Hey guys! Long time, no post, I know. But here's the newest addition! I'll probably be posting more often now that I have some time. I decided to quit my second job so I have some free time... for a little while... Anyway, on with the post!
Enjoy!
GrimlockX4 - Definitely not a good thing for our friends. But I'm sure Cat knows just what to do :D
FORD B - I'll definitely do something for the two in the future, but for now I'm just starting to get Cat on track with Romance so it'll take a little more time for everyone else. ;)
Check out the poll for the Soul Recon series in my profile and let me know what you think! Also, I have created a new story called Straight from the Cat's Mouth if you'd like to check that out as well.
--
December 24th, 2007
--
Cat yawned as she threw the covers from her bed off of her, which covered up the, now more grown, Rotten. The Rot pup yawned as well and merely rolled over under the sheets, his feet up in the air as he continued to snooze. Cat smirked a tired smile at the pup.
"Spoiled..." she mumbled as she made her way out of the room and down the hall to the master bathroom.
Cat closed the door behind her and turned to the faucet, splashing some cold water on her face. She did her normal morning routine, showering, brushing her teeth, and running a quick diagnostic on her left eye. She exited the bathroom and headed to the kitchen, where Rotten had already made his way out to. The large pup was sitting at his normal spot at his food and water dishes, looking up to Cat expectantly.
"All right, all right..." Cat grumbled as she reached under one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a large bag of dog chow and filled up the dog dish, "You'll have one of the guys feeding you later. After I have breakfast I have to get myself ready to go to Tranquility. Tomorrow is some sort of holiday called "Christmas" and Ron and Judy insist that I'm there. Too bad you're too big, otherwise I'd take you on the bike."
Cat gently patted the dog's back as he ate while she spoke, "I'll be gone for a week, so you'll have to make do with the guys taking care of you."
Rotten only seemed to ignore her as she finished telling him her plans and replaced the bag of chow back into the cabinets.
Cat started on a pot of coffee and walked into her living room, turning on her plasma screen television and sitting down on the couch, watching the early morning news.
Ah... She was finally allowed to leave... Ever since that little incident at the Craft residence, both the government and the Autobots insisted that she stay in the Dam for extra security precautions. It wasn't as if she could very well hide what happened. She knew that sooner or later they'd find out.
-Flashback-
The day after the Autobots had finally returned to their normal forms, Cat had called a meeting for her and all of them. They needed to be briefed on everything that she had discovered while away.
"We have a problem... A big problem," she started.
Everyone looked to poor Wheeljack, who put his hands up defensively.
"I assure you that it's not me!" he reasoned.
Cat smiled, "No, he hasn't done anything wrong. I'm talking about some of the things that I've found out while I was gone."
They all gave her looks as if to say 'Go on'.
Cat sighed and started to explain, "While I was trying to infiltrate Doctor Craft's residence, I found two men who were dressed in officers clothing. They claimed that they were responding to someone who had been threatened while around the area. I didn't bother to check them out because I was in such a rush, but after I got in the house, they put a gun to me and began making demands from Craft."
"Why didn't you-?" Optimus began before being interrupted by Cat.
"Let me explain. They weren't there for me, or at least at the time they hadn't any clue who I was. They wanted information from Craft, demanding that he give them specs and blueprints of every invention he had. I played along for only a short time before Craft "unmasked" who they really were, " she went on.
"... They revealed themselves to be operatives from Sector Eleven..."
"Sector Eleven..." Ratchet started, "They were disbanded after Keller had ordered them and Sector Seven to be dismantled."
"Or so we apparently thought," Ironhide added.
"Right," Cat nodded, "I made the mistake of thinking that as well."
"Please continue, Cat," Optimus encouraged.
"Right... Hearing them talk about their little organization really pissed me off... And I revealed who I was to them. They were surprised, but they immediately assumed that they were going to be able to take me back to their superiors. They seemed very pleased with themselves until I turned the tables on them. Later on I questioned them and they informed me that S-Eleven is starting over... And they're in the process of trying to create newer projects..." The last bit of information that Cat had said, she had balled up her fists and narrowed her eyes.
A look of shock came over the group... More humans were going to be brought into existance the same fashion as Cat was...
"Disgusting... How could humans do this to one another?!" Sunstreaker asked.
Optimus shook his head and vented a sigh, "We've been asking that question ever since Cat first explained this to us," he looked to Cat, who was in the middle of her thoughts, "Cat?"
The girl was shaken from the darkness of her mind and she was pulled back into the conversation, "Oh... right... Anyway, I asked them where I could find their superiors, and they said that they didn't know. Apparently the ones at the top go by alias for the underlings so as not to get caught. Although I wonder how it is that they contact them..."
"Yea... They were obviously gonna take what they got from Craft and bring it to someone," Jazz agreed.
"I suppose if I had played along with them long enough I would have found out who and where it is they are. I can only assume that it was most likely going to be some sort of hand-off between contacts," Cat thought aloud.
"Most likely... However a mission like that is far too dangerous at this point. We don't even have an assumption as to where these humans are hiding. Had you gone along with them, as the humans we were, we wouldn't have been able to aid you, or follow your movements. You were very lucky to have escaped, " Prowl reasoned.
Cat crossed her arms and scoffed, "Luck had nothing to do with it. Not only were they not equipped to take me down, but they were clutzy. Even while they had a weapon pointed at me I could have killed them before they knew that they were being attacked. No, these guys were definitely just some goons they threw together."
"Even so, if there was going to be a "hand-off" as you described, the humans that would have taken you might have been more highly trained individuals who could have had the means to keep you under a tight control," Optimus added.
"What could a few humans do that would keep her under their provision?" Ironhide asked.
"I suppose a simple sedation would leave her docile enough to be restrained," Ratchet thought aloud.
"Whatever the means, I'm not concerned," Cat tried to reason, "The tracking unit that you've installed can track me anywhere to within three feet on this planet. That, and eventually, "she smirked, "sedatives wear off."
There was a long pause, obviously everyone was putting their minds to the challenges of what to do, now that they had known that the humans were reforming the S-Eleven organization...
"Cat," Optimus turned to the girl, "I'm sorry... But for now I'm going to have to ask that you not leave the base for any reason. Not even to visit Sam and Mikaela."
Cat's mouth nearly dropped to the floor, "WHAT?! What the hell for?!"
"In light of these events, we have no knowledge as to what Sector Eleven has planned, nor do we know who or where they are. It's better to take a precaution now, and see if we can find more about who is behind the reformation," the leader explained.
"This is so unfair! They didn't even know I was still alive until now! The two guys that are in custody are the only ones that know I exist, and they're under tight guard!" Cat shouted.
"Yes, and now the two that know, know what you look like, and probably know where you've been hiding. They could have already silently provided that information to someone before being put away. Give us a chance to see if we can find who is behind this," Prowl added.
Cat sighed in defeat... It was obvious that they all agreed with this decision, and she was sure that they'd make certain to keep her where she could be watched...
"Fine... I'll give you guys just a little while, but I'm not going to stay locked up for long..." she whined.
Optimus smirked, "Of that I'm sure of. I'm going to go have a chat with our government contacts and get an investigation team started. Unless anyone has anything else to report, you're all dissmissed."
Cat let her head fall against the table with a loud 'Thud' as everyone besides a few left.
"Don't ya worry, girl," Jazz patted her on the back, "We'll find out what's goin' on."
"If it's not tomorrow, then it's not soon enough..." Cat griped.
"How about we help ya with fixin' up your bike?" Jazz offered, remembering that Cat's Hyabusa had sustained some scrapes and minor damage in past events.
"That's all right, Jazz... If you guys help it'll get done in a day... If I did it alone I could probably squeeze out a week or two by taking my time..."
"Well, if all else fails, we can certainly find a way to keep you busy," Sideswipe joked.
Jazz and Cat looked to the twins with not so eager stares.
"Er... great..."
-End Flashback-
And after nearly two months, Cat had had enough. She only saw Sam and Mikaela twice, the rest of the time they were busy with school and looking into colleges. After she had to turn down the invitation to the Witwicky household for the large meal in which they called "Thanksgiving", Cat felt as if she had given the Autobots and the government their due time, and no one had found anything. So once she had a new offer from Ron and Judy for this "Christmas" holiday that Mikaela had to explain to her over and over again about, she had made the intention of packing and leaving the base for as long as she could. Using the excuse of human holidays seemed to be the perfect way of getting some time away from her giant robot family.
Much to Optimus' and Ratchet's dismay, Cat had actually formed a bond with two of their not-so-favorite slaggers, the twins. During her two month "grounding" she had gotten bored to the point that she was willing to do what was necessary to create trouble. And of course, trouble was their middle name. Cat ended up with punishment detail more than she would have liked. Punishment that included having to work with the maitenance crew, cleaning the med bay, and cleaning Optimus' office. Of course the pranks included priceless moments such as Optimus opening the door to his office and having thousands upon thousands of multi-colored balloons come pouring out at him, welding Ratchet's tools to the med bay ceiling, and streaks of paint splattered down through almost every corridor of the base.
Of course, there were going to be some protests about Cat leaving. First, she heard nothing but reasons as to why she couldn't leave. Second, she was asked to ensure that she had one of them to accompany her. But when it finally came to the point that she had made them understand that she would be going it alone, she heard silence.
Cat knew that telling the guys of her dream was probably going to cost her more time off of the roads, so she kept her mouth shut on the issue... Besides, it wasn't threatening anyone, right? As long as she could control the energy that was within her, she could reason to herself that she was safe to be around everyone on the outside. It wasn't as if the surges that she had produced so far caused any damage. Sure, the last time it may have knocked several of the Autobots offline, but it didn't cause any damage. Besides... It was hard enough having to try and sort out why the other projects were involved, or why Five was trying to push her into killing those two humans. Revealing her dreams would only cause an uproar if they had known that Five was trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave.
Rotten licked Cat's hand, causing her to return from her thoughts. She looked down to the large pup and scratched his ears lovingly.
"I know you won't say anything while I'm gone," she joked.
A knock at the door.
Cat and Rotten looked over to her apartment entrance as she got up and walked over to it. Unlocking the door and opening it a crack, Cat smirked and opened it the rest of the way.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here so early?" she asked.
The muscle-bound holoforms of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked in.
A month after everything had calmed down in the Dam from the original, Cat decided to spend some time working on a newer, safer, hologram projector. With the aid of some of the human technicians, and with Optimus' and Ratchet's approval, they were able to create a fully functional hologram matter projector. Even Bumblebee participated in it once it was sure that they wouldn't falter.
"We were just thinking," Sideswipe began.
Cat sighed, "I'm sorry guys, but whatever prank you have planned will have to wait. I thought I told you that I was going to the Witwicky's house for the holidays?"
"We weren't going to ask you to help us with a prank... this time..." Sunny had that "pondering" expression for a moment.
"We wanted to know if you wanted any help getting your things to Tranquility," Sideswipe mentioned.
"Oh. No, I don't need any help. I had the gifts and my clothing shipped there a few days ago so I could ride the bike out. The stuff should be there by now."
--
-In Tranquility-
Sam had just gotten home from school when he noticed all of the gifts and bags of luggage that had arrived from the Dam. It looked as though Judy had already taken the gifts out of the big boxes that they had been shipped in.
"Wow... Those are some pretty large things that Cat sent over..." His childlike curiosity couldn't help but wonder what was under all of that shiny green and red wrapping paper.
Sam looked around and saw that the house was quiet and empty.
"...Just a peek couldn't hurt..." he reached for one of the large boxes that was marked with his name on it.
"Samuel James Witwicky! You touch just one of those gifts and you won't live to see Christmas!" Judy's voice boomed from the other end of the house.
Sam reeled back his hand quickly after being caught and asked Mojo quietly, "How the hell does she know when I do that?"
Little Mojo just cocked his head in confusion and watched as Sam grabbed his school gear and ran upstairs.
--
-Back at the Dam-
"I thought I told you that too?" Cat asked as she walked into the kitchen area and poured a cup of strong coffee.
"You had it shipped?" Sunny asked.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised what kind of things UPS will ship," Cat smirked.
"Was that a good idea? I mean won't they get damaged?" Sides asked.
Cat wondered if there was a motive for the boys to be there, "That's why I had everything insured... Is there something wrong?" she sipped her coffee.
"No... " They both answered.
Now she was sure that something was on their minds.
"What do you two really want?" Cat asked with a mild expression of suspicion on her face.
"Nothing..." They both answered again.
"Guys..." she crossed her arms.
"Well... Maybe we should go with you anyway? We haven't been to Tranquility yet and this would be a good time for someone to show us where it is," Sides reasoned.
"Show you were it is? You have a guidance system that makes NASA look like a LeapFrog progam! Why would you need me to show you where it is?"
"Er... We uh..." Sunny looked to Sides who shrugged.
"Who sent you?" Cat asked.
"No one!" They put their hands up in defense, adding to Cat's suspicion that they were lying.
Cat sighed and asked, "Optimus or Ratchet?"
"... Actually it was Prowl's idea..." Sideswipe admitted in defeat.
Cat shook her head and said, "Should have known..."
"Well he's not all wrong!" Sunny said in their defense.
"Yeah, Cat. Don't you think that it's a bad idea for you to be out alone? We haven't found anything about Sector Eleven yet, and as far as we know, they could be watching you!" Sideswipe agreed.
"I have my doubts that they know where I'm at... I've given you guys due time to find out something, and no one can seem get any kind of information. I'm done waiting!" Cat put her foot down on the matter, "Besides, you guys need to stay here to take turns taking care of Rotten. Since I can't take him on the bike he has to stay here, and he needs to be taken outside to do his business and be played with every couple of hours."
"The others can take care of Rotten, and we can take you to Tranquility," Sunny suddenly realized the mistake that he had just made.
Cat turned her head to glare at the two.
"I. don't. need. to be. taken. anywhere..." She walked back to her bedroom and slammed the door.
"Smooth bro..." Sideswipe shook his head as he and Sunny walked out of Cat's apartment.
--
Cat's body twisted at the hips as she bent to the side, dodging a near blow to the back, one of the shadows having just tried to take a pre-emptive attack. Cat swung her torso up and around, her hips following as she picked up her legs and swung them into a powerful roundhouse kick to the shadow. It disappeared in it's defeat, only to have another appear to Cat's right, building up and running towards her. She ran towards the shadow, watching as it reeled back a punch. Cat ducked and sommersaulted beneath it and at the end of the roll put her hands on the ground, bringing her feet around and sweeping the legs out from underneath it, causing it to disappear. Cat smirked, swear pouring down her face as she allowed the lens in her left eye to narrow back down to it's normal depth range. She shook her brunette locks out of her face, which were also drenched with sweat. She placed her hands on her hips as she took a moment to catch her breath.
Cat walked over to a safe zone where she had a remote, which controlled the the projector program. She was about to initiate another battle when the large doors to the basement facility opened, several large, robotic footsteps could be heard. Cat turned and saw the faces of Jazz, Bluestreak and Ironhide.
"Hey guys," Cat turned back to her controller, looking through the training options that it offered.
"Girl, you've been in here all afternoon," Jazz pointed out.
"And?" Cat smirked, "How does that differ from my normal daily habits? I won't have the projectors at the Witwicky's so this is the last day that I can use them for a while."
"You don't normally stay here for long unless you're taking out some aggression," Ironhide mentioned.
Cat frowned, "Not today... Just getting some good training in..."
"You're going to be exhausted for your trip aren't you?" Bluestreak asked.
Cat didn't lift her eyes from the control unit as she replied, "I can take a beating worse than this and still stay on my feet for some extra time," she yawned.
"When are ya leavin'?" Jazz asked.
Cat looked at her watch and replied, "I thought I'd take off at about Five o'clock at the latest. That way I'd still get there before about Eight."
Ironhide looked over to Jazz, "We won't have time for this little idea of yours Jazz."
Cat lifted her eyes from the remote and looked up to her friends, "What plan?"
Jazz smirked, a glint of light passed quickly over his blue visor, "Well, you've been trainin' quite a bit lately... So I thought we could try something just to see where ya stood."
A slow, but devious smile appeared on Cat's face.
--
The large, old training facility was well lit as Cat stood on one end of the cracked, concrete floor; as well as Jazz and Ironhide took up residency in the opposing corners. Bluestreak had objected to this little training excersize but agreed to hold the remote that controlled the training functions.
"Are we sure that this is a good idea? I mean, I know that you guys said she could really pull some punches before Mission City, but-" Bluestreak connected a private link to Jazz and Ironhide.
"You heard Optimus. He wants to know how she'll stand up to a Cybertronian. Besides, we're not gonna go very far. We just need to evaluate her," Jazz replied.
"Think of it this way Blue, if she did run into a Decepticon, training her like this will help prepare her. Not that it'll happen. We haven't seen even a faint signal of them on the Earth's surface!" Ironhide reassured.
"Don't get too sure of yourself yet, Hide... Let's not press our luck on that one..." Jazz replied.
"We doing this or what?!" Cat yelled from the other end of the compound. She was standing with her arms crossed, tapping one of her toes.
"Go for it Blue," Jazz nodded.
Bluestreak nodded, unsure of himself, as he imput the command in the remote to start. The lights faded down to a very low lit surrounding. Cat's left eye dilated, the specialized lenses scanning the area and her opponents. Cat realized just how stealthy the large masses of her friends were as their lighter steps caught her somewhat off guard. She ran towards Ironhide, using his larger form as an advantage, dogding throws from his fists and running between his massive legs. She couldn't jump quite like she used to, but she quickly climbed up his back as he swung around, trying to reach for her. Jazz was fast approaching, leaving Cat not much time as she reached her right arm under Hide's armor, pulling some of the wiring in his shoulders, which disabled his right arm. It fell to his side as his blue optics looked shocked at the limp ligament.
Jazz was only feet away from Cat as she took the highest leap that she could off of Hide and was moved out of the way in time for a light hit to land on Hide's back, scuffing up the paint on his Topkick's armor.
"Hey!" the weapons specialist glared at the smaller Autobot.
"I'll apologize lata Hide!" Jazz smirked as he turned to follow Cat.
Running towards the farthest wall from them, Cat looked behind her to see that the special ops officer was closing in on her and fast! She pumped her legs as fast as she was able to and was just about to make a jump to the wall to bound back off of it when she slipped and fell, sliding along the floor and hitting the wall face first. She quickly recovered and stood but saw a lingering shadow on the ground below her. Turning away from the wall, Jazz's tall form was towering overhead. She was cornered.
"Now what ya got girl?" His azure visor looked proud as he stared down at her.
Cat put her back directly in the corner of the two walls, as she quickly thought of a plan. Jazz's clawed hand was about to grab her when she jumped away and landed onto his wrist joints, latching on and reaching in to pull the sensitive wiring under his own armor. Jazz's optics widened under his visor and without a second thought, he flicked his arm up and over his head, not realizing the mistake he had just made.
Cat was caught off guard as Jazz's arm flicked her up and away from him, hard. She could feel the speed that he had put behind the throw as the momentum around her built up. Her flight quickly started to come to a fall, and she couldn't stop it. Falling just short of landing and rolling on the ground, Cat actually hit the farthest wall, just a few feet up from the concrete flooring. She hit the wall with a great amount of force and fell to the ground with a hard 'thump'.
"Jazz!" Ironhide almost couldn't believe what he had just seen.
"I- I didn't mean ta!" he and Hide ran over to where Cat was laying motionless.
"Cat?" Jazz bent down to her and rolled her onto her back, her eyes beginning to flutter open.
"Now you've gone and done it!" Bluestreak ran in, approaching the two.
"Quiet, Blue!" Jazz scolded, already feeling a bit low for what he had just done.
Cat regained her cognitive thought and, with the aid of Jazz, sat up and shook off the pain from hitting the wall.
"Ya all right?"
"Y-yeah... I'm fine..." she quickly stood back up, looking unphased by what had just happened.
"Ya sure? Maybe we should take ya to-" The special ops officer's scanners weren't nearly was thorough as the medic's but he was interrupted by the girl waving a hand up to him.
"I said I'm all right!" Cat griped.
"I'm sorry girl. I wasn't thinkin' right when I did that," Cat could hear the remorse in his vocalizer and smirked.
"If a hit like that was going to kill me, it would have happened a long time ago," she joked, "So how about another go?"
"I think we're done for today..." Jazz decided.
"What?! Why?!" she frowned.
"Maybe you don't need to go and see Ratchet, but I do!" Ironhide pointed to his disabled arm.
Cat smirked once more, "All right, all right. But when I come back, you'd better be ready for me!"
Cat walked out of the training room, picking up a towel and wiping the layer of sweat from off of her face and arms, "I need a shower..." she mumbled.
As the doors closed behind her, the three Autobots looked to each other with unsure glances.
"So? What did you get out of that?" Bluestreak wanted to know what the two had gotten out of the battle.
Jazz sighed, "I dunno. The way she got to Hide was a good start but..."
"But if there were more than one Decepticon, depending on who it was, she could be in a lot of trouble," Ironhide finished Jazz's thoughts.
--
Cat got back to her apartment quickly, getting in and locking the door behind her. The larger form of Rotten bombarded her from the side, jumping up and squealing in excitement at her return.
"Not now, boy," Cat gently nudged the dog off of her as she went to the kitchen and threw the soaked towel on the counter, her attention quickly going to her right, false appendage.
She slowly lifted the arm, watching as the shoulder joint smoothly compensated to provide the leverage so that the rest of the arm pulled up. Cat's worry was about to fade when she felt the joint hitch and her arm stop in it's tracks. She was only able to lift her wrist to elbow level before she couldn't manage to pull it up any further.
"Damn it..." she seethed, "I can't fix this myself... But if I have Ratchet do it, he'll insist that I stay another night until he's finished with it and I promised Judy that I would be there tonight at the latest..." She flexed the fingers on the false arm and felt a small bit of relief that her hand was fully functional, even if the shoulder joint wasn't.
"I'll let it go until I get back... I won't need to do much with it while I'm there anyway. I can make a small fix to it to keep it from being anymore damaged and then tell Ratchet that I damaged it falling off of the bike or something... It'll do for now..."
Cat looked at her watch and saw that she had two hours before she had to be on the road.
"I'll take a shower and a quick power nap and head out on time," Cat decided.
--
Cat grumbled and mumbled to herself as she drove down the highway.
"(Grumble)...Let me oversleep... (grumbles)... Should have said something... (grumbles)... Now I'm going to be late..." She growled to herself.
Cat had fallen asleep but had forgotten to set her alarm. She woke up just in time to notice that it was past nine-thirty in the evening. Ignoring Prowl's warnings to slow down or to wait until the morning to leave, Cat called Sam and let him know that she'd just use the extra key hidden in the fake birdhouse on the back patio to get in late, and that they should just go to sleep. Although she had already called ahead to let everyone know that she was coming in late, it didn't stop her from overreacting and rush out of the Dam's garage into the open desert.
While throwing a fit, Cat almost didn't catch a sight that she wouldn't have seen with just her human eye. Through the fog she could see something strange... Something that had it's own energy signature. An energy signature that was similar to what she normally saw with the Autobots, except it was a bit different...
A memory of Five's suddenly poked through her mind. It was during Mission City. She saw the Autobots and their energy signatures, and then she saw the vision of Megatron just before he stomped on Five, sending her close to death. It was all so very strange to see and feel it in her bones. She could almost hear the weight of Megatron's foot cracking her bones and tearing into her flesh...
"... It's a Decepticon!" Cat sped faster towards the energy, activating the emergency call button in the small panel on her right limb, "That's definitely a Decepticon! That must be what's bringing one of Five's memories back to me!"
Cat scanned the area and saw that there was also a human in the vicinity. Someone was in danger...
"Great... Just what I need! Someone to get in the way!" Cat growled as she closed in on the section of Highway 93.
She saw an old car flipped over and human arms struggling to free themselves from the wreckage.
"Run! Get out of here!" a male's voice screeched in terror. It wasn't a voice that Cat recognized.
Even in the thick fog, Cat could see the dark form of Barricade. She never really had a close encounter with him, but she was familiar with the police cruiser form.
'He does look like Prowl!' Cat snickered to herself.
Cat's bike came to a stop and she heard the male's voice again.
"Didn't you hear me?! Get out of here before you get killed!" This human was very demanding for someone who was in no position to be barking orders.
"Stupid human! You should listen to good advice!" Barricade advised in a deep, baritone and angry voice.
Cat smirked and undid the strap under her helmet, pulling it from her head and letting her brunette hair fall over her shoulders. She looked up to the massive form of the Decepticon, taking in mental notes of how much different the detail was on Barricade's armor than what was on Prowl's armor. Barricade, while transformed into his bipedal mode, had more black and silver armor than an even toning between the plating.
"What's the matter, Barricade?! Don't you remember me?!" Cat yelled up to him.
Her joy only increased just that much when she saw the look of horror on his cold, metal face. Oh yeah, he remembered.
"No... It can't be! Megatron killed you! How is this possible?!" Barricade stepped back.
Cat frowned. 'He thinks I'm Five! I can use that to my advantage'
"It takes more than a scrap heap of metal to keep me down!" She threw down her helmet and began stepping towards the Decepticon, "And now it's time to show you what happens to bad little Decepticons when they toy with humans!"
Cat almost broke out in a fit of laughter when she saw Barricade transform and listened as his engine roared to life, the Mustang police cruiser's tail lights disappeared like a ghost in the fog.
Cat was about to hop on her bike and pursue Barricade when she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate as it rang. She quickly grabbed her bluetooth device and strung it over her ear, pressing the "answer button". She already knew who it was.
"Yeah, Optimus it's me"
"Cat, we've just received the signal from your tracking unit. Are you all right?" She could hear the voices of the others in the background as well. It sounded as if they were waiting for the orders to deploy out to her location.
"Yeah I activated my emergency alert," she replied.
"What's the problem?" he asked.
"Well, I'm afraid that I've had a sighting of Barricade..."
"Barricade?!" she could hear the others suddenly go silent.
"Calm down! I'm fine! It looks like he's headed to Boulder City. It's a small town so he's probably not going to stay there if he's afraid that I'll come after him"
"Did he attack you?" he asked.
"No, it was pretty funny actually. He didn't seem to like the fact that I'm alive and he took off like a bat out of hell!"
"... I don't understand... How could a winged creature rise from the-" he sounded confused.
"It's an expression Optimus…" Cat could have kicked herself for using a turn of phrase when she knew very well how the Autobots took to those kinds of things.
"Are there any injured humans?" Optimus asked, worried that there might have been a small version of Mission City.
"Human injuries? I don't know…" She turned and looked towards the human who had crawled out of his car and was staring at her looking somewhat confused.
"Hey! You okay?!" she yelled.
"D-Does it look like… I'm… Okay?!" the boy yelled angrily.
Cat turned back away and sighed, "It'd probably be best if you called an emergency vehicle out here. I got a guy out here who's car rolled over."
"Prowl's already called for emergency vehicles, so they should be closing in on your location at any moment," Optimus informed her.
"Okay…" Cat sighed.
"Just stay at that location and wait, with the human, for the emergency units to arrive. We'll be going to Boulder City to look for Barricade ourselves," Optimus ordered.
"Why would I wait? I'm going after Barricade, someone will be out here in a-"
"Absolutely not!" was his response.
"Why not?!"
"It's too dangerous for you to approach Barricade by yourself! After the emergency units arrive, head straight to the Witwicky's and don't you dare go after Barricade alone!"
"Oh, come on! I could take him if I wanted to and-"
"No!" he put his foot down on the matter.
"It's not like I'm-" she tried to argue.
"Catherine Andrews, if you even so much as think of disobeying me-" he began.
"All right all right! Don't blow a gasket, okay?" Cat could already hear him saying something silly along the lines of telling her that she wouldn't be able to leave the Dam again for months.
"Just go to the Witwicky's and don't argue!" he ordered.
"Okay, bye..." she turned around, looking towards the human who was still staring at her. She could tell that he had a mixture of confusion and complete shock, so she took off her rider's jacket to cover him up in the cool night to perhaps help calm him down.
"Sorry you had to see that guy. It's a lot of uh… stuff… to explain," she said calmly as she laid the jacket over him.
Cat noticed the odd way that he was staring at her metal arm. It wasn't the way that people who didn't know her normally stared at it. It was as if he... had seen it before...
"S-Seven? Is that you?" he asked in a small voice.
Cat couldn't even have described how shocked she was. Her heart felt like it had stopped completely, her breathing hitched, and her eyes were wide. Who was this guy?!
"Is it… really you?" he asked again.
"Who the hell are you?!" Cat yelled, backing up a little. He looked too young to ever have worked at the Dam.
"You probably don't remember me… We met when… we were six years old… I'm Evan… Do you remember?" he asked, sounding hopeful.
"I… I-uh…" Cat wasn't sure what the think, her eyes searched around on the ground going back and forth as if hoping the answer to what he was talking about would jump up at her.
"Seven, it's me… You don't remember… do you?" he asked.
Cat heard the approaching ambulances and decided to take off. She looked down to the boy and backed up. Turning to run, she picked up her helmet, quickly shoved it on and jumped on her bike, burning rubber as she took off. She was able to get away just before the paramedics pulled up and jumped out of their rig. She looked behind her one last time as the fog seemed to just envelope around the boy and the ambulance. All she knew was that she shouldn't have been there. She had done what Optimus asked her to do, which was stay until the units had arrived. She didn't realized that she had forgotten to take her jacket until she had been driving for more than twenty minutes.
The exit for Boulder City approached quickly and Cat slowed down and came to a full stop after pulling over to the shoulder. She was certain that Barricade would have gone this way to get off of the highway quickly and make a dash to safety. It made more sense than the idea of him just flying down the interstate with no where in mind to go.
'Optimus told me not to interfere... I should probably just go on to the Witwicky's... But...' She jostled her right shoulder a little and still felt the metal hitch. It was still damaged, but she really wanted to check it out. She was certain that she could take on Barricade by herself and defeat him!... But the guys would surely chew her out if she tried to do it alone...
What to do...
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Chapter Teaser!
Sam had awoken, for some odd reason he was having trouble sleeping. Something told him that there was something amiss. He looked over to his alarm clock and saw the bright green numbers shining in the darkness. It was nearly two in the morning. Cat! He realized that she was probably there by now and he rolled out of bed. Maybe he had just heard her walking through the house and, in a light sleep, woke to her footsteps on the hardwood floors.
Sam stepped lightly down the hallways, stepping over the areas in the floorboards that he knew would make loud creaking noises. He walked down the hall to the guest room that Cat normally stayed in and saw that the door was still wide open. That's odd... Whenever she slept here she had the door closed...
He looked into the room and saw nothing but darkness, so he flipped the light switch on, thinking that if he woke Cat he'd apologize and go back to bed.
The room was empty.
"Where the hell is she?" he asked himself... Surely she should have gotten here by now...
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For those of you who don't know, or don't remember, the other side of this story can be found in Chapter 3: Meeting You Again.