"You've been awfully quiet." Barricade decided to note after several confusing hours of pure silence.

    Marissa had been occupying herself with finger games and flipping a pen she had found in the flannel (which was her father's). She had also played several games of solitaire (the cards also found in her dad's flannel) and couldn't count the number of times she repeated Bible verses and stories that she could remember. Her daydream being interrupted made the woman chuckle. 

         "I didn't want to sour your mood." She shrugged, stretching her arms carefully so she didn't press on the roof of the police car as she sat up. "Not everyone likes conversation, so I stopped talking."

     The idea of someone being considerate still didn't quite compute. Barricade believed that she was being quiet to gain more time to ask questions. The human was just being cheeky about it.

         "I won't answer your questions just because you were quiet." He replied suspiciously, earning a delicately arched, brown brow of confusion. 

         "I wasn't going to ask any." Came the patient comment. "Sure, my curiosity still burns but you obviously prefer silence when you drive."

     Once again, Barricade was confused. However, he said nothing of it. Instead, the mech became quiet himself, as he pondered this human's strange behavior. It was rather refreshing, in an odd and unnatural sort of way. He guessed it was an Autobot-like trait, but he had never run in to any Autobot who acted like this human. Then again, she wasn't sure who to trust, and the femme's personality and attitude was different towards certain things. 

     Barricade could easily guess that she didn't like being challenged. This fact would make any future interaction with Starscream amusing. She was smart, though idiotic in the sense that she dared to oppose two of the fiercest Decepticons on planet Earth. He'd never admit that her want to hear both faction's reasons to needing the trinket was intelligent on her part as a third party but his irritation at that fact overruled it. He guessed with the right persuasions she'd become a very devoted follower of whoever won her allegiance.

     Barricade just needed to figure out how to do that.

         "Can we talk some more when we stop?" Marissa questioned politely. "If we have time?"

     Anyone or anything being considerate was still lost to the Decepticon. He was quiet for a long time before curtly explaining that their original agreement still applied. To his surprise, the human femme agreed, going quiet once more as she stared out the window.

         :How's our little- friend?: Starscream grated out, trying to prepare himself before actually having to be nice to the human. 

         :Insufferable.: Was all Barricade could describe her as. Not because she actually was insufferable, but because he wasn't sure what to think of her at all.

        :Well you'll be pleased to know that there's an abandoned highway up ahead. Let the puny thing stretch its stabilizers and you can air out your putrid smelling interior.:

     Barricade huffed, said puny thing in his cab noticing the vents giving off a short puff of air as he did so. 

         :Is that an offer to let the prisoner ride in your own form?:

     One heated argument and several choice Cybertronian insults later, Starscream waited for the two with his arms crossed on the abandoned highway, long forgotten and overgrown with trees and shrubs. Starscream disliked how nature so easily took control of Earth's structures. It only further revealed how weak the humans were if not even concrete and metal could keep these strange growing things at bay. Invasive plants took over entire areas and the humans couldn't keep up with them if they tried (which they had). 

         'The only invasive species I see here is the human race itself.' Starscream thought darkly, watching the police car roll slowly forward before letting the human out.

     Marissa looked around in wonder, as if she had never seen a forest before in her life. She smiled as a small bird flittered through the trees, chirping a startled song as Barricade transformed. Her small, fleshy hand stroked the device on her arm, unaware of the glares from above. She was too enthralled by the life around her and the precious ingredients it took for each one to grow. Her stare slowly glided over the two giants; ruby optics trained solely on the organic being below them. In them she also saw life, though darkened and battle worn. Their lives were precious too.

         "Why did we stop?" She decided to ask as the silence grew awkward. 

         "I thought you might need to stretch your stabilizers." Starscream informed silkily. "You're welcome."

         "Aren't we being hunted down?" Marissa criticized, earning Starscream's glare.

     Barricade smirked, knowing Starscream didn't like to be challenged either.

         "Yes, what of it?" The Seeker huffed, as if it was no big deal. In his mind, this little creature should be grateful. Perhaps Marissa should have been, but logic was beginning to mask her earlier wonder.

         "Well, we stopped only a few hours ago. I would have been fine for another four, tops." Her little shrug only infuriated the mech more as his barely held EM field flared with anger.

         "You will know, fleshling, that we can only handle so much of your stench!" 

         'So much for being friendly.' Barricade frowned, though he expected nothing less from the failed Decepticon leader.

         "Do we smell that bad to you?"  

     Barricade's attention snapped to the woman, realizing she was addressing the question to him. Her concerned gaze made him shuffle uncomfortably. 

         "It is-" he struggled to find a more appropriate way to describe the human scent other than 'putrid' or 'disgusting'. Something more fitting to their goal of winning her over.

         "Revolting." Starscream shivered, earning a glare from their prisoner.

         "It's not exactly inviting." Barricade gave his cohort an unamused expression and a private message to 'shut the pit up'. "Starscream has offered to carry you for a time."

         "He'd only do that if you guys were desperate." 

     Marissa was already catching on, and it did not sit well with either Cybertronian. They weren't desperate yet, but the quickly gaining Autobots they had narrowly avoided were certainly a problem and were apparently faster than Barricade since both life signatures had appeared not long after Starscream had observed them from the skies. Neither wanted to find out if they knew their advantage, but they most likely did not. 

     A short conversation was held in Cybertronian, which irked the young woman below them as she rested her hands on her hips. From what she observed, Starscream wasn't thrilled, and Barricade held his smug smirk again, meaning he was about to take charge whether the other liked it or not. Marissa was correct as the police car knelt down, letting her know that the moody jet had no say in the matter.

         "There are two more Autobots who have cut us off from our original route." He informed, which resulted in Marissa losing her irritated stance. "Unfortunately, they're faster than me."

         "Probably Velocitronians." Starscream huffed. "High falutin, self-absorbed morons."

         "Starscream is the better choice when it comes to keeping you away from them." Barricade continued after rolling his quad-optics.

         "But I still want to hear both sides of this story!" Marissa argued.

     Starscream was about to give her a flippant and haughty response, but Barricade halted his decision with a glare.

         "Sorry to disappoint, but by now they probably think you're one of us." The interrogator's tone didn't leave much room for argument as he interrupted the woman to continue. "Decepticons and Autobots don't talk. We haven't for eons. In their processors it's shoot first, ask questions later, do you understand?"

     Unaware that Barricade was actually describing the Decepticons, Marissa nodded. She was glad to have put on the flannel before struggling to board Starscream, who had transformed after another argument. She knew it would be colder in the upper atmosphere, though the flannel would do little to insulate her. Still, it was at least something to consider to be a comfort as she strapped herself into the seat (after being lifted up by Barricade), having found a helmet shoved between it and the controls.

         "You had a pilot?" She questioned, testing the fit of the head gear.

         "Primus no." Starscream huffed indignantly. "Just throw it out! Don't put that blasted thing on your head!"

         "Why not?" It wasn't a perfect fit, but the woman guessed she could buy a beanie and it would get rid of the wiggle room. "If you plan to give me whiplash again, I might as well use it."

         "Because it reeks of human decay." Was the matter-of-fact answer. "Do you have any idea how many times I've had to pick out human remains from my interior because some idiotic excuse for a pilot thought I was one of your primitive aircraft?"

     Marissa was pale, a reaction most amusing to Starscream. Her brown eyes were wide as she turned the helmet over in her hands to check for a skull, despite having just had it on. She discovered a large splotch of dried blood that had likely stained the helmet. Starscream thought he had finally gotten rid of the irritating obstruction and perhaps the hopefully squeamish human, but she apparently was not as squeamish as he had hoped.

         "How long has this been stuck between the seat and the controls?" Despite her pale features, and disgusted expression as she turned the helmet back around, Marissa's voice sounded almost concerned.

         "I don't think that's any of your business." Starscream huffed.

     Marissa guessed it had been a while, which was why she couldn't smell anything on the helmet except that strange metallic scent she had smelled with both Barricade and the self-absorbed Seeker. She wondered if all Cybertronians smelled like that.

         "Well, stinks or not, I'm not taking chances with you in control." She informed, tightening her low ponytail and placing the helmet that her imagination believed to be haunted on her smaller head. 

     Starscream ordered her to take it off, but when Barricade voiced his opinion and offered to take the woman if his colleague didn't have the bearings to do it, the mech closed his cockpit without a word and took off. He hoped taking off would knock the human out, but she was sadly prepared, having braced herself in the seat as the G-force threw her back, aging her by at least 30 years in appearance. 

     Reveling in her misery, Starscream climbed higher, leaving Barricade to fend for himself on the ground. The skies were where he belonged, not bound to Earth. Flight meant superiority, freedom and serenity. The faster one flew the better life could be, the easier their goal could be reached, and Starscream loved flying fast. It was easy to forget the life he held in his cockpit as his circuits bristled with joy, the sheer euphoria of flight making his spark light and excited as it craved more. He wanted to climb higher, until the blue of the sky faded to stars.

     The smallest of gasps brought his attention back to the present, and he remembered the human strapped to his seat. Being in the midst of a barrel roll, Starscream clumsily righted himself after realizing he had let the thrill of taking off control his actions (which he usually did, but he hadn't planned on introducing the human to his own joys). The tiny gasp turned into a grunt as his passenger rocked from side to side, holding tightly to the straps with white knuckles. He was admittedly disappointed that she didn't pass out like the first time, but the feeling was quickly washed away by confusion as he observed her silent smile and wide, awestruck eyes. 

         "You are not terrified?" His curiosity had taken hold as much as the joy of flight. 

     Marissa's smile refused to faulter, though her words were lost as she breathed heavily from the adrenaline still pumping through her veins. She had never felt so thrilled and simply alive. The clouds were like pillars, the two of them having climbed far above the growing line of heavy rain clouds. She couldn't feel wind on her face, but the sound of Starscream's engine and the vibration shook her to her core. She wondered if that was what the alien felt when he took off: a pure, exhilarating fear that melted into wondrous awe and happiness.

         "Utterly," she admitted, still with a grin, "but- wow! I've only ever flown in commercial planes. How fast can you go?"

     The opportunity to talk about himself was not missed by the Seeker, and he gladly explained his superiority compared to Earth aircraft. His flying became far more even and less exhilarating, being replaced with a leisurely piercing of cloud and air (if one can really describe a military plane flying "leisurely"). Marissa was happy to listen about his top speeds, battle prowess in the skies and that he wasn't the Decepticon Air Commander for nothing. 

         "What were you like on Cybertron?" The woman asked. "There's no way you transformed into a human based jet."

         "A Lockheed F-22 Raptor, to be precise." Starscream admitted. "You would be correct. My original alternative mode was far more advanced and aerodynamic. I could achieve higher speeds and change direction far quicker."

         "So, you're stuck with the mechanical flaws of human technology?" Marissa continued her questioning, glad that Starscream was not as vague with his answers as long as they were about him. "Why is Barricade able to achieve speeds past a normal chronometer, then?"

     The Seeker huffed, insulted that this human would make such an assumption that he was anywhere near a normal human aircraft's expectations. The mech explained in his usual haughty manner that he was indeed far superior and not "stuck" but hindered by the human engineering of his alt. mode. It was a simple enough explanation once one picked out the actual information from the amount of complaining and insults. There was nothing he couldn't do in his current form that he could achieve in his original mode of transport. 

     He wouldn't admit to missing the Cybertronian model, especially not to a human he still considered useless. It didn't change the fact that he did actually miss it and kept the schematics of said model tucked away in his processor as well as an internal, removable drive (as a back-up in case of memory core damage). He only continued to use the human-based form for the sake of blending in, never mind the Cybertronian writing all over his armor. Starscream feared he would never be able to use it again, but what was left of his once hopeful spark, still wanted to believe he would go home. 

     The conversation passed into silence. Marissa took to staring out of the cockpit at the passing clouds. She didn't have time to realize that she was cold before falling fast asleep. Starscream's seat wasn't all too comfortable, but it was far better than Barricade's plastic seating. Her heart slowed as the adrenaline also exhausted her once it ebbed away, and Starscream was left to his own devices, both monitoring his flight pattern, the two Autobot signals he had flown back to monitor and the trinket residing in his cockpit.

     It had been dormant, but his spark was excited at its closeness. Yet calm in knowing that the source was so close. It was a strange feeling, such an excited calmness. He could only attribute it to the moment before he takes off into the skies after being on the ground for too long. He wasn't sure if he liked the feeling, but it quickly disappeared as Marissa began muttering to herself. 

         :You failed to tell me the human talks in her fragging recharge!: Starscream complained.

         :That's news to me.: Barricade admitted. :Maybe she's not completely shut down.:

         :Humans call it REM sleep, and the signs are definitely there.: 

         :You actually researched it?:

     Arguments were certainly not new to Marissa, but she didn't anticipate the amount of fights her two guardians would end up having; both with each other, and the two quickly gaining aliens who had become increasing frustrated as the strange pull on their sparks ebbed and grew as Starscream teased them unknowingly in the skies.