Ekaterina Stark was only 14, but she knew how to drive. The Red Room made sure of that. The moment a student was tall enough to see over the wheel, they were put behind one. She could probably drive better than half of America. She could pull off stunts and maneuvers at 90 MPH that no-one in their right mind would try at 20 MPH. She could go fast, and she liked it.

Of course, she understood that driving was a very serious thing, and that she was in control of a big responsibility. She practiced on the holodeck way more often than anyone but Alina Barton would ever know.

She could probably out-drive her dad, and that was saying something, because Tony Stark's car collection was nothing to sneeze at, and he drove them all at least 4 times a year.

She wouldn't go on the open road unless in South Dakota. Thank goodness their driving limit was 14. Okay, so she wasn't supposed to be in South Dakota, and she definitely wasn't supposed to be driving her dad's Saleen S7, but hey, what's a girl to do in New York all day?

Of course, her being her, things were bound to go wrong.

The first - virtually only - warning she got was when something hit the back of the car, and it yelped. No, the car actually yelped. Which meant it was alive. "Oh, geez!" she exclaimed. "You okay?"

"No," he answered. "The 'Cons hit me with a stun grenade. It's forcing me into stasis," he informed quickly. She could hear the systems quietly shutting down.

"Hello? Hello?" Nothing. He was out, whoever he was. She guessed a 'Bot. She checked her mirrors, and she saw four Decepticons behind her.

One cop cruiser (That was Barricade; he and Nikki had a history, and she'd outsmarted him in Malibu, so this was gonna be him taking revenge more than anything else), one black SUV (That in all honesty, looked similar to the Sector 7 SUVs; she thought his name was Stockade, but she could've been wrong), and two Vehicons, whose alt. modes were sleek, fast but not powerful, and were black, dark purple, and red.

Seriously, could they have picked a more cliché color scheme?

That wasn't quite her worry right now. Her worry was that the car was Cybertronian, and she didn't know what kind of stun grenade they'd thrown at him. He could be critically injured, so her job was to contact and get to help. The 'Cons? They were just an obstacle. She was confident she could handle them. After all, they thought they were following a 14 year old spoiled brat who could get anything she wanted by batting her baby blues at her dad.

If they even knew she was the one driving.

Which they probably didn't.

"You boys have no idea who you're dealin' with..." she said to herself with a smirk.

She gunned it, hiking the speed to 75. The 'Cons were momentarily left in the dust, but it didn't take them long to catch up. "Back for more, eh?"

She glanced down at the console, looking for any buttons that may contact help. Better to look when the chase was just getting started than have to do it mid-chase at 90 MPH, pulling tricks her mother would kill her for. She couldn't find one, and she was soon way too busy to worry about it.

Barricade gained on her, taking the initiative and going after her first. She weaved left as he approached her on the right, speeding up to 80. "Nice try, suckah!" Barricade sped up as well.

She had a big, wide open plain in which to drive until they got sick of chasing her, the 'Bot woke up, or the good guys found her. Either way, she had time, she had space, and she had skills. All she needed to make it out of this mess. "Bring it!"

As she would later say, 'Oh, innocent idiot, why hath thou summoned Sgt. Murphy?'

Stockade approached from the right, (earning him an "I see you, creep!") and she immediately knew what they were gonna try to do. She sped up once more to keep them from boxing her in, forcing them to speed up with her. "C'mon! You want me, you gotta catch me!" She made sure she was way out in front of them before pulling a 90 degree left turn and heading toward that end of the field.

The problem was that the left side was the shorter side of the field. Whoops. Barricade got uncomfortably close to her right side ("Back it off, pal; this car costs more than you make in 5 years!"), and she drifted toward him to ward him off. He stood fast until they were almost trading paint, and then chickened out. She smirked and hit the brakes hard, using momentum to pull a 180 and drive back toward the right.

The two Vehicons positioned themselves for a head on collision. She was still smirking. "You really gonna hit me head on at 90?" As if hearing her comment, they pulled off a little. Just enough for her to get through. She zipped by, not even touching them. She whooped and swerved to avoid smashing into Stockade.

While the three 'Cons got themselves turned around, she put the pedal to the floor and gunned it to 110. Not really a good idea, but she was trying to outrun them.

Stockade and one of the Vehicons zipped ahead and turned so that they were like two walls on either side. Their mistake was the positioning. Stockade was further ahead of her. She smirked and pulled a Moose Test. She swerved between the two, passing one, then correcting and turning and passing the other, then straightening and continuing to drive. "Nice try, but your spacing sucks!"

While Stockade and the one Vehicon lost precious time righting themselves and speeding up, the other Vehicon had gotten in front and stopped, like a blockade. "Didn't your friends just learn this lesson?" she asked as she pulled an Opposite Lock, turning just before hitting him without losing momentum, and kept going.

It took them all of ten minutes to realize there was no method to the mayhem. Once they did, they started forcing her along their route, conforming her to their plans. The Vehicons hemmed her in from the sides, one of them getting close enough she needed to drift to the right to avoid getting hit. "Scrap..." she muttered. Stockade got in front of her, and she slammed the brake.

Barricade had been getting in position to block her in completely, so she had to avoid him while slowing down - she'd rather be driving in reverse - do another 180, and gun the engine to make up for lost speed and time.

The Vehcions somehow managed to get in front and to her left, so she shifted to reverse, locked the brakes, and turned right to get out through the large gap they left to her right and rear. She switched to drive again and sped up.

Things had moved from her being comfortable with taunting them to her being silent and finally, her swearing like a sailor as they got more and more clever with their tactics, and she ran out of good ones to use.

"If I don't some backup soon, I'm screwed!" she shouted as she avoided trading paint with one of the 'Freakin' moronic Vehicons!'

The signal was spotted as soon as it hit South Dakota. For some reason, this 'Bot didn't want to be found. Either someone was inhibiting the signal and they forgot to, or the 'Bot itself had been inhibiting the signal.

Or maybe the four Decepticons chasing them had something to do with it.

"Jazz, Prowl, Moonracer, intercept and assist that Autobot," Optimus ordered. They all nodded and headed for the 'Bridge. They locked in the coordinates, transformed, and drove through. They were there all of two seconds when five cars zoomed past them, Barricade almost taking Jazz's front bumper off.

"Whoa!" Jazz exclaimed, hitting the brakes. "What the-?!"

"What?" Moonracer eagerly asked. She saw the entourage driving off. "Oh. Geez, they're bookin' it."

"They're chasing the Autobot," Prowl said. He turned on his lights and sirens and drove off after them. Moonracer whooped and followed, with Jazz catching up and quickly passing her.

"We got ourselves a car chase!" he exclaimed jovially. He whooped and Moonracer chuckled as Prowl silently groaned to himself.

"Unidentified Autobot, come in," Prowl called. The comm crackled to life, and a voice none of them expected came over the other end.

"Thank goodness! Where have you guys been?"

"That's a human youngling!" Moonracer exclaimed.

"Teenager, actually," the girl corrected. From where they were, they barely could see one of the Vehicons drift way too close to her, and her reaction was verbal. "Oh, no you freakin' don't! You stay in your lane, slagger!"

"What happened?" Prowl asked as all three 'Bots accelerated toward them. The group ahead must've accelerated as well, because they saw an orange sports car shoot out ahead of the 'Con group, with the 'Cons following not long after.

"They sniped him," she said, explanation cut short by a muffled curse word. "I didn't know he was one of you guys - stay put, or I'll knock you over, you bastard! - till they did." She wasn't specifying individuals or groups, but it was clear who she was referring to. "I could really use some help!"

"We're on out way," Jazz assured her as they put on a burst of speed.

Kate swore under her breath as she nearly collided with Stockade. She swerved out of the way. If not for all that combat driving training the Red Room gave her, she'd have been captured or worse a while ago.

She shifted from drive to reverse, forcing the Vehicon behind her to move or get run over. She had no time to right the car before Barricade was on her again and she had to keep going.

She looked over her shoulder and drove backwards at a blistering 150 MPH. The 'Bots were now gaining on her. The other Vehicon - she'd just gone ahead and named them Steves 1 and 2, and this was 1 - pulled out behind her. She quickly switched back to drive and gunned it again. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..."

Barricade was, once again, trailing her in her blind spot on the right side. "Just go away, you SOB!" she shouted in frustration as she jerked the wheel to the left to shake him. Stockade suddenly appeared on her left, and she had to swerve right to avoid slamming into him. "You glitch! Pull a stunt like that again, I will clip your bumper and send you rolling."

Not that he could hear her, but it made her feel better. A little.

The Vehicons ganged up on her again, driving alone either side. Stockade took up the rear, and she gunned it again to force them to keep up. "These guys are just Pit-bent on boxing me in!" Thankfully, the Saleen S7 was built for speed, and these guys - save for the Vehicons, maybe - were not. That was one of her two major advantages.

"You get any closer, I'm gonna have your bumper clippin' mine, jerk!" she shouted as Stockade sped up and closed the gap. "Stay away from the car!" Steve 2 nudged her right side, and she gasped out a 'Scrap!' as she was forced to the left. She tried to straighten out, but Steve 1 bumped her left. She had no room to maneuver. "Slaggers..."

"You seem pretty proficient in our language," the femme 'Bot pointed out.

"It's that or get grounded for life by my mom!" Kate shouted as Stockade closed the gap again. She pulled her foot off the gas, and the car slowed enough that Stockade should've backed off. He didn't, and the two bumpers collided. Kate hissed out part of the Cybertronian equivalent of a word she would never dare to say. Then Barricade moved in front of her.

"I'm boxed in. Oh, no..."

"Jus' hang in there a little longer," one of the 'Bots ordered. She nodded, then realized that he couldn't see her.

"Yes sir!" she replied. She racked her brain to figure out what tactics she had left that might work, and came upon one sole option.

She would be so grounded for this.

She drifted left, coming close to Steve 1. "Either you're moving, or we're tradin' paint, and at 165, you wanna opt for the former!" she shouted, as if he could hear her. Steve 1 stood fast. She then drifted to the right, where Steve 2 moved, but not nearly enough. Stockade had already proven he wasn't going anywhere, which left her with two options:

Either she was gonna chip away at the box, or she was gonna pull a Box Break.

She went for option two.

She took a deep breath, focusing, and then slowly accelerated, closing the gap between her and Barricade until she was tapping his bumper. Then she went faster, pushing him forward. She increased her speed until Barricade started applying his brakes. The process flashed through her mind and she executed it as soon as each moved registered.

She moved her car left, applying uneven pressure on Barricade's bumper.

She sped up against his brakes, causing him to start to lose control.

She drifted to the left more, making the pressure more on his left side than on his right.

He lost control and flew right, causing Steve 2 to T-bone him.

She drifted even further left to avoid colliding with Barricade's back half.

This caused her to collide with Steve 1's front, leaving a sizable dent in the 'Bot's door.

Steve 1's front was forced left, while his rear wanted to go straight, forcing him into a spin.

Stockade clipped the back half of Steve 1, forcing the Vehicon out of Stockade's way.

Stockade miscalculated how much of his hood Steve 1 could touch before he was stopped.

Stockade, the last remaining 'Con, was flipped in the air as a result of the crash.

Kate sped up to almost 200 MPH to outrun the crash and the mess of transformed 'Cons.

She slowed down to 120 and pulled a Scandinavian Flick, a move that allowed her to slingshot a turn and head directly for the 'Bots. She made sure she was a good several feet away from the stunned (and she knew they were stunned because the comm was silent and they were slowing down) trio.

She slowed down to about 90 - which was where the 'Bots were clocking in right about now - and pulled another U-turn to drive in formation alongside them. "Holy..." was all the femme managed to get out as they slowed to a stop.

The four Decepticons were still recovering. Barricade and Steve 2 were a tangled mess of limbs and torsos and broken off car parts. Steve 1 was on his stomach, likely groaning, as his helm rested on the ground. Stockade was on his back, motionless.

The adrenaline having started to wear off, Kate leaned back, relaxing, while her hands remained locked around the wheel. "O-kay," she breathed shakily. "That...happened..."

"Uh-huh," the one who'd ordered her replied. "I think we should go back to base now."

"Yeah," Kate agreed, nodding her head and wishing her voice sounded stronger. "Okay." She followed them back to the base.

Her Dad's guardian was Sunspot. The mech ordering her around - she couldn't think of another way to put it, despite the way she did put it not sounding right - was Jazz. Optimus Prime's TIC. The femme was Moonracer - and she had the same alt. mode as Knock Out. The third, who had asked her what happened, was Optimus Prime's SIC, Prowl.

Kate was still a little shaky after the whole thing. Which, in her mind didn't make sense. She was an adrenaline junkie who thrived on danger and adventure; the situation she found herself in today should've been absolutely thrilling.

Major Lennox - Anna's awesome dad - said that she'd been put in a situation that she could control, and that was why she enjoyed the first half. Once it slipped from her control and became someone else's game, she didn't like it that much because she was in real danger.

Not that she hadn't been the whole time, but it was like the difference between bungee jumping with a good cord and jumping off a bridge to avoid bad guys. Both were adrenaline inducing situations, but only one was by choice, and thus, enjoyable.

That made sense, but it didn't explain why she was still shaking almost an hour afterward. Mom and Dad both knew, and they were on their way to pick her up. She still didn't know how she was gonna explain it to them.

Jazz walked over and his approach dragged her out of her thoughts. "Sweet drivin'," he complimented. She smiled.

"Thanks," she replied. "You didn't do such a bad job of keeping up."

"I coulda done better," he said with a shrug. She grinned.

"I still woulda out-driven you." It was a veiled challenge, and one he caught, because he grinned too.

"You are so on," he replied.

"You are an adrenaline junkie of the highest caliber," Tony Stark said as he walked in. She turned around and grinned even more widely, seeing her Dad grinning right back, and her Mom smiling while shaking her head at her husband.

"Well, I learned from the best," she said as she skipped off, following Jazz to the base's holodeck.