Author's Notes: I would like to extend profound thanks to my good friend Dexter (The Collector) for helping me get this chapter done! I would never have made it all the way through without you! Thank you so much!

RP1

If That's What It Takes

Part 5

It was a simple matter to head from the back roads that led us to the girl, to the main highway. That however is where the simplicity ended. We all knew that something would happen; all knew that the possibility of the Decepticons attacking was looming in the air as oppressively as the rain clouds we were leaving behind. Still I don't think any of us were prepared for what happened the moment our tires touched the pavement of I-75.

To the micro second almost the proximity alarms started going off and once we all checked the monitors every single one of us ground to a halt and checked the readings again in utter and complete shock.

"We got Decepticons at 12 o'clock!" Jazz shouted back to Prime.

"How many," He asked.

"Ummm…" Jazz paused for a second, "All of them I think!"

"Say what?" Ironhide asked.

"ALL of them!" Jazz repeated.

It became more than apparent to us the moment that Megatron landed in front of us and glared at us.

"SO," He crossed his arms and looked at Prime as all of us transformed. "I see you have managed to locate what remains of your human mate."

"Don't even start Megatron," Ironhide proceeded to interpose himself between Prime, who was now holding Angel in one hand, and Megatron. "I still owe you fer that stunt at Yellowstone."

"As I owe you for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong." The silver mech shot back. "Now as I see it Prime, your human is in need of care from your medic, surrender to me and I promise that I will let her receive the treatment that she needs. Continue to defy me, and I will run you both into the ground."

Now it was Jazz's turn to step up and take his leader and the girl's part. "Over MY DISASSEMBLED SCRAP PILE!"

"That makes three of us!" Prowl added.

He then proceeded to turn to myself, Ratchet, and Prime, "You three get going and get that girl out of here. Get her back to the Ark as soon as possible."

Optimus opened his mouth to protest when Prowl proceeded to do something that I would have never thought him capable of doing.

"As of right now sir I relieve you of command," He motioned to the girl, "Get her and get your skid plate on the road. That's an ORDER!"

Prowl then proceeded to turn to Megatron and glare at him, flipping open his com-unit in the process. "You want to cause trouble Megatron? You got it!" He grinned evilly and snapped the com on, "This is an all point mobilization of ALL Autobot forces. Repeat this is an all-out mobilization of all forces, immediate rendezvous on these coordinates."

"SO BE IT!" the leader of the Decepticons yelled, "DECEPTICONS attack!"

From out of nowhere and everywhere, secret tunnels and hiding areas that had been scoped out by the scanners, but unseen to the eye, and had been created by the Constructicons during the time while the girls had been held prisoner. From out of all of these places every single Decepticon came flooding. Seekers, Coneheads, Stunticons, Combaticons, cassettes, and everything else popped out of nowhere and began an all-out assault on the Autobots.

Thankfully for all of us who were suddenly caught in the middle of this mess, Prowl and all of those that Prime had long ago gathered around him as his upper escalons had taken precautions of their own. Just when every single one of us would most likely have been plastered all over the highway the Protectobots came plowing our direction and pulled up to the rescue.

Everyone had been anticipating some kind of trap, some reason that the girls had been taken in the first place. The reason that Megatron would go to all of this trouble, more than just simple revenge, to get Prime and his mate out in the open. To get them out where they could be defeated and destroyed. However the Decepticon lord had underestimated the response that the rest of the Autobots would have to a maneuver of this type.

"Defensor Assemble," and a few moments later the gestalt was standing there and had engaged his shield generator. I watched as he turned and looked down at myself, Ratchet, and Prime. "Optimus, GET OUT OF HERE! Alpha Trion, Ratchet, go with him. You have to get Angel back to the Ark, ASAP!"

Typical to form Prime was more worried about those under his command and made a point of trying to put those he cared about before him.

"What about you! I have no intention of leaving you here to die!"

Defensor looked down at his commander and glared, "I THOUGHT Prowl removed you from command. Angel is the one that matters the most here, you have to get her to safety. Now get your skid plate out of here before I KICK you out!"

It was safe to say at that point the commander of the Autobots knew better than to argue with someone who was four times his size and for that matter had a point. So he did the only thing that he could do at that point. Handed Angel to me and proceeded to transform. A few moments later the girl was strapped into his driver's seat and all of us were pulling out heading back to the ark. Defensor took up a position and unfortunately managed to get himself caught between both Devestator and Bruticus. They had a time tossing him around like something from a human's game of pinball for a few more moments and then they proceeded to loose interest in him and set their sights on our fleeing party once more.

Bruticus pulled out his two massive multiple barreled hand guns and put a bead on us as the three of us tore out of the area in a cloud of dust and smoke. However the military gestalt either had not heard or didn't care about the mobilization order because a moment later a hail storm of weapons fire rained down on him and his companion, Devastator like some vision from the human's hell. Moments earlier in a hanger some ways down the road the seven jets that were in the employee of the Autobots had taken off and made a point of heading in this direction with as much gusto as they could manage. While Megatron had more than enough time to prepare his troops to take down the Autobot forces, he had forgotten that we were a group of people that, unlike his soldiers, had not been bred for battle. Therefore in order to make as much headway as we possibly could, we had become masters of improvisation. So, as a result, we may not have been better fighters but we had become better and getting our point across when we needed to be, and much better at using what time we did have to make ready.

Defensor pulled himself back up into a standing position and got ready to take action while they were both distracted. He had been watching too much NFL and WWE and pulled a move that he had learned from both places. Ten miles away the impact was heard from his "Spear Tackle" and Devastator found himself shoulder-deep in a hole that he was going to have a great deal of difficulty getting out of.

By this point the Aerialbots had taken on their own combined form and grinned down at their comrade as he pulled this move.

"YOU ROCK Defy!" He crowed as he drew his sights up on Bruticus. "NOW it's my turn!"

Meanwhile the aforementioned monster of a Decepticon was dragging himself out of his state of shock from the fire fight and was looking for something to start pummeling.

"BURITCUS ANGRY!" he roared at the top of his audios.

"OH, GO SUCK A DRIVE SHAFT!" Superion yelled back.

The Decepticon looked for the source of the insult, only to locate it just in time to see the white combiner blasting out of the clouds at him going at top speed.

Somewhere in Winchester someone heard the sound and wondered what was going on. What had happened was that, not only had the mindless brute been blasted into his components but each and every one of them was going to be keeping Hook company in his infirmary for an extended period of time.

While all of that was going on, four of the Stunticon group were in the process of going about making the lives of those who were giving us ground support an utter living hell.

"ENGAGE RAMMING SHIELDS!" Wildrider called to all of his comrades.

A few moments later nearly everyone that had joined us on the road turned out to be at the mercy of these four maniacs. Every single one of those who were running interference for us wound up shoved off the road and with more dents in them than I had ever thought any Autobot was capable of dealing with.

Somehow Ratchet was managing to keep up with Prime and doing a good job of staying out of the ways of the blows. This could be due to the fact that none of the Stunticons were after him. Time and again they hammered Optimus with their ramming shields and time and again I could see more and more of the red armor that protected him chipped, cracked or throttled inward, and his trailer was completely lost. Sooner or later it was going to come to the point that he was going to loose it and he needed help here and needed it soon. Here I made a point of hanging back and caught up with the twins just as they were hauling them selves up back on to the road from where they had been knocked. The gold twin was opening his mouth to complain about the condition of his paint while the other one was in the process of telling him to shut up and radioing the Aerialbots.

"Silv'?" I heard Sideswipe ask into his com as I pulled up.

"This is Silverbolt, I copy." He called back, "We just wiped the north half of I-75 with Bruticus and Devestator, anything we can help you with down there?"

"Wow, you two took out the twin terrors? Man, remind me I owe you a can of oil when we get back to the Ark. Right now though, we need you to get yer flying skid plates over here and give Prime some air support. The Stunticons have pretty much chased everyone else off the road and he's going to need some help pronto!"

"We'll be there as fast as we can," Silverbolt told him.

"Just watch your backs," Sunstreaker added finally getting him self under control, "Those nut-balls have the Seekers with them."

"Perfect," Was all that the SST had to say in response.

While they were flying in to the rescue and I was heading out with the twins, Wildrider was in the process of getting ready to finish Optimus off. He gave him one more good bash and then lined up his sights.

"HEY GUYS!" He gloated, "One more good bash and his tandem axles are history! Get ready to take him out!"

He never got a chance to live up to that boast due to the fact that a moment later a barrage of shells tore through his roof and rear end, as well as leaving a huge hole in his engine block. The sports car was suddenly left on the side of the road and Optimus continued to roar away with his precious cargo still strapped in and somehow unharmed. The last moment save had come from the A-10 warthog that had come swooping out of the sky at the last moment. Powerglide grinned to himself and proceeded to inform his victim what he thought of him.

"TAKE THAT Decepticreep!" He yelled, "That's what you get for messing with da main 'Bot!"

A few seconds later the mini-bot had swooped around yet again and all three of the other Stunticons had gotten the same treatment that had just been delivered to the black Ferrari. This prompted Starscream to decide that the tough little plane needed to be taken care of. After issuing order for the rest of the jets to stay on the tail of the Autobot leader, he turned and began to do his best to knock the Warthog out of the sky.

Skywarp snickered and had to look back, "Think Screams can stand up to old 'Glide?"

"Who knows?" Thundercracker shot back, "Its going to be a blast to watch though."

The red and blue seeker did the best he could to loose the little plane, using every trick in the book and then some to try and get him off of his tail. All of it was to no avail however, Powergilde stuck to the irate jet like he was made of epoxy and a few seconds later Starscream was at his wits end.

"That all you got Screamy?" The smaller plane called.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Starscream roared.

"FINE!" Powerglide told him as he powered up his weapons array, "I'll just call you Swiss cheese!"

Five minutes later Powerglide was out of ammo and Starscream had several Autobot symbols carved into his wings, his back and cockpit.

"YOU Miserable little ….I'll GET you for this!" the Seeker yelled as he fell from the sky and made a good impression on some part of the highway of his own.

"Promises, promises," Powerglide muttered, "Hey Jet? How about a pick up big buddy? I'm running on fumes here."

"Can do, lil guy!" Jetfire told him. "Stay put till I come for you."

While all of this was taking place the rest of the Autobot fliers had their hands full with the other Seekers, the Conehead jets and the Cassette fliers. Needless to say it was less than pretty but it got done what it needed to and Prime and Ratchet managed to get themselves into the clear. Or so the two of them believed, twenty more miles down the road the leader of the Stunticons was waiting his engine gunning, and looking to knock Prime off his perch once and for all.

"Time to finish this, old man," He called over open frequencies, "I'm going to hit you and that broad so hard that they are going to need tweezers to pick up the bits of you!"

Here yet again the Decpticons made the mistake of underestimating what the Autobots would do for someone that they cared about. Rather than cut his motor down, Prime himself gunned his own motor and took off down the road at break-neck speed. By now the rest of us who were members of the Autobots got wind of what he was going to do and began to make some of the loudest protest that we thought possible.

"DON'T DO IT PRIME!" Prowl cried.

"You're in no condition!" Ratchet tried

"Think about Miss Angel!" Someone else hollered to him.

"Don't Do it Optimus!" Silverbolt told him, "I'm detecting his ramming shields intact! He's got more mass than you do since you lost your trailer! NEITHER OF YOU will survive the hit!"

"Your just going to have to have faith in me Silverbolt." Was Prime's reply.

"Faith? What do you mean?"

"Faith that I can pull off something that only a Prime could," came the stoic reply.

As if by some sick twist of fate, it was that the two massive Cybertronians were going to clash at a bridge right smack in the middle of the highway. At this point all I can say is that the Matrix, the thing that makes a Prime what he is, felt that the one it was now a part of was in dire straights. That its current bearer would do anything on this or any other world to save the woman that he loved. It knew that he needed its power more than ever before; it could hear him almost begging it for help. It answered. He felt the power come to him, the pure undiluted essence of Primus himself. It was as if the Deity of the Transformers saw what was going on between his chosen Prime and this human woman. He saw and he approved, therefore when Optimus Prime called out to it for strength it granted it to him. Power like none he had ever known hit him with the force of a tidal wave, and somehow he knew that he would win and Motormaster would be the one that would wind up totaled from this fight. Up until Motormaster saw the other big rig come over the hill he was sure that he would win, and then he got a good look at him, and wished that he had never thought to pull such a stupid stunt.

The shockwave could be felt miles away. Prime plowed right through him and appeared to barely even notice what he had just done. As for Motormaster, he was reamed off the bridge and sent flying down into the river below, landing up-side-down and compacting under his own mass as the water closed over him.

Prime continued to barrel away from the scene of this but was not out of the battle by a long shot. The rest of the Decepticons were following them and that last stunt with the Matrix had pretty much cost him almost all of his reserves. The fact of the matter is right then if Superion had not come after him and retrieved the leader, he would most likely have been caught.

Prime somehow, with much grinding of gears and more than a little bit of cursing managed to transform back and hung on to the gestalt as best he could. This prompted all of those Decepticons that were airborne to start strafing the big combiner and doing the best they could to knock him and his passenger from the sky.

It probably would have been accomplished, if not for some rather desperate action on the part of the gestalt in question. The Aerialbots split apart and that left Prime holding on to Silverbolt. The SST proceeded to floor it heading back to the Ark while everyone else remained to engage those who were still trying to harrier them back into the ground.

Somehow all of us managed to reach the safety of the Ark and Prime handed the girl he had done so much to protect over to Ratchet. Strangely enough it was then that all of us realize that Optimus himself was barely on his feet and it took several of us to haul the CO into the med center for treatment himself.

The Decepticons for their part had begun to mass outside of the Ark and for all appearances it seemed that there would be another battle. They were not however, counting on the last line of defense for the Autobots. Omega was officially one of them and the all points' mobilization had reached him too. So when they began to amass, he appeared and shot down the confidence of every enemy present.

"Omega Supreme, Ready for BATTLE!" he informed his comrades as they all turned to look at the retreating Decepticons with looks of sheer glee plastered on their faces.

Inside the Ark's med bay I was in the process of taking stock of and preparing to treat Prime's injuries. Ratchet however, had changed back to his human size and had shut himself in the operating theater going to immediate work on saving the mind of Angel.

As I tended to the wounded leader all I could think to myself was that I hoped that was all it was going to take to save her, because I had a feeling that there was going to be a great deal more to it than just what met our optic sensors.