Disclaimer: There's a lot of dialogue in here that I took directly from the movie, but I want to make it very clear that I don't own it.
10. Call of Death
Genre: Tragedy
Word Count: 1,152
The bleeping sound that signaled a call struck an emotional string of anxiety in Lennox, who hesitated before answering. It was just a phone call, after all.
He pressed the receive button on the screen and lifted the headphones over his ears.
"This is Lennox."
Just a phone call. But it was the one single call that changed him more than any of the other life-altering phone calls he'd received lately.
"Lennox, Optimus is dead," Ironhide's sorrowful voice informed him.
Lennox sat rigidly, unable to believe what he was hearing. Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, dead?
"What?" he demanded. "How?"
"Megatron," was the mech's simple answer.
Pure anger bubbled inside Lennox. It figured the devious Decepticon leader would take advantage of the fact that Optimus had no backup. Then he remembered why Optimus had taken off alone.
"What about Sam?" he asked.
"Bumblebee's taken him away. Skids and Mudflap followed."
At least the boy was safe. At least Optimus hadn't died in vain.
"I'm so sorry, 'Hide," Lennox said feelingly.
"As am I." Ironhide's voice was grave. "More than you know."
Lennox was sure he'd never seen a sadder sight. The remaining Autobots moved despondently onto the New Jersey airstrip as the helicopter dropped Optimus' body onto the pavement. Lennox cringed as if he had been struck a physical blow as the Prime's metal frame bounced once, then lay still. The picture was all wrong.
Optimus Prime, once such a majestic, stately being, was now merely a bundle of lifeless, broken metal.
It was too painful to see. Lennox had to choke back a strangled sob. After two years of fighting alongside each other and forging bonds of trust, friendship, and camaraderie, the leader of the Autobots had finally made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause they strove for. At this moment, all Lennox wanted was to lock himself in a room with Ironhide and grieve for their lost friend.
Optimus' mechanical body was plainly very badly damaged. His armor was broken and dented; some of the more fragile pieces had shattered completely. There was an enormous gash in his chest cavity where Megatron had brutally cut the life from him. Lennox averted his eyes from that area. But it was the dead Prime's optics that were the worst blow. Once so piercingly, electrically blue, sparkling with life and emotion, they were now dull and dim. The light was gone.
Lennox felt as if his knees would not hold him, but he somehow managed to stay upright. And somehow, he found the strength to voice his last hope.
"Can we revive him?" After all, the Decepticons had done it with Megatron.
His hope was crushed the next moment, however, when Ratchet sorrowfully shook his head.
"It is not possible. We do not have the shard; and in any case, Optimus' spark was torn in two. It would take the entire Cube to fuse it back together, if it were possible at all."
Lennox heard more pain and grief in that voice than he could bear to handle. The Autobots were clearly demoralized. The death of their beloved leader was a huge blow to them. With the last Prime dead, hope seemed all but nonexistent.
And adding insult to injury was the U.S. Army convoy that was aiming their weapons at the group of Autobots, who were understandably threatened.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Ratchet.
"You dare point a gun at me?" Ironhide demanded, aiming his own cannons. "You want a piece of me? I will tear you apart!"
Lennox decided to intervene before things got ugly. "Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons!" He turned the commander. "Tell them to drop their weapons."
"Tell them first," the officer replied, pointing at the Autobots.
"Tell them to lower their weapons!" Lennox insisted.
"Major, there's nothing I can do. Talk to him."
Lennox turned to see Galloway strutting onto the airstrip, informing him that the Autobots had been ordered to leave Earth and NEST was decommissioned.
"No, we take our orders directly from Chairman Morshower, sir," said Lennox, standing firm. If this jackass thought he could just march here and take control after what he'd said...
In answer, Galloway shoved a form in his face. Lennox stared at the signature while Galloway said, "Well, I'll see your Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I will raise you a President of the United States! I have operational command now." He turned to the Autobots and delivered a scathing speech that clearly placed the blame squarely on their shoulders. "This is our war now, and we will win it as we always have," he finished. "With a coordinated military strategy."
"This fool is terribly misinformed," Ratchet said disdainfully.
"You're gonna need every asset you've got," Lennox told him.
"What we need is to draw up battle plans while we explore every possible diplomatic solutions."
"Like what, handing over the kid?" Lennox demanded angrily, his temper rising. Optimus had died to save Sam, and here was Galloway implying that Sam would be sentenced to death anyway.
The liaison barely missed a beat. "All options are being considered."
"If you think I'm gonna -"
"There's no negotiating with him," Epps said, trying to stop Lennox from doing something rash.
"I'm ordering you to stand down!" Galloway demanded.
A small scuffle broke out then, ending only when Galloway stripped Lennox's silver acorns from his uniform, bellowing, "You won't be needing this anymore. Get your assets back to base!" He cast a derisive glance at Optimus' body. "And take that pile of scrap metal back to Diego Garcia."
The Autobots stiffened at the insult to their leader. Their human comrades weren't far behind. Lennox, especially, was incensed that Galloway dared say such a thing about Optimus Prime.
"I really don't like that dude," Epps spoke up from beside him as Galloway marched back inside. "He's an asshole."
Lennox agreed wholeheartedly with that.
"Ironhide, we should leave this planet," said Ratchet. With Optimus gone, Ironhide was apparently now the leader.
"That's not what Optimus would want."
Lennox had never heard such sorrow in the voice of the toughened, militaristic mech who was his family's guardian – nor such truth. Truly, Optimus would not want to leave Earth and the humans to the mercies of the Decepticons. He would have wanted to stay to defend them, despite all the crap the U.S. government gave him. Sometimes Lennox wondered if they were really worth such self-sacrificing protection from the noble Autobots.
"But if the human government has ordered us to leave, Optimus would oblige," Ironhide continued.
Lennox looked down at the presidential order in his hand and sighed. It seemed the choice was being made for the Autobots. But he wouldn't let them go without a fight.
"We can try to stall," he offered.
"What good will that do?" Ratchet asked.
"Maybe none," Epps said. "But it's better than nothing."
A/N: I'm pretty sure you guys can guess what's next. Thanks to chloexo, codythedude, and Kaprilorn for reviewing, and thanks to everyone who favorited or put this fic on alerts. cody, thanks for pointing it out; I've fixed that error.