Author's Note: This idea has been spinning in my head since the first live-action Transformers film. Movieverse will be the ultimate 'verse I adhere to for timeline and specific character descriptions, but I will draw from Animated (especially Animated lol), G1 and other continuities. I've really tried to keep this as canon as possible but also adding some of my own "fanon", because let's face it, canon in Transformers is weird and very jumbled at times lol. This fic is set about two years after ROTF.
Updates may be sporadic due to my current life circumstances and the ever dreaded writer's block, but I will try as hard as I can to get chapters up quickly.
For reference, as I know it will come up, for this fic Tranquility is located near Los Angeles (think near Edwards AFB and Lancaster thereabouts), while Mission City is located just south of the Nevada-California border on I-15 (near Primm, Nevada). I know it's not really canon, but it's what works best for my story and the scenery works for me, so yeah that's where I'm putting the both of them.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Transformers, or any lyrics that make its way into this fic. Don't sue me. I do own my OCs, so no touchy.
Acronyms that may or may not make an appearance:
LEO = Law Enforcement Officer
RP = Reporting party
MDS = Mobile Data Screen aka patrol vehicle laptop connected to Dispatch and systems mainframe
AOR = Area of Responsibility
PPG = Personal Protective Gear
SWAT = Special Weapons and Tactics
PIT Maneuver = Pursuit Intervention Technique
NCIC = National Crime Information Center, national database index of criminal justice information for all 50 states.
TRO = Temporary restraining order
ADW = Assault with a deadly weapon
EPO = Emergency Protection Order
BOLO = Be on lookout
APB = All Points Bulletin
DV = Domestic violence
AFIS = Automated Fingerprint Identification system
CODIS = Combined DNA Index System
VIN = Vehicle Identification Number
As Simmons' said so pointedly, pay attention to the acronyms. I will try to keep everything plain English (and after a certain point the acronyms will be rarely used, if at all). If I use an acronym that is not listed and you are confused, please let me know so I may amend it. On to the story!
Summary:
Cybertron is a dead planet, and Earth has become the new battlefield for the future of Cybertronians and humans alike. A Tranquility police officer with a dark traumatic past finds herself in the middle of the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, and her unexpected guardian is prepared to protect her at all costs from all sides of the deadly conflict. Set between ROTF and TF3: DOTM.
Chapter One
"We're giving you a new vehicle. I sincerely hope that you do not so thoroughly destroy this one as you did the last."
Senior Patrol Officer Maeve McWilliams winced as her patrol supervisor, Sergeant Blair, sent her a toxic glare as they walked out of the precinct towards the cruiser lot. The black asphalt simmered as the hot sun bore down on Tranquility.
She sighed as their course took them right past her old and faithful, but utterly crushed, late 1990s era Police Interceptor Ford Crown Victoria. The faithful black and white cruiser had been with her for years, since she had started at this department; and had dealt heartily with gunshots, endured brutal car chases and inevitable PIT maneuvers, and had patiently put up with crazy drunk people kicking out the back windows; not to mention messy (and smelly!) human bodily functions from same drunk people that she had had to clean up after every weekend shift.
Ugh, one of the unnoticed and unappreciated difficulties of being a patrol officer, she thought.
She shuddered as she remembered several New Years' Eves and St Patrick Days that had been burned forever in her memory. Damn, she missed that cruiser though, as she sent a wistful look at her faithful patrol cruiser. But the last chase with that damn psychopathic black and red Audi R8 had put her out of commission for months, and had turned her faithful and loyal Crown Vic into a steaming pile of scrap metal soon to be doomed to a life in a landfill.
She shook her head, not wanting to bring those set of memories back upon her. It had taken some serious string pulling, whining, pleading and finally threatening with her higher-ups to be assigned back to patrol instead of desk duty, which had been humiliating; and Maeve was not about to destroy the future of her career with any type of supposed or "assumed" psychiatric issue. This department had a notorious "traditional" viewpoint on female officers, as she was one of the few female officers on the force. As such, she wasn't taking any chances. Any "assumed" psychiatric problem expressed from a few specific supervisors would have her off the force before she could even mutter the word "Damn". She sighed quietly as she and Sgt. Blair walked amongst the department's cruisers.
She had worked too damn hard to achieve both her respected status as a senior patrol officer and an elite tactical team squad leader of the otherwise all-male member Tranquility SWAT team (of which there were actually two tactical teams that alternated on-call duty each week, and a Hostage Negotiation Team) to be put on desk duty. She'd talked to the specialist psychiatrists about what had happened, excluding a few details they certainly did not need to know, in regard to her chase with the psychotic R8, and she'd passed the requisite psych evals. The psychiatrists had in turn protested vocally to the department about the automatic desk duty she had been given after the incident that had persisted past the normal 30-day period for reasons that her superiors had refused to declare.
The psychiatrists had said she was fine. She knew she was fine.
It wasn't the first time she had seen the pesky psychiatrists, and she knew it would not be the last. Not in this line of work. But they had cleared her regardless, had fought for her, for that matter; though if one more of her fellow SWAT officers looked at her with a sympathetic look she could have screamed. She was thankful for what others had done for her, but it had been six months. All she wanted to do was move on from what had happened, and yet no one seemed willing to let the incident, as Maeve referred to it, go.
"I don't know the exact reasons why Chief wants you to have this cruiser, but no one else will work with the damn thing. He was waffling about it before I told him you're perfect for the job because of your… prior history. Have fun on patrol, McWilliams." Her supervisor startled her from her dark thoughts and she minutely shook her head to clear herself of them. He hadn't noticed.
She looked up at him as he threw her the keys, and she caught them deftly. She then turned to look at the car he had motioned to. Her body became rigid, her thoughts utterly paralyzed. Sergeant Blair smirked at the look on her face as it trembled between awe and shock.
He hadn't been lying when he had implied that no one else could handle this particular car.
What he had deliberately not mentioned was that number circled four states and was nearing close to forty-five officers of numerous departments who had tried… and utterly failed to rein this car in. This patrol vehicle had originally been a part of their police force fleet four years ago, when it had abruptly disappeared. No one had really cared four years ago and no one cared now, until for some reason a week ago the car had unexpectedly shown up with papers from four states, and phone numbers of various departments and agencies.
That same day a brand-new Charger had arrived, also without a driver. That had been strange enough; two cars that had just shown up in their lot with no human drivers, but no one in the department spoke of either incident. Tranquility Police Department simply called the previous agencies for verification, and then accepted the cars back into the fold without question, as the papers were legit, and assigned the Charger to the SWAT unit commander.
The Sergeant had seen the pirated videos of Shanghai, that weird video broadcast around the country of some strange Egyptian looking metallic thing and the similarly strange battle that had occurred at the Giza pyramids, and then reflected on the fact that their own department had observed some rather strange behavior going on in their own city and their department. He also remembered the Mission City incident from years before, in which the United States Department of Defense had clearly covered up something of a devastating magnitude.
Whispers had reached their department of that incident, from Mission City police officers, that clearly contradicted what the United States government said. And then, just two years ago, the other events had leaked out. Nothing really surprised them anymore. This patrol vehicle had some similar stories revolving around it and frankly Sergeant Blair was absolutely giddy to see if anything would happen to Officer McWilliams.
Sergeant Blair was a blatant sexist, and hated the fact that this short, pathetic excuse of a woman was not only a senior patrol officer but a freaking SWAT Team squad leader… it was like a personal affront upon his manhood. He relished the fact that even though she was a "good" officer by their department's standards, she probably was unlikely to handle this car. No one else had – and they had all been men. That was why he had lobbied so hard to have her be assigned to it. Oh yes, after her last experience with strange cars, he was positive she would go psychotic with this one. He could hardly contain his bitter smirk. He had thought after the last incident that she would have been permanently placed on desk duty, but his lobbying just hadn't been enough.
Damn... but this time I won't fail! He thought to himself, smugly.
"Sir?"
"What?" His voice was strained, with a touch of aggravation. Officer McWilliams sent a confused look to Sergeant Blair, wondering what she had done to make him sound so aggravated.
Probably just for being female, she thought, holding back the urge to snort at his immaturity. Blair was such an idiot, one of the very few officers on the city force that dared to be so open with their sexism.
"Is this a take home car?" The innocent question hardly relieved Blair, and Maeve knew it. His eyes flared with contempt. She internally sighed. He had always hated her, from the moment she had arrived in Tranquility a little over three and a half years ago. She knew it had to do with the fact that she had a vagina and breasts, as he never could hide his distrust and distaste for female police officers.
Juvenile sexist inept prick, she thought darkly, wishing that she could just punch his smirking face.
"Yes, it's a take home car," was all he said, in a clipped and terse tone. McWilliams nodded half-heartedly in response.
"Is that a problem, Mick?" He pressed, and Maeve internally struggled not to roll her eyes. Only he would stoop to being a jerk about her being the daughter of immigrants from Ireland, although she really didn't understand why he thought "Mick" was a good insult when more than a quarter of the force in Tranquility had at least some ties to Éire, and that St Patrick's Day was the most celebrated holiday among the officers… but alas, the Sergeant wasn't exactly known for being a smart man.
Whatever, let him act like an ass… he can act like a prick with no sense of dignity all he wishes to, she thought to herself. She may have been a "Mick", but he was a horrible police officer with decades worth of complaints and write ups. He had only made it to the rank of Sergeant after twenty plus years of service, which had been a miracle in and of itself. Her career would look infinitely better than his in the long run – and they both knew it.
As for Blair, he was sick of this woman and he wished the department could go back to the old "No Females" days. He had spent that much time with the department, and he knew when something was up. This woman raised his ire like none other before her… and worse, McWilliams knew that he hated her. And she didn't even act like she cared! That just pissed him off even more. He always needled the girls; he always tried to get them to quit, to realize they were pathetic excuses of LEOs that didn't belong in a male world. He usually succeeded.
And yet, McWilliams was pointedly ignoring his blatant aggravation, his inappropriate comments, his sarcastic and hostile barbs. McWilliams wouldn't talk about it now, but he knew that the previous disaster, and her prior abrupt switch from Mission City Police Department to their own years ago, had something to do with those alien robots or whatever the hell those things were and the rather strange patrol cruiser that now sat in front of them. Those damnable psychiatrists had even backed her over the last incident, even though she had been babbling about some strange alien robot while she was in the hospital.
He also knew that she pissed him off, whether because of some weird crap he had seen on the internet that he just knew she was connected to, her inane babbling when she was drugged in the hospital, or just because she had two X chromosomes. Either way, he had no doubt that McWilliams was in over her head. Ultimately, he had failed with her. Oh yes, this all made him angry, and he sure as hell was determined to succeed this time. No matter what, he would make sure that she was going to be fired this time.
Hmph, she deserves it. Females shouldn't be LEOs. Anything that bleeds for five days absolutely cannot be trusted. Stupid fucking woman… go back to the desk or better yet get out of my goddamn department! The thought made him shoot another toxic glare in her direction before he stomped back to the Precinct building.
The effort was wasted, though, as McWilliams was completely entranced by her new patrol car and didn't much care what the hell Blair thought of her. He was just another bitter idiot who was behind the times. She was on SWAT… he had never been. The team that she led supported her, and knew when to call her on her bullshit. They and other officers she knew personally had tried to ensure that she integrated easily back in to the department after the incident. Blair was not liked amongst anyone in the rank-and-file, and many of the Tranquility Police supervisors couldn't stand the man.
Reality was that most of the department hated him; IA had even taken up a mantra of "with Blair, always be suspicious of his motives and what he claims". The man had been lucky he hadn't been fired, though he had come extremely close to that point several times.
And Maeve reminded herself, he was a stupid aggressive violent man who had never bothered to learn the finer points of their department's community policing policies while she had made an extra effort to incorporate the policies into her patrol, and had the commendations from citizens and fellow officers alike to prove it. She wasn't exactly the Golden Child, but she sure as hell was better than him.
She had had her scrapes, her bad decisions still haunting her, both physically and mentally. The scars had faded, but they would never disappear completely, always a glaring reminder of her mistakes. She certainly was not a saint, but she was self-aware enough to recognize her mistakes, learn from them and always keep moving forward.
All Blair cared about was beating people up and being an asshole, earning himself more complaints and more write-ups than she had ever thought possible of any officer. That was more than enough for her to know that he wasn't worth jack shit.
She had to admit, her utter arrogance in that knowledge helped her feel better about herself and understanding his hatred towards her.
As she gazed upon her new black and white patrol cruiser as it glinted in the harsh sunlight, she realized that she was in heaven. She didn't know how, and she wasn't about to question it, but the department had somehow managed to get their hands on a 2008 Saleen S281 Extreme. Not as good as the Saleen S302 Extreme, which was getting some worthy attention from car fanatics, but McWilliams didn't care. In her opinion, whether it was a S281 or an S302, it was still a miracle that she, of all people, had managed to snag such a car.
Their department surely couldn't afford one, and yet she, being just a mere patrol officer and one with a less than stellar record, had managed to get one before any of the Sergeants or upper command.
What the hell? It was odd… the new Hemi Police Package Dodge Chargers had been out for nearly five years but had only now just been given to "mere" officers in their department (they had before then only been allowed for Sergeants and Lieutenants, and only certain ones at that). A new Charger had just arrived last week for her SWAT commander to drive, which predictably he had bragged about at team practice the next day, as he had been one of the very few Lieutenants that had been deliberately kept from getting one.
Maeve smiled at the memory of his bragging. Oh, would he be pissed that she got a Saleen, of all things! Well, he wouldn't be mad at her specifically since he knew she would have nothing to do with that decision; rather he'd be irritated with the department. The department was one of the more financially strict of the state, and it showed by their taste in patrol cars. For them to suddenly decide on a Saleen and give it to her as a take home car was almost too much to comprehend.
She wanted to giggle at the frank absurdity of the situation, but bit her tongue. The last thing she needed was security laughing at her from their position in the precinct. It had only taken a former officer's indiscretions and inevitable scrutiny for her to realize how much this department relished in recording and watching their officers' screw ups in the 24-hour videotaped parking lot and precinct building.
Her sanity was supposedly already on the line, according to a few blasted superiors; the last thing she needed was for the com center to report she was laughing hysterically all by her lonesome, at this strange twist of fate.
It took her a moment to realize that their department's usual logo on the front side door panels was different, as well as the motto on the back.
In the logo's place was a strange sort of symbol that she had never seen before and in place of the motto, it said simply "To Punish and Enslave". Okay, even she could admit that was weird. The slogan made both of her eyebrows rise in surprise; and then burrow in frank suspicion. That was no motto she wished to adhere to. Honor, duty, sacrifice, justice, community service, integrity, professionalism… those were her ethics that she strived, and admittedly sometimes failed, to uphold.
Still, "to punish and enslave"? What the hell?
She tried not to think of the ramifications of whatever the hell all of it meant and instead focused on the rest of the cruiser as she walked around it.
There were quite a few noticeable large dents here and there; and deep black scratches across the right side of the cruiser. She raised her eyebrows at all of it. She was thoroughly surprised that the department had not demanded the cruiser be completely detailed and fixed immediately upon delivery, as she realized that clearly, they had bought it from another agency. They hadn't changed the strange symbol, or the motto, or detailed it much beyond the generics. Interesting…
Oh well, she thought as she did another walk around of the car, I guess it really doesn't bother me any; it gives the car character… and besides, what's the worst that could happen?
She was happy just to be rid of the old "borrowed" patrol car that was scheduled for auction; that had rattled and broken down more times than she could count, and that smelled oddly of fish, fries and skunk of all things. Even with the damage on this new beauty, at least this car wasn't a heap of junk like the temp one had been.
Her portable radio crackled to life and she sighed. Time for another day, and the inevitable boring and repetitious reports that she knew she'd have to write. She only hoped she could avoid most of the inevitable drunk person causing a disturbance calls during her shift. That was almost too much to handle, especially in the new patrol car she found herself in. Swing shift almost always encountered the most interesting, and the most violent, calls. She hoped today would be an exception. She opened the cruiser door, and shoved her black SWAT bag in the back. One never knew when a situation that called for SWAT assistance could come up, and besides, she had team training later in the day.
She only hoped she wouldn't have to arrest anyone. Having to call backup just for an arrest, since she didn't have the room in her new patrol vehicle, was almost too much for her to contemplate. She was certain some officers, particularly Sgt. Blair, would take delight in that. Still, something she'd have to get used to with this car. What a pain… but worth it, for this cruiser.
Maeve stepped into the Saleen and sat down on the surprisingly comfortable seat, tapping two fingers lightly against the black leather steering wheel. It was cool to the touch, even though the sun's heat was scorching outside and should have made the interior of the car, especially the leather, hot to the touch. Maeve didn't even notice how cool it was inside the cruiser as she keyed the mic to radio dispatch.
"This is Unit 1-643 Baker, ready to move. Any calls for me?"
Author's Note:
I realize Blair's sorta… "out there" and ridiculous, but it is deliberate. I've met very few officers actually like that, and he's basically a caricature of the most outrageous. The "traditional" viewpoint towards female LEOs is not widespread at all among larger departments nowadays, but well, Blair's idiocy and outrageous behavior works into the story later on down the road, I swear. And yes, I realize that in TF1 Barricade was a 2006 S281 Saleen but in my 'verse, he's upgraded.