You would think that being a half-human with the ability to recall anything, or even learn anything with a single day thanks to the internet that Holly Paxton wouldn’t have to go high school. 

But, noooooooooooo. Heather Fitzroy, Holly’s fellow redhead, and coincidently her mother at the same time, had put her foot down when her daughter had attempted to beg or plead her way out of going to public school with other children her age. 

Holly couldn’t help the sigh as she tuned out her history teacher, going on about the second human world war once more. She was so sick of this school, and all she wanted was to get out of it.

If Holly was ever to look back upon this day in the years to come, she'd describe it as the last relaxing day that she would ever have.

Not that this Holly cared, too bored out of her technological-brain to care. Until the soldier entered the classroom.

The knocking on the door had every pre-teen looking up alert. The only one not paying attention was the Paxton girl who had, skipped a few more than a couple grades to get where she was today.

Ironically it was her that was called upon, "Ms. Paxton?" Her teacher called out, looking at the red-haired girl who looked up immediately when her name was called.

The soldier that had come in looked her way as well, and Holly sigh, "Yes, Mrs. Walsh?"

"Pack your things," Mrs. Walsh told her, "Your mother has given Mr. Lennox here, permission to take you home."

Holly could see that Mrs. Walsh didn't believe a word that Mr. Lennox had told her, but Holly packed up her things anyway. She easily ignored the whispers of the several years older pre-teens as she made her way to the front of her class.

Holly gave Mrs. Walsh a smile, "Have a nice day, Mrs. Walsh," then she followed Mr. Lennox out of her class.

It was awkward for the soldier as they walked. That was easy for Holly to figure out about the man. She noticed how he kept looking at her, confusion in his eyes, before he looked away.

"I'm not an idiot, Mr. Lennox," Holly's eight-year-old voice was loud in the silent hallway. Silent other than their footsteps at least, "I know that this is about my father."

"Right," Mr. Lennox winced, rubbing the back of his neck, "Sorry, kid. It's just, you look like a-"

"A human child," Holly sighed, and she damn well knew it. She had to endure the confused looks from so many different people when she spoke. It was as if they didn't believe that an eight year old would be able to think and speak like she did. And to be honest, most human children wouldn't, "I know, Major William Lennox, from the hidden organisation called N.E.S.T."

His eyes widened as his head shot back to look at her, "How-" he stopped himself upon seeing the crystal clear Autobot-blue eyes that rested upon the girl's face.

Her face spun with intelligence that no human could ever know, and the man knew that no matter what Holly Paxton looked like on the outside, who she was on the inside was a whole nother matter.

"So, why has N.E.S.T. finally reached out?" Holly asked, looking straight ahead to where she could see the glass double doors that lead out of the school, "It's been two years since Mission City."

"Well," Lennox certainly looked awkward discussing it with her, "I'm not too sure myself-" he sighed, "-I didn't even, majority of us didn't even know you existed. Or could exist."

"Typical human government," Holly shook her head, her curly red locks bouncing as she sighed.

Lennox held the door open for the small girl, and she smiled her thanks toward him as she walked through, "What do you mean?" The soldier asked her.

Holly wrinkled her nose, "The government basically paid my Mom to keep quiet about who my Dad was," she scowled at the ground as they left the school boundary, "Mom had to take the money, she wouldn't have been able to live with me, without the money."

Lennox looked uncomfortable, "Shit, sorry," he scratched the back of his neck as the tips of his ears turned red.

Holly couldn't pass up the opportunity, "Language," she giggled as Lennox looked horrified at being caught swearing, "And how would we be getting to the super secret base?"

A dark black, GMC Topkick pickup that Holly had spotted waiting at the intersection just down the road when she and Lennox had first left her school pulled up in front of them.

Holly's eyes wandered over the frame, and she smiled as she glanced up at Lennox who waited for her to figure it out.

"This is the kid?" Ironhide asked, his voice annoyed, yet excited.

Lennox rolled his eyes good-naturedly, "This is the kid."

"The "kid" can hear you both perfectly fine," Holly rolled her eyes, "I'm a Cyber-Organic, not a broken machine."

A snort came from Ironhide, "I like this one," he told Lennox as he opened his door. Ironhide opened his back door so that Holly could climb in the back seat.

"I can tell," Lennox rolled his eyes at the Autobot.

"So, kid," Ironhide spoke to Holly as he started driving, "Ever seen the great Optimus Prime before?"

Holly could feel how Ironhide waited for her answer. It was weird, his frame moved like a normal car, but yet, she could still feel his emotions within his frame. She could even feel the hum of his spark under her feet, and she wondered how long it had taken Ironhide to get used to having humans in his alt-mode to show the restraint he must've gained to ensure he didn't throw them out immediately.

"Not the Optimus Prime," Holly shook her head, "I've only met my sire twice before. Both times when I was just a sparkling."

If Lennox found her terminology odd, he didn't comment on it as Ironhide hummed in acknowledgement.

"You are considered a sparkling anyway, Pax," Ironhide made sure to warn her.

Holly watched as Lennox frowned, and smiled easily, “Of course,” she answers the mech, “I know that.”

♕

The N.E.S.T. base was extremely busy, so busy in fact that Lennox had insisted keeping a hold on her shoulder to steer her through the chaos.

Ironhide had transformed from his alt-mode as soon as they had entered the giant warehouse. His black form MASSIVE compared to Holly's tiny height.

Holly would admit to feeling frightened for a moment at first, anyone would have been frightened of the "normal" pickup turning into a giant metal being. Hell, she was sure that any "normal" human would have freaked out.

She had mentally patted herself on the back for not giving into her human instincts when Ironhide had transformed.

"Careful now, Holly," Lennox warned her as he suddenly stopped. Holly stopped as well, and her crystal blue eyes widened slightly when an Autobot walked past.

The golden Autobot glanced down at her and Lennox for a moment before moving onward.

"Who was that?" Holly asked Lennox as they started walking once more. Hating the lack of information she had.

Lennox blinked as he looked at her, "Oh," he shrugged, "That was Sunstreaker. He's one of the more recent Autobots to arrive on Earth. He was-"

"Looking for his twin," Holly finished, the pieces clicking into place. How hurt his optics looked despite the barely hidden anger that even a human would be able to see. How his spark cried out for someone not there, which either meant that he had lost his spark mate in the war that destroyed Cybertron, or he had been separated from his split-spark twin.

"Yeah," Lennox didn't even bother asking how she knew. But that might've just been because he was busy guiding her to where he was supposed to be taking her.

Holly felt her spark wince in sympathy for the poor half-spark. The little knowledge she did have, only told her that separated split-sparks were constantly in pain the further and longer the pair were separated.

Holly subconsciously kept track of where they had gone when they entered another warehouse that was obviously designed for humans. The lack of space for a Cybertronian was the main point.

Eight lefts, ten rights, and an accent up a flight of stairs later - see? She was keeping count - and they arrived in a main center of base operations.

Holly had to fight the urge to clasp her hands over her ears from all the input she was receiving from every little device or human in the room.

Yeah, Holly could handle being at school with all the chitter chatter from the students and teachers, as well as any radio waves that enter the school. Which was quite a lot considering how many cellphones were at her school.

But this mere room alone was almost enough to send Holly's practice and training all out the window. 

Key word; almost.

Holly hadn't realized that in her startled shock, that Lennox had headed further into the room. Until she was almost shoved into the corner of the room. 

She shook her head to clear it, then followed what she could see of the man from her difficult position due to her small size. Luckily for her, Holly had honed her ability to "hear" where someone was. Usually it was only her mom that she used the ability on, but she did use it on other when she needed to.

She found herself by Lennox's side in an instant, easily moving from the entrance to the busy hub to where her guide was.

Honestly, now that Holly took a proper look at the mass of people around them, she could easily see how stuck-out Lennox looked among the men and women in suits while he was in his army grab.

"Major Lennox?" A woman asked him, raising an eyebrow at the little redhead that was beside him, but not letting the young child in this place affect her, "It's time."

Lennox sighed, "Thanks, Melissa," he gave her a smile before she walked off, "Ready, kid?"

"What for?" Holly asked the man, her eyebrows raising into her curly hair.

Lennox gave her a soft smile, "A hell of a time," he grimaced.

Holly couldn't help the giggle that she made at his face. Lennox really did look terrible at the thought of whatever was going to happen.

She followed him into a quiet room, and was only partially surprised to see a single computer awaiting Major Lennox.

"They flew me out here in the spur of the moment," Lennox explained when he saw her confused look, "I was supposed to be in a meeting shortly, sorry, I probably should've told you that on the way."

"Okay," Holly shrugged, a teasing grin flicked across her lips for a moment, "I don't really know why I'm here yet, and you did come all this way. I guess I could let you join your meeting."

Lennox snorted as he got her sarcasm, rolling his eyes as he opened the laptop. Holly made sure to get out of the view of the camera as the man logged into the laptop and waited for the program to load up.

Holly watched the screen - still out of view from the camera - and waited.

Lennox's attitude completely changed as the program finally wound to life, it only took a few moments for Lennox and Holly to be able to see another base on the screen, "General?"

"Will, I saw the Shanghai op," Morshower said grimly from another mini-camera on the screen. Holly wondered what the General was talking about as she casually hacked into the signal so she could hear it more clearly.

She could manipulate the frequency to allow her to just listen to one of the other devices connected to the video-chat. Helpful in situations like this.

"We had a rough day out there." the general added on, disappointment in his voice that Holly could easily tell. Hell, if she could read Cybertronians, humans were a breeze.

"Yes, sir. We have intel that I believe warrants an immediate debrief. Now with your permission," Lennox paused, looking a little bit awkward as he realized how this would go being here instead of being at Diego Garcia- what? Holly can hack, you know - "I can't let you see him, but I would like you to hear from the leader of the Autobots."

"Proceed." Morshower nodded. 

Holly could make out the sound of a Cybertronian transforming if she focused on one specific radio wave, and someone muttering, "You got to wonder, if God made us in his image, who made him?"

Holly's entire body - all 126cms of her - stilled at the voice that had been embedded in her memory banks since her birth, "General, our alliance has countermanded six Decepticon incursions this year, each on a different continent," His voice was much different to how Holly remember it, more tired and battle worn, "They're clearly searching around the world for something. But last night's encounter came with a warning." 

A crackle of a radio later and the clicks and whirs of the Cybertronian language played, "The Fallen shall rise again and he will take the child for his prize," Holly's processor had already translated the Cybertronian before an Autobot voice had translated the words into English for the humans.

Welp, Holly really hoped that the words of the fallen Decepticon weren't what she thought they meant,  "The Fallen. Meaning what? And what child?" Morshower asked, his voice deepened as he mused it over.

"Origin unknown. The only recorded history of our race was contained within the Allspark and lost with its destruction," Optimus said.

Holly wasn't the only one to notice that he didn't dare speak of the "child" that had been basically gotten a execution date, unless the government found the child first

A very annoying voice spoke up, making Holly feel the need to disconnect almost immediately, except that she knew she would only hear the voice still, through Lennox's laptop, "Excuse me! With this so-called Allspark now destroyed, why hasn't the enemy left the planet like you thought they would?" 

Holly gasped, and Lennox shot her a warning glance. What? No no one had told her that the Allspark had been destroyed, let alone found.

"Director Galloway, our National Security Advisor. The President just appointed him liaison. Which, to a...." Lennox trailed off as Morshower started to speak, a tired sigh leaving Lennox as he muted his end of the microphone for a moment, “You alright kid?”

Holly wrinkled her nose as she crossed her arms, “I didn’t know that the Allspark had been found,” she shrugged, “Sorry, I won’t make a sound further on.”

"Well, I guess I didn't get that memo." Morshower said, rolling his eyes as Lennox unmuted his microphone.

"Forgive the interruption, General. Excuse me. Coming through. Excuse me. Excuse me, soldier. Um. After all the damage in Shanghai, the President is, um, hard-pressed to say the job's getting done. Now, under the classified Alien-Autobot Cooperation Act, you agreed to share your intel with us, but not your advancements in weaponry." Galloway said. 

"We've witnessed your human capacity for war. It would absolutely bring more harm than good." Optimus told the human, and honestly? Holly agreed with him. Putting new technology in the hands of humans was never a good idea.

"But who are you to judge what's best for us?" 

Lennox had enough by then, "With all due respect, we've been fighting side by side in the field for two years." 

"We've shed blood, sweat and precious metal together." Another soldier spoke up.

"Soldier, you're paid to shoot, not talk." Galloway snipped at him.

Holly focused on the frequency, and her lips twitched as she heard the soldier's mutter, "Don't tempt me." 

"And the, ah, newest members of your team-" Galloway started, Holly was beginning to understand why Lennox got so annoyed with the man so fast, "I understand they arrived here after you sent a message into space, an open invitation to come to Earth, vetted by no one at the White House." 

The "liaison" was stopped by Morshower, Let me stop you right there, mister Galloway. It was vetted right here. And in my experience, the judgment of Major Lennox and his team has always been above reproach." 

Holly smiled before a screech sounded in her ears and she didn't cry out as forced her hands over her ears. She didn't notice Lennox turning to look at her as she slid her back against the wall as she dropped to the floor.

She felt warm tears sliding down her human cheeks as she didn't let the screams escape. Why was it hurting? She didn't understand- it was like always- something wrong- hacker- 

DECEPTICON

Holly scowled as she wrestled for control of the frequency from the one who tortured her processor.

"Well, be that as it may, General, it is the position of the President that when our national security is at stake... No one is above reproach. Now, what do we know so far?" Galloway rambled on, "We know that the enemy leader, classified NBE-One a.k.a. Megatron, is rusting in peace at the bottom of the Laurentian Abyss, surrounded by SOSUS detection nets and a full-time submarine surveillance. We also know that the only remaining piece of your alien Allspark is locked in an electromagnetic vault here on one of the most secure naval bases in the world." 

Holly's human fingernails scratched into her human skull as she fought like hell, her processor burning as she wrenched possession of the frequency back.

The burst of fury that lashed out at her one last time made Holly whimper as she freed her hands from her curly red locks.

There, she didn't know if the hacker had managed to get the location that Galloway had carelessly spoken of, but if they did, she was sure that they'd find out.

"And since no one can seem to tell me what the enemy is now after. Well, there's only one clear conclusion! You! The Autobots! They're here to hunt you! What's there to hunt for on Earth besides that? The Fallen shall rise again? It sounds to me like something's coming. So. Let me ask, if we ultimately conclude that our national security is best served by denying you further asylum on our planet, will you leave? Peacefully?" 

Holly sighed at the man's stupidity. Her frame was only eight years old, and even she knew better.

Optimus replied,  "Freedom is your right. If you make that request, we will honor it. But... before your President decides, please ask him this: What if we leave... and you're wrong?" 

"That's a good question," Lennox commented before slamming shut the laptop and groaning as he rubbed his nose.

"What the heck was that about?" He asked the redhead girl.

Holly didn't look surprised that he asked her, "There was a hacker," she shrugged, "A Decepticon hacker, I'm afraid to say I didn't get rid of them before Galloway blabbed."

Lennox sighed, his sigh moving slightly to a groan, "I swear, that man is going to be the death of us all one day."

I hope not my death," Holly sighed, "You know they speak of me, correct?"

Lennox sighed, standing up from the desk, "I'm sure that was the reason I was sent to pick you up."

Holly smiled, "Well, thanks, Lennox."

"Anytime, kid."

[Chapter One: 3294 words]

Welp, that was a biggie. And yeah, I'm going to try have much bigger chapters, with much more going on that what I normally do. Which means that updates for this book will be slower than some of my updates for my other books.

So this book is starting in Revenge of the Fallen, I am mucking up the timeline for the Bayverse movies, and I'm gonna end up destroying a few things in the movies - I'm mostly focusing on destroying AoE for now, but things might change - to fit the plan I have. And yes, Jackson Darby, Miko Nakadai and Rafael Esquivel will be in this book at some point.

Hope you all enjoyed, and enjoy in the future!