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Jumping through random glitchy spacebridges was not usually a good choice. It certainly wasn’t one that Blurr would normally make, that much was for certain. But though he was often considered reckless, he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t even call himself reckless, really - he just moved faster than most people, and thought faster too, able to make decisions that would take other bots twice or even three times the length it took him, and so it looked reckless to other people. But when weighing one risk against another, he’d always take the path of less risk. And right now, with three angry Decepticons on his tail and nowhere else to go but through, it seemed like the best choice to make.
He dove through the swirling vortex and rolled to his feet on the other side, hardly affected by the dizzying transition between one location and the next. Something had seemed a little off, though, and he quickly brought his helm up, half expecting to have dove directly into another dangerous situation. It was a relief to see instead he had been spit out onto a pretty standard looking road… though, one much smaller than anywhere on Cybertron. Behind him, the swirl of the spacebridge closed, leaving nothing behind but the silence of the road.
So, Earth, then. That was somewhat surprising, usually spacebridging between systems took at least slightly longer than traveling anywhere within one planet or solar system. But it hadn’t felt like anything more than a standard trip through. That was as good of a reason as any to keep his guard up as he straightened up, arms dropping from their defensive position, engine cooling from it’s ready-to-run overdrive. This street seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, at least, no buildings or screaming humans or annoyed street cops or anything like that. The air felt different too, cleaner, he supposed, than the last location on Earth that he’d been. It didn’t look nearly as advanced either. A bit dusty.
But this was the middle of nowhere. He’d surely encounter a more familiar atmosphere once he made his way back to civilization. A weird tangle of sticks rolled past, and Blurr wrinkled his nasal ridge, flipping into his altmode and taking off down the empty road.
One good thing about rural backwaters like this was that he didn’t need to creep along at a measly 70-miles-per-hour. It wasn’t like he’d crash even if anyone was on the street, he’d sense them from ages away and be able to flip up over them before anything happened. Pushing his engine, he sped down the road, kicking up a dust cloud in his wake. It felt good, this expression of pure speed, wind whipping over his sensor array and pushing at his frame.
The signs of civilization started to show before long, though, old fueling stations and farmhouses passing in a blur. He slowed some, then, dropping back down to a reasonable pace for an average human speedster. Blurr wasn’t particularly worried about local law enforcement, he could outrun even the fastest human vehicle easily, but he didn’t particularly want to draw attention. He wasn’t sure of Earth’s status in regards to the whole Decepticon issue. Were there any left here? He didn’t know, and he sure as the pit wasn’t about to find out himself.
Cresting a hill, Blurr’s scanners picked up the layout of a small town below. That’d do well enough, he supposed. The presence of Cybertronians on earth was not and hadn’t been a mystery for many years now, Detroit having been the subject of much news coverage and curiosity since the Autobots first arrived. He needed to figure out where exactly he was, and orient himself. He’d make his own way to Detroit, he needed no help in that regard, but he just… didn’t know where that was compared to here. Rolling down the hill at a far more reasonable (for humans) but painful (for him) speed, he made his way into the town. A couple of humans were walking along the sidewalk on the very outskirts, who gave him a very admiring look. Blurr supposed fancy cars weren’t very common this far out in the sticks, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t inflate his ego just a small bit.
But thinking about how shiny he probably looked did not distract him from noticing the rather conspicuous pair of vehicles approaching him. They were clearly attempting to be stealthy, and failing entirely. No normal vehicles out in the backwoods of… wherever this was, Earth, would be so bulky, heavily armored, with satellite-locating equipment on the top.
They weren’t other Cybertronians though, that much Blurr knew for sure, there was no spark nor electromagnetic field coming from them. Human authorities, then, he supposed. Seemed like an awful lot for a flashy car who may have broken their speed limit, though, so the natural conclusion was that they knew. Somehow, without a single thing he’d done, they knew he was a Cybertronian, and Blurr had a bad feeling these strangers weren’t exactly as friendly as Sari and her father were back in Detroit, and he didn’t think he’d get the begrudging acceptance of Captain Fanzone either.
Whoever they were, it was time for him to go. With a screech of tires he pulled out, startling both of the humans. The two vans pulled out immediately after, confirming his suspicions. But still, Blurr wasn’t worried at all. They wouldn’t be able to catch him. He sped up, rapidly pulling away from both vehicles even as they increased their speed. Laughing to himself, he whipped around a corner. He’d try again at the next city… or maybe one after that, give himself just a bit more space between himself and these mystery humans.
That was the plan, anyways, until a very large Cybertronian suddenly stepped into his path. Slag! How had Blurr not sensed this mech coming up on him?! He had no choice but to transform, handspringing off of the concrete road to dodge around him. He was struck with a strange sense of familiarity in the blue-red-white color pattern of this mech, but he wasn’t exactly given much time to think about it as he dodged an attempt to grab him by the kibble.
“You need to stop and listen to me!” The mech’s words registered just as he was about to flip back into his altmode. Normally he wouldn’t pause for a second. This mech was far too big to be an Autobot, and even if the words seemed serious, he knew Decepticons were full of tricks.
But something about his tone, some sort of genuine concern accompanied by a rather earnest pulse of his field, gave Blurr significant pause. It wasn’t just the color that was familiar, that feeling was familiar, the same feeling that Optimus Prime gave off when he was being especially… heroic, for lack of a better term, as much as it made Blurr roll his optics to even think of.
This wasn’t the same mech, of course, but he had the same sort of sincerity, and it was only for that reason that the speedster really even gave him the time of day.
“I’m stopping and you have exactly THIRTY seconds to explain why I even should have bothered, because so far all I know is that you’re probably a Decepticon or an abnormal Autobot at the very least because no normal Autobot is the size of you and I really don’t think stopping was a good idea at all, so you’d BETTER have a great reason because those two vans are going to catch up in approximately 2 minutes and I BETTER be out of here by then!” Blurr demanded.
The stranger seemed slightly taken aback, but shook his helm and spoke up within the allotted time.
“I’m no Decepticon. I want to help you. I don’t want those vans to catch you either.” The stranger’s spark-blue optics flickered down to Blurr’s chest and then up again. “Autobots help each other in need, right? Come with me, then, I’ll explain once we’re away from them.” The mech beckoned Blurr towards a rather shady looking alleyway. He didn’t detect anything there though…
Ugh, he’d already stopped. And at least this was an Autobot after all - he could see the sigil on that weird round badge on this mech’s chassis. Maybe he could contact the Detroit Autobots and send Blurr on his way - better yet, he could open a direct line to Cybertron himself.
“Well okay I suppose I’ll come with you. I don't really trust you though I have no idea who you are! This alleyway is also very sketchy looking and for all I know I’ll walk inside and immediately drop into some kind of spike trap or be jumped by your goons, but I suppose a proper Autobot wouldn’t do such a thing now, would they?” Blurr ranted to the stranger as he stepped into the alleyway.
Nothing happened.
He was almost surprised.
The stranger walked into the alleyway behind him, turning around and touching some sort of device on the ground. Before them the air shimmered in the tell-tale sign of a hologram activating, but whatever it was, Blurr couldn’t see it from this side.
As he was about to open his mouth and demand an explanation, the stranger turned to look at him, touching a finger to his lips as if anticipating what Blurr would do. The speedster frowned, crossing his arms and looking out of the alleyway’s edge.
Right on queue at the exact moment he had predicted, the two vans rolled past at high speed, continuing down the street in the direction he would have continued on if his original plan hadn’t fallen though in such a weird way. He’d still have been able to outrun them, he was certain, if that was their top speed it wasn’t particularly impressive.
The stranger turned to him and nodded, deactivating the device and then beckoning him forward. It was taking a monumental effort to remain silent at this point, but somehow Blurr managed, walking along after the unknown Cybertronian.
“Not far from here is a safe location. We’ll talk there,” The stranger said, transforming into his altmode, and - okay, this was getting strange. Not only was he the same color as Optimus Prime, but the same field-type, and the same altmode? It was just… too coincidental. But there was no way this was the mech Blurr knew. That mech would have recognized and greeted him as more than some stranger he was trying to assist.
And he’d just seen Optimus on a call with Perceptor earlier that cycle. He certainly hadn’t been transformed into some supersized version of himself then!
He was thinking too hard, his spark spinning faster and chest heaving with rapid vents as his overactive fight-or-flight mode went into overdrive. He transformed as well, silently and anxiously following the stranger at a pace far below his comfort level. Out from the town they went, across a bridge, past some farms. Before long, they’d ended up at one of the farmhouses. As soon as the stranger began to slow, Blurr flipped out of his altmode, landing primly and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Alright mister mystery, you’d better start explaining yourself now! If this turned out to be a waste of my time I’m going to be pretty PEEVED at you, since I’ll have lost valuable time I could be using to make my way to Detroit to contact the Autobots there so they can contact Cybertron so I can go home!”
The stranger transformed back to his feet, giving Blurr a distinctly confused expression. There was a bit of pity in there too, and Blurr didn’t understand at all what in the world this mech would be pitying him for.
“I’m not sure I’m quite following. There are Autobots in Detroit?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? How long have you been out here? Who were those humans? Were they humans? I didn’t feel a spark from them, but I didn’t feel yours either. Why did you, erm, “rescue” me? What’s going on?” Blurr demanded, one after another, raising a brow-ridge to the stranger.
“I didn’t know, hmm…” His brow furrowed, and he trailed off for a moment. Blurr tapped his foot impatiently. “We’ve been out here for some time now, about since the war ended. Those humans were GHOST, an organization that I… aligned myself with for some time. I suppose I still am officially, but I tire of their methods. It seems they don’t care much to differentiate between Autobots and Decepticons when finding stray Cybertronians - which is why I, as you put it, rescued you. You didn’t look like a Decepticon, and us Autobots need to look out for each other. And I must admit, it’s refreshing to be questioned in such a way. I’m a little too used to the ‘starstruck’ reaction,” the stranger joked, a twinkle in his optics.
To be completely frank, that response raised far more questions than answers for Blurr.
“GHOST? Dumb name, what do they do? Why would you align with a group that you don’t agree with like that? Starstruck? Why would I be Starstruck? I’ve never seen you before in my life!” Blurr rattled off another litany of questions, but the stranger only really seemed taken aback by the last question.
The twinkle in his optics had dimmed, replaced by what seemed to be mild suspicion, but moreso confusion.
“You said you came from Cybertron, right?”
“Yes, and where I can go BACK to, hopefully, unless you’ve got something ELSE in mind,” Blurr snapped back, widening his stance just slightly.
“No, nothing like that,” the stranger held his hands up in a placating manner. “I was simply asking because I needed to rule out a possibility.”
“A possibility? WHAT are you talking about? I regret following you, you know! I could have outrun those vans myself, humans can never come close to my speed! You’ve just confused me and have wasted my time even more, you don’t even have a way to contact Detroit and I’ll bet you can’t contact Cybertron either!” Blurr responded in an increasingly frustrated tone, having to raise his voice just slightly to cover the sound of rotaries approaching.
Wait.
He looked up in time to see the large helicopter approaching. That wasn’t stealthy at all.
“GHOST?!” he demanded, pointing upwards and preparing to run. “Or a Decepticon?!”
“No, no. Not at all. A friend of mine,” the stranger said with a small nod. “I was hoping he would be able to lend a hand in explaining what was going on, I alerted him when we were on our way here.”
“Autobots don’t have altmodes like that,” Blurr responded in a slightly snotty tone. He wished this mech would just speak clearly, instead of looking at him like that with that odd confused-pitying expression. It made him feel like squirming away. “I’m about done here.”
“Please, reconsider,” The stranger said, and again the earnestness made Blurr pause. “You are incredibly gifted with your speed, but GHOST has ways of hunting mechs down no matter how fast they are. They’ll track you far and long.”
Blurr groaned, pressing his palms to his optics as the heli-alt began to descend a short distance away.
“This is a nightmare. I just want to go home.”
“We all do.” It had been spoken so quietly, Blurr wasn’t sure if the stranger really said it, or if he just imagined it.
He chose not to pursue it, lifting his helm just in time to see the heavy-frame heli fold out of his altmode. Red optics flashed in the light, and a face that, while different, was all too familiar turned to look over at Blurr and the stranger.
He was too surprised to even scream, but he wasn’t too surprised to immediately leap to full attention, sidearm in hand.
“You are a Decepticon, I should have known. You’ve brought MEGATRON to me! I can’t believe this! I’m leaving and you aren’t going to be able to catch me no matter how hard you try,” Blurr growled, taking a few careful steps away from the stranger and the all-too-familiar. He couldn’t just immediately take off running, he had to ensure there wasn’t a trap, a cadre of other Decepticons to leap out as soon as he rushed away.
“I thought you said he wouldn’t recognize me,” called Megatron, in a far-too-casual voice.
“Well, he didn’t recognize me… so I figured…” the stranger spoke in a sheepish tone, turning to Blurr and again holding his hands up, palms-out. “I give you my word, you are in no danger.”
“No danger from Megatron? HA! That’s laughable!” Blurr took another couple steps back, whipping the pistol back and forth between Megatron and the stranger.
“I suppose my word doesn’t mean much without my designation,” the stranger said. “You don’t recognize me? Not at all?”
Blurr squinted. It was as if the stranger knew that he was questioning his familiarity.
“I mean- you look familiar! But the mech I know who just happens to be blue and white with a truck cab altmode is nothing like you - other than those things, he’s not big or stoic and he’s certainly not cavorting around with Magnus-damned Megatron!” Blurr did not miss the look they exchanged with each other.
“I am Optimus Prime,” the stranger greeted. “Leader of the Autobots.”
Blurr blinked, then burst out laughing so hard he forgot, for a moment, that Megatron was there - closer now, he’d come up to stand beside the stranger, this… “Optimus”.
“No! No you aren’t! Because the mech I know is Optimus Prime! You’re either some Decepticon copy, or this is a prank, or I fell and hit my head on the way out of the spacebridge and this is all some incredibly ridiculous dream my scrambled processor has conjured up while I lay in some medical facility, isn’t it? Who cares then, I can do whatever I want!” Impulsively, he threw the gun at Megatron.
So much for not being reckless, he thought, any sense that this was a dream immediately evaporating and his bravado leaving as he watched the weapon on it’s ark towards the Decepticon’s supreme leader, bouncing against his leg and tumbling into the grass.
Well. He was definitely dead now. Closing his optics, Blurr braced himself for the incoming blast.
It was incredibly startling to not hear the sound of a fusion cannon powering up, but instead, a deep, surprisingly warm laugh. Looking up, Blurr saw Megatron with that same twinkle in his optics that “Optimus” had had earlier, shoulders shaking with laughter.
“Wow, you didn’t really prepare him at all, did you Prime?” The warlord quipped, looking over at “Optimus” with a smug look on his face.
“I… suppose I didn’t,” he replied in a sheepish tone, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, stranger. I should have taken more care to discuss this situation with you before asking him here. I now know for certain that something strange is going on.”
“I think we already established that,” Blurr said rather weakly, at a loss for words for once in his functioning. Staring your own death in the face would do that to you. But he had to agree. After all, it felt far too real to be a dream, and the Megatron he knew would have blasted him into the first century for doing something so disrespectful.
“You mentioned a spacebridge,” Megatron spoke up, and Blurr managed not to flinch too bad at the deep drawl. “How long ago did you come through it? And - I don’t think this knucklehead thought to ask. What is your designation?”
“Earlier this cycle,” Blurr responded. “I was running from some Decepticons and saw that the spacebridge was on and so I passed through expecting to come out in another city on Cybertron as they had used it to infiltrate and I had decided to take my chances they’d left a guard on the other side to give myself a head start, instead I found myself here on Earth. I was very surprised since it really felt like no time at all and usually traveling all the way to Earth takes twice as long as normal. My designation: It’s Blurr.”
The two other mechs passed a look between them, and Blurr felt the prickle of comms pass over him.
“What? What is it?!”
“I don’t really know how to tell you this, Blurr,” Optimus started.
“Just say it, I’m a member of Autobot Intelligence! You don’t need to sugarcoat anything for me,” Blurr puffed his chest up and stood as tall as he could. It didn’t feel like much with these two.
“We don’t think you’re from this dimension,” Optimus responded, folding his hands together in front of his midsection.
It took Blurr a moment to think through it all. He almost laughed - it sounded absurd! But then again, the Autobot High Council had been looking into that possibility for a while. There were those strange radio broadcasts that seemed familiar but just slightly off they hadn’t been able to find the source of. There was the fact that most spacebridges did need “stabilizing” crystals, and there had been a couple of reports of mecha traveling through one, only to never come out the other side, and never be seen again…
Never be seen again.
He must have visibly drooped, because Optimus sat down before him.
“I think you’re right,” Blurr frowned with a sigh, plopping down to sit in front of the mech who was so familiar, and so different. “Don’t get me wrong it sounds absolutely absurd, absolutely comical, but it’s really the only explanation other than a prank or a Decepticon trick that is at this point far too elaborate to actually pull off to this scale, and not worth it whatsoever for either ends.”
“Blurr, I’m sorry,” Optimus reached out, resting a hand on Blurr’s shoulder. “This must be a lot to process.”
“I don’t want to get stuck here, Optimus Prime. I don’t mean to be rude but this is not where I’m from and I don’t want to just disappear, there are mechs who know me and who I know and who I care about, my friends and my loved ones and I’m sure this place is nice, I mean, Megatron is your friend? Not immediately attacking me? That seems like a dream - well, the GHOST part maybe seems like a nightmare, but… I would prefer my home, I think.”
Megatron, still standing, made a noise of agreement.
“Reasonable desire, Blurr. I can assure you we’ll do our absolute best to help you return to your own universe.”
It was strange, having a mech he knew as terrifying, self-serving, and uncaring speak to him in that tone.
“I’m sure there are some remnants of the old spacebridges that we can retrieve, see if we can create something based off of them that will get you home,” Optimus added, squeezing his shoulder before letting go. “Wheeljack is a genius, despite what his demeanor may suggest, and I’m positive he will be able to help in some manner.”
“Nightshade also,” Megatron added.
Wheeljack was a name that Blurr recognized distantly, and he nodded, trying to recall if he’d heard the other one before. It wasn’t ringing any bells…
“In the mean time, you can stay here,” Optimus said with a warm sort of smile. “I’m sure the Maltos won’t mind an addition to the family.”
“Who? What?” Blurr looked up, finally really taking a good look around at the barn and the house, and nowhere that seemed particularly suitable for a Cybertronian, even one smaller than this universe’s seemed to be. “Here as in, in this town here, or here as in on this farm here? Because no offense Optimus Prime, this doesn’t seem like a place for me.”
“You’d be surprised. There’s more to that barn than meets the eye,” Optimus replied, and Blurr caught an eye-roll from Megatron. Well, that’s one thing that wasn’t any different. The catchphrases. “The Maltos all went out on a family outing, up to camp in the mountains I believe - they should be home within the day, and you can meet them. I’m sure you’ll find their little family very intriguing,” he added.
Blurr crossed his arms and huffed softly. He wished this Optimus was as transparent as the one he’d known. He didn’t mind a bit of grump when it meant he at least he knew what the mech meant by something.
“In the mean time,” Optimus stood, brushing off his metal in a strange motion Blurr had only ever seen humans do before with their clothing. “Please be careful. Myself and Megatron must return to the GHOST headquarters before they question why we’ve been gone for so long.”
“I still need more of an explanation on that,” Blurr grumbled.
“I’ll be sure to tell Bumblebee to give you the rundown once he returns with the Maltos.”
“Bumblebee? There’s a Bumblebee here? Is he as annoying as the one that I know? Because the one that I know is annoying and will not stop trying to compete with me despite the fact that there is absolutely no competition between us whatsoever!”
Optimus chuckled.
“While he has a competitive spirit, I wouldn’t describe our Bumblebee as annoying. I’m sure the both of you will get along very well.”
Behind him, Megatron had transformed into his altmode. Blurr received a ping then, containing two comm codes. He accepted, pleased to see that he could use them despite their almost-certain physiological differences.
::Comm me any time, Blurr,:: the once-warlord’s voice still sent a shiver down his spine, but Blurr nodded his thanks as the heli-alt lifted up and away.
“Talk to you soon, Blurr. I’ll comm the Maltos and Bumblebee on my way back to let them know they’ve got a guest.”
“Thanks, Optimus. Thanks for your help. And I look forward to meeting them, and… this is really strange and I still feel like I’m going to wake up in a minute, but that’s fine. I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”
“It will be,” Optimus said with a firm nod, transforming into his alt-mode and driving away.
Left in the quiet countryside by himself, Blurr sat back down, then lay down, then rolled onto his front and kicked his legs up into the air, propping his chin on his hands. Some animals walked around in a little pen in front of him, and he wondered if he could pick one up some time. Better to wait for the family that lived here to get back, he supposed.
He let out a small sigh, letting his frame relax and sink into the grass.
This was a somewhat unwanted detour, but Blurr was determined to make the most of it while he was here.