Disclaimer: Don't own any of these shows, and never will. Sucks, but oh well. On with the show.

ALL HAIL MEGATRON

CHAPTER 3: COLLAPSE OF ORDER

Five days. That's how long it's been since the Decepticons started to lay waste to New York.

When the invasion first began, many civilians ducked into their homes or the nearest buildings that they could to try and wait out for the military to put an end to the attacks. But when they saw how futile the attacks were, and how the aliens were gaining ground in their campaign of terror, that's when the chaos truly began. People began fleeing for their lives, or resorted to looting other peoples' homes as if they could gain some sort of profit from this event; but that mattered not to the Decepticons, who dispatched several of the Vehicons to the most populated areas to eliminate the humans to prevent the pop-ups of resistance movements.

By the end of the first day, over 66% of Manhattan's population was exterminated while the rest were forced to go underground like rats.

And that was only on the first day. After subjugating Manhattan under their heel, Megatron and the rest of his Decepticons moved onto Brooklyn which had already evacuated its residents to the underground tunnels with a company of troops to protect each group while the army desperately fought against the invaders on the surface; they too suffered the same fate as their comrades in Manhattan. However, scanners from the Seekers showed where the humans were hiding and Megatron came up with a solution to flush the cowardly rats out of their hiding holes.

An overview of the city's subway system showed him that the tunnels were all connected as one, allowing the humans to be able to migrant from place to place. So he dispatched several of the smaller Decepticons (Scorponok, Ravage, Ratbat, etc.) and Astrotrain (whose vehicular mode matched the terrain of the tunnels) to destroy these tunnels. The plan worked to perfection, as entire tunnels were destroyed by those who were assigned the job to do so while their comrades turned their attention to the remaining boroughs of New York.

Now, Megatron stood tall in the ruins of the human army's last base in the region with a grim smile, taking in the sights of his latest conquest similar to how one would stare at the sun rising over the horizon. It had taken the Decepticon leader longer than he hated to admit, but they had finally done it; New York City was now property of the Decepticon Empire. Megatron couldn't suppress the joy that ran through his spark; after over thirty stellar-cycles of constant fighting and humiliation by the Autobots time-and-again, Megatron could finally sit back and enjoy the fruits of his conquests as he did in days long past back on Cybertron. The only thing he didn't like was how easy the conquest was, due to the humans primitive technology being all but folly against the might of the Decepticons.

Behind him, a descending jet knocked him out of his musings as he watched it transform into its original state; Starscream.

"So this is how victory feels," Starscream said, walking towards his leader. He took in the environment with a disgusted sneer. "Scruffy."

Megatron narrowed his eyes at the Seeker Commander with suspicion. "Starscream, I thought you were supposed to be leading your troops in San Francisco?"

"My men aren't coddled protofroms, Megatron." Starscream waved off his leader's questions. "They're more than capable of terrorizing an entire city of humans without my supervision. Besides, Bruticus is doing most of the heavy-lifting over there."

"No matter," Megatron grunted, looking up at the sky. "So it has finally come at last, after so many years of fighting."

"The Decepticon Empire's triumph." Starscream finished with a vicious smile.

"Yes, a series of simultaneous military operations across the galaxy to throw off the Autobots long enough for us to gather enough firepower for one decisive blow at the heart of their base," Megatron clenched his fists as he recalled that day; the screams and whimpers of dying Autobots, the howls of his men as they stormed through the corridors of Autobot City, and of course his fight with Prime. "And they're none the wiser to our spy inside what's left of their ranks."

Starscream cackled. "It's so ingenious that I almost feel bad for them! Treachery has always been a key factor in this war, and they're still none the wiser to it."

"Indeed," Megatron raised his clenched fist in a standard Decepticon salute. "And you, Starscream, are you proud of our accomplishments? You've been with us at the beginning after all."

"You're losing it, Megatron," Starscream scowled bitterly. "I didn't join up with you and the rest of the Decepticons until the day you plowed your warship straight into my space station."

The Seeker Commander was of course referring to the day that Megatron managed to recruit Starscream into the Decepticons, and claim the unstable energy source of Dark Energon for himself. Thanks to him, Megatron infected the core of Cybertron with Dark Energon and nearly tore it asunder until Optimus Prime helped shut it down at the last minute. Starscream couldn't help but smile, those events took place so long ago and yet it still felt like yesterday that he was that young scientist working to harvest the true power of Dark Energon with Jetfire.

"And yet here you stand," Megatron's voice broke him from his thoughts. "Despite your countless attempts to overthrow my rule, you now stand by my side as a conqueror. A destroyer of worlds, and a helping hand in the destruction of the Autobot resistance at long last."

"Praise, Megatron? You certainly must've knocked a bolt or two loose from your processor." Starscream quipped.

Megatron's response was to punch his second-in-command in the face, knocking him to the ground.

It was then that Primus himself must've taken pity on Starscream because Megatron's communicator chose to go off at that moment. "Lord Megatron, this is Knock Out. Darkmount's fusion cannons are operating at full capacity now, and our science-bots says that they're ready to go at any moment."

"Perfect, activate the space-bridge and prepare for my arrival." Megatron grinned, ending the conversation.

He cast a glance down to Starscream, who was rubbing the top of his head in pain. "Despite some of your... mistakes... in the past, Starscream, I am not a fool for placing you as my second-in-command. You are skilled, cunning, and ruthless. You are the living embodiment of the Decepticon ideals, and are merely a step away from embracing it fully." At that point, a giant swirling green portal appeared behind Megatron and he turned towards it. "It is you who can't fathom that, not me."

And with that, he was gone.

Starscream scowled at the spot where Megatron was, rubbing his dented cheek. "Well, I'll just get this fixed then." he muttered ruefully.

"Sir, we've got reports of more inner-city explosions in the Bronx."

Will sighed, feeling a migraine coming on. "Nothing we can do about it now. Those people are goners now," he closed his eyes at the indifference of his tone, but sadly it was true. Since the Cons found out about New York's subway tunnels, things have gone from bad to shit gift-wrapped in a basket with a bow on the top real quick thanks to the aliens' usage of hit-and-run tactics. And any soldiers he sends out for a rescue mission doesn't come back.

He turned to Epps, who looked equally as sour as him. "Troop movements?"

"Most of what's left of our guys have been pulled back into the residential areas as you ordered," Epps said coolly, "And your plan of basically tossing out what we had that wasn't damaged near the place worked like a charm. The Cons haven't bothered sending their regular grunts over here for recon. For all intents and purposes, this place looks like a damn ghost town."

"Good, let's keep it that way." Will nodded in approval. That took off their hide-out as a target for one of their hourly bombing runs.

"Sir! We're getting reports that Forts Benning and Campbell are under attack by alien forces!" The nearby radio operator yelled out, his face lined with beads of sweat.

Will cursed under his breath; Benning and Campbell? That was close to the nation's capital, but since the first attacks on New York, the invaders have mysterious avoided targeting Washington for all intents and purposes. Instead, most of their efforts have been contained here, Los Angeles and San Diego, and several small towns along the West. Will wasn't a colonel in the army for his good looks alone, but rather for his many years of analyzing and formulating strategies against enemies ranging from terrorist cells to even the Decepticons themselves.

But we had the Autobots with us for those operations, Will bitterly thought.

But he didn't voice such thoughts, instead opting to say, "Patch me through to the North Front!"

"We've gotten word from some of our guys stationed in Califronia," Agent Savoy walked over to the table, eyes bloodshot from many restless nights. "The casualties in both Los Angeles and San Diego combined are sitting around 2.476 million and climbing rapidly. The aliens are employing the same tactics from here there; first they take out the bridges, then they flood the tunnels."

Epps shook his head somberly. "At least they still have reinforcements coming in. Meanwhile, we're stranded out here and the Cons have turned the entire city into a goddamned cemetery."

"Harsh, but true. We're facing off against a conniving, military genius with enough manpower and tactics to put Alexander the Great to shame," Will said, massaging his temples. "In less than a week, they've taken New York and set it up as the perfect stronghold from which to launch any number of attacks. Not to mention that report from Agent Fowler about another Decepticon stronghold located out in the west. Ground troops, air strikes, and heavy artillery are all out of the equation, thanks to the Cons being able to interfere with any guided missiles and swatting away our guys like flies."

Agent Savoy sat down in a chair, wearily sighing, "At least the President hasn't ordered a full-out carpet bombing on the city. God knows we don't need to add any more people to the body-count."

"Any word from the fleet?" Epps asked the agent, who blanched.

"We managed to intercept a brief message, and I pray that I never have to hear that message again as long as I live." were the agent's sobering words.

"This is a total shit-show," Epps cursed, banging his fist on the table in frustration. Will couldn't blame him; here they were in the middle of a war-zone with no back-up, too many wounded and dying soldiers, and are running out of supplies which have been narrowed down to last for about another week or two. Not to mention that they lost several commanding officers when the Cons invaded their original base set up in Brooklyn, such as Director Manning, Generals Hallo and Morshower, and many more. He's even heard reports from the North Front that the G.I. Joes tried and failed to attack that Decepticon fortress in the west.

Whatever happened to them is currently unknown.

Suddenly, all the monitors in the room went blank, showing only nothing but white noise. This action startled everybody in the room, including Will. "What the hell is going on?!"

"I-I don't know, sir!" one of the technicians answered back in trepidation. "We're getting the same thing over the radio channels,"

As soon as it began, the white noise faded away but not to the original displays that the monitors were showing before. Will felt his face go several shades of white as he and everyone else in the room stared at the face of the mastermind behind these attacks; Megatron.

"Oh shit," Savoy whispered, his whole body trembling in fear.

Will merely glared at the screen, as Megatron started to speak. "I AM MEGATRON, LEADER OF THE DECEPTICONS AND AS OF NOW THE NEW RULER OF THIS PLANET."

It wasn't just in New York where Megatron's message was being held at. All around the globe, from Britain to France, Russia to China, Egypt to Australia, Megatron's cruel voice dominated every household, making children weep in terror, adults shiver in fear, and the elderly suffer heart attacks at the sight of such an abomination of nature. "THE AUTOBOTS WHO HAVE DEFENDED YOU FOR SO LONG ARE NO MORE. THEIR LEADER, OPTIMUS PRIME, HAS FALLEN BY MY HAND AND YOUR MILITARY POSE NO THREAT TO MY MEN."

In Gravity Falls, the Witwicky family and the three teens under their charge could only stare in horror at the TV screen. "THERE WILL BE NO MERCY TO YOU ALL. YOUR LEADERS HAVE CHOSEN HUMANITY'S SIDE IN OUR WAR THE MOMENT WE AWOKE FROM OUR SLUMBER, ASSISTING THE AUTOBOTS THWART OUR EVERY MOVE FOR OVER THE PAST THIRTY-STELLAR CYCLES AND NOW YOUR KIND MUST PAY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR SUPERIORS."

In his throne room at Darkmount, Megatron leaned forward from his throne and clenched his hand menacingly into a tight fist. "And to those who still believe in hope and challenges our rule, allow me to show you how futile your resistance is." He leaned back and pressed a button on the panel connected to his throne. "You may fire when ready!"

There was a reason why the Decepticons hadn't touched Washington D.C. since the attacks began. At the center of Darkmount, a long-cylindrical cannon poked its head out of the fortress and aimed upwards in the sky, charging up green static electricity in the process. After less than ten seconds of warm-up, the cannon fire a shot that echoed for miles while the shot itself flew into the sky and disappeared into a little twinkle of light. It didn't take long for the ball of energy to sail across the entire U.S. and strike at the heart of its intended target; D.C.

For dramatic effect, Megatron had sent Laserbeak ahead to record the devastation from afar while broadcasting it world-wide. When the energy ball hit the center of D.C., it immediately began pulling everything in from 100 miles to where the bolt struck. It only took a minute for everything in a hundred miles (buildings, cars, trees, and even people) to get sucked into the vortex that the energy ball was now displaying and once it did, it let loose the energy built-up in a massive explosion that could put the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined to shame.

Megatron smirked to himself whilst watching the fallout. He turned back to the camera and said, "That was just a demonstration of our power at a minimal scale. Imagine what could happen if we decided to unleashed the might of our fusion cannon at its fullest capacity." It was a bluff, of course. From what Shockwave's research told him, the fusion cannon's full power could have the potential rip the planet into two. But the humans didn't have to know that little tidbit.

"Prepare yourselves, people of Earth, for this is the dawning of a new age. One that you won't live to see," With a subtle gesture of the hand, Megatron's minions cut the feed and the warlord leaned back on his throne in satisfaction.

Several hours later...

The fifth day of the Decepticons invasion was drawing to a close in New York as the sun began setting in the distance. Once the sun went down, that's when the remaining survivors scurried out of their hiding spots like rats and went around the ruined districts and neighborhoods they once lived in to scavenge for supplies. It was a life-risking move, since the aliens had scouts patrolling the skies at night and could bomb the area where they are without remorse. But with a lot of luck, most people usually made it back to their groups without a scratch on them.

However, for Randy Cunningham, the same couldn't be said for him. When the attacks first began, he came to New York for two things:

1.) Kick some alien-robot butt.

And 2.) See if his pal, Jake Long, was still alive.

Turns out that both objectives were harder than they looked because the giant robots easily swatted his attacks away like they were nothing, and it was by the skin of his teeth that he was barely able to escape his first encounter with the alien robots. Ever since, he's mainly stuck to the shadows like the ninja he was while trying to stay alive. It also turns out that finding Jake would be harder since the entire island of Manhattan (where he was last seen getting his ass kicked through some buildings) is completely deserted, save for the bodies of people who were among the first casualties of the invasion.

Randy knew that if he made it out of this alive somehow, he would be having nightmares for a long, long time.

"Dangit Howard, why the juice didn't I listen to you?" Randy complained to himself, remembering the terrified pleas of his best friend trying to stop him from coming here. Back then, he'd scoffed and arrogantly proclaim to him that he was more than capable of taking on a "few walking Pacific Rim wash-ups" like the Decepticons.

Boy, how wrong I was? Randy darkly thought, looking up to see three alien jets fly over his current location, not noticing him. This is straight-up crazy; I'm fighting for my life in a god-forsaken war-zone while my family and friends (except Howard) have no idea where I'm at, and to top it off, I don't even know where I'm at!

When Randy first came to New York a long time ago to look for some ancient relic that the Nomicon didn't want falling into the Sorcerer's hands, he had no idea where he was going since it was his first time in the Big Apple and assumed that everything was connected into one big city; he didn't know that there were five boroughs! He didn't know that boroughs existed! Luckily, he ran into Jake in his dragon form during his search and (after a few hours of fighting and talking it out) the American Dragon offered to show his way around town.

Now he didn't know where anything was.

"God, where's a tour guide when you need one?" Randy whined, leaping from rooftop to rooftop while keeping an eye out for giant robots when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a group of people running from one alleyway to the next. He paused in his search, observing the people scout the area around them before continuing down the alleyway at a fast pace; at first, Randy wanted to move on and continue looking for his friend, but if these guys were somehow connected to a larger group, maybe they could help him out with directions.

"Well, best to follow the guys who actually knows where they're going," he commented, before taking off after the pair.

For the next forty minutes, Randy followed the small group of people who navigated their way through the empty streets of Manhattan with ease. At some points, Randy got lost tracking the guys but soon found them again and kept getting closer to them to make sure that he wouldn't get lost again. Just when Randy started to get tired, the group came to a stop at the entrance to a subway station and, after checking the area around them again, leaped over the railings and descended down into the tunnels.

Randy blinked, before nodding to himself. Not bad, the aliens surely won't look for them there.

He jumped off from the roof and landed softly on the ground, quickly and quietly making his way over to the subway entrance before he too followed the small group inside. He kept to the shadows, listening in on the echoes of the voices of the guys who came down here. Continuing downward in the dark, stumbling around on a few steps, he finally noticed a faint light from afar and carefully approached it, still clinging to the walls. When he got close enough, his jaw dropped in surprise at the amount of people who were down here. There had to be at least around a hundred or so; he could make out some kids playing soccer nearby, a few of the women cleaning clothes and hanging them up to dry, and saw the guys he'd been tracking handing supplies over to a woman in a lab coat, one who looked familiar but Randy couldn't put his finger on where exactly he'd seen her.

Suddenly, a faint pressure was pushed up into the back of his head and he froze when a man's voice hissed, "Make a sound, and I'll turn your brains into wall paint."

Oh. Crap. This guy had a gun aimed at his head, and despite his skills, Randy knew without looking that a simple twitch of the man's finger can turn his threat to fact in a heartbeat.

"Turn around slowly," Randy complied, turning to see a guy who looks like he hasn't had a shower in a long time. Though he isn't one to be talking about hygiene right now. "Who the hell are you, and... why are you in your pajamas?"

"It's not my PJ's," Randy answered back, a bit miffed. "It's my costume. I'm the Norrisville Ninja."

There was an awkward moment of silence before the dude (who looked like he'd walked in on his grandma showering in the open wilderness) replied back, "Never heard of you."

Even with the gun still pointed at him, Randy couldn't help but groan loudly. Seriously?! He's been doing this gig for about a year and a half now, and people still didn't know he existed? And that's excluding the fact that the Ninja's been around for over 800 years.

The cocking of the gun's hammer snapped him back to reality. "This isn't a game, kid. I've got people's lives on the line in there, and I'm not going to let some nut in a Halloween costume get everyone killed!"

"I'm being completely serious! Besides, I just came here wanting a map or something, and to see if you guys have seen a friend of mine!" Randy objected, his voice a tad higher than normal thanks to the gun pointing at his forehead.

The man's eyes softened, but he doesn't lower the gun at all. "What's your friend's name, kid?"

"Jake."

That causes the man to freeze in place, and hesitantly lower his gun just an inch. "Jake?" he echoed in a voice Randy really doesn't like.

"Yeah, Jake Long," the Ninja nodded. "Black hair with green highlights, looks Chinese, and-"

"Turns into a giant, red dragon?"

Randy is struck speechless for a moment, before stammering out. "Ye-yeah, how did you-"

"He saved my life," the man holsters his gun, and looks at Randy strangely. "If you're looking for the kid, he's in there. But if you try anything funny, I won't hesitate next time."

Randy gulped at the man's dark tone but nodded anyways. Satisfied, the man leads Randy into the room and says nothing while people turn their heads to stare in confusion at the sight of a shifty-looking guy wearing pajamas enter the room behind him but says nothing about it. Randy's eyes dart all around, catching many people's eyes and looking away; and he thought gym class was awkward. Randy was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that the man had stopped until he bumped into him, inciting a glare from him but he simply turns his head and nods over to-

"Jake!" Randy happily exclaimed, to which his friend gave a wide grin.

"Oh my god, Ran- I mean, Ninja!" Jake said, giving his friend a tight hug who returned it with the same amount of force. "It's good to see you, man! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, you big doofus. I saw your little spat with the robots, and came over to give you a helping hand but..." he trailed off as he thought back to his own fight with the Decepticons; how they laughed off his attacks, how they forced him to run and hide like a stray dog.

Jake, noticing his friend's somber demeanor, patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright, you're not the only super to get their butts handed to them by those guys," Randy looked over his friend, and winced at the bruises on his friend's face. "But we ain't gonna take it lying down, right bud?"

Randy smiled back. "You got that right. So what's the plan?"

That's when the small audience watching the two teens' reunion decided to step in on the conversation and add in their input. "We've located the base for what's left of the army, and sent out our best runners to try and talking them into giving us sanctuary from the aliens." the man who led Randy to Jake said, crossing his arms. "Hopefully, they've got enough room for both groups to share."

"And if they don't?" Randy asked.

The man frowned, but it was the orange-haired woman who spoke next, "If not, then we'll have to make do with what we have."

Randy stared at the woman, as if trying to decipher a puzzle. That face was one that he swears that he's seen at least once somewhere, maybe on the news.

"...in case you haven't figured it out, I'll give you a hint," the woman winked at Randy. "My name is Dr. Anne Possible."

Randy's jaw dropped in shock, "Possible? As in Kim Possible? As in the 'Girl Who Can Do Anything'?"

"The one and only," confirmed Anne with a Cheshire-like smile.

Randy stared at the woman as if she had grown a second hand, and then rounded onto Jake when the half-dragon boy started laughing at his friend's priceless reaction. "And why the juice are you laughing for? I bet you found out who she was like two days ago!"

"Actually," Jake said through his chuckles. "I'm friends with her daughter."

"...WHAT?!"

An hour later, Randy found himself sitting alone with Jake in a secluded corner with his mask off, allowing him to relax in his normal attire. "You know, this place is actually a good place to hide out in," Randy said, "Those aliens are way too big to fit down here, and I doubt that you guys have been slacking off in sending those guys out on their 'recon mission'."

Jake nodded, folding his arms over his chest. "Yeah, you can thank Reid for that idea. You were actually trailing the last of our guys for today, and they brought in all they could gather." He looked over to where the people were, receiving their rationed food and water for the evening before turning back to Randy, lowering his voice. "We got word that there are other people hiding down here in the tunnels like us, but less... organized than us."

"So it's basically a team effort," Randy grinned, making Jake grin along with him. "The only downside is that we don't have any connection to the outside world. The moment I step foot inside the city, my cell phone basically went out like a light and the only thing I've been able to get on it is static. Not to mention from the toll-booths."

"Yeah," Jake's smile faded into a sad frown. "People that we've rescued since the invasion began have been saying the same thing; it's a full-scale black-out. No one's been able to get a word from any law enforcement, the military, or even their families."

Randy noticed Jake's depressed look, and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, man, we'll find your folks in no time. Believe it."

The American Dragon nodded somberly, appreciating his friend's support, when his head perked up with an odd look. "Do you hear... rumbling?" he asked slowly.

"What? You mean, like thunder and stuff?" Randy replied, tilting his head in confusion.

"No," Jake said, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "It sounds like... a train?"

Now Randy was sure that his friend wasn't fully recovered, when he suddenly heard it; a slow, rumbling in the distance that seemed to be growing closer. He tried to brush it off as some kind of storm outside, but he then noticed that several people were starting to look nervous themselves, casting glances towards the tunnel where the rumbling seemed to be coming from. Walking over, Randy and Jake peered closer into the tunnel and saw a light, faint mind you, but a light overall that was grower closer and closer to them.

"What the juice? I thought the aliens took out all of the tunnels?" Randy questioned, his voice hard to hear over the rumbling.

"They did, unless..." Jake's face suddenly went several shades paler, and turned around to scream, "QUICK, EVERYBODY BOOK! THAT TRAIN ISN'T NORMAL, IT'S A TRANSFORMER!"

But it was too late. The train burst out of the darkened tunnel, revealing the form of a dark-purple train that was faster than the ones in the subway yet was less advanced in appearance, but that didn't matter as the train soon began to change shape mid-way, growing a pair of arms, then legs, then a torso and a head that roared a mechanical cry as it slammed its hands into the roof of the subway and brought massive concrete chunks of it down onto unsuspecting civilians, crushing them in an instant. The Decepticon Astrotrain merely laughed as the whole foundation around him came crashing down.

His laughter would soon be silenced when a piece of rubble smashed into his face, denting his cheek. Hissing, he turned to see a giant, red reptile snarling at him while clutching his side that was heavily bandaged. "Puny human," Astrotrain sneered. "Do you really think that you stand a chance against me? A Decepticon?"

"Don't know unless I try it," Jake growled back at the Decepticon, before rushing towards it.