So, here's chapter three! *grins* Anywho, thanks to those that favorited/alerted.
So, without further ado, Chapter 3. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think!
Project Mockingbird: v2.0
Chapter 3: Of Plans and Sparklings.
Sunstreaker was disgruntled, the human was talking incessantly at him, seemingly determined to get a response out of him, he had no interest in doing anything of the sort. She was not in the least bit discouraged by this. "Ein, bring up the full diagnostics on our…friend here, find out how deep that damage goes." If she was frustrated by the work she'd done on repairing him being undone during the Decepticons' latest interrogation session she showed no signs of it. "And try to figure out how we're going to deal with that." It was clear what she was talking about, 'that' being the obviously foreign object attached to the car's hood. There was an agreeable chirp from the little bot before it climbed carefully up onto Sunstreaker, much to his displeasure, and began scanning him, he could tell because he felt the tell-tale crawling across his sensors.
After a few moments Ein chimed his 'Eureka!' sound and climbed back onto her knee. "Alrighty then, let's see what we've got. Shall we?"
She was silent then, much to his relief, occasionally letting out a brief hum of thought, as she read Ein's report. Sunstreaker had learned, it was one of the things she'd spewed at him, that she had primitive, advanced for her species, artificial lenses 'heads-up display contacts' that she wore on her eyes which the little Autobot used to communicate with her. She frowned, glanced up at the silent 'bot then focused back on the display, and again, and twice more. There was a rather peculiar look on her face, not that Sunstreaker would be able to tell. "…Huh. I recognize this internal makeup… I think I know who you are. If I'm right… then I'm pretty sure that those Decepticons don't know who you are." Why she hadn't made the identification before was puzzling, she suspected it had something to do with her earlier state of shock and then of course she'd been focused on the damage itself and had not fully taken the information in.
"If you are who I think you are, and I'm fairly certain that you are, then I'll try not to hold it against you." She grinned cheekily. "Going by your color scheme, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're the Sunshine twin. I've heard some very bad things about the twins Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but considering the source…I tend to take everything with a grain of salt. After all, Ratchet never seems to have anything good to say, his really weird way of showing that he cares if you ask me, at least, you know, for the most part, and Ironhide is pretty easy to irritate, personally I think he's just crotchety."
He stiffened in shock, every part of him locking up.
She knew who he was, not just what he was but who. She knew about his twin, his other half. She knew about the Autobots; specific, intimate knowledge about individual Autobots. The question was how. And why.
She was opening her mouth to speak again when Ein let out a warning trill and suddenly returned to his hiding place, wrapped around her neck. Lyre went silent and carefully lowered herself back so that she was lying on the ground, where she'd been the last time the 'cons had checked on her; she tucked her wrapped up hands carefully behind her head and stared at the ceiling with a rather blank look on her face. A moment or two later the doors opened and a Decepticon entered.
Sunstreaker's processor immediately switched to battle mode.
Lyre… Lyre had a slightly different reaction. She took one look at the 'con and laughed, quietly and under her breath, but still a laugh.
If a giant mechanical alien could look sullen… well, that's how she would have described him; everything about him, from the way he walked to the expression on his face, made him look like an unhappy child having to do something he didn't want to do. It was really quite funny.
The mech came stomping up to her and she smiled brightly at him. "Yes? Can I help you?"
He scowled in response and folded his arms. "You have to come with me."
She stared for a moment in silence before letting out a quiet chuckle when she realized that he didn't want to touch her, his body language said as much. She shook her head and squirmed slightly, as though settling deeper into her position. "I'm afraid I can't do that, you see, I am quite comfortable where I am and I would be loath to have to get up. You'll have to come back later."
There was silence for a moment as he processed the fact that she had just said no and his scowl and glare deepened. "That was not a request."
'So easy.' Her smile changed as she gave him the same look a parent gives their child when they figure out that two plus two equals four for the very first time. "You're right, it wasn't. I'm glad you could tell the difference. Sometimes, when I don't speak with a forceful enough tone, people don't realize that I'm not giving them an option. It's such a pain always having to clarify. You know what I mean?"
The Decepticon growled.
She pretended not to notice.
"And what's up with coming to get me anyways? You kidnap me, accuse me of being someone I'm not, someone I've never even heard of, mind, threaten me, dump me in here, almost kill me with stupidity, give me free flying lessons," Never mind the fact that she was just as much at fault for that one, "leave me by myself and ignore me over two weeks, and then all of a sudden you're back and telling me I have to go somewhere else? Yeah… That doesn't work for me. Sorry." Her tone had gotten progressively more irate the longer she spoke and by the end of her little rant her face was twisted into what could only be called a pout.
The Decepticon growled again. Louder this time.
"Huh, you know… the look on your face reminds me of the expression my uncle," Lyre didn't really have an uncle, but they didn't need to know that, "used to get whenever he was really annoyed with me, only his whole face would go this odd purplish color and the corner of his right eye would start to twitch. Something to do with his blood pressure apparently… Say, can your eye twitch too or is that a human thing?"
The 'con looked about ready to kill her. Sunstreaker was pretty annoyed himself; though now that he realized that she was doing it on purpose he was also slightly amused, by the most minuscule amount, but mostly just annoyed. He'd have to remember to show this memory file to Sideswipe; he was sure to get a big kick out of it.
The 'con had had enough. With an angry snarl he reached down and scooped her up with a jerk. "Hey! Watch it! I'm fragile I'll have you know!"
"I am aware of your malfunction."
For some reason that Sunstreaker could not understand this statement caused her to become silent. Though her anger was clear. Very clear. When she spoke this time it was with a calm, clipped coldness that actually shocked him. "Shut. Up." It was the most serious he had yet seen the femme and it was… disconcerting to say the least.
The Decepticon actually appeared nervous as he looked at anything but her eyes, which was ridiculous considering their size differences. He carried her out of the room and into another portion of warehouse.
After a long moment of silence she let out a sigh and asked in a tired voice. "Where are we going?"
"Sideways requires your presence." A sneer crept into his voice as he spoke of his fellow Decepticon. "The aft fancies himself our leader whenever our real leader is gone. That's not including Megatron of course. Not even he is that stupid. Unfortunately he's pretty powerful, it would waste too much Energon fighting him and there's no guaranty we would win. It's easier to just indulge him for now, when Megatron returns that big head of his will get him into trouble. And I will happily watch as he has a limb or two ripped off."
He went quiet after that and, as she didn't really feel like starting a new conversation, she kept her mouth shut as well.
They arrived in a room that had three other Decepticons and not much else. Lyre could tell who Sideways was even before she was handed to him; he had an arrogant expression on his face while the other two looked distinctly more irritated. He looked down into her disgruntled face and let out a condescending chuckle. "So… you're the little organic causing all the problems." She held her tongue in check, keeping silent only because she knew there would be a perfect moment and she wanted to utilize it to its fullest. "Do you know who I am?" His tone clearly stated that she was a moron if she didn't.
'There it is.'
She had to work to keep the smirk off her face. "Oh, cours' ah do." She played up her natural southern accent, pausing to let him soak in his own ego for a moment to make sure her words were at their most effective. "You're the empty-headed, arrogant aft who's going to receive a pounding from Megatron for your self-righteous attitude whenever he puts in an appearance. Sideways, right? It's so very nice to meet you, my name's Redd. Redd Harrington." There was dead silence before he suddenly let out a threatening growl and his eyes darkened to an almost violet color, the grip on her ribs was suddenly much tighter.
She just barely managed to keep her face clear of pain.
When she realized that his glare had shifted to the 'con that brought her here she forced a grin onto her face. "Hey now, what'cha glarin' at him for? I've met several Decepticons, it's Decepticons, right? That's what you called yourselves? in the past hour of my life. That you automatically assume, you know what they say about that, that it's the one I was most recently in contact with just proves how empty your big head really is."
"If it was not he, then who was insolent enough to dare say such things?" The dark tone in his voice left no room for her nonsense.
Not that that affected her in the slightest.
"Hmm… you know… I can't seem to recall. All you giant robots look the same to me." The room was filled with an angry rumble as they once again reacted to the derogatory term. She yelped involuntarily in pain when the grip around her ribs tightened considerably, any more pressure and they'd give way. As it was the almost burning pain that persisted even when his grip loosened slightly suggested at least one of her ribs was cracked.
"Do you wish to be off-lined Organic? You persist most foolishly."
She struggled to force a smile, though it came out more like a grimace. "Actually, I think you're just homicidal but whatever. What can I say? I have some unresolved issues."
Sideways sneered at that but decided that if he was going to get anything done he would have to move on. So he explained the situation to her.
And then he made a call.
*With the Big Man*
When Optimus answered the Decepticon communication he was not quite expecting what he saw. Decepticons, yes, but not Lyre looking a little worse for the wear. Her hair and clothing were disheveled, her face paler than usual, her eyes were dark with anger and what he realized was a touch of fear, and when her hands moved so that he could see he observed that both had bandages across the palms that were streaked with dried blood. She interrupted him before he could speak. "I have a message for an Optimus Prime. Are you him?"
He stalled for a moment before his processor caught up with what was going on. "I am."
"Oh good." She sighed and smiled brightly. "My name is Redd Harrington. Along with an... Autobot, was it? Sorry, I need a little time to get used to all these strange terms, I get confused. I'm working on it though. Anyways, along with some Autobot, pretty messed up looking by the way, I have been kidnapped by a group of… beings calling themselves Decepticons. They seem to be under the impression that I'm some chick named Lyre, who names their kid after an instrument anyways? They said that if we want to get out of here you're going to have to give them something called an Allspark fragment that was taken from a dead Megatron's chest. I know I don't know you or anything but I'd really like to go home so if you can help me-"
Suddenly the screen shifted and he was faced with a Decepticon he recognized, his optics narrowed. "Sideways."
"You have one Earth day to decide Optimus." He caught the barest glimpse of Lyre being carried away before Sideways cut the transmission. He turned to face William Lennox, who had stayed out of view, after shutting down his side of the link.
"You get all that big guy?"
"Indeed. Lyre is imprisoned with an injured Autobot; she can repair him so that they may escape but needs us to stall for time."
"Yeah, that's about what I got out of it. The girl's pretty smart, she can probably pull it off too; think they believe that she's someone else? This Redd Harringto-" He stopped. And then he laughed. And then he explained to the confused leader of the Autobots what a red herring was.
Optimus allowed himself a brief chuckle before becoming serious again. "I do not think they care one way or another. As a human, she is someone we Autobots have sworn to protect. They can use her no matter who she is."
"So… What are we going to do?"
"We do exactly what she has asked of us. We will stall for time."
*Forty-five Minutes Later*
"Damn it Sunstreaker! Let me in!" There was warning in her tone, frustration. This time when she tried the door it opened, for a moment she hoped… she barely managed to pull her fingers back before it slammed shut again. "You listen to me you obsessive-compulsive, narcissistic, obnoxious, pain-in-the-aft! Ya don' have a whole lotta options here! I know the last thing you wan' is for me to be crawlin' around your interior, and I've been avoidin' it up 'til now for jus' that reason but our situation has changed.
"That walkin', talkin' scrap heap known as Sideways has made contact with Prime and has given him a week to retrieve an Allspark fragment to trade for us." He caught something that she, in her anger, did not, the fact that she'd said 'an' Allspark fragment, not 'the' Allspark fragment. "Obviously we need to leave before then." Her temper had sparked and she was using that unnervingly cold and flat tone he'd heard only once before, though it would occasionally fluctuate to a more flaring quality, and her accent had thickened considerably.
It would take a bit more time dealing with her before he would be able to recognize the signs of her fear.
Because… Lyre had been held captive before, though not by beings such as these and not at all recently, in fact, not since she was a small child. And she was very afraid. The trauma of the incident back then explained her fear now, her terror, but that terror was locked away for the time being, she had let it control her long enough. It had been her terror which had kept her unmoving in the beginning; only her need to survive had pushed it aside and allowed her to lay down a plan. And it was just that need that was currently pushing her to do what some Autobots would, rightfully, claim to be impossible.
"Look, you want to get away from here, right? You want to be reunited with your twin." It was a low blow on her part, but necessary; Sunstreaker's spark ached. He could still sense his other half, but it was faint, weak, he might as well be a universe away. "You cannot repair yourself; at the moment you're one dent away from a catastrophic system's failure. You, whether you can admit it or not, need me. And I need a good night's sleep if I'm to function at my best; that would be patching you up as fast as possible, f.y.i." She placed a hand on the door's handle once again. "Your interior is the most comfortable location available, sorry but it's true. If it makes you feel any better, I swear to help you fix yourself back up once we get out of here." This time the door opened, though Lyre felt almost as if she was peeling it open inch-by-inch, and stayed open. Reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
She pulled herself inside.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be. – Kurt Vonnegut
:Memory File Accessed:
:Open File?:
:Yes:
:Error:
:Partial File Encryption:
:Proceed Anyways?:
Puzzlement.
Hesitation.
:Yes:
*Project Mockingbird Headquarters*
Abigail Drake was called the Ice Queen for a reason, her unwavering control over her emotions often gave the illusion that she actually had none, but that's just what it was, an illusion. This moment was no different from any other; she stalked through the workshops with her usual sharp precision, showing nothing but calm professionalism while her friend was M.I.A. But she wasn't calm, oh no, she was worried, very worried; her best, truest, and quite possibly only friend was missing and she had no idea where she might be. Cell and landlines had inexplicably gone down hours ago so she had no way of contacting Lyre to make sure that she was alright, that she was safe, and that made her very, very concerned. It didn't help that she knew her friend was suffering from the trauma of the incident from a few days ago.
Lyre was an inherent liar.
It was that simple.
She pretended to be fine; she was rude and abrasive and sarcasm seemed to just pour forth from her brain without thought. Abigail recognized her behavior for what it really was though, a coping mechanism, a defense protocol; the angrier Lyre appeared, the more she was feeling helpless. Hurt, lost, afraid, alone, all of her negative emotions caused the same response, she reacted the same way every time, violently. Her snark was a part of her daily behavior, yes, but that was because she used it like a shield, keeping people at arm's length, keeping them from getting under her skin. Keeping herself from making a connection.
Because she was afraid.
Because she knew, better than most people, the pain of losing someone important to her. She saw it as dangerous, the giving a part of herself away to someone else. Life was unpredictable, uncontrollable, there were situations she couldn't plan for, contingency plans she couldn't make. And as far as she was concerned, that simply meant an ending of pain and loss that she wasn't ready to deal with.
:Information Encrypted:
:Proceed To Unencrypted Data?:
:Yes:
Abigail could still remember the day Lyre's parents died, would probably remember that day 'til the day she died, it had been the day that Project Mockingbird had really been born. The Project had just been an idea before then, something they had concocted after they hacked into Abigail's father's computer, he worked for the government and they were going through their teenage rebellion phase where any withheld information was a personal affront. It was just his luck that one of them was a skilled hacker, and they found a file giving the detailed specifications of an alien robot, or N.B.E. 1, that was in forced cryostasis at the Sector Seven headquarters in the Hoover Dam. They immediately had the same thought, they were going to build a robot, so they did. It was to be smaller than the one from the file, under half that size, and they weren't anywhere near done when the accident happened.
Lyre never talked about it, about what she saw during the car crash but whatever it was had left her with a deep rooted fear of things out of her control. Once she had recovered from her concussion and broken arm she had immediately started working on the robot at an unhealthy pace, forgoing sleep and even food at times, she literally lived in the lab. And she told Abigail that the robot would be different from others being developed elsewhere, that it wouldn't function based on programs, it would operate as a second body, only functioning when it received commands directly from her mind.
They failed at first.
A twitch here, a thrum there, but nothing truly noteworthy.
Until they came up with the Link-In system.
Abigail had been terrified by the results of that event, they had turned it on and she had watched in awe as the robot's optics flickered on and it, no, Lyre, sat up and looked around, she had glanced at Lyre's human body and panicked when she realized that Lyre's chest wasn't moving. She reached over and ripped the Link-In system from Lyre's head, and Lyre had shot up, screaming an absolute agony as she was forced back into her own body.
That was the day they realized that their Link-In system created a complete transfer of consciousness. It was also the day that Lyre stopped aging.
:Unencrypted Data Located:
:File Resumed:
*Back To Our Favorite Snark Spewing Femme*
"Way to make a liar out of me." The yellow bot Lyre was currently admonishing just made a cute little whirling sound and tilted his head to the side in confusion; she didn't bother with explaining herself. "Thanks by the way, for saving me, I mean." How she knew that the bot she was currently standing next to was the very same Camaro from a few days ago was beyond her, but she did. She had gotten over her initial, and expected, 'freak out' moment rather quickly, probably unhealthily quickly but whatever, and was currently chatting with, her now official favorite alien, Bumblebee. 'Course it was kinda hard to do considering the fact that he couldn't talk back but once she saw him 'lubricate' on Simmons there was no going back, she just had to be friends with the bot, communication problems be damned.
And he seemed to not mind the small femme chattering up at him with such a wide range of emotion at all; rather, he seemed to enjoy it, glancing down at her every few moments with the Cybertronian version of a smile. Her reaction, upon coming to a sudden, unplanned stop and having the roof of the vehicle she was riding in be torn off, was not quite what most would expect.
She did not scream, she did not cry, she did not faint, no, she stared for one very, very long moment, let out a low whistle, and said, quite clearly and coherently, 'Holy shit.' Then she abruptly offered her hand to shake, which was difficult to do since she was still in handcuffs though she did manage to maneuver so that her hands were in front of her, and introduced herself to each and every one of the Autobots, being sure to mention that she was not with 'McCreepy' in any way, shape, or form. Then she laughed 'til there were tears falling from her eyes when Bumblebee 'lubricated' on Simmons and went to stand by his side, from which she had not moved since, and began talking animatedly up at him.
"How long have you guys been o-" She was abruptly cut off by the sounds of inbound vehicles and a shouted warning from one of the 'bots, she didn't really see which one, and she stood somewhat awkwardly as everyone sprang into sudden action, not knowing quite what to do with herself since she didn't want to presume to be accepted enough that they would want her with them. She brightened immediately when the transformed 'bee offered his open door and without an ounce of hesitation she plopped into the passenger seat and looked around and, despite the pressing situation outside, said the first thing that came to mind.
"Not bad, but I liked the style of your other model better."
*Some Time Later*
Lyre was pissed, that's Pissed with a capitol 'P'. There was an underlying level of satisfaction present but it was overpowered by her anger and her worry. Worry, because McCreepy's men had taken Bumblebee; anger, because McCreepy's men had taken Bumblebee. It didn't help that all her aches and pains seemed to have flared up; she had small lacerations from the glass being shattered when Optimus grabbed the car, a bruise from hitting her head on the car door when they spun out, and road burn from when 'bee had had to dump her out on the ground so he could save Sam and Mikaela from death or severe injury. "What'd they get you for?"
Her attention turned to the others on the 'copter with her when the conversation finally grabbed her attention. "I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?"
Her lips pursed when they turned to look at her expectantly. "You want the long or the short version?" They laughed, it was weak and half-hearted but it was still laughter, until they realized that she wasn't joking, then they stared. "Hmm, seeing as we don't know how long this is gonna take I think it's best that I give you the short version. Part of it is why I'm still in handcuffs even though they're not." She gestured towards the teens she'd come to know as Sam, a.k.a. small and fuzzy and generally helpless, and Mikaela, a.k.a. the chick who helped her out of her handcuffs the first time around. "Basically, I Kangaroo Kicked McCreepy in the gut." And that was where the feeling of satisfaction came from, having finally hit the creepy asshole formally known as Simmons, a.k.a. McCreepy, as Lyre clearly preferred to call him.
They continued to stare.
She laughed nervously and shifted under their gaze, feeling an upwelling of discomfort, she decided to elaborate just a bit more. "You know how kangaroos kick, right? They brace their weight back on their tail and jut both feet out at their target; 'course technically they're trying to disembowel, not kick, their victims of choice. I don't have a tail but I did have a guy holding my arms, and McCreepy was standing right there in front of me, so I jerked around a little so that Captor Guy would tighten his grip and then I jumped in the air and planted my feet, heels first, into McCreepy's stomach. Got a headache out of it, my skull made contact with my captor's chin, but it was so worth it. It would have been more satisfying to break his nose though, I think. Oh well, too late now." It wasn't truly but without something openly provoking her, aside from his, ever present, creepy creeper-ness, she wouldn't really be justified and she wasn't particularly looking forward to the idea of imprisonment for assaulting a government agent.
No matter how much he deserved it.
"As for initially? Apparently the car I took shelter in several days ago, well, it was his car," She indicated Sam, "so I reiterate: Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?"
After that she just sort of… zoned out for a while again, coming to her senses long enough to stay as far away from the edge of the Hoover Dam as she could possibly manage, feeling that particular tingling, plummeting sensation in her stomach that she always got from being too close to open heights. That awareness was how she managed to recognize the second government agent talking to Sam. "Banachek, what a surprise to see you here, you don't usually show your face to the outside world. I'd shake your hand but your idiot coworker has me in cuffs."
"Nightingale, what are you doing here?" There was no denying his surprise at the sight of her, her second sentence seemed to fly right by him.
"Arrested for unknowingly coming into contact with an alien robot, that and getting into a fight with Simmons, personally I think the latter had more influence on things. 'Specially since I was winning. He seemed very surprised by some of my knowledge by the way, am I not as well known in Sector Seven as I originally thought, or is he just particularly ignorant?"
He started at the word arrested, his eyes suddenly sweeping over her and taking in her pulled back arms, a scowl that did not bode well for McCreepy appeared on his face as he gestured for one of the many nameless grunts to release her. "Ignorance I hope, as idiocy is the only other option. You and Drake are very well known around headquarters, in fact I'd keep who you are a secret or else you might have scientists assaulting you with their questions and tests that they want to run on you."
She grinned as she rubbed her sore wrists and nodded her thanks, vaguely following the conversation as they made their way inside into a large chamber holding a being she'd known about for years. "So this is the abominable snowman… is anyone else picking up on the super freaky evil vibes just rolling off of him? …No? Just me, huh?" The last bit had been tacked on due to her annoyance at being completely ignored by absolutely everyone. She shivered, feeling as though his gaze was piercing right into her soul and watched the amusing scene of McCreepy attempting to assert his nonexistent superiority over Sam, who was displaying his obviously enhanced understanding of what all was going on. She caught the tail-end of the argument, feeling rather lost but not too altogether concerned.
"You guys know where it is, don't you?" And they were moving again, first to a small room with a viewing window looking out on the biggest, and oddly prettiest, cube she'd ever clapped eyes on and then to a slightly larger room she decidedly did not like. It reminded her of a vault and the fact that the walls were covered with strange scratches didn't put her at ease, even the comments about them being from Wolverine could only cheer her up so much, though she voiced her agreement with Glen.
And got a dirty look from Simmons, who she somehow managed to unfortunately stand beside.
"That's very funny. Anybody have any mechanical devices? Blackberry? Key alarm? Cell phone?" She winced as he yelled practically in her ear and glared. In part to be obnoxious and in part because she wanted a new phone, Abigail wouldn't let her buy one until something definitive happened to the one she had currently, and she had a feeling that any object involved would not survive its first meeting with the Box-Of-Doom, it just gave off the sort of feel, she shoved her cell phone in before McCreepy could put Glen's in, giving him a cheeky grin for good measure.
She felt a cold horror when her phone suddenly burst into a living being, one that was trying desperately, violently, to escape.
Surprise.
…Confusion.
Anger.
:File End:
:Open Next File?:
:No:
Curiosity.
Slight suspicion.
:Search; Project Mockingbird:
:Search Denied:
:File Encrypted:
Anger flaring again.
:Search; Banachek:
:One Result(s):
:Tom Banachek, Head Of Sector Seven's Advanced Research Division, Lyre's Handler:
Useless.
The consciousness drifted away once again.
