About five minutes later, Alex brought the car off the highway and into a rather nondescript subdivision. Or at least, it would have been nondescript if the main road through didn’t look as if a battle had gone on. The smoking hulks of a few automechs and damage to the surrounding buildings was more than enough to set the place apart.

“I’m beginning to see why you’ve always been so good at playing an Autobot.” Josh murmured.

“You have no idea.” Alex replied with a sigh, before he thumbed the buttons on the steering wheel once more. “Silverfox to control. Grey Ghost’s unit’s been completely wiped out. The entire neighborhood’s deserted, it looks like they stumbled onto a Marau-Damnit!”

The world exploded into gunfire, and in a matter of moments Josh saw Alex flicker and disappear from the driver’s seat, and then found himself shoved into a tight, unlit but padded compartment.

“What-where am I?” Josh yelped, in a panic.

“Inside me,” a feminine voice said. “I’m sorry, I lied to you. Alex… he wasn’t real.”