Chapter 6: Sweet Lies Part 2
The day had passed by almost painfully slow, and Rad didn't know if this could be a Sakura Card or just his anxiety taking a toll on him. Anytime he had been tempted to lie his head down and take a nap, he'd pinched his arm to pay attention. Normally he would have been happy to only have had two classes with Billy, as the other boy's attempts to pick a fight were annoying, but he would have welcomed it today just to make the day go by faster.
So when he was finally out of school, he pushed open the entrance doors more dramatically than he should and sighed theatrically. "Man, that went on for-ev-er; what a nightmare."
Alexis rolled her eyes as she and Carlos exited the school after him. "That's slacker talk, school isn't that bad."
"And that's geek talk." Carlos said, but there was a teasing tone to it, which only made Alexis roll her eyes again.
"Careful, you keep doing that and you're gonna strain your eyes." Rad pointed out.
Alexis huffed and crossed her arms. "I wouldn't do it if you two weren't so eye-roll worthy."
The three of them walked towards the bicycle stand, and while Carlos took Grindor out of his backpack, Rad furrowed his brow as he took in both High Wire and Sureshock. He cleared his throat nervously. "Hey, Alexis, could I ask you for a favor?"
Alexis glared at him suspiciously. "What kind of favor?"
"Well, you see," Rad poked his index finger tips together, "I need someone to take High Wire back home. And I'm gonna be kinda busy, so I just figured…"
Alexis glowered and crossed her arms. "And why exactly would I do that? Why can't you get Carlos to do it? He's all buddy-buddy with these robots now."
Carlos hopped up onto Grindor and began moving the mini-con back and forth. "Are you kidding? I'm gonna be out seeing what this little guy can do. The desert seems like a good place to do that; no one will be around for miles."
"Yeah, I'm gonna head out with Carlos after seeing if Ms. Jay's got a good batch of cupcakes today." Rad said quickly.
Alexis' expression twisted up in disbelief. "Are you two crazy? Why would you go out by yourselves after everything's that happened?"
"Come on, Alexis, we'll be fine." Carlos said dismissively. "You really need to lighten up, all you think about is school and being a kiss-up to Rachel."
Rad tilted his head when Alexis turned an interesting shade of red, her expression torn between anger and embarrassment. "Hey, what's he talking about?" he asked her, but her eyes were focused with dagger-like precision on Carlos.
"I'll show you who can't lighten up!" she shouted and marched over to Sureshock and pulled her off the stand. "We'll have a race to the mesa just beyond the forest; first one to there has to say nothing but nice things about the other for the whole week."
Carlos laughed as he pumped his fist into the air. "You are so on! It's about time you let yourself have some fun."
Rad shook his head, but given that now Carlos had roped Alexis into going with him, he backed away with High Wire. "I'll catch up with you guys later; I still wanna go get out Ms. Jay's shop."
Carlos waved as both he and Alexis drove. "Later, man!"
Rad sat on High Wire's seat and let the mini-con ride down the side walk. "I sure hope they'll be alright. The Decepticons must need to sleep too, right? Or are they different from mini-cons?"
"We are very similar, the bulks even have the ability to combine with each other, but not everyone can do that." High Wire said. "And yes, they need to rest for a time, and they need to attend to other needs, but I cannot be sure if they would follow a nightly scouting or a daytime one."
"We'll that's reassuring." Rad muttered. "Still, both Sureshock and Grindor aren't giving off signals now and I haven't seen or heard any low flying jets or 'copters lately. I suppose all I can do is hope for the best, right?"
"You could have stopped them altogether." High Wire said in a chastising tone which had Rad biting his lip as he glanced away.
"Maybe I could have tried, but I doubt it would have worked. I can sort of calm an argument between those two, but once they get going there's really no point." He explained.
"Your friends are strange."
Rad nodded, but bashfully could admit he was pretty strange too. After all, what else was he supposed to call going to scout out a bakery to see if there was a magic card there wreaking havoc? He was pulled out of his thoughts as he pushed down on the brakes. "Wait, this is the place," he said and got off the bike to steer High Wire over to the bakery shop, and peering in he saw an older woman behind the counter with a nervous expression on her face as a customer seemed to be making a disgusted face and stormed out the shop, with Rad ducking out of the way to avoid being hit by the door.
He pointed at High Wire to stay put before he walked inside, biting his lip as he glanced around at the candy rack display and glass casing with all the desserts behind it. Rad smiled up at Ms. Jay. "Hello, would you have happened to have made any molten lava cakes? My cousin really likes those."
Ms. Jay smiled sadly, her cheery persona cracking a little under the pressure she was likely feeling. "Yeah, but hopefully they won't turn out to be a bust like everything else I've sold." She grumbled as she went about fetching the chocolate cake slice.
Rad dug into his pocket for the emergency money Rachel had him carry. He was supposed to use this in case he needed to use the payphone, but this scouting was an emergency. "Why, is there something wrong with the pastries?"
"I don't know, I've been using the same recipes I always do, but maybe it's an ingredient that's bad. I sure hope this funk passes soon though, or I might go out of business." Ms. Jay said, her expression downcast.
"Don't feel too bad, maybe things will start to pick up again-who knows?" Rad said brightly as he handed over the money and received the small paper bag in return. He smiled, but froze as he felt his teeth start to ache, and he could smell something sickly sweet in the shop. "Are you baking something right now?"
"No, it's probably just the fumes; I've worked in here so long that I hardly notice it anymore." Ms. Jay laughed self-deprecatingly.
Rad chuckled along uneasily, his eyes scanning over the treats until he saw a glimpse in the corner of his eye. "Well, see ya." He said and turned to the door, and in his sights he saw a small fairy-like woman with a very puffy appearance. The main portion of her pink hair was large and had him thinking of cotton candy with two small puffball pigtails below her neck while on her forehead was an orange starburst pattern. The top half of her yellow dress looked like it could pass for a very candy-ish sweater while the bottom half was in a round puffy shape. She was wearing striped socks that resembled those on a candy cane and she was pointing a candy cane striped wand that ended in another puffball at a cupcake.
He had a likely enough guess of what she was doing, but in keeping his presence casual, Rad pretended not to have noticed her as she paused and watched him leave. When he got onto High Wire, he turned the bike so he could get another look at Sweet, and found she was circling around a brownie this time, pointing her wand at it where a cupcake had previously been. "You saw her too, right?" he asked once they were back to riding down the sidewalk.
"I thought she was a glitch, but yes, I saw her." High Wire said, but when he continued, he was confused. "What was she doing?"
"I…I think she just used one of her powers." Rad admitted. "Kero said she could make things sweet, while also turning other things into sweets too." He was a bit worried that Sweet had sensed Windy hiding in his over shirt pocket, but thankfully hadn't given him more than a cursory glance.
As he and High Wire rode down the corner, Rad blinked as he heard the horn of a truck blare, and he looked behind him to find a red and blue semi-trailer following after them. He squinted at the tinted windows, which for a moment lightened enough for Rad to find that there was no driver. He sighed and looked down at High Wire. "Should I keep going or do we try and ditch him?"
"One does not 'ditch' Optimus Prime." High Wire said primly.
Rad thought back to him and Rachel's first 'encounter' with the Autobot, and decided not to call the mini-con on what he'd said during their talk in the apartment afterwards. "Fine, we were gonna get busted anyway." He said and gestured for the semi to follow him into a mostly empty parking lot.
"Remember, he doesn't know that you can understand me, so you're gonna have to play dumb and pretend that Rachel was the one who I linked with." High Wire said as the blond removed himself from the seat.
Rad scowled at the last minute confession, but had no time to chew out the mini-con as he transformed while the semi pulled to a stop beside them. He called on the knowledge that his friends gave him and hoped it would be enough. "Hey, sorry about the other day. I know me and Rachel ran away, but it's not like we were just gonna stick around while you two fought it out like you and that other robot looked like you were about to do."
"His designation is Megatron, and I can understand your reaction." Optimus said, his tone a tad neutral before his attention turned to High Wire with how stern his voice became. "You should have known better than to sneak off with two panels, the Decepticons could be scouting the area for them right now."
High Wire slumped, his beeps translated as utter nonsense, but Rad crossed his arms and pursed his lips accordingly. "I had no idea he was him until I got to school. Rachel told me that you were looking for mini-cons and there he was bringing out two more from behind a building for my friends to link with." He shook his finger at High Wire like his mother used to when he was being bad. "Shame on you, mister, for tricking us like that."
High Wire lowered himself more, beeping in what sounded apologetic muttering, but Rad had to keep from cracking up at what he actually heard. "Laying it on a little thick, aren't you? Perhaps you need acting lessons." Given his current tone, the contrasting, smug words were hilarious.
Rad looked at the semi, but wasn't quite sure just where to look, so kept his gaze on the window. "Um, when we met, thanks for saving me and Rachel, and thanks for saving her and my friends yesterday; they mean a lot to me."
"Of course, protecting life is what the Autobots do." Optimus said and Rad beamed at him.
"Oh, and my name's Rad, but you probably already heard Rachel cursing my name in the time you met her." He said sheepishly. "So, I guess this means you gotta take High Wire away?" he asked softly.
"I'm afraid so, Rachel not only asked High Wire to stay with us, but it is simply too dangerous to allow children to be in possession of the mini-cons." Optimus explained.
"I see." Rad said, thoughts in his head turning. "Well, could I come with you? I know where Alexis and Carlos are, and I might be able to talk them into giving the mini-cons up-they seemed really attached to them."
Optimus was silent for a moment, and Rad just hoped he thought on the pro/con ratio that the blond actually knew the other two. "Very well," he said heavily, "you may come along." He said and opened his door.
Rad grinned as he pulled High Wire with him and gestured to the door. "After you." He said with an exaggerated flourish.
High Wire snickered. "You can stop laying it out there; I think we're in the clear now."
The blond kept the smile from stretching across his lips as he got in after the mini-con. He looked around the cabin as the door closed on its own, and saw that on the steering wheel was the same little red symbol as well.
He glanced at High Wire, but with Optimus right there, he knew better than to start speaking to the mini-con.
Only when she and Carlos were racing across the desert, did Alexis realize she'd just pulled something Rad would do. 'I can't believe I let myself get roped into this.' She thought, but the insult about her and Rachel struck a nerve. As if she'd only be nice to Rachel just because she wanted a favor from her; didn't it occur to him that she liked Rachel just because? There were so many things to like about her to; she was responsible, stern but fair, and she cared deeply.
Alexis sighed, feeling the wind blowing her hair around and when she looked back at Carlos, she figured that since she was already doing this, she might as well give it her all. "Hey! I hope you got something nice to say when I win!"
Carlos scoffed, his jacket flapping from the wind passing over him. "You actually gotta win first, and we ain't out yet, right Grindor?" he questioned and the blue mini-con beeped before it started to pick up speed.
Alexis looked down at Sureshock. "Can't you go any faster? They're gaining on me."
When Sureshock replied, it sounded incredibly offended. "Can't you say 'please'? I know this was just something recklessly spur of the moment, but that's no reason for you to be so rude to me."
Alexis pursed her lips. "Fine, please go faster."
"Yes, thank you for your clearly not-meaning-it apology." Sureshock retorted snootily, and Alexis vaguely wondered if this was how her friends felt talking to her.
She shook her head as Sureshock sped up. 'No, we're nothing alike-this is an alien robot and I'm a human.' She thought, smirking as she found that the cliff side was nearing fast. "Eat my dust, Carlos!" she shouted back at him, but her eyes widened as Sureshock only sped up. "What are you doing? You're gonna make us crash!"
"You said that the cliff was your race end, so that's where we are going to go." Sureshock replied calmly.
"This is crazy." Alexis said, glancing back at the second set of beeps. Her eyes widened incredulously as Carlos ducked down to tightly grip the front of the skateboard without a word. 'How can he trust it so easily? Am I the only one who has any sense left?' She tightened her grip on the handle bars, and ducked down as Sureshock reached the cliff and started going up.
It was a terrifying feeling to defy gravity, and she felt her stomach drop as she was just waiting for the moment when Sureshock was going to fall. Taking a chance, Alexis glanced down, finding that Carlos was grinning as he hung onto Grindor and she couldn't believe he was actually having fun in such a precarious situation. 'Doesn't he realize how dangerous this is?'
When they reached the top, Alexis screamed, hearing Carlo's echoing yell as she amended her previous thought to just how dangerous things got. For at the top of the cliff waiting for them was freaking Megatron.
"Get us out of here!" she yelled and she heard Carlos cry something along the same lines.
Megatron reached down to snatch them up, but Sureshock and Grindor both took a hard left that had the children clutching at the mini-cons as they braced for a detour going back down the cliff side. The robot roared, and a shadow fell over them as Megatron jumped from the cliff to the ground below.
The robot scowled down at them, having landed just in front of them to block their path. "You pathetic organics will hand over those mini-cons now." his eyes narrowed threateningly as the small group found themselves being blocked off by three other robots that Alexis recognized with frightening clarity of the previous day, that all took pointed position around the cliff face in making sure the children and the mini-cons couldn't slip by, after spontaneously warping into view.
Already Alexis could feel the terror Rachel must have felt being confronted by them.
Carlos gulped, nudging Alexis as he caught sight of a pale blue robot that looked like the helicopter from yesterday. "I think that's the one who blew up Rachel's car." He whispered, and Alexis grimaced.
Megatron stepped forward, his expression growing steadily more impatient as his shoulder cannon began charging up. "I will not repeat myself; hand over the mini-cons or suffer the consequences."
"Hmm, anybody else getting the feeling that we've done this before?" The helicopter asked, his tone confused.
Megatron glanced over at the robot as the other two kept their optics trained onto the small, cornered group. "What are you blubbering on about now? I will still melt you into scrap if you do not shut your mouth!" he shouted and the pale blue robot flinched back as he nodded deferentially.
As much as Alexis didn't want to think about yesterday, it was not hard to miss that things did feel incredibly familiar-and reversed. She tensed when between the robots, she could see three vehicles beginning to clear the distance between them. "Do-"
"I see them, say something to distract them." Sureshock replied.
At this point, Alexis had already been as reckless as her friends on a good day, so why not throw in another stunt? "Hey, Megatron!" she yelled and the purple bot looked down at her. "How's it feel to know that yesterday you were held off by a puny organic?"
Carlos gasped incredulously as Megatron scowled deeply. "Have you lost your mind? And you think I'm irresponsible?"
As the cannon charged ominously bright, Alexis began to re-evaluate her mental state as well. "You insolent little insect!" Megatron shouted. "No one speaks to me like that!"
Alexis felt Sureshock tense as the semi was soon within a hair-breath of them. "Looks like I just did!" she retorted, and she felt her heart race as the cannon seemed to have reached its peak.
The blast went off just as the red and blue semi-truck rammed into Megatron's back. The shot went wide and it hit the cliff above the assorted group of mini-cons and children. Alexis looked up as she heard the crumbling sound of rocks and screamed as parts of the cliff broke off to rain down on them. Was this it? Were they going to-
"Hang on, kids!" A voice yelled as a shadow fell over both her and Carlos. Alexis' eyes widened as Hot Shot dove over them, landing in a crouch with his body shielding them from the falling debris. Alexis winced in sympathy at the sound of the boulders clinking off his back, but he just grinned at them like it was no big deal. "I didn't think we'd be all be meeting up like this again."
"Autobots!" Megatron snarled as he began to rise back to his feet, but a quick U-turn from the semi had the attached trailer swinging like a bat and hit the purple robot, sending him crashing into the helicopter and jet.
The red and beige Decepticon rushed over to the dog pile of robots on the ground. "Megatron sir, are you alright?" he tried to reach down to help the purple robot up, who only scowled again and slapped the hand away.
"What are you doing?" he growled. "Do not just stand there while the Autobots continue to function-shoot them!"
As Red Alert rushed over to help Hot Shot, Optimus opened his door, and both High Wire and Rad stumbled out of the cabin before he transformed. The red and blue Autobot surged forward just as the beige robot turned around, and Optimus grabbed a hold of him by the shoulders and twisted his upper body to fling him several feet away with him crashing into the ground. The force of impact had the ground shaking, and Alexis looked at the cliff for any more precariously loose rocks.
"Rad, I know you said you'd catch up, but don't you think this is just a bit much?" Carlos asked.
The blond smiled slightly. "What can I say? Optimus sure knows how to make an entrance." His smile dropped and he shooed his friends away from the cliff. "But come on, we gotta find a better take place to take cover."
"And be sure to remain out of sight." Red Alert advised as the children and the mini-cons all made their way around the hill.
Alexis sure didn't want to be around if they started to fight, that was for sure.
If it wasn't so inappropriate, Hot Shot would have laughed at the sight of the 'great and mighty' Megatron lying on a pile of his goons, but his back was dented and he was pretty sure it would hurt to even laugh.
Hot Shot jerked back from Red Alert as the medic tried to assess the damage of the rocks hitting his plating. "You can check later."
Red Alert's lip components pressed into a tight line. "Stop being so stubborn."
"Well stop being so-so you!" Hot Shot snapped back.
"Eloquent as always." Red Alert said dryly. Hot Shot scowled at him, but any remark he had was cut off by Megatron's maniacal laughter, his red optics focused on him and Red Alert with disdainful amusement despite how the Autobot leader had a blaster pointed at him.
"This is your elite team, Optimus?" Megatron asked mockingly. "They bicker like sparklings." He added scornfully and Optimus narrowed his optics.
"Sir," Cyclonus said weakly, "you're crushing my rotor."
Megatron shot the 'copter a nasty glare. "How dare you speak while I am taunting my nemesis!" he snarled and Cyclonus cringed, while at the bottom of the pile Starscream grumbled something nondescript under his breath, but Megatron turned his glare on him as well. "Quiet you!" he shouted before he looked back up at Optimus, who seemed almost amused by the exchange.
Megatron scowled. "Don't think you've won, I still have a trick up my servo." He smirked and tapped the white attachment to his chassis that had been previously dismissed. "You remember Leader-1, don't you?"
Optimus reeled back, his optics widening a faction as a large cannon activated at the other mech's waist- and fired. The shot narrowly missed the red and blue mech, but as it careened towards Hot Shot and Red Alert, the latter grabbed the former by his waist and dove out of the way, allowing the blast to hit the cliff where they had previously been standing. "Hot Shot, Red Alert!"
"We're okay, sir!" Hot Shot assured him even as Megatron laughed maniacally once more.
"Now you see the awesome might of my mini-con once again!" he shouted and Optimus fell back as the other mech rose to his pedes. His laughter was abruptly cut off as his cannon charged up and fired another shot, but now that Megatron was standing, the full force of the blast had him falling back down onto the flyers.
Perhaps despite himself, Optimus chuckled. "Yes, now I remember how well you handled your cannon. After all this time you still have performance issues I see."
Megatron snarled as he slammed his fist down on what looked to be Starscream's kneecap. "You two fools stop lying around and help me!"
"I think you just damaged my engine." Starscream wheezed, but groaned as Megatron slammed down on it again.
"No excuses!" he growled and pulled the other two mechs up with him to provide support. When Megatron once more fired off his cannon, he remained stabilized due to the shock absorption of the two mechs holding him in place.
Hot Shot looked on in concern as Optimus continued to dodge the blasts aimed his way, while only managing to fire back when the cannon recharged. The yellow mech shoved Red Alert off of him and struggled to pull himself back up. "We have to help him!"
"Stay down; you're only making your injury worse by moving." Red Alert retorted.
Hot Shot scowled, but his optic caught sight of a green panel buried in the crater the first cannon shot had made. He grinned, and didn't let the servo grabbing his arm or the ache in his back stop him as he dropped in front of the rubble and began to dig out the mini-con panel, pausing only briefly as another storage plate was revealed.
"What do you think you're-"
"Look!" Hot Shot yelled as he grabbed the plates and shoved them in front of Red Alert's visor. "Now we can help him!" he said as the panels began to glow. Where the panels once were, two mini-cons now stood precariously in Hot Shot's servos. "Pick one and let's get out there!"
"No." Red Alert said curtly and put a digit to the communicator on the side of his helm. "Optimus, Hot Shot is injured and we have acquired new mini-cons, I suggest a tactical retreat."
"What?!" Hot Shot shouted indignantly. He held both mini-cons to his chest with one arm as he put the other servo to his helm. "No, sir, we can still drive the Decepticons back. I can still fight-"
"No," Optimus said over the comm. system, his tone unwaveringly firm, "we have what we came for and that's all that matters. Red Alert, carry the children and bridge us back to base."
Hot Shot couldn't believe that this was happening. His grip tightened on the mini-cons, who beeped in distress. His audio felt fuzzy, as though static was being picked up and things seemed to be moving slower and slower. Optimus' dodges, the shots being fired from Megatron's cannon, the children running out into the open when they were called.
The yellow mech felt the feel of the warp drive activating, and he could hear only one word being screamed at them.
"COWARDS!"
If the warp didn't make him sick, that would have done it.
"How dare they treat me like this! What a cowardly thing to do-running away." Megatron spat as he stormed around the desert. His mutterings were low and manic as he began cursing the Autobots and Optimus Prime in general.
While Cyclonus could cop to not being very bright, even he knew that standing so close to Megatron when he got like this was not going to be good for one's health. So while both Demolishor and Starscream stood around waiting to be used as a punching bag the 'copter strayed to overlook the destruction caused by the all too abruptly ended firefight.
He scowled as he saw that there wasn't as much damage to the hunk of rock as he thought; he kicked a stray boulder and it collided with a loose part of the dirt mound. Cyclonus grinned as an even bigger landslide rained down, but it slowly faded as he saw two glints of green in the soil.
The 'copter mech crouched down to brush away the dirt, and it took a moment for it to fully register just what he'd found. By the time it had, he'd already picked up one of the panels and blinked as it activated. In a shower of different colored lights, a mini-con stood before him.
He stared at it, and it stared back.
Gradually, Cyclonus grinned as he picked the other panel up and wrapped one servo around the mini-con and stood back up. He ignored the protesting beeps and sprinted back to where the rest of the Decepticons were standing. "Look what I found!" he shouted, and Megatron shot him a glare for interrupting his tirade, which only lasted briefly when he caught sight of the green panel that the mech held up triumphantly. "And, I got my very own mini-con!" Cyclonus added as he held up the other servo to show the mini-con off, which beeped sullenly at the manhandling.
That nasty expression once more came over Megatron's faceplate before it smoothed out to something more appeased. "At least someone is doing something productive."
Starscream scoffed as he crossed his arms. "He had to; you would have scrapped him otherwise."
Megatron scowled at the jet. "When will you learn that no one cares what you think, Starscream?" he asked coldly. "Just for your insolence, you shall retrieve your own mini-con. Perhaps that will teach you some respect." He added and Starscream sneered as he looked away.
"Wait, does that mean I can have the other mini-con, sir?" Demolishor questioned. Megatron stared at him for a long moment, his lips tightening. When the moment passed, he nodded sharply. Demolishor's expression lit up. "Thank you, sir! You won't regret this, I promise!"
"I'd better not." Megatron grumbled. "Now, scout out the area for any other strays and then it's back to base."
Though Rad knew he wasn't the one being stared down, he felt supremely guilty all the same. It was hard not to quiver under the 'I'm extremely disappointed in you' look that Optimus was giving High Wire, which caused the blue mini-con to clasp his hands together nervously as he fidgeted. The Autobot leader hadn't even said anything yet, but the power of that stare was something else. Rad could swear he saw even Carlos and Alexis twitching in his periphery.
Behind Optimus, there was a closed door which Red Alert had carried Hot Shot into and it hadn't been opened since. Rad didn't know how badly damaged the yellow bot was, but the fact he'd appeared in the base actually passed out and dropped like a rock terrified him. If that could happen to one of the larger robots, just how much damage could be done to a mini-con? The two Hot Shot had carried seemed more nonplussed about being rough handled, but the fact they could have possibly still been hurt by the fall was worrying.
The Autobot leader let out a vent that sounded like a sigh. "High Wire, I would ask what you were thinking, but given that I can't understand you, I feel the reprimand should come from someone who could." He said, and High Wire stiffened. Rad didn't understand the reaction until Optimus turned to him. "In Red Alert's preparations of refurbishing this ship, he came to sync up with your global communications; tell me, what is the comm. number that I may use to contact Rachel Becker?"
Rad's eyes widened, and now both Carlos and Alexis looked just as terrified. He couldn't blame their reactions, as anyone who'd been babysat by her knew enough she didn't take disobedience that well. Briefly he considered how one more lie wouldn't matter, but that was too obvious. With no other choice available, he reluctantly rattled off the number.
Optimus nodded as he walked over to the computer and began to type in the numbers, and Rad winced when a sleepy voice answered him. "I am sorry to bother you, but I have the children here. High Wire snuck out of the base and duped them into linking with two other mini-cons he had."
In an instant, Rachel's voice went from sleepy and disinterested, to- "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" -very angry. "High Wire," she said coldly, "where are you?"
High Wire fidgeted and made his way over to the computer. "I'm here." He said meekly.
"Just what were you thinking? Don't you have any idea how dangerous your stunt was? You could not only have gotten yourself killed, but you dragged Rad, Carlos and Alexis into this as well." Rachel was really starting to get worked up, and there was no word otherwise to contradict her from High Wire. "If I could, I'd so ground you. As it is, Optimus, you can punish him as you see fit."
"Very well." Optimus agreed. "You need not worry about the children, for I will be bringing them back into town shortly."
"Alright." Rachel said, her voice now soft and tired. "Oh, and Rad, I'll be dealing with you when you're back."
Rad shrank into himself, his tone meek and submissive. "Okay."
The line on the computer went dead, and Optimus cut the line before glancing down at the three mini-cons. "Grindor, Sureshock, as you two are not aware of how things are done-I will leave you with a warning this time, but make no mistake. Disobedience will not be tolerated, am I understood?" Both Carlos and Alexis nodded when the two mini-cons relayed their answers. "Now, as for you High Wire; you will be held in isolation until I return." He walked over to an empty storage space, and the blue and gray mini-con beeped sadly as he walked into the room and Optimus closed it afterwards.
"Before we go," Rad said abruptly, "can I go speak to Hot Shot?"
Optimus stared down at him for a moment, but nodded slightly. "Only if Red Alert clears it."
Rad nodded back and walked into the room. He bit his lip as he saw Hot Shot was lying on a slab, his back hooked up to several machines, none of which he could even guess at what they did, but that it probably wasn't comfortable. Red Alert stepped in front of Rad, blocking his view of Hot Shot.
"Yes?"
"Um, could I speak to Hot Shot? If-uh, that's alright and all." Rad said nervously.
Red Alert was silent for a long moment, but gave a curt nod. "Don't take too long, Hot Shot needs rest. You have until I get back from conferring with Optimus about his status." He said as he made his way to the door.
"Sure, yeah." Rad replied absently as he raced over to the yellow bot, whose eyes weakly opened enough to peer down at him.
"Hey, do I know you?"
"Uh, not really, but you saved my friends today." Rad replied. He smiled sincerely. "That was really brave."
Hot Shot chuckled softly. "That's not what Red Alert's been telling me. He thinks I should have had an actual plan instead of just jumping in." he said and shifted slightly. "He's the biggest stick in the mud I know, but he's a real good medic." He paused and grimaced. "Don't tell him I said that though."
Rad nodded. "I won't." he promised. "I guess I'll just be going then and let you get back to sleep." He added, and Hot Shot smiled sleepily before his eyes closed once more and Rad narrowed his own. "Hot Shot?" he whispered, but when the robot didn't react, Rad pulled out The Windy card from his pocket. "Please, can you get Create to come with me?"
Windy floated out of Rad's hands and up to Hot Shot's shoulder. The area glowed briefly as another pink card floated out, but didn't move any further as Windy's card let out soft chiming ripples of blue light. Create caused its own blue ripples, but didn't move. Windy floated down and circled Rad before moving up towards the other card, letting out another round of chimes. Rad felt the oddest sensation of being stared at, and he met Create's 'gaze' head on. The card wavered in the air, but turned and floated back into Hot Shot's shoulder. Windy seemed to deflate with how she waffled in the air back towards Rad, and he echoed her sentiments with a heavy sigh.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to convince Create to come back another way then." He muttered as he put Windy back into his pocket. How was he gonna get Create to leave Hot Shot? He didn't like how Kero's observation of Create being spiteful seemed to be true.
For now, Rad decided he would need to focus on just getting the one already at large back.
As bad as Rad imagined how his talk with Rachel was going to go, the fact she was more upset than angry surprised him. She had been sitting stonily at the kitchenette table when he got back, crutches leaning against the wooden surface and she pointed at the chair across from him. He sat down without a word as she seemed to be preparing herself to speak.
"Why didn't you tell me that High Wire came back?" she asked bluntly. "And don't give me an excuse about not knowing he was with you. Your bike was still here when I got back. So what I want to know is why you felt the need to keep this from me knowing how I felt about this whole situation."
Rad looked down at the surface, the dim glow of the sunset against the table lightening it to a softer shade of brown. He didn't even know how to start with explaining his behavior, but he did know one thing with certainty. "I couldn't just let High Wire's friends be controlled; he wanted them to as free as possible."
"Why didn't you just link with them yourself?"
"It's cause I can't." Rad replied. "High Wire couldn't explain it, just that for some reason I'm already linked with the mini-cons but they needed another to block their signals, and I knew how you'd react if I came and told you this." He paused and muttered, "or at least I thought I did."
Rachel narrowed her eyes. "If you're referring to the fact I'm currently being calm and rational-don't think I'm not angry with you. I just spent the last twenty minutes channeling that rage into how I should punish you." She explained evenly.
Rad bit his lip nervously. "And what did you decide exactly?"
"I thought of sending you to my parents," Rachel said, and Rad stiffened, "but then I realized you were my responsibility and I wasn't going to just shove you off when you decided to act out." She added, and breathed in deeply. "From now until Friday, you're grounded. You come straight home from school-no friends, no calling your friends, no TV and no going out."
Though he knew he deserved so much more than just this, Rad felt a flare of indignation rise within him. Why was his punishment so severe and High Wire just got a time-out? 'It's because he only did it once.' He thought bitterly while his mind went back to the incident in the cave. Knowing what he was going to do once Rachel went to bed, Rad didn't have to stir up much guilt in his reply of: "I understand."
Rachel stony expression softened. "I don't like punishing you, but lying and sneaking behind my back are some bad habits to get into. I know you're mad at me for this, but know that I only do this because I love you." She explained. Getting to her feet, she jerked her head toward the freezer portion of the refrigerator. "My mom came by today after my afternoon classes were finished; once she was done yelling and worrying at me, she said that my dad made enough soup to last the week. Just thaw a container out and you can eat that for supper; I need to go lie down again."
Rad nodded. He waited until Rachel was back in her room before he made his way to his own. Closing the door softly behind him, Rad looked around the interior for any sign of Kero. "Kero, where are you?" he whispered.
There was a rustling from inside of his nightstand drawer, and the opening slid out enough for a large plush head to poke up through. "Hey, Rad, how did things go with the mecha and his buddies?" Rad sighed, and sat down on the bed before he relayed how things had played out. When he got to the part about Create, Kero frowned deeply. "This isn't good. Create's probably still feeling rejected and is likely staying away out of passive-aggressiveness. You have to find a way to get Create back by trying to reason with it yourself; there's no telling when that Hot Shot fellow might try and see just what he has."
"I know that, but not only am I grounded, I'm pretty sure Optimus would call Rachel the second I get to their base." Rad said frowning. "Let's focus on Sweet for now; is there anything I should know about her that might help me capture her?"
"Well," Kero rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Sweet doesn't like salt, so if you find a way to use it to trap her it'll really help."
"I guess you would know a lot about their weaknesses if you've done this before." Rad said in realization.
"Just be careful though." Kero warned him gravely. "I'm not the only one who's done this all before; one method used to capture the cards might not work again this time around."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Rad assured him. He got up and made his way over to the window, staring up at the darkened sky. "Okay, wish me luck." Rad opened his closet and pulled on a dark hoodie and made sure both his key and Windy were secure before he quietly opened the door, but a small hand on his shoulder stopped him. The blond looked at Kero's serious expression. "What is it?"
"At least until I know you can be safe, I'm coming with you tonight-I thought I made that clear earlier?"
"No offence, but what exactly can you do if we get into trouble?" Rad asked skeptically.
Kero's cheeks puffed out. "I may not look like much right now, but I can still be helpful." He shooed him out of the room. "Now let's get going."
Rad nodded as he crept over to Rachel's door and put his ear to it. He could hear light breathing from inside, and he began to make his way to the front door. Rad quietly unlocked it and pulled his bicycle out with him, Kero clinging to his shoulder as they got out. 'I hope Ray doesn't wake up any time soon.' Rad thought worryingly and locked the door with the spare key.
It didn't take them long to be out of the apartment and riding down the sidewalk towards Rhona's Bakery, and when they were just a block away, Rad pulled over and checked the immediate area around him before taking the key off from around his neck and held it out before him. "Key of the star with powers burning bright," he chanted and a golden circle appeared underneath him, "reveal the staff and shine your light-release!"
The key expanded into its staff form, and Rad looked at Kero as he clutched it securely between the handlebars of his bike. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you: just how is that these spells can come to me so easily?"
"It's kinda hard to explain." Kero rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess you could say that it's like training wheels-your magic is helping you with the spells for now until you get better at it and don't need to be nudged in a certain direction."
"So is me sensing these Sakura Cards also a training wheel?" Rad asked sardonically.
Kero smiled. "Nope, that's just part of being a Cardcaptor."
Rad really wanted to ask just who else had been in his position, but he had something bigger to deal with. So pushing the burning curiosity to the back of his mind, he pulled the bike up onto the sidewalk of the shop. He peered into the dark inside, moonlight lighting up the area enough for Rad to spot Sweet sleeping in an empty spot on the candy rack. "We have to get in through the back; going in through the front will let her know we're here." He whispered.
Kero nodded and they scurried around to the side of the bakery, where Rad began to look around for a side door. He bit his lip as he tested how much space was in between the small crack at the bottom of the door.
"Okay," he said and pulled Windy out. He tossed the card into the air, and when he pointed the star wand at her, the tiny wings grew as they glowed softly and he kept his voice low, "slip under the door and find a way to unlock it-Windy."
From the card, Windy's form sprung forth and she thinned out enough until she was able to slip in through the opening, strands of yellow and green wind following after her. Rad waited with baited breath as he could hear the soft breeze inside swirling around, and a soft 'clink' sound had him looking at the crack under the door to spy a key being blown out, Windy's card form floating out as well.
"Thank you." Rad said softly as he pocketed Windy and unlocked the door. He and Kero shared a smile as they entered through the kitchen door, and Rad went about searching through the cupboards for any salt, and Kero took flight to search the other side.
"Rad, over here." Kero called quietly and the blond found the guardian pointing at a cupboard of stew pots. "You can use one of these to keep Sweet in one spot long enough to seal her."
"Got it." Rad nodded. He paused as he saw a broom lying next to a mop. "And I can use this to make sure Sweet can't get in here." He added and picked up both the broom and a pot. "Now, where would the salt be…" his eyes trailed over to a cabinet that was marked with different labels and searched them until he found the one marked 'salt' and saw it still had half of a bag left.
"Now let's go." Kero said, his eyes hard and determined. Rad's expression mirrored his as he readied himself.
"Yeah." He whispered and with one peer into the shop part of the building to make sure Sweet was still asleep, Rad and Kero ducked inside and the blond quietly put the broom into the handle of the door. He opened the bag and handed Kero a handful of salt. "Can you go up to her and sprinkler her with this? I want her weak enough so she can't try and turn the pot into a pastry."
Kero nodded and floated over the counter to the snoozing spirit. He paused when Sweet turned over, his small form tensing, but relaxed when she didn't wake. Kero continued towards her, and once he was floating above her, the guardian gradually sprinkled the card with the salt.
Sweet turned abruptly, her eyes wide and indignant. She swiped at Kero with her wand and he ducked back quickly. She caught sight of Rad and the wand in his hand, before her expression became surprised.
"Now, Rad!"
The blond dove under the board that separated the back of the counter with the front of the shop, and he rose the pot above him. Sweet, while looking weakened, feinted to the right as she flew towards the back door, only to reel back at the sight of the broom. Rad grunted as he turned back around and slid under the barrier, the pot raised yet again.
Much like before, Sweet ducked out of the way and shot into the air. She stuck her tongue out at Rad, but pulled back when Kero flew up at her. His arms were outstretched, but when Sweet feinted once more and Kero flew past her, he twisted around and tossed the remaining salt at her.
When Sweet squeaked and began to toss and turn as she tried to dust the salt off of her, Rad took his chance when the wand slipped through her fingers. With her back turned, Sweet didn't see the pot until it was surrounding her. Rad backed off and let Kero hold the pot down as tiny, frantic knocks began to ring out inside of it.
Rad spun the star wand as the golden circle appeared underneath him. "I command you to return to your power confine- Sakura Card!" he shouted and when the wand was aimed at the bucket, the wings on the pink circle glowed, enlarging as at the top of the ornament a glowing card formed. Seeps of pink slid out underneath the bucket until the knocking stopped altogether, and the card floated over to Rad.
The card was like the others with its pink background and darker shaded borders, while in the center of it Sweet was facing forward with her hands clasped over her skirt and with the candy-striped wand in her grasp, with the starburst pattern on her forehead shaded the same color of orange that she'd had when unsealed but her eyes were closed.
Rad felt a smile stretch across his lips, and he whooped as he pumped his fist into the air. "I did it, I did it! I can't believe I finally got something done!" Kero coughed, hands on his hips. Rad's smile turned nervous. "Um, yeah, we did it, but still, right?"
Kero's annoyed expression softened. "It's okay; I'm just messing with you." He teased, but paused as he took in the rest of the shop. "Uh oh."
Rad furrowed his brow, but grimaced when he saw the salt bag had fallen over. He didn't know when, but it likely happened on the dive to follow Sweet to the kitchen door. "I guess I'd better get sweeping." He said, but continued with a mutter of: "There goes my stealth plan."
"We'll, I'll let you get to it-" Kero's attempt to sneak away was foiled when Rad grabbed him by one of the ears.
"Oh no you don't. You're gonna help me, we did this together, right?" he asked meaningfully.
Kero slumped his shoulders. "Well, at least we got Sweet."
Rad let go of Kero as he stared down at the card, smiling as he put Sweet into his pocket next to Windy. "Yeah, we got her."
