Disclaimer: do not own Transformers.

Summary: Oneshot, companion fic to "Cast of Fools." To the Decepticons, they were vermin. To the Autobots, they were nothing more than puppets, dancing on strings.

Rating: K+

Author has had the following realizations:

1) G1 has a lot more plot holes than I initially thought it did.

2)Ret con-ing to exploit those plot holes is so much fun.

Puppets on Strings

When all was said and done, Carly decided that she liked the "Decepticons" a lot more than she liked the "Autobots." With the Decepticons, at least, you knew where you stood. You knew that, to them, you were nothing more than a squishy nuisance, small, weak, pathetic, shivering lumps of organic matter whose species was lucky to have evolved at all. But the Autobots…the Autobots smiled at you, indulged you, laughed with you, all the while thinking that you were an insect to be stepped on.

To the Decepticons, they were vermin. To the Autobots, they were nothing more than puppets, dancing on strings.

And, oh, how they performed well. The "human allies" might as well have tied the strings to their own wrists and ankles. They had been so damn gullible.

And yet another great fault of the human race (and, since they've found out about the Autobots, she guessed that this extended to any race) was that the individuals within it loved being right. She knew this, because she was guilty of it too.

It gave Carly a bitter sense of pride to think that she was among the first to start suspecting that there was more to this 'war' than met the eye, to think that she was among the first to start straining against the strings. It infuriated her when Sparkplug and Spike continued to believe them, to continue tangling themselves in the web of lies.

To be fair, Sparkplug had already caught on, and removed himself from the Autobot base shortly after that incident with Powerglide and that rich brat. Carly didn't know what his exact turning point was, the exact moment of revelation, and she didn't ask.

She knew first-hand that it was a painful betrayal.

And Spike really was naïve. To her knowledge, he still believed them.

Maybe…maybe he didn't want to believe. The father and son had been alone, so alone. Outside of each other, the Autobots were the closest thing they had to family.

And you know what happens to a puppet when its strings are cut, don't you, Carly?

Sometimes it really paid to be a cynic, because then you'd have something else to support you when you cut away the control and the manipulation.

"You know how Soundwave or one of the cassettes is always lying around, as if we're stupid enough to bring them into the Autobot base?" she challenged Spike one day after a rather heated argument. "I dare you. Bring them in and see if anyone notices anything."

And when she was proven right, he still didn't believe her—and, later, Chip and Raoul and even his own father. He kept pulling crazy stunts, just to see if they'd catch on. Like that time that Megatron made an Optimus Prime 'clone' and Spike proposed to find out the true identity by having a 'race,' and everyone, even Prowl, agreed.

Chip and her had a running bet whether or not that 'clone' was a cousin or something, and 'died' the way that Skyfire 'died.'

That was her breaking point. That was when she took the shears to her puppet strings.

He had too much faith where she had none. She would later admit that, sometimes, being one was as bad as being the other.

Carly was curled up in her living room couch when the phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hi, Carly," Spike said on the other line. She was surprised. The last time they had talked, they had exchanged some rather…heated words. His tone sounds defeated.

"Hi Spike," she said concernedly. "Is something wrong?"

"You were right," he says. "You and Chip and Dad and even Raoul…you were all right. Damn, I can't believe I was so blind…"

"Spike…"

"Well…I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?"

"Dad and I are moving up north. I think he's been planning it for a while now, just waiting for me to see the light."

Carly shut her eyes. Part of her said that it was a cowardly thing to do, to let the Autobots chase them away. Part of her agreed that father and son need a new beginning. "Good luck then, Spike. Give my love to Sparkplug."

"Thanks Carly. Maybe I'll see you around?"

Despite herself, she gave a weak laugh. "Hey, you and I are among the only humans to know the truth. Of course you'll be seeing me around."

"See you then, Carly."

"See you."

They hung up, and Carly stared at the little white phone, thinking awhile. Then she went outside, hopped atop her motorcycle, and went for a ride.

So she was right.

But even though she wished that she weren't, she knew that the final string had been cut, and the puppets, while broken in too many ways, were finally free.