The Diego Diaries: Cloudy Phase Six (dd8 2)
=0=Conference room in Ops Center on Mars
Megatronus sat and so did most of his mechs. Some leaned against the wall, staring at Prime with the same faint cognitive dissonance that the Autobots stared back at them.
The Autobots … perhaps more.
The faces staring at them belonged to the most dangerous and terrifying mechanisms ever created. Black Shadow, Blue Bacchus as a non-sixer ride along and thus very dangerous in his own right, Six Shot, Killmaster, Heretech and Overlord were as uncomfortable in the appraising silence as the Autobots.
"What do you mean? We've heard what you've said but I think it might be good to know more," Overlord said.
Orion who had nothing to say glanced at Prowl.
Prowl sat back regarding all of them for a moment. "Our Megatron is an egomaniacal madman. He doesn't want just loyalty. He wants obedience without question and his orders followed to the last possible syllable. No matter how terrible and monstrous the orders, he wants them obeyed. Killing children, babies, elders, planets … it doesn't matter. He had these shock troops created from among his elite personal guard.
"They're created using the metallic detritus of the event horizon of a black hole. Its called ununtrium," Prowl continued.
"There's only one group that harvests it and is able to come and go from it. We don't know how they do it but we trade with them ourselves. You can't speak to them directly and they live on what I believe must be ships of some kind that perch near the event horizons. How they aren't pulled inside, I don't know but if you come too close they'll pull farther in to hide from you and if you try to follow, you'll disappear, not them."
"They must be in some kind of phase realignment that prevents the effect from happening," Megatronus mused. "Perhaps they're not from this universe or dimension."
"It could be that," Perceptor said. "We've tried to study them but our sensors read nothing as occupying the space where their ships are visually located. That could theoretically be the result if they're out of phase with this dimensional construct."
Megatronus nodded, then glanced at Prowl. "Please go on, Prowl."
"They rebuild the mechs who are to become these individuals. They replace a lot of things. They also give them a personal sized reactor that creates unlimited energy which allows them to hunt without stopping to refuel. They can go on forever and many are the mechs who've been known to hunt their targets for entire years at a time.
"The ununtrium is used to create personal armor and its inlaid onto their bodies after their own armor is reduced to the finest thinnest layer. Its applied molten hot," Prowl said.
Every one of Megatronus's mechs gasped including him.
It was silent a moment, then Prowl continued. "All of them are unstable to start with and with this process it takes what's left of their conscience away and kills it," Prowl replied. "Because of their armor, enhanced abilities and specially designed and crafted weapons they're intensely dangerous and difficult to neutralize. They can't be destroyed by conventional means and one by themselves is enough to lay waste this entire world. Many already have.
"One of them destroyed a world killing three billion individuals. One destroyed over 3,000 Autobots in a battle and bested both Ultra Magnus and-"
"Me," Orion said quietly. "He bested me."
Prowl glanced at him a moment, then leaned in off line. :How do you know that?:
:I do not know but I do: Orion said.
Prowl stared at him, then the pensive solemn faces before him. "He did. He's a super warrior and he has a counterpart here among you. In fact, I have to tell you that this warrior is called Black Shadow, he runs with a mech called Blue Bacchus who he'd kill in a spark beat if he had to and all of you, every one of you is counterpart to a Warrior Elite as well."
They stared at Prowl, then Heretech shifted uneasily. "Then our shadows here if I may say so are these creatures? All of us?"
"All of you but Blue Bacchus. He's a wannabe follower of Black Shadow but didn't have the process. We have him in lock up and Black Shadow in stasis. He came here to destroy this planet and everyone before taking out Earth afterward but even Megatron wasn't a fool. He didn't want them infallible in case they got the idea that he wasn't needed. He had a stasis code implanted and if its spoken in front of them then its over. They fall into a deep stasis and it takes a doctor with skills to unlock them," Prowl said.
"I remember faintly you mentioning this in the beginning but I forgot. Things have been busy," Black Shadow said. "Then Ratchet would have the requisite skills to bring them back, someone like him?"
Everyone glanced at Ratchet who smiled brightly and waved his servo. Snickers greeted that.
"Blue Bacchus is my bond," Black Shadow said. "For the record, that would never happen. All of us are as far from being them as can be imagined."
Prowl nodded. "That's the intriguing part of paradoxes. Its also why I hate paradoxes."
Megatronus grinned slightly. "You have that in common with my Prowl."
"Then they need the codes," Orion said as he glanced at Ratchet.
Ratchet WIFI-ed the codes to everyone in the room. "Even Megatron wasn't guaranteed loyalty from them. Its simple. Get within hearing range and say, 'Reset: Pi-Orion-Actual-Orbit. Enable.'The fraggers will fall on their faces. Xylon aka Rotor is no exception. The last thing Megatron wanted was to have to look over his shoulder all the time."
"Well, we may share the same face but not the same outlook and goals," Megatronus said. "We will have these codes ready. What if they're broadcast? What if we broadcast them over the airwaves? Does it take being present to make this effect?"
Ratchet considered that. "I don't know. You have to say it clearly and he has to hear it. Maybe broadcasting will be enough but I'd hate to find out. If this isn't done properly he'll be tipped off."
Megatronus nodded. "Very well," he said, then glanced at Orion. "I am delighted that you have accepted my invitation to our first Festival as free mechs and femmes. I do believe that having our greatest benefactor and friend accompany me in the Processional and then into the Temple itself will be a good thing for my people. We are making good progress in finding reconciliation but having you by my side will help in a very incalculable way, I believe."
Orion nodded. "I will be honored, Lord Megatronus."
He grinned at Orion. "That is still a work in progress, getting used to hearing that title spoken thus."
Orion grinned slightly. "You will not be alone in that respect."
They chatted a bit, then the big mechs and Megatronus walked with Orion and the Autobots to the bridge down below. Stepping through it, they were home in seconds. It was silent in the bridge room a moment.
"We must catch this one before anyone is harmed. It would be a very bad thing for him to harm Megatronus," Orion said.
Everyone agreed as they filtered back up into the world beyond and the endless duties of empire.
=0=A Temple in a world of peace and tranquility
He stood before the Allspark after accessing the Temple alone once more. He had thought about how to access the realm with Prime without starting a mobius loop of time in which they once again rotated between universes. He was going to try something He had considered from the two mechs who had somehow ended up in his home in a state that he was still trying to figure out. He could see them in a mirror but he couldn't see him otherwise.
Odd, that.
He began to say the words that would allow him to come back to the Matrix where He could make things happen not only on His own world but across dimensions. Thirteen was a multiversal singularity and an original Prime. He was skilled, clued in and confident, three things that Orion Pax was only faintly coming to feel himself.
=0=In Prime's office on Mars
"You said you remembered that fight. How can you remember something that you haven't experienced yet?" Prowl asked as they sat in Prime's office having a snack and tea break.
"I do not know," Orion replied. "I just faintly remember this event. Not in great detail but enough to converse a bit."
"It would appear that you're remembering events that happened later in your life. I don't know what this means," Prowl said.
"Time exists at the same moment everywhere, past, present and future. It does not run in a straight line with yesterday, today and tomorrow in a row. We have 'now' always. We never have past or future because one is finished and the other never comes. There is only now," Orion mused.
Prowl considered that and as he did he froze. A mirror in the back of the room, a full sized mirror placed on the wall to make the room look larger given it was underground had caught his optics. He stared at it with a growing look of alarm.
Orion stared at him, then the mirror. He jolted, then stood.
In the mirror staring back at them stood a beautiful brilliantly silver mech. He was Optimus Prime.
He was the Prime known as Thirteen.
=0=A moment before
He stood in the drawing room of the house that Micronus Prime utilized with Onyx when they were in the vicinity of the place where the consciousness of Their father-creator, Primus slept in this dimension. Thirteen had come to the Matrix, walked down the lane through the forest of plants and trees that were Cybertronian before entering the house without knocking.
Micronus was there. "Hello. What took You so long to seek Me out?"
"I assumed You were busy," Optimus aka Thirteen said.
"You wish to speak to the youngster," Micronus said.
"I do. I wish to understand more about this conundrum. I wish to understand something about codes that render inert dangerous mechs, one of whom is roaming my own home," Thirteen said.
"You will have to ask Prowl," Micronus said. "I can't step in and 'meddle'. I can only organize and 'suggest'."
Thirteen grinned. "What? You meddle?"
They chatted a moment, then Thirteen turned to a wall of mirrors in the far end of the room. He reflected upon it and after a moment of thought so did Prowl and Orion Pax. He waited for them to notice as He studied both.
=0=There at the same moment
Prowl stood then stepped in front of Orion. "Who are you and what do you want?"
It was silent a moment, then a voice was felt rather than heard, one coming as if far away. "I am Thirteen and I have come to retrieve the codes that will render inert Our mutual problem."
Prowl stared at the figure, then walked to the mirror. Putting down his cup on a cupboard nearby, he reached out his servo to touch the surface and when he did he found himself on the other side.
Orion who was watching rushed to the mirror, hesitated a moment, then touched it. Nothing happened when he did.
=0=TBC 10-31-2020 Happy Birthday, Uncle Barney. I love you :D 11-7-2020
Note:
I would have posted this last night but I was so traumatized, apparently, from living four days in my house with a broken furnace waiting for my guy to come fix it that all I could do was sleep and soak up the warmth. Its getting on to winter in Alaska and the cold has come early. It was about 36 degrees F (22.2222 degrees C) during the brightest part of the day and 22 degrees or so F (-5.5555 degrees C) during the night.
Its even colder now but the furnace works and I can hardly believe its true. Its amazing how traumatized something can make you and you don't even know it. Well, here you go, my darlings, from a person who is REVELING in the warmth. I hope everyone out there is as well, warmth or coolness. Take care and if something happens like this sleep is the best medicine. Love you all madly.