Black tactical SUVs crept through the muddy, waterlogged maze of the Texarkana railyard. Rain slicked the armored hoods of the vehicles, reflecting the dull glow of sodium streetlights. Inside the lead convoy car, Savoy stared at his thermal monitor, his jaw tight. They had picked up a massive Cybertronian heat signature ten minutes ago. Savoy tapped his earpiece, his voice a low, gravelly whisper. "All units, close the perimeter. We have a rogue target pinned in the main warehouse. Do not shoot to kill unless authorized. Lockdown wants this one alive if possible." Static cut through the tactical channel, drowning out Savoy's orders with a sudden, ear-splitting screech. "I have found your trail, Prime. There is nowhere on this pathetic planet you can hide." Savoy's blood ran cold. The voice didn't belong to the injured Autobot leader they were hunting. It was deeper, raspier, carrying a brutal, terrifying weight that shook the very glass of the windshield. Before Savoy could scream a warning to his men, the massive warehouse doors exploded outward in a shower of splintered wood and twisted steel. Gears shrieked and metal groaned with violent, rhythmic force as a colossal shadow rose from the wreckage. Standing over forty feet tall, the Cybertronian tyrant looked down at the tiny human vehicles. His frame was no longer the scarred, rusted husk that had crawled away from the ruins of Chicago. His head, once blown open and dripping with dark energon, was now fully restored. Polished silver armor caught the flash of lightning, and twin crimson optics burned through the darkness with absolute malice. With a deafening roar, Megatron grabbed his massive fusion blaster from his back and leveled it at the convoy. Bullets peppered his pristine chest plates, sparks flying harmlessly into the night air as the human soldiers panicked and opened fire. Megatron sneered, his mouth plate twisting into a cruel grin. "Flea-bitten insects!" One heavy blast from his cannon vaporized the lead SUV, sending a fireball high into the rainy sky. He brought his massive foot down on another armored vehicle, crushing it flat into the mud like an empty soda can. Flames reflected in his red eyes as he swept his blaster across the yard, dismantling the Cemetery Wind convoy with surgical, brutal precision. With a violent grind of shifting plates, Megatron collapsed into his newly restored, heavy-duty military combat vehicle mode. Tires tore through the wet dirt, scattering the surviving soldiers as the massive truck smashed through the perimeter fence and disappeared into the Texarkana night. --- Dust hung heavy in the air of the abandoned movie theater in Paris, Texas, miles away from the chaos. Cade Yeager wiped a layer of sweat and grease from his forehead with the back of his hand. Lucas Flannery leaned against a rusted projector, whining as he fanned himself with a piece of cardboard. "Cade, we don't have the money for this. The electricity bill is three months overdue, and you're buying a literal pile of scrap metal." "This isn't scrap, Lucas," Cade muttered, stepping closer to the massive, dust-covered semi-truck parked in the center of the ruined auditorium. He reached out, running his fingers over the heavily rusted grill of the Marmon cabover truck. Strange, intricate metallic details caught his eye beneath the thick layer of grime and corrosion. "Look at these rivets. Look at the alloy. This isn't standard steel. This is something else entirely." Lucas groaned, rolling his eyes. "It's a rusted-out truck, Cade. We're going to get evicted, and your big plan is to restore a vehicle that looks like it survived a war?" "We can salvage the parts," Cade said, his voice rising with excitement. "If I can get the engine apart, the tech inside could pay off our entire mortgage. I'm telling you, there's something special about this rig." Cade walked over to the theater owner, a frail old man who was eager to get rid of the junk. After a brief, tense negotiation, Cade handed over his last remaining stack of crumpled dollar bills. Hours of back-breaking labor followed as they hooked the massive, unnaturally heavy truck to their aging tow vehicle. Rain began to fall by the time they finally backed the flatbed into Cade's cluttered barn. --- Night fell over the Texas countryside, bringing a cool breeze that rattled the loose tin sheets of the barn roof. Cade worked under the glow of a single, swinging halogen bulb, his tools clinking against the truck's massive engine block. Lucas has been helping cade as they have inspect the cap and find bullets and mortar shells Climbing into the dusty driver's cabin, Cade searched for a hood release, but his hand brushed against something hot to the touch. He pulled his hand back, startled. The truck had been sitting dead for years, yet the steering column felt warm, almost pulsing. Looking down, he noticed several heavy, unexploded kinetic shells embedded deep in the floorboards of the cab. He and lucas's heart hammered against their ribs as the realization hit him. This wasn't an ordinary machine. Cade grabbed a heavy-duty car battery, dragging it over to the side of the truck's engine bay. He attached the thick jumper cables to the main power terminals, hoping to spark some life into the dormant system. "Let's see what you really are," Cade whispered, reaching for the power switch on the battery charger. He flipped the switch. A sudden, blinding surge of blue energy surged through the cables, lighting up the entire barn. As the engine lights flashed, a low, static-choked audio recording began to play from the truck's rusted-out dashboard speakers. It was a deep, gravelly voice, warbling and distorted by damage: "Calling all... calling all Autobots..." The headlights pulsed in tandem with the transmission, casting rhythmic, haunting shadows across the wooden rafters of the barn. Suddenly, the hum of the engine violently spiked. The metal began to shift and slide with deafening speed. Gears ground together with massive force as the steering wheel spun rapidly on its own, and the entire cab collapsed inward. Cade stumbled backward, tripping over a toolbox and crashing hard onto the concrete floor. Panels slid and rotated, gears grinding with deafening force as the massive blue and red frame of Optimus Prime unfolded from the truck. Smoke poured from his damaged chest plates, and his optics flared a bright, panicked blue before, in a damaged state, saying: "I'll kill you! Stay back!" Optimus Prime pointed his large cannon. Tessa walked in before running into her father, Cade, terrifyingly halting as Optimus pointed his weapon at them. "No, no, no, don't shoot!" Cade said. Lucas ran and yelled, "Call 911! Run!" Optimus, like in the original timeline, hit him with his massive cannon, knocking Lucas back, before aiming right back at them. "He's not going to shoot us," Cade said. Optimus lowered his arm slightly, his vocal processors grinding out. "Weapons systems damaged." "We took out your engine," Cade said. "You're heavily damaged. I'm an inventor. My name is Cade Yeager." The giant's posture softened, the defensive hum of his cannon finally dying down. He looked down at Cade with a solemn, ancient gaze. "Cade... I am in your debt." Cade looked up at the massive, scarred alien. "What happened to you?" An ambush. A trap set by humans," Optimus said, his voice dropping into a low, bitter rumble. Tessa stepped out from behind Cade, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked up at the towering, battered hero. "But you're on our side. Why would humans hurt you?" Optimus’s optics dimmed, the blue light flickering weakly as he spoke. "They were not alone..." He paused, a painful shudder running through his massive frame. "My Autobots... they are in danger." Suddenly, a loud, metallic grind echoed through his torso. Optimus groaned, his legs giving out beneath his immense weight. With a heavy, earth-shaking crash, he collapsed back onto the floor of the barn. As he hit the ground, the right side-antenna of his helm snapped, breaking off completely and clattering onto the dirt. Struggling to push himself back up with his one functional arm, Optimus rasped, "I need to go. I need to go now... My Autobots can repair me." "Yeah," Cade said, looking at the fallen leader with a mix of awe and grim reality. "If you could reach them." Optimus stared up at the human inventor, his optics pulsing faintly in the dark. "What about me?" Before Cade could answer, the camera cuts.

Chapter 3: Rust and Iron