Paris, Texas
A black motorcycle pulls up to the Yeager residence. The rider cuts the engine and rests the bike on its stand before heading to the house, removing her helmet in the process, revealing the fair features of a 21-year-old woman with long, brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Brown eyes twinkle in excitement as she approaches the door. It swings open as a 17 year old blonde girl flies out at the brunette in greeting.
"Amy!" the blonde squeals as she envelopes her friend in a hug. Amy laughs at her friend's excitement.
"Hey Tessa! Thanks for letting stay here. I really appreciate it."
"No problem, Amy! I'm just glad you're here." Tessa squeezed her one more time before releasing and all but dragged her, laughing, into the house and up to her room. Finally releasing Amy's arm, Tessa opened her laptop and hit a few buttons, pulling up the image of her secret boyfriend.
"Hey, Shane!" she called.
"Well, hey babe. What's up?" Tessa practically shoved Amy into the camera's view.
"Look who showed up." Amy smiled at her before turning her attention to the man in the screen.
"What's up, bro?" The sound of a tool chatting to the ground was heard as Shane's face morphed to that of pleasant shock.
"Amy!" He came closer to the camera. "You made it! I thought you were going to arrive next week."
She shrugged. "Well, you know me bro. Always moving fast."
"Yeah, typical Speed Racer." Both girls burst out laughing.
"Very funny, Shane." The sound of approaching engines caught Tessa's attention and drew her to the window. What she saw filled her with anger.
"I cannot believe him. I cannot believe this," she muttered as she stormed out of the room and looked out the bathroom window.
Amy shared a confused glance with Shane. "What's wrong, Tess?"
"What the hell?" Tessa passed Amy without a word, stormed down the stairs and out of the house. Amy stood still, trying to figure out what just happened.
"Maybe I should go now." Shane's voice broke the prolonged silence. "I'll call later, alright?"
Amy numbly nodded before finding her voice. "Yeah, sure, bro. Catch ya later." They nodded their farewells before the screen went black. Amy decided to venture out to the barn to see what it was that got Tess so riled up. The place was the perfect example of an organized junkyard, if that was even possible. She managed to maneuver her way through the obsolete metal and computer parts to reach the dirty, old, flat nose truck that had been stashed in the back of the barn. Looking back to insure that the other three had not noticed her, she quickly looked the truck over. She could just make out the faint blue and red flame design on the sides of the cab. Softly, she rested a hand on the cold metal and felt the faint thrumming underneath.
"Oh, thank, Primus," she whispered, letting out a shaky breath. Blinking back the tears, she rubbed her thumb in a circular motion before removing her hand, wiping the dirt on her navy jeans. "Para is going to flip when he hears this," she muttered to herself with a grin before taking her leave, making sure not to be spotted. Tessa returned several hours later to the house to make some dinner when she noticed a note on the refrigerator door.
Tessa,
I just got called away for some early rehearsals so I might be back either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Save me some dinner, please? Man, there is no way to draw puppy eyes on this thing.
Your friend,
Amy
Tessa grinned at the doodle that was supposed to be a pair of pleading puppy eyes before looking out the window to see that, yes, indeed, Amy's cycle was gone and a fresh track now trailed the driveway. With a shake of her head, she set the letter aside and proceeded in making Amy's favorite, tuna casserole.
New Orleans, Louisiana
10 P.M.
Cemetery Wind closes in on an abandoned ferry on the river. Copters fly above, transmitting read outs and scans of the area while a group of their agents climb aboard and, moving quickly yet quietly, make their way through the multiple floors till arriving on the roof, unaware of the extra member stalking them. An agent sets a bomb on one of the steamers and activates it, exposing a greenish yellow Autobot.
The Autobot makes a run for it but the humans succeed in blowing his leg off. As he lay injured, pleading for them to stop, the Autobot looked up to see two bots, one with a visor, the other with a battle mask. The visored one performed flips and rolls as they picked off the humans. The masked one walks calmly through the carnage with a flamethrower. He didn't see the result of their work as he was pulled to his pede by two mechs and rushed away to safety. Had he remained, he would've seen the bots position the flaming bodies in a pattern and disappear into the darkness in time for a tall, dark robot with green optics to walk into the chaos. He looked around disapprovingly, upset that his quarry had gotten away. He turned to leave and saw the bodies. They spelled out a fiery message that he could see due to his height.
'Till all are gone'
Lockdown stared at it, his processors working to decipher its meaning. He knew the line, "Till all are one", which was coined by Optimus Prime during the war. But this...this message was not that. If anything, it was a twisted version of the Autobots war cry. Meaning the Autobots had nothing to do with this. Something or someone else was behind this. And they were out for blood. He reverted to his alt. mode of a Lamborghini Aventador and drove off, leaving the few human survivors alone to pack and clean up. Agent James Savoy pulled out his radio and made a call.
"We lost the target. Same as before. Only this time, they left a message," Savoy reported. He had one of the mini-drones fly up to show what Lockdown had seen. Safe in his computer room, CIA agent Harold Attinger paled at the sight. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he grabbed his radio.
"Tell me you at least got a good look at who did this." He fought to keep the fear out of his voice as the words the man had said years ago came back to him,'A force shall rise against you and they shall not stop til your entire team is terminated.'
"No. We did not. They attacked, evacuated the target and disappeared. Couldn't get a good look due to the flames and explosions."
Attinger slammed the radio on the desk in rage. Blast, they had gotten away again. They had to be stopped! The man's warning rang through his head again. He shook it to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand. They needed to find Optimus and get the Seed. Then, they will hunt down the interlopers, this he promised. Shaking it off, he regained his composure and walked out the room. He had a meeting to get to.
