Worlds Apart

Opposite

By now, they were truly and surely in the middle of nowhere. Dust coated over the far horizon. The plane stopped on a ridge, high above the Autobots' heads. Optimus looked up at the unfamiliar bot with curiosity. A Decepticon shouldn't have a red symbol, only Autobots wore red symbols. Hot Shot and Prowl sat, catching their breath after the long drive. Perceptor stood behind Optimus, afraid to ask any questions.

"This guy had a red Decepticon symbol, how is that possible?" mumbled Optimus.

"This guy is opposite taken to a new level," Hot shot groaned.

"That's his new nickname, right? Like we did with DJ?" panted Prowl. "Opposite?"

"Yes, that's a good…nickname," sighed Hot Shot, getting to his feet.

"What is he doing up there anyway?" asked Optimus.

"Stalling," grumbled Hot Shot, coming up beside Optimus.

"Well, he led us out here for a reason," snapped Optimus.

Suddenly, Opposite jumped down from his ledge. Optimus and Hot Shot jumped back. Prowl scrambled to his feet. Perceptor, slightly stunned, was slow with his reaction. Before he could get to his feet, Opposite was knelt beside him. Perceptor groaned as something was inserted into his neck. Then everything blurred. As the Decepticon stood up, Perceptor fell backward into stasis.

"What'd you do!" shouted Prowl.

"It's a momentary paralysis," explained Opposite. "I needed him unconscious."

"Well you just made a wrong move," Optimus hissed.

The three raised weapons. Opposite gasped, stepping backward. The Decepticon began mumbling to himself something inaudible. Optimus lowered his weapon slightly. The world around them, the desert floor and the bright blue sky, it was all…melting away. He'd never seen anything like it. Prowl began to freak out, his gun lowered and his optics darting back and forth. Hot Shot groaned.

"You're just like DJ!" he hissed.

"DJ?" Opposite asked. "Oh! You mean the one who brought you here…"

"Yeah, we call him DJ 'cause he's a dimensional jumper," Hot Shot explained. "You are called Opposite 'cause that jacked up Decepticon symbol you've got there."

"Jacked up…Decepticon symbol," Opposite mumbled, looking down at the red mark on his chest. "It's normal in my world…"

"Decepticons are evil and what you did to Percy proves you're not a good guy!" Optimus shouted.

"No! You misunderstand! He's bugged!"

The group stopped, weapons lowered completely. By now, the world they had been in was completely gone and replaced with a white drape. You couldn't tell how long it was or how high the ceiling went. All was simply white. Opposite stepped toward the group, hands up in the air as a sign of piece.

"What do you mean bugged?" Optimus finally asked.

"Perceptor was the first one brought into this by DJ. While momentary unconscious during entry into the white world, DJ placed a bug on him in case you lot changed your mind about helping him…"

"Why would we do that?" Hot Shot asked.

"He isn't who you think he is," Opposite assured.

"But he's an Autobot, which is more than you are," Prowl huffed, hand tensing around the gun.

"Yes, he is an Autobot and I am a Decepticon but not like you guys know them. In my world, everything is different. Everything is flipped. Autobots are bad and Decepticons are good where I come from!"

"You really are opposite," mumbled Hot Shot, gun raised once more. "How is that possible?"

"In each world, one thing makes them really different from the rest. My world is drastically different from yours. DJ wants to rebuild a device I broke! This weapon could bring down every known world," Opposite explained, lowering his hands.

"Why should we trust you?" questioned Optimus, stepping forward.

"I don't have a good reason. I know you guys are confused. I'm sorry about that. Only a select few are chosen for world travel. DJ was just lucky it was four who could be taken without dramatically affecting the world structure," Opposite offered.

"Dude," sighed Hot Shot. "You knocked out our smart guy. Most of us didn't understand a word of that."

"Only certain people can jump from world to world. You four, DJ and I are some of the select few. But if you take out someone who isn't meant for world travel, the world from which the bot left could collapse in on itself."

"I heard us four and collapse in on itself," Hot Shot mumbled.

"If DJ wanted to destroy worlds, why didn't he take someone else out of the worlds to collapse them?" asked Optimus.

"Certain worlds can cause a chain reaction into others. DJ couldn't risk losing our world if he chose a wrong world."

"Which worlds could affect his…yours, I mean," Prowl asked.

"We aren't completely sure but we've found that Perceptor's native world stabilizes many others, such as ours and yours," Opposite mentioned, looking over at the still unconscious Perceptor.

"Interesting. Now where can we get out of this white room," huffed Optimus.

"Please, you can't just leave! You separate from this world with Perceptor and DJ will know something is wrong!" Opposite gasped.

"Then do me a favor," Optimus huffed, raising his ax and charging it on. "Take out the bug."

"Um…" whispered Opposite. "How do you exactly expect me to do that?"

"Something tells me that you are more than capable," replied Optimus. "Now do it…"

"Alright," whispered Opposite, kneeling beside Perceptor.

"Any funny business and my friends may go trigger happy," mumbled Optimus, walking away.

"Optimus where are you going?" asked Hot Shot.

"I want to see something," Optimus replied.

Opposite looked up at Hot Shot and Prowl. Both had guns posed at him and were ready for anything. Sure, Opposite knew where the bug was and how Perceptor's circuits worked, only because they were so close to his own. He began to work. If he could get the bug out and prove that he was good, he could save these four before DJ got a hold of the last piece his needed.

Optimus stood out, far from the others. He didn't want them to see what he had with him. He remembered the escape rather well. He remembered, before getting into a fight with the two Autobots, he'd fallen into a bunch of old computer parts. Though most didn't seem important, one seemed to glow with unusual circuits from the others.

Optimus pulled out a small chip. It glittered with flowing circuits of Energon and small details along the board. Optimus hadn't told the others. Perhaps he didn't tell them because he knew that something was off, like he knew the bug was listening in on them. He didn't tell them and probably wouldn't tell them until he was sure that Opposite could be trusted and was extracting the bug. What he held in his hand, was the final piece to DJ's machine.