Chapter 15 – When A Good Plan Goes Wrong

Megatron returns to the canyon where the Decepticon ship is still being built by the Constructicons, as he lands with Soundwave and the tri-group Reflector, he sees that progress on it's design has increased. Thundercracker greets him by straightening up and placing his arm over his chest.

"Hail Megatron!"

Megatron nods at the gesture, "Well done Thundercracker. It appears you have collected the resources we need to finish the ship. Very impressive."

"Thank you Megatron...", the newly appointed air commander says joyfully. "I trust you managed to get the remaining energon we needed to replace."

Megatron scowls, "Bah! Only a fraction of what we need...these humans can't create energy if their lives depended on it. Nuclear power here is a disgrace! It took us forever to filter out the contaminants their puny reactors managed to spew out."

Starscream chuckles from behind him, "Sounds like you failed in your mission Megatron. I take it that means we can't leave this planet yet. Hmm?"

The silvery leader turns around and gazes at him, "I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you right now Starscream, remember you are on thin ground with me so keep your opinions to yourself."

The leader then turns his head to Soundwave standing beside him, "We need better sources of energy and we need them now. Tell me...are there any other places on this rock that can be of use to us?"

Soundwave scans through the data in his mind, images on his chest plate scroll as he searches for energy possibilities.

"There are many places to tap into...but none of them seem to have the requirements we would need to restock our supply.", the monotone voice robot says.

Suddenly they all hear the growling and snarling of Ravage as he runs thought the group and stops at Soundwave's feet.

Rumble and Frenzy, both looking like twins to one another, shout out with joy as they see the returning feline friend.

"Ravage is Back!", Rumble says.

"Nothing keeps him away from us! Way to escape buddy!", Frenzy also shouts.

"Raaavage!", the cycloptic red-eyed Decepticon says to him as he looks down.

Megatron looks down at the black cat as well and smiles, "Welcome back Ravage. I trust you have gathered some interesting information for us, eh?"

The mini-disk Decepticon growls and nods at the leader. Quickly he transforms into his mini-disk form and slides into Soundwave's awaiting open chest. The chest plate closes back up and soon data begins to download into the blue transformer.

"He has tapped into various files of Telatran One. There is more data on the region and of other energy resources."

Megatron cheerfully laughs, "Excellent...your spy has performed most perfectly."

Soundwave shows images of various mines and human built facilities, each one looks as tempting as the next in Megatron's eyes as he rubs his hand greedily.

"There are several locations across the globe that yield a possible high energy output.", Soundwave says.

Megatron smiles, "Anything worth looking into?"

"There two places, one is in Burma in Southeast Asia.... there is a ruby mine that is generating a high energy matrix."

As Megatron studies the images he notices the ruby descriptions and of the detailed scans Telatran One made of them.

"Those aren't ordinary rubies, if I didn't know better...I'd swear they were Energon Crystals."

Rumble scratches his head as he looks up at the leader, "Energon Crystals? What the heck are those?"

"You're lack of Cybertronian history is baffling Rumble." The leader frowns at him. "Energon Crystals were once sources of pure energy that we once use to mine long before the Great Wars of Cybertron. It was said that they could power one robotic life form for billions of years."

Starscream perks up at the discussion and also adds in his knowledge of the crystals.

"Unfortunately our ancestors over mined the galaxy and ended up having to return home to conserve our fuel reserves. Perhaps that is how the Great Wars began. Fascinating...I wonder how this world managed to get such crystals?"

Megatron stood there with his hands on his hips, "Who cares. The point is that we've found a new undiscovered source! It was fate that I, Megatron, should discover this historic discovery for our people. Now Optimus Prime and the Autobots truly are doomed! We'll have to collect enough so that we can process them back home and..."

Soundwave interrupts, "Ravage also reports that the other place mentioned is a secret energy plant just outside of this area. The humans have created a power source large enough to power nearly all of Cybertron!"

Megatron's eyes grow wide, "Impossible! These humans cannot create such power! They could barely even create a half decent Nuclear power plant!"

"You're wrong as usual Megatron...", Starscream speaks out. "Remember they did manage to build a weapon that could harm us all."

The leader rubs his chin as he thinks of the situation. Starscream was correct about that, somehow the creatures that didn't seem like such a threat to him did in fact attack his men with such a weapon.

"Yes...that was rather interesting wasn't it? Very odd...for primitive beings such as this. I wonder..."

"There is more data concerning this matter, mighty Megatron!", Soundwave says again.

"Do tell" The leader says snapping out of thought.

Soundwave continues to upload data that he's translating from the mini-disk spy.

"Ravage encountered a human military officer and was given a message for you personally."

Starscream stood up with interest and stood next to the Decepticon leader, as he too was surprised at the new information. The leader's eyes soon peered into slits as he wondered at what a human could possibly dare say to him.

"Indeed...and what exactly did this flesh creature have to say?"

Starscream looked at the leader, "It could be a trap...don't listen to it Megatron. These humans are tricky...they might yet try to use another one of those weapons on us."

Megatron shoved Starscream's face out of the way as he continued to be interested in the message.

"Be silent Starscream. I fear no human...they have no idea of who they are toying with. These creatures curiosity is a weakness we may yet be able to use against the Autobots, now shut up and get out of my way. Continue Soundwave...what did the human say to Ravage?"

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Out in the darkened rocky valley, miles away from both the Ark and the Decepticon ship still being constructed, the Autobots toil away on Hound's massive holographic imager. The night has soon passed and is on the cusp of the breaking dawn, setting up the reflective screens around the area has taken countless hours to get right. In the center of this vast open area is the main holographic generator that Hound and Sparkplug have set up. Though he is unsure about his knowledge of their technology, Sparkplug has done everything the green Autobot has instructed him on. Optimus Prime had done his job coordinating his men and having them set up the equipment, now he stands with his arms folded behind him and looking up at the cliff side in front of them. It's the only one that leads to this particular valley and the only way anyone could approach them from the two points, The Ark and the Decepticon ship. As the stars begin to fade and the sky begins to change its tint, the leader soon realizes that Megatron will be arriving shortly, if in fact Ravage has successfully planted the information back to the Decepticons that is. Time will only tell. Optimus Prime isn't worried though, he knows Megatron too well, and greed is something the Decepticon leader is notorious for. In fact all the Decepticons are overly greedy when it comes to finding a big source of energon, but Megatron for some reason or another is always much more greed-driven then the whole lot of them put together. But now the trap is set, the imager is up and Optimus Prime gives the orders to begin.

"Hound, are we finished yet?"

The military colored robot nods at him, "You bet Prime. Sparkplug and I just finished activating the imager now."

"Alright then..." the massive leader says facing them all. "I want all of you to remember one thing...the Decepticons, though very tempted to be here, will be very suspicious about this place when they arrive. So I don't want to see anyone in their robot forms until I give the word...is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" They all respond.

Windcharger looks over at Bumblebee and whispers, "Why can't we just stay in our forms? I'd rather be transformed and ready to fight then be stuck in my alternate mode."

Bumblebee smirks, "What would ya have us do Windcharger? Dress up in lab coats and pretend that we're nothing but a bunch of human scientists and workers? Yeah I'm sure the Decepticons wouldn't notice..."

Optimus Prime continues his speech, "The element of surprise is with us now, the humans...with the exception of Sparkplug over there...are now out of harm's way and well beyond Megatron's reach. So he won't be able to use them as shields anymore. Now we can have a fair fight and give it all we've got, this is where we make our stand Autobots.... this is where we end the war at long last. Disable as many Decepticons as you can...but leave me Megatron...he's mine."

Cliffjumper didn't like the sound of that, he kicked the dirt in an "aw shucks" kind of manner, he's always been the one thinking of taking out Megatron personally, in fact he was almost close to doing it on Cybertron before they left. If his aim were only a little better perhaps this whole Earth battle would have never happened. Optimus Prime lifted his large black cannon-like gun into the air and gave the final order to begin.

"Autobots, Transform! Take your positions!"

All of them converted into their alternate modes, each one reverting into the various forms given to them by Telatran One. Each one transformed after the other, Wheeljack, Ironhide, Brawn, Cliffjumper, Prowl, Jazz, Windcharger, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Blue Streak, Smokescreen, Gears and Huffer. Transforming beside Optimus Prime were the others, Hound, Mirage, Trailbreaker and Ratchet. Sparkplug quickly climbed into Bumblebee and buckled himself in, and then stood there in amazement as he watched Optimus Prime finally transform into his rig mode. He never tired of seeing the Autobot leader transform, it was just incredible to him to see a robot his size shift down into a truck cab so quickly. Prime revved his motor and drove out along side Hound.

"Activate the holographic generator!"

Hound riding beside him at the same speed shouted back, "Activating...NOW!"

The entire area soon took on a green grid like shape, sections began to form into larger grids that stood up from the ground and built a framework of where the buildings, pipelines and various other objects would go. Soon it began to fill in and became the very illusion Hound had hoped it would look like. There were details upon details, cracks in the brickwork, rust on some of the piping and even patchworks done on the asphalt road. Even the electrified fence looked convincing, complete with a front gate and a security guard outpost in front of it. More images soon popped up, this time it was the humans, each one looked as they were supposed to and even looking as convincing as the rest of the place. Hound had to hand it to Sparkplug, telling him about the different types of people and jobs came in handy. The holographic people all walked around as if they were really working in this make believe energy facility. It was as perfect as perfect could be.

"Fantastic!" Sparkplug remarked.

Bumblebee giggled, "Maybe next time we can create a nice vacation spot for you and Spike later."

All the Autobots took their spots around buildings and other hiding places within the hologram, each car was given a place to park in and even had some camouflage to hid them. Hound stood out from the others, he was in the guise of a military Hummer, which wasn't too much of a surprise to find at a government run facility. After all, it was a military secret, as far as Megatron and the other Decepticons would know. Hound used his mounted radar attached to his missile gun combo sticking out from the top of his backside. It swerved all over as he listened for any sign of visitors.

"Anything yet Hound?" Prime whispered to him by radio.

Hound signaled back to him, "Nothing yet...strange. I'm not getting a signal at all. I thought for sure ol' Meg's would be charging down that cliff by now."

Prime sat there in his truck cab form and mulled it over, "Hmm, give it more time. He may not come right away...I'm not even sure if he'll come at all. But I've never known him to give up an opportunity when it comes directly to his attention."

Hound sighs, "Yeah...your right. Maybe we should have built it up a bit more or shot Ravage to make it more convincing."

Suddenly his radar stops, "Wait a sec! I'm getting something.... it.... it looks like..."

Then as the sun finally shone over the cliff top, a shadowy figure stands in front of the glaring sun and raises its arm. Prime and the others new that shape, it was clearly the form of Megatron, raising his arm up with his mounted cannon on it.

"Decepticons! ATTACK!!" he shouts out.

Soon other darkened forms run up behind him and make their way down the cliff side to the hologram energy site below. The artificial humans all did what they were programmed to do, run, panic and the military humans scrambling to arm themselves. The forms now looked very familiar, the Decepticons all rushed in like a stampede of bulls and were now inside the holographic image itself. The Autobots all waited for the command from Optimus, but Ironhide had to ask.

"Now Prime?"

The leader began to drive out, "NOW!"

The Autobots all furiously drive out of their spots and begin to rush into their robotic forms, each one takes out a weapon and fires at the various Decepticons who continue to run straight in with no fear. Brawn quickly transforms in front of Skywarp and gives him a massive uppercut to his head.

"One Brawn special coming up!"

As he strikes Skywarp's head, it snaps off of his torso and shoots up into the air from the sheer thrust of his hit. The Decepticon falls to the ground and nearly shatters on impact. Brawn looks overly surprised at how damaging a blow he did and looks at his fist with pride.

"Hot damn! Guess I've been holding it in so long I didn't know my own strength!"

As other Autobot members shoot or hit the attacking enemies, they all notice how quickly the Decepticons fall to pieces. Trailbreaker managed to run right through Thundercracker, Jazz screamed in horror as he flawlessly ripped off Soundwave's arm with little force and even Bumblebee managed to take out the tri-group of Reflector with only one kick to the head. Optimus Prime transformed and watched the battle as all the Decepticons crumbled around him.

"Wait a second..." The leader said in an uneasy tone. "This doesn't feel right."

Wheeljack transformed and inspected the wreckage in front of Brawn.

"This is too easy...no Decepticon falls to pieces this fast."

Brawn chuckles, "What do ya mean? Look at them...there all scrapped! We just needed the space to do our thing and look what we accomplished.... we defeated them flawlessly."

Wheeljack rises to his feet with the dismembered head of Skywarp.

"That's what I'm talking about. These aren't the real deal...why they're all nothing but a pile of Junk...."

Sideswipe lifts up his corpse of Rumble as it falls apart in his hands, "You mean decoys!"

Prime looks up at the cliff and stares at Megatron, "Mindless drones...we've been had."

Megatron looks down at the surprised Autobots and laughs with sheer joy. This alone was worth viewing from his position as the Autobots discovered they took out nothing but useless clones of the Decepticon army. His voice soon carried down to Optimus Prime as he finished laughing and stared straight at the Autobot leader.

"That's right Prime! Good to see that fatal blow to the head I gave you back at Sherman Dam scrambled your higher brain functions. You've managed to take out nothing more then a non-threatening group of harmless drones! It was foolish of you to even try to tempt me with this illusion. Really now...A hologram energy facility? Such a futile effort."

Prime shouts back at him holding his weapon up trying to take aim, "I can still do the job Megatron..."

"Just try it Optimus...if you think I hurt these puny humans before...just wait and see what my Decepticons will do if you even shoot at me."

That was the threat the Autobot leader didn't want to hear, Megatron likes to bluff about many things, but carrying out those threats usually happens when he boldly admits it out loud. Prime lowers his gun and sighs in defeat.

"Tell me one thing Megatron...what gave us away?"

Megaton smirks with a most evil grin; "I must say Optimus...I was very impressed with your little ruse at first. But it was almost too good to be true and quite the bit of luck that Ravage managed to escape unharmed and tacking on a bit of big information at the end of his report. Telatran One already revealed our next target...but that last bit..."

Megatron lifts up his hand and shakes his finger at him, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. That was very naughty of you."

Prime's fist began to clench in anger, "TELL ME HOW?!"

Megatron laughed at the Autobot leader, this strong proud robot now resorting to begging him for answers was a delight.

"As I said Prime, I was almost ready to believe.... that is...until we received a personal message from one of your new found friends. It seems that even these humans know which way the power swings too."

Bumblebee and Sparkplug stand side by side and look at one another in confusion.

"What is he talking about?" The little yellow robot asks Sparkplug.

With a quick think and a sudden realization his eyes, he gives a rather glib answer.

"Only a handful of us knew what was going on, the other soldiers wouldn't know what the extra energy was being used for.... there was Spike, Carly, Me and.... oh my god, no...no it can't be him...he couldn't have..."

Megatron continued to gloat over them all, "A sad choice in friends Optimus as usual...I grow very weary of defeating you constantly, especially now since we're so close to the end."

Cliffjumper pointed his weapon at the Decepticon leader's head and called him out.

"MEGATRON!!! You can't get away with this! You don't have enough power to return home...so don't think that this is over just yet!!"

Optimus screams at the small red robot with the itchy trigger finger, "Cliffjumper! Lower your weapon...that's an order!!"

Megatron squints down at the insignificant robot and aims his fusion cannon at him as well.

"Not so little one. It just so happens we've managed to locate a rather large sum of energon that will power the Decepticon Empire forever. My loyal soldiers are at the site as we speak and collecting the remaining source of energy we need to finish your friends back home and return to this planet later to suck it completely dry!"

Cliffjumper almost squeezes the trigger at him, but Prime dives on him just as he's about to make the shot. Megatron continues to chuckle at Prime's actions and shakes his head.

"Oh Optimus! I truly will miss you in the end...but I think that it is only fitting that we leave you here on this miserable planet in exile. One day I'll return and grant you a mercy killing if only to release you of the shame of being the greatest failure of the Autobot faction. Don't bother trying to attack our spacecraft site; it would be a useless effort against the likes of the combined force of the Constructicons. I'm sure you know just how lethal Devastator can be once he is unleashed. Farewell Prime...I pity you and those that followed you to this dead end world."

The Decepticon leader flies off the cliff and into the air, the echo of his booming evil laugh made each Autobot's heart sink with fear as he got away unscathed. Wheeljack, ever resourceful as he was, took out a small round metal chip and attached it to his shoulder missile sticking out. A small explosion from the tip of it launched the little metal device and shot straight up at Megatron as he flew upward with his back to them all below. It quickly magnetized to the Decepticon's lower back leg and began to take the color of his black painted part. Optimus Prime noticed the shot and gave the Autobot scientist/engineer a thumb up after getting off of Cliffjumper. Megatron began to blur in the sky and like the Autobots, transwarped towards the location of his awaiting Decepticons.

Wheeljack sighed and looked at his arm flashing, "At least one good thing came out of this."

As Optimus Prime mulled over the encrypted speech Megatron spewed at him, Cliffjumper rose up and yelled at the massive leader.

"What the heck did you do that for? I had him dead to right!"

"Cliffjumper, you are not in command here, I am! Is that understood? Don't look away at me when I'm speaking to you.... I said is that understood soldier?!" Prime barked back at him.

The tiny red robot folded his arms and kept his back facing the leader, "Leader? HAH! Some leader you are...we've got Megatron right where we want him and you let him get away! If you don't have the titanium ball bearings to do the job, then I suggest you make room for those of us who can!"

"Cliffjumper..." Prime begins to grumble under his breath in anger.

Suddenly Wheeljack interrupts hoping to break the tension with his information.

"Prime! Uh...look here...I've planted the tracker on Megatron, so that means we can go locate him and maybe pick up where we left off before. It's on the Autobot band frequency in the higher range..."

Cliffjumper quickly transforms and begins to drive away at full speed.

"Thanks for the tip Wheeljack.... I'm glad one of us is trying to win the war! Time to finish them all for good!!"

The little red car transwarps into a bright flash leaving a large dust trail in his wake. Optimus reaches out with his hand and screams at the hot headed robot.

"Cliffjumper!! Get back here right now!!"

Bumblebee sighs and looks over at the leader, "Forget it Optimus...he's gone."

Optimus Prime lowers his arm and tries to calm down, with nothing else to look at in the distance but the robot's dusty trail, he looks back at the rest of the Autobots giving him a rather blank look. It was a look that made Optimus wonder if the rest of them felt the same way, that he was losing his ability to lead and that he was, as Megatron put it, "the greatest failure of the Autobot faction".

Having watched Cliffjumper take off in anger, the others begin to stare at one another as to what to do next. Ironhide drops his gun to the ground angrily, he walks over to the Autobot leader and vents out his frustration just as Cliffjumper did moments ago.

"I'm with Cliffjumper, Optimus! What good is all of this if we can't even make a move? You had him in your sight again and you still hesitated to fire!"

Optimus Prime tried to justify his motive, "He would have carried out his threat Ironhide, I know Megatron...his men would have carried out his orders to harm the humans. I can't let these beings be the fodder between us everytime we clash. We can be repaired a lot more then they can..."

Ironhide grows even more furious, "I'm sick to death of hearing you use that excuse Prime! These humans seem pretty tough to me...hell they even managed to betray us in the process! We wasted all our efforts into this project and now Megatron has gotten the upper hand again! You're gonna have to face facts ol' buddy; the humans are going to get hurt no matter what we do. This is war Optimus, not dance around the Decepticons until they leave the smaller beings alone..."

The Autobot leader grabs the hysterical robot and pulls him in close to his face, "I expected that kind of behavior from Cliffjumper, but not from you as well. War has casualties I know...but are you one to say that these people have to give their lives for a battle they never started?! Wake up Ironhide! This is not...repeat.... NOT Cybertron!! I will not have another world turned into a burned out lump of space debris hanging in the cosmos!"

The southern speaking robot squints at the leader's angry eyes and gives the same dirty look back at him.

"And who do we have to thank for that lump hanging in space? You've got two choices Prime.... you can let Megatron win and take over the universe, sucking it completely dry for his own needs.... or you can buck up and finish this maniac once and for all. Face it Prime...lives will be lost if he continues like this...you know that don't ya?"

The leader lets go of him slowly and sighs, "Yes.... I know. The more I allow him to win, the more he will likely destroy everything in his path. But at what cost do we sacrifice our honor, our morality...the very good within us all. Must there always be innocent lives lost in order to win? It's too high a price Ironhide. You don't know what it's like for me....on the one hand, I have to think of our home, all of us and the future at large. Then I have to think of this world, how we must not allow it to be destroyed by our presence and put all these people into anymore danger then what they are in now. The burden is heavy on my shoulders...in such a short time, I've become the only hope for both planets."

Ratchet walks over to him and holds on to his arm, "We know Optimus...some of us just don't realize just how big of a stake this is, but for those of us that do...we applaud everything you've done."

Ironhide shakes his head, "You can applaud all you want Ratchet. I've managed to stick with Prime on many issues; hell I even forgave him for leaving the others back home to die. But this time I can't seem to agree with his motives, Megatron has to be stopped even if it means spilling blood other then our own...I'm joining Cliffjumper and ending this matter once and for all."

Ironhide quickly transforms into his red minivan mode and rides off into the direction Cliffjumper sped off into. Bumblebee looks down at Sparkplug as he whispers to the little yellow robot.

"This is bad."

"I know." Bumblebee nods. "But what can we do?"

"I've got an idea...lets go find both of them and help them finish off the Decepticons."

Bumblebee's eyes widen, "Are you nuts? We can just abandon Prime like they did...I'd feel awful betraying him."

Sparkplug smiles, "Who says we're betraying him? You heard the man...he's got a lot on his plate right now and he needs help. Why not humans and Autobots together destroying the enemy that both worlds share?"

"I dunno bout this Sparkplug, you're son won't like you doing this sort of thing either."

Sparkplug rolls his eyes at the thought, "Yeah I know....kinda made a promise didn't I? But I told him that I had to help anyway I could...this is important and we all know it. Spike will just have to deal with it cause I'm not letting some alien dictator come on my world and kick my people around like they don't mean nothin'."

Bumblebee transforms and swings open his driver side door.

"Alright then...I'm with ya. I'll do it to help Prime, Earth, Spike and Carly. Nobody messes with my friends."

Sparkplug jumps in and buckles up. Closing the door and driving off fast, the little yellow Volkswagen beetle car soon shows a dusty trail behind it just as the others had done. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker jump out of the way as Bumblebee races between them.

"Woah! HEY!", Sunstreaker shouts. "Watch it will ya? I just buffed this chrome work!"

Sideswipe regains his balance, "Where the heck is he going?"

Making sure his chrome is fine; Sunstreaker stops looking at it and looks out at the vanishing car.

"Uh oh...I think we just lost another one. Optimus is going to blow a fuse for sure."

Sideswipe moans, "Great...this whole team is falling apart. Sometimes I wish we'd never been reassembled again..."

Sunsteaker passes by him and heads for Optimus Prime, "Speak for yourself bro, I've never looked better then the mode I've got now. These humans really know style when they see it."

Sideswipe holds his hand to his face in embarrassment, "Oh Primus save me...I'm stuck with Mr. Vanity."