Summer is finally here and I am so happy! XD
Wow! So glad you guys like it! Anyway, as usual, thanks for the reviews: Moonlightdeer, Princess Nightmare99, xVentressx, Graceful-But-Forgetful-Writer, HeartsGuardianSol, Transformerminionkittycat, Xarine, emzydattfan(thank u for that lovely tip!), DarkshadowsXsunny-sides, Bee4ever, Lunarburst23, 99luftballonsx.o.x, Guest, Alice Gone Madd, Tff P, AshleyOfChaos, and Agent-Cheesecake!
Chapter Sixteen: A Dark Encounter
(Sideswipe's POV)
I was coming back from another patrol when Charlie picked up on my sensors. Grinning, I raced over to her, transforming smoothly. I could feel the brooding presence of Sunstreaker looming in the bond, but I ignored him as I grinned at Charlie, "Hey schlemiel."
Almost immediately after I spoke, her "heart" or whatever the slagging organics called it, picked up instantly. Her eyes were wider than normal, and I knew something was up. Was she sick? Is she hurt? Did Ironhide hurt her in the training class? I swear, I'll kick his fragging aft. I snapped out of my internal ranting when she hopped off the crates and started to run when I picked her up as gently as I could and brought her closer to me, trying to scan for any signs of wounds or illness.
She wouldn't fraggin' sit still while I scanned her. She kept trying to wriggle out of my grasp, so I tightened my grasp on her slightly so she wouldn't fall and kill herself. "What's up with you? Why are you so jumpy?"
She ignored me, still trying to wiggle around, "Sideswipe, put me down!"
I frowned, only growing more concerned, "Not until you tell me what the frag is wrong with you."
Finally, she stopped trying to wiggle, and when she did she looked up at me and her face contorted to a look of pain. Something inside my spark clenched at the look, "Sideswipe, leave me alone. I...I don't want to be around you anymore!"
I wasn't expecting her to say something like that.
My grip faltered, and my spark clenched again. Sunstreaker muttered something over the bond, but I couldn't focus on it. All I could focus on was the femme in my servo, looking for all the world like she was going to break down in tears in the next astrosecond. What did I do? Did I hurt her? "But, Char-"
"Let me go."
Those three words seemed to sting the most, and without another thought I lowered her back to the ground. As soon as she was on ground again, she turned and ran, and it sent my processors whirling as I replayed the whole entire scene several times in my helm. Did I scare her? Was she upset about something? Why does she hate me all of a sudden? What did I do?
::Forget about her Sides, the fragging little worm isn't worth it.:: Sunstreaker spoke up again in the bond.
::But what did I do? I'm so confused...::
::Sideswipe. Let it go, she doesn't want you around her anymore. No use wondering why, just deal with it.:: He said sternly, but I could feel grim satisfaction slowly flowing into the bond, and I mentally punched him as hard as I could. He punched even harder, and I hissed as my processor stung for a moment from the mental blow.
::Slaggit Sunny!::
::Stop calling me that.::
::Make me!::
He sent another mental blow, and I growled before sending another one of my own. ::Quit hitting me!::
::You started it, you fragging glitch head.::
::I'll paint you pink in your recharge!::
::Not unless you want me to kill you in your recharge.:: He growled darkly.
::You'll kill yourself if you offline me. We're fragging spark-split twins!::
The bond was quiet for a moment, and then he mentally sighed. His anger and irritation melted into a calm neutral state. ::Look Sides...honestly, you need to let it go. Humans are complex and annoying, and it wasn't like it was going to last forever. Their race can't even live that long. Sideswipe, I'm your brother, and I'm going to be the one with you till the end of time. She's not as important as I am, she shouldn't be close.::
I sighed, ::Yeah...I guess.::
(Charlie's POV)
I stopped running when I was near the civilian quarters, but I didn't go to my room. I felt like the worst person in the world right now, the look that he gave me before I ran was something that burned into the back of my mind, and left my head aching. I didn't register the tears silently falling from my cheeks.
I wiped my cheeks briskly, slowing down my frantic pace. I needed some sort of a distraction to get my mind off of things, what would it be? I wandered down the long hallways, until I was far past the civilian's quarters, and in some other place I wasn't familiar with at all. But I kept walking, humming along to a Lana Del Rey song that suddenly popped up in my head.
"I've seen the world, done it all had my cake now
Diamonds, brilliant, and Bel Air now
Hot summer nights, mid July, when you and I were forever wild
The crazy days, city lights
The way you played with me like a child..."
I turned another corner, the tears gathering in the back of my eyes again, threatening to spill over again.
"Will you still love me, when I'm no longer young and beautiful?
Will you still love me when I've got nothing but my aching soul?
I know you will, I know that you will
Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?..."
I turned another corner, nearly slipped, catching myself at the last minute by holding on to the wall. After my heart stopped racing in my chest, I looked outwards at the offending murky blue substance trailing down the hall. What the hell is that? Curiosity overcame me and I kept going down the hallway, carefully avoiding the strange blue substance while walking. As I trekked on, the hallway became exceedingly darker, and normal sounds of a military base at work was silent, and an ominous feeling came over me as I repressed a tiny shiver.
Tiny scratches, as if something was scraping softly against metal could be heard from around the corner, and the creepy, ominous feeling I was getting was only intensifying. The scraping, scratching sound only became louder, and I was getting the distinct impression that whatever was making these noises beyond this hall weren't supposed to. I was at the edge, so close that if I craned my neck a little more, I could see what was happening. Feeling a little more bolder, I stepped out of the shadows, only to pale at the sight of burning red eyes on a metallic body. A Decepticon.
The Decepticon was shaped to be like some bird, only larger and all the more menacing. It was a dark silver, and blended perfectly into the quiet hallways, with long, sharp talons that look more like tiny blades attached to it's claws and an equally long and sharp looking beak. I took in a long, shaky breath as those ghastly crimson eyes brightened slightly, and it's razor-sharp peak twisted into a...grin?
Did it just smile at me?
My blood ran cold, and my lips curled into a scream that only lasted at my throat. One moment, I was upright ready to scream bloody murder, but when the bird-like Decepticon moved so fast it was only a flash of dark silver before my head was slammed into the ground and I was flat on my back. Black spots clouded my vision as the robot chuckled eerily, I could feel it's sharp, cold talons on my waist and I felt paralyzed.
Burning red eyes was in my slightly distorted vision again, his sharp and strong talons held down either side of my arms and I wasn't able to do anything but writhe uncontrollably as the bird-like Decepticon leaned in so close that it's sharp talon was centimeters away from my face.
"You're a pretty little plaything," He taunted, his voice horribly scratchy and chilled me to the bones. I only stared up at him, wide-eyed as an uncontrollable shiver ran down my spine. I whimpered slightly when I felt his dagger-like claws tighten around my bare arms, digging into my skin slightly and my heart raced in my chest, "I won't kill you...yet."
"D-Decepticon..."I stuttered, shivering in fear.
His devious grin only widened, "Yes, I am a Decepticon. I am searching for something that belongs to my master, and while I am here, you will not breath a word of this to anyone...or I will kill them all, starting with ginger."
My heart felt like it plunged into my stomach. Jenna, he was talking about Jenna! How did he know who Jenna was? I tried to wriggle again, but it only seemed to make him chuckle darkly again before deepening his grip on me, which had tears streaming down my face. I could feel his blade-like talons already piercing through the skin.
"I like it when you struggle," He crooned, bringing his beak down to nuzzle my neck softly, my whole body stiffened. "As I have said, I am here covertly, and I expect you to cooperate."
For some reason, anger was my first reaction to that sentence, and my eyes narrowed at the Decepticon, "What makes you think I would cooperate with you?"
"By staying silent." He answered, before as if thinking of something else and then shrugging, "Or don't cooperate and I kill her slowly, painfully. Rip her apart flesh by flesh until she's nothing but bloody bones," His crimson eyes seemed to flash, alight with sadistic glee before staring back down at me with a sinister smirk, "In fact, I would make you watch. And then, I'd rip you apart as well. I'm very fond of the scent of human blood."
More tears streamed down my face, "You're sick."
"I take that as a compliment." He then used his talons to lift me up a little bit before slamming me back down to the ground again, causing my head to swirl in aching pain again. He leaned in again, "Remember what I told you, plaything," Using one single talon, he put it up to his beak in a shushing motion, "Silence."
And with that, his large wings came to life as he finally retracted his claws from me, and shot off faster than I'd seen any bird, snickering down the hall until his raucous voice faded off into the background. Leaving me there, in the dark, scared as hell.
By the time I was in the civilian's quarters again, I raced all the way down to Jenna's door, pounding on it frantically, before Jenna growled out that she was coming, and heavy footsteps sounded before the door opened, showing a half-awake Jenna in a loose tank-top and long fuzzy pants.
"Charlie?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.
"Jenna," I cried in relief, uncharacteristically wrapping her into a hug, and she let out a sound of surprise.
"Woah there, what's with all the hugging?" She asked after I pulled away.
I shook my head, "I'm just glad you're okay."
She stared at me for a long time, before finally remembering something she wanted to say, "Oh yeah, Sideswipe stopped by. He said he wanted to talk to you."
With the creepy, sadistaic Bird-Con creeping around the shadows of the base, I almost forgot about my current situation with Sideswipe. I internally sighed. When the hell did my life get so freaking complicated?
I ran a hand through my hair tiredly, "Oh yeah, uh it's okay, we talked it out. We're good."
Jenna raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really?"
I nodded quickly, discreetly eyeing the corner of the hall and relieved when there were no cerise eyes staring back.
"Oh. Well, if everything's okay between you guys, good. I'm gonna go back to bed now." She said, stepping away from the door to close it.
"Wait!" The word fled my mouth before my frenzied brain could catch up to it, and Jenna paused with her hand still on the door, "Uh...you mind if I crashed here tonight?"
Jenna shook her head, "Not at all." She stepped aside, widening the door as I stepped in, going over to her small little couch in the corner. The TV was still on, chattering quietly in the background and her lamp was on as well. Jenna shut the door, throwing a spare pillow and a blanket at me before slipping into the covers, and turning off her lamp and TV.
"Night, Charlie." She said softly.
I laid down on the pillow, "Night Jenna." The small window towards the right of her bed was casting macabre shadows across the floor, which only made the paranoia and fear grow. I turned away from the window and the bed to face the wall, staring at it intently.
All I know is, there's no way in hell I was letting my family on to this base.
Ooh, I was excited to write this chapter! The song Charlie was singing in her head earlier is called "Young and Beautiful" by of course, Lana Del Rey, and it's a really beautiful song and actually inspired the Charlie half of the chapter, believe it or not.
But yeah, Charlie meets Laserbeak in a rather undesirable way. Hoped you liked it, please review :)
