Here's chapter 3! This chapter is mostly based on the F-22 raptors vs. Starcream scene from the first movie!

*Bold lines - actual lines from Transformers movie (2007)

Again, I do not own anything from Transformers.


Chapter 3 Battle in Mission City

"God must hate us." Katie murmured while changing into her flight gear. "Why those stupid terrorists decided to launch an attack today of all days!"

"Easy, Kate." Irene said sternly, lacing her combat boots. "Terrorists never ask you what day they would start activity or not."

"Yup, genius. I know, I know." Katie sighed and grabbed the helmet from her locker. "Aren't you angry, upset, or even annoyed? Today is YOUR engagement day! You are supposed to-"

"We are soldiers, Kate." Irene started to walk out of the locker room. "Duty always comes before personal stuff."

"Girls, hurry up!" Alyssa yelled from outside. They ran all the way to the runways, where the rest of their teammates prepared for flight. Someone tapped Irene's shoulder before she stepped on the ladder beside her F-22. She turned around and met Josh's eyes.

"Hey, we-" Irene momentarily got stuck for words. What should I say? Before she continued, Josh gently patted her shoulder and gave a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine, just like last mission. " He gave her a reassuring smile, which made Irene relax a little bit and smiled back at him.

"Take care, Captain. Have a safe flight." She climbed up the ladder as Josh jogged to his own jet. She stepped inside the cockpit and gave a thumb-up to Alyssa, who was in the jet right next to her, before pressed a button to close the hatch.

After sealing her helmet and turning on all the necessary commands to power the engine, Irene closed her eyes to clear her mind. Everything was in a blur. Twenty minutes ago, the squadron was called to the briefing room and received an emergency mission support from Mission City, or more specifically, Sec Def. Colonel Paul Collins, their commander, just briefly told the squadron that a group of unidentified terrorists were approaching Mission City and targeting a" top secret article" evacuated from the Hoover Dam hours earlier. And that was it. Everyone got ready for the battle. Irene signed. Josh's wonderful proposal seemed a long time ago, despite of the fact that it just happened in less than thirty minutes.

"Raptors, scramble, scramble, scramble." She snapped into reality when Edwin's voice came from her headset. She shook her head slightly to erase her thought. Focus, Irene. Focus!

"Strike and Dark Stars roll call." Josh ordered through the link.

"Look out the right side." Alyssa said. One by one, the raptors rolled on the runways for take off. Irene reported to the control tower.

"Valkyrie three-five-seven, standby."

" Valkyrie three-five-seven, cleared for takeoff. " Finally. The LSO in front of her signaled her jet for take off. She pushed the throttle and the jet started to speed up on the runway. One minute later, she joined the others in the sunset sky, which was a mixture of soft glowing yellow, light purple and blue colors. Usually, Irene would enjoy this beautiful view… well, if she was free of any dangerous, authenticated air strike mission involving some "unidentified" terrorists.

"Ah, it's so good to be back in the air!" Irene could picture Matt smirked inside his helmet. "I can't wait to blow some butts of those stupid terrorists!"

"Count me in." joined Ryan, Matt's flight partner. "Seriously, we really have to stretch our wings more often! When was our last operation?"

"Hey, don't forget me! Our last one was like.. six months ago at Alaska, I guess?" Dylan interrupted.

"Concentrate, soldiers!" Jackson Copper, one of the senior pilots of the squadron, snapped through the link. "This is not a practice drill or target mission! Our main goal is to push the killbox one while minimizing the civilian casualties. Understand?"

"Relax, Sarge. They are just eager for the operation." Josh said calmly. "Guys, still, take it seriously. Do not cause unnecessary damage and follow the order. Affirmative?"

Murmurs of agreement came through the link. Josh finished. "Good. Have a safe flight, everyone."

The whole flight to Mission City was rather silent. Even Matt and Dylan, the most talkative members in the squadron, stopped their chip-chatting during the entire trip. Irene felt her stomach twisted uneasily with nervousness; she had a bad feeling about this operation.

Stop thinking bad things. Everything will be alright. She silently hoped her worry was nothing at all.

Ten minutes later, the skyrocket buildings of Mission City came into the jets' views. Josh ordered the entire squadron to circuit around the city to locate the target. Just then, a cracking voice turned everyone's attention.

"Raptors, raptors, are you online? Killbox is located at area 71. Request immediate air cover at area 71...Bring the rain."

"Copy. Air cover at area 71. Mark the target." Josh replied as the raptors headed to the indicated area.

"Fighter jets in sixty seconds. We got friendlies mixed with bad guys. Targets will be marked." the cracking voice answered. This is not gonna be easy. Irene frowned, looking for any sign of the target. Suddenly, she heard Ryan gasped. "What the hell is THAT?"

Irene turned her eyes to the front view and froze. Miles away on the land, she could see two gigantic creatures.. or robots based on their outlines, fighting violently at the middle of the city. Fortunately, her cool-headed-pilot mode brought her back to the battlefield quickly before her thumb automatically pushed the button for the fire.

"Target marked. Still waiting." A green laser mark appeared on her screen. Irene tightened her grip on the throttle.

"Time on target, 20 seconds. " The jets flew straight to the marked robot.

"F-22s, we are still waiting."

Finally, the enormous black robot came into the shooting range. A spot of green laser light was shining on the robot's body. "Weapons armed. Status green." She said, firing the missile to the target. A couple of other missiles followed hers, hitting the metallic body of the robot. It howled painfully and fell with a small explosion. The jets roamed over the buildings and changed the direction, ready for the second launch.

" Second wave's on approach." Jackson reported to the ground unit. Irene prepared to launch the next missile when someone screamed.

"What is that? Break off!" She jerked her head back and saw another robotic creature right behind her jet. She quickly lowered her jet, narrowly avoiding that thing's fire. The robot crashed to the luckless jet right next to Irene, which exploded and fell to the ground.

Damn it, one down! Irene gritted her teeth. She kept her eyes on that damn robot, which now changed into a F-22 and mixed into the other jets. Several voices flew out of the radio at the same time.

"Copy."

"Jesus Christ, what's that-"

"It's either a massive amount of- "

"Raptors, keep an eye-"

"It took down Allan!" Poor kid...Irene frowned. Allan was a rookie transferred to their squadron just a few months ago.

"Focus!" Josh yelled. Irene saw his jet speed up to catch the "jet". "Two, get a lock! Pop that guy!"

"Copy!" A couple of jets following suit, including Irene, fired the guns at the "jet". It flipped in the air and changed back into the robotic form and shooted back. Another couple of jets were shot. Irene gasped in horror when she recognized one of the crashing jet's ID. It was Katie's jet! She accelerated her jet to approach the flying robot, which already collided with several jets and destroyed them. Watching her comrades went down, She felt the anger slowly built in her head. You are so dead now, shitty bot.

"Stay on him. Keep him in your sights." Josh ordered as he fired again. Irene maneuvered her jet to clockwise direction as the jet suddenly stopped at the top of a building and transformed again. She was about to fire another missile before she heard Josh shouted over the link.

"Watch out!" Irene pulled on the throttle with all her might but it was late. The missile hit the jet's left wing and flames broke out. Muttering the curses, Irene frantically glanced down the land, searching for an opening space as the alarm started to ring through the cockpit. Come on, just a little more..finally, an empty plaza came into her view. She lowered the attitude for an emergency landing before a burning jet fell right in front of her jet.

And then everything went dark.


A/N: A huge thank for all the followers & favorites! This chapter took me a long time to finish since I'm not good at describing battle scenes and the aviation terms for pilots! Any feedback/ reviews would be welcomed!