Chapter 14-Hearts and Minds

Starscream knew the importance of opportunities. In war, one must seize any opportunity to win a battle and deal a critical blow against the enemy, or face a humiliating defeat or even death. Starscream saw himself as someone who seized the day, though past events would say otherwise. But if there was one thing he learned from Megatron, it was that one must take the initiative to be victorious.

That was something desperately needed in this war with the humans. Ever since landing on Terra, noting had gone right for them, and their list of enemies just seemed to be growing every day. Autobots, OZ, Skywatch, and now the Atlantians. They needed a home field advantage, and it appears that Terra had those in spades.

Ancient automatons controlled via mental commands, powerful weapons capable of felling even Optimus Prime, sprawling cityscape ruins that looked more advanced than the modern cities of the 20th century. Starscream knew this planet had an abundance of weapons to use, and it irked him that Megatron barely capitalized on this. But not him, he knew when to use force, and how to apply it.

"Knockout, old friend!" Starscream said grandiosely as he entered the colosseum in Elladas, the most famous landmark in the country. "It's good to see you again."

"Don't play games, Starscream. It's the middle of the night, and I'd rather not be caught spending any amount of time with you." Knockout said, clearly not in the mood to deal with him.

This made Starscream pause, but he cleared his throat and asked, "Knockout, do you have what I asked for?"

"It's right here, Starscream." Wreckage's ice cold voice cut through the pitch black darkness of the colosseum as he entered the arena.

Starscream nodded to his like-minded comrade and turned his eager gaze onto the new toy Wreckage and Knockout brought him.

It was a golem. It stood at twenty feet and had thick brown armor with large shoulders and a slightly hunched back. The head was slightly reminiscent to that of a pharaoh's headdress and its eyes were emerald green. Starscream hummed with glee as he looked the machine over.

"You've done a wonderful job with the armor. Very nice aesthetic." Starscream praised.

"You can thank the humans who built it. They had a thing for gods that looked like humanoid lizards." Knockout said.

"Yes, it does look pretty, but does it work?" Starscream inquired.

Wreckage smirked ad turned to the golem, giving a command in cybertronian.

The golem's eyes lit up and it stood straight, its soulless gaze settling on Starscream, who backed away nervously. Tracking his movement, the golem raised its arm and its three-clawed arm shot out on a grappling line, ensnaring Starscream by the front. He gave a loud yelp as he was pulled forward and punched in the jaw by its other hand. The golem advanced toward him menacingly before Wreckage gave another command that shut the machine down.

"How do you like it?" Wreckage asked.

Starscream stood up, rubbing his chin as he stared at the golem appraisingly. "Magnificent. What is its name?"

"We haven't thought of one ourselves, but I did some looking into the god it was based off of and decided to go with that." Knockout said and tapped his knuckles on the golem's chest. "Amun."

XXXXXX

The small nation of Tajun in the land of Verusia was a country embroiled in war. It was a monarchy, and had been for several years, but lately a group of rebels from South Tajun called the South Point Resistance broke apart from the country and declared themselves independent. This led to a civil war that took longer than anyone realized to end, and now both sides was stuck in a stalemate that wore away at fighters from both sides. It seemed like this civil war would never end…until now.

General Galka of the South Point Army stood next to his guest, a man dressed in a fancy gray three piece suit watching a weapons demonstration like no other. His men, a regiment of 24 soldiers in all, fought against an unstoppable large robot that easily took all of their heavy firepower head on without a scratch.

"Outstanding, its not even slowing down, even when they shoot at its joints." Galka said, astonished at the golem's resilience. "You said this golem's name was Amun, yes?"

"That's right. Taller than any talos this country has to offer, and built with adamantium in its armor and joints." Mr. Freeman, a man of unknown repute and seller of questionable goods, said proudly. "You can outfit it with multiple weapon loadouts and its grappling hook can tear an M6 in half with ease."

When it became clear that regular gunfire was completely useless against Amun, the soldiers brought out four unmarked Murphy talos to provide additional firepower. Shoulder-mounted rocket launchers shot their payloads at the golem, but it barely did more than flinch when the projectiles hit its chest. Amun stepped forward and grabbed a rocket flying at its face. Turning it around, it threw the rocket back at the talos, blowing up a car the soldiers were using for cover.

"Amazing," Galka praised as Amun came to stand before them. "I've heard of recent advancements in drone technology based on golems, but this is beyond my wildest dreams." He studied the completely unmarked joints of the talos like a wealthy socialite showing off his fancy new car. "Who made it?"

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase, don't look a gift horse in the mouth?" Freeman said coyly.

"Ah, classified." Galka nodded.

"Now, I've taking the liberty of coding it to your voice commands." Freeman said. "It is now yours to command."

Galka nodded, happy at finally getting a weapon that could turn the tide against those imperialistic dogs. But something plagued his thoughts. "I appreciate you giving this to us, but everything has a price. What's yours?"

Freeman just smirked and said, "My price is that you put it to good use."

XXXXXX

"Any of your bozos come after us and we'll shoot you full of holes!" The robber shouted before firing off a couple of rounds from his machine gun. He ran out of the bank into the getaway car where his friends, Nate and Carter, were ready to go. He hopped into the passenger seat and yelled, "Step on it!"

Carter sped away from the bank just as local authorities arrived around the corner. The bank robbers all gave cheers and high fives, thinking that they were in the clear with the biggest payday of their lives.

"Oh man, I can't believe that worked!" Nate laughed. "I thought robbing banks was impossible these days."

"Only if you run in without knowin' where the alarms are." John said. "All we have to do is hide out until the heat dies down and…"

John trailed off when he saw a hot pink car park itself right in the middle of the street. Though the other cars and pedestrians quickly got out of their way, this single car didn't move an inch. What's even stranger was that the driver, an attractive young woman with pink hair clad in a tight-fitting biker's outfit, actually got out and faced the approaching car.

"Who's the hotty?" Nate asked.

"Who cares? If she ain't gonna move, then she's gonna have her pretty brains splattered all over the street!" Carter increased his speed, driving straight at the woman. For a minute, it looked like the horrified pedestrians were going to witness a terrible hit and run incident.

Unfortunately for the robbers, this was no ordinary woman, as she suddenly vanished and the pink car behind her began to change. The flashy little car unfolded and reshaped itself into a slender pink and white robot, who stood tall glaring down at them.

"Shit!" Carter yelled and slammed on the brakes.

Arcee knelt down and easily stopped the car in its tracks. "And where do you think you're going?"

John and his companions quickly got out of the car and opened fire on Arcee with their machine guns. Their bullets ricocheted off the unimpressed Autobot femme, whose hand lashed out and destroyed their weapons with ease. Then her holomatter avatar reappeared and began laying down a serious beat down on the thugs.

"All I wanted was to have a normal day off. No Cons, no terrorists, just some me time." Arcee ranted. She commanded her avatar to throw Nate into the window of his car before backhanding Carter across the jaw and pinning John to the ground. "The fact that people like you are able to do this sickens me!"

"G-Go to hell, alien!" John spat. "I didn't come to be lectured by a female toaster!"

John screamed as Arcee's fist slammed into the ground inches from his body, killing the last shred of confidence he had as Arcee glared down at him. "You want to run that by me again?"

"Arcee, come in." A call came over her comm. "This is Prowl."

"Not now, Prowl, I'm busy." Arcee said.

"I'd say you've made your point." Prowl said.

Looking around at the dazed and beaten bank robbers, and the crowd of onlookers looking up at her in awe, Arcee grimaced and stood up. Yeah, maybe she was done here.

"Focus up, Arcee, I have a mission for you." Prowl told her. "And you're going to need some help for this one."

XXXXXX

Sideswipe loved his brother, he really did, since they were twins and all, but he wasn't blind to Sunstreaker's faults. He heard the angry whispers and suspicious murmurs from other Autobots; Sunstreaker being booted off a strike team for being too violent and abusive towards his teammates. Sunstreaker being told off for his unnecessarily hostile nature to both Autobots and aliens (and nearly starting a war one time because of his unwarranted comments). The list goes on, and yes, it's quiet the list.

Sideswipe accepted Sunstreaker's faults, knowing his twin just barely listens to him when he goes a step too far. But there were times when he just wanted to punch the bastard in the face. This was one of those times.

"You're going to get me killed one day, Sunny. I swear, you really are." Sideswipe hissed.

I was just giving my opinion." Sunstreaker shrugged. "Not my fault they're so sensitive."

By "they" he meant the dozen burly biker gang members and bar goers who had a little too much to drink. The Autobot twins, out of curiosity, had used their holomatter avatars to mingle with the humans for a bit. Unfortunately, it backfired horribly when one of the men made a disparaging remark about the Autobots and Sunstreaker opened his big mouth. Now they were surrounded by a bunch of angry thugs looking to punch their faces in.

"What, you are mad just because I disagreed with you?" Sunstreaker taunted.

"No, we're mad at you for taking the side of those damn aliens running our turning our country into a war zone!" A biker growled, wielding a pool stick as his weapon. "That makes you unpatriotic."

"Good thing I have zero shits about this country then, huh?" Sunstreaker grinned, further angering the men.

Sideswipe rolled his eyes. "Don't suppose you guys will be satisfied with an apology and some drinks on me?"

"We'll be satisfied once we smash your faces in!" A mohawk slinging teen growled.

"Well, I tried." Sideswipe shrugged.

Mohawk man tried to charge at Sideswipe with a thick set of chains, but Sunstreaker quickly blocked him, throwing a hard punch to his sternum and throwing him into a table. Sideswipe snatched up the pains and whacked another biker upside the head.

Sunstreaker gleefully stole a pool stick and was using it as a weapon to great effect, showing no mercy as he smacked a man's arm hard enough to almost break his bones.

"You're right, Sideswipe." Sunstreaker grinned. "This is therapeutic."

"Oh shut up." Sideswipe groaned.

Together, the two brothers proceeded to lay waste to the entire bar's worth of patrons. Burly bikers, drunken cowboys, typical patriots hanging out with like-minded drinkers and brutes tried to swarm the pair, but against two disguised Autobots with years of combat experience under their belts, they didn't stand a chance.

After a brutal beat down, the only two people left standing were Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and the awestruck bartender who recorded the whole fight on his phone.

Sideswipe sighed. "Just like Cybertron…"

"I know, it's great, right? Those were the good old days." Sunstreaker smiled. He heard a groan near his foot and looked down. It was the biker who insulted the Autobots earlier. "Still awake, bozo? Don't worry, allow me to put you to sleep!"

Sunstreaker raised his foot to smash the man's face in, but Sideswipe quickly stopped him. "Whoa, Snny, he's already beat. You don't need to go that far!"

"Haven't you seen the news, Sides? People like him only learn if you beat the lesson into them!" Sunstreaker growled and pushed his brother away. Before he could stomp on the man's head, something sharp flew past his face and embedded itself into the wall next to his head. It was a knife.

"I figured I'd find you two in the middle of a bar massacre." The twins turned to the door to see Arcee's holoform standing there.

"Hey, Cee." Sideswipe greeted her, pulling his brother away from the pile of bodies they made. "What's up?"

"We got a missions overseas, and I need your help in completing it." Arcee told them, glancing down at the downed humans.

"But I'm not finished with these morons." Sunstreaker protested.

"Yes," Arcee narrowed her eyes. "You are."

Sideswipe saw that his brother wasn't backing down, so he quickly stepped up. "Yeah, we're done here, Cee! Sorry for the mess. So, uh, what's the mission?"

Arcee stared long and hard at Sunstreaker before answering Sideswipe's question. "You two are going to help me stop a war."

XXXXXX

Starscream had to be tickled at how easy it was to manipulate these humans. Many may hero worship the Autobots, but flash a fancy gun and wave some gold in their faces and they'll dance to your tune. He forgot that greed was a universal element, along with selfishness. With their existence now public knowledge, Starscream felt it was prudent to utilize more…controversial battle tactics.

Part of Megatron's disdain for Starscream stemmed from his unconventional battle tactics in regards to taking over worlds. Starscream argued that it wouldn't hurt to try something other than infiltration and brute force to conquer worlds; why not use a race's own dark desires to help make the process go more smoothly. Money, food, drugs, sex, political power, all are driving factors that can move one to betray their entire species just for a taste of heaven. It also gave the Decepticons valuable allies who know the lay of the land and will work for them. It'd save resources and time, as well as introduce a surprise element to the war that the Autobots won't see coming.

But Megatron was too set in his ways. Why would he waste time trying to coerce the natives into helping him when he could just take what he wanted? Megatron's pride and inherent racial superiority kept him from seeing the tactical advantage that such plans provided him.

'That's what I get for trying to teach a war monger how to be political.' Starscream thought as he watched the soldiers of the designated South Point army leave the mission briefing, which took place in a large tent within their base camp.

Using his holoform, Starscream looked at the old armored vehicles and talos the South Point rebels were using and wondered how the hell they lasted this long against the Royal Army. He looked over to the tent to see the soldiers coming out to grab their weapons and gear before mounting their vehicles before driving off to battle. Many were eager to let their new weapon loose on the enemy.

"Cry havoc," Starscream smirked. "And let slip the dogs of war!"

XXXXXX

Arcee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exited the ground bridge just on the outskirts of what used to be a Verusian City. Arcee led the twins through the forest and crouched low to scout the battlefield for their target.

Queen Cassia of Verusia had requested the aid of the Autobots in investigating possible outside interference with the deployment of a new weapon from the South Point army that seemed too powerful to have been made by human hands. Arcee and the twins were supposed to confirm the identity of this new and advanced weapon being used by the rebels and destroy it before more people are killed.

"So here we are cleaning up another one of the humans' messes. This fragging sucks." Sunstreaker said.

Sideswipe groaned. "Don't start, Sunny."

"Why don't we just let them obliterate each other?" He continued. "Anyone who can't control their own country doesn't deserve to be in power."

"Spoken like a true hero, bro." Sideswipe muttered.

Sunstreaker scowled and roughly grabbed his brother's shoulder. "What was that?" He snarled.

"These people live in poverty as a result of a harsh regime, Sunstreaker. When there's so little for everyone, people want someone to blame. And since the man responsible for their problems is dead, they focus their rage on the queen who had nothing to do with them." Arcee said.

"Filthy animals. Destroying themselves seems to be the only things humans can do these days." Sunstreaker grumbled.

"Perhaps," Arcee looked back at him with her piercing gaze. "But considering we destroyed our homeworld in a civil war that's put our species on the galactic endangered species list, what does that say about us?"

The brothers had nothing to say to that. However, their attention was brought back to the mission when they heard an explosion further up the battlefield. A large humanoid robot lumbered through the battlefield supporting the South Point soldiers as they fought against the mechanized North Point army. Sideswipe whistled when he saw the robot take a tank shell to the chest before grabbing said tank and throwing it aside like it was a toy car.

"What the hell is that thing?" He asked.

"A golem." Arcee said. Her slid her visor over her eyes and did a quick scan of the machine, frowning from the readings she got when the golem opened fire with a barrage of energy beams from its hands. "One that's been enhanced with energon."

"Then the Cons are involved! That's our sign to move in!" Sunstreaker ran out of the forest and transformed to vehicle mode mid-stride, racing down the hill at full speed.

"Sunny, wait!" Sideswipe yelled.

"For frag's sake!" Arcee cursed and chased after Sunstreaker with Sideswipe. "He's going to get himself killed doing stupid scrap like that!"

In the city, the golem named Amun was tearing up the royal army through brute strength alone, easily smashing apart tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Some tried to take it out with RPGs and tank shells, but Amun's finely crafted adamantium armor weathered through their strongest attacks. Soldiers ran for their lives as they found themselves unable to bring down the golem and were forced back to secondary positions.

The sight of their enemies fleeing was a welcome one for the South Point army. For so long they were the ones being beaten again and again by the technologically superior royal army, but Amun was giving them a taste of victory today! The soldiers cheered as their enemies were forced to flee for their lives, but their elation turned to surprise as two missiles hit Amun's arm.

A golden yellow sports car came speeding down the decimated street before transforming into the Autobot Sunstreaker, who leapt up and kicked the golem in its face. He landed on the ground and shifted his arm into his heat cannon and pointed it at Amun.

"All right, ugly, stand down or—hey!" Sunstreaker covered his face as bullets bounced off his body, fired by the surrounding South Point soldiers. "What the hell are you people doing? I'm trying to help you idiots!"

"We don't want you Osean dogs interfering in our war! This is our land!" A soldier shouted before shooting a rocket at Sunstreaker's face.

He stumbled back from the exploding projectile hitting his face and reflexively fired his heat cannon in response, narrowly missing the soldiers as they scattered. Sunstreaker lunged forward and slammed his fist down next to the man that fired the rocket.

"You want to say that to my face, you little bastard?" Sunstreaker growled. Suddenly Amun's grappling hook grabbed his head from behind and yanked him back, throwing him into one of the half-destroyed buildings.

Amun pointed its laser cannons at Sunstreaker and fired, the onslaught forcing him to take cover. Amun slowly advanced on Sunstreaker's position while continuing its laser barrage, having detected the Autobot's energon signature as another threat to be neutralized.

"Stay away from my brother!" Sideswipe yelled as he raced right up to Amun and changed forms to lash out with his repulsor gauntlets. Before he could anything, he was grabbed by Amun's grappling hook and thrown into the ground. Sideswipe rolled away and shot his blaster into the golem's face. "You ain't so tough!"

Amun raced its arm and shot a laser blast into Sideswipe's chest, blasting him into the side of a tank. Arcee ran behind him and slashed her sabers against the back of the golem's knees, though it did little damage, for the joints were adamantium coated as well. It did catch Amun's attention though, and Arcee used this chance to shove a flash grenade into its face. The light blinded Amun long enough to allow Arcee to regroup with the twins.

"What part of teamwork did you not understand, Sunstreaker? And you call yourself a soldier." Arcee hissed. "Honestly, Rodimus has a better sense of cooperation than you."

"I'm alright, by the way. Thanks for asking." Sunstreaker said bitterly.

"I didn't." She shot back.

"That thing took a dozen of my shots at point blank range and didn't even flinch, Arcee." Sideswipe said.

"It's armor is made of adamantium, the strongest metal on the planet." Arcee said. "Even laser weaponry will have a hard time getting through."

"Those weapons are powered by energon." Sunstreaker said. "And I know those savages don't have the knowhow to do that."

"So how do we take it out?" Sideswipe asked.

"Focus on its joints, the adamantium coating is weakest there. Sideswipe, you help the royal army evacuate." Arcee said.

"Roger that." Sideswipe said and ran off to evacuate the soldiers.

Taking long strides with his large legs, he quickly gathered up as many soldiers that were either left behind or wounded in the initial attack. He jumped in front of a soldier who was about to be gunned by a South Point soldier and pointed his blaster at him.

"Beat it." He growled, scaring the soldier away.

Arcee and Sunstreaker battled Amun, slashing and shooting at the extremely durable golem. As if it weren't already heavily armed, it carried a long wrist mounted vibro-blade that tore through tank armor like scissors through paper. Sunstreaker already sported a shallow cut along his chestplate from a near miss with the blade as he shot his heat cannon into the golem's chest. It slashed at him, but he dodged it and jumped up to slam his fist into its face. Amun's grappling hook shot out and snagged his arm before throwing him down into a car.

Arcee jumped onto its back and stabbed its shoulders, slicing off its shoulder cannon and trying to sever its arms. Amun thrashed its upper body and jumped back into a wall, smashing Arcee against it. She still held on, but Amun reached back and pulled her off, throwing her aside. She hit the ground and fired her blaster at its face, just barely dodging a punch from the robot for the cheap shot.

"That's not how you treat a lady!" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker spun circles around the golem before firing their weapons.

Arcee looked up the street and saw South Point tanks closing in on their position. With their enemies having retreated, the rebels had switched their attention to the three Autobots, and they still had plenty of talos to set loose on them as well.

'We won't be able to fight off that many talos in the state we're in, and that golem's tearing us apart.' Arcee thought. 'We've got to retreat.'

Sideswipe was blasted off his wheels by a wall timed laser blast that sent him tumbling down a rock pile. Sunstreaker raced over to him and stood over his brother, facing Amun.

"Come on, cog sucker. I'm ready for you!" He yelled.

As the golem marched on him, Arcee flipped over the golem's head before dropping a flash grenade in its face. When the golem was blinded, along with any soldiers unfortunate enough to be standing in the same direction, Arcee tossed out a smoke bomb to cover their escape before grabbing the twins.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go!" Sunstreaker growled.

"Shut up and drive!" Arcee shouted before she and the brothers transformed and sped away.

XXXXXX

Once they made it far enough from the enemy forces, the Autobots changed to robot mode to take a breather from that intense battle. Sunstreaker wasted no time in getting up in Arcee's face.

"Why did you take us out of the fight? We were winning!" Sunstreaker yelled.

"We were barely making a dent in that thing, Sunstreaker." Arcee said. "Even our laser weapons were only doing so much damage in a single time."

"That adamantium armor is some tough stuff." Sideswipe groaned. "It can certainly stand against blaster fire, I'll tell you that."

"We wouldn't have had to run if those stupid humans didn't attack. We're trying to help them and those good for nothing bastards try to blow us up." Sunstreaker growled.

"Which is odd considering we haven't really done anything to them…that we know of." Arcee rubbed her chin. "If the Cons are involved, then they've done more than just escalate a conflict. We neeed answers."

"And how are we going to get those answers?" Sideswipe asked.

"I have an idea, but we're going to have to wait for the South Point Army to retreat." Arcee said.

"So instead of fighting Cons, we're running and hiding from humans like rats." Sunstreaker said bitterly.

Arcee gave him a hard glare that actually made him back away. "A true soldier is more than just someone who runs around shooting guns at the enemy. I thought you were flexible enough for the job, Sunstreaker, but apparently I was wrong. We do this my way. If you don't like it, then you can head back to base and let your brother and I do our jobs properly."

Sideswipe prayed to any god that he could think of that Sunstreaker didn't start up with Arcee of all people. Sweet as she was, Arcee was merciless when angered. Thankfully, Sunstreaker actually knew when to cut his losses and backed off.

"If that's over with, let's get back to the mission." She said. "We'll follow them back to their camp and wait to strike. We might be able to stop this war before any serious damage can be done."

XXXXXX

For the first time in what felt like forever, the South Point army returned to their camp feeling victorious. In just one day they dealt the Verusian army a blow that would've taken them more time and resources to achieve under normal circumstances. They cheered and praised the source of their victory, the powerful golem Amun. With this machine, neither the Verusians nor the Autobots will take their land from them.

But not everyone was happy.

In his tent, while his men were celebrating, General Galka was having a meeting with Mr. Freeman.

"You just let them run away?!" Freeman growled. "I hand you a superweapon and you just let them go?"

"We've won the battle with little casualties, Mr. Freeman. That's all that matters." Galka said. "Our objective was to run the Verusians out of our land and it did just that, with a little added field test against the Autobots."

"Yes, Autobots who will be back because you let them live!"

"We beat them down enough times and those aliens will not come back to our lands again." Galka said calmly. "Powerful Amun may be, I'm not about to incur the wrath of the entire Autobot force for killing a couple of their soldiers. Besides, my quarrel is with the Verusians, not the Autobots."

"The Verusians will just come back and try to take your land again. You had them on the run, you could've stormed their camp and killed them all!" Freeman said, losing his composure. "I didn't give you Amun to play cat and mouse with your enemies, I gave you Amun to annihilate your enemies!"

"You're right, we could've taken their base, but the costs in men and resources, Amun or not, would have been too high." Galka stood up and stared Freeman directly in the eyes. "That kind of thinking is more in line with the Verusians, Mr. Freeman."

"That's the point, you epidermis shedding barbarian! I think like a Verusian? Has it ever occurred to you that they think like Verusians? You humans are more soft hearted than I thought if you think just running them off with that miserable collection of ingrates will scare them off!" Freeman was practically nose to nose with Galka, eyes wide with rage as he continued his tirade. "The whole point of war is to destroy your enemies, blow them all away by any means necessary, make sure they'll never come back to haunt you again! Destroying everything in your path is all you humans are ever good for, so if you ever want to freely live in this dirty, rat-infested hellhole of a country, then you will do as I say and tear them apart!"

To his credit, Galka didn't immediately shoot Freeman on the spot for insulting his army and his country in a single speech. He schooled his feature and held the tent flap open, a clear indication for the man to leave. "If that is what you think, then you're free to leave this rat-infested cesspool, Mr. Freeman. I wash my hands of you!"

"Leave? Oh you poor, misguided fool. I thought we could be friends, but apparently you're no less of a coward than Optimus Prime."

Galka's face paled as Freeman's face slowly turned demonic as he advanced on the general.

"If you won't use Amun for its intended purpose, then I'll just have to take matters into my own hands!"

XXXXXX

Arcee's team waited until it was the middle of the night before moving into the South Point camp. While they were waiting, they took the time to prepare for their next and hopefully final confrontation with the golem. That meant bringing along the big guns from a certain someone's personal stash.

"Arcee, you sure that Ironhide won't mind us snatching these things from his weapons locker?" Sideswipe asked, glancing at the neutron cannon strapped to his back.

"I'm sure Ironhide will understand considering the circumstances." Arcee said, checking over her newly acquired photon-bow. "Nothing a little apology won't fix."

'I beg to differ.' Sideswipe thought but refrained from saying anything. He looked at his brother. "Sunny, you ready?"

"Is Prowl an unlikable asshole?" Sunstreaker returned with a grin, revving up his gear shredder. "Let's torch these bastards!"

"We're only here to destroy the golem. Fight against the humans only in self-defense, Sunstreaker. We don't need an international incident here." Arcee warned him.

"But all's fair against us, huh?" Sunstreaker muttered. "Let's just get this done."

Arcee had done a quick scan of the camp from the treetops before the twins arrived with the heavy weapons. It wasn't hard to spot the tent where the soldiers were keeping their mechanized units. It was possible they were keeping the golem along with the other talos for maintenance.

Having confirmed the golem's location, the three Autobots quietly infiltrated the camp, easily bypassing the patrolling guards as they kept to the perimeter of the camp. Arcee was no stranger to stealth missions, even amongst organics, so she had the twins follow her lead as they avoided the soldiers who were either resting or still celebrating in the center of the camp.

'For rebels, they're really are a bit lacking in security.' Arcee thought. Something seemed a bit odd about that, but she focused on the mission. As long as they can disable the golem before anyone activates it, it wouldn't matter if they're discovered.

"Here it is." She whispered, pointing to the old aircraft hangar that housed the South Point Army's talos. Arcee led her group to the back of the hangar and motioned for Sunstreaker to use his heat cannon to burn a hole through the wall.

Once their entrance was made, Arcee kicked the wall down and rushed inside with the twins. They quickly spotted a large humanoid machine standing right in the middle of the talos section of the hangar, looking no worse for wear aside from a few scratches and scorch marks on its armor.

"There it is!" Sideswipe exclaimed, activating his repulsor gauntlets. "Let's smash it!"

"On it!" Arcee drew her swords and leapt at Amun. She drew her arms back and slashed as hard as she could at Amun's head…only for a large hand to catch her swords mid-strike!

"What?!"

"Scrap, it's active?" Sunstreaker growled.

Amun easily tossed Arcee back as if she were a fly and she landed on her feet, sheathing her swords to take out her photon-bow. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stood close to her as Amun slowly walked out of its hangar and stood before them.

"You Autobots are so predictable."

They turned to see a well-dressed man walking out of the shadows with a grin on his face. The Autobots were immediately on guard, though they were wondering how they never detected this guy when they reached the hangar.

"Who the hell are you?" Sideswipe demanded.

"Just someone who wants to see the world burn." The man said, patting Amun's leg. "Although, maybe I should be asking what you're doing here, Autobots. You're not exactly welcome in South Point territory if I remember correctly."

"We're here to apprehend or destroy that golem. It's been augmented with cybertronian technology, which is illegal under the articles of the Cybercord Treaty." Arcee said. "Step aside and let us do our jobs."

"So you come on behalf of the Verusian government, then?" He asked.

"They asked us to stop this issue from getting out of control." Sunstreaker said and pointed his heat cannon at the man. "Now beat it or you're going to get fried!"

The man, Mr. Freeman, laughed. "Oh you foolish Autobots. You couldn't have come at a worst time. Light them up, boys!"

The talos switched on simultaneously around the trio and the mecha all stepped forward with their weapons—which Arcee noticed were considerably more advanced than the standard rifles talos used—and surrounded them. Arcee cursed and glared at the arrogant human grinning up at them. Why the hell was that smirk so familiar?

"Did you hear that soldiers of the South Point army? These Autobots, who claim to not interfere in the affairs of humans, have not only sided with the Verusians in this war, they also murder your leader and come to destroy your key to winning this war!" Freeman said to the assembled troops.

"Hold up, we didn't kill anyone!" Sideswipe yelled.

"They butchered General Galka in his own tent, defenseless and unassuming, and they send these alien barbarians to finish the job by leaving you all vulnerable to Verusian retribution." Freeman said, his words further inflaming the rage burning within the hearts of the rebels. "Are you going to allow these Osean dogs to dictate how your wars go?"

"NO!" The roar was thunderous and even set Sunstreaker on edge.

"Then go forth and slay them. Show the world the might of the South Point revolutionaries!"

"Frag this!" Sunstreaker growled and pushed his brother aside before turning his heat cannon onto the talos. "I'm not dying to these bastards!"

"Sunny, wait!" Sideswipe tried to stop his brother, but Sunstreaker had already fired the shot, destroying the upper torso of a talos in one shot.

This caused the other talos to open fire on the Autobots with a combination of laser fire from their newly acquired laser rifles and rockets launched from the Murphys. Amun ran forward and barreled into the middle of their formation, forcing the Autobots to scatter. Amun focused its long-range weapons on Arcee and Sunstreaker, unleashing a barrage of missiles from the missile pods on its shoulders.

"Get behind me!" Sideswipe jumped in front of them and slammed his gauntlets together, creating a shockwave that knocked the attacking talos and Amun back. "Let's get out of here!"

They ran out of the hangar and made it outside, only to run into a hail of bullets and shells coming from soldiers and tanks that were converging on their position.

"It was a setup!" Arcee yelled.

"What do we do now?" Sunstreaker asked.

"What we came here to do. Destroy that golem and get the hell out of here." Sideswipe said and unstrapped the neutron cannon from his back. "You ready, bro?"

"I was done when we bridged to this good for nothing hellhole." Sunstreaker said, attaching the gear shredder to his left arm.

"Focus up, guys." Arcee threw two EMP grenades at the approaching tanks, disabling them, though that still left the many soldiers shooting at them with their rifles.

Amun came charging out of the hangar firing lasers from the cannons on its arms. The Autobots scattered and attacked from different directions. Sideswipe waited until the golem was close enough before shooting his neutron cannon, releasing a bright green neutron blast that hit Amun right in its chest. The blast pushed the golem back and actually left a spot of warped metal on its chest, making Sideswipe grin.

"Now we're talking!" He laughed.

Arcee pulled the string back on her photon-bow, releasing a stream of energy at the golem's leg joints. Each laser arrow hit the joints with pinpoint precision and actually made the golem stagger. While Sideswipe bombarded the golem with neutron blasts, Arcee took out its shoulder missile pods and blasted apart pieces of its armor. Sunstreaker pointed his gear-shredder at Amun's right arm, but couldn't get a clear shot.

"Sides, get clear, I'm going to shoot it." Sunstreaker called out. Sideswipe turned to his brother to say something, but his eyes widened as he saw a tank taking aim at Sunstreaker.

"Sunny, look out!"

Sideswipe activated his jet pack and shot at his brother. He slammed into Sunstreaker and pushed him aside just as the tank fired a kinetic shell at them. The shell hit Sideswipe in the left side of his chest and sent him tumbling along the ground. Sunstreaker watched in horror as his twin rolled to a stop with a big smoking hole in his side that was leaking energon profusely.

"Sides!" Sunstreaker shouted. He felt bullets impacting his armor and saw more soldiers and talos coming at them. "You animals! Is this all you're ever good for?"

His eyes turning red with rage, Sunstreaker fired his heat cannon at the talos, completely destroying the old machines in a single shot, their pilots incinerated in red hot flames before they even knew it. The camp was set aflame from the exploding talos, tents catching fire and soldiers running for their lives as the flames spread. Sunstreaker didn't stop with the talos; he focused his anger on the tanks too. Grabbing one tank by the cannon barrel, he lifted it over his head and slammed it down onto another tank, before kicking them both into a group of fleeing soldiers.

"Why are you running?" Sunstreaker howled. "I thought you wanted to fight me? No sense in running like cowards now!"

Sunstreaker shot at anything that moved, not caring at all for the unfortunately soldiers who were burned alive from the intense heat of his blasts. The attack on the soldiers caught the attention of Amun, who limped toward Sunstreaker and pointed its laser cannons at the enraged Autobot.

"Sunstreaker!" Arcee called out. She adjusted the settings on the photon bow and pointed it at the golem's legs. Pulling the trigger, she fired a long, thin energy beam that hit Amun's left knee and completely burned through the joint, causing Amun to tumble forward onto its hands and knees. Still, it attempted to attack Sunstreaker, who noticed the lumbering giant behind him.

"Don't think I forgot about you, cog sucker!" Sunstreaker hefted the neutron cannon onto his shoulder and unleashed a barrage of energy fire onto the golem's head. Repeated neutron blasts tore apart Amun's head and chest, as well as melting the adamantium armor that made up its frame.

"Sunstreaker!" Arcee yelled over the assault. "Sunstreaker, stop! It's already destroyed!"

Sunstreaker finally registered Arcee's words and he stopped firing the overheated cannon. He tossed the weapon aside as he glared down at the burning, melted remains of what was once a highly advanced golem, though now the mighty Amun was just a pile of molten slag and badly burnt scraps. Sunstreaker ran over to Arcee and knelt down next to his brother.

"Arcee, is he alright?" He asked worriedly.

"He's hurt, but he'll pull through. Though I don't think he'll be seeing any action for a couple of days." Arcee said, checking Sideswipe over. She looked up at the burning camp, at the smoldering wrecks of talos and tanks, at the scorched remains of the soldiers that weren't able to get away. It was a miracle anyone got away in time. "Sunstreaker, what did you do?"

Sunstreaker carefully pulled Sideswipe onto his back and sent Arcee a glare. "I taught them a lesson. We're not taking their slag because we're Autobots. It's they're fault for getting involved."

Arcee couldn't believe the lack of empathy in Sunstreaker's voice, but his eyes were even more disturbing. There was no remorse in his gaze. He truly didn't care that he just attacked a bunch of humans without hesitation.

She called the Ark for a ground bridge and made mental note to inform Optimus of this. Sunstreaker was more unstable than she realized and she was afraid of what he might do next when he really let's loose.

XXXXXX

Starscream and Wreckage stood on the outskirts of the burning South Point camp. The soldiers had scattered into the forests in the midst of Sunstreaker's unexpected rampage, and their cash cow had just been reduced to slag by that same Autobot. There was no need to maintain the charade anymore.

"Well that was an interesting turn of events." Wreckage said. "Wasn't expecting that brat to go ape like that."

"Neither did I." Starscream muttered.

"You don't sound very disappointed." Wreckage noted. "We can't continue the mission anymore now that Amun's destroyed, and I really wanted to see that thing cause some damage in the Verusian capital."

"Tonight wasn't a total loss, Wreckage." Starscream said, glancing up at the trees. He saw the faint outline of Laserbeak before he flew off to report back to his master, though Starscream hardly seemed concerned. In fact, this was perfect. "I've just confirmed a little experiment of mine: turning the humans against the Autobots."

"That was your goal?"

"Yup. There are many greed-driven humans on this planet, and not all of them see the Autobots as saviors sent from the heavens. The South Point army will forever see the Autobots as dogs of the western barbarians trying to intrude upon their territory, and I doubt Verusia will really see the Autobots in a good light after this massacre."

"Oh, I like that train of thought." Wreckage grinned.

"But that's not even the best part, Wreckage." Starscream smirked, thinking back to Sunstreaker's berserk rampage in the camp. "I think I just found the weak link in the chain."

Nothing totally special about this chapter aside from planting some seeds for future story arcs. I'm some of you can take a guess, though I'm not telling. This is my last chapter for the year, and next chapter we focus on the growing esper problem in Osea as the children take center stage. Be sure to check out Transformers Titan website on Wordpress, as well as my Fantasia website too. Thanks for reading, please leave a review, and Happy Holidays to all my fans!