You Are My Knight - Optimus Prime x OC

- 42 -

Month 0, Week 0, Day 1

After walking for hours to a used car shop, Kaede sits down with a huff, exhausted. He waits for the shop to open, cash ready in hand to buy whatever piece of junk car there is so they can get the fuck out of San Francisco and on the open road.

"You been waiting here long?" the shop owner asks and Kaede gives a noncommittal grunt before getting up from his spot.

"I just need a car, the cheapest you got works," Kaede says. "Don't try to sell me on anything, I fix 'em for a living," they then say, putting up a hand and stopping the shop owner from doing his sales pitch.

"How much you willin to part with?" the shop owner asks.

"$3k work for you?" he says. The shop owner lifts his arm and gestures to the line of cars for Kaede to look at.

"Right this way," he says.

Chrys wakes up, head pounding. She lifts her head and looks around, the familiar Sector Seven concrete walls surrounding her. She's in one of the offices, turned into a holding cell. A cot is set up in the corner and everything that was once in there was stripped out and emptied. She tries to prop herself up and fails, realising they've removed her arm when she was unconscious. Grunting, she uses her available arm to get herself up and huffs.

She jolts as the door opens, her eyes try to focus on the person approaching her. It's a random military built man, the patch 'Cemetery Wind' on his right sleeve. She scrambles back as he approaches closer and grabs her roughly, dragging her up.

"LET ME GO!" Chrys struggles. She's pushed out of the room and taken to another, she's shoved into a smaller room, which she soon realises is an interrogation room, the way there's a table and two chairs. She's cuffed to the table and the man then leaves. After a few moments of waiting, the door opens again and another agent enters. A woman with a steely eyed look and blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail takes a seat in front of her. Chrys doesn't say anything and only stares at her.

"Chrysanthemum Governor," the agent says. "My name is Agent Sheila McDermott. We've gained intel on your works with Cybertronian technology and are hoping you can help us..."

"Help you?!" Chrys exclaims. "Why the fuck would I help the people who kidnapped and imprisoned me?"

"Well, I don't think you have much of a choice," Sheila replies with a wry smile. "Don't you want to help protect your country?" she says in a sickly sweet tone.

"This isn't about protecting the country and I think you know that," Chrys replies, glaring at her. "I joined Sector Seven to work with the Cybertronians, not improve our country's military," she growls.

"That's a shame. Siding with aliens who aren't even made of flesh," she says, standing up from her seat. "I'll let you think about it for a few hours and come back." She leaves the room and shuts the door, locking it. Chrys sighs, resting her head down on the table, preparing herself for a long wait.

Arcee and Wendy have been on the road for hours. Wendy's thankful she hasn't hit a fever, laying down to elevate the wound from earlier. She looks over to Arcee with worry, her holoform showing signs of exhaustion. Her eyes are sunken and she has a permanent frown on her face, almost glaring at the road in front of her.

"Arcee, you need to rest," Wendy says. Arcee ignores her, glancing at her briefly before continuing on the highway.

"I'm fine," Arcee replies gruffly.

"No, you're not," Wendy chides. "You need to recharge. We've been on the road for 14 hours."

"I'm not stopping until we have enough distance between us and Cemetery Wind."