CHAPTER THREE
--Cybertron, Alyon region, the past--
While Rodimus and Magnum discussed their plan to save the sparks, Chromedome sat away from the others atop a metal formation, tinkering with his hand. In the skies above, Whirl, Cyclonus, and EVE scouted out for Brainstorm while Skids, Tailgate, and WALL-E explored down below. Only Rewind sat with him, watching his partner carefully.
"What are you doing?" the archivist asked.
"I'm modifying my mnemosurgery needles. When we leave, I'll need to wipe Magnum and the others' memories of their encounter with us. A simple handshake will wipe out the last few sub-cycles of their memories. It will be as if we had never been here."
Rewind sighed. "I know I would normally object, but from what Skids has told me, time travel is very risky business, so it might be fore the best. Although...."
"What is it?" Chromedome asked.
"I was just thinking; maybe with the briefcase we can find out what happened to Dominus."
"Then what? Are you going to try to change things so that Dominus never left? So that we never met?"
"No. No, of course not. I would never... why would I do that?"
"I know you, Rewind-- better than anyone, in fact. You say you won't do one thing, but in the heat of the moment, you'll act without thinking and do something without considering the consequences."
Rewind looked away from him, casting his gaze to his feet instead. "Ridiculous."
"We'll talk about this later," Chromedome said as he got up. "Right now. We've got more pressing matters to attend to."
"Right, of course," Rewind murmured. "Always something more important."
* * *
EVE was all that stood between Whirl and his objective.
The three fliers-- him, EVE, and Cyclonus-- had taken a break from their aerial search for Brainstorm and had stopped at the top of a rock formation, which hung over a bottomless chasm... and Cyclonus was standing at the very edge. The opportunity was ripe. The only problem was EVE.
From the few hours he had gotten to know her, Whirl had since taken EVE for a miniature Ultra Magnus: stiff, rule-abiding, a major pain in the afterburner... if he were to pull something now, she would no doubt go flying to Rodimus. He had to remove her somehow-- without killing, of course.
Moving as discreetly as possible-- at least so Cyclonus wouldn't notice-- Whirl inched over to EVE. As the probe bot looked up at him, the ex-Wrecker said, "I think I hear your sparkmate calling for you."
"What's a sparkmate?"
"A mate who's close to the spark. Then again, you and WALL-E don't have sparks, do you? More like power cores. But, anyway, yeah, I hear him calling you."
EVE rolled her eyes as she turned away. "I don't hear anything."
"Maybe my audio receptors are better than yours."
"I very much doubt--"
"At the very least, shouldn't you go check on him?"
"I don't think--"
"What are you two talking about?"
Whirl screamed loudly as he spun around, whipping out his guns, only to see it was Cyclonus. If it weren't for EVE being right there, he probably would have pulled the trigger instead of just putting away his weapons.
"Just stuff," Whirl said, sticking his head up haughtily. "Super cool stuff that you wouldn't understand."
Cyclonus narrowed his optics as he eyed one of the guns Whirl had just holstered. "That gun you have. You didn't have it before on Luna 1."
"Aw, I'm flattered that you noticed," Whirl said in a mocking tone. "I got it from Brainstorm's armory right before we left. But don't tell Rodimus, okay? Both of you. It might upset him."
Cyclonus continued to stare at him strangely but decided to drop the subject, instead saying, "Let's continue our search. I'm picking up some sort of readings in the east."
"Whatever you say, horn-head," Whirl replied as he and EVE followed the ex-Herald.
* * *
"So once Landshark has dug up a deep enough hole in the center of the hot spot, your friend with the eyebrows will use our teleporter, using some juice from your teleporter, to teleport all of the sparks to a facility in Nyon?"
"That about sums up my plan," Rodimus said.
Magnum looked at the hot spot for a moment. "And you're certain it'll work."
"It may take a few trips, but yes. With our teleporters combined, it'll have a decent-enough range."
"And why again are you sending the skinny guy with the eyebrows?" Padlock asked doubtfully.
"'Cause he's the most unassuming 'bot you'd find," Rodimus said. "No one will even notice him popping out of thin air. No offense, Rung."
"None taken," the psychiatrist replied.
"In that case, Landshark should stay with you while underground," Magnum said. "We wouldn't want you getting crushed by rubble."
Rung smiled. "Believe me, it wouldn't be the first time it's happened."
"Right." Magnum then beckoned Landshark over. "Do your magic," the commander said.
Landshark nodded as he raised his fists. Before he brought them down, he said, "You guys might wanna stand back; these aren't called shock gauntlets for nothing."
The others heeded his warning, keeping clear of him as he brought his arms down. This generated a seismic wave and created a weak point in the middle of the ground. He then proceeded to dig away, throwing huge chunks of rock this way and that. As the others watched him, Rung sidled up to Rodimus and looked up at him.
"Have you talked with Perceptor about using power from the time machine?"
"Yes, I have," Rodimus replied. "He said it will still drain some juice from the hyper-drive, but not as much as a normal time jump would. We should be in the clear."
"And if someone does notice me popping up in Nyon?"
Rodimus snorted. "Trust me, I lived there my whole life before enlisting, and the 'bots there wouldn't notice a Chompazoid unless it ate their city."
After several minutes, Landshark had dug up a deep enough pit. He then looked up towards the others and waved.
"All right, eyebrows. Let's do this thing."
* * *
"So, who's the Megatron to your Optimus Prime?"
Skids turned to give Tailgate a bemused look as the two of them and WALL-E patrolled the region. "Pardon?"
"C'mon, let's play the Nemesis Game. Who's your arch-enemy? Whirl's is Killmaster."
"Oh, right. Uh... Misfire."
"Misfire?" Tailgate tilted his head. "Isn't he the Decepticon who can't shoot straight? What did he ever do to you?"
"Oh, terrible things. Awful things. I don't wanna talk about it."
WALL-E decided to not pay any further attention to the two Autobots' discussion, for something had just caught his eye. Rolling over to it, he saw that it was a field of glowing blue orbs; a hot spot like the one they had discovered on Luna 1. But unlike the hot spot on the lost moon, this one had a green spark sticking out of the ground. Did that make it different from the others, he wondered?
He looked over his shoulder to beckon Skids and Tailgate, but saw that they were still deep in conversation. Looking back at the spark, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Deploying the laser built between his eyes, he moved it around the surrounding metal and caused the spark to pop out. He then gently picked it up and, opening his chest flap, placed it in the chamber within.
Just as he was about to head back to the other two, he heard a voice shout out, "Incoming!"
All three robots looked up in alarm as a turquoise fighter shot over them, followed closely by EVE, Cyclonus, and Whirl. Skids immediately moved into action, all of his guns deployed.
"He's headed for the hot spot! After him!"
* * *
"All set, eyebrows?"
"It's Rung, and yes, the teleporter is set to take eighty percent of the sparks; I'll have to make a second trip to get the rest."
"Got it," Landshark said. "I'll be waiting for you."
Rung activated the device and in a flash, he was gone, taking most of the sparks with him. Not long after he had left, Landshark heard shouts coming from above, followed by blaster fire. Before he could go see what was going on, a light blue jet flew into the pit he had just made and rammed into him, knocking him down to the ground.
Following in close pursuit were Skids and the fliers, firing their guns at the rogue Autobot. Before any of them could score a hit, the jet glowed and vanished in a similar manner. Not a moment had passed when Rung returned, teleporter still in hand.
"I'm back. What did I miss?"
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