Earth Angel

Chapter 7

As Ironhide pulled into Lori's driveway, he aggressively cut off the radio. Barricade and Lori had been listening to an 80s music station, and while they hadn't reached their tolerance limit to the mostly cheesy music, Ironhide definitely had.

"You are such a party pooper, dad," Lori teased in protest.

"I can only take so much Men Without Hats," Ironhide replied.

"They only played 'Safety Dance' twice," Barricade said playfully.

"That song never gets old!" Lori added.

"Once is too much for me," Ironhide said. "Now get out, will ya?"

"Fine, fine," Lori and Barricade said in unison and they jumped out of Ironhide's cab.

"You're not that weak if you didn't need my help," Ironhide told Barricade as he transformed.

"I guess not," Barricade replied.

"Well, now let's get you something to eat," Lori said as she unlocked the door. "I'm certain you're hungry, but luckily there's tons of leftovers from the cookout I had with the soldiers."

"Do you think food will taste different to me now?" Barricade asked.

"Maybe," Lori answered with a shrug.

"Just don't be making too much noise unless it's music because I'm going to be working," Ironhide said. He activated his holoform and grabbed the damaged shotgun he planned to repair.

"Fair enough," Lori said. "We can use the headsets to hear the music. In fact, this is a perfect opportunity to start teaching you techie lingo, Cade."

"What do you mean by that?" Barricade asked.

"It's a sort of shorthand language techies use to talk about their gear," Lori explained. "It'll be so helpful with you at the helm of the light and sound equipment, because then you can judge if we're overloading our speakers or if the lights are out of synch. It wasn't very easy when we were controlling the chase board remotely while we were performing."

"That sounds so complex," Barricade said.

"It's not bad when you get the hang of it," Lori assured. She then helped get Barricade get a plate food. While he ate, Lori got out various sound and lighting equipment and a frame to hang it all on; while she set up a makeshift stage layout, she explained how to put it together and what each piece was used for. Barricade listened intently as he ate, and occasionally asked questions. Lori happily answered while she hooked up the lights and speakers to a DMX control board. Lori then settled on the couch with the control board set across her lap and Barricade's. Barricade continued to intently listen and asked questions as Lori taught him how to program the lights to flash at certain moments during varying Rock songs, and he even took notes so he wouldn't forget what he was learning.

***

Meanwhile...

The two hidden Decepticons watched in disgust as Lori, Barricade, and Ironhide settled into the house.

(Damn, the brat has Ironhide with her,) Starscream hissed through their comm links. (This kidnapping has gotten much harder to carry out.)

(Perhaps, but it's not impossible,) Blackout said. (It appears she has some nature of mechanical pet in that barn structure. I can send Scorponok in there to harm it in order to lure her out.)

(Then do it!) Starscream snapped. (The sooner we have the brat, the better!)

(Understood,) Blackout said. He ordered Scorponok to burrow into the barn and attack the Raptor inside in order to draw Lori out. Silently, Scorponok slid out of his carrier and tunneled into the ground towards the barn.