Hey guys! Hope that this is the update that you've all been waiting for, I know I have been! Let me know what you think! Reviews have become scarce for this fic and I have to wonder why... Let me know if you like/dislike Soul Recon one way or the other, I know how to take constructive criticism!
AccessBlade: Oh, absolutely! As you know, I'm a big fan of those sorts of fics *coughprojectsevencough* But every now and then you come across one that seems a little too... familiar... But let me know when you get yours up! Sounds like a great one!
FORD B: Thanks! ^_^ I hope I keep continuing to surprise and impress my readers!
I haven't gotten any portraits of Cat up yet, school and work are still keeping me pretty busy, I've barely got time to write! But to visit my Deviant Art account, check out the link in my profile.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, I own Cat, Five, Rotten and basically any other OC mentioned that isn't normally associated with anything "transformers"
--
Saturday, February 15th, 2008
Las Vegas Nevada was a normal, bustling day. The widened streets were filled with cars from bumper to bumper, the tourists were flocking to famous stores for gifts and treats; it was your average Saturday in Vegas. The temperatures were at a cool seventy degrees, which was warm in February, even for the southwestern town. Not that anyone minded; it was a bit of a reprieve from the cooler days that they had lately. Not too far north off of the strip was a small, well known body shop. Normally they were buzzing with business, but today everyone was spending most of their hours visiting the hotels and sights of Vegas. However, a well pronounced Dodge Viper pulled into the parking lot, it's black, glossy paint gleaming in the sunlight of noon time. The mechanics could only stop and stare with bright eyes as the sports car passed several bay doors and stopped at the front desk entrance.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait? I mean, it's not a problem. I can be a little late for my shift," the hologram of Bluestreak asked from the driver's seat.
"Don't worry about it Blue. They said it was done, I asked them a thousand times over. All I have to do is go in to pay for the work, get the keys and I'll practically be right behind you in Christine," Cat smirked.
Bluestreak's car form nearly shivered, "Stop calling it that! It's bad enough what you put us through on Halloween, you don't need to name it!"
Cat laughed. Bluestreak seemed to be the only one that grimaced every time she called the fifty-eight Plymouth "Christine". The other Autobots that had been fooled merely glared at her with disdain. She promised the mechs that she'd never let them live it down, and she kept to her word.
"You should really learn to lighten up, Blue," Cat opened the passenger door and shut it, taking the time to look through the open window at the blue-eyed brown haired form of Bluestreak, "Just tell the guys that me and "Christine" won't be too much longer behind you, okay?"
Bluestreak's hologram rolled it's azure eyes and replied, "All right. Give us a call, though, if something goes wrong."
"See you later, buddy!" Cat waved as the Viper pulled out of the parking lot and set back towards the interstate.
Cat turned towards the body shop and looked it over. After it was made clear that she would be needing something on four wheels for the winter months, Cat had decided to send her Plymouth in to be revamped by a professional body shop. She walked up to the door and opened it, immediately feeling sickened by the smell of tires and cigar smoke. Well, at least, somewhat professional...
As Cat walked in, she stopped, feeling the stares of everyone in the room. There were two rugged-looking men at the counter, a young man about her age, and a family of six in the waiting room. They were all crammed in like sardines in the small waiting area. Luckily for Cat, all she had to do was claim her vehicle and be on her way back to the Dam in the newly polished up Plymouth, formally named "Christine". Cat brushed off the stares as she went straight to the desk. Both of the men standing there were dirty and unshaven; grease practically covering them from head to toe in their blue work suits.
"Help ya?" one of them asked.
"Yeah. I'm here to pick up my Plymouth," Cat replied.
"Name?" he asked.
"Catherine Andrews," Cat was a bit surprised that they hadn't recognized her just by the sound of her voice since she'd called them on so many occassions.
The man eyed her carefully, "You own that piece of work?"
Cat nodded, "Is there a problem?" Surely, after having called six times a day, they weren't going to tell her that it wasn't actually done yet. She'd called to confirm that it was ready to be picked up almost two days ago.
It took a second of another once-over of Cat before the man replied, "Nah... Guess I shouldn't be too suprised by some car owners after having worked here for so long," he went to his computer, looking up the information to print on her receipt for payment.
Cat actually smirked this time after such a comment. The great thing about Las Vegas, she learned, was that there were so many strange people. There were constant shows and tourists that would come to visit the convention center. So Vegas, being the way it was, helped her fit right in. As she stood in waiting a horn began blairing outside. She turned to see the boy about her age get up and look out the glass pane of the door with a hopeful glance.
"All right!" the boy said in relief as he opened the door and exited. Cat mere shook her head as she turned back to the desk. Beginning to get annoyed, she was about to ask what was taking him so long when she felt a tug at her denim jeans. Looking to the left of her, and down, she saw a little blond-headed girl with green eyes staring up at her with a smile. Cat grimaced; oh how much she disliked children... She didn't know why, exactly. She just knew that aftering having to save the small girl in Lake Meade, and the trouble that it caused afterwards, made her believe that all children were ill-behaved and unproperly trained by their parents.
The girl looked up to her with a glowing smile, "Hey lady," she pointed up, "Candy?"
Cat frowned, "I don't have any candy..."
The small child also frowned, still pointing up, "Candy?"
"I don't have anything," Cat griped, already annoyed.
The child stomped a foot and pointed up towards the counter. Cat looked over and saw a bowl of caramel hard candies sitting out for customers. Cat looked back down to the kid and asked, "What do I look like, your mom? Go ask someone else to give you candy."
"It's all right," a woman said from across the small waiting room, "She can have another piece. She gets upset and screams if she doesn't get any after a while, and I'd rather her be quiet and eating the candy than yelling in my ear for an hour..."
Cat looked over to the couple, the mother holding a small infant, while her husband sat reading a car magazine. their two younger sons were running about, chasing each other and knocking one another down, wrestling on the cold, concrete floor. Cat looked back up to the mother and asked, "How many pieces have they had?"
The mother adjusted the infant as it started to cry, putting it's head to her shoulder and tapping it, lightly, on the back, "I don't remember, I've lost count..."
Cat rolled her eyes and, regrettably, picked up a piece of the caramel candy and bending down to give it to the child.
"Dank you!" the girl smiled happily as she ran back to her seat, eating the candy quietly.
After having watched the child, Cat heard the entrance door open, once again, this time she heard a familiar voice talking.
"Just hang on! I need to go to the restroom and I'll be right back!" wait... That voice... It couldn't have been...
Cat swung around and watched with wide eyes as the older boy walked in the door. She, quickly, turned back around, hoping that she wasn't noticed.
"Come on, Evan! I gotta get back to work or I'll be fired!" the other voice yelled from outside.
"Think of it this way," Evan yelled back, "you'll just have to look for job number eight this year!" Cat heard the boy chuckle as the door closed behind him.
Evan walked up to the desk, Cat making sure to keep her back to him. Her heart raced as she could feel his footsteps approach closer to her at the front desk.
"Do you have a bathroom in here?" Evan asked.
"Payin' customers only," the man didn't even look away from the computer screen as he continued to type up Cat's receipt.
"My buddy is getting his car fixed here. Does that count?" he asked.
The old man shoved a toothpick in his mouth and sighed, "Fine, " he pointed to the left of him towards the shop, "First door on the left."
"Thanks," Evan nodded as he stepped out into the shop and went to find the bathroom.
-That's the kid from Christmas Eve!- Cat thought to herself -What the hell is he doing here?!-
"Can you hurry this along?" Cat griped, "My friends are expecting me to be back sooner rather than later."
"Just hold your horses, ma'am," his tar-tainted voice reasoned.
Of course Cat couldn't just tell the guy that she wanted to leave because of the uncomfortable situation that she had just been put in. Even the Autobots had no idea that she had some sort of past acquaintence with the boy. She tapped her fingernails against the desk and waited. It was only a few seconds later that she heard the sweet roar of Christine, as it was pulled around to the front of the shop. Just as the mechanic opened the door to her car and pulled the paper and plastic from the floorboards and the seats, she was presented with a receipt.
"And your amount comes to-" the man started.
"Who cares?! Just take my card and run it through already!" Cat demanded as she threw her debit card down on the desk.
The man rolled his eyes at Cat. Apparently he wasn't as easily intimidated as some of the other humans Cat had dealt with. She grit her teeth and waited for the card to be run through. Before the slip of paper that needed to be signed was given to her, Cat's sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of the internal plumbing rush with water. It was the sign that meant she was running out of time.
"Here ya go," the man presented her with the receipt, Cat quickly signing it and handing it back, receiving her paperwork.
"Keys?" Cat asked, one foot ready to start the dash towards the front door as she extended a hand in waiting.
"Oh, right," the grease-ball grunted as he shifted around in his seat, "Hey, Julio! Where's the keys to the Plymouth?!"
Another mechanic appeared in the doorway of the office, searching his pockets for the car he had just pulled up into the parking space, "Uh..." he searched every pocket twice, causing Cat to nearly run over and beat him over the head. He finally found the keys and threw them to the desk clerk, however Cat caught them just before he could.
The door to the bathroom opened and that was all Cat needed to make her quick exit. She ran out into the parking lot and hopped into the newly refurbished Christine, not having the chance to take in the beauty of her vehicle. Cat shoved the key into the ignition, about to turn it when she saw the boy exit the shop. She gasped as she ducked down below the seat, only peeking from underneath the passenger side window to watch him get into his Corsica and leave the parking lot.
Cat breathed a sigh of relief until she thought of something. Didn't Bumblebee say that the kid was from Boulder City? What was he doing in a shop in Vegas? Cat made a split second decision. She started Christine's engine up, the motor roaring to life as she reversed out of the parking lot, the tires squealing. She threw the shifter into drive and burned rubber out of the parking lot. She picked her cell phone out of her pocket and opened it quickly, dialing a familiar number.
--
Mikaela was getting herself ready to be picked up by Sam and Bumblebee so they could head to the Dam for the weekend. It had been a while since they'd visited everyone, and it was high time that they got a start on it. She was finishing fixing her hair when the cell phone on the edge of her bathroom sink vibrated and flashed. She looked down and picked up the device, looking to see who was calling.
Mikaela opened the phone and answered, "Hey, Cat! We're not on our way just yet so-"
"Mikaela!" Cat's voice sounded rushed.
The teen noticed the urgency in Cat's voice, "Everything okay?" she asked, suspicious.
"Uh.. That depends..." Cat answered, Mikaela hearing cars honking and tires squealing in the background.
"What's going on?" the teen asked.
"Oh, same old thing, I guess... You got a minute?" Cat asked.
"Always," Mikaela thought that maybe her friend was in trouble with the Autobots for something, once again.
"You remember that guy I told you about?"
Mikaela thought for a moment but drew a blank, "You told me about a guy?" she smirked, "When did you start dating?"
"No, no... I'm talking about the guy from Christmas Eve."
Mikaela stopped brushing her hair out, her eyes suddenly getting wide in shock, "Yeah? What about him?"
"Well... I went to go pick up Christine today, and the kid was there..."
Mikaela dropped her hairbrush and walked from the bathroom into her bedroom, looking out the window to see if Sam had pulled up yet, "Are you kidding?! What did you do?"
"... Hid...." Cat answered.
Mikaela rolled her eyes, "You didn't say anything?"
"Of course not! What was I going to say? 'Oh hey there! Good to see that you weren't scarred for life by that Decepticon!' I don't think so..."
"Okay so.. You hid from him and he didn't see you? So what's the problem?" Mikaela asked.
"Well... I'm following him..." Cat started to think that maybe it wasn't such a great idea.
"...You know in some places that's considered stalking..." Mikaela frowned.
Cat whined, "I just want to see what he's doing. You never know what he's really all about; especially since Barricade went after him."
"Did you call-"
"NO... But I wanted to call and let you guys know that I probably won't be back to the Dam until late tonight," Cat explained.
"I don't like this Cat. You need to stop hiding this secret and tell the Autobots about it," Mikaela berated her friend.
"At some point, sure, I'll tell them. But this is about my past, not theirs. If I think it's becoming too much for me, I'll tell them. Just let me deal with my own problems, okay?" Cat replied. She knew that Mikaela meant well, being worried, but she didn't want to bring too many more people into this than there had to be.
"All right... Just don't get in over your head on this, okay?" Mikaela pleaded. Every time Cat gets involved in something unknown, Mikaela is reminded of the incident at the Dam after they had found the Allspark and Cat had demanded that she was going to prevent Megatron from getting past her and Five... And she knew how well that worked out...
"It's just one little human, what harm could he possibly do?" Cat asked.
"Cat.." Mikaela warned.
"All right, all right, I'll be careful. See you later," Cat finished.
"Okay, bye," Mikaela hung up.
As the teen sat her phone back down she couldn't help but sigh and think to herself 'This feels like one of those things that doesn't end well...'
--
Cat hung up her cell phone and was about to throw it across the seats so she could continue to drive when she thought of something. 'I'd better call one of the guys so they won't come looking for me.'
She re-opened her cell phone and thought for a second. Which one would she call, and what would be her excuse? It would have to be someone that would believe whatever she said... Bluestreak could be easy to fool sometimes. But he was also a very well trained sniper, and was good at noticing things. No, she'd need to talk to someone who wasn't going to be able to see past her lie... But who?
--
The human medical staff were all gathered at the Dam for a yearly meeting. It required all doctors, nurses and technicians to be available during the day hours, even the night crew. And, of course, the night crew consisted of Gina Murray and her staff. In the midde of the afternoon, the meeting was taking a recess, allowing Gina and a few others to head towards the lounge to grab some refreshments. In the lounge, as well, were some of the Autobots taking a break from their own daily duties. Among the Autobot crew were the twins and Ironhide. The three were watching television on their own large, flat screen.
Gina walked into the lounge with a distraught look on her face. She went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refridgerator, tucking two quarters into the donation tin. She walked back out into the lounge and sat down at one of the tables, sipping on the ice cold water and looking over the new sheet of rules for the med lab.
Up to this point, Sideswipe hadn't been paying attention to anything except the program that they were watching, when he received a hard poke in his side.
"The slag was that for?!" Sideswipe complained to his smirking twin.
"Your girlfriend just walked in," the bright yellow Autobot whispered, pointing towards the human side of the lounge.
The confused Sideswipe looked over to where Sunny was pointing and saw the lone doctor sitting at the table. Frowning, Sideswipe looked back to Sunny and replied, "She is not my girlfriend!"
"Then why can't you speak right when she's around?" Sunny continued to pester his brother.
"Dude, stop," Sideswipe gave his twin a shove.
"Fine, fine," Sunstreaker's smirk only grew as he put his hands up in defeat, going back to watch the television program. At this point, Ironhide wasn't paying any attention to the two, trying only to focus on not being bothered by them.
Sideswipe sat for a moment and contemplated; wondering what the night shift doctor was doing there in the middle of the day. He looked over to see that she was still observing whatever it was that she was reading, and decided to see what was going on. Getting up, Sideswipe felt a cold chill on his back, knowing full well that Sunny was mocking him behind his back with a large grin.
Sideswipe did a quick passer-by, watching to see if Gina happened to notice his presence. As he walked behind her, he noticed that she slightly glanced his way for only a few seconds before returning to her packet of criteria. He, then, turned back around as if he were going to return to his seat, but instead he stopped to make small talk.
"Oh, uh... H-hey Doctor Murray," he started, looking over to where Sunny was sitting and noticing his brother eyeing the whole situation with quiet snickering. He glared at his twin before hearing the woman respond.
"Hello, Sideswipe," she responded cheerfully.
"I-uh... I see that you're not on your normal shift today," he commented.
Gina sighed and replied, "Yes, I'm afraid we had a meeting today. Which means I get a few hours of overtime and still work my normal shift tonight.."
"Oh... That's... That's too bad," he tried to be empathetic to her situation.
"So, Doc, I was wondering-" he started before she interrupted him.
"Sideswipe, you've been to the medical bay on numerous occassions to not know to call me Gina," she smiled up at him.
"Yeah Sides," Sunny yelled from the other side of the room, "Stop being rude!"
Sideswipe gave his brother an even more impressive glare before turning back to Gina, "Sorry... Gina."
"It's not a problem," Gina smiled sweetly. Sideswipe only stopped for a moment to wonder how it was that this human was able to make his spark burn with anxiety. He's fought hardened Decepticons and never, once, felt as flighty he felt now.... And, for the moment, he was sure that he'd rather be fighting about a hundred Decepticons right now, rather than try and talk to one human femme.
"Listen, Gina, I was wondering if-" Sides began before his internal communications circuitry began alerting him to an incoming transmission. The circuitry automatically recognized that the call was from Cat, "Oh, uh, hold that thought."
'Cat?' Sideswipe answered.
"Hey Sides! Listen, uh, could you let everyone know that I'll be late getting to the Dam tonight?" Cat asked in an overly cheerful tone. It would have been obvious, to the mech, that she was trying to cover up whatever it was that she was doing if it weren't for the fact that his CPU wasn't quite in the right order at the moment.
'Aren't you supposed to be picking up that car with Blue?'
"You mean Christine?" Cat asked in a teasing manner.
Sides sighed and replied, 'Yeah, that one...'
"Yeah, Bluestreak dropped me off, but I decided to take a detour. You know, drive the new wheels around and get a feel for it."
'How late can driving around a car make you?'
"Well... I mean I'm probably going to stop and get something to eat too, and look around Vegas for a while..."
At this point Gina looked to her watch and nearly gasped at the time. She got up from the table, gathering her paperwork and her water bottle, all the while looking up to Sides, "I'm sorry, Sideswipe, but I need to get back to the meeting."
The poor red mech, however, wasn't paying any attention to her as he continued his conversation. Gina looked to Sunstreaker and said, "Could you-"
"Give him the message. Got it," the yellow twin gave the "okay" signal, allowing Gina to walk out of the lounge, disappearing down the hallways.
'You remember that Bumblebee and the kids are coming up for the weekend, right' Sides asked.
"Yeah, I know. I called Mikaela to tell her that I'd probably be late. I figured I'd be back in time to see them anyway," Cat explained.
'All right, I'll tell them.'
"Thanks buddy! See you later!" Cat disconnected the call.
Sideswipe closed his connection and looked down to the table that Gina was sitting at, just now noticing that she was gone. He looked up to Sunny and asked, "Where'd she go?"
"She got tired of waiting for your slow aft to finish your call so she left," the yellow twin cackled with laughter.
Sideswipe looked towards the hallway and vented a sigh, "Figures..."
--
It was already past sunset in Boulder City, and some storm clouds looked as though they were threatening the small town from overhead. Evan had allowed his roommate to borrow his cellular phone, on their way back towards their city, to call his boss and beg for his job. To his unfortunate surprise, the angry manager of the fast food restaurant had already filed his pink slip. Josh begged and pleaded nearly the entire way back home, but to no avail. They pulled back into the apartment complex which was just inside the city limits. The apartment building was old and the foundation was cracking. It was one of the older model buildings that was white brick, built in a square fashion with an outdoor swimming pool in the middle of it. They climbed their way up to the second story apartment and entered their decrepit home.
"Dude, what are we gonna do? The rent's due next week and with the repair bills on my piece of trash, we're not gonna have the money!" Josh complained as he sat down on their ragged, tan couch.
Evan set the keys to his car down on the counter and kicked off his shoes, "What were you doing in Vegas, anyway? I thought you were going to cut down on using up our gas budget?"
"I couldn't help it... Those machines were callin' to me man!" Josh admitted.
Evan shook his head, "One weekend in Vegas and you're hooked... Well no more of that business. We're not even going to afford a loaf of bread at this rate..."
"I'm done with it, I promise!" Josh swore to his friend. It wasn't really an addiction, just something that he intended on doing once a month when he thought he had the extra cash.
Evan sighed and grabbed a small bottle of orange juice from the fridge, "I'll just have to see if Mr. Santiago is willing to extend our rent this month... If nothing else I can see if we can waive our security deposit and use it for this months rent..."
"We're gonna end up in a cardboard box..." Josh put his head in his hands in dismay.
"We'll be fine. Just stay cool and we'll both go to look for a job tomorrow," Evan sat down on the lawn chair across the living room from his friend. It truly was a college kids apartment.
Josh turned to Evan and asked, "How the hell could you have gotten fired anyway? That was our money maker job! At least, then, we had money for food..."
Evan looked down to the floor, "Sorry man. Getting over nearly being killed takes time, and apparently they weren't willing to give me the extra time..."
Josh rolled his eyes, "Right... Come on, even I don't believe your story of a giant robot, and a girl with a metal arm and yellow eye! And I watch cartoons!"
Evan glared across the room at Josh, "I'm the most level-headed friend you've ever had, and you don't believe me?!"
"Giant robot?... Sorry dude," Josh grabbed the television remote and turned to his favorite shows.
Evan sighed, once again, and got up, heading to his room. He slammed the door shut and threw the empty bottle on the clothes ridden floor, kicking it across the room. The bottle hit his closet door and stopped rolling just in front of it, dripping a small droplet of the orange substance onto the floor. Evan sat on his bed and growled. He was usually calm, but this really got to him. Why couldn't he get anyone to believe what happened to him? It was almost as if someone, purposefully, covered up the whole incident! And now, not only did he lose his job, but he was probably going to need to finish off the last of the money that was left to him by his parents to pay one more month's rent so they could survive for a little while longer. By telling Josh that he could talk to their land lord was only a way of trying to calm him... He'd already went to the landlord and asked for an extension on the rent, and was denied. That and he'd already waived the security deposit weeks ago...
Evan stared at the floor to think things over for a moment before his eyes caught sight of the empty orange juice bottle. His attention went from the bottle to the closet door, remembering what was within it. Standing back up, Evan walked over to the storage space and opened the hollow, wooden door. He peeked around inside until he came across it. Pulling the leather jacket from off of its hanger, Evan grasped the the jacket and walked over to his window. He opened the window and rested his elbows on the window sill and looking over the white and black material. The jacket was too small for him to wear, which was supposed to aid him in his story. However, the only reasoning that anyone could come up with was that Evan was simply saved by someone on a motorcycle after his car flipped over, and ran as soon as the paramedics showed up. Still, Evan kept the jacket as a reminder that he saw the right girl... But why did she run from him? Wasn't she happy to see him after so long? He sighed and placed the jacket in a hanging position over the window sill and went to his bed, laying down to think.
"Can't pay the rent... Can't buy food... Can't afford car repairs... What the hell are we going to do?" Evan sighed again.
The room was quiet and calming, causing Evan to begin drifting off to sleep. The sudden sounds of something slipping away suddenly caught Evan's attention. He looked up to the window to see that the jacket had disappeared.
"What the hell?!" Evan dashed from the bed over to the window, his eyes catching a figure in the distance making a getaway with his jacket, "Get back here!"
--
Cat had followed the two humans to their apartment, watching as they walked up to their second story apartment and sat down to have a conversation. Her specialized eye read the heat signatures as they moved within the upper level room. Damn... If she had Prowl or Jazz here, she'd probably be able to listen to their conversation, but even her sensitive hearing couldn't pick up what they were saying... However she could somewhat make out what their lips were saying, but even then, it had been a few months since she'd received training for lip reading in English. She was mainly trained for lip reading in Arabic and Chinese... She knew she should have trained herself on the side...
Cat had left Christine in a crowded parking lot a block away, to keep suspicion from rising. She was hiding in the bed of a large pickup truck, watching the two move about and speak to each other. It was getting dark, so she knew that her spying had to end soon, but she wanted to collect more information before leaving, so she stayed still.
The two boys looked as though they were arguing before the more familiar one got up and left the room. Cat's attention was caught by this, and she moved around to the corner of the apartment to get a better view from the other side. She sleuthed behind parked cars and finally took a spot from behind a tall, wide lamp post, which flickered on and off. The light was mostly off, so Cat decided that it was the best spot to spy from. She watched as the boy pulled at his hair in frustration of some sort. She wondered what the problem was. Was he in the middle of something gone awry? Was he tired? What was his problem? She watched him closely as he got up and moved somewhere else... It looked like he was pulling something out of a closet, but since the item didn't give off a heat signature, Cat could read what it was, exactly. She watched as he walked over to the window and opened it, setting his elbows down and looking over the garment... Wait... Was that?
Cat's eye telescoped in on the object and used the programs to try and identify it. It was only seconds before her eyes widened in shock, "My jacket!"
The boy sighed and set the jacket down, hanging just slightly over the edge of the sill. She watched as he laid down on his bed to rest. For a moment Cat had no intentions of taking the jacket back but... Well, it was hers! It was the first item that she had gotten on her own, that she was proud of; however in a simple act of thoughtlessness, she'd lost it... It was offered, to her, to retrieve the jacket, but if someone went to pick it up, the kid would've asked questions. Maybe she could get it back? But if she does, she takes a chance of being caught and having the other boy see her... But it was her jacket! It would never fit a guy with as wide and muscular shoulders as his!... Wait... Did she just take notice of his features?
Cat shook out all of her thoughts and decided to go for it. She sprinted up to the building making sure that there were no other humans in sight. the side of the building was underlit anyway, so a normal human would have difficulties seeing her in the darkness of the evening. She looked up to the second story window and saw that there was an old, metal ladder on the side of the building, just a couple of feet above her head. Being as weak as she was now, she'd never have been able to jump straight up to the window, but the ladder was just within her grasp if she jumped high enough. She took a lowered stance and concentrated her energy through her legs, feeling an available strength build up just before taking a leap. Cat was able to grap the third step up of the ladder and pull herself up. She reached the second level and looked to her left. The window was easily reached as she clung to the ladder. She was able to pull at the leather material and gently slip the jacket off of the window sill and into her posession.
"Got it!" Cat cheered to herself.
"What the hell?!" She heard the boys' voice yell.
"Uh oh! Time to go!" Cat jumped down from the ladder and made a dash out of sight, but not before hearing the boy cry out once more.
"Get back here!" he shouted.
"Right," Cat snorted, "Like I'm really just going to stop and give up!"
Cat ran out of the buildings parking lot and down the quiet road. Luckily for her, there weren't many people out on a cool night in February.
As she got to the end of the block, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. Turning to look, she saw the same boy running after her in a rage. She gasped, "How the hell did he catch up with me?!" Cat turned back around and ran for the parking lot.
"I see you!" the boy yelled, "You'd better stop!"
'Yeah, good luck with that!' Cat snickered to herself as she was running forward and-
Hitting a stop sign, Cat fell to the ground with a 'thud'. 'I should really learn to look forward when I'm running' Cat groaned to herself.
"HA! I've got ya!" the boy yelled.
Swallowing her pride, Cat managed to get up and slide underneath a truck, hoping that she could elude the boy.
"Dammit... I might have been able to get out of here if I hadn't have been so careless..."
Cat crawled from underneath one car to another, even sliding under a small, economy car. The heavy running footsteps halted, althought Cat could hear small steps being taken around the parking lot. It was obvious that she managed to escape, but now all she needed to do was get far enough away from him so she could get to Christine. As suddenly as the chase began, the small footsteps appeared to have disappeared. Cat was under a small truck, looking around from underneath it. She sensed no human presence; and no heat signature from her left eye.
Crawling out from underneath the truck, Cat slowly stood up and turned around, looking throughout the parking lot, but not seeing a single soul.
"Maybe he gave up?" she clutched the jacket to her chest and as she turned, her left eye suddenly 'beeped' an alert to a heat signature. She whirled around and saw that the boy was standing nearly toe to toe with her.
"Gotcha!" he grabbed her right arm, but stopped as soon as he did so... Her arm felt cold and metallic...
It was dark, so he could barely make her facial features out; but he could clearly feel the slick metal of the arm.
"What the-... Seven?" he asked softly.
Cat pulled her arm back and stepped away a few paces, not answering. There wasn't any point in running now; he knew who she was.
"I... I thought that maybe it was all a dream... But you're really here," he said, astounded.
Cat wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, he'd already spotted her, but on the other, she didn't want to stay and be confronted by someone from her past. She stared into his eyes, knowing that they were going to ask questions... Complicated questions that required even more complicated answers. She shook her head slowly, signaling that she didn't want to bother to stay and answer them.
"I can't stay..." Cat said in nearly a whisper.
"Why?" Evan asked. Surely, he though, she hadn't traveled from wherever she was from to retrieve her jacket from him without so much as talking a little small talk.
Cat frowned, "Look, I think you should just-" she started before she felt chillingly cold dots assualting the top of her head. She looked up into the sky, feeling cold droplets of rain hit the skin on her face. The storm that was moving in had begun. The rain started to wash off some of the sandy dirt that had gotten on her from crawling underneath all of the vehicles. Evan stared at her through the shimmering waves of of falling water. She was a healthy, thin, her blue and yellow eyes closed as her head leaned back to feel the rain, her blackened hair ran nearly all the way down to the small of her back. He couldn't help but noticed that she had... matured... so much since they were younger.
"What happened to you?" Evan asked.
"It's... It's complicated..." Cat took a few more steps back.
"No, wait!..." he looked to the jacket that she was carrying, "You came back for it?"
Cat looked down to the jacket as well. Her eyes strayed from him and merely nodded.
There was a crash of thunder which didn't bother either of the two. They were both focused on the moment that they were in. Cat, wanting to take her leave and get home; And Evan, wanting to know more about what happened to the girl after they'd met all those years ago. Cat was seconds away from just turning to leave when a voice caught the two's attention.
"Evan! Yo, Evan!" the sound of Josh yelled as he ran towards his friend, "What were you screaming about back there?"
Evan turned back to Cat, "Can you stay to talk?"
Cat didn't want to stay. Why did she have to talk? This was rediculous...
"Look, I don't -"
"Dude!" Josh interrupted, his eyes grew wide as if he were shocked by a sudden realization, "That's her, isn't it?! That's the chick from the accident!"
"That's her all right," Evan kept his eyes on Cat, afraid that she was going to take off before having the chance to talk. Her hair was soaked, dripping water the blackened strands which ran halfway down her back. Her bangs nearly hid her blue and yellow eyes as she looked up to the sky with a look of discomfort and irratibility.
'BOOM'
Cat's head spun around looking in the direction of the sudden noise. That couldn't be what she thought it was...
"Come on, man. Let's get back before we get struck by lightning!" Josh said, fearing that he would be one of the unlucky individuals who could get struck by lightning at the drop of a hat.
Cat shook her head, "That wasn't lightning..."
Evan and Josh looked to the girl with confused facial expressions, "What are you talking about?" Josh asked.
A flash of lightning streaked across the skies in the cloudy night, showing Cat what her left eye had already deducted. A silhoette of a giant figure loomed over a nearby abandoned building. Evan and Josh suddenly noticing it as it rose slowly from behind the small, brick establishment. The figure moved smoothly as it stood all the way up, blocking the view of a street lamp behind it. Cat stood still as stone, her eyes lowered into a knowing glare. The optics flickered on, revealing crimson red orbs, which were staring back at the three humans.... That was no Autobot...
"What is that?!" Josh asked, suddenly feeling a pounding in his chest as if his heart were trying to burst out in freedom.
"Run..." Cat whispered, her eyes not straying from the twenty foot tall figure.
Evan grabbed Cat's right arm, trying to pull her to face him, "That's the thing, isn't it? That's the one from that night!"
Joshs' eyes suddenly widened at the two in sudden realization, "It's real?!"
Cat continued to stare, ignoring Evan, as she slowly pulled the rider's jacket around her and put it on. She could hear the thousands of "pings" and "clangs" that the droplets of rain made as they hit the armor. A flash of lightning revealed the black and white police cruiser design on the chest plates. Another pair of small, blue optics appeared from the shoulder of the larger figure. The smaller figure cackled as it clung to the larger mech's armor.
Barricade and Frenzy...
"RUN!" Cat yelled, turning and grabbing the two boys by their shoulders and pushing them away, she could hear the crashes of the building being crushed under Barricade's strength as he pursued.
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No Chapter Teaser this time, folks!
For anyone who didn't understand the joke surrounding "Christine" you may want to take a look at my fic "Our First Halloween"