CHAPTER FIVE
--Polyhex, Cycle 8214--
"All right, I answered all of your questions. Care to answer a few of mine?"
Sitting atop a crate, Optronix narrowed his eyes at Rodimus. "I'm still not sure if I buy your story about being a special ops unit. I'm sure I would have heard of it."
"Like I said, Sentinel Prime wanted complete secrecy."
"I'm one of Prime's most trusted confidants."
"Not trusted enough, it seems."
Optronix's optics briefly flared and Rodimus was worried he had touched a nerve circuit there. However, the other mech offered no retort and instead said, "Fine. Ask away."
"What are you doing here in Polyhex?"
"We received reports of criminal activity around this sector, specifically at this warehouse. We had just started a stakeout when... all of this happened."
"I see. Sorry for the disruption, then," Rodimus said.
"Ah, forget about it. Right now we have a rogue Autobot to catch and a comrade to save."
Rodimus glanced at the others before saying, "Uh, yeah, about that. If it's all the same to you, I think it would be best if my team and I handled this ourselves."
"Dion is our teammate," Whirlwind said defiantly. "It's our responsibility to rescue him."
"I understand, but our quarry is a very dangerous 'bot-- not to mention our responsibility-- and we don't want anything happening to you guys."
"We've been through worse than this," Lockout said as he patched up the wound in his side, which Brainstorm had dealt him.
"Even so, I don't think Sentinel Prime would be please if he heard we had lost his favorite Autobot."
Optronix seemed to consider this for a moment as he rubbed his chin. Finally, he said, "Very well. If Prime gave you orders to do this mission on your own, then we're not going to interfere."
"Good." Rodimus smiled. "Let's shake on it."
Once the two teams had all shaken hands (and Chromedome had wiped Optronix's teams' memories), the Time Team activated their control device and vanished from the warehouse.
* * *
Dion awoke to find himself in a dark room, hooked up to a recharge slab. He tried to move, but something was holding him down; whether it was stasis cuffs or an inhibitor claw doing the work, he could not tell.
Out of the corner of his optic, he caught movement and he was able to crane his head enough to see the teal mech who had kidnapped him, yellow optics glowing in the shadows.
"What do you want from me?" Dion croaked.
"Answers," was the cold reply. "Give them to me and I'll spare your life."
"You won't get me to talk."
"You will. You must. The future depends on it."
"I don't know anything you'd be interested in."
"You do. I know you do." The turquoise mech suddenly twitched his head but he quickly recovered his composure. "When was Optronix born?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Answer me." The harshness in his interrogator's voice caused Dion to wince and for the words to practically spill out of his mouth.
"Cycle 8114."
Silence briefly fell over the room. Then, the stranger said, "Thank you for your cooperation." He then drew out a gun and aimed it at Dion's head. The Autobot's optics widened.
"You said you would let me live!"
"I did, and I will. This gun will erase your memories and you will be sent back to your friends as a different person, under a different name. You won't remember me or anything of your past life. You will be born anew."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Dion demanded.
"No. Because it's already been done."
The gun went off and Dion's mind went with it.
--Nyon, Cycle 8204--
"Any idea where Brainstorm's jumped to now, Percy?" Rodimus asked as he stood out on the night-time streets of Nyon.
"Don't call me that, and no, not yet. The hyper-drive hasn't much energy left, so it's becoming harder to pinpoint his exact location. Where are you now?"
"In Nyon, ten years back from where we were. I was playing on a hunch that Brainstorm was using some sort of pattern-- ten years, then a hundred, then a thousand."
"Right. Well, I suggest that you stay where you are so to preserve some energy. I'll call you when I've found him-- and for spark's sake, don't interfere with anything this time."
Rodimus snorted to himself. "Easier said than done when you've got someone like Whirl on your team."
* * *
For the first time in forever, WALL-E felt nervous to be with EVE.
There the two of them sat, sharing a table at a bar with Skids, Chromedome, Rewind, Rung, and Tailgate. Cyclonus was sitting by himself in a corner while Whirl was at the counter, chatting with shady-looking 'bots. The other Autobots seemed to either be absorbed with their conversations and drinks, so it was just him and her.
Furtively glancing at her, WALL-E racked his processor for something to say. Despite all appearances, this EVE was not the one he knew; this EVE had been through things the original had not experienced and worked for beings the original did not know. He was at an utter loss for words; what could he possibly say to her?
To his surprise, he was relieved of that worry when EVE turned to look at him, her blue eyes briefly glimmering in a way he had always attributed to the original.
"So," she said quietly. "Your EVE. What was she like?"
Once the shock of actually being spoken to by this EVE had worn off, WALL-E thought for a moment. "She was... nice, of course. Caring-- very caring-- and loving. Loyal. Trusting."
"So, basically the complete opposite of me."
WALL-E shrunk away slightly. "I... wasn't going to go there."
"No, no. It's fine." EVE let out a sound akin to a wistful sigh. "I'm sure the EVE you knew and loved is still buried somewhere in my CPU, but I doubt there's any hope of getting her back-- unless we stop this Brainstorm."
WALL-E twiddled his fingers. "I suppose you could try... being like her."
"But it's not in my programming to feel."
"Nor was it in my Ee-vah's. I'm sure if she could find a way to break from her directive, so can you."
EVE looked at him with drooping crescent eyes. "You... really think so?"
"I know so." Taking a huge risk, he took her hand in his. "Because I believe in you."
EVE looked down curiously at their intertwined fingers, as if finding this action a strange but insightful one. She then curved her eyes upward into a smile as she tightened the grip between their hands.
"This is... this is nice."
"Yeah," WALL-E said quietly. "Yes, it is. We used to do this... quite a bit. We'd hold hands while resting on top of my truck, staring at the moon while our song played. It was... quite nice."
"I bet." EVE turned her head away from him, suddenly finding it difficult to look at him. She then glanced down at his chest and noticed a green glow emitting from his chamber. "What's that?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, this." WALL-E opened his chest compartment to reveal the green spark he had found in the Alyon region. "I found this sprouting out of the ground. I have no idea what it is or what it does, but it might make a nice souvenir for when I get back to my time. If I do."
EVE continued to stare at the spark with wide-eyed curiosity before saying, "Do you mind I take a closer look?"
"Sure thing," WALL-E said as he removed the spark from his compartment and handed it to EVE. Just as she held it up closer to her face, a loud crash sounded and, startled, the probe bot quickly hid the spark within her own chamber.
However, if anyone had noticed the spark, their attentions were now diverted to Whirl as he stood over a dull-colored mech, waving his claws in a threatening manner.
"You wanna say that to me again, punk?!" the ex-Wrecker screamed. "You wanna poke fun at me again?! Well, c'mon! Do it again and I'll rip both of your optics out!"
"Hey, relax off of Crossbar here," said a brutish green and purple mech, accompanied by a white one. "He didn't mean no harm."
"Oh, but he asked for it! He had it coming with that little 'one-eye' remark of his!"
"Careful, pal," said the white brute. "We've got friends in high places. You wouldn't want us as your enemies."
"High places, huh?" Whirl's single optic flared. "I bet I can show you high places."
The green mech snorted. "Hear that, Dogma? This 'bot thinks he can--"
The thug was abruptly cut off by a kick delivered to his mid-section. He retaliated by grabbing Whirl by the shoulders and throwing him into a table. The ex-Wrecker quickly recovered and lunged at the thug, pommeling him in the face. Dogma moved to his partner's rescue, but the green thug waved him off.
"No. This one is mine."
"You sure, Rapture? He seems pretty--"
"Please. It's been years since I've had a good challenge."
And so the brawl resumed, with tables and chairs flying everywhere. It came to a quick-end however when Whirl delivered a headbutt into Rapture to disorient him while jamming a table leg into his midsection. Dogma started to lunge at Whirl only to receive a metal canister to the face, knocking him out. Just as Whirl returned his attention to Rapture, Skids grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away.
"That's enough," Skids said sternly. "It was amusing at first, but now you've gone too far. It's probably time we left."
"I'm not finished yet," Whirl said in an eerily low tone.
"You've had your fun, now let's go."
"I'm. Not. Finished. Yet."
"Whirl, he's taken enough of a beating. If you do any more damage, it could kill him."
"Oh, so you're taking his side? Why would that be a bad thing?"
"Because a hundred years from now," Skids said in low tone, "he'll be one of the thugs who captured Councilor Avalon at Rodion. Chromedome said so in our story session. So if you kill him now--"
"All right, all right, I get it." Whirl pointed a claw at the confused Rapture as he turned to leave with Skids. "Consider this your lucky day."
The thug simply stared in bewilderment as the time travelers exited the bar.
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