EVERYONE HATES TIME TRAVEL PART ONE

[capitalm]

Who: Anybody stepping out of the TIME HOLE into present-day LA, anybody who wants to witness this going down – or to intervene
Where: Downtown LA
When: August 2nd (now!)
What: A bunch of time travellers arrive in the present to try to fix their dystopian future. See here for more details!
Warnings: time travel. everyone hates time travel.

It's late at night when the portal opens, an undulating patch of wrongness hanging in the warm summer air just a few inches above the street, bordered by shimmering multicoloured light.

A car swerves to avoid it. There's a scream or two, and people start to clear the area, eager to put some distance between themselves and the potential scene of some kind of Incident – others stay put, cell phone cameras at the ready.

If anything, though, when people start to step out of the portal, the onlookers calm down a little – this is, at least, not going to be another dinosaur incident. Cameras flash anyway. Another person screams, presumably because they're just on a roll with screaming at this point.

More than one person has called the Alpha Force hotline by now – but they might well not be the first heroes to arrive on the scene...


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Everyone is cordially encouraged to make multiple threads here for either time-travellers, present-day people, or both. Feel free to NPC passersby etc. as well!
Remember that villains from the future who are following the good guys through are probably going to come through at a slight delay.

Comments

[deadpartners]

Solus levels her gaze at Starscream, optics unwavering.

"I'd like to see you try, Starscream." Her tone is cool, almost dry, and she scoffs out a soft vent of air.

"Your future would be bleak by anyone's standards, Megatron," she says, still holding the Forge firmly, poised to move, but there's no hostile intent in her frame just yet. "But I can tell you the Autobots certainly aren't troubled by what's become of the Decepticons under the future without your leadership. You, however, might be."

[bigfuckinggun]

Any concerns Megatron might have about the Forge are immediately eclipsed by what the Autobot says next. His impressive eyebrows jerk up, and he e takes a step towards her, looming.

"Without my leadership?" he repeats. "Surely you do not mean to say that Optimus has finally succeeded in disposing of me – I am sure we both know he hasn't the spark for it."

[starscheme]

Megatron's concerns don't really ring as plausible to Starscream. Why would an Autobot want to warn them about, or prevent any sort of future where Optimus had succeeded in defeating Megatron?

His continuing threats against Solus forgotten, the jet shrinks back a bit, eyeing the other two bots nervously and waiting in uncomfortable anticipation to hear what Solus has to say.

[deadpartners]

There seems to be a glint of amusement in Solus' optics, but it passes in a flash. She stands her ground when Megatron steps closer, lifting her head to challenge his gaze.

"I'm afraid Optimus is the one whose spark is extinguished, not yours," Solus says, her voice grave. "He sacrificed himself in order to stop a far greater threat even than you. It wasn't long after that that you abandoned the Decepticons. Needless to say, without your leadership, the Decepticons ceased to be such a critical threat."

Solus directs a pointed gaze at Starscream. Yeah, buddy, she's lookin' at you.

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron's optics narrow. "Unicron," he says quietly, because he knows that's the only thing she could mean. But what she says next makes no sense. He actually laughs. "I cannot abandon the Decepticons, Autobot – I am the Decepticons. The only thing that will separate me from my cause is death." He may cast a pointed look at Starscream here.

[starscheme]

Vaguely, a horrific thought occurs to the Seeker, like he's puzzling this out in slow motion. Megatron willingly abandoning the Decepticons strangely does not sound like a too implausible situation to him. After all, with Optimus dead... Well, Starscream has already voiced and acted on his concerns about his leader's obsession with the Prime in the past and-

Oh shit wait everyone is staring at him.

Starscream is jerked out of his contemplation by this realization. Snapping back to attention, his eyes flick nervously between the two of them. His expression darkens into a scowl, which he directs at Solus. "Megatron speaks truly. He is fundamentally linked to the Decepticon cause, and I have come to realize that he has no equal... although I'll have you know that he has personally groomed me to keep his legacy alive, should the unthinkable ever happen. If you mean to imply that I have taken control in this supposed future of yours, while his Spark still pulses elsewhere, then it is surely a temporary state of affairs until his return. His cause is righteous, and would not be so easily crushed."