Chapter 609: Fierce Battle: The Fallen (Part 1)

Sideswipe hesitated for only a moment, then nodded and transformed back into a silver sports car, chasing after Bumblebee and the others.

He knew what Ironhide meant; the Decepticons would be held back by them, the slower and bulkier Warriors, while the faster ones needed to rush back to the Base as quickly as possible to save Optimus Prime.

"Don't even think about escaping!"

Lockdown jumped up, just about to pursue Sideswipe and the others, when Ironhide raised his large grenade launcher, aimed it at him, and fired a precise shot that hit him square in the chest, sending him flying with a scream.

"Teacher..."

The battered Jolt took the opportunity to break free; after being shot by Astrotrain earlier, he had been entangled by Lockdown.

Because the electronic components within his left shoulder and left arm had all been fried by Astrotrain's weapon, half of his body was now unresponsive.

Several Decepticon Cannon Fodder, unable to hit Drift in mid-air, saw Ironhide and the others and immediately charged up.

"Ironhide!"

Astrotrain roared, his back rippling.

He reached behind him and grabbed two alloy pillars that looked exactly like drive shafts, slotting them together to form an alloy staff, which he then swung toward him.

The Autobot Grapple rushed over, slamming violently into Astrotrain.

"Boom!"

As a result, he let out a miserable cry himself, his right arm visibly dangling.

Don't let the fact that Grapple was only half a head shorter than Astrotrain fool you; one transformed into a train engine while the other was merely a crane, and they were not in the same weight class.

"Overestimating your own strength!"

Astrotrain was only slightly shaken by his obstruction.

He swung the alloy staff at Grapple, smashing the Autobot master builder's head until sparks flew, the crackling sound of metal shattering being extremely piercing, and a large amount of metal debris instantly flew off his head.

Grapple let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Grapple!" In the split second that Ironhide was distracted, a Decepticon Cannon Fodder took the opportunity to fire a shot at his back.

"Damn Decepticon punk!"

He angrily raised his gun and blew the attacker's head off with one shot, then saw an alloy staff swinging toward him.

Ironhide instinctively raised his arm to block, the crackling sound of metal shattering even more piercing than before.

His right arm was instantly broken, the forearm bent at a ninety-degree angle.

Ironhide stumbled, but his years of combat experience allowed him to make the most correct choice when he realized he had nowhere to hide.

"Boom!"

His left hand, holding the grenade launcher, aimed at Astrotrain's chest; just a split second later than Astrotrain, a grenade hit his chest at close range, blasting Astrotrain back three or four steps before he could steady himself.

The Autobot Breach had charged out by this time; seeing what had just happened to Grapple, he quickly transformed into a Stryker wheeled armored vehicle, while the anti-tank Missile Launcher ports on the vehicle quickly popped open, and four missiles were fired almost simultaneously, all hitting the cornered Astrotrain.

The shockwave from the missile explosion sent Ironhide, who was only a few steps away from Astrotrain, flying.

He had just shaken his head and stood up, not yet having time to check on Astrotrain's injuries, when he received an emergency communication from Chromia, who had only just left a short while ago.

"Come support us quickly... The Fallen is here..."

Upon seeing the message from his girlfriend, Ironhide's expression immediately turned grim.

"Drift, Jolt, Breach, the three of you go support Bumblebee and the others immediately; The Fallen is over there..."

Drift did not hesitate at all; already hovering in the air, he immediately looked up and flew into the high sky, chasing after Bumblebee and the others.

Jolt hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he said nothing.

His body rippled for a moment, and after a while, he transformed into a blue sports car with a front end that kept emitting smoke, leaving the battlefield.

Breach, however, transformed back into his combat form and walked over, asking, "Commander, if I leave too, what will happen to you here..."

He looked at Ironhide's injured right arm, while Ironhide looked at Grapple, who was still unconscious.

He could not leave yet; at the very least, he had to wait for Grapple to wake up.

Shaking his head, Ironhide ordered sternly, "Go support Bumblebee and the others immediately; protecting the Matrix of Leadership is the primary Task, go..."

Breach hesitated for a moment, then nodded, transformed back into his wheeled armored vehicle form, and chased after Bumblebee.

Most of the main force had withdrawn; currently, the only ones remaining here were the Autobots Fireblast, Grapple, and himself.

Lockdown had already fled to who knows where, and before Drift and the others left, they had pretty much taken care of the dozen or so Decepticon Cannon Fodder on this side of the battlefield.

Astrotrain looked at Ironhide with a sour expression; there were multiple cracks on his body armor, clearly indicating that the four missiles from Breach had caused him no small amount of damage.

"Commander, let me and Grapple hold them off, you go protect the Matrix of Leadership too!"

The Autobot Fireblast was a silent Warrior; his transformation was a military-style Humvee all-terrain vehicle, and he was an old subordinate of Ironhide, which was why Ironhide had kept him behind to cover the retreat with him.

After speaking, he held a Heavy Machine Gun and began firing at Astrotrain.

After being unconscious for a while, Grapple had woken up.

Rubbing his head, he looked at Ironhide with some shame, "Sorry, Commander!"

"Prepare for battle, soldier!"

Ironhide did not pursue his rashness and carelessness just now; after all, the other party had done it to save him.

They were joined by three Autobots, one of whom was a Commander equipped with a large amount of weaponry.

Although Astrotrain's body was quite special, after suffering a loss earlier, Ironhide and the others were now careful not to let him get close to their melee range, switching to frantic weapon fire instead.

Grenades and Machine Gun bullets constantly landed on Astrotrain; although most could only cause him negligible damage, the accumulation over time meant that Astrotrain couldn't take it for long.

"Cowardly weaklings..."

He roared in anger, and after forcing Ironhide to jump away with a shot, Astrotrain jumped violently and climbed up the small hill above the Nameless Temple in a few bounds, snorting coldly as his figure disappeared into the mountains.

"Phew..."

Ironhide let out a long breath; against a Decepticon like Astrotrain, whose body was tough and whose strength was immense, unless they were Autobot Warriors equipped with heavy firepower, Ordinary Warriors really had no way to deal with him.

Astrotrain was truly worthy of being Shockwave's confidant; heaven knows how many times his body had been modified by that Decepticon Scientist.

Even for a weapons expert like himself, who was equipped with a large amount of weaponry, dealing with him was incredibly headache-inducing.

Seeing Astrotrain voluntarily withdraw, Ironhide quickly put away his weapons as well.

He was still concerned about Bumblebee's side after all, so without any hesitation, he said, "Bumblebee needs support over there; we must get there as quickly as possible..."

Having said that, his figure shifted for a moment, and he immediately transformed into a heavy-duty pickup truck with a large crack on its right side, taking the lead as he sped off in the direction Bumblebee and the others had left.

……

PS:

The 13th marks one full month since my father passed away, and according to our local customs, I need to burn the "five-seven" paper offerings. I rushed to finish this chapter today and set it to publish automatically; I will have to wait until I return tomorrow to work on the five o'clock chapter, so please forgive me.

Dingdian