Disclaimer: If I owned Transformers I would not be in debt to pay for tuition. Guess that means I don't own Transformers!
A/N: So, here's the deal. This fic has received a lot less response than I was hoping for, and I now have a new baby sitting in the wings, begging to take center stage. I have a lot more of this fic already written, but I'm not sure whether or not it's worth the effort to finish it. My computer, Frenzy, has also seen fit to make my life even more complicated than usual. So I shall let you, my loverly, wonderful readers decide. In other words: review or else.
Chapter Five: Of Freakin' Big Eyes and Possessed Cars
For the first time since they'd come to live on base, Jeremy was up before Astrid.
Way before Astrid, actually.
He was already putting the final items in his bag before he heard the familiar squeak of bedsprings announcing his sister's newly awakened state. She stumbled into the kitchen a few minutes later, a dressing robe draped carelessly across her shoulders in a useless attempt to cover her pajamas. Judging by the look on her face, she really didn't care that much at the moment, anyway. It wasn't like anyone was going to see her besides Jeremy. Only when she'd inhaled the first fragrant whiffs of her steeping tea and dragged the tupperware containing her strawberries out of the fridge did she glance Jeremy's way.
"Hey," she slurred.
"Hey," said Jeremy.
He was smiling a lot more than he ought to be, and Astrid threw a dishtowel at him to wipe the stupid smirk off his face. Naturally, though, he dodged it and only grinned all the broader.
"Oh, I really hate you right now," Astrid said. "But I hate my head worse."
"Long night?"
"The twins got the bright idea to take this year's troop picture with everyone shoved into a car. It didn't turn out well."
"Yeah, I heard you come in real late last night," Jeremy said. "I was a little afraid you wouldn't be up early enough to say goodbye."
Astrid waved him off half-heartedly. "I won't be seeing you for a week. Of course I got my tired butt out of bed to see you off. Have fun in Washington. Try and annoy at least one politician for me."
The siblings shared very few things in common, but their general disdain for anything even remotely political was mutual. Still, though, his sister's show of early morning grouchiness was not enough to fully erase Jeremy's unease with leaving her alone... even if there was a giant alien robot sitting guard in the driveway. It didn't seem right somehow, leaving her to fend for herself so soon after their parents' accident.
While he wasn't often very vocal or showy about his softer emotions the boy, like all big brothers, did have them, and right then they were threatening to spill over into mushiness. Leaving his bag by the door, Jeremy stepped over to his little sister and clasped her in a suffocating squeeze. "Promise not to do anything stupid while I'm away."
"I will if you will," Astrid wheezed.
"Thought so."
Her brother's arms were a rare and welcome refuge for Astrid, and she craned her neck backwards to smile up at him with her best I'm-so-innocent look. His response was a snort and he released her, mumbling, "Shoulda hired a babysitter."
"Creep!"
Smiling and confident in his sister's abilities to survive on her own, Jeremy Fenner picked up his bags and stepped out the door, heading towards the massive black truck waiting outside for him with his commanding officer.
As he passed by the silver sports car resting in the shadow of the house, he paused, though, and patted the hood lightly.
"Take care of her for me, ok?"
There was an almost silent confirming rev of the engine, and Jeremy continued on his way, suddenly feeling much more at ease about his baby sister's safety in his absence.
.O.O.O.
Astrid stumbled in out the rain, giving her folded umbrella a good shake before hurriedly closing the door behind herself. It was a dark, rainy day, but unfortunately the mail still came and certain things still needed to be purchased from the nearest grocery store on such dreary afternoons. And Astrid had no car, so she was very, very wet.
There was always her brother's 'perk' car as she'd taken to calling it, but for some reason the shiny little Solstice made her uneasy. Several times she'd caught herself edging around it when she went down the driveway or giving it a ridiculously wide berth when she passed by. She couldn't explain it. There just seemed to be some sort of creepy aura around the exceptionally expensive piece of machinery. She felt like there were eyes watching her constantly in its presence, and it had made strange noises when she'd ridden in it with Jeremy. Did her strange phobia of the Pontiac make sense? No. Was she going to suck it up, act like a big girl and actually drive the twisted thing? Snow would fall in a Jamaican July first. A few of her old friends had claimed that there must be something slightly wrong with her brain. Someone who kept their clock fifty minutes fast and had the urge to straighten things more than Monk was not completely there, they'd insisted. She actually agreed with them, but she'd never bothered trying to change any of her bizarre habits.
And she wasn't going anywhere near that car.
Suddenly realizing how cold she was thanks to the typhoon raging outside, Astrid shivered and moved into the kitchen where she promptly dumped the items she'd risked pneumonia to get. The mail was fine, or at least the parts worth keeping were. On her way back from the mailbox, Astrid had gotten clever and wrapped the more important-looking envelopes within the obnoxiously thick layers of junk mail and ads she'd received. The wet paper made a moist slapping sound as it impacted with the counter. With her other hand, she dropped the bag of necessary perishables that she'd had to run out to get despite the inclement weather. At least the look on the cashier's face when they realized she'd walked all the way there in the pouring rain was worth the price of admission. Like the mail, the plastic bag made fitting wet squelches as it was set down, and Astrid didn't even bother paying attention to the growing puddle of water slipping down along the smooth sides of the bag and onto the kitchen floor. First she'd dry herself off, then she'd worry about the house.
After a very long, very hot shower, Astrid finally came back the task of mopping up the small lake that had grown over the kitchen's linoleum flooring. By the time she was done with that, she had managed to create an island of dripping towels, fill the trash can with half a roll of paper towels, and achieve a state of hunger that she hadn't worked up to for quite a while.
She decided to splurge and popped a frozen calzone in the toaster oven. After all, she was home alone, keeping out of trouble, and looking after the whole house all by herself. It wasn't like there was anyone to celebrate these accomplishments with her, so she decided to do a little partying on her own. Besides, she was in a good mood.
As much as she loved her brother, he and Astrid butted heads hard and frequently. It had only taken four days for her to remember why she hadn't been utterly heartbroken when he left to join the military. He messed up her towels, left trash and dirty dishes scattered in his wake wherever he went, and then, of course, there was the war over the toilet seat which was waged between men and women everywhere. But now, he was gone, and Astrid was free to do whatever she pleased without having a bass war between his Slipknot and her Within Temptation.
Once dinner was done she moved upstairs, slowly getting ready for bed as the food settled into a pleasant, warm lump in her stomach. The rain was still pattering at the window when she slipped under the covers, and Astrid fell asleep with a contented sigh as she listened to the staccato percussion of the drops hitting the glass.
That pleasant rhythm, however, followed Astrid into her sleep and conjured a familiar scene in her dreams that she'd been striving to forget in her waking hours.
.O.O.O.
There was the rain at the window, punctuated by the occasional thunderclap as streaks of lightning lent added flashes of blinding light to the small living room. Old reruns were playing on the tv as Astrid reclined on the couch with a bowl of ice-cream in one hand and the remote control in the other. It had been a long, busy day with the end of the year choir concert approaching, and the teenager was enjoying eating the dairy products that she was supposed to abstain from before practice. Rebellion, even on such a small scale, felt nice for a change. Besides, it wasn't like the frozen treat would still be bothering her vocal chords in the morning.
The third episode of I Love Lucy that she'd seen that night was just coming to a close when there was another source of light besides the lightning and the tv. Blue and red flashes blinked against the drawn curtains, and Astrid could just hear the dim sputter of an engine turning off as she set her empty bowl down on the coffee table. In another minute the polite chime of the doorbell broke the cozy charm of the evening, and she peered out the peep hole in the door to see a pair of police officers standing on her doorstep.
Her hand felt like ice as she twisted the knob and opened the door to see the two men looking down at her with pitying remorse. Her pleasant night by herself was over.
"Miss Fenner?"
.O.O.O.
Jazz started from recharge as his scanners beeped plaintively. He'd left a select few of them operational and attuned to the young femme inside as he took a quiet doze, and now they were alerting him to a possibly dangerous change. The young woman's stress levels had dramatically increased, and her pump rate was skyrocketing. It seemed that she was still in recharge, but the startling change in her vital systems worried the Autobot, and after double-checking that she was still fast asleep, he carefully unfolded into his bipedal mode and crept around to peer in her bedroom window in order to gather better readings.
A nightmare. A human phenomenon where the subject suffered from either painful memories of past events or disturbing scenes from their imagination that were distinctly unpleasant in nature. It wasn't a life threatening condition, though Jazz was unhappy about leaving the poor youngling in such a state. But there was nothing he could do to help her besides bringing her out of recharge, and that would not be wise considering the circumstances.
Just as he was about to creep back to the driveway and settle back into his alt mode, the teenager jerked awake with a start, tossed roughly out of her nightmare. Flailing, she tumbled out of bed and landed heavily on the floor. Then...
She looked up.
For nearly a minute the two stared at each other, almost pretending that if they didn't move the other wouldn't see them. But it was a useless gesture in either case.
Once she'd shaken herself free of the hypnotizing gaze of the giant blue orbs outside her window, Astrid gave her head a thorough shaking, blinked, and looked again... only to find her window totally empty. She rushed to press her face against the glass, looking for any sign of the mysterious, gargantuan eyes, but the rainy night revealed no traces of her vanishing peeping tom. Almost immediately, she put it off to the aftereffects of a dream, but she didn't leave the window. Then, for some reason she never understood, she looked down, and her heart nearly leapt into her mouth as she saw the bumper of a small silver sports car slip around the corner.
Jaw working soundlessly, Astrid moved back from the window, trying to figure out if she'd really just seen what she thought she saw.
Her clothes were on before she even registered that she was moving. Hands flying, she grabbed her jacket and stashed her cell phone in her pocket. After she'd gone through the traumatic experience of finding her shoes and getting them on her feet, she tripped her way down the stairs and stalked cautiously towards the back door.
She had no plan, but she knew that she wanted more distance between herself and the thing that was masquerading as her brother's car. As she crept through the backyard she got the bright idea to just double check and look for evidence before she went on a wet, nighttime jog through town. Her feet led her to the side yard that her window overlooked, and she crouched down in the wet grass to examine the earth that had been torn up by the strange encounter. Now, Astrid was no tracker, but she knew a giant footprint when she saw one, and she knew what tire treads looked like, too. Both were scattered around in the ripped-up grass, and the footprints were set right beneath where the eyes had been floating in her window.
Without a second thought, Astrid turned and ran off through the neighbors' yard until she reached the next street over.
She didn't hear the Solstice start up and pull out of the driveway.
.O.O.O.
Astrid finally stumbled to a halt in front of a closed convenience store and doubled over with her hands on her knees as she panted for breath. The streetlights did very little to dispel the shadows that had gathered along the deserted street and the connecting alleys. How she'd gotten to this part of Tranquility she wasn't entirely sure. Actually, she couldn't even quite remember how she'd left the base. That probably hadn't been a very smart move on her part. Being around armed military personnel, even if they didn't believe that your brother's car was possessed, was better than being alone in an unfamiliar part of town with not a living soul in sight.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, she saw a single police cruiser appear around the corner, its lights flashing silently over the dark street corner. At least she wasn't alone, Astrid thought. She'd never had any reason to be afraid of the cops, and now the sight of a single keeper of the peace was immensely relieving. Rising from her bent position, Astrid gave the policeman a tired wave and started looking around, trying to figure out which way she'd came and what would be the shortest way back to base.
Her back was turned to the police car when she first heard it. It was a strange sliding click, followed by multiple whirs and a few revs that sounded suspiciously out of place. Astrid turned slowly, feeling an unexpected fear stirring in the pit of her gut.
Her eyes met first with the thing's knees, then they traveled upwards, taking in the multitude of alien parts and familiar police paraphernalia sticking out from the vaguely humanoid shape of the monster looming up before her. Red eyes glared down at her, and a clawed hand flexed as Astrid's breath hitched. She rediscovered her tongue when it took the first step towards her.
"Not another one!"
Before the monstrous robot could take another step, Astrid was flying down the sidewalk, shouting for the help that she knew could not hear her. This was a business district and was abandoned by ten o' clock at the latest each and every day. If there was anyone nearby, chances were they'd be too drunk to take notice, especially in such dismal weather. Something large and black entered her peripheral vision and Astrid just registered that it was a hand before it collided with her, sending her soaring to the middle of the road.
Nerves screamed on impact, and a high pitched yelp escaped her as the merciless asphalt made contact with her side. Her palms scrabbled over broken bottles and shattered glass as she fought to regain her footing, but the massive hand descended on her again before she could rise. She was pinned down on her back with the rain dripping down on her face, looking up at the angry red eyes of her attacker, who seemed less than thrilled with her meager resistance.
Suddenly Astrid wished very much that she'd never left home.
The hand covering her pressed down, grinding her back into the road, as the angular face of the car-turned-robot zoomed closer.
"WHERE IS THE AUTOBOT BASE OF OPERATIONS?" it demanded in a sharp, synthesized voice.
"I don't know what you're-,"
"WHERE IS THE AUTOBOT BASE?"
Astrid wheezed as the robot pushed her against the asphalt even harder, and she scratched desperately at the massive fingers as her breathing grew more and more labored.
"I don't- I don't know!"
The pressure on her chest increased, and the murderous red eyes narrowed dangerously.
"USELESS," the thing growled.
Its hand crushed her against the roadway with incredible force, and just when Astrid thought her ribs were going to shatter under the strain, there was a flash of silver, and the massive hand was torn away.
"Hands off, Decepticon scum!"
She gasped for air, gulping it in between pained sobs as she hugged her aching ribcage tearfully. Two figures clashed above her, cursing fluently in a language she didn't understand as they slashed and pounded on each other. One of the fighters let loose a bright flash of light from what Astrid supposed was its arm, and the hulking black figure of her assailant folded back into its cop car alter ego and vanished down the boulevard.
Astrid found herself lying helplessly on the ground beneath the silver victor. It was smaller in size than the black behemoth that had just tried to snuff out her life, but it was still enormous by any human standard. Slowly, almost cautiously, it bent over her with wide, worried blue eyes, blue eyes that Astrid would've recognized anywhere.
Had she been feeling like her usual self, Astrid might have pointed an accusatory finger at the sleek silver robot towering above her and demanded what it was doing in her driveway or why it was looking in her window, but at the moment she was too terrified, and in too much pain to do more than whimper like a kicked puppy. Two hands curled in from either side and scooped her up off the pavement to bring her closer to the eyes, which had been revealed when the thing's visor flipped back somewhere into its head.
"You alright, little lady?" it asked.
Astrid gawked. Not only was it a giant robot that turned into a Pontiac Solstice, it was a giant robot that turned into a Pontiac Solstice that could talk, and nicely, too.
When she didn't answer it, the robot frowned worriedly and pulled her in closer to itself. Astrid whimpered a little more but didn't bother trying to resist. Tiny human girl versus big strong robot thing? Tiny human girl lose.
After a quick glance around, Astrid's rescuer turned away from the rest of the town and started loping off into the desert. Images of alien abduction and science geeks' experiments gone wrong rolled through her mind like a psychedelic kaleidoscope, and she moaned aloud. The hands holding her only tightened protectively.
"I ain't gonna hurt ya," it said. "Just hold on and we'll get Doc Ratchet to take a look atcha."
Her carrier was in a bit of a hurry, it seemed, and they crossed over several miles of sand and scrub nearly as fast as a car might have. But he (the voice sounded very masculine, Astrid reasoned) took great pains to avoid any chance of being seen. They swerved around any homesteads they stumbled across, and the robot took care to stay away from roads as much as possible.
All in all, by the time they arrived at wherever they were going, Astrid felt well and truly lost.
She looked up as the robot stepped out of the chilly rain and found that they had stepped into a wide space, most likely a warehouse or hangar of some kind. There was a noise to her left and her eyes darted over to see another robot, larger than the one holding her, standing nearby with its burly mechanical arms folded in front of it.
"You're not due to report back, yet," it said in a grumbling voice. "And you're supposed to be at Airman Fenner's house, keeping an eye on his sibling as well."
"I am keeping an eye on her," said Astrid's savior.
"Just what do you..."
The one holding her carefully folded back a few of his fingers to show the shaking teenager held against his chest.
"Barricade," he said quietly. "Try not to scare her any more than she already is, 'Hide."
"Primus," the other robot rumbled, peering at her with something akin to sympathy. "He hurt it?"
"I don't think so," said the silver one, "but I thought I should take her to Ratchet... just in case..."
The larger robot stepped back, waving the silver one forwards. "Go on in. I think the old fragger's in his med bay."
The one carrying Astrid gave a quick nod and jogged on farther into the building. He passed through an exceptionally large door, and Astrid's eyes were assaulted by sudden light and her ears rang with loud voices. More of the colossal robots were walking through the halls there, some easily twice the size of the one holding her. Two of the robots swerved towards the silver one and began talking to him animatedly in strange noises that sounded like a combination of dial-up and a car sifting gears. Their size was beyond intimidating, and having so many giant robots crowding around her was pushing Astrid's meager measure of self control. It was only when one clapped the silver one on the shoulder, though, that Astrid squealed, and suddenly all eyes were on her.
A red one, who had done the shoulder-clapping, peered down at her with obvious interest and said in regular English, "Who's this, Jazz? I didn't think Prime wanted us interacting with the locals."
"It looks familiar," a yellow one said with a frown. "Wasn't it one of the humans at..."
"Not now, Streaker," the silver one, Jazz, said. "She's scared outta her processor and I doubt either 'a you are helping. I'll fill you in later. I need to get her to Ratchet."
'Jazz' didn't give either of the twin terrors a chance to argue and set off again with renewed vigor towards the 'med bay'. Astrid tried shifting a little in the robot's hands and hissed in pain as her hands bumped against the metal. Her carrier glanced down at her and started moving faster.
A door swooshed open before them, and the silver robot trotted in with his head swiveling eagerly from side to side in search of something. Another one of 'Jazz's' kind was standing across the room, its back to them, and her carrier made a beeline towards it.
"Ratchet!"
The big yellow-green thing turned quickly at the exclamation and seemed to glare at the one holding Astrid.
"Why aren't you at the Fenners' residence?" it demanded.
Wordlessly, 'Jazz' held Astrid out towards the bigger robot with a pleading expression on his face. 'Ratchet's' eyes locked onto the pitiful, shivering mass curled up in the silver robot's hands and swiftly scooped her up. Astrid cried out in surprise and alarm, but the big yellow 'bot cradled her up against his chest even more gently than the silver one had and made soothing rumbles until the worst of Astrid's tremors had passed. Then he looked at 'Jazz'.
"What happened?"
"Barricade got her," 'Jazz' said in a pained voice. "It was an accident, she saw me, she got scared and took off, but I thought it would be fine if I just kept her in scanner range... Please tell me she's ok."
For some reason Astrid felt like the stray cat brought home by the teary-eyed child who'd seen it get mauled by a dog. Now he was asking 'daddy' to fix her up and make her better. Her aching body assured her that this was not an inaccurate comparison.
'Ratchet' hmmmmmed and regarded the figure curled up in his hands with a look that was anything but skin deep. Something tingly swept over Astrid's skin, and the robot gave a noncommital grunt. "Multiple lacerations, severe bruising over the torso, and her body temperature's a bit below normal... But nothing life-threatening. None of her ribs were cracked or broken."
'Jazz' let out an auditory sigh of relief.
"So, she'll be ok, then?"
"She'll be fine," 'Ratchet' assured him. A blanket seemingly descended out of nowhere and was draped over Astrid's shoulders. She shuddered in pleasure as her body warmed. "Explaining all this will be difficult, though."
The two robots paused, watching Astrid tug the blanket closer. Then a thought seemed to strike 'Jazz'.
"What are we gonna tell her brother?"
"That will also be difficult."
A/N: Kindly click on the new and improved review button and FEED THE STARVING AUTHORS!
Replies:
GodisGod!andIamnot...: Thanks for the review! Yeah, I didn't really have time for notes last time, but I felt the need to put them up this time around. For obvious reasons. I do like twins. I think they're fascinating. It was more of an accident here, though. Sunny and Sides are canon, and the other two were thrown in more for the heck of it than for any real literary reason. Thanks again!
Stephanie: Thank you very much! How very kind of you! I can't write anything without humor. It's just not possible... unless it's utter crap, that is. You can ask my professors. They'll tell you the same thing. Of course, I never like any of my fanfic when I go back and look at it, so... yeah. Thanks again!!!