These Paths We Tread (Autobot x OC)

LXXV. Helplessness Blues

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For the entire ride, Barricade was silent, and Catherine did not complain. While she had kept herself bundled up—arms held tight, and teeth clenched—she desperately wanted to curse, lash out, or something, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even kick the back of his seats. There honestly wouldn’t have been any point, and he most likely would have thrown her about the back in response. She had nothing to say to him beyond profanity, either; she remembered very well what he had done, and each passing moment only made the memories stronger. With so much against her, she resigned to silence instead.

It was eventually broken, though, as his ironic vehicular form pulled up in front of a pristine, white building with an odd fin-like shape to the tower. Catherine didn’t recognize it or the name, but the place was evidently where she was going to stay as Barricade pulled up sharply, opened his back door, and barked for her to get out. She did so agonizingly slow—if only to annoy him—and found two men in black suits waiting for her up on the steps. Though they didn’t make any movements to come for her, she knew they were expecting her to walk up. Her “escort” was still behind her, too, and she knew he wouldn’t leave until she was captive within the building. Scowling, she unfurled her arms and stormed up the steps.

She didn’t look to the men as she passed them by, and she was almost a little disappointed they didn’t try to grab her. She would have loved to sock the ever living crap out of them, if only to vent her frustrations. However, they simply followed dutifully behind her, all the way through the door. She paused, though, when she heard tires screeching and watched as Barricade sped off—no doubt back to his traitorous masters. Her scowl deepened and, with a nudge from one of the men, she continued on into the lobby of the building, although they remained by the entrance doors.

Whatever the place was, it was certainly wasn’t any old office building. It was too clean and fancy for that with its obviously important furniture. Whoever owned it was impeccably rich, too, but she still couldn’t think of any names. They had to have been one of their traitors, though, but she had been so certain all of them were dead or imprisoned. She was wrong, of course, but it still didn’t sit well that a traitor with so much power and money had gone unnoticed.

“Ah, there she is,” a rather heavily accented Russian voice rang out, and Catherine turned her head sharply to find a man with a bit of girth and a black beard to match his full head of hair rising up from one of the lobby’s fancy chairs. She thought he might be the traitor, being that he looked very well off, clad with a slick, black suit and glossed hair that was common to the members of higher living business men. The two brutish goons behind him said much the same, and she regarded them carefully as they followed him over to her.

“And who I do I owe the pleasure of meeting?” she inquired coolly, not bothering to hide her disdain for the man.

The Russian grinned humorously, “There’s no need to worry about names. I’m just here to make sure you get to your room and your stay is comfortable until Mr. Gould arrives.”

So this guy isn’t the head honcho—Gould is. But who is he? She silently mused, eyes narrowed as she ran the name through her memories. She didn’t recall ever seeing or hearing it except maybe a quick glance in some paper or internet news feed. She didn’t care much for the business of America, so she couldn’t be sure. Even if she did know, she wasn’t given long to ponder as one of the man’s goons suddenly came up and snatched one of her arms. She glared at him at once, though could not pull her arm away easily.

“Let me go,” she growled and then looked to Russian man when he chuckled.

“Now, now, Ms. Wolf. Let’s not get testy. We’re just going to escort you to Mr. Gould’s personal room to make sure you don’t do anything reckless. You are very valuable after all, and we can’t have anything bad happen to you. Bring her along boys.”