Chasing Rainbows Chapter 1
Chapter title: Crooked Young
A/N: Okie dokes. Here we are with chapter 1. I've gone through and changed up quite a lot of this chapter because I just wasn't happy with the half-arsed writing style. So he is the first chapter. Enjoy!
The road and landscape rushed past as the Peterbuilt continued on his journey. Optimus was rather glad that they had finally found someone who could defend them from cyber-attacks courtesy of Soundwave; the con had put them at a standstill that they can't afford. Apart from slight relief, the prime was also rather intrigued about where they were going to meet this new recruit. Lennox called it a juvenile detention facility, or a prison for young people. He was curious to know what the justice systems are like on earth.
They finally reached their destination, Lennox hopped down, his black military uniform emitting an air of authority and power which seemed to be the right choice in a place like this. The prime parked and took up about four spaces and then activated his holoform. The uniform matched Lennox's, aside from the different badges due to their different ranks. As they walked in together a few leaving visitors stared. The two of them looked like they meant business.
Both of them sat down and waited. Lennox began to take in his surroundings, a few other booths were in the room as well, but none of them were occupied. The walls were faded and grey and he had to admit that the place looked quite depressing. The soldiers went over their plan to talk to their possible recruit and inform her of the situation without giving away anything classified.
The sound of doors opening caused both Lennox and Optimus to look up, they looked with slight shock as the young convict was escorted towards them. Weakly, her feet dragged as if she had been depleted of all her energy, she had a long cut running from above her left eyebrow down to her cheekbone, a black eye, split lip and nose bleed. And on top of all this her left glasses lens was smashed and since she hadn't just taken them off it was obvious that it was hard for her to see.
The girl stopped and asked the guard something. She had a confused look on her face, did she not get visitors often? Well her expression soon changed as the guard pointed towards them, her confusion morphed to anger and she walked towards the free seat.
Lennox could see the impatience in her eyes so he just got right to it. "Hi, Miss Scofield, my name is William Lennox and this is..." Damn he's forgotten the holoform's name already
"I am Rian Pax, Major Lennox and I are part of a secret military division" the holoform told her, she stared at them again before she finally opened her mouth, and winced slightly from the pain
"Well that's great for you guys but what has this got to do with me?" Her British accent filled their ears as the pair brushed off her slightly rude tone, Lennox spoke this time
"we're here because we have a proposal for you, if you're interested that is?" She gave him a sceptical look
"I'm listening..."
"Our division, of course, is highly top secret so we cannot relay any hard factual information to you yet but we can explain our situation. Our enemy is trying to find ways to hack into our system to: steal data, plant viruses, cut our communications. They are trying anyway possible to put us at fault, and we currently don't have someone with the correct... expertise to handle the situation-" the girl's laugh cut Lennox off
"Ha so wait let me get this straight, the military, the bastards who got me locked up in fact, are trying to pull me out of jail for the same reason they locked me up! The irony is just too good"
Optimus took a hold of the situation "Miss Scofield please understand that we are not the reason you have ended up here." The Prime said with a serious tone. "We are not associated with that side of the military and government in the sense that we do not lock up those who breach laws. We fight to protect this world from threats larger than you could possibly imagine and your skills are what we require to continue doing our jobs. You're a young woman with your whole life ahead of you. Do you not want to be a part of something bigger?" Her expression changed again but this time it was clear that she was thinking. This girl was only 17 and already she has a mark against her name, maybe trying to get her to think about helping the world was the right route to go down.
"But why me, I would've thought you'd ask a professional"
Lennox explained "we've tried professionals but some are unwilling to give their all and really try and the ones who do either can't comprehend the code or just don't have the ability to think outside the box, most of them are just too closed minded. We need someone like you. Your creative thinking might just fix this problem" she was slightly shocked at the statement. These two random soldiers had just set up a meeting with her and offered her what was essentially her dream job? If this was someone's idea of a joke she wasn't going to be pleased. As she turned thought over and over about the situation she couldn't stop the voice in her head shouting at her to take this chance. Like they said, she was a young girl who had her whole life ahead of her and she somehow managed to screw it up already. This could be her new start. A life where she could do something that matters. However, there was still an unsure look on the girl's face.
"How do I know I can trust you guys, I never even met you before and how do I know that you aren't just gonna drop me and send me back to this hell hole-" and as if to prove her point a whistle in the distance sounded to catch her attention. Hesitantly, she turned around and tensed at who she was looking at. Two rough looking girls gestured to her, ignoring the two army officials behind her. One of the girls, who was a mean looking brunette, made a gun with her fingers and 'shot' Miya whilst the other slid a finger across her throat.
Lennox knew exactly what that meant, even Optimus knew, they weren't stupid. This skinny computer genius was an easy target for these real criminals. Lennox felt anger rise up within him, he had a daughter and the thought of Annabelle going through any of this made his stomach clench. He never let his feelings get in the way of his duty but this was entirely different, this girl's health, and maybe even her life, was in danger.
"Miss Scofie-"
"Please call me Miya"
"Ok Miya, look we are offering you a job, think of this like an interview. And I promise you this, you won't come back here at our hand, we have the power to have you exonerated for your crime if we see fit. So even if we decide to let you go then you won't end up back here" she gave him a strange look, then she looked at Optimus. They were both rather confused until she spoke.
This was all so overwhelming, one minute she was hiding from the horrors of the prison and the next she was being offered a get out of jail free card. Anybody could see that this situation was far, far from normal. There was also the risk of it all being a trick to lure her out and kill her or something. But as she observed the two men in front of her she knew that they weren't here to kill her or give her false hope. They were desperate to protect their country from these so called 'larger-than-she-could-imagine threats' and if there was another way to fix their problem then they wouldn't be here. She was desperate and so were they. "I'm still not too sure if can trust you guys, but seeing as you're my only way outta here I haven't got much of a choice have I?" A slight smirked graced the young brits face, as Lennox felt relief flood him, this girl really could solve this problem.
"Thank you, Miya." Rian said, he let his passive mask slip a bit at the relief. Much like Lennox, Optimus had a good feeling about this girl. She definitely didn't belong there and he was quite glad that N.E.S.T were taking her on board because he knew exactly what those girls meant with those gestures and it made his energon boil at the thought. No youngling deserved to be treated like that.
After they finished their chat, the two of them went to get Miya released. It was a long winded process, even with the documents for her release in hand. Lennox had to make a few phone calls to confirm that his superiors were ok with the young convict being release and brought into their world. Then they had to fill out quite a hefty bit of paperwork and make a final phone call to the girl's parents. Now that phone call was strange, the mere mention of their daughter's name changed the cheery tone that greeted the soldier. Miya's mother had changed to boredom and even disappointment and the talk, it was as if she wasn't even bothered about her daughter and what she was up to. The mother granted Lennox the rights for her release rather quickly and made a snarky remark about hoping the girl would actually make something of herself for once. Silently, Lennox thought about the conversation, there was definitely some tension among Miya's family and he felt for the girl. Sure she had ended up in Juvy but if that had been Annabelle or even Sarah he would never in a million years disown them or give up on them. They were his family. But maybe everyone had a different idea of what the word meant.
After all the serious stuff was out of the way, a guard came to collect Miya and give her all of her personal belongings.
Optimus and Lennox watched as Miya emerged, she sported a pair of high waisted, ripped-at-the-knee, jeans, a pink Floyd vest, an open denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of Black army boots. Her injuries were still present but now she was back in her own clothes she seemed more comfortable and less… broken. She even had a new pair of glasses on.
As if sensing their thoughts she walked straight up to them, well she limped really, her black, leather rucksack sitting on her shoulder "I made sure to wear my old glasses in there since I had a feeling not everyone would be too friendly" she informed them. Nodding, the pair led her outside towards Optimus's alt mode.
As the trio walked outside they hadn't realised that Miya had stopped by the doors, they were halfway to the truck when Optimus turned around looking for the girl, he saw her standing there, inhaling deeply with a smile on her face, according to his research she had been in there for around six months and judging by what he saw today, she definitely had anything far from a pleasant experience. The corners of the Prime's lips lifted as he watched her, he was looking forward to working with this girl. Although they had barely met he had a good feeling about her, and as a Prime he was naturally a good judge of character.
"Miya… is everything alright?" She looked at the Prime as she slowly caught up to them
"Yeah… sorry just… it's weird being outside again. Being free, it's just gonna take a little getting used to again." Optimus nodded then resumed walking towards himself, he laughed internally at the thought.
They arrived at the vehicle and Optimus went to open the door for his two passengers, but not before he saw the look on Miya's face, she was in complete awe. "You drove this here?" Lennox smirked and 'Rian' gave a light chuckled and a nod "but this is a Peterbuilt 379, I didn't think the army would ever invest in a vehicle like this"
"It doesn't belong to the army, Opt… Rian here is part of a special… division in a sense, he and his team each have their own unique car. Their vehicles play a big part in how he and his team work" Lennox scolded himself at his mistake, he had to be more careful, but he was satisfied that she didn't think it was anything more than him just getting names mixed up.
"Well Rian, your truck is without a doubt one of the most beautiful vehicles I've seen, especially with that custom paint job" Optimus ducked his head slightly at that comment and gave his thanks as he opened the door and gestured for her and Lennox to get in.
"Miya, we are gonna have to put a blindfold on you for the drive." Lennox told the girl as they finally got settled. He had the blindfold ready and just waited for her permission to put the thing on her, she gave a nod and Lennox blinded her from where they were going. Automatically, he looked over at Optimus who 'started the truck' and pulled out of the car park. Lennox had to admit that he was thorough when using his holoform.
Next stop, the base…
A/N: Okay chapter 1 is complete. I realise that the whole concept is a little farfetched but I tried to make it as realistic as possible. Remember that Soundwave is attacking their technology and no one has been able to stop the 'con. NEST are desperate and will do anything to get things up and running properly again because they still have Decepticons to teach a lesson and all. So if a teenage delinquent is their saving grace then so be it!
Plus I have Miya's whole back story planned and I needed to find a cool way to tie it in so I thought why not make her a 'criminal' because not even her hacking genius can escape the government.
I hope you liked the chapter and don't worry. The next one involves the Autobots, yay! Well their holoforms at least. If you have the time, a review would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading.