Chapter 16 – The Road To Ruin

Having watched the entire battle safely in the Ark, Carly and Spike are in shock of how quickly Megatron learned of the plan. Communicating with Prowl, they discover how it all went wrong.

"He said what Prowl?", Spike questions him.

In the crackling noise of the returning signal, Prowl repeats his words.

"Megatron claims that a human warned him of our plans. I need you to talk to the General and see if he can begin an inquiry to all of his soldiers that had knowledge of this."

Carly taps her chin in thought, "How could any of them know about it? There wasn't time to explain to any of them of what was going on. Only those of us circled around in the Ark new of the plans."

Prowl hears her and agrees, "Hmm...good point. Well I know for a fact that you two couldn't have done it...right?"

Spike nods in thought, "Right. And Dad would never betray you guys either....that only leaves...."

Carly slaps her head, "The General...oh how could we be so stupid?"

Spike scowls, "Not us Carly.... him. The man betrayed us all...."

Prowl suddenly gets cut off as a button is pushed on the console beside them. As they turn to look, they see the General standing there in his full dress uniform.

"Not by choice Spike. My hand was forced."

Spike clenches his fist and shows his anger at him.

"Why?! Why did you do it Pressman? My dad could have been killed because of your stupidity!"

The General bows his head in shame, "It was a personal matter...please believe me...I never wanted to do it."

Carly frowned at the military man trying to look somber, "We trusted you...the Autobots trusted you...do you realize what you've done?"

General Pressman sighs, "Yes I know what I did...I was a fool, I should have never let that man get the best of me."

"Who?" Carly asks.

The man looked up at her and stared straight into her eyes.

"Doctor Archeville"

Carly knew that name, she remembered the internet postings left on the conspiracy websites a man called Phoenix used to put up. She always read those reports on the secret locations and men behind the cover-ups as the anonymous writer discovered them. Archeville was a frequent name that was always linked to every project mentioned. Now it all began to make sense to her, the one man who was the center of it all headed Project N, the biggest government secret nobody in the world was able to crack.

"Archeville...what are you talking about?" Spike says trying to understand.

"Doctor Emmett Archeville, Spike." She explains to him. "Anything and everything that has a secret is somehow linked to that one man. I guess it all revolves around a certain project of his.... I'm guessing Project N, am I right General?"

The military man nods, Carly looks back at Spike and continues, "Remember when I mentioned to the Autobots about a guy named Phoenix, how he managed to uncover a lot of government secrets and what have you? Well Archeville was the name he kept mentioning in his reports and apparently that's the man he was going to go search for."

Spike listened to her every word, as he listened he kept thinking how beautiful and intelligent this woman was. It was strange to him that he would ever find such a girl out in the middle of nowhere and one willing to fight so bravely. He pondered everything she told him and he finally caught wind of where this was going.

"I think they must have found him first. Seems to me if anyone was trying to destroy or uncover their work...they'd make them disappear."

Looking at the General again, it donned on Spike that the General probably didn't have a choice at all.

"So what did they get you with? Kill you when you least expect it? A...threat of some sort?"

The General sighs and leans against Telatran One, "My son and granddaughter. These people are not to be messed with Spike, trust me; I've learned this painful lesson a few times already. I'm deep in it enough as it is without having to put the two people I care about in any danger. Archeville is crazy enough to follow through in his threats...so that's why I had to do it."

Spike shakes his head in disbelief, "God...and I thought the Decepticons were the monsters. What does that say about our own kind? I always believed we were better then this...that there was hope for our kind yet. It looks like I was wrong all along..."

Carly holds Spike by the shoulders and looks at him, "There's always hope Spike. We can't just let go because there are those still trying to undermine it all, we've got to fight back and never let them get the chance to send us all down that dark road. There are good people out there in the world Spike. ...People like you. You're the best example of humanity the Autobots could ever have found. I'm glad they found you.... and so am I."

Spike gazed into her eyes and saw that she was confessing from the heart. She lifted his spirits like no one else could and stirred his heart with her lovely smile. The General sat there ashamed of himself, that he could be so foolish to let Archeville threaten him. After hearing Carly's little speech, he too found a renewed hope within himself and wanted to make up for the damage he had done. Before he could comment, a new message came in over Telatran One.

"Sparkplug to Autobot headquarters! Sparkplug to Autobot headquarters! Spike are you there?"

The young man activates the communicator on the console and answers back, "Dad? Hey dad where are you?"

"Son, Bumblebee and I are following Cliffjumper and Ironhide. We're all going to try to take out Megatron and his goons when we get there, so I just wanted to say.... unless.... I don't see you again..."

Spike pushes the button to talk back to him, "Don't say it Dad! I want you back here right now...come on Dad...you can do this to me!"

Sparkplug sighs; "Son...there comes a time every man has to fight for what he believes in at one point in his life or another. Optimus Prime is swamped with having to balance both worlds on his shoulders, I don't blame him for trying to protect our world from harm...but I'll be damned if I'll stand around and do nothing while a menace like Megatron uses us all like bargaining chips."

The General screams into the console as he too pushes the button to speak to Spike's father.

"Sparkplug, don't be a fool. The four of you won't stand a chance against the entire Decepticon group. Listen to your son and head back right now!"

"Is that General Pressman?", Sparkplug asks.

"Yes it is.", Spike responds.

"Shove it up your ass Hank! We wouldn't have to do this had you not spilled the beans to the Decepticons. As far as I'm concerned...you're just as much a traitor to our world as those secret government agents were."

The General sat there stunned by Sparkplug's comments, he considered Sparkplug a friend in his time of need, and hearing those angry, bitter words directed at him was a blow to his heart. Now he knew he had failed, the Autobots, Spike and Carly, and now even his good friend Sparkplug. Spike continued to beg his father to turn around.

"Please Dad! Don't do this...come back..."

Sparkplug could be heard sniffling a bit, it was obvious to everyone listening he knew he was heading for his doom.

"Good bye Son.... I love you my boy."

As the signal cut off, Spike pounded on the console and continually screamed for him.

"Dad! Dad! Don't do it!!"

Carly ran over with tears in her eyes, she pulled Spike away from the communicator and hugged him tightly in sorrow. He reached his arms around her and began to weep, a touching embrace that even made the General eyes slightly water at the sight. But he dare not cry, instead he walked out the room quietly and continued on until he was outside. Regaining his composure, he looked down at the military encampment and saw his men folding everything up. As one of the soldiers goes running past him, the old military man grabs him for answers.

"What's going on here? What are you all doing? I didn't give you orders to pack!"

The young nervous soldier gulped, "Uh...sorry sir. But we got word from the top brass to leave this area and pull away from every place you have us posted."

The General was furious, "What?! Well I'll counterman that order right now soldier...you tell those men that I..."

"Can't do it sir." the young soldier nervously interrupted. "They even stripped you of command and told us not to obey any more of your orders. They said if we didn't...we'd all be court-martialed and put in the stockade."

Pressman let go of the young man and realized he was powerless to stop them.

"I see. I apologize soldier...you're...you're only doing your duty."

The young man saluted him and looked on him fondly.

"It was an honor serving with you sir. But we've all got families and careers to think about...if we didn't have this dark cloud hanging over our heads...we would have marched with you into hell!"

The General salutes back and then gives the young soldier a pat on the shoulder.

"I know you would have. Tell the men I'm grateful they came this far with me, but it looks like I'll have to fight this battle on my own. Good luck to all of you."

The young man smiles, "And you sir."

The soldier continues to run down to the troops gathering up the last of the equipment and piling into the army transport trucks. As the General watches them all drive away one by one, he notices them all giving a proud salute to him and even shout out a unified slogan.

"GIVE THEM HELL GENERAL!"

He stood there saluting them as they all proudly said it over and over again, this was too much for him, and the old man couldn't hold back the tears that now streaked down his cheeks. These where his boys, he trained them all, fought with them all, and came to his side when he needed them to help the Autobots. It seems that Archeville has finally broken him, but not his spirit. Once the men had all disappeared down the road, he walked up to his lone jeep waiting for him and looked like he had an idea. He started the engine, took one last look at the Ark and drove off. Wiping away the tears and looking rather gruff again, Pressman spoke under his breath.

"Ok Archeville...you win. But I still have a few friends yet who can do me a favor."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

With a sudden rush of music, an older Caucasian man wearing a plain blue shirt with a red and white striped tie sits in a chair that is facing a camera a few meters away. As the music slowly fades, the man looks up into the camera and smiles politely.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen...I'm Peter Cullen and this is Headline Forum. An informal chat session discussing the latest headlines that the news brings us."

The man turns his face and another camera captures his image with a slightly bigger shot of the studio stage he's sitting in. A dark background is behind him, making himself stand out more in the eye of the camera. Now facing a round table, the anchorman shuffles his few papers in front of him and gives a concerned look as he talks. A large image pops up behind him on the blackened background, now becoming a graining image of Optimus Prime and Megatron in a distant paused video shot of the two battling it out on Sherman Dam.

"Terror has come to Earth. Already there has been live coverage of these massive robots battling it out across this great nation of ours, but questions remain about them...who are these beings and where do they come from?"

As he talks, more live images of the robots battling it out on Sherman's dam and the attack from the oil fields from the Decepticons continually run behind him.

"In just a few days, they've managed to destroy several key facilities and even killed many innocent lives. Yet the military has been very quiet on protecting our people and makes one wonder why...why aren't they doing something about it? Are these massive robots some secret military secret gone awry, or are they in fact violent alien beings from another planet? With me to discuss this is Senator Bill Burger...."

Turning the camera, the shot now includes the man sitting opposite to Cullen as he looks at him.

"Good day Senator...thank you for joining us."

The Senator is a rather heavy Caucasian man, dark hair with sliver streaks in it showing his age, and wearing a very dark brown suit with a tie to match. The man nods at the interviewer's greetings and continues to listen.

"Sir...how do you account for all of this? I mean why isn't the government doing anything to stop this wave of...of...destruction? Is the President even worried for his own people?"

The camera takes a face shot of the Senator as he speaks.

"I cannot speak for the President, Peter, I have not had the liberty to see or talk with him in the last few days of this horrible event. But it is clear to us in the senate that he means to do nothing. Shocking I know, we were just as taken back by it as all of you were. I've always said that the President was not a man of action, that he lacked the moral fiber to lead this country in times of great crisis. Look at this disgrace already...the military is under his command and yet he remains to do nothing! I've called for a special meeting of the senate to make a vote on removing the President of his command and give full military access to the senate. I mean this is an emergency if I ever saw it!"

The camera switches back to the anchor, "I would say that it is sir. Innocent lives are being loss every time these creatures show up...even some of our dear friends in the media have lost their lives to bring this incredible coverage. It just feels to the American public that our government, for whatever reason, is sitting on their hands and not ending this crisis at all."

"I agree totally with you Peter..." Burger says as the camera centers on him. "The senate must act and act it will...I promise all Americans and even to the world that we shall not let these monsters get away with murder!"

With the camera panning out to get a new two shot of them both sitting there, the newsman adds in a new question to the hefty senator.

"I'm sure the public will favor whatever the senate does. But I'd like to ask you this, there are some reports from Sherman Dam, from the tourists who where stuck in-between that battle, that a few of those robots who call themselves...oh...wait a sec...let me see here."

The man flips through the papers and finds the information he needs to continue.

"A few robots who call themselves...the...Auto...Autobots. Apparently they managed to shield them from the firefight and even rescued a small boy from falling from the dam wall. Does this mean that we shouldn't be targeting all of them...that perhaps some are capable of compassion? What do believe on this sir?"

The senator shifts in his seat and leans onto the table, "We can't be sure what these creatures are capable of...I mean my god...just look what they've done so far. To say we should spare the few that managed to save the odd life now and then is ridiculous! These robots must be dealt with and all must be destroyed...it's the only sure way to be safe."

The anchorman points to the two symbols adorn on Megatron's and Optimus Prime's bodies, "But senator is that not a bit hasty? The two robots battling here seem to have two different markers on them. Perhaps one is trying to stop the other from going berserk or something? One side might actually be our military in special robotic vehicles...I mean...who knows what's going on there?"

Bill Burger clears his throat and leans back in his chair with a stubborn air, "Pointless, utterly pointless. If that is our own men battling in some sort of...strange new military weaponry...then why haven't they come forward to tell us? Hm? We must stop them at all costs from harming any more of our people, and if that means doing whatever is necessary then by god...we must! The events of 911 taught us to never allow terrorists to get into our country ever again...then we also shouldn't allow massive, destructive robots to be here either."

"Do you think they are aliens from outer space as some have claimed on other networks?", the reporter tries to add in.

Burger shakes his head, "Aliens from outer space...please! Let's not get carried away with foolishness. I do not believe these machines are alien of any kind...more like a very dangerous experiment gone wrong. I intend to get to the bottom of this one way or another."

"Thank you Senator, it appears we're out of time for now. Good luck to you and the rest of the senate, I hope you manage to solve this issue quickly."

The senator nods and smiles politely, "Thank you Peter. Always a pleasure, I'd also like to add that my new campaign for the presidency will shortly begin once we've managed to get President Frank Welker out of office."

The newsman rolls his eyes and smirks slightly after hearing the man add in that last line.

"Naturally...uhm...anyways, we will of course inform all of you the viewing public of any new developments should they arrive. Until then...this has been Headline Forum, good day."

As the picture shuts off, the hand of Archeville can be seen holding the TV remote in his hand. As he lowers it down to his chair side table, a long sigh escapes his mouth as he broods in his big, dark chair facing the blank screen.

"Ugh...I hate these politicians. I don't trust that Senator Burger, he's been sniffing around my men for far too long. There was a time I would ignore such imbeciles like him...but now he's really pushing my buttons."

A deep male voice beside him booms out, "Should we...you know...take care of him?"

The Doctor's other hand appears out of the chair and waves the man down, "No, no...not right now. Perhaps after our task is complete and Project N is fully operational, then we'll deal with that fool Senator Burger. The fat slob has always been greedy for power, in the end, his greed will be his down fall."

The man beside him snickers at the Doctor's wisecrack, "Yes sir. And what are we to do about the General...I'm sure he's pretty pissed at you."

Once again Archeville sighs and switches on other news broadcasts on the TV.

"What can he do now? I've taken everything he holds dear hostage, his men, his family and now all he has left is his stubborn pride. But just in case he does do something foolish...see to it that he learns that with betrayal comes consequences."

"I will keep an eye on him for you." the man says back.

The Doctor smiles and looks over at him.

"I know you will...take this weapon and be ready. When the time comes, and I'm sure it will, I want you to make sure there is no evidence left behind. Understood?"

His hand raises up a strange looking weapon that looks like a modified gun. As the man's gloved hand reaches for it, he gives his boss a confident answer.

"Completely sir. Completely."

On one of the TV sets sitting in front of Doctor Archeville, a Caucasian female news anchor is talking away with an image of an satellite shot of the Decepticon ship construction site.

"This just in..." the woman says with a dead pan look. "We've just located a spot in the Colorado flats where something that looks like a massive ship is being built. Sources say it could be the gathering point of the giant robots that have recently been terrorizing America, it looks as though the craft is almost finished completion and could be ready to launch at any given time. Engineers and officials at NASA have been studying images of the ship and are baffled at the sheer speed of which such a craft could be constructed so swiftly. NASA Engineer Chris Latta had this to say..."

The image switches to an inlet photo of the engineer with the multiple satellite photos cascading one after the other in behind it.

"It's absolutely incredible looking at this thing Nancy, these robots are building at ten times the speed any worker could on one of the shuttles or even a regular skyscraper. I mean...my god, there's no telling what these robots are capable of should this thing be completed. They must be trying to get into the sky or even space in a hurry...either way I feel that we are certainly about to see something happen there in a matter of days."

"Are you sure that this is a ship?" The woman asks Latta in the pre-taped interview. "Perhaps it's a massive missile being made to strike at another nation or some other target?"

The engineer answers back with a calm assurance, "No, this is a ship. It's much too large for a warhead or even built for one purpose alone. From what we've seen here, the level of technology of this sort of design is beyond anything we could ever dream of coming up with. I can clearly say without hesitation that this is definitely not of this Earth. No one has the ability to create a ship from scratch in a matter of days like they have, no one from this planet anyways."

"Are you saying these robots are aliens Mr. Latta?"

"Nancy...I can only tell you what I believe...and I believe these guys are not from around here. That's a rather unprofessional opinion I know...but that's the general feeling down here at NASA."

The anchorwoman is shown again, looking very concerned after the brief statement by the engineer.

"That was Chris Latta at the NASA Propulsion Laboratory giving his assessment of the robot's ship. Networks around the globe are reporting on this situation as well, many have also given the notion that these beings are in fact from another world. There are scientists around the globe that are also watching this development carefully and wondering why the United States government is remaining on the sidelines from acting on this serious threat within the country. A brief and very un-descriptive written statement came out of the White House on this matter and quoted as only saying: The President and his staff are fully aware of what is happening and they are currently looking into this matter closely."

The woman then turns to her side as the camera follows her movements. With a new smaller image appearing to the left side of her, she begins to change the papers in her hands and reads another news story.

"To our neighbors to the north now, as Canada is mourning the loss of one of its key members to mysterious circumstances. Officials are being tight lipped about the sudden death of Keith Daniels, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who apparently was found dead in his car in the Ottawa River. Speculation and rumor has spread about his death from it being simply a case of suicide or a government cover up. There was even a report that the man died from a gunshot to the head, but no one can confirm this rumor as his body has already been transferred to an undisclosed location. That's it for this hour...back in five for more top stories, the weather and sports. I'm Nancy Malton, see you in a few..."

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As the commercial plays on, it shows various people in combat, tanks and planes bombing one another with large explosions and digital effects of amazing detail.

"Get ready for the Greatest American Hero to explode onto the big screen...G.I. JOE, The motion picture. Coming soon to a theater near you.", the commercial's deep booming male voice over announces.