Hiya everyone. Another chapter is finished. Get ready to be depressed and have some feels for Barricade again because today's gonna be a bunch of feels that no one asked for. Enjoy!
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"I'm still surprised it only took three weeks for you to fix this thing." Dorothy's brother said to her as he traced a finger down the Saleen Mustang's hood, remembering how dented it was from before. "I would have thought that it would have stayed in that scrapyard until it got dismantled."
Dorothy gasped and walked over from across the garage to slap her brother playfully on the arm. She knew that Barricade would be complaining about Darren the entire way to the F1 hangar now because of that insult. The short woman as noticed the short flicker of the headlights as the engine seemed to rumble more aggressively as her brother started touching the police car's hood.
"He doesn't like that, you know." she scolded her brother and pushed him hand off of Barricade's hood. The rumble stopped and the headlights seemed to brighten back to their usual shine. "His hood is very sensitive."
"'He'?" Darren asked as he watched her sister get into the car on the driver's side. "I know people give their cars pronouns, but the car's a 'she' for sure."
Dorothy laughed and got into the car, closing the door and rolling down the window. "Why's that?"
"Because the car's got style and a nice bumper!" Darren shouted before he walked into the house. and slammed the door behind him.
A sudden growl arose from the radio of the car and Dorothy felt that car pull all the way out of the driveway and into the street before pulling away from the house and making its way through the winding streets of the neighborhood department she lived in. Barricade was pissed, she knew that by the way he was driving and how he was jerking everytime he made a turn, but he was still in pain. Dorothy knew that Barricade's systems were online at full capacity, but the fact that he hasn't drove in quite awhile scared her that the sentient car might break down.
"Barricade, you need to take it easy." Dorothy tried to explain to the car as he exited onto the main route outside the department and started on his way down the road. "You haven't been out of the garage in a while and I'm thinking that I should maybe drive to the station. You've also never been there before."
"No need." the car seemed to hiss at her. "I have the location of the hangar on my GPS, and for not being out of the garage, that's your fault. I have been sitting in that damned garage for the past three weeks, being insulted by your sibling and not allowed to go anywhere when I could drive perfectly fine."
"Darren insulted you?" Dorothy asked, placing her hands on the wheel so it looked like she was driving. "When and how? Darren loves cars."
"Oh I'm so sure after he called me a female!" Barricade shouted back, pulling up to the light and his engine started rumbling loudly as his anger grew. "He also has hit me with a crowbar and several cups of soda have been spilled on my paint coat!"
"And I fixed that dent and cleaned up the soda stains, so don't start complaining about again." Dorothy commented under her breath as she continued down the street towards the police station. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill him yet. You're showing a great sense of self-control for what you explained to be 'Decepticon behavior'."
"I have the right mind to kill the blasted human!" Barricade growled, moving in and out of the lines, trying to get ahead of the incoming traffic that was moving towards them. "Why are we even going to the police station, anyway? I thought I made it clear that I didn't want anything to do with the government."
"Because this is the only way you'll get out of the garage to drive places. And I also need a tool from the F1 hangar to tighten the bolts of your undercarriage better since the wrench I have doesn't fit." the woman explained, eyeing the road and other drives as they drove past. Some children in the back seats of cars waves through the windows, and Dorothy smiled and waves back. "Maybe you should become my cop car, and you'll get to drive more often."
Barricade slammed on the brakes. Dorothy jerked forward, but didn't fly out of the front window since her seatbelt had tightened around her as the Saleen Mustang stopped. Sadly, she did hit her forehead on the steering wheel and yelped as she impacted with it. When the car balanced out, Dorothy shot back into the seat and head the spot where the steering wheel made a bruise.
"Barricade, what the-" Dorothy groaned as she had to close her eyes briefly to allow her vision to focus. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a red light hanging above the street and a bunch of other cars lining up on both sides of the route. They were at a red light about a few blocks away from the police station and Barricade had full on stopped moving.
"Are you crazy?!" the car shouted at the woman sitting in the driver's seat. "Become a police car?! How many times do I have to drive it into your pathetic human brain?! I AM A DECEPTICON! The police are part of the government, and the government wants to kill me! The only reason I'm with you is because you're the only person insane enough to actually fix me! After you finish repairing me, I'll be gone and out of your hair forever!"
"And yet you choose a police car as your disguise." Dorothy asked, rubbing the red spot on her head before looking up at the rearview mirror. "I could be arrested for having custody of you, but here I am still saving your sorry ass!"
"Another reason to why you're insane." the Decepticon snarked as he pulled forward again and drove through the green light. "And I've already told you that the car was the only thing that could get me around government places without suspicion."
The two were silent for a moment. Dorothy had thought the mass murdering robot from outer space had grown to live with her, but apparently not. He would complain, always complain about the tiniest of things. Pain in his hood, Darren being a jerk, the garage being too hot or rusty, or not being able to drive anywhere. And here he was, driving down the road, with no Darren, no garage, and mimin pain in his hood, but he still complained about having to live with her. What did she do to deserve this? Nothing! Nothing at all!
"You know what?" Dorothy said, finally fed up with all of the sentinel car's attitude and complaining. This damn car reminded her of someone. And that someone was Ms. Mayrin Walker. "Maybe I will."
"Maybe you will what?" Barricade asked with the same amount of sass she was giving off. He turned off on a dirt road that lead straight to the F1 hangar. Dorothy didn't answer though. When the scanner came up, she roller down the window automatically and let the device scan her badge. When the gate opened, Dorothy rolled back up with the window with her badge back in her pocket and forcefully made Barricade drive forward. She heard the car yelp in pain as she slammed her foot down on the petal. "Maybe you will what? Answer me, will you?"
Dorothy pulling into the hangar and pulled into her parking spot, not letting Barricade take control of himself as she placed him in the emergency break and parked. She unbuckled, opened the car door and slammed it behind her as she stepped out. She stood in front of the car with a death glare on and startec at the front windshield.
"Maybe I will just rat you out and get you taken away to the government. Let them experiment and torment you for the rest of your life, as you so-audily proclaimed." she finally answered. "Because I've done nothing but help you, and you treat me like I've imprisoned you and tortured you. But thinking about it, I probably should have just rejected you and left you to die in that scrapyard."
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Dorothy walked away and Barricade laughed. There was no one else in the hangar at the moment, since his sensors didn't pick up any human life signs other than the woman's. The Decepticon laughed hysterically, but the woman ignored it. Barricade knew the woman was joking around with him. Yeah, he had been mean to her, but it was kind of hard not to be when it was in his coding to be sassy. At least, he thought she was joking.
"Nice one, Haven!" he said while laughing still. "Real threatening. How long you've been practicing that one, huh? I'm sure you would have scared the plating off of every Decepticon I know."
Dorothy didn't answer back, but pulled out her cell phone. Her back was turned to the car, so Barricade could see what she was doing. The sound of dialing entered the car's audio receptors and he wondered how the woman was calling.
Probably her brother. the car mused, sitting back on his wheels. She was probably worried about him, as usual.
The police car decided to run a systems check, which showed up clear but his transformation cog. Since his systems were damaged and he was almost thrown into stasis, the t-cog systems had forced him into his alt mode and shut off until all systems were operational again. It was a health protocol that was installed in all soldiers on both sides during the war so if something were to happen, their sparks would be more protected in the middle of their frames instead of being in an easy-to-access spot. He had tried rebooting it last night, but it didn't work.
A sudden ringing sounded throughout the hangar and disturbed Barricade form his systems check. He looked back over at Dorothy to see her with the same death glare expression on and holding her phone out in front of her while it rang. She had one hand on her hip and was tapping her foot as she side-eyed Barricade from across the room. The police car stared at her with confused feelings, wondering why her brother wasn't picking up when she called.
"Hello? Haven, is that you?" That definitely was not Darren.
"Hey Epps, how's working in a top-secret military facility going?" Dorothy replied with her usual peppy attitude when she talked to friends, but this time, her enthusiasm seemed a little too out there to seem calm. It was full of snark and smugness. "See any aliens yet?"
"That's supposed to be a secret! Lennox would have my head if he knew I told you!" the familiar sounding man whisper-yelled at her from the other side of the call.
Barricade finally froze in shock as he figured out who she called. It was one of the military rangers from Qatar, who had been attacked by Blackout and Scorponok and then placed on the military base with the Autobots as part of the human liaison division with Ladiesman217. Oh, he was so screwed. Barricade realized that she wasn't kidding when the woman said she would rat him out to the government. She had literally just called the Autobots to tell them that she had him in her custody.
"Don't worry, I'll make this quick." she answered, walking over to where Barricade was parked and pressing a hand on his hood. "I have some cool news to share with you. You mind getting Lennox too? It's been awhile since I've heard from the guy."
Pain surged and Barricade had to hold in a whimper as the phone was on speaker and any noise would be picked up. And added with the pain, Dorothy had become threateningly scary. The woman was about to tell the human liaisons of the Autobots, of Prime himself, that she had the Decepticon scout in her possession and she was showing no mercy either. Barricade slowly feared the outcome of this situation. After Dorothy ratted him out, she would apply those Primus-forsaken clamps down on his wheels again and leave him for dead. The Autobots would take him in and it would be Starscream all over again. He knew that the Autobot scout and their weapons specialist would have no problem tearing him to pieces.
"Sure. Something happen in Arizona?" the man asked with the accompanying sound of footsteps with him.
"You could say that." Dorothy answered and sat there for a moment as she waited for the man to get his friend.
Barricade rumbled his engine and Dorothy glanced at him. She pressed the mute button on her phone and set the phone down on her lap as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the Mustang. She was still made at him, with was reasonable by the way Barricade had been treating her, but the car was now increasingly worried about his well being. Dorothy pressed down on the hood more as she seated herself on top and crossed her legs. The amount of weight from the woman started to cause more pain surge through his frame.
"You wanna say something before I say anything to them?" Dorothy asked, having a sickly innocent tone. "I'm guessing you know who I called anyways. I can see your frame quivering."
Barricade stared at her for a while, only thinking of how this happened. She was nice to him. No one had ever treated him with any respect in his entire life, except with the Decepticon, but that was more of a reward earned than the ranks treating him that way naturally. She was nice enough to actually try and fix him. The woman could have been doing something more important with her free time, but she spent it on him instead. Even if her brother treated him like trash and threw things at him, Dorothy would be there to clean it up and fix him again.
But in the end, Barricade had taken advantage of her kindness. He had threatened her every time his hood was touched. He nagged her about fixing him faster and made sure not to let her touch things that definitely needed fixing. He scared her everytime she went into the garage and boasted about how he would leave after this was over. He had suspected the woman had friends of her own, so him being there in the garage wouldn't mean anything. But after she had told him about her not having any other friends but the ones at the people station, he now understood why she cared about him so much.
"I'm sorry." he grounded up, making it almost too quiet to hear. His frame sunk into his tires as the woman didn't pay attention to him. He hated the words. But she needed to hear them because Barricade was, for probably the first time in his life, sorry about hurting someone. So, he swallowed the knot in his voice box and said louder, "I'm sorry."
Dorothy turned her head to look at him, but didn't say anything. Her deadly expression had soften, but not lifted entirely. She sighed, sliding off of the police car's hood and walked away from the car as she pressed the mute button again. "You there, Epps?"
"Yup. I'm here with Lennox, too." the ranger answered. "Now what did you need to tell us? Did you finally get a boyfriend, or something?"
"No." Dorothy answered. "I just wanted to tell you I finally got a new police cruiser."
Barricade felt his tanks drop deeply. Dorothy was still looking at him awhile she was on the phone, but Barricade decided not to pay attention to the phone call anymore. He technically deserved this. He was a really was a traitor afterall. He mentally cursed himself that Starscream's words had gotten to him, but they were partially true. He lost Frenzy after the battle in Mission City and never went looking for him. He knew Blackout was a good colleague of his, but Barricade never engaged in the fight at Mission City. He betrayed his whole fraction by never fighting with Megatron.
That's when he knew that Starscream broke more than his body physically. Starscream had added verbal abuse, mental torture, false rewards and other mind tricks to aid the process of breaking Barricade. The police car had never been loyal to the Seeker's ideals, so the silver jet had decided to break them into him. Barricade was one of the youngest mechs in the war, aside from the yellow bugger. He was feeling emotions he never thought he could have, like sadness, defeat and most of all, extreme guilt and fear.
"Barricade?" the voice of the woman spoke, making the car snap out of his thought process and look at her. She was done with her phone call, and Barricade slowly backed away from her as he tried to put distance between him and Dorothy. The woman's expression changed from blank to worried. "Are you ok? Why are you backing away?"
"You told them." His voice cracked with static. Slag, he hated this. He didn't want to be emotional, but something felt damaged inside of him and it didn't feel right. "You told them and now they're coming to take me away. So why don't you just strap me down to the platform again so I can't run away."
Dorothy looked at him with a shocked and confused expression. "Wait. Were you listening to my conversation at all? Because after I was down with my call, I forgave you."
Barricade didn't move. Barricade knew that she was lying. It was just like when Starscream would promise him freedom from the tortures, but he lied. He always lied. "You said that you bought a new police cruiser and then...I stopped listening because I already knew you were going to rat me out to them. So who long until the Autobots are on their way?"
"I didn't say that at all, 'Cade." Dorothy said, moving forward to rest her hand not on the car's hood, but on the front grill. "I said that I had gotten a new car and I would text them a picture when I had the time. I was never going to tell them about you, Barricade. I was just...mad and i overdid it and I'm so sorry if it hurt you."
Barricade wanted to believe her, but he couldn't. Not after what Starscream had done. His vents started to quicken and he felt like he was being crushed under something a thousand times his weight. All of the lights started dimming around him and he felt like he was trapped in a small room with no way out. "I'm sorry, but I don't...I can't believe you. You're lying to me. I know it. You're lying and I'm going to be experimented on and tortured until they crush my spark and I don't want that! I don't want to die! Please, don't hurt me anymore!"
And that's when it happened. Barricade's surroundings changed and he was back in the cave, chained up against the wall and damaged beyond repair. Starscream was there, with a whip in servo and everything, Dorothy and all the repairs she did were gone.