The Diego Diaries: Inter Face (dd6 466)
Had a massive plot hole. Caught it before too long. Hopefully. :D:D:D:D:D:D
-0-On a balcony in another universe (the peaceful one)
"Sentinel."
Prowl of Mars gripped Springer's arm as he shifted to face the two big mechs standing inside the room. "What the frag? Sentinel," Springer whispered.
"Why don't we sit down and discuss this? This Springer is from my world and I can vouch for him," Prowl said.
Optimus stared at him, then nodded. He and Sentinel walked back into the suite and sat down on chairs. Prowl nudged Springer who followed him to a couch. They sat. "Tell him how you got here, Springer."
Springer did. "Now we have a situation, not just with this but with Ironhide and Drift. That doesn't even touch the problem of where the other Springer is, the one from Megatron's universe."
"We need to define this. It's confusing enough as it is. I've also given this some thought. Bear with me," Prowl said as he mulled the mess in his mind. He sat back. "I believe we have a Mobius loop here but there are a few things to consider before we think about that. Consider all dimensions existing in the same space but unavailable to each other because their energetic signatures are different. Its like a very great thick book, one with infinite pages, one with all the pages being different universes or dimensions, all of them laying next to each other but apart. We have three in play here. I'll call them the Peace Universe, the one that we occupy now governed by you, Orion," Prowl said.
Sentinel glanced at Prime with surprise but didn't say anything. Prime was listening closely so he turned his attention back to the strange yet familiar Prowl.
"The other is mine which I will call the Mars Universe. The last one where everything is backwards to our own, my own, that is, I'll call the Shattered Glass Universe. Consider the nature of all three. Yours is very high vibrational and thus, its peaceful and embracing. There's no want, war, crime, destruction, or corruption. Correct?"
Prime nodded. "Correct."
"Consider the remaining two. They know war, corruption, crime, injustice … it goes on and on," Prowl said. "Yet, there are differences even there. The Shattered Glass Universe didn't annihilate itself. They had a war but there wasn't apocalyptic destruction like our own. They didn't push all the buttons. We did. Therefore, their vibrational signature is higher than our own. They didn't have it in their own psyches to do what we did to the degree that we did and in the universal game they play, that wasn't on the table there.
"Consider the likes and differences. There are three Primes, one in each universe. There are three Springers and three Prowls. They have notable differences. They also have a lot in common. There are, however, no Ratchets, no titans, no Seekers, etcetera in your universe and theirs. That is, their titans aren't titanic and the Seekers don't exist. There is also a dichotomy with you, Sentinel. In our universe, you're such a fragger that the Pantheon and The One recalled you to end the terror. You exist in all three but your behavior is various depending on the focus of the life there.
"I can postulate … sort of," he said with a frown, "that in the book of dimensions and universes, my universe is probably page number 6, the Shattered Glass Universe is probably page number 12 and this one … its probably page number 22,000. The larger the number, the most likely you're a peaceful, socially advanced and energetically elevated universe. The lower, the worse off you are."
"Then we're low man here," Springer said with a trace of disgust, surprise and irritation.
Prowl nodded. "Yes," he said with the same tone. "As for the Mobius Loop … considered a strip of paper where you twist it 180 degrees, then fasten the ends together. No matter where you travel on it you end up at the same places, in this case, in time."
"I think I know where you're going with this," Springer said. "Just let me tell you that all the alternative slaggers back at the prison, the Shattered Glass slaggers are in deep stasis and are missing a few parts. If they were to be grabbed and show up here, don't activate them."
"That's a good idea," Prowl said. "It would appear that the three of us are caught in this, me, you," he said nodding to Springer, "and you, Orion. I don't think anyone else will be captured. Its a hunch and I don't have anything to lay on the table. The probability is just low in my calculations. Consider that Megatron exists in only two of the three universes and so does Ratchet. We're running on a Mobius Loop, heading in the same continuous circle."
"So we know what is happening in theory and who it might affect and why... how is this happening?" Sentinel asked.
They stared at him, Springer and Prowl, then Prowl shook his helm. "I don't know yet but everything in me leans toward the idea that someone is moving the strings."
It was silent in the room. Then Sentinel leaned forward. "Hazard a guess?"
Prowl considered that, then glanced at Prime. "You went to the Matrix earlier. I would rather have yours." It was at that moment that he disappeared.
-0-Wandering around the Peace Planet looking for a way out
Shattered Glass Springer stood on a corner in Slaughter City, a misnomer if he ever saw one. Nothing about it was the smelting pool capital of Cybertron. In fact, it was the opposite. There were beautiful buildings everywhere with glistening windows fronting tech buildings. The most important, delicate and hard to manufacture forms of electronics were made here. The work force was peaceful, well paid, energetic, and happy.
/ ...WHAT THE FRAG!? WHAT THE FRAG IS THIS PLACE!? WHERE THE FRAG AM I!? …/
His processor was reeling as he went from place to place and saw nothing he could recognize. Glancing around in all directions, unaware that those passing him gave him a wide berth due to his deeply flawed and negative energetic aura, he saw a bar nearby. He walked to it to get a drink. It was fortunate that they didn't have a monetary system here. He would be hard pressed to pay for the amount of booze he was preparing to drink.
-0-Mars
Prowl and Springer, those from the peaceful world far away sat on the couch in the diplomatic quarters they were given. It was beautiful, the food amazing, the drinks surprising, and the access to the informational databases of the colony and Empire beyond unabridged but for high security informational collections. They had toured the colony, sat in on bull sessions about the problem, then retired to this place for the night. If they were recalled to their own or someone elses reality, they were prepared to carry with them the information gathered here.
"What do you think, Prowl?" Springer asked as he sipped a beer. He lounged in a comfortable chair with his peds resting on an ottoman.
"I think we're somehow in a time loop of some kind," Prowl said. "I'm unclear about a lot but it feels odd that only the three of us come and go like this. If this was a vortex or something organic, I think there would be more. Their Prowl was the one who tried to forestall our downloads from their Teletraan, thus there is that connection however tenuous. You are less connected but part of the general staff. This feels a bit contrived to me somehow."
"By them?" Springer asked.
"No," Prowl said before he disappeared from the room.
Springer froze with surprise and shock, then stood up to gaze frantically around. He searched the room, then hit the comm link. "Springer to Prime."
"Prime here. Prowl is gone. My Prowl," he said.
"Understood. Stay there. I am sending someone to sit with you. If you go, take the data with you. Understand?" Prime said.
"Understood," Springer said with a mixture of hopefulness and paralyzing fear. He walked to the window to stare out and after a length of time he wasn't aware of a knock on the door drew him back. It opened and Drift stepped in.
"Prime sent me to stay with you," he said as he stared at a Springer but not his.
Springer who stared at someone with his son's face and nearly identical energy nodded. "Alright. Your Prime has a sense of humor."
Drift grinned slightly, then shut the door. He walked to the couch and sat. "He does. He's an amazing and holy mech."
Springer stared at Drift, then reached into the cooler at the bar nearby, tossing him a Praxus Black Label. He got one for himself, then walked across the room to sit in his chair again. "So is mine."
"Yours, I was told, is a god and says so," Drift said as he sipped the ice cold brew.
Springer nodded. "He is." It was silent a moment. "Somewhere else, you're my son."
"I heard that Ironhide was your bond. He's my atar here," Drift said.
They stared at each other a moment, then Springer nodded. "This is fragged."
"I think so," Drift said with a ghost of anxiety in his voice.
It was then that Springer disappeared. Drift disappeared as well. As he did, far away, Prowl of Mars disappeared, too.
-0-On a Shattered Glass World
Prowl of Mars stood at a balcony staring out at the world beyond. It was the Citadel and he was in his office. An office. Shattered Glass World. He was on Shattered Glass World. Whirling, he ran into his office, out the door and down the hallway to the Offices of the Prime. Bursting inside, he walked swiftly through the startled staff to the door that said, "Megatronus Prime, Prime of Cybertron and the Empire of Cybertron'. He opened it and stepped inside. The door closed quietly behind him.
-0-On a street in Iacon, a peaceful planet with a Prime who is a god
Peace World Springer blinked as all around him the night life of Iacon swirled. Running swiftly, he went down into a metro station, rode a train to his home district, then ran for his building. Entering then slowing enough to notice how everything was the same as usual, he went upward to his floor, then ran down the hallway to his door. Gripping the doorknob, he pulled it open. It was dark inside. Walking through his home, he glanced in to see his son sleeping. Staring at him with almost wild emotion, he hurried to the berth room suite he shared with his bond.
Opening the door, he saw that Ironhide was recharging. The dim light of the night filtered in through the huge windows, illuminating his form. He walked to the berth, then sat down. Stroking Ironhide's arm, jiggling him slightly, he watched as the big mech awoke.
"Springer … what are you doing here?" Ironhide asked.
"I'll tell you later," he said as he slid onto the bed and onto the startled body of the only mech he would ever love in the entirety of his life. They would be together for a brief wild interlude, then Springer would tell him what was going on. Somewhere there was a Springer, perhaps on this world who wasn't the one he knew. He was trapped and they had to find him. Getting up, rousing their boy, they walked out to go to the Citadel to deliver what was discovered on Mars far away.
Little did they know that they would find the Prime handling a crisis at The Residence nearby.
-0-Prowl of Mars
He stood on the deck of a ship from Megatron as they stared through the blasted hole that had been opened between his universe and that of Prime of Mars. There was a ship waiting to run him through it to Tennyson who was in place to guard the breach between dimensions. He turned to Megatron, then shook his servo. "I will take the information to Prime. Be aware that some of these creatures you gave us might take a right turn back to you."
"I will," Megatron said. "Give him my profound regards."
"It's my honor," Prowl said as he walked toward the vessel. It lifted off, flew through the slight turbulence of the rupture, then landed on Tennyson before returning. Prowl ran to the bridge room, then found himself standing on the desiccated plains of Mars. He knew he was there because the constellations overhead were obvious and familiar. Glancing around, he considered how far away from Autobot City he was, then commed Prime. "Prowl to Prime."
"Prowl … which one are you?" Prime's tense voice replied.
"Yours," Prowl said with almost too much emotion. "I'm stuck on the southern plains. Send someone to get me. I'll leave my distress beacon signal on."
"On our way," Prime said, then the signal went dormant.
The bond didn't. It felt normal and full. Then Prowl considered that. The Prime he had just left had an echo of it, a soft muzzy feeling on his processor. He thought it was a facet of the other universe but it wasn't. He had no deep and emotional bond link with his Prime's opposite. Another difference between the Peaceful Universe as Prowl was beginning to call it in his processor and his own, Mars. He filed it. Then he heard the sound of a shuttle coming down, then landing close by. The dust kicked up but out of it walked the concerned and ragingly beautiful figure of Optimus Prime. He reached Prowl and the two flung their arms around each other. They would hold each other a long time before walking to the shuttle to fly to The City. The dust would settle slowly and no one would know anything happened here.
-0-On the Peaceful Planet in the city of Slaughter City
Drift of Mars blinked as he stood in the lounge of a bar. No one noticed that he had appeared out of nowhere. He did, however, notice that at the other end of the bar, Springer … someone's Springer was getting shit faced and more belligerent with every drink he downed. Staring at him, Drift felt his tanks flip. This was going to be a very, very ugly scene, he thought, as he walked toward that end of the bar.
-0-TBC 9-10-18 edited 9-13-18
Hope that the notations of where and who help. :D I will SERIOUSLY get on the notes. I read every single one and they help me with this sort of thing a great deal. Your ideas and comments are the bomb. HUGS!