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Springfield, Oregon. A wholesome town built on the American dream and American value's. And by American Values, what they really meant was Corba Commander's twisted mess that he calls "American Values". In the dead of night, a parked
Snake Oil Truck just outside of a petrol station in the middle of town sat idly. the lighting fast form of Laserbeak swooped in and landed on it and crawled inside silently. Transforming into Cassette-mode and slotting himself into one of the computers in the converted mobile-base, 0's looked at he footage being played. A secret chemical weapons plant masquerading as water bottling plant. Cobra King was a sick bastard, right in the middle of a residential zone. 0's quickly grabbed his gear and body armour, suiting up.
"Thanks, Laserbeak" 0's said as the tape ejected from the console and hovered over to the boombox before slotting in. He slipped out of the hatch on the bottom of the truck and rolled out. His old bones ached from this never ending war. Added to the heavy equipment, and it all came to one inescapable conclusion... 0's needed a vacation...
Slowly making his way across the street, the Sig in hand, he looked around to make sure the area was clear of civilians. I mean, it was 2am, who the hell was awake in an Americana dystopian hell-hole like his? But still, make sure he doesn't accidentally give Cobra King any martyrs to parade across the propaganda networks. Watching the Dreadnock nightwatch slowly make their way around the corner. As soon as they were gone, he ejected Ravage and climbed on the cats back, Ravage ran and leapt straight over the fence in a single bound. As soon as they landed, Ravage went back into the boombox and 0's continued his mission. hugging a wall, he made his way towards he entrance of the factory. Kicking open the door, he quickly put 3 bullets silently into the head of the Televiper at the desk, before running around the desk to try and use the logged in computer to see what he could pull up. However, as soon as he got around the desk, he suddenly felt rather faint, almost collapsing, but managing to stay upright. Was his heart finally giving out? Rumble and Frenzy both ejected to help keep him upright.
"Hey, Zero, don't you go dying on us!" Rumble said.
"Yeah, Soundwave ain't gonna be pleased if we let you go all decreased on us." Frenzy concured As the two bots held him, he looked around. Something was off... Something had changed.
"What's...?" He asked, looking around the room. Several things had changed places... And the Televiper corpse was gone. He immediately pulled up the rifle. Frenzy pulled is blaster and began waving it around wildly.
"Sweep the room. Possible Arashikage...""Why's it always gotta be Ninja's? I hate Ninja's!" Rumble grunted. Inside of the tape deck, Ravage chimed in.
"I don't smell anything." He hissed out in his feline voice.
"Something definitely just happened." Ratbat chimed in.
"Cosmic energy just shifted in the spectrum...""New Cobra Weapon?" He asked.
"Unlikely. If they knew we were here, they'd just send in the vipers to kill us. Makes no sense to waste the surprise of a new weapon on just us." Ratbat replied. 0's quickly approached the computer while Rumble and Frenzy continued their sweep. He looked at the computer. Not logged in, but the screen was just that of the water treatment company. No Cobra markings around. Must be some kind of legitimate cover-up... But why? This was Springfield and it's not like they had to worry about Government inspections anymore. He tried a few passwords, but it kept getting rejected.
"Eh, nuts to this." He grunted, before pointing to the twin Minicons who quickly jumped back into the boombox. 0's ran through a few doors and down several corridors until they heard the sound of laughter and a TV in the next room. Slowly creeping up to the door. He put his ear to the key-hole, listening. Sounded like someone telling jokes at the expense of some politician he had never heard of. The guards in the room clearly finding the whole thing hilarious. That wasn't right. Cobra Commander had specifically outlawed political satire when he came to power. Bootleg stuff? Maybe a pirate station? He raised the pistol and slowly opened the door to see a pair of security guards. they were out of shape and neither had any Dreadnock or Cobra insignia's on them. At this point, Frenzy loudly ejected and pulled the blaster on them.
"REACH FOR THE SKIES, COBRA CREEPS, LEMME SEE THEM PIT STAINS!!!" He yelled, the Security guards fell out their chairs, hands raised. 0's looked at Frenzy in that "How many times do i have to tell you to stop doing that?" way, but not taking his own gun off of them.
"Alright, tell me where Big Snake is keeping the goods?" The pair looked at each other, clearly confused by the question.
"This place ain't Cobra then? Iron Grenadiers? Crimson Shadows?" They continued to look at him as if he were insane.
"WHERE ARE THE DAMN BIO-WEAPONS?" The guards continued to look both terrified and confused.
"This is a water bottling plant..." One of them said. "No bio weapons." 0's then quickly shot a pair of warning shots past their ears.
"That jog the old memories?" He asked.
"Wait..." The other guard said. "Iron Grenadiers? Yeah, i remember them from school. Used to be terrorists back in the day."
"STOP PLAYING GAMES!!!" He roared at them.
"Wait..." Ratbat ejected and he pair of guards screamed as he flew over to one of them and activated his hypnosis.
"You will tell us everything we want to know... Where are the bio-weapons?" the pair staired into the hypnotic waves Ratbat was emitting from his eyes.
"We have no idea what bio weapons you are talking about, master..." The pair replied in unison.
"Taze each other unconscious and forget about us ever being here." Ratbat ordered. The pair did so without question, pulling out their tazers and zapping each other simultaneously unconscious.
"They are telling the truth." Ratbat replied. He then flew over to 0's.
"Chronotron particles... I'm picking up Chronoton particles." Joe had dealt with this type of energy before. Alternate versions of Steeler, Grunt and Clutch from another timeline had come through and helped for a while.
"Time trave?" 0's asked.
"But... But that would make this... The past? But no, he said the Grenadiers were the past... Another timeline?" 0's looked around.
"We gotta get out of here and figure out what the hell is happening." He said as the Minicons all bundled back into the cassette player and he began running out, not realizing her had already set off the silent alarms. Nearby Autobot City would probably pick up the alarm, especially since the security camera pictures of the intruders had them all wearing Decepticon logos.