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Everyone transformed back into their respective vehicles, and we all got into our respective Autobot partner. We took to the road immediately, heading straight toward Chicago.
It took a long time to finally reach our destination, no matter how fast we drove. But when we made it to Chicago, the city looking brand new since the invasion, we found a large abandoned building that was big enough for the Autobots to transform.
It also gave us time to think of a plan.
"There's a full-on manhunt out for us," Cade said. "So we have some new rules. Anyone who's got a badge is not our friend. We're gonna divide and conquer. Desirée? You, Tessa, and Shane are in charge of food and the essentials. Nothing else. Chicago KSI headquarters is like a fortress, I'm gonna find a way into their top secret military info. Gonna find something to blackmail the company and the government. We're gonna get our freedom back."
"Well said, Mr. Yeager," I said with a nod.
"Told you to call me Cade," he replied.
I shrugged. "I'm gonna have to borrow one your soldiers, Optimus," I said. "Is that OK?"
"I have no problem with that," he rumbled, giving me a small smile. All the Autobots had transformed, using the opportunity to be in their humanoid form to their advantage.
"Are you staying here?" I looked at Cade. He nodded. "Could you watch the girls?"
"Yeah," he said.
I looked up at Optimus. "Cade's gonna watch the girls, Optimus," I said. "If you wanna help, go ahead; unless you were gonna start planning something."
Optimus shook his head. "Go on, Desirée. Take Ironhide with you."
The stout weapon specialist gave me a small smirk.
"My favorite old man," I said jokingly. "Has your eyesight gotten any better, buddy?"
Ironhide scoffed before transforming. "I don't know, Sparky, wanna test how well I can shoot with my bad eyesight?"
I playfully scowled at him. "I dare ya, you rickety old engine."
As we piled into Ironhide, I could see the curious looks on Tessa and Shane's faces. They didn't expect me to be so easy going, playful even, with an Autobot.
"Have you always been that way?" Shane asked. "The two of you?"
"Ironhide and I have known each other for a long time," I said. "He's like an older brother."
"She's saved my Spark more times than I can say," Ironhide said through the radio. "She's one of the few humans I actually trust."
Once we made it to a store, selling all the essentials we'd need, I told Tessa and Shane we'd split up.
"Get the things we actually need," I said. "It's really important, understand? When you're done, meet me near the front."
They nodded and we split up. I tried to make myself as unnoticeable as possible. I took a bag, not a big one, pretending to inspect it as an employee walked by. Once he was out of sight, I started walking around the store, carefully picking out the essentials we needed. Packaged foods, deodorant, hair brushes - all the things that was important for us. I made sure I got some things for Saoirse and Eden, as well.
Once my little "shopping trip" was finished, I hung near the front, pretending I was interested in some of the merchandise. I wasn't close to the cashiers for them to think I was suspicious; but I started getting impatient when Shane and Tessa didn't show up.
When they did, I gave them a sharp look. "What took you so long?" I hissed.
"This isn't easy," Tessa said, "we almost got caught."
"That's why you try and not make it so obvious," I murmured.
"We tried," Shane said. "Not as easy as it looks."
"You've probably been doing this longer than us," Tessa murmured.
"I have."
When we made it back to the building, I gave Ironhide a thank you. The girls rushed over and hugged me, I gave them the items I took from the store.
"Were they behaving themselves?" I asked Cade.
He nodded. "You have some good kids."
"Thanks." I smiled at him. "They get it from their father."
"Oh, I found a whole box of clothes," Cade said. In the background, Drift was practicing with his blade. Bee was sitting near one of the walls. "Sweetie, you can get some long pants, and loose the short-shorts, OK?"
Cade sat near a table in the center of the room we were in. We all dumped our takings onto the table.
Tessa handed a big bottle of powdered stuff to her father.
"It's protein," she said.
Cade looked between his daughter and her boyfriend, a look of frustration and disbelief on his face. "Look, I said the essentials, OK?" he said.
"It wasn't easy," she said. "We almost got caught."
I saw a bottle of mouthwash on the table.
"Why did you get mouthwash?" I asked, eyeing Tessa and Shane suspiciously.
"I like to stay fresh when I'm making out with his daughter," Shane replied, almost smugly. I put my hands on my hips, giving him a look.
Tessa chuckled.
Cade looked at the Irishman before taking the mouthwash and chucking it across the room. Drift looked confused by Cade's action, Bee simply laughed. Everyone else just watched the scene unfold with amusement.
"Yeah, that's not happening," Cade said firmly. "Ever."
"Ever?" Tessa said with a nervous smile.
Cade gave her a look.
I shook my head, holding back a smile. I went and stood next to Abby, the girls following.
"This is why I don't want my girls dating," I told her.
She nodded. "Not until they're way older."
"Way older," I said.
Once we organized our stuff, Cade said he was going to work on his break-in of KSI headquarters. Asking Optimus for a lift to the headquarters, they left, not before Cade brought his mini drone with him.
As we waited, one of the Autobots walked up to me. Crosshairs, I think was his name.
"You're Optimus's Sparkmate?" he asked. I nodded wordlessly. "I never thought I'd find out Optimus would get a Sparkbond with a fleshling."
"He's full of surprises," I murmured.
"I never would have guessed it would work on a fleshling, either." Crosshairs confused me. Sometimes he would work well with Optimus and the other Autobots, other times he'd rather be on his own, dealing with the enemy himself and wanting nothing to do with the Autobots or Optimus.
"I guess humans are stronger than you'd think."
Crosshairs grunted. "I don't know about that. I hardly trust humans."
"Then why are you still here?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Where else would I go?" he asked. "I may not get along with these slagging Autobots most of the time, but they're still my kind. I'd be killed on my own."
"You always talk about being on your own," I said.
"Cause I can do well on my own," he said smugly. "But Optimus needs all the help he can get. For some reason, he saw goodness in your kind. I'll never understand how he saw it, but he did. Now that he doesn't trust human beings anymore, he just wants to put an end to our extinction."
"What about the kids?" I asked.
"The kids? They may be half-Cybertronian, but they're still half-human." Crosshairs shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway. Once this whole ordeal's over, we're leaving this planet."
"Leaving?" I asked.
"To a planet that won't try and exterminate us," he said.
"Your kind isn't going to stop until we are all dead," Drift said solemnly. "Our leaving will save us from our execution."
I looked down. Saoirse and Eden were playing with the other kids, seemingly unaware of what Drift and Crosshairs has said.
Though I didn't ask it, I wanted to know how they'd leave without a ship. But I knew they'd figure something out. They always did.