Chapter two: Twisted Experiments

I knew nothing about life before the war, I knew nothing about how Cybertron must've looked in the golden age, I knew nothing about peace at that time, all I've ever known was war, but before that?

It was darkness...

I remember floating, I was floating in a tube of some kind, I remember activating my optics for the first time and being greeted by only darkness, darkness and rough metal. I remember floating in that vat for a long time, not knowing what I was or what did this to me, but I did want out, so that's what I did; with a few bounding kicks I managed to break the glass and hit the floor, the cables connected to me quickly detached and were retracted into the vat, there was energon everywhere, then I felt cold, the vat kept me warm, it kept me safe, it felt cold and damp and wrong to be outside of it, but curiosity got the best of me, and now I can't go back.

I got up, but wobbled, I had never used my legs before and yet I somehow knew to use them like this, then I tried to walk, I made a few steps before I ended up tumbling and falling on a wall, I had noticed that the wall was coated in a weird brown flaky substance, in fact everything was covered in it, I didn't know what it was, but something in me told me to avoid it. I took a look around and saw an opening, when I went through though there was more darkness, more dilapidated metal; I walked into this new room hugging the wall so I wouldn't fall, then I saw a thing in the middle of it, a single refined cube of energon among many empty energon cubes. My mind was infatuated with it, as if I needed this thing even though I had no idea what this thing was, I quickly let go of the wall and grabbed this cube thing, I had no idea how to open it, but my body desperately wanted what was inside of it, I slammed it, punched it, even threw it, but it just wouldn't open at all, then I heard a voice behind me.

"Well well well, look at what we have here..."

I quickly turned around, not knowing where it was coming from.

"Don't you just look like a lost little Scraplet."

I turned around again, this voice was circling me, then I heard another voice.

"I must say, we are quite famished, if you don't mind handing over that energon cube, we'll let you be on your way, little Scraplet."

I didn't understand what they were saying at the time, but I knew they wanted this energon cube, I gripped it tight and stayed focused.

"Not giving it up without a fight huh? Then we'll just have to take it by force then!"

In a single moment, I saw a massive mechanical creature leap out from the darkness directly towards me, something in me told me to move, so I did, and it missed and hit the wall.

"Wh- how did you do that?! Whatever it doesn't matter, that cube is mine!"

The creature leaped again and I jumped out of the way, I could barely use my legs and yet I jumped farther than the creature.

"Stay still you annoying little pest!"

It leaped again, this time it caught me.

"Gotcha! Hahaha!"

I struggled but I couldn't move.

"You may be good at moving, but when it comes to strength, you're nothing but a small little snack, hahaha!"

Then the other voice revealed itself.

"Optics, joints, servos, so many options, yet so little to go around.."

The other creature holding me down chimed in,

"All we wanted was the cube little bug, but for all the trouble you caused us, maybe you'll be our main course instead!"

The massive thing in front of me transformed into a creature similar to me, then it grabbed my head, examining me.

"Heh, it's one of his little science projects, all alone and forgotten by his creator, typical of him to do that."

"Wait, this is one of his creations?! How do you know?"

"I can tell by the brand in his faceplate, this little bug is more than meets the eye it seems..."

At first it felt like the situation was sorting itself out, and then they said this;

"However, a bug is still a bug, even if that madman is responsible for its creation. So now here's the big question, which body part do we eat first?"

And in a moments notice, I was pinned to the ground, unable to move, then the creature transformed again and began scoping out my body, after a couple seconds past, it bit down hard, I could feel them both chomp their way through my abdomen, I tried to make noise, but nothing came out.

"Aw, look at that, it's trying to scream, too bad it can't, it's never even used its voice before! Hahahaha!"

The pain was unbearable, I could feel them rip out my servos and devour my circuits.

I was going to die here, alone and afraid, not knowing what I am or who made me, at this point I just accepted it, I beat myself down for making the decision to break out of that tube, if I had just stayed there... I would've lived...

Then I heard something, A creak in the building itself.

"Hey wait a second... you hear that?"

After a couple more seconds of silence, the entire building was shaking and rumbling, then it was collapsing, turns out that all that jumping around caused whatever was left of the building's foundation to crumble, and now all three of us were about to be crushed.

"Quick, get to the exit!"

They left in a hurry, not even bothering to take the energon cube with them, so I grabbed it and began to crawl.

I could hear both of them panicking in the distance.

"The exit is blocked, we're stuck!"

I could hear them coming down to my direction, so in an unbearable pain, I got up, and I ran.

"Scrap! The little bug is gone, and he took the cube!"

The building was giving away and I could hear them both gaining speed.

"You little piece of slag, when I catch you, I'll rip out your optics!"

I remember seeing a light and quickly making my way towards it, it was one of the holes that these creatures carved out to get inside.

"Scrap! He's heading for the exit!"

They were right behind me, the building began to completely collapse, then I heard a loud metallic crunch behind me followed by buzzing circuits.

"Ghhakkk!"

The one creature was completely crushed by the collapsing building, the other was still behind me.

"Get back here you little-"

And before I knew it, I was outside, and the tunnel collapsed with the other creature still inside of it.

"Scrap! I'm stuck!"

I saw the creature, it's head pinned between a metal beam and the ground.

"You... Once I get out of here I'm gonna tear your limbs off!"

I remember just looking at it, struggling to break itself free.

"You little piece of scrap! I'll rip out your-"

I remember having a cold feeling in my spark, and then turning around and limping back towards the creature, the thing tried to retract backwards, but it could barely move.

"Hey- HEY WAIT A MINUTE, GET AWAY FROM ME!"

I could feel it's fear, just like how I felt when it chewed trough my servos, the fear of inevitability.

"S-STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

It screamed, pleading for help, I didn't know what it was saying at the time, but I knew it was scared. Now it was the bug, and I was it's undoing.

"STOP, WAIT, PLEASE!"

I limped closer, it's legs kicking around, trying to escape.

"PLEA-"

And before it could finish that last sentence, it accidentally kicked loose the metal beam holding its head pinned, the beam slipped across and down the collapsed building's walls and crushed its neck, decapitating the creature. I saw it's severed head roll across the ground, the energon pooling out of its broken neck, and the light within its optics burn out, all at once.

Now I didn't tell the Pentagon this information, I just told them everything up to the point where I escaped the building, I told them I turned back around to make sure I wasn't followed, and that the severed head was just there, with the body nowhere in sight, thankfully they bought it, and it was never questioned.

When I first looked around, I was in the middle of a giant flat plane with small structures scattered around it, it glowed a radiant golden rustic colour, the light from a nearby star glistening off the surface of the plane, it felt almost tragic in a way.

I turned back around and saw the energon cube and the severed head, the cube opened itself during the escape, so now I had a viable fuel source for a few cycles. As for the head, I felt like keeping it as well, as a reminder of my accomplishments; I hoisted it behind my back, I could feel the fresh energon leaking from the pipes within the head drip down my joints and pistons, this was my first confirmed kill.

For many cycles I walked across the golden plane, my wounds have mostly healed, even if it still hurts. Sometimes the plane would go dark and gloomy, I noticed there was a pattern to this light/dark cycle after a while, but it didn't really concern me. At this point my energon cube ran out, so now it was just me and the head, I wandered this plane for what felt like eons, scavenging what little energon I could to get by.

After almost an entire Astro cycle of scavenging, I stumbled across a mass of very tall structures, I would later find out that this was what was left of Kaon. When I first entered Kaon, I marvelled at just how massive the buildings were, from where I was standing it looked like they stretched on forever, though most of the buildings were heavily dilapidated, it still amazed me to see it, even if it felt like I should know what these building were for.

I wandered around the buildings, there was far more energon around here than that golden desert. I saw other creatures like me also wandering this city, at first I was going to greet myself to them, but after that incident, I didn't want to take any chances, after all, the first Cybertronians I've ever met tried to eat me alive, so being skeptic about confronting more of them was normal at this point in time anyway.

Even after an Astro cycle, I still had that head with me, sometimes I would sit and stare at it, and sometimes it would feel like the head was looking back as well, it felt comforting knowing that I wasn't alone in this, even if it was just a severed head.

I remember climbing on top of a building to get a sense of direction, at this point I've figured out how to use my legs better, I could even jump over some small structures, which by regular Autobot standards, I should get a medal for that. While on top of that building, I saw more landscape and then more creatures, but this time they were flying creatures instead; after a few seconds of just nothing, they started headed straight in my direction, it was at this point that I realized that they had spotted me and that I needed to get out of there, and fast.

I quickly got down and made a break for it, but these creatures were fast, really fast, if I wanted to get away I would have to out maneuver them instead, which was easier said than done of course, they flew through and around most of the buildings between them and me pretty quickly, it was at this point that I knew I had to get underground. After tirelessly running, I found a crevasse that I could hide in, and it worked, for a few hours they circled near my location, and then they broke off into separate directions to find me elsewhere, I couldn't tell you how relieved I was.

After making sure they were gone for good, I made a break for it, and I just kept running. It felt like the city was bigger than the desert I was in before, and even more dangerous as well, I knew that if I wanted to survive here, I would have to set up a base, even though I had no idea what a base was, it was as if I already knew how to make one, so for a couple cycles I scavenged for sheets of metal and energon cubes I could stockpile, and after many painful cycles of building one, albeit while also keeping my presence under the radar, I finally had a base, sure it looked like slag and my architectural prowess wasn't the greatest, but it was mine.

I made myself comfortable and stuck my trophy on a long, pointy rod that was stuck in the ground, and I admired it. I felt like I did it, that I survived everything, and that now I could finally relax for the first time in cycles, and for the first time ever, I felt happy.

That happiness was very short lived though, because now I began to think, "Was this it, was this all there was to whatever this life was?" that question haunted me for a long time.

I remember spending hundreds of Astro cycles scavenging and supplying for my base, while also avoiding every creature I came across, over time even learning some of their language and found out that these creatures were called Cybertronians, the group that flew around in the sky called themselves Decepticons, and the bugs underground were called Insecticons, even though I technically killed two Insecticons already, I still feared them the most. During the day I would hide underground, avoiding open areas; during the night however I went out scavenging for whatever I could find. I found very little of use besides energon cubes and more metal for fortifications.

Once, while I was out scouting an energon trail, I stumbled across a group of these Cybertronians, they called themselves "Autobots"; they worked in unison, grabbing cubes of energon and planting them within one of their own, the big Autobot then took the cubes somewhere else, these "Autobots" looked far friendlier than the other creatures I would usually come across, however I didn't want to try my luck, there were too many of them to actually attempt anything anyway.

After many Astro cycles of scavenging, most of the city had been picked clean of energon, I had to move if I wanted to survive, I remember picking up the severed head off the rod and tying it to my back with chains I found. Many Cybertronians on the surface could transform into other things that could allow them faster movement or more utilities, I however, had no idea how to do that, which pissed me off to say the least. I headed underground and made my way through the tunnels of Kaon; I wandered for cycles through these pipes, scrap was literally peeling off the walls down here, rust flaked down from the ceiling and I could hear a humming noise through the pipes, though I never found its source. I was low on energon at this point, I needed to find a way out of this tunnel, and I definitely couldn't go back, so I had to keep moving forward, hoping I'll end up somewhere with energon soon.

My body was beginning to rust, I haven't had energon in cycles and my joints were now snapping off from too much pressure; I knew that if I rested now I wouldn't be getting back up, so I kept moving and prayed for something good to happen.

After more cycles of walking, I reached the exit of the tunnel and I wound up in a giant factory, I looked around, barely conscious from the energon deficiency, and I saw it; a massive pile of energon cubes just sitting there. I wasted no time, I practically pounced on the cubes, grabbing as many as I could, though I could only hold two, it was enough. As I was grabbing the boxes, a voice boomed from behind me.

"Halt!"

I turned around and saw another Cybertronian, I knew it was a Decepticon because almost every Cybertronian I came across besides those Autobots I saw many cycles ago had that same symbol on their body, including this one. I remember the Decepticon staring me down, then questioning what my business was here, now see I knew their language, but I still had no clue how to speak it, so all I could do was stay silent.

"I said, What are you doing?!..."

The Decepticon stepped closer, at this point he had a very clear view of me.

"For the last-"

The Decepticon stopped.

"A protoform? How- wow you look like you're one foot from the junkyard, what happened to you?"

I was practically falling apart, my servos were rusted to the point were I could just barely move my fingers, every time I took a step the gears in my knee-joints would screech and grind, but this pain wasn't even close to what it felt like being eaten alive.

"Ok, okokok, what the scrap do I do?.."

The Decepticon was panicking, I think he was having a moral dilemma.

"Well I can tell you aren't an Autobot, no Autobot with even a shred of common sense would travel through the tunnels of Kaon, plus you don't have their insignia; and you aren't a Decepticon because you don't have our insignia either, so who are you?"

That question hit me, I didn't really know who I was at all, so even if I could speak, I wouldn't be able to answer it anyway.

"Can you even talk?"

I couldn't respond anyway, so why bother.

"I'll take that as a no then..."

The Decepticon offered his hand.

I didn't know why he had his hand out, but after a few seconds he pulled it back.

"Ok then... um, do you have a name? Mine is Deadringer."

That question confused me a little, first they called themselves Decepticons, and now they call themselves other things?

"Confused? Yeah, I don't look like the type of bot who would have a cool name like that, but it stuck, so here it is..."

Deadringer continued on about where he came from and who he was, I on the other hand was trying to grab an energon cube without noticing.

"Hey! Don't even-"

I dropped the cube, and I fell to the floor, I tried to back up as much as I could, but I could barely move.

"Think... it..."

Deadringer looked confused, then concerned.

"Hey, calm down alright? I'm not gonna hurt you..."

He looked at me, then at the ground.

"Well... I mean it's just one cube, I'm sure it'll be fine?.."

He picked up an energon cube and offered it to me, I reluctantly took it, then I devoured it.

"By the all-spark you're hungry."

It felt nice to finally get energon back in my system.

"All better right? Ok well off you go-"

Before that sentence was finished, we both heard the roar of a loud engine, headed for both of us.

"Scrap! quick, transform and hide!"

I couldn't transform, I still had no idea how to.

"Wh- oh scrap, forgot you were a protoform, ugh, alright! Just hide behind something!"

I hid behind a metal sheet, after a few seconds, the rumbling stopped, and then I heard the unmistakable sound of something transforming.

"Status report! I do not have all cycle!"

"Uh, yes lord Megatron."

Megatron... I remember having heard that name before, though every time I thought of it, my spark quaked a little, the name alone felt like something I should fear.

"Energon cubes accounted for, and uh-"

"What? Speak up Deadringer!"

I noticed that Deadringer glanced at the empty energon cube, then Megatron saw it."

"What is that, Deadringer?"

"Uh, sorry lord Megatron, I haven't had energon in cycles and-"

"You look fine to me, something your not telling me?.."

"Uh-"

Before Megatron ripped him a new one, I accidentally tripped and knocked over the metal sheet.

"Autobot!"

Megatron was about to fire his fusion cannon, when suddenly he stopped.

"Wait... a protoform?"

Megatron lowered his fusion cannon and examined me.

"Deadringer... you better have a good explanation for this..."

"Sorry lord Megatron, your guess is as good as mine, I found it stealing energon cubes, I was going to stop it, but after looking at it, it was already falling apart and-"

Megatron looked viciously at Deadringer, then looked back at me.

"Well now, this is quite the surprise, having a new Decepticon, and a protoform nonetheless in our ranks could prove useful..."

Megatron offered me a hand, which a reluctantly took.

"What is your name, protoform?"

"Uh, lord Mega-"

"I wasn't talking to you! Now, speak up, what is your name!"

"Lord Megatron-"

"WHAT!?.."

"It uh... it can't speak..."

Megatron looked back at me with confusion on his face.

"And why is that?..."

"Maybe it's voice box is broken, or his memory is faulty?"

"Hmmm... whatever, I have other things to attend too. Oh, and Deadringer."

"Yes, lord Megatron?"

"See to it that this... protoform... is taken care of, I want it back at our base and examined by shockwave before the Insecticons wake up."

"Yes, lord Megatron."

Shockwave... I also heard that name before, though this one my spark seemed to fear more than Megatron.

I remember Deadringer handing me another energon cube.

"Heh, you owe me kid."

Deadringer got me to follow him, and we both went off to the Decepticon base.

It wasn't long before we reached it, the base itself was massive, with giant turrets and hundreds of Decepticons working around the base, some of the Decepticons even transformed into the turrets. Deadringer took us to the front gate when two Decepticon sentries stopped us.

"Halt!

"Hhhh... scrap...", Deadringer looked annoyed, like he had to deal with this every cycle.

"Designation?"

"Deadringer."

"Designation code..."

"Oh, right; D-457."

"Access granted."

We were about to enter when the sentries stopped us again.

"Halt!"

"Ugh, what now?!..", Deadringer looked impatient.

"Unidentifiable Cybertronian detec-"

The sentry examined my face, then quickly stepped back.

"Override protocol, access granted."

Deadringer looked at me confused.

"Override protocol? These guys haven't even met you and you're already getting special treatment?"

Deadringer looked visibly annoyed at me, at first I didn't know why, but soon I would find out.

We began to make our way within the base, the interior looked bigger than the exterior, there were Decepticons everywhere, some working on maintenance, others were training against each other. Deadringer took me down a hall with Decepticons leaning against the walls, some were staring me down, needless to say, it felt very uncomfortable. Deadringer and I were about to walk into Shockwave's laboratory when three Decepticon seekers stopped us.

"Well well well, if it isn't Deadringer, and what's this? He has a pet too?"

The seeker in red had a raspy voice I know I've heard before; He looked like the one in charge of the rest.

"Get out of the way Starscream."

"Or what? I just want to look at it is all..."

Starscream knocked Deadringer to the ground, then grabbed my head, picking me up off the ground by my neck.

"Hahaha! This thing is a Decepticon?"

I remember trying to grab Starscream, but it was no use.

"What's this, it's a protoform? Ha! It can't even transform yet!"

The other Decepticons around us chuckled.

"I have an idea, why don't we string this one up and use it as target practice?.."

But before Starscream could try anything, he and the rest of the Decepticons froze in place, Starscream had a horrific expression on his face.

"Starscream, it would be wise to put down my specimen..."

I looked behind Starscream and saw a cannon pointed directly to the back of Starscream's head.

"Shockwave! Wh- what a surprise! I was just-"

"Just what Starscream? About to string up my creation for target practice you said?"

Starscream and the other seekers looked like they were about to fall apart any second now; the other Decepticons, including Deadringer, were watching in terror and silence.

"Maybe I can make you my next experiment? Trust me when I say, you'll feel everything."

Starscream was frozen, he didn't move a servo.

"Or maybe I can just end you right here?.."

Starscream looked like he was about to leak transmission fluid, until Megatron interrupted the whole ordeal.

"What is the meaning of this!?"

"Megatron! Shockwave-"

Megatron cut him off, "I don't want to hear it from you, Starscream!"

Starscream promptly shut himself up.

"Lord Megatron, Starscream was about to damage my specimen."

"What do you mean specimen?"

"Lord Megatron, I will explain everything in time, but please consider removing Starscream from the premises for the time being, his arrogance almost cost me my creation."

Megatron sighed, "Very well, Starscream, take yourself and your seekers for a scouting mission, as for you Shockwave, I would like a word with you..."

"Yes, lord Megatron, but please allow to examine my specimen first."

"Very well Shockwave, but make it quick, I do not have all day..."

"Thank you, lord Megatron."

Shockwave told Deadringer to pick me up and bring me to his laboratory, Deadringer looked very annoyed at me now.

We entered Shockwave's laboratory, then he told Deadringer to wait outside. Shockwave hooked me up to a device.

"Vital signs: low. Energon reserves: critical."

Shockwave plugged something into my spark, I didn't know what it was, but it felt good.

"Energon infusion pump connected, Lay down on your back, I have to examine your endo-skeleton."

I laid back, then remembered that I still had that head tied to my back.

"An Insecticon head? Interesting, I will have to question how you obtained this later."

Shockwave carefully removed my external shell, then he began to examine my body.

"Endo-skeleton condition: nominal. Spark chamber condition: moderate. Transformation cog condition: critical. Energon infuser organ: critical. Overall condition: moderate. Multiple lacerations detected around the abdominal area, preforming repairs now."

Shockwave pulled out a vice and used it to hold open my abdomen, then pulled out a blowtorch and began to weld my wounds from the Insecticon. I could feel my wounds being healed, the blowtorch itself was painful sure, but it felt so relieving that I barely noticed the torch anyway.

After a couple minutes, the blowtorch stopped, and Shockwave sat me up, removed the vice, and examined me again.

"Vital signs: nominal. Energon levels: normal. Preliminary diagnosis: Insecticon attack Astro cycles ago, improper repairs led to sustained damage."

Shockwave then stood me up.

"Wait here, I have to explain to Megatron your origins, Don't. Move."

Shockwave didn't show much emotion, he was one of the very few Cybertronians that you could never tell what they were thinking.

I sat there for a while, looking around the lab, eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I looked around a bit closer than I should've. I found multiple vials labeled "CNA", didn't know what that meant.

I eventually found a ventilation panel, I was going to ignore it, but then I heard voices coming from the vent, they were muffled, but I could make most of it out.

"Lord Megatron."

"Shockwave, I had first mistaken this protoform as just another piece of scrap, that is until I overheard you calling it your specimen, you told me your lab was completely purged from all sensitive materials, so why is it that one of the specimens from the lab is sitting within our laboratory now?"

"Lord Megatron, allow me to explain fully."

"Please do Shockwave, I usually expect this type of behaviour from Starscream, so I really want to hear what excuse you have for this."

"Well, it all started with the project itself, the specimens I created were part of a-"

"Yes I already know what the project was for, but I want to know why one survived!"

"I planned this from the beginning, we destroyed the lab because we both knew the outcome of making such a powerful army, however I made sure that this specimen would survive the purge, I was the one who activated its containment vat. I knew that Insecticons were in the area, I was watching everything through the building's security systems and I made sure to activate the vat while Insecticons were inside the building, and I knew that the Insecticons were going to attack. The whole process was made to scar the specimen into full submission, I had Decepticon scouts on standby, ready to extract the specimen from the insecticons, therefore having the specimen form a bond with its Decepticon saviours, and in turn form a bond with the Decepticon cause itself, however my plan was cut short when I mistakenly miscalculated the building's overall integrity from the aforementioned purge, and after that I lost contact with the lab entirely. It was only until our sentries guarding the entrance to our base picked up the symbol I branded inside of its face-place, I had originally reprogrammed the sentries to allow the specimen into the base in the off-chance that it would turn up here by accident, and I was correct."

"Hmm... so this whole ordeal was your doing them?"

"Yes, lord Megatron."

"Once again you surprise me with your ingenuity. See to it that your little pet it well taken care of and quickly ready for deployment then."

"Of course, lord Megatron."

"Oh, and Shockwave, make sure this never happens again."

Even though he was emotionless, I could tell he held spite against Megatron.

"Yes... lord Megatron..."

Shockwave then walked out of the room, at which point I quickly repositioned myself back onto the table.

"Megatron has ordered me to begin the Decepticon training protocol, get up, we're going to be very busy..."

End of chapter two