Disclaimer: Still do not own them. Phooey.

A/N: Whoops, missed posting last week. My apologies! Anyways, this is where it gets...Mary-sueish. Please review anyways? ^.^

- Chapter 5 -

We appeared in the middle of a large room, and though I couldn't hear them charging, I was very much aware of the fact that every single Autobot had weapons out and charged - as did a whole pile of Decepticons, facing us. A stalemate, it seemed. Optimus and Megatron appeared to be talking, but I wasn't privy to it - they were probably talking in Cybertronian, anyways - so I looked around, trying to figure out where we were.

From what Magnus said, I assumed we were on the moon, though I couldn't tell. We appeared to be in an enclosed room, twice as tall as Optimus, and built to hold a large number of mechs. There were a couple dozen of both Autobots and Decepticons engaged in the stalemate, with room to spare. The room appeared to be metal, and the only break in the walls that I could see was a massive round door in one wall, highly decorated and with some sort of copper-coloured plaque in the middle that I couldn't read from where I was. There were no lights, as the ceiling itself seemed to be glowing gently, providing enough light for everyone to see.

Movement caught my eye as I finished surveying the room, and I turned to see everyone else staring at one of the Decepticons, who was staring at his canon in surprise - its glow, indicating it was charged, had disappeared. It appeared to be completely dead. Then another Decepticon swung around, pointed his weapon at the first, and...his canon went dead, too. There was a round of other canons going dead, and I realized as the generally agitation grew that they were all trying to fire, and couldn't. I giggled inside my suit as Magnus, and many of the Autobots, didn't even try, lowering their weapons. Looking back at Optimus, I noticed he seemed a bit smug now as he spoke with Megatron. The Decepticon leader made a threatening move after a few moments, but stopped, seeming frustrated, before smirking at Optimus and nodding. At this point, I looked up at Magnus and knocked on the finger holding me. He looked down and I gave him a curious look - I kinda wanted to know what was going on.

Text suddenly popped up in front of my eyes, and I reared back in surprise before focusing on it, and I realized it was a system message, in English, saying that someone wanted to contact me.

"Uh - sure?" I guessed at vocal control, and it seemed to work, as Magnus' suddenly sounded inside my helmet.

"Sorry, I forgot you wouldn't have heard any of that," Magnus apologized.

"That's fine," I said with a shrug. "Just catch me up on what's happening."

"Well, since apparently we can't fight in this chamber, Megatron has agreed to work with us to uncover 'a piece of Cybertron's past'," Magnus said with a snort. "He's claiming he's not looking for a weapon, and Optimus is letting him do so, so long as it doesn't result in hand-to-hand combat. It seems there's a locked door that the Decepticons have been failing to get through, anyways."

"I noticed it. What does the plaque say?" I asked curiously.

"Ah, that's why Megatron is accepting our help - it says only the voice of a Prime can open it," Magnus said with a smirk, and as I watched, Optimus approached the door. He said something, frowned and reached out to touch the door, only to get knocked on his aft. The Decepticons laughed, Megatron smirking. The Autobots looked annoyed, shifting around, but nobody made any threatening movements.

"Well that didn't work," I commented.

"No, apparently there's a specific phrase he needs to say. The Decepticons don't know what it is, either," Magnus replied. Optimus had gotten up again, and was speaking with another Autobot. After a few minutes, he turned back to the door and spoke again. Nothing happened. This went on for awhile - Optimus speaking at the door, nothing happening, and everyone getting more and more frustrated. Eventually, Optimus walked away and started talking with Megatron again, and I asked Magnus if I could go have a look at the door.

"I suppose," he said, frowning. He moved carefully over to it, seeming to be trying not to attract attention, and I realized why when one of the Decepticons caught sight of me. Suddenly everyone's attention was on me, even Optimus and Megatron's, and I did my best not to shrink under the combined gaze as Magnus approached the door, letting me have a look. The plaque was in Cybertronian - big surprise - but I found it odd how the plaque was in a completely different style from the rest of the door. The door was advanced, high-tech, Cybertronian styling, while the plaque literally looked like any normal copper plaque - it even appeared to be attached with screws. It looked almost...human in origin. I paused, blinked, glanced up at Magnus, then back at the door.

"Peter Cullen," I said distinctly. There was an unsteady shudder, and then the door rolled open.

"How..." Magnus trailed off, looking down at me in surprise.

"It's...the name of the guy who does the voicework for Optimus in the movies and original TV show back in my reality. 'The voice of a Prime'," I said with a frown, then looked up at Magnus suspiciously. "How did you know?"

"There were some...vague references to someone who knew more than they should in the clues that were left to find this place," Magnus said, looking embarrassed. "The others dismissed them, since I hadn't gone into details about your past, but I suspected you needed to be up here."

"Apparently you were right," I replied with a roll of my eyes. Movement caught my attention then, and I realized Optimus and Megatron had come up on either side of Magnus. Megatron was glaring daggers at me, while Optimus looked curiously at Magnus, who was probably doing some pretty fancy explaining. I took the opportunity to look through the door - it appeared to lead into a large, circular room, with a tube of some kind in the middle, and a console off to one side. The console was at human height. There was also a funny shimmering around the whole thing.

"Is that a force field?" I mused to myself, forgetting I had a comm line open to Magnus.

"Yes, a very powerful one," Magnus replied, startling me. "We're trying to figure out how to get around it, considering the controls appear to be on the inside."

"If I touch it, will it fry me?" I asked curiously.

"Most definitely," Magnus said, then turned back to the conversation with the others. After a few minutes, I noticed Ratchet step around Optimus, frowning at me. After a few moments, he walked over and leaned in, inspecting me closely before pulling away.

"I take back what I said earlier," Magnus said slowly. "The field won't fry you. Ratchet says it matches your bioelectric field perfectly - you'll be able to walk through it unharmed."

"So I was definitely meant to be here," I said with a snort, and Magnus nodded.

"Apparently," he said, then stepped forward into the room. He got right up to the force field before setting me down. Despite his assurances, I hesitated a moment before going through, but it didn't even tingle - I couldn't even tell it was there. I looked back up at Magnus.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Investigate the console?" he suggested, and I figured that was probably a good idea, so I did. It was, amusingly, an entirely human-style setup, and when I hit a button, a Windows logo popped up on the screen.

"OK, something wonky is going ," I said as I saw that. The rest of the stuff - ok, I could see someone with some sort of seers gift setting it up. But a Windows logo with 'Resistance is futile' underneath as the console booted up? This was personal. Whoever had made this place knew me.

"Why, what's on the console?" Magnus asked over the comms.

"I'll tell you in a..." I trailed off as the logo finally disappeared, and I found myself staring at the face of a Cybertronian I had only seen back in my reality - Vector Prime.

"Oh, it's you." His voice in my helmet startled me, and I stared wide-eyed at the screen.

"Whoa. It's you," I replied in a squeak. Vector Prime chuckled.

"As articulate as ever. The command code is 1-28-alpha-tango-87."

"The command code for what?" I asked blankly.

"You'll find out. I'll see you later!" The mech on the screen disappeared, and suddenly Magnus's voice was in my helmet again.

" - rry! What's going on?" he seemed worried, and I looked up and flashed him a smile.

"Nothing much, just talking to...someone," I decided not to mention the mech on the screen, instead turning to the new interface that was presented to me. It was fairly easy to understand, especially once I found the FAQ. Yes, there was a FAQ. And the first question on it was: 'Who built this place?' Answer: 'You did, duh.'

"Oh god, I hate time travel," I whined, realizing what that meant.

"Time travel?" Magnus sounded confused, and I was about to reply when the next question caught my attention - 'So should I tell Magnus about any of this?' Answer - 'I didn't. Oh look, a paradox!'

"I'll...explain later," I said in surprise, and continued reading. The next few questions were all the obvious ones - why did I build the place, how, did I really end up time travelling and did it suck as much as I expected, and the answers were mostly unhelpful - 'You'll find out' for all of them. The next one - 'Can't you tell me anything?' - was answered with 'No', and that was when I closed the FAQ. "I hate my sense of humour sometimes," I mumbled to myself. Magnus, apparently realizing he wasn't going to get any answers from me, didn't comment, and I continued poking around the console. After a few minutes, I found something labeled 'main operations', and when I tried to open it, it asked for a command code. I punched in the one I'd been given, and then the screen changed again.

The new screen appeared to be a status screen, for whatever was in the tube. From the images given, it looked like it was...a mechanoid body? I frowned, and when I spotted the 'open tube' button, I hit it, then looked up. A large panel opened on the side of the tube, sliding out of the way. Glancing over at the Autobots and Decepticons, crowding the other side of the force field, I realized that the angle meant that they couldn't see inside the tube. I shook my head and look back up at it - sure enough, it was a mechanoid body (deep navy blue, for those interested, and smooth and curvy like Autobot femmes in the cartoons, and not movie-Arcee)...but it was holding something.

"No freaking way." I stared in surprise at the miniature Allspark cube, wondering how in the nine hells it had gotten here - how it existed at all.

"What is it?" Magnus asked. I didn't answer, looking back down at the console. I scrolled through screens quickly, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The only thing useful that I found, however, was a button labeled 'activate'.

"There's a button labeled 'activate'. I don't know what it activates exactly, but I want to push it," I said, staring at the button.

"Don't. See if you can find any more information. Remember this is a weapon," Magnus said seriously. I looked over at him, amused, then back up at the tube - it was probably the farthest thing from a weapon I'd ever seen. Unless the body was going to suddenly come to life and try and kill me, all Terminator style. Somehow I doubted it, and so I hit the button. Magnus started yelling at me to get out of there, but I stayed, watching curiously as silver tracework began to glow on the armor of the body in the tube. The optics remained dark, however, and curiously, I walked over, finding that there was a ledge that I could use to haul myself up and into the tube. Staring up at the mech body from the floor, I estimated it was a few feet shorter than Magnus. I walked around it, not noticing how my helmet had gone silent, inspecting the body. It was in working order, as far as I could tell - there just didn't seem to be anyone home. Hoping to get some answers, at least, before I went out and told the others what was in here, I reached out and poked the body.

My mistake.

I woke to furious yelling, snarky comments, and general noise. And considering what a headache I had, this wasn't too welcome.

"Shut the frag up," I growled. The voices did just that, and I sighed in contentment before opening my eyes to figure out what had happened. Or well, tried to open my eyes. I ended up turning on my optics instead. Which made me stop, do a double take, and then look down at myself. And yeeeep, I was in the body that had been - still was - in the tube. My human body didn't seem to be inside, but the Allspark was at my feet, and after a moment of hesitation, I knelt to pick it up. It tingled a little, which I marveled over, before I realized someone was talking to me - Magnus.

"Terry, you need to get out of there. The room is flooded with radiation that's lethal to humans. You shouldn't even be alive right now," he was saying seriously.

"Hunh. Not surprised," I mused as I looked at Allspark in my hands. Then, after a moment of thought, I set it back down again, carefully stepping out of the tube and turning to face the Autobots and Decepticons, who looked back curiously.

"Terry...who or what is that?" Magnus asked slowly, clearly not realizing it was me, and I chuckled.

"This...is me," I replied, then waved cheerfully to him. Magnus looked pole axed. The other Autobots looked confused, the Decepticons frustrated. Glancing back into the tube once more, I headed towards the force field, pausing right at its edge. Data was streaming through a HUD in front of me, but I had no idea what it meant, so I turned to locate Ratchet - only to realize I should probably try and figure out how to talk to him. I concentrated hard on what I wanted, and the option to request a connection popped up. Ratchet started as I activated the option, but then the connection was accepted.

"Hello?" he asked warily.

"Is it still safe for me to walk through?" I asked him, and he started, apparently recognizing my voice.

"Er - one moment," he shoved his way passed Optimus, closer to me, and seemed to look me up and down briefly - a few things popped up on my HUD. I figured he was probably scanning me. "You should be fine."

"Should be?" I asked warily.

"I've never seen anyone walk through a force field of this strength without getting hurt," Ratchet said with a shrug. "But, you've already done it once."

"Um...alright then," I said, figuring I wouldn't build a death trap for myself, and stepped through.

Instant chaos. Apparently the Decepticons had decided I was the 'weapon' and were trying to 'seize' me. The Autobots didn't like that too much. To solve the problem, I darted back through the force field at the first available opportunity. They kept fighting, unfortunately, and grumbling to myself, I went over to the console, which obligingly raised itself up to my level and transformed into a bigger version. I looked at it in amusement before poking through it. There was already a system to block weapons fire, so I was wondering if there were any more defensive systems.

It turned out there were, and I smirked as I realized what they were: precision space bridges and blocks. I promptly set about locking onto each Decepticon in turn, bridging them to Mars - about half a kilometer above the planet's surface. It took the Decepticons a few minutes to figure out what was going on, and then even more time to realize who was doing it. By the time they stopped fighting, only Megatron was left. I zapped him out, anyways, and headed back to the force field.

"That was impressive," Magnus said.

"Yes, well, things get easy when you build facilities for yourself," I grumbled.

"You built this place?" Magnus asked in surprise.

"With help, I'm guessing, yes," I said with a sigh. "It involves time travel and I advised myself not to tell you everything just yet, so I can't really say anymore."

"But you built this place for yourself to...what? Give yourself a mechanoid body?" Magnus asked with a frown.

"Apparently! Future - or is that past? - me wasn't exactly clear on everything. I didn't even know what was going to happen, I figured this body was someone else," I said in frustration as I stepped through the force field. Ratchet was instantly beside me, scanning, while the other Autobots - including Magnus - seemed to be giving me a wide berth. They were probably talking amongst themselves, judging from the ever-changing expressions on some faces, but I wasn't let in on the discussion, instead just standing there, watching as Ratchet scanned me. Eventually, he stepped back, looking thoughtfully at me, and I received a request to open a comm line. I accepted.

"Your body is highly advanced - perhaps a thousand years beyond our current technology, if we were still advancing in physiological technology the way we were at the start of the war," Ratchet told me. "I don't suppose you know anything about it yourself?"

"Er -" I hesitated, sending a few queries to my databanks - and trying not to think overly much about how weird that was. I got back nothing, however. "There was very little helpful information in the console, and there's none at all in my databanks. Apparently I didn't want to give myself any hints." Ratchet hmm'ed, and the connection cut off as he turned his attention to the others. I knew for sure that there was another conversation going on around me, but as much as it irked me, I didn't interrupt. This was new for all of us, and I could get the information out of Magnus later. Hopefully. He was still keeping his distance from me, and I wondered if there was going to be a problem. I hoped not.

It was over twenty minutes - I actually had a chronometer so I could tell - before I received another comm, this time from Optimus.

"Terry, we've decided it's probably best to move this discussion elsewhere - do you still want to see Ganymede?" Optimus smiled as he asked, looking even more amused as I nodded vigorously.

"Love to!" I replied cheerfully.

"Good. Standby," he said, and I quickly found myself understanding what Magnus had meant when he said a space bridge was obvious to Cybertronians - my sensors picked up the change in gravitational forces and alerted me immediately, bringing up a visual over-lay to show where the bridge was opening, even as it helpfully informed me about what was happening. I wondered if all Cybertronians had systems that supplied information like that, but filed it away as a question to ask later as the space bridge grew big enough to encompass all the Autobots. There was a brief white-out, where I couldn't see anything, and then the bridge - and the room on the Moon - were gone.

Ganymede, it seemed, had been hit harder than Magnus had let on to me. The place was in shambles, and as soon as we appeared, Autobots took off, some picking up equipment that was sitting nearby as they went. Judging from the surety with which they moved, and the way they seemed unsurprised - unlike Optimus and the other Autobots that I knew had been on Earth, minus Ironhide - they had likely come from Ganymede to begin with, pausing in their repairs to engage the Decepticons on the Moon.

Those Autobots that didn't head off immediately stayed nearby as Optimus headed off, moving cautiously and stopping occasionally to talk to someone. Eventually, his destination became visible - a ship that looked remarkably like the Ark, right down to its brilliant orange colour. I stared at it incredulously as we approached, having assumed - hoped - that the colour would just be the result of cartoonists in my reality wanting a colourful background.

Inside, it seemed there was still an atmosphere, as we had to go through an airlock. I stopped in surprise once I reached the inside and the atmosphere hit me, however - not only was it breathable by humans, but as soon as my sensors finished analyzing it, a new option popped up on my HUD - 'Earth-atmosphere detected - activate transformation sequence?' I hesitated, but decided not to. I'd play around with that later. Right now I suspected it was time for a serious discussion, something emphasized more as only Ratchet, Ironhide, Magnus and I followed Prime into a room that looked suspiciously like an office. I looked around as the door closed, noting that it seemed spartan, but functional.

"Now that we're in a more private venue..." Optimus seemed tired as he spoke. "Terry, can you tell us anything more about how this happened?" I turned to look at him, hesitating uncertainly.

"To be honest, I'm not sure about how much I should say. I hate dealing with time travel even in theory, and finding myself confronted with it in reality is...annoyingly difficult to make sense of. Especially since I don't even know everything myself," I said. Optimus hmm'ed.

"How about you tell us what you can, then, and if there's anything you think you shouldn't tell us, just say so, and we'll let you be," Optimus said, then glanced seriously at the other three mechs in the room. "Agreed?" They all murmured some form of assent, Magnus a few beats after the others, before I nodded as well. "Then lets start at the beginning. Beyond Ratchet telling you that your new form is highly advanced, how do you know time travel is involved?"

"I found a FAQ in the console - first question was 'who built this place?' and the answer was 'you did'. Considering that base has been there since before the Fallen, well, fell - time travel is pretty obvious," I said.

"But there was no actual confirmation that you time travelled to make it?" Ironhide butted in, scowling, and I hesitated, thinking carefully.

"No. Not technically. I suppose I could have built the place and then someone else transported it back in time, or I could have just been being dramatic in the FAQ, and I only gave someone the schematics and instructions for constructing the place," I said.

"Someone like Vector Prime?" Ironhide asked stonily.

"Er, I wouldn't..." I paused, frowning. "Actually, I don't even technically know him yet, so why am I defending him? Yes. He's involved."

"You seem certain about that," Optimus said curiously.

"When I activated the console he popped up on the screen, made a few snarky comments, then gave me the command codes before disappearing. Though why the thing needed command codes when I was the only person who could access it is beyond me," I said.

"Probably as a safety precaution," Optimus said, sighing. "Was there anything to give you an idea about why the facility was built, or was the purpose of having you in a Cybertronian body is?"

"No. Well, I suppose that isn't correct. There were questions regarding that in the FAQ, though they were a bit general, and all they said was 'you'll find out'. So I doubt I'm supposed to know immediately," I said. "Frankly I'm as surprised as you guys about this whole change - there wasn't even a hint of what would happen."

"Then why did you push that button in the first place, let alone enter the tube?" Magnus spoke for the first time since I bridged the Decepticons off the Moon, and he sounded furious. I frowned, wondering why, but answered the question.

"Because I knew that, whatever the button did, it wouldn't harm me. And I entered the tube to see if poking this body would wake it up," I said.

"How? How did you know?" Magnus asked, rather aggressively.

"I just did. I can't tell you how," I told him, getting irritated at his tone of voice. Magnus scowled, seeming ready to ask more, but Optimus shot him a quelling look. I tried not to think about how my fears that Magnus and I now had a problem had been confirmed as I turned my attention back to Optimus.

"There isn't much more we can discuss without further information," Optimus said as he, too, returned his attention to me. "For now, I'd like you to go with Ratchet to get a more thorough check out. Later I'd like you and Magnus to return to the facility on the moon to see if you can discover anything else." Magnus' scowl deepened, but I ignored him.

"Sounds good to me," I said, and we broke up, Ratchet leading me out of the office, heading a different way than Ironhide, while Optimus and Magnus remained in the office. I suspected I didn't want to hear their conversation, since Magnus was apparently angry with me about something now. Ratchet made no comment as he led me through the Ark, eventually ending up in what could only be the med bay.

"Up on the berth and lay down," Ratchet said, nodding to one of the many 'tables' lining the room. I did as I was told, and Ratchet activated a console next to the berth, and shortly afterwards, devices sprouted from the ceiling and floor, and I think even the side of the berth, as Ratchet began running a comprehensive check-up. He even took some fluids, and peeked under some of my armor.

"As expected, you're perfectly fine. Technologically advanced, of course, but fine so far as I can determine," Ratchet finally announced. "I am reading that you have an alt form, however - do you know what it is?"

"Not a clue. Though it popped up asking me if I wanted to transform into it as soon as it detected an Earth atmosphere," I replied.

"Really." Ratchet looked interested. "Why don't you try activating it now?" I hopped off the berth and stepped back a bit before pulling up the prompt from before, this time hitting 'yes'.

It was disturbing, transforming. Parts were disappearing, rearranging - it felt strange. Also, I was apparently shrinking quite a bit. It was distinctly unnerving, and it took me several moments to realize I'd finished transforming - I only noticed because of the astonished look Ratchet was giving me. Frowning, I glanced down at myself, wondering what had astonished him. I didn't wonder for long - looking down, I found myself. My human self.

"Whoa," I said, my eyes widening in surprise. A few mental queries showed that I was still Cybertronian - I wasn't actually human, I just looked it - but it was distinctly strange as I stretched out my arms and flexed my limbs, discovering that I looked and moved entirely like a human.

"Terry?" the astonished query came from the doorway to the med bay, and I turned to find Magnus standing there, looking as pole axed as he had right after I'd shown him my new form. Almost without thinking of it, I activated my transformation sequence again, turning back to Ratchet as I reached my full height.

"I guess we know what my alt form is now," I said stiffly.

"Evidently," Ratchet mused. "I wonder who finally perfected the subspace transformation technology? And how? Almost every scientist on Cybertron was trying to figure that out before the war. As a side project, usually, but most had theories on it, at the least."

"We'll find out eventually I suppose," I said.

"Yes, indeed. For now you two had better get going," Ratchet said, shaking his head. "Before I give in to my mental Wheeljack and try to figure it out now." I grinned at him, though it faded when I turned back to Magnus.

"Ready to go?" I asked him stiffly, formally, since he was back to scowling at me. He nodded curtly, then turned on his heel and headed out. I had to jog a bit to keep up, and didn't bother coming up beside him, instead keeping step just behind him. We exited the Ark and headed back to the room in the Ganymede base where we'd bridged in, Magnus activating the bridge without saying a word. Once we were on the Moon, he just looked at me and silently motioned for me to go ahead. I hesitated for a moment, but headed into the inner chamber, stepped through the force field and over to the console. I glanced up at the tube, to make sure the object I'd left inside was still there, then focused on the task at hand, sorting through the data in the console.

Unfortunately, it seemed there was very little there that I hadn't already discovered - there was the operational code for the facility, including defenses and maintenance, there was the FAQ, some communications protocols - which were now inaccessible, despite how I tried to activate them. I would love to have another chat with Vector Prime right now. There was coding for the force fields, as well, but there didn't seem to be any 'on/off' option. The code was closed, focused purely on maintaining it. It seemed that the field wasn't meant to be turned off, ever. I couldn't even find anything about a power source. Frustrated, I abandoned the console, heading out to the main room, where Magnus was standing, his back to the door, staring stonily at nothing. I paused in the doorway, watching him for a moment, before pinging his comm system. He started, turning to frown at me, but accept the connection.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"What?" he asked, frowning.

"Whatever it is that's got you acting like this. What is it?" I elaborated. His frowning deepened, and he turned back to the other side of the room. He didn't seem like he was going to answer, so I walked over to him and tentatively touched his arm. He shrugged it off. "Why does me having a Cybertronian body bother you?" I took a guess, and I could tell I hit the mark when he tensed.

"It doesn't," he denied.

"Yes, it does. Why?" I asked.

"It..." Magnus looked frustrated as he looked down at me, then he suddenly slumped. "Because it isn't you."

"Why not?" I asked after a moment, deciding not to bring up the discussion we'd had about appearance and its place in Cybertronian relationships.

"It just isn't," Magnus sounded frustrated again.

"I'm still me," I told him. "I'm just big and metal now. Though, as Ratchet and I just discovered, apparently I can be small and human again if you prefer."

"No!" Magnus said sharply. "It's not the same. It's...a charade."

"So is your holoform," I pointed out. Magnus groaned, stepping away from me, heading for the other side of the room, apparently needing some space. "What is it, Magnus? Come on, you know me - and, I hope, trust me. You can tell me what's wrong. I promise I won't get offended if that's what you're worried about."

"I find that difficult to believe," Magnus grumbled.

"Why?" I asked flatly. "Give me something here, Magnus. Anything. I'm still trying to get used to - this -" I waved at my new body, "- and it would be nice if I could do it with you, instead of having to muddle through on my own."

"Did you plan this?" The question was seemingly off-topic, but as Magnus turned to give me an intense look, I realized he'd finally answered my questions.

"Plan this? What, like, me becoming Cybertronian?" I asked, to clarify, and Magnus nodded stiffly. "No. It's a common idea among fans of the shows and movies in my reality, but I personally never thought about it. I considered the idea of a human gaining a Cybertronian body to be the result of the starry-eyed daydreams of fans with and unhealthy obsession with your universe, to be honest. I didn't give it any serious consideration before I came to this reality, and I can honestly say it hasn't even crossed my mind since I got here."

"Then why would you build a facility to make yourself Cybertronian?" Magnus asked tensely.

"I don't know," I replied. "Without pinning down Vector Prime - or my future self - and asking a few pointed questions, I can't know. It could be because of you, or it might be for some other reason entirely," Magnus didn't seem to like that answer, but he walked back over to me, hesitating a moment before resting his hands on my shoulders, looking me in the optics seriously.

"You know that I did not - still do not - care if you are human, right?" he asked. I smiled faintly.

"I didn't know for sure, but I got that impression," I said, and then my smile fell. "I get the impression that you care if I'm Cybertronian, however."

"It's -" Magnus broke off with a low growl and stepped away again, letting his hands drop from my shoulders. He suddenly seemed to need to look anywhere but at me, fidgeting as he glanced around. "It's a personal issue."

"What, do you have a fetish for organics or something?" I asked dryly, and Magnus shot me a mild glare. "Well if it's affecting me I think I have a right to know." I said calmly, trying to be patient, even if his beating around the bush was beginning to get irritating. Fortunately, he was apparently willing to talk once pushed.

"I've spent thousands of years, according to human time measurements, fighting a war. A brutal, deadly war that has decimated my home planet and the majority of its population - over 90% of our population has died since Megatron first turned against Optimus. I have lost friends, family. Optimus is the only mech remaining that I knew before the war, in fact. And he teeters on the edge of being destroyed every time we go into battle. I actually lost him for a time - and I felt it, even half a galaxy away, I felt it when he died. I was overjoyed when I felt our weak brotherly bond come back to life," Magnus said, then hesitated, turning back towards me. "I have lost so many in this war, sometimes I feel like I am barely clinging to my sanity. Then you came along."

"You don't want to lose me, too," I murmured, seeing where this was going, and Magnus hesitated, nodded. I frowned. "No, there's more to it than that, isn't there?" Magnus frowned at me.

"You are far too perceptive," he grumbled.

"Sorry. Comes from my mother's side of the family," I said with an unapologetic smile and shrug. Magnus shook his head and stepped forward, unexpectedly wrapping me in a hug. I stiffened slightly at the strangeness - I hadn't been hugged like this before - but relaxed quickly as I realized it was just as comforting in a mechanoid form as it was in an organic one.

"I don't want you to be involved in this war," Magnus finally murmured. "It's far from over, and at the rate we're going, the war will only end with the extinction of all Cybertronians. We've already lost the Allspark."

"I'm proof that it won't come to that, though - Ratchet himself said this body is a thousand years beyond your technology, if you were progressing at the rate you were before the war," I said, drawing back slightly to look up at Magnus. "That's proof, at least, that the Cybertronians will survive."

"Survive is all we'll be able to do - our race has no future, now, not without the Allspark," Magnus said with a shake of his head. "And that is what you've joined - a dying race with no future. That is why I'd rather you remained human. As a human, at least, you had a future, a legacy."

"Magnus..." I trailed off, then stepped out of his hug, grabbed his arm and pulling him with me into the other room. I let him go at the force field, stepping through and heading for the tube, reaching inside for the Allspark. Before I pulled it out, I glanced back at him. "This was in the tube from the start, but I didn't - still don't - think it's time to let anyone besides you and I know about it. Megatron will fight to the bitter end, and this would just extend that end." With that, I withdrew my arm from the tube, showing him the Allspark that had been left in there.

"That's...impossible," Magnus said, sounding stunned.

"If you say so," I said with a slight smile, and after a moment, Magnus shook his head.

"You'd better put it back," he said, and I did so, actually closing the tube around it this time before heading back through the force field, stopping in front of Magnus. "It seems you have an interesting future ahead of you."

"And you were just telling me how I'd downgraded my future," I said with a grin. Magnus returned the grin, then suddenly leaned down and...well, kissed me, for lack of a better term. It wasn't like a human kiss, but it did involve mouth parts connecting and sparks flying, though in this case, those sparks were more literal. It was almost like getting static shock, only it didn't hurt. It definitely felt good, in fact, and when Magnus pulled away, I was left staring up at him somewhat dazedly.

"Are you alright?" Magnus asked after a few moments, his expression going from amused to concerned at my reaction.

"Yeah - yeah. That was just...different," I said, forcefully pulling myself together, though I couldn't quite stop the goofy grin from plastering itself on my face.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one to think so," Magnus said with a chuckle. "It was difficult getting used to human methods of affection. Actually, I've been meaning to thank you - I realize you held back quite a bit."

"Yeah, well, knowing who - or rather what - you were from the start helped with that," I said with a chuckle. "Which is probably a good thing, because any other girl probably would have decided you were gay or impotent, with the speed you moved." Magnus laughed.

"I assure you, I am neither," he rumbled, his voice dropping an octave or so, and he pulled me in for another kiss. This one was a little longer, but eventually I pushed away, shaking my head and trying to recover from the sensation.

"H'okay! Role-reversal time," I said. "Time to slow down for the poor ex-human who has had a really, really long day." Magnus chuckled.

"Very well," he said. "We should probably return to Ganymede before Optimus shows up, anyways. He was rather concerned - incorrectly - for your safety when I left his office."

"What, did he think you were going to attack me or something?" I asked, giving Magnus an incredulous look.

"I'm really not sure what he thought," Magnus said with a shake of his head as we returned to the main room. "My brother is a mystery at times."

"I'll bet," I said with a snort as I saw the space bridge begin to form around us. "By the way, I see what you meant. Literally." I snickered faintly, and Magnus chuckled as the room dissolved in white.