William took the Autobots to a temple a hundred kilometers away in search of the Matrix of Leadership. Meanwhile, the Americans—having gained nothing—could only watch as the Autobots not only cooperated with Kingsman, but also flawlessly coordinated with them in battle. Swallowing their pride, they reached out to William, hoping to broker some sort of reconciliation with the Autobots.
But Optimus Prime rejected them flatly.
With no other options, the Americans turned their focus to locating the Fallen's spacecraft. Unfortunately for them, Soundwave—shaken and terrified by William—had already fled to the moon with the ship.
Once there, still reeling from the encounter, Soundwave immediately summoned all surviving elite Decepticons to discuss the future of their faction.
The conclusion: as long as Anti-Transformer battle armor existed, staying on Earth would only mean slow extinction for the Decepticons. They had two choices—retreat or strike first while the armor was still in limited supply.
But launching a preemptive strike would require a massive force. Earth's remaining Decepticons couldn't even conquer the U.S., let alone the planet.
Thus, the idea of reviving The Fallen's master, The Nemesis, and using the space bridge to bring Cybertron into the solar system was once again placed on the agenda.
The challenge, however, was convincing the Americans to go to the moon and bring the Nemesis back quickly.
Luckily, if there's one thing the world never lacks, it's people willing to sacrifice everything for profit.
General Ross, upon learning from classified files that during the first moon landing over thirty years ago, the Americans had already discovered a crashed Transformer ship, was ecstatic. He wasted no time contacting everyone involved in the original project.
He sought out the astronauts who landed on the moon and gathered firsthand information to confirm the ship's existence.
Ross then approached the Gould Corporation, which had handled the project's budget and auditing. There, he met the current head of the Gould family, Randy Gould.
Seeing Ross—wearing camouflage with three stars on his collar—step into his office, Randy was both surprised and secretly elated.
He had been racking his brain trying to figure out how to fulfill Soundwave's demand to reach the moon. Now, before he had even finalized a plan, one of the highest-ranking generals in the U.S. had come knocking.
It felt like divine intervention.
As a family secretly serving the Decepticons for 35 years, the Goulds had committed enough crimes to warrant ten executions. For Randy, who had no way out, the best outcome would be Earth falling to the Decepticons—he might even rise to be the most powerful human alive.
If he ever tried to break free, the Decepticons would simply kill him and replace him with another family member.
So now, at just over 40 years old, with billions in net worth and no intention of dying anytime soon, Randy greeted Ross with over-the-top enthusiasm.
Ross, thinking Randy just needed a favor, chatted amiably. The two hit it off while discussing the moon mission, even jokingly suggesting Randy meet his daughter.
But as soon as Ross left the Gould offices and got into his car, his face darkened.
After a long moment of thought, he turned to his assistant and said, "Investigate the Gould Corporation. I want to know everything they've been doing and how they've grown."
"Uh… understood, sir." The assistant looked puzzled. Just moments ago, the two had seemed like best friends—why the sudden suspicion?
Lighting a cigar, Ross silently stared out the window. Then, the phone William had given him buzzed violently in his pocket.
Ross pulled it out and saw a notification: "Randy Gould exhibits extremely high levels of Transformer energy radiation."
If that was accurate, it meant Randy had been in prolonged contact with either the Autobots or Decepticons.
And then Ross remembered what William had warned him just days earlier: over the past year, the Transformers the Americans had been targeting were all peace-loving Autobots. The real enemies—the Decepticons—had been operating in the shadows, infiltrating the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Ross hadn't fully believed it at the time.
But now he recalled that the original space program had been shut down decades ago because the Gould family, in their audit report, claimed it would bankrupt the U.S.
Connecting the dots, Ross finally accepted William's warning as fact: the Decepticons had infiltrated the American government.
Still, that didn't mean Ross was giving up on the moon mission. To gain more power, he needed tangible results.
The plan would proceed as scheduled—but he would be the one in charge.
And like William, he needed his own trump card against the Transformers.
With that thought, Ross slapped the back of the driver's seat. "Turn around. We're going to the airport."
Then to his assistant, "Tell them to prep the helicopter. I'm heading to the hospital in Virginia to see Blonsky."
"Yes, sir." The assistant immediately made the call—but after the call ended, he turned pale and stammered, "S-Sir, Blonsky… isn't at the hospital anymore. He's fully recovered and… and he's on his way to London."
"What?!"
Ross snatched the phone and shouted, "This is General Ross! Stop Blonsky immediately! He is government property! If you let him get away, I'll have you court-martialed! Understand, idiot?!"
Hanging up, he slammed his palm onto the driver's seat. "Step on it—I want to be at the military airbase in ten minutes!"
The driver jolted, then quickly composed himself, slapped on a siren, and sped off without regard for traffic signals.
Soon, Ross boarded a helicopter and landed at the Pentagon in Virginia.
There, he saw Blonsky—dressed sharply, standing tall, and showing no signs of injury. Ross was both stunned and elated. He circled the man in disbelief.
"William Devonshire was right again… You really do have accelerated healing now."
Still, Ross made no mention of the fact that he'd ordered Blonsky dragged back against his will. Grinning, he grabbed two cigars from his desk.
As he clipped them, he asked cheerfully, "How do you feel?"
Blonsky took a drag from a cigar he never would've accepted in the past. Eyes narrowing slightly, he said, "I feel like there's a beast inside me. I want to tear those alien tin cans apart with my bare hands.
I'm not done with those damn robots. I'm requesting reinstatement to the Anti-Transformer Response Team.
And… I want to go to London to meet William Devonshire."
"Why do you want to meet him?" Ross scowled. "You think William really has something that can make you even stronger?"
Blonsky said nothing.
Ross's face darkened further. "Even if he does, what makes you think he'd waste it on you?"
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