THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone for the amazing reviews I have been getting for this story. This is the best response to a story I have ever had, and it's really really made my week. You lot are so so lovely. Thank you :) I think because I've been planning this story for a while (since about Chapter 50 of Beyond the Brink) it's come to me more easily than the previous one. And, I don't know, maybe I'm more used to the characters, who knows. So glad people like Lucy, it's always tricky introducing a new character, especially an OC. Anyway, have some more!
Chapter 7
The group were back in London. Lucy had been checking the post regularly, but two days had passed and so far no bracelet. They passed the time browsing the shops and bars in the capital. Alexis had enjoyed getting to know Lucy better. On the second day they were in Camden, browsing a vintage clothes shop.
'I'm a nurse,' she said, when Sari had asked her what she did. 'In Accident and Emergency.'
'Nice! I could never do that. You must be handy in a crisis.'
'Depends on the crisis,' said Lucy, and she laughed.
'How's things going with Frenzy?'
Lucy blushed. Sari and Alexis exchanged delighted glances. 'We've been in touch since we first met. Email. I just… love talking to him. He makes me laugh.'
She looked at the two of them, clutching an armful of clothes to her chest. 'Look, I know it's not exactly a conventional relationship…'
Alexis laughed loudly, lifting the sunglasses she was trying on to meet her gaze. 'Hey, listen. Sari and I don't do conventional, so don't worry.'
'Yeah, you can say that again,' said Sari. She grabbed a fake fur coat, holding it up against Alexis. 'This! This is your new coat!'
Alexis smiled, putting it on. 'Really? I've never had one of these. It's a bit fancy, isn't it?'
'Good! You need fancy.'
Sari checked her phone. 'I didn't realise the time. Pay for that-' she pointed to the coat. -'It's amazing on you. Then we need to go.'
'Go?' Alexis stared at her. 'Go where?'
Sari winked at her, ushering her to the till. 'I've made you an appointment.'
An hour later the three of them were sitting in a waiting room on the other side of London. Alexis was slouched in the seat, shooting glares at an unconcerned Sari, as Lucy looked on awkwardly. 'I can't believe you, I can't believe you did this!'
'Oh, stop moaning. I don't get what your beef is.'
'You can't just make random hospital appointments for people!'
'Well, turns out you can. Come on, Ali, we can trust him!'
Alexis sighed… then she abruptly stood up. 'No, I'm not doing this, I'm going…'
Sari was interrupted mid-protest when the door opened. The three young women stared as the tall man smiled at them. 'Hello.'
Alexis stared. 'Jamie!'
'Dr. Anderson,' said Sari, grinning. 'Long time no see.'
'Hello, hen.'
He ushered the three of them into his office. Alexis sank into a chair. He was just as she remembered - short sandy hair, confident demeanour, strong, defined features. She couldn't look at him without feeling a squirm of guilt. It was no secret that he had really liked her. She had liked him - but not enough for anything to have developed. 'Hi,' she said. 'Um… you look really great. Congratulations on having your own practice.'
'Thank you,' he replied. His Scottish accent had survived the move to London intact. If he was feeling the same as Alexis, he gave no sign of it. 'Yes, it's rather different to my work a few years ago. Less exciting. But steady. I'm no longer in touch with the Autobots. You?'
'Well… yes.'
'What can I do for you? Sari said you needed a check-up?'
'Uh… yeah… yes. Well… this is going to sound weird.'
Jamie listened as she told him what had unfolded on Unicron. Alexis felt her cheeks burning - it sounded completely insane when described aloud. Jamie didn't interrupt her. By the time she had finished, her heart was thumping in her chest. 'So... I can switch between two forms,' she finished, somewhat lamely.
'I've got a video,' said Sari. 'Wanna see it?'
Jamie pressed his fingers together thoughtfully. 'No offence, but yes, I would like to see that. Is that OK?'
Alexis nodded. Sari passed the phone over. After a pause, Lucy got up. 'Can I see too?'
'Uh… sure. Go ahead,' said Alexis.
She sat, unsurprised, as their eyes widened at the short video. When it was finished, Lucy sat back down, slowly, her eyes like saucers. 'Whoa…'
Jamie nodded, looking at Alexis as if seeing her for the first time. 'Yeah... what she said.'
'You can't tell anyone,' said Alexis. 'The only humans who know about this are sitting in this room. Swear you won't say anything.'
'Who would believe me?' said Jamie. 'I mean, you're practically a new species. A miracle.'
Alexis shrugged. 'I suppose so.'
'What do you want from me?'
'Well, I guess I'd like to know if my human form is any different.'
Jamie nodded, pulling out his stethoscope. 'Well, to truly know the answer to that, you'd need an MRI scan. But I can't just do that today. We'd need to book it in. Would you be OK if I did that?'
'Yeah, sure.'
Jamie listened to her heart. Then he took her blood pressure. Finally, he took a sample of her blood, screwing the lid of the vial on tight. 'I'll test this myself, in case it reveals anything unusual. But as far as I'm concerned, right here and right now, you're one hundred percent human.' Alexis nodded, feeling reassured as he put it into the fridge. 'This fridge locks, by the way. And only I know the combination.'
Alexis rolled down her sleeve.'Thank you.'
'That's OK.' he smiled at her. 'I always knew there was something special about you.'
Alexis blushed, pulling on her coat, unable to meet his eye. 'I hope we didn't take up too much of your time.'
'It was a pleasure. Take care of yourself, Alexis. Nice to see you again, Sari.'
They arrived back at Lucy's flat, to find Frenzy on the doorstep. 'There you guys are!' He waved a packet at them. 'It's arrived.'
They gathered round as Lucy tore open the wrapper, revealing a green rubbery-looking bracelet, wrapped in clear plastic. The logo of a V was visible near the clasp. 'This is it.'
She looked up at the three of them. 'Now what?'
'I've already contacted the boss,' said Frenzy. He licked dry lips, giving Alexis a nervous glance. 'Starscream wants us back on Cybertron.'
'When?'
'Now. Right now.'
The three friends rushed around the flat, finding coats and bags, visiting the bathroom, and hurriedly eating snacks. Lucy stood in the middle of it all, her hands clasped under her chin. Sari wriggled into her leather jacket, pulling the zip up. 'You coming with, Lucy?'
'Another planet?' she whispered, her eyes wide. Frenzy cupped her chin in his hand, smiling at her. 'Please come.'
'Won't I need a spacesuit or something?'
'Nah, the air's different there but breathable. You'll be fine.'
Lucy looked exhilarated and terrified at the same time. Finally she spoke.
'OK… but I need to do a scared wee first!'
Ten minutes later the four of them were finally ready. Frenzy tore into a sandwich, the other hand typing rapidly on the laptop. 'Everyone stand back. The bridge should open there-' he gestured to a bare patch of carpet in the living room.
They nodded, and he punched in one final line of code. 'Voila.'
There was a hum and then a burst of blinding light - Lucy squeaked and covered her eyes. The glowing portal hovered in mid air. Alexis pulled on her fake fur coat, and stepped through, Sari right behind her.
They emerged onto a smooth surface. Alexis blinked in surprise. Behind her she heard Lucy gasp in terror and bury her face in Frenzy's T shirt.
They were on a huge, long table, and completely surrounded by towering Decepticons. There were dozens and dozens of them. A quick glance showed Starscream was absent. The two wingbrothers were nearest the group. Skywarp looked uncharacteristically stern, glaring at them, his hands on his hips.
'Where the hell have you been?'
'What?' Alexis stared at him. 'What are you talking about?'
'You've been gone AGES!'
'What? No I haven't! It's been, what, four days?'
'Exactly, FOUR days!'
There was muttering and nods from the crowd. Alexis planted her hands on her hips, mirroring Skywarp's stance. 'What's going on?'
No one seemed to want to tell her. There was some mumbling, and shuffling of feet. She glared at them. 'HEY! I said what's going on?'
'Starscream has been… a little tetchy in your absence,' said Thundercracker. There was more muttering, more nodding.
'Tetchy! That's putting it mildly!' snorted Blackout. Alexis frowned - he had a repair patch welded just below his eye. She pointed to it. 'What happened to…'
'Oh, I said something to Starscream, something about how his anger was just masking his frustration at you not being around…'
'And?'
'And, he shot me in the face.'
Alexis winced. 'Ah…'
'So, now you're back, you can go and cheer him up, and make all our lives easier!' said Skywarp jovially. There was a chorus of agreement all around him. He laughed... but it was soon replaced by the stern look once more. 'Ha... ha... seriously though, don't ever leave again.'
Alexis rolled her eyes. 'You bunch of babies.' She shrugged off her coat, passing it to Thundercracker's huge outstretched fingers. 'Where is he?'
'In his quarters.'
'OK, well can someone get us some food please? And then I need to brief Starscream and you two on our findings on Earth.' She looked up at Thundercracker. 'TC, has Starscream questioned a guy called…'
'...Brendan Willerton,' finished Thundercracker. 'No he hasn't. Our friend Brendan would have been a stain on the floor if Starscream had got near him. I interrogated him.'
'What does he know?'
'Not as much as I would like,' growled Thundercracker. 'He had the file on you, but he claimed never to have read it. He's helped develop this thing, on Earth, this phone thing…'
'The Vinctus app,' said Alexis. 'So he's not interested in me? How do we know he's telling the truth?'
'Oh trust me. He's not lying.'
'Where is he now?'
'In a holding cage, near the armoury. My main impression is he's not our bad guy. He's got mixed up in all this, but somewhere along the way he grew a conscience.'
Alexis nodded. 'So, he's basically a catspaw.'
Thundercracker frowned. 'A catspaw? What is that?'
'Oh! I got this, I got this,' said Blackout, looking proud. 'So there's this quadruped, right, on Earth, and it's called a cat. And at the end of its leg…'
Alexis sighed. 'A catspaw is someone who is doing someone else's dirty work. A pawn.'
'Oh.' Blackout looked deflated. Alexis heard Sari stifling a giggle. She looked up again. 'I should probably speak to him myself.'
Suddenly the large group around them began to disband, hurriedly moving off. Thundercracker raised his brows, looking at the doorway behind them. 'Yeah… not a bad idea. But I think there might be someone else who wants a word with you first…'
Alexis turned. Beside her, Lucy stood rigid, her knuckles white from where she was clutching Frenzy's shirt.
Starscream was stalking towards them. Thundercracker pulled out a chair as he approached, but he merely held out his hand. Lucy stared as Alexis climbed on. The jet moved away into a corner. Thundercracker and the three other humans watched as he raised her to his face. She was smiling, chatting to him animatedly. There was a tense silence as they waited.
After a few moments, Starscream smiled back. Sari sighed in relief at the exact same time as Thundercracker. 'Thank Primus. Skywarp may be a dope, but he's right. She seriously doesn't even realise how she affects him…'
Starscream was walking back to the table. He seated himself, looking at the small band of people in front of him. Alexis hopped down onto the surface, sitting down cross-legged, Starscream's fingers lingering close to her. She gave Frenzy a wink and a thumbs-up.
Starscream nodded to them. 'Frenzy. Sari. And… who's this? Have you brought me back a lab-rat?'
Lucy froze when Alexis nodded. 'Yeah.'
The redhead mouthed a couple of times, terror-stricken… then Alexis laughed. 'I'm totally messing with you, Lucy. But, in all seriousness, Lucy here has downloaded the app and got the bracelet, so we can run some tests.'
A drone had brought some food, which Sari and Frenzy lunged for eagerly. Lucy suddenly found she wasn't hungry as the huge jet beckoned to her. 'Come closer, human.'
Lucy swallowed hard, approaching the hand, the fingers capable of crushing her without any effort. She looked up, trembling.
'Give me your phone.'
She obeyed, placing the tiny rectangle on his finger tip. The plating opened, swallowing the handset.
A bright light made her blink, and they all looked up to see the app opening on a wall-mounted screen. The logo sat on a pale blue background. Vinctus. Sell your best self, said the sloping text underneath.
Starscream frowned slightly, scrolling through the app, taking in the profile, the trackers and points system. After a few moments he sniffed dismissively. His plating opened, and Lucy saw her phone re-emerge. He nodded at her to take it back. 'So far, so generic. A human network encouraging users to brag and compete with each other to be the best, whatever that means. Where is the bracelet?'
Lucy pulled it out of her pocket.
'Put it on,' he ordered.
Lucy hesitated, like a rabbit in headlights. She shot an imploring glance in Frenzy's direction. Frenzy looked up. 'My Lord… we don't yet know what…'
'Is this human not here to make herself useful?' asked Starscream softly. Alexis got up and came over to her. 'It's OK, Lucy. Should I put it on? I don't mind…'
'No,' replied Lucy shakily. 'It's fine. Anyway, the app says your bracelet corresponds to your profile, so… it has to be me.'
She tore open the plastic, sliding the bracelet onto her wrist. Skywarp and Thundercracker, who had lingered, both leaned over to look. Starscream nodded to Skywarp, who narrowed his optics, red light shooting out and moving over the young woman. 'Scanning now. I'll send over the stats.'
Cybertronian text flashed rapidly across the screen. Starscream sat forward. 'Now this is far more interesting.'
'What?' asked Alexis, looking up. 'What is it?'
Starscream watched the figures. 'Blood type, organ function, DNA, ovulation cycle…' Lucy's eyes widened and she blushed. 'What… it's got all that information about me already?'
'And more. From the moment you put it on.'
'That's horrible!'
'Take it off.'
Lucy tugged it off, looking only too happy to oblige. Starscream held out his hand for it, and she passed it to him.
The jet studied the tiny bracelet in the centre of his palm intently. 'Alexis. Open this up.'
'Got it.' Alexis swung herself onto his palm, producing a screwdriver. After a few moments frowning in concentration, she held it up. Starscream scanned it once more. 'Very interesting.'
'You know that's really annoying right, the whole not telling us what's so interesting?' Alexis grinned up at him, and his mouth tugged in the smallest of smiles. 'Quiet, you.'
He rose from his seat, after gently depositing Alexis on the table-top, and strode to the terminal, rapidly punching the keys. Without looking round he spoke. 'Alexis, give the bracelet back to our little Lucy.'
Alexis moved over to her, passing the bracelet back, giving her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. 'It's OK, he knows what he's doing,' she whispered.
Trembling, Lucy slid the bracelet back on. Starscream glanced round. 'Good. Now to see if this works in the way I think it does.'
Alexis stared at him. 'What? What do you…'
Starscream, before anyone could react, punched a key on the terminal decisively. Lucy gasped… and then vanished.
There was uproar. Thundercracker and Skywarp exclaimed out loud. Frenzy had dropped his can of coke, yelling in horror… Sari had squealed in shock and dashed forward… Alexis was bellowing at Starscream…
'What the actual FUCK?'
'Where is she?'
'Lucy! Nooo!'
Starscream looked down, an evil, triumphant grin on his face. 'Now THAT is genius. Pure genius.'
'Starscream what have you done with her?'
He opened his palm flat, gesturing to it and smirking. They all stared. There was a weird rushing noise… then Lucy appeared, kneeling in the centre of his palm, gasping breathlessly.
'What… what just happened… oh my…'
She turned, to be met with the sight of Starscream's face, smiling deviously as he raised her a little higher, the better to study her. 'Most ingenious…'
Lucy screamed, scrabbling back. She almost fell off the palm… but his fingers pinned her down firmly.
Alexis was speechless, running her hands through her hair. 'How did you do that?'
Starscream slowly lowered a sobbing Lucy to the tabletop. As soon as her feet touched the surface she ran to Frenzy, who wrapped his arms around her tightly, shushing her and kissing her hair.
'Alexis, do you remember the phase shifter you got hold of on Unicron? The one that let you walk through walls?'
She nodded, slowly. 'Well, this technology is related to that, to an extent. The bracelet gathers information on the wearer, but combined with the app, the tech inside acts as a teleport device. Whoever is in control at the other end can determine the destination, flick a switch, and…'
He gestured to the tearful Lucy, who was trying her best to calm down, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. Alexis felt sick, sinking onto a nearby chair. 'A mass abduction of humanity,' she whispered. 'Over three billion users…'
She looked up at Starscream, who was still smiling admiringly at the concept. 'But, why the app? I don't understand it!'
'Well…' Starscream tapped his fingers against his chin thoughtfully. 'If I was looking to capture and enslave the human race, I'd want to make sure I'd harvested the smartest, the strongest. Leave any duds behind.'
'The points system,' said Sari weakly. Starscream nodded. 'Humans are providing their captors with their very own auction statistics. Look at me, I'm pretty. Look at me, I'm strong. Look at me, I have stamina…'
Alexis looked up at the screen, where the app logo was back. 'Sell your best self,' she whispered. 'It's right there, for people to see…'
'Vinctus. The name derives from the Latin phrase - to bind or restrain. To capture.' Starscream reclined in his seat once more. 'It's so clever I almost wish I'd thought of it.'
Sari made her way to a stunned Alexis, taking her hand. She stared into her friend's eyes. 'What are we gonna do?' she asked her. Alexis didn't reply, shaking her head in horror. After a long moment she looked back.
'I… I don't know.'
AN: Fun fact: I went to a vintage shop with my mum a while back, and got a fake fur coat. It had a shilling in the pocket from the 1960s! Anyway since then I've never got the idea out of my head of Alexis returning to the Decepticons after some time away, arriving in a fur coat like a proper gangster's moll. ;D I would never put myself into this story, but my coat got to have a cameo!
Have people watched the Robots in Disguise cartoons? I struggled to get into them... but a couple of episodes featured Starscream in his G1 mode, voiced by the amazing Steve Blum. It brings together two elements I totally love and is probably the closest version of SS that corresponds with mine (barring personality). Search "Starscream RID" in Youtube and you'll see what I mean.
Hope you enjoyed this :)
