to rid herself of the voice that seemed to caress her audios with its tones.
“Frag off.” She gasped as the energon chains were shut off and she dropped to the floor. Finally she gave in to the temptation to back away from him, scrambling across the floor to get herself as far away from him as she could.
“I would prefer not to damage you, but if you leave me no choice…” Soundwave left the unspoken threat hanging in the air.
“I am an Autobot, nothing you can say or do will make me change my allegiance.” She stared up at him defiantly, nowhere left to move as she had backed up against the wall. She was trapped, hands splayed against the wall as though it would part beneath her fingers. Desperately she scanned to see if she could run but he was too close to make another move to escape.
“We shall see.” Achingly slowly, he placed a hand on her helmet and suddenly, she could feel him inside her processor. She tried to wriggle out of his hold, but his grip was too strong. She ended up holding onto his wrist, trying to force his hand away but he was bigger and stronger than her and his grip was more than strong enough to hold her in place, yet gentle enough to not do any major damage. Quickly putting up firewall after firewall, she tried to evade him on a mad chase through her own circuits. Systematically, he broke through every barrier she managed to put up. She was so intent on stopping him from accessing any part of her system that she failed to notice him move. She only registered the movement as his fingers clamped down on the edge of her right sensory projection, the pressure setting pain relays firing throughout her system and distracting her. Reflexively, she pulled away and tried to wrench herself away from him, but his grip on her helmet was too firm. She struggled, but was unable to break free. Wincing as his grip tightened, she stilled momentarily as he resumed his hack before renewing her futile struggle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The constant preventative measures she was having to implement, coupled with the fact that her systems were still trying to repair her injuries meant that all too soon warnings were flashing red in her optics. Tracer could feel her reserves slipping away and knew she wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Pain warnings were elevating at a rate she’d never seen and her energon levels were being drained at the same rate.
“You cannot win this fight.” Soundwave intoned, breaking easily through the last of the firewalls she had managed to put up.
“Maybe not. But neither will you.” She struggled to get the sentence out, activating a feedback loop as he tried to push further into her systems. His momentary surprise was enough that she could pull away from him finally, dropping to the floor, too close to stasis for comfort.
He took one step towards her before they were interrupted by the sound of a klaxon and laser fire. Through the noise, Tracer could hear footsteps racing their way. More Decepticons coming to finish her off? Her spark seemed to freeze momentarily at the thought before the wall caved in and she registered Inferno’s energy signature on her limited sensors. The sigh of relief she gave out sounded more like a strangled moan of pain and it was enough to make Inferno cross the room rapidly, virtually throwing Soundwave to one side before carefully picking up and cradling Tracer in his arms. There were some advantages to being a Minibot after all.
“Hang tight kid, we’re getting you outta here.”
“’Ferno?”
“I’m here kid. And the rest of the team’s waiting for ya.” He shifted her weight easily in his arms, bringing his rifle to bear as he made his way back out of the cell. Tracer gave up the battle to stay online and sunk into stasis.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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Part Five