abstract
| - Savannah, Georgia: NATO tanks blaze away at the Autobots, who are trapped trying to protect the refugee shelter from Thundercracker drones and cover the human evacuation, and are thus unable to retreat. Ironhide can't understand why the humans are doing this when the Autobots are trying to protect the shelter, but Optimus knows that the humans see only hostile alien monsters warring on their planet. Strongarm goes down and the Autobots know they'll all follow... ...just as Starscream planned! He already mentally controls the NATO field commander at Savannah via cerebro-strip, and many other humans too; when Megatron was alive, Starscream had been quietly enslaving people with implants all along, "courtesy of my Insecticons!" Mikaela Banes calls Tom Banachek and pleads for him to stop the attack at Savannah before people are killed. He passes word on to the Vice-President, who immediately calls NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) to order a ceasefire. When the mind-controlled field commander refuses to obey, it becomes clear something's gone wrong and Bumblebee remotely notes the commander is "disconnected" and suspects outside manipulation; he heads out to investigate, Mikaela going with him as any talking that needs to be done would be better coming from a fellow human. The Autobots cover Bumblebee against the Decepticons, but one gets through — Mikaela returns fire on the drone with a handgun (holy crap!) while Bumblebee evades the tank regiments. Reaching the commander, they locate and remove the cerebro-strip; as the tanks stand down, the Autobots surrender as a gesture of good faith. The Decepticons pull out, their attempt at provoking human-Autobot conflict thwarted, but Optimus remains worried that whoever's in charge now might have something else planned. And in Washington, Vice-Prez Theodore F. Allen becomes the 44th President of the United States — complete with a hidden cerebro-strip...
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