Chapter 5: Sweet Lies Part 1

(Alternative Title: There's Mini-Cons In Them Hills)


It might have taken almost an hour of trying to convince her parents to let her out of the house, but Alexis was glad they finally relented. She didn't blame them, given the string of events that had happened in the last few days; first the earthquake, and then Rachel's car getting hit by a 'tree' on its back end that left her injured from slamming on the brakes and her foot twisting at an angle.

This was why Alexis had decided her first stop should have been to a bakery and buying a cupcake to wish Rachel well. It likely couldn't have been easy to keep herself steady for Alexis and Carlos, but even she probably needed cheering up after Rad called her and Carlos to ask about what happened on Saturday.

Alexis walked into Rhona's Bakery and looked over the cake slices and cupcakes lining the inside of the glass casing. There were so many to choose from, and everything looked so good with their bright decorations and colorful frostings. She waited until the customer already in the store had left before pointing to two of the cupcakes. "I'll take a strawberry chip and chocolate one please."

Ms. Rhona Jay nodded and used a set of tongs to put the two cupcakes into a brown paper bag and handed it to Alexis. She still had her cheery smile from when she'd been the town's weather girl, and Alexis felt like she was watching the morning weather report with her parents every time. "Will that be all?"

"Yes." Alexis replied and Ms. Jay nodded.

"That'll be three-fifty." Alexis handed Ms. Jay the exact change. "Thank you, have a nice day."

Alexis smiled and nodded back before she made her way out of the shop. The weight of the bag was next to nothing, but it brought a lightness to her heart all the same as she was bringing this to Rachel. The continued journey to the apartment complex didn't take long, and she soon found herself knocking on the door, with Rad opening it a moment later.

"Hey, Alexis, what are you doing here? I'm not allowed to have anyone over."

Alexis puffed out her cheeks. "I'm not here to see you," she lifted the paper bag, "I brought this for Rachel-I thought it could cheer her up."

Rad tilted his head. "Well, okay, you can come in then." He said and allowed the brunette entry. "She's been asleep since this morning, so if she doesn't answer I'll tell her you stopped by."

"No way, you could eat the cupcakes." Alexis said and Rad looked offended, but her stern glare never faltered.

Rad slumped his shoulder. "Yeah, I probably would." He admitted quietly.

Alexis smiled triumphantly, but paused as she saw a small, yellow plush toy on the table. "Hey, what's this? It's kind of a strange-looking teddy bear."

"That's because it's not-Kero's a lion." Rad said as he pulled the plush toy behind his back, face flushing.

The brunette would have wheedled him about keeping such a childish thing, but she had more important matters to attend too. She walked down the hall, and felt her face heat as she realized she didn't know which room was Rachel's; she'd been in this apartment once when Rad wanted her help with his homework the day he'd moved in. Both doors had been closed at the time, and she hadn't thought it polite to ask whose room belonged to whom.

Now, she found herself turning around and found Rad drying off dishes. "Rad, which room is Rachel's?"

Rad barely looked up. "It's the one on your right."

'Well, that didn't go like I thought it would.' Alexis thought, but only knocked on the right door.

There was a rustling inside. "Come in." A voice called and Alexis walked in; Rachel was lying in her bed, the leg with the cast sticking out on top of the covers that were up to her chest. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was drawn in misery, with dishevelled blonde hair framing her face. Alexis still felt her breath catch and a fluttering in the pit of her stomach, even as Rachel's expression contorted in consternation.

"Rad's not allowed to have his friends over." She said moodily.

Alexis blinked and hurriedly held up the bag. "Oh, I came to see you-to, uh, give you this."

Rachel looked at her skeptically, but shrugged as she pulled herself up to rest against her headboard. "Alright, give it here." She said and Alexis almost sprinted to the bed to hand her the bag. "Thank you." She added and paused when she saw how many cupcakes there were. "Oh, you brought one for Rad too?" she pulled out the strawberry chip and handed the bag back. "Here, give this to him please."

Alexis struggled to keep the frown off of her face. "You're welcome. I hope you get well soon." She said, while on the inside she felt just a tad crushed that Rachel hadn't offered the second cupcake to her. 'I thought we could eat them together.' She thought morosely, but walked out the room and back to the kitchen, finding that Rad was finished with the dishes and sitting on the couch-that lion plushy lying beside him. "Head's up." She said, Rad looking up as she tossed him the paper bag.

He looked down at it before looking back up at her. "What, something not go according to plan?"

Alexis stiffened, her eyes widening slightly. He couldn't have noticed, could he? "I'm not sure what you mean."

Rad snorted. "Please, you totally brought Ray a cupcake so you could ask her a favor later." Alexis felt indignation well up inside of her, but before she could speak, Rad bit into the cupcake-only to immediately spit it back out onto the coffee table, the frosting splattering across the surface as Rad's expression twisted in disgust. "That was so gross! Where the heck did you buy this?"

Alexis was speechless for a moment. Had Ms. Jay made a bad batch? Didn't she taste the product before making sure it was edible? "From Rhona's Bakery; are you sure it's that bad?"

Rad looked incredulous at her mention of the bakery. "Ms. Jay's always made great desserts, I don't understand how this can taste so…so sweet, but this thing makes my teeth hurt. Here, try it." He held out the cupcake to Alexis, who flinched as she saw the bite mark in the pastry.

"Er, I'll take your word for it." She said, and Rad shrugged as he put the cupcake back into the bag. Alexis thought of prolonging her stay, but she had already done what she came to do. "So, I guess I'll see you later."

Rad nodded absently as he followed her to the door. "Yeah, see you at school tomorrow." He said and closed the door after her.


Rad craned his neck as he stared through the peephole after Alexis before looking back at Kero. "Okay, she's gone, but keep it down now that Rachel's up." He whispered.

Kero flapped his wings a few times as he nodded. He floated over to the cupcake, circling it as he sniffed experimentally, but reeled back and held his hands over his nose. "Oh man, this isn't good."

"Don't tell me-Sakura Card?" Rad asked sarcastically, but furrowed his brow when Kero nodded once more. "Are you serious? Ms. Jay could have just made a bad batch of cupcakes."

"We gotta make sure, can't leave anything to chance, alright?" Kero questioned.

Rad sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, you're right." He agreed softly. "I still can't leave though. I hate to say this, but we gotta wait until I get done school tomorrow for me to find out." He said grumpily.

"What about all these poor pastries that could be affected?" Kero demanded as he floated up to be eye-level with Rad, allowing the blond to see just how serious the guardian was. "And besides, if I'm right, Sweet could do more than just mess up a few dozen cupcakes." he added, but continued when Rad opened his mouth, "Sweet can make anything, well, sweet. It's not just that though, anything else she touches will also become a sweet."

Rad's eyes widened as he realized the implications of what Kero was saying. "Well, I'll make some calls and try and see if anyone else bought something from Ms. Jay's. If this is a Sakura Card, then she could be driven out of business." He pointed to the couch. "Wait here, I gotta ask Ray if I can use her phone, and-" he put his finger over his lips and Kero once again nodded.

The blond ducked out of the living room and down the hall, knocking on Rachel's door as he walked in to find his cousin frowning as she looked at the half-eaten cupcake sitting on the nightstand by her cellphone. "Hey, Ray. Can I call my friends? I forgot to ask Alexis when she was here if we could go to her house tomorrow and study for a test we have on Friday."

"You want to study? I'm impressed." Rachel mused sardonically. "Alright, you can call, but take this-" she jerked her head at the cupcake-"with you. I think Ms. Jay had a bad batch."

"Yeah, the one I had didn't taste any better." Rad replied as he grabbed both pastry and cell.

"Oh, and could you turn down the television? I'm trying to get some more sleep." Rachel said as she lowered herself back onto her bed.

Rad nodded as he turned away, his face steadfastly kept out of sight as he walked out of the room. Once back in the hall, he sighed in relief. 'That was close.' He thought and hurried back into the living room. He scooped up the bag from the coffee table and stuffed the other cupcake inside. When Rad tossed the bag into the garbage, Kero let out a faint whimper while Rad punched in the number to his aunt and uncle's phone. He waited as the phone rang a few times, and then a woman's voice came over the phone. "Hi, Aunt Joy, did you happen to go to Rhona's Bakery today?"

"Yeah, I was gonna bring you and Rachel some pie, but someone said that today's batch is all nasty. Rhona actually closed the shop for the day just before I could get there." Aunt Joy said, but then her tone became stern. "And this morning when your uncle went to buy groceries, he met with Mrs. Ottman and she told him that Rachel called in that she couldn't work for the week because she got a sprained ankle."

"Um, you can't talk to Rachel because she's asleep, and I don't want to wake her up-she was really tired last night." Rad explained, his eyes shifting around the room nervously.

Aunt Joy sighed heavily. "Oh, alright. Just tell her to call me once she wakes up."

"Right, got it. See ya, thanks for the information." Rad said quickly, and ended the call before Aunt Joy could reply. He grimaced down at the phone, but frowned when he thought of who his aunt could have been talking about. 'Ottman, Ottman-wait, Fred Ottman? That must have been his mom.' He thought and dialed up yet another contact about the bakery.

Rad didn't want to admit it, but fifteen minutes later, he found that Kero was probably right. If this Sweet was the culprit, then he would need a plan to scope out the shop after school tomorrow. He sat down next to Kero and glanced at him. "Quick question, if this is Sweet-"

"-which I'm positive it is-"

"-then when would be the best time to try and catch her?"

Kero rubbed his chin. "Create was a tricky one, but Sweet would be active during the day. She likely won't try anything when you scope out the shop tomorrow, but pretend you don't see her if you do-she'll likely sense you as well, but at least this way it'll fool her into think you've just gone to buy something. At night is when she'll have quieted down so to say, but we'll need to be quick about catching her or she'll get suspicious."

Rad absorbed what Kero said, and he nodded as he got up to march towards Rachel's room. He set the phone down and bit his lip. "Aunt Joy found out about your sprained ankle," he said and Rachel groaned, pulling the pillow behind her over her head, "and she wants you to call her when you get up."

Rachel groaned louder. "Fine. I'll be up later to help with supper."

"That's okay; I can just make mac and cheese." Rad said. "It's not that difficult to cook."

Rachel peered at him out from under the pillow, and nodded at him with a faint smile. "Just for being so well-behaved, I won't say anything about you taking my book."

Rad stiffened, his smile freezing. "Uh, thanks." He said and made his way back out of the room. Guilt gnawed at him as he thought over what his cousin said. 'Yeah, I'm gonna be so well-behaved that tomorrow I'll be doing something you don't know about.' He wished Kero wasn't right about his assumption of Rachel's probable reaction to magic, but even if she had believed him, there was no way she'd let him go out off to do potentially dangerous things.

He breathed in deeply, and tried to think of how he was going to break into the bakery.


High Wire paced back and force, muttering to himself as he refused to give up the other two components of their combined form. He'd seen the two remaining Autobots watching him at times, as if trying to figure out what he was doing, but it wasn't like they could ask him anyway. He could still remember being separated from Grindor and Sureshock during the war on Cybertron and he didn't want that to happen here.

The Autobots were always the lesser of the evils, but the encoded servility program still made them obedient followers. High Wire had already been assured of his 'useless' status given the fact the Autobots believed that he couldn't uplink with them now.

High Wire wanted to ensure the same for his partners, but he couldn't ask Rachel for anymore uplinks. She'd be super mad if she knew what he was doing.

This was what led him to sneaking out of the Autobot base and making his way down the mountain in his robot mode, as his bicycle form had no basket to hold the other two panels. It was underhanded and put even more humans at risk, but he couldn't let his friends be subjected to the servility program again.

High Wire scurried as fast as he could through the forest and into the town, ducking in and out of alleyways whenever he saw a vehicle of any kind driving along the roads, and steering clear of the street lights. He couldn't believe that so many humans still were out after dark, but Cybertron had been the same in much of the way.

The mini-con paused when he found a store, and through the glass he saw both a scooter and a skateboard; the items brought to mind the two transportation that the other children today had-which were subsequently been destroyed by Cyclonus' missile along with Rachel's car.

High Wire pulled back into the alleyway, making sure to stay out of sight as he set the two storage panels down and coaxed his partners awake. The plates began glowing green and in a burst of multi-colored light, a blue mini-con and an orange mini-con appeared.

The orange one, Sureshock, looked around at the dark alleyway, pulling back from a pile of large, foul-smelling bags. "High Wire, why did you wake us up here? This is disgusting!"

"We had to keep out of sight." High Wire apologized. "We're on planet Earth, and I have found a way for you both to avoid activating the servility program."

"Really, how?" The blue one, Grindor, asked skeptically.

"That's quite simple-we uplink with the organics on this planet." High Wire explained cheerfully, but all he received were two flat stares. "Now hear me out. I already linked with a human, and the Autobots can't uplink with me because this human understood me and all that-plus the programming doesn't activate upon linking with a human."

"So, we do this, and we can still be, uh, us?" Grindor questioned quietly. High Wire nodded. "How can we trust these humans though?"

"He's right; we wouldn't exactly know where to look." Sureshock added.

High Wire felt guilty for leaving out large chunks of his explanation, but even for their standards the truth would be too farfetched until it could be proven true. For now he would wait until a more opportune time. Right now he was just glad that his partners were accepting of this idea. "I already found two candidates; they're sparkling equivalents, but not likely to ask you to fight-especially if you look the right way. Follow me, he said and gestured for them to trail after him, leading them in front of the store and pointed at the two children vehicles, "scan those and we can go try and get them to agree as well."

"Well, it would be nice not to fight." Grindor said and carefully scanned the skateboard, his form breaking down into a replica of the item once finished.

"Yeah, it really would." Sureshock said, but her tone was just a bit more reluctant as she scanned the scooter as well. Once finished, her form was nothing like the scooter, and it resembled a more larger vehicle- much like the bike, except the bottom proportions were way off. "What just-"

"You must really be feeling your age." High Wire quipped.

Sureshock transformed back and clenched her fist, shaking it at him. "Why you-"

High Wire shushed her. "We still can't be seen by anyone else. Now come on." He said and transformed. They could go faster this way, and they would need to be quick once the Autobots picked up the new signals and realized that he'd left.

"Where are we going anyway?"

High Wire paused, as in his haste he forgot the most important thing; how was he supposed to find Alexis' and Carlos' houses? "Um, I…wait! I know just the thing!"


"Sleeping on duty again," Megatron growled at the cowering helicopter as he rested against a slab he'd fashioned into a throne, "you not only failed to know that Leader-1 was on this wasteland, but you also failed to inform me of the abnormal readings that have appeared." He scowled and slammed his fist down onto the armrest, Cyclonus flinching. Leader-1, who was sitting on the Decepticon's knee, and Starscream who was standing beside the throne, showed the slightest reaction. "You have not been melted down to scrap yet as those were not mini-con signals, but to stress the importance of finding them, Leader-1 is going to show you just why the Autobots cannot be allowed to acquire them first."

The small white mini-con lowered its cannon and fired; Cyclonus threw himself to the floor as Leader-1 shot off several loud blasts that were scattered along the back walls, leaving them scorched and damaged. The mini-con impassively discharged his cannon and settled it back into place.

"Megatron-uh, sir, what happened here?" Having just arrived, Demolishor was taken aback by the new wear and tear to the ship. This would set back repairs in between hunts for the mini-cons, he just knew it. "Er, anyway," he quickly went on, "there have been two mini-con signals picked up, and yet another strange anomaly that appeared."

"For now the mini-con is top priority, I will not waste resources on this second oddity until I find substantive proof it could of any use." Megatron said sternly. He turned his cold gaze down to Cyclonus, who peered up from under his servos nervously. "You will take point, but if you fail; I will melt you down into scrap metal-understood?"

Cyclonus hurried to stand back up, saluting quickly at his leader. "Yes, of course Lord Megatron. I won't let you down."

Megatron scowled at him. "You'd better not."


Rad frowned as he looked up from the television to the door at the sound of soft thudding. Kero glanced up at him as Rad set down his bowl of mac and cheese before making his way over. He peered through the peephole, but furrowed his brow when he couldn't see anyone. Cautiously, he hooked in the lock chain and opened the door a fraction. His eyes widened as he took in the three vehicles, but only the blue and gray bicycle had him realizing who these were. "High Wire, what are you doing here? Do you know what Ray will do if she finds out you came back?"

"I know I swore to be good for the Autobots, but I don't want my friends to be bound to their servility program." High Wire said as he wheeled around and twitched his handle bars at the moped and skateboard behind him.

Rad bit his lip. "Well, you'd better get in here and tell me what's going on. Just be quiet. Rachel is sleeping and I don't want her to know you're all here."

"I can go along with that." High Wire agreed. When Rad opened the door properly, the three mini-cons all scooted inside and he quietly relocked it. "Rad, allow me to introduce you to Sureshock," the moped blinked its lights, "and Grindor," the skateboard wheeled back and forth, "the three of us make up a combiner robot named Perceptor, but we'll get to that later."

Rad tilted his head, and caught sight of Kero peering over the armrest of the couch as the three robots transformed into their bi-pedal forms. "Look who came back." He teased and Kero huffed and pulled back against the couch.

High Wire beeped rudely at the guardian. "Glad to see you too, plushy."

Rad rolled his eyes before he ushered the three to sit at the table. "So, how do you expect your friends to escape the servility program? You planning on asking me to link with them too?"

"No, there's no need for that." High Wire said, but Rad narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I need the addresses of your friends. I feel they would be helpful in giving Sureshock and Grindor a safe environment." He explained, though Rad still didn't look convinced. "You see, what you did in our first meeting was before I activated the others with the signal, and what that means is you kinda imprinted with them too. It's the reason you can understand them too."

Rad opened his mouth, since that sounded very strange, but High Wire hurried on, "You see, it would take a fair bit of explaining, so just please go with it for now. Anyway, a mini-con was considered 'unavailable' if they linked with a bulk, because the servility program cancelled the need to have another link-up. I found that in the Autobot base my own signal had stopped broadcasting after I linked with Rachel, and the Decepticons were merely scouting the area because I had been there. In all likely hood they would also be here soon since these two activated as well-which is why I want them to get linked with your friends."

Rad blinked, his mind struggling to keep up with the words that were popped into his head. He could feel the thrice amount of feeling behind the words, and realized that this link really did connect him to the others. The thing which had his mind coming to a screeching halt was the part about the Decepticons. "Wait, are you telling me that the Decepticons are coming back because you activated these two?" he asked, but frowned as another thought formed. "Wouldn't the Autobots know what you did though? Wouldn't they be coming to check too?"

High Wire rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well, that's probably true. So, will you help us out?"

Rad felt his head ache as he struggled to piece together just what was happening. "Okay, so first you come here and tell me that the Decepticons are going to be in the area, and now you want me to get my friends even more involved to save your friends? And, you expect me to help you because you're asking?"

"No." High Wire said firmly. "I'm asking because you're my only hope. The Autobots wouldn't understand, and I don't think Rachel would either. But you, you've got magic and weirdness, so you would get this, right?"

Rad wasn't quite sure what High Wire was saying, as this all was heavy for a twelve-year-old to process, but he knew that even beyond that he'd missed High Wire. Sure, the mini-con hadn't really listened to Rachel, but maybe Rad could convince her it would be a good thing to have him around after all? "I'll try to get my friends to accept these bots, but don't hold your breath."

Sureshock crossed their arms. "Robots don't need to breath." She said primly.

Rad smiled slightly. "You know, I think you just might get along with Alexis." He said and pointed down the hall. "Transform and go hide in my closet. Rachel's got class early tomorrow, so you just need to stay put until she leaves. I'll tell her I'm taking my bike and then we can go meet up with my friends at school. Sound like a plan-er, sort of at least?" he asked, and the three mini-cons looked between each other before nodding.

Kero sighed from where he was perching his arms over the armrest. "If only you put this much effort into capturing Sweet."

Rad glowered at the guardian. "I'll have you know that these little bots are in danger of capture, and I don't recall ever hearing you tell me about someone else going after the Sakura Cards."

Kero shot into the air and got in close to Rad's face. "Need I remind you that the big yellow mecha took Create? That's a big problem right there. He tries to activate it and you'll have to catch Create all over again."

Rad pulled back at the reminder, realizing that despite his less-than-fearsome form, Kero still had a sharpness to him. He glanced away and frowned. "Yeah, I know, I haven't forgotten about that." He mumbled. "I'll work on getting Create back after I deal with both the mini-con situation and Sweet's, okay?"

"I've been meaning to ask," Grindor said quietly as he pointed at Kero, "but what is that thing? It's the strangest organic I've never seen."

"Oh, this is Kero, probably should have mentioned that." Rad said rubbing his neck nervously. "He's my mentor or something about these magic cards, which is really complicated but you can't tell Carlos or Alexis about it if they agree to take you cause magic is weird like that I guess."

Kero rolled his eyes. "It's not because magic's weird, it's that people can get weird about it. This is some very powerful stuff you're dealin' with Rad, and I know that power tends to corrupt a lot of the time. Even if your friends and family did know, what's to say that this wouldn't give them ideas about asking you to do something-it could be small like passing a test, or it could be big like robbing a bank."

Rad gaped at the guardian, his expression incredulous. A protective surge fought past it as he glowered at Kero, reaching out to shake him by the ear. "Listen you, some people may be like that, but I know my friends. Carlos can be a slacker with school, and Alexis can be self-righteous, but they've both got their good qualities too." He released Kero with a small wave that sent the guardian spinning back to the couch. "I'll prove it too you. If they accept the mini-cons and keep them a secret, I'll show you that they can accept magic and keep that a secret too."

Kero rolled back into an upright position, eyes narrowed in scrutiny. "That's just it, you're entire argument relies on an if. Here's something for ya; what if they can't adapt?"

Rad didn't answer as he turned towards the window, the mini-cons having quietly taken their leave through the low spoken arguing, and the blond pulled the curtains closed as the sky had turned a deep, inky blue with stars twinkling above and the moon shining brightly. He sighed as he set his dish into the sink and turned off the television.

Only then, when everything was set, did he finally give Kero his answer. "I…I don't know." He said honestly. "But what do know is that if I can't trust them, then who can I trust?"

For his part, Kero didn't seem to have an answer either.


Alexis blinked, and tried to make sure she wasn't seeing things as Rad waited by the school's bicycle rack, and Carlos was skating around the sidewalk with a skateboard she'd last seen get blown to smithereens along with her scooter. "Did your parents buy you a new one?"

"No, it's a little robot that High Wire found." Carlos said casually.

For Alexis, she thought there should have been nothing casual about the way he said it. "Do you not remember all that happened to Rachel? About almost being killed?"

Carlos halted the skateboard and crossed his arms defensively. "I remember; I'm just trying not to let it get me down. I mean, yeah it's awful what happened to Ray because she wanted to protect High Wire, but that wasn't their fault, just the big robots, uh, Decepticons. And once Rad explained to me just why High Wire brought his buddies, I couldn't leave Grindor hangin'."

Alexis puffed out her cheeks as Carlos pushed himself down to the school steps and she rounded on Rad, hands on her hips as she gave him her most stern glower. "And just what were you thinking, both of you?" she asked with a pointed stare at the blue bike. "Why did you think bringing them to school would be a good idea if those Decepticons are after them? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

Rad crossed his arms and glared back at her. "I know how much of a risk this is, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just let High Wire's friends be stuck as someone's weapon; besides, he told me that those Decepticons would only scout out the area, and that only lasts as long as a mini-con goes unlinked for. So that's why I asked Carlos to link with Grindor when I stopped by his house this morning, and now I'm asking if you'll link with Sureshock." He said and gestured to the orange moped parked in the stand beside High Wire.

Alexis reeled back. "Oh no, if you're so desperate, why don't you link with it?"

"Because I can't." Rad said frustrated. "And even if you won't take her in, at least just link with her, please? At least that way I'll know she'll be safe like Grindor is."

While very resistant to the idea of being near these robots, let alone doing this 'linking' after all the grief they'd caused Rachel, she grumbled and reluctantly nodded. "Fine, but don't expect me to like this." She said. Even if she was against this, she felt a certain responsibility towards her friends to keep them out of trouble.

Rad smiled, and Alexis glowered at him. "Great, take Sureshock and go link with her behind those bushes. I'll cover you."

Alexis rolled her eyes as she scooted the mini-con off the stand and wheeled it towards said bushes that lined the sidewalk of the school. She pushed Sureshock into the bushes on its side, and crawled in just as Rad stood in front of them and tried to push the branches to block them from view. Alexis tensed when Sureshock transformed and extended its finger, the tip glowing. The brunette reluctantly touched the tip, and when it died down, Sureshock quickly transformed back into a moped.

"Hey, what are you doing over here, Rad?"

Alexis froze as she recognized Billy's voice. Through the branches she could see Fred was with him and Rad huffed in response.

"Looking for my home key." He replied casually. "What are you doing here, Billy? I thought you'd be skipping school again?"

Billy thrashed his arms angrily about, a glower on his face. "I was sick all weekend you dweeb!" he stepped forward, but Alexis had enough sense to stop this before it escalated.

"Hey, back off." She said and crawled out from under the bushes.

Billy froze up while Fred furrowed his brow. "You were there?" he asked while Fred asked "Why were you there?"

Alexis dusted off her capris. "I was helping Rad, his key was really back in there." she said and crossed her arms. "Now, will you leave or do I have to get a teacher involved?"

Billy huffed up. "We're going, teacher's pet!" he snapped and stormed off.

Fred lagged behind for a moment as he looked at Rad. "Sorry to hear about your cousin, hope she gets well soon."

Rad blinked in what looked like surprise. "Uh, thanks." He said and Fred nodded before rushing after Billy. "I will never understand how those two are friends."

Alexis crossed her arms. "I will never understand how I'm friends with you." She said grumpily. "Seriously Rad, the robots and Billy? Will you never stop and think first?"

"Hey, I can so think." Rad replied annoyed.

Alexis shook her head. "Put your little robot friend back with High Wire, I'm going to get to class before the bell rings." She said and made her way up to the steps as Carlos arrived there. She pursed her lips as he put the 'skateboard' into his backpack, but didn't say anything for now as he opened the door for them to be let in.

She glanced back and saw Rad put Sureshock with High Wire, his expression apologetic as he said something too low to hear, but she glanced away and went inside without another look back.

She couldn't feel guilty, not after what she'd seen happen to Rachel.