Axilus Prime

Hold out in one of the corners near the exit door (opposite from the Honor Guards at the start, in other words) with two Needlers. Try not to miss, and take out waves of Brutes with them. Handle the Grunts by burst-firing a Brute Plasma Rifle. Between waves, restock on Needler ammo. When Brutes with Carbines show up, kill them with the Needlers, then before the next wave shows up, run over and switch your Plasma Rifle for the Carbine, and return to your corner. Then hold out until Cortana says to put her in...something. (I forgot) After that the rest of the level is significantly easier.

I think Halo 3's servers are more likely to be taken down than for that to happen. Besides, there's no special occasion to do that, unlike the Recon thing.

Though too many vehicles would clutter things up, they could bring them in to replace some vehicles that appeared in previous games but not in Halo 4. Alternatively they could be campaign/Spartan Ops exclusive. I once had the idea for Prometheans to hijack vehicles and then merge with them, creating a more powerful variant with Promethean design aesthetics. Then if the player could board these new vehicles, they could gain control of a very powerful asset.

Halo 4's graphics are cheap in everything, look at anything slightly close and it becomes pixelated. But as for water effects, no Halo game really did those in huge detail.

That's odd, I found the Library easy. It was long, but it wasn't really...hard. Oh, Oracle. Yeah, the one enemy worse than Jackal snipers has to be the Heretic Leader. The trick, as I discovered on my second fight with him, is to dual-wield Needlers primarily, and keep a Carbine handy for when you see holograms descending from those holes in the wall at long range.

Maybe. Chapter 7 time. --- Wasting no time, Stratosphere fired three rockets in rapid succession at the two silhouettes behind the flames. The larger silhouette grabbed an armored car off the ground and used it as a shield, stepping in front of the smaller silhouette. When the explosion cleared, the car was a smoldering wreck, and there was only one silhouette. Cyclonus shot Stratosphere in the eye with his shoulder rifle, knocking the titanic Autobot back several steps. Soldiers fired on him from behind the remains of Decepticons, remains he was forced to destroy with missiles to bring a swift halt to the gunfire. He charged at Stratosphere, both chainsaws spinning, only to be struck with multiple small explosions around his feet. He roared in frustration, partially at himself for not killing all the soldiers before they could make use of grenades. Stratosphere brushed shrapnel from his face, then shot Cyclonus in the chest with three more rockets. As Cyclonus fell and forced himself to get up again, Stratosphere reached for one of his wings and pulled it from his back. Small blades slid out from the wing's edge, forming a massive serrated sword. Cyclonus grabbed a soldier off the ground as he stood. "Strike me, and he dies." Stratosphere stopped mid-swing. "If he dies anyway, so will you." Cyclonus simply laughed. "Drop your weapon." Stratosphere hurled the sword over Cyclonus' head, sending it out of the building. "Now set him down." Cyclonus formed a gatling gun in his free hand and shot Stratosphere in the face again, not stopping even as he spoke. Stratosphere grunted and crossed his arms in front of his face. "Rrrrgh!" He made a fist with the hand he had been holding the sword in. Outside the building, the jet engines on the sword spun to life, inaudible over the sound of Cyclonus' gun. Behind the Hunter, the sword rose off the ground and flew at him. Slam! Cyclonus roared in rage and pain. Gears and panels in his upper arm moved in an attempt to squeeze the soldier to death, only for him to realize he was not holding the soldier. The sword had flown straight through his elbow, and the soldier was safe in Stratosphere's hand. Stratosphere set the soldier down, then grabbed his sword. "Get out of here, Hunter, and you won't feel the Wing Saber's blades in your neck." Cyclonus simply charged at Stratosphere with his chainsaw. Stratosphere swung his sword. "ARGH!" His swing had been sent off course by a jolt of pain in his back, followed by more pain to his midsection when the chainsaw dug into it. In the heat of battle, he had not noticed an invisible force killing all the remaining soldiers, finishing with the one whose life he had just saved, and then taking his other sword from his back and slamming it back in with the blades. "So it's...you. The invisible...Hunter." The sword buried in his back activated its jet engines, backing up and slamming Lugnut with the blunt end. It flew around Stratosphere and slashed at Cyclonus. Cyclonus immediately jumped back, tearing out some of Stratosphere's stomach as he did so. He fired his gatling gun again, only for the flying sword to swing into position to block it. Stratosphere grabbed the flying sword, then charged at Cyclonus, swinging both swords simultaneously. "Now, I'm gonna kill you!" --- Lockdown pressed Optimus' sword to Ratchet's neck. The heated blade started to burn the Autobot medic's chin. His expression betrayed the pain he was in, though he was able to resist yelling out. "The Matrix's location, Prime, or your medic dies." Optimus kept his face straight. Lockdown, however, saw right through through the artificial expression of calm. The mouth too firmly closed, the eyes unfocused, it was far too obvious to him that Optimus was attempting to hide how well the threat was working. Upon that realization, Optimus' expression darkened. "It won't be just him. With no medic, eventually all of you will die of any wounds you sustain. You can't pretend for a second that you won't care if one of your lapdogs dies. But just think," Lockdown said, pressing the blade harder, "of the deaths of every last Autobot." Yet if I give you what you want, you will no doubt use it to cause that to happen regardless. Optimus glared at Lockdown, thinking about what decision would bring greater repercussions. "And then, without the power of the Autobots to protect them, the humans will die as well." Lockdown grinned with malice, cutting a piston in Ratchet's neck. At the sound of the resulting yell, Optimus made his decision. "Stay the blade, Lockdown. I will give you the Matrix." --- Cyclonus' gatling gun split apart and slid back, replaced by his chainsaw. He managed to block one of the swords, just barely keeping it from touching his face. "Rrgh!" As he struggled to push against Stratosphere's incredible strength, he noticed that the other blade, despite being swung as well, did not hit him. Stratosphere had yet again been caused to miss by shocking pain. He looked at his hand using the corner of his eye, still keeping his focus on Cyclonus. Evidently, Lugnut had planted a boomstick in his right hand. He released the sword pushing against Cyclonus, but that did not stop his relentless attack. The sword once again flew independently, whirling around and slashing at Cyclonus from various directions. Meanwhile, Stratosphere reached for the boomstick to pull it out, much too late to grab it in time. "GAAAH!" Lugnut caught the sword that fell out of Stratosphere's exploding hand. His evil grin faded into view, followed by the rest of his body. Invisibility wouldn't be of much use when the huge blade in his hands betrayed his position. Stratosphere reached out with his left hand, and the sword attacking Cyclonus flew to him. Before he could counterattack, he was bombarded with missiles. "Hnngh!" Much faster than his size suggested he could move, Stratosphere blocked each missile with the broad side of his sword, then when the missiles stopped, swung at Lugnut and knocked the stolen sword from his hands. Lugnut retracted his wrist swords, having already accomplished his objective. Two severed jet engines lay at his feet, leaving Stratosphere only able to use one sword. He transformed into Stealth Force mode, drove under Stratosphere, and nimbly spun around to shoot missiles at his back. Stratosphere was hit, but used the force of the missiles to lunge forward with greater speed, cutting Cyclonus' legs off with one swing. He turned to face Lugnut, but saw no one there. "No..." Cyclonus, groaning in pain and giving off sparks, managed to transform into a badly damaged F-35 and fire all his weapons into the hole Lugnut had created in Stratosphere's back. Stratosphere fell forward, dropping his sword. He attempted to get up, but nonstop attacks knocked him back down again. The hole in his back continued to grow, pieces of armor and internal parts flying out. "Aaaaargh!" He grabbed his sword and swung it around to block. Lugnut faded into view again and swung his right arm, tearing all Stratosphere's fingers off with his wrist sword. Cyclonus' continued attack did strike the sword--sending it into Stratosphere's chest and face. As the Autobot collapsed in pain, Cyclonus continued to shoot the sword, sending it in deeper and deeper until Stratosphere was entirely cut in half. Lugnut walked to the center of the room and picked up Megatron's head. His last moments of shock and rage were still visible on his face, despite further damage being inflicted on his remains by the battle. "It looks like he'll need some rebuilding." Cyclonus transformed and grabbed his severed parts, attempting to place them back on his body. Wires reconnected while pieces of metal interlocked. He stood up again weakly on shoddily attached legs. "As will I...this won't do in a fight." Lugnut tossed Megatron's head to Cyclonus, who caught it with the arm that was in proper condition. "Call Lockdown. We're moving both Megatron and Shockwave." --- Lockdown kept the blade on Ratchet's neck. "Where is it?" "I have it with me. Free my arm, and I will give it to you." Optimus kept his eye on Lockdown. "But if you kill Ratchet, I will never answer, not even if you capture another Autobot. As you said, if Ratchet dies, the rest will follow." Optimus wondered briefly if that were true. He thought to himself that he probably would have still been affected if any other Autobot had been held hostage afterward. He pushed the thoughts from his mind, staying focused on the current situation. Lockdown brought the sword from Ratchet's neck. "And if you do not give it to me, I will kill him on the spot." He slashed the metal keeping Optimus' left wrist stuck on the wall. Optimus held his hand slightly in front of his chest. His window frames spread apart, and the cover over his sparkchamber lowered itself. In front of his spark lay the Matrix of Leadership, glowing bright as ever. It levitated to his hand, and he grasped it tightly while closing up his chest. Lockdown's expression changed, for a rare moment, to something other than malice or anger. He was genuinely surprised. Of course...the perfect place to hide the Matrix. Instead of hiding it away in a human base, or burying it deep in the ground, he carries it within him! Optimus looked at Lockdown, catching a glimpse of his changed expression before it reverted to his usual expression. "Drop the sword, Lockdown. Then I will give it to you." Lockdown threw the sword down. Below Optimus, its glow faded. "Now..." He held out his hand. Optimus levitated the Matrix to Lockdown...then around him. Instinctively, Lockdown turned to face it. With a quick, sharp motion, Optimus brought his hand back, and the Matrix followed--smacking Lockdown in the face and turning to dust. As Lockdown turned again to face him, he grabbed his sword off the ground and cut the metal binding his feet to the wall. Rolling down onto the ground, he transformed and rammed the Hunter leader. "HYAAAAH!" Lockdown's expression was one of rage and shock, both at the Matrix turning to dust, and at Optimus' sudden escape. He felt his back slam into the table behind him, then grabbed one of Optimus' guns, the smaller of the two. Optimus transformed and swung his sword, cutting Lockdown's hand off. While Lockdown roared in pain, he caught the gun and fired four shots, destroying the metal binding Ratchet. Lockdown shoved Optimus away and activated a hand cannon, shooting Optimus and forcing him to drop both weapons. He grabbed the Autobot leader by the neck and brought him toward the Matrix dust. Ratchet, seeing that Lockdown intended to force Optimus to touch the Matrix and re-form it, grabbed Optimus' larger gun off the table and fired it three times. Lockdown lurched forward and slammed into a wall when he was shot, then activated a shoulder cannon, rotated it around, and shot Ratchet back, causing him to fall and drop the gun. Optimus grabbed his sword and got up, kicking Lockdown in the stomach to make him crouch. With a battle cry, he swung his sword again and cut Lockdown's shoulder cannon off. "Ratchet, get my arm and your weapons! Leave mine behind!" He jammed his elbow into Lockdown's face as he took the shoulder cannon in his hands, then fired it at the door four times to blow it open. When he turned his head to look at Ratchet, he was already in Stealth Force mode and carrying Optimus' arm pieces within him. Good. Lockdown smacked Optimus away by flipping out his gun-face, then shot him in the back while standing up again and yelling a barely intelligible "NO!" Optimus used the cannon and shot Lockdown repeatedly to slow him down while running out the door. "Ratchet, follow me!" Lockdown grabbed the table and swung it in front of himself to improvise cover just as Ratchet drove out after Optimus. He peeked out over the table and saw that they had left. Immediately, he threw the table aside and got up, activating both hand cannons. He ran out the door... ...and was greeted with a point blank shot to the face that knocked him down once again. Optimus had been hiding by the doorway, and after succeeding in his trick, ran after Ratchet. "Optimus! That wasn't the same room I found you in, we'll have to find another way off this ship!" "I know, old friend!" Optimus looked back once to see if Lockdown had resumed his pursuit. Seeing that he was not yet behind them, Optimus tossed his sword up and let it slide down into his forearm, then put two fingers on the side of his head. He transmitted a code in Cybertronian, then continued to run normally. Behind them, Lockdown approached in Stealth Force mode. Missiles and gunfire flipped Ratchet, causing him to land in Optimus' way and trip him. He transformed, then aimed his remaining shoulder cannon at Ratchet. "DIE!" Optimus flipped Ratchet back on his wheels, allowing him to dodge the subsequent shot and pepper Lockdown with small missiles. Meanwhile, Optimus got to his feet and blasted open the door in front of them with the stolen shoulder cannon, then shot Lockdown back. "Keep moving!" He ran through the doorway, followed by Ratchet. Lockdown got up yet again, then fired several missiles. They all struck a wall when the two Autobots turned a corner. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He pounded the wall in rage, then transformed and drove after them. Optimus could not move at full speed when he was forced to stay on foot. Yet if he transformed, he would have to drop the only weapon they had that could break apart the ship's doors. Therefore, as he predicted, Lockdown caught up again. This time the missiles were fired at Optimus. He transformed, causing them to fly over him and destroy the door immediately ahead of them. Before Lockdown could fire again, Ratchet transformed and fired on him with his machine gun. "Optimus! This can't hold him!" Lockdown transformed and shot Ratchet to the ground with his shoulder cannon, then aimed at Optimus. Optimus, however, was once again in robot mode--and not aiming at him. Optimus fired the stolen gun repeatedly at the ceiling, bringing it down between them and Lockdown. A tangled barricade of wires and metal fell down from above them, partially on Lockdown, and mostly in front of him. "Ratchet, move ahead!" As Ratchet grabbed the arm pieces and transformed again, Optimus fired more, just to ensure he had constructed a thick enough barrier to delay Lockdown. The sound of approaching explosions from behind the barrier told Optimus it would not last for long, and he ran after Ratchet. Door after door, hallway after hallway, they continued to continue to move on as straight a path as they could to one of the ship's sides. Eventually, the sight of a familiar room caught Optimus' attention. "This is the same room you freed me from, Ratchet. It's a familiar route from here on." Optimus tossed the gun aside, knowing there were no more doors between him and the hull breach they were headed for, then transformed. "Let's roll." They drove through the hallways as before, finally reaching the light at the end of the tunnels. Ratchet could see clouds whooshing by. "Optimus! The ship's in the air!" Optimus simply drove on. "I was counting on that!" He continued to drive until he was out of the ship. Ratchet, naturally, stopped at the hole Optimus drove through. "What do you mean?" Optimus, however, could no longer hear him, having fallen too far already. "Optimus!" Lockdown drove in behind Ratchet and transformed. "Where is PRIME?!" Ratchet transformed and faced Lockdown, unsure of what to do. "He's gone!" Lockdown aimed his shoulder cannon. "Then so are you!" The jump or the bullet. It became quite clear which left more chance of survival, considering that Optimus had jumped without hesitation. Ratchet backed up and fell out of the ship, narrowly avoiding the shot. "Optimus," he transmitted with two fingers on the side of his head, "what now?!" Optimus fell through the air, then saw an incoming object. He moved his panels apart, rearranging them until he was in robot mode once again. "Now," he transmitted, "I'll catch you!" The object was Optimus' jetpack, flying to him without anyone attached to it. It swung around and clipped into his back, lowering the harnesses onto his shoulders. "Just hang on!" With a loud flaring burst, the jetpack propelled Optimus up towards Ratchet. "I got you," he said, grabbing the medic. Ratchet made a sound resembling a sigh of relief. "The replacement trailer..." "Indeed." And with that, Optimus flew through the clouds.

That's...sad. And extreme incompetence on the part of the officer if it was anything other than a gun.

Halo 2 is widely known as the most difficult, frustrating Halo game ever. I hear a lot about controller breaking on Legendary, and while that has never happened to me, and I doubt it's happened to most of the people who say it has... It's still the hardest Halo for me. (And I beat it six times on Legendary, I would know.) But what level is the hardest level for you guys? For me, it was Regret, simply for the dual Plasma Rifle Elites at the end, and the sniper/Hunter section in the underwater area.

2014, 2015, all these rumors... At this point, I think 343i should just come out with an honest official statement about if and when all these things are meant to come out. It would settle all this instantly. Not like it'll hurt business or anything.

I doubt they're making a Halo Wars 2 right now, but I guess that does mean we'll be seeing that little cliffhanger wrapped up. I actually first read that a while ago, and I was happy to see that the Spirit of Fire was actually getting mentioned again. I think they'll be happy to see that the Flood are dealt with too.

Unfortunately as others have said, most of the ODSTs became S-IV's. But maybe you could have a few "important character" ODSTs that chose not to be Spartans for personal reasons. Buck could even be one.

Well, that's interesting. Church is a funny character. The Titanfall beta key thing was hilarious, I actually laughed in real life.

Ok, Chapter 6. --- Optimus and Ratchet drove quickly, switching to Stealth Force mode at every corner to take advantage of greater maneuverability. While speed was of the essence if they wanted to get out before Lockdown could catch them, it would not do them much good if each corner caused them to crash. "Left turn, mind the pipe running across the floor!" Ratchet drove close behind Optimus, trying to remember the path he took as best he could. "There is no pipe. Are we headed towards the outside?" "Yes. The pipe must have been in the next turn. Take a right, then go straight and left again. Lockdown will probably find out about this soon." "He was alerted the second you entered the ship, Ratchet. I believe he is already well aware of our escape...and the death of his comrade. We should use an alternate path to avoid being recaptured." Rather than taking the right turn ahead of them, Optimus drove straight toward the door in front of him. "I underst--huh?" Ratchet swerved to the side, drifting across the metal floor of the ship, and crashed lightly into Optimus. In a few seconds, the shock wore off and he realized why Optimus had stopped. The door was locked, and he had crashed straight into it. "That door opened automatically when I passed by it on my way to you." Optimus transformed, making room for both him and Ratchet to get back on course, and walked down the next hallway, taking the right turn Ratchet had first suggested. "This is confirmation that Lockdown knows we are escaping. He wants us to be able to take only one path." "To guarantee an ambush." Ratchet followed Optimus in Stealth Force mode, in order to fight without dropping the arm parts he was carrying. Optimus nodded, then continued to walk. "He took the weapons from your Stealth Force mode too, didn't he?" "Lockdown was far too thorough to allow me to keep them." "But then how did he miss your knuckle blades?" Optimus pondered the question as he walked, activating said blades once again for their inevitable meeting with Lockdown at their pathway's end. --- Sparks flew into the air, briefly forming parts of an outline around the edge of Lugnut's swords. As the next slash quickly proved, however, outlines were far from enough. "Gaaah!" Sideswipe's right hand fell from his arm, hitting the ground and tumbling for a second. Though it hurt, Sideswipe's swords were on his wrists, leaving him nearly undeterred. He continued to parry and counterattack with both blades, but Lugnut's defense was flawless. Out the corner of his eye he could see soldiers running towards them, but they were still too far to accurately use their grenade launchers. Sideswipe let both his arms be knocked back by the force of Lugnut's swings, creating an opening for Lugnut to slash with both blades simultaneously. When he did so, the Autobot second-in-command responded by bringing both his blades forward with surprising speed and pressing against Lugnut's blades. He slid his blades up Lugnut's, taking note of how much they narrowed without taking completely sliding them off. "Measuring my blades without giving way for me to kill you..." Lugnut smirked and kicked Sideswipe back, then transformed into Stealth Force mode. "Or so you think!" He began to fire missiles when explosions all over his right side flipped him and interrupted his shooting. "Sideswipe," Lennox yelled, "we're screwed if you die!" Another soldier fired on Lugnut, attemping to keep him down. "Stay alive, that's an order! You die and I'll court martial you!" Sideswipe fell down, but recovered fast enough to pull out his remaining shotgun and shoot one of the missiles before it could hit. His next shot missed, and Lugnut had left no room for error. The next two missiles hit and broke apart his chest, exposing his sparkchamber. He shifted his sparkchamber down and crouched, transforming into vehicle mode. Lugnut transformed and stomped on a soldier, then uttered a sadistic laugh. Sideswipe's sparkchamber was no longer exposed because it was on his underside. With the Autobot's ability to fight severely limited, he began to slaughter the soldiers. --- Optimus stopped when he came to the end of a hallway, not going around the corner. He gave Ratchet a look to ensure he was ready. Light shone onto the wall just in front of him and to his right. Therefore, the exit is at this left turn. Ratchet drove up right beside Optimus, ready to fire. He said nothing, in case Lockdown was standing there at that very moment and listening for them, but the gesture made it clear he was ready. Optimus ran forward, going around the corner, but saw no one at the end. A small detail on his knuckle blades caught his eye during the natural swinging of his arms while he ran. Immediately after, he heard a small sound behind them and stopped. "What's wrong?" Ratchet turned around, then turned back forward. "My original blades had a crack after the battle in Chicago." Optimus heard a louder sound and immediately whirled around, but was too late. Two shots struck him simultaneously in the chest, shattering his windows and knocking him to the ground. "AIGH!" Ratchet turned around again and began to fire machine guns at the towering dark robot before him. Lockdown was behind us?! Lockdown slammed Ratchet's left side with his whip, bashing his guns into his armor and flipping him. He finished by stomping on him, holding the guns on his right side down as well to bring a halt to the gunfire. Optimus looked up, seeing metal hanging down from the ceiling behind Lockdown. He had burst in from the floor directly above them. Lockdown lowered his head, flipping around panels and extending them forward once again, forming the gun face he used in their first battle. "I shall give you my face, Prime!" Lockdown shot Optimus directly in the face, and everything went black. --- Sideswipe rammed Lugnut in the legs full speed, causing him to fall over easily. His injured foot spread apart further as he fell, but he got up again, slamming his hand on yet another soldier. Lugnut roared as he rose to his full height. Grayish blurs parallel to his forearms began to phase into view, and as Sideswipe turned around to make another pass, he spilled more of the blue liquid from his pipes onto them. "Focus fire on his head!" High-heat rounds slammed into Lugnut's face, obscuring his view and causing him to bleed red and orange energon. Sideswipe's next ramming attack hit perfectly. When he fell, his face hit the ground. Burning, crushed metal fell from his face as he got up. "Raaaaah!" Sideswipe turned again and drove full speed to ram him a third time before he could get all the way up. The front of his vehicle mode being split in half, however, shocked him. His tires shredded against the ground in an effort to stop. My own move-- Just as he had done to Sideways years ago, Lugnut had forced him to drive into a blade. He reversed to avoid the exact same fate he had dealt to Sideways, but Lugnut swung his arm up as he did so. Sideswipe was flipped completely. A glowing blue light on his underside was clear as day. "How 'bout you try and fight us instead, ya ninny?!" By the time Lugnut turned to face the robot who spoke, his missiles were too close to avoid. A series of explosions brought the Hunter down once more. "It's time ta' kill him!" Roadbuster, followed by Topspin, ran at Lugnut. Seeing the blue Wrecker's claws snapping threateningly, Lugnut transformed into car mode and drove back to the ship full speed. Topspin and Roadbuster, however, had no intention of letting him off. They had begun to transform after the first panel on Lugnut shifted and were already driving after him, firing all the way. A door opened on the front of the ship for Lugnut to drive through, a sign that Cyclonus was watching. From the ship's bridge, Cyclonus grabbed a lever and pulled it. "RAAAAAAAH!" Lugnut's rear end went up in flames, breaking apart from the gunfire. The two Wreckers were mere feet behind him, capable of much greater speed than he was. He yelled in Cybertronian, even more garbled than usual as a result of the pain. The ship's guns shot once in response, sending Roadbuster whirling aside. He crashed into Topspin with the force of one of Optimus' punches. They tumbled aside, bending out of shape and attempting to transform. They skidded to a halt partially transformed and too badly hurt to finish. Sideswipe transformed and ran to them, ignoring Lugnut's escape into the ship. "Both of you! Get up! It'll fire again!" Cyclonus adjusted his aim to shoot Sideswipe. Orange lights on the ship's cannons lit up slowly as they turned. "Move!" Sideswipe shook the two Wreckers, who only groaned in response. If the cannons did this to them, and his sparkchamber was exposed... The sound of gunfire ended Sideswipe's line of thought instantly. Another line of thought, however, began when he saw the ship's cannons come down and hit the ground. I'm not dead? The plane that brought the Autobots there had returned, but its wings were angled down slightly, and weapons protruded from several parts of it. Weapons on a type of plane that was ordinarily unarmed. "Sir, when did those planes get weapons?" A soldier was staring up in surprise. "He always had them," Lennox replied. Sideswipe dragged the Wreckers toward the soldiers as explosions raged behind him. Lockdown's ship was under heavy fire and taking off. "We...need...evac," he transmitted to the plane through his comms. Dino got up slowly. Parts of his armor fell from his body. Wind was picking up, blowing the broken parts away from him. As he looked up, he saw Lockdown's ship rising with blue light glowing behind it. Explosions raged on its bow, the source of which he soon determined to be the plane bombarding it. It lurched forward, then faded out of view long before it got far enough to be outside of visual range. Dino transformed and drove to the remaining soldiers and other Autobots. "It can do that?" a soldier asked. "Why didn't it do that before?" Lennox stomped in anger. "Because they wanted us to find it!" He looked up at the plane, which was decending towards them slowly, spinning as it approached. When it landed, the weapons retracted and the wings returned to their usual angle. "Get inside. We're going back." --- Optimus awoke strapped to the wall upside down, just as before--save for the fact that Ratchet was next to him in the same predicament. "What..." Across the room, there were his weapons, along with both halves of his right arm. Both his original knuckle blades, with the crack, and the new ones were on the table, right next to each other. Lockdown didn't miss a weapon..he replaced one. Ratchet looked at Optimus. "What happened...?" Optimus turned his head to face Ratchet at the sound of his voice. The medic was clearly injured, his armor bent out of shape, but was overall in better shape than Optimus was. "Lockdown," Optimus answered, his voice extremely hoarse from being shot in the face, "put in a replacement for my blades. I believe it contained a tracking device. Knowing our exact position, he could...ambush us." Metal banging against metal in a corner of the room drew the attention of both Autobots. It was Lockdown, clapping sarcastically. "Your powers of deduction exceed your ability to fight me, Optimus Prime." He laughed callously and took Optimus' own sword from the table. It glowed orange in his hand. "Cyclonus, Lugnut, has the intel been downloaded to the ship?" Lugnut's voice echoed through the room. "Yes. Both of us have repaired our injures as well." Lockdown glared at Optimus, malice clearly visible in his eye. "Good. Execute Phase One. I believe Phase Two will be in our grasp very, very soon." --- Sam was sitting alone in the supply room of the base. He had grown tired of pacing some time ago, but was still unable to figure out why Optimus was captured. Information, probably. It's not like Optimus is carrying some superweapons... The door opened, and Sam looked up to see Lennox entering. "About damn time..." Lennox shut the door behind him. "Why are you in here? I've been looking all over for you!" "Needed somewhere to think," Sam answered, half-irritated. "What happened?" "Those Hunters were baiting us. We tried to rescue Optimus, instead we got an even fight and Ratchet was captured or killed. Then the ship took off and went invis. We can't detect it with anything we've got. Some sort of cloaking is keeping it under the radar." "Wait wait wait, they captured another Autobot?" But Bee had to die?! "Don't ask me why, I don't know. And I said captured or killed. But if they could have stayed hidden the whole time I'm leaning towards captured." Sam paused for a moment. "Wait, they captured Optimus. They must want something from him. So..so then if he wouldn't give it to them they must be trying to threaten him with someone else's death..." "Maybe, what's your point?" "Information, or...." Sam's mind wandered as his words trailed off. The sight of Bumblebee's mangled parts flying through the air, flaming and dead...the parts in a laboratory of some sort...the other laboratories where Decepticon parts were being melted down or studied...dead Decepticon parts... "He wants the Matrix!" Lennox's expression changed to one of confusion as he answered almost instantly. "The Matrix--for what--damn!" His expression changed to one of anger. "Wait, we've got dead Decepticons in holding, are they all here?! We gotta guard them, we gotta--" "We have a few parts here, the main storage's a few miles out!" "Send some Autobots, they're gonna be coming to get the bodies!" "The Autobots are injured, we only got one guy!" "Send him! Don't you get what's going on, the Hunters are planning to revive Megatron!" --- Soldiers looked up as a transport plane bearing an Autobot insignia landed at their base. The wings angled up sharply while the fuselage split. Parts rotated and folded together until a massive Autobot several times the size of Optimus Prime stood there. "Wait," one of the soldiers said, "that's Stratosphere! I thought Sunscream or whatever he was called killed him!" Stratosphere looked down at him and answered in a deep, thunderous voice. "Starscream came close. It took Ratchet some time to fix me up after I crashed...but I made it." He opened the door of a gigantic building clearly designed for Cybertronians, yet of human make. Inside lay the corpses of hundreds of Decepticons. In the center of the room lay Megatron, Shockwave, and Sentinel Prime. "Any Hunters that attempt to take these will not. Fall back, I don't want any of you dying." "No disrespect," the soldier replied, "but we're just as willing to risk our lives to kill Decepticons, Hunters, or whatever they want to call themselves, as you are." Stratosphere nodded and went inside the building. "Everyone willing, in here then." A platoon of soldiers entered the building and took up defensive positions. Seconds later, they heard the sound of another plane flying in and a car driving up to the base. "That's them." Stratosphere transformed his right arm into a six-barreled rocket launcher, aiming in the direction the sounds came from. "Be ready..." The metal wall opposite Stratosphere ripped open with a deafening explosion.

About 35% done, give or take. I don't know how many chapters it will take to cover what comes next.

There was a pokemon reference? Also...that's surprising. Usually things are more complicated than that.

Another very short chapter, but interesting anyway. So there is hope for the banned...sort of. Something tells me the staff isn't as simple as "find it, use it to escape, kill the sniper with it"

No. (but I don't prefer the other way around either) Do you eat a lot?

False, else you probably wouldn't be here.

False. My favorite power weapon is the Fuel Rod Gun.

Every computer in the public library where I live runs Ubuntu, lol. An old version of it though.

That level doesn't even warrant a walkthrough unless you're on LASO.

Most of your AI allies aren't careful like that to begin with.