✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ Warfare [Transformers]✔

47

History repeats itself, for it is a never-ending circle.

So far, Brady had only parachuted once, as it was part of her CIA training.

Some enjoy it; some not so much, some need the adrenaline rush and Brady was one of those who said once is okay, perfectly fine, but a second time, doesn't have to be. So she was never eager to repeat it. You can do it, but you don't have to.

Having solid ground under her feet never felt so good. No sooner had Brady landed on the damp ground than she opened the latches of the parachute, slipped out of the straps and sat down on the ground with her legs bent, only to drop onto her back a moment later. From now on, she would never complain about being bored or resting too much. Never again..... Until the time came.

"Where were you when the sky collapsed on us?" very slowly Brady straightened up, put his arms back and looked up into the sky from where everything possible was falling, "In the middle of it."

And not merely in the middle of it, like a spectator, a silent observer, but a part of it.

─⌖❖⌖─

A shot rang out, causing Yaeger to grab his shoulder and, like everyone who had heard the shot, turn around to where Brady was taking down the pistol she had taken from one of the soldiers.

"If you're not too stupid....," which Brady wasn't too convinced of yet, ".... you'll survive this."

Just get home. That's all Brady wanted. Aug for aug and the whole world goes blind, as Gandhi said, and their lives, eventually had to move on, otherwise, both graves would be filled, to be dug if one is out for revenge. It was the last thing James would have wanted, if only because even then he didn't want her to be so deeply involved.

─⌖❖⌖─

On the flight back, Brady sat on the floor of the plane rather than, again, everyone else, on the bench, kneading her hands and peering through the door to the cockpit, where she looked out through the glass.

"You've got a bigger thick skull than I always thought," Santos interrupted the ruling post, looking to Brady because Yaeger let out a groan as he turned around.

"Someone said to me. When you're able to think straight again, feel free to call me," Brady replied in a dry tone, leaning her head to the right, against the wall of the plane, "That was four years ago and I haven't contacted you once. Why would I even check in with someone who doesn't accept my decisions and thinks I can't think straight? You don't have a thick head if you stand by your convictions."

It took a moment for Will to stand up, walk over to Brady, sit on the floor with his knees in front of her, put his hands on the back of her neck and press a long kiss to her hairline.

"See. All turned out well," Will nodded once, trying to wring a smile from himself, "Now will you tell me what I don't know?"

"My life had gotten a little messy after I got out of college, and I was able to live thanks to poker and blackjack, so just. It was more like keeping my head above water. At Christmas, when I was eighteen, James came over, as he did every year, and taught me how to play cards. My mom wasn't thrilled, but James said that if things got tight, I could at least make ends meet for a little while. After Mom..... and Dad died in Chicago, he got me the job at Attinger because I'm one of those people who can't get along without help, whether they're adults or not," it wasn't what Will wanted to hear from Brady, though, she'd get to that soon enough, "Joyce offered me a job, with a salary of four hundred eighty thousand dollars a year. But I didn't want it because I was happy at Attinger and, thanks to Cemetery Wind, I had my family with me. Nothing better could have happened to me than this job."

Will knew the rest as well as many other people who had been present at Brady's testimony or had access to the record of that day. She had told everything that day, but in the kindest version possible under the circumstances. It would have been easy to blame someone for all that happened in Chicago and shortly thereafter in Hong Kong, but, why would she have done that? No one would have had anything to gain from it. In her story, she had not portrayed anyone as 'bad' or guilty, not even Joyce, whom she was not well disposed to at that moment, got off easy, and as for Yaeger and his people, she had not mentioned his name in a single syllable.

In the version Brady told, however, the truth came up a little short. Like the deal between Attinger and Lockdown; the operation in Texas where a house ended up being blown up; the hunt for the witnesses to take out; the creation of Galvatron over the years, the failures and her concerns that you couldn't build your own Transformers from a Decepticon, the head of Megatron; the knowledge that Joyce was doing research with both Decepticons and Autobots; the real reason for the trip to Hong Kong, because Joyce wanted to leave because of his Transformers, Galvatron and Stinger, who were responsible for the Choas on the highway; that Attinger saw the deaths as collateral damage; not to mention that Galvatron didn't have a malfunction, but was a two point zero independent thinking Decepticon; not to mention that Attinger wanted to kill Joyce because he hadn't kept their deal so their old boss at the CIA could quit because he was going to get seven million worth of KSI stock in return and of course that James and her were about to kill someone on Attinger's orders, but the person had pushed their uncle out the window.

Although Brady had in no way mentioned a specific name, Will looked at Yaeger and back at the floor in front of him. What was he supposed to say in response? That had to be digested first.

"I know what it's like to lose. That desperate feeling of being in the right and still failing. It's scary. It makes your knees weak. But I ask you. What good is it? Fear it. Flee from it. Fate will still catch up with you. "Even though Brady didn't believe in fate, something existed. "That's how it starts. The fever, the anger, the feeling of powerlessness...."

....through which 'good' people become cruel.

It is said that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it. But those of us who refuse to forget the past must relive it. The past, however, is treacherous. Sometimes it is carved in stone and sometimes, formed from sweet memories. But if you dig too long in the depths.... who knows what monsters you will awaken.