Thanks to Astraea Maehanla for the review, to be honest, I laughed as I wrote that part, and thanks to those that favorited/alerted. Here's chapter three of Project Mockingbird, in this chapter we learn a bit more about Lyre and her friend Abigail, yay. ^_^ Anywho, I hope y'all enjoy, tell me what you think of the story so far, yeah?
Project Mockingbird
Chapter 3: Lyre The Liar And The Baby Bot.
*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.
Afraid of loving, afraid of even simply caring, because she knew better than most people the pain of losing someone important to you. 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.
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 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 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.
*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 and his 'tilt of the hat' action only confirmed her suspicions. 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 pee 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 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 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 to 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 scull 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 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 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. He seemed very surprised by some of my knowledge, 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 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 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 smaller 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.
I've always thought that the people who say to read and review at the end of the chapter are silly, I mean, I get asking for a review, but the read part just doesn't make sense to me, 'cause you know, if they're at the bottom of the page, in all likelihood, they've probably read the chapter. Speaking of reviews, please? Please review; give this poor, pathetic writer who has no excitement in her life something to look forward to? Remember, reviews are love, and ah needs deh love. No, seriously I'd like at least... oh two reviews before I post the next chapter, see I'm reasonable, I'm not asking for a bunch, just two and I'll be happy. ^_^ Anywho, 'til next time, BlackMoonWhiteSky.