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Shadowfire Prime
Chapter ?: Days of Old
The vertigo hit me hardest, rocking the delicate balance between my spark and the magnetic brace that I wore over my chest-plates. All around me was a confusing blur of green, blue, and silvery lavender swirls of energy. The overall effect of which was somewhat nauseating and turned my energon fuel tanks in a most unpleasant manner. The lack of gravity of any true sort was also disconcerting and left the seeming direction as an unknown. Just when I thought I could take no more everything collapsed, falling into darkness, though of a comforting sort.
When again I became aware of my surroundings the nauseating swirls were long gone and the beginnings of some tall structure arose. That I was surrounded by many more of these metallic structures did not escape my notice. The structures, I assumed, were what passed for Cybertronian buildings and far above me, where vast movement could be seen, was likely the planet's surface level. That or some Cybertronian equivalent to a freeway; the noise was muted from this distance so I could not confirm my theory just yet.
A quick and careful access to the general communication system for Cybertron, their version of the internet, and I knew that I had arrived in the proper place and time, the lower levels of Iacon, near the transport docks and approximately 11.5 million years in the past; exactly where I wanted to be. After a deep vent of relief I accessed the encrypted Comm. Channel I used to communicate with the others back home and hopefully, remained un-monitored despite our use of it.
SFP: I have arrived at the location. Check in.
I waited patiently for a reply from my team, not entirely certain what to expect; Not certain that they made it.
GT: Galvatron checking in. Mission status: success.
SFP: Copy. See you at the rendezvous.
The progress was slow; the Dinobots having been thrown off-course slightly had ended up several cities away from Iacon rather than Praxus. Chemical had arrived in one of the Gladiatorial arenas and was only alive now due to the intervention of the Soundwave from this current time.
RC: Ratchet checking in. I'm off-course but intact and I wasn't seen. Mission status: delayed.
SFP: Copy. Sending Predaking to assist?
PK: Copy. On my way, Ratchet.
RC: Thanks, out.
SFP: Acknowledged. Predaking, mission takes priority.
PK: You say that now, but later you'll thank me for ignoring it.
SFP: Negative. Do not compromise this mission; it is vital to the operation.
I knew the pressure I was putting on him, knew that he was right just as he knew I was. Ratchet was special to me and to our cause, but his life was not the only one on the line and I could not allow this operation to fail. Failure, after all, meant the end of the world from where I stood.
PK: Copy.
I could practically hear the resignation in his message; Predaking had raised me I liked to think I knew him better than he thought I did. The line went dead after that and my panic surfaced briefly before I could squash it down.
The darkened metallic landscape of the lower levels of Iacon rolled past me in a repeated scroll as I ran on all fours, searching for the maintenance tunnel that would take me to the rendezvous point. The lower levels were filthy, that was an aspect of the Golden Age of Cybertron that I had not expected to be privy to. There were Cybertronians living down here, slowly rusting away, either forgotten or unwanted by the world above. Anger filled my spark at the horrid treatment these people were given; this world would change if I had to force it at gun-point.
GT: ETA?
SFP: Unclear. I'll let you know when I reach the maintenance tunnel.
GT: Acknowledged.
I stopped running when I reached the secondary access tunnel, which was too small for my large frame to fit through and back-tracked. And found nothing, there was no maintenance tunnel. My irritation rose and I looked over the map I had been provided with and wondered if perhaps it was a bit too new.
SFP: Galvatron?
GT: Did you find the maintenance tunnel?
SFP: I found where it should be, but there is naught but a solid wall. The only way to reach the rondevu point is through the upper levels. Your recommendation?
GT: Take the risk. I'll be waiting near the above ground entrance.
SFP: Copy. On my way.
The journey to the surface of Cybertron was fairly uneventful. I observed more inequality which made my energon burn and poor living conditions that melted my spark, but they gradually improved as I climbed higher into Iacon; as I left the slums. But reaching the main level was not a comfort, no; it was in fact much more dangerous for me up here given that I had no credentials for this time. And a simple medical scan could reveal not only the identities of my Creators but also that I was, at this moment, older than said Creators.
I slowed down when I finally reached the main level. There were no mechs or femmes rusting away up here as there had been done below, in the slums. Instead frames were complete and undamaged, clean and gleaming in the light from the sun. It wasn't bad here, that I would admit, but the difference between up here and down there bothered me, made me uncomfortable and the feeling of exposure was prevalent in my systems.
Those I passed gave me odd looks, not that surprising given my frame type and the heavy-duty braces that I wore. There was also the matter of my being battle-ready and that I did not bear the mark of an Enforcer would make them ill at ease in my presence, not a good sign. Enforcers were very similar to the police-men of Earth, though they also served as a military unit when needed. I vented when a youngling skirted around me warily as though my mere existence was meant to be threatening. And behind me I heard, "Carrier, did you see that mech? He looks like a gladiator." I almost growled when I realized that it was the youngling who spoke, a mere child should not have knowledge of such brutal practices, it spoke poorly of his Creators; to my audio sensors at least.
Just as I rounded the second corner from where I'd encountered the youngling I saw my first Enforcer, and he was tailing me. He looked neither happy nor friendly and when I increased the speed of my steps he did likewise. "Slag." I muttered under my breath as I slipped swiftly into an alleyway and took off at a fast pace, running through the otherwise peaceful city; area of the city. I wouldn't call the lower levels peaceful, not with all the injuries and fear I had seen.
Running didn't seem to deter my stalker any more than an annoyed look was likely to. One Enforcer wasn't much of a challenge for me but there was likely to be more soon. The buildings and people moved by at a blurred pace as I rounded corner after corner, went down alley after alley, trying desperately to lose my stalker in the heart of a city I didn't even know. A slight hint of panic was beginning to form just from being chased by an Enforcer in a time that was not my own but that panic rose exponentially when two more Enforcer's joined the first, two I recognized. They were brothers; Barricade- the Decepticon and Prowl- the Autobot. My optics widened and I was almost positive that they noticed my sudden panic; I dropped to all fours and increased my speed, fleeing in every sense of the word. But in a way I wasn't running from them, but from the people they would become because before the war, before all the betrayal begun, they had been good then, both of them. And while that didn't ease my fear, it made it seem fair to them, that I was trying to clear them, to paint them in a good light because I needed to, because if I couldn't find goodness in these people who had never known true evil, how could there be any goodness left even now in the world. Either way being chased by a Decepticon and an Autobot to be set me on edge, enough to step up my game.
As the distance grew between myself and the Enforcers I grew calmer, but I was lost now, somewhere in the past and I felt alone. Seeing an opening in one of the nearby buildings I ducked into it and found myself inside of what looked like a large warehouse of some kind. I tried accessing the Comm. channel but it was blocked and that caused the panic to rise back up. "Slag it, I should have paid more attention to where I was going." A small noise in the darkness had me tense enough to snap at a moment's notice. I scanned the warehouse, looking for the source of the noise and slowly crept from my hiding space and into the open, a blaster ready in one clawed servo, a knife in the other. If this was how my life ended then it would end with the fight of the century and it would be in service to the people I would save, not to these pathetic Enforcers. And there it was, the darkness itself rising up out of me as though I had never buried it, as though it was only yesterday that I faced death in the ultimate show-down and fear and panic faded from my mind and from my spark; I was in my element.
This wondrous world around me, it was all mine and these Enforcers would know that before the end. But there in that warehouse I fought neither Enforcer nor inner-self, the enemy I faced was of a different sort altogether. My enemy that solar-cycle(day) was time itself as it unraveled all around me, tearing the world I had found into shreds and pulling me into the light, and it was the most painful experience I have had to this solar-cycle. But it brought me to where I was truly needed, it brought me home… and home is where I'll stay.