A silver truck drove around a small town in the middle of nowhere, Nevada. This town, referred to by the locals as Boringville, was a quaint town, nothing even the slightest bit interesting ever happened. The most exciting thing to happen in the past year was when the garbage man got up five minutes late and strayed from his weekly schedule. The town was worried that something had happened to him, but were relieved one by one as he reached their house.
So, of course the government would move some kids there as part of the witness protection program after their home town was turned to metal. Sadly, even said kid's parents couldn't stop them from meeting with their friends, causing them to stay right in the middle of the aforementioned danger. What made their problems even worse was the fact that the government was terrible at making sure even the files of the utmost secrecy were unhackable. For advanced robots that had individual personalities and minds, it was child's play. As a large silver truck, known as Boss, passed by a house every bit similar to the ones around it, the garage door opened and a teen on a purple motorcycle came roaring out. The silver truck sped up to follow them.
It stayed hot on the boy's heels, even as he went on a dirt road leading to the middle of nowhere. One of the mirrors on the motorcycle adjusted, seemingly by itself, to view the empty driver seat of the truck. The teen looked back, and sped up. The truck followed suit, sending out a signal that it had perfected, meant to disrupt wireless signals. It eventually started gaining on the motorcycle and bumped into it. The motorcycle transformed, setting down the boy who had ridden it. The truck did the same, except it became a swirling mass of metal that formed a robot "skeleton" that then formed it's outside and aesthetics. It spoke to the human before turning its attention back the the blue robot in front of it.
"Hello, Jack. Nice to meet you. I don't know about you, but I envy your ability to ride this fine vehicle whenever you want. Though maybe I wouldn't want to swap paint. Blue doesn't look very good on me. Perhaps the others would like a frag toy? What say you, Arcee?"
Jack turned a cherry red while Arcee lunged at the larger mech. He easily grabbed her and threw her to the ground. He looked back at Jack and started approaching him at a slow, relaxed walk. Jack backed up and started running as Arcee jumped and grabbed onto the mech's head. He became a swirling mass of metal once more and formed back into the robot, throwing Arcee off in the process and thus freeing himself. Arcee snarled and transformed her servo into a gun. She started shooting at him, each and every one of her blasts connecting. He started walking towards her, as if she hadn't done anything at all.
Meanwhile, Jack was still running. He headed back for town, hoping he could reach Miko and hopefully Bulkhead. He ran right into a figure dressed in rather alien clothing.
"Excuse me." Said Jack as he was about to run off again. The person grabbed his wrist and pulled him close.
"No." He said. Jack looked up in fear and tried to tear himself away to no avail. Desperate, he tried one last thing. Jack kneed the person right in the groin, but the person cocked his head in confusion. Before Jack could do anything, they both fizzled out of existence.
The mech and Arcee continued fighting, the mech easily gaining the upper hand. The mech grabbed at the blue femme and threw her up into the air, causing her to fall to the ground with a loud "thump". At the exact moment Jack and the figure fizzled out of existence, the mech jumped up as high as he could. On the way down, the mech interwove his hands into a fist and came down upon Arcee. She managed to jump out of the way, though the other mech recovered before her and grabbed her. As he was about to teleport the two, a deep voice reverberated throughout their minds.
"I HAVE AWAKENED!!"
The mech looked around for what could have caused that noise, but then remembered Zane's talk about what he was doing. The mech teleported away with a sinister smile upon his faceplates. Arcee watched on the ground, confused why she was being left alone. As she looked around, she noticed Jack was nowhere to be seen.
XxXxXxXx
Back at base, Stinger, Boss, and Two-Head were gathered around in a circle, the Exos holding the humans right in front of them. The Sparkless were deep in discussion, and ended up ignoring the person that appeared in a flash of purple. The person walked around the group very slowly and quietly as he listened in.
"How much longer is he be going to be gone?" Asked Stinger "I really do not feel comfortable taking care of these organic nuances."
"Agreed. Do you want to lock them in a room?" Asked Boss. Two-Head was the one to answer.
"Yes. Though let us first tell them the rules."
All of a sudden, Vector took a step towards the kids and spoke.
"You see, here at base," a chuckle "We have a few rules. You will do everything we say, and when Omicron asks you a question, you will answer. We are now in control of your lives."
The kids huddled closer together and looked as if they just realized they were in a horror movie as supporting characters. Zane frowned into empty space, as if an audience was watching and he wanted them to know how he felt: surprised at his Sparkless' audacity. Then again, they were sparkless, in the most literal sense of the term. Why would they care about the children? Zane sighed, and this finally got the attention of the others. He started speaking in a low, deep voice, softly enough for the children to have to strain to hear him.
"I am the one in charge here, not any of them and certainly not Omicron either. Please try to forget what they said. I beg of you, you must believe me when I say that I am not the bad guy." Zane sighed, glancing down before looking back up. He observed them intently, making eye-contact with each one. "You see, I do not condone that which they said at all, and believe me, they will be getting a dressing down about it. Now, I regret having to kidnap the three of you, but that was the only way to be sure that what I want to say to you won't be interrupted. Now, I am going to teleport us somewhere. Just thought I might warn you because it feels quite... interesting, to say the least, though only those who are organic feel it, strangely enough. On three. One..." The kids and Zane vanished in a purple flash.
They appeared in a bedroom. There were three huge, thick beds in one side, a corner desk in the corner, three wardrobes by it, and a door on the opposite side of the room.
Zane had his back to the kids, not wanting to see the look on their faces for fear of bursting out laughing. After a moment he turned around and continued talking.
"Now, you see, I just want to help. The war between the Autobots and Decepticons have been going on for millennia. In fact, that is all Bumblebee knows. Heck, that's all the Vehicons know, too. They never were innocent, never got the chance to be sparklings, younglings, and just stay young. This war... it destroyed their planet, and their humanity, so to speak. Theirs is a dying species, doomed to extinction if this war continues. You see, the struggle for survival is a war without end. And war, war never changes. That's where we come in. My goal is to end this war, with as many alive as possible. You may not believe me, but please hear me out..."
"No duh we don't believe you!" Yelled Miko as she took a step forward.. "You slaughtered those Vehicons! Megatron told us!"
"Miko!" Jack admonished as he pulled her back. All was silent for a second, before Zane looked down and spoke in a voice so silent the others had to strain you hear him.
"They didn't tell you." He looked up. "The Vehicons are Autobots."
The kids gasped, causing Zane to look up and chuckle. "Sorry, I misspoke. Megatron kidnapped an Autobot, and made clones of him, albeit with some changes, specifically of the coloring. You could ask Optimus, he may know that mech's name. See... ugh. Let me do this, to make this so much easier for me." Zane snapped his figures, and a purple glow surrounded Jack and Miko. They froze in place, unable to so much as breathe. Rafael's eyes widened in shock as he stepped back. Zane laughed silently before speaking.
"Don't worry, they are merely frozen, so to speak. They still have full use of their senses, and can still think, but are unable to move. Now, may I call you Raf?"
"S-sure." Raf stuttered. Zane smiled warmly at him.
"Thanks. Now Raf, listen to me. I want to help the Autobots. In this war they fought, they were never going to win. They have honorable goals, but are too nice. I'm sure I'm not the only one to know that." He stared knowingly into empty space. "The Decepticons would win because they are willing to do whatever it takes to win. However, you may have noticed that Megatron and Optimus were once like brothers. Now, they are pretty much just fighting each other, like in an intense sibling rivalry, but neither can bring themselves to strike the final blow. In fact, Optimus could have stopped this war before it ever started had he not ignored the signs that Megatron was not as sane as previously thought.
My one and only goal is to end this war. A common enemy can unite even the fiercest of rivals." Zane sighed, before continuing.
"Raphael, I need you to listen to me. I need you to see me. I know that I am turning everything you thought you knew on its head, and for that I apologize. What I know - what I am - what I had to become is more than anyone should have ever been forced to experience. Though I will admit that I must take all of the blame, as I did undergo this willingly.
"I have a question for you, one that I ask you consider before you say yes or no. You love the Autobots and what they stand for. Don't deny it, I can see it in your eyes. If I gave you the opportunity to save them, would you? If I asked you to join me so that we could save the Cybertronian race, would you?
I won't force you to make a decision, but I also won't offer it again. If you say no, I will return you to the Autobots, unharmed and with full memory of this. You are a human, an innocent that should have never been drawn into their war. But you are also one of them, an Autobot that will self-sacrifice for the good of everyone."
Zane started looking back at Jack and Miko, trying to include them into the conversation, even though they were frozen.
"My plan, to save the Cybertronians from themselves, will only work if you stand with me, adding weight to my statements. I will never ask you to raise a hand against your friends, and you will never be expected to. I may be forced to harm them, but I will never try to kill them. This, I promise you.
Please, at least think it over. You can help prevent any more casualties. Now is your chance to help Bumblebee."
The purple glow around Jack disappeared, and Zane continued speaking.
"Now then, Jack, the human Prime. The unofficial leader of the three of you. By the way, can you tell me your secret? How can you stand Miko? She's put your lives at stake more times than I can count. Personally, I would lock her in her room and keep her away from the Groundbridge. That, or lock her in the Apex armor and have her be of some use wrecking stuff, doing what she clearly loves. Anyway, how about you? Will you help me save the Cybertronians from themselves?"
Jack stepped forward, a look of refusal on his face.
"No way. The Autobots are my friends, I couldn't betray them like that. They're practically family."
Zane looked crestfallen, before the purple glow around Miko disappeared and he looked in her direction. She must have read the look on his face for she vehemently refused. Zane narrowed his eyes, wondering how they could refuse. If they knew his mannerisms, they would be able to all but see the light bulb appear over his head as he perked up ever so slightly and winked towards empty space.
"Listen to me, all of you. I am literally a Primus-given gift. My goal: to save the Cybertronians as a species. I want neither the Autobots nor Decepticons to perish, but I am willing to go far to end the war that has consumed trillions of lives and many planets. My Sparkless warriors are difficult to control, and if my plan fails, I would not be surprised if they were corrupted by a more greedy individual. The only way to make sure the two factions survive my endgame is with your cooperation. So, I am going to give you a choice: be returned to your guardians, or stay with me and save the Cybertronians species. I will return in exactly 24 hours to hear your final decision. This is where you will be staying for that duration. The bathroom is stocked with toiletries and hygiene products. The wardrobes are marvels in nanotechnology, obviously of my own creation. With a verbal order, a touch screen will come out and let you choose any attire you wish to wear. A swarm of nanobots will rush over you, creating the clothes. Later I can go into more detail if you so wish, along with giving you the rundown of my operation."
Zane was about to continue, but an alarm went off from his pocket. He pulled his IPod out and looked at the screen.
"Sorry for the interruption. Sometimes I will forget stuff if I'm really into what I'm doing. Hence, the need to set alarms. Have fun, see ya tomorrow. I would enjoy it if you did something interesting enough that my audience... I mean Sparkless, will want to check up on you." Zane vanished in a purple flash.
XxXxXxXx
"He handled that extremely well, all things considered."
"YES, EVIDENTLY I CHOSE WELL INDEED." His voice was full of pride. The first voice sighed.
"We still need to see how he handles my prodigy. This could ruin our entire experiment."
"YES, IT COULD. SHAME WE ALWAYS HAVE TO INTERVENE. NO MATTER THE DIMENSION, THEY ALWAYS KILL THEMSELVES. AND WE ARE ALWAYS STUCK AS DAMAGE CONTROL. IT ALMOST MAKES YOU MISS THE ONE."
"You are correct. However, you know we can't go back, not unless all is fixed."
"YOU ARE ALSO RIGHT. MAYBE THEY COULD CHANGE THE BALANCE."
"A single human can't fix that many dimensions. It would prove impossible. His sanity would fail him very quickly."
The two beings trailed off, lost in thought.