It was midnight and nighttime was soon approaching, the dusklight shone down on the seaside town of California, causing the town to have a familiar yet warm atmosphere.
But Merlin was not in a state to enjoy this.
He sat at the back of a moving SUV while holding a phone, on it was a video that was recently released onto the internet.
The video was unclear, the one who took the video seemed to be very excited as the video was wobbly and screams could be heard. But what's important in that video was that in that fuzzy video, Merlin could see a red robot climbing a 30-meter high signal tower.
And around that signal tower was a group of armed soldiers firing at the robot, the robot then retaliated by firing energy beams that caused havoc within the lines of the soldiers.
It was clear that this was the scene of battle between the soldiers of the DoD and the Decepticon Shatter.
"What are they doing?"
Merlin says while frowning:
"To let such an event be widely known, are the agents of the DoD mad?"
"I've contacted headquarters."
Melinda in the front row says:
"Our technicians are trying their best to lock down the news spreading on the internet, but the video's been seen by tens of thousands of people, it'll be troublesome to deal with the aftereffects of this incident."
"Contact the Aurors of the Magical Congress."
Merlin puts down his phone, rubs his eyes, and says:
"Tell them to get ready, once things are over, we'll need to wipe the memories of the 'viewers'. Coulson, have you pinpointed the exact location?"
"Mmm."
Coulson nods while driving, saying:
"It's on the outskirts of Los Angeles, about 15 minutes away."
"Then drive faster!"
Merlin says sternly:
"Whatever that crazy Decepticon is trying to do with that signal tower, we can't let it do so!"
"According to what I know about the soldiers of the DoD, they'd usually launch some heavy weapons to deal with the threat once they realize that their soldiers can't handle it."
Melinda says confusingly:
"But why haven't they acted yet? Why depend on soldiers to fight close quarters with it?"
"If only things were that simple."
Merlin looks outside the window and says:
"It takes time to transport heavy weapons on the ground, and electronic locking systems are needed on missiles and other complex weaponry. Shatter isn't Dropkick, it has its way of disrupting the missiles' electronic guidance systems...the DoD must know of this too, I have to thank them for not launching a missile hastily."
"Once a disrupted missile lands on the unsuspecting Los Angeles, huhu..."
"So we can only depend on sending more people?"
Melinda frowns, to which Merlin answers:
"So to say, the DoD has never been experts on handling irregulars. Their way of acting is too rough, and even if they play tricks, they play it from a warrior's perspective."
"They're too unprofessional."
Merlin exercises his fingers and says to his subordinates in the speeding car:
"Stop 2 kilometers outside the city and prepare the electromagnetic cannon, there's no electronic device in that thing's ammunition, I'll get you a chance...when necessary, blast both Shatter and that signal tower!"
Coulson had good driving skills, he had shortened a 15-minute journey to 8 minutes.
Merlin opens the car door, and under the light of dusk, he could see the signal tower 2 kilometers away, as well as the battle ensuing under the tower.
Facing a heavily armed Decepticon warrior, the DoD's team fought difficultly.
In fact, they were being suppressed.
Normal bullets were not effective against Decepticons, only specialized armor-piercing bullets are worth dodging for them. Decepticons are very agile in their robot form, added with their advanced radar systems, the AP shells fired by the soldiers of the DoD are unable to threaten the Decepticon atop the signal tower.
Merlin exhorts to Coulson and Melinda, who were busy setting up the electromagnetic cannon, before aerosolizing into black fog and rushing over to the battlefield ahead.
After approaching the signal tower, Merlin could see the odd device mounted on top of the signal tower which Shatter was guarding.
It looked like a green energy source, it was connected to the signal tower using wires as green data symbols flickered on the screen; clearly, this cunning Decepticon was attempting to release a signal into space using this odd device.
Perhaps, it sensed danger after knowing what had happened to Dropkick and was currently trying to call for more of its companions.
The scene below the signal tower was like a real battlefield, hundreds of soldiers armed with grenade launchers were shooting at Shatter and the signal tower, it was clear that they too knew what SHatter was trying to do and were trying to destroy the signal tower.
But their weapons could not harm Shatter, and the large signal tower could not be destroyed with grenade launchers alone.
The Decepticon roared as countless weapons are shot out from its weapon ports. Missiles, heat beams, all kinds of dangerous p[rojectiles, as well as that terrifying brute strength.
It leaped from the signal tower and accurately stomped on a wheeled combat vehicle, squashing it into a thick 'metal plate'. As the flames burst from beneath its feet, Shatter cackled as it raised its arms, the energy beams shot out from its energy cannons pierced through the buildings in front of it like a hot knife through butter.
It was like a metal god of war that was ravaging the battlefield.
The soldiers fought desperately.
In fact, they were on the verge of defeat.
But they stubbornly drew Shatter's attention, which gave Merlin a good chance.
Shapeless black fog begins to quickly approach the signal tower that's guarded by Shatter, Merlin had known from Cliffjumper that Shatter's multi-purpose radar could detect the hidden Merlin with its laser scanner.
But right now, Shatter was busy dealing with the human soldiers and could not scan its surroundings.
Merlin quickly lands on the top of the signal tower, he looks at the green energy source that was the same size as a baby, and on the screen were flashing Cybertronian language Merlin could not understand, like the words used by the people of ancient times.
This thing must've been activated, hope it hasn't sent out its signal.
Merlin turns back and looks at Shatter, who was chasing the human soldiers, he then reaches out and seeps his black fog into the green energy source; after blasting the metal framework that stabilized the source of the signal, Merlin takes out his combat knife and cuts the wire connecting it to the tower.
As Merlin stored the green signal source in his spatial pocket, Shatter immediately senses the loss of signal and looks back.
Under the laser scanning of the Decepticon warrior's red eyes, Merlin's figure could be faintly seen.
"Thief!"
Shatter screams as it raises its arms and fires energy beams at Merlin.
But the energy beam simply passed through Merlin, hitting the signal tower's metal support frame and instantly melting it. The large signal tower then bends and collapses to the ground from its inability to remain firm.
"Return it to me!"
Shatter sees Merlin's black fog fly into the sky and immediately lets out a roar, thousands of parts on its body begin to transform, and shortly afterward, it transforms into a painted-red jet fighter plane and chases after Merlin.
It was much faster than Dropkick.
Merlin, who was flying in the sky, did not even need to turn back to sense the mechanical lifeform fast approaching him from behind. But Merlin did not panic, he forms his upper body, takes out his wand, and casts his most powerful Reducto at Shatter.
The invisible mana smashes on the surface of the fighter plane like a heavy fist, causing it to stagger.
Its flight direction was deflected as it flew past Merlin by a few miles at high speed.
Merlin changes direction and heads for the sea.
He must draw Shatter away from the population since the electromagnetic cannon cannot be used near Los Angeles.
"Rat!"
Behind Merlin, Shatter spirals into the air and opens its weapons hatch, dozens of red missiles are then launched at Merlin; as the missiles got close, Shatter remotely detonated the missiles, and the flames and shards cover Merlin's fog.
But in that burning heat, Merlin comes out unscathed and continues flying outward.
Pure flames cannot harm him.
The force of the explosion was annoying, but that only slowed Merlin by a little.
Two streaks of lasers are shot out from the wings of the chasing Shatter, but are easily dodged by Merlin; he throws a spear made of fog at Shatter, which then sticks to its wings and explodes, forcing Shatter to slow down.
A few minutes later, both sides chased each other away from the city and to the sea.
Merlin estimates the radius of the blast and stops fleeing, he instead reappears in the air and looks at Shatter; Merlin raises his wand, and as a staggering amount of mana gathers on the tip of his wand, Merlin casts a spell he has not used for a long time.
It wasn't a destructive spell and could hardly even be called a defensive spell.
"Transfiguration!"
"Woong"
As the spell struck the large fighter plane, the Decepticon warrior Shatter was horrified as she discovered that her body was being distorted by a force it could not understand.
Its body was not destroyed, in fact, it wasn't even attacked.
But its form was changing.
Shatter immediately activates all the programs it could control but to no avail.
Regardless of it being energy defense programs or escape programs, none were of use!
As Merlin watched, the painted-red fighter plane begins to distort as it is struck by Merlin's transfiguration spell, the hard metal is intertwined by mana, and soon, the majestic Decepticon warrior Shatter was forcibly transformed into a painted-red metal crow.
Even its roaring had become the cawing noises of a crow.
It desperately flapped its wings, but the Decepticon warrior who had flown on two wings before immediately loses control, it lets out horrified cawing noises as it flapped its wings while spiraling to the ground.
Indeed, Transfiguration spells were so unscientific.
As the most obscure and complex subject amongst wizarding magic, Transfiguration exists from first-year classes to the graduation tests of 7th-year young wizards; this means that even the most talented young wizard may take up to 7 years to grasp a small part of the Transfiguration spell.
Merlin did not have a deep understanding of the Transfiguration spell, thus, to maintain a 20-tonne metal monster, he had to inject excessive amounts of mana to maintain it.
Even with Merlin's mana capacity, he could at most last 5 seconds.
But in a life and death situation, 5 seconds was sufficient!
"Locked on."
On the road a dozen kilometers away, Melinda wearing black goggles holds a controller, and as she moves her finger, the white miniature electromagnetic cannon attached to the car behind her quickly changes direction.
"Shoo"
Following a familiar whistling sound, the silver-white tungsten gold 'needle' missile shoots out like an arrow under the supersonic force, leaving behind a blue energy trail as it shoots towards the falling metal crow.
3 seconds later, Shatter finishes transforming as the 'needle' missile gets within a few hundred meters of its target.
Shatter could only transform into her jet mode, and then, as Merlin watched, a bright flare appears above the sea outside of Los Angeles.
But disappointment flashed in Merlin's eyes.
The missile had hit its mark, but it didn't manage to land the lethal hit.
The moment the explosion occurred, a tattered fighter plane with over 40% of its exterior destroyed and most of its metal melted, storms out of the explosion with a trail of black smoke.
Like a wounded beast, it roared as it fled, it dared not to stay close to Merlin.
Under the lethal threat, Shatter dragged its incapacitated body and fled to the mainland as quickly as it could.
Soon, it was nowhere to be seen.
