I hope everyone had a good Christmas! I want to thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing this chapter, it means a lot to me. Here's the next!

10. Straight to the Hive

Kristen nearly jumped out of her skin when a seatbelt came out of nowhere and knocked her cellphone out of her hand and onto the floor. She went to reach for it when the same seatbelt fastened so tightly around her she could barely move.

"I see you're conspiring…with…the devil," Bumblebee's radio cackled.

"It wasn't my choice!" she blurted out, and then she wondered if it was better to maintain her silence.

"Sounds like you've got a story to tell."

Kristen couldn't even begin to guess what was going to happen. She knew little to nothing about the Autobots, but since Barricade said that he was one of the bad guys, she figured they wouldn't kill her. But if she were associating with a Decepticon, that didn't mean she was free from guilt or punishment either. And if they found out that Abbie murdered Lee, then it definitely wouldn't be good, especially if they didn't believe her about Abbie's existence.

Perhaps revealing the truth would be the only thing that could save her…but she didn't want to betray Barricade. Maybe there were certain things she could say without revealing much about what the Decepticon's intentions were.

"I'll—I'll tell you everything," she said, "But you have to understand that I never wanted to go along with what Abbie wanted and Barricade is innocent in all of this."

He laughed, "Barricade…innocent?"

"Don't laugh at me!" she yelled, but immediately slapped a hand over her mouth when she heard two voices come out her mouth. The other one was slightly deeper and sounded demonic. She knew it was Abbie.

Bumblebee immediately stopped laughing when he heard both voices emit from her. "We'll talk about this back at headquarters," his radio said.

But that didn't stop tendrils of panic from tightly gripping Kristen's heart. She was going to tell the truth, that was a given, but the outcomes felt infinite. They could believe her and try to help her, they may not believe her and punish her and she would be doomed to suffer with Abbie, or they could believe her and just offline her for being too much of a threat.

She wondered if it was a violation of the Decepticon code of conduct if Barricade, by the slightest chance, tried to rescue her. However, one could always hope…

Barricade revved his engine, frustrated. He had less than two seconds to figure out his next course of action. He could either pursue Bumblebee, or he could let Kristen and Abbie become the Autobots problem. If he pursued, then he more than likely would have a confrontation with the Autobots. If he didn't pursue, he risked valuable information being leaked to the Autobots. He growled as he tapped into Kristen's phone to locate where Bumblebee was travelling before he raced after them.

He couldn't lose Kristen, he wouldn't lose her. Though he still refused to admit it, he didn't want to let her go. Somewhere in the last few days, he managed to develop feelings that undoubtedly convinced him that he at least desired Kristen. When he got her back, and it wasn't a question of if, he was definitely getting her back, she owed him her life.

Kristen felt her heart leap inside her chest when she heard police sirens blare behind them and saw the familiar red, white, and blue flashing lights reflect off Bumblebee's rearview mirror. He had her bound so tightly that she couldn't move to look behind them and judge just how far away Barricade was or see what the Decepticon was doing. Either way, she was elated that he was coming after her, even if were only to keep the Decepticon secrets safe.

Bumblebee veered to the left suddenly, racing down a narrow road in an effort to lose the 'Con that was trailing him. However, Barricade was quick to catch up and he pulled up alongside the Autobot and attempted to push him off the road. Kristen felt the seatbelts that were on her loosen as Bumblebee focused less on her and concentrated more on staying on the road and escaping Barricade.

After the chase continued on for a few more long minutes, Bumblebee managed to get quite a distance on Barricade before he suddenly pulled into a narrow alleyway and cut the lights as well as his engine. He was hoping he had finally given Barricade the slip. Kristen felt that the seatbelts were substantially looser around her, but she wouldn't do anything to remind the Autobot that in a flash, she could wiggle her way free and somehow pry the door open…

She jumped, startled, when Bumblebee's engine roared back to life. She looked up only to see that Barricade had found them in the alleyway and was in the process of rushing towards them. She involuntarily yelped when Bumblebee suddenly sped in reverse to the opposite entrance of the alleyway and backed out into the street before switching to drive and racing forward, but Barricade was close behind him.

Bumblebee ended up turning onto a highway and Barricade pulled along beside him. Kristen watched out of the corner of her eye as Barricade moved dangerously close and when he bumped them, she clicked off the seatbelt that was around her at the same time as the impact. Bumblebee didn't seem to notice as the seatbelt didn't go back around her and instead he tried to maintain control. Slowly, she reached over towards the door, and when Barricade hit them again, she unlocked it at the same time.

Kristen watched deadly quiet as Barricade fell back behind Bumblebee to let a couple cars pass in the oncoming lane. When they were by, she peeked out of the windshield only to notice that they had entered a flat stretch of highway and she could see for miles. She could also see that nobody was coming. Seizing the opportunity, she yanked the door open, only to have it almost slam shut on her from the force of the wind since Bumblebee was driving so quickly. However, she managed to keep it open and balance between the Autobot's chassis and door, that way if he tried to close it, he would only shut her in it and wouldn't be able to close the door until she moved.

Barricade noticed her almost immediately and pulled up alongside her. She watched as his passenger door opened and his holoform suddenly materialized in the front passenger seat. "Grab my hand!" he yelled as he reached out his hand towards her.

She reached towards him, trying to reach his hand. Their fingers just grazed one another when Bumblebee suddenly lurched away from Barricade, causing Kristen to nearly lose her balance and fall out of the car. She looked down, watching as the road raced by beneath her. She swallowed hard knowing that with one wrong move, she would fall and it would more than likely be the end of her. "Barricade!" she shouted.

He moved closer and she managed to catch his hand with hers. He grasped it firmly and looked up at her, catching her gaze. The look in her eyes held a mixture of desperation and relief, but oh could he ever tell that she was happy to see him. It was beautiful.

"Jump!" he yelled, "I won't let you fall."

Kristen watched as he tried to pull closer, but he couldn't since the doors were in the way. She looked to him, knowing that she only had one chance to get this right or else it would be the end of everything. "Trust me, Kristen!" he shouted again, "Come on, there's a car coming!"

She looked up the road and indeed saw the car coming towards them. Kristen tried to hold back her thoughts and bite back her fear as she went to jump. Before she could though, Bumblebee's seatbelt locked around her ankles, causing her to stumble backwards and lose her grip with Barricade. She could've cried when she fell back into his backseat, the door closing and locking before she had a chance to sit up. Kristen sat up just in time to witness Barricade swerve off the road in order to avoid hitting the other car.

With a sinking feeling, she realized he wouldn't be able to rescue her.

"Just think," Bumblebee's radio suddenly chimed as she look out the window, watching as a huge cloud of dust went up where Barricade went off the road, "That could've been you."

By the time they ended up arriving at the location the Autobot's dubbed their headquarters, Kristen felt sick with worry. It was late at night, but she didn't dare sleep, no matter how tired she was, for fear of what Abbie may do. She tried to fight back her nervousness as she was yanked from the inside of the vehicle and dragged inside a military base. It felt like she was inside a movie when they brought her before a military officer and a couple of his subordinates. She looked around the room, seeing other transformers inside. One was black and had large guns, the other was blue with red flames, the third was mostly a green color, and of course, there was Bumblebee. Apparently it wasn't too late at night to question her.

With tired eyes, she looked to officer, who said, "We sent Bumblebee to locate you, little did we know he would find you so quickly."

"What do you want?" she asked.

"We want to know what happened to Lee and just what your connection is to the Decepticons," he replied.

Kristen read his name badge and saw it said Lennox on it. "What do you know?" she asked, looking over to the 'Bot with the cannons nervously before refocusing her gaze on Lennox.

"Are you a pretender?"

She swallowed. That was the vital information that she did not want the Autobots to obtain. However, it appeared they already knew it. There was no point in lying or hiding pieces of the truth. Kristen sighed heavily before admitting, "About a week ago a police officer showed up at my house to tell me that my name had been flagged in a terrorist group—

"Yes, Lee told us about that. You had mentioned the Decepticons, as well as the names The Fallen, Soundwave, and Megatron. We had sent him to go get you so that we could figure out what was going on, but he turned up dead. Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Did Barricade kill him?"

"No."

"So who did?"

"Abbie did," she answered.

"From my understanding," Lennox said, "Your first name is Abigail, but you go by your middle name, Kristen. Wouldn't that make you Abbie?"

"We are two people living in the same body. My parents adopted me after I was found wandering the streets naked a couple years ago. I have no memories of who I am or where I came from, or my life prior to this one. I have cut myself open and know for a fact that I am not a human. From what Barricade has told me, I—Abbie is a pretender. However, after she was created, her creators realized that her desire for control was far too dangerous for her to be a regular Decepticon. Instead of having their creation go to waste though, they locked her inside the alternative mode of a human and created a program lock to hide her behind so that she would appear as a normal human. That program lock is me, Kristen. Abbie knows what they did though, she wants to be freed and have me erased forever so that she can go on with her chaotic campaign for control over everything."

"How did she contact Barricade then?"

Kristen sighed, unable to tell if she had convinced Lennox or if he was just playing along until he could find some sort of crack in her story and expand upon it. She said, "I'm a chronic sleepwalker. When I sleep, Abbie comes to life. She hacked into my laptop and used it to access some sort of Decepticon communication network where she managed to contact Barricade, the Decepticon closest to her and the most likely to help her. In all of this, he has not harmed anyone and he has only served to protect me as well as the secrets of the Decepticons."

"And how is he protecting you?"

"He is trying to get me to Alice, another pretender in the Decepticon army as well as Abbie's sister, and he is trying to get her to permanently erase Abbie."

"It seems like it would be the other way around," the black Autobot mused.

"Ironhide," the Autobot with the flames said, "Let her finish."

"I've spent a few days with Barricade and he's witnessed Abbie's domineering nature firsthand. He hates her and would like nothing more than to see her destroyed."

"I believe she speaks the truth," Bumblebee's radio suddenly cackled, "On the way here…two…voices…erupted from her mouth."

"Lennox, I believe you should let us handle this situation from here," the robot with flames spoke again.

"If you feel that would be the best, Optimus," Lennox spoke, "She's all yours."

Kristen felt slightly relieved when the guards let her go and Lennox and his subordinates proceeded to leave before she looked back to the transformers. She was at their mercy now.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," the transformer with the flames said, introducing himself, "This is Ironhide and Ratchet. You've already met Bumblebee."

"What are your plans for me?" Kristen asked. She could feel her exhaustion catching up to her.

"Ratchet, do you think you can solve Kristen's dilemma?" Optimus asked, turning to his subordinate.

"I think so. I'll extract Abbie's datacore and CNA files from Kristen them and transfer them to a protoform, even though she'll be alive, we'll restrain her so that way we can talk to her and find out her story."

Kristen felt relieved, but she wasn't sure if the relief was emanating from her own emotions or from Abbie. "How long should it take?" Kristen asked.

"I'll start first thing in the morning," the medic replied.

Her hopes sank. "The morning?" she remarked.

"Something wrong with that?" Ironhide asked in a voice more menacing than what it needed to be.

"Abbie comes out when I sleep."

"And how does Barricade handle Abbie?" Ratchet asked.

"He has to restrain her until I wake up."

The Autobots exchanged glances and seemed to be mutually agreeing something, even though no words were spoken. "Come with me," Ratchet said.

Reluctantly, Kristen followed Ratchet a short distance to another room that seemed like a laboratory. He lifted her onto a giant bed and instructed her to lie down, which she did, despite the awkwardness of it all. He proceeded to restrain her to the bed saying, "This is probably for your own good, as well as Abbie's. Go to sleep."

Not sure what was going to happen, Kristen closed her eyes in an effort to let sleep overtake her. She tried to drown out her thoughts about what would happen, she tried to squish away her severe worry for Barricade and what had become of him, and she tried to relax. After a few minutes, she could feel herself calming down and it wasn't long before she fell prisoner to sleep.

Ratchet monitored her condition, noticing immediately that her breathing had stopped. For a moment, he wondered if Kristen for some inexplicable reason had suddenly passed, but when her eyes suddenly fluttered back open, glossy and dazed, he knew that she was quite alive.

"Where am I?" asked a voice a couple pitches lower than the voice Kristen had been using.

Ratchet didn't say anything, and instead, stepped forward, making his presence known. The girl saw him and immediately smiled. "Ah, Ratchet," she said, "I must be in the Autobot base then. How unfitting."

"Abbie?" he asked quizzically.

"Kristen must have told you about me. Tell me, how did Barricade slip up this time in order to let me fall into Autobot hands?"

"I don't know, Bumblebee hasn't debriefed us yet."

"What are your intentions for me?"

"Depends, we have yet to see who you really are."

"You don't want to get to know me, I assure you. You know your friend, Jazz? Remember what Megatron did to him? I could do that to you."

Ratchet growled, knowing that Kristen did not know of Jazz or about how Megatron killed him. Barricade would not have told her about it, he would have no reason to. And she wouldn't have asked because she wouldn't have any reason to either. In that moment, he knew that Kristen was telling the truth. That was all he had wanted to know. He would perform the transfer after he got a few cycles of recharge.

He heard Abbie laugh as he left the room.

He knew exactly where the Autobot headquarters were.

Barricade knew the information was invaluable. After he had driven off the road, he transformed into his robot form in order to prevent from flipping over countless times when he was in his vehicle mode. He managed to escape without injury and follow Bumblebee straight to his hive. Bumblebee must not have realized that he had been able to use Kristen's phone to track him all the way back, but he was thankful for the scout's carelessness. He wasn't sure what the Autobots had planned for Kristen, but he knew an attempt to rescue her would be suicide. There was no way he could break in to free her and he doubted that they would let her go. He was still uncertain if they would offline her or not.

He still wanted her back. She still owed him. She was still his. Prior to meeting her, Barricade never believed that a single femme was worth a lifetime of trouble. He was beginning to believe that Kristen was. He still wanted to see this through to the end, he wanted Abbie destroyed, he wanted to see Kristen as a transformer, so that he may have her in her true form as many times as he pleased. He growled.

This was far from over.

Until the next chapter, please review! And, have a Happy New Year!