Chapter 41-All Hail Megatron part 1
Darren awoke with a gasp and looked around haphazardly, trying to regain his senses. His head hurt, everything was dark, and he couldn't move his arms or legs. When he finally calmed down, he realized that his limbs were restrained in thick metal cuffs and was suspended above the floor by energy bonds. He felt something around his neck and knew it was an inhibitor collar.
'That's right, I was captured.' Darren thought, remembering the battle at the mountain. As the events of earlier came rushing back, he clenched his teeth as he realized that the mission was a complete failure. 'The Minicons…we couldn't save them. And now I'm captured too.'
The door slid open and a large figure walked into the chamber. Darren already recognized his heavy footsteps and imposing frame before he came into the light, and he glared hatefully up at the grinning form of Megatron as the warlord stood before him.
"Megatron." He said spitefully.
"Darren Radcliffe. You and your friends have given my troops a lot of trouble over the past year." Megatron said. "Primus is smiling down on me to finally have you in my grasp after so much pain."
"You're one to talk about pain after causing so much of it to your own people." Darren said.
"You can blame Optimus for that. It takes two to start a war after all." Megatron replied. "But we're not here to talk about past decisions."
"No, we're not." Darren scowled. "What do you want with me? And where are the Minicons?"
"Like I would tell you where the Minicons are. They're tucked away where no one will find them, a little insurance to make sure the Autobots don't try anything funny. Not like they can do anything in the first place. And you," The Decepticon leader's grin widened. "You will be the key to achieving total victory in this war."
Darren's eyes widened at that. "What are you talking about?"
Megatron ignored his question and turned to the door, where another figure entered. Darren saw a single glowing yellow eye staring back at him, and his heart filled with dread as he saw Shockwave enter the light.
"Let us begin the operation."
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The mood in the Ark couldn't have been any lower than it already was now. The two strike teams returned in a worse state than when they left, without Darren and without the Minicons.
Optimus stood in front of the CR tank that held Sparkplug's healing body. Ratchet had done enough for the poor mech to heal the worst of his wounds before letting the CR chamber do the rest. Arcee, Jazz and Rodimus had minor burns that were easily healed, though they were in better shape than the children.
Sara was having her leg repaired by Ratchet, who was most familiar with her internal designs. Gina had suffered severe exhaustion fighting Fauntleroy, and Annie…Annie was in bad shape. Magda had practically incinerated the poor girl and she looked like a corpse when Tomahawk and Hound managed to find her broken body at the bottom of the mountain. Her recovery was slow but assured, though her regeneration was slow and painful.
Arcee and Moonracer had went off to the Radcliffe residence to inform Debbie of the operation's failure. Optimus didn't know what was said, as neither sister wanted to speak about it, but the heartbroken look on Arcee's face said it all.
"Prime." Prowl walked up to him. "Prime, are you all right?"
"No, Prowl, I'm not all right. I'm about as far from all right as I can possibly be right now." Optimus said truthfully, glancing over his shoulder at his lieutenant. "What is it?"
"I just wanted to propose a plan to locate the Minicons. We can leave them in Decepticon hands." Prowl said.
"And how do you propose we do that if they're hostages? Darren's plan was our only chance and it failed."
"Then we take a page out of their book and take a hostage of our own." Prowl replied. "We know they haven't been finding as many ore-13 veins as we have, so let's lure them out with a sizeable portion of raw ore-13 crystals and capture whoever comes after them. Even with all his resources, Megatron won't pass up the chance to increase his stock of ore-13."
"That won't work." Optimus immediately shot the plan down. "Using hostages against Megatron won't work. All Decepticons are willing to die for the cause and he doesn't care enough about them to consider an exchange unless they're Nightshade and Soundwave, which is a stretch to consider them risking themselves for ore-13."
"But if you'd just consider—"
"No, Prowl." Optimus said, giving Prowl a hard look. "No."
Prowl's expression tightened but he nodded and wordlessly left the medibay. Optimus turned back to the stasis locked Sparkplug and continued to ruminate in his own thoughts. Nobody said anything else from that moment onward.
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Debra hurriedly ran down the halls of the Utopian medical center where her family was waiting for her. She ignored everyone else as she reached the trauma center and saw her mother, Sue and Fauntleroy waiting by the emergency room.
"Mom, Sue!"
Sue saw her sister and jumped up to hug Debra tightly. "Debra." She cried.
"Is everyone alright?" Debra asked, looking at her mother. "What about Jane?"
"Jane's in bad shape, but she'll make a full recovery. We have Joshua looking her over right now." Magda said. "If it weren't for him, she really would have been in worse shape."
Debra gave a relieved sigh. Joshua was a very important esper in the Karaba medical corp. he could heal most injuries just by touching a person and "absorbing" their pain. He was only a teenager but he was a crucial member of Karaba who had saved several lives so far. She was assured that Jane was safe in his hands.
"That mission was harder than it needed to be if those damn kids weren't so strong." Fauntleroy growled, rubbing his arms where his burns were still healing. "That boy better be worth the trouble."
"Boy? What boy?" Debra asked.
"You don't know?" Sue blinked. "Our mission was to help the Decepticons retrieve a boy who was friends with the Autobots."
"You captured a human boy and gave him to the Cons? How could you?" Debra exclaimed. "Do you know what they'll do to him?"
"The boy was an esper actively fighting against our cause, Debra. He's been fighting in this war long before we knew aliens existed." Magda said. "Megatron assured us that capturing him will give us the opportunity to deal a first strike against Osea."
"And that makes it okay to start selling children to them? They'll torture him, mother!" She said.
Magda shook her head and gently placed a hand on her step-daughter's shoulder. "Debra, I know this makes you uncomfortable, but in order to achieve our goals, we must make sacrifices."
"Don't try to justify that! You're selling members of your own species to them!" Debra shouted. "What's next, are you going to let them start turning countries into fortresses? Hand over defectors to them? Maybe have Laserbeak spy on our people to make sure they stay in line since we're going down that slope!"
"Silence girl!" Magda hissed, her eyes flashing. "I will not have my decisions criticized by you. This is why we left you out of the loop, because of your bleeding heart!"
"If being human is considered as having a bleeding heart then you're even farther gone than dad." Debra growled and marched down the hall.
"We are not humans, Debra, we are espers! The superior race!" Magda shouted after her. "And it's time you realized that wars cannot be won if we don't make some sacrifices. You will be thanking me a year from now when we're using the White House as the seat of our power!"
Debra was already gone, having tuned out her mother's words. There was no way in hell she was going to let this slide and she was going to let her father know exactly what she thought of this plan.
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It was a bright, sunny day over the Ozark mountains where Starscream flew over the vast, rocky landscape. He was alone, which was something he valued now more than ever with his Seeker brothers hanging around Dreadwing now.
A pulse signal caught his attention and he lowered his altitude so that he was closer to the forest. Once he was low enough, he transformed and landed on the ground, making the ground tremble a bit before approaching the nearest oak tree and leaning against it. Everything was quiet, save for the second pair of footsteps approaching the tree on the other side.
"You took your time calling me." Starscream said, looking up at the canopy. "What took you so long?"
"Unlike you, I actually have people who give a damn about me, Starscream." Said the unknown speaker. "Things are tense after that failed rescue mission."
"How bad it is?"
"Prowl's considering luring you out with a large cache of ore-13." The stranger said. Starscream cracked a grin.
"If that's the best plan he's got, then we're in a better position than we thought." He remarked.
"What are you…what are you planning to do with the boy?"
"Him? He's just another hostage to keep the Autobots off our backs. Nothing to worry about. Not like you care anymore." Starscream shrugged. "You just worry about doing your part. The time for this nightmare to end is almost here."
"What do I need to do?"
"Just keep an eye our for anything peculiar. You'll know it when you see it." Starscream said cryptically.
"…Okay."
Satisfied, Starscream jumped up and transformed, shooting past the trees and into the air. Phase 1 of the plan was complete. Now it was time for the appetizers.
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"How are you feeling, Annie?" Brittany asked her girlfriend, holding her hand.
"Well considering my brother's been captured, the Minicons are somewhere from here to hell, and Sparkplug's still in a coma, I'd say I'm feeling like shit." Annie said dryly, looking tired and sore. "Oh, and my hair is practically gone, so there's that."
Annie's recovery was nothing short of miraculous, even for someone like Ratchet. Her regenerative powers were astounding, with her third degree burns having healed within the hour, though her skin was still sensitive and looked sunburnt. Her hair took some time growing back, and its slow regrowth only worsened Annie's mood.
"How is Sparkplug?" Sureshock asked.
"Ratchet says that the worst is over, but it will take some time for his systems to recover enough for him to operate on his own strength. Magda doused him with a lot of microwaves that nearly fried every circuit in his body." Gina said softly, looking at her datapad.
The others looked at her sadly. Gina had barely said a word since they came back, and her reaction to losing Darren was second only to Debbie's.
"So what do we do now?" Grindor asked.
"We rest and recover. There's nothing we can do right now." High Wire said.
The quiet of the medibay was broken by Bumblebee, who came rushing into the room. "Optimus! Optimus!"
"No running in the medibay!" Ratchet scolded.
"Bumblebee, what's wrong?" Optimus asked.
"You have to see this!" He breathed.
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The Autobots assembled in the command center, where Sunstreaker and Mirage had discovered something on satellite footage.
"This just came in a few minutes ago." Mirage said, putting the live feed on the main monitor. "I thought it was a fluke, but Teletran said that it was the real deal."
The Autobots looked at the screen and saw a sight they didn't expect to see today. It was the Decepticons, but they looked to be fighting each other. Megatron and Starscream were at the heart of the chaos, fighting furiously amidst the other dueling Decepticons.
"What the hell are they doing?" Bulkhead asked.
"Fighting. They're all fighting." Ironhide said, his expression stone cold.
"When did this start?" Prowl asked.
"Not a clue, but from the look of the landscape, they've been at this for a while now." Sunstreaker said.
"I guess Starscream got sick of living in Megatron's shadow and decided now was the time to start his takeover." Rodimus said. "Bad time for it though."
"No one said Starscream had great timing." Trailbreaker said.
"So what are we going to do?" Armorhide asked, looking around. "This looks like the kind of opportunity to deal some serious damage to the Cons after that mission."
"And that's why you're still sitting on the sidelines, kid." Hound shook his head.
Armorhide growled and shot to his feet. "Well, it's not like you have any bright ideas, do you?"
"Whoa there, Armorhide, simmer down." Jazz said, placing a hand on Armorhide's arm.
Armorhide wrenched his arm free of Jazz's grasp. "No, I'm not going to sit here and let him talk down to me like I'm some protoform. I'd like to see him talk that slag with Ultra Magnus in the room!"
"You had to make a comment, didn't you?" Rodimus sighed. Hound threw a glare at him.
"Shut up, Rodimus."
Everyone started talking over each other, their voices increasing in volume, but a single shout cut through the chatter. "ENOUGH!"
The Autobots froze and all eyes turned to Optimus, who was staring at the monitor. "Time is of the essence and I will not waste it with pointless arguing. Armorhide is right, this is a rare chance to catch the Decepticons by surprise. Autobots, arm yourselves and prepare for battle!"
"Prime, is this wise?" Prowl asked. "I know you're still mad about losing Darren and the Minicons, but—"
"Prowl, the Decepticons are in more disarray than they've been for the past two months. This is our only chance to deal a serious blow to their efforts to escalate the esper war. We must strike while the iron's hot or we'll be regretting this for a long time."
No one said anything as Optimus looked at each of them with a gaze as hard as stone. Few of them had ever seen him like this, and it was a bit worrying.
"We will split into two teams. The forward strike team will be led by me and consist of Prowl, Ironhide, Jazz, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Trailbreaker, Hound, Ratchet, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Mirage, Wheeljack and Skyfire. The reserve team will consist of Rodimus, Bulkhead, Arcee, Moonracer, Lifeline, Armorhide, and will be led by Tomahawk."
"The reserve team will remain behind in case we need reinforcements. We don't know where Karaba is during all this, or Shockwave and the Enlightenment, but if the Nemesis comes into play, I'm giving you authorization to pilot the Ark into battle." Optimus told Tomahawk.
"Yes sir." She saluted.
"Everyone arms yourselves and gather in the ground bridge. We'll be moving out in five minutes."
The preparations after that briefing were done in silence. Everyone was tense, mentally preparing themselves for this sudden charge into the fray and the harrowing battle that was to follow. They didn't know what to expect, but all they could do aside from fret over the possible surprises waiting in store for them, they had to go in with everything they got.
To that end, the strike team armed themselves with anything that wasn't bolted down and they could carry on hand. They even took a couple of ore-13 booster shots for an extra edge in the initial attack. Once they were done, they assembled in the shuttle bay, where Optimus was waiting for them by the ground bridge.
"Time is short, so I will make this brief. Despite everything that's happened recently, I want you all to watch each other's backs. Do not give them time to recover. Go in hard and fast, divide and conquer." Optimus said to them. "I'm not one to pray, but giving the circumstances, let us hope that Primus will be with us today."
He faced the ground bridge as Armorhide activated it and it flared to life. Optimus raised the Star Saber and held it up high. "Autobots, roll out!"
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The location that the Decepticons were having their civil conflict was in the middle of a forest at the foot of a dormant volcano, though the area had been severely damaged by the ensuing battle.
The battle was cut short when a ground bridge appeared above them, and the Autobots came flooding out, guns firing in all directions with Optimus at the lead. The Autobot leader only had eyes for one mech, and that was Megatron.
"Megatron!" Optimus roared and swung his sword down.
"Prime!" Megatron grinned, raising Keranos to block the sword, causing an energy wave to ripple throughout the area. Optimus landed on the ground and launched a spin kick to Starscream's face before facing Megatron.
"This ends here, Megatron. You will not hurt anyone else!" He growled.
"That's where you're wrong, Prime." Megatron snapped his fingers.
Optimus reeled back as he felt a laser bolt hit him in the back, causing him to turn around to see Starscream smirking at him.
"Never turn your back on me, Prime." Starscream cackled.
A pit formed in Optimus's chest and he looked around to see that the Decepticons weren't as disorganized as he thought. The two factions that had been fighting each other just minutes ago were now combating the Autobots as if nothing had happened.
As if things couldn't get any worse, another ground bridge materialized in the air, and dozens of insecticon drones came flooding out of the portal, open firing on the Autobots. The battle turned chaotic and laser fire was shooting everywhere. The Autobots did their best to fight back, especially Skyfire, who flew as fast as she could bringing down as many warriors as she could take out. Optimus swung the Star Saber and unleashed an energy arc that destroyed several drones…only for more to come flying out in great numbers.
"You have Shockwave to thank for them. Terra has no shortage of organic material they need to reproduce rapidly to replenish their numbers." Megatron taunted.
Optimus ignored him and called the Ark. "Optimus to the Ark, we need reinforcements. Get the reserve team here, now!" He got not response, only static.
"I should also mention that our friend from Karaba is currently jamming your signals with electromagnetic waves. You won't be calling for help any time soon."
Optimus cursed and called up Skyfire. "Skyfire, you need to get back to the Ark now!"
"What? But Prime—" She protested, but Optimus cut her off.
"Go, Skyfire. There's no time!"
Hearing the urgency in Prime's voice, Skyfire swallowed her protests and changed to jet mode, quickly flying away from the fight with dozens of Insecticons chasing after her. As the swarm closed in on her, Skyfire focused on her warp drive and quickly folded away before they could get to her, vanishing from sight.
Assured that Skyfire had safely made it away from the battle, Optimus turned to face Megatron, who was grinning victoriously at him.
"We can still fight, Megatron. Having a bunch of Insecticons on your side isn't much of an improvement." Optimus said.
"Oh you're right about that. But they're just the prelude to the main course." Megatron said and looked to the hill behind him.
Optimus followed his gaze and his eyes widened upon seeing six mechs standing on top of the hill. Though they all had different appearances, they had a common color scheme—green and purple. Optimus recognized the mechs as Scrapper, Scavengers, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Hook and Bonecrusher. Together they went by a name that was known across the galaxy among cybertronians.
"Constructicons, unite!" Scrapper bellowed.
Together the Constructicons transformed, but not into vehicle modes. Instead, one by one the mechs turned into giant limbs: Scrapper became the right leg, Mixmaster became the left leg, Bonecrusher became the left arm, Scavenger transformed into the right arm, and Hook and Long Haul changed into the upper and lower body respectively.
They combined into one body, growing larger as a result of mass displacement upon merging with the main torso unit. Within minutes the six Constructicons had combined into a towering 200ft tall robot of immense size and strength, a gestalt known by Autobots and Decepticons as the first true gestalt ever created—Devastator.
"Prepare for devastation!" Devastator roared, his booming voice echoing for miles.
Emerald and purple armor gleamed in the dying sunlight as Devastator sifted through the data pouring in from his component parts. Each of the six Constructicons possessed a super intelligence but they lost their brains when they formed Devastator. But the gestalt still had enough intelligence to tell friend from foe, and as he laid eyes upon Optimus Prime, he registered him as foe.
Optimus saw Devastator raise his fist and throw it down at him in a fast-moving punch. He brought up the Star Saber to defend himself, but that was all the time he had as the gestalt's fist crashed down upon him, crushing his body into the earth and causing an earthquake that could be felt throughout the entire forest, accompanied by a deafening boom that sounded like the crack of thunder.
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Once Devastator had entered the picture, any hope of victory died for the Autobots. They were outnumbered, outgunned and overpowered, and within a few minutes they were stripped of their weapons and thrown into the middle of the crater that Devastator had made with his punch.
Megatron had the Autobots placed in the middle of a circle formation of the space pillars positioned around the area. His enemies all were in bad shape after that brief scuffle with the Insecticon swarm, but none looked as bad as Optimus. The Prime had miraculously survived taking a full powered punch from Devastator, but the attack had left his body broken and battered. Most of his armor was in pieces, exposing his inner mechanisms, and his metal bone structure was broken or fractured in multiple places. The only limbs that were still working were his right arm and leg.
Megatron dragged Optimus's broken body over to the Autobots and tossed him into the group. He tossed the Star Saber in with him, not wanting anything to do with a relic of the Primes.
"Here we are, at our moment of glory." Megatron smiled at the defeated Autobots, taking pleasure in their defeated looks. "I never thought I'd see the day that Prime and his closest associates are at my mercy. Today has been a very good day indeed."
"Just shut up and get to the point, buckethead. We're not getting' any younger here!" Ironhide spat.
"Silence curr!" Dreadwing growled, but Megatron waved him down.
"Keep talking, Ironhide. It seems to be the only thing you can do these days after your fighting skills have dried up from old age." Megatron laughed. "But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. Nor am I going to take you prisoner for your comrades in the Ark to rescue. I plan on sending you all on a little trip I have in mind. A one-way trip."
He raised his hands to the space pillars. "Thanks to Shockwave, these pillars allow me to teleport anyone and anything anywhere across the galaxy. My own portable space bridge. You have the honor of being the first Autobots to use the space pillars while I send you all as far from Terra as possible."
"To where?" Prowl demanded.
"A place you know all too well." Megatron said cryptically. "And before I send you on your way, I'll leave you with one last piece of information I'm sure you'll love. I knew all about your plan to get the Minicons. I knew about your plans to lure us out with ore-13. And do you know how I knew all of this?"
He pointed a finger at the stunned Autobots and said, "It's because there is a traitor among you. Someone who'd see this world burn under our hand than waste away slaving under the rule of humanity." Megatron cackled at the shocked looks on their faces. "Have fun figuring out who sold you and this planet out."
Through the haze of pain, Optimus heard it all. A burning rage bubbled within his chest and his hand weakly inched toward the Star Saber, forcing his fingers to wrap around the hilt. Channeling the last of his energy that he could muster, Optimus leapt out of Ratchet's arms, putting all his weight into his right leg and pushing himself forward while thrusting the Star Saber at Megatron's chest. He may lose this battle, but he was taking Megatron with him!
Unfortunately, Megatron saw his attack coming and sidestepped it, swinging Keranos around in a wide arc and stabbing the blade into Prime's side. Searing pain rippled through Optimus's body as Megatron channeled several hundred volts of electricity through his already severely wounded body, further damaging him to the point of stasis lock. Megatron tore his scythe from Prime's body and grabbed him by the neck.
"This is for all the pain you and your wretched kind have caused me and everyone else on Cybertron." Megatron hissed and tore open Optimus's chest plate to rip out a glowing object from within his chest cavity.
The Matrix of Leadership.
The Autobots looked on in horror as Megatron ripped the Matrix from Prime's chest and threw his body back at them. At that moment the space pillars were activated, energy crackling between them as they formed an energy field that engulfed the Autobots. After a bright flash of light and an energy pulse that nearly blew Megatron off his feet, the light died down and the smoke was gone.
And so were the Autobots.
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Things at the Ark had taken a turn for the worst as soon as they lost communications with the strike team. Tomahawk was trying to make contact with Optimus but nothing was working.
"What is this?" She said as she stared at the monitor in shock. Teletran-1 was giving showing them satellite footage of the energon signatures in the area, and everyone on the bridge was surprised to see a massive energon signature appear right where their comrades were located.
"Is that…Devastator?" Armorhide gaped.
"It is." Lifeline confirmed.
"How the hell did the Cons sneak the Constructicons onto the planet?" Rodimus growled. "We would've noticed them!"
"The Constructicons?" Annie questioned.
"They're a combiner team for the Decepticons. The Constructicons were the Cons' first successful attempt at making a combiner team. You know how we combine into Centurion? Imagine that, but a thousand times larger." Grindor said. "Devastator is the first gestalt introduced in the war, and is the most famous WWMD in the war."
"WWMD?" Sureshock asked.
"Walking Weapon of Mass Destruction." Grindor sighed.
"Skyfire to base, come in!" Skyfire's panicked voice came through on the comms. "You guys hear me?"
"We hear you, Skyfire. Why are you here?" Tomahawk asked.
"Prime told me to haul ass when he couldn't contact you. The Cons got a whole insecticon swarm backing them up. The whole thing was a trap!"
"Slag." Bulkhead growled.
"What about Optimus and the others. Are they all right?" Rodimus asked.
"I have no idea. I had to warp away before the drones got me."
Tomahawk cursed in her mind. Things were spiraling out of control and they had no idea what happened to the strike team. "Skyfire, return to base and recharge. Lifeline, Armorhide, ready the Ark for combat. We have to rescue the strike team no matter what!"
The two Autobots immediately got to work on preparing the Ark for takeoff, but as Armorhide hooked himself up to the ship's piloting computers, he suddenly screamed as a piercing agony rippled through his head. Everyone ran over to him as he tore himself free from the cables and fell to the floor clutching his head.
"Kid, you all right?" Bulkhead asked, helping Armorhide up.
"What just happened?" Moonracer asked.
"I don't know. As soon as I hooked myself up to the neural link something pushed me back out." Armorhide groaned.
Arcee looked at the computers and saw warning signs flaring up all over the screens. "Guys, I think something's wrong."
"Alert! Alert! Alert! Foreign programs detected. Initiating countermeasures!" Bellowed Teletran-1.
"What does that mean?" Brittany squeaked.
"Something's infected the Ark's computers with a virus." Gina said grimly. She quickly got onto her datapad and started initiating a diagnostic scan of the ship's systems. She didn't like what she saw. "Guys, I think someone's trying to hack into the ship's database!"
"There's no trying, Gina, they're already in." Lifeline said. "All our firewalls are down. None of our codes are working!"
"Damnit, how did that happen?" Tomahawk asked. "Lifeline, what about Teletran?"
"He's fine. Wheeljack designed him to be independent of the system in case something like this happened." Bulkhead said.
"But Teletran can't do much about it. Whatever's hit us, it's shutting down all the Ark's major systems or blocking access to the others. Teletran's slowing the virus down, but he won't hold it back forever."
"No, no, things are falling apart." Tomahawk muttered. "Did the Cons do all this?"
"Hawk?" Rodimus called out, staring out the viewport. "I think we have another problem."
"Slag, what now?" She asked annoyed.
Teletran-1 brought up images from the external cameras and everyone went silent at the startling image on the screen. A large dark shape was approaching them from the east at high speeds, a large dark purple warship armed to the teeth.
It was the Nemesis.
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"Bloody hell." Skyfire breathed as she saw the Nemesis approaching the Ark's location. She had just reached the Ark's region when she saw the Nemesis flying in from the other side. "Why aren't they moving?"
"I think something's wrong. They would've taken flight by now." Comettor said.
"Hey, Tomahawk, I'm seeing the Nemesis heading right towards you. Please tell me you're going through those boring pre-flight checklists." Skyfire said.
"We're having a little trouble on our end, Skyfire. Could you try to get their attention for a few minutes until we get this problem solved?"
"Depends on how much time you need. I'm running on a half tank after warping three times to get here. I can buy you about twenty minutes if I really annoy them." She said.
As if the universe wanted to cement just how much it hated her at that moment, one of the entry hatches in the Nemesis's underside slid open, and from it came a swarm of Insecticon brutes, their wings buzzing madly as they swirled around each other like a swarm of locusts before flying straight for the Ark at a faster speed than the warship.
"Alright, make that two minutes." Skyfire groaned.
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"Slag, they sent a swarm after us." Arcee said.
"Why the hell would they do that?" Armorhide asked.
"To soften us up." Bulkhead said. "Tomahawk, we're sitting ducks here."
"We can go out and help Skyfire fight them off." Gina suggested, handing the datapad to Sureshock. "Sara, will you be able to pilot the Prometheus?"
"Yes. I have the access codes that will allow me access to its systems." Sara nodded. She was already heading to the door. "We must hurry. Skyfire will not be able to fight them alone."
"I'm ready to kick some ass." Annie said and gave Brittany a kiss. "Be right back, Brit."
"Be careful, Annie."
"I always am!" Annie grinned, sprinting out of the room.
None of the Autobots bothered to keep the girls inside. Right now, they needed all the help they could get.
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It had been a long time since Gina last piloted her talos. Sitting in the Athena again felt like visiting an old friend after being apart for too long. She closed the cockpit hatch and felt the sol drive flare to life, and Gina felt peaceful momentarily before she focused on checking her unit's systems to see if everything was intact.
'I wish I did this under better circumstances.' Gina thought as she strapped herself in. "Okay, I'm all set on my end. Annie, how's the Enyo?"
"Ready for a large scale bug extermination, Gina. And Mjolnir's purring like a kitten." Annie said, her voice betraying the battlelust she was feeling.
"Sara?"
"Everything's operational on my end, Gina." The bioroid said.
"Alright girls, let's get out there and show the Cons why it took them this long to get one over on us." Gina yelled and pushed her talos forward.
The girls piloted their units out of the shuttle bay and outside, hovering on green clouds of sol particles as they settled on top of the Ark and began firing their beam weaponry at the incoming swarm. Gina's beam cannon fired a massive particle beam that killed a large swath of Insecticons on its first shot. She hung back while Annie and Sara charged ahead, firing every weapon they had on hand.
"Skyfire, Sara, get clear. I'm gonna light them up!" Annie focused on Mjolnir and the hammer crackled to life. She raised Enyo's hand and released the absolute storm of lightning bolts from the hammer, violently electrocuting several dozen Insecticons around her.
Sara expertly piloted the Prometheus, using its arm blades to cut and hack apart the brutes that tried to charge her. She dodged the several laser blasts that were shot at her and fired her beam rifle at them. Taking them down wasn't a problem, but it was the fact that more were still coming that would eventually overpower them.
"Tomahawk, we can't keep this up." Gina said, dodging a swipe from a brute before blasting its head apart. "Have you made any progress?"
As if to answer her question, the panels on the Ark's upper hull slid apart and several plasma cannons emerged on its starboard side. They began shooting at the Insecticons, finally giving the girls some breathing room to do their thing.
"Thanks for the assist guys, but I'm pretty sure the Ark has more guns than that." Annie said.
"Girls, return to the Ark. There's nothing more you can do out there." Tomahawk ordered.
The girls were taken aback by the solemn order, but they obeyed it anyway. All except Skyfire.
"I'm stay outside and take care of any stragglers. Just give me an update on the comm when you can." Skyfire said.
"Stay safe, Skyfire." Gina said as she and the other girls entered the Ark.
XXXXXX
Lifeline sighed and pushed away from the console. "That's it. That's all the defense I could gather up. Those cannons were the only ones not taken out by the virus. In a few minutes they'll be shut down too."
Tomahawk closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was only one decision to make, but she wanted the girls to be here for it. Once the Ark was fully shut down, it was just one giant hunk of metal stuck on earth with no way to move. They'll be at the warship's mercy.
The door opened and the girls entered the bridge. Tomahawk was relieved to see no one hurt, but she worried for Skyfire, who was just barely hanging on outside. She had to make this quick.
"Why'd you call us back? We were driving them back." Annie said.
"No, Annie, your talos aren't strong enough to face the Nemesis on your own. That's suicide." Tomahawk said. "Lifeline just informed me that the Ark is dead in the water. It can't move, and once the remaining cannons are shut down, we'll be sitting ducks."
Everyone was quiet as they process this information. This battle was looking more and more hopeless by the minute.
"To that end, I have made the decision that we must abandon the Ark." She announced.
"What?!" Rodimus shouted. "Hold up, Hawk, we can't just run away!"
"We don't have a choice, Rodimus. The Ark is lost. We're outnumbered. If we die here, then there will truly be nothing stopping the Cons from conquering Terra." Tomahawk looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Rodimus. This is the only course of action we can take."
Turning to the rest of the group, she said, "We will be leaving by ground bridge. Each of us will form groups and leave for random coordinates across the country so they will not be able to track us. I trust you all know the proper contingency plans made for situations like these." She sighed. "Everyone, download or destroy whatever you find in the computers. Lifeline, download Teletran-1 into a data slug. We don't have a lot of time left."
With the order given, the Autobots, or what was left of them, got started on deleting any sensitive information they could download immediately. Lifeline downloaded Teletran-1's programming into a data slug for safe keeping. He was too valuable a computer AI to just leave to die.
Once everything was done, the team gathered together by the ground bridge. The teams had already been formed: Annie, Brittany, Grindor and Bulkhead, Gina, Sara, Sureshock, Arcee and Moonracer, Armorhide, Lifeline, High Wire and the still healing Sparkplug, and finally Rodimus and Tomahawk. Skyfire was instructed to leave as soon as she can.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Annie muttered, leaning against her talos's leg in shock. "We're really abandoning this place? After everything we've been through in the Ark?"
"There's no way we're winning this battle, Annie. I'm sorry." Gina's eyes glistened with tears as she tried to keep it together. "First the Minicons, then Darren, then Optimus and the others…and now we're losing the Ark. How much more are we going to lose before this is over?"
Annie gave her a tight hug and the girls cried with each other for a minute while Brittany held Annie's hand for comfort.
"We'll be back together, Gina. You, me and Darren." Annie promised, pulling back to wipe the tears from the blonde's face. "I promise."
Gina nodded silently and hugged Annie one more time before running over to her talos. Annie sighed forlornly before walking over to her Enyo with Brittany. Not too far from them, the Street Action Team were also saying their goodbyes.
"Are you sure you don't want to leave with us?" Grindor asked High Wire.
"I'd love to, but Sparkplug needs help, and Lifeline needs someone to be her assistant." High Wire said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. We'll be apart for some time but we'll be together again in the future."
"Oh High Wire," Sureshock shook her head. "Please be careful. If anything happened to you…"
High Wire nodded and hugged Sureshock and Grindor close to him. After being around them for so long, it felt heartbreaking to leave them like this, but it had to be done.
Bulkhead was saying his goodbyes to Arcee and Moonracer. "You two watch your backs, okay? You won't have my big can to cover you when things get hot."
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you." Arcee smiled sadly. Bulkhead nudged her shoulder with his big fist.
"We'll get Darren back, Arcee. We haven't lost him yet." He said. Arcee smiled and nodded.
"Thanks, Bulk."
Bulkhead turned to Armorhide. "Hey, kid! You take good care of Lifeline, you hear? And watch your back!"
"I will Bulkhead." Armorhide said and saluted him. "It's been an honor serving with you, sir."
"Heh, I'm not sir," Bulkhead chuckled but saluted him back. "But likewise…Armorhide."
Rodimus approached Tomahawk, who was setting the ground bridge coordinates to transport them to different locations. "So where are we heading? I hope it's not someplace rocky. My tires aren't built for that."
"We won't be going anywhere, Rodimus." Tomahawk said, not looking at him. "I'm staying behind."
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Rodimus yelled. Tomahawk lightly punched his chest.
"Calm down you oaf. I have to stay behind and destroy the ground bridge so the Cons won't track our destinations. Once I do that, I'll fly out and join Skyfire outside. I've already told her the plan."
"Then I'm staying with you." He said.
"No."
"Don't tell me—"
"I said no, Rodimus." Tomahawk reached up and held his face. "This is where we part ways. It can't go any other way."
Rodimus looked stricken, more so than Tomahawk had ever seen him since the War for Cybertron. He closed his eyes and lightly tapped his forehead against hers. They held this position for a few seconds before pulling away, staring into each other's eyes.
"I'm going to see you again." He promised.
"I know." She said.
"I love you."
Tomahawk smiled at him. "I know."
Rodimus smiled sadly and stepped back as the others assembled before her. Bulkhead transformed to hold Brittany and Grindor, Arcee and Moonracer transformed to take Sureshock, Gina, Sara and Annie stayed inside their talos, and Lifeline was in her alt mode harboring Sparkplug and High Wire with Armorhide parked close to her.
"Thank you all for your dedication and service to the Autobot cause. Things may seem dire, but we will make it through this together." She told them. Her voice shook but she kept her composure. "We haven't lost the war yet, Autobots. Watch yourselves and each other. I swear upon the Allspark that we will be together again soon."
Tomahawk pulled the switch and activated the ground bridge. First into the portal was Bulkhead, followed by Annie. The coordinates changed and next were Arcee, Moonracer and Gina. Then went Lifeline and Armorhide.
Rodimus was the last one to step up. He gave Tomahawk one last look before transforming and speeding into the portal. Tomahawk watched him go before looking at the control panel and steeling herself for what was to come.
XXXXXX
The Nemesis was on top of the Ark now. Skyfire hovered above the forest just far enough to remain undetected. She was waiting for Tomahawk to come out, but nothing happened.
"Come on, Hawk. Hurry it up." Skyfire muttered anxiously.
One of the particle cannons on the Nemesis's starboard side extended outward and took aim at the Ark. Particle cannons were perfect for ship-on-ship combat. Even from this distance Skyfire could see the cannon charging up its energy.
"I'm not seeing her, Skyfire." Comettor said.
"Frag it, I'm going in!" Skyfire shot forward, but Comettor stopped her.
"Wait, Skyfire, you won't make it in time!"
He was right. The particle cannon had already reached full power and a second later it fired a massive red beam down into the Ark. The beam tore right through the ship, and the Ark was blasted apart in a massive fireball. The explosion was tremendous, sending a shockwave throughout the forest and causing the earth to tremble. Even Skyfire was thrown back by the force of the blast wave.
She slammed into a tree and landed on a rather strong branch that held her weight. She shook her head and looked back up at the carnage she just witnessed. Comettor climbed onto her shoulder and gasped in horror.
"It's…it's gone." He whispered.
When the smoke and dust cleared, all that was left in place of the once mighty Autobot vessel was a smoking crater covered in debris and burning trees. The Ark was gone, completely destroyed.
And with it, Terra's only defense against the Decepticons.