The Power Within - Transformers Prime (2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

[Finn]

  Amanda and I parted ways afterwards, her heading to her room to wash up while I walked back into the main area of her mansion. Jack and Raf had moved inside and were playing a car racing game while Miko sat upside down on a single seat couch, watching them play.

  "Hey Finn!" She said when she saw me. "Want to verse me in the next round?"

  "Sure thing," I sat down next to Raf. "If you're ready to lose."

  Her eyes glinted with the challenge. "Bring it on."

  Raf ended up beating Jack by a lot, then the pair surrendered their remotes to me and Miko. As we played, I enjoyed the laid back, relaxed atmosphere. At the military barracks, everyone was always racing around to get things done and it was impossible to drop the serious attitude at all. My assignment with the Autobots turned out to be better than I ever could have imagined, even if it meant I was always getting beat at these video games, but that was probably because I was always thinking about something else.

  I still couldn't believe I had told Amanda all those things while we were in the gym. People only ever knew I was in the Young Cadets Program if they read my military file, and they never asked any questions about it. Everyone knew what had happened to us and knew not to bring it up, and I liked that. I didn't need to be reminded of the closest friends I had- used to have. Still, I told her everything just because she asked. I didn't usually do that... but I didn't feel bad about it either.

  "Ha!" Miko exclaimed, jumping off the couch when her car crossed the finish line first. My mind snapped back to the present and I groaned.

  "I never win these games," I frowned, handing Raf the remote control. Just as I did, Amanda burst into the living room with panic written all over her face.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, standing up. Her hazel eyes went to me, and I could see the slightest bit of fear in them.

  "We aren't-" She started to say when an alarm went off. At this point, Jack, Miko, and Raf had abandoned the video game and their own fear was setting in.

  "Blair, shut that off and give me a status report!" Amanda exclaimed, talking to her artificial... housemaid?

  "Sector B-8 has been breached, Miss Beckett," Blair reported, her voice seeming to come from everywhere but nowhere all at once. "Intruder is 22 feet tall and is not human."

  "No shit," Miko commented. "No human is 22 feet tall." No one paid attention to her, though.

  "Blair, initiate the defense system," Amanda said as she rushed to the back door. A two second beep came from Blair in reply. "Keyword kaffir blossom. User Amanda Beckett. Initiate defense protocol 01."

  "Acknowledged." Said a different voice, one that I still recognized. Cam, Amanda's secret artificial intelligence collector.

  I thought Cam stayed in the basement media room....

  "Who's that?" Jack asked worriedly. "That didn't sound like Blair."

  "Cam," Amanda said absent mindedly as she peered outside. "Blair's in charge of maintaining the grounds, Cam deals with things like this."

  I hurried to stand next to her, feeling my military protocol training kick in. "Where's sector B-8?"

  She pointed to the north-east section of the grounds. "North-east corner. It's a blind side because of that hill in the way, but it's also heavily protected." She turned inwards slightly. "Cam, activate defenses in sector B-8 and get me a feed of what's over there!"