3rd POV (In Jasper, Nevada)
It's been days since the Decepticon warship destroyed the Autobot Base. The Vehicons and Insecticons search through the flaming rubble. Megatron is above, stilling missing his right arm.
"Leave no stone unturned!" Megatron ordered.
"Master, look who we found. Pulled from the wreckage of his ship Wheeljack." Starscream informed.
He shows Wheeljack, who's groaning while two Vehicons hold each of his arms. Energon bleeds from the side of his mouth.
"So, one survived. Take our guest back to the citadel for questioning. Back to Darkmount." Megatron ordered.
He looks up at Darkmount.
"This is the dawning of a new age, my liege. The reign of Megatron." Starscream declared.
"You do have a way with words, Starscream. Make haste and unearth the Autobot corpses!" Megatron ordered.
The Vehicons removed some rebel. From the other side, Optimus' body glitches and bleeds energon while buried under rubble. Later, the Vehicons present Airachnid in a red statis pod and the Forge of Solus Prime. Megatron is not impressed.
"The Forge of Solus Prime?! How is it that you have managed to materialize that, yet not the remains of a single Autobot?!" Megatron asked angrily.
"Answer your Lord and Master. Where are their bodies?!" Starscream demanded.
Meanwhile, Smokescreen phases his head through a rock wall that's in an underground cavern. He drags an injured Optimus as they both phase through the rocky wall. He gently lays Optimus against a boulder. Optimus breathes heavily as he struggles to remain alive.
"You're hurt, but you probably look way worse than you feel." said Smokescreen.
Optimus groans as he moves his helm.
"No, don't move or talk. Just power down. Get your strength back. I got you covered."
Back on the surface, Megatron discovered that the other Autobots are alive. He talks to Starscream about this as they walk across the rubble.
"The Autobots clearly Ground Bridged from their Base before it was destroyed. They could be anywhere." Megatron stated.
"We must initiate global surveillance, my Lord. Send search-and-destroy teams to every sector of this planet." Starscream suggested.
"Soundwave, monitor all Earth-based transmissions for any sign of Autobot communication with each other or with their human counterparts." Megatron ordered.
He and Starscream look up to see Military helicopters and tanks heading towards them.
"Foolish humans. I shall deploy the armada." said Starscream.
"That won't be necessary, Starscream. Not when we can engage our enemy with newfound might." Megatron tells him.
The Darkmount's fusion cannon fire a green beam that causes the helicopters and tanks to magnetize against each other. A green forcefield then sends the vehicle flying away. The town of Jasper is wrecked and empty. The military vehicles are on fire. On Darkmount, Megatron sits on his throne while making an announcement through the radio.
"A new power dominates your world.
Any further attempts to attack me will be met with even greater force. Your leaders should be advised that my fusion cannons possess enough firepower to decimate any densely populated area of my choosing. I would, in all likelihood, set sights on your nation's capital, for starters." Megatron announced through the radio.
"Point taken. Now, what do you want from us?" Fowler asked over the radio
"Nothing, Agent Fowler. The Decepticons mean no harm to humanity. We merely desire a place to call home." Megatron claimed through the radio.
"No offense, Megatron. But I'm having a tough time swallowing all this since you seem so bent on plastering humankind under molten steel." Fowler pointed out over the radio.
"Agent Fowler, I admit that war brings out the worst in me. But the conflict with the Autobots is now over, and our quarrel has never been with your kind. Now that the one true enemy of the Decepticons is no more, my only wish is to coexist on this planet with the human race, peacefully. Together, Agent Fowler. I believe that you and I can make that dream a reality." Megatron explained through the radio.
You too have a way with words, Master." Starscream praised.
"Earth is our planet now, Starscream, and we shall finish what we started. Humankind has no idea what lies ahead for them." said Megatron.
Later at the Military Base, Fowler is talking to General Bryce on the phone.
"Yes, General Bryce. Special containment protocol G-1000 has been executed as planned. Evacuation of Jasper, Nevada, was 100% successful. As far as its citizens or the media are concerned, the threat was a meteor shower and the town is to remain quarantined until the resulting radiation levels can be dissipated." Fowler confirmed through the phone.
General Bryce responds over the phone.
"Sir, any form of retaliation would be too risky. I just need more time."
General Bryce responds again over the phone.
"Yes, I understand." Fowler hangs up and sits on his desk.
June and Fiona entered his office.
"Agent Fowler, those medical supplies still haven't arrived." June tells him.
"And the officers need advance weapons for defense." Fiona added.
"We have wounded men who need-" June explained, but Fowler interrupts.
"I'm doing the best I can, Nurse Darby and Officer Fadel. I've been a little busy juggling a bunch of nuke-happy generals who don't seem to care if they blow Nevada sky-high And a Decepticon warlord who wants to make nice now that the Autobots are in the scrapyard Megatron's opinion, not mine. He's feeding me a load of horse pucky, trying to crush our spirit." Fowler tells them.
"You still haven't got a word from anyone? Not even Lydia or my husband, Kareem?" Fiona asked.
"Listen, no contact only tells me that the main comlink went down when the Base was pounded into pancake batter. And no, I haven't heard from Lydia. And as for your husband, I evacuated him along with the rest of the people out of Japer into a safer location." Fowler explained.
"But if I could just call Jack." said June.
"You know it's too risky. So do the Bots. The 'Cons could trace any cellphone signal." Fowler pointed out.
"Then take me home. If Jack can't call, that's where he'll look for me." June claimed.
"Jasper's under complete comm lockdown. Nobody's getting back in there. The only ones who can fix this mess are Prime and his Bots. I'm sure they're out there keeping a low profile. They got to be." said Fowler.
Meanwhile, a Vehicon scans several vehicles from above. It scans a familiar black Camaro with yellow accents, but it's turns out negative.
"Negative, no Autobot recognition." the Vehicon claimed.
It flies off from the scene. Bumblebee drives under a tree and opens the door. Raf hops out of the passenger seat.
"Clear." Raf confirmed.
Bumblebee transformed back into his robot form. He now has a black paint job with yellow accents. Bumblebee peeks through the tree and beeps.
"Too close. But your paint job did the trick." said Raf.
Bumblebee tries to contact the others through his comlink, but no response. The yellow Autobot beeps sadly.
"The comm sub link is still down. Bee, I realize Optimus sent us all to different locations to make us harder for the Cons to find. But if we don't know where in the world anyone else went, how are we gonna find them?" Raf asked.
Bumblebee beeps in response.
"Right. Just keep heading toward Jasper, toward Megatron's giant Fortress."
Raf gives a apprehensive expression. Meanwhile in Utah, Bulkhead drives on the Rocky Mountains. Miko sighs as she looks out the window, sitting on the passenger seat.
"I never knew there were so many rockies." Miko says in boredom.
She takes out her flip phone and presses buttons on it.
"Miko!" Bulkhead yelled.
Miko yelped as he makes a sudden stop on the road.
"No cellphone! You know the rules!"
Miko rubs the back of her neck.
"Dude, I wasn't calling anyone. Just playing a video game I already downloaded." Miko explained.
"Sorry. I guess I'm a little on edge." Bulkhead apologized.
He continues to drive on the road.
"Where are we headed anyway, Bulk? You got some sort of plan?" Miko asked.
"We're following standard Wrecker protocol." Bulkhead replied.
"Which is?" Miko asked.
"An emergency plan we followed during the war in case any Wrecker got standard or separated from the unit. We'd always rendezvous at the exact same set of coordinates. If Jackie's still alive, he'll be there." Bulkhead explained.
Back at Darkmount, Wheeljack's arms are restrained above him. Energon still oozing from the side of his mouth. Starscream is holding an electric prod in his servo.
"Don't stop now. I was just beginning to enjoy myself." Wheeljack says smugly.
"Believe me, Wheeljack, there is more where that came from. And you will tell me the location of your compatriots." Starscream demanded.
He scratches the prob against Wheeljack's chest. Wheeljack grunts in pain.
"No matter what it takes or how long."
Wheeljack spits a glob on energon into Starscream's faceplate. Starscream wipes the energon off and growls at Wheeljack. He recomposes himself and smirks. He grabs Wheeljack's chin and slightly scratches his claws into the fiery Wrecker's faceplate.
"I see that you still have that fiery spirit, Autobot." Starscream sneered.
"Like I told you, they weren't expecting me. They never bothered to fill me in. So, go ahead. Knock yourself out." Wheeljack dared tauntingly.
Later, Knockout walks into Megatron's throne room.
"How may I serve you, Lord Megatron?" Knockout asked.
He kneels while bowing down.
"Assemble a team and disembark for Cybertron immediately. While hunting Autobots remains paramount, we must not squander the opportunity to recover any Iacon relics left behind in the chaos. For all we know, Optimus Prime is out there somewhere planning to do the same." Megatron stated.
Back in the underground cavern, Smokescreen aids a groaning Optimus.
"It's okay, Optimus. You're with me, Smokescreen." Smokescreen reassured.
"How did...I get here?" Optimus asked while groaning.
"When we were evacuating the base, just as the Cons opened fire. It was my turn to Ground Bridge away. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't let you face Megatron's army alone. So, I snuck back. But that's when the blast hit, and the whole joint came tumbling down. But I managed to pull you from the wreckage before the Cons dove in, using the Phase Shifter, which I managed to snag in all the confusion back on Cybertron. I'm sorry I defied your orders. We're safe here, but we're down so deep, no one can pick up our signals. I'll have to scout above ground if I'm gonna have any hope of finding Ratchet." Smokescreen explained.
He's about to walk away, but Optimus stops him
"No....No hope." Optimus groaned.
"What do you mean? The Doc's the only one who can get you patched up." Smokescreen pointed out.
Optimus closes his optics, breathing heavily.
"Optimus."
In Nebraska, Arcee stops at an abandoned Military Base.
"What if Jasper wasn't evacuated in time? She could have been hurt or taken by the Cons." Jack assumed.
He gets off of Arcee and takes off his helmet.
"Jack..." said Arcee.
"And even if she did get out, she's got to be worried out of her mind not knowing where I am." Jack rambled worryingly.
Arcee transforms back into her robot form.
"Jack, calm down. We'll get back to Jasper, find a way to reach your mother...and the rest of the team." Arcee reassured.
She looks at a helicopter from a distance.
"Stay here. 'Could be a Con on our tail."
Arcee transforms into a motorcycle and drives off. Jack takes out his phone and switches the picture of Arcee to June. He sends a text message to her. Back in Darkmount, Soundwave dectects a message from Nebraska. An image of Jack appears on the screen.
"Master." Starscream alerted through the comlink.
Megatron hears this while sitting on his throne.
"Send in the troops. And Soundwave, I want a live feed." Megatron ordered through the comlink.
He transforms into a jet and flies through the sky. Soundwave detaches Laserbeak off of his chest. The Decepticon drone starts to fly off. Back in the Military Base, Fiona is helping June pack up her bag. June picks up her ringing phone and gasps.
"What's wrong, June?" Fiona asked.
"Jack. 'With Arcee. Safe. Love you'." June read.
"Jack's okay?" Fiona asked.
June embraces Fiona in a hug, much to the brunette woman's dismay.
"He is!" June exclaimed happily.
She starts to run towards Fowler's office.
"Agent Fowler, Jack's alive!"
"I hope that Lydia is still out there alive with Periwinkle protecting her." Fiona hoped.
She also starts to run towards Fowler's office. Back in Nebraska, Jack puts his phone back into his pocket. He looks up to see a Vehicon flying down towards him.
"Scrap." Jack cursed.
He start to run away from the Vehicons as it shoots at him. Arcee hides behind and aims her ion blaster at the helicopter. She looks closer to see that it's just a civilian piloting a helicopter. The blue Femme sighs in relief. She looks back to see explosion occuring from a distance.
"Jack!" Arcee cried out.
She transforms into a motorcycle and drives back towards the abandoned Military Base. Jack runs past lasers from behind. He looks up to see two more Vehicons flying down. The raven-haired teen climbs up a fence.
The Vehicon nearly shoots at him, causing Jack to fall against the ground on the other side of the fence. Jack gets up and continues to run. The Vehicon shoots at the Transmission tower, causing it to nearly land on Jack. Laserbeak records him from above.
Soundwave, Starscream, and Megatron see the footage from Laserbeak back at Darkmount. Jack hides under a trailer and covers his head. The Vehicon shoots the trailer away. Jacks scoots away from the lasers. Arcee grabs him and skids backwards against the ground. She starts shooting at the Vehicons. Back at Darkmount, Megatron is irritated at this.
"How long does it take to exterminate a lone Autobot and her human pet?!" Megatron asked angrily.
"Well, in my experience-" Starscream explained, by Megatron interrupts him.
"Not a riddle, Starscream." Megatron growled.
"Sorry." Starscream apologized.
Back in Nebraska, Arcee looks at an abandoned gas station.
"Over there." Arcee says to Jack.
She points at the abandoned gas station. She transforms into a motorcycle and Jack gets on her. She drives them at the abandoned gas station. Arcee transforms back into her robot form.
"Not the best cover." Jack tells her.
"We're not here to hide." Arcee sneered.
The Vehicons transform into their robot forms and see that Jack is holding two leaking fuel hoses.
"Hey, guys! Unleaded or diesel?!" Jack asked tauntingly.
The Vehicons look down as the puddle of gasoline. Jack drops the fuel hoses and runs towards the car, hiding behind it. Arcee shoots at the puddle of gasoline, causing it to explode. The Vehicons are blown into scrap.
Arcee hugs Jack as she protects him from the explosion. The fiery blast hits Laserbeak, causing it's screen to malfunction. The Decepticons see this while in Darkmount. Megatron growls in anger. Back in Nebraska, Arcee and Jack look at the flames while they're behind a car.
"Let's roll before they send reinforcements." said Arcee.
She transforms into a motorcycle. Jack gets on her and puts on his helmet. Arcee drives them away from the flames. On Cybertron, Knockout is commanding Vehicons and Insecticons.
"Come on, fellas! Put your backs into it!" Knockout ordered.
The Vehicon remove some rubble. Knockout looks down to see the Apex Armor.
"The Apex armor. Our illustrious leader will be pleased. Now, any sign of that Phase Shifter? I really like that thing."
"Sir." said a Vehicon.
He points at the sky. Back at Darkmount, Soundwave uses his tentacles to repair Laserbeak.
"Well? Did any of the surveillance data survive?" Megatron asked.
"A shame. We might have at least learned the direction in which Arcee and the human fled." said Starscream.
"Clearly, we need to improve our methods of hunting Autobots and build upon the tactical advantage that we've managed to secure." said Megatron.
"Lord Megatron, I am ready to return to Darkmount. And I'm certain you'll want to see what I've uncovered." Knockout says over the comlink.
"Soundwave, open a Space Bridge portal." Megatron ordered.
Soundwave uses his face screen to activate the Space Bridge near them. Knockout walks out of it towards them.
"I find myself in urgent need of good news.
So please, Knockout. Tell me that you found something useful."
"Some things, my liege. And someone." Knockout added.
A faceless purple and black robot with a left arm cannon attached to an ammunition belt walks out of the Space Bridge. Starscream gasps in shock.
"Shockwave." Megatron says in shock.
He chuckled evilly.
"Just the tactical advantage I need."
In New York, Periwinkle drives through the streets of Manhattan with Lydia on her. Lydia spots a red townhouse nearby.
"Hey, Pera. Pull over at that house." Lydia tells her.
She points at the red townhouse. Periwinkle stops at the red townhouse.
"What are you doing, Lyds?" Periwinkle asked.
Lydia gets off of her.
"I just need to rest for tonight. We'll continue to drive on the road, first thing in morning." Lydia explained.
"Just...be careful." Periwinkle tells her.
"I'm a big girl, Pera. You know that I can take care of myself." Lydia stated.
She walks up the stairs and knocks on the door. A woman with olive skin, brown eyes, long wavy black, and a mole opens the door. She's wearing black night gown, a matching robe, and pink slippers.
"Hello." The woman greeted in a Mexican accent.
"Hi. I need a place to sleep in for tonight. I traveled from New Jersey to here on my motorcycle. And I'm kinda hungry." Lydia tells her.
"Come in, come in. I have leftover enchiladas and tres leches cake." said the women.
She escorts Lydia into her house.
"I'm Lydia, by the way." Lydia greeted.
"Maria Perez. I moved from Mexico to America three years ago. The enchiladas are on the first shelf in the refrigerator. The Tres leches cake is on the on countertop. The bathroom is upstairs to your right in case you want to take a bath or shower. And there's a bedroom to your right. There's extra clothes in the closet. I'll be in my room in case you need anything." Maria explained.
She walks upstairs to her room. Lydia heats up some enchiladas in the microwave before eating them. She takes a few bites out of the Tres leches cake before heading upstairs in the bathroom. She takes off her clothes and takes a shower.
Later, Lydia heads into the bedroom and lays on the bed. She looks out, thinking about her friends and parents before falling asleep. The next morning, Lydia wakes up and get off of the bed. She puts on new clothes.
She's nowing wearing one-shoulder purple tank top and leather pants. She heads downstairs. She grabs scissors from the table and heads towards the bathroom.
Lydia looks at herself in the mirror and sighs. She cuts of her long curly hair, which is now in a bob. She goes to the dinning room and eats Raisin Bran with milk for breakfast. Maria heads downstairs, now wearing a green short-sleeved shirt and denim jeans.
"I see that you gave yourself a new look." Maria noticed.
"I just wanted to go her a new change." Lydia shrugged.
She continues to eat the cereal.
"It suits you." Maria complimented.
Lydia finished her breakfast and stood up.
"Thanks. I should get going." said Lydia.
"You know that you can stay here however long you want?" Maria asked.
"It's just that I want to continue travel across the Northeast Region. Being in every state make feel like I'm in a whole new world. I appreciate you're hospitality, Miss Perez." Lydia explained.
"Call me Maria. And I'll pack you some snacks before you go." Maria stated.
She puts various snacks in a bag and hands it to Lydia. They wave each other goodbye before the brunette teen walks towards the door. Lydia walks out of the house and walks towards Periwinkle, who still in her motorcycle mode.
"New haircut?" Periwinkle asked.
"I wanted to go with something new. Plus, this new look will make it impossible for the Decepticons to detect. Speaking of which, you need a new look too. You can be easily detected." Lydia pointed out.
"Where am I going get a new due?" Periwinkle asked. Lydia gets on her.
"I remember Miko saying that there's an Auto shop somewhere downtown Manhattan. Let's go there." Lydia suggested.
Periwinkle drives them downtown Manhattan. They arrived at the Auto shop. Lydia uses her allowance to pay for Periwinkle's new paint job. After a few hours of waiting, the painting is done. Periwinkle is now light purple with turquoise accents. They drive across the road towards the forest to hide.