Fanfic / Age of Extinction: Altered

Age of Extinction: Altered is a Fix Fic by Wacko12 on Fanfiction Dot Net that rewrites the events of Transformers: Age of Extinction in a similar manner to Dark of the Moon: Altered.

After the Battle of Chicago, Autobots and Decepticons alike face pursuit from Cemetery Wind, an anti-Cybertronian kill squad formed with the express purpose of killing any Cybertronian hiding out on Earth regardless of their alignment. However, there is more than meets the eye to this situation, as Lockdown is working with Cemetery Wind for some unknown reason while hunting for Optimus Prime, and the mere presence of the infamous mercenary indicates that Earth is in the sights of a malevolent entity with ties to the early history of Cybertron. With the help of their newest allies in the form of Adam Nova and the Yeager family, the Autobots must rally to save mankind even as they are being hunted on all fronts, all while the Decepticons bide their time for their return.

Followed by The Last Knight: Altered, Till All Are One, and War of Gods and Beasts.

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Age of Extinction: Altered features examples of:

• All for Nothing: Attinger's efforts at "serving his country" through his activities as Cemetery Wind's leader are ultimately rendered moot after the President of the United States disavows him and his organization for their crimes.
• Adaptation Deviation:
  • Jetfire takes Ratchet's place as Lockdown's target in the introduction.
  • The Dinobots are capable of coherent speech, whereas their canon counterparts only communicated through animalistic roars and calls.
  • Soundwave leads a team of Decepticons that attacks the Autobots as they escape from their KSI raid, with Barricade receiving injuries grievous enough to require a new body be built for him.
• Adaptational Karma: Twicefold for Cemetery Wind
  • Attinger in canon was shot by Optimus Prime after he tried to kill Cade. Here, Attinger lives long enough to see his actions completely invalidated, which makes his downfall all the sweeter given all the atrocities he and his men committed against Cybertronians and humans.
  • The organization itself is wiped out by the Decepticons after they unwittingly help bring them the Seed Lockdown had in his possession, a fitting fate due to their arrogant belief that they could control Cybertron's technology and people for themselves.
• Back from the Dead:
  • Soundwave is rebuilt and revived by Shockwave and Flatline via a backup copy of Soundwave's CPU that Shockwave stashed away in the event of Soundwave's demise.
  • In addition to hijacking KSI's Galvatron drone, Megatron returns with the body he had in The Last Knight, which is built from the cybermatter the Decepticons were able to get from Lockdown's Seed after Adam sabotaged it.
• Badass in Distress: The Wreckers and Omega Supreme were captured by Lockdown after the mercenary managed to detect them on Mars, requiring the help of Optimus and his team to escape.
• Berserk Button: Bumblebee does not like it when anyone mocks the memory of Sam and Mikaela and/or threatens their family due to the fact that he was too late in saving the young couple from Cemetery Wind.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Cemetery Wind and KSI Solutions are ultimately nowhere near as powerful as they believe themselves to be due to the Decepticons playing them like fiddles for their goals, using them to bolster their own forces through KSI's drones and Lockdown's Seed.
• Broken Pedestal: Needless to say, the Autobots are understandably pissed that humanity decided to start hunting them even though the Autobots saved their hides multiple times. It takes being around the Yeagers and Adam for them to regain the faith in humanity they used to have.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Brendan J. Khendsovan from the Human Alliance toys appears as a former NEST turned Cemetery Wind operative.
  • Hangnail from the Age of Extinction toyline appears as Lockdown's partner-in-crime.
  • The Autobots have Rewind, Prowl, Cliffjumper, Warpath, and the Aerialbots from G1 along with movie toyline bots Camshaft, Breakaway, Evac, and Flak.
  • Fracture, Divebomb, Dreadwing, Payload, Stockade, Overcast, Dropkick, Wreckage, Jetstorm, and Incinerator from the movie toylines appear as members of the Decepticons along with G1 alumni Swindle, Ramjet, Thrust, and Astrotrain. Flatline from the movie comics also shows up as the Decepticon medic.
• The Chessmaster: Shockwave easily takes up this role, using Lockdown's operations as a way to gather Decepticon loyalists, eliminate any 'Cons who resist, and deliver him a Seed to rebuild the Decepticon army with thanks to a favor the mercenary owes for Shockwave's help in going AWOL from the Decepticons.
• The Chosen One: As the spirit of Alpha Trion reveals to Optimus in a vision, Adam Nova is destined to be one who bridges the cultural divide between humans and Cybertronians and usher in a new age of unity and cooperation between both species.
• Cool Sword: The Cybertronian dagger-gun that Cade picks up certainly counts due to its size relative to his own stature and its functionality.
• Costume Evolution: Jazz and Ironhide respectively pick a Porsche 991 and Ford F-450 Super Duty as their new alt modes due to their previous vehicle modes no longer being in production, ensuring that they can evade detection from Cemetery Wind.
• Cruel Mercy: Optimus decides to let Attinger live with the knowledge that his country has disavowed him completely for his atrocities against Cybertronians and humans rather than kill him even though he originally planned to do the latter, seeing that death would be far too merciful a fate for his crimes.
• Death by Adaptation: Sam and Mikaela were murdered by Cemetery Wind forces during the attack on Autobot City.
• Defiant to the End: Jetfire, despite his advanced age, fights back against Cemetery Wind's forces after they detect him and spits in Lockdown's face when the mercenary offers to spare him in exchange for the location of the remaining Autobots.
• Desecrating the Dead: KSI's op is basically dismantling Cybertronian corpses for their drones, something that the Autobots react with absolute disgust to given that some of their own dead comrades were used as building materials for KSI's artificial Transformers.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Jetfire is slain by Lockdown this time around.
  • Lucas is shot in the head by Savoy after Adam refuses to give up Optimus Prime's location.
  • Savoy is shot by Cade with his blade-gun.
  • Lockdown gets a sword to his spark chamber from Optimus.
  • Attinger commits suicide after he realizes that all his efforts in hunting down Cybertronians were All for Nothing in light of his own government branding him an international criminal.
• Evil Uncle: Agent Savoy is Adam's maternal uncle, and he is most definitely not a good person given how he's an amoral, racist bastard.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Starscream is not well liked among the Decepticons loyal to Megatron thanks to his attempt to usurp power after Megatron's death in Chicago, to the point that Brawl nearly decides to kill the Seeker commander on the spot after Shockwave brings Starscream to their base in Mount Yamantau.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Brandon J. Khendsovan is a former member of NEST who went rogue after he was caught selling weapons to terrorists, joining up with Cemetery Wind as one of its operatives.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Adam Nova is very skilled at hacking into computers and repairing Cybertronians from traveling with Rewind and Evac for most of his life after his mother died. He gets to demonstrate this by hacking into KSI Systems' database and wiping out all the files they have on drone production, including all information pertaining Cybertonian weapons and cyber-biology, and later modifies the Seed into only providing enough cybermatter for a single bot in case the Decepticons got their hands on it.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Adam Nova is half-Cybertronian due to the Allspark transferring its power into him while his mother was pregnant.
• Healing Hands: A power Adam possesses due to his nature as an Allspark-powered human-Cybertronian hybrid, which he uses to heal Omega Supreme during the battle of Hong Kong.
• It's Personal: Bee gets very angry after hearing Khendsovan threaten the lives of Daniel Witwicky, Sam and Mikaela's son, personally going out on a limb to end the ex-NEST operative himself.
• Karmic Jackpot: Flak sacrificing himself to protect civilians from Cemetery Wind forces in Cuba resulted in the island nation's government granting Cybertronians asylum within their borders for his valorous actions, giving the Autobots a much-needed safe haven.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Megatron (in his Galvatron body) orders his forces to retreat after the Dinobots' intervention scraps any chance they have at defeating the Autobots and retrieving Lockdown's Seed
• Might Makes Right: As Grimlock tells Optimus, if he is to serve him, then he must prove his strength in single combat. Optimus, being who he is, defeats Grimlock and earns the fealty of the Cybertronian Knight.
• Original Character: Adam Nova has no known counterpart in the Bayverse films or any part of Transformers canon.
• Papa Wolf: Cade Yeager is just as protective towards Adam as he is to his own daughter Tessa, promising the half-Cybertronian teen that he will do anything he can to protect him.
• Rage Breaking Point: Keller, upon seeing the photo evidence of Cemetery Wind's unsanctioned attacks on Cybertronians and civilians along with their dealings with KSI and Lockdown, slams his fist onto his table in rage before ordering his subordinates to send the evidence over to the President and have the CIA's director put a bounty on Attinger's head for his crimes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: US Secretary of Defense John Keller is a steadfast ally of the Autobots, putting his trust in their capability to make reasonable decisions, and also conducts his own investigation into Cemetery Wind's activities.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Adam uses the Autobot raid on KSI Solutions' headquarters as an opportunity for him to call out Joyce on how his company is simply stealing Cybertronian technology and calling it "innovation" when all they're doing is making piss-poor imitations of the real deal.
  Adam: B-b-b-b-bull! You idiots didn't make anything like the Autobots. All you made are fakes, imposters, things that aren't even worth calling second rate! But, I can see that my words of wisdom will not reach you, Mr. Joyce, seeing how all that ego has filled your brain and probably why your hair is gone. So, I'd like to shift your attention to a certain song that is perfect for this occasion: Sabotage, by the Beastie Boys. Enjoy.
  • After Lockdown is killed and Hong Kong saved, Optimus Prime decides to let Attinger know that his many crimes were ultimately All for Nothing now that he's got nothing left from having his assets destroyed and is now a wanted fugitive due to America cutting ties with him and Cemetery Wind for their crimes.
  Harold Attinger: So, we finally meet face to face, Optimus Prime.
  Optimus Prime: You remind me much of him, of Megatron. He spoke about everything he did, the atrocities he committed, were all for Cybertron, for our people. But in truth, he was doing it for his own greed, his lust for power. I see that same desire within you, human.
  Harold Attinger: Is there a point to this? I hunted you and your Autobots for three years, killed countless of your kind and Decepticons! You think I care that Cemetery Wind is no more? I can just rebuild! I won't be stopped by the likes of you!
  Optimus Prime: No, it is over for you. The Decepticons are not the only ones who can hack your systems. My saboteur froze your bank accounts and destroyed any assets or sources you possessed. Now, you are wanted by your own nation that you claim to serve. The whole world now knows of the atrocities you and your forces have committed against both Cybertronians and humans. As of now, you have nothing except the clothing you wear and the gun in your hands. Originally, I had planned to kill you, but I believe this punishment is more fitting for you. It brings some measure of justice to my fallen Autobots. Farewell.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Autobots decide that KSI Solutions' HQ would make a great outlet for their rage after they learn from Adam that Jetfire is among the dead Cybertronians being used for drone parts.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Ratchet is not killed by Lockdown due to Jetfire taking his place as the mercenary's victim.
  • Leadfoot isn't killed by Cemetery Wind due to being off-world with his fellow Wreckers and Omega Supreme.
• Tranquil Fury: Optimus is positively furious after he learns that Sam and Mikaela were murdered by Cemetery Wind, with his voice gaining a subtle, but noticeable undercurrent of fury.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Soundwave, along with Laserbeak, Incinerator, and Wreckage, obliterate Cemetery Wind's headquarters in a brutal surprise attack once they served their purpose to the Decepticons by bringing them Lockdown's Seed.
• You Remind Me of X: In his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Attinger, Optimus notes how both he and Megatron had dressed up their self-serving goals under a noble cause.

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