Given to Fly

Shadowzone

"You cannot harm me while dark Energon flows through my veins!" The Con declared.

Optimus quickly shot from behind the rock and took off Starscream's arm.

Marty smirked.

Miko huffed in frustration and stood. "Ugh, I can't believe you made me lose my phone!"

Marty stood and marched her glare. "How is this my fault?!"

Suddenly, two portals appeared. One by Starscream, and one by them. Before Marty had the chance to even question it, Rarchet shouted, "You three, into our ground bridge –Now!"

Miko curled her lip in a pout, but Marty just grabbed her wrist. "Come on!"

They ran into the portal to get back to the base, but a high thrum sounded around them. Then an explosion, and it all went dark.

)()()()()(

Marty groaned as her eyes opened. She picked herself up off the ground, brushing the dirt off her jacket.

"Are you guys okay?" Jack askded

"Y-yeah," Raf muttered.

"I think so," Marty added.

In front of them, the Bots were recovering from the blast.

"Oh, w-what just happened?" Bulkhead asked.

Ratchet hummed. "I can't be certain. But if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could have triggered a system overload."

Miko huffed. "Could? Hello, more like totally did."

"The kids made it through, right?" Bulkhead asked.

Marty frowned. "What's he talking about?"

Miko stormed up to her guardian and shouted, "Bulkhead, we're right here!"

If they noticed, they didn't make any show of it.

"Arcee, did the children make it safely back to base?" Optimus inquired.

"Negative. You don't see them?" Arcee sounded panicked.

Bulkhead shook his head. "No sign."

"What? 'No sign'?! Okay, seriously, Bulk–" Before Miko could finish, her guardian walked right through her. The girl screamed and fell back. Jack caught her.

"He went right through you," Marty breathed as the Bots walked away.

Jack's eyes went wide. "We're not alive."

"I don't want to be a ghost!" Raf freaked.

Marty looked as Jack helped Miko up. "Wait. How can we still touch each other?"

They shared a look before running after their Bots. It didn't make any sense, Marty thought. It was like they were shadows.

"Ratchet, could the children have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?" Optimus asked.

The medic shook his head. "Not likely. If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The children may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination."

They stopped running as Raf hummed in thought. "Another place but in the same place?"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

The boy held his chin in his hand. "We're probably in a different dimension, some kind of alternate reality, a shadow zone."

"Nerd alert," Miko sounded.