Sunstreaker is very sneaky about giving a gift by making it seem like it's not a gift at all.
.
.
When Sunstreaker stalked over to her, Shay immediately put her empty hands up and proclaimed, "I had nothing to do with it. Blame me and I'll wipe all your progress on Mortal Kombat."
To which there was a dead silence. Sunstreaker got mean when people messed with his video game scores. Not to mention he already looked quite angry about the glaringly obvious change to his armor. Bluestreak gulped, sending a quick look at the altered metal, and inched closer to Hound. They had been so close to leaving. If they had just gotten out of the Ark five minutes sooner, the bots and the woman could have been down the road and out of the frontliner's path.
Hound was heading into town to drop off a momma cat and her kittens that had somehow found their way into the base. No one would fess up but Inferno had looked decidedly guilty when Prowl had questioned how the little furballs had gotten past Red Alert's cameras. Either way, the cats couldn't stay and Hound had offered to take them to the animal shelter. Since Shay had informed Ratchet that there was hardly any food left in the fridge, she was permitted an hour and a half to run to the store with Bluestreak if they hurried back. All three were heading out on a quick excursion when Sunstreaker had rounded the corner and put himself in their path.
Silence. Except for the meowing in the box Hound cradled to his chest. Sunstreaker's optics narrowed before he crouched down on his haunches, keeping Shay in his sight. The woman merely raised a single eyebrow. She did not put up with any BS and refused to take the blame for things the brothers got up to. Sunstreaker knew this.
"Buzz off for a minute." He rumbled at Blue and Hound, still not looking at them.
Trading worried glances, the shorter bots edged around the warrior and walked yards away outside the Ark. Not close enough to hear what was being said but still in sight as a subtle reminder that Shay was coming to town with them. With his back to them, the others couldn't see Sunstreaker smile.
And it was a terribly evil smile that held the innocence of a child who knew he was getting away with something and that no one could touch him. Her hand gave a twitch at that look, but Shay merely stared back warily.
"I have a present for you." Sunny grinned, all rainbows and sunshine.
Now it was the human's turn to stare mutely. What? This couldn't be Sunstreaker. Something was wrong here, besides the blatant difference to his armor. The problem was to figure it out before it exploded in her face. "Since when do you give me presents?"
His smile slipped into a pout. It was eerie how much her eyes tried telling her that his paint needed to be red at that moment because that expression with that person did not match. Was Gears being nice? Was Grimlock hugging people? Did the Decepticons come over to offer a peace treaty?
"Sideswipe gives you presents." There was almost hurt underscoring that tone. Shay tried to reach out but couldn't read anything, so either he wasn't expressing things to her or she couldn't pick them up anyways. Turning her thoughts away from that place, and forcibly putting her mind to work on why Sunstreaker was behaving like this, she slowly nodded in agreement.
"Yes. And eighty percent of those are given as jokes to annoy me. You don't usually give me gifts."
Seeming to mull over things, Sunstreaker dropped his expression back to thoughtful (which was much more normal) and fished around in his subspace before pulling out a datapad. As far as those devices went, it was on the small side, roughly twelve by sixteen inches and most likely made for a minibot instead of a frontliner. Large to a human but not so that they couldn't pick it up and carry it around easily. Tapping the 'on' button, the screen flickered to life and he held it out so she could see what was on it.
It was a painting. Rough cliffs rose in the background like walls as Shay and Sideswipe stared out at the low waves. There was awe on her face, blue eyes wide and expression open. The red and black bot standing behind her had a servo up to shade his optics and another on his hip as he surveyed the beach with an intrepid and carefree look. Memories of warmth, sandcastles, and sassing sprang to mind along with the faint feeling of salt water burning her throat. But the joy overpowered that last part easily.
Sunstreaker had taken a picture of them when they'd first gotten to the beach four days ago. Showing it to them later, he had remarked that it wasn't bad but could've been better. She hadn't known that he'd painted it.
And the painting looked much better in her opinion. She liked photography but to her it just showed facts from different angles. The painting seemed alive, in a way the photo hadn't. It was a really nice painting. Shay stared at the light glinting off the waves and the metal of armor, the peacefulness and heat practically radiating from the flat image. That was one hell of a present. Turning a shrewd gaze up, she asked, "Are you bribing me?"
"You tell me where my oh-so-wonderful twin is, and I'll give you the picture." Sunstreaker purred, the terrible look back on his faceplates.
Ah ha, that was why he was acting so strange. It was a bargain for info. Giving a low hum, Shay looked at the image in a sidelong glance.
"You want me to rat out Sideswipe." There was no question as to whether or not she knew where the hellion was. Half the Ark could tell Sunstreaker his twin had come running this way, so it was a very good bet that she'd seen him find a hiding spot as she'd headed for the main door.
Sunstreaker gestured down at himself. From helm top to toe plates, the lambo was covered in gold glitter. It was little wonder that Shay had immediately stated she'd had nothing to do with it when he'd come around the corner. It could have been worse looking if they had been any other color than gold, but the little plastic sparkles were everywhere and kept flaking off, and so they were still very irritating. Tiny trails of glitter showered to the ground if Sunstreaker moved too much. And the pieces were starting to work their way into his armor.
"This is glitter." He stated as if she were blind, "So yes, I want you to rat out Sideswipe so I can rearrange his insides and then persuade Ironhide to help because he also got him with this sparkly junk." The mech stated this in such a way that it seemed as if he were talking to a mentally slow person. Replying with a flat look to his attitude, Shay tapped a finger to her hip. Morbid curiosity reared up it's head even as she tried not to keep glancing over at the datapad in awe.
"What was his excuse?"
"He was testing gravity with a bucket. That just happened to be filled with glitter."
A blink. And then she started laughing. Harsh barks broke out even as Sunstreaker scowled and poked her in the midsection with a digit. Trying to get her breathing under control, Shay huffed, "That.. that was his excuse?"
"He's had better." Admitted the Autobot, before falling silent. She still hadn't answered him and he only had so much patience for hunting down his twin. Calming, the woman looked again at the painting. She liked it. She liked it very much. And Sideswipe would forgive her...eventually. Besides, he was just begging to be chased after if he got sparkles of all things on Sullen and gave such an awful (if not funny) explanation.
She sighed and gave a 'gimme' gesture at the datapad, "He's in Prowl's office under the desk."
A blank stare.
Rolling her eyes, the woman explained, "Prowl is up at Salem for a few hours to meet with someone important. No one would look in his office and I saw him dash under there before the door closed."
"Thank you." Sunstreaker purred, handing her the picture and straightening. Glitter rain fell and a few errant bits caught on her loose hair. Heading for Prowl's office, he started to leave before pausing with a questioning look, "You are going to town?"
"Groceries." A quick explanation as she picked up the sound of Ironhide bellowing a few hallways down. Why did he always think that yelling would bring the red terror out of hiding?
Appeased, the lambo nodded before turning away to go twin hunting, "Don't be gone long."
"I will see you later. You and Sideswipe." She stressed. The bot merely continued down the hall at a stalking pace while whistling a slightly off-note tune that was way too cheerful. Whatever he had in mind was not going to be good for his brother. With a sigh, Shay just put the datapad into her backpack and joined Hound and Bluestreak outside.
Blue transformed and bounced on his wheels, holding a door open, "What was that? It looked like a datapad. Is it important? Why did he come talk to you? Because he looked really mad with all that glitter on him. Actually, I'm surprised Sunstreaker wasn't yelling because he looked like he wanted to yell."
Patting his roof, Shay hopped into the driver's seat and sighed, "He wanted to know where Sideswipe was." She purposefully left out the datapad explanation. "Hound? Are the felines going to be carsick? I could ride with you most of the way to help keep them calm." The jeep's reply crackled through Bluestreak's radio.
"I'm good. We'll go slow, but thanks for the offer."
With that, they set off. True to his word, they did go slow, even when the Datsun started speeding ahead before realizing he needed to pull back. It being the middle of the week and midday, there were few people out on the roads which meant it was a nice and easy drive. Although the hot weather was a bit of a chore. Rolling down the windows helped cool the human off, but Blue kept asking if he should turn on the air conditioner.
Once into town, Hound headed off to the animal shelter while Shay and the Datsun went to the grocery store. Bluestreak easily found a spot under the shade of a tree and opened the door.
"Such a gentleman." Shay teased lightly.
Head lights flashed, "How long will you be gone? Ratchet said we had to be back soon."
She reached in to pull out her pack and slipped it onto her shoulders. Even in the shade the temperature was a bit more warm than was comfortable. Shay was glad she had some tank-tops in her small collection of clothing. "Maybe half an hour unless I have trouble finding anything. It's just basic food stuffs. We'll have plenty of time, don't worry."
Silence for a moment as the doorwinger seemed to be thinking before he piped up quietly, "Can you see if there's any cool jumbo sized stickers? Please?" Prowl had given her a card to pay for the food so she wouldn't have to dig into her saved funds, so Shay didn't mind spending a few bucks on something for Bluestreak. The problem was why he wanted them. Giving him a quizzical look, the woman put her hands on her hips.
"I don't mind looking for stickers, but I don't want to be an accomplice." More than once the human had been misguided into believing Sideswipe's excuses and unwittingly helped him with one prank or another. She'd quickly learned to ask who, what, and why for whatever she was buying/helping with. "Is someone going to end up stickered later?"
"No no!" Blue assured her, bouncing on his wheels in agitation. Several people around the parking lot looked over but didn't appear alarmed. They were probably used to Autobots being around since the base was close by. Mumbling something quietly, the Praxian finally whispered. "Scrap booking."
"Oh. Well in that case, I'll see what I can find."
Giving an assured smile, Shay headed into the store. The layout was a bit confusing but the woman quickly figured out the pattern and started to pick up necessary items. It was quite strange to actually be around and interacting with people who were not aliens twice her size or larger. More than once, she just stopped to people watch.
When was the last time she'd been around humans like herself? Shay had been at the base for...almost two weeks? It seemed like she'd lost track of the days but it was roughly two weeks. And adding on the week she'd holed up at the Twin's place made it three. That was quite a while. Rubbing her forehead in disbelief, she adjusted the basket on her arm and headed towards the freezer section. A few more things and she'd be done. It hadn't even been fifteen minutes yet. Maybe if they stalled right up to the hour and a half mark, she could avoid whatever brawl the Twins were currently in. There was really no question about there being an uproar at base right then. It was bad enough that he'd gotten Sunstreaker, but with Prowl out and Ironhide dragged into the mess, they weren't going to stop until Optimus came and put his foot down.
The normalcy train left it's tracks the moment shouting reached her ears. Shay paused warily and turned to see what the commotion was about. A few shoppers ran by her, heading away from the disturbance with fear on their faces.
Now very uneasy, the woman started to move toward the front of the store. Hopefully it was just a knocked over shelf or a dog had run in. Or something. Anything that didn't involve her.
No such luck.
A black and red figure lunged out of one of the aisles to block her way. Freezing, Shay choked off a swear word and dropped the basket. Time to leave now. Decepticons equaled running the hell away. Why the slag had she kept her slingshot in her backpack? Oh right, this was supposed to be a normal errand run. Screw that.
"Hey fleshy." The short cybertronian grinned, sharp teeth and all. Shay backed up another step or two before whirling to bolt.
Unfortunately, the cassette's twin stood right in front of her. As in, there were only inches between the short human and Rumble. He grabbed her arm in a crushing grip before she could run and smiled maliciously. "Remember cracking my visor?" The purple Con's crimson optic band shone ominously under the fluorescent lighting with no hint of ever being damaged. Distantly, other people were yelling. Neither of the cassette's seemed to notice or care. "Payback's a bitch."
With his other servo, Rumble pulled back his fist and punched her right between the eyes.
Crunch.
Pain.
Black.
The human dropped like a stone. Frenzy shoved his brother and snapped, "You were supposed to pull your punch! The human has to be alive!"
"I did pull my punch! It's alive, see?" Rumble kicked back and lifted the human. He shoved the limp body at Frenzy. With an audio pressed to her chest, the black and red Con could hear the heartbeat. "It's still alive. Megs can't be pissed about it being unconscious."
"You were supposed to daze it. Dazed bro, not unconscious." Frenzy complained before tossing the woman, backpack and all, onto his shoulder. Ignoring the muttered insult, he stalked back out the way they'd came, through the emergency exit door. Or, what had been a door before Rumble's piledrivers had destroyed a whole section of wall. Striding past the fleeing noisy humans, the cassettes hopped outside to the back parking lot and found Soundwave waiting for them.
From the host mech's shoulder plates, Lazerbeak squawked over the comm links, "It's not supposed to be unconscious."
"Aw, stuff it Beaky." Rumble snarled, "It's alive, ain't it? And now it can't fight back."
"Enough." Intoned Soundwave. He picked up the human from Frenzy and carefully put the limp organic in his subspace. There was enough oxygen in there that the human would be just fine for a short period of time. "Target acquired. Objective: Retreat to Nemesis."
"Shay!" A shout drew their attention. Bluestreak rounded the corner of the building at a run and rapidly squeezed off several shots. A few came precariously close to the minicons. Yelling, the bot pulled out a second shorter gun and continued firing desperately.
"Give her back!"
Yelping at the sudden barrage, the cassettes jumped into Soundwave's open chest compartment while the Communications officer drew his own blaster. Of a much larger caliber, the gun blasted the side of the structure and sent Bluestreak flying back several yards, debris radiating in all directions.
A jet engine above showed the Decepticon's ride was here. Crouching, Soundwave jumped up in an impressive leap and flipped to land on Thundercracker as the seeker swooped in low. By the time Bluestreak had picked himself up from the ground, both the jet and Soundwave were already flying out of sight. With a prisoner.
"Oh slag." He whispered.
For a few seconds, flashes of rage swamped against her unconsciousness like wolves brushing against her side.
And then waking pulled her from slumber and it was forgotten almost as soon as it occurred. A near silent whine whistled out of Shay's lips as pain made itself known on her head and right arm. It felt sorely bruised but the head injury gained more attention. What had hit her, bricks? An elephant? The thought that maybe it wasn't worth it to get up, and that she should stay asleep, skittered across Shay's mind.
But cold metal searing her uncovered arms made the other part of her disagree. Her bed was warm. And if she fell asleep playing video games with the Twins, well they were warm too. Nothing should be cold. Therefore, something was wrong.
Now struggling against the sluggish dark of sleep, the woman cracked open an eye. The movement nearly doubled the pulsating ache on her face and she keened softly before blinking. Slowly, very slowly, Shay brought her surroundings into focus. Dull metal bars as big around as her wrist stared back. All aligned in a row, they formed a wall between her and the rest of the room. Beyond the rails lay an extremely large space with dim crepuscular lighting. Broken machinery lay in heaps around the room and cast strange hulking shadows on the pale concrete walls. Alarms started screaming in her mind. She didn't know where she was but this dilapidated place was not where she should have been.
As Shay lurched up, disregarding the flare of pain and urge to puke, the memories crashed back through her head. Oh yes, Decepticons. Which meant she was now a POW, prisoner of war and most likely soon to be killed in an extremely painful way. What fun.
"Dammit." Rasping, the human curled up with her knees to her chest and fought off the nauseous feeling trying to crawl up her throat.
It was cold enough that her breath fogged in the air. She should have worn a jacket, at least tying it around her waist earlier. Weight between her shoulders showed her backpack was still there. How odd. They hadn't taken it. Not that it mattered at the moment. Goosebumps showed on her skin due to the chill in the air but the press of warm metal to the bare skin of her arms startled the not-quite-awake human.
The cuff was still on her wrist.
Staring, as Shay's mind couldn't quite figure out the answer. It would have probably been easier if she knew what the problem was. But the woman was having trouble focusing on any one thought and the niggling idea that maybe she had a concussion kept poking at her. Okay, kidnapped. But the bracelet was on her wrist. What was wrong with this picture? It took another moment of blank glowering before she realized that the Cons should have taken it, yet hadn't. Just like they hadn't taken her backpack. Where they clueless? Or maybe they didn't have a reason to. The device on her did look like just a piece of jewelry after all.
Too much complex thinking and her head hurt. She'd figure it out later. Right then, getting out of the cage took priority.
Staggering to her feet, the human wobbled before taking off the cumbersome backpack and setting it down. With a few floundered steps, she walked the circumference of her cage and discovered it was not that big. Roughly six or seven feet was her guess. At least the movement seemed to get things running a little smoother mentally and the confused fog disappeared. Her head still felt like someone was hitting it with a blunt ax.
The enclosure looked quite similar to an antique bird-cage. It had a round metal base with bars that curved up to a top point with a thick loop to hang it from. A steel hatch set within the bars appeared to be a door of some sort but a quick exploration showed the lock was a raised disk with a keypad. Which meant she needed a code. Double damn. And the whole thing was set up on a large slab of concrete that was sticking out of the wall. Maybe it had once been an observation deck. The whole place reminded her of a factory. From a dark gaping hole behind her that showed another room, loud footsteps echoed in the dust.
Worried eyes widened as Shay stepped away from the lock and backed up to the middle of the cage, standing next to her bag. There was no point in trying to stay near the back. All they had to do was open the door, tip the trap, and she'd tumble out.
Two extremely tall figures walked around the debris and entered by ducking their heads. Almost as tall as Optimus himself and with flared wings, they were somewhat more imposing. Recognition sank in her stomach like acid as the human noted the black, blue, and purple plating. She knew these Decepticons. Which as a very bad thing indeed.
"Hey look, it's awake." Skywarp poked a sharp black digit between the bars.
The space was large enough for him to stick a finger in but not enough for a skinny human to slide out. More's the pity. The other one, Thundercracker if she recalled what the Twins had told her, merely frowned and yanked his trine-mate's arm back.
"Quite messing with it. We need to-"
He stopped to stare at the woman. Shay just looked back blankly and tried to stay still as she stood in the middle of the cage. Never show fear to something that in a threat or predator. That was something her dad had drilled into her head from an early age. Being around two Autobot warriors just reinforced the concept. With arms crossed and head tipped up, she said not a word. Skywarp frowned and looked back and forth between the two. Ruby optics narrowed. "TC?"
So it was Thundercracker. Not that being right was helpful. Confused, the purple and black flier suddenly paused to peer at the human as well. Under the gaze of two predators, sweat started to prickle at the back of her neck.
"You are familiar."
She said not a word as Skywarp muttered and crouched to get a better look. "Hey TC, I think this is the Twin's human." Internally panicking, Shay remained frozen and silent.
"I think you're right." Finally moving, the more serious seeker tilted his helm. Cold optics measured her up and down before nodding to himself. He had seen the human before. There, mystery solved.
Skywarp straightened angrily and pointed at her, shouting, "You spat poison at me!"
"What?" Not expecting that, Shay jerked back in surprise and spoke without meaning too. "Poison?"
Thundercracker face palmed. It was one of the few human gestures the Cybertronian's of both factions had picked up but the gesture fit too perfectly not to be used. Wings drooping in exasperation, the Con sighed and put a servo on his wing-mate's shoulder. "'Warp, we've discussed this. Human's don't spit poison-"
"It infected me! Hook said so!" A distraught and unbelieving yell accented with a foot stomp.
"He was messing with you. Humans are not poisonous."
"Say's you! How would you know!"
Losing his patience, the blue and black flier threw his servos up, "Ask the human!" It had been nerve racking when the cons had started yelling but Shay had felt better when they were no longer looking at her. The internal fear reared up again as two sets of red eyes alighted on her small person but the female just pushed it back down and fought for calm control.
"Humans are not poisonous." Rasping, she swallowed dryly and tried to speak a little louder, "As far as I'm aware that it."
"See?" Thundercracker gestured with a servo. His trine-mate was not so easily put off. Sticking his faceplates right up against the bars, Skywarp hissed.
"You spat on me."
Shay winced, trying to ignore the irritation and impatience starting to show on the other Decepticon's face. "I sneezed because I was sick. It was an accident."
Skywarp didn't believe her and TC appeared confused. Puffing up, the violet and black con snarled. "Na-ah. That was totally on purpose!"
"You were sick?" A disbelieving inquiry from the blue one who seemed likely to side with Skywarp.
He wouldn't have cared if the human had done it on purpose. Thundercracker's main concern was if the human was going to start sneezing again because he didn't want any gross organic mucus around him. No bot or con would.
"Yes. Sick." Struggling to appear calm when her heart was racing a mile a minute and her head hurt tremendously, the human tried to remember some of the Cybertronian words she'd learned so she could explain better. "I had a... virus. And it made my intakes... itchy. Even if I had known I was going to sneeze, I wouldn't have been able to stop it."
"You were clearing your intakes. And you were not spitting poison." Thundercracker repeated firmly before pulling the purple seeker away from the cage. He seemed satisfied with that explanation. "There, you hear that? No poison. So will you quite messing around? We need to do our job so we can leave."
Disregarding the clearly unhappy rumbles, TC rapidly punched in the code and opened the hatch to slide in a small metal canister with a tube sticking out the top. Shay edged backward instinctively to avoid being touched and crouched. Pain in her head flared at the sudden movement. But instead of grabbing at her, the con just set the container down and pulled back to close and lock the door. Grabbing his wing-mate, Thundercracker dragged Skywarp back out through the wall they'd come in. The last thing Shay saw of them was the purple jet giving her the 'I'm watching you' gesture over the other Decepticon's shoulder.
Shaking her head in disbelief, and then hissing at the ache, the woman straightened to investigate the new object. She carefully picked it up and heard liquid splashing around inside. After a moment of poking around, she discovered that a cap on the top of the tube was removable and the liquid inside was water.
Meaning they wanted her alive. Was that better or worse? For now it just meant her life expectancy was slightly longer than what she'd expected.
With a sigh, Shay sniffed the water and decided that even if it was tampered with there was little to do about it. The liquid soothed her dry throat but swallowing made the pain on her forehead worse. Carefully, the woman fingered the center of her face right between her eyes. A hiss. That hurt. And flaking dried blood came away with her fingertips but at least it wasn't very much. On the bright side, she had all her limbs and wasn't withering in agony. Hurray.
Snorting at the ill attempt of humor, Shay mentally made a note to herself that she needed to work on her sarcasm. It was getting progressively worse and she wasn't sure what the exact cause was. It would be dealt with later.
For now, the human just dug around in her bag. Thank Primus for her paranoia and the fact that the Twins had given her a small weapon right before they'd gone down to Peru. Reaching under the precious datapad, she pulled out a small tool from among the extra shirt, slingshot and her knife. Sideswipe had said the thin tubular object was a laser pen for engraving and had been Sunstreaker's awhile ago. Apparently he hadn't used it in centuries and hadn't cared that she had it for safety reasons.
Giving both the datapad and pen a suspicious look, Shay suddenly realized she actually had gotten quite a few things from Sunny. Maybe he gave presents too, but was a lot more sneaky about it than Sideswipe. Something else to be puzzled out later.
Pulling on the extra shirt over her tank top, the woman swigged some more water and then moved over to study the lock. Deciding the bars were a better bet, she turned the engraver up to it's highest setting and held it against the metal. The gray bar heated up and slowly seemed to soften, drips of molten steel flowing down the pole.
"Yes!" Whispering in excitement, Shay failed to hear the Decepticon sneaking up on her.
"Well well," Sneered a high-pitched and scratchy voice, "Looks like those idiot ground-pounders actually found a smart human."
Jumping in horror and shock, her grip on the laser pen loosened and it fell between the bars even as she scramble to grab it. Tinging dully, it clattered onto the concrete below before a white and cobalt foot crushed it to pieces. Turning her face up, the human found another seeker glaring smugly at her. Not familiar with the white, red, and blue plating, she glared silently. How dare he break that! And did anyone really expect her to play the good prisoner?
"So human," the tri-colored flier questioned, "Any more little toys in that bag of yours?"
No answer. She wasn't talking to the person who had broken her engraver beyond repair. Annoyed with the lack of response, the jet opened the cage and reached for her bag. Scrambling quickly, Shay grabbed it and backed away but the jet knocked her aside with a flick of his wrist and yanked if from her grip.
She let out an 'oof' as he backhanded her midsection. Stunned from her head hitting the bars, the woman whined in agony. How many more head injuries could she take today?
Rifling through her things, the seeker studied the picture on the datapad and started cackling. "Oh how cute. Tame Autobot berserkers."
Baring her teeth, Shay stood with a wobble and glared. Still mocking her, the Decepticon waved the picture at her before tossing it back in the cage. Her knife got a snort before returned as well. The message was clear: Even with a weapon you can't do anything.
"I bet you think your bots are sooooo 'good' right? Your psychotic twins can do no wrong." He sneered with hatred before laughing at her slingshot. In his palm it was absolutely tiny. It looked like a toy.
"No, I don't." Clenching her jaw, she hissed and took back her resolve to stay silent.
She knew the twins had done terrible things probably as much as the Decepticons had. War left no innocents. She didn't even consider herself a saint and knew undoubtedly that the mechs she cared about so deeply had done things that would make her turn away in horror. The difference was, she still cared.
The black helm whiplashed away from the pack he was examining and stared at her in confused surprise. "...No?!"
"Do you really think I am that stupid?" Shay snarled, lips curling up in disgust and weariness, "I may not have lived through a war like you have, but I know what war is."
It was killing those who were defenseless because if they had a weapon, they would kill you. War was making decisions for the whole and not the individuals, trying desperately not to let the guilt for those few swallow you and drag your soul under. Battle was not only physical, but mental and emotional. It was having so much blood on you hands (from slaughtering enemies in the field to choosing the lesser of two evils) that it just wouldn't wash off.
People looked up to warriors for protection, to leaders for guidance, but really, no one was still completely good.
Flashes of memories ran through her head. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker wrestling outside or laughing in the rec room when Blaster was telling a funny story. The Dinobots playing basketball with Optimus in the courtyard. Skyfire showing the Aerialbots how to fold their wings neatly against their back so they didn't stick out and hit things. People racing through the halls in their altmodes and lending each other a hand when needed. Fighting when they needed to vent. Teasing to show they cared.
She remembered sneaking outside the Ark to look at the night sky just a few days ago and finding Prowl already out there, stargazing. He spent nearly an hour identifying human constellations as well as stating the Cybertronian and galactic names for stars and suns. They hadn't even gotten to them all because there was so many.
Everyone was a killer. At one point or another, everyone lied to keep their sanity and pretended to be alright when they really weren't. Innocence was the first thing to die along with the weak and young. But that didn't mean everyone was a monster.
Cybertronians didn't dream. They sometimes reviewed memories as they recharged and the Autobots had taken to calling the bad memories 'nightmares' even though they really weren't. Shay never told the Twins that more than once she'd awoken panicked from a battle field dream brought on by their own memories, as they recharged nearby. It was strange to dream a titan's thoughts and wake to realize you were small.
The truth is painful but that's how life works.
She kept it to herself because allowing them to know would hurt them.
There were some days where Sideswipe dragging Sunstreaker and herself into crazy things made her laugh until she wanted to cry. Although she'd vowed at the time to never go climbing up cliffs in search of crystal caves again, Shay knew she'd do so without any real argument. Sunstreaker as well often complained but never really meant it. Remembering to smile sometimes was worth any bit of insanity brought with their adventures.
"I know they've killed just as many of your comrades as you've killed theirs. I know it's not a pretty sight. There are no heroic illusions here." Turning away, the human ignored the wrath gathering on Starscream's face. He flung her bag and slingshot back into the enclosure with enough force that it rebounded from the opposite wall.
"You are a fool."
The seeker growled, slamming a servo onto the cage and making it rock. The water container fell over with a clunk. A flat bland look and one word was the only response, "Perhaps."
"I, Starscream, will see those pathetic Twins dying at my feet along with all the other Autobots. Enjoy your pretty picture and whatever few days you have left human." She only glared back stonily as he slammed the hatch shut, locking it again.
Irritated that he couldn't needle the prisoner anymore, Starscream turned and walked out. It was boring to argue pointlessly when he had more important things to do. At the very least, the human had kept it's fear down and actually had a civil conversation with him. To the flier, the strongest and smartest survived. If the human had let it's fear take over, Starscream would have wanted to kill it that much more.
He never could stand such pathetic shows from the organics. When he cowered before Megatron, it was a survivor's gambit. Starscream never let fear overtake him. Not truly. Megatron and the others only saw what they wanted to see. And now, they would see him for the genius he truly was. The Autobot's would fall before him because of his work.
As much as the Decepticon hated this planet, he would admit it had some high points. Here, every organic species showed what Starscream knew to be true. From the tiniest deadly snakes to the largest mammals: It was survival of the fittest.
And the Autobots were about to lose.
"I'm going to slaggin-gurk!" Whatever else Sideswipe had been about to say was cut off as Sunstreaker neatly pinned his helm under an arm. They stumbled back and crashed into the wall from the force of the red twin's lunge. Sliding down, Sunny growled angrily and wrapped his arms tighter.
Howling, the red and black frontliner tried to wrestle out of the grip and roared, "MOVE! Move damn it!"
"Ironhide, guard the door please." Optimus murmured as he moved toward the grappling frontliners. Nodding silently, Ironhide planted himself in front of the exit in case they made a break for it. Neither Sunstreaker nor Sideswipe noticed what the others were doing, too caught up in their tussle.
Managing to slip out of the headlock, Sideswipe twisted and rolled until Sunny went down. He scrambled up but before the red twin would contend with the bot at the door, Prime laid a heavy and solid hand on his shoulder and held him there. Vents heaving and optics nearly white, the mech looked up with a glare. Slowly he sank to sitting on the floor. His twin pulled himself up and sat down next to the red one. Both gave their leader a hard look but Optimus merely stared back with a stubborn and immovable seriousness.
Gritting his denta, Sideswipe spat out, "They- they-...gah!" Unable to even finish, he put his horned helm between his knees and roared in frustration.
"We're not stupid Sides. We can't go straight after them or they'll just kill her to mess with us." Sunstreaker rumbled lowly. Lips curled up over his denta and servos shook slightly. He desperately wanted to tear something apart right then and it was all he could do to try and hold back his and his twin's rage until they had a good shot.
"She is alive, for the moment." Tossed in Ratchet, as he sat down heavily on one of the chairs in the control room.
It had once been at the helm of the ship, where huge windows had given visions of the galaxies outside and the captain surveyed their course. Now it was at the farthest end of the base and the deepest within the mountain, making it one of the most secure rooms aboard. Where there was once shimmering clear glass as a portal to the outside there now lay rock and rubble. Fractured planes warped reflections if there was any glass in the windows at all. More than half the ceiling was covered in stalactites and steel beams jutted out at strange intervals. Only the fact that the ceiling was quite tall here kept people from smacking their helms. Many of the terminals that had helped steer the ship and monitor the stars were dark and gutted for materials. Only a few were lit and working, most situated over by the corner where Red Alert was currently seated. He had ignored the commotion so far.
Picking himself up, Sunstreaker stalked over to one of the dust-laden dark screens and punched it. Gold servos yanked and smashed, ripping apart the broken mechanism with a startlingly violent ease.
"Hey, no need to be destroying things man." Blaster protested as he walked in with Wheeljack and Prowl.
The tall mech shut up the instant Sunstreaker turned on him. Optimus glanced down at the red hellion, but Sideswipe appeared to have regained control of his temper and stayed seated. He showed no wish to intervene, watching with blank and heavy optics. Prime sighed and ordered sternly, "Calm down. Turning on others gets you nowhere."
"I take it your device on Miss Carpenter is transmitting her vitals?" Inquired Prowl as he came over to the medic.
"They're not great, but she's not dying. Yet. That link is almost broken and at this stage, I'm not sure if being away from the Twins is going to harm her or help finish the breaking." Pulling a bench out for someone to sit, Ratchet kept a wary optic as Sunny perched next to him. His brother came over, ignoring the way Ironhide tensed as he passed by, and plopped on the ground by their feet. Tapping his fingers on his kneeplates, the ambulance continued, "At the very least, her vitals and location are still transmitting just fine. And hopefully they'll stay that way."
Most of the officers stared in surprise as Optimus questioned hopefully, "Location? There is a tracking beacon on her?"
"I was not aware of that." The SIC frowned with a doorwing flick, "But that improves the situation tremendously."
Wheeljack raised a tentative servo, "Well, it wasn't in the original design but the Twins asked. Uh, we thought you knew. I mean, Red Alert backed them up."
"It was Red's idea." Admitted Sideswipe with a shrug. His brother added, "And it was a good idea."
Prowl turned to Red Alert in the corner with a scowl, "I would have appreciated you running that by me." All security features were supposed to be known and approved of by the tactician and Prime himself before being implemented. Instead of being irritated at the red and white mech, Optimus just tilted his helm and asked quietly.
"Was there a particular reason you felt the need to do this?"
Red shrugged noncommittally and seemed to mull over that for a moment, "Why not? The other humans associated with us know what to avoid and what to do in a hostage situation. Ms. Carpenter doesn't, hasn't been taken by the Cons before and she was already wearing an inconspicuous device. It was the perfect opportunity. Besides, both Spike and Carly as well as a few of the other humans have tracking devices." Not a trace of regret crossed his features. The bots all had trackers, so obviously some of the humans needed them as well.
"But did Shay know about the tracker?" A glower from Prowl as he put his servos on his hips.
Ratchet and Wheeljack traded looks before glancing at the twins. The lambos looked at the security director who just shrugged again and stared back at the Praxian with no answer. Doorwings hiking up, Prowl threw his hands in the air and growled, "I cannot work when people don't tell me these things!"
Placing a soothing hand on a doorwing, Optimus bid the Datsun to calm down and turned to Red Alert. "Well, I am glad for the tracking device. Just make sure to notify Prowl or myself next time please." He reprimanded gently. "Where is the tracker transmitting from?"
"Northern edge of Mississippi." The bot swiveled his chair around and sent a map from his screen to a three-dimensional hologram table closer to the middle of the room. A landscape appeared out of the scattering pixels. The south-eastern edge remained hilly with wide channels until it reached miniature buildings clustered together next to the largest of the trenches. Trees clustered in patches here and there some distance from the human structures but the rest of the land was flat.
Ironhide moved away from the door to get a better look but made sure he was still between it and the Twins. The others all gathered closer as Red kept talking, "An old and empty hydropower station. Skyspy updated the image captures half an hour ago. The beacon is transmitting from the buildings."
He gestured a black servo at the tiny ruins. A few appeared to have holes in the roofs while others were missing parts of walls. One little red dot blinked from the largest structure.
"Why's it abandoned?" Jazz mused without his usual levels of pizzazz, spinning the hologram to get a better look. Coming up on either side of him, the Twins studied the map with intense focus as well. They needed to know the area because very soon there was going to be bloodshed there.
Prowl skimmed through articles on a datapad, having searched for the history of the site on the internet, "The river supporting the power plant dried up some years ago."
"Raht, then we go bustin' in an' grab 'er." Ironhide suggested, all ready to go.
"No. It is a trap."
Everyone looked at the doorwinger incredulously. Zooming in and out of the hologram, Prowl studied the terrain and let the silence fester. It was just to get back at people for not telling him things. He was going to make them ask what they wanted to know. Red Alert scowled and finally Blaster raised his voice, "How'd you know that man?"
Settling his datapad aside, Prowl vented quietly, "Think about the timing. We know about their new weapon and Megatron realizes we know. They can't move it toward us easily because we have too many defenses and will see them coming. It would be far easier to lead us to our own demise."
"Shay. Is. Bait." Hissed Sideswipe, servos clenching down on the table with brutal force and armor flaring to it's widest points. He appeared much bigger and more terrifying, although Jazz didn't seem to notice even though they were right next to each other. The saboteur was too busy frowning at the hologram. Sunstreaker remained still and unmoved save for the lightening in his optics.
A protest from Optimus, "Are you certain? They would have to know that we would follow the tracking signal. And if most of us didn't even know about it-"
"It's not shielded or even hidden all that much." Interjected Ratchet, speaking up for the first time in a bit. His lips thinned in irritation. "A simple scan would reveal it. Hopefully, they won't question what the rest of the cuff is for."
Prowl continued, "She is bait. We are supposed to go in following the signal and with the intentions of a rescue. The toxic gas will be there and will obliterate us within minutes."
"Well, what are we supposed to do?!" Sides leaned forward aggressively and growled sardonically at the officers, "Not go in and save her?"
"We go in with the intentions of destroying the generator and any containers that hold Starscream's toxin while sending a smaller number to retrieve Shay." Looking around the room and at everyone's optics, the Prime spoke grimly, "We cannot put off destroying this. The toxin is too much of a threat. I believe it would be best to destroy it while we have a chance. Prowl, what is the likelihood that this is indeed a trap and the toxin will be there?"
"Eighty-nine point four percent, sir."
Optimus nodded gravely before looking at their resident inventor, "Do we have a way to destroy the fog if it is out and active?"
Fidgeting as Wheeljack winced, audios casting an uneasy dull green, "Not really. I might have something that could break down it's molecular structure but we just don't have all of Starscream's notes. Without the entire formula, it's just guesswork. There is no way to tell without testing it."
"What's to stop them from just making more?" Tapping a finger nervously on his knee, Blaster wiggled in his seat. "I mean, Screamer's got the whole formula 'cause he made it. They'll just do it all over again."
"Unlikely, if we can destroy it the first time. The materials to create the toxin are not easy to come by, correct?" Prowl got a nod from Wheeljack, "If it is not useful and does not destroy us, Megatron will hesitate in giving Starscream a second chance at this endeavor. We just need to survive to destroy the toxin containers and the generator while staging a rescue mission."
"Great!" Red Alert flung up his servos in a dramatic move. "It's a trap, we have a hostage situation, and no way to defend ourselves against a toxin that will Snuff. Our. Sparks," he seethed.
Sweeping his doorwings down a little, the Praxian retorted calmly, "We have faced worse odds. And knowing what is most likely waiting for us helps."
Nodding solemnly, Optimus straightened and pulled away form the hologram, "Tactical meeting now. Prowl, Ironhide, and Jazz stay here. You as well Wheeljack. We need your expertise on this chemical weapon." The Lancia's audios flashed for a second in surprise but he stayed quiet. "Blaster, Red Alert, Ratchet, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker; go grab a cube or some recharge. We will be moving out soon. Inform the rest of the Ark that they need to be prepared."
"But the Decepticons are watching us!" Objected the security director, "They'll know we're planning."
"As we should be. But they are likely expecting a smaller rescue attempt, not a full scale siege." Replied Prowl briskly. That seemed to settle the mech who bustled out the door in a hurry. As the others left in his wake, the Prime called out to the Twins.
"Can I be sure you two will not try to do this on your own?"
Pausing at the threshold and looking back over his shoulder, the yellow Autobot rumbled softly, "As I said, we're not stupid. Regardless of what everybody else thinks. You need us for the battle."
"And we're going to be on the rescue team." Stated Sides cheerfully with a savage smile aimed at Prowl.
"I could not imagine persuading you otherwise." A dry response.
The Twins slipped out, leaving the higher ups to their plotting and battle planning. Despite the worry that they'd try to go in alone, no one stopped the lamborghinis as they stalked toward the main door. Sideswipe waved at the cameras, whether in mocking or seriousness was unknown, and the two strode outside. Hauling themselves up the metal walls and over the destroyed thrusters, they climbed until they were crouched on the ledge afforded to them by the ship.
Letting out a long and frustrated vent, Sideswipe settled and placed his chin in a servo. "I think-," a mild conversational tone as he watched the sunset turn the sky a ruddy red.
"Dangerous habit." Sunstreaker supplied automatically.
Ignoring the barb, he continued, "-that we need to remind the Decepticons of why it is a bad idea to make us angry. Like, suicidally bad."
His twin glanced at him sidelong before pulling a few small orbs out of subspace, "Then I guess it's a good thing Wheeljack slipped me some of his more...interesting explosives."
"Ooh, fun."
An angry smile full of teeth flashed before the brothers fell silent and turned to watch the sun sink into land. Glacial blue optics reflected streaks of carnelian sky. If anyone was around they would have seen the predator in the Twin's eyes and would've wondered if they were prey or not. Tomorrow, anyone with a Decepticon emblem was going to be the hunted.
The Twins were out for blood.
.
.
Music: Fall Behind - Nyves
Read and review. I would love to hear what you guys think is going to happen since this is almost over.