~Star Light, Star Bright~
Chapter Seven: Decisions
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"We don't get to chose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it."
-Kami Garcia, Beautiful Darkness
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"-FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PRIMUS, BUDDHA AND JASHIN, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Cody cowered underneath the glare his enraged babysitter, shuffling his feet in shame.
"I-I-"
"I-I- what?!" Snapped Macy. "Wasn't thinking? Didn't trust or respect your 'Auntie' enough to listen?" Cody flinched, and she instantly regretted her words as his eyes filled with tears.
With his father and mother uncaring and oblivious of him, Macy knew that she was Cody's only true parental figure, and that she was his role model. Cody craved her praise, and often did things over and beyond the call of duty to get it. This was the first time in a long time that she had yelled at him over something, because honestly, he loved her too much to disobey her.
"I'm sorry midget." Macy sighed and pulled the hiccuping boy into her arms for a hug. "I didn't mean that. But, you know," she tilted his chin so he could look her in the eye, "you scared me there. I thought something bad was going to happen, like maybe those awful Sector Seven agents were going to take you away from me. I could never, ever, live with myself if that happened to you. I love you, little one."
Cody gave one loud sniff and buried himself in her arms, feeling relief wash over him at her words. "I'm really sorry, Auntie. I didn't mean to scare you. I just got really excited a-and I wasn't thinking and-"
"I know, hun, I know. I was a kid once too, just to let ya know."
Cody snorted, and Macy frowned, giving him a look.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I've known you forever and-"
"You've known me since you were five and you are now eight. That's not forever, it's three years." Cody continued as if she hadn't interrupted, much to Macy's annoyance.
"-and you haven't changed a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if you were born looking like how you are now."
"...I was NOT born looking like this, brat."
"Suuuuuure, of course not."
"I wasn't!" Macy insisted. "And just to let you know, you are grounded to the apartment for, like, ever."
"What!" Cody wailed. "I said I was sorry!" He grumbled when Macy just folded her arms and gave him 'The Look'. "But I told Optimus we'd meet him and the bots later tonight at midnight!" Macy froze, and slowly turned toward him with wide eyes.
"You. Did. WHAT?" She hissed, barely refraining from a yell. Cody gulped at her dangerous tone, but gathered up his courage.
"I told him we'd meet him at an abandoned junkyard later tonight at midnight...to, y'know, explain to him the website and everything we know and how we know it."
Macy took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then she counted to ten again. And then again. When that failed, she turned on her heel and walked straight into the bathroom and closed the door. Cody watched her, confused, only to jump when a second later an unintelligible yell sounded through the walls.
He crept closer to the bathroom door and cautiously put his ear to the wood, curious despite his instincts telling him to turn and hide underneath the bed.
Thick strings of words spewed out, in a language Macy had once told him was Gaelic. Cody was pretty sure they were all curse words of some sort, because one did not say 'What nice weather we're having' in that sort of tone.
Hearing footsteps, Cody quickly scrambled away from the bathroom door and plopped his butt firmly on the bed, trying to look as innocent as possible just as Macy stepped out of the bathroom. His babysitter rubbed a hand over her face, and sighed before giving him a look.
"Fine. FINE. We will go to night and meet with the Autobots. But-" she added, cutting of Cody's cheer, "we need to decide on a story. What are we going to tell them?"
"The truth, of course!" Cody said in an outraged voice. "What else would we tell them?" Macy gave him a look, but the small boy didn't budge. "Optimus will believe us!"
"While that may be true, then what? Once they know that we know all about them, their secrets, families, and past, how do you think they will react? Either they will lock us up to keep 'safe', or they'll pry us on everything we know to prepare for the future. And then, heck, I've seen the second movie! How are we going to tell them that both Sam and Optimus will die? We even might change the future! The truth will just cause too many problems, midget!" She glanced at her charge to see if she had gotten the point across, and did a double take.
His eyes were now wide and watery; his lip was trembling and his little hands were scrunching up the front of his shirt.
"S-sam and O-o-optimus…die?"
Macy bit back a curse and hurriedly picked Cody up to comfort him; she had forgotten he hadn't seen the second movie.
"Well, technically, but they both come back! In the end, no one dies!" I think, she added mentally, feeling guilty. This was the second time in less than thirty minutes she had made Cody upset. To be fair though, this was the umpteenth time he had gotten her into a unlikable situation, and this one topped them all.
"S-so they all m-make it?"
"Uh, yeah." Macy quickly agreed. "They all make it in the end."
But even as Macy reassured Cody, she felt a slight chill run down her back. Why did she get the feeling that she would regret those words in the end?
"Wait, wait. Back that up, Prime. You're telling me that a little boy told you that he and his babysitter were responsible for a site full of top classified information involving you bots and Sector 7 in general, not including the facts that no human could even know in the first place. And you believed him?"
The bots were back in the temporary base, and Simmons stood on the platform, face pink and sporting a black eye. Standing to the side Banachek sighed, rubbing a bruised cheek while Lennox and Epps patted his back sympathetically. The latter two had stopped by to speak with the bots about the upcoming N.E.S.T. plans, only to come upon the scene before them. Optimus Prime meanwhile stared down regally at the small man that scowled back up at him in angry disbelief, and then nodded.
"I believed that is what I said."
Simmons sputtered, unable to say anything as he red clouded his vision. "A-a-are you insane?!" He snarled, not even noticing the stiffening of the bots that surrounded him. "There is no way some broad and her brat would be able to do something like this! I can't believe you made me release the real culprit on the lies of a midget!"
"Agent Simmons," Ratchet snapped, "realize this: our systems are more than advanced enough to tell when a human is lying to us, by noticing the blood flow, heart beat and etc. And while an adult may be able fool us with training, there is no way a mere child would have been able to."
"Exactly what the Hatchet said-" Started Ironhide.
"It's RATCHET, slagger!"
"-so don't you dare insinuate that the Prime is 'insane'!"
Bumblebee nodded in agreement, giving the human a glare.
Simmons returned the glare, fumed silently for a moment, then turned on his heel and stomped towards the door. "BANACHEK!" Said agent whimpered, said his goodbyes and followed his irritable superior out of the hangar.
With the absence of the two agents, for a second silence filled the hangar, before Will stepped forward.
"Hey big bot, care to explain what's going on?"
"Yeah," chimed Epps, "what's Simmons deal? Also, why do they look like they got into a fight that they lost?"
Ironhide snickered. "That's because they did get into a fight that they lost. The geniuses of S7 decided they could go into a public library, snag an upstanding citizen that happens to be really well known without a proper warrant, and then proceeded to get a mob to beat the crap out of them."
"Not to mention," added Ratchet, "they didn't even have the right person."
"Wow." Will raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I knew they were stupid, but I didn't realize they were that stupid." Epps nodded.
"No kidding! But why were they trying to take someone into custody in the first place?"
"S7 came across a website with extreme and complete facts about them…and about us." The Prime sighed and turned to look out a window, not needing to see Will's and Epps's twin looks of alarm. "There were details that even my own bots didn't know, about Autobots and Decepticons alike. It is rather unsettling."
"That does sound upsetting. And more than a little creepy." Will added as an afterthought. "So what are you going to do?"
"Bumblebee and I were found by a little sparkling that recognized us on sight, who went by the designation 'Cody'. He was rather excited to see us, and quickly explained that it was his and his babysitter's hand that had created the site, not the woman that S7 was at the time trying to arrest. He offered to explain how they knew about everything at an abandoned junkyard at midnight tonight. Cody also said that we should bring everyone but S7, so then we didn't have to 'repeat the story multiple times to everyone'."
Will and Epps exchanged looks, and then glanced back at Optimus. Epps raised a hand, curious. "Why did he not want S7 there?"
Optimus chuckled. "I asked him the same question." The Prime nodded at Bumblebee, and the yellow scout's radio played a clip.
~"'Cause of that Simmons guy! He's creepy, and mean, and I don't like him. So there!"~
Epps cackled at Cody's reasoning, slapping his knees. "Good god, I love this kid! He has my approval!" Will, however, kept the serious look on his face, despite the amusing audio. The only thing that gave away his amusement was a glint in his eye.
"Sorry, but he doesn't have mine yet. Prime, but this sounds way too suspicious. An abandoned junkyard? Doesn't that sound like a trap to anyone else?"
"Well, where else are we to meet them?" Queered Ratchet. When silence answered him, he nodded in satisfaction, "Exactly. Now, Prime, we should get ready to get going."
"Indeed, Ratchet. Bumblebee, go and get Sam and Mikaela, and explain to them the situation on the way to the meeting point. Will, Epps, do you wish to come?"
Epps answered for the both of them.
"Pffft, yeah, I've got to see how this plays out."
Macy stared out over the junkyard, eyes taking in the remaining mounds of trashed electronics and random junk. She was perched upon the tallest of the left over trash, with Cody sleeping next to her, bundled up in his jacket and PJ's. She gave his seemingly innocent sleeping form a fond smile, and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead.
The kid had boasted that he would stay awake all night till' midnight, only to fail and conk out around nine o'clock, much to her amusement. She pulled him closer under her left arm, and he automatically cuddled up to her, face burying in her leather jacket.
She sighed at the sight, and looked up the night sky that shone over her.
"Whoever, or whatever that brought us here, please help me make the best decisions to protect the brat. Please, please, help me."
The stars didn't bother to answer.
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End—Chapter Seven: Decisions
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Authors Note: I love all the comments on the last chapter, glad to know everyone loved the old lady. ^-^ I based her off my granny, cane and all. She really was a tough bird, all the way to the end. I'm sure she's getting a kick out of this upstairs. XD
Also, apologies on the really long update, gonna be heading into the Navy in a few months, and paper work for it is. SUCH. A. PAIN. :c
So expect more updates soon as an apology! :D Review please. c: