A/N: I believe in survival of the more common-sensed (Yes, I made that word up!).
It took me a while, but here it is! The next chapt to SS. Do enjoy!
Soundwave, unbeknownst to everyone else, came up with a type of mind-sync contraption that could make it so its user could tune in to the Decepticon frequency. After careful study of the human body, she was confident she could make something like this. The idea fascinated her because not only would it would help a lot with direct communication with the humans, there was a slightly selfish reason as well. In other words, it was perfectly logical to her. The item was based on her very own technology, but she would never tell anyone about it. It was her technological skill that would make the thing work.
The device itself was much smaller than a modern Bluetooth earpiece and it, in theory, would connect to the human's mind using an implanted needle-like sensor that would be a constant probe that touched a certain place in the user's brain. When the earpiece was on and activated, it would give the humans the ability to hear and be heard over any Decepticon Spread-Link it was set to… also in theory.
If indeed it worked – and Soundwave was 98% sure it would – one other would be made for Miles and Starscream. She could make more for the other pilots if need be, but they would not be the same as Miles' and Mikaela's – and with good reason. They were the leader and his mate's pets. First, she needed a guinea pig that could keep their mouth shut and she knew exactly who to look for.
The telepath had abruptly left the room without a word, leaving Sixshot to wonder where she went. His attention went from the doorway to the small item she had been working on when he first got there. Having just gotten here, he was still very uncertain of what to expect.
"What is that?" Sixshot asked out loud, nodding to the small, flimsy piece of metal lying on Soundwave's desk.
"'Boss made it for Mikaela," Rumble was the one to answer, "she said it's for communications."
"Who is Mikaela?"
"You probably saw her with Barricade."
"Mikaela's a native to Earth, right?"
Rumble nodded to the mech with a smile.
"She is the one I saw, then. You mean to tell me that she made something for a human?" Sixshot went on to ask, folding his arms, "Something or someone other than herself or you. You're joking, right?"
"No, she actually likes Mikaela." Rumble answered and then leapt at Sixshot. The mech caught him letting him curl up next to him. "I like her too."
"I don't sense anything off with Sounders, so nothing's wrong with her. Whatever made her actually like a human?"
"I guess Mikaela interests her because she doesn't back down like everyone else does, even though she's scared of her. She doesn't back down to any Decepticon or Autobot – if anything, I think they're afraid of her. I don't think she'll back down to you either."
A mere human that wouldn't back down to a Decepticon, huh? "I always liked a good challenge."
The twin went on to explain, "Mikaela is also the only one Barricade gets along with besides her Sparklings. I heard she stopped Barricade from attacking another human."
"Wow, really? And lived to tell about it, huh?" Sixshot asked with a chuff. From what he had seen of humans so far, they were really small and intelligent, but very small and fragile. "So the Decepticons really have changed. Barricade was one foul creature back on Cybertron from what I hear."
Laserbeak moved from his perch to Sixshot's shoulder. "She still is. She's just more tolerant. Ask Buzzsaw, he'll tell you all about it."
Sixshot furrowed his optics at Laserbeak, wondering what he was speaking about.
"Most everyone still blames Blacklight." Rumble then said. "But I say Frenzy was a genius,"
Mikaela had been headed to Barricade's quarters when she was suddenly stopped by a familiar foot right in her path, nearly stubbing her toe on its "toe". She recognized it immediately. Hey, being as tall as their feet makes it impossible not to know by whose foot is whose. The girl looked from the foot, up the leg and into the red visor of the telepath, expecting something. Soundwave wasn't the type to stop someone for chitchat.
"It's time for that probe I promised." Soundwave suddenly stated ominously.
Mikaela internally cringed. That was totally what she wasn't expecting. "Probe?" Suddenly her mind filled with the countless stories she'd read about aliens and probes. "You were serious?"
"I am now." Soundwave put her hand out. Mikaela only looked at it with one of those 'are-you-out-of-your-mind?' side-glances. The femme read it well, but that didn't deter her. "Let's go."
She wasn't getting out of this. "Is it going to hurt?"
"It might."
Well, at least she was honest about it. "What is it?"
"It will be for your benefit."
"Why are you being evasive?" Starscream wouldn't let her do anything bad to her, right?
"Let's go." The femme repeated.
Wait, when did he ever have control over her actions? Mikaela relented and got into the femme's hand. She could only imagine what this strange femme had in mind for her.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Barricade was hiding out in her quarters from everyone. She wasn't ready to face her old team again just yet. It was awkward to say the least and a lot to absorb. They seemed to take it in stride while she was still getting over the fact they were even alive! They hadn't seen her and she hadn't seen them in forever. And now, some mech that Groundhog referred to as 'Sixshot', brought them here out of the blue.
For now, she was content to relax while her Sparklings played with each other near her. The triplets were rough-housing currently while Blacklight was trying to referee and keep them in line. She let him, as it helped to teach him leadership qualities and he didn't show that 'I'm your boss so you have to listen to me' slag. She looked up when there was a request for entrance at the door. Hoping it wasn't Hook, she called, "Who is it?"
"It's Groundhog," she heard a familiar voice respond. She was still unsure of the three. Just because they were who they said were, did not mean she would instantly trust them. "What is it you want?"
"Just to speak with you, 'Run."
Deciding she'd let him talk, she allowed him in, yet remained on guard. The door opened and Barricade stood, watching Sonar and Radar scuffle over something they found on the floor. Typhoon was only watching them with interest, perfectly happy with doing just that. All three Sparklings stopped what they were doing and looked up at the newcomer. Having never seen him before, they moved behind Barricade. "My designation is Barricade. Get it right."
Groundhog furrowed his optics in question at her correcting him. It really hadn't occurred to him until just now. He had heard of a mech by the name of Barricade. Nearly impossible to catch, the hunter known as Barricade was usually for difficult jobs. He eyed the femme, realizing she was just as successful as a hunter as she was a racer. "So you're the Decepticon's 'Hell-on-Wheels'… It doesn't surprise me." He then stepped across the threshold, watching Barricade when she moved protectively over the three questionable creatures he'd been told about beforehand. He wondered why she did. "I got a quick briefing. Starscream is really… eh… well let's just say he surprised the slag outta me," he stated.
"He's very good at that," Barricade commented, watching the door close behind him.
Radar and Sonar both began peeking from around Barricade's legs while Typhoon chose to climb up the femme's body and perch on her shoulder to scrutinize the new mech. She watched them and watched Groundhog. "Also, he said that those are not only Sparklings, but they're his," he said in a half-sad tone. The mech wouldn't ever admit that he felt just a little down at the thought that Barricade had mated with a different mech.
"Last time I checked," the femme retorted, watching Groundhog who was now intently watching the Sparklings.
"So you disappeared, thought to be dead for however long. Is this were you went? To reproduce?" the mech teased. "Primus knows one of you is enough."
"I didn't disappear. Don't be an idiot. I was recruited into the Decepticons," Barricade snorted.
"Never thought I'd find you again… let alone find you a femme creator of the infamous Starscream's Sparklings. I'm still in shock."
"You don't know the half of it," Barricade grunted as she folded her arms.
Barricade knew it wouldn't take long, but she'd secretly hoped it wouldn't at all. There was sudden loud banging on her door, all of her triplets ran up to her and into her, afraid of the loud sounds. She growled while Groundhog turned quickly to look at the door as well.
"Hey 'Hog!" a voice called, "The twins just told us that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are on this planet too! And they're not that far away!"
The hunter sighed as she heard Motorhead's voice. Groundhog looked over at her curiously, asking, "Is that true?"
Before she could comment, she heard a sudden slamming of metal against the door, this time heavier, and what sounded like Starscream yelling, then another crash further away. Groundhog's expression turned into worried one when he thought about what had happened. The femme couldn't do anything but shrug at him.
Curious as to what caused the sound, Groundhog opened the door to find it clear. Starscream was walking past the room, headed to his office. Catching something in the corner of his optic, he looked over to the pile of two bodies that looked like they'd been thrown, calling, "You guys alright over there?"
"Should know better than to bang on my mate's door like that…" the Decepticon leader's voice stated evenly before disappearing.
"Does he often do that type of thing?" Groundhog then asked, wondering what exactly he'd landed into. Was Starscream more violent than he let on? It was no secret that he was an awesome liar which meant he could easily pretend to be someone he's not.
Soundwave had taken Mikaela into her quarters and sat her on her desk. The room was a tad lighter than normal, and off to the side, someone else was standing there. The obvious Cybertronian watched the girl from the shadows in which he stood. Mikaela felt his optics upon her and looked up at his silhouetted body, then to his visor, lightly noticing the blue hue coming from it. How unusual. His visor was very much like Soundwave's, only it was more slanted in appearance like Jazz's. The girl cocked her head slightly at him in wonder. She figured it was the same mech she saw when Barricade went to meet her old friends. "Who's that?" she pointed, drawing a blank on his name, getting comfortable as Soundwave rummaged around her.
"It's Sixshot," Laserbeak stated from the mech's shoulder.
"Sixshot, huh?" Mikaela asked, directing her attention to the one watching her. "How come no one ever mentioned him?"
"Because he wasn't supposed to come here," Soundwave answered.
So what was it about that girl that Soundwave liked so much? Stepping forward into the light Sixshot asked, "And you are?" He let Rumble go to the desk and Laserbeak climbed down his arm, also going to the desk to greet her.
"Mikaela," the girl responded as she took in his features from head to toe. He was certainly different from what she'd seen in most Decepticons. He had the typical seams, where he obviously transformed at, but there were subtle others that she couldn't help but notice. It was as if he broke apart in these areas as well, but she wasn't certain. His color was a mixture of teals and whites with chrome and black accents. She had to admit his colors were rather pretty. Next, she looked toward his shoulders which had mounts very much like Barricade's, only they were wide and mostly flat. "Your visor is blue. Are your optics blue too?" she asked.
"Yes," Sixshot replied, still studying the woman in front of him.
"Not your typical Decepticon trait as far as I have seen. Wait a minute… Are you a Decepticon?"
"Affirmative," came the response.
"Hn," Mikaela looked him up and down once more before she gave a mischievous smile. The only Decepticon she ever saw with blue optics was Frenzy. Even Rumble's optics were red, though she never thought to ask why. Gears went to work and came up with a possible solution. She didn't have to be a rocket scientist to make the connection. She didn't know him and he sure didn't know her, but that didn't stop her. Somehow she knew she was well protected if things got weird. With a shrug she asked, "You wouldn't happen to… you know… be the mech-creator of all of those hellions that belong to Soundwave, would ya?"
Sixshot didn't answer. In fact, he was astonished she would even ask such a thing. That and he wasn't sure whether he should flick the girl for nosing in on their privacy or not. Mikaela could see his expression a hell of a lot better than she could Soundwave's. She didn't move from her spot where Rumble was now nearly sitting on her with the small flimsy metal he'd had earlier. By the look in his optic, he seemed more stunned that she'd asked.
Soundwave had figured the girl would come to the realization when she saw him; she'd already seen it coming. Now, she stilled as if she had heard what Sixshot was thinking, but in fact, she sensed his tenseness and was now listening for Sixshot to do anything hostile toward the girl. He wasn't too far out of reach should she need to do something. Mikaela glanced between the two, noticing Soundwave's stillness, but remained quiet, wondering if he was going to flatten her here and now. Rumble hadn't moved, but he wasn't tense either, eyeing the small piece of metal curiously.
As if getting it, Sixshot suddenly calmed. He'd read the enigmatic femme well. He didn't go after the girl, realizing right at that moment, Soundwave would have attacked him for doing so. How strangely she protected the human. She liked her enough to allow her to speak such things! "No creature like you needs to be so nosy." He then said haughtily, still annoyed personally about her uttering such words.
"Mikaela is allowed personal information that I deem fit for her to know," Soundwave told him.
"Ooh! Then will you tell me how your visor works?" Mikaela asked playfully.
"No." Soundwave replied, mildly watching the mech from the corner of her optic before again moving to what she was doing. "Don't play with it, Rumble." she stated.
Sixshot wanted to chuckle, but he refrained from doing so. Soundwave sure had changed. He wondered why the sudden difference, but figured he would ask sometime that they were alone.
When none of them said anything for a few seconds, she figured she had hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Mikaela only looked to each one of them and with a quirk of her brows said, "Oh, so the plot thickens on Mystery Soundwave, huh? So, are you two like… bonded and stuff, too?" At that, the girl leaned back when Rumble face-palmed.
Sixshot remained silent a moment longer in contemplation. He still didn't know what to make of this human's audacity. If anyone else had asked such questions, well, suffice it to say they would have been dead before they knew it, and now here, a mere human was questioning Soundwave. And instead of flattening her, she was apparently accepting of it. He was rather fascinated by their interaction and Soundwave's defense of the human. "You let her live after asking such a thing?" he asked with surprise. Mikaela gave raised her eyebrows at Sixshot. Judging by his tone, what she had asked must have been something taboo.
The femme fiddled with the wire a long moment before responding to Sixshot. "This still requires a test subject. She happens to be that test subject."
The girl looked between the two curiously. "It's still unsettling to be called a 'test subject'." Neither Decepticon replied to her question and going back to what she was talking about before, she smirked at them again, saying as she did, "Over time I have come to learn that Soundwave's silence is usually a dead giveaway…" The girl shrugged.
Rumble set the piece of metal next to Mikaela, who reached for it. To her, it looked like a wire with three thick ends, while one end had nothing but a small circle, the other end had two, one that appeared as a clip and the other looked like it plugged into something, "Is this what you plan to probe me with?"
"Affirmative," Soundwave replied.
"What is it exactly?" she asked.
"It's a communication device." Soundwave droned flatly.
"How does it work?" Mikaela asked.
Sometimes Soundwave felt this girl asked too many questions – this was one of those times. "It is implanted in the jawbone."
Upon hearing that, Mikaela's brows shot up in surprise, "Whoa, wait a minute… You want to implant me with some kinda alien device thingy? I thought you said probing. Implanting wasn't in the mind-probing experiment category."
"That is still to come. I will have to probe your mind and Barricade's Spark if this part works. Your communication device will be set to a personal Barricade's communication frequency and the Decepticon Spread-link frequency."
"God, you're so creepy sometimes." Then Mikaela's eyes lit up at the thought of being able to communicate with Barricade and on the Spread-link directly, "So I won't have to guess when you guys are talking on your internal communications?"
"There is still some work to be done. This is a proto-type. It will later have a secondary frequency for communicating on the Spread-Link, with your permission." Soundwave left it at that, leaving Mikaela feeling a little uneasy about the 'with your permission'.
"With my permission…? What exactly will you have to do?"
At that, Soundwave only looked at the girl, smirking behind her facemask. She changed the subject, saying only, "Also after permission from Commander Starscream, your device will also be set to the Officer Spread-link seeing as you are their … pet."
"Okay, so if I let you implant this thing in my jaw, it's not gonna give me cancer or anything is it?"
"No." Soundwave replied. "It is Cybertronian in origin, and so far, we haven't given you cancer."
"Alright, so how do you plan to implant it?" Mikaela asked, not liking the idea of being cut open. She wanted to know all she could before she willingly allowed an alien to do experiments on her.
"It will be an incision behind your ear," Soundwave replied. "The earwig will hook just around your earlobe and the microphone will go down your jaw bone."
Hearing the word earwig made her cringe. Images of the little creatures pinching inside her ear crossed her mind and she instinctively scratched an ear. "Earwig? That's gross. I don't understand how I will be able to speak if it's in my jaw. How will it hear me?"
"It works off of the natural vibration you make when you speak." The femme replied. It was all she would tell, "It can be turned off and on by pressing a certain spot on your jaw-line which you will be shown later."
And what if she gets hit on the side of her face? "Don't you think it can be accidentally bumped and knocked on? That would suck if I was in the middle of a conversation or something." The girl said, still feeling a little nervous about the whole plan.
"There will be no accidents. The pressure point is precise and must be done correctly. After it is ready for the second stage, it will function on and off much like ours; a simple thought."
Mikaela still liked the idea, sure. Yet the whole being implanted with an alien device still had her concerned. "Does it have a distance?"
"Yes, it's not all that far for others, but I will be able to hear you further away and find you should you get into trouble. It will work the same with Barricade. You, however will not have that ability."
"How is it powered?"
"It runs off of your own body's electric current," was the reply.
The idea was impressive, to say the least. If it worked like Soundwave said, they would be even better tune with their friends. "Miles is going to want one of these, if I know him at all."
"A duplicate will be made for him and Commander Starscream if this one works."
"Don't you want Barricade here so you can tune that thing, then?"
"Absolutely not." She didn't need that hot-tempered femme in here right now. That would cause nothing but problems. "She has no idea of this. It's better until after the procedure. She is still distrusting of me. Be still and don't speak."
Rumble moved up next to the girl and pushed, shifting her so Soundwave could get to where she needed. His hold seemed to tighten down just enough that she couldn't move all too well so Soundwave could do the meticulous work of setting the device. Taking a deep breath, Mikaela twitched when she felt a pinch behind her ear and then cringed when a strange feeling went along her face. For a moment, she wondered if something was wrong when her entire face went numb on one side. She felt a bit more pressure next to her jaw and then some heat. If anything, she could honestly say it was the weirdest feeling she had ever felt.
After about ten minutes and a cramp later, Soundwave retracted from the girl and Rumble eased his hold on her. He reached up and clipped the speaker to the girl's ear. Mikaela shuddered as a strange sensation went over her, making her momentarily want to vomit. Soundwave leaned back, giving the girl a moment to get her bearings.
Mikaela made a few motions with her mouth, feeling the strangeness of just something there as feeling returned. She ran her finger down her jaw but felt nothing there. A few more times she worked her mouth against the feeling and then stopped. It really wasn't all that annoying. Then and there, she decided she could get used to it.
"It needs to be turned on for me to set the frequency." Soundwave nodded to Rumble who leaned to Mikaela's side, examined along the line and he poked it. Mikaela cringed from the feeling of where he had poked heard a strange series of tones. "Did you feel how Rumble pressed it?"
"Yeah, it was like two very quick pokes in different places."
"Exactly," Soundwave stated.
"What about the ear piece? Will I have to turn that on as well?"
"No. It will always be on just like everyone else's, but there is a volume I will set so that you can still hear around you."
Meanwhile, everyone in the Wreck Room flinched and looked around when suddenly a yelp sounded and Blacklight went shooting out of the Seeker lounge with Skywarp hot on his tail, "Get back here you little gremlin!" the black Seeker shouted as he gave chase.
Blacklight only cackled and ran for the Wreck Room as there were many legs to hide around in there, dodging under others' feet and nearly tripping some in his hurry, he came to a stop under a large table. Skywarp nearly lost his footing as he took a hard turn to catch the Sparkling when he dove under the table. "Give it back!"
Starscream had heard the commotion and rounded the corner to see what it was all about. Hearing his Trine-mate yell, he made his way to the doorway of the Wreck Room, looking in, trying to figure out what was going on. What he saw was the black Seeker leaning down and glaring under the table. Others were leaning over or back to watch the two, some laughing. Thundercracker stood on the threshold, snickering. She glanced over when he stopped next to her.
"What's he got?" Starscream asked.
Skywarp reached for Blacklight and the Sparkling backed up into the far away wall, narrowly missing the claws. Suddenly, there was the sound of cloth ripping from where Blacklight had been. The Sparkling timed the hand reaching for him and when Skywarp went to snatch him again, he quickly wrapped Skywarp's fingers in the tape he had pulled from the roll he'd stolen. There was a cackle from him.
Skywarp pulled his hand out and looked at it. Deciding it was too much trouble to remove it at the time, he growled and waited for the Sparkling to get within reaching distance and snatched him up off the floor with his other hand, holding him by his scruff bar. Lifting him to his height, he eyed him, sneering, "You are so much like 'Screamer it's scary…"
Starscream only watched, his interest piqued when he finally saw what had started the whole thing. "Hey, leave me outta this." he called.
The black Seeker glanced towards Starscream then quickly grabbed Blacklight by the feet and held him upside down. Blacklight, in a huff he was being held in such a way, quickly took another line from the roll and held it out threateningly in front of him. Waiting for the right moment, the silver and black Sparkling swung closer to the Seeker and laid the tape he'd unrolled across Skywarp's chest. As he did, Skywarp took that moment to take the roll from Blacklight's hand and held him out further, asking as he did so, "Thought you'd get away with that didn't you?" he asked. He proceeded to set Blacklight on the table and began peeling the tape from where Blacklight had stuck it. With a mischievous glint to his optic, Skywarp held Blacklight still. "My turn," he declared.
"I'm thinking he deserves whatever 'Warp is about to do to him." The young leader stated before turning away for his office. Thundercracker only chuckled with a head shake. She looked back with amusement to watch what Skywarp was going to do.
Starscream went to his office, got something and walked back out. He turned towards Soundwave's quarters and entered to ask her a question. What he came across wasn't quite what he was expecting. "You…" he pointed to Sixshot.
Sixshot only looked to Starscream, then back to Soundwave. Starscream's optics then trailed down Soundwave's arm to find Mikaela sitting with Rumble practically sitting on her and looking like he was examining something. "What's going on?"
Soundwave reached for her other arm, typing a few things into it before looking to Starscream, saying, "Get Barricade."
"She's busy with Groundhog," the Seeker replied.
"Sixshot, bring me Barricade," Soundwave demanded.
Sixshot moved from his spot, slid past Starscream and left, leaving Starscream watching, still ever baffled. "You know, I actually doubted he was telling me the truth," he said quietly, shaking his head.
"What about?" Mikaela asked.
"His designation," Starscream replied.
"Why would he lie about that?" Mikaela asked, still running her fingers along the new implant.
"You have a lot to learn," Starscream stated, wondering if he should wait to see why Soundwave wanted Barricade or not. "So what's going on in here?"
"I am going to use several different sounds through the implant. I want you to tell me if you hear them all or not." Soundwave told the girl, now ignoring the tattooed mech.
Starscream heard the femme and was reasonably interested at the sound of implanting, and asked curiously, "What's this?" he asked, "Did I hear you say 'implant'?"
Soundwave ignored Starscream as she went back to typing on her arm again. Mikaela nodded each time Soundwave sent a sound. So far so good.
Annoyed because he was being blatantly ignored, he spoke louder, asking again, "Soundwave, what implant are you talking about?"
This time Rumble answered, seeing as the two were busy, the cassette answered, "It's an earwig."
Starscream looked to the twin and asked, "What is it for?"
"To make communicating easier," the twin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why else?"
Sixshot arrived shortly after with Barricade, who was giving him an evil glare for making her leave her room. "Why was I brought here?" The femme demanded as she entered, "And who in the pit is this mech who dragged me here?" Stepping behind Starscream, all three of the triplets went to him.
"Your presence is required," the telepath then said, turning to Barricade, distracting her from the blue glare of the six-changer.
"That is apparently Sixshot." Starscream replied.
"Never heard of him," Barricade said as she glanced up at the mech once more as if sizing him up. "What does it have to do with me?"
Soundwave gave no reply as she lifted her wrist even with Barricade's head, "Don't move." Before Barricade could even comment, a thin wire came from Soundwave's wrist. Mikaela watched the wire as it went to Barricade. Both were silent for a few seconds and Soundwave moved her arm away, typing a few things on her forearm once again.
"No matter how much I see that, it still wigs me out." Starscream stated with a disgusted look.
"What's going on? Why is Mikaela in here?" the hunter asked again.
"Apparently it's a communication device called an 'earwig'. Why anyone would name a device after such an ugly earth insect, I will never know," Starscream answered, watching intently.
"Hold Mikaela still, Rumble," Soundwave ordered. Rumble held Mikaela's head to the side as Soundwave directed. Barricade became nervous as to what the telepath was doing to her pet and went to move toward them. Starscream was the one who stopped her, holding her still so he could watch.
Before the girl could say anything, she watched that same wire as it went beside her head and out of view. Mikaela let out a hiss in pain and she swore she heard a 'popping' sound. A few seconds later, she felt heat like the time she had before. Soundwave retracted from her, typing once again on her forearm. Rumble let Mikaela go and she immediately reached to touch the spot. She flinched from the small pain that accompanied it. It was weird how something so large can have such tiny, snake-like wires.
Barricade watched suspiciously. Her patience was starting to wear thin and she didn't have enough information to be comfortable with Soundwave probing her human. It made her nervous that Soundwave would hurt the girl. She growled, "What are you doing? What did you do to her?"
Soundwave continued to ignore the hunter. She was nothing more than a distraction to her right now, as she needed to concentrate on what she was doing. After a few more seconds, the mind-sync had been set up, but it wouldn't be activated until the girl got used to the initial functions and there were no other malfunctions.
"Don't touch the probe." Soundwave sent over the main Spread-link."It will need to heal." Mikaela quickly took her hand away. Everyone else just watched, now more curious than anything about what was going on.
Barricade, after watching Mikaela react from words unspoken out loud, was in a stunned stupor, only saying, "You heard her?"
After the pain died down, Mikaela smiled and nodded to the black and white femme, saying, "Sure did."
Soundwave turned to Starscream who was still quietly watching and requested, "I want to set her device to also interact on the Officer Spread-Link. Being your mate's pet, I would advise it."
He mostly just wanted to see it work. "Yeah," Starscream nodded in reply, "Sure, go for it." To be perfectly honest, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it sooner. "When did you come up with this idea?"
"A while ago," Soundwave replied, watching Mikaela closely. She turned back to Mikaela and typed more into her arm, programming the device.
Mikaela seemed to wince and Barricade stepped forward. Seeing the girl wince put her on high alert. "What's wrong with her? Why does she seem like she's in pain?" she asked.
To have it not hurt so badly, she could only wish, but now the intrusion was making itself known. It wasn't a horrible pain, but it sure was irritating. "It's okay," Mikaela assured the hunter with a half pained smile, "I agreed to it,"
Barricade stood quietly as Soundwave continued to work on the contraption she had built. After about 15 more minutes of talks on the Spread-links, Soundwave leaned back and Mikaela gave her a hopeful glance. The femme only nodded to her.
Finally being done, Mikaela shuffled to the edge of the desk and looked up at Barricade, "Now you're really stuck with me…"
"Primus, and here I thought I was finally getting rid of you…" The hunter retorted, offering her hand for the girl to climb onto.
"Talk to Hook if there is pain. He should be able to do something about it, even for a human." Starscream told the girl, also concerned of her pain.
The girl smiled at Starscream, knowing already she was going to need something for it. A quick glance to Barricade, and she climbed into the offered hand. "And you," she said to the femme now holding her, "you're stuck with me for the rest of my natural life." She knew that the femme would more than likely outlive her.
"Thanks for the warning," the femme retorted before turning for the door with Mikaela, intent on asking her a barrage of questions once she got her back to her quarters. Barricade was nearly tripped by a small body that scurried across the floor. Her optics followed the creature, wondering at first what it had been, since it didn't look like anything recognizable. Blacklight skidded to a stop and looked up at Barricade. The femme only stared at her Sparkling. He was covered in duct tape from head to toe and looked more like a mummy, even dragging tape behind him. "What…?" Barricade went to ask, but Blacklight interrupted her.
"Duct Tape war," Blacklight told her with a smile through the tape on his face at his femme creator. "'Warp: one, me: zero. But I have only just begun."
"There is a horror movie just begging to be made about you." Barricade told Blacklight.
Blacklight cackled and ran to her and wrapped his arms around her leg. Inevitably, the tape on him actually stuck him to the femme. Barricade lifted her leg and looked at Blacklight, and then put her leg back down. She deflated, looking to Mikaela with a derisory glance, "I rest my case." With that, she started for her quarters once more, this time with an extra appendage, one that she would have to literally peel off later.
Because you all know you love Duct Tape wars *evil grins*