Chapter XI

Starscream was the first appear, of course, along with his brothers Skywarp and Thundercracker. They had so many questions to ask, starting with how Megatron came online in the first place. They believed so much he was dead and Starscream started taking command, hardly aware that such a thing as Predacons had existed. Only Shockwave was the one that maintain contact with them and had died when he came to Earth. The temporary leader was interested in who these Predacons were…and wanted to give them a hard beating for bringing back his enemy leader.

Megatron had snuck through to Washington D.C. with the helicopter mode the Predacons were happy to pick out for him. He fit in…sort of…and searched around through his holoform for a specific machine he desired. Luli and Fawn were chosen to follow him, just so he wouldn't get too out of character with his form. They spent hours walking around the Smithsonian until they had found it.

The Nemesis.

The old warship Megatron had lost at least a year ago. It was kept in Washington under the careful eye of their guards. Of course they didn't know anything about the Cybertronian technology, not even if the Maximals tried to explain it. Megatron was standing only nine yards away from his ship and right under seven security guards' noses.

Late at night, Skywarp came by and deactivated all security inside the Smithsonian. Megatron was free to walk inside and take the ship. The only problem he faced was a small human that radioed the president of the United States of America as soon as the Nemesis lifted into the air and broke through the top of the building.

The death of the human race had begun.

* * *

Like Icefire had predicted, they couldn't stop the fight. What remained of the Decepticon army was now on Earth and the Predacons were even stronger, thanks to Megatron granting them an upgrade from the All Spark. They became full tech and left the Maximals weak in comparison. Just with Foxtrot and Phoenix they were defeated several times. They had no choice but to give in to the power and were enslaved as was the rest of the humans on Earth. Military had sent every kind of weapon to the Decepticons. Even show planes and airlines were in on it. But none had survived in the air and hardly any lived on the ground.

Plants and animals died, the sky turned red with fire, black with soot and lack of water. People killed people to fight for the other's food, because they needed or had to become cannibalistic. The sun no longer reached the planet and Megatron already began his harvest for energon.

All nine Maximals knew there had to be something that they needed to do and knew that Brianna had a plan. "Every solution has a problem" the saying goes. Because this problem was more difficult, more complex, that meant that it would be hard getting to the solution. They agreed to meet on their own time, if they ever got it.

They worked like the rest of the humans, but were given worse treatment for being Maximals. They were beaten down until there was nothing but blood smeared over their clothes at the end of each day and their muscles ached more and more. Brianna would look down the street and watch her neighbor's two kids being executed for not completing their duties. Brittany turned Tigress and attacked the prosecutor. She was then put under solitary for however much was necessary. And that was the last time Brianna had seen her sister.

They went through only a ten days of this; buildings in ruins, fire set everywhere, Decepticons and Predacons at every turn, dead bodies in hundreds. The world was slowly dying and the Maximals knew they had to hurry.

Brianna called in for a secret meeting in an old tree house that was spared after hours. All nine were afraid to go because of the watchful optics of the robotic armies. Once they settled in, they turned on a flashlight and kept the window shut and curtains covered.

"What's your plan, Bri?" Cody asked more quickly than he realized.

"Answer me this, guys. How did the Decepticons get here?" she said.

Jericho shrugged. "By flying here, how else?"

"By a space bridge," the dragon whispered with a smile wide on her face. "I went inside the Nemesis when the Predacons had asked for their own supply of food and I saw something through a crack in the door. It looked like a teleportation device and someone inside mentioned 'space bridge.' That's how the other half of the Decepticons got to Earth so quick!"

"What are you going at?" Cari shivered, afraid of the answer.

"Cody and I will sneak through while in the Nemesis, active the space bridge, then teleport ourselves to Cybertron!"

"That's crazy!" Andre shouted. The rest of the group told him to quit down when they heard a jet engine overhead. "How do you expect to get to Cybertron like that? We've never been there in our lives, the bridge is probably heavily guarded by Thundercracker and Lugnut, and do you even know the coordinates?"

"Andre has a point, Brianna," Aries chimed in. "This isn't just some scene in a movie where we can just walk in and get to where we're going. We have to think this through. We need more time."

"There isn't any time!" she snapped. "Earth's already going to Hell and we're being held responsible! We need to get to Cybertron quick and the only way through is a space bridge!" She eased a bit. "I bet my last crispy dollar that the Decepticons have the coordinates to Cybertron downloaded into the system. Since we're half of their species we can read their symbols and interpret which code is the one to the planet. It's just walking in there is what we need to figure out…"

"I know how," William whispered. "There are some humans on cleaning duty, to wash down the warship. You and Cody could switch a shift with someone and go in like that."

Brianna smiled. "You got that from Prison Break, didn't you? They switched roles to get into P.I. and busted a whole under the building to escape."

William sighed looked at an empty space with a smirk clearly seen below his nose. "Best show I ever seen."

* * *

The hard part was finding someone who worked the cleaning shift; easy part was blending in with the other workers to get to the space bridge. Of course Megatron had Blitzwing and Cyclonus watching the humans as they worked. Only a few times would one go get a drink while the other stayed put. Cody wanted to go ahead and find the pad to locate the coordinates to Cybertron, but Cyclonus had a good eye and Blitzwing, no matter how insane, was still smart enough to spot a human out of place. The Decepticon leader had picked the best mechs for the job.

One shot was all they had and the Maximal leader and second in command took it; Cyclonus had fallen asleep and Blitzwing went to find some more drinks. The workers started talking amongst themselves while Cody climbed up to the high pad and scrolled for the location. Brianna stayed under him as to not cause any rubbernecking. One missing is very unnoticeable, but two is along crossing the fine line of "ninja style" and "caught dead" (as William once put it).

Cody found the coordinates and immediately activated the bridge. A blue electric sphere appeared in the middle of the pincer-like bars and every human turned heads to look. Cyclonus woke up due to the loud humming and crackle of the bridge and just in time saw Brianna and Cody take on their other forms. He drew his sword but was too late as the Maximals jumped to the sphere, afraid that they were either hurt or set the wrong coordinate location to Cybertron.

xXx

Author's Note: Assignment! In review, try to predict what would happen when the Maximals appear to the Autobots on Cybertron.