there's a million&one ways
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A/N: this is the first story that i've attempted to write all the way through. it's also the first story that i've posted on here. :x which is a huge step for me since i don't generally post stories that i write or finish writing them. so we'll see where this goes, lol. :3 also, i would love some criticism about the story because i really want to improve with my writing.
EDIT: I am currently going back and revising a few of the early chapters. Nothing in the plot has changed . . . I just can't stand to look back at their ickiness. So bare with me as I update them.
Genres: Romance, suspense, hurt/comfort, angst, mystery, family
Summary: Annabelle Lennox (child of NEST Major William Lennox) and her two friends (Sunstreaker and Sideswipe) thought it would be another pleasant afternoon for paintball, but soon enough their fun heads south when Annabelle discovers Starscream in suspended animation. The decepticon is brought to the autobots base where he is held prisoner. During his stay, the seeker meets the vibrant and fiery Annabelle. His troubles deepen when Ironhide threatens to kill him should he so much as pluck a hair from Annabelle's head. It seemed simple enough to follow Ironhide's rule until . . . he had his first conversation with the human. Now in over his head, Starscream finds himself wanting the human to keep him entertain while at the autobots' base. But what was supposed to be a temporary (and conditional) assistance quickly turns into a need for survival . . . Through trials that neither side could have calculated, they will face the illusion their lies have created, and only through bloodshed and love will they begin to unravel and destroy the monster they (both Autobot and Decepticon) created. But what lay at the end of this tangled fishing line is a reality that no Cybertronian is ready to face.
Pairings: Annabelle L. - Starscream, Annabelle L. - Ironhide, Chromia - Ironhide, Elita One - Optimus Prime, Jazz - Prowl, Judy W. - Ronald W., Mikaela B. - Samuel W., Sarah L. - Major William L.
Disclaimer: Transformers and all related characters and items © Hasbro.
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Part One: Resuscitation
"All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." – Count Leo Tolstoy
"Bye mom!" called out Annabelle as she raced down the stairs.
"Where are you going?" asked Sarah as she came out form the kitchen. In her left hand she held Duke's navy blue dog bowl. Following closely behind Sarah was a german shepherd mix who's only focus was the puppy food in the bowl.
Annabelle sighed as she stopped to look at her mother. "I'm just going out with the guys, Mom," she explained casually. She rested her right hand on the door's hand. The young human's fingers curled eagerly around the brass handle.
"In those clothes?" Sarah asked skeptically. Her mother looked at her daughter, inspecting her with a critical eye. Anna wore an old pair of ratted jeans, along with a pair of All star black converse; which looked ready for the morgue. Sarah shook her head as she let her eyes meander to the top Annabelle had chosen to wear. It was the old, faded zebra-striped tank top that she had bought for her several years ago. Underneath the tank top was an equally deterrorated black cami. Sarah rolled her gray eyes disapprovingly. "You couldn't have chosen something for suitable?"
"We're playing paintball," Anna justified. Underneath the warm tone of her voice was an edge of irritation. "Now can I go?" The young woman begged her mother with sad, child-like eyes.
With a sigh, Sarah closed her eyes; she always found it hard to tell Annabelle no when she used her blue eyes against her. "Just be careful," she stated, giving into her daughter. Sarah managed a worrisome smile. "I just don't want anything bad to happen."
Running up to Sarah, she kissed her mom on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom," Annabelle said quickly. The teen rushed towards the door, and disappeared as she slammed the cherry oak door shut.
Returning to the kitchen, Sarah placed the food down for a begging Duke. She ran her nervous fingers through her neck-length, blonde hair. From the window in front of her sink, she watched as two Ferraris – a red and yellow one – sped up towards the house. A trail of dust clouds hovered behind them. In unison they came to a skidding stop over the dirt driveway. Both sport cars played 'Burn It to the Ground' by Nickleback obnoxiously loud like twenty-one year-old ferternity boys. She watched with a hawk's eye as Annabelle hopped into passenger seat of Sideswipe. To her dismay, she saw Sideswipe's human hologram placed an arm around her daughter. She didn't know if it was Sideswipe putting his holographic arm around her daughter, or how Annabelle pretended to snuggle up to the red-headed hologram (as if it were a real human) that bothered her more. Biting her lip, Sarah watched as her daughter drove off with the twins. She left the kitchen with an uneasy feeling and headed towards the porch. She crossed her arms as she watched them drive out of view.
As if on cue, Ironhide rolled up to the porch. His vehicular mode, as usual, was covered in a thin lining of dirt. On passenger door was written "i need to learn to wash myself!!!" in Anna's pristine handwriting. From his review mirror hung pink, fuzzy dice that his human had put on him one late night two summers ago. Sarah looked over at her friend, glad that he decided to join her. She had grown use to talking with him over the years; so much so, that she didn't know whom she would talk to if it wasn't for him. Sarah casually leaned against the white support beam. "Do you ever think we made the wrong decision by letting her grow up among your kind?" asked Sarah. She looked over at the truck with a depressed facial expression.
"They're just kids, Sarah," Ironhide said, trying to comfort his human friend.
"I know, but I still worry if she isn't spending too much time with them," She replied. Sarah pushed a few stray strands of blonde hair behind her ear. "Sometimes I think she forgets they're not human."
He regaurded what she said thoughtfully. "I've thought the same thing," the old 'bot answered. "And I think the twins forget she's not one of us either." Ironhide paused, trying to think of what to say to put her worries to ease. He didn't want Sarah's worries about her offspring to age her any faster, nor did he want her to feed her negative emotions into her paranoia about Annabelle's lifestyle. "Annabelle is a good human, Sarah," he added confidently. "She's headstrong and knows where she's going in life. There's not much she won't be able to accomplish."
Sarah didn't respond as quickly as Ironhide would have liked. Instead she let her eyes drift to the swaying evergreens. Oh, how much she wished she could live such a care-free life as the trees. "I'm just worried of how she'll function in the real world," she confessed. "Besides a few school friends, she really doesn't have any true human friends like I did when I was her age." The woman exhaled a deep breath. "And every relationship she's had with a boy has never lasted; though, I think Will is glad of that."
"Annabelle doesn't need a boy, Sarah," the autobot said. "She's too independent in my opinion. Besides, she'll have her whole human life to find someone like Will."
"But what if she doesn't find someone like Will? And it's all because of being raised with talking robots?" Sarah stared worryingly in Ironhide's direction. "I just want the best for her, Ironhide. I want her to experience the same joys that I've been able to experience, like parenthood. I want to have grandchildren down the road."
"Then I guess you and Will better have another kid if you want to have grand kids," Ironhide joked. "I don't think Annabelle will be the type to have kids. She's too self-absorbed."
Sarah stifled a laugh and smiled at the old 'bot. He said some of the funniest, but trueest statements at times. The human opened the screen door to let a whining Duke out. The dog immediately circled around Sarah, wagging his tail excitingly at her presence. "But who am I to tell her who she can and can't hang around," she spoke. She bent down and gently scratch the top of his head. "It won't matter in a few years since she'll be off in college . . . away from all of this."
"And she'll grow up soon enough, Sarah," he added sadly. "She's already growing up so quickly. Just a few orbital cycles ago she was a infant." Ironhide's voice faded as he searched his memory chip for images of a younger Annabelle. Clips of his young Annabelle running along this very driveway filled his spark with content. The mech could hear with perfect as her bare feet would go pitter patter along the ground. In hand Anna would hold a pale full of rocks that she claimed were rare valuables. The autobot sighed as the clips ended. How he missed the days when Anna spent her time with him instead of the twins. And as she had grown older, the farther and farther apart those days spent together alone grew. He turned on his radio. "I'll go make sure nothing interferes with her growing up," Ironhide spoke.
"Thank you," Sarah replied. "I greatly appreciate it."
The sound of his engines roaring to life attracted Duke's attention as he came trotting out of the porch with a happy little smile on his lips. Ironhide opened the passenger door, and the dog jumped in without any hesitation. Ironhide closed the door behind the dog, before rolling down the window for Duke to stick his head out in the wind. As they began to drive away, Ironhide turned the volume up and played his favorite country music on XM radio. He hummed along to the music, glad that he now had a real excuse to go check up on Anna.
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"What is this place?" Anna asked as Sideswipe drove down an abandoned road. She leaned out the window, eager to catch a better look at the cluster of buildings Her vivid blue eyes curiously scanned the dilapidated establishments. The radio tower towered the other buildings in height as it overlooked the long, torn up runway strips. To the far west of the base was a small, heavily protected building made entirely of cement. Its purpose was none other than to have served as a bomb shelter should the Soviet Union had fired a missile. The style of the base's construction was an obvious trademark from the Cold War era.
Sunstreaker roared his engine as he maneuvered closer to his brother's passenger side. Anna had a cheesy smile smeared across face, and Sunstreaker's hologram flashed her a mischievous glimmer in his tourquoise eyes. His hologram removed his hands from the steering wheel and leaned against the car door's empty window space. The erratic wind blew through his mop of blonde hair; which only made him appear even more devilishly handsome. "I found it a couple days ago when me and my bro were on patrol duty," he boasted.
"You?!" questioned Sideswipe. The nearly identical hologram let go of the wheel, and tried to cram himself around Annabelle without ruining his illusion. He placed one hand on the dashboard, and another on the back of the seat. He narrowed his predatory torquoise eyes threateningly on his brother. "I found it, and you know it!"
He rolled his eyes dramatically. "As if," Sunstreaker retorted, half laughing. "You can barely find your hockey stick."
Anna pounded her fist against the car door to grab their attention. "Guys!" she shouted, trying to stop their argument before it could get out of control. The human didn't want a repeat from three weeks ago; where Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had gotten themselves into a physical fight. "I don't care who the hell found it. Kay?"
"Shit, someone's PMSing," Sunstreaker huffed. He recoiled as Anna tried to punch him without falling out from the window. His human illusion placed his hands securely on the steering wheel, trying to act as if he had done nothing wrong.
"Well, I'm a girl so I have an excuse. What yours?" Anna snapped bitterly.
"You just got burned," Sideswipe snickered. He backed away when Annabelle bent around to glower at him. He looked submissively straight ahead "And by a girl. "
He frowned. "Oh, shut up," he mumbled grumpily.
She huffed, before slamming her back into the back of the seat. The human folded her arms irritably across her chest. This was not how she wanted to start her afternoon. She pressed her chin to the top of her chest. Anna hoped this was not an omen as to how the afternoon with the twins would turn out. "So I take it, this place is abandoned?" Annabelle asked coolly.
"Damn right," the twins said in unison.
"I did research on this place, and it was closed down during Bill Clinton's administration," Sideswipe said smugly. "Hasn't been active since then."
Annabelle smiled brightly at Sideswipe. "I'm so proud of you!" she said sarcastically. "You did your homework for once!"
"Told you she'd be proud of me," bragged Sideswipe.
"Shut up," replied his twin in an irritated voice. "You don't need to act like such a hot shot; especially when you aren't a hot shot."
"Look who's talking," the human answered, slightly laughing.
The twins rolled through the open gate and came to a silent stop in front of the main building. Sunstreaker popped his trunk open; which contained Anna's gun, ammo, and 'gonna kick your ass' white Nike sport sunglasses. Hoping out of Sideswipe, she took her black hair tie, and put her unruly, shoulder-blade length blonde hair into a loose pony tail. Anna walked over to Sunstreaker while Sideswipe transformed. She put on her sunglasses first before grabbing her weapon and ammo. The trunk shut by itself as the yellow Ferrari transformed giant robot. Sunstreaker swerved on his tires around Anna gracefully as he straightened himself. His red twin mirrored his moves. Sunstreaker raised his gun, and aimed it at his brother.
Anna rolled her eyes at the yellow mech's antics, and noticed that he had replaced his favorite plasma fueled weapon for his paint-ball gun. She then glanced at Sideswipe, whom as well, had traded in his gun for a matching paintball gun. "Two minute till we start the massacre?" Anna asked.
"Sounds good to me," Sunstreaker replied nonchalantly.
She smiled competively. "Then I wish you two the best of luck," she said calmly. "Because you'll need it if you want to beat me." She pointed to herself proudly. The competitive edge of to her voice left an ominous silence in its wake. The twins glanced unsurely at each. Annabelle was nothing but a better, more complete version of Ironhide's tactics and Sideswipe's dirty maneuvers; and the extra glimmer in her eye came from her determination to dominate the unruly autobot twins.
Sideswipe rolled backwards, out of Annabelle's path. The red mech hated the air of arrogance that surrounded the five foot two inches tall, lightly sun-kissed human. He glowered in her direction, but Anna ignorantly ignored his behavior. She was determined to make him pay for his insubortinence with shame.
Annabelle quietly tiptoed in the shadows of the buildings, clutching onto her weapon as tightly as humanly possible. Looking down at herself, she smirked in satisfaction that she had only sustained six direct shots. The two yellow marks had come Sunstreaker, and the other four red splatters from his twin. Being small had it advantages, and she was sure to exploit it to its full potential.
Anna jerked her head up at the familiar sound of a metal foot rolling over the dry ground reached her ears. She stopped at the corner of the building and whipped her head around the corner. The dark shadow of one of the twins crept closer with each step. Annabelle pulled her gun close to her chest. She placed her index finger on the trigger. 'Time to put him out of his misery,' she thought to herself. Anna pressed her head to the side of the building. '3 . . . 2 . . . 1.'
She charged out of the shadows and into the daylight. She temporarily blinded by the direct sunlight. Pulling on the trigger, she fired three consecutive shots at her target. The sound of the tiny, fluid filled missiles popping, brought a smile to her face. Annabelle stopped abruptly to analyze her work. Of her three shots, one had landed on his shoulder, another on his left thigh, and the last one directly over his spark chamber. "You are so dead," Annabelle boasted as she lowered her gun.
He scowled at the human. "Am not," protested Sunstreaker. He raised his gun.
She narrowed her eyes. "Are too," she retorted. "I hit you in the spark." Using her gun, the human pointed to the purple splashes on his chest. "In a real fight, you'd be deader than the deer head in our living room."
"If you say so," the Autobot sneered. With a roll of his optics, he fired a direct shot at Annabelle's chest.
Taking a step back, the human glowered at the cheating 'bot with a fury only a female could know. "You asshole," she shouted before firing her last six shots at his optics, but her shots missed terribly. Only two of them managed to hit the top of his helm . . . the others had missed him entirely.
Sunstreaker laughed at Annabelle as she continued to pull on the trigger without luck, as if more ammo would spontaneously appear. "At least I'm not out of ammo," he replied smugly.
"To bad you can't shoot shit, slag," the human taunted. Dropping her gun, she ran towards Sunstreaker as he began to fire at her. She winced at the sting of each paintball splattering against her skin. She bit down on her tongue and forced herself to run faster. Annabelle began to sprint as she ran underneath his legs towards the compounds.
"Two for one! Must be my lucky day!" called out an excited Sideswipe. The energenic mech slid around the corner of a building. He smiled brightly, even maliciously. He began to fire red paintballs at both of them. Sideswipe's aim fell short, and his paintballs only nipped Annabelle's heels. The other read paintballs splashed onto his brother's chest.
He growled, hating how the red paintballs were ruining his paintjob. "Don't start bragging too son, bro," snapped Sunstreaker. He turned his attention to his brother. The Autobot unleashed a shower of yellow paintballs at his brother.
Annabelle continued to run towards the compounds. She cursed as she had broken Ironhide's number one rule when fighting: never, ever run out of ammo. Now she was paying the price by having to run like a coward. 'What a loser,' Annabelle scathed. 'Should've thought ahead.' She looked upwards to break away from her thoughts. She was running out of compounds to choose from. 'Dammit,' she cursed. Annabelle made a left turn and opened the nearest door. Slamming it shut, she pressed her back to the door as she slid down, leaving a fresh trail of yellow, red, and orange paint on the door. She closed her eyes, enjoying the relief from the hot afternoon sun. Her skin stung from the paintball's impacts, and several of the impacts were beginning to bruise her skin. Still, there was silence, and relief from the twins' obnoxious, yet funny behavior.
With a deep sigh, she forced herself to open her eyes. Annabelle was shocked that she hadn't notice the light when she barged into the compound. She looked up at the ceiling to see a large chuck of the ceiling missing. Annabelle's eyes widened as she followed the path of the sunlight. She held her breath, too afraid to ruin the unbelievable moment she found herself in. "Oh, my god," she managed to say at last.
Annabelle wearily stood up and jogged towards it. She jumped into the air as she step on top of what sounded like glass or metal. Looking back, she noticed a small pile of ebony, highly reflective objects. The human knelt down and picked up a small black piece. Its black surface glimmered like a diamond in the sun; it even felt as smooth as a polished diamond. Her gray blue eyes scanned over the shard. She tilted her head to the left as she began to read the familiar symbols. She traced her fingers over the engravings. "Vec - tor," she pronounced slowly as she read. "Pr - ime. Vector Prime? Who the hell is Vector Prime?"
After putting the piece in her pocket, the human continued to go through the small pile of fragments. She spread them out in front of her, admiring each one for its own all contained symbols to the Cybertronian language; some of which she understood, but most she didn't have an idea what they meant. They were like tiny pieces of a broken puzzle.
Standing up, she began to walk over to the stealth fighter jedt. Annabelle could see both tail fins were an awful burnt black hue. Underneath the plane she was shocked by the condition of the wings. There were several severe dents, along with scratches. It reminded Anna of how Jazz looked when he finally come back online. Compared to the buildings, the fighter jet appeared to be a scrap heap. She placed a hand on one of its wheels, but she jerked her hand back. The human looked at the thick layering of dust that had accumulated, not over a week, but a good year or two.
"What the hell happened to you?" Annabelle asked, sounding sympathetic towards the outdated F-22. She moved underneath it, scanning over the damage. "Must've been one hell of a fight over in Iraq," she mumbled. She stopped short of the broken down engines. Even to her ameture mechanical knowledge, Anna knew the charred metal encasing the power engines appeared to be a lost cause. "God blessed the pilot that flew in you."
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"Well, Duke," spoke Ironhide slowly. "I do believe the twins have outdone themselves in destroying government property." The black truck rolled to a stop just passed the main building. Opening his door, he said, "Time to get out, buddy." Duke eagerly jumped out of the truck. He titled his head to the side, still confused and perplexed by how a truck turned into a big, big metal human, but his confusion was quickly forgotten as he spotted the perfect telephone pole to mark. Ironhide looked over at Duke and gave a frustrated sigh. "We didn't come here to take a piss," he stated. "Now, c'mon! We gotta find Anna." The dog cheerfully followed behind Ironhide.
"Hey, if it isn't for the grumpy old bastard!" called Sunstreaker. He was covered in red splashes of paint.
"What the hell is he doing here?" added Sideswipe softly, not wanting Ironhide to over hear. He followed behind his brother. Lifting his gun up, he pretended to take aim at the old general. "Did you come to entertain us, old geezer?" he asked. "Because I would love a moving target."
He took his left canon down and aimed it at a Sideswipe. "I think it's the other way around," replied Ironhide bluntly. He watched with satisfaction as Sideswipe lowered his gun. His frown grew. There was too much silence. "Now where is Annabelle?"
"Oh, she's probably hiding from us," Sideswipe answered with a smirk. "She ran out of ammo about fifteen minutes ago."
"So she ran off, and is hiding from us until we run out of ammo," his twin finished.
"And you're letting her run around a base, unsupervised. . . ?" questioned Ironhide as he folded his arms across his chest.
The twins looked at each other, silenting debating between their selves to lie or tell the truth. They turned their heads towards Ironhide with blank expressions. "Yeah," they answered.
He growled, and the twins visibly took a step back. "Do you even realize what kind of trouble and hurt she could get into?" he continued, building up a rampage. "She's a frail human -- not some invincible robot."
"She's old enough that she can take care of herself," Sunstreaker argued.
"Plus she has her cell-phone to call us if something goes wrong," justified the red Autobot. He sighed. Sideswipe was growing agitated by Ironhide's protective behavior. He thought it was no wonder why Annabelle loved to get away from him. "But just to make you happy - "
"We'll go find Anna for you," added his brother. "That way you can reassured - "
"That you're li'l Bella is a-ok, Jacob," Sideswipe finished.
"Letting you guys read Twilight was a mistake," grumbled Ironhide. The black mech walked passed them as he scanned the area for a sign of his human. "So which way did she go?"
Both twins shrugged in unison. "We were too busy repainting each other to notice," they replied.
"Typical," he mumbled. The black Autobot used his internal communication system to dial Annabelle's cellphone number. One ring. Two rings. 'Pick up god -' His thoughts were caught off mid-sentence as she picked up.
"Hi, Mr. Hyde," answered his human. "You've gotta check -"
"Where are you Annabelle?" demanded Ironhide irritably.
"You're here aren't you?" she replied, not sounding too pissed. "I'm in one of the compounds by the runaway. You gotta come here ASAP!"
"Why?" asked the old 'bot, a bit afraid of what his human might have found. He had come to conclusion (from over the years) that anything Annabelle found was (at the very least) odd or unusual. Her knack for finding the oddities never ceased to amaze the old soldier.
"There's an F-22 here!" she said excitingly. "It's so cool, Ironhide!"
The Autobot was caught off guard by this news, and his body became stiff and rigid. An abandoned base with a highly sophisticated airplane did not compute with his logic chip. "Don't move Anna," he stated sternly. "We're coming to get you." The weapons specialist hung up before glaring over at the twins. "You two come with me now!" he ordered. "And get out your weapons." Ironhide took off running towards the compound Anna was using the GPS.
Both twins were looking at each other with confused looks, but followed the elder bot's lead. "What's going on, Ironhide?" asked Sunstreaker.
"Just be ready to use some of that Jet Judo," he replied, almost snarling out the command.
"There's a Seeker here?" asked Sideswipe with a little bit too much enthusiasm for Ironhide's taste.
"No, we're going turkey hunting," Sunstreaker replied sarcastically. He gave a huff, tired of how think headed his brother was at times. "Of course there is a Seeker here, dip-shit. Didn't he ask you to be ready to use Jet Judo?"
"No need to act like a bitch," retorted his twin.
"Will you two shut up?" growled Ironhide. He came to a sudden stop in front of the building. "And you two need to stop all that cursing. It's a bad influence on Annabelle." His sky blue optics scanned over the twins, as he finally noticed they were missing their the plasma that fuel their guns. "Where the hell are your guns?"
"Hey! You just cussed!" The twins blurted out in unison.
"Yeah, well, when you get to be an old, salty fart like me you can curse then," he replied. Ironhide took down his canons as he walked towards the compound. The twins unsheathed their duel swords from both arms as they followed Ironhide. Using his right canon, the trigger happy soldier happily fired at the wall. The Autobot rushed in, holding up both of his canons at the airplane. His blue optics scanned over the Decepticon symbols on Starscream's tail fins and frowned. 'Where in Primus is Annabelle?' he thought when he didn't see her. "Give her up Starscream!"
"We've got you surrounded!" called out the twins as they rushed in behind Ironhide; they too noticed the Decepticon symbols, but instead of frowning (like Ironhide) they smiled. It had been too long since they had the opportunity to hunt down decepticons without NEST officials breathing down their necks, and their eager faces only touched the surface of the joy they felt. The twins' systems were charged, ready to ambush the seeker at any moment.