[ti]Ep 3.5[/ti]Unto Trouble [Closed]

[Prowl]

“It’s Windshield!”

“He has Jack!”

::Miko! Come in Miko!::

Prowl let out a soft curse as he saw that the signal had dropped, leaving his words nothing more than empty wishes that crashed into a rock wall. However instead of giving into despair like some other beings, Prowl immediately went into action. His digits flew across the keyboard like a concert pianist attempting to play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, opening a special app that all watch standers were required to be able to access within five seconds.

Since Miko had an annoying tendency to wander off at the most inopportune times, Prowl had suggested to Agent Fowler that it was in everyone’s best interest to microchip the young human. However since there was no way they could chip her without her knowing about it, a compromise was reached. The same technology that allowed Bulkhead and Raf to find Agent Fowler when he was captured was slipped into Miko’s cellphone, allowing U.S. Government satellites to be able to locate the phone anywhere on the planet.

Some might have balked at what they viewed as an invasion of Miko’s privacy. Prowl called it taking precautions to prevent more incidents.

However, Miko’s safety was not at the forefront of his processor right now.

Windshield was alive.

That meant that Prowl had been right all along.

And since they had Knock Out sitting in the brig, there was little to no need to bring Windshield in alive to figure out what happened to Patch.

Once he had the coordinates Prowl punched them into the groundbridge, but instead of activating the vortex he reached over and hit the general alarm, causing a klaxon to sound throughout Omega Base.

::All Autobots on base, report to the control room.::

He then typed a quick message into the computer before pulling the activation lever on the groundbridge and sprinted towards the vortex, not waiting to see if there was anyone that would follow behind him.

[Windshield]

Windshield didn't bother with further chatter for the moment. Jack was as stubborn as ever and advice spurned was advice spurned. He persisted and thus sealed his fate as far as the Decepticon was concerned. Where words failed, other methods would succeed. The slightest incline in his brow said it all as he continued to stare ahead with that placid smile of his, the fleshling squirming in his grasp.

He continued on his way until... Ah, back again, the little rascal? 

Windshield stopped dead in his tracks, putting one foot forward, audials at attention. He looked to the right, then to the left, scanning the environment, but finding nothing still. She was a tricky sort, this one. He himself would goad his enemies in much the same way. There were many reasons to do so, though diversion was the most common. Wondering where her intentions laid, Windshield almost felt tempted to play into Miko's hand just to see what would happen, if the little human had it in her to back those words with the appropriate action.

But only almost.

"Change of plans, kid," he said with an air of nonchalance—acting more above the situation than he might have been.

"I won't need it, but Jack's coming home with me."

The agent appeared unperturbed. Was he pressuring her to trade the phone in for Jack by playing some sort of twisted mind game? Or has he truly changed his mind? After all, the Autobots would believe her with or without it, so there was no reason to take it to cover his tracks. What's worse, anything the device contained, he could certainly get out of a human prisoner too, and so much more.

Windshield just kept walking after saying that, never minding Miko and knowing nothing yet of the Autobot fast on his way. She stalled him for seconds at best and it did well and truly seem like he had every intention of taking Jack with him as soon as he was within signal range.

[Jack Darby]

Oh for the love of - Miko, no!

Now was not the time for Miko to play hero. She was supposed to be fucking running, not trying to bait Windshield into finding her. The Autobots would be no better off with more people taken prisoner. Speaking of which, Jack had every intention to fight Windshield and somehow get free, pointless as the act may be.

Squirming in Windshield's grasp like a worm on a hook, Jack flailed and pounded more with his fists, grunting and making sounds of frustration and pain. He tried to swing his legs up to brace against Windshield and push off him somehow, failing miserably. He started to think of how upset Arcee would be, how upset his mother would be, how'd there be a lecture from both of them on getting lost in the first place. That mixed in with the constant stream of, Gotta get away, gotta get away, gotta get away! that ran on an endless loop since Windshield had started chasing him and Miko.

If he survived this, he was never going into the woods again. Or on a field trip. Or anywhere that wasn't Jasper or Omega One.

[Miko Nakadai]

Bolstered by the knowledge that Prowl was hopefully on his way here any second, Miko found herself more than ready for round… three? Four? Whatever it was, of running away from Windshield. It'd be way more than enough time for her phone to be located on the Control Panel back at Omega One, even with the awful lack of consistent signal, and a ground bridge called…

Only- it seemed Windshield wasn't taking the bait. His words filled her with immediate panic as she scrambled over how to even reply. The phone that'd been so important to him a second ago now simply wasn't - though then again, Jack had information too. More information than her silly little phone with its crappy resolution photos that could probably be written off as anything.

Ohh this wasn't good! He'd last two whole seconds against the Decepticons!!

"Wait!" she stumbled forward suddenly, pushing herself from the tree and out into the open, trying to get a bead on just where the monster had gone. She could hear him, those footfalls were hard to miss, but she couldn't tell just where exactly he was in relation to herself.

"You can't just leave me by myself! I'll go with you! I won't even fight, promise!"

Two was so much better than one when it came to prisoners they could interrogate for all kinds of super awesome information, right? Maybe? Ugh, she sure hoped he would listen and stop for juuuust enough time for Prowl – damnit where are you?! – to somehow track them down.

[Prowl]

As he stepped through the vortex and his feet touched the soft ground of the forest, Prowl’s right arm transformed into a blaster which he waved around, scanning for hostiles. Satisfied that there were none as the groundbridge closed behind him, Prowl knelt down and thought for a moment.

The location trace had been...imprecise at best. While Fowler had assured him that the microchip tracker in Miko’s phone was top of the line, human technology was still light years behind anything Cybertronian. And if there was one thing Prowl definitely agreed on with Optimus Prime, it was that human access to Cybertronian technology needed to be carefully controlled. Because despite how trustworthy Agent Fowler had proven lately...Prowl did not have the same trust in Fowler’s superiors. It fed into his theory that MECH was nothing more than a cover for the American military to gain Cybertronian technology, in case humanity needed to face the Cybertronians one day.

He didn’t blame them if that was the case...it was what he would have done.

As began walking around, trying to pick up some sort of trail or a sign, Prowl wondered if he’d rushed off too quickly at the mention of Windshield’s name. Perhaps he should have waited for someone like Javelin...not that she’d be happy working for him again. That was the flaw with many individuals at Omega One. Too emotional. Unable to see the big picture. Caught up in too many details...

...like he was right now.

The fact that Windshield had managed to hide his true allegiance for so long irked him more than he cared to admit. Not that he ever truly believed the Decepticon had been killed by MECH, but still...

He paused suddenly, an idea forming in his mind. Windshield would think he was alone with the children...he wouldn’t be expecting anyone else to be out here. Perhaps Prowl didn’t need to stumble upon him...maybe he could spook the spy and force him to make a blunder. He activated the police siren of his alternate mode, giving a short one second blast of the siren. As the sound echoed across the forest Prowl got really quiet and knelt down, listening for any sort of sound that came after.

[Windshield]

Ordinarily, Windshield would have kept walking. He had better places to be and better things to do. Besides, an agent as experienced as him knew not to tempt fate. But still. Miko did have that phone on her. If he took her as well, there would be nothing left for the Autobots to follow and the Decepticons would gain access to everything. He felt tempted by the obvious trap, even if the risk outweighed the benefit.

Tempted enough to halt.

Windshield turned around again, looking down at the young human with a mild-mannered smile. For once, things were looking up for her and Jack. If an ambush had been truly laid as he had suspected, this was the moment it ought to have sprung. He took a step forward and readied his free hand, flicking it once before reaching out and—

—Noise. The rhythmic yet incessant noise of a police siren blaring in the distance. Windshield's hand snapped back into place as he rocked backward, no doubt rattling the human in his other hand. Was this it? The moment of the ambush?

A two-bit trick or some sort of remote noise-maker?

He scoffed. Whoever it was, they clearly weren't concerned enough with the children's safety to make an immediate appearance, and so Windshield would take full advantage of that. Instead of wasting any more time with Miko, he turned around once more and made a run for it with Jack in the opposite direction of the incoming sound.

Along the way, he began searching for the nearest road, though it would be some time before he could reach one. There, he could shake any pursuers and find a safe place to Bridge back to base. A pity that he had to run the stretch for the time being. The remoteness of this place—its distance from human infrastructure—was the only saving grace the human children had left. Had they been any closer to a highway? This would have been the point of no return.

But not yet. Not quite.

[Jack Darby]

The sound of a police siren startled Jack, simultaneously filling him with an energetic surge of hope. He perked his head up and stopped struggling, letting out a raspy yell of, "Hello?!" It wasn't much, but he hoped that some kind of help would show up. Even if it was the local cops at this point, he was desperate enough to wish for anything, his mind justifying it in that Fowler could cover up the giant robot thing.

Then Windshield started running. Jack bounced up and down in his grip, grunting and yelping the entire way - partially out of pain, partially to give whoever was out there a trail of noise to follow. It didn't help that the trees kept whacking him in the face with their branches, giving him bruises on top of those already healing. Nausea crept up into the back of his throat, the entire ordeal like a hellish carnival ride, and Jack gagged as a thick branch came speeding up -

WHACK!

Only for the force of the blow to knock him senseless, his world disappearing as he blacked out.

((OOC: Feel free to skip Jack for the next few turns while he's temporarily out of it.))

[Miko Nakadai]

Ah ha! There he was.

Running a little closer toward Windshield, Miko was careful to keep enough distance between them that she still had plenty of options for turning tail and running back through the trees to hide should she need to. Her eyes met his optics as she stared up at him, almost as if she was unable to look away.

Despite the ambient noise of the woods around them, the gentle singsong of birds brave enough to continue about their lives after all the earlier commotion, all Miko could hear was her heart pounding. Would this work? Would this buy Prowl enough time? Or would Windshield outsmart her - moving to grab and run before the Autobot could even make his way here?

It was a tense second that seemed to linger for what felt like forever.

Then, noise. A siren. It was loud, and sudden, cutting through the tense moment like a knife, even if she couldn't tell which direction it'd come from- followed by the sound of what felt like hundreds of frenzied wings flapping as every nearby bird was spooked into flight.

Wait-

Instantly, Miko's gaze snapped to the side, toward where she thought the noise had come from, almost as if expecting to see Prowl charging through the thicket toward them, ready to crash tackle Windshield - but he wasn't there. She couldn't see him.

Looking back at the monster, Miko was dismayed to see him turning around.

"Wait!" she yelled.

Oh, there was no way she could keep up to him once he started running - though damnit she would try her absolute best for as long as she could.

"Come back! Wait- no! Jack!!"

The terror in her voice was palpable as she watched Windshield run off with her friend. Feeling powerless and desperate, she tried her utmost to keep up, determined not to lose sight of them- though it was a losing battle indeed. She wasn't the best runner at the best of times, and here in the middle of the woods? She had no chance.

She could only hope that Prowl could not only hear them, but get over here quickly enough to stop Windshield.

[Prowl]

As Prowl listened he heard two things.

First he heard the sound of a massive being, larger than any animal in the region, moving through the trees with no regard for being quiet. Prowl’s senses told him that whatever it was, it was moving away. The second thing he heard was a young female human screaming, a voice he recognized despite his best efforts to avoid being in her presence.

He didn’t call out to Miko, instead taking off in the direction he heard the scream, old protocols rushing through his processor.

Step one, secure any potential non-combatants. While it is important to stop the suspect, it is more important to prevent any unnecessary collateral damage. There was another reason for that though, an addendum that Prowl had added since he came to Earth. While he might not appreciate or like the children, Prime’s continued tolerance of their presence meant that they had become part of Omega One. They knew things that could damage the Autobot cause, or could be used as hostages to force concessions. Two things Prowl was not willing to allow.

Step two, once non-combatants were secured Prowl would apprehend the suspect.

Something he was looking forward to.

As he burst through the trees his optics lit upon Miko, as well as disturbed dirt and tree branches indicating which direction Windshield had darted off. Only...

::Prowl to Omega One. I need an immediate groundbridge to my coordinates.::

Message sent, he turned to Miko.

“Miko! Where’s Jack?”

[Windshield]

He'd been careful not to harm the human, at least not in any way that would risk serious injury.

For a Cybertronian, Windshield's hands were extraordinarily gentle and precise, a consequence of the fine motor skills required in his line of work. Jack had been squeezed and tossed around with intention, and he would certainly come out of the ordeal bruised, but Windshield hadn't harmed him, as far as he knew. He knew how brittle humans were and he needed Jack functional.

This led to some surprise when he chanced to look down to the human, feeling a strange lack of resistance and tension. His optics briefly widened at his state.

Dead? No. It would take more than that, surely. Unconscious, then? How very odd.

Perhaps it was the emotional stress or something environmental that he hadn't seen or felt along the way. Regardless, he would press on, optics returning to the path ahead with a narrow focus. Jack, now clutched closer to his body as they ran, continued to be unresponsive, and so Windshield adjusted his hold on him as to support his head with the back of his thumb, fearing that the limp human's involuntary movements could lead to injury were he not properly handled.

Dashing through the thicket, he soon came to realize that the surrounding underbrush and trees were growing increasingly sparser, suggesting that Windshield was well on his way out of the forest by now. From there, it would surely not be difficult to find a road and thus an escape route.

His pursuers had little time, if they wished to recover their human friend.

The clock was ticking, always.

[Miko Nakadai]

Try as she might, Miko couldn't run anymore.

Her pace slowed, breath heaved as it stung her lungs - before she came to a stop, hands shifting to her knees as she doubled over to try and desperately catch her breath. She had to keep going, had to try and keep Windshield in her sights so she could direct Prowl to him, only… she couldn't see him anymore.

In that moment she felt so small, so utterly hopeless. She'd managed to call for help, yes, but what good was that help if Windshield managed to get away?

Still unable to hear much of anything due to the sound of her heart pounding in her ears, she barely even acknowledged the new noise of incoming footfalls. It was the immediate movement before her that caught her attention, and relief flooded through her at seeing it was Prowl. Blinking back tears, she stood up to look at him.

"Windshield has him! Please help him!" her voice hoarse from screaming earlier, she immediately pointed in the direction that the monster had gone, even if she couldn't see him anymore. Prowl would no doubt be able to follow his footfalls, tracking heavy prints through the brush and softer dirt – though she could only hope he'd be able to catch up, given Windshield had a significant head start.

There was further relief as the ground bridge spiraled from nothingness nearby, though guilt at having to leave Jack behind. She would only do more harm than good in staying, though she felt awful at abandoning him like this.

Knowing she wouldn't have a choice in the matter, Miko was quick to make her way through the vortex, and would immediately let Bumblebee know to close it behind her - though to remain on standby, just in case.

((Miko is now out of the thread))

[Prowl]

“I will. Get inside the ground bridge, now!”

It turned out his words were unnecessary as Miko quickly retreated through the ground bridge portal, allowing Prowl to turn his focus onto the main problem at hand. Sure enough, Miko’s pointing seemed to match with the path that Windshield had made when he’d run away with Jack. If Prowl had to venture a guess the Decepticon had taken off when he heard the siren. Which was both good and bad. Good in the fact that it had probably saved Miko from being taken. Bad from the fact that it had doomed Jack.

Jack was probably already in Windshield’s custody though...

...but not for long.

::Omega One, this is Prowl. I am in pursuit of the suspect on foot. I need ground and air assets immediately.::

As he spoke he took off through the trees following the trail that Windshield had made, moving at high speed as he knew the Decepticon had a huge head start on him. He’d made a conscious choice in omitting Windshield’s name. First off...if Windshield was here that meant that Patch was indeed alive and not a captive of MECH. And he didn’t need some overeager bot like Bumblebee killing Windshield before he could capture him alive and trade him for their medic. Secondly...there was a chance that Miko was mistaken and that it wasn’t Windshield at all...which referred back to the initial thought of stopping someone from killing him before he could get answers.

But Prowl knew in his spark it was the traitor. Just like he knew that he was probably going to tear something as he felt the stabbing pain in his side from where Knockout got him earlier.

Scrap...

“Windshield, this is Prowl!” he called out as he ran. “I’ll give you one chance. Let Jack go, and I will allow you to leave without pursuit!”

[Windshield]

With the unconscious human still in his grasp, Windshield had finally made it through the densest part of the woods. Out here, the trees only grew sparser and sparser. Far ahead of him, in the distance, they cleared out into a large meadow, one perfectly bisected by a dirt road. It was not quite the highway he'd been hoping for, and it would be a bumpy drive to safety, but it would have to do.

If only he could have reached it before the voice of another reached him. He recognized it from recent memory, muffled though it had become in the dense ranks of trees separating them. For a moment, he had thought to simply keep on running—but then he stopped dead in his tracks, having considered Prowl's urgent plea. The Autobot sounded significantly less nonplussed than he'd known him to be. Was he worried about the little human? He'd never placed him as the type, but it did present him with an interesting opportunity.

Let Jack go and I will allow you to leave without pursuit.

Now, there was something Windshield would love to see. Prowl letting an enemy go? He flashed a brief and placid smile at the prospect of it, relishing the chance to either force an Autobot like Prowl to uphold his word—or to make a liar out of him, to make him torture himself over the thought of being less honest than the very saboteur who'd spirited away their medic. Really, he should not have even been considering something so indulgent, but the idea was oh-so-very tempting, and Windshield was, as ever, a slave to his own curiosity and petty whims. No matter how much he suppressed them, they were bound to rear their ugly heads eventually.

Might as well be now, when he risked so little in entertaining his enemy's words.

Besides, Jack and Miko were only ever a diversion from the onset. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps not entirely by chance. — The fact he'd even been scanning the area in the first place was partly due to increased Autobot and MECH activity in the surrounding regions. — But, ultimately, the human children were not why he'd come here. Not in the least. He had the data he needed. From the very beginning, this was a diversion at best. Any right-minded Decepticon would have paid no heed to the children.

Fortunately, like so many of his brethren, Windshield was not right-minded.

Now that Prowl knew he was here, now that Miko somehow managed to get a signal through to Omega One, the fact they had photographic evidence ceased to be of concern. Truly, the only thing he had left to risk was what meager knowledge he could scrape from Jack's malleable fleshy brain. It could have been a windfall, granted, but they had bigger fish to fry than one human boy.

In the end, he was only that after all—and his comrades put so little faith in mankind. They would never have to know he'd let him go.

Prowl's gambit it was, then.

He walked the rest of the way toward that dusty old road, letting the Autobot catch up through the winding forest path he had carved with all the haste he could muster, and then turned around to face him ere he emerged. Gently, he knelt down, and laid the unconscious Jack at his feet on a bed of soft tall-grass. He would maintain his distance, merely offering a few words.

"Very well, Prowl," he said happily, "Your human is right here, unconscious but alive and unharmed."

Saying nothing more, Windshield would patiently wait for the Autobot to emerge from within the woods, habitually flicking his wrist once in preparation for a possible encounter. It tended to loosen the concealed daggers for a faster deployment. Though, a little part of him still wondered whether he would need them at all.

It was time to find out how much Prowl's word was worth.