Flesh To Metal Version 2

Summary: Transformers Prime Fic. Getting killed in a pile up on the highway and suddenly waking up in a new body is strange. Said body being a Cybertronian even stranger. At least I have confirmation for the Reincarnation and multi-verse theories.

1. New Assignment

Story Start: Our Universe

The area around me was a mess. A blown-out tire from the front of a semi had caused it to careen out of control, taking out five different cars within the first five seconds of the accident and it had only gotten worst from there. I was on the tail end of the first twenty seconds and thanks to my pretty good reflexes had somehow managed to put my little Ford Ranger into a tail spin so that the back end had gotten crumpled and not me. Once my head had stopped ringing, I quickly got out of the cab from the passenger side and scrabbled to the side of the road, glad that I tended to stay in the fast lane whenever I went on freeways and highways simply on principle.

Screeching tires drew my attention as yet another car couldn't stop in time and I saw the mini-van slam into one of the already crumpled wrecks. Seeing the flames that started in both vehicles, I cursed before I rushed back to my truck's still open cab and flipped the back of the passenger seat forward to expose the small fire extinguisher and wonder-bar (mini crowbar) behind the seat. Grabbing both, I quickly rushed over and pulled the pin on the extinguisher, dousing the flames in its foam. Imminent explosions diverted, I helped the passengers get out of the cars only to discover that the driver of the car the mini-van had hit had his leg pinned under twisted metal. Thanking my foresight to grab the wonder-bar, I began prying the metal away from his leg, adrenalin aiding my already not so unimpressive strength and after about thirty seconds, the driver was just able to get his leg out. I had just enough time to wince at the mangled look of his ankle before I threw his left arm over my shoulder and began making my way back to the side of the road.

We were just beginning to pass the hood of my truck when yet again I heard tires screeching and I saw another car squealing as it came towards us too fast to stop. Tossing the driver the last few feet to the side of the road, I made to jump as well only to get hit by the car in the area of the driver side headlight, the force of the impact pinning me into the hood of my truck and causing my head to slam into the side of my truck directly above the wheel well and darkness filled my vision.

Scene Change: Transformers Prime Universe, Iacon Hall of Records

War is Hell. I don't know who was actually accredited with that sentence, but I'm pretty sure they would have used a stronger word if they could see all of the damage war had done to Cybertron over the ages. I certainly used stronger language when I had compared photos of pre-war Cybertron to what it looks like now when Alpha Trion showed me one day when I was on duty guarding him.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Smokescreen, recent Elite Guard Graduate, one of two designated body guards of the Head Archivist, and former human turned Cybertronian. And right now, just waiting for the Cons to burst through the doors as they made a smash and grab for the important documents and relics that the Hall held, not that there were many relics with war applications left thanks to Alpha Trion already sending most of them to Earth, while wondering if the Big A behind me was going to knock me out before they came or not. I got my answer when everything went dark and my last thought was 'Damn it Alpha Trion, you could have at least said goodbye when I could still hear you.'

Time Skip: Millennia Later, Location: Earth's Atmosphere

I was brought out of stasis in time to hear the warning tones of imminent atmospheric entry. Sighing to myself as I saw North America in the windscreen before it began tinting red with friction I thought 'So I did somehow manage to get a pod that headed for the Sol system. What are the odds of that?" As the pod began its entry run, I checked the pair of knives I had taken off the guard I had killed on the way to said escape pod who knows how many eons ago. They were just slabs of sharpened metal, barely longer than the hands holding their hilts, but they would work in a pinch if I got too close for comfort with the Cons that I was sure would be at the crash site. Besides, Elite Guard combat tactics was to keep moving in a way that made it hard to get a proper lock on with the Cons method of firing energy weapons so maybe I could bob and weave my way close and go for their throats if I had to. Putting the knives back in their sheathes that were magnetically clamped to my legs, one on each thigh, I turned my focus back to the outside of the escape pod and braced myself for a hard landing as the ground came rushing towards me.

I was thrown around in my seat as the pod made landfall. Taking only a moment to regain my bearings, I went to the exit of the pod and frowned when I saw the door controls sparking. "So Smokescreen wasn't just being dramatic in the show." I muttered before my right hand turned into a blaster and I shot my way out. I quickly got out of the pod and glanced around. Seeing the same scenery as in the show, I sighed again and said "And of course I would have the same landing site as well." Knowing that if things held true there'd be a squadron of vehicon troopers and about four to six Insecticons coming real soon, I quickly ran to one of the trees that had a good firing sight on the energon trail from the crash but was far enough away to be out of the blast radius of the fireball I planned to create and climbed up, settling in the branches that were near the top. Hopefully the cons wouldn't be looking up.

Once settled, I opened my chest armor and confirmed that the Omega Key was in it before quickly closing it and began surveying the area. Ten minutes later, I saw the cons moving along the ground about two thousand feet away before the sound of a ground bridge opening drew my attention to the Autobots' arrival. I kept an eye on them as they got closer even as I kept most of my attention on the Cons.

As the two groups began fighting, I waited for the cons to get closer to the trench of Energon. When I had judged that they were as in good of a position as I was going to get, I activated my coms and said "Autobot Squad, fall back, I've got eyes on the fight and I'm going to torch the energon."

"Who is this?" Arcee asked even as she took out a drone with an accurate shot.

"Authentication Delta Three Six Five Sierra Victor Niner, pull back now." That was an absolutely ancient authentication code for a member of the Elite Guard by now but it did its job as I heard Optimus call out "Fall back!"

I gave them a five second head start before I shot the energon trail at the farthest point from the escape pod and watched as it quickly shot down the length of the channel it was pooled in before detonating moments after it reached the pod's fuel tank. The fireball was every bit as satisfying as I had hoped and when it cleared away leaving small happily crackling blue fires and no surviving cons in the area I smirked and said "Twelve cons for the price of one Energon shot, not bad." Activating my coms, I sent "Autobot Squadron, you all still in one piece down there?"

"In one piece and grateful for the assist. Can we assume that you were the occupant of the Decepticon escape pod?" Optimus asked.

"You can. I managed to grab it after I had been captured. Hang on, this is a conversation better made face to face now that I don't have to hide from search parties." I said before I dropped out of the tree I was hiding in and walked over to the group. Coming to a stop in front of Optimus, I saluted and said "Smokescreen, at your service."

"Welcome to Earth, Smokescreen." Optimus said returning the salute.

"Now what? It's not like we can just bring him back to base." Ratchet said.

"It wouldn't be the first time an ally turned out to be a plant." Arcee added.

Optimus took that in as he studied me before he noticed my Elite Guard icon on my shoulders and he pointed at my right shoulder as he said "You used an Elite Guard code, albeit an older one, and I see you bear their emblem."

I nodded and said "Yeah, I received training with them, though it wasn't much more than a boot camp from hell by the time I got there. Never even got a proper graduation ceremony."

"There WAS a war going on." Arcee pointed out sternly.

"I know that, but you're telling me they couldn't spare thirty minutes for a quick speech and to shake our hands before they gave out assignments?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's got you there Arcee." Bumblebee said causing Arcee to huff.

"And what assignment were you given Smokescreen?" Optimus asked.

"Security detail at the Iacon Hall of Records. I was one of two guards for Alpha Trion." I said closing my eyes as memories of the Big A made themselves known before I shook my head sharply.

"The Hall of Records of all places?! Optimus, do you not find this highly suspicious?" Ratchet asked.

"You served under the Master Archivist?" Optimus asked.

I nodded and said "I wasn't exactly happy about it at first. I figured I would be the guy's gofer when I started. But the Big A turned out to be a great teacher, and a true friend, teaching me as much as he could while he worked." I gave Optimus a shrewd look as I said "Something we both shared in common I imagine. He was the one who petitioned Halogen and the High Council to make you a Prime after all."

Optimus studied me for a moment more before he said "Raphael, activate the ground bridge."

"That's it, that's all you need to hear before inviting him to the party?!" Arcee asked incredulously.

"If my former mentor shared this information, it is because he considered Smokescreen a trusted ally." The prime answered.

Scene Change: Autobot Outpost Omega 1

Miko was running across the concrete and up the stairs as she looked at me and said "We haven't had anyone new here since Wheeljack! What's your story Smoke? Where'd you come from? How'd you get here? How many blasters you packing?!"

I raised an eyebrow and said "Two blasters, but my Elite Guard training means I know how to fire them fast enough to be mistaken for a whole squadron of Autobots and still be accurate with them."

"Cool!" Miko said with wide eyes from where she stopped three quarters of the way up the stairs.

"Indeed, but I too share Miko's fascination with how you came to arrive on Earth." Ratchet said as he and the others came up behind me.

"In a Decepticon escape pod." Arcee said with crossed arms.

"You did mention being captured." Optimus said.

I nodded to him and said "The main thrust of combat operations was at least twenty clicks from the Hall of Records, so things had been pretty quiet. But things went downhill fast. The Cons launched a massive surge that wiped out the last line of defense surrounding Iacon. I was the last line of defense between the Cons and Alpha Trion. However, before they reached me, everything went black." I closed my eyes before I opened them again as I said "I can only assume Alpha Trion knocked me out so that way he could try and slip this past the Cons." My chest piece opened up and I reached in to pull out the Omega Key as I said "Iacon historical item Identification Number 30147, Designation, Omega Key #4, Description, one of four keys for the Omega Lock, said by lore to be the ultimate reset button for our home world." I purposefully refrained from saying just WHERE said Omega Lock was as I handed the key to Optimus who took it with slightly widened eyes.

"Are you serious?!" Arcee asked as she stared at the key with wide eyes.

"The ability to restore Cybertron, right before my optics." Ratchet said faintly as he stared at the relic with undisguised reverence.

Optimus studied the key in his hand for a moment before his torso opened and he put the key in for safekeeping for now. Closing his torso, he looked at me and said "Thank you for safe guarding this very important relic Smokescreen. Please continue your story."

I nodded and said "Cons took me prisoner and dumped me on a transport ship. But I managed to take out a guard when he came to check on me, and I took these from him for good measure." I patted one of the knives on my thighs as I continued "I grabbed an escape pod, but it must have been a long distance one because it almost immediately knocked me into stasis. Next thing I know, I'm just above Earth's atmosphere and then hitting solid ground, hard."

"The Decepticon's warship must have picked up the pod's beacon and guided it to Earth." Ratchet said.

"Which would explain Smokescreen's welcoming committee. Heh, bet the Cons were disappointed not to find one of their own inside." Arcee said, smirking a little at the end.

I allowed a small smirk as well before I glanced to Optimus and said "Well, that's my story. Going through Elite Guard training only to spend a year as a body guard before getting knocked into stasis for Primus knows how many eons. I'm kind of surprised the war is still going on to be honest."

"Yes, this war has gone on for far too long." Optimus said with a frown before he and everyone else glanced to the sound as a scraping then thudding sound was heard in a repeating pattern. We all saw Bulkhead stumble in as he said "So this is the new guy you all found huh?"

I blinked and said "Bulkhead, member of a black-ops group called the Wreckers, right?"

"That's right, and you're Smokescreen. I heard you guys talking." Bulkhead said as he studied me and seemed to find me wanting somehow.

Before I could answer to that, Optimus drew all of our attention back to him as he said "Smokescreen, I suggest that you take some time to get acclimated to your new surroundings. A tour of the base would be an excellent start."

"Sure thing!" Miko said from where she was next to Jack and Raf only for a groan of irritation from Bulkhead to make her back step verbally as she said "I mean, Jack here offers a very informative tour."

I turned my head to look at Jack and he gave this kind of half smile at being put on the spot.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the tail end of the tour and I frowned at where Airachnid was being kept in a stasis pod as I said "I heard stories about this eight-legged creep. Not good ones either." (The show REALLY didn't prepare you for how nasty she really was.)

"Yeah, we all breathed a sigh of relief the day Arcee caught her." Jack said looking in before he began walking back to the main room.

We came out just as the Red Energon was discovered and as Optimus said they must clear out the humans from the dig site, I said "Red Energon?! That stuff is supposed to be incredibly rare, only Dark Energon being more scarcely found." Walking over to the screen to look at it, I said "Sir, permission to be one of the members of the recovery team."

"Given your limited field experience, I believe further training is required before you're battle ready." Optimus said.

Even though I knew that was what he would say, I still frowned and said "Optimus, with all due respect, for me I just came out of Elite Guard training a year ago, isn't that training enough?"

"Perhaps if we were still on Cybertron, but this is Earth, and different rules apply here. We Autobots live on this planet as Robots In Disguise, you will need to obtain an Earth based vehicle mode." Optimus said.

"In order to maintain a low profile." Arcee finished.

I nodded and said "Fair enough. What can I scan that would best help out this team? Heavy armor? Big guns? High speed? Maybe something flight capable? Do you even have access to the military vehicles of this planet? This base was clearly something else before you guys occupied it so someone in the planet's government obviously knows about you guys but they might not be happy with someone masquerading as a military vehicle." I said the last part with a cocked head.

"Having someone who can match me and Arcee in high speed pursuits would be nice." Bumblebee said with a raised hand.

"And I don't think Agent Fowler's going to be able to get a tank or an attack helicopter for the kid to scan." Arcee said with crossed arms.

"Speed it is then. What's the fastest thing you can get me?" I asked.

"Well the current speed holder for a commercially available car would be the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport with just over two hundred and fifty miles per hour for top speed." Raf said as he looked up the fastest car on his laptop. Looking up with a wince he said "But they cost about 2.7 Million dollars."

Both Miko and Jack whistled at the price and I winced as I said "Yeah, I don't think we're getting our hands on one of those any time soon, even just to get a quick look at it. What about cars in the 150 miles per hour range?"

Raf typed some more and said "Well, there's a nearby Car place with a pair of Pontiac GTOs, they can reach 160 easily."

"Sounds like a winner." I said with a grin even as I thought 'My old Ford Ranger's gauge only went to 120 and the highest I ever got was 100 going down-hill. This is going to be awesome!'

"I will inform Agent Fowler to get you access to one of those vehicles when I contact him." Optimus promised as he walked over to the communications station to call said Special Agent.

Time Skip: An Hour Later

I grinned down at the silver GTO in front of me, Agent Fowler and I in a secluded warehouse with the vehicle and Agent Fowler smirked at said car as he said "This thing was a beauty to drive, I might just have to buy it after all rather than just 'test drive' it." I let out a chuckle at that before I scanned the vehicle and transformed into it for the first time ever. A few moments later, two cars quickly drove out of the warehouse, one turning towards Jasper, the other back towards the car lot to be bought by a federal agent.

I came back to the base in time to hear Optimus saying over the coms about Starscream being present for the Red Energon and I said "Starscream? Isn't he the Cons' military commander? What's he doing on an asset acquisition run?" (As if I didn't know, but pretenses must be kept.)

"He went rogue some time ago, and with the Apex Armor, there is a likely chance he will succeed in his quest to obtain the Red Energon." Ratchet said without looking towards me.

'Thank you Ratchet.' I thought with a grin and said "Apex Armor eh? I wonder how good that would do against the Phase Shifter I saw in the vault." As Ratchet's head raised at that, I continued "Commander, permission to perform a little bit of asset denial?"

Ratchet turned his head to study me for a moment before to my surprise he let out the slightest of smirks as he said "Permission granted, Smokescreen." I gave him a quick salute before I ran over to the vault and grabbed the Phase Shifter.

Scene Change: Docks

I came out of the ground bridge portal to the sight of Starscream trying to push the crane into the water. I rolled up to a hundred feet in front of him and transformed. Starscream dropped the crane and took a few steps towards me as he said "So, the Autobots have a new recruit."

"And you must be Starscream. You're uglier than I thought you'd be." I said with a smirk. Starscream growled but before he could say anything, I rushed the con. Ignoring Optimus calling me to fall back, I mentally activated the Phase Shifter on my right arm and launched myself through the armor, rolling out the back with Starscream's shoulder guards in my hands. Coming out of my roll, I threw Starscream onto the ground and sent him skidding back. He had just enough time to stop and gasp out "A Phase Shifter?!" before his eyes widened as he scrambled away from the barrage of blaster bolts I fired at him, barely having the proper state of mind to grab the small chunk of Red Energon by his feet before rapidly fleeing the area, using the Ground Bridge remote he had to get out of the area as fast as he could.

Sighing, I muttered "Damn it, I should have aimed for the Energon." Looking up at the crate, I let out a short 'Heh' and continued "At least we've got the bigger portion though."

Scene Change: Omega 1

We came through the Ground Bridge with Bumblebee and Arcee carrying the Red Energon while I carried the collapsed form of the armor and the phase shifter. Once everything was settled onto the ground, Optimus looked towards me and said "Smokescreen, you have shown that you remembered your training well, by placing strategy over bravado." Walking closer, he continued "While this may lack the pageantry of a proper Elite Guard ceremony, I wish to welcome you to Team Prime."

I stared at everyone else before I heard Bulkhead say "Looks like I was wrong, the newbie did alright."

I frowned as Miko went to try and comfort Bulkhead only for him to turn and make his way further into the base. Sighing, I thought to myself 'I'm almost wishing Human Factor comes sooner rather than later just so that he won't be stuck in this depression anymore.'