Same deal as the last chapters: slightly changed events, but relatively the same, but it's the last chapter of ROTF! After, I'll start writing the falling out of the events of ROTF.
This one is the longest chapter, but I really couldn't find a good spot to end it, so it turned into the longest chapter I've written in any of my stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, or any brands/movies/shows referenced in this!
Chapter Ten: The Final Reckoning
I faceplant in sand, vaguely aware of the screams of the others.
Wait- Sand?
I sit up, spit out sand and rub it out of my eyes. A few feet away from me, Ratchet appears and also is faceplanted in the sand.
"What the frag?" He mutters with shock, glancing around worriedly before finding me, and marginally relaxing.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"Are you alright?" He asked with concern. "You're not hurt?"
"I think so." I nodded slowly. "Still in one piece, living and breathing."
The twins scream as the appear, flung into some rocks. Bee makes some loud electronic squeals, Simmons is flung into the sand, Mikeala and Leo appear and Sam screams. Jetfire and Wheelie appear too.
I stare dumbfounded. I met Ratchet's gaze, who's just as confused as me.
"Where are we?" Sam shouts.
"It's Vegas!" Leo shouts. "I think we're in Vegas!"
"Well," I drawl. "We're definitely not in Kansas anymore."
"Took the words…right outta my mouth!" Bee said through his radio, and I got the feeling he was jealous I beat him to that movie reference.
"Sorry, Bee." I shrugged unsympathetically, knowing Bee's love for movie lines and movie references. He's probably been waiting all year to use that Wizard of Oz line.
"That really, really hurt." Simmons told Jetfire. "You're just lucky I didn't get hurt! People could've gotten killed. And if I would have hurt, you would've heard from my mother-"
"Shut up!" Jetfire chided. "I told you I was opening a spacebridge. It's the fastest way to travel to Egypt."
"You just told us to stay still or we could die!" I snapped. "Why on Earth are we in Egypt? You didn't say anything!"
"Don't get snippy with me, fleshling!" He snapped. "You were duly informed!"
"When?" Ratchet asked, clearly not wanting to be left out of this pow-wow of epic proportions, and coming to my rescue. "You didn't inform us of anything."
"Don't get any ideas of being snippy from the fleshling, youngling." Jetfire told him in a lecturing tone.
"Can you stop for a second? Can you focus?" Sam asks, interrupting Jetfire's brewing tangent. "Can you tell us why were in Egypt so we all can have a little bit of semblance of peace of mind?"
Simmons points at Sam aggressively with a grin.
"This planet was visited by our race once before, by our earliest ancestors, millennia ago. They were on an exploratory mission to harvest Energon, the life blood of our race. Without it we'll all perish, oxidize and rust like my wretched self! Do you have any idea what it's like to slowly fall apart and die?!" Jetfire shouts.
"Nope." The twins respond in unison. Bee and Ratchet just stay quiet to keep Jetfire from getting started on another tangent.
"Let's not get episodic, okay, old-timer?" Simmons says. "Beginning, middle, end. Details. Condense. Plot. Tell it."
"Without going off on a rant." I helpfully add.
"Somewhere, buried in this desert, our ancestors built a great machine that harvests energon, by destroying suns."
"Destroy suns?" Sam asks.
"You mean blow 'em up?" Leo asks.
"Yes. You see, in the beginning, there were Thirteen Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe, seeking distant suns to harvest. The Primes set out with one rule: never destroy a planet with life. Until one of them tried to defy this rule, and his name forevermore was the Fallen. He despised the human race and he wanted to kill you all by turning on that machine." Jetfire projected an image of 'The Fallen'.
"The only way to activate it is with a legendary key, called the Matrix of Leadeship, but it's much more than a simple key. It stores all the knowledge of the primes, it is part of the Allspark, with abilities only the Primes know about. A great battle took place over possession the Matrix. The Fallen was stronger than his brothers, so they had no choice but to steal and hide it from him." Jetfire gestured, projecting more holograms.
"In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their very own bodies, in a tomb we cannot find. Somewhere, buried in this desert, that deadly machine remains. The Fallen knows where it is and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, your world will be no more." Jetfire finishes.
"So… how do we stop him?" I ask.
"Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen." Jetfire says.
"Like Optimus Prime?" Sam mumbled.
"So, you've met a Prime? You must have met a great descendant. Is he alive, here, on this planet?" Jetfire leans down, getting eye level with us.
"He sacrificed himself to save me." Sam responds.
"To save us." I interject, ignoring Sam's irritated glare. I know he doesn't want me to blame myself for this mess too. But I still feel like I have a bit of the blame.
"So, he's dead." Jetfire said sadly. "Without a Prime, it's impossible. No one else could stop the Fallen. No one else is strong enough."
An idea pops in my head, almost as if it was meant to. "Wait, the Matrix of Leadership, that same energy that'll be used to reactivate the Energon Harvester, could it be used to reactivate Optimus and bring him back to life?" I say, thinking out loud.
"It was never designed for that purpose, but it's an energy like no other." Jetfire straightens.
"How do you get us to the Matrix before the decepticons get to us?" Sam asked.
"Follow your mind, your map, your symbols." Jetfire told Sam. "What you carved in the sand, it's your clue! When Dawn alights the Dagger's tip, Three kings will reveal the doorway! Find the doorway! Go now, go! That was my mission, but it's your mission now, all of you, go before the decepticons find me and find you!"
After, we're driving across the desert, camels cantering past, mountains beyond us, rising up to touch the sun and the sky.
If the situation wasn't so dire, and if I hadn't gotten stuck in the middle seat in the back, I might be enjoying this. I wanted to ride with Ratchet, but Sam said we shouldn't be splitting up. I let him win that fight.
"Ok, so here's what my CIA contact says," Simmons says after he gets off the phone. "Ancient Sumerians used to call the Gulf of Aqaba the "Dagger's Tip".
"That's the Dagger's Tip." Sam says.
"It's part of the Red Sea, it divides Egypt and Jordan like the tip of a blade. 29.5 degrees north, 35 east. Here it is." Simmons shows us on a map on his burner phone.
"First thing we gotta do is get Optimus to the Dagger's tip." Sam says.
"How are you gonna get him halfway around the world?" Leo asks.
"I'mma make a call." Sam said.
Sirens blare, and two cop cars start chasing us.
"We got cops." Sam says.
"Woah!" Leo shouts when they both spin out, trying to turn around to chase us.
"I can't go to prison, guys!" Leo shouts.
"Why are they chasing us when Ratchet's an ambulance?" Mikeala asked.
"His vehicle mode, and Bee's are pretty unique. You don't think the FBI or something put out some sort of notice or pictures of the autobots with us?" I respond.
"That's the first thing they would've done." Simmons confirms. "Besides putting your brother on the most wanted list."
"That's comforting." I dryly say.
"We've got to get off this road and lay low." Simmons says to Sam. We do just that. All of us hide, while Mikeala is on Lookout. Ratchet, Bee and the twins hang onto a roof to stay out of sight, Ratchet holding onto Skids by his foot.
"Man, stupid cops." Skids whispers.
"This is what's called blendin' in like a ninja!" Mudflap says.
"Shut up or I'll blend my fist in your face!" Skids responds.
"Knock it off!" Ratchet scolded the twins. "We're trying not to draw unwanted attention!"
"They're gone." Mikeala says.
"Ok, we're running out of time, I need to make a call to Lennox-" Sam says.
"You're on the Worldwide Wanted List." Simmons glares at him. "Try calling one base, they'll track you here in seconds. CIA's all over this place."
"How about you make the call?" I asked.
"Okay, that's a good idea." Simmons responds. "I mean, I just had my mind on other things, like winding up in an Egyptian prison."
Sam gives the 'bots a 'one second' gesture, telling them to wait as we rush to a phone.
Simmons puts in a quarter at the phone and makes the call. "Lennox, I'm with the kids. The kids. You know, the ones with the attitudes, right? We need the truck. The truck. We got a possible resurrection going on over here. You're not going to believe where we are. Code Tut, as in King Tutankhamen. Back of a One-Dollar-Bill. Coordinates for airdrop, 29.5 north, 35.88 east. Write it down. Write it. I got to go, okay? Heat comes."
He hangs up the phone, but the whole thing falls apart in a comical fashion.
"Cops are coming, right now, we need to go!" Leo runs up to us.
If it's this hard staying unnoticed for 36 hours, I genuinely wonder how fugitives from the law hide out for months and years before they're caught.
"Move, move, move, move!"
We all get going, getting out there. We all get back on the road.
"Ok, let's go over it again." Sam says. "When the dawn alights the Dagger's tip, three kings will reveal the doorway."
"That's what he said, do you know what it means?" Simmons asks.
"No, what does it mean?" Sam asks.
"I have no idea" Simmons responds.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, checkpoint, checkpoint." Leo says. "I don't have my passport."
"PASSPORT!" One of the guards yells, and keeps yelling something in Arabic.
"They got cameras up top." Sam said, glancing up at one.
"Alright, chill, this is espionage now, I can handle it." Simmons says. "These are my people, I'm 1/36th Arab."
Wheelie leans forward. "Great, a frickin' munchkin. Little people are mean, tell him he's tall."
"The Dagger's Tip, right?" Simmons responds to the foreign language the guard says. "Egypt, Jordan, we want to go there. Me and my Family. This is my family, this is my son, my other son, my daughters, we're tourists, from New York."
"New York?" The guard asks.
"Yes,"
"Fifty kilometers." The Guard gestures.
"You look like the guy who runs my falafel stand, thank you! I know I knew you from somewhere." Simmons says.
"Go Yankees." The guard yells after us as we drive forward.
We get past a city, but still too close to civilization to be outwardly obvious. We sneak toward a building that looks way past its glory days.
"Undercover, yo, you gotta blend in with your surroundings." Skids says. "You know, you gotta be part of the landscape."
Ratchet walked right into Skids unabashedly. "Be serious, won't you?" He griped.
"Ow!" Skids complained.
"Wow!" I look at the pyramid. "Amazing!"
"I think aliens built that." Simmons says.
We all go into that abandoned building after Sam opens.
"Go around the side," I gestured to the autobots. I haven't really gotten to talk with Ratchet much, and I wanted to. "There's space back there that'll keep you guys hidden."
Night soon falls on the Pyramids. I'm sitting on a wooden platform, elbows on my knees. Ratchet stood beside me. The wooden platform is tall enough that we can be almost eye-level.
"I wish there wasn't so much at stake." I mumbled, flicking a pebble away. "I might actually be enjoying my first time out of the U.S. if the whole world wasn't spinning out of control."
"I understand." Ratchet responded. "It doesn't seem as if anything has gone right in the past two days."
"It's been two days?" I glance up at Ratchet.
"It has. It doesn't feel like it has."
"Definitely not." I nodded. "You know, it's funny, but not comical funny, like ironic funny, that I felt like Sam going to college would be like the end of the world, and you know what, in a way I was right!"
Ratchet chuckled. "It was hardly expected or usual,"
"Dropping Sam off at college wasn't usual," I snorted. "You should've been there, I felt like it was a scene straight from a movie, it was wild."
"I'm sure it was." Ratchet responded with mirth.
"None of my friends will ever believe I went to Egypt over the Summer either." I smiled, before my smile dropped. "And I might be grounded 'til I'm thirty."
"Why is that?" Ratchet asked, amusement in his voice. "Did you break another toaster?"
"That wasn't my fault," I scowled. "And no. There's a reason my parents say I'm the troublemaker, the one thats always stressing them out, and not Sam. I probably gave my grandparents a heart-attack. I left them a voicemail telling them that Mikeala and I have to go to Sam's college to save his sorry aft, and then the Decepticons broadcast Sam's face all over planet Earth! They're probably freaking out, same with my parents."
I sighed, putting my head in my hands. "I just want to go home, if by the end of this there's a home to go to."
"Alex, listen to me." Ratchet said, but I didn't meet his gaze. "I will keep you safe, and I will bring you home, even if it's the last thing I do."
The resolve in his voice forced me to look him in the optics.
"We will succeed. We have to hope for that much." The willpower in his optics makes me believe that much.
"Alex! Ratchet!" Sam shouted, running down the wooden planks toward us. "Come on, come 'ere!"
He led us to the foot of the pyramid.
To Leo, Sam said. "Listen, astronomy class, page 47. Remember the class?"
"No, I was only in college for two days, remember that?" Leo responded.
By this time, the other three 'bots came around, and we all stood, looking past the pyramid.
"Ok, you see those three stars?" Sam pointed. "You see how the last one touches the horizon? That's Orion's belt, but it's also called the Three Kings," Sam explained. "The reason for that is the three Egyptian kings who built the pyramids of Giza built them to mirror those stars. So, it's like an arrow staring us straight in the face."
"They all point due easy, towards Jordan. The mountains of Petra." Simmons responds, pointed toward the looming peaks.
We all get back onto the desert roads. Sam, finally, lets me ride with Ratchet.
"This is..." The sprawling sands almost glowed from the light of the sun- like embers in a fire after it's been burning for hours.
"Incredible?" Ratchet suggested.
"Yeah, something like that." I nodded.
Bee and the twins pulled over, and so Ratchet did as well. The bots transformed after we got out of their vehicle modes, and Simmons and Sam found a rocky mountain path.
After stepping over rough rocks, I mumbled. "I'm glad I wore tennis shoes."
"Slagging sand." Wheelie complained.
"It's got to be around here somewhere." Simmons said.
We got to the end of the trail. Ancient ruins seems like they were carved out of the rock. Columns rose up to meet intricate borders that framed the entire ruin, between the columns looked like windows, although they didn't lead to any room. The most noticeable, the most eye-catching part of the ruins was a 25-foot-tall doorway which seemed to invite you in.
"You see the size of this?" Sam asked.
"Seeing, yeah. Still working on believing." I responded, running to catch up to Sam.
"Spectacular." Skids gestured dramatically.
"Amazing, look at that!" Simmons said.
It felt… well, I wasn't really sure how it felt. Surreal didn't quite seem to describe how it felt to climb up into the ancient ruins. Maybe extraordinary. No, doesn't quite do it.
Awe-inspiring.
That's what it was.
Ratchet stepped in, followed by Skids and Mudflap, and finally Bee.
"It's here somewhere guys." Sam says.
"Yeah, why?" Leo asked. "'Cause we're trusting grandpa Blackbird who doesn't even know what planet he's on?"
"In his defense this is the biggest doorway I've ever seen in my entire life." Simmons looked up to the ceiling which towered above even Ratchet's head.
"Okay, well, that's great. Let me do a quick search, all right?" Leo snarked, spinning around. "Uhhh, nope! Ever cross your mind, guys, that archeologists have been here before? There's nothing here."
I sat down on the limestone step by the painting, heart ready to snap in two. Did we do all that for nothing? No, no. It can't have been for nothing. It can't be over.
"Real life is heartbreak, despair, kid!" Simmons barked. "Sometimes you get to the end of the rainbow, and the leprechauns when and booby-trapped it!"
"I'm listening to you? You live with your mother!" Leo shouted back.
"This isn't it! It's not over." I say so quietly I'm surprised anyone heard me over the chaos.
"It is over! It's done!" Leo responded.
"Why are we still listening to you and your little punk ass brother? What have the two o' you ever done except ding my rim?" Mudflap snapped.
"Kill Megatron, how about that?" Skids responded.
"Well, he didn't get the job done, because he's back now!" Mudflap yelled.
"Are you scared?" Skids got into his brother's face.
"Scared? Scared of your ugly face!" Mudflap spat.
"I'm ugly? We're twins you stupid genius!" Skids pushed his brother.
"Bring it then! Get off me!"
Mudflap tossed his brother, then Skids lifted Mudflap, ready to throw him at the wall I was in front of I scrabbled to get out of the way. "STOP!"
He threw Mudflap, and he cracked the painting.
"Knock it the slag off before you hurt someone!" Ratchet snarled, picking them both up by the back of the necks, while they both continued to argue, then yell at Ratchet. He slammed them into each other, then tossed them out.
Skids landed on top of Mudflap. They yelled.
"Now that's rude!" Skids said.
"Ratch, you're more 'con than medic!" Mudflap yelled.
"Been wantin' to do that all day!" Bee said through his radio to Ratchet. "You beat me to it."
I saw something shiny between the cracks in the wall. I pulled the cracked bits out of the way. There was definitely something cybertronian here, I recognized the glyphs from all Sam's drawing. I tossed a glance over my shoulder. "Guys, look!"
"The symbols." Sam breathed.
"Ratchet," I grinned at my guardian. "Do the honors please."
"With pleasure, Alex." He smiled briefly before going serious. Ratchet blasted it with his gun, before widening the hole enough for an autobot to get through.
He activated his floodlights as we all stepped inside. Bumblebee stepped in last, the twins still fighting too much to come here.
"I.. I have nothing to say." Bee's radio played. If this was the time or place to joke, I would've told him 'That's a first', but this was neither the time nor the place.
This… this was like nothing I could describe. The primes were massive. They would have towered over even Optimus and Megatron. To walk through a tomb made of the very metal bodies of the Primes- surreal, extraordinary, and awe-inspiring were too limited to describe this. It was breathtaking, remarkable, astounding and humbling all at the same time. But even that didn't do it justice. Thunderstruck and awestruck maybe got closer. Maybe. If anything, maybe we were destined -fated, even- to be here.
"I don't believe it." I breathed.
"Look at that!" Sam said. "This is what Jetfire was talking about."
"The tomb of the Primes." Simmons whispered with respect.
"Yo!" Leo shouted, hearing his echo. "Yo!"
Something caught the corner of my eye. I knelt down to see the matrix of leadership sitting in the palm of one of the Prime's hands.
"The matrix!" I gasped.
Sam leaned down pick it up, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I tapped it. The blue crystal in the center glowed brilliantly when I touched it. Sam carefully picked it up.
It turned to dust- or sand.
Sam gasped, the only sound that anyone dared make.
"No…" Simmons whispered.
But it's not over. I know it's not over. It can't be. I know it's going to work out.
We've come too far to turn back. Seemed to echo through my soul. We didn't go through all of that just to lose.
"Thousands of years, turned to dust." Simmons said as Sam picked up the sand.
"I'm sorry." I squeaked.
"Why?" Mikeala asked.
"I touched it."
"It's not your fault." Sam said sharply, before whispering. "This isn't how it's supposed to end."
"Hear that?" Simmons asked. He ran out. "US Airforce! C-17's!"
"What's a C-17?" Leo asked. The two autobots went out to check what was going on.
"You can't bring him back, Sam." Mikeala whispered. "There's nothing left."
"But we can." I argued, ignoring the fact that the question wasn't directed to me.
"Look! Look around you!" Sam responded. "We didn't just go through everything we went through for no reason at all, to just have it end like this. There is a reason we are here. The voices and the symbols in my head led us here for a purpose." Sam started taking off his sock and put the sand in it. "Everyone's after me because of what I know, and what I know is that this is going to work."
"How do you know it's gonna work?" Mikeala asked.
"Because I-" Sam said, then looked to me and my determined expression. "Because we believe it."
We got back outside, and climbed up the rocks that Leo and Simmons stood on.
"They're dropping the big boy." Simmons said, looking up at the C-17s, and the NEST team and autobots parachuting out of the planes. "Sam! You think you can bring him back to life with that pixie dust?"
"Absolutely, let's go."
Driving toward where Optimus was dropped off, Sam insisted I go with everyone else because he didn't want to get split up, I had to sit in the middle, next to Leo.
A flare rose up from between the dunes.
"You see the flare?" Simmons asked. "Right over there, see it? That's where the NEST team is."
I glanced through Bee's window. "Starscream saw it too!"
Missiles landed right in front of us, right behind us, and right next to us. Everyone shouts and yells.
Leo's lip quivers, his eyes start tearing up, and his face starts turning red.
"Leo, don't freak out!" I tell him desperately. "Don't-"
"Oh, God, please!" He yells, appealing to a power much higher than any of us. "God, please! Please, just let me live, just let me live!"
Mikeala, Sam and Simmons start yelling at him.
"Leo, stop freaking out, stop freaking out!"
"Shut up and let the guy drive!"
"Shut up!"
"Alright, that's it!" Simmons takes out the taser and tases him. "I can't take that guy anymore."
But I was starting to think he had the right idea. I glanced up to the heavens, hoping that God might give us a bit of help.
"Hide in the dust, use the dust!" Simmons yelled. We all get out of Bumblebee's alt. mode.
"We've got to split up. Bumblebee, you're the decoy, you lead the decepticons away. I'm going to get Optimus." Sam said. "Ratchet, you-"
"-are coming with you." He interrupted. Sam blinked at him with confusion for a moment, then understanding. "I will not leave you and Alex unprotected."
"I'll help draw their fire with Huey and Dewey there." Simmons pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the twins. "You get to those soldiers. I hope that dust works, kid."
Me too.
"Thank you." Sam nodded.
And there we go, just like that, we're going to find Optimus. Running through the desert, Ratchet running behind us, weapons equipped and ready to kick aft. I worried the decepticons would see Ratchet's bright paint-job, but he's so dusty that he almost completely blends in with the sand.
At the top of the ridge, we can see more flares rise above the ruins.
"Look, there it is. We got a couple miles." Sam says breathlessly.
"How do people live here? It's so hot!" I complained when we kept moving.
After more running, we come to the ruins.
"We still have a little less than a mile to go." Ratchet said.
We continue running through ruins, and I briefly wonder if Starscream knows we're here.
"This way!" Sam led the way.
I look over my shoulder. "There's Starscream and Megatron! On the pyramid!"
The decepticons start coming, getting closer.
"Hide!" Ratchet told us. "I'll draw them away,"
He goes the other way, and I briefly worry that I might not see him again. We hide inside an old shack.
"I don't think they saw us." I whispered. "They were too focused on Ratchet."
"Get down, get down, get down." Sam said and we all duck below the windows.
"Once it's clear, we'll run for Optimus as fast as we can, okay?" Sam tells us.
"What if it doesn't work?" Mikeala asks.
"It's gonna work," Sam says.
"Yeah, but what if it doesn't work?"
"It's gonna work, it'll work." Sam says.
"We didn't come this far to give up. It's going to work," I said, then echoing what Ratchet told me earlier. "We have to hope for that much."
We all stand to leave, but a heavy footstep, and a menacing mechanical growl make us stay put.
I bite my nails to keep from talking. Mikeala put her hands over her mouth. Sam stared wide-eyed at the door.
Heavy steps swarm around the place we hide, like sharks circling its prey. My eyes widen with panic. The autobots all have infrared scanners, so the decepticons must too.
"Sam," I hiss. "They're just toying with us!"
"What do you mean?" He whispered back.
"Ratchet told me all Cybertronians have scanning abilities, infrared scanners, and the like."
"So that means-"
The roof was violently ripped off our hiding spot. Starscream leans over the hole, and he tries to grab us. He missed and brings down the wall. We start running for our lives. Hardly able to see anything through the dust, the decepticons chased us like crocodiles chase down their next meal.
We run up the stairs, and a decepticon slams a wrecking ball into the stairs we'd just been one, missing us by a hair. We come to the end of the roof, a roof just a few feet apart.
"Get ready to jump," Sam said.
We jump. A decepticon's shot blew up where we'd just been standing, showering us in dust and rocks. We tumbled down, sliding off the roof, our fall broken by some twigs and branches from a palm tree.
We run between the desert buildings. When we get to a hole in the wall, Sam brushes some chickens out of the way, which squawk angrily at us. We can see clear across the desert.
"We got a half-mile; I don't think the soldiers and autobots don't know we're here." Sam says.
We keep running through the ruins and these old desert buildings. We run over a dune, to some pillars and there's…
Mom and Dad! And a decepticon!
"MOM! DAD!" I cried, shouting to them.
A red decepticon cuts off our path, snarling in of faces as we fall back on the sand. Arachnid skitters in like the spider she is.
"Hello, fleshling." She said in a fake-sickly-sweet tone. "I recognize you. You were with Arcee."
"WAIT! WAIT!" Sam screamed.
"I want you to run! RUN!" Dad yelled.
"Dad, just stop! They don't want you! They want us!" Sam snapped. "Wait!"
"Look at that, Rampage," She cooed. "Happy little family."
"Don't hurt them, this is what you want. You don't want them." Sam held up his matrix-dust filled sock.
"It isn't what we want," She hummed. "Its what Megatron and the Fallen want."
I heard a whistle that sounds like it was being played through a radio, and glance over my shoulder, and I spot Bumblebee and Ratchet, hiding between the building.
"Just don't hurt them. I know what you want. And I know that you need me because I know about the matrix." Sam said calmly, but those cannons are making it hard to stay calm. "Here's what you want, right here."
Bumblebee and Ratchet clearly can't watch the con terrorizing us anymore, and they come out of their hiding spot, weapons blazing. We all duck.
Bumblebee leapt onto Rampage's back and when they landed, he smashed Rampage's arm off. A cat-robot jumped on Bumblebee's back, clawing at him. He grabbed the cat-bot and torn it apart. He then finished the fight with a well-aimed blast at Rampage's head.
Ratchet literally rips some of Arachnid's spider-legs off. She snarled a him when he did. He kicked her so hard she was flung away. Arachnid sliced at his face with her claws before he retaliated, nearly cutting her arm off with his buzzsaw. She spun around and tried to web him, but he dodged it and fired a blast from his gun at her chest armor protecting her spark, weakening it. She flew away when she realized this and then saw Bee finish Rampage.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"I don't know what's going on, but we gotta move," Dad yelled.
More shots in our direction send us scrambling.
"BEE! BUHH-MBLEBEEEE!" Sam screamed. Bumblebee came over, buzzing his radio at us. "Get them somewhere safe. Alright?"
"Righty-o."
"You got to go with Bumblebee, he'll take you somewhere safe." Sam said.
"No, this isn't up for discussion!" Dad yelled. "You're my son!"
"I know!"
"We all go together!" Dad yelled, shaking Sam.
"Dad, stop. Get in the car, he's gonna get you to safety. You run, you don't hide, you run! Do you hear what I'm saying, okay? I'll find you when it's safe."
"No-"
"You have to let me go," Sam said quietly. "You have to,"
"Ron," Mom responded. "Ron, let him go."
"Mikeala, go with my parents!" Sam said.
"I'm not gonna go without you, I'm not gonna go with them." She said. Sam turned to me.
"Alex?" Sam asked.
"Forget it, Sam, I'm not leaving earlier!" I told him.
"It's not safe!" He yelled, being a protective brother.
"It's not safe for you either!" I yelled back.
Ratchet knelt in front of us. "I will keep her safe, Sam."
About a thousand words were unspoken between them in the few seconds of silence. If something happened to me, Sam wouldn't forgive Ratchet. Ratchet wouldn't forgive himself either. I want to say something, but if I did, I know it'd interrupt this wordless conversation. The silent she's my little sister, and I'm supposed to protect her but you have to hung in the air between them. Sam's gaze stays unforgiving.
"You don't worry about us, worry about her." Sam broke the wordlessness and pointed at me.
Ratchet nodded with determination. "I promise you, Sam, I will do everything in my power to protect her."
"Keep it." He responded. Not out of meanness, but out of a sense of protectiveness I think all older brothers have. I knew Sam was like every protective older brother, but to hear him blatantly admit that- it cut through everything else around me, the battle, the matrix, the sand, and hit where it mattered.
We were the reason he'd fought this hard. For me, for mom and dad, for Mikeala, for Bee, for Ratchet, for Optimus- for everyone who mattered to him. We are family. Blood runs thicker than water. And it always will.
The explosions jarred us back to the present, and decepticons closing in forced us to get going.
Sam leads us toward the ruins and soldiers, every step the sounds of battle getter louder and more nerve-racking the closer we get. Sam stopped at another hole in the wall.
"Arcee!" Ratchet yelled. "Ironhide!"
Arcee, Ironhide and Chromia turn to see us.
"Ironhide!" Sam shouted.
"Spotted the kids." One of the femmes say.
"Sam!" Ironhide acknowledged.
"Follow us to the pillars, we'll take you to Optimus!" Elita said, before ducking a missile that almost hit her!
Another decepticon comes and fighting starts. He takes a few shots at Arcee, but she swiftly dodges them. Sam pulls me along.
"Come on, Alex!" He hissed. "They'll be fine!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ratchet come follow us. At first, I wonder why but I realize it has everything to do with that promise he made Sam.
More decepticons close in on us, and then we get to the pillars. Enemy fire whizzes by our heads, aimed at Ratchet, dust and smoke cloud the whole place, making it hard to tell what was forward, and who was firing from where.
It was mayhem.
Complete and utter chaos.
We were running through decepticon enemy lines. Things blow up right and left, the dust is so thick it makes me sneeze.
Megatron starts chasing us! Ratchet distracts him with a little blaster fire as we turn the corner and-
It's the rest of the autobots and the NEST team! Finally!
"Sam! Alex!" Sideswipe shouted to us. "I've spotted the kids!" He ducked under the wall after getting shot at.
Behind us, a decepticon send and explosive shock wave toward us that barely misses.
Another missile is fired at us, and we all dove for the sand to dodge it. Sam waves at Lennox and Epps running toward us while screaming. They duck behind some ruins to avoid getting shot at.
"COME ON, GET UP! COME ON!" Lennox yells as we run toward him. We scramble behind the wall.
"Look who showed up." Lennox comments. Unhelpfully.
"It wasn't a cake walk for us either." I sarcastically replied.
"You better have a good reason for us to be here." Lennox says.
"Where's Optimus?" Sam asked.
"He's right over there, across that courtyard."
"I got to get to him right now." Sam holds up his sock. His dirty, gross, matrix-dust filled sock.
"Not with an airstrike coming." Lennox responded.
"I have to get to him right now!" Sam demands.
The two soldiers go silent, and that's when we hear a strange noise. It's a decepticon.
"Go. Back, back, back, back, back!"
We all hide behind the nearest wall. This con transforms into a gun turret and its gun barrel is right above our heads. It takes every bit of will power not to make a noise as it fires, before the decepticon is taken down by…
Wait? Jetfire?
"Incoming!" He shouts. "Stick the landing!"
"Behold the glory of Jetfire!" He continues as he chops the con in half. "Now let me show you how we brought the pain in my day!"
He puts the half of the con that still had a head on the wall, and pretty much uses the wall to separate the con's head from it's body by using his oversized foot.
I'd definitely say that back in Jetfire's day, they definitely brought the pain.
The sand just about explodes. Scorponok jumps out and uses one of his claws to take a chunk out of Jetfire's torso. Sand rains down on us and we all start screaming. Jetfire punched Scorponok's head into a thousand pieces.
"I'm getting too old for this crap." He grumbled as he collapsed.
"We're gonna make a break through the B's on my command, ok?" Lennox said. "You guys stick with m, you understand? You stay in my ass."
I nod soundlessly.
"I hope these F-16's got good aim." Epps said.
"Yeah, why is that?" Lennox asked.
"I told them to hit the orange smoke." He responded, albeit sheepishly.
"You mean that orange smoke?"
"It wasn't my best toss, okay?"
The radio interrupted. "Viper, Thunder."
"RUN!" They shout, Lennox grabbing onto Mikeala's hand to keep her from falling behind, and Epps doing the same for me, just about dragging us both along as we ran through a haze of dust, smoke and orange smoke stuff.
F-16's roared overhead, missiles zipping past us and hitting decepticons. The explosions were deafening, and there was, simply put, mad chaos.
Ironhide ran up beside us, clutching his chest plating, which looked like it was burning, Ratchet ran up on the other side through, both just about appearing through the mayhem of smoke and dust behind us.
Another fighter jet whizzed past, dropping large bombs which just about lit up the world like it was the Forth of July!
The explosions shockwave sent Ironhide and Ratchet tumbling forward, as the massive fireball reached up to the skies behind us, the boom drowning out all noise anyone could make.
I watched Megatron come out of the dust and chaos.
He shot at Sam- sending him flying forward.
The whole world seemed to come to a grinding halt.
Mikeala tried to get up to run to him, but Lennox held her back as Megatron came closer, 6 tanks relentlessly unleashing their hate on the decepticon leader. Mikeala ran to Sam, screaming. I bolted forward. Worry, anxiousness, and terror churn in my stomach.
"Hold your fire!" Lennox yelled to the other soldiers. I hardly noticed.
Mikeala slid in the sand, kneeling next to Sam. I get almost as far before Epps holds me back.
"Stay back, Mikeala, Stay back!" Lennox shoves her out of the way.
"DO SOMETHING!" Mikeala yelled as Epps held me back with one arm, using the other to call for a medic. I watched with horror. The silence seemed to overpower the sounds of the battle. It was louder than the gunfire, the tanks' fire, the autobots fighting, and the propellers of the helicopter overhead.
I can hear my parents screaming for Sam, as soldiers hold them back, and Bumblebee's painful whine-
But the silence… that was louder. Not even Bumblebee's pained whine was louder.
I watched with horror as the medics failed to save Sam.
My brother tried so hard to help us- but now…
My head suddenly spun and felt like my brain exploded as I was blinded by a flash.
"Where am I?" I heard my brother ask. "Am I dead?
He's standing right next to me. But we're not in Egypt anymore.
"Alex!?" Sam asked.
"Sam?!"
Another voice cuts in. "We have been watching both of you for a long, long time."
The Primes?! They're tall, even dwarfing Optimus and Megatron in size.
"You have fought for Optimus, our last descendant with courage and with sacrifice, the virtues of leaders, leaders worthy of our secret. The Matrix of Leadership is not found, it is earned."
"Return now to Optimus and merge the matrix with his spark." One of the other primes said. "It is, and so much more, and always has been your destinies."
I blink as the Primes disappear in a blur. Sam gasped, back to life!
"SAM!" Mikeala grabbed his face and shook him.
The matrix dust starts swirling and turns into the matrix!
"I love you; I love you." Sam whispered.
He's worried about I love you's and the world could end?! Well, to be fair, Mikeala's kinda deserved to hear that since before he left for college.
He grabbed the matrix, and we all watched as he climbed onto Optimus and merged the matrix with his spark.
Optimus sat up, and Sam climb off of him.
Ok, it's official. I'm living a Si-fi movie. Either that, or this is some crazy nightmare or dream that I'll wake up from and be thrilled that it was just that.
If it's not, my life's about to get a lot more complicated.
"You returned for me." Optimus said to both of us.
"A living prime!" Jetfire laughs with relief. "I don't believe it!"
The Fallen teleported in between all of us, knocking everyone away and taking the Matrix.
"He's turning on the machine! You've got to stop him, get up!" Sam yelled.
The Fallen teleported to the Pyramid.
"All my decepticon life, I never did a thing worth doing until now." Jetfire said to Optimus. "Optimus, take my parts, and you will have a power you've never known. Fulfill your destiny."
Jetfire ripped out his own spark to give Optimus his parts.
"Jolt, electrify!" Ratchet ordered the blue bot, gesturing as Jolt's electric powers attached Jetfire's parts to Optimus. "Transplant those afterburners."
"Let's roll!" Optimus took off to go fight the Fallen.
We watched Optimus fly up to the pyramid and destroy the Star Harvester.
Optimus chased the Fallen and Megatron to the ruins, where we couldn't see them anymore.
Ratchet knelt down next to me.
"That was literally insane!" I told him. "Welcome to a day in the life of Alex Witwicky!"
He chuckled with a smirk.
"I'm not kidding." I tilted my head. "That was crazy! Well, crazier than normal."
Optimus walked out from behind the Sphinx, detaching some of his Blackbird armor.
The sun starts to set as Leo and Simmons and Mom and Dad join us.
I glanced at mom and dad. "Am I still the troublemaker? Am I still the one who scares you all the time?"
Mom and Dad laughed and rolled their eyes.
Later, we find ourselves on an aircraft carrier, an aircraft carrier!
Optimus walks up to Sam, who's standing by the water. The rest of us stand off to the side, along with Ratchet and 'Bee.
"Thank you, Sam, for saving my life." Optimus told my brother. He glanced back at me. "And you, Alex."
"Thanks for believing in me," Sam responded.
"Our races united by a history long forgotten," Optimus begins to monologue. "And a future we shall face together. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message so that our pasts will always be remembered, for in those memories, we live on."
Cue the coolest credits playing "New Divide".