Transformers: Age of Extinction rewrite

Chapter 4: The road trip

We then cut to the Death's head returning to Cemetery Wind HQ in the Arctic before landing in the docking bay where we see Lockdown in his robot mode step out of the ship to toss a piece of scrapmetal to his three pet turbofoxes for them to chew on before Attinger's helicopter land for him and and Savoy step out of the chopper with Attinger scolding Lockdown for his failure to kill Optimus Prime, reminding the bounty hunter that their deal was for Lockdown to help Cemetery wind find and kill Prime and all of his Autobot buddies in excange for payment in the form of a truckload of Energon collected by Cemetery Wind. Lockdown crosses his arms and tells Attinger that he warned him that an alliance is a contract and contracts like humans expire. Attinger reminds Lockdown that there's an old saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Lockdown tells Attinger that there's also a saying: "I don't care". Lockdown tells Attinger that he almost had the prime, but Attinger's men got in the way allowing him to escape saying that their human incompetence compromised the mission. Attinger tells Lockdown to shut his mouth, telling him that he had a clear shot and didn't take it deliberately before accusing the bounty hunter of having some kind of ulterior motive that he's not telling them about. Savoy crosses his arms and tells Attinger "see boss? told you he couldn't be trusted, just like all the rest". Lockdown then reveals to Attinger that he has a "conflict of interest" with Cemetery Wind, as they want Optimus Prime killed but Lockdown's employer (who shall remain anonymous), the one who sent him to Earth in the first place, wanted Lockdown to bring Optimus back alive. Attinger in annoyed, telling Lockdown that he better make his mind up or else he won't be getting paid. Lockdown ignores Attinger's warning much to his frustration and calls his turbofoxes who follow their master as he returns to the Death's head followed by the ship taking off. after that, we cut to the two Autobots and the Yeagers returning to what remains of their former household to bury Kicker's body. Optimus clenches his fist, promising that justice will be done for Kicker's death no matter the cost. Bumblebee sees the fury in Optimus's eyes and begins to feel sorry for him, seeing how 10 years of grief has taken such an emotional toll on Optimus's spark. Tessa notices the blood-stained ID card in her father's hand and asks what that is, and Cade tells his daughter that Kicker gave him his ID card just before he died and that he told him to go to this address up in the Pacific Northwest where some kind of secret organization known as S.T.A.R.S. is located and they're apparently the key to stopping Cemetery Wind. Bumblebee kneels down to look at the ID card before telling Optimus that this could be their chance to save their fellow Autobot brothers who might be still out there. Optimus tells Bumblebee that they best get a move on with Cemetery Wind probably still hot on their tail. the two Autobots transform into their vehicle modes followed by Tessa comforting Cade, telling her dad that to look on the bright side, saying that this little cross-country road trip will be great for the both of them as it will give them the opportunity for some quality father-daughter bonding time that he's been missing out on. Cade then notices the fridge survived the explosion and opens it up to find a pack of beers much to the frustration of Tessa who is concerned with her dad's drinking problem. Cade begrudgingly agrees to go on the road trip and grabs the bottles of alcohol before hopping in Optimus while Tessa hops inside Bumblebee and the two drive off, but little do our heroes know they are being watched by a Cemetery wind spy drone that starts to follow our heroes. meanwhile Savoy shows the surveillance footage captured on the drone to Attinger, telling his boss that it appears that the Yeagers and their little robot friends are heading for the Pacific Northwest. Attinger then realizes that they must be trying to reach the base of those filthy Autobot sympathizers S.T.A.R.S. before telling Savoy to keep an eye on them for now. after that, we cut to Optimus and Bumblebee driving down the open road through the deserts of New Mexico. asks Optimus who that black-and-green transformer was and what his deal is, and Optimus tells him that his name is Lockdown and he's been helping Cemetery Wind hunt down him and his Autobot brothers for the past 10 years. Cade responds by saying "that doesn't make any sense, Cemetery Wind hates Transformers why would they be working with one?" Optimus then tells Cade that Lockdown was one of the most feared bounty hunters on Cybertron, loyal to no one but those willing to do business with him and his passion for collecting trophies. Bumblebee interjects, telling Optimus "If you ask me that Attinger guy's a massive hypocrite". Tessa looks outside the window at the countryside spotting the camera drone fly by from the corner of her eye before asking Bumblebee "If Cemetery wind wants you guys gone so badly, why don't you just leave the planet?" followed by Optimus telling Tessa over Intercom that it's because they don't have any ships left, saying that the only method of space travel they had left was one pod that he used to launch the Allspark back into space with the hopes of restoring Cybertron leaving the Autobots permanently stranded on Earth for the past 10 years. we cut to a montage of Optimus and Bumblebee driving the Yeager family through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah passing by several famous landmarks while Cemetery wind watches them from the drone still hot on their tails. the montage ends with the Yeagers and the Autobots arriving in Phoenix, Arizona where Bumblebee tells Optimus that he knows a place where they can camp out for the night and be safe from any suspecting eyes. the two Autobots swerve off the road and arrive at a classic car junkyard located in the middle of the desert. Cade asks what the heck they're doing in some junkyard followed by Bumblebee calling out to the other Autobots hiding out here, shouting "hey guys, It's safe to come out now! and you won't believe who I found!" we then see three vehicles drive up to our heroes: a green Corvette, a white-and red Nissan GTR, and an army green Hummer Marauder before transforming into their robot modes followed by Bumblebee introducing Optimus to Crosshairs, Drift, and Bulkhead. Crosshairs then shouts "aw yeah, mister leader of the free galaxy's back!" while shooting his pistols into the air. Bulkhead then salutes Optimus and says "It's an honor finally getting to meet you, sir!" while Drift bows his head and tells Optimus "at last, you've finally arrived to restore hope to all Autobots still scattered to the winds". Bumblebee explains to our heroes that he's been spending the past 10 years scouring the planet for surviving Autobot refugees and bringing them here providing them with a safe place for them to hide from both Lockdown and Cemetery Wind. Bulkhead crosses his arms, saying "human beings, bunch of back-stabbing weasels" which scares both Cade and Tessa while Drift tells Bulkhead that there's a few bad eggs in every species. Crosshairs then pushes Drift aside and tells him to shut his vocal processor before pointing his guns at Cade and Tessa, asking who the stowaways are followed by Bulkhead whipping out his wrecking ball all the while the spy drone lands on a nearby car to spy on the Autobots. Bumblebee tries to reason with the other Autobots, telling them to stand down. Optimus then speaks up, telling the three new Autobots that these humans were the ones who found him and risked their lives to protect him, they're family. Crosshairs then puts his guns down, saying "bummer" while Bulkhead tells the Yeagers "any friends of Bumblebee and Optimus are friends of mine" followed by Drift telling the two humans "for bringing Optimus here, I am forever in your debt". after that, we cut to the following night where the Yeagers are camping out in the junkyard sitting around an open fire while the Autobots watch over them. Cade pulls out one of the beer bottles that he salvaged saying "this one's for you Emily" pouring a bit out for his dead wife before guzzling down the rest of alcoholic beverage in an attempt to forget his sorrows while Tessa starts roasting some marshmallows which reminds Cade of the days when he and his dearly-departed wife used to take Tessa on camping trips when she was little and roast marshmallows on an open fire and tell ghost stories. Tessa comforts her father, telling him that she misses her just as much as he does. Cade decides to come out of his shell and puts his arm around Tessa, finally embracing his daughter. Bumblebee, Crosshairs, Drift, and Bulkhead all join the yeagers to sit around the fire. Tessa then suggests to the Autobots that they should all tell their own personal stories so that they cam get to know each other. Crosshairs offers to go first, telling the story about how he was once known as the greatest sharpshooter on Cybertron, showing off his trusty sniper rifle while bragging about how he took out nearly 100 decepticons with one shot. Bumblebee rolls his eyes and asks Crosshairs if that's the truth or if he's just exaggerating. Crosshairs tells 'Bee that he better believe it, saying that he's got a natural trigger finger. Drift starts meditating, telling Crosshairs "maybe you should stop resorting to violence all the time and find your inner peace" only for Crosshairs to put a gun to Drift's head and tell him "the only inner peace I'm ever gonna have is when I blow your head off if you don't stop blabbing on about that zen mumbo jumbo of yours". Drift then unsheaths one of his katanas from his back to tell crosshairs "I dare you, smart-aft" followed by Bumblebee telling the two to stop fighting right this instant. The two rival Autobots turn their heads away from each other followed by Cade asking what their deal is. Bumblebee tells Cade that Crosshairs and Drift NEVER got along, there just seems to be an unspoken rivalry between those two. Tessa then looks up at Bulkhead and asks him what his story is. Bulkhead then explains his backstory on how he was once a member of an elite Autobot black ops unit called the wreckers, commanded by the great Autobot war hero Ultra Magnus and fought in many battles back on Cybertron but left after the group disbanded a long time ago. Tessa then asks Drift what his story is, and Drift tells the other Autobots his story about how he was once a Decepticon who had gone by the name of Deadlock back in the day. Bumblebee and Bulkhead are shocked to hear this, as Drift never told them about his past. Drift confesses the reason why he kept this a secret is because he was afraid the other Autobots wouldn't trust him. Crosshairs points his gun at Drift's head a second time, saying "Now I know why I never liked you, now give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you" followed by Drift holding his Katana up to Crosshairs's neck and telling him "let me finish my story and you'll understand why" only for Bulkhead to whip out his wrecking ball and slam it between the two and gets in Crosshairs's face telling him "stand down, soldier" scaring the green Autobot sniper into shutting his mouth. Bumblebee thanks Bulkhead before telling Drift to tell everyone the rest of his story. Drift continues telling his story, explaining how over the years he became disillusioned with the Decepticon cause, his strong sense of honor clashing with their warmongering ways which led to him defecting to the Autobots where he adopted a new identity for himself: the wandering cyber-samurai known as Drift. Optimus watches this heartwarming team-bonding moment from afar and smiles upon being reminded of the bonds shared by the members of the old team back in the day. Bumblebee turns his head and tells Optimus that he saw him smile, something that hardened leader types like him never do. Crosshairs then crosses his arms after hearing drift finish his story and says "yeah yeah yeah mister feng shui, I don't buy it. once a 'con always a 'con is what I always say, you're all the same bunch of bloodthirsty killers and tyrants, just like your ex-boss Megatron... except he's dead" before getting up and walking away. Drift sighs while shaking his head, frustrated with Crosshairs's attitude. Bumblebee tells Drift "It's okay, me and Bulkhead still trust you. as for Crosshairs, don't worry about him. He'll come around eventually". Bulkhead then looks at Bumblebee and asks him if he's had any luck finding Arcee yet, which causes Bumblebee to feel sad upon hearing that name. Tessa asks 'bee if he's okay, and Bumblebee explains to both Tessa and Bulkhead that he hasn't seen her since Team Prime disbanded 10 years ago. Optimus ordered everyone in team prime to cease all contact with each other, to make themselves less likely to be found and killed by Cemetery Wind. for the past 10 years he's been searching for her along with all the other members of team prime, but still no such luck. she could be dead for all he knows. Optimus gives Bumblebee a sorrowful look upon hearing his story while Tessa feels sorry for Bumblebee and hugs his giant metal finger, comforting the big yellow robot. Cade tells Bumblebee that those Cemetery Wind guys are ruthless, recounting the time they tried to kill him and his daughter just for trying to protect Optimus Prime. Bulkhead tells Cade "those guys are monsters, they killed several of my old wrecker buddies that have been living on Earth for the past decade seeking refuge: Impactor, Pyro, Rotorstorm, all dead now thanks to Attinger and his goons" followed by Drift saying "they are like Decepticons in human skin". Crosshairs then walks in and exclaims "If I get my hands on that Attinger guy or his pet bounty hunter Lockdown, he's gonna regret the day he met me, Crosshairs, greatest sharpshooter on Cybertron!" only for Tessa to make the witty remark "more like the greatest loudmouth on Cybertron" causing her and Bumblebee to giggle followed by Crosshairs to point his gun at the two demanding them to stop laughing only for Optimus to step in and grab Crosshairs by the arm telling him to stand down. Cade then sees the spy drone perched atop an old car spying on them and grabs a rusty pipe to smash the thing to pieces before we cut to Cemetery Wind HQ where Savoy informs Attinger that he has lost contact with the spy drone meaning it must have been destroyed much to the frustration of Attinger who is slowly losing his patience. we then cut back to the Yeagers where a startled Tessa asks her dad what's gotten into him before seeing the crushed spy drone on the ground. Cade picks the thing up off the ground to examine it, coming to the conclusion that Cemetery Wind has been spying on them. Bumblebee looks at Optimus and tells him that they must've been following them for the whole road trip. Crosshairs gets frustrated again, screaming "they found us! well that's just great, now we're gonna have to find ourselves a new hiding spot!" while Cade puts his inventor skills to good use and manages to salvage the memory card before re-building and re-programming the busted spy drone to obey his every commands, giving a nickname to the re-programmed spy drone: "Sparkplug". Tessa facepalms, telling her dad "stop, they're not pets so please stop naming your robots". Cade then orders Sparkplug to replay archived footage. the drone then projects video footage showing Blurr getting violently killed by Lockdown and Cemetery Wind. Optimus's eyes widen upon seeing the footage, saying "no...." under his breath. Tessa sheds a tear upon watching the footage seeing poor Blurr beg for his life just before being executed by Lockdown, asking how could they do this. Bumblebee, Crosshairs, Drift, and Bulkhead bow their heads to mourn the death of their fallen comrade all the while Optimus clenches his fist while he stares at the footage of Blurr's death with pure anger. Tessa continues to watch the footage and sees a bunch of scrap collectors wearing suits with the words "Project Chimaera" written on them come in to take apart Blurr's corpse and load the pieces into the back of a truck with the "KSI" logo painted on it. The Autobots are shocked to see this, Bumblebee asking what those guys are doing with Bulkhead saying "bunch of savages". Cade recognizes the logo on the truck as belonging to the big tech company Kinetic Solutions Incorporated (KSI), but does not recognize the name Project Chimaera. as the footage ends an enraged Optimus turns around to ask cade if that drone has any more footage on it, and Cade tells Optimus that Sparkplug has more footage on its memory card, this next one being more recent. Sparkplug then plays footage of Ratchet's death at the hands of Lockdown. Bumblebee notices Optimus is upset and asks him if he's okay, followed by Optimus slamming his fist into the ground and screaming "THEY SLAUGHTERED RATCHET! I'M GONNA TEAR THEM APART!" followed by Bumblebee grabbing onto Optimus and tries to calm him down, reminding him for the second time that harming humans is not the Autobot way. Optimus then tosses Bumblebee off of him shouting "I don't care" and slamming the yellow Autobot onto the ground. Crosshairs cheers this Optimus vs. Bumblebee fight, saying that he's enjoying seeing them fight each other while Bulkhead asks why Optimus is suddenly not acting like his usual heroic self. Drift tells Bulkhead that Optimus has clearly suffered many losses in his lifetime, a lifetime of grief can cause anyone to lose their grip on sanity and drive them mad. Optimus rants to the downed Bumblebee on how 10 years ago us Autobots trusted humans, but since then they have betrayed that trust they have left him no choice but to forgo the Autobot code make them suffer for their actions before cocking his gun. Bumblebee gets back up on his feet and tells Optimus that if he dares to cross that line he'll make no better than Megatron which shakes the Autobot leader to his core. Bumblebee goes on to tell Optimus "you were supposed to be our beacon of hope, restore faith in what remains of our Autobot brothers and light our darkest hour. but now I see you're a shell of your former self, consumed by petty revenge after a decade of hiding when we needed you the most. we needed a leader and you failed us all". Optimus turns his back on Bumblebee before saying "Autobots, we leave for the Pacific Northwest tomorrow! but before that we shall stop by Mission City and pay a visit to KSI". Crosshairs raises his fist in the air and shouts "hoo-ah!" while Bumblebee gives Optimus a sorrowful look.