Chapter 13
At the coast of Oregon, in the year 1986
Gagestown was a middle sized American town at the coast of the pacific ocean. It was, in first line thanks to it´s practical location, a regional industrial center with branch stores of a number of larger companies. This was the base of most of the infrastructure of the location.
At first it seemed to going to be a normal day, until the attack happened.
A large group of Decepticons came in, flying.
Megatron himself landed on top of one of the larger buildings close to the harbor. Soundwave arrived a moment later and took place right next to him. Behind them were the seekers Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker.
"This is the ideal place Soundwave", the Decepticon leader pointed out.
"The necessary materials are here Megatron", the communication specialist confirmed.
After examining the device they had gotten from the captured Autobot with the name Hotrod, Megatron had started to realize his new plan, one that would hopefully not only help him to win the war, but give him more power when even he would have ever hoped for.
The area below the Decepticons was crowded with humans. Some of them panicked as they saw the giant robots, others seemed to be confused, the rest of the people were still in their homes or vehicles and hadn´t even realized the appearance of the Decepticons yet.
He watched the crowd on the ground below him with slight annoyance.
Many of the humans were running away. Had they been Transformers or comparable creatures he would view this simply as cowardice and don´t show any sympathy for this behavior. Organics like the humans on the other hand, especially civilians like this, had no chance against the Decepticons and he understood perfectly that it as completely sensible for them to flee.
But some of them were just standing around and looking horrified, others seemed completely apathetic, as if they wouldn´t even realize what was going on before their eyes and a few seemed actually to be curious about the arrival of the Transformers. Some of them, in their state of fear, didn´t even seemed able to decide if they should run away or not, too useless and pathetic to even move a limb.
Megatron was disgusted. How could somebody be even too cowardly to save his own life? The Decepticon leader couldn´t understand it.
He decided however to show this creatures mercy, his mercy.
He charged his fusion cannon and was searching for the right object.
A moment later he took aim.
On a highway bridge relative close to the Decepticons were about a dozen people standing and starring at the robots. Still they made no attempt to leave and bring themselves to safety. A pile-up of a number of cars had formed there, since they had simply let their vehicles stand on the middle of the road.
It was hit by his blast. The bridge along with the people and everything around them was reduced to it´s particles. All of the humans present were starring at the explosion now. For the moment, the panic was replaced with frozen silence.
Then the Decepticon leader raised his voice.
"Humans, this is Megatron. We, the Decepticons, claim this area for ourselves", he spoke loudly. "You have 30 of your minutes to leave."
It still took everybody a few seconds to register what he had just said. As the words finally dropped in the confusion was over. The people were now trying to bring themselves to safety in wild panic.
"You are giving the human a chance to escape?" Thundercracker asked his leader.
Megatron looked at his subordinate. He had given the humans time, that was true. He had his reasons. If he was honest, he didn´t understood himself why he didn´t simply destroyed them all. He could have. But instead he had decided to initiate this. Of course he would never admit that he wasn´t completely sure about something.
It was all in his own philosophy. He had given them the possibility, the mercy they deserved.
"Yes", he simply stated to Thundercracker, "every creature at least deserves the chance to fight for their lives, so I decided to give them three breem time."
"Approach insecure", Soundwave stated, "in 30 minutes the Autobots will already have arrived.
Megatron only laughed at this thought.
"We were planning from the beginning to engage them, have you forgotten that Soundwave?" He reminded his communication officer. "Our troops were hungry for a bit of entertainment my friend and now we are providing them with it. While the others are keeping the Autobots busy, we are getting our raw materials here. It will all go as planned", he explained.
"Why are you giving them time anyway?" Starscream pointed out. "We could just as easily destroy them all."
The Decepticon leader didn´t answer.
"What if when there are still humans left when the time is up?" Thundercracker asked carefully.
"If someone is stupid enough to be still there when the time is over, they don´t deserve to survive anyway", Megatron replied.
xxxxxxx
Hundreds of miles away the Autobot Hound was on one of his trips through the landscapes of the planet Earth. Since he came first here he loved this world and he didn´t try to hide it. It was beautiful and fascinating to him and different from the war ridden Cybertron.
For this time Hound had taken the human teenager Spike Witwicky and his girlfriend Carly with him.
Spike had been, along with his father Sparkplug, the first human the Autobots had encountered and he became a close friend to them.
In the beginning the two had been something like scouts and guides to them. They had explained the environment and the customs of the society to the Autobots, the things you can´t really learn from books or computers.
Over the time however this particular role of them had more and more dismished, as the Autobots became themselves more used to life on Earth and just didn´t need their help anymore to find their way. At least in the most cases.
But they were still highly valued friends and allies.
It was a warm and sunny day. Hound was driving in jeep form with the two humans in the seats over the roads in the forests. This was the way he liked to spend his time.
"Maybe we should do this more often. What do you think?" he asked his passengers.
"You say it Hound", Spike replied. "How about you take us the next time around as well?"
Suddenly his communicator went active.
"Hound, do you hear me?" It was Wheeljack calling him.
Typical, he thought, when he was on a trip of course something just had to happen.
"Yes I am here", he answered. "What is it?"
"The Decepticons are attacking a town relatively close to you", Wheeljack told him. "I fear you will have to return to duty."
"You have heard him Spike," Hound stated.
"Yes I did," his human friend replied.
"I will leave you two at the closest gas station or other stop and pick you up later," he informed them.
"But..." Spike wanted to say something for a short moment but then changed his mind. He knew Hound was right. Taking them along to this town would bring absolutely nothing.
In the last two years he had been nearly killed more than once because he accompanied the Autobots to dangerous places where he was absolutely no help and had no real reason to be in the first place.
Of course there had been many situation where he, Carly or his father had been very usefull. But all that had been times they had acted by a plan and this time they didn´t have one.
"Okay Hound," Carly told the Autobot, "we will be waiting for you there. And good luck," she said to him, "be careful."
xxxxxxx
Gagestown
The Decepticons saw a group of five human fighter jets coming in. This meant the US-military was reacting.
"Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, destroy them", Megatron ordered.
The three seekers transformed into their jet-modes and engaged the Earth fighters.
Skywarp teleported directly behind two of them and fired his lasers. One of the jets exploded, the other was barely able to avoid the shots. Starscream and Thundercracker were at the same time attacking them from the front.
Despite that their alt-modes looked identical to the Earth jets, the seekers were technically superior, much faster, better shielded and had far more firepower. The outer form of the Decepticon fliers was nothing but camouflage. Too that came that they were far more experienced when a human could ever be.
The human pilots had no chance. Starscream and Thundercracker both easily blew up one of the remaining jets and one of the others was shot down by Skywarp. Here the pilot was able to eject and saved himself with the parachute. The last one was shot by Starscream. This time however the remains of the jet crashed into one of the town´s buildings and set it into flames.
xxxxxxx
Decepticon base in the Rocky-Mountains
Hotrod was still in his cell and waiting for Megatron´s return. The Decepticon leader left for a mission some time ago, together with the most of his troops. He had been left behind.
It was obvious that Megatron had a plan, a plan that was connected with the time machine that he had found in the mysterious pyramid. Which meant that his presence was the reason for it. He had to get out of here quick and he needed to get the device out of the hands of the Decepticons and return to his time.
Hotrod hesitated for a moment. He thought that he had heard something. Then it became more clear. Yes, he was definitely hearing something.
Somebody was calling his name. Not his creation name, but Rodimus Prime, the name that was given to him by the Matrix.
"Rodimus Prime", the voice spoke to him again. "Can you hear me?" it asked.
While it said whose words something seemed to be appearing before the Autobot. His optics registered something, but it didn´t seemed to have any matter. It was as far as Hotrod could tell a cloud of energy that was floating a few meters before him in the air.
This being however was obviously sentient and it was speaking to him. It wasn´t the first life-form consisting of energy that the Autobots had encountered, by far not. The only questions were, who was this, what was it doing here and could it help him?
"Who are you?" Hotrod wanted to know.
"You can call me Cabal", it answered. "I am, how you would describe it, a intelligence of living energy", the being explained to him. "I have observed you for some time now Autobot and I know about the machine that brought you here. You came from the future by accident", the voice told him.
"How do you know that?" the imprisoned Autobot asked.
"I don't see time in exactly the same way as other creatures. Disturbances are something I can feel. That is the way I found you", it said to him, without exactly telling what it meant by that.
"I can help you", the voice promised. "I am powerful, very powerful. Soon you will understand this. You shouldn´t be here. I will help you to get free and to return to your time and I can help you to fix possible damage to the time-line."
"You would do that?" Hotrod asked. "I don´t even know anything about you."
"You will soon", Cabal promised him in an encouraging tone. "I have encountered your species before. I know your kind and what you are capable of. Believe me, a alliance would help both of us."
"Alliance? What do you mean with that?" Hotrod was surprised.
"I was separated from my home too. I know how you feel. For that reason I will do everything to bring you back."
As he said those words a part of the energy cloud that for a moment looked like a hand moved in his direction. Then a flash of lightning hit the Autobot and the energon cuffs fell deactivated from his arms.
Hotrod couldn´t help but be impressed.
"Thank you", he said truthfully. For a moment he felt true empathy with this creature who claimed to be in the same situation as him.
"It doesn´t have to end here", the being called Cabal stated. "When you have returned to your time I can help you to protect your people from their enemies. You could keep the Decepticons in line and remove the threat of the Quintessons forever."
That revelation stunned Hotrod. It was true, he could really understand the situation of this Cabal, but he still felt strange about all this.
"You would return with me to the future?" he asked the energy being.
"Your time is as good for me as this one, until I can finally return home." he explained.
"Till then I can help you to keep Cybertron safe, become the great leader you were always meant to be. You are Optimus chosen successor. For a short time you have already been leader and reached more than he had ever hoped. You can be far more powerful then he had ever been", the mysterious life-form promised to him.
As the last words were spoken, Hotrod had finally made up his mind. He had an uneasy feeling about this situation from the beginning.
How did this stranger knew so much about him and the other Autobots?
And how long had he already been watching them?
Something was wrong about this entire situation, he knew it.
"And what do you want from me as part of this alliance?" Hotrod asked suspicious.
xxxxxxx
Gagestown
The time was over.
"Constructicons", Megatron called out.
At his order the six Decepticon engineers flew down and started to take one of the buildings apart.
"Soundwave, Astrotrain prepare the energon-cubes", he ordered.
The entire point of this attack had been to acquire raw materials and energon for the realization of Megatron´s new project, something he had found in the databanks of the small time-machine.
xxxxxxx
At the borders of the city, the Autobots were already fighting the rest of Megatron´s warriors. The Combaticons, Blitzwing and the conehead seekers were holding the Autobots off.
In opposition to them stood currently the Protectobot team and the Dinobots. It was clear from the start that they wouldn´t be able to stop the entire Autobot team forever, but that wasn´t necessary either. It would be enough to slow them down until the others would have gotten away with the material.
The Autobots had to operate with special caution to not hit the town that was right behind the Decepticons, exactly like they had speculated.
"This is exactly the kind of action Megatron had promised to us, right Vortex?" Brawl, a Decepticon who lived in first line for fighting and mayhem, called out.
"Yes. But slowly it´s getting time to get serious." Vortex, the Combaticon´s helicopter answered him.
"Combaticons, form Bruticus." The order from their leader Onslaught finally came.
They transformed into their combined form and became the gestalt robot Bruticus. Parallel to them the Protectobots did the same thing and formed Defensor.
"Two gestalts are now fighting each other. But with the assistance of the Dinobots it is safe to say that our fighters will win the fight after a reasonable time", Prowl analyzed the situation.
Optimus Prime, together with a small group of Autobots consisting of Prowl, Ironhide, Jazz, Wheeljack, Mirage and the newly arrived Hound were about to bypass the defense ring of the Decepticons while Defensor and Bruticus were fighting.
They had a good chance to break through when the gestalt was distracted.
xxxxxxx
Decepticon base
Hotrod had finally asked the mysterious Cabal what exactly he wanted. He had heard enough and wanted to know the intentions of this "potential ally".
"You want to know what I want in return for my help Autobot?" the energy being asked.
"All I want is to get back home", he stated.
"How?" Hotrod asked again. His question was followed by a short moment of silence, as if the living energy was insecure what to say.
"What I need to return to my world is the time-travel device." Cabal answered finally.
So that was what he wanted, Hotrod thought.
"You need the time-machine that is hidden in this base?" He asked.
"No", Cabal answered, "I need the large exemplar, the one you have seen in the future."
"The pyramid, it is a time-machine too? The entire object? It is the counterpart of the small device", Hotrod realized in surprise.
"It is far more then that, a machine that can influence time and space. It is the way how I can go back to the world I came from", Cabal explained to him.
Hotrod knew something wasn´t right. Something wasn´t making sense.
"How do you know all this, unless you have been in the future too?" he asked angrily. "If you know about the pyramid you had to have been there."
"I know about the future. Unlike your kind, I am not completely bound by time and space", Cabel replied.
"Then why do you need a time machine?" Hotrod wanted to know. More and more he got the feeling that this creature was hiding something from him.
"I can not give you access to the device", he answered. "It is too dangerous. That this here has happened proofs it."
Think about it. I will guide you out of here. Do you think the small trick with the shackles was everything I can do?"
At his words the door of the prison cell short circuit and opened. The guards outside, Hotrod recognized them as the Stunticons Wildrider and Dragstrip, jumped up and draw their guns. But before they could fire they were knocked out by a strong wave of energy that Cabal threw at them.
"Do you see what I am truly capable of? I can easily destroy every Decepticon in this base. This was only a small bit of my power. I can help you to generate more energy than you can imagine and Cybertron will be safe forever. With me you can become the most powerful Autobot leader in history. You could destroy the Decepticons forever or you could make them your allies and reunite the Transformers. With my help both is possible.
The Quintessons, you could make them pay for all their crimes. Remember how they had changed your role model into a mindless zombie, a tool to destroy all the other Autobots. They had enslaved your kind millions of years ago and are trying to do it again. Illegal weapon trade, slavery, war, manipulation, they have ruined entire worlds", Cabal reminded him of all of that.
"Enough", Hotrod screamed, "I won´t help you. Do you understand? I don´t know what your true plans are but I know that you are certainly not trying to help anybody. What are you hiding?"
As answer haled only a laughing trough the room. Out of the energy cloud, a face was now forming. Two deep red eyes appeared that looked directly at Hotrod.
"Too bad Autobot", Cabal said loud and rousing. "When not with you, then I will have to go on without you. You would have been a very useful ally, but I don´t need you to continue my plans. Some day you and the other Autobots will understand the true terror of the things that will be coming", he announced.
Then the energy cloud vanished from Hotrod´s sight.
xxxxxxx
Gagestown
Everything went so far as planned. Megatron was satisfied. They had what they wanted. The Constructicons and the seekers had just finished loading the energon and the material in Astrotrain´s shuttle-mode.
"Astrotrain", Starscream informed the triple-changer, "you can start now."
The Constructicons were still on board. Megatron wanted them to bring the cargo back to the base and from there to a secret building place from where his plan would be realized. The shuttle lifted of into the sky and was soon out of sight.
"Megatron." The Decepticon leader heard someone calling him.
"Optimus, as I see you have made it behind my defense ring", he said. "I fear you come too late Prime. We have already reached what we wanted."