Disclaimer: Oops! Sorry I'm late. I had some some internet issues but I'm back up. On a side note, I found myself imagining Steve Jablonsky providing the score for this thing. I don't know why, but his music seemed to mesh well with the Michael Bay films; it's kind of weird. Anyway, I don't own the Transformers franchise.

Chapter III

Oregon Mountains
37.21 miles from Autobot City
15:23 hrs.

Vast landscapes and glistening lakes were the norm in the mountains of Oregon. Autobot City was anything but normal. As large as New York City, and quite possibly as loud, the Autobot's newest headquarters/battle station served as their last stop to retaking Cybertron. Every Autobot was expected to do their job to keep the great machine going. Unless that Autobot was Hotrod! He was one of a new generation of Autobots, ever enthusiastic but very inexperienced. And occasionally hotheaded, reckless and unwilling to listen to authority! That didn't mean he didn't care about the Autobot's cause. When it came time to stand and fight, Hotrod would fight. When it came time to work, Hotrod simply slacked off. All that free will and he did nothing with it! All Hotrod tended to do was sneak off to the nearest lakes and go fishing with Daniel Witwicky, the fifteen year old son of Spike and Carly. At that moment, at one of those lakes, Hotrod appeared to have caught something already.

"Whoa, I think I got something here, Daniel," he exclaimed as he reeled in his catch, his first of the day. Or ever! Hotrod pulled the fish out of the water and examined it. "He's a big one, huh Dan-O? Dan-O," Hotrod looked over to Daniel, who was laying on his back staring at the sky. "You okay, buddy?"

Daniel came out of his daydream and looked at the bright red and orange Autobot. "Huh! Oh, sorry, Hotrod! I guess I had my head in the clouds."

"I'll bet," Hotrod reasoned, ignoring the wriggling trout in his finger. "You're not usually this quiet. What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it," Daniel said. "I'm good."

"C'mon, Dan-O! We're like bros," Hotrod persisted. "You can tell me."

Daniel had to hand it to Hotrod. If nothing else, he was persistent. "I guess I'm just missing my Mom and Dad, you know? I mean, their up on the moon bases with Prime and I'm down here," Daniel quickly glanced at Hotrod, who appeared to be smirking a bit. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"Don't worry! I'm not gonna take it personally," Hotrod laughed it off. "Beside, Spike and Carly will be back soon, and they left you in pretty good hands with me."

"Good hands," Daniel balked. "You ditched the road work with Kup to go fishing. You call that, good hands?"

"Um…well!" was all Hotrod could say before Daniel heard a faint beeping sound.

Daniel reached in his jacket and pulled on a sort of miniature radar. "I'm picking a signal from a shuttle. My parents might be on it. Let's go watch it land."

"A shuttle landing," Hotrod whined. "C'mon Daniel, that is so dull!"

Daniel was already well ahead of Hotrod, still yelling back, "We're gonna miss the landing. Hurry up!"

Hotrod shook his head and glanced at the floundering fish. "You're so lucky I don't eat organic food." he quipped before flicking the fish back into the lake.

Daniel hopped onto a special hover board Hotrod had built for him. Stepping on an ignition pedal at the front, the board roared to life and Daniel raced off. Hotrod, being rather big despite his young age, was able to catch up with Daniel. Daniel raced across the field, jumping several bushes and missing rocks. He was good with the board, but not great, as evident went the board slammed into a rock. The engine shorted out on impact, and Daniel was catapulted into the air. Luckily, Hotrod quickly transformed into vehicle mode, that of a Cybertronian sports car. Daniel landed safely in the driver's seat, the seatbelt wrapping over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Hotrod, and sorry about the board." Daniel said.

"Don't sweat it," Hotrod assured. "Besides, it's way better to ride in style!"

Hotrod gunned his engine and raced down the road like a bat out of Hell, with Daniel trying to hold himself together. At least he was wearing his seatbelt! He quickly glanced out through the window and saw Autobot City well of into the distance. No doubt, the shuttle was going to land there. But Hotrod wasn't going that way. In fact, he missed the turn that likely would've taken the duo to the city.

"Yo, Hotrod," Daniel called out. "Why aren't we stopping at the city?"

"There's no point in a ground-side sneak peak of the shuttle landing," Hotrod reasoned. "I've got a better idea, but a certain Autobot isn't gonna like it."

Daniel though about the statement before realizing exactly what road they were on. "Oh, you're right, Hotrod. He's not gonna like it!"

Unbeknownst to the duo, the shuttle they intended to watch make its landing was the very same shuttle hijacked by the Decepticons. It was to be a last resort to finish the war once and for all. The final nail in the proverbial coffin, as far as Megatron was concerned. Starscream still thought attacking a city full of Autobots was a gigantic waste of time. He could've blasted Megatron in the back (again) and taken over command of the Decepticons, but for once he thought better of it. Megatron was too busy to care what Starscream was planning anyway, instead gazing through the view port at Autobot City well in the distance.

"Soundwave, what is our ETA?" he demanded.

"Estimated time to arrival: 19.3 cycles," Soundwave answered in the same monotonous voice. "Recommend immediate abandon ship."

"For once, I agree with Soundwave," Starscream exclaimed. "We should ditch this shuttle while we have the chance."

"Not yet," Megatron said. "Not until we've reached the very heart of the city. Then, we rip that heart out!"

"Bring it over just a little more to the left! A little more! C'mon, lads, hop to it!"

The words of encouragement of the grizzled Autobot war veteran Kup rang through the group of Autobots doing roadwork. At least a few of them were griping about it. "This'd be a lot easier if Hotrod didn't ditch work." said Huffer.

"Yeah," added Pipes, one the new generation of Autobots. "Hey, Kup, how 'bout some extra liftin' power over here."

"No sacrifice, no victory," Kup stated. "Keep it going, lads!"

"That sounds like some cheesy pick up line from a bad movie," said Hoist. "And I clearly know something about bad movies."

Kup shook his head in amusement and continued to direct traffic, so to speak. Huffer did make a pretty good point; Hotrod was supposed to be helping with the road work. Instead, that kid was probably up to no good. Kup didn't hate Hotrod, not really. In fact, they were good friends. It was just that Hotrod hardly ever took anything seriously. Kup couldn't allow his mind to wander and focused his attention on the road work. But then his audio receivers picked up a faint noise. At first, Kup, being an old war veteran, though his audio receivers were going out on him. But the noise seemed to be getting louder, and Kup realized it was coming front an engine. A very high powered engine! Kup knew that sound all too well and glanced down the road at the bright red and orange object racing toward him.

"Not again," Kup muttered to himself before waving his arms. "Stop, Hotrod!"

Too late! Hotrod raced right passed Kup and the other Autobots, destroyed the barricade, and continued on, all the while shouting, "Coming through!"

Kup was so angered that he threw a piece of the barricade at the ground. "Damn turbo revvin' punk! You keep right on runnin'. I'll straighten you out yet, I swear to Primus."

After his little stunt, Hotrod raced onward toward the mountain summit, where he drove onto a large platform. A single observation scope rested near the edge of the platform. Daniel jumped out of the driver's seat, allowing Hotrod to return to his robot form. Both of them looked down the mountain to see Kup throwing a tantrum below.

"Aw man! Kup is pissed," Daniel exclaimed. "He's gonna whoop your tailpipe, Hotrod!"

"He'll get over it," Hotrod quipped. "Eventually!"

Daniel smirked at the sight before heading over to the scope. Looking through, Daniel could very easily see the mountainous landscape before centering on Autobot City. He could see many Autobots moving, running or driving around. Daniel then heard the shuttle approaching from the east and turned the scope toward it. The shuttle was quite a sight to be sure. It made Daniel imagine what his parents thought when they flew in one. But then something caught Daniel's eye; something that shouldn't have been there. He zoomed in closer and there was no mistaking it now.

"Oh no," he said. "Hotrod, there's a hole on the shuttle's starboard side."

"Are you serious?" Hotrod asked in shock.

"Yeah, look!"

Hotrod wasn't about to question Daniel and looked toward the shuttle. He quickly made out the single Transformer standing there. "Starscream! Decepticons!"

Without hesitation, Hotrod opened fire on the shuttle with his arm mounted blasters. He had the expectation that he would at least strike a glancing blow. Strike he did, catching Starscream right in the back. The impact threw Starscream off his feet to the floor of the shuttle, catching the attention of the other Decepticons. It certainly caught the attention of Megatron. Blitzwing, Kickback and Barricade all quickly began firing back at the lone Autobot as Starscream picked himself up. He wasn't too baldy damaged but his pride was stung. That particular notion produced a wicked smirk to appear on Slipstream's face.

"Bet that hurt!" she quipped.

Starscream picked himself up and glared at Megatron. "It seems you overlooked something, Megatron!" he snarled.

Megatron stormed to the hull breach, pushing passed Starscream in the process, and noticed the Autobot firing on the shuttle. "We've been discovered."

"Oh, you think?" asked an ever sarcastic Starscream.

Megatron glared at his subordinate and then commanded, "Abandon ship! Decepticons: attack!"

Just as soon as Megatron gave the order, the shuttle rumbled violently enough to throw some Decepticons off their feet. Down below, Hotrod had scored a direct hit to one of the shuttle's fuel cells. The resulting fire scorched Soundwave, Dirge, Wreckage and Blackout but it didn't kill them. Megatron was finished wasting time and jumped out of the doomed shuttle. Starscream, Soundwave and the rest of the Decepticons followed suit to begin the attack. While most of the invaders transformed and headed for the city, Megatron turned his full attention on Hotrod and fired on him. The first shot missed the platform completely, almost deliberately. Hotrod knew a warning shot when he saw one and quickly scooped up Daniel in his arms. Megatron fired another blast from his cannon, this time scoring a direct hit at the base of the platform. A huge explosion followed. Debris was sent flying into the air and soon enough, the entire platform collapsed beneath Hotrod's feet.

"Hang on, Daniel!" he shouted.

Hotrod had little option as the platform was falling out from under him. He had to jump, and he did just that. Hotrod thankfully landed feet first on a slope near where the platform once stood and slid down hard and fast. It was still a struggle to stay vertical on the way down but Hotrod pulled it off. Upon coming to a stop on a ledge, Hotrod noticed Megatron hovering high above him, seething that he hadn't put the young Autobot away. Blitzwing and flew up next to his leader after breaking from the main group.

"Blitzwing, tear that useless scrapheap apart!" Megatron commanded.

"With pleasure!" exclaimed the Triple Changer.

Megatron raced off to lead his forces, while Blitzwing transformed into jet mode and bolted down toward Hotrod. The Insecticon Shrapnel followed, in fact even buzzing right passed Blitzwing. Shrapnel buzzed right over Hotrod, knocking him over. Blitzwing opened fire on Hotrod with a vicious aerial assault. Hotrod moved as fast as he could to avoid the fire, but the steep terrain made it difficult to gain any decent footing. Shrapnel attempted another pass but Hotrod fired back at the Insecticon, missing him by inches. Hotrod fired on Blitzwing next, striking his underside. It didn't do much damage but it slowed Blitzwing enough to force him to transform and land half a mile from Hotrod. Blitzwing quickly transformed into tank mode and fired on Hotrod. Hotrod barely managed to avoid the blasts and fired back, striking the front end of the attacking Decepticon tank. Blitzwing was far from finished and aimed his cannon directly at the Autobot. At the same time, Shrapnel was coming hard and fast at Hotrod from behind. But before he could take the shot, Kup rolled in out of nowhere and leapt right onto Blitzwing's gun barrel.

"Get down!" he shouted to Hotrod.

Hotrod was more than happy to comply and ducked out of the way. Kup pulled on the barrel as hard as his old servos could manage, lifting just enough so the blast struck the oncoming Shrapnel. It was a direct hit to say the least, and Shrapnel tumbled down the hill. He just missed Hotrod as he went careening downhill. Blitzwing transformed and tried to take out Kup, but the uncontrolled Insecticon slammed right into him. Blitzwing and Shrapnel both ended up tumbling further down the hill. Kup watched as the two Decepticons fell and was soon joined by Hotrod with Daniel in tow.

"You lads okay?" Kup asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Hotrod answered, noticing the absence of Hoist, Pipes and Huffer. "Where're Hoist and the others?"

"They're on their way back to the city," Kup answered. "We'd better get there too, Hotrod. Otherwise, you won't live long enough to see old age."

"Gee, thanks Kup," Hotrod said in sarcasm before noticing Skywarp appearing out of nowhere. "Drop," he shouted while pulling Kup down just as Skywarp flew right over them. "Let's save the banter for later and get outta here."

The timing couldn't have been better to run, as Skywarp was about to make another pass. Hotrod and Kup transformed and raced away, and Skywarp gave chase. Ramjet and Thundercracker joined in on the hunt. They weren't alone in the chase, as a silver and purple racer bearing the Decepticon insignia pulled up behind the escaping Autobots. The speed demon that was Barricade raced after Hotrod and Kup. All the duo could do at that point was race for dear life toward Autobot City, which by that point was already under siege.

Author's Note: Okay, this particular scene wasn't that much different from the movie, aside from some more intense action. See, I got something good out of the Michael Bay films. Anyway, let me know what you think.