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Act or not, Barricade scanned over the movement without rush, just watching and waiting and following the visual trail to find its conclusion. There were plenty of things to be concerned about, and he did keep them in mind somewhere under his current preoccupation, but it was just that: kept in mind. Reduced Decepticon presence meant he'd start sticking out more, and they'd end up needing to talk about that, at some point. Later, not now. Right now was for sorting out this uppity little scout. Acting like this when Barricade offered to make up for it, tsk, tsk.

As for energy? Barricade was fine--mostly. He had no explicitly safe place to retreat to, but he'd made do. He'd continue to do so, too. It did mean his patience was a little more easily worn, not enough time or safety to truly rest, working in short shifts to make sure he wasn't found or, worse, found out. He might cut the fight short, if Bumblebee started one, not that he wouldn't enjoy the rush of it still; no base of operations just meant things were a little harder, but Barricade had been through worse. Funny what near-death could do to a 'Con.

It wasn't going to make enough of an impact on what he could or couldn't do, really, to matter much. He could still chase Bumblebee into a corner and put up a fight.

While Barricade wasn't one to care about passers-by, Bumblebee still had the right idea: the fewer obstacles, the better. He wasn't in the mood for it--tripping, getting shoved into something that'd fall apart under his weight, or having to dodge around human interlopers. They just ruined the mood, half the time. Got in the way. And he just wasn't up for taking the time to scare them off before resuming his hunt.

At the hesitation, the teasing, Barricade's grin widened.

"Always playing hard-to-get, aren't you?" Like he even minded.

Besides, it'd take some of the thrill out of things if they were seen as on the same side.

He knew how to read Bumblebee by now, knew when he was serious and when it was in play, and he knew when they had to cut everything off for the sake of their loyalties. Right now, though, Barricade's direction was worn thin with his master missing, so there was no reason to seal anything away. Until Megatron resurfaced? Not a damn thing really needed to be done. The clicking, selected retort, neither stopped Barricade's approach. The change in posture just sent off the right signal, and the first answer Bee got came in the shape of that grin remaining in place.

"That kind of mad, hm?" He wasn't. Barricade knew that. That almost leisurely pace continued as he waited for the cue to start running. For Bumblebee to take off or shift just so, if they were going to fall this easily back into routine. He had no objections to it. For everything the Decepticons had been, had fought for, had become, "routine" was never one of them. They'd lost the angle of defenders, had lost the edge of aggressors, and at some point they'd fallen into utter disarray at the behest of some old fogey who whined too much. Two of those, actually, if you counted Sentinel as a whiner. Barricade did, but Barricade also knew how to own up to his mistakes. Not being open about the truce between Sentinel and Megatron? That had been a mistake on the old Autobot's part. You just didn't piss off both faction leaders at the same time: that'd never end well.

As for Barricade not taking advantage of the order? Eh... Maybe he was as mercurial as he was a grump, some days. Or maybe Megatron wasn't always the sort of leader Barricade approved of, and so following orders came with a bit more critical look. Or maybe he just liked playing with his kills. Really, it'd take a die or two to figure out how Barricade thought, sometimes.

Better things to puzzle over now, though.

Hell, even when he was.

But there'd been an amusing diversion that just kept coming back. Little yellow bug just itching to start something. And the first time that "something" had been more than a scrap had proven illuminating. Maybe not in the way either of their leaders wanted, but sometimes Barricade couldn't find it in himself to care. Megatron had been off and on out in the middle of nowhere (literally and figuratively). Starscream was only so good at leading and despite Barricade's vaguely greater degree of faith in the flier's intentions (and the fact he didn't put most the weight in his rule in fear), it... Well. It went the way it did, didn't it. Entertaining himself with Bumblebee outside the "stalk and retrieve any acquired data" aspects wasn't explicitly ordered to cease, either, and Barricade was the sort to happily stretch an inch into a mile.

The retreat after Chicago had been... harrowing, to say the least. And maybe watching his pet Autobot be shoved around by anyone not him before that had been a little irritating. But in the end, that was how war went. There were formal engagements and not-so-formal ones, and there were tells used to designate which was which. But three weeks of absolute silence from anyone left had been...

Blending in had become more than part of his job. It became one way to stay sane. No contact, what counted for his partner dead, his distraction impossible to contact? Wandering cities. Looking for information, the same as he had before the war began again in earnest on this mudball. Getting in with others to pry the right kind of info out, even if it was just eavesdropping, hacking, or playing the "friendly cop". Harder to do a deeper search without a sneakier "in", like Frenzy.

But sometimes, you just got lucky, didn't you? The best outcome in the most unexpected places--one prompted only because of that clip. A bit beyond that spot it floated from, a short ways down opposite the direction Bumblebee came from, but that clip was still audible. And it still left him grinning, a rumble in his chest as Barricade rounded the corner.

That emptiness lasted only a few more moments as he tried to keep as quiet as possible in his approach to what looked very much like a sulking bug. It was only going to work so long, though, considering the light, considering the shift of loose asphalt. And the fact that Barricade couldn't really resist announcing himself.