UNECOM BASE OF OPERATIONS: FACILITY # 4189

Matt grunted and stumbled backwards. Spike advanced, his fist cocked and ready to fly again. Matt could feel his left eye beginning to swell, this Witwicky was tougher than he thought. He made to charge when a sudden blast of wind caught his attention. The sound of chopper blades came from the sky, revealing a jet black helicopter lowering towards the battle. Matt could make out the letters FBI stenciled on the side from where he stood.
“The FBI?” Matt grumbled, his dirt-caked jacket flapping in the wind. He shot a look at Spike. “Are you serious?”
The chopper touched down, three stiff looking men exited and walked towards Matt and Spike. Their black suits were sharp ink marks against the orange skyline, eyes hidden behind black shades. The tallest of the three walked a few paces in front, he slid his shades off and regarded the two men with cold, green eyes. Matt couldn’t tell if the sallow hue of his skin was natural or trick of the light. His hair was stark white, but his face no older than his late twenties. He looked so familiar.
“Witwicky,” he grumbled as he approached, “we spoke earlier.” His hand disappeared into his suit and returned with a glinting badge he directed at Matt. He flicked it closed and tucked it into his suit. “Agent Braxis, FBI.”
“Braxis?!” Matt’s eyes widened, he didn’t notice the slew of choppers hovering overhead, drifting towards the front of the compound. He pushed back his surprise, his brows furrowed, “I don’t know what makes you think that’s even remotely funny pal, but Dr.Braxis is locked away in a very dark place. You think throwing his name around’s gonna rattle me?”
Spike looked towards the agent, “What’s he talking about?”
Agent Braxis ignored him, his eyes fixed on Matt. His mouth twitched, then returned to an expressionless line. “Begging your pardon Mr. Hunter, I’d appreciate it if you left my father out of this conversation.” His hand blurred again, this time it returned gripping a gun. “Right now, I would say he’s the least of your worries.”
He cast a quick glance towards Spike.
“Thank you Mr.Witwicky,” Agent Braxis kept his gun trained on Matt, “We would never have known about this facility without you.”
“And you’re going to do what exactly?” Matt kept his eyes on the gun, Braxis’ finger rested on the trigger, and he bet the guy was anything but a slouch with that thing. “You’re going to arrest me?” he barked a laugh, “Get this straight, UNECOM doesn’t answer to you, your boss, or your boss’s boss!”
“You do today. Witholding technology, granting an intergalactic species clearance to this planet without going through the proper channels, the list goes on.” He nodded to the two suits flanking him, They moved forward, drawing their weapons as well. “It would be a shame if you were accidentally shot while resisting arrest.” He cocked the hammer, “But these things sometimes happen.”
“What the hell are you doing!” Spike placed a hand on Braxis’ arm. “You’re supposed to be evacuating the people from this compound, not settling some petty history between you two!”
Braxis snapped his head towards Spike, who noticed for the first time his eyes looked very yellow, marred by thick red veins reaching towards their icy green pupils.
“Your job is done here Mr. Witwicky.” He snatched his arm free, it swiped through his coat and pulled another gun that pressed against Spike’s chest. “Let’s not make this any more difficult than it needs to be.”
They heard a yell in the distance, then saw Bumblebee tumble out of the air and hit the ground with a ‘thunk’. He groaned, the light in his eyes flickered as he regained his senses, then saw Braxis holding guns on both Matt and Spike. He tried to push himself up and couldn’t, his optical zoom allowed him to see Braxis’ fingers already beginning to squeeze the triggers.
“Spike! NO!”
A loud CRACK rang out, the guns in Braxis’ hands exploded. Pathfinder stood by the opening in the wall, a finger pointed towards the agent. A small bead of blue energy gathered at her fingertip and she fired again, the shot burst with a POP against Braxis chest and knocked him onto his back, shredding the front of his suit. His companions had already backpedaled, catching Braxis as he fell, and were dragging him back to the chopper. He came to, got his feet under him, and stood on his own. His hands bled, and though bits of metal poked from his palms and fingers, he didn’t seem to notice. A thin smile curved his mouth. “You’ve both made a very big mistake.” He allowed the two suits to help him into the chopper, and it rose into the air.
Braxis lifted he collar of his coat and spoke into the flap, a small button doubled as a communicator. “Attention all agents that have breached UNECOM main entrance, acquire what you can, dispose of what you can’t.” his eyes narrowed, “Use the suits if necessary.”

Bumblebee managed to get to his feet, casting a look at Pathfinder. They stared for a moment, then he transformed and rolled in front of Spike, his door opened. “We’re done scouting, Magnus is coming with back-up.”
Spike jumped in and slammed the door, they peeled out as PathFinder knelt beside Matt.
“Get back inside, we’ll handle things out here.”
She placed a hand to her chest, “Road Ranger, they have a second wave advancing towards the back.”

-----------------------

A.J couldn’t believe how quickly the Autobots had made it past the wall and into the compound itself. It had always been an oversized facility, originally constructed when the Guardians were still on Earth, and needed to allow them plenty of space for free motion. But now it was beginning to grow cramped with robots as the Autobots advanced and the Guardians tried to drive them back. They were buying time, she didn’t know for what. She saw a pair of UNECOM guards running across the battlefield, in their hurry they didn’t see the danger they were heading towards.

-----------------------

Throttle changed modes and revved his engine, his cycle mode shook a second before he shot towards Hot Rod, firing at his tires. Hot Rod spun, avoiding the shots by inches, then transformed and leapt, allowing Throttle to race beneath him. He landed and the Guardian swung around, taking aim at Hot Rod again.
“The problem with you guys,” Hot Rod transformed and floored his engine, zooming directly towards Throttle, “Is that you don’t know when you’re outmatched,” he transformed again, allowing his momentum to carry him forward. Throttle threw on his brakes a moment too late, Hot Rod dropkicked the cycle in his center headlight, carrying them both into the air and into a flip,
“outgunned,”
Throttle changed modes, but landed hard beside Hot Rod, who stood over the unconscious Guardian. “Or outclassed.”
“You talk to much.”
Hot Rod turned and saw Turbo swing a fist up and into his chest, sending him crashing into a nearby wall above Inferno, who currently grappled with Pumper, both firetrucks struggling to overpower the other. They released their grip on one another when Hot Rod collided overhead, both immediately noticing the thick chunks of cement pulling free, and the two UNECOM guards running blindly across the area.
“NO!” they shouted in unison, Pumper dropped to his knees and extended his ladder while Inferno did the same, his ladder swiveled around and reached from his back. They intersected directly above the guards seconds before large blocks of cement struck, halting their fall. The guards peeked out moments later covered in gray dust and shaken.
“Are you alright?” they asked the guards in unison, then glared up at each other, a mix of anger and confusion, “What do you care?!” they shouted at one another.
The guards, meanwhile, ran towards the exit, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the machines, who even now stood and looked ready to resume their fight. Inferno watched the guards disappear, then turned his head towards the Guardian.
“Name’s Inferno.”
Silence, then, “ Pumper.”
“Alright then.”
“Right.”
They continued to stare at each other, then Pumper took a step back, Inferno did the same, still keeping a suspicious eye on each other. They continued backing away from each other until Turbo rumbled across the room and drove directly into Inferno. The Autobot smashed through the wall, and Turbo changed modes, his bulky form seemed bigger to Pumper now that he hovered over him, his eyes narrowed slits.
“Whattaya, sweet on ‘im or something?!”
“No I-” he gestured towards the rubble, “He helped save those guards!”
It seemed to diffuse Turbo, his look became slightly less hard. “Never said these guys were Renegades Pumper, but they don’t think much’ve us. Not after what went down on Cybertron. You remember that and keep your guard up.” He pointed towards the front of the compound. “Help hold the line, and keep yer head in this, kid.”
Pumper nodded, then headed towards the battle.

---------------

Magnus started when he saw the red semi come barreling from the back of the UNECOM facility, rolling over the ridge and towards them.
“ Prime?” he whispered, then noticed the subtle differences. Too much blue running along his lower cab, and…
“WHAM!” Warpath shouted, “Is he carrying a tank?!”
Magnus zoomed in on RoadRanger.
A large, green plated tank was indeed resting on the back end of RoadRanger’s flat. Another, much larger one rolled alongside him. Defendor’s blotchy camouflage coloring made him difficult to make out in the fading light. As if the line adhered to size order, Defendor was followed by another, titanic Guardian. The gray, six-wheeled monstrosity dwarfed the rest of its teammates, trundling forward on six thickly grooved tires. In the past he had been a mobile form of protection and firepower for Nick and A.J., the Guardians used to call him a ‘Boomer’, specifically named Rumble. Since the evolution he had acquired a mind of his own, preferring his name to be the same as his classification: Boomer.
“This is it.” Magnus sent a comm to the Autobots he carried, “Ready for battle?”
“When aren’t we ready for battle?”
Above Magnus, the misshapen, feline mass of Grotusque was gliding down in his beast form. His bat-like wings flapped once, causing a heavy gust of wind that slowed his descent. The sun glinted off his oversized fangs as he neared, then transformed. The ground trembled slightly as he made contact. His eyes were intense, an odd shade of blue set sharply against his gray face. He looked up at oncoming Guardians, focusing on the towering mass called Boomer.
“He’s mighty big…” Grotusque paused as the ground nearby split with a loud crack, caving into a wide funnel as Repugnus pulled his crimson, insectile body free. Another shadow swirled overhead and Doublecross landed behind Repugnus, his twin dragon heads bent upward to get a better view of Boomer as Grotusque continued. His smile was wider now, like his eyes. He looked crazed. “… just the way we Monsterbots like it.”

****************

Leader-1 and Optimus Prime stared at one another.
“I didn’t think you’d find us this soon.”
Prime’s eyes never wavered, “You’ll find we’re full of surprises.”
Leader-1 was silent a moment, then, “You don’t really plan on destroying your own planet.”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. You’ve got too much resolve for that.”
Prime hesitated, “I didn’t want this.”
Leader-1’s voice sounded heavy, “Neither did I.”
“Then why?”
“I told you on Cybertron, this has to happen.”
“No, it doesn’t! Nobody was killed on Cybertron. Why? Are you just trying to drive us off the planet so Unicron can inhabit it?”
Leader-1 slowly shook his head. “That’s not what I want. That’s not what I want at all.”
“What then?!” Optimus pointed towards the compound, now only a small, dark lump in the distance, “What can you possibly hope to accomplish by putting your people, and my people through this?! The choices you’re making benefit no one! They won’t save Gobotron, they won’t put an end to this.”
“That’s not true Prime,” Leader-1 began to rise into the air, “I told you before, you’re the choice I made.”
“What does that mean?!”
Leader-1 sighed and clenched his fists, a blue aura thrummed to life around them.
He became a blur of movement, streaking towards Optimus, who pounded towards him, building speed. He launched himself into the air as Leader-1 swung down low, and they collided.

Prime’s mass met Leader-1’s speed, they hit like opposing trains in midair. Prime felt Leader-1 strike him on the side of his mask, another shot connected under his jaw. Prime caught his fist and slammed his right hand against the side of Leader-1’s head, snapping it on an angle and drawing a grunt from the Gobot. They tumbled, lifted into the air by Leader-1’s thrusters on a directionless path. Prime latched onto Leader-1’s back wing to steady himself, then continued to rain punches down on Leader-1. They dipped, Leader-1 spun and drug Optimus along the ground below. His bulky form plowed through rock, it splashed up on an angle and peppered them both, Prime yelled in pain as sparks flew from the connecting area. He swung his knee up and felt it crunch into Leader-1’s gut, they rolled, then struck the ground together in a tangle of limbs. Prime pulled a leg up between them and kicked Leader-1 off, watching him collapse on the ground, then pull himself to his feet. He raced forward and struck Leader-1 again on his forehead, grabbed his arm as he fell backwards and swung him up and over his head, slamming him to the ground. Leader-1 shouted in pain, then rose one of his feet. Prime barely managed to dodge the jet of rocket flames that sprayed forward an instant before Leader-1 became airborne again, cutting through the air and whizzing past Prime, slashing him on the side as he rushed past. Prime winced and dropped a hand to the sparking wound when Leader-1 swooped past again, a glowing fist smashed against Prime’s back, causing him to stumble. He caught sight of a sudden drop-off, and was struck again. He stole a glimpse over the side and saw the uneven canyons below, a wide, patchy cluster of rocky crags bunched together. The retreating sun cast a sharp crosshatch of shadows against the red and brown stone. Prime heard a thin whistle as Leader-1 swung in for another pass, waited a fraction of a second, then swung around, fist cocked, and felt it crash against Leader-1’s chest. He felt something crack and grunted at his screaming hand, but saw Leader-1 had been thrown back, clutching the side of his chest as he dropped to one knee. Optimus waited for him to look up, and their eyes locked. Optimus turned suddenly, ran towards the cliff and leapt over the edge.

************
CYBERTRON:

Blane stirred, then rose to his feet. He checked his hands, then traced the new tear in his chest from Galvatron’s assault. One of his headlights was cracked, the glass just a jagged mouth now. He wiped the side of his face and winced, a crack raced along his cheek and reached towards his eye.
“Gotta be kiddin’ me.” He snorted and spat a black wad of oil, “Herr Fiend’s gonna love hammerin’ this out.” He changed into his motorcycle form, blasting a jet of flame from his exhaust and tore down the road, following the trail of yellow fire.
He saw Galvatron, still lying on his side, and leapt. Galvatron rolled out of the way as Blane’s foot smashed into the ground beside him. As he stood, Blane’s hands snaked forward, grabbed hold of his helmet and hoisted him into the air.
“Heads up,” his hands crackled to life, “And off!”
Galvatron twisted in his grip, then spun his lower half and kicked Blane on the side of his head. He swung again with the opposite foot, then drew back and kicked forwards, cracking Blane beneath the tear in his face. Blane yelled and threw him down, then growled and ran towards him. Galvatron turned, and the two leaders locked hands, both digging their feet into the ground.
Galvatron’s eyes were blaring red, teeth clenched, he struggled against Blane and felt himself being pushed back, just a little at first, then a continuous screech beneath his feet as Blane pushed him with increasing ease.
“Y’know Galvy, I thought maybe fightin’ here in yer own house, you’d give it t’me, really bring it! But you ain’t got nothing to bring.”
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Galvatron roared and pulled his hands free, swinging a tight fist and snapping Blane’s head to the left. The Renegade turned back to him, that wretched smirk inching across his lips, giving him a glimpse of his teeth.
“See that’s the thing, you can’t. Can you?”
Galvatron could barely hear him anymore, his head was pounding, his mind a frenzied cloud of anger that refused to peak, refused to call up the rage he once knew. Despite his increasing ire, the monster inside was silent, leaving him barren, a screaming wind with no force behind it.
No, this was not going to happen, not again. He seethed, through grinding teeth he managed, “Yes. I. Can.”
He threw himself at Blane, crashing into him and driving him back, they smashed against an armored container with such force it cracked at the seams and hung apart. The chain securing the panels snapped and fell nearby. Large, crystalline poles of synthesized, unstable energon slid from the gap, fell and exploded around them. Pink and purple flashes hid them in smoke. Galvatron ducked and grabbed one of the poles that remained intact, aimed at Blane and swung. It smashed against Blane’s forehead and sent him to the ground, shattering in the middle and sparking dangerously. Pins of energon charged crystal peppered Blane’s forehead, he swiped his hand across and winced as it sparked. He glanced to his left and saw long, thick shards of crystal littering the ground. Galvatron raced towards him, the length of solid energon drawn back. The Decepticon’s eyes were wide, he focused, trying to recall those days of war before the Golden era, he had to end this. He yelled, swung, and clamped his teeth abruptly. Blane’s fist was wrapped tight around a large, flat piece of crystal he now used to stab into Galvatron’s gut. It warbled and snapped as Galvatron struck the ground with the already unstable remains of the crystal pole. The improvised weapon detonated, Galvatron felt the crystal crunch in his hands, then dig into them with a sharp, hot pain that began to course up his arms. He refused to scream, even as Blane got to his feet and drove a right hand into the side of his head. He staggered back, tried to close his hands and felt the jagged pieces rebuke him with painful jolts of energy. Blane struck him again, a thick crack raced along his forehead. Despite the pain, Galvatron curled his fingers into half-open fists, clamping his teeth in response to the pain. The energon crystals ground against his hands and each other, sparking across his arms. He swung at Blane and missed, stumbled, and Blane slammed another fist into the back of his head, sending him to the ground. Galvatron placed his hands to the ground and attempted to rise, grimacing as the crystals dug deeper into his palms. How could this be happening…again?
He felt Blane take hold of his lower leg, felt himself jerked into the air and was swung on an arc. He blacked out when he collided with the ground, regaining vision a second later, registering an agonizing feeling of electricity thrashing about his body. Blane lifted him again, this time throwing him towards the DarkOre Tower. He hit the ground in a skid and bounced, his metal screeching and ripping up the road. He heard the sound of an engine, a motorcycle, and saw Blane roll up, change modes, and look down at him, waiting. Galvatron ignored the creaking he felt in his joints, tried to push aside the screaming ache the crystals refused to stop delivering. His body shook, he felt his servos straining, shorting out and refusing to grant him the ability to stand. He cursed himself, cursed the arrogant thug of a Renegade before him… but most of all, he cursed Optimus Prime. If he hadn’t-
An explosion shook the ground, and Galvatron cast an eye towards the battle between the Combaticons and Blane’s Renegades. Blane stomped on Galvatron’s back, forcing him down to the ground, the energon wreaking havoc on his systems as they both watched the battle escalate.

Vortex grabbed one of the Puzzler Fiends, he thought he overheard one refer to him as Tic-Tac, and slung him over his shoulder, then whipped out his blaster and fired repeatedly. The Renegade hit the ground, rolled, and changed back into a car mode. His tires spun, kicking up debris and he shot forward, missing Vortex as he leapt out of the way and transformed, assuming his helicopter mode and continued firing. His shots rained down around the buzzing car, who swerved and aimed his path at one of his own teammates, a yellow car named Pocket. He dropped to his knees and changed the upper half of his body into the front portion of his vehicle mode, laying the hood flat on the ground as Pocket sped up and launched himself directly at Vortex, slamming into him midair. They fell, Vortex transforming back to robot mode and trying to regain his wits when the Renegade reverted to his car mode, slamming Vortex’s hand in his car door. Vortex yelled, trying to yank back the limb and transform. He felt them spinning, and found himself suddenly beneath Tic-Tac. Another shout escaped as they crashed to the ground.

Onslaught swung his blaster toward the blue Puzzler Fiend advancing on him and prepared to fire. A wringing pain radiated from his knee as Jig Saw slammed into him, rebounded, and changed into robot form. He crouched, then leapt at Onslaught, who swung a closed fist that caught him flush in the center of his face. Jig Saw was spun backwards and hit the ground, a hand pressed to the bridge of his dented nose.

Brawl blocked a strike from the orange member of the Puzzler Fiends. This one was bulkier than the others, a lot of his mass seemed to fold out of his car form when he changed.
‘Sucker hits hard! ’ Brawl thought, and cracked a closed fist into the Renegade’s jaw, rocking him back. Crossword growled and ran at Brawl again, ducking a swing and letting Brawl have one of his own. Brawl tilted back and almost laughed, despite the pain he never felt more alive. He ran, head down, shoulder out, and rammed into Crossword, plowing into the machine and slamming him against the wall of the Tower. He held the bot by the throat and crashed another right hand into his face, drew back, and let him have another. He wondered if he could put his fist through the Renegade’s face when a glowing sphere of sparking energy exploded into the wall beside him, the blast was huge. Both Brawl and Crossword were thrown away from the tower, Brawl landed gracelessly on his chest and tipped head over foot onto his back, smoking. He groaned and pulled himself to a knee.

Destroyer fired another large sphere of yellow energy at Brawl, it missed and detonated behind him with a brilliant explosion. Brawl pulled his gun and returned fire, noticing Onslaught had appeared, unloading a wave of gunfire at their target. Their shots slammed into the massive Renegade tank and sent him rolling back a few feet. He spun his treads and stopped himself, then rolled forwards again, appearing to grow as he did so. He changed modes, his new body a towering beast of a machine. Destroyer’s new face was simple, a rounded head, deep green like the rest of his body, a black mask covered his mouth. The main cannon of the tank hung off his back, the length of the cannon pointing down like a metal ponytail. His arms were lined with the front half of his treads, his legs thick with the remaining back sections. His visor took on a yellow glare, and he focused them on Onslaught.
“ Playtime’s over little man.”
Brawl felt his circuits sizzle. “Don’t you talk over me!” He shouted at Destroyer, transformed into his tank mode and began to roll towards him when Crossword returned, the Puzzler Fiend rolled into Brawl’s path and shifted into robot mode, firing a bulb of yellow power into his siding. Brawl swung his cannon and fired at the annoyance, who changed back into his car mode and swung out of the way. Destroyer’s cannon, laying against his back in robot form, shifted and swiveled around, locking into place directly over his head, giving him a vague resemblance to his original GoBot body. He targeted Brawl and fired again. Brawl heard Onslaught transform and counter with his own shot, the collision threw him off his tires, Brawl was thrown to the ground with him. Destroyer stepped forward, the ground cracking as he walked.
Onslaught transformed, pulled up on an elbow and glanced about. Vortex was grounded, his rotors damaged by Tic-Tak while Blast Off provided cover fire for Swindle. He moved to stand and saw a black blur streak towards him, change modes-and then-pain.
Crasher laughed, feeling her foot connect with Onslaught’s shoulder and sent a surge of agonizing electricity through him.
“I love to kick em when they’re down!” she howled, the sentence trailing off into a stream of laughter.
Onslaught yelled and rolled into a crouch, clasping a hand to the still crackling wound. Brawl joined his side, weapon drawn as Crashed continued chuckling, her hands splayed and glowing at her sides. The Puzzler Fiends broke off their attack and converged on Crasher’s position, Destroyer joined them, the Combaticons in his sights.

The Combaticons stood together, weapons drawn, the sounds of battle shook the ground and filled the air. They glanced at each other, Onslaught’s visor flashed. “Combaticons, uni-”
The roar of engines cut him off, the cluster of machines turned and saw the Stunticons barrel towards them, the imposing black and purple mass of Motormaster in the lead, thundering forward. They neared, transformed in unison, and landed. Motormaster looked towards the Renegades, his mouth twisted.
Crasher took a step closer to Destroyer. “Look who decided to join the party. I hope you like mosh pits.”
Motormaster continued to glare at them, Onslaught and the Combaticons moved closer to the group. Swindle smirked, his arm cannon aimed at the Renegades. “I love it when the cavalry arrives.”
Crasher balled her hands into fists, they thrummed to life. The Puzzler Fiends followed suit, twelve spheres of yellow light appeared. Destroyer planted his feet and took aim, a rounded cluster of energy pulling towards his cannon. “Well then,” Crasher smirked, “Let’s get to it, shall we?”
“Yeah,” Motormaster drew his sword, the broad weapon flashed in his hand, “Let’s do this.”
He turned around and swung the blade, stabbing it deep into Onslaught’s chest.
The Combaticon’s visor went wide with shock, energy burst forth and shot through the length of Motormaster’s sword.
“What the PIT ARE YOU DOING?!” Brawl screamed as the Stunticons turned their weapons on the Combaticons, and fired without mercy.
Crasher’s laughter split the night.
“No.” Galvatron snarled, trying desperately to cling to consciousness, this couldn’t be happening…
“Yes, you overhyped screwlinger!” he pointed at the Combaticons being assaulted by Transformers they thought were allies, “I want you to look, I want you to see, I want you to feel this moment, for the rest of your life!”

Onslaught screamed and Motormaster drove his sword further into the wound, a grin on his face. Onslaught’s hands shook, reaching for the blade in hopes of trying to remove it as Motormaster gave it another dig. It bit hungrily into Onslaught’s metal.
“I’ll tell you something,” Motormaster sneered, “this is gonna be a lot more fun than dustin’ that loud-mouth Thrust.”
Onslaught’s mind tried to focus, “Gnnk… you… w-why..?”
“ Please,” Motormaster almost laughed. “That sniveling fuel guzzler single-handedly ruined our chance to restart the war! He had it comin’ more than the rest of you cowards.”
“Lost…your…minds…” Onslaught sputtered.
“No.” Motormaster’s grin disappeared, he glanced back at Crasher, then Onslaught, “We finally found some bots who think like us for a change!”
He indicated the battle raging around them, “Look what we’ve become. We got energon, we got weapons, and all we do is hide in this stinkin’ city! Galvatron isn’t even here most of the time, too busy makin’ good with the Autobots on Earth! I heard about him getting his skidplate kicked by Blane, now I’ve seen it for myself. Galvatron’s just Prime’s lap-con now, that’s not the same Decepticon I pledged to follow. He’s a burnt out wreck, he expects us to jut sit here and rot, cowering in fear and silence.” He turned his eyes towards Galvatron, making sure he saw and heard him, “YOU betrayed US!! If that’s what it is to be a Decepticon now, you can STUFF it!”
He wrenched his sword free and threw Onslaught to the ground, “And so can the rest of you. I’d rather be a Renegade any day of the week.”
Onslaught’s hand sought the jagged puncture Motormaster had made in his chest. It sparked angrily. Motormaster reared back and kicked him hard, rolling him onto his chest. Onslaught felt fuel dripping freely from the gash now, but his thoughts were turning into an angry tide of emotion. He still clutched a hand to his chest and forced himself to rise. He strained, planting a foot and with a sudden surge of energy, jumped at Motormaster.
“TRAITOR!!” Onslaught’s free hand balled into a fist and he slugged Motormaster with all the strength he could muster. The Stunticon stumbled back, the look of surprise on his face quickly gave way to a wild look of fury. A smile touched his lips, and he advanced, sword drawn and held at the ready. Gunfire was going off all around them, Onslaught still couldn’t believe what was happening, and it was so hard to think. There was only one way out of this mess.
“C-combaticons!” he called to his cornered comrades, who turned towards him and immediately leapt into the air, their bodies shifting into arms and legs, Onslaught’s own changing to accept the addition of his allies. As Swindle and Brawl connected as legs, Onslaught looked up and saw Motormaster matching his actions, the Stunticons raced towards him and began forming the limbs of a gestalt he had always despised since their first encounter. He felt the minds of the other Combaticons joining his, and faded into the collective with a single, angry thought.
Bruticus hates Menasor!
As Bruticus’ head formed and his chestplate attached, he saw something that confused him. Menasor was completing his merge sequence, but the Renegade cars… what were they doing? He looked with disbelief as Rube and Zig-Zag realigned their bodies in the same manner as Breakdown and Wildrider, becoming a pair of legs connecting themselves to Jig-Saw. Crossword and Pocket attached themselves to Rube as arms, completing the torso that connected to its lower half. A silver head emerged from Rube, and the new Puzzler completed his merge.
Bruticus looked from Menasor to Puzzler, then rushed Menasor, the devil he knew. They crashed to the ground and Bruticus slammed a closed fist into Menasor’s chest. Menasor snarled and took another colossal right hand from the brute before answering with his own. He called forth his sword and swung, Bruticus leapt to his feet with a thin slash across his chest. Puzzler moved in and caught Bruticus from behind, locking his arms as Menasor stormed forward and smashed a fist into his midsection, then pulled back and swung again, cracking the hilt of his sword against Bruticus’s forehead. He drew back and swung again, his free fist collided with Bruticus’ mask and pulled and angry growl from him. Puzzler let go, spun the gestalt around, and threw a hard right that rocked off Bruticus’ helmet. He lurched back, only to be struck by Mensor again. He grunted, staggered, and Puzzler brought a knee into his midsection, then grabbed his arms from behind again, twisting him to face Menasor. Bruticus raised a foot and kicked Menasor in his face, the gestalt roared and took a step back as Bruticus heaved himself forward, yanking Puzzler over his shoulder and slammed him to the ground with a quake. He looked up too late, Menasor leapt and plowed into him. Together they collided with the side of the tower and fell through it, the armored panels groaning with protest as they were forced from their holdings.

***************
UNECOM BASE OF OPERATIONS: FACILITY # 4189

A.J. had seen the FBI choppers lowering shortly after the Autobots had begun to pour into the compound, and she wondered what possible reason they would have to be there. When the agents rushed in, she held back but continued directing the UECOM guards and workers away from the battle. If she remembered correctly, there were a network of underground tunnels complete with motion escape pods that would run them back to the city, all they needed was to exit and find them. Then she glanced about, taking in the chaotic battle between the Guardians and Autobots and hoping she could keep some workers from being killed.
She saw some of the agents lumber into the room wearing large clunky exo-suits, as if the FBI intelligence were trying to come up with their own ways of battling large robots. They were not huge, much smaller than an average Gobot, and colored dark gray. FBI was written in stark white letters on the side of the main rounded body. The chunky upper bodies seemed silly to her, but the arm cannons looked dangerous enough.
Her thoughts broke when an FBI agent, tall with a large frame, approached her from behind. She spun and faced him, catching the larger man by surprise.
“Miss, you’re going to have to come with us.”
“Not until everyone’s been evacuated.” She gestured towards Hound, who collided with Hans-Cuff and rammed him against the wall, “In case you haven’t noticed, this place has become a warzone!”
The agent placed a finger to his ear, listened, and then straightened up. “I’m afraid this isn’t a request.”
She saw three more agents of varying sizes joining him, all bigger than she was. She felt her lip curl, her eyes flickered.
“I said no.”
“I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”
He reached for her.
She grabbed him by the arm, twisted, and yanked it down over her shoulder. The crack of the bone was loud, but not as loud as his scream. It was strange, as if the agents were in slow motion. She pushed off and wrapped an arm around the head of the second agent, then drove the point of her elbow deep into his back. His arms pinwheeled and she did it again, this time nailing the base of his spine. He went limp and she flung him over her hip and to the ground. The remaining two agents came for her, weapons aimed and ready to fire. She leapt over one, waited for him to turn, then wrapped her hands around the back of his head, crossed her legs and shoved them under his neck. Her shins slid up past his throat and forced his jaw forward in an exaggerated underbite. She allowed herself to fall back, pulling him forward. When they hit the ground she could feel his jawbone shatter, the agent’s eyes rolled in their sockets, his mind unable to register what just happened. A.J. stood and saw the fourth agent had turned to flee. He looked back and fired once, A.J. flinched. The bullet passed through her shoulder, a thin red line ran down from the hole. A.J.’s eyes never left the retreating agent, and she took off after him, blue lines of circuitry becoming more visible on the surface of her skin. She passed him, stopped and changed directions. She was inches in front of him before he even realized it. She drove a fist into his nose and heard it crunch as the cartilage bent, then split. Blood came in a single jet, like the final squirt of water from a cut hose. The agent instinctively reached up, dropping his weapon as A.J. laced her fingers into his, twisted and jerked upward. Four cracks sounded, the pale hand came away with the fingers bent on an impossible angle, the tip of a quivering middle finger touched the back of his hand. A.J. spun and kicked, bringing her foot flush against his temple, mercifully knocking him cold.
When she looked up, she saw three of the FBI-bots surrounding her. They aimed their arm cannons, and she saw dull red glows coming from their weapons.

A.J. curled her hands into fists as she crouched and snapped her head towards them, eyes aglow with a bright, blue flash. The car she shared with Nick came to life, launching itself from its parking spot and racing through the compound, heedless of anyone or anything in its way. It smashed through the wall and spun in front of her, its door swung open as she leapt inside. The door slammed shut, the car spun itself to face the oncoming menace. The gathered agents stomped forward in their mockery of the Guardian Power suits, aiming for her.
“She can’t hide in there,” one lifted an arm and felt it jerk, ejecting its ammunition clip and reloading another, “…for long.”
A.J.’s eyes were still alight, she placed her hands over the empty dashboard, fingers splayed. It lit up as it had for Nick, only this time the circuitry raced down the dashboard and across the entirety of the car’s interior. Once covered, it crawled along A.J., her body becoming a living extension of the car itself.
Gobotronian fusion activated. Came a female voice.
The agents pointed their weapons towards the car, prepared to fire, then halted. It was glowing.
They looked on an amazement as the car shuddered, waves of purple light spilled from a network of seams, then unfolded into a robot form that stared down at them. Though shorter than SmallFoot, A.J. still towered over the FBI-bots.
The machine had a feminine build of black and purple metal. A silver face mask rested beneath light purple eyes, the helmet black and textured much like her hair, swept back and covering her neck like a protective shell. Gold highlights ran along her upper arms and legs. A.J.’s eyes gave a final flash as she stared down at them.
“So,” she heard a voice come from one of the FBI-bots, “you’ve got a fancy set of armor too.”
“You wish that’s all it was.” A.J. glared down at them. They didn’t understand what they were looking at. She was fused with the car, her mind and body seamlessly integrated with the vehicle. Though Nick loved the thing, it had been created for her. It was the one regret they had when they left, Nick didn’t have a chance to see what was designed for him. For years UNECOM had worked to understand the Gobotronian upgrade from flesh to metal, toiling endlessly to figure out how to even begin such an undertaking. Now, having seen the Last Engineer, it made sense. The sudden jumps in technology, the underground, secret labs Matt brought her and Nick to after they volunteered for a special ‘conditioning’ program. It all made sense, the Last Engineer was still advancing civilizations, only this time he had upgraded them. The jump was more in synch, her organic and gobotronian components were one, fused with a technology she doubted Matt or any of the scientists at UNECOM fully comprehended. That was just fine with her, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt so alive.
“So,” A.J. clenched her fists, the black metal powered up, giving off a brilliant blue glow, “Who’s first?”

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Treds rolled off Road Ranger’s flat and changed modes, dust kicked up beneath his feet as he locked on to Magnus and charged the cannon. He paused, then redirected his aim at Warpath, who had already transformed and stood atop Magnus’ transport rack.
“WHAM!” he shouted as Treds fired, unloading a blast from his own cannon. The shots exploded between the factions, Magnus felt the other Autobots rolling free and transforming.

Road Ranger tried to focus on the task at hand. He wasn’t sure why he was the one chosen for this job, he presumed SmallFoot or Turbo would have been Leader-1’s choice, but here he was. Leader-1 always said he could see untapped potential in him and Road Ranger was, of course, flattered. Top marks in the academy aside, he never saw himself as anything more than a willing soldier. But if Leader-1 saw something in him, he wouldn’t let him down. He’d die before he let that happen.
A huge form was walking up behind the Autobots. Road Ranger eased his brake and changed modes, standing his full height and taking in the enormity of Omega Supreme. Zooming in on the faces of the Autobots, he noticed a look of surprise some of them wore. Almost self-consciously, he glanced down at his new body which, now that he thought about it, bore a close resemblance to the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. They were both semi trucks after all. His cab windows formed his chest, and although his head retained its original blue hue and gold visor, the rounded helmet was a new, welcome addition. He hadn’t given it much thought until now. He waved a hand towards the giant Autobot and the oncoming forces, “Hold the line, for Gobotron!”
“For Gobotron!” his troops replied as one, Boomer shaking the ground with the proclamation as he changed into robot form and planted his feet. The heavily armored sections of his chest shifted and gave way to a large circular space that looked scooped out of his metal. A blue sphere of light sparked in the center, growing with a hum as energy gathered.
Ultra Magnus swerved, the gigantic sphere of energy fired by Boomer detonated directly behind him, lifting up the back of his trailer as he tried to outrun the blast radius. The Monsterbots immediately launched themselves at Boomer, tearing into him with tooth and claw. He swatted Repugnus, who smashed into the ground as Grotusque swooped forward and drove his oversized fangs into Boomer’s neck. The Guardian stumbled back, a hand clamped down on Grotusque’s back and tore him free. He reared back to throw, when Doublecross plowed into him. Boomer grabbed the dragon with his free hand and swung the two Monsterbots into each other with a frightening screech of pained metal, then hurled them both at the reinforced wall surrounding the compound. The point of impact exploded inward, leaving a wide, ragged hole behind.

Magnus transformed and winced, First Aid had managed to dampen the effects of whatever it was the Renegade Vamp had poisoned him with, but he still felt his vision falter from time to time. It was a nuisance, but he kept it to himself. He landed and caught sight of Road Ranger, still unable to believe how much he resembled Prime’s build, and rushed forward. The GoBot saw him coming and raised his hands, planted his feet, and fired. Magnus launched his shoulder missiles and dove, feeling the heat of the shots whiz overhead a moment before the sound of his own missiles detonating. He saw a flash of blue in the smoke and leapt, colliding with Road Ranger and allowing his bulk to carry them to the ground.

“OW!” Warpath yelped, a burst of energy from Treds splayed off his arm. He shook his fist at the Guardian, “SHWAM!” and fired a shot of his own, it struck Treds in the chest and knocked him off his feet. He changed back into tank mode as he fell and landed facing the eccentric Autobot.
“Shwam?” he puzzled, then fired again.

Magnus buried his fist in Road Ranger’s midsection, then rocked his head to the side with another punch. Road Ranger staggered back, then responded with a hard right of his own. His fist glowed when it connected and gave off a painful flash in Magnus’ eyes. A trickle of orange fluid dripped from his nose, just a thin line at first, then a steady flow. Magnus coughed suddenly with a grimace, trying to keep his fists clenched as his vision blurred, a searing pain rose in his circuits. “Not now…” he hissed to himself.
Road Ranger tried to hide his puzzlement and failed. “What’s wrong with-”
Magnus swung and connected with Road Ranger’s forehead, driving a yelp from him as he caught Magnus’ arm on the follow-through. He grunted, grabbed the arm with both hands, and strained to haul Magnus up and over his shoulder in a savage throw. Magnus skidded to a halt, lines of orange fluid lined the dirt in front of him as he tried to struggle to his feet, his insides felt like they were on fire. Road Ranger raced towards him and struck him on the side of his head, sending him back to the ground. Magnus dropped to his knees, his hands reached for his throat, choking out a wet, heaving cough that made Road Ranger freeze. A large orange glob grew like a bubble from Magnus’ mouth and fell to the ground with a sickly plop, sizzling when it hit.

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Leader-1 rose, then stepped towards the edge of the cliff. What was Prime doing? He inched closer and readied himself, prepared to leap away if Prime were to appear without warning. He saw nothing. Instead he felt a rumbling beneath his feet, followed by a muffled screech. The ground beneath his feet shook again, then cracked and split. An explosion destroyed the remainder of the cliff and Leader-1 took to the air. He saw Optimus Prime rising as well. He was standing, feet planted solidly on the wings of a huge robot pteradon. The missile launchers resting beneath the crooks of its wings were still smoking, its eyes glared at him with a sentient malice. A bright red Autobot insignia rested in the center of its golden beak.
Leader-1’s shock gave way as another pair of missiles launched from the dinobot and exploded overhead, the force throwing Leader-1 forward. On cue, Prime and Swoop flew forward, Prime’s fist drawn back, then smashed into Leader-1 and knocked him upward into the sky. Together they raced after him, Prime’s eyes narrowed when he saw the Gobot recover and spin, regaining his balance and racing forward. Swoop launched another volley after him and watched them pursue their target.

Leader-1 pushed his jets, he could hear the missiles closing the gap and changed modes, his thrusters kicked in and propelled him only a few feet ahead of the projectiles before they detonated. The blast force knocked him off course, and he reverted to robot mode again to regain stability. He had to think fast, that thing wasn’t as fast as him, but it was built like a flying tank. He tapped his chest.
“VonJoy!” he yelled, raised his hands towards the silhouette of Prime and Swoop, firing into the smoke, “Send it!”

Baron VonJoy gripped the side of the wall and grabbed Scratch with his free hand to stop his comrade from tumbling across the room. Onscreen, he saw Sentry engaged with Omega Supreme. He was amazed by the sheer power the much smaller Autobot possessed. Every upward strike rocked Sentry’s head back. Another shudder shook the floor of Sentry, who had locked his hands around Omega’s forearms, only to receive a thunderous blast of energy from the Autobot’s head cannon. VonJoy saw the entire room jitter from the impact when he heard Leader-1.
“VonJoy!” his voice crackled over the channel, “Send it!”
This was bad. He raced to Sentry’s controls and tried to access the cargo bay’s inventory, fingers racing across the keys until the screen locked. He tapped the keyboad a few times, puzzled.
“Stop that.” Sentry’s voice boomed, “What do you want?”
“Leader-1 needs help!” he shouted, the sound of another impact drowned out most of what he said. “He needs his-”
“I know what he needs. Astrobeam, ready.”

Leader-1 aimed at Prime and fired, growing frustrated as the Dinobot dodged his blast. He fired again and Swoop curled away, but the shot struck Prime’s lower leg. He lost his footing and fell off the flying beast. Leader-1 moved to follow when he saw a large area of disturbance above him. A shape faded into view, the astrobeam finishing the transportation of a very large jet that looked almost identical to Leader-1. Three times his size, the jet immediately lowered itself towards him once the astrobeam completed its transport.

Swoop caught Prime in his footclaws.
“You no fall as long as Swoop flies!” he declared, and bent his legs in an odd configuration that brought Prime in the center of his undercarriage. His feet locked into place, securing Optimus beneath him while he allowed himself to act as a very large, very dangerous jet pack. Prime tested a lean to the side and felt Swoop cut direction immediately, he was able to sense what Prime wanted-perfect. He turned towards Leader-1-and froze. The Gobot was hovering beneath a jet that dwarfed him, then changed into his jet form as well. His change continued though, his wings shifted and folded flat against his body, giving it a rectangular shape. The larger jet began to shift, arms and legs folding out, leaving a single rectangular slot free in its chest. Leader-1 shot up and locked into place, a large shielded chest panel locking down over Leader-1 as a masked face rose from between its shoulders. A gold visor stared down at Prime and Swoop, Leader-1’s SuperGoBot form flared with light as it completed its combination.

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Skylynx decreased his speed, the UNECOM compound in his sights. His sensors lingered on the two Command Centers looming like golems behind the enormous structure. He felt a flash of anger, remembering his rather embarrassing encounter with one on Cybertron. Inside, Roadbuster ground the gears in his knuckled incessantly, the loud pops coming one round after another.
“Would you give that a rest?!” Skylynx snapped, his nerves still raw
“Can’t you go any faster?” Roadbuster hadn’t stopped pacing since entering Skylnx, he couldn’t wait to finally see some action. Whirl leaned against the wall alongside Springer and Sandstorm, contentedly checking their weapons until the drop. The Aerialbots stood at the ready, eyes anxious as they watched the monitor. The UNECOM compound was huge, Silverbolt wondered how the Autobots on Earth had missed it until now.
“Alright Autobots,” Skylynx unlocked his hatch, a line of light flooded the room as wind began to pull at the opening. “give them what for!”
Roadbuster charged forward and banged the doors all the way open, leaping free as Springer, Whirl and Sandstorm assumed their flying modes and swooped towards the line of Guardians approaching Magnus and the others. Silverbolt waved the Aerialbots forward, they transformed in unison and took to the air. Sylnx sealed the hatch, dropped his legs from his cargo hold and extended his claws. He spun himself through the air once, then made a beeline towards the darker Command Center G2.

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Rest-Q rolled up and changed modes, the white metal covering him almost sterling against the smoke.
“I didn’t hit him that hard, ” Road Ranger took a step away from Magnus, eyes focused on the orange blobs of gel frothing from the Autobot’s mouth and nose. “what’s going on?”
Rest-Q knelt and ran his fingers along Magnus’ neck, then gently touched a finger to the orange gel frothing from his mouth, internal diagnostics running an analysis of the substance through his data files. His visor darkened. “Traces of biotechnic venom deposits, probably from Vamp.” He raised a hand, it spun, revealing a large, clear cylinder filled with a glowing blue liquid. A long, glistening needle poked from the end.
“I was afraid we might encounter the Renegade Mutants’ venom, but I didn’t think one of the Autobots would have been exposed to it. It’s become highly volatile because of their unfamiliar physiology.”
“Will that work? We’ve all changed so much… and he’s not even a GoBot!”
“I can’t sit around and do nothing!” Rest-Q leaned forward, readying Magnus for the injection.
A bright explosion thundered off Road Ranger and threw him into Rest-Q, they fell in a clattering tangle as Staks turned towards the commotion.
“POW Doctor Doombot!” Warpath ran towards them, cannon smoking, charging for another blast, “What are you ZAM! Doing to my friend!” He smashed into Staks and almost knocked him off his feet. The larger Guardian reared back and brought his fist down on the back of Warpath’s head, sending him stumbling forward with double-vision.
“Are you dumber n’ a bird tryin’ to swim?!” he shouted, “He was tryin’ to help your friend there!”
“By coverin’ him with BLAM marmalade?!” Warpath stood, the nose of his cannon ablaze, “Right! KA-POW!” his cannon fired and nailed Staks in the chest, sending him flying back and tripping over both Magnus and Rest-Q. He hit hard, got to his feet and stood in time to see more Autobots raining from the sky. He backpedaled just as a very large, very bulky Autobot hit the ground hard enough to send cracks racing from beneath his feet. He was crouched, standing with a deliberate readiness about him. Roadbuster glared up at Staks. He stood taller than the Autobot, but was nowhere near as wide. Roadbuster almost couldn’t contain his excitement, it had been a long time. “Ready to throw down, big man?”
An explosion went off, Roadbuster saw Warpath hurtle through the air, his body smoking. A deep voice came from above Roadbuster, he glanced over his shoulder, looked up and saw Defendor. “I am.” He thundered.
“Don’t worry,” Roadbuster balled his hand into a fist, “You’re next.”

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Baron Von Joy ran a hand across his brow without thinking, the visor covering a majority of his face hid his eyes and mouth, forming a smooth, rounded point at the chin. He checked the monitors of Command Center G2, still a little uncomfortable being in the dark transport despite all the lights being on.
“Running diagnostic scan number-”
Every monitor jumped to life, startling VonJoy. Good Knight entered the room, “What’s going on, why’s the center powering up?”
The monitors flashed and showed Skylynx barreling towards them at breakneck speed. The Aerialbots swirled around him, weapons charged.
VonJoy saw a new face appear on the screens. It had no mouth or nose, only a red visor indicated eyes. A black helmet curved along it head. Its eyes flashed as it spoke.
“No time for scans Doc.”immediately the wide stretch of red armor across the Transport’s dinosaurian head lit up. A thin whine came from within as he activated his online systems, rerouting energy as he saw fit. It craned its neck towards Skylynx and opened its jaws, displaying the countless rows of jagged fangs housed within. A well of energy began to boil within as he took aim. Something shook the ground in the distance, but the Guardian transport kept its focus, taking aim at the oncoming Autobot lizard-and was struck on its side from wide beam of energy.
Omega Supreme stood in the distance, his arm cannon still pointing towards the Guardian transport. Though he was far behind Magnus and the others, his form was visible against the fading landscape. Harsh shadows traced the dents and scratches along his body.
Command Center G2 caught a glimpse of Skylynx veering off from his course, clearly proud of the distraction he provided. The Center growled, swinging his head towards Omega.
Command Center G2 shook, then split across a number of seams, its body twisting and reconfiguring itself into a humanoid machine. It stood on two clawed feet, its body resembling a smaller version of the combined Guardian form. His head and face remained the same as the one projected onscreen, his eyes raced a glowing sequence of numbers across the surface that vanished as he completed the change. He stared down at Omega Supreme as he approached the compound, battles raging around him, then stepped over the wall with a single stride.
“Do not worry Guardians, he is no match for Sentry.”
Omega stared up at Sentry, his jaw set.
“Gobot banter: repetitive.” He cast a glance past Sentry and saw Command Center G1 changing form as well. Guardian stood, his body and face also a reflection of the combined form. He joined Sentry’s side, they towered over Omega, whose expression never changed.
“Situation: Interesting.”

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Defendor swung a fist down at Roadbuster and missed, cracking the ground beside the bulky Autobot who countered with an uppercut. The force rocked the much larger Guardian back, shocked by the brute force of the blow. Roadbuster turned as Staks cracked a right hand off his head, then swung a left that Roadbuster blocked. He leapt forward like a missile and struck Stack’s forehead with his own.
“Dirty, rotten-!” Staks staggered back, a thick crack raced along one of his eyes. He spotted a blue chopper pelting Defendor from above, joined shortly by two more, one green, the other tan and yellow hues. They buzzed about him, firing in rapid intervals as Defendor fired at them. His chest cannon began to glow, a blue light gathering in the center.
“No ya don’t! Roadbuster rocked Staks with a hard right and knocked him to the ground. He ducked down and grabbed his leg with both hands, then hitched Staks into the air and swung him directly at Defendor. Staks screamed, colliding with Defendor’s chest cannon and setting off the growing charge prematurely with a resounding explosion. Defendor’s eyes flared, his chest rippled with internal damage, and he fell, Staks draped on top of him. Springer, Whirl and Sandstorm transformed and landed beside Roadbuster.
“Two in one shot,” Roadbuster uttered a gruff laugh, “How ‘bout that?”
“Better question Roadbuster,” Springer grinned. pointing towards the brigade of flying Gobots taking flight from an opening port on Guardian, “How about them?”
“That ain’t fair, you know I can’t fly!”
“Then break some more walls down,” Springer pointed towards the UNECOM compound. They had already breached the defensive wall, but hadn’t actually broken into the building itself.
“Works fer me.” Roadbuster transformed, armed his weapons, and trundled towards his new target. Springer nodded to Sandstorm and Whirl, “Let’s take em down!”
They took to the sky.