One and only disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. The only things I own are the characters of my making and my ideas—some of which may have similar aspects to other authors but are in no way an attempt to copy.

Zelda, Sam Witwicky's cousin, is part of the D.A.A—a Special Ops group—however, while on leave, she gets dragged into an alien war. It was a moment that would intertwine her fate forever more with the Cybertronians.

Pre-Sunstreaker/Zelda/Sideswipe.

Movieverse AU.

Part 1 in the Timeless Series

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing" – Helen Keller

Chapter 1: Tranquility

I swerved in front of a car before using my right mirror to glance behind, several M.E.C.H cars weren't far behind and I couldn't seem to lose them, no matter which way I went.

I opened a comm. =Scorpio to base, I repeat, Scorpio to base. Anyone there? Over.=

I was met with silence for several long seconds before someone finally answered.

=Virgo to Scorpio. What's happening, Scorpio? Over.=

At Virgo's response, I skidded around a corner, ignoring as a car honked at me for crossing a red light. I felt my padded knee bush against the concrete before immediately straightening up again.

=I'm in need of another route, I'm being followed and can't seem to shake. Over.=

=Gotcha, finding different route now... turn left then go until you come to second left and there's an alleyway just as you turn, hide while I find a safe way out. I will forward the route to your headset. Virgo out.=

I did as I was instructed and turned off my bike, sitting in the darkness of the alleyway that even the street lights failed to illuminate. The group of M.E.C.H soldiers that had been following me drove past without even thinking to glace down the alley and I let out a sigh. My helmet display flickered to life and the GPS loaded up my new route. I turned my bike back on, headlight flaring to life and pushed myself back onto the street before revving and pulling my feet onto the stands.

I managed to get at least four blocks away before I was found. A hot piercing pain flared in my left shoulder and quickly to the rest of my body, I couldn't stop the strangled gasp that escaped my lips as the bullet went straight through but lodged and got stuck on my suit on the way out. My focus waned, and the handlebar wobbled; I quickly got a hold of myself and pushed the pain to the back of my mind, but I knew, by the notice that popped up on the display that I was going to lose a lot of blood if I didn't do something to reduce it.

I glanced behind; they were still there. I continued to follow the directions the popped up on my headset display while avoiding the bullets. Cars that were on the road were quick to get out of the way.

I let out a breath and drew back onto Code 7, picking up my speed as I entered the highway. I was glad that it was quiet at this time of night.

I pushed the bike faster and shot down the long stretch of road, I spared a glance over my shoulder to see that the M.E.C.H soldiers were driving faster as well, determined to get me and my cargo.

You ain't gettin' it bloody back, ублюдок, I mused wickedly.

I glanced down at the button that sat in the middle of my controls, it was encased in a clear box for safety. My eyes flickered back to the road as I passed several different cars. my vision wavered slightly, I can't go on like this, but do I want to risk it either?

I made my decision and opened the clear box. I swerved around another few cars and brought a hand over the button. It's now or never, I thought, sparingly throwing another glance in my left mirror to see that they were indeed catching up.

I gritted my teeth as I pressed the button, quickly grabbing a hold of the handlebar tightly again, my bike's decal lit up as it gave a powerful roar, and at my command, the bike shot forward. "Overdrive!"

I tore down the highway like a cheetah chasing its prey. It wasn't long before I lost the M.E.C.H soldiers and I sighed but my pulse jumped when my vision fizzled once more, I slowed drastically and turned off at the next exit, then immediately down a dirt road that led away from the area before getting off my bike and ripping my helmet off; I shoved my hair out of my face.

I stumbled against a tree, listening as my bike, engine still rumbling, fell to the ground, and I slid down. I panted and hissed as I placed my hand on my left shoulder, I glanced at my bloodied hand and groaned.

I pulled my right glove off using my teeth, my hand, now no longer muffled, whirled with the movement and I unzipped my vest, reaching down it to remove the bullet that left my skin burning and itchy.

странный, they've never been itchy before, I frown.

=Scorpio to base. I am in need of medic attention immediately. Track current coordinates. Over.= I let out a ragged breath, Russian accent leaking into my voice without permission, before glancing up at the night sky and the stars that filled them.

I continued to watch until my help arrived.

I pulled off my single strapped travel bag, dropping it into the back of Uncle Ron's car as eagerly climbed into the front.

He let out a hearty laugh. "It's good to see you again, Zelda."

"You too, Uncle Ron." I replied, sharing a small smile with him. I was finally going to be able to see the Witwicky side of the family again after almost an entire year.

While the Witwickys, from my mother's side of the family, knew that Aria and I worked for the government, they weren't allowed to know what our profession was, our entire squad was classified, confidential—life-endangering restricted. It wasn't safe, and the less they knew the less they were at risk.

We continued to share causal conversation as Ron drove since my flight had a delayed landing, we were going straight to Sam's school to pick him up. Uncle Ron and Auntie Judy were used to having Aria and I stay at their house whenever we'd able to get time off. It was rare, but we did.

Anyway, it wasn't long, only a forty-five-minute drive, before Ron pulled up at the front of the school and parked, we still had several minutes before the bell went. I stretched and glanced at the building, I wonder what it's like going to school?

I turned to a grinning Ron as he spoke up again. "If Sam gets this A, I've got the perfect prank for him." I huffed out a chuckle.

"Can't wait." I perked up when the bell rang, signalling that the end of the day had arrived. I watched the students all piled through the exit but no sign of Sam until I spotted him running towards us yelling 'yes' repeatedly while waving a piece of paper in his hand.

I raised a brow, amused.

"Hey, Zelda!" Sam greeted enthusiastically and jumped in the back. I snorted before saying hello back.

"So?" Ron asked and turned to Sam, raising a brow.

"A-minus. It's an A, though." Sam's grin hadn't faded. I congratulated him by leaning back and patting his shoulder with my right hand, being careful of my aching left. I made a note to take some tablets when we got back.

"Wait, wait, wait. I can't see." Ron muttered as he took the paper off the enthusiastic Sam and inspected it before he smiled, satisfied. "It's an A."

I high-fived Sam and Ron started the engine and drove off.

"I got a little surprise for you, son." Ron announced as we pulled into a car dealership of Porsches. I smile behind my hand as Sam cut himself off when he saw where we were. "What kind of s—"

"Yeah, a little surprise." Ron smirked as Sam started freaking the fuck out.

"No. No, no, no, no! Dad! Oh, you got to be kidding me." He exclaimed, slapping his hand against the side of the car excitedly.

"Yeah. I am. You're not getting a Porsche!" Ron laughed and I smoothed my own as Sam's face dropped into a frown.

"You think that's funny?" Sam asked glaring.

"Yeah, I think it's funny." Ron replied. I nodded, withholding my own smirk when Sam shot me a sour look.

"What's wrong with you?" Sam asked Ron grumpily, who continued to laugh.

"You think I'd really get you a Porsche? For your first car?" He asked with a smile. Sam's scowl grew as he sat back against his seat with crossed arms, huffing.

"I don't want to talk to you for the rest of this whole thing." I laughed breathlessly at his words. "That includes you as well Zelda."

"Me? What did I do?" I smiled wider.

Sam continued scowled at my answer. "You knew what he was going to do."

"Oh, come on. It's just a practical joke." Ron said, laughing lightly again.

"It's not a funny joke." Sam grumbled.

"Manny!" A man screamed, I tensed; I relaxed when I realised what I was doing, and Sam gently pulled on my green army blazer, having seen what I'd done.

I missed the guy's reply but the guy from before shouted: "Get your cousin out of that damn clown suit. He's having a heat stroke again. Scaring white folks."

I snorted.

"I'm hot. Make-up's melting. It hurts my eyes." The guy in the bad clown costume announced as Ron drove past. Poor guy but I've seen worse.

I hummed softly and climbed out of the car as Ron stopped, I glanced around. My fingers twitched with the need to examine the cars; I wanted to fix them up and listen to them purr as if they were brand new.

"Here? No, no, no, what is this? You said—you said half a car, not half a piece of crap, dad." Sam groaned as he and Ron get out.

"When I was your age, I'd have been happy with four wheels and an engine." Ron rolled his eyes, glancing at the cars and smiled.

"Okay, let me explain something to you. Okay? You ever see 40-year-old virgin?" Sam asked. Ron nodded while I leaned against one of the pillars to watch on in amusement. If Sam wanted, I could always look at the car after, even chip in to pay for improvements to be done, God knows I had the money just laying around.

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's what this is. And this is a 50-year-old virgin." Sam said gesturing to another old run-down black car. Ron then said our old Witwicky motto which just irritated Sam even more. I let out a quiet laugh as the pair walked up to the black man with a Hawaiian shirt and hat.

They began to talk to the man while I wandered a bit. I spotted an old-style 70s yellow Camaro with black racing stripes.

"What are you doing in this kind of place." I mumbled. "You're still in quite good shape from a first glance." There was no serious rusting, but the paint was chipped away and fading, nothing a new paint job wouldn't fix. I slide my hands under the hood and popped it open. My brows raised to my hairline, this engine wasn't one you'd find in this make of car.

"Damn, dude—not the engine you'd find in a car at this joint. You've got a high-rise double-pump carburettor. That's pretty impressive." I whistled.

I spotted Sam, Ron and the other guy and grimaced at the car they were looking at. "Hey Sam, come here!"

Sam came jogging over pulling a face. "Did you see the car dad was having me look at?" He shuddered.

"Well, get him over here, this car is perfect. Hopefully, if the guy doesn't know what type of engine is in here, we may get if for less." I stated lowly as Ron and the guy began walking over. I patted the hood twice with my knuckle once I'd closed it.

Sam gave me a confused look and I simply replied in a quiet tone. "I work with cars when I'm not in the field, 'member?"

"Ahh! Yeah, forgot." Sam nodded and fidgeted nervously in his spot as Uncle Ron and the salesman made their way over.

"Strange... I don't know nothing about this car. Manny!" The man shouted to the man of the name Manny.

A 'what?' came from the man across the lot and the guy asked about the car.

"I don't know, boss! I've never seen it! That's loco!"

"Don't go Ricky Ricardo on me, Manny! Find out!" The salesman snapped.

Sam sat in the driver's seat and I leant against the hood, my gun was pressing against my lower back because of it but it didn't bother me. I heard Sam mumbled that it felt nice and I smiled.

"How much?" Ron asked the salesman.

"Well, considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle, with the slick wheels and the custom paint job..." I bit my tongue to stop myself from commenting, but I tilted my head.

"Yeah, but the paint's faded." Sam replied with a frown in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Y-yeah, but it's custom." the salesman argues.

"It's custom faded?" I snorted with a head shake, only Sam.

"Well, this is your first car. I wouldn't expect you to understand. Five grand."

I fought the urge to groan as I let my head fall back, my hair falling off my shoulders and down against my back. Ron was not going over four, I knew that for a fact and it was proved by his reply.

"No, I'm not paying over four. Sorry."

"Kid, come on, get out. Get out the car." The salesman said, patting the roof of the car. I rolled my eyes, Ron is such a cheap ass.

"No, no, no. You said cars pick their drivers." Sam protested but still got out anyway. Salesman ignored him and started showing him and Ron a really run-down old faded yellow beetle.

I ignored them, and I subconsciously tapped my gloved right index finger against the hood and quickly dragged it to the side towards the old beetle. I jumped off the hood when the passenger door suddenly swung open and slammed into the beetle the salesman was in.

"Geez. Holy cow." Ron spoke and stepped over to the man.

"No, no, no. No worries."

"You all right?" I asked blankly, I didn't really give a shit, but it was polite.

"I'll get a sledgehammer and knock this right out." He answered before turning to this 'Manny', "Hey, hey, Manny! Get your clown cousin and get some hammers and come bang this stuff out, baby!" He let out an obnoxious forced laugh.

.:Greater than man...:. I eyed the Camaro as I heard the radio turn on. I ignored the man and narrowed my eyes in confusion, brows furrowing.

"That one's my favourite, drove all the way from Alabama."

My ears perked up when I heard the radio turn on again, but this time let out a loud ear-splitting noise and every glass window, par the Camaro's, all broke. Okay, that is definitely not a normal car. I covered my head with my forearms to shield my face.

I rubbed my ears as they rang in response to the noise. Damn enhanced hearing.

"Woah!"

The salesman slowly stood and spun around, his jaw dropped open before he turned to us and raised four fingers and his voice cracked as he spoke. "Four thousand!"

Once we arrived back at the house, I exited Sam's new car, grabbed my things from Ron's, and ran up the stairs but not before greeting Judy with a kiss on the cheek. I dropped my bag on the desk and I sat on the spiny chair before opening the bag.

I pulled out my laptop as I closed the door and locked it. I turned the laptop on and logged in. I opened my emails, I replied to the ones that need one and deleted useless ones. A ping rang out from my comm half an hour later.

=Have you seen the news?= Pisces's or rather Mia's, since we weren't on duty, voice rang over the comm.

I narrowed my eyes. =What news?:=

=At local time yesterday, the SOCCENT Forwards Operations Base in Qatar was attacked. Attacker unknown and survivors yet to be found.= I inhaled deeply before exhaling sharply, I covered my mouth in grief. I closed my eyes as I brought my left foot onto the chair.

=Jesus= Was all I could muster. =What were they after?=

=That's the point.= Mia continued with a grim tone. =The government isn't sure, the only lead is a strange sound from the attacker. Hold on, I'll play it for you.=

I sat up straight when a robotic-like sound played through my earpiece. =Какого черта! That was not human!=

=Logan and Aria had to attend a meeting at the Pentagon, was the one holding the talk...= Mia sighed. =Logan asked him to keep us posted on any new information that pops up as we would be the most likely group to be picked to go and investigate.=

=Thank you for updating me Pisces, Scorpio out.= With that I closed the comm; that just killed the mood for the rest of the evening. I rubbed the back of my neck before standing and opening the drawers. I grabbed an outfit that would be most suitable for the 'party' Sam was going to. I was just coming along for the fun of it.

I made sure to pop a modified pain relief tablet, taking a large gulp of water when doing so. I poured the rest of the liquid down the sink and placed the glass by said sink. I met Sam at the backdoor.

"Ron, this one is uneven." Judy noted, stepping on one of the slabs of the newly built stone path.

"Yeah. Probably." Ron replied heart-heartedly, sounding more annoyed because of his wife pestering.

"This one is wobbly." Judy was standing on another slab. I sighed as I exited the house.

"Yeah. I'll take care of that real soon." Ron replied monotonously, obviously fed up with Judy's constant input. Sam and I shared a look, we knew he wasn't going to.

"Couldn't we have hired a professional?" Judy whined as Sam and I walked towards them. I on the path while Sam on the grass. I sighed again as I stopped next to Judy.

Ron let out a sardonic laugh. "Ah, Sam..." Ron dropped the small shovel he was holding.

"What?"

"I do not like footprints on my grass." Judy lay a hand wrapped around my shoulder. I held back a wince, she didn't know I had an injured shoulder and she placed a kiss to my temple. I smiled at her.

"What foot—there's no footprints." Sam said, gesturing around him.

"That's why I built my path. So why don't you go from my grass onto my path, okay?" Ron said, ignoring Sam and pointed to the newly built path. Sam rolled his eyes and walked towards Judy and me.

"It's family grass, Dad."

"Well, when you own your own grass, you'll understand." Ron told Sam. Said boy snorted while I just smile at Ron's oddness. I shimmied away from Judy's grip and walked towards Sam's car, climbing into the passenger seat. I heard Sam say something about Mojo and the jewellery Judy was making him wear.

"That poor mutt." I muttered to myself before strapping in as Sam got in. Judy yelled out to be back by eleven as Sam drove out of the driveway.

It was silent for all par three minutes before Sam spoke. "You're on medical leave or whatever you call it, aren't you?" Sam frowned. He'd obviously been waiting all day to ask.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's not often I get wounded enough to have me be upon med-leave, this one is taking longer than usual to heal and I can't stand not doing anything for long periods of time, so Aria had me put on suspension to get me out of the base while I heal."

"Hey Miles!" Sam greeted the blonde with an uneasy smile

"Yo! What's up my brother?" He smiled at Sam. He noticed me leaning against the car, he smirked. Oh god. "Oh, who's this?"

"His cousin and talk to me like that again and I swear you will never bear children, now please get in the back" I glared at him making his hold his hands up in an 'I surrender' pose. Without a word Miles climbed into the back, I put the seat back in place and got in myself.

"Are you sure we're invited to this party?" Miles asked as we arrived at the park.

I sigh. "Miles, It's a lake. Public property." I glanced at him through the mirror and met his eyes with a deadpan expression.

Sam drove along the road until Sam started spazzing out. "Oh, my God, dude, Mikaela's here. Just don't do anything weird, all right?" He was speaking to Miles and I snorted, smirking lightly.

Crushes were adorable.

The two got out and went over to a tree while I sat against the hood of Sam's Camaro. I had a feeling that something was going to happen. The car lurched and gave a pathetic sounding cough. I frowned with a raised brow, it was off but then again, I had come to terms that this wasn't a normal car.

I pushed off the hood and popped the hood open and leaned slightly inwards, so I could see the engine better. That's when I heard the wolf-whistles. My hand closed around the oil cap as my eye twitched, I let out a breath and tightened the cap slightly before deciding that it would be best to stop before I do something to damage the poor car. I stood up straight and gently closed the hood before turning towards the boys who had wolf-whistled at me with a blank expression.

"Hey, hot stuff. Whatcha doin' with these two losers?" A dark-haired boy said and tried to give me a seductive grin.

I raised a brow at him. "Are you trying to flirt with me? Because I can tell you that right now that I have standards and I don't lower them for stupid people who don't deserve any of my time what so ever." I faked a frown. "Sorry, you're not even that good looking anyway." Laughter rang out from people that were nearby, the boy I guessed to be in this Trent's friend group, flushed with embarrassment and anger. He looked like a douche, wearing that cap backwards.

I stepped back round to get back into the car but paused when I saw a young raven-haired girl walk off. I leant against Sam's car as he leant on the other side.

Suddenly, a song burst through the radio. .:Who's going to drive you home?:.

"Hey, man, what's wrong with your radio?" Miles asked, I ignored him and watched Sam watch the girl I guessed to be Mikaela walk away. I patted the roof and smirked letting out a quiet laugh. Possibly possessed car or not, it seemed to want to play matchmaker.

I pushed off the car as Sam said he was going to drive her home and after a small argument with Miles, the blond got out and Sam drove off.

"Good luck!" I yelled after him in amusement.

I laughed before turning the other way and started walking. "H-Hey! Why'd you let him ditch us?"

I stopped turning halfway to look at Miles, I raised a brow. "He didn't ditch me, he ditched you, Miles. We don't even live that far. Plus, this could be a chance for Sam." With that said, I turned and started my walk back home.

Zelda is American/British in heritage, the occasional Russian is there for a reason ;)

Ублюдок – bastards

Странный – odd/strange

Какого черта! – what the hell!/what the heck!