Disclaimer: I do not own transformers.

Other: Rating is for sporadic cussing and eventually gory scenes.

Updated 9.18.2012

"Anthem of Deception"

The summer sun beat through the cloudless sky, glistening off the calm sea and a shine of metal. The quiet was broken by the pow of a gunshot as a powerful F-22 raptor signaled to its audience, three ominous gray objects floating none too innocently in the waters below, that it had broken the sound barrier. The U.S military Aircraft Carriers were anchored about an imaginary circle and each vessel flowed with colored dots of activity. Coordinated teams were loading a fighter jet onto a steam powered catapult piston and were waiting for the shooter to give the plane slack. An F-18 hornet pushed its engine into full throttle, straining against the hold back bar until it was released with a hiss of hydraulics, and it roared into the air.

On the wide flight deck a teenage girl sought shade under the wing of an anchored F-18 Hornet, her back comfortably propped against the machine's rear landing gear. She sat with the sides of her calves curled underneath her while her hands rested in her lap to support the bindings of a hardback book. Her face contorted into expressions of amusement and anger as her eyes skimmed the pages while its imaginary world carried her away.

A jet roaring off the runway broke her concentration and forced her mind to register the stiffness in her limbs. Annabelle Swift marked her page and unfurled her legs, stretching until her knees made a satisfactory pop. It was boring out in the middle of the ocean, and spending the last of her summer vacation on an aircraft carrier was the last thing she wanted to be doing. Her father was a fighter pilot and a single parent at the same time. She loved him to pieces even though they hardly spent any time together. She just wished he wouldn't drag her to every 'safe' assignment he could during the summer. Her sitting on a flight deck while he worked was hardly qualified as spending time together.

The sun was becoming unpleasant and her skin was beginning to bake so she tucked the book under her arm and made her way below deck. The cool confines of the ship were a welcome relief, but the cramped spaces it provided were not. Per usual, she opted for the open repair hanger that was always busy with maintenance crews repairing fighter jets. Anna tiptoed past a couple of engineers arguing over a dissected engine and crouched behind a partially gutted wing.

"You know, they say what we're guarding is a top secret weapon, but I hear it's a monster with razor sharp teeth, piercing red eyes, and claws perfect for slicing little boys in half." A young man with dusty blond hair and baby blue eyes swung his arms around wildly, trying to mimic his monster to a little boy who was all brown hair and freckles.

"You're lying! There's no such thing as monsters! You're a stupid liar!" The child swiped angrily at his reddened eyes.

Anna snuck around until she was behind the man and froze when the child caught her with those teary eyes. She placed a finger over her smiling lips causing the kid grinned broadly and continue to wail at the man.

The blond haired mechanic raised his arms over his head to mimic claws and lowered his voice."And then when you least expect it, the monster will jump out and-"

Anna pounced on the adult's back and screamed, "Boo!"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and curled her legs up behind her, forcing him to tilt dangerously backwards with her weight.

"Hook, line, and sinker," she chuckled inwardly.

"Holy shit!" He shouted while trying to yank her off. Luckily, the man was just an engineer and not a trained army vet who could flip her over his shoulder and break an arm. The little boy, Cooper, began laughing hysterically and she heard a few soft mummers of 'damn kids' from others nearby.

"Watch your language, blonde," Anna scolded with a smile.

"Damn it, Anna! What are you doing down here, again?"

She slid off and huffed, "I got bored of reading and my skin was starting to cook so sue me."

Tyler turned to face her and crossed his arms. "Why don't you act like a girl your age and go hole up somewhere with your computer, like in, your room maybe?"

Mirrored his defensive pose and snorted, "You're not much older than me, and you're down here 'geeking' out over a few airplane parts."

"It's my job, smart ass."

"Language!" she barked and slapped his arm.

Tyler was a fresh graduate as an aerospace engineer and was probably the closer to her in age than anyone else on the ship. She had bumped into him during the first week and they had become fast friends. He was incredibly smart and often gave her pointers on how to repair parts he was working on. She appreciated his enthusiasm, but his instructions always went over her head.

"Anna, I'm hungry," a childish whine interrupted.

She looked down at her watch and frowned, "It's not even twelve yet."

Tyler clasped a hand on her shoulder that felt pleasantly warm through her clothing as he grinned at Cooper.

"A growing boy's got 'ta eat, isn't that right?" He gave Cooper a not so discrete wink and received an excited grin in return.

Anna put her hands on her hips. "Fine, Y'all win this time, but don't blame me if you start getting round in the middle." She poked Tyler in the stomach and squawked when he tousled her hair.

"There's the good ol' Texan accent," he said with a cheeky smirked.

She shoved him away, already missing the warm hand, and tried to save her already frizzed curls. "F off."

"Language," Tyler warned in a mockingly sweet tone.

"I didn't even curse, all I said was a letter."

All things considered, airship carrier food really wasn't that bad. The cook was a cheerful fellow who didn't just slap mystery meat together from the previous week and call it lunch. In fact, today he made good ol' fashion hamburgers that were thoroughly satisfying to Anna's stomach.

The two boys scarfed down their meal almost faster than she could blink. Tyler had stock piled three hamburgers that he was quickly devouring, and Cooper was trying to compete with him. The kid had picked up four and was currently having trouble on his third.

"Come on, a real man can eat four hamburgers, easily," Tyler goaded and winked at Anna who was glaring back.

Cooper frowned and stuffed the last of his food into his cheeks, swelling them in a way that reminded her of a chipmunk, and he scrunched his nose in a pained expression.

She couldn't stop her snort of amusement that ungracefully came out. "Don't make him eat anymore if he's full. That kind of teasing and encouragement is what gets a kid overweight in the first place."

Tyler rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh please, don't tell me you're turning into a health nut on me."

"Oh please," she mocked. "Do you know how hard it is for a woman to keep her figure?"

Tyler sat back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, looking quite pleased over something. "You're only seventeen."

"I'll be an adult in a couple months," she snapped, unsure why she was suddenly on the defensive.

"I wanna' play cards." Cooper, who had finally managed to swallow his mass of hamburger, tugged at Anna's hand with a pitiful puppy-dog face. Her own dog could pull off the cuter begging face, but Cooper came close enough.

"Alright, but I have to get them from my room."

"But that's far," he whined, already looking to be on the brink of tears, again.

Internally, she cringed. Anna wasn't overly fond of little kids, nor did she really know how to interact with them. She couldn't understand why the Air boss' kid had decided to stick to her and Tyler like a second shadow.

Anna climbed out of the cafeteria seat and picked up her empty tray.

"Why don't you go back with Tyler to his work station? I'll meet y'all there in a bit with my deck."

"Ok!" Cooper shouted unnecessarily loud.

Tyler gave her his own version of a hurt puppy that translated along the lines of, 'I can't believe you're leaving me alone with this monster'. She smiled at him apologetically and left the mess hall.

"Cards, cards. Where are those darn things?" Anna muttered to herself as she crouched in her tiny room. It was a cabin for one that might as well have been a cubby hole. The twin size bed donned in boring gray took up the entire room, and a small slab of metal jutted out from the side to serve as a desk. She had tossed out the tiny stool for it a long time ago and opted to use the bed as a chair, lounge, and sleeping area all in one. She hated cramped spaces. Anna crouched on her knees and shuffled across the bed that emitted loud squeaks of protest until she could bend over the desk. She pried open the sliver of a drawer, shuffled through a crumpled mess of hastily written story fragments, and shoved loose pens to the back.

"There you are. Stupid reject cards," she muttered under her breath.

Some people were convinced that talking to oneself was unhealthy, but Anna did it anyway. She didn't have many close friends, not the kind could be called up just to chat or invite over, and living alone with nothing but a dog and a strange uncle made a person rethink a few things that were formally considered crazy.

She managed to wiggle the cards free of the drawer just when the ship shook violently. She fell forwards with a startled yelp and banged her forehead on the edge of the desk. Anna recoiled, falling back first on the bed and let loose a colorful string of curses. The massive boat rocked a few times and a loud, metallic grinding sound echoed down the walls, sending a chill through her spine. She rubbed her pounding head vigorously and stuck her face into a pillow to help press the searing pain away. There was no way a tsunami had hit and there wasn't the distinct sound of exploding missiles that came with an attack, not that she had heard many missiles in her life. Her irritation was nearly overwhelming when the ear splitting klaxon practically split her head in two. She folded the pillow up around her ears and stuffed the cotton into them, and was rewarded little for her efforts. Giving a minute to collect herself, she lifted her head out of the pillow that was now dotted with crimson spots and stumbled out of the increasingly claustrophobic room.

"Anna!"

She whipped around, feeling the adrenalin starting to kick in, and saw her father weaving through hall where personnel were pouring through. His heavily scarred face was twisted into a frown of seriousness that had her stomach tying into a knot. Maybe it had been an attack.

"What hit us?!" She hollered over the beeping alarm when he was close enough.

His eyes lingered on her forehead before yelling back, "Listen to me carefully. Take this."

He shoved an object into her hand that looked like a shard of metal then grabbed her shoulder and leaned into her ear. He lowered his voice significantly, but still managed to sound fierce in his order.

"Take that and don't let anyone see it. Get somewhere safe that's near the life rafts, and if you have to, jump ship. Don't wait if it looks bad. And remember, always trust your instincts."

He always said that, 'trust your instincts', but never so seriously.

She nodded numbly, rooted to the spot as people pushed around them. "Is it an air raid?"

"Not exactly." His tone was raspy and possibly pained, but before she could push again, he gave his daughter a rough pat on the shoulder before finally pulling away.

"Go, and be strong." Then he disappeared into the crowd before her limbs could catch up to her mind.

Her dad was never one to give detailed explanations, but for the last two years everything he seemed to say felt like a half lie. Anna shook her head and raced through the overflowing halls to find her way to the upper deck and into the pink-orange rays of the sinking sun. The odd thing that struck her was there wasn't an enemy plane or ship in sight. Sure, missiles could be shot from hundreds of miles away, but wouldn't the patrolling jets have spotted a potential threat and mobilized far earlier?

She weaved around panicking employees who seemed to share her thoughts and reached the edge of the ship where bright orange life rafts were already being loaded. She walked to the edge of the railing and couldn't help but gawk at the side of the haul. It looked like as if a meteor had grazed the side of the ship, taking a massive chunk with it. The hole was quickly filling with water and steamed that billowed from the still glowing hot metal. The boat was beginning to tilt sideways with the new weight, creaking and groaning against the strain of water filling its belly. Anna felt her heart jump into her throat and she sucked in a breath. This was serious, dead serious. They were really under attack.

"So much for a pleasant vacation," she bit sarcastically.

The sound of metal screeching on metal was the only warning before time slowed to a surreal crawl. Hornets and S-3 Vikings broke loose of their tethers and began sliding into each other, ripping apart wings and tearing gashes in their armor as they fell down the forming grade. The heavy flying machines were hurdling straight for her and there was nowhere to go.

Her heart rate increased and adrenaline began pumping through her veins with an urgency that propelled her into a sprint to desperately get out the way. The other personnel on deck scrambled at the same time, creating a jam of people pushing and shouting at each other angrily. Some were distracted long enough to be hit by the aircrafts and were swept over the side of the boat with them. In her own panic, Anna lost her footing several times when bumping into others and felt the increasingly deck increasing in its deadly tilt. She swore her heart was going to jump through her throat when she had to duck to avoid the wing of a plane sliding past. She shot her sights around the deck, looking for anything that would get her out of the line of fire, and locked onto the central tower only feet away.

She jumped to the massive structure and latched on, hugging railing for support. The thick pillar shielded her from falling machinery gave her a brief moment to survey the chaos. Anna was mortified when a body fell before her, more joining with terrified screams as people fell from the upper decks of the control center and into the water now lapping up the deck. She dug her heels into the ground to keep from sliding and glanced hundreds of yards away to the other carriers suffering the same fate.

The incline became steeper and she futilely kicked her feet on the ground to propel herself closer to the lifeline she was losing grip on. The ship was closing in on a dangerous ninety degree angle that had every curse word in the English dictionary racing through her mind. The forgotten life boats had already been smashed into unusable splinters by the planes, making that plan of escape fly out the window. A strangled sound escaped her throat in unspoken fear.

It was now or never. With a deep breath she let go of the railing and slid, picking up speed until she hit the water with a splash. She struggled to the surface, sputtering for air as the saltwater blinded her stinging eyes and threatened to fill her lungs. Her pupils dilated at a squealing Hornet diving her away, she tried to swim away but not even her time on swim team could help her here. Her water soaked shoes and clothing made it terrifyingly hard to move her legs or pump her arms fast enough to swim at any significant speed, and the second she came up for a breath of air, the wing of the aircraft came crashing down on her head.

Anna closed her eyes tightly and bit her tongue as she was forced to submerge. Blindly, she felt around the wing, but the sense of which way was up or down fled her internal compass. All of her senses fled her in that moment as panic sunk in. Air left her lungs in large bubbles that floated past her lips in silent spasms of terror. Miraculously, she found the edge of the wing and used the edge of it to propel herself upwards with a vigorous kick. Her lungs were screaming for air and the terrifying thought of passing out and dying in the abyss only fueled her adrenaline. With heavy tennis shoes and soggy clothes, she managed to break the surface. Her lungs retched, throwing up water only to have more of it wash up into her mouth, but she could finally breathe.

"Hey!"

She splashed around to see an orange life raft floating a few meters away and standing over it was a dark skinned man who had his hands cupped around his mouth to form a makeshift megaphone.

"Over here," she hollered hoarsely back, and waived an arm in air. A flutter of relief rose in her stomach at the welcome sight of the stranger.

The small boat steered over until it was bobbing at her side. She gratefully took an offered hand and was heaved into the boat where several hands flew to help pull her into the skiff. Anna rolled into the boat like a wet rag and fell to the bottom with a wet smack.

"Are you alright?" A faceless but concerned voice asked her. Coughing, she sat up and nodded to one of her rescuers, too breathless to answer.

Her eyes grew wide with surprise and the passengers of the boat nearly fell over as the life raft started to violently thrash in the waves. An object burst from the water, sending sea water spraying hundreds of feet into the air, and Anna watched in morbid fascination as the metal creature rose from the ocean depths.

Time slowed and all other noise seemed to fade into nothing as she stared up. From the air the creature looked at her, through her. It was a giant silver robot being supported in the air by another robot. They both had red, gleaming eyes and dangerously sharp teeth. The silver machine raised its clawed that morphed into a gun, and angled the intimidating barrel. The cannon fired a red light that emitted a high pitch sound as it sailed over her head. It crashed into an aircraft carrier and blew up the heavily armored boat in a flash of flames that turned into an all-out explosion as the ship's nuclear generators lit and rocketed metal into the sky.

She screamed and a hand forced her down into the boat. A yowl of pain and a sickeningly wet crunch led to the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. A young worker had a piece of shrapnel speared through his skull and his face was frozen in a perpetual state of shock. Anna stared, entranced by the horrific scene, unable to look away as he fell slumped over in the boat.

Her throat hitched and she felt like she could throw up. Someone's arms wrapped around her comfortingly as more giant robots crashed out of the water. Some smashed through the already drowning ships as they each took off faster than she could get a good look. They disappeared into the sky, not caring to observe the destruction they had caused.