Chapter 21
We were in our respective rides listening to Leo going on and on about his website and the mysterious guy we were now heading to meet that could possibly help us.
"This guy, Robo-Warrior, everything about anything alien, he's supposed to know. One time we revenge-hacked his site and maybe I saw some of your alien drawings or whatever." He said as I gently stroked a now dozing Anubis, who had woken up a short while ago in a panic – for a reason none of us could figure out.
After 4 hours of driving we finally arrived at our intended – at least by Leo's standards – destination, definitely not some place I would expect an Alien Know-it-all to reside at.
"This is it. Yep." Came Leo's voice over the radio in Jazz's Alternate Mode and smiled as we parked in a line along the sidewalk outside of the building. I watched as the three teens – Leo, Sam (wearing a baseball cap) and Mikaela - climbed out of Bee's Alternate Mode and started talking. At this point I rolled down the window and listened in.
"Deli. Good front!" came Sam's voice as he looked around trying to spot anything out of the ordinary, specifically Cops.
"All right, wait here. I'll give you the go/no go. All right?" was Leo's response as he turned to head on in. Deciding that I should go and wait with Sam and Mikaela, I climbed out of Jazz and after closing the door I started walking towards Bee's Alternate Mode, but not before I ran a hand down the hood of Jazz's Alternate Mode, at which I smirked when he jerked back slightly with a 'barp' from his horn. I can be a sneaky bitch when I want to be and vice versa with my Guardian, he can be a rather sneaky Mech at times – comes with his job being Spec-Op's.
After getting a snigger out of Mikaela and Sam and a sound clip out of Bee, Sam started walking towards the front door of the Deli. Deciding to ere on the side of caution Mikaela and I walked after him – sometimes he could be such an idiot.
As we walked through the door we were assaulted by the noise of a busy shop. "Number 42, we got your kishka, knish, kasha-varnishka and kreplach combo right here. Cash only. Who's next?"
I stopped short when I heard that voice, one that I hadn't heard in two years, a voice that made me want to shoot the idiot just for what he did back then, when he tried to offline Anubis and tortured Bee. Just as I was about to walk up and slap him to see if he remembered me at all I heard a female voice yell at him.
"I told you to cure the lox in the brine and then smoke it." I sniggered and tried to cover it up when I caught Mikaela looking my way with a raised eyebrow. Shaking my head at her with a smile she caught the message… don't worry about it.
"Ma, you want me to cut my hand off, or what?" came the irate yelling response from the idiot, and if what the female voice yelled next, he truly was one.
"You... You ruined a beautiful piece of fish, you retard!"
The idiot's response to that made me smirk wider and walk over to the counter, pretending that I was perusing the wares behind the glass. "I'm like a ninja with a blade. It's an art form."
He finished serving the customer in front of him and then rather rudely said to the customer, "Give me your money. Get out of here!"
Shaking my head at the language usage – in a busy store no less – I started towards the idiot and stood behind Leo. Luckily I had had my hair cut since the last time I had met this man and the clothing was different, including the jacket so he shouldn't recognize me too quickly. He was currently yelling at another of the employees as we waited for him to acknowledge that we were waiting to be served like any of his other customers. "Hey, Sal! Watch your reach, huh?"
It was rather quickly after he said that that he noticed how close Leo was to the counter and staring at him. "Take a number, young man." He said as he noticed that Leo didn't have a numbered ticket in either of his hands.
"Robo-Warrior. Know him?" asked Leo with a glint in his eyes that said that this was our guy. I groaned when he responded. "I never heard of him."
"You never heard of TheRealEffingDeal. com?" came the irate squeak from Leo's mouth as he tried to get the guy into a rant.
"You must be talking about that amateur-hour blog operation with Game Boy-level security." Said our now very valid yet annoying link to figuring out what in the name of all Gods and Goddesses was going on with Sam.
"Robo-Warrior. It's him! It's him! That's the guy right there! That's him!" came Leo's excited voice as he spun around to tell Sam and Mikaela, and all but bashed his nose into my chest with how fast he spun around. Reaching out and grabbing Leo to steady him, I gave him a quick look and then looked towards the man we were here to see.
"No." came the man's response as Sam removed his hat. And apparently Sam wasn't much better when he realized who we were to talk to. "You got to be kidding me."
"All right, meat store's closed! Everybody out! Out, right now!" yelled our contact as he started to slam stuff down on the counter and hurry folk out of the store.
"Wait a minute. You know this guy?" came Leo's shocked voice from behind me as I had moved in front of him incase our contact got rough, but I nodded my head that we did know this idiot and not by our own choosing. "We're old friends. Isn't that right Seymour?" I said, which caused Leo to gasp in shock.
"Old friends? You're the case that shut down Sector Seven, got the kibosh, disbanded. No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing." He yelled before turning and rounding on Sam and Mikaela and adding, "All 'cause of you and your little criminal girlfriend. Look at her now, so mature."
At this point I shuddered, he really needed help if he was saying that out loud and to a trio of teenagers who were half or a third his age. Really creepy!
All our thoughts were stopped when an argument started up between two of the other workers in the store.
"Moron! Where's the whitefish?" came the voice of the woman from earlier and turning around I saw one guy hit the other in the arm before the other retaliated with a hard shove and yelling, "Hey! Don't touch me with the pig."
"Yakov!" Simmons yelled trying to get his attention, it seemed to work as the conversation continued. "What?"
"You don't get Christmas bonuses standing around! You want those new teeth
you saw on SkyMall?" he said raising an eyebrow and waited for his workers reply. "It's my dream." "Then help her out." Came Simmons'
reply.
"You live with your mama?" came the combined voices of disbelief of myself and Mikaela, I mean really, someone Simmons' age really shouldn't be living at home with his momma. I internally laughed when he responded with, "No, my mama lives with me. It's a big difference."
What didn't make me laugh however, was what he said next and I scowled at him warning him to not cross the invisible line that we had here. At the moment it wouldn't take much for me to just shoot him on principle, but since we needed this idiot to decipher the glyphs Sam was seeing and writing I was going to wait and see what he would do.
"They got your face all over the news, alien boy." Simmons said as he walked out from behind the counter and started to pace the main floor of the store as if trying to figure out why we were here talking to him when all any of us wanted to do was be no-where near him.
"Yeah, I know." Came Sam's defeated voice, as if he knew where this was going.
"And NBE One's still kicking, huh? How did that happen? Don't answer. I don't know what you're hiding, but I don't want anything to do with it. So, good-bye. You never saw me. I got bagels to schmear. Vanish." Said Simmons as he finished his pacing, turned and headed back behind the counter.
"SIMMONS!" I yelled and was surprised when he turned and looked at me with a brow raised in silent question. Responding to it I went on with, "Can you give us five seconds? Look, hold on, we really need your help."
"Really? You need my help?" came his surprised reply looking towards me but I pointed him towards Sam and shrugged as if to say 'He's the one ya need ta talk to not meh!'
"I need... Look, I am slowly losing my mind. Okay, I had a little crab-bot, plunge a device deep into the soft tissues of my brain and started projecting little alien symbols like a freaking home movie! And on top of that, I'm a wanted fugitive. So, you think you got it rough?" Sam was all but hyperventilating by the time he was done with what I was starting to call his mini-rant. But apparently Simmons had had his attention piqued.
"You said it projected images off your brain?" he asked as if he knew something we didn't, and if we were honest with ourselves he probably did know more than us.
"Right. Meat locker, now!" he said as he locked up the front door to the store and then led us to the Meat Locker in the rear of the store.
"Dead pigs." Came Leo's voice as we entered the cold air of the Locker, I was suddenly grateful for my jacket.
"What you're about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother." Said Simmons as he moved a few boxes of meat and then moved to open a hidden hatch in the floor. By now I was once again ready to smack Leo as he was muttering on and on about conspiracies and such, then he muttered out loud, "Swine flu. Not good." As he skirted around a hanging carcass, as if just touching the dead meat would contaminate him.
"Now you know. Next time you eat a goat or a pig, there's a story behind it. Sad little story." Said Simmons, as we followed him down into the secure room.
"An entire city flat. How do you explain that?" asked Leo as he looked at Simmons who was looking and climbing over boxes of files and other stuff I don't think I could name even if I tried. It was then that Leo then asked Simmons, "Are you saying you believe in aliens now?"
It was this last bit that had me laughing loud and hard, surprising Leo and the others, once I had regained my composure – though not by much mind you – I turned and faced Leo stating, "Dude, this guy was working on one of the meanest Decepticons to ever exist up until two years ago when we killed him in Mission City. You met him the other day, the one who had Sam pinned on the concrete slab, according to what Bee told me about your little trip. That was Megatron, the Mech that killed Optimus Prime!"
Luckily for me Simmons was busy muttering to himself aloud as he searched for whatever he was looking for. "Okay, files, files. We're talking about symbols."
Leo looked shocked at what I had said to him and wondered away from me to look around the room that I would probably think would be in his dreams for months after this. All this information on Alien Existence was enough to give the guy wet-dreams for the rest of his life. "Hey, still radioactive. Hands off." Came Simmons' voice as he watched Leo try and touch something in a bell jar container. Looking closer as he moved away I noticed that it was Frenzy's head – Simmons really was a sick man if he was keeping that little spaz's head in a sealed container like some sort of a trophy.
Shaking my head I turned around and faced Simmons and the kids again, by now Simmons had found what he was after and set it all down on his desk in the middle of the room.
"Okay, Cube-brain. Any of these look like the symbols you saw?" he asked as he opened up a folder and started laying out pictures, grainy black and white photos and a few in color. Just looking at the clothing the people in the photos wore told me that these were taken back in the 20's and 30's.
"Where'd you get these?" I asked as I watched Sam, Leo and Mikaela stare at them, before I turned my attention back to Simmons as he set up an old style movie projector and screen.
"Before I got fired, I poached S-7's crown jewel, over 75 years of alien research, which points to one inescapable fact. The Transformers, they've been here a long, long time. How do I know? Archeologists found these unexplained markings in ancient ruins all over the world." He stated as he placed more photo's on the table. "China. Egypt. Greece."
He then dimmed the lights and played the film reel for us. "Shot in 1932. These the symbols you're seeing in your head?" he asked as the scene's changed and different angles were shown as well as different monuments around the world.
"Yeah." Came Sam's voice, although he sounded like he was both shocked and awed that this had been found and recorded at the turn of the twentieth century.
"Same ones over here, right? So, tell me, how did they end up all drawing the same things? Aliens. And I think some of them stayed." He said as he grabbed another file and tapped it on the table.
"Check this out. Project Black Knife. Robots in disguise, hiding here all along. We detected radioactive signatures all across the country. I pleaded on my knees with S-7 to investigate it, but they said the readings were infinitesimal, that I was obsessed. Me. Can you imagine that?" he looked around at all of us and I just couldn't help myself when I uttered, "You obsessed? Never! A little eccentric, but never obsessive!" I snorted at the end when he gave me a look that said he didn't believe me. Huh guess the guy does understand sarcasm, who knew?
"Yeah. Megatron said that there was another Energon source here." Added Sam as he looked up from the pictures and right at Simmons, who had moved his attention back to Sam and the pictures.
"On Earth. Another source?" he asked Sam as if he was trying to process what he had just been told. "On Earth." Replied Sam before continuing on with what he had to explain. "Okay? And that these symbols, maps in my head, would lead him there."
"You talk to your Autobot friends about this?" Simmons asked as he looked around at us. I decided to help Sam out here and retell them what Jazz had told me on the drive over whilst we waited for Leo to tell us the directions to this Deli.
"No, no, no, the source is before them. Whatever the Energon source is, it predates them. It's before them." I explained, hoping that Simmons understood why we were here now and talking to him.
"So, it comes before them." He stated and I nodded my head, "Correct. That is why were here with you now, well thanks to Leo any ways." At this Leo smiled at me, and nodded his thanks at being recognized for his contribution to our hunt.
"Well, then we're porked, unless we can talk to a Decepticon. I mean, I'm not on speaking terms with them." came Simmons reply. He looked towards me and Sam as if we had anything else to add and I shook my head before adding, "The only talking to the Decepticon's I have are the cusses I throw at them in battle Simmons, sorry."
"Actually, I am." Came Mikaela's voice. Now that surprised me quite a bit that did, and I asked her where this 'con was. She explained that it was currently in a sealed tool case in Bee's trunk. Nodding in acceptance of this information both Mikaela and myself said we would go back up to Bee and get the case.
After making our way back downstairs with the case, we sat it on the table in front of everyone, including the Holoforms of Jazz, Bee and the two idiot twins. I tapped the side of the case and smirked when I heard a muffled, "Let me out!"
Looking towards Mikaela, I nodded and she grabbed the padlock holding the top closed and unlocked it as she said, "This is going to be a little bit sad."
Watching the others nod in understanding, Simmons got insistent, "Open it."
After opening the lid she grabbed the chain that she had hanging out the one side of the case and held it tight. What came out of the case shocked almost everyone of us. It was a small mech, and looking at him hard you could just make out his Alternate Mode – that of a RC Truck.
He would have been cute if it wasn't for what came out of his vocal processor the moment he spotted all of us. "I will have so many Decepticons on your butt!"
I glared slightly and reached out to the little Mech to tap him on the arm and jerked when a small jolt of energy slipped from my fingertips to his arm, causing him to stare at me in surprise. "Hey, behave!" I said as Jazz stared at what had just happened. 'Yeah,' I thought to myself, 'he's gonna be talkin' ta meh later abou' dat, just how do ah explain it ta him?'
I was brought out of my mental chatter to the sound of Simmons asking Mikaela, "What is it, a Decepticon?" he asked in shock and awe before shaking his head.
"Yeah." Came the response and the conversation continued around me as the little Mech was still staring at me, but he was trying to chew his way through the chain around his neck. "And you're training him?" continued Simmons with Mikaela responding with a meek, "I'm trying to."
"I spent my whole adult life combing the planet for aliens, and you're carrying around one in your purse like a little Chihuahua." Said Simmons as he stared in disbelief at the small 'con.
"Do you want a throw-down, you pubic 'fro-head?" came the voice of the small 'con, who apparently needed some teaching in manners.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about your eye, you know, but, if you're a good boy,
then I'm not gonna torch your other eye. Okay? I'm not gonna torch it. Just tell me what these symbols are, please." Came Mikaela's voice as she squatted down in front of the small 'con, and looking closer at him I could see that one of his optics was burnt out and dangling every time he looked down, causing him to place it back into the right fixture. I really hoped that she hadn't tortured the mini-con too much before placing him into the tool case.
"All right. I know that. That's the language of the Primes. I don't read it, but these guys..." the small mini-con looked rather surprised to see such old pictures of much older vehicles, some dating back to the 1910's.
"Where the frick did you find photos of these guys?" he continued as he lifted each picture and skating around on his little rear tires trying to get a good look at each one.
"Is this they?" asked Simmons as he looked on in awe at the mini-con. "Yeah. Seekers, pal. Oldest-of-the-old. They've been here thousands of years, looking for something. I don't know what. Nobody tells me nothing, but they'll translate those symbols for you." Said the mini-con, as he wheeled around to face a map of the US on the wall of Simmons' room and activated what I would deem was a laser-pointer set-up but much more advanced.
"And I know where to find them." He finally added as we all looked on and I was shocked at how many of these 'Seekers' were in the US alone, most of them in either private collections or museums.
"The closest one's in Washington." Said Simmons, as we all figured out the best on to go to, and shuddered when I realized that there was one close to where my family lived, probably at the old Base there as a display piece.
Shaking my head and getting myself together again, we packed up all we needed and got back top side to Jazz and 'Bees Alternate Modes and heading off to our closest destination on the edge of Washington DC – The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.
After a couple more hours of driving and listening to Simmons natter away over the comm-links (aka the bot's radio's in Vehicle mode) we made it to our destination.
"Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Land of dreams in there. All I ever wanted to be was an astronaut." Was the first thing out of Simmons' mouth when we exited the vehicle modes of 'Bee and Jazz, the latter of whom had his Holoform up and running so as to not appear suspect.
"Yeah, an' we all know why dey nevah took 'im!" came the muttered response from Jazz. Smirking at him and seeing that he was trying to occupy my mind with humor instead of me thinking about the amount of trouble we were about to be in with the Government, I patted his Holo's hand and then gently squeezed it in a silent gesture of thanks.
Deciding to not pay attention to what Simmons was doing currently was apparently a good thing if the noises coming from the kids, was anything to go by. So deciding to grill Jazz on his choice of Holoform, I kept one ear on what the others were doing and keeping them within my line of sight as I talked more with my Guardian.
"Sooo, nice choice in Holoform, Jazz. Or should I call ya Jace?" I added with a wide grin as I teasingly looked his Holoform up and down before walking around him the full 360 degrees.
Looking slightly sheepish – I mean come on this is Jazz – he looked down at his holographic feet and then back at me with a grin that made me want to melt right there before saying, "Ah was wonderin' if ya recognized it. Ya seem ta enjoy this character a lot when ya play dat one series of games. And he seems kinda like meh in a few ways – well except fer da height thing ah mean."
With a quick hug to his Holoform making him blush slightly – which was cute – I answered him. "Ya chose one of my all-time favorite characters from the games, and even though ya not carrying the weapons or the armor used in them it is a real dream come true to see him in real life – even if he's currently your Holoform instead of on a console game made by Epic Games."
I was about to add something else to that but we were interrupted by Mr. Obnoxious himself as he walked past us.
"Watches synchronized, sharp mind and empty bladder. You get caught, demand an attorney and don't ever say my name." He said as I thought the opposite of 'Ewwwwww!' and then 'Why would I ever say your name if I was caught?"
"Okay, take one of these pills. Slip it under your tongue. It's the high-concentrate polymer they put in Oreo cookies. Tricks the polygraph every time." 'Huh nice to know these things' I thought as he handed them out, although to me they looked like the caffeine pills ya can get for an energy boost. "Okay. Now, let's get this show on the road."