Transformers: A Matter of Fate

ADDRESING AN ISSUE

CHAPTER 17

Addressing an Issue

Mark felt a little nervous being inside the Yeager's actual home for the first time. He knew that Cade, Tessa's father, didn't care about what he had done. Yet he was still faintly reminded of the fact that for quite a while, he had been seeing the home from a distance. It was a double first on top of it, as along with being the first time he properly met Cade, it was the first time he was meeting Tessa's boyfriend, Shane. The boy hadn't said much, simply fawning over his girlfriend as Mark and Cade sat mostly in silence in Cade's living room (which by now was complete), watching TV. "So I thought the other boy was coming, Kenny...?" Cade questioned as Mark looked over "What happened?"

"He got sick." Mark replied "He was pretty bummed too. So I convinced Bee to drop by his house on his way to take me back to base." He laughed a bit "He's kind of a fanboy." He added.

Cade chuckled, shaking his head as he took a potato chip and popped it into his mouth. He rolled his eyes a bit, and took a sip of the beer to the side of him as he looked back to the fourteen year old. "Aren't we all at the beginning? When I first saw Optimus, I was somewhere between terror and amazement." Mark laughed a little at that, and the man rubbed his chin "You must be over that by now, I guess, huh?" He asked "Living with them every day kinda takes the fun out of it, I bet."

"Don't you get that with Bee?" Mark asked.

"Nah, Bee comes and goes as he pleases." Cade shrugged innocently "Don't get me wrong, he's like family to us. But we're not all under the same roof twenty-four seven." Mark nodded his head, understanding what Cade was getting at now "I can't even imagine doing what you're doing really."

Mark shrugged leaning back against the couch as he sighed. He did suppose it was a different feeling, living with giant robots. But he felt as though the human base, and the overall tone made it somewhat more normal. "It's actually pretty cool." He finally answered after several moments "Something's always happening, especially with the Dinobots..." Cade raised his eyebrow "Uh, the giant metal dinosaurs." Cade finally nodded, now remembering "There's never really a dull moment when you have things like a one hundred foot fire breathing t-rex around."

Cade shrugged, and held up his beer to that. "I can imagine." Cade nodded his head "Hound's not too shabby either though, talk about having a badass for a dad." Mark laughed, nearly spitting out his coke "But they're all kind of awesome, I can't deny that much." He explained "They find any more of the 'Bots, or are they... Y'know?" Mark raised an eyebrow "Bee won't talk about it."

"Two of them, I think." Mark replied "My dad and his team... Well, you know."

"Yeah, that's another reason I wanted you to come over." Cade paused "Did they... Tell you, how your dad died, I mean?" Mark shook his head "I feel I owe you an apology, kid. He came after me in Hong Kong..." Mark's eyes widened, as if he was hearing things "I never killed anyone in my life, but... That day, I didn't have a choice."

That took a minute to settle in with Mark. Cade had killed his dad, he was sitting and sharing friendly chatter with the man that had taken his entire world from him. His stomach twisted, he wanted to punch Cade, he wanted to punch him and scream, and curse. But he couldn't, he couldn't bring himself to do anything but stare at the man with a look of shock and awe. "I gotta go." Mark muttered "This was a bad idea... This was a really bad idea."

"Mark-."

"You killed my dad, and you want to act like that didn't happen."

"He almost killed Tessa a few days earlier, I was angry."

Mark clenched his jeans slightly, he tried his best to control himself. He wouldn't go off on this man, he wouldn't let this get to him. "Dad!" Tessa stepped into the room "What is your problem? I told you not to talk about this..." She watched as Mark stood to his feet and started towards the door "Mark! Wait!" She tried to catch up, but watched as Mark walked out the door and slammed it shut "Great..."