"Take it! Take it- take it- take it!" Knockout transformed, holding the woman at his digit-tips far away from his form as he danced on his tiptoes in unbridled disgust. Marissa was practically tossed back to Blurr, who caught her with a hearty laugh.

         "You're too squeamish my friend! Look at it, the little thing couldn't scratch your paint if she tried."

     Marissa looked between them once she righted the too big helmet on her head. She realized how cold it was as the rain began to drip from the clouds. She knew it was going to be a hard rain if the smell of the air said anything, but the quickly growing thunder rolls would lead to lightening as well. She wondered if wherever they were had tornadoes to top it all off.

         "Who are you two, exactly?" She decided to make herself known, earning the beaming smile of the blue Velocitronian.

     His answer came out in a quick string of words like before, which Marissa couldn't understand if she tried. She wondered if he was actually speaking a native language and just forgot to switch to English (like some bilingual people would). Then he paused and patiently waited for her to answer, or maybe just react, to whatever he had said.

         "I- excuse me?"

         "It's his accent." The red one answered her broken question, examining his dented and marred form, clearly appalled.

         "His accent?" Marissa repeated.

         "Small and a brain to match- Primus help me. Yes, his accent!" Knockout snapped. "Blurr, get your vocal processors together so I don't have to be translator."

     The lighter mech laughed before appearing to clear his throat, if he had one. He then sighed before speaking.

         "I'm Blurr, this is my colleague, Knockout. I'm an Autobot, and he's questionable at best." 

         "Questionable, but the best." Knockout observed his digits from afar with a cocky smirk on his faceplates. 

     Marissa nodded after a moment of slowing Blurr's words down in her head. He still spoke quickly, but it was more of a rushed tone, like someone was trying to catch the bus and had to say 'goodbye' before flying out the door. She didn't think someone could speak so fast naturally, but if this was slowed down than how many words per second was he spitting out before?

         "I'm Marissa, Marissa Faireborn." She introduced herself as Blurr opened his servo so she could sit comfortable on its flat surface. Neither appeared bothered by the soon to be drizzling rain that was only a few drops at that moment. "So, you're Velocitronian?" She pointed at her holder.

         "As am I!" Knockout looked rather insulted.

         "Then why don't you have the same accent?" She inquired. "And shouldn't we be beating feet to keep distance between us and Barricade?"

         "Whatever distance he might gain in a minute we can beat in a few seconds." Blurr assured with a wave of his free servo, a quick and jerky motion that matched the constant tapping of his pede. "Nice to know you're not brainwashed, kiddo."

     Marissa noticed Knockout had a similar fidget, only his taps were far less quick and impatient. 

         "And I don't have my accent because I choose not to display it." Knockout informed matter-of-factly. "Keeps me from having to repeat myself and that takes even more time than just saying things once."

         "No kidding." The woman huffed in agreement. "I'd feel better if we started moving again though."

     Blurr nodded and transformed around their little guest, who gasped at being dropped. She didn't need to open her eyes to feel that they were already moving. When she did, she found that the interior of the strange vehicle was just as other-worldly as his vehicle model, with white padded leather that looked more like a bed space than a seat, with no wheel at the front and blue, unseen lighting made the low ceiling glow (she could only remain laying down). She crawled forward to find a headspace that allowed the passenger to view the outside world from the long window down Blurr's form. She wondered if they were outrunning the rain or if they were going too fast for the rain to stick to them since no streaks of water clung to his viewing window. It was certainly an amazing and drastic change from Starscream and Barricade's uncomfortable seats. 

         "So, you know anything about that trinket there?" Blurr asked her in his odd string of words. It took Marissa a moment to register what he said. 

         "Just that no one seems to know what it is." She admitted, still looking out the window in aw until they were going too fast for her stomach to handle the sight around her. "Starscream and Barricade said it had power in it. Enough to call your guy's sparks anyway."

         :No "lord Starscream"?: 

     Marissa jumped upon hearing Knockout's curious yet mocking tone so suddenly. She guessed since they were sentient machines, they could broadcast a call like a telephone. Knockout was just put on speaker in a way.

         "Uh- no." She admitted. "I told him I'd call him a tortilla chip if he forced that."

         "So they were buttering you up for something." Blurr hummed, though it only lasted for about two seconds. "Probably trying to convince you to give them that trinket. And it's not power that calls our sparks. Usually something that's connected to them somehow."

         :I'm surprised they even went as far to explain that much to you.: Knockout admitted. :Actually, I'm more surprised they let you live as long as they have. How long have you been with them?:

     Marissa had to think for a moment to calculate how long it had been since she had looked at a clock. The only one she could remember before getting on the stretch of highway she had been yanked from read 4:30 in the afternoon. 

         "I'd say about seven hours."

     Both vehicles halted abruptly, forcing Marissa to lurch forward considering the speed they were going (which was well over the posted speed limit times 4, at least).

         "Seven hours?" They hollered in unison; the first time the woman had heard Blurr speak at a normal human pace.

         :How are you not dead?: Knockout exclaimed.

         "I will be if you guys stop like that again!" Beginning to become irritable, Marissa rubbed her now aching neck as she winced from whiplash. The weight of the helmet didn't help in the slightest. "Ow- look, Barricade and Starscream took me from my home just before your Autobot friends arrived. They said your side were the brutes and would kill me for this stupid bracelet."

         :And you believed them?!: Knockout huffed. :Barricade and Starscream are two of the most brutal 'Cons in the galaxy next to Megatron himself. Save for Soundwave but as far as we know, he offlined on Cybertron.:

         "Of course I didn't believe them." Marissa rolled her eyes, feeling Blurr begin to move again. "Starscream threatened to kill me already and Barricade was clearly not used to playing the good cop. You have no idea how awkward he was just trying to keep himself civil."

     There was a long pause before Marissa heard either Velocitronian speak again. She didn't know if that was normal or if they were too shocked to say a word. To occupy her time, she caressed the bracelet around her wrist, feeling like she had neglected it throughout the short yet terrifying ordeal she had just witnessed. It warmed to her touch, as it always did, and she felt peaceful knowing it was there.

         'Being thrown around isn't all that pleasant.' She chuckled to herself. 'Neither was chasing after a pickpocket but it sure beats knowing what a ragdoll feels like.'

         "Did you see who of the Autobots was coming to your aid?" Blurr questioned after another minute of silence. He had returned to his rushed tone.

         "No." Marissa admitted. "Starscream had put me in his cockpit, and I was knocked out from the G-force. All they said was that your friends were coming. They didn't say who."

     There was another long pause and Marissa curled up so her back was against the front of Blurr's subspace (which she wouldn't know this term until later). She hoped it would help her avoid whiplash again if they stopped as dramatically as the first time. It didn't help her ever growing fatigue as she realized being so cold in Starscream's cockpit had taxed her body more than she had thought. The natural warmth of Blurr, the occasional rocking of the road and a strange hum did nothing to help her increasingly heavy head as she laid it on one arm. She kept the bracelet close to her chest as she hummed a lullaby to herself, something about a little birdie and a diamond ring, but she couldn't remember the words. It soothed her still racing heart, and the adrenaline from the fight ebbed to exhaustion.

     Blurr drove thoughtfully. The little being's tune was a slow and paced one that was more distracting than it was soothing to him, but he knew it wasn't for his nerves but for her own. 

     The storm was beginning to get heavier ahead of them, but they didn't mind, knowing it wasn't the pelting acid rains known to many planets they had visited before. When it began to pelt their forms, the two drove faster to escape the long trail of cloud which seemed to stretch forever. They knew it would only be a matter of time before they had to find fuel, or even return to their original hiding places where they had collected their own stashes of energon. They contemplated finding the Autobots, but with the device in their possession, stopping to repair their damaged comm-links was rather risky. Every Cybertronian on Earth was going to be searching for them whether they knew it or not. 

     Knockout suggested asking the Earthling where her home was, but Blurr guessed the woman didn't even know where she was taken since being abducted, so it wasn't like she could point the way. They didn't know how long she had been in Starscream's cockpit either, so she could have been above the clouds for hours before seeing the ground again. It was concerning when they both could hardly live without touching solid ground. The mere idea of being suspended in nothing but cloud and air made their sparks lurch in fright. 

         No traction? How could Seekers or Aerialbots stay sane?

         Well, Starscream could hardly be considered "sane".

     Blurr also noted that they would take the shortest route to her home even if she had just given the name of the place. They'd bypass the Autobots and just lead Barricade and Starscream back to "square one". Their best bet was getting far enough away in the span of a few hours that Knockout could repair Blurr's comm, so they could contact Optimus Prime. 

     Despite their speed, they had one major fallback: resistance. Starscream didn't have the resistance of roads or the need for traction and could definitely reach greater speeds in the sky. Once he was back up and flying, there was no way they were going to be able to keep Marissa from him without backup. Time was of the essence, and for once, they felt pressed for it. The ever-present thought of Barricade attempting to catch up didn't help either, knowing he'd beat them to a liquid metal pulp if he caught them off guard. Knockout was obviously against the idea of stopping because of this, but Blurr continued his argument.

     Of course, Knockout could always betray his new-found friend, which seemed a good and feasible option, but it wasn't every day one found someone who could keep up and handle his ever so adoring attitude. He doubted Blurr actually thought he could be a friend or colleague, but the mech had the patience of a saint, it seemed. When it came to a fellow Velocitronian, anyway. 

     They shared the same irritated and impatient fidget of tapping their pedes, the two had noticed, both having found the human's speech annoyingly slow. It could safely be assumed that both mechs tolerated each other also because it was nice to experience a small slice of home, no matter how small.

     When they finally passed through the long stretch of cloud, the two were dry within seconds. Only a half hour had passed since leaving Barricade and Starscream in the dust, but the two decided to push it further. They passed cars going 65 MPH at the alarming speeds of 600 MPH. The only proof any human had that they had passed being the wind that nearly forced them off the road.

     They weren't taking chances against Barricade and Starscream.