Battle of Autobot City

The Battle of Autobot City refers to the protracted battle between the Autobots and Decepticons at Autobot City, the base of the Autobots on Earth, taking place in the year 2005 in one reality. By its end, the leaders of both the Autobot and Decepticon forces were dead or dying, numerous combatants on both sides had been killed, and events were set in motion that would lead to the creation of Galvatron and, eventually, the passing of the Matrix of Leadership.

"Let the slaughter begin!"

- Megatron

Prelude
The Decepticons had succeeded in driving the Autobot army off Cybertron. However, the Autobots retained staging grounds on Cyberton's two moons and were in the final phase of preparations for their counterassault. All that remained was the transport of a final shipment of Energon cubes from Autobot City's production facilities. Optimus Prime dispatched a shuttle to Earth for this purpose, interestingly crewed by most of his command staff.



Unfortunately for the Autobots, the Decepticon spy Laserbeak got wind of the Autobots' plans and warned Megatron, ruler of the Decepticons. In a move reminiscent of the Decepticons' boarding of the Ark on their initial arrival on Earth, Megatron led a sizeable contingent of Decepticons against the small Autobot crew on the shuttle. Heavily outnumbered and outmatched, the Autobots were overwhelmed. Ratchet, Ironhide, Prowl and Brawn all perished (or at least were deactivated) in this attack at the hands of Megatron and Starscream.

Having taken control of the shuttle, Megatron's plan became clear: the shuttle was to be used as a "Trojan Horse", conveying the Decepticons for a surprise attack on Autobot City itself, which Megatron seemed to think would vanquish the Autobots forever. On the other hand, Megatron was never really known for his tactical genius.


 * (Note: There is a reason Megatron thought this - the original script makes it clear that Autobot City is, in fact, a massive energy-gathering facility, so if the Decepticons destroy this, the Autobots will be without an energy supply, pretty much crippling their war effort.)

First Phase
Megatron had calculated correctly in that the Autobot shuttle would not set off Autobot City's automated defences even if carrying a Decepticon crew. It was sheer chance that a small human child noted there was a hole in the shuttle and alerted the young Autobot Hot Rod, who divined the truth of the situation. Hot Rod opened fire on the shuttle, damaging it to the point that it exploded and went into an uncontrolled crash. His actions also allowed other nearby Autobots, including Kup, to realize something was wrong.

With the shuttle's destruction imminent and the Decepticons' cover blown, Megatron ordered his troops to debark and attack immediately. A number of Decepticons transformed to alternate mode, commenced attacks on Autobot City and attempted to pick off those Autobots caught outside.



The Autobots, though surprised and outnumbered, quickly rallied to the defense. Ultra Magnus, commanding the City, ordered Blaster to contact Optimus Prime on Moonbase One to obtain reinforcements, Springer to transform Autobot City into its battle mode, and the only Autobot with an amphetamine problem to assist in alerting Autobots as to the attack (if they weren't already clued in by hordes of Decepticons bringing the rain right down on their heads.)

Springer and Arcee delayed transforming the city for as long as possible to try and allow Hot Rod and Kup to get back inside. Eventually running out of time, they began the transformation, offering the city (and its Autobot defenders) greater capacity to meet the Decepticon assault. It also had the added bonus of taking off Starscream's right foot.

Kup and Hot Rod, speeding toward the city, saw that the two Insecticons Shrapnel and Kickback were eating through one of the doors, but Kickback was taken across a chasm by the retracting bridge. Using the Insecticon as a springboard, Hot Rod and Kup were able to clear the gap and enter the city (crushing Kickback's head and ramming Shrapnel out of the way in the process) moments before the armored doors closed.

Meanwhile, Blaster did manage to make brief contact with the Cybertronian Autobots, but the signal was cut off by the intervention of Soundwave and the four henchmen he had with him: Rumble, Ravage, Frenzy and Ratbat. However, Blaster evened the odds by putting his own quartet of counterparts into the fight: Ramhorn, Steeljaw, Rewind, and Eject.

Unable to penetrate Autobot City's defences by conventional means, Megatron then ordered the Constructicons to merge into the gestalt Devastator. The giant robot quickly made his presence felt, penetrating the first line of defences by literally tearing them open, and shattering one attempt by Springer, Kup, Hot Rod and Arcee to put him out of action. But even so, the two sides were so evenly matched that the battle continued over the course of the remainder of that day and throughout the night.

Second Phase
"One shall stand, one shall fall."

- Optimus Prime on seeing Megatron



However, the City could not hold out forever; by the next morning Autobot defences had been broken by relentless Decepticon assaults, and the likelihood of a mass slaughter was high. It was at this crucial point that Autobot reinforcements commanded by Optimus Prime arrived. The Dinobots were deployed to attack Devastator, with some success, but could not halt the Decepticons' advance into Autobot City.

That task fell to Optimus Prime, who made a heroic solo frontal assault against the massed firepower of the most elite members of the Decepticon army. In tractor-trailer mode, he mowed down most of the Seekers, and in robot mode, used his ion blaster to singlehandedly scatter the Decepticon attack, fighting his way to engage Megatron in what he assured the Decepticon would be their final battle.



The battle between the two leaders was brief and intense. Both were disarmed early on in the proceedings and fought first with melee energy weapons, and then hand to hand, during which Megatron inflicted progressively more serious injuries upon an area of Prime's lower torso. Closing in, Megatron attempted to gouge Prime's optic circuits, but the Autobot leader broke his hold and dealt Megatron a severe blow as he hurled him to the floor, resulting in a seeming-victory for Prime. But Megatron had spotted a gun a matter of yards away from him. Stalling for time with false pleas for mercy, Megatron crawled towards the gun, but Hot Rod intervened as Megatron grabbed the gun, trying to overpower the Decepticon leader. His efforts backfired however and Megatron overpowered the young Autobot, using him as a shield as he fired upon Optimus. Again, he aimed for the already damaged area of Prime's torso, striking it several times, mortally wounding him.

Tossing aside Hot Rod, Megatron prepared to finish off his ancient nemesis. Prime, however, managed to gather his remaining strength to deal a haymaker powerful enough to knock Megatron off a ledge and into a fall that would prove near fatal.

Seeing their leader conclusively defeated in this way broke the Decepticons spirit. Starscream, taking interim command, ordered Astrotrain to transform and ferry the Decepticons away in a general retreat. Unsurprisingly, Starscream appeared ready to leave Megatron to die, but Soundwave carried him to Astrotrain, whilst Rumble followed with his fusion cannon. Gathering up their wounded, the Decepticons fled, leaving the Autobots to similarly gather up their own casualties.

Aftermath
Large numbers of Autobots and Decepticons had either been terminated or wounded as a result of the battle. Windcharger, Wheeljack, and maybe Huffer were among the casualties, and even the mighty Optimus Prime soon succumbed to his wounds and perished, but not before passing the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus as his successor, unaware that the Matrix had chosen Hot Rod to become the new Autobot leader.



The wounded Decepticons - including the Insecticons, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Megatron - were thrown out of Astrotrain to lighten the load, where they would later be found by the Chaos-bringer Unicron and reshaped into Galvatron, Scourge, Cyclonus, and the Sweeps.