Night fell over Chicago.
A battered, yellow classic Camaro with the plate IJ5-816 tore down the avenue, its rusted frame rattling violently under the strain of high speed.
Inside, Carly gripped the dashboard, venting her frustration. "Sam, what has gotten into you? Why are we driving out here?"
She couldn't fathom why her boyfriend, looking like he had barely survived an armed robbery, had dragged her toward an active military post instead of heading home after work.
"Listen to me, Carly. This is bigger than anything else right now."
Behind the wheel, Sam was covered in soot, his clothes frayed and torn.
Using the dense layout of the server vault, he had managed to evade Laserbeak's sweep and slip out of the Willis Tower mostly in one piece.
The fallout was an involuntary month of unpaid administrative leave.
Fortunately, Accuretta's corporate insurance covered structural damage to the hardware, sparing him from carrying the debt of a lifetime before seeing his first paycheck.
"I need you to keep your head cool. I am not joking with you. I will lay it all out once we get inside, or you'll see it with your own eyes..."
The Camaro banked hard through an industrial spur, finally pulling up before the gates of a secure military installation on the city's outskirts.
"Halt! Vehicle hold your position!"
Before the car could reach the barrier, armed sentries stepped out to block the lane.
"Emergency! Patch me through to Colonel Lennox immediately!"
"It's about the Decepticons! They're back!"
"Calm down, sir."
Ignoring Sam's frantic delivery, the guards swept their tactical flashlights across the cab with practiced indifference.
"This isn't an intake desk, and it's certainly not customer service. You have no security clearance here, sir."
A second soldier stepped up, his weapon resting across his vest. "I suggest you turn this vehicle around, sir."
"Fine! Just great!"
Having narrowly dodged an alien assassin hours earlier, Sam's patience snapped completely.
"You're following orders, sure, but don't lecture me on procedure! I have saved your lives twice over! You might not know the operational details, but I was the one out there doing it!"
"Look at you, clutching fresh carbines behind locked gates. What are you guarding out here? A cache of medical waste?!"
"And where did those covers come from, a nursing clinic? Has anyone ever told you how ridiculous you look in those caps?!"
"Sam, stop it!" Carly grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back from the brink. "Honey, I think we have the wrong address..."
"No, this is the place! We're not in the wrong spot! Lennox brought me through these gates before! I need to reach Optimus right now!"
Sam had no real-time telemetry on Optimus or Lennox, but Bumblebee had brought him to this staging perimeter in the past.
Unfortunately, none of the guards on this shift recognized his face.
"Are you completely deaf?! Get Optimus Prime on the line!"
"Sir," the lead sentry warned, his jaw tightening under the barrage of insults. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but your window to turn around without charges is closing fast."
"The Decepticons are active again! Are you not hearing me?!"
"And keep your hands off the hood, this car is a classic!"
Driven by raw panic, Sam slammed his foot down on the throttle, attempting to ram through the gate.
The sedan splintered the wooden barrier, only for a row of heavy hydraulic bollards to shoot up from the concrete ahead.
"Sam, watch out!"
CRUNCH!
Over Carly's terrified scream, the Camaro slammed headlong into the steel bollards before Sam could touch the brakes.
The hood crumpled inward like an accordion with a deafening metallic screech.
Almost simultaneously, an automated perimeter scanner blared:
Energy signature detected.
"We have an active trace inside the chassis!"
"Secure the perimeter!"
"Hands where I can see them! Out of the vehicle!"
Rifles raised, the sentries converged on the smoking wreck, dragging a dazed Sam out onto the asphalt.
"Got you, kid!"
"Sergeant, we have movement in the back!"
The Camaro's rear door creaked open, and two tiny mechanical figures hopped down onto the pavement, their metallic hands raised high.
It was Brains and Wheelie.
"Whoa, easy on the triggers, jarheads!"
"Lower the barrels! We're on the same payroll here!"
"Listen to him! I'm an Autobot, your official planetary ally! Is this how you treat your coalition partners?!"
Despite their frantic protests, the guards maintained their firing lanes, calling for restraint cuffs.
Brains hopped on one foot, cursing at the top of his vocal processors. "Fools! Enjoy your post while you still have it! I'm having Optimus request your immediate transfer to latrine duty!"
"Say goodbye to your ride, kid. It's heading straight to the salvage yard."
Just as Sam's cheek met the gravel again, the deep, throaty growl of an engine echoed from within the depot.
VROOOM—
Unlike Sam's wrecked relic, this was a pristine, late-model yellow Camaro tearing down the access lane.
"Bumblebee! Bee!"
Sam shouted from the ground, pointing wildly. "Look at that! That is my car!"
The modern Camaro drifted to a halt beside the checkpoint, its plates shifting and rising in a fluid mechanical motion as Bumblebee took his robot form.
"Soldiers, release the boy!"
"Aha! You heard him!" Sam pulled his arms free, rubbing his wrists as he shot a vindictive glare at the sentry. "How about that?"
"Fair enough, kid," the guard muttered, lowering his weapon with an embarrassed shrug.
"Bee, over here," Sam waved Bumblebee toward an open parking bay. "What took you so long?"
"I know your assignments are critical, and I've never tried to keep you from running operations with the unit..."
Carly followed close behind, her eyes wide as she studied Bumblebee's frame. At her collar, a small jeweled pin caught the perimeter lights, flashing with a faint, rhythmically timed glint.
Dressed in form-fitting jeans, a cropped tank top, and a fitted leather jacket, her sharp look turned heads even under the harsh security lamps.
"I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, but it feels like forever since we talked. Couldn't you take one night off to crash in the garage?"
Bumblebee spread his hands wide, emitting a series of regretful electronic tones through his radio. "Sam... hearing you say that hurts my spark."
"It should hurt! I want you to feel bad!"
"Look at the rust bucket I've been driving every day! I'm hurting worse than you!"
"And now it's totaled! I was sixty-eight percent through restoring that frame!"
"Fresh chrome, an aftermarket spoiler, and it would've been pristine..."
Running out of breath, Sam finally cut to the chase. "Bee, I need to reach Lennox and Optimus. The Decepticons tracked me down at work."
Bumblebee's optics narrowed, his radio clicks turning serious. "You're right, Sam. The Decepticons are moving on a major front."
"Optimus isn't on site, but I can get you to Diego Garcia to link up with Lennox."
"Diego Garcia?"
"Lennox is sending a transport to extract us."
"Where is Optimus, then?"
"He left the atmosphere."
"He what? Where did he go?"
"The Moon."
"Brother, so this is the Moon?"
On the stark landscape of the lunar far side, the twins, Skids and Mudflap, surveyed the endless sea of gray dust with vocal awe.
Three hours earlier, with logistical backing from NASA and Director Mearing, Optimus Prime had assembled an expeditionary team and launched for lunar orbit.
Their transport was the Xanthium, the deep-space shuttle that Sideswipe had piloted to Earth years before.
The vessel was built for interstellar travel; crossing the narrow gulf between Earth and its moon took minimal burn time.
While the twins traded banter over the barren expanse, Optimus Prime stepped down from the shuttle ramp, flanked by Ironhide and Ratchet.
"Commence the retrieval."
"Ratchet, accompany me into the wreckage. Ironhide, establish a defensive perimeter around the Xanthium."
"Understood, Optimus."
Optimus and Ratchet advanced toward the massive crater ahead.
Even from high orbit, the shattered silhouette of the alien flagship had been unmistakable within the basin.
Behind them near the shuttle ramp, several automated rover units rolled down into the dust. These were scientific packages Director Mearing had convinced the space agency to slip aboard before launch. The Autobots had agreed to deploy them, with no promise of bringing them back.
Reaching the lip of the crater, Optimus felt his spark pulse with profound recognition. "Ratchet, look at her."
Ratchet stepped up beside him, staring down at the colossal, scarred vessel. The chief medical officer's optics widened with disbelief:
"It is the Ark. Sentinel Prime's flagship."
"Stay alert, Ratchet."
Optimus leaped down the crater wall, passing through a jagged hull breach into the dark corridors of the ancient ship, with Ratchet following close behind, weapons at the ready.
This is the Xanthium expedition team. We have breached the primary hull.
NASA receiving. Telemetry active, visual feed is streaming.
Stepping past rows of long-dormant frames corroded by time, Optimus navigated deep into the core until he reached the central command bay.
There, sealed within a primary stasis pod, rested a familiar silhouette.
"My instincts were true. You survived," Optimus said softly, his deep voice echoing in the dead chamber.
"Sentinel's readings are critical," Ratchet noted, sweeping an analytical beam across the reinforced glass. "His core energy is down to baseline emergency reserves. He locked himself into a deep defensive shutdown."
"We must act immediately."
"Then we bring him home."
SCREEECH—
Optimus forced the stasis locks with his bare hands, tearing open the heavy seal. Lifting the weathered, inactive frame of his mentor into his arms, he looked down upon the aged faceplate.
"You are going home, Sentinel. My teacher."
Meanwhile, back on Earth...
Chicago, late evening.
Out of the overcast skies, a Cybertronian assault craft swept down into an empty rail yard, shifting into a tall, armored warrior the moment its pedes met the gravel.
Skygnaw stood motionless among the rusted boxcars, his optics dark, looking like an ancient statue under the dim city haze.
After an unmeasured silence, a faint, calculating smile touched his faceplate.
"The curtain rises at last..."
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