[TF+ FanFiction] The Art Of Making Decisions · Chapter 4

[kyra_midnight]

THE ART OF MAKING DECISIONS

By Silverlight & Nightstorm

Fonts Meaning:

“Speaking”   ‘Thinking/Mind Speaking’   ≫Transmissions≪   “Cybertronian”   //Bond Speaking//   -Radio/Lyrics-

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Chapter 4 - Decisions

Once they were outside, the girls saw many of the soldiers were either already gone or on their way to somewhere, probably the infirmary, seeing most of them were hurt in some way. Those who were still in the hangar and saw them shot them angry looks, which the girls ignored, heading outside. Will and Epps were not too far, talking with Sam, but immediately stopped to look at the girls, a mix of surprise and confusion in their expressions. They thought it was strange for them to have been allowed out on their own. That must mean the Autobots had let them out,  for it didn’t matter if they had been strong enough to defeat a squad of soldiers, it was impossible they could defeat 4 giant robots… so both men walked toward the girls, obviously intending to find out what had exactly happened. They were about to stop the girls, but the redhead shot them a glare, as if daring them to get in their way, and they stopped short. Their gaze followed the girls on their way out for a few moments, before looking at each other and deciding to go ask the Autobots instead. They went straight to the adjacent hangar, and Sam hurrying after them, not without glancing back at the girls with concern… judging by their state, especially since one of them seemed to be crying, the first thing that came to mind was that Ironhide had startled them with his antics and his guns, but remembering the fight from before, immediately dismissed the idea.

“What should we do now?” Ratchet was the first to speak.

“You think they speak the truth?” Optimus asked them.

“Ah still find it ‘ard ta believe… Ah mean, c’mon, another dimension?” Ironhide said.

“But what about all they know? And that movie we just saw… I can’t find another plausible explanation than they really come from another world, just as they say…” continued Ratchet.

“They could’ve gotten th’ info from somewhere else, ‘ven from someone…” Ironhide argued, sounding suspicious.

“Like what? You heard them, their knowledge seemed almost omniscient… they knew what happened to everyone, everywhere; facts, thoughts, reasons… everything… What source could have provided them such exact information?” Ratchet told him.

“Donno, but ‘s kind of creepy…” Ironhide admitted “They know too much, it ain’t normal”

≫They seem to know more about us than we do≪ Bumblebee quietly said over the comm. link, the only mean he had of communicating without having to use the radio.

“But that’s not necessarily a bad thing” the medic said then “Also, if we consider their theory true, then everything makes sense” he looked thoughtful “So many coincidences… I see no other explanation” he added.

“So ya mean ya trust them?” Ironhide asked the medic, surprised.

“I see no reason why not to” Ratchet answered with a light shrug.

“I agree” Optimus said then “They have given us no reason not to trust them. And as for their knowledge, if they meant any harm, they wouldn’t have been willing to share it with us” he said.

“We should give them the benefit of the doubt” Ratchet suggested, and Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

“… Ah’m not so sure, but if ya think it’s th’ right thing, then it’s fine bah me” Ironhide said, seeing he was clearly  outnumbered. He had a funny feeling that there was something else going on with those girls… was there something else they were hiding? ‘Slag, Ah’m startin’ ta sound like Red…’ he thought, and decided to drop the subject.

Optimus nodded “We will trust them until they prove that trust is unfounded” he concluded.

≫But if what they said is true, then it also means they have nowhere to go now…≪ Bumblebee suddenly realized, feeling a little sad for the girls. The others saw it too; they were in a foreign dimension, and far away from their homes… just like them, in a way…

All were silent, sharing Bee’s feeling, and thinking of what could be done in the current situation. Bee looked at Optimus, and so did Ratchet. The Autobot leader could almost hear the silent question they all were asking.

“I think they should remain here at the base, at least for now” he finally spoke.

“Although I think they should be under our protection, rather than the humans’…” Ratchet added “We can’t risk the Decepticons getting their hands on them, that would certainly be dangerous, both for them and us… and also, neither of the girls seem to be too fond of the other humans here from what I’ve seen…”

“Can’t blame ‘em” Ironhide said then “After what they did back there, Ah wouldn’ be fond of ‘em either”

“Well, it’s settled then… the human girls will remain here at the base under our protection” Optimus said, and the rest nodded in agreement, Bumblebee even letting out a small happy noise. Then, Optimus turned to look at the door that had opened a few seconds ago, and the rest of the Mechs followed his gaze.

Will had entered the room followed by Epps and Sam, and all had stopped abruptly upon hearing them talking to each other, not wanting to interrupt them, since they weren’t sure what they were talking about; the sounds the Autobots were emitting were completely foreign to them, however Sam recognized them as Cybertronian, their native language. He once had asked to Bee if he could learn it, but the scout had simply answered (again using various clips and song pieces) that he wasn’t the one to answer that. The Autobots turned to look at them, their conversation apparently over now, so the three humans ventured to where they stood.

“What happened?” Sam asked curiously “One of them came out crying…”

“They just needed to get some air” Ratchet said dryly. He did not question further, and thinking about it, it was understandable that they needed to leave for a while… they had been in there for almost 3 hours, after all.

“Should I send someone to keep an eye on them?” Will immediately asked, suspicion clear in his voice.

“That won’t be necessary, Captain” Optimus said “They do not present any danger.”

“What!?” Epps asked incredulously “How can you say that when they defeated an entire squad like nothing?” he said pointing back over his shoulder, to the main hangar.

“They acted in self defense” Optimus answered, his voice calm “Had you not tried to arrest them, none of that would have occurred. Also, if you recall the way they fought, you will realize they tried not to cause any significant harm.”

Both soldiers had trouble admitting they were right, but they eventually gave up and didn’t discuss the matter further “What should we do about them then?” Will asked, now calmer “We can’t just let them go on their own, they know way too much about classified matters, they could present a high security risk…”

“As I said, they do not present any danger themselves. However, if the Decepticons were to learn about them not only would they be in great danger, but also it could present a risk for everyone involved…” Optimus said seriously.

“Just how much classified information do they have?” Epps asked then.

“It’s not the information” Ratchet spoke “Even if they didn’t know anything that important, we don’t know what the Decepticons could be capable of if they thought they did know something… they might threaten with random destruction if they don’t get what they want… we can’t take such a risk”

Will and Epps nodded, understanding, and Sam shivered, imagining what could happen… He had experienced firsthand how ruthless the Decepticons were, and he didn’t doubt they would destroy anything in their path just to get what they wanted, whatever it was. He was starting to worry about the girls… if those creeps decided to go after them…

“So… I assume you have already decided on a way to stop that from happening?” Will asked, looking at them.

“Yes. They will remain here in the base, under our protection” Optimus said “They will be safe here, at least for the time being.”

≫We should make sure the humans don’t try to question them on their own, or treat them like prisoners, either… That would certainly break any trust we might have from them≪ Ratchet suggested over the comm. Optimus looked at him and gave a light nod.

“We will provide them a place to stay” confirmed Will, not sounding too happy about it, but inwardly agreeing it was safer this way, while Epps just nodded. Both were about to turn and leave, but stopped when Optimus spoke again.

“One more thing, Captain” he said “The girls are not to be questioned by anyone about what they know without their consent. Most of what they know affects only us, but I’m sure they will be willing to share any necessary information should it concern this Team. We also recommend they should be treated as guests, having freedom of movement around the base, excepting the usual restricted areas, of course” he finished.

Will and Epps could not believe their ears, what could those girls have possibly done to deserve such level of trust from the Autobots? It didn’t make much sense to them, but they nodded. If they trusted them, they must have a valid reason to do so. Will left the room at such a quick pace Epps almost had to run to catch up to him. Sam's eyes followed them until they left, and then looked at Bumblebee, who looked uncharacteristically serious.

“Everything alright, Bee?” Sam asked a little worried. The mech looked at him and nodded, flicking his antennae to exaggerate the motion. Sam smiled at him, and then sighed and stretched his arms “Well, guess I'll go see if I can get something to eat… it's been a long journey. See you later, guys!” he said, waving and exiting the room as well.

They were all silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts, until Ratchet announced he was going to check on the girls. He left the room and, figuring they would be outside, exited the main hangar and started looking around. He finally spotted them sitting on a small ledge outside the hangar. Leah seemed to be asleep, her head resting on Kyra’s lap, her expression now calm, but with the traces of her previous tears still visible on her face. Kyra just sat there, absently stroking the brunette’s hair gently and staring off into the horizon, her expression unreadable.

“Is she okay?” Ratchet asked as he approached.

Kyra looked up at him, and nodded faintly “She’s only tired from crying, do not worry” she answered.

Ratchet hesitated, but decided to sit on the floor next to the girls. Soon, he broke the silence, trying not to raise his voice too much “She seemed pretty upset” he said, gesturing to the brunette. Kyra nodded, but said nothing. ‘Either she’s upset too, or she’s not the talkative type’ he thought, and tried again “She suddenly collapsed in tears, I do not understand why. You didn’t appear to be as affected as she was.”

Kyra sighed, but answered “Didn’t you notice when she collapsed exactly?”

Ratchet paused to think for a moment, and it suddenly hit him; the brunette collapsed when Megatron…

“Jazz was Leah’s favorite character… her idol, so to speak” Kyra said, seeing realization in the medic’s optics “I always thought that if she ever had a boyfriend, he would be someone like Jazz, a human version of him… their personalities are so similar…” she let out a small chuckle and sighed, glancing at her still asleep friend with a small sad smile, still stroking her hair.

“I see…” Ratchet said, surprised by the revelation “I'm sure Jazz would have loved to meet her…” he commented smiling sadly, his voice slightly melancholic.

The redhead nodded “And it would have been like a dream come true for Leah…”

They remained silent for a while, staring into the horizon without saying a word, until the sound of heavy footsteps approaching broke that silence. The owner of those steps stopped suddenly upon hearing Ratchet’s angry voice over the comm. telling him the ruckus would wake up the human, and then, as carefully as he could, approached their position. Kyra deduced, by looking at the medic, that Ratchet must have told off whoever it was that was coming, since he was now frowning, sort of, and the noise was noticeably lower when the steps resumed.

“Sorry” Ironhide said apologetically once he was near them “Ah jus’ wanted to inform ‘em that Will ‘n’ the others are waitin’ for ‘em back inside, they need ta be introduced to th’ rest of the high ranks” he said.

“Introduced?” Kyra repeated, not understanding.

“O’ course, since yer goin’ ta stay here, it’s not that strange” Ironhide said, and looked at Ratchet a little puzzled, hadn’t he informed them of the decision? Judging by the look on the redhead’s face, apparently not.

“Can we really stay?” They girl asked Ratchet, as if not believing she had heard right.

“It has been decided that you will be given shelter here at the base” confirmed Ratchet. The girl’s face showed a mixture of relief and gratitude, as well as surprise, as she looked first at Ratchet and then at Ironhide.

“Ya should get goin’… they’re waitin’ for ya” Ironhide said, and turned around to leave, but stopped and seemed to hesitate. Both Kyra and Ratchet looked at him, curious “Bah th’ way” he said, looking over his shoulder at the redhead, who raised an eyebrow at him in confusion “Ya don’t fight half bad fer bein’ a little human” he said, and left without another word.

Kyra was bewildered, her eyes wide open, and the surprise evident in her face “Did he just… compliment me?” she asked, turning to look at Ratchet, who had a similar expression to hers, and was still looking at the spot his friend was a few moments ago.

"It would appear that way…” said the medic, then looked down at her “By your reaction, I take it you know how unusual this is, right?” Kyra nodded absently, still somewhat stunned. After a few seconds, she shook her head vigorously and seemed to go back to normal.

“Well, I guess we should get going” she said.

“Oh, I almost forgot” Ratchet said, getting Kyra’s attention “You forgot this back at the other room” he said, and carefully gave her a small black object, holding it between his fingers. Kyra immediately recognized the not-so-tiny-for-her object as Leah’s laptop.

“Thanks” she said, taking it “She would go crazy without this little thing around” she then said with a small smile as she put the laptop away into Leah’s bag.

Ratchet laughed “You’re welcome” he answered, then got up “I should go back now, too.”

“I’ll… see you around, then?” she asked a bit unsure.

“Sure” he answered with a smile “Now get going before they send someone else to get you” he said, and started walking back inside the hangar.

“Will do” Kyra said, then turned to look at the brunette, still asleep on her lap “Leah” Kyra called, shaking her friend’s shoulder gently “Leah, wake up” she called again, this time patting her cheek, to which the brunette finally reacted.

“Uh?” she asked, confused, sitting up and rubbing her eyes lazily “What is it?”

“Nap time’s over” she said, standing up and helping her friend up as well “They’re waiting for us, c’mon” she informed her, and grabbed her arm, half-dragging the brunette back inside with her.

A few minutes later, the girls were led into some sort of meeting room and told to wait. Soon, the door opened again, and Will and Epps entered, followed by two men and a woman.

“Well, let’s start with the introductions…” Will said, but then realized that he did not know the names of the girls, so he started by explaining the facts “These girls will reside here at the base until further notice due to special circumstances, and will have freedom of movement around the various parts of the complex, except restricted areas. As we briefly explained before, they are not to be questioned about those special circumstances, excluding only personal data when necessary for usual procedures, and should be treated as guests. Now, ladies… if you could please introduce yourselves…”

“Kyra Ayron” the redhead said automatically, her voice and expression neutral.

“Leah Rhodes” the brunette imitated her friend, being less serious and smiling.

“Well, you already know Captain William Lennox” Epps started, gesturing him “I am Sergeant Robert Epps” he said gesturing to himself “This is Lieutenant Katherine Keisy” he pointed the short-haired blonde woman, who smiled warmly at them and saluted “And these are Officer Cadet Karl McLergan and Medical Officer Anthony Soler” he said gesturing the other two as he said their names, and each of them greeted in response.

“Now, I’ll leave you with Lieutenant Keisy, she’ll take care of your identifications and show you around the base,  any questions?” Will asked, and everyone remained silent “Then that’s all. Dismissed.”

The men left, and Lieutenant Keisy gestured the girls to follow her, her smile never leaving her face “I heard about your big arrival” she commented, guiding them through the halls “Looks like you beat them good, huh? The entire base knows about it by now” she laughed.

“They were asking for it” Kyra said shrugging “That’ll teach them not to underestimate anyone for being a woman.”

“Well said!” Keisy complimented, still laughing “You know what? I think you two would make good soldiers… the army could use some more of our touch” she commented, and the three of them laughed.

After a while of walking and talking they reached what looked like an office “Well, here we are” Keisy said “I know the paperwork part is a bummer, but  we need to make your identifications… so let’s see… I need you to fill this forms…” she said, handing them to the girls, as well as a pen “And… do you have some sort of identification? Passport, driver’s license, anything?” she asked while she typed something on the computer.

“Sure, here” Kyra said, taking out an ID Card and handing it over, then started to fill the form. Leah did the same. Shortly after, Kyra handed her the form and the pen.

“Hmm… nice handwriting” Keisy commented looking at the delicate italic writing as she read the form. The redhead just smiled “All right, now… by any chance would you happen to have an ID photo?” she asked.

Kyra once again dug into her bag “Yeah, I do” she confirmed, taking it out “Here”

“I’m afraid I don’t have one” Leah said, handing over her form.

“No problem” Keisy said, still smiling, then pointed to a little device above the screen “Look here” she instructed.
As soon as the brunette did so, there was a little click “Done”

“Did you just take a pic of me with that?” Leah asked pointing to the little webcam. Keisy nodded yes “Great, I didn’t even have time to try and make a nice face… I bet I look horrible”

“Nah, you look just fine, really natural” Keisy assured, then started entering the data from the forms into the computer.

She could help but smile when she saw Leah’s name in the form; she had written her full name, but underlined her middle name. The brunette, guessing what she was smiling about, just commented “I just prefer my middle name”.

“That’s fine” Keisy assured, and went on typing. Everything was fine until Kyra noticed the Lieutenant frowning slightly, she didn’t say anything, but observed; Keisy looked again at the form, and then back at the screen. She was muttering something to herself quietly, and the redhead managed to catch her birth date between Keisy’s calculations. Apparently something didn’t add up. She turned to look at Leah’s form, and her frown deepened, was there the same problem with hers? She finally seemed to give up and continued typing until she was done “All right, now we just have to wait for a bit, and…” she went over to the printer, and came back with two ID cards. She slipped each of them into a plastic cover attached to a thin cord, then gave the cards to the girls “Hold onto these, and never leave without them” she warned “As long as you have these, nobody will bother you and you’ll be able to move around the base freely.”

Both nodded and hung them around their necks, looking at them for a moment.

After that, Keisy took them on a quick tour around the main parts of the base, such as the common room, the women’s dressing rooms, among others, and finally took them to the mess hall for dinner, since it was pretty late, and after that, showed them to their room. It was in the women’s area, which was quite reduced due to the ‘lack of female army population’ Keisy had told them.

“Well, I’ll leave you so you can settle in. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow so we can have breakfast together” she said, and waving cheerfully, went off to her own quarters.

Once the girls were alone, Leah broke the silence “Well, that went quite well…” she said with a sigh “Now what do we do?” she asked Kyra, who looked thoughtful.

Kyra held her hand up, and only after checking they couldn’t be heard or spied on, she answered “If you ask me, that went almost too well… and I’m not sure that’s a good thing” she answered sounding a bit worried.

“Don’t be paranoid… You worry too much… ” the brunette commented with a soft chuckle.

The redhead headed for one of the beds and sat down, a light frown on her face “Do not. It’s just strange, think about it; we’re two girls who appeared out of nowhere, and they believed us so easily… no serious fights, no cells… heck, they didn’t even search us! Our bags are intact, as well as our stuff! They even gave us clearance to move around and said we wouldn’t be interrogated or questioned further! It’s too convenient… this could be bad… There has to be a downside, some kind of catch…”

“Now, now, you’re being pessimistic…”

“No, I’m being realistic. It’s not the same” the redhead replied flatly.

“Well, maybe we read too much fanfiction and expected this to be the same!” Leah let out an exasperated sigh, when Kyra went into ovethinking-mode she could be quite frustrating… “Look, can’t you just let things be? We can’t change what’s already happened, so why worry about it?”

“… It’s in my nature, I guess” the redhead answered lowering her gaze “I’ve got this little voice in my head that keeps telling me something’s not right… that there’s something more, some detail I’m missing, and I’m failing to see what…”

“As I said, you worry too much” Leah repeated, shaking her head.

Kyra frowned at her, half-glaring “And you don’t worry at all”

“I know, but you already worry more than enough for the both of us, so why should I?” she countered, smiling.

The redhead couldn’t help but return the smile… ‘Maybe she’s right… worrying will get me nowhere, not right now at least…’ she sighed tiredly “Well… it’s pretty late now…” Kyra said after a brief silence “We should get some sleep, maybe everything will make more sense in the morning…” she said, and bent down to untie her boots.

“No… I don’t want to sleep” Leah said, suddenly tensing.

Kyra straightened up and shot her a confused look “What?” she asked, unsure of what she had heard.

“I don’t want to go to sleep” she repeated, not moving from her spot.

“Why not?”

“I’m afraid”

“Afraid of what?”

“I’m afraid of falling asleep”

“… I don’t understand, why would you be afraid of that? It’s not even that dark in here…”

“It’s not that, I’m just afraid … well, of what I’ll find when I wake up… I mean, this feels real, but it could be just a dream…” the brunette tried to explain.

“…” Kyra said nothing, but she seemed to be considering that possibility.

“I don’t want it to be a dream, but what if it is? What if I fall asleep now, and it all ends?”

“I doubt we’d be dreaming the same thing, if that’s of any help for you…”

Leah shook her head “I’ve had dreams like this before, and you’ve been in them, so it’s not that surprising… although I have to admit, I’ve never had so much control over myself while dreaming… this could be real after all…”

“I feel almost the same, but I’ve always had control over my dream-self… I wish I could be more sure of it… I’ve already tried many of the tests…”

“Tests?”

“Yeah, actions that help to determine whereas you’re in a dream or not” Leah looked lost, so she tried to explain “Dreams are born from our subconscious mind, based off things our conscious mind knows… but the information tends to be a bit random, hadn’t you noticed?” Leah shook her head “Let’s see, the easiest one is to look at any watch or clock and remember the time it tells, then look away and look at it again; if it’s a dream, there’s a high probability the time it shows will be different. Same with texts, books, notes… they change if you look away and then look back.”

“I didn’t know that…  and you say you tried them?”

“Yes, but…” the redhead’s frown deepened slightly.

“But?” Leah asked, waiting for her to continue.

“Not a single time they changed… it’s too much of a coincidence, it’s as if it wasn’t a dream…”

Leah smiled a little “So does that mean this is reality?” she sounded hopeful.

“I don’t know… I don’t know what to think… everything indicates it is, but… it’s too surreal, my mind keeps telling me it can’t be reality, even when everything else is telling me otherwise!”

“… It’s kinda like one of those weird dreams I use to have… only this time it feels it’s… dunno, longer…” she sighed “It’s hard to believe we’re actually in a different dimension after all…”

“That’s completely irrational” she frowned again “But at the same time I think it’s the truth… those feelings back when I watched the movie can’t be figments of my imagination, they were too strong for that… and they couldn’t be memories either, I’ve never felt something like that before…”

“What do memories have to do with feeling what we felt?”

“You cannot experience feelings or sensations in your dreams if you have never experienced them in real life, that’s what” the redhead explained.

“Why not? I have never flown in real life, but I have in dreams, and pretty often too”

“That’s not entirely true”

“… Care to explain?”

“Think about it; when you fly in your dreams… doesn’t it feel more like swimming in the air? Doesn’t it feel like the air is thicker to your touch? As if your body was underwater, with the only difference that you can breathe?”

“Well… now that you mention it…” the brunette said, thinking about it.

“And I could go on… I’ve never been able to go through walls in my dreams, until I experienced what it was like to go through an illusionary wall; I’ve even broken my bones and even mi neck in my dreams, but didn’t feel a thing, because I’ve never experienced what it’s like to have a broken bone!”

Leah reflected for a few seconds, realizing it was indeed true, then looked incredulously at her friend “Where the heck do you learn all of this stuff?”

Kyra shrugged “Internet, kinesis and mediation forums. My experiences just confirm the theories.”

“Should have guessed…”

“The point is, everything feels so illogically real, it doesn’t matter how much I think about it, I can’t get anything to make sense!” she brought her fingers to her temples and rubbed them “and it’s giving me a headache…”

“But then… why didn’t we panic or something? That would be the normal reaction in such a case… if it was real, I mean…” Leah observed.

“I guess we were too busy taking in what was happening, the… excitement of the situations we went through… although we did space out a little when we first got here… The fact that we have read so many Fanfiction might have helped too, that knowledge made us react automatically according to the situation, without giving much thought to whether it was real or not…” Kyra said, almost trying to convince herself of what she was saying “Damn… it’s all so confusing…” she muttered at last.

“Yeah, maybe that’s why, we never stopped to really think about all this stuff since we got here… I had assumed it was a dream, so there was no reason to freak out, but now…” she frowned, then shook her head “But there’s no reason to get so stressed over it, you might not have circuits to blow, but if you keep overworking your mind like this you might fry your neurons or something” she laughed.

“You were the one that started this” Kyra retorted with an annoyed frown.

“I know, I know… and I’m sorry, okay? … but I think you were right; we should try and get some sleep for now”

Kyra let out a defeated sigh and finished untying her boots, taking them off and trying to make herself comfortable on the bed “I just hope I don’t go into shock in the morning, when all the information does sink in…”

“Yeah, me too… that is, assuming I don’t wake up in my own room and find out it was just a dream… which I hope won’t happen… that’d be depressing” Leah said as she took off her shoes and laid down on her bed.

“Yeah… depressing indeed…” Kyra said, and turned off the lights.

TBC...
Next Chapter ---> Chapter 5: Reality
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