Starscream was on Earth's moon, brooding. Things were finally starting to come together. They had found the world where the Allspark was hidden... It was just a matter of finding it on this putrid rock... He had sent a group of his Decepticons to try and gather information from the organic life that inhabited the world...

His Decepticons. It had been eons since Megatron disappeared, and even now, so long after, the thought that Megatron was gone and the Decepticons belonged to Starscream made him giddy. It hadn't been easy, though, Loyalty was in short supply. He imagined that most Decepticons merely considered him a temporary leader until they found Megatron...

'Megatron is dead, for spark's sake.... He likely ran out of fuel and froze to death chasing the Allspark... Oh, the thought's sickeningly sweet, Megatron, transforming to robot mode with his last little spark of energy, trying to grasp at the Allspark juuust out of reach... Looking absolutely defeated as his optics flickered and frost formed around him... Oh yes.'

He grimaced. 'No... knowing my luck, he's still alive out there somewhere... He'll kill me for not capturing the Allspark before it left orbit.'

He transformed into jet mode and flew back towards the blue planet.

 

A few minutes after Sam had left to meet with his ride, Mikaela spotted her own in the campus parking lot. Her grandma sat in the driver's seat of a very un-grandma-like pickup truck, raising an eyebrow when she spotted her granddaughter.

"What kept you?" It wasn't suspicious or accusatory, simply curious. The old lady knew by now that the last thing Mikaela wanted to do was involve herself in things that would land her in trouble.

"Just talking to a classmate," replied Mikaela as she hopped into the passenger's side. "Lots of people are dipping out and heading to the airport with family, so just getting the last word out."

It wasn't a lie, she knew plenty of people who were heading out of town straight from school. She just didn't know if that was Sam's case, though with the way he bolted out of there it was pretty likely.

He grandmother nodded. "Money's in the glove compartment," she informed Mikaela as she started the engine.

Mikaela thanked her as they started to move, exhaling as she recalled the photo in her bag. Her dad would want her to enjoy the summer, and she planned to do just that. She was going to get her car and have a good time and only stress a little bit about her future, and everything was going to be okay.

---

The benefit to running a car repair shop was that Mikaela had become well-acquainted with some of the dealers around town. She'd met Bobby Bolivia a few times, and after a brief survey of her customers, it seemed like his cars had the least instances of breakdowns or repeat issues with parts. Her grandmother opted to sit and chat with Bobby's mammy on the porch while Mikaela met with the man himself.

"Miss Mikaela Banes!" he greeted with his usual jovial tone. "Always a pleasure, what can I do for you today?"

"Figured the start of summer was a good time as any to get my first car."

Bobby's smile widened, and he made a broad, sweeping gesture to the lot of cars. "A good time, a real good time indeed. I got plenty great cars here for you, so have a look around."

 

/Ramjet, can you stop? Your singing's atrocious, even in THEIR tongue./

 

A yellow muscle car with a black strip had parked in the lot, being beaten up it resembled a lot of the other used vehicles.
Why does this human have that signature on her...
The yellow muscle car wonders as it placed itself next to a Volkswagen

(( @moon moon ))

 

Decimating the humans, Blackout would take the time to make a call to Starscream.

/Blackout to Starscream. The humans had information regarding several projects, but they severed my link to it. We are terminating any and all witnesses/ he said, deliberately leaving out the part about attempting to scour for information about Megatron.

Seeing soldiers making it out of the complex, Blackout executed them all with a single rocket, before deploying his partner, Scorponok, who burrowed deep underground.

 

Starscream had just entered the stratosphere, his F-22 Jet mode burning orange.

/Good, good... What did you manage to gather? Have you acquired the location of the Allspark?/

 

Mikaela looked over each vehicle, not even taking notice of the unfamiliar Camaro. Bobby was going on about how her buying her first car here made them family, but that they practically already were thanks to her shop, so on and so forth.

She had to admit, the cars were in better condition than their appearances implied. Maybe her meager $4,000 would snag her a better ride than she thought.

As soon as the thought formed in her head, she spotted the dusty black and yellow hood of the strange muscle car. She tilted her head, making her way over to it.

 

A beat up, rusty pick up, the words Sparkplug and Son Salvage just barely legible on the doors, pulled into Bobby's lot, parking by the main building.
One of the windows rolled down and the driver started to yell.
"Hey Bobby!

 

The signal is getting slightly more distinct... but i cant make it out...
He notices her nearing him
Come on... choose me as your vehicle.

 

Bobby had still been trailing after Mikaela when the other truck pulled into the lot. He scowled to himself before turning back to Mikaela with his typical grin.

"So sorry 'bout this, gonna be right back, alright? You just keep lookin' until you find something."

With that, he made his way over to the newcomer.

"Sir," he began with a tone that remained upbeat, but with more of an edge to it. "if you need something, it's far more polite to come down and talk. Or just wait."

Mikaela, not believing anything was amiss with the new arrival, simply nodded as Bobby left and then finally came to a stop at the Camaro.

Not bad, she noted. Racing stripes are a nice touch.

She wondered if she ought to wait for Bobby to unlock it, but discovered from a curious tug on the door handle that it swung open for her. Lowering herself into the driver's seat, she appraised in interior. Outdated, smells kinda bad, but clean enough.

It was then that she noticed the symbol on the steering wheel. She squinted, running her thumb over the oddity. It wasn't the Chevy logo, that was for sure; in fact, she was certain it wasn't the mark of any major auto company she knew. It looked almost like a face.

What she hadn't noticed, however, was that the talisman she'd bought from Sam had made its way across the lot. It sensed potential trouble from the other lot visitor and had moved to be close to its new owner, its new chosen. Since Mikaela had closed the door of the car, it curled back into its original disk shape and waited for her to come out, right next to the Camaro's front tire.

 

/Data indicates that some power source of great magnitude is somewhere on this planet. Unknown location. But I did managed to find another hard drive that would likely contain the data./

 

"Don't be like that. It's me, Fred. From the salvage yard down the road there. Here for your scrap."

 

"This is why you should leave these kinds of things to the professionals!" Frenzy teased over the coms channel. "Barricade and I will get that information, Screamy! Don't you doubt it!" He giggled with a mechanical hiss

 

Bobby gave a snort before his trademark grin returned.

"Ah, you know I'm just bustin' your balls, Fred," he chuckled. "How ya been?"

 

"We'll need to access their networks. Somewhere with top clearance." Barricade chimed in.

 

That disk... could it really be of cybertronian descent
Bee is frozen in thought.
Primus please help make sure she decides to purchase me

 

"Better than you it looks like. Bakin out in the sun, clown on the corner flappin a sign around."

 

/Air Force One. That is what we were able to find as another source./

 

/You two need backup? We're pretty much done here./

 

/All you'll do is get in the way. We'll take it from here./ Barricade responded before taking off towards the plane.