Chapter 7

"You allowed Sentinel Prime to escape?!" The war lord went into a rage, as Deluge did his best not to flinch. "Tell me why I shouldn't slice off your head for such gross incompetence?"

Deluge saw his Lord's glaive sweep towards him at incredible speed, and instinctively held an arm up to cover his face in a feeble attempt to stop the blade from being buried into his neck. Luckily for him, it stopped short a mere micro inches from his chin. "My Lord… Sentinel Prime is… not worthy of your greatness. He is nothing without this," he explained, holding up the Autobot Matrix of Leadership that he gripped tightly in one hand. Straxus wavered, looking the prized item over with critical optics, and Deluge felt it safe to continue speaking. "This… this is far, far more valuable than any pathetic Autobot, my Lord – as you are very much aware. In fact, I have successfully reprogrammed it to suit our cause."

Straxus took a step back to reconsider his strategy. "And my army?"

"The Nemesis Army is flawless. It has performed beyond expectation… in fact, I am delighted to report that Iacon and the Autobots are now ripe for the taking," the chief scientist replied, relieved that the glaive no longer threatened him.

The tyrant nodded in approval, and paced towards his small team of guards and soldiers, who stood by awaiting his instructions. "Excellent. It pleases me greatly to hear such news, Deluge. You may have redeemed yourself."

"Yes, my Lord…"

There was a tense moment of silence as Straxus prepared to convey his next orders to his team of subordinates. "Seizer, gather our forces. Together, we will attack Iacon's military post and then seize the city-state!" Then he turned his attention to his chief scientist. "And you, Deluge, will find their wretched leader, as soon as we arrive in Iacon."

The Destron called Seizer responded with a cruel half-smile. "The Autobots are cannon fodder," he replied. He was a heavy-set mechanoid who sported the official colors of Autobot Command – which he had probably selected to mock the enemy faction.

"If any resist us, they shall be crushed," Straxus continued. "We depart within the hour. Grindcore… make the necessary preparations. Before this day has ended, our enemies shall be grovelling at my feet… and I will show them no mercy!" he roared, lifting his glaive in a show of might as his declaration was met with cheers and shouts of support.


The striking figure of Skyfire's large jet alt mode circled three times above Iacon's Command Center before finally reversing its trajectory back towards the outer suburbs.

"I'm going to need a place to land," he said, as he surveyed the ground below, searching for drone free areas. "Prowl's right – the Command Center isn't safe."

"Does anyone have any ideas?" Kup said, looking around at Guzzle and Mirage, but they did not seem to have any answers.

Sentinel had spoken very little since he had been rescued by Kup's team, and after being denied access to Iacon's main center of operations by Prowl, he seemed more withdrawn and wearied, as if he were an ancient model who would soon resign himself to the scrap heap. Indeed, the absence of the Matrix of Leadership probably played a significant part in his general state of weakness just as much as the injuries he'd recently received at Darkmount.

"Sentinel?"

Sentinel, who was seated, looked back at Kup with a defeated expression, but then he exhaled slowly in resignation. Kup was one of his most trusted soldiers. "Try the Academy…" he said at last.

"The Academy… of course. I seem to recall a secure shelter being part of its infrastructure," Mirage commented, as he leaned against the interior wall of the jet.

"That place sure brings back memories of our heyday," Skyfire replied, altering his trajectory to an eastward direction.

"Our heyday? Speak for yourself, Skyfire," Mirage replied.

The Autobot jet chuckled. "It looks safe. I'm taking us down," Skyfire informed them, and began a slow descent as he approached their destination.

It wasn't long before they landed inside the Academy's vast grounds. After the small group alighted, Skyfire transformed to robot mode. Then Sentinel, helped by Guzzle, began to walk towards the main building, as the others followed behind.

In the distance, they could see the majestic, arch doors begin to swing open as they approached, and stopped momentarily to see who might greet them. It soon became clear; a diverse group of Autobots had gathered here to seek safety from the threat of Straxus' indomitable army. Some had momentarily left their shelter to come out and meet them.

One of the Autobots, who appeared to be the leader, spoke. "Greetings, Sentinel Prime. We have energon and can assist you with repairs. Please," he said, indicating back towards the building, "it is not safe to be out here."

As he spoke, a group of cadets crowded around the new arrivals, focusing their attention on Sentinel. They were shocked to see him in his current condition, though were relieved to see that he still lived. He was, after all, not only their teacher but the Prime Commander of the entire Autobot army.

"What happened to you?" one of the cadets, Crosscut, asked him. "Sir?"

Kup gave him a friendly slap on the back. "Let's just get him inside and fixed up first, eh? Then, you can ask him as many questions as you like."

As words of greeting and encouragement began to die down between the two groups of Autobots, they all began to make their way back inside.

For the most part, Sentinel ignored most of the attention that he was receiving from his cadets, though he did stop to ask after Optronix.

"Ah, Optronix… yes, he is safe, and is waiting to see you," the magenta and violet robot informed him.

Inside the bunker, Optronix had watched on the monitor as a large Autobot jet descended in front of the War Academy's main building, and then had been relieved to see that Sentinel Prime was amongst the crew. Then, as a select number of Autobots and cadets left the shelter to greet them, he had opted to remain inside the bunker with the remainder.

He'd busied himself with assisting in monitoring the stations, watching as two Autobots showed him how to work the controls. Then, when they had left with the others to greet the latest arrivals, he had taken over their post.

Upon learning that Sentinel Prime was safe, albeit looking more than a little worse for wear, he decided to contact the Command Center in order to give those stationed there an update of latest events. Moving to the communications console, he selected the proper channel and established a link.

"Yeah, this is Iacon Command."

Optronix was surprised to hear the familiar voice of his class mate, and momentarily lost his train of thought. "Hot Rod?"

"Uh… yeah? Optronix, is that you?" Lively background chatter followed as Hot Rod informed his friends. "Oh, hey! We were watching you on the monitors – you came so close to getting your aft scrapped."

"I beg your pardon?" he said, before realizing what Hot Rod must have been talking about. "Listen, Hot Rod… Sentinel is safe. He has just arrived at the Academy."

A pause, and then another voice came over the com. It was Blaster's. "Hey, Op! That's great. We'll let Prowler know."

"Thank you. What is the status of the drones?"

Blaster let out an indicative exhalation. "They're swarming all over this place, but so far it looks like we're keeping them out."

Optronix had hoped to hear more positive news, but did not let his disappointment show. "Understood. Let me know as soon as anything changes."

"Okay. Sure."

As the doors of the bunker slid open, he cut the link and made his way across the room to greet the newcomers. In particular, he was alarmed to see Sentinel in such a sorry state; far from being the strong, proud warrior that Optronix had come to admire over the course of his stay at the Academy, he appeared to be an image of the complete opposite. "Sentinel…"

"He requires immediate repairs," Alpha Trion informed him, as he directed Kup and Guzzle to help the Prime to an emergency medical berth in one corner of the room. "I should be able to perform most of them myself."

Sentinel barely acknowledged Optronix, but his star pupil was persistent. "Sentinel… what have they done to you?"

Optronix held his gaze on Sentinel, as the predominantly red-colored Prime was helped onto the berth by Alpha Trion and Kup.

It wasn't until almost a minute had gone by that he finally gave him an answer. "Optronix… I have failed you, and the rest of the Autobots. Please, go… and let me be."

Not something that Optronix wanted to hear, especially from Sentinel, he shook his head in disappointment and knelt by his side. "No…"

"I said let me be!" Sentinel repeated, almost seething.

But Optronix would not be deterred so easily. He stood up and studied the Prime for a good while before he spoke again. "Tell me what happened to you," he demanded stubbornly.

Sentinel glanced up at him and, realizing the cadet would not back down until he received an answer, he decided that he had nothing more to lose in telling him. If nothing else, it might offer Optronix a good reason to leave him alone. "I no longer carry the Matrix…" he said in a lowered voice.

"What?" was all Optronix could think to say. "How?"

"It has been taken from me." Sentinel paused, and Optronix sensed the utter defeat, the utter humiliation that this once proud warrior was feeling. "Are you happy now? I am no longer a Prime."

For the first time in quite a while, Optronix was speechless. How could such a thing have happened? The Autobot Matrix of Leadership – indeed, the very core of a Prime's being and probably the most sacred artefact known to their kind – had been stolen. It was almost incredible.

"I only wish to be left alone." These words were the last that Sentinel spoke, before Alpha Trion gently guided him to lie down on the berth in preparation for the repairs that he urgently needed.


It had been simple enough to reroute the force field and reposition it closer to the repository. Taking this action meant that a number of outer access points had to be forfeited to the drone army; however, given the immediate threat presented by the invading force, Grapple had been left with little choice. If he had not reconfigured the force field, the drones would have forced their way into the Command Center via open access through the repository, though there was no guarantee that they would not be able to find a way around it even now, as they had already done.

As Grapple and Ironhide passed through the med bay on their way back to the control room, the emergency warning system was initiated throughout the entire command post, an ominous sign that something had gone wrong – code red.

Suddenly, the entire place was thrown into chaos as Autobots frantically rushed to and fro in an attempt to get to their stations. Shouts rang out all around as attempts were made to organize all available personnel into various task forces.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ironhide shouted down the hallway, pushing his way past several lower ranking Autobots on his way back up to the control room. However, his demands for an explanation were largely ignored amidst the commotion and mayhem that had been set off by the alarm. Finally reaching the control room, the state of confusion amongst the Autobots there was no different. "What's happening?" he managed to call out over the ensuing clamor, as the alarm's beacons rotated and flashed incessantly.

Finally, Twin Twist, who was close by, answered him. "They've breached the force field - it's not holding!" he called out before rushing out of the control room. "If we stay here, we're finished! We need to get everybody out!"

Like many promising Autobot officers who had graduated from the Academy only a few years earlier, it wasn't until this current crisis that Ironhide felt his aptitude for military service was really put to the test. Though he'd climbed quickly up the ranks, nothing at the Academy could have ever prepared him for anything like this.

"What…?" Ironhide stood there momentarily dumbfounded. It felt as though time had stood still, as if he was all of a sudden watching the entire scene unfold before his optics, yet he was not a part of it. He had to forcibly remind himself that he needed to stay strong, now more than ever, because he knew that that was the only way he would be able to help save lives.