Chapter Ten: Storms of the Soul
It wasn't the chill in the air,nor the cramped conditions on which she slept,but the radiant sun that woke Liane from her sleep. Groaning tiredly,she tried to stretch but her arms hit glass and she frowned-she always hated over night trips, they always ended with her in a fowl mood and achy from not resting in a soft bed. Glancing through the glass to her right to the world below,she reconized the terrain-they were almost to their destination. A fact that should have thrilled her as it ment she got to see things blow up but instead she felt sick inside,and knew all the reason why.
'Is everything alright?'
Spoke the female voice, Crusher had observed the humans odd expression,it wasn't one that she much liked herself. She'd seen it on Liane many times before, but this time was almost a near match to the one that had been painted on the girl's face the first time they had met each other,nearly a year ago.
'Don't worry about running into those lousy friends of yours, they will soon meet their end...I will be the personal overseer to that.'
'Its not just them...'
'...You mean...Oh...I see then'
The tone enwhich Crusher spoke revealed that she knew full well of not whom but of which individual the human was thinking of. Liane,knew this and to avoid any ackward conversation growled angerly,
'Just fly'
she commanded before the pair fell silent, Liane wasn't in the mood to talk anywyas,least of all about the things that weighted heavy on her mind and returning emotions brought on to her return to her home town. She really wasn't worried about those who had once concidered themselves her friends,no,they could easily be handled and lied to,none of them would suspect a thing. But it was 'HIM' that would instantly know that something was up,when she had left over a year ago,she swore to never return...If they were unfortunate to run into each other,it might prove a small dent in the over all plan. A small twisted smile appeared on Liane's face after a few minutes,though she would have justice in the end...she'd laugh as the Decepticons destroyed the city and everyone in it...she would enjoy seeing the pain and fear in his eyes as he knew he was going to suffer...begging for death...and even then that wouldn't even be half of how she felt and still did...It was his fault that Grace was gone...his fault and her father's...
Her thoughts were broken by the sudden appearance of another jet coming straight towards them,to her it was unfamiliar,Liane felt a little uneasy at its sight.
'Is that a friend or foe?"
She asked,leaning foreward as if to get a better look at the jet coming at them. She knew about both the Autobots and the Decepticons,and knew that not all machines were what they appeared to be. Liane now a little more alert reconized the jet to be a F22-Raptor,it was pretty hot in her opinion,but still couldn't shake the feeling she held. Crusher,on the other hand did little more then keep their course,she didn't seem bothered by the company but it was only after a few moments of silence that she replied to the human.
'That's Starscream...Megatron's right hand'
'Oh.'
The F22 flew inches over them,looking like he had intended to clip them with his wing but probably more so to startle the human passanger-and startle was putting it lightly. Liane had flown a jet before,a real one and was all too familiar with the manuvers each was capable of but she was still getting used to constantly being in one that she had no control over. Though she knew she was safer with Crusher then in a normal jet,she still had a small sense of fear of falling...She'd only agreed to help the Decepticons so that she could achieve her own personal revenge...she still didn't fully trust that Crusher wouldn't suddenly get bored of her and eject her without warning.
'Does he HAVE to do that!?'
she asked shrilly,as again the F22 buzzed them,this time there had been a very brief moment of contact-but it now was apparent that Crusher was moving too slow for Starscream's taste and was trying to hurry them along.
'No'
'Then why is he doing it?'
'Because he can. Hang on'
Crusher didn't give Liane a chance to reply as she suddenly nosedived into a freefall. Liane gave a scream of surprise and held tightly to the restraints keeping her seated properly,otherwise she would be plastered against the cockpit window like a flattened fly. Crusher gave a laugh,enjoying the freefall-she then brought her nose up,soaring back into the clouds and darting inches infront of Starscream. She knew she was annoying him,and that was what had made her start goofing off,that and she didn't much appreciate the other trying to force her to do anything. Despite also taking the form of a jet,she and Starscream didn't always see eye to eye and that put alot of tension between the two. Liane gave a small whimper as she thought she heard something behind her make an unhealthy 'pop' noise but she knew that if she said anything she would go 'unheard'.
'Crusher! What are you doing?'
Came Starscream's dark voice over the com-link,Liane fighting off the impulse urge to vomit,looked around for a moment...
'My thoughts exactly'
she commented under her breath,glad that finally Crusher had evened out and had stopped spinning at such speeds.
'Aw,C'mon Starscream-you really need to lighten up'
Starscream gave a dark reply in the language Liane quickly learned to be not human or anything remotely human,this gave her the impression that Starscream was saying something to Crusher that he didn't want the human to hear. She always hated it when they did that,believe that they should speak a language from Earth if they planned on staying there,more so English so that she wouldn't have to learn a new language. Finally, his voice returned to speaking in a way Liane could understand,perhaps Crusher was only being told off? she didn't know and currently she didn't want to.
'We have the girl,and from what I've been told,she is all too willing to give us what we want,but until then'
'Continue as planned? What about M-'
'The time for his arrival is quickly dawning,but don't worry about that, I have it under control'
With that the F22 took off ahead of them,disappearing into a large white fluffy cloud. Liane sighed deeply,other then Overkill and Crusher,she hadn't met any other Decepticons but she saw that they didn't seem to hold much regard for each other. She knew who Crusher had began to ask about and though she had never met him in person,she dreaded that day...Liane shook the thought from her mind and began to push back her resurfacing emotions again.
'So...Who's this 'Girl' that is apparently so important that none of you would kill her on sight?'
She assumed the girl was human,the impression she had gotten was that she was anyways, but she could be wrong.
'She's not important...we could care less about her...but its what she knows that is the key'
Crusher hummed a little as she tried to recall the name of the girl,she'd not really been paying attention when it was ever mensioned in her presence,she had other things to deal with.
'I think her name was something like...Hailey...Hillery...Hanna? I don't recall'
Liane's eyes narrowed slightly,she knew a Hanna but that was a popular name but all the names that Crusher had said started with an 'H'...It was probably nothing,there were loads of girls whose name started with the letter H...but still she began to feel a new sensation prickle the back of her mind. Closing her eyes as she saw the airport come into view,she decided to push it aside as nothing and concintrate on what sort of welcoming party she might have on the ground.
After what had felt like hours,Bumblebee finally gave in and told the girl that he would be taking her to her car. Though she still didn't seem to trust him,she got in-and on the short trip from where they had been to where they were going,she promptly fell asleep. This had set Bumblebee back a little,he couldn't transform with her side or she would be crushed,though he had contemplated it, then decided it wasn't worth the trouble. While waiting for her to wake up,he had informed both Ironhide and Ratchet of their situation and asked how Scout was doing. There didn't seem to be much to worry about currently,but the others did go off leaving Bumblebee to sort of babysit the human. Hopefully she would be in better spirits once she woke up,by now she had had a longer sleep then either time before. Ironhide was moving things around so that their base could accomidate more then a handful of Autobots,a dinosaur and several humans-the whole time he seemed to be muttering about how he should be the one out with Optimus rounding the others up and not stuck moving 'furniture' as he had called it. Ratchet also found away to busy himself,though he would reappear ever so often to check on Scout in the small medical room,he didn't stay long and the time between each visit seemed to grow longer then the last. With nothing else to do, Bumblebee had taken up to counting the times this happened and was sorely bored out of his mind. It had been over three hours since he'd last seen either Ironhide or Ratchet when a startling loud crash followed by a yell broke the air.
'Ratchet! Bloody...'
Bumblebee quickly turned his attention upon the archway leading to the other room (the medical room),he wanted to go see what was going on but was stopped when the familiar form of scout stumbled into view. He clutched one side of the wall with his right arm,his left swung limply infront of him,sparking every so often. It was more then apparent that he shouldn't be up yet-Scout's eyes fell upon Bumblebee and took a staggering step foreward before collapsing onto his hands and knees.
'Scout! What are you trying to do!?'
Bumblebee asked,concern for his friend heavily laced in his voice,he moved foreward a few feet but didn't want to risk having Scout fall on him and injuring himself more so. Scout didn't reply,instead he made a gruntinial sound before raising his head slowly, he seemed half out of it and like he wasn't entirely sure of who he was talking to.
'Why'd you bring her here?'
His voice was strained,and he wasn't doing his condition any good by thrashing around like this. Surely in a few moments Ratchet and or Ironhide would appear to find out what all the noise was about and drag him back into the other room where he belonged.
'Why did...'
'We brought her here because she was in danger. You were...are...in no condition to protect her'
'So...the creep got away?'
'Unfortunatly,Hammershot was long gone by the time we reached you'
Bumblebee paused,the image of Scouts mangled body flashed briefly across his mind. By all means and reasons,Scout should be dead-why had Hammershot not finished him when he had a chance? Perhaps,he did think that he had killed the Autobot and that was why he left,or maybe he had shown mercy towards his ex-comrade,either way...Hammershot would pay. Not only for this,but for turning his back on Optimus and betraying the Autobots to the Decepticons.
'Whats going on?'
The voice sounded foriegn and only after a moments thought did Bumblebee realize that the girl was awake now. He didn't know what to say,but didn't have to wait long before she grew impatient and climbed out-starring blurry eyed to the injured robot several feet away.
'Yellow Car ..w.hat...'
'Amber!'
Wheezed Scout,he was glad to see she was alright but still upset that she had been forced into all this...and brought here probably against her better judgement...infact...he was a little confused as to why she had even gone with the Autobots...but that was a question better left for when he was better.
Amber's attention tensified upon the one who had spoken her name-the only other who had was Devon, she was always referred to as 'The girl' by the others. But,the fact that this one knew her name made the nervous feeling return to her stomach. In her hazy state her mind never came to the conclusion that this robot was one in the same as her totalled car.
'Who are you!'
She demanded now, her voice was sharp and cold,not impressed by the lack of information she was getting for all her effort of putting her faith in these giants.
'Same as always,I see'
Scout tried to laugh but it was too much for him and his not answering Amber's question only caused her to glare harsher at him. Bumblebee transformed and walked past Amber towards Scout,now that he didn't need to worry about crushing the human.
'No...Bumblebee...she needs to-'
'You're in no condition'
Was Bumblebee's reply,he tried to pick Scout up but wasn't strong enough to lift his friend on his own. And wondered where Ironhide and Ratchet may be,maybe they didn't hear the sound of Scout falling or maybe something had happened...Turning his attention back to Scout,Bumblebee refused to give up on his friend.
'C'mon. You need to help me,you're too heavy'
'Thanks'
Scout grunted but knew that he had to do something. Bumblebee manuvered around Scout's currently useless arm,finding it easier to pull his friend up this way-the pair struggled for a moment before both stood on their feet.Scout wanted to dearly stay with Amber but knew that in his condition he would only scare and worry her more then she needed and gave no resistance as his friend began to lead him away. Scout silently swore to make it his duty to tell Amber the truth...and if she believed him or not was totally up to her.
It was almost time to leave for work, Curtis was finishing turning his computer off and brushing his hair when he felt the house shaking followed by a very loud engine. It almost felt like he lived under a flight path for commercial planes but knew better,he lived near the highest points in the city and actually was only a street up from where Holly lived. He grumbled under his breath as he spotted his action figures rattling and threatening to fall off of his shelves,he hated it when some large vehicle would come up his street,figuring it was probably due to some construction somewhere. He moved to his window,checking on his Yaris sadan,to make sure it wasn't crushed by whatever was rolling up the street. He spotted the large semi and stared at it for a minute,it had no trailer but again this wasn't a strange sight as there were a few truckers that lived around him. Sighing and checking the time,he dashed away to grab his uniform,and never noticed that the semi had no driver-nor that his Yaris suddenly started its engine and backed out of the driveway,again completely driverless.
By the time Curtis walked out of his front door,he turned and dropped his car keys,slack jawed and rather shocked. The driveway was now empty,his Yaris was no where to be seen...and now he was going to be late for work...
