Chapter 16

Where was he? Rodimus thought.

Or rather when? That was the question.

He was now standing, still in his car-mode, in front of Autobot City.

Or rather the ruins of it.

What had happened and at that time? Autobot City had been attacked a few times, the most prominent one in 2005. But it had never been destroyed like this.

Had the history maybe changed?

Of course it had, he thought a moment later, answering his own question. The time-travel device had staid behind in the past and possibly still in the hands of Megatron. This could not have been good.

Above him, he suddenly heard the sound of orbital-engines coming closer.

It was a squad of three Decepticon Seekers.

They must have detected his presence and they were now engaging him.

And as it looked, in this time - whenever this was - the war was obviously not over.

xxx

One of the Decepticon jets was of the typical F15-form - just like Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker. The other two were a modified F16, who was the leader of the squad and another jet in a alien design.

"We really got one Autobot. There is actually one of them who still dumb enough to be running around here by himself," one of the seekers said to his group leader. "You thought they would have learned from the last time we destroyed them here."

As they came closer, they finally got a clear picture of their target.

"T-that is Rodimus Prime," the F15 Seeker said in disbelief. "Isn´t he supposed to be dead?"

"Galvatron was pretty sure that he was," his group leader replied.

"But we all know Galvatron is more than a bit out of it," one of his squad-mates commented.

"You better be careful. If it gets back to him that you talked like that, you are a dead man... if you are lucky," the other one said.

"But anyway, if it is really Rodimus, we could be the group that finally takes him down," their group-leader told them.

His two comrades were not sure if they shared his enthuasm. Rodimus Prime was one of the strongest Autobots ever created.

In raw power he was supposedly even stronger than Optimus Prime himself.

"Or we could die trying," one of the others replied.

"This discussion is over," the leader said. "We go at him."

The three jets descended down at the ruins of Autobot City.

As soon as they came into firing range, they send a volley of missiles and laser blasts.

xxx

On the ground Rodimus readied his weapons and returned fire, while using some of the broken walls of the city as cover.

The three jets, after unleashing their first volley, flew a large curve over the place before preparing to fire the second one.

Before they had the chance however, the squad leader was himself hit by a missile from somewhere else, that blew up his cockpit, closely followed by a couple laser blasts that pierced through his already weakened frame and destroyed his vital systems.

Autobots - Rodimus realized. Or at least enemies of the Decepticons.

The leathally damaged Seeker lost his altitude and crashed somewhere close by.

His two partner had instantly been fired on as well and decided to retreat.

Rodimus now got a real look at the ones people who had assisted him, as they stepped out from behind one of the destroyed buildings.

It were Utra Magnus, Sideswipe and Springer. But the three were obviously warry of him.

For good reason probably. Who knew what had happened to him in this timeline.

"Are you who you seem to be?" Magnus asked him.

"I guess the answer is yes and no," Rodimus replied. "I am Rodimus Prime or Hotrod - but the one who had accidentally appeared in the Earth year 1986 with an unknown time-travel device we had discovered. During the confrontation with Megatron I had been send to this time here, whenever that is. But the time-machine had staid behind in the past."

Rodimus was now looking at Sideswipe, who had been present at the battle.

"You expect us to just believe that?" Springer asked him.

"No," Rodimus responded honestly. "But since the time-travel device had staid in the years 1986, you know as well that everything since then could have changed."

"I guess what he says makes sense," Sideswipe admitted.

"I am originally from 2019. What year do we have now?" Rodimus asked.

"2019," Ultra Magnus stated. "I guess things are not like you remember them?"

"Not at all. There had been two major attacks on Autobot City, but it had never been destroyed to this level. Optimus had fallen in the first battle, but was later reactivated by the Quintessons.

Unicron had been defeated, first in 2005, then again in 2006 - when he and Starscream tried to turn Cybertron into a new body for him and finally for good 2012, after he allied with the Quintessons. But his remains should not be floating in Earth´s orbit.

We had to form an alliance with the Decepticons to stop him and we are at peace with them since then."

"I see," Utra Magnus replied. "Here Cybertron had been destroyed by Unicron in 2005. A few months later he came to Earth as well. Galvatron had not allied with us against him, instead he kept working with him even after he destroyed our homeworld.

After Galvatron had taken the Matrix from Optimus and nearly killed him, Rodimus Prime - that obviously means you - managed to get it back from him and use it to stop Unicron. But he died in the same battle and the Matrix was lost. He sacrifized himself to save Earth and the remaining Autobots.

But that didn´t manage to stop the Decepticon invasion that happened at the same time. Most of the Autobots and millions of humans are dead. A few Decepticons had sided with us against Unicron, but they were wiped out as well.

We are still fighting Galvatron and his troop since then, but we are coming closer and closer to defeat."

"It seems your 2019 is really the better one," Springer commented drily.

"Obviously," Rodimus replied darkly.

What exactly had caused this terrible changes in history, he asked himself. Had all this truly been just because that device had been left behind in the year 1986?

He needed to find a way to go back and get it back from Megatron, to repair the damage in the timeline and return things like they should be.

"Okay - we will take you with us," Ultra Magnus said. "But that does not mean that we trust you completely yet. Everyone will keep an eye on you and if there are any signs that you are not who you claim to be."

"I understand."

They all transformed and drove away.

xxxxxxx

A short time later the two surviving Decepticon jets had left Earth´s atmosphere and were now closing up to the moon.

After a short time they were approaching a large metallic construct. It was an object that Rodimus would have easily recognized - the pyramid.

But not the small device he had taken to 1986, but the large pyramid that had appeared in Earth´s orbit in his own year 2019.

But in opposite to that pyramid, this one here was not really completed yet.

It was surrounded by Decepticon troops. Several of them, were working at different places of the large device to finish it´s construction. That were in first line the Constructicons but also several other Decepticons - from low ranked technicians to Seekers, they all were helping with the work on the pyramid.

It had been Megatron´s special-project and now it was Galvatron´s.

In a short distance away was the entrance to a large underground base, that served the Decepticons as their current headquarter now that Cybertron was gone.

The two Seekers transformed into robot-mode and walked inside nervously.

As they passed the entrance gate, they were coming into the control-center of the base.

At the other side of the room was Galvatron, sitting on a throne.

Standing to his right were Cyclonus and Scourge - his two Lieutenants, recreated alongside himself by Unicron.

On the other side Soundwave... and in an a bit greater distance the Seekers Darkwing, Dreadwind and Skywarp.

xxx

In this version of history it had not been Skywarp, Thundercracker and a group of Insecticon Clones, who had been turned into Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps.

Skywarp had never been thrown out of Astrotrain after the Battle of Autobot City in 2005. In fact this particular battle had not taken place at that time.

Instead the transformation of Megatron into Galvatron happened under slightly different circumstances.

xxx

"Tell me," Galvatron addressed the two Seekers who had just returned from their patrol, "where is your squad-leader?"

"We encountered Autobots... and he was killed," one of the Seekers answered.

"I see," Galvatron said. "And you two came out of that fight completely undamaged? Not one laser-mark on you. How does that come?"

"We were outgunned and outnumbered. We thought it was better to retreat."

"Oh really?" Galvatron suddenly pointed his particle-cannon at them.

"In my army I need neither weaklings or cowards," he growled.

"W-wait Mighty Galvatron," the F-15 Seeker said. "You have not even heard everything yet. One of the Autobots..."

"Yes?"

"It was Rodimus Prime," he said.

In this moment Galvatron instantly fired his weapon.

He did not bothered to limit the firepower to a lower setting and the blast pierced through the unfortunate Seeker´s upper body and blew off his head.

But that didn´t seem to be enough for him and he blew the remains apart with two more shots.

"Rodimus Prime." He stepped forward to the last remaining Seeker.

"Galvatron...?" he asked terrified.

"Rodimus Prime... Rodimus Prime is dead," he called out. "I saw him die. I killed him," he shouted.

He grabbed the last Seeker with both hands by the throat. The metal was bending under the incredible pressure.

"Are you doubting that? Are you saying something different?" Galvatron shouted at this point widly.

The Seeker could not even answer, since the iron-grip had already impacted his throat and destroyed his voice-box.

Finally his metallic neck broke and the cables that connected his personality-core with his power-supply ripped off... and the Seeker´s body sank down lifelessly.

"Are you doubting me?" Galvatron shouted, no realizing that he had just killed the other robot.

Only one moment later he noticed that the Seeker was dead. And he threw the body to the ground carelessly.

The other Decepticons were watching the display of madness without saying anything.

"Rodimus Prime is dead - yes he is," Galvatron repeated. "Just like Optimus Prime will be soon."

xxxxxxx

A short time later down on Earth, Rodimus and the others arrived at a place that seemed to be an old human military base, somewhere in the mountains of Oregon. Ironically it was not all too far away from the original base of the Autobots, the crashlanded Arc, had been located.

They transformed and Ultra Magnus opened, hidden between a couple rocks and a group of trees, the entrance to a tunnel that led underground.

After they had walked for a minute, they arrived in a hall that was at least a few dozen meter under the ground.

Here were they greeted by the sight of several Autobots and humans. Under them Spike Witwicky and Marrissa Fairborne, Perceptor, Hound, Hoist, Jazz, the Protectobots Hotspot, First Aid and Blades, Getaway, two more Autobots he didn´t know by name... and Optimus Prime - in his Powermaster form.

"Rodimus Prime - Magnus has told me your story," Optimus greeted him. "Do you remember when was the last time we met? From your point of few of course, before you arrived here. And what had happened?"

This question was of course a test, Rodimus knew.

"We were both dealing with Megatron and this robot calling himself The Fallen," he stated. "The Fallen," he remembered, "Optimus, he had been send here to this time too. He is badly damaged, but still..."