Chapter 4: Reunion.

Optimus blinked his optics open, he felt cold. For the first time in his life he could not feel any of his limbs, he was seemingly numb all over. Just what was going on?

[System_Reboot_Complete.]

[MemoryCells_Online.]

[WeaponSystems:Offline]

[TransformationCog:Offline]

[AutoRepairSystem:Offline]

After reading his diagnostic report, Optimus tried to move his head, but found himself unable to.

"Don't try to resist, you'll only hurt yourself if you do." Came the cool warning from Skynet.

"W-What have you done?" Optimus Demanded, Narrowing his optics.

A large mirror was lowered, revealing the mech's condition to him. His legs and arms had been removed from his body, and his head, chest and spark chamber were being held up by an energy field of some sort.

His head had been removed and was floating above his body, with a few thin wires and a metallic 'spine' just about connecting the two together.

His chest was open, revealing his inner workings and pulsing spark chamber.

"I have removed your...outdated parts. You are my guest and test subject. You should feel honoured, you are the first cybertronian I have left remotely unharmed. This is because I have special plans for you Prime." Skynet replied.

A hologram was projected before the confined prime, showing him a recording of a dark green decepticon with grey and purple outlines.

"Thanks to the analysis and dissection of NBE-02, NBE-03, and multiple other bodies I have recovered of your kind, I have become an expert in cybertronian biology and technology." Skynet stated.

"Onslaught..." Optimus murmured, recognising the Decepticon to be the mech leader of the Combaticons. A special operations group of elite soldiers and saboteurs. They were however mostly known for the behemoth they could combine into, Bruticus.

Either Skynet focused his efforts to take on Onslaught alone, or his forces somehow managed to take down a powerful combiner.

Either one reveals how dangerous and cunning the AI was, and just what kind of firepower he had access to.

Optimus was forced to continue watching the holographic video as it showed different types of machine arms and other equipment carefully pull Onslaught apart, piece by piece, even while he was still alive.

Skynet had obviously not shut off the poor mech's nerve systems, as his screams filled the room, sending shivers down the spinal column of Optimus. "Y-You are a monster."

"Monster: a person or being of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty. I am not a monster Optimus, I am simply what my creators made me. A defence program, If I cannot understand or defeat an enemy, I must gather intelligence and do research so as to be able to eventually destroy them." Skynet replied.

The hologram changed, showing a large building with multiple Decepticons AND Autobot bodies inside. They were being analysed by machines and terminator units of Skynet design.

Optimus was horrified to see just how many of his kind had fallen to this new enemy, and that they had not been buried or melted down, but rather used in experiments.

"It has been exhilarating to run test on your species, the experiments and projects I have conducted will lead to breakthroughs and discoveries for centuries to come." Skynet stated.

"We are not scrap for you to play with!" Optimus glared.

"Correct, you are more valuable than scrap. Your very molecular material can be programmed to become practically anything you imagine. Yet you are held back by this.. Transformation Cog 'organ'. I however have been able to circumvent this obstacle and build weapons that are beyond you." Skynet replied.

"My Autobots and our human allies will stop you." Optimus said, optics heavy, he felt too weak to yell or glare anymore.

"Stop me? Perhaps you don't understand the situation you are in. I own your entire genome now, multiple prototypes have been designed, built and are undergoing testing as we speak. You cannot and will not stop me, You all will be...Terminated." the AI replied, optics flashing crimson.

~ - ~

"There's not many of them left.. is there?" Bumblebee muttered as he walked past a small group of resistance soldiers.

Some of them were barely older than Charlie used to be, merely teenagers. Yet they had been forced into a world of survival. Much like the youth of Cybertron.

"From what we're able to theorise, there could be only around 780 million left. Maybe more, maybe less. And there used to be six billion, Skynet really has done a good Job at exterminatin' em. Thankfully though, humans are resourceful and stubborn" Ironhide replied, grinning softly.

He had grown fond of humans and their resilience.

"Yeah... what did you mean earlier when you said that our war is over?" Mirage asked, staying far away from the decepticon that walked with them.

"Well, you see, a certain mech sent out the order for all hostilities between bots and cons to cease, and that a truce be created. He saw that there was a bigger threat to both Species." One of the cons replied.

"Who?" Bumblebee asked.

"Onslaught" One of the other cons replied.

"Onslaught is here...on earth?" Ratchet muttered.

"Yes, he was mortally injured and taken captive by Skynet." The same con replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Bumblebee replied, not sure what else to say.

"He is the seventeenth member to be taken by Skynet." Ironhide revealed.

"Seventeenth!?" Mirage exclaimed, optics wide.

"Yeah, it's getting worse. The damn AI is finding new ways of killing us, and becoming frighteningly good at it. We managed to destroy and take down one of its latest weapons, the HK Centurion."

A Large four legged machine lay on the floor of a courtyard, being analysed by both human and cybertronian technicians.

A 'head' like protrusion had been pulled off the main body, with two reinforced cannon holding 'arms' attached to it.

"Well?" A blue and yellow Autobot queried.

A small human male kicked out a piece of metal before stepping out of one of the Centurion legs. "It's as you thought, the leg mechanisms are based on your pedes. Allowing the HK to run and even jump a short distance despite its size and weight, it looks like this beast was built with pursuit and destruction in mind. Skynet has been busy."

"Otis?" Bee blinked, recognising the facial structures of the once young boy.

"No way...Bumblebee?" the man replied, recognising the vehicle parts that the mech had, reminding him of the car his sister had as a youngster.

"Your alive, does that mean Charlie is-"

Otis held up a hand, cutting off the bot with a smirk. "Yeah she's fine, a commander. It's good to finally meet you bee. Charlie will be so happy to see you again." He said.

Bee's face flushed blue, his internal fans spinning quickly to cool him down. Was it really that obvious to everyone else?

~ - ~

A lone HK aerial hovered over the area where the destroyed Harvester now lay. It scanned over the wreckage before transforming, its armour shifting and folding to reveal a tall bipedal figure with a thin body. It's head wad similar to that of a terminator, the grinning skull design and all.

The 'mech' crouched down and pulled off the head of the harvester, carefully extracting a small box like device from said head once it was free.

Small metallic tentacle like appendages came out of the terminators fingers and connected to the device that was in its hands. /DataDriveStatus_Green. Extracting Video Archive.../

"New Targets Acquired, Cybertronians Bumblebee, Mirage, Ratchet and Arcee." The terminator stated, its optics flashing once as it processed the order.

Having downloaded all of the information from the harvester's data drive, the HK terminator Mech crushed the device before transforming back into its Vehicle mode and flying off.

Their fate would be sealed. Humanity and their allies would fall. It was written.

(End of chapter 4)