Emily frowned in annoyance as she glared at the computer screen. Having typed in the name of a family friend, hoping to get their address, an error message appeared on the screen. Rebecca Howard apparently didn't even exist. How was that even possible? She was an actual person that her parents knew! Muttering her frustration, the teen logged off, and she leaned back in her chair. She was getting absolutely nowhere with this search. The photo laid next to the keyboard as Emily's face scrunched up in concentration and thought. Maybe she had to do this the old-fashioned way… Grabbing the photo, the brunette stood up from her chair and left her desk as she shouldered her bag. Just as she was beginning to make her way to the entrance to leave, a group of about five men stepped inside. Black suits and shades covered their facial and body features, making it look like something from a Men In Black movie.
Emily stopped when she saw them ask the librarian something, who looked around and pointed to where she was. The men glanced her way and started to move towards her. She slowly backed up before running away from the men. "Hey! Get back here!" one of them shouted. Heart rate quickening, Emily tried to shake them off her tail, ducking behind bookshelves and desks. She could hear footsteps behind her as she ran. Tables and chairs were shoved aside that were obstacles. People gasped in surprise while the young teenager jumped over a table that they were reading books. One of the men in black took out a taser and tried to aim at her. "Move!" he barked at bystanders, who ran away. His finger went to the trigger and aimed. Just as he was about to shoot, Emily glanced behind her shoulder with wide eyes.
That's when she ducked past the open exit door and ran outside. The man missed and he cursed under his breath. The mysterious men chased after her outside, where it was getting cloudy. The sun was dimmed by oncoming clouds and a chilling breeze began to pick up. Emily jogged down the sidewalk, glancing about to see where she could go in order to lose her pursuers. Bench, trees, canopy, park. Almost panting out of breath, she skidded to a stop behind a tree. Sweat had started to drip down her face, so she wiped it away with her jacket sleeve.
Gasping for a breath, Emily quickly looked around her temporary hiding spot. She couldn't see the men which she now assumed were agents from some secret government agency. Which one it was, however, was a mystery to her. Quick-paced footsteps could be heard moving around her and the sound of a police siren made the girl flinch in surprise. The smell of burning rubber hit her nose before she spotted the police cruiser turning to park on the side of the road across from where she was. Emily peaked around to see where the mystery men were when all of a sudden, a hand grabbed her by the arm and hauled her up onto her feet. Emily's eyes widened as she gasped in surprise. "Hey! Let me go!" she exclaimed. She twisted her body around to try and see who it was that had her. "Silence or I may just cut your tongue out, fleshling." came a raspy, almost grumbling voice from behind her.
Now that definitely wasn't the men in black from before. Fleshling? Who the heck even talks like that? She thought. The voice made the young teen almost freeze in fear at the threat, but the other half of her mind didn't want to be near this man, whoever he was. Straining to get a better look, Emily managed to crane her neck up to see a police officer with jet black hair slicked back, a pair of sunglasses resting on his face while a strong muscled arm had her in a hold. It felt like a band of iron was wrapped around her. It was that tight and hard to move. "What did I do wrong? I wasn't even doing anything!" Emily said with a glare, wriggling in the cop's grip. The man didn't answer and continued to drag her towards the parked cruiser. Her heart began to pound while her breath seemed to growing increasingly erratic.
Her eyes widened. "Hey! Stop! Let go! Answer me, damnit!" She shouted and tried to force him to let go. She wasn't going to go. Not now, not now...Images flashed in her mind like a camera shutter and everything started to get blurry. The cop snarled at her with a curled up lip. The back door of the cruiser opened, giving Emily an opportunity to see the writing on the side of the car. "To punish and enslave." What kind of police car have that on it? Emily's hands started to shake and her feet began to feel like jelly. "P-Please, what did I d-do?" she stuttered as the cop began to shove her into the car. "Silence." he growled. She was pushed into the back seat and the door immediately closed behind her. It smelt like...a new car. It didn't have a scent to it, like food or cigarette scents, which was strange. She quickly sat up and went to open the door with trembling hands, only for the door to lock shut. Brown eyes frantically looked outside to hopefully find a passerby or someone to help but no one was there.
Emily bit her lip and looked to the driver's seat as the car revved its engine. However, there was no one there. Her eyes widened. Then how did- She began to wonder before the car lurched forward at an incredible speed. Her heart rate skyrocketed and her hands gripped the seat. The seatbelt moved on its own and almost choked her as it strapped her to the seat. The teen's face started to turn a pale hue. Where's the cop? What kind of car is this? Where is it taking me? Was that even a cop? Questions swarmed Emily's mind like bees. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the men in black running after the cruiser. Her heart felt as if it was trying to escape her chest. The car swerved around the corner and Emily crashed into the door as it did. Wincing, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Let me out. Let me out. Let me out...
Emily was very surprised to have seen another car tailing them. Her hand found the door handle and gripped it. With the other trembling hand, she rapped on the window hurriedly. Desperate to get the other car's attention, the teen continued to hit the window harder and quicker. The Solstice now behind the cruiser, it sped up with its front bumper almost touching the back of the car. What happened next all became a blur to her. The inside of the cruiser literally broke apart and rearranged itself within seconds, forcing Emily to be thrown out of her seat and onto the ground on an abandoned road. It gave her no time to even react to what was happening around her. She felt her body tumble to the ground and the burn of the pavement meet her skin. A burning pain emerged on her arms and leg, making her groan. Her head was throbbing and there was a loud ringing in her ears, which prevented her from hearing the clash of something big and metal a few yards away. Rolling over onto her stomach, Emily struggled to open her eyes. "God..." she whispered before feeling a disgusting sensation in the back of her throat. She threw up and her whole body felt weak.
Today was just not going the way she thought.
Barricade hated having a fleshling in his interior, growling in annoyance. Her fear made him disgusted. Fleshlings were so pitiful. Not speaking at all to her, he sped off to a predestined location that his leader had sent to him. His side mirrors tilted a little as he tried to see if anyone was following. Inwardly, he smirked. Satisfied that they were not being followed, Barricade increased his speed and the smell of burning rubber met Emily's nose. It made her cringe. Suddenly, the Decepticon scout heard screeching of tires coming up behind them. Anger flared in his chassis and he revved his engine. A silver Pontiac Solstice came speeding up beside Barricade. It's windows, like Barricade's, were tinted so no one could see inside. The cruiser quickly swerved into the other lane, jostling it's passenger in the back seat.
The silver car slammed on the brakes and pulled back. Barricade missed his target and rumbled in anger. The girl's ragged breathing could be heard, and he snarled. "Shut up and sit still." he snapped at her. The teen's eyes widened in shock and surprise at the tone of the voice coming from everywhere in the cruiser. Almost immediately, she became silent but still visibly shaken. "I have two pests to take care of now." the scout grumbled under his breath. When the Solstice began tailgating him, Barricade slammed on his brakes and began transforming. The Solstice broke apart and landed in a bipedal form in front of the scout. Barricade threw the human fleshling out of his interior, blood red optics glaring intently at his opponent that now stood in front of him. "Sahprised ya were with a human girl. Now, what's up with that?" The blue optic Cybertronian asked as he aimed a blaster at him.
"That's none of your concern, Autoscum." Barricade snarled, swiftly turning his weapon on his enemy and began firing. "Ahright! It was just a question!" He said, managing to quickly dodge the reign of blaster fire and turn on his shield on his arm. He glanced around to see the unconscious human girl to his left in some grass by the side of the road. Frowning inwardly, he kept moving away from Barricade. He was able to hit him a few times but not enough to do any damage. What did he want with this girl? The ground vibrated from the amount of missiles firing everywhere, forcing him to shake his helm of the lingering question and focus on the situation at hand. He got to where the girl was and his optics adjusted to look at her better. His frame froze in surprise. It was the girl from the other day! What in Primus's name was she doing here where Barricade was? She didn't really seem to be moving. There was no apparent injuries that he could see, but he wasn't a medic.
Bringing a servo to his helm, he double tapped the side and said "Optimus, or Ratch', either one that's nearby. We have a situation."
"This is Ratchet. What is it, Jazz?"
"Barricade is in the area an' is tryin' to take a human gal."
"A female? Not a male?" Ratchet's confused voice rang through the comlink.
"Yeah. It's not him but the gal I ran into before." Jazz replied as he shielded the girl from a thrown tree as Barricade continued to come after him and get to the girl. "I need some back-up pronto!" "Alright, alright! Ironhide and I are on our way. ETA 5 minutes." and with that, the comlink went dead as Ratchet ended the conversation. Jazz glanced back to hear his adversary charge towards him. "Aw pit no!" he said, carefully picking up the human girl and holding her in his servo. He hastfully moved to the side, which made Barricade roar in annoyance "Stop moving and stay still so I can shoot you!" He drew his arm back and went to punch Jazz since he wasn't able to shoot him. Jazz grabbed his servo and kicked Barricade with his pede, knocking him back with a grunt. He snarled as he stumbled before catching himself. "Aww nuts." Jazz said when he saw Barricade was even more pissed off. "Yo I can really use that back-up!" he said into his comlink. Seconds later, just as the Decepticon scout was about to shoot at Jazz, a black and grey servo roughly snatched the police cruiser's arm and twisted it in such a way to make Barricade howl in pain. "We said 5 minutes, Jazz." Ironhide grumbled at his comrade.
"Well, I'm sorry if you and Ratch' are a lil slow for me." Jazz quipped back with a small smirk on his faceplates. "But five minutes was too long."
"Slow?" The weapons specialist glared back at him, his grip on Barricade tightening before slamming him into the ground. "I am not slow!" He ignored his enemy's cry of pain.
"Enough, both of you." Ratchet cut in, walking over to Jazz. "Are you alright? What of the female?" he asked. Jazz stood up straight and carefully held out his servo with the girl in it. "I'm fine. She looks like she could be hurt though." Jazz answered Ratchet, who frowned as the scanner on his arm examined the human female. "She will be fine. Just unconscious for the time being." the medic announced. Jazz sighed in some relief. "You said he had her with him? Not the Witwicky boy?" Ratchet asked him and he nodded.
"Care to share why?" Ironhide asked Barricade, pressing his cannon against the Decepticon's faceplates. Barricade chuckled darkly and the three Autobots turned to face him. "You know nothing of what's to come. As of now, the game has changed and you all will find yourselves gone." "What the pit does that mean?" Ironhide growled, his cannon powering up.
"You'll soon find out." Barricade smirked and heaved himself up doing a back spring, hit Ironhide with his pedes and knocked him back. He transformed and sped away. Ironhide went to shoot at him, but he was already gone. He cursed under his breath. The black mech looked at his comrades. "Now what?" he asked with a deep frown. "Now, we go back and alert Optimus. We figure out who she is and why Barricade had her." Ratchet said thoughtfully and looked at Jazz. "She may be in danger as is the Witwicky boy." Jazz nodded. "I'll carry her back." he declared before transforming into his alt mode, making sure the girl was securely in the back seat laying down. Ratchet and Ironhide transformed as well and began driving back down the road with Jazz following them. Jazz's holoform materialized in the driver's seat and glanced to the side, spotting the girl's jacket on the passenger seat. He reached over, picked it up and placed it over the girl. He then returned his attention to the road, Barricade's words rattling in his mind.
The game has changed.
That could only mean something big was about to happen and it wasn't going to be good.