Cassie was back at it again, working another opening shift. The routine was beginning to wear on her, and she knew that Jetfire wasn't too thrilled about how much work she had been doing while still recovering from her injuries. As she clocked in and got to work, she could feel Jetfire's presence, checking in on her like he always did.
"Another day, huh?" Jetfire's voice resonated through their bond, his concern evident.
"Yep, another day," Cassie sighed as she scanned the store floor. "But hey, bills don't pay themselves."
Jetfire didn't respond for a moment, but she could feel his disapproval through their bond. "You really need to take it easy. Those injuries won't heal if you keep pushing yourself."
Cassie smiled softly, appreciating his concern. "I know, I know. I promise I'll rest once this shift is over."
Jetfire's presence lingered in her mind, comforting her as she went about her work. But in the back of her mind, Cassie couldn't help but think about what it would be like when Jetfire finally arrived on Earth. The thought both excited and overwhelmed her. Moving to Cybertron, becoming a techno-organic—her future was full of unknowns, and while she trusted Jetfire, it was a lot to process.
Meanwhile, at the Autobot base, Carlos was getting restless. "I'm bored," he complained, throwing himself dramatically onto a nearby crate. "There's nothing to do around here anymore."
Alexis gave him a stern look. "This isn't a playground, Carlos. Being at the Autobot base is serious business."
Rad tried to ease the tension, but before he could speak, Carlos threw his hands up. "Oh, come on! The base has an insane defense system. What's gonna happen?"
Alexis wasn't having it. "You should still take things seriously!" she snapped, before storming off with Sureshock following close behind.
While Alexis wandered off, the Autobots were locked in yet another battle with the Decepticons, leaving the kids to entertain themselves at the base. As the trio tried to find something to do, Alexis noticed something strange happening with the Autobot base's radar systems. All the monitors had gone dark, displaying nothing but solid black.
"Something's wrong," Alexis murmured, her fingers quickly tapping at her keyboard. But as she tried to reboot the system, her laptop froze, and no matter what she did, the computers wouldn't respond.
Rad peeked over her shoulder. "What do you think it is? A virus?"
Alexis nodded, her brow furrowed with frustration. "It's definitely some kind of hack. Someone's trying to take down the base's systems."
Before the kids could react, the monitors around them flickered and warped, the digital screens twisting and distorting until they formed a physical anomaly in the room—a vortex of colors and shapes that solidified into the unmistakable form of Sideways.
The kids gasped as Sideways loomed before them, grinning menacingly. "Welcome to Cyberspace, kids," he taunted, his voice filled with malice.
Panicked, Rad lunged toward the nearest console, trying to smash it in a desperate attempt to stop Sideways. Alexis and Carlos quickly joined in, destroying the Autobot computers to try and cut off Sideways's connection to their systems. But it was too late. The room seemed to warp around them, the walls twisting and bending as the kids were sucked into a swirling vortex, their bodies glowing with an eerie light as they were pulled into Cyberspace.
In the virtual world of Cyberspace, the kids found themselves floating in a bizarre, abstract realm where nothing made sense. There was no ground, only a few strange shapes and floating platforms that seemed to defy the laws of physics.
Rad, Carlos, and Alexis looked around in confusion, trying to make sense of their surroundings. "Where are we?" Carlos asked, his voice shaky.
"I don't know," Rad replied, his eyes scanning the strange, distorted landscape. "But we need to find a way out of here."
Before they could start looking for an exit, Sideways appeared again, driving up to them on his bike and stopping just a few feet away. "You're in Cyberspace, kids. There's no way out," he sneered, reaching for Sureshock.
The kids quickly backed away, panic rising in their chests as they realized the gravity of their situation. They couldn't let Sideways take their Mini-Cons. Acting fast, they sped away from the Decepticon, floating through the strange, digital realm in a desperate attempt to escape him.
As they fled, they found themselves floating toward a vast, glowing shape that resembled Cybertron. The kids were in awe, staring at the virtual representation of the Autobots' homeworld. But something was wrong. The closer they got, the more they realized that everything around them was an illusion—nothing in Cyberspace was real.
Alexis was the first to catch on. "If this is all just an illusion... then Sideways can't hurt us, can he?"
Her realization made Sideways furious. "You think you're clever, don't you?" he snarled, his voice filled with rage. "I could still take your Mini-Cons if I wanted to!"
But Alexis shook her head, standing her ground. "No, you can't. If you had that kind of power, you wouldn't need to chase us around like this."
Her words struck a nerve with Sideways, who scowled and opened fire on the kids, his frustration boiling over. But just as Alexis predicted, the shots passed right through them without causing any harm.
A sudden, ominous roaring filled the air, and Sideways's demeanor changed. His anger was replaced with fear as he glanced around nervously. "I—I didn't mean for this to happen," he stammered. "Just... keep this encounter to yourselves, alright?"
The kids exchanged confused glances, unsure of what was happening. But before they could ask any questions, a massive, circular singularity appeared behind them, threatening to consume everything in its path.
"Run!" Rad shouted, leading the charge toward a white square that had appeared in the distance. The kids swam through Cyberspace as fast as they could, barely escaping the singularity before it swallowed them whole.
Back in the real world, the Autobots had returned from battle to find the base in shambles. The machinery had been smashed, and the kids' bodies lay still, glowing with strange, inverted colors. Fred and Billy stood over their friends, panicking.
"They've turned into zombies!" Fred cried, shaking Carlos's glowing body.
But before Fred could completely lose his mind, Rad woke up, gasping for air as he sat up. The others followed suit, their bodies returning to normal as they blinked in confusion.
"What just happened?" Carlos asked, rubbing his eyes.
Rad looked around the room, his heart still racing from their close call in Cyberspace. "I... I don't know. But whatever that was, I think it was just a taste of something much, much worse."
They all exchanged nervous glances, unsure of what the future held, but for now, they were just happy to be back in the real world—safe, for the moment.
As they laughed off their experience, trying to lighten the mood, Rad couldn't help but wonder about that dark presence they had felt in Cyberspace. Whatever it was, he knew it was far from over.