Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 138 Optimus Prime

The armored dragon crashed, its massive body embedded in the broken city. Its propulsion engines shut down, but its turrets stubbornly lit up slowly.

The first orbital cannon shot blasted a deep trench in front of the eastern position. Bumblebee and Ironhide escaped unharmed behind cover, and the damaged Panzerfaust turret turned around again.

Just as Optimus Prime managed to shake off Megatron and arrive, Phantomhive was trying to prop up its main body with its arms.

The police car quickly planned its route on the tactical screen, using concise language.

"Break his arm first, then attack his core while he's exposed."

The sheet metal is fired.

The shell landed on the left support arm of the armored dragon, igniting a burst of flames. Bumblebee quickly darted around the collapsed platform and threw a timed bomb into the joint gap.

The armored dragon swung its hand back, and Optimus Prime fired its cannon at the joint of its main body, creating an opening.

Bumblebee rolled out from under the steel beam: "All set!"

Without hesitation, the tin man pressed the remote control, and the time bomb detonated simultaneously.

With its arm snapped at the joint, the massive body of the armored dragon sank suddenly, revealing a dim core reactor deep within its chest cavity.

Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Bumblebee all fired at maximum capacity simultaneously.

The core reactor was breached, and the armored dragon let out a low, mournful cry. Metal fragments fell from its body, the turret went out, and there was no more movement.

Tinker lowered his weapon and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Now it's quiet."

Bumblebee gazed at the enormous wreckage and was momentarily filled with emotion.

Optimus Prime stood before the wreckage, his pale blue light reflecting a mixture of pity and pain as he gazed at the ancient life that had been transformed into a weapon and vanished in an instant.

Before he could say anything, he suddenly felt something trembling, as if a long-suppressed pain was coming from the depths of Cybertron.

-

Rusty Sea is much quieter than Iron Fortress.

Flying over the mountain, standing on the metal valley and gazing into the distance, Jazz half-squatted beside a broken transmission tube, his fingertips grinding the scraped metal fragments from the broken end.

They came here looking for the Steel Cable Team.

The team lost contact near the Rusty Sea, and the last information they received was only inaccurate coordinates and a strong energy reaction.

Flying Over Mountain and Jazz searched for a long time, but still couldn't find the cable, let alone his crew of Iron Slag, Howling, Muddy, or Darts.

The only thing to be found was the hastily cleaned-up traces of the battle, a few deep drag marks.

Following these incomplete traces, they saw a tall black tower standing behind the fog in the distance.

The tower is composed of numerous longitudinal support beams and exposed energy pipes, appearing cold, hard, and straight. A red observation core is embedded in the middle section, and a beam of light shooting into the sky from the top of the tower connects to something.

Flying Over the Mountain stared at the red light for a while: "This thing looks kind of familiar."

Jazz tilted his head and glanced at it a few times: "It looks a bit like a shockwave."

"what?"

"It made me feel uncomfortable after watching it."

Flying Over the Mountain immediately agreed: "I support it."

They crept along the ruins, infiltrating from beneath the tower. There were few regular guards around the tower; presumably, all the troops had been deployed to the Iron Fortress for the final assault.

However, the defense system is complete and dense, consisting of automated turrets, scanning beams, and thermal sensors, all interconnected.

Jazz used a jammer to block a section of the scanning beam, flew over the mountain, and crashed into the maintenance bay, damaging the turret.

They slowly entered the tower and explored upwards.

Several massive power cables hang down from above, connecting to the depths of the underground.

As the jazz entered the control center near the top of the tower, his expression turned somewhat horrified and gloomy when the structural diagram appeared on the screen.

Flying over the mountain, it approached: "Found it?"

"No," the man said, "we found something worse."

The structural diagram clearly shows that this is a space bridge that is almost completed.

The ring-shaped main body is buried in the clouds between the top of the tower and the orbit of Cybertron. The design already has a complete form, which can traverse galaxies and connect more distant and wider regions.

Once activated, the Decepticons can bypass all obstacles and directly reach the land they want to conquer.

Flying Over Mountain looked at the blueprints and a hint of fear appeared on his face: "Those lunatics from the Decepticons actually managed to replicate it. This thing can't be kept."

Jazz nodded; the focus was no longer on the Steel Cable Squad.

The jazz retrieved a small container from the storage compartment, inside which a toxic energy body emitted an unstable, eerie glow.

He flew over the mountain to look at him: "You brought this?"

"in case."

"Sometimes I actually think you're quite dangerous."

"Thanks."

They attached the toxic energy container to the control center at the top of the tower, flew over the mountain to connect the wires, and Jazz set the detonation program.

"How long is the countdown?"

"Enough for us to get out."

Flying over the mountain to see him, he still wanted to struggle a bit, but then he saw Jazz press the start button.

"Hello!!"

The countdown ticked, the alarm blared, the red observation core in the middle of the tower lit up suddenly, and all the defensive turrets turned around at the same time.

The gun flew over the mountain and fired, cutting off the nearest cannon barrel. The Jazz then turned and ran.

The toxic energy silently seeps into the link, and the toxic reaction pollutes the circuit all the way.

The space bridge rumbled at the top of the tower, and a swirling green wave gathered at its center, looking quite ominous.

Immediately afterwards, the light distorted, the power cables snapped one by one, and the entire tower began to collapse from the control center.

The red observation core flashed wildly several times before disappearing into the collapsing tower.

Jazz and Flying Over Mountain crawled out from the edge of the ruins, only to be thrown around several times by the shockwave.

Flying over the mountain, it lay prone on the ground, struggling to lift its head: "You call this enough for us to get out?"

Jazz, also lying down, grinned and raised his hand in a victory sign: "We're out."

Flying over the mountain, the masked man buried himself in the ground and muttered, "I hate you now, Sir."

-

At the Iron Fortress battlefield, Shockwave was assisting Megatron in analyzing the deep entrance to the Iron Fortress when he received the report from Rusty Sea.

[Space Tower goes missing.]

The main ring of the space bridge is damaged.

[Residual toxic energy has been confirmed.]

[Intruders: Jazz, Overpass.]

The shockwave stopped moving, and the monocular optical lens appeared unchanged.

Red Spider, however, looked over sharply: "What's wrong?"

Shockwave remained silent, pulling up the last video clip synchronized in the cloud. His hard work had turned to ruins, and the project, spanning thousands of years, was reduced to nothing in seconds.

After a long silence, Shockwave finally said, "The project is delayed."

Red Spider looked at him, sensing something was off: "Just a delay?"

Shockwave shuts down the image: "Yes."

A small crack appeared at the edge of the console beneath his hand, and the large cannon arm on his left appeared to be charging irregularly.

The Decepticon members around them lowered their heads and remained silent, clearly showing a strong will to survive.

Red Spider chuckled, about to make a sarcastic remark, when he saw the single red eye slowly turn to stare at him, the mechanical tail chain of the cannon arm swaying, emitting a crisp sound before the explosion.

Red Spider quieted down. He knew that Shockwave wasn't like a fool like Soundwave who had removed his emotional module. This Logic Stranger had emotional fluctuations, and it was best to stay away when he was angry.

-

The battle for Iron Fortress continues.

Hercules and Guardian Angels are locked in a fierce battle in an abandoned industrial area, while Devastator is controlled by Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Ultra Magnus within a block.

But the vibrations that Optimus Prime felt became more and more obvious.

Alita noticed his thoughtfulness and asked over the channel, "Where are you going?"

Optimus Prime looked towards the underground entrance to Iron Fortress: "I don't know, but something is calling me."

"Now?"

"Yes."

Alita decisively replied, "Then we'll take care of this."

Optimus Prime turned and walked deeper into Iron Fortress.

The Iron Fortress is a complex maze of secrets, with many previously unseen passages and routes suddenly opening up and changing, guiding Optimus Prime toward a certain destination.

The further down you go, the quieter the sounds of the battlefield become.

There were many blurry patterns on the walls, faintly glowing in the semi-dark, maze-like passages.

Optimus Prime walked to the last door, where ancient symbols on the silver-white metal wall flickered for a moment before opening.

The massive Cybertronian core floats underground, its light a gentle and solemn white-blue.

Optimus Prime allowed himself to follow the suction force, being slowly carried towards the core in this somewhat weightless space.

Orion Parkers.

An ancient, heavy, and solemn voice rang out as Optimus Prime gazed at the massive Cybertronian core, then slowly lowered his head.

"Primus".

The core light flickered slightly: "The war has wounded Cybertron."

Optimus Prime looked at the light and thought he would try his best to repair it, but then he saw something emerge from the depths of his core.

The object had wing-like handles on both sides, and a blue-white sphere in the center, within which a fragment-like crystal was vaguely hidden.

Optimus Prime knew what that was.

Leadership module.

The Autobots and Decepticons searched for a long time, scouring archives, vaults, and legends, but could not find it. It turned out that it was kept by the Cybertronian core.

Optimus Prime hesitated, unsure whether he should immediately reach out: "I'm not sure I'm qualified."

Prems whispered:

"The quality of a leader lies in taking responsibility, not in being fearless and infallible."

The leadership module moved closer to him.

Optimus Prime's chest armor opened automatically, the spark chamber connected with the ancient relic, and his body transformed accordingly.

The red and blue outer armor thickens and widens along the shoulders, back, and chest, forming double-window-like armor on the chest. The lower legs also have a wider wheel-like structure near the ankles, making them more stable.

Many images flashed through his mind: the joyful laughter before the war, the tragic scenes during the fighting, and the peaceful sleeping image of Yin Xiang.

And those even older memories—the part that once belonged to the Thirteen Ancestors has returned.

Optimus Prime felt the light recede, and the invisible force slowly began to lift him again, propelling him toward the Iron Fortress battlefield.

Deep within, Prems' voice grew ever more distant:

"Optimus Prime".

"Fulfill your responsibilities."

As the light faded, the force that had been supporting him suddenly tightened, and his vision quickly swept across the depths of the Iron Fortress until, in just a moment, the sound of artillery fire from the Iron Fortress battlefield once again filled the audio receiver.

He plummeted back up from the core to the battlefield, landing heavily in the center of the burning street. His footsteps ripped through the ground, his red and blue armor gleamed in the smoke and dust, and deep within his chest armor, the light from the leadership module shone quietly.

The surrounding Autobots were stunned for a moment.

Bumblebee was the first to react, and its optical lens suddenly lit up.

"Optimus Prime?"

Optimus Prime raised his head.

In the distance, Megatron also saw him.