"Prowl…what did you-aw, forget it." Skywarp said in an exasperated manner. The ninja stood there, arms crossed and looking pleased with himself. "Either way, it would seem that we won't have to deal with the Autobots after all."
"Skywarp, don't say that! You'll jinx us all!" Sari said.
"What? Why?"
"Everyone knows that if you say something like 'It can't get any worse', things WILL get worse!"
"Oh really? How so?"
"Well…"
--
A hand emerged from the wreckage.
Straining and tugging at the debris around him, Ultra Magnus heaved himself out of the mess. He was, thankfully, only slightly damaged but still a bit stunned after that blast. Shaking his head, he pressed his insignia, which emitted a high frequency sound that was only detectable by HIS followers. Soon, what remained of his followers emerged in a zombie-like fashion, leaving their leader tapping his foot impatiently. After a while of much moaning, complaining and kicks to the head (issued by mech himself) for complaining, nearly ninety percent of his followers had risen. The rest were dismissed as either cowards, dead, or dead cowards.
Not among the ranks were Optimus and Sentinel Prime, Wasp, and Jazz.
"Alright, you rustbuckets!" Ultra Magnus yelled. "Blurr and his flunkies have gone to get that child's key and he'll probably fail. Does anyone know why?" After a short silence, he continued, "Because that fool is getting too big for his armor! He's getting greedy and is trying to get to the girl's universe for his own purposes! Stick with me, boys and girls. I'll lead you to the point of glory that's free of the risk of defeat. Who's with me?!"
A loud cheer erupted from the assembled bots.
--
"See, that's what happens!" Sari growled. The cheers had echoed from the rubble of the Autobot base…right into the audios of the Decepticons.
"Wow, Prowl, you clearly have no experience when it comes to explosives, do you?" BlackArachnia commented dryly. She flashed a smile at his frowning face. "Either way, I for one am getting out of here before those Autobots gain a head of steam and overtake us."
"Ah, good! A volunteer!" Wreck-Gar said in a delighted voice. Snatching Sari away from a surprised Skywarp, he handed the girl off to the femme. "Alright, let's get moving! It looks like Operation Keep Away is going to continue after all!"
--
As the Autobots gave chase, BlackArachnia held Sari close to her, occasionally looking over shoulder to check if the Autobots were gaining on them. Only Skywarp, Ratchet, Prowl and Wreck-Gar stood between her and the hoard. "Maybe it's just me," BlackArachnia panted. "But I think that they're getting closer to us."
"Well, you won't need to worry about that. Look!" Wreck-Gar pointed above, where the remaining Seekers, Lugnut and Megatron hovered, poised and ready to cause a diversion.
Suddenly, a massive blow sent Prowl and Wreck-Gar flying. They only got a quick look at their attacker, but they all knew who'd just hit.
"Prowl, you little traitor!" came the howl from the blue mech who now stood in their way, his arms spread. "You think you can get away with what you've done?! Like the Pit you will!" He dashed around the group, successfully confusing them. From afar, the war cries of the Autobots were getting louder. A few moments later, the mass of mechs could be seen on the horizon and the dust cloud they were kicking up was hindering the targeting systems of the airborne bots.
At the center of the mass, however, shots were being fired and the army was thrown into turmoil.
Shockwave and his fellow double agents, twenty five in number, had effectively blown their cover, but only to help their fellow Decepticons. Unfortunately, they had only stopped the middle and tail end of the group. Several of the front runners were still heading towards the small group. One mech in particular was rushing ahead.
"Jazz?" Prowl asked himself, as he tried to strike Blurr, but failed.
The white mech charged ahead, but instead of hitting Prowl, he managed to tackle and pin Blurr to the ground. "Jazz, what-?" Prowl asked, as the stunned blue mech groaned beneath the other ninja.
"Get going. Perhaps you were right about joining the Decepticons, but I have some more thinking to do. This spot seems like a good place to think." He brought his foot down on Blurr's left leg, smiling when the mech yelped and a snapping sound was heard. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
"Traitors…All of…you freaks…" Blurr growled, still dazed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Shouldn't you guys get going?" Jazz asked. Prowl smiled gratefully at him as the rest continued towards the Decepticon base.
"You'll…regret this, Jazz…" Blurr snarled.
"Does it look like I care?"
--
"BlackArachnia, hand Sari off to Skywarp so he can fly across the last stretch!" Wreck-Gar yelled, as the purple jet looked over to his friend.
"But I can't leave you, BA. I just can't." Skywarp admitted.
"Don't be macho, you idiot!" The femme snarled, handing Sari off to the mech. "This is about Sari getting home! There will be time for mushy feelings later!"
"Well, in case there isn't time…" Grabbing BlackArachnia by the waist, he pulled her into a kiss. After a few moments, he pulled away, grinning. "Now, I can go." Transforming, he zoomed off, leaving a grinning BlackArachnia on the ground.
As Skywarp zoomed off, he soon realized that he wasn't alone.
"Sunstorm? What the slag are you doing?" He asked impatiently. The yellow jet was flying right behind him.
His tone didn't sound too pleasant. "I'm here to make sure you don't cause anymore trouble."
"What are you talking about? Oh, you mean the kiss, I'll bet. Man, we can fight over this once we get Sari home, alright? Right now, swallow the bitterness and-ACK!" Fire rained down from above and spouted up from below. "What-?"
Grimlock and Snarl were breathing fire straight up, while Swoop dogged them and tried to force them to the ground from above…and into his comrades' flames.
"Slag! Sunstorm, go attack that meddling Dinobot above us while I-!"
"Get all the credit for saving Sari? I DON'T THINK SO!"
"Ugh, put me on the com-link, Skywarp." Sari sighed. Pushing a button, she yelled, "Sunstorm, if we don't get out of this, there won't be anything left for you to send home! How would BlackArachnia look at you then?!"
There was silence on the other side, but the sound of Sunstorm's engine growing fainter, followed by the sounds of screeches and plasma blasts meant that Sunstorm had been reached.
"Nice work, Sari. At least someone knows how to get to that engine block he calls a processor."
--
Megatron flew above a massive battlefield, surveying their progress. Several double agents had been killed, but Shockwave and a few others had managed to escape. Now the no longer held up Autobot forces were charging straight ahead…where they were struck without warning by Lockdown's forces.
Lockdown's forces were actually beating back the Autobots, despite their lesser numbers. Now, many of the Seekers had joined the fray on the ground, confident that they could beat their enemies at hand-to-hand combat.
Megatron, on the other hand, had stayed above, and for good reason, too. From his vantage point, he could see a group of Autobots sneaking around behind the Decepticons, using the rocky terrain to their advantage. However, they didn't appear even remotely interested in taking part in the battle.
It was then Megatron saw this group was being led by Ultra Magnus.
"Starscream!" Megatron yelled through the com-link. "We've got company! Ultra Magnus is leading a group that's going after Sari! They aren't a big group, but it could be enough to take over the base!"
"What?! Slag! We haven't got the forces to defend the base!" Starscream replied. "Seekers, fall back! Get back to the base!"
--
"Hey, Skywarp. Glad to see you made it back safe." Bumblebee said, looking up from the project he was working on. "I'll take Sari from you while you get a few moments of rest."
"Thank you, Bee." Skywarp panted, and handed the girl off to the yellow mech.
"Alright, Sari, it's all set." Bee explained, as the work crews stood around, marveling at their work. "Without your key, the space bridge has enough power to stay on for about ten Earth minutes. Not a lot of time, but it should be enough for you to get back to your own universe."
Mixmaster approached the two. "Megatron said to send the kid back as soon as possible…preferably when she got back to base. Ready to go home, kid?"
"Absolutely! But I'll still miss you guys." She replied quietly.
"We'll miss you too, Sari." Bee began, but there was a sudden roar and terrible crashes filled the air. A wall of flame blasted the door, melting it into a puddle as Grimlock and Snarl marched into the room.
"How the slag did they get in?!" Scrapper yelled. "Bumblebee, get Sari into the portal! NOW!"
As the bots picked up their tools and advanced on the intruders, Bumblebee took Sari over to the control panel. As the kid plucked the key from the slot, a voice said, "Energy source removed. Ten minutes until shut down."
"Alright Sari, get going! Be safe and don't forget us." Bee dashed up to the portal, but not before he was struck down by something behind him.
"Bumblebee!" Sari yelped, and looked up. "Oh no, not you!"
"Yes, me." Ultra Magnus growled. The other Autobots had rounded up the workers and had them in a corner. "Grimlock, thank you for causing a distraction. Now, let's get this human's key back to what's left of Autobot Headquarters."
"Oh, don't be so quick to celebrate, Magus." A voice called. Standing in the melted doorway was Skywarp, looking furious. "I'm still here."
"Skywarp!" Sari said, relieved.
"You? What can you do by yourself?" Ultra Magnus sneered.
"Who says he's alone?" Another voice announced. Megatron appeared behind Skywarp, followed by the other Seekers.
Sunstorm tossed a stunned and battered Swoop towards the other Dinobots. "He put up quite a fight, that one. But he just wasn't good enough to beat me."
"Autobots, get them!" Ultra Magnus yelled.
"Decepticons, attack!" Megatron yowled.
As the Seekers and the Autobots clashed, Skywarp dashed forward, grabbing both Bumblebee and Sari. "Alright, kid, no time for long goodbyes! Goodbye, and good luck!" Skywarp said quickly. He tossed Sari into the portal just as it closed.
All Sari saw as she left the universe was Megatron battling with Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee still out cold, and Skywarp's battered but kind face smiling as she left.
--
"AHH!" She landed with a thump on the cold floor. "Ow…"
"Sari!" The girl turned to see Bumblebee grab and hug her tightly. "We were so worried! When you fell into the space bridge, we didn't know if you'd come back alive! The others wanted to give up, but I kept coming back here every day in case you ever came back! We missed you so much, especially me!"
"I missed you too, Bee." She said. "I would have missed you even more, but I had company on the other side of the portal."
"Like who?" Bee asked curiously.
"You'd never believe me if I told you.
"Try me."
"Well, once we get back to the base, I'll tell all of you guys."
--
Back in the mirror universe, Ultra Magnus lay dead, Megatron's katana sheathed in his spark chamber. The young Decepticon leader had been badly scarred in the battle, but they had won the battle without any casualties. That's all that mattered.
"So, Megatron," Quicksnipe asked. "Is this the end of the war? I mean, you did kill Ultra Magnus."
"No…There will be a replacement. Until that day, we'll need to regroup and strengthen your forces." Megatron replied. "Besides, I've heard rumors of a Prime that's well on his way to the rank of Magnus. Rodimus, I think his name was."
"Well, you won't need to worry about that for a while, sir. You need more rest than the rest of us put together!" Starscream said, grinning. "We'll take care of the clean up detail, YOU get some rest."
"Hey, hey! Guess who's back, back again?" The Decepticons looked up to see Lockdown's army stream into the room, cheering and hollering. Skywarp was pushing through the crowd, looking, searching and calling…but he couldn't be heard over the crowd's yells.
Finally, the last of the soldiers piled in, leaving a very stunned and sad Skywarp in their wake. Trudging to Lockdown, he asked, "Were there any casualties?"
"Of course there were, this was a massive battle!" The mech snorted, walking away.
Starscream went over to his brother. "I'm sorry. I heard what Lockdown said."
"Said about what?" A voice asked. Skywarp looked up to see BlackArachnia standing in the doorway, leading the stretchers holding wounded or dead soldiers.
Skywarp leapt wordlessly towards her and pulled her into a tight embrace. After pulling away, he said, "I though you were gone for good."
"Hah, it'll take more than a few Autobots to take me down." She replied. "I'm just glad to see you're ok."
"Me too."
A little distance away, Wreck-Gar and Ratchet were fixing up the wounded soldiers, when Megatron approached him. "Wreck-Gar, you have shown great courage and potential. Would you care to join the Decepticons? We could use someone of your…unique talents."
"Me? A Decepticon? Well, I'll only do it if Ratchet does it." The junk bot looked over at the older mech.
"Huh. Fine, I'll join your lot, but only because I hated Magnus' guts."
"Then it's settled."
"Hey, Megatron, these here Autobots claim they've seen the light and want to join us." Mixmaster led a small group of beaten-up mechs who looked sheepishly up at the Decepticon leader.
"We'll have to see on that part." Megatron said. "Let them prove they really want to join us. Let them renounce the name of the Autobots."
A loud din from the crowd made Prowl look up. "What-?" He strode over to the group, where a hand grabbed his wrist. "Jazz?"
"Told you I'd think it over. And yes, I think you're right. The Decepticons make a lot more sense now." The other ninja replied, smiling.
--
"So you were transported to a dimension where the Decepticons were the good guys and the Autobots were the bad guys?" Optimus asked. Sari had finished explaining to the mechs about her adventure.
"Wow, there was an evil me? Freaky." Bulkhead said.
"Well, this is officially something that no one can know about. Especially not Megatron. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Everyone chimed in.
--
Meanwhile, on a branch outside, a mechanical hawk perched, listening on the whole conversation.
Master Soundwave would love to hear about this. If not him, then perhaps Megatron would like to know about this.
Turning away, he flew off into the setting sun.
Oh yes, things were about to get interesting.