Hey guys! Thank you for the initial reviews! It's always helpful to me to hear what everyone thinks of my story! Now, don't get all excited, this doesn't mean I'm really going to post every week again. I just managed to make this chapter the way I wanted it and decided to go with it. I hope you all like it!
And don't worry, there will be more characters introduced in this story! -winks-
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, or any other trademarked item or name mentioned in this fic.
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"We, presently, do not require a night watch crew of our own. The American army has several recruits keeping this entire facility under a tight watch, so we may as well just keep to the humans' daytime schedule ourselves. Besides, we still have many things to make accessible to us in our new laboratories. I've had enough tie-ups trying to explain how things need to be run to some of these humans, we don't need anymore distractions to add to the things that already need to be done, than what we've already had," Ratchet explained.
It had been three days since the Autobots and Cat had moved into the Hoover Dam The four that had moved, were having a meeting about what needed to be done currently to ensure that they had a properly run facility that would keep to their own needs. Bumblebee, of course, had taken his position of guardian back in Tranquility for Sam and Mikaela. And Cat… Wait… Where is Cat?
"Aw, Ratch. It's not as if we're runnin' on a time limit. We got plenty of time to get a proper system up and runnin' for ourselves," Jazz tried to reason.
"It wouldn't concern me if it wasn't for the fact that we still haven't been able to locate Barricade or Starscream… Or for the fact that the new tracking device that Catherine allowed me to install in her right arm doesn't work with our individual sensors yet, and I need the mainframe up and running," The medic replied.
"Where is the kid anyway?" Ironhide asked.
"I believe I saw her leave very early this morning to ride that "motorcycle" of hers. It wasn't even sunrise when she left," Optimus replied.
"It's the middle of the day now. I wonder where she's gone off to this time?" Ratchet sighed, "All the more reason for us to get a mainframe computer of our own running as soon as possible. I've warned Catherine about the possibility of running into Barricade or Starscream, but it hasn't seemed to phase her into staying here for an entire day."
"You gotta remember Ratch, she may have come here with us, but she's considered an adult by human standards, and she has the freedom to do as she wants," Jazz explained with a slight chuckle. It amused him that their human friend was too fidgety to stick around for too long.
"True, although it doesn't completely mean that she's safe on her own. I have told her that I preferred she stayed within sight of the facility, although I doubt that she's taken my word at it," Optimus commented.
"I would feel more at ease if she had her full strength, or even her Alchemy powers, but she doesn't. Which makes her going off on her own even more worrisome." The medic sighed again.
"Understandable. How long until the mainframe is up?" Optimus asked.
"It shouldn't be more than a few hours now, as long as the humans follow my instructions as I have given them. They're doing very well, however they tend to want to make short-cuts to see if something different will work, and it makes things more difficult to sort out later…" Ratchet actually seemed a bit amused himself.
"I'm sure that they're just excitable about working with a newer technology," Optimus chuckled.
"Indeed they are… They seem to have a never-ending supply of questions," Ratchet replied.
"Sam and Mikaela were the same way," Jazz laughed.
"Well, if no one else has anything to bring up, then we'll adjourn for now," Optimus smiled as the others nodded, and they all separated for the time being, each taking care of his own newly arranged duties for their new base.
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As if it weren't bad enough that school had started again, Sam's class schedule left him apart from Mikaela with the exception of lunch. Oh sure, when she barely noticed him last school year they practically had every class together, now that they were in a relationship they just had to have every class apart. Sam pouted as he sighed and rested his head against the hand that he had propped up on the desk.
The teacher seemed to lazily give the English lesson for the day as he scribbled on the board. Seemingly to pretend as if there were no kids in the classroom. Sam was trying to follow along in the class work when something caught his eye. He looked to the door of the classroom and saw the smiling face of Mikaela waving to him. Sam chuckled silently and gave a small wave back as Mikaela blew him a kiss and walked away.
His cheeks and spirit were raised just a little before an image of the notorious football jock leaned forward, blocking Sam's view of the door. Sam's smile disappeared as the jock glared at him intensely.
The bell finally rang, it only seemed like hours had passed to the teenager, and Sam gathered his books into his backpack and wandered out of the door, picking up a worksheet from the desk of the teacher on the way out. As Sam turned the corner to go to his locker, two strong hands grabbed at either of his elbows and pulled him aside, slamming his back into another set a lockers. The boy suddenly realized that he was surrounded by half of the football team.
"Uh… H-hey guys… What's up?" Sam asked.
"I don't like you Wetwinky!" The familiar face of Trent came nose to nose with Sam.
"It's Witwicky-" Sam started.
"You think that you have my girl?! She's just using you to get back at me!" Trent pointed a finger in Sam's face, snarling like a vicious beast.
"She'll be crawling back to me by the end of the week, just wait and see!" Trent shoved Sam back into the lockers as him and his buddies walked off, smirking.
"You're wrong…" Sam suddenly choked out. He had faced giant alien robots and defeated them, why not try a human?
Trent stopped in his tracks and turned to the smaller teen.
"What was that?" Trent asked.
"I said… I said you're wrong…" Sam managed to say it again.
The jocks laughed and walked to within just a couple of feet of Sam.
"I'll tell you what, Ickicky… Tonight, at the park at six o'clock… If you can prove to me that you can take me on, I'll let you have her," he taunted.
"I don't need to prove anything to you," Sam narrowed his eyes.
"Oh yeah? Well if you don't prove it to me then… Then we'll come find you, and prove to you that life's not worth living. Got it?" Trent threatened.
Sam didn't say a word. He just looked Trent dead in the eyes and walked away.
"Remember! We'll find you! And after that we'll take good care of you…" Trent threatened.
Sam had only walked halfway down the hall when a hand grabbed him by the elbow and he pulled back in a hurry.
"What's wrong?" Mikaela asked, shocked by Sam's pulling away from her.
"Oh… S-sorry… Nothing's wrong…" Sam replied, a half smile appearing on his face.
Mikaela looked down the hall and saw Trent and his buddies laughing. She turned back to Sam and asked, "What happened?"
"It's nothing," Sam replied as he walked on down the hall, Mikaela in tow.
"Sam, you shouldn't let those guys push you around like that! You saved their sorry asses and the rest of the world when-"
"I said it's nothing!" Sam blew up at the girl.
Mikaela stopped dead in her tracks as Sam walked away. He had never yelled at her like that before. She watched as he turned down another path down the hall and disappeared.
Turning around, Mikaela came face to… chest with Trent.
"Hey baby. I've uh… I've missed you a lot. You know that Winkinky kid doesn't have anything that your man, here, does. Why don't you just let me take you back and this will all be over," Trent went to reach for her when she pushed his hands away.
"Take me back? You are so confused," she snarled and walked away.
Trent yelled to her as she walked away, "He ain't got nothing that I don't already have!"
Mikaela stopped and turned around, walking back towards Trent, the boy smiling thinking that he had won her back over.
"He's got the one thing that you will never have… A brain…" And with that Mikaela turned back around and headed for her next class.
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It was five o'clock that evening, and Sam hadn't yet apologized to Mikaela. No, instead he had been sulking in his room ever since he had gotten home. He had been watching the clock for the past hour, contemplating on what to do. Should he go to the park and deal with Trent? Or should he just go apologize to Mikaela and wait for the wrath to be brought upon him tomorrow at school?
His computer suddenly beeped with the familiar sound of an instant message. He looked out his window over to the driveway where Bumblebee sat in boredom.
Turning back to the computer, Sam saw the screen name "Bee-otch07" with a message.
Bee-otch07: Is there some reason that you and Mikaela aren't speaking?
Sam couldn't help but frown a little as he began typing back.
Ladiesman217: I sort of… yelled at her today at school… She's probably pretty upset at me…
Bee-otch07: Why did you yell at her?
Ladiesman217: It's… not important why. I'm just wondering if she'll ever talk to me again…
Bee-otch07: I'm sure she understands. Just give her some time.
Sam looked back at the clock next to his bed and saw that it was five-fifteen already. If he was going to go, he had better go now.
Ladiesman217: Hey, listen. I'm gonna go for a walk okay? I'll be back later.
Sam heard Bumblebee's engine rev in excitement.
Bee-otch07: Where do you need to go? I'll take you!
Ladiesman217: I'm not going anywhere specific. I just need to think about some things. You can just stay here and relax for a while, okay?
At that moment the engine shut off.
Bee-otch07: If you say so… You know where I'm at if you need me.
Ladiesman217: Yeah, I know. I'll be back soon.
And with that Sam signed off of his computer and grabbed his house keys, his parents being gone for a neighborhood watch meeting for the next two hours or so. He locked up the house and walked down the street, heading for the park, still contemplating the entire way about whether or not he should go through with this. He was certainly no body-builder, so he knew that his chances of beating the crap out of Trent were pretty much slim to none. But he was tired of the idea of the jock trying to beat him up around every corner. He didn't want to tell Mikaela, the obvious reason being that this was about her, and he didn't want her knowing. He could already hear her scold him for thinking that he "had" to fight Trent over her. But ever since Mission City, Sam couldn't help but feel like he was a different person, and that he could handle any new thing that was thrown at him.
After all of the contemplating, Sam hadn't realized that he was already at the park entrance. He stopped and looked behind him, seeing his way back out of this situation, and knowing that he could always just turn around and-
"Hey Wilkicky!" Trent's annoying jeer made Sam's stomach burn with anger as he turned around and saw the whole football team stand around Trent's truck.
Sam sighed. Well… This was it…
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Bumblebee had been watching his internal chronometer the same as his young human friend had been.
-Sam's been gone for an "hour" already…- Bumblebee worried as he checked the time again. Yep, it was still six-fifteen… The same time that it was nine point three seconds ago.
Getting ready to fire up his engine to go look for his charge, he noticed someone walking up the driveway and quickly went silent. The sounds of the footsteps were all too familiar.
"Bee?" Mikaela asked as she neared the back of the house, "Hey Bee!" she smiled cheerfully.
"Good evening Mikaela. I wasn't sure if you were going to be coming by today or not. It's unusual for me not to see you for an entire day," the Camaro replied back just as cheerful.
Mikaela's smile lowered a little as her eyes darted around the backyard, as if wanting to avoid the whole subject of why she hadn't been by since being let out of school.
"Is.. Sam around?" she asked.
"No. He left over an hour ago to "think" and he has not yet returned. I was just about to go and look for him," Bumblebee's cheery tone of voice also lowered.
"Oh.. I see…" Mikaela sighed.
"Would you like to accompany me?" the Autobot asked.
Mikaela thought about it for a second before she saw the passenger door swing open. She smiled and hopped in, the door closing itself and the engine rumbling to life as Bumblebee backed out of the driveway carefully, and pulled away from the house, the two starting on their journey to look for Sam.
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"There! Got it!" Ratchet declared happily as the main viewer for their new base computer turned on for the first time.
The medic typed away at the computer's large-ish control panel.
"What's all the fuss about Ratch?" Jazz walked in hearing his friend's exasperated yell of relief.
"I've finally managed to get this new system up and running. It's taken me much longer than expected, but it's finally finished!" the medic couldn't have sounded any happier.
"So watcha gonna do now that it's all up and runnin'?" the silver mech asked.
"My first order of business is to locate Catherine. Optimus contacted me a while ago and asked if I had seen her at any point today, and I haven't," Ratchet began typing away at the panel.
Jazz thought for a moment and added, "You know? I haven't seen or heard from her all day either."
"Indeed. If she left here at sunrise, then there's no reason that she hasn't returned. I'm one fried circuit short of sending the American military out in search for her… She could have run into a roaming Decepticon for all that we know!" Ratchet growled.
"Relax Ratch! This is Cat we're talking about ere'. She's got the stuff to be quite the fighter!" Jazz tried to calm the medic. He laughed mentally, knowing how much his friend disliked having their group separated without a way to contact the rest.
Ratchet stopped his typing and suddenly asked, "And have you seen her fight lately? She's been reduced to the strength of an average human. There would be no chance of her survival if she were to meet up with Barricade, or better yet Starscream."
"I s'pose you're right," Jazz sighed as Ratchet went back to his typing.
A few more minutes of this and there was an alert on the screen. With this Ratchet growled impatiently.
"What's wrong, now, Doc?" Jazz asked.
"Catherine's global positioning sensor is not functioning. I cannot locate her," the medic replied.
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Sam hit the ground once again, his face scratched, he was breathing rapidly trying to catch his breath.
"Oh come on, Winkimpy, you can do just a little better than that can't you?" Trent taunted as his friends were laughing to encourage him further.
Sam pushed himself up off of the ground with the little strength that he had left, that was until he felt a foot pounding into the middle of his back, pushing him back to the ground, his face getting close and personal with a mound of dirt.
Trent bent down over Sam and whispered, "This can all end now… All you have to do, is never lay eyes on my girl again…"
Sam tried getting up, but Trent had at least one hundred pounds over him, so he was useless. But he was never going to denounce his relationship to Mikaela…NEVER…
"Come on weakling… Just say it… Say it and we can all go back to where we should be!" Trent whispered again.
Sam was going to attempt to get up again but he heard something in the distance. The group around him came to a quiet as well. It was the sound of a vehicle approaching. A few of the boys walked over to where the sound was coming from, seemingly to avert the driver's attention away from what was happening in their little group.
"Come on… there's got to be somewhere in that brain of yours that understands that you don't deserve-" Trent stopped in mid-sentence and looked up.
"Is there a problem?" the jock asked as he finally stepped off of Sam's back, although Sam didn't try getting up this time.
Sam could make out the sounds of some people talking in the distance, and then the voices began to get louder. Before Sam knew it, he could hear the sounds of fists hitting against flesh, and the sounds of people hitting the ground in response to those hits. Sam turned his head to the other side, but wasn't able to see much because there was a line of football players in his way. Suddenly, Trent's voice broke through the other noises.
"Hey you got a problem, pal? Why don't you come over here so I can teach you a little lesson about getting into other people's business!" he yelled as he walked faster towards the one that they were speaking of.
"If you've got a problem, then you can take it up with me you-" Trent was stopped in mid-sentence as he screeched in pain, a hit to the stomach made the boy go to his knees.
Two or three other boys started an approach on the person in question but they stopped at the sound of the cocking of a handheld gun. All of the boys stepped away, holding their hands in the air as if admitting defeat.
"…Go…" a low growl warned, the boys began to scatter away quickly, two of them picking Trent up off of the ground and aiding him to his SUV. The sound of another vehicle pulled up in the background and Sam turned to see who it was.
Bumblebee raced into the park, beeping his horn. He pulled up next to the grassy knolls of the park, and Mikaela jumped out, running over to Sam.
"Sam! Sam, are you all right?!" Mikaela asked as she helped the boy sit up.
The other cars, as well as Trent's SUV screeched away, out of the park, leaving it empty to Bumblebee, Sam, Mikaela and the mysterious person who managed to scare off the boys in the first place.
Mikaela looked up to see a motorcycle, and a rider in black rider's jeans, a black and white jacket, and a black, gleaming helmet.
"Who are you?!" Mikaela yelled.
The rider giggled behind the mask as they undid the strap below their chin and quickly pulled off the helmet.
Smiles went all around in great relief as Bumblebee transformed into his bipedal mode and walked over to the group.
"When did you get here Cat?" Sam asked as he was helped to his feet by the concerned Mikaela.
"Just a little while ago. I stopped by the house but before I even knocked on the door Ron and Judy yelled for me from across the street and said that they'd seen Bumblebee drive away. I drove here thinking that you guys were going to be at the lookout and picked up different bio and heat signatures along with yours," Cat replied, her smile had faded as she noticed all of the small scratches on Sam's face.
"You're lucky that she got here when she did!" Mikaela looked down to Sam.
"More like those boys are lucky that they ran when they did. When I caught a glimpse of what they had done I pulled my glock out on them… If they hadn't had started to run, there would have been some dead high school students…" Cat growled.
"Cat," Bumblebee started, the girl looked up to him in response, "Optimus would not have been happy with you if he knew that you had killed defenseless children."
"And I'm sure he wouldn't have been any happier if he had found out that those defenseless children had beaten Sam to a pulp, either!" Cat responded, crossing her arms.
"What were you doing out here by yourself with them anyway, Sam?" Mikaela asked.
"It's nothing…" Sam replied, not wanting to get into the details.
"It sure didn't look like nothing!" Mikaela spat, crossing her arms as well.
Sam was going to drop the issue until he noticed that even Bumblebee was giving a look of being displeasure. The boy sighed.
"I… I had a little run-in with Trent today and-"
"And you didn't tell me?!" Mikaela's temper rose.
"I… I didn't want to start anything about the whole subject. I knew how you felt about me getting into scuffles over you, but he threatened to make my life hell if I didn't show up tonight…" Sam explained, wiping a spot of blood from his cheek and looking to his hand to check the substance.
"So you yelled at me, to keep me away from the whole situation, and then came out here to get your butt beat?" Mikaela asked sarcastically.
"No! No I… I didn't mean to yell at you… I was going to call you after this and apologize for yelling," Sam was trying his best to apologize.
"Sam, why did you not tell me that this boy had threatened you?" Bumblebee asked, somewhat hurt.
"I just wanted to deal with this on my own," Sam tried to make sense of the situation.
"And we can see what good that did you…" Cat gave a sarcastic reply.
Sam looked to Cat with wide eyes for a moment, as a thought had occurred to him.
"Why are you looking at me so funny?" Cat raised an eyebrow.
"Teach me…" Sam suddenly spoke.
Cat's face suddenly contorted into a questioning look.
"Teach? Teach you what?" she unzipped her jacket and placed her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side a little.
"Teach me how to fight!" Sam ordered.
Cat was taken back at this, Mikaela and Bumblebee were a bit confused as well.
"Why would you want me to do that? You don't want to know the things I know Sam…" Cat tried to reason a bit with the boy.
"I'm tired of being defenseless! I want to be strong!" Sam yelled.
"You don't have to know how to fight in order to be strong, Sam," Mikaela tried to reason with him as well.
"Yeah, I mean… You killed Megatron! Why would you need to know what I know about fighting?" Cat asked.
"That was only luck…" Sam lowered his head.
Bumblebee stomped forward suddenly and looked down to his young charge.
"That was not luck and you know it Samuel! You defeated the one being that would ultimately have destroyed everyone else that you know if you hadn't used the power of the Allspark against him!" the Autobot exclaimed.
"I didn't know what it was going to do! I just knew that Optimus said that he was going to sacrifice himself with it if he couldn't defeat Megatron! I didn't have much time to think about it-"
"So," Cat interrupted, "You thought, that by showing up those kids, you were going to prove to yourself that you weren't just an accidental hero. Am I right?"
Sam looked to Cat. She could really see through him like crystal clear glass.
"I guess so…" Sam sighed.
"Sam," Cat pinched the bridge of her nose with her head lowered and then looked back up to the boy, "Whether or not you knew what the Allspark was going to do, you saved everyone! Anyone could have just taken that little cube and run with their tail between their legs, "Bumblebee cocked his head at the girl at the expression used, "But instead of doing that, you turned and faced certain destruction to save this planet. Not only this planet, but all of the other planets that would have suffered the wrath of the Decepticons. You are, by no means, an accidental hero. It was your fate to be the person that would save everyone… You don't need to face a bunch of teenaged boys to prove your worth to anyone."
"Especially to me…" Mikaela put her arms around the boy and looked up into his face.
"You don't need to beat up Trent to prove to me that you're stronger," she soothed.
Sam smiled a little, "Really?"
Mikaela gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Really."
Cat smiled, and the noticed that Mikaela looked around Sam at her.
"Now that that's behind us. You couldn't stand being away could you?" Mikaela asked with a smirk.
Cat grinned sheepishly and turned to point behind her, "Just thought you guys ought to see my toy is all!"
"Cat," Bumblebee began.
"What is it?" the children looked to the yellow Autobot.
"Have you not informed the others about where you would be today?" he asked.
Cat contemplated this question for a few seconds and replied, "I guess not, no. Why's that?"
"I have just received a message from Optimus, alerting me to your "disappearance". You have everyone at the Dam looking for you…" he said in a warning tone.
Cat went a bit pale at the idea of receiving another speech from either Optimus or Ratchet. She sighed.
"They get so uptight! I didn't mean to forget to tell them that I'd be here, I just kind of made a last minute decision. Guess that was a bad idea, huh?" she tried to laugh it off.
Bumblebee gave the girl an uneasy look, "Cat, you need to inform them of your location now."
Cat pulled out a new cell phone from a zipped pocket in her jacket, "Why didn't they just call me?!"
"When did you get that?!" Mikaela asked.
"Another reason why I wanted to come by and see you guys, to give you my new number to-" opening her new flip phone she went even more pale, her eyes wide.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked.
"Two hundred… seventy-eight missed calls…" Cat managed to say.
"WHAAAA?!" Sam and Mikaela's jaws both dropped.
"I guess I… forgot to turn the volume for the ringer back on… Oops…" The volume level of Cat's voice was nearly as low as the tone on her cell phone.
A few seconds of pushing buttons and Cat looked up to Bumblebee, "You're going to have to tell them yourself. My phone's nearly lost it's charge from them calling all this time."
Bumblebee nodded and a few "whirring" noises were made within him as he sent a message back to the Autobot leader.
"We should probably get Sam back home and cleaned up in the mean time," Cat zipped up her jacket and began to put her helmet on.
Bumblebee transformed back into his Camaro form as well, readying for the trip back home.
Cat climbed on her bike when she looked up to see a grinning Sam standing in front of her. Wondering what the boy could possibly be thinking she said, "All right I'll bite… What?"
"You mind if I hitch a ride? I've never been on one of these before!" he asked excitedly.
Cat could hear Mikaela's giggles and recognized a quick rev from Bumblebee as a laugh as well. She grinned and pulled off her helmet, throwing it at Sam.
"All right, just remember to lean when I lean to turn, okay?"
"Yes!" Sam put the helmet on and climbed onto the secondary seat of the bike.
Mikaela jumped into the driver's seat of Bumblebee, waiting for Cat to lead the way so they could watch Sam's reaction to riding a motorcycle.
"Ready?" Cat asked, feeling Sam tightly grip her jacket.
"Ready!" he announced happily.
Cat turned the bike on and sped off out of the park, picking up speed fast, she laughed as she heard him screech happily.
"Do you think it's wise for her to be speeding so fast when Sam has never ridden a vehicle like that before?" Bumblebee asked Mikaela in concern.
The girl only laughed and replied, "I think it's a great idea!"
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Having arrived back at the Witwicky residence and cleaned up Sam without getting caught by his parents, the trio of humans sat in front of the television flipping through the channels and talking.
"So are you going to call the base to make sure everything's okay there?" Mikaela asked.
"No, I figured I'd give it some time to let the guys cool off," she replied, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth, fending off her growling stomach. She had gotten somewhat used to regular foods, but she still refused to try a "Big Mac".
"Yeah, I'd be afraid of facing them for a while too," Sam laughed.
"I'm not afraid of them, but ever since Mission City I've noticed how they've gotten overprotective of all three of us. They're like overgrown parents, they want to know where we are and what we're doing at all times. It gets annoying at times, trying to explain to them that I'm an adult," Cat explained.
"Bumblebee doesn't really do that, though," Sam corrected.
"Yeah he does, just not like the others. He's the baby of the group anyway, he knows that you guys want a little space. Which is probably why he let you take a walk by yourself today," Cat rebutted.
"Yeah, but he doesn't watch our every move or listen to what we're doing like the others do," Mikaela responded.
Cat raised an eyebrow, "Oh?" She reached over to the coffee table sitting next to her chair and gave it a few knocks in the "Shave and a haircut" fashion.
The teens were confused until they heard two, consecutive honks from the driveway. They stopped with the eating of their popcorn and their eyes went wide. "To bits" was the response. Cat smirked.
"I didn't know that he could hear us through there like that!" Mikaela's head whipped around to the wall that blocked their view from the driveway.
"I didn't know Bee knew the "Shave and a haircut" line…" Sam wondered aloud.
Cat only laughed.
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They had finally settled onto a horror movie, and merely an hour into it, Sam and Mikaela had fallen asleep. It was getting somewhat late and Cat was about to wake the two to make sure that Mikaela got home before her mom called angrily for her. As she got out of the chair, her eyes suddenly caught something outside. Cat stood, frozen, looking out of the window. The room was dark enough so that no one could really see in, but Cat could see, very clearly, who was on the outside.
Manipulating the special lens in her left eye, she zoomed in on the big blue SUV that sat outside the home.
-Someone didn't learn their lesson the first time…- Cat quietly walked out the back door and grabbed her keys on the way out, leaving her jacket and helmet.
She closed the door gently, so as not to wake her two sleeping friends from their quiet slumber. She noticed that Bumblebee was in recharge as well, and grabbed her bike, slipping it down the driveway without waking the Autobot. Getting to the end of the driveway, Cat looked directly into the eyes of the jock who was, for all purposes, waiting for Sam. She pointed to him, gaining his full attention, and then pointed down the road, signaling him to follow her. Turning the bike on, Cat sped away down the street, looking into her side view mirrors, she made sure that she didn't get too far without making sure that the boy was following her, which he was.
Finding a quiet, back alley behind a closed strip mall, Cat pulled in and shut off her bike, setting it up and waiting for the other's arrival. The SUV made the turn into the alley and shut off right away, four boys jumping out of the gas guzzler. Cat merely stood with her arms crossed, a serious expression painted across her face. The boys walked up to her, the three behind Trent seemed to be hold something behind their backs. They finally stopped within about ten feet of her.
"Are you the one from today?" Trent asked, eyes narrowed at the girl.
"Sure am… You're lucky you got away when you did… I don't appreciate my friends being beat up, and I wanted to let you know that if I ever find that happening again, you won't be walking away from what I'll be doing to you…" She glared, her yellow eye scanning each boy's bio-signatures, recording them for future reference.
"What's with the colored contacts and the arm? You a freak?" Trent and his friends chuckled.
Cat glare intensified and she took a step towards the group, causing them to stop with the laughing right away. Her last nerve was hanging by a thin strand. First they wanted to beat down her friend, and now they've insulted her… As far as she was concerned, they were all sitting ducks for her target practice. But she managed to calm herself.
"I'm not going to tell you again… Stay away from Sam and Mikaela, and your parents won't have to send search parties to find your individual body parts scattered throughout the city…" Cat huffed.
"The girl's got attitude," One of the boys snickered.
"She's got attitude, sure… But does she have what it takes to stand up against us when it comes down to it?" Trent walked forward, his friends behind him all revealed baseball bats from behind their backs, smirks on their faces.
Cat growled in response to the threat.
"You don't want to do that…" she warned.
"I noticed that you don't have your little toy to protect you this time," Trent pointed out.
Cat momentarily glanced down at her empty gun holster attached to her side under her left arm. She had placed the gun under the secondary seat of her bike because she knew that Sam's mom absolutely opposed having guns in her house. Her eyes went dead onto Trent's own eyes.
"No matter. I don't need it. That toy was only a tool to deter your little friends from coming any closer to me," Cat scoffed.
"Is that so? Then I'm sure you won't mind if we… you know… test your true skills out," the group of boys walked forward slowly.
"Last chance…" Cat gave the ultimatum.
The four boys only laughed as they came closer to her.
Cat sighed and decided that she had no other choice. She got into a defensive position and let her senses take over. Her left eye dilated, it's pupil grew until the yellow of the iris was but a thin, circle surrounding the pupil.
The teenagers ran forward, straight into the lion's den.
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Mikaela woke first. She saw that she was in the arms of Sam who was laid back on the couch, snoring. She smiled and then looked to the chair where Cat was last and saw an empty space. Her smile faded as she looked around the room.
"Cat?" she whispered.
The back door opened and the familiar face walked in with a smile. Mikaela sighed.
"I thought that you'd left already," Mikaela sat up a little.
Cat smirked, "Nah, I wouldn't leave you guys without saying something first."
"I'm sure Optimus would disagree to that," the teen giggled.
Cat's face went pale again, "Oh yeah… Well, I wouldn't leave without saying anything on purpose. How about that?"
Mikaela laughed, causing Sam to wake out of slumber.
"What time is it?" Sam asked.
"It's nine-fifteen. You two ought to get some sleep before going back to school tomorrow," Cat said as she pulled her jacket on and zipped it up.
"So you're leaving then?" Mikaela asked as she stood and stretched a little.
"Yeah, I'd better be getting back before the other's have a fit. I'll see you guys some other time," Cat said as she grabbed her helmet.
Just then, Ron and Judy walked in.
"Oh, hello Mikaela. Hello Cat. Are you guys going somewhere on a school night?" Judy asked.
Sam rolled his eyes, "I'm going to take Mikaela home, and Cat's going back to the Dam."
Sam's parents looked to Cat with that "look".
"You're going to drive several hours at this time of night?" Ron asked the girl.
Cat smirked and pointed to her left eye explaining, "Night vision, remember? It'll be fine. Plus, I'm already surprised enough about how I haven't heard a word from the guys since Bumblebee let them know where I was," she yawned.
There was a loud noise, everyone recognizing it as a certain yellow Autobot transforming into his bipedal mode. They walked outside to see Bumblebee standing in the backyard with his hands on his hips, looking rather proud of himself.
"What's up Bee?" Sam asked.
"Where the hell is my bike?!" Cat suddenly realized.
Bumblebee pointed to the garage, to which everyone looked and noticed that-
"Ron!" Judy started, "There's a motorcycle on the garage roof!"
Sam and Mikaela chuckled, "I don't think Bee agrees with you, Cat."
Cat rushed over to the Autobot, arms waving in anger, "What the hell are you doing?!"
"You are exhausted. I would never be able to forgive myself if I were to allow you to leave in that state and you were to lose control on the way back. So get some rest," the seeker looked proud of himself once more.
"What about-" Cat started before being interrupted.
"I will inform Optimus that you will not be returning as soon as expected," Bumblebee put his foot down on the matter… literally… as he transformed back into his Camaro form and opened his doors for Sam and Mikaela.
Cat sighed and turned to Sam's parents, "You guys don't mind if I-"
"Don't worry about it! You're practically family now! We don't mind!" Judy waved off Cat's formal request.
"It's not as if you don't know where your room is," Ron commented with a smirk.
As Bumblebee drove off with the two teens inside, Cat muttered, "You just wait until I get my full strength back.."
A couple of honks could be heard as the car drove off of the street, Cat smirked and walked inside the house for the evening.
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At the Dam, the others were about ready to pack it in for the night as Optimus reached the new medical lab that Ratchet had set up with the aid of the scientists.
"Hello Optimus. What brings you here?" Ratchet asked.
"I've just received word from Bumblebee that Catherine will be spending the night at the Witwicky's to rest," the leader informed him.
Ratchet scoffed and muttered something inaudible to Optimus.
"Old friend, I believe that we are being too strict with the children," Optimus started.
Ratchet looked to his leader and raised an eye-ridge, "And how did you come to that conclusion?"
"I received an audio feed from Bumblebee from a conversation that Cat had with Sam and Mikaela. Cat refered to us as "overprotective". Perhaps we should allow her to come and go as she pleases without making a fuss," Optimus explained.
"And what of the possible Decepticon threat? They're still out there just the same as we are Optimus," the medic replied.
"And has that stopped Catherine from going off on her own so far?" Optimus asked.
Ratchet turned away and muttered again.
"Exactly my point. I believe that if you could get that global positioning sensor to work in Cat's arm, we could always have access to where she is. And as long as we know where she is, we should allow her to do as she pleases. If there was any problem, she would most likely contact us anyway," Optimus made his point.
Ratchet turned back to his commander and asked, "And what of Sam and Mikaela? We have no way of planting sensors such as those on them."
"Bumblebee has taken charge of the both of them. If there was a problem, we would be the first that he would contact. We cannot keep interfering in their lives as if they need our protection from everything," Optimus finished.
Ratchet gave a sigh and said, "I suppose we overreacted today a little…"
Optimus laughed, stirring up the American army over the disappearance over one human girl was more than a "little" overreaction.
"Get some recharge, friend. We still have plenty of things to do to make this facility a home for ourselves, and it's not going to get done in one day," the leader ordered.
"Of course. Good night Optimus," Ratchet replied.
"Good night Ratchet," Optimus exited the med lab for the night.
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It was bright and early the next morning that Sam was awoken by his alarm clock. He reached over and banged the top of the thing several times before actually hitting the snooze button. He closed his tired eyes and fell back to sleep for only a few seconds before there was a loud knock, and the door swung open in it's regular morning fashion.
Sam's mom peered into the room and yelled, "Come on Sam! Hurry up and get dressed or you'll be late to school again!" was her cheerful yell.
Sam groaned and rolled over, perching himself on the side of the bed as he sat up slowly, his tired eyes begging for rest. Muttering something unrecognizable, the boy decided that it truly was time to get up.
The newly dressed Sam walked out of his room, running his hand through his bed head hair. He stopped by the guest room and noticed that the door was open a crack. Opening it the rest of the way, he figured that Cat had left, but was pleasantly surprised to see her sleeping form in the bed. She was on her stomach, her false, right arm hanging off of the bed, the fingertips just barely an inch from the ground. Her other arm was wrapped under her pillow, her face was softened and emotionless as her back rose and fell gently with each breath. It was a sight rarely seen by their group. The sight of Cat actually resting peacefully. He couldn't help but chuckle.
Sam was about to wake the girl when a hand went to his shoulder and he looked back to see his father, who had a finger to his mouth in order to command Sam to make no sound.
"She has a long drive back to the Dam today, and you need to get to school," Ron whispered softly," leave her to sleep a little longer and get downstairs."
Sam sighed and nod in reply as he continued down the stairs to the kitchen. As much as he knew his dad was right, Cat was nothing short of an older sister to him. And he really wanted to say goodbye before she zoomed off again. He knew that Mikaela would feel the same way.
"Cereal?" Sam's mom asked, still cheerful.
Sam looked to his cell phone at the time and shook his head, "No, I don't have time, I'll just grab something on the way."
Getting to the driveway, Bumblebee revved his engine and opened the driver's side door to allow the boy entrance.
"Morning Bee," Sam murmured, still basically half asleep.
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Getting to the school, Sam parked Bumblebee in the back lot, so that no other car was around to scuff up the doors.
"See ya at three, Bee!" Mikaela waved, the Camaro honked in return.
Sam had an arm around Mikaela, they were both smiling and chuckling at the conversation they had on the way to school.
Walking up to the door, the two stopped suddenly as the doors burst open. Their eyes went wide at the new sight before them.
Trent and three boys behind him all had swollen, purple bruises all over their faces, one boy had both wrists in Velcro guards, another had his left arm in a sling. Trent had one arm wrapped around his side, showing that he had either fractured or broken some ribs.
Even with all of his present issues, Trent hastily took hold of Sam's shirt collar with his free hand and got nose to nose with him. As he was about to say something his eye caught something in the front of the school. Slowly driving by was a dark figure on a motorcycle. The rider didn't seem to be paying attention to the road, but rather seemed to have a fixed gaze upon the group.
-Trent's flashback-
And as he lay on the ground, moaning in agony, curled up into a fetal position, the girl knelt down beside him and looked him dead in the eye.
"I will always be protecting them… The one moment that you forget that, is the last moment that your mind will have time to think… EVER… Got it?" The girl asked.
Trent mustered up the courage to nod ever so slightly in reply.
The girl got up and turned her back, going to her motorcycle, when she suddenly stopped and turned around.
"Oh yeah… One more thing…" she knelt back down to Trent quickly and he closed his eyes shut tightly, thinking that she was going to strike him one final time.
"It's "Witwicky"…"
And with that, the girl smirked and stood up, turning towards her motorcycle and mounting it, taking off out of sight.
-End flasback-
Trent's mind was so focused on the memory that he hadn't noticed that he had let go of Sam's shirt. Sam and Mikaela staring at the jock in confusion.
"Later Witwicky…" Trent snarled as he and his buddies turned back to the school and disappeared down the halls.
"Sam did you-" Mikaela started to ask.
"-I didn't do that to them, I swear it!" Sam wished, greatly, that he had been the one to have given Trent the battle wounds, but he knew that he hadn't landed even one single punch on any of those boys.
"You know what's really weird?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, I heard it too… He called you by the right name…" Mikaela replied.
The sound of a cheerful honking made the two turn around. The figure riding the bike waved and then sped off towards the interstate.
Sam and Mikaela looked at each other and at the same time said, "Cat…"
Yep. Things were definitely going to change for the teens all around. Not just in their personal lives, but in the whole social scenes at school as well. And it was a change that they welcomed.
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Instead of a Chapter Teaser this time, I'll give you guys a Fun Fact about this story. Fun Facts will usually be about the chapter that I've posted, or something about my thoughts on the chapter or just random things from time to time. Sometimes I may give you a Chapter Teaser, other times I may give you a Fun Fact, or sometimes I'll give you both. Teehee, I'm so random!
Fun Fact
Originally, this chapter was non-existant in the Soul Recon series. In fact, it was non-existant until just a few short weeks ago, when the idea came to me just very suddenly. I figured that it would probably be better if I established new living for everyone all around, just not Cat. In actuality, I had never intended Sam's parents to be informed of the Autobots or even Cat, herself. I had written a few parts of a few chapters of Soul Recon while writing the end of the original story. And while writing for the end of Project Seven, I realized more and more that I wouldn't be able to keep the parents out of the loop, so I went back and rewrote parts of the chapters to Soul Recon to fit the ending of Project Seven.