Lesson in Living
Chapter 6
PART TWO
By Starath
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
Six o'clock couldn't come fast enough. Between fussy customers, missing inventory and an aching back, Casey was ready to scream. Finally, after giving the last patron a fake smile accompanied with "Have a nice day!" she pulled her nametag off and stuffed it in her pocket.
"Kari, I'm gunna bail!" she called, hurrying to the back of the store where the storage lockers stood.
"Early?" Her friend squawked, trying to place a wily chameleon back in his glass terrarium.
Casey reappeared with her purse and coat. "Only by five minutes. Can you handle Henry?"
Kari pried the chameleon's tail off of her wrist. "He's especially clingy today. Can't believe they made me take him out just so they could decide they didn't want him."
"Occupational hazard. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yeah— hey, we're partying later, right?"
"I don't feel like it tonight."
"Come on, you only have one birthday a year!"
"I know, but honestly, I'd rather be alone."
Kari eased Henry onto a branch and let him walk onto it before withdrawing her hand and snapping the lid shut. She shook a finger at her friend. "You never do anything fun. I'm coming by later, you hear me? Don't go anywhere without me when you get home. I've got a few things to finish up so I'll catch you later."
As glad as Casey was to be done with work, she wasn't thrilled to be going home. Did Megatron dare show his face there? Most definitely, she decided, full of more demands and insults to hurl in my face. Ungrateful jerk.
Casey bypassed her usual route home and strolled through the park. Away from busy cars and people, she listened to the quiet rustle of wind through the trees. She paused on the cobblestone path and enjoyed the shade that danced around her feet. In the silent moment, she picked up faint singing coming from down the path. She strained to hear it. Twin voices drifted with the breeze with the strum of a guitar. She gasped softly and hurried through the park.
When she rounded a bend in the path, she saw a small group of people standing in front of a park bench. The Cassetticon twins sat there; the center of attention. Rumble and Frenzy sang together in perfect harmony:
"Sometimes I get crazy and it makes a big scene, but when I hit twenty-one I wanna stand up and scream: I'm filthy rich with laughter, I'm too big for the room, you know from two stories up, a zenith makes a big boom!"
It's hard to get around in a six-foot town when you're ten feet tall everything's SO small…I'm always bumpin' my head, I'm way too long for the bed, yeah, it's hard to get around in a six-foot town…."
Casey leaned against a tree and giggled. So they had taken her musical advice seriously. Judging by the attentive onlookers and the small pile of money in the open guitar case, they were doing well. On the last chorus to "Six Foot Town" Rumble's voice broke away from his brother's and they sang alternating lines, blending back together to finish the last phrases of the song. The small crowd responded with enthusiastic clapping.
She joined in and waved to catch Frenzy's attention. He spotted her and waved back, nudging Rumble in the ribs to point her out. Thanking the crowd, they put the guitar away, shook hands with people and hurried toward her. Frenzy ran full tilt at Casey. She squeaked and attempted to keep the tree between them.
"Baby! Hi!" Dodging quickly to one side, he caught her and squeezed her in a tight hug. "You came to see me, didn't you?"
Rumble approached them and rapped his brother on the head with his free hand. "She can't breathe, moron."
He instantly let go. "Oops! Sorry!"
Casey took a moment to regain her breath. "Hi guys. So this is what you've been doing in the afternoons?"
"Yup! Did you hear us sing?" asked Frenzy.
"Yes I did! You two sound great together. You're even making a little money, I saw."
"Yeah… That was kinda by accident," admitted Frenzy. "We left the guitar case open the other day and people kept putting stuff in it. We didn't realize what it was til we asked someone."
"It confused the slag out of the guy!"
Casey couldn't help smiling back at the twins and their happy grins. These two were worth any trouble they caused. Not that she'd tell them that.
"So are you done with work?" asked Rumble.
Frenzy nodded, eager. "We ought to get back to see the Boss. We'll walk with you home."
Her amusement died. She took a step back. "He won't be there." She could see them blink behind their sunglasses.
"Why not?" asked Frenzy quietly.
She dropped her gaze to the path and kicked at a loose rock. After a moment she told them what had happened earlier that day. When she finished, Rumble set the guitar case down and leaned on it.
"Star, you gotta know that's the way Megatron is," he said. "Harsh or cruel as he may be."
"Yeah." Frenzy agreed. "He's used to getting what he wants all the time. Back home…" he paused when the phrase tasted odd, "Back home he's the absolute authority. Nobody argues with him. Except Starscream. You're very lucky he didn't hurt you."
"That doesn't mean he can insult me in my own home." Casey snapped. "Not when I've spent all the time and effort trying to take care of you guys. I mean, you two are fine. You have more manners than he does. But I can't keep taking care of you guys out of expense of my finances and good will when I get treated like that. He ruined my birthday, too. Authority or not, going around expecting to be treated like God gets nothing from me."
"He's never been subtle, Star. Especially while upset. Decepticons hardly are." Frenzy thought for a second. "Besides Dad. And you. You're the nicest 'Con we've ever met."
She closed her eyes and willed her face to express no emotion. "Thank you for saying so."
"Um, does this mean we can't come home with you?" asked Rumble.
She took in a long, slow breath and looked away from their hopeful faces. "I don't know yet."
They visibly sagged. "Maybe we should find the others, then." said Rumble, hefting the guitar case onto his back.
Casey flinched at his tone. "Yeah. Make sure they're okay. I'm going home."
Frenzy stepped out of her way and patted her shoulder. "Hopefully we'll see you later. Don't worry about us, Star."
"Okay. Just… Take care," she said, forcing a smile for them.
The Cassetticon twins watched Casey disappear down the cobblestone pathway. Frenzy adjusted his sunglasses, then, in a burst of anger, hurled his fist into the nearby tree trunk.
"It can't be like this. We need her." He pulled his fist out and brushed off wooden shards. He picked a splinter out of his thumb. "We have to do something, bro."
"I can feel Dad near our position." said Rumble with a distant look on his face. "Most likely the others are with him. We can try talking to Megatron, but at present, I don't know what to do."
Frenzy instantly brightened. "That's it!"
Rumble frowned. "Huh? Whoa—Frenzy!"
"I know what we can do!" he cried, dragging his brother along with him in the opposite direction Casey had gone.
Kari heard the front door squeak open and the little bell above it rang cheerfully.
"Hey, can you get that?" called her coworker, Robert, from the back room. "I'll let you go early next time."
She blew a strand of stray hair out of her face. With Robert's penchant for being late, that was highly unlikely: He was the reason she was still here to begin with. Pasting on her happiest "how may I help you?" smile, she went to the cash register. And stopped. Two identical twins chattered back and forth to each other in front of the cat kennels. One carried a guitar on his back. Both wore sunglasses almost too big for their faces. Casey's descriptions fit.
Rumble didn't know it happened. One moment he was arguing with his brother about cost, the next, he had the most horrendous pain in his ear.
"Owowowow!"
His sunglasses hit the floor and he saw a young woman and Frenzy. She had one twisted ear in each hand.
"Are you the ones who upset Casey?" she demanded with a frighteningly demonic expression.
"OwowOW! No, it's not us!" yelped Frenzy.
"Yeah, we're her friends. We want to get her something!"
Instantly Kari released them and eyed the object they had been debating about. "Really, now?"
Once again Casey followed her feet home from work, but this time with her head up and eyes alert to any movement. Primus knew where the Decepticons were now, and she wasn't about to let them jump her from a dark alleyway. She felt a pang of guilt over abandoning the twins in the park. She tried walking faster to outrun it. She thought of them like rambunctious little brothers she never had. It wasn't fair to deny them shelter when they hadn't done anything wrong. Still, a Decepticon was a Decepticon, no matter how loveably annoying they were.
She saw nothing but a stray dog on the way home. The tension in her shoulders had just started to ebb away when she reached the glass doors of the apartment building's lobby. The setting sun's glare off the glass ruined her vision until she stepped indoors.
Only by sheer will did she stay in the lobby without running back outside.
Soundwave leaned against the far wall. His gaze pinned her where she stood. Megatron abruptly halted in his constant pacing that had almost worn a furrow into the carpet. He approached her.
"Starflight—"
"NO," she thundered, and pushed past him to the stairwell. Behind her Megatron swore in a language never heard before on Earth.
"If you would just listen—"
She spun to face him. "The answer is NO. You had your shot and you blew it."
"But we haven't anywhere to go!"
"Tough. Find somewhere else to live."
He swore again. "You are not being logical, Starflight. Your assistance is required."
"Is it?" She stepped up two stairs to lessen the height difference between them. "You can shove your 'requirements'. I don't help anybody who doesn't respect me. Do you?"
His mouth worked open and closed. Casey scoffed.
"Didn't think so. That's your problem, Megatron; you don't give a damn about anybody who isn't equal to you. Oh, sure, you need me, but guess what? I don't need you."
Megatron's jaw locked shut. Dangerous lightning sparked in his eyes. Casey stared him down with both hands on her hips.
"Go ahead. Tell me who you really are and why I'm less than dirt. It won't help you. I am willing to give you any amount of respect you give me, but since you are incapable of doing so, you're screwed. By the way, thanks for ruining my birthday. Now get out of here or I'll call the police."
When his fierce glare didn't subdue her, Megatron turned away and let out an outburst of derogatory Cybertronian. Soundwave flinched visibly, understanding each word clearly. It had been a long time since he'd heard his leader swear like that. Briefly he thanked any higher beings for not allowing Megatron keep his fusion cannon on this journey. He then cocked his head and zeroed in on an energy signature from across the street. He pulled a hand over his face with a weary sigh. Terrific timing.
Moments later Starscream opened the door for Silvia and came in after her. He took in the scene: Casey on the stairs, Megatron absolutely furious, and Soundwave against the wall looking completely bored as usual.
"Starscream! Where have you been?" barked Megatron, not caring about names.
Beside him, Silvia snorted. "He was with me. What's it to you, asshole?"
Starscream nearly dropped dead from the look Megatron threw at them. "Do you let a woman speak for you now?"
"Hey, get out of the Dark Ages. I'll talk for—"
"Eh heh, Silvia, please." Starscream silenced her with a squeeze on her shoulder. "Don't worry about him. I think you ought to just go."
"What?" She pouted. "You aren't going to walk me to my door?"
Casey choked.
"Maybe some other time," he said quickly. "I'd better stay here for now."
She huffed, shrugging off his black jacket, handing it to him like a used tissue. "Fine, be that way." When he took the jacket, she pulled him down by the shirt and kissed him on the lips. "I'll see you later, Maverick."
Absolute silence filled the lobby until Silvia reached the stairs.
"I leave you to your freak show," she said to Casey, motioning her out of the way.
Starscream sighed with a dopey grin. Soundwave face-palmed and groaned. Casey jumped down from the steps and stormed toward Starscream with Megatron right beside her.
"What—the—HELL?" they exploded together. And traded confused glances.
"I learned it from you!" Megatron spat.
"At least that curse was understandable!" she shot back.
Soundwave felt two other familiar energy signatures approaching. His "sons" were incredibly happy about something. Now what? He thought, and stared at the ceiling for answers.
Kari appeared in the glass doors carrying a handled crate. She held the door open. Rumble and Frenzy stumbled in, their arms full with shopping bags.
"Hi everyone!" chirped Kari, and bounced up to Casey. She giggled. "We brought a present for you!"
"Happy birthday, Baby!" called Frenzy from behind the huge bags of cat food and kitty litter he was carrying.
"Um… thanks?" she said, bewildered. "But I don't use Tidy Cat. I'm potty trained."
Rumble rested the shopping bags on the floor and adjusted the guitar case on his back. "Not for you, Star. It's for your new friend!"
A tiny smile creased Soundwave's face. Smart boys.
"My what?"
Kari held up the crate so they could see inside. "Does he look familiar?"
A white paw reached out to her. Casey gasped. "You… bought me the cat?"
"Weeeell," Kari nodded toward the twins. "They did. I helped."
"You…? They…? OMIGOD!" Casey squealed and enveloped Kari in a hug. "I've wanted him since I first saw him! Thank you!"
Frenzy tried looking around the bag of cat food. He felt his knees buckle. "Um, Star? Could we go upstairs now? This stuff is heavy…"
At her door, Casey fussed with her key and had the front door open in record time, too excited to notice when Megatron, Starscream and Soundwave discreetly walked in at the back of the group. One floor down, a crabby man's voice cried,
"Is that you, Miss Panzer? Stop all that racket!"
Kari frowned. "Who's that?"
Casey danced a little, throwing her purse and shoes into the closet. "Just the landlord. I still need to pay him rent. But I don't care! I have a real cat!" she squealed again.
Soundwave approached her. "Casey. About your rent—"
"How did you—?" She spotted Megatron and Starscream. "Oh no, out you three—"
"Casey." Soundwave blocked her view. "You may reconsider your position shortly. Bring your checkbook."
His tone warranted no argument. She did as she was told and followed him out.
The door swung shut. A huge THUD made everyone jump when Frenzy let the cat food and kitty litter bags hit the kitchen table. He sank into a chair. "Sorry."
Kari set the cat carrier on the table and looked over the remaining men.
"So," she said cheerfully, with a smile that made them shudder. "If it wasn't the twins that did it, which one of you upset Casey?"
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
"Soundwave? Care to tell me what you're up to?" Casey bounced down the stairs behind the broad-shouldered man, puzzled over why she had listened to him in the first place. When they stepped on the second floor, he glanced over his shoulder at her.
"How much rent can you pay comfortably?"
"Ideally?" she studied the flowery-patterned cover of her checkbook. "I owe $700, but with you guys around I really shouldn't let go of any more than $550. Why?"
"Contact your landlord. It's doable."
Casey pointed to the door closest to them. "Actually, we're—"
Dog toenails raced across the hard floor of apartment #204. Hyper little barks stormed out from under the door.
"… Standing right next to it. Um, hi, Mr. Mortimer? It's Casey!"
"SPRAT! SHUT IT! I swear to God!" Mr. Mortimer jerked the door open. "Whaddya want?"
Sprat came racing out, took one look at Soundwave's impressive boots, yipped, and ran back inside. Mr. Mortimer's jaw dropped.
"Um, hi, I'm here to give you rent." Said Casey, reveling in the man's sudden fondness for silence. "This is Walker. He's one of the guys staying with me."
Soundwave folded his arms, to show off, a little. "Greetings."
"Ah… H-hi," Mr. Mortimer managed to say.
Casey wrote a check for $550 and handed it to her landlord. He took it without blinking, his eyes locked on Soundwave's overly large biceps. Finally he looked at the check.
"You're short," he said, irritation overriding fear.
"I will cover the rest." Soundwave withdrew a wad of rolled-up bills from his pants pocket and counted off the money. "One-hundred and fifty dollars to complete rent payment. Her debt is paid."
Mr. Mortimer hesitantly reached for the money. Once he had it, he backed into his apartment. "T-thanks! Nice doing business with you!"
His door slammed shut with a BANG! And the locks quickly slid home.
Casey stared at the tarnished gold numbers of 204, hardly daring to breathe. She eventually took a gulp of air and dashed to the stairs.
"That was so freaking AWESOME!"
A heavy arm blocked the stairwell. Casey nearly close-lined herself on it and fell backward against the wall. Soundwave towered over her.
"I want you to know that was not an act of charity," he said softly. "You needed assistance with rent. We need a place to stay. Forget your quarrel with Megatron."
Casey swallowed but held her ground. "Yeah, fine. You earned your keep for now."
He removed his sunglasses, revealing narrowed red-brown eyes. "I also want you to know, I am aware of your lie."
"My what?"
"You are not a Decepticon."
She tried laughing. "Now, come on—"
"Megatron did not say it this morning, but he did not have to. You are human and that is what infuriates him the most about needing your help. To ensure our cooperation he propagated your lie. Anyone with half a processor can tell you are not one of us."
Casey tried to make a joke. "Even Starscream?"
"Starscream does not use half his processor. The rest is for ego." Soundwave paused. "The twins are too involved in this adventure to notice, but I have. Fortunately for you, I see the logic in believing your lie."
"I think you're jumping to conclusions, Soundwave."
"Am I?" he leaned down to her face. "No Decepticon, no matter HOW long they've been undercover, would speak to Megatron that way."
"Well maybe—"
"And unlike my Decepticon brethren, you have no energy signature I can sense."
"Oh…" Casey said, and couldn't breathe again.
"I will use my employment payment to assist with financial costs while we are here. Do not speak to my commander with disrespect again or you forfeit everything."
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kari practically pounced on Casey when they got back to the apartment. She gave her a tight hug, then caught a good look at her friend's pale face.
"Are you okay?"
Casey nodded too slowly, as if coming out of shock. She stiffened when Soundwave moved past her to his spot on the windowsill. "Yeah."
Kari didn't believe her. She made a mental note to talk to the big guy they called "Walker". She turned Casey away and motioned to Megatron, who looked uncharacteristically nervous.
"Mr. Beefcakes has something to say to you."
"It's Michael," Megatron corrected, and resisted the urge to pound Starscream for giggling.
"He's more like Mr. Evil Eyebrows." Casey said, ignoring his growl. "What is it, Uncle Mike?"
"I… ah," he clenched his teeth, kicked at the table leg, and found his tongue when Kari smiled cheerfully at him. "I apologize," he blurted, shooting an "are-you-happy-now?" look at Kari.
Casey couldn't begin to imagine what her friend had threatened to make him say that much. But those words, although obviously insincere, were as good as she was going to get from him. "Very well, I accept your apology. You boys can stay."
The Decepticons, Soundwave excluded, let out a pent-up sigh of relief. Casey made sure not to make eye contact with him.
Kari's frighteningly sweet smile became a pleasant grin. "I think you can let your new kitty out now, Casey."
"Oh yeah!" Casey undid the latch to the cat carrier and pulled out a black cat with one white paw. "Hello there," she said, pressing him to her shoulder and snuggling her face in his silky fur. "I'm so glad you came to live with me."
"What are you going to name him, Star?" asked Frenzy.
"Well," she thought a moment. "You all know my love for Transformers."
"We never knew," said Starscream dryly.
Casey held the cat up and gazed into his green eyes. "I think your name is Ravage, my very own Deceptikitty."
"How fitting." Megatron mused aloud, and shut up when Kari glared at him.
To be continued!
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And so crisis is averted, for now… What could be next for our friends? Only time will tell. Thanks for reading, we'll see you in Chapter 7!