CHAPTER SIX
"Skids?"
The blue Autobot groaned as he came to. Once his optics had readjusted, he was surprised to see a white and blue figure standing over him. Rubbing his helm, he carefully rose to his feet.
"Stormshot? Where's Sideways?"
Stormshot frowned at him. "Who's Sideways?"
Skids blinked in confusion as he looked around only to find no sign of Sideways. "She was just with me," he murmured. "She decked me in the face."
"What are you talking about?" asked Nautica, appearing from behind Stormshot along with Star Saber and the rest of his company. "You were walking with us when you passed out all of a sudden?"
"Passed out?" Skids shook his head. "No. That doesn't track. I don't even remember joining up with you guys."
"Well, you did," Nightbeat confirmed before smirking slightly. "You were even holding Nautica's hand."
"It was right when he passed out!" she objected with a huff. "He was probably confused and trying to find support."
"Oh, he certainly found that."
"Enough." Star Saber stepped over to Skids and rested a hand on his shoulders. "Are you sure you're all right? If you need a moment to rest, then--"
"No." Skids shrugged off the hand. "Trust me, I'm fine. I think... I think this place is playing tricks on us."
"You don't think it's the Afterspark, then?" asked Wing Saber.
Skids sighed. "I lost faith in those concepts a long time ago. After all the things I've seen... I find it hard to believe there's a God out there who loves us."
"I don't think anyone here was asking for a theological debate," Brainstorm commented. "But, okay."
Star Saber continued to regard Skids with concern but nonetheless said, "Very well. Let's keep moving then; but we should all be on our guards. If anyone passes out again, then--"
"Brainstorm?"
Star Saber stopped speaking as everyone looked from one another, unsure of who had spoken the scientist's name. Their confusion was subsided (if only briefly) when a thin white figure appeared from around the corner.
"Quark?!" Brainstorm exclaimed.
"Quark...?" Skids' legs began to buckle and Star Saber had to grab him by the shoulders to hold him steady.
"I've been waiting for you." Quark smiled warmly as he walked up to Brainstorm. "I didn't wish to ascend without my Conjunx Endura."
"Conjunx...?" Brainstorm blinked, completely stiff with shock. "But we never... you died before... everything I did was because--"
"I know." Quark gently took the scientist's hand into his own. "And I must say I am very, very impressed. Care to walk with me?"
Before Brainstorm could respond, Skids stumbled over to him and placed a shaking hand on the scientist's shoulder.
"Brainstorm," he muttered, his voice hoarse. "There's something I need to tell you."
"Uh, can it wait? We're having a moment here--"
"I killed Quark."
Silence blanketed room like a thunder cloud. Nautica, Nightbeat and the others all looked on with mouths agape. Brainstorm turned to look at Skids with disbelieving eyes.
"What did you say...?"
"I killed him. I...." Skids winced to himself as he rubbed his helm. "When I was a prisoner at Grindcore, I was cellmates with Quark. I was tricked by the commandant to fix a 'teleport chamber' when it was in fact... a smelting pool. And I... " He lowered his head, avoiding Brainstorm's gaze. "I didn't know. I didn't know how much Quark meant to you. I was too stupid to realize I was being deceived. I... I'm sorry, Brainstorm."
He sighed, unsure of how much more he could -- or should -- say. He could feel the others staring at him, judging him with their eyes.
"Brainstorm?"
Skids lifted his head again to see that, much to his surprise, Quark's image was shorting out and distorting like a hologram. Once the late scientist had completely vanished, Nightbeat grinned and snapped his fingers.
"A-ha!"
Stormshot gave him a scathing look. "'A-ha' what? You can't just go 'a-ha' after something like that!"
"I think I've figured it out," the detective went on, ignoring her. "This isn't the Afterspark or whatever you want to call it. It's some kind of... artificial reality?"
Apelinq rubbed his chin. "You might be onto something. Perhaps this place is picking up our inner thoughts and projecting them as physical manifestations."
"Okay," Wing Saber said. "But why specifically bots who are supposed to be dead?"
"Well, it's already made itself to look like the afterlife," Nightbeat replied. "Maybe it's just part of the system."
"Okay... but why?"
Before the detective could answer him, Nautica pointed to the wall behind him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that wasn't there before, was it?"
Everyone turned around to see the sign that had suddenly appeared on the wall. It read "M-10" and had an arrow pointing eastward down the corridor.
"That definitely wasn't there before," Stormshot said.
"I think you two actually are onto something." Star Saber was already headed in the direction of the sign. "This way."
While the other followed him, Skids lingered behind to look back at Brainstorm, whose faceplate was unreadable. He opened his mouth to say something but the scientist cut him off.
"Save it. We can have this conversation late."
"Brainstorm, I'm sorry--"
"Yeah." Brainstorm sighed as he brushed past Skids. "Me, too."
* * *
"You're not real."
Galvatron -- or, at least, the figure who resembled Galvatron -- smirked. "What makes you think that?"
Sideways scowled. "Because you're dead."
"This is where the dead come to--"
"Frag that. If that were true, you'd be burning in the Pit." She pointed to herself. "I should be burning in the Pit. But the truth is... I know this isn't the Afterspark."
Galvatron frowned. "Why is that?"
"You know why!" Sideways snarled. "I'm not like you or the others. I wasn't born Cybertronian; I'm just a virus that got a mind of its own. Even if there was a God or a heaven... I have no place in it."
The image of Galvatron flickered. "You don't know that."
"I do know. Just as I know...."
Galvatron's body became pixellated before dissolving before her eyes.
"...that you're not real."
Once Galvatron had completely evaporated, Sideways stepped up to the door he had been standing in front of it. The words written across it did everything they could to dissuade her from opening it, but after cutting through the lock she saw no reason not to open it.
The steel door creaked open... and she was immediately greeted by a pair of guns.
"Typical," she muttered.
"You have five seconds to give us a reason not to shoot you," said the larger of the two Decepticons, the barrel of her gun glowing orange.
"Charming. And just who the hell are you guys?"
"That's funny," said Krok. "We were just about to ask you the same thing."
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