Contact
[U 1 – Autobot base]
The base was in the night-cycle with only a few Bots around, half-dozing at monitor duty or patrolling the area when the alarms went off and signaled a Decepticon attack at a suspiciously close nuclear plant where nobody expected a raid like this. Prowl, on barely a few breems of recharge after doing a mountain of reports was forced to lead the collected Autobots to counterattack and couldn't really spare any CPU function to their prisoner-guest in the brig. They were few enough as it was without Optimus Prime who has always been around to duel with Megatron, and that task was now falling on the twins and Bluestreak covering them; he couldn't make a better plan on such a short notice. It left them vulnerable elsewhere and the battle was going badly, stretching out into many individuals fighting without much result, until the Cons withdrew with what they had to admit was a success for them. It left all the Autobots in a foul mood.
Back in the base Red Alert sat in the Command Center nervously watching the monitors and Blaster at the comm; the rest of the base was nearly empty, only Perceptor was working in the science lab. Neither of the two officers missed the violet light that lit up the lone brig cell, and deposited the youngest seeker into it; not that any of them would be able to do anything against him, as the warp-dampening fields they set up have always been useless in practice, no matter how Wheeljack swore that they should work theoretically. But nobody presently in the base was in a hurry to take on a Seeker and possibly Optimus too in a fight either, so for the moment the two remained undisturbed while the security officer furiously fought to keep himself glitching and tried to find someone to check on the brig.
"Hi 'Warp. Glad you could pop by." – Optimus sat calmly on the berth, arms crossed in front of the chassis, body language clearly showing that he saw nothing untoward in the dangerous Seeker appearing almost on top of him in the cell. In fact his voice conveyed familiarity and faint amusement at the surprised face of Skywarp, who was far more wary of him.
"What the frag are you doing here?" – the teleporter was never one to mince words and he kinda forgot about all the diplomacy thingies right after leaving Nemesis that Soundwave droned on before. If they wanted that, he thought then the telepath should have come here himself.
"Why now, I thought I should try out the brig berth." The sarcastic answer was so unlike the Autobot leader that Skywarp actually gaped at him before recovering enough to snark back.
"We saw you trying to snuff out your SIC and I thought to come by to ask why. Was he that insufferable?" – he smirked a bit at the memory of the recording. Optimus leveled a piercing glare at him before answering, clearly weighing his options and deciding on what he would say; he wasn't going to spell out the situation but if they already had some theories – and Skywarp's presence clearly expressed that it was the case – then he would add some pointers to them. His best chance to get home was with the Autobots who needed his counterpart back, but it never hurt to have options open.
"Insufferable is a mild description. I'd rather say someplace else he is a slagging bastard that I have a personal score to settle and I cannot help but attribute it on him here. But it shouldn't concern your ilk hereabouts." – the black and purple jet was balking at the strange wording, the unusual stress on the place-indicators, and instinctly sensing some deeper meaning but unable to grasp it.
"Don't worry 'Warp, it is not your processor that we love you for anywhere. Just report it back and Starscream should understand it if he is worth his energon here." - A definite smile softening the jibe at the teleporter and again the strange intonation hinting hidden meanings… he was definitely out of his depth here, not that it ever stopped him from trying…
"Don't you want to… I mean maybe leave this place? Or you really like to look at the bars all cycle?" – Skywarp tried rather weakly to regain the control of the situation and his wits. He was still quaking in his armor from the idea of Optimus Prime saying 'love' to him in any context. It was just… plain disturbing.
"Don't get your processor all tied up about me, I'll be fine here. But you should go now, I think Red Alert managed to gather his wits by now and heading here."
Skywarp looked at him once more, contemplating to warp out with him despite of what he said; but he wouldn't be able to teleport far enough for the rest of them to be around; and alone, Optimus would beat him rather easily if he didn't like the idea. And that this strange, hard, almost scary Optimus would cheerfully beat him to pulp if he put his mind to it, the jet had no doubt. So, he should just report back with the odd conversation to Nemesis, and let Starscream and Soundwave make heads or tails of it. With that thought the jet disappeared in a flash of violet light like as he came; exactly as Red Alert stepped into the brig wearing a rather comically outraged expression, just at the brink of glitching at the thought of a Decepticon just coming and going in their brig cell, like it was nothing else but an energon-bar back in Iacon…
In the meanwhile Perceptor, who had absolutely no idea at all about the events in the brig, and hardly any of the Decepticon attack, was deeply absorbed into the schematics of the two weapons that they finally managed to obtain; strangely enough both of them thanks to their human allies who collected Starscream's modified null-rays and sent them over to the base along with other assorted bits from the last battlefield. Together with Wheeljack they managed to recreate both types of beams in a less weaponlike form, and he was now trying to theorize what effect they could achieve when combined; he was less than sanguine about just combining the beams and point them at things to see what it would do. So he was sitting at Teletraan's monitor, inputting combinations and running scenarios, hardly recognizing anything else; Perceptor was rightly famous for being totally absentminded when a complex problem presented itself.
Battle
[U 2 – Decepticon area – Autobot base]
Of course it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be. The exact place of the alert indicated uninhabited tundra beyond the Arctic Line, in the Kolyma region; and of course by the time they arrived there, humans were present as well and searching for the shard. It was always so frustrating that their small size made them so much more suited for such searches; and lately they have developed the necessary sensors too to help them. Being uneasy allies also prevented an open conflict from erupting and Megatron was soon quite angry at them for swarming all over the place and making them rely on the Seekers only. Even with Optimus sort of amusing himself by trying to talk sense into their commander – and good luck to him trying that to a determined Russian General – he had a hard time restraining his mechs from trampling all over the annoying humans. And that was just before they got under fire from the unexpectedly arriving Autobots…
As usual they brought more ground troops so the Seekers had to give up the search and provide aerial cover against the more disciplined Bots, who had them surrounded in a bad position, caught in a depression that gave their snipers excellent line of sights from the upper edge. Even with the Russian troops also firing at the Autobots, they were at a disadvantage and Megatron cursed at himself not bringing more troops, believing it just a simple pickup mission. Even with his strength and the hurriedly formed Devastator's the battle was going badly – Megatron also noted Optimus's unwillingness to take an active part in it, over dodging the shots that were targeted his way. At least the mech had an iota of survival instinct, if not common sense. As things stood, the shard was probably going to either the humans or the Bots; they had all the minibots searching for it, while all the Decepticons could hope was a retreat without too many casualties. How could they arrive so fast and so many of them, Megatron wasn't sure, but it was totally unexpected. Ordering all the Seekers to strafe the snipers' hideouts, while the human troops peppered the ground-fighting Autobots, he called the retreat.
But Optimus was not familiar with his retreat plans, not knowing any of the combatants in particular and totally out of his depth in the flat and desolate Russian tundra that had just enough broken ground for a truck not to be able to drive easily and not offering any cover in root mode either. He soon lost the others and was pursued by a somewhat suspicious-looking Protectobot group that didn't seem very protective to him, but rather aggressive if their fire was any indication of intent. He tried to avoid it but they were slowly, but surely hemming him in, and he was running out of options rather fast. At the end he was forced to fight with them, which he so far avoided, but it wasn't successful either in losing them; after the tenth or so small wound he started to feel his strength ebbing away, the smaller, but more aggressive mechs purposely trying to wear him out, knowing that he couldn't escape.
They caught him when he went down after a particularly nasty shot and he was handcuffed and restrained rather efficiently. The group rejoining the main Autobot forces took him with them and he was getting more than a bit worried about the hostile and hateful looks that he was getting. It was distinctly unnerving to see the familiar faces scowling and sneering at him; much more so than it was to see Decepticons smiling. The small warp-portal that they opened offered a nauseating transport to the Autobot base, but explained Megatron's surprise at seeing them arriving so fast to the battlefield. But he had more pressing concerns, when he saw the Autobot leader… Hot Rod…? But he was different here, a Prime too and it changed him the same way the Matrix changed Optimus way back. He felt the other's Matrix of course and it intrigued him greatly; but Hot Rod – Rodimus? – didn't look like he wanted to talk. He tersely ordered them all in, and he was taken to the brig, trussed up still; apparently they were taking no chances.
In a few breem he got to understand what Megatron meant by Prowl wanting to kill him. The first glance he had of the mech chilled him to the protoform. He had a look of a cold-sparked killer while still retaining the calculating, planning, intelligent demeanor of his; the combination was nothing short of terrifying, and although Optimus Prime feared very few things, he started to wonder if he would get out alive from here. Prowl started to interrogate him, demanding the Decepticon plans, codes, organization with seemingly total disregard of the story he tried to tell him, and starting to get physical when he had no answers to the mech's questions. It upset Optimus greatly how much he seemed to enjoy torture; not only the causing of pain but it turned him on too by the look of things. He was in a quite bad condition when he heard someone disturbing the interrogation, and Prowl turned to the newcomer with a not even restrained fury.
"You should have discussed this with me first, Prowl." – Rodimus Prime was not looking at Optimus, but tried instead to look authoritative and masking how much he feared Prowl, even with Ironhide behind for backup.
"What is there to discuss? Cons are to be interrogated as always." – Prowl was sneering scornfully at Rodimus, not even trying to give the appearance of subordination. He despised this self-made Prime, indeed all Primes who got their slagging power from a useless ancient artifacts; he achieved his rank through his own cunning and ruthlessness and considered it to be worthy a thousand times more than any of theirs.
"He is a Prime. He has a Matrix. He is not just a 'Con." – Rodimus said exactly the wrong argument at exactly the wrong time to set Prowl off explosively, and the black-white mech lounged at him growling, deadly blades flashing in the scant lighting of the cell, his murderous intent clearly written in his ice-cold optics. He alerted his reliable mechs through his comm and proceeded to attack Rodimus, who was surprised only by the ferocity of the attack; but he expected it for quite some time because of Prowl's increasing frustration, and reacted accordingly. Ironhide too got in the fray, and also alerted the warriors that he knew to be on their side, and soon the fighting was joined by dozens of mechs intent on deciding the long-brewing power struggle for once and all.
During all the fighting hardly anyone noticed the energies building up in the interrogation cell, and the sudden disappearance of the prisoner from the chains he was bound with. They had their own scores to settle and besides scientific curiosity do not belong to a life-and-death battle that soon raged on throughout the Autobot base.
Portal
[U 1 – Autobot base]
Perceptor and Wheeljack glanced at each other before starting to explain what they found. They met in the conference room again with both Prowl and Optimus present, the latter wearing his usual scowl for the former; but this time the two of them safely separated to the opposite ends of the long table, and the twins, chosen for security as they were already in on the secrets guarding far more alertly than the first time.
"So, the situation is as follows." – Perceptor couldn't help but fall into his lecturer mode when presenting the problem and their findings. – "We discovered how the combined energy beam managed to bridge the two universes, and we can recreate the bridge effect with a comfortable margin of safety."
"Even with Wheeljack contributing?" - Optimus quipped at the flustered inventor, and even Jazz couldn't fully suppress a chuckle. Perceptor, not unexpectedly made the remark unheard as irrelevant, while Prowl continued to frostily ignore Optimus.
"I won't go into unnecessary scientific details, but as I said we can create a device that repeats what occurred purely by chance during the battle. But even if we do this, we have two main problems remaining still. One is that we theorize countless universes existing and so far we haven't been able to determine which two were connected at the first place; and the second is that the bridge appears to be not sending somebody into another timeline, but pulling a mech from the one it connects to."
Optimus lost his mood to snark any more as he contemplated the problems presented. He had a feeling, although he was no scientist, that to find the proper universe was somehow his part to contribute; if the timelines had anything that characterized them in general, then it was he who could contribute that. But for that he needed to be in the lab, not the brig.
"Do you think I might be able to find which universe to connect to? Or that you can find it by me? Actually is this bridge something like a portal or a window?"
"Yes, we have theorized that by connecting you to the device we – or you, as the case may be - might be able to select the direction of this bridge. And no Prowl, we cannot build it in the brig." – Perceptor knew that Prowl and Red Alert wouldn't like the idea of the 'Con Optimus let out of the brig and into the science lab, but he saw no other way. – "As for the bridge itself, we won't be able to look into the other universe, it doesn't work like a window; in effect we could be sort of extending a hand there, grasp something and pull it back."
"And hope that it is the other me?" – Optimus's question had merit, Perceptor knew. The whole bridge theory was disturbing not only by the implications of what it could do, but with the uncertainties too that it was fraught with. What he really would have wanted to do was to forget the whole combined energy beams thing and look for a completely different solution to connect the timelines; but that would take a long time, and since it was not an idle, theoretical experimentation, he understood the need for an immediate solution.
"That is why your presence is essential in the connection; we theorized that by the nature of this portal, which was opened by the similarity of circumstances at the first place, you would be able to 'grab' your counterpart by the same hypothesis."
After some negotiations they agreed to transfer Optimus to Wheeljack's lab where he pledged to remain peacefully, if Prowl promised to stay the Pit away – as he put it. The building of the device was slow going as they had to make do with a lot of guesswork, and Perceptor was not very comfortable with it; but Wheeljack's enthusiasm pulled them through many problems. In the next three orns an odd-looking machine started to take shape in the middle of the lab, Optimus connected it with an expression of extreme distaste; he explained that the 'feel' of the device when turned on was something akin to having cyber-maggots crawl under his armour.
But when they started to fire the machine up, he forgot the distaste, and told them that he was seeing-feeling something like sensory hallucinations that might be actual feelings of different timelines; but so far nothing felt particularly familiar or drawing him towards it. He learned to sort of surfing the feelings and somehow find something among them; but as there were no actual dials, measurements or anything solid he had to do it by feel only – and none of the scientists could help him in it. From the outside he looked like having some sort of a waking memory flux, mumbling unintelligibly and randomly moving his limbs – and as Ratchet confirmed by a scan had an extremely abnormal processor working during the whole thing. They started to worry that it was damaging him; but when once he was disconnected from the device, he was his normal, pesky, irritated self, so it must have been within the 'normal' range of the device workings.
"Why do you think it is that he doesn't seem to be able to find his universe?" – Wheeljack was used to instant results and so had little patience with experiments that didn't produce immediate effects.
"Logically and theoretically there are infinite number of universes. I would have been surprised if he found the correct one immediately, as that would be… irregular." – Perceptor was actually satisfied that at least something went as normally as anything could in the matter.
They monitored the device at all times of course and Optimus with it; and one joor Wheeljack saw him becoming agitated even before the monitors that were connected to it started their alarm, as it drew increasing amount of power from the system. Optimus straightened up, and although his optics still looked like he was watching an inner movie on his HUD, outwardly he was more lucid than ever since connected to the bridge. The inventor quickly commed Perceptor, and then Ratchet too, as Optimus started to twitch and if he was watching a movie, it must have been a horror one by the look of him; optics widening in fear and hate, servos clenching in fists and he was shaking all over. The device then gave off a deep rumble and a form started to coalesce in front of it, quickly acquiring solidity and the Prime's familiar colours.
The scientists looked at each other with a quiet satisfaction of a difficult work well done, before Ratchet yelled loudly, noticing the state in which he was and running to his side started working on him feverishly, shouting loudly to Wheeljack to help. He was a wreck, with wounds of every denomination all over his chassis and bleeding energon from everywhere. Perceptor shook all over as he glanced the Con Optimus, sitting by the device with helm in a servo, looking resigned – when he felt the scientist's glance he shrugged and said quietly:
"You understand now what I have against Prowl?"