Chapter One

Gears grinding, the wheels on Jazz's alternate mode send metal shards spraying into the air. Dead End, a Decepticon scout, was in hot pursuit. There were two reasons. One: he had seen Jazz completing a data research on the Decepticons' defensive Ion Pulse Cannons and had stolen their info. Two: Dead End just liked chasing and trashing Autobots.

Dead End fired his vehicle's SubSonic Repeater, leaving mark's on Jazz's tail gates. Irritated, Jaz turned around 180 degrees and transformed, preparing his Rocket Pod Launcher and fired a missile. Dead End transformed and jumped onto Jazz, knocking him to the ground.

Send me on the most dangerous mission of all, thank you very much, Ratchet. Jazz thought. Hiding his launcher he punched Dead End in the face, ducked and rolled under the Decepticon's kick and unsheathed his Energon blade, slicing right through the Decepticon's right arm, and with a quick slice through his spark chamber, he ended the miserable life of his chaser.

Dead End's finally met his dead end.

"I want that mangled-up Autobot's head on a spike!" ordered a way too familiar voice.

Starscream was also after him.

The cowardly Decepticon second-in-command soared above Jazz's head in his jet mode, quickly transformed and fired a Gear Shredder disk that nearly sawed off Jazz's head. Jazz ducked and rolled closer, punching Starscream in the stomach and tackling him down to the ground before running off. He had to deliver the info chip to Ratchet, it was urgent. 

Starscream got up and fired another disk, it struck Jazz's back and the Autobot was knocked to the ground. Starscream unsheathed his murder blade and grabbed Jazz's head. "Megatron will be pleased to have your he---"

Just then a siren was heard and Prowl transformed, firing a powerful Path Blaster bolt that struck Starscream in the chest. Prowl punched Starscream in the face and one of Starscream's eye lights went out. Quickly, Starscream transformed and flew away.

"Do you have the info chip, Jazz?" Prowl asked.

"Yes." Jazz replied. "The Autobot HQ is too far away and there are too many 'cons out there wanting our sparks that it seems highly impossible to deliver it though."

"Don't worry about that. Ironhide has it taken care of." Prowl said.

***

"How long is that slaggin' drone gonna take, Wheeljack? The 'cons are right outside that door, waiting to rip out our optics!" Ironhide shouted at the Autobot inventor.

"It'll be a good lot quicker if you and your damn Lightning Strike Coalition Force would both shut up and remind the Decepticons that they're not invited!" Wheeljack protested.

Ironhide swore until his breath. The door to Wheeljack's invention lab was nearly smashed open, and Ironhide was getting impatient and angry. Grimlock had left his post and good old Stormbreaker had recently had his head removed. Ironhide gave the door a massive kick and the 'cons obviously had gone flying back. Ironhide locked the door behind him as he exited the lab. Path Blaster and Rocket Pod Launcher at the ready, he asked: "Who's first?"

"I am."

A large mangled wreck on Decepticon pushed all of the others out of the way. Bonecrusher. One of the most feared Decepticons on all of Cybertron. Ironhide fired his Path Blaster as Bonecrusher fastly charged towards him, preparing his giant claw to shred Ironhide. Ironhide jumped over the claw and shot Bonecrusher's back. The 'con didn't budge, but instead got even more irriatted. Ironhide knew whatever he through at the ugly Decepticon, it just wouldn't be enough.

Just then, the door Ironhide had locked opened and a large drone, bigger than even Bonecrusher walked out, the bright energized red Autobot emblem upon its chest. Wheeljack was seen behind it with the drone's controls. 

All of the other 'cons fired their weapons and the drone, but it had armor as thick as Bonecrusher's the strongest of their weapons barely made a dent in the machine.Three large missiles armed themselves on top of its forearm, and they fired, trashing the 'cons up front. Bonecrusher forgot Ironhide and charged at the drone, but his claws merely scratched its armor. The drone grabbed Bonecrusher and flung him against a wall. The other arm of the drone converted into a giant saw, which it brought down upon Bonecrusher's body. Bonecrusher yowled in agony but they were cut off. Bonecrusher was dead.

The remaining Decepticons ran away, screaming for their lives. Just then, Prowl's voice came into Ironhide's call chip. "Jazz has Ratchet's info chip, but we need help getting out of the 'cons territory."

Ironhide turned around. "Wheeljack, prepare the teleporter. The Autobots' rise begins now."

Chapter Two

Jazz's head crash right into the wall of the Decepticon jail cell. Next to him was Prowl, seriously injured like himself. Waiting for Ironhide's backup, Thundercracker and an attack party had ambushed them both, demanding back their info chip, but Jazz refused.

"You have thirty cycles to give us the info chip or both of your heads will be on spikes, next to your pathetic Primes." Thundercracker threatened.

Jazz tried to get up, but Thundercracker fired a Path Blaster shot at his shoulder and Jazz was sent against the wall again. Thundercracker left the room and closed the door behind him, activating the Energized Laser Bars to forbid the captured Autobots from escaping.

"We need to get out of here." Prowl said.

"Tell me something I don't know, smart-guy!" Jazz snapped.

"If that's the case, I bet you don't know what that slaggin' info chip can also tell Ratchet." Prowl said.

"You gonna tell me then?" Jazz asked.

"If the data codes are multiplied by 62.183, divided by 9.45 and then reversed the digits, it pinpoints that exact location of the Matrix of Leadership." Prowl explained.

The Matrix of Leadership? That was the one ancient Autobot Relic that can transform an ordinary Autobot's spark into the spark of a Prime.

"Does he know who Primus will choose to lead our army to victory?" Jazz asked.

"Rodimus." Prowl replied.

"Then somehow we have to get out of here. Data comunications to the Autobot HQ are down, and that's the only way to get Ironhide and a rescue part to well... rescue us." Jazz explained. "The only thing we can do now is bust out ourselves."

***

 "Bumblebee, get down!" Cliffjumper shouted to his squad member. Bumblebee, his fellow yellow Autobot, was fighting fist combat with Soundwave, the Decepticon data transmisser. But Bumblebee couldn't be helped, as the rest of the three squad members were having trouble against Brawl, a Decepticon tank, and a couple dozen of drones.

"Glyph! Behind you!" Tap-Out warned the blue Autobot. She easily jumped over the blast, landing behind the drone that had fired the blast and quickly ended its spark with a punch through its chest. 

Cliffjumper's squad team had been (before he was killed) Sentinel Prime's top battle squad. Cliffjumper the red leader, Bumblebee the yellow second-in-command, Glyph the blue scout, and Tap-Out the bronze muscle. Together, they could take down any enemy. Their only struggle was with Brawl, about twice the size of each of them.

The tank fired two arm-missiles at Cliffjumper, he dodged to the side and placed his hands into a position that allowed Tap-Out to jump off of them and punch Brawl in the face. But Brawl grabbed him shortly after and flung Tap-Out against the wall, but before the Decepticon could blast the Autobot into scrap metal Glyph jumped onto Brawl's back and shifted his arm slightly before firing, missing Tap-Out. Cliffjumped jumped on as well, climbed onto Glyph's shoulders and jumped off of her, spinning the air and blasting at Brawl's tank barrels on his back, destroying them.

Coming down, Brawl grabbed Cliffjumper but Tap-Out, with his Techvolt, blasted a beam of electric energy that removed Brawl's forearm from his body. With his remaining arm, Brawl swatted away Tap-Out, grabbed Glyph by the waist and flung her against a wall. Picking up Cliffjumper from the ground by his arm, Brawl kicked the red Autobot, still holding on to the arm, tearing it off in the process.

Brawl loaded his remaining arm-missile, and aimed at Cliffjumper. The Autobot closed his eyes and waited for Primus.

Chapter Three

Bumblebee jumped over a sonic beam that erupted from Soundwave's cannon. The Decepticon ran over to Bumblebee and tried to punch him in the face, but Bumblebee defended and counterattacked. Soundwave aimed his cannon at Bumblebee's spark, but the yellow Autobot grabbed his arm, kicked it in the elbow joint and aimed it back at Soundwave, firing. The Decepticon was sent flying off the higher level and transformed, flying away.

Bumblebee looked down below. Tap-Out and Glyph, not dead but not functional. And a one-armed Cliffjumper, about to be scrapped by Brawl. 

"NO!!!!" Bumblebee shouted, jumping down from the higher level and landed on Brawl's arm, bringing it to the ground and spinning himself and the Decepticon around until he slammed into the wall. Bumblebee unsheathed his Energon blade and sliced it trhough Brawl's face.

Now Brawl was dead, Bumblebee walked over to Cliffjumper, barely functional. "We've got to get you three back to Ratchet." Bumblebee told his squad leader.

***

Jazz punched the wall yet again. The flat surface on the wall was scrapping away, showing parts of the Energon tubes that flowed through the whole Decepticon HQ. Now that they were in sight, Jazz got his Rocket Pod Launcher and fired a missile at the Energon tube, destroying the flow. All of the lights went out and the emergency evacuation lights, powered by a separate Energon fuse, turned on.

Just as Jazz had expected, the Energized Laser Bars had deactivated. Jazz signalled to Prowl that there were no guards around, and it was safe to move. He scanned the whole HQ and located his coordinates. The exit was just past a Decepticon barricade of troops.

"We're gonna need some firepower for that." Jazz said. "There's at least half a Decepticon war army guarding the exit."

"Just like any other 'bot or 'con, weapons are the first thing at your mind. Think of another way, one that won't require all of the Primes?" Prowl asked.

***

Twenty cycles later Jazz had found himself in the vents in the roof, where Prowl had detected a leaking Moleculon Fuse. Prowl was busy keeping the Decepticon barricade ocuppied, while Jazz was searching for the Moleculon Fuson. Finally he found it, and silently he made a gap in the roof so he could see Prowl and the Decepticons trashing each other up. Grabbing a long Energon tube, he poked it down the head, took in a deep breath, and shoved inside the Moleculon Fuse. A giant bolt, stronger than a Techvolt blast, erupted down below on the Decepticons, Prowl backing away. After the Fuse wore down, what was left of the Decepticons was a massive pile of parts and organs.

"That's our exit." Jazz said, lowering himself into the aftermath.

"Communications are up again. We need to get that info chip back to Ratchet and get this HQ's coordinates to Ironhide for future ambushes. Step 2 of Mission Matrix is almost complete."

Chapter Four

Jazz, transformed, raced along the roadlines of Iacon Square with Prowl next to him. He could see the Autobot HQ not far away, but something was wrong. He could hear the charging battle cries of a Decepticon army nearby. Jazz transformed and doing so, so did Prowl. "How are we gonna get across that alive?"

"The Iacon Archives are right below us, with weapons stronger than any other, like the Forge of Solus Prime, the Spark Extractor, etc. If we can find the Energon Pulse Marker inside, we might be able to freeze all of the 'cons for the time being, and get the info chip back to Ratchet!" Jazz said.

"The Pulse Marker hasn't worked in the last fifteen solar-cycles, Jazz, how do you expect it to work now?" Prowl asked.

Jazz sighed. "We'll just have to try!"

***

Orion Pax stepped forward to the computer terminal, calculating the dimensions of the Photon Burst Cannons for the defenses of the Autobot HQ. When would his best friend Jazz get back with the much-needed info chip? Was it possible that Jazz was dead?

How stupid could I be? All of those Decepticons around he's sure to be dead!

The doors to Orion's office opened and Wheeljack walked in with hurry. All of the other data clerks were staring at him in surprise.

"What is it, Wheeljack?" Orion Pax asked the Autobot engineer.

"Jazz and Prowl's spark signals have been detected behind the batalion of 'cons, the server also tells us that they're about to enter the Iacon Archives. Problem is that 'cons are also searching for something in there." Wheeljack explained.

"The Spark Extractor?" Orion asked.

"Surprisingly they skipped it. They're looking for something more powerful than the Spark Extractor, ever heard of such a thing?" Wheeljack asked.

"No, but there is a secret door in one of the walls of the Archive, behind it are all of the weapons that were either created or used by Alpha Trion and the other Primes... when they were all alive of course." Orion Pax explained.

"Can the Decepticons get in it?" Wheeljack asked with worry.

"No." Orion replied. "Nobody can. A code is needed for the door to be opened, and only a Prime knows the code. All we can do is wait for Jazz to return with the info chip and find the Matrix of Leadership."

Wheeljack nodded. Just then, flashing red emergency lights went off in the data clerk's office.

"The Decepticons have breached the walls! If they get to the Energon Room they can bring this whole place down!" Wheeljack yelled.

"Where's the Lightning Strike Coalition Force?" Perceptor yelled.

"Grimlock hasn't been seen for two cyber-cycles! Ironhide is busy taking a patrol of brutes towards the 'cons HQ, so that leaves us nearly defenseless!" Wheeljack replied.

"Nobody's here to stop those Decepticons..." Orion Paxmuttered. "Then I'm going out there!"

"Orion, you're needed to find out the codes of the Iacon Archive. Make sure that the Decepticons can't get in!" Wheeljack ordered.

Orion Pax sneered: "I only take orders from Sentinel Prime, and guess what, Wheeljack? Our last hope is dead! Perceptor, those Decepticons need to be taken out in the Archive. Jazz has to get back!"

***

Jazz fired his SubSonic Repeater at the squad of Decepticons in the Iacon Archive. He and Prowl were severely outnumbered, and the 'cons were entering several codes into the door of the Prime's Weapon Room. 

Prowl had been shot many times and was barely alive. If he didn't get to Ratchet soon he would die. Jazz took his time to rethink the whole story. Ratchet had sent him on a suicide mission to get the info chip, where Dead End had been hot on his heels. Then, Prowl had saved Jazz from being torn about by Starscream, but then they were captured by Thundercracker and put in a prison where they barely escaped with their lives. Now, returning from there and in the Iacon Archives, Prowl was about to die and Jazz had lost total faith that there would ever be a Rodimus Prime.

What hope do the Autobots have? All of our faith in our mystery leader has been lost!