Chapter 3: Scavengers
The Chicago skyline rose ahead, the jagged tops of its once mighty towers and skyscrapers piercing the sky like skeletal fingers. Years of constant aerial bombardment and urban fighting had reduced the city to ruins, and what was once a center of commerce had become an abandoned and decaying husk of a settlement.
It was here that Cade Yeager found himself driving along the war torn streets. The city was labeled a Quarantined No-Go Zone by the Transformers Reaction Force, so no civilians should be here, much less a fugitive like him. But they needed supplies and wares to sell, and there was no better place to get it than here; scavengers like Daytrader were known to wander around the city occasionally, looking for something that could be salvaged. And if they could encounter one, it would save a lot of time and money. Not to mention, the city was virtually a treasure trove for inventors like him what with the amount of damaged machinery and electronics just lying around.
Of course, TRF Walkers often patrolled the area while several Energon detectors lay scattered throughout the vicinity, so it was almost next to impossible to navigate through the city without being caught or killed. But that was why he was escorted by not just one, but three Autobots, one of which was so heavily armed that he could take on an entire army by himself.
As Cade parked his modified jeep on a secluded corner and climed out, he glanced toward his other companion with a frown. He would not have taken her, really; coming here was dangerous for someone as young as her, and he did not need the distraction of watching over her as well. But she was insistent, and she kept pestering him to allow her to come.
Besides, Izabella had proven herself one too many times, and the girl was responsible and talented enough to have survived for almost a decade with nobody but a damaged, diminutive Transformer and another much larger one who managed to survive Cybertron's civil war despite the fact that he had little to no combat experience.
Cade slung a backpack over his shoulder, then said, "You know the drill. Find whatever useful thing you can find, throw the ones that are useless, then get back here—"
"—within the hour and wait for us. If we do not come back, return to base and alert the team. Yeah, yeah, I remember." Izabella rolled her eyes. "Honestly, how many times you've already told this to me?"
"A dozen times,' Cade said. "But that's because you keep forgeting the last part."
"Which is?"
"Run." And she visibly flinched at his glare. "If anyone sees you, run. You don't look back. You don't stop. You just keep on running."
"Run," she repeated and started to walk away, passing Bumblebee and Hound in their robot form. As she stopped beside a dump truck that slowly transformed into a hulking Cybertronian, she glanced over her shoulder and said, "You know, I wonder how long you'll keep saying that before you realize there's no more place to run."
Cade sighed and rubbed his temples. "We've already talked about this before, Izzy. Now get going before I have Bee haul you back to base."
"Right." Shaking her head, she motioned toward the large Cybertronian and a much smaller one that had climbed down from its shoulders. "Canopy, Sqweeks, let's go."
With thundering footsteps, Canopy lumbered after her while Sqweeks drove beside her. As they dwindled into the distance, Canopy glanced back and mouthed, I'm sorry for that.
A faint smile touched Cade's lips, and he shouted, "No worries! Just make sure you and Sqweeks keep her safe! She can't protect herself without you two!"
The Cybertronian nodded. As they rounded a corner, Izzy yelled back, "Tell that to yourself, legend!" Then they were gone.
"That's one hell of a girl you've adopted, Cade," commented Hound as they all stared in the direction Izzy and her companions had disappeared.
"I had no choice, did I? I just could not leave them behind, not when they have the TRF right on their asses." With one last look to where the girl had gone, Cade turned around and picked his way between the debris and rubble that dotted the streets, Hound and Bee following closely on foot. It was difficult, not only for him but the bots as well; ever since the last battle in Chicago, the government had decided to just leave the city as it was rather than rebuild it for the third time. The money involved was worth hundreds of billions, and they did not have sufficient funds anymore even with megacorporations like KSI helping them.
Needless to say, Joshua Joyce was not happy when his tower was wrecked by a missile. Even now, the ruins of his company headquarters stood in the distance like a monument; a reminder that humanity had once tried to replace their heroes, only to get kicked in the ass so hard that they never tried again, and had instead focused on providing countermeasures rather than replicating Cybertronian technology.
Cade snorted. Floating aircraft carriers were one thing, but creating something that would rival the Transformers was next to impossible. He had been with them long enough to know that; although he could fix and repair their bodies and equipment with Earth technology, their overall composition was beyond anything they could find here on the planet. Bumblebee's plasma cannon, for example, while they could get ammunition for it if they raided a nuclear plant or military base, if it got damaged in any way then that's the end of it. The scout would never be able to use it, much less fire a shot.
Finally they stopped in the middle of an intersection. On either side the roads were wide enough and cleared of debris for several cars to drive through. Up ahead, another ran straight before taking a sharp turn to the left and disappearing from view. This one was blocked by a lot of rubble, and only a human could pass through with some difficulty caused by the obstacles impeding the path. Here and there were abandoned cars, most of them crumpled and wrecked as if a heavy object had fallen on them.
Cade glanced around. There was no sign of electronic stores or companies, which disappointed him. That would mean he either had to loop around and find another route, or proceed ahead without the Autobots following him. Neither of the two was a good option, but he had to make a decision soon; any moment now and a TRF Walker might pass by.
"I'm guessing that you're going to tell us to wait here until you get back," said Hound.
Cade nodded. "Yes." There should be a cluster of shops just beyond the street. The business district of Chicago was so large that he could spend a day walking around the area and still not be able to visit all of them. It was there that spare parts and equipments could mostly be salvaged, and it was there that he had to go.
"We'll scout the area around here while you go ahead, then," the Autobot grunted. "Just give us a holler on the radio if you need help. Bee, let's go." With that he transformed into a Mercedez-Benz Unimog truck and went to the left. Bumblebee saluted Cade then shifted to his vehicle form and drove in the other direction, leaving Cade standing in the middle of a ruined city.
He was silent for a moment as he watched them gradually disappear from sight. Then readjusting the straps of his pack and shifting its position higher onto his shoulder, Cade began the long walk.
An hour later, he found himself raiding an abandoned car dealer and repair shop. Most of the shops he had gone into had nothing of value except for some odd junk, which he took anyway, and he had wandered around looking for an establishment that was not yet looted until he reached the more developed sector of the city. It was here where he found the shop, and although there were other prominent establishments in the vicinity, it was the only one which was still stocked; it did not look too ransacked by other scavengers, at least.
Cade entered through the broken glass doors, careful not to step into any shards of glass. His boots clicked on the cracked tiled floor as he looked around, noting the state of disrepair. The walls were stained with oil, and tools lay scattered everywhere. The counter was split in half, and parts of the ceiling had collapsed, exposing dead wires inside. A rat skittered along one of the shafts of the ventilation system, and thick cobwebs hung on corners.
There was only one car on display with shattered windows and dusts blanketing it entirely. Wiping some of the dusts away, Cade uncovered its surface and noticed how the red paint was already faded and dull. Looking inside, the seats and other components had been removed while the floor was littered with splinters of glass. It was definitely cannibalized, and as he checked under the hood, even the engine was missing.
Shaking his head, Cade began exploring the one-story building. He opened several offices and conference rooms, but found nothing of worth. In one room, there was an old computer sitting on the desk. It seemed to be still functioning, and though there was no electricity to turn it on, he took the monitor and CPU. It might come in handy someday if their current one broke down. After stuffing it inside the sack he brought, he left the room and continued scouring the floor.
When he reached the large storage room, he found the door locked. There were no keys to be seen nor any windows which he could break to get inside, so he pulled out a crowbar from his pack and smashed the doorknob. After a few tries it finally broke, and he kicked the door open. Inside he found racks containing boxes of oil canisters still sealed and in pristine condition. On one side was a shelf filled with car batteries, and beside that were boxes overflowing with nuts, bolts, and gears. A small trolley sat in the corner, and next to that was a wall with numerous hooks from which plenty of tools hung.
He took everything that looked useful, which soon filled his sack. His workshop was missing a few tools, and they needed as many oil products as they could get, so he made those a top priority. The gears and bolts he mostly left untouched, but he grabbed a few batteries and placed them inside, rearranging the items to make them fit. When he could no longer lift the bulging sack, he took the trolley as well. It sagged a bit under the weight, but despite the rusting wheels, it surprisingly held.
Cade checked some of the rooms afterwards, but when he found nothing of worth, he soon left the shop and went outside. Pushing the trolley on uneven ground, he glanced in both directions, straining his ears for the slightest noise. But it was as quiet as a cemetery, and when he had confirmed that the coast was clear, he continued his search.
He entered several more stores and grabbed anything they had to offer, including more car batteries and large rolls of cable wires and tubes. It really astounded him that even though Chicago had been obviously looted many times, the establishments still had enough leftover supplies. This was probably due to the TRF, and a lot of scavengers had learned not to trespass the boundary. He was one of the only few who had the courage to do otherwise.
By the time he was finished, it was already past noon. As he pushed the overladen trolley on a rough and broken street, he pulled out a radio from his belt and spoke, "Hunter to Rambo and Gold Bug, do you copy? Scavenging run is over. I'm heading back. Over." It took only a few seconds before there was a hiss of static and Hound answered.
"This is Rambo copying. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point. Over and out."
He nodded, then replaced the radio back on his belt. Looking around one last time, Cade made his way through the devastated streets of Chicago.
Thirty minutes later, he was back to where he had parked his jeep. Izzy was already there sitting at the back and reading a comic book together with Sqweeks, looking bored as she flipped through the torn pages. A few feet to the side, Canopy squatted and rummaged through a bulging cloth sack as large as him, inspecting some of the items with interest.
Cade's eyebrows slightly rose when Canopy pulled out what looked like a sawed off tank main gun. They rose a little higher when the upper body of a Walker jutted out as Canopy shifted the sack. They almost disappeared in his hairline when the movement caused a battered yellow Lamborghini Aventador S to tumble out and landed at the Cybertronian's feet with a loud crash.
Immediately, he doubled his speed. "IZZY!" he shouted once he was within range. The girl looked up, then jumped out of the jeep upon seeing him.
"Oh good! You're—"
"What is that?" Cade jabbed a finger in the direction of the sack. As soon as he had seen him, Canopy looked like a deer caught in headlights and he grabbed the car in haste and shove it inside, rattling the contents as he attempted to make it fit.
Izzy blinked, taken aback by his outburst. "That's our haul today," she said slowly, frowning. "Why? Is there a problem?"
"Of course there is a problem!"
She blinked again, then followed his gaze. When her eyes landed on the Lamborghini that Canopy was failing to hide, she said, "Oh? The Lamborghini? We found it lying somewhere."
"But why bring it?" Cade asked exasperatedly. "Izzy, have you seen our junkyard? It's literally a land of cars! We don't have any space for one more!"
"I've seen our junkyard, yes. I've been living there for a month now, remember?" Izzy rolled her eyes. "But you know what? I've never ever seen a modern sports car there. All we got are broken jeeps, trucks, and many, many rusty 90's cars. I've yet to see something new."
"It's a junkyard," he snapped. "Everything in there is old, even those who live and run it."
"Except for me," she pointed out with a smirk.
"Except for you, which is one more reason why you need to listen." Cade glared at her. Surprisingly, she did not flinch this time and returned it evenly. "Now you will leave that car or else I—"
"I can fix it," she said, which made him stop. "Look, we need money, right? And I'm telling you that we can get loads of it if we can make this car look as good as a new one. I mean, it's not really that hard," she shrugged. "The chassis is still okay, and the inside is mostly untouched. We just need to replace some of the seats and install new windows. As for the components and engine…" There was a pause, then her eyes brightened and she grinned. "Most have been removed, but if we take some from other cars, we can put it here. After that, we just repaint it, replace the tires, and there we have it! A brand new Lamborghini Aventador S worth millions of dollars!"
Cade was silent for a moment as he stared at Izzy with suspicion. Her refurbishing plan sounded solid, he had to admit, but there was something in the way she said it that seemed off. When she laid out her plan, he detected a slight hint of nervousness in her voice, as if she was hiding something from him.
"And which car engine are you going to use? This is a Lamborghini, Izzy. Not some 90's Camaro. Plus, suppose that we could do it," Cade crossed his arms, "how are you going to sell a Lamborghini? You're just fourteen, a minor, and I'm a fugitive. Even if we manage to find a buyer, they will ask questions. And before you realize it, we'll have the TRF chasing our asses. I don't want that to happen, Izzy. And I'm sure neither do you."
"It won't happen," she said firmly. "Trust me, okay? I'll find the spare parts, then we can have Jimmy sell it for us and—"
Cade scowled. "No. Jimmy won't sell anything for us because if he does, he'll definitely take the money."
"Then why did you even hire him?" she grumbled. He understood her irritation; his assistant never did anything resembling productivity except to complain and rant about his job, which always earned him insults and mockery from the Autobots. Hell, Jimmy did not even know how to make a good coffee, much less run a scrapyard. The only reason he hired him was for someone to watch over Izzy and anyone else who would be left at base whenever he and the Autobots did rescue missions, but even such a simple task was beyond him. Only then did he realize why nobody was accepting him.
"I had no choice," he muttered.
"Right. If not Jimmy, then Daytrader can—"
He quickly shot down her idea. "Absolutely not! Do you know what will happen? If Jimmy would take the money, Daytrader would take the whole car and we would never see it anymore. No money. No Lamborghini. No nothing."
She grimaced, and Cade could almost see gears spinning inside her head very fast as she thought of another suggestion. "Fine. Then how about the Chief? We could have Brains sell it online on a secured IP address, and have the Chief act as our dummy. That way, we don't have to show ourselves to the buyer. Of course, the Chief would get a commission."
Cade frowned. He could see it working, and what misgivings he had before vanished once he realized that she had a point. Besides, he would not deny that he really needed the money; though Joshua had agreed to pay Tessa's tuition fees all throughout her entire school year, he still did not trust the man. He wanted to leave something for his daughter in the event that he did not make it alive during the next couple of years, and not have her rely on someone who could possibly betray them when worse comes to worst. Not to mention Izzy. He could not just let her go back to being a wanderer without any money to spend.
"Alright. We'll give your plan a try, little J Lo." She crowed immediately and faced Sqweeks and Canopy with a victorious grin. Cade managed a faint smile. She briefly reminded him of Tessa when she was still a kid and he had allowed her to play outside. Her daughter had worn the same smile, that same expression of triumph.
In the distance, he caught sight of Bumblebee and Hound returning from their patrol. After glancing at his watch, his voice turned serious once more. "Just remember, Izzy. If this doesn't work, we'll scrap the car and let Stripes use it as a chew toy. Clear?"
"Clear as crystal." Izzy gave him a mock salute. "But that won't happen. I will fix that car. You just wait and see." She said it with so much confidence that he almost wanted to believe. Almost.
"Right. Well, get back to your seat. We're leaving." With that he lifted the sack from the trolley and placed it at the back of his jeep next to Sqweeks. Izzy climbed onto the passenger seat and waited until Cade had Canopy take the trolley. The Cybertronian then slung his large pack over his shoulder and transformed back to his vehicle mode, his bed overflowing with junk and a Lamborghini Aventador S sticking out of the sack like a sore thumb.
When everything was finished, Cade finally sat on the driver's seat. He glanced around one last time, glad that things had gone well, then turned on the engines. The jeep roared to life and very soon they were driving out of the streets of Chicago, a trio of Autobots following closely and escorting them as if they were the most important people in the world.
I did say that this fic won't be a total rehash of the movie, and this chapter is a proof of that.
About the changes I made, yes, in here Izzy has been adopted by Cade before the story started. A month, if you read it. To be honest, I decided to go for this route because I think it would add a lot more depth to her character. The one we had in TLK was interesting, but I felt like there should have been more to her than what we've been shown. So here in this story, I'm planning to expand her role and add more character development. Hopefully, I would get it right.
Regarding Canopy. Yes, he's alive here. But not for long. XD Anyway, I decided to tweak his character a bit. You see, I've always wondered why he did not have any alt mode at all. Sure, disguising as rubble was logical in a sense. But what bothered me was one simple question: what would happen if using a camouflage is no longer a good idea? He needed to run sooner or later, and from what we saw in the movie, Canopy's tactic ultimately led to his death. Hence, why I gave him a dump truck vehicle mode. Furthermore, he did not have any weapons at all in the movie. Like, zero at all. And that really bothered the hell out of me. So I thought, why not give him a backstory where he was not much of a fighter at all, but a mere refugee who has little experience in combat. After all, not all Autobots are soldiers. Hell, not all Cybertronians had chosen a faction at all.
Anyway, there you have it. This will probably be the last chapter for this month and the next as I will soon return to writing my novel beginning next week. If all goes well on my schedule, I could probably finish the first draft by October, from which I will take a rest and tackle this fic again. Rest assured though, I will still be updating once a month after this chapter.
Please Read & Review! Until next time!
UPDATE: 4/22/21 Fixed typos and errors. Added chapter title.
