Chapter Text
Brainstorm and Quark first met in the academy, both of them students and pursuing further education in engineering. They, at first, did not get along at all – Quark was the quieter one, more focused and diligent in attending the long lectures, while Brainstorm was the one that always cackled like mad when a good idea came, was late or outright skipped lectures and would cause a scene. The two of them would have never even interacted for a long period of time, but then came a very important group project.
The class had been randomly split in pairs and given a task to complete and present together and by some twist of fate, it just so happened that Quark and Brainstorm ended up together.
Brainstorm stared down at the shorter Quark, his yellow optics making his equally colorful faceplate look like it is glowing. Quark looked up at his taller lab partner, unsure what to say to the unfamiliar mech.
“Alright, my minion! You need not worry about this project! We are sure to succeed with the help of my unapparelled genius!” – Brainstorm proudly declared.
“Excuse me?!” Quark was flabbergasted “I am not your minion! Not to mention that we need to actually do something that works and doesn’t do something weird or explode! So, I will be taking charge of making the initial model-.”
“Aww~ but where’s the fun in that if we don’t make something interesting! Inventing things is an artistic form of genius!” – Brainstorm protested.
The two argued a lot while working on the plans for their project, each mech unwilling to back down, plus their personalities clashed a lot. And after a lot of arguing and pondering, they reached one conclusion.
“I am the…” – both of them began.
“…Greatest genius of all!” – Brainstorm said.
“…Only one with a working processor in this group and the better scientist.” – Quark said.
Their project ended up a mess and exploding in the middle of one of the other groups’ presentation, covering half the room in sooth. This had been Quark’s first failed assignment but Brainstorm had been thrilled about the result.
“The explosion was unfortunate, but at least it was proven that the energy core I rigged was stable, otherwise the lights would have also blown out!” – Brainstorm wrote down in his datapad.
“What?! You rigged an energy core inside instead of using MY battery?! The one I worked on??? Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?!” – Quark stood on his toes and jammed a digit in Brainstorm’s plating.
“Because you would have whined and said no! You always did that when I offered a suggestion!” – Brainstorm pointed out.
“Because most of your ideas were ridiculous. We did not need a ‘bad memory stopping beam’ attached to out invention!” Quark sighed and sat down “I hate to admit it, but actually using an energy core sounds like a good idea, instead of changing the battery after every use. If you told me I could have fine-tuned it into the circuitry so it didn’t overload the system and explode.”
“Oh? Are you finally admitting my genius? Haha!” – Brainstorm laughed.
“No. But… It was not bad, working together on a project. Certainly, more engaging than anything I did previously.” – Quark adjusted his lenses.
And so, the two started meeting regularly to study together.
…………………………………..
Quark and Brainstorm stood in the entrance of their new unit in one of Iacon’s many tall buildings. It was empty but their boxes full of supplies and packaged furniture would fill the barren hab in to time. They were moving together- they had conjuxed… somehow!
Between the many sleepless night cycles, working together on projects for the academy and later for the labs where they both found work, plus some of their own personal projects, they had somehow become a conjux without even realizing. So, to save more credits from their paychecks, plus to remove the hassle of remembering in which of their old habs they forgot something they needed, they decided to just accept it and move together to a bigger unit that was closer to their workplace.
It worked out, it worked very well actually, nothing much changed in their usual interactions but they started showing more affection privately, hugging, holding hands, snuggling on the couch while watching a movie, Brainstorm casually lifting his shorter partner up and so on. Life together had been good for many vorns and they thought it would continue to be like that unless some cataclysm collapsed society or something similarly catastrophic happened. That is until one day Quark collapsed suddenly…
“So, I am talking to Jackie about the new connector units those snobs from lab 3 were bragging about and he-.” – Brainstorm was talking while cleaning up the table.
“Ugh…” – there was a quiet grunt from Quark.
*Rattle~ Crash!
The empty cubes Quark had been putting away had crashed and shattered on the floor as his body also fell.
“Quark!” – Brainstorm reached his conjux in record time.
The flyer’s spark was hammering like crazy as he shook his limp, disoriented partner, already calling the nearby hospital to send in the closest medic available. No fear had gripped Brainstorm like this before, not even the threat of blowing himself up had terrified his as much as the sight of Quark, limp in his hold.
…………………………………….
“A-a spark disease?” – Brainstorm asked, for once his voice sounding small without the boisterous enthusiasm.
Quark was laying on a medical berth, now awake and holding onto Brainstorm’s left servo. The doctor, a stocky mech with the typical white and red medic coloration, nodded solemnly.
“I am sorry. I know this was not what you wanted to hear… It is not something anyone wants to hear.” the doctor vented “We’ve done multiple tests and scans, just hoping we’d find something else but, all the results come out the same. This sort of ailment is hard to catch, since the micro-cracks are not easily visible until the later stages but at that point, symptoms start showing – frequent exhaustion, dizziness, sudden fainting spells and so on.”
“What can we do to fix this?” – Quark asked.
“Nothing, unfortunately… Your particular case is incurable. With the help of modern technology, we have managed a lot but cases such as this are still fatal at the end. We can offer medication to hopefully slow the development or halt it temporarily, but unless a miracle happens and someone discovers a cure, there’s nothing more we can do.”
……………………………………….
Brainstorm felt like he’d explode form sheer frustration. Quark had to take medicine each cycle, frequent hospital visits and tests, so many tests… It was driving him insane! He was a genius! He should have been able to do something! Their kind had invented teleportation, long-distance space flight, how to construct quantum engines and so much more! Even he had made a few unbelievable inventions privately, like a beam that sends embarrassing memory files to the forefront of the processor and YET! Here he was, pouring over medical files and study books in some sort of attempt to find a cure for his conjux.
Brainstorm had poured his everything into this study, dug through millennia worth of medical studies and cased from the Iacon archives, he went as far as to buy university teaching material and even borrowed photocopies of a few documents from all the way back from the Age of Hunters, when studying the treatment of spark disease.
For a moment, he thought he had found his solution – there was a very thorough study on treatment of spark disease written by someone called Perceptor. The photocopied pages were ANCIENT. All written on sheets with ink, it was from the “Age of Hunters” or the Dark Ages as many mechs called that unpleasant time period in Cybertron’s history. They didn’t have the tech back then, so finding intact writing from that period was really had but some had survived, Perceptor’s notes in this case.
Brainstorm had been impressed by the long dead mech’s findings and study for said time period. Perceptor had been studying spark disease and ways to cure it. In fact, his research had been so solid that all modern treatment was based on his findings but unfortunately, the notes suddenly stopped, probably because the author had suddenly died.
‘There’s no way someone so thorough would just leave their work like that!’ Brainstorm thought while scanning the documents once more ‘But there’s also something not adding up. These are supposed to be the full notes but they seem incomplete…’
Brainstorm had noticed that inconsistency a while back – sometimes this Perceptor would just state a fact but not from where it comes, or write some data but not from where it came!
‘It says here that certain sparks are more susceptible to develop micro cracks inside under certain conditions. But HOW does he know that! Even with modern technology we can’t really peer inside the spark to observe these cracks until they reach the outer layer or symptoms show but this mech from back when they didn’t even HAVE electricity somehow figured that in ancient times!’
“*Knoc-knock!* Brainstorm? Do you… plan to come recharge tonight?” – Quark asked from the entrance of Brainstorm’s little home lab.
“Yeah, just a bit later. You go rest, you need to watch your health.” – Brainstorm barely glanced at Quark before continuing to scroll through his datapad.
“Alright, but I am worried about you, Storm. This is not healthy. You don’t need to ruin your health too.”
Brainstorm grit his dentae but chose to not say anything, least they start another argument.
……………………………………..
This was insane, a ridiculous idea that could have only been created by the processor of a madmech, but then again, Brainstorm was never shy about his thought process, plus he might have gone a bit crazy from all the medical textbooks he had been cramming in his processor.
There had been no treatment to be found at the moment and Quark had not been getting better. Brainstorm had looked at his options and didn’t like any of them. Oh, if only Perceptor had been able to finish the research, maybe then they would have invented a cure by now, but then again it was not like he could do anything about a mech that had offlined so long ago, but then the idea struck him.
“What if I make a machine that could bring me to this Perceptor and I just… make sure they survive long enough to complete the research, or maybe having a look at whatever tools they used for their measurements? A time machine!” Brainstorm exclaimed “I should be able to do something if I can get my servos on at least some of the missing data!”
A laughter bubbled out of him and he started laughing like crazy.
“A time machine! Really?! You really have lost it, huh, Storm?! HAHAHA!” he knocked his chair to the floor before pausing “But… this just might work!”
…………………………………….
Brainstorm barely spent time outside of his home lab, only going to work when he was on shift and immediately returning after that. Quark was getting worried with each passing cycle. His own health was already at risk and the stress was probably not making it any better. He would rather spend whatever time he had left with Brainstorm instead of barely talking to his conjux or worse, arguing with him again about his obsession.
“I told you before, Storm! I am happy that you are here with me! I don’t want to see you ruining your life like this! Our colleagues are already whispering that you’ve glitched. Just- this is not healthy, Brainstorm! Ust- STOP this madness!” – Quark hit the closed door.
It rattled but stayed shut, firmly locked from the inside.
“I can’t, Quark. I have finally come closer to a possible cure than ever before!” Brainstorm shouted from inside “I promised I would find a way to cure you, for you not to die and I will do it! I will save you no matter what!”
“You- you idiot!” – Quark shouted and stomped away from the lab door.
……………………………………
“I did it! I finally completed the time machine! Hahahaha!” – Brainstorm laughed loudly.
He lifted a complicated-looking device with many buttons and cables with tubes of concentrated energon connected to the sides. It was shaped like a big, bulky cuff and it attached to Brainstorm’s forearm.
“Test #2388 was a success! The machine successfully managed to create a temporal displacement zone that connected to the living area 10 klicks in the past and returned back successfully after 4 klicks. Now, to test my next hypothesis!” – Brainstorm attached the device to himself.
He used the buttons and small levers to adjust the energy output and set the time and coordinates on the display.
“Destination, Rotary recreation park down the street. Time, CT minus 30 breems.” – he muttered to himself.
It was late at night and he knew there would hardly be anyone there at the time, still he aimed for a secluded corner of the park. The time jump was also reasonable, since even if something went wrong and he couldn’t use the device to return, he could easily walk of fly back home in the 30 breems before he jumped and it would be like he never went anywhere. He vented one last time before pressing the button, but as he did so, he realized he was still holding the pliers he had been using until a moment ago. Before he could let them go, a bright blue light enveloped his form and he fizzled out of existence…
Only to immediately appear at the park… at least to him it was immediately, but as Brainstorm’s internal chronometer checked in with the local time, he was beyond ecstatic to find that he had indeed travelled 30 breems in the past! His past self should still be tinkering inside the lab!
“Hahaha! This is great! This proves my theories have been right! I really time-travelled! Ahahaha!” – he laughed like a crazy mech.
He might have actually been insane, to even try something like this at all, now that his processor was slowing down a bit. He shook his helm, chasing the exhaustion away.
“No! No time for that at the moment! Time for the next test!” he drew an X on a nearby wall and a wavy line below it “Alright, I can interact with objects and the universe did not explode! Now, let’s try the return sequence. Let’s say… 5 breems after I came here.”
He fiddled with the machine on his arm again, noting that one of the cylinders was half used up already.
‘Hmm… I should record how much this trip cost me in energon, I can maybe try and improve the energy efficiency?’ – he wondered.
With his time machine set up, he pressed the button and disappeared with another flash of light, safely back to his lab and in the correct time too!
What Brainstorm had not noticed was that he had not been as alone as he had hoped. An old, homeless mech had been trying to recharge in an alley nearby when a crazy, maniacal laughter startled him. He had headed towards the source of the noise, only to barely have a glimpse of a mysterious figure blink out of existence in a flash of blue light. The poor mech had been so scared he had promptly transformed and sped off. Later the next day, he had been rambling about strange lights and vanishing mechs.
……………………………………
It was time – Brainstorm was finally going to travel back in time and make sure Perceptor finished their research! It was the perfect time to travel, really, with him being on a short leave from the labs and Quark not being home to try and stop his ‘crazy experiment’, even though the time machine had been tested several times and worked properly. Really, his conjux should have known by now that Brainstorm was genius enough to invent time-travel!
‘I will be leaving for juuust~ a little bit. I’ll be popping in and out of that time period, like nothing happened. Hopefully, Quark won’t even notice I was gone.’
But just in case, Brainstorm decided to leave a note on his desk, a short message in case something didn’t go quite as planned.
“Quark! I will be going to travel back in time to find a cure- No, no. Too much…” Brainstorm shook his helm “Then, how about- Quark, I will be leaving for a bit to make sure there’s a cure for your disease? Eh~ It’ll have to do somewhat like that…?”
In the end, he left a short note about him going to secure a cure for his conjux’s spark disease and that he’d be back as soon as he can.
Brainstorm strapped the time machine on his left forearm, checked all the energon canisters and that everything was working as intended. He strapped on a bag with some rations and some of the notes he had from researching the spark disease. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he also took a first aid kit he had in the apartment- he had gotten it just in case Quark fell or injured himself again during one of his dizzy spells. With one last look at his home lab, Brainstorm set the time coordinates and pressed the start button. He was enveloped in a flash of blue light and was gone, without a trace left in his office, other than the note.
=== In the past ===
The forest was dim, the sky mostly covered by the tall, metallic trees that crew there, their branches long and leaves rattling lightly as wind passed by them. But then, the quiet was interrupted by a loud buzzing, a hum of energy through the air, blue sparks of energy crackled through the air for a few seconds before a flash of bright blue light illuminated the forest floor. A few cyber-crows were scared by the flash, engaged their wing propellers and flew away from the area. The light disappeared as suddenly as it appeared and, in its place, stood Brainstorm. A few arcs of energy still crackled around him as he oriented himself.
“Ugh… This was rough one. Note to myself- fix the whole spinney space thing once you get back home.” – Brainstorm said to himself as he swayed a bit on his pedes.
He had to reset his optics after the continuous assault of light and shapes during the transfer – it had been his longest jump so far. Out of habit, he tried to synchronize his internal clock with the network data, only for a big {ERROR! NETWORK NOT FOUND!} to flash. He really was in the Dark Ages, wasn’t he?
“Well! No point idling here! If my calculations were correct, which they most certainly are!” Brainstorm readjusted his bag and checked his first aid kit “I should be in the general area of where this Perceptor lived.”
Brainstorm started walking but without proper navigation, other than visual data and approximation based on his mental map, he was a bit lost.
“Agh! I forgot how much… nature there was outside of the cities.” – Brainstorm grumbled as one of his wing tips got caught in some low-hanging cable-vines.
He was not made for trekking through dense forests and he was NOT a lover of the outdoors. He was REALLY tempted to find a clearing and fly up to get a better view but he stopped himself – he HAD to remember that during this time, majority of Cybertron’s population was mono-formers. Most mechs during this time couldn’t transform like they did in his time and even those that could, the so-called ‘monsters’, could definitely not turn into vehicles – they were beast formers. Brainstorm could potentially get killed, labeled as a monster or worse - break the whole space-time continuum if he turned into a jet in front of a crowd! So… walking it is!
Brainstorm walked for several breems, which meant that by now Quark should be returning back to their unit, at least according to his internal clock. This… was really confusing, not being able to sync his time with the local one. The sun was setting currently, while his clock showed that it should still be the early afternoon back home!
*Rustle~Snap!*
Something could be heard moving in the distance.
*Thump-thump-tumP!*
“-Ey! Get-----ere you--!”
It was footsteps and they were getting closer! Voices too! Brainstorm perked up a bit and climbed up the hilltop– finally! Other mechs! Potential civilization might be near! Still, he couldn’t be too hasty, so he crouched down a bit, hiding behind a thick, viney bush. Below the steep hillside was a very narrow, beaten path, winding and twisting around the trees.
“Haaah-haaah!” – a mech burst out of the foliage, venting a lot and clearly struggling to keep running.
Said mech was pretty odd, in Brainstorm’s opinion – red armor, blue pedes and shins, a dark helmet, normal so far, but then there was the missing optic with a piece of metal just… tacked on? OH! And the weir robe-thingy.
Yeah, he was in the right time period, alright. Clothes, other than those fancy capes the upper class liked to wear on TV, were pretty much obsolete in his time, with the average Cybertronian transforming 12.4 times per day on average.
“Get him! Do not let him escape!” – someone else shouted.
From where the first mech came, two more appeared, these were dressed like knights with official-looking robes, additional armor, weapons and the crest of ‘Order of Primus’ proudly painted on their chest area. They were chasing and trying to apprehend the first mech for some reason.
‘Well, it’s not my problem, I have a scientist to find somewhere around here.’ – Brainstorm thought, looking away.
He was about to shuffle away and continue in the direction these mechs came from, but he heard something that had him scrambling after them.
“HALT! Stop running and turn yourself in!” the first knight said “You will save us all the trouble!”
“Perceptor of Protihex!” the second knight shouted “You are wanted by law under suspicion of being a heretic and conducting unsolicited experiments!”
And THAT was that made Brainstorm scramble to follow them! Apparently THE mech he was supposed to be saving was running for his life from the law!
‘Scrap! If this actually turns out to be the reason he died, I am going to be so mad!’ – Brainstorm thought as he ran after them, going deeper into the forest.