Raider Red

Chapter 14: Establishment

Red moved to the side.

June narrowed her eyes, chasing Red's face to the left, and then to the right. Finally, she'd had enough.

June tried to grab her and hold her still, but Red easily evaded the woman. Before they even knew what was going on, June was literally sitting on Red and holding her still with the expertise that one can only get in a hospital.

Red found herself surprised to find that she actually could not move. Instead of looking like a fool, Red relaxed herself and stared at the woman.

June looked victorious as she cleaned the wound.

"Fowler, hand me the bandages." June ordered.

Agent Fowler, who was still recovering from shock along with the rest of the base, hesitated before nodding and handing the woman her supplies.

"Girl, you just got manhandled by a nurse!" Miko exclaimed, leaning over the side of the couch with a grin.

June smiled. "I have had a lot of experience with unruly patients."

Red refused to comment on the situation.

If Silas ever found out about this, he would never let her live it down.

Red's eyes flickered to the side as Nurse Darby got off and she immediately noticed Fowler's hand shift toward his belt, where his taser was at. Red looked away. There would be no point in that. She wasn't going to attack the nurse.

Yet.

"Alright, you're good now." June assured her. "Just make sure you get plenty of rest and keep the bandage on for three days."

Then the woman gave Optimus the stink eye. "She needs a shower."

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She had to admit, the Autobot base was peaceful. Now that she wasn't constantly being watched or handcuffed, Red found it slightly difficult to imagine herself as a prisoner.

But she was.

Day three in the Autobot base was now en route and another sleepless night had passed where Red and Fowler stayed awake all night. The latter stayed seated across from her, but he worked on paperwork.

Red allowed herself to gaze off into space and think, sometimes standing up to pace and keep herself awake.

The agent didn't say a word to her about it.

Miko and Raf were at school, while Jack had stayed behind to help Smokescreen learn more about human driving rules and laws. They were out right now.

The other Autobots kept to themselves, talking about relics and such. Optimus was decoding the Iacon relics and Ratchet was working on his monitor.

Fowler had since left, bringing his paperwork wherever and doing whatever he does. Probably a bit of sleeping too, considering he stayed awake all night to keep an eye on Red.

The girl herself was currently pacing, an emotionless gaze ahead of her as she when over the new information she'd aquired thus far. Red was also trying to anticipate Silas's next move. He'd need to get some other things done before he could try and help her again.

Acting too quickly after a failure that ended so fatally would be unwise.

Red's brows furrowed, remembering the scene of gore and chaos that accompanied her last escapade.

Of course, Red had seen plenty of dead people over the corpse of her life, some of which she'd killed herself. But always with a bullet or a knife, or her body. Clean, simple deaths. She'd been trained to enact and get over these kinds of deaths since birth.

It was the mashed, mangled remains that bothered her.

The amount of them, strewn across the forest floor, blood seeping into the ground, body parts ripped and torn, scattered around.

Red stopped her pacing and shivered. It wasn't humane.

Every life she'd taken had been methodical, planned, but this was carnage borne of anger and power. It wasn't anything like she'd seen before.

It was horrible.

Red scowled. When she went back to MECH, she'd change the protocols. They'd been picking on the Autobots because they were easy targets, but the Decepticons needed to be dealt with.

Silas would no doubt agree with her, considering the Decepticons had brutally killed so many of their agents.

Red sat back down in her chair and ran a hand through her hair. Once again, fatigue bit at her eyes and muscles, but Red ignored it. She wasn't quite ready to put her guard down around these bots.

After all, no one knew better than Red how seamless a facade can be. A well-calculated, planned out act could convince even the best of sleuths.

The sound of an engine could be heard and Red turned to the side, her green eyes following Smokescreen as he raced into the base and slid to a stop.

What a great demonstration of what he's learned.

Jack got out and the rookie Autobot transformed, both of them laughing.

"I am so posting this tonight!" Jack exclaimed. "Hey, Arcee, look at Vince's car!"

Oh. Red's brother.

"The bullet?" The female Autobot knelt down and frowned at the small screen. "Great. You taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fast food."

Red frowned. Usually, she wouldn't care that they'd pranked someone, but Vince's mom just died.

Of course, she's dead because of Red, but it seemed kind of messed up for someone as nice as Jack to overlook.

"You passed drivers ed!" Jack excused, walking up the stairs to the human area. "You know what they say, work hard, play hard."

Smokescreen grinned. "No humans were harmed in the making of these pictures. Promise."

Financially, emotionally, socially... Yes. Vince was harmed greatly.

She didn't need to care. Red shrugged it off and refocused ad Jack neared her. The boy spotted Red and froze, his eyes going wide.

Red raised an eyebrow. What? Did she really look that bad with a giant white cloth around her forehead?

Jack stammered, his face turning bright red under her penetrating stare. "S-sorry, I just- I um, you- you look like- like a shower- and- I mean- I pranked- the car of your brothers- the brother of your car- the- the- s-sorry."

Jack scurried to the couch and hide his face behind his phone with the innocence one could only get from being shielded their hole life.

"Oh no." Arcee was staring at Jack. "Jackson Darby."

Jack, already totally embarrassed, looking up at his guardian with a glare that said, this is the absolute worst moment to speak to me.

Arcee and Jack stared at each other for a moment longer, Jack's face getting brighter and Arcee's face growing more horrified.

Red simply watched them. She was a little confused, but it probably wasn't important.