Annabelle Lennox, a bright 13 year old, walked down the wide but crowded streets of Malibu, California. The slight breeze coming from the west blew her shoulder length amber hair behind her. Beside her, Ekaterina Stark, her closest friend for the last year, chuckled.
"Who knew breezes could be so warm?" Ekaterina joked. The blonde haired, blue eyed girl hadn't gotten a great start in life, but there was no way you'd be able to tell by simply looking at her. The teen, who was the same age as Annabelle, if a month or so older, still retained a slight Russian accent, which would've been the first clue.
The second was that she looked nothing like either Tony or Pepper, her adoptive parents. They shared no common physical features, but in personality, you wouldn't have been able to tell that she was ever anyone else's daughter.
The third was the small square stamped behind the teen's left ear. The mark of a Russian (KGB?) assassin program that had been rebooted and was currently being shut down piece by piece by the Black Widow herself. The Russian girl never showed any signs of ever having been trained to be a heartless assassin, though.
"Um, just everyone who lives somewhere that isn't a frozen wasteland," Annabelle joked back. They both chuckled and kept walking. Annabelle threw a glance over her shoulder to check for anyone who might be following them.
"Anna, you're so paranoid," Ekaterina pointed out. "Even I don't look back that often."
"It's not like I've looked back two dozen times in ten minutes, Kate," Anna argued. "Besides, I can't shake the feeling we're being followed." Kate stopped at the corner and cast a glance around the corner and the street beyond while Anna looked behind them. Neither girl saw anyone that attracted their immediate attention.
They walked for another half a block without shaking the feeling before they stopped to take another look. Anna saw him first, and grabbed Kate's arm. "Kate, I just saw him." Her friend turned to her, then followed her gaze to a police car across the street. The engine was idling, and the cop inside was staring straight ahead.
To Anna's absolute surprise, her friend neither relaxed, nor walked over. She began dragging Anna with her as the two darted into a shop. They wandered to the back of the clothes shop, hiding behind a rack of heavy coats. Like anyone here even needed heavy coats, but Anna didn't care. Cover was cover, no matter how odd it was.
"Think he'll move off?" Kate asked, looking between the car and Anna. "Who is he?"
"Would you believe me if I told you it was the car that was stalking us?" Anna said, dialing her dad's number.
"110%," Kate replied. "So, he's a 'Con?" At Anna's shocked look, she replied with "Nikki - Frostbite, another Avenger - has a team, and they're all ex-Decepticons. I'm not a stranger to the whole 'Bot-'Con war going on here."
"Well, good. Makes my life easier," Anna said. "And that's Barricade. Not a nice guy, but then again, if you're working with the 'Cons, you're probably not nice."
"Barricade?" Kate asked. "Oh, man. He and Nikki have a feud." Of course they did. "I supposed it's too much to hope he won't recognize either of us?"
"Would he be following us if he hadn't?" Anna countered. "Can't get through to my dad. Barricade must be jamming us. You find an exit that doesn't involve the front door or setting off the fire alarm?"
"Yeah. And worse case scenario, we bust a window and climb out," Kate answered. "How far away do we have to get before you can make a phone call? Or me, for that matter?"
"I'd guess at least three blocks. That's gonna be way easier said than done," Anna stood and looked toward the side door Kate was referring to. The two girls left, staying low and hiding whenever they could, ignoring the strange looks being shot their way.
Once back on the street, they started heading southeast, Anna taking the lead and continuing to attempt to call her dad. "Let's head toward the base, get as far as we can, and I suggest you keep an eye open while I try calling for help," Anna advised. She'd learned well from her dad about how things needed to be done.
It was a couple blocks before she finally got through. She didn't even let her dad say hi before going. "Dad, we're in trouble. We're being shadowed by Barricade, headed toward the base. We're about two blocks from the Macy's, and-" she heard a crackle and stopped. "Dad?"
"On our way, Anna. Find somewhere nearby to hide and stay there for as long as possible, okay?" he answered, sounding concerned. Oh, if only he knew what kind of antics she did.
"Got it. I love you, Dad," she affirmed.
"I love you too, sweetheart. Stay safe," he echoed. She hung up and looked for somewhere to hide as another Decepticon came into view. A Vehicon, followed by another two. Scrap.
"Game plan?" Kate asked, a slight bit of worry tinting her voice as well. They could handle doing crazy stuff like taking down thugs and small HYDRA squads, but 20 foot tall aliens in a busy metropolis? That was a whole nother level of skill.
"We find somewhere to hide, fast." The three Vehicons shifted to their human holoforms, which got out of the cars. Three guys who all looked the same. She felt like she was just dropped in the middle of the Matrix. She looked the other way and saw Barricade had already shifted to holoform and was heading toward them. "I think run!"
The two girls darted through the streets, the four 'Cons right on their tail. Kate knew her way around town pretty well, so Anna followed her as she zipped around corners, ran across streets, darted in and out of various shops, malls, hotels, and apartments. Nothing shook the pursuing 'Cons.
A/N: Yes, this is gonna be more than one chapter. Yes, I'm gonna try to update every couple days or so. Please lemme know what you think. Also, yes, despite Kate being Tony Stark's daughter, none of the (canon) Avengers are gonna be in this one, so this gets put under Transformers instead of crossovers. Enjoy!