"Lennox, do not trust Megatron!"
Ratchet, seeing the Captain move toward a potential negotiation, shouted a harsh warning. "If Megatron secures the AllSpark, he will use its energy to convert every machine on this planet. He will birth a new Decepticon army from your own technology. Humanity will have no place in his new world!"
"Don't worry, Ratchet," Lennox muttered, retreating toward the Autobot line. "I'm not handing him anything. I'm just buying us a few seconds..."
High above, Megatron realized the humans were stalling. Their defiance tasted like ash. Infuriated by the deception, his voice shook the skyscrapers. "Decepticons! Attack! Reclaim the Cube!"
"By your command, my Liege!"
Starscream was the first to react. He plummeted from the rooftop, shifting into his F-15 form in mid-air. He banked sharply over the intersection, unleashing a volley of cluster missiles.
"It's Starscream!" Ironhide roared, seeing the incoming heat signatures. "Lennox, get your men back! Take cover!"
"Bumblebee, with me!"
Ironhide and Bumblebee grabbed a heavy abandoned van, heaving it upward to use as a makeshift shield against the descending ordnance.
BOOM!
The van was vaporized the instant the cluster munitions struck. The force of the blast was cataclysmic, tearing the vehicle in two and throwing Ironhide and Bumblebee backward into the rubble. The shockwave shattered every window for three blocks, sending Sam and Mikaela diving for the dirt.
"Is everyone okay? Anyone hit?" Lennox scrambled out from under a pile of masonry, his ears ringing and his vision swimming.
Sam and Mikaela lay nearby, covered in grey dust. They weren't bleeding, but the sheer pressure of the explosion had left them gasping for air. Sam reached out, his shaking hand finding Mikaela's.
"My God... Bumblebee!"
As the smoke cleared, the horror of the strike became visible. Bumblebee was prone on the asphalt, his fingers clawing at the ground as he tried to drag his torso forward. From the waist down, he was a jagged mess of sparking wires and leaking hydraulic fluid. His legs were gone.
Ironhide, who had taken the brunt of the blast, rolled to his feet and growled. His heavy armor was scorched, but he remained functional, immediately raising his cannons to fire back at the circling Starscream.
From his vantage point on the roof, Skygnaw narrowed his optics. This was his first real look at Starscream's raw power—a single pass had crippled an Elite-Class scout like Bumblebee. He realized that without Optimus, the Autobots were hopelessly outmatched. He also noted Ironhide's staggering durability; the veteran was "tanking" hits that would have scrapped a lesser machine.
Starscream shrieked past for another run. Skygnaw shifted into his Pave Hawk form, preparing to join the fray. But then, several small black dots appeared on the southeastern horizon, moving at high subsonic speeds.
Skygnaw felt a ping in his scanners. He banked toward Megatron. "Lord Megatron, human interceptors are inbound."
Megatron looked at the horizon, then back at the street war below. "Skygnaw, deal with those gnats. Do not let them interfere with Starscream and Blackout."
"By your will, Lord Megatron."
On the street, Sam scrambled to Bumblebee's side. "Bee! Please, get up!"
His voice broke as he saw the mangled state of his friend. Mikaela was on the verge of tears. "Bumblebee, you have to move! You're going to be okay!"
"Ratchet! Help him! Please!"
Bumblebee groaned, his vocal processors emitting a static-filled hiss. He shook his head, reaching into his chest compartment to pull out the AllSpark. He pressed the humming Cube into Sam's hands.
"Sam... don't wait for me... I can still fight..." He gestured behind Sam, his optics flashing a warning. "Decepticons... behind you..."
"Decepticons?"
Sam spun around. At the far end of the street, a heavily modified M1 Abrams tank—Brawl—was smashing through a line of parked cars, its twin-linked cannons rotating. Behind it, the black-and-white cruiser, Barricade, followed in its wake.
BOOM!
A tank shell impacted the road nearby, showering them in asphalt shards. Sam clutched the Cube, grabbed Mikaela's hand, and began to run for the nearest alleyway.
The "lost" reinforcements had finally arrived. Seeing their ground support, Starscream and Blackout descended, landing at the opposite end of the street to box the Autobots in.
"Decepticons! Scrap these Autobots!" Starscream barked, his missile launchers and gatling guns deploying.
Blackout lowered his massive frame, his back-mounted heavy cannon beginning to glow as it drew power for a high-intensity blast. At the other end, Brawl continued his relentless advance, firing as he moved.
"Protect the Spark!" Ironhide shouted.
The Autobots launched their counter-attack. Ironhide leveled his heavy cannons at the largest target—Blackout—and unleashed a dual-pulse blast.
THUMP.
The impact caught Blackout mid-charge, knocking the ten-meter giant flat on his back just as his cannon finished charging.
Jazz, small and lethal, shifted into his silver Pontiac form and rocketed toward Brawl. He transformed at the last second, leaping onto the tank's chassis and using his raw strength to wrench the primary barrel upward, snapping the hydraulic mounts.
If Barricade hadn't lunged in to help, Brawl's head would have been Jazz's next target. Ratchet laid down suppressive fire with his ray-rifle, helping Ironhide keep Starscream at bay. Even the legless Bumblebee, leaning against a wrecked truck, raised his plasma cannon to fire at anything that moved.
"Move! Everyone, move!" Lennox shouted to his squad. "Position the transports! Create a hardline! Do not let those things past us!"
The soldiers opened fire, their sabot-rounds and grenade launchers joining the chaotic crossfire.
High above, the aerial battle began.
The lead pilot of an F-22 Raptor flight saw the Pave Hawk helicopter heading straight for them.
[Unidentified aircraft, identify yourself immediately.]
[Repeat: unidentified aircraft, state your intent or you will be intercepted.]
Skygnaw offered no reply. He didn't even slow down.
[Command, target is non-responsive. Requesting permission to engage.]
[Copy that. Situation is critical. Intercept with missiles. Clear the path for the strike group.]
The pilot's thumb flipped the safety on his joystick. Click.
"Fox One!"
A Sidewinder missile streaked from the Raptor's internal bay, spiraling toward the helicopter. Skygnaw didn't dodge.
Just as the pilot prepared to celebrate a kill, the helicopter underwent a violent, blur-like metamorphosis. It shifted into a humanoid giant in mid-air. Skygnaw raised his heavy repeater, shredding the incoming missile in a burst of flak.
Then, four white streaks of exhaust erupted from his shoulder pod.
"What the—!" The pilot gasped, nearly snapping his control stick in shock. [Command! That's no heli! It's a shifter! Target is a robotic entity—we are under—]
BEEP! BEEP!
The cockpit erupted in warnings. [Locked! Missile lock!]
The pilot didn't have time to deploy flares. The four red dots on his radar slammed into the flight of four Raptors.
BOOM!
Four massive explosions blossomed in the sky. The Raptors, wreathed in black smoke, tumbled toward the city below. As they fell, two or three ejection seats fired, parachutes blooming against the backdrop of rising fire.
Skygnaw glanced down indifferently at the falling wreckage before turning his optics toward the remaining jets in the distance. He had a job to do.