Brand new story, everyone! Ohhhhh...I have got some butterflies in my stomach, I can tell you! Ah well, best to get it over with. Welcome to Trampled Butterflies!
A brief note: the "Cybertronian" language I use here is a mixture of the Nez Perce words I've been using in "Mirrors" and bold print, with some words from the Cybertron Language Academy website (which appears to have vanished?)
Some vocab as follows, pronunciations are pretty much guessed at by me:
T'o't: Sire/Father. Used here literally or as a term of great respect (TOH-eh-TAH)
I'ts'a: Carrier/Mother. Used here as both literal, or a term of great respect (EET-sah)
Y'ats'a: informal for elder brother, used here as a term of endearment (YAHT-sah)
Piyep: formal for elder brother, used here as a term of respect (PEE-yep)
Nene': informal for elder sister, used here as a term of endearment (NAY-neh)
K'anis: younger sister, used here as a term of endearment (KAHN-iss)
Ask'up: formal for younger brother (AHSK-up)
Atsk'a: informal for younger brother, used here as a term of endearment (AHT-skah)
Aahroh: I understand, or very good (aah-ROH)
Je: no (ZHEH)
Chapter 1
Butterfly Effect
"Autobots, return fire!" Optimus thundered, cannons ablaze. What had begun as a simple reconnaissance mission had once more devolved into a brawl.
"You know, I think we should just make it a new rule," Ratchet groused as he knelt behind a half destroyed wall and tended to a mesh wound on Bumblebee's leg, "Jack and Arcee aren't allowed to go scouting alone anymore. They're more danger-prone than Miko!"
A bi-colored head popped up from a drain grate at their pedes. "I'll have you know that I take offense to that," Miko joked, waving a wrench at the medic. He made a shooing motion and she ducked underground once more with a lively chuckle.
Below the surface of the battleground, Jack, Raf, and Miko crawled through cement tunnels armed with only small flashlights. Optimus had determined that the risk of harm coming to them was low enough to allow Raf and Miko to accompany the mission to rescue Jack and Arcee. Now that the battle had joined in earnest, and considering what Arcee and Jack had seen before being attacked, it was obvious that their small size and stealth would be needed.
"Well guys," Jack sighed from the front of the small procession, "At least we haven't had any rain in a while. We could be crawling through sludge!"
Behind him, Rafael made a gagging noise. "Yecch! Don't remind me!"
They passed another junction of pipes and Miko scratched an arrow into the rock with her wrench. "How far to MECH's main lab?" she asked quietly, crouching to rejoin the boys.
Raf pushed himself up on his elbows to adjust his glasses. "Should be about another three junctions, then we bear left."
Jack held a hand to his ear, activating the tiny comm devices each human had been given. It clicked and buzzed with static a moment, then tuned into the frequency the Bots had agreed to use for the time being. "Arcee, how are things looking up there?"
Above ground, Arcee dodged a blast from a tank and kicked over a jeep to act as a temporary shield. "Give it a couple more minutes, Jack. They're mad, but not mad enough to empty the base." She ducked as a lucky shot hit the fuel tank of the jeep, lighting it on fire. Quickly, the femme transformed and rolled out in reverse, barely escaping the blast.
MECH agents swarmed the Autobots, firing their plasma rifles repeatedly. They were getting very good at figuring out just what places would hurt when struck with the burning ammo. So far they hadn't breached any armor, but there were going to be some nasty scorches to clean up later.
"Arcee! What is the strike team's status?" Optimus asked calmly, brushing soldiers aside like ants. He gently, but firmly, pushed them back out of the range of fire.
"Almost to the objective, Optimus, but they need a safe entry point." Arcee drove up to transform and stand by her leader.
Optimus nodded sharply. "Understood. Take Bumblebee and Ratchet and regroup near the eastern wall. Bulkhead and I will divert and contain the remainder of MECH, then we will join you."
Arcee saluted and, after firing a warning shot past a fellow who thought he was a bit braver than his comrades, transformed and retreated. Optimus threw an arm up to shield his optics as MECH began employing flash grenades in an attempt to disorient the Autobots.
Bulkhead scattered them with a blow from his wrecking ball and snorted. "You guys might actually like lens flare more than J. J. Abrams!" he chuckled. Catching Optimus's questioning look, he cleared his throat. "I'll, uh, explain later."
In the tunnels, the kids crouched beside a large grate in the wall, peering through the slats. "I count three, maybe five guys," Miko whispered, "Standard fare: face mask, light body armor, and a souped up gun. Too bad we left the Apex Armor with Smokey and Magnus back home!"
Optimus Prime's voice suddenly crackled over their individual comms. "I am sending backup to your coordinates. Wait until the area is clear before proceeding to deactivate the device. Under no circumstances are you to engage the enemy. Is that clear?"
The three quickly confirmed that they understood and readied themselves to enter the main lab. "From this point on, we don't want MECH knowing what we're up to," Raf cautioned, "I recommend switching to Cybertronian now."
Each human reached back to a chip connected to their comms behind their right ears. It was a technological experiment: a joint project between Ratchet and Unit E to improve stealth. The chip would temporarily reconfigure the wearer's brain patterns and vocal cords to be able to use the Cybertronian language as easily as their native tongue. It never lasted more than a few hours at a time, but so far it had been very useful.
The wall buckled and bowed inwards as Arcee, Ratchet and Bumblebee burst through to chase out the remaining agents. "All clear," the medic grunted, waving the strike team through the grate.
Jack hopped out and turned to help the others. "Okay Raf, let's find that time machine before someone does something rash."
It wasn't hard to find. Human technology being what it was, it took up an entire wall. Raf darted up to the control panel and began looking for a kill switch. "We're at the device, commencing shutdown," he spoke rapidly into his comm as his fingers flew over the keyboard.
Miko snatched up a fallen blaster and covered the doors alongside the other Autobots. Outside there was a horrific screeching of distressed metal followed by a low boom. Optimus and Bulkhead entered through the hangar doors shortly thereafter, slight scorched but whole.
"MECH?" Ratchet asked.
"Contained," Optimus answered shortly.
He and Bulkhead had managed to tear the massive satellite dish from its frame and upend it over the corralled soldiers, trapping them under the dome. While the soldiers were undoubtedly angry, and perhaps a bit frightened, they would undoubtedly escape at some later point, unharmed for the most part.
The Wrecker whistled. "Look at this hunk of junk! What would a human want to go messing with the laws of time and space for? It ain't natural!"
Suddenly a shot echoed through the silo and Raf jumped away from the smoking panel.
"Are you alright, Rafael?" Optimus asked, concerned.
"I'm alright, T'o't!" the boy answered with a tight smile, using the familial honorific Ratchet had taught him to use when addressing a Prime. (Though by some of the other 'Bots' reactions sometimes, Raf got the feeling that it wasn't the standard honorific most Autobots were supposed to use with a Prime.)
Satisfied, the Autobots returned their attention to the mystery shooter. "You do realize you just sabotaged your own machine, don't you?" Jack called out, a touch of a smirk in his voice.
"It still works!" a voice snapped. It was Gunner, Silas's right-hand man. He peppered the command deck with gunfire, forcing the humans to take cover behind the Autobots as he sprinted towards the door of the machine.
"Don't think we haven't heard about these remnants of beasts you're all so eager to collect," he sneered, "Let's see what happens when MECH gets hold of them before you even know they exist!" He slammed the door shut even as Miko opened fire on the machine.
"Gunner, to tamper with temporal interactions will only doom your cause further," Optimus warned. "The timeline will reset itself, expelling you as the bloodstream expels foreign bodies. You run the risk of disappearing from existence altogether."
But Gunner would not be reasoned with.
"Autobots, take cover," the Prime said grimly. He had a feeling that this would not be a pleasant experience.
He turned to the children. "Take cover and stay together: tampering with the past will gravely affect the future, for however short a time."
Ratchet caught a glance at the operation settings on the machine as it began to hum and glow. "The fool!" he cried out, "He's sending himself to the days when the Predacons walked the Earth! He'll be killed by his own species if the Predacons don't get him first!"
Ever the doctor, Ratchet searched for a way to extract Gunner from the temporal manipulator. He staggered as the ground beneath his feet seemed to buckle, giving way to mossy stone.
Reality rippled as though someone had thrown a stone into a still pool, and the waves moved quickly and forcefully out of the epicenter of the event. Jack and Miko dropped to the ground, shielding Raf with their bodies while Arcee and Bulkhead did the same for them. With each wave, something else disappeared: walls, ceiling, concrete, and eventually the comforting presence of the Autobots vanished as well. There was time only for a panicked shout from Arcee and a fleeting touch of hand to servo-then nothing.