About time I updated this. Anyways, thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 36: Caught in the Middle

Thunderblast thought about bursting from the cell as Jetfire unlocked it and running right out of the base. However, something was compelling her not to, and it wasn't a matter of doing the right thing or not. Something else was making her stay and help the Autobots…no she wasn't helping them. She was helping Jetfire and only him. If he didn't give her her freedom after this, then there would be hell to pay.

When the door was unlocked, the Autobot second in command offered her his hand. She scoffed and slapped his hand aside. She didn't need his help walking to wherever they were going to walk to. Jetfire sighed heavily and said, "Come on, follow me."

Thunderblast went with him to the command center. Scattershot seemed surprised to see Jetfire walk in with her and remarked, "What's going on?"

"She," Jetfire replied, "Is going to help us find the others."

"Jetfire if their life signals aren't registering—

"That doesn't mean they're dead—

"Then what does it mean?" Scattershot asked angrily, "I don't want Optimus to be dead as much as you don't. I don't want Alexis, Lori, Jessamine, Starscream, or Megatron to be dead either."

"Wouldn't you at least want to know what happened to them?" Jetfire growled, "How in the pit is it possible for Rad to wipe out our strongest warriors in one fight?"

"Boys, boys, boys, you all jump to the wrong conclusions way too quickly," Thunderblast remarked, "Take some time to think about what Rad's been doing."

"What do you mean?" Scattershot asked, "He kidnapped Vector Prime and reprogrammed him, then he wanted Jolt, and when the others went to rescue them, Rad got rid of them."

"Didn't you guys say that Vector Prime is the guardian of time and space?" she persisted, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"Yes…"

"Are you sure Rad got rid of your friends, or was it Vector Prime?"

"Vector Prime would never kill his friends, even if he were reprogrammed or not," Scattershot remarked angrily.

"But he could have sent them to a different time period at Rad's request…" Jetfire mused, "That would explain why we couldn't detect their life signals. It would also explain how Rad was able to get rid of them all so easily."

Scattershot calmed down almost immediately. Thunderblast's explanation made more sense than death did. "If that's true," he said, "Where would Rad have sent them?"

"I don't know the first thing about time travel," Jetfire replied.

"Well then," Thunderblast remarked, "Sounds like we'll have to ask Rad just where he sent them. You can handle that, right?" She leaned in close to the Autobot second in command and drew invisible circles on his chest.

"Uh…"

Scattershot made as if he rolled his optics before remarking sarcastically, "When you two are through, let me know. In the meantime, I'll be working on actually finding Optimus and the others."

"Right…" Jetfire stated before gently moving away from Thunderblast.

She just smirked.

"You mentioned something about Planet X," Rad mused as he walked into the room Sideways and Soundwave were in.

The two looked at him before Sideways replied with a hiss, "Yes…we wish to restore our home planet since it was destroyed by the Gigantians."

"Did you know the last Planet Key is located on the Giant Planet?"

"Did you know Gigantian is located in another dimension?" Sideways quipped.

"That shouldn't matter," Rad replied, "Now that we have the guardian of time and space on our side."

"You obviously don't know the first thing about time travel," Sideways said, "If Vector Prime were to transport you across that distance it could kill him, then you'd be stuck in a dimension you wouldn't stand a chance in. But I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have told you that and let you figure it out the hard way."

Rad growled, "Then how did you and Soundwave get here if the planet is in a different dimension, as you say?"

"There's a gateway that exists between these two dimensions that is only open during certain times. It just so happens to be open right now, and if my astrological calculations are correct, it won't be closed for another few months or so."

"Where is it so that I can retrieve the last Planet Key?"

"Soundwave and I will get it."

"What?"

Sideways scowled, but his scowl was hidden behind his facemask, "Do you think we're so blind as to not see that you're going off on your own little agenda? I made you a transformer for one purpose, to serve me. So far, you've done everything but that. If anything, you've dug yourself into a hole that you can't get out of. I don't even know what you're trying to prove. So one woman got away from you. So you got your pathetic heart broken. You've driven everyone away from you; you killed your best friend, lost everyone who used to be a good friend, for what reason? Has anything you done actually been worth it to you?"

Rad growled and made a fist, "Don't talk to me like that."

Sideways only laughed before leaving the room with Soundwave to collect the final Planet Key. Neither he nor Soundwave had any intention of coming back.

Both Jessamine and Optimus were surprised when there was a sudden knock on their door. Optimus got up and went to the door to see who it was. He was surprised to see Alexis and Starscream standing there, but he was even more surprised when a familiar voice shouted from Alexis' hand, "Optimus, no way!"

"Carlos?" he remarked as his optics landed on the boy.

"I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring him by," Alexis said, "He promised not to tell anyone."

"I understand," Optimus replied.

"So how far ahead in the future are you guys?" Carlos asked, "You guys all look so different, well, especially you Alexis, but still."

"We can't tell you that."

"Alexis said you have a woman…"

Optimus shot a look to Alexis who just smiled sheepishly and shrugged. The Autobot leader sighed before saying to Carlos, "Yes, I do."

"Can I see her?" he asked eagerly.

Before Optimus could turn to call Jessamine, she appeared beside him in the doorway saying, "I promise, I'm not that amazing."

"You must be if you can capture Optimus' spark," Carlos persisted as he gave Jessamine a onceover, "What's your name?"

"Jessamine," she replied.

"Did you used to be a human too?"

"Yes…"

"Well damn!" Carlos remarked, "I want to be a transformer."

Alexis ached to grant him that, and she knew that if Optimus could, he would help Carlos out as well. "I don't know Carlos," she said, "There's a shortage of femmes."

"I'd just try to get with you before Starscream or Rad did," Carlos said.

"Carlos…" Alexis said sternly.

He laughed.

"You're a little too late," Starscream remarked.

"Well, you can never be too late when it comes to love," Carlos remarked, "Where's Megs at?"

"How much did you tell him?" Optimus asked.

"A lot," Alexis replied before saying to Carlos, "Megatron's in his room."

"Can we go see him?" he asked.

"I don't know why you would want to see him, I thought I was cooler," Optimus said with a smirk, which caused Carlos to laugh.

"Come on dude, I never got the chance to give him a piece of my mind. He won't blow me up if I do though, right?"

"We'll make sure he doesn't," Alexis replied, "We'll see you later Optimus." And she and Starscream walked away with Carlos.

Lori felt dizzy when Megatron finally broke the kiss. She gazed into his pale blue optics as he stared into hers. His optics were dim, full of an emotion that Lori hadn't seen expressed by him before. It was love, it was wanting, it was lust, it was passion, it was…

He leaned back in and kissed her, but this kiss was different. It was almost teasing. Lori had barely begun to kiss him when he pulled away only to breathe in her audio receptor, "Stop me if I go too far."

Her optics went offline as he trailed kisses down her neck, across her shoulder, and slowly down her chest. A small moan passed her lips and she felt Megatron's lips curl into a smile. She felt his fingertips gently trace down her torso, slowly, lower and lower until his fingertips reached her thigh. "I love you," he breathed as his hand dipped between her legs.

There was a knock on the door.

The Decepticon leader let loose a venomous growl. "Another interruption?" he exclaimed, which caused Lori to laugh as he rolled off of her.

She got up and went over to the door. She opened it only to reveal Starscream and Alexis standing there. She was just about to ask what was going on when Carlos said, "Dios, she's pretty!"

"Cuidado…" Lori remarked.

But Megatron had already heard as he got up from the bed remarking, "Okay, who's calling you pretty now?"

"Carlos, meet Lori and Megatron," Alexis said.

"You're Carlos?" Lori remarked, "Alexis has said a lot about you."

"You're Spanish?" Carlos asked.

"Partly," she replied.

"No wonder you're so pretty! There's nothing like a hot-blooded Latina woman!"

"Callate ya!"

Carlos just smiled and said, "Megs do you remember me?"

The Decepticon leader frowned, "That's Megatron to you and yes, vaguely."

"You never apologized for kidnapping all of us that one time and holding us hostage."

The frown deepened on the Decepticon leader's face. "You're seriously going to make me do that now?"

"No better time than the present…well, I guess this would be the past for you."

He sighed heavily, "I'm sorry for kidnapping you and Alexis and those other two humans."

"What about Rad?"

"I'm not sorry about that."

"Rad must've done something to get you quite upset."

"You don't even know."

"Can I have a hint?"

"You hit on Lori in my presence, I don't think so."

"Well since I'm not getting my way I can continue to hit on her."

Megatron pulled Lori into the room and closed the door. "Aw come on!" Carlos shouted, "That's not nice!"

"Carlos, who are you talking to and what are you doing in this part of the base?" came an all too familiar voice before a much younger Alexis appeared from around the corner.

"Oh snap," Carlos remarked.

The much older Alexis quickly set him down. Carlos went over to the other Alexis and tried to steer her away, but Alexis wouldn't be moved. "Who are they?" she demanded, "Does Optimus know they're here?"

"Yes," Carlos said trying to reassure her.

"Then how come we weren't introduced to them?"

"Well, um…"

The older Alexis quickly knocked on the door to Megatron and Lori's room hoping that one of them would answer. Megatron opened the door demanding, "What is it now?"

"Is that…Megatron?"

The Decepticon leader turned his attention down the hall to where Carlos was trying to keep Alexis from finding out too much. "Oh…" he remarked. He realized that neither he nor Starscream nor Alexis could talk or the younger Alexis would recognize who they were. He looked into the room and motioned for Lori to come, which she did. "What's going on?" she asked.

Alexis pointed down the hall and Lori followed her finger. The younger femme exclaimed, "Awww Alexis aren't you cute!"

"You…know who I am?"

"Um…yes…" Lori replied realizing that she shouldn't have said that.

"Do you care to tell me what's going on since nobody else here will? Carlos said Optimus knew you guys were here but he didn't tell us about you."

"We're trying to keep a low profile," Lori said, "We're not from this time period. If we tell too many people that we're here or who we are, we could compromise things in the future, where we're from."

"Oh…" Alexis remarked, seeming to understand, "Can I know who you guys are?"

"That's probably not a good idea."

"Well, you told Carlos, why can't I know?"

"Because…"

"Trust me Alexis, she can't tell you," Carlos said, "And we can't tell anybody that they're here."

"Alright Carlos," she said, "Let's go." And together they disappeared together.

Alexis sighed heavily before saying, "Thanks Lori."

"No problem, but for some reason, I don't think we've seen the last of you…"

"I don't think so either," Alexis said, "But, we'll see you guys around." And she walked off with Starscream.

When they were gone, Megatron came up behind Lori and wrapped his arms around her before saying, "Shall we continue where we left off?"

She turned to face him with a smirk on her face, "Think we'll get interrupted again?"

He grinned, "Probably."

And they disappeared back inside the room.

Alexis went with Carlos straight to the command center of the Autobot base. She hadn't so much as entered when she looked straight to Optimus and asked, "Is it true that you're housing guests here and didn't tell us about it?"

"Alexis…" the Autobot leader replied, "There is a reason why you haven't been told."

"Why did one of them sound exactly like Megatron?" she demanded.

"Megatron's here?" Starscream asked.

"Not the Megatron any of us are familiar with," Optimus said seeing how this was quickly becoming a situation that was out of his control.

"Regardless if I'm familiar with him or not, I will destroy any Megatron for humiliating me. Where is he?" Starscream demanded.

"Starscream, stand down," Optimus warned.

"If you won't tell me where he is, then I'll find him myself." And the former second in command of the Decepticons ran out of the room. Starscream wasn't sure where to go to find Megatron, but he figured that he would probably be in the section of the base that wasn't traveled a lot. It would make the most sense.

Starscream and Alexis hadn't been back in their room that long when suddenly the door burst open. Surprised, both of them looked over to the door only to see that Starscream from 20 years ago had broke the door down. Not sure what was going on, the future Starscream said, "Alexis get behind me."

She did, but the past Starscream wasn't stupid. "You…you sound just like me," he said.

"That's because I am you, from the future."

"Where's Megatron?"

"You need to leave him alone."

"Who's behind you?"

Alexis peeked out from behind Starscream only to see the Decepticon second in command from the past. "A femme?" the past Starscream remarked, surprised.

"Alexis…"

"Alexis?" the past Starscream exclaimed, completely shocked, "How are you…what is going on?"

"You need to leave, Starscream," she said, "You need to forget you saw us and leave."

The past Starscream glanced between his future self and Alexis one last time before he backed out of the room and ran down the hallway. Alexis sighed heavily before stating, "He's still going to try and find Megatron. We need to warn him."

"I'm already on it," Starscream replied as he tuned his comlink frequency to Megatron's channel, "Starscream to Megatron…"

Both he and Alexis waited for a response, but the Decepticon leader did not reply.

"Starscream to Megatron, come on, pick up, this is important…"

"Why isn't he answering?" Alexis asked.

"He's ignoring me," Starscream said.

Megatron and Lori had settled back onto the berth and the Decepticon leader was just setting the mood again when Starscream radioed him. Lori gave a small chuckle before saying, "Interrupted again."

"I'm ignoring him," Megatron said, recapturing her lips with his.

However, the passionate moment didn't last long when the door was suddenly broke down. Both Megatron and Lori got up from the berth as they waited for the dust to settle to see who had come in. However, when Megatron realized who it was, he pulled Lori behind him and said, "Starscream, you need to leave."

"So I finally find you," the seeker replied as he drew his sword.

Megatron took a cautious step back, "Starscream, your fight is with the Megatron of this time, not with me."

"Why should it matter? You're both one in the same."

"Let's get out of here," Lori whispered.

"Right," Megatron said as he opened a dimension gate. He pulled Lori through and shut it quickly before Starscream could follow them through. They ended up outside of Optimus' room. He then called Starscream back and said, "Rendezvous with me at Optimus' room. Megatron out."

The Decepticon leader proceeded to knock on Optimus' door. A few seconds later the Autobot leader answered before saying, "Megatron, what's wrong?"

"Why is it you associate me with there being something wrong?"

"Because something usually is," Optimus remarked, "So what is it this time?"

"We can't stay here anymore."

"What happened?"

"Starscream, the Starscream from this time period, found out that I'm here and he's trying to kill me."

"Carlos probably has something to do with this…alright; we'll regroup at another location and figure out what to do from there," Optimus said just Starscream and Alexis arrived.

"What's going on?" Starscream asked as they approached.

"Your past self is trying to kill me," Megatron said flatly.

"Well, I tried to warn you but someone wasn't responding to my call," Starscream stated.

"I was busy."

"Doing what?" Starscream asked and then saw the guilty look on Lori's face, "Actually…don't answer that question."

"Let's…just get out of here," Optimus suggested.

Megatron opened another dimension gate, which they all stepped through. Once through, they ended up in a desert a few miles from the base. They figured that they would be safe there so that they could discuss what course of action that they would take now.

"We could go back," Megatron suggested, "We could go back and tell everyone everything. I think we've already screwed things up enough. Primus knows if we'll ever get back to the present."

"Well, we certainly can't go up to your moon base," Starscream said, "Things would be worse then."

"Or we could build a new base somewhere else, that way we're not interfering with anyone," Optimus said.

"And then what?" Megatron asked, "Sit and wait until we get back to the present time? Come sweeping out of the shadows when Rad sends us back into the past again?"

"Guys, stop it!" Alexis said, "There's got to be another way. If we can communicate with Rad through time then somehow we could strike a deal with him to let us come back into the present time."

"And who knows," Jessamine added, "We don't know what the others back in our time are doing. Perhaps they're fixing this mess and all we have to do is wait."

"Some of us don't have time," Starscream remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Megatron asked.

"I'm pregnant…" Alexis confessed quietly.

"I could turn myself over to Rad," Lori said, "If we're that desperate."

"No, you won't be doing that," Megatron remarked.

"So you have gone soft…" a familiar voice said from behind them.

They turned to see Megatron from the past with his Decepticon army. "Great…" Starscream mused, "They must have detected us come out here."

There was another noise on the other side of them and the group looked to see the Autobot army warp in from the other side of them. It was obvious that they had detected the Decepticons warp in and came to see what was going on. "Perfect," Megatron remarked, "Caught in the middle of both warring factions…"

"And still stuck in the past," Optimus added.

"I thought you were the optimistic one."

"What's going on?" Optimus from the past asked.

"I think we should ask them just what in the pit is going on around here," Megatron from the past remarked, pointing the requiem blaster at Lori.

"You want the truth?" Optimus from the future asked.

"Yes," both past leaders remarked.

"Well…"

Until the next chapter, please review!