Son of Airachnid (Transformers prime)

22

Chapter 22: Invasion pt.5
    
      Within the confines of Max's base the Autobots regrouped and began discussing their next move. Max had been put in the medbay, and fortunately like everyone else, was unharmed. The only people whose safety was of great concern at the moment was Optimus and Grimlock, both of whom never made it out of the Autobot base.
       
      "What do we do now?" Bumblebee asked. "Autobot HQ has been compromised and we don't know what happened with Optimus and Grimlock."
     
      "Isn't it obvious?! We track down those fraggers and turn them into scrap metal!" Slug says very loudly much to the dismay of Ratchet.
    
      "And how exactly do you expect us to do that? Their ship is cloaked; we don't currently have the means to track them. Even with the cybertronian equipment here, none of it helps us pinpoint their location." Ratchet says out of frustration. Ever since arriving here he and Syphir have been trying to get a lock on Optimus and Grimlock's location but to no avail.
   
      "Um… about that." Syphir says before turning on one of her monitors to show a news broadcast from New York.
    
      The optics of all the bots in the room went wide as the screen showed one a few of Lockdown's ships stationary about New York. Exposed to all the city's humans in habitats. The reporter explained that just moments ago the ship's had arrived seemingly out of nowhere and that the US Military had already begun mobilizing for a possible attack. For the Autobots this was a nightmare, they with the Help of the US Military had spent years keeping the existence of Cybertronians on earth a secret, all of the effort and particularly luck had gone to waste.
      
     "By the Allspark. Lockdown is going to initiate an attack on a human city." Ratchet says in horror.
    
     "He's attacking the local life forms?! Why?! What does he gain by doing that?!" Swoop questions.
      
     "What do we do? Optimus isn't here and the Autobot base has been compromised so we can’t get ahold of Agent Fowler?" Bulkhead asked.
    
     "Arcee, with Optimus and Grimlock gone, you outrank everyone here. What should we do?" Bumblebee asked.
     
     Arcee thought carefully for a moment before answering. "Syphir can you open a groundbridge to New York? We are going to take the fight to Lockdown."
     
     "Arcee, are you sure about this course of action.?" Ratchet asked.
    
      "Lockdown is about to launch an assault on a human city we can't afford to sit around and do nothing. Besides, Lockdown has just exposed our existence to the human race. There's no point in hiding now."
    
     "If you're going to go then you'd better hurry." Syphir says as she once again brings up images of New York but this time Lockdown's forces are attacking the city and its inhabitants.
    
      "Syphir, open that groundbridge now!" Arcee says with urgency.
    
      "What about me and Steve?" Kevin asked as the groundbridge opened.
   
      "Stay here with Ratchet and watch over Max. We'll call if we need back up." Arcee says. And with that Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Swoop and Slug enter the groundbridge and arrive in the warzone that is New York.
   
      Upon exiting the groundbridge and entering New York the chaos that Lockdown's mercenaries are causing becomes very noticeable. Explosions, gun fire, blaster fire, and screaming could be heard everywhere, unarmed human civilians are running for their lives desperately trying to escape the warzone. But not all are lucky; the deceased bodies of many humans litter time square.
  
     "Autobots over here!" A soldier shouts, grabbing their attention. From a few blocks down a group of tanks could be seen shooting down approaching mercenaries. The soldier who called for them is a part of the many infantry soldiers assisting the tanks.
 
      They rush to the soldiers whilst firing at mercenaries that were pushing their advance down the street. Looking to take out the group of tanks and the Autobots. Whilst the other Autobots helped the tank squads hold off the approaching mercenaries Arcee stopped to talk to the soldier who'd gotten their attention.
 
      "Finally you Autobots arrived. We were told by agent Fowler to fight off the invaders until you arrived. What do you want us to do?" The soldier asked.
  
     "Focus on evacuating as many survivors as you can. We'll deal with the invaders." Arcee orders.
 
      "Yes ma'am." The soldier says before leaving to speak with his fellow troops.
  
      "How exactly are we going to fight off this big of an invasion force?" Swoop asked.

      "By getting rid of that." Arcee says point up at the warship overhead. "We need to get aboard it, seize it, and ground it somewhere outside the city."

     "Ok, but how do we get up there?" Bulkhead asked. "The only one of us that can fly is Swoop."
  
    "I haven't figured that out yet but we'll find a way." Arcee says.

      "Am I the only one who is concerned about the fact that that warship hasn't fired at us or tried to level this city. They definitely have the firepower for it." Bumblebee says, voicing his concern.
 
     "This could be a trap. They could be trying to draw us out." Swoop suggests.

      "Well it worked. Either way the only course of action I can think of, that doesn't end in more human casualties, is to take that ship." Arcee says. "Swoop, can you carry me and Bee?"

     "Yeah, why?" Swoop answers. "Wait, you're not planning on having me fly you up there are you?"
 
    "Do you have a better way for us to get up there?" Arcee asked only to receive no answer from Swoop. "Alright then. Bulkhead, Slug, stay in the city and fight off the mercenaries and help as many humans as you can, whilst Swoop, Bee, and I take that warship. With any luck Optimus and Grimlock will be on board."
  
    "I'm sending Steve and Kevin to help Bulkhead and Slug defend the city." Ratchet says via comlink as a groundbridge opens and said vehicons emerge.

Max's base.
  
     Max's optics begin to flicker back to life and open as he regains consciousness. His head hurt and he was stricken with confusion, he couldn't remember what had happened. Max grunted in pain as he got off the medical table and got to his feet. He looked around and immediately recognized that he was in his Base’s medical room. He left the room and went to the command center of the base only to run into Ratchet.

      "Ratchet? What are you doing here?" Max asked, startling the old bot.

     "By the Allspark! Max please make some noise when you move!" Ratchet says. "You're up already? How do you feel?"

      "Aside from my head spinning, I'm fine. But that doesn't answer my question.  What are you doing here and where are Steve and Kevin?" Max asked.

     "That's a long story, you were knocked out by Grimlock. You should go rest, you took a hard hit and there are some things we need to discuss." Ratchet answers.
  
    "Discuss? What do we need to-!" Max starts but then pauses when he sees the live feed of New York under attack on Syphir's main monitor. "What the hell is happening? Are the Decepticons attacking New York?"

     "No, they're cybertronian mercenaries. Steve and Kevin are with the other Autobots helping to fight them off." Ratchet says.

     "Syphir open a groundbridge to New York now!" Max orders.

     "Sure thing boss." Syphir says as she opens the Groundbridge.

     "What?! No! Max, wait!" Ratchet says frantically but it fell on Max’s non existent deaf ears as the youngling ran through the groundbridge.
    
     Ratchet got ready to chase after him but was stopped by Syphir closing the groundbridge. "Ratchet let him go."
 
     "What! He just woke up! I need to run a diagnostic scan on him and check his condition." Ratchet argues.
  
     "The Autobots need all the help they can get. Trust him." Syphir counters. "Besides, I need your help with something."

New York
       
     Upon exiting the groundbridge Max spotted Steve and Kevin down the road pinned down by heavy fire from enemy mercenaries. Max drives full speed to aid the vehicons. He zooms past Steve and Kevin driving right towards the mercenaries, swerving left and right to avoid blaster fire. Once close Max transforms back to bot mode and leaps into the air and over the group of mercenaries landing behind them before quickly turning around and firing webs at them immobilizing the group of five. The mercenaries try to get their arms free but the webs are too strong. This gives Max an opening to rush at them and knock them to the ground and web them down.
    
      "Don't struggle. Those webs won't be coming off anytime soon." Max says only to get an ear full of some very nasty slurs in the cybertronian language spat at him by the very pissed off mercenaries. Max quickly webs their mouths shut before going to talk with Steve and Kevin.
 
      "What happened while I was unconscious? And who are these guys?" Max asked.
  
     "The Autobot's base was attacked and destroyed and these mercenaries are attacking this city for some reason." Kevin explains.
  
     "Also good to see you're ok." Steve adds.
  
     Max simply nods before waking over to the group of restrained mercenaries. Max kneels down next to one and uses his sharp claws to cut the webbing off his mouth.
  
    "Why are you attacking this city? Who do you work for? Megatron?" Max questions.

      The merc only laughs at the question. "What in the pits makes you think I'd answer anything you'd ask?"
   
      Max unfolds his spider legs from his back and hovers two of them just an inch away from the merc's optics. "Talk or I'll remove your eyes." Max says in a dark tone. He was bluffing but the merc doesn't know that. Steve and Kevin not knowing it was a bluff were creeped out a bit about this behavior coming from Max. Max's optics flickered a dark purple for a moment freaking out the merc even more.
 
     "Alright! Alright! I'll talk!" The mercenary says quickly. 'Lockdown doesn't pay me enough for this. Not worth losing my optics.'
 
     Max moves his spider legs away from the merc and gives him the opportunity to speak. The merc opened his mouth to speak but before he could say a word a sharp blaster shot hit the merc in the head killing him instantly. Four more shots rang out and all of the other four mercs lost their lives too. Max jumps back and turns his attention to the direction of the shots. A tall gray mech was marching forward, Lockdown had arrived to claim his prize.