"They won't take long in getting here, I'm sure of it." Starscream grumbled at his colleague, the human dangling in his digits once again. "If this human doesn't wake up soon, I'll wake it up by tearing the device from its very wrist!"

         "Why not just take it off yourself?" Barricade questioned; arms crossed in irritation.

         "The fragging thing is too small for my digits. Here, you do it."

     Barricade stepped back as the human was tossed toward him, but Marissa had been awake for a while, flipping in the air so she could tuck and roll once she hit the ground. Both Cybertronians stared as she groaned, wiping the dirt from her shoulders. She looked up at the behemoths with a sour expression. 

         "So, 'asking nicely' is abducting me?"

         "Shut it, fleshy." Starscream snarled, taking a menacing step towards her. "Consider it a mercy!"

         "Mercy? You're threatening to tear my arm off for this bracelet, pinched my hand to the point of bruising it- look at this, it's purple!"

         'So noisy.' Barricade rolled his four optics, the increasing light making them shine a gold color.

         :I'd rather not play good cop again.: He informed the air commander icily. Starscream merely smirked at him, so the police car rolled his optics again before addressing the fuming organic.

         "Marissa, right?" He asked, not because he wanted to know if he was right, but because he wanted the human to think he was trying to be considerate. She only crossed her arms and stared up at him. "Think of it this way: if your sister had been insistent that she wanted to see a terrorist that was right behind her, yet she refused to turn around or run from them, wouldn't you have pulled her out of harm's way?"

         "How did you know about my sister?" She stepped back, a strange reaction that Barricade hadn't exactly considered.

         "I'm almost hurt you don't recognize me." He chuckled behind his lying smirk. "The point is that you would have saved her from a threat, yes?"

     Marissa nodded, her folded arms relaxing from their stiff position. She was unsure of what these two beings' intentions really were. The one shaped like an upside-down triangle certainly didn't care what she thought of him, and the one with four eyes seemed uncomfortable with his speech. Barricade and Starscream looked like they knew each other quite well regardless as they had some unsaid conversation. It irked the young woman as she shuffled on her feet.

         "Then what about my family we just left behind?" She decided to voice her concerns.

         "Chances are they've been questioned by another human and determined useless to pry information out of." Starscream answered nonchalantly, shrugging in the process. "Which means those filthy Autobots are heading straight for us."

     The bracelet was warm once again as the woman stroked its glassy front. Despite the two insisting it was of some importance, she couldn't grasp that such an insignificant piece of debris held power of any sort. She certainly couldn't feel it. The trinket simply sat limply on her wrist, doing nothing but look quite pretty. 

         'What a mess I've roped myself into.' She sighed, looking back up to her newfound company.

     They were staring down at her, lost about what to do next. They didn't even know the origins or purpose of this device, let alone how to keep it from the Autobots without exhausting themselves. Barricade was too slow on the ground and would be caught up too at some point or another. Starscream refused to have to take care of the needs of a fleshling. He wasn't suited for it anyway as an air-based craft. Neither had thought they'd get as far as they did already, especially not with the human. Barricade was surprised she wasn't already dead. 

         "Shouldn't we be going if the Autobots are so close at hand?" 

     The human's opinion was heard, and not entirely ignored though it looked that way. Starscream had to wait three whole hours for Barricade to catch up with him in the woods. Neither were sure how far the Autobots were, but at least two of them were tracking the spark-calling signal. Perhaps just Prime himself while the others were still looking for Barricade after ditching them completely during their wild goose chase. The two glanced toward each other, Starscream ex-venting an attitude filled huff.

         "If you would give us the device; we will be on our way." He lowered a servo down for it, frowning as the organic shied away.

         "No offense but I'm not about to trust someone who was wanting to rip my arm off."

         "You've trusted the both of us enough not to run away." Barricade replied with a smirk.

         "Even in dense trees that's a little futile considering you've got legs the size of pillars!" Marissa chuffed, stamping her foot to make her statement final. "Besides, if I give this to you, I don't know where I am. If these Autobots are as bad as you claim than they'll find me sooner or later and question me, possibly threaten my family of which I am not too fond of."

         "You're in a war now, fleshling," Starscream crouched, bringing his massive helm toward the puny creature, "be prepared too not be too fond of anything!"

         "This war isn't mine." She responded coldly, glaring at the dual optics that threatened to burn her alive with just their stare.

         "It is now, whether you like it or not." Barricade stepped forward, forcing Starscream to back off before his raised servo could crush the human being. "You placed yourself in the midst of it the moment you picked up that device. However, if you give it to us, you'll be nothing to the Autobots, and left alone. Their only goal is to follow the pull on their sparks, as it was ours. Give us the trinket, and this war will be as if it never existed in your life at all."

     He offered his servo for her to place the bracelet in, his patience withering as she stared at his appendage, then at her own where the device sat. She seemed to be thinking rather hard about her choice. The interrogator was only glad she trusted him a little more than Starscream. His observing was paying off despite his disdain towards what boredom had forced him to do. He watched Marissa closely, a curious expression crossing his faceplating as she tightened her ponytail and looked up at them determinedly. 

         "I'm coming with you." 

         "You're what?" Starscream deadpanned, straightening himself up.

         "I'm coming with you! Whether or not I go along, there's no difference other than my presence. Besides, I've only heard one side to the story, and I don't trust either of you as much as you might hope. Part of me still hopes this is some bad dream but my aching hand says otherwise." She crossed her arms again. "No war has a good guy or bad guy, but there is always a lesser of the two evils. I'm going to find out who that is."

     The two mechs looked at each other with annoyed expressions (Starscream more so). They messaged each other, both livid at the turn of events. Neither wanted to care for the organic. Killing her would be easier but they didn't want to damage the miniscule device in the process either. Time was running out to make a decision and they heard the tiny tapping of the organic's foot as she grew impatient for their answer. When Barricade suddenly grinned, Starscream blanched at the proposed idea, pointing a silent but accusatory digit at the other. Barricade merely gave another look of 'watch me' before bending down to join the human's level.

         "Join us on our journey then, young human." He offered. "If you have the bearings."

     Marissa only smirked.

)-/\-(

     Lilian was sobbing as she was told her daughter was abducted by evil beings. She wanted to blame the apparent medical officer that was the exact same being with a different allegiance, but her conscience wouldn't let her, considering he had willingly come to help the injured (of which there were none, but it was a kind gesture). She wasn't quite sure how to be rid of the rising bile in her throat though. Her youngest daughter was in danger because of what? Some stupid little souvenir she found in Mission City? It was just a bracelet.

         "Ma'am, I can't say how sorry I am for this." Lennox assured, trying to be comforting, but it did nothing to soothe the crying woman. 

         "Just help like you said you would and bring our daughter back." Shane stated icily. He wasn't as liable to let these government hailing strangers be forgiven so easily. "We already told you all we can. The only suspicious activity to speak of was the goats getting scared. Marissa and I went looking for a bear or wolf and found nothing."

     A yellow and black striped muscle car pulled up to the house, apparently having found something around the property it had been tasked with searching. A teenager popped out of the driver's seat before the car transformed in a similar manner the ambulance did. It spoke in choppy radio static and music lyrics, apparently a normal thing for the boy as he nodded in agreement.

         "Large tracks, and a clearing that looks like a rocket took off in it. The leaves are fried to ashes."

         "Starscream." The one called Ratchet nodded. "And likely the other was Barricade if my common sense serves me right. Optimus and Ironhide should be returning soon. They lost the other after entering the city."

     Shane held his wife as her sobs turned to hiccups. She had forgotten her cane in the panic that still gripped both their hearts, so she leaned on him heavily. His grip tightened around the woman as he recalled how the one had so nonchalantly suggested tearing his own daughter's arm off for the stupid bracelet. Why hadn't she just thrown it at the creature? Where was Marissa's self-preservation? She couldn't have thought her own life was so insignificant. 

     Two more vehicles came roaring back to the lightening fields, their passengers stepping out so they too could transform. The young woman, just a few years behind Marissa, hugged the black-haired youth with a smile before quickly offering a bottle of water to the older woman, who took it with an appreciative nod. Her tears threatened to come back at the thought that this young woman was in the midst of such a horrible happening too. The blonde boy stepped clumsily toward Ratchet, asking a few questions lowly before looking to the biggest of the four robots, who had kneeled in an attempt to be considerate of the two worried humans.

         "I am Optimus Prime," he greeted, "leader of the Autobots. We plan on doing everything in our power to bring your daughter back."

         "What was so important about that bracelet anyway?" Shane demanded, helping Lilian sit in a rocking chair that Sam and Mikaela had found.

         "That is something I am unable to explain." Optimus admitted with a frown. "All we do know at current is that this device calls to us and possibly all of our kind scattered on your planet."

         "You mean there's more of you?" Lilian sounded appalled by the idea. "More robots hunting down our daughter?"

         "Cybertronians-" Sam corrected nervously, earning a sharp glare from the pepper-haired man.

         "They're not all bad." Mikaela attempted to assure, offering Lilian another water bottle, which she took with shaking hands. "It's possible these two had been investigating in Mission City already. We were neglectful in thinking the Autobot-Decepticon war had finally ended, when signs that more trouble was on the rise began to show."

         "I take full responsibility for this tragedy." Optimus sighed, earning a few low grumbles of disagreement from Ratchet and Ironhide. "To ensure your safety, we request that you follow Colonel Lennox's advice in seeking government protection. Any relatives that may be seen as targets should follow suit if possible."

         "Our daughter is in trouble; I'm not standing by here or at some facility waiting for an official to tell me she's been crushed underneath your or anyone else's giant metallic foot!"

     Lilian wailed at the idea of her daughter being murdered, by accident or not, and Shane apologized, attempting to soothe the woman, but she pushed him away. Mikaela placed a hand on her shoulder, and it seemed to help. Just the idea of a civilian being crushed made her own stomach churn. She had too many close calls herself. Who knew what hell this poor woman was going to be forced through in the presence of Barricade and Starscream.

     The only course of action that could be considered was to follow the pull on their sparks once more. There was an argument about whether or not Lilian and Shane Faireborn would join them, the insistence from Shane that at least he goes being the deciding factor. Lilian was to remain home with their son, who would be called as soon as he woke up for work. It didn't feel right to the mother, but she consented knowing it would drive her husband crazy if she did go along on such a perilous journey.

     Mikaela had offered to stay, but the offer was quickly declined in a polite manner. Lilian didn't want to feel like she was being babysat, but her excuse was that she didn't want anyone else hurt if 'those horrible creatures' came back. It was obviously an insult to the other four Cybertronians, and they knew that, but said nothing, knowing their presence was what caused Marissa's abduction.

         "Mr. Faireborn," Lennox earned his attention once the man had collected his own firearms and a duffel bag of supplies, "I suggest riding with me." He gestured toward the now transformed ambulance, the other three persons filing into their respective guardians already.

     The man nodded stiffly, numb to the idea that he was going to be riding shotgun in a sentient machine. His mind was far too busy racing around the idea that his daughter was in trouble and possibly hurt or being harmed as they prepared for the journey. He waved toward his wife one last time before entering the passenger's seat of the ambulance.