Hey guys! And how have you wonderful readers been? Me? Just trying to get past having to deal with some login problems... It's been a lot of fun... Anyway, I'll try to get to changing my profile like I should to keep it nice and updated. Really, I guess I should just wait to post this, but I've got it fixed to how I want it (if there are any drop-offs of statements or misspelled words, let me know and I'll take care of it).
Anywho:
FORD B: I didn't see it in the IMAX, but I heard it was awesome! The movie itself was pretty cool, glad I got to see it, and I've heard that it comes out on DVD in October so, yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I own Cat, and any aforementioned character not copyrighted or associated with Hasbro.
Enjoy!
--
"I said, put me down!" Cat ordered, Evan turning around every corner he saw to try and "confuse" the robots.
"We've got to find Josh and get away from here!" Evan acted as though he hadn't heard a word of what Cat was saying. He slipped and nearly lost his footing as he sped past some of the human technicians in the large hallways.
"You're going to get us killed!" Cat said in response to the near accident.
"We'll be killed if we stay!" Evan replied.
"Are you dumb or deaf?! No one's in danger here!" Cat found it difficult to struggle with only one good arm to swing with.
Just as he turned another corner, he caught sight of another human walking along the wall. Before he could do anything, he collided with him, Cat flying out of his arms and hitting the floor just a few feet away from where him and the other man landed. Cat could feel her, already sore, muscles cry out as she slowly moved over onto her side and pushed herself up on her left arm.
Clenching her teeth, Cat growled, "Stupid kid... Should have just listened to me and you wouldn't have -"
Cat looked over to Evan who was lying still on the floor, the technician sitting up and rubbing his head in pain. What made Cat stop her tracks wasn't the fact that Evan wasn't moving, it was something that caught her eye. She crawled the several feet over to the boy and turned him over on his back. His arm had a slight tear in the skin but... it wasn't bleeding... She picked up his arm, carefully, and examined the fresh tear. Something silvery metallic glittered with the reflection of the overhead lights.
"What the hell..." Cat whispered as she overlooked what looked to be... But it couldn't have been...
--
Mirage, Jazz and the twins stood in place just after watching Evan carry Cat off helplessly.
"Should we like... Do something?" Sunny asked.
"What could we possibly do that Cat can't handle on her own?" Sideswipe replied.
"Good point..." The yellow twin shrugged.
-Lieutenant- Optimus' voice channeled into Jazz's communication circuits.
-Speaking- Jazz responded.
-Ratchet has just informed me that Evan has fled from the medical bay. I'm going to need your help to locate him-
-Won't be a problem Optimus. He just took off with Cat. She should be able to take care o' it- Jazz smirked.
-He... Took off with her?-
-Yeah. He ran into her and when he saw us he picked her up and ran off with 'er. I'm sho Cat's taken care o' it by now.-
-Jazz, I think there is something you should also know about the boy that Ratchet just informed me about...-
"He must have had an incoming message from someone," Sideswipe commented as the three stared at Jazz.
Jazz was standing still as stone as he spoke to Optimus over his comm link. Well, at least he was until his head came up, optics wide and with a somewhat disturbed look in them.
"Something the matter, Lieutenant?" Mirage asked.
"We gotta go help Cat!" the smaller, silver bot explained just before taking off down the hall in a hurry, the others following close behind.
--
Cat looked to Evans' face, shock and confusion spelled out on hers. Evan fluttered his eyes open as his mind struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Cat dropped his arm and pushed herself across the floor, her back to the wall. The male technician stared at Cat for a moment. Terror was evident on her face, but he couldn't understand why. He went to Evans' side and helped the younger boy sit up.
"You all right?" the technician asked.
"Uh.. Yeah, I think so... What happened with-" he suddenly remembered what had happened and why. His mind shifted back into high gear as he searched around, spotting Cat. He was about to turn and look for the robots, just in case they had been followed, but noticed how she was staring at him. She kept her back to the wall, sitting with her knees in front of her chest, and her arms to her sides.
"Who are you?!" Cat yelled, not moving so much as an inch.
"Who am I?" Evans face scrunched into a confused expression, "What are you talking about?" he stood, but saw something out of the corner of his eye as he was helped up. Looking to his right arm, he saw the tear in his skin, exposing metal and circuitry underneath, "Oh... Well... I guess it's hard to explain, "he tried to speak as he tucked the small flap of 'skin' back into its spot.
Not a moment too soon, there was a sudden shake in the ground, signifying the arrival of not just the four Autobots that Cat had met a moment ago, but also Optimus, Ironhide and Bluestreak. They surrounded the three humans, Evan suddenly twisting and turning, looking for an escape. Sunny was the first to nab Cat, picking her up fairly quickly and holding her at what he believed was a safe distance from the possible kidnapper.
"Take it easy, now. It's all right!" the man somewhat eased Evans urge to try and run again.
"What the hell are all of you?!" Evan shouted.
Optimus knelt down to the humans' level, "We are Autobots, and you have my word that no one, here, will harm you," he tried to be as delicate as possible, not wanting to shock the boy anymore than he already appeared to be.
"Dude! You're awake!" Josh yelled happily as he ran towards Evan, "Scuse me, large dude," he pardoned himself as he got around Optimus, the medical assistant who had been escourting Josh also walked into the little scene.
"Josh?" Evan asked, flabbergasted to see his friend, "You're okay?"
"Yeah, man! They really know how to make a guy feel at home," Josh said with a slight 'burp' at the end.
Evan could smell the food on Joshs' breath. It smelled like... bratwurst... Beer brats even! Just the idea of biting into one of those juicy, tender, smokey dogs made Evan-
-guuuuurgle-
Everyone in the hallway stopped what they were doing trying to accomplish, either blocking the hall, or trying to explain what was going on. They all stared at Evan, even Cat. His face blushed as he looked to everyone around him.
"...I'm hungry...."
--
It had been days since he'd eatan a full meal, but now Evan was stuffing every ounce of food from the plate into his mouth. Every mouthful was bliss. The bratwurst was tender and juicy, the garnishings were freshly diced over top of it, there was a whole buffet of side dishes and the freshly baked chocolate cake was the best since it had more frosting on it than actual cake. It was almost as if this meal had been taylored to his specific tastes. After he lost his job he'd taken extra precaution to make every bite of food in the cabinets last longer than they were supposed to. And now, he was eating a hot, delicious, juicy meal, and he wasn't holding anything back. He slurped his drink, crammed every little bit of food into his mouth that he could, and he didn't care who or what was watching. Once he finished, he sat back in his seat and let out an exasperated sigh. A sigh that was filled with complete, and utter relief.
"Yeah," Josh laughed, "That's what I did too."
Evan smiled and said, "I've never known cafeteria food to taste so good!"
"It doesn't," the medical assistant replied with wide eyes, "I don't think you actually tasted what you just ate!"
"Well," Josh started, "When you've lived not knowing where your next meal is, you look at food in a whole, different perspective."
"Yeah," Evan agreed as he scraped up the last remainder of food and crumbs left on his plate, "I'm still trying to figure out what you made the other night.."
Josh shrugged, "It was only a few weeks past the expiration date. Whatever it was, it sure as hell didn't taste like food.."
"I say it was mold!" Evan declared.
"No," Josh shook his head, "I've tasted mold, this wasn't as... furry..."
The assistant fought back a sudden urge to vomit and said, "At any rate, I'm glad you're both feeling better. It'll make it easier for you to answer some questions on a full stomach."
Evan and Josh stared at the man, "Questions?" Evan asked.
"Yes. They're going to need to know what happened last night in your city," the man answered.
"... Who's going to be asking the questions?" Evan asked. He was sure he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Hmm," the man looked up to the ceiling in thought, "I imagine that Prowl will. Him or Optimus... Or both. But one of them will just need to know everything that you saw."
"So it uh..." Evan stared across the room as he watched Sunstreaker and Sideswipe walk through the stadium-sized cafeteria, "It has to be one of them?"
"Well," the assistant sighed as he played with his blackberry, "They sort of run the dam. I mean, we have our district and regional managers who report to the President and the Secretary of Defense, but Optimus is the leader and he basically tends to everything that runs here. He even overlooks the human staff to ensure everyone is doing as they're supposed to. Prowl is our top Defense for the dam. And he's very good at his job. That guy knows every inner-workings that happens here, and he reports directly to Optimus."
"Which one is the one that attacked us, though?" Evan spat, thinking that he'd prove the point that the robots couldn't have been as well-intentioned as they appeared to be.
"Barricade?" The assistant looked up from his handheld device, "He's not an Autobot, he's a Decepticon."
"Decepti..con?" Evan asked.
"Yes, Decepticon. They're in a bit of a war with the Autobots. The Decepticons came to Earth looking for the source of life, called the 'Allspark'. The Autobots came as well, but they're set on protecting human life. The Allspark was destroyed, but the two opposing sides are still waging war against one another, which is why the Autobots are working so closely with the government," the assistant replied.
"Okay, so if these Auto-things are so set on helping us out, and they're so advanced, why don't they know what the Decepti-things were up to?" Evan asked, "I mean, they really don't know anything?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I mean, assuming it has nothing to do with Catherine, herself, other than that we're not sure what they want with the two of you."
"Catherine?" Josh asked, "Who's that?"
The medical assistant stopped playing with his electronic and looked to the boys with a strange, confused look. The two stared back at him in the same fashion.
"Catherine... The girl? The one who was with you? Yellow eye, metal arm... Can't really miss her..."
"Oh! You mean Seven?" Evan asked.
"Ah," the assistant realized what was going on, "She hasn't been called that in quite sometime. Her name is Catherine Andrews now. She was named, in part, by the two teenagers whom you met last night as well."
"Teenagers?" Evan looked to Josh.
"Oh, right! You didn't meet them. They had to leave this morning before I got up, so I barely met them myself," he turned to the assistant, "They named her?"
The man nodded, "That's right. They named her 'Catherine'. I believe they call her 'Cat' for short."
"If they gave her a first name, how'd she get her last name?" Evan asked.
The assistant shrugged, "I'm newer here, so I really haven't learned much, but I've asked a few people that, too. I mean, I haven't ever asked the Autobots, but no one else seems to know."
"So... umm.." Josh was totally lost," Why did those two name her in the first place?"
Evan didn't dare answer. He'd known, for years, that she existed, but he never talked to his parents about her. Every time he tried, when he was younger, they would get angry with him, or just change the conversation completely.... That and... he'd never actually told Josh anything about her...
"That's quite a story there.." The man sighed, thinking about how he could go about explaining it, when his device jingled a merry little tone. He looked straight to it, reading a message that had just been sent to him.
"Well," he said as he pocketed the phone, "It appears that you are already needed in the meeting room. You should probably ask one of the Autobots to tell you about Catherine. I doubt I could give you the full story the way they can."
Evan and Josh nodded as they got up from their table to follow the man to the meeting place.
--
Cat was sitting in Wheeljack's lab on one of his worktables. She was joined by Optimus, Prowl, Ironhide and Wheeljack of course.
"This will have to work for now," Jack handed her the finished product of her newly repaired arm, "We're going to have to remake this out of a stronger material if it's to withstand battle damage."
Cat accepted the arm. She wasn't in a very pleasant mood, so she couldn't even give the scientist an acknowledgement. She stared at the limb for a moment, somewhat lost in thought.
"Cat?" Prowl asked.
Shaken from her thoughts, Cat looked up to the four, her eyes not meeting any of their own gazes.
"Sorry..." she proceeded with attaching the arm to the screw-in lock on the socket of her right shoulder. She stopped and closed her eyes for the next part.
-Click- she locked the arm into place, her nerves lighting on fire through the entire right side of her torso. The searing pain didn't waiver, once. It was the whole reason why she didn't want Ratchet or even any of the human engineers to touch it if it were broken. In order for them to repair it, she would have to remove it. Disconnecting it wasn't all that terrible, but then she would have to reattach it, causing this reaction to her nerves as they were, once again, brought back to life in order for them to work the fine motor skills in the false arm.
"Should I send for something to-" Wheeljack started.
"No.." Cat replied bluntly through clenched teeth, "Unless you put me out for a couple of days straight, nothing can stop the pain... Let's just get on with this..."
Jack nodded and turned to Optimus, "That's all I can do for now, sir."
"Thank you, Wheeljack," Optimus aknowledged, looking down to Cat, "All right, why don't you start from the beginning?"
Cat could tell that Optimus was trying to be as patient as possible, and she knew that unless she was completely open with her statement, there would always be the doubt that would lay as a barrier between her and her most trusted friends.
"Okay... Here it is..."
-Moments later-
"And then Barricade left just before you got there... But I already told you that part..." Cat finished her story.
"Do you believe that you are the one who initiated the Allspark energy?" Prowl asked as though he were interrogating a suspect, but then again, Cat already knew his mannerisms were as such.
"I don't know... Really I don't... To be honest, I don't think I want to know for sure. I wish I hadn't ever laid a finger on that stupid piece of metal..." Cat responded.
"The past isn't something we can really debate about now, Cat, "Optimus reminded.
"I know. I'm just tired of waiting to finally get a handle on my life."
"Eventually you will, I'm sure of it, but for now, you're going to have to learn one step at a time," the leader advised.
Cat nodded and looked up to the two Autobots, "Are we done, now?"
"I'm not sure, are we?" Prowl asked.
"Well, um.. I'd like to be," Cat smiled a sparkly, wide-eyed smile.
"We're done, as long as you've told us everything you know," Prowl had the amazing ability to look past Cat's sweet little looks that usually got her out of trouble with the others... And she hated him for it...
"It's everything from beginning to end, cross my heart!" Cat promised.
Prowl and Optimus held fast for a moment, both questioning whether it was safe to leave it at that or pursue the issue any further. Cats sweet and innocent look faded from her face as she stared up at the two Autobots. She looked away from them, staring down at the floor and wishing a random portal would open so she could jump through it.
"Really, that's it..." Cat said truthfully.
Optimus nodded, reluctantly, and spoke, "All right, Cat. You can leave."
Cat felt the pressure of anxiety that was building up in the pit of her stomach slowly deflate. She hopped off of the table and began walking towards the door.
"Just one more thing, Catherine," Prowl stopped her as Cat turned slowly and looked up to the tactician.
"..Y-Yeah?" she asked.
"This boy, Evan Shaw, seems to have two false arms, the same design as yours," Prowl pointed out.
"Two?!" Cat had seen the one arm, sure, but now he had two? Now she really wanted to know what was behind it..
The strategist nodded, "Yes. My question to you, is whether or not you believe that any of the original seven projects could still be alive?"
Cat felt as though she had taken a sudden blow to the gut, as the wind left her lungs in a hurry. Her jaw dropped a little but no words found their way out of her mouth, and her heart nearly came to a halt... Could any of them have been alive?... One and Two were killed in a human creamatory, Three, Four and Six were all killed during the attempted escape, and Five.... Cat reached her left hand up to her eye and covered it as though she were coveting it close to her. It, as well as her two, humans legs... They were all that was left of Five...
Cat's mind switched gears and she frowned, looking back up to Prowl and Optimus, who were closely watching her as they awaited an answer.
"They're dead... You should know that by now.."
"The reason I ask, is that this boy already knew you by your first given identification. That, and your sister, Five, had been restructured after her first death."
Cat glared up at the tactician, "What are you getting at?"
"What if one of the other projects has survived, and perhaps you just don't recognize him?" Prowl asked.
"He's not one of us..." Cat seethed. Prowl recognized the look she gave him. She knew something more, and she was holding back. She was becoming upset, because it was a subject that she would rather have not spoken of.
"No! There's no way, in hell, that he's one of us!" Cat yelled, "They're DEAD! You hear me?! They're ALL DEAD!"
"Easy, Cat," Optimus tried to calm the young woman.
Cat stormed from the lab, threatening anyone who came too close to her, the technicians holding their clipboards up in defense and backing up against the walls.
"Nice going, Prowl," Ironhide sneered, "Maybe the next time you should tell Bumblebee that you've run over Sam!"
"Why would I-" Prowl started.
"Nevermind, Prowl," Optimus strode past the two and into the hall, looking both directions before spotting the girl, "Cat!"
-Help me, Seven- Cat suddenly saw the image of Five reaching out to her while she lay on the elevator floor, dying. -Please, Seven..-
"No..." Cat shook her head, "They're all dead!" Images of her "Project family" appeared in her mind, each one of them. None stood out the most next to the images of Five, her bloody fingers reaching for Cat, begging for help.
Optimus and Ironhide walked out into the hall behind Optimus, watching as Cat continued on her rampage, terrorizing any who crossed her path. When she started to turn the corner, she stopped in her tracks, nearly running back into Evan, Josh, and the assistant who was escorting them.
"Whao!" Josh reared back in response to nearly being knocked over.
Cat looked from person to person until her eyes met with Evans. She gave him a long, hard stare.
"Andrews!" Optimus ordered, fearing that she may, actually, attack him without provocation.
Cat brought up her right hand and pointed a finger in Evan's face, "You," she warned, "Stay away from me..." And with that, she swiftly moved around the group and continued down the hall.
"What the hell was that about?" Josh scratched his head.
Evan watched Cat as she fled from the area. He was just as confused as his friend and replied, "...I don't know..."
--
Chapter Teaser!
After calming Cat down, the next order of business seems to be solving the puzzle as to why and how Evan Shaw has come across his very own pair of "Automail" as they call it. But is he willing to divulge the details? Could he possibly be a restructured, long-lost Project? Or is he just a victim of his parents own experimentations? And of course, the next puzzle is... What else does our friend, Cat, know?