Yo! articmadador here with Chapter three! I meant to get this in yesterday, but we were busy and I didn't get to proof read it. I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS! Hasbro does. I only own whatever plot material you don't recognize.

The girl sat with her back against a wall and stared at the street before her. She had never seen a war zone before, but she figured this was how one must've looked. Debris from buildings were everywhere. Cars had been crashed into buildings and each other, and trees had fallen down and been blown everywhere. Metal, glass, papers, tires, and clothing were scattered everywhere. Buildings had collapsed, and every once in a while the sound of an explosion could be heard. There was smoke in the air, making it smell foul. She knew it wasn't safe to stay here with all the fumes in the air, but right now the only thing that mattered was feeding herself and the dog.

She had become quite close to the dog in the few hours that they had been together. They had found food and left the house, making their way to an area of the neighborhood that seemed more safe. Even with the destruction everywhere, no robots were in this area, and that made it safe to her. She picked up another cracker and smeared cream cheese on it before eating it in one bite. She felt fat at the moment, considering that she had just eaten two turkey sandwiches and was currently tearing her way through a box of saltine crackers and cream cheese. Not a good combination, but it was food nonetheless. She had found dog food for the dog, and he sat beside her as he lapped at a bucket of water she had left for him. She pulled a water bottle out of a large backpack beside her and drank from it. There was an explosion not far off, and both she and the dog looked in that direction. After a few seconds the dog looked at her, then wagged his tail and continued to the drink water.

"Anthos," she said. The dog looked at her and wagged its tail, but continued to stare at her as if he were confused. "I've always wanted a pet named Anthos, and I couldn't find your collar in that house," the girl continued. The dog sneezed, then wagged his tail again. "Anthos," the girl said again. "Come here, Anthos."

The dog hesitated, then swung his head and happily approached her. She smiled and pet him, then quickly moved when the dog licked her chin. She laughed as he licked her hands and tried to climb into her lap. He then moved away from her face, his strong tail still wagging and hitting her on the arm. She gasped and reached down to snatch the pack of cracker away from the dog. He simply licked the crumbs out of her lap, his tail moving a mile a minute.

"Anthos, bad dog! Those were mine! You better be glad I have more," she scolded, though she was smiling.

This moment was short lived as a house exploded nearby and the two of them took off running towards the downtown area of the city.

"I do not follow your orders," Barricade growled. "I only serve Lord Megatron!"

There was a brief pause before Barricade went flying in the air and skidded to a halt on broken asphalt. Sentinel Prime approached him with his double sword drawn. "Your loyalty to him will get you no where! He can do nothing for you now!"

Barricade slowly began to stand up, and wiped energon from his now leaking faceplates. "All hail Megatron!"

Sentinel threw his sword at Barricade, and it struck him in the shoulder. The mech cried out in agony as the cables in his shoulder were sliced, and energon began to gush from the wound. The weight of the sword and the momentum from the throw knocked him down, and the pain only intensified when he hit the ground. Sentinel walked over to him, then grabbed the sword and twisted it to the side. Barricade cried out and struggled to remove the sword, only to have Sentinel shove it deeper into his shoulder before pulling it out.

"I am a Prime! I am your leader!"

"I do not…follow Autobots," Barricade growled.

"Don't be a fool, Barricade. Megatron may have kept you around, but you have no value to me."

Barricade growled. "You will never be as good of a leader as—"

Sentinel turned and prepared to end Barricade's life, but a blast of energy shot through his torso, forcing him to his knees. He turned around to see Megatron running at him with a blaster, aiming to shoot him again. The Prime rolled out of the way just in time, gripping his sword as he prepared to attack.

"This is my planet!" Megatron roared.

"No, this is my planet" Sentinel growled.

Megatron tried to tackle him, but Sentinel grabbed his arm and jerked him forward. He took his sword and stabbed Megatron in the abdomen, then gripped his head injury and tore at the broken metal. Megatron roared in pain and fury, but before he could attack, Sentinel ripped his sword out and sliced the back of Megatron's leg. The large mech feel to his knees but was still determined to fight. He tried to whip around and grab Sentinel, but the Prime sliced his servo off. He then slammed his sword into the mech's head, knocking Megatron out. The ex-gladiator could only growl as he fell to the ground and his optics darkened. Sentinel stood triumphantly over him, then looked at Barricade.

"Look at your pathetic leader now, Barricade. He is nothing. I've fought injured minibots who fared better than he just did." Sentinel turned to a group of protoforms standing nearby. Take his body to the mothership and lock him in the strongest cell. If I find out that he is not there, I will destroy you myself."

The protoforms nodded, then quickly moved forward and grabbed Megatron's body. As they dragged him away, Sentinel walked away to head up to the control pillar. Barricade still lay behind him, glaring daggers at the Prime's back. His wound would be deadly if he continued to lay here, but some of the mechs serving under him were nearby. He did not have to give an order. Two mechs lifted him to his pedes and began to carry him to a nearby ship where medical supplies were being stored.

Sentinel made his way to the control pillar, and stopped to look around when he had reached it. The city looked like many Cybertronian cities had looked during the war on Cybertron. It was complete chaos everywhere he looked. In the sky, Decepticon fighter ships were constantly blasting at fighter jets the humans sent in. Missiles and explosions lid up the sky, and jets continuously crashed into buildings as the human piloted jets struggled to maneuver through the city. On the ground Decepticons raced through the city and terminated any organic lifeforms they found. The streets were filled with the sounds of gunfire and screams. Larger Decepticons tore through buildings, causing then to collapse and shower the streets with debris. Fires were in the ground and sky, and black smoke filled the air, making it hard to see and breathe. The ground seemed to shake constantly from explosions, and only the sounds of battle could be heard.

Sentinel was disappointed. Had the spacebridge outpost on Earth's moon not been destroyed, Cybertron would be here already. They would have been moving to the planet now and debating where they needed to start rebuilding. Optimus and his Autobots had ruined that plan, but the pillars were still activated on Earth. They could still use them to open a spacebridge, but that was of no use to them now. Their main focus was to defeat the human armies and protect the pillars. It seemed that the Decepticons were doing a fine job of that, not only here in this city, but in cities across the world. Earth would be theirs very soon. Once Sentinel took over here, he could focus on getting a new spacebridge set up. Until then, he was forced to wait until the humans' forces were defeated.

The Autobots were already in a tight fix, since they were stuck on Cybertron with terrible storms raging constantly and limited supplies. Now, however, they faced another problem. An unseen force had attacked, and it threatened to destroy everything. At the moment, not only was Optimus, the Autobots with him, and the new comers fighting with all they had, but so were the Autobots left behind in the facility.

"Keep running! If we can get to the storage rooms and lock ourselves in, we may have a chance!" Prowl yelled.

They could use no forearms at this point because they had ammunition left. Blades would not be enough to fight off these attackers. The hallways were too dark to aim anyway, and it seemed that these…creatures had managed to damage the backup generators and shut off all the power. They were running through the darkness, all of them blindly following Prowl as he led them towards the area where storage rooms were usually located. Behind them were a countless number of yellow optics accompanied by snapping jaws. Horrendous sounds surrounded them and messed with their audios. They were losing their sense of direction, and we're barely able to stay ahead of the snapping jaws.

"Down this way! Hurry!" Prowl shouted over the noise.

Everyone turned down another hall, then rushed into a large room. The last Autobot to get inside was Ironhide, and he turned to help close the door. They managed to shut the door before what felt like a thousand bodies crashed against it. There was a growl and clanging noise as Ironhide punched the door in anger. There was then more clanging as many of them collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. They had been fighting blindly for what felt like joors. Whatever had come down the stairwell after them had wanted energon, and wouldn't stop until it got some. No one was injured, though the tiny twins and Ironhide may have disrupted the healing process and exhausted themselves

"What are those things?" Jolt asked after a few minutes of everyone venting wildly to cool their systems.

No one could answer. None of them had really gotten a good look at what they had been shooting at. None of them had ever heard a sound like the one they emitted before. It was all new and terrifying. They could hear the creatures clawing at the doors, their jaws snapping furiously as they tried to break through the metal door. Even though the door was secure, Ironhide, Prowl, and Bumblebee stood against it. Their bodies were jarred forward every few seconds as the creatures beat at the door.

"Are the other Autobots out there with those creatures?" Que asked from where he sat in the middle of the floor.

"They must be. The sounds those creatures emit have scrambled our comm link signals. I can't contact Optimus," Prowl replied.

"What do we do?" Bumblebee asked.

Prowl know that 'I don't know' would not be an appropriate answer, but it was the one he found trying to slip out of his vocalizer. They were trapped in a storage room with no ammunition while hundreds of creatures beat at the door. Even if Optimus and the other Autobots were outside, they had no way to contact them and warn them. He didn't want to think about that, however.

"We wait, Bumblebee. It's all we can do."

Meanwhile, not far from the facility, a large ship sat in a storm. No one could be seen as powerful winds blasted the paint off it, and sand and dirt particles began filling vents and exposed circuits. The ship was abandoned now, just another structure left to the mercy of the storm. Not far off in a small building, Optimus and the other Autobots sat and waited out the storm. The newcomers had been Sunstreaker, Elita, Chromia, Arcee, Drift, Hound, Crosshairs, and Jazz. They had brought ammo and energon with them, and with the help of Optimus, Ratchet, the Wreckers, and Mirage they had been able to get all the supplies out of the ship and into the building. The entire time they had been firing at unseen attackers from the shadows. Creatures had began attacking them, and they could only move the supplies while a number of them provided cover fire. Now they sat in the basement of the building with supplies sitting around them as they waited out the end of the storm. Jazz took the time to explain what he and the others with him had gone through.

"Long story short, after leavin' this planet, I ended up on a planet called the Information Highway that tried to absorb me. Ah got separated from Ironhide 'n Ratchet after they rescued me and ended up back here on Cybertron. For a while ah searched for other Autobots and fought of rogue Decepticons, mostly because ah needed energon and they had it. Ah found these mechs 'n the sisters here trying ta find a way off too, but there weren't many working ships left. We had ta search through some city wreckage, but we eventually found a fixer upper. We had to jump through some hoops ta get the stuff we needed, but we managed to get it working and blasted off ta Earth. The only problem is Shockwave met us along the way, and he and his goons tried ta blow us ta bits. We ended up crashin' on some organic planet, and we were stuck with fixin' up tha ship again. Then this group called the Decepticon Justice Division showed up and tried ta dissemble us. They apparently search tha universe for Decepticons who have defected. They came after Drift, but we gave 'em hell an managed ta get away. We were headin' back towards Earth when we saw the Xantium crash here, 'n Sunstreaker stared feelin' his brother's spark."

Jazz turned an looked at the twins. They were sitting close together next to Ratchet, their optics dim as they talked through the bond. Everyone knew it was best not to bother them and give them space, though it seemed that they were comfortable with Ratchet nearby. Jazz turned to Optimus. "That's just long story short. I bet you've got more ta tell."

Optimus nodded. "Indeed."

The Prime told Jazz and the others everything that had happened. He told him about their arrival to Earth, where they had to search for a boy who held the key to Earth's survival and the end of their war. They had to search for glasses with the AllSpark coordinates on them, but the humans caused a bit of trouble before they could get to it. In the end they managed to work together, but Megatron was awakened and came after them. The battle that followed led to the destruction of the AllSpark. Every Autobot in the room that the had not been on Earth was devastated by this news, and Optimus waited until they calmed down before continuing. He then told him about the alliance that once existed between humans and Autobots, and how they had begun searching the planet for rogue Decepticons. Then one Decepticon told them that the Fallen would rise. So began a new battle when Megatron was resurrected using a shard of the AllSpark, and he came back and offlined Optimus. The government was planning on shutting NEST down then, but the Autobots' human allies worked out a way to get the Matrix of Leadership and revive Optimus. They ended up in Egypt, and Optimus was brought online in time to fight The Fallen, with the help of an upgrade from a seeker named Jetfire. After the Fallen was defeated, they began helping the humans with global issues and going after rogue Decepticons in the process. When on a mission to Chernobyl, Shockwave and his Driller pet attacked them, leading Optimus finding an engine part to the Ark. He and Ratchet then went to Earth's moon and found Sentinel and five of the pillars. While trying to protect Sentinel and find a way to receive the pillars, they were ambushed. This only served as a distraction, and Sentinel betrayed them and tried to offline Ironhide, though he did not succeed. However, he did cause a lot of damage to the NEST base and stole the pillars. The humans decided that it was too dangerous for the Autobots to stay on Earth, and exiled them. When they left Earth's atmosphere, they set course for the spacebridge base on the moon and destroyed everything there before they were chased by a Decepticon warship. They quantum jumped and ended up here on Cybertron with the Xantium too damaged to repair and few supplies.

"Frag, ah knew you had a lot to tell, but that…" Jazz leaned back and shook his helm. "And after all that you still want ta go back to that planet 'n save humans?"

"Earth is our home. We have vowed to protect it and its inhabitants. The humans never asked for our war. Without us there to protect them, they will fall under the Decepticons. We cannot allow that to happen."

Jazz nodded. "Those Cons wouldn't stop at just one planet anyway. And…if Earth is our best chance at having a home planet…I guess we'd better protect it. Whatever you've got planned, Prime, count me in!"

"Of course, but first we have to get off Cybertron."

Jazz paused and retracted his visor. He glanced around with a rather comical look on his faceplates. "Well…when tha storm ends 'n we dig the ship out of tha sand…we'll have a way."

"Nice going, Jazz," Hound chuckled.

The silver mech shrugged. "Well, uh…you're tha boss, Optimus. What's yer orders until then?"

"Well, for now we have no choice but to wait out the storm, then return to the other Autobots."

The storm continued to rage for two Earth hours until it finally passed, leaving the landscape covered in a new layer of sand and grime. The wind continued to howl, but the sound the creatures made could no longer be heard anywhere. The door to the facility where the Autobots were staying was silent, though in the storage room there were hushed whispers.

"They gone…"

"No they're not!"

"Are too! I just know it!"

"How can you be sure? They could be recharging or—"

"Man, just open—"

There was a loud growl from outside and a screech. The creatures had not gone anywhere, but were sitting outside the door and waiting. There was a clang as Ironhide hit Mudflap on the back of the helm. The smaller mech whined and rubbed his head, then ran away in a panic when one of the creatures outside pounded on the door. Prowl vented and leaned against a wall. Bumblebee, who was standing beside him, turned his head to look at the SIC.

"Well…I guess we wait some more, huh?" he asked.

Prowl crossed his arms and offlined his optics. "Yep."

Well, gotta go to bed now. Unfortunately school starts tomorrow, so now we got bedtimes again. Hope you enjoyed! Have a good'n!