Chapter 48-Counterattack
Starscream stood atop the Empire State Building looking over the city. He needed to be alone as he contemplated how he was going to make his move. This wasn't going to be like the other encounters and challenges he's made in the past. What he was going to do will make or break his future.
It felt strange to be so sure in what he wanted. Unlike his past attempts at seizing power, he knew exactly what he wanted and how he was going to get it. But first he needed to give Megatron a wakeup call.
"Starscream," A call came over his comm-link. "Preparations are finished."
"Good." Starscream replied. "We will strike at dusk."
Starscream crossed his arms and returned to watching the city. It was time to put an end to this sorry façade of a victory once and for all.
XXXXXX
Come morning, the Air Force base was alive with activity. Everyone on site was preparing for their respective missions to Washington and New York. All aircraft were being fueled and armed, pilots did flight checks, Aspen was talking to her mother about sending a couple Atlantian fighter squadrons over to Washington to support the assault while Kiani watched over the carriers that would be taking the Atlantian golems and human talos to New York. Off to the side were the children, who were checking over their talos for final preparations.
"Though I know it's too soon to hope, I think we can make it out of this without losing anybody." Annie said.
"You're right, that was too soon." Grindor said.
"Shut up, Grindor." Annie growled. "You're being negative."
"After everything that's happened, I think I have a right to be."
"Grindor, it's too early in the morning for this." High Wire sighed.
"Can we focus on the mission, people?" Gina said, her eyes on her computer. "Sara, how's everything looking?"
"Your units are running at a hundred percent, Gina." Sara said.
"I've got to thank her for keeping Prometheus safe for me." Darren said. "I owe her one."
"Hey!" Darren looked down to see Sparkplug standing there with the rest of the Minicons. "I hope you weren't going to leave without saying goodbye."
"We would never do that to you." Gina smiled and jumped out of her talos to talk to him with Darren and Annie.
"We came to see you off." Sparkplug said. "Emulator, Road Storm and the others are off to join the Autobots. I wish I could join you, but Lifeline's got me on a leash here."
"Just being here is enough for us, Sparkplug." Darren said.
The children hugged Sparkplug and the other Minicons joined in. There wasn't much to be said between them. The past two years was more than enough to show the strong bond they had for each other.
"I hope you guys come back safely. The same for you guys." Sparkplug said, looking at the Street Action Team. "You come back to us safe and sound."
High Wire nodded and combined with Sureshock and Grindor to form Centurion. "You can count on us, Sparkplug." Said the gestalt.
On the air field, the Autobots were finishing up final preparations for the mission. Things were tense and some of them were starting to feel the pressure.
"Why am I so nervous?" Moonracer asked. "This isn't new to me."
"That's the nerves, mate. The stakes are super high for all of us, now." Skyfire said, her arm around Lifeline's shoulders. Moonracer noted that she hadn't thrown the Seeker's arm off yet. "That'll fade once you get to shootin'."
"Kid, you doing okay?" Bulkhead asked Armorhide.
"I'm fine. It's just the waiting." Armorhide said, looking anxious. "It always gets me before a big fight. I haven't felt this way since the Cons stormed Iacon."
"Just relax and focus on the mission." Bulkhead patted his shoulder. "I felt the same way when I was in your position. Everyone feels this way at least once in their careers."
Inside his ship, Ultra Magnus was downloading Teletran-1 into his computer. It was through Teletran-1 that they had a link to the remaining Autobot satellites still in orbit. It will serve as their eyes and ears in the sky. Not even two seconds after he finished the download did Teletran-1 give an announcement.
"Alert: Autobot emergency beacon detected. Identification: Rodimus."
"About time." Ultra Magnus said. "Teletran, lock onto his coordinates and bridge him here."
The Autobots gathered around the ground bridge waiting for the last members of their team.
"Thank Primus Rodimus is alive." Moonracer smiled. "I was afraid we'd lost him."
"Rodimus is a survivor. Hot shot he may be, but he knows when to be careful." Arcee said. "Most of the time.
Any excited chatter died when they saw Rodimus walking out of the ground bridge holding Tomahawk's damaged body. The red Autobot looked tired and haggard, emotionally depleted as he carried Tomahawk's body in his arms. Even the surrounding soldiers paused at the unfortunate sight.
Ultra Magnus was just as shock and was barely able to hide it as he approached Rodimus. "Rodimus, what happened?"
"She was in the Ark when it exploded." Rodimus said. "She held on for a while after I rescued her from the wreckage but…her wounds were too great. Tomahawk told me to find you all before she passed."
Ultra Magnus nodded and gently took her body from Rodimus. He walked back to the ship, with the other Autobots following close behind. They were burying one of their own and the battle hadn't even begun yet.
XXXXXX
Drift drove as fast as he could through the streets, with the large swarm not far behind him. You would think being so large, the insecticons would be slower, but these creatures were stronger and faster in their mutated forms and their relentless pursuit of prey regardless of personal safety was disturbing.
"They're gaining on us, Drift!" Jinx said.
"I can see that." He said.
"Watch that corner!" She yelled. Drift lived up to his named as he made a hard right and nearly crashed into a boulder. His Minicon partner felt herself get jostled on her perch where she was powerlinked to him and cursed. "Did you forget how to drive after coming here?"
"It's been stellar cycles since I've been on Cybertron, Jinx. I can barely remember Iacon's roadways without everything being destroyed." Drift grunted.
The swarm came after him like a literally flood of bodies, stomping and clawing at one another just to get at him. Drift wondered how they even survived this long by themselves with nothing to eat.
'At least we're drawing them away from the others. So that's a positive.' He thought, though he didn't voice this to Jinx. As he came upon a collapsed building, he heard Jinx call out a warning.
"On your left!"
A brute lunged at him from the shadows and Drift transformed to robot mode just long enough to cut the beast in half with his sword before crashing through the window in vehicle mode. He drove through the building and emerged on the other side without stopping. The insecticons behind him slammed into the building at full force, either climbing or burrowing through it to get past this obstacle.
"This is going to keep me up at night." Jinx said. Drift agreed with her.
"Jinx, can you locate the group's energon signatures? We need to regroup with the team." Drift said.
"I'll try, but those rabid bastards back there are throwing me off. We'll have to gain some distance from them if we want to avoid any mix-ups."
The ground suddenly erupted in front of them and two insecticon warriors burst out with a bloodcurdling hiss. Drift transformed and leapt to the side to avoid getting pounced on and he spun his body around to behead the first brute. To his surprise, his blade screeched off its armored back and it turned around to punch him in the chest. Drift was knocked back into a wall, wincing from the strength of the blow.
'Great, I get ambushed by the bugs with some extra defense. The universe must really be after me today.' He thought.
The two armored brutes charged at him at the same time, throwing fast punches at him. Drift skillfully blocked or deflected their punches but he felt the power behind each blow. He slashed his swords at their bodies, but his swords simply glanced off their dense armor plating, shooting sparks from their point of contact. Drift grunted in pain when one of them landed a hard punch to his arm that nearly broke it.
'Try stabbing it through the armor panels.' Jinx said through their Powerlink.
"I'm trying!" Drift deflected a punch away from his head and he put his sword in a reverse grip, stabbing the blade into the thin gap between the brute's armor plates. The brute howled and threw a downward punch at Drift's head, but he dodged it and sank the blade of his other sword right into its neck, killing it instantly.
"That's one down." Drift said and removed his swords to face his second opponent, only for the brute t charge at him in an unexpected burst of speed. Drift crossed his swords to defend himself, but the charge still sent him flying back through a window frame.
The insecticon gave a chittering howl and lunged at the downed Autobot, but a red blur collided with it in mid-air and sent it to the ground. Drift pulled himself out of the rubble and saw Road Rage standing there with her magnetic gauntlets raised.
"Drift, you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, just dazed." Drift groaned.
"Let's wrap this up before the rest of the swarm catches up." Road Rage said and leapt at the brute. She delivered a barrage of powerful punches to its face, each blow releasing pent up kinetic energy for added power. The insecticon took the blows for a minute before raising its arms to defend itself.
Drift rushed in and attacked its unprotected flank, forcing the insecticon to block his sword strikes with its other arm. The two Autobots attacked the brute in tandem, and the insecticon couldn't fight both of them. Seeing Drift as the immediate threat, it tried to grab his arm, but Road Rage ducked under its arm and slammed her fist into its chin, throwing it backwards. Drift used this chance to sink the length of his blade directly into the Insecticon's throat and slashed outwards, severing half its neck cables in a spray of energon.
"Finally." Road Rage breathed. Drift let the insecticon fall over and turned to her.
"How did you find me?"
"Elita-1 sent me to look for you. She wasn't going to leave anyone behind, not when things are reaching a tipping point." She said. "Thankfully I followed the chaos you left in your wake and got to you in time."
"Thank Primus for small miracles." Jinx chirped.
They heard bestial howls and roars in the distance and the two transformed to vehicle mode to drive away from the two insecticon corpses. They couldn't stop now until they reached the Trion. With the swarm coming, nowhere was safe in the city.
XXXXXX
The bomber arrived early in the morning at the military base Karaba had occupied for its own. The soldiers were hard at work fueling and arming the twelve airships that would be escorting the bomber to the city. Magda barely slept as she oversaw the preparations, wanting to make sure that nothing went wrong.
"All airships are fueled, armed and ready to fly, my lady." Fauntleroy reported.
"Good. By sunrise we move out for Washington. Have our forces occupying the city evacuate as soon as possible. Once we reach Washington, that city will burn whether everyone's out or not." Magda said.
The bomber was a massive aircraft that used a highly advanced gravitational lift system combined with an air-lift system that was based off of espers with gravitational powers enabling the aircraft to fly and remain in the air. The bomber was slightly larger than an Osean bomber capable of carrying several tons of high-quality explosives. It also sported a fair amount of laser cannons along the top of the plane for defense, but needed to rely on the airship fleet for its primary defense.
The combat airships were equipped from top to bottom with energy weapons and missile arrays that only Utopia could have. There would also be several Utopian fighters, the Skystrikers, ready to handle any threat to the bomber. Magda was not puling any punches this time. She would show the world the power of the greatest esper nation in the world.
"Mom?" Sue entered the command center with Jane. "Are we ready to go?"
"Almost. Once our fleet is ready for deployment, we'll take off immediately. Jane and Fauntleroy will join Moisha and I in the command airship. Sue, you will remain behind with our ground forces." Magda said.
"Huh?" Sue whined. "But mom!"
"No buts. Your powers grow weaker the farther away from the earth you are. You're more useful leading our ground forces in case the military decides to pay us a visit." She explained.
Magda looked at both of her daughters and drew them in close for a hug. She was always closer to her biological children than Debra, though she made sure that she cared for all of them after they lost Tiamat, Dreyas's first wife. But right now, her girls and their husband were the only people she could trust right now to see this through to the end. Debra had her mother's kind heart, and she didn't need kindness right now. She needed a killer.
"I know this mission will be extremely hard, but with the Autobots occupied with the Decepticons, which we know they will, there's no one left to stop us. We'll show the humans of this land just how much they screwed up in treating our kind like trash. We are the future and it's time to let the world see that." She whispered to them. "Remember your training. Watch your backs. There will be no more sacrifices. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mother." Jane and Sue said together. Magda smiled and hugged them tighter.
This will be Karaba's greatest moment. The day they put the shining symbol of human dominance and bigotry to the torch.
XXXXXX
Tomahawk's funeral was eventually decided to be put on hold. No one, not even Ultra Magnus, wanted to rush it. It would have been a disservice to her. So once they left Tomahawk's body in the care of the Atlantian honor guard, Ultra Magnus called a final briefing on the mission.
"Everyone taking part in this mission, I'm sure you've read over the briefing. We Autobots, the Air Force and Atlantian Aerial Corps will make the elimination of Megatron and his high command our top priority. My team will arrive at the city and make landfall by ground bridge. We will secure an LZ for the Atlantian dropships to deploy our mechanized forces. Osean and Atlantian fighters will be the last to arrive and Skyfire will guide you through the opening attacks."
"Our main concern will be the Insecticon forces scattered across the city. I must caution all Terran forces to be wary of them. One insecticon can be a handful but in a group they'll be harrowing. For our aerial forces, watch out for the Seekers. Let Skyfire handle Nightshade and Darkshadow." Ultra Magnus said. "As for Megatron, let us Autobots deal with him. Do not engage under any circumstances."
Over in their newly captured airship, the Neo Knights were discussing their own plan. Thanks to the airship's computers, they were able to open up a video call with Sumeragi to get some much-needed intel on their targets.
"The airship fleet is located in a military base they've captured during the beginning of their siege. According to initial reports, Karaba is having a high-speed bomber sent in from Utopia carrying a lot of heavy bombs for maximum destruction. It's the largest aircraft they have in their arsenal and it's being escorted by twelve airships, all equipped with the latest weaponry they have in addition to several fighters."
"General Garen will be heading the Atlantian fighters and will head the joint human/Atlantian squadron. They'll deal with the fighters while Darren, Annie and Gina will try to take out as many airships as possible." Barnaby said. "They'll be a problem once the surprise wears off and we have to get rid of most of them if we want to handle the bomber properly."
"So what do we do?" Nathan asked. "Sounds like everybody has their jobs but us."
"The Neo Knights will be the reserve team. We'll use our own airship to cause as much damage as possible. We'll be counting on Gina's beam cannon to take out the bomber, but if that doesn't work, it's up to us to get in close with Centurion and Sara to destroy it ourselves."
"But keep in mind you'll be meeting fierce resistance from the espers nearby." Kotetsu reminded them.
"Like Magda." Darren said.
"Be careful with her. She can control microwave energy to the point where her heat can melt solid steel. Your talos won't last long in a prolonged battle against her, and the radiation she emits can also lead to some health issues too if you're exposed for too long." Sumeragi said. "Watch yourselves."
"Question," Annie raised her hand. "About Magda and her group…do we take them out too?"
"Considering the circumstances, we can't pull our punches. The bomber is our top priority, but if you kill her and the rest of her command, then that's good too." Barnaby sighed.
"Uh, sir?" Armorhide raised his hand. "What about Devastator? We don't have anything that can take him out for good."
"You're right, we don't. Try to focus on Devastator's joints. The connection links where his components are combined are weak to weapons fire. Focus your attacks there and you should do some damage." Ultra Magnus wasn't one to mince words, which was why he said, "Otherwise, just avoid his attacks and watch out for his heat cannon. There's not much we can do against a gestalt with our current firepower."
The Autobots were silent. The full scope of what they were up against was starting to really sink in.
"Make no mistake, a lot of people will die on this mission. The best we can do is eliminate as many hostiles as possible. Megatron, Nightshade, Soundwave and Shockwave are all prime targets. Take out high command and the Decepticons will fall apart." He continued, looking each of them in the eye. "I won't say that everyone here will make it back, but I will say that you all do your best to make it through this battle alive. Just know that no matter what happens on this mission, it is an honor to fight alongside you all."
Ultra Magnus raised his arm. "Till All Are One!"
The Autobots raised their arms in unison. "Till All Are One!"
XXXXXX
Steve led the Defenders through midtown to the prototype's location. Something that he really wasn't supposed to do. This was probably breaking every rule in the book and would get him court martialed (but only if anyone found out about it), but considering the circumstances, he could make an exception.
Getting to the safehouse proved quick and easy thanks to Luan's phasing ability. They could walk through the walls of several buildings without exposing themselves out in the open with no problems on the way in danger of running into any Decepticons. They reached the safehouse on a corner next to an apartment complex disguised as an unassuming shop.
"A pain and textile store?" Shelia said upon seeing it.
"Hiding in plain sight is less expensive and more effective than building some secret base in the middle of nowhere. That tactic is quickly becoming less effective these days." Steve said. "Military's been doing this for years."
He had the girls remain topside to keep an eye on things while he and Gar entered the store and took the stairs at the back to the basement level. Very quickly what the façade of it being a simple paint store turned into a high-tech and well-guarded level protected by a code-locked door. Steve entered the code and opened the door to reveal a large container holding the weapon.
"That's it?" Gar asked.
"Yup."
The prototype looked like a high-tech sniper rifle. Not too impressive to look at, but Gar supposed that utility came first before aesthetics.
"I was expecting something bigger." Gar remarked. "How'd the military even make something like this?"
"A black-ops organization called Skywatch. Apparently, they found six cybertronians buried in a dormant volcano and studied them. This baby was reverse-engineered from this huge bastard that turned into a jet." Steve said as he picked up the gun and placed it into the gym bag he brought with him. "The first prototype was as big as a house."
"That one's tiny." Gar pointed out.
"They made a breakthrough recently with some…outside help." He said cryptically. "Military's been running tests on these things since the Autobots made contact with the government. I have no idea how it works, but it's a gun and I know how to point and shoot really well."
"So how many shots does that thing have?"
"Three, though if I mist my first shot on Megatron, I doubt I'll get a chance to use the other two."
"Good thing you have us then." Gar smiled. Steve chuckled and punched his arm.
The two men jumped when they heard an explosion outside. A second later Luan phased through the wall with a panicked look on her expression.
"Guys, we've got a problem!"
She grabbed them and phased up through the floor, and they ran out of the store to see Shelia, Carla and Lyn fighting a large blue and silver Con with large piledriver arms. It was Rumble.
"Stand still you little shit!" Rumble swung his arms trying to catch Shelia, who flew right past him firing her photon blasts at his body. Though they hurt, she wasn't doing much damage to him, and he kept slamming his fists on the ground to the girls off balance.
Lyn shot brightly colored energy streamers into his face to blind him, but Rumble channeled vibration waves into the ground, causing the street to shatter and break apart. Shelia swooped down and caught Lyn just as a piece of the building behind her crashed where she stood. Carla, who tore her skin away to reveal that she had turned into a walking diamond, threw a punch into the back of Rumble's leg, making him stumble. Growling, he swung his arm and smacked Carla across the street into a car.
"We need to take him out before he brings the entire street down on us." Gar said.
"Good thing you have me, then." Steve grinned. He tossed the bag to Gar and ran at Rumble. As he ran, his body began to glow as he called upon the stored up solar energy in his cells.
"Another one of you shits? You little freaks must be suicidal!" Rumble growled and threw a punch at Steve.
Shooting thermal jets from his feet, Steve flew over Rumble's head and shot a blast of heat into the Con's face. Rumble cursed at the burning heat that scalded his face and Steve shot another blast at his chest before Rumble slammed his fists together.
This caused a powerful shockwave to be released from Rumble and hit Steve hard enough to make him black out for a minute. He was blasted back down the block, but Luan caught him before he could hit anything. Rumble charged at the pair, but Carla, still in diamond form, gripped one of his arms and dug her feet into the ground to slow him down.
"Gar, Shelia, hit him!" She yelled.
Gar and Shelia flew at Rumble from the front and back. Their bodies emitting localized force fields to protect them from the high-speed winds, they were basically human bullets as they simultaneously slammed into Rumble's head and back from both sides. The mech's body bent in a way it shouldn't have and he was out like a light when they let him fall to the ground.
"Whoa. That was kick ass." Steve grinned. The siblings landed next to him as Lyn and Carla joined them.
"We've got the weapon." Gar said. "Let's go before—"
"Incoming!" Lyn cried out.
Luan turned them all intangible just as a storm of missiles bombarded their position. The entire street exploded in a plume of flames and everything on it was destroyed on the spot. All the team could hear and see were flames and explosions from the barrage, and when it was finally over, everything was covered in smoke. Had Luan not phased them, they would've been killed on the spot.
"What the hell was that?" Carla yelled.
"It's him." Steve gaped, seeing a large form stomping down the street. "It's Soundwave!"
Soundwave approached the team with his shoulder cannon smoking from its recent use. He glanced at Rumble's body and then back to the espers.
"Crap, we don't have time for this." Gar growled.
"I got this." Luan said. "Shelia, can you give me a hand?"
"What are you planning?" Steve asked.
"I short out electronics when I phase through them. It should work when I pass through them, but I need to get up high if I want to take him out for good."
"Sounds risky."
"We don't have a choice." She said. "Cover me!"
Gar and Steve rushed Soundwave, firing their attacks at his legs. Soundwave did not move, simply pointing his laser rifle at them and firing. They were forced to retreat to avoid being vaporized by the laser blasts that blew apart large chunks of the street. Carla attempted to attack Soundwave's knees but she was nearly kicked for her efforts.
Lyn fired several energy streamers at Soundwave's head, and they exploded in his face like fireworks. He was blinded, but he still heard her, and he quickly threw his fist down at her.
"No you don't!" Carla rushed in and caught Soundwave's fist. She grunted and groaned as the ground underneath her cratered from the immense weight she was holding, and she dug her fingers into his armored hand to hold him still for a second or two. "Luan!"
Luan, who was being held in the air by Shelia, was let go and descended upon Soundwave. The spymaster backhanded Carla aside and swung at Luan, but she passed through his fist and went right through his head.
Intense pain assault Soundwave's senses, and he held his head as his vision went white with static. He tried to call for help but couldn't focus and the sensory overload caused him to fall into stasis lock, his body going limp and crashing down into a coffee shop. Steve spat at his body with a look of spite.
"That was for all those soldiers you kill, you bastard." Steve growled.
Luan and Shelia gently lifted the unconscious Carla out of the window she crashed through and over to their friends. As Steve and Gar went over to the girls, they heard something.
"Do you hear that?" Lyn asked.
"Hear what?" Luan said, a bit out of breath.
"Noise, coming from the stores." Lyn said. "Yeah, I think that's music."
"From the TVs." Gar said. Steve's eyes widened.
"And the phones." Steve whispered. "I think we've got the radiowaves back! The jamming's gone!"
"It is?" Shelia asked. "Does that mean…"
"We can contact the outside again!" Steve ran for the nearest department store. "Wait here. I've got to call my dad."
XXXXXX
At sunrise, the Karaba fleet took off from the military base and set forth for Washington at exactly 6:00am. They left to the cheers of the men and women of the ground and mechanized forces, for they knew that this will spell the end for any return to order for the Osean nation.
An hour into their flight they met no resistance. All airships were scanning their radar and infrared sensors to ensure that they had no surprises. Magda sat in her command chair in the lead airship monitoring the readouts for any new developments.
"No enemy aircraft or ground vehicles detected, ma'am." Fauntleroy reported. "The skies and grounds are clear."
"Keep your heads on a swivel. Make no mistake, they'll make their move." Magda warned them. She kept the fleet going at an even pace, not too fast or slow. She wanted to be very cautious to avoid running headfirst into an ambush.
Several minutes passed and soon they were halfway to the city. As soon as Washington was sighted, the soldiers in the bomber armed the explosives and got ready to drop the payload once they were within city limits. Magda tapped her fingers on the arm rest of her chair waiting for the enemy to attack. She knew that the humans wouldn't sit by and let her destroy the nation's capital. What were they waiting for?
She got her answer when she heard a loud explosion outside of the ship. She got to her feet and ran over to the communications center. "What was that?"
"I-It's Unit-12. They were just shot down by something, ma'am." Stammered the officer.
"Find out what hit them." Magda growled. It was about damn time they made their move. "Where did it come from?"
"Reports say that it was an attack from the bottom of the ship." He said. "Unit-12 is going down. Their propulsion system has been destroyed."
"But I don't have anything on radar." Said another officer.
"Check all frequencies. Find the attacker and take them out!" She yelled.
"Yes—ma'am, I'm detecting multiple bogeys coming from above!" He called out.
High above the airship fleet, a ground bridge opened up and several Atlantean Tigershark and Vimana fighters flooded out of the portal. With the sun on their back, the joint human/Atlantean squadrons descended on the fleet and opened fire on them.
"Skystrikers, take out those fighters!" Magda yelled into the comm-channel. She continued to give orders to the fleet, when she saw a powerful web of lightning tear into the cockpit of another nearby airship, ripping apart the pilot deck and destroying it, sending the flaming remains crashing to the forest below. "That came from below us. Who fired that shot?"
Down below in the forest, Annie grinned as she saw another airship go down. "That's two down."
"Magda will light this forest up to smoke us out now that she knows we're here." Darren said, his talos hiding in the forest along with Annie and Gina. He saw three of the closest airships focus their laser cannons down to where they were hiding and sighed. "Yeah, I can already see them aiming at us."
"I have to get close to the bomber for a clear shot." Gina said. "I don't want to waste energy missing a shot."
"Then let's go before they take us out."
The children put their talos into flight mode and took to the sky as the airships fired their laser cannons down at the forest. The Prometheus and Enyo remained in tight formation around the Athena, flying into the aerial warzone and shooting at anything in their way. Annie fired several missiles from the missile pods on Enyo's shoulders, taking out three fighters while Darren fired several blasts from his beam rifle at the nearest airship.
Magda watched the three talos attacking her fleet with gritted teeth and gave the order to her forces. "All escorts break formation and counterattack! Kill them all!"
The airships broke formation to launch an attack on the enemy air forces. The skies quickly became embroiled in chaos as fighters zipped around like flies trying to shoot each other down. The Skystrikers proved to be formidable foes, and even the Tigershark fighters were hard pressed to handle them. This was certainly true for Darren, who struggled to avoid the missiles and laser blasts fired by the Skystrikers and shot them down as fast as he could.
"These guys aren't playing around." Darren grunted. "Gina, you in position?"
"Yeah, I'm right above it." Gina said. The Athena hovered above the bomber's right wing and she disabled the cloaking feature of her talos as she charged up her impulse cannon. "Firing!"
Gina pulled the trigger and her cannon fired a dark red particle beam down at the center of the bomber. To her surprise and dismay, the blast hit the bomber dead center but instead of tearing a hole in the aircraft, the beam was deflected by a blue barrier that appeared around the aircraft like a second skin.
"Hard-light shielding?!" Gina exclaimed.
"Damn! Gina, get out of there!" Darren yelled.
From her airship, Magda watched the failed attempt with a small grin before turning to the voluptuous purple skinned woman standing next to her. "Target the black and white talos. Send Adonis through."
Annie's lightning storm took out several fighters already, but she was forced to halt her assault when the airships began launching heat seeking missiles at her. She quickly destroyed them all with a strike from Mjolnir, but then a couple other fighters were attacking her as well.
"Guys, I've got too many flies on my tail" Annie said, firing her laser cannons at them. She grunted when a missile slammed into the back of her talos, causing her to fly off balance. "For Prime's sake, I'm being tossed around over here!"
As she was preoccupied with fighting the large assortment of enemies assaulting her, she didn't notice the circular purple portal manifesting right behind her talos. That is, until Adonis leapt out of it and transformed into his golden giant form midfall, landing on the back of her mecha and weighing her down.
"Annie!" Darren yelled. He saw her talos spinning around trying to dislodge the giant hanging off her, but was slowly spiraling into freefall. "Don't worry, I've got you!"
"Worry about yourself, boy!" He suddenly heard below him and the Prometheus was blasted in the chest by a cosmic blast from a portal that opened up in front of him. The attack rattled Darren in his cockpit and staggered him long enough for Fauntleroy to get another shot off at his unit's head, completely blinding him. This left him vulnerable to the volley of missiles launched by the nearest airships that slammed against the telekinetic bubble he instinctively put up.
Gina saw that her friends were in trouble and raced to their head, but a white-hot blast of plasma hit her talos's right side, causing her to spin out of the air and crash on top of a onto the command airship. When she pushed her talos back to its feet, she saw a portal open up and from it came Magda and her daughter Jane.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you." Magda snarled, a fiery aura appearing around her body.
XXXXXX
"I'm sorry, Lord Megatron, but I just can't decipher what happened to him." Knockout informed his leader.
"And you call yourself a medic." Megatron growled. Knockout gave a grunt of frustration.
"Look, physically he's sound, but mentally he's…distorted is the best I can say. Whatever happened to him left his mind scrambled and put him into stasis lock from the mental overload." Knockout said. "I'm sure he'll make a full recovery, but he'll have one hell of a headache when he wakes up."
Megatron and Nightshade left the citadel that the Constructicons built for them as a forward base of operations in the middle of Times Square. Agitated by this sudden attack on Soundwave, Megatron had taken to wearing the Matrix around his neck at all times to make sure no one, friend or foe, tries anything funny when his back was turned.
"It was probably an esper that did that to him." Nightshade said. "Apparently we've got rebel groups of espers running around the city helping the humans."
"It doesn't matter. They'll all be dead soon." Megatron said. "How goes our teams in Orience?"
"The Predacons are making short work of the Xingese military and the Combaticons are tearing apart Joseun's countryside." She reported. "Everything's going smoothly so far."
"Good, good." Megatron nodded, keeping an eye on his surroundings. "We need all the warriors we can get for the coming threats ahead."
"Threats?" Nightshade inquired. "The remaining Autobots?"
"I was thinking of something closer to home." Megatron came to a stop when he saw Starscream standing at an intersection. "Starscream. Have you made your decision?"
Starscream stared Megatron in the eyes as he nodded. "Yes. I have." And he snapped his fingers.
Shrapnel suddenly descended from a nearby rooftop and attacked Megatron with strong surge of electricity. Nightshade powerlinked with Songbird just as Kickback came at her with a powerful dropkick to the chest. The lines were drawn.
XXXXXX
Days had passed since the Autobots reached the stranded Trion, though no one knew how many. As soon as they reached the ship, Ratchet had Optimus rushed to the ship's medibay and got straight to work with Road Rage's help. The other Autobots quickly got to work on fortifying their position in preparation for the coming insecticon swarm that was sure to reach them soon.
Over the course of those days, Ratchet barely had any rest as he operated on Optimus. He called upon Wheeljack and Perceptor to help him in certain parts, but none of them said a word on how the operation was going, and no one saw Ratchet for the entire time he was in the medibay. The only time he came out was when he spoke to Elita-1 and Kup.
"I've done what I could for him. I fixed up his skeletal frame and did surgery on his neural net. Fixed up his chest injury with some reconstruction." Ratchet listed off. "I had to force his T-cog to revert his body back into his base cybertronian form."
"Why?" Kup asked. He's never heard of that being a medical procedure, and he's been around the block when it came to field medic operations.
"Full body reformatting can heal some injuries thanks to our cybermatter rearranging and taking in new material to compensate for the change on a molecular level." Ratchet said. "So long as the boy is intact and in a healthy enough state to naturally heal. Not the best method nor the safest method, but it's all I can do. Optimus is healing in the CR chamber right now and all we can do is wait."
"Wait?" Kup grunted. He started at the annoyed look Ratchet gave him.
"Yes, Kup, wait." He said. "That last attack from Megatron nearly killed him. Optimus's circuits were very nearly fried and the only reason he's still alive is because he's a point-one percenter. I've done the lion's share of the work, but I'm hoping the CR chamber will handle the rest of his healing."
"And if he doesn't fully recover?" Elita-1 asked.
"Then he'll never wake up." Ratchet sighed.
"For Primus's sake." Kup rubbed the back of his head. "We don't need this, Ratchet. We won't last any longer in this state."
"Our problem isn't our combat skills. Almost everyone here is at a hundred percent." Elita-1 said. "Our problem is morale."
"I know, it's low." Kup sighed.
"It's not low. There isn't any." Ratchet bluntly said. "Anyone not at each other's throats is busy wanting to throw themselves at the swarm."
"I know. I had to stop Springer from impaling Bumblebee on his sword for making another comment about Drift." Elita-1 sighed. "We need something to unite behind."
"We need Prime." Kup added.
"Wheeljack, Perceptor and I did the best we could. Everything's up to chance now." Ratchet said. To hear him, someone who never left anything to chance in his line of work, say that showed just how close to the edge things were. "Just prepare yourselves for the worst."
XXXXXX
Shrapnel was a powerful insecticon alpha whose twin antennae is able to attract, generate and control electrical currents. On their own, they can generate up to 40,000 volts of energy and can channel even more current in the proper weather conditions. It was an extremely useful tool of torture Shockwave used to great effect and was the killer of many enemy mechanoids, Autobot, Decepticon, or otherwise. Getting hit by that current at full power was enough to kill anything caught in his sights.
So imagine Shrapnel's surprise when Megatron barreled through his attack with little more than a slight stagger before slamming his fist into his face. Shrapnel felt his face nearly cave in from the punch before Megatron grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground, burying his head up to the shoulders in the concrete.
"Did you think that would work after I've been wielding a scythe that generates just as much power as you for almost a year?" Megatron spat and stomped on his wings for good measure.
Megatron heard a boom behind him and looked back to see Nightshade almost blasting Kickback in half with Songbird. She was holding a hand to her dented chest and looked absolutely pissed at everyone in general. She glared at Starscream and pointed her Minicon cannon at him, but Megatron raised a hand to stop her.
"Is this your power play, Starscream?" Megatron sneered. He looked around and saw Thundercracker and Skywarp hanging around nearby, as well as Wreckage. "Your Seekers, three Insecticons and Wreckage? Honestly, you couldn't be more disappointing!"
"You are the one who's disappointing, Megatron." Starscream said. "You've been stalling ever since we defeated the Autobots. Keeping us busy massacring humans too weak to oppose us to distract us from the fact that you have no idea what to do next."
"Stalling? No, Starscream, I've been waiting. Waiting for you to inevitably turn against me as you always have." Megatron said. Starscream gave a scathing laugh that was filled with anything but mirth. "Keeping laughing, Starscream. You think I wasn't having Laserbeak watch your every move? Soundwave has been keeping a close eye on who you'd bring to your side."
"Not my side. The side of the Decepticon cause!" Starscream roared. He waved his arms at the surrounding Decepticons that assembled to watch the standoff. "The cause we all shared because we were stupid enough to have faith in an ex-miner who didn't even plan an endgame to his fragging revolution!"
Starscream's glare was filled with such loathing that it caught even Megatron off guard. "There was a time when I idolized you. Looked to you as a symbol of a new regime. You taught us that we didn't accept what we'd been given. That we were destined for more. You taught us to challenge the old order. To fight for our right as the superior race and regain the glory days we've lost to the Rust Plague. Then you led us into an endless war."
"I did what was required to win! I sought to bring about a new golden age for our people, to spread our empire amongst the stars!" Megatron said.
"Except you never had a plan for how to achieve all that. To you, the journey was more interesting than the destination." Starscream growled. "Do you know why my previous attempts to usurp you have failed? It's because they were half-hearted at best. Because some part of me still thought you had a plan after all this. That you knew what you were doing!"
"You know my plans, Starscream."
"Ah yes, the mythical Phase-7: Repopulation." Starscream said mockingly. "Did you forget that Cybertron is inhospitable? That Vector Sigma, the source of our species, is dead? That the forging of new cybertronians has slowed to a crawl because of it? You don't have a damn clue on how to fix that problem, do you?"
The crowd watching the spectacle was silent. No one said a word as they pondered Starscream's words, and Nightshade could see that he was getting to them.
"What's wrong, Megatron? Nothing to say?" Starscream taunted him. "Nothing to say to the brothers and sisters you've failed?"
"I've failed no one. I've defeated the only threat to our conquest of the galaxy." Megatron replied. "Who else orchestrated the Surge? You? No, it was me!"
"You mean the Surge that has drained the bulk of our resources?"
"Whoa, hold up." Fracture said. "What was that?"
"The Surge started off so smoothly for us, but once the initial surprise of our attack died down, the Autobots still managed to put up one hell of a fight. Apparently no one took into account the self-destruct functions in their bases when Shockwave deactivated their defense systems. Several Autobot bases self-destructed and took out whole swaths of our invading forces once they infiltrated deep enough. All enacted by Autobots with nothing left to lose." Starscream explained, not taking his eyes off Megatron. "That's not counting the Omega Supreme, the Combiners, and even Metroplex, who completely decimated the battlecruisers you sent after him. We've lost almost as many soldiers as the Autobots."
That was something Megatron definitely did not want anyone knowing about. A wave of discomfort washed over the troops and even Dreadwing looked appalled.
"Lord Megatron, is this true?" He asked.
Megatron paid him no attention. "Well done, Starscream. You've certainly planned this all out. How many times did you rehearse it?"
"Laugh it up, Megatron. It doesn't change the fact that you failed us." Starscream said. "Both as a symbol and as a leader."
"And you think you would make a better leader? You, who's spent his career as his sister's punching bag?" Megatron spat. "Tell me, how many did you rally to your side to make your rightful challenge before the troops? Three? Five? You may have found your rhythm, but as long as you let your selfishness dictate your actions, you will always fail. It's why you have such little support. No warrior in their right mind would join you."
"Are you sure about that?" Starscream smirked.
Nightshade turned around and her eyes widened. "Megatron!" She yelled.
Megatron turned to see the Constructicons standing behind him on the street. And they didn't look happy.
"All hail Megatron." Scrapper spat hatefully.
XXXXXX
Blurr sped through the streets scouting the area for any sign of the Insecticons with Firestar. Aside from a few encounters with a bunch of drones, they hadn't seen any sign of the main horde, which was good. Still, it was only a matter of time. The swarm was suicidal in their quest to devour anything and everything in their path.
"The longer we're out here, the more uneasy I feel." Blurr said. "Is that normal?"
"That's the feeling of being hunted by a predator. Now you know what it feels like to have the Predacons on your ass." Firestar said.
"No, I mean, like, it feels like we're being watched. As in being watched right now." Blurr said, slowing to a stop and transforming. "I thought it was just me being too paranoid, but now I really think that we're being followed."
Firestar transformed and looked around, lifting her heat cannon onto her shoulder. She heard and saw nothing, but that meant little when dealing with insecticons. "We need to get back to the Trion. I think you're on the money when you said we're being followed."
"Huh?!"
Firestar spotted something at the corner of her eye and turned to her left just in time to see a large shape leap out of the shadowy buildings and charge at her. She fired her heat cannon and though her blast missed, the light of the blast illuminated the creature's features momentarily. What she saw was sure to give her nightmares for the next couple weeks.
The insecticon was large, standing at about thirty feet in height and sporting a smooth dark purple carapace. One of its arms was larger than the other, and was tipped with large serrated claws. Its most defining feature were its two heads, each head snarling and growling at her as the beast got closer to her.
Blurr's form sped in front of her, punching the creature inn the face and causing it to stumble. She fired her heat cannon again at its leg, bringing it to one knee. The attack didn't much damage though, and the two-headed insecticon alpha was on its feet once again and kicked off the ground, narrowly dodging Blurr's second punch and kicking Firestar in the face.
She reached into her back and took out an energo-sword that was superheated. She slashed at the insecticon, scoring a deep gash along its right side. Blurr continued zooming around it, slashing and stabbing at its armor with his pair of energo-knives. He landed several strikes on the insecticon, and Firestar used this chance to move in for the kill. She charged forward, thrusting her blade at its chest, but the insecticon sidestepped her and grabbed her arm. Lifting her off her feet, it repeatedly slammed her into the ground before throwing her at a building. Blurr sprinted behind her and caught her before she could hit the wall.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, just sore." Firestar grunted. She looked at Blurr and saw that he looked a bit tired. "Blurr, you're—"
"I know." Blurr said. Blurr's superspeed came at the cost of using up his energy reserves drastically. Using his powers in short bursts was fine, but prolonged use threatened to have him pass to from exhaustion. He was already running on fumes by the time they reached the Trion, but this fight was starting to take its toll on him.
Blurr set Firestar down got into a crouch. When the insecticon rushed at them, his body glowed blue for a split second before he vanished, his body moving so fast Firestar lost sight of him. The insecticon thrust its arm out at him, just nicking his shoulder as he flanked it and hopped onto its back. Before the insecticon could react, Blurr grabbed its left head and began stabbing his knife into it repeatedly. With the head controlling half its body dead, the other half struggled to remain upright, trying to grab at Blurr. When Blurr jumped off its body, the Insecticon staggered and gave a loud howl, its voice echoing for miles in all directions. Firestar's eyes widened when she realized what it was doing.
"No you don't!" She rushed forward and swiftly beheaded the Insecticon's head with a single swipe of her sword. The head rolled away into the shadows and disappeared.
"We've got get out of here." Firestar said.
"Why? What did that thing do?" Blurr asked.
"Call for help." She replied seriously. Her body collapsed into vehicle mode and she revved her engine. "That thing just attracted every insecticon in the area to this location. We've got to warn the others!"
Blurr didn't need to be told twice. He changed to vehicle mode and sped down the street with Firestar close behind. Their situation just got a whole lot worse for them.
XXXXXX
Megatron pushed Nightshade away before jumping out of the way of Devastator's fist as it slammed into the ground. The force of the punch caused the entire street to tremble and rattled several of the nearby buildings. Megatron fired his fusion cannon at Devastator's face, but the gestalt backhanded him away. Megatron crashed right through a small apartment building and emerged on the other side.
"More." He growled. Raising his hand, he called Keranos to him and slashed, unleashing a condensed blade of lightning into Devastator's right leg. The attack was strong enough to make Devastator stagger from the pain and he ran forward and deliver another attack to his chest. "Give me more!"
Devastator roared and tried to crush Megatron again, but the warlord dodged his hand and sank Keranos's blade into it. Devastator scowled and grabbed Megatron with his other hand. Even though he was in the crushing grip of a gestalt, Megatron still continued to attack, firing several fusion blasts at Devastator's head.
"You want to take this from me? Then show me how much you want my empire! Show me how serious you are!" Megatron roared.
Nightshade flew up beside Devastator's head and fired several arrows from Gandiva into the gestalt's face. Devastator tried to bat her away, but she landed on his arm and delivered several more arrows into the side of his neck.
As this was going on, Thundercracker saw a glow in the air and looked up to see a ground bridge appearing above the city. He tapped Starscream's arm and pointed at the portal.
"We expecting any company?"
Starscream scowled as a cybertronian ship flew out of the portal, followed by several Atlantian and Osean fighters that fired their missiles at the largest target they saw—Devastator.
"What the hell is that?" Wreckage growled.
"The Autobots." Starscream said. "And they've brought their friends."
The Decepticons assembled to attack the invading Terran forces and soon the sounds of war were heard in the silent city once again. The Battle of New York had begun.
The endgame begins! Starscream spitting fire while the Cybertron-bound Autobots struggle to survive against the swarm and the children fight the coming Karaba forces. It get's crazy next chapter, that's all I have to say. Still rewriting the Event Horizon chapters, but my new job means that work on my stories will be a bit slow. Be sure to check out the official Transformers Titan website on Wordpress. Thanks for reading, please leave a review and have a nice day everybody!