I posted last week's chapter a day late, so to make up for it, I'm posting this one a day early. So far I've been good with this schedule thing! Let's see how long it'll last ;) Enjoy lovelies!
[Amanda]
"Miko, I am not buying that," I said plainly as she held up a 'shirt' in front of my face. "There's barely enough material on there, and you know I don't wear things like that."
She pouted. "But it's cute! And you'd look so good in pink!"
"Miko. The shirt is non existent."
After a dramatic sigh, she returned the shirt to the rack and continued to search through. Miko had been the one to win the right to choose what to do on our first day of summer break, taking the five of us to Frenley for some shopping, which we all desperately needed to do anyways. Jack's mom was downright ecstatic when she heard, and basically thanked Miko for her choice.
Miko and I had gone our own way from the moment we arrived, since right off the bat we took a lot longer in a store than the boys did, which suited us just fine. We rummaged through the different racks of clothes, both of us promising to buy enough for a whole week worth of new outfits. So far, I was winning with three days down, while Miko had one and a half.
"We should probably start heading to the food court," I said after we cashed out and emerged from the store. "Bet the boys are already there."
"Of course," she shook her head. "Tell them to shop, they spend two point five seconds doing that. Tell them about food, they'll be there in two seconds."
I smiled at that when a sudden wave of nausea caused me lose my breath and stop walking. My ears rang slightly, and I looked around, trying to find the cause of the sensation, trying to see what set off my powers. People milled around us, but nothing stood out. Still, something was seriously wrong.
"A?" Miko's voice caused everything to clear up, and I blinked, seeing how she stopped and was facing me now. "What's wrong?"
I frowned, catching up to her. "I'm not sure..." But something was definitely off. Still, I shook my head and gave her a small smile. "My powers might just be on the fritz, I didn't sleep well last night. Let's just head to the food court, it'll probably go away."
She looked doubtful, but didn't say anything about it as we continued to the food court, where we spotted the boys had already claim a table.
"You're late," Jack said jokingly.
Miko punched him lightly. "We didn't only have food on our mind."
Raf took in all the bags we were carrying, comparing them to the few bags the boys held. "Did you guys buy the entire mall?"
"No, that'd be hard to explain to the company," I winked at him as I sat next to Finn. Just as I did, another wave of nausea hit me, making my bad feeling even worse. I put a hand on my forehead, trying to stop the world from swaying the way it was.
"Amanda?" Finn's concerned voice broke through and I looked up to see worry etched on his face. "What's wrong?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I just keep getting this nauseating, bad feeling. It happened before Miko and I headed here too, but I can't tell what it is."
"Is it Cleona?" Raf asked, lowering his voice.
Nodding, I took a breath. "I can sense that much, but nothing past that. It's all... static."
Finn frowned. "Maybe we should call it a day then."
"It's not that bad," I insisted. "It could just be a passing feeling, no big deal. Give it a little time?"
He looked skeptical, but I grabbed his hand and gave him a pleading look, trying to tell him that I really was fine and that we didn't need to ruin the day because I had a bad feeling. After a long moment, he sighed in defeat.
"Fine," he said, then gave me a hard look. "But the second it gets worse-"
"Don't worry," I waved away his concern. "Now, who's hungry?"
We split up again, Miko and Jack walking off to find greek food, Raf and Finn went to find sandwiches, and I guarded the table and shopping bags after being promised a sandwich from Finn. I pulled out my phone, quickly checking in at BeckIT to pass a couple of minutes. My ears began to ring again, making me stifle an annoyed groan as I put my phone down and propped my head into my hands, letting my cool fingers press against my temples. For a second, my vision blurred and the ringing got louder, and-
"Excuse me, miss?" I snapped out of it, looking right up to see a woman standing on the other side of the table, a hand on a chair. "Is this chair taken?"
For a moment, I sat there, blinking, before I shook myself out of my daze. "Uh, yes. Sorry, my friends just went to grab lunch."
She gave me a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Of course, no worries!"
As she walked away in search of another chair, I watched her, a frown on my face. The blurred vision and ringing in my ears faded, leaving my focus on her. Something was off... her dark hair was totally straight, not a single strand out of place, and her movements were almost jerky if you looked close enough. I kept my gaze on her, but then someone walked right in front of me, blocking my view.
"Food!" Miko declared, placing her tray on the table. I glanced around quickly, seeing the others at the table now too, and then peered around my best friend, trying to spot the woman again with no luck.
"What are you looking for?" Finn asked, sitting next to me and placing a wrapped sandwich in front of me as he tried to follow my gaze. I went on to tell them all what had just happened, each of them falling silent afterwards.
"Well?" I prompted. "Anything, people?"
Jack leaned back into his chair. "Maybe we should call it a day."
Miko nodded. "This is getting weird."
My eyes went to Raf and Finn, who both nodded, and I sighed. "Alright. Let's head out."
With our bags in hand, we made our way to the back parking lot where my Jeep was. As we got farther away from the mall itself, the crowds that had surrounded us before thinned until we were in the single hall that led to the back parking lot. Since the lot was a bit of a walk from the mall and not many people knew about it in the first place, my Jeep was the only car parked there.
As we walked towards it, I unlocked it, allowing Miko and Jack to dart ahead and load their bags into the back. Raf followed close behind them, with me and Finn trailing. Just as they opened the trunk, my weird feeling returned, but this time I sensed danger. I spun around and within seconds, a blast of silver dust left my hand, making direct contact with the threat. Only after another few seconds did I really see what had happened.
"What the hell?" Finn whirled on me, then his jaw dropped as he saw what I had hit and was now walking towards.
"What was that?" Miko demanded, running up to us. I crouched next to the charred remains of my target, and frowned.
It was the woman from the food court, with the too straight hair and jerky movements, but now I could see it really wasn't a woman at all. I had blasted a hole straight through her chest, and the hole now revealed metal and wires within her, along with a blue substance I knew all too well dripping out of the cut off wires. In her hand was a gun- no, her hand was the gun- and her eyes were completely blank, like a computer screen turned off.
As Finn and Miko crouched on the other side of the body, and Jack and Raf hovered nearby, I reached forward to touch the body, only to have my ears ring again. I pushed past it, and went to touch the blue liquid. The moment it stained my fingers, I confirmed exactly what it was.
"Energon," I said, tone low. "This is a Cybertronian."
"What the scrap is a Cybertronian doing on Earth?" Miko asked. "And disguised as a lady? I thought it was a person before you shot a hole through it!"
Finn frowned. "My question is why was it following us, and who was its target."
Jack cleared his throat. "Uh, what's that fizzing sound?"
"Look!" Raf pointed at the energon near my hand, which was almost bubbling. I looked closer at it, spotting flecks of gold in the blue liquid.
"Energon isn't supposed to have gold in it..." I thought out loud. "Is it?"
"No," The younger boy said. "It never has."
Finn reached forward to touch the energon, bringing whatever stayed on his fingers close to his face. "This bit isn't fizzing at all."
I lifted my own hand. "But the one on my fingers is."
We all leaned forward to see the gold in the energon move towards the silver dust remaining on my fingers, and once they hit, they fizzed and smoked away.
"The silver and gold are almost... fighting each other," Raf said.
"We should bring this back to the base," I said, my impromptu leader voice replacing my confusion as I wiped the energon onto my pants and stood. "Let's load it into the Jeep. Miko, Raf, take all the shopping bags and put them in the backseat. Jack, there's a tarp in the back, underneath the trunk cover, lay it out over the trunk. Finn, make sure no one comes this way, and get ready to catch this thing if I drop it."
They all nodded and hurried to do as I said, leaving me to focus on getting the Cybertronian to the trunk. I took a breath and let the silver dust flow from my fingers, channeling it to coat the body. Once I felt it firm in my grasp, I lifted it off the ground and carried it towards the Jeep. As I carried it, I felt the fizzing between my powers and the gold in the energon, giving me goosebumps and making it a little more difficult to focus. Finn must have seen my slight struggle, as he came up beside me reassuringly, and I got it under control again. Jack had already covered the trunk with the tarp, and I place the body down on it carefully before letting my silver dust fade. Clapping my hands together, I tossed the keys to Finn and then headed up to the passenger seat, not exactly trusting myself to drive without getting distracted again. Finn started up the Jeep as Miko, Jack and Raf piled into the back seat, and we took off towards the base silently.
The entire time, I stared out the window, trying to figure out why that energon had those gold flecks in it, why that Cybertronian gave me such a bad feeling, who had sent it, and more, all of which raced through my mind. But one thought prevailed over the others.
I hope Ratchet knows what to do.