A/N: Wow... Long wait, huh?
Last chapter when I said that I was halfway done I was serious; I just never thought an extreme case of writer's block would set in for this story and leave me at the halfway mark for such a long time. Writer's block, it's the tool of the devil.
I hate leaving chapters at cliffhangers (sorry) but the sooner I post something the sooner I can get inspired; it's the way I work and that's my cure for it. (Shrug)
Disclaimer: Twilight Zone and it's characters belong to their respected creators; Rod Serling, the Twilight Zone writers and CBS. Transformers belongs to Hasbro. Any Original Characters belong to me...
Chapter 12
"The Bad Seed: Part 1"
Soundwave found himself in the same place he started—literally. Every time he reached the outskirts of Peaksville, he was transported back to the Freemont residence; the female greeted him back each time with a humored smile from the rocking chair on the porch.
It was the eigth time he had tried to escape—trying reach the outskirts now twice in each cardinal direction.
"Hey... boss...?" Rumble called anxiously from inside his chest. "Can I come out now?"
Soundwave pressed the button on top of his shoulder plates, ejecting his cassettes. Ravage and the twins landed in front of the Freemont porch while the flyers found a place to perch on the Freemont house.
Soundwave noticed the human female didn't seem to be surprised by his cassettes and regarded them as passively as she had to him. Despite that their presence was known to the human populace on Earth, she was too calm.
He knew that she was the 'Tina' that Anthony had mentioned to him (there was nobody else here). He couldn't help but notice her glance. She was staring at him, her eyes cold and her demeanor sending a clear signal that she was not to be trusted.
Soundwave could sense the answer to why she gave him the look. She hated him, she hated his species. Perhaps she had negative contact with Swindle before, and therefore her thoughts about Decepticons were more hostile than most humans, meaning only one thing...
She deliberately sent Anthony to the Nemesis to destroy them.
She was the enemy.
His creations distracted him from his thoughts. "Fraggit, I thought we were done for sure when that little brat-punk sent us here!" said Rumble.
"Yeah me too," Frenzy agreed.
"You're lucky that's for sure," Tina called to them. "Everyone who gets sent to the cornfield dies-- that's the whole point of it. Looks like only the special are allowed to live."
"Hey what the slag is that supposed to mean meatsack, huh?" Rumble demanded, feeling insulted by Tina's mocking and disrespectful tone.
"Nothing," she said, rising to leave. "Absolutely nothing."
With a curt slam of the screen-door she disappeared inside the house. Rumble narrowed his optics under his visor, thinking of marching into the house and pulling the female out by her hair, but he knew Soundwave wouldn't let him at the moment. That's okay, Rumble could wait.
"Who the frag is that?" Rumble asked.
Soundwave answered, evoking rage from his cassettes. "The human that the child spoke off; Tina."
"Ya mean... the one that hated Swindle? And sent the kid to the base AND killed Megatron and the others AND nearly got US killed!" Rumble cried.
"Affirmative," Soundwave answered.
Rumble narrowed his optics, his fists clenching in anger. "Let's go fraggin' kill that fleshie!" Tina, who was listening from the kitchen window, smiled.
"Not yet," Soundwave told them. "Human could provide other use; information."
"Information regarding what?" Laserbeak questioned from the roof of the house, his yellow optics glowing.
"Of how to escape," Ravage said, answering for Soundwave.
"Correct," Soundwave acknowledged. "Ravage..."
"With pleasure," Ravage communicated back, knowing what Soundwave's order was. Ravage charged to the house, his metal paws clinking on the wooden steps, making them buckle under his weight. He swiped and hissed as his paw connected with the door and nearly flying the feeble piece of wood of it's hinges. He stalked into the empty and quiet house, his olfacotry sensors working to sniff out the human.
Oddly, he didn't smell her; almost as if she was void of that sickly sweet smell that permeated off human's skin. Ignoring the oddity, he walked through the house...
But no matter how much he looked, he could not find her.
Night fell and Ravage continued his search for the human female, accompanied by Rumble who had decided to join his cyber-cat brother away from the farm and into the abandoned towns square not far.
The rest of the cassettes and Soundwave stayed back at the farmhouse, trying to formulate a plan.
Frenzy preoccupied himself by leaning in solitude against the edge of the barn, out of sight. He crossed his arms over his metallic chest, thinking back on the quid-per-quo he shared with Talky Tina two years previous...
Frenzy shook his head. It couldn't be Talky Tina.
"Did you know that besides me you are the only souls to of survived the cornfield?" came a nasally feminine voice to his right. Frenzy jumped and turned, seeing the human female staring at him, her arms crossed over her chest and an expression of malcontent on her face.
She tilted her head to the side like a cat, smiling in amusement. "Did I scare you, Frenzy?"
Frenzy forced himself to laugh. "You? Scare me? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Frenzy laughed obnoxiously; overacting. Frenzy's laugh died down as his brows suddenly furrowed. He turned to her. "Hey wait a minute-- how the frag did you know my name? I never told ya!"
She giggled. "Yes you did."
"Did not."
"Did too," she said. Her head lowered in his direction, casting him a knowing glance. "And I think... you know what my name is."
Frenzy felt as if something had just died inside him. Her voice, her personality. It was her...
Talky Tina.
The corner of his mouth plate tugged in disappointment. He liked her better as a toy; she was smaller and couldn't make creepy facial expressions.
A smile broadened on her face, her smile bright and she giggled at his expression. "Oh don't look so surprised to see me," she said. Her arms dropped and she approached him. "After all, you didn't expect me to live in a toy's body forever did you? Although..." She twirled her hair in her hand. "I'm still quite a doll if I don't say so myself." She giggled to herself.
Frenzy said nothing as he walked around her, looking at every detail of her new fleshie body. She stood still, allowing him to inspect her. "How in Primus are you a fleshie now? And how'd ya get here?" Frenzy asked.
"The same way you all got here." She frowned.
"Whatcha mean?" Frenzy asked.
"Someone got rid of me," Tina said, her voice thick with malice. "Just like you..."
Frenzy narrowed his optics, anger boiling up inside of him; reminded once again of how they got here. Her eyes narrowed at him, almost snickering; he didn't like the looks she gave him, her attitude. It was her fault they were here!
Unable to restrain himself, he stepped forward, grabbed Tina by the throat and shoved her into the barn wall. His grip was strong, crushing but still she refused to wipe the look of her face.
"Ya nearly got us killed—you nearly killed ALL of us!"
Tina laughed. "Please spare me Frenzy. You would have done the exact same thing as me. You and the Decepticons were the only thing that caught his interest."
Frenzy bared his dental plates, unequivocal rage filling him. "This is all your fault—everything! DON'T YA REALIZE WHAT YA DONE?!"
Tina looked at him with an annoyed and pestered grimace on her face. "Of course I knew," she spat. "Everything I do keeps me alive."
Frenzy scoffed, shaking his head temperamentally. "I knew there was something bad about ya—I knew it all along..."
She giggled; her child-like laughter mixed with a sinister and humored quality. "Then why did you trust me if you didn't have a good feeling about me? Oh don't give me that look! Part of surviving Frenzy is using everything you have! He liked the sound of you all—don't blame me because you didn't know how to deal with Junior."
Junior? For some reason he didn't like the sound of that name...
Frenzy's processor raced with another question that he couldn't help but ask. "How long have you been here with the kid?"
"Two years," she answered.
Frenzy's jaw dropped. "Two fraggin years?!" he cried in disbelief. "How the frag did you live with that little pit-slagger for two years?!"
"Oh," she said with an unpleasant laugh. "It wasn't just with one monster Frenzy-- not at all."
"What's tha' supposed to mean?" Frenzy questioned.
Tina's eyes glazed over with a dark look. "I have been here for two years... with three monsters."
"Three?" Frenzy questioned, confused.
"Yes," Tina said, her features flexing to a more bitter expression. "Three monsters. You want to know what their names are? They're Anthony Jr—who is the monster who kicked you out of your base—Audrey who is his twin sister and lastly Anthony Sr... the original monster and father of the twins. The happy little family."
Frenzy's optics widened in alarm. "There's two more?" Frenzy asked in a nervous voice.
"Yes," she said, her face dropping into a blank but annoyed expression. "You all just met Junior which means that Audrey and Senior are looking for him, which is good news for you because Anthony Sr. hates anything electrical and believe me my friend if they were here Sr. would have sent you right back to the cornfield—for good."
A perplexed and almost horrified look cast upon Frenzy's face. There were more monsters. He turned back to Tina, still holding onto her neck he asked: "How the frag did you live with three of them?!"
"Trust me... it wasn't my idea of fun," she said with a sterile look. "But lucky for me children will always have a bond with their toys, even if the parents find them bad," she gave Frenzy a glance, a hidden meaning with her eyes.
Frenzy, hesitant at first, released her. He took a step back, looking at her as if he was analyzing her question. "You used tha' kids for protection didn't ya?"
"Jr. mostly," Tina said, rolling her eyes. "He was the first to find out that I was more than an ordinary toy and so I developed the first bond with him—telling him about the my adventures. He became very interested with me and my stories. Audrey and I also have an unbreakable bond. You know how it is... little girls and dolls are perfect matches."
Frenzy said nothing.
"After a year they began to see me as something more—a friend, a nanny, a playmate. So..."—she pointed to her human appearance—"Here I am."
"But," she raised a finger before Frenzy could open his mouth. "They still thought of me as a doll." "And therefore I still retain some of my powers..." she thought to herself.
"Really?" Frenzy looked at her doubtfully. "Ya look like a fleshie to me." he shrugged.
"Fleshie huh?" she asked, laughing. She paced the ground. "I may look human but trust me—I'm still technically an inanimate manifestation." She paused and looked at Frenzy, remebering his lack of intelligence. "That's a ghost in a doll's—"
"Ya ya I remember what it means!" Frenzy irritably interrupted. He huffed, decieding to pace. "So where are the other two; the dad and the little femme?"
"Looking for Jr." she said with a frown. "I wish it was just Sr… I needed the time to talk to Audrey."
"Why the frag would you want to spend time with either of them?" questioned Frenzy.
Tina turned to him, biting her bottom lip. After a moment of thinking she looked around, making sure that they were alone. She walked up to him. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Frenzy shrugged indifferently. "What?"
Tina leaned in and whispered. "Audrey is the strongest out of all the monsters."
Frenzy's eyebrows rose, astonished; he assumed the father would have been. "She's stronger? How?"
"She told me that 'daddy couldn't read her thoughts, but she could read his'," Tina said. "And... she can bring things back that her daddy takes away."
"How do you know that?"
"Well number 1 because she told me and also because Audrey was the one who changed me. I crawled out of the cornfield like you all did-- secretly of course. Anthony Sr. you see... he didn't like me around his kids. I wasn't a good influence. Also, he couldn't read my mind. So I kept to the cornfield. Audrey and Junior came and to visit me when Senior wasn't looking."
"What? He can't read your mind?"
"No—or the kids. I'm dead remember? Don't you remember what I told you about mind reading and ghosts? Your big blue friend and Anthony and the rest can't read my mind because they're not medians. Medians are for the dead, telepaths are for the living."
"So how come Soundwave knew there was something possessing Rumble?" asked Frenzy, curious.
Tina sighed tiredly, pinching the bridge between her eyes. "Didn't you say that you shared a bond or something? The possession would have disrupted it."
She paused before she continued. "I had a plan to get out of here that worked until Anthony Sr. took Audrey with him to go find Junior," she scowled. "You see Junior doesn't like his father—and I can't say I blame him. He doesn't like his father for a number of reasons: Junior likes television, Senior doesn't. Junior wants to be an explorer, Senior wants to remain in Peaksville. Junior wants someone to play with other than his sister. Senior is anti-social; he doesn't want anybody new in Peaksville. The last person before me he sent to cornfield was his own mother who I got to talk to before Senior wished her away-- because she was associated with me. Apparently, the children don't know what happens when he sends something to the cornfield. She said that Senior told the children that 'it was a good place and that he sends them there so he won't hurt them anymore."
"Ha!" Frenzy guffawed, anger in his laugh. "A good fraggin' place ya—he sent almost all of the Decepticons there..." Frenzy paused, thinking. "Wait, the kid sent the Decepticons there when they did something he didn't like, if their dad told them..."
"I told Junior the truth," Tina said, explaining. "And that's why Senior sent me to the cornfield. Because what his mother also told me was that Senior sent his own wife there—Junior and Audrey's mother. Little Anthony didn't like his father anymore and so... he went to your base."
Frenzy grumbled something incoherent and bitter that Tina didn't catch.
"I was hoping that Audrey would remain so I could tell her the truth too," Tina said. "It's funny... it's always the girls that grow on me the most and lucky for me she's not quite a daddy's girl." Tina's smile dropped. "But she left and now I have to go to Plan B."
Frenzy turned to her. "What's Plan B?"
"Oh… something I have done many times before," Tina smirked, a sinister glint in her eyes. "But you don't have to worry your metallic little brain about it."
Tina approached and jabbed a finger in his torso. "I will tell you that you and your master need to hide when Senior returns." Tina removed her finger and looked up at the speckled night sky over their heads. "Well it's late, I have to get my beauty sleep. See you in the morning Frenzy. This was a good talk..."
Frenzy walked later that night through the small town of Peaksville, making his way down the street to the gas station of Peaksville's town center. Old and unused brick buildings lined the street of the small towns center. Decorated with an old time and abandoned atmosphere. Drug stores, a barber shop and an ice cream parlor now architectural antiques trapped in a mid 20th century standstill.
Frenzy scratched his forward anxiously. Nobody besides Swindle (Frenzy was astonished when Swindle never mentioned her or used him to humiliate him) had known of his affiliations with Tina and frankly he was ashamed to call himself her acquaintance. It was bad enough when she was a doll, now that she was a fleshie, well... that humiliation deserved to be stored in a category all of its own. He killed fleshies, not befriend them like an Autobot. He didn't need any of the other Decepticons to know. But there was something else too...
Tina was, for a lack of better explanation, had an unpleasant aura around her. There was always something about her that made him never trust her, no matter how innocent and sweet she appeared. He saw it clearly tonight on her moldable face.
Even though it was her fault that the Decepticons were now nearly extinct, she still found a way to convince him that she was the victim. He shook his head... no matter how much she sugar-coated things it was still her fault...
Still, if she wanted to get them killed, why did she warn him about the other two monsters? To redeem herself? Maybe; fleshies were weird... but then again, she wasn't a normal fleshie.
The first time they had met her face was stagnant when she was a doll and he had to use her tone alone to decipher what she was really thinking, now that she was a fleshie, and he could see her facial expressions, he found something far from nice. She was untrustworthy; he could see it in her eyes. There was a calculating coldness to her, as if she was always up to no good...
Yep, Tina's creepier when she's human, thought Frenzy.
The glow of energon cubes in the distance brought an electrical surge to his starving fuel tanks. Slag... he couldn't remember how long it was since he refueled. He took a half step and stopped, realizing that if he went over there... he was going to have to tell them about Tina and the other two monsters.
Frag his pride, Soundwave and the others needed to know, after all, he wasn't going in no slaggin' cornfield with Screamer and the others.
He sighed and walked up to Soundwave and the other who were filling the cubes, ready for the questions ahead.
The next day Tina walked to the center of town, needing to do a little shopping all the while doing something that she never could do when Senior was around; hum a tune. An old show tune that had stuck with her since little Rhoda's father from '58 took her with her to watch 'South Pacific' at a drive-in. It was the main female character's song 'I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair.' Like most things she encountered, like for example a red and black Decepticon, it was something that stuck to her like glue.
She reached and jiggled the brass handle of the green lettered door marked 'Bixby's Hardware'. She rolled her eyes; it was locked. "I wonder what Senior killed him over for..."
She released the handle and resorted to an infamous lock picking trick. Her hand punched through the door window effortlessly. Her hand reached inside from the other side the glass shattered hole. She flicked the dead bolt and opened the door. She raised her hand, which if she was human, should have splintered her flesh. Luckily for her... she was still an indestructible toy. She wiped the top of her hand, the sandy dust falling harmlessly to the dirty ground.
She looked inside the darkened tool emporium, dust and cobwebs the only new additions to the store. She walked around the store, whistling the tune until something caught her eye.
A layer of cobwebs decorated a self of pesticides. She picked up one, a small box of rat poison... she was surprised that this was here. All one of the Peaksville residents had to do was slip it into his tomato soup. Pity she didn't know it was here before; she would have enjoyed feeding it to him.
Another wall caught her attention, but that wasn't all. A sound outside distracted her from the tools, quietly she made her way towards the front window and peered into the street.
The metal cat that was watching her was stalking down the street, looking as if it was minding it's business. Tina lifted an eyebrow, her eyes squinting with anger, but walked away from the window and back to her chores.
Ravage watched from a distance, pretending to not care of the female's affairs. Even if Soundwave didn't order him to watch the female's actions to discover her what her 'Plan B' was, he would still be keeping an optic on her. Number 1: Because of Frenzy's story regarding 'Talky Tina' and their discussion. Number 2: She wasn't human. And number 3: Simply because there was nothing else to do.
Talky Tina walked out of the store, carrying a large burlap sack and an axe in one hand. The axe head swung over the ground, acting like a sinister cane. She dragged bottom of the burlap sack on the ground like an unlucky trick 'r treater as she continued to make her way down the street to a faded white and blue building; the words 'pharmacy' written on the sign hanging over the door.
Ravage radioed Soundwave. :The female is gathering tools; a potential weapon and a carrying sack.:
:Continue to monitor-- make sure she does not suspect:
:Acknowledged.:
Ravage stepped into the alley's protective shade and peered around the corner, waiting for Talky Tina to emerge. Ravage's nose picked up on another sent, a familiar, sickly and disgusting scent...
His optics narrowed. It was too strong to of come from one fleshy alone. His optics narrowed in on something approaching down the road...
:Soundwave, the humans that the female spoke of are coming this way. They are 100 yards from my location.:
:Stay out of sight and retreat back to the cornfield.:
Ravage stalked backwards into the shadows and disappeared out of sight.
Tina reached into one of the cabinets and smiled, she had found the bottle she was looking for. Her joy was cut short by the sound of familiar voices outside. Her jaw dropped and horror cast upon her face. It was Anthony and Audrey, they were back in Peaksville.
Quickly she ducked behind the front desk and hid herself out of view, not taking the risk of letting Anthony see her... not yet at least...
A small girl with auburn hair walked tiredly with her father as he dragged his sleepy daughter back to their home with disappointment. She looked up at him, meeting his blue guiless eyes.
"Daddy, why did Anthony leave?" she asked, sadness and worry on her face.
"I don't know Audrey," Anthony Sr. replied.
"Do you think he might come back?" Audrey asked.
Anthony Sr. sighed, "Maybe..."
"Daddy..." she paused, fearing what the answer might be. "You're not going to wish him away into the cornfield are you?"
Anthony Senior's eyes dropped to his daughter. "Of course not," he said as they continue to walk. "Your good children... I would never send you to the cornfield."
"How come you only send people there when you're angry, Daddy?"
Anthony Sr. hesitated, thrown off by the question. "I told you Audrey… it's so I won't hurt them anymore," Anthony Sr. replied. "But don't worry... it's a good place."
Audrey stared up at her, biting her lip anxiously before she asked. "Do you think that that Tina could come back so I could have someone to play with? I like Tina and—"
"No. Absolutely not," Anthony Sr. interrupted his voice thick with parental authority.
Audrey's face crumpled. "But why? Tina's nice to me and she likes me--"
"I said no," Anthony Sr. said. He looked down at his daughter with a stony face... that deteriorated away when he saw the painful look in her eyes. Anthony Sr. sighed and dropped to one knee. "I'm not angry with you Audrey—never honey," he said tenderly. "Tina, is, well... she's not a good person. And I don't want you to be around bad people, understand sweetie?"
"But Tina isn't bad, she's nice to me and she says that she loves me," Audrey said.
Anthony Sr. face hardened a bit, all the while holding a soft fatherly disposition. "People said that about daddy too, but they didn't mean it," he shook his head.
"And then you sent them to the cornfield?" Audrey blurted, her eyes narrowing and a frown upon her little 8-year old face.
Sr. frowned and he rose. "Yeah. And then I sent them to the cornfield... because that's where bad and sneaky people deserve to be."
Audrey's face contorted into a confused look. "But daddy, you said it was a good place."
"It is a good place..." answered Freemont, he stood up and took his daughter's hand again. "A good place for them."
Freemont took his daughter's hand and they continued to walk. Audrey kept her eyes on her shoes, thinking quietly to herself. She was never one to question her father, afterall he said that what he did was to protect them, but she still couldn't stop her curiosity from speaking out and ignoring her hesitations that she might anger him.
Sr. suddenly stopped, halting Audrey as well. She looked up to see him staring down a dark alleyway with great intensity. Audrey also drew her attention to it, but could find nothing out of place.
"What's wrong Daddy?" she asked.
Anthony's eyes widened and narrowed and after a few minutes of silence they returned back to normal. He turned back to Audrey and they continued to walk back to their home. "Nothing. I thought I heard something was all."
When they were out of sight, Tina poked her head out the pharmacy. Leaning her back against the door frame she looked at the bottle in her hand, the plan running through her mind…
Night casted it's blanket of darkness upon Peaksville, sending the monsters to their caves to slumber, unknowing of the villager in the cornfield bearing a grudge…
Tina walked through the endless field of corn, heading towards the Freemont house with her essentials. Just as she was about to see the outline of the house a hand roughly grasped her shoulder. A little startled she looked to see that it wasn't Frenzy, but it was close enough.
"Hey fleshie, the boss wants a word with you," Rumble said, gripping her shoulder a little tighter.
"I'm busy," she said. "I have something to do first."
She tried to push forward but his iron grasp tugged her back. "No. NOW fleshie."
Tina began to grow very impatient. "What does he want?" she demanded.
Rumble looked down at the things in her hands. "What're those for?"
"Things I need if I'm going to solve our little problem," she stated. "Get the picture?"
"No, let's go now," he ordered bluntly with a violent tug.
With more strength than he would have ever expected to come from her, she freed her shoulder from the Transformer and shot him glare. "I'll see him in a minute. What I have to do is more important Crumble, Tumble— whatever your called."
"The name's Rumble meat bag, not fraggin' Crumble," Rumble returned with anger.
She snorted and turned her back to him, heading towards the house.
Rumble ignored her last comment and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll be waiting— ya got one minute fleshie," Rumble said.
With impatient wave of her hand, as if she was swatting a pesky fly, she kicked off her shoes and entered the house …
Tina crept into the Freemont's house as silent as a ghost, her first person to haunt was Audrey in the upstairs bedroom. Carefully she walked up the stairs, keeping the stair's groaning to a minimum. She scowled; hard-wood floors were always the worst floors for sneaking in the middle of the night. She suppressed a sigh of relief when she reached the second floor of the old farm house, but still reminding herself that her mission was far from accomplished.
Carefully she walked down the hall, her bare feet as quiet as a mouse's. She reached Audrey's room and peeked in to see the ivory light of the moon casting a window-paned cross across Audrey's sleeping form. Tina reached into her pocket and pulled out the bottle of chloroform. She rolled down the sleeve of her cardigan so it covered her hand. She unscrewed the cap and dabbed her sleeve with the sleepy liquid. Without hesitation she quietly walked over to Audrey and placed the wet sleeve over her mouth. She stirred quietly for a moment but then died back to sleep.
Tina removed the sleeve from her mouth and began to walk out the door toward Anthony Freemont's room. When she reached his room she slowed her pace as she entered his meticulously clean room. He lay on the sheets with his clothes and his shoes still on, meaning that he had to be dead asleep. She soaked her sleeve even more, a deadly frown upon her face as she approached the merciless executioner that slumbered away.
With one quick motion she raced over to the bed and covered his mouth roughly. He stirred and she pressed the sleeve even further into his mouth, pushing the cloth passed his lips even, as if trying to gag him rather than subdue him.
He didn't waken much to her relief and the chloroform did it's job.
Now all she had to do was carry him to the barn.
Frenzy walked up to Rumble who was impatiently waiting for Tina. Frenzy tapped his shoulder with his hand. "Whatcha waitin' for?" he asked.
"Your human friend," Rumble spat.
Frenzy scoffed. "Tina ain't my friend, bro."
"I hope so," Rumble said, a hint of distrust in his voice.
A feminine grunt halted their conversation. Nosily, Tina came out the screen door, back first and hunched over. Tina looked over her shoulder and backed down the stairs, her arms out in front of her dragging something. Tina reached the bottom of the stairs and the two Decepticons could finally see what the doll reincarnate was dragging...
It was another human—a male much older than she was. She continued to drag him across the ground, completely unconscious. Frenzy and Rumble looked at each other and then back to the scene in front of them.
Frenzy suddenly pulled a shocked face. Could that be...?
It was the father of the monsters.
"What does she think she's doing?" Rumble asked, pulling a confused eyebrow.
Frenzy shrugged honestly. "I don't know..."
Rumble and Frenzy's head simultaneously turned as they watched her drag Freemont into the barn and shut the door behind her. A moment later, a dull light illuminated through the cracks of the barn.
An epiphany suddenly struck Frenzy. "I think she's is going to kill him."
Rumble looked at his brother. "That's a good thing isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Frenzy said, unsure wither to celebrate or to be more concerned of the depths of Tina's personality he was seeing. "A real good thing…"
The blue and orange curtains of dawn began to show as Tina tapped her shovel on the disturbed earth, concealed perfectly amongst the towering stalks of corn in the large ten acre field. Tina smoothed out the dark ground, all the while humming that same show tune.
She smiled and said: "I told you so…"
Tina looked up to see Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage make their way through the jungle of stalks and towards her. Tina stopped and placed the shovel in the ground, supporting herself on it as they made their analysis of what she was doing.
Frenzy's opinion of Tina had literally changed overnight. He stared at his blood-stained accomplice with a new found view. Tina was a trickster, hidden behind a painted doll like smile. Frenzy could no longer trust Tina, not because she had killed the human—that he could have cared less about— but how sneaky she had done it. It seemed planned in advance and Frenzy knew that there was probably more to her plan than just killing Freemont Senior.
"Now what?" Frenzy asked. "You killed the creator but there is still two more out there."
"I told you Frenzy," she said. "Audrey loves me and Junior well… he listens to me." she smirked slightly at the last bit. The Cassettes narrowed their optics. Tina ran looked down at the blood on her hands and dress.
She inhaled the morning air. "Well... I need to wash off before Audrey wakes up," Tina said, laying the shovel carelessly down and heading in the direction of the town.
When she disappeared out of sight, Ravage turned to Frenzy. "She is still holding back something—I can smell it."
"Ya thanks, like I didn't know that before," Frenzy scoffed, rolling his optics. "I feel bad for the kid a little. She likes Tina and I don't know if that's a good..." Frenzy paused, an idea coming to mind. "Wait an astro-second," he said as his face brightened. "That's it! Fraggit I know how we can get everythin' back to normal!"
"How?" asked Rumble.
"The little femme!" Frenzy exclaimed. "Tina said that Audrey can bring things back because she is stronger than he is. What if... we could get the femme to like us and ask her if she could bring back everyone?"
Rumble and Ravage looked at each other, baffled expressions upon their faces.
"Frenz... we're Decepticons, there's no fraggin way that the kid is going to like us—humans know we hate them," Rumble argued.
"Yeah... but the kids didn't know about us until Tina came here," Frenzy said. "I know Tina. She told monster-junior of us and that's why he came to the base. Tina wouldn't know what an Autobot really was and she has no reason to see that we are really the bad guys. And I bet ya the femme won't either."
Ravage flashed Frenzy a doubtful look. "You suggest we down ourselves to the level of an Autobot?"
"No-- not all of us. One of us has got to get close to her and gain her trust—like Soundwave was doing to the kid before! If Tina can do it, we can do it too."
"And which of us is going to have ta do it?" questioned Rumble, his tone clearly holding the hidden message of 'not me'.
"Why don't you do it Frenzy?" Ravage maliciously suggested. "After all... you are so good with communicating to humans."
Frenzy frowned at the idea... he was hoping it could be a group effort rather than an individual project. The urge to jump off a cliff into a pit of Sharkticons was more inviting than spending time with the kid.
But he considered what would be worst... never getting out of here while the kid continued to send Decepticons to the cornfield—and the Autobots winning. Orknuckle down his pride, allow humiliation to smother him for a few cycles but still emerge the reason for the Decepticon's survival.
Yeah... he kinda liked the last part of the second option.
It was already near noon in Peaksville when Audrey Freemont rose from her long sleep. The girl rubbed her eyes, trying to rid her crusty eyes of the sandman's dust. She blinked her rust colored eyes around her room before stopping them at the window, seeing a familiar face walking around outside the cornfield. It was Tina.
Audrey's face fell into a confused state. Why was Tina outside the cornfield? She would get in trouble if daddy saw her—daddy didn't like Tina...
The slam of the screen door downstairs caused Audrey to look away from the window and to her bedroom door. Audrey lay silent as she heard someone start to come up the wooden stairs. Audrey stared blankly at her visitor.
Tina gave her a sympathetic smile and came to her bed, sitting down right beside her. "How are you today?" she asked, her blue eyes filled with a friendly luster.
Audrey looked up at her, still too tired to greet her back as enthusiastically as her. "Why are you out of the cornfield Tina? Daddy said you were not allowed to come back."
Tina's friendly face fell into a serious and almost regrettable stare. "Audrey... I have to tell you something," Tina began. She pulled Audrey towards her so that she was sitting on her lap, the blankets still covering the little girl. "Do you remember what I told you about what happens when something dies? That it can't be brought back once it's dead."
Audrey furrowed her eyebrows, but nodded her response.
Tina sighed sadly. "Now I have to tell you something else—something that might upset you..."
Audrey began to look around frantically. "Where's daddy?" she asked, changing the subject rapidly.
Tina's face saddened, almost as if she was about to cry. Tina's grip tightened on the girl and she leaned forward, placing her forehead on the girl's own with tenderness. "Audrey... he's dead. He's gone."
"W-What?" Audrey croaked, not comprehending Tina's words.
"He's gone honey. He died last night."
Numbness coursed through Audrey's body. What? Her father was dead? How? Why was he dead?! Her vision blurred as tears began to form out of her eyes. She felt Tina hug her tighter as she rested her chin on Audrey's head. "I'm sorry dear…"
Audrey wiggled out of Tina's grip and jumped from her lap, her small legs entangled themselves in the sheets causing her to trip. She yelped in surprise but quickly rose to her feet and fled out the door. Tina continued to sit on Audrey's bed, hearing the child calling for her father and checking every single room in the house with frantic thoroughness. With Audrey out of the room, Tina's face correctly mirrored her feelings for Freemont's death...
She smirked.
Audrey had not returned to the farmhouse when night started to fall again on Peaksville. Her whereabouts were not known by neither human nor Decepticon; it was if she had vanished into thin air so she could morn alone.
Tina sat upon the steps of the porch, waiting for Audrey so she could move to her next phase. Soundwave and his Cassettes, now free of any danger courtesy of Talky Tina, could freely move around the farm instead of being secluded to the cornfield.
With stolen fuel from the Peaksville gas station, Frenzy sat on the ground by Soundwave's legs, an untouched energon cube in his hands... his attention on Talky Tina who was peeling potatoes for Audrey's supper.
Her attitude was disturbing... she had no remorse for what she had done. She hadn't just killed Freemont. She had chopped him into pieces and had put the part into different—already dug—spots in the cornfield. Holes that he had no doubt she had dug herself...
Frenzy finally stood, placing the cube to the side and approached Tina.
She didn't have to look up to know who was coming to greet her. When his metallic stomping ceased, she addressed him. "Hello Frenzy."
"Alright what's your plan for gettin' out of here?" Frenzy questioned, jumping straight to the point. "Ya befriend her, kill her dad, then what?"
Tina looked up at him with an uncaring gesture, almost as if she was regarding him as nothing but an object. "Then I ask her," Tina responded.
Frenzy narrowed his optics under his visor. "And what about her brother, huh?" Frenzy demanded. "What's you say we do about that?"
Tina quirked an eyebrow unenthusiastically. "We?" she questioned. Swiftly she stabbed her kitchen knife into the bowl of peeled potatoes. Tina, not in the mood to speak with him, picked up her things and headed inside the house.
Ravage was right; there was something else that was going on in her mind. Another plan? What kind of plan? Would it interfere with his?
Probably.
Whatever it was it wouldn't be good on their part; Tina's actions were for done for specifically Tina's benefits. That meant only one thing... he was going to have to get Audrey away from her.
Night arrived darkening the farm once again, the only lighting was that of the glimmers of candlelight from the Freemont house, evidence of their existence provided by the windows as they glowed and flickered like jack-o-lanterns.
Frenzy once again stalked the streets of the center of Peaksville's building cemetery; a ghost town atmosphere basking the town in an ethereal and ominous shadow. He couldn't help but wonder how many Decepticons were left in the Nemesis. Perhaps he was mistaken... perhaps Thundercracker, Dead End and the others would be found in the cornfield when Soundwave, Rumble, himself and the others dug up their bodies.
Frenzy came to the end of town, another farm house in the distance down the dark, gravel road. Frenzy reached the end and passed a mailbox labeled 'Sommes Residence'.
Frenzy walked passed the mailbox and into the littered and uncut hillbilly grass of the abandoned house. He walked around the house and stopped when he saw a glow up above him.
A wooden structure embedded in the trees caused him to quirk an optic ridge... treehouse he think the humans called it. Frenzy suddenly squinted his optics in confusion, increasing the range on his audio receptors. Crying, he heard crying.
Frenzy approached the tree and looked at the pegs that descended up the tree in a discomglomerated pattern. He grasped onto the pegs and climbed up, feeling the wood buckling under his weight as he did.
Frenzy reached the top and peeked over the floor of the treehouse and froze when he saw the golden ticket he and Tina were fighting over.
Audrey had her back turned to him, not noticing and continued to sob into her knees. Frenzy inhaled, preparing to cross the threshold of forbidden territory.
"Hey kid," he called sympathetically. "You okay?"
Audrey's eyes widened and turned, seeing that she was not alone. She backed away at her odd looking and red-eyed visitor. She let out an blood-curtailing scream. Frenzy screamed as well, but only because the pegs that were holding his weight broke and surprised him. Frenzy landed on his back at the base of the tree with a startled yelp.
Frenzy rolled onto his chest and pushed himself up. Frenzy stood under the treehouse, scratching the back of his neck. She wasn't screaming anymore, but that didn't mean that she wasn't still afraid. Frenzy bit his bottom lip component, contemplating on how exactly to get the femme to trust him. He decided to work slowly.
"Hey kid... err... Audrey right?" Frenzy called up, trying to twist his vocals as benevolent as an Autobot's.
She didn't answer him.
"My name's Frenzy. I didn't mean ta scare ya, I was just wondering why you are up there," he said. Slag he had never felt so stupid.
Again there was no response. Frenzy scowled, hating the name he was forced to say.
"Tina might of told ya about me. Well even if she didn't, I know her..." Frenzy gritted his dental plates and forced smile. "She and I are good friends..." Despite the words coming out painfully, it did the trick.
He heard Audrey's weight overhead in the treehouse shift towards the opening. Brown eyes hesitantly poked out, blinking with fascination down at him. She had never seen anything like him before-- except on her brother's television screen. A robot; a genuine, real robot.
Her head tilted to the side like an inquisitive kitten. She stood a little straighter and looked down at him. Even if she was staring down at him, she could tell he was tall; much taller than daddy or any other people she had seen. Although he beamed a warm and caring smile at her, it was the red cover over his eyes that were throwing her off. Did he really have red eyes? Why was he wearing that funny thing?
"Can I come up, kid?" he asked.
She tried not to laugh at his funny sounding accented voice. Caution was overshadowed by curiosity; she nodded her head.
Frenzy sat criss-cross in front of Audrey, hunched over in the treehouse that made standing in it almost impossible for him; it was clearly designed to only house sparklings. She continued to listen to him as he talked about himself, introducing his race to her and how they arrived on Earth, explaining that humans weren't the only species in the universe. Her eyes boggled at his words; in awe at the new knowledge that he presented her with.
He kept information about the Autobots to a minimum, fearing that if he put emphasis on them that she might visit them and discover who really were the 'bad guys'. Ironically, he found himself talking a lot about Starscream. She laughed at his criticizing humor about the screechy slagger, finding his words the funniest thing she had ever heard in her life. Frenzy grimaced inwardly, realizing that they probably were when he thought about her life with her monster of a father and her no-good brother.
Frenzy told her about Rumble, Soundwave and the others; catching her attention even more at the mention that Soundwave was telepathic.
"I can read minds too," she smiled, finding it neat that she had something in common with a robot.
Frenzy leaned forward, his jaw dropping in astonishment, doing his best at an Oscar winning performance. "No! Really! You're a telepath too?!" He crossed his arms over his chest in doubt, acting like she was playing with him. "I don't believe ya..." he said, leaning back and giving her a look that a bad cop would do to a criminal he was interrogating.
"No, it's true I swear!" she cried. "I can to read minds!"
Frenzy allowed a smile to pull on his face. "I still don't believe ya kid." he forced a laugh from his vocalizer.
She furrowed her eyes at him. "What's so funny?" she asked, unsure if she should be offended.
"Nothing kid, I'm just playing with ya," he continued, smiling. Frenzy frowned when she didn't laugh in response, but stared blankly at him. Frenzy sighed. "Nah, I do believe ya—Tina told me you were."
Audrey smiled at the mention of Tina's name, and again Frenzy frowned. "Yeah... she was in the base for awhile... Swindle brought her in by accident..."
"Which one is Swindle?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I forgot."
"It's okay kid," Frenzy assured, lifting his arm and activating his hologram program. A small holographic replica of Swindle beamed from his wrist plate and trotted across the space between Audrey and Frenzy like an action figure. "He's kinda like the salesman of the Decepticons, he likes to sell things and stuff, but yeah he brought Tina into the base and that's how I met her." Frenzy dropped his arm and deactivated the hologram. "How'd you meet Tina?"
"My brother," Audrey shrugged. "He found Tina when he was out exploring the outside world... daddy didn't like that and sent him to his room, but Anthony gave me Tina and told me to keep her safe. I don't think daddy liked her very much, that's why he sent her away to the cornfield after I made her real."
"So is that why Tina is walking and talking and looks like a meat—err human?" Frenzy asked rhetorically. "How'd ya do that?"
"I wished it!" Audrey chirped enthusiastically. "All I did was wish for Tina to be real and then she became real!"
Frenzy scratched his head, thinking of what to say. "Did Tina ask for it?"
Audrey shook her head. "No. But it was better—now me and Tina can do more stuff! She's a really good friend."
"What about your brother?" Frenzy asked. "Don't you two play?"
"Yeah... but Anthony likes to watch T.V all the time—I don't like T.V," Audrey said. "I like to play outside."
"Well what do ya know?" Frenzy said, putting his fists on his hip plates. "I like ta play outside too!"
Audrey's eyes gleamed, "Really?!"
"Really, really," Frenzy replied, with a nod. "All the Decepticons like to play outside... and stuff."
"Where are the other Decepticons?" asked Audrey, biting her bottom lip with excitement. "Are they around here too?"
Frenzy frowned—purposely—catching Audrey attention. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Frenzy looked up to see that Audrey appeared to be genuinely concerned.
He had counted on it.
Tina opened Audrey's bedroom window and crawled out onto the roof, her bare feet prickled by the shingles. She crawled hand-by-hand until she perched herself on the mini-roof of Audrey's window, leaned back and looked at the sky. She nearly reached serenity until it was stolen from her by the sound of metallic footsteps approaching.
With a frown, she lifted herself up and stared into the emotionless visor of Frenzy's telepathic master Soundwave.
"There is nothing I can tell you that Frenzy hasn't already," she said, leaning her head back.
"Why did you have the child kill Swindle?" Soundwave demanded.
She giggled both childishly and maniacally before biting her lip and pulling herself up to meet his face. "Because he deserved it. Think of it like this... if it wasn't for Swindle dropping me off on the side of the road like an unwanted kitten, the brat would never of known about you. It's his fault for everything--"
A noise cut Tina off, Soundwave and the ex-doll turned towards the cornfield. Ravage, Laserbeak and the other Cassettes lifted their heads, eyeing the cornfield suspiciously. Tina stood, trying to get a better look over Soundwave's massive shoulders. The ground of the cornfield shifted and lifted. Tina's blue eyes grew wide with rage as she watched as the Decepticons terminated by Anthony Jr. rose out of the cornfield—very much alive and annoyed.
Her eyes immediately fixed on the yellow and purple mech when he eventually came out of the ground.
How? HOW?! After all that she had done to get him in the cornfield, how was he able to climb out of it?! Her eyes turned away for a moment, fixing them on a new target that explained perfectly why...
Frenzy and Audrey were coming back towards the farm house and much to her despair Audrey was enjoying his company. Her eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. What did he think he was doing? How dare he approach on her targets. How dare he try and take Audrey away from her!
Frenzy would not ruin this. Not over her dead, plastic body.
"Soundwave," Megatron called, approaching his Communications Officer. "Where are we? What has happened?"
The Decepticons approached behind their leader, looking around at their surroundings with confusion. Was this the Pit? Where they dead?
Audrey and Frenzy walked up towards the giant silver robot, Audrey's eyes went wide with awe as she stared at the Decepticons.
"Megatron, sir," Frenzy said, walking behind Audrey and placing his metallic hands on her small shoulders. "This is the sis' of the kid that was in our base, his twin sister," Frenzy said, introducing to her like a father would to the principal on the first day of school. Memories flooded the Decepticons and some of them stiffened at the words 'twin sister', Frenzy worked quickly to take away their fear. "She brought everyone back—I asked her to and she brought you back."
Shock graced the Decepticon's faces, even Megatron's. They would have never thought in a million vorns that a relative of the little monster they encountered to be so merciful.
"Did she?" Megatron asked, trying to keep his raspy vocals even. He looked down at the female sparkling before him, staring at him as if expecting gratitude.
"I thank you child..." Megatron managed, swallowing his pride when he remembered what happened last time a child was upset—and he certainly didn't want to find out what this one could do.
"You're really big!" she said, smiling. "You're bigger than my house!"
"Indeed," Megatron said, a forced smile pulling on his face. He dropped to one knee in front on the girl. "If you'd be so kind child, tell me where are we?"
"Peaksville," she answered cheerfully. She pulled away out of Frenzy's grip and approached the silver Transformer closer. "Frenzy told me you would be big, but not really big!"
Megatron's optics flickered to Frenzy, studying him. "Frenzy told you about us. What else did Frenzy tell you about us?"
"Audrey!"
Optics flickered the human female that jumped from the roof of the house and onto the ground, she walked between the legs of the towering Decepticons and by Megatron, not even looking at them, her focus on Audrey.
"Are you feeling better Audrey?" Tina questioned sentimentally.
Audrey nodded.
"That's good," Tina said. "I have your supper ready—tomato soup. I bet your hungry sweetie."
Audrey rubbed her lips together, thinking about wither she wanted to stay and chat with the Decepticons or go to get something to eat; she was very hungry. Tina gritted her teeth together. "The Decepticons need to talk to each other, you can talk to them as soon as you are done eating dinner."
Audrey blinked at the sound of Tina's forceful statement; she had never been like that before. Tina realized her mistake and quickly countered it, by using one of Audrey's weaknesses...
"I made you chocolate cake too," Tina said, smiling.
"OKAY!" Audrey said, grasping Tina's hand and pulling her in the house. Tina passed by Swindle and flashed him a glare as she was dragged toward the house. Audrey stopped when she reached the porch, turning back to the Decepticons. "I'll be right back—I just have to go eat and then I'll come back out, I swear!"
The porch door slammed and left the Decepticons to finally allow them to catch up on current events.
To Be Continued...
A/N: Before Twilight Zone fans come after me for having Talky Tina off-ing Anthony Freemont, let me just say that he had it coming.
Audrey Freemont is canon; she is from Forest Whitaker's revival of the Twilight Zone series— the sequel episode to 'It's a Good Life' which was actually pretty neat—especially to see Bill Mumy (Anthony), Cloris Leachmen (Mrs. Freemont) reprise their roles—so I thought I use her here and bring the generations of bad seeds together in one storyline.
Hope this holds you all over until next time I update and once again, sorry for the cliffhanger. :( Believe me I hate them as much as you do.
Thanks for reading and review if you wish. :)