Interdimensional

chapter 3

Brainstorm and Swerve were walking through dense vegetation. Swerve was having an easier time of it though. Being small was an advantage for a change. Brainstorm, on the other hand, could barely get by without whacking himself in the wing with a branch. And every time he did, he would let out a high pitched yelp, which Swerve found endless amusement in.

'Hey, Swerve thought, it's his own fault. He's the one that wanted to stay away from the humans...'

Finally, much to Brainstorm's relief, they reached the end of the forest. Standing before them was some kind of tower in an open field. It was mostly just metal beams welded together, with flashing red lights at the top. Swerve had no idea what it was for, but Brainstorm assured him it had everything they needed to build something to call the Lost Light.

"Okay," Brainstorm said, walking closer to the tower. "If I'm correct, the hole we teleported here from should still be open enough to get a message through to the Lost Light."

"And if you're not correct?" Swerve asked.

"... Then I hope you like really long vacations."

The quietness was really starting to get to Whirl. Perceptor was always quiet, but this seemed slightly different from usual. From the moment he'd been rolled into the lab, the microscope had simply sat at his usual desk and ignored him.

"Whatcha doin~" Whirl asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

It was the fifty-eighth. Perceptor was counting.

He was still trapped in the 'Ball thing', as he had dubbed it. He'd already forgotten whatever name Brainstorm had given it.

"Seriously, Perce!" Whirl whined. "You're acting as if someone died."

Perceptor slammed a fist down on his desk; a few beakers shook loose and fell to the floor where they shattered.

"Whirl! Someone did die." He turned to look at he trapped helicopter. "Brainstorm and Swerve are dead."

"Nuh-uh."

Quietness returned to the lab. Perceptor looked back at him, then turned away.

"Denial helps nothing, Whirl."

"They're not dead."

"Whirl."

"They're not."

"Whirl."

"I didn't see any bodies, Perceptor."

"Because they were vaporized!" Perceptor's grip on the test tube in his hand tightened. "They were right at ground zero. Nothing could have survived that blast unshielded. Had you not been in that contraption, you would be dead as well."

"... They're not dead."

Perceptor didn't respond this time. But he did make a mental note to tell Rung about this.

"Seriously. Perce. You heard me when I told Ultra Magnus. They were gone before the explosion even happened."

Silence.

"Listen. I know how Explosions work. It goes 'bang dead'. Not 'dead bang'. I'd know. I've tried."

Silence.

"Perce?"

What had once been a tower was now a mangled mess. Brainstorm had wasted no time in dismantling and reconstructing it. Swerve, having no real knowledge of mechanics, had been relegated to standing out in the field holding something that looked suspiciously like a coat hanger.

Brainstorm told him it was for signaling, but he had a sinking suspicion that the jet was just trying to distract him.

"Alright." Brainstorm said, putting down what he had been working on. "I've got some good news and some bad news."

"The good news?" Swerve requested.

"We can contact the lost light."

"Bad news?"

"The portal was really unstable. It's mostly collapsed and the only message I can send will be in Morse code."

There was moment of silence as Swerve processed the information.

"... We can contact them." Swerve said slowly. "But the best we can do is beep at them."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." He confirmed. "We just have to hope someone will realize what it is."

"What if they don't?" Swerve asked, starting to panic. "What if no one gets the message and we are trapped here forever?!"

"Oh, they get it." Brainstorm replied, clicking several buttons to send the message."I put it on an endless loop. We just have to wait."

"So what did you write in the message?"

"I-"

"Hands up!"

Before Swerve and Brainstorm could even move, they were suddenly surrounded by five Autobot soldiers. Swerve dropped the bit of metal he was holding and held his hands aloft. Brainstorm raised his hands as well, but made and attempt to somewhat hide behind the tower at the same time.

"Autobots" Swerve yelled. "We're Autobots!"

Several of the surrounding Autobots hesitated for a moment but didn't lower their weapons. They could clearly see the Autobot brands, though.

"Who are you?" The red Autobot asked, poking Swerve in the chest with his gun.

"I-I'm Swerve." He stuttered.

"And you?" He asked, now pointing his gun at the jet.

"Brainstorm."

"...Stay where you are." He ordered, then activated his comm. unit. "Sideswipe to Optimus."

"Optimus here. What's going on?"

"You know those two guys you sent us to capture? Apparently, they're Autobots."

"You can't seriously believe them, can you!?" Red alert demanded. "They'd have been in our database!"

"Maybe not." Jazz replied with a shrug. "We did kind of have a four million year break between updates."

"One of them is a jet." Red alert rebuked. "A jet! They're clearly Decepticons sent to spy on us!"

"Red alert." Optimus said. "We don't know yet. Until we find out more, we can't accuse them of anything. We may vary well have found more Autobots."

"And if they are Decepticons?" Prowl said. "Well, that's what the brig is for."

There wasn't much that could escape the keen eyes of Lazerbeak. This was no exception.

From the moment the Autobots had surrounded the two unknown bots, until the moment they carted them away back to their base, Lazerbeak had been recording.

Unnoticed, the small bird-like robot took to the skies and headed towards the ocean.