Jet had taken enough time to rest and it was time to get moving again. He transformed into his vehicle form as he gave the soldiers and Sam some revs before driving off. Jet told Sam that they would meet up with him and the rest of the soldiers at the edge of the river so they could carry out a joint strike on the Decepticon forces and end things. Not as easy as it sounds.
"Jetstream is going to join up with the rest of the Autobots and meet us at the edge of the river" Sam said to Lennox
"All right. Let's move people"
Sam would nod as they went their separate ways. Going with Jet would've been easier but the risk was too much, so they would have to move on foot. Jet also had no clue on the state of his comrades; he would never have guessed that they would be captured. He had tried talking to them across their comms but no one was responding, he knew something was up and would approach their location with caution.
A Decepticon mothership was doing a run, picking up fighters as they had the Autobots captured and Prime was nowhere to be seen. B rains and Wheelie had hijacked one of the fighter ships and was trying to fly it around when a gravity beam hit their aircraft. It would suck them into the ship as a Decepticon on duty would be taken unawares by the arrival of the ship. The two would crash land within the ship killing Decepticon as the two where bickering in the cockpit.
"It sucked me in! There was nothing I could do!" Wheelie said as the cockpit opened up.
"Uh oh" Brains said as he realized where they were.
"Ah" Brains said as he set his gaze upon the interior of the ship. Fighters hund on each side, dormant and ready to be deployed when needed.
"This is a total claustrophobe's nightmare"
"Tell me about it"
"We have to find a way of this ship. Come on Wheelie, let's get moving"
"Right" he replied with a sigh.
He was tired of all this sneaking around. Especially for a smaller bot, they had more ground to cover than anyone.
NEST soldiers, Sam and Carly had gotten within range of the Decepticon stronghold. The building with the control pillar was now within sight. Bolts of electricity could be seen running around the cupolas pulsing faster and faster with every passing second as a steady hum got louder and louder. They were so close to firing now.
"We got to get across the river. You see that? She said the control pillar is in that first cupola" Sam said to Lennox while pointing at the building. He acknowledged his words with a nod.
"Let's go! Move! Let's move!" a NEST soldier said as they kept on moving.
Sam and Carly would split up with the main group trying to get to the Autobots as things had gone too quiet. There was no sound of gunfire, no flashes, nothing.
Back at NEST HQ, they had gotten in touch with the navy to send them some heavy armament. The navy complied, firing waves of Tomahawks from the cruisers and Destroyers.
"Tomahawks are inbound. ETA twenty minutes" said the announcer as he watched the launch from his screen.
Mearing and Simmons were watching Dutch's monitor as he hacked into the traffic cameras looking for where the Autobots might be. He found them and pulled up multiple camera angles and displayed them on the big screen. A bit of morale dropped as they saw the Autobots captured and held prisoner by the Decepticons.
"Six Autobots are captured. Jetstream and the Wreckers are not present" said the announcer.
"Oh, my God. We're helpless"
"Whatever's set to happen, with those pulses getting faster, it's going to happen soon" Simmons said as they watched the developments on top of the building.
"No sign of Optimus" the announcer added after confirming the identities of the Autobots on the screen.
Lennox and his team made it to the bridge that would get them across to the river safely without running into the Decepticons. The bridges were all up and they needed away to bring this one down.
"How do we get these bridges down?" he asked. A couple of the soldiers shrugged their shoulders, showing that they had no clue. "Spread out and check in there" he said pointing over to a little room.
As they searched for a way to bring down the bridge, they would run into Epps and his team also looking for a way to get across the bridge.
"Epps! Epps, I've been looking for your ass" Lennox said as the two would share a handshake. "How you doing?"
"Retirement is whack. Even worse, we can't get across the river to that building, and the Autobots are upstairs surrounded" he explained.
As those two spoke, a Navy SEAL team would emerge from the depths of the river. They had also been deployed to help NEST and the Autobots.
"Just pan the camera around all right?" said Simmons.
"All right. Pan- pan right. That's you" Dutch said talking to the man manning the cameras.
The soldier would pan right as they saw, Lennox, his Team and Epps moving around the bridge looking for a way out of their problem.
"What are they doing? They're just standing there" said Mearing.
To the naked eye, they were but to an inquisitive mind with a keen eye for detail, they would know that something was up. Simmons deduced that from the monitor, soldiers, standing around a bridge? He connected the dots.
"Hang on. Dutch, see if you can hack into the bridge"
"Sir, SEALs are here" said a soldier.
Lennox walked up to them and shook hands with their leader and formalized them with the situation they were dealing with.
"It's a good day, boys! What do you got?"
"Got a ten-man SEAL unit, sir, tasked with vectoring Tomahawks" the Captain replied.
"How long?" Lennox asked.
"Fifteen" he answered.
Sam and Carly managed to make it to where the Autobots were being held and ran straight to a car for cover. There were a lot of Decepticon eyes around and getting caught now was nothing short of death. They ducked inside the car watching how the Decepticons treated the Autobots. Ironhide had two Decepticons stationed behind him. They knew the kind of Bot he was and they weren't taking any chances.
Soundwave stood behind Bumblebee with three other Cons holding down Dino, Sideswipe and Que. Ratchet was being bundled by a Con as they tried to group him with the others.
"You're my prisoners" Soundwave said as a Con would kick Dino in the back.
"Take it easy. We surrender" Sideswipe said before being hit in the head.
"Get off me! Get off me!" ratchet yelled as he was being manhandled.
"I'd never thought I would witness the day Ironhide would willingly surrender" said a Con in Cybertronian.
"I'm as shocked as you" the other replied in their native tongue.
Ironhide exhaled loudly as a cloud of steam emerged from his nostrils. He was truly pissed.
"All right, you're gonna need your your Mike-Mikes and frags. Go full Auto. The vibrations jack up their circuits. Snipers, shoot for the eyes. All right, your target is up on top of that building, that cupola" Lennox said pointing at the building.
He was addressing the SEAL unit on how to take out the Decepticons and what to expect.
Sentinel watched the Autobots, surrounded, outnumbered and outmatched from the top of the building and shook his head. This was what he predicted. They would lead a feeble charge against them and try to save this world.
"How doomed you are, Autobots. You simply fail to understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"
He would walk up to the control pillar and place his hand on top of it before broadcasting a message that would bring the Decepticons much joy.
"Activating the bridge"
As he said that, the electrical bolts around the cupolas would connect together and start making their way to the top of the pillar from each side to converge at the top. The Decepticons around would begin screaming and yelling in their triumph over the Earth and over their foes the Autobots. Wheelie and Brains would hear their shouts from within the mothership as they passed by the building and would begin to move towards where the bots were being held up.
"They happy about something" Brains said as they walked through the narrow paths within the ship to its main circuitry housing.
"We're in the heart of their ship. Let's give them a little ride" he said deviously as they arrived the mother-load of wires running through the ship.
"Oh ho! We're gonna screw this ship up" he said with a devilish smile.
The two would waste no time getting to work on the wires around. Pulling, biting, chewing and ripping. Nothing was safe in the path of the destructive duo.
Back at HQ, Dutch was having a little trouble hacking through the bridge's software security protocols, but with the wait of the world on their shoulders, he didn't cower from the challenge at hand. His keyboard clicked continuously as be broke through layer after layer of security and beads of sweat would form on his forehead.
"It's a 128k binary encryption code. It's difficult… but not for me, I'm in. Bridge down"
With a push of a button, the bridge began to lower itself, raising the hopes of the troops standing there.
"The bridge is coming down! Someone's watching over us!" Epps yelled in excitement.
"Come on! Let's go!" yelled a soldier as they mobilized themselves across the bridge.
"Pleasure working with you, Seymour. I believe you're supposed to say" Simmons said to Mearing.
"Good job Dutch" she said rubbing his shoulder.
"Danke" he replied in German.
The four bright poles running from the four cupolas would finally converge as a loud whir would ring through their ears for a few seconds before a bright beam of electricity would be shot into space. The beam would meet with the pillars launched into space moments prior as they began transporting Cybertron to Earth.
"Hurry! They're triggering the pillars!" Roadbuster yelled as they witnessed the beam shoot up.
They had finally made it to Optimus and began cutting the cables away one by one.
Dylan walked through the surrounded Autobots who had their hands behind their heads, with great pride. Their enemies had been captured but they needed to make a statement. He walked to Soundwave who had relinquished his duty of guarding Bumblebee to Barricade.
"Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners?" he asked the Decepticon.
"Yes" he answered.
"You need to teach them about respect. This was all business, but now it's personal, do you understand me?"
Ironhide could understand what the human said. He wanted them dead. A fate he feared That would come as a result of their surrender.
"Brace up men" Ironhide informed them before getting hit in the mouth.
"You talk too much" said the Con that hit him.
"Ha ha ha. I understand. No prisoners only trophies" he said with a light chuckle before looking at the bots. "Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior"
"Bee. I think they're going to kill us" Wheeljack said with fright.
"You!" Barricade said kicking Wheeljack forward. "Your time is up"
Another Decepticon would push him forward as they prepared for his execution.
"Wait, wait, wait! We surrendered! We're your prisoners" Que said trying to reason with them.
The others remained silent; they knew that once Soundwave had made him mind, there was no going back. Sam and Carly watched from the car in disbelief. Dylan had manipulated the Decepticons into killing the Autobots.
"Move it" said a Con ushering him forward to the place where he would get shot.
"Can't we talk this out? We're all a bunch of good chaps! I mean you no-"
The sound of a cannon being fired echoed through the streets. A shot had been fired but to their surprise, Que was still standing and in one piece while the Con poised to shoot him was on the ground dead. All heads turned to the origin of the sound as a black triple changer approached, the plasma cannon on his right hand still smoking shot form the shot fired.
"Jetstream" Soundwave said with a grunt.
All the cons had their weapons pointed at him as he walked towards them unfazed by their weapons. There wasn't a hint of fear in his eyes as he continued to walk towards them in the hope of creating a distraction long enough for his comrades to break free.
"Not another step from you!" exclaimed Soundwave.
"Or what?!"
"Or I'll kill him" he said pointing his blaster at Ironhide.
Jetstream stopped in his tracks as Soundwave placed the nozzle of his blaster on Ironhide's head. Jet stood there, analyzing the risk and the reward of still going through with his plan when something caught his eye. The mothership above them, the doors on the side of its haul moved irregularly and a few ships began to fall towards the Decepticons. A little smile would make its way to his lips, Primus was watching over them as his battlemask would come out.
Before Soundwave could say anything, fighter ships began to fall upon them causing chaos among the Cons. The Autobots would capitalize on this as they engaged them in battle. Ironhide would grab a hold of the blaster placed to his helm and turn around quickly as he hit the weapon out of Soundwave's hand.
"Threatening us? Holding us at gunpoint? Each one of you here is going to pay" he huffed as his cannons primed themselves for combat.
The old timer would roll to the side avoiding a blast from Soundwave's other blaster with the rest of the bots getting to work on the Cons still standing. Bee's Battlemask would come down as well as he hoped on the back of a Decepticon and decimated his head with multiple shots to the head. Sideswipe and Mirage made good use of their blades as they chopped down cons left right and center with precision.
Ratchet and Que laid down cover fire for their comrades as Jet ascended into the skies shooting down the Cons that mounted themselves on rooftops. Like a well-oiled machine, the Autobots wasted no time killing the Cons that held them prisoner in a few seconds. Some of the Decepticons managed to escape but most of them weren't that lucky. Dylan managed to weasel his way out of the battle with Soundwave not being as lucky.
Sideswipe sliced his right knee bringing him to his knees as Que shot his blaster out of his hand. Mirage sliced him on the back as Ratchet, Jet and Bumblebee shot him in the chest sending him into the wall of a building, shattering glass windows. The con tried to get back to his feet with sparks evident on his chest and leg after getting hit. He would get kicked back to the ground as Ironhide stood over his body with his cannon pointed at his helm.
"Ironhide. You don't have to do this. You can take me as your prisoner" he pleaded with him.
"What was that you were saying earlier? Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior? No prisoners only trophies? Ring a bell?" he said as his eyes widened in realization.
"No please-"
Ironhide would shoot him once in the head, blowing it to bits and ending his life.
"Yeah, we don't take prisoners as well" The bot said turning away from his lifeless body.
"Great to see you're in one piece" he said to Jetstream as his battle mask retracted.
"And I'm glad you weren't executed" he replied.
"I take your fight with Starscream went rather well. Considering the state of your body" Ratchet said.
"So, so"
"It's going to take days to repair all the damage you've sustained and the battle is far from over" said Ratchet after taking a quick scan of him.
"Don't worry, I'll keep myself out of trouble"
Sam and Carly would reveal themselves from the car they were hiding in now that things had calmed down.
"Bee" he called out to his friend.
"Sam. I'm glad to see ya"
"Same here"
In truth, Sam was relieved that he didn't get to see Bee or any of the Autobots get killed in front of him. All their heads would look to the skies as the mothership had its parts malfunction before crashing into the river. Whoever had come through for them on that ship, each and everyone of them owed them a huge favour.
"Sentinel has activated the pillars" Sideswipe pointed out.
"Then we have no time to lose. We charge to the pillars" Ironhide said as he began to transform.
The Autobots followed his lead, transforming into their vehicle modes before driving off towards the control pillar. Sam and Carly would hitch a ride with Bumblebee as they drove through the battle ridden city. The climax of the battle was certainly approaching, a feeling that was shared between he and the Autobots.
The Wreckers had gotten up to Optimus and were cutting the cables attached to him. There was no time to waste as the pillars had been launched and they could feel that the process of bringing Cybertron was about to begin.
"Not long now Optimus. You'll be free" Topspin said as he cut one of the last three cables holding him up.
"Thank you Wreckers for all your help"
"Don't mention it" Leadfoot replied.
"Once I'm free, regroup with the others. They're going to need as much help as they can get" Optimus added.
"You got it Prime" Topspin said.
"The last two cables are coming off now. Hope you're ready" said Roadbuster.
He and Leadfoot would cut the last two lines together freeing Optimus. The prime would begin his descent as he fixed his hands into the gauntlets and fired up the engines. The jet engines began to whirl before bursting into life and supporting Optimus' body in the air. The Wreckers cheered as their leader was finally free and they could return to the fight just as planned.
Optimus flew through buildings eager to regroup with the rest of the Autobots but he was stopped dead in his tracks as fighters had picked up on his flight path and tailed him. He groaned lightly as the ships began to shot at him and force him to deviate from his original destination. Optimus veered off to the right into a straight path of buildings as the fighters kept up with him. With the path being straight, Optimus would turn over facing the ships even though he was still flying words and open fire at them. His guns ripped through the armor of the ships setting them ablaze as explosions lit up the sky.
A couple of Decepticons were lucky enough to jump out of their ship before it hit the ground in a ball of fire. Others, well not so much. Before prime could even breathe, three more ships showed up and launched missiles at him. He swerved to the left and into a row of buildings to get the missiles of his back. The missiles struck the skyscrapers as Optimus would circle around, using the high rise buildings as cover to appear behind the group of ships. He utilized his guns again as multiple blasts were sent their way as he once again took down another group of ships.
He was further away from the Autobots than before and four ships appeared out of the sky once again. It was going to be a while before he could get to his men.
"Bear a little longer soldiers, it will still be sometime before I appear"
Optimus would take a right turn and right there before him, a mothership with five more fighters hovering around it. His brows would narrow, knowing what it would take to make it out of this situation alive. Nine fighters and a mothership, just his luck. Whatever the circumstance, he wasn't going to let a bunch of Decepticons stand in his way, especially with the faith of the Earth in their arms, not today, not now, not ever.