The two Decepticons initiated a relentless assault on the base, a scene of unparalleled destruction. The soldiers could only retaliate with their individual weapons. Their heavy armaments, unprepared for the sudden attack, were destroyed by the Decepticons before they could even be brought online.
Inside the command center, an officer was frantically giving orders to notify the nearest US military base for support. As the technicians worked, a powerful electromagnetic pulse swept through the facility, and all electronic equipment was immediately paralyzed.
"Damn it, it's an EMP attack!"
Outside, the soldiers struggled to resist the two towering Decepticons. The Cybertronians' bodies were incredibly durable, forged from a metal far beyond ordinary alloys. Bullets were completely unable to penetrate their defenses and served only as a minor distraction. Only weapons like rocket launchers, with the powerful impact generated by their explosions, could force the Decepticons to pause and inflict any meaningful damage.
At this moment, a man in military uniform calmly approached the unconscious Tony Stark. He adjusted the monocle on his right eye and said with a wry smile, "Heh, you're quite the lucky one. You managed to survive after being hunted by the Decepticons for so long."
Ratchet, who was in the process of treating his patient, turned his huge metal head in confusion. He looked at the newcomer, not understanding what this human was doing or how he knew about the Decepticons.
A piece of armor fragment suddenly flew through the air and landed at Officer Amon's feet. He looked up at the fierce battle raging not far away and raised an eyebrow. "Two pests who are in the way."
After whispering this to himself, Officer Amon raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the Decepticons. The two giant robots immediately became sluggish in their movements, as if their joints had not been lubricated for a very long time and were now rusted solid.
Soon after, the two Decepticons each produced a monocle the size of a human face from somewhere within their metallic bodies and placed them over their glowing red eyes. Then, the two Decepticons quickly transformed back into their helicopter forms and departed the military base.
The US military was left completely bewildered. The enemy had beaten them senseless and then simply left. Were they just here to cause trouble? But weren't they supposed to be here for Tony Stark?
Officer Amon squatted down, raised his right hand, and delivered a sharp slap to the unconscious Tony Stark.
Bang!
After the slap, Tony Stark's left cheek became red and swollen. After a few coughs, he bent over and groggily woke up. Still not fully conscious, Tony muttered to himself, "Why do I feel like someone just slapped me?"
The optical sensors of the ambulance-bot next to him flashed. It had never witnessed someone being revived in such a manner.
Tony Stark felt a throbbing pain on his left cheek and went to touch it with his right hand. "Hiss! Damn it! Why is my hand broken?" he cried out in pain.
The ambulance-bot was also puzzled. It had just checked and found that the patient only had a head injury; the other parts of his body were not seriously injured.
Officer Amon, who was watching all this unfold, said, "Mr. Stark, I saved you. In order to wake you up, I transferred the injury from your head to your arm. I avoided the more serious problem and focused on the minor one. You can understand that, right?" This was a clever application of a "Magician's" damage transfer ability.
"What? How did you do that? Are you a mutant? And did you just hit me?"
Officer Amon replied calmly, "I'm a medic. Saving you is my duty. There's no need to thank me. Besides, I was entrusted by Ms. Pepper Potts to bring you back."
Tony Stark was about to retort, asking who had asked him for such unconventional treatment, when he heard Pepper's name and said in surprise, "Pepper! Did she send your military?"
Officer Amon chuckled. "No, she wasn't looking for the military. She was looking for us because we're 'different'."
Tony Stark frowned, not sure what the other party meant by "different." Suddenly, he thought of something and asked the ambulance, "What about those two Decepticons? Were they captured by the military?"
"No," Ratchet said in his muffled, mechanical voice. "Your army had no power to fight back. For some reason, they just suddenly ran away."
"Suddenly ran away?" Tony Stark whispered. He looked at Officer Amon, who was neatly dressed and standing there with a relaxed, almost bored expression. A suspicion began to form in his mind. "You did it?"
"Wow! Stark is truly a genius. He guessed it right away," Officer Amon admitted in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.
Tony Stark raised his eyebrows again. There was nothing inherently wrong with what the man had said, but when it came out of his mouth, it was always tinged with a sense of biting sarcasm.
"Okay, you're fine now," Officer Amon said. "I should be leaving. Remember to have Ms. Potts pay the fee. We agreed on that." After saying that, Officer Amon handed Tony Stark a card and then vanished right before his eyes.
"How did he disappear? Optical invisibility?" Tony Stark asked Ratchet, who simply shook his metal head, indicating that he didn't know either.
Tony Stark looked at the card in his hand. It read, "Different Cabaret, Klein Moretti."
"So this is what 'different' means."
At this time, the surrounding soldiers had surrounded the ambulance, their guns pointed at it. Although this robot looked different from the two that had attacked them, they were both robots and therefore considered very dangerous.
"Put the guns down! He's with Tony Stark!" Colonel Rhodes, who had been tirelessly searching for Tony in Afghanistan, ran over. Seeing the standoff, he waved to the soldiers. "Put down your guns!" The soldiers obeyed the order and lowered their weapons, but they remained on high alert, ready to attack at the first sign of any unusual movement.
"Tony, it's great to see you! Where the hell have you been, and what's with this giant robot?"
Tony Stark looked at his good friend Rhodes and relaxed considerably, but his tone was still serious. "Rhodey, my business isn't important right now. He's an Autobot. The Earth is in serious trouble. I need to contact the President!"
"Oh, shit."
In New York, Tony Stark walked down from a military plane, his body wrapped in bandages. Rhodes walked by his side. Pepper Potts, who was waiting at the airport, came over excitedly and gave Tony a big, emotional hug.
"Pepper, you look a little haggard," Tony said with genuine concern. "Are those tears in the corners of your eyes? Have you been thinking about your boss?" Pepper's complexion looked much worse than it had a few months ago, and her eyes were bloodshot.
Pepper let go of Tony and wiped the non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes. "I'm just happy that I don't have to look for a new job."
"Pepper, let me introduce you to a friend! Send the ambulance down!"
The rear door of the plane opened, and a green and black ambulance drove out, stopping next to Tony and Pepper.
"Is this your newly invented intelligent, unmanned vehicle?" Pepper asked, looking at the ambulance in confusion. "Why does it look like an ambulance?"
Ratchet spoke up. "Ma'am, I am Stark's friend, Ratchet."
"Can you talk now, Jarvis?" Pepper asked, still confused.
Tony explained, "Pepper, he's not controlled by Jarvis. Ratchet is a real, silicon-based life form from the planet Cybertron. He was the one who saved me in the desert."
"This is truly incredible!" Pepper exclaimed in a low voice.
"Pepper, do you know this guy?" Tony handed Pepper a business card, the same one that Officer Amon had given him.
"Klein Moretti," Pepper read aloud. "Tony, how do you have his business card? Just yesterday, I went to ask him for help finding you. He said he would bring you back within two days. I didn't expect him to actually do it!"
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