1Raven's POV
I was packing again, not that I had had much stuff with me to begin with.
Buster had washed the ratty clothes I had come in just so that I could have a change of clothes for the time being, besides the jeans and sweatshirt that he loaned to me. Other than that, the only thing of value that I could take with me was my dagger. But- much to my supreme annoyance- it was nowhere to be found, and I didn't dare ask one of them what they had done with it.
Actually though, the clothes were probably more important.
Glancing around to assure myself that there was no one to see me, I quickly stepped out of the jeans and swept the Raven's sweat shirt (how fitting) over my head, and finding no place to put the articles of clothing, simply dropped them to the steel floor. Once I was back in my own clothes, I thought better of it, and folded them first, and then put them neatly on the floor for Buster to find.
Now, to find my dagger.
I had to leave before anyone caught me. Though I still had no idea where I would go, to my haphazardly raging mind anyplace was better than being sent to a foster home, or even possibly being kept there as a slave.
And that's why I needed that dagger. It was my only viable means of self defense, despite the Hollywood produced fictions that a girl in high heeled boots could fight off six snarly thugs. In fact, that was so far from what actually happens that it made a snort of mirthless laughter escape me every time I thought about it.
What really happened was that the person would sneak up on you from behind, so quiet that you didn't know that they were there until there was a knife or a gun (or both) pressed up against the back of your neck. And then, no matter how high of a blackbelt you were (I was a 5th Dan) they were always so much more powerful than you were.
So with this dire need in mind, I left through the towering sliding door (if I had a pack, this is the point where I would have slung it over my shoulder) and went in search of Buster. I found him on his way to the rec room- or what I assumed was the rec room by the joyous shouting coming from inside.
"Hey, Raven!" He called to me, smilling, "There's an armwrestling tournament going on, want to c-" He was cut off mid-sylable as a pulled him away from the door, asking if he had seen a dagger.
"What? No, I haven't. Why, did ya loose one?" I sighed. Never mind.
"Look, I'm going to get the heck out of dodge while I still can; do you have 7.50 I could mooch off of you?" He looked at me blankly for a moment.
"Wha? Why?"
I shrugged awkwardly.
"For bus fair."
"No! I meant, why are you leaving?" At this point it was my turn to stare blankly at him, and I was dying to say Duh! really loudly and shake him back to his senses. Why did he think I was leaving? To get away from those blasted robots!
"Hey Buster, you comin' or what?" Someone called out from within the rec room. I panicked.
"You didn't see me." I whispered urgently to Buster before taking off as fast as possible while not making a sound.
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Buster stared after Raven's retreating back for a moment, and decided it best to let someone else go after her. That was, after she discovered that she couldn't get out past the snow bank.
He went into the rec room to see Kup and springer busy testing their might against each other, joints and muscle cables groaning in protest. Cliffjumper bounded up to him.
"Care to place bets? The minimum is 30 but if you win, you'll get 50 inter-" The mech trailed off as Buster walked right past him.
"Hey Optimus, thought you might like to know that Raven is trying to pull a disappearing act." He grinned evilly here. "She hasn't found out yet that the entrances to the Ark are blocked with snow."
Shadowstriker, who was leaning against the wall not far away with his arms crossed, nearly fell down. "What? Why?" Prime appeared to be slightly calmer than Shadowstriker over this news, though inside his spark jolted within him in a strange combination of saddness and acceptance, disbelief and a surge of strong, protective feelings. He turned to ShadowStriker.
"Go find her and bring her to the communication center. I need to talk to her." ShadowStriker nodded fiercely and trotted out of the room. Buster turned back to Optimus.
"Optimus, Raven also mentioned something about a dagger. Do you have any idea what she was talking about?" Prime was thoughtful for a moment.
"If she had it on her person when she was brought in then more than likely Rachet has it somewhere. But what bothers me is why someone so young would need one..."
Buster shrugged. "I have a hunch that she is very, uh, street wise..." Prime looked away.
"That could make things much more difficult." Buster looked up at him questioningly. Prime sighed inwardly after a moment and decided to tell the boy about his plan- he would find out soon anyway. And besides, Buster might be useful in dealing with Raven in the future, seeing as though she clearly trusted a human much more than she did any of his men.
Poor ShadowStriker...
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ShadowStriker found Raven arguing with Teletron one, quite loudly too.
"What do you mean, 'I cannot open the door.'? Why the heck not?"
"The snow drifts outside are far too large. I cannot risk the snow entering the Ark when the doors are opened. I apologize, Raven." The cool, slightly female voice answered.
"Just hold up a sec! How do you know my name?"
ShadowStriker approached her from behind, and the small girl whirled around, a look of absolute horror on her face. "Aw, crud..." she muttered.
"Teletron one can hear and see most everything that happens on the Ark, except when instructed not to." Raven quickly backtracked away form the imposing black robot out of habit rather than design, as there was nowhere to go to.
"Great, I've been ratted out by Big Brother." She muttered under her breath. The robot smirked.
"Actually, it was Buster." She blanched.
"I'm going to kill him..." the robot started to laugh, but cut himself short.
"Prime wants you to come to the communications room. It's something important, I think."
"So?"
"So, I'm supposed to bring you."
"No." ShadowStriker was rather taken aback. When a superior gave an order, you had to follow it. At least in his experience anyway.
"I don't understand."
"Then let me spell it out for you." She snarled quietly. "I might not have been able to get out of here undetected, but I sure as heck aren't going to stick around for long. As soon as I can get out of here, I intend to. And that doesn't mean I have to listen to you either. I don't take orders from robots."
It was ShadowStriker's turn to get upset. Hadn't he saved her from almost certain death? Hadn't he brought her back for medical treatment? And this is how she thanked him!
But then he really looked at her, and what he saw made the idea instantly shatter, leaving him feeling ashamed of himself. Even if she was an ungrateful wretch, she was still a semi-helpless human who was- for the most part- at his mercy, which made him responsible for not abusing that power.
He closed his mind down to any emotions. They would just get in his way.
"Too bad. You're coming anyway." He bent down and gently scooped her up in his hand, cupping the other one over her. He felt her squirming in his grasp, but ignored it and made his way to the communications center.
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Buster and Prime were waiting in the vastly spralling communications room, Buster staring dumbfounded at the door still in mild shock after the revelation of Prime's plan. Optimus on the other hand stood calmly, almost completely emotionlessly with his hand on the large console. Then Shadowstriker, with a struggling Raven still in hand, entered the room and the silence was rudely shattered by her curses. Buster winced. What a mouth.
He looked up at Prime who stubbornly refused to meet his gaze, wondering if he could pull off the enormous (to him) task that he hand been assigned, wincing again as the thin girl tumbled to the floor out of the Black mech's hand.
Raven straightened up once she had been released, and realizing that she was outnumbered three to one and had no where to run to if she somehow DID get away, lazily brushed herself off and let her face assume a closed expression.
"You're probably wondering why I had you brought here, but I think I'll let detective Roberts explain it to you properly." Prime began when she glared up at him, his hand moving to press a button on the console. Instantly the screen lit up with the larger than life image of a balding man's head.
Detective Roberts pulled out a handkerchief and wiped at his nose for no other apparent reason than to look important. Raven saw his image as he began to talk, but she also saw something else too. Something that distracted her attention from what he was saying.
The way he had about him, the way his lips moved and his eyes scanned them all was...
She couldn't put her finger on it, but she instantly didn't like him for reasons she couldn't explain or even discribe.
"Miss., uh, Raven, you are under investigation for the suspected bombing of the Autobot's headquarters at the Ark." This last statement snapped her out of her trance.
"Wha?" She stared blankly at his image, not quite sure she had heard him right. Robert's continued on as if he hadn't heard her.
"Though it is a rather unorthadox request, the Autobots have volinteers to try to prove your innocence by placing you under house arrest... For the time being." and he smiled in a way that clearly said he was glad that he wasn't in her shoes.
But Raven couldn't process what he had said. She saw it again, flittering across his face like a ghost through a graveyard, his eyes pititless twin moons, his alabaster face like a skull, his teeth... like the teeth of a rat. He leered at her, and suddenly she could see it. Her vision ShIfTeD, and she could see that he was Marked as well. Not the face of a human, but the face of a Rat stared at her.
Prime, misreading her startled look as confusion, spoke up.
"What the Detective means is that you will be staying at the Ark for a few weeks so we can keep an eye on you. That way, the next time a bomb goes off, we'll know that you weren't behind it."
That snapped raven out of it.
"What! But it sounds like you don't believe that I really did it to begin with! And besides, how could I? I was unconcious."
"I never said I thought you to be innocent." Prime turned back to Roberts and thanked him, turning off the monitor.
Raven noticed that he didn't provide an explanation for the accusation that she planted the bomb while unconcious.
But somehow, that wasn't on the forefront of her mind. All she could think about was the Rat face.
"Don't trust him." She whispered quieting, staring trasnfixed at the darkened screen. Shadowstriker's sensative audios however picked up her voice.
"Who?" Rat. Dead. Teeth; nashing, knawing, biting. Eyes leering. And something else. Something that was going to happen. Rat's teeth made it happen.
She was gone from the room. All she could see was a door in a dark room, and beyond the door was a bright light that rattled the door on its hinges and twisted at the knobs. There were sliding plated of metal, dark and smooth, gliding over each other. They became the cogs of a clock, whirling, twisting clanking. Tick. Tick. Tick. And over it all were Rat's teeth, whispering, whispering awful things to her. The door was there again. The light behind it pulsed brightly, banging against the dark barrier, twisting at the knob, demanding...
She had to get away, but her feet stuck to the floor while her legs twisted. The lights were above her. The lights were in front of her and she was on the floor. Funny, she didn't remember falling...
Buster was over her, yelling to someone. His voice seemed so far away as if reaching her from across a wide canyon. There were whispers around her, inside her head.
Gono' dehayd'ay. Na for ogh say'la'dya...
La' day...
La' day...
La' day...
Everything went dark.
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Somewhere a light shone in the dark. A small hexagonal plate glowed softly, green light pulsing from it. Then suddenly it flared brightly, illuminating the two identical plates next to it. Light streaked between them, causing the other two to light up as well.
It was almost time.