Chapter Text
A teleportation device, or something similar to one, would be incredibly helpful in tracking down the shards of the emberstone. It was also, theoretically, possible. Nightshade has seen this before, after all. Skywarp’s warping abilities, while singular to her, was proof of this. Warping technology is possible.
It would also prove incredibly useful for long range, if only Nightshade as able to get it to work. Several failed attempts have already left them quite frustrated. Items that they designed to roll through, and then roll back would not return- no matter how well they had previously worked. Any tracking device they had placed onto it also stopped working, leaving Nightshade incredibly unaware of where these things had even ended up in the end.
“Maybe you should take a break.” Hashtag offers from where she’s lying down with her legs up on the wall. Her tablet is held in her hands as she shows Twitch videos of some sort of animal. “We’ll even watch owl videos.” She teases.
Nightshade shakes their helm no. “I want to get this working sooner than later… I feel as though I am close, but…” They trail off and open the panel again.
“We know, Nightshade.” Twitch says, straining her helm to look over at him. “But you’ve been working on this for a while now, and sometimes a break helps.” She grins. “Don’t want to send us to Antarctica on accident, do you?”
Nightshade’s lips twitch into a small smile. “I don’t.” They admit. “Give me about… fifteen minutes, and I’ll join you both.” He promises them.
Hashtag lights up, blue optics shining. She grins and sets a timer- something they definitely should have expected from her- for fifteen minutes. “When this goes off you either stop or quickly finish up and join us.”
Nightshade waves their servo slightly flippantly. “Yes- yes. Fifteen minutes.” They examine the work they’ve done so far, frowning. They had sworn that everything was working as it should this time… Within ten minutes they have made certain adjustments- minimal ones. The teleportation device is already working after all, to a degree. They don’t want to risk messing it up further.
“I’m about to do another test run.” They glance over to Twitch and Hashtag. “I believe that I got it this time.”
Twitch practically shoots up. “Already?” She asks, blinking in confusion and slight surprise. “That was quick.”
Hashtag gets up, following Twitch over. “You’ll watch videos with us after you test it, right?” She perks up slightly.
“Even if it fails,” Nightshade agrees. “It would be a good stopping point.” They pick up another device that they can send through the portal.
“Oh! Can I turn it on?” Twitch asks excitedly, orange optics lighting up. “Please?”
Nightshade hesitates a moment, glancing at the control panel. “Allow me to set it up first.” They input the coordinates that, hopefully, this will open to. It’s supposed to open in the middle of nowhere, in case anything goes wrong, they don’t wish to cause untold damage.
Twitch excitedly flies over to them, hovering by the control panel. If she was on her pedes, they are sure she’d practically be bouncing. Once everything is prepared, they take a small step back.
“Oh wait! Give me a second!” Hashtag quickly starts to record, optics shining. “If you succeed, I wanna get it on video!” She exclaims.
Twitch waits for the thumbs up. She grabs onto the lever and pulls it down. It doesn’t take long- the portal opens up with a whirring sound, flashing bright colours. It swirls… and it looks stable.
Nightshade turns on the device and sets it on the ground, watching as it starts to roll through. It’s fine- for all of two seconds. The portal starts making a louder noise, the swirling moves faster- and it flickers.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Hashtag lowers her tablet slightly to focus on them, a soft frown on her face.
Twitch immediately steps aside, allowing Nightshade to take over. They start to try to shut it off… in multiple different ways. But it doesn’t. It only gets louder. Hashtag yelps as her tablet starts to get pulled away from her, her grip tightening on it. “What is it doing-“ She gasps as it starts to pull her through as well- no matter how hard tries to stay where she is.
Twitch transforms to try and fly away from it, but it does absolutely nothing against the pull. A yelp escapes her, and Nightshade can feel her fear through the bond. They reach out for her, grabbing onto her servo when she transforms back. Hashtag abandons her tablet across the room and rushes forward to grab onto Twitch. The two Terrans struggle against the portal, trying to pull their sister away from it.
Nightshade’s pede slips… and the three of them find themselves yanked into the portal.
They’re spit out the other side soon after- almost literally. The three of them are practically shot out, yelps and groans leaving them as they are flung to the ground, sent skidding across the desert sand. Nightshade groans softly, needing a second to get their bearings. They sit up quickly, and find themselves staring to where the other end of the portal should be.
There’s nothing there- except for the device that they had sent through earlier.
“When your devices go wrong,” Hashtag groans, “they really go wrong.”
Nightshade gives her an apologetic look. They sigh softly. “I have the coordinates… so I know where we are but I fear that I may have sent them… far from Witwicky. If my device brought us to where I set the coordinates, we’re somewhere in Nevada.”
Twitch frowns, and starts to feel panic through the bond- confusion too. Mo, Robbie, Jawbreaker and Thrash must have felt their panic and went looking. The bond feels… weak- far away. Farther than they’ve ever been before too. “They know we’re gone at least.”
Nightshade nods slightly. “I propose we stay here then. The coordinates I opened to may still be in its logs… and Hashtag- you were recording right?” They glance at her.
Hashtag blinks, then lights up. “Yes! My tablet is still there- as long as it didn’t break when I threw it across the room, they’ll be able to see everything that happened.” She beams.
“So we wait until they figure out how to bring us back.” Twitch nods slightly now.
Hashtag sighs softly. “If I had my tablet,” she says somewhat wistfully, “I could have watched videos with…” she trails off, pressing her lips together. “Or not. No wifi.” She huffs. “You had to send us somewhere with no wifi.”
“I didn’t want the portal to open in a populated area in case something went wrong… and clearly it did.” Nightshade goes over to them and starts to check their siblings for injuries.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t take long for the familiar portal to open. It looks far more stable than what Nightshade had created though.
“At least we aren’t here for long,” Twitch smiles, stepping over to it with her siblings.