Coulson left the cockpit, leaving Natasha alone at the controls. He approached Optimus Prime, intending to ask some questions. Previously, because Tony Stark had been present, he had been completely suppressed by the other man's overwhelming personality and had no opportunity to ask anything.
"Optimus Prime, hello. My name is Phil Coulson. You seem to be the leader of these machines, correct?"
"Hello, Coulson," Optimus responded, his voice polite and resonant.
Seeing this, Coulson secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that this leader was far more approachable than the mercurial Tony Stark. "Perhaps we can share some intelligence," Coulson suggested. "It could be very helpful in the upcoming battle." After a brief pause, he began. "In the early twentieth century, human explorers discovered a giant humanoid robot and a massive metal cube, both frozen in the Arctic. To study them, the president at the time ordered the construction of a dam at the current location of the Hoover Dam for secret research. Later, S.H.I.E.L.D. took over the project."
Optimus Prime's mechanical eyes visibly widened, and the pitch of his voice rose slightly as he asked, "A giant robot... can you tell me more about it?"
Coulson raised his eyebrows slightly, then described his impression of the frozen robot. "He is sealed in ice. Silver-grey in color, with a jet device on his back and multiple energy cannons integrated into his body. He is approximately ten meters tall." After describing the appearance, he asked calmly, "Is that robot of particular significance? You seem... concerned."
Optimus Prime's voice was low and heavy. "If I am not mistaken, that individual is my old friend, Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons. He has been missing for many years. We never expected he would have come to Earth. Cybertron was once a very prosperous and developed planet, but due to a devastating civil war, its resources were depleted, and it is no longer suitable for us Cybertronians to live on." Optimus Prime paused, then continued, his voice filled with a deep sorrow. "I originally thought the Decepticons came to Earth merely to steal the lost Allspark, but now it seems Megatron himself is involved. He would not have allowed himself to remain frozen for so many years without having some arrangements in place. The situation has become even more complicated."
Coulson rubbed his face, the weight of the revelation settling on him. He asked again, "What kind of individual is this Megatron? Is he dangerous?"
Optimus Prime seemed lost in memory, and after a long moment of contemplation, he replied, "We all started out with the same goal: to repair our home, Cybertron. But Megatron slowly fell into extremism, believing that any means were justified to achieve his ends. He started wars solely for the sake of victory, and these wars have lasted for thousands of years."
Coulson seemed to have thought of something and asked uncertainly, "Then why did the Decepticons come to Earth? Are they looking to retrieve their former leader?"
"The Allspark," Optimus Prime answered seriously. "The Allspark is their primary target. It provides us with energy and can also be used to create a large number of Cybertronians, providing legions for his endless war."
"Hiss!" Coulson took a sharp breath, contributing to global warming. He remembered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own research on the giant cube, and how the energy extracted from it could transform simple electronic products into violent, aggressive robots. "This is terrible. Can you tell me about the characteristics of the Decepticons? I want to report this to my director so that he can be better prepared."
Optimus Prime pondered for a moment and then relayed the necessary information about the Decepticons to Coulson. Coulson wrote down everything Optimus Prime said and then went to a secure location in the Quinjet to report to his director. However, the communication request was not approved. The instrument showed no signal.
"No signal!" Coulson felt a pit form in his stomach. With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s advanced technology, this situation would hardly ever occur unless there was deliberate human interference.
At the Hoover Dam S.H.I.E.L.D. base, a technician came running up to Nick Fury, who was busy arranging the base's affairs, and said anxiously, "Director, communication between the base and the outside world has been interfered with. We have now lost all contact with the outside world."
"What!" Nick Fury's pupils suddenly dilated. He hadn't expected the enemy to actually come, and to come so quickly. "Go! Notify all personnel at the base to go to the highest state of alert. All combatants must prepare for battle!" However, Nick Fury, the king of agents, quickly calmed himself and began to issue response orders in an orderly and efficient manner.
As the entire base began to mobilize, a small robot, only as tall as an adult's knee, sneaked into the base unnoticed. He held a metal box in his hand. Whenever he encountered base personnel, he would transform himself into water dispensers, computers, and other common electronic devices to avoid the sight of the agents.
Soon, the small robot had sneaked to the outside of the command room. He attached the metal box in his hand to the wall outside the command room and then operated it for a moment. A strong electromagnetic pulse was emitted, and all electronic equipment in the base was instantly paralyzed. The lights went out instantly, and the refrigeration device that was maintaining Megatron also stopped working.
Nick Fury was standing at the command desk when suddenly the entire base went dark and the workbench in front of him went out.
"Fuck! It's an EMP! Restart the backup power system!" After Nick Fury had taken over the base, he had considered the possibility of electromagnetic pulse attacks, so he had taken certain precautions. As long as the system was restarted, some of the base's core functions could be restored. He angrily smashed his fist on the command desk, making a shallow dent in its surface, and then quickly ran toward Megatron's containment chamber. He had to ensure the safety of the alien robot. Some of his technicians had suggested that once the ice on the robot's shell thawed, the robot was likely to become active again.
When he arrived at Megatron's location, he found that many agents were already surrounding the place, as if they were guarding it. Nick Fury was very pleased to see this and praised them. "Very good. You know to protect the most important assets first. You will all get bonuses later!"
Many of the HYDRA agents secretly complained in their hearts but responded on the surface, "Thank you, Chief!" They had received orders from Brock Rumlow and were here to take advantage of the chaos to move the alien robot away. Unexpectedly, Nick Fury had arrived before they could even begin their operation.
"It's not going to be easy to act like this," the HYDRA agents thought to themselves.
Outside the base, several alien fighter jets flew over, transformed into their humanoid forms in mid-air, and landed heavily on the dam.
Starscream said to the Decepticon soldiers following behind him, "Megatron and the Allspark are inside. Find the entrance. If you can't find one, then blow one up!" A few more motorcycles roared in from the distance; they were all members of the Decepticons.
Gunshots rang out. A Decepticon soldier had found the entrance to the base and was now engaged in a fierce firefight with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The weapons and equipment of this S.H.I.E.L.D. base were very advanced. They had developed many state-of-the-art weapons by reverse-engineering the technology from Megatron, which allowed them to temporarily block the invasion of the Decepticon soldiers.
Seeing this, Starscream flew over and fired several cluster bombs, which not only wiped out the S.H.I.E.L.D. defenders but also blew away the Decepticon soldiers who were in the way. "What a waste!" Starscream kicked the disabled Decepticon soldier aside and strode into the base, followed by the other Decepticon members behind him.
At the entrance of the base, which had now been reduced to ruins by the bombs, the rubble began to shake. A large piece of concrete was lifted up, and Rumlow crawled out from beneath it.