Ok...just how long has it been since I updated this story? (checks to see when last updated) Oops...heh heh...it's been over a month. So yeah, I owe this to you guys. I had a snow day yesterday to type this up...I'm planning on updating one more story, probably Sonnets since omg it's been forever since I last updated that one.

Chapter Thirteen: Road Test

Mercy woke up the next morning unbearably cold and itchy. The hay was interfering with her touch sensors miserably, and she had to get up before she was driven insane...if she wasn't already insane. She went to roll onto her back, but bumped into something; that's when she remembered Megatron had been there to keep her warm and help her get to sleep. He groaned softly and he tightened his grasp around her waist. Mercy was confused for a moment, but she shoved her confusion aside and sat up, getting up from Megatron's embrace. Once standing, she brushed excess hay from her hair and glanced back at the decepticon leader only to see he was still asleep.

Shaking her head, Mercy stretched while yawning, and tried to decide on something to do until Megatron woke up. She desperately wanted to get out of the barn, it didn't smell good at all, and she was cold. She wanted to warm up and go home and sleep in her bed, but she couldn't. Mercy knew she could wake Megatron up to keep herself from being bored, but she thought better of it. A grumpy Megatron wasn't the best thing to deal with in the morning, especially when you were in hiding and trying not to be heard or seen.

She sighed, and decided once again to try and remember the name of the man who killed Brenna. It seemed no matter how many times she replayed the scene from the murder in her mind, the name would not come to her. It was frustrating beyond belief; being innocent but unable to prove it. Innocent until proven guilty...not this time...she was guilty until proven innocent. She couldn't convince Megatron at all, he had put it in his blood that she had murdered Brenna, but it wasn't true. And she didn't know how to prove it to him. How could she prove that she didn't steal the gun? How could she prove that she didn't fire the gun? How in the world could she get anyone to believe she wasn't guilty?

Mercy closed her eyes and concentrated on the murder again. She didn't hear Megatron stir as she opened her eyes and projected the entire murder from her eyes like a movie, from where Brenna and her were talking, to when she had watched Brenna die...but it cut out right when Brenna was going to tell her who shot the gun. Mercy squeezed her eyes closed and tried to keep from slamming her fist into something.

"How did you do that?" Megatron asked suddenly.

The android jumped and looked over to the decepticon leader who was standing a few feet from her. "When did you wake up?" she inquired surprised.

"Right when you did whatever you just did," Megatron explained, "What did you do?"

"I guess I can project memories from my eyes," she said, "Including Brenna's murder."

"Show me again."

Mercy sighed and showed the "movie" of the murder again, hoping that somehow it would show her innocence to Megatron. Once through it a second time, the decepticon leader wondered, "Can you do it with sound?"

"I don't know," Mercy replied, not sure how she would accomplish that. She couldn't do it through her audio receptors...they didn't produce sound, they received it. Maybe...through her mouth. Mercy projected the murder from her eyes again, and this time opened her mouth, and the sounds and voices from the murder blared out.

Megatron watched again, and listened, not sure what to make of the whole thing. He hadn't ever seen someone do this, and he wasn't sure if Mercy had made it up or not. She had said it had been her memories...maybe there was a way he could test that. When Mercy had finished showing the murder with sound, he said, "You said that you can project your memories."

"Yes," she answered, suspicious.

"Well, I want to know if you're lying, because you are a liar."

Mercy glared at him before responding, "Why should I bother trying to prove if I made this up? You've already convinced yourself that I committed the murder."

"That's true too," he replied.

"And even if I were to prove it to you that what I just showed you was a memory, you'd still say I made it up."

"You know me all to well," Megatron smirked, "But, does that mean you can't prove it to me?"

Mercy rethought what she had said and rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to bother arguing with him, it'd just be a waste of breath. Instead, she turned away from him and simply said, "One of these days you'll regret not believing me."

Megatron shook his head and was just about to say something when suddenly a police siren blared a single time outside. Both Mercy and the decepticon leader snapped their attention to the door of the barn where they heard car doors open and shut and footsteps from police officers. Then there was a muffled voice that said, "So, Mercy was seen here?"

"According to a witness in the area, they saw her run through here, by this barn."

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"So why didn't we come yesterday?"

"Because the person didn't call until this morning."

"People in this town are so slow at reporting things."

"Just be quiet and let's look around."

The two police officers tried the doors to the barn only to discover they were locked and then Mercy and Megatron heard there footsteps head away from the door and towards the window. The android looked to the decepticon leader who said, "We're leaving now, we don't have a choice."

Mercy didn't have a chance to ask how as she watched Megatron transform into a car. She looked at him completely baffled afterwards. She had no idea he could do that, she thought the wheels on him had been for accessory...not that he needed them. His cockpit opened, and he demanded, "Mercy, get in."

She walked over to him and just as she was about to get in, a police officer appeared in the window that she and Megatron had used to enter the barn the day before. The police officer, who was a woman, looked into the barn and immediately noticed her and exclaimed, "There she is! You, Mercy, don't move!"

Mercy looked up from Megatron and over to the window where the female officer held her gun; it was aimed directly at the android. She felt a tingle of fear travel down her back and shifted to get into the decepticon leader, but stopped when the woman officer hollered, "I said don't move!"

Megatron's voice came in Mercy's head, and he said in an anxious voice, "Mercy, get in."

"I really don't want to be shot."

"It'll only sting for a moment, you'll be alright, now get in."

While Mercy had noticeably been distracted, the policewoman made her way through the window with the help of her partner. Now inside the barn, she once again pointed her gun at the girl and shouted, "Now, put your head on the hood of the car and your hands behind you!"

Mercy glanced at Megatron and then turned her attention to the policewoman and said, "Don't you think his hood is a little low to the ground?"

"Don't you be asking me questions...and what do you mean by his?" the woman answered in a confused tone.

Mercy realized that the police officers who had seen Megatron must have kept him hush-hush to prevent panic from the citizens in the town. Apparently they hadn't told anyone within the police station either for fear that even one of them might slip the information of a walking, talking, alien robot...fluent in the American tongue. And she had a feeling the decepticon leader would punish her if she told anyone else that he existed...not that she had told anyone but Brenna. But still. Mercy made another move towards Megatron.

"Don't even try getting in the car!" growled the woman, hands firmly on the gun.

Mercy could see the officer was excited, scared, and agitated all at once. Apparently the woman had never done this kind of thing before. The android glanced over to the window where she saw the other officer, this one a male, positioned with his gun faced to her, and ready to shoot if the moment presented itself. Indeed she was trapped...but she had a narrow escape.

Not thinking twice, Mercy moved swiftly and gracefully into Megatron, he shut the cockpit just as a couple bullets pinged off his armor. Mercy saw the woman making an advance towards them, and the other officer had gone...most likely to call for backup. "Let's get out of here," she exclaimed and waited for Megatron to go.

She heard as he went to start his engine...but nothing happened. He then groaned with obvious frustration and stated, "Mercy, I don't have enough energy to power my own vehicle mode yet."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked annoyed and fear gnawing at her.

Megatron growled from her remark saying, "It means you're going to have to drive!"

"WHAT?!" Mercy cried, "Megatron, I've never driven anything in my life! Especially not some alien freakish car!"

"Shut up," Megatron replied angrily and lowered a restraining bar over her, "Now is a good time to learn."

Mercy looked at the steering wheel in front of her...even though it wasn't a wheel...it was the kind that they had in air planes, the semi-circle arcs that were accompanied by a lot of buttons. Lucky, there weren't many buttons inside Megatron...well...there were, but she doubted they were for driving purposes. She tested her foot on the brake and on the gas pedal a few times before she asked, "How do I start you up?"

"Feel under the seat, there should be a secret compartment under there where the key is kept."

Mercy groped her hand underneath the seat and finally found a small handle that opened up a little compartment. She took out the key from the compartment and inserted it in the ignition. By this time, the policewoman was pounding on the cockpit of the car, and Mercy tried hard to ignore her. "Now what?" she asked frantically.

"Put your foot on the brake, turn the key to the right, pull the gear shift back to drive," Megatron explained.

Mercy pressed her foot hard on the brake, she quickly turned the key to the right and listened as Megatron's vehicle form started up. The gear shift was located beside her, there was only one seat in the decepticon leader, and she had it. Slowly, she pulled the gear shift back to the D for drive and then firmly grasped the steering wheel with both hands.

"Okay Mercy, you're good to go...try not to get us killed."

She bit her bottom lip and eased her foot off the break. Megatron inched forward slowly...and Mercy lightly, as lightly as she possibly could, put her foot on the gas pedal, and the vehicle suddenly jumped forward at 10 miles an hour.

"Mercy, you're going to have to go a lot faster than this if you plan on breaking through that door," Megatron explained, "Just floor it!"

Mercy wanted to squeeze her eyes shut as she pressed down on the gas pedal...all the way to the floor. Megatron's vehicle form roared forward and smashed through the wooden barn door that had been chained shut. Mercy slammed on the brakes as soon as they had completely made it through, and sighed heavily to release the fear that had built up inside her. "What happened to that woman?" Mercy asked quietly not knowing what else to say.

A screen suddenly appeared on the side of the cockpit and showed the woman getting up who had apparently jumped out of the way. Mercy didn't look at her long as her attention suddenly turned to police cars that were entering the park from the main entrance and the back entrance.

"Mercy, why did you stop! Now look, we're trapped!"

"No we're not!" Mercy replied, "There's another way out of here."

"Well get moving!"

Mercy pressed her foot on the gas pedal, this time going about 30mph even though the speed limit inside the park was 10mph. She made a sloppy turn to the left, hitting the snow bank and almost getting stuck; if she hadn't pressed down on the gas pedal a bit more then she would've been. Mercy then continued straight ahead towards another barn located away from a baseball field. The road turned to gravel there, and also made a turn to the right. She was heading for the racetrack until she got on another road...a path more than a road, that headed over to the school bus garage. The android glanced over to the screen that was still visible on the side of the cockpit and instead of showing the woman, it showed a few police cars a little ways behind her. She pressed on the gas pedal more, her speed nearly 45mph now, and she was nearly struggling to stay on the road. Finally, she made it to the bus garage parking lot, and over to the street, called Corner Street. She stopped near the road and checked for cars coming.

"Megatron, how do I use the turning signals?"

"Don't even bother with those. Just go before the police catch us."

And Mercy pressed on the gas and sped onto the road, heading towards town. She went up the road and saw as the light turned red right as she was coming close to it. Glancing at the screen again, Mercy saw the cops were gaining on her now, and she made the split second decision to run the red light. One car narrowly missed her as she billowed through the intersection at the end of the street and made a wide left turn to head into the heart of the town. Not caring now, Mercy pressed her foot down on the gas even more and was going 53mph in a 30mph zone.

She was approaching another intersection, but the light was green and she went right through. She pulled into the lane to turn left since no one was in it, and she approached the next intersection where the light was red, and this one was going to be harder to get through. Slowing down a bit, Mercy pulled into the intersection and dodged a car and made it through the intersection and continued down the street to the next intersection. There were five intersections she had to get through in order to make it out of town...and she had made it through three so far. But now she was approaching through the shopping plaza of the town, and there was a big intersection there. Mercy plowed through the fourth intersection, just as the light turned yellow, and quickly approached the next one. She knew she could continue to go straight at the next intersection and not have to worry about any traffic, or she could turn slightly left and deal with the intersection, and one more after it. Thinking about it, Mercy continued straight, and then pressed her foot even lower to floor as they headed out of town.

"You're driving isn't that bad," Megatron stated suddenly as they excelled to nearly 65mph.

The police were still behind them, gaining, but they appeared to be keeping there distance as well. Mercy suddenly got an idea, "Megatron, do you have a scanner so we can hear what they're saying?"

"Good thinking," he replied and tried to adjust his comlink to the frequency used by the police.

After another ten minutes or so, Mercy tore through a smaller town and not long after she had passed through the town, one of the police cars rammed her from behind. She watched the screen as Megatron didn't suffer even a scratch, and the hood of the police car bent. His titanium armor was coming in handy, but the jolt from the rear end had been strong enough to cause Mercy to lose control for a minute before she quickly regained it and pressed on the gas even more so she was going nearly 74mph.

Her and Megatron continued tearing down the road and through small little towns. Mercy had no idea where she was going though, she only followed the road. An hour went by, Mercy kept increasing her speeds to stay away from the police. She made sharp turns onto roads in an attempt to lose the police, but none of her efforts worked, and Megatron couldn't find the frequency on which the police were using to communicate their messages. At the moment, they had several cop cars trailing them, and Mercy almost felt her eyes pop out of her head when she saw a road block of police cars a few hundred yards down the road.

"Megatron..." she said, "How do I get by them?"

"Looks like you're going to learn how to fly a jet today too."

"WHAT?!" she hollered for the second time that day, "I'm still rusty when it comes to driving a car! How the hell am I supposed to drive a jet of all things?"

Megatron chuckled at her reaction and remarked, "Just go my top speed, I'll transform into my jet form, and keep a hand on the gear shift after I do so."

Mercy proceeded to press the gas pedal to the floor again and shot forward at an insane speed of nearly 150mph. Megatron transformed into his jet form, and Mercy placed a hand on the gear shift. She held it firmly as the decepticon leader ordered, "Push the gear shift all the way forward and then pull up on the steering wheel."

She pushed the gear shift all the way forward and she heard as jet engines roared outside and she quickly gripped the steering wheel and pulled upwards as hard as she could. Mercy watched in awe and horror as she gained altitude and shot over the road block and climbed into the heavens. Completely thrilled, Mercy pumped a fist into the air and burst out laughing. A normal, excited laugh. Megatron felt himself smile involuntarily...he had never heard Mercy laugh...and a part of him ached for her to never stop laughing. But her laughter died down to snickers as she looked in the screen and saw the bedazzled looks of the police officers as they watched her fly away. She shook her head and asked, "This isn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Megatron felt his systems draining, and he knew this flight was taking a lot out of him. The police were in the distance now...and they had to land before he collapsed...with Mercy and got them both killed. Sighing he said, "Mercy...you've got to land. I don't have enough energy to use this vehicle form yet."

"Oh God," she exclaimed in a mutter, "Help me now."

"Ease back on the gear shift," he explained, "That will decrease our speed."

Mercy slowly pulled the gear shift back a bit and felt as the speed decreased and heard as the engines slightly lessened their roar. Megatron directed her towards the road and told her to decrease the speed and altitude together this time, and he had her keep doing that until she made a rough yet safe landing on the road and they continued forward, obeying the speed limit this time to keep the police off them since they had lost them, and they avoided the main road and took the back roads instead. The day wore on as Mercy drove further southward...until eventually late afternoon came and she crossed the New York State border into Pennsylvania. She had no idea where anything was...she had never been out of state before. All of this was exciting and terrifying...and she had no one to look out for her...unless Megatron was...but she highly doubted that he was looking out for her because he wanted to. He wouldn't if he had the choice, but since the beginning he never had the choice, he had always been with her...and Mercy knew he hated it. And she didn't know why, but she hated how he hated her.

The android found herself nodding off as the sky blackened from the setting sun and rising moon. The stars began to come out...signaling that Mercy and Megatron had been traveling all day...and now were headed into the night. She was exhausted though from driving all day...trying to keep her focus on the road without crashing or anything...and she was stiff and cramped. But she had a feeling that Megatron was much more tired than she was, and that both of them would need to stop soon. Trying to keep herself awake, she asked, "Megatron, how do you turn on the radio?"

"You mean to tell me you actually listen to music like a normal person?" he remarked.

"I'm going to turn it on so I can try to keep myself awake," she explained annoyed at the fact that Megatron didn't think she was normal.

"If you insist."

"I do," she responded in a serious, matter-of-fact tone.

Megatron told her how to turn it on, and Mercy did, and fooled around with the stations, until she came across one playing songs that she was familiar with. It was a station that played the top forty on the hit list. She wasn't a fan of all the songs, but when a year or so ago Mercy had gotten bored and turned on the radio...only to have music become an almost important thing in her life. Megatron listened to a few bars of the current song and then asked, "This is music?"

"I guess so," she replied, "There's songs a whole lot better than this one out there. But now a days...songs have to have something about sex in them in order to be a song."

"I see humans are becoming more and more perverted."

"The good songs are sex free and the singers put feeling into there songs."

"Examples please."

"Are you really interested in knowing?"

"Not really..."

"I guess you don't listen to much music."

"I don't have time for it. It's unimportant anyway."

"You're mistaken."

And the discussion ended there. The two continued on through the Pennsylvanian countryside with the music playing softly. After another hour and a half of driving, Mercy couldn't help but give a rather loud yawn.

"We need to stop," Megatron spoke up, "You're obviously tired."

"Alright...where?"

"Pull over on the side of the road here."

Mercy pulled over, and she turned the vehicle form off. Megatron opened the cockpit, and Mercy climbed out, stiffer and sorer than she thought possible. The decepticon leader transformed into his robot form and said, "Follow me."

And Mercy followed him into a forest with dense brush that was a little ways back from the road. The air was spring like...though it was a bit chilly outside. Luckily there wasn't any snow on the ground. Megatron led Mercy through the forest until they found a small clearing and decided to stop there. The android glanced around before asking, "Are we sleeping on the ground?"

"We don't have any other option."

Mercy sighed heavily as she sat down on the cold ground. She never realized how much she cared about her home...she missed it so terribly much. She wanted her bed, she wanted it's comfort and warmth and protection, and she wanted her house, where she felt safe and secure. But the only thing she had was the clothes on her back and Megatron. And quite honestly, Mercy believed her clothes cared more about her than Megatron...and her clothes couldn't feel. Too tired to just sit there anymore, Mercy laid back on the uncomfortable and hard ground. She gazed up at the sky...and didn't notice as Megatron gazed at her.

As much as the decepticon leader tried not to feel it, he could feel his insides twisting into knots as he watched Mercy look up at the heavens. He didn't know what was happening...he didn't want to know what was happening...and he had vowed to make whatever was happening stop...but he couldn't. He realized he should have been smarter when he thought that a vow could erase something he felt...because it obviously couldn't. But this feeling hurt...it hurt really bad, and more than anything he wanted it to go away...and the only time it came was when he was with or around Mercy. And he had first realized the feeling was there when he had saved her from the river...but oh he didn't know what it was. Megatron desperately wanted to keep his vow...he had to kill Mercy when he was alive again...there was absolutely no other option. He could afford to be "nice" to her now, but then she had to be eliminated. But a bigger knot formed in his abdomen as he thought that.

Wanting to be in her presence, Megatron went over and laid down next to Mercy and gathered her in his arms saying, "You did well for your first time driving."

Mercy looked at him baffled before asking, "Was that a compliment?"

Megatron gazed down at her before answering, "Don't expect anymore."

She frowned, "Don't expect one from me ever."

Megatron had always enjoyed the femmes that liked to play hard to get...he shook his head mentally. Mercy wasn't playing. She was just hard to get. "Oh Primus," he thought suddenly realizing something, "Don't tell me I...I want her..."

"You look confused, Megatron," came Mercy's voice snapping him from his thoughts.

"Let's just go to sleep," he replied.

"Alright," she responded and sat up and started to move away from him.

Megatron locked his arms around her waist, and before he realized what he was doing he pulled her directly against him and pinned her before asking roughly, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I was going to find a new spot to sleep because you took mine," she snapped back.

"You're not going anywhere out of my reach...I don't trust you," he explained...not sure why he was doing this.

Mercy narrowed her eyes at him before she settled back down on the ground beside the decepticon leader. He could tell he made her very mad just then...why...he wasn't sure. Maybe she felt that he was taking away her rights again...he really didn't know. He only held on her to her...tightly...so tightly that she couldn't turn her back to him and sleep on her other side. Megatron watched her until she fell asleep, and once she had, he rested his head against the top of hers and fell asleep himself...the knots slowly easing away. He knew killing her would be one of the hardest things to do now.

Megatron's radio was still softly playing music.

Not the best way to end this chapter...but still. Well...bedazzled is my new favorite word, for those of you who cared to know XD. Anyways, thanks a million to all of you who have been reviewing this story right along, I appreciate it very much, and it would mean the world to me if you kept right on reviewing...so you know what two words are coming now: Please review!