Author's Note: Hang on, everyone - things are about to get Cybertronian! Stay tuned for the next installment, cause this ride isn't over!


A trail of sparks burst to life on the armor of his wrist, falling to the concrete below only to skip away out of existence once again. It was met with another stream of sparks across the back plating of his armor, the result of the impact a deep gash along his plating. He fell to a knee, cried out with a painful snarl, and raised the shield to block the strike that would've severed his head from his shoulders.

Optimus glared into the hateful optics of his enemy, who was fighting formidably for a mech much smaller than Prime himself. Given their differences in size, Lockdown was much more nimble than Optimus was – and given his arsenal of Cybertronian weapons and cunning profession, it was no surprise that Optimus was wearing down as quickly as he was. Between his constant state of worry about this world and his allies, and his lack of combat for over three years, it took everything he had to meet Lockdown in combat.

He swung wildly in an arch, barely missing Lockdown, only to have his sword collide with the corner of the warehouse to his right. It shattered the brick and mortar, sending it raining down around his feet as he came around quickly to find Lockdown firing some type of rockets from a wrist launcher in his direction. Optimus dived out of the way, just as the rockets nicked the building and sent it crumbling in on the weak-point. Now, the fallen building was all that separated he and Lockdown in their battle-field of choice.

Prime hadn't heard from Mira or the rest of his comrades for some time, and briefly the mech entertained the idea that Mira hadn't survived her injuries. A plaguing sense of grief and rage pitted in the bottom of his Spark – and he immediately shook off the thought. If Mira were dead, he would have known – the Matrix would know, and the Shield would have told him. His connection to her was stronger than speculation or mere friendship; being her guardian, he would know if she were dead or not. Instead, as he stretched his scanners, he could sense the faint signature of her armor among the other signs of life from the Autobots.

Lockdown snarled at him from across the wreckage. "It's over, Optimus," he called above the din of crumbling buildings and screaming warfare coming from the city around them. Optimus dared not look past his adversary to the destruction raining down on the South American city he'd left behind in his pursuit of Lockdown, lest he appear distracted, "this conflict of interest is no longer in your control. The world you once fought to protect has betrayed you – its people have forsaken you and your accursed Autobots." The way he spit the name like venom made Optimus' circuits fry with rage, "You've lost."

Optimus expected the realization of Lockdown's words to solidify in his processor at any moment, but it never did. He realized what his foe proclaimed wasn't true – they had never lost the war. They had lost allies, and friends, but never the war – it still continued on, as did the allegiances with many of his people and their friends. It had taken on a different form than it had when he had first arrived on earth, yes – it was not the same allegiance. Smaller, maybe, but never weaker. Different, but not forgotten. What had started off as an allegiance to save Earth from their war had turned into a fight for life, freedom, and individual choice – much like the war on Cybertron had started all those years ago with Megatron in the gladiatorial pits of Kaon.

It had transformed.

He was neither the victor nor the overcome in this war, no – he was the leader of a movement that had expanded out of his control to affect other people not much unlike him. This war had spanned the stars to another world where his people had been residing since the time of the Primes. All that truly had happened, in every reality, was that now this world's people were beginning to understand the consequences of choice, and freedom, and discovery – they'd discovered that it was not all freedom, and not all glory like it had promised in the beginning. Sacrifice, and loss, had carved out this war as much as it had on Cybertron.

And, the humans were choosing – they were free to choose which side of this war they had wanted to be on.

Isn't that what this is about? Orion Pax, the mech so long abandoned in the war for Cybertron, echoed throughout his memory banks now as a data-clerk struggling with the idea of individual choice, This is what you've been fighting for. The freedom to choose. Optimus adjusted his grip around the hilt of his sword and glowered before Lockdown.

It was about freedom. And they had made their choices. "The only one who has lost is you, Lockdown," he took a fighting stance again as Lockdown edged closer to him, overstepping the rubble and glaring with a look of pure hatred. He finished his thought, "You have ravaged this galaxy long enough. It's time we were free of you."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You and your demented ideals of freedom," he chortled and swung his hooked hand around to point it at Optimus as he moved back and forth in a challenged pace before his enemy, "it will be the death of you, and your human pet." He paused and chortled again darkly, "Your humans have betrayed you, Optimus – can you not see? Even now, your human girl has left you to face death alone." He snorted in disgust, "She is a coward, just like you – running and hiding from her fate. Well, now I have come and she cannot, no – she will not – hide from me any longer."

Optimus glared at him. "If you truly understood freedom, Lockdown, you would know that the only one who has seen betrayal is you." He rolled the shoulder where Lockdown's slice had seared his armor, but didn't notice the alert flashing up on his systems. He cleared them off, intent to focus on the threat before him, "Mira will not succumb. This world will not fall into your hands – the people are strong, and their will is stronger. You would be foolish to underestimate them."

Lockdown snorted in contempt again, "Your love for them is sickening, Prime. And just like them, you will fall."

. . .

Merrick could hardly believe his eyes. He walked beside Elaina and his Uncle Bryce with more anticipation than nervousness – all the adults were slowly moving, as if they were a thousand years old. He couldn't stand not knowing, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted to know just what exactly was going on. The Autobots, too, seemed unsure of whether or not they should walk up to his mom or not. Everyone, besides Cade, anyway, seemed to be afraid and unsure.

His neck was craned all the way back, staring at the objects that towered high in the sky. Sun glinted off of them and hurt his eyes. The small heart in his chest was beating so fast that it hurt to breathe. Merrick's lungs felt like they were squirming inside of his chest, and his bone hurt. He was excited and scared all at once – and the noise! He'd never heard anything so loud in his life!

Dinosaurs. They were actual, live, robotic dinosaurs!

Merrick finally came close enough to his Mom that he broke away from Uncle Bryce and Elaina to bolt towards her. He bypassed the beings as if they suddenly weren't there, the mysticism of their ancient, robot appeal suddenly gone upon sight of his mother.

"Momma! Mom!" His voice echoed off the walls of the valley as he rushed her, arms spread open, where she knelt to receive him in a hug.

She felt funny, being in her Ironman armor, but he didn't care. When he pulled away, he frowned severely and stepped back, afraid. He began to breath unevenly and tears formed in his eyes. His mom looked different. She had metal by her eye, and in her ear, and by her wrist. Her left eye looked funny, as if it were creamy white instead of blue. She was bloody and dirty and looked tired, but she had a sparkle in her eye like he remembered, but that didn't curb his fear.

He swallowed, and it hurt. "Momma," he said quietly, looking up to where the beings were staring down at him with fascinated looks and red eyes. He grabbed her arm and turned it up, to look at the metal in her skin. "What happened to you?"

She gave him a soft smile, pulled him closer, and kissed his forehead before she shrugged a shoulder as if she weren't listening. "It's alright. I'm okay," she hugged him again, sighing in relief, "don't be scared. I'm still me. We'll talk about this later."

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed down on them, "Who be this tiny human?"

There was an accompanying screech of, "Yesss! Tiny, tiny, tiny!"

Merrick whirled around, his eyes wide with fear. He gasped, and backpedaled into his mother, who caught him and kept him upright. His stomach suddenly felt funny, as if it had fallen into his socks, and he had to strain his neck to look up at the beings high in the sky. The one was flying – flying! – and produced a strong wind with each flap of its wings. Merrick could hardly stand it. His Mom had called them Dinobots, though Merrick didn't know what that meant. All he knew was that there before him stood a metallic T-Rex, Spinosaurus, Triceratops, and a Pteranodon.

It was a good thing he already knew all about dinosaurs, otherwise he'd feel very, very scared. More scared than he already did.

His mom stood up, hands on his shoulders, and looked up at the beings. She cleared her throat and shielded her right eye against the sun, but not her left. She chuckled and held him tightly, her armor heavy against his shoulder and cold. Her hand, which wasn't armored, squeezed his shoulder tightly in reassurance as if it would be okay, despite the monsters in front of him.

She announced, "This is my youngling," and Merrick looked up at her with a wrinkled expression, "his name is Merrick." She sank to her knees and pointed up at them, one by one, "Merrick – these are the Dinobots," she smiled at him softly,"That's Grimlock," the T-Rex, "Scorn," the Spinosaurus, "Strafe," the Pteranodon, "and that's Spike." She ended with the Triceratops.

He cowered into her, afraid of all four sets of scarlet optics staring down at him. They reminded Merrick of the bad guys his Mom had been fighting for days now. The very kind that Optimus had warned him about. He suddenly didn't feel very good and she picked him up, setting him on her hip. It felt funny, being held by her in her armor. She was cold and hard.

As if sensing his unease, the T-Rex lowered its massive head and began to sniff Merrick, his snorts ruffling his hair and clothing. Merrick began to shake – they weren't anything like he imagined dinosaurs being – and he whimpered into his mother's shoulder. However, she stood tall and strong, and Merrick looked up over her shoulder to see Cade, who winked at him and flashed him a thumb's up, as if not to be nervous.

Grimlock stepped back, his metal body shaking and twitching with the movement. The earth shook with every one of his movements, and Merrick pinched his eyes closed. He swallowed back a whimper and clutched his mother tighter. He wanted nothing more than to go home – he wanted to go home, and sleep, and play with his toys. He didn't want to run anymore, or steal, or fight. All that Merrick wanted to go home with his Mom, back to his normal life and school and their home in Texas, and be himself. He pictured his home, with all of his toys, and the sky, and the fields all around. Merrick began to cry, softly, into his mom's shoulder.

The earth shook again. There was a snort of disapproval. "For being a youngling of tiny warrior," Grimlock nudged his head in his mom's direction, "he sure be scared."

The other dinosaurs roared and screeched and stomped their approval, and his mom rested her head against Merrick's and whispered quietly in his ear, "It's okay, Merrick," she said, nuzzling his ear with her nose softly, "they're not going to hurt you. They're friends. They know Optimus."

This perked his head up, and he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. He turned in his mother's arms to face them, and realized that they'd grown quiet. The T-Rex – Grimlock – had not lifted his head. Instead, he cocked it to the side like a dog, as if curious as to why Merrick was crying suddenly. Drift came up behind the dinosaurs and crossed his arms, nodding at Merrick. He gave him a slight bow of reassurance, then lifted his chin in approval.

He swallowed again, and it hurt less this time. "You…You're Optimus' friends?" He eked out, quietly. The dinosaur looked to his mom, who nodded her understanding, and snorted again – this time, it ruffled his hair and clothes more. He smelled like gas and metal and the way his mom did when she worked on their car – but, he also smelled different, too, though Merrick didn't know why.

Finally, after a moment he nodded his big head. "We friends," was all he said. He nudged his nose towards Merrick, and he reached out a hand to touch it. He rested his palm against it - it was cool and smooth, and Merrick forgot all about the huge, jagged teeth. He sniffed, and smoothed his hand along the robot's nose, and looked up into his red optics. They didn't seem so fierce this time.

Suddenly, the T-Rex added, "We be your friends too, tiny human."

The Pteranodon squawked, "We be friendsssss….we be friendssss!"

Merrick looked to his Mom, baffled. She grinned at him brightly before she nuzzled her nose against his and brushed his hair from his forehead. She set him down on his feet. Still mindful of the massive creatures all staring down at him, Merrick nodded his understanding at their offer of friendship as his mom squeezed his shoulder again, this time proud approval of his decision.

Grimlock nudged his nose against Merrick's arm, the metal cool against his skin. He let out a snort and then a friendly growl, and Merrick couldn't help but giggle. When a smile split his face, the robot dinosaur lifted his head and let out a pleasing roar, which the other creatures joined in on. This time, Merrick covered his ears and looked over to Drift, who was shaking his head with a lopsided grin on his face.

He bolted over to the Autobot, who activated his holoform to meet Merrick on bended knee. He plucked the boy effortlessly off the ground, held him on his hip just like his own mother had, and gave a half smile of approval at Merrick's sudden release of fear. His mom looked pleased, and Cade came up behind her and put a hand against her armored shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at him. Merrick beamed.

"This…this is unbelievable," the bald man called Joshua muttered as he craned his head back to stare at the beasts before him, "simply unbelievable."

Uncle Bryce snorted. "We told you they were a lot more complex than metal and math thrown together," he mumbled. At this, Bumblebee applauded and released a series of squawking buzzes in approval. The pair exchanged a look and a fist bump when Bumblebee lowered his massive fist to Bryce's.

Merrick watched as Elaina rushed up to his mom and began to ask her a series of questions. She tilted her head to the side to examine the metal pieces by his mom's eye, which worried Merrick. But, when his mom brushed off her friend's observations and nodded her reassurance, he felt better. She didn't look like she hurt, and she didn't seem different. She just looked a bit…cool.

My momma is almost a robot, he couldn't stop the thought from crossing his mind, Connor is going to be so jealous!

When his mother stepped away from Cade and Elaina, she waved a hand for the group of allies to follow her. "Believe it or not, we've got a war to win," she spun on her heel to walk backwards a few paces, and clenched her hand into a fist. Immediately, the CAST armor covered her hands and a partial shield fell over the left side of her face, covering the implant and her eye. "It's time we take back our world from Megatron and whatever form he possesses – and rid this world of Decepticons."

Hound thrust a fist into the air and hollered, "Hoo-ah!" His deep, belly-laughs rang across the cavern of the valley, and the other Autobots joined in with chants of their own. Before long, the Dinobots were roaring and pounding their feet as the Autobots transformed down into their car modes.

Within seconds, Merrick was ushered inside Drift's Bugati, buckled safely in the driver's seat as he watched his mother leap into the sky and lead his newfound friends back towards the Colombian city.

. .

The energy signatures were getting closer, and Galvatron cursed.

From his observational perch, he ran a recon and a scan of Lockdown's vessel – it was anchored into the Colombian soil a few miles on the eastern outskirts, where the mercenary was busy engaging his long-time nemesis Optimus Prime. That was of no concern, however – the more Lockdown kept Prime busy, the more time Galvatron would have to get aboard his ship and steal his stock of Seeds.

He'd abandoned any effort of raising communication with the prototypes – instead, he left them to perish at their own hands. As he tracked the incoming energy signatures of the Autobots from the mountains, Galvatron realized it would not take long for them to finish off his army of failed, man-made experiments. The Autobots were accomplished warriors, unlike the man-made machines, and havoc would soon be theirs as they came upon the beings. Galvatron's initial plan had failed, and now it was time to orchestrate a new one.

Getting aboard Lockdown's vessel would be challenging, as he employed a personal guard and array of traps and security measures. But, those measures were properly attuned to trace Cybertronian programming and energy signatures – not man-made, human ones. This wretched body, while disgusting and inferior by all rights, would give him that benefit. Megatron would've had difficulties, but Galvatron did not.

It was all beautifully chaotic, for certain. Galaxies far had seen his power and suffered at Megatron – his – hands. No such conquests, however, had brought him satisfaction as this world's doom did. These humans, and this planet, would bow before the name of Galvatron. This world would restore his former position and bring glory to the name Cybertron – once again he would be Megatron, the same mech from the gladiatorial pits of Kaon, who sparked revolution and changed the tides of a world. He would be the supreme power once again. Mira Lennox, Optimus Prime, and their band of Autobots and artifacts of power would not stand in his way.

He honed in on Prime and Lockdown's skirmish. He didn't have the patience nor the curiosity to see who was winning the fight, though he reconsidered. Whichever one prevailed, he would certainly have to deal with later. So far, neither were conquered, instead still tearing through the city in combat as if on training grounds instead of organic earth. Their battle reminded him of his days in the pits of Kaon – of Megatron's days as an undefeated warrior. So many eons ago, had those been – the times had changed. TSo had his methods. Orion Pax, too, had changed - it seemed everything had changed. Little remained that was the same as it had been on Cybertron.

Optimus Prime, however, had not changed. Glowering at the sight of the battle raging through his sensors, Galvatron snorted his disregard and launched himself upward, towards the mouth of the vessel, which was still released. He landed heavily on the ramp, rattling the Cybertronian metals, and braced for the oncoming onslaught. When nothing tripped his sensors, he stalked forward towards the ship, quickly. Sooner or later he would trip a system, so he readied his weapons system for that time.

Galvatron ducked inside, leaving Earth's world behind him.

. . .

Air whipped through Mira's hair and roared passed her ears, and between the pulsating blood running through her head and the simultaneous throbbing of her heart ripping a seam through her chest, Mira was fortunate enough to stay a steady course in the sky as she led her allies and family back towards Bogota through the mountains.

She was getting all sorts of energy readings from the city as the prototypes ran amok. Pinging Optimus for seemingly the thousandth time, she let out a frustrated groan when the communication failed. Briefly Mira entertained the idea that Optimus had fallen in battle, but when she triggered the CAST sensors to scan for his unique signature, she found him alive. A wash of relief cascaded over her and seemed to stir a powerful sense of duty in her gut. She would know if he was dead - the Shield would tell her. She could trust that much.

Below her, she watched the Autobots roar through the terrain, carrying their respective charges. From the vessel she'd retrieved weapons for her human friends and fit them to size with the help of the Shield – they'd need weapons to get through this, like everyone else. The Dinobots brought up the rear, pounding the earth with every step – Mira could feel the very air move with each and every leap they took. Strafe, the Pteranodon, soared by her in a beautiful display of grace and Cybertronian power, squawking and surveying the ground.

She raised a channel, and pinged her comrades. "Autobots," she assumed command and pulled up over the city, hovering as she surveyed the area. Their first order of business was to get control of the prototypes and regain the city. She dispatched orders, "Bumblebee, Sideswipe, go east – see if you can't set up a perimeter around the eastern entrance to the city. Drift, Crosshairs, you go west and both of you meet up in the northern quadrant. Drive them inside and box them in, and we'll pick them off one by one."

Hound was the first to respond, "And Optimus?"

She thought for only a moment. "I can't raise Prime on the comm," she bit her lower lip and scanned the area with her eyes – her readings told her Prime was a few miles east, out of the city, with Lockdown's ship. She continued her thought, "So we handle this. I'll trust that if he needs reinforcements, he calls." She looked over her shoulder to the massive Dinobots, who stopped and tromped the ground in anxious anticipation.

It would be difficult for them to navigate in urban warfare for sure, given their size, but they were her best bet in eradicating the prototypes. She gestured to them with both her hands. "Dinobots, you do a sweep around the city – Strafe, you take control of the skies. Spike, Scorn, Grimlock – you converge from the outside and draw the enemy in. You're our strongest asset."

They roared their understanding. "We Dinobots fight strong!" Grimlock bellowed into the air, his words mixing with an ancient, primal roar. Mira gasped in surprise when a stream of fire burst forth from his mouth, on the air for only a moment as it died out of existence. Strafe immediately took off, as did Spike and Scorn, the earth shaking as they departed.

Drift pinged her. "What would you like do with the humans and the Seed, Mira?"

She thought for a moment. As much as she wanted to keep the Seed out of the city, she couldn't forfeit an Autobot in the fight to play escort for Joshua. The others were outfitted for combat. As much as Mira didn't like the idea of them fighting, they needed every hand on deck to win this battle. She gnawed on her lower lip in thought, watching as the Dinobots set to the perimeter of the city. She stretched her scanners for any sign of Galvatron, but found none – she remembered immediately he did not possess an energy signature that she could trace.

Mira shook her head and gestured for them to go. "Drift – keep Joshua and Merrick with you and defend the Seed. I need you in this fight, in the air," she activated her thrusters again and took off towards the city, priming her weapons system, "Everyone – if you find Attinger and Savoy, do not engage. I'll deal with Cemetery Wind."

And as soon as she'd issued the orders did the Autobots react, and she began looking for any signs of Cemetery Wind. Mira dropped below the skyline and into the fray of urban warfare – it seemed every inch of this city had been touched by the hand of war and destruction, and she cursed Galvatron and his prototypes. A part of her was concerned that she didn't have a pin on Galvatron's whereabouts, but she knew if she found Cemetery Wind, he wouldn't be far behind.

Disengaging her thrusters, she dropped down onto the earth, her ion blaster brought up as her systems flashed different prompts to her vision – the recharging of her thrusters, energy readings, GPS locator, communication links, etcetera – as she slowly scanned the area for any movement. It was quiet, until she fired a shot into the air.

"It's time to face me, Attinger! Come and get me!" She screamed. With a flick of her systems, the blades on her feet engaged and she took off rolling down the street, dodging debris with the hope of finding the objects of her revenge.

. . .

Lockdown pulled back behind the cover of the building he'd previously bombarded with a barrage of missiles as shots from Prime's blaster skidded into the ground at his feet. He snarled, shizzle flying from the corner of his mouth, and primed the Neutron assault rifle on his left arm.

When Prime had to pull back to reset his system, Lockdown dived out from his place to send a barrage of blaster bolts his way. Prime rolled out of the way, taking his sword and swinging upward to let lose a catwalk over-head, which reigned down with a volley of concrete. Their skirmish had taken them to the industrial district of the city, which didn't matter too much. Lockdown had simply made a mental note of the buildings and vats of chemicals around, lest he strike one and blow them up together.

He ignored the ping he got from his ship, intent now to swing around and meet Prime's counter attack. He rushed Lockdown, who sidestepped him and ducked low to land a blow to the bottom of his spark-chamber. Optimus groaned and flew backwards half a step, skidding to a stop as he reached for a maintenance vehicle to his left. He whipped it at the mercenary, who shot a blast to the hurling object, and sent if veering off course to either side of him.

He got another comm from his ship, and the moment it took him to open it and patch it through to his systems was enough for Optimus to engage him bodily. The swinging arch of his sword came quickly down, and Lockdown ducked and skidded out of the way into a roll, only to pop up and volley a small barrage of bullets Prime's way. They skidded across his back plating, and the bigger mech turned around to face him.

Unprecedented movement in the boarding hangar detected. Move to engage counter-inductive measures? The message came in Cybertroninan, and Lockdown paused briefly as he and Prime stared at each other, seemingly in agreement to take a reprieve. He scowled at the mech, and opened the systems for his ship, reading the log of data. He swore in Cybertronian – someone was on his ship! He received another communique.

Flight control mainframe breeched. Unauthorized access detected. Move to disengage? Came the next transmission. Lockdown growled, hurled another volley of missiles in Prime's direction, and threw himself into transformation. Someone was trying to steal his ship, and he wasn't about to be stranded on this wretched planet one moment longer than was necessary.

He made the retreat back towards his vessel as the dust of his attack settled in the industrial yard. Much to his surprise, Optimus did not make chase, instead turned back to head towards the city. Lockdown watched the semi lumber away from the industrial yard and murmured with a snarl as Autobot melded back into the city.

"We're not done, Prime," he growled, his voice cold with venomous hate, "You will die, this day – you, and all your Autobot pets."

. . .

Crosshairs popped open his door as he screeched to a halt, simultaneously spilling out the entourage of humans from his interior. Cade, Bryce, and Elaina tumbled into the asphalt over one another, until they regained their composure and popped tall to look around the area for enemy forces.

Outfitting them with weapons was a bad idea, but a necessary one, as Mira had said. Crosshairs suddenly felt relieved at the idea of the humans having some type of defense against Cybertronian warfare, as he scanned each of them for any sign of injury. He found nothing other than heightened adrenaline as he closed his door with a thump and rolled down the window. He sparked his radio to life, the human technology crackling as he filtered his voice into it.

"Keep low and stay covered," he advised, "and watch the skies. You'll be fine. I won't be far off." Dropping the transmission into gear and rerouting power to his forward thrusters, he took off in a pealing squeal that left tire-marks on the asphalt. He roared around the corner and engaged his weapons systems, leaving the humans behind.

Up ahead, a group of prototypes were tearing apart an apartment complex, and Crosshairs fired a rocket into their grouping. Before it could hit its target, they split off and turned to face him, two flying off the building and the other dropping down before him. They began to close in immediately, and Crosshairs rolled backwards to swing around and face the other two. He revved his engine, and activated his transformation cogs. They seemed to hesitate in their attack.

It gave him enough time to finish his transformation, and within seconds he had opened fire and rendered the one to pieces just over his shoulder. The other two sprang to life, one dodging left out of sight around the corner of a building, other rushing him. Crosshairs brought up his blaster but didn't have time to fire – the prototype was on him and tackled him backwards into a building, and he shoved the thing off, swinging his left arm into a hooking blow that rattled the prototype's face plating. It let out a series of mechanical growls that sounded like white-noise, and then a muted scream erupted from its chest.

This pause gave Crosshairs enough time to duck and ram his shoulder into the beings chest plating. It staggered backwards half a step, giving Crosshairs enough pull to knock the being to the ground with a punch. It scrambled backward, fear etching its face-plating, until Crosshairs stacked his foot on the prototype's chest and its face froze in terror.

Charging his blaster, he chuckled and grinned in victory above the mech, and fired into its spark-chamber. It sputtered out a scream, lurched, and went off-line beneath his foot. Stepping off, Crosshairs look around for signs of the last standing foe, but found that Hound had intercepted it a block down and had discarded its broken arm off to the side as the rest of the creature rested lifeless around him.

Nodding his thanks, Crosshairs took off down the street; his scanners wide open for any more signs of prototypes.

. . .

Cade silently waved his troop of comrades forward across the street, looking both directions for any sign of life around them. It was deathly quiet as Elaina and Bryce filtered across the street and into a shop, crouching low behind the shattered window's ledge. Cade joined them, tucked into a roll, and looked around the abandoned street.

They waited silently, their breathing collectively ragged as sweat dripped down their bodies from every pore. Cade's head fell against the wall as he sat, watching the street as exhaustion laced his adrenaline-pumped veins. He thought of Tessa, somewhere in the sky with Joshua and Merrick and Drift, and said a silent prayer for her life.

There was gunfire, loud and sporadic, not far down the street. Immediately he and his compatriots got up and looked around the building – he could see the blaster bolts rocketing down the street at the intersection as a prototype transformed into a strand of pixelated metal and drove away. Around the corner came a flash of color, and Cade instantly recognized the small frame of Mira rushing past them. He stepped out of the building, waved her down, and she slowed to a stop as the wheels beneath her feet disengaged.

She jogged to a stop, coming off of her inertia, and they met around her. She was breathing hard and dust mingled with sweat along her face. Mira glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her, and then turned to face the group with a quirky smile on her face. Cade swore he had never seen anything so beautiful in a long time, but promptly pulled himself out of his stupor.

"You all should split," she suggested, "It's not a good idea for us to be together. Where'd Crosshairs run off too?" As soon as she said it, she held up a momentarily finger and nodded her understanding. "He's not far," she concluded. It was fascinating the way she had assimilated so quickly to her implants - Cade found himself immensely attracted to the idea.

Elaina piped up, "I don't think running around halfcocked is a good idea," she gestured with a hand to one of the taller buildings, "We should hunker down somewhere and make it the HQ for communications. That way everyone knows where everyone is and we're not scattered around." Mira crossed her armored arms at the chest and nodded, scanning the skies in search for a building that would serve for the job.

"There's drawbacks to every idea," Bryce interjected, "but I don't disagree. I've been thinking about the Seed – if we keep it in one place, everyone knows where it is and they come to us, versus us running around the city like Elaina said, half-cocked."

Mira nodded and smiled at them, "A trap," she scanned the skyline, "I like the idea. I'll send out a communique to the others – you get to a building and stay put." She pointed to an untouched skyscraper that reached high into the sky and nodded once in confirmation, "That one, right there. It's apartments. Do a sweep and make sure it's locked down and sit tight. I'll have Drift drop off Joshua and the kids – hold on," she put a finger in the air again, "I'm getting a transmission."

Her brow furrowed over her right eye. "It's Attinger," she concluded, "I'm getting a GPS signal from his phone. He's trying to communicate with Lockdown," she shook her head, "but it makes no sense – there's a ton of interference."

Cade's face pulled into a frown as Mira gestured between them. "I don't get it," he started, "how is Lockdown jamming transmissions when he's engaged with Optimus? They can do that?"

She shook her head and shrugged, "I don't know," she heaved a dramatic sigh and her shoulders dropped, "there's a lot about Cybertronian tech that I still don't understand. It's not jammed yet, but better safe than sorry." She backpedaled, nodding to them and gesturing to the building. "Get to the building, and text me when you're there. I'm going to find Attinger."

Bryce moved towards her and wrapped her in a tight, one-armed hug. He whispered something to her that sounded like a cautionary warning, which she returned to him. Elaina did much of the same, shouldering her weapon before went to join Bryce as they scanned the area. Mira just stood, watching Cade for a moment, before she went to turn away.

He grabbed her armored wrist and she stopped short, looking down at his hold. He pulled her back a step. "Hey," he warned her carefully, "be careful out there, alright?" She held his gaze for a moment before she grinned and nodded her understanding. He squeezed her wrist again, realizing it didn't make much of a difference beneath her armor. "For what it's worth, Mira – I'm really glad you showed up when you did, at the house. I couldn't imagine –"

She stopped him and shook her head. "I'm glad too, Cade," she gestured between them, "despite everything, I'm really glad." In a quick move, she rushed in and kissed his cheek before she motioned with her head for him to get going. "Be safe," she said sheepishly, looking away from him.

He quirked a half grin at her. "Don't die," he ordered with a raised brow of seriousness, gesturing with a hand as the other stabilized the alien gun against his wrist, "I mean that."

She grinned at him, saluted lightly and replied, "Will do," before she took off down the street and rounded the corner. Cade watched her until she was gone, and turned to face Elaina and Bryce. They looked at him with odd expressions, and he rolled his eyes.

"Let's go find that building," he suggested, waving towards the tall complex with his hand, "before something finds us."

. . .

Drift was busy running scans from his chopper form, watching the battle sequence beneath him as his friends and allies alike set to bombarding the prototypes with volleys of gunfire, blaster bolts, and melee attacks. Their ploy drove the unknowing prototypes inward, to effectively encase them in urban warfare for a quick slaughter.

He'd never been one for violence (ironic, considering his people had been entrenched in a war eons old, now) but Drift knew when to get ruthless when it was necessary. And, it wasn't even really being ruthless– it was being honorable, a lesson that Optimus had taught him many years ago in the face of combat. Sensei had known long before anyone else had that this war would span the stars and take each of them farther than they wanted to go – that it would drive them to do things they never imagined for themselves. Thus, he had given that lesson to Drift as they'd still navigated the crumbling remains of Iacon. That lesson had been on in honor.

He watched the younglings and Joshua Joyce in his cockpit, sitting pinned against the seats. His scans revealed that while they were all three unharmed, they reacted as if they were broken and afraid people. The girl was pressed against his glass so firmly she might as well have molded into the paneling. Joyce was sitting in the backseat, clutching to his accursed Seed, perhaps mulling over his mistakes and swimming in regret up to his ears. His perpetually blanched state at first concerned the Autobot, but when it seemed chronic and unending, he'd paid it no mind. A quick scan revealed the man was just fair-skinned.

Merrick, however, perplexed him. Drift knew that his spark was drawn the young boy in ways that Optimus had once described as foreign – almost like an out of body experience. He could see Merrick as a man, living life as a grown warrior, and wanted nothing more in his life than to feed into his upbringing. While Merrick was not his youngling, he felt drawn to him – an unearthly bond that seemed to span past time, race, and species. He wanted to teach Merrick to live, and to fight, and to die with honor. He wanted to fight the death that chased the boy – wanted to make sure the tiny offspring of his leader and friend Mira Lennox could grow into an honorable man with morals, insight, and intelligence. He would span the stars, and move heaven and earth to keep this boy and his family, safe.

Even before he spoke the words, Drift knew – he was called to be Merrick's guardian, and to say the idea terrified him as much as it thrilled him would've been an accurate statement. Drift checked his weapons systems while simultaneously scanning for signs of Mira as Merrick's little hand pressed against the glass off to his right, and he hung his head. His other had wrapped around the seat-belt. He seemed to sulk into the seat. As if to comfort him, Drift pulled the belt snugly around the boy's midsection as if in a gesture of friendship and comfort.

Suddenly, Joshua squirmed in his seat and Drift honed in on the sound of shifting metal that was immediately preceded by a rhythmic beeping that sounded exactly like a timing system. Something in Drift's Spark dropped – he focused his attention on Joshua, who's eyes were widened and his face seemed to pale even more. He began to sweat profusely, and ran the back of his hand along his forehead. Drift could feel the drops of sweat on the seat's vinyl.

"Joshua?" He asked calmly, suddenly worried, "What has happened?"

"I, I – I don't know!" He threw his hands into the air, and then gestured wildly to the Seed on his lap, "It just moved! Just made this sha-ching sound and now this beeping!" This caused Merrick to turn around in his seat, and gave Tessa cause to do so as well. The younglings shared a brief look before drawing their attention back to the KSI inventor.

"Did you touch it?" Tessa snapped, insisting. Drift eased back on the yolk and brought the chopper around, running a perimeter scan – he found Bumblebee engaged with a prototype that was busy ripping pieces of a park apart, and flinched as Tessa's thin fingers dug into his seat out of nervous habit.

"Of course I didn't touch it!" Joshua protested immediately, offended. "Why would I touch it –"

Merrick immediately unclicked his seat-belt and scampered out of the seat before Drift could even react. The radio popped to life as he called out to Merrick, "Youngling, please – sit," but the boy ignored him. Instead, he navigated back to Joshua and rolled the Seed to face him, kneeling down on the floor.

His eyes scanned to and fro along the object, as if processing the development of the object. "It's…it's counting down," Merrick's nose wrinkled and he looked over his shoulder to the radio, "like a bomb. These little dots are going away with each beep," he shook his head, "Drift – is this a bomb?"

Joshua's head snapped up, and all three of the humans looked back at the radio, each with looks of terror and what he considered to be a look of betrayal. He had the distinct feeling that Optimus would want to know about this, while simultaneously raising Mira in a private comm and alerting her of the issue.

Drift was silent a long moment, before he quietly murmured, "I'm afraid so."

. . .

Mira found Attinger set up in the middle of a courtyard outside one of Bogota's government buildings, a barricade of overturned vehicles, cement, pieces of building, and other debris blocking the entrance. When she bypassed the crumbled remains of a decorative fountain now leaking gallons of water into the street, she furrowed her brow at the destruction and readied her weapon, raising her voice above the whump, whump, whump of Drift's chopper blades overhead. Matched with the pounding of Strafe's wings in the sky, it was hardly quiet as her armor ground cement into the earth with each step.

"Attinger," she growled loudly, "come out here and face me."

As soon as the challenge was issued, the director of the CIA stepped out from behind the barricade of debris, hands raised in the air. He had the trigger cage of his handgun wrapped around his finger, disarmed, as he approached with a smirk. His clothing was tattered and filthy, but she didn't care.

Mira didn't pull any punches. She lifted the ion blaster and leveled it at his chest, the targeting system in her left eye entirely locked, awaiting her movement to engage. Instead, she approached slowly, to meet him halfway, where they both simultaneously stopped a good distance from one another. She glared into his face and disengaged the partial shield around the left side of her face, her features now fully exposed.

Drift was still hovering above them, with Merrick and the Seed, until he veered off with his new orders to rendezvous with Cade and the others at the apartment complex a few blocks away. "Looks like it's just you and me," Attinger baited, watching the blue and black Autobot fly out of view. When his gaze fell back on her, he sighed, "By the looks of it, I'd say you don't have my Seed."

"Even if I did," she challenged him with a cold growl, "you'd never get your hands on it." She took a step forward and thrust the blaster in his direction, "Enough people have died today, Attinger. I won't let you, or Galvatron, or anyone else decimate an entire city."

He snorted, "Who said anything about a city?"

She glared at him. "Galvatron is after that Seed," she screamed at him, "and he will destroy an entire city to get what he wants. I won't stand by and watch him raise an army to overtake our world. Can't you see? You're empowering events that you wanted to stop!"

He sneered at her. "Don't lecture me about heroics, Lennox!" He bellowed, "You're a traitor; no better than the aliens!" He gestured at her, spittle flying from his mouth, "Look at you – look at what they've done to you! They've destroyed you, our world, our freedom – this entire city. When is it enough for you, Lennox? When will it be enough to see that they've ruined our world? After they've killed me? You? Your kid?"

In a flash that took only a second, he flipped the gun in his hand, and it was pointed directly at her head. Mira stepped towards him, trembling with rage, a vengeful sneer etching her features. Hound pinged her, then Bumblebee, then Grimlock, but she dismissed the notifications. She thrust the blaster in his direction again. She was sweating beneath the armor, and she suddenly felt lightheaded as a wave of information flooded into her left eye.

"Drop it, Attinger!" She screamed across the courtyard, the air shaking with the echo of her voice, "Drop it right now!"

"Answer me, Lennox! When will it be enough?" He gestured with his other hand wildly, his face red with rage as spit flew from his mouth. He moved towards her, and she back-pedaled a step, her systems fully primed and ready to fire. She hesitated to fire. His gun didn't waiver in his grip as he screamed back at her, "This is our world, Lennox – our world! And I won't let you, or anyone else, give it away to aliens. It is us, or them – and you chose them."

Suddenly, her systems flashed with a rapidly approaching energy signature. Mira was overcome with the blaring horn and the scream of engine mechanics before she even had time to react fully – she turned to register the arrival, half anticipating an enemy, when suddenly Attinger whirled around and began rapidly firing at the coming onslaught.

Mira's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth dropped open as Optimus Prime roared on scene, his Western Star catching the sunlight. It glinted off the Autobot ornament on the hood as he threw himself into a transformation. His left hand dung into the concrete of the street surrounding the courtyard to break his inertia, while simultaneously the other transformed into his ion blaster. The earth thundered beneath his weight as it staggered to a halt.

Attigner's bullets did little against the Autobot, who instead sneered a look of pure hatred at the man unlike Mira had even seen in the Autobot leader. Upon realizing that his efforts were futile, the CIA director wheeled around on his heel and pointed the gun directly at Mira, and fired.

It was slow motion, almost, as Mira realized the shot had whizzed by her ear and vanished into the fallen concrete of the fountain behind her. She sidestepped, shocked, and whipped a look back to Attinger – her mouth fell open at his action. He shot at her - actually shot at her! He was panting hard and sweating, his face red as a tomato, as he wheeled around to fire at her again, seemingly unaffected by his shift.

He screamed at her, spitting like raging monster. "You've betrayed your people, your country, and your world," he snarled at her, "and for that, you deserve to die." He took a one-handed stance against her and Mira brought up her blaster, but not before she saw a flicker of blue sparks rush up behind the man. The man was beyond livid - he was a raging lunatic; one that Mira wasn't entire sure how to process.

Before she realized what had happened, Attinger came around to find Optimus' holoform on him, his arm drawn back to land a blow to the man's jaw. With a swing, his fist collided with Attinger's jaw and his head snapped back. The man went reeling backwards, the gun flying from his hand, to collide with the pillar holding up the canopy over the government building. Optimus roared in mutant fury and charged again, but this time Attinger dodged and rolled out of the way, somehow managing to stay coherent.

He popped up a few feet away as the holoform's hand crashed into the pavilion. Unfazed, Prime turned on his heel with a glare and faced the CIA director, who was raggedly breathing and wiping the stream of blood that ran out of his nose and mouth with a hand. Mira was so aghast with surprise that it took her a few moments to react, but she did, and she rushed up on Attinger – too quickly.

An accomplished agent that looked older than he fought, Attinger turned on his hee and slammed a fist into her temple. As she was falling, he reached out and snatched her arm in a grab. Beneath her armor, Mira's shoulder pulled in the socket roughly, and she cried out at the pain. Attinger glowered at her; his breathing uneven as if he were possessed. Then, he shoved her backwards into a huge piece of concrete, and her head smacked against it.

Before she could even process the injury, he bent and seized her by the throat. Paralyzed with fear, pain, and the inability to breath, Mira instantly triggered the CAST system to disengage, and it unfolded from her body in an array of electrical sparks not unlike Optimus' holoform. ATtinger lifted her body into the air with easy, the adrenaline of a fight empowering his strength. His thick, calloused fingers began to squeeze tightly around her neck, and she gasped for breath.

Attinger opened his mouth to speak, but he was silenced immediately when a gunshot broke the silence of the air and a stream of blood flew up into Mira's face from the folds of his suit-coat. The warm liquid made her squint her eyes shut as simultaneously she was dropped out of the air, gasping for breath. She collapsed onto her knees, her hand at her throat, the other keeping her supported as she sucked in air quickly. Lifting her head against the sunlight, she saw the look on his face fall into one of a surprised, terrified man. Her head spun and she almost fell backwards. The aftereffects of her injury sent her world spinning as pain radiated into her skull through her neck.

The Director sank to his knees and swayed, gripping his gut. Mira looked around him to see Optimus coming up on them with Attinger's gun at hand. He had a strange and alien look on his face – one of revenge and pure vehemence that she'd never seen from him before. As Mira sucked in breath and tried to clear the warning notifications from her system, Optimus came around and knelt beside her.

Attinger reached out for him, a glare on his face so hateful that it could've stopped an onslaught from hell. Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth as his lips parted to speak. He tried to reach, but instead crumpled with the effort on the ground. He was gasping and choking on his own blood, and Optimus' arm wrapped around Mira's waist and he lifted her effortlessly from her knees to stand. She didn't realize she was collapsed against him, until a barrage of black dots swarmed her vision. It was difficult to stand on her own two feet as her body tried to correct the intake of oxygen to her brain.

Without further hesitation, Optimus glowered at the man and pulled the gun's trigger. It fired a shot into the man's chest, and his body lurched as the bullet collided with the flesh. For a second, Attinger's eyes flickered, but then his body relaxed into death and went limp on the ground. Blood oozed from his mouth and onto the concrete, ultimately staining the CIA pin placed neatly on his right breast-pocket. His eyes stared lifelessly into the sky.

Optimus tossed the gun out of his hand, and Mira relaxed into him, almost collapsing fully a second time. There was severe pain her throat now and she parted her lips to speak, but Optimus shook his head, no. He braced a strong arm around her shoulders, and dipped to pick her up fully. Effortlessly, he lifted her human body in his arms as if she weighed nothing. She felt suddenly safe and warm against his chest, where she listened to the soft thrum of his spark.

He looked down at her. "Mira," he said gently, moving back towards his bi-pedal, true form. Once there, he set on her ground and she rested against his foot, still managing to intake air in her lungs, despite the pain in her throat. The black spots began to dissipate slowly as she put a hand to her throat, were her stinging skin was flared red and hot with injury. She felt something rush out of the metal implant on her wrist, and upon inspection of it, she saw it illuminate blue. Even beneath her skin, she saw the glowing blue stream of fluid inject in her veins.

Almost immediately, the pain in her body began to fade. Prime's holoform crouched before her, took her chin between his thick fingers, and surveyed her face. A look of concern floated onto his human features, and she cast her gaze upward, where his attention was focused on his feet, to where she rested. He looked concerned, up vaguely upset. He made a growling noise in his chest that was more out of concern than frustration.

She smiled up at him sheepishly. "Hey," she parted her lips and managed to croak out a greeting, giving him thumbs up, "your timing is perfect, as always." She winced as the words filtered out of her mouth slowly. She dismissed the injury report from her left eye and focused what sight she did have on Optimus, who was staring at her with a furrowed brow, as if to tell her this was not a joking matter.

"These implants," he said immediately, changing the subject, "where they from the armor?" Optimus looked guilty, and his tone was laced with concern for her, as if he had been the reason for her pain. He spoke from the holoform, but she could feel his true form beneath her body, cool and strong and stable. Mira wished he'd dismiss the holoform, but he did not.

She shook her head. "Not exactly," she coughed out the words this time, and gestured with her hand that she wanted to stand. Optimus stepped away and took her hand, helping her rise slowly. She grabbed his thick forearms to stabilize herself, and once assured of her footing, stepped by him towards the area where Attinger rested, dead.

Optimus grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop, gently. "I don't understand," was his reply.

She turned to face him and took his hand, patting it in reassurance. "Don't worry – I'll explain in a bit," she suddenly was pinged from Drift, and looked upwards to the sky, to find his chopper form hovering above them, again. She opened the line, added Optimus to the transmission, and scanned it briefly. "Oh no," she murmured, looking up again.

Her stomach dropped and her lightheadedness returned, and she swayed on her feet. Optimus was there to catch her in an arm and his holoform looked up to Drift. He must have read the transmission, because the features of his face wrinkled in confusion as he scanned the skies."Take the Seed out of the city, Drift – we cannot let it fall into Galvatron's possession –"

But even as he said the words, a deep thundering from the sky cut off his orders, and both guardian and charge stared into the face of the looming Cybertronian vessel creeping its way through the sky. Mira's heart froze in terror as Drift lowered through the skyline, and landed the helicopter in the courtyard a few yards from her and Prime. Her fingers dug into the holoform's chest, and she swallowed a lump in her throat - whether from fear or her skirmish with Attinger, she wasn't able to say fully.

Optimus pulled close, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and held her tightly. Lockdown's ship now shadowed them, and Mira had the distinct thought that things were about to get worse, and if there would ever be a better.