Chapter 2: Chaos

Chapter 2: Chaos

It was almost midnight by the time Optimus Prime and his taskforce (Jazz, Bluestreak, Prowl, Ironhide, Brawn, Blaster, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Mirage) arrived in Los Angles. In the time it had taken them to reach the city from the Ark, the Decepticons had demolished a fair part of the city.

"Ya gotta give the Decepticons credit", Jazz said, allowing Blaster to leap out of his passenger seat and transform before doing likewise, "when they set out to destroy something they don't hold back."

Before anyone could reply the all too recognizable sound of a fusion cannon discharging reached their audio sensors, followed a nanosecond later by the actual blast itself, which vaporized a shoe store.

Prime's optics narrowed. Even though the street corner obscured the shooter, there was no mistaking who it was. "Megatron", he whispered.

"Well what are we waiting for?", said Ironhide, raising his laser rifle in a typical show of bravado, "let's get 'em!"

Before anyone could stop him he went charging around the corner, ready to blow away whatever Decepticon was unfortunate enough to get in his way. Following his lead, Prime and the others readied their weapons and charged forward, if not quite as suicidal.

The sight that met them stopped them all dead in their tracks.

It was Megatron alright. The thing is, he wasn't alone. Where Megatron's left side should have been, there was instead another Transformer. The two had somehow been fused together in the messiest way possible; internal wires and circuits were exposed through numerous wounds throughout the body and the creature, (there really was no other way to describe it) was possessed of more than the requisite number of limbs. The Autobots continued to gape as they fully studied the creature. It had two right legs, the other Transformer's leg melted into the nook of Megatron's knee, and two left arms, with Megatron's left arm, which now consisted of his hand to his elbow, melted into the nook of the other unfortunate's elbow. The other Transformer's arm, incidentally, was now attached to the bottom of the cylindrical structure on Megatron's back.

"PRUUUMM!", the creature yelled, the word coming out of the creature's twin mouths as a liquid grunt and forcing Prime and the others to look it in the faces. As their eyes traveled up the body they were horrified at the insignia it wore on its chest.

It wasn't a Decepticon insignia; at least, not a full one. Instead, it was a half Decepticon/half Autobot symbol, the two halves melted into one ugly whole. However, that was nothing compared to the shock they received as they finally laid eyes on the creature's heads.

All ten Autobots stared in disbelief. Even with the features partially melted into Megatron's, they still recognized the face and the boomerang shaped helmet attachment of one of their own.

Only Prime managed to say anything.

"I-it can't be…!"

*****

Two hours later, back at the Ark…

"Are you still here?"

"Hmm?", Ratchet swiveled in his seat to face Wheeljack, who was standing under the entry arches of the Medbay. "Why? How long have I been here?"

"A little over three hours."

"Really?" He checked the digital clock that nestled in the corner of the Medbay computer. "Huh.", the medic said, seeing now that it was two in the morning. "Well, you know what they say. Time flies when you're contemplating the number of wounded that you'll be treating."

Chuckling, Wheeljack walked into the Medbay. "It won't be that bad…"

"Won't it? Every time Prime takes a strike force to fight the Decepticons – in fact, anytime anyone steps outside this massive rust bucket – I end up putting in another all nighter in the O.R. fixing up the aftermath."

Any further conversation was shelved by the sound of the strike force's return at a rather frantic pace. As Ratchet stood up resignedly, Jazz burst into the Medbay in his Porsche mode, transforming into his robot form as he reached the operating table.

Staring at the warrior, Ratchet closed his eyes in exasperation. Jazz was pretty beaten up, with dents and laser burns covering his body. His visor was half destroyed, revealing one panic stricken and confused eye.

"Ruh, Ratchet?", he said, his voice full of confusion and a bit of what sounded like fear.

Ratchet and Wheeljack could suddenly feel a circuit-numbing chill as Jazz continued to stand in place, gaping at them. "Good Lord", said Ratchet, who was beginning to wish he had chosen another line of work, "what's happened?!"

Before Jazz could reply, the sound of steel ropes snapping reached them followed by a terrifying scream.

After that came the voices, shouted and panicked. "OH PRIMUS IT'S LOOSE!! IT'S LOOSE!!"

Just as Ratchet had managed to place the voice as Bluestreak's he heard Prime, whose normally calm voice contained an unfamiliar degree of fear. "GET THE DINOBOTS! NOW!!!" This was directed at the three within the Ark.

"Whuh-what's going-" Wheeljack stammered, before he was interrupted by Jazz.

"You heard what he said! CALL THE DINOBOTS!"

Wheeljack hesitated for a second before a second energon-curdling scream cut through the night air, causing him to jab at the com system controls.

"Dinobots! Report to the Medbay. Quickly!"

Now in the full grip of terror, Ratchet turned back to Jazz, intending to find what in Cyberhell they had brought back with them.

Then two things stopped him.

The first was the sound of metal savagely striking metal. The second was the sight of an airborne Mirage heading straight towards them.

Ratchet, Wheeljack and Jazz just barely managed to avoid getting decapitated by the semi-conscious Autobot as he flew over their ducking bodies and hit the far wall with a wince inducing crunch.

Grabbing his portable Medkit, Ratchet ran over to Mirage, his back to Wheeljack, Jazz and the Medbay exit leading to the outdoors. "Mirage! Speak to me!"

Looking as if he had gone twelve rounds with Devastator with his arms tied behind his back, Mirage slowly and painfully opened his eyes and looked at Ratchet. The second he got a good look at the medic's face, his eyes widened to their fullest and he started to scream. After ten full seconds of this he fell back into unconsciousness.

Despite the near overwhelming sense of dread he now felt, Ratchet twisted his face into an annoyed frown. First Jazz, now Mirage. Why was everyone reacting to him like this?

He was spared any further thought on the matter by the sound of heavy, uneven footsteps coming towards him. He heard Jazz's shouted protests silenced by what he assumed was a punch, followed by the sound of Jazz's body hitting the floor.

Directly behind him, Ratchet could hear Wheeljack gibbering in shock, then he could hear the sound of metal rasping against metal, followed by the whoosh sound of displaced air as the engineer was hurtled out of the Medbay and into the cool night air.

Ratchet stood up very, very slowly, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Whatever it was that had invaded the Ark stopped just behind him, projecting its monstrous shadow right in front of Ratchet.

He stared at it.

In his panic induced state, Ratchet desperately tried to remember if he knew any Transformers who happened to have two heads, three arms and three legs. He was oddly surprised to find that he didn't. In fact, he now reasoned, such a Transformer probably didn't exist.

At least not naturally.

He began to turn around.

Don't. an inner voice warned. Ratchet stayed in place. The voice continued.

Listen very carefully. You do not want to look behind you. There are things in this universe that are better left unseen. Whatever's behind you qualifies as such. In the name of Primus, God, Allah and every other deity in the known universe, do not turn around!

Ratchet gave the notion some thought. He mulled it over. He turned around anyway.

His mouth dropped open and his eyes bulged from their sockets as he saw what was behind him.

Told you so. the inner voice smirked.

TBC…

More to come soon, so please keep those reviews coming!