A/N - Deception is Decepticon agreed to beta-read for me (thanks a bunch!), so the amount of errors present when I upload should decrease.
She felt a sharp pulse in her mind. Her former co-workers used to joke about her 'spider-sense' and how it warned her of dangerously malfunctioning robots. The last personal cleaning automaton she'd fixed had grabbed her blowtorch and attempted to set her head on fire. The advance notice was terribly unspecific and only warned a minute early at best, sometimes failing to work at all. Skyler set her burger back in the container and gazed around the outdoor cafe. While not packed, there were plenty of people around. A few families had young children and small robots to help take care of them. The worst they could do would be throwing children around. They can't be the problem, I'm only warned of danger to myself. It couldn't be a car collision; vehicles didn't have any artificial intelligence yet -it was still too dangerous- and so would be undetected by her 'radar.'
Suddenly the feeling returned, accompanied by a sensation of falling through the air. Danger from above. Two airborne vehicles shot by; one a huge purple bomber and the other a smaller silver and purple jet fighter with treads. They transformed, revealing themselves to be Decepticons. The deep purple one clumsily stepped on a (thankfully) vacant truck and the other mechanism shrilled, "Honestly, Lugnut, if you'd just let me give you some dancing lessons..."
She sighed, hidden by the milling people fighting to reach their vehicles and drive away. So much for a quiet lunch. Skyler saw that the two Cybertronian robots were arguing. Good. Hopefully they're too distracted to notice any of us. She hefted her backpack, then shouldered through the crowd to an area with many winding narrow side streets.
Skyler ducked into a short alley with a dead end and heard the sounds of destruction coming from the area she had just vacated. That was too close! She approached the back wall and sat down beside a dumpster to wait.
A loud roaring noise signaled the two large jets' take-off. "I wonder what they wanted," she murmured, looking up and catching a glimpse of them flying away. The sentient robots almost never revealed themselves in public without good reason. She remembered an interview the day after the carnage. Ever since that battle at Sumdac Tower, where the Decepticon leader known as Megatron emerged, Cybertronians from both sides of their war had appeared every now and then. A news crew asked the Optimus Prime why Decepticon sightings were becoming more frequent.
He had replied, "During my battle with Megatron, the AllSpark, an ancient Cybertronian artifact containing tremendous energy and vitally important to our race, was shattered. Fragmented but still functional, shards begin to emit a hard-to-detect energy signal. We Autobots value all sentient life and thus cannot allow any pieces to fall into Decepticon servos. They would destroy this planet and then move on to conquer Cybertron."
The last week had been especially difficult. She was currently between jobs, her position as a mechanic in a repair garage put on hold after a stray blast from the giant alien robots dueling tore off the roof. It hadn't damaged the owner's son's house, but it would be awhile until it could be made ready for business again. Skyler carried all she owned in her backpack, actually quite a bit more than anyone else using the phrase could mean.
Anything that fit through the opening could be stored safely and she still hadn't found a limit to what it could hold. She pulled a small granola bar from the rucksack and munched on it, contemplating her next action. Finishing the snack, she tossed the wrapper into the garbage bin and headed out the alley.
As she neared the corner, Skyler pulled out her PDA and searched for nearby garages. Hopefully there would be a vacancy at one of them with a supervisor open-minded enough to accept that a girl could do just as well as a man with the greasy internals of an automobile or, more often, with Sumdac Systems automatons. Maybe if she insisted it was just a part-time thing, just while her boss was recovering…
She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the shriek of a jet soaring overhead. Hearing gears grinding, Skyler glanced up from her pad, expecting to see a car crash. It had sounded close, but the alley was completely empty. Wait, didn't it come from... above! No sooner had the thought entered her head, than something huge crashed down on the ground, forming a crater in the pavement that sent dirt flying. She sneezed, rubbing her eyes and squinting at the impact site. The dust cleared to reveal a robot, tall even by their standards.
Her face turned white as a sheet. She recognized him from the news. Starscream. Single handedly responsible for holding off the entire Autobot team and destroying several city blocks before being tackled by Optimus Prime. He'd returned not too long ago, only to be decked by his restored leader. The Autobots had warned the public that the crimson Decepticon had no allegiance except himself, making his actions difficult to predict. Not only that, he was said to be extremely cunning. In essence, dangerous to anyone who came across him, Autobot or human.
Skyler backed up a few paces, her mind screaming at her to, Run, dammit, run! Finally remembering how her legs worked, she spun around and took off as fast as her feet could carry her.
Something large and black slammed down in front of her and she collided with it face-first at full speed, rebounding back onto the pavement. The...whatever it was...moved towards her and she realized it had been his hand. "Oh, shit! Nonononono!" The woman rolled over quickly, scrambling to get up. But not fast enough, as the large hand wrapped around her just as she leapt to her feet. Screaming in terror, the young woman struggled to get free as she was lifted into the air, sure her life would be over any minute. Starscream's grip tightened and her yells choked off as her air supply was cut in half.
Nearly paralyzed by fear, she found herself looking straight into his eyes. Optics, she corrected herself, robots don't have eyes. "Gah! What do you want!?" She choked out.
The red lenses glowed brighter and a predatory smirk appeared on his face. "You," he said, "are coming with me."
Skyler jerked backward in surprise and was shoved into a compartment that opened in his chest when the cockpit glass retracted. The hatch sealed again and she stood up, only to be knocked over again as her captor jumped into the air and transformed into his Harrier jet mode. She hauled herself to her feet angrily, irked by the constant tumbles, and was yanked into the pilot's chair by a set of restraints that clicked shut. "Hey!" she shouted, tugging at the straps. "Let go!"
"I am not in the habit of taking orders from tiny organics," his harsh voice resonated through the cockpit.
The straps tightened and Skyler abandoned her fight with them, kicking at the control panel as hard as she could, judging it to be the only weak point available. "Too-tight-and-I-can't-breathe!" She punctuated each word with a vicious kick.
He snarled and the body of the jet rumbled, but the safety harness loosened slightly. She leaned to the side, coughing and gasping for air. Skyler regained her breath and rasped sarcastically, "Thanks."
Starscream flew on, scheming. He didn't really care what those pathetic excuses for Autobots did. His only concern was terminating Megatron; they just kept getting in the way. He turned his attention to the young human sitting in his cockpit. Her vital signs indicated she was terrified, but at least she wasn't screaming anymore.
The Decepticon traitor was mildly impressed. The small organic was obviously scared but still possessed the presence of mind to threaten him. She was even rude! If he'd had a mouth in vehicle mode, he would have been grinning from audio receptor to audio receptor. Apparently not all humans were mindless insects. It didn't seem quite so odd that those pathetic sentimental Autobots became attached. This brought him back to his original thought: What now? Starscream originally intended to grab a human and use it as a bargaining tool for the AllSpark fragments the Autobots had located so far. It worked when he first arrived.
Then he had a sobering thought. There were no other Decepticons on Earth at that point, except for the slagged Megatron, so threatening to destroy the planet wouldn't work; the three 'Cons would be able to stop him. And he'd learned that the three humans imprisoned on the vehicle were the city mayor, chief of police, and a leading inventor, a genius from the humans' point of view and one of the parental units of the kid who hung out with the Autobots, not just random humans but ones important to the Autobots. He growled in frustration; hostages were not an option and so his trip might as well have been wasted. However, he was sure that some other opportunity would open up.
Skyler stared blankly at the blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The only reassurance she had was that Starscream didn't want to kill her...yet. This is just great. Life could always get worse, but it would be pretty difficult at the moment. She leaned back, determined not to sink into crushing despair. Cheer up, she chided herself, you've always wanted to go flying, and how many can boast of going for a ride in a giant alien robot that can look like a jet? Whatever the bot wanted from her, she apparently needed to be alive. Other than that, she didn't know anything.
A low growl reverberated and Skyler froze, blood turning to ice. Oh crap, what did I do!? When the noise faded without anything else happening, she relaxed. The jet angled down and landed in a small forest clearing. Skyler was shoved out of the seat to the floor. She mentally cursed whatever being or beings created the Cybertronians as Starscream reverted to his bipedal form. Where on Earth is this? she wondered, so she leaned against the glass trying to see outside.
"Hold still," he hissed and the restraints pinned her to the back wall.
Like hell! she thought. Starscream started walking, making her suddenly glad for the support. She wouldn't have been able to stand anyways and would have been rattled around and likely injured as a result. But still, she didn't want to be stuck in restraints holding her appeared to be a tangled web, but a few of them were loose enough for her to get one arm free. The lack of response encouraged her to begin working the other arm out.
The Decepticon second-in-command strode through the thick forest to a system of subterranean tunnels he knew of. Motion in the region that became the jet cockpit alerted him that the organic was slowly squirming loose.
Starscream grew annoyed, but held his temper in check. Unrestrained anger wouldn't help his plans come to fruition. He reached into his torso compartment and pulled out the human female, hearing her yelp in shock.
"Ah!" she squeaked. It's a good thing I don't have motion sickness. Stealing a glance behind her, she saw that Starscream's wasn't even looking at her. Skyler leaned forward, resting on her arms and looking around. Aw, hell. It's the stereotypical dank and depressing cave lair.
The Decepticon turned and walked toward what seemed to be a solid section of cave wall. What, is he nuts? Skyler threw her arms up in front of her, certain to get a mouth full of rock. When no impact came, she lowered her arms and blinked in surprise. It was a cleverly-disguised side tunnel. Starscream continued down it, halting in front of a large, at least to her eyes, metal door with a keypad. He punched a code in too rapidly for her to see and the door slid open. Skyler shuddered as he stepped through the opening.
A/N - Please review!