Hello my pretties! How art thou this fine day? I have once again returned with an update for this tale of randomness and not-so-giant alien robots.

Thank you for those who read and reviewed last time, you make my day! :)

Hopefully I'll be back again soon!

Please enjoy Chapter 7 of Reverse Robotics.

Chapter 7: Lies and awful cover stories

To say I had a thundercloud sitting over my head at that moment in time was a pretty big understatement. It was more of a hurricane cloud, a swirling tempest which sat over my head as I slumped in the back seat of the car, arms folded, a glare set permanently on my face. I didn't know how she had done it, it had certainly taken a few days of prodding and begging, but Abbie had somehow managed to convince me to go with her to the High School mini reunion. And I wasn't happy about it.

'I'm staying for half an hour,' I announced grumpily.

Beside me, crammed into the middle seat, Abbie shook her head, 'an hour at least. It might be fun if you just give it a go.'

My glare became even darker, 'I doubt it. When I left school I vowed never to see any of those people again.'

'They might have gotten better,' Abbie said, 'besides, what about our friendship group? You liked them.'

The look on my face obviously said otherwise as I slumped back further, 'still can't believe you wouldn't let me bring my gun.'

'The last thing this reunion needs is you shooting one of the football jocks,' Abbie said easily, 'just be grateful I didn't force you to dress up for it.'

That was true. She had known better than to push to that point. So, while she was wearing a decent skirt, nice jacket and good shoes, and Hamish had pulled out a set of jeans without holes, I was just wearing what I usually wore on base in the winter. Namely heavy style combat boots, slack jeans and a trench coat which went half way down my thighs.

In the front seat, Starscream turned around to grin at me, his red eyes glinting, 'has anyone ever told you that you look like a grouchy chipmunk when you pull that face?'

My response was to kick his seat and sit back in mine, glowering out at the scenery. This was not what I wanted to be doing with my evening, and what I had said was true, these people from school were the last people I wanted to see.

Abbie's argument had been that this was a chance for me to show off. I had been very quick to point out that there was nothing that I could show off given that, according to the government, I didn't exist. So all I would be doing at this reunion would be lying through my teeth about what I was studying, where I was living and who my friends were now I had left school. Not to mention I was not looking forward to the questions which would more than likely be asked about our run in with the CIA last year. Abbie didn't seemed daunted by this fact at all, seeming to have taken it all in her stride. For me, it was yet another thing that I had to lie about.

My only comfort was the fact that Optimus and Starscream had decided to accompany us, which meant that if it got too unbearable at the reunion, I could just slip outside and hang with the guys. Optimus was at the wheel, seeing as I couldn't drive, Abbie was too lazy and Hamish refused to drive any car which wasn't his. How Optimus knew how to drive, no one actually had any idea. It seemed that all those years spent as a truck meant that he now miraculously knew what to do.

'Are you at least going to try to smile at this?' Abbie asked as we pulled into the packed car park.

I grimaced horribly and she winced, 'I'll take that as a no. Just try not to look like a serial killer.'

'No promises,' I sighed as I studied the brightly lit door, complete with a grouchy bouncer.

Pulling to a stop, Optimus turned back to us, 'I'll drop you here. I may have to find alternate parking somewhere. Have fun you three. Ally, let me know when you want to escape.'

I rolled my eyes as I slid from the car, 'farewell my friends, I may not return alive.'

Slapping me on the back, Abbie joined me round the front of the car, 'you ready?'

'Nope.'

'Hamish?'

'Anything for you dear,' he took her arm as she forcibly linked mine.

To pass the bouncer we had to pull out old student ID cards, then we had to walk past a bill board with old student photos of us from our final year at school. Abbie's reaction to her's was funny, as she comically flinched at the sight of her unruly hair, the overlarge earrings and of course, the purple hoodie complete with cat ears. Compared to her, mine wasn't much of a change to what I was now, save for the fact my hair was a little shorter in the photo. Then, Abbie opened the secondary door into the hall. She had to forcibly grip my arm to stop me from teleporting away at that point, as we were immersed in music which was far to loud, bright lights and hundreds of people talking.

'It sounds like we just entered hell itself,' I muttered.

'And you would know all about that,' Abbie dragged me forward, 'come on, I think I see Daphne and the gang. If you comment, I'll break your arm.'

Shooting Hamish a withering glare to stop him from laughing, I allowed Abbie to drag me over to a cluster of young women, gathered close to the refreshment table. They were all laughing and grinning, evidently enjoying this reunion. As we approached them, they turned, took a second to process, then pounced. Like, seriously pounced.

'Oh my god, Abbie, Ally, is that you?'

'It's so good to see you again!'

'How have you been?'

'Loving the hair Abbie!'

'Ally, you're looking well, still going with the white hair look?'

'Who's the boyfriend?'

How anyone was supposed to respond to all these comments when they were fired at roughly the same time was beyond me. Abbie seemed fine, answering them just as quickly, returning hugs, and introducing Hamish, multitasking like nothing I had seen before. For my part, I think I just stood there, waiting for them to retreat, smiling awkwardly.

When at last the pack retreated, I was finally able to see who they all were. Most of them I recognised. There was Daphne, Louise, Milly, Natalie, Anton the token guy, Bec and Veronica. This had been the group of people which I had hung out with for most of my time at high school. They were all decent, although Milly was a total troll, Natalie was shy, Anton never knew when to shut up and Veronica was a hypochondriac. They were all listening to Abbie introduce Hamish at that point in time, so I was free to gaze about at the other people in the hall.

It seemed that most of the year had turned up. This was only an unofficial reunion, organised by one of the people in the year, but it seemed very popular none the less. From where I was standing I could clearly see several groups of people, like the jocks, who still looked for the most part, like Jocks, the cheerleaders, the super nerdy nerds and people who had always considered themselves too cool for school. They were all mingling, looking far too happy to be there, to the point that I was convinced three quarters were faking it.

'So, Ally, what are you up to now? You were very vague when you left school,' I turned back as Anton spoke.

'Ah,' it took me a second to remember the lie I was supposed to tell, 'oh, I'm studying Biology. You know, genes and stuff. At the same place as Abbie.'

Thankfully Anton just smiled and accepted, not wanting to know details about this imaginary course of mine. He did however, have another question, one which I had seriously been hoping no one would ask.

'Hey, what was all that with the CIA and the FBI last year?'

I could have quite happily strangled him. And the rest of them when they all turned around shamelessly, not even bothering to hide the curiosity. The only relief was that they were also looking at Abbie, evidently just as curious about her involvement as they were about mine.

'Oh, that was nothing,' I plastered a smile on my face, 'an honest mistake.'

That didn't cut it so I elaborated, 'look, you all know how hopeless Abbie is with computers? Anyway, she clicked on one of those "you've just won a million dollars," things, and screwed up her computer. When I came round to fix it, it turned out that she had accidentally downloaded some top secret thingy-ma-bobs and the CIA wanted them back. Once we explained to them that Abbie was an idiot and I was just an honest bystander, they were totally fine with it.'

I wasn't sure if they bought it, it wouldn't have surprised me if they didn't seeing as it was a bloody awful cover story. But if I was honest, I didn't care because I got to see the look of indignation on Abbie's face which she was totally trying to hide. That look alone made the night totally worth it in my mind.

When the conversation moved on, with Bec bringing up the latest news on some of our old teachers, Abbie dragged me over to her, 'seriously? That's the best you could come up with for that?'

'I didn't see you jumping in to add your bit,' I countered, 'relax. Even if it didn't convince them, it gave them the hint to not push the subject. So it's all totally fine.'

'I seriously question your reasoning sometimes.'

'And I question your sanity all the time. Now, I'm going to see if I can find food. I'm starved.'

Leaving her with the group, I skipped away down the length of the table. Here I took a chance to pull my phone from inside my coat.

This is so awkward - I sent the text to Starscream.

Given that they all somehow knew how to drive, with no apparent explanation, no one could be bothered to question that they could use flawlessly use human phones and other pieces of tech.

Have you killed anyone yet?

Not yet. No one has annoyed me that much. Could you and Optimus come up with some emergency to get me out of this place?

There was a small delay, I'll do what I can. I'm sure between the two of us we can create some sort of life shattering event.

Smiling I slid the phone away, knowing it was a bad idea to encourage Starscream with these matters, but not really caring. Optimus would make sure that nothing got out of hand anyway. Just as I was buttoning up my coat pocket again, someone suddenly spoke up from behind me.

'You know, I really didn't think that you would show up at this thing.'

I turned slowly to face the tall young man who was leaning casually on the edge of the table, 'You know Martin, I thought the same until this morning.'

He smiled in a way which reminded me of a cheetah, all cute and cuddly, but still ready to kill you none the less. That smile hadn't changed at all since school. In fact, he hadn't changed since school. Martin Freemason had always been "that guy", if I was going to compare my school life to life in the movies. He was the guy who everyone had loved, and every girl from junior to senior year had a crush on. Except the ones with brain cells, who all hated him because he was such a sleaze. Like Abbie, Daphne, Milly and me, we had hated him. Or at least we had strongly disliked him, and all he had represented. Like flawless beauty. He was far too pretty for his own good, with chiselled features, effortlessly stylish dark hair and dark eyes which most people described in some overly romantic mumbo-jumbo. To me, he just looked kind of like a really attractive shark. All he needed was a few more rows of pointed teeth.

'Well, I'm kind of glad that you came,' he sauntered a little closer.

'Why?' I raised an eyebrow.

'Because I wanted to talk to you,' he shrugged.

'About what? That time I shoved a two day old egg sandwich in your face? Or do you want to talk about the bat? Because for the record, that wasn't me. That was Milly because you were a dick to her in math class.'

He just smiled again, almost looking amused as if I had just told him a joke, 'No, I just wanted to talk to you and see how you were going.'

My eyebrow had vanished into my hairline by that stage, 'particular reason why?'

'No, I was just thinking about you the other day,' that was probably supposed to sound so smooth, especially when he slid just a little closer still.

Internally I was contemplating the best way to dispose of him and not get caught, but I just allowed myself a little smile, 'you know Martin. That is so,' I paused, 'creepy. Seriously. You were just randomly thinking about me?'

For a brief moment, his confident air fell, but he was quick to regather himself, 'I was just wondering if you had kept up with the new look. It suits you more than-'

'Than what? My normal look? You know Martin, I'm sure that all this would be heartwarming and this routine usually makes the girls melt, but I'm perfectly aware that before this,' I pointed to my scruffy white ponytail, 'you didn't spare me a second glance. So that kind of clues me in on your priorities. Now run along and try to woo someone else who is actually susceptible to your non-existent charm.'

I picked up one of the small party-sized quiches and waved him away as I flounced back over to Abbie and the rest of the group. As I stood beside Abbie once again, I whispered softly, 'I see now why you wouldn't let me bring my gun.'

'I told you so,' she smirked, 'now relax, and try to enjoy yourself.'

I tried, I really did. I smiled and laughed and occasionally spoke as the conversation shifted from travel, to college, to boyfriends, to awkward confrontations with parents, to what people were planning on doing after college. But when I saw Optimus surreptitiously sneaking in through the front doors, I jumped at the opportunity to slid away.

'Took you long enough,' I grinned, 'what's the problem you've invented for me?'

He shook his head, a serious look on his face, 'this is an actual problem Ally.'

'Oh yeah? Better make it sound convincing, I've gotta make Abbie believe that it's legit,' I glanced over my shoulder at her, doing my best to make my face look grave.

'Ally, I'm serious,' the tone in his voice gave me a little hint that he actually was, 'this is a problem.'

I couldn't stop the genuine frown which was drawing my brows together, 'what problem?'

Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to us, Optimus produced the handheld scanner from under his jacket. I could almost feel the blood draining from my face when I saw the blinking dots, the blinking dots which signified Decepticon activity. When I spoke again there was a new level of seriousness in my voice.

'Are they heading this way?'

'Yes. Starscream estimates at the speed they're going they'll be here in under ten minutes.'

'Do we know what form?' that was my main concern; if they were still in their robotic forms were well and truly done for.

'No. The scanner doesn't give us that detail,' Optimus shook his head, 'I say we prepare for the worst.'

'So do I. You get back out there with Starscream and contact the others, tell them we need backup. I'll activate the fire alarm, see if I can get this place cleared before they show up,' I scanned the packed hall, knowing full well that getting everyone out and clear would be impossible in the time limit.

He nodded, about to head back out the door when there was a sudden loud boom. The floor shuddered, dust fell from the ceiling and the music stuttered, then died. Everyone looked up, confused, the hall falling silent. For my part I briefly glanced at the ceiling, then back at Optimus. He held the scanner back out so we could both see one of the red dots sitting right over our location, blinking ominously.

'We're out of time,' I whispered, raising my eyes back to the ceiling.

It was then that, with a shuddering groan and a colossal screeching of support beams, an entire section of the roof over the centre of the hall gave way.