Ep 1. "Blow This Popsicle Stand" - Closed

Crouched in the vent system that served this section of the Nemesis' science labs, non-vital systems cycled down for silence while she waited, Shadowrunner had heard most of the conversation between the young human and the old Seeker. An old Seeker who obviously didn't have the first clue about his own faction, if he thought they were going to respect protocols about not interfering with indigenous species.

Particularly Starscream, who - according to everything she'd heard, at least - expected to make his own rules and likely would take the existence of protocols as reason to break them.

She filtered and tagged the entire conversation; not that there was anything overtly useful in it, but Labyrinth had impressed upon them that all information was potentially of use, and if nothing else it indicated that the human's captivity was a game to Starscream, rather than any attempt to somehow use humanity against the Autobots. Oh, he might have something resembling a plan somewhere in his processor, but what the human - Soledad - described to Jetfire involved petty tests of sensory response, not unlike shattering the wings off a cyberbee and watching it thrash around.

It took only nano-kliks for her systems to return to full functionality after the Seeker left the room, but Shadow still waited, listening to ensure he was really gone. Then, swift and silent as her name, she removed the grate from the vent and eased herself down into the room, finally getting her first good look at the being she had come to rescue.

Soledad, curled up and singing softly to herself in a picture of abject misery that crossed species lines, didn't notice, even when Shadow was close enough to the cage to hear the lyrics she was singing.

With luck, the human wouldn't scream at the sight of a stranger...or if she did, nobody would notice or care. Hoping that tone of voice alone was enough to convey the wry humor and reassurance the human couldn't pick up from her EMF, Shadow said quietly, "I can't decide which cliche to use...'Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you,' or 'Hey lady, need a lift?'" She smiled, resisting the urge to simply reach in and scoop the tiny organic up. "You have a preference?"

"Because you seemed to need it," Shadow answered honestly. "And I like humans; most of us do. I just didn't dare try to take you with me with the entire ship on alert. We figured if we'd done our jobs right, there'd be a window of opportunity while everyone's busy with repairs.

"My designation's Shadowrunner," she continued, carefully reaching into the tank and holding her hand out in invitation. This close, she could see the damage, rents and discolorations in soft organic tissue visible through equally damaged clothing. "Once I get you off the ship, I'll take you anywhere you want to go, but I have permission to take you back to our base if you'll let me."

Ideally, it wouldn't be a direct trip. Human tissue might easily be penetrated by the low level scanners already active and waiting for the human to step onto her palm, but while a cursory scan would make a Cybertronian implant show up like a beacon, they couldn't guarantee Starscream hadn't been experimenting with organic-based technologies. Shadow's directive was to hack the Nemesis ground bridge and take Soledad to a random location if she could. If she couldn't, Jazz was waiting to retrieve her, his own scanners ready to detect any signals which might activate once the human left the ship.

Soledad didn't need to know those details, though. "We know a human medic...a nurse. I'd like for her to examine you and make whatever repairs she can. After that, the offer to take you wherever you need to go still stands."

Shadow tipped her helm toward the vent from which she'd emerged. "I just need to get you someplace where we're less likely to be interrupted while I get us off the ship."

Shadow's optics zoomed in to read the note Soledad wrote. It seemed she had been right to leave the Eradicon mostly unharmed; the human obviously considered them her friends, or at least the closest things she had to friends on the ship.

The human was so small that her scan completed almost instantaneously: mass, average density, chemical composition, probable tensile strength, probable impact resistance, and no suspicious inorganic anomalies. Raw data which in no way lessened her impression of tiny/fragile/impossibly light as she curled her fingers into a loose cage and lifted Soledad out of Starscream's crude pen.

Climbing back into the vent was a little trickier with Soledad clinging to her thumb, but after that it was simply a matter of accessing the ship schematic Jazz had updated with all known damage from the raid and making her way to the spot Jazz had declared least likely to have anyone paying attention to it. A quick scan for guards (none), motion detectors (none), and cameras (easily dealt with) later, and Shadow was at the computer console, easing her way past the security locks on the ground bridge system.

"I doubt the bridge will be open long before Soundwave notices," she told Soledad as she worked. "I'm going to have to move fast, so please don't panic when I transform."

That was all the warning the human got before Shadow uploaded her favorite coordinate-scrambler, triggered the bridge, and transformed around the human, mass shifting and rearranging. She hit the ground with wheels spinning, charging full tilt into the crackling green of the bridge with Soledad pressed hard into her driver's seat, emerging mere sparkbeats later on an empty back country road in Middle of Nowhere, USA.

A quick ping to Jazz - Safe. Have her. Going dark. Contact soon. - and she slowed to something nearer the speed limit and turned her attention to her passenger. "Soledad? You okay?

"Driving it is," Shadow said. Driving had, after all, been the plan, as far and as fast from the bridge's exit point as possible, because at best her scrambler would buy them time if Soundwave investigated that unauthorized outgoing bridge.

So she drove, engine at a soothing pitch and seat conforming to Soledad's small frame in something like an embrace.

The empty back roads gave way to light traffic; the traffic gradually increased until they entered a small town. With no sign of pursuit and no indication that Soledad carried anything untoward, Shadow let herself slow, cruising up and down the streets until Soledad seemed calmer.

"Soledad?" she asked, as a gas station/convenience store appeared on one side of the road, and a couple of fast food places appeared on the other. "Would you like me to stop so you can get something to eat before we go back to the base? We usually have humans hanging around, but I don't have the faintest idea of whether they store food there or not." She took note of the few meager possessions Soledad had brought with her, adding, "There's an atm card in my glove compartment; it's good, so if you need anything, don't worry about using it. Starscream obviously didn't give you time to pack before he kidnapped you."

Shadow observed Soledad from her spot in the gas station parking lot, composing a formal report even while she was giving Jazz a more thorough informal update. Nothing about Soledad's behavior indicated she was anything but what she appeared - young, scared, and alone - and no mysterious signals had appeared. They were as sure of her as they could be without extreme measures, and Jazz gave her the go-ahead to bring Soledad in whenever she was ready.

She knew the human couldn't feel the warm wash of welcome in her field; the rev of her engine and the sound of her voice would have to substitute. "Welcome back." Shadow unlatched her door in invitation as Soledad stroked a hand along her side plating. "You look like you're feeling better. Think you're ready to meet some mecha who won't try to put you in a cage? Or do you want to drive a little more?"

Talking with humans was sometimes frustratingly limited, just words, without the refinement of glyphs or the emotional nuance of EMF. But at least Shadow didn't need to worry about Soledad detecting the conflict of instinct versus training which had preceded her rescue.

"I wanted to," she said; it was the truth, she simply hadn't expected Jazz's immediate agreement and a quick comm to the Prime for approval.

The human's quick grin made her think of Miko's endless enthusiasm for a life invaded by alien robots, and kept her from apologizing for the fact Soledad had gotten caught up in the war. Instead, she gunned her engine, her alt not offering many non-verbal options for replying. "Now come on, hands on the steering wheel if we want anyone to believe you're driving. I need to put a little distance between us and this town before I can contact the base for a bridge."

She pulled out of the parking lot, scanning maps of the area to find a likely bridge point. "How did you wind up in Starscream's lab, anyway?"

"You must have been pretty rowdy to get kicked off a bus. What have I gotten myself into? Do I need to worry about my interior?" Shadow didn't know Soledad well enough to really tease her, but the question, phrased lightly, probably wouldn't cause offense.

Soledad's story was hard to piece together; she seemed too young to be out on her own, but human ages were difficult to judge, and any possessions she may have had beyond her backpack would have been lost when Starscream grabbed her. A bus implied she had been going somewhere, but she didn't seem to care about getting there now. And however long she'd been Starscream's prisoner, she didn't seem to feel the need to get in touch with anyone, either to let them know she was all right, or for the reassurance of a familiar human voice.

There was still the vanishingly slim chance Soledad was working for Starscream in some elaborate plot to use the Autobots' known affinity for humans against them. Far more likely was the answer any Cybertronian was far too familiar with: Soledad simply had no home base or cohort to contact.

The thought made her voice gentler than it might otherwise have been when she asked, "Where were you heading when you hit the wrong place at the wrong time? Never know, if it's someplace interesting I might want to take a road trip there."