Author's Note: Sorry about the delay. Trying to get the computer away from my sister is next to impossible. Even if you ask nicely she won't budge. So that's why this chapter is late. And why updates to this fic will probably be slower than my usual update speed.

Disclaimer: Earth: Final Conflict and its characters do not belong to me. Neither do most of the Transformers. Ultra Rodimus and Falcon are mine.

Encounters of the Weird Kind

Chapter 2: Chase

Ultra Magnus paused in the corridor, wondering where his mate would be. He already knew that Ultra Rodimus wasn't in their shared quarters, but where he was, Magnus wasn't sure. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, reaching out with his thoughts.

(In Medbay, lover-mine,) was the response. (First Aid finally cornered me about running the usual battery of tests on my bird mode. So I'm in here being poked and prodded.)

((I'm actually surprised he waited this long to drag you in,)) Magnus responded.

(He didn't want to run the tests too soon after Murdoch, Magnus.) There was a strange tone in Ultra Rodimus's mind-voice. (The wounds were still too raw at that point for me to be able to sit through an examination. I would have lost it, and he knows that.)

((Oh. That makes sense.)) Magnus couldn't fully keep the wince out of his own thoughts. He understood why First Aid hadn't wanted to subject Ultra Rodimus to a full examination at an earlier date. Jennifer Murdoch had nearly succeeded in torturing Ultra Rodimus to death. The young Prime hadn't been able to go near the repair bay for weeks.

Magnus pushed away from the wall and headed toward the repair bay, First Aid's domain. Ever since Ratchet's death at Megatron's hands, First Aid had ruled the repair bay. The Protectobot medic was far more even-tempered than his predecessor had been, but no one escaped his clutches when he said it was time for a checkup. Rodimus Prime had actually been dragged in by the spoiler on more than one occasion, but Ultra Rodimus was more likely to show up before First Aid did. That was yet more evidence that Ultra Rodimus and his previous form were two completely different bots.

The doors slid open. He stepped inside, heading for the room First Aid had set up to study all of Ultra Rodimus's various alternate modes. The room was large enough to contain the massive coils of Ultra Rodimus's serpent mode, the wall-climbing abilities of his scorpion mode, the wingspan of his jet and starfighter modes, etc. There was even a fair-sized water tank for his shark mode. Now something new had been added.

A solid steel beam had been bent into a rectangular shape and welded to the deck. It served as a perch for the young Prime's bird mode. Ultra Rodimus was perched there, head turning to follow the movements of the medics.

His bird form was based on no specific species, but seemed to have taken traits from a number of types. His basic body shape hadn't changed, but parts had been added and changed. The head was more like an eagle's, with the long, heavy, curved beak, forward-set eyes, and powerful jaws. Feathers made of silver metal, thin as paper but impossible to bend or break, covered his head, neck, part of his chest, and his back. From his lower back sprouted a full set of tailfeathers, made of the same silver metal, this time strangely flexible, that trailed out behind him when he flew, more like the streaming tails of exotic tropical birds than the standard wedge or fan-shaped tail of a bird of prey. His arms had become clawed wings, spanning more than twice his own height from tip to tip. His legs had developed an extra joint, and his feet had become talons, like the feet of an eagle, complete with razor-sharp, curved claws.

When the door opened, Ultra Rodimus turned his head to look. Magnus smiled at him. His younger mate bobbed his head, fluffing out his feathers. They stood on end, making him look more than a little silly, then settled with a series of muted clicks. First Aid noticed the sound, then followed Ultra Rodimus's gaze.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Magnus commented.

"Not at all. I'm just trying to get him to say something."

(This beak makes talking out loud more than a little difficult,) Ultra Rodimus explained.

"He says it's not easy," Magnus relayed.

"I'm not that surprised. Just get him to talk."

"Roddy?"

"That'sss blackmail, you know," Ultra Rodimus said clearly. "I'd like to ssssee you trrrrying to sssay anything arrround a beak."

"It slurs the 's' and 'r' sounds," First Aid muttered, making a note.

"What have you found out about his shocking abilities?" Magnus asked. "No pun intended."

"He can draw the electricity out of the air and use it to throw one hell of a shock," Medic Alert responded. "He also stores a considerable amount of charge in his body. As far as I can tell, he has access to that charge in any of his modes. So try not to startle him the next time you two are in bed together, or you might wind up getting a very nasty zap."

Magnus snorted. "I'll remember that."

There was a faint blast, the sound of laser fire, and the familiar battle sirens began to scream through the city. The resident Autobots were so used to the sirens that they's taken to carrying their weapons with them everywhere, in subspace and on them. The city dissolved into organized chaos as everyone dropped what they were doing and headed outside.

Ultra Rodimus jumped off the perch, transformed in mid-leap, and hit the floor running. Magnus fell into step beside him, matching his stride to his mate's. The young leader reached for his comm.

"Blaster! What in Primus's name is going on?!" he yelled.

"The Decepticons are outside, testing our defences again," a voice responded.

"Who is this?"

"Eject. Blaster's kinda busy right now. The Decepticons are using more strange tactics. My guess is that Cyclonus thought this one up. Looks like they were trying for a sneak attack, but you know Galvatron."

"He shoots at anything with the Autobot insignia on it, whether or not it's in the plan. Yes, I know."

"Tends to negate the entire point of trying a sneak attack."

Ultra Rodimus laughed. "Yeah, but no one ever said Galvatron was very smart. I'm on my way."

Outside, the Autobots were doing an excellent job of keeping the Decepticons away from Iacon's gates. After Jennifer Murdoch's very messy death, Ultra Rodimus had decided to leave Earth for a while, and had returned to Iacon. Of course, the Decepticons had followed. The Autobots were keeping them at bay for the moment.

"Don't they ever learn?" Smokescreen grumbled, bracing his rifle on the city's walls and taking another shot.

"Not to my knowledge." Ultra Rodimus blew past, slid through the half open gates, and dove into the thick of the battle. "Let's kick tailgate!"

The battle was coming to its natural end, a victory for the Autobots, when a rumble from overhead caught everyone's attention. All eyes turned toward the dark sky of the homeworld, looking for the source.

Something small appeared out of what looked like a ripple in the air. It flew erratically for a few moments, then went into a steep dive, boiling black smoke. It crashed somewhere out of sight.

"Dirge!" Cyclonus yelled. "Go find whatever that was!"

The blue Decepticon transformed and shot toward the crash site. Ultra Rodimus swore in language fit to peel paint off metal and looked at his own troops. Jazz anticipated what he was going to say.

"I'm on it, Prime!" The black and white Autobot transformed and sped off at full throttle, racing after the Decepticon flier. The chase was on.

To be continued...

That's chapter two over with. What do you think so far? Review and let me know. And here are the first reviewer responses for this story:

Kakwat: There will be more of Liam farther along in this story. Hold your horses, ok? And there will be some Sandoval and Zo'or torture (not that kind!). I don't like either of them much. I'm thinking of siccing Sunstreaker on them.

Gromia: Too lazy, huh? Happens to me sometimes. Here's the next chapter for you, and there will be more in the future. Thanks for the compliments.

Until the next chapter!