Chapter Text
POV: Transformers: Prime (tfp)
A large portal opened, letting out a group of bots, who either tumbled to the ground or stumbled slightly as the portal closed behind them.
”Ow!” Bulkhead complained, rubbing his helm as he pushed himself up off of the ground with the assistance of Bumblebee, who looked around curiously.
”What the..?” Arcee looked around, taking stock of her team and of their new surroundings.
Team Prime was together, spread out but still in a group nonetheless, as they all regained their bearings.
”Stay on guard, Autobots” Optimus commanded, posture stiffened and guarded.
”Bulkhead?” Another bot walked toward the group, sheathing his dual swords as he approached wearily.
”Jackie?” Bulkhead said, questioning but relieved once he confirmed that the other wasn’t injured. “What is this place?”
They were stood in a seemingly gigantic area; it was sparse and plain, with nothing but white flooring, white walls, and a… ceiling of some sort?
”Beats me, Bulk.” Wheeljack sighed, crossing his arms as he spared a glance upward, at the ‘ceiling’- if it could even be called that.
Instead of there being a solid, firm roof above their heads, there was just a static void, as if the room continued but just cut off before the rest could load.
“How did we all end up here at the same time?” Arcee asked, puzzled, “We were all scattered over Earth because of our patrols so how did we manage to get here, together?”
Ratchet spoke up, “I’ve run a couple test but I can’t seem to get into contact with base. The humans were there but I don’t remember if they were transported by those portals as well.”
“Don’t worry, Autobots! The humans are currently in another room right now.” A new, disembodied voice suddenly rang out through the room.
Every bot stiffened, alert and guarded even as the voice continued speaking.
”I’m sure that you all have more than a few questions and I’d be happy to answer them,” They began, “But I can’t guarantee I can answer all of them accurately, though I’ll try!”
After a moment of contemplation, Optimus asked the first question, “Who are you?”
”Well, I don’t really have an official title, but my name is solace, or Sol, since it’s shorter.”
”Alright then, Sol,” Arcee emphasised the name, "What do you want from us?”
”I’m glad you asked, actually!” Sol replied enthusiastically, continuing quickly, “I don’t actually know how to phrase this but uh… okay, so, you guys know of the multiverse?”
A few minutes and a lot of chopped explaining later, the Autobots finally got their answer.
‘So we’re going to meet… other universes?’ Bumblebee beeped out, tilting his head in curiosity.
”Pretty much, yeah.” Sol confirmed, adding, “I should probably also mention, the Decepticons and… a future bot, will also be present, and I ask that you do not start fighting or anything as there will also be other humans and younger bots present.”
”Other humans?” Ratchet echoed, blinking incredulously.
”Younger bots?” Bulkhead repeated, interested.
”Wait, the ‘cons are gonna be there too?!” Arcee exclaimed through gritted teeth.
”Yup.” Sol offered no more elaboration to the trio’s comments.
”Could I ask, where are the human children?” Optimus brought the attention to another topic.
”As I said previously, Jack, Miko, Rafael, and Agent Fowler are in another room right now, and I’ll bring them in once the larger bots settle down so that it’ll be safer. Obviously, I wouldn’t let anything happen to them anyway, but it’ll be much easier that way.” Sol easily explained patiently.
”Thank you, Solace.”
”The least I could do, Prime!” They replied before continuing, “Oh! Looks like we have two new arrivals for you. Just a heads up- they’re both from the future so don’t be too surprised.”
Just as they uttered the last word, two separate portals opened in front of Team Prime, one swirling blue and the other purple.
And, just as Sol warned, two new bots stumbled out of the new portals, both adorned with the red Autobot insignia.
”Ultra Magnus?” Optimus spoke in disbelief, optics widening as he stared at his Second in Command.
Hearing his name, the blue bot looked up, optics locking onto his leader and immediately straightening up in his presence, “Sir! Where are we?”
”Why were we bridged back already? I was still on recon with Jack!” The other bot complained, blinking stupidly as Team Prime stared at the duo in shock and confusion.
”Welcome, Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen!” Sol interrupted before anyone could get in another word, “You’ll all recognise Ultra Magnus, however Smokescreen is a new member to Team Prime in the future, so you won’t know him yet.”
”It is great news that we get two valuable teammates, old and new, in the future.” Optimus nodded with a faint smile on his face plates.
”I am so confused right now.” Smokescreen deadpanned, optics furrowed as he looked around himself and the room.
”You’ll get used to it, don’t worry too much.” Sol waved off his queries, “I’ll leave the explaining to you guys because I am not gonna explain all that again. Good luck.”
It was silence for a couple seconds before Optimus decided to speak up once more, “I think we should fill you in.”
Around 15 minutes later, the Autobots were ready.
”Now, I want you guys to please remember the rules from before.” Sol reminded, “No fighting, no violence, nothing like that at all. If anything happens, I can and will intervene.”
A chorus of agreements sounded and, after verifying their sincerity, Sol spoke again, a grin in their voice.
”Perfect! Now, I’ll be preparing to teleporting you all to the main room in a second…”
A couple of seconds passed.
”Alright! The transfer is similar to ground bridging so it shouldn’t be too… rough?” Their voice ended the question with an unsure tone.
”Well that isn’t reassuring in the slightest.” Smokescreen joked leisurely, smiling mischievously.
Ignoring the comment, Sol finally said what they had all been waiting for, “Commencing transportation… now!”
And, with a flash, the group of bots was gone, leaving empty space behind.
“I’m so good at this.” Sol sighed, content.
POV: Transformers: Animated (2015)
"It's been ages!" Bumblebee groaned dramatically, stretching his legs from where he was sat upside down on one of the many sofas in the room, bored.
"Quit your whining." Sentinel Prime barked back, glaring at the yellow bot with an annoyed expression.
"Maintain yourself, Sentinel." Ultra Magnus warned, fixing a cool glance onto the other bot, who merely huffed and crossed his arms.
"Uh- I agree with Bee." Bulkhead suddenly spoke up, hesitant but still in agreement, "We really have been here for a while. When are the other people coming?"
"That's a question I can actually answer- unlike the many you asked earlier-" Sol replied, casually.
"Well then, I'm waiting." Megatron's icy voice demanded from where he stood far away from the opposing faction. His gaze was sharp and defiantly held a sense of furiousity, however he hadn't done anything to attack the Autobot occupants, much to the relief of basically everyone non-Decepticon there.
"I think all the other universes are ready to be transported now." Sol answered, "As I told them as well, any affiliated humans will be transported here later just so none of them get injured or spooked."
"A good decision." Optimus Prime nodded, wary but in agreement with the logic of their method.
"I wonder if we'll get to meet other us-es!" Bumblebee randomly rang out, suddenly giddy, "I bet my other self- selves?- are super cool!"
"Can confirm, they're all pretty awesome."
For the first time in a while, Ratchet spoke up with his own questions, "How many universes are we going to be with? Judging by the size of this cave-like room, I'm expecting quite a few."
"Oh, yeah." Sol said simply, "I'm too lazy to to count exactly how many, but it'll be probably between, uhh, 4-7?"
"You just used random numbers, didn't you?"
"Yeah…"
"Whatever." Ratchet sighed, "When are they coming again?"
"Right when you guys are sorted out!" Sol took charge once again, instructing, "If you guys look around, you'll see a bright, neon sign which says 'tfa' on it- do you guys see it?"
Sure enough, floating in mid air was the phrase 'tfa', which was more of a random combination of letters to them, but they didn't question it.
"I need you guys to stand near there, if you can. No need to worry of different factions. You can still spread out." Sol reassured after seeing some of their expressions, "I'll mark off your proximity or whatever once you guys stand there- mainly so I can keep track of who we have."
After a moment of hesitation, the bots from the tfa universe stood relatively close to the floating sign, staying within their respective groups as they waited, some patient, others intrigued.
Suddenly, a snap and a clink resounded through the air and, under a sign which read 'tfp', 3 swirling portals expanded from thin air, moving backwards and leaving behind 2 consecutive groups of bots.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that-" Knockout grumbled, dusting off his shoulders dramatically.
"You alright, kid?" Wheeljack checked in on Bumblebee, who nodded in confirmation before chirping back a quick 'thanks' to the other mech, who smiled easily in return.
"Guess they weren't kidding…" Arcee grumbled, a sharpened glare needling its way to the Decepticon seeker, who shivered mentally in discomfort.
tfp Bulkhead placed a large, strengthening hand onto the femme's shoulder, squeezing lightly, "It's alright, 'Cee. The voice- I mean, Sol, probably told the Cons not to fight us either."
Though Arcee was still agitated, she managed to control herself enough to look away.
Optimus, content that the rest of his team was safe and uninjured, now looked across the room, his interest piquing when he set his optics on the other group who was with them.
There was a clear separation between the two factions (judging by the insignias present on their chassis').
And that was all that tfp Optimus could decipher before yet another portal ripped open, sending in yet another group of bots.
Twitch didn't think she'd ever get used to that feeling.
The weird, mysterious person had said that the transportation wouldn't be too different to how it felt when they were teleported before.
Everyone was still on edge but, after the person explained and introduced themself (Sol, Twitch reminded herself) their worry had ceased to a minor bubble of tension, though they were all curious and definitely interested at what Sol had to say
"The multiverse?" Wheeljack thought aloud, "I thought there were only theories?"
"Yeah, well, whoever first thought about it was right- the multiverse has existed since like, forever." Sol replied, casual as if they were talking about the weather and not something that should be physically impossible to intercept.
"Wait, so you pulled us out of our universe then?" Bumblebee asked suddenly, confusion creasing his face, "How?"
This caught the attention of the bots in the room. Megatron, Optimus, Elita, Arcee, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, and the Terrans. They all looked questionably at each other.
"It's… difficult?" Sol tried, as if shrugging their shoulders, "But that doesn't matter right now. I've gotta tell you guys some things before you actually go to the main meeting room-"
And then, Sol proceeded to tell them some 'ground rules', as they had called it. They were pretty simple: No fighting, no destroying things, no killing, basically the usual, normal stuff.
But there was one more rule that puzzled Twitch the most.
"And finally, do not, under any circumstance, touch the portals belonging to another universe aside from your own"
Sol had said this with clarity, their voice firm as if not daring any objection.
Nobody questioned. At least, not out loud.
But either way, Twitch wasn't even sure the portals could be touched. They looked like swirly, sparkly, mesmerising pools of nothingness. As confusing as that sounded.
They were blue. And teal. And purple. And… orange? Way to ruin the colour scheme, but oh well.
Twitch landed hard. Everything was bright for a second before it died down, revealing her and the rest of her family and companions.
"Damn- their transportation seemed more-"
"-Rough?" A blue femme with pink accents finished the words of the bot next to her, who had swords strapped to his back, smiling knowingly. The mech grinned back, nodding his head approvingly.
Hashtag held out a hand to her sister, which the red Terran graciously accepted. Pulling herself up, Twitch cast her gaze around the area, realising they had all become the new subject of scrutiny for the other large groups in the room.
There were three. And one of them seemed to have arrived at the same time that her universe had, judging by the befuddled state they were in.
They all looked different in terms of colour, build, optics, and, more noticeably, faction.
It was clear that there was a divide in the groups. Autobots in one. Decepticons in another. Twitch looked around nervously at the angry glares sent between the groups, although they weren't super frequent.
"So, uh, where are we?" A bot from the other newly arrived party questioned, his red paint job bright and unscratched.
"Where are we? Who are you?" A white and blue femme demanded, repeating rid Sideswipe's question with a harsher tone.
"Cool it, Strongarm." rid Bumblebee interrupted, his eyes narrowly darting around the room, analysing.
"Weren't you told earlier?"
"Told what?" rid Grimmlock said, puzzled.
"Okay, so I might've forgotten to explain stuff to these guys…" Sol voice cringed as annoyed looks were shot toward the ceiling.
"Who is that?" Fix-it asked nervously, taking to hide behind his leader's leg.
"Can we have an explanation as to what exactly is going on right now?" rid Bumblebee demanded, now standing straight with his head tilted upwards, as if speaking to the roof.
"Ah! Yes, of course!" Sol stammered, clearing their throat before beginning, "To put it short, the people in the room with you are from different universes from your own, and right now I'm transporting the other dimensions here, so uh, try to patient?"
There was a collective silence from the rid group before Fix-it spoke up.
"Are you walking- bzt- stalking- bzr- talking about the multiverse? Wow! There have… only been theories which have never been proven about them! Wow… I can't relive- bzt- relieve- brz- believe it!"
The other bots from the other universes stared quizzically at the mini bot, taking into account his apparent… malfunction, as well as his size.
He could easily be the same height as an average human child?
"Well, hopefully you guys are more filled in?" Sol said, hopeful, "Because I haven't finished transporting everyone, so, stand by!"
Following through with what they had stated earlier, more portals emerged from thin air. Though it was becoming more common for the first few groups who had been transported, the rid universe gawked as they took in the magic like spectacles.
"Is that what brought us here?"
Just like before, another large group of bots were spit out by the portals, and there was also a clear divide in faction this time.
Stood under a sign reading 'cbr', two groups gathered, both looking at each other (as Decepticon and Autobot greetings go) before taking stock of the new people around them.
"So these guys are the other dimensions that guy was on about-" Hotrod looked curious, though he stayed close to Bumblebee and Cheetor, who also stared in astonishment at the new faces.
"I didn't think they were actually telling the truth about the 'meeting other universes' stuff." cbr Windblade mentioned, pleasantly surprised.
"Well, excuse you!" The offended voice rang out, making some of the Terrans giggle, "I have no reason to lie to you! But anyways, there are some more universes to be brought in, and the next ones will take a bit of time so… feel free to chat among yourselves, just make sure to stay within your group's range, as I told you all before!"
Their voice clicked off, and a silence developed.
"How long do we have to stay here for…" a voice grumbled, though their muttering was loud in the sudden moment. Optics snapped toward cbr Shadowstriker, who glared back at some, though she shuffled uncomfortably at the attention.
The room was still silent, but not even 10 seconds later, another voice spoke up.
"Okay well, this is kinda awkward so-"
"I think this is a perfect opportunity to get to know each other!" cbr Cheetor exclaimed, a bright smile stretched out on his face as he turned to address the other universes.
"Right!" Twitch responded, face alight with barely contained excitement as she mentally went through everything that she could mention about herself, "Well, my name is Twitch and-" she flew low, pulling her brother into a side hug with a grin, "This is my twin brother, Thrash!"
At the last part, rid Slipstream and Jetstorm perked up, interested in the idea of there being another set of twins aside from themself. Though, they didn't look very similar… non-identical twins?
It was odd for a lot of the older bots, specifically those already deep into the Cybertronian civil war, to see a youngling again, never mind one so full of life and whimsy.
tfp Ratchet reminisced, sending a regretful glance to tfp Bumblebee, who remained unintentionally oblivious to the current state of the medic's mind.
"Ahem!" Sol's voice crackled from the ceiling overhead once more. "The wait was shorter than expected, luckily! Which means that I can carry on transporting, probably, the last of the remaining groups now."
"'Probably'?" Strongarm repeated, confused.
"Yeah, I don't know if there'll be any more in the future."
"Aren't you like the-" es Breakdown spoke, searching for the right word, "mastermind of this whole place?"
"Do me a favour and never use that word ever again, it makes me sound like a bad guy." Sol huffed, "but anyway, here."
At their words, three final portals opened one by one.
From one, a single, yellow bot stationed under a sign saying 'bm'.
And from another, a group of Autobots, as well as two other groups with insignias many of the other bots couldn't recognise. Though, one of the mystery groups was comprised of bots with animal-like appearances.
And from the last one, a group of wary looking bots with noticeable gaps in the middle of their chest's. But, before anything could be said, a yell echoed through the space.
"MINERS!" tf1 Darkwing bellowed, anger radiating off of his blood red visor as he stalked toward the group of bots, who all instinctively backed away from his presence.
But before the larger bot could even lay a finger on any of the smaller bots, reaching for the yellow one, whose eyes squeezed shut in fear as his friends shouted in alarm, his hand stopped in its tracks as a familiar voice came.
"That isn't any way to treat our beloved and hardworking miners now, is it, Darkwing?" The rhetoric question rolled off his tongue as tf1 Sentinel Prime halted the actions of the other bot, squeezing down on his wrist slightly, a warning if anything.
Despite his casual and cool tone, his words carried a steel cold message, his gaze sliding over to tf1 B, who just stared at both of the imposing figures with his eyes blown wide into saucers.
An unnatural stillness settled into the air as they remained like that, before Darkwing cleared his throat and replied.
"Of… Of course not, sir! I… apologise for my ignorance." The last part was said with hesitation, clearly sarcastic, though not toward the figure addressing him.
"Are you guys finished?"
"Quite so." Sentinel Prime confirmed, before walking back to his prior position, passing Airachnid, who side eyed Darkwing as he came to stand next to her, though keeping his distance at the same time.
The other universes all watched in silence; some curious, others startled.
"What did he mean by 'miners'?" tfp Bulkhead whispered to Bumblebee, who shrugged in response.
"Alright, now I'll be bringing in the humans!" Some bots gawked at that while others perked up, "please take care to not accidentally step on one of them, especially those who aren't used to being around smaller beings."
"Wait, you guys actually interact with the little, squishy creatures?" cbr Hotrod startled, cbr Windblade raising an eyebrow at his creative wording.
"You don't?" rotb Mirage bounced back.
As if on cue, multiple tiny portals opened up next to their respective groups, and out of them came their humans.
"Bleh… those things are like, ten times worse than Ratchet's ground bridges." Miko shivered, before looking up and gasping, "Bulkhead! And Wheeljack! Awesome!"
Jack and Raf both went to their respective guardians, relieved that they were able to see them again.
"It's great to see you four unharmed." Optimus' mouth curved up slightly underneath his mask seeing their human companions.
"First car-transforming into robots, and now 'inter dimensional travel'?" Fowler's classic rants were now unfortunately restored as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, too speechless to say much else.
Meanwhile, Russel and Danny were already evaluating with their team.
"Do you think they're trustworthy?" Danny asked rid Bumblebee, a slightly worried tone in his speech, "y'know… the floaty voicy thing..?"
"They don't seem to mean any harm…" The lieutenant began, his gaze subconsciously moving to another group, not very far from his own.
rid Bumblebee was sure he was looking at the past. Not an image, nor a memory. Team Prime looked to be the exact same as when they were still stationed in the abandoned military bunker, if his familiarity with his family was anything to go by.
His obviously younger counterpart evidently lacked the ability to speak, and his paint job was the same, primarily yellow one he had when he first met Raf in contrast to the later black one with yellow accents he had adopted after their first base had fallen.
But then again, what if they weren't from his past. Sure, they may look the same, but were they really the same bots he had spent the majority of his life with?
'Sol' had said that they were meeting alternate dimensions, but did that include alternate timelines as well? If it did, then he wasn't sure if he should reveal his connection to them- who knows what could happen to the timelines if he did.
Perhaps it was because rid Bumblebee was so caught up in his thoughts and theories that he wasn't able to catch to worried glances his team shared with each other behind his back.
"Sari!" tfa Bumblebee cheered with glee as his human companion ran up to him.
"I didn't think the voice would actually let me see you guys!" Sari explained, giggling at the confused expression Bulkhead gave her.
"Do you mean… Sol?"
"Well duhh, it just sounds way more spooky that way!" Sari announced proudly, her hands on her hips, "Oh- hi, OP!"
"Hi, Sari." tfa Optimus nodded, glad she was okay and the same as before. He couldn't help but draw his gaze to the other two members of their team.
Prowl and Ratchet hadn't said anything since the other dimensions had been transported to the room. But, when it had just been their universe, both of them had expressed their suspicions.
It was to be expected, though. Both bots weren't the most trusting and, especially in this situation, it was understandable why they would have doubts.
However, Optimus didn't think they were at risk. If the person going by the name 'Sol' had intended to harm them, they would've done it already. Ever since they had been transported, Sol had been nothing but understanding and welcoming toward them, even though they couldn't see their appearance.
So for now, the leader was content to let his team relax normally, because something about this place made his nerves calm and his head clear, though he wasn't sure it'd last, for whatever reason…
In the bm universe, it wasn't just the humans reuniting, but the bots as well.
"Bumblebee..?" rotb Optimus Prime began, unable to tear his optics away from his scout, who just looked at him, confused.
"Do you… know him, Bee?" Charlie asked hesitantly, coming to stand next to her Autobot friend, her head turned upwards to openly gape at the blue and red bot.
"But how..?" rotb Arcee trailed off, her gaze glued to the yellow bot, suspicious but hopeful.
"Who-bzzt- are you?" bm Bumblebee's question fizzled out of his radio, his eyebrows scrunched up in bewilderment.
The Maximals stood behind the Autobot group, equally surprised however unsure about what to do or say.
rotb Optimus Prime managed to pull his eyes away from his son scout, peering down at the human next to him, "I remember you."
Charlie immediately straightened up as she cleared her throat and responded as steadily as she'd could, "I don't think we've ever met before- sir?"
"Ahem, sorry, everyone?" Sol coughed awkwardly, "I should have mentioned, but some of the universes here are actually different timelines as well, hence the reason for some confusion… that's all!"
The human looked back up to the taller, red and blue mech, her mouth opening in an "ohhh" motion.
Optimus' optics were locked onto his scout, however. This was him, from the past. Before he was killed by Scourge's servos. But apparently not before he came to Earth.
He was alive.
The Prime stepped forward, placing a large hand onto his scout's small shoulder. For a second, bm Bumblebee tensed slightly, before relaxing and looking up at the older bot with bright optics.
Optimus almost collapsed with relief.
"Don't think I've ever seen him so…" Noah began, unsure.
"Emotional?" Mirage finished for him, "Me neither."
"Ok! Listen up everyone!" Sol announced a second later, "I presume you've all caught up with each other now?" There was a chorus of nods and a couple of verbal confirmation, "Great! Now it's time for…
Introductions!"
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