BATTLE CRY

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    Thundercracker blinked slowly, tilting his helm. Bumblebee felt the pressure of his chest abate ever so slightly.

"I have only ever really seen humans from afar," he said thoughtfully. "Are they truly worth laying down your life for?"

"They were never supposed to be a part of our war," Bumblebee argued. "They're innocent beings that Megatron wants to enslave."

Thundercracker listened with some intrigue. "I suppose their technological inferiority makes them almost . . . pitiful. Their enslavement and eventual annihilation would be a tragedy more than anything else. No more movies."

Bumblebee went to agree with him, then his train of thought came to a screeching halt. "Movies?"

⬵⤁

"What has Megatron done to you?"

"Megatron destroyed me, tore me down to nothing," Ratchet's servos fisted. "But then he gave me a purpose. He showed me that I am more than the pitiful function the Autobots had regaled me to. He showed me the truth, and for that he has my undying loyalty."

"Loyalty shouldn't come from abuse," Mirage hissed. "You shouldn't follow him because he mutilated you, Ratchet."

"It was a necessary step for me to see," came the answer, and the purple optics stared into his blue. Ice cold fear gripped Mirage's systems. "And you may as well."

⬵⤁

The Autobots are defeated.

In the wake of Megatron's victory, the United States scrambles its army to contain the new threat promising to spread from the Nevada borders and take over the entire country, then the world. Struggling to keep up international relations while the Decepticons march across American soil, all hope seems lost for the technologically inferior race.

In Area 51, the odds are a little more favorable for the defensive. Commanded by Starscream, the human and Autobot resistance scores small victory after small victory, pushing the arbitrary Decepticon borders back towards New Darkmount and humiliating Cyclonus. With the failure of his new second-in-command, Megatron returns to Earth, bringing along his converted servant Ratchet to quash the human resistance once and for all.

Jack leads the guerrilla attacks against each Decepticon base, his missions serving as the one distraction from his waking - and sleeping - nightmares.

Miko works together with her partner Bulkhead, the only one fortunate to still have an original connection to Team Prime, as they build new weapons to help their human allies gain the upper hand.

Rafael remains on the technological defensive, aligning himself with the newly-recruited Jazz and making an unstoppable team.

Sierra, an unexpected hero, takes to the skies with Starscream to participate in vicious dogfights in an effort to keep her people safe, putting a massive target on her back in the process.

Even with the help of every available resource, the advantage still remains with the Decepticons. But unbeknownst to all, a spark flickers in the Sea of Rust, promising to be the salvation the Autobots pray for.

⬵⤁

Before anyone gets too excited, this is just a preview, like how I did with the promotional pictures in the beginning of "BRAINWASHED." Once I complete it and post the Prologue you will see the title and cover change, however I did want to give you guys an idea of what this work was going to be like.

This is the second installment of the two-part series. I am very excited to begin this second half with you, and I hope it will live up to the expectations left in Act I. I will say, from what I know right now, I do feel as though Act II goes a little slower, but I do think it is necessary to build it up piece by piece for the ultimate climax.

I also really like the new cover I made for this work. Originally it was going to be changed to something a bit brighter, but I really liked the first, dark cover I had for "Brainwashed," so I revised it to have a more fitting theme and keep elements of the original cover. I think the first draft would have been good if I decided to make the sequel a separate entity. However I didn't want to give up aspects of the BRAINWASHED cover because I actually really like it, so I stuck with that theme instead of changing it completely.

Here is the first draft of the cover, which I liked initially then decided against:

And here is the new cover:

Thank you all so much for your patience!!