Chapter 229: Brains

"Don't worry, Carly. I'll talk to them," Sam said, closing the window with an awkward smile.

Her words sounded eerily familiar, leaving him with a strange, lingering sense of unease.

"I just want a normal boyfriend, Sam," Carly said, slipping her coat on and adjusting her hair once more. "Your friends are making our home life a little complicated."

"But that's why you love me, right?"

"I haven't said that word yet," Carly teased, looking back over her shoulder with a sharp smile. "Maybe if you start helping with the rent, I'll think about saying it."

"Trust me, that day is coming real soon."

"I believe you. Bye, sweetie—see you tonight."

"Bye."

After Carly left, Sam sat on the couch for a moment to clear his head before heading out to the backyard.

The house wasn't massive, but it had everything they needed—living room, dining area, kitchen, exercise space, and guest quarters.

Carly held an assistant director position at a private automotive museum. While it sounded like a secondary role, she essentially managed the day-to-day operations. The actual director was an elderly professor who served primarily as a figurehead, lending his reputation to elevate the museum's status.

Managing the collection brought Carly a generous salary, which explained how she could afford the house. Even situated in the Chicago suburbs—a thirty-minute drive from the city center—a property in the third-largest metropolitan area in the country carried significant value.

Carly was far from a mere figurehead herself. Her operational skills kept the museum running smoothly, earning her the complete trust of the owner.

Creak—

Sam opened the back door leading to the garden. A small bot with twin red optics and miniature tires for feet stepped inside, followed closely by a fat, heavy bulldog.

"You've got no heart, kid! Sticking me and Brains out in a cardboard box next to a wild animal!"

"Do you have any idea how hard it rained last night? My circuits nearly fried!"

"Are you treating us like domestic pets now?!"

Wheelie stomped his feet against the entry rug, wiping off mud. As if on cue, the heavy bulldog shook its wet coat, spraying water across the entryway.

Splash—

"Watch it, you dumb beast!" Wheelie yelped, jumping back to avoid the spray.

The talking bot was Wheelie, the former Decepticon scout who had once followed Mikaela around. Beside him was Bonecrusher, Mikaela's oversized pet bulldog.

Neither Wheelie nor the dog had chosen to stay with Sam out of preference; Mikaela had simply left them behind when she departed Los Angeles.

To Sam, her sudden move felt like a complete break from their past, leaving behind every reminder of their time together. With nowhere else to go, Wheelie had tracked Sam down at college.

Remembering how Wheelie had helped during the search for Jetfire, Sam had taken him in. His logic was simple: he was already dealing with Brains' sudden arrival, so taking in Wheelie made little difference.

When Sam moved to Chicago two months ago, both bots had tag along, settling into the backyard garden behind Carly's house.

The two bots had tolerated the arrangement well enough, but the previous night's heavy rainstorm had blown away their temporary shelter. They had banged on the back doors for hours, but Sam and Carly had been too preoccupied to hear them over the storm.

The house's soundproofing was remarkably effective.

"Alright, save it," Sam groaned, cutting Wheelie off. "I told you two a dozen times—you don't come inside without permission..."

"Says who? That blonde chick?" Wheelie yanked on the bulldog's collar, forcing the heavy dog to sit. "You tell her I'm not afraid of her!"

Sam shrugged, offering a look that made his skepticism plain. "Just close the door behind you."

He turned and walked back toward the kitchen. As a guest living in his girlfriend's house, he had limited say over the backyard arrangements anyway.

"Hmph!"

Feeling dismissed, Wheelie climbed onto the bulldog's back, grabbing the collar like reins. "Giddyup, pup."

The strange dynamic between Wheelie and the dog went back to the days when Wheelie had tried to steal the AllSpark shard from Mikaela's garage. Over time, the former enemies had settled into an odd routine, with Wheelie turning the bulldog into a personal mount.

"Hey kid, where's Brains?"

Before Sam could answer, Brains appeared from another corner of the house, already perched on the couch with his feet up, watching television.

Over the past year, Wheelie and Brains had formed a close bond. As two former Decepticons who had abandoned their faction, they shared a natural understanding, despite defecting at completely different times.

Since the battle in Egypt, Wheelie had abandoned any thought of returning to the Decepticons. Megatron's forces were still active across deep space, and returning meant facing swift punishment for desertion. With Brains' help, Wheelie had even managed to repair the optical sensor Mikaela had damaged long ago.

"How's it looking, Brains?" Wheelie asked, hopping off the dog's back and onto the sofa cushions.

"Not bad," Brains replied, leaning back with a smug expression. "This scene is great. You should see this part."

"The part where Spock goes wild?"

"Yeah, exactly."

The two small bots continued chatting in front of the screen until the conversation drifted back to Carly.

"Before we moved here, I didn't know what living with this girl would be like," Wheelie mused. "Now I know."

"I'm not a fan either," Brains agreed, chewing absentmindedly on an old battery casing. "She's too pushy. Her wardrobe is nice to look at, though."

"We need to stick together on this."

"No, you two are not a team," Sam called out from the kitchen, holding a fresh mug of coffee. "Don't forget your status here—you're refugees. Political refugees!"

"Carly and I are the team here. I finally found someone who appreciates me for who I am."

"Then tell her we're not pets or toys!" Brains snapped, tossing the chewed battery onto the coffee table and pointing a small claw toward Sam.

"We are advanced mechanical lifeforms from an alien world!"

"We just need a decent place to stay!"

Brains had come to Sam for a simple reason: he was aligned with the Autobots and had nowhere else to go.

Roughly the same size as Wheelie, Brains possessed a cluttered, chaotic design. Blue metallic filaments extended from his head like wild hair, giving his scalp an unusual appearance. His face was set in a permanent, angular scowl, while his arms featured visible cooling fans and circuit details that reflected his original hardware function.

After his passionate speech, seeing no real reaction from Sam, Brains grunted and turned back to the television screen.

By early afternoon, Sam stood before the mirror in a fresh suit. The formal attire gave him a slightly more mature presence.

He grabbed the silk tie Carly had given him, holding it between his teeth as he picked up his bag and stepped through the front door.

However, as he opened the door, he spotted a familiar, oversized RV parked along the curb outside the driveway.

"Oh, no..." Sam muttered, dropping the tie onto the porch floor.

He didn't bother picking it up, his eyes locked onto the large vehicle with a mounting sense of dread.

The RV doors swung open, and two figures stepped down onto the pavement—his parents, Ron and Judy Witwicky.

"Sam!" Judy called out, opening her arms wide as if expecting him to run over for a embrace.

Sam picked up his tie in silence, turned on his heel, and walked straight back inside the house.

Twenty minutes later, inside the living room.

Sam sat on the sofa facing his parents. Wheelie and Brains had vanished out of sight.

Sam sat with a flushed face, looking like a student caught breaking school rules.

Ron and Judy had finally gathered the full picture of their son's current situation.

"Look at it this way, Sam," Ron said, gesturing with a wry grin. He seemed entirely unbothered by Mikaela's departure.

"I thought you two would split up much sooner, to be honest. I'm surprised you and Mikaela lasted as long as you did."

"People come and go in life, Sam. As you move along your path, you grow apart from some people and closer to others. Nobody stays forever..."

The tone was turning overly serious, and Sam remained quiet, leaning back against the cushions. Still, having laid out his current situation with Carly, he felt a slight weight lift off his mind.

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