CHAPTER SIX
--The Lost Light, Perceptor's lab--
"From the future, you say?" Perceptor rested his chin in his hand as he looked down at WALL-E, who was placed on a table in his lab. "Well, the practice of time travel isn't unheard of, but it certainly is rather rare."
"Just please stick with layman's terms," Rodimus said. "You know how I am with science: the fewer words, the better."
Perceptor sighed before beginning. "Transwarp technology, the most common source of time travel among Cybertronians, was first developed by the Decepticons during the Great War-- roughly 135 years ago. Whatever Megatron had planned for it fell through and the tech ended up being leaked to the Autobots. The Secret Service had us scientists at Kimia experiment with it for possible use."
"And it failed, of course," Rodimus said. "Right? 'Cause otherwise we would have gone back and stopped the war from happening years ago."
"Actually, we were able to get it to work," Que said. "But only to travel to the future, and even that was limited; we could only travel to places with no connection whatsoever to Cybertron, so we could never figure out the outcome of the war."
"Convenient," Rodimus muttered. "But that doesn't explain how WALL-E was able to jump back to our time." He then looked down at the garbage collector bot. "Do you remember what happened before you ended up on our ship?"
WALL-E thought for a moment. "I was with Ee-vah when we found this... case thing. I opened it and... I ended up here."
Rodimus tapped his helmet in contemplation. "Could we jump over to WALL-E's time and try to figure things out from there?"
"If we had a Transwarp drive, yes," Perceptor said. "As far as I know, there isn't one on board."
"Que, any ideas?"
"I'm pretty sure most Transwarp drives are in the Secret Service's possession," the inventor replied. "I have a contact with a few agents, so maybe one of them would be willing to lend us one."
"Great, you do that. Until then...." Rodimus turned back to WALL-E. "Uh, feel free to look around and mingle or whatever."
"Okay," WALL-E murmured. "But I don't know anyone, and they don't know me."
"Then just stick with Rung. He's pretty much everyone's friend, so he'll make you feel welcome. Just keep one thing in mind."
"What?"
"Try not to get his name wrong."
--Swerve's--
"Sorry, but... what's the Institute?" Tailgate asked, interrupting Chromedome's part of the story.
"The Institute was a clandestine location to which the High Council sent many of its dissenters and subjected them to mind alteration and similar punishment," Chromedome explained. "Not everyone believed that such a place existed-- Prowl being one such skeptic. After I made my claim that what we found at the clinic was the Institute, he dismissed it with a derisive snort-- as he always did-- and we left to find the control room.
"Once there, we found that our assassins were indeed 'bodyglovers' and had their sparks transplanted just after murdering Sherma. With this info, we met up with Optronix, Ratchet, and Councilors Avalon and Shockwave at Rodion Security Headquarters, Optronix's station at the time...."
--The past--
"Proteus is behind this all, I'm almost certain," Shockwave said, pacing back and forth. "It all adds up: Sherma was a Decepticon sympathizer and thus posed a threat to Proteus' ideal of an all-Autobot, functionist-ruled, 'unified' Cybertron. He needed Sherma out of the game, but expulsion wouldn't have done the job...."
"He needed Sherma dead," Optronix said. "So he hired two assassins to do the job and then had their sparks transplanted to throw off the scent before moving on to their next target."
"Which was Momus, another sympathizer," Prowl finished. "But since he was off-planet, they went after Avalon." He glanced at the red and yellow-plated Councilor standing nearby. "Any ideas why?"
Avalon stroked the distinctive piece of metal jutting out from his chin. "I may not be a Decepticon sympathizer like Sherma and Momus, but I have made a reputation for criticizing Proteus' functionist world-viewpoint. I was probably next on his list."
"So that mystery's solved then," Tumbler said. "Question now is: how do we present our findings without getting 'silenced' by the Council?"
"Simple," Optronix said. "We do so without the Council finding out."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Ratchet asked. "Who can we turn to?"
"Sentinel Prime."
"Impossible," Prowl said. "Prime's nothing more than a puppet for the Council. Whatever we send to him will go through the Council and Proteus will see it."
"Not if we give it to Prime personally."
"Same situation. All security is maintained through the Elite Guard by the Council. They control everything, Optronix."
"Then you realize what we'll have to do then."
Prowl's optics widened as he and the others gave Optronix bewildered looks. "You're not saying...."
"I am. We're going to break into the Grand Imperium."
* * *
Nightbeat ran through a series of hallways as he followed the sound of movement through the ventilation shaft system. Upon reaching a grate, he jumped up and grabbed onto it, using his free hand to draw a blaster and blast the grate off its hinges. He then jumped up into the duct and transformed into his alt mode, driving off after the scampering sound.
He made several twists and turns through the channels before finally catching a glimpse of his quarry. The blue and orange mech shot a frantic look in his direction as he hastily primed a grenade. Nightbeat quickly transformed and moved to stop him but he was already too late.
The bomb went off before the assassin had a chance to throw it and the two mechs quickly found themselves falling from the ducts. Their plummet was broken by a mobile sweeper machine moving through the halls. Regaining his footing, Nightbeat stormed towards the assassin and seized him by the neck. He then proceeded to lift him off his feet and hold him over the edge of the sweeper.
"Forgive me for having to do this," Nightbeat said. "But you've really ticked me off."
Much to his surprise, the mech laughed in spite of his peril. "You can't harm me. You need me online if you want to solve the mystery."
"You're right about that, which is why I haven't let go yet. Now tell me: who hired you?"
"Now, now," the assassin said with a devious grin. "I didn't say I'd make it easy for you."
Suddenly, the sweeper grinded to a halt and Nightbeat was sent lurching and he fell off of the vehicle, releasing the assassin in the process. As the detective landed hard on the floor, the sweeper began to change shape, adopting the form of a hulking white and green mech.
"Rough him up, Gridlock."
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