Deathsaurer

Super Robot Wars SL

"Well there's the rub. We don't want to catch him. At least not yet. We just want to spook him so he hopefully leads us to what we're all looking for." Megatron interjected.

"The good news is this area is so dimensionally unstable that Sideways left a trackable transwarp signal." The Transtech added. "The bad news is regardless of his earlier performance he is incredibly competent and he hasn't begun to use his full bag of tricks yet. The only real way to deal with him is to slowly work your way through them all. Also possible bad news, the ship doesn't really have working long term transwarp drive yet, just an emergency escape jump. I wasn't really expecting this sort of scenario so I didn't prioritize it. As such we'll be chasing him on foot so to speak. Is everyone excited?"

Super Robot Wars SL

<Snipped quote by Deathsaurer>

"On my way," he replies. Rastun heads for the area where the mechs are usually docked, then takes out the device Brainwave constructed for him and presses the bottom button to take out the Astafanel from its transwarp space storage. As he went into his mech's cockpit, he immediately flies off toward their location.

Arriving within Liege Maximo's flagship, Rastun finds his two companions.

"What is it this time?"

@Laughing Matter

"Well it seems that our gracious master manipulator has decided to let Sideways think he escaped so he will lead us to the device creating the second anomaly. Before we proceed on this oh-so-fun misadventure of once again chasing one of our most renowned troublemakers across god knows what dimensions I wanted you to see the data from the ruins for yourself since they represent the end result of the second anomaly."

Brainwave calls up the relevant data on a nearby console. "I'm sure you'll enjoy this..."

Super Robot Wars SL

"Wow, the heroes of the story ladies and gentlemen, just look at them go! Clearly the perfect team to take down one of the most infamous tricksters in history. I'm honestly starting to think we might be better off on our own here, what do you think Joe?"

Megatron simply shrugged. "Truth be told we could probably do with a few free meat shields for the time being."

"Oh joy..." Was the only response the Transtech could muster before opening his com. "Rastun, get over here. We've had a slight change in plans."

Super Robot Wars SL

"I really don't see what choice we have in the matter." Megatron offered his opinion.

"Agreed..." Brainwave reluctantly accepted the situation. "I don't look forward to the moment he decides he doesn't need us anymore though."

"Yes, well no sane person would." Megatron looked over the rest of the group such as it was. "Does the peanut gallery have anything else to add before we recommence Operation Chase the Troll? Or are you all content to stand around like useless dunces? Because I just love having useless dunces around, especially the part when I find convenient ways for them to die."

Super Robot Wars SL

"Why can't I help but feel this was all part of Liege Maximo's plan somehow?"

"Because it is Transtech. By now I'm sure you understand what the second anomaly does and just how dangerous it is in Unicron's hands."

"Or yours." Quipped Megatron.

Liege Maximo chuckled. "Ask yourselves, would my rule truly be worse than Primus'? Something to ponder but largely irrelevant now. It won't take Sideways long to realize what caused those ruins to form the way they did. I've been attempting to track the route universe's frequency to find the makes of the device that generated the anomaly but with reality the mess it is this has proven to be more difficult than expected. Fortunately Sideways does not know this. He will likely think we're far close than we are to finding the target and lead us straight there. So I want you to follow him and procure the device."

"Why are you just telling us about this plan now?"

"You should realize by now that I never lay all my cards on the table."

Super Robot Wars SL

There was a strong sense of foreboding as the group returned to Liege Maximo's flagship. Nightmare scenarios of his potential plans running through their minds along with the realization they may have no choice but to help him enact them in the short term. As they re-boarded the ship they were greeted by something... unexpected.

"Why are the alarms going..." Brainwave began to question. "Alert, prisoner escape!" Blared the ships internal security systems. "Oh... Just what I wanted. Dealing with Sideways again."

"Why are you surprised? We didn't get to totally flatten Shanghai to stop him. Almost as if it was too easy." Megatron countered.

"You know Megatron, I had hoped the hole in the moon more than made up for that. Clearly I expected too much."

Super Robot Wars SL

The group approached the ominous ruins at Liege Maximo's behest.

"Well I guess this is what it feels like to be called to Shockwave's lab to assist in an experiment."

"I would have expected you were teachers pet and did that on a regular basis." Chimed Megatron.

"Don't be ridiculous, no one wants to be Shockwave's pet. He dissects them." The Transtech pulled out his scanner and began investigating the ruins. "What... the hell. These ruins are simultaneously older than the planet and younger than human civilization. And to top it off they seem to come from hundreds of distinct realities. I think I understand why Unicron is so interested in this anomaly. The realities merging together isn't some random side effect of the two events meeting, it's what this... thing does only when it made contact with the singularity its effects were multiplied as the events resonated. And once they fully merge... Everything will be sitting in one place for Unicron to devour like an all you can eat buffet. If I had to guess as they briefly touched their combined power cause this world, which probably has numerous parallel universes, was created and the events repulsed each other because of the tremendous energy released so we effectively got thrown into the past when we entered it."

"And how does any of this help us stop Unicron?"

"Well if we can stabilize the event or otherwise neutralize it most of Unicron's plan would fall apart. We'd still have to defeat him of course but he wouldn't be able to absorb everything, only our home multiverse and at a greatly reduced speed. Perhaps Liege Maximo can discern the frequency of the reality this event originated from so we can find someone that might actually know what caused it and possibly how to stop it. Unless the Chronarchitect would like to chime in on this."

"So... I feel the need to bring this up." Megatron gave Brainwave a dead serious glare. "Have you considered this is exactly what Liege Maximo wants you to do and there is a very good reason for it. Like he already knows something we don't and we'll effectively be leading him to a weapon he is very interested in and we have no idea why?"

"His counter to that would naturally be we don't really have a choice."

Super Robot Wars SL

"Oh wow, I've never seen that series before... Did we land in Aurex when I wasn't looking or something? Oh one more thing you should probably keep an eye out for Sideways' minicon... or was it minicons? I can't remember exactly. There was something about Axiom Nexus News and something about the Offworlder Zone Security Administration. Anyways point is he/they are amazing at infiltration."

"Yes I'm sure it was their master infiltration skills and not your atrocious security that was dumb enough to fall for Beeimus Prime. Hell Rook or whoever could have probably walked around saying I'm going to herald the coming of Unicron and no one would pay attention." Chided Megatron.

"Hey now, I'm sure nothing that ridiculous ever happened. Maybe..."

Super Robot Wars SL

"I gotta admit I'm slightly annoyed you literally sat here waiting for Primus to send someone you could use as your sacrificial lambs to get the info you wanted. And one can only wonder what you want else you might have in mind for this anomaly... But the truth of the matter is regardless of your plans Unicron will always be the bigger threat and quite frankly we don't need to be butting heads dealing with his lackeys so I don't really see another option here. But I would ask what about Nexus Prime? I can't imagine Unicron gaining possession of the Star Saber would be a good thing either."

Super Robot Wars SL

Megatron sulked at the revelation.

"Oh joy, he's gonna be moody for weeks after this. So these ruins... they're probably related to the other anomaly that combined with the Unicron Singularity and created this mismatched world. But... if you don't want to do it yourself it probably means whatever this anomaly is it's extremely dangerous. Of course the rub is there is the possibility that we might be able to cancel it out, or find some other method to sabotage Unicron's plans, before the two events meet again if we investigate it so we don't really have a choice. So basically you're using us exactly like Primus."