Okay, here's the next chapter! Had a hard time even working on the computer because my sister is a computer hog and there was a major storm that kept turning off our Internet.
Enjoy!
I don't know how long I sat in that warehouse for, probably a few hours, but it felt so much longer than that. I had no idea where Sideways was, or if he was even still in the warehouse and my only line of defense took off without a trace. I was scared, but I tried not to let it show in case Sideways was secretly watching me, but I wasn't sure how badly I was failing. I could feel myself slightly shaking.
Every little noise set me off. A rat scuffling and scurrying in the corner made me think it was Sideways coming. My eyes searched the shadows, all around the abandoned building. I stopped, facing the doors, barely cracked open, darkness setting in outside.
'This could be my chance!' I thought; hope finding its way into me. I took one step towards the door and froze. The feeling of being watched creeping its way down my spine, giving me chills and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I slowly turned around and nearly screamed at the sight of glowing crimson optics glaring down at me.
"Now, why am I not surprised to see this? This situation that you're in, trying to decide whether it's a good idea to try and escape." He said calmly, almost too calmly, as he stepped out of the shadows.
"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, my voice shaking a little. I tried to control myself, but I could tell I was pale and shaking.
"I never left." My heart skipped a beat. If he never left, then did that mean he heard the conversation between me and Barricade?
"I have to say, I'm very disappointed in Barricade. True, I had a feeling he would eventually turn on me, but I never expected him, a Decepticon, to turn on his master and aid a human of all creatures."
I glared at him, taking offense to that comment but remained quiet.
"He had so much potential, but now it makes me wonder…" he shifted his optics to me, "how attached he's gotten to you."
I couldn't help but widen my eyes a bit. What was the reason behind Barricade's helping me? He always said how much he hated humans, all of the Decepticons do, so why am I any exception? More importantly, was he going to come back for me?
Sideways smirked. "Yes, he does appear to have grown quite fond over you for some reason."
"If that's true, then why did he leave me here?" I snapped. I don't know why I was getting defensive over this matter, but some part of me wanted Barricade to come back, to be safe zone. Sideways noticed my depression.
"You seem awfully upset that he's not here, and I highly doubt you're even thinking about you're guardian right now."
I was instantly struck with fear and worry. Were the Autobots coming for me? Did they even know I was missing?
What about Sunstreaker?
"They'll never come for you. They've forgotten about you."
"That's not true." I choked, trying not to lose my self-control.
'You know it's true. They're not coming.' A voice in my head stated. I put my hands to my head in a futile attempt to stop both voices.
"You've been noting but a burden to them."
'A waste of time.'
"SHUT UP!" I screamed my control slipping. I squeezed my eyes shut, but a single tear managed to slide down my cheek. My fists were shaking.
'He never loved you like you love him. To him, his job was to baby-sit you.' My eyes snapped open at the mention of Sunstreaker. Love him? I love him? That's not possible, I can't love him. But if that's so, then why does my chest hurt when I think about it? Sideways broke me out of my internal struggle.
"I can either be your valuable ally or your worst nightmare." He knelt beside me, putting a clawed finger on my shoulder and I tensed. "The way I see it, you have two choices: join me in destroying the Autobots, or be used as a hostage to make them suffer, and then die a slow and painful death."
"That's not much of a choice. Either way, you're just going to kill me." I muttered.
"Yes, but you can take the quick and painless way, or the short and tortured way. It's your choice."
I took a few steps forward, just to get out of his grasp. I felt my chest tighten, my lack of confidence was really beginning to show, and I cursed myself for it. I could feel his gaze burn deep inside me, making me utterly uncomfortable.
"Come on, Samantha; just think about your dear mother." My eyes widened; I knew he was smirking.
"My mother?" I jumped when I felt two hands grip my shoulders. I turned around and saw Sideways' holoform grinning at me, his face inches from mine. I didn't even notice he had transformed and activated his holoform.
"How about a new deal, hm? You are aware of your human government having contained an Allspark shard?"
I gave a slight nod, not sure where he was going with this.
"And you are aware that the Allspark grants life?"
I looked at him suspiciously. "Where are you going with this?"
"I can bring your mother back." He said.
My breath got hitched in my throat. I felt completely numb. Was he joking? Because this wasn't funny.
"Yeah right, the Allspark can't bring humans back to life. It's not possible." I snapped, getting tired of his games.
"But how do you know? The Allspark is the creator of life, but what kind of life exactly? It can bring Cybertronians to life, why not a human?" he asked, almost to himself, trying to decide if the idea really can work.
"It won't work because we're organic."
"That never stopped the Witwicky boy." He said quickly. "He touched the shard and saw symbols that led him to the Matrix of Leadership and the Energon Harvestor. He died, but the Matrix brought him back. Why should the shard and your mother be any different?"
I paused, letting his words sink in. "You can really bring my mother back?"
"Of course." He began to slowly rub my arms, making me incredibly uncomfortable. He leaned closer to me, his lips close to my ear so that I felt his hot breath.
He continued, "All you have to do is help me destroy the Autobots. Then I can easily take the shard and revive your mother, and you two can live the life you've never had before- completely normal." He whispered. "So-" He pulled back and extended his hand, "do we have a deal?"
I stared at his hand for a long moment, uncertainty flowed through me.
"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked, stepping back. "You were the one who killed my mother in the first place. You tried to kill me!"
Suddenly, like a flash, he leaped forward, knocking me to the ground. I yelped in surprise and tried to fight him, but he had my arms pinned.
"Because I know you." He growled softly. "I've been on this Primus-forsaken planet long enough to know how you humans think. Your minds are so primitive that it's a wonder how you're the dominant species of this planet. Well, here's something for you're little under-developed mind to try to understand: our first encounter was no coincidence."
A jolt went through me and I froze. I struggled to breathe, but they came out ragged.
'What does he mean?' I thought numbly, almost frantically. 'Our first encounter?' Does he mean the night he killed my mom? But how?' His chuckle interrupted my thoughts.
"I thought you would be having trouble with comprehension." He whispered dangerously close to my face. I nearly gagged at the rancid stench of his breath if I hadn't felt so numb.
"Allow me to explain." He stood up and began to pace around me. "Back on Cybertron, my role in the Decepticon armada was a scout- I patrol areas, do a little spying, and relay messages; Barricade was my partner."
For some reason this surprised me. He continued.
"But what Megatron later found out was that I had a knack for carefully laid out and complicated strategies. This was how I planned to overthrow Megatron, had Starscream not found out and reported to Soundwave. The coward wanted the glory all to himself." He paused, feeling the anger rise within him from the memories. I remained still, trying to process all of this. Why was he even telling me in the first place?
"I was banished. I roamed the galaxy from planet to planet until I discovered that our civil war had moved on to consume a new world, one called Earth." He kept his eyes on me as I slowly sat up. I didn't have any feelings in my legs, so I remained sitting.
"Imagine my surprise to discover the Autobots accepting help from the humans in our war, not to mention the bond they have formed with the families. I couldn't believe it; I just had to find out for myself! So, I did a little research, did some spying, and eventually found a young woman with a cute daughter working as an assistant to a certain Autobot Medic," he smirked, "your mother." He said slowly.
"So I started planning, wondering what I could do to really crush Prime. Of course, it wasn't until later on that I discovered that it wasn't Optimus that was close to you and your mother, it was that medic and the egotistical one."
"Ratchet and Sunstreaker." I whispered. He put his hand to his chin and looked thoughtful.
"Yes, those two." He shrugged. "I figured 'why bother with one mech when I can easily get two'?" he paused, allowing me to put two and two together.
"So you came after me and my mom on purpose so you could weaken the Autobots." I realized. How could I be so stupid? I should have seen that!
"You're smarter than you look, Sam. Not what I expect from a girl who cuts class and gets detention."
I glared at him, desperately wanting to take out my revenge, but how could I do that? I don't have my guns, or even my board, and he was a giant robot. It didn't matter; I was seeing red by this point. Without warning, I sprang up at his holoform.
Unfortunately, he saw this ahead of time and tackled me back to the ground. I stared at him; fear took over me like a ghost, as he just looked into my eyes. What scared me the most, though, was his sudden change in demeanor; his face was impassive. He leaned closer. Apparently personal space isn't in this guy's vocabulary. This is me trying to lighten up a dangerous situation…and failing miserably.
"But apparently, not smart enough. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're a young, naïve, human girl stuck with the most unpredictable giant alien robot, all alone in an abandoned warehouse in a desolate area of the city. Your chances of escaping alive are slim to none."
I felt my body relax and sink into the cold, hard concrete floor when I realized that he was right. I had not chance of getting out of here, and even if I did, I wouldn't get far. I don't even know where I am.
Seeing that my body relaxed, he moved one hand was holding my arm to my stomach. He slipped his hand under my shirt, and my body immediately tensed at the touch of his cold hand on my bare skin. I hated the feeling as tears began to form in my eyes and I whimpered. All of my hopes were now crushed.
"Shh, shh, it's okay." He shushed me gently, moving his hand around my body, the other one tracing my face. "This'll all be over soon."
Like a flash of lightning, became aggressive. He began ripping my shirt and going for my jeans. I yelped and began to fight back, I was not going to let him do this to me again, but he was too strong. He slapped my face, making me delirious, unable to fight him.
It wasn't too long after that, he was in control and I lost consciousness. The feeling of abandonment struck me for the third time. My mother, Sunstreaker, and now…Barricade.
Barricade sped down the street to the one place he knew the Autobots would be first- the school. With night falling over the city, the roads were relatively empty; any straggling cars that got in his way, he just turned on his sirens and sped past them before they even had a chance to pull to the side. He knew he didn't have much time.
He had left Sam alone with Sideways, who was doing Primus knows what to her right now. Just thinking about made his spark clench in fury, and this confused him. Why is he suddenly so protective of her? If she was kidnapped before he made his decision to become a neutral, he wouldn't have cared at all.
The more time ticked by, the urge to turn around and go back to the warehouse grew stronger. He pulled to the side of the road and checked his internal clock. Forty-five minutes; that's how long he'd been out, how long Sam had been alone. He wanted to go back; he wanted to see if she was alright. But if he turned around now, he wouldn't be able to find the Autobots; but if he kept going, he would be about another twenty minutes, and that was time he couldn't afford to waste.
He let out a desperate and frustrated sigh before he quickly turned around, squealing his tires, and proceeded to head back towards the warehouse. It didn't matter if he found the Autobots or not, he would figure out some way to get Sam out and back to the Autobots. Something in his spark told him to hurry. His comm. link beeped and he stopped. Thinking it was Sideways, he answered.
"What do you want, Sideways?" he snapped. "She'd better be in one piece when I get back."
"Sideways?" Barricade froze. "Why are you communicating with Sideways, huh Barricade?" Starscream's voice hinted interest.
"Slag." He groaned to himself and acted natural. "Don't you worry your pretty little processor, Screamer. I ran into Sideways on patrol and he hasn't left me alone since." This wasn't entirely a lie. He was hoping that Starscream would just drop it, but he was irritatingly persistent.
"Then who is 'she'? You're sounding awfully suspicious."
"Why'd you contact me?" Barricade asked, changing the subject. It worked.
"I am returning to Earth at Megatron's request. He wanted to make sure too much hasn't changed for the arrival of our new army. It sounds like I'll have to do a bit of baby-sitting while I'm there as well." Barricade could hear the smirk in his voice.
"When will you be arriving?"
"Within the week. I expect you to meet up with me at the coordinates I'll be sending you. See you soon, Barricade." The comm. link ended.
Barricade started to grow a little worried. This didn't give him enough time to get Sam back to the Autobots and run away before Starscream's arrival; and to make it worse, now he's suspicious. If he finds out about him helping Sam, there's no doubt he'll do anything to get her.
"I have to hurry." He spun his tires and proceeded back to the warehouse.
Well, here you go folks! Starscream is coming back, and Barricade is running out of time! Oh no! And what about the Autobots? Will they ever find Sam in time? Will Starscream discover Barricade's little secret about him becoming a neutral and protecting the Autobot's human? Will there be old rivalries between the Seeker and Sideways?
Tune in next time- same Trans time, same Trans channel!