Chapter 15
It wasn't long till all of us climbed into Bee for no one wanted to ride with the reckless twins. We were a lot closer to New York City than I had originally thought. We arrived within the City within a few hours, thanks to Bee speeding. We all got out of the car and Leo told us to wait then he would give us a go or a no go. "Who is this guy?" Sam asked.
"You've met him before Sam, so have you Mikaela. I just hope he's willingly to help because otherwise we are screwed," I said as Sam was putting on a baseball cap and the hood of his jacket. I wasn't trying to hide; I had a knack for avoiding being seen if that's what I wished. Though with cameras that didn't always work. "Let's go," I said heading in after waiting a minute like Leo requested.
As soon as Sam opened the door Leo pointed at none other than former Agent Simmons and said, "That's him, that's him right there."
"Okay, Leo we got it. It's him," I said. I never had that much contact with Simmons and at the time, that's how I wanted it.
Sam looked completely surprised. "You got to be kidding me," Sam said removing his hood. Simmons was just as shocked as Sam and Sam glared daggers at me for a moment. "A little warning would have been nice Allison!"
"Hey, I told you met him before. I gave you warning," I said.
"All right, meat store's closed. Everybody out! Out!" Simmons said ringing the little bell on the counter, shooing everyone who begrudging left.
"Wait! You know this guy?" Leo asked Sam completely confused and pointing at Simmons.
"Yeah we're old friends," Sam said.
"Old friends? You're the case that shut down Sector Seven, got the kibosh, disbanded. No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing. All 'cause of Miss Edwards, you, and your little criminal girlfriend. Look at her now, so mature," Simmons finished eyeing Mikaela in a way that made me uncomfortable.
Suddenly a woman interrupted by yelling at either Simmons or another employee, "Moron! Where's the whitefish?"
A big black guy with funky teeth started yelling as well, "Hey! Don't touch me with the pig." If he didn't want to be touched by meat why did he work in a butcher's shop? Simmons' attention was momentarily diverted.
"Yakov!" Simmons said getting the man's attention.
"What?" the man who was complaining about being touched with the pig barked, slamming a meat cleaver into, something.
"You don't get Christmas bonuses standing around! You want those new teeth you saw on SkyMall?"
"It's my dream." He slammed the meat cleaver into whatever he was working on again.
"Help her out," Simmons ordered and the man put the meat clever down.
"You live with your mama?" Mikaela asked.
"Please don't start you two," I said looking at Sam and Mikaela. We did not have time for this.
"No, my mama lives with me. It's a big difference. They got your face all over the news,
alien boy and girl," Simmons sneered at me.
"Please don't Simmons, we need your help, to save the planet," I said trying to keep from crying again. I wasn't upset that Simmons was being rude, I just missed Optimus and this mission seemed impossible without him.
"I know," Sam replied.
"Really? You need my help? And what's with NBE-1 still kicking?"
"I'll fill you in later Simmons," I said as Sam stepped forward and grabbed Simmons' arm to keep him from leaving.
"I need...Look, I am slowly losing my mind. Okay, I had a little crab-bot, plunged a device deep into the soft tissues of my brain and started projecting little alien symbols like a freaking home movie! And on top of that, I'm a wanted fugitive. So, you think you got it rough?" I wasn't sure I would go that far, Simmons was now stuck working a minimum wage job. Running was easy.
"You said it projected images off your brain?" Simmons asked, his interest perked. When Sam gave a yes for his answer, Simmons' whole demeanor changed. "Meat locker, now!" Mikaela made a small comment on the dead pigs hanging from the rafters, completely grossed out. Simmons knelt next to a trap door in the floor, turning to look at us, "What you're about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother."
Leo, trying to be funny said, "Swine flu. Not good."
"Not funny Leo and we don't have time for that!" I snapped, still on edge from yesterday.
"Now you know. Next time you eat a goat or a pig, there's a story behind it. Sad little story," Simmons said descended the ladder and then continued to mutter. Once he started speaking in a way that I could make out what he said I was able to hear, "Okay, files, files. We're talking about symbols." This place was full of files, paper, boxes, filing cabinets, and all sorts of stuff. I wasn't sure how he had managed to get all of this down here. Leo then reached for Frenzy's head in a glass jar. Simmons noticed and hit his hand with the papers he was holding. "Hey, still radioactive. Hands off. Okay, Cube-brain. Any of these look like the symbols you saw?"
"Where'd you get these?" Sam asked grabbing the papers out of Simmons' hand. I looked over his shoulder to read the symbols. Simmons started to climb up some filing cabinets.
"Before I got fired, I poached S-7's crown jewel, over 75 years of alien research, which points to one inescapable fact. The Transformers, they've been here a long, long time. How do I know?" Simmons asked throwing a box down which Leo caught. "Archeologists found these unexplained markings in ancient ruins all over the world." Simmons had now joined us. Simmons pointed to some pictures before pointing to a video, "China. Egypt. Greece. Shot in 1932. These the symbols you're seeing in your head?" The pictures contained the same symbols Sam had been seeing and that I could read.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"Same ones over here, right? So, tell me, how did they end up all drawing the same things? Aliens. And I think some of them stayed. Check this out. Project Black Knife," Simmons said grabbing a file that was on the table and tapping the edges of it on the table as though to straighten all the paper up nice and neat. "Robots in disguise, hiding here all along. We detected radioactive signatures all across the country. I pleaded on my knees with S-7 to investigate it, but they said the readings were infinitesimal, that I was obsessed. Me. Can you imagine that?" I nodded, yeah I could imagine that.
"Yeah. Megatron said that there was another Energon source here," Sam said.
"On Earth. Another source?" Simmons asked trying to get this straight.
"On Earth," Sam and I said at the same time. "Okay? And that these symbols, maps in my head, would lead him there." Sam continued. I was getting annoyed with this. I wanted to find a bot that could help us so that I could change how yesterday ended, as the Primes were asking me to do.
"You talk to your Auto bot friends about this?" Simmons asked.
"No, the source is before them. Whatever the Energon source is, it predates them," I said before Sam could speak. I wanted to hurry this up.
"So, it comes before them," Simmons said. I almost let an exasperated sigh.
"Correct," Sam answered.
"Well, then we're porked, unless we can talk to a Decepticon. I mean, I'm not on speaking terms with them," Simmons said.
"Actually, I am," Mikaela said speaking up. She and Sam left the meat locker and disappeared for a few minutes. I spent the somewhat awkward moments pacing chewing on my thumb nail. A few moments later Mikaela and Sam came back with a metal box. It was the one Mikaela had thrown through the window of Sam's dorm room.
A yell came out of the box, "Let me out!" Mikaela set the box down on the table and started to mess with the chains and locks on it.
"This is going to be a little bit sad," Mikaela warned.
"Open it," Sam said. Mikaela opened up the box and a little Decepticon came flying out. Sam, Simmons, Leo and I all took a step back as Mikaela grabbed ahold of the chain that was around his neck.
"I will have so many Decepticons on your butt!" The little con yelled as he flew out of the box. He was blue, with one red eye, the other having been destroyed. He had wheels for feet and shoulders; it looked like he turned into a toy car. He was actually kind of cute. His accent sounded like a New York accent to me.
Mikaela quickly whipped out a small blow torch and held it to the little con's face. "Hey, behave!"
"What is it, a Decepticon?" Sam asked grabbing the chain.
"Yeah," Mikaela replied.
"And you're training him?" Sam asked still grabbing at the chain as the little con fought it.
"I'm trying to," Mikaela said as the little bot started chewing on the chain, mumbling to himself.
"I spent my whole adult life combing the planet for aliens, and you're carrying around one in your purse like a little Chihuahua," Simmons said shocked. The little con didn't seem to like this comment.
He turned to face Simmons, "Do you want a throw down, you pubic 'fro-head?" Well, he was a little spit fire, apparently completely unaware that if one of us stepped on him he could be crushed, or he just didn't care.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry about your eye, you know, but, if you're a good boy,
then I'm not gonna torch your other eye. Okay? I'm not gonna torch it. Just tell me what these symbols are, please." Mikaela said. The little con knelt down to look at the symbols on the papers.
"All right. I know that. That's the language of the Primes. I don't read it, but these guys...Where the frick did you find photos of these guys?" The little con asked.
Sam picked up the photos and asked, "Is this they?"
"Yeah. Seekers, pal. Oldest of the old. They've been here thousands of years, looking for something. I don't know what. Nobody tells me nothing, but they'll translate those symbols for ya. And I know where to find them."
"Show us," Simmons and I said at the same time.
"Yeah," the little con said interlocking his fingers and stretching his arms out so his palms faced away from him. He then spun around and put dots up on a map on the wall.
"The closest one's in Washington," Simmons said.