Chapter Seven
Trapped With You
Disclaimer:
I do not own any reference to any game series or devices in this story, the people who made them, Capcom, Nintendo and Suda51 respectively, do.
Cali shivered, the snarls and growls and Cybertronian cursing had woken her out of a deep sleep, it was loud enough that it sounded like it was in her room, the Autobot base however, echoed with metal walls and vents and you could hear the argument of pissed bots from the prison cells sometimes and she decided after her initial stupefication, that that's all it really was.
She didn't understand a lick of Cybertronian in its actual form, since humans couldn't physically or accurately vocalize it any better then they could intelligently converse with, say, a whale but they could convey tones and emotions just as well any human and the feelings she got from whoever was, probably a Con they'd captured was shock, anger and fear.
She put her hands over her ears until the ranting died away. She had been sleepily escorted to her room earlier that day, had endured a two parts rant, one part apology from Red Alert about how he was sorry for leaving her alone and getting injured, though he'd been trying to protect her by drawing fire and how she was too great a security risk if she were captured and he just knew he should never had allowed her the job and that she wouldn't be coming back to work once she'd healed, while Inferno mediated by pointing out that she had done a very good job and not to take getting fired personally.
She had finally cut off the bots, once it had started taking a turn towards a full blown rant by claiming that she was developing a migraine and wanted a bath and had to all but snarl Red out of the room when he'd offered to help. Yes, she understood that Cybertronians needed help bathing because they were walking, talking action figures and not very flexible, yes, she was injured, but she was human and flexible and didn't need help thank you very much.
After that, she'd brushed her teeth, chugged down some water and exhausted, had fallen back asleep before that god-awful yelling had woken her up.
She had just finished her painfully easy attack on the next Ice boss when Optimus came in.
"Callista how are you doing?" He asked. She looked better, more alert.
"I'm feeling a little better." She said.
"Good, Ratchet sent me to make sure you eat. He'll be in to check on you a little later."
"Uhh…I'm not really-"
He shot her a stern look and she sighed and swallowed her retort.
"Tell me what you'd like and I will make it for you."
Optimus? Cooking? She imagined him as a human sized version of himself wearing a chef's hat and a Kiss the Cook apron and flipping pancakes over the stove. Her face protested as her lips pulled into a smirk.
"Is something funny?" He asked.
She shared her little image of him and they both had a good laugh.
"I can make a sandwich, its cool."
She got up dragged herself to the wheelchair she was borrowing and put together a quick sandwich. As she sat down and nibbled cautiously, in case her stomach rebelled.
Optimus sat down next to her and watched her with his deep gaze.
"So, you're just in time to help me pick my next target." She told him patiently pointing at the screen of her 3DS.
He leaned over curiously.
"I can get roasted, electrocuted or mauled…actually," she glanced at the boss on the far right, "I think I'll put off getting mauled, I've heard he's pretty tough."
"So the purpose of this is to get electrocuted, mauled or roasted? I don't understand the purpose of this game." He admitted.
She rolled her eyes.
"No, my mission choices are to sabotage a factory, retrieve vital information or do a little scouting." She pointed to each in turn, "the area boss determines whether I'll get burnt to a crisp, electrocuted or mauled."
"I see." And still not quite understanding why she was engaged in a game about guerilla warfare, recommended the data retrieval mission.
He watched as she carefully picked her way across the electrified water rising up and down.
When she got to a safe area she paused and turned towards him.
"The Con you've got in the brig was pretty loud, I could hear him all the way up here."
His optics shuttered rapidly in confusion. "There is no Decepticon in the brig. Bluestreak killed Barricade and the others retreated."
"But I thought…"
"Well then someone musta got into it?" She sounded uncertain now
"No. It's been very quiet most of the day."
A chill snaked down her spine and she began to worry that she'd knocked something loose when she hit big, bad and ugly's hand.
Looking into her anxious eyes Optimus…sensed something.
"Well whatever, it musta been a bad dream or something." She said dismissively, hoping he would leave it alone and took another bite.
Spending time being interrogated by shrinks in a mental hospital and drugged to the gills was not the way she wanted to spend her life.
"Did you hear what they were saying?" He pressed gently.
"Said it was a bad dream and I don't speak Cybertronian so no." She said irritably, desperate to get off the topic.
Optimus peered at her intently and thought he caught a flash of…something was wrong…something…strange.
"I believe you." He soothed, though he was talking about the stranger's voice, not that it was a bad dream.
She relaxed. "Ok."
"I've got some reports to finish looking over, would you like me to send Prowl for company while Ratchet finished recharging?"
"Uh…sure I guess. If he's not busy." She muttered.
Prowl came in for his scheduled break and Cali had switched to a different, less frustrating game and was staring at the screen, contemplating how to get over the swirling quicksand.
"Hi Prowl." She said.
Prowl was not the bot she wanted to spend time with if Optimus thought she was hallucinating, but on the other hand at least he'd hopefully distract her from the sibilant mechanical hisses and sadistic thrills of amused hatred when she thought about him coming over.
"I do not understand these mindless games that you humans like to play." He often found the younger bots indulged in fighting or racing games and had once heartily berated the twins for shooting at the police in some game titled after car theft.
"They're not all mindless."
"Really?"
"Sure, in this one I hafta wander through a cross between a puzzle and a labyrinth area so I can get through." He sat down and watched her stare, when she suddenly got that look on her face. Eureka, he believed was the proper word.
"Thanks Prowl, dunno how, but you helped kinda."
"I don't understand what you think I did?"
"I dunno, it was like your smart brain waves sorta…stimulated mine or something…" she waved her hands in a vague sort of gesture then transformed and set off on the trail of the next ghost.
"Pity they don't stimulate your mind during math sessions."
She pointedly ignored his little jab and killed the last ghost, which opened the door.
Ratchet was up, he hadn't had a proper recharge for ages and he felt calm and energetic as he checked messages from both Red Alert and Optimus. He groaned at Red's and told him that the girl was perfectly capable of bathing herself as he'd found out a long time ago, her first night at the base. The little spitfire had looked mortified at the suggestion and had promptly chucked a washcloth at him, before slamming the door in his face. Optimus' message was more troubling as well as the strange instructions that went along with it and he and Prime met at the doorway and walked briskly to her room.
Cali had gotten through most of the dungeon and had been preparing to go meet the boss when Ratchet barged in.
"Hey kiddo."
"Hey Ratch."
"Didn't get your cast wet did ya?" He asked.
"Nooo! I didn't get my cast wet."
Damn Red Alert. She thought grumpily. As soon as my cast comes off I'm gonna give him a kick in the ass! An unexpected trace of amusement and scorn echoed that thought. She blinked.
Ratchet scanned her and she stopped what she was doing and held perfectly still, even though he wasn't her doctor, he had learnt a lot about the human body since then and even helped the medical community build a device that could scan humans more effectively and safely. Being the adopted child of a medic, albeit a giant robot alien one with a temper, she had quickly learned not to make a fuss over routine check-ups.
Satisfied with what he saw, he reported over a private link that no abnormal problems in her brain.
Instead of reassuring Optimus, he seemed more worried and leaned down.
"Cali, I need you to do something for me."
She leaned away from him as he invaded her personal space.
"Oookay."
"I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me the first thing that comes in your head, don't think about it, just tell me."
"Uhh…I'll try."
Ratchet frowned.
"What's this about Optimus?" He demanded.
Prowl was suddenly very interested in the proceedings.
Optimus asked her something in his native language and Cali was stunned when she realized that, well she didn't understand him but-a strange feeling came over her, as though she had no control over her tongue and she responded helplessly.
"I don't know what the slag you've done to me Optimus Prime." She growled harshly, a chilling cruelty that had never been present in her tone before, "You've trapped
me in this feeble body, are you hoping to get some answers out of your pathetic pet insect? Will you torture it for information about the Decepticon army?"
"No. That is not the Autobot way and we did not trap you anywhere. Why your Spark didn't join the Well concerns me greatly Barricade." He said sternly.
The Matrix made his own optics glow a brighter blue as it recognized the barely detectable spark signature within.
The sadistic expression slowly slid from Cali's face as the presence within her realized the truth and shock overcame her, the faint reddish glow retreated from her eyes as her mind caught up with what she'd just said, with what Optimus was implying.
Author's Note:
Hey hope you guys enjoyed the big reveal.
Barricade finally makes his presence known.
Now what will they do?
Call a meeting to discuss this unusual development probably.
See ya next chapter
Little Kunai