Chapter 6! Finally able to post this one. Sorry that it isn't long. :/ It just didn't feel right to add onto this chapter. Hopefully the next one will be longer for you guys. Anyway, thank you for being patient with me and my slow ass. I've been busy with school…and lazy. But, like before, I won't give up on this story. I will finish it! Comment as always and enjoy.
Happy reading/writing
Next Afternoon
I waited outside in my college's parking lot. Every now and then I would glance at Bumblebee and Jazz. The two cars were parked at opposite ends of the parking lot, waiting as well as watching. My mind was racing. I wasn't able to focus, especially not during class. I kept thinking about the night before. About the journal. About my dad.
Jazz, Bee, and I didn't read the journal. My guardian only skimmed through a few more pages to verify that my father indeed knew who and what the Decepticons were. But other than that, we refused to read the journal any further because. We were too busy arguing about why my dad was involved with the Decepticons. Besides, we figured that there were more journals. Bumblebee suggested that I talked to the man who sent me the journal. I agreed with him for I wanted answers. Jazz was very wary. He even considered contacting Optimus himself. I couldn't blame him. We were all thrown off and confused by the information we discovered. Which was why we were waiting for that mysterious guy.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and whirled around. The same short man stood before me. He looked as nervous as ever.
"Did you read the journal?" he asked quietly. I grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him close. My arm was already beginning to tingle with charging energy.
"Is this a joke?" I snarled in his face. "Is this some sick prank you and your obsessed friends want to pull on me?"
"No! No! I'm trying to get your help!" he hissed. "It's the only way I can tell you what's going on!"
"Then just tell me!"
"They'll hear!"
"Who? The Decepticons?"
"SHHHH! Just read the damn journal!" he squeaked and grabbed my wrists, in a pleading motion rather than aggressive.
"At least tell me your name!"
"Jerry Wang."
"Are there more journals?"
"I don't know! If I did, I would have tried to find them and given them to you!"
"You need to tell me what's going on."
"It's not safe. I…I…I…tomorrow," he stuttered. "Yes. Tomorrow I will tell you everything. I will come tomorrow, so be here!"
"Oh I will…with back up."
I let him go and he stumbled back. Jerry ran off, looking up at the sky as he did so. Bumblebee and Jazz both crept up towards me. Their holograms appeared and watched the little man run for his life.
"Learn anything?" Jazz asked.
"No. Hopefully we'll have answers tomorrow," I said and let out a harsh sigh. "I think we'll need some back up too. Maybe Ironhide and Sideswipe."
"Alright. You should call 'Hide and tell him now."
Obeying the lieutenant, I pulled out my phone and dialed Ironhide's comm link. He didn't answer. Actually, my call didn't go through. There wasn't even a ring.
"I think something's blocking the signal," I said, putting my phone away.
"Maybe he's down under in the Autobot bunker," Bee suggested. "Though, I can't understand why. He should be out on patrol today."
"Let's go see then," I said and hopped into Bumblebee. The holograms jumped into their respected cars and rolled out.
Once again, we stood just outside the gate waiting for the guards to let us through. It took longer than usual. The two guards kept murmuring to each other and talking into their walkie-talkies. I couldn't take it. I tried to roll down Bee's window so I could yell at them but my guardian wouldn't let me. Instead, I honked his horn several times, ignoring his retorts. He finally shut his horn off and told me to be quiet. I obliged reluctantly. Finally, the gate opened and we were allowed through. The guards moved aside hesitantly as we rolled by. They gave each other nervous glances. It was odd. Jazz and Bee were quiet, which was unnerving. We all felt the tension before even entering the base.
"Aw no…not today," Bee muttered.
"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"
"Autobots," a voice snapped, making both 'bots skid to a stop. Even though we were going slowly, the sudden halt made me jerk forward. I was blessed to have the seat belt on. I looked up to see, to my surprise, a woman standing very close to Bumblebee's hood. She was middle aged with a firm face that seemed to have a permanent frown.
"Who's that?" I whispered to Bee, as if keeping my voice low wouldn't let the lady detect me. Bee didn't get the chance to answer for the woman spoke up in a very cold tone.
"Where were you two?" she asked. Jazz transformed and meekly looked down at the woman. He tapped Bumblebee's hood.
"I think you should get out," my yellow friend said softly and I climbed out. The woman stared at me. She didn't seem surprised by my presence but she did look angry.
"What do you think you're doing here, girl?" she said.
"I'm-" I began but the woman just rolled over my question.
"Answer me, Autobots. Where were you and why did you bring this girl?" she asked harshly. "I sent a call to all Autobots that weren't on the mission." I looked at Jazz and Bee. They didn't tell me about a call. From the looks on the 'bots' faces, they didn't seem to be aware of getting a call either.
"We were with Clare," Jazz said simply.
"I can see that," she snapped. "Why didn't you come when I called?"
"Sorry but we were too busy to acknowledge your call. You see, Charlotte Mearing, before Prime left he ordered us both to watch over Clare till he came back. So, in a way, we're also on a mission," Jazz retorted smoothly.
"I see," Charlotte said then looked at me. "Let me make this clear, Clare Roberts. The only reason I'm not ordering those guards outside to drag you out of here is so I can tell you this." She came up to me and stuck her face in front of mine. "You are not allowed in here. You are not allowed to be near the Autobots let alone communicate and interact with them. You are a civilian. Nothing more."
"Excuse me?" I snapped back. "I am more than a damn civilian."
"Clare!" Bee and Jazz hissed together but I ignored them.
"You watch your tone with me," the woman seethed. "You will not be allowed in here again. Now get out before I bring in the guards."
"Guards? Ha! I've got two Autobots here. What can a couple human guards do about them?" Jazz then grabbed me and used a finger to cover my mouth.
"Sorry, ma'am," he said quickly. "We'll escort her out."
With that, Bee and Jazz left with me literally in hand. I tried to protest and squirm out of Jazz's hold but his digit was firmly over my mouth. He shushed me whenever I made a sound. When we were right outside the gate, Jazz set me down and transformed. Bumblebee followed suit and transformed as well after giving me an apologetic look.
"What the hell, Jazz!?" I yelled when the two holograms stepped out.
"I'm supposed to be askin' you that, Clare," he countered. He didn't yell. He didn't have to. "You can't just talk to Charlotte Mearing like that."
"Yeah, if she finds anything wrong with NEST-ANYTHING-she'll report it and we could be shut down for good."
"Oh please. Do you honestly think that they'll shut down such a powerful team?"
"Clare they nearly shut us down before when Optimus died."
"That's besides the point," Jazz broke in. "You gotta learn to respect higher authority. Alright?"
"Whatever," I muttered and pulled out my phone again. "I'm still going to try and get the back up." I called Ironhide and waited. This time, he answered.
"Kid, I can't talk. We're in temporary house arrest," he said.
"No. No. No! Don't hang up just yet! I need-" Ironhide hung up. "God. Damn. It." I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and turned back to my two Autobot friends. By their expressions, they knew that the others couldn't help with Mearing around. "I guess it's just the three of us, then."
"Make that four!" a familiar voice shouted out. I looked down, knowing that was where he would be, and saw none other than Wheelie. The tiny blue truck had slipped by the guards and under the gate. He shifted to his robot form and hugged my leg.
"Four of us, then."
"We'll be fine, baby," Jazz crooned.
"Besides, we can try and come back tomorrow when Mearing isn't around," Bee added.
"After we talk to Jerry."
Next Morning
I waited, once again, at my usual spot. I didn't bother going to class. There was no point, for I couldn't do any of the work. Besides, I was beginning to hate it in there. The entire thing felt pointless to me. I wasn't passionate about art anymore. I still loved drawing and such, but…I was beginning to think that art wasn't in my best interest. I really needed to talk to Lennox after I finished speaking with Jerry.
I wasn't surprised to see Jerry jog up to me. He was carrying a thick file. I wasn't able to greet him for he immediately started talking. The man spoke so quickly that I didn't even understand what he was saying. I only caught something on the lines of "dark side of the moon."
"Wait wait wait wait!" I had to yell to get Jerry to shut up. "What does any of this have to do with my-"
"Clare! Great to see you again!" a familiar voice cut me off. Jerry froze and stared at me in horror. When I turned around, I saw that man from before, Dylan. He was strolling up to us. He wore a huge grin on his face, holding his hand high in a greeting motion. I groaned in annoyance.
"L-look, I…I have to go. Just k-keep the stuff and read everything, ok?" Jerry whispered urgently to me and shoved the file into my hands. He turned tail and ran. I stared at the shorter man as he sprinted away, and then glared at Dylan. The taller man stopped dead in his tracks, his grin gone.
"Bad timing?" he asked.
"No fucking shit," I snarled. Dylan gave me an apologetic smile, which only infuriated me even more. "Do you even realize what you just did, you jerk!?"
"Oh, come on. Don't be so upset about losing that loser. Besides, I still got that job offer for you."
"Not interested!" I snapped then called out to Bee and Jazz. My Autobot friends zoomed up to me, asking what happened in unison.
"Whoa! Autobots! Hi, I'm Dylan Go-"
"They're not interested either!" I barked and climbed into Jazz without saying another word to him. Jazz bolted out of the parking lot, not bothering to ask what happened again. "That jerk just ruined everything! UGH!" I yelled, tossing the file into the backseat.
"Back to the base then?" Jazz asked.
"No," I said. "No. Only one person can tell me about my dad."
"Who?"
"Who else, Jazz? My mom."
Several Hours Later
It was near midnight when we arrived at my house. Everything looked the same from when I left. Though, everything still felt knew to me. After Megatron and his Decepticons destroyed my neighborhood, our government paid for its reconstruction. Since then, it really hasn't felt like much of a home to me.
"Maybe you should have called your mom," Jazz suggested for the tenth time. He parked next to the curb right outside of my house. Bee parked right behind him. He kept texting me the same thing. I ignored him and snatched the journal from Jazz's glove compartment then got out.
"You three stay here," I said, loud enough for even Wheelie could hear me. The smaller 'bot let out a groan that I dismissed. "Hopefully this won't take long."
I walked up to the door and started to bang it with my fist as well as assaulted the doorbell with my finger. I had the keys but I was too pissed off to remember that I did. Besides, I wanted to give my mom a rude awakening. I heard angry swearing and steps pounding down the stairs, which was somewhat satisfying. The lights turn on and my mom flung the door open, looking bleary eyed but furious.
"Who the hell do you think you are!?" she yelled, but did a double take when she saw me. "Clare…oh. Are you alright honey? Did something happen?"
"What happened to dad?" I asked, not bothering to hold back my seething tone. She stared at me, and tried to smile. I knew she was going to ask me what I was talking about but I didn't let her. Oh no. There was no way I would let her play dumb on me. "You know what happened. Now. Tell. Me." My voice went dangerously quiet.
"You want to talk about this now?"
"No. I don't want to talk. I want you to talk. NOW!"
"He…he died in a car accident," my mother stammered.
"ANNA!" I yelled and pushed passed my mom to head up the stairs.
"No! Don't wake your sister up!" she yelled, following me up the stairs.
"Then tell me what happened to dad," I said whirling around to face her. "Tell me about his so called job." I threw the journal at her. "Tell me why he wrote about working with the Decepticons!"
"What's going on?" my sister murmured as she walked to the top of the stairway. She was rubbing her sleep filled eyes.
"That" I said, pointing to the journal. "Belonged to dad. He apparently had more. Where are they?"
"I-I don't know. I never knew he had journals," my mom said.
"Where did you get this one?" Anna asked.
"Some random guy sent it to me. And you know what it said? It said that dad worked with the Decepticons!"
"STOP IT!" my mom screamed and threw the journal back at me. Loose pages fell out, including the little photo of him holding me when I was born. Anna picked up the photo and her eyes watered. She looked at our mother, appearing way more calm and composed than I was. By her expression, she wanted answers as well. "You're father worked in NASA." That was the first shocker for my sister and I. We thought he was a businessman. We both started to blabber out angrily but our mom just steamrolled us with her words. "He was killed in a car accident but not my a drunk driver. He was killed by a Decepticon." We started yelling at her, but she went on. "I heard your grandfather, your dad's father, talking about it with someone on the phone. I didn't know what a Decepticon was, then. It didn't mean much to me until you got involved with the Autobots. That's why I didn't want you to be with them, Clare. I…I thought Optimus would have told you by now."
"Optimus…knew?" I asked. She nodded sadly, her tear filled eyes stared at the ground. I would have felt bad for upsetting my mom but the fact that Optimus knew and didn't tell me was infuriating. I was going to give him a piece of my mind. "I've heard enough," I said and grabbed the fallen pages as well as snatched the photo from Anna's hand. I headed upstairs towards the attic. Neither woman tried to stop me. I knew that my dad's stuff was stashed up in the attic. But then I stopped. All of his things were destroyed along with the first house. The journals must have been destroyed as well, except…mom didn't know about them and she knew about everything he owned. They wouldn't have been in the attic even if I didn't ask the Autobots to completely flatten the house. I stomped the ground in frustration.
"They have to be somewhere else," I muttered to myself then headed back downstairs. I ignored my mom's sad face. She opened her mouth, most likely to apologize, but I put my hand up. "Do not apologize because I know you're not sorry. Don't say anything. Just answer me this. Was there any place where dad would always go to?"
"I…I don't know," she said.
"Fine. Whatever. I'm leaving," I muttered then stormed out.
