Chapter 16: Falling
Prowl watched from the window of the eastern tower, as Orion Pax fell, his optics tracking the mech's smoking frame as he dropped. He let out a low vent, swallowing his emotions.
He opened a comm link.
"Magnus...get every autobot out of the Citadel, now. Quickly. And evacuate the council."
"What's happened?" Ultra Magnus asked.
Prowl looked down at the energon river, where Pax had fallen, and then at the Seekers that approached from the distance, flanked by shuttles.
A second wave of decepticons.
"The inevitable." Prowl replied gravely.
The main floor of the Citadel was bustling with autobots running to positions, ready to defend it from the decepticon attack.
"We have confirmation of multiple dropships incoming!" A grey autobot shouted.
Sideswipe let out a groan as he slowly began to come to. He looked around, seeing autobots sprint up and down the hall.
"The hell?" He muttered, as he felt his throbbing head with his hand. Ironhide had left him with quite a headache. "What happened?"
"They're breaching!" An autobot shouted.
There was a blast, and the wall across from the janitors exploded, sending autobot soldiers flying.
Purple lasers came zipping through the open bulkhead, as fliers assaulted the hallway.
Sideswipe grabbed his unconscious twin and pulled him behind another bulkhead, as Autobots were struck down all around him, energon spraying across the walls, metal parts flying through the air.
"What the hell?!" He demanded. "What the hell?!"
He watched as energon and bits of an autobot's armor were sent flying against the wall in front of them, his optics wide with horror.
He had been in fights before. But nothing like this.
"Hold the line!" One of the autobots shouted, as he returned fire. "Avoid those-"
A peppering of laser fire and he was blasted back against the wall, his frame offlined.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Sideswipe repeated in shock and disgust, as the mech's frame slid down towards him.
The firing stopped. Sideswipe edged his helm out, and watched as a trio of jets landed in the hallway outside.
They transformed, their red optics and cone shaped heads turning and looked around the smoky, ruined hallway, for any sign of survivors. One of them walked over to a wounded, whimpering autobot, further down the hall, and as Sideswipe watched in horror, he blasted the mech in the head, finishing him off.
"Ramjet, is the level clear?" Soundwave droned over the comm.
"Yes." The white conehead replied. "At least it looks that way. If any survived, we'll take care of them shortly." He turned to the others.
"Thrust. Dirge. Spread out. No prisoners."
Ultra Magnus blasted apart a decepticon as he charged through one of the halls.
Arcee was at his side.
As they rounded the corner, they pulled their guns swiftly as two mechs came into view.
Jazz and Hound already had their guns up.
"Whose side are you on?" Arcee demanded. "Quickly. I've had enough standoffs today."
"The one that ain't massacrin the other." Jazz replied angrily. "They used us."
"What exactly did you expect?" Ultra Magnus asked. "Orion got played."
"Well he learned his lesson." Prowl said, walking in from the next hallway, with Ironhide behind him. "Orion's dead."
There was a moment of spark wrenching silence, particularly among the four remaining members of his squad.
"He was in over his head, like Arcee said." Ultra Magnus said finally. "He always...trusted a bit too much. We'll mourn later."
Prowl nodded, keeping his composure.
"We need to coordinate with any other survivors."
Arcee opened her comm link, placing an ear piece into her audio.
"Calling all autobots, Calling all autobots, please respond."
There was a moment of silence, and Arcee's optics sank, as her earpiece exploded with the sounds of gunfire and death all across the massive building.
The others watched her, with wide optics, as she listened.
Then she shuddered and ripped the earpiece out.
"We're on our own." She breathed. "And if I never hear the sound I just heard again it'll be too soon."
"This ain't over." Ironhide said, rage and hate on his face. "I tell you that right now, that bucket headed bastard ain't gettin away with this."
"That's the spirit." Ultra Magnus replied dryly. "Alright. I'm assuming command. Our objective is clear. Get out of the Citadel alive, and regroup."
"Agreed." Prowl replied. "Think the six of us have a shot?"
Ultra Magnus thought it over a moment. Then he pulled out a large rifle.
"It doesn't matter what I think. We have to make this work."
Laserbeak landed on the balcony, beside Megatron, as he watched each unit report in.
Clearing each floor of the Citadel, one at a time.
"Seekers have cleared level 7."
"Combaticons have cleared level 5."
"Stunticons have cleared the hangar bay, one shuttle got loose."
"On it." Starscream replied.
Megatron watched as an autobot shuttle took off from the hangar, and tried to jet for safety.
He watched as five seekers flew in and opened fire, tearing the shuttle apart, and sending it crashing into a residential area, with a ground shaking explosion.
Soundwave walked in behind him.
"The Citadel is secured, lord Megatron. A few renegade autobots remain, but we are in control."
Megatron nodded.
"Send Shockwave to the eastern tower. Surely he can figure out how to work the rust cannon."
Soundwave nodded.
"Should I pass along a target?" He asked.
Megatron's face became rigid, as he watched the dawn, the sun beginning to rise on Iacon.
"You know I would not do this, were there no other way, yes?" He asked.
"Of course." Soundwave replied. "I shall never question your motives, my lord. Nor your methods."
Megatron solemnly nodded, turning his optics to the horizon.
"Target Altihex."
"This is Ramjet, my team is still clearing level 17." The conehead reported. "So far, we're looking at over 40 casualties."
He turned a corner, and saw the twins, laying on the ground.
He frowned, tilting his helm to the side.
"These two still have some luster to them." He said, raising his null ray.
"Then put an insurance one in em, each." Dirge called, from across the hall.
Before Ramjet could do so, Sideswipe leaped up, and grabbed the ray, slamming it against the wall as it fired, then ripping it off, and smacking Ramjet across the face with it.
"Shots fired!" Dirge shouted, sprinting over.
Sideswipe slammed Ramjet against the bulkhead, then grabbed his other arm, and turned, aiming his null ray.
He blasted Dirge in the shoulder and leg, causing the mech to cry out and sink to the floor, before Thrust leaped in and jumped on the red mech's back.
Sideswipe let out a yell of frustration as he felt Thrust trying to point his null ray at the mech's head. He leaned back, and pounded the red conehead against the wall, then tilted forward and slammed him against it again, breaking his grip.
But it wasn't enough. Thrust was bigger. And stronger. He planted his feet, and regained position on the autobot janitor.
"Tough day to be an autobot." Thrust hissed, shoving Sideswipe to the floor, and raising his gun.
There was a crack, as Sunstreaker smacked the mech over the head with his metal broom.
Thrust dropped to the floor unconscious.
"Tough day to mess up my floor." Sunstreaker replied.
"Alright. We're rolling out a few minutes behind you kid, whatever's going on at the Citadel is serious." Outback explained, holding a rifle, as he looked to Bumblebee with concern. "Double time lad, get moving."
The soldiers around him were already ready, grabbing grenades and rifles.
Bumblebee nodded, trying to shove his anxiety deep down into his frame.
"Anything in particular you want me to do?" He asked.
"Just get out there, and give me a situation readout." Outback replied. "How many cons, and where they're built up. We'll do the rest." He patted the mech on the shoulder. "Good luck, kid."
Bumblebee nodded.
"Thank you sir, you too."
He turned and sprinted, changing form and rolling out of the stronghold's main gate, and onto the Altihex freeway.
He knew immediately that this was serious, as he hit the expressway and looked to the horizon.
Smoke was rising from Iacon.
"We need a secondary location, fast." Ultra Magnus stated, firing at some pursuing deceptions, as he ran across the floor of the main hangar bay, dodging laser fire.
The door was open. The ill fated autobot shuttle had fled from here.
"We could stay and fight. These guys aren't so tough." Arcee said, nailing one with a rifle shot.
"They'll just keep coming." Magnus replied.
"I have a place." Prowl said. "There's an emergency bunker in the Iacon sewer system. It was built in case Zeta Prime ever had to go into hiding. I oversaw security for most of its construction."
"No use to him now." Ironhide remarked, slamming a decepticon against the ground, and pounding his fists down on the mech. "How far we talkin?"
"About 3 miles, but one of those miles is underground." Prowl replied, looking at the roads. "The cons will have the sky covered, we'll be dealing with overhead fire."
"Then we better get going." Ultra Magnus said, transforming down into a large Cybertronian cargo truck. "Let's move, autobots."
The other autobots transformed and followed him, as purple lasers hit the ground around them, and they made their way towards the exit highway, onto Main Street, leaving the fallen Citadel to the decepticons.
"We have a small group of autobots escaping." Soundwave stated, as he walked up alongside Megatron.
"Have the seekers take care of them." Megatron replied. "Status of the rust cannon?"
"Fully fueled. Coordinates are entered." Soundwave replied.
Megatron nodded with satisfaction.
"Tell Shockwave he has permission to fire."
The eastern tower shook, as it began to transform, the panels of the tower sliding away and morphing, a large cannon rising out of it, pointed at the end.
Megatron's optics blazed as he gazed upon it.
It began to glow orange as it charged.
"Fear not, Cybertron. There will be no war." He hissed.
The cannon began to let out a pulsing noise. Then it erupted, a brownish orange wave shooting straight out from it, and tearing a swath of energy across the sky.
Ultra Magnus led the convoy down the main highway.
"Oh no." Arcee said gravely, as she saw the wave fire overhead. "He was aiming at Kaon wasn't he?"
"Where is that going?" Hound asked quietly, trying to watch it as he drove.
"It's not going to Kaon." Ultra Magnus replied sadly.
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker watched the convoy escape, from the destroyed wall of the Citadel.
"They're leaving without us." Sunstreaker said, panic in his tone, as he pointed at the fleeing convoy.
"They don't know we're here." Sideswipe replied I'm panicked frustration, as he tried to keep his composure. "We have to find our own way out."
"That's easy." Sunstreaker replied, optics widening with excitement. "It's a curved wall. We just drive."
Sideswipe nodded. "Worth a shot."
Before they could prepare themselves, the twins were both knocked over the edge by the vibration, as the cannon fired, and found themselves rolling down the Citadel's face.
"What the hell?!" Sunstreaker demanded, as his frame rolled end over end down the tower.
"That's what I said!" Sideswipe agreed, as he reached out and grabbed Sunstreaker's arm.
"Ready? Three, two, one..."
The twins transformed, their wheels screeching as they tried to find grip, they skidded, and accelerated straight down the face of the Citadel, as the wave stretched forward.
Sunstreaker pulled ahead, with Sideswipe pulling in behind him, and the two sports cars ramped off the edge of the Citadel, soaring across the air, and slamming down onto an Iacon skyway, they disappeared into traffic.
Outback turned his head, as the alarm in the stronghold sounded.
"Oh Primus." He whispered, as he saw the rust wave appear on the scanners.
"Sir, we have to evacuate!" Pharma shouted, running into the command room.
Outback shook his head, watching the wave approach from the window, streaking in over the city skyscrapers.
"It's too late already." He replied, his shoulders slumping. He opened his comm link.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life serving with you all." He said softly.
Citizens watched in horror as the wave approached them from the sky.
And when it hit, the entire city felt it.
The wave slammed into the center of the city, and exploded outward, the impact point, a cluster of office buildings were vaporized instantly.
And from the impact point, a second orange wave exploded outward, expanding across the city.
It made the ground shake violently, as it passed over the buildings.
And as it passed, it left a trail of rust in its wake.
Everything. Buildings. Roads. People.
All consumed by rust as the wave spread.
The wave consumed the stronghold, tearing into its metals, and turning every surface of it into a darkening shade of brown.
Outback grimaced, as he felt the wave pass, immediately feeling a deep sickness in his tanks.
"Sir?" A soldier called out, holding out a brown, rapidly rusting arm.
Outback's optics widened, and he looked out in the hallway, as his soldiers began to rot, one by one, and turn to rust, collapsing into piles.
"Help...me..." the soldier begged, as he collapsed to the ground, and his frame came apart.
Outback held out a hand to the fallen soldier, then noticed his own hands beginning to shake and turn brown.
"Oh bugger." He muttered, as his knees rattled, then collapsed, dropping him to the floor. He held out his other hand, and it disintegrated.
A moment later, the rest of him had as well.
The autobot stronghold itself, lasted only moments longer, before its own structural integrity was claimed by the rust, and it collapsed in on itself, with a horrid shudder.
Skyscrapers across the city began to collapse as the rust overwhelmed them.
People in the street ran and drove as fast as they could, but one by one they too were disintegrated into grains of rust, as the wave passed, and blanketed them in doom.
Bumblebee heard the impact, but he was still ahead of the wave.
He paused, changing form, and turned to look back at the city.
His optics widening, as he saw the mighty metropolis, being annihilated before him.
Building after building collapsing to the ground, sending out clouds of rust as they fell.
The air was turning brown.
And the wave was still coming, spreading further outward.
Bumblebee saw it, and immediately turned back around, sprinting ahead and changing form, his tires screeching as he accelerated.
He didn't dare look back now, but he could hear the screams, and the crashes as the towers and buildings came tumbling down.
He gunned his engine, streaking ahead, as the highway he drove on began to erode, the support beams turning to rust and slowly collapsing under their own weight.
He could feel the highway sagging beneath him.
"Hold on. Come on, please, hold on." He coaxed.
The orange wave was right behind him as he drove, and the highway supports began collapsing one by one, faster now. Bumblebee found the angle in front of him getting higher and higher as the highway sagged, and he pushed every last bit of his strength into acceleration.
Up ahead of him, the highway cracked, and began to split in half.
"No, come on come on come on..." he pleaded, his own pleas drowned out by the growl of his desperate engine.
His engine let out a wail as he shoved everything he had left into them, and jumped over the makeshift ramp, as the highway behind him fully collapsed.
Only to find that on the other side, as his alt mode landed, the other half of the highway was collapsing as well.
He hit the edge of it, and let out a cry as it fell with him on it, the supports having already given way.
The mech's small car form rolled, and he was thrown off the edge of the highway as it slammed against the surface of the planet.
He crashed through a cave entrance in the planet's surface, and changed form, his frame being hurled forward, through the cavern before slamming into a hard surface.
He collapsed to the ground, surrounded in darkness.
Rust poured in through the cave entrance above him, and the last thing he saw before offlining from exhaustion, was the sight of debris sliding down towards him.
The autobots in the small convoy barely had time to absorb what had happened, as seekers began blasting the highway with weapons fire. They continued away from the Citadel, and headed for traffic, hoping to lose the fliers there.
"Altihex has been destroyed." Soundwave reported.
Megatron watched from above as the seekers pursued the autobots. Then he sat back.
And let out a sigh of relief.
"Cybertron is saved, Soundwave." He said, with satisfaction. "All threats have been neutralized. Our rule is the only one now. This is the day we dreamed of, my friend."
He looked out across the horizon.
"No more Primes. No more autobots. No more vanguards. Just the decepticons. Now...we shall usher in a golden age, at long last."
"It feels good to be victorious Megatron. And with almost no casualties." Soundwave said proudly.
Megatron's smile flickered for a moment, as he thought of Orion, as he turned and looked down at the energon river, and then at Soundwave.
"There were sacrifices, Soundwave." He said quietly. Soundwave was silent.
"Tomorrow I shall give a speech to the people of Cybertron." Megatron declared. "And I shall assure them that their future is now secure."
Miles below Cybertron, energon rivers with strong currents streamed inward, toward the planet's center.
And in one such energon river, pulled along by currents, Orion Pax's still form lay.
Crumpled, battered. Broken. Mortally wounded.
A hole in his chest, his optics flickering as the river pulled him closer to his fate.
Music: Our Kingdom Came by Lisa Gerrard
Authors Note: I'm going to start adding musical pieces as a sort of soundtrack to the story. They are obviously completely optional for the reader to listen to, and are mostly just there because I generally write to these pieces of music, to get in the proper mood.