With the Autobots knowing their route to NEST better, they cut through the city and took a shortcut that would take them around the main roads, avoiding all traffic and then bringing them out in front of the Decepticons. Sideswipe and Dino were ahead, with Bumblebee soon to join them after falling behind because he let Sam have a breather. Ironhide had departed NEST to intercept the incoming threats and guarantee Sentinel's safety.
"Dino I got him" Sideswipe said as he transformed and opened fire on the Dreads on the street.
People around immediately ran for cover, not wanting to get in the cross fire of whatever was going on. As Mirage sped away, Bumblebee came shooting out of a street on Sideswipe's right with the bot sliding past his transformed comrade and getting out of Ironhide's way. Ironhide drove straight on, not wavering in the presence of the Dreadbots. He would run into them, causing all three bots to flip into the air and transform, only that this time, he had dished out damage to them causing Crowbar to bleed from his mouth as he flipped through the air.
The Dreads landed with their backs and chest to the ground but quickly stand up tp draw weapons at the Autobots.
"Is there a… problem?" asked Ironhide as he pointed his blasters at both their faces.
Sideswipe skid in, using the tires on his arms to skid on the ground and twirl to face the cons. He would then move out a bit as the four of them now stood in a circle.
"Whoa. Little Mexican standoff we got here" said the silver corvette.
"Weapons down" said Ironhide.
"And we'll let you escape with your dignity" continued Sideswipe.
The two Decepticons looked at themselves as they as they deliberated what to do in Cybertronian.
"Drop them" Ironhide said as all four bots dropped their blasters.
"That's good" Sideswipe added.
Little did he know that the Dreads had other ideas as Crowbar ejected two spike maces from his back. Crowbar growled as he pulled out one of the maces and threw it at Ironhide.
"Ironhide, watch out!" warned Sideswipe but it was too late.
Ironhide couldn't get out of the way quick enough and the mace stabbed into his chest. Crowbar spun, and threw the second one at Sideswipe. The much more agile bot reacted quickly as he jumped up and sliced the mace in two with his wrist blade.
"Ironhide, catch!" he yelled as he landed with his arm on the ground and used it to balanced himself as he kicked his blaster to Ironhide.
Ironhide caught his blaster and turned to the charging Crankcase and blew his head open.
"Behind you!" yelled Sideswipe as Crowbar prepared for a sneak attack.
Sideswipe wasted no time engaging him as he slashed his chest with his blade. He would land the first swing and follow through with another as he spun to face his opponent. He jumped at him seeking to do more damage but was hit in the chest by a blast from Crowbar. As crowbar switched his attention to Ironhide, he would be met by the very weapon he used moments ago and get stabbed in the head.
"Decepticon punk" Ironhide said ticked off as he flipped Crowbar's body onto a car near him.
He kicked the car into a tire store behind them causing the car to explode killing the Decepticon. As flaming tires flew out of the burning store, Ironhide and Sideswipe picked up their weapons as he said that famous line.
"Class dismissed"
With the targets neutralized, The Autobots headed back to base to keep Sentinel safe. Dino drove in, without hesitating and went straight to the Autobots hanger to fortify it against an attack. Meanwhile, Bumblebee and Sentinel drove into the parking lot where they had Lennox and a group of his soldiers waiting for them. As soon as Sentinel entered, Sideswipe skid in front of the gate and blocked it but left little room for Ironhide to squeeze through.
"Get inside" Lennox said directing Sentinel to get inside.
"Move!"
"Let's go!"
"Move it!" soldiers yelled.
"Go, go, go" Lennox added.
Sam got out of Bumblebee to speak with Lennox as Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Ironhide and Sentinel transformed.
"Lennox! We got Decepticons everywhere. We had to leave Jetstream behind to take care of some back on the Parkway" he said.
"I know. I got my whole team deployed looking for them" he answered as he turned his attention to Ironhide.
"Ironhide! Protect Sentinel. Get Sentinel locked up inside"
"Consider it done!" the bot answered with a menacing tone.
"Hey, you've got to guard him 'cause he's the key to everything" said Sam with his speech being a bit rushed.
"Indeed I am" said the Prime, rising to his feet. His voice gained the attention of the humans but Ironhide turned his back to him as he assessed the area for potential threats.
"What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is we were never going to win the war. For the sake of our planet's survival…," he said turning his back to them as he readied his rust cannon.
"A deal had to be made… with Megatron"
Sentinel turned around quickly and charged up his blaster ready to shot Ironhide in the back when out of nowhere, a missile hit Sentinel in the chest just as he was about to shoot. The explosion and quick turn of events had everyone shaken and the shooter of the missile closed in. Jetstream flew down quickly as he transformed and rolled to his feet, pointing his weapons at Sentinel.
"Jetstream, Have you gone mad?!" Ironhide yelled.
"I'm not mad, I'm just saving your life" he grunted.
"What are you talking about?" Ironhide wondered.
"You should be grateful Ironhide. He has saved you from death. Now I'll just have to do it all over again" Sentinel said taking aim at the two bots.
"Take cover!!" Lennox yelled and he pushed Sam to the ground as Sentinel opened fire on them.
Ironhide and Jetstream jumped out of the way with the latter jumping into the building next to them as Ironhide rolled behind one of the trailers there. Sideswipe immediately drove away, not believing his eyes, as Bee returned fire.
"Sentinel! What have you done?!" yelled Hide as he fired at the Prime.
"What needed to be done. For our people" said Sentinel as he sent four missiles flying their way.
"Incoming!" yelled a soldier with a missile flying towards Lennox and Sam.
Without a moment to spare, Jetstream jumped in the path of the missile taking the hit while protecting Lennox and Sam from destruction. This would only add to the list of injuries acquired from battle today. Sentinel engaged rapid fire on his blaster, taking out just about anything in his sight, from Cars, to trailers and parts of the building.
"Bee!" Sam yelled as his friend came under fire.
"Get back!" Lennox yelled holding Sam from running into fire.
As NEST forces returned fire, Bumblebee moved through the trailers, shooting back at Sentinel before flipping to the other path below. As Bumblebee Took off, Ironhide and Jetstream rallied together at the front of the base with the soldiers that remained as Sentinel drove deeper into the base.
"How did you know he was going to betray us?" asked Ironhide.
"I beat out that information from Springbox on the Parkway. I would've radioed in my findings over our comms but mine was damaged in battle" he explained.
"What do we do now?" Sam asked.
"You humans should get everyone out of the base now and try and get those pillars to safety. I reckon Ironhide and I should be able to buy you sometime" Jet said as Ironhide nodded.
"Okay. Rally all forces back to NEST and tell everyone in there to get out of there now!" Lennox ordered as he ran into the base to do what he could with Sam following.
Sentinel had already hit the base, destroying everything and everyone in his path. Ironhide had already updated everyone on the situation via their comms and Dino was already on his way out when he hit. Unfortunately, the twins didn't make it out in time and decided to take a stand against Sentinel so that the humans could get out.
"I always knew he was trouble" Skids said firing at the Prime.
"Yeah! Anyone that tries to kill Primes is a bad egg. Not gonna lie" Mudflap chipped in.
"You pests!" Sentinel said with an angry voice. "I will kill you vermin!"
Sentinel would take hold of a helicopter and through it at Skids in an attempt to kill him.
"SKIDS!" Mudflap yelled as he jumped on Sentinel and fired his weapons at his back.
Sentinel grew weary of their presence as he pulled Mudflap of his back and threw him on the ground. He stomped on the little transformer before shooting him twice in the head with his rust cannon, killing him. Skids got out of the wreckage in time to see his brother get killed by Sentinel.
"Mudflap!!!" Skids screamed as he couldn't believe that his brother had died.
Angry at the Prime, he took a missile from a gunship and ran at the Prime. He slid through his legs as the Sentinel shot at him, utilizing his small size. He jumped onto him and stabbed him with the missile, he would then hop of his back and shot the missile causing it to explode and throw Sentinel to the ground.
"That's for my brother!" Skids huffed.
From the destruction, Sentinel got out his sword and without warning, he threw it at Skids. His blade travelled fast through the air, not giving the bot enough time to react as it hit him right in the head.
"Tedious Autobot scum" he scoffed as he took out his sword from his head.
Ironhide and Jetstream got there just as he pushed deeper into the base. The two transformed prepared to fight the Prime for the great or good.
"Let's bust some ass" said Jet as the two ran at the prime.
Sentinel had no idea what was coming until it was too late, the sound of them approaching had been dampened by the screams, yells and explosions. The two bots leaped into the air as they brought Sentinel to the ground.
"You will pay Sentinel" Ironhide said punching him in the face.
"You Autobots. You fail to see the bigger picture" he said using his shield to block Jetstream who charged at him and threw him to the floor.
Ironhide opened fire on him as a distraction with Sentinel turning to him, this allowed Jet get close enough to punch him in the side before blasting him to a wall. Before the bot could recover, Ironhide speared him through a wall taking their fight elsewhere. Jet jumped through the new hole in the wall and delivered a spinning heel kick to Sentinel's head.
"I will kill you all!" he cried.
He slammed his shield into Jet's face before grabbing him by the hand and using him to whack Ironhide twice. Before either of them could recover, he blasted them twice sending them through a wall and back outside.
"Ugh" Jet groaned as he rolled of Ironhide's body, beaten.
"We don't have enough men. Tell them not to engage Sentinel" ordered Lennox, but his men were already fighting back before the order came in.
Mearing and her entourage pulled up at the back entrance to the base and wondered why it wasn't opened. She got out with her assistant and a guard oblivious to the destruction going on inside until a man shouted.
"Take cover!"
The tail of a helicopter flew out of the building nearly killing Mearing and her group as they dropped to the ground. She stood up immediately with a sense of command and authority to put an end to this. She ran into the base watching people being dragged to safety and all the destruction being laid out by Sentinel.
"Let's go!. Follow me!" she ordered as she sought to tell Sentinel to stop.
Men continued to fire at him in an effort to stop him but they only irritated him more. He slashed the engine of a chopper causing it to fly off and put men to the ground as they tried to take cover. He walked confidently through the base with his goal to reclaim his pillars. Mearing on the other hand was pushing to meet him as she even pushed a guard out of her way who tried to stop her from going out there.
"Stand down" she told him as she walked in.
"Hey Sentinel! What's going on? What do you think you're doing?!" she said with a commanding voice demanding an answer from him.
Just then, a soldier took aim at him and fired a missile at him from a rocket launcher. The prime turned around and used his shield to disable the missile.
"I am a Prime! I do not take orders from you" he said with a serious tone.
Lennox ran up to Mearing who was going through a reality check. She realized that not everything was in her control. He held her and tried to pull her away from the seen so that she doesn't get hurt.
"Director Mearing, come on. We cannot fight him. Let's go. We have to go" as he pulled her away.
"Now! Return what belongs to me!" said Sentinel as he destroyed more of the base.
"Ohhhh… my God!" she said in disbelief as Sam looked on terrified.
Sentinel hit the base and retrieved the pillars. He acquired them and drove out of the base with Ironhide and Jetstream still recovering from their beating. Optimus drove in with a group of soldiers running behind him as he was also shocked by the state of the base when he returned. As he came in, Sam who was running on the walkway stopped watching Optimus transform.
"Everybody out! Everybody out!" Lennox yelled as they evacuated the base.
Optimus transformed And looked around, assessing the damage and the pure chaos the place was in. To make matters worse, Mearing came in and began running her mouth.
"Yeah, take a look Optimus. This is all on you" she said with the Prime not even responding.
A soldier ran to Lennox to deliver his report.
"Sentinel hit the vault. He took the Pillars"
Lennox kicked the railing in front of him and ran to their information room.
"Come on, let's go. Notify the 101st Airborne! We need to hunt this thing down!" he ordered.
Prime looked on with a face of regret. If only he had known, maybe he wouldn't have brought Sentinel to the base. Or maybe if he was here, things wouldn't have gotten out of hand. Behind him, his Autobots walked in, all still in a state of shock. Ironhide and Jetstream supported one another still recovering from their injuries as Ratchet and Wheeljack joined them.
"Don't beat yourself up Prime. There was nothing you could do. None of us knew, until it was too late" Ironhide said.
Prime hummed with his heart not at rest. This situation was too grave.
"Everyone, get ready. We're going to stop Sentinel"