It's a conspiracy, I say!
Chapter: Of Conspiracy
Series: Of Revenge
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Dark and getting darker.
Summary: Sam gets to visit with a detective, and Bonecrusher gets to blow things up.
Previous parts: Of Pain Of Anguish
Earth, present
The detective dropped a folder on the table in front of Sam and pulled up a chair. “That’s a nice car you’ve got out there,” he commented, sitting down.
“Uh… thanks?”
“She’s what, a 2007?”
“Some-something like that…”
The detective opened the folder, pulling out a photo. He tossed it across the table. Sam stared down at the picture of Bumblebee’s vehicle mode. “Of course, Chevy hasn’t made the Camero since 2002, and isn’t intending on releasing the new model until 2009, but what’s two years to a guy like you?” the detective continued, keeping his voice deliberately pleasant.
Sam swallowed, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“But since there’s only a few of the concept cars on the street, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out if you’re supposed to have one, eh?”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
“But yet, here you are with a brand-new 2009 Camero, and here I am, with a list of all the 2009 Cameros in existence. And by some freak coincidence, not only is your name not on this list, but one of these extremely rare cars was reported stolen.” He leaned forward. “You can see why I might be a bit suspicious.”
The detective laid another piece of paper next to the Camero list. “Add that to your DMV records, and that little stunt you pulled a few weeks ago with the ‘my car is a giant robot’ 911 call… Well, this looks bad, kid.”
Sam stared down at the last paper. The words ‘look at the boy’s car’ were scrawled across the bottom in unfamiliar handwriting.
“I’d suggest you start talking, kid. I’ve got stolen cars, burning houses, and two missing people, all of which link directly to you.” A look of sympathy crossed his face. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
“I-“ Sam stopped, staring at the detective helplessly.
x-x-x
Cybertron - six million years ago
Supply depot outside Iacon City
Barricade nudged a corpse with a foot, then stepped over it, not giving the dead Autobot a second glance. A sound drew his attention to one side.
“Oh Primus… I- please…” the Autobot was young, his voice quavering in pain and terror. “Please, I don’t want… to… to…”
“D-die?” Frenzy offered helpfully. “S-sorry, not an option.”
The disabled Autobot’s pleading turned to choked gurgling as the tiny hacker cut his fuel lines.
“Whiney little Autobrat-t-t,” Frenzy grumbled. He hopped up on Barricade’s shoulder for a better view.
“Bonecrusher is finished placing the charges. Soon as Long Haul is loaded, we can leave,” Barricade told him. “Where is Ravage?”
“Keeping watch for Autobots.” He paused. “Ravage says the next Autobot-t p-patrol is leaving the city. They’ll be coming here t-to meet the last patrol.” He snickered. “B-be hard, seeing as they’re all d-dead.”
A deep rumbling growl announced Bonecrusher’s arrival. “We’re loaded. Time to go… We want out of the blast radius before our company gets here.”
A few minutes later they were tearing back down the road as an explosion ripped through one half of the outpost.
“There’s one!” Bonecrusher yelled over the noise with evil glee.
“You set more than one?!”
“Oh, yeah! I suggest going faster for the next one!”
“Go faster? Go FASTER?! Some of us are actually carrying a load here!” Long Haul raged at Bonecrusher.
“Ravage wants to know where the sec-c-c-cond one is set,” Frenzy relayed over the radio.
“The energon storage tanks.”
Horrified silence as the implications of that set in. Then Long Haul spoke over the sound of the engines. “…Let’s go faster.” Bonecrusher cackled.
x-x-x
Earth, present
Barricade sat in an old carport of an empty house, feeling incredibly lonely. He missed Megatron’s confidence, Frenzy’s spastic chatter, Blackout’s conversations… slag, he even missed Bonecrusher blowing things up. He’d spent part of the day carefully editing police files, but now there was nothing to do until morning. He’d already dropped off the two humans, and made all the arrangements he could.
How many nights had he spent waiting for prey? How many had he spent waiting for the time to be right, and his orders to come? There was something different about it now, with no one else there. He’d been alone plenty of times before, sometimes the only Decepticon on the planet, but there’d always been the knowledge that he could go home. Now there was nothing to go back to.
And he knew who to blame for it. He’d show them exactly what it was like to lose everything you cared about.
Series: Of Revenge
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Dark and getting darker.
Summary: Sam gets to visit with a detective, and Bonecrusher gets to blow things up.
Previous parts: Of Pain Of Anguish
Earth, present
The detective dropped a folder on the table in front of Sam and pulled up a chair. “That’s a nice car you’ve got out there,” he commented, sitting down.
“Uh… thanks?”
“She’s what, a 2007?”
“Some-something like that…”
The detective opened the folder, pulling out a photo. He tossed it across the table. Sam stared down at the picture of Bumblebee’s vehicle mode. “Of course, Chevy hasn’t made the Camero since 2002, and isn’t intending on releasing the new model until 2009, but what’s two years to a guy like you?” the detective continued, keeping his voice deliberately pleasant.
Sam swallowed, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“But since there’s only a few of the concept cars on the street, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out if you’re supposed to have one, eh?”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
“But yet, here you are with a brand-new 2009 Camero, and here I am, with a list of all the 2009 Cameros in existence. And by some freak coincidence, not only is your name not on this list, but one of these extremely rare cars was reported stolen.” He leaned forward. “You can see why I might be a bit suspicious.”
The detective laid another piece of paper next to the Camero list. “Add that to your DMV records, and that little stunt you pulled a few weeks ago with the ‘my car is a giant robot’ 911 call… Well, this looks bad, kid.”
Sam stared down at the last paper. The words ‘look at the boy’s car’ were scrawled across the bottom in unfamiliar handwriting.
“I’d suggest you start talking, kid. I’ve got stolen cars, burning houses, and two missing people, all of which link directly to you.” A look of sympathy crossed his face. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
“I-“ Sam stopped, staring at the detective helplessly.
x-x-x
Cybertron - six million years ago
Supply depot outside Iacon City
Barricade nudged a corpse with a foot, then stepped over it, not giving the dead Autobot a second glance. A sound drew his attention to one side.
“Oh Primus… I- please…” the Autobot was young, his voice quavering in pain and terror. “Please, I don’t want… to… to…”
“D-die?” Frenzy offered helpfully. “S-sorry, not an option.”
The disabled Autobot’s pleading turned to choked gurgling as the tiny hacker cut his fuel lines.
“Whiney little Autobrat-t-t,” Frenzy grumbled. He hopped up on Barricade’s shoulder for a better view.
“Bonecrusher is finished placing the charges. Soon as Long Haul is loaded, we can leave,” Barricade told him. “Where is Ravage?”
“Keeping watch for Autobots.” He paused. “Ravage says the next Autobot-t p-patrol is leaving the city. They’ll be coming here t-to meet the last patrol.” He snickered. “B-be hard, seeing as they’re all d-dead.”
A deep rumbling growl announced Bonecrusher’s arrival. “We’re loaded. Time to go… We want out of the blast radius before our company gets here.”
A few minutes later they were tearing back down the road as an explosion ripped through one half of the outpost.
“There’s one!” Bonecrusher yelled over the noise with evil glee.
“You set more than one?!”
“Oh, yeah! I suggest going faster for the next one!”
“Go faster? Go FASTER?! Some of us are actually carrying a load here!” Long Haul raged at Bonecrusher.
“Ravage wants to know where the sec-c-c-cond one is set,” Frenzy relayed over the radio.
“The energon storage tanks.”
Horrified silence as the implications of that set in. Then Long Haul spoke over the sound of the engines. “…Let’s go faster.” Bonecrusher cackled.
x-x-x
Earth, present
Barricade sat in an old carport of an empty house, feeling incredibly lonely. He missed Megatron’s confidence, Frenzy’s spastic chatter, Blackout’s conversations… slag, he even missed Bonecrusher blowing things up. He’d spent part of the day carefully editing police files, but now there was nothing to do until morning. He’d already dropped off the two humans, and made all the arrangements he could.
How many nights had he spent waiting for prey? How many had he spent waiting for the time to be right, and his orders to come? There was something different about it now, with no one else there. He’d been alone plenty of times before, sometimes the only Decepticon on the planet, but there’d always been the knowledge that he could go home. Now there was nothing to go back to.
And he knew who to blame for it. He’d show them exactly what it was like to lose everything you cared about.