Chapter 5

Skywarp wasn´t quite sure what to think. He had listened to Scourge´s explanation how he became what he was now. It gave him to think.

Being completely reformated, having your entire identity stripped from you, changed, your body, your programming.

Just how even was that? Was it possible to loose yourself? To literally become someone else?

By what Scourge had told him, he himself or rather his counterpart had gone through that process as well. He didn´t quite know how to feel about that. How much was his other self still... well... himself?

And what about this monstrous being that ate entire worlds?

He put those thoughts out of his mind. When they found a way to get out of this, he would return to his own reality. He would see the Thundercracker he knew and everything would be back to normal. Hopefully.

One thing was for sure, he certainly hoped that he would never meet this Unicron.

"You are right Scourge," he said, "we should take this seriously from now on and find a way to get out of here."

xxx

In a short distance to them, a group of Autobots had come to similar conclusions.

They were moving quick but carefully, trying to use the structures of the arena themselves for cover.

Arcee was a experienced scout and Sari was using her small size to made it hard to detect her.

In this way they had made it so far without being attacked. But they all knew it could and very probably would happen at any time anyway. Just like the other Autobot group they were trying to reach the adge of the fighting-zone as quickly as possible. They were just doing it a bit more stealthy than the last one.

Longarm had argued that the same device that had brought them here, probably a modified space-bridge, would also be able to transport them back. None of them argued with his logic.

Even Bumblebee and Sari, despite everything else, agreed with him, at least in this matter.

They all knew, should they actually run into one of the other teams, there were only two possibilities. It came all down to a very simple question, friend or foe?

xxxxxxx

At the same time Skywarp and Scourge were trying to determine how far their histories were identical and how much they diverged from each other.

And they were doing this in a quite easy way, by talking about old times.

"I guess we both remember the destruction of Vos," the dark colored seeker stated.

"Yes," Scourge replied. Of course he did, this was one of the important events in Thundercracker and Skywarp´s lives. The city had been their home-sector once, before the war. It was the place where they had been created.

Even if he had to admit, this old memories often felt as if they belonged to someone else. But he saw no reason to tell Skywarp this. Knowing him, it would make him only even more uneasy.

"Well how about that time 9 million years ago, when we had been stranded on this dead alien planet?" the very same Skywarp just asked him. "This nightmare world where this interdimensional creature had destroyed that entire civilization."

At this Scourge looked up.

"No, I don´t," he said, "to be honest I have not the slightest idea what you are talking about."

"No? Well you are lucky then," Skywarp told him. "The memory alone about this gave me the chills even kilo-vorn later."

"If you say so," Scourge replied.

"But...that was a long time ago. If things were turning different even back then, our world should be quite different by now. But you already told me that many things are very similar. Do you remember...well..."

Skywarp tried to think of an event that was significant enough and that Thundercracker...well Scourge...would know.

"...when this crazy rogue Sector-Monitor," he continued, "what was his name again? Oh yes Frostalon, had stolen the technological data of our entire crew and used them to create a small army of copies of us?"

"That incident - yes I remember that," Scourge told him. "It wasn´t exactly a good couple of days. We were stuck in the middle of the territory of a traitor with his group of cloned soldiers hunting us down."

"So you don´t know about an important event from 9 million years ago. It had never happened to you. But you do remember one from 25 back? The timelines between our universes have to be quite strange."

"Not stranger than the situation we are in now. But I think we have greater worries."

"Right," the seeker stated. "You know, this was one was one of the strangest situations TC and I had ever gotten into and there were many as you probably know. Us facing an entire band of clones of our team, mental copies. Imagine it, having your identity, your self, taken from you," Skywarp commented. "Creepy isn´t it?"

"Are you sure you are just talking about that copied warriors here?" The blue Decepticon was now looking at him sharply, something in his voice had changed. "Or do you mean something else... maybe mean my change?"

"Okay Scourge, that was uncalled for. I apologize," he responded.

The former Thundercracker thought back to this incident as well. Despite that it was technically only another minor mutiny, it was well known not to say infamous through the entire army. The reason was that the Decepticons in question had been outraged that Frostalon had secretly created copies of them without their consent.

The only one who had reacted even half-way positive to his double was himself, was Thundercracker. Back then he was actually open to...if not fascinated by the entire situation. As only one under Megatron´s Earth-Crew - with the exception of the Insecticons of course - he felt a strange connection, nearly a kinship to his copy.

He also couldn´t help to notice the parallels to his Sweeps years later. They had of course actually been created from Insecticons that were already cloned from the originals and were only his copies in body and design. But the situation had still many similarities.

He sometimes asked himself if there was a reason why Unicron had turned him and nobody else into the leader of the Sweeps.

"Do you remember this guy who tried to replace Starscream as Air Commander?" Scourge asked Skywarp now.

"Which one? There were so many who tried that I can barely count them."

"I am talking about the one who had actually succeeded and led our trine for about a week, before he finally showed his true colors, right before the Civil-War on Earth."

Now it was Skywarp who was looking at him in open surprise.

"No, I don´t remember this and neither this Civil-War you are talking about."

"Really? In my world these were big events."

They had come to a decision. Their plan was quite different from the one of the Autobot group, but they were heading into the same direction.

"Scourge, have you detected one of the other groups?"

"Not yet," he replied. "Wait," he said one moment later, "there is someone, ahead of us."

"How many?"

"Just one as far as I can say," Scourge replied.

The Unicron build Decepticon had some of the best sensors in the known universe. It was something they were certainly profiting from right now.

"Good, then let us make a try," Skywarp announced.

Their plan so far was quite easy, find one of the other groups and form an alliance. Ten or eleven together had a better chance than five they had argued. The problem was that the other groups might decide to shoot first.

"Hey, hello," he called out.

"Yes, I am here," someone answered him.

The other one was hiding somewhere between the corridors of the maze and they couldn´t make him out clearly.

"We are one of the other groups. We don´t want to fight," he told him. "We want to talk."

"Come closer," the unknown robot asked.

Even if he played the role all too often, Skywarp was no fool. He was making a step forward. Still he was moving carefully.

He was a veteran seeker who had survived over 5 million years of fighting and this wasn´t something you did by being careless inside dangerous territory.

Blackout however was quite a different story. He walked right forward towards the source of the voice.

And was caught straight by the volley of laser-blasts that the stranger suddenly fired at him. The shots ripped through his body and nearly blew him out from the inside out. They all saw instantly that Blackout was beyond help.

"Damn it," Skywarp hissed. "Scourge, you take him on the right. Motormaster, Oil Slick stay behind, if he come out blast him to hell. We are going to get this guy."

xxxxxxx

Animated Universe

Six beings, six Decepticon warriors of unknown heritage had just materialized on the surface of Cybertron.

Decepticons? On a closer look Optimus saw that none of them was wearing the sigil.

Still three of them were clearly seekers, of a similar type as the Starscream they knew and the clones he had created of himself. Their leader also was another version of the late Air Commander. One of the two other jets was colored nearly completely dark-blue, the other in a deep navy green. Both were identical in design to their team-leader.

Who in the universe were this robots? Maybe this was the point. They were not from this universe.

"Now, let us begin our work soldiers," their leader, the other Starscream, said. "Take control of the space-bridge," he said to the three car-mode warriors, "and you destroy everyone who is standing in our way," he addressed the two other jets.

They had noticed the group of Autobots standing in a short distance to them. Their gaze met with their intended targets, Optimus, Sentinel and the team of space-bridge experts.

The two seekers were transforming into jet-mode and and opened fire on them nearly instantly. You could say they were throwing themselves at them like wild beasts from some savage organic planet. They were actually laughing loud while they were attacking them.

"Damn it," Sentinel hissed quietly as the first laser blasts began to hit the ground around them.

"We have to do something," Optimus said. "They are taking control of the space-bridge." He saw what the three car-mode robots were doing. "And they are trying to kill us," he added as he barely avoided another shot.

Beside him one of the technicians was hit by the blaster-fire and through the spark-chamber and his entire upper body. The unfortunate robot died within a single moment.

"I had ordered to activate Omega Supreme in case of any attack," Sentinel responded. "I guies that is the case now, right Optimus? All we need is to hold them back till he arrives."

"Then let us hope that we will not all be dead before he is here," Optimus commented. "We have to bring the civilians to safety."

Sentinel just nodded with his head.

xxx

Above them the two seekers were just enjoying themselves as they targeted the helpless robots on the ground.

After just attacking the space-bridge crew, they were now making a sweep over the closest city areas and letting a rain of destruction coming down on it. They were shooting unarmed and unsuspecting citizen who had only been spending their day, killing more than one of them, blowing up highway-ramps and crossroads and setting buildings on fire.

And within less than a minute causing a mass panic in this district.

"I don´t believe it how easy the Autobots here are to kill," one of them said.

"Yeah, the Transformers here are incredible weak, at least the Autobots," the other jet replied. "Megatron is right, this Cybertron here is ripe for the taking. Nothing but cattle for the slaughter to us this Autobots. We would actually do them a favor by putting them out of their misery," he said. "Weak Cybertronians like that should not exist at all."

Then they were turning around, heading back to the space-bridge and to Sentinel and Optimus crew.

xxx

"Bulkhead," his team-leader called out, "help us to hold them back."

"Yes Optimus," he replied.

The large and bulky Autobot placed himself in front of the other space-bridge techs who were now running for their lives.

Beside himself, none of them was a warrior. But he and the two Primes were and they would hold them back until help arrived.

All three of them were now aiming their weapons at the couple of seekers who just returned and opened fire. Their opponents were fast and deadly, nearly exactly like actual Decepticon seekers, even if they didn´t seemed to be it.

Optimus managed to hit one of them in the wing and the blasts from Bulkhead and Sentinel forced the other to draw back.

"We can make it," Optimus said.

"The others are out of reach," Bulkhead told him.

"Good, then let us fight these guys up there now," his Prime stated grimly.

But in this moment a large explosion was filling the sky above them.

"Like so often you are a little too late Optimus," Sentinel remarked.

A battle-ship had appeared, fired at the two seekers and was right now transforming into a giant robot, Omega Supreme. His multiple weapon systems were activated and aimed directly at the enemies.

"What? one of the two seekers called out in total surprise at who they were facing. But before he even had the chance to react in any way, he was hit by a blast from one of Omega´s main-cannons and blew up in a large ball of fire.

The second jet was desperately trying to fall back, but the super-robot had already targeted him as well.

"As I told you, Omega Supreme will deal with it. I had him in stand-by after all," Sentinel declared smugly.

xxx

"No, no," the alternate Starscream shouted as he saw their new opponent.

"You, go, attack him," he turned to the three car-robots standing next to him, "we can not loose this new stronghold for the Empire."

The three were looking at him as if he had lost his mind, but then they saw his weapons pointed at them and after a few more moments they followed his command.

Starscream saw after them as they run forward, firing at the super-robot. As soon as they were out of eye-range he turned to the space-bridge controls. They would buy him enough time to prepare his transport out of here.

Megatron and his idiotic ideas, he thought. Why had he listened to him?

xxx

Omega Supreme noticed the three new attackers who were firing on him. They were however no threat.

Nearly instantly he blew one of them apart and then shot down the second jet who crashed into the street and left nothing but a burning destroyed wreck.

xxx

"Their leader is still standing at the space-bridge," Optimus said to the others. "We need to bring it back under control."

"You only want a piece of the glory for yourself right?" Sentinel grinned.

"For all we know he could call reinforcements and then turn this planet into a battle-field," his fellow Prime reminded him.

"Okay, I see your point. Let us get this guy," Sentinel replied, still grinning.

All three of them stormed forward, right into Starscream´s direction.

xxxxxxx

Cybertronian Universe

"The fight is going as you had predicted Megatron. Starscream has run into far greater resistance than the data had led to believe."

"Good," he responded, "I guess that means the chances are good that our friend Starscream will not survive this battle." The expression on Megatron´s face turned into a grin.

"The Liege Maximo will not be happy when he finds out that you have send Starscream´s group out with incomplete information," the robot next to him stated. "I know Starscream has caused problems for you in the past and was a thorn in your side, but that doesn´t mean..."

"Don´t worry about it Orion," Megatron told him. "If my plans will succeed, then the Liege Maximo will be moe than pleased, at least for the moment."

"And if they don´t succeed?"

"Believe me old friend, they will," Megatron, Liege Centurio of the Cybetronian Empire, stated.

Beside him his fellow officer Orion Pax hoped that he was right.

Autor´s notes: This chapter has a few references to other stories. This means the parts where Skywarp and Scourge were talking about `old times´.

- The first is the tale about the dead planet where they faced a creature from another dimension. This happened in my own story `Nightmare´. Also mentioned in this story is the attack on the city Vos. This however is not really my idea. The battle and the destruction of this town is being mentioned in a number of different stories from many authors.

- Next are the events about the Cybertron Sector-Officer Frostalon who rebelled against Megatron and created a group of `clones´ of Megatron´s earth-crew to fight the real Decepticons. Everything connected to this belongs to the story `Hunted´ by the author Wayward and is mentioned here with permission.

The parts about the `guy who was trying to replace Starscream´ and the civil-war is not part of an actual story but just something I have made up for this situation. But maybe I will use this ideas for a story at a later time.