Author's Note: I had some time on my hands, so I decided to get started on this. I still have one exam to write, so I'm not sure if this chapter will be posted before I have to write it. Sorry for the delay, but you know how it is. Also, I am in the process of rewriting 'A New Life' to make it fit into the series. It's one of the first fics I wrote, when this series wasn't even a thought in the depths of my mind, and it shows. So I decided to get it rewritten so that it fits in with the rest of the series. Updates will be a bit slower during the rewrite. Please bear with me.

Disclaimer: I already told you who's mine and who isn't. If you still don't know, see previous chapters.

Past and Future

Chapter 6: Merging

Ultra Magnus stared at Jazz, leaning heavily on the back of his mate's chair to keep from falling over. "He what?" he breathed.

"He picked Roddy up and took him to his office for a private discussion," the special ops agent repeated. "Roddy was not happy about it. He protested the entire way. I'm surprised Optimus managed to get him there without losing any limbs."

"What were they discussing?" Silverbolt asked.

The Porsche shrugged. "Damned if I know. Whatever it was, Optimus kept it to himself. Didn't breathe a word of it at all. Only he and Roddy know what was said in that office, and neither one was talking."

The red and blue city commander tilted his head, listening to the lifebond. The other Autobots fell silent, waiting for him to finish whatever conversation he was having with Ultra Rodimus. A smile touched the second-in-command's face, and his eyes showed a faint sparkle of humor. Whatever Ultra Rodimus was saying obviously amused the large bot. Finally, chuckling to himself, Magnud returned his attention to the others.

"What did the boss have to say?" Blaster asked.

"He was grumbling about the clothes he was given to replace the ones Ravage shredded," Magnus replied, trying and failing to suppress his chuckling.

"What clothes?" Hot Spot wondered.

"My father and I aren't as tall as he is, and there was no one else his size working around the Ark at that point," Spike answered, a grin spreading across his face. "Doc Winters sent me out to get him some clothes. Let me tell you, finding clothing for someone as tall as he is isn't easy. I ended up bringing back a pair of jeans and a dark blue shirt that fit him a little closer than he'd've liked. Not skin tight, but close enough that there wasn't much left to the imagination. For the rest of his time in the Ark he had a swarm of drooling human females following him everywhere." He looked up at Ultra Rodimus's lifemate, who was eyeing him suspiciously, actually bristling. "Don't give me that look, Magnus; he was smart enough not to let himself get caught. He actually discovered most of the hiding places that the rest of us made use of later on."

Slowly, the armor plates on Magnus's shoulders and upper back, which had actually managed to peel off and stand out straight, dropped back to their usual positions with a series of muted clicks. Just as slowly, Magnus relaxed.

Kup looked from Spike to Magnus and back again, then decided to change the subject. "Jazz, can you tell us what happened after Optimus and Ultra Rodimus had their private discussion?"

"Sure." Jazz thought for a moment. "Well, at first they acted as if nothing had changed, but I noticed that Optimus came out of there with dents on his neck that matched Ultra Rodimus's handspan, like this." He held his hands out in front of him, as if he were gripping the throat of some unseen foe. "They were pretty deep, so Roddy must've gotten a really good grip on him."

Magnus blinked. "Optimus must've said something really stupid if Ultra Rodimus tried to manually strangle him."

"I'll bet, knowing Optimus." Jazz dug through his memories. "I can't remember anything else while Roddy was there, but afterward Optimus and Wheeljack put their heads together on some top-secret project. I managed to sneak a look at it a few years later; it was a set of blueprints and schematics for a humanoid Transformer."

Smokescreen sat bolt upright. "Didn't Ultra Rodimus say that he heard Wheeljack's voice while he was being rebuilt?"

"He did," Magnus agreed.
"So Wheeljack designed him, but never got to start construction before he was killed. Wheeljack designed Ultra Rodimus."

"And it was Optimus who started him designing Ultra Rodimus," Sideswipe commented. "But that means..."

"Optimus knows about Ultra Rodimus, seen him in his true form," Magnus finished. "Ultra Rodimus has to tell Optimus, or the future will be changed!"

"Then you'd better warn him."

Magnus nodded and turned his attention toward the lifebond.

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Optimus wasn't exactly sure how he'd arrived at that conclusion, but all the pieces fit. He'd been thinking out loud when he'd made that guess, but it must have been the right guess. Roddy's face went as pale as his hair. And that provided all the confirmation he needed. He pounced on the opening like a cat on a mouse.

"You're from the future," he announced, staring at Roddy.

The silver-haired Autobot human swallowed visibly. "I can't tell you that."

"But it's true, isn't it," Optimus pressed.

Ultra Rodimus just stared up at him, as white as a sheet. The truth was out, the future would be changed!

((Beloved!)) Magnus shouted.

(Mags... he knows...)

((You have to tell him!))

(WHAT!)

((Jazz says that after you left Optimus had Wheeljack start designing a humanoid Transformer, one he designed but never built. That Transformer is you! You have to tell him, or you'll erase yourself from existance!))

The urgency in his mate's voice drove home the seriousness of the situation. Reluctantly, he agreed. Magnus withdrew, but remained in the back of his mind.

While he'd been conversing with his mate Optimus had been studying him, and the older Autobot had noticed the ring Ultra Rodimus wore. He recognized what it symbolized, but instead of keeping his mouth shut he let his frustration get the better of him, and made some very insulting, extremely rude comments about Ultra Rodimus's relationship with his mate, comments that will not be repeated here.

There are some things you just don't say to Ultra Rodimus.

Ultra Rodimus's eyes flashed. He'd already had enough trouble trying to keep his temper under the combined strain of keeping his origin secret, seeing people he'd rather not have seen, trying to find a way home, and Optimus Prime's attitude, but this was the last straw. He snapped.

With a choked roar he launched himself right at Optimus. The shift from human to robot was so fast Optimus couldn't make out what was happening. He was taken completely by surprise. One moment he was looking at a six foot six human, the next he was being pinned against his desk with a bot taller than he was gripping his throat. Metal creaked loudly as the larger bot squeezed, green eyes blazing with fury.

It was at that moment that Optimus realized he'd crossed a line he really shouldn't have crossed.

"If you kill me... you'll change the future," he gasped out, straining to talk through the tight grip Roddy had on his neck.

That grip loosened fractionally. Blazing green eyes studied him coldly. Then he was dropped, landing in a heap on the floor, gasping for breath to cool his overheating systems. Finally, he managed to look up at the other bot.

The human had become a bot who towered fully two heads taller than him; Optimus only stood as high as the faction insignia in the center of the other bot's chestplate. Smoke-grey armor marked with red and blue stripes covered a slender form, but that slenderness hid fearsome power. He showed no outward signs of what he transformed into, if he could transform at all. His overall build was apparently based on a humanoid shape instead of a purely robotic one. There were none of the blocky parts or projecting alternate mode appendages. The seams between armor plates were barely visible, and his joints seemed to have extra plates over the seams. He even had hair, hanging down his back in a braid as thick as his wrist. He still wore the patterned reptile-skin coat and boots.

"So this is your true form," Optimus commented as he dragged himself to his feet. "What is your real name?"

"I am called Ultra Rodimus," was the response. That deep bass voice was frigid.

Optimus shuddered, feeling ice trying to form on his armor. He'd clearly hit a nerve, a very big nerve. After a moment of thought, he managed to apologize. The larger bot didn't forgive him, but he did become less cold.

"I swear by the Matrix that no one will hear any of what you tell me," Optimus promised. "I have no wish to destroy my people's future." He tilted his head, looking closely at Ultra Rodimus. "You are fairly young, yes?"

Ultra Rodimus snorted. "I'm not even five million yet. What do you think?"

"The fact that you bear the Matrix means I must be dead," Optimus commented thoughtfully, and Ultra Rodimus winced faintly.

"True," was the reluctant answer.

The rest of the discussion continued along those lines. Optimus asked questions and Ultra Rodimus answered. He revealed as little as possible, deliberately being vague with certain details and leaving other details out altogether. He refused to mention specific dates or even hint at a timeline, but Optimus managed to pick out things he hadn't said and pry out further clarifications. He learned that he would die in battle and that his successor would be named Rodimus Prime, and he figured out for himself that Ultra Rodimus was an older version of Rodimus. The colors of the gems set in the ring Ultra Rodimus wore allowed Optimus to guess who his mate was. That was when Optimus decided that he really didn't want to know much more and began asking about Ultra Rodimus himself. The younger Prime explained that he was a Transformer, even though he didn't look like one, and transformed into each of his alternate modes. He also learned that it had been Wheeljack who had designed Ultra Rodimus.

"Perhaps you can go home the same way you got here," Optimus mused.

"I hope so." Ultra Rodimus morphed back to human.

Optimus rose to his feet and picked up the transformed Prime, carrying him out to where Prowl had found him. They found the time window, all right, and it was about to collapse.

"You have to go now!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Ultra Rodimus yelled back at him, then waved and ran through the collapsing time corridor.

To be continued...

And there's another chapter down. The next one should be written sometime next week, hopefully. Yeah, Gromia, he can be smart at times, but other times he can be about as thick as a telephone pole. And that would have been funny, Fenestrae, and Starscream would've deserved it, but Ultra Roddy couldn't risk altering the timeline. So he went with the less dangerous weapon, relatively speaking, of course; that ribbon device is deadly if used correctly.