Shadowfire

Chapter 42

::Watch it Howler, incoming::
::Roger that Shad:: and I could hear his grin, the image being received very clearly. I allowed myself to relax, I hadn't lost everything, I still had my team ::scans pick up a passenger, who you bringing?::
::Ranking KSI human, caught me in the facility::       
"Don't you know who I am?" The woman demanded, ineffectually banging her hands against my windows "I am Annabelle Madsen-Whitmann, associate shareholder of KSI industries. I have a doctorate you useless hunk of machine!"
"Shut up" I complained, splitting my attention between the open commlink and the human in my interior, revving my engine just that bit higher, anything to get me back to camp and away from this woman faster.
"I will not! I refuse to be kidnapped by a sentient waste of ore! Let me go you robotic madman!"

Disengaging my audio receptors I blasted my interior with human music, ignoring the struggling human femme trying to escape, dwelling instead on what had happened with 'Hide, pondering what would happen now. I could sense Howler in the edges of my mind, not privy to my thoughts but getting the general gist of my emotional state. He sent me his faith in me and my leadership, his absolute trust in the Decepticons and the direction we were heading. I received them gladly, beginning to calm, feeling the tension tightening the coils of my frame relax.

Suddenly I jerked, swearing forcefully as I fought the human for control, manual override protocols engaging as I disconnect the input from my interior fixtures. It had been habit, and stupidity to leave them on, I had become too used to having Sam and Mikaela in my interior, used to trusting them with minor non vital functions.
::Shad!::
::It's fine:: I grunted, forcing my systems to remain unchanging ::the human, status update later:: I barely picked up his
::Confirmed:: before I cut the connection, needing all my focus on shutting down active systems.

I hissed air out through my vents, outtakes buzzing with irritation as the human woman stomped on the brake, jerking at the steering wheel. A ripple shrugged along my frame as I denied her control, engaging my holoform to restrain her, snapping a seat belt out to twine around her torso and pin her to the seat.
"Enough human" I growled, purple eyes of my holoform boring into her face "I have had a rather awful day, don't try me"

The human was uncowed by my threat and opened her mouth to scream. I beat her to it, releasing a sonic wave of static that had her collapsing, clutching at her ears as pain ricocheted inside her head for a single moment before she passed out.

Outtakes venting heavily I ran a diagnostic, checking that the human hadn't damaged anything and rewriting my system processes to deny physical control. Eventually I pinged Howler, who connected instantly.
::Status?:: I could hear the terse fear in his voice and hurried to assuage him.
::Human is unconscious, attempted to wrest manual control through physical systems, no damage sustained:: he realised, and I sensed his amusement and annoyance that I even had such systems in place. He wanted to tease me about it, but thought better of it, sense in that it was too soon for me to make light of the loss of Sam and Mikaela.
::Howler-:: I trailed off, unsure. He knew what I was going to ask.
::I already know, it's good to have him back. They're waiting for you::

I relaxed further, allowing my frame to uncoil, wheels tearing up the tar beneath me, engine revving faster and faster. Yes, I had my sire back, it would all be alright.

___________________________

The woman regained consciousness as I turned off the deserted highway and drove deep into the desert. She stayed quiet until we arrived, nursing a headache and the after effects of the sonic pulse. Her eyes were wide and she remained glued to the window, staring out with a growing sense of dread, only now really beginning to grasp what she had gotten herself into. If only she had remained quiet- she could've slipped from the room before I woke, instead she remained rooted to the spot, drew attention to herself, and got herself captured. Cogar and his men were there to greet us.
"Hey New Prime, you bring us a present? Your daddy's trying to liaise with the Autobots, the bástards" The woman was watching with rapt attention as the soldier approached the door. She tried to scrabble backwards when he reached for the door handle, but I held her in place with the seatbelt I was using to restrain her. Cogar pulled ineffectively at the door for a moment before I realised it wouldn't open without a manual command now. The woman in my interior lashed  out, aiming to kick him in the head when he reached forward to help her out. He laughed as he caught her ankle and pulled her out by his grip on her leg. She struggled and I fought the urge to transform with her half inside my alt form.
"Someone please" I groaned "take her" Barrage stepped forward, bending down to grab the human, when she started to scream, spewing threats almost without conscious thought.
"Don't touch me! You wouldn't dare hurt me, my girlfriend is Carly Spencer- she's so high up in the CIA she could call an airstrike in on your ass with half a minute's notice" I looked up to meet the eyes of the cybertronians all around me, each sporting various degrees of feral grins. It was Sergeant Cogar who put our thoughts into words.
"Well well well, looks like we just found how to get all our enemies out into the open"