The Autobots and Decepticons were still locked in an intense stalemate with the Human friends still imprisoned in the Cons' glass containers. Miko could only lean against the glass with her headdown.
"Not how I wanted to spend my first trip to Cybertron." Miko admitted unhapply.
"Starscream." Megatron said as a way to signal his Second In Command.
"Jack, it's time to come out and play." Starscream said with a playful smirk, scratching on the container's glass slowly.
"Go ahead." Jack said with a brave look. "The Autobots are prepared to sacrifice themselves for my planet. I'll do the same to theirs."
"Me too, creepy!" Miko called with a look to Knock Out while Raf gulped nervously at Soundwave while humming in agreement, afraid to go out like this, but for the Autobot's homeworld he would do it.
"Well, well, some of us are eager to leave existence," Sky-Byte commented with a smirk.
"Then perhaps we should oblige them." Megatron said, turning to the Autobots.
"If my decision dooms the future of the Autobot cause on Cybertron, so be it. But I will never forsake our human allies." Optimus declared before he stabbed the Star Saber straight into the ground and stepped back, showing his surrender.
The other Autobots knew they didn't have another option and they all deactivated their respective relics and weapons before tossing them next to the Star Saber. The children could only watch their Autobot friends accept defeat with sad expressions, feeling a little bit responsible for this incident.
"Smart choice, Autobots." Lockdown said with a smirk.
"Now if you please, the Omega Keys. One at a time." Megatron told his foes as Knockout stepped forward first.
"You and the big boy first, City Speaker," Knockout told to Windblade and Bulkhead while smirking.
Windblade and Bulkhead looked at each other before looking at Optimus, who nodded as they nodded back. They walked up to Knock Out as the Decepticon doctor had his servo out with a smirk. "Here, Pretty con." Windblade sneered as she shoved the key to his servo.
"If we don't get the girl, I'll make you eat that key." Bulkhead warned with a glare.
"You're welcome." Knock Out said with a smirk as he gave Miko to Bulkhead as the two growled.
"Get scrapped!" Miko sneered as they walked back to the others as Bumblebee and Jazz, who was given the key by the former, walked up to Soundwave, who presented Raf to them. "Take it, ya faceless freak." Jazz said with a glare as he handed him the key.
"If you tried doing anything to Raf, you'll live to regret it." Bumblebee threatened before he and Jazz walked back to them.
"Two Omega Keys but only one human left, Megatron," Elita said with a glare.
"Perhaps, but if this human was important enough to entrust with the Matrix of Leadership, he's worth two Omega Keys." Megatron told the Autobots while gesturing to Jack, "Both of which should be received by one who is deemed 'worthy' of the Matrix," He added, looking towards Hot Rod.
Hot Rod glared as he turned to Optimus, who nodded and he nodded back before turning to Prowl, who gave him his key. Hot Rod gestured to Acree to come as she nodded as the two Autobots walked towards Starscream, who put Jack down.
"No tricks. The keys if you please." Starscream taunted with a smirk as he aimed his missiles at the two with his arms out.
"Keep talking, Starscream. It just makes your T-Cog that much easier for me to rip out all over again." Arcee snarled.
"Easy, Acree." Hot Rod said with a look as he gave Starscream the two keys. "Just so you know, this was a dirty trick." He added to the seeker with a glare.
"Thank you." Starscream said with a smirk as Acree kneeled down and picked up Jack as the two smiled at each other in relief.
But then, the reunion moment was ruined when a Ground Bridge opened up and a bunch of Vehicons rushed out of it with their blasters aimed at the Autobots, surrounding them and the human children while Megatron and his followers looked on with the Omega Keys in their possession.
In the Autobot base, Ratchet was keeping a close eye on the main console's communicator in case Optimus or any of the Bots called for an update on their mission. Just then, he started receiving a call and sighed in relief.
"Optimus, were you successful?" Ratchet asked, only to get a different caller again.
"Ratchet. It's me, June Darby." June replied on her side of the call.
At Jack's house, June was in the garage while noticing her son or Acree wasn't while having seen her son or his friends all day and haven't come home from school. "How are you?" She asked while Ratchet stuttered in embarrassment.
"Busy, Mrs. Darby. I am expecting urgent news from the Autobots." Ratchet explained.
"Oh." June said in understanding. "Is Jack with them, in the base or Metroplex?"
"No, why?" Ratchet asked in confusion.
"I haven't seen him all day. And he isn't returning my calls." June said in concern.
"I will have Jack contact you immediately should I hear from him." Ratchet assured her.
"Now if you'll excuse me, Fixit and I must keep the comm lines clear." Ratchet said as he ended the call.
"Ratchet? Hello?" June questioned after Ratchet hang up on her as she gave a concerned look.
Back on Cybertron at the Omega Lock, the Autobots and the children were still surrounded by the Vehicons as Megatron approached the Omega Lock with him, Starscream, Soundwave and Knock Out holding the keys, while Astrotrain, Lockdown, Shadow Strike, CLobber, Skye-Byte, and Deadend stood by to watch.
"Now, bear witness as a new era dawns on Cybertron." Megatron said before he and his three followers inserted the keys into their slots, creating a small hologram of Cybertron and powering up the Energon circle above them. "Behold, the age of the Decepticon!"
When Megatron pressed on a red holographic button, a huge energy beam shot out from the Omega Lock and made contact with a destroyed Cybertronian building. The Autobots, Decepticons and the children watched as pieces of metal began to float near the building and it was consumed by a bright light, revealing it to be shiny silver and completely rebuilt like brand new.
"By the Allspark." Optimus whispered in astonishment.
"Amazing." Bumblebee said.
"Holy…" Rack started.
"Primus." Ruin finished.
"Sweet Solus Prime." Strongarm said in awed.
"Wow." Sideswipe muttered.
"Remarkable." Jetfire muttered.
"Whoa." The children said in awed.
"Instant home makeover." Miko muttered in awe.
"Shiny." Knock Out said with an impressive smile.
"Impressive." Sky-Byte admitted.
"Heh, a few more shots like that, Cybertron will be looking good." Deadend commented.
"Oooh! This is so exciting!" Clobber said with a smile.
"You have what you want, Megatron. This conflict is between Autobots and Decepticons." Optimus told his old enemy. "Allow me to return the children back to Earth."
"Oh, I wouldn't recommend it. They'll be far safer here." Megatron replied, making Optimus narrow his eyes suspiciously. "Is the Space Bridge locked on target?"
"Per your instructions, Lord Megatron." Starscream answered.
"Excellent. Why rule only one world, when I could rule two?" Megatron asked before a huge Space Bridge suddenly appeared over the Omega Lock.
"Wait, what?" Hot Rod asked in confusion.
With a single press of the red button, Megatron had the Omega Lock fire a ginormous energy beam directly into the Space Bridge.
"No." Optimus said in horror as he understood what Megatron's intentions were.
On the other side of the Space Bridge, the green vortex appeared in the center of the teleportation machine and the energy beam shot out of it straight down towards Earth. In Jasper, June was still trying to get a message or phone call from Jack before the sudden sound of an earthquake made her quite shocked and she rushed out the front door. Upon seeing the energy beam shooting down from the sky in the distance, June gasped in total astonishment and dropped her phone.
Ratchet could also tell something was wrong at base since all the electrical machinery was malfunctioning.
"Optimus, do you read? An unknown energy spike in Earth's atmosphere is crashing all systems." Ratchet informed on the communicator. "Fixit, please tell me this is related to the activation of the Omega Lock."
On the Metroplex, Fixit was having similar results. "Uncertain, Ratchet. But that energy surge seems to be originating from the Decepticon Space Bridge in orbit." He explained in worry. "It may be connect to the Omega Lock but why would it be targeting Earth?" He wondered.
"Hold on, if the Omega Lock's supposed to restore Cybertron, then it shouldn't cause any problems for Earth, right?" Grimlock asked hopefully to the others.
"Yeah, won't it?" Miko asked in concern.
"No. It will cyber-form the Earth in favor of its new Matrix. Destroying all indigenous life in the process." Optimus answered grimly.
"What?!" Whirl, Smokescreen and Moonracer exclaimed.
"No." Prowl and Kup said.
"Scrap!" Crosshairs, Windblade and Sideswipe said in dread as they watched the Omega Lock continue to fire.
"So much raw power!" Megatron said with a menacing smirk. "What should I call my new domain? New Kaon? Or perhaps, gilded Earth?" He taunted as Optimus turned to the children.
"No!" Jack yelled as he hit the glass.
"Leave our planet alone!" Miko exclaimed.
"Megatron, you scrapheap! Stop this at once!" Elita demanded with a glare. "The Omega Lock was made to heal, not destroy!"
"Oh, but it is healing." Megatron said with a smirk. "It's not destroying a planet, it is merely transforming it to suit its new masters." He taunted as he then laughed triumphantly with the rest of the Decepticons as they thought this was the day they finally won. Knowing that there was no other way and what he was about to do next may doom the future of Cybertron himself.
Optimus clenched his left hand and shifted it into a blade before immediately slicing away at one of the Vehicons, making him crash into Knock Out. Optimus then rushed to the Star Saber and grabbed, slicing down three Vehicons, "Optimus, what are you doing?!" Hot Rod asked in shocked and confusion.
With a shout of anger, Megatron brought out his Dark Star Saber and charged at Optimus as his old foe did the same. As soon as they both clashed their blades against each other and they bounced back, Optimus immediately took the opportunity to cut off Megatron's Liege Maximo arm and the Decepticon leader gasped in pain as his Dark Star Saber crashed into the floor with his severed arm still holding onto it.
Optimus ran past his old enemy and went straight for the Omega Lock as the other Decepticons began firing their blasters at him, causing the Autobot leader to deflect them with his blade. Starscream fired one of his wrist missiles and Optimus narrowly dodged it before he jumped off the air commander and brought the Star Saber straight down onto the Omega Lock with a shout, creating an insanely huge explosion that blasted everyone away and consumed the massive structure.
On Earth, the Omega Lock's beam disappeared and Ratchet could tell this had happened from the base as he saw the terminals working again.
"Optimus, can you read?" Ratchet asked.
"Ratchet, please open a Space Bridge." Optimus said on the communicator, sounding exhausted and a little bit depressed.
Ratchet could tell something serious happened, but did what his leader had told him.r
On Cybertron, the Autobots stood in shock as the smoke cleared, revealing the Omega Lock was completely destroyed as there was fire everywhere, "Optimus, what have you done?!" Hot Rod asked his leader in horrified shock.
Optimus slowly walked towards them as he placed the Star Saber back on his back. "I did…what I had to do… for the Earth." He answered in a depressed tone as the Autobots could see he felt a huge guilt for destroying the Omega Lock.
Just then, a Space Bridge opened up behind them as the Autobots rushed in to make their escape before the Decepticons could regain their and the other Decepticons recovered from the explosion while coughing a bit, but they were all horrified to see that their only way to restore Cybertron was now destroyed and up in flames.
"I don't…believe it." Sky-Byte muttered in disbelief.
"The Omega Lock is destroyed." Shadow Striker said.
"I guess we should cancel the welcome home party." Knock Out quipped before he was immediately smacked away by Starscream.
"Attend to our master!" Starscream ordered angrily. "He requires medical attention!" Knock Out quickly rushed to Megatron, who was still a bit injured from Optimus' attack.
The other Decepticons turned their attention to the Autobots' Space Bridge, which then closed up once they made it in.
"Slagging cowards!" Astrotrain scowled angrily.
"PRIME! You will pay for dooming Cybertron to remain a lifeless husk!" Starscream yelled out.
However, the Decepticons were surprised and confused when they heard Megatron laughing deviously as Knock Out helped him stand. "They can run, but they can never again run to one of their homes." Megatron proclaimed with a smirk.
At the Autobot Base, all the Autobots walked through the Space Bridge, with Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee carrying their human friends, much to Ratchet's surprise. "The children? What happened?" He asked while he noticed the Autobots' depressed looks. "Somebody say something."
"Optimus…destroyed the Omega Lock." Elita said sadly.
"He charged ahead with the Star Saber and blew up the whole thing." Jazz added.
"What?! You did-" Ratchet began to say, very shocked.
"What was necessary." Optimus interrupted with his head down. "There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger."
"So you destroyed the only device in any universe capable of restoring our home?" Ratchet asked with an extremely shocked and disheartened expression. "Optimus…we needed that."
"You weren't there, doc. And it's not your place to second guess a battlefield decision." Smokescreen replied defensively.
"It most certainly is! There had to be another way!" Ratchet stated, feeling a bit angry now.
"There was no other way, Ratchet!" Windblade stated with a look.
"She's right, it wasn't that simple!" Jack told him.
"Megatron was using the Omega Lock to attack the Earth!" Raf explained, trying to reason wiht him.
"Optimus saved our planet!" Miko added
"What about our Planet!?" Ratchet exclaimed angrily, "All of our struggles and Energon spilled! countless sacrifices for nothing?!" He demanded the other Autobots.
"What?! You think we just gave Megatron permission to use that thing?!" Sideswipe asked rhetorically.
"He kidnapped the children and brought them to Cybertron as ransom for the Omega Keys!" Ironhide added with a look. "If we didn't comply, he's was going to expose them to the toxic air of Cybertron, we didn't have a choice."
"Which begs the question," Elita started as she gave Ratchet a hard look. "How did the children get captured in the first place?!"
"How should I know?!" Ratchet questioned with his arms raised. "I only last heard of them when Jack asked why you weren't around to pick them up at school, nothing more!"
"And you didn't think to pick them up yourself or even use the Ground Bridge for quicker transportation?" Kup questioned with his arms crossed.
"I had more important things to worry about!" Ratchet retorted.
"More important than us?!" Miko questioned while gesturing to herself and her friends. "We got kidnapped by cons a few minutes after you hung up while we were walking home from school!"
Optimus gave Ratchet a stern glare, "Ratchet, you were tasked with safeguarding the children in our absence," He said in a disappointed tone.
Ratchet stammered as he gave an uneasy but angry look. "What do you want from me?! I had to monitor your mission since it was our chance to actually restore Cybertron! I can't do both watch duty and pick up the children at the same time!" He exclaimed in defense.
"If you had picked up the children, Megatron wouldn't have his leverage and Optimus wouldn't have destroyed the Omega Lock!" Prowl yelled with a glare.
"Right decision or wrong, what's done is done." Acree said with a firm look. "But we have another problem here in this world. The Cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko, and Raf into play."
"So what, are you trying to say that every human on this world deserves to die just so we can go home?" Hot Rod questioned the medic with a glare.
"Well, I'm not saying that, but there could've been another way for the Omega Lock to be intact!" Ratchet snapped.
"It's not just about Cybertron, Ratchet. It's about every world." Hot Rod retorted with a look. "What Optimus did was beyond forgiving, but he feels bad about it enough. And we can't trade lives of one planet just so we can get our's back!"
"And what would you know?!" Ratchet questioned with a glare.
"Okay, you two." Moonracer said, trying to ease the tension. "Let's all calm down?" She tried to say but her worlds gone death.
"Earth may have been connected to Cybertron as it is, but we can't just off an entire species!" Hot Rod stated.
"Oh, like humans are just as important as our species! They're not as important as their stinking planet!" Ratchet exclaimed, which made Hot Rod and the other bots flinch back at what he just said as some gasped while Jack, Miko, and Raf gave hurtful expressions as Ratchet realized what he just said as he turned and saw the hurt expressions the children were giving them.
"Whoa." Crosshairs muttered in awed.
"You think we're not that important, Ratch?" Jack questioned.
"I… Uh… I didn't mean to-" Ratchet tried to say.
"Hmm, no wonder you hang up on us." Miko grumbled as she turned away and walked off as Jack gave a disappointed look to the Autobot medic as he joined Miko to the hangout platform.
Ratchet then looked at Raf, who had tears in his eyes. "Rafael, I…" He tried to say before Raf turned away with a sniff.
"You… forgot that humans have feelings, Ratchet. And that… was just hurtful." Raf said sadly with light sobs as he joined Jack and Miko as Ratchet then gave a guilty look as he turned to the other Autobots, who gave disappointed looks.
"That's just mean." Grimlock said with a look to Ratchet.
"More like…" Rack started.
"Awful." Ruin finished.
"Ratchet, that was out of line." Acree said with a huge frown.
"Way out." Bulkhead added with a frown as well.
"You shouldn't have said that." Bumblebee added as Ratchet gave a shameful look.
Ratchet then turned to Optimus who gave him the most disappointed look he'd ever seen and it broke his spark to see it.
Just then, the main console started to receive an urgent communication call. "Prime! The Pentagon's preparing to go def-con-one!" Agent Fowler called out. "I need to know what we're dealing with!"
"To what do you refer, Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked as he and the other Bots looked at him on the screen.
"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves." Fowler told them.
"Ratchet…watch the children." Optimus said firmly.
"You're trusting him with the kids, again?" Firestar questioned.
"Until Ratchet has learned the true meaning of life, he will spend more time with the children." Optimus said firmly as the Autobots stood silent as they followed after their leader.
Although they felt concerned about what was about to happen next, the children were still sitting on the hangout platform's couches in sadness, still hurt by Ratchet's words. They also didn't feel like getting involved.
Outside the base and on it's roof, the larger elevator opened up and the Autobots arrived on top from the platform. When the Autobots looked ahead, they were all shocked to the Sparks to see a ginormous Cybertronian tower that was dark-rusted and reached all the way up to the clouds. Agent Fowler's helicopter flew right towards the base and landed near the Autobots, allowing the special agent to exit his aerial vehicle for a debriefing of the situation.
"Just to be clear, we're all seeing that giant scary tower in the distance, right?" Sideswipe asked, still a bit shocked on the inside.
"Yes, Sideswipe, we all see it." Strongarm said in awed.
"W-What has just occurred?" Jetfire asked in complete shock.
"Megatron has managed to accomplish the first phase of his cyber-forming of Earth." Optimus said.
"He reconstructed Darkmount." Elita said grimly. "The very same fortress he has back on Cybertron."
"Next door to Jasper, Nevada? I don't get it. I've already had the town evacuated." Fowler said in confusion. "Why here?"
"Guys, look!" Bumblebee stated as he pointed towards Darkmount.
The Autobots and Fowler followed his gaze and they saw the Nemesis descending from the dark clouds and it headed straight for them.
"Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base." Optimus announced with narrowed eyes.
"How did they find us?!" Whirl questioned in fear.
"Yeah! Shouldn't the base be shielded or something?!" Sideswipe asked in a panic tone.
Elita then realized, "The Space Bridge." She said in horror.
"What?" Kup asked in confusion.
"Our Space Bridges!" Elita cried out as they all turned to her. "Optimus, when you remodify our Ground Bridges with the Forge, we forgot to shield our Space Bridges to prevent the Cons from tracing us back to base! We had it with our old Ground Bridges, but after being turned into Space Bridges, we forgot to install the safeguards!" She explained in dread
"Aw Scrap." Grimlock muttered in horror as they all turned to the Nemesis.
Ontop of the Nemesis from its main docking area, Megatron stood on the very roof of his warship with his right arm still served. Soundwave, Knock Out, Lockdown, Deadend, Clobber and Shadow Striker stood beside him while Astrotrain was standing from the far back.
"Our opportunity to revive Cybertron has been lost, due to the treachery of Optimus Prime! But from our fortress of New Kaon, we will instead seize control of this world!" Megatron shouted out victoriously, turning to an armada of white Vehicon flyers with red Decepticon symbols led by Starscream with Sky-Byte beside him. "DECEPTICONS, TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!" He declared, raising his remaining arm
"All hail Lord Megatron!" The Decepticons all cheered with their arms up.
"So now, my Decepticon brethren let us go down and blaze our glorious trail to victory!" Skye-Byte announced.
"I thought you'd never asked!" Starscream shouted with glee as he and Skye-Byte took to the air as the other flyers transformed and followed after the two seekers towards the Autobot base with the Autobots in sight. "Come our armada! Attack! Attack! ATTACK!"
The members of the Seeker armada began firing their lasers at the Autobots and they quickly avoided the shots, making Starscream and his minions fly past them. The Autobots fired their blasters at the armada and they quickly turned around to see an Insecticon swarm incoming, with one of them knocking away Bulkhead. Optimus, Elita, Chromia, Strongarm, Prowl and Bulkhead quickly disposed of some Insecticons with their blades and wrecking ball respectively while Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Grimlock, Firestar, Moonracer, and Arcee took them down with physical contact and Jazz, Hot Rod, Kup, Ironhide, Crosshairs, Whirl, and Smokescreen blasted some more while Jetfire and Windblade took to the air and took out as many as they could.
After slicing an Insecticon with the Star Saber, Optimus used his weapon to shoot an energy wave and explode a large number of them. But then, Starscream and his armada returned and fired another barrage of laser shots.
"There's too many of them!" Sideswipe called as he blocked the shots with his sword.
"Autobots, into the base!" Optimus ordered.
The Autobots started to get back on the elevator platform, but Bulkhead noticed Fowler getting into his helicopter.
"Fowler, what're you doing?!" Bulkhead asked.
"My job, two-tone!" Fowler replied before he started up his vehicle's controls and took off.
As the Autobots retreated back into the base, Fowler flew his chopper at the Decepticons and fired the turret at them. The armada avoided his shots and they flew right past the chopper, continuously shooting the base.
Inside the base, Ratchet and the children could feel everything shaking. "What's happening?!" Jack asked in startled as were Miko and Raf as they turned and saw the rest of the Autobots coming in.
"What is going on out there?" Ratchet questioned.
"The Decepticons have invaded Jasper." Optimus answered.
"And Fowler seems to think he can hold them off." Bulkhead added.
"Our Space Bridge tracked the cons right to us!" Windblade added.
"What?! How?!" Ratchet asked in a complete stunt.
"We forgot to install safeguards on our Space Bridges to keep the cons from tracking us." Strongarm explained as Ratchet's face palmed himself as he groaned.
"Oh, Primus help us all." Ratchet muttered.
Fowler's chopper was being fired upon by three Vehicons as the special agent did his best to fly away from them.
"Special Agent Fowler to Air Defence command, I need immediate combat support!" Fowler called on his radio before a laser shot hit his chopper and made it catch fire.
While he was shocked by the sudden hit, Fowler looked ahead to see a group of Insecticons corner him with vicious snarls and they prepared to attack him.
"Come on, Air Defence command." Fowler whispered worriedly.
Before the Insecticons could fire their horn blasters, some powerful laser shots hit them from the sky and the bug-like Cybertronians were instantly taken out, much to Fowler's surprise.
"I'll be triple-dipped." Fowler commented, looking at the sky to see a familiar Cybertronian ship appear and shoot down more enemies.
"Prime, reinforcements just arrived." Fowler informed on the base's communicator, which everyone heard from within.
"Agent Fowler, your military cannot prevail against the-" Optimus began to say.
"You didn't think I was gonna let the Autobots have all the fun, did you?" A familiar voice asked jokingly, which made Crosshairs, Kup, Grimlock and Bulkhead smile.
"Haha! It's Jackie!" Bulkhead cheered.
"Ahahah! The explosive expert is back!" Crosshairs cheered.
"Alright!" Grimlock cheered.
"Heheh, perfect timing, Wheeljack." Kup said with a smile.
Wheeljack's ship flew around the area of the base and struck down as many Decepticons as much as he could.
"Wheeljack?" Ratchet asked, managing to put on a slight smile. "But, how did you-"
"I picked up a strange energy surge." Wheeljack explained as he appeared on-screen. "Hope you all don't mind the company."
"No, it's just that after everything, well…" Ratchet said softly, knowing they didn't part on the best of terms after his revenge mission on Hardshell.
"We're still on the same team, doc. Always will be." Wheeljack told him as he shot down a few more Insecticons. "Drift is on his way to help out. But it may take time. Might as well thin some out now." He informed as he kept firing at more enemies.
Optimus walked away from the group to think a bit. Seeing as how the entire Decepticon army was right at their front door with a destructive arsenal, this was a battle none of them could win. There was only one thing they could do, now.
"Ratchet, prepare to bridge everyone out of here." Optimus ordered.
"We're abandoning the base?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.
"The base is lost. Wheeljack, Drift, and Agent Fowler can only buy us time to escape." Optimus said. "Bumblebee and Raf, you will depart first."
"Wait, what?!" Bumblebee replied in shock.
"You're splitting us up?!" Raf asked in shock.
"Shouldn't we stick together?" Jack asked.
"All for one and one for all?" Miko added.
"We must distburst to avoid capture until we regroup at Metroplex to launch a counter attack." Optimus said to them as they all looked at him. "Survival is our only priority now."
"Can't we just all Ground Bridge to Metroplex?" Jack asked. "The cons can't track us by Ground Bridging, right?"
"We must not take the chance, or else we'll risk exposing Metroplex's location as well. But once you're separated, the Decepticons will monitor any radio contact we make. Once we have regrouped with any comrades, return to Metroplex." Optimus instructed as they all looked down in sadness, realizing there was no other way.
As an Insecticon pursued Fowler, the special agent saw a Vehicon coming with his blasters being fired. Using the smoke trailing from his chopper, Fowler flew out of the way and this caused the Vehicon and Insecticon to crash into each other.
"The day I'm out flown by a bunch of toasters is the day I…" Fowler said to himself, only to trail off when he saw the arriving directly above the base.
Megatron walked onto the very bottom edge of his ship, staring down at the base as he knew it was time to finish his foes.
Once the Ground Bridge is opened, Bumblebee and Raf raced through as Ratchet entered the next sets of coordinates as Miko was in Bulkhead as Jack and Acree are right beside them. "We haven't much time!" Optimus said, feeling that they were running out of time.
Miko turned to Jack with a sad look, which Jack returned as Miko kept looking at him before she and Bulkhead entered the Ground Bridge as Ratchet put on the next set of coordinates as Jack put on his helmet as he and Acree went through next.
"I guess it's our turn now, since we don't have partners," Whirl said sadly.
"Make a quick Ground Bridge for each group, Ratchet." Elita said sadly as Ratchet started putting in another set of coordinates.
Meanwhile outside the base, June was driving towards the area in her car and was astonished to see the sky battle happening ahead. While she wasn't looking, a Vehicon flew behind her and started shooting its blasters at the vehicle, causing June to steer out of control and come to a screeching halt. June began to shake her head and regain focus, but the Vehicon transformed in front of her and approached her menacingly as she gasped fearfully and honked her horn.
From his chopper as he shot down a Vehicon, Fowler heard the car honks and saw June in trouble on the road. "June?" Fowler asked surprisingly.
The Vehicon aimed it's blaster at June and prepared to fire, before an orange car jumped and rammed it before it transformed into a familiar samurai Cybertronian as he drew his sword and sliced the Vehicon in two as it fell to the ground as Drift turned to June as he kneeled down to her as she looked at Drift in surprise.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" Drift asked as June simply nodded as Drift saw Fowler's copter landing down before Drift drew his swords before Fowler opened his door.
"It's alright, Samurai Jack, it's me." Fowler said as June got out as Drift lowered his swords. "When did you get here?"
"I have picked up an energy surge originating from this area and hopes of checking it out, only to find a battle is occuring." Drift said while gesturing to the battle in the distance. "Has Megatron discovered the Autobot Base?"
"Yeah, and something tells me what he's gonna do won't be pretty." Fowler said to him as Wheeljack's ship flew over them while trying to shoot down two Vehicons.
Wheeljack flew the Jackhammer through the air and kept shooting down some enemies, but Starscream and Sky-Byte flew right behind him.
"You're scrap, Auto-scum!" Sky-Byte said as the two Seekers fired their missiles.
Wheeljack saw the missiles on his radar and flew around in an attempt to avoid them, but all six missiles struck the back of his ship and the white Wrecker yelled out as his ride ended up crashing to the ground in a fiery explosion.
"And that's how you wreck a Wrecker!" Starscream quipped with a sinister laugh, causing Sky-Byte to do the same.
In the base, Hot Rod and Smokescreen were the only ones left as they turned to Elita, Optimus, and Ratchet and gave a salute before they transformed and entered the Ground Bridge as Ratchet set another coordinate as the ground shook. "Ratchet, your turn." Optimus said to his Sparkmate sadly.
"What about you two?" Ratchet asked the two leaders.
"We'll take the next one." Elita said to him. "You get somewhere safe."
Ratchet nodded as he set another coordinates to somewhere as he gave a sad look. "I… I am sorry I let this happen." He said sadly to them before he entered the Ground Bridge.
"I as well, old friend." Optimus said sadly.
Elita then punched in the next coordinates and activated the Ground Bridge, "Alright, now it's our turn." She said walking towards the portal but saw Optimus wasn't moving, "Optimus?" she asked.
"I must ensure that the Decepticons cannot follow." Optimus said to her, which shocked Elita much, knowing what he was going to do.
"No. No, Optimus. You can't!" Elita pleaded as she walked up to Optimus and placed her servos on his chassis. "Megatron will destroy you if you stay!"
"Then I shall pay for betraying Cybertron," Optimus said with a frown.
"Optimus, please! You can't risk your life! Let me stay with you!" Elita pleaded while she tried to fight back the tears.
Optimus placed a servo on her shoulder, "You must go, Elita. The Autobots will need a strong leader to guide them." He said to her in comfort.
"B-But, you're their leader. And you're my love." Elita said sadly, "Orion, please! I, I can't lose you again." She wept.
"Know that no matter what happens, our sparks are connected," Optimus said to her. "And no matter what comes next, we will always find our way back to each other." he said, caressing her face.
Elita looked both sadden and touched by Optimus's words as the base shook a again, signaling it won't last much longer. Elita turned to the ground bridge and began walked up to it with a sad look before she stopped and rushed back to Optimus and caught him in a deep kiss, which surprised him as he returned the gesture as they stood that way for a moment before they separated as Elita walked to the Ground Bridge with a sad look.
"I… never imagined it would come to this, Orion." Elita said sadly with her head down as she walked through the Ground Bridge before it closed.
"Neither did I, Ariel." Optimus said sadly before he turned to the Ground Bridge's controls as he clenched his fists.
Outside, the Nemesis opened up its bottom hatch and revealed a huge laser cannon that was pointing straight down at the base. The laser began to power up a huge amount of red energy as Drift, Fowler, and June watched in shock and concern.
Optimus pulled out his Star Saber and he raised it over the Ground Bridge controls before bringing the legendary weapon down on it.
At the same time, the laser fired down at the base and completely destroyed it. What was once the precious base of the Autobots was now nothing but a blown-up wreck of rubble and steel.
"No." June whispered in absolute horror, putting a hand over her mouth and sobbing lightly, fearing the Autobots and her son were still in there.
Fowler could only look away and sighed to himself, feeling bad that he couldn't help the Autobots or their young friends while Drift turned away while trying to keep his emotions in check by what had just occurred.
"There is no time for mourning, we must go." Drift said to Fowler and June as he quickly transformed into his vehicle mode. "The day may have been lost but Tomorrow's victory is inhand." He said as his doors opened up.
Fowler and June looked at each other with concerned frowns before they rushed into Drift as he drove off before they were spotted, hoping with all their hearts that their friends and family all managed to escape in time.
At what remains of the Autobot base, Megatron transformed and descended towards the destroyed base with Starscream in tow before both of them transformed again and landed. They looked down and noticed a big Autobot symbol beneath their feet.
"This is the place, alright." Starscream said, recognizing the symbol from when he stole the Omega Keys.
"This was the place." Megatron corrected with a smirk.
"United we stand, divided they fall." Starscream commented while smirking down at the Autobot symbol.
From deep within the flaming rubble of the base, the hand of Optimus Prime stuck out in a motionless way as sparks flew out from it. This was indeed the darkest hour. The Autobots and their human friends were scattered, their base was destroyed, the Decepticons now ruled over Jasper and the great Optimus Prime was now seemingly gone for good.
What will happen next for the future of Earth or Cybertron?
What will happen indeed?
The Omega Lock has been destroyed, the Autobot base is blasted into pieces, our heroes are who knows where far apart from each other and now Megatron has an Iron-clad grip on Earth.
Could things get any worse from this point?
Stay tuned, as the Autobots and the human kids have survived being chased by Cons and figure out how to get back together again in "Darkmount: NV".