I don't know where this idea came from. I was day dreaming at work and the coffee feums must have got to my brain or something.
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The blue sky was serene and peaceful in the middle of the day. There were no clouds in sight and birds chipped happily. Then a dark little dot appeared in the pristine sky. It started small but quickly grew with mind numbing speed. Clouds spiraled out from the seeming black hole followed quickly by streaks of lighting.
"aaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Something came hurtling out of the black hole with a scream and crashed into the trees.
"wwwwoooaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
Another something fell after the first into the same trees but with a metallic CRASH accompanying the landing. With its cargo deposited the black hole and lighting storm in the sky disappeared in to nothing just as quickly as it had appeared.
"UGH! You fat aft get off me! I think you crushed my ventilation system!"
Wildfire flung Zack off her as she rolled onto her back coughing. The black mech groaned as he got to his elbows.
"Oh my aching chassis… you better not have scratched my paint with your ugly red!"
"Shut up Zack!" Wildfire snapped as she got to her hands and knees. "Ugh... I think I'm gonna vomit."
"Not on me! I'll kill you!"
The two transformers stayed on the ground recovering from their bizarre trip.
"What the hell happened?" Wildfire asked when her equilibrium sensors finally righted themselves.
Zack rolled onto his back putting a clawed hand to his head trying to get his world to stop tumbling end over end.
"Off the top of my processor? We just went through a wormhole."
"Wormhole? As in intentions space travel?" Wildfire groaned. She was not looking forward to a long flight home.
Zack moaned and sat up keeping one hand on his head to keep it from exploding. The black pickup looked around himself and then up at the sun in the sky. Everything looked very familiar. It looked exactly like the place they had been fighting Megatron and the Decepticons.
"We're… right where we were?"
"Oh Primus. Please tell me that we didn't go through a TIME TRAVEL wormhole!"
Wildfire finally had enough of herself rebooted so she could stand on shaking legs to look around herself.
"I REALLY hate time travel!" The fem growled.
The hill the Autobots had stormed was right where they left it. The large crater left by one of the seeker's missiles was still there, but now it was covered by new grass and full of water that had turned it into a small lake. There was no question that some time had pasted since the time the two had been here.
"Primus damn it!" Wildfire snapped, punching the closest tree. "I HATE TIME TRAVEL! All the time paradoxes, grandfather causes and all the stupid time travel rules! I swore I would never time travel! It's so complicated!"
Zack got to his feet and ran some numbers through his head. He had been prepared for this outcome but he never thought it would happen. Megatron and the Decepticons had prepared their latest super weapon when the Autobots had intervened. Zack was in the middle of deactivating the machine when he had apparently triggered it. Wildfire who had been coving his back as he worked was sucked into the temporal time warp with him.
"I estimate we are somewhere between two and five hundred years in the future."
"Great." Wildfire groaned. "Hey wait a second. How do you know?"
"I'm rather versed in time travel theory and application."
"You?" Wildfire snorted in disbelief. "I don't buy it."
"I was involved in the prototypes of Megatron's other time travel ventures while I was still a Decepticon. I was the senior ranking officer for testing and execution of possible time travel devices. I have what some might call an expertise with the subject. The very fact that we have been transported to the future could have immense ramifications. For instance our absence from the Autobot ranks could have resulted in a future where…"
"Enough! Head hurts." Wildfire said over the former con.
Zack ignored the fem as he pulled out the data pad he had been using to download the scamatics for Megatron's latest super weapon. As he scrolled through the data it looked more and more like what he already knew. Megatron had built himself a working time machine. He had hoped that the time travel had been a side effect of trying to shut the machine down but it turned out that it was a machine's primary function. Wonderful. Megatron messing with the time stream was just a nightmare come true.
"Hopefully Optimus doesn't destroy the time machine." Zack said out loud. "Or we could be stuck here."
"Are you telling me this might be a one way trip?!"
"What I'm saying," Zack grumbled irritated. "Is that if the machine that transported us here is blown up, we're stuck."
"Great. Because I trust Cliffjumper to NOT blow up something." Wildfire grumbled.
"Barring Cliffjumper, the time travel devise should survive. It would only take Wheeljack and Perceptor a few minutes to simply reconfigure the machine to bring us home. With Tek's help they should find us rather quickly."
"So I have to trust Wheeljack not to destroy the thing? We're doomed."
Wildfire stared out at what had been a battle field only seconds ago that was now a peaceful field. After a few minutes of silence she decided to ask the one question on her mind.
"What do you think happened to everyone when we disappeared?" She asked Zack.
"That is nearly impossible to determine." Zack said. "Any number of possibilities exists, if you discount the idea of "destiny" even more…"
"Head hurts again. Sorry I asked."
"You ask a question but you don't what to hear the answer? You get mad at me for being stupid."
"Hey shut your mouth! I just hate time travel!"
"As you've said no less than four times now! Can we get past this and on to something productive?!"
"Look, right where their suppose to be. I told you so."
Wildfire and Zack wheeled around to see somebot heading their way. Wildfire already had her swords out and was ready for a fight.
"Who's there?!" She bellowed.
There was a chuckle and then a second laugh. Now there where two bots heading for them. Zack flexed his claws and brought up the battle setting on his visor.
"You are."
Wildfire's optics went wide as her swords dropped. She was staring at herself. Her perfect copy smiled and waved to the other bot behind her.
"Get over here and say hi. It's not going to make the universe implode."
"Honestly you hate time travel and haven't had the extensive education like I have in the subject. How do you know what will happen?"
This time it was Zack's turn to be surprised. There was his future self staring him in the face. The four stared at each other for a few moments taking everything in.
"Don't be so stunned." Future Zack said to his younger counter part. "That look doesn't suit us."
"Woah…" Young Wildfire said. "This is so trippy."
"Yea that's how I felt the first time around."
"So, I take it that if we still exist in the future that we are able to get back home?" Zack asked his own counterpart.
The older truck nodded.
"You should have some words with Cliffjumper though. He very nearly punched a few holes through the machine."
"I'll do that. So… why would you come to see us? That could theoretically violate the third law of…"
"Enough already!" Older Wildfire said, though a little less harsh then her younger self.
"We," Older Zack said as he motioned to the older Wildfire. "and by we I mean her, apparently decided to hell with the space time continuum."
"What? How often do you get to see and talk to yourself in the metal?" Older Wildfire said happily.
"How often can you destroy the time steam and alter the future for the worst?"
Future Wildfire gave her Zack an affection punch on the arm that made both younger bots do a double take.
"How far in the future ARE we?" Zack inquired, trying to ignore the little smile his future self gave the fem.
"Roughly five hundred years, but I'm sure you have more questions than that."
"I don't think we should know too much about our own future." Zack shook his head. "It could alter the…"
"Have we won the fucking war yet?" Young Wildfire asked with hands squarely on her hips.
It was the one question she might have put up with time travel to have answered. And all this talk of random rules and "altering" the time river, stream whatever was getting old.
"Not yet." Older Wildfire sighed. "But the Autobots have managed to push the Con's to the moon. They're not on Earth anymore, which is GREAT because now our monitoring patrols have been cut it half."
"Lazy even in the future." Young Zack smirked at his own counterpart.
"Hey shut up!" Wildfire snapped.
Future Zack and Wildfire giggled to each other as the other two of them looked at them like they were crazy.
"I remember when I used to hate you like that." Older Wildfire purred.
"How nice of you to no longer hate me." Older Zack smiled.
The two older bots held hands, interlaced their fingers (and claws), leaned forward, put their foreheads together and nuzzled noses.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA…. WHOA!!"
Younger Wildfire stepped in and pulled the two apart and then looked her older self in the optic looking horrified.
"What the hell are you doing?! We HATE Zack!"
"Past tense. We hated Zack, now…" She looked over to her Zack and smiled. "We kinda love him."
"OH PRIMUS NO!" Past Zack said turning his horrified gaze on himself. "Come on! How could you do this?! She's ugly, pushy and doesn't respect the paint!"
Older Zack just shrugged.
"I don't know, once you get past her attitude she's really sweet. And she's definitely not ugly."
"Aw, that's so nice of you to say Sweetheart."
"It's true sugar thrusters."
"UGH! Gross!" both younger versions reeled.
Young Wildfire turned and had to put some distance between the herself and the horror as a massive head ache started to descend on the back of her processor. The distasteful feel of half processed energon coming back up her throat accompanied the rest of the unpleasantness.
"Oh Primus I think I'm going to purge my tank!"
Younger Zack had to turn and walk away as well. How could this happen to him?! It was absolutely insane! There was no way this could ever happen! Something very, VERY horrible had to have happened to the time stream for this twisted, unholy, horrifying future to happen. He swore that when he got back to the past he would make sure this sick, perverse future never came to fruition.
"I think we broke ourselves." 500 year older Wildfire smiled.
"We'll get over it." Zack said putting an arm around her shoulders with his own grin.
"Oh look, younger me is feeling sick." Wildfire said happily.
Once she had her energon forced back down Wildfire took a minute to compose her thoughts into a comprehensible argument.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!"
"Seconded!" Zack added.
"Well it's a long story but…" Wildfire started.
"Mom?!" Something shouted from the trees behind the group.
Older Wildfire turned around and scanned the trees. A small bot, only a few feet tall, was awkwardly making his way towards them.
"Techno! What are you doing here?"
A little bot stumbled over a tree root and fell to the ground. Future Wildfire quickly went to him and picked him up as the younger version watched curious. The little bot sniffled and clicked a couple of times clearly making him a sparkling. The Wildfire holding the sparkling stood up rubbing noses with the small black and white bot.
"I… tripped!" The little sparkling said between hiccups.
His little black doorwings flicked up and down as his tiny little white hands where placed over his face but couldn't hide his stubby little red cherveron on his forhead.
"Aw, it's ok sparkling. It's just some little scratches. We'll take you to Ratchet and get you fixed up."
"Otay." The sparkling said as he peeked through his fingers.
His bright blue optics locked onto the younger Wildfire and the cutest confused look crossed his little face plates. He looked from one Wildfire to the other and then up at the one who was holding him.
"Mom why are there two of you?"
"M-mom?!" Younger Wildfire stuttered, too horror-struck for any other words.
"Ha! You're a mom!" Zack sneered.
"Daddy? Why are there two of you too?"
"Excuse me?!" Zack said to the sparkling.
Older Zack gave Wildfire a squeeze with his arm and smiled.
"Younger us, meet your future sparkling Techno."
The adorable sparkling waved at the sickened time travelers with a charming little smile as his brilliant sapphire optics flashed happily.
"Hi mommy! Hi daddy!"
Young Wildfire and Zack looked at each other with revulsion clearly etched on their faces.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Not on your LIFE!"
Older Zack leaned over and kissed Wildfire on the cheek as he patted his sparkling on the head. Then, as suddenly as before, in the sky a black dot expanded into a time storm. The unwilling time travelers where picked up by invisible hands and drawn into the eye of the storm as their older counterparts and sparkling waved good bye.
"Where's my energon goodie!" The sparkling demanded when everything settled down. "You said if I called you mommy I could have one!"
Techno folded his arms over his chest with the cutest frown on his face.
"Hold your horsepower." Wildfire snorted as she set him down on the floor. "Geeze you know I'm good for it!"
"Daddy said not to trust you."
"Yeah well you tell Prowl to blow it out his…."
"AH HM!" Zack cleared his vents loudly. "Watch your vocalizer around the sparkling. Jazz won't let you get off easy if you tech him another bad word."
The little sparkling held out hand and Wildfire pressed the Cybertronion candy into the tiny palm. Techno held out his other hand.
"One for calling Zack daddy too!"
"Geeze who are you Swindle?!" Wildfire said with a frown. "You drive a hard bargain anyone ever tell you that?"
"Uncle Sideswipe." The sparkling said with the pout still frozen on his cute little face.
Wildfire shook her head which only made the sparkling shake his hand and stomp a foot in frustration.
"I'll tell daddy that you where messing up the space time conten-imim!"
Wildfire smiled at the cute mispronunciation and gave the sparkling a whole pack of energon goodies.
"Now be sure to eat all of these right before recharge ok? And don't tell your dads."
"OK!"
"And what do you do if they ask you want happened?" Wildfire asked the sparkling.
"Deny deny deny." Techno repeated what he had been taught.
"Good kid!" Wildfire with a pat on the head.
Techno stuffed some of the goodies into his mouth as he bounded off with his candy leaving Zack and Wildfire to laugh by themselves.
"Did you see the look on my face?! Oh man I got us so good!" Wildfire howled with laughter.
"You have a very sick mind." Zack grinned. "You're the only bot in the universe that would use time travel to play a prank on yourself. Sick sick bot. Not only that but now you're going to have Prowl and Jazz on our afts for using their sparkling to break time."
"If we broke time we'd know by now. SEE! Everything is fine just like I told you."
"So, did you really hate me back then?" Zack asked as he slid his hand down Wildfire's back.
Wildfire knocked his hand away before he could get to her aft and thrust a finger into Zack's chest plates.
"You where really pushing your luck with that whole "we're together now" slag! And I thought I told you to NEVER call me sugar thrusters AGAIN or I would personally remove your interfacing equipment!"
Zack put his claws up in surrender.
"So did you really hate me?"
Wildfire did her best interpretation of rolling her eyes as she sighed.
"I wouldn't call it hate. More like a very strong dislike. Now let's get back and deny all of this ever happened before Jazz comes looking for us."
The two turned and walked back towards base after the sparkling.
"Sooo…" Zack said walking a little closer to the fem. "What you're saying is that I might have a chance with you now that you don't strongly dislike me?"
"Yeah no. That's not what I was saying. You have like, no chance."
"Like" no chance? That sounds like a chance to me."
"There's not enough high grade Zack."
"So if I found enough high grade…?"
"99.9 percent chance I'd just punch you in the face."
"Mmm… So there IS a chance!"
Wildfire shook her head and play punched the black truck on the arm.
"I need to have a talk with Sideswipe and arrange a party with lots of high grade!"
"Shut up Zack." Wildfire laughed.
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I got ten pages done in under 24 hours. I. AM. A. GOOOOOOOOD!
This is the best idea I've ever had. Hopefully Wildfire and Zack don't get too mad at me. After all they did it to themselves.
Well brain twin this was my grand idea! I hope you thought it was as epic as I did. In the famous words of Starsceam; "Time makes all things possible." Who knows what could happen in 500 years? Zack and Wildfire could be friends, lover, parents or just keep on "strongly disliking" each other!!
(and also maybe you could come some cool and devious ideas for Zack's knowledge of time travel!)
