CHAPTER 3

Sari crashed to the pavement with the thing on top of her. She hit the ground hard and pain shot through her back. She cried out and shoved at the thing on top of her. It moved easily, jumping up and away from her and landing easily on the ground in a catlike crouch.

Sari, eyes widening, pushed herself into a sitting position. The thing in front of her had long black hair and glowing red eyes set into a pale face. It seemed to be about the same size as her but she couldn't really tell the thing's true height or gender because it wore baggy clothing and a trench coat that looked too long for it. It did look like a human though but ff it did not have those eyes, she would have taken it for a homeless teenager.

What?

The girl scrambled to her feet and faced the figure in the large, baggy, black and blue clothing.. "What are you?" she demanded.

The one in the baggy clothes did not answer. Instead it came at her, it's hands bent like the talons of a bird. Sari jerked sideways to avoid it. The thing seemed to sense that she would do that and twisted, moving with her and kicking hard with a long pale skinned leg. The girl took a blow to the ribs and flew backward, slamming hard into a brick wall.

Sari had still been on the line with Bumblebee when the thing had cut her off. He'd heard her grunt then the sound of her body impacting on the pavement a few seconds later. "Sari?" he he said uncertainly. A body blow. "Sari, what's going on?".

She obviously was distracted by something because she didn't give him an answer. He heard more grunting then her yell. "What are you?"

A moment later he'd heard another grunt then the link was broken.

The silence told him something was wrong and he found himself moving before he knew what his body was doing.

"Bumblebee!" a voice shouted after him.

The young Autobot stopped just outside the plant's huge double doors. He looked over his shoulder. Prowl was standing behind him, looking confused. "What's wrong with you?" the cyber ninja demanded. "and where do you think you're going at such an hour?"

Bumblebee crossed the parking lot and grabbed Prowl's arms. "Sari's in trouble!" he exclaimed, nearly climbing him.

Prowl obviously didn't like Bee's closeness or the fact that he was invading his personal space. But the younger robot seemed to be upset about something involving Sari and that would explain his weirdness so the older robot didn't comment on his lack of consideration. "Calm down." the ninja bot ordered, grabbing his comrades hands and prying them loose. "What happened to Sari?"

"I don't know!" Bee told him, fighting to keep his hands where they were. "But she called me and was telling me that she thought she'd found the guy who'd created those zombie things and-"

At Bumblebee's mention of the robotic corpses Prowl's interest spiked. "She did?" he asked, no longer trying to pry his friend loose. "Did she say where he was?"

"No," Bee replied. "She was following him and said she'd call back when she got there but she never got there!" Bee's optics widened and he waved his arms around as he explained what he'd heard. "Something attacked her! We have to save her!"

"Bumblebee, Sari is perfectly capable of taking care of herself," the cyber ninja pointed out. "Whatever attacked her she can deal with."

"But what if she can't!?" Bumblebee demanded. "I heard her fighting with that Thing! It hit her so hard it knocked out her commlink.

Prowl frowned. That sounded bad. A normal human being wouldn't be able to accomplish doing that to her. Not now after she found out she was a robot. Only a machine or something just as powerful could do hit her so hard her only form of communication would blink out. For a brief second Prowl had a flashback of Meltdown's Pretenders. They weren't robots but they were powerful. Could Meltdown be out of jail?

Was this his doing?

"We'd better go help her." he said.

Sari bounced off the wall and fell to the ground. She moaned and pushed herself back up, aware of the pain in her ribs. It sure can hit hard.

She heard footsteps coming toward her. Raising her head she saw the person in the baggy clothes advancing. Thinking fast, she jumped into the air, sailing over the other person's head and landing easily on the ground behind it. Then, before the other person could react, she spun around and kicked it hard in the back.

It smashed into the wall, grunting as it bounced off and crashed heavily onto the pavement. Sari braced herself expecting it to get back up but it didn't move. It lay there was if it was no longer conscious.

Did I knock it out? No. I think its tricking me.

She opened her hands, exposing the wires and creating an energy orb. If that thing tried to hose her she'd be ready. She stood over it and looked down into the young person's face. With its eyes closed it didn't look so freaky. Now that she got a good look at it it didn't have a single resemblance to the corpse things she and Bumblebee had encountered at the club.

This one actually looked like a living, breathing person instead of a maggot infested zombie.

The comprehension startled her. Could this person actually be a human, not some mindless freak? She leaned over it. Aside from his eyes, he looks like a normal human being. Could this be it? Could this be what Fowl meant? Did he actually use his experiments on living humans!?

That's when she noticed something else. A strange purple smudge on its cheek. What is that? She leaned closer to get a better look. Is that a symbol?

Just then the youth's eyes popped open. Sari found herself staring into two glowing red eyes.

Red? Why red?

Before she could ponder the question further, the thing let out a high pitched scream and hit at the girl with its hands. Sari felt a hot, burning sensation course through her chest before she flew back, landing hard on her back on the pavement.

The young person got up and charged at her as she was slowly and painful pushing herself into a sitting position. She saw now that this things' eyes weren't the only things that were red. It's hands were also glowing a reddish-pink color and she thought she saw... not it couldn't be. This thing couldn't have wires in its hands!

She reacted quickly, before it could touch her with its hands again. She reached up and grabbed its wrists before it could lay a hand on her. It growled and tried to free itself but Sari held on tighter and refused to let it go. It looked right into her eyes and hissed.

Suddenly something strange happened. Words that didn't belong to Sari flashed into her mind. Let me go! What is wrong with you, you freak? I just want to get away! You won't make me go back there! I won't be your prisoner! I won't allow you to kill me!

What in the world?

It once again it tried to break loose. Sari reacted by rolling over and pinning the young person down. "What are you?" she demanded. "Did that man do this to you?"

Bumblebee and Prowl followed the point of Sari's last known location. Though Prowl tried not to think about it, Bumblebee's words were getting to him and he couldn't help feeling that Sari was in trouble. Big trouble.

"Hurry up, Prowl!" the younger Autobot shouted back to his comrade. "Sari could be slagged by now!"

"Bumblebee, I can't go any faster," he informed him. "If I did I would smash into you."

"No excuses!" Bee shot back. "Just hurry up!"

Prowl sighed and pulled up beside him, talking through the policeman hologram. "Happy now?"

Bumblebee ignored the question. "Have you got the EMP generator?" he asked him.

Before the two had left the plant they'd spoken to Ratchet about the conversation between Bumblebee and Sari. When the yellow Autobot had explained that the girl might have run into another one of those zombies Ratchet willingly handed the thing over. The medic would have gone along but he was working on something and was unable to leave it..

Another reason he'd handed it over was because he wanted to get a good look at a fully intact techno organic zombie.

"Just make sure you don't damage it!" he called after them when they tore out of the parking lot. neither was sure if he'd been talking about the Thing or the EMP.

"Of course I have it," the cyber ninja replied now, his voice loaded with impatience. "There's no way I'm going to drop it and face Ratchet's wrath for losing it."

"Then hold onto it," Bee ordered. "We can't let that thing do anything to Sari!"

"I don't think you have much to worry about..."

Lase thrust her palm against the inpenitrible glass of Starscream's cockpit. "Let me out, Professor!" she screamed, hitting the pane over and over.

The scientist had drug the woman out of the lab and into the hanger where he'd yanked her on top of Starscream's chest. She'd fought him the entire time but she wasn't able to break free from his grasp. Awhile back Fowl had had the cockpit opened so he could climb inside and take out wires. He'd meant to close it a long time ago but always forgot.

Now he pulled the woman over to the end and dropped her into it. Before she could climb out he yanked the lid down and shut it tight. "There!" he said, satisfied. "I hope you sufficate!" Then he'd turned away and climbed off the Decepticon.

Lase shoved her face against the glass and tried to see out. It was fogged up but not just by her breath. The windows had gone cloudy when Starscream died. Looking through them was like looking through fog.. She sighed and fell into the seat. It was soft but cold, just like the rest of the interior. Something tickled her arm and she gasped, jerking away from it.

It was nothing more than a loose wire.

Out in the hanger Andrew Fowl stepped down off the robot's chest and headed back into the lab. He crossed the room and stood in front of the broken tank. Ignoring the shards of glass littering the floor he got down on his knees and rested his hands on the floor of the tank. It was still wet because some of the liquid had not drained out. He raised his head and looked up at the broken tubes.

It woke up, he realized. It woke up before it should have and freed itself. It could be anywhere now. But.. he stood back up and touched the dripping tubes. If that thing woke before the right time a sedative was supposed to come down those tubes and inject into it. He pulled down one of the tubes which leaked a green colored substance onto the floor. It did what it was supposed to do but why didn't it work? Was there a blockage? Did I forget to trouble shoot before I left?

No, he hadn't made such a rookie mistake. He couldn't have. Not with so much at stake. Forgetting to do such an important thing wasn't an option. He had checked it. He'd checked and double checked it.

"Then how come it didn't work?"

He crossed the room and picked the broken chair up off the floor. Ignoring the fact that the metal bar was bent he sat down on it and gave the whole thing some deep, careful thought. There's got to be a reason for why the sedative didn't work. But what? Surely the thing didn't have an immunity against it. The Vanderbelt woman doesn't and the robot surely can't.

The answer seemed so obvious but he could not grasp it. He knew it couldn't be that hard to figure out. I'm missing something. He got back up and walked toward the tank again. He stared at his reflection in the remaining bits of glass. "I have to be missing something."

The Professor paused. "What are you doing, Fowl?" he demanded. "You can't just stand around in here and worry about how it got out! You need to be worried about how you're going to get it back! You can ponder it's escape later!"

With that thought in his mind, he turned away from the tank, grabbed his car keys off the control panel where he'd set them, and bolted out of the lab and back outside where he'd parked his car.

Lase heard him coming and looked out of the fogged up cockpit window. She could just barely make out the scientist as he entered the hanger. When he looked in her direction she slapped her hands against the glass and screamed at him. "Let me out!"

Professor Fowl, either not hearing her or just choosing to ignore the woman's cries, turned away and bolted out the door.

The door shut tight behind him.

Lase sighed and flopped back into the seat. He wasn't going to let her out. He wanted her to die in there.

I'm not going to give him the satisfaction! she thought with determination. If he won't let me out I'm going to do it myself. Her good eye fell on the controls. All I have to do is figure out how to get this thing to work.

The youth responded to Sari's questioning by growling and kicking at her. The techno organic girl easily dodged the blow.

I should have figured it wouldn't explain itself so easily.

"Let me go!" the thing suddenly shouted in a voice that didn't reveal which sex it was.

Sari stared at it. "So you can talk!" she stated. She stood up, yanking the other person off the ground. "Fine, if you can talk, why don't you tell me what you're trying to get away from?"

"I don't have to tell you1" it screamed, pulling back in an attempt to break her hold. "Just release me! I won't go back! I will never go back there! You won't kill me again!"

Kill it? What in the world?

"I'm not going to kill you!" she insisted. "What gave you such an idea?"

The youth shoved at her. She wasn't expecting that and her grip on its arms broke free. It stepped back and its hands began to glow red. Before she could do anything to defend herself it shot her with a blast of red energy.

Sari took it in the chest and flew back, hitting the wall and bouncing off. She landed on her stomach but quickly got back up, ignoring the pain in her body. "That's it!" she shouted, losing her temper. "I tried to be nice but you wouldn't listen!"

She created two large blue orbs of energy and stalked toward the thing. It's glowing red eyes widened in surprise. "That's right, you crazy thing, I am exactly like you," she told it. "Only I've got more experience!" then she flung both orbs right at the thing.

The young person had only seconds to put up its arms to protect itself before the energy balls slammed into its body and knocked it backward. It slammed into the ground, cracking the pavement on impact. He roared in agony.

Sari came at it with two more orbs. It pushed itself into a sitting position and glared at her. When she let one of the orbs fly it put up its hand and grabbed the lowing sphere.

The techno organic girl stared, surprised. She hadn't been expecting that.

Sari braced herself for the youth to throw it back at her. If it did she was going to catch it.

But that never happened. The young person surprised her by throwing it to the side then turning to run.

"Oh no you don't!" the girl shouted, giving chase. "You're not going anywhere!"

The youth looked over his shoulder and saw her catching up. It's face took on a panicked expression before turning away and taking off.

Sari's body changed into her battle mode. She knew there was no way she'd be able to catch the young person in her average state. In her other form she could go much faster. I'm not going to let you get away. Not after you tried to kill me.

Sari chased the youth down the street, never losing sight of it or getting out of breath. She could see that her target didn't have the same advantage. It was beginning to slow down and she could hear it panting heavily.

"You're beginning to wear out!" she called to it. "Soon I will catch you!"

The youth twisted around and aimed it's hands at her. They glowed red. "I told you to leave me alone!" it shouted, letting loose a ray of energy.

Sari easily dodged the blow then jumped into the air. She came down at the young person, and kicked it in the chest. The youth took the blow hard and fell back. It hit the ground, skidding across the pavement then coming to a stop.

Sari stopped again but this time she made sure she had energy orbs ready to blast at it.

The youth got back up and faced her. By now it was bruised and a trickled of pink colored blood ran down its cheek. It reached up to wipe the bodily fluid away, his red eyes locked on her.

Sari's eyes focused not on its face but on the blood running down it. Human blood was red and, even if a human had been given Cybertronian technology, the blood should still be red. The color told Sari something she hadn't expected, even if this thing had the same or similar abilities to hers.

This younge person was no human, not even an experimented on one. It was something else. Something... mechanical?

Suddenly the youths entire body started glowing. The light was a blood red color and bathed him in a eerie illumination. Sari stepped back, expecting it to hit her with something. Instead she got another surprise.

It screamed. Not an anger filled scream but one of agony. It grabbed it's sides in pain and crumpled over, seeming to be having some sort of complications. Sari stared in horror as the light grew brighter and seemed the envelope it. She heard a tearing sound but by now all she could see through the light was a silloette. The youth screamed again.

Whatever was happening to it wasn't pleasant.

"Sari!" a voice shouted.

The girl turned around. She saw a yellow compact car and a motorcycle coming toward her. She recognized them both right away. "Prowl! Bumblebee!" she shouted, waving her arms and running toward them.

Both transformed when they saw her.

"Sari, you're okay!" Bee exclaimed, sounding relieved.

Prowl noticed the red glow. "What's that?" he asked.

She looked back at the light. By now the thing's whole body head disappeared but she could still hear that scream. "You have to help it!" she yelled.

The cyber ninja looked at her, his optics wide with confusion. "Help what?"

"That!" she exclaimed, pointing at the light. "It's in pain. You have to turn off that light before something happens to it!"
"Happens to what?"

"I'll explain later! Just do something!"

Prowl raised his arm. The EMP generator activated on it and he fired a blast into the red light. Instantly the glow faded, the darkness rushing back into place.

"What was that?" Bumblebee asked when everything was calm again.

Prowl was still staring at the spot. He thought he saw something on the ground. Without a word he started toward it.

"Where are you going, Prowl?" Bumblebee asked.

The cyber ninja didn't reply. He just kept walking, a purpose in his step. When he reached the spot he looked down at the street then turned back to the others and beckoned them over.

Sari and the yellow colored Autobot joined him. They all stood in place and stared down at the figure. Bumblebee took in the pale skin, black hair, and baggy clothes. "A human?" he asked. "That glowing thing was a human?"

"It's not human," Sari replied.

Bee looked at her. "It's not?" he asked. When she shook her head he pressed. "What do you mean?"

"I think," Sari began, looking back at the unconscious form, spawled limply before them. "That it's-"

"Just like you," Prowl finished.

She looked up at him. "Yes."

Buymblebee's optics bugged out. "What?" he exclaimed. 'How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Sari replied. "I thought there was only one of me." she looked back down at the figure. "It seems I was wrong or..."

Prowl looked at her curiously. "Or?"

"Or that scientist was right!" she blurted out. "What if he actually did it!?"

"Did what?" Bumblebee asked, confused.

"I think," Prowl said, heading over to the figure and picking it up. "We should head back to the plant and have her explain things there."

A/N

In case you're wondering the Autobots and Sari know that it's not human but they don't know how it wound up that way. They do not yet know that it was created in a tank. I am seriously have a hard time with this story that's why it's progressing slowly. I am trying to avoid cliches and so it's slow going.

Also in case you might be wondering I refer to it as "it" or "he" because right now the gender has not been revealed. The outfit the youth is wearing covers everything but I bet you can guess what it's going to be anyway. I don't really like this chapter for certain reasons and I'm glad I don't have to go through it again. Things will be much smoother in the future.