CHAPTER THREE
--Earth--
"How many do you see out there?"
The human space ranger carefully peered over from behind his cover, keeping his transparent dome helmet closed over his head. Twelve feet away, he could see a lone figure floating through the deserted streets of Axiom City, red wings of energy glowing in the night.
"One," Marcus Stargazer whispered, licking his dry lips. "Just one."
"One's nothing," rumbled a Urtuskian teammate of his, charging her gun. "Give me a shot at him and he'll be scrap in seconds."
"Hold on to your horses, Cadet Ursula," warned their squad leader. "Er... no offense, Lucky."
An equine range neighed quietly in response, expressing that none had been taken.
"We still must follow protocol, even if we do outnumber him," Dion went on, parked in his automobile alternate mode. "Rose, are you picking up any other energy signatures?"
"None within the radius," answered an EVE unit with red optics. "That doesn't mean there couldn't still be more hiding nearby."
"Exactly. Which is why we must--"
"Wait!" Marcus hissed. "I see something else!"
The others crowded in behind him, watching in apprehension as a silver flying object suddenly appeared over the city and made its way down to the ground. The familiar sound of a transformation cog whirring could be heard as the flier assumed the form of a large winged robot, cast all in gray and silver save for the red glow of their visor.
"It's Fearstorm," grunted Ursula, raising her gun. "Let's take him down while we have the chance."
"Hold your fire, cadet," Dion hissed. "You won't do anything unless I order it." He shifted his attention to Rose. "Probe Two, see if you can pick up on their conversation."
Rose nodded as she extended an antenna from her head. Fearstorm was visibly speaking with the energy vampire, the latter making exaggerated hand gestures as it spoke. Ursula shifted uneasily, huffing as she kept her gun raised.
"He's distracted," she growled. "Now's our chance to end this once and for all!"
"Cadet," Dion warned her. "Don't--"
But the Urtuskian was no longer listening. Pushing past the others, she charged out into the open and released a guttural battle cry as she raised her weapon at Fearstorm and the energy vampire. Fearstorm glanced at her and, without so much as a second's thought, obliterated her with his gun before she even had a chance to fire her's. The barrel of his gun was still smoking as he then shifted his attention to where Dion and the others were hiding.
"Well," Dion muttered as he transformed to his robot mode. "So much for that...."
--The Axiom--
"Look, is it too late for apologies?" Misfire asked as he and the others were led to the bridge with their hands shackled. "I'll admit that Unispeak isn't my second language, so maybe this is all just a big misunderstand--"
"Silence," said the purple-eyed robot, leading the entourage with her blue-eyed twin and the yellow cube-bot. "Probe Three, ready the transmat pad."
While a green-eyed probe flew ahead to an awaiting platform, Krok said, "So are you guys another race of robots or something? 'Cos I'm not seeing any humans around here."
"Save your questions for the Autopilot," Probe Five said. Once the shackled Decepticons had all stepped onto the pad, Probe Three pressed a switch and the robots were all transported to a wide room with windows looking into space. Awaiting them was a circular, wheel-like robot with a single red optic, as well as a holographic human.
"Thank Forthwright we renovated these ships," the latter murmured. "Stars know how we would've fit all these giant freaking robots."
The wheel-bot adjusted itself until it was facing Krok at eye-level. "I take it you are the one named Krok?" it asked in a monotonic voice.
"Correct. And you would be?"
"You may call me AUTO. You are currently on the ship Axiom and -- as Probe Five has informed you -- have jumped over 800 years into the future."
"Which was purely by accident," Krok said. "We were trying to get out of the Benzene Cluster and--"
"The Benzene Cluster?" The hologram's face lit up. "You mean the Galaxy of Riches?"
"Galaxies don't work that way, but yes," said Spacewarp. "I take it you guys have heard of it?"
"I would be remiss to have not. Unfortunately, I can't say anyone here has been there in person; merely heard stories."
"Well, since this is the future," Crankcase said, "I have to ask: Who owns the Cluster now? The Galactic Council or the Black Block Consortia?"
"Oh, the Consortia, of course. The Galactic Council stopped bothering with it centuries ago, and since the formation of the Galactic Alliance, have never really had a need for it."
"Pox," AUTO intoned. "I do not think it is wise to disclose all of this to them. They are, after all, Decepticons."
"Oh, right." Pox rubbed their head awkwardly. "Sorry."
"Listen, we don't mean you guys any trouble," Krok said. "If you can help us get back to our time, we won't ask anything in return."
"Are you serious?" Crankcase snapped.
"They don't owe us anything, Crankcase. This was our mistake; we're the ones who have to correct it."
"Well," Pox started to say, glancing at AUTO. "Our ships are capable of transwarp travel. In fact, it wouldn't be the first time we took a trip to your time."
"However," AUTO said curtly, "we cannot afford to leave Earth at present; not with the situation we have on our hands."
"What situation?" Fulcrum asked.
"Classified."
"Not if it's preventing us from getting back home," Crankcase snarled. "I say we have a right to know!"
"He's got a point there," Pox said, raising an eyebrow at AUTO.
The autopilot's frame clicked in annoyance. "Irrelevant. We do not owe them an elaboration. They have no role in this."
"They could."
The statement had come not from Pox but from the yellow, cube-shaped robot. It rolled up in front of the other robots and raised its head up at AUTO, who angled himself to look down at him.
"If we help them," the cube-bot said, "maybe they can help us."
"Perhaps if they were Autobots, that would have been a possibility," AUTO quietly. "But they're not, WALL-E. They're Decepticons. Just like--"
AUTO abruptly cut himself off before resuming his speech through a series of beeps. While the two robots conversed, Pox turned back to the Scavengers.
"Sorry about this. He can be very uptight sometimes. I, for one, trust you guys."
"Sir!" A robot's head poked from out from one of the ship's walls, causing Misfire to let out a startled shriek. "We're detecting a large lifeform emerging from Sector 7B!"
"7B?" AUTO turned to the bridge's viewport. "But that's where--"
Before he could finish, a portal suddenly ripped open in space, right behind where the Alchemor was. All present watched in horror as a massive, saurian-shaped robot exited the portal and grabbed the Alchemor, crushing it in its claws.
"Oh, scrap in a bucket," Spacewarp muttered.
"Would anyone believe us," Fulcrum murmured, "if we said that we have nothing to do with this?"
"No," AUTO intoned as Trypticon advanced towards the Axiom. "No, we wouldn't."
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