CHAPTER 54
To Make A Stand

Hound wanted to offline, he wanted to offline right there and then. They had him, after all the promises he had made to Mark, the Decepticons now had them in their grasp. He trembled in anger, slamming his fist on the ground yet again as he turned to face Cyclonus. It had been his fault, his fault that he'd been distracted, his fault that his son was now a hostage and probably scared out of his mind. But he would get him back, and he'd tear through every Decepticon that got in his way, Cyclonus included. "I'm going to rip your sparks out," Hound growled. "I'm going to rip your and Coulton's sparks out and crush them into so many pieces," That time, it was said in a snarl.

"Come on, it's not like we killed the brat," Cyclonus sneered. "Somebody needs to calm himself do-."

Cyclonus was shot back by a large blast sending him flying into the nearby wall. His head shot up as Hound rushed forward and he threw a violent punch with a roar of anger. This was definitely a moment of pure rage when it came to Hound. He was only this violent when he was truly enraged, and the amount of sheer force he came at him with actually scared Cyclonus. Around them, the crippled NEST Base was only crippling further as many soldiers continued the fight. And Hound was surprised when, out of the corner of his optic, he saw that Alexis had picked up a fallen soldier's gun and joined the fight.

Mark certainly had found an interesting choice of perspective mate. Between her mechanics prowess, and the fact that she was as quick on her feet as she seemed to be. But he would think about that at another time, when said boy was not in the danger he was in. "You really are a thorn in my side," Cyclonus growled, pulling himself off the floor. "All this rage over a human boy. One whose father butchered countless of our kind!" He snarled. "The child should be flayed alive as far as I'm concerned. An eye for an eye, as the humans say."

"Shut up!" Hound shouted. "I'd rather not hear your voice anymore. Unless it's begging me for mercy," He added coldly.

And then he charged forward again, slamming his fist violently into his spark chamber. Cyclonus shrieked in surprise, now he wasn't just scared, he was terrified. He growled, trying his best to keep the fist from penetrating it. "Frag it all," Cyclonus growled. "You think you can do this to me? You're not a cold-blooded killer, not a Decepticon," He snickered. "You won't offline me."

Hound knew that was true, he wasn't a cold-blooded killer. He was a loving, soft mech, but he was also a commando, a fighter. And he'd be slagged if he let that not come out when it came to his son. He'd lost one of them, but he sure as pit wasn't losing another one. "You don't get that Hound today," Hound told him with a low snarl. "You helped them take my son. You get the Hound no one lives to tell the tale of today."

Cyclonus was shocked when he immediately grabbed a chunk of his armor, and ripped it off before throwing him through a wall. Cyclonus's body ached as he barely managed to keep his wing from being damaged. Yep, a terrifying Hound was definitely a force to be reckoned with. "If ye tell me where they took him," Hound began, stepping through the Cyclonus sized hole in the wall. "I might show you a little mercy."

"Eat slag," Cyclonus growled.

Arming one of his largest guns, Hound made his way slowly towards Cyclonus. "Wrong answer," Hound told him coldly. "Ye see, I don't frag around when it comes to my little boy. He's all I've got in the way of family," He approached even closer. "You either tell me where he is, or I use this rust gun we developed from Sentinel's old weapon. You'll be nothing but dust by the time it's done with you."

"You're bluffing!" Cyclonus mocked.

"Try me," Hound smirked, aiming the weapon at him.

He pushed it harshly against his temple, ignoring the carnage all around him. But Cyclonus only wavered when he finally heard the cannon firing up. "Okay! OKAY!" The mech shouted. "Dallas! They took your little bratling to Dallas!" His voice was clearly filled with fear. "They're going to attack it like they did Chicago! Ruin your reputation again!"

"See was that so hard?" Hound mocked.

"You're not going to shoot me?"

Hound pulled the trigger the rest of the way, revealing it had not been armed at all. Hound smirked and smashed it into Cyclonus's helm, crushing it inward. With any luck, it would smash his processor and end that pest for good. He flinched as more explosions rang out behind him, his optics traveling towards the other side of the NEST base. It was carnage now, and he could see his human comrades as they now were trying everything to survive. "Hound, we gotta go!" Crosshairs approached him grabbing his arm. "Optimus has ordered a retreat!"

"We have to defend our base! OUR HOME!" Hound shouted.

"Look around you, Hound," Crosshairs motioned around. "There's barely a home left to defend! And in a few seconds we're going to have seekers up our tailpipes!" Hound's face fell at the thought of that. "Where's Mark? I thought he would be with you!"

"They got him, 'Hairs," Hound looked at Crosshairs in despair. "They made off with him before most of the destruction started."

The look on Crosshairs face was nearly unreadable, but Hound knew that he was in despair as well. He shook his head, and shuttered his optics. "We gotta go, Hound," Crosshairs shook his head. "We can't go after them now, we need a plan of attack that doesn't involve standing here while the place goes down," Hound watched as more of the roof caved in. "Come the frag on!"

With great reluctance, Hound rushed out as quickly as he could with Crosshairs. Seeing that most of their main allies had gotten out, with Alexis even being with Sideswipe. Not that it mattered much now, it was over. NEST was laid to waste, and who knew what they had planned for Dallas. It was all Hound could do not to shrink back into a ball, once again they were homeless, once again, they were on the run...

And once again, he didn't have a family.

...

Mark had only ever seen the destruction in Chicago from a television screen. But the destruction of Dallas, he got the front row seats he never wanted to. He was led by a large group of pretenders under Coulton's command. His hands cuffed behind his back as he was led into what he could only describe as the thirty story skyscraper from hell. It was only when they reached the penthouse suite that he was shoved onto a couch, and made to sit. Coulton himself, appeared within time, a glass of high grade in his hand.

Outside, Mark could only see chaos, pure and utter chaos. They hadn't done as much damage as they had in Chicago, yet. But slowly, the Decepticon's forces were entering the city, he could see people running in an attempt to escape. Buildings crumbled, entire families were wiped out. And in his line of vision, he could see some of the vehicon drones even beginning to gather people outside the building they were in. Only to mercilessly gun them down before his very eyes, a sight which made him cringe. He felt tears fill his eyes as fear, disgust, and sadness filled him.

"Get used to it," Coulton sneered. "You're Galvatron's new pet. You'll see mass executions daily." The statement made Mark stare up at him with a dark look of pure hatred.

"You know, I don't do the damsel in distress thing," Mark growled as Coulton turned his head to look at him. "Besides, didn't I hear that Dylan Gould freak tried this same crap with Sam Witwicky's girlfriend? You do know how that ended for hi-."

The punch to his face shocked him, but even so it was there. Coulton had just punched him, causing the side of his mouth to bleed as he spat some of it out. "This isn't Chicago, and I'm not that buffoon Gould," Mark grimaced up at the pretender, who simply smirked and chuckled. "And quite frankly, if he had been smart, he would have taken Witwicky himself." He then added. "It's much more personal that way."

"You're still gonna die," Mark muttered. "They'll come for me. And you'd better believe they'll come to stop this," He groaned as Coulton approached him slowly. "Go on, punch me again, every mark you put on me? Is just going to make them even more mad." Coulton grimaced at that.

This time, he kicked him hard in the stomach, causing Mark to shriek. Coulton then sighed, and looked between two of his fellow pretenders. "Well if they launch a rescue mission that just makes this whole thing more fun for me," He winked at Mark mockingly. "They'll be lambs to the slaughter, as you humans say," He then motioned. "Escort Mr. Savoy to his room, have armed guards on him at all times," He then added. "If he does anything stupid, you have my permission to torture him until he can no longer move."

"They're gonna kill you, Coulton," Mark spat blood in his face. "And if they don't? You're going to answer for ALL of this."

Coulton gave no reply as he was dragged away, and towards whatever "accommodations" they had for him.

...

It was quite the sight that night to anyone who may have been close to the desert. A group of Autobots, soldiers, Dinobots, and Alexis all gathered around makeshift campfires, and listening to both the radio and news feeds. Without much shock from them, they all heard about Dallas not long after the carnage began. Several people, including Hound, removed their hats in mourning. "I can't believe we let Coulton get under our noses like that," Epps was the first to speak after they had shut the radio off. "I hope I get a chance to shove my gun up-."

"We're not going to get that chance," Lennox spoke, his voice low as he ran his hand over his face. "Not unless we have a plan and the whole army behind us. In Chicago, NEST was still functional. We had our overseas branches and most of the government on our side," He shook his head. "This isn't like Mission City. That was an Armada, if we go in there now-."

"Since when did we give up, man?" Epps shook his head. "I know I'm going to fight. You can give up before we've even tried if you want. But I didn't sign back up for this crap just to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves."

Hound watched Optimus from the corner of his optic, unsure of his thoughts. Though he knew what conclusion he would, ultimately, come to. Of course, as always, Optimus would fight. "Y'all can do what ye want. But I'm definitely going in there," Hound told them firmly. "They've got my son in there. And come hell or highwater, as you say, I'm getting him back."

Alexis, who was seated next to Sideswipe, looked up at Hound's statement. "How? You can't just storm up to the city," Alexis shook her head. "Even if we could work out a way to get you in there... Who knows where they're holding him," She paused. "Oh, who am I kidding?" She snorted. "I'm with the big lug, after all, he is my boyfriend."

That got the attention of most of the Autobots, though she clearly blushed. It was the first time she had called Mark her "boyfriend" and to say the least, it felt weird, but a good weird. "Alright, I get it," Lennox shook his head. "We can't give up, obviously. I didn't mean that either," He paused a moment. "But we can't just go in there blindly, Alexis is right." He took a deep breath. "We're surrounded by desert. Unlike Chicago there is no "sneaky" way in. And if Hound has his way he'll just go in there shooting at anything that moves."

"If Annabelle were in there, you'd do the same."

Lennox could not argue with the big mech's logic there. After a moment, however, Optimus stood to his feet, causing all side-chatter to cease. The mech stood there for a long moment, and then brought out something that they had not seen for some time. One of the swords of the "Knights of Cybertron". "When I was decreed a Knight of Cybertron, I dedicated my life to defending justice from those who would see it destroyed," He stabbed the sword into the ground. "And while for a time I lost my faith in this planet, and its species. My faith was re-ignited, as you all well know."

"Yeah, thankful for that one." Epps muttered.

"And thus, I have no hesitation in my belief now," Optimus explained. "Galvatron must be stopped. Though we have been tricked by many, Coulton included. And the world no doubt again sees us as a menace," He looked firmly all around. "I will still lead a siege upon his forces with everything I have. In hopes that we may end this Primus-forsaken war," He then added. "And if any here are willing to join me, then so be it," He then began. "But this is my duty as a knight, my duty as Prime, and my duty as a citizen of this Earth," He flared slightly. "And I will not forsake it, nor will I forsake our captured friend."

All of the Autobots joined Optimus in standing, much to Hound's surprise. But then again, perhaps they too, had their faith in humanity slowly restored. He looked at Crosshairs, who shrugged a little bit. "Well, what can I say?" Crosshairs snorted. "Not all the buggers on this planet are so bad."

"Me Grimlock," Optimus stared over as the large T-Rex stepped forward. "Stand with you," He then added. "Us Dinobots, all stand with you Autobots."

Slowly, the humans joined as well, though for a moment, it was clear that everyone was hesitant. These were odds that none of them had faced before, this time there was no clever way of getting around the government like in Egypt. There was no way of hiding and stealthily entering like in Chicago. And it sure as heck wasn't a small invasion like Mission City had ultimately been. It was Chicago on a Hong Kong-sized level, and with NEST base in ruins, heaven only knew how something like this would go down.

"Alexis," Hound began. "Perhaps-."

"I know about Sam, Mikaela, and Carly," Alexis scoffed. "Mark told me the stories. You can't say this is "too dangerous" for me. So I'm going whether you want me to or not." She then added. "With Mark in there, and my home in danger, I can't NOT."

"She can ride with me," Sideswipe stated.

Hound opened his mouth, but knew it was worthless to argue. Lennox looked around, then put a hand on Epps's shoulder. "Get ahold of whoever we can," Lennox asserted. "If we're really going to do this, we need Sabot rounds, and a bigger arsenal." Epps nodded as he rushed off to get a radio. "So I take it you probably have a plan going in that processor of yours, eh big guy?"

"I do," Optimus replied. "I believe that you are all familiar with the concept of a "Trojan Horse"." Lennox's eyebrows shot up. "We're going to need a lot of metal too, Robert Epps."

Lennox and Epps simply stared at one another, uncertainty in their eyes. But as Optimus began to relay his plan to them, all soon made sense.

...

A/N: Stay tuned, because next chapter, the Battle of Dallas begins!