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?”
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