Flaxen: Dear readers, I thank you for your continued viewings, but I really have no idea how you feel about it. Reviews make me smile!
Normal POV
"Our assailants are not Decepticons, they are human." Optimus reported.
"Human?" Raf and Jack questioned.
"Oh please, taking on our bots? They're road kill!"
Chaser shook her head, pushing a block against the balcony wall, "Optimus swore never to hurt humans. Ratchet, why are we only getting three Autobot signals?"
"Arcee is guarding the D.N.G.S inside Optimus's trailer."
"The what now?"
"That's what we said." Miko added cheekily. Sighing, Chaser sat on her block, looking towards the Ground Bridge. Her winglets slouched slightly, along with the two pigtail like crests at the back of her head.
She looked like a ten year old who'd been refused a toy. Ratchet frowned, "You can't go."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Why not?" Miko asked, before Jack could stop her.
"No alt mode." Came the whispered reply.
"Optimus, prepare to initiate phase two. Five miles south, you will reach the rendezvous point."
"This D.N.G.S, what does it do?"
"It's some kind of power supply, but it could send the whole USA into meltdown!" Raf explained. The screen beeped, and six Decepticon signals appeared, closing in on the others.
"Air support? Ours or theirs?" Fowler asked.
"Optimus, you have company!"
Every Autobot turned off course, ready to face the cons. "If I scan a mode, can I-"
"Stay here? Of course."
Giving a frown, Chaser slouched further. Miko's yelling regrabbed her attention, "Optimus is down!"
"MECH's gonna grab the D.N.G.S, we need to think quickly!"
"You mean like a phase three?" Raf gabbled. Pulling away, Jack paced in a circle,
"Alright, if they want the D.N.G.S, they have to get on that train."
"So if we get there first... we could run some human on human interference!" Miko yelped.
"Absolutely not!"
"Ratchet's right, Bridging onto a train going at ninety miles an hour is practically suicide."
"The US of Meltdown? Lives are at stake!"
"Yes, yours! I can't even count the ways it can go wrong."
"Would having coordinates help?" Ratchet relented for a second, giving Chaser a small window. She snuck a look at Raf's laptop, then entered the coordinates into the Ground Bridge controls.
"I say they try."
"MECH's landing on the train!"
"Hold onto something, if I time this right, the fork should throw them off." Raf quickly typed in the command, and switched the tracks to another direction.
"One obstacle clear." Chaser murmured, watching the progress.
The multiple screens suddenly switched over, a cartoon bomb taking their place. "What in the name of the AllSpark is that supposed to be?" The bomb's fuse finally ran down, turning Raf's laptop into a sparking mess.
"Ratchet, say one thing about human technology, and I swear..."
Chaser's POV
Ratchet didn't say anything, but he did tell Optimus where the kids were. He had barely acknowledged it, before a low rumbling filled the radio. "What was that?"
"MECH blew up the tracks and the train brakes!" Miko screamed.
Without warning to either Ratchet or Raf, I pulled the switch again, priming myself for a run. I had just pushed off the ground, and was nearly through when Ratchet pulled me back by my left servo. "You've just undergone intensive spark surgery!"
My teeth gritted, I yanked my wrist free, and started racing again. "Rafael! Hit the switch!"
Quickly throwing myself forwards hands first, I'd only just pulled out of the Bridge before it disappeared. Ratchet was going to kill me, that much was certain. Might as well put some distance between us. Following the train tracks, I saw came into sight of... "Scrap!"
Miko wasn't kidding. That train definitely had no intention of stopping and there was no way of telling which car the D.N.G.S or the kids were in. So, latching onto the back rail before I lost it, I grabbed the tracks with my spare servo.
There was a slight lapse in speed, but my hand broke through the plank, and then another, and another. By the time the train actually stopped, I'd let go.
A shadow fell over me, lifting my scrawny self into a sitting position. Ratchet gently tipped some energon into my throat, and supported me through the waiting Bridge.
Much to my amazement, Ratchet didn't rat me out, but unofficially grounded me. My fix it pile went down drastically in that time, and I got a load of paperwork out the way. And after my grounding was over, I discovered something truly amazing.
I could pretend to be someone. Fowler had already left me with fake ID and records, but it felt really weird acting like this girl. Miko and Raf took me around Jasper, stopping in at KO Burger to lend support to Jack.
But it was Jack's turn that made me smile.
After a heavy duty training session, I'd slopped onto the sofa, fanning myself with a magazine. Miko had just switched on one of her anime films, about some blonde idiot falling in love with an impossible boy. For some reason though, she kept turning to look at me, eyes glinting.
By the time I'd caught on, it was too late. Some cloth slipped over my eyes, blocking all vision. Despite my best efforts, Raf's knot held fast. Jack softly told me to calm down, and to watch my step. He guided me over to the Bridge, and told me to take off the blindfold once I was through.
Seconds later, a cold wind hit my cheeks. Again fumbling with the knot behind my head, I felt it suddenly rip, squinting in the sudden light. "Where are we?"
"A place in Russia, hang on, I hid some coats around here." Jack stepped behind me, feet crunching.
Russia, wasn't that the place with all the- "Ow!"
"Ice." I laughed, "You brought me to the slippiest place on the planet." Jack stood up from where his leg had betrayed him, rubbing his butt. He tossed a coat over to me, zipping his own up.
"You mean you've never heard of ice skating? It's a favourite in Jasper, mainly because we never get to do it naturally." Jack plonked himself down, lacing up strange boots with knives on the base. There was a pair next to him, evidently for me.
Normal POVAfter lacing his skates up, Jack helped Chaser with hers, then glided along, holding onto her hands. She got the concept fairly quickly, gaining confidence.
Suddenly, she slipped over, pulling him down with her. Chaser recovered slightly, then tried to get up. Each attempt ended in her falling back over again, bringing a smile to Jack's face. Finally getting into a standing position, Chaser nodded triumphantly.
After getting up himself, Jack edged back over towards the lake edge, watching. Chaser began to regain her speed, going round the pond at a breakneck pace.
"You do know how to stop, right?"
"How to...Jack!" Quickly getting to his feet, Jack moved into the middle, holding out an arm. She skated into it, landing on her rear once again. The sudden force had also toppled Jack, who swore loudly.
A new sound caught his ears, and he got into a sitting position, gawking. Chaser was bent over, clutching her stomach and shaking wildly, laughing loudly. Her eyes were squeezed shut, the new expression making Jack smile as well. Sure he'd heard the nervous 'Ratchet's angry and holding a wrench' giggles she used, but this... was different.
The creases in her face began to smooth, except for one. "Your- your face!" She was off again, not seeing Jack's surprised look.
Those five seconds had been enough to answer a nagging question. Every time he, Miko or Raf were concentrating enough, she'd turn her face, switching the view.
Because if they'd stared enough, they'd have noticed the long, narrow scar that ran from the outside corner of her left eye down to the base of her nose. The thin scar that had blended in so well with the rest of her face, until she'd crinkled her cheeks in laughter.
Until the ice had wiped a little of her makeup away.
Flaxen: Poor Chaser. No way to explain away that, and no way to bring it up.
Chaser: Faulty repairs!
