Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ Cover Me ❯ Dirty Laundry ( Chapter 11 )

Cover Me

By Black Dragon Queen

Author's note: WOO HOO! I HIT OVER 100 PAGES! Does a little dance when BDQ suddenly realizes that there is a mass horde of angry readers staring at her… and they have pitchforks… oh dear… Err… let's start the chapter!

PAIRINGS REVEALED THUS FAR:

Wheeljack x Ratchet, Past Prowl x Jazz

Font Index:

“Speaking”, `Thinking', “-Radio Transmissions-”, “Cybertronion”

NOTICE: Please remember that all the Cybertronions in my story are actually real characters that were in some form of the TV series or toy line. I really didn't want to make up any of my own since there are literally over a hundred characters already in the series.

~*~

Chapter Eleven: Dirty Laundry

The garage had become rather dull rather fast. Having been banned from leaving said garage or even leaving the property was beginning to grate onto the mustang's electronically equivalent of nerves. It was bad enough just being stuck on the property, but then all the humans, as well as the bug, had insisted that he stay in the garage in case the jet turned leader did a fly by. That and the neighbors weren't ones to mind their own business and suddenly having a damaged patrol car in their yard would start many a tongue wagging. So here he was. Stuck. In a stupid garage. With nothing to do!

`I actually wouldn't mind the bug at this point,' Barricade mused as he once more slaughtered his previous high score. The fact that it was simply solitaire did not elude him. On the up side, the garage door was currently down shielding him from the world or better yet, the Autobots' maddening stare. So that wasn't so much a problem, just the slagging boredom!

Barricade sighed again as he tried to find something to do in the confined space of endless gray. He finally decided to try logging onto the Internet in an attempt to alleviate his oppressing boredom and began to browse the local gaming sites. After swindling some poor soul out of what had to be the end of his entire life's savings he quickly became bored once more and continued his search for something to do. Soon he found a local video page and he quickly came upon what was the current hot topic of California, them.

The sites were filled with gossip on whether or not there really were aliens in California and everyone was speculating on if it was an invasion or just the government up to it's usual mischief. A few of the sites were just so completely outlandish that Barricade erased them without even bothering to go beyond the main page. Honestly, who would come to Earth to steal the planet's ozone? Completely ridiculous. There were a few others that were very intriguing but still completely off base.

After a short while, he came upon the favored video site where average people posted their stupid little movies thinking they were the next great director or something. `Losers,' he thought with amusement. He browsed the site for a while when he found what looked like for all intended purposes an innocent link entitled “The Battle of the Aliens”. Curious, Barricade clicked the link, thinking it was another scene from that sci-fi movie and was quite surprised when he found himself viewing what was a rather interesting video feed of the fight between Prime and Bonecrusher. The comments were rather entertaining too.

Barricade snickered. “Very intriguing; it was not bad for a cell phone vid and I was highly entertained. Yet there is one thing I fear I must tell you, you pathetic fleshling creatures! Hear me, humans of the world! Believe what you will but we are very real and we are here. And yes, we are trying to take over the world! By the way, Michel Stark of Cherrywood Lane- stay right where you are! I'll be there soon to… visit.”

Ten seconds later, the vid was deleted with a short note of apology from the poster with the handle of “lordm”. Barricade chuckled once again at the note and was now have oodles of fun flaming the occasional person who happened to get video feed of ANY Cybertronion and succumbing to mass fits of hysterics as he uploaded a multitude of virus and worms to the many Alien Sightings Sites. `Note to self: visit Roswell, New Mexico.'

Snickering as loudly as he was, he still caught the sound of the human sized back door swinging open and an optic immediately flashed on to see Ladiesman217's female creator entering the garage. “Good morning!” Judy Witwicky chirped as she set a rather large bag on the floor beside the baffled mustang. “Have a nice night?”

“Considering that I'm stuck in what amounts to a box with absolutely little to no interaction with the outside world? Yes, actually. It was lovely; I got to catch up on my reading.” Barricade replied sarcastically, all the while eyeing the rather large bag dubiously. “What's with the sack? Want me to help you hide a body?”

Judy snorted as she glared down at the object. “Considering just how many clothes my boys go through, I may take you up on that offer.” Barricade let out a bark of laughter and Judy smiled as she hefted the laundry bag up onto Ron's workbench. “Glad to see you're feeling better,” she said as she began going through the mass quantities of clothing and separating them. “I was beginning to wonder if you were cantankerous simply due to the current circumstances or if `grouchy' was just your middle name.”

“We actually do not have middle names, just the nicknames we call each other behind one another's back,” Barricade deadpanned gleefully. This was actually fun. “For example, I am known to call Bumblebee `blunderbug, `autobit' or just simply `blondie'.”

Judy snickered. “Oh, so what's yours then?” She asked as she added the soap to the machine. “No, let me guess. They call you “sunshine”, don't they?”

“What?” Barricade was having trouble suppressing some laughter. “Trust me. My bright personality is the least of their jibes.”

“`Sparkles', then?” Judy giggled.

“Why of course they do! Haven't you seen my wonderful paint job?” he teased.

She giggled again as she set the timer. She was actually quite relieved. When she had first realized that she would have to go into the garage to do the laundry she had to admit to herself that she was a little more than afraid. Thankfully the giant alien robot didn't mind humoring her. Twisting the dial, she fished out her book and plopped herself down in her designated lawn chair. She looked at the car for a while before curiosity got the better of her. “So how do you get your names?”

“Hmm?” Barricade quickly finished yet another threat and turned his attention back to the human who currently invading his sanctuary. “Oh, usually we gain our names through our actions,” he explained to her. “For example, I only received my name `Barricade' after I had joined the Decepticons due to my blockade-running tactics.”

“Really?” Judy asked, surprised. “What was your name before?”

Barricade hesitated for a moment, unsure if he wanted to bring up such memories before reluctantly admitting, “It was `Runner'.”

“It was?” Judy sat forward on her chair, captivated with the conversation. This was the most she had ever heard about the aliens her son was working with. Usually the only things she heard were what Sam told her in passing. “Why were you called that?”

Barricade sighed as key words were beginning to pull up different files from his memory banks that he had not seen in over a century. `Primus, I haven't thought about this in years,” he mused as he glanced at the multitude of images flashing past his optics. He startled when he finally remembered the human waiting for his answer. “It was what I actually did when I was back on Cybertron.”

“What? Running?” Judy asked confused, wondering how he would get a name with the word “run” in it since they were essentially cars. “Were you a delivery person or something?” Barricade burst out laughing in surprise and Judy felt herself blushing. “Well it's a valid question,” she muttered embarrassed.

Barricade managed to get himself under control though a few chuckles still occasionally escaped him. “No, that's quite alright and understandable considering.”

“Well?” Judy huffed in exasperation. “What did you do? On your home planet you must have done something before the war.”

Barricade sighed at the woman's persistence. “Well, the planet wasn't all… what is the term? Roses?” Judy nodded and he continued. “There actually was a darker side to the planet; however, it was nothing major such as mass murder or anything of the kind. It just had some petty crimes and so on. It's like any other society I suppose. There were rejects from the norm.”

Judy looked down at the damaged mustang in sudden realization. “And you were one of those rejects, weren't you?”

“Indeed,” Barricade stated with actual pride. “Believe it or not, but I was a gang leader.”

“A gang?” Judy gapped in surprise. “As in street thugs and graffiti and all that?”

“Well, not exactly,” he chuckled. “It was actually a racing gang. Back ally drag racing, obstacle courses, where everyday objects were the obstacles…”

Judy rolled her eyes. “Yes, I got that one.”

Barricade snickered again. “It actually came in handy when I became a Decepticon,” he admitted more to himself than the listening human. “I was the leader of my own team, oh so brilliantly called the `Race Track Patrol'. Megatron was a shrewd tactician, but his natural creativity sucked.”

“You were a commander?” Judy asked, trying to picture the curt patrol car actually leading his very own troops. She glanced at the mustang, “Can I ask what they were like? Or is that to invasive?”

Barricade paused as three profiles immediately popped up on his internal screen. He stared at them for a long time, just remembering his still missing comrades and the good old days when mayhem ruled and he wasn't stuck in some stupid garage! Judy bit her lip as the silence stretched. “I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”

Barricade found himself supporting a soft, internal smile. “No, it's quite alright,” he reassured her. “Well, I suppose I'll start with the basics. There were four of us all together.”

“Only four?”

Barricade let out a dark, sinister laugh. “Believe me, four was all the Autobots could handle.” He paused again as he just stared at the three pictures on his screen. “Well to start with, there was Ground Hog. He was kind of our team's very own version of a field medic.”

“You had your own medic?” Judy asked surprised. “Didn't the Decepticons have their own medic? Like Ratchet? Why did your team need one? Or were the missions that dangerous?”

There was silence for a long moment and Judy wondered if she had asked something wrong when Barricade slowly answered her. “Yes, the Decepticons did have their own surgeon… named Hook.”

“Hook?” Judy instantly pictured the old fairy tale pirate that bore the same name when Barricade's entire frame rattled in remembrance.

“Anyway,” Barricade quickly went back to the main topic. “Ground Hog was always quick to help his comrades and loath as I am to say it, he was quite the team player; which I assure you is very rare in a Decepticon. He was more caretaker than anything else yet he fit right in as part of the RTP. He practically lived in the engineering room, searching for better ways that we could dominate on the battlefield as well as on the track since it was him who always ended up repairing the others and-” Barricade suddenly broke off in laughter and Judy raised an eyebrow at the loud chuckles and barks of laughter.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized after a long moment of trying to control his emotions. “It's just that I'm starting to remember different things. Such as this one time, there was a rather large battle right before we all left our home planet. It was your basic fight but for once, we had the upper hand against the `Bots. We didn't win it but we did have the edge there for a while. Well anyway, Motorhead had once again gotten himself into trouble with his antics to impress me and Ground Hog instantly went to help him, right? So then,” he started chuckling again. “Since he needed parts to get Motorhead up and running again he simply took what parts he needed out of the nearest unconscious Autobot! I think it was actually Smokescreen whom he snagged the parts from. Apparently Ratchet's angry yelling could be heard all the way back at our own base! And we were half a planet away!”

Judy began giggling as well since Sam had told her about Ratchet's more… vocal bedside manner. “Somehow, I don't thing it was anything positive either,” she giggled. “So wait, who was Motorhead? Another teammate?”

Barricade snickered again. “Yes, the rookie of our group. The kid just did not seem to get it in his processor that no matter how hard he tried to impress me the only thing he DID end up doing was just impressing me on the number of times he screwed up!”

“Barricade!” Judy chastised whapping the hood lightly in jest. “That's a horrible thing to say!”

“It's the truth!” Barricade insisted with a chuckle. “He had Tracks in his line of sight and he turns around to make sure I'm watching and gets BLOWN UP in the process!” Barricade sighed. “I swear that kid just does not want to learn from his mistakes! Though he did get better… eventually… I think the others had a hand in that one, thank Primus. It saved me a lot of aggravation.”

Judy snickered again as she immediately envisioned this “Motorhead” in comparison to a toddler intent on getting his mommy's attention. “What about your third member?” she asked. “What was he like?”

“Roller Force,” Barricade reminisced fondly, “the absolute opposite of Ground Hog.”

“Really?”

“He hates teamwork. Out of all three of them he was the biggest pain in my aft! Sometimes he was worse that Motorhead! He saw everyone as a slagging obstacle to his goal, and that was including us! A goal, mind you, that was to blow up everyone and anyone within a gigaclik.”

“`Gigaclick'?”

“Roughly our version of a mile.”

“Oh.”

“Roller Force was fun though,” Barricade did admit. “Saw the race tracks as something only for wimps and was actually more of a rough terrain racer. That and the fact that he preferred the battlefield to racing was very helpful in a Decepticon… terrible if you're the one attempting to lead the empty headed lug nut but still.”

Judy and Barricade both shared another quick laugh before sobering slightly as Judy swapped out the different loads. She returned to her chair and glanced at the Decepticon, wondering. “Um, what happened to them? I mean, if they're not here on Earth then I can only assume… I mean I suppose that it's too painful-”

“No, no. It's quite alright,” Barricade quickly reassured her. “They are actually all alive a well the last time I spoke to them. Though, mind you this was a few centuries ago.”

“They are?” Judy tilted her head quizzically. “Then why are they not here on Earth with you?”

“The All Spark was not the only thing we were searching for, you know.” Barricade explained. “There is another thing that we must find if we are to continue our survival. Energon.”

“Energon?” Judy repeated the strange word. “What's that?”

“Well, Energon is basically our food. It's what we live off of.”

“It is?” Judy replied in surprise. “I thought you lived off of gas.”

Barricade mentally rolled his eyes. “While gas is keeping us functional, it is not a sustaining force to our survival. Think if you will, of being stranded on an island where you eat nothing but fruit and fish. You would be lacking certain nutrients your body would need, correct? It is the same for us. While we can live off of your planets natural resources, we cannot survive off of them. If we are to continue on only using gas as fuel, then I'm afraid that we will eventually starve to death.”

“WHAT?” Judy gasped as she leapt to her feet, startling the mustang. “You're dying? Why did you not say anything? How long do you have? A few months? Weeks? Days?”

Barricade chuckled. “It is quite alright female parental unit of Ladiesman217, we have some time. At a rough estimate we have, oh, six to seven hundred years before our primary functions shut down.”

Judy gapped for a moment before she felt herself collapse back into the lawn chair. “Oh,” she mused dazedly. “Then I suppose you have some time… and it's Judy, please.”

“Indeed Judy, and please call me `Cade.” Barricade reassured her. “Energon is what the RTP and the rest of the Autobots are currently searching the cosmos for, a bit of a backup plan if you will. Everyone on both sides were unsure just how long it would take to locate the All Spark and with Cybertron dying, we had to find some place compatible for us to live. Such as your kind trying to find a planet with water and oxygen, we must find one with Energon.”

Judy mulled over that information for a while. “So, when you find a planet with Energon, will there be another war over who owns it?”

Barricade stared at the human in surprise. Even he had not considered that. “Perhaps,” he admitted. “Though, it depends on how many on both sides survived. I would assume that there would be a tentative ceasefire if there was Energon discovered if both factions are as reduced as I calculate.”

“Reduced?” She asked puzzled.

Barricade let out a scathing chuckle. “Remember, this was a world war literally encompassing the whole planet. Out of the hundreds of thousands who existed, only perhaps a few hundred survived all together.”

Judy gasped horrified at what the patrol car was implying; she had never thought of that. Overwhelmed with the sheer amazement that there were other life forms out there, she had never paused to think what the destruction of their home planet meant for them. “But… your kind won't go extinct though, right? I mean, there are survivors, you can, er, rebuild…”

Barricade sighed as he stared at the human who was looking at him hopefully, hesitant to answer her. “No,” he finally admitted. “I'm afraid we cannot.”

Judy gapped at him disbelievingly. “But surly- I mean, what about children?” she asked incredulously. “You had to come from somewhere, didn't you?”

Barricade reeled back at the sheer force at which Judy shouted her question and looked at her sadly. He couldn't blame her however. As a mother, it was only natural that her thought process would naturally go to the conclusion that they could reproduce themselves. However, as a planet as complex as Cybertron it was not as easy as one would think. “No, Judy. We can't. That was why the All Spark was so important to us.”

“But…” Judy stared at the car in disbelief. “Couldn't you just build more of your kind? I mean, you are essentially robots, right?”

“That is not how it works,” Barricade sighed. “Yes, we could attempt to build more but then they would be nothing more than what you humans have thus achieved; empty robots with artificial intelligence. They would not have a Spark, a soul,” he said softly. “Only the All Spark could grant such a thing.”

There was silence for a long while as both were lost in their thoughts. Neither of the garage's occupants would have ever thought that the conversation about Barricade's past would take such a drastic turn. The knowledge that there would be no more of their kind weighed especially heavy on Judy. As a mother, she knew the need to recreate and bring forth a new life into the world. That they were the last of their kind and always will be was overwhelming to the woman. The fact that it was her son who was to blame hurt her even more. `Poor Sam,' she thought sadly. `I wonder if anyone explained to him exactly what destroying the All Spark really meant.'

Barricade too, was lost in his own thoughts. He did not wish to admit it, but the idea that there would be no more sparklings wrenched a horrible pain in his own Spark. It was actually quite humbling in the knowledge that they were not quite as formidable as they thought themselves to be. The few remaining Cybertronions, from both sides of the war, were basically it for the rest of eternity. They were the last of their kind and there would be no more. There would be no more Cybertronions. No more Autobots. No more Decepticons.

Depressing, to say the least.

The gentle rumble of the washer was the only noise for a long time as the two sat there, only interrupted by the sounding of the buzzer and Judy getting up to fold the dried laundry automatically. “May I ask you something?” Judy finally spoke. “There's something that I've been wondering-”

“You wish to know why I joined the Decepticons,” Barricade beat her to it.

“Well, actually yes.” Judy returned to her chair. “I'll admit, when I was told exactly who, or rather what, you are I was expecting a harsh and bitter creature with a thirst for destruction and murderous intent towards everyone. As a Decepticons you would have absolutely no morals or boundaries in your love for annihilation.”

“I see Ironhide had been shooting off at the mouth again,” Barricade gripped sourly, yet extremely grateful for the change in mood within the garage.

“Oh, well actually he didn't say all of that per-say, but that isn't all true is it? You actually seem fairly decent to me.”

Barricade chuckled at the thought that anyone would actually call him decent, and to his face no less! “Judy, after telling you that I was part of what was essentially an underground racing gang; would you have wanted me on the side that stands for good and light?”

“Now that has nothing to do with it and you know it,” Judy chided in her best unyielding mother voice. “I would assume that you would have had the choice on which side you would fight for in the war. Why join the side that started the war in the first place?”

Barricade sighed in defeat at her determined tone. It was clear that Judy Witwicky had found the proverbial bone and one she wasn't going to let go of soon “Well, that actually depends on your point of view,” he reasoned. “If my understanding is correct, it was the Americans who started what was called the Revolutionary War with England, were they not?”

Judy faltered surprise that the mustang would even know about that but then again, he was basically a living computer. “Well, yes,” she admitted, a little unsure how a two hundred plus year old war was going to tie into the conversation

“And would you condemn the British for fighting when they were simply trying to hold on to their own people?”

“Well, that was different,” Judy insisted. “We were trying to liberate ourselves. Your war was trying to annihilate each other.”

Barricade sighed, wondering what would be the best way to explain. “Well, let's try this. Say your planet achieved its world peace.”

Judy blinked in surprise. “Okay. I'm with you so far, not sure where you're going.”

“Just bare with me,” Barricade maintained. “Now say you achieved your world peace, save the occasional petty crime of course. Wars are completely nonexistent. Now say, oh on the off chance that an alien race bent on complete domination arrived on your planet planning to enslave your people. What would you do?”

“Well I suppose we would fight,” Judy murmured, still a little confused.

“Ah, but what would you do if you didn't know how to fight?”

“Well… well… I suppose…” Judy trailed off hesitantly before shaking her head and continuing on determinedly. “Well then we would have to relearn how to fight.”

Barricade was grinning internally as he waited for her to make the realization. “So you would set aside your desire for world peace and go to war against the intruders?”

Judy nodded her head sharply. “If it meant survival then yes, we would…” she trailed off as her mouth dropped in surprise as she finally managed to catch on to what he was hedging at. “You mean the whole war was about relearning how to fight before someone else took over?” She gasped in complete and utter surprise.

“Well, I wouldn't put it in those words, but essentially… yes.” Barricade sat back on his tires, glad that the woman caught on so quickly. “That was the main point but Megatron also saw how stagnant our race had become. We were simply going though life on autopilot. Nothing new was being discovered because there was no reason to. We had what we thought was all that we needed at that was that. There were no conflict of opinion therefore there were no wars. Since everyone agreed, there were no new ideas being formed. Our race had basically just halted in its growth and stayed there, content with the level of what we had achieved, never trying to go beyond it.”

“So… so this was all just a lesson?” Judy gapped unbelievingly.

Barricade chuckled. “More like survival of the fittest. Megatron was very convincing in his recruiting. He stated it was more like ensuring that our race moved forward, but now with the destruction of the All Spark...” Barricade trailed off.

Judy sobered and stared down at the mustang sadly. “I'm sorry,” she said gently, softly stroking the car's hood.

Barricade would have gifted the petite woman a smile if he had been able too. Truly, humans were remarkable creatures. “Thank you.”

~*~

Bumblebee was sitting in the driveway when Judy finally emerged from the garage a few hours later with her mountain of clean laundry. She glanced back at the garage before looking at the yellow camaro once again and sighed in resignation. Setting the bag of fresh, clean laundry on the ground she opened the door and climbed in to speak with her son's appointed guardian. “You heard?” she asked already knowing the answer.

The camaro was silent for a long time when Judy was suddenly bathed in warm, re-filtered air. “I never knew, you know; just why it was that Megatron started the war in the first place. There were a lot of speculations floating around on just why it was that he went insane but it was all mostly gossip. Some thought he couldn't take the pressure of being High Protector, others said he caught a virus that wrecked havoc on his system but no one ever really knew.” `Bee paused a moment as a thought hit him. “I don't think even Optimus really knew why his brother did it,” he said sadly.

Judy made a small sound of understanding as she and the other alien car that inhabited her home sat in silence. “I suppose no one really understands why another would go to war,” she finally stated softly. “Everyone always believes that their cause is the right reason. I wonder if anyone on your side ever tried to find out why it was that the Decepticons were attacking in the first place.”

“How could you say that?” Bumblebee growled, completely shocked at what he was hearing. “How could anyone think that Megatron was right when he went to war?”

“I'm not saying that he was right, Autobit,” Judy snapped, pleased when the younger car let out a surprised gasp at the nickname. “I'm just wondering if his intentions were possibly right.”

Bumblebee snarled but had to admit that now that he thought about it, the long days on Cybertron had gotten a bit… monotonous in those few centuries before Megatron attacked Tyger Pax. Not that he condoned what the mech did but still…

“Bumblebee,” Judy said sternly. “I suggest that you think about Barricade's words and just why it was that he joined the Decepticons before you judge him. In fact, before you judge any of them.”

“What?” `Bee gasped in complete shock. How could she ask this of him? “But… but they're Decepticons!” Bumblebee protested. “The bad guys!”

Judy sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to get through to the young `Bot anytime soon. Eons of hate were not going to be erased in one day; she knew this. She opened the door and climbed back out, hefting the laundry bag over her shoulder. “Just think it through before you do anything rash. Can you promise me that?”

`Bee snarled some more but said nothing as he watched the woman walk away. How could she ask him of this? To actually feel some sort of… of… empathy with the `Con? They were the bad guys, simple as that. They didn't need a reason to go to war. Their desire of destruction and power was all the motivation that they needed.

`Then why am I actually beginning to understand how he thinks?' `Bee thought somberly as he looked back at the closed door of the garage where he knew the Decepticon to be. `This sucks,' he thought angrily. `How could I be… sympathizing with that… that… ARGH!'

The sudden static that filled his cab startled `Bee as his comm. abruptly came to life. `Bee sighed as he activated his code breaker. “-Bumblebee. Come in.-”Ironhide's voice rang out. “-Bumblebee, will you slagging answer already?-”

Bumblebee groaned and quickly shoved his whirling thoughts aside as he switched on his communicator. “-`Bee, here. What's going on? What's wrong?-”

“-Wrong?-” Ironhide's rough laughter suddenly echoed out of the speakers and it sounded as if the older, gruff `Bot had finally lost his sanity chip. “-Absolutely nothing! It's what's right `Bee! It's what's right!-”

`Bee mentally frowned as he could now hear what sounded like Red Alert celebrating in the background. “-What? What in the Matrix is going on over there?-” he demanded.

“-The others!-” Ironhide's voice was filled with the sound of his elation. “-We just got a signal! They're coming, `Bee! The others are coming!-”