*Part 4*
*
Back in the 70's and 80's an all female rock band dominated the charts for many years. This group were well known by all their fans and finally after much deliberation, they all retired from music in the late 80's due to events of the time. The band members of 'Sorority House' continued on with their lives in their own separate ways.
The lead singer and guitarist of that group, Sonia Tracy became a manager of her mother's music company that used to manage their band, now managing many other promising young musicians, singers, dancers, songwriters etc. wanting to break into the industry.
Sonya barely sang or played anymore on account of the fact a car accident had left her completely blind, but it had not blunted her other senses, giving her an extra keen sense of sound. It was this same accident that killed both her father and husband, who was the manager of the group, leaving her to raise her three children.
She turned this skill into a very valuable asset in using it to spot prodigies and talent for Deane Music. She never did change the name after her mother passed on, instead keeping it to honour her mother's memory and also allowing her sister to keep it as part of the parent company, Deane Entertainment, which was also part of Deane Corp, the family business.
The drummer and saxophonist Vanessa Gordon, while a bit of a wild child and a huge sports fan, as well as a fan of justice being served, went on to the Portland Police Dept. for some time before going into some work as a private investigator in her own right as well as a part time pilot for Deane Corp. on occasion.
Their song writer, costume designer and bass guitarist, Aurora Sabre, went into the art industry. She followed her skills into graphic design and now manages Deane Entertainment, as well as making her own items for sales.
The group keytarist/keyboardist and lighting designer was Francine Deane; probably the most well known of the group due to her love of anything technological and also the owner/CEO of the world wide company Deane Corp.
While she and fellow former band member Sonia were sisters, both followed different paths set before them that were provided by their parents, that were sadly placed before them when their parents as well as Sonia's husband were killed in a car accident that left both the sisters permanently injured, Sonia blind and Francine crippled, it was this event that caused the break up of the band, despite the fact all the girls still worked with each other on occasion and often kept in contact.
While Sonia learned to cope with her blindness, Francine didn't take her disability very well and so fixed herself the only way she knew how. The general public not knowing she fixed herself not with common surgery, but with cybernetics. She made use of a technological program that allowed her to inject nanytes into her body to repair the damage on a medical level and infuse her mechanically on a technological level. It also allowed her to not only walk again, but also dance, which was one of her favourite hobbies besides technology. This was never made public and is only known to a select few even amongst her closest friends.
She had also been responsible for the creation of a mecha unit that was a prototype human driven device she was going to present to the Earth Defense Force for a production project before a friend of the family got involved in it. She had built other technological devices before this, but this one was for human piloting alone. It was mainly to try and help the EDC fight the Decepticon menace, but as with all of Francine's other projects, something inevitably comes up.
While she admits she was not completely responsible for the design of this unit, she dropped the project to prevent any future involvement of them due to what happened to her old friend, so it wouldn't happen to another should something go wrong. Francine had to fake her friends death to cover up the accident.
But recently her old friend Rusty had found an outlet for her social reclusion and connected with some kindred spirits, she wasn't supposed to be out in public, but she had finally had enough of hiding. At first she interfered with a battle between the Autobots and some Decepticons in downtown Portland, and then she had taken off for the day and spent it at their base, using one of Francine's cloak devices that she was still testing, much to her chagrin.
Frankie wasn't too worried about the situation as Rusty inevitably stayed out of trouble more than she got into it. She wasn't happy that she borrowed the cloak device, but it would get a test of a kind, so she let the whole thing go. Her sister Sonia on the other hand was livid and gave Rusty a verbal what for when she came back home again.
Francine defended Rusty and intervened in the argument to get her sister to lay off, then got set upon herself. Sonia had stated that Rusty getting involved with the Autobots would only attract the attention of the Decepticons and they would then set their sights on Francine, her technological projects, her inventions or worse, enslave her to make weapons for them, and this worried Sonia to no end.
Frankie of course told off Sonia for being such a worry wort and just left. She wasn't going to stick around at their family home to get layed into for defending a friend so she went to spend some time alone to blow off some steam.
She had spent the last week living in her Portland penthouse working on her projects and taking care of business when the proverbial 'shit hit the fan'.
She figured her sister worrying so much had attracted some bad luck to her.
When her aggressors had first turned up, her first thought was that they were most likely after one her most recent projects. After all she had just completed a design for something that could be weaponised if it got into the wrong hands. She had no idea that it was because of Rusty and what the Decepticons now knew of her.
She had just finished a long meeting with shareholders and retired to her bedroom upstairs in her penthouse that was built on top of the Deane Corp. building. She had bathed, changed and had called for a company helicopter to come pick her up and take her home for some supplies from her lab, hoping she would not run into her sister while there.
She had turned up the music on her stereo very loud, and was dancing away in blissful ignorance. She did not hear the approach of the jet from some distance away due to the music, but she did hear the sonic boom that happened right outside her windows, instantly smashing all of them. It was no trouble then for the flying transformer to clear away the metal struts that had once held the two story tall glass windows in place and allow itself to enter and grab her.
Francine had been knocked across the room when the windows had shattered. She wasn't badly injured but had a few scratches and was bleeding in minor spots here and there. She didn't think it was too good an idea to move right now to get away from her Decepticon kidnapper as she had no shoes on and would risk cutting herself haphazardly trying to run through all that broken glass so she just let herself be taken and see what they wanted.
When the helicopter was approaching, it had not seen the initial attack, but the pilot had spotted Francine being shoved into a blue Seekers cockpit under protest as it was transforming back into its jet mode. All the pilot could do was report the incident, the chopper it was in was not made to match the speed of an F-15 Eagle, as it was only a commercial helicopter, and so that was the best course of action the pilot thought to take at the time.
Around the Ark, a few of the Autobots were used to either Jazz or Blaster, blasting out rock tunes when they were in their quarters or when they were off duty at all hours or whenever they could around their duty stations. It was just something commonplace to two of the base's most fervent music lovers.
And ever since those two mechs had heard that their newest friend Rusty knew one of the former members of an old rock band, they had been pestering Optimus non stop to convince him to allow them to give Frankie Deane a visit or invite her to the Ark for their own reasons.
Optimus had the displeasure of accompanying Jazz to the security control room to retrieve some reports from Red Alert's desk he needed when he was set upon by Jazz pleading again.
When they arrived, Blaster was already there and as soon as Optimus saw him then looked back at Jazz grinning, knew he had been cornered. He realised they must have switched shifts with others to do this right when he needed those reports.
He was about to let them have their way when Prowl sent him a radio call.
"Optimus, I think you had better turn on the news." He stated.
Jazz and Blaster looked at each other curiously then Jazz leant forward over one of the security monitors and switched to the local TV channel to see what was up.
Right in their own neighbourhood, a Seeker had gotten in under their radar and kidnapped a human, possibly for nefarious purposes. But not just any human, Francine Deane, the very person that Jazz and Blaster had been pestering Optimus Prime about for the last week or so.
After viewing the news report, he comms. Prowl back and says, "Prowl, have all available officers meet me in the meeting room."
With that he grabs Red Alerts report and heads out of the Monitor room. For a moment Jazz and Blaster look at each other. Jazz turns to the two Minibots who are also there and says to them, "I gotta jive guys, can ya watch the boob tubes while I'm gone?"
Brawn and Cliffjumper grumbled a 'sure, fine' before both Officers left the room.
Francine had been out of it for some time judging by what time it now was according to her watch. It had been sometime around 11am when she had been snatched, now it was almost 2pm.
She had awoken to find herself caged behind some sturdy metal bars at the front of the apparent cell. The room was very big, no doubt it was used to contain captives of war and such, and being that Francine had noted she was nabbed by Decepticons, it was most likely housed by captured Autobots when the need arose. She did not know however that these were bars that could be energised to prevent escape or tampering of the bars to do so. So she got quite a shock when she touched said bars.
"Ouch!" She yelped in surprise.
"That'll teach ya meatbag!" Laughed a haughty mechanical voice outside her cell.
Francine looked to find the source of that voice and found herself face to face with a mechanical being, red in colour, apparently guarding her cell.
While still cradling her slightly burnt hand, she inquires, "Who and what are you supposed to be?" She asked, "I thought all Decepticons were supposed to be tall and mean looking, but you're just short and ugly!" She thought that while she was incarcerated she may as well have some fun annoying her captors and she was also bored.
It didn't take much to rile this one.
"Who are you callin' short and ugly fleshbag?" Asked another mech. Francine had not noticed this other almost identical blue one.
"Hey Frenzy, what say we have a little fun with this meatbag and pound a few dents inta her for bein' a smartmouth?" The red one proposed.
"Heh, why not Rumble!" Frenzy answered. "Soundwave never said we couldn't!"
Francine was amused. Although she knew that they would never get the chance, she wasn't quite ready to reveal how she knew or even how she would have gotten out of having to fight those two anyhow, without revealing her cybernetics.
Frenzy was just in the process of powering down the cell door and unlocking it when another taller dark blue mech showed up.
Soundwave could tell what his two companions were doing. Judging by the smirk on the human's face and also the annoyed looks of his two cassettes, he surmised that the human had deliberately tried to rile them up somehow and so he stepped in. "Cease and desist all functions immediately." Came the deep monotone vocals.
At the sound of it, both Frenzy and Rumble flinched and quickly locked up the cell and turned the bar charges back on again.
"We weren't doin' nothin'!" Exclaimed Rumble innocently.
Soundwave looked down at the small red transformer and waited till he lowered his head before Rumble responded, "We were just going to have some fun an' you never said couldn't rough her up a bit?" He explained as he tried to exonerate himself.
"Yeah just a little fun!" The other one said, but he immediately cringed and lowered his gaze as soon as Soundwave turned his attention to him.
"Lord Megatron has requested the female human be brought before him at once." The tall blue mech advised.
The two small mecha grumbled and opened Francine's cell and pushed her out.
"Com'on you, time for you to bow down to your superiors." Joked Frenzy.
"Yeah!" Snickered Rumble.
Francine supposed she had no choice but to go where they wanted her to go, so she walked ahead of them down a hallway curious as to what they wanted with her.
When the Autobots had arrived at the ground floor of the Deane Corp. building, they had already started a clean up of the glass and infrastructure that had fallen from the penthouse above and the local Police were already doing their part.
One of Francine's friends, who was also the helicopter pilot at the time was just finishing up her statement to the Police when she saw the arrival of the Autobots.
"Thanks for giving a statement Van', good to see your keeping yourself busy since leaving us." Said the attending Police Detective.
"No problem Jerry, besides Miss Deane pays me better and I get more benefits than I ever did as a cop!" Vanessa mused as she winked at her old friend.
"Maybe I should quit and come over to Deane Corp!" Mused the Detective.
"Maybe!" She replied. Vanessa was just about to excuse herself when her Officer friend was approached by one of the Autobots.
"Excuse me Detective Somersby, may we have a word?" Called Prowl.
"Ah hello Prowl, I was wondering when you lot would turn up seeing as how it was apparently a Decepticon that did this." Somersby replied and then turned to his old friend. "You'll have to excuse me Van' but I've got to go and talk to these guys now, nice to see you again!"
"Not a problem." She gazed at Prowl with a saddened expression for a moment before turning away and leaving, avoiding contact with the Autobots for now for her own reasons.
Meanwhile the Detective was relaying to the Autobots the information that had been gathered thus far from other Officers and also witnesses.
Jazz interjected, "Seems like ol' 'Cracker did a hit an' run on tha buildin'." He observed the information the Detective gave and also looked skyward at the damage to the side of the building.
Prowl responded to Jazz, "Well it looks like we have some work to do in finding out why she was taken and where they have her now."
"Well I'd say they'd've taken 'er outta tha city an' back to tha Nemesis." Commented Jazz, as he checked the area for any residual signatures or other Decepticons, "I'm not pickin' up anythin'? Nothin' left 'ere 'cept what they left behind."
Prowl turned to Jazz. "I would prefer to assess the situation further before determining a course of action in regards to Miss Deane. The information I received from the Detective indicated witnesses had seen Thundercracker fly off towards the direction of the Nemesis and he was apparently alone."
"Time to go home and brief th'boss then?" Jazz asked.
Prowl nodded before he transformed and headed in the direction of the Ark, with Jazz right behind him.
"Ok Prowler, let's get to it!" Jazz mused.
Little did they know they were being watched as they both departed.
'So do you think they saw us?' A female voice asked.
'I doubt it.' Commented another with a decided English accent. 'The devices we are using are too well constructed for us to be seen by their sensors.' The two females had just been in their robot modes overlooking the scene below from the Penthouse floor from up above.
'Geez, over confident much!' The first female retorted.
'No, only faithful in the designer's ability to provide Francine with sturdy technology for our specific use and protection.'
'Ok Airbourne, but you do come across as a tad egotistical and uppity despite what you just said.'
'And you still say whatever is on your cerebral processors regardless of however it affects others Clash.'
The two females talking were other transformers that had associations with Deane Corp., but they were not made like Rusty. Nor were they creations of Francine's.
The only thing they shared in common with the other transformer femme was the fact that their minds once belonged to human forms also, only that their conversion to a transformer being was voluntary, not accidental as was Rusty's.
Airbourne had been a WAC Officer during World War One. She had so loved the aeroplanes at the time but also loathed the fact that the 'men' of the Armed Forces would not allow women pilots in the war, so much so she had taken drastic measures into her own hands. While she was an ace pilot in her own right, they would still not let her fly and prove herself.
Clash on the other hand was a Medical pilot during the Korean War. But she wasn't the only member of her family from the time that was converted, just like Airbourne and herself were.
Along the way they had met and made friends with an individual who helped them achieve their current states of existence and still interacts with them to this day. They now resided in secret right under the olfactory sensors of the Cybertronians on Earth at present.
Both of them were currently under a sensor net that protected them both from being detected by the Autobots down on the street below. Right now the two femmes were talking between themselves while waiting for their companion Vanessa to arrive, hoping for news that their missing human friend was alright.
'Any luck?' Asked Clash when the aforementioned female arrived to their location.
Vanessa had just emerged from the higher level elevator when her comms. started buzzing with the voice over. She, like the other two on the roof, was also a transformer. But unlike them, she was an original Cybertronian. Yet she was also different. She had as many upgrades as her body could handle since she had arrived here on Earth. And also had the capability to disguise herself in a human form. The Cybertronians called this Pretender technology, but this was much more advanced technology than anything Cybertronian in origin. Her acquirement of it was from a different source.
"I got to chat with my old friend at least, but for the most part, if Francine has been taken to the Decepticon base, we would never be able to handle going there on our own to retrieve her." Vanessa said out loud.
When Vanessa was an Autobot soldier, she had fought many Decepticons in her time and was still a crack shot and amenable to many forms of combat, both armed and unarmed. But since her revival here on Earth, she had other reasons for not returning to her brethren. But she still knew how dangerous the Decepticons were, despite her present companions' and her own eagerness to retrieve their kidnapped friend.
It hurt her more to hide in secret from her old Autobot comrades so close by and not make any contact with them, not only because she had friends there but she also had a sibling and a bondmate amongst them.
"So what is the directive we will need to follow?" Asked Airbourne.
"I guess we'll have to break the line and expose our secret existence to the Autobots!" Says Clash, excitedly.
"I knew there would come a time when we would no longer need to live or hide in secret." Airbourne said.
"Maybe, maybe not. Rusty started the ball rolling and opened the curtains to let them look in the window, but a time will come when they will be able to walk through the front door. There is a time and place for everything." Vanessa corrected the jet.
Clash added aloud, "Weird analogy, but I got it."
Vanessa chuckled.
"Shall I radio base and organise a visitor's delegation to the Ark?" Airbourne asked.
"Check back with the Commander about that." Vanessa responded.
"Ooh this is going to be so much fun if she let's us do it!" Clash commented.
At the Decepticon base, Francine wasn't faring much better. She was being pushed and shoved in the direction they wanted her to go, and at several intervals she had deliberately objected just to annoy them.
But it was when she arrived in the meeting room that she had finally had enough.
"Quit shoving already, I know how to walk." She objected vehemently.
Rumble and Frenzy had just brought her into the meeting room in front of several other large and deadlier Decepticons than the two small punks that were pushing her around.
"Not likely fleshbag, you should pipe down and show some respect to your superiors." Goaded Frenzy.
"If you two are my superiors then why don't you prove just how superior you are?" She remarked confidently.
Soundwave had in the mean time walked over to talk to Megatron who had been conversing with one another at the time they walked in. Both turned around at the commotion.
Soundwave was about to go and retrieve his two minions when Megatron stopped him. "No Soundwave. This human is quite the fiery one. Let's see what she thinks she can do against your cassettes." Soundwave stood where he was and joined Megatron and some others in watching the commotion.
What ensued was a merry dance between the two cassettes and Francine. She had years of experience in Kung Fu and also Kickboxing and knew how to use her opponents size and weight against them. As well as the fact she had been taught by others about Cybertronian physiology and technology, not just Autobot structures but also Decepticon ones as well, from an anonymous source.
Needless to say it didn't end well for the two small warriors.
When it was all over, the first to speak was Megatron, "Enough." He said, getting the attention of both the cassettes and also Francine. All it took was one look from Soundwave for the cassette twins to stop and not continue into a round two of fighting.
"Rumble, Frenzy, return." Soundwave spoke.
All the two cassettes could do was respond. Frenzy glared at the human as he walked past her. And Rumble spoke to her as he shoved past and poked her in the chest, "You'll get what's coming to you meatbag." And then both transformed and returned to their holding compartment in Soundwaves chest.
When they were out of sight, Francine locked eyes with Soundwave for a moment, worried that the mech had discovered her technological secret, but the blue mech said nothing. She was hopeful that the firewall that kept her internal programming intact and her true self from discovery was working against the Decepticon soldier. His attention was taken away from her when interrupted by Megatron's vocals.
"That was quite a show you put on human." He commented. "I'm curious to know exactly how you did that."
Francine knew his reputation and wasn't really all that keen on ticking him off, but she was sure as hell going to enjoy doing it just to see his reaction. "I didn't put on a show just for your entertainment, Megatron; besides if you don't dare to do anything, then how will you ever succeed at accomplishing anything." She said smugly.
Starscream was standing beside him and couldn't help but snicker. Not only because she had dared to talk down to Megatron and was still living and breathing, but also because her cockiness, she reminded him a little of himself.
"Shut up Starscream." Megatron bellowed, making the Seeker stop. He decided not to blast her to bits for sassing him, not only because he still needed her to make something for him, but because he wanted to see how far her bravado would go.
Francine was getting kind of bored now. She was a might hyperactive at times and her constant need to be doing something, especially if it was something technological, was what kept her entertained. It was her now innate boredom that was making her resort to smart comments and risking her own life by sassing Decepticons, who she knew, any one of them could end her life very quickly or just as suddenly at any time.
She crossed her arms and huffed, "Get to the point already. Are you going to prattle on with pointless conversation, like this one here has a reputation of doing," She thumbed to Starscream, which got the Air Commander off colour, "Or are you going to tell me what you want me for?"
Before Megatron could speak, Starscream interjected and powered his guns and aimed them at Francine. "And what makes you think we need you for anything human?"
Frankie just looked straight at him, "Because lame brain, if you didn't need me for something, I know I'd already be dead!"
This got snickers off Skywarp and Thundercracker who were off to one side observing the goings on.
"Enough all of you." Bellowed Megatron loudly, which immediately quietened everyone in the room. He bent down and grabbed Francine roughly, who didn't even flinch as she was picked up and unceremoniously dumped onto the table top. "You are going to make this for us."
Almost at once she realised she was on a projector table of some kind, having something similar herself at her lab back home. She watched as the holographic image of the weapon coalesced and came together into a 3D form. She instantly recognised the design, it was a particle accelerator device that she had just finished designing for her R and D department. Somehow the Decepticons had gotten hold of it, redesigned it into a cannon instead of its hand held device and this was the reason she had been brought here, to help them finish it.
She looked from the designs to the Decepticon leader, "And what if I refuse?" She contested.
"Then you will be on the receiving end of this." He pointed his fusion cannon right in her face and let it cycle low and glow only slightly to ensure she got the point.
On any ordinary day she might have flinched at having that particular weapon shoved in her face, but when she saw inside the barrel of the gun, all she could do was comment, "When was the last time you cleaned out the barrel? It's pretty bad in here and full of carbon scoring. You really should take some time to look after it better."
Everyone in the room just looked at her. Not only had she sassed Megatron earlier, but she had also gotten away with making a fool of the cassette twins and also Starscream and now she wasn't even flinching at having Megatron's fusion cannon in her face. They were all just utterly speechless.
She wondered just how much longer her luck would hold, but with her being as daring as she was, she decided to push her luck as far as it would go.
Prowl and Jazz had returned to the Ark after surmising that no more evidence of the kidnapping could be obtained. They were only just organising with the Aerialbots for them to flyover the Decepticon base to draw them out and find out where Francine Deane had been taken when their proximity alert had gone off.
But before that.
When Vanessa had returned home, she had arrived to find Rusty returning from the studio and she wanted in on the visit to the Ark. So the tall orange and black femme had gone on ahead for them.
While Rusty went through the front door to visit like she always did, four others, broke off from Rusty's company some distance before the Ark and waited instead.
Outside on patrol duty, there were two teams. Mirage and Huffer as one team, and also Sunstreaker and Bluestreak as another team around the base somewhere.
'Ark base ta Patrol teams one an' two.'
'This is Mirage. Go ahead Blaster.'
'Sunstreaker responding.'
'Ignore the proximity alert comin' from tha base guys, it's just Rusty. She tripped up one of our external sensors again.'
'That'd be right!' Commented Sunstreaker over the comms, 'How can any sensor miss a femme with an aft that big anyway!'
Most of them ignored Sunstreaker's snarky insult and just went back to their business.
'Team one received.' Responded Mirage.
Sunstreaker sighed and responded, 'Team Two received.'
"You know it wasn't very nice what you said. I don't think that Rusty is that big, she is just tall and..." Bluestreak commented to Sunstreaker. He stopped as soon as Sunstreaker glared at him, "I uh... I'll shut up now." He said meekly.
As soon as Sunstreaker looked away he quietly started up again but then suddenly got cut off mid sentence. What tipped Sunstreaker off to a possible intruder was the fact that Bluestreak had squawked slightly when he went quiet.
Sunstreaker turned around to the mechs direction with his gun out only to find a gun put into his face.
"Put down the gun, pick up your friend here and start walking." The masked white femme in front of him ordered. When he objected and didn't respond straight away she started charging her pulse rifle, "Don't even think about it, unless you want to end up like your friend here. Just pick him up and start walking."
Sunstreaker growled at her and did as she asked. At first he figured as soon as she would reach for the gun he would try and tackle her so he tossed the gun behind her. All she did was move her foot to step behind and made contact with the gun, whereby it was instantly subspaced. She never took her optics off of him for a nanoclik. "Move it." She demanded.
Sunstreaker did not want to comply, but then he didn't want to get his new paint job scratched up either.
At the Ark base, Blaster had been trying to contact Sunstreaker, but couldn't due to the femme's presence. The Lamborghini figured the femme was jamming the signals as he had been trying to contact the Ark also. He noted that Bluestreak didn't appear to be in any trouble physically. And the femme who had Sunstreaker at gunpoint carrying Bluestreak back to the Ark was familiar to him in some way, but he couldn't place her obscured vocals right now.
When Blaster zoomed in at her on the long range cameras, he had noted that she looked familiar. He couldn't pick her either, until Rusty walked in.
"Hey it's about time Vanguard got here!" As soon as she saw her companion on the screens he was watching.
Blaster's jaw dropped at the mention of the name, it was the name of the femme he had just been thinking about, but couldn't quite remember her name at the time. Now he recognised her, but thought it was impossible given that the femme was a crew member on a ship that was shot down by Decepticons over Cybertron airspace some time ago before they left home.
Then he got suspicious, she could be an impostor considering she had no insignia. All he could do was put out an alert over the base speakers, 'Incoming possible hostile, heading towards the entrance with Sunstreaker and an offline Bluestreak at gunpoint.'
Rusty raised a brow ridge at him and Blaster responded, "Well she's holdin' a gun to Sunny, can't hardly ignore that now can I?"
Rusty just shrugged then left the monitor room to join the others at the entrance.
As soon as Rusty left however He put in a private call to Optimus Prime and told him of his suspicions.
