Dannie woke with a start, she would've bolted straight up if it wasn't for the thick band over her arms. It took a moment for her brain to catch up with her body and once she did, she moaned quietly. The pain was bad, just as bad as when she first got hurt.
Dannie tensed when there was a deep chuckle that resonated through the room. And for a moment she panicked; she couldn't remember where she was. The last she remembered was that her and Stormrunner were on the road, fleeing from Decepticons because her home was destroyed and she had no where to go.
Had they been caught? Was she in a hospital or a jail?
"Are you awake Miss Reed?" A man asked lowly, somewhere close to her side.
Dannie decided it was better to just face it head on rather than play dumb. Stormrunner would could come for her sooner or later; and if he didn't someone else would. The last time she talked to Optimus, he mentioned that he would be working with humans. So he would have to have some kind of connections. Hopefully...
Dannie sighs, opening her eyes. Her eyes took in the grey ceiling, then scaled the walls noting that there were no windows. Just four walls and a door. So not a jail cell? Or an interrogation room. But due to the lack of equipment it wasn't a hospital either. Finally her eyes took in an army man. And it all came back to her, the long ride, her wound tearing open as her companion fought with his comrades, holding tight to Optimus as she tried to calm her best friend, meeting the army men- Major Lennox and Sergeant Epps.
Currently Major Lennox was staring at her, waiting patiently with a calm demeanor to him.
"Major." Dannie nodded in acknowledgement. Her voice was a hoarse whisper, and her throat felt dry but she didn't say anything. Instead she let her eyes fall closed fatigue over taking her body. Dannie heard shifting and a chair scrapped against the floor. She felt the belt over her body loosen and fall slack; before it was removed from her body.
"How are you feeling?" Lennox asked, taking his seat.
Dannie cleared her throat, shifting her shoulders before deciding against sitting up due to the shooting pain in her side. "Exhausted. What happened?"
He smirked, "you passed out due to a number of things. The doctor on base performed surgery on your side. Nasty thing you had going."
Dannie grimaced, "tell me about it. It's been driving me up the wall all week." She frowned deeply, one hand gently rubbing over the bandaged wound. "Is it all better though?"
Lennox shrugged, "should be. Only time will tell now."
Dannie nodded to herself, "how long have I been out for?"
Lennox rubbed the back of his head. "About that-"
"Where's Dannie?!" A painfully familiar voice roared, shaking the whole room.
Dannie's eyes shot open and she leapt up from the bed, throwing the blankets to the side as she stood on shaky feet.
"Arabella!" Stormrunner bellowed.
Dannie tripped into Lennox who had also jumped up, and he caught her around her arms.
"Easy does it!" He says in her ear, "just take it slow."
Dannie pushed off him though, gripping her aching side and pushing open the door and pausing to listen to which way her companion was. There was loud crashes and yelling that only got louder as Dannie ran through the halls. At one point she had to jump over what seemed to be a mail cart, barely sticking the landing as she had to turn and push open another door. But finally she came through a large open doorway and skidded to a stop, covering her eyes from the intense light that flooded over her.
"Dannie!" Storm was so close to her now, but his back was turned, he was arguing with Optimus and Ratchet. "I have to find Dannie! She's not safe! They're going to kill her!"
"She's fine Stormrunner," Ratchet tried to reason. "The doctors took great care of her, and now she's recovering. When she wakes up Lennox will tell us."
Dannie took off towards them, just as Lennox stopped abruptly behind her. He groaned as he took of again, slower this time, now that he didn't have to keep track of her.
"Storm!" Dannie cried, using a Mudflap as a latter and leaping in the air towards her best friend.
Once again Lennox came to a stop, this time from the utter shock running through him. She jumped up Mudflap and then into the air just as Stormrunner spun around- they were so perfectly in tune with each. And she latched onto his arm and held tight.
"Hey little girl!" Mudflap exclaimed, "watch it!"
"Dannie! Are you alright Dannie?" Stormrunner's eyes were searching over Dannie's body, looking for any signs of damage but he couldn't find any. She looked relatively normal, her blonde hair was hanging over her shoulders and she was clothed in a black shirt and black sweat pants, she didn't have shoes but that didn't phase her from finding a comfortable plate to stand on as she hugged her long time friend.
"Are you okay?" Dannie whispered to him, holding tight even as his hand came to rest on her back.
"Am I okay? Of course I am." Storm scoffed, "you're the frail one!"
"Well you're the stupid one, who can't take care of himself." Dannie glared. "How dare you go silent on me! Especially when you weren't up to par! What if they caught up with us, then what would you have done?" Her free arm waved and gestured and at one point slapped Stormrunner. She moved from holding onto his arm to standing on his shoulder.
"I would've died protecting you." He said heroically, pose and all.
In the back ground, all the men had backed away from the Autobots, sensing the tension that started boiling in the room. Ironhide, enjoying the show, stepped forward to be a part of the circle.
"Well gee, Storm," she rolls her crystal blue eyes. "They still would've killed me. Then your death would be for nothing, idiot" she scoffed the last part under her breath.
"I was dying anyways." Stormrunner shrugged.
"Uh-oh... here it comes." Ratchet mumbled, stepping away.
Dannie ignored the jostle, holding tight to his shoulder. She was infuriated, and the pain coursing through her was being transformed into fury the longer they talked. "That's it! I'm leaving you! I'm going with Ironhide- forever." She hops onto the black Autobot.
Optimus held up a hand, meaning to calm the situation when Stormrunner's eyes widened dramatically.
"What?! You can't leave me!" He bellowed.
"What is this?" Epps asked in disbelief, "a soap opera?"
"I'm a free bird." Dannie scoffs. Her eyes widen as Storm leaps at Ironhide, and she jumps for Optimus who was closest to her. She caught his shoulder just as the boys hit each other with a loud crash and went tumbling along the concrete floor.
Optimus sighed deeply, "children please."
Dannie smirks. "He's too easy."
Ratchet face palmed, "by now you would think he wouldn't be so insecure. Dannie can't be in the room with Ironhide for more than a few minutes without fighting."
Dannie pouted, "hey, last time we made it pretty good. Only a little bit of arguing." Her whole facade resonated innocence.
"That wasn't in person." The corner of Optimus' lip went up, "that was using telecommunication."
Dannie grimaced, "just say telecom. And no, we had a video chat genius. Get with the program Optimus." She teased.
"Are you two done yet?" Optimus sighed deeply, a balled fist resting on his hip as he channeled his inner paternal streak. Both Autobots ignored their leader. Fighting for dominance as they still tumbled on the floor, throwing the occasional punch.
"You did this on purpose didn't you Dannie?" Optimus voice was full of exasperation. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
Dannie nodded slowly, a small smirk lining her pink lips, "well yeah. At some point today Ironhide is going to pick a fight and I'm not going to be able to retaliate without getting shot or something." She shrugs nonchalantly. "It was the only way I could get through the day."
"Get shot?" Ratchet crosses his arms. "They wouldn't shoot-" he paused, catching Dannie's 'oh you think so?' expression. "You're right. This was the best way."
"While they figure themselves out, why don't we all sit and have a discussion." Optimus suggested in his 'not a suggestion' voice.
➿〰➰〰➿
"Well, in the last seven years I've found and kept track of Sideways, Aftersling, Scrapfeather, Darkbolt, Demolisher, Aries-"
"You mean like the God of war, Aries?" Epps interrupted, his eyebrows rising in his nonexistent hairline.
"Yes," Dannie nodded, "and he reeks destruction wherever he goes as well. Also there is Enigma and Pillage. Those two are hiding together in North Korea."
Lennox was silent as he took it all in. He couldn't believe how many Decepticon's were hiding among the humans in whole. Not just the U.S, but all across the globe. They had a lot of work to do.. Lennox inwardly sighed. His brown eyes searched Dannie for any lies or half truths but he couldn't find anything. It would seem this woman came just in time. Lennox was still building his team and setting procedures, to have someone so familiar and comfortable with the Autobots worked to his advantage. She could fix them, and find them. She understood them and they had a high level of trust. Lennox immediately began thinking of ways to hire her as a civilian contractor.
"We need to hunt all those guys down?" Epps crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Man, just can't catch a break."
"Optimus." Dannie said in all seriousness. "I won't share anything without your approval."
Lennox' eyes widened as did Epps. Lennox looked up at the massive leader of the Autobots, trying to determine what the alien robot would decide. But it was impossible, Optimus merely put a hand on his chin in the classical thinking manner and closed his eyes.
"What?! We can't just let those things live in here!" Epps exploded from his seat. "This is our planet! They have no right to live here-"
"Sit down Epps." Lennox ordered. His hard brown eyes meeting even darker ones that were glowing with fury. Epps closed his mouth and did as he was told, though it was obvious he didn't like it.
"You may share the location of each Decepticon with them." Optimus finally nodded.
Dannie returned the nod as multiple breaths were released. "Someone get me a map and some paper?" She glanced around the table.
It was time to get to business.
