Meanwhile…

Robert stared at the direction Saphira had walked towards. He had no idea what she was thinking. She was walking to her death, as far as he knew. The city was not completely razed, but it could be. And she was stuck inside now, and Robert was not able to convince the girl to turn and go back with him. He wished she had listened to him, but there was nothing more he could do. He tried, and she was too stubborn, of grief stricken to listen to him. And so she walked into that burning city, knowing full well she may never come back out. The man could not help but shake his head, almost shedding a tear for the girl.

He turned and walked back towards his car. He had been standing there staring for about five minutes of disbelief. He really could not believe what happened. He did not know how he was going to tell Lennox, as he knew that Lennox cared deeply for Saphira. He was protective of her, as Lennox kind of filled the role of a father in Saphira's life. Regardless, Robert was at a loss of what just happened. The despair that girl must be feeling must be strong.

David looked at his friend sympathetically as Robert approached the car. "That girl is very strong. Stronger than the whole seven of us right here." Epps nodded in agreement, looking back at the direction Saphira had walked towards. "I guess love is blind, and she pretty much proved it."

"I agree." Robert was tempted to run into the city to drag her out, but he knew that would be suicide. And he had no idea if Saphira had already been shot at, as that was possible. "But there is no going into that place. No way in hell. I just wish I could have…been enough for her to listen to."

David nodded and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "Come. There is nothing more that we can do. She's been in there for about five to ten minutes already. There is no way we would be able to find her without being shot at by the decepticons. If we had the autobots, maybe, but I am not going in there now."

Robert nodded, and he walked towards the driver side of the vehicle. That is until Eddie shouted. "Wooahh! Incoming!" He turned and saw one of the decepticon ships firing at them. Robert and his man scatter to avoid being hit, while they watch as civilians run by them to get away.

They watch in horror as the ship fired mercilessly, though the decepticon wasn't hitting all the humans that were fleeing from it. And the men did not know if they would be able to fire their weapons at the ship, though as the ship was moving around so much and firing it was hard to get a clean shot at the ship. And they were horrified as the ship lowered down by a group of civilians, and blasted a pulse that killed the group of people. And they were turned into charred skeletons. They were shocked, and the ship did it again to another group of people. Knowing they could be next, the men prepared to fire.

Robert and his men duck as the ship lowered above them, and seemed to flip itself around. It did not release the pulse it had been using, and maybe this was a way to recharge, while disorientating the humans at the same time. The men aim their weapons as the ship flew away, and prepared to turn to kill them when a blast hit one of the engines. It was a blast that was not from any of their weapons. But whoever shot the ship destroyed the engine, making the decepticon panic and fire at the ground before losing control and landing hard on the ground.

Confused, they look up to see the decepticon pilot struggling to climb out of his destroyed ship. Robert widened his eyes in disbelief before he heard the sound of familiar footsteps approaching. He looked up and he gasped in disbelief. It could not be possible! Robert had witnessed the ship get blown up by Starscream, and now, he was seeing the impossible. Optimus Prime walking towards him with his weapon in his hand and very hard, angry expression on his face. He was well and truly alive.

"We will kill them!" Optimus declared coldly, looking ahead as loud engines closed in. Robert looked towards the ship, and he saw the wreckers slowing down and transforming, grinning at the struggling decepticon. The three wreckers were quick to grab the decepticon, and pull him out of the wreckage to pull him apart by his limbs. It really felt like a dream as the man stood up from the ground slowly, staring and turning to look back at Optimus. "Your leaders will now understand. Decepticons will never leave your planet alone. And we needed them to believe we had gone." Robert could not believe what he was hearing. The autobots fooled all of them! And that included Saphira. "For today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them!"

Robert looked ahead as he heard Bumblebee approaching. Behind him was Barricade, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Sideswipe and Dino, and the two little scrap bots jump out from the Corvette onto the roof of Robert's car. The autobots transform, all showing they were still very much alive and well, and ready to fight. He and his other men could not believe this at all, and Robert was honestly wondering why they did not show up ten minutes earlier.

He shook his head in shock and looked up at Optimus. "But we all saw your ship get destroyed. We saw Starscream fly down and launch multiple missiles…" Robert was really in a lot of disbelief. "I am surprised to see you standing here. We all thought you were on the ship."

"The ship?!" Roadbuster exclaimed, making Robert look back to see the wreckers were still tearing the decepticon's body apart. They were completely relentless in their lack of mercy for the decepticon. "We were never in the ship! We designed the damn thing, didn't we?! You were there as we built the ship, Epps, but you were fully unwise to what our true plan was."

"We were hidden in the first booster rocket to separate," Leadfoot explained, tossing the last piece of the decepticon's body. "Splashed down back in the Atlantic, just as planned." He spat on the ground in distaste before he grinned. "We ain't going no where."

"Yeah! No one's exiling us!" Brains exclaimed confidently, rolling down onto the hood of the car.

"The autobots are staying right here!" Wheelie declared, fully confident in himself as to what he was saying. "We're gonna help you win this war!"

Optimus nodded before he gestured towards the center of the city. "They're surrounding the city to make a fortress, so that no one can see what they're up to inside. Our only chance is the element of surprise."

"Surprise, huh?" Robert shook his head with a light chuckle, making Optimus look down at him with a slight frown. "Really? That's what you're thinking of? I honestly can't believe you could not have shown up, like, fifteen minutes earlier! Maybe you could have spoken some sense into your little sparkmate of yours."

Optimus was immediately confused. He did not know why Robert had brought Saphira up. Barricade frowned deeply as he walked towards Robert. "What are you talking about? Why should we have been here fifteen minutes earlier?"

"Because Saphira thought you all were dead! Hell, she still believes that!" Robert paced a little as he was fuming. "And she believes that so deeply that she feels like she has to be the one to do something!" Optimus widened his optics and glanced towards the city as he began to realize. "That girl is brave, I'll give you that. But I guess she saved your life, once upon a time. But now she has waltzed right into that city! And she believes she is going to find the control pillar to destroy it. I honestly cannot see her reaching it without being killed!"

Barricade's optics were wide with concern and he shook his head. "No, she won't be killed." Optimus turned his head to look at her. "Saphira won't be killed. She will…she will…" He grimaced as he shook his head and looked at Optimus. "Megatron will get his clutches on her. Reopen the bond, so she knows you are here."

Optimus listened to Barricade, clenching his jaw as he processed what he was being told. "I have tried." Barricade and Ratchet gasp in shock. "Saphira has blocked me. She has blocked her side of the bond, so I cannot feel her emotions…nor can she receive anything from me." Optimus clenched his fists before looking at Robert. "Why did you not stop her from this foolish decision?"

"I tried!" Robert shook his head as despair filled his expression. "I really tried! But that girl…" He shrugged and placed his hands on his head as he walked a circle. "She…she is crazy. She is stupidly brave. But…she feels like she has no future if she sits and does nothing. Maybe she would have been right, but none of us even knew you were alive." Robert was still very confused by the whole exploding ship thing. "Why did you not tell her?"

"I wanted to. But Saphira had been compromised. The watch you would have seen on her arm…" Robert was surprised that Optimus had noticed the watch, and he would have realized that it was a decepticon. "It was a special decepticon that was tapped into her system directly. If I had tried to tell her, or do something to get rid of it, it could have easily caused great harm to her. To the point it would have been permanent damage, and I do not mean death."

Ironhide huffed angrily, charging his weapons in preparation to use them. "The little punk really took our death, defying, prank to heart. Ugh…poor punk." He grimaced and looked at Optimus. Optimus was really trying to keep his emotions in check at the moment, but the autobot could see Optimus was angry. "We will find her, boss." Optimus looked at Ironhide as he heard the confidence in his voice. "And we will make the decepticons hurt and pay for what they will do to Saphira…if they have not already."

Optimus nodded in agreement before looking back at Robert. "I had noticed that you and your men were preparing to leave the city. You are free to leave now if you wish, Robert Epps." The man was surprised Optimus was offering him a chance to leave. "If you still wish to leave the city, you should take the chance while you still have it. But if you decide to stay, we will gladly accept your assistance through this city."

Robert glanced at his men who all tightened their grip on their weapons, stepping forward to him to show they were prepared to go into the city now that the autobots have arrived. He looked up at Optimus with a confident expression. "We had only wanted to retreat believing we had no way of stopping the decepticons. But with your help, we might be able to do it. So we will be go with you to the center of the city." Optimus was pleased to hear that from the man. "But I assume you are going to want to know where you are going. Saphira was able to figure it out before we came here."

"She did?" Ratchet was surprised by this, and that made him smile. "That girl has always been resourceful."

"Yeah, well…it turns out the last man working for the decepticons was in contact with her. I don't know how or when, but I didn't ask. Anyway…" Robert looked towards the city and began to make gestures. "Trump Tower is where the man is based at. There is the only clue we have. I am going to assume that Megatron and Sentinel Prime will be close by to keep an eye on the man, and would be a place that Saphira would be taken to. If we can get close enough to the tower, maybe we can find them."

"Well, I say we give this little ship a quick fix to make it worth driving!" Roadbuster said as he walked over to the ship to check the engine. "Everything else is in order, except the engine pod Prime shot at. You did a good job on it too."

"And maybe you two, little, scrap bots can get closer," Barricade said as he looked down at Wheelie and Brains. "You both are small and insignificant to the decepticons. Maybe you can get close, and help us locate where the red pillar is."

"And get our asses blown to pieces?!" Brains shook his head with a frown. "Nope! No way! However…" He glanced up as fighter jets flew over to try and penetrate the city. "I have been able to observe several human drones flying into the city. They were shot down, but we might be able to use one of those to get closer. But we must find one and hide. We are out in the open right now."

"That might be something that we can do." Ratchet hummed for a moment as he looked around before looking at Optimus. "We need to move if we are to have the element of surprise." He walked around the leader, looking at the ship as the wreckers take a look at the ship. "Are you really going to try and make this thing able to fly again?"

Topspin let out a chuckle and gestured to Bumblebee. "Oi! Bumblebee! You can take this baby out for a spin. They would never suspect one of their own. Instead of using the little guys and human drones, we fly around and locate Sentinel Prime from the air. Just don't make yourself too suspicious."

Bumblebee walked over to the ship with a frown before he glanced at Barricade. "Aren't you the better flyer?"

Barricade widened his optics before smirking. "So now you are finally admitting that I am the better pilot?" He chuckled slowly as he walked over to the ship. Bumblebee just rolled his optics at him in irritation. "Good to know that I finally have that confirmation." He looked at Topspin who was confused by all this. "I thought everyone knew that Bee and I have had a little beef since Cybertron." He climbed into the cockpit of the ship and looked at Optimus. "Go on ahead of me. I will alert you when I locate Sentinel, and Saphira if she still running through the city."

Optimus nodded affirmatively. "Understood." He looked down at Robert and his men. "We have been observing your military's attempts in breaking through the enemy lines. If we can get through, and if you have a way to reach Colonel Lennox, you should inform him that we are here. That way they know we are on the inside."

"And he is going to be so pissed." Robert chuckled softly as he knew that Lennox would have been upset for Saphira. "Well, if you want to go in with the element of surprise, you'll need to be in your vehicle modes. And I hope you brought your trailer."

Optimus nodded, turning to walk back the way he had come. "I have it hidden around the corner here." He walked around the corner before he transformed and hooked up to the trailer. The other autobots transform, and Robert and his men pile into Ironhide and Bumblebee. "Autobots, roll out. Barricade, take flight and locate the control pillar."

Barricade did not need convincing as he turned the engines on, and flew above them. The damaged engine struggled a little bit, causing Barricade to hit a couple things, but once he was up in the air, he was able to keep up the momentum and flew into the city. Barricade was very determined to find Sentinel and Megatron, but he was also scanning the ground for any sign of Saphira to stop her from going any further. He did not know why she would do this, but she would not be thinking straight.

Barricade had told Optimus it was a bad idea to fake their deaths, but because Saphira had already been trapped by the decepticons with that little decepticon she had on her wrist, they could not tell her that what she would see would be fake. But it was better for her to have a real reaction than a fake reaction. But it seemed as though it has really come back to bite them. And not in the way they expected. Especially as he and Bumblebee were aware of Saphira's pregnancy, this made this even more important to them.

Flying towards the center of the city, using the known coordinates to the location of Trump Tower, Barricade did not have any trouble finding that luxury hotel. Given the luxury of the building, he knew that is not where Sentinel and Megatron were. He scanned the building on approach, but he could not sense Saphira was there. He would know, since the bond she had with Optimus did give her a weak, but unique signature that they could pick up on within a certain distance. That meant, she was not there yet. But he was not sure.

As he got closer, he immediately picked up the signals for Sentinel and Megatron. He spotted them on top of a building that seemed older than the rest of the skyscrapers in the city. That was the impression he got based on the stonework of the building. And both Sentinel, and Megatron were perched on the building. Barricade had the overwhelming desire to shoot them right now. Especially as he saw the red pillar within a gondola at the top of the building. It had not yet been activated, but they were clearly waiting.

"Optimus, I have located Sentinel Prime and Megatron on the 35 East Wacker building," Barricade informed the leader as he flew around the city. "The tower is not far from Trump Tower. The red pillar is with him at the top of the building right now. Just give me the order, and I will shoot, and destroy the pillar right now."

"Negative, Barricade. You were only tasks with locating them, not destroying the pillar." Barricade grumbled as he frowned upon hearing Optimus's response. "Even if you were to fire at the pillar, you will likely be shot down and killed before you could destroy the pillar. You are to hold back until I say so." The former decepticon was tempted to ignore Optimus, but he did not and listened to him. "Were you able to locate Saphira?"

"No, I was not." Barricade turned the ship away as he began to fly around to locate Saphira. "I will turn my attention into locating Saphira. I hope she is close enough." He spotted Starscream flying down suddenly, and he was instantly suspicious. "Huh…and I think I just need to watch the other decepticons to…" Barricade was cut off as his ship was hit from behind. He was surprised as the engine exploded. "Argh! I'm hit!"

"You were hit?" Ironhide asked in confusion. "Ugh, don't tell me you did something stupid, punk! You were to stay hidden!"

"I didn't do anything!" Barricade was angry, though he scanned to see who shot him, and he was surprised. Shockwave and his worm, Driller, were beneath him. While Driller was just slithering between the buildings, Shockwave was eyeing off his ship. "Argh! I forgot Shockwave is as smart as Soundwave! He could tell this ship wasn't behaving like the others!"

"Land the ship immediately, and fall back!" Optimus ordered as Barricade was shot at again, and he lost control of the ship as it began to spin. "Shockwave will kill you if he gets you, Barricade. Get out of there once you land! We will meet up with you. We can see your ship!"

Barricade grumbled a little. "Great…now Bee will make fun of me for this one."

Barricade managed to stabilize the ship enough so that it would not break up so easily upon impact on the ground. And he was able to steer the ship far enough in case Shockwave decided to pursue him. Though Barricade knew that decepticon had a lot of patience, and he would only pursue if he thought it was worth the game. But he had Driller, so he could send in his pet if he wanted to as well. But Barricade was not about to be a sitting duck for him.

He grunted as the ship jittered and hits the ground hard, skidding along the ground as the metal scraped along the tarmac loudly. When the ship came to a stop, he shot the top of the cockpit off before he climbed out of the ship and jumped onto the ground. He looked around for a moment before he transformed and sped away towards Optimus's location. He could sense they were nearby and he needed to get away anyway.

He drifted around a corner quickly and spotted the autobots ahead of him. He sped towards them and Bumblebee flashed his lights at him, making Barricade grumble a little as he knew that was Bumblebee's way of making fun of him. But he did not say anything to the scout, knowing that he would only be giving Bumblebee what he wants. They had to focus as they were far from Trump Tower, even though they had made ground. But Shockwave pretty much put Barricade pretty far from the center by shooting his ship.

"Woah! Hold up!" Brains shouts as he and Wheelie were leaning out the Corvette. He was pointing towards some rubble. "There's a military UAV over there! Stop, Sideswipe!" Sideswipe quickly came to a halt, as did the rest of the autobots. Robert and his men jump out to make a perimeter, while Robert and another one of his men ran over to to. Brains sped over to the UAV. "Ah, this thing is mostly intact! Hopefully the camera and microphone at not damaged. Let me see…" Brains began to climb on it to check on the system. "Yep! Still in working order! Let me just…AH HA!" He shouts as there was an electric spark and Brains looked at Robert. "See if they can see and hear you, Robert."

Robert knelt down, rubbing off the dust from the lens of the UAV camera in the hopes that they would be able to see him. "Flight Control, do you copy?" He frowned as there was no response. "Can…can you rotate? Can you do something?! Hello?! Is anybody even hearing my voice?! Come on, man! Work, work, work!"

"Eh, you sure this thing isn't busted, Brains?" Wheelie asked his friend as he frowned. He rolled over to the UAV camera and moved his head in front of the lens. "Hi! Hello?! It's me, Wheelie! The little guy that has been annoying all of you science geeks!" He let out a light chuckle. "If you're watching, yeah, that's right. I'm still here. We never left!"

The UAV rotated like a nod, making Wheelie back up. Robert smiled in relief as they had finally received a response. "Yes, yes! Okay, they can see us!" Wheelie was pleased as he guessed seeing him might have worked. "Alright, uh, Lennox if you can hear me, Chicago is at ground zero. Some of my men and I came to this city not long ago with Saphira. And low, and behold, the autobots faked their own deaths! That's why you can see Wheelie beside me right now!"

The UAV rotated slightly, turning to see Optimus's truck parked by the rubble. Barricade reached out to the UAV microphone to speak through. "Military leaders, please listen to me, this is Barricade. While you were able to narrow down the location of where Sentinel Prime and Megatron were, I have been able to find them and the red, control pillar on top of the 35 East Wacker building in the center of the city. The red pillar that controls the rest is in the southeast cupola of the building. If you are able to assist us in destroying the pillar, send in your units."

"And we still do not know what exactly they plan to do with them pillars," Robert said before he frowned and looked at the autobots. "Do you guys even know what they plan to do?"

"I am afraid we don't have a conclusion as to what they are planning," Sideswipe responded to the man gently. "Optimus does believe that they might be connecting the bridge to Cybertron somehow, but he is not a hundred percent sure. Regardless, we need to destroy the control pillar."

Robert nodded as he understood and looked at the UAV. "You heard the autobots! We need to destroy the pillar! My men and I might have one shot if we get close enough, but we need backup. Lennox, if you are there listening to me, I hope you and the rest of our men can meet up with us sooner than later."

Robert stood up and looked at Optimus, watching him transform. "At least the military have now been informed," Dino said as he transformed as well, looking around with his weapon ready. He looked at Optimus as the leader finished transforming. "Optimus, what are we going to do? Saphira is still probably running through the city as we speak!"

Optimus looked at Dino as he knew all the autobots were concerned for his sparkmate. "As we do not have coordinates for Saphira's location, we will be unable to find her at this time. Unfortunately…" He grimaced and clenched his fists slightly as he knew what he was about to say. "We need to focus on Sentinel, Megatron and the pillars. Stopping them will ensure Saphira's safety. If we find her signal, we can save her."

Robert nodded in agreement. "I am in agreement." Bumblebee and Barricade were frowning as they did not agree. "I hate to say it, but I agree. And you probably don't even know, do you?" Optimus looked at the man in surprise. "She didn't just walk into the city because of her grief for all of you, she wanted to not only try and make a safe future for herself, but…but also for the future of her child."

"What did you just say?" Ratchet stared at Robert in shock, while Optimus's expression filled with excitement for just a split second, before dread replaced that. Ratchet stepped closer to the man. "Tell me you are joking."

"Nope, she is not." The medic looked down at the scrap bots as they look up at him. "Both Brains and I witnessed Saphira purging a couple times, so did Barricade. We didn't know she was pregnant at the time, but we suspected." Wheelie looked at Robert who was sad about all this. "I guess she confirmed it."

He nodded. "Yeah…she did."

"And the decepticons will also know because of that little pest she had on her wrist!" Ironhide growled and punched down the roof of a nearby car in frustration. "Ugh!" He shook his head with a grimace and looked at Optimus. "But we cannot just stand and talk around here."

Optimus nodded slowly in agreement. "We need to move before the fighters spot us. Though as Shockwave has already shot Barricade down, he might have suspected we are here." He looked down at Robert and his men. "Wait here while we scout out a route ahead." Optimus turned and gestured for Ironhide, Sideswipe, Dino and the wreckers to follow him. "Let's roll!"

Barricade watched Optimus leave as he, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Ratchet set a perimeter to help protect the humans. Though Ratchet was distracted now. With the information on the fact that Saphira was pregnant, his processor was already doing a lot of thinking. He was connecting the dots of when Saphira would have conceived, and the current growth stage of the sparkling. He was also unhappy that Saphira had not informed him of her pregnancy, as he knew she would need an autobot medic to be beside her.

Ratchet shook his head with a low groan. "I cannot believe I was not informed." He looked down at the scrap bots with a frown. "You should have informed me if you had your concerns." Brains and Wheelie glance at each other, though they did not react much. "No…Saphira must at least be about a month along in her pregnancy, if my calculations are correct." Barricade and Bumblebee both nod, and Ratchet narrowed his optics at them. "You knew too?!"

"Yeah…we did." Barricade's shoulders slump slightly and he softened his expression. "And that is what I am worried about. Especially if Megatron…"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Ratchet snapped, wanting to cover his ears in case Barricade were to finish that sentence. "I am fully aware of that. But…" Ratchet gasped as he realized. "I don't want to think about the damage that he could do to her and the sparkling." He shook his head before he spoke to them. "Do not bring this up with Optimus. He will already be distracted enough knowing Saphira is carrying his sparkling. He does not need his judgement clouded by any other detail. Is that understood?"

Robert, his men and the autobots who were present all nodded in agreement. Ratchet himself was already distracted by the details, and he was working on making sure those thoughts did not cloud his own judgement. For Bumblebee and Barricade, it was a bit harder. Barricade himself already knew that Megatron would severely hurt Saphira. And the sparkling. He gazed into the burning city, feeling helpless knowing that they might not be able to reach Saphira in time. But he hoped that they would.