More than Meets the Eye Chapter 1

I do not own Transformers Prime or any of its characters or Transformers or any of its characters

The leader of MECH stood there watching the screens of the multiple computers that surrounded him. He was waiting impatiently for the subject to arrive at the MECH headquarters. His men tried to ease his impatience but one glare from him was enough to silence them all. He had waited long enough for this day! After years of perfecting the puzzle and multiple failed test subjects he was ready to see it in action. The past years had almost driven him mad along with his men. The large number of attempts they had endured needed to pay off! There was no question about that; they would not accept fail once again. Or at least he wouldn't!

Project Chimera was in full swing after he made that discovery several years ago, during his time working for the government he had come across an opportunity for future weapons. However, the people he worked with back then refused to accept his ideas after the failed Project Damocles. They called him mad.

Maybe he was!

But this madness had led him to discover and experiment with new ideas. Ideas that they couldn't comprehend and were foolish not to accept when they had the chance. He would soon have glory and power beyond any human's imagination. Indeed his discovery of the large offline robot was a memory that would stay in his mind for the rest of his life.

He was still a young man during that time, under the name Leland Bishop and new to the field of Special Tactics. One person with big dreams and motivations, things that his fellow workers didn't understand and would mock. However, that all changed on day. His task force was assigned to scout an area where they could test out their next weapon idea. An area away from human civilization and any sign of life of course. But little did they know they weren't the only ones there. They stumbled upon several forms of rocks… or what looked like rocks at first. Closer inspection revealed a body buried underneath the gravel, a giant metallic body covered in rust and debris. It startled and baffled them; they had never seen anything like it before.

It took a while but eventually his task force was assigned to bring their discovery in. Once it was in their laboratory they had discovered that the robot looked as if it had two forms. It was stuck in a form that looked like a beast and one that looked like a robot. It was frozen in both forms. After several observations and dissections they concluded that the robot was not of Earth's technology, it was too advanced to be. Whatever kind of technology it was it sparked his obsession. But to his disappointment his superiors argued that such technology was unfit to be in the hands of humans and that it was too dangerous to be experimented with. They ordered for the technology to be destroyed… immediately!

He wouldn't allow it! With the help of some of the soldiers, who agreed with him, he was able to secretly move the technology to another location, an isolated warehouse that had been abandoned by the Special Tactics force years before. Once they had successfully moved it, they went back to their normal jobs while visiting the warehouse every now and then to conduct experiments with the robot carcass. They were also able to run more diagnoses on the body. Once they did so they were able to enter into the robot's mind or what looked to be the robot's mind... the processor. Information started to pop up on the computers they had hooked it up to. Words written in a language they couldn't understand or read in the slightest. While this too had been a disappointment he still kept the body locked up there. It provided him with new ideas concerning weapons. He had introduced such a weapon… Project Damocles.

He recalled how that part of his life was filled with nothing but disappointments but he was determined for Project Damocles to be his last. His superiors declared it too dangerous after its completion and left it unattended as he was officially terminated from his duty. He happily left; he didn't want to waste a second more at that place. His intelligence and ambition didn't deserve to be wasted either. The soldiers who had worked with him before also left. They never figured out what had become of the robot body, they figured that it had been destroyed. He couldn't help but laugh at their stupidity. He and his new team left the base they had left the body in and moved to another location. An isolated one where they were able to set up their own base and equipment.

With his position being terminated it gave him and his new team more time to do more research on the body. Along with more freedom and that's all he could ever ask for at this moment. His new team and him worked more with the strange alien life form. They searched deeper into the robot's processor and were able to recover images along with short videos of the robot's life. They discovered that there were more of its kind out there and they looked just about as primal as it did before it went offline. They hypothesized that the others must have been offline at this point if this one was. Otherwise they would have been more prevalent in the current world. Judging by the images along with the videos it looked like the Earth was uninhabited by human life or any sort of life yet.

Meaning that these strange robots were on the Earth long before any human or organic life form was. This fascinated both him and the men. They also saw strange looking blue crystals and it looked as if they were being consumed by the robot and the others. Their food, they deduced. With all of this information they got to work on creating the perfect weapon. However, the part that really captured their attention was that the videos would show the robots changing their shapes and then change back into another form. They were transforming! That was the reason why the robot looked as if he was in two forms rather than one.

Before they got to work he decided that their new group needed a name, he came with the perfect one: MECH. And with a new group new it called for a new identity. For Leland Bishop was no more… now it was simply Silas. He only needed one word to describe both his team and himself. No more, no less.

Project Chimera was not their first project together as MECH but it was their first named one. With the robot body they acquired they desired to create more of it. To replicate the technology itself and somehow bring life into it. Maybe even make it transform. It was easier said than done though, it proved to be difficult to replicate such and advanced alien technology but nevertheless they were determined to find it. MECH experimented with many metal along with circuitry, gears, wiring and other forms of technology until they got it right. So many failed attempts were the result of this. His frustration increased as well as his stress levels. Deciding that they needed more samples of the technology he ordered his team to try and locate other forms of the robot. He could only hope that there were more still on the planet.

His team went over the images and videos and tried to isolate where the locations were. Once they scanned them they were able to find areas on the planet that the structures looked similar to. Silas dispatched multiple teams to those areas to see if they could try to find other robots. We were able to recover another full robot body along with parts of others. They were brought back to the base for studying.

Unlike the other robot, the one they brought in was not in between forms but rather in one form. One that looked human enough but still alien. The other parts were their limbs. Some were in the primal state and others were in the humanoid state. A close examination revealed weapons in the form of blasters, blades and other forms of weaponry. Similar to humans they possessed genetics as well but they were quite different from the latter. Robotic genetics, that's what he called them.

Silas's obsessions with the new beings became drastic to the point where he couldn't stop mumbling to himself over what they had discovered. He barley slept during this time, his dreams were plagued with the robot figures along with the Earth before it was what it is today.

He knew what he wanted to create. And that was a transforming robot similar to these strange aliens.

But that's not all he wanted to create. He wanted to go beyond that, he wanted something more to come out of this! A transformer... but not with machinery… with humans! A transforming human that could have the same form as the alien robots. Part organic… part robotic. The ultimate weapon!

He was indeed mad… mad with dreams… mad with expectations! He was mad!

The project was called Project Chimera. With an official name they got to work trying to give humans the ability to transform. Unfortunately this was at a time where they were still working on perfecting the formula to perfect the robotic genetics. Their subjects were people taken out of the street life such as the homeless; the people they knew would not be missed or were noticed as missing. Implanting the robotic genetics was the easy part but watching the effects was a whole other area. They would watch as the people would struggle to enter into the robotic form. Bones would break, blood would be split, organs would burst and so on. Sometimes the subjects were able to transform only one part of their bodies not the entire body itself. It was a painful transformation as they struggled to revert those parts back to normal. It was not what they were looking for at all. He wanted a transformer that could change easily between forms like the ones he had seen in the videos. If it was not one thing it was another.

Most of the subjects didn't survived the transformations no matter which way it went. There were so many bodies disposed as a result. Those that survived were kept as prisoners, they were remainders of the mistakes their organization had made. They were also monitored for any signs of change, both positive and negative.

With that Silas concluded that there was a margin of error somewhere in what they were doing. The last subject had some success with the formula as he was able to transform into a robotic form but he couldn't change back and eventually both his organic side and robotic side gave in. There was no balance between the two. In order for the project to work there had to be a balance between the two sides, if not there would be consequences. He deduced that the problem wasn't with the formula but with the subject itself.

After going over the past subjects and current subjects, he finally realized where they had gone wrong. They had been using adults, both young and old, to test out the formula. What they needed was an organic that was still growing and hadn't reached maturity yet. The answer was a baby! A baby human, that's what they needed. The perfect subject for the perfect formula.

But there was more it to than just that, he knew the idea needed more support than just that. He needed a sure fire way for it to work, and that's when his research team came up with a possible solution. They needed to implement the cybernetic DNA into the subject long before actual conception. The donor would need such DNA implanted into themselves, it would override the human DNA and replace it with the cybernetic one. Then they would need to find an appropriate carrier, one that would represent the organic part of the subject.

And so it was decided, one of their own would volunteer for the experiment. However, one set back with the idea was that there was only so much cybernetic DNA they could conjure with what they had found. And so, only one of them would have to be the donor. The donor would have to meet a certain set of criteria, and Silas was able to find that donor. The chosen man's reproductive DNA was implemented with the cybernetic one and it was ready to use.

Now all that was left was to find the perfect carrier.

It took some time but Silas and his team were able to find one. The woman was quite young and beautiful, she was intelligent and healthy. Healthy enough to carry the child they were looking for. Another perk was that the woman had no living relatives and was an only child. In other words, practically no one would notice if she were to disappear.

And so, with the donor and carrier chosen, it was time to move onto the actual act. Within the year, the woman became pregnant and she was soon taken away to MECH. She struggled at first but she could never overpower the soldiers, they kept her under strict security and made sure she took what she needed in order for the fetus to grow strong and healthy. Silas often visited the woman and monitored the subject growing within her.

Silas looked at the sonogram so many times, and it never ceased to amaze him. It was magnificent. In the womb was a child like no other, both organic and inorganic. It was perfect. All that was left was for it to be born. Silas could hardly wait to see his years of work finally pay off.

Finally, after nine months, the day came.

The doctors prepped the woman for surgery and isolated her in the delivery room. They had to make sure that every precaution was made as they awaited for the inevitable birth. Blood curdling screams could be heard as the pains of labor persisted, they were music to Silas's ears. The fruits of his labor were about to be fulfilled. Hours passed by and Silas was more patient than he had ever before in his life. He understood that this step could not be rushed and must be handled as delicately as possible. He sat there silently along with his men; they had stopped what they were doing and waited with him for the outcome. They didn't know what they would do if the project didn't work out. Silas's temper was not one to be messed with at any costs.

That's' when the doctors met with him. Silas observed the blood covering their hands and scrubs, but that didn't matter to him. It was nothing he hadn't seen before. All he wanted to know was if the operation was successful. That's when the head doctor spoke.

"Sir," a doctor greeted. "The child is here."

A devious and proud smirk spread across his face. His dreams had finally been realized. All those years of people laughing at him and calling him mad were for nothing. He had succeed where they had failed, and he had the evidence to prove it. The rest of the soldiers started to break out in cheers and celebration. As they did so, Silas stepped closer to the group of doctors.

"Excellent," Silas ordered.

That's when his thoughts wondered to the women who bore his success.

"And what of the woman?" he asked.

"She's dying sir," another doctor spoke.

Silas was unfazed by the remark. In reality, he knew that there was a high probability that the carrier wouldn't survive such a procedure. But that was a risk he was willing to take at the beginning of this project. The subject mattered more than the carrier, that's what he thought. Besides, MECH would have no use for her if she survived the operation. She was never a part of the equation when it came to raising the test subject. To Silas, he wouldn't lose anything with her passing.

"I see," he stated. "Well at least she served her purpose."

The rest of MECH agreed. That's when Silas could hear the cries of the subject echo throughout the base, his smirk grew.

"Where is the child? I want to see it."

"Right away sir. By the way, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy."

"A boy?" he questioned with a smug smile. "That's certainly fitting seeing who his father is."

The soldiers chuckled a little at the comment before Silas followed the doctors to the delivery room. All of them followed as well. As soon as he stepped in he could see some of the other doctors surrounding something small. He walked over to the area where the doctors departed for him to see. Laying down on the table was an ordinary human child, the baby was squirming and wailing with its powerful lungs.

That's when a little bit of doubt crept into Silas's mind. There seemed to be nothing different about the child, it looked too… human. He glared at the doctors and growled a little.

"Are you sure it was a success?" he questioned.

But the doctors weren't threatened by the tone of his voice, they had nothing to worry. For they had seen what the child was capable of long before he entered the world.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" the head doctor replied.

With that one of the doctors hit a pressure point on the child's neck, the action made the child scream some more before something incredible happened! The baby boy's skin shined as it was now made of metal, it was just a plain silver color unlike the other robots, but it was still a success. The child's body had also increased in mass and size. It was less than half the size of a human adult. The little robot made chirping sounds as it moved on the table, it resembled baby noises.

Silas gasped in excitement as saw the success of Project Chimera. This is what he had been waiting for! This is what man was capable of! He had overcome the impossible! That's when the baby robot opened its eyes and looked at Silas. They were blue eyes, and they held the answers to the secrets he had been searching for all these years.

"Don't worry little one, I am not going to hurt you," Silas reassured. "You're too valuable to hurt. You are something special… something that no one ever thought was possible. A techno-organic."

That's when he reached out to the robot's neck.

"Now that you have a robotic form let's see you change back," Silas said.

With that he hit the same pressure point and the baby responded as he transformed back into his organic form. Black hair and blue eyes, those were his human characteristics. His eye color was the same as the ones he had as a robot. Once he was back to normal the men started to cheer again over the success, Silas gathered the baby into his arms and gazed into his blue eyes.

"You are now the first techno-organic to walk this planet and any other planet I would assume," Silas said. "Now for your name."

The baby boy did have a name, his mother had thought about it when she first discovered her pregnancy. Silas figured that he should honor the woman in some way since she delivered his success, at least he could give her this. But he saw no need for a last name, especially hers.

Just like him and MECH the child only needed one name. The last name Darby was no longer apart of the baby's identity, it was only one name.

"You are…"

He raised the baby high for all to see. Let it be known that today MECH was able to produce the first techno-organic! They had achieved success beyond anyone's wildest imagination, and it was all because of Silas.

"Jackson!"

Please review and leave comments, thank you for your time.