"The Devil Truth"

Narrated by Decepticon Lord Megatron

As a note, we all know that it is Frenzy and not Rumble with Soundwave, but Megatron does not.

~*~

It was time someone put a stop to this little parade of insanity, and it seemed that I was the only one capable of doing such. It seemed that the road to ultimate glory was paved with messes I would need to organize.

I had a vision. While I was locked in some space between termination and stasis lock, I had a vision. I was no prophet, I was no religious Cybertronian, but those images - I could not simply overlook them. Optimus and I as children, again as children, back on Cybertron before the war. We had barely learned to transform and yet we were to be given a great honor: The Prophet, Alpha Trion, had requested us. Yes. I knew this memory well. I relived it countless nights before. It had been a defining moment for me even at such a young age. I recall wishing to climb the stairs to his temple on my own, even as Optimus requested our mother carry him to the top. I walked, helm lifted proudly, alongside my father as we neared the Prophet's sanctuary.

What does one expect, at that age, a sanctuary to look like? Clean? Cluttered with various relics of age and timelessness? I do not recall what I had imagined, but I recall vividly what I saw - down to the last floating spec of dust, the smell of foul fuel.

Cybertonians littered the top step of the sanctuary. Most of them huddled together in small, tightly compact groups, clinging and shuddering. There were some secluded, by choice or force I could not guess. They were all malfunctioning, glitching, dying. I heard Optimus make a small noise, clinging closer to our mother for comfort. My father placed a hand upon my shoulder, but I did not need his assurance. Optimus was the one who needed reassurance, it was his spark that was soft. Not mine. No. Even then, before I knew what I was to become, I knew I was different. I was stronger. My optics caught movement to my right as we walked through the swarms of dying Cybertronians towards the inner sanctuary, and I glimpsed despair. True and honest despair. The optics before mine were purple, cracked and flickering. The faceplate was barely recognizable as such under the decay of cosmic rust. I shied away as the Cybertronian reached for me, his mouth forming one word: decepticon. It rattled my processor, this word. What had it meant? Was it merely the rambling of a dying spark?

We soon left the visage of anguish behind and stepped into the innermost room of the temple. A single window rested at the top of the arched roof, spilling light in a perfect circle onto the floor. Tiny molecules of dirt and dust darted through the light as if sentient - as if given life in this cleanliness. As we stepped into the light my mother set Optimus down, and I heard the ancient gears of the Prophet protest his movements as he stood slowly. He reliquished his seat atop an altar to join us in the light. My central processor was immediately at war with itself. This frail and fragile heap was the great Prophet? This... push-over was the magnificent Alpha Trion? His bolts were barely holding together! A good shove down the temple stairs would terminate him. And yet... and yet... There was such... knowledge. Such timelessness within his chassis. Even at my young age I could feel the power radiate from him, swirling around him like a forcefield. Even the falling particles seemed to sense his greatness, shrinking away from him rather than collect on his outer armor.

"Megatron. Optimus." He spoke, and my brother reached for my hand. I accepted, pulling him with me as I stepped forward, our parents stepping backwards in respect. It was now the three of us bathed in light, two young children and the great Alpha Trion. I wondered what he had seen in his function cycle, what greatness he had encountered. He knelt before us...

That is where my memory ends. After this nanoclick I have no real recollection of the event. I know what has been told to me, I know words - but nothing of solid fact. But this vision, this vision showed me different. How much was I to trust? I know now that the great Prophet is half ancient wisdom and half fanatic belief, but did he really share such things with me? How could he have known ... such things...

His optics were blue. They were deep and they frightened me as I stared into them. His voice was suddenly in my audios, broken and full of static. His words jumbled, accompanied by images - real or imagined?

Decepticon..

That word again! My consciousness knew, but my young child self did not. My central processor was wracked with visions - myself delivering a speech to all of Cybertron, this word leaving my lips. No, I said more, there was more 'We are Decepticons!' I was proud. Yes. Decepticon.. they meant me. I was in the air, flying - and there was this sound in my audios, someone with me. A trusted commander, no, more than that - less than that. He shot past me in a blurr of red, white and blue. Anger. Regret. Fear. Someone screaming for mercy and my voice, my voice, ordering termination. Triumph and defeat. How could one word.. mean so much?

Greatness...

It was I - I who was destined for this. Greatness. Yes. An army at my command, Cybertron mine to rule! Crowds would cheer my name to Primus! No... no this cheering - this cheering became screaming. They would... cry my name to Primus. My name would never be forgotten. Never! It would be on the lips of every Cybertronian now and forthcoming! People would flock to me for advice, for answers... and I would have them. An image, myself on a screen above Cybertron - laughing, smiling. Pleased. Yes.

Betrayal...

No. No! I did not wish to feel this pain! My young processor could not accept this illusion of agony, this - promise of what was to come. What was it!? What would cause this - this agony! A flash, an image - just a second of picture... but it gripped my spark in an icy cold hand.

Optimus.

Optimus!

Optimus PRIME!

I opened eyes that did not belong to me and stared. I do not know for how long I lay there, vulnerable, collecting myself, but a voice called me into action.

"He-he's awake!"

I sat up slowly, feeling what I had already realized with much effort - that I was no longer myself. With narrowed eyes and a scowl I surveyed my surroundings. A cave, a hovel cut into the earth to hide me away. Broken machinary lay scattered against the walls, dwarfing me in my new state. Before me stood ... the Decepticons. Unfortunately encased, as was I, in this fleshy shell. There were four in all, kneeling before me. I could hear my human brain straining as it fought to keep up with my superior intelligence. I could easily identify these humans. The one far right carried a huge scar across one side of his face, twisting his lip upwards on one side in a permanent smirk. I recognized this scar - Blackout. The male in the center knelt with a hand across his chest in salute - I could think of only one Decepticon soldier who never failed to show respect when it was due - Barricade. As for the last two, I believe even a child could have identified them. There were no children in the Decepticon army, merely cassetticons - and labeling this human child as Rumble, clearly indicated to me that his companion with a large, healing hole in his chest, was Soundwave.

My anger was great, and as I stood my men shrunk back from me the slightest bit, acknowledging my state of mind. I drew my gaze to Soundwave and tried to keep my voice calm, in spite of my dire circumstances.

"Soundwave, report."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." I watched as Soundwave rose to his feet, Rumble clinging to his side. "After we were defeated by the Autobots in Mission City, Starscream returned to orbit and rejoined with the rest of us. We established a base here, on a continent known as Canada. With the assistance of Hook and his fellow Constructicons, we were able to tap into an unknown energy source and, in spite of the risks, used it to bring you to us. We then began repairs, and were quite sucessful. We then re-programmed the minds of the other Constructicons so that only Hook and myself would be aware of your presence and recovery. Starscream, commander in your absence, brought into our base a small fragment of a meteor he had encountered in space. This fragment contained within it an illness, the outcome being what you see before you. I had also sensed a strange form of sentience within the fragment before succombing to the contagion myself. This is all that I can tell you, my Lord."

After so many millions of years functioning I had learned a few things. One of which was that it was not always advantagous to take out my anger and frustrations upon those who did not deserve it, especially when they were all the help that I had. Not that this stopped me from doing just that on ocassion, but every good soldier needed reminding of his place from time to time. However at that very moment my anger spiked, and on it's head a name - yes, a single name for which I blamed everything on. My current and vile situation. My glorious Cybertronian body had been taken from me by one spark - by one... cowardly fool.

"Starscream." I hissed, balling my hand into a fist.

Blackout and Barricade exchanged glances with each other as they stood.

"Blackout reporting for duty, Lord Megatron."

"Barricade, ready as always, my leige."

"Good." I nodded, then turned to face Soundwave. "How far are we from the base?"

"My Lord, with all due respect-" Soundwave began, and I was beginning to notice that his voice was not as controlled as I was used to. It was - emotional. I did not like it, though it appeared there was little I could do about it.

"How far?" I repeated slowly.

"In these bodies it will take us close to an hour to return to the base."

"You don't want to go in there." Barricade supplied, moving forward and jerking a thumb against his fleshy chest. "I tried before all this slag started and the place is a blasting zone. The whole security system has gone haywire."

I looked to Soundwave, who gave a slow nod.

"Affirmative. The security system seems to have suffered a glitch. However, if my calculations are correct, by this time it should have fired upon itself until disabling."

"You mean it took itself out?" Blackout hissed, spitting onto the floor. "What a piece of junk."

"With the equipment that we had to work with at the time, Blackout, the base is a marvel."

"I'm sure." I growled, starting towards the cave mouth. "Soundwave, Barricade. Lead us to this base so that I can contact Cybertron and get rid of this filthy human flesh."

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

I could comment on the absurdity of the whole situation. I could spend hours reflecting upon how impossible the whole thing seemed. I could rant and rave like a lunatic about how much pain I intended to inflict upon my Air Commander once I got my hands on him. I could comment on the strenuious journey from the cave to the base. I could make any number of comments likewise, but I am not here to exemplify the state of self pity or self loathing. Suffice it to say - Soundwave's assumptions, as always, were correct, and during out arduous walk Blackout and myself were given a more detailed report of what had transpired in our absence. Starscream's list of things to answer for was growing.

Lifting Rumble with some difficulty, Soundwave was able to dictate the cassetticon in how to open the door with a safecode he had entered into the system days before the glitch. The large door slowly swung open, and our human bodies recoiled. Smoke billowed, dark and heavy, through the door and up into the sky. Barricade and Blackout doubled over, leaning onto various rocks for support as their human lungs attempted to expell the noxious gas. I waited until the smoke cloud turned into a single thin, whisped stream, and entered the base.

I did take a moment as I walked down the halls, following Soundwave as he took us towards the computer, to marvel at the hastily constructed base. Soundwave was indeed correct, again. With the limited supplies and time that my Decepticons had at their disposal, the base was sufficient, almost homey. Soundwave and Rumble again formed a human ladder to enter the code and gain us entry into the computer console.

"So, what exactly are you plannin' on tellin' Shockwave?" Barricade panted from behind me before slumping against the wall in exhaustion.

"Whatever I must to get his assistance."

I studied for a moment the computer, rubbing at my disgusting human chin as I did so. I could use the controls on the console manually to contact Shockwave in lieu of using my comm. link, my only obstacle would be climbing up to the console. I smiled as I noticed the small chair leaning crookedly against the far end of the console.

I felt four pairs of eyes on me as I walked across the room, and stood under the chair. I looked up for a mere second before pooling energy into my legs and leaping upwards. I caught the lip of the chair easily and hung suspended for a moment before using my new body's upper arm strength to pull myself into the chair. I was impressed, to say the least, with this strength. Perhaps I was not completely useless. I heard the others join me as I moved to stand near to the console. I repeated my actions, and hoisted myself up. This time, unfortunately, my flesh snagged upon a small dial and ripped open. I sneered at the sensation, but ignored the red liquid that dribbled down my arm.

I heard the grunting and groaning and sniggering as my four companions attempted to join me with marginal sucess. Soundwave remained grounded with Rumble, perhaps because of the wound in his chest.

I took another nano click to study the layout of the controls from a distance, memorizing them before moving forward until I stood within them. I looked up at the screen and then over my shoulder as Blackout and Barricade moved forward.

"Stop." I narrowed my eyes at them. "I never said I needed your assitance. I will do this alone." They glanced at each other, but complied as I knew they would and stepped back.

It took far longer than I would have liked for me to input the correct information and establish a link. I had not asked, but I assumed the controls functioned as the controls upon our ship Nemesis. I could see no reason why they would be arranged differently, and it seemed whoever had constructed the computer was thinking on the same lines.

The screen flickered into life, empty for a second before a familliar voice greeted us from off-camera.

"All hail Lord Megatron." Shockwave cooed, a small snap following his words. "I was not expecting word from you so soon, Commander Starscream." He continued, his voice dripping in disdain. "What can I do for-"

He paused as he walked into view of the monitor, right hand dripping in energon from an unknown source. His single optic flared for a moment, then faded as he walked slowly closer towards the screen. I could practically see his central processor working, trying to decipher what it was he was seeing - a single, naked human standing atop the Decepticon computer console. He looked over his pauldren for a moment, as if looking for someone, and then back to the computer.

"Tell me, Shockwave, why do you use this primative language over our own chanel?"

His optic blinked once, and he slowly took a seat in front of the screen - still silent. He lifted a hand to the bottom of his helm and rested it there in thought as his energon covered claws flicked a few nodules on his end, tapped curiously at the computer motherboard.

"Why not speak our own language? After all, we are the only ones here to hear it."

I watched as he tilted his helm just slightly in both directions, obviously attempting to scan the rest of the computer room for another life form - be it human or Cybertronian. He looked back down to the console suddenly and clicked a few buttons, pushed a dial or two, and then turned his attention to a smaller read-out screen I knew lay just out of my view. His optic flashed and he looked back at me.

"Explain yourself." Was all he said.

"Those scans you just ran, Shockwave - what did they tell you?"

I saw him hestiate before answering stiffly.

"I am obligated to tell you nothing until you explain yourself." I smiled. "How did you manage-" He paused as I began moving about on the console. He watched as I flipped open a pad and began to write him a message in basic binary. I could hear Blackout and Barricade shuffling closer to get a glimpse of the message I was about to send, but they held their distance and eventually gave up. Finishing my message I looked up in time to see Shockwave read it over once or twice before looking at me.

"All-... hail Lord Megatron." He said, sounding still a little unsure as he gave a salute.

"Good then, I trust we're at an understanding?" I watched as he nodded.

"How is this possible, my lord?"

"Starscream." I spat, crossing my arms across my chest. "Soundwave tells me he picked up a fragment of an odd meteor orbitting in this system, and that it infected us with these vile forms."

"With all due respect, Lord Megatron, that is impossible. Do you know what the statistical chances of all those components meeting together are? I'm not even sure there are numbers small enough. The likihood of a single meteor in orbit around any planetary system containing the information, nay the power, necessary to not only infect a race such as ourselves, but induce and produce a singluar anomaly such as this? To turn Cybertronians into ... humans? Homo sapien? My Lord, Earth is the only planet where these creatures are found. A coincidence so uncanny is unscientifically founded."

I nodded.

"I am aware, Shockwave. There is more going on here, but unfortunately trapped like this I do not have the means to make ammends."

He nodded slowly, tapping at the bottom of his helm again before standing and performing a few more scans, talking as he did so.

"I sense others with you, my liege."

"Yes. Four."

"Fascinating.." He muttered, standing with a small scroll of read-outs in his claws. "I can correctly identify you based upon your unique wavelengths and spark pulses. My Lord," he looked up at me and flared his optic, "there is still a spark contained within that unfortunate body."

I could not resist the urge to touch my human chest, longing for the comfort of feeling my spark pulse in response.

"That is good news, Shockwave."

"Perhaps better than you know, Lord Megatron. It appears there are other components of your true selves locked within your now biological body." He laid the read outs across the console and began activating another scan. "Since we are taking metaphoric leaps of faith and hypothesis, my Lord, it seems as if this contagion is not merely an illness. It has re-arranged your inner most functions, melted down your armor and compiled your bodies into a completely biological state. It has, I believe, forced you into a transformation the likes of which I have never heard of. Nothing like this has ever been recorded - nor dared thought of. The implications... Hmm.." He hummed in disappointment as he watched another read-out roll forward.

"What?"

"It appears as if we have a time constraint on finding a cure." He looked back up into the view screen and I cursed myself for not ordering him a faceplate that I could see the expression on. "According to this read-out, in just the few moments between scans..." He hesitated, then cleared his exhaust and continued, "there has been significant data loss within your processor."

"What?!"

"It - it seems as though, my Lord, the longer you are exposed to these new bodies the ... more permanent the changes will become."

"That is unexceptable!"

"I agree, my leige." He said cooly, taking his seat at the console once more. "This woud be a perfect opportunity to test the Space Bridge and my new protodriods."

"Space Bridge?" I raised my human optic ridges. "Protodroid?"

"Ahh, yes, Lord Megatron. The Space Bridge - Starscream, the Constructicons and myself were working on a means of furthering our contact with each other using a teledimensional portal which could create a hole through space-time and directly teleport a being, object or energy source directly from Earth to Cybertron. This vaccum was designed in such a way that it actually bent space between these two points, making the trip from Earth to Cybertron or vice versa, a mere insignificant matter of nanoclicks."

"Impressive.... You say Starscream assisted you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"He was once a scientist, my liege." He paused a moment before continuing. "Since receiving the initial transmission from Starscream about your new planetary location, I have begun running as many scans and diagnostics as I felt I could spare the energy to do so. It has been bothering me for quite some time as much of the data I got back suggested a partnership between Cybertron and this child planet, Earth. No so direct as I originally assumed, but there are traces of our readings there, my liege. Traces of read-outs, of wavelengths and energy signatures that can only point to one conclusion- Our ancient predescesors must have visited Earth milleniums ago."

"What does this have to do with our current situation, Shockwave?" I growled.

"Well, with the assistance of my Protodroid I believe it may be safe to assume that the locations of these readings and signatures might provide you with the energy to reverse these transformations. In other words, these signatures I've discovered are so pure that they may in fact cure this illness which hides your true beauty and power, my lord."

"Excellent, Shockwave. You impress me again. You always seem to step beyond my expectations for you."

"Thank you, my lord." He placed a clawed hand over his chest and bowed his helm.

"When can this Space Bridge be opperated?"

"Unfortunately, Lord Megatron, that is up to you." He stood and reached out to tilt the monitor, indicating a strange arch standing in the center of the communications tower. "The Space Bridge arch on my end is at full capacity. However my readings indicate that the work on the Earth bound Space Bridge is not complete. Certain repairs and recalibrations will need to be made before we can attempt to send so much as a dust molecule through."

I nodded, and brought a finger to tap at my fleshy chin. I was most assuredly not cut out for such work, and as leader of the Decepticons I had no obligations to submit myself to manual labor. Soundwave I would need to keep function as he was my most loyal and trustworthy agent on Earth, and I could not risk furthering his injury with tasking him to do such repairs. That left... I turned my gaze towards Blackout and Barricade.

"You gotta be kidding."