"And I'm going to count to one."
Everyone in the room froze at the familiar voice. I found myself smirking as they all turned to face me, with many mouths dropping. My eyes made their way over each face, both familiar and unfamiliar. Those who knew me were obviously very shocked to see me there, alive. Those who didn't know me were confused as to why everyone was listening to me. Maggie was the first to talk, interrupting the awestruck silence.
"Ashley! Thank god you showed up. You have to convince this guy to let us have the kid's Camaro," Maggie replied and I nodded once, firmly.
"Ya'll a bunch of sick fucks," I called out, causing the S-7 agents to look at me. "Yo Lennox, they've got freaking heads shoved in glass cages." Simmons eyes widened at that statement. He pointed an accusing finger at me.
"How much did you see!?" Simmons exclaimed and I grinned at him. Tutting slightly, I stroked the barrel of my gun in an effort to intimidate him. When he flinched, I knew it had worked.
"Enough to know that you guys are going to have a helluva lot of explaining to do," I stated nonchalantly. My eyes suddenly snapped to Jason's own, and I could practically see the questions oozing out of his eyes.
"Hazel." He stated, and Simmons eyes suddenly bulged out of his head.
"WHAT?" He yelled, rounding on my brother. My brother didn't break eye contact as he said "That's my sister. The one I left behind."
"Ash, you w-were dead, what?" Lennox said unintelligently. I gave him a goofy grin before shrugging my shoulders. "Turns out, my brothers' ex-helicopter is really bad at killing people."
"Hazel, do you know these men?" Jason asked, his voice coming out evenly and slightly uncaring - which pissed me off, majorly.
"Hazel?" Epps questioned.
"Of course I do, Jason. Now put the damn gun down before I blow his head off," I stated, raising the gun at Simmons once more. Jason's eyes widened like saucers, and he immediately raised his gun in surrender. Will lifted his gun away from Simmons' head also. There was a moment of silence, before I began to speak once more.
"Look, we don't have a lot of time. I know I have a lot of explaining to do, and I promise that at the end of all this, you'll all get your answers. However, there are a load of hostile alien robots heading this way, and the big bad boss bot is about to break out of his cryogenic realm. So, I believe that we don't have enough time to be making idle chit chat," I warned, glancing at Keller. He nodded.
"Losing isn't an option for these guys," He told Simmons, who rolled his eyes.
"Alright, cool. Wanna put the fate of the world in the hands of the kids Camaro? Go for it," He spat sarcastically, but gave his permission nevertheless.
"Ok. Maggie, Glenn, get to the main computer. Here, take this hard drive and get every scrap of information off of it and store it on here. You, go with them," I ordered, pointing at a soldier, "There is no doubt in my mind that they will send someone after this computer. Stop them."
"Kid, go get your Camaro. Then take him to the cube - do what needs to be done. Lennox, go with him. The rest of you, prepare a convoy. Get weapons, whatever you need. You S-7 guys can hold up here and do whatever the heck you like, just don't get in our way," I barked, and they nodded, beginning to head in the directions I'd told them.
"What about you?" Lennox asked.
"I'm going to start getting the military convoy ready. We don't have anything left to lose. If we lose this battle - we lose our planet. Do your best to remember that," I started, before grabbing my rifle. "And one other thing. Red eyes is bad, blue eyes is good. Red eyes? Kill on site. Blue eyes? Leave it be."
"Hey Miss," Simmons annoying voice pierced the air, causing me to sigh and turn to face him.
"What, Simmons?" I asked. He gestured to my gun.
"You're gonna have to leave the EXO922 behind, it's dangerous, S-7 property," Simmons replied uneasily, but I noticed how his eyes filled with greed as they locked in on the sight. I quirked an eyebrow at him.
"In other words he means it's alien," Glenn whisper yelled to Lennox, who snorted. I pretended to ponder it for a moment, before shooting him a wicked grin.
"Nah, it makes me look kinda badass." And then I turned around and stalked off.
/ ~ / ~ / ~ /
Somehow, I had ended up being a part of the 'Get the Autobot to the Cube Squad' which actually caused me to be a teeny bit miffed, not that I would say anything. I mean, I'm meant to hate this guy.
But he's so freaking adorable!
I mean, look at those big, blue eyes and those little cheeks! He's so cute, how is he terrifying and fierce in any way at all?
Then I remembered that this was the dude who handed Cade's ass to him and laughed. Oh my Primus, 'Cade got beaten by a little kid bot!
I was so gonna tease him about it later.
"Ah, okay. Here we go, here we go. He doin' something," Epps stated nervously. Sure enough, the autoscu-bot, Bumblebee, was doing something to the Cube. It seemed like it was folding in on itself. It was getting smaller, and soon, the once ginormous AllSpark was little more than a metal cube that even I could hold.
"Whoo," Sam breathed.
"Oh my God." That was Mikaela, who was standing next to him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that my brother was lingering near the back of the crowd, his eyes never leaving my figure. He looked pale, as if he had seen a ghost. Then again, he pretty much has. Did he really think that I wouldn't go after him, trying to find answers?
"Message from Starfleet, Captain. Let's get to it," Bumblebee's radio called, and Lennox nodded in agreement.
"He's right. We stay here, we're screwed with Megatron in the other hangar. Mission City is twenty-two miles away. We're gonna sneak that Cube out of here and we're gonna hide it somewhere in the city," Lennox explained, his eyes meeting mine. I nodded at him, and he smiled at me. My heart caught in my chest suddenly as I saw how happy he was to see me alive. How much parental love and adoration was in his eyes.
*And I had signed his death warrant.
Tears leapt to my eyes, and he cocked his head slightly in concern. I said nothing, instead giving him a small smile as if to say 'I'm okay' when I really wasn't. I was condemning William Lennox to die. Alongside his wife, Sarah, and their baby girl, who wasn't even a year old, Annabelle. I had agreed to heartlessly slay their entire race, without even thinking of the consequences.
I was a monster.
'No.' A soothing voice suddenly flitted into my head. Blackout. 'You are not a monster, Fleshie-con. You are a decepticon. And you are doing your job. The human may die, yes. But you would be contributing to a better existence.'
'Thanks, Blackout.' I responded, but his attempt at making me feel better really didn't do much. If anything, I felt worse. 'Contributing to a better existence', by sentencing an entire, young family to death or to slavery? That wasn't me. That was the monster I had become.
I didn't blame Blackout though. He doesn't know the first thing about comforting humans, but at least he tried.
I heard a sigh come through the comm. Did he hear all of that?
'Hazel, I can feel your guilt and self-doubt. Stop it, you're not going to make the situation any better for yourself or others if you cannot think. There is only a twenty-five percent chance of the world becoming enslaved by Megatron. Our aim is only to find the AllSpark and return it to our home planet. Hazel Brooks, you are a Decepticon now. Stop letting petty human emotions rule you and your judgement. These people abandoned you, left you to die. They are no longer your comrades, Decepticon! Know your place, fight for your cause. You are no longer a human being of the Planet Earth. You are a Decepticon, from Cybertron. Start acting like one.' He growled, causing me to stop abruptly. He was right.
I am Hazel Brooks, decepticon spy and advisor of Blackout.
I'm not just another human anymore.
I'm a member of something far bigger than Earth.
I am a Decepticon.
Determination burned within me as I nodded softly to myself.
*Blackout. I thought to myself. Why was he so nice to me? From day one, he had always treated me well. He'd never been ill towards me. Which was strange, because Decepticons were often thought to be evil. But Blackout, Blackout wasn't like that. No, he wasn't like that at all. He was different.
Suddenly, it felt as if Blackout was in the room with me, as if I could feel his presence. It was as if… as if we were connected somehow.
It was impossible to explain, but I could feel the bond. It was as if it was, something I could touch. Something binding us together. Hesitantly, I felt at the bond, and was shocked to feel that my prodding was returned.
'Blackout...what-' I went to ask.
'Focus femme.' He muttered harshly, but on further prodding of the bond, I realised that he wasn't mad at all. He was almost...nervous. And that frightened me greatly.
"Sir, you are going to have to figure out some way to get word out to them. Let's move!" Lennox called, snapping me from my thoughts. They spoke about some sort of 'alien archive' for a few moments before finally coming to an agreement. I wasn't paying attention however, instead I was trying to prod the bond more.
"Hazel, Sam, get in the car! Mister Secretary! Get our birds in the air. When we get to the city, we're gonna find a radio, and I'll have Epps vector them in," Lennox called. And Keller nodded in agreement. Sam and Mikaela make a quick break for Bumblebee, and I follow them.
"Set a perimeter around that yellow vehicle!" Lennox screamed. But Bumblebee didn't wait, instead he took off, peeling out of the S-7 base faster than you could say burrito.