Through A Mirror

by Lady Shockbox

In one universe, Decepticons fight their battles to destroy the evil forces of the Autobots. In another, the concept is similar, although the roles are different. What were to happen if you smashed their realities forcefully together? Slash. G1

3. Chapter 2: Alternate Reality

I'm really sorry for the long wait. This chapter was a monster to write, and it took a lot of work to get it done. Transition chapters like this are particularly hard for me to write, and you can imagine that the next one is going to be even more of a pain to dish out. You should all see why once you finish reading this particular installment to the end. No, I will not give away spoilers. Constructive criticism is loved!

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In religion, ethics, and philosophy, the phrase, good and evil refers to the location of objects, desires, and behaviors on a two-way spectrum, with one direction being morally positive ("good"), and the other morally negative ("evil"). "Good" is a broad concept and is difficult to define, but typically it deals with an association with life, continuity, happiness, desirability… Evil is more simply defined: The opposite of good…

~Wikipedia

Arise - E.S. Posthumus

i

When the light faded, nothing had changed much visibly. For the first ten seconds anyways.

Sunstreaker uncovered his optics and blinked blearily around the room, azure optics trying to refocus and adjust to his surroundings. Everything in Wheeljack's lab was intact - nothing had physically exploded in their faces for once - and, seemingly, all was good. Optimus, Wheeljack, and Ratchet uncovered their optics and turned around to stare blankly from the device on Wheeljack's table to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. A second later, realizing his twin was still lying on top of him, the older of the two punched the red Lamborghini off and stood up. Sunstreaker looked down at his chassis before dusting himself off in an almost nonchalant manner.

"Well," he started dryly. "What the hell was that about—?"

The ten seconds was up and, as fate would have it, something did change physically. Said change involved Sunstreaker having a rather prominent dent in the side of his head when Ratchet flung a wrench across the room at him. Sunstreaker cried out and flipped backwards, his feet slipping out from underneath him in surprise. The sunshine yellow Lamborghini fell on his aft with a loud clang that was just as wounded as his usually bloated and infatuated pride. Sideswipe jumped in place a good three or so feet in the air - not much by Cybertronian standards, though it was obvious he jumped when he landed on the floor with a resonating chatter of metal against metal - while Optimus cranked his head towards Ratchet. Out of the corner of his optic, the supreme commander could see Wheeljack was staring into space in disbelief. The scientist's blue eyes glazed over in mute horror and, still caught in the alien machine, was Sunstreaker's broken mirror. The fractured surface had cracked even more before a small glass shard fell from the frame. It hit the floor with a soft, high pitched clink.

Ratchet was fuming, his optics darkened and looking about ready to suddenly flare red at any moment. "You idiots! Do you realize what you just did!"

Fuming had obviously been the wrong word, perhaps downright furious would have it the situation better, Optimus decided mentally to never get on the medic's bad side over the dejected dry of "You scratched my paint!" ringing throughout the room. Optimus ignored Sunstreaker and the Autobot Prime addressed his medic. "Exactly what did they do?"

There was silence. Dead silence. Even Sunstreaker had stopped in his mad ranting to keep his vocalizer offline.

Wheeljack began muttering something rapidly underneath his breath, sounding something along the lines of calculations and complex formulas, but there was nothing besides that. Wheeljack stumbled forward to look over the machine with worried optics and Optimus briefly mistook that worry being for the machine. The way the scientist looked up and scanned around the room was an indication of otherwise. Wheeljack had every right be worried about his creation - no matter how dumb or overly dangerous they were, Wheeljack was always concerned about his creations in one way or another - but the way Wheeljack's side panels flashed with a sort of fear glinting in his optics was an indication that the fear was for all of them.

When one of Wheeljack's usually insane inventions blew up in their faces, he was usually very calm and optimistic about it. Even when he accidentally set up a ten ton energon bomb inside his lab, he hadn't even been close to worried. In hindsight, him showing fear now meant something very, very bad had happened. The mere thought made Optimus inwardly shudder.

Ratchet looked at Optimus with a torn expression. He was just as worried as Wheeljack. "Anything could have happened," he said. "The reflective surface in the broken mirror… It could have reflected anything in this dimension and sent it through to ours."

Optimus felt his fuel tank sputter. "How will we figure out what that is?"

No one said anything right away. Again, an unnerving silence claimed the room.

Optimus Prime suddenly moved and the swift movement made everyone jump. The red and blue face plated mech smashed his fist against the desk with a clatter that was just as loud as Sunny falling to the floor. The silence was nearly unbearable and it was something he definitely wasn't in the mood for concerning the fact anything could have happened. If whatever came through the transporter was dangerous, it was important that they deal with it to ensure no innocent beings would be hurt. "Dammit, how will we know!"

Ratchet spoke. "We won't… unless whatever came through reveals itself."

"Or themselves," Wheeljack finished quietly.

Again, everything was quiet. No one could bring it upon themselves to break it until Sunstreaker chose to speak up.

"Just my luck," he hissed.

A second dent made itself at right at home in the side of Sunny's head, this time from the broken mirror Ratchet decided to pitch.

ii

Spike uncovered his eyes. "What the hell?"

"Is that Dutch too?" Bluestreak asked with a groan. Uncovering his optics, he looked around and blinked blearily.

Everyone in the recreational room in the Ark looked around nervously after the blinding light faded. Skyfire had only just left a megacycle earlier to run recon and, with minimized Decepticon activity on the planet, a good portion of the Autobots took it upon themselves to relax while the peace currently had the war at a seemingly quiet standstill. The lax attitudes of the others had come to much of the dismay of uptight mechs like Prowl and Redalert - even Ironhide was aggravated to the extent that he did not have any Decepticons to trash - but there were others like Beachcomber and Jazz who had been almost annoyingly pleased with it. To a degree, Spike had enjoyed it too… That is, until Bluestreak asked him for help when the young gunner learned that Spike had taken Dutch back in the seventh grade.

Whereas ninety-nine point nine percent of the Autobots learned all the world's languages through the World Wide Web - they all had instant access to it through their processors - Bluestreak was the point zero percent that absolutely refused to. Just the brief mention of viruses and the risk of getting them through the internet effectively scared the young bot into not even going as to dare to open his mental browser. This dilemma had created problems of its own though. An area that Bluestreak patrolled around the base had a large settlement of Dutch speaking foreigners that had only recently moved to the United States from Europe. The fact Bluestreak couldn't make heads or tails of what the settlers were trying to say to him when they occasionally called out to his passing irritated the sniper somewhat, but he still downright refused to use his connection to the web to instantly learn the language. Prowl nearly had a conniption when the young gunner asked to have a different patrol route and, with no where else left to go, he finally enlisted Spike's help.

Spike knew some Dutch, but he wasn't fluent with it. That and the fact Bluestreak's horrid, out of living nightmare pronunciations were nearly enough to drive the brunette mad. Carly thought it was downright hilarious whilst Chip merely found it amusing - the wheelchair bound computer geek was far too busy fiddling with his computer work to really acknowledge Spike's crude lessons to Blue - but no one was laughing when the whiteout finally died down.

Spike groaned. "No Blue, that was not Dutch…" He turned around and caught sight of Bumblebee standing nervously from his place on the makeshift, Autobot sized couch before turning to face and address the Volkswagen. "Any idea what that was, Bee?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you," the yellow minibot said somewhat unsteadily. "That was some flash…"

Jazz, having previously been occupying himself by listening to Blaster play some music on his alternate-mode's radio, stood to his full height before getting up from the table he was at After Sunstreaker left the room some few cycles earlier with his broken mirror so he could go complain to Optimus about his superstitions, any words resonating from the saboteur had been at a minimum until just then. "Ten credits says that it was Wheeljack's fault."

iii

It was ungodly hot but, at the same time, blissfully dark. It took him a few extra moments to realize the darkness shrouding him from his optics being offline. As soon as near full awareness came back to him, he found the strength to put his blue optics back online. He was met with total darkness once more and a rather uncomfortable grainy feeling in his joints. It took him several more moments longer to realize that he was lying face first in sand a gravel. He groaned and activated his online navigation system before asking the computer where he was.

"Location unknown. Scanners detect that global region is within low precipitation desert."

Then it came to him.

Starscream sat up slowly, his back groaning in protest, and he spit out a mouthful of sand before. The glare that met his eyes was brilliant and blinding enough that Starscream had to force himself to lower the brightness his optics were allowed to take in by a good fifty-six percent. Even with the drop, he still found himself wincing at the intensity of the bright earth star and the horrific glare it made from the sand of the desert. It was hot, he was still soaked—

A part of his mind clicked back into place and he went headfirst into panic.

Megatron! Where's Megatron!?

Terror lanced through him when he did not detect his bondmate over their link and he jumped to his feet… or attempted to at least. Sand grinded inside his joints and it forced him to yelp in pain. He fell over headfirst back against the hot ground.

His radio suddenly flared to life. "Starscream? Screamer, can I ask what the frag just happened?"

He wasn't sure whether to feel comforted by the low rumble of Thundercracker's voice or bothered by the frustrated tone his trine mate was using. The blue Seeker's tone was more rasped more than usual and Starscream immediately assumed the blue jet had inhaled sand into his intake valves. Nonetheless, at least Starscream wasn't alone. Switching his attention to his communications link for a moment, he tried to get his rising panic back down to a manageable level.

Talking seemed to help but, regardless to the fact, not hearing his mate's reassuring vibes through their shared bondlink frightened Starscream to a great extent. It hurt somewhat to talk and his vocalizer sounded like Ravage had clawed the inside of it like a chew toy.

"I-I was going to ask you the same question!" Starscream physically winced from the horrendous sound his voice produced.

Thundercracker immediately detected the Air Commander's panicked tone, right off the bat and even through the terrible rasp Starscream's voice held. "Starscream? Starscream, what…" There was a pause over the link and, as Starscream would have to have guessed, Thundercracker also picked up on why the second-in-command was so on edge. "Where are you? The rest of us are all together except for you and Megatron. Give us your coordinates and we'll help you find him."

Starscream, in an attempt to keep his own sanity, tried not to not focus on Megatron so he could address the condition of the others. "Is everyone alright?"

Thundercracker said nothing at first. This greatly concerned Starscream but, before he could interject with questions on the rest of the Decepticon force's status, Thundercracker cut in again. "Skywarp's out cold from some kind of core processor surge, Soundwave has a migraine—"

"Soundwave never gets migraines."

"I know." Thundercracker's voice sounded overly tired, and it was apparent that the blue Seeker had probably taken over the Decepticons in the absence of both Megatron and Starscream.

"Bless that bastard," Starscream mused to himself. If there was one thing he knew for a fact, it was that the oldest member of his trine would be the best candidate, and probably the only candidate, for Air Commander if Starscream never made it into the Decepticons ranks himself.

Thundercracker spoke up again. "Hang tight, Screamer. We're on our way."

The Seeker cut the link and Starscream was temporarily left alone again. Under the blistering heat of the sun, the flier groaned and tried to stand again. When his gears merely cried out in protest, he forced himself up anyways. His joints flared with such a violent agony that it nearly made him double over again. Despite the fact that Earth was one of the most beautiful planets he had seen since the pictures of Cybertron that existed when there wasn't the time of the Great War, he still hated the sand immensely.

Narrowing his teal eyes from pain, he looked up and tried to scan the horizon. He couldn't see any of his comrades on the horizon yet but, either way, something else caught his sight instead. Against the golden color of the desert's sand, the Seeker could clearly made out the supreme Decepticon commander's pale white plating against its hue.

"MEGATRON!"

iv

Ramjet glared up at the sky. It was difficult trying to focus with the tiny grains of sand still behind his optic glass but, either way, what he saw was even more irritating than the grit in his joints. "Why is the sun setting in the west? Can somebody please tell me why the sun is setting in the west?"

The Decepticons had traveled a good six miles in under an hour just by walking, though their pointless direction was seemingly getting them nowhere. Flying probably would have been a good option, true, but a good percentage of all of them had enough sand in their joints and gears to make flying seem like a monster of a task. It had been debated that one of them - namely Thundercracker, since he was the only mech so far that had a somewhat good chance of flying without crashing - go get help by looking for a human settlement and calling the military on the phone, but no one was willing to leave the rest of the group while they were all grounded.

Spike, sitting comfortably on Soundwave's shoulder, glanced up at the sky. He almost immediately winced away from the powerful rays of light beating down on his unprotected eyes. After the first half an hour under the hot sun, Thrust had been the first to voice his concern about the humans becoming dehydrated. The observation was forcibly set aside because there wasn't anything they could do about it. The Transformers had watched their human comrades for any signs of weakening from lack of hydration, although the Earthlings hadn't shown any signs of flagging just yet. The tan teen's throat was dry from the lack of water but the general position of the sun just by glancing at made him find it in himself to speak. "It's in the middle of the sky. How can you tell its setting west—?"

"Observation: sun is setting west by twelve point six degrees," Soundwave droned, stopping dead in his tracks to glare up at the offending star in question.

Ramjet nearly bumped into the communications officer before he managed to stop. Everyone ahead glanced behind them at Soundwave's voice interrupting the silence for the first time since they ended up in the desert.

Carly piped up on Soundwave's shoulder opposite from Spike. She had long since tied her dark ebony hair back with an elastic Frenzy shot at her when she asked if anyone had a spare. She retaliated by throwing on of her right shoe at him and, when he refused to give it back after it collided with his head, Swindle threatened to sell his spare parts to Rumble. Frenzy gave the sneaker back with a grumble and Carly's revenge had come full circle. "That's impossible. Everyone knows the sun sets in the east and rises in the west."

Hook piped up in the front, trailing closely behind Starscream hauling a near unconscious Megatron. "Maybe your navigational compass is offline. A lot of our extra functions are offline from that shockwave and having all this Primus damn sediment in our systems."

Scrapper put a hand up in the air to block the sun's powerful rays and he glared hard at the sky. "No, Soundwave's right. The sun is setting in the west. My navigations system is coming up with the same stats."

"Mine too," Starscream said slowly in a somewhat strained, tired tone of voice. Megatron hung limply off his shoulders like a sack of cinderblocks and the Decepticon leader still wasn't fully conscious yet. The Decepticon second had declined help from anyone who offered to assist carrying Megatron with him so, watching on with worry, the others couldn't do much to help their temporary leader. In the horrendously humid and nearly unbearable hot air, Starscream looked up to glare at the blue sky. "We're getting nowhere very quickly going at the rate we are. Whatever happened, something is either obviously wrong with us or the world itself."

Ramjet turned his head around to look at the other Seeker curiously. He blinked twice before turning to face the other mech fully. "Say what?"

Starscream was still looking upward like he caught sight of something and was completely engrossed in it. "Think about it, Ramjet. Unless there's something wrong with all of us, our nav systems should not be telling us that the sun is setting in the wrong direction. Now if there's something wrong with the space around us itself, it would explain why our systems won't come back telling us there's something wrong."

There was a collective silence among all the Decepticon soldiers there. Starscream opened his mouth to speak but Thundercracker effectively cut him off.

"Absolutely not. We already discussed this already, Screamer. If anyone of us leaves the group, there's a chance we won't be able to make it back. Nobody gets left behind, remember?"

Starscream turned his head to look at the flier. Skywarp hung limply off his arm with his head downcast and it tore at the Air Commander's spark to see the younger of the two as dead looking as he was. Still, Thundercracker seemed undeterred by it. The blue Seeker stared hard at their temporary leader with his icy hued optics and Starscream tried his best not to flinch. "Thundercracker, it's obvious we're not going to come across a human settlement anytime soon and you know it. We're going to need water for the humans anyways as it is. They can't survive out here longer than two days and we're not going to be anywhere then!"

The older of the Seekers looked about ready to reply. He would have if Chip hadn't decided to pip up.

The wheelchair bound human was being supported against Swindle's chest. He had been without his chair when they woke up in the desert but, with the help of Ravage, they managed to find the lost article buried by some sand. One of the wheels was busted but Swindle assured that he had a spare one lying around in storage on the Nemesis somewhere. Chip's voice was somewhat rasped but he had insisted that he was fine when the others intoned about it earlier. "Thundercracker, Starscream has a point. Carly, Spike, and I are going to need water soon. We could die before two days even comes up."

Thundercracker's mouth pressed into a thin line. "But what about—?"

Bonecrusher snapped from the rear of the group. He waves his hand aside in an offhand gesture that cast a dark shadow outward and away from him. "The rest of us can take care of ourselves. Getting somewhere where we can get this sand out of our joints and where the humans can rest is more important than normal protocol. In case you haven't noticed, today isn't exactly normal."

Thrust spoke up. "Dirge and I can take Skywarp. You could take the humans and go looking for someplace where we can call for help."

"We'd be in contact," Starscream offered.

"H-hopefully speaking at l-l-least," Mixmaster muttered. Hook glanced in the other Construction's direction but, aside from that, no one paid attention to him.

Thundercracker looked caught. He shuffled his feet and his brow furrowed with his rising frustration. "I only have room for two passengers."

"Then I'll stay," Chip piped up. Everyone turned their heads to look at him but, before they could interrupt with something, the blonde cut back in. "Look, if anyone else goes down from some sort of mechanical failure in a worst scenario situation, I can help with any repairs that need to be done. I wouldn't be any use here if I went with TC."

Carly chimed in. "But what if Thundercracker breaks down and can't fly afterward? Then what?"

Thundercracker shrugged. "There's no point in arguing. Dirge, get your skid plate over here." Even though he only asked for Dirge, Thrust approached as well. It took some gentle nudging on Thundercracker's part, but he managed to shrug Skywarp off his shoulder so the comatose flier's could be supported between the two coneheads. Stepping back, the blue Seeker regarded his bonded with darkened eyes before turning away. "Carly? Spike?"

Frenzy made a razzing sound and thrust his thumb over his shoulder. "I'll miss Spike, but feel free to take the broad. My head still hurts from her pitch…"

"You'd better pipe down or else I'll throw my other shoe at you," the black haired woman snapped. Frenzy turned to face her on his father's shoulder and he blew a loud, wet sounding raspberry at her. It looked like an ill minded argument, though it was obviously done in jest looking at the way they both grinned at one another afterward.

Rumble smacked his twin over the head. "Save the flirting for Spike, bro."

"Rumble!" If anyone chose to look at Spike, they would have seen that his face had turned bright red. Carly tried not to look at him and she blushed herself. There were collective chuckles from around grounded Decepticon forces before Thundercracker transformed with a groan.

"I can feel the sand in my engine. If it turns into glass, I'll be as mad as the Pitt. Put 'em in."

"Are you sure about this, Thunder?" Carly's voice was strained with worry even when Hook plucked her and Spike off Soundwave to place them in the Seeker's open cockpit.

Thundercracker revved his engine turbines in a sort of informal nod. There was a very obvious grainy sound inside the Seeker's engine and turbines that momentarily made everyone involuntarily wince. It sounded somewhat painful, though Thundercracker did not let his voice give away that he was in pain. "Not very, though Carly brought up a good point earlier. If I have to make an emergency landing and can't fly after that, what am I supposed to do then?"

"Walk," Starscream said grimly. "It would be better for you to make it as far as you could than be stuck with us. You'll have a better chance of getting help than anybody."

"You must have a lot of faith in me for that," the jet mused closing his hatch. "I'll do my best. And don't drop Skywarp!"

Skywarp, who had been sagging between Dirge and Thrust, was immediately straightened between the two jets in a somewhat hurried fashion. Both coneheads had been caught off guard by the oldest member of Starscream's tribe barking at them. Ramjet snickered at his own trine mates until he earned a glare from Thrust. The white Seeker shut up after that.

Spike leaned against the inside of Thundercracker's glass. It was impossible to hear the human's voice over the roar of Thundercracker's spinning turbines, though they could all read his lips easily. "We'll get help as soon as possible. Take care, guys."

Starscream nodded. "You too."

With that, Thundercracker let his engines flare to life and he was gone. Sending sand swirling upward in a sandstorm of spiraling columns of gold and tan, the jet shot upwards towards the sky with the crackling of a sonic boom. The sun caught them in its rays and it made them sparkle an eerie shade of gold.

Starscream mused. "Take care."

Megatron suddenly piped up in a groggy tone from his place supported beside his bondmate. "Let's hope that he does. Would someone care to tell me why the sun is setting in the wrong direction and what happened?"

v

I-78, an interstate highway that passed between Washington state and Oregon, sat directly beside the expressway police station and trucker refueling stop. The highway patrol headquarters had been set up back in the seventies in response to the high amount of speeding accidents that occurred on seventy-eight. Jon Hancock took the job with all the vigor of a just graduated police academy cop. He would eagerly spend days and days on end monitoring the sides of the interstate for speeding violators with his clocker but, as fifteen years passed, the once eager officer turned into an old potbellied cop. When they finally closed down the interstate for road reconstruction, Jon's enthusiasm to keep up with his career hit an all time low. He moved out from his house and set up a trailer beside the one man station to cut back on the amount of miles he was putting on his cruiser. Aside from the twice every month visits from the Law Enforcement Department - the LED for short - life for the single forty-five year old bachelor got awfully lonely. The crazy woman who worked at the refueling station was hardly one to call decent company.

Lighting another cigarette, Jon ran his free hand through his greasy black hair before tossing his lighter across his desk. His water hadn't been running in the trailer behind the station and, grudgingly, it left him unable to bathe. It wasn't as if this mattered - no one had come into the station since the LED had come to check up on him - so he did not mind. Across from him on the table opposite his office, Night Rider was running an all day marathon. He did not have much of a taste for the show but, when one doesn't have cable, it was the only thing on that was decent. He wasn't willing to damage his masculinity and pride by watching woman's cooking specials.

There was a loud whirring somewhere outside and, faintly, Jon was sure it was a jet of some sort. They commonly passed over the interstate due to the fact a military base wasn't too far away but, oddly enough, the sound did not immediately fade. He was sure it was getting louder.

…Probably a passing jet flying lower than usual. They did that sometimes.

Somewhat aggravated, the cop reached over towards the remote to turn the volume up. The car chase he was watching was starting to get good - he liked car chases to an extent, so he did not want to miss this one - and he hit the volume increase button. A green bar on the monitor filled out with a luminescent emerald to show the volume was at max. It was loud, true, but the highway patrol officer was more bothered about the fact that he could still hear the jet engines. The volume of the spinning turbines suddenly spiked and, with a screaming crash of its own, the entire office began to shake. The window behind him shattered and the television suddenly fell from the stand it was previously supported on. It fell to a floor with an equally shattering sound as the glass hitting the floor behind him.

"Jesus in hell!" Jon covered his head and threw himself to the floor. Even though he lived in California for a great deal of his life before moving to Oregon at the age of fourteen, this was the first earthquake he had the chance to live through. A part of him deep down in the pit of his stomach knew the shaking wasn't from tectonic plates shifting though. For one, not only was the police station not anywhere near a fault line, but the building's shaking stopped even before he was on the ground. The screaming of the jet engines hadn't died though. The loud, whirring sound of a plane filtered through the shattered mirror like surface of his office's back window.

Uncovering his head, the mustached man spat out his crushed cigarette and he scrambled for the door. Getting to his feet, he tore it open and ran into the small main lobby that held two holding cells on either side of the walls. They were one filled frequently with speeders who were caught without a license or ragingly drunk nutcases in the station's early days but, as Jon had aged, less and less people occupied those cells. Those cells stayed empty. Through the front screened window of the station, the police officer could make out the very obvious form of a blue and silver F-15 fighter plane practically parked in the middle of the road that branched off to the interstate. Two passengers were scrambling out of the plane.

Jon burst through the front door and his Labrador - tied to one of the posts on the porch - barked insanely in the plane's direction. He could not bring it upon himself to tell the old dog to shut up.

Two teens dressed in everyday clothes and probably no older than nineteen or so years of age jumped off the jet's wings onto the ground. The engine of the plane seemed to die down somewhat on its own even though there was seemingly no one else in the jet's opened cockpit to do so. Much to the cop's surprise as the kids saw and ran up to him, the hatch on the gold colored glass top lowered back into place by itself.

To add onto his surprise, there weren't any U.S. air force logos printed anywhere on the F-15's flank. As well, the jet's color pulled at the strings of his memory hauntingly. Where had he seen a plane painted in such an unusual combination of colors before? He knew it was on the news but couldn't remember what the broadcast was for.

A young woman with dark black hair and young man with a surfer's tan clashingly horribly with his blonde hair clambered up the stairs towards him. They came to a stop no more than two feet from him. "Officer, this is an emergency. We need to use your telephone right away," he said with a loud huff.

The black haired woman nodded. "Where are we?"

Jon Hancock was taken aback by how young they sounded and the fact they seemed like ordinary kids in no way associated with the military. He wondered stupidly if jet fliers had licenses but, before he could ask them what they were doing piloting a jet without any indication that it belonged to the air force, he gestured over his shoulder stupidly. "Uh, yeah… you're right on the interstate between Oregon and Washington State. Highway seventy-eight. The phone's right on the desk inside."

Both the kids looked relieved. They pushed past him to get inside and it left the cop with a full view of the jet. The engines were continuing to die down and he could see the old crazy lady who ran the truck stop coming out to investigate. He wondered if any of her windows were broken from the jet's boomingly loud engines.

He turned on his heel to follow the kids inside.

The girl hung up the phone and put it to her ears again with a frustrated growl. "Spike, there's still no tone!"

The boy cursed. He was by the wall where the phone was plugged in. He stood back up with a chewed cable in his hands. "Looks like mice got to it, Carly."

Jon cleared his throat and spoke up. "Can I ask exactly who you two are?"

Both of the kids snapped their heads around to look at him. Jon momentarily wished that he still had running water - if he knew he was getting company, he would have gone to extra mile to have made sure that he had a shower - but it dawned on him a moment later that the phone hadn't been working for quite sometime. He never bothered to get it fixed for the reason that the LED never made it mandatory that he do so. Before he could think further though, Carly rushed up to him. "Please, this could be a life or death situation. We need to get in contact with the military immediately."

"Do you have a radio?" Spike voice was somewhat wavered. "A one way that couldn't be picked up by anyone else but who we're calling? It's urgent."

He did not but it dawned on Jon Hancock that he had an Autobot emergency broadcast radio on the back shelf behind the desk. They became mandatory in all police stations a year after the Autobots arrived to Earth and, up until now, Jon never felt inclined to use it. The radio was meant only to be used by authorized personnel in case of a Decepticon attack or sighting but, in this case, the cop felt inclined to make an exception this once. If two kids who were piloting a jet with no ownership markings wanted immediate help for some reason, Jon knew damn well that it had to be for something very important. His heart started to pound when he told them to use the emergency radio on the back shelf.

"Thank you," Carly said hurriedly when she rushed around the desk counter to the other side.

Spike looked at her when she passed before moving up towards Jon. He ruffled his bleached blonde hair and he grinned somewhat. His face was covered with sand and dirt like he had been walking through it for an hour and not flying in a jet. "What she said."

"Can I ask who you two are now, or are you going to make me question you?" Truth be told, Jon had never questioned or interrogated anyone before. Still, his heat's erratic pounding in his chest was getting to him. "What are you two kids doing with a jet parked out in the middle of the street?"

The black haired woman gave a loud, piercing shriek.

Both men turned in her direction in alarm. Carly had flung herself away from the back shelf and she bumped against the desk with enough force to send the telephone crashing to the ground. It gave a weak ring before going silent and Spike rushed to her side immediately. With a cry of his own, he leapt away from the radio like he had been bitten. "Holy shit."

Jon rushed over. "What!" He half expected to see a rotting dead mouse - it would explain where the mouse that chewed on the wire had gone - but all he saw when he looked at what both kids were staring at was the radio. Adorned on its front was the Autobot's crimson red insignia and, to the cop's further confusion, he could not see anything that would have caused the kids to react the way they had. Anyone who did not know about the Autobots was either a hermit or just plain lacked a television. Considering the two teens were piloting a jet, he doubted it could be either.

Carly's hand went over her mouth and her eyes were wide with what looked to be fear. Jon would have asked what was wrong if a fist did not connect with his mouth.

Jon Hancock staggered backwards without even finding the time to cry out before he hit the floor. He whacked his head hard enough against the floor to make his head spin and, somewhere outside, the dog started to bark again. He would have told the beast to shut his trap if his head wasn't reeling.

Spike's voice was angry. "I thought cops were supposed to protect people! How long have you been working with the Autobots!"

Jon managed to look up to see the blonde man standing over him with obviously upset eyes. Carly was standing behind him with her mouth still covered. With a grunt, he tried to sit up realizing that the situation turned hostile. "I hardly even know the Autobots! The government made it mandatory that all police stations have a way to contact them in case of a Decepticon attack!"

Spike roared with rage. "How dare you say that! The Decepticons would never hurt anybody!"

"The government…" Carly's muse seemingly fell on the deaf ears of her friend. Jon heard but, despite that, he couldn't bring himself to care. Spike was poised over him in a threatening position and all those years he spent in the police academy kicked into gear. Hancock reached down towards his utility belt to draw his gun. Fumbling to get it out of his holster, Carly seemed to see what it was he was doing and her eyes widened. She took her hand away from her lips to grab her friend by his trembling arm. "Spike, RUN!"

Spike was jerked off his feet when his black haired partner yanked him aside. Jon was only going to aim his gun at them for good measure - they said you were supposed to do that in the police academy when dealing with potentially hostile individuals - but the fact they were running left him with no other choice but to stop them. He drew his PP7 and aimed the best he could with his still throbbing head before firing at their retreating feet.

The first time he missed. The shot hit the wooden floor and it send splinters of wood flying up everywhere. Smoke resonated from the place the speeding bullet struck but, before the two kids could fleer, he quickly readjusted his aim and fired again. This time his shot was accurate. Blood erupted from the place he hit on Spike's ankle and the jeans fabric there was torn. The teen gave out a mighty shriek before he tumbled forward and crashed into his friend. They both fell through the door with a crash.

Carly screamed. "THUNDERCRACKER!"

A new voice, gravely and deep, called out. It made the Jon's toes curl. "Carly? I thought I heard a gunshot! What's wrong with—OW! Lady, quit throwing cans at me! My joints hurt enough already without you tossing slag at them! For the last time, I am NOT going to steal your fuel!"

Spike gave another howling shriek and Jon heard a loud thud like something whipping about to face the direction of the scream.

"TC, get us out of here!"

Jon had to move now.

The cop hauled himself to his feet and he ran for the door to cut the kids off. The dog was still barking madly and, when the police officer charged out the screen door, he could see why. He stopped dead in his tracks and just about nearly dropped his gun when he saw the huge robot in place where the jet should have been. The Lab snarled with his tail between his legs at its hulking form while the crazy lady threw canned food at the backs of the robot's legs. The blue Transformer snapped his head down to look at him with narrowed eyes. Jon was too horrorstricken to realize they were a teal blue.

Two large purple insignias stood out against the white and red trim of his wings. With a start, he realized he found the jet familiar because it was a Decepticon.

As both kids rushed forward towards the Decepticon - said Seeker beginning to transform back into his alternate-mode to provide the children with an escape - Jon dropped his gun and raced back inside. The gun went off from hitting the ground but, regardless, it wasn't as if it mattered. Jon nearly tripped over his legs jumping around the desk counter and he grabbed the mouthpiece for the emergency Autobot contact radio. His heart raced a mile a minute when he pulled back the side cover to smash the contact button in.

As soon as the jet engine's roar made another loud boom that was enough to break even more windows in the station, he heard the conformation beep and he stuttered. "This is Jon Hancock from the seventy-eight interstate highway station to the Autobots. I have a reported Decepticon sighting…"

vi

Deep down, Optimus was glad that the only reason the base's alarms suddenly went off was because Skyfire was calling. Redalert seemed aggravated but, regardless, Wheeljack and Ratchet seemed to be in silent agreement with Optimus. Optimus told his engineer and medic to fill Red in on what happened with the whiteout before he addressed Skyfire's image on the console screen. "This is an emergency link only, Skyfire."

"So, if having an unbearably bright light flashed in your face while you're flying isn't anything along the lines of a near emergency, then what is?" The space shuttle's voice was somewhat aggravated and Optimus could not help but feel sorry that Red had yelled at him. The more recent members to the Autobot ranks seemed slightly taken aback like someone had scolded at him. No doubt due to Redalert's reproach for using the emergency array.

Optimus cut back in. "My mistake then. What were you doing before then? You have some scuff marks on your shoulder."

The mech's blue eyes flashed and he looked down at himself. "I just took out Starscream and his flier cronies about a half megacycle ago. Skywarp clawed up my chassis pretty good, but it's nothing serious. I would have called sooner about the flash but my radio was busted when Starscream hit me with one of his null rays. It's taken me up until not to fix it."

Redalert's voice rose up from somewhere behind him. "The twins did WHAT?"

Optimus felt the all too tall tale signs of a migraine threatening to make his processors implode. Hearing the way the Red's voice rose in pitch towards the end of his exclamation, the Prime realized it was probably a bad idea to let Wheeljack try to help Ratchet explain to what happened.

Sunstreaker exclaimed from across the room. "It was Sideswipe's fault!"

"Frag you, Sunny!"

Skyfire raised an optic ridge. "Optimus? What's going on?"

The Prime's face turned grim. "We're… not entirely sure."

Then another alarm went off.

Skyfire seemed to jump in place hearing the blaring whir of the emergency alarm system kicking back into gear. "I didn't touch anything Optimus!"

"What now?" Bumblebee came back into the room - he had left when it was apparent that the emergency siren was signaling nothing more than a false alarm - and following behind him this time was Spike and Carly. Trailing behind them at a slightly slower pace was Chip trying to keep something in his lap from falling off while he rolled his wheelchair. Jazz trailed in behind him and Optimus realized the paraplegic human was working on Jazz's radio.

Sunstreaker cackled and pointed an accusing finger in the saboteur's direction. "Ha! Who doesn't believe in bad luck now!?"

Jazz, being one who could be nasty if he did not have his music, lived up to that role by flipping the sunshine yellow Lamborghini the birdie. Sunny flashed the human gesture right back before Prowl came in, caught him making the gesture, and crossed the room to promptly smack the Lamborghini over the head despite the fact that Jazz had done it first.

Ignoring the prominent clang of his second hitting Sunstreaker over the head and the curse that followed, Optimus tapped a code on the console. "Teletran-One?"

"An emergency beacon has been activated at coordinates 23-36. Patching in message relay…"

The alarms stopped blaring and a good portion of the base's Autobots began to pour in even as the message was played back. The background noise that filtered through the speakers was the very obvious whir of a jet flying further away from the radio message source.

"This is Jon Hancock from the seventy-eight interstate highway station to the Autobots. I have a reported Decepticon sighting… a big jet, light blue with some red trim on the wings. I didn't stay out long enough to get a great view of him. I didn't realize he was a Decepticon right away because he didn't transform right off. He landed and these two kids jumped out of the cockpit asking me for help."

There was a collective bout of surprise among the Autobots. A good portion of the room glanced about at each other and Optimus saw Wheeljack and Ratchet give each other a very hard look. The Autobot leader did not turn away from the monitor in fear that his solemn expression would bother the others.

Jon kept rambling. "These two, they came in saying they needed a phone to call the military for something. Said it was an emergency and probably a life or death situation. I don't know if these kids were taken hostage or something, but they freaked when I told them to use this radio. Some mice chewed through the telephone wires. They, uh, wigged seeing the Autobot insignia on the radio and the male suspect of the two gave me a nice right hook in the face. He said the Decepticons wouldn't hurt a fly or something like that."

Again, there was a very tense and collective silence. Aside from the whirs of intake cycles and the crackling of the radio, no one said a word.

"So then I drew my gun to keep the kid from assaulting me. The girl grabbed the boy's arm and they both tried to flee. I had to stop them so I shot the male suspect in the foot. They fell through the door and, when I ran after them to give chase, the jet had turned into a giant robot. The female suspect told him to get them out of there and she called him, uh, Thundercracker. I think it was Thundercracker, anyways. I might have heard wrong."

Skyfire objected loudly from his place on the monitor. "What? I scrapped him and the rest of the trine! Thundercracker should be completely out of commission!"

"Quiet!" Optimus objected. He had not meant to use the tone that he did but, regardless, stress was beginning to get the better of him. Skyfire closed his mouth but his lips pressed to form a very thin line. His jaw was set tightly with mounting frustration.

Jon made a very obvious swallowing sound, made an offhand remark that he needed a cigarette, and he spoke again. "After that, I came inside and called. Whether or not the kids are hostages, one of them is bleeding. They said their names were… aw shit, it sounded like Spike or Carly or something like that."

Now, instead of everyone looking at one another, all optics immediately snapped down towards the two humans in the room of the same name.

Before Jon could continue, Optimus decided that he had heard enough. He cut the radio link and looked towards Skyfire. "Where are you now? Are you anywhere where the coordinates were given?"

The shuttle nodded. "I'm very close actually. Do you want me to go investigate the source of the transmission?"

"No," Prime said with the slight shake of his head. "Bypass it completely. I and the rest of the Autobots will investigate the source. I want you to go after our supposed Decepticon. Don't engage him until we can figure out if he has human hostages."

Skyfire's jaw tightened again. "Yes sir, Optimus."

The shuttle cut off the link and Spike exclaimed loudly afterward. "But Carly and I are right here! It has to be a coincidence that there are two other people who called themselves that!"

"Too much of a coincidence," Prowl drawled from across the room.

Optimus agreed with him. The Prime turned to his engineer and he nodded in his direction. "Wheeljack? Would you mind explaining to everyone what you told me about the purple and red rubber balls and that machine of yours? Then tell them what happened in the lab before the whiteout happened."

vii

His online computer beeped.

Even when they were at their base under the ocean, Teletran-One would usually always forward transmissions directly to Optimus Prime for security reasons. Living on board the sunken Ark with a relatively large group of treacherous mechs was dangerous enough as it was and, with a good portion of al those mechs discreetly striving for leadership, the cruel Prime made it a personal matter that he received messages before anyone else. A red light blinked in the corner of his vision and he snarled pulling his fist away from Wheeljack's smashed facial plates. "Teletran-One?"

"An emergency beacon has been activated at coordinates 23-36. Patching in message relay…"

Prowl, having long since had his damages from his earlier beating on by Optimus repaired, piped up from behind the Autobot leader. "An emergency beacon? Isn't that like the ones that the humans use if they want to call the Decepticons?"

Optimus glared over his shoulder and gave the police cruiser a long, menacing look. He dropped Wheeljack and the mad scientist collapsed to the ground in unconsciousness. Since coming back to consciousness after the whiteout in the desert, Optimus had immediately approached the scientist to demand what had happened. On top of the fact that the nuclear weapon had failed to destroy Megatron on its trial use, Wheeljack not being able explain what had happened had sent the vicious Prime into a beating frenzy. Wheeljack would live but, consequently, no one was going to offer to carry him if they moved. Among Autobots, if there was a straggler, they would be left behind.

Optimus stood to his full, intimidating height and he narrowed his crimson hued eyes towards the sun. A sun, curiously enough, that was setting in a direction that he wasn't used to. "All of you, quiet!"

"This is Jon Hancock from the seventy-eight interstate highway station to the Autobots. I have a reported Decepticon sighting… a big jet, light blue with some red trim on the wings. I didn't stay out long enough to get a great view of him. I didn't realize he was a Decepticon right away because he didn't transform right off. He landed and these two kids jumped out of the cockpit asking me for help."

Bluestreak drew his sniper and chuckled lowly. "It sounds like Thundercracker's flying solo with the Decepticons' pet humans. It's not like him to be anywhere without his little mutt of a partner but… why are they calling us? Shouldn't the organics be calling the Decepticons to let them know about us and not the other way around?" He started to mutter incoherently in Dutch.

Ironhide started to cackle. "Maybe the humans are finally realizing that they can't beat us! You know what they say Blue! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

Optimus turned, aimed his cannon at Ironhide, and the red van immediately shut up. The red mech's equally scarlet optics widened in fear and he looked too frozen in place to move. Optimus never fired, though he kept his weapon's crosshairs trained on the warrior in case he tried to speak again.

"These two, they came in saying they needed a phone to call the military for something. Said it was an emergency and probably a life or death situation. I don't know if these kids were taken hostage or something, but they freaked when I told them to use this radio. Some mice chewed through the telephone wires. They, uh, wigged seeing the Autobot insignia on the radio and the male suspect of the two gave me a nice right hook in the face. He said the Decepticons wouldn't hurt a fly or something like that. So then I drew my gun to keep the kid from assaulting me. The girl grabbed the boy's arm and they both tried to flee. I had to stop them so I shot the male suspect in the foot. They fell through the door and, when I ran after them to give chase, the jet had turned into a giant robot. The female suspect told him to get them out of there and she called him, uh, Thundercracker. I think it was Thundercracker, anyways. I might have heard wrong."

"So then the other Decepticons must be hurt," Ratchet said slowly. "That would explain why Thundercracker isn't with them."

The organic made a very made a disgusting sound, made an offhand remark that he needed a cigarette, and the human spoke again. "After that, I came inside and called. Whether or not the kids are hostages, one of them is bleeding. They said their names were… aw shit, it sounded like Spike or Carly or something like that."

Optimus cackled. "So, the Decepticons and their human pets are here too…" His crimson eyes narrowed further towards the pale, pale blue sky with mirth rather than aggravation. "If one of the humans is hurt, Thundercracker will more than likely return them to the rest of the Decepticons than leave them with humans that are seemingly against them. Interesting… not only is the sun setting in the wrong direction, but everything else seems to be in reverse as well."

Ironhide spoke up. "Are you sayin' that the humans here, wherever we are, think the Decepticons are trying to hurt 'em? That must mean that they think we're not!"

Optimus cackled. "This is an opportunity Autobots…" He turned to the rest of his group save for Wheeljack and he grinned viciously behind his faceplate. Hefting his arm and fist high into the air, he held his cannon up high and laughed. "Let's use it! Transform and roll out!"

With that they did. With cackles fit for a pack of hyenas, they all shifted to their respectful vehicle-modes. Revving their engines and sending dust up in all directions, they switched to their highest gears before speeding off. All of them fell in line behind their leader and dared not drive past him. While they all left, Wheeljack was left lying near dead in the sand. He would stay there for two more days before finally getting up and wandering away like a wounded beast.

viii

Spike finally stopped screaming, but it did nothing to stop the immense rush of blood coming from his ankle.

Thundercracker's cockpit was coated with the thick, coppery odor of blood that hung in the air like low storm clouds. The humid hotness within the cockpit did not make the situation any more comfortable. Holding the edge of the ripped fabric that she tore from her shirt against Spike's shot foot, Carly looked up at the ceiling of the cockpit with wide horrorstricken eyes. "We need to get him to a hospital, Thunder! Jesus, he's bleeding everywhere!"

Thundercracker's voice was a somewhat panicked rumble. "I'd love to hun, but I don't even know where one is. My navigational system is still scrap and it would be too risky leaving him with anymore humans that might try to hurt him. If a cop tried to shot at you for being associated with Decepticons, then imagine what a whole group of humans would do!"

Carly made a frustrated sound, balled her free hand, and she slammed her fist on the inside of the cockpit's yellow glass. Such a movement would not even bother the huge air warrior but, either way, Carly felt bad for hitting the inside of one of her friend afterward. Her voice felt like it was going to crack when she spoke again. "Dammit TC, what's going on?"

Spike game a weak whimper. "Yeah Thunder, any ideas?"

"Kids, if I knew, trust me when I say that I would tell you."

The inside of the jet's pilot chamber was suddenly blaring with beeping emergency alarms.

Carly snapped to attention and Spike cried out when she moved her hands too roughly against his damaged ankle. Her dark brown eyes were wide with fear. "Thundercracker…"

Several switches on the inside console twitched and data was brought up on the screen, but the beeping pressed on with just as much urgency as it had when it first started. Another one began to wail from behind and, for a horrifying moment, Carly thought the warrior's engines were failing. Her fears were proved false when she saw the Seeker bring up his short range radar on screen. It wasn't enough to detect and pinpoint where they were on a map, but it usually only came on when the Seeker's onboard early warning systems picked up a following object.

Carly pressed on. "What is it!?"

There was another beeping sound and she saw an Autobot symbol on the edge of the screen. Her heart sank and adrenaline pumped through her body faster than a crashing car.

Thundercracker cursed loudly in Cybertronian. "It's Skyfire! Everyone hold…"

But he trailed off mid-sentence. Carly understand why right away, because they could not strap Spike in with his injury. If the Seeker tried to make any emergency maneuvers now, both humans would either be killed or seriously hurt. If they tried to strap themselves in, Spike risked bleeding to death without his bleeding appendage being raised. The Seeker cursed again and tried to speed up. "Damn it all to… I knew leaving the rest of the group was a bad idea! But does anyone ever listen to me? Nooo…"

Spike, through his obvious pain, tried to sound optimistic. "Skyfire's not the brightest of the Autobots. Being frozen in the Artic screwed up his logic chips, remember? He probably doesn't even know we're here."

"And if he does, he'll scrap us as soon as he can get a clear shot. His temper and firepower makes up for his lack of intelligence," the Seeker retorted. On the radar screen, Skyfire's energy signature was getting closer. Considering Thundercracker was somewhat sped up from the rate of velocity he was traveling before, it was immediate indication that Skyfire had increased his own speed too. This, to the Decepticon's and humans' horror, meant that he was giving chase.

"Jesus Christ in hell," Carly moaned.

Spike looked at Thundercracker's console with pain glazed eyes. "Are we in range for contacting the others?"

Thundercracker said nothing at first. After a tense second of silence, he groaned in a similar fashion Carly had. "I can't. We're not close enough and the sand lodged in my systems is still blocking my message relay center. We have to get closer to them before we can get their signal and it's faint enough as it is."

The alarms started to go off again. Skyfire was less than three hundred feet to their left but, through the cloud cover, it was too difficult to see. The shuttle was coming closer - the radar warned of this - but it was increasingly distressing that they couldn't see him at all. Thundercracker tried to speed up but something made the engine give a loud, shattering pop.

Carly screamed when the jet seemingly hit turbulence. Thundercracker grunted in pain and Spike cried out. "What happened!?"

"Glass buildup. I can't go any faster than this. Even if I tried to give myself a sonic boom boost, the shards would get caught in my engine. I'd be ripped apart from the inside out."

They suddenly cleared the clouds and all three of them caught sight of Skyfire.

The shuttle stood out like a white dot on blue paper and he veered somewhat to fly closer to Thundercracker. Carly and Spike stared in mute horror at the oncoming second most dangerous Autobot to the entire Aerialbot crew themselves and Thundercracker shuddered all over with a violent tremble. It felt like they hit turbulence again but the consideration that even the cockpit seats seemed to be vibrating made it obviously otherwise. Neither of the humans could blame the blue Seeker for his show in fear.

Surprisingly though, Skyfire did not open fire. Instead, the radio channel opened and Skyfire's voice came through.

"Alright Thundercracker, pull over! I don't know how you managed to get back in working order after I slagged you and your trine, but leave the humans out of it. Let them go and I won't shoot you down later!"

Carly blinked twice before she looked down at Spike to see his reaction. He blinked too, though not without letting his mouth press into a thin line. He cocked his head up to look at her with a questioning expression before speaking. "Uh… what did Skyfire say?"

Thundercracker mused. "Alright, first we get blasted into the middle of the desert, then the sun sets in the wrong direction, then a cop tries to call the Autobots for help, and now Skyfire is acting like I'm a kidnapper and he's not a serial killer! What the slag is going on!" The Seeker suddenly snarled viciously and frustration radiated off him like heat.

Carly reached a hand forward to run it over the front of the console. She wasn't sure if it would work for Thundercracker but, in the past while she had flown inside Astrotrain and Skywarp, it usually calmed them down if passengers made contact with the front dash. The blue Seeker trembled from the touch and the console lights blinked. Before he could ask what she was doing, she spoke. "Try to scan the area for the Decepticons so you can get in radio contact with them. Leave dealing with Skyfire to me. Open a channel so I can talk to him."

Skyfire's voice came over the radio. "I can see the humans in your cockpit, Deceptiscum! Let them go or else I will have to call for backup! We can either do this the easy way or the hard way!"

Spike looked at Carly. "You want to try talking to him! How are we supposed to reason with a lunatic Autobot!?"

"If he is a lunatic Autobot, then why has he not shot us yet? If he really wanted to kill us, he would have done that already." Carly rubbed her thumb against the console before tapping twice. "Are you still with us, Thunder?"

"Yeah."

"Think about this, TC. Like you said, everything seems to be backwards. Has it ever dawned on you that we might be what's in reverse?"

Thundercracker went silent for a moment. "…What are you getting at?"

"You saw how Skywarp reacted before that light blinded all of us," she tried to reason with a grim voice. "He has a very acute sense of the space time continuum. Has if ever dawned on you that that light might have been a blast that sent us into another dimension?"

Spike snapped. "That's bogus! Where the hell did you come up with that random explanation!"

"No," Thundercracker said. "No Spike, she might be right. Carly, do the honors of telling this guy off. Tell him to follow us for all I care. If he wanted to shoot us down, Primus knows he would have done that by now. I have a clear frequency I can use to contact the others now."

Spike nodded. "Will do, TC. I just hope we know what we're getting ourselves into…"

A red light on the console turned green and there was the familiar crackle of static. Carly hit a button beneath it and she spoke loudly. "Skyfire, this is Carly Fox, one of many human allies of the Decepticons…"

ix

There was a communication that the Nemesis detected that came, oddly enough, from Thundercracker. The only problem with that was that Thundercracker was standing in the room when the console chimed that he was the one trying to contact the base from the earth's surface. The entire Decepticon headquarters had been in panic ever since the whiteout hit and the panic inside the command center escalated to off-guard confusion.

Skywarp had been scanning the outside ocean depths when he heard the computer say who the message relay was from. "This is getting weirder and weirder… Thundercracker's standing right next to me!"

The blue Seeker beside him only stared at the monitor with a duped stupor.

Starscream looked at the monitor reading out who was trying to contact the base long and hard. The damage he had sustained from Megatron's most recent form of punishment was evident enough as it was, but it was healed enough from emergency care that the Seeker could walk upright. "I don't understand any of this! What's going ON!"

"You idiot! Out of the way!" Megatron shoved past his second and tapped the console. "Soundwave, trace this transmission. I want to know exactly who this is coming from."

"Observation: and where else it is going," the radio droned in a heavy monotone. Megatron blinked his optics and turned to look at the communications officer, but the navy blue Decepticon responded before the tyrant could ask what he meant. "Explanation: radio message is also being received elsewhere. Tracing indicates the location of the other receiving end is in a desert between the Oregon and Washington State borders. Coordinates are 267-25A."

Megatron scowled. "That would only happen if we had any other units out there. Everyone is accounted for in the base."

"But then why is Thundercracker, who is obviously inside the base, trying to contact us?" To make his point, Starscream jerked his hand and pointed a finger accusingly at his blue wingmate's direction.

Megatron looked ready to backhand him, but the Seeker flinched away before the tyrant would strike him. Megatron scowled deeply. "You're an idiot Starscream. We'll see soon enough. Open the radio link—"

"Interruption: link has already been opened by party in desert."

"Eh?"

Thundercracker's voice suddenly came through the radio.

"Screamer? Hey, is anybody there!? Mayday, mayday, the kids and I ran into trouble and we're in a world of bad right now."

Then, to everyone's further surprise - and very much intense surprise - Megatron's voice filtered in through the link. What came to more of a surprise was the tone of voice.

"Thundercracker! By the Pitt, are you alright!?"

"Megs!?I should be asking you the same question! You were out cold the last I saw you, boss!"

"Never mind me," the tyrant's voice said in an offhand tone. His voice took on a much more worried one. "My injuries from before are not what I'm worried about. The others filled me in. What's going on? Are you and the children alright?"

"We found a human settlement, a police station, and the officer there had a radio like the ones we gave to the humans if they ever needed to contact us. Except this radio was made especially for contacting the Autobots."

There was a sudden outburst on the other end of the link. There was a great deal of background noise and the Megatron copy called out to whoever it was that was making the outburst. His tone was oddly gentle.

"Does someone wanna explain what the actual living frag is going on?" Frenzy asked. No one answered him and the rest of the command center remained silent.

"Someone please calm Starscream down," the Megatron on the radio link demanded. He addressed Thundercracker again. "What happened after that?"

"Nothing much, except the cop shot Spike when he and Carly tried to flee."

"WHAT!? Another human assaulted Spike!? Is he alright!?"

"He's bleeding badly. I hope Chip knows first-aid, but the problems don't end there. Skyfire's chasing us. He hasn't opened fire yet but… Boss, you're not going to believe this when I tell you. Remember that bright light?"

"Yes."

"Everything seems to be backwards here. The sun is setting in the west instead of the east and the humans seem to think that the Autobots aren't their enemies. Carly thinks that whiteout wasn't just as light. She thinks we got blasted into an alternate dimension. The way Skywarp reacted before the whiteout makes the theory plausible."

There was a very eerie silence over the link.

Thundercracker spoke again. "The Skyfire that's chasing us now might be an inhabitant of this world. He thinks I'm trying to kidnap the humans. Should I lure him towards us so we can get to the bottom of this?"

Megatron's voice cut back in. "Go ahead with that, Thundercracker. Use your radio to trace our position and find us. We'll be waiting."

"Thank you sir. ETA, five cycles."

The link was suddenly cut off and all the Decepticons present in the command center could only bring it upon themselves to stare.

Megatron broke the silence. "Soundwave, what is the percent possibility that the message relay was a hoax?"

The cassette player did not respond right away. All optics switched from the computer console to him and all eyes, mostly hued crimson, regarded him with an uttermost intensity. Even his own creations looked up to him with equally confused gazes before the communications officer replied. "…Zero point one percent. Message is genuine."

"So, if there are Decepticons from an alternate reality now in this universe, we could join forces to crush the Autobots!" Starscream's shrill exclamation no doubt had something to do with ruling over the new Decepticon faction but, before the Seeker Air Commander could put any more of his input forth, Megatron cut him off.

The tyrant's voice was somewhat softer than usual. It was only noticeable unless one paid an incredible amount of attention to it. Unlike the voice of the Megatron from the transmission though - holding a caring undertone that was eerily similar to Optimus Prime's - the Megatron that stood before them still had his menacing gravely voice. "Decepticons, lock onto those coordinates. We're going to greet our new guests…"

The room was silent for a moment longer before things finally sank in. The cassetteticons retreated back to Soundwave while the triple-changers and coneheads prepared to move towards the docking bay. The Constructions followed suit with Swindle trailing almost conspicuously behind. Even while Megatron moved to follow, though slightly slower than he probably would have, Thundercracker still stood by the monitor with a blank expression on his face. Though he probably wasn't in the position to do so, Skywarp put a hand on his wingmate's shoulder in an attempt to bring him out of his daze. "TC?"

The blue jet whipped around in place to face his purple counterpart. Red eyes locked onto red and the two regarded each other for a moment.

Skywarp let his mouth press into a tight line. "Yo, Thundercracker, are you okay? You look like you're in the middle of a reboot or something."

"Did someone say I wasn't?"

The two Seekers were friends - they had been close in stark comparison to the rest of the Decepticons - but they still had their general rules. If Thundercracker wasn't going to tell him what was wrong, then Skywarp just would not press for information. It was how their partnership worked and how it would always. Still, it did not mean the purple teleport did not worry about his blue companion. He squeezed Thundercracker's shoulder and tried to offer a grin. "Hey, put it this way Thunder. Now there are two good looking versions of me and two good looking versions of you walking around now. You can't tell me that's worth worrying over."

Thundercracker shook his head. "It's not that, 'Warp."

"Then what is?" Starscream hadn't left to follow the rest of the fleet and, since the conversation between the two began, the silver and red Seeker had been eavesdropping on his two wingmates for sometime. The dark faced Air Commander approached the two with his arms crossed firmly over his chest. "Even though you and Skywarp can play whatever games you like, I'm not playing. Something has you spooked Thundercracker and I demand you tell me."

Skywarp gave the other Seeker a glare. "Drop it, Screamer. If TC isn't comfortable saying anything, don't make him."

"No," Thundercracker said in a monotone. His two wingmates turned their heads to look at him with equally bright, scarlet optics. Even though he was put on the spot, the blue Seeker did a tremendous job keeping his cool. "Look, it's not that I'm spooked, but something about this really bothers me. On the radio, the Megatron we head talked like Optimus. He did not snap, did not bark, and he was even concerned when my doppelganger said that he and his… human companion was hurt. Pitt, he acted like my doppelganger was his son. He sounded even more courageous than Optimus. He's probably even more stupid in the head than Prime, but that's just the start of it."

Starscream glared. "What's to worry about then?"

"What really worries me is what Optimus' doppelganger is like. And if my personal interpretation of him is right, then I really hope he didn't get sent here like our doppelgangers did."

x

Jon heard something outside the police station. Unlike the Decepticon's jet turbines, this was a more familiar sound. Like the trucks that revved outside the station at night from across the street at the fueling stop, it was the welcoming sound of car engines.

He had been huddled over the emergency radio for a whole half hour now and he did not dare to leave it for a moment. There were seconds that he wondered if he had imagined the whole scenario with the two teenage kids coming into the station, but then he would see the bullet hole in the floor from his first missed shot. After that, he'd see that the phone was on the floor from being knocked off the counter and he'd catch sight of the glass still glinting off the floor from the broken windows. Finally, of course, there were the all too apparent marks on the road where the Decepticon's feet crushed the asphalt.

But now he could put that in the past. The Autobots were coming.

Standing up, Jon Hancock walked around the counter and shuffled towards the door. His head was still sore from being hit against the floor, his insides still felt like rubber from the adrenaline rush he had firing his gun - a weapon, he would fully admit, that he never fired in a real life-death situation before - and seeing the monstrous hulking form the Decepticon right outside his station. Crossing the main lobby area past the two cells on either wall, he pushed the screen door open and walked onto his porch to look down the road to his right.

There was the very unmistakable glint of cars on the horizon. At the head was a very large flat nosed truck.

The dog started to whine.

Jon turned his head away from the oncoming group of Autobots to stare down at his dog still tied up on the porch. Kipling was a fourteen year old Labrador that his sister used to own before she had to give him away in moving to Europe to research geology. Emily said that he was a smart dog but, in Jon's personal perspective, the old beast was dumber than a rusted, headless doornail. The dog's eyes were always glazed with a sort of stupidity and there were times that the cop was sure that the dog couldn't tell the difference between his name and he command to sit. Still, the dog did have his methods of communication. If Kipling ever wanted to go inside, he would just whimper.

Considering the poor chocolate lab had to see a giant robot stand no more than twenty feet from him - and with no way to hide himself - Jon was near positive the dog knew more robots were coming and wanted no part of it. He wanted to go inside where it was safe. Kipling stared up at him with idiocy glazed eyes and he shifted his weight from one set of paws to the other.

Jon shook his head. "Fine, you can go in. Geez, I thought guard dogs were supposed to have dignity…" The police officer knelt down to unhook the dog from the chain keeping him tied to the porch railing. The chocolate furred dog looked into Jon's eyes when he squatted down to the dog's level and that was when Jon noticed something off.

Instead of the beast's eyes being glazed with idiocy, a look of what the cop thought to be fear was reflected in the gold colored irises instead. As soon as he unhooked the chain from the dog's collar, Kipling suddenly bolted.

When usually unhooked, he would slowly waddle over to the door to wait until Jon opened the door for him. This time however, the scenario was different. Instead of moving sluggishly like he usually did in his old age, Kipling suddenly charged past Jon with enough strength and force to knock the cop onto his ass. Hancock grunted and fell onto his back as the old Labrador leapt down the stairs, banked with enough sharpness to send dirt flying up in his wake, and Kipling ran around the station towards the desert behind it. Not waiting for anything, the dog kept running and never slowed.

Jon jumped back to his feet and ran down the stairs of the porch. "Kipling! God dammit Kipling, get back here!" He ran past the porch and stopped short of watching the old dog gaining distance from the police station. Jon ran a hand through his greasy, unwashed hair in a frustrated manner knowing he would never catch up with the dumb mutt. The frustration turned into a brief, fleeting moment of minor fright.

Kipling looked scared. He dog had his cowardly spells, but even Jon had to admit it was never like the old dog to be as terrified as he had looked. Dogs could sense danger, after all.

The sound of engines rising, Jon slowly turned around to see the Autobots approaching. The metal hides of their alternate forms gleamed with an air that had nothing to do with chivalry and, to the man's discomfort, there was something amiss about the way Optimus Prime lead the group in front. His form was hulking in an ominous way and it appeared the rest of the group was suddenly falling away from him somewhat. As they came closer, Optimus' speed seemed to increase and, to Jon's surprise, he thought he saw a missile rack open above the Autobot commander's cab. He hadn't thought the supreme commander had that - perhaps it was a feature that he rarely used - but he had no time to let his surprise turn to horror when the Autobot commander fired his arsenal on the station and fuel stop.

After being on the force for fifteen years, Jon Hancock's career - and life - came to an abrupt end. Also suffering as a casualty, the old woman who worked the station had no chance to escape either. Optimus fired three missiles at the fuel station and the pumps exploded immediately. With all the power of a volcano in the devastating chain reaction, the entire stop was blown sky high to the point that the rising flames dwarfed even the most massive of combiners. A sheet of jagged shrapnel was propelled from the detonation and Jon, caught in its path, had no time to react or save himself. The heated metal was slashed across his features and the flesh on the entire right portion of his face was ripped clean off. Dead instantly, the cop's body went into a wild spasm for no more than three seconds before he collapsed to the dusty ground.

Two more missiles, this time aimed for the police station, fired from Optimus' cab and the entire building went up in flames, debris, and dust. The trailer behind the building was violently flipped and the gas burner fastened to the side of it exploded from the violent movement and heat. It exploded with a pop.

The missile compartment on Optimus Prime's cab went down and the cruel, merciless leader gave a cackle of twisted glee as he and the rest of his Autobots sped past the carnage. Prowl was tempted to give a snide, rude comment that the destruction of the fuel station was a terrible waste - they could have used to, after all - but he wisely kept his comments to himself. Dealing with the Prime's viciously cruel tendencies, it would be foolish to question the Autobot tyrant unless you had a death wish or no sense of self preservation. Now that the Autobot fleet had found the location of the emergency beacon, they could get a lock on Thundercracker's coordinates so the blue mech would lead them straight to the rest of the Decepticons. The Aerialbots zoomed overhead - they had woken up to the strange new dimension in a different location before locating the rest of their team - and they moved forward like wolves stalking their prey.

Optimus honked his cab's horn loudly.

There was a new sheriff in town. Unlike the kind and gentle leader that his doppelganger was, the only freedom this Optimus Prime thought the other sentient beings deserved was the freedom to go up in flames.

xi

Optimus and the rest of the Autobots had been on the road ever since Wheeljack finished explaining what had happened with the dimensional transporter malfunction courteous of Sunstreaker's lovely screw up. They had been following the emergency energy beacon when the link suddenly died.

Inside Optimus' cab, Spike looked at the dash with confused eyes seeing the red light there stop flashing. "Hey Optimus, the link just went dead."

Optimus shifted down a gear when they turned onto another road. The long stretch of asphalt that made up the rarely used highway was abandoned of any cars aside from the Autobot fleet. Dust blown across the freeway made ticking noises against Optimus' flank while the Autobot commander tried to relocate the signal. His attempts were useless. "No use. I can't relocate it. Blaster?"

Safe against Carly's lap, the Autobot communications officer beeped twice before letting his alternate-mode's radio dials move back and forth slightly. "I can't find it either, Prime. The beacon just completely flat lined."

"Maybe the emergency beacon charge died," Chip offered. His tone sounded painfully optimistic. "Then again, the wind could have picked up some dust and now it's blocking the signal."

"Maybe," Prowl offered through his radio. "We still know the coordinates that the signal came from though. We should continue to proceed there."

"Negative. Optimus, I have a code one emergency."

Skyfire's voice was strained with some sort of panic and Spike knew it was a tone none of them wanted to hear. Chip's sometimes aggravating chatter was far more welcome in his personal books. Optimus accessed his radio and responded. "Skyfire? What's your status?"

"Big trouble," the shuttle responded with a groan. "I found our Decepticon bogie. I've confirmed it's Thundercracker, but I also confirmed the identity of the humans he has with him. Carly… her last name wouldn't happen to be Fox, would it?"

There was silence in the cab. Spike and Chip turned to look at the only female in the cab with wide eyes. Carly slowly nodded after what appeared to be a minor deliberation with herself. "Yeah. Why—?"

"Whether or not it's a coincidence," Skyfire said in a sober tone, "the female human inside Thundercracker has the same exact name as you. The other human with her is apparently named Samuel Witwickey and his nickname is Spike. Sound familiar?"

Everyone on the open frequency was quiet. Wheeljack broke that silence. "I should have known. Primus… the whiteout brought actual doppelgangers to this dimension."

"So… I'm guessing that I'm in more trouble than I already was, right?" Sunstreaker's unusually timid voice rose over the radio and, in response, Ratchet snarled in an annoyed tone. The yellow bot stayed quiet after that and Sideswipe said nothing in return. The red mech's silence was a signal to his unease.

"They told me to follow them," Skyfire said. "I have the feeling that they're going to lead me to the rest of the Decepticons. Whether or not these guys are total opposites to the 'Cons that we deal with, I don't want to be the one Autobot facing down a whole fleet of them. I really need backup on this one, Prime."

"We'll divert from out path and head straight for you Skyfire," Optimus said in just as much of a commanding tone as comforting. "We have your energy signal and we'll come for you. Hold your ground for as long as possible."

"Thank you sir. Over and out." Skyfire cut the link and, again, the link went silent.

Jazz piped up over the radio. "So, uh, Prime, exactly what does it mean when we say we're dealing with Decepticon doppelgangers?"

"I'm not sure Jazz," Optimus replied to the saboteur.

"That's not what I think we should be concerned about," Chip said with a somewhat strangled tone. Any optimism the wheelchair bound brunette had in his voice was gone.

"I agree with Chip," Wheeljack spoke up. The scientist pulled up beside Optimus and slowed just enough so he could keep pace with the Autobot supreme commander. "If Decepticon doppelgangers came through, ones that are seemingly allied with the humans like we are…" he trailed off.

Ratchet decided to finish what Wheeljack started. "Imagine what Autobot doppelgangers would be like."

Crudely, Bluestreak cursed in Dutch behind them. Though he hadn't even said the swear word correctly, the sentiment remained.

xii

Dirge looked up from clinging onto Skywarp and, squinting his eyes against the bright sunlight, he made out Thundercracker's blue form before he heard his roaring turbines. "Starscream! Look!"

Though he had called for Starscream, everyone looked up instantly to see the familiar form of their blue plated comrade speeding towards them. Against the near cloudless blue of the sky though, it was easy for all of them to make out the also all too familiar form of Skyfire in pursuit.

Megatron cursed softly. "It wasn't as if today could get any worse."

Starscream looked down at his bonded and sent a wave of reassurance through their bond. "He hasn't tried to shoot Thundercracker down yet though. I've known Skyfire before I joined the Decepticon army and he's one of the most vicious warriors I know. If he's not trying to shoot Thundercracker down, it only adds onto Carly's alternate reality theory."

"That makes sense," Chip piped up from being held by Swindle. The blonde human was fiddling with a first aid kit that Hook carried with him in case one of their human allies - or any they met along the way - were ever hurt. The human was getting a vat of alcohol ready and bandaging to patch up Spike's leg until they could get him to a hospital. Still, it did not stop the human from whining in mild aggravation. "Oh dammit, I wish Astrotrain was here. He'd be able to fly us all out of here."

Whereas the Decepticons found themselves in the desert, not all of them were accounted for. Longhaul had brought up the theory himself, but everyone in the recreational room had ended up in the same place in the desert while Starscream and Megatron were in an entirely different area. As the theory went, all the Decepticons ended up in different places depending on how far away from one another they were. Astrotrain and Blitzwing had been somewhere else in the base while the rest of the Decepticons were sill running patrols outside the Nemesis. Because of that, only unless the whiteout affected them, it meant they were in a separate area. Trying to hail any of their other allies like Astrotrain - a warrior who had enough subspace room to transport them out of the desert - was still proving fruitless due to all the sand and gravel in everyone's systems.

Dirge tried to straighten Skywarp's still prone body between him and Thrust. The blue conehead grunted and bit his lower lip watching Skyfire begin to circle the airspace above. "I wish so too, Chip."

Thundercracker dropped altitude and slowed in mid air before landing. Sand, gravel, and dirt was kicked up and all the Decepticons had to either turn away or shield their optics from the sand whipping up from the gust generated.

The Seeker let his cockpit hatch open and Carly stood. "Chip! We need the first aid kit!"

Spike, still propped up with his leg resting on the side of Thundercracker's console, wearily looked up. "So, it's not everyday you get shot in the foot right?"

Chip muttered a curse and looked up at Swindle. "Put me down. Someone get him out of there!"

Swindle set Chip down wordlessly and the blonde immediately wheeled himself towards Thundercracker. Soundwave immediately assisted getting Spike out of the cockpit while Carly climbed out on her own. The entire inside of Thundercracker's passenger pit radiated the heavy stench of copper and there were patches all over coated with dark, congealed blood. In regards to the Seeker's wellbeing, it was definitely something that was uncomfortable for him. Jumping onto Thundercracker's wing before dropping to the ground with all the grace of Ravage, she looked up with a great deal of concern. "He was bleeding all over the place. He lost a lot of blood but I compressed it as much as I could. It looks like it clotted okay."

"He still needs to go to a hospital," Frenzy intoned running over. Rumble was on his heel and the both of them took Spike from their creator when Soundwave handed the surfer tanned blonde over to them. Both cassette twins supported the teen between them before setting him on the ground.

Spike, through the pain he still had to endure, growled in as much of a joking manner as he could. "If you two drop me, I'll personally have Ravage scrap you."

"Big talk for a hurt organic," Rumble tried to snigger back. He tried his best to smirk but the look that shone behind his visor said otherwise about his mood. He was seriously worried.

Both twins set Spike on the ground and Chip handed the alcohol bottle off to Frenzy. "Take the compress off his leg and pour this over the wound. There's probably sand in it from when he was running back to Thundercracker, so it's vital we clean it so it doesn't become infected. This'll hurt like hell Spike, so you might want to brace yourself."

"I was shot," the teen snapped back. He hadn't meant to snap but, honestly, it bothered him that the others were hovering over him like he was going to drop dead at any second. "I think I can—"

His tirade was cut off when he Frenzy removed the crude bandaging from around Spike's foot. Without preamble, he poured the alcohol over the blood blistering wound and Spike shrieked like he was stabbed. The teen jerked in place and Rumble quickly help him down. Trying not to hurt the human, the purple cassetteticon bit his lip and tried to keep from panicking. His hands trembled somewhat while he held the human down.

Thundercracker transformed and stood to his full height with a groan. Glass crackled inside his engine and I made a grinding noise inside his chest that was just as uncomfortable as the dirt crackling in his joints. "It's a miracle that I didn't drop out of the sky. I'm definitely not going to be able to take off again." He looked over at Megatron and Starscream with guilty optics. "All this is my fault. Because of me, Spike is hurt."

"You did the best you could," Megatron tried to console. The commander tried to straighten to his full height against his mate. Starscream kept by his side not daring to let go but, regardless, Megatron managed to make himself look somewhat more dignified. He reached an ebony hand out to place it on the blue Seeker's shoulders. "At least we have a better understanding on what's going on."

"But I lead an Autobot to us."

"It would have happened sooner or later anyways."

"I'll have to agree with Thundercracker's worrying on this one," Starscream said looking skyward. Skyfire was still circling, though there wasn't an indication he was going to swoop in for a random attack anytime soon. Still, it obviously left Starscream somewhat bothered. "The timing couldn't have been any worse."

Thundercracker suddenly doubled over.

Everyone snapped their heads around to face the blue Seeker when his leg suddenly gave out. There was a scraping sound from deep inside the Seeker's chest and he was suddenly on one knee. Megatron's optics widened fearfully. "Thundercracker!"

It did not seem apparent that the air warrior could answer. Instead, his whole upper torso jerked and he let a muted, strangled noise issue forth before he fell forward. Catching himself on his forearm, he shuddered all over and was on his side before Hook and Mixmaster could skid to a stop beside him. The rest of the Constructions followed shortly afterward.

"Jesus, what happened!?" Carly ran over and tried to look past Bonecrusher's leg.

Thundercracker wheezed. "Glass. It… it feels like it got lodged in my engine…"

Hook cursed. "He must have punctured a fuel line. I can't be certain unless we get him back to the Nemesis for repairs."

Megatron cursed. "Dammit!"

Ramjet suddenly pushed past everyone and he spoke up. "Guys! We might have bigger problems! Look!" He pointed upwards.

Everyone - save for Thundercracker, the still unconscious Skywarp, and the cassette twins while then tried to keep Spike on the ground - followed his sight to see Skyfire suddenly pivot to the right and fly over a sweeping hill. He swooped down, transformed, and watched the Decepticons before he turned and looked at someone. From over the hill, the familiar form of Optimus Prime walked up to stand beside him. Behind the Autobot commander were the other Autobots and, surprisingly enough, the shape of three humans appeared as well. Zooming in on the humans in particular…

Soundwave made a low, punctuated sound. "Observation: Chip, Carly, and Spike."

Carly looked up at him with wide eyes. "Wh-what!?"

Then there was another sound. Car engines roared behind them and all the Decepticons turned sharply to see, to their even greater horror, a second group of Autobots. Optimus' hulking form suddenly transformed and the Autobots fell in line behind their crimson eyed leader.

Then, to further their surprise, an entire squadron of Decepticons suddenly flew overhead. Landing a good distance between the two Autobot groups stood a second Megatron.

xiii

When all four teams crossed roads, nothing had changed much visibly. For the first three seconds anyways.

Three seconds pass quickly. Especially when you realize you're seeing two identical copies of your enemy faction and a mirror image of your own.

Sunstreaker - sporting a pair of baby blue optics - pointed an accusing finger towards the red eyed Decepticons. "Decepticons!"

A scarlet eyed Scavenger looked up in the direction of the outburst. His optics flashed and he aimed his blaster in the sunshine colored Autobot's direction. "Autobots!"

Starscream - a version with azure optics - blinked at his red eyed counterpart on the other side of the field. "Decepticons?"

At this point, a red eyed Megatron looked in the direction of his blue optical counter part and let his optics flare with surprise. "Decepticons!"

A crimson eyed Bluestreak glared in the direction of the Autobots opposite of them, ignoring the surprised looks going about the area. "Autobots!"

A very confused looking Jazz rubbed the back of his head, blue optics dimming and brightening in a sort of confused blink. No one could blame him of course. "Okay, what now?"

Howling, a crimson eyed Optimus Prime threw his hands into the air with a demonic shout. "For the love of—JUST KILL THEM ALL!"