Chapter Summaries

Michaela and Sam followed the sounds of a battle to the abandoned factory, where they saw black armor overpowering a massive Iron Giant. Michaela suspected the armored fighter was Chen Mo, while both she and Sam remained stunned at the gate.

• Michaela stopped the car, got out, and headed toward the factory, and Sam followed her.
• Michaela and Sam crept along the factory wall toward the gate as crashes and vibrations grew louder.
• Michaela peeked into the factory and saw black humanoid armor attacking a damaged Iron Giant more than five meters tall.
• Michaela recognized the black armor’s build as resembling Chen Mo and suspected he was inside it.
• Sam looked into the factory and froze at the sight of the battle, while Chen Mo continued fighting Barricade to improve his control over his strength.

Chen Mo continued fighting Barricade while Sam and Michaela approached, but Barricade released Frenzy to kill them. Chen Mo crushed Frenzy and resumed the battle, leaving Sam and Michaela to decide whether to flee or stay and watch.

• Sam and Michaela secretly approached as Chen Mo kept tearing parts from Barricade.
• Barricade released Frenzy, who charged at Sam and Michaela while Bumblebee tried to reach them.
• Chen Mo leaped across the battlefield and crushed Frenzy beneath his foot before turning back to Barricade.
• Sam and Michaela retreated behind a wall, but Michaela returned to watch while Sam chose to stay with her.
• Sam concluded that Chen Mo’s armor was protecting them and might be a force defending Earth.

Chen Mo defeated Barricade by destroying the AllSpark in his chest, then revealed himself to Sam and Michaela as the man they had encountered the day before. The chapter ended with Chen Mo deactivating his Iron Man suit in front of them.

• Michaela and Sam watched Chen Mo batter Barricade until the Transformer was badly damaged and unable to fight back.
• Chen Mo plunged his hand into Barricade's chest and destroyed the AllSpark, killing him.
• Sam recognized the Chevrolet nearby and realized Chen Mo was the man who had traded him a Porsche for it.
• Michaela identified Chen Mo as the armored fighter, and Chen Mo deactivated his suit before them.

Chen Mo frightened Sam and Michaela after revealing his armor and defeating the Iron Giant, leaving them unsure what to do with the secret they had witnessed. He explained that Sam’s former car had attracted the attacker, and Sam realized Chen Mo had saved his life.

• Sam and Michaela recognized Chen Mo as the person inside the powerful black armor and feared he might silence them.
• Chen Mo told them that knowing too much would do them no good, but made no move to harm them.
• Sam asked why Chen Mo had bought his car, and Chen Mo said the Iron Giant would have come for Sam if he had kept driving it.
• Sam saw the dead Barricade and accepted that the car had put him in danger.
• Sam felt grateful to Chen Mo for trading him a sports car and saving his life.

Chen Mo left Sam and Michaela at the abandoned factory after warning them to forget what they had seen, while the missing robot head hinted that the danger remained. Meanwhile, Maggie Madsen and Glenn Whitman were arrested after decoding an alien signal, and Sector 7 began investigating Sam Witwicky.

• Chen Mo drove away in Bumblebee as Sam and Michaela admired him and decided to follow his warning and leave the factory.
• Sam and Michaela headed home without noticing that the robot head had vanished from Barricade’s remains.
• Maggie Madsen secretly took an alien intrusion signal to Glenn Whitman, who decoded references to Project Icebreaker, Sector 7, and Captain Witwicky.
• FBI agents arrested Maggie and Glenn, and the decoded information reached the Department of Defense and Sector 7.
• Sector 7 investigated the information and focused on Sam Witwicky, Captain Witwicky’s descendant, after he auctioned his ancestor’s belongings.

After defeating Barricade, Chen Mo returned home, while Sector 7 agent Reggie Simmons investigated the alien robot’s remains and searched for whoever had killed it. Surveillance led Simmons to a two-story house, where his team arrived as he continued investigating the missing police car and the mysterious vehicles.

• Chen Mo reflected on how fighting Barricade had improved his control over his strength and looked forward to battling tougher Transformers.
• Reggie Simmons arrived at the abandoned factory, found Barricade’s body, and ordered his agents to collect every alien fragment.
• Simmons connected the remains to the attack on Sangxen Base, the Air Force One intrusion, and the invasion signal decoded by Maggie Madsen and Glenn Whitman.
• Simmons left agents to process the scene and ordered his intelligence team to review nearby surveillance footage.
• Simmons learned that three vehicles had passed near the factory but only two had left, then arrived with his team at an exquisite two-story house.

Simmons and Sector 7 searched the Witwicky home after spotting Sam’s Porsche and questioned Sam about his drive. Surveillance revealed that Michaela had been with him, and Simmons prepared a detector to test whether Sam had encountered a Transformer.

• Simmons recognized a red Porsche at the Witwicky home and ordered his men to secure the property.
• Simmons questioned Ronald about the Porsche and learned that Sam had driven it that evening and returned recently.
• Sam came downstairs, and Simmons questioned him; Sam claimed he had driven alone and seen nothing strange.
• Simmons showed Sam surveillance footage that placed Michaela in the passenger seat, but Sam claimed they had merely met on the road.
• Simmons took a portable device designed to detect Transformer radiation to check whether Sam had come into contact with one.

Simmons arrested Sam and his family after a detector confirmed Sam had encountered extraterrestrial life, then brought Michaela in for questioning. Confronted with evidence linking them to the abandoned factory and threats against Michaela’s father, Sam and Michaela decided to cooperate.

• Simmons used a probe to identify Sam as someone who had contacted extraterrestrial life and arrested Sam and his parents.
• Simmons’s agents also arrested Michaela and brought her to the SUV where Sam was being held.
• Simmons confronted Sam and Michaela with traffic footage showing their cars traveling to the abandoned factory, but they denied knowing what happened there.
• Simmons revealed that a police car had vanished and its exterior parts had been found on an extra robot corpse, shocking Sam and Michaela.
• Simmons threatened Sam and Michaela with indefinite imprisonment and warned Michaela that her father’s parole could be jeopardized.
• Michaela and Sam exchanged a look and chose to cooperate after Simmons threatened her father.

Simmons confirmed that a mysterious human in an Iron Suit had destroyed the alien wreckage and intensified Sector 7’s search for Chen Mo. When four Autobot fireballs arrived, Chen Mo warned Bumblebee to keep his companions hidden and not disturb him, leaving Bumblebee intimidated and unsure how to respond.

• Simmons reviewed the factory report, which showed that the alien wreckage had been destroyed by powerful physical impacts rather than explosions.
• Simmons used surveillance and threats to learn more about Chen Mo’s car swap, but the damaged and erased footage left him without Chen Mo’s identity or whereabouts.
• Simmons continued interrogating Sam and Michaela while sending agents to search surveillance records for Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo spotted four blazing objects crossing the night sky and went to the garage when Bumblebee grew agitated.
• Chen Mo told Bumblebee to keep the arriving Autobots hidden and not disturb his sleep, then teleported back to his room.
• Bumblebee, frightened by Chen Mo’s strength, resolved to heed the warning but recognized that he could not decide for the Autobots alone.

Optimus Prime and the Autobots came to Chen Mo’s home to obtain the glasses bearing the AllSpark’s coordinates, despite Bumblebee’s warning. Chen Mo confronted them, and Optimus Prime explained that Megatron would use the AllSpark to destroy humanity.

• Bumblebee relayed Chen Mo’s warnings to Optimus Prime, but the Autobots decided to visit Chen Mo anyway.
• Optimus Prime led the Autobots to Chen Mo’s home, intending to persuade him to hand over the glasses and accept their help against Megatron.
• Chen Mo sensed the Autobots, teleported outside, and called out Optimus Prime.
• Optimus Prime and the other Autobots transformed into their robot forms, and Optimus Prime knelt before Chen Mo.
• Optimus Prime told Chen Mo that Megatron sought the glasses and would use the AllSpark to build an army and exterminate humanity.

Optimus Prime warned Chen Mo that the Decepticons and Megatron threatened Earth and argued that humanity needed the Autobots’ help. Chen Mo insisted Earth could defend itself, offered the Autobots a place under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s rules and supervision, and told Optimus Prime to answer after the Decepticon threat was resolved.

• Optimus Prime told Chen Mo about the Decepticons’ conspiracy and warned that their forces, especially Megatron, vastly outmatched humans.
• Optimus Prime urged Chen Mo to accept the Autobots’ help, citing Barricade’s weakness compared with combat Decepticons such as Blackout.
• Chen Mo said humanity could protect Earth and vowed to eliminate every Decepticon, including Megatron.
• Optimus Prime reconsidered his view of humanity and Chen Mo after sensing Chen Mo’s confidence and remembering that he had defeated Barricade.
• Chen Mo offered to let the Autobots stay on Earth under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s rules, protection, and supervision, then told Optimus Prime to decide after the Decepticons were dealt with.

Chen Mo ordered Optimus Prime and the Autobots to stay hidden while he dealt with the Decepticons, then returned home as the Autobots withdrew. Meanwhile, the military, FBI, and Sector 7 pursued their own investigations, but J.A.R.V.I.S. kept Chen Mo concealed, leaving him without new Decepticon opponents for now.

• Chen Mo told Optimus Prime to keep the Autobots hidden and said Bumblebee would stay with him while he handled the Decepticons.
• Optimus Prime agreed to wait, reasoning that humans might possess power the Autobots had lost and that they could not attack Earthlings.
• Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz transformed into vehicles and drove away, while Chen Mo watched them leave and went to bed.
• Captain William Lennox and his surviving team returned to the United States, while Maggie Madsen and Glenn Whitman remained in Pentagon custody and Sam and Michaela endured Sector 7 interrogations.
• Simmons ordered Sector 7 to search for Chen Mo and his Chevrolet, but J.A.R.V.I.S. concealed Chen Mo from internet and surveillance systems.
• Chen Mo remained hidden, and the other Decepticons had no vehicle forms with which to approach him without revealing themselves.

The Pentagon lost all communications after a virus spread through the global network, leaving the U.S. military unable to coordinate its forces. Tom Banachek revealed that he had come on the President’s orders and began explaining Sector 7 to John Keller.

• Department of Defense Secretary John Keller dismissed Tom Banachek when he introduced himself as a representative of Sector 7.
• Screens and computers throughout the Pentagon command center failed, and officers reported that a virus had cut off global networks and military communications.
• John Keller confirmed that phones no longer worked and realized the U.S. military had lost contact with its forces and bases.
• Tom Banachek said he had come on the President’s orders and showed John Keller a storage card from his briefcase.
• Tom Banachek explained that Sector 7 was a special government department established eighty years earlier under a secret order from President Hoover.

Tom Banachek showed John Keller evidence that extraterrestrial mechanical life-forms had attacked Earth and crippled the military’s command systems, prompting Keller to prepare for another attack. He then recruited Maggie Madsen as an advisor and summoned Captain William Lennox and his squad.

• Tom Banachek showed John Keller footage and photographs linking the Mars robot, the attack on the special forces base, and wreckage found outside Los Angeles to extraterrestrial mechanical life-forms.
• Tom Banachek warned that the enemy had paralyzed military networks and that another attack would come soon, and John Keller ordered commanders to prepare and return their ships.
• A suited man arrived at Nellis Air Force Base and asked Captain William Lennox to bring his unit with him.
• John Keller entered the interrogation room, appointed Maggie Madsen as his advisor, and Glenn Whitman asked whether he had to go too.

John Keller gathered people connected to the alien threat as Sector 7 searched for the mysterious man who had destroyed an alien mechanical lifeform. Simmons found the yellow Chevrolet entering a garage and rushed to capture its owner, while Tom Banachek informed John Keller of the discovery.

• John Keller ordered Maggie Madsen and her consultant Glenn Whitman to join him as he prepared for the alien invasion.
• John Keller contacted military forces by shortwave and gathered Captain William Lennox, Maggie Madsen, Sam, Michaela, and others to seek a response to the threat.
• Simmons led Sector 7's overnight search for the yellow Chevrolet but found no trace until agents searched local shop and home surveillance systems.
• An agent spotted the Chevrolet entering a garage in footage from 106 Block 8 and identified the likely address as number 102.
• Simmons left to gather men and capture the mysterious man, while Tom Banachek told John Keller that they had found the man's location.

After learning that Chen Mo had destroyed an alien mechanical life-form, John Keller ordered Tom Banachek to invite him to Sector 7. Simmons reached Chen Mo’s house in Los Angeles and knocked, but Chen Mo ignored him.

• Tom Banachek told John Keller that one human had destroyed the alien wreckage and that Sector 7 had found his location.
• John Keller told Tom Banachek to bring the man in as a guest and warned him not to drive him away.
• Tom Banachek ordered Simmons to invite Chen Mo without using force or acting rudely, so Simmons sent most of his combat personnel back to base.
• Simmons’s team reached Chen Mo’s house, surrounded it, and approached the front door with orders not to shoot.
• Chen Mo noticed Simmons and his agents but continued brewing coffee instead of answering the door, even after Simmons knocked repeatedly.

Simmons and two agents entered Chen Mo’s home to bring him in, but Chen Mo calmly made them wait while he drank coffee. Simmons accepted Chen Mo’s offer of a cup, knowing his mission was to invite Chen Mo to help fight the invading aliens.

• Simmons ordered his agents to break down Chen Mo’s door, but it opened before they could ram it.
• Chen Mo told Simmons to wait while he finished his coffee, then sat on the sofa and drank at his leisure.
• Simmons and his agents struggled with hunger and the smell of Chen Mo’s coffee, and Simmons’s stomach growled loudly.
• Chen Mo offered Simmons fresh coffee, and Simmons walked over and poured himself a cup.
• Simmons remembered that Tom Banachek and the Secretary of Defense wanted him to invite Chen Mo, whose strength could help them fight the aliens.

Simmons met with Chen Mo to ask for his help against the aliens threatening Earth. Chen Mo agreed to go with him, but insisted on taking the used Chevrolet.

• Simmons sat with Chen Mo and enjoyed his coffee before turning to business.
• Simmons reconsidered his approach, recognizing that threats and force would not work against Chen Mo.
• Simmons explained that the aliens had crippled Earth's defenses and asked Chen Mo for help.
• Chen Mo agreed to go with Simmons and headed for the garage.
• Simmons said they would travel by helicopter and offered a different car, but Chen Mo insisted that the Chevrolet come with him.

Chen Mo was taken by helicopter to Hoover Dam, Sector 7’s secret headquarters, while Simmons grew suspicious of the battered Chevrolet he had insisted on bringing. At the dam, Chen Mo reunited with Sam and Michaela and was introduced to the government officials, soldiers, and analysts gathered there.

• Simmons agreed to bring Chen Mo’s Chevrolet but ordered a helicopter and kept the alien-radiation detector away from Chen Mo as they traveled.
• Sector 7 flew Chen Mo and the suspended Chevrolet to Hoover Dam, where Simmons insisted the car remain outside the base and Chen Mo calmly agreed.
• Chen Mo spotted Sam, Michaela, Maggie Madsen, Glenn Whitman, Captain William Lennox, and Lennox’s surviving soldiers on the dam.
• Sam and Michaela reacted to Chen Mo with gratitude and admiration, while Chen Mo recognized Secretary of Defense John Keller and Sector 7 chief Tom Banachek.

Chen Mo confirmed that he had destroyed a five-meter-tall alien mechanical life-form, prompting John Keller and the others to demand information about the threat. The group descended beneath the dam to a classified facility, where they came face-to-face with a massive mechanical figure.

• John Keller questioned Chen Mo about killing an alien, and Chen Mo confirmed it had been a mechanical life-form about five meters tall.
• Sam and Michaela lowered their heads in shame after betraying Chen Mo under Simmons's threats, but Chen Mo did not blame them.
• Chen Mo proposed continuing the discussion inside and told Tom Banachek that he also had information to share.
• Simmons led John Keller, Chen Mo, William Lennox, and the others beneath the dam and explained that they had encountered NBE, or Non-Biological Alien.
• The group passed through a classified tunnel and entered a vast chamber, where they saw an enormous, ferocious figure.