Kaon, Cybertron...

The three vehicons remained dead silent as they walked one-by-one into the atrium. The first one was carrying Jack, whose expression of pure anger had not left his face since they had been confronted and taken prisoner. The second carried both Miko and Raf, whose looks of terror had also not their faces for some time. Rafael looked on the verge of tears, the only comfort being the assurances Jack had shouted at him when they were closed in by silver claws. Alex brought up the rear, his eyes shifting wildly around as he noted the new surroundings.

The atrium was easily the size of a football field. Two of the walls completely transparent thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows that gave an almost-perfect view of the city underneath. The entire space was occupied by a single, cylindrical cell. The floor of the cell was raised to the height of a Cybertronian's waist, clearly having been built to cater to smaller-sized beings.

The barriers dropped as the four humans were shoved into the space together, the static barrier immediately rising back up once they were inside. The vehicons did not hover, silently walking back out of the room with the doors silently closing behind them.

Jack was the first to move. Quietly and quickly, he moved over to Raf to check on him. The twelve-year-old boy had calmed down, clinging onto Miko's arms that were draped around his shoulders. But both their attentions were drawn to the other side of room, and after a few seconds of glancing his friends over, Jack's attention was there too.

Alex was checking himself over. No discernible injuries, and the Decepticon party had not thought to relieve him of his sword. Most probable case of the Apex armor drawing the attention away from his weapon. Making sure he was alright, he stared back at the children, folding his arms and assuming a nonchalant stance. After a very awkward moment in which nobody moved, and with a small grin on his face, he spoke.

"Well now," his voice layered with the thickest of sarcasm. "I guess our story isn't over yet."

No time was lost after that, as Jack strode straight to Alex, and punched him.

Alex recoiled from the hit, hanging on to his footing but bending over as blood began to trickle out of his mouth. Miko stepped forward to reach for Jack, but it proved unnecessary as he took a few steps back, nursing his left hand.

"I don't know what is happening," he said, voice laced with menace. "But what I do know is that YOU KNOW what is happening. And so help me, if you don't tell us right now..."

"No please, do whatever you want." Alex interrupted, wiping his chin. "You'll be doing a favor."

"Do not test me." Jack leaned towards Alex, ready to launch.

"I sort of have to, Jack. I need to see if you're able to have a character beyond the one dimension that the writers gave you." Alex retorted. The room fell silent. Jack loosened up as the three of them stared at Alex.

Alex walked up to the children, his mouth drawn into a sneer.

"Listen to me very carefully," he began. "Remember after Darkmount when I told everyone that the Decepticons were better off not killing you?"

The three kids shifted on their feet, but said nothing.

"That may be the only thing that will keep you alive for now," Alex continued. "You three are no longer protected by the story that had a guaranteed happy ending. The Decepticons have nothing to lose by killing you and damaging the Autobots in that way, that is if they're even still alive. And to respond to your request, no. I am not going to tell you what I know. Do you know why?"

Alex took a step forward. That, and the look on his face causing even more discomfort in the three kids.

"As far as I am concerned, I owe this universe nothing. The story went undisturbed despite my existence in it, and annoyingly, I find myself still trapped in it. The Autobots may not have to thank me for anything, but they are certainly a part of my problem."

"They tried to help to you, but you wouldn't let them." Jack fired back. "Not everything you did was to help us, it was to help yourself. What did Soundwave say to you? Why didn't you tell us who you were straight away?"

"Because you could've ended up dead?" Alex replied.

"That was a risk we took from the very beginning." Jack gestured to the others. "You are not some sort of savior who came to save us all. The Autobots won the war without you."

Alex smirked. "Apparently they didn't."

They all turned to the windows. While the immediate city gleamed in the moonlight, the wasteland brought back to former glory, one could make out the outskirts of it that could only be described as slums.

"Alex," Raf spoke. They all turned to him. "How did this happen?"

Alex looked down at the boy. He then glanced at Jack before returning his gaze to the city.

"Something changed," he said. "Somewhere along the line, someone changed something that gave the Decepticons everything they wanted."

"If this change happened long enough for the Cons to rebuild Cybertron, how are we still here?"

"We managed to avoid the changes." Alex continued. "The spacebridge protected us while someone changed past events in real time. That was the storm you saw on Earth. That being said, the four of us are walking paradoxes, and a serious threat to whoever changed time."

"The four of us are a serious threat to a Decepticon empire?" Jack sneered.

Alex gave him a funny look. "Low morale doesn't you." he replied. "We are a threat because we know how things are meant to be. We are the only ones who can the save the future and save everyone."

"I thought this universe didn't owe you anything." Jack retorted.

"It doesn't. But out there is someone with the power to change time. And I am willing to bet that that sort of power can also send me home."

Alex straightened himself up. "Now, any moment Megatron is going to walk through that door. You need to help me interrogate him."

"You want us to interrogate Megatron?" asked Miko, who had remained very quiet during this whole time. "Won't he be interrogating us?"

"And we him. I have a feeling I know exactly what happened, but we need to make sure about the details before we put some distance between us and this place.

Jack's eyebrows raised. "You have an escape plan? How?"

Suddenly the four of them could hear approaching footsteps. They all turned to the door.

"There is a Minicon service tunnel in the bottom of the wall to our left. Head straight to it when we're done talking."

The door slid open to reveal a Herculean figure.

"But for now, let us meet our lord and master."

Perplexed red eyes glared at the children. The figure spoke, his voice booming throughout the room.

"Now how did you come to escape, my pets?"

To be continued...