=Chapter-5=
"The War on Earth"
Shortly, the Autobot HQ's main room was filled with more Autobots. Bumblebee, Jazz, Blaster, Perceptor, and Hound were there; of course there were more Autobots inside the base, but they were busy doing their own tasks. Teletran-1 had started beeping, and Perceptor found himself reading the graphics which appeared on the screen, and, well, trying to explain them to people like Bumblebee or Hound who had no idea about almost everything he planned to say.
"…The whole thing's very strange." Perceptor tried to explain in his usual fashion. "The phenomenon could be classified as a 'worm-hole' just like the ones that are produced when the Decepticons use their Space Bridge, but on a minor scale." Up to this point, the people around him seemed to understand Preceptor's explanation. "…But there are some differences," Perceptor kept explaining. "The warp's hole is a lot smaller than the one produced by the Space Bridge. Besides, we do know the Decepticons haven't got a Space Bridge in the Gran Chaco, so the phenomenon must be coming from another place."
"Are you suggesting the phenomenon is some sort of 'accident'?" asked Jazz in a serious tone. Yes, the Autobot with the big blue optic was usually the goofy guy among their ranks, but when the matter was serious, he was serious. He was a high rank among his kind, and his question got the attention of the rest of the people around him.
"Well, it might be," answered Perceptor, moving away from the screen. "But the odd thing is there is no hint of Decepticon activity on Earth at all. In fact, the phenomenon is not related with them, here, on Earth." The Autobots exchanged looks and looked back to Perceptor waiting for a response. "I'd say it was produced in another faraway place, really."
"Cybertron?" suggested Blaster. "Perhaps some Autobots are trying to arrive here, just like I and the rest of the Minibots did."
"We haven't ordered that, Blaster," answered Jazz. "If it was caused by Autobots from Cybertron, they would have already gotten in contact with us here. Besides, Prime did not give such an order."
"What's that thing, then?"
"That's the problem," Perceptor intervened. "All the evidence says the warp was caused in another place and time."
"Like the one which appeared when the Decepticons tried to jump the Aerialbots back to another time and place?" suggested Hound, surprising everybody.
"Indeed."
"Oh, man! That's nuts!" exclaimed Bumblebee.
"Besides, it seems there is a problem," announced Perceptor as he turned back to the control panel and the screen. Jazz looked at him inquisitively. "Teletran-1 says *something* dropped from the warp when it was opened."
There was a startled look on every Autobot there.
"So… there is something, we don't know what or where it comes from, on Earth right now?" Jazz's voice was tinged with worry.
Perceptor nodded. Jazz crossed his arms and sighed heavily.
"Wonderful… another new problem… I was so happy a few minutes ago listening to music…." he murmured sadly.
"What're we going to do now, then?" asked Bumblebee.
"Let's ask Prime," suggested Hound.
"There is no need for that," answered Blaster, "Prowl, Ironhide and he were going to another human's convention. We can take care of this by ourselves."
"Ok, Bumblebee," said Jazz finally, who had been thinking deeply for a few seconds. "Go to the Aerialbots and bring them to me."
Bumblebee nodded and began to run towards the recreation rooms of the Ark, where the Aerialbots were spending their relaxed afternoon, away from the higher ranks' activities.
When the yellow Minibot with the round face reached the room where the Aerialbots were, the TV room, they were watching the screen totally absorbed by it. Of course the Ark had tons of Screens and TVs, almost everybody had more than one of them in their personal quarters, but since the Gestalt groups were normally quite sociable, they found themselves more relaxed among their kind and companions. They liked to do common activities, like watching TV. After an initial disappointment, they found out they really liked the TV soap operas…
"One day, I'd like to go to Los Angeles and see the places where they go and where they live…" Fireflight said in a wistful tone.
"It isn't real. It's a TV show, remember? You cannot say for certain every place there is real." Slingshot replied. He was the one who always was ruining the fun in spite of the fact that he also liked the show.
"The thing I cannot understand is why Brandon is always arguing with his father…" Skydive exclaimed, "they'd get along better if they tried to understand each other. Just look at Spike and his father…"
"You cannot understand that. He's a rebel," Air Raid interrupted.
"Correction! The rebel's Dylan… I can assure you his and Brenda's relationship will end really badly."
"Yeah, because of her father's faults," affirmed Silverbot. "He should realize how importan it is to keep a family tied together."
"Are you speaking for yourself, Silverbot?" Slingshot asked.
"Hmmm…" was his only answer.
"I knew that… However, I like Dylan. He's… interesting." The Aerialbot with yellow optics seemed somewhat ashamed to admit that. Slingshot had a harsh character.
"Yeah, and what about the guy who killed himself with the human weapon?" asked Fireflight. "What was his name?"
"Scott." Air Raid answered gravely.
"I just cannot believe he killed himself in that way."
"They're humans, remember?" exclaimed Skydive, "their bodies aren't as tough as ours."
Bumblebee listened to them as they talked about one of the most popular TV shows at that time. He just found it hard to believe that the Aerialbots were so fond of 'Beverly Hills 90210', a teenagers' TV show… That kind of show that some of Carly's friends, who were indeed human teens, used to like.
Well, the Aerialbots were still really young after all. They lacked tons of experience, even if their personalities were already formed, unlike humans.
He stepped inside the room and made a sound, trying to get their attention, but the Aerialbots were still deeply involved in their talk, commenting on the series. In Bumblebee's audios, questions and comments resonated about the characters and situations of the series' plot; he didn't understand too well all the comments about how brave and rebellious Dylan or Brandon were, or why that Brenda girl was so interesting, instead of the other girl, Kelly. Humans liked to watch their own behavior in TV series, as if they liked to identify with the characters in some weird way… The Aerialbots seemed to like that series in the same way:they were younger and they were experimenting and learning about their lives, just like the teens in that series; the rest of the Autobots on Earth watched those behaviors in their companions in a certain amused way; Bumblebee himself couldn't see anything bad about that since he also liked many human customs of entertainment.
But currently, there were more important matters going on…
Bumblebee coughed trying to catch the attention of Silverbot, the leader of the Aerialbots, but he, as well as the rest of the young flying Bots, was deeply involved talking with his brothers about what was happening in the series. Feeling ignored, the small gold Minibot tapped the wing of the Aerialbot leader who jumped as he felt the touch on his wing. Bumblebee was right; flying transformers had very sensitive wings.
"Bumblebee!" he exclaimed in surprise just as he realized the little golden bug was there, "What' are you doing?"
"I have been calling you for ages," he explained himself, "But none of you noticed me." He seemed disappointed by that.
"We didn't see you, right guys?" Fireflight explained.
"Yeah," answered Silverbot and Skydive at the same time.
Slingshot just snorted in disappointment as he turned but Silverbot, as the good leader he tried to be, was interested in the reason for Bumblebee's interruption.
"What's up? Why are you here?" he asked.
"There is an emergency," he explained, catching everybody's attention, "Jazz wants all you in the main control room. Teletran-1 has detected something odd."
Silverbot frowned as he rose from the couch; his brothers copied him.
"Ok, on our way."
As they walked along the corridors towards the main control room, Air Raid rushed towards Bumblebee and asked him. "Hey, Bumblebee... Why are you here this afternoon? I thought you and Spike wanted to go to the cinema today."
"Yes, I wanted to go with him to one of those summer cinemas, we could have watched human movies since people watch them sitting inside their vehicles; we expected to watch 'When Harry met Sally' or something like that... We could go unnoticed so we both could watch the movie… and Spike would have had to pay for only his ticket. But…" His face turned to deep disappointment.
"But? What happened?" asked Fireflight with curiosity.
The little Minibot seemed to be embarrassed in some way, which made the curiosity of the Aerialbots grow even more.
"C'mon, tell us!" Air Raid demanded.
"He preferred to go to the cinema with Carly instead of me." He seemed disappointed.
"And what's wrong with that?" wondered Silverbot, too. "They're a couple."
"Nothing, I guess… But…" He seemed more ashamed every minute. "The last time Spike and I went to a summer cinema and Carly came with us … I had a fight with them."
The Aerialbots stopped, surprised by that answer; they looked at the little golden Minibot in wonder.
"You and Spike had an argument!? I cannot imagine that! ...Why? What happened?" Skydive exclaimed as Silverbot nodded.
Bumblebee seemed to blush as he tried to answer.
"Well… we were all watching the movie, that movie about people after they die, 'Ghost' I think it's called. And suddenly, Spike felt inspired by the scenes of the movie and he started being all romantic with Carly, she started being romantic back… They began to kiss each other, to hug each other, and to… you know, those things humans do in the cinemas." Bumblebee's voice was tinged with a mix of shame and anger. The Aerialbots listened to him intensely.
"So…what?" asked Air Raid, confused. "What's wrong with…?" but he couldn't continue as the Minibots turned towards him furiously.
"So what?" exclaimed Bumblebee angrily, "Don't you see?..- They were inside me, for Primus' sake!"
All the Aerialbots jumped as they heard that; the Minibot with the round face kept talking in frustration.
"I got angry with them… They seemed to forget they were inside me, a Transformer in vehicle form, not a common human car. They forgot I was with them, and I couldn't watch the movie with those two having their way with each other, not only in front of me, but inside me. Besides, I couldn't say anything too loud because we were in public, so we were arguing all the way back to the base." Bumblebee sighed heavily, "… And today, they both preferred to spend the afternoon together and watch a different movie without me because 'I'm getting in the way of their romantic relationship' or something like that… That's the reason I'm here now."
The Aerialbots were utterly mute, but they surrounded the golden Minibot looking at him with a mix of amazement and embarrassment, all except for Slingshot who was laughing hard.
"What's up?" the rounded faced Minibot exclaimed, "That's enough embarrassing me for now! Do you want to stop looking at me like that!?" he exploded. "For the record, we have work to do!"
Silverbot frowned, the golden bug was right.
"Ok! C'mon, guys. There is an emergency ahead!"
Starscream led his counterpart towards one of the standard personal quarters. The door opened with a hiss, and as soon as they both stepped inside, the room lit up automatically. The pink face seeker couldn't help but look around the room with curiosity: it was solely functional, a recharge bed on the left beside a wardrobe, while on the opposite side there was a computer and a big chair in front of it, and next to that, a little door which led to a small restroom. The last wall had a big Decepticon symbol carved into it, but there wasn't anything else. It wasn't too different to his own quarters back in his reality, except this one was well illuminated and tidy. Meanwhile, his counterpart just ignored him as he turned on a console on the right side of the room and began to type something. The beeping sound caught the attention of the blue seeker.
"Here," he said as the screen turned on. "I want you learn all this information in the next hour. Later, you will rejoin me in the air war room. Understood?" he ordered in his usual demanding fashion as he turned back to his counterpart.
The other Starscream just nodded, his face completely neutral.
"Understood."
"Good," the Air Commander answered, chuckling. "I suggest you start to learn that right now. I don't know how different our worlds are, but there may be a lot of information that's new for you." He stepped towards the gate. "See you in an hour," he finished in the same tone, and the gate closed as soon as the end of his white-silver wing disappeared.
When the blue seeker found himself alone with just Swindle as his companion for the first time since he woke up in repair bay-4, he dropped himself on the recharge bed with a big sigh.
"Primus, I cannot believe any of this is happening…" he murmured in a tone tinged with amazement and tiredness.
He looked back at the recharge bed with a questioning expression. His internal systems told him he wasn't fully charged, and even if he wasn't about to do anything important, he didn't know how long it was until he needed to be at full charge again. He should find a way to have plenty of energy to fly away as soon as he needed to. He knew none of the Decepticons here trusted him totally, just as he didn't completely trust them, and they didn't want him fully recharged and therefore potentially dangerous: they had repaired him, so they knew how powerful his weapons were. Still, he'd need to be fully recharged if he was going to participate in the Seekers' air force here. He looked carefully at the recharge bed, looking for the mechanism to activate it and get enough energy, but it was down. Then, he remembered the recharge cycle was quite long, and it had to be undertaken when he was dismissed from his labors. No, he definitely couldn't allow himself to rest in a recharge cycle right now, he must start learning all that stuff that his unstable counterpart demanded of him.
He looked at the monitor's screen for many long seconds, and then he turned his view towards Swindle, who was watching him.
"Why did you show yourself to him, Swindle?" he asked in a mixture of amazement and wonder. "I don't know how different we both are, but he seemed to be about to hurt you if I didn't respond to him."
Swindle just beeped as he answered his master's questions.
"I see… You love to take risks, don't you?" exclaimed the blue seeker.
The blue Minicon just shrugged and looked around as he kept beeping.
"You're right…" was Starscream's only answer.
Almost immediately, the seeker's second visor turned on as it covered his regular blue optics. He began to test the room with his particular vision that the optics sensors gave him; meanwhile the Minicon was silent, only the soft sound of the joints and Starscream's scanning operations were audible in the room.
Finally, the second visor turned off again and its owner gave a heavy sigh.
"There're several common links in the room besides the one from the main computer, and a security camera, too," he informed Swindle, "They're off right now, but I'm quite sure Megatron and the other high ranks here will turn them on sooner or later."
The Minicon beeped in wonder at him.
"…Because I'm not so naive anymore, Swindle… I'm sure they'll do that," he said with a sigh.
He rubbed his face with one of his dark servos and lifted himself from the recharge bed to sit back on the chair in front of the monitor. That chair was surprisingly nice for him considering his body's structure was quite different from the common seekers in this reality.
"Well… let's find out more things about this reality… At least that version of myself wants me aware of the differences," he exclaimed.
It was a good thing his counterpart gave him the chance to learn more about this reality, really.
The twisted mind of the Air Commander was working deeply as he thought about the latest events. He was so deep in his thoughts that he barely noticed the people he passed on his way towards his personal quarters who bowed to him and later began to murmur among themselves because of the latest events. Of course he was going to meet with the rest of seekers in an hour, but he had other things on his mind to think about at that moment. The reports about the last energon package to Cybertron could wait.
He reached a door, bigger than the ones of the usual personal quarters, and typed his personal code on the panel next to it. The door opened with a hiss and he entered the big room as the light came online and he looked around anxiously. Almost immediately, the door was closed.
His red optics looked for any suspicious element, mainly any of those freaking devices that Soundwave used to keep inside his chest, besides his Cassettcons. He knew Megatron had always had an eye on him, and Soundwave enjoyed watching the spectacles that used to happen between them both. That son of a 'Bot… Still, Soundwave could be tolerated by the Air Commander since the Communications Officer was very efficient in his tasks and the Decepticons' cause needed somebody like him for their purposes. Starscream trusted him only as far as his contribution to the 'Con's victory.
But he had also known for a long time that Megatron used Soundwave to control him and, in this way, to have the upper hand on the Air Commander. Starscream hated it, another reason to add to the long list of his personal motives for hating the Decepticon Leader and trying to take over from him someday.
Perhaps he should take care of Soundwave, anyway. The Communicators Officer was telepathic, and he might have seen something *odd* in the mind of his counterpart…
However, he kept looking around his personal quarters. This time all the stuff and possessions inside his room seemed to be okay. On the left side, there was his personal chamber, with the recharge bed and a little restroom where he could take care of his body. On the opposite side, there was a little laboratory where he hosted many of his little experiments and things… the kinds of things which most members of the Decepticon army didn't want to know what they were. And finally, the main room, formed of some kind of living room with lots of entertaining stuff from Earth and Cybertron, and the omnipresent Decepticon symbol screwed into the front wall. Still, Starscream's personal quarters had a small difference with respect to the rest of the personal dens: his had two rounded windows, through which people could see the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Like the Seeker he was, the Air commander hated the idea of being trapped inside a room, even if the room was his; so his personal quarters had view towards the exterior.
But this time, he ignored them and rushed towards his personal laboratory.
When the little Minicon thing appeared in front of him, he wasn't able to carry out a complete examination about its characteristics, even though he kept it in his servo for a while as he talked with his counterpart. Still, he managed to collect some information from it. He began to type all that information into a file on his laboratory's computer. It was very important.
He was amazed, and still confused, by the latest events. Of course, meeting a version of himself from another universe was shocking, to say the least. At first, he was afraid his counterpart would try to take over from him or something, even if not intentionally; besides, he was deeply disappointed he couldn't be present in the interrogation of his counterpart and that wretched Megatron and Soundwave were able to get the entire true story. But after the meeting, his point of view had changed: he had authority over his counterpart, so that blue version of himself should obey him. He had also found out that in the reality where his counterpart was from, the Decepticons had the upper hand… And, finally, he had found out that his counterpart di dn't seem to be mean to him: he had supported him, and he had a *Creature* which made him powerful, and which had showed itself to only him!
That was a good thing. Currently, he was the only one in the whole Decepticon army who knew about the other version of Swindle, the Combaticon. The existence of those Minicons made him very surprised, yet he thought he was lucky to learn of the little blue creature; he could understand his counterpart was worried about it (Starscream didn't dare to think of the Minicon as *he* since the little creature could make him very powerful in combat, as it did with his counterpart). If he had a creature like that, he too would be very protective of it.
The question was: Did that Swindle have the same effect on a transformer of his reality as in his counterpart's reality? Could he, the Air Commander, take the Minicon with him and use it to make him even more powerful?
If so, this could finally be the key to overthrow Megatron.
Starscream smirked with joy at this thought. If he could get his final victory over Megatron, everything would change for him: he would be the Leader of the whole Decepticon Empire, he could get the final victory over the Autobots and the Decepticons' cause would be what it was meant to be, and not waste power and effort instead in making stupid plans to revive his homeplanet and the rest of the army's members who were still in stasis mode; he could bring Cybertron into a new golden era where his homeplanet would be ruled by the powerful ideals of the Decepticons as well as the rest of the worlds in the empire, and later , the rest of the Universe.
And, overall, he would be adored, respected and revered for all his successes… Every single Decepticon would bow to him, instead of mocking him and bashing him which was all Megatron's fault.
Yes, finally he could achieve his purpose in life… To be-
The dark faced seeker shook his head at this final thought. That was something he didn't like, or even want, to think about. Besides, he was daydreaming too much; he should keep his mind focused on what he was doing at that moment if he wanted to get all his aforementioned wishes. He needed to find out how to get the Swindle thing for himself to make him more powerful. How ironic it was that his counterpart appeared here to show him the way to make his wishes come true.
Or, did his counterpart appear here just for that? What about what he really thought about him? Did he really mean to overthrow Megatron, or Galvatron, as his damn leader had called himself in his reality? What did his counterpart actually think about his damn leader? Did he really hate that Galvatron in the way he did? And if he didn't, what if he didn't want to *help* him in his quest of revenge against Megatron?
The Air Commander didn't have any answer to the questions that lurked in his mind, and he shuddered at these thoughts. He didn't want to face up against his potentially powerful counterpart when he seemed to be skilled enough to compete against him in his own field, it would be like fighting with himself. He needed to find a way to get his counterpart on his side.
Starscream did not want to fight against himself… not in any time, nor place.
The Decepticon Leader was very pleased with the latest events, and himself, of course. As usual, there wasn't a time when Megatron didn't feel pleased with himself in some way; he was the best Transformer ever… The Autobot Leader, the one who kept the Matrix, the sacred Primus' object, was just an annoying being who would be exterminated sooner or later. And the Matrix would be part of the Decepticons' Empire as proof of Primus' favor towards his favorite Children.
These were the frequent thoughts in the Decepticon Leader's mind.
But today, Megatron had a new thought which made him pleased with himself. Starscream, the Air Commander, was an annoyance, but had a useful tool in his servos too. He could use him in the way he wished: that wass one of the things that made him superior to the Air Commander. Lately, the childish seeker had been quite peaceful, but Megatron knew he should always keep his guard up, and today he had found another way to keep the treacherous Air Commander under his control: another version of the same Air Commander. What should he do to keep Starscream under his control? ...Just use another Starscream, of course.
And today one of those had dropped from the sky like a present for him.
He trusted the new Starscream; he was sincere, he didn't keep treacherous secrets, and he was, overall, respectful to him and the rest of the Decepticons. Indeed, his soldiers would love the new Starscream, unlike his counterpart, and they would follow him.
Of course, the Air Commander will not remain indifferent to this, Megatron thought. He will do *anything* to keep things in his favor. And, in the end, they would both face up against each other…Humans, the flesh creatures, were puny and stupid in many ways, in spite of that they think of themselves as though they were the best thing since energon cubes, but sometimes they had interesting things. One of those things was their sayings about life, and Megatron had found one of them quite appropriate for the current events: "Fight fire with fire." The whole thing made him laugh.
He only had to sit and wait on his "throne" in the main control room and drink some fine energon wine with a drop of engex as he waited to see how this story would end..
The images on the screen in front of the blue seeker's optics flashed as he read all the files which the Air Commander ordered to him to learn. These files were learned and kept in his memory banks, but he often stopped himself because of the gruesome things he was finding out.
The first thing he saw was the plans of the current Decepticon HQ. They were nothing like the ones he knew back in his reality, they also had a crushed interstellar ship, but far more recent, not a Minicon ship built by the Autobots and Minicons more than a million years ago. It meant that the actual HQ was far more comfortable than the one he knew, more than the Autobots' base, indeed… At least here, he didn't have to repair stuff every day. Besides, this HQ was quite different in its odd way: people lived here; and here, every single person had his own personal room, as well as recharge beds, restrooms, and common places like storages, canteens, repair bays, control rooms, war rooms, warehouses etc… He wondered why they wasted such an amount of spare space in the HQ to keep stuff. What kind of stuff did these Decepticons collect? Why did they need such a great amount of warehouses? He realized in amazement they were on Earth for the purpose of collecting *something*; Swindle also thought so, but the little Minicon made him remember that, in this reality, the Minicons did not exist.
Starscream had the feeling those warehouses were the reason that the Decepticons were on Earth.
But since he couldn't get a satisfactory answer, he began to read the rest of the files. Then, he began to suffer shock after shock.
The second group of files was the personal records of every single Decepticon in the HQ. They were classified by rank, class, etc… Of course, his counterpart had showed it to him in order that the seeker with blue optics would be aware of the identities of all his new companions; thus, he'd know who the Decepticons here were. It made sense: Starscream had assumed that the people in this HQ were the counterparts of the people he knew back in his universe, but his counterpart here had realized it was wrong and that in this reality the Decepticon army might be formed by different people. So, the seeker with the blue optics found himself learning about the identities of his new companions.
The screen shone as it showed the records of these Decepticons; Starscream frowned at many of them: of course Megatron was the supreme leader; even though he hadn't changed his name into Galvatron… yet. It seemed it was typical in every universe. On the other hand, there was the masked guy who seemed to be able to read minds; the blue Seeker was right, that odd mech was, indeed, able to do that; he too was one of the highest officers in the army, the Communicators Officer, which made a lot of sense if you thought about his alternative form and his skills. Besides that, he also found out why his counterpart had asked him if he was a cassette-host: that Soundwave guy was able to keep other smaller people inside his chest… people who seemed to be quite similar to Swindle and the rest of the Minicons. Starscream was very surprised; he did not remember any Transformer back in his reality who was like that. His curiosity grew at every discovery and he began to look for the guys that the Cassette-host one had inside him… Finally, he found them: they were as small as a Minicon, but very normal; they looked like common Cybertronians mostly, except for some of them who reminded him of native animal forms from Earth.
Swindle, who had been with him all the time, beeped at the screen.
"It could be…" answered the seeker. "They might be your kind's counterpart here… But they aren't Unicron's creations, anyway."
Swindle beeped again in recognition.
The Seeker turned his attention back to what he had previously been doing as he realized he had less than an hour to learn all that information. He read about the seekers in this reality, those people he had already met; in a certain way, he also felt relieved by that: here there were more people like him, not like his companions back in his reality. His counterpart here was the leader of his kind, it seemed, but Starscream had a particular interest in meeting Thundercracker… well, the *counterpart* of Thundercracker here. It was a good thing to have a trustful companion.
Still, there was something odd about those files. Yes, this Decepticon army might be formed of other people besides Thrust or Cyclonus, but what about Wheeljack? Or Tidal Wave? They didn't appear in these records! Even the greater part of the Decepticon members were formed of Minicons in his reality, like Ramjet or Bonecrusher. Then, his optics widened at the last record: Scavenger!
"What? Scavenger is a Decepticon here? It cannot be! He was a mercenary!" he exclaimed loudly and he felt a hint of shame as he realized something. "Well... he was an Autobot who acted like a mercenary." Swindle pointed to the text on the screen and his master began to read it. "…This Scavenger's different; here, he's a member of that commando called Constructicons." He paused, "the ones who repaired me, indeed."
He turned his view from the screen and looked at Swindle, his expression thoughtful.
"Swindle, I think we shouldn't say anything about the differences between our worlds to my counterpart and the rest of people here if it is not really necessary." The Minicon beeped in disappointment. "Understand this: here, things are different, Autobots can be former Decepticons, and perhaps, vice versa… I don't think it's a wise idea to say some people here are Autobots in my reality. That might yet cause me more problems." He turned back to the screen and his glosa turned into a mischievous smile. "How about we look for your counterpart here, Swindle?" The Minicon beeped in disappointment.
An hour later, the Air Force was reunited in the main Air War room. The blue seeker had no problems moving across the base to arrive to the room after reading the plans of the HQ, but by the time he arrived the rest of the seekers were already there, as well two guys who he recognized as the Triplecharges: a certain kind of Cybertronians who could turn into two different alternative forms. That was a really odd characteristic for them, in his reality nobody could turn into two different forms except for the guys who combined themselves. They were Blitzwing and Astrotrain, who were also under his counterpart's command. Oddly, they both were similar to certain minor ranks from his universe, but those two had different paint jobs.
When he entered the room, everybody else there looked at him cautiously; it was painfully obvious that they found their Commander's double really weird and they didn't wanted to be associated with him, in spite of the orders of their commanders. All of the flyer-types there were distrustful of him, but Starscream realized it was to be expected, and he would need to prove to them that he was trustworthy.
The Air Commander was in the center of the room, surrounded by the seekers and the Triplecharges; his posture was proud and petulant, as usual. He looked at him, and then he looked at his counterpart's left arm: the Minicon guy was attached to his arm; and fortunately, it hadn't showed itself to the rest of the Decepticon army. It was good for him and a slight smirk appeared on his glosa. Nobody, not even his counterpart, noticed it.
Soon, the smirk disappeared and the Air Commander began to speak with his screeching voice:
"Fellow Decepticons, listen to me." The group turned towards Starscream, the one they had known for so long. "I have good news for you besides the news about my counterpart. The energon package to Cybertron has been sent satisfactorily. Soon, we'll have enough energy to awaken our major strike forces and finish the conquest of Cybertron."
"Sorry, Screamer," Dirge interrupted him, "But today we've listened to such a huge amount of good news that it's hard to believe… Why don't you tell us at all what tomorrow's operations are? And later, we still need to get some recharge cycle."
Starscream shot a harsh look to Dirge as a warning.
"Do not interrupt me again, Dirge!" he exclaimed. "Good news is a rare thing lately, so don't try to spoil it with your gloomy manner."
Skywarp laughed softly 'til Thundercracker hit him with his elbow, but the Air Commander just ignored them and continued his speech.
"Tomorrow's mission is different from today's. Tomorrow all of us will go to the Siberian tundra, near that region called Kamchaptka. The ones assigned for this mission will be the Seeker forces and Soundwave's Cassettcons." He paused. "Our mighty Leader will command all of the operation," he grunted.
"Wonderful… Tomorrow we'll go and freeze ourselves in that fridge. What's so interesting there, anyway?" asked Thrust.
"Vulcan activities, petroleum and natural gas, many of the main energon sources on this planet. Besides, the human's extractions will make this easier for us," he explained as though it were obvious.
The blue Starscream made a violent movement when he heard the reason for the upcoming mission: they were to collect energon. Why?
"So, there aren't going to be humans and Autobots there? Too bad!" the Conehead with yellow optics suddenly exclaimed in disappointment.
"C'mon, Thrust! Do you want to forget about it?" replied Dirge tirelessly.
The other Starscream looked at the red Conehead carefully; he still didn't trust him, but this Thrust seemed more interested in getting attention than having a thirst for power. However, what did they mean about "humans"? Starscream did not get what they were on about.
"All you have tomorrow's attack plans in your personal computer's terminal. Now, I want all of you to study them, my counterpart included, too. Okay?" The Air Commander ignored the arguing happening between the members of his kind. "I do not want any failure in a mission as easy as this, so go back to your personal quarters. Seekers, you're dismissed," he concluded, but he turned back to the Triplechangers as the main force began to leave the room. "Not you two, you have different orders."
"What do ya' want from us, Screamer?" Astrotrain asked.
"Yeah! Which circuit's wrong in your CPU now, Screamer?" Blitzwing added.
"Silence!" ordered the Air Commander. "There is a different task for you both. And a little surprise…" he added with an odd smile.
The blue seeker, who was still waiting in the room, watched as his counterpart turned towards one of the screens which were on the wall, and began to type something. Suddenly, a new face appeared on it: it was different from the common seekers' faces, which were square; this one was longer and smoother, but his optics, the usual red for a Con, were smaller than usual; this mech was colored several shades of purple and had long thin wings on his back, but they weren't like the ones of a seeker.
The newcomer looked at the Air Commander and exclaimed:
"Starscream! You loafer! You're alive."
"Of course I am…!" But the Air Commander could not finish his speech.
The Triplechangers exclaimed at the same time: "Octane!"
The one they referred to turned his view from the Air commander towards the Triplechangers there.
"Astrotrain! Blitzwing! You're alive, too." There was certain amount of odd delight in his voice.
"Of course we are, you fool!" The Triplecharger with the big red optic exclaimed. "When did you wake up?" he asked.
"I love ya', too. Blitzwing. Glad to see you're both OK… I just awakened a few days ago," Octane informed them and the Triplechangers laughed with joy.
"Ok! That's enough! You have orders to follow!" the Air Commander suddenly ordered. He had had enough of greetings for now.
"Oh, don't be a kill-joy, Screamer…" Octane exclaimed from the Screen.
"Shut up! You'll have time to chat later. There are many orders waiting here for you!" he commanded.
The other Starscream watched the screen from a corner, still confused by the latest events and the nature of the coming mission. He wanted to ask his counterpart a few things about these, but his attitude towards that Octane guy had confused him. It seemed the Triplechangers knew that guy and they were delighted to see him alive after, apparently, a long time. He could relate to that feeling, except that the ones he had once cared for were already dead or had suffered an unknown end…
Who was that guy, anyway? Why was he able to awaken such interest in him? He decided to wait for an answer.
His counterpart was talking and giving orders to the other three people for a while; the blue seeker ignored the chat as he realized it wasn't anything related to him, and just waited for them to finish. He could get answers later.
Finally, the Triplechangers retired themselves under several commands from his counterpart, and the screen turned offline. The Air Commander waited for them to leave, and when the Triplechangers disappeared through a lateral gate, the silver-white seeker seemed to become relaxed and calmed himself as he exhaled a deep sigh.
Then, he noticed his counterpart in a corner of the room.
"So, you were there…" he said, as though he was looking for something.
"Yes, I was waiting for you to finish," answered his counterpart in a sincere tone.
Starscream looked into the blue optics of his counterpart, looking for signs of anything suspicious in his response and attitude, then, his view ended up on his counterpart's left arm.
"I see you haven't showed your little toy to anybody," he exclaimed with a smirk on his glosa.
"I don't think it's a good idea that anybody knows about Swindle. He'll only wait to show himself to you," the seeker with blue optics explained to him in a serious tone.
"That's right… I'm *your* counterpart, after all," the Air Commander answered as he walked to him. "What do you want from me now, really?" he asked when he faced his counterpart.
"Some answers." Starscream answered simply. "I've read the records you asked me to, but there are several matters which I cannot yet understand."
"Which ones?"
"What's our mission on Earth, really? Why are we going to collect energon tomorrow?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"What!? Don't you know about our mission on Earth, yet?" The Air Commander was shocked; he hadn't expected a question like that.
"I told you, already," was his counterpart's response. "My mission was to collect Minicons… But in this reality, there are no Minicons, so you're here to collect another thing. Right?"
His counterpart nodded with a severe gesture of his head as he listened to him.
"Yes, you're right," the dark faced seeker answered as he realized these facts. "We're on Earth to collect enough energon to revive Cybertron."
The other Starscream jumped up, startled. "Energon? Are all you only here to collect energon? Why?" He was so surprised than he didn't seem able to understand what his counterpart wanted to say.
"The War between the two Cybertronian factions has exhausted the energon reserves on our homeplanet," he explained in a nasty tone. "We, the Decepticons, are trying to collect enough energon cubes to revive our homeplanet…." - there was a shocked look on the pinkish faced seeker as he listened to this explanation - "… And to win the war."
The pinkish face's expression turned into a harsh look: to win the war against the Autobots wasn't his most important priority anymore, there were things far more important than that… but he couldn't tell this to his counterpart. In his spark, Starscream knew that his counterpart would not believe him, just like he wouldn't if their situations were reversed
"I see," he answered. "So, tomorrow's mission is to collect more energon for that, and I'm included in the mission."
"Of course. Here you're under my command," the Air Commander answered with a nasty smile. "And I want you to learn your role in the operation. I don't want any mistakes."
His counterpart looked at him in a way that Starscream couldn't put a finger on, and there came a response he hadn't expected at all.
"In that case, I should be full recharged for tomorrow's mission. I don't think I'll be able to keep flying to the Kamptchatka region with my current energy levels."
The Air Commander laughed, but his counterpart didn't find anything funny.
"You're right!" he exclaimed. "OK, I'll show you how to use the recharge beds, and if you need it, I'll have someone send an energon cube to your quarters."
"Thanks!" the blue seeker answered.
"There is no need to thank me," the Air Commander replied in a serious tone. "You will fly with all of us and our leader… But I don't want you to show them your true firepower if the Autobots show themselves."
"What!?"
"Think about it!" exclaimed Starscream, suddenly. "You told me the Megatron- Galvatron from your reality kept all those Minicons for himself, didn't you?" His counterpart nodded, still serious. "Then: what do you think the Megatron of this reality will do if he finds out about your little toy?" A startled look appeared on the pinkish faced seeker's face as his counterpart kept talking. "Do you want Megatron to steal your Minicon from you or not? If you really care for your Minicon, you should understand what I'm talking about."
Starscream turned his blue optics and glared intensely at the red optics of his counterpart for many long seconds as he tried to verify his counterpart's explanations. Finally, he nodded.
"Yes, you're right. I'd also thought that showing Swindle to any of your troops would be a wise idea… But I didn't realize what would happen if this Megatron found out about my Minicon."
"It'll be better to keep this a secret between us both," the Air Commander suggested as he indicated the two of them with an azure finger. "In that case, if the coming mission's accomplished correctly, we'll go ahead with it. But if the Autobots show themselves to try and stop us, you'll fight like one of us; not using the power your Minicon gives to you." A mischievous smile spread on the Air Commander's glosa. "I know you have a very interesting arsenal, anyway."
"I'm a Decepticon warrior, after all."
The Air Commander's became more kind. "Well, I'm glad you realized how important this is… I don't want things to turn out badly for you."
"What makes you say that?" asked his counterpart, suddenly alarmed. He didn't want to fight or to face up against his counterpart from this universe, but he didn't understand his counterpart's sudden change of mind either: at first the dark faced seeker wanted to kill him, and now he wanted the best for him. Why?
Starscream tilted his head and give him a convincing answer.
"Perhaps you don't realize it, and surely the rest of the Decepticon army here doesn't, either," he began. "But the fact is that your current presence here and now is something dangerous in many ways. You can't tell what could happen if your presence and your powers affect this world too much."
The jaw of the blue seeker fell open as he listened to his counterpart's explanations. He had never considered such a possibility.
"That's one reason that I wanted to keep you under my rule: to avoid possible disasters. Megatron's too narrow minded to realize something like this." He finished cockily.
"I see," his counterpart answered thoughtfully. "But I don't think that's the only reason you have to keep me close to you."
"What?" exclaimed the sneering voice of the Air Commander.
"You also fear me," he added. "Again, it's natural, I'd do the same thing in your current situation. But, as I told you previously, I don't mean any harm to you." The dark faced seeker frowned: his expressive face made it quite obvious that he wasn't pleased with the explanation. "Please, trust me. I'll do as you ask me. I don't want to get on the wrong side with you and cause any harm here."
The ruby optics of the Air Commander looked intensely at his counterpart for many long seconds till he managed to give some kind of response.
"Ok, then. We'll stay closer and we won't mean any harm to each other in any way." The seeker with the blue optics nodded and his counterpart smiled at him. "Now, you wanted to ask me something else, didn't you?" he asked as he began to pace towards the wing where the personal quarters were located.
"Yeah… I've read all the personal records of the army here, and I think I know everybody here, now. But, who was the guy from the screen? That Octane mech?"
Starscream seemed to be perplexed by the question, and laughed softly.
"Ah, Octane!" he exclaimed. "He's one of the Triplechangers, along with Blitzwing and Astrotrain. He has been in stasis mode for millions of years till now that we've got enough energon to awaken more members of our army, thanks to the energon cubes we collect here on Earth; he's on Cybertron, now." His counterpart listened to him intensely, trying to figure out how much energon they needed to awaken warriors who had been in stasis mode for millions of years. It was just amazing: the Cybertron in this reality should be almost dead!
"You'll love him for sure. He's quite nice," his counterpart kept talking. "Except for two facts," he sneered, which caught the attention of his counterpart.
"Which are?"
"He's really greedy… which isn't a defect if you consider that he keeps the energon stocks for us, really." he began to elaborate. "And he also likes femmes too much…"
"What's wrong with that?" the blue seeker asked as he tilted an eyebrow.
"Nothing, I think… except for the fact that he acts like male humans instead of just some occasional flirting as we sane people do." (*)
"Huh?"
"I mean he loves femmes with full curved bodies," he sneered, "And brags too much about that."
The pinkish faced seeker had a startled look on his face. He hadn't been on Earth for that long, and he had always avoided humans just as many of the other Transformers on Earth had done; therefore he hadn't had a chance to get along with many of them… except for those kids who were with the Autobots, those young humans who tried to befriend him. All the ones he knew were male, except for Alexis, the single female of the team; but he couldn't remember a time when the young male humans acted the way his counterpart was describing.
Well, perhaps they were all too young for that, or maybe he just didn't catch onto anything. It didn't matter now, anyway.
However, his current priority was to learn about his role on the mission and to undergo a full recharge cycle. His life had had a very drastic twist in just a few seconds, and now he wasn't really sure about what he could do other than to complete the mission he had been given here.
But he didn't want that, anyway… Could his counterpart ever understand that?
He didn't see the mischievous smirk on his counterpart's glosa as he left him.
"He won't show the Minicon to Megatron for now," he murmured, "I'm the only one who knows that he has it."
It was getting dark over the Gran Chaco, but the Autobots' squadron formed by the Aerialbots, Perceptor and Beachcomber had come to investigate the place. There wasn't really any need for the Minibot to come to the large region from South America, but he enjoyed the nature and the landscape of the Gran Chaco, and he also had some knowledge of geology, so, oddly, he had offered himself for this mission.
The Aerialbots kept guard around the scientists, watching for any sign of danger, all except for Skydive: the yellow faced Autobot had a particular interest in Preceptor's and Beachcomber's activities, and the nature of these activities.
As the Aerialbots did their job, Perceptor found himself in his alternative mode as he examined a pile of mud than seemed to have been moved by something or somebody; Beachcomber was at his side helping him.
"…It seems that something quite heavy crashed with the ground to scatter all this mud. This pile couldn't be caused by any animal from this region, and there is no trace of human devices for many kilometers around," the blue Minibot said. "I think the thing which dropped from the warp crashed here… It's the right coordinates," he explained as he gestured to the sky and the ground.
"Besides…" added Perceptor as his microscope lens pointed towards several tiny blue things which had sunk in the mud pile, "here I've found many samples from what must have fallen from the warp." His lens moved towards the blue things. "…And, I'm not sure, but it seems to be some kind of metal."
"Metal pieces?" exclaimed Skydive. "Are they from a Decepticon device?"
"I'm not sure... but they seem to be Cybertronian for sure," answered Perceptor in surprise, "which means the phenomenon is related with Transformers."
"Are you sure?" asked Beachcomber, amazed.
"Well…" the scientist began as he transformed back to his usual mode "… I shall examine them in my laboratory, anyway." He knelt down to carefully collect the metal pieces and put them inside several test tubes which he replaced in one of his subspacial pockets. Beachcomber helped him with them.
"Perhaps you both should look at this, too," suggested Slingshot in his usual harsh way.
The rest of the crew turned towards the Autobot with the yellow optics with interest, and then towards the ground: there were footsteps of several people imprinted on the mud.
"Why? Are you sure these steps aren't ours?" Air Raid asked.
"No! All of them are equal, they have the same size and form, not like ours which are different," Slingshot explained.
Perceptor rubbed his chin.
"You're right," he said after a moment. "Somebody has been here before us."
The rest of the crew turned to him, alarmed.
"Do you mean somebody was here previously and they got the thing that appeared from the warp?" asked Skydive.
"Not necessarily. It might be that, but there is another possibility," pointed out the red scientist Autobot as the others looked at him questioningly. "Perhaps they're from the thing which dropped from the sky."
Beachcomber looked back at the mud pile deep in thought; finally, he also spoke.
"…Or perhaps they just caught the thing."
"Yeah… except for the fact there is no record of any other activity here besides the warp," Air Raid added.
"True," answered Perceptor. "But actually, the only traces we have are these tiny pieces of blue metal," he announced as he lifted one of the test tubes in front of his optics.
Later, much later, Soundwave waited inside the room of the Communicators Officer along with Rumble and Frenzy. The base was silent as most of the army found themselves in a recharge cycle, and only the hoarse rumble of the HQ's machinery could be heard.
Then, the door opened with a hiss and one of Soundwave's Cassettcons entered.
"Here, Ravage," he said in his modulated voice. "Report!"
The animal cassette jumped and transformed as he entered the chest-compartment of his master; Soundwave pressed a button on his body and the cassette began to play. The officer appeared to be concentrating hard,, and Rumble and Frenzy just kept looking at him with interest; they too began to listen to what Ravage had recorded.
They heard the harsh voice of the Air Commander's counterpart: it was odd how similar it sounded to the one they knew, and at same time, how different it was: the same voice but softer and modulated. Still, that wasn't what was interesting: it seemed as though he was talking aloud to himself; Rumble and Frenzy could hear only some beeping sounds as weird responses to his dialogue.
But Soundwave didn't think so:
"He is not alone," he announced as Ravage finished playing. "He's with somebody…"
* Notes:
Re-edited by Cathleigh.
This chapter has been quite hard to write. It isn't because of the plot, I knew what I meant to say, but the setting. As you can see, the story happens in the beginning of the '90s (just around the time when I watched TF for first time :P) As I wanted to show the Aerialbots as they would become into a bunch of Soap operas' fans, I've had to inform myself about the series from that time, and I chose "90210-Beverly Hills", but since I've never watched that series, I had to ask for information. Same thing for the movies that Spike&Carly went to watch with Bumblebee. I had to choose one of them, despite that I had the full scene in my mind XD
So, thank you to "The Padded Cell" folks for their suggestions :) and to Skinds Thunderbolt for being my beta-reader.
(*) Even if it's surprising, in several TF continuities we see Starscream doing some flirting with women… although none of them take him seriously.