Things had been hectic for Team Prime in the race for the Omega keys : First, Arcee and Bee lost one to Knockout, then Smokescreen and Bulkhead lost another to Starscream, Smoke was captured by the decepticons after it was revealed he had a key inside him, then he escaped with the two keys, finally winning everyone's respect.

But Starscream, with a clever use of a clone's corpse and red energon, raided their base and stole their omega keys. He then used them to convince Megatron to take him back. which bring us to today's events.

Dreadwing had contacted them and gave them the forge of Solus Prime, but refused once again to join the autobots.

Optimus then used the Forge to upgrade the groundbridge into a spacebridge, and him, Bulkhead, Arcee, Jack, Bumblebee and Smokescreen took the relics of Iacon.

Jack, after warning his mother of what was about to happen, invoked his armor plus a helmet to allow him to breath on Cybertron.

" Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost. " Optimus grimly stated, before he and Team Prime ran through the groundbridge.

They arrived in the sea of rust and saw the army of decepticons, led by Megatron.

Smokescreen used the phase shifter to emerge from the ground and attacked them from behind.

Bumblebee used the polarity gauntlet to send metal scraps on the vehicons.

They tried to shoot back but Bulkhead used the immobilizer on them.

Arcee put on the apex armor and jumped in the fray while Jack threw the Star Saber to Optimus while he let out his wrist blades and skates under his feet.

The two sides charged at each other, shooting and then switching to melee weapons.

Jack skated at great speed between the vehicons and slashed their ankles, leaving Arcee and Smokescreen to finish them off.

Meanwhile, Megatron and Optimus were fighting with their Star Sabers.

" Finally the battle I waited for so long, Optimus ! " Megatron boasted

But Optimus pushed him back and quickly sent an energy wave, which sent Megatron away.

Bumblebee used the polarity Gauntlet on the Omega keys but the vehicons holding them tried to resist, until Bulkhead used the immobilizer and Bee took back the keys.

Smokescreen then threw the spark extractor in the middle of the decepticon army and the autobots transformed and rolled away. Arcee took off the apex Armor and changed into her motorcycle form, allowing Jack to ride her.

The spark extractor activated and the army was killed before Megatron destroyed the artefact by throwing the dark saber at it.

" Starscream, the autobots have taken the Omega keys ! Send reinforcements ! " He ordered

" Lord Megatron ! Soundwave and I came up with a better idea to defeat the autobots : By using the human factor. " Starscream responded

" I am listening, Starscream. " Megatron said.

( with Team Prime )

The Autobots reached the Omega Lock, an unassuming dimple on the landscape. The Keys glowed, and the location transformed, creating a huge ring over their heads that filled with a shimmering energy field.

" Wow, did you see that ? " Smokescreen asked

" I'm seeing it, still working on believing it. " Jack answered

" Ratchet, we arrived at the Omega Lock. " Optimus told the medic

" Thank the allspark. After all these years, Cybertron will be restored. " Ratchet responded

Just then, Megatron arrived in his jet form and transformed back in robot form. Everyone prepared to fight him.

" I suggest you hand over the Omega Keys. " Megatron demanded

" And why should we do that ? " Smokescreen challenged him

" So that we can give you back the humans. " He answered, as a groundbridge opened and out of it came Starscream, Soundwave and Knockout carrying four airtight containers which had June, Miko, Raf and Sierra inside.

All of Team Prime were shocked at what happened.

" And if we refuse ? " Optimus asked

" Then we will open the containers, exposing your friends and an innocent girl to Cybertron's toxic atmosphere. " Megatron threatened, horrifying everyone.

For a few moments, nobody was willing to back down until Megatron looked at Starscream.

" Miko, come out and play. " Starscream taunted, sliding his finger across the container.

" Go ahead, you creep. They were willing to sacrifice their lives for my planet, I'll do the same for them. " Miko responded

" Me too. " June added

" If my decision dooms the future of the autobots on Cybertron, so be it, but I will never forsake our human allies. " Optimus stated, planting the Star Saber in the ground.

Team Prime placed the Iacon artefacts next to it.

" Excellent, now the Omega keys, one at a time. " Megatron said as Knockout, who was holding June and Sierra, came first

" You two first. " He said to Arcee and Smokescreen, who walked towards him.

They give him the two keys and he gave them June and Sierra. They stepped back as Bumblebee arrived to exchange his key against Raf with Soundwave.

Finally it was Bulkhead's turn.

" If I don't have Miko back, I'll make you eat that Key. " He threatened Starscream

" You're welcome. " Starscream responded, taking the Key and giving Miko back.

" Get scrapped. " Miko insulted, before Bulkhead stepped back

As he arrived, a groundbridge opened and out of it came a group of vehicons who surrounded them all.

" Now bear witness to a new dawn on Cybertron. " Megatron said, as he, Starscream, Soundwave and Knockout inserted the keys into the Lock.

" Behold the age of the decepticons ! " Megatron yelled before directing the Lock towards some ruins and activating it.

The Lock sends out a beam of energy that recreates the ruin, turning it into a pristine building. Everyone was awed at this.

" By the Allspark. " Optimus stated

" Instant home makeover. " Miko commented

" Shiny. " Knockout said

" Okay Megatron, you have what you want, let us return to Earth. " Jack asked, making Sierra gasp, for she recognized his voice

" Oh, I wouldn't recommend it, Jack : You and the other humans will be safer here." Megatron refused before turning towards Starscream " Is the spacebridge locked on the target ? "

" Per your instructions, Lord Megatron. " Starscream answered

" Excellent, why rule only one world when I can rule two ? " He rhetorically asked

A space bridge opened and Megatron directed the Lock towards it, and the beam of energy entered it.

" If the Omega Lock can restore Cybertron, it will do the same to Earth, right ? " Miko asked

" No, Miko. It will cyberform your planet in favor of its new matrix, destroying all indigenous life in the process. " Optimus somberly answered

" Such raw power. What should I call my new domain, New Khaon ? Or perhaps gilded Earth ? " Megatron tauntingly asked

" No ! " June yelled, banging on the container

" Leave our planet alone ! " Sierra begged

But Megatron, Starscream and Knockout soon began to laugh maniacally. And it was this that pushed Jack to act.

He let out his wrist blasters and shot at two vehicons, before skating to the Star Saber. He touched it, causing it to shrink and he skated back to the Lock.

Megatron took the dark saber and charged to meet Jack. The warlord brought down his sword but Jack avoided it, jumped on it and ran up to Megatron's shoulder, then he cut off the deaceased Prime's arm before jumping off the decepticon.

Soundwave and Knockout opened fire on him but he reflected the shots back at them, making them stumble back.

Starscream shot a missile at him, but Jack avoided it and jumped on the seeker's shoulder, and used the momentum to leap towards the Omega Lock and bring down his saber on it.

A huge explosion ensued and the autobots protected the humans, while the decepticons scattered.

" Jack ! " June, Arcee and Sierra yelled

Smokescreen gave Sierra to Bulkhead and rushed towards the Omega Lock, picking the phase shifter on his way. He saw Jack, on the ground, his armor and helmet cracking. Smoke took Jack and the saber in his hand and transformed into his car form, to give some oxygen to the boy.

" Ratchet, open the spacebridge, now. " Optimus ordered

The green vortex appeared and every autobot ran in it. The decepticons recovered and saw the ruins of the Omega Lock. Starscream was horrified.

" Well, I guess we can cancel the welcome home party. " Knockout snarked, causing Starscream to slap him.

" Idiot ! Tend to the wounds of our master ! " Starscream ordered him, not in the mood for jokes

He then saw the autobots spacebridge close.

" Jack ! He will pay for ruining Cybertron's restoration. " Starscream snarled

" They may run, but they will never run back home. " Megatron stated

( autobots base )

Ratchet anxiously waited the Team's return. When they arrived, Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were carrying their human allies and a young girl in containers, and Smokescreen was carrying an exhausted Jack in his hands.

" What's happening here ? " Ratchet asked

Nobody answered, they were too busy getting the humans out of the containers and helping Jack get his armor off.

" Somebody say something. " Ratchet insisted

" Megatron wanted to use the Omega Lock against Earth, I had to destroy it. " Jack explained, as June and Sierra helped him up

" What ?! You did..." Ratchet began to say

" Jack did what was necessary. There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger. " Optimus defended Jack

" So you destroyed the only device in the universe capable of restoring our home. Jack, we needed that. " Ratchet lamented

" You weren't there, Doc, and it's not your place to second guess a battlefield decision. " Smokescreen defended Jack

" IT MOST CERTAINLY IS! There HAD to be another way! " Ratchet yelled

" Didn't you heard what Jack said, doc ? Megatron was cyberforming Earth. " Miko said

" Jack saved our planet. " Sierra added

" WHAT ABOUT OUR PLANET? " Ratchet yelled

" I'm sorry for Cybertron, Ratchet, but I'll pick my planet over yours anytime. " Jack sincerely said

" And you made all of our struggles and energon spilled and countless sacrifices, for NOTHING ! " Ratchet accused him

" It's not his fault, Ratchet ! We can't blame Jack for what he did. " Arcee defended her partner

" Of course, we can ! Because of him, Cybertron will forever be a lifeless husk ! And what were you thinking surrendering the keys to Megatron ?! " Ratchet retorted

" Don't talk about my son like this, Ratchet ! " June demanded

" We had no choice : the cons had the kids in their possession and were using them as a trade off. If we gave the keys to them, they would hand us the humans unharmed. If we refused, they were going to let them out of those containers and die slowly from Cybertron's toxic environment. So we had to do what was best for them." Bulkhead explained

" You had no choice? We always have a choice! Our mission was simple, to head to Cybertron, get the Omega Keys, head to the Omega Lock and restore our home planet. Instead, your surrendered the keys to the Decepticons just to save these humans! What's next? Surrender the All Spark to the Fallen? Or worse yet, reawaken Unicron in the center of the Earth? I can imagine the foolish choices all of you would make! " Ratchet ranted

" Well maybe if you had picked us up from school or bridged us into the base, then none of us would be in this mess in the first place! " Miko responded, having enough of him.

The autobots and Jack were shocked to learn that Ratchet neglected to bring June, Miko and Raf to the base. But they wanted to learn how they all ended up captured by the decepticons.

" Just what happened ? " Jack asked

" We called Ratchet to see why the bots weren't there to pick us from school but he just ignored us and tell us to go home, even after I suggested him to bridge us to base. It's not like he was busy with something important. When we were on our way home, we passed in an alley and Soundwave's bird captured us." Miko answered

" Okay, and you Sierra, how did you ended up there ? " Arcee asked

" I was going to Jack's house to see if he would be willing to tutor me in History because my grades had been slipping lately. I met Mrs Darby who told me you were busy but she would pass the message, but the two of us were seized by tentacles and brought before that faceless robot who opened a vortex and entered in it with us. " Sierra explained, with June nodding

" That was after I called Ratchet to see if he could bridge me to the base but he ignored me. " June added, glaring at the medic

" So to be clear, if we are in this mess, it's your fault, Ratchet. " Jack said, glaring at Ratchet

" Oh really? Well maybe if you weren't involved in our little war from the start then we would've won it to begin with! " Ratchet snapped

Now, apart from Optimus, the autobots were becoming angry against Ratchet. After everything the kids had done for them, he still was saying that they should have never been involved with them. But before they could respond to Ratchet's comments.

"Prime!" Agent Flower's voice rang out in the base, "The Pentagon's preparing to go Defcon 1. I need to know what we're dealing with!"

Optimus walked up to the screen, "To what do you refer Agent Fowler?" he asked, confused.

"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves." Fowler replied before cutting the call.

" Ratchet, watch over the humans. We'll talk about your attitude later. " Optimus ordered him, before he and the rest of the team entered the elevator.

When the doors opened to a shadow, Bumblebee knew that something was wrong. He didn't know how bad that something was until he saw a cybertronian fortress. He heard a helicopter that he knew was Agent Fowler's and he heard human footsteps, but he didn't take his eyes off of the tower until Optimus broke the silence looming over them all.

"Megatron has managed to accomplish the first phase of his cyber-forming of Earth: the construction of his fortress."

"In Jasper, Nevada?" Fowler asked, "I don't get it. Why here?"

Bumblebee spoke up, pointing near the new fortress, "It's the Nemesis!" he exclaimed.

Not a moment after he said that, the Decepticon warship came down through the clouds and turned to face the Autobot base.

Optimus' processor ran through countless possibilities before coming to a dark, horrifying truth. "Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base." He said grimly.

Not a few moments later, Insecticons and new Decepticon Seekers charged the Autobots. Optimus reacted the quickest, grabbing the Star Saber on his back and swinging it, a massive wave of destructive energy came off the Star Saber, speeding towards the vanguard of Insecticons, who launched first. When the wave met the Insecticons, it was an energon bath. The thick armor of the Insecticons did nothing in the face of the wave. A massive explosion occured along the line of the Insecticons where the wave hit, leaving nothing but smoke and fire in its wake.

When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the vanguard was a few stragglers that were on the corners of the formation. The survivors didn't retreat however, nor did they land on the ground. They charged the Autobots, blasters firing as fast as they can, before landing in front of their enemies.

In range of close combat, Optimus deployed a sword from one hand, the other putting the Star Saber onto his back before shifting into his ion blaster. Bulkhead transformed both his hands, one into his wrecking ball, the other into his heavy blaster. Bumblebee transformed his hands into his dual plasma cannons and Smokescreen transformed his hands into medium energon blasters. Arcee changed her hands into her blades.

The Insecticons charged at the Autobots recklessly, trying to use their superior numbers to overwhelm the Autobots. At first, it didn't work, but the battle raged longer than expected by Megatron, who was watching intently from the top of the Nemesis, his arm still missing. But then again the Autobots were known for doing the unexpected.

After a few moments of fighting off the assault, the numbers finally beginning to overwhelm the four bots, Optimus ordered,

"Autobots! Into the base!"

They fought a fighting retreat and were nearly all on the platform into the base when Bulkhead saw Fowler start up his chopper.

"Fowler! What are you doing?" Bulkhead demanded, stepping onto the platform.

"My job, two-ton." Fowler replied, adrenaline getting into his system.

Before Bulkhead could retort, the platform lowered, closing the doors in the process, leaving Fowler to face the Insecticons and Decepticon Seekers alone.

"What's happening?" Ratchet demanded.

"The Decepticons are invading Jasper. They appear to have found the location of our base." Optimus replied.

"And Fowler thinks that he can hold them off." Bulkhead added sourly, not liking Fowler risking his life on a suicide mission.

Ratchet was about to reply when Fowler's voice cut in. "Prime! Reinforcements just arrived!"

Optimus shook his head before replying. "Agent Fowler, your military cannot hold off the-"

"Didn't think I was gonna let Team Prime have all the fun did you?" a familiar voice called, interrupting Optimus.

"It's Jackie!" Bulkhead exclaimed

"Wheeljack? But how-" Ratchet asked, before being cut off by Wheeljack, who understood the question before he finished.

"Picked up a strange energy surge. Hope you don't mind the company."

Ratchet blinked, caught off guard. "No. It's just that after everything, well..."

"Same team Doc. Always will be." Wheeljack replied.

"Thank you for the help Wheeljack." Optimus said gratefully.

"No big deal Optimus," Wheeljack dismissed, "This is more fun than scouting the planet out anyway. I'll be here until I'm shot down or you're outta here."

Wheeljack then cut the connection to focus on the battle, leaving Team Prime to figure out what they were going to do next.

"Autobots, we must evacuate the base if we are to survive. I will send you to different locations to lose the decepticons then we will regroup and counterattack. " Optimus ordered

" But where will we go ? " Raf asked

" The Harbinger : If Starscream didn't disclosed its location to Megatron, it will be a stepping point. " Optimus answered

" What about you Optimus?" Ratchet asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"I will stay behind and ensure that the Decepticons do not follow." Optimus replied, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"I'll man the Spacebridge, split us up a fair amount." Ratchet murmured as the bots complied with their orders.

Then Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead changed into vehicle modes and Miko and Raf entered inside them. June and Jack hugged each other before the nurse went with Raf. Sierra held onto Jack while he sat on Arcee.

Ratchet opened the groundbridge and Bee drove first, then it was Bulkhead's turn, Arcee's, Smokescreen's and Ratchet's.

" I never would have thought it would come to this. " Ratchet said, before going into the vortex.

" Neither would I, old friend. " Optimus answered

Once he was alone in the base, he changed his hand into a sword and brought it up to destroy the bridge controls. He swung without a moment's hesitation, right as the base exploded, coming down right on top of him.

( in the Sky, minutes ago )

Starscream entered the fray and pursued Wheeljack's ship until he managed to shoot it down, sending it to crash.

" That's how you wreck a wrecker ! " He claimed before returning to the Nemesis.

Under Wheeljack's orders, Fowler retreated to a safe distance and saw the Nemesis placing itself above the base. A weapon deployed from its underside as it did. This weapon was the main weapon of the Nemesis, the pinnacle of Decepticon engineering to make it so small. This weapon was made to be a destroyer of fortresses, and when it fired it lived up to that reputation, completely leveling the Autobots base.

Megatron and Starscream landed in the ruins and saw the autobot symbol on the ground.

" This is the place. " Starscream stated

" This was the place. " Megatron corrected.

" United we stand, divided they fall. " Starscream claimed

The two reveled in their victory, not knowing that Optimus was near them, heavily wounded.


And that's all for that chapter.

Next Time : Team Prime on the run, new allies, new enemies and the war forever changed.