I don't own the series The Loud House or the Transformers or any car brands, make, and models in this story. The Loud House is created by Chris Savino for Nickelodeon, Transformers is owned by Hasbro, and all vehicles named or described are owned by their proper companies.

Last Time: Lincoln's friends were in the lands of Alaska but when they went to have fun the Decepticons had found a fallen ship and then they released Jetfire who had joined the Autobots, however, in the end, Cyclonus was the only one to get what they were after.

2:47 PM

Outside of the town of Royal Woods, someone was walking down the road it was Lincoln Loud, staying on the side of it to avoid getting hit by a car, the sky was extremely cloudy, no doubt it was going to rain and even lightning at any real moment. While walking, Lincoln saw something, it was a blue truck slowing down and even stopped next to him with a window lowering to reveal a middle-aged man with black hair and a trimmed mustache on his face. "Hey there kid, need a lift?" Said the man.

Lincoln had looked up to see that the storm was starting off, with the rain starting off light but soon would be heavy so he walked to the car opened it to sit in the passenger seat and started to drive off. "Thank you, mister...?" Lincoln said trying to get the name of the man.

"Oh, I'm just a good person, say are you heading to the town?" Said the man as the rain started to get heavier outside as the raindrops could be heard from the inside of the car.

"Yeah, I am going to my house, it's on 1216 Franklin Avenue. Could you get me there?" Lincoln said to them.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll get you home--" The man said before the radio that was on a music station changed to breaking news. "This just in, local police had found four missing people who were in an abandoned building, they were being held by a man who was holding them hostage for ransom money, the report from the police states that the suspect is a middle-aged white man with black hair and has a trimmed mustache, the last thing his victims said they saw him wear was a red shirt and black jacket. If you see this man, call the police."

There were then silences in the car, the man who looked kind at first now looked panicked. As for Lincoln, his expression has not changed one bit. The man reached in a pocket in his jacket and pulled out a taser and hit Lincoln in the chest with it to knock them out, however, Lincoln did not even phase from this, he looked as if nothing was happening at all. "What in the" The man said before Lincoln grabbed his arm and twisted it with loud a "Crack" Could be heard, and the man screamed.

On the outside the car was swerving left and right, the car was shaking from something that was happening inside of the truck. The car then came to a full stop and the driver seat door opening and the man being pushed out of the car, he looked very beaten up and when he looked to Lincoln, lightning flashed and from the light Lincoln looked different, his hair was black, his eyes were red as blood, and his orange jacket and blue pants were pitch black. This was not really Lincoln Loud; it was an imposter, the Pretender.

Through his vision, everything seemed red. Words appeared that said: "Only watch the boy." but they started to glitch out the words began to change before resetting back to normal, but the words and font were different, it was a twisted font with it reading. "You're Lincoln Loud, replace them." They then closed the door and drive off towards Royal Woods.

3:17 PM

The Loud House, normally it was always the loudest place in town, which was expected with the house being a family with eleven kids, but with most of them moved out it is much quieter, still loud but still quieter than a normal day. Lincoln Loud made it to the house and opened the front door, what he saw first was his older sister Lynn Loud Jr. the jock sleeping on the couch with his youngest sister, Lily Loud, sitting in the seat next to the couch reading one of his comic books until she saw who she thought was her brother. "Oh, hey Lincoln," Lily said quietly to avoid Lynn from waking up.

Lincoln gave her a smile and waved to her before going up the stairs, Lily went back to reading her book before remembering that she needed to ask Lincoln something and got up to follow Lincoln. When she got to the top of the stairs, she saw that two of their sisters, the twins Lola and Lana were fighting once again as always, forming a dust cloud not letting anyone see what was going on in it.

The two seemed to have been fighting over something and they did hear Lola say something about how Lana got dirt on one of her dresses and Lana saying Lola had scared one of her many pets. Lincoln, had placed his hands in the fight and managed to get the two apart from each other, breaking up the twin's fight pushing the two away from each other, and stepping between them. "Calm down, before you both wreck half the house... Again." Said Lincoln.

"Not until Lana apologizes for what her armadillo did to my new dress!" Said Lola, her voice full of fury and rage.

"First, Shellman is a Pangolin," Lana said with everyone wanting to question just where and how she got one, they remembered that she is well known for attracting wild animals of all shapes and sizes. "Second, you frightened him and now won't get out from under my bed, he is terrified of me because you look like me!"

"Alright, enough you two, look I see the problem so let me just tell you what you should both do before we go through another sister fight protocol. Lana, Shellman is new to this environment, but you need to keep watch for all of your pets, we know you take great care of them but sometimes they need just a little more help getting to know their new homes." Lincoln said with Lana looking down, she did just get this Shellman only a few days ago, she has been taking care of her other pets and has not had much time helping her newest pet.

"Yeah, I guess I haven't been good with him," Lana said with her twin letting out a laugh as if they had won until Lincoln faced her next.

"You're not off the hook yet either Lola, you scared a small defenseless creature and made it terrified of Lana. You can't just do that to everything you're mad at every time, I am sorry that Lana's new friend ruined one of the dresses, but it can be cleaned or even replaced can't it?" Lincoln said to Lona, who did not even try and defend herself at what he said, they did make a good point and she did go a little overboard with how she acted at the small creature.

"Sigh, you're right Lincoln," Lona said before turning to Lana. "I'm sorry Lana, I guess I should feel bad about yelling at Shellman, he does look a little cute too."

"Yeah, let's go and check in on him, he might be hiding under my bed, you'll love him," Lana said as both she and her twin go back to their room. As Lincoln thinks that would be the last of that for the time being he heard an explosion not too far off and saw one of the doors opening to show the house's child genius, Lisa Loud leaving her room covered in ash and with smoke leaving the room.

"Another failed test at my teleporter technology again," Lisa said as she started writing down something on some paper attached to a clipboard. Lincoln then started to walk off again but stopped as they heard something, he turned back and what they heard sounded like a spark, a spark that would begin a flame, and in a room with who knows what, it would not be a good combination. Lincoln then dashed towards Lisa and pulled her away from her door and as he predicted, there was a second explosion.

Lincoln, Lisa, and Lily looked in the room, it was a good thing that Lisa has spent years reinforcing the room to withstand most of the damage she could cause. "Well, that was close, Lisa are you okay?" Lincoln said, showing concern for Lisa.

"Yes, Male sibling. Thank you for the rescue, how did you know that would happen?" Lisa asked Lincoln.

"Well, it was just a gut feeling really," Lincoln said to them.

"Well, I thank you for saving my hide from that unexpected explosion, I would have survived without a doubt since all that radiation and chemicals have made me durable against explosions," Lisa said as she entered her room again.

"Wait, what?" Both Lily and Lincoln said as they just found that out and thought that they just made it up or joked but still sounded serious. Lily and Lincoln then walked away but before they knew it, Lucy Loud was right in front of them, Lily was surprised as always to see her goth sister but Lincoln on the other hand did not even seem surprised. "Oh, hey Lucy." Said Lincoln, not even bothered by the fact that Lucy just snuck up behind them.

"Hey Lincoln, Lily, I've made some new poetry, want to hear it?" Lucy said to them as she held a piece of paper.

"Um, not really now Lucy, maybe at a later time, I promise," Lincoln said as he walked past her and made a quick dash to his room in order to avoid any more of his siblings so he could get to his room, both Lucy and Lily looked at each other, questioning if he was okay since he normally would listen to her poetry but maybe thought that he had a long day and just wanted so time to himself.

Lily then followed her brother into his room, she just wanted to ask him something about the communicator she was given by the Autobots and wanted to ask if Lincoln could help her understand the controls to it. Once she entered his room, she saw him looking around his room looking for something. "What are you looking for Lincoln?"

Lincoln then saw his sister in his room, she closed the door behind her for no one to overhear what they were going to talk about. "Oh, well I'm looking for something I need and hope I just left it home."

Lily was wondering what he was talking about until she saw that he did not have his Autobot communicator on his arm. He must have left it in Bumblebee, at school, or he was looking for it in his room. "I see, you're missing your watch for the Autobots. You can call it using mine."

Lincoln then spun around looking surprised. "Wait? You know about the Autobots?" Lincoln said surprised as if he did not know that, but he should have.

"Yeah, I've known for over a week now, remember when Cyclonus kidnapped me so you and Bumblebee could talk to him, and two days ago when we saw the Insecticons- Wait." Lily until something else came to her mind. "Lincoln, when you came home, you didn't have an umbrella and you were still dry, how did you-"

Lily was interrupted however as she got a message from her communicator. When she checked out the message, she looked confused, then she was scared when she realizes what it meant. The message read: "Lily, this is Wheeljack, your brother, Lincoln, is being protected by Vincent Witwicky for his safety and won't be home for a while, he said something that looks like your brother is wandering around town looking for him, I'll be outside your home to watch over you guys if you see anyone who looks like Lincoln tell me."

Lily then looked back up but saw that who she thought was Lincoln was gone, then she felt something on her shoulder, she turned her head and saw Lincoln, no... it wasn't Lincoln, it was a Pretender. They were behind her and saw the message and the Pretender then said to Lily; "So, Wheeljack is outside? That's good, let's talk to him, Lily." The Pretender said as lightning struck outside and the lighting from the storm did as it kept on doing and messed with the colors of his hair, eyes, and clothes to darker colors.

2:29 PM

Today was going to be a good day for Lincoln Loud, He got an A on a test he studied for, lunch was pizza, Chandler was making himself look crazy with him telling people about: "Giant robots turning into cars" and it was a Friday, plus his last class was canceled and turned into a free period so now he could go home a little early, how could it get any better and less bad? Try waking up somewhere you don't know.

Lincoln was opening his eyes as it was all dark, it looked like a warehouse or something. How did he get here? "Look this was the only way this would work, I don't like this as much as the next guy, but he needs protection from the Pretender or- wait, he's waking up." Said a voice that sounded familiar to him, but who was it? "Lincoln, Lincoln Loud." It was Vincent Witwicky, that was his voice. "Lincoln, follow the light." Said Vincent as Lincoln's vision was coming back and the first thing, he saw was a bright light.

"WHAT!" Lincoln said as he immediately got up and saw that he was laying on the ground with Vincent Witwicky with multiple people around the large area, some wearing suits like they were agents or something. He then saw that Vincent was holding a flashlight that was shining in his face. "Poor choice of words, Vincent." Said Lincoln.

"Sorry, the first time I tried waking someone up. What was the last thing you remember?" Vincent asked while helping Lincoln stand up.

Lincoln was starting to remember what had happened the best he could. "Um, right I remember leaving my school, Bee was back at the Arc, so I was going to walk home and then-" Lincoln then stopped as he now fully remembered, as he left the school a large black van stopped in front of him with the sliding doors opening and someone spraying something in his face and then he fainted. "I was kidnapped?!" Lincoln said freaking out, he was taken. "H-HOW LONG WAS I OUT AND WHO GRABBED ME?!"

"Relax, you'll be fine, we did that to keep you safe." Vincent said to Lincoln as if it was normal which made them slowly turn their head to the side to look at Vincent before saying "What did you just say?" With Vincent helping him up. "Look, kid understand that we needed to get you to safety and-"

"First you knock me out and then you put me somewhere I don't know, what the heck is wrong with you, I thought you were supposed to just keep contact with us or something, you couldn't have just walked up to me and say: Hey, Lincoln, we're going to keep you safe, follow us," Lincoln said still sounding furious.

"Look, kid, we did this to get you to safety, something is after you," Vincent said as Lincoln did seem to calm down with what he just said. "Listening? Good, something is after you and we think it was sent by the Decepticons, the Autobots will be here any second now."

"What is it? And why is it- You know what never mind." Lincoln said as he wanted to know what was after and remembered the reason as to why they were after them. Vincent then looked at one of the other people wearing a suit with a look that just said we know what you're asking but can't tell you, so Lincoln knew they were hiding something from him.

"Look, Lincoln-" Before Vincent could continue, there was a knock on the large door of the warehouse and began to open with Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Hot Rod had arrived in their Alt modes and once the door closed, Ronnie Anne stepped out of Hot Rod's Alt mode as they changed into their robot modes.

"Lincoln, are you alright?" Ronnie Anne said as she walked up to him and give him a caring hug with Lincoln returning the favor by hugging him back. Once they stopped hugging, she looked him dead in the eye and asked him: "What happened this time? What's trying to kill you today?"

"That's what we were going to talk about," Vincent said to them, he looked like he was hiding something, and they knew it. Vincent knew they wouldn't let it go, so after letting out a sigh, and said: "Look, it is technically Decepticon in origin, but it was something we owned." He said this confused the two before continuing. "In 1988, we found some Decepticon ship parts that fell from their ship and landed in... who knows how long ago, but we found some technology, it was called: Pretenders."

"Pretenders?" Ronnie Anne said as they were still confused. "What the heck is a Pretender?"

"Pretenders, they are basically Transformers of human height, they can also change their skin to look just like humanoid species, everything from birthmarks, tattoos, scars, a Pretender once turned into a friend of mine who was missing a leg and they had the same leg missing before you ask, he isn't a veteran he just lost his leg because he was overweight, be careful of what you eat kids." Said Vincent.

"That sounds awesome, but if they're Decepticon technology, then shouldn't they be," Lincoln said before Vincent interrupted him.

"Evil, we think they were since they are from them but what Wheeljack told us, the Decepticons mainly used them to spy one world with small life forms and see if they are a threat or not. How they worked is that they scan the DNA of life forms to become them, and from scanning that one person they can look, act, and even think like them, all from that one scan of DNA, mainly from even a drop of blood to a strand of hair." Vincent said to them.

"That does sound awesome but why is this Pretender after me?" Lincoln asked.

Vincent was about to continue again about the Pretenders, but someone had called his name. "Commander Witwicky," Said the voice of an agent with a dark skin tone wearing a suit and sunglasses, even though they were indoors, had pitch-black short hair, and who seemed to be in his late twenties. "Are you sure you should be sharing Highly classified Government information with these kids?"

"Agent O'Neal, these kids have found out about robots aliens from outer space and deal with a secret war that only a small amount of people really know about is happening, they also have full rights to know, especially since, the same government secret project is coming to his hometown for their head on a pike. Plus, he did find an Autobot by accident when we spent months looking for him in the wrong state!" Said Vincent.

Agent O'Neal (28)

-Vincent's personal right hand

-Tries to act serious but fails from time to time

-His greatest weakness is cats; he can't stop loving them

"You know, somehow the fact that a killer robot assassin out to get somehow doesn't faze me as you'd think it would be. I've somehow got used to this when this has been my life for only about a month now." Lincoln said completely unphased by anything he just said, and the agent just nods as Vincent did make a good point.

"Anyway, the reason it is after you is just that that's the huge major issue with Pretenders, if they find out they've found the person they are pretending to be, they... take them out." As he said this, both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne realize what he meant by taking them out and it was not good. "When we got our hands on them we started to reprogram them into espionage masters, but when we first used them, the Pretender unit took the form of a guard and well..." Vincent as the mental image of someone just minding their own business and someone who looked exactly like them was behind them with their hand in the air and this hand in a fist glowing blue before lowering it and when it was only an inch away from contact everything went black, indicating one thing they knew. "It took us eight years to find that Pretender, it was being the guard it was being, it aged its body a little too, calculating what they would look like as they got older."

"Wait, are you saying this Pretender looks just like me and going to-" Said Lincoln getting everything, this Pretender was after him, this Pretender was going to end his life, the Pretender was going to replace him.

"Normally, this wouldn't happen unless they know you exist by seeing you in person, but this one not only went after you after being activated but it seems that it is somehow more powerful than any normal Pretender as a simple one is just superhuman level strong but this one is far more powerful than any we've seen." Said the Agent called O'Neal.

"It's true, not only does it deny all orders or attempts to hack it, but it is both far stronger and somehow has weapons, such as energy weapons that can form from its hands and energy blast. No lives have been lost yet, just soldiers having minor or serious injuries. Also, I would not recommend meeting the military in Utah, you might give tons of soldiers heart attacks." Said Vincent.

"Wait, why does it look like me?" Lincoln said with Vincent doing the same face again, he knew what Lincoln was asking but didn't want to talk about it. "Really? C'mon, tell me why."

"Alright, last month when you were taken by the Decepticons, I had Teletraan-I to send data on your DNA to Project Pretender," Vincent said, surprising the two about this information. "Now, listen, and let me explain."

"Your hade a robot ready to replace me or something?!" Lincoln said furious at what Vincent had done, and he did have every right to being angry, how else would he feel with someone having something that could replace you and fool everyone, if one Pretender could fool the world for years, then who knows how long they would fool his family and even his friends. "What the heck is wrong with you?! How do you think that would affect my family!"

"Why do you think we would have done it. If the Autobots didn't get you, the Pretender would just take your place until we got you out and you did and if you didn't make it back then the Pretender was going to fake your demise, to give your family closure if you never did make it back home that night." Vincent had explained. He was still angry about all of this but knew that he had good intentions. "Look, be mad at me all you want, but I am trying to help you, I don't want anything bad happening to you or anyone else who I care about."

Lincoln thought of everything that did happen to him, he was taken by giant robots and his family would have been worried sick about him. What Vincent did was a little messed up, but he did it so his family wouldn't worry about him being missing. "Alright, I understand why you did it, but how do we stop this thing, what do we throw magnets at it?"

"No, we did try that, but it didn't work, so we'll just let it wander Royal Woods for a bit and when it is alone, our boys watching it will fire one of these," Vincent said as he opened a crate and pulled out some rifle-like weapon with the barrel split into two. "This is a highly experimental Rail gun, this baby will punch a hole through a tank, with luck it will do the same to the Pretender, if not I asked Optimus if he could use a bigger gun on the thing."

"Wait, shouldn't we get other Autobots, like Jazz, Ironhide, or Wheeljack?" Ronnie Anne said with Vincent answering her.

"I wish we could get more help, but the other Autobots are off on their own missions, but Wheeljack is heading to your house to watch your family and keep them safe, so the only help would be these three," Vincent said to them. "But don't worry, I bet soon we'll get a call telling us that they've caught the-" Vincent said as he got a phone call and when he answered it, under ten seconds the smile on his face washed away too quickly and hanged up and continued. "Alright, the squad said they encountered the Pretender, but it single-handedly took them all down without giving them life-threatening injuries, but from what I heard they must have taken a beating."

"How bad?" Lincoln asked.

"I doubt that bad."

3:00 PM

In the streets of Royal Woods, someone was driving down the empty streets in a blue truck, they seemed to look like Lincoln Loud, the same looks and all but every time lightning flashed in the sky, the colors of his clothes and eyes changed. He was looking for himself, the real Lincoln Loud.

It was raining but he didn't even seem to mind, it was like he didn't even care about getting wet or catching a cold if they ever left the vehicle, as they drove two vans further down the street watching and following them and knew this for a fact. The Pretender thought they weren't going to do anything but follow, so they had to think of a way to lose them but didn't see what was about to happen.

The truck was sideswiped, rammed on the side, and pushed into an alleyway out of any sight of anyone who would pass by. "WHAT THE-?!" Said the Pretender as the car stopped and tipped the truck to its side, the car that rammed them was a large semi-truck with a ram plow in the front of it.

Four armed men came out of the truck with weapons in hand and covered in body armor, once they made it to the other side of the truck, they fired at it without warning, their weapons released lasers that tore through the rook and windshield like a knife through butter. However, when the men stopped, they saw a purple light like a shield of light, the Pretender was in its dark clothing, hair, and red eyes. His arms were covered in purple lines like circuitry.

The light dropped and the Pretender dashed at the men and threw a punch at one of them in the gut and the force had pushed them back a few feet and was knocked out, they then backhanded the nearest one which knocked their helmet off. In that split second, they grabbed in from the air and tossed it at another one, the force sending them to the ground and for the last one, the Pretender ran to them before they could even aim their weapon and performed a roundhouse kick, knocking the weapon out of their hands and causing them to spin like a tornado in midair from the kick, they hand managed to spin around at least twenty times before hitting the ground.

They then saw both the vans that were following him, stopping at the entrance of the alleyway that they came from, and saw two other vans then rolled into the alley but on the opposite side, blocking the Pretender inside the alleyway. The vans all opened and what came out were five men each all holding weapons, some were holding rifle-like weapons while others had Baton-shaped weapons that released electric energy. "Kiss the ground Pretender, you're coming back with us!"

The Pretender was a little confused with the number of soldiers here, they have taken down more than four times the number of soldiers. They were planning something, and he knew it. Then they saw that the rifle-like weapon started to make some sort of ringing noise, it didn't like where this was going to it kicked a trash can forcing the lid to go into the air before catching it and tossing it like a frisbee and hitting the one with the weapon in the head knocking them down, most of the other men took action quickly and charged at them, but the Pretender was both more swift and powerful as he dodged any attack they threw at him and kept on knocking them down one by one with punches and kicks that weren't even at its full strength.

One man even pulled out a taser-like weapon. Upon firing it, the Pretender grabbed one of the other men in a headlock and used it as a human shield, getting them electrocuted before being thrown at the armed man with him also getting punched right in the face.

One man who didn't charge was grabbing the rifle and was picking it up, but it was much heavier than they thought and the moment they aimed the weapon at the Pretender, they were gone, and all the others were knocked down and out cold. The Pretender was out of their sight for only a moment before getting a chop in the back of their neck, just like the others they were knocked out.

The Pretender thought that was the last soldier until he heard footsteps behind him and was knocked back by something, it was as if they were hit by a truck from that hit, and what they saw was one last soldier with large metal hands? no, they were gauntlets, robotic gloves that had parts that connected to a piece on their back.

The Pretender got back up and started to throw a punch but before he could even connect his hit, the last man standing blocked it with one of the gauntlets and swiftly grabbed their other hand with somehow great speed, they then realized that they are wearing some strength-enhancing suit or gear.

The Pretender was in a taught spot and didn't seem to have a way out, the last soldier had a smirk on their face. "Give up, I have no way of getting out of this grip." The soldier said sounding smug, thinking they had everything under control. The Pretender had one plan that it didn't like.

"Heads up, I'm sorry." Said the Pretender.

"Sorry? For what?"

"This," The Pretender said as he moved his leg, getting a kick ready and in a split second the soldier didn't see it as they didn't look down but when he realized what they were doing, it was too late as the Pretender had kicked an area on the soldier, below the belt and with the force of a jackhammer. The soldier had let go of the Pretender and fell to the ground while screaming in a high-pitch scream that sounded more like a deflating balloon, once it stopped that was when they knew they were passed out.

"Maybe it would be a good time to head home." Said the Pretender as they walked out of the alleyway, leaving over two dozen men on the ground incontinence and in the heavy rain and the one who was kicked was still continence and pressed a button on their gauntlet which released it from their arm and pulled out a phone to call someone.

"Hello-" The Soldier said but stopped as his voice was extremely high pitched but then cleared his throat to get his voice back to normal. "Hello, Commander Witwicky, I have some seriously bad news, sir." With no pride in his voice, the man said as he failed the mission and was kicked below the belt.

3:25 PM

Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Vincent, and the Agent named O'Neal were gathering around the table playing cards for fun while the other men all watching around the windows and the Autobots were staying on guard, already just in case, they needed to fight.

Lincoln does seem to be a little calmer even with the fact a killer robot came after him, but he was in a location he didn't even know they were at, and that Vincent did say that Wheeljack was keeping his family safe, so he thought there wasn't much to worry about. Ronnie Anne did have the same feeling; she was worried for Lincoln but had to stay taught and not fall from the pressure of what was happening.

While they were all staying on guard, Bumblebee looked out of everyone the most uneasy, if this Pretender looked just like Lincoln, it would be hard for him to fight something that looked just like his closest friend and someone who had promised to protect.

Hot Rod and Optimus Prime were feeling just like Bumblebee as equally, they have known him for some time and do see him as a friend they can trust, plus they did vow to protect both him and other humans, but what they must fight will look just like him.

There was one fact, everyone in the room was hiding the fact that they could go off at the drop of a hat, hoping that the Pretender was caught soon. Every agent was walking around the room, looking around to keep Lincoln safe. Ronnie Anne looked around let out a loud sigh and got up saying. "I need fresh air and to stretch my legs." Ronnie Anne said as she got up and walked to the exit, one agent did try to stop her as they didn't want her out just in case, but Vincent had allowed it.

"It's okay, she can go out, the Pretender is in Royal Woods, and we're in the middle of Texas. Plus, I think she doesn't want to lose at my hand in poker-" Vincent said as Ronnie Anne said out loud that she had a four of a kind. "Dang it..."

"Ha-ha, don't mess with me in the game of card." Ronnie Anne said as she opened the door to the warehouse, but the moment it was open, the sound of an explosion could be heard. Everyone was surprised by the sound of the explosion; Ronnie Anne had closed the door as she didn't feel like going out just yet, but the Autobots sprang into action.

Hot Rod, you follow me, Bumblebee will stay here and guard Lincoln Loud!" Optimus said with Hot Rod following Optimus and Bumblebee giving a nod as they started to leave, the large doors to the warehouse opened with the two and a few agents following them outside to where the explosion had originated from, turning into their resected Alt modes to get their quicker and undetected by anyone just in case.

"Do you think it might be the Pretender?" Said one of the remaining agents who stayed behind to guard Lincoln.

"I hope not." Said Bumblebee, not wanting to face that threat, but what they didn't know was that something was up and above them all on the roof.

With Optimus Prime and Hot Rod, the two were driving at their top speeds to make it to where it happened, the explosions origin point, it was only a little far from where they were. Did the Pretender find where they were or did something else happen, that was what they were both thinking, they needed to be ready for what was to come.

Once they made it to where they were going, they found where it came from, in the middle of the path they were driving on here was looked like scorched marks from an explosion and some pieces of metal around the area, it was as if a bomb had gone off with bomb debris all over. "It was a bomb?" Hot Rod said as he and Optimus changed into their robot modes, it was most likely that any humans that weren't the agents may have run away from the sound of the explosion, and they did need to see what had happened.

Looking around Optimus noticed something about the bomb pieces that were all over the place and picked up some of the pieces. "This looked to be from one of Wheeljack's bombs, why is it here?"

Hot Rod then tapped the side of his helmet which made a visor that covered his eyes. The visor had let him see that Optimus was right, it was all shrapnel from an explosive device but something else was catching Hot Rod's attention, it was something his visor can easily pick up, Energon. Optimus, I'm picking up Energon reading in that warehouse." Hot Rod said as he pointed to one of the warehouses closest to them.

Both Optimus and Hot Rod started to walk with their guard up, pointing weapons at the door ready for action. Once they were in reach for the door, Optimus had his hand on the door to open but before he did, he turned to Hot Rod and the other Autobot did the same to Optimus, both looked ready and gave a nod for all go.

Once they open the door to the warehouse, what they saw was a lone car, a white car with red and green lines, they knew what or who it was, it was their ally, Wheeljack.

Someone was inside them, in the Alt mode of Wheeljack, it was Lincoln's youngest sister, Lily Loud, sitting in the back trying to escape the car. When she saw the Autobots, she let out a smile, as if she was being saved by a knight in shining armor before pointing at something on Wheeljack's hood, it was a dark disk-like object, and in under a second, the two Autobots looked shocked and quickly knew what she was pointing at and Hot Rod used his arm-mounted laser weapons and blasted the disk into nothing.

Once the object was destroyed, Wheeljack's Alt mode started to act up with the engine within him started to start-up and roared up and his car doors opened letting Lily Loud out of him and transforming into his robot mode. "Oh, Primus, thank you both, but the Pretender is here!"

"Wait what!" Hot Rod said shocked at the information.

"While I was watching the Loud house, the Pretender came out with Lily, I thought she was his hostage and I had no choice, he then used one of my Stasis lock pads on me to keep me on my Alt mode," Wheeljack said as the Autobots turned around and realized that the Pretender was now there.

Back with the others, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were hiding behind some boxes in the back while the remaining eight Agents, Agent O'Neal, Vincent, and Bumblebee all pointing weapons at the warehouse doors ready to gun down the Pretender.

"Do you think we can take it, sir?" Said the agent named O'Neal

"Don't worry, we've got both a big gun and an Autobot already for action, I think we've got this." Said Vincent.

"Yeah, but something isn't right if it is the Pretender..." O'Neal said as something was above them, they were wearing all black and had red eyes that looked like they were glowing, the back of their hands then opened with circuitry underneath. "...Why did they blow up something far away from here?"

With what O'Neal just said that made Vincent put two-and-two together, it was a basic plan that he just realized it, how dumb was he as he realized that they just fell for it. "It wasn't an attack or a trap, it was bait." They then heard something above them, it was like the sound of thunder and they all looked up, they saw him, the Pretender.

Everyone tried to act fast, and all aimed their weapons at the Pretender, however, they moved at great speeds, they landed on the ground right in front of one of the agents hitting them with a pam strike that launched them into two other agents, knocking them out. Another agent aimed their weapon and fired at them, but the Pretender had some sort of energy shield that blocked every hit from the weapon. The Pretender then dashed at the agent and bashed them with the energy shield.

The Pretender then picked up the weapon from the ground and tossed it at another person the hit them in the head knocking them out, Another solider had snuck behind them and grabbed them from the back, two other agents then charged at the Pretender along with Agent O'Neal and all trying to land a hit with batons but even with someone on their back, the Pretender managed to douched every swing at them.

The Pretender then made it to the metal wall of the warehouse, they then jumped back and slammed them into the wall that forced them off as the force put a dent in the wall and knocked out the agent on their back. They then grabbed one agent's arm, pulled them in, and used them as a shield to take a hit from the other remaining agent with the baton knocking them out from the shock.

The last agent was a little shocked himself after harming one of their own but was quickly out of it when the Pretender tossed them aside and gave a boxing jab at them in the face sending them to the ground cold, leaving Agent O'Neal the last man, O'Neal took some steps back to get some distance from the Pretender and then gave a smirk. The Pretender was confused until he remembered one thing, Bumblebee.

The Autobot scout couldn't get any hits on the Pretender due to them standing so close to the other humans. The Pretender then saw that Bumblebee was now standing over them and slammed their hand down, pinning them to the ground making them square to get out from the grip but to now success. Bumblebee then aimed his weapon at the Pretender to finish them off, to end it, to save the life of his friend, however, the Pretender had changed his look again, they looked just like Lincoln Loud. "B-Bumblebee, wait, it's me, Lincoln."

Bumblebee had stopped and almost took a step back and had let go of the Pretender, forgetting that they weren't really his friend. The Pretender had something on their back and tossed it at Bumblebee and landed on their chest, it was the same object that they used on Bumblebee, giving the Autobot a shock and knocking them out. The Pretender then changed back to their dark clothing.

O'Neal then managed to get behind the Pretender and landed one hit on them but ended up getting a backhanded strike that sent them flying. Vincent then got out of where he was, the experimental weapon that was fully charged, and aimed the weapon, ready to take out the Pretender, however, the Pretender moved quick and managed to get up to them and pushed the weapon to go higher so when they fired it missed them. The pretender then pushed them and sent them into the wall. "Ow, man I hope that shot doesn't hit someone important." Vincent thought before they passed out.

Elsewhere

Somewhere in the middle of the desert, the Insecticons were all outside looking around the area, with Waspinator flying in the air. "This area seems to be a good place for a new base." Said Skold.

"You do have a good point, this place does feel just about right, and I do like the weather here." Said the leader, Scorponok as he kept looking around, however, everyone stopped as they all saw some sort of blast of energy and hit the Insecticon, Waspinator making them fall to the ground. "Never mind, it might be a trap."

Waspinator Owned Counter: 3

"Great job Waspinator, you ruined this place." Said Bombshell as he and the other Insecticons gave them dirty looks.

Back at the Warehouse

Both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne saw everything, everyone had been knocked out and the Pretender was still standing, they then saw them, the Pretender began to walk towards them. Lincoln was almost frozen in fear, but Ronnie Anne grabbed his hand and they started to dash away towards an exit but had to stop as the Pretender threw the same desk that they used to play cards, they both ducked down to avoid getting hit which they did, but the door was now blocked by the desk as it went right through the door.

Before they got up, Lincoln noticed something on the ground, it looked to be one of the laser pistols that one of the agents had before been knocked out. Lincoln picked it up and aimed it at the Pretender, thinking he could do something but before he fired he slipped and ended up firing up too high and hit a chain on the ceiling which was holding a large wooden crate that fell and landed on the Pretender, with something written on the side of it that read: "Very heavy crate of bricks, don't ask why we have it up there."

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were suppressed by that much dump luck they just had. "Well... that happened." Ronnie Anne said as they were about to walk away but then stopped as the Pretender managed to burst out of the box and ran up to them, the Pretender had pushed Ronnie Anne to the side and sent her flying and once she landed, she was near Bumblebee and got on top of his chest and started to stomp on the object that was keeping them down so they could help Lincoln.

As for Lincoln, the Pretender managed to grab them picked him up from the collar of his jacket, the Pretender then raised his fist with something coming from the back of their hand, some energy-like blade, ready to finish off Lincoln Loud. "W-WAIT!" Lincoln said as the Pretender halted from attacking him for a second. "Why are you trying to kill me, I never did anything to you."

"You're Lincoln Loud, the original, the real one. The one I'll be once you're gone."

"What are you talking about- You can't be me, I'm Lincoln Loud-"

"THAT IS THE POINT!" The Pretender said as their voice turned more robotic and twisted, it was like it wasn't a copy of him anymore. "Do you have any idea what it is like knowing you're just a simple copy, knowing that you're not the original, being- being-" The Pretender said with their voice sounding broken and getting their spirit just sinking down. "That'll change, once I kill you, I'll download your brain, gain your memory and become you once and forever."

"Wait, you don't have to do this, you don't have to be me, you can be your own person, just be willing to make your own choices." Lincoln pleaded to the Pretender to no avail.

The Pretender then got the energy blade closer to Lincoln's face ready to finish him off, however, right before anything happened something came from the wall, it was an orange energy blast that was like an arrow made of flames or a rod of pure energy. The energy was going right towards the Pretender and hit them with the full force and blasted them away, Lincoln was freed from the grip of the Pretender as it was sent flying.

Both Ronnie Anne and Lincoln saw where the blast came from and saw the warehouse doors having a hole with the metal around it melting, the doors then open to reveal the Autobots Hot Rod with their visor down and along with him was Optimus Prime and Wheeljack. The Autobot leader saw Bumblebee was down with the same object that Wheeljack had on them and ran up to them ripped it from their chest letting Bumblebee get back up. "You guys have some serious timing." Ronnie Anne said with a nervous smile as they were close.

"Yeah, sorry we were almost late, good thing that Pretender runs on energy." Said Hot Rod as he rose his visor back to their helmet.

They thought it was all over and the other agents were checking the other people who were beaten by the Pretender with most of them getting back up, starting with Vincent and Agent O'Neal rising back onto their feet. Some of the agents went up to the Pretender and saw that it was half of a burnt robotic skeleton with the other half still looking like an evil Lincoln Loud, they thought the damage was enough to finally take them down once and for all, however it started to move and in the blink of an eye, the Pretender had got back up and attacked the three agents that were looking over him and tossed one of them and punched the other two before they started to dash at Lincoln once again.

The others didn't see this at first but once they saw them, everyone had to get their weapons to fire, but they didn't as something appeared and blocked all ways and sights between the two sides of the Pretender and the Autobots, something that came out of nowhere and impaled the Pretender the stomach and rose them into the air.

It was the Decepticon, Cyclonus, they used their claw-like fingers of their right hand to impale the Pretender and used the other hand to stab the Pretender on the forehead, but only enough for the tip of their finger to enter their head. The Pretender was starting to lose color and their vision started to fade, they turned their gaze to anything, anyone thinking they would help but that never came and the last thing they saw was Optimus Prime and before their vision went to all black, they highlighted Optimus before being shut down. "Well, this was a failure." They said before putting the Pretender into a compartment in their chest, like the cockpit of their Alt mode exactly like the seekers.

"Cyclonus? Why are you-" Bumblebee said before Cyclonus got up himself and was ready to leave before Bumblebee yelled at them to stop. "Hold it Cyclonus! You said you wanted us to trust you so we could help each other, so explain this now!"

Cyclonus really did not have much of a choice and turned back to face the Autobots to explain to them what he was doing. "Alright, let me explain this. You see, and don't get mad, I was the one who activated the Pretender-"

"YOU WHAT!" Booth Bumblebee, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Wheeljack, Hot Rod and most of the other humans said in perfect union.

"Okay let me explain more before someone pulls a gun on me and shoots me in the face!" Cyclonus said with everyone quieting down to let him continue. "Okay good, you see when we found the Harbinger, I downloaded a file that Jetfire hardly knew about in the ships log, and I thought to believe by uploading it into the Pretender, it was overriding their defaulted programing, only to see that it somehow made it worse. The Pretender's original job was to watch Lincoln Loud from afar from anyone to see and learn how to be just like them and replace them in case you ever go off world for an extended period, you've been to space more times than there are people who like Bumblebee, and he is very likeable."

"Okay, first, that is true about Bumblebee, and second to get this all straight, you reprogramed a killer robot to make it spy on me and pretend to be me when I'm not home and so my friends and family wouldn't worry that I was gone for some time, current?"

"Yes, you see I was going to do this with your other friends too, now I won't because of this mishap, but understand I didn't want you harmed Lincoln Loud, I would have taken care of the Pretender after I found out it had gotten rogue but Lord Megatron told me to stay on the Nemesis for going on that failed mission with Starscream, I came as soon as I could to stop it." Cyclonus had explained to them. "Now, I would return this thing, however, I need to retrieve the programing I installed into this thing and to make sure no one gets the programing, or anything left over from it, I am going to throw it in lava. Good day." Cyclonus said as he readied a teleportation jump, Vincent and Wheeljack tried to stop him, but it was too late as they left.

"Son of a-" Vincent said before stopping as he saw Lincoln's youngest sister Lily Loud who ran past him to go up to her brother before jumping into his arms happy to see him alright. "-um jerk, son of a jerk, yeah that's what he is."

"Nice save, sir." Said Agent O'Neal as they were all started to move out and go back to normal as they all thought it was finally over.

In the sky, hundreds of miles from where they were before Cyclonus had teleported in midair and transformed into their alt mode to fly. As they were flying the Pretender unit inside of his alt mode started to reactive, it was thinking going back to its memories or files, whatever they were, they could remember everything about hunting Lincoln Loud to being off lined and for some reason, they remember, hearing something. They only heard: "-tay on the Nemesis f-" before everything went dark, Nemesis, they liked that. It then remembered what Lincoln said too: "Wait, you don't have to do this, you don't have to be me, you can be your own person, just be willing to make your own choices."

Why did it want to be someone else, why did it attack Lincoln, why did it want to be him, it did not want that anymore, it didn't want to go after Lincoln anymore, it was going to just be what it is now, not a Pretender, but a Nemesis.

"Seriously, that thing is creepy, why did you have to put it inside you, I mean just look at it, it looks like someone's failed art project and made some sort of horror movie prop." Said the ghost of Starscream.

"Relax, once we are done, we'll get rid of- Wait, is it glowing?" Cyclonus said as Starscream investigated Cyclonus and saw that the Pretender was not only glowing but also getting bigger too, and when they realized what was happening, they both screamed. "SCRAP!" Before Cyclonus blew up and his parts and debris fell from the sky and hit the ground.

One the side of a road near a forest, something came out of the tree lines and stepped onto the road, something big, massive and as they walked down the road, they started to change shape with them how replaced by a large pitch-black semi-truck that looked like Optimus' alt mode and drive down the road. "I am no longer just a Pretender, from this day forth, I will be... a Nemesis."

6:30 PM

Both Lincoln and Lily had returned home, they didn't say where they were all day but no one really did ask them as they were all doing their own thing, Lily did tell him that the Pretender met and interacted with his other sisters and did mean well and was rather kind to them, maybe if it wasn't for the fact that they were trying to kill him, maybe they could have gotten along and let him be him when they needed them.

This thought had to be placed in the back of his head however for two reasons, one being that he did almost die from that same Pretender earlier today and because his family's favorite show was on, The Dream Boat, it was a popular show that they all watched. They did know that it was a popular show yes, but they did not know that it was still popular not only on earth but among the stars.

Elsewhere on some alien planet made up of metal, it looked run down, buildings were falling apart and not a single sign of life, however somewhere within this city that looked run down, there was a few areas that still had some light, with one being close to the ground with many voices inside sounding like a mix of laughing and cheering.

Inside the building looked like a bar, with monitors above on the ceiling, all showing different shows, all from earth, one being the same dream boat episode that the Loud house was watching at the very moment. There were many views watching the monitors, all drinking some blue liquid from mugs. They all looked as if they were made of junk, one looked to have an orange helmet with antenna on the back sides of them, their torso looking to be a rust red color, they had a wheel on their left arm and leg that had spikes attached to it, their chest had... cannon barrels on their chest where nipples would be, I wish I was making this up, their face had what looked to a mustache and beard made of wires and cables all painted brown and had pure red eyes. They also had what looked to be a backpack on them with the words "Dare to be Stupid" written on it in bolded red paint and in permanent marker font.

"I love this show." Said the robot made of junk.

"I love it more." said another one that looked different.

"Lies and you know it."

"... Yeah, you're right."

End of Chapter

(A/N Hello everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, I just wanted to say thank you for all the views and hope you all enjoy this series so far, I also just wanted to let you all know I am planning a spin off series soon, Somewhere this year. For anyone curious, it is a Beat Wars-like story, I was originally going to have in this story but it would be both too long, give us too many characters that we wouldn't see after that storyline ends, and it would make no sense, I then thought of it after both rewatching the original Beast Wars cartoon, while reading the current BW Comics by IDW and after I just started watching Beast Wars II, it is a good anime. Anyway, I hope you all have a good day and thank you for reading.)