Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I only own my OCs. All reviews are answered at the bottom of the chapter.
Broken boundaries
Part 26
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Shapes and color spiraled around Steelburst as he was pulled onward through space and time by the clockwork prime. His joints creaked as if they were being pulled apart and compressed at the same time, his optic lenses cracked only to seal themselves and crack again, old war wounds would appear and disappear. The former spy thrashed and screamed against Vector Prime's grip. At this point he would welcome death, whatever was happening to him it was unbearable!
Steelburst clutched at his chest, trying to get at his own spark chamber through a chest wound he had received years and year ago. He would have succeeded but he suddenly found his arm striped bare by a black amorphous force. He knew this image well, it was what replayed in his memories each time he went off line. It was the Swarm. The horror continued up his arm and continued to consume him, picking up speed as it moved onto his shoulder. Steelburst was forced to watch as he was quickly reduced to nothing. All went black.
"Wake up!"
Steelburst felt something kick him his side.
"Wake up blast you!"
As the static in his visual sensors cleared he saw that Vector Prime was standing over him with a very sour look on his face. Did this mean that he was still alive? Steelburst found that he was not only alive but in perfect condition. Was all that he had just been through real?
"We don't have time for his." Vector Prime muttered to himself as he pulled Steelburst to his feet. "Do you know where we are?"
They were standing in what looked like a Cybertronian laboratory, one that that hadn't been occupied in a long time. Burners were still on but the beakers that were held in place over them were charred and the liquids they once held were long gone. Papers, charts and graphs were laying on the floor, the desks, some were drawn on the walls. It was hard to tell if this place had been ransacked or was just a mess.
Steelburst shook his head.
"We are two weeks in the past, in Wheeljack's private laboratory." Vector Prime explained in a hurried tone. "Hurry and locate the plans for the device that has caused all of this."
Having never seen the plans for the machine in question Steelburst had no idea what exactly he was looking for. The piles of papers, data pads, and computer drives was staggering. Steelburst sighed and started to sift through them.
---
The battle had already commenced, the Insecticons had tried Megatron's plan of trying to use the cerebro shells on the fiery titan had backfired. Instead of taking control of the fallen transformer the attempt had resulted in Bombshell falling to the ground shrieking in pain. They hadn't counted on the Fallen not only being formidable in body but also in mind. The ancient machine was now using Bombshell's signature weapon to torture him with it.
The autobots were keeping their distance and firing everything they had at The Fallen. But no matter how much firepower was wasted on their target it was simply shrugged off as if it was the faintest of breezes.
"He's... he's unstoppable!" Scourge lamented, he had just scored a headshot with his Targetmaster partner and it had only knocked him back a step. "I don't think we can beat him sir!"
Megatron growled, it seemed as if this would have to be settled by more power than what they had. But he couldn't trigger a neuron explosion so close to the machine. Otherwise they would be trapped in this dimension forever. No doubt Starscream would be the only one glad to see both he and Prime gone and once more things would degrade to war between the factions. Perhaps even leading to another splintering like what occurred in Cybertron's dark ages.
Jazz tried to remember... what had stopped him before? Grimlock knew, and so did Jetfire and Blitzwing but neither of them were here. "Grimlock, come in... I need you to tell me something buddy!"
"What this 'buddy' stuff?" Grimlock grumbled on the other end of the radio.
"Right now we're up on the moon fightin' this guy called 'The Fallen.' Big black hombre, covered in fire, personality of a piece of granite. Remember him?"
The line was silent for a second, as Grimlock searched his memory banks for something fitting that description. It had been millions of years but he finally remembered. He had never been defeated so effortlessly in all his years, The Fallen had been the only one to ever grasp his energon sword with one hand without being injured.
"I... yeah me Grimlock remember him." Grimlock said, almost devoid of emotion.
"You were there when this guy was beaten right?" Jazz ducked a large boulder thrown by The Fallen before he continued. "How did you, Jetfire, Hotspot, and Blitzwing beat this guy?"
"We didn't beat him." Grimlock's voice ran cold out of the radio, "Something he was trying to, I don't know, wake up I guess just appeared, blew him to bits, and disappeared. No idea what it was though, Jetfire thought it might have been Primus but I wouldn't go that far."
Jazz winced, "Well Primus ain't going to just appear and save us this time."
"Grimlock, what's the status down there?" Optimus Prime asked, connecting to the transmission between Jazz and Grimlock.
"Calm, all of those bugs are just sitting there like a lump of molten slag." Grimlock almost sounded disappointed, "And from what I hear the Terrorcons are milling around waiting for Megatron to order them around."
"Get them up here!" Optimus Prime ordered, "We're in a bind up here, nothing we do seems to hurt this guy."
Behind them Kickback transformed into his grasshopper mode and leapt at The Fallen. Landing next to him the Insecticon pulled his hind legs back ready to deliver a devastating blow. The Fallen simply grabbed Kickback's legs and flipped the bug onto his back and brought his burning boot down on Kickback's head. There was a loud crack and Kickback's limbs twitched for a second or two as his spark was extinguished.
---
Steelburst was getting nowhere. Many of these notes were hastily drawn and not kept together, others were precise down to the last detail. Steelburst had never known Wheeljack personally but he was already growing to dislike him for his lack of consistency. The pile of parchments and portable datapads was still growing as he searched.
"What am I supposed to do with these plans once I find them?" Steelburst queried as he looked at the ethereal Transformer standing behind him. Why the Pit wasn't he lending a hand?
"You will destroy them so that Scourge never finds them and starts this whole chain of events." Vector Prime said, "Now hurry and find it!"
"Find it? Why didn't you just tell me you wanted me to destroy it? This could have been over when we first came here!" Steelburst growled as he pulled his decelerator laser out and fired on the pile behind him, setting it on fire.
Vector Prime was taken aback as Steelburst began to open fire on everything on the lab. Equipment was sparking as every working part was shorted out, combustible material was set on fire. For added measure Steelburst brought his large foot down on the datapads.
Vector Prime had expected such a brash action from the former infiltration operative. But it was getting the job done. The time line was already starting to change.
---
The Fallen gripped Megatron's head in his massive hands. Even with both of his hands on The Fallen's he could not pry the monster's hands off. The creak and whine of metal on metal filled the thin air of the moon. The decepticon commander slammed his fists against The Fallen's wrists, trying with all his might to dislodge The Fallen before his head was crushed. In an attempt to aid his former enemy Optimus Prime shoulder rammed the taller transformer. Unfortunately it only resulted in Optimus Prime getting backhanded with one swift motion of The Fallen's arm.
Around them were the damaged forms of their allies. It was strange, only seconds ago they had a large troupe of soldiers. It had happened in a flash, as if everything had happened in fast forward. Scourge was laying on the ground in stasis lock, his partner Fracas nearby unconscious inside his Targetmaster component. Soundwave was on his back leaking energon and oil from his armless torso; around him were scattered remains of his cassette companions. The remaining Insecticons were no better. The Fallen had redirected an electrical blast from Shrapnel back at him and fried him like the bug he was. Bombshell was curled up on the ground, unable to disconnect from the cerebro shell lodged inside The Fallen's head. Jazz and Hound were standing but teetering on the edge of stasis lock from the attacks they had suffered. Much to Optimus's horror Hotshot was completely missing a leg and Redalert laying offline against the crashed hull of the Atlantis.
"What... what just happened?" Optimus muttered in horror.
The Fallen strode over to the autobot leader. His fiery countenance seemed unaffected by the sudden change around him. "It does not matter Prime. Soon you will be with Primus and he will be no more."
Optimus pointed his blaster at the Fallen but before he could pull the trigger the larger Transformer bent and melted the barrel in his massive hand. The Fallen grasped Optimus in his massive hands and lifted him clear off the ground and began to press hard with all his might.
"This is a pleasure that I have waited eons for Prime." The Fallen said, not caring if he could be heard or not. "Please, scream as loud as you want."
Megatron and Optimus's otherworldly counterpart fired on the abomination but to no avail. Optimus's world faded to black...
---
Optimus felt his optics kick back on. The Fallen was gone. His comrades were seated around him in the audience of the peace conference building with numerous. Metroplex, Override, Colonel Franklin, Scourge, and Evac were sitting at the table with him. It was just like before their visitors from the other dimension had arrived.
"What... what just happened?" Override asked, looking around the table. "I was back on Velocitron one second and now I'm back here?"
"Good question. This not be the repair work me n' my boys did. This be the original buildin'." Metroplex added, his trained optics scanning the room.
"I don't understand it either," Evac said, "but it looks like Jazz, Hound, and all those decepticons are gone."
Optimus felt a little guilty for the relieved sigh that escaped him. He couldn't explain it but everything had been returned to the moment before the sudden attack. It was almost like... time travel. A smile came to his face; it was ludicrous but he felt that Vector Prime had some hand in this.
"Whatever the case, since we are all here I feel we should continue with the peace talks." Prime said, leaning forward on his chair.
The gathering at the table agreed, and soon they were discussing what was to be done with the Cyber Planet Keys.
Scourge was happy that no one brought up the battle on the moon. While he had been under the power of the Incesticons they had forced him onto his hands and knees and made him scrub the floors of the hanger bay where the Terrorcons had made a huge mess. An indignity he did not want to speak about.
---
Elsewhere Crumplezone, Ransack, and Thunderblast sat atop one of the finished buildings on Cybertron's surface. They were watching as Thundercracker drudged along with the Autobots who were busy repairing the other buildings.
While Thundercracker had accepted their loss and was attempting to move on Crumplezone and Ransack were at a loss as to what to do next. They had been reunited with Megatron only long enough to play as Scourge's stooges. When he had transported them back to the other side of the moon to watch and wait for the opportunity to grab the Matrix and the Omega Lock it seemed like they would have it all. Then in the blink of an eye they were sitting here alone.
Thunderblast however wasn't as depressed as her companions. She felt a little sorry that she had missed seeing Megatron again but she wasn't hung up over him as before. She felt as though some part of her was left behind during her time in stasis lock. She shook her head, without Megaton it didn't seem right to hang around these losers anymore. There had to be somewhere out there that was more fun than this place.
"Well Ransack? What do we do now?" Crumplezone asked.
"I guess we go back to Velocitron. We helped out in the final battle against Galvatron. They should be welcomed back with open arms!"
"Yeah, we didn't have to help those autobots. We saved the universe!" Crumplezone said, standing tall on the roof. "We're the real saviors of the galaxy!"
Thunderblast rolled her optics. They would probably be beaten into slag when they got back to their homeworld.
---
On the other Cybertron things were not as peaceful. Although everyone had been returned to their world Scourge was quick to flee and Megatron was quick to round up every decepticon who had followed him. Soundwave was passively pardoned for his role in the operation and pressed into duty of hunting him down.
The supposed solar collector was no longer there and in its place was a standard model; much to the dismay of Preceptor and the other autobot scientists who had high hopes of studying it.
Jazz, Hound, Grimlock, and all the others had returned home as well. Optimus Prime reassigned them to more important duties concerning their current threat; the second generation Cybertronians.
"Alls well that ends well." Jazz said, using one of his favorite human expressions. "I mean overseeing an outpost is better than keeping an eye on solar collectors right?"
Hound nodded, looking out the window of the shuttle into the blackness of space. "You think those guys are going to be okay in their dimension? I mean, it never seems to end with us-"
"Sure they will." Jazz said "We always bounce back. Sure those bots are soft but those decepticons were even softer."
Silence prevailed for a few minutes before Jazz asked; "Still no word on Steelburst?"
Hound shook his head. "Nah, but he's probably wandering around somewhere. Who knows where that crazy bot is."
Jazz nodded. "Yeah, Prime probably knows where he is and has him assigned to something nice and safe."
---
In the twisting and folding of time and space Steelburst drifted, unable to move. When time had shifted that last time he had found himself unable to move, scream, or even transform into his stealth fighter mode. His sensors were going wild, it was just as maddening as the first time he had traveled this bizarre way. But still, despite all this suffering he was enduring he wore a beaming smile.
Vector Prime had thanked him for his help in setting things back to normal in the one way that could have made him smile like he was.
The mechanical parts that allowed his spark had been removed and nestled within his cranial housing was the one thing that could ease his troubled mind.
"You've been through a lot haven't ya, ya big bag a' bolts?" A voice rang throughout Steelburst's mind. "Sounds like a lot of trouble for such a small thing as me."
"Yeah... but it was worth it. I missed you a lot Isaac." Steelburst said, despite the pain he was feeling he was able to speak to his partner through their mind link.
"Maybe I should take over for a while. You sound like crap. Well, more so than usual." Isaac chuckled.
"No." Steelburst said sternly, "I'll just have to endure this until we get out of here."
Isaac sighed, "Fine, be stubborn about it."
This time it was Steelburst's turn to chuckle. It was just like old times.
Not far Vector Prime watched as Steelburst drifted on the ebb and flow of time and space. He regretted that he had displaced him to stop Unicron from emerging in that universe. He knew it was not his fault, the Chaos Bringer's presence had nearly pushed them both into underspace where his servant The Fallen had been trapped for millions of years. The least he could have done was to use his power of time and space to give him back his partner. He would be free of this place some time soon.
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END.
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AN: Okay, it's a terrible cliché to end this with a Deux ex machina but to be honest I just wanted this over with. At least Steelburst is happy in the end.
tomorrow4eva - Guh, mistakes irritate me... and why didn't my spell check catch that? Yeah I'm pretty much just rushing through this story, It's been going on so long it feels like for.
GrimlockX4 - Thanks... any fic that goes over 12 chapters starts to become more of a marathon than a fun little fic.
SpartanCommander - Really? I don't remember that at all but that's so Grimlock. XD
Meirelle - That's a lot of baking... thank you!