Hey guys! I got this out a little slower than even I expected to, but I've been working on a few chapters to have set aside for a rainy day ;D
FORD B: They claim that 5 hour energy has no carbs or sugars so it's all natural energy. Not sure exactly how true that is but I guess you never know until you try lol - Thanks! Might use that!
Aaaaaaaaand here's our girl!
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A crack of light peered through the blinds of the small bedroom. As the sun rose higher in the sky the light crawled across the floor and up the side of the bed where it laid across the eyes of Evan. The sunlight brightened and softened with the passing of each cloud. His soft brown eyes cracked opened. His vision blurred as he stared up at the ceiling. His mind shifted gears as he realized and remembered where he was.
Not at home in that old apartment, he was at... home... at the Hoover Dam. Or what you could call "home" for now anyway.
It had been over a week since Cat had allowed Evan and Josh to live in her apartment. The beds were much nicer, Evan admitted. And even though he'd taken the smallest bedroom, it was still larger and far more accommodating than his old place. He had more room, and more privacy.
He sat up in bed and rustled a hand through his bed hair. Clearing his throat and standing up, Evan walked over to his private bathroom and splashed some ice cold water on his face to wake up. He stood over the sink for a moment before drying himself and throwing on some proper clothing.
Evan opened the door to his room and he did what he had done every day for the entire time that he had been there. He looked down the hall to Cat's room door.
Closed. As per usual.
Evan sighed and turned to walk into the kitchen. Cat had barely made any sort of appearance to him or Josh since she'd let them stay with her. It was more than apparent that she was choosing to pretend as though they were just going to be there temporarily; by which time she could have her place back to herself.
Rotten was sleeping on the couch, snoring. He took up all three spots as he spread out completely, obviously very comfortable.
Evan had hoped that their conversation would have opened the girl up to him more. However, since moving in she's done nothing but avoid them.
Evan poured himself a bowl of shredded wheat cereal. As he was stirred up in his own thoughts, he barely noticed the entry door close.
Looking up, Evan saw Cat standing in the doorway. She was filthy. Her hair was tied back in a tight pony-tail, she wore a white tank top and tight-fitting black jeans with white tennis shoes. She was dirt ridden from her face down to her feet. She was also carrying three, old, tattered books. They looked incredibly heavy.
"Hey," Evan made Cat jump, just a tad, when he spoke, "What uh.. What's up?"
"You're up early.." she frowned, setting the books down on a nearby coffee table.
"I woke up before my alarm. I'm helping Ratchet in the lab, today, anyway," he explained, "Why are you so dirty?"
Cat threw off her shoes at the door and glanced at the boy, "I was doing some digging through some old bins. Didn't find everything I was looking for but I found a few things."
"Those books look like they've seen better days," Evan commented as he finished pouring his cereal, "Some bed time reading?"
Cat let out a gruff sigh and said, "I suppose.. They're books on Alchemy, if you must know.."
"Oh!" Evan seemed interested, "Are you trying to get back into that? Ratchet said you used to be able to -"
"I can't!" Cat griped.
An awkward silence.
"I can't... I've tried and tried.. but I just.. can't.. do it..." Whatever amount of civility Cat was going to have with Evan had just gone out the window.
Cat picked up her books and made a B-line for her room. Rotten awoke just in time to tag along behind her, trotting happily without a care in the world. She turned and aloud enough time for her four-legged friend to get his hind in through the door and then she slammed it.
Evan stood in the kitchen for a moment, unmoving. He sighed and bowed his head.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
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Evan arrived in the med lab for the shift that Ratchet had scheduled him for. He didn't do anything out of the parameters of janitorial or stocking parts, but it was still something to do outside of wandering around the Dam just moping.
"Hello Evan," Doctor Peterson greeted the boy as he arrived.
"Hey Pete," Evan had already gotten to a personal level with some of the staff, "Anything good to do today?"
"Eh," Peterson shook his head, "Just a few of the basic things. Mopping floors and wiping down tools," Peterson noticed a slight different in Evans' mood, "Anything the matter?"
"Hmm?" Evan looked up from staring a hole in the floor, "Oh.. Just still haven't gotten through with Cat.. She has a very... strong... personality."
Peterson laughed, "Yes, I'm afraid she does. But I think a lot of us would after what she's been put through."
"Mm.." Evan nodded.
Peterson gave a moment to the boy before saying, "Give her time," Evan looked up at him, "She's a stubborn mule, that one.. She still hasn't put together a lot of trust for most of us, even me. But every day she lets her guard down with us, just a little. But it's a enough that she's better off now than what she was. Just give her time."
Evan nodded.
"Besides," the doctor added, "The Autobots were going to let you stay in the med bay for a month before they started pushing her to let you stay with her. She surprised all of us by giving you permission to be there without us having to nudge her into it. That says a lot."
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Josh was having a blast. He could eat whatever he wanted, stay up as late as he wanted, sleep in all day, play video games until his thumbs felt like they would fall off. What could be better than this? And to top it off he didn't have to work his ass off just to barely have enough money to scrape a few packets of ramen noodles to eat for a whole week.
"Sup, Josh-man," Sunny settled in with Josh in the rec room. Josh had resumed his post at the Xbox, as he had been doing all week.
"Sup, Sun-man," Josh replied without so much as blinking.
"Back at it, eh?" Sunny smirked.
"I'm on the last level," Josh gloated happily.
"It's only taken you all week," the yellow mech replied.
"Meh," Josh waved at Sunny, "Says the guy with a bazillion computers in his head to help him cheat."
"I don't need to use any of them to beat this human game," Sunny said, "These games are childs' play versus what we played back on Cybertron."
"You know," Sideswipe joined in, "Your buddy, Evan, was good enough to pick up some duties to help us out. All you've done is loaf around."
Josh waved the comment off, "I've done quite a bit of a service to you guys."
"How's that?" Sunny asked.
"I've been babysitting that lump of friend of mine. Every time he expects that girl to come around and she turns him away he gets more and more lovesick over her... It's disgusting..." Josh complained.
"Lovesick?" Sideswipe was now fully interested.
"He hasn't doesn't done anything but talk about her since we got here... It's like he's found his long lost friend... A friend who's really kind of a bit-" Josh stopped. He didn't want to start a riot with the Autobots knowing their relationship with Cat.
"Anyway," he continued, "she's disappearing all the time and it's making him crazy. Whenever he vents about it, it's always to me. And I get to stay up and listen to his nonsense."
Sunny and Sides looked to each other, a smirk appearing on their faceplates.
"Reeeeaaalllly?" Sunny asked.
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Optimus had been monitoring the Mainframe with Prowl most of the day; as well as attempting to maintain peace between the government and his own forces while obtaining information on the whereabouts of Decepticons.
"We've had momentary lapses in the dampening field that Barricade has been using to shield himself from our sensors. We were able to track him up until four days ago, when the United States forces picked up two similar signals located on two other continents of the planet," Prowl informed.
"Could one of them belong to Barricade, or are we looking at two new arrivals to the planet?" Optimus asked.
"Barricade lacks the necessary functions to have jumped to other continents of the Earth so quickly," Prowl replied, "I doubt that he has left the Southwest territory of the United States. I believe, sir, that we are looking at a full invasion of Decepticon forces."
"It seems as though they are holding off on any attacks. I wonder what the hold up is," Optimus thought aloud.
"Perhaps they are aware that they are out-numbered to our, current, Autobot forces, sir," Prowl answered.
"Perhaps.." Optimus agreed, "We should have a meeting before the end of the shift. Inform the crew. We will meet at eighteen-hundred hours."
"Of course, sir," Prowl nodded.
"Meeting for what?" the familiar voice of Cat spoke up as she entered the Mainframe security laboratory.
Optimus glanced down at the tiny fighter. She did not look as though she were very happy.
"Can I help you, Cat?" Optimus asked.
"I want to speak to you..." she looked to Prowl, "Alone, if you don't mind, Prowl."
Optimus gave the nod to his officer. Prowl took his leave quickly, giving the two a moment to speak.
"You seem disturbed," Optimus noted.
"Mm.." Cat scoffed, "I'm sure you understand why. I won't go into too much detail."
"Then what is it that you wished to see me for?" Optimus was almost certain Cat was going to give a strongly worded protest to having Evan and Josh stay with her any longer. After that, he didn't have a clue.
"I've collected a series of books and documents used for the purpose of training and teaching in the ways of Alchemy," Cat started, "I've done a lot of difficult research, however many of the tools and documents have been destroyed. I assume they were destroyed as a result of the breech I created the day I escaped the lab."
"Go on," Optimus was suddenly very interested in Cats' findings.
"Many of the books that I need are... not available. They contained a great deal of Alchemic properties and history that I require.." Cat explained.
"Why are you, suddenly, so interested in getting back into Alchemy? You have never expressed an interest in it before," Optimus asked.
"Yes, I know," Cat agreed, "But I have some... leads... to some answers that I'd like to know."
"You did not answer my question directly," Optimus said plainly.
"I'm getting there," Cat rolled her eyes, "I believe the more knowledge I can collect on the subject, the more I might be able to understand the hold that Five has over me... And maybe I could even break it.."
"Hmm," Optimus thought a moment, "Until today, I was under the impression that your take on Five's hold was that you could use it to contact her... and even bring her back to life.. Why would you want to break the hold she has over you?"
"I never said I didn't want to pursue her confinement of the other dimension. But I think her having use of me could cause problems. I need to break her grasp of Alchemy over me. I might even be able to gain more control over using the Allsparks' power. I could use it freely to my own advantage and... go from there to look into what I could do for her," Cat finished her explanation.
Optimus gave a momentary thought before asking, "Are you asking for more access to the restricted libraries?"
"No, I've already hacked that," Cat smirked, "There's nothing there that I can use. I thought I could find some books, through the internet, on the subject but there is limited knowledge out there.. I need extensive research which requires.."
Optimus raised an eye ridge.
"It requires extensive reconnaissance using long distance travels.." Cat slowed down, feeling like the question would surely be turned down, "I want to go and look for myself, Optimus."
Optimus stood and vented a long sigh, shaking his cranial unit, "The last time you were left alone to travel, you ended up attracting the attention of Decepticon forces."
"Because I followed THOSE two..." Cat seethed, "Even Prowl doesn't believe that any of those attacks were intended for me. And you can't prove otherwise."
"I dislike having these arguments with you, Catherine," Optimus grumbled.
"Look, you wanted some answers as to how the Allspark, within me, can be used safely.." Cat growled, "How can I give you those answers if I can't break the hold over the person who has the grasp on the Allspark? How can I fix that if I'm not given the materials to do it with?"
Optimus did not answer.
"I can't do everything from inside of here, and neither can you," Cat made a point, "I have my tracker unit, and I've made some upgrades to Christine with the armor and weaponry. I have every available use of protection that I can possibly take.. That and some of the libraries, I want to visit, are nearby to Sam and Mikaela. I'll be able to stay nearby to Bumblebee until I find the need to explore further."
Optimus looked to Cat, "And this has nothing to do with wanting to escape the responsibility of guarding Evan?"
Cat sighed, "I know I'm supposed to be protecting him. I'm well aware of those 'orders' given.. But you have all of these Autobots and security personnel here. You don't need me."
Optimus put a hand to his face as he growled with irritation. Cat awaited his response with bated breath.
"All right... I'll allow you to do this..." Optimus sighed.
"Really?" Cat asked with a glimmer of hope.
"Yes... On one condition," Optimus added.
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Evan had just finished a short shift working in the med lab. There wasn't really a lot to do to keep him busy for an entire day, but he was able to keep his mind busy for a few hours anyway. What he was going to do, now, he hadn't the foggiest idea.
"Maybe I'll go to the cafeteria and hang out in the rec room.." Evan decided to himself.
Walking through the corridors, Evan felt a strange presence. He stopped in his tracks and felt a cold chill go up his spine. He, suddenly, realized that he was alone in the Dam. The hallways were empty, and they were growing darker.
"H... Hello?" he called out.
Nothing but an echo responded.
"Hello?! Guys?! Is this some kind of prank?!" Evan stood in place and whirled around several times, trying to identify someone who could help.
His breath was getting short, his fear grew as his heart began to pound in his chest, and his mind was going in several different directions at once. Evan turned to run back to the med lab. Surely, someone was there! He had just left! Before he could make it back to the lab, he heard it.
"Where are you going?" a womans' voice snarled.
Evan turned until he saw it. A shadowy figure stood at the end of the hallway from him. He could make the body of the figure out as a curvy, slender woman with her hand rested on her hip. The one thing that had Evan still as stone were the eyes... Two, electric yellow, cat eyes... They stared at him with rage.
"Uh.. Hello?" Evan could barely breathe, now. His spine stiffened, his legs were stone; he couldn't move an inch.
"You're too close..." the woman seethed with a large amount of poison in her words.
"Too what?" Evan asked.
"You should stay away... far away..." The figure hadn't moved an inch. Was it even her that was talking? Was the figure even real?
"Far away from... from what?" Evan felt like he could pass out.
The eyes tightened their glare on the boy, "You've been warned.."
A hand came down on Evans' shoulder from behind and he jumped, screaming.
"AHH!" Evan shot up from his bed. He jumped so high that he fell to the floor, still entangled in his bed sheets.
"Whoa, buddy, whoa!" a pair of hands went to the boys' shoulders to calm him down.
"Calm down!" Evan was fighting the hold the hands on him before he, suddenly, looked up to see the face of Sideswipes' hologram.
"Easy, buddy," Sideswipe held a firm grasp on Evans' shoulders, "You humans, I swear."
"W-what?" Evan took hold of the night stand next to his bed and held on for dear life as he calmed himself down.
"Cat has weird dreams, Sam has weird dreams, now you," Sunnys' hologram shrugged.
"It was a... a nightmare..." Evan caught his breath as Sideswipe backed away.
Josh was standing in the doorway, unsure of what to do. He'd never seen Evan so shaken up before, "What happened in the nightmare?"
Evan shook his head, "Nevermind.."
Sides and Sunny looked at each other, Evan could see that they were practically speaking silently to each other.
"What are you guys doing here?" Evan suddenly remembered that he'd left his shift from the med lab hours ago, returning to rest as he'd worn his mind out from an entire day of over thinking his situation.
The Autobot figures looked back to the boy and gave him a little smirk.
"You've been cramped up in here and the med lab. Thought we'd come by and drag your aft out of here," Sunny said playfully.
"No thanks," Evan waved a hand at them as he stood, "I've had enough action for one day."
"Aw, no!" Sideswipe demanded, "We'd heard something interesting, and we wanted to bother you about it."
"Ah," Evan gave a heavy sigh as he straightened himself out, "So that's why you REALLY came by."
Evan slid by Josh in the doorway out of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where he opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of filtered water. He snapped a glass out of the cabinet and poured himself a tall helping of water. The other three having followed him. Josh and Sideswipe sat down at the breakfast island, while Sunny rounded on Evan, throwing an arm around the boy in a 'buddy' fashion.
"A little birdy told us something very interesting," the blond mech smirked evilly.
"I don't like these games," Evan warned.
"Aw," Sunny smiled, "But we just wanted to know something."
"What?" Evan was not in the mood to play this game.
"Sooooomeone told us that you have a crush on our little sister," Sideswipe threw it out there.
Evans' eyes grew wide as they aimed straight for Josh.
Josh laughed, "Sorry man. They beat it out of me."
Evan pulled away from Sunny and grabbed his glass of water, "Well sorry to disappoint you, but Josh has been feeding you some lies."
"Come on, Bro," Josh gave an exasperated plea, "You do nothing but talk about that woman.."
Evan shook his head and made a B-line to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Slamming the glass of water down on his nightstand, Evan sat on the edge of his bed and put his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands with his face as though to wake himself up.
"I am NOT... in love... with her.." Even Evan wasn't convincing himself.
But why? Cat was, for all intense and purpose, a bull of a woman. She was always very cross with him. She was tightlipped, angry at all hours of the day, pushy and overly intense about the smallest things; not to mention she wouldn't let either Evan or Josh near her.
But... he understood why she was that way... He felt as close to her reality as anyone could ever be.
Evan pondered Cat for a moment before his mind shifted gears.
What was that dream about? It seemed so... very real...
A knock at the door.
"GO AWAY!" Evan wanted nothing more than to throw a brick at his friend.
"I could break the door handle off in one, easy swoop if I wanted to," Cat gave a stern warning.
Evans' head shot up as he scrambled to his feet and towards the door. He unlocked the knob and opened the door in a big swoop. Cat had her usual annoyed look on her face. Evan was beginning to think that her face had just been glued that way.
"Why are you shut up in here?" Cat asked.
Before Evan could answer there were three sets of not-so-manly giggles coming a-drift from the living room.
Cat looked over her shoulder and shouted, "By the way Sunny and Sides, Optimus seemed a little ticked off... Maybe it was because there were a couple of Auto-butts missing from his meeting?"
The giggles stopped immediately. There was a brief pause of shock before the holograms disappeared in a flash and the sounds of heavy, metal-clad feet dashed away from the apartments' front door.
Cat turned back to Evan, "Now that THAT'S settled, I guess that explains why you were locked up in here..." Cat looked to Evan for a second before saying, "Come on. I need to talk to the two of you."
Cat walked away from the door into the kitchen, where Josh was still in shock about how quickly his friends forgot him. Evan followed the girl into the kitchen. She stood behind the breakfast island as Evan took a seat next to Josh.
"Talk about what?" Evan asked.
"I've been doing a lot of research involving Alchemy. I need to do more research, however I can't do it here," Cat explained.
"This whole place?" Josh seemed unsure, "This whole place, and government access and you don't have all the information at your fingertips?"
"Yeah," Evan agreed, "Can't you get the Autobots or the personnel here to find more information?"
"The internet only has bits and pieces of true Alchemic natures and spells," Cat replied with her arms crossed, "There are a few places, across the country, that have a few books left on the subject. Books that can't be bought, and books that aren't scanned onto the web.. I need those pieces of information."
"For what?" Josh asked.
"None of your business," Cat rebutted with a great amount of irritation.
"Geez, I'm just asking," Josh defended.
Cat took a deep breath and lowered her head, "To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm looking for, yet. I don't know if what I need exists or not. I'm, more or less, jumping at this blind."
"Sooo.." Evan started, "Do you need something from us, or what?"
Cat eyed Evan with a steady glare, "I just need you to do one thing... Pack your bags.."
Josh and Evan looked to each other with a confused expression.. What was this supposed to mean?
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Sooooo I updated pretty quickly, huh? I told you I was coming back ;)
For the Next Chapter!
Road trip for Cat and her two captives! The stress of traveling is enough to throw anyone for a loop, but will our little gal be able to handle two people she can't stand?