Give the Autobots a Taste of Gundam Shock

Noah Diaz.

A middle-aged man from Brooklyn, just another ordinary citizen of the Eagle Union.

His life was in shambles: unemployed, with a younger brother suffering from a serious illness that required frequent hospital visits, and a mountain of medical bills.

At dusk, Noah once again walked out of the hospital with his head down.

He slumped onto a planter, dejected, holding a bill longer than a man's height, his frown deepening with every line.

Living expenses, medical bills, rent...

It all added up to a staggering amount, an astronomical figure from his point of view.

He'd hit wall after wall looking for a job—no one would even take him as a security guard.

If he couldn't scrape together money for his brother's treatment soon, they'd be facing starvation, let alone hospital visits.

With that in mind, he picked up his phone, ready to call a certain "friend."

He knew this friend had a few ways to make fast cash—like stealing cars.

Less risky than home invasion or armed robbery. Less likely to be met with American-style quickdraws or have your body riddled with bullets.

What little conscience he had left wrestled with grim reality.

Just as he gritted his teeth and was about to make the call—

A tall figure suddenly appeared before him.

"You seem to be having some trouble, sir?"

Setsuna looked down at him with a faint smile.

Typical movie plot.

The male lead's life is miserable and oppressive. In a moment of desperation, an accident sets him on the path to saving the world.

Might even spark a romance along the way.

Tired trope. But easy enough to deal with.

"You are...?"

Noah looked up. The man in front of him was tall, flanked by several beautiful women—clearly not someone from his world.

"Just a kind-hearted passerby."

Setsuna handed him a paper bag.

Noah peeked inside—and his breath stopped.

It was full of neatly stacked U.S. dollars.

"Use it to treat your family. Now go."

Setsuna nodded toward the road.

"!!!"

"Why?!"

Noah stared in disbelief.

"No reason. I just like doing good deeds."

Setsuna replied with a smile.

But what he was really thinking:

If I don't give you this money now, you're going to steal that Porsche 911 later, bump into Mirage, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee, and then get roped into stealing the Transwarp Key from the museum.

That would be such a pain to deal with later.

Might as well take care of it now. Money is meaningless to me anyway.

And this way, it'll be easier to talk to the Autobots.

"Thank you!!"

Noah dared not refuse, clutching the bag with both hands, bowing repeatedly, even trying to get Setsuna's contact info.

"Commander, time's up."

Gudako tugged on his sleeve.

"Scourge and the Terrorcons should be arriving soon. C'mon, get my unit ready! I'm ready to cause a scene right in the Eagle Union's backyard."

"Mmm..."

Setsuna looked out to the horizon where a golden beam of light shot into the sky.

Humans couldn't see it, but neither the Transformers nor Setsuna could miss it.

"Let's go meet Unicron's lackeys."

...

Los Angeles Art Museum.

It was already past closing hours, and all the museum staff had gone home.

A black intern in a hoodie with a giant afro hugged a hawk-shaped sculpture as she crept through the back rooms of the museum.

She pulled out a coworker's access card and opened the door to the lab.

As an intern, Elena normally had no authorization to enter here.

But ever since she saw the sculpture during the day, Elena had a gut feeling there was some hidden secret inside—something worth investigating.

Too bad her coworkers didn't take her seriously.

Left with no other choice, she had decided to sneak in at night and study it herself.

Click—

Elena placed the sculpture onto the research pedestal and activated the scanning equipment.

Zzzzt—

Blue light swept across the object.

As she dug through documents, cross-referencing its origins...

Suddenly—

Crack, crack—

The outer casing of the sculpture fell away layer by layer, revealing something inside about the size of a palm: metallic, coarse in texture, and resembling the split head of a spear, forming a half-diamond shape.

Like half of a key.

"What is this..."

Elena stared, confused.

Whoosh—

The Transwarp Key fired a brilliant golden beam into the sky.

This was Cybertronian tech. Only Transformers could perceive it.

In a truck yard outside the city,

A red semi-truck slowly pulled out of a parking space.

With a series of mechanical clicks, it transformed into a ten-meter-tall robot.

Optimus Prime turned his head toward the glowing sky.

"It's the Transwarp Key!"

"Autobots, assemble!!!"

...

"???"

Elena had no idea what the Transwarp Key was.

She stared dumbfounded, flipping through every document she had, but found nothing about it.

One thing was clear though: she'd broken protocol and damaged a museum artifact.

If she couldn't come up with a good explanation by morning, she'd be toast.

With that in mind, Elena grabbed the Transwarp Key and made for the exit.

Right then—

BOOM—KRAKOOM—

An explosion outside shattered all the museum windows.

The shockwave sent her and the Key tumbling across the floor.

When she opened her eyes again, three towering, pitch-black robots had landed in the plaza outside the museum.

Their bodies gleamed with dark metal, and their glowing red eyes radiated menace.

They were clearly the villains of this tale.

Scourge and the Terrorcons had arrived, hunting for the Transwarp Key on behalf of Unicron.

Click—

Two quadrupedal mech-hounds emerged from Scourge's back, perching on his shoulders.

"Eliminate them. Bring me the Key."

Scourge growled.

CLANK CLANK CLANK—

The small bots leapt off and charged at Elena.

"WHAT?!"

Elena bolted in a panic, those metal hounds in hot pursuit.

Their heads and limbs were armed with spinning blades. Even a graze would leave a deep gash.

All she could do was use the museum's maze-like layout to evade them.

BOOM—

Scourge raised his right arm, firing a blazing orange ion cannon that obliterated several museum wings.

CH-CHK—

Just as he was about to fire again—

Optimus Prime's voice rang out from afar:

"Autobots! Protect the Key!!!"

KA-RRRRHHHHH—

Several vehicles raced in and transformed.

A yellow Chevrolet Camaro twisted and clicked into a 5-meter tall yellow robot—Bumblebee.

Next to him, a 2006 Harley morphed into a sleek red-and-white Transformer, leaping gracefully onto the roof to provide cover fire.

Judging by her frame, she was one of the rare female Transformers: Arcee.

Another Porsche 911 flickered with a holographic shimmer and transformed into a blue-and-white robot wielding a plasma cannon.

The red semi-truck up front, of course, was none other than the leader of the Autobots: Optimus Prime.

With several comrades by his side, he moved to block Scourge.

The moment the Transwarp Key's signal appeared, he had rallied the Autobots and rushed here.

Both sides wanted the same thing. The Autobots needed the Key to return to Cybertron, while Scourge wanted it to summon Unicron to Earth.

The two factions of robots clashed immediately.

The metallic roars of combat and high-energy ion blasts shook the very earth.

The Autobots, being designed for civilian purposes, were weaker in combat compared to Scourge and his Terrorcons.

Within moments, Optimus Prime was forced onto the defensive.

"Bumblebee! Protect the Key!"

"Arcee, Mirage! Hold them off!!"

Just as Optimus was shouting—

A strange female voice rang out from above.

"These Autobots look so weak..."

"Wait up, Commander! Let me handle this!!"

"This humble warrior, Ritsuka Fujimaru, volunteers to take the vanguard!"

"?"

BOOM—

A white meteor streaked down from the sky, kicking up a storm of dust as it slammed into the ground.

Both the Terrorcons and the Autobots froze for a second.

As the dust cleared,

A towering, over-20-meter-tall Gundam emerged from the crater in front of the museum.

Blue and white all over, wielding a spear-hammer, it dwarfed even the Transformers in size.

Optimus Prime stood a head shorter. Bumblebee barely came up to its knee.

"Ha!"

Gudako shouted, striking a combat stance.

"???"

Optimus was stunned.

What model of Transformer was this?! He had never seen anything like it!

There were no visible automotive components. If anything, it looked more like Scourge.

"Who are you supposed to be?"

Both sides asked in unison.

"I am Barbatos."

"Huh?!"

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