Chapter 3

"Piece of oil cake." Mirage's voice came over Kup's com link, letting him know that the bridge was now secure.

"Took you long enough," the Autobot Sergeant replied. "Take us in, Skyfire."

The large jet shot forward, but stayed on the ground. The bridge was not too far away; they could see it in the distance, along with the figure of Mirage, who was waving for them to approach.

As soon as Skyfire came to a stop, Kup jumped out of the half-opened canopy, with Guzzle following close behind. Then Skyfire transformed into his robot mode, his overall size diminishing until he stood slightly taller than the others.

Mirage beamed at them proudly. "Only long enough to take out the trash," he replied, indicating behind him with his thumb. "They never knew what hit them."

Kup surveyed the bridge in front of them and spotted three fallen soldiers, their deactivated frames sprawled on the ground a short distance away from the side railing. They appeared to have fallen from a hidden platform on top of a precipice high above the bridge. Behind it, the rocky façade of the Darkmount fortress loomed ominously in the distance. "Good work, Mirage." Then he turned his attention to all three of them. "Let's get this done. Skyfire, I want you to wait here and keep watch. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do." Skyfire nodded in acknowledgement, though Kup could sense his reservation at having to stay behind. Still, it was a necessary precaution. "Mirage, Guzzle, let's go," Kup continued, and without another word began to lead the way towards the fortress.

Below them, the first drone had reached the top of the tower, growling and grunting with every move. Optronix aimed his blaster at its hands and fired. It lost its grip and fell crashing to the ground, taking with it other drones on its way down. Ricochet did the same, disabling two of the enemy with his blaster, but it was evident to both of them that if they did not find a way off the tower soon, they would become overwhelmed by the drones due to the large number of them; by now, much of the tower was covered with them as the monstrous creatures continued to relentlessly climb their way to the top. It seemed as though nothing could stop them.

Something approaching from the sky suddenly caught Ricochet's attention, and he looked up. "Hey, Optronix!" he said. "Look, it's that shuttle – it's coming this way." Ricochet aimed his precision rifle up at the purple and grey space craft, carefully tracking its movements.

His companion did not stop to look up; he was fully engaged with the task of keeping the drones at bay. "I need your help here!" Optronix shouted across at Ricochet over the din of the senseless gnarling and moaning coming from the enemy bots.

Ricochet glanced back down at the threatening menace and stepped back instinctively as one of the drones reached up to grab hold of his lower leg. He kicked its hand away and then briefly glanced back up at the shuttle one last time before switching his weapon again and firing at the drones once more.

Prowl and a small number of senior ranking Autobots had assembled inside the control room whilst the rest of the Autobots busied themselves with helping to secure the Command Center, or lend a hand in the med bay. The Autobot cadets Hot Rod, Blaster and Magnus stood quietly nearby watching and listening, eager to help but unable to do anything without the proper authorisation. The Decepticons were also present, observing the goings on around them.

A sturdily built Autobot, watching several live feeds from monitors at one of the control stations, called out to Prowl. "The enemy drones are attempting to break through our force field."

Prowl walked over to stand behind him. Red lights on the terminal flashed unremittingly, reflecting the city-wide alert status. "Is it holding?"

"So far," the Autobot replied.

"Good. We need to find a way to–" Prowl continued, but was interrupted by the same Autobot.

"Prowl, take a look at this," he said, pointing. "They're all over the coms tower."

The acting second in charge focused his attention on the view screen, and his countenance visibly fell. "Damn it," he said in a low voice, straightening. "Keep me informed, Trailbreaker," he said, and then turned and walked back towards the assembled group.

Hot Rod, who had overheard the conversation, stepped forward. "That's Optronix out there! Let me go and help him – please!"

Prowl looked at the cadet in consternation. "No, it's too dangerous," he answered, and was happy to leave it at that, but the brash cadet was persistent.

"Sir, we can't just leave him out there to die! You've got to let us try," Hot Rod continued, speaking for his cadet companions who stood by him in silent support. The expressions on their faces couldn't hide their fear, but the innate bravery that came from their steadfast resolve to want to help their friend was also evident, even if it would put their own lives at risk. Whilst their courage and determination to save Optronix was unmistakeable, their naivety and lack of experience would only contribute to their failure if Prowl was to even consider Hot Rod's request.

"No. There's nothing we can do for him."

Prowl's sobering, matter-of-fact decision only caused Hot Rod to respond in anger. "You let them take Sentinel, and now you're just going to stand by and watch while they take Optronix, too?"

Blaster placed a hand on his shoulder, a friendly warning indicating for him to stop before he said anything more that he might later regret. "Hey, cool it. Listen – Prowl's right. We go out there now, we'll be minced bot."

Hot Rod's frustration subsided, and he cycled a deep intake of air. "There's got to be something we can do to help him," he insisted, almost in quiet desperation as the view on the nearby monitor showed Optronix and his companion fighting for their lives atop the communications tower.

"There are far too many of them," Prowl explained of the Nemesis Army. "They appear to possess heightened strength, and the use of any energy weapons against them seems to only make them more resilient. We have exhausted all our options. This command post is one of the few secure places in Iacon; we may be safe here for a little while, but we are essentially stranded. To make matters worse, we don't know whether Sentinel is still alive, or what Straxus has in mind."

Hot Rod spoke up suddenly, rushing to the monitor at Trailbreaker's station. "Look!" he said, as all optics in the room turned to the screen. A Decepticon shuttle had appeared and was hovering just above the tower.

In the same instant, Megatron was alerted to his com link. "Megatron?"

The situation had become desperate. Even with their combined strength and determination, Optronix and Ricochet were fighting a losing battle. The drones were steadily gaining ground on them, and it was only a matter of astro-seconds now before the small platform where they stood back to back would be completely surmounted by the enemy.

In a last bid to save them Ricochet shouted at the shuttle, which was hovering above them out of reach, and waved frantically at it. "Over here!" Help us! Help us!" He still had no idea whether the visitor was friend or foe; however, given their dire situation it was worth the risk. Time had run out.

"Megatron?"

Astrotrain watched as the two Autobots below desperately waved for him to come to their rescue. Due to the sheer number of drones surrounding and covering the tower, he wouldn't be able to land anywhere on or near it; his only option was to engage his tractor beam to pick up the two Autobots and transport them to safety. There was a good chance that one or more of the drones would be caught up in the tractor beam along with the two Autobots, given their close proximity.

"I'm at the transmission tower. There's a couple of Autobots here that need help. I'm going to try to pick them up."

Even before Megatron responded, he circled around the antenna once, positioning himself as best he could, and then activated his tractor beam as he opened his bottom hatch.

Trailbreaker adjusted the view on the monitor to get the best possible visual, as all the Autobots in the control room were captivated by the scene that was unfolding in front of their optics. The two Autobots on top of the communications tower were being lifted up towards the shuttle with a tractor beam.

"That is Astrotrain," Megatron confirmed. "He will transfer the two Autobots to a safe location."

Hot Rod looked at the Decepticon leader in surprise, and then back at the view screen. He could see a handful of the drones as they literally hurled themselves into the air from the top of the tower to try to reach the tractor beam whilst the two Autobots were being pulled up towards the open hatch. It appeared that three of the drones had been successful in their attempt, while the rest had missed their target, free falling until they'd hit the ground, smashing into several pieces upon impact. "Wow – they're kamikaze," he said.

Prowl turned to Megatron and spoke in a low voice, barely audible for the other Autobots to hear. "Thank you."

"We must find a way to stop the drones," the Decepticon leader replied, "before Straxus plunges this planet into ruin."

Ricochet was the first to safely make it inside Astrotrain. He leaned out through the open hatch, his blaster trained on the closest of the three drones beneath Optronix that had managed to jump within range of the tractor beam. Carefully aiming at the drone's head he fired a shot at it, ripping off half its face plate. However, it continued unperturbed, reaching up with its hands as it tried to grab a hold of Optronix's feet, its strength and anger magnified.

"Don't fire at them!" Optronix shouted up at him, and Ricochet pulled his blaster away in frustration. Optronix was pulled up through the open hatch to land safely on the floor of the shuttle, but the drones were not far behind him. "Close the hatch!" he called out to whoever was piloting the shuttle. Then he stood up and looked about inside the empty compartment.

Astrotrain responded promptly. "Stand clear, both of you," was all he said.

Ricochet looked at Optronix quizzically. "Huh?" But before his companion had time to answer, the first drone was drawn inside, landing just beside the hatch.

"Stand clear!" the voice spoke again, and this time Optronix grabbed Ricochet by the arm and pulled him away from the drone. The two of them watched as the hatch quickly closed shut, just in time to prevent a second drone from being pulled inside.

The first drone, sprawled on the floor, began to growl at the two of them as it slowly began to pick itself up – its mangled, shredded face-plate a horrific sight. But before either of them had any idea of what they should do, a ring of energy bars shot down around the drone, ceiling to floor, effectively trapping it inside a circular prison. It roared menacingly, and then grabbed hold of the bars in an attempt to force its way out, but it was no use. The bars held it in securely.

Ricochet sighed in relief, and then shook his head in bewilderment. "Look, whoever you are, we owe you a big one for saving our aft plates, but did you really have to bring one of those things aboard?" he asked, looking towards the flight deck area.

"Don't mention it," Astrotrain answered, "and, yes – we need a live specimen."

"Uh… huh," Ricochet replied, not entirely certain that he wanted to know the shuttle's reasoning, but he decided not to press the issue.

"If you can truly call those things live," Optronix added, more to himself than anyone else.

After a few moments, Astrotrain spoke again. "I'll need to drop the two of you off somewhere."

The drone growled and moaned at them with renewed fervour, and it took them a strong will of effort to ignore it. "Uh, how about the Command Center?" Ricochet asked.

"No can do," the triple changer responded. "The place has been locked down. Those things are probably crawling all over it by now. You won't be able to get inside."

"Ah, damn," the sharpshooter responded, and leaned back against a wall.

Optronix looked at him. "How about the Academy? There's a secure bunker there we could use."

Ricochet nodded in contemplation, and headed to the flight deck. "So long as it hasn't already been overrun by those things… should be fine."

"Agreed," Optronix said, making his way past the drone after Ricochet and trying not to flinch as it opened its mouth at him, tracking him with its deranged stare. "Cybertron's Combat Training and Intelligence Academy is not far from here," he told the shuttle.

"Oh, you mean the War Academy? No problem," Astrotrain replied, and immediately adjusted his flight path for their new destination.

"Let's hope they don't follow us," Optronix said to his companion, concern evident in his tone.

"Yeah," Ricochet replied, "let's hope."