Chapter: 10
"Where is he going?!" I asked with exasperation as we raced down the street, trying to both fit in and catch up with the spider-bot.
"Probably to whom ever sent him on the mission he was just on." Jazz suggested.
"I wonder who that is, if not Barricade." Jared pondered.
"Wonder no more, look!" Prowl called over the comm-link, causing both Jared and I to snap our heads up and look around.
"Time for you two to get out and let us handle this." Jazz announced as he unbuckled our seats and opened the door as he stopped and skidded, throwing us out the opened door and onto the street before transforming.
"Who is it?" I asked as people started screaming and running away.
"Trouble," Prowl announced, "It's both Megatron and Starscream."
"Which one's which?" I asked.
"The F-22 Raptor is Starscream, and the Cybertronian jet is Megatron." Jazz answered, "Please ask the rest of your questions later."
I ducked my head in shame but immediately brought it back up to see what was going on.
"Ah, brother, I see you are behind this." Prowl growled as a police cruiser came purring down the road.
"Behind what?" Barricade sneered as he transformed, "I'll I know is that Frenzy had been taken for a secret mission, of what, I do not know, and I do not care."
Prowl growled and went to throw himself at Barricade but Jazz stopped him. "We need to take care of Frenzy."
"It's too late for that now, Autoscrap," a dark, menacing voice called out, "I have just been told everything, I know of this... fleshling's, unusual ability, with the overpowering dominance. If she wasn't a fleshling, I'd say she'd make a great Decepticon."
"You won't lay a claw on her!"
It wasn't the threat that startled me, it was who it had came from. Not only had it came from both Jazz and Prowl, but also Barricade.
"What?!" Megatron growled in outrage, "How dare you defy me?!"
"I've got a better idea..." Barricade countered, not seeming very confident that this would get him out of trouble.
"Then, tell me and then follow through." Megatron sneered.
Barricade was then in front of both Jared and I and he reached his clawed hand down and snatched up Jared.
"Give him back!" I called out boldly.
"Why should I?" Barricade sneered.
"Its not him your after, its me, is it not?" I asked, glaring up at him. He was smiling cruelly down at me. I decided that now would be as good a time as any to test out my 'dominance powers'.
I immediately pushed my dominance outward and sensed something bizarre, he didn't have the feeling of hatred surrounding him as I thought he would. No, all I could sense was caution, worry, and the oddest thing I sensed was the need to protect.
"I thought Decepticons only destroyed?" I muttered in amazement.
"Shows how much you know about Cybertronians, let alone Decepticons." Barricade laughed, but not a cruel laugh, more of a... laugh laugh.
"You just... laughed?" I gasped in utter astonishment.
"I laughed because your funny," Barricade chuckled, "and I don't want you to get hurt..."
"Yeah right, brother." Prowl sneered as he tackled Barricade.
"Stop, you clumsy Autobyte!" Barricade snarled, "Your going to make me crush your charge's fleshy friend."
"Barricade!" Megatron growled, "What's taking so long?"
"I'm a little occupied!" Barricade snarled as he kicked his brother off of him and got up. He looked over at me and whispered with regret, "If you go to that warehouse," he nodded towards a worn down building, "at midnight tonight, and you come alone, we'll let your friend go unharmed, if you'll come with us willingly."
"I'd come right now." I admitted, "And why are you being nice to me, anyway?"
"You remind me a lot of somebody I knew, she was killed by an Autobot... actually, Prowl killed her, because he never wanted his little brother to have anything he wanted, I wasn't even a Decepticon yet, either. He's what caused me to become a Decepticon." Barricade admitted.
"What about your friend, was she an Autobot, too?" I asked.
"No, she was a neutral, Prowl believed her to join the Decepticons, or so he said, so he took a sword to her throat." Barricade replied solemnly, hanging his head.
"Barricade!" Megatron demanded with anger.
"Coming, my Lord." Barricade called as he turned and took off towards Megatron. Once there, he handed Jared over to his 'Lord' and transformed before speeding away.
Megatron started transforming as he laughed cruelly, "I have won yet again, Autobot, and I will win again,"
Then both Megatron and Starscream took off, into the air, with Jared as their prisoner.
"You could have stopped him," Jazz pointed out softly as he came to kneel beside me.
"Stopped who? And how so?" I murmured with indifference.
"Barricade, you could have made him put your friend down, if you demanded it with all your heart." Jazz answered.
"But what if my heart was the one thing that prevented me from doing so?" I asked, looking down at my hands and fidgeting with them.
"What do you mean by that?" Prowl perked up, narrowing his eyes at me.
"I mean," I took a deep breath, "What if your heart took your enemy and made you feel sympathetic for him instead of angry at him?"
"Then your enemy must become your friend," Jazz replied with understanding.
"Or be eliminated." Prowl added, mounting his gun onto his shoulder, "I can take care of Barricade for you, all I need is the perfect moment to—"
"No!" I interrupted, "No one's killing anyone!"
Both Prowl and Jazz looked at me with bewilderment.
"What?!" Jazz asked in disbelieve, "You don't have the authority to command us to not kill someone who needs to be killed."
"First off," I answered with a sneer, "I do have the power to do so. And second," I smiled, "Barricade is not someone who needs to be killed."
Jazz and Prowl looked at me in confusion and concern.
"Then why would he be a Decepticon? And why would he be just as bad as one?" Prowl sneered, earning a glare from both Jazz and I.
"All he needs is a family, and a brother to love him and treat him the way a brother should." I answered, smiling at Prowl with a sweet yet cruel smile, "Something he never quite got in his childhood."
Jazz looked at Prowl, understanding what I meant, "You need to makeup with your younger brother, Prowl, its what family does."
Prowl scoffed. "Family!" He spat, "Ha! Barricade's a Decepticon now! Family means nothing to him anymore! Except maybe a group of people you could back-stab in cold blood!"
"Prowl!" I scolded him for his outburst, "You will apologize to Barricade for killing his friend in cold blood yourself."
Jazz's face became a look of pure horror after I announced what Barricade had told me. He turned his horror struck face to Prowl.
"You did what?!" Jazz exclaimed in disbelieve.
"It wasn't in cold blood, I was trying to protect Barricade from the very thing he is today, a Decepticon." Prowl explained, giving me a hard look, "And how do you know of it, anyway?"
"Barricade told me." I answered, half tempted to stick my tongue out at him.
"And you'd trust a Decepticon?!" Jazz asked suspiciously.
"No," Prowl turned to Jazz, "A Decepticon would never lie about what turned them, it gives them reason to continue fighting instead of fleeing."
"It can be fixed," I reassured Prowl, "All you have to do is forgive him and forgive yourself, then you try to get him to forgive you and, sooner or later, he will end up forgiving himself, too."
"Why would Barricade tell you of his friend?" Prowl asked, "Did he say why?"
"He said..." I thought back to what he had said, "He said that I reminded him of her, after I had asked him why he was being nice to me and protective of me."
"Ah," Jazz inquired with a thoughtful look, "I see he does still have some Autobot left in him after all."