#Belos messed him up. He has seen guard after guard get hit first hand and has been conditioned into thinking this is normal for people.

[bbeeew]

firm believer in the "hunter gets physical when stressed"

it's his trauma. He's trying to stop. And trying as in he probably sh's when he does.

[crossroadsdimension]

World Collision -- Chapter 15

Airam

The drive to the border was a little different this time. Myra found her sitting next to Seeker in the Cybertronian named Jazz, instead of in one of the trucks. Nightwing was with them.

“I don’t like the idea of splitting up the team.” Nightwing looked back at Seeker and Myra with a dark expression, brow furrowed. “You’d better hope she knows what she’s doing.”

“Flare’s been to the Maverick Zone twice before,” Seeker replied evenly. “Once before X and Zero were created, and once when they were active. She’ll know what she’s doing in there.”

Nightwing frowned at that.

“How many worlds has she been to already?” Myra asked.

“Out of the ones that are involved here?” Seeker inclined his head. “Most of them, actually. None of us have been to the Precursor Zone before, and she didn’t travel to the Hyrule Zone or Mushroom Zone, but I know the layouts for both dimensions. Otherwise, the rest of them are familiar territory to her.”

“So she doesn’t know everybody, then.” Myra nodded. “Okay; I was…kinda wondering about that. Because it feels like everybody knows about Flare-Up.”

“Word tends to spread fast.” Seeker shrugged.

“Especially considerin’ where she was for quite a while there,” Jazz added. Myra jumped at his voice; she hadn’t completely gotten used to the fact that he could talk in his vehicle mode yet. It didn’t help that he didn’t speak very much, either. “She was kinda seen all over the place, if ya know what I mean.”

“Unfortunately,” Seeker muttered.

Myra nodded a little. “S-so, you knew her, too.”

“Yup! Not for very long, though – kid was kinda here and gone. OP got ta know her pretty well, though. Matt too – by the way, man, I didn’t get ta tell ya earlier, but I love what yer doin’ with yer digs.”

“Came with the territory of working with the Bat,” Seeker replied.

There came a crackle of static from Jazz’s dash. ::We’re coming up on the Time Barrier. Everyone keep your talismans close::

“Thanks for the heads up, sis,” Seeker replied. He looked out the window at the wrinkled, leafless trees that lined the cobblestone road. Myra did the same on her side, trying to see around the giant semi truck cab that was the vehicle form of Optimus Prime, who was even more reserved than the rest of the Cybertronians.

Something about them made Myra feel nervous for some reason, so she stayed away from them for the most part.

There was a flicker of pink on the horizon, and Myra’s eyes widened when she saw that the Time Barrier came into existence where grass and cobblestone ended and where metal ground began. Tall, crumbling towers could be seen in the distance; some of them were burning.

Someone muttered something over the comms, and Zero’s voice came through clearly. ::We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’re going to have to find a place to set up camp quickly if we’re going to be able to do anything::

::You’re sure that you kids will be okay without the rest of us?:: spoke up a man’s voice – Tony Stark, or Iron Man, Myra reminded herself. Another one of the people who seemed to know Flare-Up personally. ::This one’s even worse than the other ones::

::We’re used to it:: Zero replied. ::We’ll be fine without anyone else breathing down our backs::

::As much as I hate to admit it, Zero’s right:: X spoke up. ::We’ve seen more war in our dimension than peace. Our world made its own mistakes causing this to happen, and we’re not about to have any more than we need attempting to help us fix what’s gone wrong::

Myra frowned at that. She looked over at Seeker, who shook his head slightly.

“X is a kind-hearted Reploid, under his war-torn façade,” Seeker said. “He doesn’t want anyone else getting hurt fixing the mess his dimension’s in. He and Flare-Up just have different ways of saying it.”

Myra blinked, then nodded.

::Plan’s still in effect:: Flare-Up said over the comms. ::As soon as we pass the barrier, we split in two, and the rest of you go on ahead to the Dungeon Zone. We might follow after you to make sure you get through safely, with minimal damage, but I won’t be following after you until I am sure X and Zero will be able to win their zone back on their own::

“We hear ya, sis,” Seeker replied. “Good luck in there; it looks like even worse of a war zone than the Dark City was at the start.”

There was silence for a moment. ::Thanks, Matt. Keep your guard up. And the same to you, Myra::

“Yeah.” Myra nodded quickly in response.

::Hitting Time Barrier in three, two—::

Flare-Up’s voice was cut off with a crackle of static as Optimus Prime hit the barrier. Myra quickly reached for the purple crystal under her shirt and gripped it tightly as Jazz followed suit.

The tingling sensation this time wasn’t as sharp as it had been the last few times, but that didn’t stop the chill from running down Myra’s spine as they shot out of the Time Barrier and were instantly hit with the sound of screams and explosions.

“Dang!” Jazz swerved as an energy blast shot out from behind a toppled building, nearly hitting him in the side. “Almost feels like we’re back in the early days!”

::SPLIT!::

Myra winced back at Flare-Up’s barking tone, and she saw a red and orange blur shoot out from Optimus’ truck cab. Two more blurs followed after the first and disappeared into the maze of metal buildings.

“Good luck,” Myra murmured quietly.

“They’ll keep an eye on us as we’re heading to the Dungeon Zone,” Seeker commented. “There’s no way that a place like this is a good one to be alone in for long.” He frowned, brow furrowed. “I wonder if this is what Reverse Cybertron looked like when she visited there…”

Something about that name sent a chill down Myra’s spine, but she wasn’t sure why. “R-reverse Cybertron?”

“What kinda name is that?” Jazz asked with a disapproving tone.

“Hey, it fit from what I saw. It’s a Cybertron where you guys are the bad guys and the Decepticons are the good guys. My sister went there once with one of our neighbors.” Seeker paused, then looked at Myra with an odd expression. “Actually, she said that there was a version of her who had needed her help.”

“Really?” Myra blinked.

“Yeah. And from what Flare told us when she got back, her counterpart actually sounded a lot like—“

A sudden explosion went off up ahead.

“Whoa!” Jazz yelped as he slammed on the breaks, causing Myra to jolt forward a little. “What in Primus just—“

A loud, crazed cackle suddenly swept over them from outside the cab, sending chills down Myra’s spine at the sound. It sounded like her voice, but…twisted. Changed.

“Wh-what was that?” Myra asked.

Seeker’s eyes flashed. “It sounded like a counterpart – but that can’t be right. Flare-Up said she didn’t have any in the Neo-Earth dimension.”

“A…a counterpart?”

“Someone like you who lives in another dimension,” Nightwing replied. “It doesn’t have to be your own.” He unbuckled and started attempting to get the door open. “Jazz, we’re going to need to get out to take care of this roadblock.”

“An’ what about Flare-Up handlin’ the problem, huh?” Jazz responded.

“She’s not going to be able to handle it too well if it’s another version of her and they both know each other’s moves.”

There was silence in the cab for a moment, and then the doors popped open.

“Get movin’ before I change my mind.”

Nightwing and Seeker were already out of the car by the time Jazz finished speaking, and both of them took off towards the front of the caravan as another explosion rocked the road in front of them.

Myra hesitated.

“Go on, kid; they’re gonna need backup.”

Myra blinked at Jazz’s words, then nodded and slipped out of the backseat before running after Seeker and Nightwing up past Optimus Prime.

The road in front of their caravan had been blasted to pieces, leaving a large hole in the ground that stretched over into the nearby collapsed buildings. If there had been any chance of making their way through this area, it was long gone.

The cause of the explosion, however, was not long gone.

Myra came to a stop behind Seeker and Nightwing and looked up at the figure that was hovering above their heads and over the giant hole in the road. She had armor, like Flare-Up’s, but it was various shades of purple instead of red, orange, and gray, and there was a mocking sneer on her face instead of the more serious expression that Flare-Up usually had.

On top of that, she had black hair and purple eyes just like Myra.

Myra swallowed. There was something about her that felt horribly wrong, and she didn’t like it.

The figure in purple threw back her head and let out another loud cackle. “This must be my lucky day! I didn’t think that there were any more free people wandering around out here!” She grinned a little too widely for a normal human to grin. “The Dark Arms will be pleased.”

Myra took a step back nervously as Seeker brought up his fists.

“Who are you?” Seeker asked coldly. “Your aura feels wrong.”

The grin on the teenage girl’s face dropped. “Well, that’s a rude way to say hello. Why don’t you try that again?”

The girl suddenly covered herself from head to foot in purple flames, then thrust her arms forward and sent down twin flamethrowers.

On instinct, Myra dashed forward and held up her hands, which sparked with purple embers of their own as Seeker and Nightwing quickly moved out of the way.

“Myra –“

Seeker’s yell of surprise was cut off on its own accord when the flames stopped at Myra’s hands, then became thin tendrils that wound up her arms and faded out of view.

Myra jolted when she felt that she was becoming more alert. The flames weren’t hurting her, they were giving her more energy.

The other girl’s eyes widened at the sight and pulled back, stopping the stream of flames. “What is this?”

Myra dropped her arms as she absorbed the last of the purple flames and looked down at her hands in surprise. “Wh-what just – what just happened?”

“Who are you?” Seeker was glaring up at the figure in purple as Myra looked up at his demand.

The girl recovered from her surprise quickly and sneered at the three standing below her. “I don’t see why I should answer that, you little—“

A blast of orange-red flames suddenly shot out from between two collapsed buildings, and Flare-Up shot out a moment later, riding a board of metal that was painted in the same color scheme as her armor.

The purple girl dropped below the flames, then rose up again and grinned widely at Flare-Up. “Ah, there you are. The masters are mad that you’re ruining everything, you know.”

Flare-Up activated her Buster and aimed it at the other armored girl. “What are you doing here.”

“Looking for you. You don’t realize how difficult it is to be able to keep tabs on the masters’ most powerful weapon – the lower castes are having a lot of trouble keeping tabs on their little minions now that you’ve started cutting through their ranks. And they can’t even find the source of the trouble in the Precursor Zone!” The purple girl winked. “I bet you know where I could find those little troublemakers, hmm?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Flare-Up replied flatly. “Especially after they created you, Airam.”

Myra blinked in confusion. What kind of name was Airam?

Seeker sucked in a breath through his teeth.

“Airam?” Nightwing muttered. “Hm. Creative.”

“So you know about me.” Airam’s smile wavered a little. “That makes introductions a little bit easier, then.” The smile dropped completely. “I’m taking you back in. And that one, too.” She pointed down towards Myra, who looked up in alarm. “I came here because of another little runaway, but I think that catching you two will appease the masters quite nicely.” The grin came back, more crazed. “But you don’t want to come quietly, do you?”

Flare-Up didn’t verbally respond. Instead, she leveled her Buster at Airam and fired a shot of energy as large as her upper body. It was at such close range that Airam had no time to dodge, and was sent flying back into a nearby building.

A low rumble and a loud crash moments later heralded the entire building collapsing on top of the other armored girl.

“You need to get away from here and my counterpart as quickly as you can!” Flare-Up called down to the others. “I’ll keep her off your backs as best I can, but you have to keep moving forward!”

“She said something about looking for someone else!” Seeker called back. “It’s probably someone who doesn’t belong in this area already, or maybe someone important from around here – keep an eye out for someone like that!”

“Understood! Now get out of here before the Dark Arms send anyone else besides my evil double!” With that, Flare-Up took off for the collapsed building that had fallen on top of Airam.

Myra looked down at the hole in the ground in front of them. “S-so, what now? We can’t drive over that, can we?”

“You forget who it is that’s been doing the driving,” Seeker replied with a confident smirk. He looked back at Optimus. “All right. Looks like we’ll have to walk from here if we’re gonna be able to make it to our next stop. We’re gonna need everybody out!”

There was a moment’s pause, and then all the doors and cockpits on the Cybertronians opened up, causing the group to spill out into the street.

“What’s the big idea?!” Tony Stark yelled as he stepped out of Sunstreaker.

“Someone blasted the road!” Nightwing called back. “We’re going to need the Cybertronians to transform and carry us across, or else we’re going to need another route. On top of that, it seems the Dark Arms have a reversed personality version of Flare-Up running around in the Maverick Zone, so we’re going to have to be careful and watch our backs.”

Tony huffed and folded his arms across his chest. “Well, that’s just great.”

“Reversed?” Myra blinked, then frowned. “If that’s the case, then wouldn’t she have thrown ice at us?”

“Reversed doesn’t mean that the powers will be switched too, but that’s a good catch,” Seeker replied. As Optimus’ truck form started to shift and move up into a humanoid-ish, giant form, he raised his voice over the sound of shifting parts. “Nightwing was referring to the difference in personality between Flare-Up and Airam, since Airam is more willing to work for the Dark Arms than Flare-Up was.”

“More willing?”

“You didn’t notice?” Nightwing frowned at Myra. “She doesn’t have any MindTech on her.”

Myra’s eyes widened sharply at that, so startled with this piece of news that she jumped out of surprise when a large metal hand was placed on the ground next to them, palm up.

“We must hurry,” Optimus rumbled. “I do not doubt that this agent will be looking for openings to cause us to lose what ground we have gained.”

Seeker nodded and stepped on, then looked back and motioned for Myra to join him as Nightwing stepped onto Optimus’ other hand.

“We don’t have time to stand around and talk about counterparts,” Seeker said.

Myra nodded and scrambled onto Optimus’ large metal hand right before the Cybertronian rose to his full height, curling his fingers in a little. Myra squeaked at the sudden movement and held onto the solid thing that happened to be closest.

“…well, this is awkward,” Seeker commented, looking down.

Myra looked up, eyes widening sharply when she realized she was hugging him for dear life. “U-uh—“

“No, no, it’s fine – it just feels like one of my sisters is hugging me, that’s all.”

The hand jolted underneath them, causing Myra to hold on even more tightly as Seeker held onto the tip of Optimus’ thumb. She didn’t dare look down as they started moving forward, the hand bouncing a little with each step Optimus took.

“You don’t need to hold on so tightly!”

Myra winced at Seeker’s voice, then relaxed her grip on his middle a little, looking up with an apologetic expression.

“…yeah, you definitely remind me of Flare-Up and our little sister,” Seeker decided. “We’re over the hole in the road now, but the road still looks a little rough up ahead, so we’ll be going forward like this for a bit.”

Myra blinked, latching onto the first thing that sounded like a distraction. “You have another sister? What’s she like?”

“Hard-headed and pretty stubborn – which is ironic, since she can control water – and she’s supposed to be two years younger than Flare-Up.” He paused. “You know, I’m actually not sure whether you remind me of her or of Flare-Up. It’s been a while since I saw everyone back home.”

“You mean….” Myra frowned. “How was Flare-Up before the World Collision?”

Seeker’s pondering expression lost the wistful smile that had been slowly crossing his face. “She was…different. A lot more open with her emotions, and definitely more open for anything that resembled an adventure.” He chuckled, but the sound was melancholy. “She was also pretty reckless, but I don’t think that’s changed. She’s just…thinking a little more before she dives in.”

Myra frowned. Something about the descriptions sounded familiar, but she wasn’t entirely sure what it was that struck a chord in her.

“You act a lot like my sister does. Seriously, when’s the last time you thought before you dove into a fight like that?”

Myra’s frown deepened. “I…I think someone said I was like that, once. But I don’t feel like that now, that’s for sure!”

“The World Collision does that to people,” Seeker replied dryly.

Myra felt another pair of eyes on her and looked up, meeting Optimus’ optics as he eyed the two of them curiously.

“I’m sure a part of it is because you don’t have your memories,” Seeker added. “Flare-Up had an incident where that happened. She got everything back, though, and she definitely came back from it a little wiser.” He paused, then snorted. “I think it’s where her reckless streak came from, actually.”

An explosion went off somewhere behind them, causing Myra to stiffen up. Flare-Up’s roaring yell followed on the heels of the noise, sounding determined and furious.

“Losing your memories might have made you more skittish,” Seeker commented. “It could happen to anyone; don’t worry. I’m sure everything will settle when you’ve got your memories back and we’ve taken care of the Dark Arms for good.

“I….” Myra paused. Should she tell Seeker? He was Flare-Up’s brother, after all; it would make sense that he would know about what she and Flare-Up knew already. “Flare-Up thinks I’m a World Jumper, too. Because the world I’m probably supposed to come from isn’t here.”

Optimus’ hand shifted under them a little as they moved away from the sharp edge of a skyscraper that looked like it had been slashed through.

“Really?” Seeker’s voice sounded more serious. “If your world isn’t here, then what is it?”

“I-I’m not…sure? I mean, I remember there’s stuff like Mako there and I think I met someone who knows you there—“

“Mako? Then that means—“ Seeker cut himself off. “You met our sister. You met our parents.”

“What?” Myra looked up at Seeker in confusion. “Your parents came from my world too?”

“No; they went to your world, and Liz went at the same time but later in our dimension than in yours.” Seeker saw the confusion on Myra’s face only increase, and he shrugged in response. “It’s confusing, I know, but time and space are pretty relative in the Multiverse. It’s why the World Zones aren’t merging together well – they have different time flows between them. If you’re a World Jumper too, then that means you’re used to passing between dimensions and can handle the Time Barriers better than everyone else.”

“I can?” Myra wasn’t sure if she should believe what she was hearing.

Seeker winked. “Yup. It’s what I’ve been doing the entire time that I’ve been mixed up in this mess, because I’m a World Jumper myself. It runs in our family for some reason.”

Myra’s jaw dropped. “I-it what? But how can that—“

“Time Barrier up ahead!” Nightwing called over from Optimus’ other hand. “Get ready; it looks like Flare-Up’s counterpart is trying to follow us here!”

“Zihihihihihihi!”

Myra’s head whipped around at the sound of the crazed cackle, and her eyes widened sharply as a purple blur shot past them, with Flare-Up’s red-orange blur close behind.

“You may be good, but you can’t best me!” Airam taunted as she swung around in front of the caravan. “Not with your pesky little connections! Break them off and see what sorts of havoc you can cause then!”

Flare-Up snarled in reply and started to ram into Airam, but swung out of the way when the purple-armored lookalike shot of a blast of purple flames.

Myra held out a hand on instinct, and a portion of the flames were sucked up her arm, giving her another energy boost as Seeker stiffened a little out of surprise.

Airam and Flare-Up didn’t notice Myra’s reaction to the purple flames, as Airam was still cackling at Flare-Up as she tried to shoot the other out of the sky and failed.

“Dummkopf!” Flare-Up barked. “Keine laufen!”

Airam cackled even louder. “Do you really think that dead language is going to work on me? I don’t think so!”

“What is she talking about?” Myra asked, suddenly feeling nervous. “It feels like someone just dumped a bucket of ice water down the back of my neck.”

“Use your Flash Fire!” Seeker called.

“Can’t!” Flare-Up’s response was clipped. “This fire isn’t the type I can absorb; it’s something else.”

“How is that possible?”

Airam cackled even more loudly and threw another swath of purple flames in a shockwave – this time towards Optimus and the humans he was carrying.

Myra let go of Seeker and turned to face the oncoming onslaught of fire, putting her hands out. “Flash Fire!”

The purple flames reacted immediately, attracted to Myra’s body like a magnet, and were sucked up her arms and into her shoulders, leaving little purple-white aftersparks. The attack itself never hit Nightwing or Optimus.

Myra stood a little straighter, once again another girl’s voice echoing at the back of her mind.

“H-how did you do that? That wasn’t normal fire! You shouldn’t have been able to absorb it like that!”

“What are you talking about? My fire isn’t normal either – it’s an attack of the mind. That stuff is, too; I’m just getting my energy back.”

Flare-Up looked over at Myra for a second, an uncertain frown on her face, then looked back at Airam as the purple-armored evil double stared at Myra in shock.

Flare-Up leveled her energy cannon. “Charged Stun Shot!”

The resulting bright yellow blast sent Airam flying back into another building close to the Time Barrier, causing it to collapse, burying Airam a second time.

“Go!” Flare-Up motioned for Optimus to step through the Time Barrier. “I can handle things from here – you rescue the Dungeon Zone!”

“Watch your back!” Seeker warned. “And get back with us as soon as you can!”

Fare-Up gave a curt nod, then turned and took off in another direction as Optimus started to move forward at a much quicker pace.

Myra stood her ground despite the fact that Optimus was moving more quickly, and despite the fact that she was no longer hugging Seeker for dear life.

Then they hit the barrier, and when they passed through it this time, Myra didn’t feel that tingling sensation in her limbs.

Mostly because her attention was on the small collection of abandoned buildings in front of a large forest.