Barricade crashed through the gate of the military base, ignoring the bullets that simply grazed off his armor from the confused and on edge humans of the American Army. Marissa was holding tightly to his door and seat, eyes scrunched in an attempt to block out the clearly perilous charge of the mildly enraged police car. He had clearly showed no signs of stopping his nearly 100 MPH charge, and yet the humans persistently got in his way. He didn't care in the end and was mildly disappointed when the group jumped out of his way to avoid being squished like the disgusting bugs they were. Only when he slid to a stop did his passenger open her eyes.

     Upon seeing out his darkened window, Marissa's eyes started to water at the sight of her father being held back by the wary blue bot she remembered as Blurr. She wanted to assure him that she was alright, but the bracelet still on her wrist would have made that statement somewhat of a lie. The woman squeaked as Barricade transformed around her, the moving pieces and parts making her close her eyes to avoid feeling anymore sick than she already did. The woman didn't know if they hit speed bumps or people back at the gate, the thought already making her stomach queasy, so she did her best not to look any worse for wear. 

     There was a tense silence as Barricade held the woman gently in his palm, his quad-optics staring at her for a moment before his menacing gaze found the serious expressions of the Autobots.

     He was disappointed that the Prime wasn't there.

         "Marissa!" Shane Faireborn hollered, having escaped the quick servo of Blurr once his attention was pointed at the transformed Barricade and the woman in his palm just outside the borrowed hangar.

         "Dad!" She grinned, adjusting the crooked helmet on her head.

     The older man was finally caught again, being held gingerly by Blurr instead of just using his servo to block the father's path. He ordered the mech to put him down, bringing an amused smile to the Decepticon's faceplate.

     Such a futile struggle.

         "What do you want, Barricade?" Ratchet demanded. "Surely you haven't come to return the woman?"

         "Of course not." He chuckled. "Unfortunately, what I want to trade her for isn't here."

         "My daughter is not a bartering tool!" Shane snapped, anger growing the longer the being before him held his daughter. "Let her go this instant!"

         "You're not in a position to be demanding anything." Barricade informed flatly.

         "Neither are you." Ironhide noted, pointing a well-aimed canon at the other mech. "Unless you've gone blind, you're well aware of the entire military base you've barged into."

         "And yet I am not attacked." The police car shrugged with another, anger flaring chuckle. "Because I have the human in my servo, you can't attack me. Not with her life on the line."

     He let her slide down his servo enough for him to wrap his digits around her torso again. The woman hissed as her hand and bruised ribs were squeezed, forcing the air out of her lungs. Marissa glared back at her captor in warning to not push her quiet cooperativeness.

         "What do you want?" Ratchet questioned.

         "Your Prime." Their adversary spat. "Clearly he is not here. Either he's a coward, or you've set up a trap without even knowing I was coming."

     Ironhide was held back by Ratchet's arms, stopping what would have been a fight. It wasn't wise to resort to violence with Marissa's life at stake. If she was lost to unneeded violence, who knew what her father would do (besides rightfully blame the Autobots).

         "What do you want Optimus for?" Ratchet continued his questioning. "You wouldn't search him out for something trivial, and not when escape is rather futile considering you're outgunned and outmatched not only in number but in ability." 

         Knockout gave a happy huff from the hangar door as his ego inflated.

     Barricade's expression fell further into his usual frown. The medic was clearly the more intelligent of the group, and it was not working in his favor. With Optimus having gone off to wherever he ran off too, all the 'Con could do was wait. Perhaps cooperation on his part would be needed as well if he wanted to get what he wanted.

         "Information." Came the growled answer. "I want to know exactly what this trinket is, and what it's supposed to do. When will your leader return?"

         "Even if he was here, we cannot identify what you don't have!" Ironhide snapped. "Now set the human down."

     Both Barricade and Marissa looked at each other with clear confusion. There seemed to be a silent conversation between them both before the woman spoke up for only the second time in her captor's palm.

         "But-" she adjusted herself as Barricade moved his servo so she sat on his palm again, "it's right here?"

     Holding up her wrist, the bracelet was plainly seen on her mildly bruised arm, a rip in the sleeve had appeared after being attacked by Waspinator. Barricade had caught the fabric when he plunged his digits into the damp Earth, so her clearly harmed state only made her already livid father livider. It didn't change the pure wonder in the two Cybertronians and Velocitronians as they stared at the twinkling piece of jewelry. It was so close, and yet they felt as if it wasn't there at all. The foreign pull had dissipated to nothing as Ironhide had realized earlier.

         "You guys don't feel a pull on your sparks anymore?" Marissa questioned curiously.

         'Come to think of it,' Barricade thought, 'I don't feel it either.'

     He wasn't sure when the pull stopped, but finally being aware made him realize Starscream was flying blind. He sent the Seeker his coordinates and a note that the trinket had stopped pulling at his and the Autobot's sparks. It was all the more reason to find out what exactly the stupid thing was.

         "I see you're just as confused as we are." Ratchet's frown became thoughtful. He glanced back at the bots and worried humans (Lennox, Sam, Mikaela and Miles having remained in the hangar with Knockout). 'Primus help me-' He prayed silently before making a decision he understood no one would like. "You will be safe here until Optimus returns. When he does, it will be his choice as to what happens to you, but only if Marissa Faireborn is reunited with her parental unit."

     Immediately, Ironhide and Knockout were opposed to allowing Barricade to simply stay with them without being chained, cuffed or something. Ratchet noted there was four of them, and one of him. Barricade wasn't stupid and knew a losing battle when he saw one. That wasn't to say he was going to be unmonitored, but the release of Marissa was the Autobot's top priority. It was to their surprise that Barricade complied.

     Blurr set Shane down so he could run to his daughter, hugging her tightly with a pistol in one hand (he had grabbed Lennox's side-arm) as held back tears brimmed his tired and worried eyes. He only let go when she made her numerous bruises known. She showed her father the bruising on her sides and arms, as well as the swollen hand which had lost its original puffiness. Marissa explained that it wasn't broken, though her wrist was sprained from landing on it. Mr. Faireborn noticed she still had the bracelet on her wrist as she caressed it, and not the bruised appendage.

         "Take that off and give it to the Autobots." He told her lightly. "They'll know what to do with it."

         "Why?" She chuckled with a shrug, her father's eyebrows knitting together in the familiar expression she knew as the 'I'm not joking around' look. She returned the expression with a serious one of her own. "Dad, I'm not taking it off. Not until I know what it is, and whose capable hands to place it in."

         "It's not yours to hand off like an heirloom, Tater Tot." He tried to be gentle about the subject, knowing the poor woman was hurt and maybe still afraid of her captor, who loomed over them with a sneer. "This needs to go back to its owners, and far away from us, okay? I don't want you stuck in this any longer."

         "It doesn't have an owner, dad." She deadpanned, a strange expression of offence and knowing twinkling in her eyes. "Just like Barricade and Starscream can't own me. It's as sentient as any human or Cybertronian." She looked up at Blurr, catching Knockout's bright red paint at the entrance of the hangar as well. The sight of them made her smile as she waved lightly. "Or Velocitronian. Did you know there's ones called Insecticons, too? Pop, it's so cool, they're kind is so diverse!"

         "Insecticons?" Ironhide growled at the silent Barricade, who merely nodded before answering verbally. 

         "Arachnid and Waspinator. They attacked both Starscream and I before we had decided to seek Optimus Prime out. We don't know when they came to Earth, or where they landed."

         "Are you alright Blurr?" Marissa slipped past her father in favor of checking the blue racer. "Starscream didn't hurt you when he took off, did he?"

         "'Course not, kiddo!" The mech grinned. "I'm just glad you're not anymore hurt than you are."

         "I'm surprised she's not dead." Knockout voiced his opinion. "When the frag did you end up with Barricade, anyway? We left him in the dust."

     Marissa scratched the back of her head, the ponytail she had been sporting gone so she could wear the helmet more comfortably (now held in her unbruised hand).

         "Uh- well, I had convinced Starscream to let me stay with Barricade because I wanted to ask him about Cybertron. Since I heard about the skies, I wanted to know what the surface was like, so I let Starscream take the bracelet-"

         "You, what?" The group interrupted, making Marissa glare at them crossly.

         "I let Starscream take the bracelet so that he didn't have to worry about me. To avoid you two speedsters from figuring out he left me with Barricade, he barrel rolled and dumped me out of his cockpit. Barricade caught me mid-air, we stopped for soda and a bagel and I fell asleep." Her arms crossed as she finished her tale, a story in which both bot and human were unsure they could believe. 

     Marissa just giving the device to Starscream, a ruthless 'Con with a want for power so strong he'd go against Megatron at even the slightest show of weakness? Barricade, a mech with no remorse simply stopping at some gas station just to feed the human both of them had abducted? The current, though failed, leader of the Decepticons giving the mysterious device back to the woman who had unknowingly picked it up as a souvenir in Mission City despite knowing it was of some importance? It was strangely out of character, almost as if they weren't the true characters themselves.

         "Do you guys have energon?" The question caught the Autobots off guard, considering it came from Marissa Faireborn. She had taken to standing beneath Barricade, a gentle hand on his left pede. The brutal Decepticon didn't seem fazed by it, though he refused to look any bot in the optic as he turned his helm away from the befuddled group. "Barricade is getting low."

         "Uh-" It took a moment for Ratchet to find his words. "Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will be returning within a few hours with supplies. Energon, mainly."

     Marissa merely nodded with a thankful smile before nodding to Barricade, who had looked down at his strange captive. The woman took off without him as she insisted that Blurr introduce her too the two other Autobots. She shook each of their digits, standing on the blue racer's palm. She let Ratchet scan her, later meeting Lennox and the three teens. 

     Her and Mikaela seemed to hit it off well, while Sam and Miles were a little bashful and curious as to how this woman could be so- smiley, after having been abducted. She spoke animatedly about her day and a half of being a captive, then being saved by the brave Blurr and the narcissistic Knockout. All the while Lennox was escorting her to get medical help, despite her perfectly healthy movements and complexion. Marissa didn't protest either, knowing she at least needed a brace for her wrist.

     Meanwhile, Shane watched from a distance, wondering what on Earth these aliens did to his daughter. She should be terrified, not acting like all was well and she had just been roped into an adventure her brother had planned. Marissa had simply brushed off his concern and heeding to give the cursed souvenir to the Autobots. He knew his daughter would have naturally jumped at the opportunity to return to normality, so why wasn't she?

         Why wasn't she pleading to be returned home?

         Why was she so comfortable in Barricade's servo?

         Why did she sound like she was living happily amidst an intergalactic war?

     Turning to glare at the mech who had abducted his daughter, he was met with four, fiery optics that only stared back in silent warning. Just because Marissa wasn't too badly harmed, didn't mean this being wouldn't stoop to violence at any given moment. The pepper haired man was close to ignoring that as his fists clenched at his sides, one with an itchy trigger finger, and his chest puffed in quiet defiance, before jogging after his daughter and the curious entourage.