Jack didn't want to admit it, but he rather liked Iacon. School was over and done for him, so he had made the decision to 'bridge over to Cybertron to celebrate his graduation. All of the city lights and the bustling sounds of civilization, though, were not new to the small-town boy. He had been to New York once, back on Earth.
However, Iacon was New York on steroids.
The blue hue that radiated from the lights and the sight of dozens of bots zipping past on the roads brought a sense of calm satisfaction to Jack. Construction had only taken a few weeks thanks to the Omega Lock and the Wreckers. Both Decepticons and Autobots had answered their summon to return to Cybertron, to rebuild what they had lost. All of their had work had surely paid off.
The mech stood on what could be miles over the streets, overlooking the insanely high towers of Iacon. If he simply looked out onto the rest of the city, his tanks didn't threaten to purge over the edge of the balcony. He could never really stand heights. Primus if he were still human, Jack would probably die of anxiety by looking straight down from here. Even with his new, almost-three-story-tall frame, the sudden drop made his helm spin. He quickly looked back up to avoid anything worse and take in the beauty of it all.
"Hey, Jack! Guess what?" The blue Ford F-550 turned around to see a hyped-up pink and black Wrecker bursting through the balcony doors.
A soft smile grew on his faceplates, "What's up, Miko?" The ledge was large enough for the both of them to be comfortably spaced apart.
Miko cocked her hip to the side in her usual fashion, "Guess who can join the Wrecker road trip cross country?"
He had heard about that from Bulkhead yesterday. The trip was to again celebrate the rebirth of their home. Also, the Wreckers probably wanted to show Miko their old stomping grounds and battlefields. Their newest initiate most likely couldn't wait to check out all of those places. Jack had been invited, but he turned down their offer. First, he had to get used to Iacon, then maybe he would.
"That's great, Miko!" He congratulated, "Who else is going?"
She counted on her digits, "Um, let's see: Bulk, Wheeljack, Moonracer, Smokescreen and... Starscream."
Jack's blue optics widened to the point of where Miko thought they were going to pop out of his helm, "Starscream? Why on Earth is he going?"
The femme shrugged, also not bothering to correct his mistake even though they were not on Earth, "Something about scouting for Energon mines along the way. Though, I have a feeling that he's just trying to escape Megatron for a little while."
The amount of work that the Decepticon SIC had to go through caused Jack to sort of pity him. Sure, he was a murderer and a cowardly backstabber, but he had been pushing to have Vos returned to its former glory and it wasn't going as fast as he planned with the other tasks that Megatron assigned him. Jack had learned all of that when the Seeker decided to rant to him one sol... It was an almost torturous experience on his audios.
"Sure, who wouldn't want to?" Jack looked down to his chestplates, picturing the spark that lay deep within the metal, "I sure would like to."
Miko's expression dulled as the light atmosphere dropped. The shared sparks in their chests were a touchy subject around Jack. While she had the joy of having a shard of Bulkhead's spark within her, Jack seemingly had the curse of having a sliver of Megatron inside of him.
He was trying to get used to it, seeing as he didn't really have a choice, but Jack couldn't fully enjoy himself knowing that his emotions could be transferred to Megatron through the spark bond, and vice versa. The whole feeling of contamination had yet to pass, so he had to deal with it for now.
She sighed dolefully, "You know, you can come to, if you want."
Jack shook his helm, "No thanks, Miko." His servo gestured to the sights of Iacon, "I'd rather stay here and get to know the place a bit more. There's just so much to look at."
"Jack, I-," A voice on the both of their commlinks interrupted her.
::Jack, Miko, can you guys hear me?::
The two pressed on the sides of their helms to manually respond. ::We hear you loud and clear, Raf-man.:: Miko replied.
::Ah, good. I was worried about the signal all the way over here.::
Confusion crept into Jack's processor, ::'All the way'? You aren't in Ratchet's clinic?:: It was only a block away from the Autobots' main building.
There was an uncertain pause from the younger mech, ::Um, no. I am not. Anyways, I'm in Shockwave's lab on the Nemesis in Kaon and-::
::What are you doing there!?:: Miko screeched, the feedback making Jack cringe. She already had a strong voice, but it seemed that all seeker frames had access to an audio-receptor piercing shriek.
Starscream was a key example.
::I'm getting to that, Miko!:: Rafael shot back, ::Ratchet was called over to check something out, and apparently so was Optimus. It seemed to be important, so I asked to come along and they let me. Gosh, you guys should see it! It's so cool and bright with so many colors and don't even get me started on the amount of energy this thing has and- you know what, I'll just send a Groundbridge over.::
On cue, the balcony doors were replaced with the bright green light of the swirling vortex. Jack and Miko shared a glance; their confused minds both thinking the same thing.
What was this all about?
::You're going to have to see this for yourselves.:: Rafael reasoned over the comms.
Jack shrugged, "What harm can it do?"
With that, a smirk full of mischief formed on Miko's faceplates, "Last one through is a rotten egg!"
With a shout, the two darted into the portal, just like old times.
"What's up, Raf-man?" Miko greeted, sliding into the scene with grace in her steps. She strode into the lab as comfortably as anyone would.
Jack's mind, unfortunately, couldn't be as calm. The feeling was so unexpected and abrupt that he couldn't stop it. The sight of the horribly familiar room threatened to trigger some PTSD. He could feel the panic attack coming into his processor like a vile worm eating into an apple. Dark spots danced across his vision. He was so dizzy.
This is where he lost his humanity.
This is where all of the paincame from.
The ceiling-
Was it always s-so close?
A servo gripped his shoulder and Jack snapped out of it. Looking around, he found that he had fallen to his knees. His entire frame felt tense- were his servos shaking? The mech could barely tell.
"Calm yourself, Jackson." Megatron's voice thrummed with power in his audio receptors, "You need not fear this place anymore." The static of an EM field buzzed in his helm, chasing away the dark thoughts.
Suddenly gaining his full senses the truck scoffed, jerking his shoulder tire away from the former tyrant's claws, "Yeah, right." Sarcasm laced his voice, "It's not like I died here."
"That's because you didn't." The silver mech countered, rising to tower over Jack, "And you hopefully never will."
Jack's frame seized up. That was hardly reassuring.
"Hey Jack, come check this out, it's so cool!" Miko's voice cut through his mind. Eagerly, Jack got up and followed her voice. The Lab was significantly larger the last time he had been in here. Shockwave must have made improvements.
The center of attention was a large, silver ring that stood at the far end of the room, similar to a Spacebridge, or Groundbridge, yet not entirely the same. It was a strange sight, but not the weirdest he's seen in here. Shockwave was busying himself in front of the ring with a scanner in hand. Behind a computer system stood Miko, Raf, Optimus and Ratchet, who were a comfort to see against the more sinister purple and black tones of the Nemesis.
"Hey, Optimus." Jack greeted, taking a place beside the Prime.
The tall, red and blue mech looked down on him and gave Jack a ghost of a smile, "Good evening, Jack. How was your time in Iacon?"
"Pretty good." Jack replied with a shrug, "Though, I'm going to have to ask you to give me a tour of the place sooner or later. I had enough trouble navigating the Iacon Tower!"
"In time, I will take up your request."
"Will you two shut your intakes for a moment?" Ratchet snapped, typing rapidly, "I am trying to determine the frequency at which this thing operates at before it vanishes again."
"Again?" Jack questioned.
"Yes, again." The medic rolled his cyan optics, as if it were obvious, "It disappears for a time, then reappears for a solid cycle but fluctuates frequently."
'This thing' was a little ball of light in the center of the frame, almost insignifigant in the brightly lit room. Jack hadn't noticed it earlier. It flickered every so often as the purple Decepticon scanned it.
"What is that?" Miko wondered out loud, "It looks like some sort of fire."
Rafael answered her, "It's the origins of a portal." The younger mech activated a screen at the console nearby, "If you watch a Groundbridge open in slow motion, you see it happen."
The image that he showed was a live feed of what seemed to be a frequency coming from the little light, "The only difference is the signal. It's different from both a Groundbridge and a Spacebridge."
"It's much faster, though it changes sometimes." Ratchet gestured to the screen pointedly, "According to our knowledge of it so far, it should be able to open a bridge further than even a Spacebridge."
Miko made a confused noise, "But, can't spacebridges open up to, like, all of space?"
"That is correct." The deep, monotonous voice voice of Shockwave answered her, "However, therein also lies the problem." The femme couldn't help but flinch away from the purple mech . The scientist made everyone uncomfortable even in the best of times.
"I have determined the coordinates of the main system where this bridge begins." Ratchet continued. Jack hadn't seen the old medic this excited since Bumblebee's voice returned, "This one is coming from Earth."
Jack was shocked, "How-?"
Ratchet interrupted him again, "That's just it! The coordinates clearly state Earth, but for the wormhole to be successful, earth would have to be functioning at an alternative frequency!"
Optimus frowned, "You mean to say that this 'Earth' is not the one we have come to know?"
The medic's cyan optics glowed bright, "Precicely! I-it's a miracle of science! An anomaly!"
"Woah, woah, woah, hold up." Miko stepped forward, digits pressing against her helm as if she had a headache, "What's this about 'not our Earth'? Isn't there only one?"
Ratchet tapped his helm with a grin on his faceplates, "That's where it gets interesting."
...
"Bring it to maximum power!"
The sound of electricity crackled throughout the entire underground chamber. Harsh shadows were cast across the cave as the white light shone brightly in the center of the portal frame. Optronix glared hard into the center of the light, not bothering to look away even as it blinded him with its intense glow. They were so close, so dangerously close.
"Sir, it's freezing over again!"
"Get away from the portal!"
From his position a safe distance away, the False Prime watched in disgust as the Autobot drones scurried about in a panic to stabilize the machine. Ice began to form in the center of the metal ring, spreading rapidly throughout the entire frame and onto the rock surrounding it.
The temperature dropped to zero.
Damn it. Optronix grit his sharp dentae, "Shut it off!"
...
Just as Ratchet finished talking, the white light vanished once more.
"Ah, there it goes again." The medic sighed, "At least I received a little more data to go off of."
"So, you're saying this is some sort of bridge to an alternate reality?" Jack was having a hard time grasping onto the concept, "Like Earth-3 from the Flash?"
"Spot on." Raf answered with a smile, "Just think of the possibilities!" The young mech trotted up to his friends, seemingly unfazed by the presence of Megatron and Shockwave, "There could be two of us there, but completely different! Each one of us would have a doppelganger there."
While the children conversed about the interesting subject, and the medic and scientist immersed themselves deeper into their research, Optimus Prime and Megatron knew they shared the same concern.
If this mere spark of light is from an alternate reality,
What was trying to open it from the other side?
Optimus turned to the former-warmonger and spoke in a low tone so that no one else could hear, "Megatron Prime, I have concerns about this new discovery that I would like to speak with you about... Privately."
Megatron was unfazed by Optimus's use of Iaconian and replied in his own native tongue, "The War Room should suffice, Prime." He had to admit, hearing the title of Prime after his own designation struck a chord of pride in the silver mech's spark.
However, the new Prime was still at unease as well about this anomaly.
Jack noticed the two leaders exit the Lab, but didn't think much of it. The two often left to discuss important matters amongst themselves.
There was a flash of agiationin his spark, but it vanished as soon as it came.
It scared Jack to realize that it wasn't coming from him.
Megatron was worried about something, and that was hardly ever good.
"I can see that this concerns you, Optimus." Megatron finding it safe to speak once the door shut, "It is safe to say that I too have my doubts."
The War Room consisted of a single table where Megatron used to plan his attacks on Cybertron. He didn't use this room very often on Earth and certainly didn't now, not with his title secure and Cybertron revived.
Optimus nodded gravely, "You understand the threat that this portal may bring. If we allow it to fully come to form, Cybertron may be in great danger as it was all those eons ago."
Megatron raised an optic ridge, steely blue optics questioning the taller Prime, "Are you referring to the War, or is there something else that I should know of?"
The red and blue mech's calm stance wavered, "When I was still an Archivist in Iacon, long before I met you, I came across a very old data cylinder dating back to the beginning of our recorded history.
"Inside of this cylinder contained five articles: a video log, a blueprint, and three files. From what I could gather in secret, this very disturbance in our reality has happened before.
"It will happen again."
Though his own EM field was pulled in tight, Megatron could feel the disturbance in the air. He simply had to know, "What happened last time?"
Nothing short of true fear shone in the younger Prime's optics, "Have you ever heard of the star cluster, the Glauxion?"
There was a pause."No."
"No one has. I only know that it existed before the first tear was made in the fabric of our reality.
"...Then, it vanished from the sky."