Chapter 35: Secrets

Amber didn't need her eyes to know who had just spoken her name-standing by the far end of the garage was Holly, who had taken the cellar stairs up to the outside, it was quicker then going through the house. Bumblebee made a sound of surprise as he saw the girl,he didn't know what she was doing there and perhaps that was part of what fueled Amber's frusteration as she growled loudly,getting annoyed that no one ever listened to her.

'What part of 'Stay here' don't you understand?'

Amber snapped but Holly only snorted back, her attention was no longer on her friend. She stared darkly at the yellow camaro, she'd seen it before but wouldn't have thought much of it until this night, and the way Amber was speaking to it just confirmed that it was an Autobot.

'I'm not a dog'

'Could have fooled me'

There was a tensity between the two girls that could easily turn into a fight if the other decided to say the wrong words,Bumblebee would have scratched his head if he was transformed, he didn't think that the girl who had sappousedly sided with the Decepticons would be at Devon's, as far as he knew there was no connection between the two.

'Wait! What? What's she doing here?'

'That's none of your Bee's Wax-You rust heap!'

Holly replied shortly, her anger towards the Autobots showed in her voice and on her face, she didn't want to be near one let alone two and now her mood was quickly dropping into one that would allow her to snap at anyone,even if all they did was say hello. Bumblebee ignored the comment as he thought of how lucky he was to have stumbled upon the girl here,if he was able to get her back to the base then they would finally be able to finish the Decepticons off and end the war!

'This' Great! Quick, lets get her back to the base before the Decepticons show up!'

Bumblebee was excited but fell silent as the angery roar of an engine broke the night air,it revved several times and sounded as if it were really close. Both Amber and Holly knew what was causing it and both seemed to move back,expecting the same thing. The garage door was suddenly ripped off,flipping through the air once before landing almost where Holly had been standing-reversing quickly out of the confinds was a blue Tundra,which spun half around and threw gravel all over the hood of the Camaro.

'Too Late'

Beatdown growled,he was not going to let the Autobots take anyone anywhere,it was bad enough that he was probably going to be scrapped by Megatron at the end of all this. Devon came bounding out of the house at the sudden loud noise and skidded to a stop as he saw what had happened to the garage,holding his head with his hands he was freaking out.

'What have you done to my Garage!'

Though he was upset over the damage to his home he was also concerned about what was going on at the same time,he fell silent for a moment knowing his question would go unanswered though it was obvious what was going on-he deffinatly wanted everyone gone, it wouldn't take much for all this noise to attract unwanted attention. Man, how was he going to explain this to his parents? He was so going to get in trouble, if he survived the night,he eyeballed Amber,that would really depend on how well she had 'trained' the confused Autobot.

'We didn't agree to this!'

Freeway came flying out after Beatdown and transformed, coming to a stop infront of the tundra-Beatdown growled liking this situation less and less as the minutes ticked past.

'I agreed to nothing'

'Liar!'

Freeway shoved a finger into Beatdown's hood,she then decided that it wasn't worth her effort to persue the arguement with the Decepticon and stepped back crossing her arms over her chest. Bumblebee also transformed now, he brought his gun level with the Decepticon and glared angerly at him-he would shoot if the truck made any move to transform or attack anyone present.

'Stupid. Over-reacting. Autobots!'

Beatdown hissed, he should just transform and finish them both off, he probably could do it but that would require effort, effort he wasn't at the moment willing to put forth.

'Don't move!'

Bumblebee ordered,though he really hadn't needed to say so as it was pretty obvious that that's what he was aiming at when he pulled his gun on the tundra.

'Wouldn't dream of it'

Beatdown replied dryly,he may not be intending to attack back but he was not going to show these fools any reason for them to take him lightly,as far as they knew he would attack the moment they weren't looking and that was the way he would keep it. Devon looked up at the two robots in his driveway and flared his arms as he jumped from one foot to the other trying to catch their attention.

'Transform! Transform! Before someone see's you!'

'Its the middle of the night, who's going to see us?'

Bumblebee asked,it was pretty late and even most of the humans who seemed nocturnal should be heading to their beds-however this caused Amber to growl as she knew full well that on the weekend not only were there random people walking around but that the Decepticons were probably looking for the run-aways,and with an aerial advantage they would be spotted quickly. Her mind was racing, a thought was brought to the surface of her mind,perhaps having this happen could work in her favor but she would have to choose her wording carefully,well more with the Decepticon,he would probably be the hardest to deal with.

'Lets see,since you're in a middle of a war, what about Decepticon patrol or even another random Autobot or who knows some other robot from some random faction that could possibly exist, and the list goes on from there'

Devon tried to take charge of the situation once again,hoping that reminding the robots of the logical reasons as to why standing in the middle of a neighbourhood as they were was a bad idea would get them all to calm down a little. Freeway didn't want to but she glanced to Amber and saw that she had a strange look on her face,she walked past Devon to stand next to the girl before shooting Bumblebee a dark look.

'The humans got a point. We don't want to attract attention to the humans. If anything happened to them Optimus would probably be very disappointed in us...amongst other things'

Bumblebee looked hesitant,he didn't want to become unarmed and then deal with the Decepticon attacking as it was an oppertune moment. Frusterated at the stubborn camaro,Freeway shook her head and transformed so that she looked like Amber had just gotten off of a motorcycle.She wished Bumblebee would do the same as well, she didn't feel like dying because of his stubborness. She slowly returned her attention to Amber who silently mouthed a message to her 'I have a plan' was what she said though it looked more like she had said 'I huff I Blan'. Amber took a step foreward,with a fake look of concern for the robots though she needed to try and convince the others that she was about to suggest was for the betterment of all of them,not just for her own goals.

'Stupid Robots! well, we can assume that Bumblebee won't leave without me and I'm not going anywhere without Holly'

The air was almost instantly filled with loud complaints coming from the three mostly involved in this bad idea.

'Over my deactivated and rusted body will I allow you to take her straight to those idiots'

'I can't take this dump truck to the base! I would get in so much trouble!'

'There's no way in hell I'm going to those jerk's base! They killed-'

'SHUT UP! Let me finish!'

Amber growled, she had been told by Holly why she,Chris,and Beatdown where at Devon's-and knew that if Beatdown was to be taken to the Autobot base he probably would be screwed,seeing that he wouldn't have as much leverage to perserve his life,as far as Amber knew Beatdown was a 'pure' Decepticon,which would constitute him with a worse punishment then Hammershot's. Then there was Chris, he would probably not let Holly out of his sights incase she did something stupid again, that and he would want to find away to stay alive and since she had what the robots wanted,it ment that as long as she was alive so would he. And then Holly...she was just not stable...She really needed to be left alone long enough for her to deal with everything, but with everyone jumping down her throat for the code or threatening to kill her, she wasn't dealing and it was only making her worse-she was probably on the brink of snapping,she already was more then what one would call 'moody'. At the Autobot base she technically would be safe-at least people wouldn't be threatening to kill her-but she wouldn't be left alone either, and probably bothered more then she had been so far. Sighing inwardly,Amber would just have to find away to make sure no one talked to Holly until she had a chance to rest and get over everything...if she could do it with Hammershot, she should be able to do it with her friend...she hoped...

'Okay! I have an idea! Beatdown will you come to the base with us under the pretenses that you were captured?'

'No.'

'Right, I thought not. Then there's only one other choice-Bumblebee,Freeway-If I bring Holly to the base will you forget that you ever saw Beatdown?'

Bumblebee glanced over to Freeway, they seemed to be thinking it over, it seemed like a fair trade but there was a problem-they couldn't trust the Decepticon to not follow them and discover where the base was located,though he might get captured for real then...

'We can probably do that'

'And where am I going to go?'

Beatdown growled, though he had already working on a plan to get himself out of this mess without the help of the others, and he was deffinatly not going to share it with any standing around him at the moment.

'You can stay at Devon's'

'No he can't'

Devon replied quickly,he did not want to deal with the truck hanging around his house for who knows how long and knowing the way things were going it would probably be about a week. However, as he side glanced to Amber he knew that she was up to something and sighed in a defeated tone, he wouldn't be given much a choice in this plan that she seemed to have come up with.

'Too bad'

Was Amber's reply, she then gave a slight chuckle as she knew that Devon wasn't going to give her any more trouble.

'Besides, the chances of anyone finding him here would be slim,after all who in this war randomly shows up?'

'Or he could just go back to the Decepticons'

'Keh. Yea, if I feel like being Megatron's next chew toy'

Beatdown replied darkly, returning to the Decepticons empty handed would be worse for him then being found in a human's garage or going to the Autobots but decided not to announce that fact to the others.

Devon glanced to Holly to see how she was dealing with all of this, she had moved away from the garage and now stood near the wood pile where the family camper useually sat-but was gone for the weekend as Devon's family had taken it to go camping. He knew what she was planning, she was going to bolt,to get away from all of them and probably get herself in more trouble.

'I'm not going anywhere!'

Holly declared before dashing towards the street but Bumblebee moved quickly, rolling once to get infront of the girl, she skidded to a hault and glared up at the robot.

'You can't leave'

'Watch me!'

'Listen...If you run away we won't be able to protect you if something should happen'

'I don't need YOU or anyone to protect me!'

'You would rather be out on your own?'

'Yes!'

While Bumblebee tried to keep Holly there until an agreement was reached Amber turned to Freeway and spoke under her breath to the female.

'Go ahead of us and tell Optimus we'll be coming and could you also tell everyone not to mension Hammershot or that he's alive and there?'

'okay...but why?'

'Just...it would be bad'

'Alright'

Freeway took off down the street,passing her friend as he watched Holly kick him in the shin in an attempt to get him to move and do little more then hurt her own foot. Getting annoyed with not getting what she wanted,Holly spun around on heel and dashed straight towards the house.

'Stop!'

'No! Go AWAY!'

Holly dashed past Beatdown who did nothing but groan, she was almost at the front door when a figure stepped out into her path. Chris looked bored but didn't move as Holly nearly collided with him.

'What's going on?'

'Chris! Amber's trying to take us to the Autobots!'

'Really?'

'Yea and they've made a plan, Lookit Amber! That's her 'I've-got-something-up-my-sleeve' look!'

'So,I don't get a say in this?'

Chris stepped past Holly,putting himself between the others and the girl,he glared at the others-he wasn't too keen on going to the Autobots as he didn't know what they would do to him but assumed it probably wouldn't be much better then what the Decepticons would. He did consider the fact that he might be able to learn some more of what they had gotten themselves into and find other ways of keeping himself alive without Holly who seemed ready to die for the stupid robots. He was silent waiting for a reply but figured it wouldn't come, his eyes trained upon Amber and narrowed-she looked as if she was trying to keep herself from spitting out something. It was true,Amber wanted to rant at Chris but kept her teeth clenched,getting into it with him now wouldn't do her any good and would probably make dealing with Holly much more stressful later.

'Then its settled?'

Devon stepped between the two incase they started out in a fight or something worse, the group generally didn't look happy to be around each other nor to be put in such a situation as they had, but if it made them all go away then he was happy.

'Beatdown will stay with me for now-Bumblebee and Freeway haven't seen the truck,and have no idea where he could be-Amber will take Holly and by no choice Chris to Optimus and the other Autobots-where they will deal with what to do next there and everyone is away from me!'

Silence,Holly now laid on the lawn starring at the sky, she didn't want to go and had stopped talking to everyone by this point, she felt so alone despite the fact she was surrounded by her friends.

Amber was squinting now,her eyesight was still off but it was returning and as she turned to face people she could make them out a little better then before. No one spoke for a long time and Devon nodded as he took that to mean that no one was complaining.

'Good. now then, since you're already transformed,Bumblebee-you can help me fix my garage'

'Me? But I didn't'

'It'll look funny if two giant robots were fixing my house instead of one'

'..fine...'

Devon wasn't going to let them leave until they had fixed the damage that had been done to the house. Holly stood back to her feet and was followed by Chris as they entered the house-the others didn't seem to have problem with them leaving,as it was probably safer if they were inside and out of plain sight.

While the others worked on the damage to Devon's house,Chris and Holly went to wait in the living room. Chris took the armchair and made himself comfortable as Holly flopped onto the couch,feeling how tired she really was finally catching up to her.

'Chris?'

'Hmmmm'

'Is it wrong to die for someone else?'

Chris looked down to Holly and pondered what she ment, he had a good idea what she was talking about-slowly he raised his eyes to the window behind them. The night sky was beginning to lighten-dawn was approaching-he wondered what awaited them at the Autobot base and if any of this would even make a difference. He was tired, too tired to remember who was at the Autobot base,walking amongst them as one of their own-perhaps if he did,he would have given more of a fight against being dragged there.

'It depends,Holly,how much the person matters to you. I'd tell you to what feels right to you and don't listen to anyone else'

'Okay. And Chris?'

'what?'

'Thanks'

Chris turned his attention to Holly as she rolled onto her side, she was a fool but knew that no matter what would happen that would never change,they'd been in some strange situations before,and this was no exception,they just had to stay alive for it. And now all those who had been at Devon's that night shared a common secret,one that would either save them or result in their end...either way...things were about to change...