-1"Now, I'm sure you most likely have some personal items to get from your home before we leave the Mission City area," Optimus said to Sarah. "Would you be willing for either Jazz or Bumblebee to escort you?" She shook her head. "In all likelihood, a Decepticon would probably recognize any one of you on sight. Traveling with one of your friends would most likely only serve to attract attention. I see where you're coming from with this, attempting to protect me, but I think I had best do this alone. After all, do I really look that much different from a normal human?" All of them looked her over. Aside from the blue marks, she looked perfectly normal. "I can pass these off as tattoos. I've seen a couple people with this sort of style, actually…" Optimus nodded, seeing her point. "All the same, you'd best hurry." Stretching slightly, she grinned up at him. "I don't get tired anymore. I can run as far as I wish, as fast as I wish, for as long as I wish. Just watch me." With that, she was off, taking care to keep her speed low enough to pass for a jogger's pace, easy, loping strides covering much ground and carrying her out of sight.
The trip into the city was very quiet. Sure she got a couple odd looks from the occasional passer-by, but no one got in her way. Entering her apartment, she grabbed a backpack and crammed in several changes of clothes, and grabbed all her money, every cent. A quick phone call let the landlord know that she would be gone for a while, and to hold on to her mail while she was out. So far, so good. Packing a few more personal items, she took great care to deadbolt her door before exiting the building to return to her new friends. She was actually fairly anxious to leave Mission City as far behind her as she could, at least long enough to deal with the Decepticons and her new-found powers. If they were really that hot to get her, then they would surely decimate the whole city to get her.
Halfway through the city, she became aware of the cop car shadowing her. It was running silently, no sirens or anything, staying a good distance away, but she just got a bad feeling about it. "He's watching me," she said to herself. This wasn't an ordinary cop car. Somehow she could just tell. Almost as if sensing her thoughts, it began to close the distance between them; still no sirens or lights. "I have to get off the street! If this is who I think it is, then surely he won't blow his cover and pursue me…" Looking around she spotted a likely escape route… an electronics store. If she made her way out via their loading bay… Spinning on her heel, she took all her forward momentum into a full-speed sprint towards the store's entrance, flinging the door open and hitting the floor like a baseball player sliding into home base even as a huge dark shape reared up behind her and followed. The display window shattered into a veil of sparkling glass rain as what had once been the cop car glared down at her with malevolent red eyes. A name came to her, a name she should not know, information given by the All Spark… "Barricade!" The newly revealed Decepticon paused. "You know me?" An evil grin took shape. "You betray yourself, little human. Had you kept silent, I might have not recognized you for what you are and let you run free a little longer!" Crouching down low, completely disregarding the panic taking shape in the streets behind him, he entered the store to claim his prize.
Panicked beyond all belief, Sarah sort of crab-crawled backward, not too picky about where she ended up as long as it was away from the Decepticon. Her terror only increased when she felt her back bump up against a counter. Was there nowhere left to retreat to? Fumbling sideways, trying to feel for the counter's side since she didn't dare take her eyes off Barricade, she accidentally grabbed a power cord and pulled it. An embarrassing yelp escaped her as something heavy fell off the counter, bounced off her head and landed in her lap. A disconnected part of her mind noted that the sleek cherry red boom box she now held was pretty cool looking. That thought left her mind as she saw Barricade's hand reaching out to grab her. She wished she'd agreed to Optimus's offer of an escort, since at least there would have been someone to help her. If only there was someone, anyone would do… Something pulsed through her, an indefinable sensation that reminded her of how it had felt reviving Jazz. This was different, though; not quite the same but close.
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Three guesses what's coming…