a/n: I know, I know, I should've been working on RWBY: Golden-Eyed Eclipse, and writing a prequel to a story I haven't even FINISHED yet is just ASKING for trouble, but I had this plot bunny and it wouldn't leave my head!

Also, if you're a new reader, don't worry, you don't need to read "A Girl and Her Bike" to understand what's happening here. Especially for this prologue. All you need to know is that Bumblebee's a motorcycle in this universe.

Prologue: Dion

A blue, silver, and yellow cargo truck sped down the highway on the outer edge of Iacon, coming to a stop by an Energon depot.

"I got your Energon cubes, fresh from the refinery!" the truck announced as his trailer opened up, "Be careful, these are highly volatile. The slightest spark, and we'll get a fireworks display that'll rival Matrix Day."

"I'll keep that in mind," the green foreman remarked, "Alright everyone, shipment's here! Remember, this Energon's not for personal consumption! You'll overload your circuits if you try!" Several more green vehicles drove out, some marked with almost passive, red faces, while others were marked with glaring, angular, purple faces.

"... You hire Ascenticons?" the truck remarked, shifting into robot mode as soon as the last Energon Cube was unloaded.

"Heh, I've got nothing to fear from them!" the foreman assured, "I pay my workers well and lead by example. Even gave Scavenger a Cycle off when his voice box started itching. Besides, outside of a few extremists, they're good bots!"

"If you say so…" the former truck remarked, his blue optics eyeing some of the green and purple Ascenticons uneasily.

"I'm just surprised you don't have an issue with the Autobots," the foreman replied, "Their agendas are pretty similar to the Ascenticons."

"Yes, but they don't go around slaughtering anyone who questions their boss," the former truck replied.

"Dion… You and I both know the Wreckers are outliers," the foreman replied sternly, "I might not go out and march with either the 'bots or 'cons, but I won't tolerate anyone smack-talking my workers."

"I'll believe that the Wreckers are renegades when Megatron stops letting them wear his symbol," Dion replied, "Now then, I just transported highly explosive Energon across town during rush hour…" The foreman groaned.

.

"Alright, this should cover the Energon," he forked over two fistfuls of Shanix as he and Dion sat in his office, "This should cover the hazard pay." The foreman poured two more fistfuls into Dion's hands. "And here's the tip." He dropped a few more. "Will that cover it?"

"Plenty," Dion remarked as he stored the hexagonal coins, "Just, next time you and your partner need something delivered, could you maybe have me carry something a little less… Highly explosive?"

The foreman laughed.

"Sorry partner, but when you work in construction and demolition, you work with a LOT of dangerous equipment!" he explained, "Still, I hope you have a safe trip home!" Dion wordlessly walked out of the office, folded back into truck mode, and drove back into town.

The sun disappeared over the horizon as Dion pulled into his lot, unfolded into robot mode, and walked up to the front door of his apartment. The tip of his key emerged from his pointer finger, and the delivery bot needed only to turn the Key to get his front door to slide open. As soon as he was inside, the press of a button is all that was needed to close the door behind him. He walked over to his Energon dispenser, filled up a cylinder, and sipped the glowing liquid, feeling his strength return to him.

"I wonder if there's anything good on…" he mused to himself as he walked over to his living room.

"There never is," an unfamiliar voice growled. Dion froze, and turned to the source of the voice as he heard the sound of metal shifting into place. Then he looked up, and up, until he saw two piercing green optics looking back down at him, and an almost predatory grin illuminated by their glow.

"P-please don't hurt me," Dion remarked as the figure's right hand shifted into a canon, "I-I have shanix!"

"Do you now?" the figure remarked, his right hand returning to normal as he held it out in front of Dion, "Fork 'em over! Unless you'd like to see why my left hook is famous." The stranger held up his left hand, or rather, the rusted, hook-like blade where his left hand should have been, and held it up to Dion's face. "Either way, I get paid." Dion emptied his storage compartments, handing over every last shannix he could get his hands on.

"Well, you certainly weren't lying," the stranger chuckled as he stored the shanix away, "Unfortunately…" His rusted hook retracted into his left arm, and a metal ball with Energon spikes was deployed to take its place. "I still have a job to do."

"... No…" the stranger lifted his weapon over his head with a grin, "Please…"

CLANG!

Dion cried out in pain twice. Once when the weapon hit his side, and once more when the stranger tore it out, along with several circuits.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

By the time the stranger was done, Dion's still living body was in pieces on the floor, circuits hanging out of several tears in his dented body as pink liquid poured out of his wounds, his optics flickering as he groaned in pain. The stranger smirked as he shifted his left hand back into a hook.

"And now for the final touch," his right hand shifted into a fusion cannon, "Goodbye."

"... N… N-n-"

BANG!

.

"Are you sure you don't want me to clean up?" The stranger asked as he walked out the front door.

"No, but his neighbors will be coming home from the rally soon, so get out of there before they see you."

"C'mon, I've been doing this for ages," the stranger remarked as he shifted into vehicle mode and drove off, "I'm just wondering why you want me to leave evidence behind."

"You'll see…"

a/n: ... So... I was originally going to close the chapter out on one of Dion's neighbors discovering his corpse, but "the stranger" casually walking away felt like a FAR more eerie ending.

If you couldn't guess, however, this is set BEFORE the Autobot/Decepticon war, but it's gonna happen eventually. You probably guessed that from the title.

The Wreckers' situation was inspired by Impactor's Decepticon alliegance in the "War for Cybertron Trilogy", and that's about all I can say without spoiling the story.

If you want to see more Transformers action from me, well, this is a prequel to another one of my stories: "A Girl and Her Bike: Volume 1", and is in fact elaborating on the events that were skipped over in that story's second chapter: "World of Cybertron". Again though, I'm going to try my best to make sure that this story and that one can both stand on their own.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all next time!