Chapter 36-The Tempest part 3

Optimus sat at the head of the table, silent and serious as he listened to Ratchet's damage report on Temperantia's recent rampage. The other Autobots save for Jetfire were also sitting at the round table with an air of defeat and solemnity over them. Their wounds were superficial, just a few dents and scratches, but the knowledge of their failure hurt more than any physical wound. Even Jazz, who was the usually the light of the party, was quiet and edgy. Things were reaching a critical point now, and they were getting desperate.

"In addition to the three towns that were destroyed, half a city was leveled by a class five tornado that tore through the area," Ratchet reported. "The casualty count can best be described as the accumulated population of the tree towns. Temperantia has already passed the Canadia border and is passing through Jasper into Manitoba. Within a few hours it will reach Dakote and then Oregon."

Optimus sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Thank you, Ratchet." He looked up at his team and got down to business. "Autobots, we need to stop it before it can get as far as Manitoba. If it reaches Dakote, then our time limit will be shortened considerably. Any ideas on how to slow it down?"

"What we need is a strategy that doesn't involve us shooting wildly and hoping for a miracle." Prowl said and brought up a 3D image of Temperantia on the holo-display. "We need to know its full capabilities, on top of its weak points. We can't screw up like we did earlier or we're all dead."

"So what do we know?" Jazz asked. Wheeljack highlighted the hands and fingers of the Cardinal.

"Well, it can fire missiles from its fingers like rocket launchers. How many of those things it has is up for speculation, but I can gather that it grows its weapons the same way humans grow hair and finger nails."

"That's totally unfair." Bumblebee muttered.

"Nothing's fair in war kid." Ironhide grumbled. "Let's not forget those damn punches. That forest we were in looks like the surface of the moon."

"And finally that ungodly light beam it nearly slagged us with." Arcee grumbled. Just thinking about that powerful attack made her shiver. So much destruction, so many lives lost, it was unreal. "I can't believe we made it out alive."

"Judging from how it operates, I think it works as a high powered photon beam." Wheeljack explained, showing footage of Temperantia carving up the landscape with its attack. "See how it burns through everything it touches? Think of it as a photon beam or laser emitter that we use on our battleships. If that's the case, then we can assume that its range exceeds 200 square miles and can blast through practically anything."

"Don't photon lasers like that need to recharge after firing?" Bulkhead asked. When the others gave him odd looks, he got a bit defensive. "I don't just smash things, you know. I know my way around a few machines."

Wheeljack chuckle a bit before going back to his explanation. "Yes, a large photon beam like that would need to recharge and thus the same could probably be said for the Cardinal as well."

"That would explain why it's moving slower than before." Prowl noted.

"Which means we still have some time before it can unleash that beam on us." Bumblebee said. "And a window of opportunity to stop that thing before it torches us."

"A very small window." Arcee grumbled.

"But that still doesn't answer our question; what are its weaknesses?" Prowl folded his hands and leaned on the table. "We know that the spheres at the shoulders are vulnerable, but the rest of its body can take damage like a full powered gestalt."

Optimus nodded. "I doubt Temperantia will allow us to get a few hits in like before. It will be on its guard more than ever now. We just need some secondary targets to hit in the mean time."

"Perhaps, we can help with that."

The Autobots looked to the doorway to see the children and Sparkplug standing there with Sara. Sparkplug grinned at them. "I take it you're still thinking of a solid plan of attack?"

"We are," Optimus said, glad that the Micron leader was still willing to work with them. "I take it you have a suggestion?"

"Possibly. The kids and I did some behind the scenes work and may have found something that may help."

"Oh really?" Prowl asked skeptically. "We don't have time for this. You aren't supposed to be here, and neither are you Sparkplug."

"Prowl, we are not in the mood for you being a desk jokey right now." Darren said. "We're trying to help you people save lives, so could you work with us for once?"

"Let them speak, Prowl." Optimus turned to the children. "Go ahead."

"Well," Gina said. "I had Sara download some information from Teletran-1 about the Cardinal and-"

"Whoa, hold up," Wheeljack held up a hand. "You're saying that Sara infiltrated Teletran's systems?"

Gina gave an apologetic smile. "Yeah, sorry."

Wheeljack wasn't mad, if anything he looked intrigued. "How did she do that? Teletran has firewalls that even Soundwave would have trouble getting past."

"It's quite simple actually. Sara just had to mimic an Autobot signature Teletran was familiar with and…"

Annie put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Gina, could you save the techno-jargin until we're not facing the threat of total annihilation?"

"Oh, right. Let's continue," Gina blushed and cleared her throat. "As I was saying, Sara reviewed the footage of your fight with Temperantia that she got from Jolt, and we downloaded additional information from Talatran-1's databanks. Rollbar had analyzed the footage from every possible angle and we noticed some interesting things."

Sara blinked and the holo-display on the table changed to the footage of the Autobots hitting the Cardinal with their heavy weapons. She paused the video and zoomed in on where the missiles were hitting its main body.

"See how the missiles and lasers don't do any damage to it? It wasn't any fault on your part or from weak weapons," Gina zoomed in and they all saw the missiles exploded mere inches away from its skin, hitting something invisible. "They're hitting a force field."

"Of course, hax of the highest order." Jazz groaned. "How did we not notice this?"

"We think the field is localized, that is, it runs as close to the Cardinal's skin as possible and only activates when its hit. During which it's invisible to the naked eye." Darren explained. "If that was the case, then we figured that the force field had to have been created and maintained by something, like how your barrier technology works."

Wheeljack caught onto that quickly. "Like a makeshift generator of some kind! An anchor to power the field and maintain its integrity."

"I assume that you also have a possible solution to this problem?" Optimus asked.

Sara zoomed out and highlighted the red spheres on Temperantia's body. There were two on its lower body and a third on its back. "Scans show that these spheres emit a steady pulse of energy that travels throughout its body. We believe that it is the source of its protection."

"The farther away from the field, the weaker it gets." Sparkplug supplied. "Those spots where you managed to chip off some stone? That's where the field is at its weakest. They're small and hard to hit, as the spheres cover almost its entire body."

"Which means that we'll have to take those things out if we want to do some real damage." Ironhide grinned. "I like this plan."

"Still, none of this information is concrete." Prowl pointed out. He tried not to get too caught up in the information they were giving them. They made a lot of good points, but none of it was proven, just based on a few blurry images and scans. "I'm not trying to burst everyone's bubble, but it's risky to place our bests on rough estimates. It lowers our chances of survival by 35 percent."

"We don't have time to deliberate." Ratchet said. "We might just have to take a chance on this one, Prowl."

Prowl grumbled but accepted that fact. He hated making plans based on estimates and guesses that had a high percentage of going wrong. Taking risks like these put everything in jeopardy.

"We will have to attack these spheres and the orbs within a short amount of time before it can launch a counterattack like last time." Optimus said.

"And that's where we come in." Annie said proudly.

"Not a chance, it's hell fighting that thing. Too risky to send you guys out." Bulkhead said.

"Gotta agree with Bulk on this one. You kids can barely fight off a Decepticon, and this guy is super strong." Ironhide said.

"You don't have a choice." Gina said. "Without Jetfire, you don't have air support, and that's crucial if you want to bring down its defenses. We can fly in our Talos and deliver one hell of a beating on top of it. We'll be fine, we know better than to run into danger blindly."

"Most of do, anyway." Darren muttered, earning a glare from Annie.

Optimus found it hard to deny that. They already have the beginnings of a plan in the works, but most of it will rely on air strikes to deal heavy damage to the Cardinal. Firepower that the Talos had in spades. The only problem is that it puts the children in the thick of it.

"Still, we will be putting you in danger." Optimus said, trying feebly to convince them not to put their lives on the line.

"Optimus, thousands of people are in danger." Darren said. "Our lives pale in comparison to that."

Optimus looked at them, noting their intense expressions and willingness to jump into the fray to save not just their home, but their entire country and beyond from this threat. It was a need to fight for their home and loved ones that Optimus saw in many new Autobots these days. Seeing that they were dedicated to helping them, Optimus sighed and nodded his consent.

"You may join us." He said and turned back to his Autobots. "Prowl, formulate a plan of attack with the information you just learned and do it quickly. The less time we spend here, the more time we'll have in stopping it."

"I'm already working on it, Prime." Prowl nodded and got up. "It'll take a lot of effort, but I'm predicting that our chances of winning have increased with this information."

"Now we're back in business!" Jazz hollered.

Ironhide looked down at the children. "You better suit up, kids. You're coming with us straight into hell."

XXXXXX

Knockout though he had died. It was all so quick, so sudden, that he didn't know what happened. But his optics came online with a start and the memories came rushing back. Nightshade's order to evacuate the ship, and then his med lab blowing up and blasting him Primus knows how far. When his vision returned, he saw that everything was on fire and could feel the intense heat licking at his scratched armor. Then he realized that someone was dragging him.

"Get up!" Someone yelled at him.

"Huh?" Knockout could barely tell what was going on. A hard slap to his face brought him back to his senses and he saw Barricade's face leaning over him.

"I said get up you fool! We need everyone to quell the flames!" Barricade yelled.

But Knockout was more concerned with something more important. "Did you just slap me? With those fingers?"

"Focus Knockout!"

"I almost get blown to scrap you daft bastard!" The medic shouted and wretched his arms free of Barricade's hold. "The last thing I need is having my flawless features scarred forever by your claws Edward Scissorhands!"

"Would you both shut up and put out those damn flames!" Flamewar yelled at them and sprayed foam sealant over the flames. Rumble and Frenzy were helping out by wielding large fire extinguishers to keep the flames from spreading to the rest of the ship.

Soundwave and Leader-1 were at their stations trying to control the situation. The ship's auto-repair system came online and worked to control flames, but that wasn't going to last long. The beam had hit the rear of the Nemesis, blasting a large hole through the hull and destroying both the ship's thrusters and the engine block, igniting the energon core and creating a chain reaction that nearly took out a third of the ship. With the energon core compromised, they were running on reserve power now, and it was only a matter of time before that ran out as well.

"Sounwave, damage report." Megatron demanded.

"Much of the ship is severely damaged. The energon core is compromised, and is destroyed along with the medical bay and energon storage. The ship is running on reserve power, though power levels are starting to fluctuate." Soundwave reported.

"Then activate any weapons that are still operational and target the beast! Fire when ready!"

The Nemesis was designed to be a siege engine, able to literally smash through enemy defenses and deploy troops within enemy lines while also laying down a heavy bombardment of its own. Thus, it was equipped with its fair share of weapons that can do a lot of damage in little time. But that one blast had destroyed half of those weapons and forced the ones still operational to run at half power. For a ship that could take fire from other warships of its kind, this was a disturbing moment for the Decepticons.

Soundwave entered some commands and looked at the main monitor, seeing Sapientia swimming towards the island. It was getting closer by the minute, and he could see the Seekers and Nightshade flying around it trying to shoot it down. Megatron was also on its back, shooting at anything he could get within his sights. The Cardinal was heavily damaged, but it paid its attackers no mind as it swam towards its objective. Soundwave didn't want to shoot with his leader in the line of fire, but Megatron's orders were absolute.

"Activating secondary warp cannons and firing missile pods. Stand by." Leader1 reported.

Out at sea, Megatron held on tight to Sapientia's right wing as it swam through the rough waters at high speeds. It dodged Nightshade's arrows, which seemed to be the only thing that could deal its own damage to the durable creature. As he held on, Nightshade flew in as close as she could to tell him about the coming assault.

"Soundwave is preparing to fire the Nemesis' weapons at the Cardinal. You need to disengage!" She said.

"I said I'd tear its heart out and I stand by that promise." Megatron said. "Now slow it down long enough for it to be targeted."

Nightshade made to protest, but Starscream flew in next to her in robot mode. "Let him go, if he wants to go out in a blaze of glory then let him!"

"We've got weapons fire!" Skywarp exclaimed. "Get clear!"

The panels on Sapientia's back opened up and four long tendrils made of flesh slithered out from its spine. At the end of these tendrils were reptilian eyes that fired laser from their pupils. Skywarp teleported out of the path of one beam, but Thundercracker almost got cut in half by another. Nightshade and Starscream concentrated their fire on one of the stalks and destroyed it in a geyser of blood.

As they battled, two large purple plasma beams were fired from Decepticon Island and hit Sapientia dead center in its front leg and shoulder. This allowed the rain of missiles to hit the Cadinal's body with the force of a non-nuclear blast, shattering its granite skin and stopping it in its tracks. Megatron hid under its wing to avoid the fiery rain.

"Haha! How do ya like that ya freak?" Skywarp cheered.

Sapientia leapt out of the water and smacked him out of the air, its claws hitting Skywarp with the force of a direct punch from Devastator. The purple Seeker hit the water with a big splash and didn't resurface. Sapientia then fired another beam from its mouth, one that was slightly weaker than what it last dished out, and drove the others away.

"Fools! I am protected by the divine love of Jubileus! You cannot kill me!" Sapientia roared. "You are only prolonging your inevitable death!"

Sapientia raised its head and opened its mouth to fire another beam at the island. It was going to finish this fight one way or another.

XXXXXX

"Absolutely not!" Debbie yelled, crossing her arms. "None of you are going out into that chaos!"

"Debbie…" Darren sighed.

The humans were in the munitions plant where their Talos were stationed. The kids were already clad in their pilot suits-skin tight exo-frames that were designed not only to protect the children while piloting their machines, but also grant them increased physical abilities in case they were stuck in the middle of battle without their units. It wasn't encouragement to fight Mincons with their bare hands, but it'll increase their survival rate in case things get hot. Debbie, after learning of what the children planned to do, put her foot down and wasn't going to let them go. They understood her fears, but they didn't have time for this right now.

"Debbie, please," Gina pleaded. "That monster is tearing through town after town, and is heading straight for our home state. Tranquility is in trouble and we have to do something before we lose everything."

"I don't care. The Autobots are more than enough to handle that thing."

"No, they're obviously not." Annie replied. "Sis, with our help, they can take that thing out and-"

"No! I already lost mom and dad to a war and I'm not losing you two to another." Debbie screamed. She was starting to cry, trying to stay strong but failing. "I won't be able to go on if I lost both of you as well. I can't go through that again…"

Darren and Annie walked over to their big sister and hugged her tightly. Debbie hugged them back and didn't let go for a few minutes.

"We have to do this, Debbie." Darren muttered. "For our home, and for you."

"But you're kids, you shouldn't have to be involved in all this." She whimpered. "You're all so young. Too young to be fighting for your lives."

"Honestly, sis, I think we stopped being kids when we found the Minicons in that cave." Annie smiled sadly and gave Debbie a kiss on the cheek. "We'll look after each other sis. That's a promise."

After another hug, the twins disengaged from their sister and walked to their Talos, the crimson and gold Prometheus and the ebony black Enyo. Debbie stepped back as the three machines powered up and started to move, stomping past her and out the room. Debbie saw the Street Action Team standing by the entry way and walked over to them.

"High Wire, Grindor, Sureshock," She said, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Please, keep them safe."

"We will, Debbie. We'll protect them with our lives." High Wire said. At a mental command, the three Minicons combined into the towering gestalt Centurion. He looked down at her and spoke in his deep voice. "Just as we have always done."

Debbie stood in place as she watched the three Talos and the Minicon gestalt leave for the dangerous mission they signed on for. She closed her eyes and prayed to Gaia or whatever god was listening to her that they all made it back safe and sound.

XXXXXX

Temperantia flew across the landscape at a moderate pace. It had recharged about half its energy during the time it passed through Jasper into Manitoba. It was crossing over a wide field that transformed into an abstract rocky region where there were dozens of towering stone spires that reached hundreds of feet into the air. The humans of the native Manitou tribes called this place the thunderhawk forest-named after the legendary thunderbird that was said to have shaped this land with its power. It wasn't a forest in the traditional sense, rather it was a far reaching forest of rock formations ranging from stone pillars to archways. Structures so precise that only nature could have made something so amazing.

Temperantia inwardly scolded itself for the foolish move it made. Using most of its power in that one blast had slowed its progress considerably. Quintessence, the power of life itself and the source of the Dolems' awesome power, was not infinite. It could be depleted and would take time to recharge. As plentiful in the mysterious energy this world was, he needed time to absorb enough power to get back to full strength, and he did not have time to dawdle about.

"Temperantia!"

The Cardinal stopped in its tracks at the sound of someone calling its name. It looked straight forward, and saw Optimus standing on top one of the shorter stone pillars. On his arm Sparkplug was powerlinked to his limb, and he held his ion cannon in his other hand.

"So you've come looking for another punishment, Prime. I thought you were smarter than that." Temperantia said.

"You will learn that I'm not one to give in to a higher authority," Optimus pointed his cannon at the Cardinal. "Case in point!"

He pulled the trigger and fired an ion blast that hit Temperantia in its left sphere, causing an energy discharge that caused it to recoil in pain. It flinched back, and glared at Optimus, firing twin beams from its eyes in a sweeping motion. Optimus rolled to the side to avoid the beams, and heard the taller rock pillars get destroyed by the powerful blast. He jumped up and saw Temperantia pulling its fist back and throwing a punch at him.

Optimus jumped off the pillar and used the other formations to safely land on the ground. Temperantia fired its eye beams at the ground and Optimus quickly transformed with Sparkplug to drive away from the massive beams. He swerved into a hard right and returned to robot mode, hiding from sight in a small space where Darren was hiding with his Talos. Optimus gave the signal and Darren nodded, telekinetically pulling up four large boulders, which he took with him as he flew into the air. Once he was air born, Darren flung the boulders at Temperantia, pelting its body with large rocks that he would not have been able to manipulate without his Talos. The Cardinal turned to Darren's direction and lifted and arm to block the boulders from hitting its face.

Behind another pillar, Jazz, powerlinked with Road Storm, swung out of hiding on his grapple line and propelled himself behind the Cardinal. When Temperantia raised its arm to fire missiles from its finger tubes, Jazz leapt into the air and fired a volley of fast acting nitrogen blasts that froze the fingers on contact, turning them into solid ice. Before Temperantia could react, Jazz descended upon its hands and smashed its fingers into tiny crystalline shards. This took only minutes and Jazz was quick enough to open fire on the other hand as well when it reached for him. He kicked himself off its body and froze some of the other fingers to, grappling onto another pillar and latching on to it.

"Cee, do your thing!" Jazz yelled.

Arcee, who was linked with Peppercat, used her newly increased speed to run up a pillar and leap at the Cardinal's hand. She grabbed onto the massive limb and ran to the fingers, which she then began to hack away at with her swords. She managed to shatter the ones that were frozen, but were forced to leave when Temperantia slammed its hand against a rock formation, destroying it.

"It's lost most of its fingers, Optimus. We're ready for phase 2!" Arcee reported.

"Bulkhead, Ironhide, Bumblebee, take out the arms!" Optimus called out.

The three Autobots were stationed on three separate rock formations. Equipped with their own heavy weapons, thermo-rocket launchers for Bulkhead and Ironhide and a magma-grenade launcher for Bumblebee, and opened fire on the closest target, which was Temperantia's right arm. They focused their fire on the energy sphere that tied its arm to its body, and allowed the laser guided rockets to do the rest. Temperantia groaned as the rockets hit its shoulder, and Bumblebee firing at the spheres on its lower body kept it spinning around attempting to focus on three targets at once. Eventually the assault was too much for the sensitive organ and the sphere exploded into a shower of fine red dust.

Temperantia's roar was deafening as its right arm fell to the ground, hitting the earth with tremendous force and causing a nearby pillar to collapse. Seeing it crippled gave the Autobots some hope in this seemingly dire situation. They were actually able to wound it!

"Hell yeah, we took out its arm!" Bulkhead laughed.

"Now it's time for the other one." Jazz said and looked over at Arcee. "You ready Cee?"

"Always am, Jazz." Arcee replied. She felt Peppercat channel more energy into her body and leapt off the pillar.

Arcee grappled onto a stone archway and swung herself around the Cardinal's body. But just as she was taking aim at its exposed nerve near the shoulder, Temperantia swung its fist at her at blinding speeds.

"Arcee!" Darren shouted.

Arcee was in no position to avoid it this time, and just before the fist reached her, she saw Jazz's body cover her own and he grabbed her in mid-air. The punch hit them both with immense force and sent both Autobots crashing into the ground and skidding through the dirt at high speeds. The other Autobots watched in horror as their friends' bodies disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Bumblebee, go see to Jazz and Arcee!" Optimus ordered. "Darren, stand by for Prowl's signal with the girls. Once they distract it, it's up to your four to destroy its defenses."

Darren wanted to protest, get back at that monster for hurting his friends, but he knew that sticking with the plan was crucial. They couldn't stop now for whatever reason.

Not too far away from the fighting, Wheeljack and Prowl were standing on a rocky hit near an empty caldera. They were plating a rocket launcher that Wheeljack had made from one of their remaining neutron cannons. It was designed to fire a rocket with its warhead replaced with a phase charge bomb that packed enough power to level a city block. Magnifying his optics, Prowl saw Optimus leading Temperantia towards their position and looked down at Wheeljack.

"Is it ready yet?"

"Yup, I just got finished calibrating the laser guidance system. Now all you need to do is keep your eyes on the target and the rocket will fly straight at it." The engineer said.

Prowl kept his eyes on the Cardinal as it got closer and closer to their position. It as key that it did not notice them as it did so or else they would be forced to retreat and ditch the cannon. Once Optimus had reached their pre-determined no man's land, he gave Prowl the order to fire.

"Fire!" Prowl shouted.

The rocket flew from its launcher faster than the eye could see and shot straight at Temperantia's other arm. Despite it moving, Prowl's line of sight helped the rocket adjust its trajectory, something that was very hard to do with fast moving projectiles. The rocket hit the sphere near its left arm and the entire left side of Temperantia's body was engulfed in a powerful explosion that lit up the dark, stormy night sky. So great was the detonation that Temperantia actually leaned to the side and almost fell over from the immense pain it was feeling. Lowering a little more to the ground.

Elsewhere, Darren, Annie, Gina and Centurion saw the large plume of flames and powered up their Talos to mobilize.

"That's our cue, people." Darren said, his heart beating wildly. "Let's go!"

XXXXXX

Nightshade didn't know what to expect when she pulled Gandiva's string back. She had no idea if it could do much of a difference since her last two attacks were basically shrugged off, and it would be foolish to compare it to Fortitudo. But seeing it powering up for a death blow to the Nemesis urged her to take action. She didn't survive hundreds of years of oppression under the senate's rule, and thousands of years of grueling warfare just to have it all get blown up by some freak with a large mouth and fancy wings.

She let the arrow fly just as lightning streaked through the sky, and there was a brief, illuminating flash that blinded everyone for a few seconds, followed by Sapientia's fearsome roar. When the light died down, they were greeted with a rare, but welcome sight-a wounded Sapientia. Sapientia let out a gargled groan as its lower jaw hung loosely under its mouth. It hung crooked on its head and swung lifelessly like a broken door on a loose hinge whenever it moved.

"You hurt it?" Starscream gaped. They've been shooting non-stop at that thing for nearly an hour, and Nightshade's little magic arrow was the one thing that actually did some damage? "What the hell is going on?"

Sapientia glared up at Nightshade and swung its head to the side, snapping its broken jawbone back in place. "So you wield a weapon powered by quintessence. That bow was given to the humans for their loyalty, you do not deserve it. But despite its power, it is useless in your hands!"

"Wanna bet?" Nightshade got ready for another strike.

Sapientia didn't bother trying to attack again it only ducked back under the waves and swam as fast as it could to the island. Its speed was amazing, unmatched by any other marine animal as it neared Decepticon Island at a faster pace. Megatron had to use his sword as an anchor to keep himself from being swept away by the current. Nightshade couldn't get a solid lock on it and she wasn't going to risk going into the water where it was near unbeatable.

Unable to be attacked from above or targeted by the Nemesis' weapons, Sapientia was able to make it the rest of the way unrestricted. When it reached the shore, it smoothly went from swimming to leaping onto the soggy beach. It climbed out of the water, and stomped towards the small forest that separated it from the Nemesis.

"You are lucky to be here, Megatron of Tarn," Sapientia rumbled. It smashed through trees in its way and crushing them under its feet. "You get to see the destruction of everything you hold dear. All your accomplishments, all your hollow victories, are nothing in the eyes of God."

"You are no god," Megatron spat. "You are a freak of nature spawned from this planet like a festering tumor. And you will know your place when fighting me!"

"No, you will know yours!"

Sapientia reared up, tossing its body back on its hind legs and tossing Megatron off his head. It caught Megatron in its teeth and tried to bite down, but Megatron held its jaws open with his hands and feet. Megatron could feel energon bleeding from his hands and feet on the sharp, jagged glass teeth. It increased the pressure of its jaws on him and Megatron pushed his servos to the limit to keep them from cutting him in half.

"Give in." Sapientia's voice bellowed in Megatron's mind. "You have no place in this world. Give up and She will be merciful on your immortal soul."

"Never…" Megatron hissed, his arms and legs starting to creak and groan from the strain.

"Don't be a fool! Lay down your arms and bow down to Her glory!"

"Megtron bows to no one!" The Decepticon leader roared.

Starscream appeared over them with Skywarp and he fired a null blast at Sapientia's back, blasting off its wing in the process. The Cardinal growled, and Megatron was able to jump free of its jaws and climb back onto its head. Nightshade and Thundercracker also appeared, but Sapientia's patience was at its zenith.

"Bow to your gods!" Sapientia leapt into the air and swatted Starscream out of the sky. Skywarp teleported behind it, but he was smacked away by its tail.

"Just die!" Nightshade fired another arrow that hit it in the shoulder, making it stumble as shards of stone flew everywhere. But it wasn't perturbed by its injuries as it lunged at her.

Sapientia slashed and snapped at her, but she made sure to keep out of its reach. She fired another arrow that hit it in its lower jaw again, shattering more teeth, but it retaliated by slamming its tail into her. She crashed through the trees and hit the ground hard, knocking Gandiva from her grip. Sapientia landed on the ground and turned to the Nemesis.

"Witness the end of all hope!" It declared and opened its mouth, its jaw splitting open to reveal its inner cavity and started to charge up another light beam to wipe out the Nemesis once and for all.

But as it gathered energy, Megatron jumped off its head and lunged forward, spinning his body around to face it. Megatron pointed his fusion cannon directly at the inside of Sapientia's mouth and fire just as Sapientia shot its own beam.

XXXXXX

Bumblebee tried not to panic, but that was a difficult task itself. Things were starting to go downhill, not immediately, but the plan was just barely held together at this point.

Temperantia had gotten serious after losing its arm and was on a rampage. Despite losing its fingers and its arm, it was still dangerous, smashing down the towering stone formations like they were building blocks and firing lasers from its eyes that tore into the ground with frightening ease. When it started manifesting blue energy drills that pursued their targets within Temperantia's line of sight, things weren't going so well for the Autobots. But despite this, the children were doing their part very well.

They were like fireflies compared to Temperantia's immense size, flying around it and shooting beams at its tough skin. Darren's telekinesis provided them with a moderate amount of protection from the energy projectiles coming their way as they did what they were here for. Gina and Darren were shooting at the two spheres on its lower body in the front, taking any shot they could get while trying to avoid getting crushed by its arm. Annie, with her Enyo equipped with Mjolnir's power, attacked from behind with a web of lightning bolts that tore up Temperantia's back.

Darren flung large rocks at its face to keep it on guard while Gina powered up her Athena's beam cannon. When she was done, she waited for Darren to leave before pressing the trigger and firing her Talos' most powerful weapon, shooting a beam at one of the sphere's. It hit its target dead on and the powerful blast shattered the sphere like glass. No sooner than it was destroyed that a part of Temperantia's lower body crumbled into dust.

Bumblebee was glad to see that thing start to fall apart, and he wished that he could help them fight, but he regained focus on his current objective-making sure his other friends were alright. "Jazz, Arcee! Guys, sound off if you're okay!"

"Bee, over here!" He heard Arcee call out.

Bumblebee ran in the direction of the voice and quickly found the two Autobots and their Minicons sitting inside a crater near a pile of rubble inside the crater they made when they landed. Arcee was mostly fine, nursing a broken arm, and Peppercat and Road Storm were surprisingly in good shape too. Jazz looked worse for wear, though, lying against a boulder as he rested. He didn't have any severe wounds, but his armor was extremely deformed and he had pieces of sharp rocks stuck in his arms and legs that the Minicons were still picking out.

"I'm so glad you're all right." Bumblebee breathed a sigh of relief. "But how are you all not scrap, I saw you get hit."

"Ask Jazz, I blacked out after we hit the ground." Arcee said.

Jazz chuckled a bit, giving a little cough and grinned up at the two Bots. "Processor over matter, Cee. First lesson of Circuit-Su. Perfect for taking hits that could offline ya. Nearly did me in though." He chuckled again and winced when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. "Ow."

Arcee shook her head and looked at Bumblebee. "How's the battle going?"

"The kids are doing a good job of taking out its force field. They've already taken out one of the spheres in the front and are trying to deal the lasting blow." Bumblebee said. "Now, it's up to how much Lady Luck is willing to help us."

"The kids will do fine. They've been through worse spats before this." Jazz said weakly.

"Don't talk, cool cat, you need some Zs." Road Storm said and looked at Jolt. "Yo flyboy, give the word that my main man's okay."

"Got it." Jolt transformed and flew away to spread the news. For Arcee and Jazz, their part in this battle was over. Now it was up to the heavy hitters to get this done.

Darren grunted as Temperantia's eye beams hit his telekinetic defenses with the force of Mjolnir. The Prometheus was pushed back by the powerful beam and it couldn't remain airborne as he crashed into the ground with it still trying to destroy him.

"Centurion, get to it!" Darren grunted through his teeth.

Centurion hung on the leg of the Athena as it flew him over to the Cardinal's bottom half. He jumped onto its body and stabbed the omni-saber into its flesh, and starting to climb up to the sphere. He held on tight as the massive being shook violently from the explosions and thrashing that it was doing, and leapt up to the sphere. It pulsated like a beating heart, and when Centurion stabbed the saber into it, Temperantia gave a painful scream that caused the very mountains to tremble. The sphere broke apart into large shards of red crystal and dust, and the green armor that it was embedded in crumbled away to the ground. Centurion jumped off and the omni-saber de-combined into the Air Defense Team, with Jetstorm flying in low to catch Centurion on his wing.

"That's the second sphere down!" Darren announced. "Annie, you're up!"

The Enyo raised its arm and Mjolnir crackled with electricity. Annie raised it to the sky and a lightning bolt was shot from the storm clouds and hit Mjolnir full force. The hammer absorbed the natural lightning, which was a hundred times more powerful than anything created artificially. Annie pointed it at Temperantia's remaining arm and fired a powerful bolt that hit the helix dead center. The enhanced lightning bolt that hit the sphere vaporized it in a white flash and sent Temperantia's other arm falling to the ground.

"Hell yeah!" Annie cheered. But her cheering was cut short when Temperantia fired three energy lances that blasted off the Enyo's arm and leg. The third hit the chest and, though it didn't severely damage the cockpit, the blast itself sent the Enyo hitting a boulder and falling to the ground.

"Annie!" Centurion and the Air Defense Team landed on the ground and ran up to the fallen Talos. Sonar jumped on the hatch and knocked on it. "Are you okay, lass?"

"Yeah, I'm as fine as a girl with nine fingers will ever be." Annie huffed and checked the readings on her mecha. "But I think I'm grounded."

"Why do you fight me children?" Temperantia asked, staring at the white and red forms of the Prometheus and Athena. "Why do you spurn my attempts at granting your people salvation?"

"Don't even bother. We've already heard the argument from snuff the tragic dragon." Annie growled.

"What you're doing is threatening thousands of people, killing them, taking away their homes." Gina said. "And since you're heading onto our turf, you can expect us to be pissed."

Gina targeted the center of its face, but was forced to fly away when Temperantia fired a dozen blue lanes at her.

"We molded you humans from clay to give you life, we granted you fire to give you warmth, we gifted you kind with power to conquer the world at your leisure," Temperantia ranted, its voice rising in tone and its anger grew. "We even gifted you with the secrets of quintessence to power those accursed automatons that serve you. Yet here you still turn your weapons against us! Such insolence, I shall show you the error of your ways!"

"Then shut up and fight!" Gina said and fired another shot from her beam cannon at its face. The beam was deflected by its last remaining barrier, but she trailed the beam down its body, and was pleased to see it burn into its form, leaving scorched, molten rock behind. It was no long protected anymore, and could be wounded now.

Temperantia advanced towards Gina, but then it was attacked by a volley of rockets and grenades on top of blaster bolts and plasma beams. Ironhide and Bulkhead were close by wit their neutron cannons and rocket launchers laying down everything they had to cause as much damage they could. Optimus fired his ion cannon at the exposed innards where its lower body had fallen away from. Prowl and Wheeljack opened fire from their position as well, using their improvised missile launcher to fire variable missiles at it from afar. The combined firepower from all the Autobots and the two Talos were bringing it down faster than expected, and it was pissing the Cardinal off.

"DIE!"

Temperantia howled and its halo shined brighter to the point where it was like trying to look at the sun. Then nearly two dozen light beams were fired from its halo and shot towards the Autobots. They peppered the ground, exploding everything they touched, and the ground units were forced to cut their attacks off and scatter. A blast hit the stone arch Ironhide and Bulkhead were standing on and it collapsed with them falling along with it. Prowl and Wheeljack were blasted off their feet when another beam hit their hiding place, sending them crashing into a pile of boulders. Optimus de-linked with Sparkplug and they drove away to avoid the beam that was fired their way.

Temperantia's heavenly rain ravaged the area, blasting down the pillars and blowing holes into small hills and mountains. When it halted its assault, much of the land within a hundred miles had been leveled and cleared out of any notable rock formations or caves or trees. It was all just flat land covered in rubble.

"Will you heathens still persist in fighting me? Even at your strongest you cannot kill me!" Temperantia shouted.

"Would you just shut up already?" Gina appeared right in front of its face and drew its beam sabers, slashing and hacking away at its ravaged form, causing minor, but notable damage.

Temperantia was not amused. "Is that supposed to make a difference human?"

"No, it's supposed to provide a distraction." Gina smirked.

Temperantia was confused, but then its face contorted in pain as it felt a sharp pain in its back. The Prometheus had jammed its beam saber right into the middle of the Cardinal's back, where the last sphere was. With a yell, Darren slashed his saber out and tore the sphere apart with his powers. Once the last sphere was gone, the barrier protecting Temperantia's face faded away, leaving it exposed and open to fire.

"All right! They've done it!" Sparkplug cheered. But Optimus wasn't as happy.

"Children, get out of there!"

The Cardinal, blinded by rage, sent out another volley of blasts from its halo and directed half of them at Darren and Gina. To their surprise, these were harder to escape, as they followed the Talos like heat seeking missiles. Darren was able to shoot down two of them, but he had to encase his Talos in a telekinetic bubble to protect himself from the bulk of the beams that chased him and was sent to the ground with a blinding rain of light hitting him. Gina had it worse, armed with only a physical titanium shield to defend her Athena, she had to fly as fast as she can to escape the beams. She tried to zigzag, fake out, even stall to let them shoot past her, but they still dogged her through the air.

Darren could see her Talos trying to shoot down the beams, but his heart stopped when he saw one beam hit her mecha's leg. "Gina!"

From that first hit, Gina's speed decreased and the rest of the beams caught up to her. Most of them hit the Athena's shield, but two beams hit the Talos' shoulders and sent it crashing to the ground. The Athena hit the ground with tremendous force and rolled across the rocky, devastated earth until rolling to a stop. It didn't get up. Darren saw Temperantia gearing up for another shot and he tried to fly to her position.

"Shit, I'm not going to make it!" Darren cried out. Then he saw it fire a pair of beams from its eyes and knew that he wouldn't be fast enough or close enough to defend her. "GINA!"

Just before the beams could reach her, Optimus jumped in front of the Athena. His Matrix was glowing brightly and he raised his battle axe to block the beam head on. The Cardinal and everyone present were surprised at how Optimus could deflect such a powerful attack, and saw the blue aura that was surrounding his body. It was a feat that should be considered impossible, but the Matrix was granting as much protection it would allow to the Prime and he was going to make good use of it's power.

"No more people will die today!" Optimus yelled. His arms buckled under the strain and he felt himself being pushed back. "No more!"

"Then be the messianic figure you see yourself to be and die for her sins!" Temperantia increased the power of its beam and both Optimus and Gina were blasted away from each other.

Optimus hit the ground hard, nearly dislocating his shoulder on impact and crashing into a pile of rubble. No longer concerned with killing Gina, Temperantia advanced upon Optimus and opened its mouth wide to fire its powerful photon beam. As he saw its mouth glow, Optimus stood up and brought out his battle blade, standing firm before it. He knew that he could not outrun it, and blocking something like that was near impossible. But he wasn't going to give up when they were so close.

Temperantia fired its beam, and just like before it seemed like the whole world went dark from the sheer intensity of the beam. At that distance, it would take Optimus a miracle to survive something like that. But a miracle did come…as the Prometheus!

"Darren?!" Optimus said shocked.

The Prometheus raised its arms and Darren raised the output of his Talos' receptors to its peak and channeled his telekinesis through them. A telekinetic barrier blocked the beam just shy of a few inches from hitting them. Darren roared as he pushed his machine, and his body, to the limit to keep them both safe. It felt like he was trying to move a mountain with his bare hands, but he didn't let his thoughts go there. He had to remember that size meant nothing when the mind was concerned. Mind over matter.

The Prometheus didn't falter, and its barrier deflected the beam in several directions, but Temperantia increased its power and eventually the dome, and the beam, both exploded in a flash of light, with Darren and Optimus in the epicenter.

XXXXXX

Time seemed to stop as Megatron stared into the white abyss of Sapientia's mouth, and in that moment, only one who was the fastest would make it out alive. And Megatron was just a fraction faster.

A plasma beam shot from Megatron's fusion cannon into Sapientia's mouth just as it was about to fire and it caused a violent reaction within the Cardinal's mouth. It resulted in an explosion that made Sapientia choke and halt its attack. With smoke and flames erupting from its mouth, Sapientia charge at Megatron, who transformed and drove in reverse, circling around so that it would turn its body and leave its back open to the Nemesis.

"I believe in no gods, just as I do not believe in Heaven or Hell," Megatron fired blasts from his fusion cannon, blasting off chunks of Sapientia's body. "There is only one god I believe in and that is death!"

"Then you shall meet your god!" Sapientia howled.

It slashed its claw at him, but Megatron switched to robot mode and jumped to the side as the claw slammed into the ground. Megatron fired another fully charged plasma beam at its leg, destroying it at the wrist. Despite this, the Cardinal still fought furiously.

The Nemesis' warp cannons opened fire on Sapientia, bombarding its left side with high energy attacks. It fell over and the ship fired 8 proton torpedoes that hit its underbelly, further damaging it. Its body was riddled with craters and missing multiple appendages and limbs, but Sapientia still snapped its jaws at anything that moved.

"You know, if you hadn't torched my ship, I'd admire your tenacity, your will to live." Megatron said. "But you tried to kill me, and no one attempts that and hopes to see the next sunrise."

Sapientia gave a deep chuckle. "You still hide your inferiority behind a faced of bravado. Your little war is nothing compared our noble crusade, our divine quest to help all life in the universe transcend their physical forms. You have nothing to fight for, no home, no people, not even a cause. That reality will catch up to you, Megatron, and when it does, it will snatch you up…and devour you!"

Sapientia shot its body into the air and fired a low powered beam at the Nemesis, blasting another hole in the ship that was near the bridge, and swept it along the top to destroy the warp cannons. Then it spun its body around and lunged at Megatron to snatch him up in its jaws. It wasn't going to die before completing its mission!

Then, as if fired by the Heavens itself, a silver arrow hit Sapientia's back, destroying much of its torso and severing its other wing. Like an angel of death, Nightshade descended upon it on raven black wings. She pointed Gandiva at it and pulled the string back one final time.

"Fall."

She let the arrow fly into Sapientia's head and the thunder clapped as if in applause.

XXXXXX

"Darren, Optimus?" Annie breathed as she saw her brother and the Prime vanish in the golden explosion. She had to shield her eyes from the blinding glare as grew larger, evolving into a dome of energy.

No one moved or said a thing as they thought they saw two of their comrades perish under the powerful assault of the Cardinal. But to everyone's surprise, the energy dome started to tremble before distending, as if bloated from the inside. Prowl stepped forward as his keen eyes spotted the silhouettes of two figures at the heart of the dome.

"Impossible," He breathed.

Suddenly the golden flames and energy were pushed aside by an invisible force and Optimus, bathed in a silver aura, flew from it with his sword drawn. Propelled through the air like a bullet, Optimus was held aloft by Darren's telekinetic hold as it shot at the Cardinal at high speeds. With a fearsome roar, Optimus raised his sword and stabbed it in the center of Temperantia's head.

"KRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Temperantia's dying screams were accompanied by its halo expanding and then exploding into millions of tiny sparks that fell over the entire area, before being scattered to the wind. Red sparkles spurted from its head where the red hot blade cut into its brain and Optimus stared it right in the eyes as it started to fall.

"This world will never be yours," Optimus said. "And your goddess will never have me."

"Hehe," Temperantia laughed, even as it lost control of its body. "No one denies the glorious Jubileus. Her reach is far and wide and Her armies are born from the earth itself. We all belong to Her, you just don't realize it yet."

Optimus held on tight as they crashed to the ground and it fell onto its back, each impact feeling like a tectonic shift. As soon as it fell flat on the ground, the other Autobots raced for their leader and pointed their weapons at it. Optimus pulled his blade from its head and its face slithered out of its hole like a malformed snake. It looked down at Optimus with a mixture of anger and amusement.

"Do not think that you have won with my death. The alignment has awakened my fellow Dolems all over the world. They will see you out, hunt you without rest and will give you the rightful judgment you all deserve. All the world shall be your enemy."

"Then we shall fight." Optimus replied just as strongly. Prowl climbed onto its body to stand next to Prime.

"You seem oddly happy for someone on their last breath." Prowl noted.

"Unlike you I do not fear death." Temperantia smirked. "For too long I have been cut off from Her warmth, and now I shall be with Her again. She will have you Optimus Prime. Jubileus always gets what she wants."

"She's welcome to try." He said. "I won't go quietly."

Temperantia laughed and its head fell forward as the life ebbed from its body. "May the creator Jubileus bless you…"

The light faded from its eyes and its head sagged lifelessly. Temperantia was dead. Optimus allowed himself to sag in relief and disengaged Sparkplug from his port.

"It's finally over." Optimus breathed.

Prowl crossed his arms and looked at the Cardinal's now eroding corpse. "For now at least."

"Couldn't help yourself, could you Prowl?" Sparkplug sighed and fell to his knees in exhaustion. "let's just enjoy the victory while it lasts, okay?"

Prowl snorted and gave a little smirk at the Minicon. "Okay."

Meanwhile, the low powered Prometheus made an unsteady landing near the still motionless Athena and Darren was already out of the cockpit before the hatch was fully open. Centurion and Annie were there when he climbed onto the Talos.

"It won't open and Gina isn't answering my calls!" Centurion said in a slightly panicked voice as Sureshock's personality rose to the surface.

Darren telekinetically pulled the hatch open and looked inside. Gina was still in her seat, knocked out from the hard impact her unit took when it crashed. Darren slowly climbed into the cockpit and unclipped her seatbelt, sliding her arms out of the servo armatures and gently patting her face.

"Gina," Darren whispered. "Come on, Gina wake up."

After a minute, Gina's eyes fluttered open and she let out a little groan. She opened her eyes and saw Darren leaning over her with Annie and Centurion behind him. "Darren? Ow, my head hurts."

"Easy, Gina," Centurion cautioned. "You took a bad hit. Are you okay?"

"Aside from a splitting headache, I'm just peachy." She answered, then her eyes widened. "Did we win? Is the Cardinal dead?"

"Yeah, we won." Darren smiled. Gina let out a shaky breath and hugged Darren tightly, which he returned. Annie got in on the hug as well. All three kids were relieved to the point of tears and happy that they all made it out alive.

"I was so scared," Gina whispered. "I didn't think we'd make it out."

"Well, when you have some of the best warriors the galaxy has to offer, you find it hard to be worried." Darren said.

"Liar," She chuckled. Then she saw the sky over his shoulder. "Guys, look. The rain's stopped."

The twins and Centurion looked up at the dark sky and saw that the heavy rains had indeed stopped and the clouds looked like they were starting to break apart as well. They were a much calmer grey now, instead of their fearsome darker hue they had earlier. It was almost symbolic in a sense, a sign that the danger had passed.

"It has, hasn't it?" Darren asked, smiling softly.

XXXXXX

The Decepticons stood around the fallen form of Sapientia. The Cardinal was in no condition to lift a clawed finger and had finally stopped moving, with most of its torso a smoking wreck, two missing legs, and a hole burned into its head. Now it was in its death throes.

"Where is your god now?" Megatron asked.

Sapientia gave no answer.

"I asked you where is your god!" Megatron kicked its golden plated head. "You were spouting all that slag about divine retribution earlier. Where did all of that fearlessness go? Or are you just afraid of dying?"

"Death brings me closer to Her grace, Jubileus," Sapientia said at last. "For even in my failure, she will still accept my immortal soul. But you, Megatron, have no god. Your race killed it long ago and now you fight an endless war with no purpose."

"Can I shut this thing up already?" Skywarp pointed his cannons at it, but Starscream forced his arms down.

"Stand down. Let it speak." Starscream said. He wanted to hear what point it was trying to make.

"You have no goals, no cause to fight save for fighting itself." Sapientia continued. "Whereas I fight for the glory of Jubileus, you've lost your cause. Now you fight, because you know that if you stop fighting, people will realize that all the sacrifices made, all the people who've died for you, was all for nothing."

"Are you done?" Megatron snapped. "If you are, then do us all a favor and die already. It's been a long and infuriating day."

Sapientia chuckled. "Your dream will crumble around you and in the end, all you'll have left is a dead world with nothing to show for it. That is your reality, Megatron, and you are too slow to realize it." It let out a raspy groan and its head slumped to the side. "May the creator Jubileus, bless you…"

Megatron watched the life fade away from the monster that nearly destroyed everything he built on this planet. He turned to the Nemesis and scowled at the damage it had taken. This was a warship that lasted for a thousand battles on Cybertron and this monster nearly destroys it in two hits.

"So…what do we do now?" Thundercracker asked.

"Now?" Megatron faced his men. "Now we survey the damages we've taken and repair our ship! What the hell do you think we're going to do?"

"We'll get right to work, Megatron." Starscream said and flew over to the Nemesis with his Seekers. Sapientia's last words echoed in his mind, and he found himself wondering just what Megatron had planned for the Decepticons after the war. Did Megatron even have a plan?

Megatron and Nightshade stared at Sapientia's corpse, which was now starting to crumble away. She turned to Megatron and said, "This isn't over. More will come."

"Then we will kill them all." Megatron grunted. "I've faced worse things that a bunch of misshapen monsters with a god complex. I'll kill them all and keep on killing all the way to their precious goddess!"

He fired a blast from his fusion cannon at Sapientia's head and destroyed it in one shot, the pieces turning to dust in the wind. "These beings will rue the day they ever heard my name. This means war!"

XXXXXX

The mood in the Ark was far more happy and jovial. The Autobots, Minicons and children returned to the ship victorious and celebrated the victory they fought long and hard for. Jazz and Arcee went to the CR chambers for recovery, but for the most part, everyone made it out in one piece.

Optimus stood apart from the crowd, watching everyone laugh and converse in the rec room having energon (non-alcoholic of course). Even Prowl used this moment to relax with the others. Optimus left the rec room and walked over to the west wing where the Minicons and humans were gathered and looked inside the room. Debbie was fiercely hugging Darren, Annie and Gina, practically leaking tears of joy. Not even the Street Action Team were spared from her iron clasp hugs.

On the side, Sparkplug talked with the other Minicons about basically nothing, really. It was just pointless chatter to ease their minds and have a chance to revel in the fact that they survived against a powerful foe. Peppercat was sleeping at Undertone's feet as he sharpened his swords. Rollbar and Fixit were playing a human game with a mat that had brightly colored circles that involved moving their body in ways that it was not meant to move. Road Storm watched some television and Liftor prayed for the Guiding Hand to thank them for not letting him die today. The Air Defense Team, Comettor and Jolt were playing a game of Poker. Where they got the cards, no one knows.

Optimus continued down the vast halls of the Ark, a ship that has since become a home away from home for everyone aboard. He reached his quarters and entered his room. He shut the door and pressed a button on his desk that turned on the music to Mozart's orchestral pieces. Sitting at his desk, he brought up a message that he was working on and started to finish it.

We are stranded on this alien world, hiding amongst its populace as robots in disguise. Though most of the natives are unaware of our presence, those that do know of us have proven to be valuable allies, strong in both mind and body. But we have also made enemies of some of them as well and they, to, have a part to play in the way we have brought here. The Decepticons are still a threat, and Megatron's ambition to conquer this world has grown significantly. We miss our friends off world, but we also cherish the bonds we have made here as well.

I am Optimus Prime. I send this message to our brothers and sisters fighting for the preservation of our race, for our home somewhere amongst the stars. We are with you.

We remember.

Book 1-End

Thank you all for your support of this story and for staying with me for this long. I couldn't have done it without your support and praise. Stay tuned for some more chapters for Transformers: Uprising, and Book 2 of Transformers Titan-Escalation!