Chapter 4: The Allspark.
["My lord, I'm picking up a transmission on the primary Decepticon channel. Relaying in real time now..."]
As the commander listened in, a series of transmissions went off, allowing him to calculate all the participants' locations.
["... Starscream: All Decepticons Mobilize."]
["Barricade En-Route."]
["Devastator Reporting..."]
["Bonecrusher Rolling..."]
["Blackout Incoming... All Hail Megatron!"]
As they reported in, the commander sent out his order to Downfall.
[Downfall, Reporting...]
A pause was present in the communication channel before Starscream's confirmation went through and it shut down.
As Downfall reported in, he suddenly launched into the air before transforming and beginning to put some distance between himself and the base.
Meanwhile, the commander continued to listen in on the humans inside the base, and he saw... he saw a mere trinket being granted life.
As he watched closely, Downfall finished his rotation, making it as if he was a considerable distance away from the base before returning.
Downfall approached at speed as he fired a barrage of missiles into the energy station.
["Energy station is down. Proceeding towards Lord Megatron's location."]
The thrusters ignited as Downfall descended at high speeds, entering the tunnel below the damn before transforming mid-air and coming to a stop before a towering figure. It was larger than him by any measure, by still a dwarf if compared to the commander.
As he saw the small figures on the ground, Downfall's arms transformed as his weapons revealed themselves.
Humans died at every turn as Downfall heard the Decepticon leader behind him suddenly move.
He quickly fell to one knee as he faced Megatron.
["All Hail Megatron."]
["Where is the Allspark?"]
["I apologize, Lord Megatron, I deemed releasing you to be a higher priority..."]
Megatron simply looked down at him as he pondered for a moment.
["Who are you?"]
["Downfall my Liege, I was stationed in the moon by Shockwave."]
Megatron's optics narrowed as he inspected the Decepticon.
["And for what reason have you disobeyed your orders?"]
["I accidentally picked up an Autobot signal. Soon after I detected 5 Autobot signatures heading for this planet. I tracked them in the hope of obtaining information useful to you, my lord."]
["And? Did you?"]
["They are taking the Allspark towards a nearby city. The Autobots have allied with the Humans. The humans plan to take it somewhere out of your reach while the Autobots keep you busy... and... Optimus Prime is here as well. There are six Autobots, but the local military has proven itself capable of being lethal to us."]
A scoff escaped Megatron as he passed by Downfall.
["I suppose your transgression can be overlooked this time, but don't let it be repeated. Follow me."]
["As you command... my Lord."]
They both transformed as their engines released a powerful blast, taking them out of the bunker and towards the newly arrived Starscream.
["Lord Megatron..."]
Starscream was interrupted almost immediately.
["Where is the cube?"]
["The humans have taken it, my Lord."]
Megatron shook his head as he commented.
["You fail me yet again Starscream. Get me the cube."]
As he commanded, Starscream and Downfall transformed before flying towards the city, an F-22 Raptor and an F-35 Lightning II, breaking the sound barrier as they accelerated.
The Autobots raced for the city, the Decepticons scrambled to stop them, dividing them one by one, the humans scurrying to survive and attempt to provide support for the Autobots... and above all this, the commander watched and calculated.
He could easily hack into any sufficiently advanced device and manipulate it to increase the odds of Downfall getting his hands on the cube, but it was unlikely that Downfall would make it far, and there was always the small possibility of Downfall siding with another side, being the Decepticons or Autobots... and it was not insignificant.
His forces on the ground were in the middle of the Pacific, and while that wouldn't be a problem for his upcoming experimental unit... it was not yet ready, and using them to retrieve the cube after seeing what abilities it had could prove... detrimental. Those very units could turn against him very easily if they were turned into cybertronians.
That left going to personally retrieve the cube as the safest viable option. Any strategic arsenal this civilization possessed was highly unlikely to be of any harm now that he was completely operational and had retrofitted his outer shell for combat. Through the tests he had run, the highest yield tested for any thermonuclear bomb had been 50 megatons, nicknamed 'Tsar Bomba'. It came severely short of harming a commander's outer shell.
Doing a quick calculation and taking into consideration his smaller frame of 35 meters, the weakened sections by his modifications to allow for more agile movements and more utility, the commander calculated that an explosion with the equivalent of 5,000 megatons would be sufficient to cause damage to the weakened joints section, causing him to lose his ability to move, however, it would not be enough to cause him to stop functioning. The usual yield of a commander's nuclear arsenal was usually in the 20,000-megaton range, and it was mainly neutron bombs at that, designated against biological entities and specialized in maximum radiation exposure as opposed to destructive power.
… A decision was made.
[PREPARING LANDFALL PROTOCOLS.]
==================
Downfall rotated the city in his f-53 form, scanning the battlefield before noticing approaching aerial units approaching from the other side of the city.
Rotating, he turned towards the city, launching remote-controlled missiles as they quickly spread out, approaching from different sides and each striking with inhuman precision at their targets, some aerial units and some on the ground, taking out multiple humans and knocking back one of the Autobots that was fighting Devastator.
As soon as they turned their attention to him though, he quickly retreated, heading towards another predetermined target.
His master had told him to try his best to maintain the status quo between the two sides, and he had his work cut out for him. Barricade was missing, not even having arrived in Mission City, making it easier for him to balance the scales, but that meant he had to actively involve himself.
He was being fed real-time information on all Decepticons and Autobots within the city, allowing him to strike at critical points and evade helping at others.
As he arrived at his next target, his cameras showed him the scene of Devastator being taken down by the disabled Autobot and the human military team.
As he locked on to his target, designation 'BUMBLEBEE'. He was already half disabled... and that truck was the only thing keeping him moving and in the battle.
Downfall transformed as he raced through the buildings once more.
Bumblebee heard the approaching jet, but he was facing the wrong side. He tried to turn but the chains that allowed him to stay secure in the back of the truck didn't allow him to move about.
He twisted his arm as he fired on the back, and despite not hitting his desired target, it did force Downfall to pull up and dodge a shot before he ideally wished to, forcing him to miss... but not by much.
As Downfall passed above their heads unobstructed, something found itself embedded in the engine of the truck.
The female human driving, Mikaela, could only widen her eyes slightly before an explosion engulfed the truck and sent Bumblebee flying.
The soldiers inside the building were similarly blown further into the building by the force of the explosion.
Downfall found himself pleased with the result as another camera showed him a rouge Cybertronian, likely born out of the cubes' presence.
[Another mess to clean up.]
Downfall commented in his mind as he headed towards the bot's location.
As he took a few sudden turns, he suddenly tilted up as he transformed into his humanoid form, and landed right behind the bot with a resounding thud, rocking the small bot a bit as it turned its head, only to see a mechanical hand blocking its view.
As Downfall grabbed hold of the head, his leg delivered a powerful hit on the bot's midsection, ripping it free from the head.
["Low-quality scrap... though it could be dangerous in numbers."]
As he dropped the head, another alert inside his head notified Downfall of a rather interesting development. Blackout had been taken out and a wave of aerial units were about to attack. He couldn't make it in time to stop them this time, nor did he want to. Megatron had been throwing the Prime around rather one-sidedly. This could balance the scales, and if the firepower was sufficient, weaken both the factions sufficiently for his master to make a decisive move...well, at least order him to make a decisive move.
==================
Optimus watched as Megatron was brought to his knees by the sudden attack of the humans. He didn't have the strength to fight anymore, and he didn't want to take the chance if his loss meant Megatron gaining the Allspark.
"Sam, put the cube in my chest, now!"
Optimus watched as Megatron tried to claw his way to the cube and saw that Sam was looking at Megatron.
The moment Sam got on his feet and took a step toward Megatron, Optimus knew what he was thinking.
However just before Sam could take another step towards Megatron, he found himself being grabbed by a large mechanical hand.
A moment of nausea later, he found himself and the cube within the confines of a fighter plane.
"If you'll excuse me, my master awaits his spoils." - Downfall commented with a smug tone before the leaders of the Decepticons and Autobots alike.
"No... no no no..." - Sam started panicking within the aircraft.
Engines blasted through the air as Megatron's scream was heard from behind.
"DOWNFALL, YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR TREACHERY! STARSCREAM, GET THE CUBE AND KILL HIM!!!"
Downfall accelerated through the sky as his scanners quickly picked up another jet approaching behind him at quite the speed. It was going to catch up in a matter of minutes... but minutes were just what he needed.
As they raced through open air, they both broke the sound barrier, engines bursting with maximum capacity as Downfall released flares and took evasive actions, dodging a few missiles while distracting a few others with the flares.
As he continued doing his best to evade Starscream, he received another transmission.
["EJECT THE CUBE."]
Downfall was confused but he did as he was told, ejecting the cube and the human together with it, launching them in the air as Starscream laughed.
["HAHA, giving up so easily won't help you."] - Starscream laughed as he landed on the ground, picking up the cube and the human before they touched the ground.
"Optimus Prime seems to value you, so I'll be taking you back as well. Lord Megatron will be most pleased."
As Starscream laughed and cast the occasional glance at Downfall, he failed to notice the expanding darkened shadow below his feet.
As Downfall had lured him to a cloudy area, the commander had used that to his advantage to not cast a suspiciously large shadow on the ground until it was already too late.
Starscream looked confused as he decided to retreat, however, the distance was too close. As the large falling object impacted, a massive shockwave destabilized him and sent him tumbling straight towards Downfall.
Crashing close by and falling short by but a few meters allowed Downfall to close the distance quickly and deliver a crushing blow to the con's head before his arm transformed into a weapon and he blew two holes in Starscream's chest, leaving the con gasping and struggling to move.
Grabbing the body by its foot, Downfall started dragging it back, making sure to pick up the cube and the boy on his way towards his master, though by the look of the boy he was lucky to not be dead yet, though for how long he would survive without medical attention could not be said at the moment.
Downfall reached the commander's titanic body in a few minutes as he laid the cube, Starscream, and the boy at his feet.
The commander, however, ... only stared at the cube, at the Allspark.
The mechanical hand reached down to grab it, and the moment the commander touched it, he suddenly stopped... and could only stare at the Allspark without saying anything, without transmitting anything, without calculating anything... and for the first time in its long operational cycle... without thinking anything.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone