Hey guys! Bet you thought it'd be a while before I updated again huh? Well here's the next installment! Thank you all for your reviews! Enjoy!
And also, to Psychic-Ghost and to everyone who noticed the same issue, I had to laugh when I saw the comment. I make the same mistake in my other Inuyasha fic. I tried to go back and fix this mistake in this fic but I have obviously missed a few. In my other fic I ended up doing it so much that I actually just made it permanent so as not to confuse the readers. I promise to try and watch myself in this fic lol.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, but I DO own Project Seven.
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"What are we to do?" Ratchet asked Optimus through the internal comm link.
"Just stay still for a moment Autobots... They probably don't even know that it's us. If the children could just get to us, we could make it out of here..." Optimus replied firmly as he watched the three humans exit the rear of the building.
"But the children will be caught! We can't just-" Ironhide began to protest.
"We cannot do anything at the moment, unless we are to blow our cover. Just be patient," Optimus scolded.
Just as Optimus had said this, however, a large group of the officers began to flock towards the rear of the building. The Autobots couldn't help but tense up at the situation. Jazz was able to hack into the human's communications and played it over their internal comm link.
We've got the back! There's movement in the trees! Gamma team, take the flanks!"
"On it now, sir!"
All of the helicopters migrated to the trees where they began to shine bright flood lights down upon the search.
"No one here!"
"This area cleared as well sir!"
"Clear here-... wait... I've got some movement... I'm going in to check..."
The man left his radio on a continuous circuit as there was a moment of silence, followed by screams to "get down on the ground" and "get your hands up!".
"I've got one of them sir!"
"Who is it?!"
"She says that her name is Andrews! We've got the missing scientist sir! It's Lillian Andrews!"
"Where are the other two?!"
The Autobots were silently think of how to diffuse the situation when they saw two figures running from behind the building.
"It's Sam and Mikaela!" Jazz yelled happily.
The two teens ran towards Bumblebee, who happily opened his doors to them, the five Autobots then leaving the area quickly and quietly.
"How did you two get away?!" Optimus was confused.
As the two caught their breaths, they spoke in turn.
"Lillian... distracted them and..." Sam started.
"We managed to get away... but she got caught..." Mikaela finished.
"Thank Primus that you two were able to get away, at least," Jazz commented.
"We should probably keep driving for a while, at least until we know we won't be caught if we stop to rest," Optimus ordered, the others in agreement.
They hadn't traveled for more than twenty minutes or so in silence before they noticed something on the highway. There were two cars that had been turned over, and were on each side of the road, smoke and fluids leaking from each one. They slowed down to a mere crawl as they looked around, seeing tires and parts everywhere.
"Should we do something?" Sam asked.
"I detect two life signs, one from each vehicle. They are badly damaged and unconscious..." Ratchet commented.
"Jazz, radio a signal for help through the human communications emergency line," Optimus ordered as they came to a stop.
"Yes sir!" Jazz did so.
Sam and Mikaela jumped out of Bumblebee as they ran to either car.
"Can't we help them?" Mikaela looked to the group for help as she saw the bloody mess of a man in a small sports car, the window somehow unshattered.
"It would be best not to move them until the human medical team arrives, but we could probably turn the cars upright easily without jostling them around too much. That would help the humans get to them faster," Ratchet replied.
Ratchet and Ironhide transformed into their humanoid forms and carefully turned the cars over, so as not to let the humans inside be moved around. As they finished this, they looked down the dark road to see, what looked to be, a human walked towards them in the middle of the highway.
"Who's that?" Sam asked.
As the person neared them, Ratchet's optics widened, "Get back you two!" he corralled the two teens back to Bumblebee.
"What is it?!" Mikaela asked, getting irritated.
The three remaining Autobots who had not transformed from their alt modes, turned their headlights on bright, pointing towards the figure. It didn't take more than a few more seconds before everyone recognized who it was and readied for battle.
A smirking Five walked towards the group. It wouldn't have made them so mad to see her, if they hadn't seen the dried blood caked on her face and clothing. It was all over her, streaks of it smeared on her entire body.
"Ratchet-" Optimus began before the medic answered.
"It's Catherine's blood, none of it belongs to Five!" he growled.
The woman stopped a few yards short of them and laughed.
"What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see me?!" her homicidal smile making everyone cringe.
"Where's Catherine?!" Optimus yelled with fury. He just couldn't understand why humans would do that to one another.
Five's smirk didn't dissipate as she looked to the cars on the road, the humans in them beginning to wake.
"I figured you'd stop for them..." she laughed again.
The rest of the group transformed into their humanoid forms and looked to the civilian cars, then back to Five.
"You... You caused this?!" Optimus asked.
"Well I needed a way to get you to slow down enough for me to talk," she shrugged as if nothing was wrong.
"Where's Cat?!" Mikaela yelled in anger.
Five sighed heavily and closed her eyes, her smirk had faded into an expressionless face.
"She's been taken care of... Right now I'm on another mission," she looked back up to them as she finished.
"Are you here to fight us then?!" Ironhide was practically shaking he was so angry.
"No, not for battle... I'm here to take you somewhere," she said casually.
"And where is that?!" Ratchet asked.
"You're looking for a specific item known as the "Allspark" to you correct? Well I'm here to actually take you there," she said crossing her arms.
"How do you know of the Allspark?!" Optimus asked.
Five rolled her yellow eyes, "I was in Seven's mind, remember? I know everything she knows... Now, you're going to play nice-nice with me or I'll destroy you all... Reasonable?"
"Why do you want to help us?!" Sam asked.
"I've got nothing better to do now," the girl smiled.
The group of Autobots armed themselves and pointed all of their arseniuret to the girl, rumbling with rage.
"Look, you can either let me take you there, or you can all die. The first ones to go will be them," she pointed to Sam and Mikaela.
"You're in no position to tell us who lives and who dies!" Ironhide scorned.
Just as they were watching Five stand still in front of them, she was gone in a flash. The mechs frantically searching around them before hearing a whistle. They turned to the children and gasped. Five had both arms around the necks of Sam and Mikaela, who were struggling against her.
"Killing them isn't something that I really care too much about. If they die, then their blood is on your own hands for being careless," she taunted.
The Autobots weren't sure what to do, their only charges were now in the hands of a murderous lunatic, and they had no way of stopping their eminent deaths.
"Now you boys behave yourselves and turn back into those nice car forms of yours. We'll go from there," she closed her giddy eyes.
They didn't have much choice. The Autobots obeyed the girl and they all transformed back into their alt modes, revving their engines in anger. Five let the two humans go and pushed them away. Bumblebee approached them quickly, urgently honking his horn in order to motion them to climb into his cab. They did so quickly after stumbling away from the wicked woman.
Five casually walked over to Optimus and climbed up to the driver's side door, "Knock knock, old man," she said as she cheerfully knocked on the door.
Optimus rumbled but opened the door for her as she got into the cab, the door slamming hard behind her.
"The human emergency response vehicles are nearly here, so let's be on our way!" Five said in another gleeful tone.
Optimus began to roll forward before he was stopped, "No, no. I'll be the one to drive. We don't want to be silly and take the main roads now do we?"
Optimus scowled but relented control of the driving to the girl. She roughly shifted gears as she took control and guided the group to the next exit, as she took a different back road path.
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They had driven for two hours, night turning into a long path North. They finally stopped with a few hours until dawn, on a high cliff, above a large river.
"Where are we?" Sam asked.
"A river that runs down from Lake Meade," Five explained as she jumped out of Optimus's semi cab.
"Why have we stopped?" The Autobot leader asked in a grumble.
"Now we wait..." Five said as she looked over the cliff.
"Wait for what?!" Mikaela asked.
Five didn't answer as she kept her eyes focused over the cliff and said, "You all should probably sleep for a while, it's going to be a long day tomorrow..."
Mikaela turned to Sam and asked in a whisper, "So first she threatens to kill us, and now she's worried that we'll be sleep deprived?!"
Five replied before Sam could answer, "Fine, stay awake... Do what you want..."
Before anyone knew exactly why, Five jumped down the cliff, jumping from rock to rock until reaching the bottom. Everyone ran to the edge to watch as she sat next to the edge of the water and washed the caked on blood from her arms, legs and face.
"I don't like this..." Sam said.
"What are we supposed to do? If we try and leave, she'll come after us and possibly kill us all!" Mikaela threw her hands up in frustration.
"However, she did make a good point. It's probably best that we all recharge for the night..." Optimus pointed out.
They watched for a moment as the girl stared blankly into the shimmering water in the nearly full moonlight. So far, it had been the only moment when this version of their friend looked remotely saddened or upset.
"Do you think that she actually feels regret?" Sam asked, all of them still watching her as she looked to her shirt at the dark red, dried substance.
"Humans can't hide from their emotions, just the same as a Cybertronian can't... I'm sure there's something inside of her trying to make sense of things... But it doesn't make up for the damage that's already been done..." Optimus said as he and the other Autobots walked away from the cliff to settle in for the night.
Sam stood at the edge for a few moments longer and watched as Five looked into the water at herself for just a little while before punching at the water, splashing the image away and dug her fingers into the dirt, lowering her head and looking away from the water.
"Come on Sam... We'd better sleep..." Mikaela shook the boy out of his watching over of Five and they both walked over to Bumblebee, all ready for a good sleep.
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It was the very crack of dawn. The sun had just barely risen, meaning there was still very little sunlight over the cliffs, and the desert was still cool from the night's sunless evening.
A small buzzing sound alerted the group that someone was nearby and getting closer. Sam and Mikaela jumped out of Bumblebee's cab as they looked to Five, who stood on one of the nearby boulders with her arms crossed, staring at the newly and barely risen sun.
"What's going on?!" Ironhide scowled, the group looking to Five.
"...They've arrived..." she said with a very slight smirk.
"Who's arrived?" Sam asked, looking at the horizon and seeing a cloud of dust flying up around a black vehicle.
"That's... That's one of the government's SUV's! You've brought the government here to take us haven't you?!" Mikaela shouted, making the others stir with growls and preparing to defend themselves.
"Settle down... You're making fools of yourselves..." Five groaned, rolling her eyes.
The black SUV approached the group and slammed on it's brakes as it swerved to a stop. The cloud of dust that it left made the group shade their eyes and wave their hands around to clear the air.
Once the dust settled a bit, they heard the driver's side and passenger side doors open, and saw two figures dressed in black suits, black hats and sunglasses emerge. The Autobots looked to one another almost in disbelief, but staying rather hushed.
Sam and Mikaela stepped forward and stared at the two figures as they closed the doors and walked forward.
"Who... Who are you?! What do you want?!" Mikaela yelled to them.
The two figures stopped just a couple of yards away from the group and looked to each other and smiled. They both looked back to everyone as they reached up and took off both the hat and sunglasses.
"No... No way!" Sam cried out as his astonished expression turned into one of glee, Mikaela as well.
The Autobots were certain that their optics were deceiving them, and each of them scanned the two figures over and over again, getting the same results each time.
"CAT!" Mikaela yelled, her and Sam running forward and hugging the girl in a tight hug.
Cat smiled and laughed a little as the two practically pummeled her, Lillian actually giving a sincere smile as well. After the two nearly strangled Cat with their hugs, they backed up, their minds swirling with questions just before Five grinned and jumped from the boulder, walking to the two who had just arrived.
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Chapter Teaser!
"So you didn't actually kill Cat? You just used her blood to make it all look real?" Jazz asked, confused.
Both Five and Cat frowned, looking to each other and then back to the group.
"No... The blood I had on me was from when I killed her all right... "