At nighttime, Agent Fowler was driving his car towards the exit of a military base. He parked in front of the gate and the soldier stationed at it gave the special agent a salute. "At ease, soldier." Fowler said, giving the soldier his own salute.
When the gate opened up for Fowler, he drove his car out of the base and guided it across the main road, while an unknown vehicle started to drive up from the back side. Fowler turned on his radio and it started to play 'The Touch' as he murmured to himself, liking this music. But what he didn't know was that a shadowed vehicle that resembled a truck was slowly catching up to him from behind. The truck activated its headlights and Fowler was a bit surprised from seeing them getting closer.
"Go around, ya jerk!" Fowler called out, moving his arm out the window and making a gesture.
But instead of driving around, the truck suddenly bashed Fowler's car from behind and made him steer out of control before he managed to use the brakes to make his vehicle stop.
"That's no road rage. Someone's trying to bump me off." Fowler realized.
The truck began approaching Fowler as its headlights slightly blinded him. But when he looked past the lights, Fowler spotted a familiar Autobot symbol on the truck's hood.
"Prime?" Fowler asked in total disbelief.
As 'Optimus' was driving closer for another attack, Fowler started up his car's engine and drove away at top speed, causing the 'Autobot leader' to chase him.
"Prime, have you flipped your metal wig?!" Fowler questioned as his normal drive back home has now become a high-speed chase of life and death.
At the Autobot base, the children and their guardians are having a toy car race as the toy cars drive around. "Go, go, go!" Acree cheered.
"You can do it, Raf!" Bumblebee cheered next.
"Metal to the pedal, Miko!" Bulkhead cheered.
"Go, Jack, go!" Acree chanted as the toy cars drove around.
"No way! Raf's scorching us!" Miko complained as she tried to get her toy car in the lead.
"Prime!" Fowler called out on the communicator, making the children fall back and end their game in a tie. "Do you read me?"
"I'm sorry, Agent Fowler. Optimus isn't here at the moment." Ratchet informed.
"Is he on the Metroplex hanging out with his lady?!" Fowler questioned.
"No, he said he was out on a mission," Elita answered through the comms. "And also, rude." She added with a look.
"Then I'll take that as a confirmation that he's presently trying to run me off the road!" Fowler stated, much to the surprise of everyone in the base.
"What?!" Elita questioned in shock.
"Agent Fowler, that hardly seems likely." Ratchet proclaimed.
"Tell that to my burning treads!" Fowler retorted as he was still being chased by 'Optimus' on the road.
Eventually, they both came up to a bridge and 'Optimus' drove up next to Fowler on the right before smashing him against the rail guard while still driving. When 'Optimus' moved away, Fowler's car swerved about uncontrollably and it crashed through a piece of the rail guard, making the vehicle dangle over the edge towards the very deep end. Fowler attempted to reverse his car out of his situation.
"Come on, come on." Fowler said in desperateness.
However, 'Optimus' drove up behind him and budged the car back to make it tilt over the bridge.
"Prime, no." Fowler pleaded.
Just then, a Ground Bridge appeared at the front of the bridge and the Team Prime Autobots drove out of it in their vehicle forms. A second portal opened up and Elita, Windblade, Hot Rod and Kup.
Bumblebee drove straight ahead of the others as 'Optimus' was close to shoving Fowler off the bridge. The yellow Autobot then transformed as Fowler's car was fully off the edge and he grabbed the back end of it, holding onto a lamppost with his other hand while Fowler held on for his life. The other five Autobots transformed and they all saw 'Optimus' driving away to the other side of the bridge.
"There he goes." Hot Rod said.
"Looks like Optimus." Bulkhead commented on seeing 'Optimus'.
"Primes don't run." Elita said with a firm look, knowing that Optimus would never run away. "You bots help Fowler and Bumblebee, I got Optimus." She said as she quickly transformed and drove after Optimus.
The rest of the Autobots rushed up to Bumblebee and Fowler. "We got ya, kid." Kup said as they reach down to Bumblebee, but Fowler's bumper was broken off, causing Fowle to fall screaming before Windblade dived down and transformed into her jet mode and quickly caught Fowler's car.
"You alright in there, sir?" Windblade asked Fowler.
"At ease, soldier." Fowler said while taking deep breaths before his airbag went off.
Meanwhile, Elita had chased 'Optimus' to an abandoned gas station, but didn't see him anywhere. "Where are you, Orion?" Elita muttered as she tried to feel him, but for some reason, she couldn't. "Wait, why can't I feel his Spark?" She muttered.
Suddenly, Elita spotted some lights by her left and she saw 'Optimus' driving straight at her before he rammed into the pink female Autobot, making everything go black.
Elita slowly opened her optics with a bright light in front of her, "That's it. Just follow the light," Fixit spoke as Elita saw the Minicon holding his Servo over her eyes with a flashlight.
"Ugh…" Elita muttered before her eyes widened. "Wait, what?!" She asked as she woke up, seeing she was back on the Metroplex and saw the other Autobots and Team Prime among her while in the medical center as she sighed in relief and got up. "Not the best choice of words, Fixit." She muttered as she stood up while rubbing her head.
"Looks like Optimus loves you so much it hurts." Miko joked with a smirk, but she quickly flinched when she saw Elita giving her a glare.
"That wasn't Optimus," Elita said firmly.
"You sure, because he really ran you over. Just like when he tried to knock me down a bridge." Fowler said with a look.
"I agree with Elita." Ratchet said in agreement.
"But why would Optimus would try to knock off agent Fowler or attack Elita?" Jack questioned, not believing it either.
"Maybe Optimus thinks he's a Decepticon all over again." Raf suggested in concern, thinking Optimus lost his memories again.
"Or he's been faking being a good guy all this time!" Miko suggested with a dramatic look.
"Miko, enough." Elita said firmly as Miko backed away a bit.
"Uh, Miko, I think when Acree said you shouldn't be on the other end of Elita's blaster, she really means it." Jack said to Miko with an uneasy look.
"Y-Yeah, I kinda got that now." Miko said in understanding.
"But if Prime has gone off the rails, for any reason, we have a serious problem." Fowler said with a concerned expression.
"I know in my Spark, that the truck who blindsided me was not the Mech meant to be my Conjux Endura." Elita said, strongly believing it was not Optimus who attacked her.
"Agreed. This whole situation is absurd." Ratchet agreed before he approached the main console. "A quick check for Optimus' signal will reveal that he's nowhere near the location of tonight's incident." When Ratchet typed on the main console's panel, he saw where Optimus' current location was. "In fact…he's just returning now." Ratchet informed, making everyone turn their attention to the entrance.
As the Autobots stood beside each other and Fowler got next to the children, Optimus showed up in his vehicle form and transformed. The Autobot leader walked into the room, but noticed how everyone was so cautious and on-edge in his presence.
"Is something wrong?" Optimus asked, sensing something amiss.
"We were just…wondering where you've been." Firestar said, a bit cautious on the inside.
"We haven't been able to reach you for some time, Prime." Prowl added with an uneasy look.
"I have been outside of our communication range…" Optimus said, reaching back to pull out something from behind him.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Jazz exclaimed as he and the other Bots pulled out their weapons.
"Easy!" Bulkhead stated.
"In a subterranean Energon deposit Drift had discovered." Optimus finished as he revealed a small Energon crystal, making the Bots look at each other.
"Come on, it's our guy! Can't you tell?!" Jack questioned the bots with a brow. "Elita, tell them."
Elita turned to them. "Put your weapons away. That's really Optimus." She said firmly as the Autobots stood down and put their weapons away as she walked up to Optimus. "We're sorry for the approach, Optimus."
"Don't blame them, Prime. I was attacked earlier tonight, out on the open highway by a big rig." Fowler explained. "One that bore a striking resemblance to you."
"And one who got the drop on Elita," Hot Rod added.
Hearing this, Optimus turned to his second in command, "Are you alright?" He asked in concern.
"I'm fine. A processor ache, but fine." Elita assured while rubbing her head. "But that truck back there was like your vehicle mode, with the Autobot logo on it."
Meanwhile, the morning sun had risen up and the same truck that resembled Optimus was driving on the road, now revealed to be very rusty with no blue and red colors on it. The truck headed straight for the military base that Fowler came from as the soldier at the gate noticed it, rushing at the front of the entrance.
"Halt!" The soldier ordered.
However, the truck honked its horn and this caused the soldier to jump out of the way as it crashed straight through the gate. The truck crashed into a lot of helicopters and damaged them greatly while some soldiers in jeeps pursued the dirty vehicle. The truck was soon surrounded by jeeps and soldiers across the base with some helicopters in the air.
"This is a restricted area! Exit the vehicle or we will open fire!" A soldier called out warningly.
Two soldiers approached the left side of the truck with rifles in their hands before they opened the door, aiming their weapons to see that there was no driver. Suddenly, the truck did its very own transformation and it was now an exact look alike of Optimus Prime, with yellow eyes instead of blue.
"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. And I bring you this message." The Optimus doppelgänger said before bringing out its blaster and firing at the soldiers.
"So, how did you know that wasn't the real Optimus," Jack asked Elita.
"Yeah, how can you tell?" Miko questioned with a brow.
Elita looked at Optimus, who gave her a nod as she gave a sigh, "You see, when Optimus and I were, as you humans put it, dating, our Sparks became intertwined. It's what happens when two Cybertronians are in a romantic relationship." She explained as best she could, "Because of this, Optimus and I are able to sense each other's sparks and Optimus's spark was definitely not in that truck."
"So question is, where did that truck come from?" Crosshairs wondered.
"You think it's just a regular earth truck and just coincidentally has the Autobot symbol?" Ironhide questioned, which made everyone give him dull looks. "What? It could happen."
"No one on earth even knows of the Autobots, Ironhide." Chromia said with a brow. "So, it can't be a coincidence."
Just then, Fowler started receiving a call on his phone and he answered it.
"Fowler, here." Fowler said as he listened to the caller before gaining a look of disbelief. "What?! That's not possible! I can tell you sure as there are fifty stars in my star-spangled shorts it isn't him!" He then turns to Optimus. "Alden Military base is under attack. By Optimus Prime." He told everyone.
"The truck?" Jack asked.
"The bot." Fowler said, making everyone turn to Optimus in shock.
"But, that can't be right." Whirl stated.
"If Optimus is here," Rack started.
"Then who's over there?" Ruin finished.
"Fire! Fire!" A soldier yelled as everyone last man in the military base kept firing their weapons at the Optimus doppelgänger.
The imposter was unfazed by their attacks and ran across the entire base while destroying everything in sight with its dual blasters. A Ground Bridge appeared in the distance and the Optimus doppelgänger saw the Autobots, Team Prime, Elita, Ironhide, Prowl, Firestar, and Crosshairs emerge from it with their blasters ready.
"You there! Stop!" Prowl yelled, but Optimus doppelgänger transformed and took off just as the military copters flew over the Autobots and the troopers saw them below.
"There! He brought reinforcements! Resume fire!" A pilot ordered.
The front helicopter fired a missile and it exploded in front of the Autobots, making them aim their blasters up in self-defense.
"Autobots, return to Metroplex!" Optimus instructed. "We must not inflict human casualties!"
The helicopters fired their weapons at the Autobots as they all quickly retreated into the Ground Bridge, causing it to close up once they were in.
After the Autobot made it back to Metroplex, Fowler had to take another phone call with his superiors.
"No, General Bryce. Optimus Prime did not attack our boys. Because I was with Prime when I received the alert." Fowler said protestingly. "Yes, sir, the Autobots were at your base. But only in response to the initial attack. But, sir, I…yes, sir. I understand."
With a defeated sigh, Fowler ended the call and put his phone away. "So what's the damage?" Jack asked.
"All military personnel are under strict orders to destroy any and all Bots on sight." Fowler told them.
"Are you kidding?!" Jack questioned.
"But, they're innocent!" Raf said in defense.
"Optimus was framed!" Miko added.
"Though unfortunate, the military order changes nothing. Our imposter clearly possesses a grave threat to humanity." Optimus proclaimed.
"A thirty foot tall transforming imposter." Fowler replied.
"Aren't we forgetting one thing that everyone has missed?" Firestar questioned. "That may look like Optimus, but the colors and his optics were different."
"Could this be the Cons dirty work?" Windblade suggested, thinking this was one of Megatron's schemes.
"The Decepticons may pose disguises, but they could pull off a better Optimus than that." Kup said with his arms crossed.
"If this wasn't Megatron's doing then who else could behind our Optimus Poser?" Moonracer questioned.
"They actually did it. Those butchers managed to crack the code." Ratchet admitted, giving everyone a hint of who was behind the Optimus doppelgänger problem.
"M.E.C.H." Optimus said seriously.
In a hidden base that was a few miles away from the destroyed military base, the Optimus doppelgänger drove through the corridors and entered a large room where some M.E.C.H troopers were stationed in. Silas was sitting on a chair with a bunch of controls that stood in front of a large screen, acting as the viewpoint for his Optimus lookalike weapon before he pulled a lever. The truck stopped in front of the screen and transformed into its robot form, standing tall as a M.E.C.H trooper approached Silas.
"Sir, any parallax or latency issues?" The M.E.C.H trooper asked as Silas stood up from the chair.
"The teller-present interface performed flawlessly, in vehicular and robot mode." Silas answered, smirking in approval.
Back at the Metroplex, The Autbots and their Human allies were discussing their situation with M.E.C.H and Optimus' evil imposter.
"M.E.C.H abducted Breakdown. And by all indications, deconstructed him from cranial chamber to heel strut." Ratchet said.
"I was there." Bulkhead nodded, having been there to save Breakdown.
"And we know that, more recently, they obtained Starscream's T-Cog." Optimus told the Autobots.
"Which they evidently installed in a knockoff of you." Arcee replied.
"Which in turn scanned an appropriate vehicle form." Ratchet added.
"A big rig truck." Whirl answered.
"Filled the tank with Energon…" Jack added.
"And say hello to 'Nemesis Prime'." Miko dubbed with a wave of her hand.
"Nemesis Prime?" Jazz questioned with a brow. "Did you just name Optimus' imposter?"
"What? We gotta call it something," Miko said in defense. "Besides, it seems fitting."
"She has a point." Crosshairs said with a shrug. "It is catchy."
"Which explains why I couldn't sense a Spark in it." Elita said with a look. "While they copied Optimus's body, they couldn't replicate his Spark."
"So where do we start?" Fowler asked, hoping to end this problem before Nemesis Prime could cause anymore damage. "M.E.C.H's base could be anywhere."
"Not necessarily." Optimus replied. "While M.E.C.H may have learned much of our biology…"
"They haven't necessarily absorbed our technology." Ratchet finished as he approached the main console and worked on it. "Without access to a Ground Bridge, Nemesis Prime would rely solely on its vehicle mode for transportation."
"Chances are the M.E.C.H. base is within driving distance of the two incidents." Fixit finished with the same conclusion.
"If we look around that area, we'll definitely find those Chassis carvers." Jazz declared.
"What're we waiting for? Let's get out there and mash M.E.C.H's little science project." Fowler stated, thrusting his fist into his palm.
"Agent Fowler, I do not think it advisable to put yourself in harm's way of M.E.C.H's robot again." Optimus told him.
"While I'm not sure it's advisable for Bots to be running recon with the military out there gunning for you." Fowler added.
"We will maintain vehicular cover until absolutely necessary." Optimus said reassuringly, while Fowler had a slightly frustrated look.
When nighttime arrived once again, the Autobots were in their vehicle modes and searching the entire area for any sign of M.E.C.H's base. "Nothing but tumble weeds." Bulkhead commented through the commlink with Rack'n'Ruin, and Kup.
"Just a whole lot of empty." Arcee said, with Moonracer, Firestar, and Chromia.
"Nothing on this side either," Prowl reported with Whirl, Crosshairs, and Ironhide.
As Bumblebee, Jazz and Hot Rod drove down the road, with Windblade flying over them, they then spotted a large abandoned stationary factory up ahead as he figured this would be a good place for M.E.C.H to hide in.
"Guys, we just found an old stationary facility, it could probably be where M.E.C.H's hiding." Hot Rod reported, driving through the open metal fence.
"We're heading in to investigate," Bumblebee added.
"Proceed with utmost caution." Optimus instructed. "Reconnaissance only. We will rendezvous at your coordinates."
"Copy that, Optimus," Windblade told him as she scouted the facility from the area while the three grounded Autobots drove around looking for any sign of M.E.C.H, but didn't see anything.
Unknown to the four bots, Silas and one of his troops were spying on him on the main screen.
"The Autobots are persistent. Time for them to meet their match." Silas said as he sat down on the control chair and pressed some buttons. Nemesis Prime's eyes glowed yellow, indicating it was ready for some more total destruction.
Outside, Bumblebee, Jazz, Windblade, and Hot Rod transformed and walked quietly around the facility. "Okay, keep your guard up guys." Hot Rod said to them. "The last time we faced these guys, we had Bumblebee's cog damage. And with Nemesis Prime, it's gonna be even harder."
"Yeah. If it's like the Big O, things might get scrappy." Jazz stated.
"Autobots." Optimus's voice spoke up, which made the four Autobots turn and ready their weapons cautiously as they saw 'Optimus', coming towards them. "Be on your guard. My double could be anywhere."
They couldn't tell if it was really Optimus or not because of the darkness and took a cautious step back, "How can we be sure?" Hot Rod asked as Windblade got an idea.
"Bee, say something, anything." Windblade told the scout.
Bumblebee nodded, "Hyper happy, hippy-dippy, hotdog feet." He rambled as the other three Autobots gave brows.
"I'm sorry, what?" 'Optimus' questioned with a tilt of his head in confusion, which made the four Autobots glared at him.
"Not Optimus!" Jazz yelled as they fired their blasters at Nemesis Prime.
"What kind of word was that, Bee?" Windblade questioned while they kept firing at Nemesis Prime.
"Eh, it was from a show Raf showed me once." Bumblebee shrugged as they kept firing at Nemesis Prime, who dodged their attacks and charged at them as they engaged close combat.
But Nemesis Prime quickly overpowered them as he knocked Bumblebee, Jazz and Windblade back after knocking Hot Rod to a corner. Nemesis Prime glared at them as he began to search around for Hot Rod. "Where are you, Hot Rod?" Slias questioned through Nemesis Prime as Hot Rod quietly snuck away, realizing that Nemesis was just as skilled and strong as the real Optimus as he knew that he can't win this fight as he kept hiding in the shadows and hoping the other bots find them.
Back at the facility's fence entrance, the rest of The Autobots arrived in their robot forms as Optimus tried calling Bumblebee's Team. "Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Jazz, Windblade, do any of you read?" He asked through the commlink, which only receives static.
"That's not good." Chromia muttered.
"Fan out?" Elita guessed as they all armed their weapons.
"And beware of anything that might resemble me." Optimus instructed.
The Autobots were then split into groups and looked around the facility with their blasters fully charged to use against any enemies. Bulkhead looked to both his sides at his position and saw nothing, only for him to suddenly get tackled into the shadows by Nemesis Prime. The dark-green Wrecker attacked Nemesis Prime with his wrecking ball, but the evil doppelgänger was unaffected by the attacks and punched him out in mere seconds.
"Bulkhead!" Kup exclaimed as he and Reck'n'Ruin then charged at Nemesis Prime. "No one wrecks up Wrecker!" He called as the two Autobots tried to fight Nemesis, but he took them out with ease as Nemesis Prime walked off.
With Arcee, Chromia, Moonracer, and Firestar, the female Autobots looked around for any signs of Nemesis. "You know, it's been a while since we went on a mission together." Moonracer commented, trying to lighten the mood.
"You said it, Moonracer." Firestar added in agreement. "We haven't had any girl time together since we came to Earth."
"Though, sometimes I wish we didn't have to spend that time on missions." Acree stated as they kept their guard up.
"But where's the fun in that, Acree? You love action." Chromia commented with a smirk.
"Good Point," Arcee said with a smirk as they kept their guard up with their weapons ready before they saw something behind them.
Back in Metroplex, Ratchet was working at the main console to try and figure out where Silas was.
"If I can isolate the control frequency of the remote link Silas is employing, I should be able to pinpoint his exact position." Ratchet told the children, Fixit, and Fowler.
"Remote link?" Raf repeated.
"You didn't think M.E.C.H possessed the ability to build a completely autonomous robot, did you?" Ratchet questioned.
"I was hoping Silas would be operating the bot from inside." Miko commented. "Because one punch from Bulkhead and booyah!" She called with a swing of her fist and fell down with a groan before standing back up naturally.
"You are one strange human." Fixit commented awkwardly as Miko gave a shrug.
Prowl, Whirl, Crosshairs and Ironhide stood back to back, looking for any sign of Nemesis Prime, "Gotta say, been waiting for chance to for the others to get dispatched so I could take charge," Crosshairs admitted, "Just me reporting to me."
"Crosshairs, you know that's not how it works." Prowl said with a look. "And besides, you're just saying that because you're eager to fight someone that looks like Optimus."
"Eh, a bot can dream." Crosshairs said with a shrug. "Mr. Leader of the Free Galaxy is the bot to brawl with."
"He's not wrong." Ironhide said with a shrug with his cannons ready. "I know Optimus, and when he fights, he fights hard when things are serious. And if this knockoff is anything like him, we could be in for a fight of our lives."
"And that fight's heading straight for us, look out!" Whirl immediately yelled in panic as they turned and saw Nemesis Prime charging right for them with its blasters out.
"Oh, yeah, now we're talking!" Crosshairs said as he began to shoot his pistols at Nemesis Prime as the others did the same as Nemesis server around and avoided the blasts before transforming as the four bots tried to take Nemesis Prime head on, but was having trouble before after a minute, they were knocked down to the ground as they groaned as Nemesis Prime stood up and walked off for his next targets.
After a bit of hacking, Ratchet got a beep. "Ah-ha! Frequency isolated." He announced as he managed to find Silas' location.
"Then reopen that Bridge," Fowler ordered, wanting to deal with Silas personally.
"Agent Fowler, did you not hear Optimus' advice against your involvement?" Ratchet asked him.
"He is corrected. It is for your own pacey, tasty…" Fixit glitches before Jack gave him a whack on the head. "Safety."
"Look docs, I don't plan on dancing with any Bots, but there's a human element in play here." Fowler told Ratchet and Fixit. "And in case you haven't noticed, I happen to be highly trained, government-grade,…human."
"Yeah, plus Silas tried to run him off the road," Miko said as they all gave her a brow. "It's personal." She casually shrugged.
At the facility, Optimus and Elita searched around for Nemesis Prime, until they heard footsteps and pointed their weapons at the source, "Whoa! Whoa! Don't shoot!" Stepping out from the shadows was Hot Rod with his servos up, "Friend." He said with a smile.
"Hot Rod?" Elita asked in surprise as her and Optimus lowered their weapons. "What are you doing?"
"Hiding from Optimus' evil twin until backup arrives." Hot Rod stated with a look. "He got the jump on me, Bee and the others, and scrambled my communicator so I couldn't warn you guys. And let me just say, the copy's just like the genuine article. I was lucky to get away."
"Have you managed to find where M.E.C.H is controlling our imposter?" Optimus asked.
"I was lucky to even keep out of sight, but I saw a couple of humans guarding a container building around the corner." Hot Rod informed. "That's gotta be where Silas is cashing out."
"Then let us proceed." Optimus said with his weapons armed as the three Autobots cautiously before they stopped as they are face to face with Nemesis Prime.
"Optimus Prime. Hot Rod. We meet again." Silas said through the robot. "And I don't believe you and I have been properly introduced."
"I'm the bot you ran over that one night when you nearly ran over Fowler." Elita said with a glare. "And my name is Elita One, second in command of the Autobots."
"Oh, the second leader of the Autobots. And it was you who I hit the other night?" Silas asked with a taunting tone. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Yeah, well, you caught us off guard, but this time, we're ready for you." Hot Rod said with a look.
"The deception ends here, Silas." Optimus replied, activating his battle mask while Elita and Hot Rod ready their weapons.
"Does it?" Silas questioned before making Nemesis Prime charge at Optimus.
The four Bots fired their blasters at each other before engaging in physical combat. In another part of the facility, a Ground Bridge appeared and Fowler jumped out of it. Fowler felt a bit sick since it was his first time.
"I think I'm gonna toss the breakfast I ate back in flight school." Fowler groaned as he held his stomach before he heard crashing sounds as he saw Elita, Optimus, and Hot Rod fighting Nemesis Prime as his phone rang as he answered it.
"Agent Fowler, the control frequency is transmitting from a structure one hundred meters due North." Ratchet informed.
"Copy that." Fowler said before he ended the call, looking at a large silo behind him.
The three Autobots clashed with Nemesis Prime before Optimus kicked his doppelganger back, which landed on some barrels that created an explosion that covered them in smoke.
A M.E.C.H trooper stood on top of the large silo to observe the battle with a pair of binoculars, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. The trooper turned around and had his lights out by a punch from Fowler.
Fowler found a ladder that led inside and they climbed down it, seeing Silas control Nemesis Prime to battle Optimus, Elita, and Hot Rod.
At the battle, Nemesis Prime charged at the three Autobots and delivered some powerful punches. "My robot chassis possesses all of Optimus's strength, speed, and firepower." Silas boasted, firing Nemesis Prime's blasters.
Hot Rod and Elita charged at Nemesis Prime from either, but Nemesis Prime quickly grabbed them and knocked them against each other before tossing them to Optimus as they landed on their feet as they saw it in a ready position.
"Add my extensive combat training, and M.E.C.H has clearly achieved the perfect meld of man and machine." Silas proclaimed as he controlled Nemesis Prime to skilfully strike the Autobots' opening.
"Oh no you don't!" Hot Rod said as he blasted fired at Nemesis Prime pushing him back for a moment before it kicked him backwards.
"Hot Rod!" Elita called as she and Optimus turned Nemesis Prime and started blasting at, forcing it back into a dome before it started climbing up. They soon reach the top as Nemesis Prime drew his blades as Elita and Optimus drew theirs as they then clashed.
They kept clashing before Nemesis Prime managed to flung Elita away, making her to one side of the silo before managing to avoid a swing from Optimus before stabbing him on his left side, which made Optimus groan in pain with his eyes widened.
"Optimus!" Elita cried out as she watched in horror.
"But the key difference between you two and me, my robot's body can't feel pain!" Silas declared as he stabbed Optimus further, making him groan in pain as Nemesis retracted his blade while Optimus fell to his knees, clutching his side while Elita rushed to him in concern as she glared at Nemesis. "This is just the beginning. Imagine an army of transforming robots. No one will stand against the newly rebooted M.E.C.H." He said as he raised his blade.
"Think again, Si!" Fowler said, marching behind the M.E.C.H Commander as he saw Fowler had just taken out all the M.E.C.H troops.
"Agent Fowler, in the flesh at last." Silas commented, standing from his chair.
"And I'm pulling the plug on your video game!" Fowler announced, getting into a fighting position. Fowler charged at Silas, who skillfully blocked a punch and knocked him back. "Ex-military?" He asked as he stood up.
"Special tactics." Silas answered naturally. "You?" He questioned as he charged at Fowler, who threw heavy punches and knocked him back.
"Army Rangers." Fowler answered, throwing more punches.
"Retired, clearly," Silas mocked, easily dodging Fowler's hits.
"I may be out of shape, but I don't need to bust you up…" Fowler said as he threw another punch, which Silas did spin kicks that knocked Fowler to the ground as he was then surrounded by a couple of M.E.C.H. agents as Fowler gave a smirk. "I just need to buy the Bots a little time."
Back outside, Hot Rod managed to recover and climbed up the dome to see Elita kneeling next to a wounded Optimus and Nemesis Prime stuck with its blade in the air, "Hey what?" Hot Rod said confusedly.
"Hot Rod, Optimus is down! Finish it!" Elita told the young Autobot.
Hot Rod looked at Nemesis Prime and then to Optimus as he gave a determined look as he marched up to Nemesis Prime.
In the silo, Silas heard beeping as he saw Hot Rod about to throw a punch, which he quickly rushed to his seat and pulled a switch just as Hot Rod threw a punch.
Nemesis Prime then moved as it used its blade to block Hot Rod's punch, but still wasn't moving in one place, which made Hot Rod move the blade as he then threw more punches. "Nobody! Messes! With! Optimus!" Hot Rod yelled as he threw the punches as Nemesis was being punched back.
Silas sat back on his chair but he struggled to make his weaponized robot fight back. "No, no." Silas muttered to himself as nothing he did could get Nemesis to fight back.
When Hot Rod managed to punch Nemesis Prime onto its back, Hot Rod then jumped up and delivered a powerful blow that made the entire silo shake. Silas looked up to the roof and Nemesis Prime suddenly crashed through it, falling down towards him as Fowler and the M.E.C.H soldiers ran away to get clear but Silas stayed where he was.
"No, no, no!" Silas yelled before he was literally crushed under the weight of his own creation.
"Oooh!" Fowler cried as he covered himself from the crash as some dust blew around before he saw Nemesis Prime on the console, sparking up before its optics faded, completely shut down.
Hot Rod panted from that. "Okay, that was… surreal." He muttered before he remembered something as he turned to Optimus and Elita, with the latter tending to the former. "Optimus!" He said in worry as he rushed up to the two leaders. "Are you okay?"
"I am, alive, Hot Rod." Optimus assured with a grunt.
"He was lucky it's only a mesh wound. But we still need to get Ratchet and Fixit to patch you up, love." Elita said in concern.
"Ditto." Hot Rod nodded before the three Autobots looked down from the silo and noticed something else. "Huh?"
"Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked in slight surprise but gave a smile.
"When did you get here?" Elita asked in wonder.
"Oh, not long. Just giving you bots the edge." Fowler said with a smile and a shrug before they heard helicopter sounds as they turned and saw a squad of helicopters heading their way. "That would be our boys. I advise you Bots to get back to Metroplex." He said with a smirk as he crossed his arms. "I'll handle Uncle Sam." He assured as the three Autobots smiled gratefully as they went off to get their team before the military found them.
At the Metroplex Medical bay, Ratchet and Fixit were tending to the injured bots with the children among them. "So how weird was it to see someone who looks exactly like Optimus kicking the scrap out of you?" Miko asked in curiosity as Bulkhead groaned and rubbed his head.
"It's a sight I won't soon forget." Acree said in agreement.
"But definitely wish I could." Windblade said in agreement.
"Eh, it was fun for awhile but after what we've been through, I think I got a bit more respect for Optimus Prime." Crosshair commented.
"Glad you learned something, Cross." Ironhide said while fixing his arms cannons.
"Now we know what a real Decepticon Optimus Prime would be like." Chromia added as she and the other Female Autobots were rubbing their sore spots.
"Yeah. Real Nasty." Jazz said with a shudder.
"Well, at least it's finally over." Prowl said.
"Thanks to Hot Rod," Bumblebee said, gesturing to Hot Rod.
"Hey, I just beat the thing after it wasn't moving when Fowler distracted Silas away from the controls." Hot Rod waved off before frowning. "But still, I didn't mean for Silas to get wasted back there."
"You did your best, kid." Kup said while placing a servo on Hot Rod's shoulder. "Not every battle can be fought without casualty."
"There are times when…" Reck started.
"in battle…" Ruin added.
"You gotta do whatever it takes…" Reck added.
"To win." Both Reck'n'Ruin said in unison.
"But look on the bright side, HR." Jazz said with a smile. "You manage to help Optimus and Elita take down that poser." He said while gesturing to where their two leaders are, where Elita stood by Optimus' side as he laid on a metal bed where Ratchet is welding his side to patch up the wound.
"And more importantly, you might have managed to put an end to Silas's false Cybertronian scheme." Elita told him with a small smile.
"The question remains whether M.E.C.H will continue to function as we know it, without its leader." Optimus said as Ratchet was done repairing him as he stood up.
"Well, maybe without their leader, they'll disband?" Whirl suggested.
"Well here's a kicker. We've sifted through the wreckage with a fine tooth comb, and couldn't find any trace of Silas." Fowler told everyone as they gave concerned and serious looks, realizing M.E.C.H wasn't finished yet.
In an Unknown M.E.C.H base, Silas was seen laying on a medical table in an extremely injured state as he was hooked up to medicine wires and had bandages around his body with many troopers tending to their leader.
"The internal damage to his organs is massive, and beyond the scope of conventional medicine." A M.E.C.H trooper said in an online documentary. "Fortunately for our leader, M.E.C.H is anything but conventional."
As Silas continued to rest in an unresponsive state, the troopers brought out the reassembled body of Breakdown before him.
Another chapter is finished.
And in this one, Hot Rod was the one who finished off Nemesis Prime, but Silas isn't done yet.
Also, on a side note, you'll see that Elita was able to figure out M.E.C.H. robot wasn't Optimus thanks to their Spark Connection. The two hopefully have a good future ahead of them.
Next time though, we take a break from the Bots and see what the Military wants to know about the new arrivals on Earth, in "Grill".