The Next Generation

C1: When Do We Begin?

Optimus had only been here for a week, but he was learning more and more each day. The most important thing he learned, second only to the fact that his body was flesh and bone, would have to be the fact that he was on a different Earth. Yes, Earth, filled with humans, but not the same ones as he'd known before.

After his trip to the hospital, he'd made a call to the United States embassy, trying to contact Agent Fowler, or even General Bryce, but no one knew who they were. June Darby didn't exist, neither did Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, or Rafael Esquivel. They knew nothing about Autobots, and they most certainly weren't expecting some crazy teenager to claim he was an alien.

So that left Optimus with one logical explanation.

It was Primus's fault.

During his time as an archivist, Optimus had known legends of Primus wielding great power, and of how Solus Prime had found a way to travel between dimensions. That left Optimus with the assumption that the moment Optimus had released the Allspark into the core of Cybertron, Primus had become strong enough to send him here.

Whether his goal was to send Optimus on a new mission or simply keep him from dying, Optimus didn't know. But he wouldn't let the gift of life go to waste.

All of this, Optimus explained to only one person. Detective Tsukauchi, a detective who had helped Optimus contact the embassy, and the one who had a quirk capable letting him known when someone was lying. He stood up for Optimus when the Americans started throwing accusations at the Prime.

Tsukauchi had agreed to keep Optimus's identity between them— or rather, he'd convinced Optimus to keep it a secret. It would do him no good to be going around, telling people he was a giant robot from another planet. The detective generously allowed Optimus to stay in his very dusty apartment until he decided what to do with him.

For a few days, Optimus wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He spent some time researching the human world. His prior knowledge of humans was useful, but not always accurate, especially since this world was so different. Optimus tried to imagine what it would be like if the children were from here, but the idea of Miko having a 'quirk' was a bit scary.

Despite the research, Optimus didn't have much of an idea. The best jobs he could find that would fit him involved military positions, or maybe he could work as a police officer like Tsukauchi, but that is when he hit another roadblock.

He was in the body of a teenager.

Optimus was incredibly old, but he still had a very long life left to live, at least when he was still in a cybertronian frame. Maybe this was just the translation of how far along he was in the cybertronian life span. Younger than he imagined, but war often ages bots faster than they'd like.

Detective Tsukauchi returned one night with an acquaintance. It was one of those heteromorphs he'd recently learned about. In fact, Optimus met a cat heteromorph recently who worked with Tsukauchi. His name was Sansa. Apparently, heteromorphs were more human than animal, but they possessed features and sometimes quirks that resembled these attributes.

Tsukauchi surmised that Optimus was somewhat of a heteromorph as well. Normally, heteromorphs were human-animal combinations, and mechs with non-animal, but non-human attributes, were simply people with quirk extensions. Like having an engine on your calves. Despite this, Optimus was still part cybertronian. Instead of blood he had energon, instead of ears, he had audio receivers, instead of eyes, he had optics. That seemed to be the extent of it, but Optimus couldn't be sure about his innards. The hospital machines glitched out when faced with Optimus's strange biometrics.

So, the detective decided to bring in a third opinion, someone that was sure to have some answers. Optimus was told that this other heteromorph would be briefed of his situation before arriving.