Chapter 3: Rain Song

"Ugh…"

The lost brown eyes opened. She pushed herself up and looked around. She was hidden in a dark alley by the garbage disposal unit. She heard rats scrambling in the debris and dust, squeaking and continued to consume their meal; a corpse of a crow. Everything was clear to her now; everything was the side effect of the high. She dusted herself before a sudden jolt of pain rushed through her arm forced her dry lips to part, released the scream. 'Maiden' leaned back against the wall, heaving puffs of exhaustion lifted into the air before it vanished. Her mind questioned what happened to her earlier was a dream or not; a man constantly questioning her name, interrogating and intimidating. Her shoulder seared with pain. It felt as if someone took a metallic ball and threw it into her shoulder. She thought it dislocated. Touching it, she yelped. She knew, she had several run-ins with the law because of her heritage. They seemed to figure it out every time she hid her identity. Natives weren't welcomed in Mortis. This land originally belonged to the Natives until plagued consumed it before it was further consumed, industrialized by white man. Sadly, she was the only one of her kind in this hellhole. She lost track how many times she was robbed, abused or raped… the memories hurt.

Then this question began to surface: why does he want to know her name? She remembered vaguely that she told him everybody called her 'Maiden' since she was young. What she didn't tell him was she had no biological parents to look after her, care, trust and love. No, unfortunately she was raised by a foster family she was thrown into. Why? She didn't know… nobody knew. Maiden's thoughts began to process again those painful, heart-stabbing memories she tried so hard to push away...

-Flashback-

"I say we kill her! She's of no use to us looking like that!"

"Let's torture her instead!"

-End flashback-

"Squishy female awake!"

Startled, she looked around for the voice, "W-Who's there?!"

The garbage disposal shook. Maiden moved away from it but then what she saw, she didn't believe; a small creature of steel crawled out before focusing four of its blue orbs on her. "Squishy female!!"

"T-The hell are you?!"

"Frenzy, my partner." a voice replied from behind.

"You…" she turned around spotting the black and white police car parked, bathing in the rain. She walked then ran with fists tightened and rammed on the hood.

"The hell do you want with me anyway?!"

"You have something I want,"

"Everybody wants something! He wants this! He wants that!" Maiden shrieked.

"I just wanted to ask you something… just to confirm my suspicions,"

Maiden stopped. Looking at the black and white car, she realized he or it was a police vehicle nonetheless a talking one, questioning her about something. Annoying as hell. She slid down by one of the front tires, curled up allowing the rain sliding down her locks, down her cheek. Her eyes closed from exhaustion, pressed her forehead against her knees. In her mind, she wanted to talk to someone or in this case, something for a long time now but nobody reached out. She had been alone for quite sometime now since everybody shunned her away. She wondered where she went wrong. It was ironic though that she would be talking to an alien. Hey, if this thing was some kind of reaper, I'm up for grabs, she thought sarcastically.

"Are you the one that ran away from home?" Barricade asked. "I see your face pasted all over the news."

Frenzy was already at work with small fingers dancing across the keyboard rigorously finding more information about 'Maiden'. Multiple images appeared one by one but there was barely any description of her in the missing data person's database. Frenzy peeked out, absorbing Maiden's features, trying to narrow down the search but something was not right; something was wrong. He texted this information to the larger mech who took notice but instead, he replied with, "Just wait."

"…Yes. If you're wondering why I ran away is because nobody wanted me." Tears of her own formed in her eyes but she fought it from being released but when she thought about it carefully, what difference would it make? It was raining and it was good to mask her tears she associated with her own weakness. "Dammit, I refuse to cry about some shitty sob story. I was abused by everybody; even my little sister… how pathetic is that? Well, step-little sister. Ugh, I used to be stronger than this. I used to kill pe—"

Maiden silenced, thinking carefully of what she just confessed.

"People you say?" he asked with a spark of interest.

Maiden buried her face deeper but in the same time, it was relieving to finally confess. A small smile formed on her lips, "I didn't mindlessly slaughter okay? I did it because I had to... it's not like I had a choice…"

The vehicle rumbled suddenly shaking Maiden out of her thoughts. She backed away watching the car transform before her very eyes. A flash of lightning skidded through the sky, dividing the clouds, temporarily blinding her. Opening her eyes once more, her eyes laid upon the huge bipedal monstrosity of metal glaring down at her. Those same blood red ruby eyes stared daggers at her. The sound of her heart amplified in her ears. Wiping the bangs out of her eyes, she focused at the alien.

"Barricade," he spoke. "That is my name."

She turned her back to him with shattered wing imprints on her jacket as the wind gently picked up. Her mouth moved slowly without any whispers of words but as the wind picked up speed, her gentle and soothing voice followed. Barricade did not expect her to start singing lullaby's in the Cybertronian tongue under the curse of the moon and tears of the sky.