{heal me from all this sorrow}
Rough draft of the first chapter of my In Plain Sight/ Transformers xover.
Title: Hijacked
Rating: PG 13
Pairings: in this chapter, SamxMikaela
Fandoms: In Plain Sight, Transformers 07
Summary: Mikaela join the Witness Protection Program, but her alien problems follow.
Would anyone be willing to beta this for me?
Part I
Mikaela waited out on the porch, alone, in the blazing summer sun. It was a hot day, and sweat dripped off of her forehead and made her clothes stick uncomfortably. She leaned on the railing, unprotected by the shade of the awning a foot behind her. Only the thought of her father- on his way home from jail, and three days late- kept her from the cool shade of the awning, or better yet, the air conditioned house. She tapped her fingers on the wooden railing, watching the street.
“I should have listened to you, Sam,” She sighed. “That vacation sure sounds good right about now.”
Sam’s parents had taken him to a family reunion in North Carolina, and they’d been kind enough to invite Mikaela along. Once they heard about her home life- living with her aunt, one parent in jail and the other dead- they had gone out of their way to include her. She was grateful to them for it, but her father was coming home, and Mikaela had been hoping for- something. Her father hadn’t been perfect, but she’ d loved him and protected him, and if their relationship had been strained over these past few years, well, she was his kid, even if he’d dropped the ball on being her parent. She wanted to start over, wanted to see that he was no longer a man-child but a real dad.
But there was no one she could call now that the prison had confirmed he was gone; nothing she could do but wait.
And he was very, very late.
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Life sucked, and as of yet, Mary Shannon was alive, and so had to continue being the universe’s bitch and chew toy.
First and foremost was the damn wedding. Oh, Christ, the wedding. There was so much to do, so much to plan, and so many fights with Raph that she found herself actively looking for reasons to get out of the house- which only exacerbated the problem. She couldn’t work up any enthusiasm about decorations or catering or even her stupid white dress and wedding band; where and how she got married were supposed to be important, but every time she tried to sit down and work out the details or even imagine the happy day, she felt sick and anxious.
Raph, despite knowing about her job (and she regretted that, for more than one reason), was not understanding. It wasn’t quite his fault, if she was honest- she was controlling, a bitch, and wasn’t used to having to include others in her life or plans or decisions, with the possible exception of Marshall. But he couldn’t accept her job at all. He was always either making insensitive jokes, or making angry comments about how she was never home and never discussed anything with him.
Brandi and Peter were deliriously happy. Jinx was in her own little world. And Mary continued to try and make it work, when what she really wanted was to dump everyone and everything on the wayside, and sleep for a few years without having to worry.
But since she couldn’t do that, she buried herself in work.
On a hot summer’s day, Mary woke up, argued with Raph about her coming home so late the night before, gulped down a cup of coffee, and ran out of the house, climbing into her car. It wouldn’t start. She swore and tried again, then checked under the hood and around the vehicle. Nothing. Her car was dead.
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The Autobot sped on through space, approaching the blue and white planet before him. He was going as fast as he could, using up precious energon, every bolt and weld line straining as he flew on. The Decepticons were in pursuit. To be exact, Starscream was in pursuit, following him, but the seeker was wounded already. The Autobot was almost there, and if he could make planetfall without killing himself, he might yet complete his mission.
He was injured. He was tired. And he was running out of time, leaving him no room for error.
Make planetfall. He told himself. Let Starscream follow you down. Then hide.
He ignored the pain and the error messages flashing in his mind. He was so close.
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Mary was fuming by the time she drove Brandi’s shiny new car into the parking lot outside the office. She’d been forced to borrow her sister’s car after listening to Brandi whine about how inconvenient the situation was; as if Brandi and Jinx hadn’t been living off of her for years.
She got out of the car, slamming the door shut viciously, and stomping into the building and elevator. As she headed towards her desk, she saw that there was a man in the glass room where witnesses were briefed with Stan, urgently talking, along with another man in a suit who appearing to be interrupting the two every few minutes.
“New witness?” Mary asked, cocking her head. “With Stan? And who’s the suit?”
“Don’t know.” Marshall said. “It’s all hush-hush.” They both looked at Eleanor, who shrugged.
“I’ve got nothing.” She said. “They were here when I came in around seven. Stan was with them.”
Stan looked up, saw them, and pointed at them, addressing the man in the suit. He motioned for them to come in, and Mary and Marshall stood up and went in.
Stan motioned to the man in the suit. “This is Agent Simmons. He’s here to introduce you to your latest witness.”
Agent Simmons nodded. The man sitting in front of him was balding, with a stern face and sharp nose. “This is Cal Banes. At ten twenty seven am, three days ago, he was released from prison for grand theft auto. His bus was hijacked, the hijackers killed the rest of the prisoners, he managed to barely escape with his life…and only he can identify the killers. So don’t screw this up.”
There was a silence. Marshall tensed, waiting for an explosion, but Mary only smiled sweetly. He gulped; this was going to get ugly. He decided to intervene.
“Any family going into the program with him?”
“His daughter, Mikaela, and his sister Rose.” Stan interrupted. He picked up the file off of the table and offered it to them. Mary snatched it and flipped through it. A few pages in, she encountered something strange. There were a few bright, glossy pictures of cars and a close up of some weird silver symbols that looked like faces.
“What’s with the cars?” Mary asked.
“You see these symbol? These cars? If you see this symbol anywhere, get away. If you see these cars, drive like crazy.” Simmons said. “The rest is classified. Don’t get caught.”
“Some of these cars aren’t even out on the market yet.” Marshall said. “And this paint job is custom-very recognizable, not all suitable for someone trying to stay hidden.”
“Don’t worry about it, Marshal. Just don’t get the witnesses killed.” Simmons abruptly clapped Banes on the shoulder, and the witness glared at his back as Simmons jauntily left the office.
“Asshole.” Cal and Mary said simultaneously. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Been stuck with him since…” He trailed off. “Never shuts up.”
“Well, you’re stuck with us now.” Mary said, forcing some cheer into her voice. “Welcome to the Witness Protection Program.”
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When he crashed, he was a conspicuous metal ball embedded in the ground on the side of the road. In broad daylight. They were not ideal conditions, and so he dragged himself from the rubble, scanned the first vehicle that passed, and drove off slowly, sucking in solar power with what was left of his solar panels, and downloading information from the humans’ information network, the internet.
By the time the Autobot reached Albuquerque, the debilitating pain that had impaired him during landing had alleviated. There was still a persistent ache in his spark, but it was no longer all encompassing or distracting, and he began to plan in earnest. It seemed impossible that his condition could have any cure- it was terminal- but he pushed aside those problems in favor of the Decepticons still following him.
His alternate mode was a law enforcement vehicle, which might attract attention if he left the jurisdiction. As soon as the Autobot had managed to collect enough solar power to transcan another alternate mode, he quickly found a suitable, nondescript vehicle and altered his appearance.
Then he headed north to Tranquility.
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Mikaela was in shock.
She had found her way to a better life, the best life she could ever remember having, and suddenly it was gone. Snatched cruelly from her.
Her sweet, high-strung, brave boyfriend, Sam. Her alien Autobot friends. Her plans for college. Gone, just like that- no more summer trips out to the temporary Autobot base, no more lessons with Ratchet, no more crazy drives with Bumblebee. No more nighttime dinners and afternoon movies with Sam.
Her father…they wouldn’t tell her anything except that he was in some kind of trouble, enough trouble that they all needed new identities. So much trouble that her hair was currently blonde and straight.
“When do I get to see my dad?” Mikaela asked the man driving. Beside her, Aunt Rose perked up.
“Soon, miss. We’re taking you to him right now.”
They arrived outside an ordinary office building, and she was escorted into an elevator. She tapped her foot impatiently, feeling more and more nervous. She hadn’t seen her father in years, and suddenly they were about to be thrown together.
The elevator doors slid open, and she saw her father standing there.
“Dad!” She flung herself at him.
“Mickey!” He hugged her tightly to his chest. She pulled away after a moment, taking in the odd room, the other people watching them.
“You look good.” He said. “Like your mom.”
“Thanks. What’s going on? Why are we suddenly in witness protection?”
“I was in a bus hijacking, Mickey.” Cal said. He sounded exhausted. “They-all these people died, Mickey. They just died. Now I can get the killers the death penalty, so…we gotta hide.”
“O-Okay.” She answered.
“I’m Marshal Shepard, and this is Marshal Miller. We’re in charge of protecting you two and getting you settled in Albuquerque.”
“Right.” Aunt Rose spoke up. “Why do we have to go into hiding? Mikaela and I have lives. We can’t just drop everything because my stupid brother can’t keep himself away from- from criminals…” She started to cry.
“Look, Rose. No one is making you enter the program. But those men who tried to attack your son will be looking for a way to shut him up, and if they can find you, they will kill you to get to him. Do you understand?”
“It’s not fair.” Rose wailed. “I’ve lived in Tranquility my whole life!”
“Stop crying, Aunt Rose.” Mikaela said. “It’s going to be fine.” She wished the conviction in her voice was real, but as it was, lying as all she could manage.
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“Mikaela’s not picking up.” Sam complained. He looked down at his phone. He was standing on the beach in North Carolina, and his calls were being ignored. Granted, Mikaela might have left her phone somewhere, or be busy with her dad, but he’d made her promise not to ignore his calls. He worried- who wouldn’t, after running through Mission City being chased by Megatron?- and she did, too. Sighing, he shoved the phone back into a bag sitting on a towel spread out at his feet, and wished Bumblebee was here. However, the yellow Autobot was at base in Tranquility, working hard, and Sam had been trying to avoid bothering him while the bot worked.
She was probably fine. He glanced up, at the water, where his mother and father were dressed in embarrassingly showy swimsuits and playing with his other relatives in the water. One of his cousins waved at him, motioning for him to join the rest of the family in the water. Sighing, he put the phone back in the bag and jogged over the sand down to the waves.
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They were stashed in an apartment in the middle of the city. Mikaela and her aunt were sharing a room, and they each hefted their bags onto the two small beds and began unpacking. Her aunt was sniffling as she tossed messily folded clothes onto the floor. Mikaela opened her bag and began searching for the pair of heels in the middle where she’d stashed her cell phone. It was actually a custom made phone from the Autobots, which had contact information for all of the bots as well as her friends and family. It also had a ‘help’ signal in case she ran into Decepticons, although she was probably out of range for it now.
Thankfully, Mikaela still owned her old phone, and had handed it over to Mary when she asked for it. The silver Cybertronian one had been under her bed, and she’d managed to stuff it into her shoe without being noticed. If she absolutely needed to call Sam or Bee, she could use it, and since the phone had been made been made by alien robots, it was probably secure from humans, even if it was still detectable by Deceptions.
“Mickey?” Her dad came in. “You want pizza or Chinese for dinner?”
“Uh, Chinese.” She said. “Did you get unpacked?”
“Haven’t got anything yet. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.” He assured her. She winced at the unintended reminder of his jail time, and turned her attention back to the clothes in her bag. The phone was hidden beneath a sweater, and she kept her hand over it until her father was gone. Then she stuck it into an old pair of sneakers, shoved the sneakers under the bed, and prayed no one thought to borrow her shoes.
In the living room, Marshall and Mary sat on the couch, facing the door.
“They’re holding up well.” He commented. “Considering.”
“Yeah, for car thieves and bratty teens, they seem very calm. Makes you wonder what they’re really thinking.”
“Mikaela’s not bratty.” Marshall protested. “She seems nice.”
Before Mary could retort, her phone rang. She glanced down at the screen, and scowled before bringing the phone to her ear.
“Mary! You’ve been ignoring my calls-”
“Look, I’m at work, this is kind of a bad time-”
“Mary, we’re about to be married and you haven’t done anything. How can I plan this wedding all by myself?”
“I’m busy, Raph! You’re the one who’s at home all day. If you have time to call me, you have time to start planning the wedding!” She hit ‘end’ and dropped the phone into her lap. “Dammit!”
“I take it you haven’t started planning your wedding yet.”
“Obviously not.”
“Hey,” Cal came out of the girls’ bedroom and waved at the marshals, “Chinese for dinner?”
“Sure.” Mary said. She stood up, walked over to the counter where the phone was, and dialed a take out place. “Yes? I’d like some fried rice, lo mein, and kung pao chicken…”
“Thanks for getting us set so fast.” Cal said to Marshall.
“No problem. You know, I’m impressed that you’ve all taken this so well. Your daughter, Mikaela, especially.”
“Mickey’s a tough girl, like her mom.” Cal said proudly. “She’s…grown up.”
“Must be hard to have missed out on your little girl’s childhood. Think of this as a chance to get to know her better.”
“Mikaela’s childhood was over a long time ago, Marshall.” Cal said sadly. “She was all grown up the day she decided to keep her mouth shut about me and my thieving ways.”
“She seems to have done alright.” Marshall hesitated, then reached for the file on the banes in his bag. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.” Cal said. Marshall produced a sheet of paper with the Autobot symbol on it.
“You recognize this?”
“No.” Cal examined it. ‘Don’t think so.”
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“Anything?” Mary asked. It was late at night, the Banes were asleep in their respective bedrooms, and Mary and Marshall were in the kitchen, keeping an eye out for any possible trouble. Cal, Mikaela, and Rose had just been cleared to move out of the city limits and a few hours away, which in itself was a problem. The orders had come from Stan, who had been as irritated as they were. Someone in the federal government was really throwing their weight around.
“Nothing. I don’t know who they are, but they’re definitely more than car thieves and bratty teenagers.” Marshall showed her the screen of his laptop. “Look at this. This symbol we’re supposed to be watching out for? All over the conspiracy sites dealing with the terrorist attacks in Mission City.”
“Terrorist attacks? Please.” Mary snorted. Marshall raised an eyebrow at her disbelief.
“You believe it was aliens Like some so-called witnesses say? Giant robots brawling in broad daylight? Look at this one: ‘therealeffingdeal.com’. Claims to have video…and here, take a look.”
There was ten seconds of video, and the cameraman had been running while he shot and hadn’t been able to hold the camera straight. What looked like a police cruiser seemed to be exploding and standing up simultaneously, and then it was over. Mary leaned over Marshall’s shoulder, glaring at the screen.
“So what? Some kid could be doing it with a computer, for all we know.”
“That quality’s not the best, I admit. But there’s plenty of video like it. There are forums with eyewitness accounts of giant robots rescuing them. A lot of it is probably fake, but a couple of these people are respected professionals, with husbands, wives, kids, no reason to make this up.”
“You believe that giant robots were involved.” Mary repeated. She eyed Marshall dubiously. “Christ, you really do, don’t you? Jesus, Marshall, that’s like the dorkiest thing you’ve ever admitted.”
“Look, I’m looking at the evidence, and you have to consider that the government is covering stuff up.”
“Marshall! We work in witness protection! We know the government covers stuff up! We help do the covering! But no one’s assigned us to hide giant alien robots!”
“Maybe that’ll be our next assignment.” Marshall laughed. “Seriously, thought, these symbols are suspicious. Why. If there’s no danger and it’s all a hoax, is the government putting us on the alert and then moving our witnesses out in the middle of nowhere where we can’t protect them?”
“Because they’re idiots. Duh.” Mary said. She looked up as Mikaela emerged from her bedroom, hair hanging in a tangled mess around her hair. She was wearing a tank top and pajama pants, and yawning.
Upon seeing the marshals still awake, Mikaela sighed inwardly. She’d been hoping to sneak out into the hallway and try and text Bumblebee, but apparently she’d have to wait. Possibly she could pretend to be using the bathroom?
Her communicator was gone if she got caught using it. Plus the newly formed NEST would be all over her.
“I heard you guys talking.” Mikaela said. “Is there food left over?”
“Yeah, in the fridge.” Mary said. Mikaela nodded and began pulling takeout containers out of the fridge. She made up a plate and stuck it in the microwave.
“Listen, I have a question.” Mary began. Marshall shot her a warning look. She ignored it. “Have you contacted anyone from your past? Maybe you saw a familiar car on the road?”
“…no. I was asleep for a while on the way over. I don’t even know anyone in Albuquerque. Why? Is something going on?”
“We were just informed that you were being moved out in the morning. Out of city limits. That’s pretty unusual for a new witness; we keep them close until the danger dies down.” Marshall said
“I guess we’re safe, then.” Mikaela shrugged. “They wouldn’t move us if we were in danger, right?”
“What does this symbol mean?” Mary asked. “Are you in a gang, in trouble, did you date the wrong guy-”
Mikaela stared at the piece of paper in Mary’s hand, showing a close up of Bumblebee’s hood and its Autobot symbol. Instinctively, she lied.
“I don’t know anything about that symbol. I thought those guys were after my dad.”
“So did we, except your dad’s never seen this symbol. If you know something, now would be the best time to tell us, before you get us all killed.”
“I told you. I don’t know anything. One minute I’m waiting on the porch for my dad to show up from prison, and then suddenly I’m in New Mexico. Okay?”
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“Vaughn?” Rose repeated. She was sitting in one of the flimsy chairs, elbows on the table, head in her hands. Her bulging suitcase stood beside her, and Cal and Mikaela stayed against the wall, watching her reaction to the latest news. “Where is that?”
“About a hundred miles away from here. It’s a small town, very historical.”
“Well- where are we going to live? How will we support ourselves? Why are we so far from the city?”
“Witnesses are assigned new locations based on an analysis of their level of threat. People are easier to find in the city.” Mary said bluntly. “Come on. We’ll grab breakfast on our way.”
They filed outside the apartment complex, and clambered into a big black car. The bags were loaded in the back, seatbelts were buckled, and Mary started the car and drove swiftly out of the parking lot.
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The car he had scanned was a law enforcement vehicle that might attract suspicion once he left its jurisdiction, so the Autobot scanned something nondescript and black before leaving the cover of the human city and racing out across the open road. He found a sufficiently deserted area to drive through, and began searching for the signal his prize would be emitting.
The package he’d launched while making planetfall was still out of range- but he could detect a weak, short range distress signal of Autobot origin. The code embedded in the signal was foreign to him, and he couldn’t match it to any specific Autobot, but it was definitely not Decpeticon in origin.
The Autobot changed direction and began driving towards the source of the signal reluctantly. He had no time to waste, but neither could he risk Starscream using an injured bot as a hostage.
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The car had died as they drove through a barren landscape on a deserted road. First it had began to sputter, then to slow despite Mary’s stomping on the accelerator, and finally, the car had rolled to stop and refused to start. Marshall had checked it and found nothing; Cal and Mikaela had put their mechanical skills to use and began helping with the examination.
Mary had gotten out the bags, and then she ad noticed a blinking red light. There was a small black disk with a countdown stuck to the back of the car.
Thirty seconds.
“Bomb!” They ran from the car as it burst into flames, smoke pouring from the ruined vehicle. Mary had managed to drag the bags away before the explosion, which left them with a limited supply of ammunition, water, and clothing. Once the car was no longer spewing seven foot flames, they came back to retrieve the bags, and began moving down the road, away from the car.
“Shit.” Marshall hissed at Mary as they herded the Banes along. “Tell me your cell phone is working.”
Mary held up her phone. “We’ll have to tough it out.”
“What are we going to do?” Rose asked softly. She looked weary, her feet dragging, and she was leaning on Cal. Marshall moved to assist her.
“Keep going until we hit shelter or until nightfall, then stop and wait.” Mary said tersely.
“How is anyone going to find us? Your phone’s GPS won’t work, it’ll be days before anyone notices we’re gone-”
“I have a phone.” Mikaela admitted. “In my bag. Hang on-“ She reached for the duffel bag Mary was carrying. She unzipped it, dug around for a few seconds, and produced a bright pink bra. The rest of the party watched as she dug her fingers into a pouch on the inside of the cup, and removed a sleek silver object.
“What?” She asked defensively. “I knew we weren’t supposed to have them, so I stowed it where no one would look.” The phone had only three buttons, the rest of the front of the phone being a touchscreen. One of the three buttons, thank god, was the emergency signal button, which Mikaela pressed. When she tried to turn her phone on, however, it wouldn’t work- meaning no outgoing calls.
She struggled with the phone for a few minutes, and then a black car appeared coming up the road. Mary and Marshall ushered them away from the road, but the car swerved off of the road as it passed and skidded to a stop a yard from them.
The car was shiny, with tinted windows that made it impossible to see inside. Mikaela felt a pang of relief; windows that dark weren’t normal, unless the vehicle in question happened to be a robot in disguise that didn’t want anyone noticing its lack of a human driver.
She started to move forward, but the marshals pushed them back, and they drew their weapons as the car reversed, turned, and came back towards them, slowly, so that the Autobot symbol on the hood was clearly visible.
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