By the time they entered, Fisher had already taken the stage, his sickeningly handsome features magnified on the wide screen above his head. The crowd was wild, all pushing and trying to get closer to their "hero." It was a mob scene, it seemed, and beside Mikaela, Trina wasn't enjoying one bit of it. They moved forward, being jostled and thrown around by the crowd.
"Try to stay next to the exit," Mikaela whispered in Trina's ear. She nodded in agreement, and stayed close to Mikaela as they slunk to the side, hoods still on, to listen to Fisher speak.
"They don't understand," he was saying softly, his eyes sparkling, and even though she and Trina were in the back of the crowd, she could already feel as if he were watching her. But there was no way, she told herself. She tore her gaze away from the screen and looked at his tiny figure standing at the distant podium, knowing that there was no way he could scan the sea of bobbing heads and pick out her hooded figure.
"No!" the crowd shouted back.
"Those who stay at home, watching the reports, they think it's the same. That it's all some type of elaborate hoax. But is it?"
"No!" the crowd shouted back.
"Nutcase," Trina said out of the corner of her lips, but Mikaela could tell that even she was a bit antsy. Fisher's speaking skills could almost match Prime's and that, in itself, was a scary thought.
"No," he whispered into the microphone, seeming to go as calm as the crowd was crazy. "We meet here to decide out fate. Their fate. You see, my friends, they believe that we are weak. They hide themselves among us, devils masquerading as machines and preying off our sorrows."
"We aren't weak!" the crowd chanted. "We aren't weak!"
Mikaela was already beginning to fret. The people beside them were shooting them glances, and hastily Mikaela shook Trina's arm and said in her ear, "chant."
Trina looked lost. Then, as the crowd began to cheer, she seemed to get the message and began jumping up and down, chanting the words of hate.
Mikaela did the same. The people beside them relaxed.
"I feel like such an idiot," Trina whispered. As Fisher continued to speak, and the crowd grew even more frenzied, they resulted to mouthing the words instead. Trina's barely passed as mouthing because she would barely move her lips.
"My friends, we can't just sit and wait for the inevitable. They will make a move at some point, and forever make us their slaves, imprisoning us in an inescapable hell. I'm begging the good people of the government to hear the pleas of the people and, for the sake of our children, exile the extraterrestrials and keep them off our soil."
The crowd went wild at this statement, shouting words of agreement, and as Mikaela watched each one of their faces, she realized that they really, genuinely hated the Autobots. It was written in a mixture of emotions, some sad, some angry, some a little bit crazed as if they themselves wanted to go and spit on Optimus Prime's metal shin. Despite the diverse demeanors, they all were trying to accomplish the same goal.
"Our children? We wouldn't have any children if it weren't for - "
Mikaela cut Trina off with a sharp glance, a feeling of dread hanging around her. She looked back up at the stage, at Fisher and into his dark, honey colored eyes. Again, it seemed as if he were looking directly at her, his gaze settling right on her and Trina both.
He smiled.
"For us to accomplish out goal, we need two things. Congress's approval and the cooperation of the extraterrestrials."
"Bullshit," Trina scoffed. "Getting the Autobots to leave Earth is one thing, but do you think the Decepticon's will listen to Fisher."
Mikaela had never believed in jinx's until now. As Fisher spoke, her eyes scanned the back of the stage, where a figure was hunched in the shadows. A very, very large figure. Mikaela's new eyes, as good as they were, couldn't even pick up the full shape of the thing, until Fisher made a motion with his hand and it stepped forward into the light.
"Holy…" Trina breathed. The crowd had even fell silent, debating whether or not to scream or cheer or boo.
"Barricade is the first to join the cause. The first of its kind to realize what's at stake," Fisher spoke, his hands braced on either side of the podium. Behind him, Barricade, shifting back and forth on one foot, probably ready to raze the humans to the ground because, once again, Fisher had used the term "it."
How had Mikaela not detected his signal? How had she not….
"Should we, um, get out of here," Trina did not take her eyes off Barricade.
"No. Wait."
Fisher said, "The Brotherhood is open to any alien who needs help. Help understanding what they are, that there is no place for them in this troubled world," he nodded back towards Barricade. "Together, we can eliminate the threat once and for all."
The crowd seemed lost. And then, a few languid claps that soon turned into all-out applause. People around them cheered, and Mikaela got a glimpse of Barricade's face turning downward in an irate frown, before going back to its original position: blank.
And then, his optics swept over the crowd before stopping on her.
"Now, we go," Mikaela said quickly. She pulled Trina through the crowd, shoving past protesters and out the back door, the whole time feeling as if Fisher's eyes were boring into the back of her head.
They burst outside, jogging towards Mikaela's alt mode, the noise of the rally residing to a dull thrum. Mikaela wrenched open the doors and slid inside the drivers seat, Trina beside her.
As soon as the doors slammed shut, both girls let out a breath.
"I have to admit," Trina said, "that was kind of scary."
"Scary? It was terrifying. That guy is like….like….some kind of radical," Mikaela shook her head. "Telling everyone 'oh, it's for the good of out children.' It's a bunch of shit."
Trina nodded in agreement and twisted to look back at the HQ. She said, biting her lip, "we'd better go before the rally ends. Or worse, before Barricade finds us."
Mikaela revved her engine, and, softly, so softly that Trina didn't so much as hear her, said, "I think he already has."
That night, Mikaela lay on her berth, on her back with her optics blank, letting complete darkness surround her. She wasn't recharging, couldn't recharge because of the constant pinging in her head that alerted her off all the messages she hadn't checked, and didn't intent to check for a long, long time.
Until the pinging got annoying as hell. Then, optics whirring to life, filling with color, she opened one up.
It was from Megatron.
"You have three days."
Mikaela sat up, well, more like jumped up, nearly rolling off her berth. She had lost track of time, she realized.
Had been so caught up in her own matters that she hadn't even bothered too….
Oh, God, her father was still sitting in the Brotherhoods clutches.
"Worried, yet, femme?"
Mikaela swatted at her ear, and then shook her head. Old habits die hard.
"Why would I be worried?" Mikaela commed back. Megatron didn't respond at first, and then, his voice was back, as if he were whispering right into her audio receptors.
"You feel like a traitor," Megatron said simply. "Think about it for a moment, femme. What would Optimus do if he found out?"
Mikaela didn't respond.
"Exactly," Megatron said. "If I were you, I would get it over with before the guilt gets to your processors. If that hasn't happened already."
"It hasn't," Mikaela snapped. "And it won't."
"Are you sure?"
"You're the one who should feel guilty," Mikaela shot back. She scooted against the wall, letting her legs dangle over the edge of her berth. "Letting Barricade go join The Brotherhood like that."
"Pardon?"
Mikaela tried to hide her laugh, but she couldn't. It came out in one, loud snort that she was sure Ratchet could hear.
"He pulled a Starscream. Stabbed you in the back," Mikaela waved her hands, and then realized that this wasn't a video chat. Megatron couldn't see what she was doing. "Went off to get 'improved' by Fisher."
"So he's stealing my soldiers, now," Megatron snarled. "Femme, I need that download tech."
"See, that's the thing," Mikaela hissed. "What do you want it for?"
Megatron was silent. It was the first time, Mikaela realized, that he didn't have anything to say. Not something common for the supreme leader of the Decepticons.
And then, in one, small, word, Megatron was able to sum up his whole plan.
"Revenge."