Author's Note: The following takes place in an alternate Season 5. No Glory, Dawn is just a regular girl. Riley left after the end of Season 4 in the exact same way. Otherwise, everything is the same: Buffy is still mistreating Spike, Joyce is sick, the world ends on a Tuesday. I do not own either Buffy or Transformers, and dialogue is from Transformers, the 2007 Movie.

Betaed by Cylon One


Once in every generation, there is…


…the Cube. We know not where it comes from. Only that…


…she is destined to…


…find it and rebuild our home. And just when all hope seemed lost, a message of a new discovery drew us to…


… the Slayer.


But it was already too late.


Brazil-Present Day

Riley wiped his brow, sweet pouring down in face. Not for the first time, he questioned why, exactly, he had decided to sign up for this mission in Brazil…during the summer…during the worst heat wave the region had ever seen.

"Can I borrow that?" Sam asked, taking Riley's rag and soaking it with water, patting her neck.

It did have a nice view…that was for sure.

"Oh, this is hotter than Mama's Cajun gator cakes." Another soldier, Fig, said.

Graham made a face. "You really have to stop with the talk about gators."

Fig frowned. "Don't knock it until you try it! Those gators…they taste just like chicken…"

"You know what also tastes like chicken? Chicken." Graham answered.

Fig began to jabber on in Spanish.

"English, please…English." Graham pleaded.

"How many times do we have to tell you, we don't speak Spanish?" Riley asked playfully.

"Why you have to ruin it for me? It's my heritage. You don't see me complaining when you go on and on about…corn."

Riley frowned. "One time, Fig…one time." Sam chuckled.

They were flying back to the base the American Government had set up deep in the Rain Forest, away from the tourists and prying eyes. The entire squad was coming off of a month in the deepest parts of the Amazon, where their hunt for Welker Demons had yielded little results. Most thought the beasts had been taken out years ago, replaced by stronger demons, but high command wanted to know for sure.

Their plane landed an hour later, leaving the squad plenty of time to write up their mission reports without needing to cut into their down time. Riley was glad about that. He really wanted to spend some time with Sam, maybe advance their relationship from friendly to…more than friendly.

Wink wink.


"Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out." One of the techs said, looking at his radar screen. The command post was abuzz with men moving about, calling out data and telling senior officers about the newest update.

Colonel Sharp, collected, cool and used to things like this happening, made his way to the mic. When your operation was highly classified, you always ended up with little surprises like this. "Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US military airspace. Squak ident and proceed east out of area."

Normally, one of two things would happen. Either the aircraft would do as asked, or they would respond with the code needed to allow them to continue on. Standard procedure, nothing fancy.

The aircraft remained silent and dead on course.

Giving the command for the Raptors to lead the aircraft towards the base so they could investigate, Colonel Sharp turned to another tech.

"Sir, tail is 4500 X-ray…" The tech said. "That plane was shot down 3 months ago in Kosovo."

"Impossible." Sharp said.

"Sir…I had a friend on that helicopter that went down…it was 4500X."


Riley smiled as he handed Sam a Coke. "Don't ask me how I managed to sneak these in." He said with a grin.

Sam nodded, pulling out two Snickers. "Don't ask about these then." The two of them began to eat, relaxing in Riley's tent. The army had decided to provide only tents for teams like Riley's, since they spent so much time on the field. It would have been a waste of money to assign them rooms they would rarely sleep in. "How long this time?"

"Not sure." Riley answered honestly. All of the squad was wondering how long it would take for High Command to send them out on a mission. Some prayed for never, wanting to just relax and let their nerves heal up. But for Riley and Sam, the wait was worse than the actual fighting. In the field, at least one knew to expect anything, that the paranoia one felt was justified, because at any moment something from the worst nightmares of the most disturbed minds could come crashing from the undergrowth.

"You think this will be our last one?" Sam asked. Riley grimaced at that thought. The army was thinking about pulling the plug on the demon hunting section of the military. The Initiative had cost them billions, yielded no returns, and, of course, nearly resulted in the end of the world. There were whispers of just letting the Slayer do the job…it was her problem anyway.

The Slayer…that made Riley grow solemn. He'd left things bad with Buffy…he could see that now. He'd been petty, forcing her to choose when he himself would have balked at such a demand. To make matters worse, Riley had never planned on staying, even if Buffy did show up in time. He'd rigged it as best he could so she would show up too late, that she would have to watch him leave. His little, "Screw you" job.

It made him sick thinking about it.

"Riley…Finn, you ok?" Sam asked.

Riley shook his head, trying to focus. "yea…sorry…" He muttered, still lost in the past.


"Something's not right." Sharp said to himself, watching as the massive dark helicopter landed. It was an intimidating machine; big yet slim, like a shark given wings. Loaded to the teeth, too. There were some countries in Africa that didn't have the firepower this helicopter had.

Men moved about, all other projects forgotten, trying to coordinate the ground forces that were slowly surrounding the helicopter. Emergency plans were being pulled out, high officers wondering which dreamed up scenario this could be. Everything from demons hijacking the copter to magic making the aircraft appear as it did were tossed out, even as the machine came to a stop, framed against the now darkened sky.

"Radar's jammed." One tech said, panicking, trying everything he could to get the computer online. More techs began to cry out as their screens went to static. In fact, every computer on the base was being jammed, shutting down and leaving them in the dark.

"Power down now!" Sharp demanded over the radio, the helicopter's blades still whirling.

THUNK

The blades stopped dead.

Then, they began to fold back like a Chinese fan.

Chaos overtook the copter, every bit of metal and armor shifting about smoothly, traveling along the rapidly changing vehicle. Bullets bounced off its form as it began to rise, losing its width and gaining height. The cockpit broke apart, revealing that no one was inside, while the tail began to swing around and the bellow opened to reveal what could only be described as…legs.

"Oh my God." Sharp whispered.

Two glowing red eyes came on line as the…thing…that had once been a helicopter raised its hand and returned fire, soldiers screaming as their bodies were torn to bits by the gun blasts the copter was laying down on them. One jeep exploded, the fire flaring and highlighting the mechanical monster let loose an energy wave that shattered every window on the base.


Riley covered his head as the lights that kept the base lit exploded, plunging them into darkness. He looked around, Sam at his side, watching as soldiers forgot everything from boot camp and panicked.

"They bombed the antenna farm!" Graham screamed, running towards them. "We're under attack!"


The being known as Blackout looked down at the structure that held the computer he needed, wondering just how pathetic these 'humans' could be. They used such flimsy resources to protect their most precious devices? It was almost too easy…Blackout had been hoping for something of a challenge.

Ripping away the roof, he reached down to grasp the main server of the supercomputer, wires sprouting from his fingers and hacking easily into the system.

How his glorious master was a prisoner of these insects, he would never know…but he would look forward to making them pay for their insult to him…and to his master.

All he needed was the right file…


"Go! Move! Move!" Sharp ordered, rushing towards he main server. He stared up, for a moment unable to even comprehend what he was seeing. It was like the hand of God had crashed to Earth, its purpose beyond his small mind. Finally managing to break away, he stared in horror at the one working computer that was left on base, which was currently showing all sorts of images flashing by. "It's going after the files!" He cried out. "Cut the hard lines!

"I need a key! It's locked!"

Sharp turned towards the axe that lay in the fire emergency box, not thinking twice to slam his fist through the glass, pulling the tool out even as his hand bled. Raising the ax high, he let it drop on the massive cord bundle that connected the server to the government's main network.


Riley hefted his gun, leading his squad through the wreckage that had been their base. Flames shot up around them, the screams of the dying echoed in their ears, and the heavy footfalls of the machine that was causing it all drummed out their doom.

Graham cried out as he slid, the machine's feet coming down between him. He rolled onto his back, staring at the harbinger of death. When asked later, Graham would not be able to explain why he reached for his camera, or how he had the insight to snap the picture. All he did know was that as soon as the flash went off, the machine looked down at him and opened its chest, a massive cannon extending. He just managed to get to his feet and dive for cover as the mech fired hellfire upon him.

Fig took his shot, firing off a grenade that sent the colossus stumbling back, giving Riley and his team the time needed to slip away.


Blackout was pissed and pleased at the same time. Pissed, because these little ants had managed to escape; an embarrassment considering how unworthy their weapons were to taking down a creature like him.

Pleased, because now he could have some real fun.

Turning, Blackout rolled his shoulders, a massive hunk of metal flying off of him. Unfolding like a pup tent, the mindless drone known as Scorponok drilled himself into the sand, giving chase after the humans.

Blackout charged his weapon as he watched some humans try to escape. He gave them several standard time clicks before he fired off, their death screams music to his audio receptors.