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I hope you like this chapter, but let me know either way :p
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"Baaaricaaaade!!!" Frenzy shouted, entering the common room.
"What?" he growled, then seeing Twenty Three and bowed, unsure of how to act around her now. "Sorry. I didn't see you there."
She looked taken aback.
"Don't apologize to me!" she exclaimed.
"What? Why?" he looked confused.
"I – I don't know. It's just weird. No body apologizes to me," she tried to explain. "It's just wrong."
Frenzy cracked his knuckles.
"It isn't wrong to apologize to people. No body is beneath receiving an apology."
"Would you accept an apology from Lord Megatron?" she asked him curiously.
"No, that's different, Megatron is the leader, he doesn't have to apologize no anyone," he bristled.
"Exactly. Superiors just DON'T apologize to their underlings. It's WRONG," she stated stubbornly, but calmly.
Frenzy swore. "You're not our underling anymore, your Megatron's daughter," he glared at her. Why wasn't she getting this? "Tell her, Barricade."
"Frenzy is correct. I do not view you as inferior," he told her. "If anything, you are royal."
"A Decepticon princess," Frenzy said, trying to make it more tempting by romanticizing it, but it just made her look horrified.
"What? No!" she shrieked, then narrowed her eyes. "Is this another prank? Or a social experiment? Are you testing me?"
They both bristled.
"No," Barricade growled. "We just want to welcome you to our ranks."
He gave her an annoyed look and began to walk off, making Frenzy panic.
"Barricade! Don't leave me here!" he shouted, glancing between them both desperately. 'She'll act weird again…' he thought, terrified, and grabbed at Barricade's leg.
"If you don't want to be around me you don't have to. I'll just stay here until you have a job for me," she told him, not offended, but slightly annoyed at him.
'Frenzy acts so weird around me. I like him, but he's just so… I don't even know… I guess it doesn't matter, it's not my place to say, anyway…'
He walked over to her again and stared at her hard.
"Why do you just accept this?" he asked her. "That we would just walk off and leave you alone with nothing to do, even though we know that's what you hate the most."
"It's not my place to argue with your decisions," she began to defend, but Frenzy cut her off again.
"Then don't argue with our decision to treat you with respect," he said, irritation evident in his voice.
"Yes, master. Sorry," she looked down, ashamed with herself for arguing with them earlier.
"Damnit! Why won't you show some backbone? Are you a coward?" he shot at her. Barricade sat down to watch the show, amused by his smaller partner's actions.
"No, I'm sorry," she began to feel depressed. What had she done to displease him? 'He's being weird again. Is he mocking me?' she thought vaguely, but her thoughts were interrupted when he shoved her, making her take a step back.
"If you're not a coward, defend yourself," Frenzy spat. "Or you'll get beaten into the ground."
Her eyes opened wide. "What do you mean, Master Frenzy? Do you wish to beat me into the ground?" she asked, confused.
"No," he shoved her again, more roughly. "I want you to defend yourself."
"Are you testing my loyalty?" she asked him. "Because I would never raise my hand against you."
"Even if you get beaten up? What if I killed you?" he growled. Why wasn't she defending herself? Didn't she fear death? "Don't you want to live?"
"If you wish to kill me, then do so," she spoke, confused. "I don't have a right to life, I was born into this world dead, it was how I was meant to be. I am merely an experiment until I return to my fate."
Frenzy stopped shoving her and just stared at her in disbelief. "Do you honestly believe that?"
She nodded, confused.
"The spark that you have, your life source, it comes from the same place all of ours comes from. Are you saying our lives are meaningless? That our life is artificial?" he demanded.
"That isn't for me to know," she replied, looking horrified. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you."
"Then don't insult the value of your own life. It's precious," he glared at her.
Her eyes widened. She remembered Papa's words to her.
Life is precious.
"…Sacred…" she looked up at Frenzy in wonder, who suddenly looked uncomfortable, and backed off to stand by Barricade, hoping for safety in numbers.
"What?" Frenzy demanded. 'She better not pull anything strange again.'
"I think I understand… Life is a gift… we should treasure it. And attempt to not die until the last moment, because it is precious. Am I correct?" she asked him.
He nodded, relieved she had finally understood.
She smiled at him, having found an all new will to live.
Frenzy thought it was about time he returned to his duties, before Megatron caught on and kicked his aft. He took Twenty Three with him, so he could keep an eye on her, and she wouldn't get bored.
She watched him as he plugged himself into a computer, and began scanning the internet for the movements of the human creature 'Sam Witwicky.'
His optics began to flicker as he screeched, processing information, while simultaneously covering his tracks. His school records showed he had showed up at school these last couple of days, as had the girl, Mikaela Banes.
He cross checked with the government records, and found no mention of them uncovering the allspark, or of any attempts to find it. He hacked into Sector 7's data base, but only found scraps. Apparantly they had been disbanded, and most of the information either destroyed or relocated in files found in the defense area of the government. Everything pointed towards the autobots obtaining it. Frenzy swore, then turned towards his female companion.
"We have to report to Megatron. I believe the autobots have the Allspark," he grabbed a vector and started pulling her down the hallway.
"Is there any conclusive evidence?" she asked him, curious.
"No, there's a lack of it. That's why I think they've got it. The fleshlings aren't smart enough to cover their traces, but the autobots are another story," he explained.
Reaching their destination, Frenzy dragged her in front of Megatron and let her go, saluting his leader. She followed suit, and smiled at her father, ignoring Starscream, who was standing near by. He looked a bit surprised, but nodded at them to report.
"Is there any conclusive evidence?" was Megatron's first question. Twenty Three smiled – perhaps she did have a bond with him, being her father.
Frenzy repeated his answer, and Megatron frowned.
"It's definitely worth looking in to, but not worth a front on attack. We aren't even sure they have it."
"Coward!" Starscream accused. "You just don't want to fight them. You're afraid you'll lose, after so long out of commission."
Megatron glared at him, but was cut off from any kind of retort by a blur of metal.
"What the-" he waited for his CPU to catch up with what was going on. Twenty Three had jumped on Starscream, and disabled him with two of her vectors, holding him down. There was a quiet rage in her eyes.
"Take that back," she hissed.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET HER OFF ME!!" he shouted, surprised and afraid.
"Take it back," she repeated, watching his optics focusing on another vector an inch away from his face. "Nobody calls my father a coward."
"GET HER OFF ME! SHE'S GOING TO RIP MY EYES OUT!!" he screeched, as Megatron laughed.
"You better do as she says, Starscream, I don't think she's joking," he advised, amused and pleased with his daughter's savage side. 'Perhaps she is a little like me,' he thought, proudly.
"I take it back, I didn't mean it," Starscream cried, desperately, but she didn't let him up.
"Then acknowledge him," she demanded.
"What?" he looked back at her in disbelief.
"Acknowledge your leader. Acknowledge Lord Megatron. Acknowledge him," she snarled, the tip of her vector turning into a drill piece, spinning its way closer to his right optic.
"Yes! Yes! YES!" he cried, getting desperate. "Megatron is the leader!"
"That is stating a well known fact, not acknowledging him for his abilities. You cannot get out of traitorous slander by telling me clichéd truths," she insisted. "You insult him, yet he is your leader. Why is he your leader?"
"Because…because because," he started screaming as the tip of the drill touched the surface of his optic. "Because he is strong, and brave, and-" he sighed in relief as she retracted her vector by a centimeter.
"And?" she asked him. "How will you finish off this sentence?"
He started panicking again, his mind going blank on him.
"Strong?" she prompted him. "And brave. And?"
He shook his head, his vocal processors clamming shut.
"The best one for the job?" Megatron put in, grinning sadistically.
"Uh… YES! Megatron is the best one for the job!" Starscream shouted as her drill began to move again.
Nodding, she got off him, and kneeled in front of her father, placated.
Megatron looked down on his daughter, pleased, and picked her up, bringing her to eye level.
She looked at him, her face once again void of emotion.
"Why did you do that, child?" he asked her, curiously.
"Because I couldn't stand him disrespecting you. It made me so angry…" she looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry if I acted out of line."
To her surprise, he laughed.
"Feel free to torture Starscream whenever the mood takes you," he smirked at his prone body, glaring up at him from the floor. She seemed to have pulled out his knee caps.
Frenzy started shaking, and backing away. He had only seen that once before, when she killed the medic at Sector 7… but that was directed to a human, not one of his kind…
"Don't be afraid, Frenzy," she looked down at him. He looked tiny from this height. "I would never hurt you."
"B-b-b-back on topic," Frenzy stuttered, fearing where this would go, "What are your orders concerning the Allspark, Megatron?"
"We need further information," he growled, as if it was obvious.
"I've… run out of resources," he replied nervously.
Megatron's features grew into a frown, yet Twenty Three seemed thoughtful.
"You just need to know if they have it, correct?" she asked her leader.
"Yes," he watched her, curiously.
"Human satellites are placed out in space, you can use them to find video footage of anything on earth," she explained to them. They looked keen, so she continued. "Even if you don't know where to start looking for the autobots, Sam Witwicky has been returning to school. If you watch for him there, he will most probably lead to them."
Megatron grinned wickedly, peering at his information analyst.
"Exhausted your resources, have you?" he growled.
"I… I was unaware of this invention," he pleaded, as Megatron took a step closer. Twenty Three didn't quite understand why Frenzy seemed so afraid, misreading Megatron's intentions. She was therefore shocked when he used his free fist to throw a punch in his direction. She was almost to late, using her vectors to swing off his hand and in front of her friend.
Megatron's fist met with a solid chunk of metal covering her face, the only thing keeping her from being thrown back three other vectors thrust into the floor to ground herself.
The silence was broken by the clattering of Frenzy's shaking. Everyone seemed too shocked to move, a trail of blood trickling down from Twenty Three's forehead from the impact.
"What the frag are you doing?" her father asked, angry she had put herself in dangers way, fearing the implications of the blood dripping on the floor. He knew humans were fragile, but not the details, even if she wasn't completely human, it still wasn't a good sign.
"Please do not hurt Frenzy, Lord Megatron," she pleaded, a blank expression on her face.
He looked taken aback.
"What?" he hissed.
"He has worked hard to find the information he found you. Please do not blame him for overlooking the satellites. If one such as you didn't know of them, Lord Megatron, he could not have been expected to," she reasoned, her ragged voice betraying what her facial features hid.
"Why are you defending him?" he demanded. Frenzy looked terrified, while Starscream watched his leader curiously. Was this a weakness he had for his daughter?
"I don't know," she replied, honestly. "I've never done anything like this before… but… it just hurt in here," she put a hand over her chest. "I'm sorry if I have to disobey you. It betrays my very existence, but I can't allow you to hurt him. Please give me punishment in his place."
Megatron did not look amused, as he stared down at her. She looked back at him with dead eyes, expecting pain.
"Get out of here," he shot a look at Frenzy, who spared a mortified glance at Twenty Three, then bolted.
"Starscream, get your aft into gear," he growled at his commander, who stared back, disbelieving.
"Do you not realize what condition I'm in?" he asked sarcastically, gesturing to his broken legs.
"You can fragging crawl your way to the repair bay for all I care," he shouted, the turned back to his daughter, staring in silence until Starscream slammed the door behind him.
"Is your wound serious?" he asked her neutrally, referring to the blood on her face.
"Negative," she stood, staring straight ahead dutifully.
"Who are you loyal to: Me or Frenzy?" he didn't believe what he was asking.
"Both," she replied, deadpan.
"Explain."
"I serve you, with Frenzy. He is my friend," she spoke quietly.
He frowned. At least she still knew who was boss… and she was loyal to him, as she had shown previously with Starscream…
"Just remember your loyalties lie with me first. You are dismissed," he spoke evenly. "Go clean up your cut."
"Yes, Lord Megatron," she saluted, and left him to his thoughts.
Barricade was outside, taking a break with Devestator and Blackout, enjoying the sun. He was shocked when Frenzy came running out, skidding in front of him.
He grabbed the smaller bot, and shook him a couple of times to stop him chattering frantically in cybertronian.
"Slow down, pipsqueak, we can't understand you," Devestator sneered. He had never had much love for the little robot, although he did find his efforts to annoy Starscream amusing.
It took him a couple of times to slow down enough to make sense to them. After hearing the story, Barricade dropped him in shock.
"She beat up Starscream?" Devestator laughed, unable to imagine it. "I'm going to the repair bay!" he shouted, standing up to leave.
"She took your punishment?" Barricade looked shocked.
"How incredibly stupid," Blackout taunted, only to get a glare from both other bots. "Seriously, jumping in front of Megatron's fist – that's suicide."
"It was brave," Frenzy defended.
"Is she okay?" Barricade asked, concerned.
Frenzy scratched his head and looked away uneasily. "Uuuhhh… dunno."
Blackout laughed. "You hightailed it out of there, didn't you?"
"Hey, you didn't see how angry Megatron was…" he shuddered. "Scary…"
"And you just left her in there?" Barricade growled.
He had the decency to look ashamed.
The black and white mech heaved a sigh as he stood up, and picked Frenzy up by his head, dragging him back inside.
"Let me go, damnit!" Frenzy swore at him.
"No, this is your fault, so you are coming with me to make sure she is okay," he stated, not loosening his grip.
Frenzy gave up, and remained dangling from Barricade's fist, peering through his fingers.
They turned a corner and Barricade froze.
"You look fine," he said, facing the girl he was so worried about not a moment ago.
She looked at him oddly.
"So do you," she replied, neutrally, then looked at the metal limbs dangling from his hand. "Frenzy?"
He started kicking at Barricade's hand, as he was dumped unceremoniously to the floor.
"Hey," he looked uncomfortable. "You seem okay… I thought Megatron…"
She walked over to him and hugged him tightly, crouching down to his level.
"I'm glad you're okay," she told him. "It scared me, knowing you were in danger."
Barricade cleared his throat loudly. She looked up at him, but did not release her friend.
"Frenzy told me what happened," he explained. "We thought Megatron was going to hurt you… We came to check on you."
She nodded. "He just asked me a few questions, then old me to go take care of this." She pointed to her forehead.
"Then let's go take care of it," Frenzy said, trying to escape her arms.
She released him, but kept a tight grip on his hand with a vector, dragging him for once. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt very protective of him.
Barricade escorted them to her room, curious, as he had not seen in them yet.
They sat in her room, next to the sink. It was very similar to her containment room at Sector 7, having no personal items, it was bare except for a bed, a sink, shower and toilet in one communal area. There was a box of canned food they had stolen from a cabin in a remote area, but it didn't seem to really belong to anyone.
She had a stained damp cloth pressed to her forehead, to stop the blood flow.
"Do you like your room?" Barricade asked her, curiously. He knew nothing of human tastes, but even to him it seemed… bland.
"They are functional," she replied. "I don't feel anything for them one way or the other. It is simply a room."
"True…" he agreed. "We could still improve them."
Frenzy looked at his companion quizzically. It was strange… Barricade seemed… unsure.
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about interior design," she looked away. "This room is much like my old containment room at the facility," she admitted her previous thought.
Frenzy started, not sure how to act. He knew how awful that place was, from the few stories she had told him, and Barricade seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
"We don't want to be the same as that place," Frenzy told her, moving closer. He had been keeping his distance since she finally let him go, but now he felt a need to have her close again. He glanced at Barricade, who was eying him warily. "I can research it if you like."
She smiled at him. "Don't cause yourself trouble because of me," she told him fondly.
"I want to," he argued. "You stood up to Megatron for me. I have to pay you back somehow."
She looked shocked.
"That's not why I did it. I never thought of holding a debt over you," she explained.
"Why did you do it?" he asked her, while they were on the topic. "He could have killed you."
"I would have done the same for Barricade," she looked at him confused. "You two are my friends. The only friends I've had my whole life. I treasure you more than anything."
They were both stunned.
'She would do the same for me? I'm her friend?' Barricade found himself thinking in wonder. 'I've hardly had anything to do with her… I guess it doesn't say much for her interactions with the humans…'
Frenzy inched closer again.
"Now I have to pay you back," he told her, and grinned at her confused expression. "Because we're friends."
She felt a smile spread across her face, and she grinned back. This was the first time they had said it out loud.
Feeling slightly left out, Barricade put his hand down between the two, and moved his face close to her, so her attention was fixed on him.
"I will help you too," he said, seriously, as she beamed at him.
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Muahahaha
Poor Starscream... He'll have a bigger role coming up soon, although I'm not sure how it's going to work out at the moment
Guess we'll have to wait and see
Peace out, and...
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