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The turtles had become aware of the Cybertronians long before the robotic like aliens had become aware of the turtles. Mostly due to their battles being a lot harder to hide and well, the turtles were ninja’s. Their whole point was to not be seen. Still it had been Donatello, because of course it had to be Don, that suggested they reach out to the aliens to offer assistance, or to at least get them to stay away from New York. The meeting and subsequent introductions had gone about as well as they could have. The Autobots were deeply confused at first, but understanding. The turtles were not indigenous life, they had been created, but they were still technically earthlings and therefore under the protection of the Autobots.
It was explained that secrecy was of the utmost importance and not even their military friends could know about the turtles, so all of their meetings had to be handled with expert care. No one wanted to be dissected and while the Autobots tried to vouch for their human allies, it was deemed too dangerous. Betrayal had already shaken how the Autobots felt about the humans, and the human military and government. So it was agreed to keep the turtles a secret while still using them for intel.
No one was shocked that Bumblebee and Michaelangelo ended up getting along swimmingly. There was some shock that Raphael ended up getting along with anyone. Everyone assumed him and Ironhide would be like peas in a pod, but they were both quite prickly towards each other and ended up in shouting matches that had turned to violence at one point. The shock was how well Raphael held up and the fact he had gotten Ironhide onto his back. No one had anticipated that would be possible, but it appeared the turtles were stronger and more skilled than even the Autobots had anticipated. The fact that Raphael had the attention of Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-one, was also not a shock to anyone that actually knew the red banded turtle. He also got along swimmingly with Ratchet, much to Ironhide’s irritation.
The turtles had actually managed to teach the Autobots how to be better at hiding, using stealth, and understanding humans a bit better. Explaining from a place where they were on the outside, but had been immersed in the culture since birth. They made for useful allies and the bots actually enjoyed their company as rare as it was. The turtles still couldn’t trust the humans in any capacity, and urged the Autobots to seek out a more neutral location for their base as at any point the humans could easily turn on them as they had before. Even though there were specific humans the bots trusted, they also understood that large groups of humans were still dangerous.
Eventually the Autobots found a location that they could turn into a more secured base. Despite the government not liking it, they weren’t really given a choice in the matter. The Autobots needed more room, more space, and more privacy. They could not get that in human cities and human buildings. Once the base was completed, which took more than a year, the turtles had started to help them more. It was mostly Donatello helping them with technology. Showing them how to use what was already on earth, and combine it with their own technology to make replacements for things they could not otherwise make.
Eventually the Autobots completed the groundbridge and linked it to the turtle's lair, allowing their terrapin friends to visit whenever they would like. This also began the building of the spacebridge. Something that had the potential to allow the bots to travel back to what was left of cybertron. Optimus still held out hope that there was something they could salvage of their home and maybe even enough to bring it back from extinction. It was a risk. Groundbridge technology was already shaky and used far more energy than anticipated which left them scrambling for unique energy sources. A spacebridge was going to be even worse. As it had to be built out in space, something they had a difficult time clearing with the world's governments.
No one had noticed the turtles boarding the Autobot ship. While they had not explicitly been invited, they also had not been uninvited. It was Donatello’s idea to join the Autobots on their mission. While Leo and Raph had tried to argue about the dangers and risk, Don was determined and assured his brothers that he would keep them safe and that there was too much opportunity to learn to pass up. He still had questions about their origins, and the other mutagen. There had to be answers, possibly beyond their own galaxy. Don had also pointed out that the Autobots were their friends and needed their support.
There had been an argument once the turtles were discovered. They had already taken off and broken through earth's atmosphere. While it wasn’t impossible to turn back, it would set them back months if they did. In the end it was decided that the turtles would stay on board and assist in the mission, however, they had to take orders from Prime, Leo had to step out of the leadership role for this mission. Optimus made it clear it was the only way they would allow the brothers to assist them, and that it was for their own safety. No one had any idea of what they would find on the other side of the space bridge. It was too much of a risk to just allow the turtles to go in blind on a planet they might not even be able to survive on.
Once the space bridge was activated, the countdown began. Before long the ship was passing through the light. Everything felt strange and wrong for a moment before settling down. Hours seemed to pass, or maybe it was just minutes before everything came to a stop. The ship had not moved. They were still above earth, still in the sol galaxy. Their position in space had not changed, yet, something didn’t seem right. The earth looked just a little bit wrong, but it was dismissed. There would be time to sort those concerns later, There was also another issue. Sometime during the jump both Ironhide and Raphael had fallen unconscious. For now, they needed to return to base and figure out what went wrong.
The lack of communication from the government as they reentered earth's atmosphere concerned Optimus. Something was nagging at him, something felt off, something he could not place. They had to get to the base as quickly as possible. Contact their allies, explain there was a failure and nothing to be concerned about. There was no point in mentioning any details, he didn’t want to cause concern. However, the lack of communication, and the strange lack of invisible noise was making Optimus more and more anxious. When they finally made it to the base, he wasted no time in getting everyone offloaded and onto their research tasks.
“Ratchet, you are in charge of our unconscious comrades. We need to know what happened to them.” Optimus turned to Donatello. “Can you assist with sorting out communications. I have been unable to reach any of our allies, or enemies. There is no communication traffic that I can detect.”
Donatello nodded and headed to the communications hub as Optimus continued to call out orders. It was becoming clear to everyone in the Autobot base that something had gone very wrong. Not just with their mission, it seemed like there was some other underlying issue that had not shown itself just yet, and it would take a few more hours to do so, in the strangest way possible.
Ratchet had both Ironhide and Raphael moved to the medbay, while Optimus continued to bark orders and get people moving. The medic was concerned with their sudden unconsciousness, but he also did not miss the slight tinge of fear in their Prime’s tone while he continued to give out orders while also trying to reach, well at this point, anyone. If he didn’t have two patients Ratchet would have tried to help, as it was, he was at a loss. All signs indicated that Ironhide was perfectly fine, just offline. With the turtle, it was a little harder and he had to ask one of the other brothers for assistance. Leonardo, as he seemed to have a decent grasp of their own medical needs.
Mike, not knowing what to do and being worried, decided to stay in the medbay with Leo. If nothing else he could maybe help his brother by being an extra set of hands. He was usually the last one they called in for help with injuries, unless it was stitches. He had the steadiest hands and the best eye for getting a clean stitch with minimal scaring. The only problem here is that Raphael didn’t seem to have any obvious injuries, he was just out cold.
After what felt like days, when it was really only a couple of hours, Donatello made his way to the medbay. He needed to check on Raph, but he also needed to speak to Ratchet about his findings. He wasn’t sure it was appropriate to just bother the Prime himself, and he also wanted someone else to just do a small sanity check because he honestly felt like he was going crazy. He probably looked a little crazy because Leo just stared at him as he walked in. “Don? Are you ok?”
Donatello swallowed and croaked out, his voice not quite right when he spoke. “Ratchet?” He cleared his throat and spoke a little more clearly. “Ratchet, I know you are busy, but I need a second opinion on something urgent.” He looked up at the Autobot and even Ratchet could see that the turtle was pale and shaken.
“Of course, both patients are stable, please step into my office.” Ratchet had learned early on that these turtles, unlike humans, really hated being picked up and carried unless it was emergent. While this did seem to be one of those situations, the poor organic just looked so pale and lost. Which, considering the orders this particular turtle was given was starting to worry the medic a little. Once the door was closed Ratchet lowered a hand. “I know you don’t like this, but it would be easier if you sat on my desk while we spoke.”
While Donatello did come up to Ratchet’s knees, he had to agree, this was not a conversation that was going to be easy if he had to yell it up to someone. As such he allowed himself to be lifted onto the desk and took a moment to get comfortable before taking a breath. “Look, I don’t know how else to say this and I feel like I need a sanity check, but, I think the world ended while we were gone.” He pushes his glasses up his nose and pulls up the data he had compiled onto a small datapad and offered a cable to Ratchet. “If you want to hook up to this you can see the data on a larger screen.”
Taking the tiny cable Ratchet connected it to a port on his own data pad and waited for the transfer, rolling what Donatello had said over in his processor. What had the turtle meant when he said the world had ended. Sure he was shaken, but not panicked to the degree that this kind of news would normally warrant. So what exactly had he meant? The data load took no time and all and Ratchet disconnected carefully before giving the data an initial once over.
“I appreciate you bringing this for a sanity check, as you call it. My initial interpretation is you may be correct. This shows no signals of any kind. No radio waves, no satellite feeds, just silence where a near imperceptible buzz should be. Why didn’t you take this to Optimus?”
Donatello shrugged. “I just, I didn’t want to bring him something and have it be wrong. I don’t really understand your protocol for dealing with your Prime. Depending who I am talking to he is either your leader or your god?”
Ratchet stifled a small chuckle and made a vague hand gesture. “It is not that simple. He is both and neither. I suppose it is more like he is blessed by our god Primus, but not in a way that I have time to explain at the moment. I will be happy to have a conversation later if you want to know more, right now we need to bring this to his attention. Something happened when we went through that space bridge.”
Nodding Don chimed in. “We assumed it was a failure, but what if it wasn’t? We wanted to move through space, what if we accidentally moved through time instead? Or moved into parallel space. This is earth, but not our earth?”
Ratchet looked thoughtful, both of those options were distinct possibilities. The space bridge technology was so foreign to earth and some of the components were slapped together with whatever best matches they could find. Perhaps the glitch sent them sideways into a different reality, or worse, time moved around them while they were stuck in a bubble and never moved at all. “Both are equally plausible. More likely than the earth ending in the short amount of time we were up there. I really think we should notify Optimus now.”
Helping Don down, Ratchet carried him into the medbay and set him near his brothers. “I can comm Optimus, I think it is better I deliver the news in my office.” Before he could even finish the thought, he heard a groan come from Ironhide.
The large dark mech sat up, gripping his helm. “The fuck…. Why’s my head feel like a modem sounds…UGH.. My mouth tastes like I licked 30 9 volts. Jeezus.”
Ratchet stared at Ironhide. The voice was right, but the cadence was wrong. It didn’t seem right, but so far no one else had noticed and Ratchet had a job to do and began scanning Ironhide for any residual issues.
“Damn Ratchet, when did you get so small? S’wrong with you. Hell, what the fuck is wrong with me, why does everything feel like I have been hooked up to electricity for days?”
Ratchet cycled his optics and tilted his head at Ironhide. The scans were mostly normal, but there were a few abnormal readings he couldn’t quite place. “I am going to have to do a deeper scan, please open your medical port.”
“The fucks a medical port? Ratchet, I ain’t a robot. S’me Raph… you sure you are ok?”
And there it was. The body was Ironhide, the voice was Ironhide, but if the sentence just uttered was true. The consciousness in the mechs body, was Raphael. Ratchet paused, not wanting the situation to escalate into panic, but also not really knowing a better way to deal with this and just pointed off to the side where Raphael’s body lay on another bed, looking so tiny, and still remaining quite unconscious.
RaphHide turned and saw himself, or his body at least, laying there. To his credit he didn’t scream. He did just sit there and the silence that stretched was unnerving. “So I’m dead?”
Ratchet looked horrified. “NO! Of course not. I mean I am pretty sure you aren’t. Do you happen to hear Ironhide in there with you?”
“Why would I hear Ironhide, what’s he got…” Raph tended to talk with his hands, and the more upset he was the larger his gestures. He finally noticed the black paint, the mech body, the jointed metallic fingers. “Oh… that explains a few things.”
Donatello waved up at Ratchet. “Get Optimus in here, and can you get me up to the bed please, along with Leo? There is a chance that if Raph is in Ironhide, then Ironhide might be in Raph. When he wakes up, he might need to be restrained.”
Ratchet nodded, understanding the concern and helped the turtles up on the bed with Raphael. He also brought Mike up, thinking it would be best if the small organics were all in one spot and off the floor, lest someone get trampled in a panic. This was double dipping into the bad news. The world possibly ended, or they moved through time, or this wasn’t their earth, and on top of that, Raph and Ironhide switched bodies. This was quickly becoming one of the worst days Ratchet had ever had, and that was saying something considering he had spent most of the war on Cybertron as a field medic and getting blown up while trying to put mechs back together.
Optimus strode into the medbay looking, well, not great. His frame was clamped tight, slight shaking in his form, it was clear he was doing his best to try and appear unbothered. The only problem was it was like a flashing neon sign letting everyone know that he was, in fact, not ok. “Ratchet, your comm sounded urgent. I trust you have been able to help with the injuries?”
“Uh, Optimus, would you step into my office, we need to chat.” Ratchet gestured towards the door.
“I am sorry my friend, but right now we are still in crisis, none of our attempts at communication have been answered. All of the readings we have coming in seem corrupted. There is chaos and fear building. I would prefer to make this quick. If you need extra assistance I can reroute a few individuals here.” Optimus noticed Ironhide sitting quietly, just staring, but that Raphael was still out cold. “If we could get some trusted humans on the line, maybe we could help more.”
“That isn’t going to work.” Donatello pipped in. “Unless my initial data is wrong, there are no humans.”
Optimus froze and turned his gaze down on Donatello. “I appear to be experiencing an auditory glitch. Could you repeat?”
Ratchet huffed a loud sigh and stepped in. “He said what he said, Prime. There are no humans, there is no anything. I looked over his initial data, haven’t done a deep dive yet, but it appears there is no one on this planet anymore. Well, maybe, we have some theories about what happened, and I wish I could say that was the only thing.”
Optimus looked like he might be having a stroke, or whatever the cybertronian equivalent of a stroke was. “I require elaboration.”
Donatello stepped in. “I think something went very wrong with our spacebridge test. Either, it moved us through time, or we might be in a parallel universe and this isn’t our earth. Those are the most likely possibilities. Right now, we cannot find any evidence of any form of global communication. No cell signals, no satellite, nothing. Further investigation, including leaving the base, is going to be the only way to determine what happened here, or which possibility we are in.”
Well, this was certainly not the conversation he had wanted to have and Prime was dangerously close to ripping the matrix of leadership out of his chest and throwing it at the first mech he thought might catch it. Ironhide could lead, it wouldn’t be the worst choice. He turned to Ratchet. “You indicated there was more?”
RaphHide piped up. “Yo. Yer primeness, do ya think yer magic chest dohickey can put me back in my body?” RaphHide gestured to his body on the other table.
Ratchet interjected before Prime could speak. “It appears that on top of whatever else is going on, Raphael’s mind is in Ironhide's body. The assumption is that Hide is residing in the turtle, but he has yet to awaken and prove that to be true, but the assumption is solid.”
Now they had to decide which emergency to deal with first. Their overall situation, or the mindswap. This wasn’t an easy choice, both were important, both required solutions. Optimus looked around the room and just tried to keep it together. “Ratchet, in this moment I trust your guidance. Of the two situations we have, which needs to take priority.”
Ratchet looked at RaphHide apologetically. “Right now, there doesn’t appear to be any harm in leaving Raphael’s mind in Ironhide’s body. I don’t want to leave it long, but, we may need other resources to solve that issue. The issue of when or where we are seems a bit more pressing at this time. I am sorry Raphael, I am sure you would like your body back.”
“Nah, I get it. Once Don said somethin about the world maybe endin, or uh, time travel, my problem seems less important. I suppose as no harm is bein done ta either of us, then focusing on what affects everyone seems more important.” RaphHide shrugged a shoulder and then made a strange face. “Look, I’m not one ta tell anyone how ta live their lives, but I think there is something wrong with this body. It’s all stiff and I dunno if what I am feelin is pain or normal.”
Ratchet huffed a deep sigh. “That, would probably be pain. Ironhide is notorious for skipping out on maintenance and finding ways to weasel out of his appointments with me. Perhaps you would be willing to cooperate on his behalf and let me complete some repairs?”
“Fuck yeah, If I am gonna be stuck in here for a while I at least want ta try and enjoy it or somethin. Do what ya gotta doc, but I dunno how this works. I have been tryin ta get myself to stand for a while and can’t seem ta do it, so now is as good a time as any since I can’t seem ta be able ta move much.”
While Ratchet set up to begin working on Ironhide’s body, with the assistance of Raphs cooperation. Leo and Mike decided to stay in medbay with Raph and do their best to help where they could. Especially if IronRaph woke up. Donatello opted to join Optimus and climbed up on his shoulder. They would need to gather as many mechs as they could and begin searching for more definitive answers.
A reconnaissance team was selected, including Bumblebee and Sideswipe. Sunstreaker was staying on base with the others to function as both assistance and back up should anyone needed it. Hours passed and the initial reports from the scout team didn’t look good. They had found remnants of what looked like human civilization. The theory that they moved through time seemed to be winning, but none of what they found ruled out the parallel earth theory yet.
Ironhide had finally woken up, in the wrong body of course, and it went about as well as predicted. They were able to restrain and sedate him enough to calm him down and explain what had happened. At least, what they knew at that point. Hide had remained unconscious in Raphael's body for more than 24 hours. Which allowed Ratchet to complete a number of repairs on Ironhide’s body while he worked to help Raphael learn how to make the mech body work for him.
It had taken time both for Raphael to learn how to function in an Autobot body, but also for Ironhide to calm down enough to no longer remain restrained. He was not taking his situation of being stuck in a meat prison well at all. If anything he was finding new and inventive ways to make his situation worse.
It was three days before Bumblebee and Sideswipe returned. News that they had found survivors spread through the base. They hadn’t just found humans, they had found Decepticons as well. No one was in good shape, and while the stories were mixed, some contradicted themselves, the Autobots were able to begin piecing together what had happened during the brief time they were caught in the space bridge.
As best they could tell, they had been stuck in time. Long enough for the world as they had known it to end. The estimation was over 50 years, but an exact time was a bit difficult to determine. It was enough time for everything to go to shit. With the Autobots gone, the few Decepticons on earth tried to take over. No one expected the humans to lash out quite as violently as they did and it should not have been a surprise when they started bombing their own cities, just to get rid of the alien invaders. Despite their low numbers, the technological supremacy of the Decepticons kept the humans at bay and caused more destruction.
By the time the humans realized just how much damage was done, it was too late. Resources began running out. Though it wasn’t only for them. The Decepticons learned the hard way that with no reinforcements, and a lack of resources, they were not doing so well either. The aftermath of all the bombing, experimental weapons, and infighting had caused a significant decline in human populations. Now, everyone was just fighting to survive, with a few hoarding resources and causing even more issues.
At some point some of the humans and Decepticons had formed a shaky alliance, built only on desire to survive. Working together they had been able to do more than separately and slowly those alliances grew in strength. They had dug in, formed their own bases, built up their own lives after what was considered the apocalypse. Most people had assumed it would be a zombie apocalypse and not their own xenophobia that ended up destroying the world as they knew it. Now it was some off brand mad max situation with flavors of fall out. There were still entire cities no one would go near because of the experimental weapons that had been used in the war.
Optimus looked tired, not quite defeated, just tired, as Bumblebee relayed his initial report. The scout had kept his distance, uncertain if the Decepticons had picked up on their presence and not wanting to trigger a fight. Bee admitted that the humans didn’t appear to be distressed but he couldn’t say for certain that they weren’t just cooperative Decepticon slaves. What little information Bee and Sides had gathered was broken, and not the most reliable.
“I still say we should have tried to talk to one of them. Sent a ping or something. I know Decepticons aren’t known for telling the truth, but if the information we found is correct then they might be willing to negotiate.” Sideswipe handed over a datapad. “From what we gathered, the only reason the war stopped was because resources ran out on both sides. The cons were running at 200% consistently through their war with the humans. Ran through everything they had stashed here on earth, and their emergency supplies and rations. They could be desperate enough to work with us. Considering we actually have energon here.”
“We don’t have much, but you may be right. We also do not have the full picture. This could be an elaborate trap.” Optimus scrolled through the datapad and looked up as Sunstreaker walked up.
“I dunno Prime. While I agree something still feels off, I am not sure that is it exactly. I am going to agree with Sides here and say we should at least attempt contact. We are in better shape than they are, we have this base, we have a way to defend ourselves. Worst case scenario, we have a ship and we can leave earth again if needed. I see that as a last resort, but I think we have the upper hand and should use it.” Sunny looked at his twin with a small encouraging smile.
Optimus looked between the twins and just gave up. There was no arguing when they were both in agreement. Going against them never ended well for anyone, and he was simply too tired. Also, it wasn’t the best idea, but it also wasn’t the worst. They needed information, especially if they were going to try and use the space bridge again to fix all this, if that was even possible. “Fine, you two and Bumblebee head back and attempt contact. I would say take Ironhide, but I am not certain if that is the best idea in his current condition. I just worry sending you out without heavy support.”
Sideswipe transformed his arm into a long thick blade. “I am the heavy support. Nothing is going to happen to Bee, my brother, or this base. Don’t worry, I will make sure not to put the humans at risk.” He paused. “Though, we might want to set up some extra security and more surveillance. There were only a couple of Decepticons where we went, and they were not the worst of them. I didn’t see a single seeker, or any of the big guns. Not sure if they got taken out, or if we just haven’t run into them yet, but maybe keep the base on alert while we are gone.”
Watching the three bot team leave, Optimus sighed loudly, rubbing his optics. All they had wanted was to try and find a way to help their own world, to get back to it, to heal it. How, in their attempts, had they managed to destroy earth in the process. Logically Optimus knew it wasn’t technically their fault, but their disappearance was clearly the catalyst and had caused the war that had eventually destroyed most of the planet, just like their own had been destroyed. If their kind were capable of dreaming, Optimus would have convinced himself this was a nightmare, it certainly felt like one.