Wow… I do not believe I have ever made so many people I don't know cry. Or had strangers call me a "monster," and yet I felt nothing but pride at the name. I can honestly say that the response to my last chapter exceeded even my greatest hopes. I managed to twist so many heartstrings and leave my readers in tears. In short, my last chapter was a complete success.
I also have passed one hundred reviews and I wish to thank all my loyal readers who made that possible. Your feedback makes me smile and keeps me motivated. Even if it involves calling me a monster because of what horrible thing I might do to a certain six year old.
This kid's been through a lot lately, going from scared to worried to sad to utterly heart-broken. She's far from home, her parents are nowhere close to her currently, she's just witnessed the ship carrying her favorite Cybertronian and her other friends explode, and she's pretty much taken all the heart-ache that she can stand. She's dealing with loss. If she was any other child, she'd be in a nearly-useless state. But she's not just any kid. She's Annabelle Lennox, the daughter of Sarah and William Lennox and, essentially, the adopted youngling of Ironhide. She's tougher than the average six year old. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. If you hit rock bottom, the only way left is up.
He couldn't breathe. Sam just stared as the space craft was swallowed in fire. It seemed impossible. He couldn't believe that he was witnessing the destruction of the ship, seeing the death of so many beings he knew and called his friends.
The Wreckers, who he'd just met that day. Mirage. Wheeljack. The twins, Mudflap and Skids. Sideswipe. Wheelie and Brains, who had lived with him and Mikaela in their apartment. Arcee and Chromia, who had already lost their sister. Ratchet. Ironhide, who had barely escaped death only a short time before. Optimus, the person he respected more than any other mech or human.
Bumblebee. His car, his guardian, his best friend.
They were all gone.
Abruptly, the Decepticon watch released its grip on his wrist and skittered away. The young man lashed out, trying to squash the evil creature that had ensured that his last act towards the Autobots was one of betrayal. He failed in that attempt, but he suddenly realized that the small Cybertronian didn't matter anymore. What did matter was that he was no longer the puppet. He was no longer under surveillance.
Jumping up, Sam broke into a run. He was on a mission.
Still a hostage, still despising the man leading her around by her elbow, still visualizing sinking her stolen screwdriver into his head, but in a new city now. Mikaela didn't feel that this was anything close to an improvement, but Dylan seemed satisfied. She had no idea what he'd been talking about to Sam over the phone. He'd said something about "them leaving without a fight" in a tone that sent a chill down her spine, but he didn't say anything else. She could guess it dealt with the Autobots, but she could somehow tell that he meant something more than them leaving the planet.
"Welcome to Chicago," Dylan remarked, leaving the helicopter pad while she glared at the traitor to humanity.
He promised.
Ironhide promised that everything would be all right. And he would never lie to her. But she saw the space ship explode like one of the targets when Ironhide shot it. She saw it destroyed and no one would answer her. And they should have answered her, she knew Ironhide would have said something if he could.
They were all gone, but not like they just moved away or left the planet like they were supposed to. Like Suzie's dog after it was hit by a car. Like poor Jolt and Flareup. Gone forever and ever.
She didn't know why Mr. Simmons had picked her up like that. She'd been crying really hard, that bad type of crying that wasn't very loud, but kept getting worse until you can't stop. Then, the "big-headed joker" had pulled her into his lap. He wasn't Daddy or anything, but she was too sad to care. She'd latched on, burying her head into his suit and curled up into a little ball. He rolled his wheelchair out of the room, away from the television screens, but she could still see the space ship falling every time she closed her eyes. She was still sobbing and choking harshly, probably getting his fancy nice clothes covered in snot and all messy. Mr. Simmons didn't seem to mind though. Maybe he was actually kind of nice after all.
"Not one of those supposedly intelligent people has the slightest idea of what to do about a crying kid," muttered the man under his breath, placing a hand on her back in a small attempt to be reassuring. "Plenty of knowledge, not a hint of common sense. Not that I'm surprised."
Slowly, her sobs began to slow, no longer shaking her as hard with each choking breath. She was still sad, but her crying was exhausting and she didn't have the energy to keep it up indefinitely. She felt like there was a painful lump in her chest that wouldn't move.
"Autobot traitors. Humans working for the Decepticons. The Xanthium destroyed," Mr. Simmons continued to rant quietly to himself. "Innocent kids don't deserve to be exposed to this. They can't handle it and shouldn't have to."
"Most people think 'innocence' means that a child is too ignorant of the world to understand. That they cannot see the world for what it is," remarked Dutch, the red-haired man who talked kind of different who worked for Mr. Simmons now. "I would like to think that they are less blinded by the distrust and suspicions adults gain from experience. An innocent child is not one who cannot see what is right in front of them; they are often the only ones who can see the truth of things."
The man in the wheelchair was silent for a few moments before asking, "That… sounded oddly deep and profound. Anymore Zen teachings to share, Dutch?"
After thinking a second, he answered, "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
"What in the world does that one mean?"
"No idea."
Even as miserable and tired as she was, Annabelle couldn't help providing a watery and weak giggle at the red-haired man's tone.
"That's more like the annoying pest I know," Simmons remarked, patting her back. "Let's see if we can find the Witwicky kid. Or that Epps person. Or anyone with experience with children, really. Because I didn't even have siblings growing up, kid."
Nodding tiredly and sniffling, she slid back down to the floor. She knew his leg probably hurt, so she probably shouldn't be sitting on him. She glanced between Mr. Simmons and Dutch, trying to regain her voice.
"W-what do we do n-now?" Annabelle asked quietly.
The black-haired man shrugged, "I have no…"
"Simmons," Sam shouted, rounding the corner at high speed. "Simmons, I need your help. My phone. Mikaela kidnapped. Track him."
"Slow down, Witwicky," he ordered, waving his hands placatingly. "What?"
"My phone, my phone. Dylan Gould, he works for the Decepticons. He has Mikaela. He just called and I need to find him now. I'm going after her. Can you track him?"
Mikaela was in trouble now? She liked the older girl. She was fun and nice. She used to baby-sit before she moved away. Why would someone kidnapper her?
"Dutch is genius at this sort of thing," nodded Simmons, taking the cell phone from Sam. "We'll find that traitor."
Another traitor. Like Sentinel Prime, only a human being this time. Annabelle hated the idea someone mean could pretend to be nice so they could hurt her friends. At least Barricade never tried to act like a good guy. He was mean as soon as she met him.
Traitors kept doing really bad things to people she knew. A traitor, Dylan Gould, had taken Mikaela like how Laserbeak stole her from her yard. And Sentinel Prime attacked the Autobots after pretending to be on their side. He killed Jolt and Flareup. He hurt Ironhide really badly… Someone needed to stop them.
But she couldn't do anything about it. Mikaela needed a real hero to fix things. A real hero like the NEST soldier people. A real hero like Daddy. A real hero like…
Ironhide.
If he was here, he'd fix things. He'd go find Mikaela, fire his cannons at all the bad robots, and rescue her from the traitor. Even if that Sentinel meanie did manage to hurt him, that didn't mean he wasn't the toughest and best Autobot in the world at beating up bad robots. He could've handled a mean human. If he was still here…
Sam, Mr. Simmons, and Dutch were doing something with the phone and computer. She was quietly fading into the background, letting them forget that she was there. She was thinking.
Ironhide wasn't here anymore. He couldn't be the hero they needed. Somebody else would have to save the day. Sam said he was going to save her, but he might need help. He didn't have Bumblebee, just like she didn't have Ironhide. They needed as much help as possible, someone to be a new hero.
Maybe… maybe she could…
She took a step back, away from the gathered group. Ironhide said, before he… He said that she actually helped him. That her phone call warned him about the Autobot traitor. And heroes help people…
The girl took another step away from the focused older people. Mikaela needed a hero. Dylan Gould needed to be punished. And Sentinel needed to be stopped from ever hurting anyone again.
"I need to use the restroom," she muttered, walking away from the distracted adults. "Bye."
She knew that, any time you go on a long car trip, it was important to use the bathroom first. Her involuntary trip with the Decepticons had proven that to her. She had plenty of practice lately sitting quietly in a vehicle for hours.
Ironhide wouldn't stay behind and wait. He would do something. He'd take action. He'd be a hero and save the day. And if he couldn't do it anymore…
She would.
Chicago. Mikaela was in Chicago. Along with that slime, Dylan. And one way or another, he was going to get her out of there. He'd lost his best friend. He wouldn't lose his girlfriend.
Sam raced out of the building as soon as he had a definite location. He had a long way to go, but he was ready. He had a plan.
Step one: go to Chicago. Step two: save Mikaela.
Okay, the details were a little vague, but that didn't matter. No power on Earth, or from Cybertron, would stop him.
As he headed out, a voice caught his attention. The young man turned, spotting the ex-NEST member.
"We'll take my car," Epps announced, hitting the unlock button on his keys. The responding beep emerged from a vehicle a short distance away. "I still got my NEST friends out there. I'm going to round them up, we'll find your girlfriend and we're going to bring this guy in."
Sam paused for a moment, staring at the older man, before asking, "Why are you helping me?"
Epps' answer was short, simple and in no uncertain terms: Sam wasn't the only one who had lost friends when that ship was destroyed. The younger man was on a rescue mission and for revenge; the older one wanted the exact same thing.
He accepted the offered ride, heading towards the passenger seat. Just as he opened the door, Sam could have sworn he heard a soft click. As if another door had just closed. Of course, his increased paranoia since the "Soundwave was my girlfriend's car and her boss is evil" thing meant he had to glance back quickly just to be safe, but he only saw what appeared to be a crumpled grey blanket in the floor.
He watched the primitive human city fall before the might of Cybertronians. Once, he might have felt a slight twinge of guilt at what he was doing, but having watched the war between Autobots and Decepticons ravage their home and end so many lives, he felt nothing as the organic creatures were removed from the site. Sentinel Prime knew that he once would have defended the humans, fought against their destruction and enslavement. He once would never have considered aligning himself with Decepticons. His sense of morality would have stopped him once. But that was a long time ago.
He remembered Cybertron's Golden Age. He remembered the majesty of their world in those days. Thinking of all they had lost due to their war, thinking of their home reduced to a lifeless rock, and knowing that he could restore it made it easier to ignore any lingering doubts about whether or not he was taking the right course of action.
Sentinel saw that trying to protect his previous beliefs of freedom and justice to such a degree as before was destroying everything. The whole planet was doomed and so many lives were ended. The Autobots and Decepticons were leaving nothing but chaos behind with their battles. They needed a strong leader to drag them back on course, to bring them back to a time of glory. A leader who could make the hard decisions needed for their survival. And he was the mech who could be that leader. He could lead them back to their glory days, to help them forge a better future for all Cybertronians, and to rule over them to ensure that they never took such actions again.
He had made a deal with Megatron. The least moral and trustworthy mech in the universe, but one who knew how to run several plans simultaneously to ensure that at least one succeeded. The Decepticon leader could manipulate his treacherous ranks across the cosmos effectively to bring the Autobots to the brink of defeat. But even if he won, he was intelligent enough to realize that he could not rule a dead planet. The deal was struck and Megatron devised a secret plan involving the space bridge pillars and AllSpark to conquer and save their home.
The AllSpark was gone. The Solar Harvester, which had been found during his long stint in stasis and was the mech's back-up plan since he thought Sentinel was lost, was also gone. But the discovery of the Matrix of Leadership offered a possibility to revise the plan, though the AllSpark was no longer available. They needed another way to rebuild and, with the Cybertronians scattered to the stars, they needed a cheap work force.
The humans would serve that purpose. Six billion workers, even small and weak ones that break so easily, was a decent start to restore their world. And, since they're so short-lived, it would take very little time to have a whole new generation of compliant workers who would obey their betters perfectly. Until then, slaughtering a few thousands or even a few million would make the remaining lesser beings obey through fear.
Sentinel knew that the others, the Autobots who thought that they could simply call this planet home and leave Cybertron in its current state, would never agree to such a measure. They had turned their backs on their world, willing to take refuge on a primitive planet at the mercy of the organic creatures that inhabit it. They were willing to be treated like machines when they could have ruled these humans like gods.
He knew the soft-sparked Cybertronians would protect the humans out of some antiquated sense of honor and morality. Optimus Prime would never accept the idea of slavery, even if it would save their home planet. He might have fought the war in Sentinel's absence, but he was still so naïve. He still clung to the same beliefs that led to that endless war. Those who followed that mech would fight until they were off-lined to defend the humans because they were loyal to Optimus and he would do it. They were simply blind and unwilling to adapt, to do what must be done. Surely warriors who fought numerous battles understood the concept of sacrifice?
Briefly, Sentinel wondered why he did not accept the Matrix of Leadership when Optimus offered it. Perhaps a small part of him still wanted to believe in those antiquated beliefs as well, the ones he once defended and the younger mech still did. Even if he knew that they could not win if they continued as they had, part of him still remembered what it was like to stand for those beliefs. Maybe… that part of him didn't believe that he was worthy of the Matrix of Leadership after every choice he'd made and those he intended to make.
That part of him would never have allied with Megatron. Never enslaved a sentient species. Never would have off-lined his fellow Autobots. But he knew it was necessary. The deal with the Decepticons would ensure Cybertron's restoration. The humans would repair the eons of damage to the planet. And the Autobots would never have changed and would have fought against the steps Sentinel was taking to save their home.
Humanity's freedom would be sacrificed for the good of Cybertron. It was the only way.
The red mech watched the metallic figures spread across the city, commenting, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
Curled up in her giant grey hoodie, completely hidden inside the fabric from sight, Annabelle stayed very still. It was going to be a long trip probably and the older people wouldn't want her to go. Daddy and Mommy would definitely say 'no' if she asked permission. So she didn't ask. Besides, Daddy was busy with all the bad robots that showed up after Sentinel turned bad. And Mommy was supposed to be waiting for her at home, though Mommy hadn't been happy with the idea of just waiting around. So the little girl was able to slip away quickly.
She wouldn't let Sam or Epps know she was there. They'd tell her to go back or something. Whenever they stopped, she would wait a little so they could get away from the car so she could sneak out, use the restroom, and get back in without them seeing her. They kept meeting up with other people and talking about what they expected to find. It didn't sound good, but she missed a lot of the conversation. It was easier to keep quiet and still when she was asleep.
She didn't know what she would do when she got there. Chicago was another city, which meant there'd be lots of people and buildings there. How would she find Mikaela and the bad guys? She couldn't go with Sam and everyone since she wasn't supposed to be with them. She'd have to sneak after them. And, even if she found them, what would she do? She didn't have cannons like Ironhide. And Daddy told her to never, ever, ever touch a gun and even Ironhide agreed that she couldn't touch one until she was older and properly trained, so she couldn't even consider that. She didn't even have a water balloon. How would she ever beat the bad guys and save her favorite human baby-sitter?
The room was filled with people simply trying to figure out one thing: what in the world was happening in Chicago? Something big was happening. The Decepticons were there and had, essentially, taken control of the entire area. They had no other information, however. And it frustrated Mearing.
"Excuse me," interrupted Simmons, rolling into the room. "Excuse me, it doesn't make sense. Can't we get any eyes in there at all?"
"They keep shooting down our drones," she answered quickly.
General Morshower, another man with experience dealing with Cybertronians, added, "They want us blind. But we do have a couple of mini drones we're going to try."
"Well, whoever's manning these UAV drones, can we try to redirect them toward Trump Tower? The kid, Witwicky, was on his way to Chicago. Said some point man, human op is there for the Decepticons," remarked the wheelchair-bound man. "Listen, if I know anything, I know this. That that kid is an alien bad news magnet."
Before she could accuse the man she once felt at least mildly attracted to of over exaggerating, his German-accented assistant ran into the room with a frantic expression on his face. He quickly spotted his employer and closed the distance between them.
"Find her?" asked Simmons urgently.
"I looked everywhere. She is nowhere to be found," Dutch replied.
Mearing interrupted, "Excuse me, but who are you talking about."
"The Lennox kid. Annabelle," answered the black-haired man. "She disappeared a little while ago and we need to find her."
"Wasn't she recently kidnapped by the Decepticons?" she asked, recalling the child she escorted with Sam.
"Yeah, that's her," he nodded. "We have got to get a LoJack on that kid."
Dutch asked, "Should I keep looking?"
"No, I need you here," Simmon responded, shaking his head regretfully. "I just hope she turns up soon. I don't want to have to tell her parents that we lost her."
"Afraid of her father?" Mearing asked, smirking slightly.
"No. Her mother," he corrected. He glanced at Dutch, "I don't think even you could protect me if Mrs. Lennox catches wind of this."
The red-haired man look vaguely insulted at the dismissal of his capabilities, but Simmons waved his hand placating. He glanced at Mearing for a second and gave her a sheepish grin.
"Charlotte, you might think you're an intimidating woman, but Sarah Lennox could leave Megatron whimpering in fear."
Yes, Annabelle stowed away with Sam and Epps. She is determined to save Mikaela and make all traitors who tried to or did hurt her friends pay. She intends to be brave and act like a hero in Ironhide's place. She's a kid on a mission and about to find herself in a warzone. Aren't I evil?
I also had Dutch give a nice little speech on the concept of "innocence," which connects back to my title. She's innocent and doesn't quite grasp the true horrors of the world, but her innocence is also what allows her to see the truth of things without being distracted by details. Plus, I snuck in a reference in this chapter to another sci-fi show I like. If you see the reference, great. If not, it doesn't matter.
Oh, and LoJack is a tracking system for stolen cars, motorcycles, and even computers. Just what they need for a kid who keeps vanishing due to transforming vehicles.
Hope you liked the chapter and the future ones should be fairly exciting. I love the feedback and hope to hear your opinions. Thanks.