Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.
SMALL MERCIES
Chapter 6: Desperate Measures
BOOM!
"Finally, what took you?" Darren huffed in exasperation
"Had to take something for the static" Skywarp shrugged, "Ratchet wasn't back yet, so I helped myself to some charge dampeners"
"I hope you bought some back for us?" Veebee frowned; to which the seeker tossed her a long tube of small silver capsules the size of golf balls. "Mikaela said just two each, their pretty strong" he added, before turning his attention back to the teenager: "So? You ready or what?"
"We're good" Roxy frowned, while Chelsea checked the contents of her lock-picking kit, and Jeanie looked over the flash grenades and smoke bombs Bluebird had given them; stuffing them into her back pockets and making sure the pins weren't sticking out.
"How long do you think you'll be?" Max glanced up from her laptop,
"As long as it takes" Darren shrugged as he stuffed his laptop into his backpack, and armed his CTG's weapon's mode: "We don't know what's waiting for us: and there's a good chance Broadsword's mole will be listening in on our comm frequencies. That means I don't want any of you to call us, not even to ask for back-up. Understand?"
"You chanced Finn's alligator tacos for lunch: and you're still in the can" Lizzy smirked, "We got this"
Glancing over at the Waineright sisters, who were still engrossed in Max's online research; Darren couldn't help but still be concerned: "You gonna be okay?" he asked Hailey,
"I got this covered" she assured him, "I might finally have something work with"
"What've you found?" he glanced over Max's shoulder, at the data on her laptop,
"A little bit of dirt worth keeping buried; for the sake of the Waineright's 'squeaky clean family' image..." Max explained, "Turns out, Antony's sealed record was from when he was a kid. When he was fourteen, he was arrested and charged with GBH on a twelve year old girl, but the family didn't press charges; and get this, there was also a rape charge filed against him when he was sixteen. But the family of the girl in question settled out of court; with the help of the family lawyer and his mom, Ruth, the judge ordered his record to be sealed"
Taken aback a little, Hailey then asked: "...Okay; but how does this tie in with Reggie's death?"
"I don't know?" Max shrugged, "But I've got an idea about how to try and find some more information. According to Reggie's medical records, he had some serious issues; the kind that only seven different types of anti-depressants and three different shrinks can help with. There's not a lot to go on here, but according to his profile he did attend Harvard University"
Hailey blinked in surprise: "Harvard? That's where dad studied law"
"Yeah? ..." Max looked over at her, before hesitating a little: "...So? What do you plan to do with this info?"
Thinking about it for a moment, Hailey decided: "...I'm going to see if it allows me to get one over on Lawrence" she stood up, and slowly walked over to the door: everyone looked at her, unsure of what exactly she meant by that...
"Wh-...What do you mean?" Becca asked in confusion,
"Up until now he hasn't budged an inch; but if I drop Reggie's name, it may yield something"
"Wait a minute, back up-" Darren approached her: "Are you saying: you're gonna try and black-mail your uncle somehow?"
"If that's what it takes" Hailey retorted, "I don't know what else to do Darren? He won't give us a straight answer, and he could order his security guys to hog-tie us and throw us onto Air Force One if necessary. If playing dirty means leveling the playing field, then so be it"
"Assuming he even knows the circumstances of Reggie's death? You're going on a hunch that has no concrete evidence to substantiate it"
"Actually? There might be something to it..." Max interjected sheepishly, "According to the police report: Lawrence had told the detectives that Reggie had been suffering severe mood swings in the run up to his death: he'd threatened to drink himself to death after an argument they had with their dad...But apparently, one of the officer's assigned to the case, stated he overheard Lawrence say to his old man: 'It's a real shame he had to go like that, I just wish the rope hadn't been necessary'...At that point in time, no one but the coroner and the detectives assigned to the case, knew about the ligature marks on his neck. On that premise, the coroner pushed for an inquest to be held, and tried to rule the death as suspicious: but right before the detectives had a chance to take it to the DEA, the case get's ruled a suicide and the whole investigation get's shut down faster than a fast food joint with rats in the fryers"
"But, why?" Becky frowned
"From the looks of this: suspicious timing and a shit-loada bad luck," Max replied as she read through the data on her laptop, "Reggie hadn't even gone into rigor mortis yet, when his folks turned up to claim his body, and had him cremated the following day. That same day: the coroner tried to stall the family as best he could; but before he could even get to the morgue, the dude dies in a hit and run on highway 395 just south of Arlington. And as if that's not strange enough, the officer who reported what Lawrence said, was killed in the line of duty the following day, when he came across a couple of thugs robbing a convenience store. As for the detectives? They were taken off the case and demoted to desk duty, and no one ever heard from them again...Call me crazy, but I get the distinct impression someone didn't want anyone to know what really happened"
The whole room fell silent, as Hailey felt a slight sense of vindication for her suspicions: but still, this was a risky ploy; if Lawrence knew something, she could be stepping into another round of trouble. By mentioning Reggie's death, might she put her family in danger? Would he have to keep her quiet somehow? He was the president of the USA after all; he could practically do whatever he wanted: and maybe, having his own niece silenced wasn't below him?
Playing her cards one by one would seem the prudent way to handle this situation (for now, at least), and after reconsidering her original strategy: she left the room, and quietly made her way to the rec-room; using her CTG's mini torch light to cut through the darkness.
"...Should we go after her?" Becca asked offhand, unsure what to think,
"...Just-... Keep an eye on her okay?" Darren placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder,
"I know she's our big sis an' all? But-...I don't know about this..." Becky hesitated, "...I knew dad never talked about his side of the family for a reason; I'm beginning to get the impression why..." she sighed as she followed her twin sister out the door.
"Should we help?" Rosy asked in uncertainty,
As much as he wanted to have their backs, and be there for them as their friend: Darren knew that the subject of Josie Beller took greater priority, as much as he didn't want to, he had a job to do...
"...No; let them handle this: if anything happens-...just: do what you can, okay?" he replied,
"Okay" Rosy nodded
"Come on, we better go" Skywarp quietly interjected as he powered up his teleportation matrix. "Good luck, and take care" Novastar bid them farewell, as the seeker and four humans disappeared in a flash of white light and thunderclap.
"... Now what? ..." Lizzy shrugged
"I'm going to make sure she's okay: call it a guardian's hunch, but I've got a bad feeling about this," Bluestreak sighed as he got up, and handed Jay-jay, Violet and Annabelle over to Novastar, "You girls be good now, and listen to what auntie 'Nova say's, okay? Uncle 'Blue's got grown-up stuff to do"
"Okay" the three youngsters chimed as they made themselves comfy in the femme's crossed legs. And without another word, the gunner was out the door and heading for the rec-room. Out of guilt, and feeling as though she had to be of usefulness in some way: Allie climbed down off of Bluebird's shoulder, and left the room.
"Where are you going?" Lizzy asked offhand
"To go make sure nothing bad happens," Allie replied sheepishly, "...It just-, feels wrong not to be doing anything: you know?". Giving into her own guilt about the whole affair, Lizzy sighed in exasperation: and rolling her eyes, followed closely after her: "Fine, but I'm coming too!"
"Wait up!" Rosy ran after them; leaving Max to her own devices with the VW sisters and Novastar. Unsure what to do with the three youngsters now in her charge, Novastar decided to improvise: "So...Um? ...Anyone want to play the nuts and bolts game? Who's got a nut and a bolt?"
Jay-jay, Annabelle and Violet all glanced at one another in uncertainty: it was going to be one of those days, (again).
At the same time, in the command center:
"Okay, I just heard from our troops out on the training ground: she's circling the main entrance, for now; what do you recommend?" Bishop asked offhand as he put down the radio.
"Regroup, and assess the situation" Optimus ordered, : Ratchet, status report:
: Jolt will be fine: the medic replied, : I've stabilized his injury, but without power I can't repair the damage to his arm and shoulder; all I can do is stem the bleeding and take his electro whips offline:
: Understood: Prime replied. At that moment, Ironhide and Lennox came through the doors with their teams in tow: "I'm glad to see your all safe" Optimus sighed with relief. "Yeah, but what happened back there didn't make any sense" Epps spoke up, "That sniper: whoever he was, could've taken Jolt out altogether, but he didn't. Why?"
"Whoever it was, clearly doesn't want the power to come back on" one of the human techs threw in.
"But if they wanted to make sure the power didn't come back on at all, they'd have blown up the power station by now" Bishop added, "That, or their plan got scuppered somehow?"
"All relevant but moot points" Optimus interjected, "It doesn't point to the source of the problem: which will escalate if we don't find a way to defeat the girl"
"But if we don't get the power back on, and we incur more casualties: we're gonna be stuck trying to fend off the kid while stopping our people from dying. All while trying to figure out who threw the switch in the first place" Lennox added vehemently,
"And not forgetting Velocity" John stated vehemently, "She's running around the base free, with Deathshot and my kids as her hostages!" he calmed down a little, before adding, "...Please, Optimus: let me go and look for them"
"In our current state, we can't afford stretch ourselves," Prowl stated regrettably, "We can't go up against the girl without incurring serious CPU damage: whoever shot Jolt is still out there, and could be waiting to pick someone else off, (for all we know), and our telepaths are all still unconscious. Plus, the mole is probably tracking our every move, and it could be any of the humans on the base. Without additional support to help fend her off at the least, we're stuck"
As he listened in on the heated conversation: Miles suddenly remembered what happened when the girl was attacking the command center; all the bots scrambled to get away from the static field , but none of the humans in the room were affected by it. It was at that moment, he got an idea: "Dude! Divide and conquer!" he blurted out.
Everyone turned to him, a little confused as to what he meant: "...Divide and conquer?" Bishop echoed,
"Listen: that static she's putting out? It may scramble your brains and all the other tech in here, but it just makes our hair stand on end. The EMP doesn't affect us humans. Plus you're forgetting: we still have the other BSHB units. We can play her at her own game!"
Everyone stared at him in astonishment: as a collective wave of mental face palms seemed to go around the room. "Jeez! How the hell did we forget those?!" Epps gasped,
"Doesn't matter: but listen, I recommend we split up. Let me take a small team out there, armed with the BSHB's, and at least try to buy you guys some time to come up with a way to take her out. Bishop, Prime: you guys concentrate on getting the telepath's awake and back on their feet, if anyone has a chance of finding the mole, it's them. John, let one of the bots go with you: you're gonna need some muscle if you're gonna take on Velocity" Miles explained boldly, "The rest of you-...Remain on stand-by, and follow Prime's order's"
After a quick moment of contemplation: Bishop replied, "...That's-, actually not a bad plan"
"Surprisingly, I actually agree with Lancaster on this one" Prowl blinked in surprise, "If we can keep the girl preoccupied long enough, we can try and neutralize her with a counteroffensive of our own"
"Do the BSHB units still work?" Bishop asked
"As soon as their initiated and onlined, they'll rely on the human's body heat to power them" Prime added, : Ratchet, Wheeljack, did you hear that?:
: I'm heading back to the lab as we speak Prime! : Wheeljack replied, : I just need to know who Miles intends to take with him:
"I'll meet you at the lab 'Jack!" Miles called over as he jumped down off of Jazz's shoulder, and ran out the door: "I'll sort out the team Prime: you guys just concentrate on getting Soundwave and Crystalwing to wake up". "Don't go getting your aft blown off kid!" Jazz called over to him as he disappeared into the dark beyond the door.
"Great, now what about Velocity?" John demanded,
"I'll go with you," Portia stated, as her rotor blades transformed into long spider legs, and her humanoid legs transformed into her spider abdomen: "You're going to need stealth if you intend to catch Velocity off guard" she added, as she bent down as low as she could go, allowing the human to climb onto her back,
"Thanks," he sighed with relief, "If we need back-up-
"-We know" Bishop stated, "Go: make sure you stop her, and make sure your family's safe"
And with that, Portia was out the door: and vanished into the darkness. Bishop followed soon after. "Where're you going?" Ironhide asked offhand.
"To keep an eye on the telepath's progress, and to help where needed: Prime, you concentrate on coordinating the Autobot's movements. Lennox, you're in command of the center until I get back" the colonel called over his shoulder.
As he left the command center and put some distance behind him: Bishop discreetly slipped his hand into his pocket, and pulled out his cell phone. Without even looking at the tiny screen: he pressed several buttons, and hit the call button. All the while, looking like nothing had happened; and no one had seen anything.
Elsewhere on the base:
This was getting serious,
As Longrange silently moved down the corridor, his mind ran a thousand thought's a minute, trying to figure out where Velocity could be, and where she was hiding with her hostages right now. He knew she'd taken the Briggs family and their guardian (again), he heard it plain as day over the open comms. It would make the job of killing them so much easier if he could hit them all in one go: but he had to find them first, and that was easier said than done...
Then, a noise up ahead made him stand still and listen: with a small torch to light their way, Carnage trotted by, with Morri saddled on his broad spiked shoulders.
"Me smell her better here, flying femme can't be too far now" the Postosuchus grunted as he sniffed the air,
'Flying femme?' Longrange thought: 'that can only mean they're-'
Putting two and two together, Longrange swiftly moved after them: being careful to stay far enough away that Carnage couldn't pick up his scent: with his stealth-mode engaged, there was no chance either of them could see him. But still, this was one of the dinobots, and he could easily rip one of his wings off with a single bite. For now, it was best to follow and listen...
Before long, Morri turned her CTG's torch-light off, as they came within three hundred yards of the entrance to the training room: the doors were open ajar, and a dim yellow light could be seen emanating from the gap. Someone was inside...
Carnage came to a quiet stop, and lowered his forequarters down to allow Morri to dismount. Quietly as possible, she came alongside his head, and knelled down, right beside the small hole that was his audio. "Is she in there?" she whispered as softly as she could,
"Flying femme in there, me smell humans and flying mech too" Carnage softly growled,
That confirmed it: they'd found Velocity, along with her family.
"Me think it's a trap" Carnage added,
"I know" Morri sighed, "But we don't have any other choice: there's no other way, but to play it her way..." Thinking about how to do this, Morri then added, "Can you tail me from behind? If anything happens, I'll need you to charge her, keep her occupied while I get the boys out?"
"Me can do that" Carnage nodded,
"Good lad" she patted him on the neck: and after putting on her visor and switching it to night vision, she primed her CTG's weapon's mode, and quietly, began creeping over to the training room, with the dinobot at her back...
Peering carefully around the door, Morri saw a small portable light of some kind, shining upwards from somewhere on the floor, lighting up the majority of the room: the huge anti-gravity assault course blocks that usually hovered in mid-air around the room, lay strewn about the floor in a scattered and piled-up mess, blocking her line of sight to the far back-end of the room. Cautiously stepping inside, Morri checked the opposite sides of the doors: no one was there, so she went in further, while Carnage stayed outside...
She could hear a cybertronian moving about quietly: not far off to her right: the adrenaline surged as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and her hands became clammy and sweaty. Keeping it together, she quietly crept on: and after finding a clearing free of the blocks, she found the light, and her cousins lying bound and gagged on the floor. Tom had a small gash on his right shoulder where a claw had been dragged over his flesh: Danny looked like he'd taken a bad punch to the face, as blood was present around his mouth and nose...
But Ashley (in human form) was conscious: and anxiously looking right up at her.
Morri quickly moved to try and untie him, but he jolted sharply: she stopped, and with his eyes, directed her gaze to her right. Standing just next to her, was a pile of five blocks stacked one on top of the other: compared to rest of the blocks scattered randomly around the room, theses five looked as if they'd been deliberately placed there, all askew so their corner's would provide a means for someone to climb up them.
"I'll get you out of here" Morri mouthed to him, and anxiously climbed up to the top of the stack: from up here, she had a full view of all the training room: including the opposite corner of the room where Deathshot was lying on his side. Barely conscious, bound and gagged with thick cables; with Velocity laying by his side, deliberately stroking the side of his head in a caressing manner.
Morri felt her hackles rise up in ire when she spotted the numerous dents and dings in her guardian's armour: but she said nothing, and merely kept her eyes on Velocity as she stood up, and shot her that sickening sweet smile of her's...
"Clever girl..." she took a few steps forward, "I had a feeling you'd figured out this is where I'd be hiding"
"I'm not flattered" Morri stated flatly, trying not to let her anger show through,
"No, I suppose not," Velocity sighed in mock disappointment, "But then, you're not one to boast much: are you?"
"Neither are you"
"Hmm..." the femme smirked slyly, "I guess that makes us both humble, in our own ways"
Morri changed the subject: "...Tell me, how is this different to the last time we met like this?"
"Because this time" Velocity powered up her wrist guns, "I won't underestimate you a second time"
At that moment, the light went out: but Morri's visor lit up the room in hues of green and black as the inferred night-vision allowed her to see though the pitch black. In the same split second it took for Velocity to take aim, Carnage charged in and lunged at her: knocking her to the floor and causing her misfire, letting off three rounds up into the ceiling.
Without missing a beat, Morri jumped off the blocks, back down onto the floor, and wasted no time in untying Ashley. "Are you good to go?" she asked, "I'm fine, but I don't know about Tom and Danny" Ashley panted as he ripped the gag from his mouth. "Go and untie D, I'll get them out" Morri stated as she untied the boys, who were semi-conscious, and still somewhat out of it. Ashley transformed into his hybrid form, and discreetly slipped past the brawling sniper and dinobot: Morri sat Tom upright, and patted his face hard, trying to get him to come round: "Come on Tom, wake up, wake up!"
"Uh-, what?" Danny sat upright, but fell backwards again when he felt pain around his face, "What the hell hit me?"
"Never mind, I'm getting you two out" Morri stated as he threw Tom's arm around her neck, and grabbing Danny and pulling him up, threw his other arm around her other shoulder: and straining to support the two of them on either side of her, staggered towards the door.
Across the room, Ashley quickly cut through the cables with his claws, and removed the gag from his guardian's mouth: "Move" he breathed.
"What?-
But before Ashley had a chance to ask what he meant: Deathshot abruptly shoved him out of the way, and in one quick move, flipped back onto his feet, and charged Velocity, tackling and slamming her into the wall. Realizing he'd been faking being unconscious the whole time, Ashley decided to rip him a new one later, and wasted no time going to help him in the fight...
Too angry and too riled up to save it for a punching bag later, Ashley decided to get his own back on the femme: after all she'd put him and his family through, this time, she wasn't walking away from this in one piece. Between Deathshot's punches and Carnage's jaw, Ashley used his size and speed to attack Velocity from the sides and behind, clawing and swiping at her engines and ailerons. Turning back to see where he'd gone, Morri was alarmed to see him fighting so fiercely, and so brutally.
"ASHLEY! COME ON! WE NEED TO GO!" she called out,
"GO! I GOT THIS!" he growled back,
Not wanting to waste time arguing, Morri hurried for the door. The boy's had just about regained full consciousness, and were now able to stand up by themselves without help: but it was pitch black, and without their own visors, they were both as good as blind; Keeping a firm hand around each of their wrists, Morri led them outside and started to run; but she suddenly screeched to a halt when she saw who was pacing towards them...
"SHIT! It's Longrange!" she shouted as she about turned, and ran back the way they came.
"What?!" Tom exclaimed, "GET BACK INSIDE!-" Morri dragged them back inside the training room, and led them around the fight to the back, near the farthest wall. "LONGRANGE'S COMING!" she called out to Deathshot. But no one seemed to have heard her over the loud clanging and scraping of metal, as they kept trading blows.
Having lost the element of surprise, Longrange drew his gun in a tenth of a second, and took aim as he charged the door: but he suddenly let out a pain-filled howl as something knocked him forward from behind. Carefully glancing up over the blocks, Morri saw a distinctive cat-shaped thing attached to Longrange's left wing as he thrashed around: it's one red optic told her immediately who it was.
"Ravage?!" Morri gasped,
"Who?!" Danny shouted, not quite hearing what she said,
Outside the training room, Ravage tried to stall Longrange as best he could: though he couldn't get past the young sniper's counter-telepathy measures; he could sense this bot had death in mind, and somehow, everyone inside the training room was involved. With one hard push he managed to sink his teeth into the bot's air intakes, and rip out a large chunk of armor: but in doing so, left his right flank open, and with one hard punch, Longrange knocked him out cold. The panther drone fell to the floor unconscious, and the sniper retrieved his gun, and resumed his task...
Using her CTG's laser blaster to try and push Velocity off her guardian, Morri managed to blindside the femme long enough for Deathshot to land a knock-out punch to the side of her helm. The femme fell to the floor unconscious, and the fight was finally over. Panting with exhaustion, Ashley transformed back into his human form, and looked up at his guardian: who gazed down at him concernedly: "You okay?" he asked offhand. "I'll be fine: once I know she's back behind bars" Ashley frowned. "You fight good," Carnage grinned up at the sniper, "You win fight"
"Too bad you won't live long enough to savour the victory" Longrange smiled sarcastically, as he aimed his weapon at the older sniper.
Completely taken aback, Deathshot, Carnage and Ashley stood there in utter astonishment, before Deathshot rapidly tried to draw his own weapon, but Longrange fired a warning shot right past his helm, missing his left-side temple by mere centimeters, and striking the back wall. The sniper stopped, and calmly put his hands down: from where they were hiding behind the large blocks, Morri, Tom and Danny watched helplessly as the younger sniper stepped into the room. Glancing down and looking past his legs, she saw the unconscious form of Ravage lying on the floor outside, and knew right then, that this situation just got more dangerous...
"What you doing?!" Carnage exclaimed, "We Autobots! We no point guns at each other!"
"Shut it," Longrange ordered nonchalantly, "And you," he turned his attention back to Deathshot: "You were certainly quick to get away earlier"
"As were you" Deathshot frowned, "So what now? You shoot us?"
"Pretty much" Longrange shrugged casually, "I'm sorry but, you've all heard and seen too much as it is: and the trouble your putting us to? It's getting a little tricky to handle"
"You not get away with this!" Carnage growled, swinging his tail back and forth in agitation,
"We already have" Longrange smirked, "You're just too dumb to realize it"
As the two snipers traded words, Ashley was stood between them, gazing up at Longrange's smug grin: and that's it really hit home for him. He was going to kill them; first Velocity, and now this overbearing prick, was going to kill them: no one knew they were here so there was no chance of back-up showing up. The power was still out so there nothing readily available to use as a weapon or distraction. And as the list of options dwindled, Ashley was suddenly filled with a horrible and fear-filled sense of despair and hopelessness: he was going to die, or worse, have watch his family die. And the more he began to panic inside, the more he became filled with outrage; he just wanted to take a gun, and shoot the sniper in the face: he wanted to inflict every kind of torture imaginable onto him...
After everything that's happened today: today was not the day he was going to let anyone die.
He pointed the gun up at Longrange, and in instant the room lit up in a bright yellow flash as a thundering plasma-blast knocked Longrange up off the floor, and slammed him into the ceiling with such force that the concrete and steel in the structure cracked and dented. The recoil also threw the twelve year old back a little, but he remained standing as the sniper fell to the floor in an unconscious crumpled up heap...
Suddenly, in one moment, the whole situation just seemed to come to a screeching halt: as everyone's brains and CPU's tried to compute what just happened. The shock of the moment snapped Ashley out of his anger-fueled rage, and back to reality, as he stared at Longrange in a mix of alarm and shock: what just happened?
Cautiously stepping out from their fox holes, Morri, Tom and Danny stared at their youngest cousin in shock and astonishment; but it wasn't him they were staring at...
"... Ashley...What- ..." Deathshot was at a loss for words,
"Wh-...what just happened?" Ashley gasped, trying to catch his breath,
"Ashley, your arm..." Morri breathed, "...It's a-...it's a gun..."
Looking down as his left arm, Ashley' mind did a full one eighty as he tried to grasp what he was looking at. His whole left arm was one large high velocity plasma cannon; transformed from flesh and bone into metal and nanite-flesh, his sleeve was ripped and shredded where the limb had expanded into the weapon. It looked a lot like Ironhide's plasma cannon, but more streamlined, more seamless, more like something organic than mechanical in nature. As veins and arteries fed glowing red hemogon into the plasma generator under his elbow: the colour of his human flesh turned from a Caucasian pallet of peach, tan and pink, into gunmetal grey and chrome silver at the shoulder joint. The weapon hummed with energy, but also, with a soft subtle beat that seemed to thump in time to his pulse.
CRACK! CRK!
Everyone so engrossed staring at the strange weapon; that they failed to notice the damaged ceiling was beginning to become riddled with cracks: growing out from where Longrange had hit it. Scanning the structure, Deathshot gasped as he saw the support beams in the concrete above begin to bend under the strain of gravity. As the structure began to groan and tremble, and little pieces of concrete began to fall to the floor; that's when everyone realized, the whole structure was about to come down...
"QUICK!-" Deathshot yelled, as he bent down and shoved the kids beneath Carnage's wide front legs, before running over to Longrange, and throwing himself over him.
Before the kids had any chance to react, a huge chunk of concrete falling by Carnage's left side forced them to huddle together. As the dinobot curled his huge bulk over them, more and more concrete began to fall around them. And then in one go, the whole structure lost its fight against gravity, and the entire ceiling came crashing down in a thunderous deafening roar; dust filled the air and made breathing near impossible, steel twisted and bent, electric and fibrotic cables were ripped out of their fixtures, and part of the ventilation system fell down and twisted under the weight of the concrete that fell on top of it.
The structure continued to shift and fall down, growing smaller and smaller in proportion, until finally, the room grew quiet, and nothing else moved or shifted: it was dead silence all round, and no sign of life anywhere...
At the same time, in Beverly Hills:
"Man, it's nice to be back in civilization again" Roxy smiled
"Living in a hole in the desert sure puts you out of touch" Darren thought aloud:
"I hope Skywarp's okay?" Jeanie couldn't help but worry, "Are you sure no one's gonna find him in that lake on the golf course?"
"It's the only hiding place we could find at such short notice: plus, the country club's privet property so no one's likely to bump into him, and it's shut for maintenance work today. Hopefully, no one decided to squeeze in a few rounds on the eighteenth hole" Darren reassured her.
As they walked down the broad street: amid the palatial mansions, neat rows of palm trees and tidy, manicured lawns and gardens; the four cousins/sisters finally came to their destination. At the end of a long paved driveway, flanked by big rhododendron bushes and palm trees either side, the huge sprawling mansion from Soundwave's telepathic 'glimpse' came into view.
"Wow, this place is way bigger than I thought" Roxy blinked in surprise.
"...Doesn't look like anyone's lived here in a long time" Jeanie thought aloud as she glanced down at the weeds, poking their little flowers up through the cracks in the paving. The whole front garden in general, had been left to grow wild, as the lawn resembled something of a savannah.
"Lucky for us, no one thought to upgrade the security system" Chelsea pointed to the broken alarm system on the wall up by the porch light near the garage: the cover was cracked with some frayed wires hanging out; clearly, security was not a priority for this place.
"That takes care of one obstacle" Roxy thought aloud
"Yeah, but we still gotta get in" Darren pointed out, "Let's try round the back, I don't want anyone to see us from the front and think we're a couple of burglars"
"Technically, we are breaking and entering" Chelsea deadpanned, "The difference with us, is that whatever we find and take is in the interest of national security"
"Something like that..." Darren deadpanned as he led the way to the back yard. After a quick picking of the lock on the back door, and entering in through the kitchen: the four teens made their way into the hallway, where a grandeur staircase curved around the oval-shaped walls. Wandering into the living room, they found all the furniture concealed beneath grey old dust sheets, and the thick curtains drawn so as to stop the sunlight from fading the carpets and paintings on the walls. This place had not had anyone living inside for a very long time: as dusty cobwebs hung from the corners and chandeliers, and the shelves and mantelpiece were coated with a fine layer of dust; one couldn't help but wonder, why?
"This must've been some place, back in the day" Chelsea thought aloud
"At the very least, Beller could've sold it for a tidy price: having a Beverly Hills zip code an' all" Roxy concurred
"Why do you think he kept it? If the guy really did murder his wife, why hang onto it?" Chelsea added
"...Who knows?" Darren shrugged, "Some people are odd like that"
Looking around the room, Roxy wandered over to the mantel piece, and saw all the framed family photos lined up in a tightly clustered row: from end to end, they depicted the Beller family, as they were in past years, and one photo in particular caught her attention...
"Look at this..." Roxy took the photo down, and showed it to the others.
"That must've been Josie and Amy, when they were Violet's age..." Jeanie thought offhand; the photo in question, showed two little girls around the ages of seven or eight: both had long honey-blond hair weaved into pig-tails, bright blue eyes, each wearing the same pick frilly sun dresses, and bright beaming smiles that reflected their happiness.
Looking up at the mantelpiece: Darren saw other pictures of them at various times in their lives, older, mature, and growing up together. Some showed just the two of them together, others, with another woman: who obviously must have been their mother, for they had the same smile, and shared very similar facial features...
But some of the photos depicted a man with them: a more stoic, serious looking man: presumably Beller himself. All the other photos looked like they had been taken somewhat randomly: at the beach, at the park, in restaurants, on vacation: the kinds of photos one takes on the spur of the moment when having a good time with your family. But these photo's with the man? They were the staged kind; set up in a professional photographer's studio, with the family dressed and preened for the family portrait. Normally, the whole family smiled, and the smiles were usually genuine. But the woman and the girls were not smiling: in fact, in all the pictures that depicted the whole family together, the women's smiles looked uneasy, forced, or just not convincing; and their body postures suggested they were uneasy in his presence.
"...This wasn't a happy family..." Jeanie thought aloud, as she too studied the pictures. Wandering back into the hallway, Darren ascended the staircase to the first floor, and began looking in all the rooms: following him upstairs to see what he was up to, the girls saw him frown in confusion as he came back to the staircase. "I can't find Josie's room"
"What?" Jeanie frowned
"Amy's room is just through there, and it's just her bed; mom and dad's room is down there," he pointed to the bedroom at the far end of the corridor, "The bathroom's opposite, and the rest are all guest bedrooms. Where did Josie sleep?"
Looking around in all the other rooms, there didn't seem to be another room that might have belonged to a young girl; "This doesn't make any sense: she lived here, she had to have somewhere to call her own" Chelsea thought aloud.
Looking back down the landing: Darren noticed part of the corridor split off to the right, and went around a corner: he frowned in confusion, how did he miss that? Wandering over to peer around the corner, there was a door some four meters away, at the very end of the corridor. Approaching and opening it, he found it was a storage closet, filled with all the household essentials the maid would've used. Nothing extraordinary or useful...
He was about to close the door, when suddenly, he felt an ever-so-slight draft of air brush past his cheek, from out of the tiny room. Pausing, he leaned in for a closer look, where did it come from? Looking down at where the vacuum cleaner stood: he nearly jumped when he saw a door in the right-side wall: crudely concealed behind some aprons and old cleaning dusters, Darren removed as much stuff as he could, until he had enough room to stand in the constricted space; hearing the clattering of stuff being thrown about, the girls came to see what he was up to.
"What're you doing in the closet?" Jeanie frowned in bemusement,
"He's probably thinking about coming out" Roxy smirked
"Ha ha, very original" Darren deadpanned, "My secret stash of play boys and busty beauties says otherwise. Anyway, I found a secret door in here"
"Yeah ...A secret someone didn't want anyone to find out," Chelsea pointed to three huge sets of deadbolt locks, and five chain bolts.
"Think you can open them?" Darren asked offhand. Studying the locks, Chelsea looked a little uncertain: "...I know these types: good quality; very tricky to pick...but not impossible" she reached for her lock picking tools, and after several minutes of fine picking on the deadbolts, the door opened with a creek...
Inside, the four youngsters saw a small staircase, leading up to another door. Climbing up, Darren opened the door, and stepped inside...
It was a bedroom; small, with pink wooden paneling on the walls, a small window that looked out over the back garden: and an en suite bathroom by the door. Looking around, Darren recognized it instantly: "This is the room Soundwave saw in her mind: this was her room"
"Yeah, but I don't think she had a choice..." Roxy thought aloud: and the others couldn't help but agree with her.
The room was devoid of any personal input or tastes; the walls were bare: no pictures or posters, no personal items or furnishings; just a bed that had strips of linen tied around the posts, as if to be used as restraints. Wandering into the bathroom and opening the medicine cabinet above the sink, Jeanie was surprised to find it full of every known anti-psychotic and antidepressant known to modern medicine, even some she recognized, that were not available over the counter. There were also some fresh syringes, and needles still sealed in their packets, along with some tranquilizer's that hadn't been used: it was then, she noticed the large lock on the cabinet door; someone else had kept the key.
Like the rest of the house, this room was dusty and full of cobwebs: its sole occupant, hadn't been here in a very long while...
"This isn't a bedroom..." Darren realized somberly, "This was a prison"
"...Who the hell would do this? To their own kid?" Roxy frowned,
Needing to gather his thoughts together, Darren didn't even know what to look for in this place: with so little of Josie in this place virtually non-existent, what could they find that could possibly help them? Out of habit, he extended his arm out to lean against the wall, when suddenly; he nearly went right though the wall. One of the wooden panels was loose, and he'd inadvertently pushed it out of place. He was about to try and put it back, when he noticed something in the gap behind it, a book: no, a collection of books; pulling one out, he saw it was a diary, with the name Josie scrawled in a bright pink marker across the cover.
"Bingo" he thought aloud
"What?" Roxy frowned
"I found her diaries; she must've kept them hidden..." Darren stated as he removed the other diary's from the hidden space, and handed them out to the others. There were five in total, each collectively spanning from 2003, right up to 2007. Darren was holding the earliest one, from 2003: and as he opened the cover, his eyes were immediately caught by the first entry:
'January 3rd, 2003: daddy was very mad again today. I didn't wear the dress he picked out for me for the New Year's party. It was too tight and too short, so I wore the long black one instead. It was mommy's, she gave it to me as her hand-me-down. She always said I looked pretty in it, but daddy always hated that dress. He told me to stop kidding myself; no one wants a psychotic bitch for a tag-along, so why do I even try? ...Maybe he's right?'
Darren felt his heart sink a little, and wondered, what else lay in rest of the pages?
As the cousins/sister's began to read the diaries; outside the mansion, down the other end of the street: a black sedan sat on the corner. Its occupant's: spying on the mansion with a clear line of sight to Josie's bedroom. Watching the kids through a set of binoculars, the driver and his passenger began to grow worried. Reaching for his cell phone, the driver keyed in a number, and held the phone to his ear: a few rings of the dial tone, and the person on the other end of the line picked it up...
"It's me...Yeah; they showed up... four of them, the Ainsley kid and three of his cousins..." The driver's face changed with uncertainty as he listened and responded to what the other person was saying: "...I'm not sure: they're in her room right now, it looks like their reading some books? ...Ah, okay. But listen, they tripped the silent alarms: Broadsword knows they're there...Protocol three? Alright, but we won't have much time, tell the other's to get into position: I'll take care of the rest..."
At the same time, back at NEST:
As they approached the rec-room, the Waineright sister's tentatively slowed down: Hailey was about to knock to let Elita know it was them, when Becca stopped her: "Wait a sec-...Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, if it was anything else we wouldn't object; but Hailey-, a sealed record and a suspicious death in the family? This has bad news written all over it"
"Which is exactly why I don't want to go anywhere with him," Hailey reasoned. "If Lawrence wants to bring us back into the family fold: what is it exactly, he wants us to become a part of? I have to stop this, before he drags us into something we can't get out of". She was about to knock on the door, when suddenly the door slid open and Elita peered down at them: "Oh, Hailey, it's just you and your sister's: I wondered whose voice it was for a second there" the femme breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ah, sorry" Hailey sheepishly smiled, "Um? Is the president still hunkered down in here?"
"He is, as are your creators" the femme stepped aside, allowing them to enter. Being careful not to draw Elita's attention as she stepped back into the room: Bluestreak, Allie, Lizzy and Rosy all quietly creeped up to the still-open door, and listened hard to try and hear what was going on inside...
Illuminated by Trailbreaker and Bumblebee's headlights, the rec-room was starting to get a little stuffy: with the air ventilation system offline, the air quality in here was starting to get poorer by the hour,
Though that didn't stop Lawrence, as he fumed at the sight of the three sisters as they tentatively approached, "Finally, where have you three been all this time? You've got some explaining to do young lady: do you have any idea how worried your parents have been?" he went on the attack with his berating and over-the-top not-needed lecture: not even allowing her parent's the chance to see how they were or ask if they're okay. Hailey had intended to approach this with a little more tact and diplomacy than last time: but the more Lawrence continued his lecture, the more Hailey decided to drop the other shoe, and deflate that subtle overbearing confidence of his.
And before Jason had the chance to stop him: Hailey blurted out loud and clear for all to hear: "Who's Reginald?!"
The room fell as silent as a graveyard; both Lawrence and Jason stared at Hailey in astonishment: while Galloway and Sarah watched in confusion, the security detail however, never even blinked...
"... Wh-What? ..." Lawrence blinked in surprise,
Hailey stepped closer, and elaborated: "...Who. Is. Reginald?"
"Hailey-" her father gasped, "How do you-
"-I've been doing my homework" she addressed Lawrence, "You know? A little 'genealogy research? To see exactly what the Waineright's are all about: what would be waiting for us back in Washington? And I gotta say, you have some pretty big skeletons in your closet"
Realizing she wasn't kidding, Lawrence's surprise shifted to a calm poker face: in the back of her mind, Hailey figured she hit the nail on the head, this was going somewhere, and it was his next move. "... Really?" he stated nonchalantly.
"Hailey-, her father stepped in between them, "-Reginald-, Reggie" he corrected himself, "Was, a very troubled kid: his death-... No one saw that coming, not even me, and we were close, we stayed in touch-"
"-He knew," she gestured to Lawrence: Jason looked at his brother in confusion, but Lawrence was giving away nothing. "Really? ..." he smirked slightly, "And...Just what is it, you think you know?"
Hailey made up her mind to lay all her cards on the table: drawing in a deep breath, she explained "...I know that you and Reggie had an argument the day he died. I know that the police report stated he was found in his apartment with a bottle of bourbon in one hand, and antidepressants in the other. But the coroner stated that there was nothing in his stomach, and there were ligature marks around his neck..."
As she spoke, Lawrence said nothing, and remained unflinching and stoic: though she could see in his eyes, she was backing him into a corner: and all the while, Bluestreak and the Ainsley sisters, plus Jason and Beverly listened intently as she continued. "...The coroner wanted to rule his death as suspicious: but practically the same day he died, your family turned up to claim his body; the coroner tried to stall you, but he (conveniently), died in a hit and run on the way to the autopsy. Reggie was cremated the same day; and as if that's not shady as hell? The detectives assigned to the case were taken off the investigation and demoted to desk duty: oh, and the clincher? There was certain police officer, who overheard you say something to your father. Something that went along the lines of 'It's a real shame he had to go like that, I just wish the rope hadn't been necessary' ..."
The whole room was silent: even the Autobots, didn't know what to think... Something seemed to change in Lawrence at the mention of those words: for the briefest of moments, his eyes seemed to grow darker; and darker still. Alarming his brother as he watched him from the side...
Hailey stepped closer, unafraid: as Lawrence just continued to stand there, unmoved; "... No one, but the detectives and the coroner knew about the ligature marks on Reggie's neck. And that one officer? Coincidentally, died the following day when he came across a robbery in progress... I don't know about you? But that's one too many coincidences to suggest that's just a run of bad luck: and if it's more, than just bad luck? On your family's part? ... I want nothing to do with it"
For the longest moment, no one moved, no one spoke: Lawrence studied Hailey with a critical eye; she didn't dare let her poker face down, but in her mind her thoughts were racing: trying work out if she'd caught him out or not. He dropped his gaze for a brief second as he cleared his throat, and then looked back at her: seemingly unfazed. "...Wow..." Lawrence casually nodded, "I have to say, you know how to cover all your bases, even going so far as to digging through county records apparently: though, you don't strike me as the type of girl who spends half her waking life glued to a computer screen. May I ask who your researcher is?"
"...They..." she was careful to leave Max out of it, ", Prefer to remain anonymous".
"Hm," Lawrence sighed in mild (fake) disappointment: "Well? No matter, I can simply ask the boys at the CIA to run a search-line on all online activity coming out of this place. Since the CIA are already well versed in your 'friends' hacking abilities, flushing them out and having them arrested on charges of breach of security will take hardly any effort" he stated nonchalantly.
Jason and Beverly were floored, as were the bots: and in the back of her mind, Hailey began to feel panic creeping in. "This doesn't change the subject," she stated, trying to maintain the upper hand, "You kept your cousin's death covered up, and had everyone believe he killed himself, when clearly you had something to do with it!"
"Lawrence!-" Jason pleaded desperately, "Tell me none of what she just said is true?!"
"Believe whatever you want to believe" Lawrence shrugged, before letting his true colours come to the surface with a more cold-hearted tone, "Either way; Reggie was a spineless cretin, who never had the guts or balls to live up to the name of Waineright" he added: though his expression never shifted, the venom in his voice wasn't lost on anyone; even Galloway was completely taken aback. Outside the rec-room, Bluestreak and the Ainsley sisters couldn't believe what they were hearing...
"You know?" Lawrence continued, "I promised mother I would do all that I could, to ensure that the family held up to its name and reputation: even if it meant having to fly to the other side of the country, to use my newly-acquired political clout to get the 'black sheep' to see sense. But I see now: mother was right about you..." he gazed disdainfully at his brother, "You always were too clever for your own good: and I can see; it clearly rubbed off on the brats"
Before anyone had a chance to be shocked and appalled by Lawrence's blatant coldness: Jason beat them to it, as he lunged for his brother; punching him hard in the face and wrestling him to the ground. The security detail was on him like a pack of hounds on a fox, but this time Bumblebee and Trailbreaker tried to pry them off, while Elita, Beverly and her daughter's, pulled their father up off him.
"Dad stop it! Clam down!" Hailey ordered: Jason acknowledged her; but he didn't reply, as he continued to fume: "...I always knew you were a piece of work, but this?! THIS GOES BEYOND THE FUCKING PALE!" he exploded, unable to hold back his true feelings as he continued: "-Reggie was like a brother to me! And you treated him like shit! You and the rest of our fucked up family refused to even acknowledge he existed! After all he endured, is it any wonder you killed him?!"
"I didn't- Lawrence tried to interject,
"-You didn't what? What, you weren't satisfied that you were there to do it yourself? To hold a gun to his head and pull the fucking trigger?!" Jason retorted, "You know? I actually believed, that somewhere in you: you had some sense of understanding, for me, for us, as your brothers; as the guys that stood by you no matter what shit life threw at us... At the very least, I'd expect you to let us live our lives as we saw fit, no matter what that meant..."
He paused to catch his breath: "...Even if it meant-, we never saw each other again..."
Lawrence seemed almost taken aback, before the coldness set within his eyes once more; "...Well I'm sorry to disappoint you. But what made think you can just leave our family, and pretend we don't exist? Huh?" he stepped towards him, confident he wouldn't lunge at him a second time: "...Just because you decided to take off, and play happy families on your own terms: does not mean you're off the hook! Not with me, not with dad, and certainly not with mother. After everything she's done for me, for us: you wouldlet her grand-daughters put the family at risk, by having them work with these-, machines?!" he pointed up at Elita, the bots didn't take kindly to that, but said nothing as they let him finish: "It's bad enough what it looks like politically, but if any of our opponents were to find out, it would be the ruin of us"
"Correction: it would be the ruin of you!" Hailey stepped in front of him: "I don't care what agenda your family has, we want nothing to do with it! And no one, not even you have the right tell any of us what we can and can't do with our lives!"
"Did I ask for your opinion?" Lawrence frowned curtly at her: "I suggest, you curb the attitude, and start showing me the proper respect you nosy little whelp: I am the president of the United State, and can have you-
CRACK!
Quite unexpectedly, Lawrence got a sharp right hook to the jaw: he staggered back a little, but didn't fall over. Expecting to see Hailey rubbing a sore set of knuckles, instead, he saw Beverly cracking her knuckles, as she glared at him with the most hate-filled death-stare any mother could muster...
"You know? I've been pretty restrained up until now," she scowled at him, "I've allowed my husband and best friend to stand up for his family, and I've been there to support him as such. As with my daughter, who I allow to stand up for her right to keep their job, in the place she loves to work, with the people she calls her friends. All this, and I said nothing, all the way throughout: because I'm understanding like that; and when someone in our family has a serious point to make, I let them speak it... But insulting my daughter to her face like that? In front of me? No one, I mean, NO ONE: ever insults my daughters in front of me, and expect me to be okay with it..." she growled venomously. Now it was everyone's turn to be shocked at her: all this time Beverly had practically remained in the background; no one knew she'd be capable of installing this kind of worry.
'Hell hath no fury like a mother provoked' Elita couldn't help but think, and made a mental note never to get on the woman's bad side,
: This is why I never even bothered with Sam's creators: she could practically feel Prime rolling his optics, : Sometimes, it's best just to nod and let them think they've got the upper hand. Give them any reason to think their younglings are being mistreated in any way, and you'll never hear the end of it:
"You think I don't know what your family thinks of me?" Beverly continued vehemently; "The looks I got from them when I came down the aisle on our wedding day? Those snide little comments your mother whispered to the guests, about how Jason had to settle for a mere chef?!How he could have done so much better than me?!...It's bad enough your mother never had the curtsey to keep her opinions to herself: but your father had to rub salt into the wounds by denying Jason any chance of seeing Reggie, and vice versa, when you all knew how much Jason meant to him!" she paused to catch her breath, "All that bullshit they imposed on them both, on all their kids, including you: and you had to make it hurt that little bit more, didn't you?"
She got up close, right up into Lawrence's face: the president didn't budge as he stared down at her with contempt, though his security detail was ready to move if she did: "Well let me tell you something, momma's boy; you will be taking my daughters to Washington, once you pry them from my cold dead hands. I don't care what your mother wants! The old witch can burn in hell for all I care! But she has no right to run the lives of her grandchildren! She can do whatever she damn well pleases to us, but we will never force our children to live someone else's life: to sacrifice their happiness and freedom for the sake of some outdated backwards-
"-Are you done yet?" Lawrence rudely interrupted her,
Beverly stared at him, completely incensed as he continued in a more commanding tone: "... Let me make this clear to you: Beverly. This is not up for debate, and I mean it: I don't care what ideals you've imposed upon my nieces? But they're Waineright's; as are you when you married into this family, and it's time you all towed the line!..." he turned his attention back to Jason, who by now, was a hair-breath's away from going completely postal on him: "...I came here to today, to try and salvage what was left of the family honour with you: and I told mother to give you a chance; that maybe, you might just listen to reason. But no, you're still the black sheep you were when you ran out on us!"
"You know damn well why I left! And don't you dare try and make me the bad guy in all this!" Jason retorted, "This is exactly the reason I wanted nothing to do with mom! Or you, or the rest of the family! This whole backwards right-wing crap of maintaining the family image and putting duty before ourselves: I got so sick of it I thought I'd die with all the hate I had for you all! If I hadn't gotten away when I did, I'd have gone right outta my mind, straight into the loony bin! I couldn't give a flying fuck about your precious family honour! Call it cowardness all you want: I didn't leave because I didn't have what it takes to live up to the Waineright ideals, I left, because I never asked for it!"
"You think that makes any difference?" Lawrence scowled, "You think I'm supposed to care about your wounded feelings?!" he retorted, "When you ran out on us, we didn't know what to do: you were gone, and having to cover up for your absence was more trouble than we could handle!"
"Like I care!-" Jason spat back
"You say you never asked to be born a Waineright? You never even gave it a chance! From the moment you took your first breath, all you ever showed was contempt! Mother and father gave you everything, and more: a home, an education, opportunity, privilege. And at every turn you rebelled and disobeyed everyone around you. And even as an adult you continued to show nothing but self-serving contempt for what you wanted to do, without even considering how it would impact on us... You know? It's bad enough we're dead to you, but when mother found out about Hailey working for-
"WAIT A MINUTE!-" Elita interjected, "You told your mother, a human civilian, about NEST?!" she exclaimed in disbelief; down the other end of the spark-bond, she felt Optimus jolt with alarm and disbelief. : Believe it, he's not kidding! : She told him angrily.
"...Yes, why shouldn't I? I put her on the classified access list soon after my inauguration speech" Lawrence shrugged nonchalantly. Everyone stared at him in jaw-dropped disbelief...
"-Without clearing it with me?!" Galloway exclaimed, coming over all flustered as he tried to explain, "-Mr President, with all due respect sir, the fact your mother's a senator, is not a valid reason to allow her access to data on a level-10 Delta military operation! There are strict security measures to consider, as well as-
"-Since when did I have to ask for permission to run my own military?" Lawrence snapped, Galloway nearly jumped in surprise: "I'm the commander–in–chief: and if I say my mother is safe to handle state secrets, she's safe to handle state secrets. Understand?"
"...Uh? ...Y-yes sir..." the bureaucrat quietly backed away, and sat down at one of the tables: trying to wrap his mind around what just happened.
"And as for all of you..." he readdressed his family; he paused a moment, before turning to one of his guards: "Stevenson, I want you to 'protect' my family, from anyone who may try to 'detain' them against their will: keep them under armed guard if you have to. They're not going anywhere out of my sight for the remainder of my visit"
Flabbergasted, Jason tried to protest: "What the hell are you-, but one of the guards stepped forward, removed the gun from its holster beneath his breast pocket, and aimed right at his head, the others followed suit, and told the family to sit down and be quiet...
Realizing the shit just hit the fan, Bluestreak did the only thing he could think of: drawing his wrist guns and storming into the rec-room, he aimed at the security guards. Taking everyone by surprise
: BLUESTREAK?! What are you doing?! : Elita commed him,
: The only thing I can think of! : the blue and orange gunner nervously replied, :He admitted as much he was involved with a murder, if he did that, who knows what else he's capable of?!:
"Aiming your weapons at my security guards? Unprovoked?" Lawrence nonchalantly grinned up at the gunner: "... That could be construed as treason?"
Bumblebee starred down at him in disbelief, : Oh he did not just threaten Blue!-:
Before anyone had a chance to say or do anything further: the heavy pounding of metal on concrete announced Optimus's arrival. Bluestreak quickly folded his weapons away and backed off as the Prime slammed open the doors, and gazed down at Lawrence with the utmost disdain. While standing behind his feet, the Ainsley sisters looked like a couple rabbits caught in the headlights.
"What. Is the meaning of this?!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his outrage.
At the same time, elsewhere in the base:
For the longest time, not a sound could be heard: the room was still as the dust began to settle, and with the power still out, the pitch blackness concealed the true scale of the devastation. The whole room was completely destroyed, and no trace of the Autobots or children was visible in any way.
Beneath the rubble: buried under several meters of concrete and steel, Morri switched on her CTG's torch-light: lighting up the little space they'd become trapped in: it was barely two by seven meters, with Carnage standing over them, filling up most of the space. Fortunately for them, the concrete had come to rest in such a way that they had some room to manoeuvre, with one huge slab of concrete boxing them in from above.
Ashley chanced a look, as he cautiously raised his head from out of the tight huddle of his cousins, and saw nothing but concrete and metal all around. Looking at his arm, he gasped when he saw it was slowly transforming back into its original form. Inch by inch, it shrunk back into its slender shape as flesh replaced metal, the plasma generator and all its connecting tubes shrank into nothingness, while his fingers and hand began to morph out of the metal parts, back into their original shape. Within half a minute, his arm was back to normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief...
It was then, he realized Morri was staring at him, she'd seen what had just happened, and seemed to share in his relief (for the moment): though she was still anxious...
"..How did you do that?" she asked offhand,
"...I don't know..." he admitted nervously, "I just-...I don't know..." Realizing he hadn't clue how he did it, Ashley began to fill with anxiety again: "What am I gonna tell dad? How am I going to explain this?"
"We'll worry about that later" she lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, "But for now, are you okay?"
"I'm fine... (I think?)" He replied with uncertainty.
"Good, because we need to try and dig a way out of here" she said as she shone her light around the space, "You okay Carnage?"
"Me okay, but me stuck" the dinobot growled as he tried to move, but found he couldn't, as his tail and hind legs were pinned beneath several large pieces of rubble: fortunately for him, his thick armor had stopped the debris from piercing his side, but as he tried to shift the rubble off his back, the structure cracked and groaned while dust particles fell around them.
"Carnage STOP! You'll cause a cave-in!" Morri pleaded, and the dinobot suddenly froze, "-Just-, hold tight okay? We'll try and get you out, somehow..." she looked up and down the debris: but with so much rubble piled up, and with no way of knowing what was stable and what was not, getting out of this wasn't going to be straight forward.
"Morri?" Deathshot's voice drifted out through the rubble,
"D? Where are you?" Morri called out,
"Over here, are you all okay?"
"We're fine, but how are you?" Tom replied,
"Not good, my wings are pinned: and I fear if I try to move, I'll cause a cave-in"
"Listen, you three try to dig a way to get out, and go get help: I'm going to find D" Morri stated as she looked around the space, and saw a small gap in the concrete that looked promising.
"What do we do if someone else is out there waiting to kill us?" Danny pointed out,
"Just kill them first, then go get help," Morri retorted as she climbed up through the gap, and squeezed her way out. "D! Talk to me! I need to know where you are!"
"Not far, just through here" he replied: crawling through the tight gap, Morri found him in a much larger cavity, pinned down on his front, with Longrange right beneath him. The close rubble and steel blocked her way, but she could see him, and he her. "Are you injured?" he asked, "We're fine, you?"
"Alright, but my wings..." he glanced at his right ring, which disappeared into the debris pile beside him; it was then he suddenly remembered: "...Don't disappear like that again, please?"
Taken aback, Morri gazed up at him"...Do you know?"
"About Blackshot's coup? Majestrix and Eclipse filled us on the details" he sighed, "And she told us about what happened in the command center: Coldbore's disappearing trick?"
"Did you catch up to him?"
"A little while ago yes, but he seems to have pulled back; I heard over the comms a minute ago that Jolt got taken out by a sniper, at the power plant by the dam? Seems they tried to turn the power back on, but someone stopped them"
"...Blackshot doesn't want the power back on just yet? ..." Morri frowned in confusion, "...Never mind, we'll try and figure it out once we get out of here-"
"...Uh?" Longrange suddenly began to stir: "Get back!-" Deathshot told her; Morri ducked down behind a large piece of metal: out of the younger sniper's line of sight. The first thing Longrange saw when he came around: was Deathshot's stoic poker face: "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so" the younger sniper replied offhand,
"Good" Deathshot nodded, and then punched him hard in the jaw: and suddenly, Longrange remembered what he was supposed to have done. "You've got some nerve!" he growled down at him.
"Oh go blow it out your aft! I'm just following orders!" Longrange retorted,
"Blackshot's orders? And I'm supposed to just roll over and let you kill us?!"
"If you wouldn't mind?" Longrange smirked, before getting another swift right hook to the jaw. "You are unbelievable!" Deathshot growled, "And to think, you actually had some real talent, once"
"I do have real talent: and she recognizes it for what it is" he retorted, "Which is more than I can say for you: wasting your time with the meat-sacks" he fumed. He tried to activate his other weapons, but found the cramped space prevented them from unfolding out from between his armor plates.
"Don't, you might cause a cave-in" Deathshot told him,
"Yeah, like I'm going to fall for that" Longrange scoffed as he tried to move, but as he shifted his left wing slightly, part of the top of the cavity creaked, and a small piece of concrete fell out of place, and hit him right between the optics.
"Told you..." Deathshot deadpanned. Annoyed to no end, Longrange simply lay there, trying to think of another way to turn this situation around to his advantage: he had an idea, and started to gun his engine, when Deathshot interjected; "Don't even try that: if you try to blast the debris off with your main thruster, the dust will clog up your intakes, and there's a good chance some metal could come down and pierce you through one of your joints. And besides, in close quarters as these with zero air ventilation, the chances of that plan working are a million to one"
Longrange stopped: his engines cycled down, as he stared up at the older sniper in surprise: "...How-, did you know I'd try that?"
"I learnt it the hard way: that mission we ran on Bay-Marl 12? I tried the same trick, and all it got me was a rock straight through my main thruster" Deathshot flatly replied. "Look, neither of us can do anything until someone comes and digs us out: So I suggest we sit tight, and try not to glair each other to death"
Longrange huffed through his vents, and turned his head so he didn't have to look up at him. Deathshot did the same, and looked away in the opposite direction. A moment of silence passed between them both, before Danny broke the uneasy silence: "Hey! I think there's a way out, it's gonna take some digging, but I think it's stable"
"Good work: keep at it..." Deathshot replied. He listened as the boys dug away at the rubble: but before long, the silence between Longrange and himself was becoming too uncomfortable; and something came to mind, he figured would be a good a time as any to bring up. "... Just out of curiosity: why are you going through with this coup?"
Longrange glanced up at him, and sighed, "I suppose Eclipse filled you in on the details?"
"She did"
"Figures..." Longrange scoffed, "That little traitor never did have the brass bearing's for something like this; I always figured she takes too much after her uncle. Not that it matters, she won't live long enough anyway"
"You're avoiding the question" Deathshot frowned down at him
Huffing in exasperation, Longrange replied: "She wanted to recruit you, you know?"
"Who?"
"Blackshot" the younger sniper explained frankly, "When we first got outta stasis: she had hoped you'd still be the same Deathshot we knew from before, and she figured you'd jump at the chance to join us...Imaging her horror, when she realized just how soft you'd gotten; how you reduced yourself to so little. There was time you'd step on those meat-sacks without a second thought: no one ever got to you; no one...Now? ..." he paused, as if unsure of himself: "...You disgust me, and you disgrace us: what we are, what we stand for"
Deathshot was a little surprised, but still none the less annoyed: "...Why are you telling me this?"
Longrange looked him in the optic, and frowned: "Because I don't believe this is you...I don't believe for one minute, that someone like you can change like this. I can't believe that this is the same Deathshot that laid waste to the Decepticon armada in the Ari-Shii system, in less than two months. Who destroyed the defences on Purr-Borr-7 in less than a day...All that proficiency, all that energon on your hands, and you pretend it never happened?!...You know, if anyone were to ask, I'd never admit it; but there was a time I actually respected you: I looked up to you, I figured if anyone had the metal to live up to the 9's reputation, it was you...Now? You're not even worth the wings you fly on: letting yourself become Optimus's rim-shiner? It's demeaning and low" he venomously growled.
Thinking about it for moment: Deathshot's anger waned, and a mixed sense of wisdom learned by experience, and guilt began to prey on his thoughts; listening from her hiding spot, Morri remained silent as Deathshot explained: "...I don't know what I can tell you? You weren't there for those twenty five thousand years I was alone: and believe me, being alone with yourself for that long? With all the demons you usually keep locked away? It does things to your mind...But I have to admit, it did do me a big favour: having to confront what I'd allowed myself to become; It put me on the right path in life: and coming here to earth, just confirmed what I'd denied myself all these years"
"That's a cheap excuse" Longrange sneered, "You gave up the fight and decided to the pit with it all!"
"Yes, I did..." Deathshot stated flatly,
Longrange blinked in surprise; as he gazed down at the younger sniper, Deathshot activated his optic's holo-projector, and displayed a small hologram of a smiling femme, with a youngling in her arms. His family, as they were in life: "...For me, it started out as revenge: and the day Blackshot recruited me to the 9 seemed almost like a god-send; it gave me the opportunity I needed, to seek out the one who took them away from me. I carried out my orders, and all the while I never lost sight of my true objective: and even as the years turned to centuries, and centuries to eons, my anger and hatred never left me. Like some parasite it refused to leave me: and it got to the point I just couldn't stop. Because to do so-, I believed, I would never see my family again..."
Morri was stunned: did Deathshot just imply that he intended to die with his enemy, as he brought them down? She knew his past was a source of much pain for him, but this was the first time she'd got any real perspective of just how far he'd fallen.
Listening quietly, she watched through the rubble as he deactivated his holo-projector, and with bare, frank honesty: looked Longrange in the optic, and continued: "...After the 9 disappeared, things changed. I bounced around from outpost to outpost: helping the other Autobot forces where I could. And for the first time I saw the true face of the war; the real extent of just what we and the Decepticons had done...By the time I reached earth I was angry: not just at what we'd done and how far we let it all spiral out of control; but because of my, 'unfinished business'", he paused to draw in breath, before adding: "...I never found the Decepticon who killed my family, and after all this time: the hardest thing to let go, was knowing that I'd never find them. So yeah, I had nothing left, and I'm not ashamed to admit it; and when you and the others awakened from stasis, it just reminded me why I never wanted to go back to that life"
Longrange just lay there: the smug contempt attitude had melted away into a sense of mild, nonplussed surprise. Thinking about what he'd just heard, and thinking about what was going on right now; he couldn't help but think aloud: "...Not long, after we came outta stasis; Blackshot wanted to see if you really were who you were claiming to be: so she told me an' Coldbore to push a few buttons, have a crack at the seekers and see what you'd do. Sure it landed us in the brig, but it confirmed what she'd suspected for a very long time"
Deathshot narrowed his one optic at him,
"Don't be so surprised" Longrange smiled, "She'd been considering approaching you for a few hundred years, up until that dark-spark creature attacked our ship. Back when you had the blood-lust: when you'd have no problem holding the gun to anyone's head, regardless of their pleas for mercy; but knowing what you are now? It made her all the more determined to go through with it"
"Which brings us back to my original question" Deathshot frowned, "Why is Blackshot going through with this coup?"
Longrange looked at him as if he'd taken leave of his senses: "How can she not?! Cybertron's dead, and our only means of restoring it was sacrificed for the sake a few billion organics! Megatron may have been evil, but at least he intended to keep Cybertron alive. Optimus's outdated sense of honour is so backwards, he'd rather put the lives of the humans before his own kind! That, is an injustice we cannot allow to be perpetrated any further. And anyone who sides with him, will be wiped out with him!"
Listening to him go on: Morri realized Longrange wasn't so stupid after all: cocky, and full of himself perhaps, but he had some brains at least (the term 'brains', being used loosely). But still, there was something she could hear in his voice she couldn't quite put her finger on: call it hopelessness, or despair; the only thing that came to mind for her, was the impression of a boy lost. A child playing the soldier: blindly following orders, and not stopping to look at the bigger picture...
In the forefront of her mind, she pushed the notion away: he wanted (and probably still will, once he's free) to kill her and her family, as well as Carnage and Velocity (actually, she couldn't care less if he killed Velocity). Longrange was a soldier following orders (albeit, very misguided ones), and he wasn't going to take pity on her or her cousins because they were human children: if he got the opportunity to kill her, he would. From here on out, the gloves were off: if he intended to take them out again, she wasn't going to deploy the usual niceties. It was do or die; and she made up her mind not to be soft about it...
But turning her attention back to the snipers, she heard Deathshot heave a sigh of regret: "...There's no way I can talk you out of this, is there?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Longrange scoffed sarcastically: "I made up my mind: the day my family were slaughtered, and the Autobots did nothing to defend our city! That day, when the Iaconian city defenses failed: was the day I choose to save Cybertron. From both Megatron and the Primes...And when we get outta here, I'm going to make you watch, as I put a bullet through each of your precious pet's skulls..."
Deathshot frowned, he knew wasn't kidding; he never liked it when it had to come to this. But diplomacy was no longer an option: desperate times call for desperate measures; and he needed to stop this coup in its tracks...
"Hey D! We're out!" Tom shouted happily: judging from how far away his voice sounded, Deathshot had to guess he was somewhere on top of the rubble: "Well done, now can you get down from there?" the sniper called back.
Suddenly, Morri felt the concrete began to shift beneath her feet: using her CTG's flash light, she looked back through the gap at Carnage, but he hadn't moved; she glanced back at the snipers, but they hadn't moved either. Then, she felt the rubble shift again, and shining her light down at her feet, realized it wasn't rubble she'd been standing on, but a large blue jet wing. To her left, she saw a blue glow emanating from behind a large piece of twisted metal: and stretching her neck out to get a closer look, saw it was an optic, looking right at her...
"D! IT'S VELOCITY! SHE'S AWAKE!" Morri panicked
Upon hearing that, Longrange struggled violently to get out from under the larger sniper, trying to get his arms free to push Deathshot off him: and as the rubble began to shift around them, Deathshot got his other arm free, and tried to restrain him. But the younger sniper managed to just wriggle free enough to activate his main sniper gun, and try to point it to where Velocity was buried right beside Morri. Deathshot grabbed the barrel, and tried to wrestle it away: "Why-, try to kill Velocity?!" Deathshot grunted as he strained to hold the gun away from Morri's general direction, "Sure she's a cold-sparked bitch, but she's got nothing to do with this!"
"Oh really?" Longrange smirked, "...You really don't know anything, do you?"
Suddenly, the sound of Velocity's engines powering up echoed from out of the rubble, and before anyone had a chance to react: the femme blasted her way up out of her cavity. The debris shifted and collapsed some more as she pulled herself free, and in the tumbling confusion, Morri found herself now lying atop a large concrete slab, out in the open, and dangerously exposed.
As the dust clouds parted, Morri saw an opening to climb down and find a fox hole, but as she jumped, Velocity caught her in mid-air. But before the femme had a chance to do anything, a thundering shot rang out, as a round from Longrange's rifle clipped base of her left wing. The pain force her to let go of Morri, and upon falling back onto the rubble, she quickly scrambled down to the edge of the debris, and found a small hole to hide in. As Velocity tried to activate her engines, Longrange managed to wriggle out from the rubble, and took aim at her helm: but in one swipe she knocked the barrel away from her face, and tackled the younger bot.
Digging her long claws into the wing-joints on his back, the pain was unbearable for Longrange, but he stayed focused on her: "You-should, never have pushed your luck, with us!" he grunted, biting back the pain as it struck his back and tail-fin like a lightning bolt. "Me? Push my luck?" she smiled wickedly, "You do know she's more insane than me, right?"
Activating her CTG's laser-blaster, Morri carefully watched the fight, waiting for an opening to try and get out. The snipers were baring her escape route to the door as they continued to fight: but as they tossed each other around and over the rubble pile, Morri saw an opening, and was just about to try and make a break for it. When suddenly she stopped: her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Coldbore through the dust. Standing outside the door, watching the two snipers fight. It didn't look like he'd spotted her, but it didn't look Longrange or Velocity had spotted him either...
Ducking down, Morri noticed a blue glow through the cracks in the rubble: peering through, she saw it was Deathshot. Alive, but trapped even worse than before: double checking to make sure no one had spotted her, Morri started to dig him out. But she hadn't noticed Longrange had kicked Velocity off of him, and the femme landing head-first onto the rubble right by Morri's fox hole. As the femme turned to pick herself up, her optics locked with Morri's eyes for a tenth of a second: she spotted her: but in the same instance, Longrange aimed at her head, and as he pulled back the hammer, Velocity beat him to it, and shot him in the shoulder...
The force of the shot knocked him back onto his aft: it was at that moment, Coldbore let off a round, and got the femme in the left thigh; but even with her injury, she was much too fast, and before the black sniper had a chance to aim at her spark, she'd knocked him out with hard punch to the side of the head, and shot him in the right shoulder for good measure. Both snipers were down and out, leaving her free to turn her attention back to Morri: who had seen what had just happened, and quickly scrambled to aim her CTG at her...
But just as Velocity was about to lunge down at her: a shot ripped through her chest, and she fell down beside the human...
From where he was buried, Deathshot began to panic as he watched helplessly: unable to help as Velocity rolled onto her back, and grasped Morri tightly by her arms. "Shhhh..." she soft whispered with a grin. From out of a small sub-space on her left wrist, a small black cybertronian computer chip popped out, and delicately taking it in her claws, she gently pushing it into the breast pocket of Morri's uniform. Then in one fast move, she cupped Morri in one hand, and held her down against the rubble.
Glancing down at her through the gap between her finger and thumb: Velocity grinned as she struggled to get air through her vents: "...Clever girl..."
Morri was about to try and wriggle free, when the sound of footsteps approaching made her stop. Looking up through the gap in Velocity's claws, she panicked as she saw Blackshot come into view right above her.
Velocity chuckled, as Blackshot scowled down at her: "My my, this is a pleasant surprise: you just missed all the fun" the blue femme grinned,
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Blackshot growled venomously,
"Do you?" Velocity shot back, her wound bleeding out as she struggled to stay conscious, "It's only a matter of time before Prime learns of what you're about to do; and let's not forget Majestrix and Eclipse: their still looking to give you an aft-whipping. Not that I care, seeing that look in your optics is good enough for me" she smiled with satisfaction.
"...I should have killed you long ago..."
"I still don't know why you didn't? ..." Velocity dropped the smile, and got serious for a moment: "...You and I? We both crawled down into that same black abyss a lifetime ago: the only difference? I never made excuses for myself. I knew what I was, and I enjoyed it while it lasted...You? ...I think: nothing is ever going to convince you otherwise. Everything you do is for the good of our species, right? Even if it means drowning them in their own energon...That's how I know, your way crazier than I ever was" she grinned with satisfaction.
Blackshot aimed her rifle at her head, and added: "...Anything else you care to add?"
"... Just one thing" Velocity smiled, "256,387"
Without even stopping to ask what that meant: Blackshot pulled the trigger, and Velocity jolted as her helm shattered like glass, and energon exploded out of her neck. Morri nearly screamed out as the claws gripped involuntarily, the life suddenly leaving them: and went limp just as quickly. And in that one instant, Velocity was dead...
Coldbore picked himself up, holding a hand over his bleeding shoulder: Longrange too, managed to get up on his feet. Fortunately for him, his armour had caught Velocity's shot, and the wound was but a dent in his shoulder. He staggered over to look at Blackshot's handiwork; but she abruptly punched him to the ground, and scowled down at him angrily: "I GIVE YOU ONE JOB, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT RIGHT!" she punched him hard again: "It's bad enough the plan is in danger of derailing, I have to come up here and sort out your incompetence!", another punch forced him onto his back, "I am being very generous in letting you serve at my side on this: but if you fail me like this again: you'll be joining her!" she pointed to Velocity's headless body.
Longrange said nothing, and submissively got back up on his feet: wiping the energon from his mouth and nose plates. "Go wait outside, I'll finish them off myself" Blackshot growled as she leaned down to start digging through the rubble.
"No time for that, someone's comming" Coldbore interrupted.
From her hiding place beneath Velocity's claws, Morri watched as Blackshot's scowl darkened, and she huffed as she threw the rubble aside, and strode out the former training room; "Come, there's still the subject of Majestrix to attend to..."
Longrange and Coldbore flanked her as they followed her out, melting away into the darkness as they engaged their stealth modes.
For a long moment, Morri sat there in shock: trying to calm her nerves and find her composure. After finally getting her breath back, and confident it was safe to come out, she turned on her CTG's flash light, and returned to where Deathshot was buried; pushed some of the rubble out the way, and gazed down at him: "...Tell me you heard all that..." her voice trembled a little.
"Every word," he replied in equal concern, "Are you okay? What did she do to you?"
Morri suddenly remembered the chip: feeling her breast pocket, she felt it was still there. She was about to take it out to show him, when suddenly, Carnage shoved his way out from underneath some of the rubble, and lumbered over to where Morri was crouching down. "Me free! Me no make cave-in no more!" the dinobot beamed, "Me see you okay too, me happy!" he grinned as he nuzzled her in the chest. "I'm glad to see your okay too Carnage" Morri patted him, trying to push him back a little, before his bulk pushed her off the rubble.
"You okay?" Ashley tentatively asked, as he padded his way over the debris with Tom and Danny on his back, "We heard what happened: is she-
Glancing over at Velocity, the sight of her answered his next question: "...Oh-...overkill much?," the human hybrid grimaced as he trotted down to where Morri and Carnage were, and after letting Tom and Danny off, transformed back into his human form...
For a moment, everyone looked at one another, as a sense of relief came over the whole room: Morri sat herself down on a small slab of twisted metal; dusted herself off, and looked over her cousins. "So? Anyone get up to anything interesting today?"
The boys couldn't help but smirk: it was nice to know their cousin was fine: "Oh not much" Tom smirked,
"I take it we're all up to date on the whole, Blackshot-trying-to-overthrow-the-base thing?" she asked offhand,
"Pretty much" Deathshot sighed,
"And no one knows where Majestrix and Eclipse have gone?" Morri asked,
"Last time we saw them, they were still looking for Blackshot's point of entry into Teletran," Danny explained, "D's been listening in on the open comms, but it seems like everyone's still preoccupied with trying to switch the power back on, and that girl"
"Wait a minute? You've been listening in on what's going on in the rest of the base this whole time?" Morri glanced at Deathshot in slight disbelief, "Why didn't you comm anyone for help?"
"Because I can't," the sniper explained, "Before I got dragging into this. Prime sent me to try and disarm the girl's BSHB: but someone's altered the software, and laced a trip-virus into the programming. I've contained the virus and am purging it from my system as we speak, but I have to keep my online functions offline for the duration of the defragging process: and unfortunately, that means my comms out-going signal is offline too. I can only listen to the open comm line instead"
"Oh, Sorry" Morri sheepishly replied: "Well we're still alive, that's the important thing here: and at least we're still abreast of what's going down"
"...So what do we do now?" Danny thought aloud,
"Our original plan was to tell Prime about this: try and get him spare some bots to help us look for Blackshot and the seed-weapon, and help Majestrix find that secret terminal" Ashley explained, "I suggest we stick with that"
At that point, the hairs rose on the back of Morri's neck, as she remembered what Eclipse said earlier...
But, could Blackshot construct a seed from scratch?
It's possible? Acquiring the energon's not a problem, but where would she get cyber-matter from? Even Wheeljack and Que don't have any stored in their labs
"Sounds like a plan" she nodded approvingly, "I'm game"
"But before that..." Ashley glanced down at Deathshot's optic, "How the hell do we get you outta there?"
Carnage was about to shovel his nose into the rubble, to start digging the sniper out, when the sound of scuttling insect legs drew everyone's attention to the door. Standing at the entrance to the former training room: John and Portia stared at the wreckage in gob-smacked disbelief...
"What the hell? ..." the Royal marine gasped in astonishment.
Everyone was a little taken aback: But as Morri glanced at her uncle, she also noticed the space in the corridor behind him was empty...
'Where the hell did Ravage go?' she thought worryingly.
I have to say: Lawrence was a tricky OC to come up with: back when I was drafting the whole saga from start to finish, I took inspiration from the movie Manchurian Candidate (2004 with Denzel Washington), and I got a few good idea's for some charecture strong-points and flaws with Lawrence and his mum Ruth (with Jason, I came from an entirely separate angle).
Originally, I was going to portray him as the strong silent type, who was simply at his mum's beck and call, and hardly got a word in edge-ways (you know, a typical 'momma's boy'). But when I reviewed the draft for Small mercies, I realized it wasn't going to work. Since part of the theme of this story was conspiracy and insanity: I decided to tweak his personality a bit, and make him 'the family pitbull', so to speak; he's one of those guys who follows mother's word without question and without hesitation, while at the same time using the 'nice guy routine' to get by with everyone (until he's backed into a corner), and being President of the USA? Well that kinda puts a dangerous twist on it: because a guy like him in charge? doing everything for 'the good of the family?' You can tell it's not going to end well for him.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest installment: and hope you can join us again for the next chapter :)