Nightbird

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro. Nightbird is mine.

(Thoughts)

=Speaking Cybertronian=

::comlink::

~Two weeks later…~

It's been two weeks since Emma met the cop Barry Cade and seen his Mustang. Ever since she first met him she couldn't stop thinking about him, or of his car. Besides his strange reddish eyes, there was something else about him that she liked. She just couldn't figure out what. Either way, Emma hoped to see the police officer again. At the moment she was walking out of school, since it was an early out for them, and started to walk home. Her mother would be working late and expected her to be at home at around 4:00, not knowing she had an early out at school, so she had time and decided to go to the local library. As she was walking however, she felt herself being pushed from behind and almost fell on the ground. She quickly turned around and frowned, seeing her tormentors Tim and Bryan glaring at her. Both boys were on a two-week suspension ever since Emma defended herself. But it seems like they were back and ready to torment her more.

"Hey ugly! What the fuck was that?! Because of you, our dad grounded us for the whole month!" Said Tim.

"Not only that, we got fucking suspended too! You had no right to kick our ass!" yelled Bryan.

Emma rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing from them. "….You two were the ones that bothered me… I had every right to protect myself from idiots like you…" She turned around to leave but Tim ran in front of her glaring at her. Bryan stood behind her and snatched her backpack, throwing it on the ground. Quickly turning around, she saw him give her an evil grin and tried to grab her backpack but as she moved they moved, blocking her path to escape.

"Leave me alone!" yelled Emma.

"What's the word I'm looking for…. Oh yeah, NO!" Bryan suddenly pushed her on the ground and kicked her in her side. Emma tried fighting back by biting his exposed ankle, which worked as he started screaming and hopping on one foot. Wincing in pain, she got up and took her backpack away from Tim, who was going through it and pulled out a Drawing Pad.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! SHE BIT ME!"

Tim laughed and shook his head. "The retards always bite, you ought to know that by now." Going through her pack, Emma noticed her drawing pad wasn't inside. Looking up she saw Tim going through the pages and carelessly ripping them as he looked. "Ew, this is a pathetic attempt at drawing. What is this? A Mustang?"

"Give that back!" She made a grab for it but the boy held the book up high so she couldn't reach it. Both boys saw that she was trying not to cry at their treatment of her and started busting up laughing.

"What? You gonna cry little baby?" teased Tim.

"Little babies that misbehave get a Time Out!" said Bryan. He slapped her across the face and pushed her down to the ground. Since no one else was around to help her she tried fighting back but got pushed to the ground again. At this point she gave up and started crying, clutching her throbbing side as she curled into a ball. She could hear their taunts and laughter as she cried.

(What am I doing? I can't fight back…. I can't even defend myself against mom's taunts…. I wish I could just die and be at peace…)

Tim and Bryan kept up their bulling until one of them screamed in pain. Bryan looked behind him and saw a police officer pick up the other boy and throw him on the ground. Then he made a grab for Bryan and held him up in the air. The boy struggled to break free but felt like he was in a death grip. The officer glared at him and spoke in a threatening tone.

"Listen you little bag of shit… If I ever see you or your friend bully her again… I'll rip out your insides and tear out your fucking heart… You hear me?"

The officer's piercing red eyes made Bryan shrink back in fear. He couldn't speak and felt his pants get wet at the sight of them. The officer, not getting a response, shook him and yelled in his face.

"I SAID IS THAT CLEAR YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!"

"Y-YES SIR! W-W-WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE LET ME GO! ME AND MY COUSIN PROMISE TO NEVER BULLY HER AGAIN!"

The officer grinned evilly and dropped him. "Good. Now get the fuck out of my sight…"

Bryan ran over to Tim and both ran like someone was after them. Emma, who was watching the whole thing, stood up and winced. Her side and her right cheek was hurting her bad.

"M-Mr. Cade?"

Barry grabbed her things and returned them to her. "You alright?"

She nodded and held her bag close to her. She wanted to cry again from the pain but didn't, but a few tears slipped out and she quickly covered her face. "T-thank you…"

"Whatever… At least you tried to fight back. I never expected the ankle-biting."

She looked up at him and whispered. "Y-you saw?"

He nodded. "Yup. Even though you're a femme, you got balls for pulling that trick."

Emma smiled a little as she wiped her tears away again. "T-thank you... Again..." She turned to walk away but gasped in pain. Her side hurt badly and no doubt a bruise was forming there. A small bruise was even forming on her cheek, yet she kept trying to walk home. Barry shook his head and sighed. (Damn... Even she doesn't deserve this...) He walked over and gently picked her up bridal-style and brought her over to his car. Emma blushed and stuttered, startled by the sudden action.

"W-w-what are you d-doing?! Ow!"

"Jeez! Calm down! You have bad injuries so I'm driving you home. Quit squirming, you'll make it worse."

She calmed down a little and looked away, feeling even more embarresed. "O-oh... okay... um, sorry Mr. Cade."

The cop didn't say anything as he carried her to his car, the door opening as soon as they got close. He sat her inside and got in the driver's side, both doors closing as the engine turned on as he drove off the school grounds. He looked at her and saw that she kept rubbing her eyes, obiously a failed attempt at not crying. Even though he didn't care about her injuries, he felt compelled to ask her about them.

"You in pain?"

Emma slowly nodded her head, not in the mood to talk. She felt her seat warm up and vibrate gently to give her some kind of relief from the pain. She relaxed and turned her head in the seat. As they drove he heard Frenzy, disguised as a radio in the backseat, speak to him through the comlink. ::Barri Barri? Are you gonna take her to Shockwave now?::

::No Frenzy. Not yet.::

::Why? Shockwave said to bring a suitable human for his experiment.::

::I know. I'm curious to see why she acts the way she does. I don't believe everything I read in her file is the truth, there's got to be a reason why she is glitched.::

He could hear Frenzy sigh over the comlink. ::She don't look glitched. Ugh, I don't understand humans. If one of their own is glitched they shun them or terminate them. Don't get it at all.::

::I don't either...:: Barry glanced over at the girl in his passenger seat and saw that her eyes were closed, but she wasn't asleep. They drove around for a while in silence until Emma spoke up.

"Mr. Cade?"

"Hm?"

"Um... My mother doesn't know that school let out early... so... is it okay if I stay with you for a while? I-if you're not busy or anything..."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Why? You don't want to go home? That's where I was taking you."

She shook her head. "No... I don't want my mother asking questions... She already thinks I can't take care of myself..."

Barry shrugged. "Fine. I'm not doing anything." He turned down a street where the 99c Store was and parked at the far end of the parking lot. Cutting off the engine, he turned to her and saw her looking at him. "Tell me something, why don't you want to go home?" Of course he already knew why, but he needed to hear from Emma herself. Emma stared at him for a few seconds before looking away. She rubbed her arm and wondered how she was going to answer him. A few minutes went by and she hasn't said anything, which made Barry groan and rub his head.

"Fine. Don't say anything. I was only curious."

"...I'll tell you if you want to know sir. B-but before I do I want to-to ask something."

"Ask away."

Emma took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then opened them again. "D-do you know of a place people like me can... can start a new life?"

"A new life?"

"Yeah..."

Barry folded his arms and stared at her, his reddish crimson eyes staring back at Emma's light brown ones. He could see not only fear but determination in them. He wondered why she would have fear in her eyes? Could something be happening at home with her mother? He decided to listen to her and find out about her problem. "Well... There IS a place you can go to. My friend is looking for someone to try out an experiment on. You could say its like having a new life and new identity. If you want you can leave whatever problems you have behind and start out that new life."

Emma blinked. She couldn't believe that the police had that option. "R-really? The police has this option for people like me?"

"The Police know nothing about it. It's a secret that only I know of. But if you really want to start a new life, you're gonna have to tell me why you want to leave your old life behind."

Emma in all honestly didn't want to tell him. Because as a cop everything he'll hear he'll have to report to the police station. And she didn't want the hassle and drama of cops knocking on her door and asking questions about abuse. She was going to ask but Barry beat her to it.

"By the way, this will stay between us. I may be a cop but this won't be spread to the other cops. Okay?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. Well that part was over, now she can tell him why she wanted a new life. "Well... Mr. Cade? The reason I want a new life is because... I want to escape. Escape living under mom's roof. You see, um... I was born with a mental disability called Autism. Because of this I'm kind of slow on certain things. But the upside is that I can learn faster just by watching or someone teaching me, I may not look it, but I'm really smart. The only good thing about it is that I have a lot of talents, one of them being able to hack into computers. I rarely do it though. A-anyway the main reason I want to leave is because my mom... she always treats me like crap just because I have this disablity. People think that just because somethings wrong with you they have to treat you like crap and stuff. It's not right. I've suffered verbal abuse from her bullying me. Not only that, I get bullied at school because of it. You saw those boys beating me up, they always tease and pick on me. I've always been bullied ever since I learned how to speak and I'm sick of it! I've even thought about killing myself because of all the hurt and heartache I've endured over the years..." She paused to wipe her eyes as tears began to fall. "I feel like a bird trapped in a cage, with no where to go, always having to suffer the constant bullying... I want to be free to do whatever I want!"

At this point she was crying into her backpack, hiding her face so the cop wouldn't see her tears. For once in his life, Barricade felt sorry for this human. As did Frenzy, who was listening in. Then he did something that surprised even himself: He reached over and brought her closer to him, giving her a hug. He let her cry out her frustrations as he gently rocked her back and forth. Frenzy, using his visual scanners to see, was equally shocked at what he saw. But said nothing as he watched his friend calm down the crying girl. Soon she stopped crying and hugged him tighter, not wanting to let go of him. She felt stupid though, she only met him once and already she was spilling out her thoughts to him. Emma didn't know why, but in her heart she felt like she could trust him. But still felt stupid for acting like a cry-baby. She felt the cop gently push her off of him and wipe the tears off her face. Looking into his eyes, she saw that they were a little brighter than normal.

"Listen Emma, just because you're disabled doesn't mean you should feel that way about yourself. From what I've heard from you, you have a lot of good abillites at your disposal. You really hack into electronics?"

She nodded. "Yes... but I try not to do it that often... I don't want to get caught..."

He grinned. "I think it's a great ability to have. Now I believe you."

"Huh? Believe me?"

"Yeah. I looked up your personal file and saw some things that disturbed me. Is it true you tried to run away years ago? All because you wanted to be free from your mother?"

Emma looked down and nodded. "Yeah... She yelled at me because... because I kept getting her dircetions wrong... I freaked out and ran away, even trying to jump off a bridge once..."

Barry sighed and rubbed his eyes. No human should go through this, no matter how much he didn't like them. Treating her that way all because she had a glitch? Some of his friends have glitches and not once did they get bullied. He felt like cursing out the poor girl's mother, the nerve of that bitch. Now, he wanted to help her out more so than ever.

"Hey, do you want to escape now? Turn back on this life and begin anew? Just say the word and we're out of here."

Emma thought about it for a few minutes. If she ran away again, her overprotective mother would surely find her, but somehow she doubt it was possible this time. If she went with him, will she be free? Free from all the tormentors and heartache? After thinking about it she looked up at Barry, who was waiting patently for an answer.

"Let's leave. Right now."

Barry smiled in an somewhat evil way. He started the car and drove off the parking lot, heading out of town. "Oh, one of my friends is a hacker so he'll make it to where you disappear. You know the term 'Off the Grid'?"

Emma nodded. She didn't care anymore. She finally was going to have the life she wanted to have. As they got on the freeway she suddenly felt sleepy. She tried to keep her eyes open but felt them get heavier. She heard Barry chuckle and pat her arm.

"You must be tired. Sleep. I'll wake you once we get to our destination."

"...Okay... I trust you Mr. Cade..."

Soon Emma fell into a deep sleep, her backpack falling on the floor. Unknown to her Barricade released a sleeping gas that caused her to fall asleep. Frenzy decided to transform into his robotic mode and look over at her. He gently poked her cheek and saw that she was asleep. He giggled and poked the cop's arm.

=Hehehehhehe! Gas worked! Hey Barri barri! Never seen you so sentimental, to a human no less! I'll admit I do feel sorry for her.=

=Heh, well she doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. You could say I'm happy to help her.=

Frenzy made some twittering sounds and grabbed Emma's backpack. Only things in there were her schoolbooks, a drawing pad, a laptop, and her cellphone. He decided to look through her phone as a thought came to him, causing him to laugh.

=And what is so funny?= Asked Barricade.

=Squishy girl said that she trusted you! I wonder how she'll feel once she finds out who we really are? Hehehehehe!=

Barricade, or rather his holoform, shrugged. =Don't know. But I have a feeling she'll see us as her new family. Now Shockwave can stop bugging me about finding a willing human. Emma's willing enough to go through with the experiment.=

=Uh huh! Uh huh! Ooooh! She has Candy Crush on her phone!=

Barricade laughed at how his friend sounded. =You and your games...= Seeing no use for his holoform, it disappeared as he sped on the freeway out of town, towards a destination where no human would ever think to go to.