Author's Note: No, I didn't die. Here is a brand, spanking new chapter! Sorry it took so long! Writer's block is an evil affliction, I tell you! You don't even want to know how long it took me to write this! Hopefully, it isn't a pile of complete, festering crap. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Despite rumors to the contrary...I don't own them...or McDonalds!
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McDonalds
All of the little hairs on the back of Revecca's neck stood up and she shivered involuntarily. She tapped her fingers nervously against the counter as she waited for her food. She could feel the man's intense gaze upon her and it made her more than a little nervous, especially given her current situation. The fact that her huge, self-proclaimed, alien robot bodyguard sat idling in the parking lot did little to quell her unease.
Shifting slightly to the left, Rev tried to get a better look out of the corner of her eye at the man she had passed on her way in. To her, he looked to be about in his mid-40's. He was tall, probably hovering around six feet and built like a football player. His brown hair was flecked with gray here and there and was thinning near his temples. A couple day's worth of stubble decorated his face and his piercing hazel eyes were fixed steadfastly on her.
He looked vaguely familiar but Rev couldn't place him. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought. Where had she seen this man before?
"Here you are, ma'am. Do you need condiments?" The woman behind the counter startled Revecca out of her thoughts.
"Umm...n-no, thank you. Umm.." Revecca studied the tray of food for a second. She thought it rude to eat inside Ironhide and had actually intended on eating inside quickly before heading back out to him. The strange man had unnerved her, however, and the only thing she could think about was retreating back into the safety the mech provided. "Actually, could I get this to go instead?"
"Oh, sure."
Rev waited a bit impatiently as the woman took her time bagging up her order. She could still feel the man's eyes sizing her up and she was feeling more than a bit apprehensive. Something about the guy gave her a bad feeling...a very bad feeling that she mostly associated with one Ryan Cavanaugh.
"Here you are, ma'am." The woman smiled as she handed the bag to Revecca.
Rev forced a smile as she took her order from the woman's hands. "Thanks."
Turning from the counter, Revecca kept her head down to avoid eye contact with the stranger as she headed quickly back toward the exit. She didn't slow down until she was out of the building and standing in the morning sunshine. She let out a relieved breath, smiling a bit as she gazed across the parking lot at her alien comrade. Already she felt a bit better.
Stepping off the curb, Revecca had only taken a couple steps when a large hand closed over her upper arm from behind and spun her around. Startled, Rev found herself looking up into the face of the man who had been watching her so intently inside the restaurant. Immediately, a terrible sense of dread welled within her.
The man grinned. "Excuse me, I hate to bother you but...do I know you? You look really familiar."
"N-no..." Rev shook her head. She could feel the man's grip on her tighten slightly. She barely resisted the impulse to scream and cause a scene.
"Yeah..." The man inched closer to her as if studying her. "Yeah, I've seen you around..."
Rev's mind worked frantically to try to find some way out of the situation she was in. "I'm afraid you haven't. I'm just visiting from out of town..."
The man frowned at her. "Just visiting, huh?"
Revecca nodded and the man's grip loosened slightly. "Yeah, that's right."
"Really?" The man seemed to ponder the info for a moment, a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth. "That's funny, Miss Warren. I could have sworn you were here because you were subpeonaed to testify in court."
Revecca's eyes widened in both surprise and fear. "Who are you?"
"That's not important." The man's grip tightened once more and he dragged her closer. "What is important is that you realize what a nasty, little situation you've gotten yourself into here. Mr. Cavanaugh isn't too keen on backstabbing deserters in his operation..."
Rev's breathing hitched at the mention of Cavanaugh's name. "Ryan..."
"Isn't too pleased with you right now, Miss Warren." The man grinned. "He wanted me to bring you in for a little chat. He's sure that the two of you can come to some sort of understanding that would make everyone happy. Now..." The man looked her up and down as if trying to determine what sort of fight she was capable of putting up. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is up to you. What do you say?"
Revecca scoffed and tried to pull away. "I'm not going anywhere with you. As far as I'm concerned, that bastard can rot in prison for the rest of his natural life..."
"Wrong answer, little girl."
The man moved so quickly that it caught Revecca off guard. She suddenly found herself pinned against the man's chest, one of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist while his other hand bent the wrist of her right arm painfully backwards in an attempt to control her. It took her a moment to realize that she was being hastily ushered in the direction of an Oldsmobile parked on the opposite side of the lot.
Revecca renewed her struggles. "Let go of me!"
The man bent her wrist back painfully and hissed into her ear. "Shut the hell up. Don't make this any harder than it has to be Ms. Warren..."
"I don't know what Ryan has told you or what he's paying you but you don't want to do this..." Rev craned her neck to look back over her shoulder. The man had pulled her around the corner of the building and she could no longer see where the Autobot was parked. She only hoped that the mech would be able to hear her if she screamed.
The man grimaced. "I said shut the fuck up. You don't understand..."
"No, you don't understand." Rev's body tensed ever so slightly as she prepared herself. "You really, really, really don't want to do this." Revecca brought her leg up and kicked backwards, hitting the man square in his left knee. The impact was enough that it caused the man to loosen his grip allowing her to wrench herself free of his grasp.
"Ironhide!" The mech's name left her lips in a panicked scream as she ran back through the parking lot as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Bitch!"
The man had recovered quickly and she could hear him coming up fast behind her. She wasn't going to make it back to where Ironhide was parked. The thought had no sooner crossed her mind than she felt a hand tangle roughly in her hair and haul her backwards. The scream that left her throat was drowned out by the screeching of tires as the large, black GMC reversed into view. Revecca nearly wept in relief as the massive truck came to a stop directly in front of her.
The truck had barely stopped moving when the driver's door flew open and a very large, very pissed off looking man strode toward the two. "You have exactly three seconds to get your hands off of her or I'm gonna remove 'em for ya."
"Look, buddy..." The man kept one hand twisted in Rev's hair and used the other to gesture at Ironhide's holoform. "You need to mind your own fucking business. This is between me and the lady so get the hell out of here."
The only warning was a low growl from the GMC's engine before Holo-Hide's hand shot out to grab the hand the man was waving around in his direction. In one swift motion, the man's arm was bent painfully backwards. The man yelped in pain as his elbow gave a sickening pop causing him to release his hold on Revecca, who scurried quickly away.
"Revecca, get inside." Ironhide popped open his passenger door as he continued to twist the man's arm backwards, bringing him to his knees. He threw a glance back over his shoulder towards the frightened woman huddling against his alt form. "Rev..."
"Huh?" Rev's eyes darted back and forth between the man who had assaulted her and the Autobot's holoform.
"Get inside!" Ironhide released the man, letting him topple over onto the asphalt, and threw another look back towards his human. "Now."
"Okay..." Revecca nodded her head but her eyes lingered on the man struggling in vain to get up off the ground and nursing his injured elbow as she climbed up into Ironhide's cab. The slamming and locking of the door behind her stirred her out of her daze and she watched in both awe and slight fear as the holoform turned back to her attacker.
The holoform narrowed its eyes at the man. "Who are you?"
The man glared daggers through Ironhide's holoform, still cradling his injured arm. "Fuck you, asshole!"
With a low rumble, Ironhide roughly grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, dragging him up off of the ground to where he could look him in the eye. "What do you want with Revecca? Who sent you here? Cavanaugh?"
"I ain't tellin' you shit, motherfucker!" The man struggling in Ironhide's grasp hawked and spat, the greenish blob of phlegm and saliva hitting the holoform just below the right eye and oozing down the side of his face.
Tightening his grip on the man, Ironhide growled in revulsion. "Filthy piece of organic garbage..."
"Shit!" The man cursed loudly as he was thrown backwards into a parked car hard enough to knock the air completely out of him and dent the door he slammed into before tumbling to the ground in a pained heap. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked up to see the other man advancing on him, fists clenched and ready to fight.
Revecca fearfully watched the entire scene play out in agonizing slow motion. She looked on in a sort of morbid fascination as Ironhide's holoform stalked toward the downed man, poised to beat an answer out of him if need be. She willed herself to look away from the impending violence but found herself transfixed. It was the distant wail of police sirens that eventually pulled her out of her trance.
She spun around in the seat, patting the dashboard urgently even as she watched Ironhide's holoform continue to interrogate the other man. "Hide, we have to go. Someone's called the police..."
The mech seemed to not even notice she had spoken. She balled her hand into a fist and beat harder on the dash as the sound drew closer. "Ironhide! We need to leave!" Seeing that she was still being ignored, she dug her manicured nails deeply into the sensitive leather seats. "Ironhide!"
An acute flash of pain pulled the mech's from the human male on the ground. Registering that Revecca was attempting to gain his attention, it didn't take him long to realize what had gotten her riled up as he picked up the sound of what he determined was a pair of police cruisers headed in their general direction. From the intensity of the sound of their sirens, he estimated that they were approximately a mile from their current location.
"Hide?!" Rev's voice had taken on a pleading tone.
"I'm coming..." He grumbled in irritation and took one final look at the sniveling man on the ground before turning and moving quickly back toward his alt form. The sound of the sirens grew louder and the mech knew that the human authorities were very nearly on top of them. With no time left to linger and praying no one would notice, he phased out his holoform just as it reached the driver's side door and peeled out of the parking lot, quickly getting lost in the flow of early morning traffic.
End of Chapter 8
Alrighty guys...I'm not too happy with this one. But, I guess I'm willing to settle for now seeing how long it took me to finally get this one out. It was torture! I do have a bit of the next chapter started, though. It seems to be flowing a bit better than this one so hopefully I'll have it up soon. I want to thank all you guys for being so patient with me. I'd also like to thank all you guys who reviewed the last chapter (haha21, fallenfaeangel, Cybernetic Mango, CRdragonPyro, The Transdresser, Elita One, Duvet, Katanagirl16 and flamingmarsh). I know its been a while but your comments really helped inspire me to get to work on this one. Thank you!
Till the next chapter!
Voodoo