Author's Note: I'm back! Okay, so I've been asked in a previous review ('previous review' meaning an anonymous review I got for the first chapter) if Riley will fall for an Autobot and I thought that would make things a bit interesting and add a bit to the suspense of what's going to happen later. So in order to settle the ordeal of pairings, I opened a poll for those of you that are interested in it. :) I need votes, people! I gots to know who you'd like to see get romantic with Riley!

Before I forget, KeepingThemAtBay will be rewarded by getting to see Jolt in this chapter since they played along with me by naming every one of the characters I gave human names to, so awesome job with the sort of name game thing. :) I'm not sure if you're aware or not that Jolt made an appearance in Transformers: Cybertron as a Minicon and played a big part in the series. ;) Plus, this story takes place after Dark of the Moon but I'm not really referencing the movie, so far only the first movie since it mentions Mission City and Jolt and other Autobots will make appearances that were in the second and possibly the third but I don't think I could get Skids and Mudflap in character to save my life. So really, this story is kinda AU because Ironhide is alive and was killed in Dark of the Moon (which devastated me to no end since he's my favorite). Just to enlighten you guys a little more about why the crazy Scotsman is named Lennox is that it's a Scottish name... and I didn't really think about it before I put it until after I posted and remembered that Will's last name is Lennox. Oops. :/

And before we get started, I must warn you things are going to get more violent (and I do mean violent like blood/Energon spilling, parts that will be descriptive enough to possibly make you hurt where the character is injured, and possibly character death) and suspenseful from here on in, so if I don't update for a while, don't die from the suspense on me, m'kay? From here on in, I doubt the faint of heart will be able to read this from the blood that's about to start pouring? You've been warned.

With that said, that's all. Enjoy the new chapter! :D


Chapter Three: Contact

During the next few days, I had withdrawn into myself, brooding over what's happened between my drawings coming to life and each group trying to win me over. From time to time that throbbing in my chest would make itself known to me and cause me to keel over in agony and abruptly it would go away. Occasionally when I was made to leave the house, I would have a brush with Connor and his boys and the other group, Autobots as Connor termed them, mostly being Cleatus and Aaron or Chris.

And most recently, I began hearing voices echoing in my head and complex, alien glyphs would flash across my eyes and appear all over the place, a lot of the time taking up whatever writing tool was in my reach and scribble it all over the walls. When I ran out of places to write on the walls, I began to write on the ceiling. I couldn't quite place my finger on where the sudden desire and urge to scribble on things came from but I covered every square inch of space on the walls, ceiling, floor, and every bit of paper I could get my hands on with everything from pencils to markers and paint and then my arms and legs, sometimes venturing out of my room to the bathroom upstairs and using the mirror to draw the bizarre markings on my cheeks, forehead, and chest, leaving clear spaces in the crooks of my elbows, the backs of my knees, and the spot just above the scar in the center of my chest.

When my parents saw what I had done to my room, they were less than pleased, if not completely baffled, by the glyphs covering everything top to bottom. Needless to say I am, too, but when those voices first got going in my head and the symbols started appearing, I would just shake my head to snap out of it. That used to work, but over the course of the past two days that didn't work for me anymore and I succumbed to the episodes and it was over, leaving me oddly exhausted and I would sleep.

XxXxX

"What is going on with you, girl? Ever since those hot guys rolled into town you went AWOL!"

I didn't say anything, just sitting quietly as my friend ranted at me about my new behavior. Can't say I blame her, though. A lot of the things she was asking me I was asking myself.

Sunny scowled and narrowed her eyes at the lack of response. "Are you going to say anything? I just wanna know what's going on with you," she said, frustration evident in her voice.

"I don't know! Okay? I... don't know," I shouted, the last part dropping to a whisper as I looked down to my 'tattoos' scrawled all over my body, the latest markings contrasting starkly against the black the other marks took on as a bright blue beneath my eyes, sweeping down into points down to the hollows of my cheeks and back up again and back down only stopping an inch below my eyes.

"Riley..."

"I don't want to hear it, Sunny. Don't ask for an explanation because I can't give out one," I cut her off, shutting my eyes and heaved a loud sigh. "I'm so scared by what's happening and the way those boys are looking at me isn't helping. There's something about them that don't sit right with me at all." I looked up to my friend's face to gauge her reaction and found nothing much has changed. That same look of bewilderment was stuck on her face as she watched me.

"Riley, I've been lookin' everywhere for ya the past few days. Where'd you disappear to?"

Speak of the devil.

The voice got us to look up and acknowledge the arrival of none other than Cleatus Tippin, wearing an almost completely unbuttoned ice blue button up shirt and cowboy hat in hand, his eyes locked onto me with such an intensity that made shivers roll down my spine. Just like the pictures I had of him in my books, scars and tattoos covered his broad chest and torso, the latter caught my interest as a lot matched the ones I covered myself with.

"Oh. My. God."

Sparing a glance at Sunny, her eyes were wide as saucers taking in the older teen in front of us and looked at me. "Isn't that guy—"

"A drawing in my book? Yes, he is. All that's left is figuring his actual name," I finished for her, turning back to Cleatus and narrowing my eyes suspiciously at the raven haired young man.

Cleatus didn't even blink an eye at my behavior, instead choosing to inspect my arms. "Nice ink. What inspired tattoos such as that?"

"What does it matter where I got the inspiration?" I snapped. "I don't need to explain myself to you like you don't need to tell me why you're hiding a gun in your pants."

That did it.

Cleatus and Sunny exchanged glances and a blush appeared on the latter's face while a sort of smirk appeared on former's with an equally wicked gleam in his eyes to match. "Of course he's hiding his gun! Why would anyone want to put that on display to the public?!" Sunny squealed, and I instantly caught onto the evil smile spreading across the young man's face. I scowled.

"Not that kind of gun! He's got a .40 caliber pistol hidden under his shirt. I doubt the bulge is there because he's happy to see me," I snarked, turning to him as he pulled his shirt up and pulled out the weapon I correctly identified in his hand.

"That's impressive. Tell ya what, if you can find out where the other forty weapons I got concealed on my person, I'll let you keep this," he drawled out, turning the gun around in his grasp to show it off.

I snatched the offered weapon from his grasp to examine it myself, admiring the craftsmanship that went into creating it. "So you like your guns, do ya, cowboy? It's a nice piece... does it come in adult size?" I asked him, the last the question making him look about ready to have an aneurism from me picking at him with his fascination with weaponry.

"Girl, you're just upset 'cause you can't handle this kind of firepower," Cleatus said, his already deep voice dropping an octave and narrowed his eyes at me, a menacing light shining behind his blue eyes. I returned the look, unafraid of the unspoken challenge.

"Stupid boy. I can handle guns better than anyone here, possibly even better than you. And if you're challenging me with one of my passions, you're going to regret it," I threatened, getting up to leave the two behind, Sunny looking rather stunned while Cleatus watched with a sort of anticipation to challenge his apparent new rival.

XxXxX

Looking up to acknowledge the black GMC rolling up to join the group, Ratchet gave his teammate a look and asked, "Where have you been? And what's with that obscenely large and idiotic smile?"

Ironhide didn't answer immediately, instead exiting the vehicle and wandered over to stand next to the medic. "Riley likes me. She even called me out for carrying a gun under my shirt."

"Ha! Told you hiding that in your pants wasn't a good idea!" Gun Metal cackled, enjoying watching the weapons specialist squirm.

"She asked if it came in adult size."

The comment made everyone freeze. "She what?"

"Enough of that, Ironhide. There will be plenty of time for you to brag about the size of your gun later. What's your status?" Optimus interrupted, clearly trying to get his subordinates off the current topic.

"The Allspark energy emanating from her is getting stronger by the day and she doesn't seem to want us getting close to her. The Decepticons are already manipulating Riley and keeping her at a loss for what to make of anything anymore. What's more, we've located the new Autobots and they decided to join us for the briefing," Ratchet said curtly, turning to watch the silent group clustered around them.

"Very well. Do they have anything to report?" Optimus acknowledged.

"Optimus, it's an honor, sir. First, let me say that it would be best to keep Riley in the dark about us until it can no longer be avoided. When her power surged, it brought us back online and triggered an involuntary transformation. It's needless to say it frightened her and she hasn't been to see us for days now," Chief spoke, turning to the rest of his team and asked, "Anything you want to add?"

"To add on to Chief's report, Riley is displaying a rather bizarre case of erratic neural spasms and the poor femme starts writing on anything she can get her hands on and I have reason to believe it's the language of the Primes," Mechafire added, getting rewarded with silence on the other end of the transmission before there was a sort of sigh.

"It seems we are on the precipice of having to reveal our true nature to her. I will be arriving with a team for backup soon. Remain at your location and await further instructions. Prime out."

With that, the transmission went dead, leaving the group to begin going their separate ways, Chief and his group to the junkyard and Ironhide and his team to the town to keep an eye on the platinum haired young woman.

XxXxX

The surrounding Autobots that were within audio shot to listen in to the reports paused their current tasks when their leader turned to regard the whole of the team watching quietly. "Prowl, you, Jolt, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are coming with me. The Decepticons are preparing to abduct Riley and even more are en route to her location. We must be quick in handling the situation and get her out of the line of fire," the large mech ordered, already moving to leave the room with his team.

"How many Decepticons are we looking at, Optimus?" Jolt inquired. "Six? Ten? A hundred?"

Prowl beat Prime to the punch and answered with, "For now, there's only eight of them, one of which is Starscream. Blaster contacted me a moment ago and informed me of a transmission to Riley Ashton's cellular device. Normally, I would dismiss this sort of thing, but who it is that's contacting her is what concerns me."

That caught Optimus' attention as he turned to face the stoic Autobot behind him. "Who?"

"Megatron."

The name hung in the air for what seemed like eternity before everything came to life in a flurry of movement and action as the whole of the base scrambled to begin monitoring the transmission and arranging for the team's departure.

XxXxX

As I laid there in my bed staring at the ceiling, I couldn't resist the sigh that passed my lips and closed my eyes. The past few days served nothing to help me but further throw me off about the unusual and gorgeous young men that appeared in town and what they're really doing in Ocean Heights. I didn't want to do anything more than just lay there, listening to music playing softly over the radio sitting on my desk next to a small aquarium, currently belting out "In The Air Tonight" by Genesis.

"Something is definitely in the air in Ocean Heights," I muttered, jolting when my cell phone began ringing, blaring a tune of its own, contradicting the slow and melancholy melody. I ignored it, knowing in a few moments the ringing would stop and the upbeat tune of "Livin' on a Prayer" would cease. A few moments passed and silence reigned in the room before the cell phone began ringing again. "Oh, for crying out loud!" I muttered, turning over from my spot to get up and retrieve the incessant device and made a face at the caller ID... or lack thereof. I hesitated a moment, wondering whether it was truly a good idea to answer the phone, but I pressed the button and brought the device to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Riley."

I gasped, dropping the phone in shock of the deep masculine voice that greeted me. As though reading my thoughts, the voice chuckled, a dark and sinister sound that made my skin want to crawl off my bones and shivers to go rolling down my spine. Even though the phone was on the ground, it felt like it was on speaker and the unknown man on the other end was in the room.

"Yes, I know who you are. And I know what you are. All I require of you is to listen and I will explain all you wish to know."

Carefully reaching down and retrieving the device, I warily asked, "Who is this?"

"As I suspected you would ask such things first. I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons."


Author's Note: Couldn't resist giving another cliffhanger! XD But I also need something to write about in the next chapter, so...

Please check out my poll and vote for the pairing, guys! Some of the 'Bots I have on the poll haven't interacted with Riley yet, but they will in the upcoming chapters. If a 'Bot you think Riley should be with isn't listed on the poll, leave the suggested pairing in the reviews, please! Thanks, guys! :D

Stick around, 'cause the real action and fun begins in the next chapter! Whoo! :D