Tales of the Intermezzo - Elseworld A Transformers Universe Story copyright 2004 by Dave Van Domelen based on properties owned by Hasbro and DC Comics/Time Warner =========================================================================== "intermezzo - n. A brief entertainment between two acts of a play." - American Heritage Dictionary [1984] The tiny craft was damaged. Its computer brain was just advanced enough to appreciate the irony of its plight...it had carried its precious cargo across the vast gulf between stars in complete safety, only to suffer an asteroid strike when within light-minutes of its final destination. Propulsion, navigation, cognition...all of these functions had survived within acceptable parameters. But the birthing matrix, the core purpose of the craft, had suffered damage beyond the craft's abilities at self-repair. Unless it could find sufficiently advanced technological resources on the target world, the mission would be a failure. Now in orbit, the craft aimed advanced sensors at the world below. It was clear that the society was primitive by the standards of its own destroyed world, that had been expected. For what world could match the glories of the now-dead homeworld? But they showed some promise. There was active electromagnetic communication, including some signs of basic computers and atomic power. Unfortunately, it was clearly not enough, on average. The birthing matrix would decay long before even an open and aggressive program of advancement could bring them up to the necessarily level of technology. The craft's only hope was that there was an enclave of advanced science somewhere on the planet. Sensors that could penetrate even the most advanced cloaks this world offered pierced the shroud of air and stone, revealing several places where the technology was indeed advanced...but not sufficiently so. It felt something as close to despair as its design allowed. Then it felt a signal. Focusing, the craft saw what could only be a crash-landed starship, embedded in a volcanic peak that was rumbling to life! Contact must be made! * * * * Dreams...strange and terrifying dreams. Optimus Prime awoke abruptly, pushing aside the images of strange, miniature Cybertronians. His combat-trained reflexes let him take in his surroundings in an instant. He was on a repair bed in the Ark. Around him were several of his men, in stasis lock, as well as a number of Decepticons in the same condition. This was the unsurprising part...the Ark had been on a crash course for some planet when he lost consciousness, and Teletran-1 was programmed to revive the Ark's inhabitants in the wake of any such disaster. The surprising part was the small ovoid craft hovering a non-threatening distance away, and seemingly in conversation with Teletran-1. Small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, it radiated a strange sort of power that caused him a pang in the depths of his laser core. A pang of recognition, although he could remember nothing like this craft in all his datatrax. "Greetings, Optimus Prime," the ovoid said in perfect Cybertronian. "I have no name, but you may refer to me as the Birthing Matrix if you wish." "Greetings," Prime replied, looking down at his body, which was now subtly different than when he last saw it. "Teletran-1, you adapted me for this planet, I see. Why have none of the other Autobots been revived?" "Revival of Cybertronian life was halted prior to initiation by arrival of the Birthing Matrix," Teletran-1 replied. "It wished to communicate with the leader of the expedition, so priority was shifted to reviving Optimus Prime. Further revivals pending decision by Optimus Prime." The Birthing Matrix interjected. "When I arrived, I deduced that this craft's condition was due in part to a battle fought aboard it, and prevented your computer from reviving both sides. It would have served neither of our purposes had your enemies been revived." Prime paused. "You have my thanks, Birthing Matrix. But what *is* your purpose?" "Your Autobot philosophy supports the preservation of life, according to Teletran-1, correct?" Prime nodded. "This is my task as well. I bear the genetic code of the last survivor of a dead world within me, but I have been damaged. If I do not merge with a device of sufficient power and complexity, my charge will die before this planet has rotated once more." "So, you want to merge with Teletran-1, then?" Prime asked. "No," the Birthing Chamber replied. "There is only one object on this world with the necessary qualities, Optimus Prime. The Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Will you agree to bond with me, and save the last son of Krypton?" * * * * [2004] Optimus Prime had made his decision, and never regretted it, even if it meant delaying his return to Cybertron for a short time. With Megatron and his forces held in stasis lock, the Autobots had been able to peacefully explore this new world they had been trapped on for so very long. Young Kal-El had grown up among the only living things on the planet strong enough to keep up with his amazing abilities, and the strong moral values he learned from them made it easier to integrate him into organic society as Kalvin Ellington when he got older...a little holographic technology, and Bumblebee was Mr. Jerry Ellington, who dropped Kal off at school every morning. Now that idyll was coming to an end. Somehow, a scientist named Lex Luthor had found out about the sleeping Decepticons after the Autobots had been forced into a public action last year. And he'd found a way to steal Megatron. The war was going to start again very soon, unless Luthor could be stopped. * * * * A nondescript red semitractor pulled up at the loading dock of one of many warehouses near the docks in Seattle. It pulled a flatbed trailer with an irregularly shaped cargo covered in a red tarp. After coming to a halt, its engine rumbled to a stop and its headlights went dark. To anyone watching, it was just another late delivery...the truck could sit there unnoticed for half an hour or more without drawing any suspicion. Hopefully. A young man with short black hair and dressed in oil-smeared denim coveralls stepped out of the cab and looked around. "Remember, Kal," Prime said in ultrasonic tones no human could pick up, "in and out quick. I only agreed to let you come along on this mission because none of us can fit inside the warehouse's office. If Megatron is active, your powers won't be enough to protect you from his fusion cannon." Kal simply nodded and looked across the street to the target of the mission. The layers of drywall and concrete peeled away before his extraordinary eyesight, and he followed the path he'd need to take. Break the lock, up the stairs, fly over the top of the office walls and peel back the false ceiling. There should be records in there, records not accessible via any network...Luthor was too canny to leave himself open to the computer skills of Autobots like Prowl and Skids. Then he saw movement, and focused his vision at the main warehouse. "Something's wrong here, Prime," he whispered quietly enough that only sensitive Cybertronian audio sensors could pick it up. "Someone's in the warehouse, and most of the contents are behind thick metal barriers." Ultrasonically, Prime replied, "Prowl was able to track down a number of purchases of armor plating to this warehouse, that could explain the barriers. And if we're very lucky, Luthor is here in person." Suddenly the doors flew open, revealing a bald man wearing bulky green and purple armor and carrying a green helmet under one arm. "Consider this your lucky day, Optimus Prime!" Lex Luthor proclaimed. "And your mysterious young friend...yes, I've been listening to your conversation, you might as well transform, Prime. And Bumblebee and Jazz, if I'm right about the contents of your new trailer." "Luthor, you're playing a dangerous game with Megatron. Return him to us before he breaks whatever hold you have on him," Prime warned, remaining in vehicle mode. "Do you take me for a fool, Optimus? Megatron is in stasis lock, and he's staying that way. I don't need competition, this planet isn't big enough for two absolute rulers!" "I've got this lunatic, Prime," Kal smirked as he launched himself into the air towards the armored scientist. Luthor seemed briefly taken aback, but then raised an arm and sent a beam of verdant energy smashing into Kal, who spun out of control and slammed into the pavement. "Impressive for something so compact, isn't it, Optimus?" Luthor sneered. "If you've hurt him..." Prime snarled. "Then he'll just be the first, Optimus. Because this suit is just part of what I've developed thanks to what I've learned from studying your old enemy. Feel free to transform, Optimus and you other Autobots...subtlety isn't the order of the night. Gentlemen, BEHOLD!" Behind Luthor, the warehouse shuddered and started to crumble. When the dust cleared, a green and purple fortress stood in the rubble, bristling with cannons and missile launchers. Kal staggered to his feet. "What in Rao's name?" Optimus Prime transformed and stepped forward. "Stay back, Kal. Luthor, what good is a fortress here?" Luthor smiled. "Scorponok, TRANSFORM!" Towers folded down and around, and the street shuddered as the fortress arched and twisted and changed into a titanic humanoid form that dwarfed even Optimus Prime. All it lacked was a head. Jazz and Bumblebee transformed and jumped off the flatbed, sending the tarp flapping in the wind. "That's one ginormous fashion mistake!" Jazz exclaimed. "But where's the head?" Optimus nodded. "Luthor, you may be a genius by human standards, but I seriously doubt you could create a spark. This mindless automaton may be impressively large, but it can't stand against the Autobots. Our backup will be here in minutes...surrender and make it easy on yourself." "You're right about one thing, Optimus," Luthor sneered, putting on his helmet. "I *am* a genius. And the only mind worthy of the power of Scorponok is *my own*. Binary Bond, initiate!" Lex Luthor leapt into the air, folding over and becoming a robotic head, brutally savage in its expression. The mindless Scorponok took the head in its massive claws and set it gently into an armored compartment that rose up where its neck should be. "NOW OPTIMUS PRIME, YOU WILL FALL, AND THEN YOUR ALLIES, AND THEN THE ENTIRE WORLD!" Scorponok boomed. Deep, cruel laughter echoed across half of Seattle. A fusillade of emerald beams lashed out at the Autobots, who barely managed to avoid it. Prime failed to avoid the followup kick from that tremendous foot, and smashed through several warehouses before coming to a stop. "We gotta cover for Prime!" Bumblebee shouted, pulling out his pistol and firing on Scorponok. His shots had no visible effect on the behemoth. "Oh slag," Jazz muttered as he added his fire to Bumblebee's. * * * * Kal had always had a sense of perspective as he grew up on the Ark. Maybe he was more powerful than any of the planet's natives, but most of the Autobots were stronger still. It kept him humble. Humility didn't seem to be an issue for Luthor. He didn't need any, not while merged with that...thing. He'd heard stories about Omega Supreme from Bumblebee, and thought even that giant guardian would have trouble with Scorponok. Kal was nothing by comparison to Scorponok. But he'd learned other things from living with the Autobots, and one of them was to never give up. There was always a way, you just had to keep looking. Luthor had built that monster to fight Autobots, and maybe the military. He hadn't taken Kal into account. Moving at speeds that even Autobot eyes had trouble following, Kal started flying around Scorponok. He diverted blaster fire, took experimental punches at what looked like weak points in the armor, used the fire from his eyes to try to strike Luthor directly in his armored control center. But Scorponok didn't even seem to notice. Then Kal heard the voice in his head. * * * * Prime levered himself up from the ruined warehouse, shedding bits of what looked to be consumer electronics from his armor. He could see Jazz and Bumblebee attacking Scorponok to no effect, and summoned his rifle from subspace. Luthor had only had Megatron in his hands for two months, how could he have created something so powerful? Calling him a genius was an understatement, clearly. He sprang from the rubble and joined the attack, firing blast after blast from his rifle at Scorponok's joints and head. But it moved with incredible speed, interposing the shovel-like claws on its arms between Prime and its head. Prime noticed a blue blur surrounding Scorponok, and knew Kal had disobeyed him and joined the fight. He couldn't blame the young Kryptonian, but he sincerely hoped Kal would live long enough to get the stern talking to that he had coming. "Prowl, ETA!" he shouted into his commlink. "Still at least three minutes, Optimus Prime. I'm sorry." "AAAAAAAAAGH!" Jazz screamed as he was smashed into the ground by one of those terrible claws, one leg sheared from his body by the force of the blow. Bumblebee froze in shock for just a moment, but it was a moment too long as a barrage of laser fire slashed through his chest, sending him reeling into stasis lock. "NOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOU, OPTIMUS," Scorponok sneered, bringing all of his firepower to bear on Prime. Then Prime heard the voice from inside himself. * * * * Kal-El, Birthing we are the Matrix Optimus Prime, Autobot of Leadership. Krypton In order for the legacy of to survive, there must be another Cybertron merging of entities. Just as the two Matrices merged to save the life of young Kal-El, so must Kal-El become one with Optimus Prime to save all that lives from the threat of Lex Luthor. Come! Become one! * * * * A golden glow started to emanate from Prime's chest. Scorponok paused, holding back the fatal barrage. "WHAT'S THIS, OPTIMUS? SOME NEW WEAPON?" The windows on Prime's chest flew open to the sides, revealing a blinding light shining forth from a shimmering crystal and a gleaming golden ovoid. Scorponok reflexively stepped back, holding up a claw to block the intense brilliance. Kal dove into the light, which impossibly got even brighter, blinding everyone for almost a mile in every direction. In that moment, when none could see anything, all anyone could hear was Optimus Prime screaming in a strange mixture of pain and triumph. Except for Optimus Prime and Kal-El. They heard something else entirely. "Arise, Super Optimus Prime." * * * * The blackout shutters dropped and Lex could see outside his own head again. Prime was still standing there, but he'd changed. Before he had been mostly red, now he was mostly blue. And a strange symbol had appeared on his chest, a sort of flattened pentagon with an S inscribed in it. Other sensors suggested he had gained some sort of boost in power, but he was having trouble measuring exactly how much. "Bah, strike while the iron is hot," Luthor snarled, commanding his arm to swing down and smash the Autobot... ...who caught the arm almost effortlessly, then tore it out of its socket. "Not good," Luthor muttered under his breath while triggering a full barrage of his remaining weaponry. Optimus stepped back once, twice, then stopped. The plasma charges, the laser beams, the missile strikes...all were bouncing off without harming Optimus visibly. All the attacks seemed to stop just short of actually touching him, as if he'd acquired a version of Trailbreaker's force field (a system Lex wished he'd had time to copy for Scorponok). "Clearly time to retreat and study this new change in Optimus," Luthor thought aloud, then triggered the antigravity systems. Scorponok launched into the air, and the battlefield shrank below him. Then Optimus jumped into the air as well. "What? Autobots don't fly!" And that was the last thing Lex said before Optimus smashed through the center of Scorponok's chest. * * * * "Any luck, Seaspray?" Prime asked as the hovercraft came to shore. "Found most of the Scorponok pieces," Seaspray burbled, "but no sign of the human. Guess he got vaporized." Prime pondered that for a moment. "I doubt it. He was too smart to leave anything to chance...I'm guessing we'll see him again." He turned to Jazz, who was being unloaded from Ratchet's repair bay, more or less functional once more. "Now I need to concentrate on figuring out how to separate from Kal again. I can feel him inside me...he's trapped, and worried that this is permanent, but he's not in pain." Jazz nodded. "Cool new threads, though, boss-man. What's with the S on the chest?" Prime looked down and blinked. "I hadn't noticed that. It's...the family crest of the House of El. Looks like the Kryptonian Matrix has decided to remind me that I have split loyalties now. To Cybertron, to Earth, and to the legacy of Krypton." He picked up the red tarp that he'd been using to hide Jazz and Bumblebee and slung it over his shoulder, where it flapped in the morning breeze off the ocean. "Until all are one, Jazz, I still believe in that. 'All' just got a little bigger, though." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: This is another story inspired by a kitbash, which itself was based on an art contest entry. And it's my first Intermezzo to reach *clearly* outside Transformers storylines for source material. The title "Elseworld" refers to the DC imprint used to showcase "alternate reality" comics, such as "Superman in Camelot" or "Batman versus Jack the Ripper in the 1800s". I went through a number of ideas for this, including Superman's ship landing on Cybertron, or landing on Earth in 1938 and merging with Prime (leaving everyone else deactivated) who would disguise himself as a newspaper truck. But I settled on having Byrne's origin story for Superman's landing tie in with the 1984 awakening of the Autobots. Despite that, I decided to go with the pre-Crisis Luthor, because that fit well with a Headmaster armor. :) http://homepage.mac.com/dvandom/drawings/superoptimus.JPG is my original drawing of Super Optimus Prime. Later, I kitbashed a Heroes of Cybertron Prime into http://homepage.mac.com/dvandom/kitbash/superopHoC.JPG with a little physical modding and a lot of paint. I don't intend to do a sequel, but you never know. :) Later note: Ah, delicious irony. I had not known that the same voice actor performed Lex Luthor in Superfriends and Lord Zarak in Headmasters: Rebirth. Thanks to Doug Dlin for pointing it out.