Before Season 3 Episode 8 Thirst
"Thanks Fire Heart, I won't be too long." Scrap said, patting his side as she climbed down from his back.
You will call when you want to go home?
"I will. Now, you promise to go straight home? And stay above the clouds?"
I promise.
The human winked then turned away from him, walking down the path towards the main road where she paused and looked up, only just seeing the tail of her friend vanish beyond the thick layer of clouds. It had only been a few days since she began teaching him of his own history, being quite intrigued and amazed by it herself but Fire Heart was definitely more alert to the things around him now and his speech was more defined as well.
But now she was alone so began walking towards a large town at the bottom of the road. Scrap had asked Lord Megatron for permission to take Fire Heart to this location especially as it had something she had been looking for but mostly, she just wanted to get away from the Nemesis for a little.
In town, she went straight for a small department shop and began searching. It didn't take too long before she grew irritated, clicking the clothes on their hanger from one side to the next, dismissing each garment in turn.
This was the seventh shop in over five weeks she had been to and still nothing!
The problem had started a few weeks ago when she'd ripped one of her shirts and was now looking for a replacement but it appeared her uniform; the long black sleeved shirt with its purple front and high roll neck was gone, replaced by some red and blue semi-transparent scraps of fabric. Far from practical and not what she was looking for.
She let out a groan leaving the rack alone then checked the time, deciding she wasn't in the mood to head home yet. Although he never mentioned saved her life, she couldn't face Starscream. So, to kill time, she began walking around the floor, left alone with her thoughts and will to window shop.
"Can I interest you in anything?" A smiling young shop worker asked.
Scrap jumped half a step back, glad decided to keep her weapon in her bag or this woman would probably be dead for sneaking up on her like that. She let out a breath and said she was fine and was left alone.
Shaking herself for being so distracted, Scrap went on with her shopping before spotting a black jacket. Since she was spending most of her time up on the flight deck at night with Fire Heart, she had found herself growing cold and in need of a coat. It was not bad in style and shape so decided to try it on. Finding a mirror, she began admiring the fit to her body and thought about purchasing it when she caught a glance of something in the mirror.
A man was walking past her at a quick pace, holding something inside his coat and hiding it from view. Confused by the action, she blinked and turned slowly, looking around the shop and saw a total of ten men dressed similarly like him, strategically placed around the floor. One was talking to a shop keeper, two were by the dressing room, one by a fire exit, one was by the manager's door, pretending to be looking at some flowers, two were mulling over by the middle of the room and the other three were by the main door.
"Frag." She muttered as the gang suddenly each pulled out a semi-automatic weapon and fired them at the ceiling, the noise making everyone in the shop scream and duck to the ground.
Scrap herself ducked but not out of fear, but to conceal herself as she moved from the mirror to somewhere more secure. Crossing the room by the wall, she found herself by a luggage display which gave her a vantage point over the group. Peeking over her hiding spot, she watched as the gang rounded everyone in the shop up and into the middle of the store.
They were remarkably organised; one took the manager and made him open the tills, another was demanding all the phones off the shoppers, three were barricading the doors while the others just kept everyone down at gun point.
So far none of them had noticed Scrap but she knew it wouldn't be long before they started to walk and look. She weighed her options. She could easily ground bridge out of the place, leave this all behind. She had no care and no love for the human race and didn't care about the robbers.
But they had ruined her shopping trip and she had some built up anger she wanted to vent off. It had been a while since she'd seen a fight and these idiots were just the ticket. It was only ten to one after all.
Quickly she grabbed her weapon from its holster in her bag and stuffed it into the jacket pocket. It was deep enough to conceal the whole device and most of her hand. Scrap smiled. Yeah, I'm keeping this.
She took a few deep calming breaths then, ever so carefully, pushed the display before her, just enough that it would rattle and move.
Five seconds later, one of the gang rounded the side and looked down at her. His face wasn't hidden so he stared right at her with a scowl. He jerked the gun at her. "You there, stand up!"
Scrap blinked, putting on the best 'scared hostage' face she could manage and lifting her hands, leaving the gun in her pocket. "Please, please don't shoot!"
"Get up!" he repeated and Scrap carefully stood to her feet. He nudged the gun towards her. "Turn around and walk to the others, hands on your head."
Scrap did as told, fighting the grin on her lips. He was playing right into her hands. The other shoppers and staff were all knelt to the floor, hands on their heads and cowering together.
They aren't stopping them from looking at their faces… and they aren't hiding their faces either. She realised, looking over the others and made a map of their positions. They aren't going to let anyone go.
"You, hand over your phone."
"I… I don't have one." She whimpered, trying to look scared, despite how much she was enjoying herself. "I… I don't have a phone."
The robber behind her nodded to one of his comrades who turned his gun to her. The one behind her stepped up and reached under her arm towards the coat's pockets.
As soon as his hand brushed on her coat, Scrap snapped out with her elbow, forcing it into his nose, breaking it and sending him hard to the floor. Before any of the others could understand what had happened, she grabbed the nuzzle gun pointed at her and took the owner out with the butt of the weapon to the head, several quick blows to the chest, breaking ribs and puncturing a lung in the process before finishing with a good powerful swing of her leg. He went down and wasn't getting back up.
Then the three other by the door had got to understand what was going on and lifted their weapons but Scrap was a little faster and pulled out her own, pulling the trigger three times and hitting both square in the chest, sending them to the floor while she ran for cover.
Four down, six to go. She realised, smiling to herself, listening as the group began spreading out, looking for her. Keeping low, she made her way around the shop, using counters and displays to hide until she found a good spot and lay in wait. She watched patently as one of the gang walked towards her, his footsteps slow and careful. She waited until he was just past her then reached out, grabbed his leg, using it to pull herself up and knock him down to the floor before punching his throat. The shock made his eyes roll back as he passed out.
Just then, several bullets zipped past her head, digging itself into the wall in quick succession and she turned to see another man at the bottom of the row, pointing his gun at her. She gave a smile then shot back, just one blast of the dark blue energon. It didn't matter where it stuck on his body, the alien power coursed through his body and burnt him out. He fell like a sack of bricks.
Scrap smiled viciously. No wonder Airachnid loved to hunt. It was so much fun to watch the prey struggle and fear her. She quickly began to move again, choosing to take a stand behind a pillar and using a mirror to look behind her.
Only four remained and two of them were in her sights already, looking at her in the mirror and trying to think what to do. She knew they could see her but from their position, they couldn't harm her but then she took a deep breath and grinned, pointing her blaster into the mirror. The robbers gave a clear idiotic look but they didn't know something about Energon blasts.
They bounce.
That left two. That was when Scrap felt something press into her back. She froze. Only for a second but she kept perfectly still. Then she lifted her leg up backwards and kicked the man between his legs. He whimpered and fell a little but then the girl turned and brought the end of her weapon down on his forehead with enough force to break the skin.
With him down, that left only Scrap and one other.
She pushed off from the pillar and walked around it, looking for the last man. She found him easily. He was stood near the hostages with the same shop assistant Scrap had nearly blasted as he held a smaller hand gun to her head, his other hand around her neck to keep her still.
"Stop right there." The man said as Scrap stared him down. "Take one more step and I blast her head off!"
The shop keeper whimpered as the gun was pressed to her temple and Scrap stood stone still for a moment, her strange silver and blue weapon pointed at the pair. "Blast her head off for all I care."
The robber blinked, hiding himself behind the woman. "What?"
"What do I care about some shop keeper? You interrupted my shopping trip; I'm going to make you pay anyway so kill her for all I care."
"But you're a cop!"
Scrap actually chuckled. "Me? A cop? After all the laws I've broken?" She laughed and tipped her head to the side. "Tell you what, why don't I make it easy on you." And with that, she shot the shop keeper who fell to the floor away from the robber.
Only a stun but the robber didn't know any difference.
But as she fell, the other hostages screamed until Scrap fired above their heads, making them shut up and fall still.
Pointing the gun at the last man standing, Scrap shook her head. "No my friend, I'm no cop. I'm something far, far worse. Worse than even you. I'm something that will haunt your nightmares from this day on." She gave her best cold, killer smile and stepped forward, watching as the man began to shake. She held her gun with only one hand and blinked. "When you get asked who did this, who beat you and your gang, who was it that stopped this robbery, you tell them this. 'Ask Agent William Fowler to tell Prime, that my name… is Scrap.'"
The man was shaking where he stood and eventually dropped his gun, putting his hands above his head. The woman, far younger than him, blinked once then shot him blank to the forehead.
He fell to the floor.
Silence passed for a moment then she looked over at the hostages who were staring at her in amazement and with more fear than they had with the robbers. "I mean that for you too. You tell them that same message. Tell Prime, that it was Scrap."
She turned on the spot, walking over to the luggage display to receive her abandoned bag when she caught herself in the mirror and admired her coat. She paused for a moment then pulled the price tag off and grabbed a pen from her bag, scribbling something down before placing it on the side. "Oh." Said to the shop manager as she caught his eye. "And… I'm keeping the coat."
With that, she walked away to the dressing rooms while the others all knelt on the floor, still too scared to do anything.
They fell to silence, with eleven bodies around them, still and silent. But after five minutes, the real police arrived, breaking down the barricaded door and were amazed to find all ten of the robbers incapacitated. With the hostages swept out of the shop, they carefully continued to look around the displays as, according to the witnesses, a woman had entered the changing rooms and not return. And since there was no way out from the changing rooms, the police believed she was still in there.
But they could find no clue or indication that the strange woman, who's stopped the robbery continued, ever existed. That and the talk of her weapon that fired blue light and yet left no wound on any of those who had been shot, all of who soon woke with mild headaches.
The detectives were baffled, not only by the lack of wounds, but by the fact all the data from the shop floor was gone and all they could find any sign of the girl and the message she had left was confusing.
There was no record anywhere of an 'Agent William Fowler' on their systems.
But after a few hours of investigation, a tall dark skinned man in a business suit appeared at the precinct by private helicopter and announced himself as the one they have been looking for.
Agent William Fowler. He was there hardly five minutes, long enough to declare that the girl was an agent of the military and the weapon she used was top secret so was to be kept completely off file. He also took the price tag with him and left more questions than he answered.
Back at Autobot HQ, Optimus Prime looked over the note in his hand, concentrating as he read the tiny cybertonian writing.
"'Till next time." He read aloud.
A/N: Man! Scrap is a BAD ASS!
Anyway, no update tomorrow, I'm off to London to see Mama Mia!
So, don't forget to review and I will see you on Sunday!