"A Fracture In Time: Part 1 Chapter 3" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master
email : rybreen@theberries.ns.ca
Approaching Project Gateway HQ, 23:30 hours
It had been an hour and a half since they had left Phoenix HQ for the site of Project : Gateway and judging from the way the convoy was slowing down it seemed that they had arrived at their destination without incident. Problem was her sensors weren't reading anything but burnt forest and mountains around them and from what she had seen of the complex in the hologram the base was enormous. Still she trusted the 'bots that were with her, if things got dicey they would put a sizable dent in Megatron's forces before they went to the Inferno.
After another five minutes Jazz, who was taking point on the convoy, came to a stop and transformed into robot mode. Quietly he signaled for the rest of the task force to do the same before seemingly walking into the middle of nowhere and pointing at thin air. Trying to get her mind off of the bizarreness of everything she transformed and began to check her particle blasters' power readings. It was a nervous habit she had picked up soon after joining the resistance and it helped her focus when she had to. Keeping an optic on the apparent commander of the force she scanned the immediate vicinity in case they had been trailed by a Decepticon cassette agent like Ravage. She had heard tales of how a team of resistance agents had tried to sneak into a Decepticon compound only to be caught unawares by the cat-bot. The 'Con alone wasn't that big a threat but he sure raised the alarm in a hurry and caused four out of the five team members to get vaped.
That is not going to happen on my watch. she thought to herself as she noticed that Jazz had finished pointing into the air.
The suddenly, as if from nowhere, a door materialized right in front of Jazz and opened revealing a corridor where there shouldn't be any. There was no rippling effect and no tell tale signs in front of the door that it had been used very often. Usually any type of cloaking device, no matter how advanced, gave itself away in some manner by either forgetting about footprints or light displacement. This was not the case here, this cloaking field was flawless and definitely ahead of its time which meant that this base was *VERY* important. Walking into the base with the others she was bombarded by the sight of some of the most advanced tech gear she had ever had the opportunity to look at. All about her she saw humans, Autobots, mutates and cyborgs walking about doing one thing or another without paying any of them any mind. That was unusual because she was sure that with a mission as important as the one she and the others were embarking on would cause others to look at them with hope in their eyes. They were probably doing the same thing she was, keeping their minds on the task and trying not to worry about anything else. After all she knew very little about the full implications of this mission and that was enough to cause her circuits to randomly misfire. These science boys must know every implication there was which meant that they must be barely holding it together.
The six 'bots continued to walk down the hallway until they came to a door that had four very well known 'bots guarding it. Snarl, Swoop, Slag and Sludge were standing in front of the doors and she would bet her last energon ration that Grimlock was inside waiting to scrap any 'Con who got in there. The Dinobots had made quite a reputation for themselves since their creation, slagging more 'Cons than any other 'bot she knew. The fact that they were guarding the door left no doubt in her CPU that behind that door was the temporal gateway that would be taking them to Cybertron four million years ago. Just as she expected Jazz stopped in front of Slag and apparently spoke a password or something since a few moments later the Dinobots stepped aside and let him enter. One by one each member of the team with her picking up the rear entered the room with the Dinobots giving each of them a thorough once over. Once inside the room she couldn't help herself as she gaped in awe of the huge arch in front of her right then.
It's incredible! she thought as she gazed upon the key to the mission that definitely looked much bigger in person then on a holo display.
For about a cycle her motor functions were on autopilot as she obliviously followed the 'bot in front of her. It was right then that she began to feel the enormity of what was going to happen in a few cycles and she was more than a little intimidated. In a few moments she and five other 'bots were literally going to be changing history as they knew it, render everything they knew unto nothingness. It was the uncertainty that mostly bothered her, the lack of evidence that would tell her that things would be better if they managed to save Optimus Prime. Would the world be better than it was now? Would the people she cared about still be around? These are questions which haunted Nightshade's mind as the line finally came to a stop and stood at attention in front of the 'bot whom she assumed was the project administrator. Surprisingly enough he was a human, or mostly so, who looked to be just about thirty-five years of age with brown hair and glasses. Personally she would have thought one of the Autobots would be the project administrator but the high council must have had their reasons for choosing him.
"I am not one for speeches so I'll make this quick and brief." , the human said as he walked back and forth in front of them, "My name is Dr. Chip Chase and I am the project administrator for Project Gate Keeper. You have been selected to compose the task force that will literally change history as you know it. There is however one important fact that I believe you should be aware of before we conintue with the briefing."
"As you all know by changing the past you will be erasing a critical factor in how things unfolded up until now which leads to the danger of a paradox. This means that by achieving your objective you will be erasing the past thirteen years completely", Dr. Chase explained calmly and slowly, "That means that without the procedure being handed out to you now you would be erased as well and the mission would be doomed to an endless loop of failures. Fortunately the procedure will prevent the paradox by altering your quantum frequency to match your destination date. You will become as much a part of the past as any other transformer on Cybertron at that time."
"This however will also force you to make a tremendous sacrifice." , said Jazz as he stepped out from his place and stood beside Dr. Chase, "By becoming a part of that time and changing it's future everything you have experienced for the past thirteen years will cease to exist. That means when the Autobots awaken in 1984 after we accomplish our mission they will not recall anything about this timeline or who you are."
"You will literally be an anomaly to them, a stranger with no past before the Ark's departure from Cybertron. For some of us though, those who were created during the course of this war on Earth, they will not be known to anyone outside the team." , Jazz said as he sympathetically looked at her for a moment, "I know that this is a great deal to ask of all of you but once we step through that time portal there is no turning back at all. If any of you have a problem with this I want you to speak up now and I'll try to make due without you on the team."
This was it! Her one chance to back out of the mission and perhaps maintain her life as it was here on Earth. For a split second she almost chose to leave the task force but then her warrior's spark roared with fury at the notion of taking the coward's way out. If she stayed here the mission might fail and she would be condemning her comrades to a losing battle against Megatron, hundreds of millions of sentient beings would suffer and die if she chose to stay behind. Then again if she went along with the mission and it succeeded she would still have sacrificed hundreds of millions of people because history will have changed.
In short I'm vaped if I do and vaped if I don't! , she thought to herself with a cross frown, Well if I'm gonna get slagged it might as well be for something worth while.
So as her answer to Jazz's questioning stare she simply stared back with determination and strength in her optics as well as on her faceplate. He grinned in response and she realized that he had hoped that she would respond in that way which gave her another reason to stay on the team.
"Very well then let's get the show on the road." , stated Dr. Chase as he activated a comm link on his cybernetic arm, "Dr. Straussmore? Set destination co-ordinates and begin powering up the gateway."
With that command a low hum filled the room and for several minutes nothing seemed to be happening but then the room shook violently causing the humans to fall over and the Autobots to steady themselves. It was just a gut feeling but Nightshade doubted that the shake they had all just felt was due to the gateway powering up. Looking up to what she assumed was the control room for the gateway device she saw that everything was a flurry of motion as scientists both human and Autobot worked madly at their controls. Suddenly the room shook again but much more violently and causing the lights to flicker signifying a disruption in the power grid.
"Chase to command center, what the hell is going on!?" Dr. Chase exclaimed angrily into his comm link.
"Springer here sir! The Decepticons have somehow managed to locate the base and the attack force is currently battering out defense shields!" came a tense voice from the other side of the link.
"WHAT!? Thats impossible! Who is in command of the attacking force?!" Chase asked as his stress level went up ten notches.
"Megatron." replied Springer and at that moment the entire room fell silent.
Jazz was the first to recover as he asked "Dr. Chase, how longer until the portal is online?"
"We need at least ten minutes to open the portal and another five before it is safe enough for your team to pass through." Chase replied as he continued to bark orders into his com-link.
"Can't you speed the process up any?" asked Sideswipe as he primed his weapon systems.
"Look bits for brains! Time travel is a delicate process and cannot be rushed!" , Chase yelled back at the scarlet transformer, "Not if you want to land on Cybertron in one piece with your spark intact."
"Then we'll have to stall the Decepticons until the portal is ready!" Nightshade declared as she brought her particle blasters out of sub-space and prepared to charge off into battle.
"Hold it femme 'bot! Have you forgotten just how important you are to this mission!?" Chase asked as he stepped in her path.
"No, but ...!" Nightshade replied with a bit of frustration as she tried to get around the human without hurting him.
"BUT nothing Nightshade! You stay here and get ready to jump through the portal the instant it stabilizes." , Chase said as he ran towards the door, "Let the rest of us handle the 'Cons."
Silently Nightshade fumed and her optics glowed a brighter shade of red as she watched the human leave the room. She did not like the fact that she had to sit here behind the front lines while a fierce battle was being fought outside. Still, she had her orders and thus was obligated to follow those orders to the letter no matter what her spark wished of her.
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Command Center, 24:05 hours
Ten minutes until the portal is safe to go through. Nightshade thought to herself as she watched the bolts of energy streak towards the center from the technological arches.
Her thought was then punctuated by yet another tremor as an explosion nearby ripped apart another part of the base. For the past ten minutes the base had been rocked by devastating blast after devastating blast with the energy shield having been knocked off-line within the first three minutes. Megatron must have assembled a pretty powerful force to take it down that quick which either meant that he wanted to make an example of them or he was determined to vape them completely. That caused her to frown as she tried to deduce what could make the all powerful leader of the Decepticons that determined to destroy a base like this. Obviously the numerous defenses that this base had would make him suspicious of what was inside but why would he come himself instead of assigning an underling? The circumstances were just not fitting with the profile she had studied in the Phoenix cell database and that just made her even more concerned.
Just then she heard what sounded to be some sort of explosion outside the doors to the room which was immediately followed by the sounds of lasers blazing. Frustrated at being able to do nothing to help those on the other side of the door she grabbed a piece of metal debris up from the floor and after setting one of her particle blasters to it's lowest setting began trying to weld door shut. Surprisingly Jazz hadn't tried to stop her or ask what she was doing but instead ordered Blurr to help her weld the door shut. That was a blessing in disguise since with his heightened speed they would most likely get the job done in half the time it would have taken otherwise. Through all of this she could still hear the sounds of the battle raging outside the room, blasters blasting and far off she could swear that her audio receptors could hear Megatron's fusion cannon firing. She prayed that whoever was on the receiving end of that blast would be granted a quick end but knew that such a demise was unlikely coming from the tyrant.
Five minutes later the door was completely covered up with pieces of scrap metal until it looked as though someone had slapped together a sloppy excuse for a wall. Hopefully it would last the five minutes they needed for the gateway to stabilize so they could get away and continue on with their mission. For a brief moment she looked up to the control booth where the humans had started the power-up procedure, wondering if the process was automatic or would require further manual adjustments. Suddenly it hit her harder than one of Devastators fists, if the Decepticons took over the base they could use the portal to twist the past into whatever image they desired. If that happened Megatron could easily figure out when they went and send forces to prevent them from altering the time-stream or simply preventing the Autobots aboard the Ark from even leaving Cybertron. Then with no one to challenge him on Earth he could lead the Decepticon forces here to Earth and conquer it without any effort at all.
Getting to her feet quickly she briskly walked over to Jazz and asked him "Sir? Permission to start positioning explosives around the gateway?" It took him about a minute to think about it but then he gave his permission to do so, albeit a bit reluctantly and he wasn't the only one. All but Blur also looked at her like they wanted to stop her but knew that they couldn't because they knew it had to be done. She guessed that none of them had really accepted the fact that they would be erasing their world in exchange for a better one, that they would never see their friends as they knew them again. Truth be told she was only starting to swallow what Dr. Chase had told her fifteen minutes ago herself and she would have given her right arm unit for just an hour more to adjust. That, however, was impossible because in a little over three minutes they would be jumping through that portal and leaving all they knew behind them. Taking another of her hand made explosives from sub-space she placed it next to another she had put near one of the power relays built into the arch that produced the portal. The idea was that when they went off they would create a power surge that would slag half the base and maybe if they were due for a miracle take Megatron with it. With a flick of a switch she activated the detonator's radio receiver and walked back to join the rest of the team.
"The explosives are in place sir. Half a cycle after the timer is activated the portal will explode hopefully taking out half the base and most of Megatron's forces in the process" she reported a bit more coldly then she had intended.
"Half the base!? What about those that are on our side that might still be inside the base?!" asked Sunstreaker who looked like he was ready to seek vengeance for those who had yet to die.
"Any who are still functional won't be for long with Megatron's forces slagging everyone in optic range!" , she replied in defense of her actions, "Besides the destruction of this time portal is more important! If Megatron got ahold of this his power would be immense and I believe that every resistance member would rather get vaped than allow that to happen!!"
Before Sunstreaker could form a reply to her argument the welded door to the room exploded outward with a fierceness, knocking half of them off their feet. Rolling with the falling Nightshade came back up in a kneeling position with both particle blasters aimed at where the door would be. No sooner had the smoke cleared then she saw who had blown the doors off and immediately felt the hunger for battle well up within her. The silhouette was that of one of Megatron's air force but the unmistakable red trim to the wings was unmistakable. She had wondered whether or not Megatron would bring him along but was infinitely pleased that he had come because she owed him some payback from a long time ago.
"Well, well, well! So this is what you rebels have been so secretive about!" stated the arrogant and high pitched voice of the Decepticon standing in the doorway, "I must say that I would never have thought you low lifes to be so clever as to make your own time portal. Megatron will be most pleased with me for securing this for him and apprehending you six for interrogation."
"Interrogate this Starscream!!" Nightshade yelled as she fired as fast as her blasters could go, hoping to hit something vital like his spark.
For the most part all but one of her shots missed as the Decepticon dove for cover behind a console, the only wound being to his shoulder joint. She grinned when he screamed out in pain, pain that she had caused, and shouted back threats of unending pain as retribution. Fortunately according to her chronometer there was only two and a half cycles left until the portal stabilized and Starscream's threats would be so much vapor. Firing standard volleys and ducking underneath her piece of cover debris she counted the seconds left before she could signal the explosives and dive through the portal leaving Starscream to an ugly end. She almost wished that she could wait a bit before leaving and taunt him with the fact that she had finally beat him but the mission had to come first.
Suddenly shots rained down on her from above and she was forced to scramble over to where the brothers Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were keeping safe. Looking up at where she estimated that the blasts were coming from she recognized the group that had taken to firing at her, the Combaticons. It made sense that they would be around here somewhere to back-up their creator Starscream but it didn't exactly make things any easier for the team down here. With the concentrated fire coming from them mixed with Starscream's from the direction of the door it would be almost impossible to make it to the portal without being tagged at least twice. She hoped that they would be able to eliminate at least half of them before the final cycle and a half ran out or none of them would be going anywhere without going away present. Just then, without warning, two of the combaticons flew through the glass separating the control room from the portal room and crashed to the ground in heaps. Looking at them in shock she noticed two sizable blast holes in each of them that indicated that they had been attacked from behind causing her to look up and see who had been their savior.
"I can't leave you alone for a second without you getting your tin can into a fix!" , came a familiar voice from the control room that was like music to her ears, "I got everything handled up here sis! Why don't you shut that loudmouth's voice transmitter for me? He's getting on my circuits!"
"Angelfire!?!? What in the Inferno are you doing here?!! More importantly *how* did you get here!?!" Nightshade asked as she saw the last of the Combaticons get a shot to the gut.
"You honestly think I'd let them ship you out to some mysterious address without finding out where it was for myself?" , Angelfire asked humorously as she fired a few shots into the hallway, "As for how I found you I put a subtle homing beacon in that chip I gave you before you left."
"WHAT!?" Nightshade exclaimed with shock and surprise.
"Hey, what didya expect? I'm just that kind of femme!" Angelfire replied as she ducked a blast from the hallway causing it to slice through a panel in the wall.
Nightshade grinned and shook her head as she traded a few more shots with Starscream before checking her chronometer to see how long they had before the portal was safe to pass through. She sighed with relief when the display read three quarters of a cycle and counting and fired back at her enemy with newfound confidence of the mission getting off the ground. All they had to do was stall the 'Cons for a few more seconds and then she could start the timers on the explosives before jumping to safety. With Angelfire guarding the control room and with her team keeping this door covered there was no way that they could be thwarted. Then, almost as if in answer to her unspoken challenge, the debris cover she had been hiding behind exploded sending her and the S brothers flying across the floor of the room until they almost hit the portal generator. For a few moments her optics flickered and she could not get a clear image of the force that had once again stacked the deck against them. Unfortunately that was not fated to last long as a few seconds later the self repair programs kicked in and restored her sight to optimum efficiency. When she saw the cause of the fluctuation in sight she almost wished that she had remained blind and disoriented. After all, at least then she would be able to maintain a hold on the hope she had left, the hope that was shattered by the Decepticon in front of her.
Megatron.
"Surrender rebels and I'll grant you a swift termination!" Megatron said in a manner that told them he did not care either way what they did.
Looking up she saw Angelfire crouching almost out of sight with blaster raised, no doubt trying to decide what to do and how to do it. From what Nightshade could determine Megatron had yet to notice her and from her sister's vantage point a once in a lifetime opportunity arose. She knew exactly what she needed to do, to get across to her sister but she had to do so in a way that would not give away what she had in mind. It was time to dabble in a little deception of her own and hopefully her sister would catch on in time.
"I wouldn't bet on it Mega-Ego!" , she declared as she got to her feet and walked toward him without an ounce of fear in her step, "In fact I think it would be in your best interest to clear out of here before you get vaped!"
"Oh and why is that rebel?" , Megatron stated sarcastically as he lazily pointed his fusion cannon at her, "Your forces are all but gone and now that I have control of this facility there is nothing that can defeat me!"
"Correction Mega-Jerk! Nothing but a hundred pounds of explosives planted at the power conduits to the portal!" , Nightshade replied as she decided to start her secret message, "All I have to do is send the SIGNAL to the detonators and no CPU in the galaxy could save YOU from getting VAPED!!"
Looking quickly up at her sister she smiled on the inside as Angelfire nodded in acknowledgement of the message and took aim at Megatron's head. All it would take would be one shot at full power and the greatest tyrant the world had ever seen would be sent straight to the Pit. She just had to keep the said 'tyrant' distracted for a few seconds more and Angelfire would take the shot designated by her. Hopefully the loss of Megatron would cause enough panic among the Decepticon forces to give the resistance time to regroup and evacuate the complex. Once that was done she and the rest of the task force could jump through the portal just after she triggered the detonators. Just a little longer and Megatron's software would be decorating the room with the entire resistance dancing on his empty shell.
"Hahahahahaha! Very amusing female but I don't think you have the bearings to destroy this base along with yourself!" Megatron declared as he took a single step towards her.
"True but then maybe I won't have to! NOW!!" she yelled and waited for the familiar sound of Angelfire's blasts firing off a full power shot.
Nothing happened.
There was no sound at all and she was sure that her sister had heard the signal so that left her wondering why she hadn't fired. Looking up at the control booth she saw her sister standing there, motionless, looking down at her with her blaster by her side. Why hadn't she taken her shot? What was she doing? Then a horrible possibility came into her processor, a possibility that almost crashed her software into oblivion. Had Angelfire led the Decepticons there and betrayed the resistance? No! No, that was too horrible to imagine about someone who she cared about and trusted as much as she trusted her own skills! Still how else could she explain what she was seeing before her, how things had gone straight to the smelter in a matter of seconds. Well if she was gonna get slagged she was going to take the as many of the 'Con's with her as she could, starting with Megatron!
"Oh don't look so distraught Nightshade! It wasn't your dear sister who sold out the resistance" , came a familiar voice from the control booth, "it was me!"
"ARCEE!!!! You're got fry in the Inferno for this!!" Nightshade yelled in a monstrous rage at the pink and white femme 'bot sporting a new Decepticon symbol on her chest.
"Then you can save me a spot because you're going there first!!" replied Arcee who shifted her gun from pointing at Angelfire to Nightshade.
It happened so fast that Nightshade couldn't move or perhaps she just didn't want to give the traitor the satisfaction that she was afraid of her. The blast however didn't hit anything vital, it just winged her in one shoulder and almost caused her to drop one of her particle blasters. She staggered backwards a bit but she soon steadied herself and continued to stare back at the turncoat with vengeance in her optics. She didn't reach up to cover up the wound, didn't try to deaden the pain, just stood there in defiance of her former comrade. She swore that right after she took out Megatron, Arcee would be the next one to get her software shattered by her particle blaster. Looking back at Megatron she saw that a sadistic grin had broken out on his face plate and that just infuriated her all the more.
"So rebel, any more threats?" Megatron asked in a taunting manner.
"I can still trigger the detonators on the explosives Megatron!!" , she declared with venom in her voice, "I may terminate but at this point I have nothing to lose and everything to gain from blowing us all straight to the scrap heap!!"
"Oh please Nightshade! We both know you won't do that, you may be suicidal but there is no way you'd be so selfish as to take others along with you!" Arcee retorted as she resumed pointing her blaster at Angelfire.
As if proving her wrong a blast shot into the control room from the hall and slammed into Arcee's back sending her down to one knee. From there things went incredibly fast as Megatron realized he was no longer covered from above and Angelfire saw an opportunity to slag the traitor before her. Looking at her chronometer she saw that the final ten seconds were counting down and quickly glancing at the time portal she could see the last of the fluctuations disappear. Looking at Jazz they both nodded in agreement that it was time to scram while the scrammin' was good and before Megatron decided to go for broke. Bringing both her blasters to bear she fired a volley of shots at Megatron, all of them hitting him in the chest causing him to stagger back a few steps. Motioning for the S brothers to go she watched out of her peripheral vision as they ran towards the portal and disappeared along with their footsteps. Quickly she fired four shots from each blaster at Megatron's midsection hoping that the pain would distract him long enough to do what she had to do. Storing the blaster in her left hand in sub-space she brought it to chest level with her chest and flipped open the master control for the detonators built into her forearm. Quickly she tapped in the activation code and grinned with satisfaction as the numbers began to count down from thirty seconds before turning back to her the threats in front of her.
Up in the control room she could see that Angelfire and Arcee had given up trying to shoot each other and were trying to scrap each other the old fashioned way. Brutally. At the same time she got her first glimpse at the 'bot who had saved her sister and gave the resistance the advantage back, it was Hot Rod. If she had the time she would have yelled at him that he was going to get in big trouble for following Angelfire to a top secret base without authorization. Unfortunately keeping Mega-Jerk from getting off a clear shot was consuming most of her time and there were still three more members of the team to send through before she could leave. While firing her particle blaster at Megatron she motioned for Jazz, Blurr and Blaster to head through the portal ahead of her. For a moment it looked like they would refuse her offer but then after a more insistent gesture from her they complied and jumped through the portal. That left only her to go through and she knew that she had to wait to the last possible second so as to make sure none of the 'Cons had time to follow her through before the big bang. According to the chronometer she had just under twenty seconds before the explosives would go off which meant that when the counter read five seconds she was going to go through.
Slowly but surely she began to back towards the portal, not in the least wanting to see if she could run across thirty meters in under five seconds and still make it to her destination in one piece. Unfortunately Megatron was slowly getting angry at the pain her blasts were causing and when a 'con got mad they didn't pay much attention to the self-preservation programming inside of them. With a fury that caused all on the receiving end to turn tail and run for cover Megatron fired his fusion cannon, not caring where the blast went. Unfortunately for her it hit right at her feet knock her onto her back with several of her systems flickering for a moment before coming back to previous levels. Right at that moment she wondered if this was it, if this was how she was going to go offline, flat on her back with an angry Megatron ready to atomize her. Personally she thought that it was a lousy way to die.
Leveling his fusion cannon at her Megatron declared "Give my regards to the Inferno, rebel!!!"
"Say them yourself Megatron!!" roared Hot Rod's voice and as one both Nightshade and Megatron looked to the source.
From up in the control booth Hot Rod had ceased laying down cover fire into the hallway and had launched himself into the air heading directly towards Megatron. The next few clics went by like hours as she saw Hot Rod, with a look of fury on his face, preparing to pound his target into scrap metal. Megatron saw this coming and began to bring around his fusion cannon to blast his oncoming assailant. She wanted to help him but the counter on the detonator beeped it's ten second warning and she knew there was no way that she could help her friend and join the others on the other side of the portal. She had to make a choice, both of which would lay the guilt on her something fierce and she knew that she had to make it quick. Taking in the entire scene as the seconds clicked away she could see Angelfire still locked in mortal combat with Arcee with both showing signs of damage. If she waited until the last possible second she
may be able to witness their triumphs before leaving this era and heading for the past. The problem is there was also a chance she could witness their destruction at the hands of the Decepticons and that would become the last image she had of them, two defeated allies. In an uproar of emotions that almost overloaded her circuits she shut her optics off, turned around, and ran towards the portal as the final seconds on the detonators clicked away.
Just as she began to touch the portal Nightshade screamed "I'll remember you always!!!"
Then she was gone, swallowed up by the nimbus of energy that was the portal, one second before the explosives went off causing a chain reaction akin to three thermonuclear bombs.
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Cybertron, Neutral Territory, 3,998,003 B.C
Nightshade landed hard on the steel ground and rolled with it so she came up on her feet and immediately began to put some distance between her and what was left of the portal. She wasn't entirely sure if the blast from the other end would make it through to this time but wasn't about to get slagged her first time on Cybertron.
"Fire in the hole!!" she yelled and waved at the others to follow her lead before it was too late.
About eight seconds later it happened, a steady cylinder of energy fired out and slammed into the metal ground vaping it before it had a chance to melt into slag. The shockwave though knocked everyone off their feet but fortunately it also gave them the extra push they needed to get to a safe distance. The blast of fire lasted for about thirty seconds before the portal destabilized and gradually shrunk until it blinked out of existence all together. Pushing herself up she winced slightly as the electronic version of pain registered reminding her that she still had a nasty shoulder wound given to her by Arcee. Hopefully just a little work with a standard repair kit would be enough to patch it up so that she could get on with the mission.
"I'll say this for you Nightshade, if we don't save Prime then at least you took a large chunk of their forces out back there!" Blaster exclaimed as he and Blurr looked down the hole the energy from the portal had made.
"Enough sight seeing 'bots! That blast is sure to register on the Decepticon's sensors and we'd better make tracks before they get here." , Jazz declared as he transformed into a hover car, "Lets transform and roll out!!"
One by one they transformed, some vehicle modes completely different from the ones they possessed on Earth while others simply hid their tires inside secret compartments. By the time they were all done she skeptically agreed that these changes would keep other 'bots from taking undue notice of them, at least from a distance. Bringing her speed up to 75 kmph she took up the rear of the group as they all proceeded to drive towards the first section of their journey. Unfortunately not only was it the first section but it was also probably the most unbearable since they would be flying just a few meters above the Cybertronian equivalent of a sewage system. She had briefly asked Jazz about it while they had waited for the portal to stabilize and he had said that it was the safest route to Wheeljack's lab since neither faction came too close to it. Both Autobot and Decepticon patrols pretty much steered clear of that spot since the chemicals present had a corrosive effect on their metal skin. The task force wouldn't have to worry about that since their outer skin was coated with a chemical solution that would give them limited protection. This meant that they would be able to avoid serious damage but wouldn't be able to push things by staying too long.
Good thing we'll only have to fly over it for about two hours. , Nightshade thought to herself with a wry grin, If we stayed any longer my processor would fry quicker than smelted iron ore!
Focusing her attention on the terrain ahead of her she could see that they were coming up on the beginning of the sewage dump and already she could smell the repulsive odor. Hopefully the coating would also keep them from smelling too bad when they left otherwise the 'Cons wouldn't need a sensor sweep to find them, they'd just have to follow the stench. With the distance between her and the edge of the dump shrinking the smell grew more repugnant and she silently cursed the top brass for devising this as an acceptable route to their objective. With only a few meters separating her from the sewage itself she braced herself for the smell that she would have to endure being less than a few meters above it for awhile. Soaring off the edge and dropping like a stone towards the sewage below she remembered one crucial fact that had previously slipped her mind. Unlike the sewage the humans had to deal with back on Earth the crap they had to deal with here on Cybertron was quite acidic which meant if you fell in you didn't come back out. Momentarily afraid that she could not be able to stop her descent she fired her vertical take off engines and pushed them to half strength.
"Nightshade! Shut off your jets girl! You'll ignite the sewage!" yelled Blaster who was currently in ghetto blaster mode on her front seat.
For a moment it looked as though she would not respond in time but the sewage got closer and his words sunk in she complied. Shutting down the flame centered engines she waited for the magnetic cushion to stop her descent and when it did she both sighed with relief as well as kept her eyes off the others. She had acted like a *slaggin'* rookie by firing her jets just a few moments ago, getting scared by something that could easily be dealt with and had been dealt with by the others. She bet that the others were already questioning her right to be on this team as well as picturing a few others whom they thought could have done better. They would also probably coddle her a bit if things got tough later and if there was one thing that she could not and would not tolerate was being treated like a weakling. That was the one thing she had sworn to herself that she would never be again soon after she had been first brought online years ago. It had been weakness that had allowed the Decepticons to defeat the Autobots after the Ark crash landed on Earth and it had been weakness inside Arcee that had caused her to betray them. Weakness meant death in wars like this and she would slag herself before she allowed herself to be seen as weak by anyone, whether they be friend or foe.
"Keep your sensors on passive scan 'bots!" , ordered Jazz from the front of the group, "Anything more powerful might bring unwanted attention in our direction."
Complying with the order Nightshade brought her sensors down low and kept their range within a hundred yard radius. It wouldn't give her and the others much of a warning but it would have to do since anything else would put out a higher energy output. So far as near as she could tell they were safe, no 'cons or 'bots in the area and nary a weapon emplacement in sensor range. If this continued the mission might very well go smoother than she had thought it would and perhaps put them ahead of schedule by a few hours. That would give them more time to figure out how they were going to get aboard the Ark without being noticed and stay there the whole trip to Earth. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had suggested simply taking the places of their counterparts in this time but Jazz had vaped that idea by bringing up the possibility of further temporal complications. Reluctantly all agreed since all of them only possessed a
limited knowledge of time travel and it's possible hazards.
Better not get ahead of ourselves. , Nightshade thought to herself as she rounded a turn behind Blurr, First we have to get to Wheeljack's lab so we can alter our quantum frequencies to match this time period. That is *if* it doesn't slag us instead!
Little did she know that it wouldn't be the process that would be doing the slagging for if she had focused her sensors or even her rear vid-cam she would have noticed that they were being followed.
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