Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Chapter Five

FIVE: CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS

 Axiom Nexus

“How do you like your engex, hon?”

“Um, unleaded please,” Small Foot said as she settled in her seat between Road Ranger and Path Finder.

Crystal Widow placed a glass of fuel in front of her. “Sorry, we only have diesel.”

Small Foot frowned. “Then why did you ask me?”

“Force of habit, I guess.”

The trio of Autobots sat at one of the many unoccupied tables in Widow’s Cafe. At another sat the two Decepticons that had come in with them, Treds and Bad Boy. Prowl regarded them all with a skeptical optic, wondering how the five of them (plus Bug Bite) had ended up in Axiom Nexus together at the same time. Cliffjumper stood behind him with his arms cross, ready to act in case one of the two Decepticons (or even the three Autobots) made a move.

Some things never change, Prowl thought.

Once the five had settled into their seats, Prowl began pacing around the room. “All right. Give me all of the details. Leave nothing out.”

“What is this, some kinda interrogation?” Bad Boy snapped.

“If any of us have any hope of getting out of here, we need to know everything.” Prowl affixed the gray and blue Decepticon with a hard look. “What was the last thing you were doing before winding up here in Axiom Nexus?”

Bad Boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, tapping his fingers on the table. “Me and Treds were stationed on some moon in the Vespa system.”

“You weren’t on New Kaon with the rest of Megatron’s forces?”

“No. Screw Megatron. When we got the call, we wanted nothing to do with him. Besides, we already had another leader.”

“Oh?” Prowl tilted his head. “And who would that be?”

Bad Boy blinked, and although his mouthplate concealed his face Prowl could tell that he regretted saying that last bit. Looking away, he grumbled, “Nobody you would have heard of. Just some washed-up gladiator.”

“And why would you follow some washed-up gladiator over Megatron?”

Treds spoke up before Bad Boy could respond. “We should just tell him the truth, guys. There’s no sense in hiding it anymore.”

“No, Treds,” Road Ranger said from the other table. “We can’t risk—”

“Risk what, Road Ranger?” Treds snapped, nearly jumping out of his seat. “Gorlam Prime is gone! There is no point in trying to get back home! Bug Bite’s plan was a gambit and it obviously failed. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here!”

Prowl raised a hand to not only placate Treds but also to process what he had just said. “Hold on… did you just say Gorlam Prime? But… that world was—”

“Lost? Destroyed?” Path Finder sighed, bowing her head. “Perhaps now it is. But for a while, it was home.”

Prowl raised a hand to his crest. Gorlam Prime, from what he understood, had been the final destination for Nova Prime and his crew aboard the original Ark before they had been lost through the Benzuli Expanse. For millennia it went undiscovered, serving as the subject of myth and legend, until it was rediscovered by Elita-One and her crew three years ago. By that point, it had fallen under the control of Unicron’s Heralds, and shortly before the Chaos Bringer’s demise the planet had been consumed by the black hole of the Benzuli Expanse.

According to Elita’s report, Gorlam Prime had a relatively small population in its only city, although many of those turned out to be servants of Unicron. Beyond that, there had never been any indication that Nova Prime’s efforts to colonize Gorlam Prime had been successful… but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been.

“All right,” he said. “Give me the whole story. Leave nothing out.”

Glances were exchanged between four of the strange bots (Bad Boy avoided eye contact with everyone). It was Path Finder who finally spoke up.

“There is much that we do not know about our own history. Most of it was kept from us by our High Protectors, who told us that we were the only planet in the universe. Curiosity eventually got the best of us, of course, and it was only after I and Spay-C started studying the stars that they were forced to tell us the truth. Well, some of it, at least….”

Small Foot picked up from there. “From what we’ve pieced together from our records and yours, then our world was colonized by your former leader Nova Prime around six thousand years ago. Ours was the last world he colonized before he and his crew disappeared through the anomaly that separated us from the rest of the universe. A member of his crew—Zeemon—stayed behind and took on the role of watching over the new generation of Transformers that had been born from Gorlam Prime’s unearthed hot spot.”

“Only… we didn’t turn out the way you guys did,” said Road Ranger. “We were not fully mechanical like Transformers are supposed to be. Instead, we were partly organic.”

“Organic?” Prowl asked. “How is that possible?”

“We still don’t know the answer of that,” Path Finder said. “Even Zeemon and the other High Protectors did not understand it. It was because of this… anomaly that they decided not to attempt any contact with Cybertron, for fear that we would face prejudice and oppression for our nature.”

Prowl could only grimace, knowing full well that the Functionists that came to take Nova Prime’s place in the vacuum of power left by his absence would have done exactly that.

“It wasn’t long after we learned the truth from Zeemon that our world was attacked,” Path Finder continued. “About two thousand years ago, these… I’m not even sure what they were. These… demonic machines came from out of nowhere and swarmed over us. Some of us were even assimilated into their numbers, being made to look like them. Fortunately, the High Protectors had prepared for such an event and evacuated as many of us as they could from the planet. Zeemon ended up giving his life to buy us time. I still remember the moment he fell to those… those monsters.”

Treds sighed. “After that, the question naturally came up over who should lead us. Leader-1 and Cy-Kill were the only High Protectors to survive and we turned to them for guidance. Leader-1 advocated that we seek out Cybertron and warn them of what had befallen us. But Cy-Kill had other ideas….”

Bad Boy slammed his fist on the table. “Cy-Kill had the right idea! We needed to forge our own path rather than rely on the help of others!”

“Which is all well and good, except for the fact that Cy-Kill wanted to conquer and enslave other planets,” Small Foot retorted. “He blamed himself for the loss of our home, but it was more because of how it made him looked rather than anything else. He was more worried about preserving his ego than he was our well-being.”

Road Ranger looked over to Prowl. “It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that most of Cy-Kill and his Renegades ended up siding with the Decepticons when they realized they did, in fact, needed to rely on the help of others in order to accomplish their goals. Meanwhile, the rest of us joined the Autobots. Most of us, anyway….”

The black and orange bot trailed off and Prowl followed his gaze over to Treds, who had his head hung low. Sighing heavily, the green tank bot lifted his head up to meet Prowl’s gaze.

“I didn’t want to abandon my fellow Guardians, but it was my belief that the Autobots would not be of much help to us, at least not against the evil that still lurked on our home. The final straw for me was when Leader-1 ended up backing out of telling the Autobots about what had befallen us, for fear that it would only provoke the very prejudice that he and the other High Protectors had been trying to shield us from.”

Prowl rubbed his chin as he took all of this in. “So your records were all forged then, to make yourselves appear to be Cybertronian?”

“Correct,” said Path Finder. “Some of us even changed our appearances just to fit in better. I wasn’t always blue, you know….”

“So, what about Bug Bite then? How do his schemes factor into all of this?”

“Well, Bug Bite is trying to get our home back,” said Treds. “And his idea of doing that is to use transwarp technology so he can travel back in time and prevent Gobotron from falling.”

“Gobotron?”

Treds waved a dismissive hand. “Another name that the High Protectors gave Gorlam Prime. Probably just to distance us from our roots.”

Prowl simply nodded. Slowly, all of the pieces were fitting together. While he did not fully grasp the scope of Bug Bite’s plan or what he was trying to accomplish with the false Megatron at Hoover Dam, at least now he understood his motives.

“So,” he finally said, “Bug Bite used Expanse in an attempt to accomplish his plan. However, something went wrong and you all ended up here in Axiom Nexus along with him. Did Expanse end up with you?”

Small Foot shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone who could be him, anyway. Most of us weren’t there when Bug Bite pulled off his plan; only Bad Boy and Treds were because they were Decepticons and received his summons.”

“Yeah, no, he wasn’t with us,” Treds said. “Your guess on where he ended up is as good as ours.”

“Then we need to find Bug Bite so he can give us answers,” Prowl said.

Cliffjumper looked up at this and spoke up for the first time since the Go-Bots started their tale. “You should run that through Alpha Trion first.”

“I plan to, once we hear back from him.” Prowl raised an optic ridge towards Cliffjumper. “Speaking of which, any idea on when that’ll be? It’s been some time now.”

Before Cliffjumper could reply, the room was suddenly lit up by strobing blue and red lights. Through the windows of the cafe, a number of Transformers—each one unique in design yet unified by their white and black color schemes—could be seen, surrounding the establishment as they drew their weapons.

“ATTENTION, ALL OCCUPANTS!” a loud voice blared out. “STEP OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!”

Cliffjumper scowled as he drew his weapon. “Slag! How the frag did they manage to find us?” He looked over and glared at the five Go-Bots. “Did one of you guys sell us out?”

“Now is not the time, Cliffjumper,” Prowl said sternly. He turned to Crystal Widow. “Is there another way out of here?”

“They’ll have all the exits covered,” Crystal Widow said solemnly. “The OZSA doesn’t mess around.”

“I WILL NOT REPEAT MYSELF AGAIN!” the voice outside bellowed. “STEP OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP OR WE WILL FORCE OUR WAY IN!”

Treds got up from his seat and adjusted the tank barrel built into his chest. “Well, I guess if we’re gonna get in a fight, might as well make it a good one.”

“At least someone’s talkin’ my language,” Cliffjumper muttered.

A loud bang sounded from the door. Two more followed it in quick succession, and before long one of the security bots came barging into the cafe. Distinguished by a wolf-like appearance, the police-marked Decepticon bore a set of claws from their hands and grinned widely at the Autobots and Go-Bots within, his optical sensors eventually finding Prowl.

“There you are,” Phantomjaw purred.

Treds was the first to make a move, firing a blast from his chest cannon. Phantomjaw was sent flying back just as two more police-bots came running in. The canine Decepticon crashed into the two and all three tumbled to the ground. A burly white mech with large wheels on his shoulders entered next, brandishing a pair of pistols at the Autobots. When he spoke, Prowl identified his voice as the one he had heard blaring earlier.

“This doesn’t to have end messily,” he said. “Just come with us quietly and no one will get hurt.”

Prowl brandished his golden shuriken and got into a defensive position. “So you can make me disappear? I’m not falling for it.”

“Don’t believe the propaganda you’ve heard. The TransTech care about your safety and wellbeing. Please, just drop your weapons, Prowl.”

“Using my name isn’t going to get me to trust you.”

“Look, I know I probably look different in your universe, but I’m sure you know a Hound, right?” The white mech holstered one of his pistols and patted his chest with his now-free hand. “I am called Sergeant Hound around these parts, but I’m still an Autobot all the same. Just like you. We still believe in the same ideals. I am not here to deceive you.”

Prowl sighed. “I believe you, Hound, but I don’t believe the people you work for. I just want to go home. We all do.”

“I understand that, but there is no home for any of us to go back to,” Sgt. Hound said sadly. “Look, if you just come quietly, I’ll take you directly to Optimus Prime—the Prime of Axiom Nexus. He will answer any questions you may have. You trust Optimus Prime, don’t you?”

Before Prowl could offer him his response, one of the police bots outside cried out. “Sergeant Hound, we have incoming!”

Sgt. Hound turned around just as large hulking tank came rolling onto the scene. Initially Hound tensed up, only to relax somewhat as if he recognized the arriving vehicle.

“Immorticon?” he asked, stepping past the recovering Phantomjaw to exit the cafe. “I don’t recall calling in for—”

Without warning, the tank opened fire and obliterated Sgt. Hound in a single blast, taking Phantomjaw and the other two officers with him. Prowl, Cliffjumper, and the others shielded themselves from the debris that rained down as a result of the blast, just as the remaining police bots opened fire. Changing shape, Immorticon lumbered towards them and began bashing them with his large arms, smashing them into the ground and tearing them apart limb by limb.

As Prowl and the others watched the scene unfold in horror, a familiar purple spacecraft flew in and transformed, landing just outside the widened entrance that Immorticon had made into the cafe. Alpha Trion stepped in, a grim expression on his face.

“You two, with me,” he said to Prowl and Cliffjumper. “It’s time that we finally make our move.”

“What the hell is going on, Trion?” Cliffjumper asked. “The slag are you doing with a TransTech?”

“There will be time for explanations later. Our window of opportunity is quickly closing.”

“Wait, Trion.” Prowl gestured to the five Go-Bots. “I need to bring these five with me. They’re from my universe.”

Alpha Trion seemed to hesitate, if only briefly, before nodding. “Very well. We could always use additional help. Now come along. Our liberation is at hand.”

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Chapter Four

FOUR: INTO THE CYBERVERSE

 Earth, 1985

“…So, that’s the long and short of it. Any questions?”

The black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was silent for a long time. It was parked next to the silver DeLorean as the moon shone brightly over the abandoned car lot. Both cars, stylized and unique in their own, looked out of place among the worn down, vintage model automobiles that littered the lot. But Gigawatt felt it was fitting, in a certain way. After all, both of them stood out on this planet—in more ways than one.

When the Trans Am finally spoke, its voice was in a low and wary tone. “Why should I believe anything you say? Aren’t you a Decepticon?”

“Not anymore,” Gigawatt said firmly. It was the most sure he had ever felt about a statement he had made. “To be honest, I never really asked to be one in the first place. But that story can wait. So, are you with me or not?”

The sleek black car made a sound akin to a sigh. Gigawatt had expected to meet such resistance from an Autobot of his caliber. Knightride was rumored to be one of the best agents in the Autobot Secret Service, and that reputation did not come from a willingness to trust others. He had even refused to make contact with the Autobots on Earth for the simple fact that he felt something was “off” about them, even though the likes of Optimus Prime and Prowl were among them. If he didn’t trust them, then getting him to trust Gigawatt was fighting an uphill battle.

“Tell you what,” Knightride finally said. “If you can find one of these other missing Autobots—the others who were subjected to the Sigma Project—then I’ll believe you. Because right now, I feel like you’re spitting nonsense.”

“Is that all?” Gigawatt replied. “Then it’s a good thing I already have.”

“You have?”

“Yup. I’ve been able to locate Maverick and Ecotron in this time period. You were just one of the last bots on my list.”

“Is that right? Can you summon them here just to prove it?”

“I already sent out the signal when I started talking to you.”

As if on cue, a third vehicle drove up to join the two automobiles. The long white Cadillac Miller-Meteor was distinguished by the logo of a crossed-out ghost—or what the locals of the planet referred to as a ghost—which made stick out much more than either the DeLorean or the Trans Am. At the same time, an F-14 Tomcat flew overhead, leaving behind smoke trails in its wake. 

“Huh,” Knightride muttered. “Credit where it’s due then. In that case—”

“Gigawatt, we have a problem,” said the white Cadillac known as Ectotron.

The silver DeLorean revved its engine nervously. “What is it?”

“I’ve picked up a series of strange fluctuations in the space-time continuum, close to our location. I fear that someone might have followed us here.”

“I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion,” said Knightride. “From what I’ve seen, those instances are pretty common around here… at least when it comes to the natives. Especially the ones who wear funny clothes and hats.”

“Even so, I don’t think we should stick around any longer than we need to.”

“Agreed,” said Gigawatt. “Knightride, stick with Ectotron and Maverick. They’ll lead you to our hideout. If you get the chance, try to distract whoever it is while I travel to the next destination.” 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Knightride said. “I know all about distraction.”

*  *  *

It was an odd feeling, Sari mused, being back on Earth while knowing it was not the same world she knew. Not only was it still trapped in the 80s, but Megatron’s machine indicated that it was completely different reality, one in which the Autobots had awakened on Earth long before they had in her time. There was not much time to mull over that, however. She needed to find Gigawatt and fast before Megatron caught on to what she was doing.

As she flew through the night, her scanners pinged with a signature that matched the one supposedly belonging to Gigawatt. She looked down to see a silver DeLorean parked in an abandoned car lot along with two other automobiles. She wasn’t sure which one was supposed to be Gigawatt, but if it was what she thought it was…

And is that the car from Ghost—?

Before she could even finish that thought, a jet flew overhead and fired a rocket at her. She barely managed to avoid it in time and it ended up impacting the ground close to where the cars were. At once, all three began to speed out of the lot while the jet closed in on her, changing shape to adopt the form of a sleek, winged robot.

“You’re not gonna get us that easily, Decepticon!” the Autobot flier cried.

“I’m not a Decepticon!” Sari retorted. “I’m not even a Cybertronian!”

“Well, whatever you are, you’re not gonna get us that easily!” The Autobot drew a pair of guns and opened fire. Not wanting to fight and prove his point, Sari turned and shot off in the other direction. 

She flew low to the ground, scanning the area for any of the three cars. From out of the darkness, a black Trans Am roared towards her, flashing its flipped-up headlights in an attempt to blind her. As Sari tried to readjust the visual settings of her visor, the white Cadillac drove up from behind and transformed to its robot mode, lunging forward and grabbing her with a large metal hand.

“We’ve got it, Gigawatt! You’re all clear!”

As she struggled against the Autobot’s grip, the silver DeLorean came peeling out of an alleyway at exactly 88 miles per hour, straight out of a film that one of her friends would have watched or referenced. Its flux capacitor glowed bright and a bolt of lightning struck its lightning rod. In a flash, the car was gone, leaving behind only twin trails of flame.

“No!” Sari cried out. “Guys, let me go! I’m on your side!”

“Sure you are.” The black Trans Am converted to robot mode and walked over to Sari, eying her warily. “And why should we believe you?”

Sari sighed as she deflated in her captor’s hand. “God, I hate my life….”

*  *  *

The world rematerialized around Gigawatt as quickly as it had vanished, changing around him almost in a blink of an eye. He arrived in the same location he had just left, albeit ten years later. The old town was just as deserted as it had been a decade ago and thus there were no humans around to witness the arrival of the silver automobile.

Deciding to take the absence of organic life for granted, Gigawatt converted to his robot mode and checked the readings on his transwarp drive, verifying that he was in fact in the year of 1995.

Good, he thought. That should give me plenty of time to find Blue Booster, Wingtail, and the rest. Now I just need to—

His thought went unfinished as a burst of energy struck him hard in the back. He let out a cry as he fell face-first, landing hard on the ground. He then heard the roar of jet engines followed by the sound of transformation cogs whirring. He turned onto his back and saw a trio of Decepticon fliers surrounding him, all with guns drawn. A fourth Decepticon soon joined their number, carrying a smoking gun in his hand. His white and violet color scheme looked vaguely familiar to Gigawatt, and it was only when one of the fliers spoke that he was able to put a name to the face.

“Nice reflexes, Deluge,” said the black and red Decepticon jet. “That guy just came out of nowhere.” 

“D-Deluge…?” Gigawatt shook his head in confusion. “What are you…?”

“You seem to know my name, Autobot, but I sure as hell don’t know yours,” Deluge said with a sneer. “Not that it matters. You’ll be scrapmetal by the end of the day.”

Right, Gigawatt thought to himself. Different universe. Similar faces, yet different. I should have prepared for this, especially after what Knightride told me about this reality.

Storming over to where he lay, Deluge pointed his gun at Gigawatt’s face. “Start talking, Autobot. Tell us how you got here and what that fancy device on your chest is.”

“I don’t think I will,” Gigawatt replied. Already he was trying to reset his chest-mounted flux capacitor, setting a date and time that would get him away from here. He would probably need to jump back a year, maybe even two, but so long as he could find the last of the missing Autobots, then it wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

One of the Decepticon fliers, an orange mech with black stripes, slammed the butt of his gun into his face. “No funny business! I see you trying to work that thingy on your chest!”

“You don’t even know what it is, Hooligan,” said the black and red one.

“Zip it, Skyjack. Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good!”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps not.”

Gigawatt felt his energon run cold. The low, dark voice came not from any of the four Decepticons surrounding him, but rather from the shadow that had suddenly fallen over them all. Even Deluge and his compatriots fell silent and kept their heads hung low in deference as a fifth figure landed next to them all. Doing everything he could to calm his overloading nerve circuits, Gigawatt turned around and looked up to behold the massive black-and-purple armored figure now looming in front of him. Although the mech looked nothing like the one he knew, Gigawatt realized that it could be no one else.

“Place a restraining bolt on him and bring him into the base,” said Megatron. “I trust that this Autobot has much to tell us.”

*  *  *

“…So, that’s the long and short of it. Any questions?”

The three strange Autobots—Knightride, Ectotron, and Maverick as they were named—all stared at Sari in silence. She braced herself for the worst kind of reaction as Knightride continued to look at her skeptically, only for Ectotron to slowly lower her to the ground, releasing her from his grip.

“I believe her,” he said. “Everything she’s said tracks with what Gigawatt’s told us so far.”

“Even the part about Megatron being a dragon?” asked Knightride.

“Well, maybe not that part. But other than that….”

“Look, I know it’s a lot to take in,” Sari said. “Even I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. But we need to get a move on quickly before Megatron figures out that I’m not doing what he wants me to do.”

“Let me try to get a hold of Gigawatt,” Ectotron said. “It’ll take some time to recaliber the chronometers but I should be able to reach him no matter how far he’s jumped.”

“You do that, Science Boy,” Maverick said. He placed his hands on his hips as he looked down at Sari. “I’m still curious about what you’re supposed to be. You look human but also kind of Cybertronian. Almost like a Mini-Con. What’s your story?”

Sari sighed. “There’s really no time to get into all of that. I just need you guys to trust me so that we can—”

Before she could finish, there was a flash of energy and a large metal shape came falling towards her. She barely managed to fly away in time as it came crashing to the ground, the impact knocking the three Autobots off their feet. As she flipped herself around to get a better look at what the object was, she felt her heart skip a beat as she recognized its blue and yellow form.

“Expanse?! What are you doing here?”

The large Autobot groaned but no words came out from his mouth. That was when Sari noticed the dents, scratches and blast marks in his armor plating; he looked as if he had just gotten out of a rough struggle. That was when she picked up the sound of approaching footsteps and turned around to see yet another familiar face.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me….”

“I’ll say,” Death’s Head muttered, brandishing a spiked mace attachment on his right arm. “Now tell me… what the hell are you doing here?” 

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Chapter Three

THREE: WITHERED HOPE

Axiom Nexus

Prowl crouched on the rooftop of a building that oversaw the structure that was supposedly Shockwave’s lab. Kneeling next to him was Cliffjumper, who had a pair of binoculars raised to his optical sensors. Positioned elsewhere throughout the city were the other members of Alpha Trion’s team, and Prowl had a rough idea of where each one was positioned. His audio receptors picked up the sound of Thrust’s jet engines as the green and gray Tetrajet flew overhead, keeping surveillance over the area.

The hours ticked by in silence as they waited for Alpha Trion’s signal. Eventually, Cliffjumper decided the silence was worth breaking as he spoke in a low voice to Prowl, keeping his gaze focused on the hidden lab below.

“What’s Shockwave like in your universe?”

Prowl grimaced. “A cold, manipulative, scheming spawn of a glitch.”

“Yup. Sounds about right.”

“Did he give you a lot of trouble in your reality?”

“Oh, yeah. Don’t even get me started.” Cliffjumper scowled. “I bet this Shockwave is no different.”

“I would imagine so.” Prowl made another sweep of the area with his scanners. Arcee was still positioned on top of her assigned building, crossbow at the ready. Overload—the green and yellow military bot—was on the ground in his alternate mode, ready to blast anything that came their way. Alpha Trion was nowhere to be seen, but Prowl trusted that he was doing whatever he needed to.

As Thrust came back around for another sweep, Prowl detected the signal of another Cybertronian—one which he did not recognize. He readjusted his scanners to pinpoint their location and saw a small red and blue mech. He was waving his arms around in a peculiar pattern, as if he was trying to signal something.

“That would be Trion’s assistant, Topspin,” said Cliffjumper. “Looks like he’s trying to tell us something.”

“Topspin, eh?” Prowl noted that the mech looked nothing like the Topspin of his reality. If anything, he matched descriptions of a Decepticon by the name of Spinaway whom his agents in the Secret Service had dealt with on more than one occasion. “I can’t make heads or tails of what he’s trying to communicate.”

“I can.” Cliffjumper lowered his binoculars, a grim expression on his face. “He’s saying to abort the mission. Something must have gone wrong.”

Prowl frowned. “Should we alert Trion? I don’t have his contact—”

“Get down!” Without warning, Cliffjumper grabbed Prowl from behind and shoved him down. The two of them lied flat on their chests as another flier began to fly over their position. The transport was much larger than Thrust, and Prowl glance up to see the green and gray Seeker scramble to get away from the newcomer. However, he was instantly caught by some sort of stasis field which froze him in place before slowly pulling him in.

“That’s Astrotrain,” Cliffjumper hissed into Prowl’s audio receptor. “He must be delivering another group of subjects to Shockwave. I’m afraid Thrust is going to join them.”

“Subjects?” Prowl whispered back.

“A lot of bots have been disappearing from the Offworlder Zone for some time now. No one knows where they went, but I’d bet you all the Shanix in my account that they’re being used by Shockwave for his twisted experiments. Would be just like him to do something like that.”

“Does Trion know?”

“I’ve told him about my suspicions and he thinks I’m on to something. I have spotted Astrotrain delivering stuff here before, but the ‘official’ answer is that he’s just bringing in supplies and tools.” Cliffjumper shook his head. “He only makes deliveries every other cycle, though. It’s too soon for him to show up now. Otherwise, Trion would have prepared us for it.”

“So what do we do?”

“Right now? Just lay low and hope he doesn’t notice us. We might have to abort the mission, especially now that they’ve got Thrust.”

Prowl imagined that were it another Autobot in his servos—especially if it was someone like Rodimus, Bumblebee, or even Optimus—they would have insisted on going in to rescue Thrust, Decepticon or not. But unlike them, Prowl thought more pragmatically, and as he processed all of the potential scenarios that would unfold if he did just that, he realized that Cliffjumper was right. They would have to fall back and regroup, perhaps approach the lab from another angle.

But if their first attempt was already going poorly due to an unforeseen circumstance, he didn’t have much confidence that any future attempts would prove much better. Not only that, but there was also the question of whether or not Shockwave had known they were coming. Perhaps their mission had already been doomed from the start….

Cliffjumper looked up again before patting Prowl on the shoulder. “Arcee’s moving from her position. Let’s get out of here before Astrotrain sees us.”

Prowl did not need to be told twice, and he swiftly moved through the night alongside his red-armored companion.

*  *  *

“Let me go! I wasn’t doing nothing! You’ve got—”

“Silence.” Shockwave prodded Thrust in the chest with an electrical device, causing the green and gray Seeker to seize up and cry in pain. The purple-armored scientist moved away from his newfound subject and turned his single optic to focus on the large and hulking Astrotrain. “You say that he was circling over my lab?”

“I’m guessing he was.” Astrotrain shrugged. “No one else around so I figured he was up to no good. Are you gonna turn him in?”

Shockwave considered the question for a moment before shaking his head. “No, at least not yet. He may prove useful to my studies. Besides, it’s not like anyone’s going to notice another offworld Seeker missing. His kind are a Shanix cred a dozen.”

“Shove it up your afterburner!” Thrust snapped. “I’ve seen plenty of other Thrusts that are red with a goofy cone on their head! I am way more unique than those—”

Shockwave silenced him with another shock. “Besides,” he continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “I am more interested in your other delivery.”

“Oh, yeah.” Astrotrain stepped aside and pulled over a small white and black bot that had been standing behind him. His servos were cuffed and he was glaring daggers at both TransTechs. “He’s someone that Silverbolt processed recently. He had quite a story to tell and I offered to take care of him. Of course, I didn’t tell ‘em that I was bringing him to you.”

“Naturally.” Shockwave looked down at the white bot. “And what would be your name?”

The white bot looked up at him and seemed to do a double take. “Shockwave? Is that… is that you?”

“You know my name, and yet you have not given me yours.”

“It’s Bug Bite. I was part of the Secret Order. I don’t expect you to recognize me, but….” He paused before slowly smiling, as if coming to a sudden realization. “Ah, I see. I know what’s happened.”

“Please, do enlighten me,” Shockwave said coldly.

“The big guys here and the weird-looking Autobots suggested as much. This is another universe, isn’t it? Not only that but a hub for different universes. It wasn’t exactly what I was planning, but… I think I can work with this.”

Shockwave stepped closer to the smaller mech. “Dispense with your vague wordings and provide information with more clear and concise wording. Otherwise, I will have to subject you to procedures reserved only for the more… expendable of my subjects.”

Rather than flinch from the threat, Bug Bite’s smile only broadened. “Oh, don’t worry, I will explain everything. Besides, I feel that we both have a lot to learn from each other….”

*  *  *

Prowl had expected Cliffjumper to lead him back to Alpha Trion’s hideout, but instead the small red bot led him through a winding maze of streets and alleyways before arriving at a small energon cafe that was sequestered from the rest of the establishments in the area. Stepping inside, Prowl at first thought the place to be abandoned due to the minimal lighting and lack of customers, only to find a red and blue femme sitting at the counter, her head hung low.

“We’ll have to lay low here for awhile,” Cliffjumper whispered. “Just a precaution in case security is on to us.”

“What is this place?” Prowl asked.

“It’s called the Widow’s Cafe, named for its proprietor.” Cliffjumper nodded in the direction of the femme, whom Prowl noted looked almost techno-organic in appearance. “How ya’ doin’, Crys’?”

“I already told you I’m not interested, Cliff,” the femme replied without lifting her head.

Cliffjumper nudged Prowl with his elbow, aiming a wink at him. “Don’t let her demeanor put you off. She’s still getting over the loss of her Decepticon lover.”

“Uh-huh.” Prowl looked around the near-empty room. “Will the others be joining us here?”

“No. Trion’s procedure for things like this, especially for when one of us gets captured, is to split up. That way, security can’t apprehend us all at once.”

“You better not be bringing the police to my business, Cliff,” Crystal Widow said. She slowly lifted her head up and her helm peeled back to reveal several sets of eyes, equal to that of an arachnid. “Last thing I need is—”

Cliffjumper raised his hands. “Chill out, Crys’. Everything is under control.”

Crystal Widow did not seem to believe him but she nonetheless covered her extra sets of eyes. She then shifted her attention to Prowl. “You’re new. I take it you’ve been wrapped up into Trion’s little gang?”

“That’s one way of putting it, I suppose,” Prowl said, eying her warily. “Are you associated with them as well?”

“No, they just use my cafe for their little meetings. I just let them ‘cos business is slow as it is and I’ll take all the customers I can get.” Crystal Widow sighed as she shook her head. “Lots of folks have been disappearin’ lately.”

“So I’ve heard.” Prowl turned back to Cliffjumper, and was about to ask the other bot something regarding Trion’s plan when he noticed another bot enter the cafe. Another femme, she had red and yellow armor-plating and appeared to have the same body-type as Prowl’s fellow Autobot Gears, with kibble indicating a pickup truck alternate mode. Upon noticing Prowl, she instantly froze, her pistons tensing up.

“I’m sorry,” the femme said, somewhat guardedly. “Is this place open?”

“Come on in, hon,” said Crystal Widow. “Nothing to worry about here. What can I help you with?”

“My friends and I just need a room to stay. We just got out of processing and need to find a way home….”

“Join the club, dear,” Crystal Widow said bitterly. “No one’s ever gotten out of Axiom Nexus as far as I know. Only way out is to throw yourself into the Heap.”

Prowl glanced back at the other femme, who was trying to mask a deflated expression. Something about her was familiar; it wasn’t in the same way that Cliffjumper or Alpha Trion were in that they resembled bots from where he was from… but rather that he had come across someone exactly like her in his universe. Her body-type was identical to Gears, and even her spark signature was registering easily in his sensors, whereas he had difficulty registering such signatures with Cliffjumper and the others.

Tilting his head, Prowl said, “If I may ask, what is your name?”

She looked up at him and seemed to hesitate before answering. “Small Foot. Why, do I know you?”

The name registered in his processor. “Small Foot? As in Small Foot of Helex?”

She blinked her optics at him. “How do you know my full name?”

“I’m Prowl, of Petrex. Head of the Autobot Secret Service. I have a database of every single active Autobot in my registry. I think… I think we are from the same universe.”

“Well, they told me that my reality ID was tentatively labeled as Primax 1213.1 Omega, or something like that. Is that…?”

Prowl shrugged. “I didn’t stick around long enough to learn mine. But I am positive that we are from the same reality. How did you end up here?”

“I have no idea. Last thing I remember, I was on Cybertron—our Cybertron—when something… shunted me over here. I was processed with five others—my fellow Autobots Path Finder and Road Ranger, and three Decepticons.”

“Do you know the ‘Cons names?”

Small Foot seemed to hesitate again before answering. “I believe their names were Treds, Bad Boy, and Bug Bite—”

“Bug Bite?!” Prowl exclaimed.

Cliffjumper looked up at him curiously. “Another friend of yours, I take it?” he said wryly.

Prowl ignored him and stepped closer to Small Foot. “Is Bug Bite still with you?”

Small Foot shook her head. “No, he was taken away by some big gray and purple bot. The others are still with me, including the ‘Cons believe it or not. They’re waiting outside.”

“Bring them in, now,” Prowl ordered. “I feel like we’re starting to get to the crux of this mystery.”

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Chapter Two

TWO: THE DRAGON'S LAIR 

Elsewhere

One of the resolutions that Sari Sumdac had made for herself for the new year was to never again be captured by a giant alien robot.

Barely two months in, she had already broken that resolution.

She had no idea where she was now, but it certainly was not Autobot City. She was surrounded by stone walls with strange, almost alien hieroglyphics carved into their weathered surface. The ceiling went several feet above her head—just enough for an average-sized Cybertronian to fit in—and she was suspended in the middle of the room by chains bound to her hands and feet. She struggled against the restraints, but not matter how hard she tried, she could not break them even with the superhuman strength that her Cybertronian physiology provided her. She couldn’t even deploy her energy blades to cut through the chains or activate the boosters on her feet.

Across the room from where she was suspended, she saw a massive door open, and a giant mechanical figure entered the room. Clad in crimson armor, the mechanoid had a pair of large wings that were folded up on its back. That, along with the dragon’s head that its right arm terminated in, gave a clear indication as to what the Transformer converted into. 

And although his appearance was radically different from the last she had seen him, Sari could tell from the familiar, sadistic gleam in his optical sensors who exactly her visitor was.

“Ah. I see that you are awake finally,” said the Predacon leader who called himself Megatron.

Sari huffed in a mix of anger and exhaustion. “Why is it you always show up at the worst possible moments of my life?”

“Perhaps some would call it fate. But I consider it to all be part of the plan.” Megatron crouched down slightly so that he was at eye-level with her, although his face greatly eclipsed her entire body. “I will say, however, that your little… feat greatly impressed me, and had not been something I had accounted for.”

Sari glowered at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be so modest. When you fell through the Warren with the rest of us, I thought for sure you would end up here as I had expected you to. Instead, the Warren allowed you to do something that had for eons been considered to be something that was impossible: You altered the past to give you and your friends a better future.”

“Yeah, well, don’t expect me to do you any favors.” Sari realized that it was hard to sound defiant when one was at the mercy of a giant robot dragon. “What is ‘here,’ exactly, anyway?”

“It has gone by many names: the Savage Land, the Land Where Time Stands Still. Urban legend from your species’ culture also refers to it as Brigadoon.”

“Brigadoon?” Sari frowned. “I’m pretty sure that was a musical from, like, the 1940s. Only reason I know that is because of a theater class I was forced to take in high school….”

Megatron waved a dismissive hand. “Call it what you want, but the name is ultimately unimportant. Its origin and purpose is where the real interest lies.”

“And are you going to infodump on me about that as well?”

Megatron scowled. “Your insolent tone cannot hide from me the fact that, deep down, you truly want to know why I have brought you here.”

Sari kept her mouth shut, afraid that if she spoke it would betray the fact that she really did want to know. Her mind went back to several months ago, when she had first encountered Megatron and his Predacons. She recalled him remarking about her presence and saying that things had unfolding as they had been supposed to. She had no idea what he had meant by that, and still didn’t. And now he was offering to tell her.

Apparently, her face had told Megatron everything he needed to know as a sadistic grin returned to his face. Rising back to his full height, Megatron began to pace around her suspended form, circling her like a dangerous predator.

“For countless years, I had sought out an artifact known as the Talisman—yes, the very same that the Destructons threatened to destroy your world with. The one you helped destroy when the Warren sent you back through time. I knew not of what it was capable of, only what the legends had said of its power. When I finally located it on your world and was touched by its power, it far exceeded everything I could ever dream of.

“Just as the Warren allowed you to travel to the past, the Talisman sent me to the future. A future where I reigned supreme and all bowed before me, recognizing me as their rightful ruler. I then spent countless years retracing my future self’s steps, in order to figure out how to ensure that this future became a reality. That was when I learned about this place… and about you.”

Sari grimaced but fought the urge to interject. She feared that any interruptions would cause Megatron to think twice about explaining his plan. If she could get him to explain everything and then free herself, she could then get that information back to the Autobots and hopefully find a way to stop him….

“Once I had everything I needed, I found the Talisman again and had it send me back to this time, where I would set everything in motion. The first step was to find Tarantulas and see to the demise of Onyx Prime and Scorponok. The Prime and Scorponok needed to be taken out of the picture, as they would have simply gotten in my way with their own schemes and ambitions, and Tarantulas… well, I’m sure you know all about his plans to collapse reality and that was something I could not allow. I needed to keep him in check.”

“You do know that he’s still on Earth, right?” Sari asked. “Still trying to do everything he said he would do?”

Megatron chuckled. “Yes, but what he does not realize is that he is playing right into my schemes. After all, I did need him to create the Timemaze.”

Sari shook her head, her mind racing as she tried to make sense of everything. “Okay, so what about when we ended up in the Warren? Weren’t you trying to go back in time then?”

“Only because the latter accomplished the former. The moment I had the Darksyde travel back to was a pivotal moment in Cybertronian history—the day when the Ark carrying Optimus Prime and his Autobots crash landed on Earth. The Warren, being the self-proclaimed protector of time as the Omega Guardians are wont to do, reacted to this perceived interception and pulled us out of transwarp, banishing us here to Brigadoon to prevent us from changing history.”

Sari frowned. “But… the Warren allowed me to change history. I stopped Earth from being destroyed by the Talisman.”

“Ah!” Megatron appeared to her left as he circled back around her, startling her and making her heart jump in her chest. “And there is the underlying mystery. Why did the Warren let you change history when the Omega Guardians forbid such misuse of time travel? If there was one thing that Tarantulas was correct about in his incoherent babbling, it was that the Omega Guardians—or the Vok as they are actually called—were angered by our history of meddling with the timeline. From the Autobots and Decepticons’ experiments with transwarp, with Brainstorm’s ill-fated attempt to change history only to further solidify it… the Vok have indeed been monitoring our activities when it comes to the timeline… and they have had enough.

“So, the question is, did the Warren—whom, I should mention, began life as one of the Vok itself—make an exception for you out of sympathy? Or have you been living a lie this whole time?”

Sari stared at him, unsure of how to react to his words. Her entire body almost felt numb. “What do you mean…?”

“The Warren does not only connect the past to the future, but it connects our universe to other realities. To alternate or even adjacent timelines.” Megatron’s cruel smile widened across his face. “Perhaps the world you saved was not the same one you were born on, but rather one that is similar in everything but its ultimate fate. The Sari Sumdac of that reality was swapped out for you, and you filled her role in saving that Earth from being destroyed by the Destructons.”

Sari could feel her heart beating faster, just as it became harder for her to breathe. “But… that would mean… all of my friends… my father… are really dead…. And that—”

“And that the ones you have interacted with for the past six months have all been replications of them.” Megatron shrugged his shoulders, giving off an air of dismissal. “Of course, I do not know anything for a fact. I am simply speculating. Besides, it is all moot in the end.”

Megatron turned away from her, facing the open doorway but not making a step towards it. “While the other Predacons were sent here by the Warren, I managed to manipulate it into sending me to my intended destination: a reality that never knew the name Megatron and had a Cybertron that was ripe for the conquering. Once I had settled myself in, I had the scientists of that universe create a device that allowed me to travel to and from countless realities across the multiverse, so that I could gather my army. Once that was done, I returned here to send Tarantulas back to your reality so that he could recreate the Timemaze there… all while making him think that it was his idea in the first place, of course. That way, I could retrieve you and set the final stages of my plan into motion.”

Sari hung her head low, suddenly starting to feel fatigued, almost defeated. “And what is that plan?”

Megatron turned back around to face her. “To wipe the slate clean. Destroy all of reality so that it could be remade anew. All of the loved ones that you have lost would be brought back and you would be able to live a simple and peaceful life. Both Cybertron and Earth—indeed, the whole universe—would be untouched by war. It would be a perfect utopia.”

“…But with you as its ruler.”

Megatron spread his arms wide. “Is that such a high price to pay? Earth wouldn’t even know of Cybertron’s existence, just as it hadn’t for countless millennia. Things could go back to the way they were. Is that not what you want, Sari Sumdac?”

Sari kept her head down, avoiding his gaze. She did not dare speak, for she knew deep down that it was indeed what she wanted. Life had been so much simpler when all she had to worry about was her father losing his company to some ambitious entrepreneur. But now, here she was, some bizarre human-robot hybrid trapped in a world that was not her own, being menaced by a giant robot dragon….

After a while, she finally asked, “Why are you keeping me here? What role do you expect me to play in your plans?”

Megatron smirked. “I can only tell you if you agree to work with me.”

Sari glared up at him. “And if I don’t?”

“Then you will die. And you will never know the life you could’ve had.”

She hated herself for what she was about to say. But she knew it was the only way she was going to get answers. To set things right.

“Fine. I’ll work with you.”

“Excellent!” With a few sharp swipes of his right arm, Megatron cut through the chains binding Sari’s limbs. She started to fall to the ground but stopped herself with her foot thrusters. Covering her human face with her Cybertronian mask, she propelled herself back up to be at eye level with the Predacon leader.

“Before I can proceed with my plan,” Megatron continued, “there is some housecleaning that needs to be done. You are aware of the one known as Expanse, correct?”

Sari nodded, recalling the mysterious blue and yellow mech whom, like her, had been pulled back and forth through time. “Yes, we’ve met.”

“Good. Because he is not the only one whom Shockwave and his ilk installed with an experimental transwarp drive. There is another—a Decepticon scientist known as Gigawatt. I want you to find him.”

“Okay… and how am I supposed to do that?”

“The replica Timemaze that I have in my possession has already detected a few possible locations for him. I will send you to these times one by one until you find him. Once you do, bring him back here, and we can proceed to the next stage of the plan.”

Sari was grateful for her mask, as it hid her expression as she mulled over the potential opportunities of getting away from Megatron. Instead, she simply nodded. “Very well.”

Behind her, another door hidden within the stone walls open and she turned to see a device similar in appearance to Tarantulas’s Timemaze, albeit with more advanced materials and technology. Already, a portal was materializing within the device.

“I wish you safe travels, Miss Sumdac,” Megatron said darkly. “Your reality depends on it.”

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Chapter One

ONE: FAR FROM HOME

 Axiom Nexus, now

Prowl wondered if he was dreaming.

It was not a thought that crossed his mind often. After all, machines didn’t really “dream”; not the way organics did at least. Sure, his processor would cycle through select memories, some going as far back to his day of activation, but they were all accurate, down to the very last detail. They almost never got details wrong or presented him with hypothetical scenarios, let alone those as ludicrous as seeing the dead come back to life.

As if he were one to talk. But it was one thing for a relatively young Cybertronian such as himself to be restored into a new body, as Tarantulas had done to him. For someone as ancient as Alpha Trion… it was practically out of the question. His processor would be so antique it would have been near impossible to get it functioning in a newly constructed body. And that didn’t even account for his spark or transformation cog.

As Prowl ran through a number of plausible explanations for the Cybertronian sage’s apparent survival, Alpha Trion looked down at him and offered him a kindly smile. “I can tell that something is troubling you.”

“How are you alive?” Prowl finally asked. “If I recall correctly, you were killed by the Decepticon Justice Division nearly three years ago.”

“Was I?” Alpha Trion sighed. “An unfortunate fate for my counterpart then.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am not the Alpha Trion of your home reality. Nor are you the Prowl of mine. This place—Axiom Nexus—is a hub for all those that have been separated from their respective universes.”

Prowl frowned. He had theorized that possibility but did not want it to be true, deep down. He remembered that one of the bots that had greeted him earlier had said something about his universe having been erased… but that had to have been a lie. Wasn’t it?

“A friend of mine had mentioned something about encountering Autobots from other universes,” he said, recalling Gears’ account of his adventures in something called Mojoworld. “I think this place is different from the one he had described.”

“The currents of the multiverse often converge in more than one spot,” Alpha Trion said. “Axiom Nexus is but one of them.”

Prowl shook his head. This kind of thing was more Perceptor’s forte rather than his. “Okay, so now I know where I am. How do I get back home?”

“You cannot.”

Prowl looked up at Alpha Trion. “What do you mean I cannot?”

“Because the TransTech—those that govern Axiom Nexus—would have you believe that your universe has been destroyed.” Alpha Trion shook his head, a hint of disgust on his face. “But they are lying to you.”

“I figured that. But why would they lie about that? What purpose do they have in keeping me here?”

Alpha Trion hesitated, glancing around the small room they were holed up in. He then leaned in closer to Prowl and spoke in a low whisper. “Here and now is not the best place to discuss this. Your pursuers are still out there, looking for you. We will need to find another hiding place.”

“I hope you have one in mind….”

Alpha Trion smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do. Just stay close to me; we will find safety in no time.”

*  *  *

“I fear that we might have lost him.”

Cheetor stared incredulously at his lieutenant Stungun through the holographic map of Axiom Nexus. “You’re kidding me,” he muttered. “He couldn’t have gotten away from us that easily.”

“He might’ve had help,” Stungun suggested, shutting off the hologram. “It sounds like he ran off into the Offworlder Zones, where there’ll be at least a dozen ‘bots that look just like him. It’ll be easy for him to blend in.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” Cheetor sighed as he pinched his helmet crest in frustration. “We need to find him, and fast. The last thing I want to do is to bring this up to the Senate. I just know Starscream would give me an earful….”

“Shall I mobilize our units in the Offworlder Zones?”

“Yes, do that. Alert all nine sectors. If the FPL can nab him, then it’ll make things a lot easier for us. Make sure you give them a full description of what he looks like: black, gold, motorcycle alternate mode….”

“Is he a Prowl from a Malgus stream?” Stungun asked.

“We didn’t hold him long enough to pinpoint an exact stream designation,” said Silverbolt. “Rhinox speculates that he is from a Primax stream, or at least Primax adjacent. He didn’t seem Malgus-born to me….”

“Regardless, we can’t take any chances,” said Cheetor. “Have FPL keep an eye out for anyone that matches the description. We can always sort them out later.”

“Will do,” said Stungun.

While Stungun headed off to carry out his orders, Silverbolt stepped up closer to Cheetor, speaking in a low voice. “He’s going to find out eventually, you know.”

“I don’t plan on bringing this up to the Prime,” Cheetor whispered back.

“I’m not talking about the Prime. You know how nosy he is. As soon as he sees that we’ve raised the level of security in all nine offworlder zones, he’s going to notice and start asking questions.”

“Then I hope you’ll be there with me to give him answers, Silverbolt. That’s why we need to find this lowtech as soon as possible, or else it’s all gonna go pistons up….”

*  *  *

Prowl had been following Alpha Trion for nearly an hour. Due to the packed crowds of Axiom Nexus, it was nearly impossible to traverse in alternate mode without bumping into anyone or getting separated. As such, the two of them walked on foot, wrapping themselves up in cloaks in order to conceal their appearances.

As they walked through the crowds, Prowl spotted all sorts of ‘Bots and ‘Cons that he recognized, along with those he did not. He had even come across more than one bot who resembled how he had looked before Tarantulas had revived him. It was a lot for him to take him and it caused his logic processors to overheat. He tried not to dwell on any of it, instead focusing on Alpha Trion as he followed him through the bustling streets.

Eventually, they reached an alleyway which led to a small alcove blocked by a door. Standing guard was a bot who had the unmistakable appearance of Soundwave. Prowl instinctively tensed up but refrained from making a move as Alpha Trion approached him.

“Password,” the Soundwave lookalike intoned.

“Slaughter,” Alpha Trion whispered back.

Soundwave stepped aside as the door behind him opened. As he followed Alpha Trion in, Prowl glanced at the Decepticon but Soundwave made no indication that he recognized him, disguise or not.

Inside was a room that was only slightly bigger than the one Prowl had first met Trion in but just as dingy and dimly lit. Occupying the room were at least a dozen bots, all with an equal amount of variety as the streets outside. One of them was a red bot whom Prowl recognized as Cliffjumper, and he was the first one to step out from the rest and approach Trion.

“I see you’ve brought a newcomer,” Cliffjumper remarked, eying Prowl warily.

“Indeed,” Alpha Trion said, pulling back his hood. “His name is Prowl. I ran into him when he escaped from processing.”

“A Prowl who gets into trouble with the law, eh?” Cliffjumper snorted. “That’s a new one. Do you know what universal stream you’re from?”

“I have no idea what that is,” Prowl replied.

“Join the club. I’ve already forgotten my designation.” Cliffjumper extended a hand to him. “Well, if you’re anything like the Prowl of my reality, then you should be trustworthy enough. You know a Cliffjumper from where you are?”

“I do actually,” Prowl said as he shook the proffered hand. “You’re just as high-strung as he is.”

Cliffjumper smirked. “Then I’m sure we’ll be on the same page.”

One of the other bots, a bulky mech colored in various shades of greens and yellows, leaned forward where he was sitting. “Do you know how you got here?”

Prowl sighed. “It’s a long story. In my… universe, there’s this thing called the Timemaze, invented by an old rival of mine. It started acting haywire and turned itself on. Some… dragon-looking bot stepped through the portal and captured a friend of mine. I tried to go after them, only to end up here. I don’t know anything else beyond that.”

“Sounds par for the course,” Cliffjumper muttered. “About six years ago—or maybe it’s been fourteen? I’ve lost track. Anyway, me and Beachcomber had been abducted by Unicron. I take it you’ve heard of him.” When Prowl grimaced, he waved a hand. “I figured. Anyway, we were about to be executed by these two ‘Cons, Starscream and Sideways, when this portal just materializes out of nowhere. I saw an opportunity to get out of there and seized it and I went through. Poor Beachcomber couldn’t catch up with me and I had to leave him behind. I ended up here and got processed, and I’ve been stuck here ever since.”

“Did they tell you that your home was erased?” Prowl asked.

Cliffjumper nodded, as did several of the other bots. “That’s what we’ve all been told. I even believed it for a while, until Alpha Trion here told me the truth.”

Prowl held his chin in his hand as he began to pace around the room, deep in thought. “So, just who are these TransTechs, and what is their business?”

“They call themselves the Transcendent Technomorphs,” said a white and pink femme who reminded Prowl of Arcee. “From what I’ve gathered, their universe has never known a Great War. That’s why you’ll see Autobots and Decepticons working together in harmony. Their Optimus Prime runs the High Senate while Megatron commands the military. Together, they founded Axiom Nexus after discovering the existence of other universes, and it has served as a ‘multiversal hub’ for eons.”

“Why do they refuse to send bots back?” Prowl asked. “Why lie to them about their home having been erased.”

“Our guess is because they know that there is war in our home realities,” said Cliffjumper. “They don’t want to send us back to a wartorn Cybertron, so they keep us here so we can enjoy an ‘everlasting peace.’” He punctuated the last two words with air quotes.

“The things is,” said the bulky green bot, “they treat us like low-lives here. They even call us ‘lowtechs.’ And it’s not like we get a say in their government or anything.”

“It might’ve been a sound idea at first,” said a green and gray Seeker-type bot. “But Axiom Nexus has gotten so overpopulated in recent years that it’s a miracle war hasn’t already broken out between us offworlders. It’s already a pain in the aft to share a room with Autobots. But a whole city?”

“The feeling is mutual, Thrust,” Cliffjumper snapped.

“Shove it, Autobrat.”

“So the TransTech keeps us here out of a guilty conscience?” Prowl shook his head. “I feel that there is more to it than that.”

“Whatever the case, it doesn’t make our need to get back home any less urgent,” said Cliffjumper. “The question is just how we’re gonna do it.”

“Fortunately,” Alpha Trion interjected, “I already have a plan ready to be set into motion. I was happening to make the final preparations when I ran into Prowl here.”

“And what is your plan?” asked Prowl.

“Axiom Nexus, as with many realities, is home to a certain individual by the name of Shockwave. As with many of his counterparts, he has access to numerous pieces of advanced technology, including those related to dimensional travel. After a series of scouting missions, I have managed to locate his lab. All we need to do is to get in and gain access to his technology.”

Prowl gave him a skeptic look. “You make it sound easy.”

“Oh, it won’t be. But the complications will be mitigated by the agent that I’ve already put into place to distract Shockwave.”

“Sounds good,” said Cliffjumper. “So when do we move?”

“I would say the sooner, the better. The TransTech have doubtlessly raised security in order to search for our new friend here. The quicker we move, the easier it’ll be to get in before Shockwave’s lab is affected by the heightened security.”

“In that case, there’s no point in waiting around,” said Prowl. “Let’s go.”

Transformers Regenerated: Beyond Imagination III, Prologue

PROLOGUE

 Cycle 9678 (Earth Year 1878), Sigma VII

“Status report. Now.”

The desolate landscape of Sigma VII surrounded the team of Decepticon scientists and their various pieces of equipment. The howling winds filled Gigawatt’s audio receptors as he leaned in to study his assigned monitor.

“Still no signal, Shockwave, sir,” he said, trying to sound calm and composed like the rest of his crewmates. He failed utterly and even had a bit of a stutter. While this earned him a few glares from the others, Shockwave did not seem to notice as he began pacing around the camp.

“Clearly there is an error to our calculations,” the purple cyclopean Decepticon said. “The first subject that we sent to the projected cycle of 9815 was a logical outcome, given the distance of time… but that does not account for the others we have lost so far.”

“I hate to sound like a pessimist, but I think that they’ve simply died,” said Brushguard. His wrist-mounted claws made him look almost out of place among the assembled Decepticon scientists. “The probabilities of them being torn apart by the transwarp energies was already projected to be forty-seven percent. We might have simply underestimated that percentage.”

“Perhaps,” Shockwave replied. “In any case, I believe the results of today’s test have been conclusive enough. We have already exhausted all of our test subjects anyway. Store away all of the equipment while I prepare a report of the results for Lord Megatron.” 

While Brushguard and the other scientists began to put away their equipment, Gigawatt looked back at his monitor. While there was indeed no signal or transmission being picked up from the last test subject they had sent through time with a transwarp drive… there was some sort of oddity of fluctuations showing up on his screen. He had meant to mention it to Shockwave, but the embarrassment he had felt from trying to speak earlier had caused him to clamp up. He looked around the camp, hoping to catch the optics of one of the other, but it seemed as if everyone was trying to avoid his gaze, pretending as if he didn’t exist.

He had to speak up, surely. Who knows, maybe what he was seeing was really important and could turn this whole project on its head. Maybe he would be rewarded for bringing such an important development to the Sigma Project. Maybe Megatron would even promote him and—

“Hey, goggles!”

Gigawatt jumped and he turned around to see Shockwave’s assistant drone Fistfight rolling up to him, waving a claw angrily. “Are your audio sensors malfunctioning?” the diminutive bot snapped. “The boss said to pack things up already!”

“I—I’m s-sorry, Fistfight. It’s j-just that….” Gigawatt waved a hand at his monitor. “Th-there’s s-something on here th-that… that—”

“Well, why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Fistfight rolled over to his station and extended his pistons to raise himself high enough to see the monitor himself. “Did you pick up a signal from one of the subjects?”

“Well, n-no,” Gigawatt admitted. “But s-some of these f-f-fluctuations indicate that maybe… th-that maybe—”

“Maybe what?” Fistfight snapped. “Speak up, goggles, before I get your voice box rescrambled.”

“Th-there’s really no simpler way of saying this, but I b-believe they’ve ended up in another universe.”

Silence fell over the Decepticon camp, save for the howling winds, as Fistfight and the others stared at Gigawatt. Even Shockwave had stopped where he had been headed and was now staring at the silver-plated mech with his single yellow optical sensor.

“Please repeat that last statement, Gigawatt,” Shockwave said coolly.

Gigawatt felt his entire body freeze up, his voice box threatening to go mute entirely. Through sheer will alone, he managed to turn around and face Shockwave, barely managing to find and speak the words he wanted to say.

“Th-the energy fluctuations f-from the last f-few t-tests indicated a sh-shift of t-temporal ener-energy,” he stammered. “They were… they were d-different from the tests in which we-we m-managed to retrieve a subject from a time p-period.”

Brushguard scowled at him. “What the frag are you trying to say?”

“I b-believe that we have s-somehow managed to break through the barrier between—between universes and s-sent our subjects to another reality—”

“Bah! What a load of scrap! Hate to break it to you, kid, but alternate realities have long been debunked by bots who have been at this longer than you. And are smarter than you.”

“Not necessarily,” Shockwave intoned. “While you are correct that the Autobot scientist Perceptor published a work prior to the war that supposedly debunked the existence of alternate realities, his reasoning was based on assumptions rather than hard proven facts. While he may be correct about alternate realities not existing, it is equally likely that he is incorrect in his own assumptions.”

“Um, right,” Brushguard muttered. “So does that mean what Goggles is saying is true or a load of bunk?”

“That depends.” Shockwave looked over at Gigawatt’s monitor. “What is it about these so-called ‘fluctuations’ that leads you to the conclusion that they have been sent to another reality, as opposed to them simply having perished as Brushguard here theorizes?”

“I… I…” Gigawatt looked away awkwardly. “It’s hard for me to say, sir. I just don’t think they indicate their d-deaths. I think that they… that they may still be alive.”

“That very well might be the case,” Shockwave said. “I suppose there is only one way to successfully prove either your or Brushguard’s hypothesis.”

Gigawatt looked up at him, confused. “H-how is that, sir?”

“Fistfight, retrieve the last of the experimental drives. Flatline, prepare for the necessary operations.”

The next several minutes happened in a blur. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, pinned by a cackling Flatline as his chest plating was torn open. Fistfight then rolled in and shoved a clunky device into the cavity that Flatline had made, which the Decepticon surgeon then fully integrated with a few last-minute incisions. Throughout the whole process, Gigawatt cried in confusion, unable to form coherent words as he struggled in vain against Flatline’s grip.

When the operation was finally done, Shockwave was now standing over him, his yellow optic blazing.

“If you can successfully travel to and from one of these supposed alternate realities, then it will be clear that your hypothesis is correct.” He leaned down and pressed a switch on the transwarp device installed into Gigawatt’s chest. It glowed as it hummed to life. “If you fail to return… then I’m afraid we will have to assume the worst-case scenario.”

“Y-y-you can’t do this!” Gigawatt pleaded.

“I am afraid it is the only logical course of action to resolve this little debate.”

Anything else Gigawatt could have said would have been immediately silenced, as a wave of bright blue energy enveloped him and sent him tumbling through an eternal white void.

CROSSING OVER

Part 3: When Worlds Collide