After rushing out of the lecture hall, Sam immediately dialed Mikaela's number.
"Hello? Mikaela?"
"Well, well, Sam. You actually remember I exist?"
Sam ignored her sarcasm, his voice urgent and strained. "Something huge is happening! Do you hear me? Something huge!"
"Is that so?" Mikaela's voice sounded cold over the line. "You stood me up on our first video date. Did you run into some college beauty and lose your head?"
Clearly, the failed connection on his first night had left her fuming.
"No, no, stop joking!" Sam looked around frantically, his eyes darting like a hunted animal. "I'm serious, Mikaela. Remember that AllSpark shard I gave you? Remember?"
"Mmhmm. What about it?"
"I just had a total mental breakdown in class. I read a nine-hundred-page astronomy textbook in thirty seconds! The symbols are back, Mikaela. They're appearing everywhere, and I can't control them. It started since I..."
"Since what?"
Sam looked up at the sky, his face pale with terror. "Since I touched that shard!"
Los Angeles: 8th Street, Tucson.
Mikaela, dressed in a grey tank top and denim shorts with her hair tied in a sharp ponytail, leaned back against a lounge chair in the workshop.
"Sam, you're saying you've been acting crazy ever since you touched the shard that day?"
"Exactly, Mikaela. It's dangerous. Do you have it on you?"
"No," Mikaela glanced toward a corner of the shop. "I put it in the safe. It's secure."
"Good. Mikaela, promise me—don't touch it, okay?"
"Relax, Sam. I won't touch it. It's fine, locked away. No one even knows where it is..."
[ Translating... Position confirmed. ]
A small, unmanned RC truck rolled silently out from a corner of the workshop.
"Time to work!"
Wheelie rolled up to the base of the safe, transformed, and looked toward Mikaela with a sneer. "You're hot, lady, but you're real dumb."
The safe was far above the diminutive Wheelie's reach. He dragged a metal toolbox over and climbed up to reach the dial.
"Almost there... almost there..."
As Wheelie worked the combination lock, Mikaela's recently adopted dog trotted over, tilting its head and staring at the little robot with curiosity.
Then...
"Woof!"
"Shut up, you mutt!"
"Hey, Sam, hold on..." Mikaela, still on the phone, heard her dog barking. She tucked her hair behind her ear, lowered her phone, and crept toward the sound.
One look was all it took. She saw the tiny robot standing on a toolbox, its metallic arms working the safe's dial.
"Who are you, you little pest?! What do you think you're doing?!"
Mikaela roared as she charged the forty-centimeter-tall robot, grabbing a heavy pair of hydraulic pliers from a nearby bench.
"Abort! Abort!"
Wheelie leaped off the toolbox and scrambled for the exit. But before he could make it, the pliers snapped shut around his midsection, hoisting him into the air.
"Dammit! Let me go!"
"Talk! Who are you? Are you a Decepticon?!" Mikaela panted, sweat beading on her forehead.
"I'm not! You can kill me, I won't talk! Let's see what you've got, lady!"
"Fine. Let's see how much you like this."
Mikaela pinned Wheelie to a storage rack and grabbed a nearby blowtorch, aiming it directly at the two glowing red optics on his head.
Fsssssssh—
The torch erupted with a jet of blue flame.
"AAAAAARGH!"
A piercing mechanical scream echoed through the shop. One of Wheelie's optics shattered instantly.
"My eye! You crazy human female! My eye!"
"Aha. Ready to talk now?" Mikaela brandished the torch menacingly.
"Okay! Okay! Stop the torture!" Terror filled Wheelie's remaining optic. "The... The Fallen sent me! Because you have the shard!"
"Who is The Fallen?" Mikaela tightened her grip on the pliers.
"Ow! Easy, woman!" Wheelie shrieked. "I'm just a low-level grunt working for him! If I don't get that shard, he'll kill me!"
"Who is he?"
"You have the shard! I need it! Give it to me!" Wheelie seemed to glitch, repeating the phrase like a broken record. "You have the shard, give it to me, I need it..."
"In your dreams."
Mikaela kicked open an empty metal toolbox on the floor, threw Wheelie inside, and slammed the lid shut, locking it tight. The robot who had used a toolbox as a ladder was now a prisoner in one.
"Whew."
She smoothed her messy hair, picked up the box, and pulled her phone back out. "Sam, you were right. Things just got very real."
"What was that? I heard a noise."
"I can't talk about it on the phone. I'm coming to see you. Now."
Mission City University: Campus.
Having just hung up, Sam received a text from Leo saying the lecture was over. He was heading back to the dorms when a familiar figure stepped into his path.
"Soph... Sophia?" Sam asked tentatively.
"Hi, Sam." Sophia stared directly into his eyes. "Why don't you show me where you live?"
"Huh? What?" Sam looked bewildered.
"Let's go, Sam."
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Sophia grabbed his arm and led him toward the dorm building.
"Hey, wait! About the party the other night, I didn't mean to just disappear..."
Inside the dorm, Leo was wearing headphones, lost in his music. The door slammed open, and Sophia marched in.
"Whoa!"
Seeing the girl of his dreams, Leo jumped up, tearing his headphones off and scurrying over. "Sophia! Are you here for me?"
"No, Leo. I don't think she is," Sam said, poking his head out from behind her.
"You... you two? When did...?" Leo looked like his heart had been trampled.
"Believe it or not," Sam shrugged. "I have no idea what's happening either."
"You. Out!"
Sophia pulled Sam into the room and gave Leo a forceful shove toward the hallway.
"What? Me? Out? But wait—"
SLAM.
Leo stared at the closed door, stammering to the wood. "I... can I just listen? I'll eat my pizza quietly, I won't say a word..."
Inside the room, Sophia's eyes were predatory. she walked toward Sam with a slow, rhythmic gait. "Sam, I know you're a man of... exceptional talents."
"Am I? I don't feel like it," Sam said, backing away slowly.
"We both know what happens when two people are alone like this."
Sophia closed the distance. Behind her, a metallic, whip-like tail emerged from her lower spine, the tip shifting into a lethal, razor-sharp needle.
"This is getting a bit weird. Maybe we should talk about something else? Like..."
"Shhh." Sophia placed a finger against Sam's lips. "Just relax. Leave the rest to me..."
CRASH.
The door burst open. Mikaela stood in the doorway, her eyes wide with fury as she saw her boyfriend pressed against a beautiful stranger. They were inches apart, eyes closed, seemingly lost in the moment.
"SAM!!"
Startled, Sam snapped his eyes open. Seeing Mikaela, he immediately shoved Sophia away.
"Mikaela! What are you doing here?" Sam's face was a mask of guilt and panic.
"Yeah, clearly I picked a bad time!"
Behind Mikaela, Leo peered into the room, amazed. "Sam... you actually did it. You absolute legend."
"Your girlfriend?" Sophia asked, her voice cold.
"Used to be. Now she's the ex," Mikaela snapped.
"Mikaela, wait! I can explain!" Sam wiped his mouth and chased after her as she turned to leave.
Just as Sam's hand gripped the doorknob, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
SWISH—
Before Sam could react, a mechanical tentacle wrapped around his throat, hoisting his body into the air.
"Gah—!"
Sophia had finally dropped her mask. Her skin began to ripple and tear away, revealing the jagged metallic structure beneath. A long mechanical tongue flickered from her mouth, and her back unfolded to reveal a complex internal frame. On her chassis, a distinct Decepticon insignia was visible.
Sophia—or rather, the Pretender—had finally struck.
After Wheelie had reported that the "Essence" of the AllSpark had been absorbed by the boy, The Fallen had bypassed Megatron and given a direct order to Soundwave. Soundwave, wary of Optimus Prime's protection, had deployed a Pretender—an elite class of infiltrator—to eliminate the boy and extract the data. Sophia had arrived on the first day of school, replaced a freshman, and waited for the perfect moment to strike.
That moment was now.