A Glitch in Time: Chapter One

The leader bot lifted his head after his name was called a second time. He had been down in this quarters taking a badly needed power down. His right eye came online, followed by his left that would only partly come online, but the bot had become used to that.

"One of our scouts saw a portal open. They saw the seeker and Swindle. The theories are true!" the bot heard Wheeljack's excited voice over his built in com. The woken bot's tiredness went away at the news. He swiftly got out of his berth and started heading to the bridge of his ship. He kept his com conversation open with Wheeljack.

"Are Optimus and the others with them? Did they come through the portal too?" the bot asked with new energy.

"I'm not positive yet, we haven't had a confirmation on vis- Oh, there they are! They just opened fire on Swindle. The seeker isn't making any attack," Wheeljack spoke as though the action was unfolding right in front of him.

"I don't think the clone will attack the Autobots there. According to Starscream, Skywarp was taken against his will," replied the leader bot. A moment of static came over his com as he entered the bridge. With just hand gestures of pointing forward the crew knew to head to where Wheeljack was sending coordinates of.

"My receptors are ringing, are you two talking about me?" a shrill bot's voice said in his normal sly tone. Even though the old seeker was allowed on certain Autobot frequencies he always made his presence known like he had just freshly hacked it.

"Starscream! What is your location?" the leader bot asked him commandingly.

"You may be the boss bot over there but you have NO command over me. Remember that," Scream said in response to the leader bot's demanding tone. Wheeljack could be heard making an exasperated noise, like he had heard this argument a million times before. Starscream paused and then finally spoke, "My location is close enough to see the Key in Prowl's hand. They are just as they left us."

"Can you please help them out with Swindle, we are coming as soon as we can," the leader was using a calmer tone with the old seeker, which would get better results than bossing him around.  Starcream's voice darkened, wanting revenge of his own on the bot that took Skywarp away.

"With pleasure," as the seeker's com then turned off.

"I don't care how many stellar cycles he's been working with us, he still creeps me out!" said Wheeljack over the com once Starscream was gone.

"I trust him ever since he became unaffiliated. I know he won't betray us to Megatron," replied the leader bot.

"But who's to say he doesn't want your job?" Wheeljack speculated. The boss bot laughed with a twinge of sadness.

"He's seen the scars on my frame,  he won't be wanting my job for a very long time," the leader bot half smirked as he saw the fight in the distance from the bridge.

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"Focus your firing on Swindle. The seeker doesn't seem interested in being a part of the fight." Optimus said with his battle mask on. The portal they had been sucked in with Swindle left them in the middle of space, nothing looked familiar to the Prime.

"But I think THAT seeker wants to be a part of the fight," Bulkhead said as he pointed out Starscream rushing towards them from behind Swindle. At first Ratchet was about to use his magnets to stop the Decepticon, but then saw the trajectory was aimed to hit Swindle.  The scaredy seeker backed up from the fighting even more when he saw his creator approaching. He saw the crazed anger in Starscream's optics.

Skywarp knew his creator was his ally, but even he was scared of him at the moment. The young clone's optics then noticed something the Autobots had yet to.  Starscream's right arm was white on the upper part, black on the lower, and then ending in white fingers. It was made exactly like a seekers but a mismatched color to the rest of him. It was a replacement for an arm lost. As Starscream slammed into Swindle his clone also noticed the jet bot seemed older somehow.

Optimus seemed surprised by Starscream's entrance and only thought one thing, 'He's taking out a fellow Decepticon so he alone can get the Key."

"Prowl, Bulkhead, get out of here with the Key, we'll hold them off." commanded Optimus. The ninja bot took in his surroundings.

"But we don't even know where we are," replied Prowl, uncertain of his leader's order.

"We do know HERE is not the best place for the Key to be," Optimus replied with an annoyed tone as he glanced over at Swindle and Starscream fighting. Skywarp still watched bewildered.

"I believe back up is coming," said Ratchet as he saw a small Autobot armada ship. Before any of the Autobots could feel relief a shadow cast over them, blocking out the sun of a nearby solar system. It was a Decepticon command ship.

"Megatron," Optimus said under his vocals. The small autobot ship pumped its speed faster than Optimus knew of any ship to go. In a moment it was in front of his team between them and the Swindle fight.

"Everyone get in!" the leader bot owning the ship said over the Autobots' frequencies.  Ratchet and the two young bots didn't need to be asked twice. They quickly went into the side door that opened for them. Optimus watched as Swindle used a electric field to knock Starscream off. He prepared to hold back Swindle while his team boarded the autobot ship. Optimus could see a bot get off the side from the corner of his optics. The Decepticon command ship deployed three figures that would soon meet the group.

Starscream shook his head to realign his scrambled sensors. He saw his clone just watching him.

"Don't just float there, HELP!" Starcream yelled at the younger bot.

"We're in the future, aren't we?" Skywarp said in his usual paranoid voice.

"Well, I'm glad you have some of my intelligence. Now help me get the device from Swindle before Megatron gets here!" the old seeker commanded back.

The leader bot had come off the Autobot ship and shot arm blasters at Swindle while approaching Optimus' side.  The fire truck bot charged up his axe and made the staff on it longer to engage Swindle in fighting again. Optimus kept focused on Swindle but looked at the bot backing him up from the corner of his optics. The bot was smaller than him, but still not someone to  underestimate. Thought his alt form was not any type of flying vehicle, the leader bot had the modification of thrusters on his feet. Optimus was about to see how useful they were in space combat. Another noticeable thing about the bot was his left optic didn't look fully functional. While it glowed light blue in the center, it faded to black around the edges. The strange Autobot's color was that Optimus recognized, but he did not have the luxury to think much longer about those details.

The leader bot fired on Swindle again. When the Decepticon fired back the attacking autobot used his heel thrusters to quickly move out of the way. Swindle saw the Decepticon ship and planed his exit. He grabbed Skywarp's upper arm and  began to drag the seeker with him.

The scaredy seeker built up some courage and blasted the merchant bot with his free hand. With eyes half closed in fear he had it Swindle perfectly in the knee.  The seeker then used his warping ability to appear behind Starscream. Swindle on the other hand moved towards the incoming Decepticons, ignoring the pain from his knee.

"We need to get the device from him!" Starscream growled at the leader bot.  Optimus followed behind the boss bot as he persuade Swindle getting dangerously close to the other Decepticons. Optimus recognized two of them to be Lugnut and Blitzwing. The third one he had never seen before. The fire truck bot knew four Decepticons verses two autobots was not going to be a winning fight.

"Retreat for now!" yelled Optimus. He knew the other bot was some form of leader like himself, but he felt the urge to take over. Starscream regained his senses and fired on Swindle from afar, his seeker clone shivering behind him.

"You won't be able to get back home without the device!" the strange leader bot retorted back.  Starscream's blasts missed Swindle and instead almost hit the leader in in the shoulder. The jet bot winced at what damage that would cause to their uneasy alliance if it had hit the wrong bot. He also realized how it would ruin his cause if the Autobot leader was killed in this instant.

"Skywarp, grab those slagging idiot Autobots and warp them back to the Autobot ship," commanded Starscream, using a colorful word he learned back from his days on earth.

"Autobot ship?" the young bot replied unsurely, wondering why his creator was working with those scary Autobots.

"JUST DO IT," replied Starscream. He noticed that Optimus  was ready to back up the leader bot it he had to, but his body language said he did not want to engage four Decepticons in battle. Skywarp did as he was told, as Starscream headed to the door of the autobot ship. The leader bot audio literally growled at being pulled and moved away.

"You don't understand what you are doing! THEY HAVE TO BE SENT BACK!!!" the leader bot yelled at a peak that would make a Deception proud. Skywarp optics went wide in fright at the bot's response but still moved him into the autobot ship. Optimus willingly went inside the ship as Starscream approached. He made no move to stop Starscream, as he was obviously working with these Autobots.  As the Autobot ship door closed Skywarp noticed Starscream's arm wasn't just any replacement arm.

"Thats... Ramjet's arm," the scaredy seeker wibbled as he spoke those words. Starscream replied in a plain 'matter of fact' tone.

"He said I could have it," the seeker leader replied coldly. When the Autobot ship door was closed Skywarp let go of the ship leader's arm. Optimus then recognized the bot by the expression on his face. Optimus remembered being sucked into a portal by Swindle moments ago. He remembered the looks on Sari and Bee's faces as they were left behind.

The fire truck bot looked at the smaller leader beside him bellowing out orders to his crew to get the ship moving as fast as it could out of here. The bot was bright yellow. The face plate and joints that Optimus would remember to be gray were black. Instead of a windshield on his chest, glass windows sat at the sides of his torso. His body showed more scratches to it than Ratchet could ever have from the Great War. The yellow leader had an ornate head structure instead of his horns. What would be his back seat car doors were tucked back on his back, sitting more like an insects wings. Despite the major changes it was his expression of loss Optimus recognized.

"Bumb-" Optimus started to say the  name of the bot they had left behind but was interrupted. The yellow bot quickly interjected.

"No," he replied firmly. A no that said that there was more than just a name and appearance that had changed. He looked at Optimus, still holding a grudge at being held back from the decepticons.  "I'm Goldbug Prime, leader of the Autobot resistance," the boss bot paused half a minute before adding, "Welcome to four hundred stellar cycles in the future."