Chapter 49: Childish Adults
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"We're doing what?"
"The humans call it trick-or-treating," Ironhide's voice grumbled through the radio.
"From the little information I received from William, humans in costumes go to other human households and collect treats that is being passed out. It's usually done by the young of the human race."
"What's the point of it?"
"I don't know. Ask William when we get there."
After this crazy eventful night of teasing, yelling, silly humor and ''couple goals'' as the humans say it, Ironhide had set out to go out to Lennox's house, because well...he's sorta like their guardian now. He stays there and guards for a few days, before coming back to base for duty and anything N.E.S.T related.
Really he just did it to avoid Ratchet teasing him all day.
I really wanted to go with him, because:
1. I'm curious about this trick-or-treating.
2. I wanna spend more time with Anna and Sarah.
3. I wanna get off the base for awhile.
Trumpet wake up calls and loud Drill Sergeants are NOT something you wanna hear everyday.
And you think I'm used to it by now?
I may not be a soldier like the rest of 'em, but I don't have any sleep-ins as the humans say it either due to my ''bedtime schedule'' assembled by Ratchet.
Plus I'm tired of be questioned all day about my Cybertronian form. Like I'm a great god or something.
"Liza."
Huh?
Odd. It's a been awhile since Hide said my name in that tone. His voice was a bit softer than usual, slightly sheepish as if he was about to apologize about something which he didn't like doing, but it held firmness.
He wanted to talk about something.
But I pretended to not notice it and turned to the radio, letting him know I was listening.
"T-There's something I wanted to talk to you about. It's about Optimus."
"Why? Is he ok?" I asked with growing worry
Did something happen to him after we left? Did his spark give out on him? Is he sick?
"No, no, he's fine." He reassured in a calm voice. "Do you remember when you told me that...y'know about Optimus when he was going to....and I didn't believe you."
Where is this going? ".......yeah."
"I wanted to apologize for that. I'm sorry for not believing you." He rumbled as his engine gave a soft roar while continuing down the road. "Hide, you don't-"
"No," He cut me off. "I should've listen. You were trying to warn me, but I...I just brushed you off."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. I sounded crazy, of course you wouldn't-"
"No Liza. You were right and I was wrong and stupid."
"You're not stu-"
"Hush." He cut me off once again. "No more." He didn't want me to deny it. He wanted to be wrong and me to be right.
...Never in my life, I thought I would see Ironhide accepting defeat. The strong, stubborn, tough ol' Ironhide. He wanted it as if he deserved it.
But he didn't.
Though I am curious on why he didn't believe me. Was it because he thought I was a clueless child or was he upset that I mentioned the death of his Best Friend?
Primus it's so confusing! Why do grown ups
have to be confusing?
Would it be smart to ask? Probably not, but might as well try.
My tongue glided along my lips as I prepared myself to ask a daring question.
".....Hide."
He acknowledged me by letting a small grunt sound through the radio.
Would I be pushing it too far, if I stayed on this subject? Would he be offended if I asked?
.......
Forget it.
My gaze fell onto the dashboard as I fiddled with one of the chain bracelets on my left arm.
"Why didn't you believe me?"
Everthing in the air fell silent. Not even his tires against the uneven road could be heard. It was like everything froze in time.
The small intake of air through his vents let me know he wasn't expecting to be asked that. But deep down, I know Ironhide. He has an answer, he just doesn't want to say it.
"Hide."
"........It's not that I didn't believe you. It's just that.....I didn't want to believe you. I was worried and....I didn't want to imagine my Best Friend dying. When it actually happened, I felt guilty. It was all my fault."
"It wasn't your fault."
"If I just had listened, I could've prevented it. I could've warned the others."
"You couldn't do anything."
"Liz, you told the future and I didn't listen and.......you told the future."
"....uh...."
"Liza, you told the future." He repeated.
".......and?"
Not clicking.
"Liza, you told the future!"
"What's your point?"
Give my brain more time.
"You can see the FUTURE!"
"Hide, I don't ge........oh."
I HAVE FUTURE VISIONS!
"You have future visions!"
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Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
Oh my Primus.
Oh
My
Primus!
I
Can
See
The
Future!
I'm psychic! I can tell when everything is going to happen like....when the twins are going to prank me or when Ratchet will get mad and I can prevent bad things from happening to anyone and...
"Hey. We're here."
"Huh?"
The black truck came to a halt in front of Lennox's house with his engine turning off with a soft click.
"How many times are you gonna keep snapping in and out of reality like that?"
"Hm...don't know." I replied absentmindedly, surprised I didn't see a blonde little girl running out the door by now.
"What is it? Tell me what you are thinking, youngling."
"Ah, it's nothing important, Hide. Don't worry about it."
Even in his alt form, I could feel his careful optics, watching; studying me for any hidden emotion. The silence grew in the dark cab as I tried to brush away the creeping feeling.
After moments passed he spoke, "Alright, I believe you, but if something bothering you, let me know."
"Ok, Hide."
"Now," He started. "The future vision that you had of Optimus stays between the two of us for now, understand? Do not mention this to anyone. Not even the earthlings. I'm sure you know how the human's curiosity can get when they find something new and exciting."
"Yea, I know, Hide. I'm not telling anyone." I reassured, feeling a smile tug on the corner of my lips.
"Good." He grumbled. "We don't need-"
"HIDEY-HIDE!!" The high pitched squeal interrupted our conversation, leading our attention to the beaming little girl outside in front of his grille, jumping on the balls of her feet in the chilly night excitedly.
"Her. We don't want people like her finding out." Ironhide chuckled and opened his driver door, allowing the little girl to slip inside.
"Hello Annabelle." He greeted with a small chuckle.
"Hidey, I missed you very much!" She squeezed the seat into a tight hug with a wide grin spread across her face.
"I missed you too, sweetspark. Do your parents know you're out here?"
"Uhh..." The young girl scratched her head nervously. "....I told her you were outside."
"Annabelle." He scolded gently. "Tell your parents things, before you run out the house. We don't want them worrying."
"But I'm safe with you Hidey." She replied, her sheepishness quickly replaced with excitement. "Do you know what today is? It's Halloween! We're gonna go trick-or-treating and eats lots and lots of candy! It's gonna be so much fun!" She bounced happily on her knees, clearly overjoyed for the event.
Once her eyes landed on me, her excitement was immediately thrown towards me. "Lizzy, you dressed up for Halloween! You look so pretty! You look like one of my Barbies!" She gasped. "Let's go show mama and daddy!" The girl literally pulled me across the console and out the truck, squeezing me in a quick hug, before dragging me over to her warm home.
~~~~~~
"Mommy! Mommy! Look at Liz! Isn't she pretty?" Anna flaunted me in front of the woman like I was a trophy, she just had won.
Sarah set down an empty candy bag as she reached over to grab another on the counter. "Yeah, she looks really pretty. Ya look nice, Liz, what are you supposed to be?"
"A 90's pop-star."
"Wow," She said, intrigued. "Interesting and creative."
"Thanks, it was kinda Sam's idea and Mikaela's work."
"Really? I didn't think those two would be...Halloween people."
"Yeah, this is my first year celebrating Halloween....correctly. How exactly does this go again?" I asked as I watched Annabelle run upstairs after becoming bored of our conversation.
"Ah it's nothing special." She said, opening another bag and filling the large glass bowl with treats. "It's something the kids do every year for fun. Basically they dress up, have fun, go trick-or-treating, pranks, try to scare each other."
Pranks? If the twins found out about this, this will be their favorite human holiday.
"The adults aren't allowed to celebrate Halloween?"
"Oh no, we can, I mean a few adults do, but once you grow up, you loose interest in most things you do as a child." She stated, giving the truck outside a quick wave through the kitchen window, receiving a greeting flick of light from the headlights in return.
"Except the two childish grown men upstairs who scared me earlier!" Sarah huffed with a stomp of her foot.
"It was worth it!" A voice shouted from above.
"Two?"
"Robert is here."
"Oh."
I expected him to be spending time with his own family.
"Also I have a question. What's trick-or-treating?"
"Oh, it's just where the kids go and get candy from other houses." She replied, continuing her task on filling the bowl.
Isn't that a bit unsafe?
"Why?"
"I don't really know the history behind Halloween, but I know trick-or-treating is part of it. You should try it."
"Uhhh....."
"What's wrong?"
"Ratchet doesn't really let me have any candy or sweets, unless it's coming from the cafeteria.
Which is rare.
Sarah scoffed. "Well is Ratchet here?"
"No, but....he has a way of finding out things. He says candy is bad for my teeth and junk food can affect my health."
"A few pieces won't kill you." She giggled, throwing away the empty bags of candy.
"I know, but......" The mental image of an angry Ratchet haunted my mind.
"You've been on Earth for four years going to five. I know you had a few sweets now and then."
"Well...I snuck a few chocolate bars in the past, but stopped once Ratchet caught onto me. That's all I had....and ice cream."
The woman crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Talk about a party pooper. So you never had candy besides chocolate?"
"No."
"Ya never had candy?" Will's voice sounded behind as he walked down the stairs with Annabelle in his arms; Epps following close behind.
"No, I haven't."
"What?! Lizzy, you never tried candy before?!" Bells wiggled in her dad's arms with a look of shock on her face.
"No, not really Ann." I answered.
"That medic ain't no fun." Robert mumbled, shaking his head.
"Well you're trying some tonight."
"You're right and you two are taking them." Sarah said firmly.
Both of their heads jerked upright. "Wait, why are we taking them trick-or-treating? Isn't that your thing?"
Sarah smacked Epps' hand away when he reached to take a piece of candy from the bowl.
"One, you never took our daughter trick-or-treating before and two, I don't need you burning up the house while I'm gone."
"Where are you going?"
"To Clara's house to help with a Halloween party."
"I don't understand why I gotta go." Epps whined.
"Gotta get out the house. Also," She reached reached into a bag and threw two packets at them. "Your costumes." She announced.
The army men opened the packet and pulled out brown cloaks. "Stars Wars?" Will questioned.
"Anna said she wanted to be Leia, so I figured you two should be Jedis together, since you like the movie so much."
"Yes, yes, yes I've always wanted to be a Sith!" Epps said, sounding rather excited as his slipped on the cloak.
Will shrugged his shoulders and followed, not expecting a plastic....sword like thing to hit him upside his head. "Ow!"
Epps caught his, before it could make contact with his face and pushed a button to make the tube like sword glow red.
I stood there confused, trying to process....this. "What's a Star Wars?"
The look of shock fell upon the men's faces.
"I'm not from Earth." I reminded.
"Right." Their hands smacked to their foreheads.
"It's a movie." Epps started.
"Yeah, Jedis, Sith, Darth Vader, R2D2."
"These things here....are lightsabers." The Sergeant waved around the glowing stick and gave a little whack to Will's head. "Oops."
Will glared at him and rubbed the spot where the ''lightsaber'' had hit him. "You did that on purpose."
"I don't know what ya talking about man." Epps smiled innocently.
I'm still confused.
"We'll show you the movie one day."
"Daddy, I want candy!" Annabelle said impatiently, tugging on her father's hand.
"She's ready to go. Go on." Sarah commanded, shooing us out the house. "Oh, and Liza."
I turned meeting the woman's gaze. "Yeah?"
"Keep those two under the control for me." She sighed, eyeing the men who were whacking each other with the ''lightsabers'' as they made their way towards Ironhide.
"Uh, sure."
"Be safe."
"We'll be back soon." I ran off and climbed into Ironhide with an excited Annabelle in the back.
"Alright, everybody ready?" Will asked, as Ironhide started up his engine and allowing Will to take control of him.
Annabelle giggled cheerfully. "Yes, yes, let's go daddy!"
Will pulled Ironhide and drove into the large suburban neighborhoods that lied near the edges of the city.
Ironhide let out a grunt as he was pulled to the side to be parked. "I think this holiday is dangerous."
I guess he decided to tell us how he really feels about trick-or-treating.
Will groaned, "Awl come on, not another Ratchet!"
"Don't you think taking sweets from complete strangers is dangerous? What if they poisoned them?"
"Ugh, stop looking at the negative side and be positive for once, Hide."
"Ironhide's right." I sided with him.
"There goes a third Ratchet." Will huffed, throwing up his hands.
Epps slumped down into the seat. "Y'all making me wanna go home."
"Well it's true!" I defended.
"It's just some sweet candy we getting. Harmless fun." Will huffed.
"Ratchet doesn't allow Liza to have candy." Ironhide said.
"But is Ratchet here?"
"Here or not, she's not having any."
"One piece?"
"No."
"Awl come on, he won't know unless you tell. He can't find out if he's not here."
"No. If he finds out, it'll be my aft that gets chewed out for letting her have any." Ironhide growled.
"Party pooper. " Will hopped out and opened the door for his daughter. "You coming with or are you gonna stay here with the no-fun giant?"
"I think I'll stay with the no-fun giant." I replied.
Will shrugged his shoulders and helped Annabelle to the ground. "Suit yourself."
I climbed over the console into the front as Bells skipped happily with the two army men to go get candy.
"The humans can be quite dull when they want to be."
"Yeah." I agreed, slumping down the seat to avoid the ogling eyes at the TopKick of the passing humans.
"Their lives or mental health could be in danger yet they brush it off like it's nothing serious."
It's true.
My gaze followed the hopping little girl to her first house, holding out her bucket, receiving nothing but sweet smiles from a married couple and a handful of candy into her orange little bucket.
She then skipped off to the next house.
"What the frag?"
A wavering blue light caught my eye, drawing my attention to the two cloaked men swinging away at each other.
Are my eyes playing tricks on me?
I closed my eyes and sighed, " Hide, please tell me those two aren't in the middle of the street fighting right now."
"They're a bad example for the offspring here." He grumbled.
I rose over the dashboard to get a better look at the men that were ''under my care''.
Are you serious?
Both of were in fighting stances, ready to attack. Epps motioned for Will to come at him with his ''lightsaber'' held tightly in his other hand.
I knew I didn't want to hear this, but I had to. "Can you roll your window down a bit?" With a few seconds passing by, he hesitantly rolled his window down half way.
"Bring it on, man." Epps swung at Will who dodged with little effort.
"Stop running."
"I never run."
"Awl yeah, come on." Epps grinned smugly.
The men started whacking each other, ignoring the funny looks they received from passing citizens. Smack-talking and curses were thrown at each other as one swung at another with the plastic tubes.
"I'm about to break your skinny behind. You gon wish you never met me when I'm done with ya."
"You talk a lot, Humpty Dumpty." Will said with just as much seriousness as Epps. "Come on."
The two jumped at each other at the same time, ''lightsabers'' wielded at their side, ready to strike. Unfortunately, they ended up head butting each other, forcing the two man-child to the ground from the impact.
My face twisted in a grimace as I watched them role on the ground in pain, while they rubbed their foreheads.
Ladies and gentlemen, these here are the men of N.E.S.T.
The men who risked their lives to help save the Earth from Decepticons more times in a week then you would say baloney in a month.
Wait. No.
This is embarrassing! I cannot be seen with
these two!
I used most of my hair to cover my face as I watched my outside surroundings carefully.
Seeing Annabelle so happy as she skipped along with the other children from house to house left me dumbfounded seeing her completely aware of what her father and uncle were doing, but didn't seem to care.
Humans.
This trick-or-treating is stupid! One could poison another. Why is this done at night when someone could get kidnapped? Or killed?
I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable with this.
"I'm ready to go home." I said, attempting to make my voice sound like a whine.
I could've sworn I heard Ironhide say "me too" before his holoform fizzled into the driver seat. His head rested on the wheel for a bit, before he actually got out, mumbling under his breath, as he approached the two men.
With little care, he grabbed the childish adults by the scuff of their necks and literally dragged them over to his alt, ignoring the complaints and protests. He opened the back door and threw both men in with ease.
"Hey!
They both fell over on the floor against each other, trying to untangle their limbs and get up from the tight squeeze.
"Hey, you can't throw me that like that. I'm telling Optimus!"
A sigh came from Ironhide as he slammed the door shut on them, silently telling them "I don't care."
I have a glance over my shoulder at the clumsy men as Ironhide went off to retrieve Annabelle.
"Looks like you had fun." I said dryly.
"Shut up. I totally won that fight anyway." Will said with a sense of pride.
"You won? Man if ya big head hadn't hit me, I would've won."
"My head?" Will gasped taken aback. "Dude your head is titanic! It's bigger than Ironhide."
I couldn't hold back the snickers that managed to escape from that one.
"Oh, I see you got jokes now." Epps said. "I bet you have trouble getting past the doorway with your head."
It's like two siblings arguing in the back for no actual reason.
Hm.
Reminds me of me and Bee.
The two completely forgot that they were in a living mechanical organism and started wrestling in the backseat, rocking the truck slightly on its tires.
Oh wow it's clearly not suspicious or anything to see a big black truck rocking on its tires in the street in the middle of a neighborhood.
Though Ironhide was in his holoform, searching for Annabelle, he could still feel the rough movement in his backseat and decided to handle the situation by ejecting the two from the seats out the door.
It.
Was.
Hilarious!
Seeing them face first on the concrete and the amused humans on the sidewalk.
Finally, Ironhide returned with a grinning Annabelle in his arms, glancing in the empty backseat like everything was normal. He sat in the driver seat, seating Annabelle in his lap as we waited for the men to get back in.
Which took awhile.
They climbed back and almost immediately hot glares were thrown at Ironhide which didn't faze him one bit. "Problem?"
"Um yeah! You just threw us out!" Will pointed out the obvious.
"Well you see, there's a perfectly good reason for that. I don't appreciate it when people use me as a mud wrestling pit." He told them.
Annabelle interrupted their mini argument with her cute innocence. "Daddy, daddy, look how much candy I got!" She bounced happily on Ironhide's leg as she leaned forward to show her display of candy in her bucket. "Yeah, that's nice honey." He said, hiding the anger in his voice and replacing it with interest, only for a brief moment.
"I'm calling Optimus when we get home." Will announced, taking his daughter from Ironhide and buckling her up in the middle.
The roar of his engine sounded as he prepared to leave the neighborhood.
"Ooo scary. Don't do it. So scared. Oh no."
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