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Chapter 19: Darkness of the Present

[Date: July 11th, 2012 Time: 11:00 AM [MDT] Location: Alberta, Canada]

The sun is now looking down upon this area which not long ago held miles and miles of timber and wildlife but now was covered in massive amounts of dirt and debris. The glorious trees that gave this area its beauty were now gone. The animals that knew this place as home were gone as well. All that was left were craters from the energy blasts of the Decepticons and scattered around were also dead machine parts from the Vheicons that didn't last through the battle. Everything was gone except for one thing: a medium sized tree standing about 30 feet from where the battle first began. This tree survived the massive blast of energy from the Tesseract because it was aided by the king of Asgard: Thor.

Thor still laid on the ground, still unconscious from the massive blow from one of the missiles that were fired by the Decepticon known as Astrotrain. The force of the blow made him hit the tree hard, even with his Asgardian armor on. Lying next to him is his hammer: Mjolnir. But he wasn't alone; sitting next to him is one of his most loyal friends: Lady Sif, who has been watching and caring over him.

Sitting in one of the craters about 40 feet from the lone tree are the rest of Thor's friends: the Warrior Three, (consisting of Hogun the Grim, Fandral the Dashing, and Volstagg the Valian), who were sitting around a campfire with many of the men from NEST and SHIELD who aided them throughout the battle. All three of those warriors were waiting for their leader to wake up. Sitting now too far away from them are the Autobot Twins, Skids and Mudflap, who were surprisingly dead quiet. (Guess the battle made them speechless)

Up on a nearby hill, Ratchet was aiding Tony and Rhody with fixing their armors which were critically damaged. Tony and Rhody still had on their lower parts of their armors while the upper parts were lying on some side armor that originally belonged to a Vhelicon.

Sitting on a broken log not far from Ratchet's position is Arcee, who was looking over the vast wasteland that this area had become. She was still in a bit of shock by the battle that took place not too long ago. Her spark was almost extinguished by the hands of Breakdown and Knockout, not to mention Breakdown mentioning the name of her closest partner, Tailgate, who perished on Cybertron during the Cybertronian Wars.

Walking up from the fire pit heading towards her was the newest arrival of the Autobots: Hot Rod. Hot Rod walks slowly towards her with his gold and maroon armor glaring in the light of the sun. The sun also shows his helmet (which has a resemblance of Hawkeye's helmet in 'The Avengers' comics) and his spoiler on his back that could be seen as wings of some kind. When he reaches Arcee, he passes by her and walks over the log. Then he sits down beside her, hoping to get a conversation with his old friend. After a minute of silence, Arcee breaks the silence.

"So, how did you get here?" She asks.

Hot Rod gave a big sigh before answering Arcee's question.

"I have been here for quite some time." He said.

"How long have you been on Earth?" She asks.

"Longer than any Autobot." He said. "You see, it all started shortly after the All-Spark was launched from Cybertron."

[Flashback to the moments after the All-Spark left Cybertron's orbit.]

(We see the scene of Cybertron, which was littered with piles and piles of dead Cybertronians.)

"My team and I were defending ourselves from a group of Decepticons when we saw the light of the All-Spark flying off world. When I saw it, I saw the hope of us winning this war was sent into the vast of space. I know that our main goal from that point on was to find the All-Spark and return it to our people. After we defeated them, I told my team that we need to find the All-Spark."

"So we quickly ran towards the Decepticon capital of Kaon taking down any Decepticon that was in our way. We eventually made it to one of the ship hangers but before we could make it to a warship, we were surrounded. Then acting on courage, my teammate and best friend, Cliffjumper, gave himself up to give us time to board the warship. I beg him to come with us, but he knew that one of us had to stay behind. As the warship launched, I saw the final moments of my friend being torn apart by dozens of Decepticons. From that point on, I knew the only way to stop this fighting was to located the All-Spark, for Cliffjumper."

"My team and I searched for solar cycles (1 Solar cycle=100 Earth years), searching in just about every part of the galaxy, but couldn't find the All-Spark. When my team and I were about to lose hope of finding it, we detected it on a faraway planet called Earth. So, we took off for the All-Spark, not knowing that we had an extra 'guest' on board."

"When we arrived outside the atmosphere roughly 500 earth years ago, we discovered the All-Spark landed in a valley near where the place called 'Arizona' is currently located. We were about to deploy to the Earth's surface when the 'Intruder' alarm sounded. Then, the door slid open and standing in the doorway was the Leader of the Decepticons: Megatron."

"Apparently, he had hitched a ride when he discovered the All-Spark's location. My team and I fought him with all we had but he easily overpowered us. So, I activated the ship's self-destruct countdown, in hopes to keep Megatron from ever finding the All-Spark. When the ship self-destructed, Megatron and I were hurled towards the Earth with Megatron heading for the icy north and me heading for the landmass known as Europe, where I crash landed in the cold landscape of what these humans call 'The Alps', where I laid in snow and cold."

"About 5 earth years ago, the snow around the Alps were melting due to 'global warming', as the humans call it, and I slowly arise from my hyper sleep. So, I slowly made my way from the mountains down to civilian, where I assumed an alternative mode so I could find my way to the All-Spark. But, shortly after, I found out, through the 'Internet' that the All-Spark was destroyed and that a team of Autobots were located in the city known as 'Washington D.C.' So I attempted to get there only to accidentally being transferred to this place."

[The scene returns back to Arcee and Hot Rod sitting on the hill on the broken log]

"And that is how I ended up here." He finishes his story.

Arcee sat there for a few moments before saying another word.

"So, you have been here for some time." She finally said.

"Yes, a very long time. When I heard about the Decepticons trying to bring Cybertron to Earth, I knew that the All-Spark wasn't the only way to bring back Cybertron." He said.

"There is another way?" She asks.

"I don't know if there is or not, but as long as there is one of us that still has hope for our planet, then Cybertron will be restored." Hod Rod said.

Both Arcee and Hot Rod sat for a few moment of silence until the voice of Lady Sif could be heard coming from the tree.

"Hey, Thor's waking up!"

Arcee and Hot Rod both got up and start running down the hill heading towards Thor's position. Tony also heard Sif's voice and he starts heading that direction as well while Rhody and Ratchet follow closely behind. The other members were already gathering around the lone standing tree.

After a few moments, Thor's eyes slowly start to open. His light blue eyes awaken to see Sif looking down at him with a small smile on her face. Standing closely behind her are Hogun, Fandral, and Volstagg along with Ratchet, the Twins, Arcee and Hot Rod along with Rhody and Tony standing to the right of Thor.

"What...what happened?" Thor said.

"You have been unconscious for some time." Sif said.

Thor thought to himself for a few seconds until his eyes start to widen up, realizing that something was missing.

"Where's the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"It... it was taken." Sif replied.

When Thor hears the news, he jumps quickly to his feet and starts walking past his teammates and the Autobots. He stops and places his right arm behind him. As he does that, his hammer arises from the ground and heads straight for his hand. He grabs the handle when it arrives and then he turns back.

"We mustn't waste any time!" Thor begins to say as he whirls his hammer in a circular motion building enough energy so he could fly over the Earth. But as he is ready to take off, he finds himself in some pain and falls back to the ground. He breathes heavily with sweat coming down from his long blonde hair.

"What is this pain I'm feeling?" He asks.

"Thor, you are still weak from the battle." Sif said as she runs to her side.

"But I promise Heimdall that I wouldn't use the Tesseract." Thor said as he tries to stand on his feet.

"We all promise that." Volstagg said. "We know we must find it but you aren't in any shape to fight."

"We will find the Tesseract." Sif said as she helps Thor to get back on her feet. Then she looks at everyone standing in front of her and Thor. "All of us."

Just then, the sound of copter blades starts to fill the sky. Coming out of the east came helicopters along with a Quinjet. The Quinjet flies lower to the ground before the nose starts to rise towards the sky. Then, the Quinjet starts to transform and reveals Skyfire, who hovers over them and lands onto the ground.

"Man, am I glad to see you guys." Skyfire said as he walks over to Ratchet. "We thought that all of you were sent to the scrapheap."

"It will take more than a few 'Cons to take us down." Ratchet said.

"This isn't the time to chatter." Arcee said as she walks towards Skyfire and Ratchet. "We need to regroup."

"Arcee's right, we need to head back to base." Ratchet said.

Shortly after, Thor along with Sif and the Warrior Three were loaded upon the helicopter while Tony and Rhody grab their top portions of their suits and load them up upon Skyfire. Then both of them board him. Meanwhile Arcee, Hot Rod, Ratchet, and the Twins transform into their alternative modes (with Hot Rod transforming into a modified maroon and gold 2012 Ford Mustang with a big spoiler on the back) and follow Skyfire's path heading to where the C-17s were waiting.

[Meanwhile on Asgard]

Heimdall, who has been well aware of the current situation, is standing at his post upon the edge of the Bifrost Bridge. With his sword safely in hand, he gases upon the realm of Midguard, ready for an imminent attack.

"The king has failed in keeping the Tesseract safe." Heimdall thought. "So I will have no choice but to destroy it. Let's hope that Thor finds it before they harm us."

Will Thor find the Tesseract?

Stay tuned to find out

Author's Notes: After three months of waiting, I finally present Ch. 19! Ch. 20 is currently being typed as we speak and will be done soon. Keep on reading True Believers, onto Ch. 20!