Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in the writing of this chapter, but while I did have the time to type over the long weekend I have become very wary of typing on my home computer. The last time I did the file ended up corrupted and I had to retype the last chapter from scratch. So please bear with me. And don't ask where the chapter title came from. I made it up completely randomly.

Disclaimer: I own Ultra Rodimus and Falcon. Everybody else belongs to somebody else.

Past and Future

Chapter 3: Future Echoes

To say that Ultra Rodimus was annoyed would be an understatement. In the space of a few hours he'd been ripped from his own time, held at gunpoint by a dead robot, forced to encounter everyone he'd wished to avoid, been revealed as a Matrix-Bearer by the damned crystal cue ball he carried, and now his predecessor was demanding answers from him while simultaneously using his powerful presence as Autobot leader in an attempt to awe him into telling whatever he wanted to know. No, Ultra Rodimus wasn't annoyed.

He was completely pissed off.

The anger and irritation that had been simmering in his gut all day, mostly from a conference with an obnoxious Tok'ra just before being yanked through the time corridor, began to boil. It oveflowed his control and began to rise like a tidal wave. As it rose it took in the annoyance at Prowl for pointing a weapon at him, the old pain he felt from Sparkplug's violent death, and his feelings toward his predecessor and became even stronger. He was hard-pressed to keep from blowing his top, but he knew he would if he didn't vent some steam. He'd been looking for a target since entering the command center, and now one had obligingly stepped into his sights. That it was Optimus Prime didn't matter one little bit.

Ultra Rodimus glared at Optimus. "I don't have to explain anything to you," he hissed.

Optimus looked taken aback. He wasn't used to being told off so bluntly. "You will tell me who you are, where you are from, why you are here, and why you radiate Matrix energy," he growled back, narrowing his optics. The sheer amount of Matrix power the stranger emitted was making him even more uneasy. Not even Alpha Trion had radiated so much power, and he had guarded the Matrix for eons.

Emerald eyes flashed, and some inner instinct warned the other Autobots to back off. Slowly, slowly, they slunk back, out of the line of fire, some ducking into sheltered niches, all of them still watching what was going on. Nervous optics went from their leader to the strange humanoid and back again, wondering what would happen next.

"And I just said that I don't have to tell you anything!" Ultra Rodimus snarled, eyes beginning to glow with his rising temper. Any of his Autobots would have recognized the warning signs and retreated, and some would have begun taking bets on how many words it would take him to verbally skin whoever had pissed him off. "Clean the scrap out of your audio receivers!"

Optimus's optics flashed. Something deep inside him was screaming at him to back off, to surrender and leave Roddy alone, but he ignored it. Which would probably be a mistake. Completely ignoring the telltale signs of a life-form on the brink of erupting, the Autobot leader proceeded to jump in way over his head.

"If you do not answer my questions then you will be locked in a holding cell until you decide to cooperate!" Prime snapped at him.

Wrong thing to say.

Ultra Rodimus erupted.

His eyes flashed brilliantly. Then he let Optimus have it, telling him very clearly just where he could shove his questions and continuing from there. Optimus staggered backward, staring at the much smaller humanoid and somehow gewtting the distinct impression that the man calling himself Roddy was actually a fair bit larger than Optimus himself. The hurricane of Roddy's unleashed temper crashed over him and nearly bowled him off his feet with its force. The other Autobots shrank back as far as they could go without actually leaving the room, staring at the impossible sight of their leader being verbally torn limb from limb. Several jaws were hanging open. Prowl wedged himself behind a convenient console, fervently glad that he hadn't been required to interrogate Roddy.

When Roddy's verbal assault finally ended, there was complete silence. Even the Matrix had stilled, as if it was laying low in an attempt to avoid notice. Optimus could only stare into furious green eyes, unable to say anything. Roddy's glare bored into him and made him feel as if he were being taken apart bit by bit from the force. Then Roddy turned and stalked back outside, spine as straight as a pole, the storm clouds hovering over his head almost visible, radiating the feel of 'approach and die'. The Autobots near the entrance did their best to make themselves invisble, but he ignored them completely. Once he was gone and safely out of hearing range, all eyes turned back to Optimus.

A faint cracking sound echoed through the silent chamber. Then Optimus's armor, every last piece, cracked and broke off, landing in a heap of red and blue metal on the floor around him, reduced to scrap by the force of the verbal flaying.

Optimus began to shudder.

For a long moment, nobody moved. Then Ratchet's head popped out from behind the main console. The medic took a careful look around, then emerged from hiding and walked over to Optimus. He circled the de-armored Autobot, then grunted and grabbed hold of Optimus's arm.

"I just finished repairing your carcass and now I've gotta replace your armor again," the cranky medic grumped. "Will somebody please sweep up that mess?"

Windcharger crept out of his hiding place, glanced cautiously around, and approached the pile of scraps. Using his magnetic powers he gathered them into a ball and carried it down the corridor after Ratchet. The metal would be recycled and used again. The other Autobots exchanged glances, then came back out into the open and resumed their interrupted duties.

Outside, Ultra Rodimus found a sheltered, hidden cavern, fairly small and full of boulders, in which to work off his temper. Sliding the Goa'uld ribbon device onto his left hand, he set about blasting boulders across the cave and/or reducing them to gravel. By the time he'd almost entirely cleared the cave, he'd let off enough steam that he was in no danger of another eruption, unless someone else started pushing his buttons. Turning his back on the heaps of gravel, all that remained of boulders the size of small buses, he stalked out into the open, found a suitable rock to sit on, leaned back against the warm stone, folded his arms over his chest, and brooded.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but from the position of the late afternoon sun it had been a few hours, when some inner sense made him look up, staring off into the distance. After glancing around to make sure nobody could see him, he morphed just enough to access his optic systems. His pupils went wide, then contracted to thin slits, then widened again as he made use of his telescopic vision. What he saw was a cluster of small dots flying toward the Ark. Shifting from the telescopic function to another, one that could see energy by using a very complicated combination of sensors and other equipment, he looked again.

The dots immediately lit up with energy. He instantly knew that they could not be of human construction; humans did not possess that technology yet. Nor could they be Autobots; Skyfire hadn't been found yet. Organic creatures did not radiate energy in the spectrum he was currently looking at. With a sinking feeling in his gut, he began to dig around in his CPU for a match to the energy patterns he was seeing. He got a hit almost instantly.

Decepticons.

Spitting out a heated swear word, he fished around for something to throw. He couldn't take them on; it would change the future and that he couldn't risk. Instead, he snatched up a rock, located one of the motion sensors, and threw the rock at it. His aim was perfect.

The alarms went off, startling everyone in the Ark's command center. Prowl pounced on the console, but couldn't find anything. Wary, he sent an armed team outside to find out what was going on. The call came through a moment later.

"Decepticons!"

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There was complete silence in Iacon's briefing room. All eyes were on the snickering group of Ark crew members. Even those who normally had wisecracks for everything were speechless. Those bots who had been part of the Ark's original crew were all grinning at the memory.

Magnus, at the head of the table, was staring at Jazz with his optics so wide Jazz was surprised they hadn't popped out and his mouth hanging open. He shook himself, managing to get his systems working again.

"He didn't!" the city commander blurted.

Jazz grinned even more. "He did."

"Ultra Rodimus told Optimus Prime to shove his questions up his..." Springer began.

"In a few more words and a much more detailed description of exactly how to do it," Mirage cut in with a snort. "It was amazing to hear. And I have the vidclip from Teletran 1 if you don't believe us."

Magnus nodded silently.

Mirage inserted the datachip into the data reader and activated the wall monitor. The assembled Autobots watched their leader take the hide off his predecessor and witnessed the aftermath, as Optimus's armor fell to pieces. Magnus choked.

Springer blinked several times, then tilted his head. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. He doesn't take slag from anyone, and he isn't the least bit impressed with authority. Didn't he tell Primus off once?"

"He did," Magnus confirmed, still trying to wrap his mind around his mate's behavior. "How did Optimus react?"

"He was a lot more careful about how he addressed Roddy," Cliffjumper commented. "Wisely tried to avoid setting him off again. But he didn't give up on trying to get answers out of him. He was just a lot more polite about it."

"What happened next?" Hot Spot asked.

Jazz took up the tale again. "A few hours later Megatron attacked the Ark..."

To be continued...

There's the next chapter for you. And if you're wondering just what happened to Sparkplug, you'll have to read the fic "Burning Skies". I would recommend that you read it with caution, though.

Thank you to all me readers for encouraging me to continue. I love you guys. Please continue to send reviews and I will continue to write.