Hammerhead.

Warnings: Violence, bad language, gore and possibly some sex.

"Through this doorway what's on the other side, never knowing exactly what I'll find, locked and loaded, voices screaming: let's go, come on do it, here we go!" – Hammerhead, the Offspring.

Timing: Post season 2 finale, set few weeks after Beauty of the Beast in my very own BotB Prime Timeline (due to the fact that season 3 – The Beast Hunters is about to be aired at the end of March).

Rating: M (alternative – if there will be any – or extended chapters will go MA and will be available on my Tumblr account .com).

Pairings: Megatron and June, Bumblebee and Miko, maybe some Shockwave and Arcee.

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.

Prologue.

"Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us, to a glimpse of how green it was on the other side (…)" Pink Floyd High Hopes.

The large room was mostly dark, only source of light was single computer screen where lone bulky form was hunched in front of silently typing while mumbling something quietly every now and then. Actual size of this spacious room was hard to tell as the darkness hid its walls and ceiling. The floor around the computer was made of bare concrete. There was no carpet nor other covers. Night seemed unnaturally quiet, it seemed like there was no walls, no ceiling, just unending darkness spreading around that sole figure.

A sudden groan spoiled the unearthly atmosphere. The figure rose quickly and hurried to where the noise came from. Its steps were hurried, as if there was nothing more important than the source of that groan.

"Optimus. Optimus…" Ratchet switched lights on and gave his patient worried look.

The Prime rolled his head and looked at the old Medic. "Ratchet… What…"

"Don't talk Optimus, you're still very weak." Ratchet activated his in-build scanner and began examination of Prime's vitals. "You need to rest, we almost lost you." Ratchet hesitated for a moment; he didn't know if Optimus knew even on what planet they were on. "What's the last thing you remember?" That was the best way to determinate Optimus' mental state. He didn't want to tire his Prime but neither he want to cause unnecessary shock.

The Prime vented heavy and tired sigh. "You were going through the Groundbridge after Smokescreen."

"Thank Primus and all the organic deities of this planet! Your CPU is still fully operational." Upon seeing Optimus' dumb struck face Ratchet quickly continued. "When you stayed behind to make sure that Megatron won't be able to follow us Decepticons managed to reach the base before you were able to escape yourself. You were caught in the blast and buried under remains of the mesa."

The Prime vented again, this time in thought. "Where are we? Were we taken…"

"No. Everyone escaped and Agent Fowler managed to dig you out before Decepticons realized you were there and still alive. It was a close call."

Ratchet's voice was unusually soft and calm. The old Medic was known for his poor berthside manners, so when he behaved caring and gentle the patient was usually in very bad shape.

"How long?"

Ratchet went silent for a moment deciding how to pass the information. "You were out for almost two weeks after we finished all surgery." He wanted to finish there but the expecting look on Prime's face forced him to continue. "Before that it took a week to perform all required surgery. We did it with small steps to avoid taxing you too much. There is still some work to do, but I wanted to wait with it for you to regain your consciousness."

Optimus stared at the far ceiling for a long moment, then realized that they were in aircraft hangar. He reached to rub his face when he saw his arm. It had the right size and shape but it looked different. The paint was different and he discovered that he had only half of his normal optic range.

As a Prime Optimus was level minded and kept his feeling in check but he wasn't entirely emotionless and now a cold dread begun to sip slowly into his Spark. How bad was it? How crippled would he be? What he lost?

Ratchet noticed that Optimus tensed; there could be only one reason for that. The Prime looked like he was close to panic, of course it wasn't possible to freak out but he had the right to be scared.

"You were heavily damaged." Optimus focused on Ratchet who started to carefully explain everything. "You had lost both of your optics and audio receptors, your right arm was unsalvageable, so were your left leg and both knee joints. When they found you your abdomen and chest plates were tore open, the recue team reported that they could see your internals and the Matrix. Your face mask protected your facial plating but I had to cut it off to see what was under because it was too dented. There were some minor internal bleedings and minor injuries."

Ratchet gave Optimus few moments to digest this news before he continued. "Fortunately we had a full set of spare parts, courtesy of Silas and his dummy, so we could use them to replace your unsalvageable parts. The hardest were your optics. The output signal wasn't compatible with Cybertronian neural net so I had to work on it but I managed to calibrate the right one and install it." Optimus nodded indicating that he understands. "I only installed one because I had to know if it worked right, now I will finish the left one and install it too. They're still yellow though. We still need to paint you as well."

Optimus closed his one working eye. "Thank you old friend."

"No. It wasn't me. Nor humans that helped me. If not the Matrix you wouldn't make it. And now it allowed those new parts to integrate fully."

"Still it was you who operated… Despite that you blame me for destroying of the Omega Lock."

Ratchet huffed in mild irritation. "I reconsidered few facts. I recollected old tales about ancient weaponry… maybe this happened for the better?"

"Only time can tell. Where are the others?"

"Recharging. It's the middle of the night. We have two hangars at our disposal. The one we're in serves as our med bay and main room. The other one is our living quarters. But it's only temporary; soon we will get a new base. For now I'm building a Groundbridge, also only temporary construction."

The Prime vented loudly again and relaxed in a way that only allowed to sense any tension when it was gone. He was relieved that they escaped Megatron and were safe, at least for now.

"Rest now Optimus." The Medic continued. "You still need to heal; there is a long road to recovery for you. Tomorrow you will have a chance to talk to others and make up for all you have lost when you were out." And Ratchet put the light out.

TBC

AN.

So, the story continues. As you can see the work title didn't last but I think this one fits better. I only hope you will like it.