Ironhide and Ratchet moved to Sam's side, their massive frames shielding the boy from the crossfire.
"Go, Sam! Get to the roof!" Ironhide roared, punctuated by two booming shots from his cannons aimed at a circling Starscream. "We'll hold them here!"
Looking at the desperate, hopeful eyes of the soldiers and the Autobots, Sam's panic began to solidify into a hard, cold resolve. He gave a sharp, heavy nod.
"Okay. I'm going."
"Sam!"
Mikaela called out, her voice thin over the roar of battle. She ran to him, catching his arm. Lennox had wanted her to evacuate with the boy, but she had refused to leave the injured Bumblebee's side. She gripped Sam's shoulders, her eyes locking onto his.
"Sam... no matter what happens, I'm glad I got in your car last night." She leaned in close, her voice a fierce whisper. "If we make it out of this, I've got a surprise for you."
Behind them, Ironhide's impatience flared as he monitored the encroaching red dots on his radar. "Sam! Move! More Decepticons are closing in!"
"Right! Now!"
Sam took one last look at Mikaela, clutched the AllSpark to his chest, and sprinted into the lobby of the white skyscraper.
Lennox watched him disappear into the building before diving back into the fray. In the last fifteen minutes, he had lost over half his squad, even with the Autobots taking the brunt of the heavy fire. He scrambled over to Epps, snatching the shortwave radio from his hands.
"Jolly Green extraction, this is Ground Lead! Come in!"
"We need an immediate pick-up. One boy, one high-value asset. He's heading for the roof with a flare!"
Jolly Green One: Copy that. We see the building. ETA two minutes.
At the other end of the block, Skygnaw landed near the smoking remains of Brawl. He watched as Megatron and Optimus tumbled back into the main street, their armor scorched and leaking Energon. The fight between the Leaders was a localized earthquake; the air screamed as energy blades met crushing claws.
Skygnaw deployed his heavy repeater, shredding a squad of soldiers who were trying to flank the downed Brawl.
"Brawl, status?"
The tank-former groaned, his internal gears grinding. He looked up to see an Elite-Class signature standing over him. He scanned his memory banks, finding the data Soundwave had shared earlier.
"Sky... Skygnaw?" Brawl wheezed, his chassis showering sparks.
"Get up," Skygnaw said, scanning the tank's damage.
Brawl was in rough shape. His primary turret was jammed, and his reaction speed was lagging. In the original timeline, this was where the humans and Bumblebee would have finished him. But with Skygnaw's intervention, he had a chance.
"Follow my lead, Brawl. Stay close."
"By your command, Skygnaw."
Brawl managed to haul his massive frame into a standing position. Saving him wasn't an act of mercy; Skygnaw simply knew that having a High-Class tank as a shield increased his own survival odds.
Screee—
Skygnaw looked up. An F-22 Raptor was diving toward his position.
"Brawl, move!"
Skygnaw stepped forward, snapping his energy shield into place.
BOOM!
The missile detonated against the orange hexagonal grid, leaving Skygnaw untouched. Brawl watched with a flicker of envy—shields were a luxury of the Elite tier.
But Skygnaw's sensors were focused elsewhere. The human air support was tilting the scales. Starscream and Blackout were being forced back into the clouds to deal with the Raptors, and Barricade had gone quiet again, likely prowling the side streets.
"STARSCREAM!"
Megatron roared toward the sky after kicking Optimus through a storefront. "Starscream! Get these annoying flies out of my sky!"
Megatron was livid. He had almost driven his claw through Prime's spark chamber when a missile from a Raptor had slammed into his back.
"As you command, my Liege!" Starscream's voice shrieked from the clouds as he accelerated, his kill-count climbing rapidly.
Meanwhile, Sam reached the rooftop, gasping for air.
"Hey! Over here!"
He popped the flare, the brilliant green smoke trailing into the sky. A Jolly Green helicopter banked sharply, hovering just feet from the roof's edge.
Jolly Green to Command: We have the boy in sight. Moving in for extraction.
The rotors whipped the air into a frenzy. Sam prepared to leap.
Suddenly, a streak of white fire caught the helicopter's main rotor hub.
BOOM!
The Jolly Green erupted in a fireball, spinning out of control and plummeting toward the street below.
On the ground, Skygnaw lowered his shoulder pod, the smoke still drifting from the launch tube. The AllSpark wasn't going anywhere until Megatron decided its fate.
"Uh... oh no..."
Sam collapsed on the roof, covering his head from the heat of the blast. He checked his limbs—no blood. He was alive. But as he looked up, a Cybertronian jet shrieked over the roof, banking and transforming in a single, fluid motion.
Megatron landed on the rooftop, his heavy pedes cracking the concrete.
"Look what I've found."
Megatron recognized the boy instantly. More importantly, he recognized the humming Cube in the boy's arms.
"Oh, crap," Sam whispered, scrambling behind a large marble statue on the roof's edge.
Megatron began to walk toward him, his footsteps like thunder. "Is it fear that controls you, little one? Or is it courage?"
Sam huddled behind the statue, his legs shaking so hard he could barely stand. He was balanced on a narrow ledge, a hundred-meter drop at his back.
"Give me the Spark, boy," Megatron rumbled, extending a hand. "Give it to me, and I will let you live. I might even keep you as a pet."
"No... never!"
Despite the terror, Sam's voice held. "I'm not giving you anything!"
"A pity."
Megatron lunged, his metal claw swiping at the statue. The impact sent Sam flying backward. He lost his footing, clutching the AllSpark as he plummeted into the abyss.
"I've got you, Sam!"
Halfway down, Sam was caught by a massive, blue-and-red hand. Optimus Prime, having climbed the side of the building, caught the boy mid-air.
"Hold on to the Spark, Sam!"
Using his raw strength, Optimus braced himself between two buildings, sliding down the glass facades before leaping and landing safely in the street.
"Optimus!"
Megatron landed moments later, his impact cratering the asphalt.
"Sam... you protected the Spark with your life. I am honored," Optimus said, gently setting the boy down. "No victory without sacrifice. If I cannot defeat him, I will merge the Cube with my own Spark. We will go into the dark together."
"Now, hide, Sam."
Optimus stood tall, his energy blade igniting with a hum. "It's just you and me, Megatron. The duel we were meant to have."
"Prime!" Megatron hissed, rising from the crater. "The winner takes all, and the loser is scrap! You fight for the humans? Then you have already lost!"
As the two Leaders charged each other for their final clash, Lennox and his surviving men slipped out of a side alley.
"Whoa! Halt! Back up, back up!"
Lennox pulled his men back as a Pave Low helicopter—Blackout—descended into the intersection, transforming into his massive, ten-meter form. The Decepticon turned his back to them, heading toward the Leader's duel.
"Will, the fresh air wing is here," Epps whispered. "Both Leaders are right there. I say we call in the strike and level the whole block."
"Wait, Robert." Lennox held up a hand. "Just mark the big one—the helicopter. Let the jets handle the flier. We're going to take this one down ourselves."