I have opened up a poll for the next chapter on my profile.
Chapter 2:What if the Autobots never got to Earth PART II
Date: 3rd October 2012.
Place: Egypt, Earth
Colonel June Darby was not exactly a young her mid-fifties, she was no old crone, at all. But her youth had been spent under Decepticon oppression. And her later years in the military had made her look older than her actual age. Wrinkles adorned her face and her hair had a handful of graying locks. Still, she preserved. She had to, for she had nothing else.
There was a knock at the door of her office. "Come in."
Entered the man who throughout the base was hailed as hero of the hour. He saluted. "Lieutenant William Lennox. Leader of Team Delta of the Chimera Corps. You wanted to see me, Colonel?"
Her reply came promptly. "Yes. I am told you filed a complete report of your battle against the Decepticon who identifies itself as 'Optimus'. I wanted a more personal review. Was there any erratic behavior you detected from the machine?"
Lennox didn't pause for a beat. "Yes, ma'am. The first thing was, he and the one who called himself 'Megatron' were fighting one-on-one. When we fell on them, the 'Megatron' first thought we were allies. Furthermore, they were both surprised to find we were human, all along." he didn't need to divulge why those factors were strange.
June nodded, comprehending. "During the occupation, we learnt that Decepticons were scattered all over the galaxy since their homeplanet died. Those two could be stragglers that just came out of isolation. Anything else?"
Lennox carried on. "The oddest part of all was that Optimus seemed to pull his punches. At some point, he had Private Dougman as hostage, under his foot. But he let him go, unharmed, and asked to talk, peacefully…"
June cut him off. "But you decided not to take that chance and opened fire, which allowed us to capture it. For that, in my view, your actions are to be commended, Lieutenant."
Lennox gave the subtlest of nodes, as if he didn't want to take such compliment. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am."
June frowned, feeling the conversation was about to stir into bad waters. "Go ahead."
"I stand by my decision on the battlefield; as you pointed out, we couldn't afford that chance. But, considering this Optimus is now in custody, I recommend you should hear him out."
Bad waters indeed. One thing that had subtly displeased June from the start was Lennox insistence in calling the machines by pronouns. Machines were what they were; intelligent constructs and nothing more. Such things had no soul. And she decided to set the misguided man straight.
"Lieutenant, a machine such as that has no valuable information to give. As for yourself, it's above your paygrade to make such evaluations of our enemies."
"Understood, ma'am." the man spoke almost mechanically. He was unconvinced and that wouldn't do
"Lieutenant, walk with me." She raised from her desk and left the office with her subordinate behind. "Tell me, Lieutenant, why did you choose a military life?"
"Well, military service had become mandatory by the time I came of age. I was born just seven years after the Occupation, fortunately. But as time passed, I felt I belonged here. My parents told me stories about the War of Independence and I wanted to make sure the days when Decepticons stomped all over us would never repeat."
June continued where he left off, using her knowledge from the records. "And after graduation, you applied for the Chimera Corps. A very noble choice. After all, Project Chimera was one of the trump cards - some would say the greatest trump card - that tipped the War of Liberation against the Decepticons in our favor."
The Colonel guided them to a room in the facility which was kept at cold temperatures and well disinfected; the morgue. Inside was a man in a lab coat and glasses. He looked rather sick and haunted.
"Dr Onishi, I am certain you have something else to do somewhere else."
The man took the hint and left. June walked up to one of the drawer-like freezers. "The other enemy, the one who identified itself as 'Megatron' , lured our pilots away and captured one, 2nd Lieutenant Cade Yegger. Do you know him?"
"Not too much, ma'am. Mostly by his reputation." That wasn't entirely accurate. Lennox had properly met Yeager at a bar, after the pilot provided air cover on a mission. He knew the man was a widower with a daughter but wouldn't go as far as to call him a friend. Only an acquaintance.
"Apparently, the enemy wanted information out of the man. From the recovered black box on his craft, Yeager refused to talk initially. This was the result." She opened the freezer and Lennox immediately wished she hadn't. The contents within had a vaguely human shape. But it was a distorted, mutilated mass of flesh and blood. Bones and organs were exposed. It was enough to make a no-nonsense soldier like Lennox to stagger back in shock and horror.
The Colonel continued, unfazed by Lennox reaction. "Furthermore, even after Yegger broke and gave the information, this 'Megatron' continued playing with him in order to show him - and I quote - 'the price of resistance'."
She closed the drawer and looked at the Lieutenant, no empathy or pity for his emotional shock. "Now Lieutenant Lennox, do you still believe these Decepticons are thinking creatures? That they deserve consideration, mercy? Even after learning what it needed, Megatron continued torturing Yeagger for no reason. After strip-mining our planet of energon, the Decepticons had no motive to keep humanity enslaved. No reason at all. Yet they still did, simply because they could. Because it gave them pleasure."
Lennox appeared to gather his bearings. "I almost believed that one could be reasoned with."
June shook her head, turning away from him. "Therein lies the difference between you and I: you came into this world after your parents fought to liberate it; I grew up in bunkers and hide outs when Decepticons were out there, crushing everything in sight. You grew up hearing watered-down stories of their atrocities and our sacrifices to drive them off. I grew up seeing the results of battles not so different from Cade Yeagger's remains."
Her voice had lost some hardness and become distant. A part of her always relieved the memories when she spoke of them.
"So you'd do well to remember this conversation the next time you get any notions that these things are anything more than killing machines. Understood, Lieutenant?"
"Clear as crystal, ma'am."
"Dismissed, then."
But Lennox didn't leave just yet. "One question if I may, Colonel."
She decided to humor him and consented. "Was the other one really Megatron?"
No human knew what Megatron looked like. The name was a haunting ghost, a Boogeyman that was often heard of in intercepted Decepticon radio chatter. Stars cream had been the face of the Decepticon invasion of Earth, but humanity learnt the real head honcho of the alien machines was Megatron. And rumors said Starscream was nothing compared to the warlord. That filled the resistance leaders with dread; if this Megatron was as bad as advertised, they were fortunate he never set foot on Earth.
Come to think of it, between its bigger-than-average stature, brutality in combat and downright terrifying appearance, June could believe that other machine was Megatron. "We can only assume so much. Regardless, the entire EarthForce is looking for it. Once we have it in custody, I'm sure the higher-ups will interrogate it in the same fashion he did the late Lieutenant Yeager."
Stealth was such a burden. Megatron hadn't needed to be stealthy in a long time. Not since he was D-16, the nameless slave who fled the mines. In those days, even as a refugee in the Pits of Kaon, he had to keep his head low in order to 'disappear' off the radar of the authorities. Now Megatron had to rely on stealth once again. For he was on an alien planet. Alone, with no means of space travel or communication. And worst of all, being hunted down by the native vermin.
He hated such necessity. He was Megatron! Enemies hide from him, not the other way around. Still, charging against a planet full of humans on high-alert would be certain death. The only thing that made this humiliation worth it was the promise it would allow him to live long enough to exact his revenge upon the organics - he had already begun with that foolish pilot from whom he extracted some bits of useful information.
Listening to the random radio broadcasts was a way to confirm the intel he tortured out of that human. Which was why he lied on the ground, in his alt-mode, listening in. He was no Soundwave, of course, but after ages seeing his oldest follower operating, he had picked up a few things.
"...still no confirmation of the alien machine incursion that took place in Sinai, Egypt, less than 10 hours ago…"
Megatron growled. These insects dared to brand him a 'machine'! Oh, he would take great delight in burning this twisted world to the ground.
"The Stars Exports Enterprises has concluded negotiations for an exclusive trading contract with the Quintesson Empire…"
Disgusting! These humans would trade and deal with those back-stabbing, five-faced slags!? The very same mongrels that long ago invaded and enslaved Cybertron!
"...and the President-Marshall Attinger would deliver a speech concerning the recent incursion."
President-Marshall? That corroborated what he had learnt so far; the humans in this world were more technologically advanced, had reached the stars and operated under a unified rule. None of that pleased Megatron. His mood only worsened when he tuned in to the speech promised by this world leader.
"Fellow children of Earth. Today, I ask you all to take a moment to reflect on the past. Nearly a century ago, we learnt we were never alone in the Universe. The machines, the so-called Decepticons, came and without reason or provocation, attacked our world. They enslaved our antecessors, strip-mined and devastated our planet. For 65 years, their occupation lasted. But all the while, we fought back. We endured and resisted. And eventually, we drove them back. And when our freedom was won, we swore we would never let it be stolen again.
"Now, the alien machines have returned. The incursion consisted of two Deceptions, both were quickly beaten by our brave men and women of Earthforce. While one remains at large, the other one has been captured. This is not the time to be fearful of the future. We have proven that we are stronger than we were 100 years ago. We have proven we can inflict pain on the machines. And this time, if they come, not only will we drive them back a second time. We will take the fight, the pain and death to Cybertron…"
The broadcast continued, but Megatron paid it no mind. He had all the information and confirmation he required. There was no remaining doubt that he and his sworn enemy wound up on an alternate universe. One in which his Deceptions had invaded and conquered Earth roughly a hundred stellar cycles ago. Such thought would have filled him with triumph were it not for the fact his force were led by Starscream and eventually driven off.
"Of course, if Starscream was leading the Deceptions, failure would be inevitable " Never had the warlord desired more to tear out the traitorous seeker's spinal column. If he ever returned to his own universe…
Another thing that didn't add up was the fact that those humans within Vehicon husks didn't recognize him at first. Only when he inadvertently revealed his name they displayed fearful recognition. Meaning they knew who 'Megatron' is, but didn't recognize him as such. There were only two possibilities: the Megatron of this universe had a different appearance or the humans had only heard of him during the occupation, but never gazed upon him. It would corroborate with Starscream being the 'leader' of the invasion.
All of that only added to his anger and frustration. So even in a universe in which the Deceptions conquered another world, it was not his personal conquest! And if so, why were there no Autobots around? What had become of Cybertron? Had Optimus and his followers become stranded on their dead homeworld? Or were they fighting in some other corner of the galaxy?
So many questions, so few answers. To make matters worse, he was a prisoner on a planet that should rightfully be his. It was demeaning. But he had been a prisoner before, and always escaped. The main difference now was that he had no allies or followers. All he had was a sworn enemy who was in an even more dire predicament than himself.
"Oh, the irony."
Optimus woke up in a world of pain. Multiple shocks to his system had exhausted and damaged his neural wiring to the point of stasis. The forced recharge had repaired the damage, but the pain was still very much present. As his vision focused, he wasn't surprised to see the unfazed and callous June Darby facing him. Except this was not the June Darby he had known. Not the stern but compassionate nurse.
"I take it you have had time to rethink your situation, Optimus." the woman said the name with blatant disrespect.
"June...I am not your enemy. Megatron is."
"Save your energy, you will need it. I'm being pressed to get answers out of you. And since I believe you won't be forthcoming, I have brought someone with me." she motioned for a person to step forward and into the light. It was a human male unremarkable appearance. The one thing that stood out about the man was his left arm, not organic but completely mechanical. Definitely of Cybertronian physiology, though relatively small, it still seemed to weigh down on the man, slightly.
"Dr. Meridian, your thoughts."
"He is definitely a bigger bot than what I have worked with. Yes, I would like to start right away, Colonel." the man spoke as if he was analyzing a prized animal. There was a keen interest, but underneath a tone of maniacal delight.
"Then do so. But remember I want information first. As in, everything he knows concerning this incursion."
"I have just what the doctor ordered." the man smirked, being the only one who found his pun funny. He motioned for a large machine that was carried in by a truck. The only distinguishable features were two tentacle-like appendages. Optimus recognized them, immediately.
"During the war, one of our most successful raids was into an abandoned Decepticon prison. It was there we discovered a technology that only had been rumored before then: the cortical psychic patch. A means of a robot inserting his conscience into another robot's, while bypassing all firewalls in their brain. Sadly, at the time we had no means of using it, as it's impossible to adapt to human biology."
June intervened the doctor's rambling. "We have some Chimera Corps officers stationed here. I'll have one of them suit up and patched them in…"
"Oh, that won't be necessary, Colonel." Meridian said, apparently delighted that he got one over the Colonel. "As I said, it's impossible to adapt the process to human biology. So I went the other way: by adapting human biology to it." he turned around, pointing to his nape. There was a round metallic opening. If June Darby looked displeased before, she was flat out disgusted, then. "I took inspiration from The Matrix saga."
"Just do your damn job, doctor." the woman all but barked. Meridian plugged one of the tentacles into his neural port. Then he commanded the machine to guide the other tentacle to plug into Optimus' nape. The Prime tried to fight it, but to no avail. He was immobilized, any sudden movement was punished by electrocution and he knew enough there was no way his mind could combat the patch. When it touched him, he felt his conscience fall into oblivion.
Dr. Meridian was also cut off from the physical world and began to experience the memories of the alien prisoner as if he had been present there. Right from the start, what he saw and heard confused him. He paused the process to report in to the Colonel, who expected icily.
"His most recent memories seem to corroborate his story, but I noted one anomaly. Initially he was fighting the other Decepticon in another location, during the night time. Then just a moment later they continued their battle in the place and time your people found them."
"A period of memory loss, perhaps?"
"Unlikely, there was…"
June cut him off. "Then probe deeper. I want to know his intentions and how much greater force we can expect."
Meridian went back in to view older memories and the results were even more confusing. Said memories were displayed on the screen in the machine. June saw this machine interact with others…all stationed right here on Earth?! How long has this secret invasion been going on?
The memories continued to be lived through in reverse. There was a man. One William Fowler…whom served as liaison to the alien machine! There were traitors! June felt her disbelief turn to anger. These maggots betrayed their own kind to the machines!
More human collaborators were revealed. But children? Were they related to the traitors? Could be, or probably new recruits to be brainwashed. That…
"STOP!" she shouted and the feed halted. In spite of Meridian being inserted in the machine, he could still hear the outside world. "Reverse."
The feed went backwards. "Stop." It froze and the Colonel was left stunned. The screen showed the face of a teenage boy, with short black hair and blue eyes.
"Jack…" she whispered, her voice soft, totally contracting her usual harsh tone. It couldn't be; what was her son doing with those machines?!
"Doctor, find out when this…machine came into contact with those children."
It only became more puzzling and illogical from there. Those machines protected the children from other machines. Her son interacted and trusted these aliens. And…wait, was that herself. There was June Darby herself, looking a bit younger, talking with the same machine.
"That's enough, Meridian."
The Doctor unplugged himself from the machine. "Colonel, I believe…"
"I couldn't care less what you believe, doctor." She said the tittle with an amount of derision. "I have seen enough to know either your machine is worthless or the alien machine has it confounded."
Meridian scowled. "I may have a different theory. Seeing his memories, I think this Decepticon may hail from another reality. His memories indicate…"
"Get out of my sight, you buffoon!" June demanded and knowing he would gain nothing, Meridian did so. He unplugged Optimus from the machine and left the hangar. All the while he contemplated the possibilities of what he had learnt. He saw a world where there was infighting among the alien robots and humans were helping one of the factions. That was very, very interesting.
June Darby was left glaring at the alien, which was shaking off the effects of the patch. She ordered an operative to bring in a cart with two containers. The alloy they were made of to prevent Optimus' sensors from scanning their contents. The Colonel seemed to pick up his apprehension and she ordered them to be opened.
A combined sensation of foulness and weakness took over. One container emanated a toxic green vapor. The other exuded a sickly purple glow.
June spoke. "Look familiar? Its a curious thing that everything about your biology revolves around energon and its offshoots. Through our experiences, we have learnt that an injection of dark energon is immediate and almost always lethal. Almost." she sighed in disappointment. "As we learnt, there are rare cases, 1 among 10 Cybertronians who not only can survive the substance, but are also strengthened by it."
Optimus' optics widened at that. So it was just sheer luck that Megatron had managed to infuse his life-form with a poison that was the very antithesis of the life-force of their species?!
"Which is where the toxic energon - or tox-en - comes in. No matter how lucky or strong you are, no Cybertronian test subject can survive a combined dosage of the two substances."
"No!" as a soldier, Optimus had more close encounters with death than he could recollect. He didn't fear death. But being contaminated with dark energon was easily a worse fate. It was a corruption of the spark that could never be cleansed.
He struggled against the binding, receiving more pain for his efforts. The two substances were loaded into giant syringes. All the while June continued, fixing Optimus with a death glare.
"I don't know how you had my son's visage on your head. But if you knew his face, then you must have been responsible for his death."
Optimus ceased his struggle, having received a different kind of shock. Young Jack was dead in this world?
"June, killing me will not bring your son back, nor will it ease your pain."
"Shut the hell up, machine! Just stay quiet and die."
She was about to order the lethal injection to be administered when the ceiling above them cracked and fell apart. Out of the sky came none other than Megatron.
"Incorrect. You die, human." And he promptly vaporized Colonel June Darby with a cannon blast.
"NO!" Optimus Prime cried out in horror as the counterpart of the mother of one of his charges was disintegrated. His optics, filled with rage, locked onto Megatron.
The warlord reciprocated with a mocking expression. "Optimus, I see you found yourself in a difficult situation. Under normal circumstances I would happily watch you being transformed into a scientific abomination by the same insects you swore to protect. But I find myself marooned in this world with no visible means of escaping. So on this rare moment of precariousness, I offer a temporary alliance for the sake of our mutual survival. What say you?"
Optimus maintained his glare. Meanwhile the humans were reorganizing a response. Megatron knew they were pressed for time. "I take your silence as a positive answer."
With his sword, Megatron proceeded to cut the restraints that bound his enemy. When he was free, the first thing Optimus did was deliver a punch straight to Megatron's chin. The force was so great it knocked one of the tyrant shark-like teeth. Also, the same light and energy that emerged from the colliding sabers resparked the moment the two made physical contact. After a burst of light, both enemies disappeared from that universe.
And so ends the Already-Too-Late arc. I know it was a bit rushed and incomplete, but that's just what this collection of short stories is: a bunch of wild, half-ideas that I'm too occupied to develop fully. As always, reviews are appreciated.
