Alias

Not Exactly a Dream Come True

Anna waited until she heard the door close behind the departing Autobots before she spoke again. When she was sure they were alone, she softened her voice and said, “All right, talk to me, Optimus. This thing sounds like a dream come true but you’re totally against it. What happened with Spike and the dinosaur-bots to make you react like this?”

“Dinobots,” he said, big hands still working–she could hear the soft whirr of the servos and could picture the movement even if she couldn’t see it. He must truly be upset to show that nervous tic. “They’re called Dinobots.”

“That was a correction, not an answer to my question,” she replied when it was clear that he didn’t plan on elaborating. “What happened? I need to know everything, start to finish.”

He didn’t speak for a long moment. She didn’t say anything, just waited, and finally he sighed again. “The Dinobots were made by Wheeljack and Ratchet right after you left,” he replied at last. “At that time, we desperately needed reinforcements. Spike had shown them some dinosaur fossils and described the strength of those ancient creatures, which inspired them to create Autobots in their image.” The faint blue glow moved from side to side as Optimus shook his head. “It wasn’t a good idea,” he said dryly.

“How so?”

“They went mad within minutes of coming online,” he said wearily. “They rampaged through the Ark, nearly destroying Teletraan –the damage they did is a big part of why we had to leave the Ark and move headquarters here, on Metroplex. They were created to be incredibly strong and powerful, but their brand new minds could not exert enough control to keep themselves in line. It was all we could do to subdue them, but they never fully stabilized.”

“How did you finally deactivate them?”

He huffed a little humorless laugh. “We didn’t. Wheeljack was able to upgrade their processors a little bit, but that was the best we could do. They can think a bit now and they will occasionally return and aid us, but for the most part, they’re out there doing their own thing. They are Dinobots, a discrete unit with their own priorities, taking orders only from their leader, Grimlock. And I am sorry to say that Grimlock has turned on us, and me specifically, several times.”

Anna sat quietly for a minute, thinking. “Now tell me what happened with Spike.” 

Optimus sighed. “It was rather less deliberately planned than the Dinobots, but no less of a mistake. Sparkplug–you remember him, Spike’s father–tried to create an Autobot from spare parts. We still had a pressing need for reinforcements after the fiasco of the Dinobots or I never would’ve allowed him to bring it online. When he did, the thing was completely uncontrollable. It attacked on sight. There was no reason to it, no intelligence, no… no spark, just aggression. We shut it down and I ordered it disassembled, but before Wheeljack could do so, the Decepticons attacked. We drove them back, but during the battle, Bee took a direct hit with Spike at the wheel.

“Spike was in a coma, terribly injured. The doctors said they didn’t dare operate on him in his condition for fear of causing permanent brain damage, but if they didn’t operate, he would die. Sparkplug and Wheeljack created the mind transfer device and sent Spike’s mind into Autobot X, enabling him to have the surgery that saved his life.”

Anna heard more in Optimus’ tone than he was saying. “And the madness of Autobot X infected him, didn’t it,” she said, not really a question. “He attacked you?”

“He did,” he replied wearily. “He wrecked the base and we didn’t dare fight him at full strength because of the risk of permanently damaging his mind. The Decepticons found him in that condition and his confusion and fear made his mind unstable, easy to confuse. He… he turned on us, Anna. He sided with them against us.”