Chapter Text
Cathrina Procter stood in front of the mirror in her apartment, getting ready. She let the unruly brown strand of hair hang in resignation. She had a date with her best friend, Mikaela Banes. Since she, unlike her, still went to school, a joint meeting was somewhat difficult to organize. Although the older woman only had a temporary job, it demanded everything of her.
Actually, the young woman already wanted to join the police after college. But even at her current age of 28, she continued to be rejected by the academies in and around California. Of course without any reason, which made it difficult for her to improve her situation. She was more than disappointed about that, yet she couldn't imagine anything else for her future.
Many internships later, she ended up in the police force and quickly realized how much she liked the daily patrolling. Even though legally she was only allowed to sit in the car, she picked up a few things from the officer she accompanied. He also introduced her to the boring work of report writing, as he called it. But from her point of view, it was necessary and part of the job.
In this internship she also got to know Mikaela. Unfortunately, she was on the other side of the law at that time and was arrested. However, since she was punished while still a child, she got off with a black eye. And with a new friend.
They hit it off right away, despite the age difference. They both liked the same music as well as movies, and cars in the first place. Most of the time they went to remote places where small races took place. Of course, the whole thing was anything but legal and not exactly conducive to Cathrina's police career. Nevertheless, they couldn't let it go.
Even as a child, the brunette played with cars, gave them names and talked to them. For her, they were always living beings that had their own minds and spoke. When she reached a certain age, when many adolescents learned the painful truth about Santa Claus, she also realized that about cars. They could neither speak nor think. These things were only invented to transport people from point A to point B.
After a year of not talking to anyone, not even her parents, Cathrina came to terms with this fact and tried to suppress it as much as possible. At least until she had her driver's license in her hands. At that point, the car lover was back to her old self and gave her first car a name again.
The young woman put on her shoes, took her keys and stepped outside the front door into the stairwell. She lived here with five other parties, which didn't bother Cathrina. What did drive her up the wall, however, were the constant arguments among the tenants about cleaning the shared hallway. And the whispering behind her back, since she had been living alone for years. But as a happy single, even Mikaela's matchmaking attempts were annoying.
Cathrina wanted to walk to the arranged meeting point, since it was not far from her apartment and therefore easy to reach on foot. As she turned the corner, she recognized her friend Mikaela from a distance. She was sitting with a few other friends in front of a fast food restaurant, chatting with them.
"Hey!"
Mikaela rose and hugged Cathrina in greeting. She was wearing blue denim pants with a matching denim jacket. Underneath was a salmon colored top, which looked great on her. Then the younger girl introduced her friends, which she did not know yet. Since the current school year was slowly coming to an end, the predominant topic of conversation was rather the next and the prom night. A time that Cathrina had successfully and less enthusiastically behind her.
After a few hours in which the brunette got to know all the relationships of the school, suddenly a teenager drove by. Actually, a normal scene, if the bike had not been a child model in pink. However, his rather childlike appearance matched the wire bike. A round face, short brown hair, slim build. Unfortunately, the front wheel got caught in a pothole, causing him to tip over and land full force on his back.
"Sam?", Mikaela stated in disbelief.
"You know him?", Cathrina wanted to know from her right away, looking from her to the teen in irritation.
"Wow... that, that was really awesome," the high school student told him.
He stood up, wiping his dirty hands on his jeans.
"Yeah, that's what it felt like," he hissed, barely audible.
"Is everything all right?" she probed further.
"No it isn't! I'm losing my mind a little bit right now, because I'm being chased by my car right now," the latter explained to Sam, making a very distracted impression.
And already Sam got back on his bike and rode away without another word. Mikaela turned to the others.
"Listen, I'll be right back okay, but I need to see this."
She raised her hand and turned to leave. But Cathrina was faster. With a few steps she was behind her, holding her back by the wrist.
"Wait a minute," she said, "I hate to leave you alone with this madman."
She felt more than a little strange about this brief encounter, which didn't exactly put a positive spin on her first impression of him.
"Alright, but I don't have a second helmet," Mikaela replied, gesturing with her thumb to her blue scooter.
She nodded and made her way with her friend to their rideable vehicle.
"How do you know him?", Cathrina asked the question again.
"He's at my school, gave me a ride home once," she explained, pulling on her helmet, "He's really nice."
The brunette nodded in understanding and took a seat in the back of the bench. Mikaela's previous boyfriends were anything but `nice`. When she thought about her current partner, she had to roll her eyes inwardly. A shallow, arrogant guy who only cared about his sports career.
It wasn`t long before they spotted Sam in an abandoned lot under a highway overpass. He was running from something, but the shadows hid the pursuer for the moment.
"Go to him!" urged Cathrina to her friend, and she was already turning into the lot, which looked like a junkyard. Sam came running toward them, arms flailing. Before they knew it, they landed on their backs. He had deliberately pushed her off the scooter.
"Oh, God! What's your fucking problem Sam!", Mikaela angrily groaned and got back on her feet.
Cathrina did the same and first knocked the dust off her pants. What was this guy thinking, anyway? A serious injury could not have been ruled out with this action.
"Okay, there's a monster that just attacked me. Look out here it comes!" he exclaimed, pointing behind him.
The two friends looked in the direction Sam's finger was pointing. The brunette could not believe her eyes. A behemoth of metal, nearly ten meters tall, was rushing toward them. It looked like some kind of robot, only highly intelligent, if you could say so. It also had bright red LEDs for eyes, which gave it a more frightening expression. Cathrina couldn`t stop staring at this thing.
"We have to get out of here," Sam said frantically.
At that moment, a yellow Camaro with black rally stripes drove past them, heading straight for the monster. A 180o turn brought the robot down, then it stopped in front of the three. The passenger door of the car opened as if by magic.
"Sam, what is that thing?", Mikaela asked him, not hiding disbelief at what she had seen.
"You have to get in now, trust me!"
And already he was pushing the two of them into the car. No sooner were they lying rudely on the seats than the door closed.
"Drive," was Sam's only command, and the car started up with squealing tires.
This was not at all how Cathrina had imagined her afternoon. Not even in her wildest dreams did a giant robot ever appear.
While the car lover made herself comfortable in the back seat, which was not particularly easy with two people in the front seats, she caught a glimpse through the rear window. The sight froze her in her tracks. The robot was converting itself into a police car. The whole thing happened so fast that Cathrina couldn't really see exactly how he did it.
A sharp turn caused her not only to lose eye contact, but also to lose her footing, causing her to fall headfirst onto the back seat. Getting up was extremely difficult due to the speed of the ride. It took a few minutes for the brunette to sit properly and look ahead. With widened eyes, she noticed that no one was holding the steering wheel, but the car was safely, if rapidly, fleeing from the robot.
Cathrina put one and one together and came to the logical conclusion of being in such a machine herself. The adrenaline in her body took away her fear, however, so she pushed that realization to the back of her mind.
Another glance behind confirmed to her that they had not yet been able to shake off their pursuer.
"What the hell is going on?" she wanted to know, stunned, holding onto the front headrests to keep from being jolted in the turns.
The boy turned to her.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that yet either, but I do know one thing: we should get the hell out of there before that thing does."
"We're going to die," Mikaela suddenly cried with all her desperation.
Cathrina put a hand on her shoulder and Sam also tried to reassure her: " We won't die! Trust me he's a great driver!"
However, this positive attitude on his part didn't last too long. The Camaro broke through a glass window to enter a vacant factory. This was too much for Sam's delicate mind. For he too now seemed to have lost faith in a good end to this chase.
The factory building seemed endless, yet they could not shake off this police car. Even after a 180° turn and full throttle, their lead was minimal. Nevertheless, it seemed to be enough to find a hiding place. The car probably knew exactly what it was doing.