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Transformers Animated: Different Angle

Chapter 25: Just the Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Animated

(Jacy's POV)

Kylie and I both transform as Airstrike frowns. She looks at us for a moment then smirks.

"Well, I have to admit," she says, "you two surprise me. You're the last bots I expect to take down Blitzwing."

"You were watching us?" I ask.

"Creepy!" I hear Kylie whisper.

"When I detected a surge, I went to investigate and was able to catch your little flight show," the seeker says, "you do realize you've only made Blitzwing even angrier, right?"

"Yeah, I figured," I say, frowning at her.

"Well, at least you two got the fragments," she says, "now if I were you, I'd use them to get back to where you came from before the rest of my team come find you."

I give her a look. "And why do you care so much about what happens to us?"

Airstrike drops the smirk and lets out a vent. "You know what, I'm going to be honest. We are no different. We both have homes we want to return to. You two have a chance and I wanted to be sure you got that. You don't belong here. If you stay here, you won't live long enough to go back home." She looks at me. "And it would only be a matter of time until you come face to face with Megatron. I've seen what he does to bots who defy him. Its not pleasant. He will break you before he offlines you."

I feel a chill go down my back. The last thing I want to think about is what Megatron will do to me if I get captured.

Airstrike continues. "Listen to me. I know we've had our differences, and I've been a bit rash-"

"Rash?!" Kylie exclaims, "you threatened to attack innocent people unless we left the city!"

"Again, rash," the seeker says, "look, when you told me you were only trying to find your way back home, I felt kind of bad and wanted to give you a push. A rough push I admit, but it was for your own good. Please, just use the fragments and get back home before its too late."

I'm not buying any of this. This is the same thing she did back on the cliff. And I have a feeling she won't leave unless we do. But there's still something that's bothering me.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask her.

She looks at me. "What about?"

"Why do you believe we're from another universe?"

She lets out a slight chuckle. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Why do you believe us?" I repeat, "when we told the bots, they thought we were crazy. When we told you, you responded differently. And here you are saying we should use the fragments to go home." I fold my arms at her. "Why do you believe us?"

"Why does it matter?" she asks.

"It just does."

She looks at me for a moment before smirking. "Alright Fine. I believe you because its not the weirdest thing I've heard or seen. Trust me, I've seen a lot. Two humans from another universe is no different. There. Satisfied?"

Soon as I heard that one word, my optics widen. "What did you say?" I ask her.

"I asked are you satisfied," she repeats.

"Before that," I say, "you said two humans from another universe is no different."

She gives me a look. "So?"

"We never said we were human."

Airstrike's expression drops as she looks at me. "Yes, you did."

"No we didn't. All we said was we were from a different universe. That's it."

"You called the short one there Kylie," she says, "that's a human name, isn't it?"

"She's not wr- hey, who you calling short?!" Kylie exclaims.

"Look, will you two just go already?" the seeker says.

"You really want us to go, don't you?" I ask.

"I told you why."

I frown as I take a couple steps closer to her. "And I think its a load of slag," I tell her, "you did this back on the cliff. You try and make yourself sound like the good guy just so you can get what you want. And right now you really want us to leave."

She frowns back at me. "Oh yeah? And for what reason do you think?"

Remembering what Blitzwing said, I say, "You're threatened by us."

Airstrike looks at me calmly before letting out a chuckle. "Alright. I see where this is going."

The next thing I know, I get a kick in the gut and go flying backwards.

"Jacy!" Kylie shouts as she rushes over to me.

Hearing the sound of a transformation, I sit up and look to see Airstrike with her blasters out.

"Last chance," she says in a threatening tone, charging up her weapons.

"What's your problem, lady?!" Kylie exclaims.

Airstrike fires a blast. Kylie yelps as it fires near her pedes, causing her to fall back beside me.

"Leave now," the con says with a glare, "or you're each going to get a hole in your heads!"

"We don't even know if the fragments will take us home," I tell her.

She charges up her weapons. "Then it looks like you have a problem."

But before she could fire, an ax strikes her blaster. Airstrike lets out a surprised gasp as the three of us look to the side to see the autobots.

"Get away from them, Airstrike!" Optimus warns the seeker.

Airstrike only growls and rips the ax off of her. Not wanting her to attack the autobots, I activate my mod and fire a blast at her, sending her flying into the trees.

"Guys!" Kylie shouts as they rush over towards us.

"Are you two alright?" Optimus asks.

"We're okay," I tell him as they help us back on our pedes.

"Why did you two leave?" Bulkhead asks.

Prowl looks over to the side. "Now's not the time to ask questions, Bulkhead."

We all look to see Airstrike getting back up as she throws a broken tree away. Activating her blasters again, she fires at us. Immediately I make a field, shielding all of us as she attacks. However I soon find myself having trouble keeping the big field up. Letting out a big vent, I push it towards the seeker, making her cease firing and leap out of the way. We soon find ourselves dodging her as she resumes her attacks in the air.

"Another force field would be nice!" Bumblebee shouts at me as he dodges her fire power, "just saying!"

"I wouldn't be able to hold it for long," I tell him, "that last one took a lot out of me."

Optimus grabs his ax. "Then we'll just have to fight our way through this." He looks at all of us and points at Airstrike. "autobots, take her down!"

Still having enough energy to fire my blasts, I charge up my mod as Kylie activates hers.

Airstrike flies around as she continues to fire at us. I soon find Bumblebee and Sari's dodging lesson very useful as I leap out of the way and fire back at her. However she's too quick for me to hit as she dodges our attacks.

Dropping to the ground, she grabs hold of Bulkhead and swings him towards the others, knocking down Ratchet, Prowl, Bumblebee and Kylie. I look over to see Optimus rushing over towards her, ready to attack her from behind. But just as he leaps into the air to strike, she turns around and grabs him by the neck. Dropping his ax, he holds onto her wrist as he tries to pry her hand off of him. Airstrike only chuckles as she tightens her grip, making Optimus painfully grunt.

I aim my servo at the con. "Let him go!"

She looks at me and smirks. "Or what?"

"I said, let him go!" I yell angrily.

She looks at Optimus then back at me before evilly grinning. "You want him?" she asks. She releases Prime's neck but immediately grabs him by the arms. "Come and get him."

She then activates her thrusters and flies off with Optimus. Not wanting her to hurt him, I activate mine and chase after her. I stumble a little, but manage to keep myself balanced as I try to keep up. I almost reach her until she makes a sharp turn, making me clumsily stop and continue my chase. She then shoots upwards and goes higher up in the sky. I still follow after her, daring not to let her out of my sight. She then stops and hovers, waiting for me to catch up to her. Soon as I stop, that's when I notice how high up I've really gone. The sky is darker and the air is thinner. I feel myself shaking a little as I try to keep myself from looking down.

"Aww, is someone scared?" Airstrike asks tauntingly.

I look at Optimus still in her grasp. He doesn't try to break free, knowing he will fall if he does. He looks at me, worried that I might drop out of the sky any second.

Come on Jacy. Don't even think about how high up you are. Do it for Optimus.

Pushing back my fear, I look at Airstrike. "Give him to me," I tell her.

The seeker huffs at me. "You've been a real pain in my side. Everything was going perfect until you showed up. I did not change this timeline, just to have you ruin everything."

Mine and Prime's optics widen.

"Did you say timeline?" I ask her.

"I was the one who brought Megatron his body," Airstrike says, "I knew where the autobot base was, and had it crumble to the ground. Everything I knew, I used to my advantage."

"What?" Prime says in disbelief.

Everything starts to make sense as I angrily frown at her. "It was you!" I exclaim, "you're the reason all these changes are happening!"

She looks at me and chuckles. "Funny part is, I'm not even a big fan of the show."

If what she said earlier didn't shock me, this did. I am in so much shock I can't even speak.

She grins at my reaction. "I wasn't lying when I said we're no different." She looks down at Optimus and smirks. "I even know quite a bit about you, Prime. How you left Elita One behind and took full responsibility for going to that organic planet, even though it was Sentinel's idea all along. And what happened? You get kicked out of the Elite Guard. What a shame."

Optimus' optics widen when she says this.

I scowl at her. "That is none of your business!"

She looks back up at me and scoffs. "Oh please. You already know about it, don't you?"

I refuse to answer as I keep my frown on her. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"Simple," she says, holding out Optimus, "to kill Optimus Prime and his team."

Then to my horror, she lets Prime go.

"No!" I shout as I dive down after him. I'm about to catch him until Airstrike grabs hold of me and throws me away. I try to go back for Prime, only for her to block me.

"Why don't we let gravity do its job?" she says before activating her blasters.

"Out of my way!" I roar as I activate my mod and fire at her.

She dodges and fires back at me. I am able to make a field and block her attack in time. Growling in frustration, I drop the field and fire multiple shots while flying around her. A shot manages to hit her, causing her to fly back. Soon as she's out of the way, I shoot downward towards Optimus. He looks over his shoulder and sees me coming. Just then he turns around and fires his fire extinguisher foam upwards. Startled, I move out of the way and watch as it hits Airstrike who was coming up right behind me. She lets out a growl as she spirals away and towards the ground. Looking back at Optimus, I fly over and grab him, swooping up in time before we could collide into ground.

Venting in relief, I look at Optimus. "You okay?" I ask him.

"I'll live," he says, "we better land."

"Uh... right," I stammer, realizing I haven't actually landed before, "I, uh, actually haven't figured that part out yet."

His optics widen. "What?!"

"Brace yourself."

Soon as I'm near the ground, I try to slow myself down, only for my thrusters to turn off too soon. Both of us hit the ground and tumble across the grass. Soon as we stop, we both groan as we get back up.

"Believe it or not, that was my best landing yet," I tell Optimus.

He looks at me. "You... you were telling the truth about being from another universe. It's all true?"

"Yeah, it is," I tell him.

He holds his helm, looking very bewildered. "I, I still can't believe it."

I look around. "Where do you think Airstrike landed?"

Just then a blast fires right in front of Optimus, making him fly back and land roughly on the ground. Before I even have a chance to react, Airstrike lands down in front of me and punches me hard between the optics. I feel myself flying back as I black out.

I don't know how long I was out for, but I wake up to the sound of fighting, making me dizzily look over to see two Optimus's fighting two Airstrikes. Soon as my vision returns to normal, I try getting back up as I see Airstrike grabbing Optimus and slamming him into the ground. Before he could even get back up, Airstrike slams her pede down on his leg, making him let out a painful cry.

"Optimus!" I yell fearfully.

Airstrike chuckles as she removes her pede, showing the armor on Prime's leg crushed as sparks fly off of it. Grinding his dentas in pain, Optimus is unable to stand up as he glares at the seeker.

"Bye bye, Prime," she says as she aims her blaster at him.

Now fully recovered, I angrily fire a blast at her, sending her flying back before she could fire the shot. I don't give her a chance to recover as I activate my thrusters and launch myself at her, sending us both flying through the trees. Freeing her arm, Airstrike scratches me across the face with her sharp digits, making me let go of her as my thrusters turn off. Soon as we both stop, we charge at one another.

"Why?!" I angrily yell as I try to throw a punch at her, "why are you trying to kill the bots?!"

"Like I'd tell you!" she yells, giving me a kick that makes me stumble back.

"Well, you already confessed we're from the same universe!" I say as I charge at her, "why stop now?!"

"Too be honest, I was hoping you would be dead at this point!" she yells. Both of us end up locking servos together as we try over powering one another.

"Does Megatron know your little secret?" I ask her.

"No," she says, "and he never will."

"How long have you even been here?" I ask, digging my pedes into the ground.

"Too long," she says as she steps forward, "do you have any idea how much I miss pizza right now? I don't think I even remember what it tastes like. And having to deal with Starscream all these years. Ugh! I almost wish I allowed him to put that bomb on Megatron! Then I wouldn't have to deal with him everyday!"

"Well, that explains why that never happened," I say. I then look at her in confusion. "Wait, if you've been around during that time, why didn't you arrive to Earth sooner?"

"That would be thanks to a malfunction in my escape pod," she says, "it crashed on a moon and I was put in stasis all that time. It wasn't until I woke up that I made my way here."

"How did you even get to this universe?" I ask.

She evilly grins at me. "Sorry, but I believe I said too much already."

The next thing I know, she grabs my arm and throws me to the ground. She then gives me a hard kick in the gut, making me grunt in pain as I curl up.

She laughs. "Do you honestly think you can beat me?"

Frowning at her, I swing my leg around into hers, causing her to shriek and fall backwards. I fight off the pain as I get back up and look at her.

"Honestly, yeah," I say with a grin, "I mean, why else were you in a hurry to get rid of me?"

Growling, she gets up and angrily lunges at me. I am able to get out of the way in time as I dive off to the side. Seeing her coming back around, I activate my thrusters and take off into the sky. Sure enough she chases after me and tries to shoot me. I am able to dodge her firepower as I fly around.

"Soon as I'm done with you, I'll pick off the autobots one by one!" she shouts at me, "all the way until I reach your little blue friend!"

Having to make a move now, I think of something crazy. Turning around, I dive straight at her. Soon as I'm close enough, I let out a battle cry as I make a forcefield around myself. I watch as Airstrike's optics go big in horror as I ram into her, taking her with me as I shoot towards the ground.

Boom!

My forcefield breaks soon as I feel the impact. Feeling every joint and fiber of my body in pain, I lay on my back as I let out a long painful groan. Soon as the dust clears, I look over to see an unconscious Airstrike pressed into the ground with cracks on her armor. I try to get back up as I hear my body creak and groan.

"Okay. I'm never doing that again," I tell myself as I end up crawling across the ground.

Just then someone lands down in front of me. I immediately recognize the black boot like pedes as I look up to see Blitzwing looking back down at me.

You have got to be kidding me. I am so tired and in so much pain, I don't even think I can defend myself like this.

His icy personality in control, the decepticon triple changer looks at Airstrike then back down at me with a look of surprise on his face. I wait for him to either knock me out or just freeze me.

We both hear the sound of vehicles rapidly approaching. Walking passed me, Blitzwing makes his way over to his fellow con and picks her up from the ground. He looks back at me.

"Jou surprised me today," he says, "I vill spare jou. Zhis time."

Soon as the autobots come into view, the triple changer takes off into the sky with Airstrike. Soon after they leave, I allow myself to collapse on the ground as I hear the others transforming and calling my name. Its not long until I see Kylie right beside me.

"Jacy?" she asks worryingly.

"Hey," I say, giving her a thumbs up, "still alive."

She smiles big. "You're okay!" she says happily as she gives me a big hug.

"Ow!" I groan.

Realizing she's hurting me, she backs away. "Sorry!"

I look up to see Prowl, Bumblebee and Bulkhead approaching us. Remembering Prime, I say. "Optimus is hurt. He needs-"

"We know," Prowl says, "Ratchet is with him now. Can you move?"

"I think so," I say, trying to get back up.

"Here, let me help," Bulkhead says. Getting to the other side of me, he helps me back on my pedes and allows me to use him for support.

"Thanks, Bulkhead," I say to him.

"Hey, us bigger bots have to stick together," he tells me with a wink.

I smile at him as we all start making our way over to where Optimus and Ratchet are. I glance over my shoulder to look where Blitzwing took off. Why did he let me go? And why does Airstrike want to offline the bots? How did she even arrive here?

(Third POV)

As Blitzwing flies off with Airstrike, he mentally hits himself for not snagging the fragment from the femme. He could have at least brought back something to his master.

"Vhy did ve spare zhat traitor?!" his hothead personality asks angrily, "ve could have easily finished her off!"

"Megatron vants her online and ve can only carry one bot at a time," his icy personality says, "and in case jou haven't noticed, Airstrike is razher heavy."

"Someone's been having too much oil! Ahahaha!" his random personality laughs.

"Ve could have still dragged zhe triple changer behind us!" Hothead argues, "ve had an advantage! She vause just crawling across zhe dirt like a vorm!"

"Ve vill deal vith her next time," his icy personality says, "right now Airstrike requires medical attention."

The three remain quiet as they approach the cave. It isn't long until Blitzwing's random personality speaks. "Jou know, I have zhe strangest feeling zhat ve're forgetting somezhing."

(Elsewhere)

A bird flies along the water's edge and lands on a partly melted iceberg stuck along the shore.

"Hello?!" Lugnut shouts, his voice muffled as he remains trapped in the ice. "Bltzwng?! Lrd Mgtrn?! anybdy?! Hello?!"

(Jacy's POV)

Soon as we all returned to base, we are welcomed back by the humans and Waldorf. After getting fully fixed by Sari's key, we then explain everything that had happened, including what Airstrike revealed.

"Airstrike is from our universe?!" Kylie exclaims in shock.

"Yep," I say with a frown, "and she knew the timeline. That's why the changes happened."

"But why is she here?" Sari asks.

"Apparently to get rid of us," Optimus says, looking at the team.

"I still don't believe it," Ratchet says rubbing his helm, "its just not possible."

Prowl looks at Optimus. "And you heard Airstrike confessing all of this?"

"She revealed... quite a bit," Prime says almost quietly. I silently vent, already knowing the reason for that.

Bumblebee looks at me. "Sari says you know a lot about things here. Tell us something only we would know."

"Will it help convince you?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Maybe," he says.

The others look at me, waiting for me to say something. Thinking of something, I let out a vent. "Okay," I say as I bring my attention to the yellow bot. "Bumblebee, during boot camp you took the fall for Bulkhead when he knocked a building on top of Sentinel."

Both Bumblebee and Bulkhead's jaws drop as they stare at me in disbelief. Looking over at her friends, Sari waves her hand in front of Bumblebee's face.

"I think you broke them," she tells me.

Getting behind them, Ratchet swats the two younger bots behind the helms, causing them to snap out of it.

"How did-!" Bulkhead goes to say, "Nobody knows that except me and Bumblebee!" His shocked expression drops as he keeps staring at me. "You're really telling the truth, aren't you?"

I nod.

"And if what you're saying is true," Bumblebee says, "then this is really a tv show?"

"Well, in our universe it is," I say.

"In that case, I have a very important question," the yellow bot says, "exactly how good do I look on tv?"

This only gets him a swat on the head from Prowl. The ninja bot then asks me, "why is Airstrike trying to offline us?"

"I don't know," I tell him, "all I know is you're her main focus, Megatron doesn't know her secret, and that she's been in this universe for a long time. She's the reason the fragments brought me and Kylie here. I'm sure of it."

"So, what does that mean?" Bulkhead asks.

Kylie and I look at each other and smile before looking at the others. "It means we're going to be staying here a lot longer," Kylie says with a grin.

Happy by the news, Sari jumps up and cheers. "YES! Finally we're getting more girls on the team!"

"Hashtag girl power!" Kylie laughs, letting Sari give her a high five.

"Hashtag?" Bumblebee asks questionably as he looks at Prowl. The ninja bot only shrugs.

I look at Optimus. "And, if its okay, we wouldn't mind continuing to stay here with you bots for the time being. Just until we can put a stop to Airstrike."

Optimus smiles and nods. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

I smile back. "Thanks."

(Third POV)

(Decepticon Base)

Airstrike angrily growls as Blitzwing tries to help repair her.

"Don't be such a sparkling!" his hothead personality says, "do jou vant to get repaired or not?!"

The seeker huffs but remains still as the triple changer continues.

Leaning leisurely against the rock wall, Starscream looks at Airstrike and smirks. "Oh, how humiliating this must be for you, Airstrike. I mean, being defeated by a neutral once is one thing. But a second time in a row? I do believe you're slipping. If it were me, she would be in pieces right now."

"If it were you, you would be offlined," Airstrike says, "then we wouldn't have to deal with your constant whining."

He scowls at her. But before he can make a jab at her, Megatron walks into the room, not looking too happy. He looks at Starscream and Blitzwing. "Both of you. Leave," he orders.

"As you command, my liege," Starscream says with a bow before he and Blitzwing exit the room. Soon as they're out of sight, Megatron brings his attention to Airstrike.

"Blitzwing informed me of what happened while you were unconscious," he says, "you should be grateful he was able to recover you. However, I do not recall sending you to track down the neutral."

"My liege, let me explain," the femme says, "I was only going after the frag-"

"Silence!" he scolds, making her go quiet, "if I didn't need you, you would be a pile of spare parts right now. I contacted Blitzwing and Lugnut to retrieve the cause of the surge. Not you. I sent you out to retrieve an item for the space bridge, which I am assuming you neglected to do."

The seeker goes quiet, answering his question.

"I am disappointed," he says, "and I don't like being disappointed."

"It won't happen again," she says.

"Oh, I know it won't," the decepticon leader says, "because I am confining you to base until further notice."

"What?!" Airstrike exclaims as her optics go wide.

"You will be stationed at the computer," he says, "when you detect an AllSpark fragment, you will send the others to go retrieve it."

"But my liege-"

"I have made my decision," he says, glaring at her, "do you dare wish to argue with me?"

Intimidated by her leader, the femme says, "no, Lord Megatron."

"Good," he says before walking off.

Soon as he's gone, Airstrike grinds her dentas in fury. Blaming the triple changer for her setback, she swears she will complete her mission... and make her new foe suffer.

Making his way outside the cave, Megatron stands right next to Blitzwing.

"This is the second time the neutral has made a fool of Airstrike," the leader says.

"She certainly has gotten stronger, my liege," the triple changer's icy personality says.

"And if what you reported is accurate, then she may very well be a problem for us."

"Are jou suggesting ve bring our focus on zhe neutral?"

"No," Megatron says, "we will continue with our plans." He then evilly grins, "we will just simply have someone else hunt her down for us."

(Jacy's POV)

While the others talk, I walk over to Optimus looking out at the city view.

"Hey," I say to him, "you okay?"

He looks over at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, after what Airstrike said to you about... your past. She shouldn't have said that."

He lets out a vent. "Well, its not like I was trying to keep it a secret. You already knew about it, didn't you?"

Feeling bad that I already knew, I glance away and rub the back of my helm. "Yeah," I say quietly, "but its none of my business, so I didn't want to say anything about it. And before you ask, no Kylie doesn't know."

He looks at me for a moment before giving me a small smile. "Thanks," he says, "and sorry for not believing you sooner."

"Don't be sorry," I tell him, "I wouldn't have believed me either. Actually, that reminds me." Grabbing the two fragments from my compartment, I hold them out to Optimus. "Since Kylie and I are staying a bit longer, perhaps you can hang onto these for us. Just until its time for us to leave."

Taking the fragments from my servos, he looks up at me and nodds. "I'll make sure they're kept safe."

I smile. "Thanks. There's also something I want to talk about. If its no trouble, I think Kylie and I should be doing are part by helping you bots clean up the city. We did technically take part in some of the fights."

His smile disappears. "That may not be such a good idea," he says, "especially if the decepticons still intend on capturing you."

"I'm going to be running into the decepticons again eventually," I tell him, "and from what I can tell, their main focus isn't on me. I'm sure I'll be okay. Plus, with Airstrike still out there, you bots aren't exactly safe yourselves."

"But we're out there because we have to," he tells me.

"And I'm here to stop Airstrike," I tell him, "meaning, I'm technically your body guard. Kylie and I should be with you bots in case Airstrike tries to attack."

"You do know what we face around here, right?" he asks me, "you'll be running into a lot of danger if you tag along with us."

I grin at him. "You know, someone once told me that I shouldn't let fear get in the way, and that I should follow my spark."

He looks at me for a moment and chuckles. "Sounds cliché to me."

"True," I say, "but you weren't wrong."

He thinks for a moment and agrees. "Alright, you can help us out. We could use the extra servos. Though, can you promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"Work on your landing."

I laugh at that. "I promise," I tell him.

He smiles as we both look out at the view. As I stand there, I think about what has happened, and what I've learned. Even though we've come this far, this is just the beginning. And I have a feeling it won't get any easier for us.

(Third POV)

(Decepticon base)

Deep within the cave hidden from the others, Airstrike makes her report to the dark silhouette on her data pad.

"So, they're from the same universe you are," the mech says, sounding intrigued, "my, isn't this a turn of events." His voice then changes, sounding more angry, "however, you being confined to base is a problem."

"It's only temporary," she assures him.

"I should hope so," the bot says, "because he's not the only one you've disappointed."

Airstrike vents. "I will complete the mission. And that triple changer won't be a problem for long."

"How so?"

She evilly grins. "Let's just say we're going to have company."

And that was chapter 25! I hope you liked it. Next chapter the girls meet Powell and Masterson... and the dinobots! Finally lol! Hopefully I will update it soon. Until next time! Stay home, stay healthy, stay safe! God bless!