Hey guys! Betcha didn't think I'd update this soon, huh? Well I've gotten some extra time, and time is good!
FORD B : That's our hot-head! =D Yeah, I saw the movie, and I loved it to death!
AccessBlade: I have a feeling that there's probably not going to be a day when she's not in trouble ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I own Cat.
Oh! Also I just wanted to add in here, because I won't be updating again before then, that I hope everyone has a good Holiday for July 4th! Take good care when setting off fireworks! I know I'll be setting quite a few off myself! 'evil grin'
Enjoy!
--
Cat was just behind Ironhide has him and Jazz led the way home, Bumblebee was close behind 'Christine' in a tight formation just in case they were attacked.
"What about Evan?" Josh suddenly spoke, realizing that he had left his friend behind.
"Ratchet's bringing him back so he can watch him while he's unconscious," Cat replied, "I'll take you to the med lab and you can sleep there until we find you a new place."
"Where do you stay?" Josh asked.
Cat rolled her eyes, "I live in an apartment in the Dam... With my dog... My large, vicious, man-eating dog," she made sure to put emphasis on that last part.
"Oh... So why can't we just stay in your place?" this boy obviously didn't pick up the subtle hints that Cat had just dropped.
"Because it's mine..." Cat replied.
"Well, our apartment was just totally destroyed, along with our clothes, our food... Oh my god, the food!" he suddenly realized, "That was supposed to last us for two more weeks! Go back, man, we gotta get the rest!"
"I'm not turning around so you can pick apart some rubble to find a gallon of milk!" Cat seethed, "The medical staff will provide meals."
There was a pause. Josh was quiet for a moment. It was a vale of silence that Cat wished would either stay, or be blown away by music... Man, she wished she had them install a radio. However the one she wanted was going to be on backorder for weeks, so she decided to wait until she came across the specific model somewhere else. Looking over, Cat could tell that he was thinking very hard. Although she was afraid what it was about...
"...Maybe this is a good thing," Josh brought his head up in realization as his eyes strayed around.
"What?" Cat asked.
"Well... Evan and I were about a month away from being kicked out because we can't afford the rent, we both lost our jobs, there was no other place that we could have gone... Maybe this is a good thing!" he pointed out, a smile crossing his face.
'Great,' Cat thought, 'That means they'll probably stay as long as it'll possibly take to, literally, annoy me to death...'
"Let me remind you something," Cat felt that it was only fair to warn him, "You were just attacked by a robot from outer space, and we have no idea why. That means that you're probably going to be meeting him again."
Josh's happy face turned into a stone, terror expression, "...You don't think that he's going to really come back for us... is he?"
Cat sighed, settling into the drivers seat and looking into her rearview mirror for a second, "I don't know... This is the second time that I've met up with him, and both times are when I'm around your friend..."
"Well, what about them?" he pointed to Jazz and Ironhide, who were leading the four-car convoy.
"What about them?" Cat asked, sure of herself that she was going to be the one stuck explaining everything about the Autobots to him.
"Well I mean... They're the good guys... right?" he asked.
Cat gave a crack of a smile out of the corner of her mouth, "Yeah they're the good guys all right. You've got nothing to be afraid of from them."
The vehicles continued on their trek back to the dam.
--
"Let's get this finished, and soon," Prowl advised, "There are local law enforcement units beginning to respond."
"It'll take them some time to find us, though," Ratchet replied as his bipedal self transformed into his alt, Hummer form, "Help me load this boy, Prowl."
Ratchet had already secured Evan to the stretcher from his rear cab of the Hummer. As soon as he was finished transforming, his older, but muscular hologram appeared and looked up to Prowl for help. The black and white mech reluctantly agreed, only reluctant to do so because he feared too much longer and they would be discovered. And the more humans who saw them, the more possibilities of their residence on Earth to be exposed and endangered. Endangered only for the fact that the Decepticons had already been living on Earth without the knowledge of the Autobots, and who knows what they would do if the Decepticons had found out exactly where they were living.
Prowl aided Ratchet in lifting Evan and carefully placing him into the cab of the Hummer.
While Ratchet was making the last few adjustments to secure his new load, Optimus turned to Mirage.
"Thank you, again for responding so quickly," he thanked.
"It wasn't a problem, Optimus. I'm glad I was able to help, although I can't say that I'm happy to see that there are Decepticons already beginning to invade Earth," Mirage replied.
"Barricade and Starscream were the only two to disappear after Megatrons death in Mission City. Fortunately, Barricade is the only one on Earth, however he still manages to show up out of nowhere and do this sort of damage," Optimus explained.
"I don't understand, Optimus. If humans can do what I have witnessed Cat do, why does Barricade even bother trying to attack?" Mirage asked.
The other three Autobots stopped what they were doing and looked to Mirage.
"I'm somewhat confused as well," Prowl interjected, "Humans, Mirage, have no capabilities to defeat a Decepticon. Their size makes them lack the ability to fight off any Cybertronian without proper weaponry."
"Except, perhaps, one," Ratchet huffed, looking to Optimus.
"What, exactly, did you witness, Mirage?" Optimus asked, taking the hint from his medical officer.
"Uh.. Well, sir.. Just before I was within range to protect the three humans from Barricade, I saw him backing away from her, as though she had some degree of control over the situation. I could not understand any word that she spoke, having still not found the English language, but she managed to produce an extremely intense magnetic wave. I attempted to evaluate it, but her power was too immense," Mirage explained, "For a moment my sensors gave out, the power producing some threatening effects on my systems. When I managed to regain myself, she was lying on the ground, and Barricade had been thrown several hundred yards away."
"Barricade took a full blow of the Allspark's power and still managed to escape?" Prowl asked himself aloud.
"Not without some sort of damage, I'm sure," Ratchet replied.
"Allspark, sir?" Mirage suddenly realized what Prowl had said.
"To make a long story short," Optimus started, "Cat has inheirited the power of the Allspark through a fusion with another human."
"Fusion? Humans can fuse their bodies together?" Mirage asked.
The sounds of a squad of law enforcement vehicles rang throughout the town streets. The Autobots held fast on ther conversation and listened to see how close they were.
"We're going to have to catch up later," Ratchet advised.
Optimus nodded, "Mirage, you'll need a vehicle mode."
"Right, sir," Mirage quickly took to looking around the area, the only vehicle that was intact was the rusty old truck that had turned over with Evan still inside. Mirage scanned it, quickly shifting gears and changing the properties of his armor from the sleek silver, into a rusty gold-colored truck.
"Let's Rollout!" Optimus ordered as the rest of them also transformed into their alternate modes and took off.
--
Cat, Sam and Mikaela and just gotten through, dropping off Josh at the medical bay, the staff filling his every need to keep him comfortable for the night. The other Autobots having convened in the meeting area, awaiting the return of their comrads.
"Maybe you should have had the nurses clean you up a bit, Cat. Just to make sure there's nothing major -" Mikaela tried to encourage her friend.
"Nothing doing," Cat interrupted, "It's just dried blood, the cuts are probably already almost fully healed," She looked to her two teenaged friends, "You two are almost as bad as the Autobots!"
"Just trying to do what we can," Sam chuckled.
"So besides getting into trouble, what've you been up to?" Mikaela asked.
"This and that I guess... Oh! Before you guys go, you should get a chance to really take a look at the new 'Christine'!"
"No way in hell are you getting me near that thing!" Sam put his foot down on the matter.
Cat laughed, "I told you, Sam. It was just a blown fuse. The car isn't really alive!"
"Hey listen, when your car, which seems perfectly normal, suddenly changes into a twenty foot tall robot out of nowhere, then I'll believe you know where I'm coming from," Sam accused, "Until then, I'm not going near that thing!"
"Oh please," Cat snickered, "You're glad that you have Bumblebee, and you know it!"
"Well yeah, I'm glad I he's around..." Sam replied.
Cat looked to the boy as if she knew he had something else on his mind on that subject, "But?"
Sam sighed and said, "But lately he's kind of... I don't know, it's like he's been walking on eggshells around me. Ever since that whole thing where that Allspark power was effecting me, he's been quiet. Instead of him begging me to go somewhere to 'see-the-sights' he's just been sitting in the garage. I hardly ever talk to him except when we're on our way to school or something."
"Hmm," Cat looked away. She knew why Bumblebee acted that way...
"Well I'm sure he'll get over it..." Cat encouraged.
"I hope so," Sam replied.
Cat's guilt ran deep at the sight of her friends being worried... It was, after all, her fault...
--
Sam and Mikaela were in their separate rooms, asleep, back at Cats' apartment. Cat, however, had been working to get her hair untangled of the crusty blood in the shower. After having fought a long battle, Cat was finally able to untangle her hair and scrub her entire body to a squeaky clean. She dressed and threw on her night robe, running her fingers through her hair an extra three or four times as she made her way, quietly, out to the kitchen. Rotten followed her down the hall, his claws clicking against the hardwood floors, only focused on following his owner.
Cat reached the kitchen and poked her head into the fridge, looking for a light snack that would fill her stomach enough to quiet the gurgling noises it was making. As she looked to the inside of the door, her eyes caught sight of something large and yellow. She looked up from the fridge and closed the door. Bumblebee had told them that he would come back as soon as all the Autobots had regrouped and been briefed, so Cat assumed that they had all met and discussed the nights events... Which meant that they probably knew everything at this point, especially if Evan had finally come to.
She scanned the Autobot with her left optic, noticing that his systems were running at their normal levels. If he had been in recharge, his systems would have slowed, which meant he was awake. Cat almost crept back to her room without saying a word, but she felt like there were some things that she needed to know.
Walking into the living room, she approached the large, 'garage' area where the Camaro sat in silence. Usually, Cat thought, he'd have a radio station keeping the apartment full of easy going sounds. He started doing that after he read somewhere on the "world wide web" that humans sleep easier with gentle music.
'I think he just likes the noise, though,' Cat smirked to herself.
Cat stopped just a few feet short of the Camaro and she crossed her arms, feeling a chill where she stood.
"Hey," she said softly.
"Cat," Bumblebee said as if he'd just realized she was near. Obviously Cat had broken his thoughts.
"So, did everyone get back okay?" Cat asked.
Bumblebee took a moment before he decided to transform into his bipedal mode. Cat backed up a little to make sure he had plenty of room to do so. She'd lived with the Autobots and knew them very well for so long, but it always amazed her at how easily they could change forms the way they did.
Once Bumblebee had changed forms completely, he sat down on the floor and looked down to Cat, "Yes, everyone is back safely. They could not find Barricade, once again."
Cat looked down at Rotten with a small nod, "Yeah, I figured he'd hide..."
"Shouldn't you be resting? The others are going to want to know your side of tonight's events early," he asked.
Cat looked over to a clock which sat on her mantle next to Five's teddy bear. She looked back to her friend and said, "It's four-thirty in the morning, Bee. At this point I doubt 'early' will be early enough," she sat down on a nearby chair, Rotten laying down on the floor once he knew where Cat had settled at.
"Anyway, I'm sure between Josh and Evan, they'll get most of the story," Cat added.
"Josh was asleep by the time Optimus returned, and the other boy has not yet awakened," Bee advised.
"Oh," Cat was surprised that Evan hadn't already been awake and told them everything. But she also knew that the longer he stayed asleep, the longer she could put off trying to explain everything.
Bumblebee sat in silence for a moment, wondering why Cat looked so worried, "Is something the matter?"
Cat looked up to the yellow Autobot, trying to avoid his azure optics as they looked over her.
"I don't know... Tonight just took a lot out of me I guess..." she thought for a second before asking, "How about you?"
Bumblebee's head tilted in the 'huh?' sort of way.
"Sam tells me that you haven't been yourself for a while, what's up?" Cat asked.
Bumblebee was the one to avoid Cats' eyes this time. He shrugged and turned in a different direction, sitting with his back to Cat.
Cat frowned and walked over, climbing up Bumblebee's leg, surprising him. She clung to his armor until she reached his knee joint and she sat down, facing her friend.
"I know how you feel..." She said in a soft voice.
Bumblebee tilted his head at her, wondering if she was saying what he thought she was.
"It's my fault... I didn't know that I had part of the Allsparks power, and how it would affect anyone who had been in contact with it... I mean I guess I shouldn't think that it's my fault but it is..." She explained.
Bumblebee shook his head slightly, "You don't really believe that, do you?"
"Sure I do... I blame myself for all the times that I lost control and nearly killed all of you. And when I realized that I had effected one of the kids..." she paused for a moment, briging her own knees up to her chest and putting her arms around them, "You have no idea how many times I've contemplated leaving, Bee..."
Bumblebee looked to Cat with surprise, "Leave? As in leave the Dam?"
Cat nodded, "Sure. I keep wondering if it's too dangerous for me to be here. If I have another nightmare, I could lose total control and wipe out the Dam. And what if I went to visit you guys and the same thing happened? I'd never be able to overlook hurting or killing any of you..."
"Where could you possibly go?" Bumblebee asked.
"I'm not sure," she shrugged, "Probably take everything that's valuable and get halfway across the country at the least."
"So, once you do that everyone around you will be safe?" Bee asked.
"Well... No, but-"
"You've wiped out the power at the Dam, and you doubt that it'll happen in any city of humans that you move to?"
"... I guess not... But I'll be away from all of you, and that's what's important," Cat responded.
Bumblebee shook his head, "There's no one here that is afraid you will harm any of us."
Cat scoffed, "Sure, not you or the others. But you should see some of the dirty looks that I get from the other staff members here from time to time. It doesn't bother me that they do that, but it reminds me of what I'm capable of doing. Or rather, what I'm incapable of doing..."
"You will learn, in time, how to control this. Until then, no one wants you to leave!" he encouraged.
Cat looked up to him with an unsure expression, "Really?"
Bumblebee nodded, bringing a finger under Cats' chin to make her keep her eyes to his optics, "No one here is afraid of you, Cat."
Cat smiled, "Yeah.. Kind of like the same way Sam and Mikaela aren't afraid of you!"
Bumblebee suddenly pulled his hand back, looking away from Cat.
"Sam doesn't blame you, Bee. And he's not afraid of you," She tilted her head so her gaze met his.
"No one knew why he was having those nightmares, and I doubt I could have helped him. He knows that you had no control over it, and he also understands why you had to leave. He's okay now, and he wants you to be okay too," Cat finished.
"...Humans are just so much more complex than I imagined..."
"Yeah, tell me about it... I'm a human, and I've got no clue how I'm supposed to act," She smiled, "But I'm sure of one thing. If you keep putting distance between someone, eventually they'll push you away for good."
Bumblebee couldn't deny it. Cat was right. When he looked in her direction, she was gone, not even around the apartment. Hearing Rotten's claws, once again, clicking as he went to meet his owner at the entrance of the hallway, Bee spotted Cat as she looked back towards him and smiled.
"So just be yourself, okay?" Cat said lastly before she and the large pup disappeared down the hallway.
Bumblebee's faceplates turned into a slight smirk, "For as much trouble as you get into, you're awefully clever," he whispered before changing back into his alt Camaro form. The radio flipped through the stations before finding a station which played gentle tones.
--
Early in the afternoon, Ratchet and the medical staff were watching over Evan carefully, waiting for the boy to come to. Just moments ago, the other boy, Josh, had finally gotten up from well over the recommended hours of sleep, and was being taken to the cafeteria for "breakfast". Ratchet couldn't understand how a human could possibly call it 'breakfast' when it was obviously not the morning hours, but he shrugged it off and continued his normal routine, watching over his patient carefully. While checking over Evan's stats, Prowl walked into the med bay.
"Hello Prowl, what can I do for you?" Ratchet asked.
"Good afternoon. I was checking to see if the boy had regained himself yet."
"Not yet. He has a concussion, so it may take some time. Although Peterson believes he should wake at anytime," the medic responded.
"I see. Would it be all right with you if I asked the other human a few questions?" Prowl asked, looking around the medical facility to see if Josh was still asleep on one of the beds.
"I wouldn't mind, except he's been taken to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I can let you know when he's brought back, if you'd like," Ratchet offered.
"Yes, thank you. I'd like to get a full report on all parties involved with the destruction in Boulder City as soon as possible. Optimus and I are to talk with Catherine as soon as she retrieves her repaired arm from Wheeljack," Prowl explained.
Ratchet gave a slight scoff and replied, "You'd probably be better off just asking these two and Mirage..."
Prowl looked to the medic with an unsuprised expression, "You do not believe that she will give us a truthful statement?"
"Oh, I believe she'll tell you the truth," he corrected, "What she does tell you anyway. What she doesn't tell you, well, that's another matter in itself..."
Prowl didn't respond. He knew, as well as Ratchet, that this might have been the case. He was also aware that unless Cat was willing to spill the beans on everything she knew, they may be hidden in the dark once again. And if they were in the dark over something that could possibly be destructive, they may not make it in time to save her or anyone else involved.
"Wait just a moment," Prowl was shaken from thought by a sudden, strange tone of the medic.
"Is there a problem?" the tactician noticed Ratchet examining Evan very closely.
"I've... seemed to have missed something..." he replied, just before turning back to his friend, "I believe I know why Barricade is after this boy..."
"Ohh god..." The two turned to see that Evan was waking.
"What the hell happened?" Evan tossed and turned before bringing up his hands to hold the sides of his head, "Who put this vice on me?!"
"You have a concussion. You should probably try and rest for a little while longer," Ratchet advised.
"Who could possibly rest with a migraine as big as thi-" before finishing his sentence, Evan opened his eyes, bright lights along with blurry figures which towered, what seemed like, hundreds of feet above where he laid.
"Who are you?" he asked with sudden haste.
"My name is Ratchet, and this is Prowl," the medic introduced, knowing that this needed to go as smoothly as possibly otherwise -
At that moment Evans vision focused and he saw the two giants staring down at him, "ROBOTS!" he jumped up to his feet at a bit of a stagger.
"It's all right," Prowl tried to control the situation, "We're not going to harm you."
"Like hell you're not!" Evan accused, looking around frantically, "Where's Seven?! What did you do with her?!"
"Seven?" Prowl looked to Ratchet who, at the moment, was more concerned with getting a grip on the problem at hand. Of course Prowl knew the Project number that Cat was originally named, but because Evan seemed to know her this way, it was likely that there was some sort of history with him and the sections of government.
"We haven't done anything with her, she and your other friend are all right, just calm down!"
Evan looked around wildly, noticing that there was a large door behind the two robots. Without another thought, he pulled the I.V. line from his leg and ran beneath the feet of Ratchet and Prowl, the two Autobots nearly falling over one another trying to keep from stepping on the boy as he ran between them and hit the door, opening it and running down the hallway, out of sight.
"I'll get him!" Prowl turned to pursue, but was stopped by the neon yellow medical officer.
"No! You could accidentally crush him under you if you miss grabbing him and fall! I'll alert the Dam's staff!"
--
It was Sunday afternoon and Cat had just watched Bumblebee and the kids take off back to Tranquility. She had said her goodbyes for until the next time she saw them and started on her way to Wheeljacks lab. She grimaced, because as soon as she was finished visiting the scientist, she was to meet with Optimus and Prowl to begin explaining the full details of last nights events.
"Good afternoon, Cat," she stopped on her trek and turned towards the other end of the hallway she was walking down, seeing Mirage, Jazz and the twins exiting the rec room.
"Hey guys," she looked to Mirage as the four approached, "You've seemed to fit in fairly quickly," she smiled.
"Yes, it's been good catching up with old friends whom I haven't seen in quite sometime," Mirage replied.
"Hey girl," Jazz started, "Where's yo arm?"
"Hm?" Cat looked to her right side, which was void of the false appendage, "Oh that, Wheeljack offered to fix it up for me. I'm going to meet him right now so I can get it and go talk to Optimus and Prowl."
"You look so.. odd.. without your arm," Sunstreak commented.
Cat smirked, "Yeah well, I can still kick your afts without it!"
As Cat was speaking she began walking again, about to turn the corner of the hall. She was paying more attention to her friends than she was where she was going, and just as she turned to look-
BANG Cat was struck by an oncoming body and flew to the ground, sliding across the floor on her back, the other person laying atop of her.
"What the hell?! Watch where you're going you-" Cat looked at the face of the person and saw that it was Evan. His brown eyes stared back at her blue and yellow ones with a look of pure astonishment, as their faces were nose to nose.
"It's you!"
"It's you!"
Cat and Evan chorused in unison. Cat frowning, while Evan smiled with a great amount of relief.
"You, uh... Need a moment alone, Cat?" Sideswipe asked, giggling and cackling amongst the twins and Jazz while Mirage just watched on in confusion. The three began making 'cat calls' at the two humans.
Cats face turned as red as a freshly bloomed rose, as she stared up at Evan, wanting nothing better than to tear the Autobots' vocalizers right off of them.
"GET OFF OF ME!" Cat demanded.
Evan looked up and saw the four robots, his face becoming even more frightened than before. He jumped up, sweeping Cat up into his arms and running off, "I'll get you out of here!"
Cat was shocked. Not only should this not have happened, but she noticed that Evan was having no difficulty, whatsoever, holding her. It was as if he wasn't paying any mind to the fact that she weighed more than he should have been able to handle.
The four Autobots stood, they themselves borderlining astonished.
"Did... Did that just happen?" Sideswipe asked.
Mirage was completely oblivious as to what the others were talking about, "What's wrong?"
"Well it's... There's no human, alive, that can pick Cat up! She weighs more than four of that kid!" Jazz explained, none of them moving, still deeply profounded.
Just as Evan turned a corner and disappeared out of their sight, they all heard, "PUT.. ME.. DOWN!"
--
You know the drill. If I leave a cliffhanger, I don't leave a Chapter Teaser. Sorry!