Disclaimer: Transformers is the property of Hasbro and whoever they sold the rights to. No infringement was implied or intended. No financial gain has been received from this work.

A/N: I'm ba-ack! Sort of. This is a companion piece to "Children of Megatron." I wrote this in an effort to try and regain the muse for CoM. Right now, I have been inspired by fealion's story, "The Incarnation of Cybertron." So, I'm trying to exercise that muse so I have more room to entertain the CoM muse. But seriously, you guys are just too good with your own stories and I keep getting all these other ideas. I really need to stop reading so I can spend more time writing for you. *sigh* What a conundrum, inspiration to write that steals the inspiration to write. Anyway, as always, let me know what I need to improve on and what I did right. P.S. The person I had in mind as the human male in the story was Matthew McConaughey. Funny, since when I was writing him in CoM, I was hearing Dale Earnhardt Jr. in my head. Tracy

Hound's Experiment

Hound had been driving for over twenty minutes before he found a location that would suit his needs. It was a less traveled road through a heavily wooded area. His scanners indicated a turn off ahead that lead to a makeshift parking area completely surrounded by trees. Parking himself, he turned off his engine and headlights and ran a diagnostic on the modifications he had programmed into his holographic emitters. Satisfied, he compiled the data he would need and input it into the image. Then, he turned on his projection array.

The image flickered briefly before it appeared to solidify. The soft blue haze surrounding it quickly dissipated as the energizing wavelengths established themselves. Hound studied the image critically, manipulating it subtly until he was satisfied it was adequate.

"Now, let's test it out," he muttered aloud to himself.

VVVVVBREAKVVVVV

A tall, athletic, human male blinked in a daze before he looked around himself in wonder. He cocked his head as he looked at the Tracker in front of him before continuing his visual exploration of all of the vegetation surrounding him. Everything was just so huge, he thought.

Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he looked down at his body and focused on making his hands move. With barely a hesitation, they obeyed his commands and he was able to raise them before his face. He examined them critically; they were properly formed with an appropriate hint of a faded tan – perfect for late winter at this latitude. He twisted them to examine the backs and paused at the sensation. Curious, he twisted them back and flexed the wrist.

"Incredible!" he whispered to himself. The sound of his own voice surprised him.

"Hello?" he said louder.

"This is my voice!" he shouted.

"I sound funny," he said in wonderment. "Wonder if this is what I sound like to the others."

Smiling at the sensations and all the new discoveries, he froze. Hesitantly, he raised his hands to feel his own face. He went through several facial expressions and marveled at the way the musculature felt as he moved.

Suddenly, he felt something against his side and quickly looked down, startled. It appeared to be a plastic bag pinned against his torso by the wind. Astonished, he gingerly reached down and grabbed it. He noted the gritty feel of the dirt grinding against his skin as he rubbed the material between his fingers. Just as quickly as it was there, the wind picked it up and blew it away again. He watched after it sadly as it disappeared into the woods. He always hated the knowledge that such beautiful landscapes were often soon ruined by preventable litter.

Shaking his head, he looked down at his legs and focused on moving them. At first, it was just a simple bending of the knees. Once he was in a squat, he focused on straightening, then squatting again until he got the feel of the movement. Setting his face in determination he hesitantly took a small step forward. His tan hiking boots caught on a root, making his foot stop its forward progress. Shifting his weight onto his forward leg, he moved the other foot, making sure to lift it up a few inches to clear the rest of the root. Satisfied that he was getting the feel of it, he paced around in front of the tracker until he was more confident.

Nodding to himself that he had mastered the movement, he walked over to the Tracker and opened the door. Sliding in, he turned to the laptop computer sitting in the passenger seat. He quickly opened it up and turned it on. While it booted up, he studied his reflection in the vanity mirror under the visor; the first thing he noticed was his vivid blue eyes. That would draw undue attention, he realized, so a stylish visor appeared on his face to cover them; what the locals called "sunglasses."

Smiling at the new look, he continued to pass a critical eye over himself; his sun-bleached, brown hair was tousled around a faded tanned, open and friendly face wearing stylish sunglasses, small "laugh lines" bracketed full lips over a defined jawline and strong chin. His neck was smooth with a prominent Adam's apple that disappeared into a green, plaid, long sleeved, flannel shirt covered over with a khaki fisherman's vest. A small emblem of his affiliation was embroidered on the left, breast pocket. Looking down into his lap, he saw the regular blue jeans covering his legs with his tan hiking boots finishing the look.

The tune playing from the computer alerted him it was fully booted, so he turned back to the task at hand. Quickly connecting to the web, he accessed his email address and opened the only message. There was no text, just several files that he knew were coded with the virus encryption. Running the de-encryption process, he downloaded the contents of the files onto the laptop's hard drive, also uploading them to his own processors visually. Once he had all of the files, he noticed he was getting low on energy so he closed down the laptop. It looked like it was time to go.

VVVVVBREAKVVVVV

Hound turned the holograph off and turned his engine on. Turning around, he drove out of the parking lot and headed back toward the lair. All and all, he would say that his experiment had been a major success. He'd just have to see what he could do about decreasing the amount of energy it tended to use. Maybe, he reasoned to himself, it was time to bring Ratchet in on his little experiment. He was sure the surly medic would have a few ideas on how to handle the energy consumption.

Nodding mentally at his next step, he could not help but begin to plan the next things he would try with his new holo-image.