I want to say that this story is almost done. I know that there is still a lot that needs to happen, but it will all be happening soon. It'll be like the Big Bang all over again. Anyways...

Chapter 37: The Persistence of Memory

"You're not really going to tell, are you?" Megatron asked, glaring at Optimus.

The Autobot leader ignored him before he proceeded, addressing the Autobots first, "We told you that we're from the future, we told you that the Autobots and Decepticons no longer are at war where we are from, we told you we were sent here by Ra—someone from our present who is bent on destroying the universe as we know it because he is unable to destroy us. If we say anymore we risk compromising the future as we know it. However, it looks like we've already changed things for the worst."

Starscream stole a glance at Rad before suggesting, "If we killed him here in the past, if we killed him now we wouldn't have to worry about him in the future."

"We can't do that, Starscream," Optimus said.

"Well then," Megatron from the past said, "If you've already changed things for the worst, you might as well fully explain yourselves. I know Lori, who are the other femmes?"

"How do you know Lori?" Optimus asked, suspiciously.

"Uh…I didn't meet him intentionally," Lori replied.

Jessamine and Alexis glanced at each other. The Alexis from the past was there, so if her identity was revealed, it would ruin things further. "Rad, you bastard, you knew exactly what you were doing when you sent us into the past," she thought bitterly.

"We should leave," Jessamine suggested.

"We can't go anywhere without them detecting us," Megatron remarked, "It appears we have no choice but to talk. Question is, who wants to be the one that ruins everything?"

There was a bright flash of light before a familiar blue mech appeared, grinning wickedly. "I've already ruined things for you guys far beyond repair, I might as well tell the story."

"Rad…" both Megatron and Starscream hissed.

"Oh come now, you just gave away the best part!" he exclaimed.

"You're…me?" the human Rad from the past asked, completely shocked.

"Yes," Rad replied, still grinning, "In a short twenty years from now, you'll have all of this to look forward to. You kill your best friend, Carlos. You become an abusive husband to Alexis, who eventually leaves you for Starscream. And how could I forget? You rape Megatron's squeeze which leads to the end of the Autobot and Decepticon war. Optimus says he thinks you'll make a great leader one day, but no, this is what you become."

"Knock it off!" Alexis seethed.

None of the Autobots from the past could seem to grasp let alone accept that the future held this in store. And it seemed that Rad was having the hardest time believing what his future self was saying. How could he ever…

"I've had enough of you," Megatron remarked as he pulled out his machine gun and aimed it at Rad, "Send us home and let's settle this for good."

"You're in no position to be threatening me," Rad remarked, "But I was on my way to get you guys anyway. Things are simply too boring back home. I thought I'd make them interesting again."

"Oh, they'll definitely be interesting," Starscream said as he drew his sword, "Let's go."

"Hold on now," Rad said, "You're not going home free…there's a price."

"What is that?" Optimus questioned.

"Hand over Lori to me."

"I don't think so," Megatron said as he stepped in front of her protectively, "We'll find another way back."

"I've had enough of this," Optimus from the past suddenly remarked, "Rad, send them home or else we'll make you."

"Yes," Megatron from the past agreed, "We've all had enough of you. Leave and never show your face around here again, or else."

Rad growled, before he took a step back. There was a bright flash of white light and Starscream, Alexis, Optimus, Jessamine, Lori, and Megatron suddenly found themselves engulfed in a deafening darkness.

Suddenly images flashed around them, familiar ones. They were on Cybertron, but from the state the planet was in, they knew that they were still in the past. There was a sudden clash of metal and everyone looked to see Galvatron and Starscream fighting. Rad wasn't there, but everyone heard his voice say, "Don't worry, you can see them and hear them, but you're in a shadow zone. They can't hear or see you."

"No," Alexis breathed, "I don't want to be here."

Starscream came over and took her in his arms before breathing, "Don't worry, this is all in the past. Rad is trying to break us down, but don't let him. I'm right here."

Alexis clung to him as Galvatron plunged the Star-Saber into Starscream's chest. Starscream proceeded to try and destroy Unicron, but Unicron obliterated him instead. The Decepticon second in command had to let his optics go offline as Rad showed Alexis' reaction to Starscream's death 20 years ago.

Everything suddenly went black momentarily, but when the darkness disappeared, it revealed Rad and Alexis' wedding day. "Come on Rad, what are you trying to prove?" Alexis asked angrily.

"On the bright side," Lori remarked, "You guys had a nice wedding…"

"I'd like to forget about it."

"Oh, but there's always the persistence of memory," Rad's voice suddenly echoed, "You were supposed to be mine forever Alexis."

"If you can't tell," Starscream remarked angrily, "Her heart has always belonged to me."

The scene faded. Carlos was waiting at a stop sign when there suddenly was a loud bang of metal clashing against metal. Alexis gasped in horror as Carlos was suddenly ejected from the vehicle by the force of the crash. He tumbled down the hood of the car and onto the pavement where he was struck by an oncoming car.

"No…" Alexis breathed, optics wide in horror.

She had enough, Starscream knew it. He held Alexis tighter in his arms and told her not to look anymore. However, Rad was far from finished.

The scene switched to Rad in a hotel room with Jessamine. He was promising her the world, marriage, starting a family, everything. Optimus pulled Jessamine closer to him when he saw her offline her optics, obviously trying to ignore the fact that everything he had said was a lie. After that, everything went black again. Rad laughed before saying, "Lori…since Vector Prime is on my side, I was able to look into your past. You had just moved to the area when you, Coby, and Bud discovered the Autobots. You said your parents wanted to move for the peace and quiet since you used to live in the city…"

Lori tensed, "Don't go there Rad…"

"You lied. Does anybody know about your older brother? The brother you idolized because he was in a rock band. The brother you won't see again because he got in with the wrong crowd."

There was the sound of gunfire before a man was shown being locked away in a prison cell. Lori stood there feeling completely numb. "Your parents moved because they couldn't take the accusations of raising a murderer…except now, you're in love with one. Wouldn't your parents be proud?"

Lori let her optics go offline as Megatron wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him. "You know me Lori, you know your brother," the Decepticon leader breathed so that only she could hear, "You know us both differently than what other people label us. Your brother is still your brother; you still have every right to love him, no matter what he's done because that's the right thing to do."

"Console her all you want, Megatron. It still doesn't change the fact you did all of this."

Rad proceeded to show how Megatron tried to blow up the Earth 20 years ago. He showed how Optimus was killed defending Earth. He showed how Megatron created the energon sun that collapsed and formed the black hole that was now threatening the universe.

He then showed how he raped Lori. Megatron felt rage boil through his circuits and he offlined his optics, not wanting to see how Rad defiled her. "Rad…" he seethed, "Stop this nonsense now and take us home."

"I've never known you to be squeamish, Megatron."

They were thrown into the darkness again and when it finally let up, they recognized where they were, back on the island where Rad had taken up refuge. However, Rad was nowhere to be found. Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Think we're actually back in the right time?" Jessamine asked.

"If we are," Alexis said, "I wonder if anything has changed."

"There's only one way to find out," Optimus said, "Megatron, can you open a dimension gate to take us back to the Autobot base?"

"I'm on it," Megatron replied before opening a dimension gate.

"I don't believe it!" Scattershot exclaimed as the monitor suddenly began making blipping noises.

"What is it?" Jetfire asked.

"Optimus and the others, their life signals are back online."

"What?" the Autobot second in command mused, "Where are they?"

"Um…according to this…they're standing right behind us."

Surprised, they both turned only to see Optimus, Megatron, and the others standing behind them, smirking. "Optimus sir!" Jetfire exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Rad sent us back into the past," the Autobot leader replied, "But he brought us back. Nothing has changed here, has it?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Good, with the exception of Vector Prime and Jolt still being in Rad's hands, everything seems to be back to normal."

"Thank Primus," Starscream remarked, "I never thought I would be so relieved to be back in the Autobot base…"

"You and me both," Megatron stated, which caused the others to laugh lightly.

"Well, as nice as this reunion has been, don't you think we should get to work recovering Vector Prime and Jolt?" Thunderblast asked.

"Who let her out of the cage?" Lori wondered.

Thunderblast frowned as she remarked, "No need to be so snippy. Jetfire let me out. I was going to help him find you guys, but now that you're back I guess that's not necessary."

"Well, if you're going to help us, I guess there's no reason to lock you back up," Optimus said, "Just be warned, one false move and you'll be back in the brig."

"I'll do my best," Thunderblast remarked as Lucy Suzuki entered the command center.

"Ah, you guys are back," she stated, "Hey Lori, I'm heading into the city to do some shopping, do you want to come?"

"The city! My home turf! Of course!" she practically squealed.

"Megatron, you can come too," Lucy offered.

"Definitely not," the Decepticon leader replied, causing some people to chuckle, "I'll check on my troops instead."

"Let's go!" Lori exclaimed as she transformed into her human form and practically dragged the professor out of the command center, "There are about fifty million things I want to buy."

"Well then," Starscream remarked as he took Alexis by the hand, "You and I are going to the med bay to make sure time travel didn't hurt the babies."

"What a minute…babies?" Jessamine questioned.

"Um…" Alexis stated and then smiled, "We're having twins."

"Oh…great," Megatron mused, "I thought one Starscream was bad enough."

"Watch it," Starscream said before he and Alexis left the command center.

Red Alert was surprised when he saw Alexis walk in with Starscream. Ratchet had informed him that Alexis was pregnant with twins and that they had been missing. The Autobot medic smiled and asked, "Here for a checkup?"

Alexis nodded, "Yes. Rad had sent us back in time but we managed to get back, Optimus and the others are back as well. We just want to make sure time travel didn't do anything to hurt the kids."

"Well have a seat, we'll see how they're doing," he said.

Alexis proceeded to sit down on one of the berths. Red Alert directed her to lie back, which he did. He then set up a small machine that proceeded to scan her abdomen. The Autobot medic waited for the results to print out before he read them. A surprised expression went across his face before he finally said, "Well, your kids are fine, but…"

"But what?" both Starscream and Alexis asked.

"It appears one of the sparks split again."

"You mean…" Alexis remarked.

"Triplets," Red Alert said.

"Primus," Starscream stated, "Alexis, do you know what that means?"

"It means I'm going to get huge."

"Well, besides that."

"What?"

"We're having seekers. Seekers always come in threes."

Alexis knew that Starscream was a triplet; Thundercracker and Skywarp were his brothers. They were also all seekers. This pregnancy was proving to be more a challenge than what she originally anticipated it to be, but she knew that with Starscream nothing came easy. However, this was what she wanted more than anything in the world. She loved Starscream with everything she had; she couldn't wait to start a family with him even though it appeared they were having all their kids at once.

"I would recommend plenty of rest and drink a lot of energon," Red Alert said, "Triplets are going to take a lot out of you. We'll check on them in another couple months to see if we can figure out what gender they are going to be."

"Definitely mechs," Starscream said, grinning.

"Hey now," Alexis said, "There's three of them in there, one of them has to be a femme."

Starscream's grin only broadened as he left the med bay with Alexis. He figured at some point they would have to tell the others they were now having triplets instead of twins, but that could wait. For now, he and Alexis were going to get some rest while they could. There was no telling what tomorrow had in store.

Lucy and Lori didn't arrive back until later that evening. Lori was carrying a few bags that were filled with new clothes. She dropped them off in her room before she went off to find Megatron in her robot form. She had just about gotten to his room when she heard a voice and grinned.

"Lori…" it breathed.

She turned, smiling as Megatron approached her. He took her in his arms before saying, "You were gone much longer than I expected you to be. Did you have a good time?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"Would you come with me back to my base?"

"Sure," Lori replied, though she wasn't sure why he wanted to go back there. There was no reason to unless…unless the risk of being interrupted was much lower. She followed him through a dimension gate that led back to his quarters in his base.

He let her lead him to the berth and lay down beside her. He went to wrap his arms around her, but instead she moved closer to him, encircling an arm around his waist. Slowly, teasingly, she slid the fingertips of her freehand up his torso only to stop as his chest, tracing invisible patterns. Her touch was feather-light and fiery, leaving his armor feeling like it tingly with static. A passion was burning inside of him, he wanted her more than he ever realized.

"Lori," he breathed as he grabbed her waist and brought her hips to his, "I'm through resisting."

"You've barely touched me," she smirked.

"Don't tempt me," he replied as he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against hers.

Lori moaned softly as Megatron moved so that he was lying over top of her, gently pressing her into the berth with his weight. It seemed like no matter how close they got to one another that they just weren't close enough. Megatron let the kisses trail down Lori's neck, slowly, towards her breastplate. He grinned, feeling her body reacting to his. He grabbed forcefully as his hands made their way down her torso, he caressed, he fondled, he teased.

"Megatron…" Lori gasped when she felt his hand suddenly dip between her legs and force her lower interface panels open.

"Don't fear me," he breathed as he stopped and met her gaze, "There's nobody I love more in life than you. I want to love all of you, every part of you, and I know it won't be easy, but I want you to love every part of me, too. You know who I am, Lori, take me as I am and please let me show you how much I love you."

Megatron sighed with relief when she pulled him back into another kiss. There would be no more interruptions. She was his tonight and forevermore.

Lori listened as Megatron's panels hissed open, but he didn't enter her right away. He worked to arouse her further, teasing his fingertips over sensors on her body that caused her to shudder. After a bit, he carefully inserted his cable to the hilt. A small cry of pain and surprise passed her lips. She had known this was going to hurt, but she hadn't expected the Decepticon leader to be this big. He was much bigger than Rad was.

"I love you," he breathed, holding her tightly, kissing her cheek.

"It…hurts…" she stated, fidgeting slightly beneath him.

"Relax," he said, "I won't go any further until you're ready. I promise it won't hurt anymore than this."

She sighed heavily. He was trying so hard to make her comfortable, to make her feel loved, to make her feel like she wasn't being used. She thought back to the first time she ever saw the Decepticon commander on the battlefield. If she had known then—back when she bitterly hated him—that they would end up compromising in the same bed with each other like this…she smiled at the irony.

Moments later, the pain diminished immensely and Lori allowed Megatron to continue. Slowly, at a pace that she was comfortable with, he began to thrust. Lori felt his fingertips scratching and bruising her armor as he held tightly to her back and waist. She moaned as he gradually increased his pace, his thrusts becoming more steady and powerful. She felt a knot of pleasure building inside of her abdomen that was nearly setting her senses on fire. She tightened her muscle cables around him and a light and gentle moan escaped his throat.

Lori blushed, Megatron was beautiful.

"I love you," she breathed.

He looked at her, his pale blue optics were dim but heavy with love, with pleasure, with completion and compassion. She wanted to cry from happiness, from his sheer beauty, from the way he made her feel. The knot of pleasure in her abdomen increased tenfold, she groaned, writhing beneath him.

"Megatron," she said.

He saw the ecstasy in her optics, he kissed her before saying softly, "Don't fight it…give in."

And she did, Megatron kissing her as she fell prisoner to his pleasure. He came as well, and with one last thrust, he buried his essence deep inside of her. After a moment, he rolled off of her, lying on his back on the berth, panting as his systems worked to cool him. Lori cuddled against him smiling.

"Was I too much for you?" she asked.

He smiled, "No Lori, it's quite the opposite. I never get enough of you."

"Will I get pregnant?"

"Primus I hope so."

She grinned broadly before whispering, "I love you, Megatron."

"I love you, Lori," he remarked as he took her in his arms.

Together, they fell into a fitful recharge.

"Can you do it, Vector Prime?"

The ancient looked to his master, calculating the cost of Rad's request. Something deep within him told him that this wasn't the right thing; something told him that Rad's schemes were nothing but pure evil. Something told him that this life he was currently living was a lie, that something had been done to manipulate him into doing Rad's evil biddings. However, Vector Prime couldn't figure out what it was that told him he was so much better than everything Rad had to say. He was a Prime after all; no Prime was a servant to evil.

"Yes," he replied.

"Good, when can you transport him here?"

"I will need a few days to gather my energy."

"Excellent, you are dismissed," Rad said as he watched the time and space guardian leave the room. He smiled inwardly, the Autobots and Decepticons had no idea what was coming for them. He looked to Jolt before releasing him and saying, "You can return to your friends now. Warn them though."

Jolt glared at him, "Warn them of what?"

"The Bringer of Chaos is coming…"

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