Mi Vida Loca has gotten in the way of writing. Well, life does that. Thanks to all who have reviewed! Much thanks to kaydeeblu who has beta'ed and been a solid wall to bounce ideas off! Thanks also to Catbite for further inspiration! Thanks also to "Ghost" for the input (I'm gonna get to it, I promise!) Thanks also to KoPilot for the review and kind words! Thanks again to Dranira, my faithful reviewer. Honestly folks, if you like it, say so! If it stinks, air that out too! Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? Have mercy on a poor girl! ;) Lots o'Love to all my fellow MW's! You know who you are! Thanks for reading.
On a more STORY related note: I have changed alot to keep the story moving forward. If you want to know what happened in the two missing weeks, check out my side story "Move Stuff." It has different drabbles and things that didn't fit into this storyline for whatever reason. I really wanted to put the card game in here, but it just ate up space and didn't really fit. It is rather funny, though.
Retaliation.
The little cyborg was fidgeting, as usual, under the intense gaze of the Autobot Commander. It had been two weeks since their capture, a very long two weeks. To say that she was difficult would be underestimating the situation. Her loyalties lay strictly with the tall black former Decepticon, Skyfire, and not at all with those she still somewhat regarded as her captors, the Autobots. Most of her recent rebelliousness stemmed from the shock of the black jet's temporary defection to the Autobot cause.
In an effort to prove his trustworthiness, Skyfire had convinced his little adopted sister to remain under the careful watch of the Autobots, while he went about the necessary movements to set into motion a plan he had rather daringly devised. In order to shut down both the space bridge on Earth and the one on Cybertron, a team of Autobots would be sent through under the guise of prisoners intended for the arena. The former Decepticon was to accompany them posing as their captor. Once on Cybertron, the space bridge would be destroyed in a risky, and possibly suicidal, operation.
There would be another team of Autobots waiting in the Decepticon Command Center's holding cells, intentionally planted and awaiting the insurgents from Earth. The two teams would rendezvous and fight their way out after the destruction of the bridge. Meanwhile, the space bridge located on Earth would be destroyed as soon as the Autobots had been safely transported through to the other side.
As part of the deal, the little cyborg was to accompany the Autobots and Skyfire to Cybertron, since she could not survive separation of such a distance between herself and the one who held the spark she shared. Bumblebee was assigned to keep a tight leash on her until the mission was completed, just in case. This would ensure no treachery on Skyfire's part, as her suffering, it was discovered, was shared by the larger mech. From there, the two—affectionately dubbed the "dynamic duo," by Wheeljack—would be free to go their own way, something they both looked forward to.
Today, the cyborg was being assigned a small, but crucial, task of passing false information on to the Decepticon scout, Barricade, her former partner. She would be closely monitored by both Wheeljack and Bumblebee. Optimus Prime had taken it upon himself to explain the details of her latest assignment, with Skyfire standing in on the meeting--mainly to keep her from smarting off as she was wont to do.
Optimus watched as she sent a pointed glare at the black jet standing to his side. "He's gonna kill me, you know that right? By now, he'll have had to report our disappearance to Screams, and you know what that means!"
The tall mech shifted uneasily, nodding, but staring at the ground instead of meeting her heated gaze.
"Thanks a lot, bro. Feed me to the wolf, why don't ya!" Turning that hateful glare on the Autobot leader, she spat, "And I hope you have to listen to every last bit of his screeching while I get the beating of my life! If I survive at all!"
Optimus gave the black Firkin a dubious look, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Barricade's vengeful violence was legendary. But Skyfire shook his head, "He will not kill her," throwing a warning glance at Natty, "She is too valuable to him."
Optimus hesitated a moment waiting for further explanation, but none was forthcoming from the taller mech, his firm gaze making it clear he would elaborate no further. The "dynamic duo" still held many secrets between them that they were absolutely unwilling to share. It reminded the red and blue mech of another duo with the same unbreakable loyalty betwixt them: a certain fierce yellow warrior and his equally dangerous "twin" brother. The pair before him now, was much easier to control, however.
"It's settled, then," the Commander heaved a burdened sigh. "Natty, you will accompany Wheeljack and Bumblebee to the high school this morning. Barricade has been staking out the school specifically, albeit from a distance. I think he's just wanted to make his presence known, since he hasn't made any other moves."
"Prob'bly," the cyborg agreed, "Without a clear mission, he's like a lost puppy dog. Our surrender, probably has him questioning the meaning of life, at this point!" She giggled, winking playfully at Skyfire.
It had been two earth weeks since the black and white Decepticon Mustang had seen either his field commander or his charge, and his searches had turned up little except an escape through the desert. There wasn't any residuals from weapons fire, which he found very strange, so initially he hadn't known anything was amiss until the entire night had passed without their return. In the early morning light, he found evidence of a struggle in the desert dirt outside the airstrip , but someone had taken great pains to cover and confuse the clues, leaving him little to go on. The trail was cold and hard to follow by the time he had realized they were taken prisoner by the Autobots. It had to have been the Autobots, since the humans just weren't enough to take on Skyfire under any circumstances, and Live Wire would have left quite a trail of bodies in her own wake. But surely the two would not have gone down without a fight.
Reporting to Starscream had been the worst of it all. The new Decepticon leader wanted details Barricade just didn't have. The black and white mech had received quite the lashing for his lack of information, and that just did not sit well with him. He never liked Screamer in the first place, but to be so humiliated by him was beyond... ! Best not to dwell on that. When he did find those two there would be a lot they needed to explain!
Such were his thoughts, as the Saleen Mustang cased a high school where a certain Sam Witwicky and Mikeala Banes were known to attend. The yellow scout was in his usual place, and an added guard by the name of Wheeljack in the form of a green and red striped, white Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano sat nearby, parked on the side of the street amongst waiting parents in minivans and SUV's. Barricade had found it necessary to hide down the street monitoring from a distance. He had no plans really, and found himself just going through the motions, tracking the mark as he had been doing before his comrades' sudden disappearance, and feeling totally at a loss.
It was then that a famliar sound all too realistically seemed to haunt his processor. It was the rippling Decepticon cyborg's laughter, and it was coming from the parking lot where the Autobot Bumblebee sat in wait for his charges, the two teens. Scanning the area, Barricade found that she was indeed there, sitting on the yellow mech's hood and apparently enjoying the company. The two were sharing jokes and teasing each other almost flirtatiously.
Barricade could feel his circuits crackle with rage. That was his minion, sitting with the Autobot! His charge was cutting it up with the enemy! His little assassin was getting cozy with another mech! How dare she?! Had she forgotten that she was a Decepticon? Had she forgotten who had spent precious time and energy training her when all others thought it a lost cause? Had she forgotten to whom she belonged? She must have. He would be sure to remind her!
With the sound of the last bell, came the out flow of hundreds of eager students, and, at that signal, the little cyborg jumped off her perch. She made her way through the parking lot as if searching for something she suspected would be close by. He watched her lithe form stand on the side walk at the end of the school grounds, eyes scanning up and down the road. When she spotted the Ferrari, she waved. WAVED! It was a cheery exchange, as if she were actually one of them! And worse yet, it was greeted with a flash of headlights! The Autobot had returned her greeting! Insult to injury, it was nothing less than that. This would NOT go unpunished. Her face turned in his direction and he felt himself willing her to see him, come to him. He would settle this matter immediately.
Bouncing happily down the street toward where he was parked, she smiled at him. Wipe that ridiculous look off your face, his thoughts raged, you fraggin', worthless, mutant, pile of scrap and flesh--!
"Miss me 'Cade?" His silent rage had left him unable to vocalize a response, all he could do was quietly seethe. He gathered his wits about him quickly, though, and snapped open the passenger door, growling for her to get in, then slamming it shut almost on her legs.
Screeching away from the curb, and intentionally plowing through the meylay of students around the school, he let loose his anger on the small passenger. "Live Wire where the PIT HAVE YOU BEEN?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU TWO AND WHERE IS SKYFIRE!? AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING CHUMMING IT UP WITH AUTOBOTS?!!"
Natty covered her ears at the harsh decibels she was bombarded with as he raced onto the highway and out of the town. "Wow! What's with the yelling? I just came to report in, good grief 'Cade! Chill already!"
"Chill? CHILL?!"
"Whoa! Wait! Give me a chance! Wow, I knew you'd be put off, but--"
"PUT... OFF?!"
" 'Cade! Settle down! Give a girl a chance, yo!"
The mech was quiet for a moment before continuing in a lower volume, "Tell me what has been going on." There was an iciness to his tone that worried the little cyborg.
"Okay... It's like this: we got ambushed by the Autobots, and Sky came up with this brilliant plan to infiltrate their ranks by surrendering. He managed to convince their leader that we wanted to defect! Can you believe that? Anyway, they bought it, hook, line, and sinker! So, now we can get to all the marks at once just about! That otta make Screamer's day! Huh, 'Cade?" She grinned proudly at the cleverness of the scheme.
The Decepticon transformer was silent for a while as he headed out towards the desert.
"Hey, 'Cade? Where are we going?"
"You are hiding something from me."
"Stop scanning me, will ya!" she bellowed defensively. "I'm not hiding anything from you! You're just... freakin' me out a bit here. What's with you anyway?"
"You left me to behind to be beaten by Starscream for your disappearance, and now you show up smelling like those fraggin' Autobots. Their goody-goody stench is all over you! You're even acting like those worthless scrap heaps you've been fraternizing with! And just now you were cracking jokes with their scout!"
"What? 'Cade... what are you getting at? Don't you realize that was just a facade? Where are we going?" Realization began to sink in. Barricade had suffered at the hands of Starscream and shit always ran downhill in the Decepticon ranks. What's more, he was not happy about the friendly exchange between her and Bumblebee. This would get ugly fast!
Pulling off the road he traveled out into the desert a few miles without another word to the distressed passenger he now held captive within. Satisfied they were far enough to not be seen, or heard, he came to an abrupt halt, swinging his door open and commanding, "Get out."
"No way," she squeaked, shrinking into the seat, "I'd rather be crushed in here than face whatever you have planned!"
"Get out NOW! Before I forcibly remove you." Natty jumped at the burning anger in his words and obeyed immediately, stumbling away as he swiftly transformed, looming above her. "It seems you have forgotten who is master and who is puppet" he snarled.
Recognizing the danger she was in, she knelt in the hot desert dirt, bowing her head and pleading, "Please! I know who is master, Lord Barricade! You are master and I am your unworthy puppet!" She heard it coming, but forced herself to no more than cringe in anticipation, dodging the blow would only bring more pain in the long run. The spiked back of his three fingered hand sent her sprawling a few yards away, smashing a cluster of cactus with her fleshy left side. Cactus spines dug deep along her side and back, twisting into some of the gears and wiring in her torso. Ignoring the pain from both blow and needles, she rolled back up into a submissive kneel, head bowed.
"You are master, Lord Barricade!" she cried out again desperately, but this did nothing to assuage the assault. Another blow rained down on her and she made certain to twist in the aftermath so as to avoid landing on her left and driving those spines any deeper into her flesh than they already were. Propping herself up on her right elbow, she wiped at her chin, the warm taste alerting her to the blood from somewhere inside her mouth. Everything hurt at this point, but the time for taking an injury inventory was not at hand--this thing wasn't over yet!
A clawed hand wrapped around her ankle and calf lifting her to hang upside down in front of the furious mech. Dangling quietly, she crossed her arms over her chest, her fingers brushing her own shoulders, in an attempt to keep her appendages close to her body, her free leg bent slightly at the knee and held at a small angle from the captive one. His narrow optics glowed a dark burgundy at her from within his anger contorted metal face, making him look more deadly demonic than usual.
It was then that it hit her. Experience from former beatings bringing home the truth. The black and white Decepticon had hit her with his hand instead of kicking her. This involved bending over and resulted in a softer blow; he was restraining himself, but why? Could it be that this punishment was due to something a little less obvious? He had certainly lost face, if he had suffered at Starscream's hands for her absence, and that, of course, called for proper retribution. But as her mind raced frantically over the last twenty four hours she'd been around him, the answer jumped out at her in the form of his own words, "You drive me mad... " He didn't really want to damage her, this wasn't about his humiliation, it was about his abandonment. This was about him. She'd left him, and he was letting her know this was unacceptable.
Her eyes widened at the sudden realization, making her appear to him even more terrified than before. He snarled with satisfaction at the apparent results as she trembled out the words once more, "You are master, Lord Barricade. I am your unworthy servant. I came to report to you Sky's plan. I meant no disrespect, please forgive me. I am at your gracious mercy," pausing for the effect, she put a special plea in the next words, "I belong only to you, Lord Barricade. Completely to you, my Lord."
With a dirissive snort, he dropped her unceremoniously unto the ground. She curled before impact, unfortunately driving the cactus needles deeply into her back and shoulder. Her cry of pain raced across the desert, dissipating as the sound traveled further on. No one would hear it save the mech who had caused it, and he had turned away.
Dragging herself up into an awkward sitting position she called to him, her voice breaking with waves agony from her injuries now hitting her full force. "Lord Barricade?" He glanced over his shoulder at her and then began to stride away, keeping his robot form as he went, his lack of concealment a taunting reminder of how isolated she was out here. "Sky wants me to report in to you regularly. 'Cade?" He froze. She watched as he stood still wondering if she had just pushed the mech into another rage. But he didn't move. Scrambling to her feet she jumped at the opportunity, and limped as fast as she could to stand, shaking, a few feet behind him. "I'm supposed to arrange time and place with you... 'Cade?" It was a big risk to call him that again, but, she thought it worth it.
"Do not address me so informally."
"Yes, Lord Barricade." Her eyes went to the ground. He was still standing there, frozen. What could be going through his processor, she couldn't tell, not while standing behind him. Slowly he began striding forward again, but this time at a pace she was able to struggle along with, as if deliberately allowing her to keep up. Despite this, she was careful to remain submissively behind him. Eventually they came close to the highway, and he transformed back into his vehicle mode. Offering no ride back to the town, he instead informed her gruffly that he expected her to report again at the high school after the teens had gone inside for the day. She nodded, giving a formal reply once more, and watched, devastated, as he sped away through the desert and out to the highway, leaving her to hobble back on her own. The one and only mech she had ever really connected with, outside of Skyfire, was now abandoning her when she needed him most.
Upon reaching the highway, she decided hitch hiking wasn't such a bad idea in her current condition. Hooking a thumb at the traffic, she was surprised to see a white Ferrari pulling off the road. As it neared her internal sensors, the ones still online, identified the vehicle's energy signal as belonging to an Autobot by the name of Wheeljack.
"Sparky." She smiled sadistically. He hated that nickname, but it was so much fun to razz him. As the passenger door clicked open she gave him the best grin she could manage, all things considered, but by his response it must have looked more like a grimace.
"What the slag happened to you? I was tracking your signature when all the sudden it veered off into the desert and I lost it!" a pause, then, "Holy Primus, you look like the pit!"
"Nice to see you too, Sparks." She smirked at the dashboard, for lack of a face to smirk into. Twisting sideways as she climbed in, she carefully eased down into the seat, groaning all the while, her face contorting with the pain.
"Well?"
"Well what?!"
"Well... What happened?"
"Decepticons aren't allowed to surrender." It wasn't exactly a lie.
She winced as Wheeljack eased forward onto the asphalt, conscious of the pain every small road imperfection caused his small passenger, and trying his best to compensate. "Oh. Got the pit slagged out of ya, huh?"
"You could say that."
"Are you... Are you wearing a cactus?"
"Feels like it," she hissed.
"Man, we gotta get you back to the base so Ratchet can have a look at ya," Wheeljack drawled.
"NO!" The Ferrari's rear wheels momentarily lost purchase in surprise at the ferocity of her voice, sending his back end briefly sideways and painfully jostling the already battered cyborg. "No way! Meds is not touchin' me! I thought we already established that!"
"Well, I know you don't like medics and all, but this time, I think it would be wise for you to reconsider... "
She grunted and closed her eyes. "Just... let me know when we get back to the Lennox's ranch."
"Oh, I'm not taking you there, you need real medical help."
"What I need, is Skyfire and a pair of pliers."
"Pliers?"
"For the cactus."
"Oh... I bet that hurts."
"You have no idea," she breathed through clenched teeth.
"I still think you should check in with Ratchet," he paused when she just hissed at him, "But I guess I'll just radio him to meet us at the ranch. He won't like it, though."
"Don't bother. He isn't needed."
"Huh. Right."
Wheeljack was quiet for a while, as he sent out various messages, one to Optimus reporting on what had happened to Natty, one to Ironhide alerting him to their approach, and one to Ratchet asking him to gather special tools and meet him at the Lennox's ranch. The last one was recieved much less than graciously and though he initially argued, the medic at last gave in, asking about her condition and what he may need to bring in terms of medical supplies. Over hearing the comunique, Bumblebee radioed in offering assistance in the form of himself and the two teens, Sam and Mikeala. The kids had struck up a repoire with the cyborg and may be of use persuading her to allow Ratchet's aide. Wheeljack heartily agreed, and directed the yellow scout, and company, to meet them at the Lennox's ranch.
