Sentinel had been sitting on the side of the tower, watching as the decepticons defended the pillars that were within the gondolas of the tower. He was very annoyed that the autobots had faked their deaths. It was very clever of them, and yet it has left him thinking. He had allowed Megatron to take the moment to try and court Saphira. While his full form was standing beside him on the tower, Megatron's holoform was within Trump Tower with Saphira right now. Sentinel clenched his fists for a moment before he turned to Megatron.

He observed him, and saw that Megatron was not even paying attention. He a grin on his face that was dark and devious. Megatron spoke a few words that were hard for Sentinel to pick up. But Sentinel glanced at Trump Tower before he spoke to Megatron. "I think you have had your chance now, Megatron." The decepticon jumped and looked at Sentinel in surprise. "You are to stop your attempts with courting Saphira. Her sparkmate is still alive and well, and you will stop your actions right now."

Megatron stared at Sentinel before he smirked a little. "You and I were not expecting Optimus Prime to still be alive, Sentinel. I am afraid…" He let out a low chuckle. "It is too late. Saphira is already mine. It does not matter that Optimus is…"

Sentinel grabbed the side of Megatron's head roughly and pressed him against the wall of the building. "You are not going to fool me with your venomous words! If I discover you have harmed Saphira, I will execute you myself!" He threw Megatron off the building harshly, watching the decepticon fall down and hit back of his head with grunt. "And you had better remember that I am not working for you!" Megatron just growled as he stood up and stumbled away. Sentinel glanced at the tower again before opening a channel. "Decepticons around the world launch the pillars."

Elsewhere…

Eddie slammed open a door after he, Robert and the other men finally made it through the building. They were relieved that Optimus had destroyed Driller as it allowed them to finally get down to the ground. But they now had to figure out a new plan. They still needed to destroy the red pillar, and they no longer had a point of interest. A new plan was needed, and they needed to figure it out fast. Especially as they run down the alley, they look up at the 35 East Wacker to see there was pulsing starting around one of the gondolas.

"Uh, does that mean it has started?" Eddie asked as he gestured to the building. "Cause it seems like that pillar is warming up or something…" He shook his head as they jog down the street. "What do we do now, Epps?"

"I think we need to regroup with the autobots before we can move forward," Robert responded, glancing up at the tower with concern. Now that he has seen that the pillars have started to charge, they probably only had at least an hour, most likely less, to even do anything to stop him. "There is absolutely no way we can get close to that building without them. Especially if the decepticons have them bridges by the river raised up to stop us from crossing."

That seemed to make sense to them. Without the aid of the autobots, they really could not do much. But they didn't get too far in the alley either, as a blast from above made them duck and run to the left into a large church. They did not know if that shot was an accident, but it did not matter. Once they were inside the church, they look around and took a moment to catch their breaths. They weren't sure how they were going to reach the autobots either.

"You know what?!" Robert turned to look at Eddie as the man barked loudly. "We should have turned our asses around when we were given a chance. I realized now that I didn't want to do this!" Robert frowned at his friend in shock. "We have been running, and running, and we had to climb a thousand stairs, and we achieved nothing!"

"You had a chance to shoot that pillar!" Robert snapped back at the man in frustration. "You had a chance, but you took too long, because you were too scared of the height. If you had aimed that rocket like you were supposed to, we would be finishing off the last to the decepticons right about now!" He let out a light laugh of disbelief. "I give you one thing to do. One thing to do! And you drop the ball on that?!"

Eddie shook his head with a frown. "I ain't signed up for all this! I came because I thought it would be an easy, breezy mission! No! I got aliens blasting at me, running around, chasing me! I'm ducking through churches and buildings, and all that kind of crap, man!" He shook his head again as he gave Epps a serious expression. "This is bullshit! I ain't signed up for this Epps! I'm trying to keep it together."

"You signed up for it when you said okay to me on the phone, dumbass!" Robert could not believe what he was hearing. "We all signed up for it. Optimus gave you the chance to turn your ass around and leave, but you chose to stay. Stop complaining!" He turned and walked towards the door. "Now what we need to do is find an autobot and regroup with them right now! We ain't got no time to just be standing around and praying to God right now!"

They run to a side door and stop to look out to make sure the coast was clear. They look both ways to see that it was indeed clear. They did hear the sound of a familiar engine, and Robert signalled for them to leave the large church to make their way towards the sound. He was hoping that they would find one of the autobots, as he was certain that he could Barricade or Bumblebee at the moment, meaning that it was a good thing.

They move in sync as they jog through the alleyway. They crouch by cars and trash bins as they move through the alley, looking around in case a decepticon would find them. They reach the end of the alley, and Robert looked around the bend with a frown. He did not see Barricade or Bumblebee, but he could still hear the sound of an engine approaching. He was hoping that they were not far away as he would definitely appreciate that right now.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Robert and his men jump, looking up to see Starscream flying down and landing on the ground behind them with a grin. "Little insects who have never learned to fly or sting! Ha, ha, ha!" He threw a car at them as the men run from him and he laughed, watching as they try to flee. "It is a real treat to find some military friends of Saphira's…" Robert skids to a stop and glanced back at Starscream in shock. "Ah, I see. I have one of her friends here. Wonderful!" Starscream rubbed his hands together before he walked towards Robert and transformed his right hand into a saw. "It will bring me great pleasure to slice you in half and deliver your pieces to her on a silver plate! Ha, ha!"

Robert was about to turn and run when he saw Barricade and Ironhide speeding towards them. Barricade transformed first and jumped at Starscream, tackling him from behind and slamming him into the building. He punched the back of Starscream's head several times and ripped off one of his rockets, making Starscream scream in pain before Barricade threw Starscream at Ironhide who uppercuts his jaw and stamped his foot on the decepticon's chassis, pressing him down on the ground.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Starscream wiggled and writhed underneath the larger body, grimacing as Ironhide aimed his canon directly at his face. "Are you seriously going to shoot me like that?! You're cowards!" He turned his head and looked at Barricade with a glare. "And you!" He spat at Barricade, making the former decepticon growl at him. "You are nothing more than a traitor!"

Barricade just shrugged before he stopped forward with a growl. "At least I now have a reason to even want to fight this pathetic war! All because Megatron listened to some whispers in his ear with promises of leadership!" He aimed his canon at Starscream as well. "But I don't care about that. You have the keenest eye of any decepticon. You would have seen Saphira already."

"Seen her?" Starscream chuckled loudly. "Oh, yes! I have definitely seen her!" Ironhide growled as he moved his canon closer to Starscream's face. "She gave us quite the thrill of a chase. She is probably the smartest human I have ever met! No wonder she is Prime's sparkmate!"

Ironhide growled as he picked Starscream up and tore off his wings, making Starscream scream loudly as red energon spilled over the ground. He stumbled as he was thrown into the rubble and Starscream looked up, rubbing his mouth with the back his hand. "Don't play any games, Starscream! Where is the girl?"

Starscream spat on the ground as he was angry that he was in a lot of pain. He looked at the humans as they were glaring at him, and he glanced back up at Ironhide and Barricade. "Saphira is in that fancy, luxury tower that our insect operative is currently being held in. Megatron has made sure that she is well cared for. I assure you, by the end of today, she will have a new sparkmate. And he does not require her to accept him as the mech she loves. He only needs her for his need of companionship, and soon…"

"I've heard enough!" Barricade punched Starscream's face, making the decepticon shriek as the impact of the punch cracked pieces of his face. Barricade punched him several more times. "You are nothing more than Megatron's bitch! I will not allow you to mock her while you are the lowest of the decepticons!" He stepped back and kicked Starscream's face as the decepticon tried to crawl away. Barricade rolled his shoulders as Ironhide looked at him curiously. "That felt good." Barricade smirked at Ironhide. "What? That asshole is a pain to deal with, even though Megatron kept him around for entertainment. You are lucky you only got to shoot him!"

Ironhide just huffed in amusement. "It would seem that way. He seemed like an intolerable asshole to me." He charged his canon and aimed it at Starscream. The decepticon shrieked and he tried to transform suddenly. "No, you don't!" Ironhide shot at Starscream's back, making the decepticon fall to the ground in pain and he fired again and the second blast pierced through his chassis, and destroyed his spark. Ironhide huffed loudly. "Decepticon scum!"

Bumblebee sped into the street before he transformed. He was surprised to see Starscream's body on the ground as he looked at it, but he didn't particularly care either. Robert was relieved to see the autobots, but he noticed that Ratchet, Sideswipe, Dino, Wheeljack and the wreckers were not there, and he guessed they were elsewhere. He had no idea where Optimus went either, so he assumed he was with them.

"I guess now you are going to need a new vantage point, right?" Ironhide asked Robert bluntly, and the man nodded. "Hmm…there is only so many tall buildings that are within reach of that tower." He looked up at the tower, narrowing his optics as he would see the pillars pulsing, and he was not happy. "Hmm…maybe…" He paused for a moment before he turned and aimed his canon behind him. "Come out now! I can sense you…" Ironhide paused as he saw Lennox walking out with his hands up with some men behind him. "Colonel Lennox?"

Lennox smiled with a nod. "Yeah, it is me, Ironhide. You can relax and lower your cannon. We made it to the city." He turned his head as he noticed Robert walking towards him with a big smile. "There he is! Epps!" He ran over to the man and the two exchanged a quick hug. "Nice to see you are still alive and kicking."

"That means you saw me through the UAV camera." Lennox nodded and Robert was relieved. "Thank god somebody heard me! I wasn't sure if we were going to be the only people to be going in and destroying that control pillar, and rescue Saphira at the same time."

"Wait, what? Rescue Saphira?" Lennox was immediately confused as he frowned at Robert. "You said when you were speaking to us you came here with Saphira. Why does she need saving?" The man softened his expression and looked away from him. "What the hell happened, Epps? Tell me right now!"

Robert took a deep breath and looked at Lennox. "I did come here with Saphira. But…before we even knew that the autobots faked their deaths, we were going to turn back. Meaning me, and my men…" He gestured to the men he had behind him as he explained to Lennox. "But Saphira was not going to come with us. She walked right into the city, even after I tried begging and pleading with her to stop and come with us."

Lennox frowned before his expression turned to genuine concern. "And Megatron still wants her." Robert nodded. "Damnit! That girl is brave, she literally died to save Optimus once before and I guess that seems to be a trend with them two." He shook his head and clenched his fists. "I am going to tell you this. If we ever find their human operative, I don't think I am going to hold back. But we need to get across the river if we are ever going to reach the pillar."

Robert nodded in agreement with Lennox. Ironhide walked ahead of them, huffing loudly as he got their attention. "We will meet up with you at the river. We need to rendezvous with the others. But we will clear a path for you on the way. Be careful." He looked back at Robert and Lennox. "Shockwave may not have Driller anymore, but he is still combing the streets looking for you and us. And he does not take prisoners."

"Understood, Ironhide." Lennox signalled for all the men to move. "Let's move! We'll meet the autobots by the river and figure out a new plan!"

They run down the street while the autobots leave to assist the others. They did not know if the other autobots were in trouble, but they would find that out soon. They were not far from the river, and they could see the bridges were up. That was the next issue. They could potentially swim across the river, but the decepticons would probably kill them before they would even reach the other side, and they knew it.

They were able to reach the river very quickly, though they noticed the autobots were not present yet as they ran down the stairs and made their way towards the bridges. They ran towards the bridge supports and look around to any controls that might be nearby. They knew they had to locate them to bring the bridges down. But the decepticons could have hacked the controls and make it impossible for humans to crack the password.

"Does anyone know where the bridge controls are?" Lennox shouts as he looked around with a frown. The men shake their heads, and Lennox frowned before he gestured. "Spread out and check in the small offices nearby!"

The men nod as they quickly began to spread out in an attempt to locate the bridge controls. Robert and Lennox were both wondering where the autobots were at the moment. They could not hear any shots being fired, so the autobots likely were not nearby. Although it would be hard to know given they were on the riverside walkway, and they could not see what was happening up above them. And they did not see one of the cameras moving to look at what they were doing either.

"Sir!" One of Lennox's men informed them as he stood by the stairs leading further down to the river. "SEALS are here!"

Lennox smiled as he ran over to the stairs to see another couple dozen men climbing out of the river as they remove their swimming gear that they had with them. "Ah! It's a good day, boys! What do you got?"

The man looked up at Lennox to explain to him what the plan was. "Got a ten-man SEAL element, sir, tasked with vectoring in tomahawks."

Lennox seemed surprised by that as he glanced up at the sky for a moment. "How long?"

"Fifteen."

"Great…" Lennox nodded as he understood how long they had. "Alright, you're gonna need your 40 mic mics and your frags. Go full auto. The vibrations jack up their circuits. Snipers, shoot for the eyes." The men were fully listening, while Robert seemed to be a little distracted for the moment. "Alright, your target's up on top of that building, that cupola." He points up at the tower as he explained what the task was. He glanced over at Robert as he had walked up some stairs, and was looking over the railing. "Robert, have you got a visual on the autobots?"

Robert looked back at Lennox and gestured for him to run over to him. Lennox did not hesitate as he ran over and knelt by Robert, only to widen his eyes as he saw Bumblebee, Barricade, Dino, Sideswipe, Ratchet, Ironhide and Wheeljack surrounded by the decepticons while on their knees. It seemed like the decepticons were able to overwhelm them. Soundwave was standing near them with Laserbeak standing on his shoulder. And Dylan was there with them.

"Shit!" Lennox cursed as he stared in disbelief. "The decepticons have the autobots!" The other men gathered behind him as he began trying to think of how to help them. "We need to think of something, and fast!"

"Should we shoot their eyes?" Robert asked curiously as he glanced around. "But…they aren't really facing our direction either…so maybe not."

Lennox was about to respond to the man when Sentinel began to speak loudly from where he stood on the tower. "How doomed you are, autobots. You simply fail to understand that the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few." They watched as Sentinel walked over to the cupola and reached inside. "Activating the bridge."

With that, the pulse from the pillars began spread upward, forming a sort of triangular shape around the top of the building. The pillars were preparing to ignite and bring whatever it was they were planning to do. And the decepticons who were around the city began to cheer loudly in victory. They could not fully understand exactly why the decepticons were cheering, but they clearly thought that they had won the war it would seem.

"I do not like that they are having a good old time right now. It is giving me a bad feeling about all this." Robert looked back at the autobots before he noticed Dylan standing by Soundwave. "Hold on a minute! That's the asshole who is working for the decepticons!" He pointed to Dylan so Lennox could see him. "He's probably the reason why Saphira is locked up in that tower." Robert looked over at Trump Tower as it was nearby, but there were a lot of decepticons near it.

"We need to clear the city of the decepticons and those pillars before we can go and help Saphira, Robert." Lennox looked at the bridge as it started to go down, making him frown in surprise. "Did someone find the controls?" The men shake their heads, and Lennox glanced up, spotting some cameras that were not destroyed. "Looks like we have a friendly eye in the sky right now."

Lennox was pleased this was happening, but he hesitated on running across the bridge while the autobots were still down and surrounded. He did not want to abandon them, and he also was glaring at Dylan as Lennox had the absolute desire to beat the crap out of him right now. But with them needing to destroy the pillar, Lennox knew they had to go. So he signalled his men to start proceeding across the bridge while he and Robert remained for the moment.

As the men began proceeding across the bridge, they look up as they heard the pillars charging and a beam was released into the sky. The beam was a constant stream of power, and they could see white lights flashing as the pillars that had been launched outside of Earth's atmosphere were responding to the red pillar. They could not yet see what they were bringing through the bridge, but it was not good.

Dylan was looking at the autobots with a frown of disgust on his face. He was unhappy the autobots were still alive. He was being glared at by Ironhide and Barricade at the moment, but he did not care. "Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners?" Soundwave hissed a yes in response to Dylan as he placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "You need to teach them about respect. This was all business, but now it's personal. Do you understand me?"

Soundwave chuckled with glee as he listened to the human. "I understand. No prisoners! Only trophies."

Wheeljack widened his optics as he overheard the the conversation. "Bee…" He looked at his friend who was worried about what was about to happen. "I think they're going to kill us."

Bumblebee did not respond as Soundwave walked around to Wheeljack, pointing his weapon at him. "You! Your time is up!"

He kicked Wheeljack in the back, making the bot fall forward. "Wait, wait, wait!" He tried to plea, looking at Soundwave as he tried to back away from him. "We surrendered! We're your prisoners!" Soundwave ignored him as he picked him up by the head and threw him forward. "Can't we talk this out? We're all a bunch of good chaps! I mean, you know…"

He wasn't able to complete his sentence when a decepticon who was standing by shot at Wheeljack's chassis. The autobot fell to his knees, and he was about to say something again when he was shot by Soundwave, completely destroying his chassis, making his body to fall to the ground and his head rolled off his body. Soundwave just chuckled gleefully as he looked at the body of the dead autobot. Dylan seemed to be pleased by this too.

Bumblebee bowed his head with a frown in acknowledgement of Wheeljack's execution. "Goodbye, my old friend."

Soundwave walked around Bee before he grabbed Barricade by his shoulders. "You! Traitor! Your turn!" He pulled Barricade to his feet and forced him to walk. "You might have killed Starscream, but you killed yourself by choosing to side with the autobots."

"And I'd gladly do it again!" Barricade barked back at him, shrugging Soundwave's hands from his shoulders. "The decepticons will never be like the autobots! You never treat each other like friends or family! I want no part in that!"

Soundwave just grinned at him as he forced Barricade to his knees. "And yet, you only did it because you fell for a human. You could have been like Megatron, and waited for the right moment!" He pushed Barricade forward, making the former decepticon grunt as he looked down at the ground. "But now, your time is up, old friend. It was a pleasure capturing you."

Barricade frowned before glancing towards Trump Tower, knowing that Saphira was within the walls of that building. Despite how luxurious it was, he knew that it was no different than a fancy prison. He softened his expression as he felt like he would never see her again. And the last thing he would have seen were the tears falling down from the girl's eyes, as she believed they were leaving this planet forever and to never return.

Though as Soundwave charged his canon, Barricade glanced up as he heard the sound of things falling. And there were. Fighters were falling from one of the frigates that have been hovering above the city, and the fighter doors had opened as the small ships were released from the clamps and they fell down onto the buildings. Soundwave was shocked by this too, and the autobots all used this as their opportunity.

Soundwave covered his face when an engine pod almost lands on him, and he was about to fire at Barricade again when the former deception punched him in the face. Soundwave grunts as he stepped back and he glared at Barricade. Laserbeak flew off from his shoulder and flew at Barricade, flying directly at his face and moving his feet to try and claw out his optics. Barricade roared as he swiped at Laserbeak to get him away.

Soundwave grinned as he aimed again, only for Ironhide to grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed him onto the ground. Soundwave roared, blasting at Ironhide's face as he could see the frigate above them hitting a building as it seemed to be losing control. It was unknown as to why the ship was descending, but it didn't matter. The autobots shot at the decepticons and Lennox and Robert were quick to fire at the decepticons as well.

"You are so close to finding Saphira!" Laserbeak mocked as he flew circles around Barricade's face as the former deception kept trying to swat him. "She is only a few steps away now! But you'll never reach her! None of…AARRGGHHH!"

Barricade managed to grab Laserbeak by the neck, glaring at him. "Shut up, Laserbeak! You're nothing more than a pesky, little, fly!" He grabbed his tail and began to rip the decepticon in half. Laserbeak shrieked loudly in pain, and Soundwave looked over in shock as he saw his comrade being pulled in half. "This is your payment for your part in Saphira's capture!"

Soundwave ran at Barricade and Barricade swung Laserbeak's body at his face. Soundwave roared as he threw his fist at Barricade, and the former decepticon leaned back suddenly, ducking under the decepticon's fist and kicking up at his arm, making him blast at the ground. Barricade grinned, grabbed Soundwave's arm and twisting it behind his back, and pulled hard. Soundwave roared loudly as Barricade pulled and pulled until the arm was almost pulled from his socket.

"No!" Soundwave kicked back at Barricade's legs to destabilize him and turned to punch his face. "Traitor! Pest!" He couldn't use his left arm due to being almost fully torn from his shoulder, but he punched Barricade's face several times before he prepared to blast him as Barricade stumbled back. "I should have killed you back in Egypt!"

"I could say the same thing about you!" Ironhide barked, grabbed Soundwave's left arm and pulled it hard, yanking it from Soundwave's shoulder and making the decepticon roar. Soundwave fired his blaster, but it barely grazed Barricade's shoulder. Ironhide turned Soundwave to face him before punching him just below his chassis and punched upward before firing his blaster, turning his head as metal pieces and energon exploded in his face as the blast destroyed Soundwave's face. "Punk!" Ironhide spat at the body before he threw it down on the ground and he looked at Barricade. "Good job, kid." He reached down and helped Barricade to his feet. "I see you're learning Bee's fighting style."

Barricade shrugged with a smile. "I guess I am…but my body's not like Bee, so I can't do the fancy cartwheels like he can." He glanced up as the frigate began to fall straight down towards the river. "Hmm…I wonder why in the Pit that happened."

Ironhide shrugged. "Uh, maybe the scrap bots? I think we accidentally left them behind a little bit ago. They might have found their way on board."

Barricade huffed in amusement. "I guess that means we need to thank the little guys for saving our tail pipes." He looked down as he saw Lennox and Robert running across the bridge. "The bridge is down! Let's help the humans clear the way to the tower! We are almost there!"

As the autobots follow Lennox, Robert and their men as they proceed across the river, they do not see Dylan had remained cowering behind. He had managed to hide when the autobots began fighting the decepticons. The man was very unhappy at how the day was going, and he glanced at Trump Tower, knowing that he had the only leverage they had. But he was a little too afraid to do anything, so he followed while keeping low.

As for the Lennox, Robert and the autobots, they were running out of time and they knew it. Whatever was going to happen now with the pillars activated, they needed to interrupt it as soon as possible. And while they had Saphira on their mind, they knew their task was far from done. They had to destroy the red pillar, but they also had to deal with the other decepticons still roaming the city. And Shockwave was still kicking, and he was ready and waiting to stop any autobots and humans from stopping the plan his master had planned many years ago.