Ok, so the last few chapters have mainly been focused around that one event but from now on it'll be one episode per chapter (at least until 'One Shall Stand'). Silver Sun, Chapter Five, Shadowzone.

"Time flies over us but leaves it's shadow behind."

-Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Chapter Five : A Zombie-Con And An Alternate Dimension

Things were quiet at the Autobot base - well, at least what passed for quiet there.

A normal day there was basically sitting around working on the computer while the rest of the team went on missions or scouting for energon. I was perfectly fine with that.

Speaking of scouts, Bumblebee had apparently made it his goal to avoid me at all costs.

Any time I saw him walking down the hallway, he'd instantly turn around and speed-walk the other way. When I tried to talk to him, he would make up some excuse and leave the room.

I didn't know why he was didn't want to be around me, or if I did something wrong. He didn't exactly say anything that would provide some guidance on what was bothering him.

That day wasn't any different...at least, not to begin with.

Then Ratchet called Optimus over to take a look at somehing on the computer and I knew something was up. To alter the words of Spiderman, my Cyber-sense was tingling. If you're wondering how I knew that reference, I watched the animated series of Ultimate Spiderman with Raf (they were less scary than the movies).

Since my work station was opposite my mentor's, I couldn't help overhearing their conversation.

"I had hoped that my growing knowledge on the subject would remain purely academic," Ratchet said, scanning the screen all the while, "But, though fate, this is clearly a Dark Engeron signature and it's moving fast."

"Megatron," Optimus guessed, edge lacing his tone.

I shuddered slightly at the mention of his name. Aftef our last encounter, I was anxious to avoid him and his army at all

Arcee walked into the room as they were talking, followed by Bulkhead, "Where'd he find more of the bad stuff?" She asked.

"And what's he gonna do with it?" Bulkhead added, "Create a new army of the undead?"

Miko immediately perked up, "Zombie-Cons?"

In retrospect, that should've been my first clue to keeping a close eye on her. Unfortunately, I didn't know that yet.

"We cannot rule out the possibility," Optimus decided, "Especially since Megatron seems to be heading to a familiar site."

He turned to the rest of the group, "Megatron has barely emerged from stasis and it seems he's already making up for lost time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Arcee, prepare to roll out."

Everyone but Ratchet began to make their way towards the bridge. The medic turned around in surprise.

"Me?" He questioned.

"If we are dealing with dark energon, we may require your expertise," He looked behind the computer at me, "Silver Sun."

I nodded walking over to the ground bridge control panel, "Ground Bridge operator, got it."

"Go get 'em Bulkhead," Miko absent-mindedly cheered, "Bring the hurt."

As if to support her point, Bulkhead slammed his fists together, creating a loud crashing sound that sound like a boulder had collided with a metal surface. The sound caused me to jump back a little.

Raf and Jack were whispering about something over on the couch as I typed the coordinates of the site into the ground bridge. I was wondering what Optimus meant when he said it was a 'familiar site' but decided to ask my sister about it later.

"Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone," Arcee smirked as she walked past.

"You stay out of trouble," I smiled back.

I activated the bridge from the computer controls and the team was through about twenty seconds later. Oh, I so wish that I had turned around sooner.

It was only two minutes after the bridge had closed that I realised how quiet the base was. No heavy metal, no TV, no arguing or videogames; nothing.

"Guys?" I called, "You ok over there?"

When no no reply came, I looked around the corner to check if the kids were ok. I found an empty seating area. That's when I began to have a small panic.

"Raf! Jack! Miko!" I called, frantically checking in the med-bay and the main room, "If you're hiding, it isn't funny anymore!"

I ran around searching for any sign of the kids. And I found one. Miko's pink cell phone was lying in the ground bridge tunnel. That's when I began to have a full blown panic attack.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," I stuttered, "No, this can't be happening!"

But it was happening.

I realised they needed to come back to base but they could've been trapped in a warzone for all I knew.

It was a not-very-well-thought-through plan and it would mean breaking my promise to Arcee, but I wasn't exactly thinking in that moment and the most pressing concern was making sure the kids were ok.

I activated the ground bridge, making sure that I was still connected to the controls so I could bring us back as soon as I found the kids. Transforming into my alt motorcycle mode, I sped through the ground bridge.

At the other side was (surprise, surprise) a battle.

The team was a little way ahead of where the portal had opened and hadn't seen me yet (luckily). I really didn't want Arcee to spot me and give me the we-will-talk-about-this-later look.

Best case scenario: I'd go there, find the kids and we'd all go home. Worst case scenario? Let's just say this was more or less it.

I was surprised to see Starscream there instead of Megatron - I'd heard stories about the stiletto-heeled Decepticon back on Cybertron.

I transformed and searched the canyon for the kids. Luckily, I didn't have to search that much.

"I can't BELIEVE you made me lose my phone!"

Miko.

"Uh, how is this my fault?" Jack asked rhetorically.

I turned around to see the three kids standing on top of a large boulder. Bulkhead muttered an 'uh-oh'. I guessed that the group had decided to look to see where the conversation was coming from.

"Silver Sun," Optimus called, causing me to spin around, "Send a ground bridge, immediately."

I could tell by his tone that he wasn't happy. Arcee's expression said all she needed to say.

Nevertheless, I ran as fast as possible over to the kids, opening the portal near them. Apparently, Starscream had called for a bridge too (seriously, when did the Decepticons get a ground bridge?) because another portal appeared a few yards away from ours.

"Two?" I wondered aloud as I stopped near the boulder the kids were on.

"You four, into our ground bridge! Now!" Ratchet ordered us.

You didn't have to tell me a second time. But you did have to with Miko. Realising there probably wasn't time for an argument, I scooped up Raf, Jack and Miko in both servos and carried them to the bridge as fast as I could go without them falling.

Starscream sprinted into the 'cons' bridge, grabbing onto his right arm, which looked like it'd been blasted off.

The relief of arriving at the portal didn't last long though. To this day, I still can't be sure of what happened. All I remembered was a sudden bright glow, like an explosion, feeling some kind of force pushing me to the ground and knock me unconscious.

"Silver? Silver Sun, wake up!"

My optics quickly onlined at hearing Raf's distressed tone. The youngling stood next to me, worry donning his face.

Everything seemed a bit more grey than it did before, but that could've just been the result of smoke from the explosion.

I bolted upright. Strangely enough, I felt...fine. I would have thought that the explosion would've caused some sort of injury but, from what I could tell, everyone was safe. The team looked alright and the kids, although a little shaken, got up off of the ground.

Despite that, I had to double check.

"Are you guys all ok?" I asked, a little bit frantically now that I think about it, "Are you hurt? Any headaches? Explosive burns? Blunt-force trauma? Bruises? Scratches on armour?" I paused for a second, "Ok. Maybe not the last one."

"We're fine," Jack replied simply.

Bulkhead steadily pushed himself up from the ground, the rest of the team following in suite, "Uh, w-what just happened?" He groaned, turning to Ratchet for some form of an explanation.

The medic grumbled, "Can't be sure but, if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates cross streams, the feedback could've triggered a system overload."

"Could?!" Miko exclaimed, "Hello! More like totally did."

I silently rolled my optics at the girl. She really needed to think about what she said before saying it, especially after sneaking through the ground bridge and getting us caught in that mess in the first place.

"The kids and Silver Sun made it through, right?" The Wrecker continued.

In reflecting, that should've been clue number one. We were literally standing right in front of them and they couldn't see us.

Huh? I thought.

Though, Miko thought it out loud.

"What're you talking about?" Jack asked as the girl marched up in front of her guardian.

"Bulkhead, we're right here!" She told him, obviously irritated by his not knowing we were there.

Optimus switched on his com-link that was connected to the one at base, "Silver Sun, are you and the children back at base."

Of course no one was there to pick up the line, so all he got in response was a bunch of static.

Arcee quickly turned on our private comm, "Sis? You there?"

I was a little worried that the group couldn't see us, but decided to reply using the comm, "Copy that, Arcee. The kids and me are literally right in front of you guys."

But I got the feeling that she couldn't hear me.

"Silver?" She tried again, "Seriously, you have to pick up the line."

"Arcee, we're here," I repeated, raising my voice to check she could hear me.

Nothing.

She exchanged a concerned glance with Optimus.

"No sign," Ratchet said, looking straight through us.

Miko was really angry now, "What? No sign? Ok, seriously, Bulk?"

But she was cut off as the green mech stepped right through her, very literally. Miko screamed and stumbled back, luckily caught by Jack.

I didn't have a single clue of what to think. We were there, but at the same time not there. It made no sense at all.

"He went right through you," Jack noted, "We're not alive."

Raf looked panicked, "I don't want to be a ghost!"

"This is not good," I murmured, "This is so not good." I stopped, "Wait, how come you guys can still touch each other if we're supposed to be not-alive?"

The team began to move ahead of us. I picked up the kids and carried them towards where they were all heading.

"Ratchet, could the children and Silver Sun have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?" Optimus suggested.

Ratchet shook his helm, "Not likely. If Starscream hasn't arrived at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. They may have simply been bridged to an unintended destination."

"Another place but...in the same place," I spoke quietly.

Jack looked at me, confused, "What do you mean?"

"We're probably in a different dimension," Raf explained.

"The same place but in an alternate reality," I added, "Like a...Shadowzone."

Miko rolled her eyes, "Uh, nerd alert."

The team had stopped near the ditch in the ground, so large it was almost like a chasm. Optimus searched the grave for any sign of Skyquake.

"It looks as though Skyquake's tomb is empty," He concluded.

Bulkhead was a little confused, "How could we miss Skyquake rising-and-shining?"

"It would seem Starscream got what he came for," Ratchet said regrettably.

There was a pause before Optimus once again spoke, "Another matter for another time. Right now, our priority is locating Jack, Miko and Rafael. Ratchet, are you able to bridge us back to base?"

The medic nodded and began connecting himself to the remotely-controlled ground bridge.

I was trying to figure out the best course of action and suppress a panic attack when I suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of metal scraping against stone.

From the other side of the large boulder we stood next to came a figure, twice as tall as I was. His armour was scorched black with tears and falling bits of metal. An amethyst purple shone from his optics.

His barely-held-together frame moved at a slow pace towards the Autobots.

"Is that...?" Jack trailed off.

"Yeah," I whispered, "That's Skyquake."

I only knew about him by reputation and his being documented in the database at Iacon. But it wasn't exactly hard to put 'empty grave' and 'reanimated Decepticon' together.

The kids optics widened as Miko shouted, "Zombie!"

I had no idea of what to do, so I just put the kida down behind the boulder and ran to where the team was. It seemed to be where the 'zombie' was headed. The other Autobots didn't even seem to notice Skyquake as he moved towards them.

"Guys! Look out!" Jack tried to yell to the team.

"Bulkhead!" Miko shouted with as much volume as possible.

"It's right behind you!" Raf called.

"Arcee! Skyquake's there!" I screamed to my sister, trying to run up to her.

But the team didn't hear us.

Skyquake rose his taloned servo in the air, directly behind Bulkhead. However, as he slashed at the Wrecker, he was met with the thin air. His attack went straight through him.

That meant...

"Oh no," I murmured, slowing my run.

The team continued to walk through the bridge. It closed behind them, leaving no trace.

Miko didn't exactly get the full concept though, "Awesome. He can't touch them either!"

The Zombie-Con turned around to face us as soon as he heard her words. We were standing only around fifty metres apart, which may sound like a lot to humans, but when you're in a different dimension with a zombie, no amount of space is safe.

Yeah, that's our cue to leave, I thought as I edged away from the Decepticon.

He began to move closer to me.

"Jack, Raf, Miko," I spoke as calmly as I could with a resurrected Decepticon approaching me.

"Y-Yeah, Silver?" Jack answered.

"Get ready."

"Ready? For what?"

I waited a a few seconds. As soon as I was sure of the plan, I spun around on my heel and sprinted towards the kids. I picked each of them up before making a run for it.

No idea how, but I literally jumped over rocks and boulders to get away from that guy. I don't know what the chase was like for the kids, but I can say for sure that it can't have been comfortable.

I was acting a bit panic-mixed-with-heart-attack.

"This canyon is going on forever!" Miko complained.

I would've told her that it wasn't the biggest concern, but it kind of was up there.

We were a little way ahead of Skyquake now. I had to rest though. I set the kids down next to em as I slumped against a boulder.

"Silver! My glasses!" Raf cried, "I can't see without them!"

"Ugh. What are you, ninety?" Miko tormented.

"Not helping," Jack told her.

Turning back, I spotted Raf's glasses. I also spotted how far they were relevant to Skyquake so that wasn't happening.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, Raf, but that is way too dangerous."

Miko did not look impressed, "Dude, you're a giant robot. How can you not fight?"

I closed my optics, trying not to scold the girl, "This is not what I was trained to do, nor is it what I want to do."

"Ugh," The girl scowled, "Fine. I'll be the hero."

Before I knew what was happening, Miko dove out in front of Skyquake, snatching Raf's glasses from the ground and dodging several attempts of being crushed. She ran back to us, smirking triumphantly.

Miko handed the glasses to Raf, "Here you go, Gramps, now lets go."

I took the hint and picked the kids back up again, running from the Zombie-Con.

"Maybe we could set a trap," She suggested, "Try to crush it!"

Raf dared to glance back before turning to Miko, "With what? Nothing around here is solid except for us and the ground."

"Silver Sun can't run forever!" Miko pointed out. She was right, "But maybe we can all hide!"

I made a sudden turn into a dead-end gorge that would've been the perfect hiding spot. Setting the kids down, I gasped for air after all the running I had just done.

"That...was intense," I said, pausing between breaths.

"The best thing about zombies?" Miko rhetorically asked, "They're slow."

I disagreed, "Well, before today, the best thing about them was that they weren't real."

Before Miko could reply, a tune began to play from somewhere close to us. We all stopped, trying to figure out where it was comig from.

"Jack," Raf said, "Is that your-?"

"PHONE!" All of us yelled at once.

The teen answered the phone like our lives depended on it, because they did.

"Hello? Arcee?" Jack spoke.

"Jack...can...hear...?" I heard Arcee's voice over the line, but it was scrambled and with way too much static.

Jack tried again, "Hello? A-A-Arcee?" He gave up when she hung up the line, "Nothing."

Miko rolled her eyes, "Gee, imagine that. The fourth dimension has lousy cell phone connection."

"But the phone rang, though," I realised, "We're getting a signal. That's something."

"Maybe the Autobots can't see or hear us because we're moving at hyperspeed or something," Raf suggested.

Jack thought for a moment, "Do you think that they could read us?"

I knew what he meant, "Texting? Maybe."

"Text me!" Miko told Jack, "If my phone's back at the base, maybe they'll see it."

That's when I heard the familiar sound of metal scratching the stone ground. With reluctance, I spun around to see Skyquake-Zombie-Con staring straight at me.

"Hey, Jack," I gulped, "Can you type and run?"

"But he's blocking the exit," Miko pointed out.

It was a rash decision, but in that moment I had no time to think. My only priority was protecting the kids. And hey, if rash decisions hadn't gotten us offlined at that point, it must've meant fate was on our side.

I inhaled, "Listen. I'll create a diversion. When I tell you, run."

"Wait," Jack stopped, "What do you mean 'diversion'?"

"Just trust me," I told him, "Run fast, run far."

Without waiting for a reply, since the zombie was almost right in front of us, I began to run straight for him.

"Run, now!" I called to the kids.

I could only hoped that they had listened as I raised my arm and thrusted it forward. The punch got the Decepticon in the face (which I could barely reach). The hit got him square in the jaw. He stumbled backwards a bit as I grabbed my servo quickly.

"Scrap, that hurt!" I cursed.

"Silver, we're ok!" Raf shouted to me from behind Skyquake.

I knew I didn't have long so I just decided to to run for it.

The kids were a bit if a way ahead of me, just turning the corner. I was about to run after them when something sharp slashed at my side. It wasn't exactly a mystery to know what it was. Whatever the case, I forced myself to sprint away from Skyquake's grasp.

There was so much pain in my side and so much energon was leaking out that I just wanted to collapse to the ground. Unfortunately, if being alive was my plan, that wouldn't have tied in so well with it. Not to mention the kids' safety.

Turns out, I didn't need to worry about them.

When I stumbled around the corner, they had apparently found a helping hand...quite literally.

They were standing next to Starscream's arm, trying to roll it onto the side. It must have gotten lost in the shadow dimension too because the kids were trying to fire a missile at Skyquake.

"Hurry up, Silver!" Raf yelled.

Ignoring the pain in my side (not a figure of speech), I tried to increasing my jog/walk pace. Luckily, Miko was right: Zombies were slow.

I finally managed to reach the kids.

"We've got one shot," Jack didn't take his eyes off of the corner where Skyquake would soon emerged from around, "We need to make it count."

At his last word, the Zombie-Con appeared to have been summoned. He dragged himself across the ground.

"N-Now?" I asked hopefully as Skyquake neared dangerously close to us.

"Now!" The oldest boy replied, pulling the trigger.

The missile shot through the air like a bullet (I guess it kind of was a bullet, but you get what I'm saying). It collided with the Decepticon's armour, creating a cloud of grey smoke in it's wake.

Miko was the first to celebrate, "Ha! How do you like us now?" She boasted.

Bad move.

Skyquake's sharp-taloned servo emerged from the cloud, swatting away the smoke. An energon-curdling roar followed as his face appeared. The missile had done no damage whatsoever.

Well...almost no damage.

Sparks began to fly from the Zombie-Con's arm. The joint connectig the upper part of the arm to the lower part snapped in two.

Now, I can't explain what happened next, but the part connected to the hand somehow began to move. It propped itself up, walking on its fingers.

It honestly was like something out of a horror movie.

My reflexes must have kicked in as soon as the arm started skittering towards us. I immediately transform into my bike mode, ignoring the leaking energon.

"Everyone, on!" I ordered, "Quick!"

It was sort of like one of those high-speed chases from the Fast and Furious movies (I only know what those are because Miko and Bulkhead watched them sometimes along with Jack and occasionally Arcee).

I was going faster than I actually knew I could go. Not gonna lie, I felt a little bit like Dominic Toretto. It was barely enough to outrun/outdrive the Zombie-Hand.

Miko glanced back at the servo in shock, "How can a zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie?"

I skidded to a stop though as we came across a familiar object: Starscream's arm.

"Oh, come on," The girl remarked, "This place is like one big merry-go-round!"

"At least we're safe here now," I said optimistically.

Curse my optimism.

A scratchy, irritating voice came from in front of us, "Skyquake! Your master summons you!"

I scowled inwardly. It wasn't enough that he had degradated the grave site of a fallen warrior. He now wanted to claim ownership of the mech, like a slave?

I may not have been a fan of the Decepticons, but no one deserves to be treated as though they are an object.

"How'd this creep get into our dimension?" Miko whisper-shouted.

"He didn't," I realised, "He can't see us."

Miko's eyes widened as she looked back, "Forget Starscream. Silver, we gotta drive...some more."

You didn't have to be telepathic to know why she was so panicked.

I began to drive towards the Decepticon Second-In-Command (there's a sentence I never thought that I'd say). That's when a portal appeared in front of us. Again, I stopped.

"A ground bridge portal?" Raf wondered aloud.

"That has to be our way out of here," Jack said.

I hesitated, "But if we go through it, we'll run right into Starscream."

"Dude, it's the Shadowzone or reality!" Miko yelled at me.

"Ok..." I reluctantly started the engine, "Hang on."

They listened. Even Miko, for once. I sped forward just as the Zombie-Hand was about to reach us. Somehow, I managed to swerve around the Decepticon (the alive one) and zoomed as far away from the portal.

I'm guessing that Skyquake's arm must've followed us through because the next sound that came was Starscream, screaming for the appendage to unhand him.

Arcee, Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead appeared from another bridge near where I was driving to.

"Jack, Miko, Rafael, Silver Sun, into our ground bridge, quickly," Optimus called.

Ten seconds later, we were back at base, leaving the Zombie-Hand for Starscream to deal with.

"So," Ratchet began as he bandagthe wound on my hip, "Whose clever idea was it to allow the children to go into a warzone?"

Optimus looked disappointed in me. Arcee looked disappointed in me. Pit, even I was disappointed in me.

"I-I'm sorry," I apologised, "I wasn't watching them properly."

"But it's not Silver's fault!" Miko cut me off before sighing and her gaze dropping to the floor, "Look...if you're gonna blame anyone, blame me."

Jack looked in shock, "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? A couple dozen times?"

"What you endured is lesson enough, Miko," Optimus forgave.

Bulkhead handed Miko her phone, "Here you go. Too bad you didn't get any pictures."

"No worries," She replied, "I think after today I'll have zombie close-ups seared into my brain."

"You're not the only one," I joked.

Miko smiled before looking up at me, "And I'm sorry to you too, Silver. If I had just listened, you wouldn't 've been hurt."

"Don't worry about it," I smiled, "The important thing is you've learned your lesson and you're never going to go on another dangerous mission again, right?"

The scary thing was that she never gave me a reply, just a smirk; a silently-plotting smirk. Deep down, I knew that she wouldn't. I guess I was just an optimist.

Arcee decided not to get into a huge fight about me staying back at base, especially since it was to keep Jack safe.

But that wasn't just for his benefit.

I'd already watched my sister lose two partners. I didn't want to see that happen again.

So we got back to our regular dimension, zombies stayed in horror movies and life was normal once again.

Just kidding; life is never normal when you're an alien fighting an intergalactic battle.

That one was pretty cool.

Why's Bumblebee avoiding Silver Sun? Maybe we'll find out in the next chapter.

I was seriously dreading writing this one, but hey, it got out on time so win-win.

I'll try to add in my own parts to the episodes instead of sticking to the script but I have no idea what to do for 'Operation Breakdown'.

Enjoy my OC's story :-)

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