Well I said it before in one story; I'll say it again on this one. Henry Cerro, also known as FictionFan1024, had been editing my stories a few months ago. So far, he did a really good job with my Rebirth story and I got to tell you, he certainly does a good editing in his work. Now he's doing some edits in this story as well and has managed to get all four chapters out. You're welcome to reread the four chapters to see the changes. Could be interesting to see. As far as the rest goes, I need to see if he wants to edit the next chapter after I post it up, or send it to him so he can do some editing and he would send it right back. I'm just hoping that FictionFan1024 reads this and wonder if I would send the future chapters to him for a quick edit, or post it up anyways. Let's see what happens. In the last chapter, still a strong response. Got about 14 to 15 reviews and the hit counter is around 750. Really good numbers if I do say so myself. So much so that I decided on posting up a poll for the next chapter. Not going to tell you what it's about. You just have to wait at the end of the chapter. Now then, on to the story! Rodimus, Firewall, and Kaosu journey through the ruins of their old town as they reached the Decepticon fortress. But there are two problems they have to deal with. One: a couple of stowaways joining in on the mission. Two: the Decepticon armada. Will they be able to reach the citadel in time before it's too late? This ones going to be juicy…

Chapter Notes

Now I know there were readers that didn't like the fact that I've overpowered MECH on my last episode. But I'm certain that what I have in store in this chapter would even things out. Now I will keep those cannons the Con citadel has, but I'm going to add a few more things that will make the Decepticons more intimidating.

For example: I'm going to add two more classes that came straight from the Transformers Prime video game. I personally have that game and though a little off with their difficulty curve it was pretty enjoyable. If you guys don't have that game, I suggest finding it and playing it yourself. If not, there is always Youtube videos showing the game walkthrough. Saved two of those videos on my channel and I'm hoping to add an episode involving the game itself with a few changes here and there.

Another thing I would like to add is a dangerous weapon from the movie, Battleship. I'm certain you all know about that movie. It was one of the summer's big flop in 2012. There have been some explanations as to why that movie bombed in the box office. My thoughts on this however is that they didn't grasp the story line in Battleship, a movie based on a board game involving one small group of ships taking on another small group of ships, and decided to lazily slap an alien invasion plot for no reason other then to make it exciting, which is not. Now I'm not going to extend my thoughts into the movie itself since I already talked about it in a few videos on my Youtube channel ( www .youtube watch?v=OA-uO28YS8c, www .youtube watch?v=fjUYG68E-Ic, and www .youtube watch?v=u6BZoh_67CA) but the one thing that looked really cool were those shredders that tore through anything in their path. That looks really awesome, even though they showed up on a few occasions. So I thought it would be cool to add that type of weapon within the Decepticon's ranks as the look screams it. There will be a little more within the story, but I'll save it in future chapters. I'm sure you like how a put all of it together.

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime.

Chapter Five: Darkmount, NV

Deep in the Nevada desert, the military surrounded the huge dome that was supposed to be Jasper. Everything, from tanks, to missile beds, to combat jeeps, to choppers, was on standby as they waited for something to emerge from the dome. As the military waited, within the dome's borders, it was as quiet as a mouse. Suddenly, a green and blue vortex appeared over the barren freeway and glowed brightly as three shadowy vehicles sped out with their engines roaring. Coming out of the vortex was a Hummer H2, a Scion XB, and a McLaren MP4 12C as they hit the road while the portal closed behind them. Those three vehicles were none other than Jack 'Rodimus' Darby, Raf 'Firewall' Esquivel, and Miko 'Kaosu' Nakadai. As the three exited the portal and drove down the freeway, Miko checked her review mirror and saw the barrier that was holding the military on the outside. Mentally smiling to herself, she talked to Firewall through her dashboard.

Miko/Kaosu: "Whoa… We did it… We've actually made it through! Raf, you rock!"

The hacker just laughed a little on his own dashboard and told her it was nothing.

Raf/Firewall: "Aw, don't thank me Miko. Just doing what I do best."

Miko/Kaosu: "And that's why you're awesome!"

Jack though was listening as he decided to break the talk and told them to focus.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let's worry about celebrating later, you two. Right now our objective is to reach the Decepticon citadel. I just hope we don't run into any trouble on the way there."

With that said, he pushed the crank shaft back to go to gear 2 in an attempt to get a little speed on his wheels. Soon enough the three were speeding down the freeway with Jack in the lead while they passed a highway sign that read, 'Jasper: 3', totally unaware of what was waiting for them.

Deep within Darkmount's secret chamber, a huge creature was struggling to get out with chains shackled to its clawed feet and hands. That said creature, called Predaking, was thrashing around violently as it roared out loud in anger. Yet still, it was trapped in that chamber until it could be released. On the ceiling, an alien security camera was watching the beast's every move.

At the same time, Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave were at the security station in Darkmount with Soundwave at the controls. All were watching the monster that had been moved into the chamber. Since Predaking was revealed to the Decepticon leader, Megatron decided that for the safety of his army, this creature should be taken to a secluded place until it was time for its release. Looking at this so-called weapon of Shockwave's, Megs smirked with a devilish smirk and was pleased with the scientist's work.

Megatron: "Excellent work Shockwave. I must say, you have certainly outdone yourself."

Starscream though butted in and decided to add his own two cents to the mix.

Starscream: "Yes, truly you've certainly lived up to your status. Though I've got to admit, your presentation was a little over the top."

The Decepticon scientist turned to the commander and reminded him of his work.

Shockwave: "Lord Megatron wanted only the best weaponry to dispose of the Autobots. Logically, I always keep my promises to him."

But the second-in-command turned to him and was a little unsure of his latest creation.

Starscream: "Still though, you know our master said that he wanted a weapon that could destroy the Autobots. We were expecting something more along the lines of a dangerous missile or a device that could blow them up from the inside out. But never in our wildest dreams would we have conceived of this monstrosity."

Shockwave: "You dare judge my work?"

Scream just stared at him and told him what he thought.

Starscream: "No, I don't judge you. However, our armada and I are a little weary of that thing you've brought into our base. I can't have a bunch of antsy soldiers scared over this beast."

The leader looked at the two arguing and broke it up quick.

Megatron: "Starscream, show some respect. Shockwave has proven his loyalty to our cause today. Still though, this creation of yours raises a question of my own. How is it you managed to create this magnificent creature without the power of the All Spark?"

The leader turned to Shockwave for an explanation behind his latest work. The scientist turned to him with his one red optic and explained it all carefully.

Shockwave: "I have my assumptions. Tell me my liege, have you ever heard of the Predacons?"

The leader remembered hearing stories about those creatures, but they were nothing more than stories. Still, after seeing this beast through the security camera, he soon realized that they were more than real.

Megatron: "Only though myths and legends. But I assume you know more about them than I."

Shockwave nodded and continued on.

Shockwave: "But of course Lord Megatron. Many eons ago, before the original Primes were created and Cybertron was born, our planet was once ruled by these beasts called the Predacons. Not much is known about them, but the ancient records proclaimed that these beings roamed the planet and with their predatory nature, attacked anything that got in their way. They were deemed dangerous, and nothing would stop them. But when the All Spark created the Primes and Cybertron, these beings slowly died off, leaving them extinct.

Starscream grunted and told him what everyone knew about them.

Starscream: "Oh please… Common knowledge. Everyone knows about the Predacons, yet no one's ever seen one up close, alive or dead."

The Decepticon scientist turned to the commander and told him about what he discovered.

Shockwave: "You're right Starscream. No one has ever seen these Predacons and there was no proof of their existence. That is, until decacycles ago."

Megatron listened into this story and was intrigued by what his loyal scientist said. So he told him to go on.

Megatron: "Please, continue…"

Shockwave turned to the leader, nodded, and resumed.

Shockwave: "While I was exiled after the space bridge incident, my scanners detected unknown bio signatures from inside the Sea of Rust. Curious, I went down to that very location to investigate these unknown signatures. What I found was truly fantastic. Skeletal remains of the Predacons themselves. I brought one of those fossils into my lab for analysis and what I found was simply stunning. Look at this."

He then approached the console next to Soundwave and entered a few keystrokes. Just then, a second window appeared next to the security feed and it showed what appeared to be the Cybertronian equivalent of DNA, but more advanced than that of a human.

Shockwave: "Answer me, my lord, what do you see?"

Megatron looked right at the screen and realized what it was. Starscream noticed it as well and deduced what the leader was thinking.

Starscream: "Cyber Nucleic Acid…"

The scientist turned to the two and explained further.

Shockwave: "That is correct, Starscream. CNA, the genetic code for every Cybertronian in existence. While researching these fossils, I came to realize that there were more to these primitive beasts than meets the eye. Though not much is known as to why they became extinct to begin with, this race shared the same genetic code as all of us, only more ancient then our own. With the equipment that had been left behind when the masses scattered, along with the abandoned research of Project Dinobots, I was able to splice this CNA strand and clone this species while copying the framework from the fossils I had gathered over the many decacycles. The results were promising… Been going through different methods of creating them, and there was a bit of trial and error in between. But of the many successes I have had in my work, Predaking is my grandest of achievements. Many solar cycles of work and construction have led to this creation. Predaking is more than just a simple Predacon; he is also the perfect specimen, with many strengths and no weaknesses. No Autobot can defeat this being, not even Optimus himself."

Megatron looked at the creature through the video feed and was quite impressed by this creature. This Predaking seems to be the kind of weapon he needed to find the Autobot survivors and neutralize them all. With a devious grin, he congratulated the scientist on a job well done.

Megatron: "You have done well Shockwave. This creature is just what we need to destroy the Autobots once and for all. As soon as the search parties locate their energon signatures and their locations, I will release this beast and he will tear them apart until there's nothing left of them."

Shockwave was silent about this as he bowed his head down with sheer satisfaction.

Shockwave: "Thank you my liege. I know that my creation is the logical choice in weaponry and he will not fail you."

Starscream looked warily at Shockwave. He'd been growing increasingly concerned about him, ever since he was found by Knockout and a search party during that mission to retrieve the Iacon relics, buried under the rubble of the Omega Lock. Of course, he is a big help in eradicating the humans in the town near their tower, but still, there are concerns around his presence. And now, with this Predaking in the ranks, it will make life on Darkmount a whole lot more complicated. He needed to talk to his leader about this - but not with the head scientist in the way. He turned to Megatron and asked for a simple request.

Starscream: "Um… Lord Megatron. Can I have a word with you, in private?"

Megs turned to his second in command, curious about what he wanted to discuss.

Megatron: "But of course Starscream."

A few minutes later in the hallway outside of the security station…

Megatron: "What do you want to speak to me about Starscream?"

Starscream and Megatron were near the door as the commander talked about the scientist.

Starscream: "Well my liege, it's about Shockwave. I'm just a little concerned about his presence as of late."

The Decepticon leader looked at his commander and found his recent behavior to be a little off. But being that he was his commander, he would talk him under any circumstance. So he decided to listen.

Megatron: "Please, go on."

The second in command was a little silent as he was trying to put this together in words. After getting it all together, he told his leader what he thought.

Starscream: "Well my master, it's just that… You see, no one had heard from Shockwave ever since the incident with the spacebridge decacycles ago. At first, our forces and I thought that he had suffered a fate worse than death. But then after all these months, he came to Knockout and his team while they were retrieving the Iacon relics the Autobots handed to us. It was quite a surprise that he made it out of the explosion and we're glad that he's joined our ranks. Not to mention that he was a big help in destroying that human town and its occupants. But there have been questions about his presence within the armada and I can understand their concerns. And now with this 'thing' in Darkmount, everyone is nervous, extremely nervous."

The leader listened to his explanation and found it a little off.

Megatron: "Are they now?"

Starscream: "Yes. I mean, you told Shockwave to create a weapon that could destroy our enemies and he came back with a mechanized dragon that was supposed to be extinct. Plus, did you hear what he just said in there? Splicing CNA samples from fossilized tissue, cloning, a variety of testing methods? We have no idea about this creature, or what it's capable of. Can we even control this Predaking?"

Almost immediately, Megatron raised his servo, indicating that he'd heard enough. He then decided to give his commander his own thoughts.

Megatron: "I know you are surprised by the unexpected arrival of Shockwave. I was quite surprised myself, since I thought that he had joined the Well of the Allspark. But given the news of his arrival, he has proven his loyalty with the destruction of that human town. So he's been a key player in my ranks and makes a perfect replacement for Dreadwing. As for Predaking, as worried as my armada might be, this creature is a valuable asset in our hunt for the Autobots. I'm confident that Shockwave has made this beast obedient to me and knows his place in our army. If not… Well… There is always room for improvement. Don't fret about this, Starscream. Once this Predaking eliminates the Autobots and their human companions, then we will have this world as our own."

Feeling confident, the Decepticon leader turned around and walked away from his commander. But Starscream looked back at the door of the security station with Shockwave in there and had a deep sigh.

Starscream: "I should be worried master. I should be…"

Back in the freeway, everything was peaceful as Rodimus, Firewall, and Kaosu, sped down the road toward their destination. Jack was looking at his GPS on the dashboard and noticed that their destination was near, so he told the others.

Jack/Rodimus: "Almost reaching Jasper, guys. We're just a half a mile away."

He then pulled the shift to another gear as he and the others sped faster to the town. As they were riding down the freeway, Miko remembered about that kiss Arcee gave the former teen in the forehead and was a little curious about it. So getting close to the Hummer, she decided to ask him.

Miko/Kaosu: "So Jack, how did it feel with Arcee?"

Rodimus turned his right review mirror to see Kaosu's McLaren and was a little confused.

Jack/Rodimus: "What are you talking about Miko?"

Miko/Kaosu: "Duh, Jack. What else would I be talking about? That kiss Arcee gave you before we left!"

The young mech was a little silent and although not in robot mode, he could still feel himself getting flustered. So calming himself down, he decided to tell her what really happened.

Jack/Rodimus: "Is that what you're thinking about? That was nothing! Arcee just kissed me in the forehead for good luck. That's all!"

But Kaosu always liked to play coy as she told him what she thought.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh, really? Cause that's not what I saw back there. I could've sworn that you were blushing after that kiss."

Now Jack was really embarrassed on the inside as he decided to talk her out of it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, I don't know what gave you that idea. But what happened between me and Arcee is none of your business."

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh come on Jack! Admit it! You're in love with that two-wheeler.

Now Jack had it as he scolded at the Wrecking cadet.

Jack/Rodimus: "And you should know about staying out of personal business! Can't have you going around telling everyone about-"

Before he could actually finish, he overheard Raf calling out to him.

Raf/Firewall: "Guys! Stop!"

Almost immediately, the two turned to the hacker's plea and saw an obscure object blocking the road. They all immediately put on the brakes as the tires screeched to a complete stop, just inches from the object in particular. The second that they made the stop, Jack was a little surprised by this and didn't know what was blocking their way.

Jack/Rodimus: "What the heck…"

Curious by this roadblock, the three transformed into their bipedal modes to get a good look at what stopped them. What they found was truly shocking. What they saw was an overturned Greyhound bus lying on its side and it looked like it had been on fire, as the burn marks were around the windows. But that wasn't the only thing they saw. There was also a multi-car pileup that crashed after the bus overturned and a huge line of cars and busses on the road, permanently stuck. Half of them had their doors and trunks opened when people were trying to get out with their bags, while the other half looked like they had caught fire a while ago. All around them were tanks and combat jeeps that looked like they were destroyed, as the tanks were upside down with parts scattered about. The three looked on and were shocked.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh my… What happened here?"

Jack walked to the overturned bus, knelt down and inspected the damage. Looking at it, he came up with a really good deduction.

Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like the military was escorting the civilians out of the town when it came under attack. The bus was blown up and blocked the path, creating that huge traffic jam all the way back there as people were panicking and tried to escape on foot. Must've been a mess throughout the whole ordeal."

Raf looked at the damaged cars and noticed a few suitcases that were left behind from the citizens. Feeling a little sickened by this, he started to wonder about people that were able to escape.

Raf/Firewall: "I just hope that everyone managed to get out to safely."

Rodimus though shook his head and told him that was highly unlikely.

Jack/Rodimus: "I don't know about that, Raf. After seeing this, I'm certain that the Decepticons showed no mercy."

Miko looked at this wreck too and began to wonder what they should do now.

Miko/Kaosu: "So now what? No way can we drive with this mess in the way."

Looking down at the road of stopped cars, the former teen sighed and came up with their only option.

Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like we're walking from here on out."

Just as he said that, the three heard some suspicious knocking near them. Kaosu was the first to hear that as she told the others about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey, did you guys hear that?"

Firewall heard that knocking too and wondered what it was as well.

Raf/Firewall: "Yeah, I heard that. Almost sounds like it's coming from… Rodimus?"

Jack could hear the knocking getting more frequently and frantically. Turning to the two recruits and looking down at his front, he opened his chest plate to see what was doing all the knocking. It was then that two people came out and were trying to catch their breaths after being stuck there for a little while. One is a young Indian girl of sixteen with fiery red pigtail hair and inhumanly blue eyes. The other was a 16-year-old boy with short brown hair and a Stokes T-shirt. Looking at the two, the three realized who they were as the hacker and Wrecking Cadet blurted out their names.

Miko/Kaosu: "Sari?"

Raf/Firewall: "Sam?"

Indeed, the two people were in fact Sari Sumdac and Sam Witwicky. Sari was taking a quick breather as she was trying to get some air into her lungs.

Sari: "Okay… Mental note to self, never stay in a car while it transforms."

Sam was taking a deep breath too and didn't expect that to happen.

Sam Witwicky: "I told you that it was a bad idea Sari. You never listen…"

Sari turned to him and groaned to herself.

Sari: "Oh grow up Sam. At least we made it through."

The two recruits approached the kids and offered their servos to get them out. The two teens looked at them and cautiously got out of Rodimus's chest area, gently getting on their servos. The moment Jack closed up his chest plate; he was fuming and started to scold the two teens.

Jack/Rodimus: "What are you two doing here?! I thought Arcee told you go remain in the base."

Sam sighed to himself and tried to explain it while pointing the finger at his friend.

Sam Witwicky: "It's not my fault Rodimus. I was preventing my friend here from pulling a stupid move. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen."

Sari looked to him and didn't like what he was saying.

Sari: "Hey! I wanted to go and help them rescue their leader. At least we were lucky that we didn't get noticed by the Autobots when we were sneaking into one of them."

Sam turned to her and spat back.

Sam Witwicky: "Well you didn't expect them having to transform while we were in there. Do you have any idea how hard it was to breathe inside?"

Sari: "Well I didn't expect that to happen! Maybe you should've stayed behind with dad while I go with these guys."

Sam Witwicky: "And let you get killed out here? I don't think so!"

The two continued to argue like a bunch of young children as the recruits watched them bicker. Jack though had heard enough and decided to break it up.

Jack/Rodimus: "Enough! That's enough from both of you! Now I don't know whose fault this is, but the two of you are going back to base and that's it!"

He placed his digit to his comm and contacted the base.

Jack/Rodimus: "Rodimus to base, we have two stowaways that managed to sneak through the ground bridge. Apparently Sari didn't follow your orders. We're going to need a bridge to get them back."

He waited for a response from them, but heard nothing but static. So he tried again.

Jack/Rodimus: "Ratchet? Do you read me? We need a bridge for Sari and Sam."

Still static… Jack sighed to himself and wondered why he couldn't get in contact with the base. That was when Firewall reminded him about something.

Raf/Firewall: "Um… Rodimus? Maybe you've forgotten about the dome that's scrambling our comm channels."

Jack looked up at the Decepticon dome and sighed to himself.

Jack/Rodimus: "You're right… We can't get in contact with the Autobots without gaining access from the Con's communication outpost. This blows…"

Kaosu then chimed in and asked about the two humans.

Miko/Kaosu: "So, what are we going to do with these two? Surely you're not thinking about leaving them here."

He turned to the two humans resting on the recruit's servos and felt a little worried about their safety. And since there was no way to get them back into the base, there was no choice in the matter.

Jack/Rodimus: "Fine… They come with us."

There was a gleam in Sari's eyes as she was excited by this news.

Sari: "Yes!"

But Jack decided to give the two one strict rule.

Jack/Rodimus: "Under one condition. The two of you will remain with us and not get into any trouble during the mission. Understood?"

Both Sari and Sam looked at each other and turned to Jack with a simple nod while the teen girl did a scout salute.

Sari: "Sure thing sir. Scouts honor."

As soon as she promised that, Rodimus sighed and turned around to head in to the town on foot, knowing that this was going to be an issue. Raf and Miko guided their servos to their shoulders so that Sam and Sari could jump on them, as they followed Rodimus. For the next few minutes, the three walked down the path next to all the cars and buses on the road with luggage scattered about and the destroyed military vehicles. It was almost like they were passing through some kind of a disaster movie, but it was real. Still Jack had his processor on what Sari did as he turned back to her about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "I can't believe that you would run through the portal when you realized it was dangerous. I swear Sari, you're just like Kaosu."

Sari smirked and Miko giggled as the teen told him a few more things.

Sari: "Okay… First of all, I didn't run into the ground bridge. Sam and I jumped into the back seat of your vehicle form. Second, whether you like it or not, you're going to need my help in rescuing this leader of yours."

Still though, Rodimus wasn't buying this as he wondered what this Sari girl could do to help them.

Jack/Rodimus: "Really? And how exactly are you going to help us?"

Sari: "Hello? Have you already forgotten? With this!"

She dug her hand into her shirt and took out her futuristic key that was wrapped around her neck. Rodimus looked at her key and was a little confused.

Jack/Rodimus: "Your key? And why would you use that again?"

Sari placed her hand on her hip and gave him an odd look.

Sari: "You're kidding? That key healed up one of your friends back at Morrison Dam."

Jack/Rodimus: "So?"

Sari: "So? This Optimus guy could be seriously injured. Who knows what those Decepticons have done to him. If you're going to get Optimus out of here and he's hurt, you're going to need my key to heal him up. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Miko overheard the teen and nodded in agreement about what she said.

Miko/Kaosu: "Sari does have a point Rodimus. Optimus could be injured during his ordeal with Megatron. The team might need Sari's key to fix him up."

The former teen heard the Wrecking Cadet and sighed to himself, knowing that she had a really good point. They have no idea what the Cons were doing to Optimus and he doesn't know whether the team can get him out of the fortress if he is injured.

Jack/Rodimus: "All right, I get it. That key can help us with the rescue. Fine, you can come along but only if it's for that and nothing else."

Sari smiled from ear to ear and liked the news.

Sari: "Don't worry Rodimus. I promise I won't get myself into trouble."

Jack groaned to himself and was worried about that part.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, I sure hope you don't."

Just as soon as he said that, Raf broke up the argument and told them what he saw.

Raf/Firewall: "Uh… Guys? I think you need to see this."

The three turned to Raf and Sam, both of whom were staring with horrified looks on their faces. Curious at what they're looking at, they all turned to see what they were seeing. But the moment they turned to see the view, their faces went to complete shock and disgust as Jack uttered a few words.

Jack/Rodimus: "Oh, no…"

Standing before them was the town of Jasper, Nevada, a town they grew up in and had many memories. But after the Cons took control of this town, it was now nothing more than a scrap yard. Most of the buildings looked demolished; pluming smoke still rose up to the sky from some of the buildings that had caught fire a long time ago. At a distance to the right of the town was a huge tower-like structure with a beam of light shooting from the top that was holding the shield up. It was obvious that this was the Decepticon fortress towering over what was left of Jasper. The group was horrified by the destruction and remained silent until Firewall spoke up.

Raf/Firewall: "Guys, that's Jasper…"

But Rodimus kept his cool and told the hacker what it really was.

Jack/Rodimus: "Correction, that was Jasper. Now it looks like a war zone, just like Cybertron."

Sam looked at the view too, and thought what happened to the town was really disturbing. Turning to the left, he noticed something else and pointed to it.

Sam Witwicky: "Hey, look at that sign over there."

They all turned in the direction to where Sam was pointing, and noticed a sign that said, 'Welcome to Jasper, Nevada: The Entertainment Capital of the World'. But the attack of the Decepticons left the sign in shambles with blaster holes and the sign itself was tilted. The one thing though that got their attention was the engraving by a blaster over the welcome message that said, 'Darkmount'. Jack got a closer look at the sign and read it out loud.

Jack/Rodimus: "Darkmount, huh?"

Kaosu looked at him reading it and raised a metallic eyebrow.

Miko/Kaosu: "Darkmount? That's what they're renaming this town? So bland…"

But then she turned to the huge tower that was standing tall and looked at it intently, taking a quick snapshot of it with her optics.

Miko/Kaosu: "So, that's the name of that fortress, eh? Got to admit, it looks pretty intimidating from here."

Jack turned to the fortress too and was awed by this structure the Decepticons built thanks to the Omega Lock. But he knew that this was their destination as he told the others to keep moving.

Jack/Rodimus: "That fortress is where they're keeping Optimus and it has the comm center. We have to reach that place if we want to get Team Prime in there. Now come on. We have to go through the town if we want to reach the citadel."

Soon enough, the group walked down the hill in an attempt to enter the town, not ready to see the devastation up close.

Seven minutes in, the team journeyed through the suburbs, or what had been the suburbs. The houses were ripped apart and trashed with scorch marks on some of the houses that were burned. In the streets were cars scattered about and crashed into each other as some looked turned over and blown up. The three recruits walked through the tattered streets as they looked at each of the houses that were laid to waste. Sari was still on the Wrecking Cadet's shoulder and spied a police car that had crashed into a telephone pole. She whistled to herself and was awed by this.

Sari: "Wow… Just wow… All these people were trying to get out of this town. Never really thought that these Decepticons could be so merciless. What happened to the bodies?"

Kaosu looked at the wreckage the enemy did and came up with a really good opinion.

Miko/Kaosu: "My guess, they might've gotten disintegrated by blaster fire. Those blasters can really do a number on you."

Raf clenched his chest plate and remembered about the dark energon blast that hit him.

Raf/Firewall: "Don't remind me about that, Kaosu. I'm still having thoughts about what Megatron did to me."

Sam turned to him and was surprised by what he said.

Sam Witwicky: "You got shot by a blaster?"

The hacker turned to him and shrugged his shoulders.

Raf/Firewall: "Technically… That blaster Megatron used was filled with Dark Energon. It's a very dangerous substance that could bring Cybertronians back from the dead. The exposure of that energon nearly poisoned me. If it hadn't been for Ratchet and Altra, then I would've been a goner a long time ago."

Sari heard that and was impressed that this young mech survived that ordeal.

Sari: "So you got shot and lived to tell about it? Cool! That should've given you some serious street cred right there."

Raf turned to her and was a little hesitant about that.

Raf/Firewall: "You sure?"

The teen nodded with a gleeful look.

Sari: "Totally!"

Jack overheard this and decided to turn to the group and told them to keep quiet as they were in enemy territory.

Jack/Rodimus: "Will you four keep it down? This town is now in Con control and there could be patrols out here. The last thing we want is a group of Decepticons following the sound of our talking."

Just as soon as he said that, he turned back and stopped dead in his tracks. He was looking at a house that looked like it was blown up with debris and furniture ripped or broken. Yet within the chaos, the garage remained somewhat untouched. But the one thing that caught him the most was the mailbox on the front that said 'Darby'. It was obvious that this house was his own, and his spark sunk. Raf and Miko looked at this and knew that it was hurting him bad. But Sari and Sam stared at this and were a little confused.

Sari: "Um… What's going on?"

But the Japanese femme lifted her servo up and told her to remain quiet. As the group watched on, Rodimus slowly walked to the damaged house. Kneeling down to the debris, he bent down to look inside and see if there was anything to salvage. But looking through the mess, it seemed impossible to find any memories that hadn't been destroyed by the attack. But then he spotted a picture frame on top of what was left of the coffee table. Picking it up, he turned it over to see a picture that had been taken only a few months ago. This picture showed the Autobots, he, Raf, Miko, and June back when they were still human, and two more individuals. One was a man that looked like Jack, only older, and the other was a young girl with blonde pigtails in the back. Those two people were his father, John Darby, and his 'sibling', Elsa de Sica.

Months ago, John had returned to Jasper after a seven year absence. He had been searching all through Italy hunting down the killer that had taken his brother's life. But he returned to Jasper with a secret of his own. John had been working for a group called the "Social Welfare Agency", an anti-terrorist organization heavily funded by the Italian government that was into weaponry and technology. Their latest project involved turning little girls into cybernetic soldiers with artificial muscles, synthetic skin, armor fibers, and heavy conditioning to make them loyal to their handlers. Elsa was one of them, and John was her handler.

John had returned to Jasper to visit his family and have a little bonding time with his son. Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way he'd planned it, as Airachnid got involved and Arcee had to reveal the truth to him. Things got rocky from that point, but then it dissipated, as John and Elsa adapted to those changes. After one huge run in with the Cons knowing about the Agency, they were able to thwart Megatron's plan and save the agency's secrets. Posing for that picture was the last thing John did before he and Elsa headed back to the SWA. Jack had many great memories with his dad and Elsa, good and bad, but great memories nonetheless. It's amazing that picture survived the attack, suffering nothing but a crack on one corner. The group looked on silently as Firewall decided he had to break this moment.

Raf/Firewall: "Rodimus, we have to move."

Jack remained silent as he got up and opened his secret compartment where the Vector Sigma key was located. Once the compartment closed he turned to the others and let them know it was time to leave.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let's go."

He then left his old house and took the lead while the others followed behind.

Another couple of minutes passed as they continued deeper into the war-torn town. Just then, they passed by their old high school. The front looked untouched with the exception of the wood boards sealing off the windows, and a barricade behind the entrance. But on the side, the wall was blown open to reveal the school hallway and a few classes with desks and supplies scattered around. There were even a few school buses still sitting on standby waiting to get the students out, but they had been destroyed and burned during the attack. The former humans had a little uneasiness in them and worried whether the students managed to escape in time. But the group had to continue heading to Darkmount if they were to get in and save their leader. So passing the school, they continued their journey and focused on their goal.

By the time they entered the town itself, it was in far worse shape than the rest of Jasper. As they were walking they noticed a lot of evac zones and outposts that the military had set up to keep the citizens organized during the evacuation. So it was obvious that the Decepticons attacked that part of town the most. The shops in the town were ripped apart and dismantled with shattered glass display cases strewn out into the sidewalks. The vehicles, from regular to military, were toppled over and damaged completely. And the outposts themselves were torn to pieces with torrents severely damaged and lookout towers toppled over. Raf looked at his town and felt sickened by it.

Raf/Firewall: "Look at this. We always wondered what the Decepticons would do. I never believed that it could be this bad."

Sam nodded to what Raf said and agreed with him.

Sam Witwicky: "Tell me about it. I heard about all of this on the news, I never imagined that it was as awful as this."

The group walked down the street filled with many destroyed shops. But then Jack stopped as he noticed the one place he always knew. It was a fast food drive-thru restaurant called K.O. Burger. It looked like they were using it as an evac zone too with blockades to steer vehicles clear and a couple of towers in place. However it too was a victim of the invasion. A military chopper had crashed right through the restaurant and caught on fire after it hit. Now K.O. Burger was nothing but a smoldering building with burn marks around the broken windows. Jack knew this restaurant really well, as it was where he used to work. Sure he didn't like the job, but it was the only thing he could do to help out his mother. It was also where he first met Arcee, even though he thought that she was just a normal motorcycle. And yeah, even if it was after that that he was kidnapped and nearly got blasted, it was still a memory he cherished.

He stood there in silence as he couldn't believe that this place was destroyed by these Cons. But as he was silent, he heard a voice from behind.

Sari: "You guys used to live in Jasper. Didn't you?"

Rodimus turned around and saw Sari and Sam, who got off of the recruit's shoulders and approached the former teen with a look of concern. Sari was the first to speak as she pieced it all together.

Sari: "I mean, I saw you go to that house in the suburbs, then when we passed that school, and now this restaurant. It's pretty obvious why you all felt so saddened by this."

Jack looked down to them and sighed to himself, knowing that the secret was out. So he nodded and told them what Sari wanted to know.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yes, you're right. We are Jasper residents."

There was a bit of shock between the two humans, as they never thought that three alien robots would live in a small town like Jasper. That's when Sam came in and was a little confused by the recruit's response.

Sam Witwicky: "But, how can that be? If the three of you used to live in Jasper, then you would've been-"

Jack/Rodimus: "Human? Yeah, pretty much."

He then looked up to the hacker and Wrecking Cadet and told them to start searching.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall. Kaosu. Look for a street or route that can take us directly to Darkmount. We're wasting too much time here as it is."

Both recruits nodded and started moving ahead while leaving Rodimus to talk to the kids. With them gone, Jack got down on one knee and told them the whole truth.

Jack/Rodimus: "Look, my name isn't really Rodimus; it's just a codename I use when we're on missions. My real name is Jack, Jackson Darby. Firewall's real name is Rafael, Raf for short. And Kaosu is actually Miko, an exchange student that came from Tokyo. We are the first civilians that encountered the Autobots and made friends with them."

There was an eerie silence as the two were shocked to hear the news that these recruits were once human. That's when Sari came in and asked about that.

Sari: "But if you guys were human, what happened to you? Why are you now alien robots?"

Rodimus remained quiet and didn't know how to put this into words.

Jack/Rodimus: "It's really complicated… I assume you became aware of MECH after they kidnapped you."

The two nodded and remembered their abduction just so Professor Sumdac would continue to work or his daughter would die. That's where Jack decided to begin his story.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well the Director, the head scientist for that organization, was working on a project that could change the face of the war. He called it Project Metamorphosis, and the purpose of this project was to turn humans into Cybertronians. Before he could put this project to work, he needed to test it on some candidates. Turned out his choices were the three of us including my mom, June, who is Altra, if you were wondering about that."

Sam Witwicky: "But why would he want to choose you four?"

Jack remained quiet as he continued with his explanation.

Jack/Rodimus: "He believed that since we had close ties with our Autobot friends, who had taken us all in just a week after the invasion of our hometown, we'd make the perfect guinea pigs. Once he got us, he put us into that project through three stages. The first was to turn us into energon; the second stage was to alter our genetic code, and then finally to bring us back to life as Cybertronian soldiers. I don't remember anything after the first stage, since we were all nothing but lifeless puddles of glowing goo. But by the time we woke up, we were turned into this."

He looked at his servo and felt a little spark-wrenched by the way he looked. The two teens looked at him and wondered if he was stuck like that.

Sari: "Is this change permanent?"

The former teen looked back at her and she could see the sorrow in his optics.

Jack/Rodimus: "Unfortunately, yes. Raf, Miko, mom, and I are going to be stuck like this for the rest of our lives. And all of our dreams and futures are shattered due to one man's sick and twisted vision."

Sam Witwicky: "And what about your families? Do they know about what happened to you?"

Jack turned to Sam and came up with a really good answer.

Jack/Rodimus: "To Raf's family and Miko's host parents, they think that we are all in protective custody and think that we are safe. And even though I don't have family, my dad could be worried sick about me. See, he's in Italy working for an anti-terrorist organization. He has no clue about what really happened to me, let alone if he even knows that my mom and I are alive. Mom was supposed to let him know that we were safe until the Director ruined it. Now there's no telling what will happen to him once he finds out the truth. As for me, I don't really know what's going to happen to me. I had a future all set up, but thanks to the Director, he took it all away. Now I don't know what to do, being that I'm… no longer human."

The teens listened to every word he said and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. They had no idea that Jack had a life and had it stolen from him; it was impossible to swallow. But then Sari stepped in and decided to be the word of reason.

Sari: "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that! So what if that Director took your human life. I mean, look at you! You are now a huge transforming robot with weapons to fight! Think of the opportunities you have now that you're one of them. It's a whole new life and future for you. Who knows, it might also be your destiny!"

The young mech perked up when he heard that last statement. He remembered Vector Prime saying those words back in the dream world. She was right for one thing, Jack did have a destiny. Though he doesn't know what this destiny is, he needed to save Optimus if he wanted to find out for himself. Looking at the girl, he smiled and thought about those words.

Jack/Rodimus: "Might be my destiny huh? Someone told me about that once before."

Sari placed her hand on her hip and was curious about that.

Sari: "Really? And who told you that?"

Jack chuckled and decided to tell her half the truth.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let's just say it's something that's close to me."

The moment he finished his story, Raf and Miko came back with worried looks on their faces. He then looked up to them and stood up straight while the humans turned and saw them looking a little hesitant.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well guys, find anything?"

The two recruits looked at each other and wondered how they were going to share the news. Turning back to him, they told him what they found.

Miko/Kaosu: "About that; we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we found a direct way to the fortress. It's off Founder Square, where that park is located. It will take us to the main freeway the Autobots take us to when we're heading to the base."

Jack smirked and knew that they would have a way in getting to the Decepticon base. But then he wondered about the bad side of it.

Jack/Rodimus: "That's great! What's the bad news?"

Raf kicked his pede to gather up dust and slowly answered his question.

Raf/Firewall: "Well…"

A few minutes later, at Jasper National Park, it was quiet without a single sound. Within the park, which was suppose to be an emergency medical station, the tents were torn to bits, emergency trailers were wrecked, the trees around the park were burnt, and the statue of Jasper's founder had seen better days. Just then a stray red blaster came out of nowhere and hit the statue square in the chest followed by a metallic like voice.

Vechicon 3: "Did you see that? Hit that guy square in the chest!"

Within the park a small group of Vehicons were relaxing while on patrol. Since there were no humans to hunt down or anything that posed a serious threat, they all decided to enjoy themselves. One of the Vehicons was sitting on an ambulance that had toppled over from a previous explosion. He looked at the shot one of his comrades did and grunted to himself.

Vehicon 4: "Not a bad shot. But you need more of an impact than that.

The Con turned to him and didn't like what he said.

Vehicon 3: "Oh yeah? All right smart aft, let see if you can do better."

The metallic soldier snickered and got off the ambulance, walking past the other one.

Vehicon 4: "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

Once he got into position, he armed up his blaster and aimed it at the statue. Pulling the trigger, he fired his blaster at the target and it hit the statue right in the head. The impact of the blast knocked the head of Jasper's founder off its foundation and landed on the floor, rolling around till it stopped. The group looked on in surprise as the Vehicon turned to the first one that fired the shot and told him what happened.

Vehicon 4: "Boom! Headshot! Top that!"

The first Con groaned to himself and turned away, feeling a little defeated. Not far from the park, the Autobot recruits and the two human teens were peeking from behind the corner of what was left of a florist shop, with dead and burned flowers in front of the store. Jack looked at the group and breathed deeply.

Jack/Rodimus: "Great… This is just what we need."

Sam looked at the group and gulped nervously.

Sam Witwicky: "So, those are the Decepticons? They certainly look intimidating."

Miko though laughed it up and told them that they don't look too tough.

Miko/Kaosu: "Intimidating? Dude, those are nothing but drones. Totally don't pose much of a threat. We can take em'."

But Rodimus turned to her and told her not to do it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, this is a recon mission. As in scouting the area and reaching the citadel without running into trouble. We have to stay clear of them if we are to get to Darkmount in one piece."

Miko looked to him and felt a little defeated by that.

Miko/Kaosu: "Aw…"

He then looked back at the group of Cons and guessed that's the problem.

Jack/Rodimus: "So, I take it that's the bad news huh?"

The hacker though shook his head and pointed yonder to the street that would take them straight to Darkmount.

Raf/Firewall: "No… That is the bad news."

Jack turned to his right to see the street they needed to take and noticed what appeared to be a bus blocking the way with combat jeeps and torrents in front of it. He couldn't believe it as he looked on in shock.

Jack/Rodimus: "You have got to be kidding me! There's a blockade that's preventing us from reaching our destination? Why is that blocking our way?"

Firewall thought this through and came up with a really good answer.

Raf/Firewall: "My guess is, the military set that up to defend the park from the Cons. By the looks of this place, it didn't work too well."

Rodimus looked back and forth between the blockade and the drones and felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Jack/Rodimus: "Terrific… Now we have to find a way of getting past that dead end just to reach to the enemy base."

Raf though turned to him and was a little worried about that.

Raf/Firewall: "And what about the Decepticons? You know that once they notice us, they won't hesitate to shoot."

Jack/Rodimus: "I know, I know! There's got to be some way of breaching that without catching too much attention."

The group pondered this and tried to figure a way of avoiding that mess. But with time getting short and the Autobot leader still held captive, they needed to do this quickly. While they were thinking, Sari looked around and noticed something not too far from them. Pointing in the same direction as the military blockade, she told them what she found.

Sari: "Hey, what's that?"

The group turned to her and looked to what she was pointing at. What they saw was what appeared to be a construction site meant for building a new store. But that too was a casualty of the invasion, with tools scattered about and cement blocks toppled over. But the one thing that got their attention was a bulldozer still in one piece. Jack looked at this and figured out what it was.

Jack/Rodimus: "Looks like a construction site that was building another store in the town. Heard that it was supposed to be an outlet store for the latest fashions, so that people can be up to date with what they wear."

The two teens looked at him and were a little silent about it. Jack looked down at them and smirked while shrugging his shoulders.

Jack/Rodimus: "It's a small town. People talk a lot."

Sari then looked back at the bulldozer and rubbed her chin about it.

Sari: "What about that bulldozer? You think that would work?"

Jack looked at the vehicle and thought about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Maybe… Looks like it wasn't harmed during the attack, but you need to find a way of jumpstarting it. Why?"

That's when Sari took her key out and told them what she was thinking.

Sari: "If that bulldozer is working, then maybe I could use this key to jump start it. That way I can use it to plow through the blockade and get a clear path."

Jack looked back to the group of Decepticons at the park and then back with a little shock on his faceplate.

Jack/Rodimus: "Are you kidding me?! You want to go out there in the open while there are Decepticon forces that wouldn't hesitate in killing you?! Why do you want to do that?"

Sari: "Because it's the only way of getting to that fortress and freeing your leader. But unless you have another way of getting to Darkmount, then you'd better tell us about it."

Rodimus opened his mouth and was about to say something, but he stopped completely and realized that she was right. They have to reach the enemy base just to get Optimus out of there and with the direct route blocking their way, they have to act now before it's too late. Firewall listened to her too and could agree with her on many occasions.

Raf/Firewall: "She does have a point, Jack. We're running out of time and we have to act now while we still can."

Jack turned to the hacker and knew he was right about it. But looking to the group of Cons, this was going to get complicated.

Jack/Rodimus: "Even if it's going to work, there's still an issue of those Decepticons in the way. How are we going to do this if they're in the way?"

Miko looked at the group too and tried to figure out a way of getting Sari to the construction site and clear the path. But remembering something, she smirked and came up with a good plan.

Miko/Kaosu: "We distract them."

The teen looked at the Japanese femme and did a double take.

Jack/Rodimus: "Excuse me?"

She turned to him and explained her plan.

Miko/Kaosu: "We go out there and keep those drones busy while Sari and Sam get that bulldozer going to plow through that dead end. It would be a piece of cake."

Both Jack and Raf were a little bewildered and couldn't believe what they just heard. Go and take on Decepticons while Sari does the clearing? That's extremely suicidal! So Jack argued about it.

Jack: "Kaosu, we're recruits that had just a week of training going up against well armed, heavily trained soldiers. How are we going to defend ourselves against that?"

Miko gave an interesting smirk and reminded him what happened with MECH.

Miko/Kaosu: "Dude, that's what we heard when we were taking on those MECHicons and we handled it ourselves. Besides, who said we're going to fight. We're just going to go down there and talk to them. If that fails, then we'll fight."

Still though, the two remained hesitant as the hacker reminded her about what the Autobots said.

Raf/Firewall: "Miko, have you already forgotten? We can't go up to them! The Autobots told us that the Cons shoot down Neutrals. Remember?"

She turned to him and let him know one more thing.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah. But they also said that they kill Neutrals if they don't join the cause. So, we go up to them and 'join' their cause."

Jack/Rodimus: "And you think that it would be wise in doing that?"

She then turned back to the former teen and playfully winked.

Miko/Kaosu: "But of course. One thing I remember Arcee telling me about Cliffjumper was that he was quite the chatter box."

A few minutes later, the drones were enjoying themselves as they had their area secure. They were all talking and laughing, since there was nothing to do on patrol. But that would soon change in an instant as one of the Vehicons looked at the group with his arms crossed. What he didn't expect was a slight tap on his shoulder and a metallic feminine voice.

Miko/Kaosu: "Excuse me."

Almost on instinct the Vehicon turned in the direction of the voice and armed his blaster, pointing it at her. Soon enough, every Vehicon aimed their blasters in that direction and were ready to fire. What they saw were three Cybertronians backing up after the sudden reaction to the tap. Rodimus and Firewall were a little surprised by this while Kaosu remained cool and collected. The young mech turned to her and whispered something to her without the enemy knowing.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well, they spotted us. Now what?"

Miko looked back to Jack and whispered back.

Miko/Kaosu: "Just follow my lead."

Just then, another Vehicon stepped in and was sporting a silver paint job. It was obvious that this one was captain of the group as he approached them, demanding answers.

Vehicon Captain: "What's going on here? What's the meaning of this? Who are these three?"

The Vehicon pointed at the femme looking at them and noticed that there were no markings on their bodies, either Autobot or Decepticon.

Vehicon 5: "Don't know captain, but judging by the lack of decals, they appear to be Neutrals."

The captain looked at the three and noticed it too.

Vehicon Captain: "Neutrals huh? Never seen those in a long time. Kill them…"

All the drones charged their weapons and were about to fire. But the Japanese femme lifted her servo up and told them not to shoot.

Miko/Kaosu: "Wait! Don't shoot! We want to talk."

The captain looked at the femme oddly and wondered what they wanted.

Vehicon Captain: "Let me guess, you want to say your last words do you?"

But she smiled and told him what he wanted to hear.

Miko/Kaosu: "Nope. We're actually here to join the Decepticons."

As they were talking, both Sari and Sam looked from the view in the same spot at the corner of the florist shop and noticed that the enemy was solely focusing on the three recruits, not fully aware what was going on around them. Seeing that they were distracted, the two took the opportunity and left the corner, carefully reaching the construction site where the bulldozer was located. They of course stopped on a couple of occasions and hid behind a bench, a damaged bus stop, and a few open stores in case one of the Vehicons spotted them. Luckily they didn't, as the two humans got closer to their objective.

At the same time, the captain looked at the three and was a little confused.

Vehicon Captain: "You three want to join our cause? Well that's a first in a long time! Normally most of the Neutrals didn't take the offer and got shot on site. Never really thought that you three would want to take part without hesitation."

Kaosu placed her servos to her hips and smirked wickedly.

Miko/Kaosu: "Believe me when I say this, we've been soaring through the stars for many eons ever since leaving Cybertron. After all these stellar cycles me and my friends here started to realize that the Autobots were the ones that left us to abandon our planet, not you guys. I mean, you are all working class of the planet right? You were the ones that were treated like garbage. You wanted to fight for what you believe was right. We want to join in on that fight. Right boys?"

She turned back to Rodimus and Firewall just so they would follow what she was saying. The two of them knew that she was lying to the group of Decepticons that they wanted to be on their side, so they tried to play along as best they could.

Jack/Rodimus: "Why, yes, of course we want to fight for Megatron. We want some serious payback for what the Autobots did to our home."

Then Firewall chimed in with his own words.

Raf/Firewall: "Yeah! No one messes with our home and gets away with it. Down with Optimus! Long live Megatron!"

The captain listened to their responses and found it to be a bit odd. Sure they sounded like they wanted to be part of the cause, but their responses sounded a little off, especially the mechs, being that they acted a little more robotic. Not to mention that there were some things that didn't seem right. So he started to ask some questions.

Vehicon Captain: "You younglings got guts, I'll give you that. Though I got to admit, I didn't hear any word of three new recruits coming into our ranks."

Miko was silent about this as she tried to explain why they were all here.

Miko/Kaosu: "I'm certain that Starscream had this recruitment in the list of things he needed to do. He just never got around to it."

One of the Vehicons listened in and remembered about the commander's exile that happened for a long time. He turned to the captain and told him about that.

Vehicon 3: "She's right you know, captain. Starscream's certainly been off his rocker ever since he'd been in exile. I'm sure he's getting a little rusty since he came back to Megatron's militia."

The Vehicon captain turned to the drone and could agree with him on some occasions. But there were still some unanswered questions that needed to be asked as he looked up to the barrier that was protecting them. Looking at the three, he asked them about it.

Vehicon Captain: "How did you manage to get here when there's a dome keeping those humans out of Darkmount?"

Miko smirked a little and came up with a really good answer.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well… Let's just say we have our connections."

While that conversation was going on, Sari and Sam were slowly getting closer to the construction site. After going through a couple of hiding spots and checking to see if they were spotted, they managed to reach their objective. They decided to hide behind some tumbled over porta-potties and even though the smell was bad, it made a great hiding spot. The moment they saw the enemy distracted, they came out of their spot and made it to the bulldozer. Sari jumped into the driver's seat and checked to see if it was still in one piece, while Sam got on the passenger side and felt a little worried about this.

Sam Witwicky: "Um, Sari? Are you sure you know what you're doing? I mean a tank is one thing, but a bulldozer is another. They are loud when they start up and the moment we plow our way to the barrier…"

The young girl turned to him and told him that it was all right.

Sari: "Relax Sam… I'm just going to lightly push that blockade away and make a clearing for our friends. I'm certain those drones won't suspect a thing. Nothing can go wrong."

She then removed her key necklace around her neck and got it closer to the keyhole. The second the key shifted to the exact same shape as the ignition socket, she inserted the key and turned it. In a matter of seconds, the bulldozer hummed to life as smoke billowed out of the pipe stack. She smiled at the success but then looked to see if the Decepticons heard that. Fortunately for her, they were still distracted as the captain was talking to the recruits. Looking at the levers, she stretched her fingers and was ready to get started.

Sari: "All right, looks like we're set. Let's see if we can get this baby moving."

Pulling the lever down she slowly pushed the vehicle forward just to get out the kinks. Sam though was holding onto his seat tightly and was getting scared of his best friend's driving. Slowly she drove out of the construction area and made their way to the blockade.

While they were getting there, the Vehicon captain kept his optics on the three recruits and still didn't believe them. So he asked them another question.

Vehicon Captain: "You know, I find all of this a little odd that the three of you showed up unannounced. Not to mention the fact that you managed to get through the shield. So unless you give me one good reason why you should join our cause, I hope you're ready to go into the Well."

The group still had their weapons poised at the intruders, standing by to fire. Both Jack and Raf looked at the group and were scared with what would happen to them. Miko though remained as calm and came up with a really good excuse of why they should 'join'.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh come on now. Why would you ask us twenty questions? Or maybe you don't realize we have knowledge regarding the Autobots?"

There was an awkward silence within the group, as they looked at each other in pure confusion. Rodimus and Firewall though were thoroughly shocked by this and worried whether that this was part of her plan. The captain on the other hand found it intriguing and asked her about it.

Vehicon Captain: "Really now… You're telling us that you have information regarding the Autobots living on this planet?"

Kaosu just smiled devilishly and knew that she's got him just where she wants him.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh, you could say that. I know you've been trying to find the Autobots ever since you moved in. I also know that Megatron is having a real hard time looking for them, seeing that their energon signatures are impossible to locate, and this planet is pretty big. I think I can help with that. You see, I happen to have information regarding their location. If you can take me to him, then I can give him that information. And maybe me and my friends here would earn a place in this armada. What do you say?"

The captain looked at her and was intrigued by the offer. But Jack and Raf looked at her and were now getting worried. Indeed Miko was pretending to join the Decepticons, but letting them in on where the Autobots were hiding? That's a little farfetched, even for her. But the captain looked at her with sheer intent and wanted to know more.

Vehicon Captain: "Is that so? Well then why don't you tell me where the Autobots are hiding and I'll let Megatron know about it. Perhaps let him know that you gave me that info. I might even let him make you my right hand femme - if you know what I mean."

Kaosu was taken aback by this as she realized that he was hitting on her. And who could blame her; she looked like one hot femme. But she had to play along until their human companions could give them a way through. So she still needed to pretend to join the ranks until they could get the recruits in.

While Miko was keeping the enemy distracted, Sari and Sam were on the bulldozer, approaching the barricade. Slowly, they reached the bus that was blocking the path. Being new to the vehicle was a bit of a challenge for her since she was trying to drive it with the many levers that operated the machine. But she eventually got the hang of it. She peeked back a couple of times just in case one of the Cons spotted them, but they were still distracted by the recruits. Sighing in relief, she got the bulldozer in position and was ready to plow through the blockade. Tightening her grip on the handles, she smirked and was ready to go while Sam sat back and was scared.

Sam Witwicky: "Sari? You're certain that this is going to work?"

She turned to him and told him to relax.

Sari: "Of course I'm certain Sam. Just gonna push the bus away for a clearing and the others can go through. What's the worst that can happen?"

She put her hand on the forward lever and was about to push it down. But just as she pushed it down, it stopped halfway and got stuck. She didn't expect this, and she pushed on it harder and harder. She finally managed to push it all the way down, but in the process, it caused the strain of the lever to snap off. Both Sari and Sam looked at the broken stick and realization struck the two.

Sari: "Uh oh…"

Almost immediately, the bulldozer roared louder as smoke billowed out the stack and into the sky. Suddenly, it lurched to full speed and looked like it was ready to ram anything in its path. And the one thing that was in its way was the bus barrier. The two looked at this, looked at each other, and right away knew the danger.

Sam Witwicky: "Bail!"

Quickly, Sari removed her key from the socket, and the two jumped off the bulldozer seconds before the vehicle rammed its target. The moment it made impact, it pushed the bus with a loud crash and wrecked it completely. The bulldozer and bus continued on, striking everything in its path and pushing them out of the way: cars, trashcans, small pieces of debris. Finally, the bus tilted up and out of the way, and the bulldozer, free from all obstructions, continued running out of control until striking a lone car. But that car got crushed and the impact triggered its alarm system, causing it to blare loudly. Both the Vehicons and recruits heard that and turned in the direction of the sound to see nothing but destruction in its wake. What they also saw was Sari and Sam standing in the road, looking at the mess. Sari watched all this happening and rubbed the back of her head.

Sari: "Whoopsy…"

Sam though looked back to her and had a disgusted look.

Sam Witwicky: "What's the worst that can happen huh? Well I think an out of control bulldozer counts as an answer."

She turned to Witwicky and answered back.

Sari: "Sorry… I guess that lever was stuck at some point."

The Captain saw the mess and noticed the humans standing there and he was in disbelief.

Vehicon Captain: "What the… Human survivors? Here? Eliminate them!"

The group turned their blasters on and aimed them at the two humans, ready to fire. Both Sari and Sam turned around when they heard some guns clanking to see the Decepticons aiming at them. The two had deadpan faces as Sam muttered something in his own breath.

Sam Witwicky: "And now we're going to die."

The recruits looked on and had to do something to stop this. So Kaosu ended the role-playing and went back into action.

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh well… That's our cue."

Quickly, she turned her servo into a hammer and smacked the captain on the neck, sending him flying into the air before hitting to the ground hard. The other Vehicons saw this and were surprised by the unexpected turn of events. So they turned to the three and were about to fire.

Vehicon 4: "Intruders! Take them out!"

Jack, Raf, and Miko looked at the group as the former teen sighed to himself.

Jack/Rodimus: "So much for recon…"

He then sealed his visor and mouth guard and went into defensive mode by arming up his shield and protecting himself and the others from the incoming blaster fire. The hacker and Wrecking Cadet went into offensive by arming their weapons at them. Firewall fired his tazer blasters to temporarily paralyze the group while Kaosu fired her sonic pulse blasters at them, pushing them back for the moment. As they were in the clear, they retracted their weapons and turned to the two teens, who were standing in complete shock. The moment they rushed to them, they checked to see if they were all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "Sari! Sam! You two okay?"

The two looked at the three recruits and took a breather.

Sari: "Yeah… A little rattled, but hey, the path is cleared."

Jack then looked back to see the Vehicons trying to get up and knew that they had to leave. Turning back to them, they told them that they have to go.

Jack/Rodimus: "Good. Cause we have to leave right now!"

The three immediately transformed into their vehicle modes as Miko and Raf opened their passenger doors to let the humans in. Sari quickly got into the McLaren while Sam stepped into the Scion XB. Once they were in, the three sped their way past the blockade and were making a beeline toward the fortress. At the same time, the Vehicons recovered from the attack and weren't expecting that to happen. The captain slowly got up and noticed the three leaving with the humans and heading toward the Decepticon base of operations. Turning to the others, he told them to stop the intruders.

Vehicon Captain: "What are you waiting for?! Those Neutrals are making their way to Darkmount! After them! We can't let them reach the fortress!"

All the Vehicons nodded and went after them, transforming into purple convertibles and made quick drifts to the street to go after them. The captain turned to the last Vehicon and told him to contact the base.

Vehicon Captain: "Get in touch with Commander Starscream. He needs to know the situation we have."

He then transformed into a silver convertible and joined in with the group to catch up with the others and stop the intruders. At the same time, the last remaining Vehicon placed his servo to the comm channel and called the fortress about the problem that just happened.

Seconds later in Darkmount, Starscream casually walked into the command center with Soundwave close by. Once the doors opened, the commander looked at the many Airadicons at their stations as they were on high alert. He then looked at the huge screen on the front that showed the map of Darkmount and noticed a disturbance in the ruins of Jasper. Looking down on one Airadicon that was at full attention, he started to demand answers.

Starscream: "You there! What's the situation?"

The Con bowed down and explained the problem to him.

Airadicon 3: "Commander, there appears to be a disturbance in the ruins of that human town. One of our scouting parties encountered of small group of Cybertronians in that town along with two organics."

Starscream thought about that and remembered what the Decepticon leader said. So he looked to his soldier and asked about it.

Starscream: "The Autobots?"

The soldier shook his head and explained further.

Airadicon 3: "No commander. The group encountered three Neutrals that suddenly appeared."

Scream rubbed his chin and found that to be both interesting and unexpected.

Starscream: "Neutrals huh? Interesting…"

He then turned to Soundwave and ordered him to act.

Starscream: "Deploy Laserbeak, Soundwave. We might need a visual."

The Intel officer nodded as Laserbeak detached from the Con's chest plate and flew out of the command center, leaving Darkmount and headed to Jasper.

Back in town, Rodimus, Firewall, and Kaosu sped down the street, making a mad dash to the Con's fortress. As they were reaching the place, Jack contacted Miko and was a little confused by what she had been saying to the Decepticons.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, were you really going to tell those Vehicons where the Autobots were hiding? Cause it sure sounded like you were going to."

The Wrecking cadet just laughed it up and told him what she said.

Miko/Kaosu: "Of course not Jack! You think I was going to reveal the location of our friends? I wouldn't do that to them. Besides, I was going to tell the captain they were hiding in an old steel mill factory, or at least an abandoned theme park. Plus I had to get that Con off my back. Did you see the way he was hitting on me? Good thing I knocked him senseless."

Sari was in the passenger seat of her vehicle mode and giggled at the thought of that.

Sari: "Certainly saw that, girl. That was awesome the way you taught that Con a lesson."

Miko turned her dashboard mirror to see her and told her about her actions.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey, you were the one that kept them distracted. I thought it was a good way of saying what I think of him."

The two laughed it up as they enjoyed that moment together. But just then, Firewall came through the dashboard's comm channel and interrupted the moment.

Raf/Firewall: "Hey guys, I hate to spoil the moment but we've got company."

Both recruits turned their review mirrors to get a better view and spotted a group of purple convertibles with a silver one leading them. Looking to the back, Rodimus knew who they were and what were they after.

Jack/Rodimus: "Oh no… It's them."

Behind the three, the group were racing after them while the Captain was taking the lead. He saw the three reaching Darkmount and ordered his squad to open fire.

Vehicon Captain: "They are going to reach Darkmount! We have to stop them! Shoot them down!"

As soon as he said that, two openings appeared between his hood and a pair of blasters came out. The rest of the Vehicons did the same as they took aim at the intruders. Quickly they opened fire as they were targeting their tires in an effort to keep them grounded. Sam looked at the blaster fire through Raf's review mirror and panicked.

Sam Witwicky: "They're trying to shoot us!"

Jack heard the teen's reaction and told him to duck.

Jack/Rodimus: "Keep your head down! We'll try to lose them!"

Both Sari and Sam quickly kept their heads down as blaster fire was all around them. The three recruits then performed their driving skills as they swerved and turned to avoid the gunfire. Meanwhile in the air, Laserbeak was soaring high to get a clear view of the chase.

Back in the fortress, Starscream and Soundwave were still in the command center, watching the aerial view of the action. The lieutenant looked at the monitor and saw a Hummer H2, Scion XB, and McLaren MP4 12C getting away from the Vehicons as they avoided the barrage of lasers with their moves in their vehicle modes. He looked at them dodging the shots as he smiled with delight.

Starscream: "Those must be the Neutrals. Let's see how long they last."

Back in Jasper, the three continued to make their way to their objective while avoiding gunfire from the Vehicons in the back. They kept on swerving and turning as much as they could but it wasn't enough as the enemy kept targeting them. Firewall looked back through his review and was getting annoyed by them.

Raf/Firewall: "Jack! Those Vehicons are still following us!"

Rodimus groaned to himself and realized that this wasn't getting them anywhere.

Rodimus: "This isn't working. We need to lose them if we are to reach Darkmount."

Kaosu understood that as well and had to figure a way of getting out of that mess. Looking around in vehicle mode, she spotted a water tower at the right with the words, 'Jasper' on it, still in one piece even after the invasion. Looking on, she came up with an idea and told the former teen about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "I've got an idea, but you're not going to like it."

Jack looked at Miko through his review mirror and wondered what she was up to. But since they were in a tight spot, he had no choice in the matter and told her to get started.

Jack/Rodimus: "Do it!"

As soon as she heard that, Kaosu opened up her trunk and two cannons came out of it. Aiming it at the water tower stands, she fired her rockets and they flew to their mark. The Vehicons looked on and wondered what she was doing. The moment the rockets hit the stands, the heat melted the metal and the tower tilted downwards, right on the street they were on. Rodimus looked and was shocked by this as he told the others to speed up.

Jack/Rodimus: "Pedal to the metal, team!"

Immediately the group pressed on the gas pedal hard and the gearshift to fourth as they all sped past a hundred. The three recruits zoomed through the street and made it past the falling water tower. But the group of Vehicons freaked out as the Captain told them to stop.

Vehicon Captain: "Brakes! Hit the brakes!"

They all came to a screeching halt the same time the water tower crashed to the ground, blocking their path. Water then came out of the damaged tower and flooded parts of the street while pushing the Decepticons away from the impact. Once the destruction was over, the street was doused in water while the Vehicons transformed and were soaking wet. The captain activated his comm and talked to Starscream.

Vehicon Captain: "Commander Starscream, the Neutrals have blocked our path. We can't reach them from where we are."

Back at the command center, Starscream looked at the two screens showing both the map of the town and Laserbeak's video feed from the air. He saw the mess with his own optics and found the recruits' resilience quite unique. But they still posed a threat and needed to be destroyed. So he responded to the captain's words and told him what to do.

Starscream: "Find an alternate route that will take you to the Neutrals. They must be stopped."

Vehicon Captain: "Yes commander, already on it."

Once the communications ended, he turned to the Airadicon next to him and gave him some orders.

Starscream: "Those Vehicons won't make it to them in time. Have to hold them off until they can. Send in a strike force to keep them at bay. That will give the captain some time."

The Airadicon saluted and followed Scream's orders.

Airadicon 3: "Right away commander."

Meanwhile, the recruits were driving through the street and were about to leave the town and be on their way straight to Darkmount. They managed to avoid the crushing blow from the water tower that Miko took down and although they got a little wet, they managed to get out of there in one piece. Of course that didn't mean Jack would let it slide as he yelled at the Wrecking cadet.

Jack/Rodimus: "Miko, what were you thinking!? Blowing that water tower up without giving us a little warning? We could've gotten killed!"

Kaosu just shrugged it off and explained her actions.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well you did say that we had to lose those Decepticreeps. And when I told you that I had an idea, you told me to execute it."

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, well, I didn't expect your plan would be that extreme! You should know better Miko!"

Miko/Kaosu: "Oh please… I didn't see you coming up with a plan for losing those tailgaters."

As they were arguing, Sari, Sam, and Firewall overheard it all and couldn't help but snicker about their argument. But as they were listening in on the bickering, Sari looked over at the Japanese femme's review mirror and noticed something coming out of the sky. Looking closer, she saw what appeared to be five silver futuristic jets flying towards them. Seeing this, she warned the others about it.

Sari: "Hey guys? Though I enjoy listening to the two of you fighting, we've got trouble."

Rodimus looked at the sky with his review mirrors and noticed those jets too. Before he could figure out what they were, the jets opened fire as red energy projectiles headed their way. He saw this and immediately told everyone to take cover.

Jack/Rodimus: "Incoming!"

The three shivered and avoided the firepower while the two teens held on for dear lives. As they were firing, a few stray lasers hit a nearby semi bed and blew it up, causing it to fly into the air and over the recruits. That semi bed crashed to the ground in front of them and blocked their path completely. The three pressed hard on the brakes and attempted to come to a stop with their tires screeching on the pavement. That wasn't enough, so they transformed mid stop and used their pedes to come to a full halt. During the transformation, the humans jumped out of the shifting metal and flew in the air with surprised looks. Fully transformed, both Raf and Miko placed their servos out and managed to catch the humans before they could fall to the ground. The moment they stopped, all of them looked right at the blocked path as Rodimus groaned.

Jack/Rodimus: "Great… We're trapped!"

Suddenly, he heard the sound of jet engines getting closer as he and the others turned around to see those silver jets flying straight at them. They immediately covered themselves and protected the human teens only for the jets to tilt up and ascended upwards. The group looked up at the sky to see the jets flying high up as they started to transform in the air and plummet downwards. The moment they landed on the ground pede first with a huge thud, the recruits watched and knew who they were. They looked like the Airadicons the Autobots had faced many times, but they were completely different than what they had faced. They had a combination of silver and black paint jobs with dark gray protoform skin and bloody red glow on their visors and Decepticon insignias. Jack could tell that these were a new type of Con they had never seen before, and knew that they meant trouble. He then looked right at Sari and Sam and told them to hide.

Jack/Rodimus: "Sari, Sam, get to someplace safe! We'll take care of them!"

The two teens looked at the young mech and nodded in unison, realizing that this was something beyond their control. Both the hacker and the Wrecking Cadet lowered them down so that the teens could jump off their servos and run to safety. Luckily they found what was left of a pharmacy and hid behind the broken display window so they could get a better view of the action. Back outside, Jack, Raf, and Miko looked right at these new troops and went into defensive mode. Miko looked right at the group and had a slight smirk on her face.

Miko/Kaosu: "Really? Airadicons with new paint jobs? Is that all that they could come up with?"

Jack though was serious about this and told Miko to stop making jokes.

Jack/Rodimus: "Looks can be deceiving, Kaosu. Remember the Autobot motto, they're more than meets the eye. Hit them hard and fast! We can't let them distract us with our mission!"

With that said, he deployed his sword and shield and got into a battle stance. Raf got into a boxer position, the same way Bumblebee taught him. And Miko was in her Wrecker stance and was ready for a major brawl. The new Airadicons prepared themselves as well as they got into a stance of their own. Jack looked at each of these Cons and counted five against the three of them. He had to figure out a way to even out the odds.

Jack/Rodimus: "Firewall, you take the two on the left. Kaosu, the two on the right. I'll get the one in the middle. Let's make this quick."

He then positioned his sword up while using the shield to protect himself, giving out a huge war cry.

Jack/Rodimus: "ATTACK!"

The three then charged in and began the fight as the Airadicons got into defensive mode. Immediately, the three got close enough and began their attack. Jack was taking on the Decepticon in the middle as he used his sword to strike him down any way possible. The Airadicon though dodged him swiftly as he found an opening and struck with his clawed digits. Using his energy shield, Rodimus blocked the attempted strike and used his defensive weapon as an offensive weapon, knocking the brute back. With him distracted, the recruit used his sword to strike him in the back. That strike cut the back of his armor and the enemy screamed in pain. Turning his back to him, the Con got that angry look as Rodimus felt a little cocky.

Jack/Rodimus: "What's wrong? Too much for ya?"

The Airadicon got a little pissed off as he decided to charge in and attack forcefully. Raf was going in the defensive as well as he protected himself from the two Airadicons attacking him. One of them was punching him in the arms that were protecting his face. He'd been looking for an opening just so he could fight back and was having a hard time looking for it. That's when the Airadicon did a swift upper right cut as the young hacker avoided it. Finding the opening, he went into the offensive and pushed the flyer with a few jabs of his own followed by a stiff upper cut to the chin, knocking the enemy down. Firewall was glad that he was able to take a Con down until another one came out of nowhere and punched the hacker right in the face. Raf landed hard on the ground and was a little woozy from the punch. But as he looked up, he noticed the second Airadicon arming his blaster and aiming it at him. Thinking quickly, he opened the compartment on his arm and a cable fired out of it. It wrapped it around the enemy's leg and he pulled it off as fast as he could. The Airadicon tripped before firing and landed hard on his back. Raf managed to get back up as he got on top of the Con and punched him continuously on the faceplate.

As for Miko, she was having the greatest time of her life as she took on the Cons all by herself. Left and right, she was punching and kicking the two and enjoyed it one hit at a time. A kick to the first one, a punch to the second, a right hook to the first, and spinning roundhouse to the second. All those days of intense training from Bulk and Jackie really paid off. The first Airadicon had it with her as he charged in to strike away with all that he could. Kaosu noticed it with her keen optics and blocked that punch, followed by a strong and powerful clothesline. The other Airadicon then armed up his blaster and aimed it at her back. But Miko sensed that coming and turned around to arm her own blaster, firing a pulse blast at him. That blast pushed him back and slammed him into a small liquor store as bottles and cans flew about. She smiled and made a joke about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Easy there buddy… Too much alcohol can be bad for the system."

Immediately, the other Airadicon started to get up and attacked with a few punches of his own. The Japanese femme turned and blocked all of his punches, waiting for the right time to strike back. With all the fighting going on, Laserbeak was flying overhead witnessing the huge combat.

At that same time, Starscream looked at the fight on the command center's main screen and was a little impressed by the recruits fighting.

Starscream: I got to admit, for a bunch of Neutrals they are a tough bunch. Still though, I have a few surprises waiting for them."

The Airadicon came forward to the commander and intelligence officer and told them the news.

Airadicon 3: "Commander, the tanks are nearing the Neutrals position. ETA: one bream."

The second in command turned to the drone and smirked wickedly.

Starscream: "Excellent…"

Back at the fight, the recruits were holding their own as they were giving everything they could against the Cons' forces. Firewall continued to punch the Airadicon that was trying to hit him, not fully aware of the trouble that was coming to him. The last drone he took down got up in a daze and turned to the hacker that was pummeling his comrade. Quickly he armed his own blaster and fired at him in the back. The stray shot hit him, but it only pinged his armor, enough to get his attention and turned to see the enemy preparing another shot. Quickly, he armed his tazer blaster and fired an electrical current at him. The current hit the drone on its chest and short circuited for a short time. Once that was over, the Airadicon was furious and fired many shots at him. However, the hacker managed to get up and grabbed the Con he was beating, putting him in the front and using him as a blaster sponge. The held captive kept on getting hit by the blaster fire of his equal while Raf used his free servo to arm his blaster and fired another shot, stronger then the last one. The moment the Decepticon was hit and was convulsing, Firewall let go of the Con he was holding and pushed him in the back with his pede, forcing him to collide with the other as they shared the same pain from the current shock. The two went down to the ground and remained in a deep stasis.

Meanwhile, Miko she was protecting herself from the many swipes of the Airadicon's clawed digits. Looking for an opening, she backed away as much as she could without noticing what was behind her. Immediately, she tripped over a police car that was turned over during the invasion. She landed on her rear end and seared from the impact of it. Looking up though, she saw the drone aiming his rifle to her. Looking down at the police car, she came up with a really good idea and used both of her feet to push the car at him. The car knocked him on the legs as he tripped and fell face first on the pavement. Slowly, he pushed up and recovered from the attack, but Miko got up quickly and ran to him, giving him a swift punt on the knee. With him knocked in the loop, the femme looked down at drone and smirked.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hmph… How do you like me now?"

The moment she said that, she got struck to the punch in the face and staggered back a little. Completely forgetting about the last Con she took down, she looked up to see him heading straight towards her. Getting into position, she grabbed the drone by the servos as they performed some serious wrestling grapples.

Back with Jack, he and the Airadicon he was fighting were duking it out, trying to see who could be taken down. The young mech used his shield to protect himself from the slashing attempts and waited for the right moment to strike back. After one slash attempt down, the mechanical teen turned around and delivered a back kick to the face, sending the enemy flying into the air. The Airadicon managed to reposition himself and was ready to go another around, but Rodimus rushed right in and positioned his sword ready for a strike. The Con got his blaster out and was prepared to fire but it was too late as the young mech struck his sword down and cut the blaster hand in one strike. He yelped in pain, as he didn't expect him to do that. Before he could even perform a counter attack, Jack finished the job as he turned in a circle and used his sword to cut the enemy's head off. With the head gone, the drone staggered a bit before falling to the ground and was completely offline. Rodimus looked down at the decapitated body and thought that it was all over with. Suddenly, he heard a loud shot coming from the distance and turned to the left to see what it was. What he saw was a huge shell heading towards him with blazing speed and was going to blow him up. Quickly he got his shield up and deflected the rocket off of him. But the moment the rocket bounced, he turned and saw it was heading for Miko, who was still grabbling with the Airadicon. He screamed at the top of his air filter and told her to move.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu! Look out!"

The Wrecking Cadet heard Jack's warning and turned to see the missile flying towards her. On instinct, she shoved the drone in the line of fire and got down as low as she could. The Con was a little confused as to why she would do that until he turned to see the missile heading for him. With little time to avoid it, he crossed his arms to protect himself while the rocket shell blew him up on impact, killing him in an instant. As the blast was gone, the recruits looked on and wondered where it came from. Even Sari and Sam looked on from where they were hiding and wondered the same thing. Turning back to the left where the rocket was fired, Jack and his team noticed what appeared to be three military tanks with purple and gray paint jobs from a distance. But then the three started to transform into what appeared to be a new kind of Decepticon force with tank treads on the ankles, four huge and heavy plating on their arms and shoulders, huge cannons over their heads and two red visors on their faces. These huge Cons got into battle stations as they clapped their arms together forming a metal shield with the cannons over them. The three then began to fire as three more rocket shells flew towards the recruits. The three ducked down low as the rockets went sailing past them and blew up a few buildings farther away. Looking back up, there was a little shock and awe about what they saw.

Raf/Firewall: "Decepticon tanks? Since when did the Decepticons have tanks?!"

Jack got into position and switched his sword and shield to two blasters, ready to fire.

Jack/Rodimus: "Who cares? We have to destroy them before they fire another round at us!"

Using the targeting sensor on his visor, he pointed his blasters at them and fired as many rounds as he could. Raf then joined in on the fight and armed his tazer blasters to fire powerful electrical pulses at them. All those shots hit the shields, but they didn't faze the Cons. Miko though came in and armed up her cannons, firing two missiles of her own at the tank Cons. Both missiles hit the tank shields and exploded on impact. But as the smoke cleared, the new enemies were still standing with the shields looking a little burned. The group was shocked by this as the three tanks fired another shot at them. They ducked again as the rockets missed them and destroyed a few nearby cars. When they got up, they couldn't believe what happened.

Jack/Rodimus: "You've got to be kidding me! We hit them with everything we have and they're still standing!"

Raf/Firewall: "There has to be another way of taking them out."

Kaosu looked at the three tank-like Cons and then came up with another plan of hers. So she looked to them and told them what she would do.

Miko/Kaosu: "Cover me. I'm going in."

The two turned to her and were a little shocked by this.

Jack/Rodimus: "What?! Kaosu, what are you talking about?"

She turned to Jack and looked serious for once.

Miko/Kaosu: "Just trust me on this one Rodimus. I know what I'm doing."

Immediately, she transformed into her vehicle mode and sped straight to the three tank Cons.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu! Are you nuts?! Get back here!"

But that fell to deaf audio receptors as she sped straight to the tanks with speeds of over a hundred. The drones noticed her coming and fired their cannons at her. She steered clear of each projectile with turns and swivels, as she was getting closer to her goal. The two mechs looked to their friend and couldn't believe that she was risking her life out there. Firewall turned to his friend and told him what he was thinking.

Raf/Firewall: "I think she knows what she's doing Rodimus, and she just doesn't care."

Making sure that Miko reached her target; Raf aimed his tazer blasters at the three Cons and fired his shots at them. Jack soon joined in and fired shots at them as well. Still though, the heavy shields of those drone-like tanks deflected their projectiles. Two of those Cons were shooting their shells at the two recruits as they ducked down low to avoid those shots. The one in the middle however was aiming carefully at the Wrecking Cadet speeding towards them in her vehicle mode. That's when he aimed it at the road in her path and fired a round at it. Miko stopped and turned, performing a serious drift in the process. The rocket shell exploded behind her and the impact caused her to fly up high into the air. The moment she was over them and falling towards them, she transformed into her bipedal mode and armed both her gravity hammers. The moment she plummeted toward the ground, she raised her hammers up and slammed them to the tank Con, giving him a major case of the migraine. The other two drones looked at her dismantling the one in the middle and opened up their shielding, ready to strike. Kaosu saw this and decided to give them a serious brawl. Back and forth, she avoided each heavy strike while using her hammers to bang them up badly. As the brawl went on, Laserbeak looked down at the fight.

Starscream watched the fight himself through the main screen and didn't like how it was going. The Airadicon looked at it too and told the commander about it.

Airadicon 3: "Commander, our Tankicons failed to dispose of the Neutrals."

The commander was aggravated about this and let him know that he got the message.

Starscream: "Yes, I noticed that! Clearly this femme is quite a brawler. Let's see how well she can do with a brawler of our own."

He turned to Soundwave and told him what to do.

Starscream: "Summon our heavy and send in coordinates for a bridge. It's time to make the fight interesting."

The intelligence officer nodded as he began to lock the coordinates onto the fight while contacting one of the drones.

Back to Miko she was hitting the Tankicons with her hammers while avoiding the strikes and punches from the enemies. She ducked down as the first Con was about to perform a clothesline and used her hammer to bang him on the chin, sending him flying in the air and crashing through the roof of a small book store with books flying about. The second Con charged right in to give her a kick to the face. She knew it was coming as she sidestepped from the kick, made a quick spin, and hit him in the back with her hammer, pushing him away and crashing into an antique store. With two down for the count, she turned to see the last drone struggling to get up. Knowing that she had to finish this, she positioned her pedes and ran straight to the last target. The Con turned slowly to see the femme making a mad dash at him. On straight up instinct, he targeted his cannon over his head and fired a shot at her. Miko bent to the side while running and dodged that shot while in slow motion looked at the rocket with the Decepticon insignia on it. Going back to normal speed, she stopped close to him and turned in a huge circle to deliver two crushing blows. The first hit pushed him away, crashing into a damaged bus, making a perfect indent from the impact. The second hit pushed him further back and sent him sailing straight into a bowling alley on another street. Miko watched on as the Tankicon headed straight toward that building as he crashed right through it, destroying the building while a huge neon sign crashed on top of him. With him completely buried, the Wrecking Cadet fist pumped the air and was overly excited.

Miko/Kaosu: "Strike! Man I'm so good!"

She then turned to the other two recruits as they watched the show she just did. Switching her hammers back into her servos, she then placed her arms up and told them that she was done.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well, all done! Let's get moving."

Just as she said that, a green portal appeared behind her and something came out of it. Jack was the first to notice it and warned her about it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu, behind you!"

She heard him and turned around just to see what appeared to be a purple and silver tanker truck barreling towards her. She panicked and jumped out of the way before the truck had a chance to flatten her. Once she got on the ground, she looked up to see the truck make a quick turn and transform midway. Staring at it, she realized that it was another new Decepticon that was big and bulky with a purple and silver paintjob and three huge tanker prods on his back. The new Con looked at her and was eager to put her out of her misery. Both Jack and Raf looked at this new Con and were worried about their friend.

Raf/Firewall: "What's that? Another new Decepticon soldier?"

Jack/Rodimus: "I don't know. But whatever it is, Kaosu is in some serious trouble."

The huge brute got into a stance and gestured the femme to come to him. Miko smirked inwardly and decided to follow his gesture.

Miko/Kaosu: "Aw… You want me to get close to you? All right then. You asked for it."

Arming her hammers again, she then charged right in and was ready for a fight. She took a few swings at this new Con but he swiftly dodged each shot. He then did a few punches of his own but she managed to block them off. After one quick block, she managed to connect her weapons to him and gave him a few critical hits. Yet, the creature was still standing although a little off. Smiling, Miko decided to finish the job.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right big boy, it's time to bring the chaos!"

She twisted her hammer back and charged it up, ready to deliver the final blow. What she didn't know was the drone's prods on his back were emanating some electricity. The second she did the final swing; she got caught by an electrical barrier as static electricity affected her system. There was a small burst from the barrier as she flew away from him and crashed near a post office, going in and out of stasis. The other two recruits saw this and were shocked by what happened as this Con approached her, ready to deliver the final blow.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu!"

The enemy made it to the Wrecking Cadet as she struggled to get up. The brute raised his fists up and was about to deliver the final blow. But suddenly a couple of blaster shots hit him, yet didn't faze him. Turning to the left, he saw Rodimus and Firewall charging in to save their friend.

Jack/Rodimus: "Leave her alone you scrapper!"

More shots came from both of them as blue projectiles and electrical currents headed towards him. The Con backed away as the shots continued to hit him. Once they were in close range, Rodimus switched his weapons to a sword and shield and pulled a slash to the side, letting the heavy soldier scream in pain as energon leaked out. Heading to Miko's side, he bent down and checked to see if she was all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "Kaosu? Are you okay? Speak to me!"

The Wrecking cadet groaned as she was coming to, looking at her friend with dim optics and told him that she was fine.

Miko/Kaosu: "I'm alive, I think… I guess I was a little ahead of myself huh?"

Jack smiled and couldn't help but laugh.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yep, pretty much."

He heard a groan from close by and looked up to see the Con recovering from the strike and looked angry. Knowing that this was bad, he picked up the Japanese femme by the shoulders and started to drag her away.

Jack/Rodimus: "We better get you to safety."

He started to walk her to Raf as he got his tazer blasters at the ready.

Raf/Firewall: "I'll give you some covering fire."

He fired a few shots at the Con, but it proved useless as he looked at the three with anger in his visor. Thinking that it didn't do any good, he pulled out all the stops and charged his blasters to full power. Jack noticed this and told the hacker not to fire.

Jack/Rodimus: "Wait Firewall! Don't shoot!"

But it was too late as he fired a huge electric blast at the Con, hitting him on impact. But that blast didn't hurt him. Instead, The Con absorbed the blast and it went up to his prods, charging them up to full power. The three recruits backed up and realized that they were in a lot of trouble.

Raf/Firewall: "Oops…"

Miko/Kaosu: "That's not good."

Jack/Rodimus: "No… It's not…"

The moment he said it, the Con raised his servos up and then slammed them to the ground, creating a huge circle of electricity that spread around him. The blast caught the three as they were shoved away from the hit and crashed into a couple of cars. As the ring faded away, all that was left were the three in a semi-conscious state while the enemy remained unharmed. Looking to Rodimus, he approached him and decided to teach him a lesson after wounding him. Back at the damaged pharmacy, Sari and Sam watched the fight as they saw their friends getting taken out by the Con. Sari especially since she was in a state of surprise.

Sari: "Oh no!"

Quickly, she got out of the store and headed to the team as Sam followed her, trying to prevent her from doing something stupid.

Sam Witwicky: "Wait Sari! What are you doing?! Get back here!"

As they were reaching their friends, the huge Con walked to Rodimus, ready to deliver the final blow. Charging his prods in the back, he tightened his fist as electricity danced around it. Pulling his fist back, he was ready to end the fight with the young mech blinking his optics on and off. But just as he was about to do it, a small rock came out of the nowhere and hit him in the helm. Confused, he slowly turned to the right to see Sari holding another rock with a serious look on her face.

Sari: "Hey you bully! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

She then tossed that rock to him and it hit him on the visor, cracking it slightly. The enemy now snapped as he turned to the girl while Sam approached her and saw the Con looking mad.

Sam Witwicky: "Okay… That got his attention. Now what?"

The brute slowly walked toward the two humans and wanted to flatten them like mush. Nearing them, he raised his fists up and prepared to crush his first humans. But that little distraction proved to be very useful, as a hammer came out of the blue and hit him in the back, pushing him away from the two humans and flying right into a gas station. Turned out Miko managed to recover long enough to deliver a crushing blow to the huge Con. Looking down at the two, she checked to see if they were safe.

Miko/Kaosu: "You two all right?"

The two teens looked at the Wrecking Cadet and nodded in unison.

Sari: "We're fine, thanks to you."

Kaosu smiled, knowing that they'd given her time to recover. Looking up though, she noticed the heavy Con struggling to get up. Noticing the propane tanks close by, she came up with a really good idea and armed her shoulder-mounted cannons.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right big boy, lights out!"

She fired two of those rockets as they flew towards the gas station. The brute managed to recover and was about to go another around. But when he noticed the rockets heading towards him, he had very little time to avoid it. The rockets hit the tankers and created a chain reaction that made the entire gas station erupt into a plume of fire and smoke, completely destroying the huge Con in the process. With that threat gone, Miko looked back to see her two friends recovering from the electric blast and asked if they were fine.

Miko/Kaosu: "Everyone in one piece?"

Raf rubbed the back of his helm and was a little disoriented at the moment.

Raf/Firewall: "Yeah, we're fine. Mental note: never fire your electrical pulse at a Con that absorbs it."

Jack though got himself together and decided to move on ahead.

Jack/Rodimus: "Let's walk this off, Firewall. This little fight was just delaying us. We need to reach Darkmount without any more surprises. Kaosu, think you can give us a clearing?"

He then pointed to the truck bed blocking their path, ordering her to get rid of it. The Wrecking Cadet looked at it and smiled while lifting her servo up and switching it to her hammer.

Miko/Kaosu: "No problemo…"

As she approached the blocked path to make a clearing, Rodimus looked down to Sari and Sam who saved him. Removing his mouth guard and visor, he smiled at them, but gave them a fair warning.

Jack/Rodimus: "Thanks for saving us. You really did a good job. Just don't let it get to your heads. Next time, you may not be so lucky."

Sari just smirked and told him what she said before.

Sari: "Like I said before, scouts honor."

As the group recovered from the fight, Laserbeak watched on and witnessed the aftermath of the attack.

At the command center, Starscream was extremely upset about this and stomped his pede in frustration.

Starscream: "Argh! Unbelievable! Even the Combaticon couldn't take these three down. Clearly these Neutrals are a lot stronger than we anticipated. If that's the case, then they could be a serious threat to Lord Megatron. They must not reach our base, no matter what! Do you understand?!"

He turned to the Airadicon and waited for a response. The Airadicon nodded in approval and asked what the next order was.

Airadicon 3: "What do you want us to do commander?"

Scream thought this through and decided to bring in the big guns with a devilish look.

Starscream: "Send in the Shredders."

Outside of Darkmount, everything was quiet with nothing but the sound of the wind blowing. Suddenly, a pillar on the ground tilted downwards, revealing a huge cannon that opened up exposing a glowing heated hole, aimed at Jasper. In a matter of seconds, it fired three sphere-like objects right toward the town, with the team unaware of their presence.

Back in Jasper, Kaosu prepared herself as she swung her hammer at the truck's bed. One quick hit and she knocked the bed off the path as it crashed into what was left of another store. Clearing the way, she turned to the others and told them that she was done.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right, path is clear! We can go through now."

Rodimus heard that and congratulated her on a job well done.

Jack/Rodimus: "Good work Kaosu. Now we can get to our destination without any more surprises."

As they were clearing the way, Firewall was accessing information from one of the new Cons they'd faced. He'd retrieved a cable out of his arm compartment and plunged it deep into one of the Airadicon's helms to download the schematics of its model. Sari and Sam looked at the Con he was analyzing as Sari whistled.

Sari: "Gotta admit, these Decepticons certainly are a tough bunch."

Sam joined in and kicked the helm of the Con feeling a little worried.

Sam Witwicky: "Tell me about it. Never really thought these things could be so dangerous. Do the Autobots have to fight these guys all the time?"

He looked up to the hacker to get an explanation as he was looking through the shematics of the drone through his visor. Though he was focusing on his work, he did respond to the teen's question.

Raf/Firewall: "Yep. Pretty much. But there's something off with these guys. Besides those Vehicons and Airadicons, I didn't think the team had faced these new Cons before, let alone those tanks and that brute that tried to destroy us. This doesn't make any sense."

Sari then turned to him and asked what he was doing.

Sari: "So, what are you trying to do?"

Raf/Firewall: "I'm looking into the schematics of one of these Decepticons, finding out where they came from and how they got here. Just need to get the file on where and when they were created and… Bingo!"

He then looked at the information for the manufacturing date and the location of where it was being built. Even if it was in Cybertronian, he could read it with ease like binary code.

But when he was finished reading the data, his optics bugged out and was shocked at the news.

Raf/Firewall: "Oh no…"

Removing the cable from the enemy's helmet, he turned to his teammates and told him what he found.

Raf/Firewall: "Guys, I think I found something that you might not like."

Both Jack and Miko looked at their friend and wondered what he discovered.

Jack/Rodimus: "What is it Firewall?"

Raf/Firewall: "Well, I accessed the schematics of one of the new Cons we'd faced just to see where they came from. Turns out the place they were made is the exact same place we're heading."

He pointed up to the tower they were going as the two turned to look at it. That's when Kaosu came to the realization.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hold up. You're telling us that Darkmount is not only a fortress, but a factory?"

Raf/Firewall: "You could say that."

Both Sari and Sam approached the three to see the tower too and was as skeptical about this as them.

Sam Witwicky: "So what, you're saying that the Decepticons are building an army?"

Rodimus got serious as he answered Sam's question.

Jack/Rodimus: "No… He's saying that Megatron did more than build a base on this planet. He's building a war."

Just as soon as he said that, he and the others heard a strange sound coming from the sky. Sari was the first to hear while she was talking to the others.

Sari: "Hey, did you guys just hear that?"

The Wrecking Cadet heard it through her audio receptors and agreed with her.

Miko/Kaosu: "Yeah Sari, I heard that. It almost sounds like it's coming from… The sky?"

Immediately, all of them looked up to the sky and saw three little dots heading to their position. None of them knew what they were until those dots started getting a little closer until they were spheres with spinning gears on the side. Realizing they were headed towards them, they freaked out and ducked down as the huge spheres flew over and crashed into a couple of rundown buildings. Once they were in the clear, they got up and looked to see what it was that came at them. There was a brief silence in the street until they heard the sound of gears turning from inside those buildings. In a matter of seconds, the fronts of the stores exploded, and the team shielded the humans from the debris and shattered glass blowing around them. As they were looked back, they got a closer look at the sphere-like objects and were shocked by them. Standing before them were huge spheres with sharp treads in a vertical angle, a glowing hot tread in the middle, and two Decepticon insignias on the sides. It was obvious that those objects were the shredders Starscream was talking about. The group looked on, speechless at the site they were seeing.

Sam Witwicky: "Um, guys? What the hell are those things?"

The gears started to crunch on the shredders as they were scanning the group that was in front of them. There was an intelligent computer in its core as it studied the threat through the visor. At first the recruits and the humans were green, meaning that they didn't pose much of a threat. But when it determined them to be Neutrals and humans, the green color changed to red, emphasizing that they were the enemy and made a loud noise claiming it. Jack looked right at the Shredders and knew that they were trouble.

Jack/Rodimus: "I don't know, but it's nothing good. We have to go! Move it! Move it!"

Quickly, everyone made a quick turn and ran for it as Raf and Miko scooped up the teens. They all then transformed into their alt modes and sped down the path that could take them directly to Darkmount. The Shredders though had other intentions and they turned their gears to go after them, leaving behind a trail of destruction in their wake. The recruits sped like crazy as they tried to get away from the new threat. But it proved to be useless, as the shredders were getting closer. Peering into her review mirrors, Kaosu watched as she saw the shredders destroying everything in their path. Cars and metal were wrecked from underneath by the one in the middle, while the other two were smashing stores both left and right. But what really got her upset was that the last store the Shredder broke through on the right was her favorite record store, the one she used to go to whenever she was in the mood for some new music. Her energon started to boil as she decided to take action.

Miko/Kaosu: "Hey! That's my favorite record store you destroying creep!"

Quickly, she pushed on the brakes and drifted to perform a 180, transforming midway in the process. Sari got out during the transformation and rolled away until she made a stop, looking right at the Wrecking Cadet and wondered what she was about to do. Getting into position, the femme armed her gravity hammers and charged them to full power. While she was doing that, she noticed a group of Vehicons returning to their pursuit on the intruders as the silver captain was taking the lead.

Vehicon Captain: "There they are, team. Wait until the shredders do their work and we can finish them off when they're done."

Miko looked at it and could tell that this could be bad. So she had to get rid of them to give the others time. With her hammers fully charged, she slammed them to the ground onto the paved streets. The charge did a ripple effect straight to the Decepticons' latest weaponry. The shredders jumped high into the air from the impact and flew into many directions. The one in the middle though headed straight toward the femme, ready to crush her. Seeing that, she switched her left hammer to a sonic blaster and targeted it at the oncoming projectile. She then fired a powerful enough blast to push the shredder in the opposite direction, straight towards the squad of Vehicons. The captain looked up to see the round weapon and started trying to avoid it.

Vehicon Captain: "Look out!"

He immediately steered away from the path of the shredder but the car behind him didn't have the chance as the shredder collided with the Con and ripped him apart till he was nothing but scrap metal. Once he was back in position he took a breather in his vehicle mode and was glad to dodge that bullet.

Vehicon Captain: "That was a close one."

He then looked at Miko and told the others to keep pushing.

Vehicon Captain: "Target sighted! Take her down!"

The remaining Vehicons armed up their blasters and fired at her. The Japanese femme decided that it was time to leave as she turned and picked up Sari, transforming back into her McLaren to catch up with the others. Once she rejoined the team, she told them what she did.

Miko/Kaosu: "I've managed to get those things off our tailpipes, but it won't last long."

Jack mentally nodded in his Hummer mode and told her that it was all right.

Jack/Rodimus: "Doesn't matter anymore, we're just about to leave town. Once we get to the freeway then it should be smooth riding from here on out."

But the moment he said that, Raf noticed something at the end of Jasper and warned his friend about it.

Raf/Firewall: "Rodimus? I think you need to recheck on that."

Looking straight ahead the young mech saw the freeway's entrance but spotted something the hacker found. At the entrance, there were five Tankicons blocking the path with metallic shields protecting them while a group of Airadicons of both purple and silver stood behind. Seeing this, the teen cussed and didn't like the odds.

Jack/Rodimus: "Scrap! Roadblock! Now how are we going to reach the citadel?"

Sam looked at the road too in Firewall's Scion XB and didn't know what to do next. But then, he noticed an outside sewer way beneath the bridge and told everyone about it.

Sam Witwicky: "Hey, what about we head down there? It's the only clear path we have left."

Rodimus looked at the sewer way beneath the bridge too and remembered about that place. It was the day he first met Arcee and the first Autobot/Decepticon fight he witnessed. If the sewer way was long enough, it might take them to the fortress, although it would take them a while.

Jack/Rodimus: "It's a long stretch, but it's the only way. Follow me, team!"

So the young mech went off the road while his friends followed suit. As the same time, the tanks spotted the intruders and opened fire on them. The group avoided the mess as quickly as they could as explosive shells were hitting everywhere but them. Finally, they managed to jump off the slanted ramp and into the sewer way. The group of Vehicons saw them leave as they went into pursuit and went down after them. The group of Airadicons though saw them and decided to do the same as well. They all turned into jets and went after them from the air. The three saw this through their mirrors and knew this was very bad.

Raf/Firewall: "Guys, we've got a problem."

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah, I noticed that. But it's just a bunch of Cons. At least things couldn't get any worse."

Suddenly, they heard the same noise as before as they noticed the three shredders coming out of the blue and landed in front of the other Cons, going after the recruits. Sari looked back through Kaosu's review mirror and groaned.

Sari: "You had to ask?"

She then looked to her for an explanation as the femme nervously laughed a little.

Miko/Kaosu: "Well, it was short lived."

Soon enough, the chase was still on as an army of Decepticons took after the three Autobot recruits. The Airadicons then started to fire their blasters at them as red projectiles rained down on them. The group avoided it as much as they could, but it was nearly impossible since they were in a tight spot. A few Airadicons though spotted a brick smokestack from a half damaged factory and decided to use that to block the three. Firing their blasters at it, the bricks started to break apart as the stack plummeted to the ground, right at the sewer way system the recruits were on. Rodimus saw this and told the other to hurry.

Jack/Rodimus: "They're about to trap us! Maximum overdrive!"

Quickly, they pressed on the gas pedal hard as their speedometers went to over a hundred. In a matter of seconds, they managed to pass before the stack itself plummeted and crashed into the ground. But the moment it was destroyed, the three shredders burst through the rubble as the Vehicons drove between it. With that out of the way, the Decepticon armada was going after the recruits as they hit everything they had against them. Still nothing seemed to work. Laserbeak watched the chase as the recruits drove away from the enemy.

At the command center, Starscream watched intently and didn't like where this was going as the drone next to him told him the situation.

Airadicon 3: "Commander, all efforts at stopping the Neutrals have been fruitless. It will only be a matter of time before they reach the gates."

That aggregated the commander and let him know that he saw it.

Starscream: "Yes, I'm fully aware of it, soldier. Apparently this team will stop at nothing till they reach Darkmount. Perhaps now would be a good time to apply the brakes. Fire the main cannons!"

There was an eerie silence in the room, as all the Cons turned to their second in command in total disbelief. The Airadicon next to him gulped and reminded him about what would come.

Airadicon 3: "Commander Starscream, with all due respect, we've got men down there in pursuit. If they get caught in the blast they won't-"

Before he could even finish with what he was saying, Starscream turned to him and slapped him in the face just to give him a little clarity.

Starscream: "Don't question my orders! This war requires sacrifice, soldier, and those drones out there are doing what's best for our cause. We have to do everything necessary to stop those intruders, no matter what the cost. Now charge our main cannons and fire at will!"

The Con remained silent until he decided to salute him and follow his direction.

Airadicon 3: "Yes sir…"

Outside, the three recruits were driving away as the threat behind them was getting nearer. They made quick drifting turns on a couple of curves until they could see the view of Darkmount in plain view. Jack saw this and was pleased that they managed to reach it.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well, at least we're going the right way. But now we have to deal with an army that's after us."

Miko/Kaosu: "No problem! We'll try to lose them."

Raf/Firewall: "Easier said than done. There are too many to take on! How are we going to lose them?"

As he was asking about that, Sari and Sam were sitting in the passenger seats of Kaosu and Firewall, looking at the ominous tower in front of them. That's when they noticed something off about that tower and warned them about it.

Sari: "Uh, guys? Something weird is going on in that spiral."

The recruits looked through their headlights and they too spotted something different about the tower. Close to the top were what appeared to be four powerful cannons pointing in four separate directions, one of which was pointing at them. Then one cannon began glowing green as it was charging for a powerful blast. The others looked on while driving and could tell that this was bad.

Raf/Firewall: "That is not good…"

The moment the cannon was fully charged, it fired a stream of green energy that was heading straight at the team. Rodimus knew that it was going to hit them and told the others to speed it up.

Jack/Rodimus: "Floor it! Don't let that beam hit you!"

So the group went to maximum overdrive again just to speed away from the incoming projectile. Though they managed to avoid the attack, the group of Cons weren't as lucky, as they got hit by that green beam. But as the beam hit the ground, something unexpected happened. The remaining Airadicons, Vehicons, and shredders were slowly being pulled into the green light, sucking them all up in one huge mass. The three recruits were suffering the same as the enemy, as they were slowly being pulled by the same light that tried to hit them. Their tires were moving as fast as they could with smoke coming out of them while their speed meters were reaching the breaking point. Still, it wasn't working as they were getting close to the blast.

Jack/Rodimus: "What the… We're being pulled in! What type of blast is that?!"

Raf looked into it with his scan showing on the monitor's dashboard and got the results.

Raf/Firewall: "Don't know… But the blast is emanating some kind of magnetic energy that is pulling everything in, including us. There seems to be a build up at the center that's gathering everything around it until… On no…"

Sam looked to him and was worried with what he said.

Sam Witwicky: "What? What is it?"

That's when the hacker told them to hang on.

Raf/Firewall: "Brace yourselves! This is going to be a huge blast!"

Quickly both Sari and Sam tightened their seatbelts and held on to whatever they could grab as the recruits were getting near the magnetic blast. As the same time, all of the army was sucked into the green energy and curled up into a huge metal ball. As they were bunched up together, the green light exploded, sending the Cons in many directions, hitting on everything with debris following after them. Though the recruits didn't get sucked in entirely, they were pushed back, flying through the air in the process. The two teens held on for dear life as they felt like they were in an out of control roller coaster. The group had to think of something fast before they all got destroyed in the mess. That's when Miko decided to do something completely insane. Opening up her trunk to deploy her missile cannons, she fired them at the wall and created a huge hole that led to the sewers. Fortunately enough, the three recruits were heading in that direction as they managed to slip into the hole before the rest of the debris entered and covered it up completely. As the smoke cleared, all that was left was a mess of Decepticons, buried and either severely wounded or offline and a pile of huge black soot covering the area of the blast. Up in the air, Laserbeak watched the aftermath and decided to fly away to return to its master.

Starscream watched the end of the chase and was pleased with what he had accomplished as the rest of the drones looked on, shocked by what they all witnessed.

Starscream: "Such a shame… I'd already started to like them."

But just as he felt successful about his actions, the main doors opened up and two more figures came in, one of which was far more fearful.

Megatron: "Starscream! What in the pits is wrong with you?!"

The second in command got the shock of his life as he turned back and saw Megatron standing there with Knockout by his side. All of the Cons stepped aside as the leader approached his right hand lieutenant as Scream stood there feeling a little hesitant.

Starscream: "Lord Megatron. What a surprise. Wasn't expecting you to come and grace us with your presence."

But Megatron knew his commander more than anyone else and told him to shut it.

Megatron: "Enough excuses Starscream! I saw one of the cannons being fired on that town moments ago, something which requires my approval. So care to explain why you fired that cannon without informing me?"

Megatron bent down to meet his face, wanting an answer from him. The second in command looked really nervous and decided to let him in on his actions.

Starscream: "Forgive me master, I didn't mean to disobey you. It's just that we had a few intruders that were reaching Darkmount. I had to use everything in my power to stop them."

The Decepticon leader looked at his lieutenant silently until he stood up straight, wanting to know about the intruders.

Megatron: "Was it the Autobots?"

Starscream calmed down, knowing that he avoided that bullet and went on with his explanation.

Starscream: "Sadly, no. But there were three Cybertronian Neutrals that managed to attack our forces until I gave the order to remove them entirely."

Megatron looked up at the screen of the aftermath in curiosity. He didn't expect three Neutrals entering this planet, let alone fighting against his men since they're not great fighters. He decided to get to the bottom of this and turned to Soundwave to see the evidence.

Megatron: "Soundwave, play me back the fight the Neutrals participated in. I need to see the proof for myself."

The intelligence officer nodded as he played back the fight on his visor. Both Megatron and Knockout watched the fight and were intrigued by how the unknown Neutrals fought. The medic whistled to himself, as he didn't expect such a fight from this new group.

Knockout: "Impressive… I gotta say for a bunch of Neutrals, they certainly know how to survive."

The leader looked at that too and found it strange that these Neutrals fought well, unlike others that didn't want to join his armada. Turning to Starscream, he asked but one question.

Megatron: "Tell me Starscream; are you certain that these Neutrals were destroyed in the blast?"

Scream nodded and told him the truth.

Starscream: "But of course my lord. You know that those cannons were placed there to ensure that no enemy would ever reach our fortress. No one could've escaped that, not even that bunch of Neutrals."

Though Megatron was pleased that his commander removed a few obstacles, he needed to be sure that they were truly one with the Well. He turned to Knockout to give out the orders.

Megatron: "Knockout, arrange a recovery team to assess the mess and find Decepticon survivors. They might have information regarding these Neutrals. And if you find any of those Neutrals that survived the blast, bring them to me. Alive…"

There was a little awkward silence from the medical officer, as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He never expected his lord and master wanting Neutrals brought in alive. But being that there were questions that needed answers, he nodded and bowed gracefully.

Knockout: "Right away my liege."

As soon as he left command, Starscream had the same type of shock and asked the leader about his order.

Starscream: "Er… Master? I know it is not my business, but why do you want to bring the Neutrals here alive? Not all Neutrals have information regarding the Autobots or their operations."

Megs peeked to him and explained his reasons.

Megatron: "True, Starscream. But these Neutrals managed to breach the barrier and fought off our armada. These Cybertronians are much different than the ones that were destroyed for not joining our cause. I must find out who they are, and why they would attack Darkmount. For I fear that they had help from a certain faction."

Back outside Darkmount, there was a huge mess in and around the sewer way as the surviving drones were recovering, limping and helping each from the blast. What they didn't know was that underneath their pedes were more survivors of the blast, but not Decepticons. Inside the sewer system, debris and twisted metal covered up the passage, as the area was silent. Suddenly, a huge blast of sound pushed the rubble away and gave off a clear opening. The first that came out of the debris was Kaosu with Sari on her shoulder as she pointed her blaster at whatever was around. Once she saw that no one was around, she deactivated her blaster and turned to tell the others.

Miko/Kaosu: "All right! The coast is clear! You can come out now."

As soon as she said that, Rodimus, Firewall, and Sam got out of the debris and took a deep breather as the young boy was on the hacker's shoulders. Turned out they managed to survive the last attack caused by the cannon that fired a magnetic blast. Once Miko formed a hole into the sewers and they entered it, they all transformed into their bipedal modes and Jack created a shield to cover everyone from the incoming debris. They did manage to get out of there alive, but they were a little dinged up, and the human teens had dirt on their clothes and a few minor scratches. But they made it out, barely. Once the young mech removed his energy shield, he looked back at the debris and sighed to himself.

Jack/Rodimus: "Great. This is just our luck. Now the Decepticons know we're here and will alert Megatron about our presence. So much for getting by undetected."

He then walked away from the mess as the femme decided to talk about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Why are you so worked up about this? So what if we got caught with our pants down. We're still alive and they're not chasing us anymore. Don't get too upset about this."

That's when he turned to her and argued to her about why they're here.

Jack/Rodimus: "Don't get too upset? Miko, this was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission. We were supposed to reach the spiral and contact the team that we got in without running into any trouble. Now everyone knows who we are and tried to kill us! We barely managed to make an escape, but there's no telling what surprises they have in store for us. Hell, so far the Cons are already full of surprises. I mean tanks, huge brutes, shredders, and cannons to destroy us in one shot! Even worse, there's no telling what they've got in that fortress once we get in there, if we get in there."

The Japanese femme placed her servos on her hips and was a little ticked off about that.

Miko/Kaosu: "What, so you're saying this is my fault now? I was just giving a simple distraction just so Sari and Sam could give us a clearing. I wasn't expecting that to happen. Besides, this was your idea too. You wanted us to come here since our friends would get destroyed the moment they came through. You wanted us to go to Darkmount so we could take over the comm channels to let them through from within and save Optimus. Don't come blaming it on me because this was all you from the get go."

Jack/Rodimus: "And who else am I suppose to blame, huh? The team is counting on us to get them through, and now that we're in this mess we're now completely screwed. By now the Autobots would be worried about us and think that we are just taking our time. Worse yet, they might think we're dead! Now what are we suppose to do?"

The two kept on arguing for a few short seconds until Raf decided to butt in and told them to shut it.

Raf/Firewall: "Stop it! Both of you stop fighting! We can't just blame each other for what happened. What's done is done. Right now we need to focus on getting to Darkmount and getting in touch with the team. Optimus would want that."

The two looked right at the hacker and realized that he was right. They were close enough to get to the enemy base. They just needed to find another way of getting there. They then looked at each other and understood what he meant.

Jack/Rodimus: "Raf is right. We've managed to make it this far. So there's no backing out now. We just need to find a way to get to the fortress without them detecting us."

Sam looked up at the debris and was a little on edge about what happened.

Sam Witwicky: "Yeah… Good luck going out there. I'm certain they've got the entire town on lockdown. How are we going to get to this place anyway?"

The group thought about it and wondered how to get in without getting caught. But then Raf looked at the sewers and came up with a plan.

Raf/Firewall: "Hey, this sewer system goes all over Jasper right?"

The two recruits looked to him and were curious with what he's got in his processor.

Jack/Rodimus: "Yeah?"

Raf/Firewall: "And if I remember correctly, Omega One had a restroom inside, correct?"

The two then looked at each other and were a bit confused by what he said as the Wrecking Cadet asked about it.

Miko/Kaosu: "Raf? Where are you going with this?"

He then turned to the group and explained what he thought.

Raf/Firewall: "What I'm saying, is that if this sewer system goes all over Jasper, then that means we can go straight into the sewer system that goes to the missile silo, close enough to reach the citadel."

The two blinked and realized that he had a really good point.

Jack/Rodimus: "That's right! It's obvious that the Decepticons placed their fortress close to the Autobots. If that's the case, then it will be easy for us to get there without the Cons hunting us. Great thinking, Firewall!"

The hacker smiled, knowing that he did a good job. But Sari was cautious and asked him about this.

Sari: "Are you sure you know where the silo is located?"

He turned to her and shrugged his shoulders.

Raf/Firewall: "Well, that I don't know. But Jasper is a small town in the middle of nowhere. I'm certain that there's a path that goes straight to the old base."

Being that they had little time left, Rodimus decided to let Firewall take the lead on this.

Jack/Rodimus: "Well what are we waiting for? Lead the way."

Raf nodded and went ahead as the rest of the team followed. For the next ten minutes though, they wandered around the sewer system looking for the path that went straight to the missile silo. But after every turn and section, it proved fruitless as it led to one dead end after the next.

What they didn't notice were a few shadows that were darting around them, watching their every move. As they were walking, Miko was getting tired as her pedes were starting to feel sore through the waist-deep water.

Miko/Kaosu: "Argh… Are we there yet? I can feel my pistons aching."

Sari then joined in and pinched her nose, feeling sick of the smell.

Sari: "Yeah, and this place isn't smelling any rosier either."

The Wrecking Cadet turned to her and smiled.

Miko/Kaosu: "At least I no longer have a nose to begin with. Losing a sense of smell is both a blessing and a curse."

Raf decided to ignore the two and looked around to find another passage. Unfortunately, he was having a hard time looking for one. Pointing to one of the tunnels and doing the eeny meeny miny moe gesture, he tried to make a quick guess out of it. But Rodimus decided go next to him and told him what he should be doing.

Jack/Rodimus: "You know Raf, it would be nice if you could access your Wi-Fi and look in the map of Jasper's sewer system."

He sighed to himself and told the former teen that it wasn't the case.

Raf/Firewall: "Easier said than done. That barrier that's over the town is blocking Internet access as well. So my built-in Wi-Fi won't work around here."

Jack/Rodimus: "Well, you've got to think of some way of getting us to the old base. We can't let the team wait for us forever."

Raf/Firewall: "I know, I know! But the whole sewer system is a lot more complex than I expected it to be. Could take us hours to find the right path, maybe even days."

Jack/Rodimus: "But we don't have that amount of time. We need to get to Darkmount now before it's too late."

As the two were arguing, Sam looked around and noticed a few shadows peeking from the pipes and immediately disappearing. So he told everyone about it.

Sam Witwicky: "Hey guys? I think we're being followed."

That got everyone's attention as they circled around each other with their blasters poised and ready. As they watched each other's backs, Jack asked Sam what he saw.

Jack/Rodimus: "What did you see? Decepticons?"

Sam Witwicky: "Hard to tell. But it would seem they were a little smaller."

Nodding, Rodimus turned to his friends to give out orders, totally unaware of a red dot pointing at his chest plate.

Jack/Rodimus: "Keep your guard up, team. This could be a…"

The moment he turned back, he noticed a couple of red dots on his chest and looked up to see who was pointing at him. That was when he spotted a small group of shadows near a big pipe that appeared to be human in nature.

Jack/Rodimus: "…trap?"

Both Firewall and Kaosu turned in the young mech's direction, and looking toward the shadows, were surprised by what they saw.

Raf/Firewall: "Human survivors? But I thought they all perished when Jasper was invaded."

Miko/Kaosu: "Well it looks like not all of them got killed."

Suddenly, they all heard a voice that was very familiar to them.

"Hold it right there, freaks!"

Hearing that, they all looked down to see one lone shadow standing in front of them with what appeared to be a Cybertronian blaster that had been detached from a dead Decepticon. Slowly, the figure came into the light as the team was surprised to see who it was. Standing before them was a teen around seventeen with orange hair that went down to his neck and freckles on his cheeks and was wearing a dirty green jacket underneath a white T-shirt, faded long blue jeans, and brown combat boots. It was to the recruits surprise that this teen was none other than their high school bully. Vince…

Wow… Didn't expect that coming. But of course I was the one that wrote this chapter, so I did want to make a good surprise out of it. Now then onto the polls. As you read in my profile, I love to play games from both the Halo and Gears of War series. So on the next chapter I wanted to add a couple of cameos from those games. But it would seem that I'm in somewhat of a crossroads on which game appearance I should add. And since I'm very popular with these stories, I decided on setting up a poll for this decision. Now who do you think I should add as video game cameos. Will it be characters from the Halo series, characters from the Gears of War series, or is it both? I'll let you decide. As for the characters in general, that would be a surprise. Voting begins now. Stay tune for the next chapter in TFP S3 E2: Prime. Please Review.