Chapter 8: Autobots Down

The sand moved as Starscream and forty-eight Moonbots landed in the deserts of Qatar. The small Arab country in the Middle East had been the scene of modern humans' introduction to the destructive Decepticons only a few months before.

Now as Starscream surveyed the barren landscape, his eyes rested on one small bump of sand that appeared different from any of the others around them. "Arise!" he called out. "I summon you, Decepticon, to the surface!"

The sand moved again and in the blink of an eye a giant metal scorpion was standing atop the sand where the bump had once been. Starscream laughed as the being transformed into a drab gold and silver robot. "I knew you had not perished, Scorponok!"

His response was to fire six missiles directly at Starscream, who launched himself into the air to avoid them. "And I knew you could not be trusted," he finished, leveling his weapon at the beast, who had transformed back into his scorpion shape. Starscream fired as Scorponok burrowed beneath the sand again.

"Moonbots! Seek and destroy Scorponok!"

Starscream was going to eliminate the Decepticons. First Scorponok, and then he'd get around to Demon. He would be the last surviving Decepticon and then the battle would truly begin. He took aim where the sand moved and fired. The scorpion moved no more.

* * *

They were as ready as they'd ever be.

Pius's crew was hell-bent on getting revenge. Optimus's were equally furious. After listening to Tank, Ratchet and Ironhide's tale, they all hoped to hell Pius would be successful. But whether he was or not, Starscream and his Moonbots had to be destroyed, or all human life would simply be gone in a matter of months.

Tank and Ratchet took charge and came up with a good plan of attack should Starscream and the Moonbots attack their warehouse location. Lingo and Chitchat kept in contact with the various armed forces already involved while Speed and Aquos patrolled outside the warehouse. Brains, Bumblebee, Grandma, K-12, Lady, Sam and Mikaela had made it safely to the Presidio of Monterey on the Pacific Coast. They were working with the army to liaise with foreign military entities and their respective governments when Ratchet called them back to Bee Canyon.

They knew Starscream would soon arrive. It was Lingo who posed the question they'd all been avoiding as the warehouse's occupants grew more jittery with every passing moment. "What about Demon?"

Everyone turned to look at the sleeping Decepticon, still with motor functions disabled and strapped to the long table that was at a thirty-degree angle to the floor. Aquos and Speed came to stand on either side of him.

"He wants to kill Starscream as much as we do," Speed said. "You could hear it in his voice."

"Yes, but don't forget he wanted to kill us, too, and likely would have if Starscream hadn't foiled his plans," Tank reminded him.

"We have restored him using a shard of the original All Spark," Ironhide said, "at Optimus's command. I don't think he would want us to now take what we have freely given."

Ratchet shook his head. "We only did that to find out what he knew about the All Spark. If he hadn't etched it into the dirt we would've let him lay rusting. He did it on purpose."

"But he genuinely knew something about the All Spark." Aquos frowned as he spoke. "And activated his distress signal. He knew we'd find him."

"Precisely my point," Ratchet nodded. "What if he's in this with Starscream and pretending to have been attacked is just a ploy to get us to trust a Decepticon? This would allow them to attack us from the inside and outside."

"All your points are valid," Tank said, looking at each of them in turn. "But until our colleagues return from the Presidio we are severely undermanned and without our leadership."

"What are you saying, then?" Ratchet asked. "You want us to release him?"

"I suggest we restore his motor functions to him but leave him sleeping. Should the need arise, he can be awakened and fully functional," Tank said evenly.

Ratchet and Ironhide's eyes met. Ironhide nodded slowly and Ratchet turned to look at the others. "Well?"

"I think that's the safest bet. If Demon is telling us the truth, he'd be a good ally. He's got to know more about Starscream's fighting tactics than we do," Aquos said.

"And he created the Moonbots," Speed said. "If anyone knows how to defeat them, it's Demon."

Tank nodded. "Ratchet?"

"All right, we'll play it your way, but no releasing him unless it becomes absolutely necessary."

"Agreed," Tank said. "Ironhide, go ahead."

It took only a few minutes for Ironhide to reactivate Demon's motor functions, but the Decepticon slept on.

"All right, Speed and Aquos, you're on the north end. Lingo, you take the south perimeter."

"Ratchet and I can take the east," Ironhide offered.

Tank nodded. "Chitchat, you're with me to the west. Now, this is our full complement until Bumblebee returns with everyone else. We are all we have, just remember that. And above all, Autobots, show no mercy. Pius's instructions were very clear."

"I don't think we could show mercy even if Pius had ordered us to," Speed spat as he and Aquos headed to their post.

* * *

They hadn't been patrolling their respective areas for more than thirty minutes when the first inkling that trouble was coming hit each and every Autobot. Eyes were scanning the heavens and the earth as far as their sensors could see. Two minutes later the Sun was suddenly obliterated as a swarm arrived. It was all white save for a lone figure at the front of the V-shaped formation.

"Starscream," Ironhide whispered.

"And his Moonbots," Ratchet finished for him. They powered their weapons as Ratchet beeped his horn as loud and long as he could.

Speed and Aquos rocketed into the air. They were joined instantly by Lingo, Chitchat and Tank. "Here they come," Lingo said.

"I think we can see them," Speed said sarcastically.

"No, not them," Lingo said, pointing to the road that led up to their warehouse. "Them."

Everyone turned to look and each and every one of them smiled. "Our backup has just arrived," Tank said. "Speed, live up to your name and get them over here!"

"On it!" Speed called, transforming into his Bugatti Veyron self in mid-air and jamming his transmission into high gear as he hit the pavement.

"That's going to hurt later," Aquos remarked as they all turned back to where Starscream and his army hovered several hundred feet above and to the east of their position.

"What's he waiting for?" Ratchet ground out, guns at the ready.

"Probably trying to determine our complement," Lingo offered.

"He may know we have Demon," Ironhide said. "He could be detecting his signature."

"That's a safe bet," Tank said. "Maybe we can use him as a negotiating tool."

"Decepticons don't negotiate for hostages," Ratchet said. "You know that."

Tank raised an eyebrow. "Who said I was talking about negotiating for a hostage?"

"I like the way you think," Ratchet said. "What's the plan?"

Just then ten Moonbots came at them in a nosedive, all lined up in a row with laser cannons blazing. The Autobots flew into the air, up and around the line of Moonbots, firing relentlessly as they surrounded them.

Soon Brains, K-12 and Bumblebee joined them but a second line, this time of a dozen of the thin white robots, zoomed in and surrounded them. Every Autobot was taking their fair share of damage, but it was when Chitchat and Lady joined the fight that things went horribly wrong.

Unable to cry out when a missile from Starscream's left shoulder blasted a hole in her torso, Chitchat began to fall and hit Lady directly in the head, sending them tumbling to the Earth together. Lady screamed for help, bringing K-12 and Grandma to their aid. Bumblebee was surrounded by six Moonbots. Tank and Ratchet found themselves facing Starscream and the remaining sixteen Moonbots were chasing Aquos, Ironhide, Lingo and Speed all the way up into the exosphere and back down to skimming the tops of the foothills of Bee Canyon.

"I can't believe we're losing, why are we losing?" Speed hollered as he flew at lightning speed past Tank.

He watched four Moonbots zoom past him after Speed and shook his head. "What is it that's making them so much better than us?" he wondered aloud. Everyone who could fight was fighting, yet they were being picked off like practice targets. What was so different about these drones? What was the thing that made them—? "Demon," he breathed. "He'll know." The thought was enough to force him to leave Ratchet alone with Starscream against his better judgment, race to the warehouse and bust through its wall, too impatient to wait for the door to open.

Sam and Mikaela jumped, both of them screaming in a rather feminine way, then started cursing at him for frightening them. "Never mind that," he said. "I need Demon awake now."

Nodding, Mikaela punched the commands Brains had taught her into the semi-upright table's console. Within seconds Demon's red eyes began to glow, the shutters and gears behind them opening, closing and clicking to and fro as he came to awakening consciousness. The fingers of both hands flexed.

He turned his head to look at Tank. "You have restored my mobility." Then he realized why as the sounds of machine guns and laser cannons came nearer the warehouse. "Starscream is attacking."

"Yes," Tank nodded as Sam and Mikaela looked on. "And he's winning."

"My Moonbots are well-designed."

"Tell me how they're beating us."

Demon looked at him for a moment and then nodded. "I meant to arm them with nuclear weapons, but had not yet brought them to the Moon when Starscream took over my factory."

"Nuclear weapons?" Sam squeaked. "Jesus H."

"I wanted to win," Demon said by way of explanation. "Over hundreds of years I developed a program that makes them smarter, faster and better than you in every way. They're using your own fighting techniques against you."

"By Primus," Tank exclaimed. "No wonder! You sorry excuse for scrap, you've doomed us all!"

"Not necessarily," Demon said, trying to figure a way out of bearing the brunt of Tank's wrath. "The fact that Starscream has equipped them with laser cannons rather than the nuclear weapons with casings meant to cover their chests means there will be no protection of their Sparks."

"Their Sparks," Mikaela repeated. Then she snapped her fingers and looked up at Tank. "That's it! Putting the first All Spark into Megatron's chest with his Spark destroyed him. And we still have eight shards!"

"Yes, but there are over forty Moonbots, not to mention Starscream," Tank said.

"We could break the biggest shard into small pieces," Sam said, not really realizing he'd come up with the solution.

"Break it," Tank said thoughtfully. "Break it how?"

"By touching the piece to a Cybertronic Spark within a living robot," Demon said. "And picking up the pieces in the aftermath."

"That would mean sacrificing one of our own to defeat Starscream."

"Optimus would do it in a heartbeat if he was here," Sam said.

"So would Pius or Commander…or any of us, I guess," Tank completed the thought.

"No!" Demon bellowed, making them all jump in surprise.

"What the hell?" Sam breathed, heart racing.

It took a few moments for Demon to speak. His eyes didn't leave the floor. "Allow me to offer myself as the one who breaks the All Spark shard into enough pieces to kill the Moonbots and Starscream."

"Why in the world would you sacrifice yourself for Autobots?" Tank asked incredulously.

"Not for Autobots, you fool!" Demon snapped, his eyes burning brighter. "The self-diagnostic I ran upon awakening has completed."

"Is there something wrong with you?" Mikaela asked.

"The stealth shield Megatron experimented with. I was the only Decepticon who survived his experiments. The shield was unstable and led to mental breakdowns and eventual self-destruction of all fifteen thousand subjects. All but me."

Tank frowned. "Do you mean it's breaking down now?"

"Yes," Demon said quietly, looking away. "I fear that I have very little time before I become mentally incapacitated. Starscream's attack upon me, and my subsequent death and rebirth, destabilized the shield." He looked back up into Tank's eyes. "Allow me to take my revenge upon the one who did this to me," he implored, "and to retain my dignity by dying on my own terms."

"What if he's just trying to trick us?" Sam said, his voice belying his skepticism.

Tank shook his head. "No. It's no trick." He looked carefully at the display console of the semi-upright bed. "He's dying." With that, Tank unstrapped Demon from the table, but kept both guns aimed at him all the same.

"Give me the All Spark shard," Demon said. When no one moved, his voice rose. "Quickly! I have only ten minutes at the most!"

Sam and Mikaela looked to Tank, who nodded once. Sam ran to get the Energon cube, upon which the pieces of the original All Spark were still mounted with static electricity. He handed it to Tank, who reversed the polarity over the largest shard with his hand, allowing it fall into his open palm. He hesitated only a moment before holding it out to Demon.

Their eyes met as Demon took the shard into his hand. "Thank you," he said, moving toward the hole Tank had made blasting through the warehouse wall. He stopped at the opening, his head turning only slight as he added, "Brother."