Convergence
chapter 1
It was almost euphoric being on the road again.
No range limit, no check ins every three hours. Nothing but wide spaces and open roads. It was almost like their early days all over again, only so much better.
Barricade was no longer on the run. He was whole, pain-free to boot, and was steadily mending the burnt bridge between himself and Prowl. Jodi no longer had the threat of her uncle lurking in the back of her mind like the boogey man. Seeing his grave in person did wonders for easing her mind that he was out of her life for good. Her scars were numerous but healed, and the damage done to her vision had been neutralized by Ratchet's little optic implant.
They were healthy, they were free, and in the first time ever they could go wherever they damn well pleased.
Riley had been right about the restrictions, but they were much lighter than any of them expected. Jodi had to have either her dog-tags or com unit on her at all times. Two daily check-ins were required from at least one of them, and absolutely no use of Barricade's newly activated weaponry for anything short of a Decepticon attack.
Pretty sweet deal all in all.
They were on day two of their vacation and Jodi was in absolute heaven.
She sat the way she liked best when riding shotgun, with one knee tucked up to her chest, the other stetched to the floorboard and her temple resting against the cool glass of Barricade's window. They were drifting along a mountain highway, one that twisted its way through sprawling forests and had only a few smatterings of civilization dotted along it's narrow path.
"Well?"
With a start, Jodi realized Barricade had been talking to her. Her eyes turned to his holoform. "Sorry, what?"
His posture and glare said annoyance, but there was an amused lilt to his voice that gave him away. "I asked if you wanted to stop somewhere soon. By now you are usually demanding food, needy human that you are."
She swung a boot up to playfully kick at the dashboard. "Don't be an asshole."
"Ignoring the truth is far from healthy."
"You are so full of shit. You've met Lydia! I'm about as needy as a pet rock in comparison." Jodi to a moment to asses herself. "But I could eat. Feel free to stop at the next sit-down joint, it'll be nice to stretch my legs for a bit."
"Like I said: needy human."
"Don't act like you actually want me eating in your cab." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And just for that comment we're also gonna find a motel."
"You're not helping your case."
He chuckled at her as she punched the arm of his holoform and then delivered a more meaningful kick to the dash.
The two of them fell into a companionable silence.
They had taken I-80 out of California and had wound their way straight through Nevada, following the road all the way into Salt Lake City where they had spent the night. Barricade, in a rare show of selfless generosity, had let her sleep in and as a result didn't make it back on the road until after noon. Not like they were going anywhere in particular, and Jodi really did enjoy the novelty of waking up on her own, without the blare of insistent chirping of an alarm.
From Salt Lake City they wound south and then east on US-40, letting the road take them further and further into the mountains.
Some twenty minutes after their bickering session, they drifted into a small town called Banton, which poudly stated that they had a population of 873.
Jodi frowned at the sign, unused to being anywhere where the population was less than 2,000 people. That included the Autobot base, which now housed around 30 Cybertronians and some 3,000 human military personnel at any given time.
But, there was a decent looking diner at the first intersection with an actual traffic light, so Jodi held out hope for overnight lodgings.
But food first.
Jodi stepped out of the car, interlocked her fingers and stretched her hands up and over her head, groaning when something gave a satisfying pop. She breathed deep, taking in the crisp November air, noting the fresh sent of the surrounding woodland and the lingering possibility of snow. She counted them lucky that it had been an unusually warm fall season for Colorado, and so they didn't have to contend with much snow.
Yet.
"I thought you were hungry."
"I didn't know you were in such a hurry," she bit back, but with no heat behind the words. Jodi closed Barricade's door before following the impatient holoform into the diner.
A set of bells chimed as the door swung close behind them, summoning a middle aged woman from the back. She gave them a polite smile. "Good evening! Welcome to Susie's! Just the two of you?" She grabbed a few menus as they nodded. "Right this way."
Out of the corner of her eye Jodi saw Barricade pause by the service counter, picking up an abandoned newspaper that lay forgotten there. If the hostess noticed that he grabbed it, she didn't comment on it, quickly showing them to a booth, plopped a menu in front of each of them and said that someone would be by to take their order soon.
They settled in across from eachother, Barricade spreading out the paper to read. Jodi's lips tugged up in a small smile, her eyes flicking to his true form, which was parked just outside the window.
It must have been a slow day, because the parking lot only had three other cars sitting in it. Given that there was only one other solo patron sitting off by the corner, Jodi assumed that the rest belonged to employees. She sincerely hoped that this was due to it being a slow time and not because of the quality of their food.
Knowing Barricade wasn't going to order anything, Jodi flipped open her own menu and debated how non-healthy she wanted dinner to be. Another perk of being out of the house was missing out on Prowl shoving healthy choices at her. She had a sneaking suspition that Ratchet had something to do with that one.
Thank God Riley didn't really enforce it.
Then again, if Jodi didn't make it a point to drop off food at the station occasionally she doubted her human Guardian would remember to eat half the time.
Coming to a quick decision, she closed the menu and set it face-down on the table just in time to spot a woman with an apron and a notepad heading their way.
Their waitress was a bright bubbly thing, late twenties, with her hair pulled into a short ponytail that was so poofy it was distracting. She offered them a cheerful grin, eyes lingering on Barricade a tad longer than what was strictly professional. "Welcome travelers! What can I get started for you two?"
"I'd like a coke and your barbeque ranch burger, please," Jodi said before offering up her menu.
"Kid with an appetite, I like that." She missed Jodi's dour expression to her 'kid' comment as she promptly turned to Barricade's holoform, all smiles. "How about you, handsome?"
True to form, Barricade didn't even bother to look up from whatever he was reading, his attention clearly elsewhere. "Nothing for me."
"No? You sure? I can personally guarantee we have the best burgers in the county," she tempted.
Jodi watched in amusement as the waitress, Beth, according to her nametag, tried to coax him to look at her.
He spared her a fleeting glance and nothing more. A clear dismissal. "Positive."
She looked like she wanted to pout, but recovered with a playful smile. "Well then, I'll put in your sister's order and if you change your mind-"
"We're not related."
"Oh." Jodi saw the wheels turning, Beth's eyes bugging out as she came to the same conclusion everyone at Tranquility High came to last year. "Oh. I'm sorry I- um." Her eyes flickered between them before hastily scribbling down Jodi's order. "I'll put your order in and I'll be right back with that coke."
She hurried away, cheeks red.
Once the waitress was out of earshot Jodi threw a sugar packet at Barricade's face. "You didn't have to do that. It's bad enough all of Tranquility think we're like that!"
Unfazed, those red eyes kept that laser-focus glued to the paper even as a smirk crept across his face. "I didn't hear you correcting her on her assumption."
"I'm not supposed to be the responsible one in these sort of situations."
"I believe you are mistaking me for your other guardian, the shorter one with a squishy body."
"Only you would descibe Riley as squishy. The guy has almost no body fat as it is."
A shrug. "Not my fault that your species developed like it did."
"Uh huh." Any further comment died on her tongue when Beth came back with Jodi's soda, sliding it in front of the teen and then quickly excusing herself.
They fell back into their comfortable silence as Barricade went back to his newspaper and Jodi unwrapped her straw to take a sip of her coke.
The quiet held until after Jodi's food came, Barricade's deep voice pulling her from her meal.
"Maybe we should move on to the next town before we stop for the night. "
Jodi had the decency to swallow her food before opening her mouth. "Why's that?"
He slid the paper to her side of the table, pointing at the main article.
Second Body Found In Colorado River.
As Jodi began to read through it, she quickly agreed with him. Apparently there had been a woman found washed up on the river bank nearby, body bled out and skin carved up with what was described as 'occult symbols' all over her torso. This was the second body discovered in under a week. Thankfully, there were no photos of the bodies, but there were pictures of the two victims from when they were alive, a man and a woman respectively. The man had been identified as a Denver native, while the woman had been local. They had no connection other than the situation surrounding their deaths.
Man, people were fucked up.
Not that Jodi needed that reminder.
In a concious effort to keep from touching the scar over her right eye Jodi handed the paper back to Barricade and snatched up a fry from her plate. "I'm perfectly happy to miss out on being brutally murdered, thanks."
"I think we can both agree to that."
As Barricade accepted his paper back, Jodi's eyes were drawn to the low rumble of a V8 engine. A large classic Chevy rolled into the lot, pulling up to the spot beside 'Cade. The car was older than it's passengers, the paint and chrome pristine in a way that spoke of dedicated care.
Old vehicles always reminded her of her father, and his preferance for older Ford and Chevy models, regardless of the work it took to keep in shape. Jodi smiled at the fond memories those stirred up, using them to brush away the lingering darkness the article brought up.
The two men sitting inside the Chevy seemed to be in an animated debate about something. Since they clearly weren't in a hurry to exit the car, Jodi quickly dismissed them and turned back to her food, taking another large bite of her burger.
She had to hand it to Beth, the woman hadn't been lying about the quality of their burgers.
As if summoned by the mere thought of her, Beth appeared by their table, her earlier embarassment seemingly under control. Once more she was all flashing teeth. "How is everything?"
Mouth still full, Jodi gave the woman a thumbs up.
Her eyes turned once more to Barricade. "Have you changed your mind at all, or are you still okay over here?"
The bells jangled on the door.
Their waitress perked up as the two tall men in suits stepped into the waiting area. A quick glance outside confirmed that they were the old Chevy's occupants. Beth shot them the same flirty smile that had failed on 'Cade. "Agents! Welcome back!" She swept her hand over the mostly empty lobby. "Pick a spot and I'll be right with you."
In an instant Beth had Barricade's full and undivided attention in a way that set warning bells off in the back of Jodi's mind. "Agents?"
Beth turned and seemed delighted to finally have his attention and gave him an eager nod. "Yep! Special Agents Townsend and Daltrey." She leaned in a little closer, as if divulging a great secret. "According to my brother, he's the deputy you see, they're here to investigate the deaths of those poor people found in the river. FBI here in our own small town, it's crazy. Like something right out of a movie, don't you think?"
As she scurried away, Jodi nudged Barricade with her foot. "What's wrong?"
"I have no idea who those men are, but they are not FBI."
"What makes you say that?"
"We've both been around enough government officials." He lifted a subtle finger in their direction. "What's wrong with that picture?"
Mismatched green eyes zeroed in on the men in question, her recently restored right eye allowing her to see extra crisp details. She bit her lip as she tried to spot what didn't fit.
The two men sat across from eachother in a nearby booth, papers spread out between them as the continued their discussion in quiet tones. The one facing her seemed to have to origami his legs so they would fit under the table.
"They're a little young," Jodi noted quietly, "The taller one is too young."
"What else besides the obvious?"
Oh God, he was turning this into a training session. She sighed and looked again, trying not to be obvious about it.
"Well, that hair is a bit long to be regulation." She paused for a minute, mentally comparing them to other government types she had met over the last two years. "No shoulder holsters that I've seen, and I don't remember seeing anything on their belts. But I wasn't paying that much attention when they came in, so that doesn't mean anything." She tapped the table lightly with her palm. "That's all I got."
"You missed an obvious one."
She raised an expectant eyebrow. "Which is . . ?"
He pointed outside.
Jodi's eyes tracked back to the old Chevy parked next to Barricade.
She blinked.
The car was pretty but it was at least thirty years old. The agents she had seen in person drove a wide variaty of assigned cars. However, the oldest car she had seen was barely pushing eight years old.
This was clearly someone's personal car.
Huh.
"Also, take note on how one of them keeps going for his tie, and then stops mid-motion. Odds are, they are not used to wearing it and are trying not to show it."
Jodi turned a narrowed eyed look in Barricade's direction, propping her chin up in her palm. "I didn't realize you paid that much attention to other humans."
Which was a polite way of saying that Jodi was more than aware of the contempt he held for the human race as a whole. The was only a handful of humans he tolerated on a regular basis and even less who's company he actually enjoyed.
He snorted. "I was a Scout and an Enforcer before that. Observant was in the job description." The lips of his holoform twitched upward, hinting at a smug smirk. "Plus, I may or may not have been listening in on their conversation earlier. Trust me when I say they are not FBI."
Jodi's look was flat. "And Riley complains I evesdrop too much," she grumbled, pulling her soda towards her to take a quick sip. "So . . . what are we gonna do about it?" She frowned at her companion. "Are we gonna do something about it?"
"Of course. We're leaving as soon as you're done eating."
The hand supporting her head dropped to the table. "What? Why?"
"If I remember correctly, you were just going on about not getting brutally murdered."
"So we're just gonna let some imposters run around?" she hissed, keeping her voice low. "What if they are the murderers?"
Barricade scoffed. "Doubtful. From they sound of it, they are investigating the deaths, if doing so illegally. If they were guilty, they would have to be complete morons to draw this kind of attention to themselves."
"But you just pointed out they're fake FBI."
"Yes. But that doesn't automatically make them the culprits. Criminals, certainly. But either way, it's none of our business and we're staying out of it."
Jodi bit her thumb as an idea struck her, laid out all nice and neat in her minds eye. "But what if we didn't?"
Blood red eyes narrowed in a suspitious squint. "Whatever idea you have concocted, the answer is no."
"I haven't even said anything yet! My idea might even help us out in the long run."
He gave her a hard stare. She met his steely gaze and held it, lacing her fingers together as she firmly planted her elbows on the table. She could be just as stubborn as Barricade was when she set her mind to it, and both of them knew it.
The ex-Decepticon caved first. He gave a huffy sigh and leaned back in his bench, long arms crossing over his broad chest. "Let's hear it then."
"Well . . ." She reached for her drink, absently twirling her straw between two fingers as she gathered her thoughts. "We were let off leash 'cause we were helpful with Lia, right?" She waited for his grudging nod. "So imagine if we outed a few phoney Feds."
"Every government official I've had the priveledge of meeting was completely convinced of their own would I go out of my way to do their job for them? Let them figure it out on their own."
"I'm not saying we do their job for them." She tapped her finger against her glass. "I'm saying we do just a tiny bit of digging. If it's nothing and they're harmless, then we skip town. If we find something worth while, we can tip off Prowl and let them take it for there. If we're useful on the road, maybe they'll be more inclined to let us roam a bit more often."
His stare was thoroughly unconvinced.
She pointed a finger at him. "Don't you dare tell me you'd rather be stuck in Tranquility. I know you love being on the road at least as much as me. A little snooping in exchance for more free reign sounds like a fair trade to me."
Barricade remained unmoved.
It was time to bring out the big guns.
"Shouldn't be that hard for you, anyway. I thought snooping was a specialty of yours. Prowl once told me the two of you were some of the best investigators back home."
Well, more like implied, but a little embellishment couldn't hurt her case here. In a rare moment of nostalgia while Barricade was not around, Prowl had once shared some fond memories of the brothers early days on Cybertron, long before the war. Given that the two of them were still mending the bridge between them, the details had been rather sparse and the stories themselves rather short. But from what Jodi had gathered, the two of them had been a near unstoppable back in their days as Enforcers, and after seeing the two of them work together to track down Lia, she didn't doubt it.
Barricade's fingers tapped against his elbows, expression torn. At long last, the holoform gave a long and frustrated groan. "Alright. Fine. I will do a little digging, and maybe a bit of surveillance. But first, we are checking into a room and you are going to stay there until I get back." Jodi opened her houth to protest, Barricade steamrolled right over her. "Regardless of how much training we've given you, you are not battle ready. Plus I'm not willing to let you deliberately put yourself in harms way."
Again went unsaid, but the word hung heavy between them.
Jodi squirmed in her seat, suddenly hyper aware of the drag of her shirt and heavy jacket against the scar tissue running along her back. She resisted the urgent need to scratch at them, settling for tracing thin fingers along the old burn on her arm instead.
Her gaze dropped to her soda, focusing her eyes on the bubbles floating up through the ice. "It's just a little recon," she murmured. "Probably no fighting at all."
A large palm settled over hers, stilling her hand. She followed the attatched arm up to the holoform's face. His expression was still stern, but familiarily pointed out the honest concern there. "After everything we've had to go through, do you really think I'd take that chance?"
She turned up her palm and gave his forearm a light squeeze, taking comfort from the soft electric buzz coming off the holoform's skin. "I'm not made of glass, ya know."
"A fact that you've made quite clear to all who've met you." That brought a small smile back to Jodi's face. "However, how terrible would it be if something were to happen on our first unmonitored outing? They'll put put me right back in the brig, and they'll inevitably blame me for anything and everything that goes wrong from here on out."
"Oh, so you're only worried about you're own freedom, huh?"
"Of course."
She shoved his arm away from her with a grin. "Jerk."
Author's Notes: And so our pair get their first glimpse of our favorite hunters! There was so much banter in this chapter, I'd forgotten how easy it was between Jodi and 'Cade to be quite honest with you. Half this chapter just about wrote itself, especially when our favorite ex-Decepticon flipped the serious switch on at the end there.
Anyway to help herald in the new year (and to keep my writing flow), I was planning on posting one small snippet a day for the month of January. Each one will be at least 200 words, but knowing me some might be longer. Some will be part of the Wayward Ones 'Verse and some will be strictly Supernatural. Have a request or just want to throw me ideas? Feel free to comment or PM me! See you all in 2015! -Shadow