Title: Shattered

By: Ceris Malfoy

Summary: "Rumor has it that he discovered something so terrible that it destroyed his very sanity." It wasn't so much what he discovered, so much as a great and terrible abyss that forced its way into his very ember.

Inspiration: Piole generously sent me a link to download Shattered Glass, and I practically devoured it. This is only one of the ideas that hit me while I was reading, but it is my favorite. This particular fic deals primarily with Optronix before the events of Shattered Glass, and how he became the Autobot Tyrant Optimus Prime. And guess what? It's all 'Screamer's fault. XD

Continuity: TF Crossover. G1 and Shattered Glass, with events and situations mentioned from both the 1986 movie and Bay-verse.

Status: Part 1 of 4

It had all started simply enough.

Optronix was a cold, logical mech that was more than capable of looking after himself, despite his young age. So, when his creators tragically died in a horrible accident off-planet, no one said anything when he simply took control of their assets and made the arrangements they never thought to make. Given the abrupt nature of the tragedy, no one even looked twice at him when he started taking long walks alone close to the wastes. It was on one of these walks that he had found the seeker.

The seeker was badly injured – half of his torso completely gone, as well as most of a wing – and it was the nature of the injury that caught Optronix's attention. He was an avid study of Cybertronian history, and the wounds the seeker bore looked very much like they had been made by some sort of weapon – which was impossible, because weapons had been banned for several millennia.

Curious, he had dragged the seeker back to his home, and arranged for a medic to repair it. It was only after the repairs were done and he was left waiting for the seeker to awaken that he noticed something strange.

The seeker wasn't built right.

Seekers, as he knew them, were large, blocky mechs with a disturbing amount of speed and agility considering their build. This seeker was much smaller than he had ever seen, and was lithe. This seeker actually looked like he was fast and agile. Most seekers had only one or two colors, except for the few femmes among them, but this seeker was unnaturally bright and colorful: moonlight-silver, sleek crimson, soft blue, and matte black. Seekers, as he knew them, had large pedes, meant to hold their considerable weight while on the ground. Unfortunately, the larger pedes meant they often walked with a strange, lumbering gait. This seeker's pedes were small, with delicately arched plating that attached to his thrusters – which also were different in that they were exposed with no plating to prevent them from being damaged while walking. The alloy used in his armor was different as well, some strange mixture that he had never seen before.

The seeker intrigued him. Where did it come from? Why had it been injured so? How had it been injured so Why was its design so different? So many questions, and he would have to wait for answers.

That was okay though, because Optronix knew how to be patient.

Optronix did not have to wait long for the seeker to wake.

The seeker woke suddenly, with no warning, and certainly no evidence of having suffered such grievous wounds. Far faster than Optronix had anticipated, the seeker was off the berth and he was against the wall, the seeker's clawed-servos digging painfully against his neck.

"Where am I?" The seeker's cold, strangely-pitched voice hissed out, and Optronix didn't answer because he was too entranced by the seeker's burning optics. He had never seen their like before – a sharp crimson that echoed with a piercing intelligence and resounding madness. The seeker shook him a little, and he could not help the pained gasp that left his vocalizer as those claws nicked an energon-line. "I'm waiting, groundling. Where am I?"

"I-Iacon," he managed to get out, watching fascinated as a look of panic, suspicion, disbelief, and rage crossed those elegant facial plates.

"That's not possible," the seeker hissed, gripping tighter. "Cybertron is dead, groundling, its cities ground to dust and ruins. Where am I?"

"Look out the window," he told the seeker.

The seeker eyed him, before releasing him abruptly and crossing the room. Optronix could not help but admire the view – those oddly-designed pedes had obviously been considered that way for a reason, as the seeker moved with a certain grace and skill that he had only seen in the ancient recordings.

The calm, stalking assurance of a predator.

"Iacon," the seeker whispered, staring out the window with awed wonder. There was silence for a moment, and then the seeker was staring at him again, hunger and a strange yearning on his facial plating. "Tell me everything," the seeker demanded, and Optronix obliged.

So? Drop me a line and let me know what you think. Even if you think it's the biggest load of slag you've ever read - I'm intersted in knowing.