The scene was a strange one. The ceiling unfamiliar and the sounds of people rushing about and jabbering in a language that she didn't understand for a bit until it coalesced into her native tongue again. Had the creeps killed her or nearly so? Had she been brain damaged bad enough to not have a linguistic ability anymore? She was in the hospital. How the heck had she gotten there? Oh yes that was correct the police had rolled up on her assault in progress. Obviously that had somehow resulted in her transport to the hospital.
"What hospital am I in? I must confess I don't remember a damned thing after the cherry berries lit up the night at my near murder."
"You might not remember a lot of things from just before. I am Dr. Huntsington. This is Tranquility general hospital. This will be your home for quite a while. You are in traction just in case you tried to move and found you really couldn't. They were so brutal and heartless in beating you. I have never seen the like. If that person had not come up on you in time you would be dead. Many others might not say person but I will never doubt it again circumstances not withstanding."
Why would someone who had come to her rescue when she was being brutally brutally beat to death by gang members intent on her murder not be a person? Then she did have a flash of memory in the dark night of a twisting sound of metal scraping on metal and of blood spraying and fountaining out of flesh that was not hers. Eyes of shining red brighter then neon back lit blood. Oh now she knew why.
"It was a... a what are they called again? I can't think. Please remind me what they are called again. I don't remember..."
"A Decepticon. One Barricade by Designation. Now that you are awake I need you to think of a good reason why the cons might want you alive rather then dead. We have taken a look at your background and I am shocked to find that you are just about the most boring and average individual I have ever before met in my life. To the point that being so average is unusual. The only thing unique about you is your ability to understand so many languages. Fourteen at last count?"
"Twenty. I learned Croatian, and five different dialects from obscure places in Africa and Asian minor in the last few years since my college records were put together. Not that it matters to you because you just put yourself on the list of people who don't get spoken to. I am in a hospital gown and in the middle of being examined by a doctor. I have excellent health insurance and am fully covered for all matters mayhem and not. SO unless you are an insurance adjuster you can send the feds in after I am dressed decently enough to receive guests and wait for the results of their pathetic little interrogations. GET OUT!"
The man in the crisp military uniform looked offended and like he was about to not listen. A bright eyed man in a blue t shirt and a black jean jacket and matching jeans grabbed him and dragged him out of the room bodily before he could protest.
"Major Lennox is right however my dear. You had best think hard and figure out why that Decepticon would want you alive. It might be important in figuring out how to make sure you stay that way. They seem to have a very limited use for us humans from what I can tell, and that seems to be mostly as blood filled hacky sacks."
"Same use I fulfill for gang members it seems. None of this is giant robot related. That is what I would tell the Feds and its just very true facts. I have never made the acquaintance of any such beings in all my life and am sorry to say that it is no longer that way from what I can tell. Apparently the being called Barricade put me inside himself during his little rescue to deliver me to this place here... I remember hurting a lot and apologizing for bleeding on the upholstery. The fellow in the drivers seat laughed."
"That was a hologram just like I am miss."
"Sir?"
The man in the jean jacket was back. He was looking at her with bright blue eyes that seemed to contain all ferocity and all gentleness at the same time. It was strange but the eyes she saw reminded her of the gaze of that person who had driven her to the hospital. It was getting harder to think and she was pretty sure she was going to pass out very soon.
"His eyes were very like yours. Not blue but fierce and kind all at once and...nice. He said it "felt strange to have this programming active after all these Vorns." What's a Vorn?" Then she closed her eyes and let go of trying to be awake anymore.
"Its almost certain Prime. He told the human that it felt strange to have a program active after many vorns. The only program that could be activating that would feel strange to a con is a guardian base programming. Barricade is the frame and sub type to have it. Obviously it did not override his instinctive hunter drives or he would have found another way to deal with the human criminals other then killing them all so brutally. Yet he did save the girl and deliver her to medical attention. Afterwords he was reported at several near by locations decimating the local populous of the same type of miscreants."
"Miscreants is too nice a word I think Ironhide."
"I do try hard not to judge. But with what they did to her Ratchet I can't say as how I'd argue with you on that one."
"Smart mechs don't argue with their medics. Speaking of smart mechs, where is Prowl? He has nearly the same sub wiring as Barricade. He might be able to offer us some insight as to how the mech is thinking now with all these long unused sub routines activating on him all of a sudden."
"Prime? What do we do about this? While he is not a threat to the girl right now there might be other issues that arise from this."
"For now we observe Ironhide. The small femme is in need of watching in any case. These men who hurt her are still dangerous and even more so now that they feel threatened by Barricade's elimination of some of their number."
A saleen mustang police car cruised slowly in an uneven fifteen square mile search grid. At it's heart was Tranquility general. The uneven side held a riverside with no human habitations or likely hangout spots for law breaking enemies of the public. Barricade knew that the girl was set to testify against the gang leaders when she finally was able to be moved for even a minute outside her hospital bed. The police computers remained open to him. Sometimes he suspected that various back doors were left open to him a purpose. There was no reason for these leaks to not be plugged as soon as they were seen otherwise. So he patrolled.
Why his dormant programming had kicked over when he detected the crime happening he would never be certain. A more religious mech would say it was the will of Primus. He would tell them they were glitched. Primus had to be a mech of faster processing speed then any in existence. He would not randomly pick some flesh bag out of the billions of flesh bags for Barricade to bond to as a guardian. So logically a reason had to exist. He would interrogate the small femme as soon as she was able to tolerate his presence. Until then he stayed on patrol.
{A/N: wrote something. Despite 19 hours of overtime and my reg forty this week working. now to go to my Friday. Yay! Please leave reviews if you would.}