Nightbird

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to Hasbro. Nightbird is mine.

(Thoughts)

=Speaking Cybertronian=

::comlink::

Emma was enjoying the tour of the ship. She saw some Decepticon drones stare at her earlier and that made her a little nervous, but they waved at her and she waved back smiling a little. She noticed other drones that saw her either waved at her or looked at her in disgust. Frenzy explained that most of them didn't like humans in general. That was alright to her; from her experience her own kind can be mean and nasty to others. So she can see why they would act like that. She also met a bot that looked like part of a helicopter. Barricade told her that that was Blackout, another member who's kind of mean to everyone. When Blackout saw the human sitting in his hand he raised his weapon towards her. That got him a punch to the face by the Police Cruiser. After explaining who she was Blackout was surprised that a human willingly joined them, but not so surprised at how terrified she looked. He even laughed at her expression. Emma thought that he was a little crazy and might stay away from him... But the Mech she really liked was Knockout, the Decepticon Medic. She remembered seeing him in a room, which was the Medical Bay, before and liked how nice he was towards her. She also noticed that he flirted with a lot of bots on board the ship, most often with Barricade who threatened to ruin his paintjob. To her it was funny seeing Knockout fuss over his paint.

Right now they were heading towards a room prepared for Emma when a Mech stomped towards them. His wings looked like they were ready to break since they were twitching so much. Emma hid behind Barricade's fingers and watched as the Mech started yelling.

"Barricade! I told you to be discreet when on patrol! Soundwave picked up a Police report of three humans that almost offlined in an alley! And the human authorities are on a lookout for a Mustang police car speeding off!" The Mech folded his arms and glared at him. "Last thing we need is humans picking up on our signal, you need to be more discreet or I will-"

"It wasn't his fault!"

The Mech raised an optic ridge and looked down at the source of the noise. Emma peeked out from her friend's fingers and shyly waved at him. Frenzy hid behind her as the bot glared at them.

"Um... H-hello..."

"What the Frag? Oh... you're the human I've heard about from Lord Megatron... Tell me Cade', is she your pet now?"

"Frag off Starscream..." mumbled Barricade. "Emma is our new recruit, not a pet. And shut your damn mouth, those humans deserved that aft-whooping! They threw Mud on me!"

Starscream vented and leered at him. "Even if that were the case, you still had a job to do and I expect for you to do it right."

Emma didn't like how Starscream was acting so she boldly spoke up again. "Hey! It wasn't his fault! They were mean to him! S-so don't talk down to him!"

Barricade and Frenzy laughed at how Starscream's face looked when Emma yelled at him. He rolled his optics and walked past him, muttering to himself. "Stupid fleshing..."

Emma huffed and crossed her arms, irritated at the seeker. "Who is he and why does he act like he's the boss?"

Barricade chuckled. "That is Starscream, Second-In-Command and a VERY annoying pain-in-the-aft seeker. He acts like he's the boss of everyone on board..."

"I don't like him." said Frenzy. "He almost killed me during target practice!"

"Hey, Soundwave reattached your arm didn't he?"

"Yes... Still, that slagging hurt!" Frenzy grumbled in Cybertronian as Emma looked at both of them. The name they mentioned sounded familiar... "Are you two talking about Shockwave?" Barricade looked at her and shook his helm. "Nope, Soundwave. He's our Communications Officer and a Spy. Their names sound alike but unrelated."

"Ohhh... That explains the similarities..." She smiled at him. "I'd like to meet him!"

Barricade raised an optic ridge. "Uhh... really? I may not like him too much but he's... Weird. That's all I can say."

"Please Mr. Cade?" She gave him a 'puppy-eyed' look that got Frenzy laughing and Barricade secretly wanting to hide somewhere from the gaze. He quickly looked away and muttered. "Alright, alright, enough with the look... I'll take you to meet him." He didn't show it but he was trying not to blush, if the others saw him obeying a human like that he'll never hear the end of it. Emma giggled seeing his face. "Thank you!"

"Whatever..." he muttered. "And Emma? Try not to call me that when we're around others. Alright?"

She nodded. "I promise."

"He has three rooms he likes to use so let's check one of them." They walked down a different hallway until they came to one of Soundwave's rooms that he used. Knocking on the door twice Barricade called out to him and waited for an answer. When none came he proceeded to knock again until said bot himself opened the door quickly, making Barricade almost jump in surprise.

"Primus don't do that!"

Soundwave just stared at him then saw the girl sitting in his hand. He tilted his helm as he stared at her, which made Emma once again be a little nervous. She saw Frenzy hop out of Barricade's hand and sit on his creator's shoulder, hugging the side of his helm.

"E-Emma! This Soundwave! He created me and my brother Rumble!"

"O-oh..." Emma saw that he was still staring at her so she shyly waved at him. "H-hello... Soundwave... I uh… wanted to meet you." She tried smiling at him only for him to tilt his helm the opposite way. Barricade lifted his hand so she was near his mouthplates and whispered in her ear. "Soundwave doesn't talk much... But he's happy to meet you."

Emma whispered back. "Really? So he took a vow of silence?"

"Yup. Rarely talks. Hope you're good at reading expressions kid." Barricade grinned.

Emma chuckled nervously. "I hope so..."

Soundwave didn't hear their conversation about him since he was busy tickling his mini-con. Frenzy was laughing as he swatted away his finger. Soon another mini-con showed up that looked like Frenzy except he was a reddish color and immediately jumped on Frenzy tickling him also. "S-stop it Rumble! That tickles!"

The mini-con laughed and continued tickling him some more. "So what? You can't do nuttin'!"

Emma heard laughing and looked in Soundwave's hand where the two mini-con's played with each other. (So that's his brother? And Soundwave created them? Amazing...)

Soundwave looked at Emma and spoke up, almost smirking at her shocked expression.

"I saved and rebuilt them... So in a sense, I am their creator..."

She stuttered, wondering how he could've known what she was thinking. Barricade sighed and shook his helm. "Oh yeah, this slaggin' prick can read minds. So be careful what you think about around him."

"A mind reader?!" she squeaked out. Looking back at him she saw him smirking at her. Setting his mini-cons on his shoulder he used a tentacle and gently wrapped it around her waist. Emma tried backing away from the strange appendage when a thought came to her. (He reminds me of that one Hentai Anime I accidently watched...) Realizing what she thought of a little too late she put her hand over her mouth and looked up at him trying not to blush. Soundwave did read her mind but never heard of this Hentai. Curious, he looked it up and suddenly grinned. Barricade noticed this and frowned, Soundwave never grins unless he's killing someone. And seeing his tentacle around Emma made him a little upset. "Hey, ya mind? You're freaking her out."

The Mech retracted his tentacle and continued grinning as he searched Emma's mind, he found out that she knew little of the world and had an innocent mind, knowing only so much. "Um... D-don't r-read my mind p-please..." Emma was still blushing at the thought she had of him, which made Soundwave keep grinning. "Then... Don't think so much of my 'appendages'..."

The way he said that word caused her to bring her hood over her head and hide her face from him. Barricade rolled his optics, whenever the Spy saw something he liked he always teased them. He brought Emma close to his chest and glared at him. "Alright quit it you fragger, I'm gonna take her to her room."

He turned to leave but Soundwave stopped him and pointed to his computer screen, there he saw a live feed of someone's house and instantly recognized it. It was Emma's house and saw that her mother was already at home. "Oh slaggit… forgot about that…"

Emma took off her hood and turned her head to see what they were looking at. Seeing her house on screen and her mother going inside the house made her gasp. Checking the time on her cell phone, she saw it was 4:45. Not thinking clearly she got nervous and panicked.

"OH NO! My mom knows I'm not at home and is probably calling the police to find me! Oh no! Oh no!"

"Calm down kid, you're safe with us." said Barricade. "Even if she called the cops let her, you been abused by her far too long."

"I know... but she has my cell phone number and is gonna call me..." Emma was scared and worried as she gripped her phone. Soundwave made a motion for them to follow him and lead them to another computer where all of Emma's files he collected were. Beforehand he copied them before erasing the others, knowing that the human would ask to meet him. He then pressed a button as the computer started deleting the file. Emma watched as everything about her was slowly being deleted. After it was done the computer said in an electronic voice "Files deleted." The girl turned her head and saw Soundwave this time with no expression on his face, other than his optics glowing in a playful way.

"Wow... So, even if she tries to find me, there won't be anything for the cops to look for?" she asked him. He nodded and pointed to her cell phone. Wondering why he was pointing at it, Barricade knew what he wanted. "Hey, that can send out a signal for the humans to find not only you, but us as well. Better get rid of it."

Emma looked at her phone and sighed, she liked her Android but didn't like the fact it could be traced to her location. So she gave it to Frenzy, who climbed into Barricade's hand along with Rumble. "Well... I don't need it anymore... Do you want it Frenzy?"

"YEAH YEAH! GIMMIE!" Frenzy snatched the device from her and began hacking into it, deleting everything on it and reprograming it to suit it to his tastes. Suddenly Rumble took it and ran towards the computer with his brother following.

"THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT!"

"NO! I WANNA SEE IT!"

Emma chuckled seeing the Mini-con brothers fight over the phone. She asked if she could walk around for a bit, Barricade hesitated but sat her down on the floor as she wandered around, keeping a close optic on her. Soundwave watched her as well but turned around to stop Frenzy and Rumble from fighting. Emma looked around his room and saw it looked more like an office than a bedroom. Then, out of the corner of her eye she could've sworn she saw something move and turned her head. She gasped as she saw a robotic cat jump off a ledge and land in front of her. She also saw a robotic bird fly towards her, landing in front of her. The cat was the size of a Tiger and had one red optic. It was jet black with a mouth full of sharp fangs and had a bladed tail. The bird had two reddish optics and was purple and black colored. It was a little bigger than the cat but looked vicious. Emma took a step back, amazed to see robotic animals but scared of them. She was even more amazed when they spoke to her.

"What's the matter fleshling? Cat got your tongue?" the feline snickered.

"I think she's afraid of us. Hehehe..." said the bird.

"W-who are you two?" Emma timidly asked. The robotic cat walked closer and spoke up first. "We are Master Soundwave's friends. I am Ravage, and this is my friend Laserbeak. So... You're the human who's going to join us Decepticons huh?" Ravage walked in a circle around her, slowly looking like he's stalking potential prey. The bird named Laserbeak snickered as he flapped his wings, flying towards her and landing next to her. "She doesn't look like much to me Ravage. Looks like a scaredy-cat fleshy."

Emma didn't like how they were looking at her so she tried backing away, only to hit the back of the robotic cat. Ravage and Laserbeak kept snickering at her until she got fed up with it.

"Quit laughing at me!"

They both stopped and stared at her for a bit then started back laughing again. Emma didn't like it, the way they were laughing at her. It reminded her of the constant teasing and bulling she had to go through. Temporarily forgetting where she was, she put her hands over her ears and started screaming at them. This caught the attention of Barricade (who was still watching), Soundwave, and the mini-con twins. They looked at her as she suddenly ran towards Ravage and punched him on the side of his head, then ran in the opposite direction and kicked Laserbeak in the chassis. Emma hit both of them with so much force that they fell backwards, despite both Mechanimals being heavier than her. Rumble and Frenzy started laughing at them as they struggled to get up. Ravage and Laserbeak didn't like being hit by a human so much, so when they got up they saw her glaring at them. They both growled at her.

"You think you could just lay your filthy hands on us human?!" Yelled Laserbeak.

"That's it, you are DEAD!" Snarled Ravage. They both charged at her, not caring that she was the new recruit. They wanted her dead. Soundwave looked at Barricade and saw him smirking a little. He tapped his shoulder to get his attention and pointed at her, who strangely showed no fear towards the Mechanimals. Barricade only chuckled and told him through the comlink to just watch.

What Barricade found out during his research on Autism is that humans with the mild level, like Emma for instance, had abnormal strength in their bodies. Like superhuman strength. Whether this was nature's way of protecting the lame he didn't know, but he knew one thing: Ravage and Laserbeak were in trouble.

Emma strangely felt no fear towards them, only the desire to kill them. She hadn't felt that way since she beat up those bullies Tim and Bryan. If she was going to have a new life here with the Decepticons then she needed to put some of them in their place. She saw the Mechanimals running towards her but she wasn't afraid. She waited until they got close enough, then ran towards Laserbeak and spun around, hitting his face with a roundhouse kick that knocked him on the floor. Ravage jumped over his friend and charged at her with fangs bared. Emma smirked and quickly ran in the other direction, then did something even Frenzy and Rumble thought was stupid: She jumped on the big cat's back and grabbed his ears, pulling them backwards while kicking his sides hard. Ravage snarled and tried to get the girl off but all she did was pull harder and laugh. Laserbeak got up and shook himself out of his daze, seeing Emma on top of Ravage trying to rein him in like a horse got him upset. He screeched and flew over to her, only for Emma to kick the cat's sides again in a way that made him turn around, getting the bird's claws in his face. Emma then jumped off and ran towards Barricade's footped, sitting on it and laughing. At this point she wasn't angry at them anymore, she rather liked the two Mechanimals. They both glared at her and got ready to pounce on her again but a tentacle stopped them. Ravage and Laserbeak looked up at Soundwave, who only shook his helm. Understanding what he meant they growled deeply, annoyed that they couldn't maim her.

"WHAT THE FRAG BOSS?!" yelled Laserbeak. "YOU SAW HER! SHE FRAGGING PUNCHED ME, IN MY DAMN BEAK!"

"AND SHE RODE ME AROUND LIKE A SLAGGING PACK-MULE!" yelled Ravage. "YOU JUST GONNA LET HER DO THAT?!"

Soundwave just stared at them and pointed at Barricade, who was now holding a giggling Emma in his hand. Frenzy and Rumble rolled on the computer desk laughing their afts off. The two Mechanimals growled again and just sat there, wondering how a human could've beat them like that. Barricade smirked at the human in his hand, he knew she had abnormal strength and wasn't worried about her getting hurt by those two idiots.

"I'm surprised you did that Emma. You got natural talent as a fighter."

She giggled. "Yeah… They were making fun of me so I had to do something. I used to have a pet who thought he could do whatever he wanted, so I simply showed those two who was the boss."

"WE'RE NOT PETS!" Ravage and Laserbeak yelled.

"Yes you are! Hahahaha!" said Frenzy.

"D'aww! Widdle kitty and birdie get their afts kicked?" Rumble and Frenzy both laughed until they felt themselves being thrown to the floor. Ravage jumped up and grabbed both of the Mini-cons, then threw them on the floor, where Laserbeak proceeded to (at least try to) peck their optics out. Soundwave lightly shook his helm at how his Mini-cons and Mechanimals acted. Barricade snickered at them until he heard an odd sound coming from Emma. He looked down and saw her yawning.

"Tired?"

She nodded. "Yeah… A little bit…"

"Heh, more like a lot of bit. Let's go to your room. See you later Soundwave." He turned and left the room. Soundwave then checked his computer while his charges fought each other.

Barricade found the room that was to be Emma's and sat her down. Curious, Emma opened her door and saw a bed and what looked like a bathroom. She looked up at Barricade and asked a question.

"Did this room belong to another human or to Frenzy and Rumble?"

He shrugged. "I know a Mini-con used to use that room years ago, but not any human. It's all yours."

"Oh." She glanced back in and smiled. It wasn't nothing fancy but she liked it. "Arigato Barricade."

The Mustang raised an optic ridge. "Arigato?"

"It means 'Thank you' in Japanese."

"Oh. Slag you humans speak too many languages, just pick one and stick with that." He grumbled.

"That'll take all the fun out of it." She smiled up at him. "It's fun to learn another language that's not of your own. You did."

Barricade had to agree on that. Earth's languages are diverse but annoying. Why humans spoke nearly 30+ languages was beyond him. "Eh, whatever. Now recharge."

Emma nodded and went in her room. "Night Mr. Cade." She shut the door and laid in her bed, it was so soft and comfortable that she fell asleep soon after laying in it. Barricade then left to his own room so he could get some recharge in. He idly wondered what Emma will look like after her enhancement. Will his charge be the same or have a different personality? He blinked and smirked a little at the thought.

(Heh, Can't believe I'm thinking about being a Guardian to her… This will be interesting…)

AN: Review if you want. Also, I drew two drawings of what Emma would look like before and after her enhancement. It's on my DeviantArt page. Just look up SaphiraLuxray405, that's me. I'm planning on drawing my characters like the other authors on here. Easier than just imagining it.