Transformers: Age of Extinction rewrite

Chapter 7: The fault in our S.T.A.R.S.

We then cut to Optimus waking up to find himself held prisoner aboard Lockdown's ship the Death's Head shackled to the wall upside-down. Optimus then turns his head to see the Turbofoxes growling at him before he sees Lockdown sitting across from his cell sharpening his hook. Lockdown tells Optimus "oh, so you're finally awake now". Optimus asks Lockdown where Tessa is, and Lockdown tells him "the human girl? she'll be fine. she's being held captive in my trophy room, along with all the other rare specimens collected from worlds I've visited" while we briefly cut to Tessa finding herself in a cage alongside other bizarre alien lifeforms. Optimus gets angry and demands Lockdown to let her go, only for his restraints to electrocute him. Lockdown then says "don't even think about trying to break out of your restraints, the more you struggle the more painful the shock. to be honest I don't even know why you care so much about these puny earthlings, all this species mixing with species upsets the cosmic balance". Optimus asks Lockdown why he doesn't just finish the job and kill him like his friends at Cemetery Wind tried to do to him and his friends, and Lockdown tells Optimus "Cemetery Wind was merely a temporary alliance, always has been. I spared your life because my employer specifically told me to deliver you to him alive and in one piece, he has special plans for you. he never told me the specifics, I'm just a simple bounty hunter after all, I could care less about what he has in store for you as long as I get my reward". Optimus asks Lockdown who his "employer" is, and Lockdown tells Optimus "you'll meet him when we get there". Lockdown then enters the bridge and sits in the pilot's seat before the ship's computer informs Lockdown of an incoming audio transmission from his anonymous employer. the the ship's computer then plays the employer's message asking in a disguised voice if Lockdown has captured Optimus Prime yet. Lockdown tells him yes, and the Employer congratulates Lockdown telling him "well done my bounty hunter. your reward in the form of a lifetime supply of Energon is waiting for you on Cybertron, deliver the last prime to me and only then can you claim your reward" followed by Lockdown telling his employer that he has one more loose end to tie up before he's ready to go home and get paid followed by the ship arriving at the Antarctic hovering over Cemetery Wind HQ before firing a barrage of missiles from the ship's cannons blowing up Cemetery Wind HQ killing several agents and blowing a massive hole in the ice revealing the top of a crashed cybertronian ship underneath all the while a KSI spy drone comes across the frozen craft. we then cut to KSI building where we see Joyce staring into the eyes of the severed Megatron head, placing his hand on Megatron's lifeless forehead, telling the severed head "they left me... Chip, Elise, the guys at Cemetery Wind, they all left me, betrayed me. but not you... you are gonna make me truckloads of cash" before KSI personnel arrive on the scene to take the Megatron head and carry it outside along with the other KSI robots to be loaded up into a cargo plane, followed by Isaac Sumdac informing Mr. Joyce that all of KSI's assets are ready to be moved to the new building in Hong Kong. Joyce is pleased, saying that everything's all gone according to plan. Sumdac then informs Joyce that KSI's scientists have made an interesting discovery showing Mr. Joyce a pair of photographs on his tablet one of a large spacecraft of Cybertronian origin embedded in the Antarctic ice, explaining that it was discovered buried beneath where Cemetery Wind's Antarctic base used to be before Lockdown destroyed the facility which led to it being unearthed followed by Joyce smirking saying "little did that idiot Attinger know that the future was right under his nose this entire time. I'm not surprised, after all their base was once a N.E.S.T. outpost back in the day" while Nemesis Prime and Stinger watch the KSI cargo plane take off from atop the roof of the KSI building. a Cemetery Wind agent then contacts Stinger to inform him that the Autobots are on their way the Pacific Northwest followed by Stinger asking Nemesis Prime what they should do. Nemesis Prime then tells Stinger that they can't let the Autobots or their human allies the Yeagers make contact with S.T.A.R.S. or else they will help the Autobots clear their names and everything he's worked for will be all for nothing followed by Nemesis Prime contacting Cemetery Wind HQ to order a squad to intercept the Autobots in the Pacific Northwest. after that, we cut to Bumblebee, Crosshairs, Drift, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Perceptor (along with Cade Yeager riding in Bumblebee's vehicle mode) finally arriving at the Pacific Northwest, Bumblebee telling Cade to cheer up telling him that they're finally here meaning that S.T.A.R.S. HQ can't be far and that they'll probably find a way to save both Optimus AND Tessa. Cade tells Bumblebee "I hope you're right" before stepping out of the vehicle to allow Bumblebee to transform into his robot mode. the other Autobots then transform into their robot modes with Wheeljack saying "ah the Pacific Northwest, haven't been here since the days me and the old crew took our final stand against the Decepticons 10 years ago" followed by Perceptor smacking Wheeljack upside the head telling him that the nostalgia can wait they gotta get a move on if they are to locate S.T.A.R.S.'s base of operations. our heroes begin trekking through the redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest, with Crosshairs asking his fellow Autobots "so let's say if Prime doesn't come back, does that mean I get to be the new leader? 'cause I'd be down for that, just me reporting to me". Drift rolls his eyes, telling Crosshairs "I doubt Optimus would ever pick you to be leader, you're rude, impulsive, undisciplined, and lack any form of moral compass. you act more like a Decepticon than an Autobot". Crosshairs then snaps back at Drift, telling him, "don't lecture me on moral superiority you filthy ex-con, you used to be one of them after all!" only for Bumblebee to butt in and tell the two that if they are to rescue Optimus and Tessa the two of them have got to stop arguing and learn to get along. Cade turns his head to see several cemetery wind agents moving through the woods and warns the Autobots that they're being ambushed while one agent contacts Attinger/Nemesis to inform him that he's got the Autobots in his sights followed by Nemesis telling the agent over intercom to go in for the kill. the Cemetery Wind agents then show up to surround our heroes pointing their guns at the Autobots, telling the filthy machines not to move. however the Cemetery Wind agents are suddenly shot in the head by a platoon of masked soldiers wearing high-tech armor saving our heroes skins in the process. Cade notices the logo on their shoulders matches the S.T.A.R.S. logo on Kicker's ID card and realizes that these guys are on our side. three of the masked soldiers take their helmets off revealing themselves to be Lennox, Epps, and new recruit Santos. Bumblebee is enthusiastic to see his old pals Epps and Lennox again, introducing them to the new Autobots Crosshairs, Drift, Bulkhead, and Perceptor. Wheeljack asks who the new guy is, and Lennox introduces him and Bumblebee to commander Santos. Cade asks Bumblebee how he knows these guys, and Bumblebee tells Cade that Epps and Lennox are old friends of the Autobots, saying that they fought in the war against the Decepticons together. Cade tells the soldiers that he needs them to take himself and the Autobots to S.T.A.R.S. HQ, showing Lennox the blood-stained ID that belonged to Agent Kicker Jones, bringing him the unfortunate news of Kicker's death. Lennox realizes the severity of the situation and tells Cade "come with us". Lennox, Epps, and Santos all hop in a Humvee with the S.T.A.R.S. logo painted on it followed by the Autobots transforming back into their vehicle modes with Cade hopping inside Bumblebee before driving off. we then cut to a helicopter with the KSI logo painted on it landing in Antarctica and out step Joshua Joyce and Isaac Sumdac both wearing winter gear. Sumdac asks Joyce why they came all the way up here, saying that he's cold and wants to go home. Joyce gets irritated and tells his partner "listen here Isaac, I get that you've got a kid waiting for you back home and the weather isn't exactly the most comfortable at these altitudes, but there's a crashed Cybertronian craft just up ahead waiting for us to strip-mine it for valuable alien tech inside. we can't give up now, the future of cybernetic innovation lies within that ship, so it's best you man up and help me see it through". Isaac gulps before the two start trekking through the snow until they arrive at the crater where they find the top of the ship. upon stepping on the top of the ship the two activate an elevator and immediately descend into the vast corridors below. the scientist duo start shining their flashlights over the walls of the ancient spacecraft coming across an image of five robotic dinosaurs standing below the Autobot insignia engraved on the wall accompanied by some cybertronian glyphs. Isaac asks Joyce what those things are, and Joyce tells him "cave paintings, dating back to the paleolithic period. it appears to be a depiction of some kind of robotic dinosaurs, dino-bots if you will. the writing appears to be in Cybertronian. don't ask me what it says, I never studied their language" followed by Isaac telling Joyce he's got a bad feeling about this. the two men then come across the door to the ship at the end of the tunnel, the insignia on the door resembling the Autobot insignia with a sword through it (basically the Knights of Cybertron logo). Joyce tries to pry the giant door open with his bare hands, however it doesn't budge much to his frustration, shouting "oh come on! don't tell me I came all this way here for nothing!" followed by Isaac Sumdac massaging Joyce's shoulders telling him "there, there" to calm him down. we then cut back to the Autobots in their vehicle modes driving through the redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest until they come across the entrance to what was once the Underbase from my Dark of the moon rewrite, followed by Lennox, Epps, and Santos stepping out of the Humvee to welcome our heroes to S.T.A.R.S. HQ. the Autobots then transform into their robot modes before entering the base. Bumblebee is impressed with how they've remodeled the place in the past 10 years, saying that the last time he was here it was just an old run-down world war II military base and now it's been turned into a technologically-advanced futuristic facility. the other Autobots start checking out the base, with Wheeljack and Perceptor finding the science lab and geeking out over all the lab equipment. Drift finds a meditation chamber which is perfect for him while Crosshairs gets to show off his mad gunslinging skills in the training room. Bulkhead tries to get Bumblebee to take his mind off their current situation with a game of lobbing. Cade asks Lennox who the boss of this place is followed by Lennox offering Cade to introduce him to her. the two then enter the personal quarters of S.T.A.R.S.'s director, who turns out to be none other than Marissa Faireborn who is lying in bed. Cade asks what happened to her, and Lennox tells Cade that she was severely injured during Nemesis Prime's attack on the IRC building, she was hospitalized and is now on her road to recovery. Marissa turns her head to ask Lennox who the new guy is, and Lennox introduces Director Faireborn to Cade Yeager. Cade shakes hands with Faireborn, telling her that he's an inventor from Texas showing off his reprogrammed camera drone he named Sparkplug. Marissa is impressed, telling Cade that S.T.A.R.S. could use a man with skills like him. she then asks Cade why he travelled here all the way from Texas, followed by Lennox telling her that he and his family were under the protection of Kicker Jones, until agent Jones was unfortunately killed by Cemetery Wind. Cade explains to Faireborn that he was the one who found Optimus Prime, in a junkyard where he brought him home thinking he was just a normal semi truck. then Cemetery Wind came for prime and attacked their house, and Kicker was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. then he and his daughter Tessa went on a road trip and found the other Autobots, uncovered a conspiracy regarding the KSI corporation's involvement with Cemetery Wind, almost got killed by evil discount Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and then they wound up here. Marissa tells Cade "I'm so glad you brought the Autobots here. I founded S.T.A.R.S. to protect their kind from Cemetery Wind, so that they wouldn't have to live in constant fear. I couldn't just stand by and watch the aliens that helped save the world three times over die at the hands of corrupt and cruel individuals like Attinger, monsters like him don't realize that they're more than just machines, they have souls and experience things such as love, sadness, anger, and fear just as we do. they have the right to live". Cade sheds a tear and thanks Faireborn, saying "Thank you and S.T.A.R.S. for all that you've done. me and the Autobots would be dead right now if it wasn't for your men. and now we need your help more than ever, Optimus Prime along with my daughter Tessa has been captured by the bounty hunter Lockdown, you guys must have a way to save my baby girl. please, she's all I have left". Lennox places his hand on Cade's shoulder, telling him "I know exactly how you feel. I've got a daughter too, she's 15. not a day goes by when I don't think about her, she means the whole world to me and I can't imagine what it must feel like for a parent to lose their child, but there's nothing we can do, Lockdown's ship is equipped with a cloaking device making it impossible to track, he could've left the planet by now". Cade then storms out of the room while Lennox watches on walking past Bumblebee and Bulkhead, Bumblebee telling Bulkhead that he's worried for Cade who sits down on the floor upset over losing his little girl whipping a beer bottle to drown his sorrows in. we then cut to a mysterious SUV driving up to the entrance of the underbase and out step two shadowy figures, one of which in a wheelchair (hint hint). Santos arrives on the scene and points his weapon at the two, asking who they are and how they found the location of their secret base. Epps then arrives on the scene and recognizes the two figures, telling Santos to put his weapon down telling him they're friends. we then cut back to Cade drinking himself to sleep only for him to hear a woman's voice saying "you're Cade Yeager, the inventor from Texas aren't you?" followed by Cade lifting his head up to see none other than Elise Presser and Chip Chase along with Wheelie who zips around Cade making excited beeping noises to cheer him up followed by Sparkplug popping out of Cade's pocket to greet Wheelie, the two tiny robots quickly becoming friends. Cade asks how the two of them got here, and Chip tells Cade that he saw the address on Kicker's ID. Elise tells Cade that they quit KSI, thanking Cade for opening hers and Chip's eyes to the ugly truth behind the KSI corporation. the Autobots then show up to surround Chip and Elise pointing their weapons at the two, Wheeljack telling Chip that he's got some nerve coming here after what he did. Chip tells Wheeljack "that was 10 years ago Wheeljack, I've changed. me and Elise came here to atone for our actions by joining S.T.A.R.S. and helping them in any way we can". Cade gives the two a cynical look and tells them "if you wanna help S.T.A.R.S. you're too late, the bounty hunter already took off with my baby girl and Optimus Prime. he's probably left the planet by now". Chip tells Cade that it's not too late, saying that he and Elise have experience reverse-engineering Cybertronian tech from their time working at KSI. Wheeljack ponders, telling Chip and Elise that it's possible they could try reverse-engineering Sentinel prime's pillar technology to create a mini-spacebridge that'll transport them to Lockdown's ship. Perceptor rolls his optics and tells Wheeljack "you can't be serious, it could take eons to perfectly recreate the spacebridge technology, for all we know it could malfunction and we would end up on the other side with our heads on the wrong bodies!" however Wheeljack tells Perceptor "we won't find out until we try, it's either that or losing our head honcho, and I'm definitely not keen on that. besides, risk-taking is the best part about science! so who's ready to make things go boom?" followed by Perceptor facepalming before we jump cut to Wheeljack opening up S.T.A.R.S. HQ's relic vault where they find the pillars. Wheeljack and Perceptor grab two pillars before we get a montage of the two Autobot scientists taking them apart with Chip and Elise along with Wheelie pitching in to help build their mini-spacebridge, or "groundbridge" as Elise decides to call it. Cade also decides to put his inventing skills to good use by also pitching in to help the science team with the groundbridge's construction. once the montage is over and the groundbridge has completed construction, Wheeljack and Perceptor activate the two pillars opening a portal to Lockdown's ship. Cade decides to test it out by sending in Sparkplug through the portal to scout the area and search for Tessa, since it's a pretty big ship. Sparkplug zips around the interior of the Death's head, hiding in one of the cages from Lockdown before it can be seen. Lockdown senses an intruder onboard and orders his three pet turbofoxes to search the area and sniff out any stowaways. the turbofoxes start searching the ship with their enhanced sense of smell to find the intruder only for Sparkplug to bump into Tessa who is grateful to see the little drone here. Cade informs the others that Sparkplug has found Tessa, followed by the Autobots and S.T.A.R.S. gathering around to see Tessa on the computer screen. Cade talks through Sparkplug telling his daughter that he and the Autobots are coming to rescue her and to hold tight. Wheeljack and Perceptor re-open the groundbridge allowing Sparkplug to return to the Underbase followed by a montage of the Autobots gearing up to go save Optimus and Tessa, along with Cade gearing up alongside Lennox, Epps, and Santos eager to go save his daughter. Wheeljack tells Bumblebee that he and Perceptor will stay behind at the Underbase to man the groundbridge, and Bumblebee tells Wheeljack that he trust his old friend to bring everyone back safely in one piece. Bumblebee turns around and tells Bulkhead, Crosshairs, Drift, Cade, Lennox, Epps, and Santos "come on Autobots, let's go save Prime". Bulkhead asks Bumblebee if he's gonna say the thing, for Prime's sake. Bumblebee then says "Autobots... transform and roll out!" followed by the four Autobots transforming into their vehicle modes with Cade hopping in Bumblebee, Lennox hopping in Bulkhead, Epps hopping in Drift, and Santos hopping in Crosshairs followed by the four driving through the groundbridge.