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It was a great day outside. The sun felt warm on the surface of his metal and he could just feel it. No one was going to ruin his good time today. Not Ultra Magnus with his annoying meetings and unbelievably boring protocols and not Megatron with his depressed face.
The crew was excited all around because it's not often everyone gets to relax and enjoy their free time. Without nearly dying.
"Alright guys be back before sunset, if not, you're gonna have to get off the planet by yourselves because we will not be waiting. Now, get going and don't accidentally or purposely kill someone." Rodiums commands.
"Have f-fun. In moderate levels." Stiffer than steel, Ultra Magnus glances through the crew, his gaze momentarily stays on whirl and he squints warningly.
They all part, almost synchronized in little groups and go on about their business in different directions of the market place. Rodimus himself can't contain his smile and begins his own move with the other captains.
"I was planning on overseeing our more..troublesome friends you guys have f- you know, a joyful time and such."
"I'll tag along, that is if you don't mind. Rodimus, you're old enough to be on your own?" Megatron glances down only to see a rather self satisfied smirk on his face.
"Yeah but if you guys stand there any longer, you'll fossilize. Not that you aren't a relict already, Megatron." If the corners of his mouth could fall any lower, they probably would have.
The three of them part ways and he makes his solo adventure through the streets of the foreign city. Who cares? He can have enough fun by himself anyway. He doesn't need anyone to drag him down. The streets are incredibly pretty and colorful. On every stand and table there's something new and different to see, his eyes can barely take all of it in. Here and there, he recognizes other Cybertronians the rest are other species of beings, some of which he himself has never seen before. Some of them look..How to put it? Strange? Questionable even? Well he doesn't stick out at least.
He strolls through the masses that walk past him and he sees a stand that looks particularly interesting. From a distance, he's able to make out a couple of strange items. His interest is peeked and curiosity bubbles inside of him. Maybe he'll find something super weird or dangerously cool that he could use to annoy enrich his friends.
He reaches the stand, and in his opinion, a very interesting looking organic seems to be running it. He's barely able to suppress his urge to pull a face as the individual observes him with its four eyes. To make it all more surreal, the hat that it's wearing is probably one of the most horrendous looking ones he has ever seen. If only he had a camera with him.
"Anything to your liking?" Whatever it is pulls its mouth far apart into what he thinks is supposed to resemble a smile and reveals a bunch of rows accompanied by sharp teeth.
"Uh, I'm just looking around." He grimaces and tries to look anywhere except in front of him but with every second that passes, the gaze of the seller makes him more uncomfortable. He'd never admit it but not being alone right now would have been great. He tries to be polite and puts as much distance as he can between him and the stand. There were enough others he could check out.
Right when he's turned to walk away, something collides into him with such force that his entire frame falls backwards and crashes on to the stand. Said stand breaks with a terrible, loud noise and everything on it propels into the air. He can't see anything anymore because the tablecloth has covered his optics but he can feel the pain deep in his back cables. Abruptly, he forgets the pain and rips himself free from the rubble. Every emotion is replaced by anger. First some weird organic gawks at him, then he gets assaulted and now embarrassed. He's changed his mind, if anyone had seen him right now he'd never hear the end of it.
When he's found his footing and detangled himself from the cloth, he's met with a crowd that's gathered within a safe distance to watch the spectacle.
Whoever barged into him was going to get it.
"Hey! You've damaged my property, you're going to have to compensate for my belongings!" He recognizes the voice of the alien, barely a distance behind him, which scrapes against his audio receptors.
"You've got too many eyes and not enough brain if you think I'm responsible for any of this-" Right as he began to point at him with an accusing finger, he's interrupted.
"It was an accident! I'm really sorry." He whips around to see whoever is responsible face-to-face.
He's taken aback because what he didn't expect was to see another cybertronian. A femme nonetheless. One that also looked quite easy on the eyes. Stop! A pretty face and frame would not change the fact that his ego was dented and his paint was scratched.
"Great. Tell me, was it necessary to throw me over? A heads-up would've been nice." He steps away from the clutter and closer to you. There is a nervous smile on your face, and you keep looking around somewhere in the crowd.
"I-" The ground starts to shake and he has to hold onto a broken beam to stabilize himself. Come on! No matter where he goes, something has to go horribly wrong. Can we not have a normal trip for once?!
"Stand still!" A huge creature emerges from the crowd with it's eyes set on you.
The second he's even begun to comprehend what's happening, you've snatched a bag from the stand and thrown it into the face of the alien. It bursts with glittery suspicions powder. Ouch right into its eyes. While it’s distracted and probably in a lot pain, you reach over to lightly touch the stranger on his shoulder. Just as soon as the contact is over, you morph your appearance to that of your counterpart.
"I'll borrow this, yeah? Thanks!" And off you go, delving into the masses to blend in before the large creature collects itself.
He's shell shocked.
What just happened?
Did she just steal his appearance?! Without asking too!
When realization does come knocking on his door, the next step is to instinctively run after her as fast as possible. It's incredibly difficult to maneuver through all these foreign beings and for some reason, it feels like there are a lot more people than before. He struggles to see over all the heads, he isn't short but still has to stretch to peek over some of them.
"Megatron! I want everyone to watch out." He may not have a plan but it's best to warn everyone in case you have evil intentions.
"For?"
"Me. Someone thought it was funny to steal my looks. I'm running after her. Him. Me? Whatever!" He yells, almost stumbling over as he runs.
"I thought you'd be fine on your own." He sighs exasperated.
"Stut up! When I make contact, I'll tell you and we'll meet there." Rodimus grits out impatiently.
"Understood."
Rodimus closes the comm link and concentrates back on not losing sight of you, rhythmically passing obstacles and other beings.
✧
Your spark is beating a million miles an hour. Further behind you could make out the creature, and by the looks of it, he's given up but the bot whose looks you stole was a lot closer. Oh, and he looks pissed. 40 minutes and the illusion would break, your outlier ability was limited by time. If you are quick enough and reach the train, he will never catch you.
You hope he's no one important.
"Excuse me. My bad, I'm in a hurry." You try to squeeze past a black minibot, but his larger yellow companion blocks your way. He stops you quite concerned.
"Rodimus? You okay?" He asks, helm tilted to observe you.
Who? Ohh.
"Uh, yeah of course. I'm doing good." That did not sound convincing at all. You really try your best to appear laid back but time doesn't wait and you can't help but nervously fidget in your place.
"You look spooked, did one of the locals put a curse on you? Those aren't real, you know." The shorter one speaks up to you. Is he..wearing a camera? Were you on camera right now?
You slightly turn your head and there! He's easy to spot due to his bright orange paint job. He's almost right here, where you're being held up. 30 minutes left.
"Good to know thanks, see you later!" You yell and sprint past both of them, not looking back. Further ahead you can already hear the train station.
"What are you doing?! Stop her!" The real Rodimus also runs past the two of them, who are now a lot more confused than before.
"Whats happening?" Rewind asks, he's on Cromedomes shoulder.
"My lesser double. And she's escaping!"
"She?"
"Yes, now hurry!" They cannot keep up with his speed so Rodimus ditches them in favor of reaching you. Hot on your tail, he just needs to get up the steps and he can see you already.
"Stop right there!" Rodimus yells over the crowd.
You hear his pedesteps right behind you, when did he catch up so fast? It doesn't matter, the train arrives with its tell tale screech and everyone flocks to get on. You're almost there! You don't think you've ever pushed yourself to run this fast!
Just a tiny bit closer, he reaches his hand out and he can nearly feel you in his grasp.
You practically stumble into the train, pushing some aside and its doors close just in time. There's loud banging and yelling coming from the other side and you turn around. Stepping towards the glass, you stare directly into his eyes. Beside your drastically different facial expressions, the two of you are indistinguishable. Identical. He presses both of his servos on the glass, you lean in and he mouths something...
U-G-L-Y T-I-N-H-E-A-D
You're beyond amused. Did he not call himself ugly as well? You smirk as the train begins to move and mockingly wave. He sticks his middle finger out to you and with the train in motion, his figure vanishes.
✧
Scrap he nearly had you and then you even had the audacity to smirk at him. His anger could probably power the lost light alone, but at the same time, this was exciting in a way. This was a challenge.
"Change of plans, she has taken the train to the west. I’m continuing my pursuit." He hisses into the comms and waits.
"We're on it!" Comes Ultra Magnus’s voice.
There's no way he'd give up so soon and with new-found vigor, he changes to his altmode. As a speedster, keeping up with a train should be no problem.
You were not escaping him today.
✧
You're sitting pretty happily on one of the seats, your head resting on the window. 20 minutes and all of this would be over. Your spark begins to calm down and so do your nerves. Its not uncommon for you to get yourself into trouble like this, especially since you can't turn your ability off at will. In a world full of crime and dishonesty, your ability was more than useful in the past of your decepticon existence. You were sought out after and in return, you served shady bots to stay afloat.
It's granted some hilarious memories and some not so happy ones as you remember an instance where you had been nearly caught. There's no time for you to cringe, though.
Last stop, please exit.
Already? You've maybe traveled three stations. It will be fine, only a mad man would come after a train. It comes to a halt and you rise from your seat. With the rest of the passengers, you exit. 15 minutes. Hesitantly you glance around, you don't recognize anyone, so the air should be clear.
"I got you. You walking plagiarism!"
It must've been purely out of spite, you suspect, because he's tackled you to the ground. You both land on the sidewalk with metal clanking against metal. The power balance should be equal, meaning an equal fight and thus, you manage to get him off of you and take a couple steps back to create a bit of distance.
He tries to throw himself at you again but you're faster on your pedes and dodge. With 10 minutes left, you have to somehow distract him and not get beat up in the process.
"Wait, I'm sure we can talk about this." You try to bargain and in a non-threatening manner, you lift your hands up and smile.
"Sure, but I have to restore my honor first." Now that he is standing in front of you and can watch himself speak in his voice, It's kind of tripping him out, so he tries not to think too hard about it but he can't lie that this ability is really cool...the sheer amount of things you could do, the pranks! But that's not so important now.
Perhaps he could convince you to join his crew later.
"What if this is like destiny or something?" You ramble, out of options.
"What the hell are you talking about." His glare makes his annoyance evident, and his bright blue optics pierce your own identical ones. He continues to close the space between you two while you continue to cautiously back up.
"You ever thought about having a twin brother? Maybe fate crossed our paths again- you know, mom never liked you that much. Sorry bro." You continue.
"I don't believe in destiny, but if fate wants me to sock you-" He swings his fist and so do you. Mirroring his actions, both of your fists collide in a cluster of sparks.
"Looks like destiny doesn't believe in you either." Your movements just now gave you a new idea. "Actually, let's put it to the test! Let’s say the same thing at the same time. 3.2.1. Go!"
"You bastard!"
"Optimus Prime! Woah, rude much?." The words are lost in your intake.
"There can only be one." Because this time his blow hits you right in the gut and as you keel over, he takes the moment to wrestle you to the ground.
"Alright, let's drop the act." He heaves.
You find yourself in a new position with him on top of you and both of your arms pinned to the sidewalk beneath you.
This must surely look strange.
"I would, but one could say I've grown attached." You nervously grin. He was quite handsome, there was no denying that.
One of his brow ridges lift.
"I'd be flattered really, but since this is coming from my own mouth, it absolutely does not pull." He says deadpan.
"I figured." You sigh.
"We're here." A couple of bots you've never seen arrive by your sides, no wait, two of them you have seen before. The tiny one with the camera and the larger yellow bot.
Rodimus, you remembered his name. He tries to get off of you and speak to his friends.
"Cool, now let's get her, me? You get it back on the-"
"Don't move. None of you..Rodimus's? Move! How can we tell its you?" A very tall blue bot speaks. You recognize him, how couldn't you. He is Tyrests enforcer, Ultra Magnus!
This guy knows Ultra Magnus?! You better get out of here quickly.
"Excuse me?" He's appalled and the grip on your wrists loosens, his body hovering above you now.
Oh right. They can't tell.
"Which one is the real Rodimus?" Another blue mini bot asks.
"Me obviously, guys come on." He tries once more but in vain as none of them seem to listen.
"Hey hey. Slow down fella, why don't we ask them a question only the real one can answer." This one looks a little odd with his claw like hands and singular optic.
"That's not necessary. I am the fake." You raise your hand. 5 minutes and the illusion would dissolve, so you saw no point in making this any more difficult.
"What if he's lying?" A purple colored femme has her arms crossed.
"What." You're baffled. How did that backfire?
Rodimus glances down at you, equally confused.
"You mean he's pretending to be the fake but he's actually the real one, so the fake outs themselves?!" The red square-ish minibot did not take well to that idea.
"Personally, I don't think he's smart enough to think that far." Megatron. You're very sure that that's Megatron himself standing there. Who are these bots?!
"Wow how rude!" His shoulders slump.
You can't help but chuckle and while they continue to bicker, your illusion finally breaks.
Your actual appearance comes to light and their optics comically widen.
"Okay prettybot you can get off of me now, I think the answer is obvious." You state.
His smirk and close proximity were enough to make your spark nearly jump out of your chassis. Yes, 5 minutes ago he felt very inclined to punch you but now he has this desire to get to know the cute stranger before him. This entire ordeal was chaotic and kind of fun. The kind that would be welcomed on the lost light. He gets up from his previous position and as you move to get off the ground he extends his hand towards you to grab. When you clasp your hand around his and metal touches metal, it's like you've agreed to an unspoken promise. He pulls you up towards him.
"Would the cute stranger like to join my quest?" While your looks are no longer identical, your smirk could rival his own.
Maybe your fates were indeed intertwined.