I did change the events of ROTF a little bit in this, but the plot stays the same.

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any brands/movies/shows or anything like that in this.

Chapter Eight: A Deck of Wild Cards

Arriving at Sam's college, mom got out of the car and spun around. Students milled about, and behind them sat a looming and intimidating college campus

"Oh my gosh, look at this place! I feel smarter already! Oh Ron, Alex, can you smell it?" Mom gasped.

"I smell pollen." I say bluntly.

"Yeah, smells like four thousand dollars a year." Dad scowled.

"Okay, Lame-o and Cheap-o." Mom rolled her eyes at both of us.

"Hey, go ahead. We'll, uh, we'll get your stuff. Just go ahead and check out your room." Dad told Sam. He walks away, and I help Mom and Dad get his stuff.

We walk through Sam's new school. Nobody pays us much mind. A few of the admissions people point us in the right direction of Sam's dorm and we walk in with the boxes.

"We made it." Dad breathed, as if we were just running from decepticons or something equally as terrifying, before saying. "Hi."

"Its just like Hogwarts!" Mom breathed with awe. "Hi honey."

I snorted, knowing Sam really didn't want to be babied like that in front of his new roommates.

"You guys want to meet my roommates?"

"Yes." Mom nodded.

"Some real swell guys." Sam mumbled before gesturing to one of his roommates. "Here's Leo."

"I'm Leo." He says.

"We're the Witwickys." Mom smiled. "I'm Judy, and this is my daughter Alex."

"Hey, you have a great son, you really do." Leo said, trying to be nice.

"Well, aren't you the sweetest thing." Mom said.

"Yeah, he's real sweet, ma." Sam zeroed in on the 'brownies' mom had. "What's in your hand?

"I got this at the bake sale for the environment that those boys are having. You know, you don't often see white boys with the dreadlocks." Mom babbled. I facepalmed. Poor Sam.

"Mom, those weren't a bake sale." I said bluntly. "They don't do bake sales in high school, why would there be a bake sale in college."

"It's one hundred percent pure Hawaiian green for the environment." Mom mumbled.

"Judy, how many of those have you eaten?" Dad asked.

"It's fine," Mom snapped.

"They baked it with reefer in it." Dad tried to snatch the 'brownies' from her.

"It's my cheat day. I can eat what I want." And mom eats another 'brownie'.

"Oh gosh." I muttered, hiding my face in my hands.

"I'm going to freak out. Please do something right now, dad. Please, do something right now!" Sam babbles at light speed.

"I did, I tried-" Dad argued.

I discreetly elbowed my brother. "It's a good thing Ratch and Bee aren't here right now. I think they'd both glitch."

"Yah." Sam nodded, shaking his head.

Dad, Sam and I chased mom outside.

"Pretty girls, my son lives in this dorm, you should do make friends with him, he's Sam!" She gestures wildly.

"This is going to be an awful car ride." I say with horror, the consequences of this sinking in. I was for sure going to have to use my iPod's music and earbuds to survive that trip. Whoever gave the advice of listening to adults has clearly not seen something this crazy.

"Glad she ain't my momma." A student said, his voice somehow heard over the chaos.

As Sam and dad chased mom I wondered what was going on? I was watching something out of a story a comedian would tell, and I was about to witness the punchline.

Mom snatched a frisbee from some students tossing them back and forth. They weren't happy. She tackled one of them, then snatched it from the other, spinning around.

Dad picked mom up and put her on his shoulder.

"I'm upside down!" Mom squealed with delight.

"Oh my gosh!" I rolled my eyes as we piled into the car and I braced myself for a very long drive home.

When we finally got home, my grandparents were waiting for us. My parents leave and I sat at the kitchen table.

"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Grandma asked.

"Nothing, Grandma." I said quietly. "I just miss my friend and Sam."

"The yellow rescue truck and the yellow Camaro?" She asked.

"Yeah, those friends." I nodded. "and I miss Sam a lot."

"Alex, the way I have come to see it, is missing someone means you enjoyed the time you had. Since you miss them, it was time well spent." She smiled. "Would you have traded all the good times to save yourself the little bit of missing you'll do when your apart for a little while?"

"No, I wouldn't. Not for anything." I smiled, recalling the sleepover Sam and I had in the garage with Bee and Ratchet, and how Sam and I fought so much over who's pillow was who's that Bee set up an entire prank without us noticing. "Thanks grandma."

"Of course, sweetie." She smiled, then walked into the kitchen to start making dinner.

We had dinner, I helped with the dishes, and we settled in for a movie: Back to the Future. After a fun time watching a good 80's movie, everyone went to bed. Before I fell asleep, I briefly wondered if this was what normal is. If it is, it's boring.

The next day, I started getting my stuff together for the first day of school, which'll be in a few days. Normally, I would've saved it for the night before and rushed around like a crazy person, but my grandpa told me that it would be a better idea to be ready sooner, so if I forget something, I don't have to rush around last minute for it.

I finished pretty quickly and then had an idea. Maybe I could stop by Mikeala's shop and say hello. Maybe we could do some girls thing or something. I texted her, and she told me to come over. She wanted some company anyway. I asked my grandparents, and they said it was ok. I grabbed my bike and biked to her shop. It's up just up the block and down a side street, pretty close to our house.

"Hi Mikeala!" I yelled into the shop, propping my bike up on the wall.

"Hey Alex!" She called from the shop. Her mastiff, Bones came and greeted me.

"Hi Bones! Who's the goodest boy?" I pet him, flopping his ears.

He barked and spun around, hopping and wagging his tail.

"How was dropping Sam off?" Mikeala asked.

"He didn't tell you?"

"He stood me up on our webcam date." She frowned.

"Well, it was out of control." I responded to her question. "More specifically, my mom was out of control."

"Oh gosh." Mikeala laughed.

"Yeah." I nodded. "It was… interesting to say the least. Sam was so embarrassed. I was embarrassed for him."

Mikeala's phone rang. The caller-id was Sam. We both frown and exchange looks. "Yes, Samuel?" She answered and put it on speaker.

"Hello, Mikeala?" Sam asked.

"Hey Sam." I wave at the phone, even though he can't see it

"I can't believe you're gonna stand me up on our first web-chat date!" Mikeala said in an annoyed tone.

"Something just happened to me, okay,"

"What? you finally hit puberty?" Mikeala asked.

"Your weirdo roommates kicked you out?" I asked.

"No, no, no, stop laughing! This is serious, ok. Remember how I was telling you about my great-great-grandfather Archibald Witwicky? Remember?" he yelled at someone off the phone. "Remember how Megatron zapped him, and he started seeing these crazy symbols. I'm seeing them too. I just read a 903-page astronomy book in 32.6 seconds. I had a meltdown in the middle of my class. I'm seeing symbols ever since I…"

"Since when?" I asked.

"Ever since I touched the cube splinter. Do you have it?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's fine, it's here. We won't touch. It's locked away, no one knows where it is." Mikeala told him.

There's a weird crash from the back of the shop. There's one of those Allspark bots, scrambling around, knocking stuff over.

"Hold on, Sam." Mikeala put the phone down.

Mikeala rushed at the robot, and in a move too quick to follow grabbed a blowtorch and a pair of massive plier things, grabbed the blue creatin.

"Ahh!" He screamed when Mikeala torched his eye. I swiped a hammer and with all the strength I had, bashed it on his head. "AHH!"

"OW! That's my optic, you crazy bitch! Someone better confiscate that hammer from you!" He snarled at us both.

"You gonna talk now?"

"Ow, Ow, Ow! I seek knowledge from the Cube! The Fallen demands me!"

"What knowledge?" I asked, glaring at him and switching the hammer to a grinder that was in arm's reach.

"You got the shard! I need the shard! Gimme the shard! I need the shard! Gimme the shard! They're gonna whack me! I'm gonna be dead without the shard!"

Mikeala threatened to torch his other eye, and I turned on the grinder.

"Easy Warrior Goddess! Easy Phoenix! I'm just a little salvage scrap drone!"

"We're your worst nightmares." Mikeala glared at him. She handed me the pliers. "Hold this."

I grabbed them and she went back to the phone with Sam.

"Warrior Goddess and Phoenix?" I said questioningly.

"She's Warrior Goddess and you're Phoenix!" Wheelie gesticulated wildly.

"Phoenix," I nodded thoughtfully. "I like that."

I heard Mikeala say. "I'll tell you later, just not on an open phone line, okay? Alex and I will get on a plane, and we'll be there this afternoon, just be careful Sam."

Mikeala grabs a metal case, and the pliers I was holding and flings Wheelie inside and slams it shut.

Later, at the Airport, I carried Wheelie's case. Getting through TSA, the official asked Mikeala. "And have any strangers given you anything suspicious to carry on today?"

I slammed down the case once I heard Wheelie try to say "Yeah, a live bomb!"

"No," Mikeala responded.

"Nope, Nothing suspicious here." I grinned. "Just excited to see my brother."

"Good." The man nodded, smiling slightly at my comment.

At Philadelphia, we got to Princeton, and walked through the halls and to Sam's dorm. And there's Sam, kissing someone I've never seen before. Mikeala is not gonna be happy about this.

"Is that your girlfriend?" She asked. "And your sister?"

"Ex." Mikeala slammed the door. She started walking away and I kinda just stood there, idly wondering how I'd ever get home in time for school if they break up.

"I can explain-" Sam is cut off by the door slam, but then there's a thud, screaming, and a crash, and Mikeala runs up and opens the door. The 'girl' is a decepticon with a long metal tongue thing! She 'transformed' to a robot. I'm never going to get that out of my head. Mikeala threw Wheelie's case, and we all started running.

We run out and to a building that's the library.

"What is that!" Leo gasped.

"It's an alien robot Leo! Move!" Sam shouted.

"Is it real!?"

"Just run!" Sam yelled as we all dashed into the library to hide.

Once we hide, Mikeala and Sam start fighting and I fumbled around my pocket to find my phone and shakily typed in: Decepticons are at Sam's college! One looks like a human but isn't! and selected all of the autobots' contacts and then send.

Sam and Mikeala keep fighting, while Leo has a little panic moment, and then makes it worse by telling Sam aliens are going to hatch in his intestines. I slapped Leo for that.

Then the wall exploded.

"Holy crap!" I shouted as the 'con started blowning up book cases, tables, and desk. Wood fragments, papers and scraps of metal pelted us. She blew through the wall, which was when we made out escape, and sprinted to the parking lot. I grabbed Wheelie's case while Mikeala hot-wired the car. We all got inside, but Alice jumped on the hood of the car, shattering the windshield. Her long metal tongue flicked inside the car.

"Drive, drive, drive!" Sam shouted. "She's right there."

I'm sitting next to Leo. Of course I'm sitting next to Leo the Lunatic.

Mikeala slams on the gas, but Alice is still hanging on the hood.

"Kiss this, bitch." Mikeala muttered.

So she slams the car into a light post, and then runs over the 'con.

"So, what else don't I know, you guys forgot to mention some minor details." Leo yells.

"That one was a tiny one, there a lot bigger robots than just that thing from another planet and they want to kill us!" I yell in his ear.

A massive helicopter, which I'd bet is a con, swoops down, and we all scream. He uses some sort of spear thing which penetrates the roof to pick us up.

And lifts us in the air. A pick up hits the car and spins it around, and Sam slides out, gripping the door. I hold my breath, biting my fingernails with tears brimming in my eyes while the others scream. I'm not freaking out, I'm freaking in.

Mikeala pulls him back in.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die!" Leo screams.

The helicopter drops us above an abandoned warehouse. We all scream as the car smashes through the ceiling, then hits the floor. The airbags deploy, but then a massive buzzsaw- Starscream's- cuts the car in half. We all continue to scream, and scramble out of what's left of the car.

Starscream bends down, disgust written plainly on his faceplates and I held my breath. He spat on Sam.

"Oh Jeez! Oh Jeez!" Sam yelled as Starscream continued to give Sam an unnecessary and probably unwanted shower.

The 'con stood up, growling. Behind us, Megatron stood up above the railing.

There's no way this ends well.

"Come here, boy." Megatron gestured with his massive head.

"Closer." He growled. It sounded like a growl a lion or tiger would make.

There's differences between interacting with the autobots and interacting with the decepticons. The decepticons scare you senseless on purpose, while the autobots do everything in their power to not scare you.

"You remember me, boy, don't you?"

"It's not like it'd be easy to forget the guy who tried to kill us." I muttered. Megatron pinned his blood-red gaze on me and I froze like a statue.

"I'll do what you say, just don't hurt them." Sam said.

Megatron flicked him off the cat-walk and he landed on a concrete slab painfully. He groaned and then screamed when Megatron pinned his arms.

"It feels good to grab your flesh," Megatron snarled. "I'm going to kill you, slowly, painfully, but first we have some delicate work to do."

"Don't hurt him!" I found the words escaping my mouth.

Starscream leaned in so close that I could touch the metal of his face if I wanted. I protect my face with my arms. "Please don't kill me."

"Doctor," Megatron glanced at the lensometer on the table. "Examine this alien specimen."

It transforms scurried on top of my brother, and glanced at my brother through red optics, getting in his face and trying to slice at him.

It yells some gibberish and then snaps its fingers. Two other cons, small and horse-fly like, carry some sort of slithering probe to the nutty, tiny con. I found myself wishing for Ratchet or 'Bee to bust through the wall and save us from this nightmare.

The small con takes the probe after it's been in Sam's mouth and projects a language that looks like pure gibberish.

I wanted to get out of here. Nothing more than that, and I wouldn't accept anything less.

"These symbols can lead us to the energon source." Megatron snarled.'

"We must get ze brain on ze table!" The tiny crazy con shouts.

"What- what does he mean by my brain?!" Sam yells.

"Well, it looks like you have something on your mind, something I need." Megatron said.

"I know your pissed, I know your pissed because I tried to kill you. I completely understand because if someone tried to kill me, I'd be pissed too. I- I think we have an opportunity to develop our relationship and- and-" He started freaking out at the same time we do when the nutty con transforms his spindly arm into a small saw.

Optimus crashed through the ceiling and Bumblebee crashed through the wall. Finally! Rescued at last!

Once they start shooting, I run to Sam. We don't stick around to watch, but Optimus backflipped over Megatron and shot him in the chest.

Outside the massive building, Optimus transforms.

"Sam! Alex!"

Taking the obvious hint, Sam and I both get into Optimus's vehicle mode. He races along a two-lane highway, boxed in by trees.

"Go, go, go!" Sam yelled anxiously. He yelled as Megatron shot at us. "There he is!"

Optimus transformed, flinging us out of the cab as Megatron tackled him.

"Hide, Sam!" Optimus yelled before punching Megatron in the face.

"Come on, Alex!" Sam yanks me forward by my arm.

Behind us, Optimus throws a tree at Megatron. "Weak, puny, waste of metal!" He snarled.

Sam and I kept sprinting away from the battling transformers. From what I can see from over my shoulder without tripping is that Optimus is handing Megaton his aft on a silver platter.

Grindor swoops in, and Starscream starts shooting at us. "Come here, fleshlings."

Starscream chases us through this forest, and Megatron does too, weaving in between the trees. The ground explodes behind us when we scramble behind a tree. I met my brother's gaze, both of us scared to death, before we flinch when a shot flies right over our heads.

"There's another source of energon hidden on this planet. The boy can lead us to it."

Megatron shoves Optimus to his knees and kicks him in the face. Sam and I watch, horrified.

"OPTIMUS!" Sam shouted. We turn our backs on the scene to keep running away. I can hear one of their energy weapons charge, then fire, and then the clanging and shattering sound of metal. Optimus crashed right next to us, knocking both of us off our feet and covering us in dirt.

"Is the future of our race not worth one single human life?" Megatron demanded.

"You'll never stop at one." Optimus responded coldly, engaging his battle mask and deploying both his swords. "I'll take you all on!"

Hiding behind the tree, we don't see much. But Optimus totally kicks their tin. Optimus cut off Grindor's blades, punched Megatron a few times, then punched Starscream right in the face, cut off his arm, and hit him in the face with his arm. Then, he torn Grindor's helm apart.

"Sam, where are you?!" Optimus turned his back to Megatron.

Megatron stabbed him in the chest with his gun/blade arm, and then shot him too from behind his back, before yanking his blade out. The whole world stops spinning as he falls to the ground, it seems like any noise is drowned out by the silence..

"NOOO!" Tears roll down my face, unchecked, as I lunge forward. There's nothing I can do, the logical part of me says. But I'm too emotional to listen.

The whole world must be spiraling out of control.

Optimus is dead.

Sam stops me by grabbing onto my arm. "Alex, come on!"

He drags me along, but I don't even pay attention to where I'm putting my feet. I'm too busy staring behind me.

I want to think that this is all just a nightmare that I'll wake up from. But I know it's not. I wished I could go back in time, warn Optimus about Megatron. Maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe.

The other autobots are here, but I'm not looking at them, I'm too busy looking at the one we've left behind.

Sam drags me to Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, get them out of here!" Ratchet ordered.

I got in with Sam, but my whole mind felt numb. The whole world truly was spinning out of control. I thought it had been that way earlier at Sam's college, but this- this is so much worse!

Bumblebee drives back the way we came, turning opposite of almost all of the other autobots. Skids, Mudflap, and Ratchet turn the same way we did. He drives to this abandoned courtyard. Sam, Mikeala, Leo and I all get out.

Inside the empty building, I watch what Leo's watching on his phone.

"What we're hearing from the German Government is that the world broadcast was a satellite hacking. The military has just told us they have assumed Condition Delta, which is the highest level we have been at since 9/11. President Obama is being flown to a bunker somewhere in the middle of the United States in the face of the word simultaneous attacks ever around the globe. The Aircraft Carrier USS Roosevelt goes down off the East Coast, all hands lost. World-wide casualties are in the neighborhood of 7,000, but that number could climb. It's still too early to tell. What we need to ask now is "Who, and Why?". The FBI are still trying to locate the boy, Sam Witwicky. We believe they have information about the attacks. The FBI, CIA and Interpol are all seeking the cooperation of worldwide law enforcement." A newscaster reports.

"Hey, bro, you need to listen to this, man." Leo shouts to Sam.

"They have a traffic camera spotting Sam-"

"They have a picture of us! FBI, CIA, We are wanted fugitives now." Leo shouts, running down the stairs and following Sam out of the building. I catch up to my brother.

"I need you to focus for once second."

"This thing has blown up to a whole new level!" Leo says.

Sam snatches Leo's phone. "You know this thing? They can track us. DO you see this?"

He threw it to the floor and stomped on it.

"They can track us, like satellite track us?" Leo freaked out. "Woah, woah, woah, I'm not with you guys. Technically, I'm like a hostage, this is kidnapping-"

"Yo! Leo!" Skids or Mudflap shout. Honestly, they're one and the same.

"These things are gonna give me a heart-attack, I swear."

"That's 'cus you is a wuss." Skids said. "Oh, I think 'e's scared."

"Aye, Mudflap, what are we gonna do with this shrimp-taco?"

"We should pop a cap in his ass, throw 'im in the trunk then nobody gonna know nothin'."

"Not in my trunk." Skids said, disgusted.

"I'm right here, and I can hear you!" Leo yells. "No one's popping any caps in any asses. I've had a hell of a day!"

Mudflap mimics Leo mockingly and Skids tells him to go complain to his boyfriend.

"Hey, Sam, I know what I'm going to do. I'm just going to go to the authorities and tell them I had nothing to do with this."

"You wanted this," Sam tells him. "You wanted the real deal? Wake up, you're in the middle of it! You wanna run, go ahead. No one's stopping you. Stop complaining."