Title: SIC
Continuity: G1-ish AU
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Optimus Prime / Megatron
Rated: T
Warnings: angst/drama
Disclaimers: the usual. No OC, no owning it, just fooling around with Tr
Autobots
[U 1 – Autobot base]
"It was not as dangerous as it looked… he's been knocked out, and there is some damage on his chassis but he should be online shortly. Once we are back to the base I'll have him repaired in no time."
"Thanks Ratchet, it is good to know. It did look more dangerous than this small damage shows, isn't it?" Jazz frowned as he looked Optimus's chest which sported a small hole near the spark and some burned plates around it. The strange energy beam that knocked out their commander was downright frightening, and coming from Starscream's handgun it could have been far worse; the Decepticon SIC was famous for his experimental weapons. The beam's force threw Optimus clear of Megatron which was good as they could rally around him to retrieve the body from the fray, while the 'Cons called a retreat unexpectedly. Come to think of it, Jazz was sure that Megatron was just as surprised by the Seeker's new weapon and its effect as they were.
The rest of the way back to the base was uneventful, and once he was in the medbay, Ratchet replaced Optimus's chest-plate after ascertaining that there was no deeper damage. He was surprised that the shot only shorted out a couple of easily repairable and not very important wires – it shouldn't have offlined Optimus for so long and since Ratchet trusted his own intuitions on matters medical, he continued to scan and examine him in detail. Even so, after joors that he couldn't find anything suspicious and Optimus resolutely remaining offline, he gave up and moved to the medbay terminal to call up files on possible damage to the Matrix, as he could think of no other reason for so prolonged offlining. With his back to the medical berth he didn't notice the blue optics unshuttering, focusing, looking around and recognizing the colour-scheme of the base; he totally missed the limbs suddenly clenching, checking for restraints - and as a consequence he was taken by complete surprise by the tricolored body coming off the table with a speed belying his size and stopping behind him the fingers squeezed his neck-cables hard. Ratchet only had time and energy to grasp weakly at the fingers around his throat before he was offline – they knew exactly which cables were the most vulnerable ones and latched onto them unerringly; the pain knocking out the medic at once.
Optimus was at the door immediately and listening to the outside sounds ascertained that nobody was in the adjoining corridor before slipping out and silently but with a worried urgency moved towards the base entrance. He negotiated two hallways before his luck run out, and from the next bend a familiar, looming shape appeared and started to talk to him with some surprise to see Optimus here, while he was thought to be still in the medbay; but the Prime was faster than Ironhide's vocalizer, and throwing himself to the floor with a momentum he slid towards the surprised mech, and swept his legs from under him. Ironhide, not expecting an attack went down hard but he could hardly squeeze out a 'whatthefrag' before Optimus's hand connected with his optics, breaking them and sending pain messages to his CPU. By the time he shouted in the open comm channel to raise alarms and catch the invader who looked like Optimus the bigger mech was nowhere to be seen.
Optimus dropped the stealth at this point and was running full tilt towards his escape – he knew there would be guards at the base entrance but at this point he considered that his best chance still. Afterwards would be another matter, he would need all his speed to outdo the faster cars, which he couldn't do without assistance… which he could only hoped to have. Not that his comm was working, slaggit, but he didn't really expect them to fix that. Unfortunately the shapes at the entryway didn't promise a lot of good for him, especially as Ironhide has already alerted them; both Hot Spot and Blades looked ready with weapons charged, even though they were shocked to point those same weapons at their leader. He charged at them anyway, and to his surprise they didn't shoot him; Optimus didn't stop to question his fortune and kept running towards them, trying to slip past towards freedom. But apparently they both came out of their shocks by the time he was trying to weave around and Blades managed to catch a flailing arm when it went by – pulling on it Optimus staggered into Hot Spot and that was about the end of the escape attempt. The knockout drug that First Aid managed to stab into an energon line was only sealing his fate – with fading consciousness Optimus knew that the next time he onlined they would be far more careful with him…
He was right about that too. While still not in the brig, he came online handcuffed onto a med-bay table, with Ironhide glowering from the doorpost, closer to the table a cautious Ratchet frowned at him, while from the other side… his spark skipped a few pulses as he saw the severe features of Prowl dangerously close to him. Optimus covered his fear with an angry growl at him, showing fangs and snarling at him:
"I won't tell you anything you Pit-spawned Autoscum so spare me the questions – and the Matrix defends me from the hacking as you well know."
He was momentarily surprised by the shocked looks that the two exchanged before Ratchet came closer and bemusedly asked him, visibly struggling as to how to express the question:
"Why would we… uhh… hack you? And why are you cursing… in that particular way? Do you know where are you… actually who are you?"
"I am Optimus Prime of course… and I assume it is the Autobot Base of Operations. What else?"
"And do you recognize us too?" Ratchet was sure the answer was somewhere here but he couldn't yet put his finger on it. Now that he looked at Optimus seeking for clues he noticed a few odd things; his colors were deeper, darker, and the blue optics were definitely not the calm, always honest ones of their leader but looked at him suspiciously and… what Ratchet could only describe as hard.
"What games do you play now with me?" came a bitter, snarled answer that matched those optics in mistrust and… yes fear. Now, why would he have to fear his fellow Autobots, why did he try to escape so desperately…? The answer when it came explained that at least…. if nothing else:
"Yes I recognize you all. Ironhide is an obedient dog of Rodimus Prime, you are the medic of the Autobots, Ratchet, who doesn't get his hands dirty with torture only cleanly hacks mechs into madness; and that there is Prowl, the sparkless murderer."
Prowl's logic circuits chose this moment to give up totally, glitching him offline, while Ratchet, although he was insulted by Optimus's words started to glimpse the explanation… just one more question to be sure, while he automatically moved towards Prowl to lay him on a berth. Jazz chose this moment to step into medbay after Prowl commed him to join them, to have the remaining command staff here so they could make out what to do. He only heard that there was some problem with Optimus and that he behaved strangely – seeing him handcuffed to the table and snarling at his comrades was quite a sight.
"Who are you then? Besides the name if you please?"
Optimus started to feel a strange, fluttering feeling inside that was just a tiny bit better than the previous fear; he couldn't quite make out the meaning of the questions and the shocked faces of the hated mechs around him. He expected hate, anger and glee at his capture but they all acted… wrong, out of character and he couldn't quite understand the game they were playing. If it was a game… but he answered anyway, as it was no secret:
"I am Optimus Prime – as you Autobots call me the Decepticon Prime. Second in Command in the Decepticon army. Your enemy through and through, even if you want to 'convert' me now or whatnot."
Jazz felt his optics widen, his jaw falling and suddenly he wished if he could join Prowl into a logic-glitched oblivion. Ironhide's shocked, strangled snort seemed to reciprocate with his feelings, only Ratchet seemed to contain his surprise better – of course his questions showed that he suspected something already. He brought Prowl online quickly, giving him a painkiller for the headache and turned back to the mech on the table who was visibly wavering between a confused curiosity and a fearful hatred, scowling at him as he tried to give him their side of the things.
"You see we know you as Optimus Prime, leader of us, the Autobot faction, opposing the Decepticons. Forgive us if we are a bit surprised by your apparent hostility and the insults you hurled at us. We know nothing about 'Decepticon Prime' – in fact no other Primes exist but you here."
It was Optimus's turn then to be shocked and sputtering incomprehensible words, try to grasp what was going on. He looked to his armour, normally sporting the faction sign – but that was exactly the place where the strange weapon hit, and so it was covered with a new, metallic silver plate only. Ratchet caught on immediately and after a few kliks of searching the discarded parts pile he came up with the armour-plate in question. All their optics were riveted to its battered, burned surface where as close inspection revealed that the remaining lines were clearly purple… again it was Ratchet who first voiced what nagged him for the last few answers and by this time was almost a certainty in his CPU.
"You are from… somewhere else... maybe from another universe…?"
It was Prowl, finally deciding that some normalcy was in order and turned to Optimus:
"If you would cease being violent – I suggest a truce maybe until we clear the matter – and we could regroup in the conference room to clear this issue…?"
"Truce?" – sputtered Optimus – "Trust YOU? I'd trust Unicron itself before you! Let me go and I will kill you in a second!"
Apparently this Optimus had serious issues with Prowl as the rest of them too noticed; although Prime looked at them all with mistrust, with the black and white mech it was such a naked hatred in those hard, blue optics that literally none of them has ever seen in Optimus. Even if it was a case of alternate realities, Ratchet was worried that it spanned any dimension rifts. He silently commed Prowl to go to the conference room ahead of them; it was clear that without him present they could convince Optimus easier to cooperate. Unfortunately with Optimus clearly not being himself Prowl had to be included in the discussion as SIC and acting Commander – it took joors before they could get that fact across and Optimus grudgingly agreeing to being in a room with him. It really helped when they called in the twins to keep guard while the rest of them offlined all weapons as Optimus greeted them friendly – apparently where he came from these two were on his side – that is Decepticons. Jazz had to admit it to himself that it was altogether not that surprising; certainly less so than Optimus being a Decepticon.
Once comfortably in the conference room without restraints and only a few hostile glances towards Prowl they could start the whole explanation again. Optimus explained that as he remembered things it was a beam from Starscream's experimental weapon that collided with a human weapon's effect from the Autobot side and the two combined together was what hit him and knocked him out. With that cleared they agreed to find out what the Humans tried out in that battle so that they could work out how it 'bridged' the two timelines. But for the Autobots there was one more pressing problem that they asked from the 'Con Optimus:
"What about our Optimus Prime in your universe? How will Megatron react to the change and the rest of the Cons?"
"Uhh… that will be – is? was? – interesting… he might not like it any better than me here, I guess…? Starscream will be able to work out the science easily, he is a genius really… but you see Megatron is my bondmate there and that might be problematic for your Optimus."
Talk about bombshells. Even Ratchet gaped at that and the rest of them were no better. They just simply couldn't imagine it. Or wouldn't want to really.