A military operation involves deception.
Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent.
Though effective, appear to be ineffective.
-The Art of War
o-o-o-o
There was something really off about that damned camaro.
Leo was obsessing over it. It had only been a couple of days since she'd seen the three 'headless horsemen', so to speak, it now felt like hundreds of years. As she sat at her desk, attempting to finish page thirteen of her novel, she struggled not to stay on the thought.
There was definitely something going on here, something much larger than she could imagine. Obviously, if cars were suddenly able to go driving around on their own.
Not to mention the events that had occurred yesterday. Near the high school, a gas line broke, causing thousands of dollars in damage and posing a safety hazard to anyone in the vicinity of three miles.
Unfortunately, the shop was only two miles away from the school, and had to be shut down for an undetermined amount of time so the authorities could investigate.
But that wasn't all. All day yesterday, she'd been hearing planes going over the city far more than they should. Was it a terrorist attack?
Sighing, she pushed her papers and pens to the side, realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere like this.
Grabbing her iPod, she went downstairs to the main computer, which her mother had told her she could use for her work.
"I hope this counts as work, because otherwise I may be in trouble." she murmured, clicking on the internet icon.
o-o-o-o
-Bumblebee to Prime.-
-Prime here. What is it, Bumblebee?-
-The femme has been watching me all day. I think she's wary.-
-Does she know about our existence?-
-I don't know.-
Optimus sighed. -Keep an eye on her then.-
-Yes sir. Bumblebee out.-
He knew there was something up with her. She'd been staring at his altmode for the last four hours, without showing any signs of stopping. It was a little disturbing to be stared at like that.
o-o-o-o
Cars without drivers
Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to Google. A ton of random pictures from a bunch of different sites came up, and there was even the Cars movie among them. Which wasn't what she was looking for, but it was slightly amusing to find it.
Other things that came up were videos about technological discoveries that scientists were making, but that wasn't it either.
Weird occurrences with cars
A new set of results popped up, one of which she wanted to ignore completely. She did not need to see that kind of stuff done to cars.
Scrolling down, she got a whole lot more of nothing, and was about to search something else up when she stumbled upon a site about the-real-effing-deal. Curious, she clicked on the link, not entirely sure what to expect.
There was something blinking on the screen, and as she glanced at the words, she caught Mission City.
Opening another tab, she searched it up.
Apparently, according to the articles that came up, there was a giant natural gas leak or something that happened a couple of years ago, causing the entire city to be evacuated. Odd, considering that the city was so large and the gas leak would have had to be the size of a skyscraper.
Flipping back to the other tab, Leo continue scrolling through, until she came to a video.
Clicking play, she was suddenly unable to breathe as she saw images passing by on the screen, live footage from places all over the world.
Giant. Fucking. Robots.
She continued to look through the site, finding more and more evidence that was beginning to make her head spin. Just what was the government trying to do by hiding all of this information? Or was it even real? Some kid thinking it would be funny to post a bunch of artificially made clips to scare people? She wouldn't put it past any eleven year olds out there in this day and age.
Okay. Next topic.
Sam Witwicky
Holy shit, were there a lot of articles that popped up for him. Most of them were from eBay, a couple were from forums, and a couple more were from God knows where.
Apparently, Sam had a thing for trying to sell a bunch of his Grandfather's old belongings. The guy was famous for making some kind of discovery down in the Arctic, but the articles she read never actually stated what he found.
There was one hell of a mystery building up around her neighbor, and she wanted to know what. But how did she want to go about this? She could directly confront Sam, but would he tell her anything, or would he keep his mouth shut?
Groaning, she massaged the side of her head, feeling a headache coming on.
"Holy crap. I was just searching up one thing, and now there's a bunch of stuff linking Sam to a bunch of really weird shit." she muttered, staring at the screen. "Ugh."
If she was going to be doing this for a while, she refused to go any further until she had a cup of coffee in her hands. Maybe a couple sticks of celery.
o-o-o-o
-Soundwave to Barricade.-
-Transmission confirmed. Barricade to Soundwave.-
-There is an organic near your location. Designation: Leona Mclay. Confirmed activity regarding Autobots.-
-What are my orders?-
-Surveillance. Do not approach.-
Barricade growled, but didn't argue against the transmission. Soundwave reported directly to Megatron, and if Barricade went against orders, he knew that his spark would no longer be in his chassis.
-Copy that. Barricade out.-
o-o-o-o
Leo sighed, knowing that now she'd learned as much as she could over an internet connection, she could get back to work on page thirteen.
Her mother was back from wherever she'd disappeared to for the day, and she was now puttering around the kitchen and making dinner.
"So, mom, what do you know about Mission City? You were there when the gas leak happened, right?" she asked, leaning against the island that kept the dining room and the kitchen apart.
"Well.." her mother hummed, slicing and dicing potatoes and peppers, "It was terrifying. One second I was in a business meeting, and the next there are alarms blaring, and people in black suits and army suits swarming everywhere..."
"Army?" Leo asked, lifting a brow.
"There was suspicion that it was a terrorist attack." Jocelyn explained, pouring the potatoes and peppers into a frying pan. "But it turns out that it wasn't, so there was nothing to worry about."
Leo narrowed her eyes at her mother's casual tone. "Mom, there's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"
Jocelyn sighed, turning to face her daughter while crossing her arms. There was a sudden grief there, and guilt, and there was a weary feel surrounding her mother.
"Leo, I want to tell you, but I am under strict orders from the government and the President himself." she said softly. "I could be putting you in a lot of danger if I told you."
The President?
Leo blinked.
Mom, just what did you see?
o-o-o-o
Meanwhile...
President Obama sneezed suddenly, getting the bad feeling that he was being spoken about somewhere.
o-o-o-o
-Frenzy to Barricade. Femme located. Designation Jocelyn Mclay. Data on Autobots in possession. What are orders?-
-Send coordinates.- Barricade replied shortly.
-Sent. Further action required?-
-Await arrival.-
-Frenzy out.-
o-o-o-o
Jocelyn knew there was something watching her and Leo.
She also knew what she had to do now that she'd been found.
It was late- Leo had gone up to bed about an hour ago. But, she also knew that Leo was most likely working on her graphic novel, and was probably going to be up for a while yet.
She took a deep breath, calming her nerves.
You're safe for now. You can make it until you get outside.
"Leo, honey? Are you still up?" she asked softly, knocking on the door before opening it slowly.
"Mhm. You need something?"
"Just saying good-night. I got a call from work, so I won't be home until tomorrow night." Jocelyn said, moving to stand behind her daughter. Wrapping her arms around Leo's shoulders, she pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, taking in the ink and pencil sketch that was splayed out in front of Leo. "Your cover's coming along well."
"You think so?" Leo frowned, too absorbed to really listen to what her mother was saying at the moment.
"Know so." she assured, pressing her lips to her daughter's head again. "I love you, Leo."
"Love you too, mom." Leo replied absently, beginning to shade in a limb that vaguely resembled an arm.
Jocelyn breathed in her daughter's scent, hoping it wouldn't be the last time, before leaving, closing the door with a sense of finalty.
She refused to get Leo involved in all of this. She'd promised herself that much when she'd resigned.
Quietly, she slipped down the stairs and out the door, her eyes darting around, the hair on the back of her neck prickling unpleasantly. Now she knew that she was being watched, now that she was out in the open like this.
However, the only sign of life was the police cruiser parked across the street, the figure inside appearing to be eating a donut, and she seriously doubted she had much to fear from him.
The typical policeman eating the donut routine. Jocelyn couldn't help but smile at the sight.
At least, until the police cruiser changed forms so quickly that the edges around it blurred.
Jocelyn breathed a quick curse before making a break for it across the lawn.
Heavy pounding of what she thought was feet shook the ground, sending her hurtling to the grass with a yelp. Rolling, she was back on her feet in a second, but it proved to be futile against the creature pursuing her.
A snarl crossing her features, she turned, running towards the street instead. Unfortunately, the robotic thing behind her was just a little too quick for her, and in a smooth motion, snapped its metal fingers around her like a cage.
It was then that she allowed herself to scream.
o-o-o-o
Leo glanced up as the sounds of crashing and a scream echoed around the street. Frowning, she pulled out a headphone, recognizing the voice the second time it screamed.
"Mom." she breathed, pulling open the blinds.
The sight that greeted her made her eyes widen in horror and realization.
"That is definitely not something an eleven year old posted on the web." she whispered as she took in the giant robotic thing.
Struggling to escape from what appeared to be its hand was her mother. Her face was scratched, but she was fighting to get out of the unforgiving grip that the red eyed being had her trapped in.
"Mom!" she yelled before whirling and slamming open the door, taking the stairs two at a time, slipping on the last one. It sent her flying, and she landed with a heavy crack against the wooden floors.
Struggling to stand, she ignored the pain that was spreading from a point in her ankle, limping to the door and wrenching it open.
However, before she could do anything, something cold, sharp, and definitely metallic tackled her from behind, knocking them both to the ground. Yelping as her injured ankle hit the ground again, she twisted, trying to get at whatever the hell was attacking her. When she finally managed to face the creature, she very nearly had a panic attack, but managed to hiss and claw at what she thought was its face.
It chittered, skittering back as her nails gouged something that looked like it shouldn't be touched.
It looked like some kind of metalwork project a fanatic would make, with four arms that branched off from the elbow. On one side, a couple of wicked looking objects protruded, looking like knives of some kind.
Blue eyes narrowed at her, and with a blur, it launched itself back at her.
She screamed, trying to keep its claws, or whatever the hell they were called, away from her neck. It seemed pretty intent on stabbing her in the side of the neck with one of its elbow weapons, but she tried to keep it at bay.
They rolled, Leo dominating the metal robot, before one of its limbs got free and slashed at her chest.
Adrenaline pumping, she took no notice, reaching for something, anything, that could be used to kill this thing.
The kitchen seemed like her best bet at this point, so, with a mighty heave, she launched the sucker straight up. What she wasn't expecting was for the things elbow weapons to get stuck in the ceiling and pin it there.
Almost dragging herself, Leo made a break for the kitchen, tearing through the drawers until she found a heavy cast iron frying pan, one that her mother saved for when they went camping, or the power went out. Either way, it was about to become this robot's worst nightmare.
By now, it had managed to get rid of the pestilence that was the ceiling, and was now coming at her again, this time a little more cautiously.
Leo readied the frying pan. It had to weigh at least five pounds.
Seeing some kind of weakness, the robot came at her again, claws extended.
Instinctively, she swung, and a second later the robot was down, apparently stunned.
"Okay. Time to run." she panted, turning and running for the open front door.
When she got out, there was no sign of her mother or the giant robot, but there was another smaller one waiting for her.
"You have got to be kidding me." she snapped. Now she wished she hadn't ditched the frying pan. She could have used it.
The new robot arrival came closer, chittering like the other one had.
"Screw you." Leo informed it before leaping at it. She had no idea what the hell she was thinking, but it obviously wasn't logically.
The robot was taken off guard, and she flattened the thing as she landed. However, this one seemed to be a little more armed, as blades popped out of nowhere.
Leo ducked the first slash, but the second caught her in the jaw. Fire exploded, and she saw stars for a moment before she went after one of the blades. It was actually pretty easy to do, once she had the arm pinned down.
The next problem she faced was removing said blade, considering it was connected to the robots wrist.
"Sorry, asshole." she said sarcastically before ripping it from the creature. It howled, making a desperate swing to decapitate her, but Leo blocked it with some difficulty with her new weapon.
Automatically, basically on autopilot, she pinned the other arm down before jabbing the blade into the robots chest. It squealed in pain before it went limp, the other blade falling to the ground with the arm.
What she'd forgotten was that the robot she'd stunned...wasn't so stunned anymore. And now it was pretty pissed off that she'd attacked it.
It locked itself around her shoulders and chest, the metal biting into her sore and bruised skin, the grip tightening and causing her to begin losing breath.
Taking a chance, she fell back, hoping that her body mass would be enough to crush the bugger.
As they connected with the ground, Leo winced at more pain, but pulled at the arms around her neck. Fortunately, the thing was still a little disoriented, judging by its feeble squawk, and she shoved it away from her again before pushing herself to her feet in order to run. Preferably very far, very quickly.
She heard the robot chittering again, and wondered what exactly it meant before her leg gave out from under her and sent her flying to the pavement.
Which hurt.
A freaking lot.
Curling in on herself, she waited for the thing to kill her already.
But the final blow never came.
Warily, Leo opened her eyes, expecting to see the robot hovering over her.
Instead, she saw another giant robot, with a giant cannon, aiming straight at the other robot.
She didn't really care if the new arrival was friend or foe. She was exhausted and hurt, and to be perfectly honest, she didn't even fucking care that her lawn looked like a bomb fell on it.
She passed out.