Chapter 21 – One Shall Stand And One Shall Fall
As the Decepticons continued to finish loading up the ship with energon, Megatron walks all around the vessel for one last personal inspection. Each Decepticon soldier picks up as many cubes as they can, walk over to the duel lift that awaits them and step on to the platform that quickly elevates them to the top. Once there, they step off and into the open doorway that leads in. Since many Cybertronians have magnetic pads attached to their feet, they can walk on any metallic surface that does not lay vertical. This allows them to move about a ship sitting upright freely and with out having to have the vessel laying flat on the ground. To them, this simple way of moving is nothing, more than any human walking on stairs or even just walking centrally inside a spinning cylinder. This sort of technology has been with them as long as their shrinking technology or any other technology they use on a regular basis, an advanced way of living for them and the means to do their jobs more efficiently. The Decepticons load the storage bay down inside the ship and return outside to bring in more.
Megatron watches the men proudly as they perform their duties, circling the ship one last time the evil leader is approached by Soundwave, the robot raises his right arm up to his chest as a form of salute.
"Energon storage now complete Megatron. Ship is prepared for immediate launch."
"Very Good, Soundwave." The leader smiles.
Starscream steps off the lift as he finishes loading the ship and steps up to Megatron.
"That was the last load Megatron, perhaps now we can finally leave this dull planet?"
The silver polished leader snickers at Starscream's impatience, like a bored child, the jet commander seemed overly ready to leave.
"And here I thought you wanted to stay and study the humans some more Starscream." Megatron says with sarcasm. "But if you are in a rush...then yes...time to say farewell to Earth and it's primitive culture. Inform the men...at once!"
Starscream gives the same arm salute as Soundwave did moments ago. Rushing to the platform where the Decepticons had gathered after loading, Starscream points to the ship and gives the command.
"Decepticons we are to board the ship! We're going home!"
The evil horde of robots all cheer at the news, as they continue to celebrate, they all gather on to the huge lift that can carry them all up and start to move towards the top. Soundwave and Megatron stay below until the lift can return to the ground for their use.
"What of the Autobots? Will we leave them here alive?" Soundwave asks the leader in his monotone humming voice.
"Yes...for now." The leader says with a serious look. "Let Optimus and his band of rebels enjoy the short lived feeling of freedom. For once we return to Cybertron, refuel our soldiers and destroy any remaining Autobot faction there...we'll return to this planet and finish them off properly. More mercy then they deserve..."
Soundwave looks up and sees the elevator returning to them. The Decepticons now inside the ship, it now becomes their turn to head up as well. As it finally reaches them, Megatron and Soundwave step on to it and slowly ascend upward. Megatron smirks with great evil as he thinks of all the things he's going to do once he reaches his home world again.
"So close Soundwave...I can almost feel our destiny at hand, Cybertron, the galaxy and the universe at large under our empire..."
As the roar of the ship engines begin to sound below, Megatron chuckles and finishes his thought.
"So close...to total conquest."
Soundwave starts to laugh with the leader as his giggling becomes infectious. But suddenly, the blue and sliver robot stops immediately and looks out at the horizon. Like a rabbit sensing danger near by, the robot perks up and focuses his attention towards it.
"Megatron! I am detecting a large energy signature heading our way!"
"Eh?", the leader says as he too stops laughing. "What now? More humans...."
"Negative!" Soundwave says shaking his head. "The energy reading is that of the Autobots!"
"No...", the leader gasps. "How many? How many of them Soundwave?!!"
"All of them!" The single eyed robot says in a shocked breath.
No sooner had he said that, than out of the barren wasteland came a large streak of green light and all of the Autobots rushing in with their car modes. As the dusky sky began to reveal the beaming light of the new day sun, the entire line up transformed together and took out their weapons ready for battle. Megatron's surprised look was enough to make Optimus Prime give the command so many want to hear the moment they changed modes.
"Autobots! Let them have it!!"
Running in as they fired their weapons at the ship, the Autobots screamed as they charged, the laser fire was so intense that even Megatron needed to shield himself from the streaking blaze.
"Gaaah!! We can't have them destroying the ship!"
Opening a small panel on his silvery arm, Megatron talked into the built in microphone attached to it, his booming voice echoed to all of his warriors inside as they could hear his words.
"Decepticons! We're under attack! Scramble! Scramble! SCRAMBLE!!"
Pouring out like a flock of birds, the Decepticons quickly came out of the vessel and opened fire on the Autobot shooters. Each one on both sides took up protective shelter as they continued to pummel one another with gunfire. Optimus Prime looked up and saw Megatron firing down at his location with his side arm cannon. Prime's trailer appeared out of its temporal fold and quickly transformed into its battle platform mode. The large gun turret and a robotic multi-armed crane with missiles attached, targets the evil leader.
"FIRE!" Prime shouts as he commands the trailer platform.
The gun turret shoots rapidly at Megatron and the missiles quickly speed over to strike the silver commander. The impact is so swift it catches him off guard and causes him to fall to the ground in a fiery ball. As Prime prepares another strike at the Decepticon leader, Megatron rises up after his fall. With the flames dying out on him and his metal body steaming as it cools, the evil leader whips his black arm cannon out at the trailer and sends out a massive blast in it's direction. While Optimus Prime still motions to fire at Megatron, the evil leader's blast manages to destroy the trailer's gun turreted multi-armed crane. The explosion shatters it to pieces causing Optimus to fall from the massive shock wave it gives.
"Fool Prime! You'll have to do better then that!"
"I've only just begun, Megatron!" The Autobot leader says, as he stands up undamaged.
Opening up his side leg compartment, Prime's large black gun pops out and instantly comes into his hand, a scenario that almost resembles a gunslinger from an old west movie. Megatron quickly dodges the Autobot leader's fast trigger shots as he points the weapon at him, diving for cover behind one of the massive concrete struts holding the ship, Megatron fires back with out looking. Optimus blasts the dirt floor in front of him, creating a massive pile of rock and sand large enough to shield him from Megatron's returning shots. As the two hold themselves up under their separate protections, they shout out at one another over the sound of the lasers ringing through the air.
"This is madness Prime! What do you hope to accomplish by this? You seriously think you'll survive this slaughter?"
"No Megatron...I don't. But I know, neither will you...I'm make sure of it...personally!"
The Decepticon leader squints his eyes as he hears Prime sound more determined then ever to finish him off. Something he has not heard in the Autobot leader's voice since the dawn of the Fourth War, back then, he was full of hope and even had the arrogance to continually challenge him on daily basis. As the war raged on, Prime would become more careful in his methods, no longer as brash and bold as he was before, Megatron felt he was finally wearing him down. But after hearing his voice today, it became very clear to him that Optimus wasn't going to stop until one or all of them were dead.
"You can try Optimus, but you will never...NEVER...beat me!" The leader screams out as he fires his arm cannon at him.
As the battle rages near the ship, the other Autobots scatter and create rocky dirt trenches for themselves as Prime has done. The Decepticons use any form of shelter they can to fight on the ground, the cement struts near the ship, left over materials from the construction, even using the lower half of the ship to protect themselves. Bumblebee, Brawn and Gears all manage to share one of their makeshift trenches and take turns firing at the enemy.
"Cozy little shack you've got here Gears...mind if we bunk?" Brawn says laughingly.
"Come on in fellas, the only thing this thing is missing is quiet neighbors." Gears jokes back in his aged voice.
Bumblebee groans at the two sharing terrible banter to one another.
"Ah put a cork in it you two...we've got Decepticons to kill!"
"Look who thinks he's grown up?" Brawn laughs as he stands up to shoot.
Gears leans back down and reloads his weapon with another energon power pack.
"That's the youth of today...no respect for elders or for their sense of humor."
The little yellow Autobot darts up and down as he shoots and hides from the return fire.
"I got your humor...I just think you need more practice at it."
Over in another dirt mound, both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are poised over the heap of it firing their weapons at Starscream and Soundwave.
"HAHA! This is the life huh, Sunstreaker? Boy, Kup would really love to be in this battle I'll bet." Sideswipe says with youthful enthusiasm.
"Speak for yourself bro." Sunstreaker says back at him. "I would rather be somewhere else living the high life."
Both Autobots quickly duck as the return fire forces them to hide downwards.
"Well it doesn't get much higher then this..." The sleek red and black colored robot says in a cheerful smirk.
"What do you mean higher?" Sunstreaker looks at him questioningly. "We're chompin' on the dirt!"
Starscream and Soundwave continue to fire away at every Autobot they can, the air commander uses both his null rays to blast the invading force and Soundwave uses his blue and sliver tipped laser weapon with equal strength.
"We're being overrun! Megatron has enraged them into madness!!" The jet commander panics in his irritating whiny voice. "Soundwave! We need reinforcements, NOW!!"
The newly appointed second in command nods at the suggestion, he presses his top chest button and his chest plate pops open as he ejects the other minions.
"Ravage! Laserbeak! Eject and attack!"
Shooting out of his data disk compartment, both Ravage and Laserbeak transform into their animal robot modes. Ravage sprints across the ground and launches his two sliver side missile launchers attached to his back hips. Laserbeak soars high above in the sky and dives down for a quick scatter shot at the warring Autobots. Windcharger looks up at the swooping robotic bird and uses his anti-gravity power to leap onto it's back. The bird is slightly smaller then Windcharger, but Laserbeak is powerful enough to continue to fly around with him on it. The red-grey Autobot pulls on the creature's wings and causes the bird to tumble.
"Time to clip your wings Laserbeak..." Windcharger grunts as he pulls. "Cause this is a no fly zone!"
As Laserbeak shrieks in pain, Windcharger once again uses his anti-gravity to leap off the bird just as it smashes into the ground, with a double flip and landing on his feet, Windcharger manages to avoid harm.
"Sweet dreams bird brain." He calmly spouts off like the one liner of an action movie star.
Laserbeak tries to climb out of the smoldering crater it made as it crashed, flapping it's metal wings and limping like a wounded animal, the Decepticon spy has become the first casualty on the Decepticon side.
Far away from the heated battle, both Carly and Spike watch the valiant Autobots on the top of a near by plateau. Bumblebee dropped them off there earlier and managed to catch up with the others as they raced in to fight. The plateau is a few miles away from the site, but thanks to Spike and his handy pocket fold up binoculars; he could keep an eye on how the war was progressing. Holding the small black binocular in his hand, he zoomed in with the focus to watch the bot's duke it out. Carly looking very worried beside him, simply kept her own eyes focused on the never-ending scene of laser fire that lit up the sky. Nervously she fiddled with her hair and tapped her other hand on her side as she waited for the outcome.
"My god..." Spike utters in awe. "It's like watching a science fiction epic!"
"Please Spike, those are our friends down there." She says with worry. "Don't cheapen this by making it sound as if it's nothing more then an amusement."
Spike lowers his binoculars and looks at her.
"Sorry Carly. I don't mean to sound as if I'm not attached to them. But it is an impressive sight to say the least, I'm worried about them all as well and hope that Optimus can finally rid himself of Megatron for good."
Carly grabs the black colored binoculars out of his hands and takes a look for herself, though the lenses she can see the various Autobots and Decepticons shooting at one another and trying to better position themselves by moving about.
"So far it's going good...oh be careful guys."
Spike comforts her by placing his arm around her shoulder; he looks out to the blazing lights and also gives a sigh.
"Yeah, be careful. For all our sakes."
Carly soon rests her head on Spike's shoulder and suddenly looks up at him as he gazes down at her. Neither one knew why, but for that split second there seemed to be something between them. Eyes locking on to each other seemed to awaken a passing feeling or even a moment of clarity. Spike and Carly both realize what they're doing and began to shy away from one another as if they were embarrassed by the action. Spike nervously snickers a bit and gulps as he recoils from her.
"Uhm...sorry..."
Carly fiddles with the binoculars and almost blushes as she retracts herself as well.
"No. I mean...thank you...I...I mean I was just...my head was tired."
"Oh...me too. Not my head I mean...my arm...it needed to...uh...so...so how's the battle going?" He says trying to shake off the awkward moment.
Carly flutters her eyes as she tries to also come back to her senses.
"Oh...uh...like I said...they're doing...uh...good. Battle is going fine...I guess."
As the two continued to nervously chuckle, three news vans pulled up towards them and camera crews bolted out of the doors as they slid open. The plateau had a small road that led up to where they were standing; it was the very road Bumblebee used to drop them off before he rejoined the Autobots. As the various sized vans pulled up and newsmen came running over, Spike and Carly began shout at them all.
"Hey how'd you guys get here?!" Spike demanded to know. "I thought the military had those roads blocked!"
"You shouldn't be up here!" Carly now ordered. "This is a dangerous place right now!"
The one newsman putting on his brown blazer screamed back at them both.
"Freedom of the press lady! Besides, those military morons left long ago...about time too, we've got to show the world what those monsters are doing to our planet!"
Spike frowned at the Caucasian man trying to fix his appearance and getting ready to go on camera.
"They're not all monsters! There's a group down there trying to save us all from extinction!"
"Please kid." The man scoffed at him. "I've seen what these guys are like in action. I should know...I was there at Sherman Dam in the helicopter they nearly crashed!"
Carly pointed her finger at the man in anger.
"Well who do you think saved your ass when you nearly bought it, pal?! The Autobots that's who...but your so wrapped up in getting the story you couldn't give a crap!"
The man stepped out in front as the cameraman pointed the lens at him.
"That's right babe. This is the story of a lifetime and I'm not going to let them leave this planet without winning me the award for best news coverage. I'm destined for bigger things thanks to them. So shut up and let me do my job! Phil...PHIL! You got that thing ready or what?"
The other Caucasian man holding the video camera gives him a thumb up and shouts at him.
"Your on live right now Jerry!"
Now looking calm at the man filming him, the newsman is seen with the fighting going on behind him and tells the audience of what's happening.
"This is Jerry McLane of Action 7 news. I'm here live at the site of what must be the most impressive battle happening at this very moment. Not long ago these creatures were creating havoc on various fuel and energy plants around the country, now they're here fighting amongst themselves in what must be a major power struggle. We've confirmed the fact that they are in fact not of this world, attempts where made to study the original ship the government was trying to hide, but for some reason we were unable to enter the area."
Spike looks at Carly as he hears that fact and she smiles back with pride at him.
"That's Telatran One...Prowl gave it instructions to erect a force field around the area with the help of some of Trailbreaker's shield generators. All part of his new security protocols."
Spike shakes his head in and snickers.
"My man Prowl. Looks likes trying to keep everything secure now that the army isn't around."
Turning back to hear the newsman, both listen to his attempt to describe to the viewers what is taking place. The camera shows a shaky close up view of the battle happening around the ship, the Autobots and Decepticons now using missiles at one another causing massive shockwaves. Every blast seems to quake the ground the newsmen are standing on and almost lose they balance.
"As you can see ladies and gentlemen, the war is heating up between them and the dangers out here are high. This is the most intense conflict I've ever been a part of folks...not even the wars of our generation come close to this level of brutal raw devastation. I think that who ever wins, we'll be the ones to pay the price afterwards. This may be the beginning of a full blown invasion of Earth and the end of civilization as we know it."
Spike's eyes harden at the man as he spouts that hysterical nonsense to the viewing public, even Carly's mouth dropped at such an absurd observation, the man is clearly in the wrong and is bound to cause panic to the world as it watches.
"Hey!" Spike yells at him.
The man doesn't pay attention to Spike and continues on about what he feels is going to happen.
"With our military unable to stop these creatures and weapons as useless as toys, we might be on the verge of being taken over and slaves to their almighty will. I implore the nations to stand up! Stand up and nuke these bastards before we're all destroyed ourselves!"
Spike heard enough of the man's stupidity and started to charge over angrily. Carly tries to stop him, but soon lets him pass as he gazes down at her. She knew what he wanted to do and let him go without question. Storming over to the newsman as he continues to spread his word of panic, Spike yanks the microphone out of his hand and pushes him aside.
"That's enough! I won't let you continue this crap anymore! The Autobots are good guys...get it? They're here to save us from the Decepticons!"
The man rushes back in and tries to take the microphone out of Spike's hands.
"Give me that you little twit! This is big news...I've got to tell the people the truth...you're nothing but a government plant trying to spin it your way! Uhhhnngggh...the people have a right to know!!"
Spike clenches his fist and pounds the man in the face. Falling to the ground out cold on his back, the newsman lets out a sigh as he fades out. Spike faces the camera with his eyes looking dead serious. The cameraman filming the whole thing lets out a big toothy grin and nods slightly.
"Right on man! I was just waiting for someone to do that!"
Spike lifts the microphone up and speaks.
"People of Earth! The battle you see behind me is not the end of the world, but a battle to protect our freedom and the freedom of the whole galaxy! These aliens have been in a long bloody war that unfortunately came to our planet by mistake...but please believe me when I say that not all of them are evil. The Autobots are here to protect us all from this deadly enemy and only want to live in peace themselves. What they're doing down there is what any of us would do if freedom and liberty was threatened...they're giving their lives to protect ours, soldiers of an alien race trying to preserve a human species they've only just encountered. Don't give in to hate, don't let yourselves be fooled by what others may say about them...I've seen what they do, I've been with them every step of the way...these are good beings and they only want to be our friends."
Carly now steps in to the camera view and takes the microphone.
"The evil robot beings called the Decepticons are the ones doing all the damage. Unlike the Autobots they only live for chaos and destruction. But much like our world, there are those that stand up against this sort of evil and try to bring back peace and harmony. They're doing this for us...and for every living sole in the universe. Don't judge them for how they look, or what others might try to tell you about them...these are our friends."
Throughout the world, on every television set in shops, towns, homes and screens able to see this broadcast, men and women of every age and color watch Spike and Carly as they tell the world of the real truth. In the hospital where Sparkplug lays, he too watches his son on TV as he recoups in a room lying on a bed. The small television on the wall above shines down to him as he proudly stares at his son with a smile. As the camera now zooms back onto Spike's face, he stares directly into the lens and gives his final statement.
"A brave man once said to me...'Evil men should not be allowed to get away with such evil'. I'm here to say that no words were ever more true in the history of our kind. Life is worth protecting...no matter the cost."
Sparkplug stared at his son as the young man lowered his microphone and proudly stood there with his face still staring at the screen. The father almost let his tears fall as he heard his son speak so boldly and nodded happily.
"That's my boy...that's my boy."
Inside the base of Area 51, Archeville was also watching the portable TV near by him and looked at Spike's face with disgust.
"Oh please...I'm going to be sick."
As he steps away from the television, we now see the room he is in, a fully automated control center with a command chair placed in the middle for him. At the controls are several men and women of different colors and nationalities; they all fiddle with various buttons, knobs and tap on the keyboards placed in front of them all. As Archeville sits down he lets out a sigh and looks over at his right hand man, Agent West.
"If there's one thing I've learned in this world, its that the only truth is pure might! Evil has nothing to do with it at all."
Looking back at the control center ahead of him, the old man raises his voice and sits up in his chair as he speaks.
"Charge the weapon, clear the area...open the rabbit hole!"
Outside the dusty base asphalted area, the ground begins to open up in the center of the base. People, soldiers and vehicles all manage to get out of the way as it slowly unfolds like a large flower blossoming. The sound of gears and metal scraping fills the air, more noises begins to arise as something stirs from with in the large opening blackness. Soon a massive purple colored spire rises out of the pitch black hole, the slow rising object becomes larger and larger as it lifts up. Just like their other previous weapons, the mixed technology is all over this massive rising behemoth, large wires and tubes wrap around the cannon like structure as the sun shows it to be just that. Large as a city building, the purplish cannon now finally comes to a stop as it has fully risen to its maximum height. Acheville smiles with delight as he sees it; a slow giggle creeps out of his mouth, which soon becomes an all out insane laughter.
"Wonderful! Hahahaha!! Wonderful!!"
As the Decepticons continued to finish loading up the ship with energon, Megatron walks all around the vessel for one last personal inspection. Each Decepticon soldier picks up as many cubes as they can, walk over to the duel lift that awaits them and step on to the platform that quickly elevates them to the top. Once there, they step off and into the open doorway that leads in. Since many Cybertronians have magnetic pads attached to their feet, they can walk on any metallic surface that does not lay vertical. This allows them to move about a ship sitting upright freely and with out having to have the vessel laying flat on the ground. To them, this simple way of moving is nothing, more than any human walking on stairs or even just walking centrally inside a spinning cylinder. This sort of technology has been with them as long as their shrinking technology or any other technology they use on a regular basis, an advanced way of living for them and the means to do their jobs more efficiently. The Decepticons load the storage bay down inside the ship and return outside to bring in more.
Megatron watches the men proudly as they perform their duties, circling the ship one last time the evil leader is approached by Soundwave, the robot raises his right arm up to his chest as a form of salute.
"Energon storage now complete Megatron. Ship is prepared for immediate launch."
"Very Good, Soundwave." The leader smiles.
Starscream steps off the lift as he finishes loading the ship and steps up to Megatron.
"That was the last load Megatron, perhaps now we can finally leave this dull planet?"
The silver polished leader snickers at Starscream's impatience, like a bored child, the jet commander seemed overly ready to leave.
"And here I thought you wanted to stay and study the humans some more Starscream." Megatron says with sarcasm. "But if you are in a rush...then yes...time to say farewell to Earth and it's primitive culture. Inform the men...at once!"
Starscream gives the same arm salute as Soundwave did moments ago. Rushing to the platform where the Decepticons had gathered after loading, Starscream points to the ship and gives the command.
"Decepticons we are to board the ship! We're going home!"
The evil horde of robots all cheer at the news, as they continue to celebrate, they all gather on to the huge lift that can carry them all up and start to move towards the top. Soundwave and Megatron stay below until the lift can return to the ground for their use.
"What of the Autobots? Will we leave them here alive?" Soundwave asks the leader in his monotone humming voice.
"Yes...for now." The leader says with a serious look. "Let Optimus and his band of rebels enjoy the short lived feeling of freedom. For once we return to Cybertron, refuel our soldiers and destroy any remaining Autobot faction there...we'll return to this planet and finish them off properly. More mercy then they deserve..."
Soundwave looks up and sees the elevator returning to them. The Decepticons now inside the ship, it now becomes their turn to head up as well. As it finally reaches them, Megatron and Soundwave step on to it and slowly ascend upward. Megatron smirks with great evil as he thinks of all the things he's going to do once he reaches his home world again.
"So close Soundwave...I can almost feel our destiny at hand, Cybertron, the galaxy and the universe at large under our empire..."
As the roar of the ship engines begin to sound below, Megatron chuckles and finishes his thought.
"So close...to total conquest."
Soundwave starts to laugh with the leader as his giggling becomes infectious. But suddenly, the blue and sliver robot stops immediately and looks out at the horizon. Like a rabbit sensing danger near by, the robot perks up and focuses his attention towards it.
"Megatron! I am detecting a large energy signature heading our way!"
"Eh?", the leader says as he too stops laughing. "What now? More humans...."
"Negative!" Soundwave says shaking his head. "The energy reading is that of the Autobots!"
"No...", the leader gasps. "How many? How many of them Soundwave?!!"
"All of them!" The single eyed robot says in a shocked breath.
No sooner had he said that, than out of the barren wasteland came a large streak of green light and all of the Autobots rushing in with their car modes. As the dusky sky began to reveal the beaming light of the new day sun, the entire line up transformed together and took out their weapons ready for battle. Megatron's surprised look was enough to make Optimus Prime give the command so many want to hear the moment they changed modes.
"Autobots! Let them have it!!"
Running in as they fired their weapons at the ship, the Autobots screamed as they charged, the laser fire was so intense that even Megatron needed to shield himself from the streaking blaze.
"Gaaah!! We can't have them destroying the ship!"
Opening a small panel on his silvery arm, Megatron talked into the built in microphone attached to it, his booming voice echoed to all of his warriors inside as they could hear his words.
"Decepticons! We're under attack! Scramble! Scramble! SCRAMBLE!!"
Pouring out like a flock of birds, the Decepticons quickly came out of the vessel and opened fire on the Autobot shooters. Each one on both sides took up protective shelter as they continued to pummel one another with gunfire. Optimus Prime looked up and saw Megatron firing down at his location with his side arm cannon. Prime's trailer appeared out of its temporal fold and quickly transformed into its battle platform mode. The large gun turret and a robotic multi-armed crane with missiles attached, targets the evil leader.
"FIRE!" Prime shouts as he commands the trailer platform.
The gun turret shoots rapidly at Megatron and the missiles quickly speed over to strike the silver commander. The impact is so swift it catches him off guard and causes him to fall to the ground in a fiery ball. As Prime prepares another strike at the Decepticon leader, Megatron rises up after his fall. With the flames dying out on him and his metal body steaming as it cools, the evil leader whips his black arm cannon out at the trailer and sends out a massive blast in it's direction. While Optimus Prime still motions to fire at Megatron, the evil leader's blast manages to destroy the trailer's gun turreted multi-armed crane. The explosion shatters it to pieces causing Optimus to fall from the massive shock wave it gives.
"Fool Prime! You'll have to do better then that!"
"I've only just begun, Megatron!" The Autobot leader says, as he stands up undamaged.
Opening up his side leg compartment, Prime's large black gun pops out and instantly comes into his hand, a scenario that almost resembles a gunslinger from an old west movie. Megatron quickly dodges the Autobot leader's fast trigger shots as he points the weapon at him, diving for cover behind one of the massive concrete struts holding the ship, Megatron fires back with out looking. Optimus blasts the dirt floor in front of him, creating a massive pile of rock and sand large enough to shield him from Megatron's returning shots. As the two hold themselves up under their separate protections, they shout out at one another over the sound of the lasers ringing through the air.
"This is madness Prime! What do you hope to accomplish by this? You seriously think you'll survive this slaughter?"
"No Megatron...I don't. But I know, neither will you...I'm make sure of it...personally!"
The Decepticon leader squints his eyes as he hears Prime sound more determined then ever to finish him off. Something he has not heard in the Autobot leader's voice since the dawn of the Fourth War, back then, he was full of hope and even had the arrogance to continually challenge him on daily basis. As the war raged on, Prime would become more careful in his methods, no longer as brash and bold as he was before, Megatron felt he was finally wearing him down. But after hearing his voice today, it became very clear to him that Optimus wasn't going to stop until one or all of them were dead.
"You can try Optimus, but you will never...NEVER...beat me!" The leader screams out as he fires his arm cannon at him.
As the battle rages near the ship, the other Autobots scatter and create rocky dirt trenches for themselves as Prime has done. The Decepticons use any form of shelter they can to fight on the ground, the cement struts near the ship, left over materials from the construction, even using the lower half of the ship to protect themselves. Bumblebee, Brawn and Gears all manage to share one of their makeshift trenches and take turns firing at the enemy.
"Cozy little shack you've got here Gears...mind if we bunk?" Brawn says laughingly.
"Come on in fellas, the only thing this thing is missing is quiet neighbors." Gears jokes back in his aged voice.
Bumblebee groans at the two sharing terrible banter to one another.
"Ah put a cork in it you two...we've got Decepticons to kill!"
"Look who thinks he's grown up?" Brawn laughs as he stands up to shoot.
Gears leans back down and reloads his weapon with another energon power pack.
"That's the youth of today...no respect for elders or for their sense of humor."
The little yellow Autobot darts up and down as he shoots and hides from the return fire.
"I got your humor...I just think you need more practice at it."
Over in another dirt mound, both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are poised over the heap of it firing their weapons at Starscream and Soundwave.
"HAHA! This is the life huh, Sunstreaker? Boy, Kup would really love to be in this battle I'll bet." Sideswipe says with youthful enthusiasm.
"Speak for yourself bro." Sunstreaker says back at him. "I would rather be somewhere else living the high life."
Both Autobots quickly duck as the return fire forces them to hide downwards.
"Well it doesn't get much higher then this..." The sleek red and black colored robot says in a cheerful smirk.
"What do you mean higher?" Sunstreaker looks at him questioningly. "We're chompin' on the dirt!"
Starscream and Soundwave continue to fire away at every Autobot they can, the air commander uses both his null rays to blast the invading force and Soundwave uses his blue and sliver tipped laser weapon with equal strength.
"We're being overrun! Megatron has enraged them into madness!!" The jet commander panics in his irritating whiny voice. "Soundwave! We need reinforcements, NOW!!"
The newly appointed second in command nods at the suggestion, he presses his top chest button and his chest plate pops open as he ejects the other minions.
"Ravage! Laserbeak! Eject and attack!"
Shooting out of his data disk compartment, both Ravage and Laserbeak transform into their animal robot modes. Ravage sprints across the ground and launches his two sliver side missile launchers attached to his back hips. Laserbeak soars high above in the sky and dives down for a quick scatter shot at the warring Autobots. Windcharger looks up at the swooping robotic bird and uses his anti-gravity power to leap onto it's back. The bird is slightly smaller then Windcharger, but Laserbeak is powerful enough to continue to fly around with him on it. The red-grey Autobot pulls on the creature's wings and causes the bird to tumble.
"Time to clip your wings Laserbeak..." Windcharger grunts as he pulls. "Cause this is a no fly zone!"
As Laserbeak shrieks in pain, Windcharger once again uses his anti-gravity to leap off the bird just as it smashes into the ground, with a double flip and landing on his feet, Windcharger manages to avoid harm.
"Sweet dreams bird brain." He calmly spouts off like the one liner of an action movie star.
Laserbeak tries to climb out of the smoldering crater it made as it crashed, flapping it's metal wings and limping like a wounded animal, the Decepticon spy has become the first casualty on the Decepticon side.
Far away from the heated battle, both Carly and Spike watch the valiant Autobots on the top of a near by plateau. Bumblebee dropped them off there earlier and managed to catch up with the others as they raced in to fight. The plateau is a few miles away from the site, but thanks to Spike and his handy pocket fold up binoculars; he could keep an eye on how the war was progressing. Holding the small black binocular in his hand, he zoomed in with the focus to watch the bot's duke it out. Carly looking very worried beside him, simply kept her own eyes focused on the never-ending scene of laser fire that lit up the sky. Nervously she fiddled with her hair and tapped her other hand on her side as she waited for the outcome.
"My god..." Spike utters in awe. "It's like watching a science fiction epic!"
"Please Spike, those are our friends down there." She says with worry. "Don't cheapen this by making it sound as if it's nothing more then an amusement."
Spike lowers his binoculars and looks at her.
"Sorry Carly. I don't mean to sound as if I'm not attached to them. But it is an impressive sight to say the least, I'm worried about them all as well and hope that Optimus can finally rid himself of Megatron for good."
Carly grabs the black colored binoculars out of his hands and takes a look for herself, though the lenses she can see the various Autobots and Decepticons shooting at one another and trying to better position themselves by moving about.
"So far it's going good...oh be careful guys."
Spike comforts her by placing his arm around her shoulder; he looks out to the blazing lights and also gives a sigh.
"Yeah, be careful. For all our sakes."
Carly soon rests her head on Spike's shoulder and suddenly looks up at him as he gazes down at her. Neither one knew why, but for that split second there seemed to be something between them. Eyes locking on to each other seemed to awaken a passing feeling or even a moment of clarity. Spike and Carly both realize what they're doing and began to shy away from one another as if they were embarrassed by the action. Spike nervously snickers a bit and gulps as he recoils from her.
"Uhm...sorry..."
Carly fiddles with the binoculars and almost blushes as she retracts herself as well.
"No. I mean...thank you...I...I mean I was just...my head was tired."
"Oh...me too. Not my head I mean...my arm...it needed to...uh...so...so how's the battle going?" He says trying to shake off the awkward moment.
Carly flutters her eyes as she tries to also come back to her senses.
"Oh...uh...like I said...they're doing...uh...good. Battle is going fine...I guess."
As the two continued to nervously chuckle, three news vans pulled up towards them and camera crews bolted out of the doors as they slid open. The plateau had a small road that led up to where they were standing; it was the very road Bumblebee used to drop them off before he rejoined the Autobots. As the various sized vans pulled up and newsmen came running over, Spike and Carly began shout at them all.
"Hey how'd you guys get here?!" Spike demanded to know. "I thought the military had those roads blocked!"
"You shouldn't be up here!" Carly now ordered. "This is a dangerous place right now!"
The one newsman putting on his brown blazer screamed back at them both.
"Freedom of the press lady! Besides, those military morons left long ago...about time too, we've got to show the world what those monsters are doing to our planet!"
Spike frowned at the Caucasian man trying to fix his appearance and getting ready to go on camera.
"They're not all monsters! There's a group down there trying to save us all from extinction!"
"Please kid." The man scoffed at him. "I've seen what these guys are like in action. I should know...I was there at Sherman Dam in the helicopter they nearly crashed!"
Carly pointed her finger at the man in anger.
"Well who do you think saved your ass when you nearly bought it, pal?! The Autobots that's who...but your so wrapped up in getting the story you couldn't give a crap!"
The man stepped out in front as the cameraman pointed the lens at him.
"That's right babe. This is the story of a lifetime and I'm not going to let them leave this planet without winning me the award for best news coverage. I'm destined for bigger things thanks to them. So shut up and let me do my job! Phil...PHIL! You got that thing ready or what?"
The other Caucasian man holding the video camera gives him a thumb up and shouts at him.
"Your on live right now Jerry!"
Now looking calm at the man filming him, the newsman is seen with the fighting going on behind him and tells the audience of what's happening.
"This is Jerry McLane of Action 7 news. I'm here live at the site of what must be the most impressive battle happening at this very moment. Not long ago these creatures were creating havoc on various fuel and energy plants around the country, now they're here fighting amongst themselves in what must be a major power struggle. We've confirmed the fact that they are in fact not of this world, attempts where made to study the original ship the government was trying to hide, but for some reason we were unable to enter the area."
Spike looks at Carly as he hears that fact and she smiles back with pride at him.
"That's Telatran One...Prowl gave it instructions to erect a force field around the area with the help of some of Trailbreaker's shield generators. All part of his new security protocols."
Spike shakes his head in and snickers.
"My man Prowl. Looks likes trying to keep everything secure now that the army isn't around."
Turning back to hear the newsman, both listen to his attempt to describe to the viewers what is taking place. The camera shows a shaky close up view of the battle happening around the ship, the Autobots and Decepticons now using missiles at one another causing massive shockwaves. Every blast seems to quake the ground the newsmen are standing on and almost lose they balance.
"As you can see ladies and gentlemen, the war is heating up between them and the dangers out here are high. This is the most intense conflict I've ever been a part of folks...not even the wars of our generation come close to this level of brutal raw devastation. I think that who ever wins, we'll be the ones to pay the price afterwards. This may be the beginning of a full blown invasion of Earth and the end of civilization as we know it."
Spike's eyes harden at the man as he spouts that hysterical nonsense to the viewing public, even Carly's mouth dropped at such an absurd observation, the man is clearly in the wrong and is bound to cause panic to the world as it watches.
"Hey!" Spike yells at him.
The man doesn't pay attention to Spike and continues on about what he feels is going to happen.
"With our military unable to stop these creatures and weapons as useless as toys, we might be on the verge of being taken over and slaves to their almighty will. I implore the nations to stand up! Stand up and nuke these bastards before we're all destroyed ourselves!"
Spike heard enough of the man's stupidity and started to charge over angrily. Carly tries to stop him, but soon lets him pass as he gazes down at her. She knew what he wanted to do and let him go without question. Storming over to the newsman as he continues to spread his word of panic, Spike yanks the microphone out of his hand and pushes him aside.
"That's enough! I won't let you continue this crap anymore! The Autobots are good guys...get it? They're here to save us from the Decepticons!"
The man rushes back in and tries to take the microphone out of Spike's hands.
"Give me that you little twit! This is big news...I've got to tell the people the truth...you're nothing but a government plant trying to spin it your way! Uhhhnngggh...the people have a right to know!!"
Spike clenches his fist and pounds the man in the face. Falling to the ground out cold on his back, the newsman lets out a sigh as he fades out. Spike faces the camera with his eyes looking dead serious. The cameraman filming the whole thing lets out a big toothy grin and nods slightly.
"Right on man! I was just waiting for someone to do that!"
Spike lifts the microphone up and speaks.
"People of Earth! The battle you see behind me is not the end of the world, but a battle to protect our freedom and the freedom of the whole galaxy! These aliens have been in a long bloody war that unfortunately came to our planet by mistake...but please believe me when I say that not all of them are evil. The Autobots are here to protect us all from this deadly enemy and only want to live in peace themselves. What they're doing down there is what any of us would do if freedom and liberty was threatened...they're giving their lives to protect ours, soldiers of an alien race trying to preserve a human species they've only just encountered. Don't give in to hate, don't let yourselves be fooled by what others may say about them...I've seen what they do, I've been with them every step of the way...these are good beings and they only want to be our friends."
Carly now steps in to the camera view and takes the microphone.
"The evil robot beings called the Decepticons are the ones doing all the damage. Unlike the Autobots they only live for chaos and destruction. But much like our world, there are those that stand up against this sort of evil and try to bring back peace and harmony. They're doing this for us...and for every living sole in the universe. Don't judge them for how they look, or what others might try to tell you about them...these are our friends."
Throughout the world, on every television set in shops, towns, homes and screens able to see this broadcast, men and women of every age and color watch Spike and Carly as they tell the world of the real truth. In the hospital where Sparkplug lays, he too watches his son on TV as he recoups in a room lying on a bed. The small television on the wall above shines down to him as he proudly stares at his son with a smile. As the camera now zooms back onto Spike's face, he stares directly into the lens and gives his final statement.
"A brave man once said to me...'Evil men should not be allowed to get away with such evil'. I'm here to say that no words were ever more true in the history of our kind. Life is worth protecting...no matter the cost."
Sparkplug stared at his son as the young man lowered his microphone and proudly stood there with his face still staring at the screen. The father almost let his tears fall as he heard his son speak so boldly and nodded happily.
"That's my boy...that's my boy."
Inside the base of Area 51, Archeville was also watching the portable TV near by him and looked at Spike's face with disgust.
"Oh please...I'm going to be sick."
As he steps away from the television, we now see the room he is in, a fully automated control center with a command chair placed in the middle for him. At the controls are several men and women of different colors and nationalities; they all fiddle with various buttons, knobs and tap on the keyboards placed in front of them all. As Archeville sits down he lets out a sigh and looks over at his right hand man, Agent West.
"If there's one thing I've learned in this world, its that the only truth is pure might! Evil has nothing to do with it at all."
Looking back at the control center ahead of him, the old man raises his voice and sits up in his chair as he speaks.
"Charge the weapon, clear the area...open the rabbit hole!"
Outside the dusty base asphalted area, the ground begins to open up in the center of the base. People, soldiers and vehicles all manage to get out of the way as it slowly unfolds like a large flower blossoming. The sound of gears and metal scraping fills the air, more noises begins to arise as something stirs from with in the large opening blackness. Soon a massive purple colored spire rises out of the pitch black hole, the slow rising object becomes larger and larger as it lifts up. Just like their other previous weapons, the mixed technology is all over this massive rising behemoth, large wires and tubes wrap around the cannon like structure as the sun shows it to be just that. Large as a city building, the purplish cannon now finally comes to a stop as it has fully risen to its maximum height. Acheville smiles with delight as he sees it; a slow giggle creeps out of his mouth, which soon becomes an all out insane laughter.
"Wonderful! Hahahaha!! Wonderful!!"