Title: Looks are Deceiving

Author: Kit SummerIsle

Verse: Dragonformers AU (see more of it from AutobotV and Xobit over at deviantart)

Character(s): Optimus Prime, Megatron

Rating: T

Warnings: some violence, slash (nothing detailed)

Summary: A dragonformer gets thrown into Bayverse (more or less). Incredulity ensues.

Disclaimer: the usual. not owning it, just fooling around with TF

Note: Written for JazzTheTiger's Dragonformer competition on deviantart (http : / / jazzthetiger . deviantart . com / journal / DRAGONFORMERS -COMPETITION - 277215102 # comments). Oneshot so far, might be continued later.

Optimus flew over the desert that was his home for vorns now. Looking down he saw the dry, reddish, rocky landscape baked by the setting sun that was not his homeland but one he got used to for so long. He was back from visiting Soundwave, they got together every so often to talk shop about the small matters of the tribe, the younglings that grew and became interested in each other; although his own sparklings were still young for that, he loved meeting with Soundwave's strange crèche and hear their tales. He lived the farthest out from the tribe, because he was really strange and many didn't accept his aloofness and his unmated status with younglings. But Optimus loved the odd, blueish dragon, and even more so because he was so different from the usual fire-dragons; and their love for music brought them closer still.

He felt something strange in the air as he flew, something that was almost familiar, but disturbing at the same time; a presence ahead and… Optimus banked hard to avoid the suddenly recognized feeling that was clearly a wizard somewhere, even though he saw nothing at all anywhere in the desert. He worked his wings hard to lift him higher so it wouldn't see him, and tried to pinpoint the source of the magic that he could clearly feel now. But no matter which way he flew, the tendrils of the spell seemed to be all around and Optimus started to worry in earnest – to be caught again in a wizard's trap was not what he would contemplate; he was fortunate enough to escape once and second time he might not be so lucky.

But he couldn't escape the spell no matter which way he flew and neither could he see the wizard who created it; he let lose with some lightning bolts at random but they only struck empty desert, totally useless, only sapping his energy. The tendrils suddenly tightened around him and he was unable to move, meaning that the spell found its target and started to work, and Optimus let a strangled yelp out when he felt it. He felt himself falling and offlining as the magical energies built up around him, with his last thought sending a cry for help through the bond, but not hearing any answer to it as the darkness engulfed him…

He must have onlined almost immediately, because he was still in the air, although it was dark and chilly all of a sudden; the incongruity was disturbing but he had more pressing concerns; namely to try and make his painfully cramped wings to catch air and break his fall. At least the smell of magic disappeared and he could not sense the wizard either; whatever it had intended didn't seem to cause anything immediately noticeable.

The darkness made it harder to identify the place, but he assumed it the same as before the wizard's attack; so Optimus smelled the air to gain direction towards their home cave. It was wrong a bit somehow, like the magical energies disrupted something, but still he could find the way, and flew fast to get back before his mate started to worry; the darkness signified that he was much later than he intended to arrive home. There was something wrong with that thought but he couldn't care just yet.

As he descended though when he closed in on their cave a nagging doubt started to rise in his processor; even in dark he should sense by now the rocks that hid their cave, not to mention his bondmate if not the younglings from this distance. But there was nothing familiar, only new and very strange smells that Optimus was sure that he never before felt either in the Land Sea or in his former home in the highlands. There were slightly familiar smells, like their own, only off somehow, but there were plenty of totally unknown scents that were… wet somehow, sharply contradicting the dry desert air, and quite unpleasant.

His sampling of the air was shattered sharply by a loud, sharp noise and bright lights that came from below but overloaded his unprepared optics, causing him to duck under the offending light and – misjudging his height to the ground – crash into something that should not have been there, and was most definitely not their cave or any cave he has ever been to. Shrieking in pain and surprise he tried to free his body from the twisting metallic sheets and struts, but only managed to drop further, while some cables curled around him and stung with electricity much like his own lightning.

But it was not alive, not any creature that he has ever seen or heard of; it was just dead metal and Optimus thought for a wild second that he might have crashed into a huge empty chassis of a long-dead dragon – before he sensed the mech forms underneath, scrambling frantically from the place he was going to crash into if he couldn't get the slagging cables and sheets of thin metal unwound from his wings. Which he couldn't, not even after transforming into mech form.

He crashed heavily into yet another material, totally unknown – no surprise there, by now he would be more shocked if he found something that was familiar – but hard like rocks in the desert and studded with metallic outcroppings. Optimus had not even got words for furniture or equipment much less recognized them, so he took all that for features of the floor and the cave-walls. He noticed the mech forms though, unknown to him, but at least familiar, and let out a chiming yelp of pain and asking for help – surely they were not hostile and forgive him for crashing into their cave?

Ratchet was gaping at the form that tore through the thin corrugates metal shell on the roof of the med-bay hangar and would have fallen more or less on their lap, had they not scrambled clear of it just in time. He was talking to the twins and from his peripherial vision he saw them reacting much faster than him and already trained their weapons on the intruder. They didn't fire though, much for the same reason than he was standing thunderstruck behind a med-table – even in the semi-darkness, caused by the newcomer tearing much of the electrical cables that served the lights, the form and the colours were disturbingly familiar; only Ratchet could not even start to imagine what the slag Optimus Prime was doing crashing through the roof.

The musical chirping that came from the form, now struggling with the metal sheets and cables didn't help at all alleviating their confusion; Ratchet only moved when he saw energon dripping to the floor presumably from injuries that their visitor suffered in the crash. Comming for the others to come, he started to cautiously approach the struggling form. Sunstreaker promptly warned him to keep away until they determined it not hostile, but he didn't think that the injured, visibly confused and liberally tangled up in cables visitor would pose serious danger to the three of them. He tried to talk to him at first in English, but as it only got blank stare from the blue optics and even more agitated chirping he switched to Cybertronian – and thought of calling on Jazz as the dragon continued to chime rather than speak.

The language though stilled the still struggling mech and got an answer for him too – in a dialect and accent so strange that it was really hard to understand. Where was he from? Ratchet knew quite a lot of dialects from before the war but this one was more alien than all of them; and anyway, all those had disappeared long before, during the war that tore down the city-states and destroyed the diversity of their planet. He barely understood a word or two in the stream of words that the visitor was pouring out now, with a speed that reminded them all to Bluestreak, only with musical notes mixed copiously into it.

"Hold on, hold on! I barely understand you as it is, slow down a bit!" he told the mech, approaching warily. "Are you hurt?"

"Yes, hurt, but I will deal with that, just please help me removing these things from my wings because they are uncomfortable and sorry for ruining your cave but I got lost and didn't know where I was and crashed into it and what is this place, and who are you anyway?"

Sunstreaker looked at his brother even as he lowered the weapon in his hand and sent an amused thought through their bond ::Looks like Optimus but talks like Bluestreak. Doesn't seem threatening.:: Sideswipe only snickered back, agreeing fully with his brother's statement.

Ratchet was half laughing too as he told the mech again to slow down and tell simpler sentences, and started to cut and remove the tangled cables from the other's chassis – looking shocked when he noticed the red wings that became visible once the metal sheets too were cut away. By this time all the Autobots arrived into the med-bay, including Optimus Prime and they were all staring unbelievably as the mech stood up – at first glance he was almost identical to Optimus, if one didn't count the red wings that looked nothing like Seekers' wings, as they were more like organic-looking, reminding them to huge bat-wings, but from some kind of a flexible metal. It was quite impossible on so many levels…

Ratchet found his voice first: "What is your name and where are you from?"

"Optimus" came the answer, looking at their shocked faceplates one by one with his blue optics, "and I am from… well, originally from Iacon but I live in the Land Sea now. And you? He looked obviously to their Optimus, clearly fascinated by the similarity, but obviously a bit apprehensive by the number of unknown mechs crowding in the med-bay. He also slowed down a bit from his earlier, agitated talking which made him more understandable, even as the faint musical tones still colored his speech patterns.

"My name is Optimus Prime" he answered to his slightly bigger, winged alterego, watching the wings fascinated that folded on his back now, though obviously still injured. "You happened to crash into our base in Nevada, Earth. Are you familiar with the planet?" He started to notice the other differences between them too; the chassis covered in what looked like metallic scales, the small fangs as he spoke and the obviously dangerous claws on his fingers and wingtips that seemed to be twitching continuously.

Optimus's agitation grew tenfold at the barely comprehensible words and it made him lift and spread his wings slightly in a reflex to be ready to escape; how could the other be like him and have the same name, but still be so different…

"Where are your wings? Are you a different race? And what is this 'Earth', I do not know of it at all? Where is this, on Cybertron?" – he was proud of knowing a lot about the planet they lived on as most dragons knew only their tribe's area, but this Earth place was new to him as well.

"Earth is not on Cybertron, it is another planet. And considering your wings you are of a different race – only I never heard of winged mechs aside from the Seekers – those were formerly of Vos in Cybertron if it tells you anything."

"Yes, I heard of the wind-dragons of Vos, but I am not one of them. I am from Iacon. I only know their Winglord, Starscream. A good-looking dragon, he is and fun to tease…" the mech's voice was obviously mischievous when he told it, shocking the Autobots yet again who never thought of Starscream in quite those terms…

"Dragons?" Optimus Prime couldn't keep his amazement out of his voice "Are you a… dragon?"

"Yes…?" Optimus didn't know why it was so surprising… perhaps if he showed it? He promptly transformed into dragon form, scaring Ratchet, who stood closest to him, in the process, as the dragon-form was a good deal bigger than his mech mode. But at least it allowed his magic to repair most of the damage that was caused by the crash – the subconscious magic was more or less unavailable in the more intellectual mech form.

The transformation sequence was almost the same to theirs, as Ratchet noted, only the end-form was a bit strange… well, their ancestors used to create predacons and other mecha-organic forms too, so it is not impossible to create a winged dragon – still he never heard of any such experiments. Maybe Shockwave…? It was amazing though, the speed with which his auto-repairs dealt with his injuries.

"But I am from Iacon – in fact most of us are from there, and I never heard of dragons living in the city." Optimus Prime was considering another idea, one that was theoretically possible but still disturbing if true – that of parallel universes, which are similar but still different in any number of things from each other. He didn't know how would it be possible to cross between two such but things do suspiciously pointed towards this theory.

It was Optimus's turn to be confused "Iacon is not a city… we lived in nests in the crystal forests of the Iaconian highlands. And no other wingless mechs lived there… I think… but I was a youngster when I left so there might have been…?"

At that moment Colonel Lennox came into the med-bay running; the Human guards saw the incoming form, took it for an attack, and Optimus Prime's hurried comm message didn't really calmed them down, so he came to see what it was. At the sight of the Human though, Optimus reacted with murderous fury; spreading his wings as far as they would go, reared up on hind claws, roared something that was probably the least musical sound he could make, and threw a lightning bolt towards the small form, making everyone duck behind the furniture.

It was fortunate that Bumblebee could get in front of Lennox in time, even though the electricity cursing through his system was wreaking havoc with his insides; but at least it stopped the furious dragon in the other end of the hangar from throwing more lightning bolts. That, and Optimus Prime tackling him to the ground. He was cursing and shouting 'wizard' all the while though, and suddenly didn't look unthreatening, as he threw his wingless counterpart away as easily as though he was lightweight, and was on his feet, all four of them in no time. It was almost funny to hear such cursing in his musical, basically playful tone, but obviously he was mistaking the frozen, bemused Human with something more dangerous and hated.

It took them a while to calm him down, and he simply refused to transform back to the mech form until the Human left the building. Then he explained that he knew about Humans who visited his Cybertron from time to time and hated them like all dragons, because they were wizards who came there only to steal the magic from dragons. It was quite a lot to believe though for the Autobots; the whole thing was just… well impossible and unbelievable; like a fairytale or a fantasy story. Lennox on the other hand, who joined their conversation through the comm told them that Humans always had tales and legends about parallel words which sometimes had wizards, magic and dragons in them; and though they were just stories, they could be truth too.

"It was a Human wizard once who captured me with a spell and kept me as prisoner, stealing my magic from me for many orns." He told them angrily, explaining why he reacted so strongly to the Human, "and I barely escaped from him. The only good thing in it was that I met my mate after I escaped and he destroyed the wizard so I could regain my magic."

"Ohh, so you have a mate too… a dragon too, I presume?" It was Sunstreaker again, who was strangely attracted to the beautiful dragonformer, and quite disappointed by hearing that he had a mate. Still, he thought, he must see those wings more and maybe make a painting of him if he allows it…

"Yes, he is a fire-dragon. Name is Megatron and he is the tribe leader of the fire dragons. We have three younglings too." Optimus answered with a happy smile, followed by a small frown when the thought that he might not see them soon crossed his processor.

He couldn't possibly have caused a bigger shock to the Autobots, not by the long shot even if he tried to. They all froze where they stood in the hangar, staring incredulously towards Optimus, neither of them quite believing what they just heard. He was alarmed by their reaction a bit, drawing back from the suddenly not quite friendly glares, wings spread up just a bit higher again, asking nervously:

"What is wrong with that?"

"Well… even understanding that yours is a different world… the thing is we've been warring with Megatron and his Decepticons for quite a long time… a few million vorns to be honest, destroying all of Cybertron and so… well, he is something of an arch-enemy to us." Optimus Prime was visibly struggling to express the matter as politely as he could "and, uhm… Megatron in our world is quite mad, I mean homicidal and irrational even to his side."

Optimus was speechless by that – to think that his mate… that he was… that Cybertron was… no it was impossible. He refused to believe any of that. He got even more upset by hearing that he was on a planet full of Humans and only a handful of his kind – and even those were only distantly his race as mech life, but not dragons. He was sure that it was a Human wizard who caused him to be here, that much he remembered, but how to go back to his own world… for that nobody had the slightest idea. But going back he must…

"I must get back to my world. How can I find a wizard among all those Humans?"

"I don't think you can… wizards are just legends here, like dragons. There might be some in your world but not in this one, I'm afraid…" Optimus Prime felt sorry for the other, as he understood that his words might mean that the dragonformer has just lost his bondmate and younglings with no hope of ever getting back to their world… the beautiful wings dropped visibly as Optimus realized it too. He turned away from them, heading out of the med-bay, only stopping to ask where he could find an empty cave to recharge. They offered him one of the hangars, informing him that there were no natural caves nearby in the desert, and Earth's caves were usually either wet or inhabited by organic life. He visibly shuddered by that and accepted the offer, curling up in dragon-form, covering his chassis with his wings in the hangar that he kept calling a cave and chiming low-key musical notes settled down to recharge.

"I must admit when I read about the parallel universes theory, I kept imagining beings like ourselves, only with different history." Ratchet was fascinated by the dragonformer and kept surreptitiously scanning him whenever he could, to get an idea of how his body worked. They sat in the other hangar, watching the video-feed from the other one that showed the recharging dragon; stealing glances at 'their' Optimus, the Prime, many of them still reeling from the idea of the other Optimus being bondmate with Megatron.

"They must have evolved differently at some point, going with magic instead of technological civilization, hence the creature alt-mode" he continued to ponder "even our Cybertron used to have plenty of techno-organic wildlife, including winged ones – but if we can believe our legends, Primus gave us a different path than the one they must have gone."

Sunstreaker didn't care much about the origins of dragons; he still found the dragon-Optimus beautiful and felt drawn to him in a way that nobody else caused him to feel, except his twin brother. So he was perfectly content with watching the dragon recharging peacefully in the other hangar, probably not even suspecting that they were watching him.

When the sun came up, Optimus uncurled from his uncomfortable sleeping place that he did not deign to call a proper bed or nest, and after stretching out the cramps, he trotted out of the hangar, and although he noticed the approaching figures, he didn't wait for them, but jumped into the air, spreading his wings wide and cupping them to catch the warm air rising from the hangars. He worked his way upwards with lazy strokes, circling and then curving away from the smelly place they called base, in search of some prey.

He was pretty hungry by this time, having last eaten an orn ago and then only just a small bite from Soundwave's catch out of politeness, as the mateless carrier needed the most of it to feed his growing younglings. He had flown aplenty since and used the last of his fuel to heal his wounds – all in all he must find some prey soon. Only, he couldn't… This world had plenty of organic wildlife, but he found none of the ones he knew to be suitable food for his kind, the energon-based animals that seemed to be completely missing from Earth.

He returned even hungrier to the other mechs, to ask them how they managed to get food, but he had his suspicion about them; their small dentas and blunt fingers were totally unsuitable to catch any prey or bite the metallic hides for the juicy bits underneath. As Ratchet explained it to him, he realized that it was exactly so; they didn't hunt energon-based prey, but manufactured energon from natural sources, whatever that meant. He offered Optimus a cube which he drank thankfully, and without much ado asked for more. It took three more cubes to fill up his tanks; Ratchet noted that draconic bodies used up energon far faster than theirs; logical, since flight always took more energy, as Seekers well known, and the self-healing also used up a lot.

Refuelling problem solved, he decided to learn more about their world. They were all eager to talk, even though mostly he needed to ask back many times when they used words and concepts that he simply missed – but slowly he started to get a picture of what their life was like. He didn't envy them, the war that seemed to be their only occupation sounded pretty horrible to him; and what made it even more incomprehensible was that he simply couldn't understand the reason for it. No matter how they tried to explain, to him it seemed empty, flat and forced; and even if they believed in any of it, he couldn't quite get why it was worth destroying the planet, their future and most of their race. Dragons are not philosophers, mainly because pragmatism has always served them better.

When he wanted to learn more about the legends about Human wizards though they faced a new problem; Ratchet casually suggested him to connect to the internet and download what he wanted, including the necessary language but quickly realized that Optimus hadn't got the faintest idea of what he was talking about; the idea of communicating through any other means than talking was totally unknown to him. The closest he could come to the idea was the talk through the bond, but that was still vastly different both in methods and purpose. Nor could Ratchet find any dataport on his chassis when he let him scan for it. Another cultural difference… and on top of it Ratchet insulted him by comparing it to humans who also didn't have comms and data-cables.

All in all they all learned a great deal about their respective worlds but after a few orns Optimus became irritated and edgy, unable to recharge and in consequence became nervous and restless too; the Autobots at first put it down to moodiness, but Ratchet realized after a while that he was in pain, and in considerable amount of it as time went on – but he refused to talk about it. He didn't trust the medic, since they had no such in their world; their fast working self-healing nanites made that profession quite unnecessary.

Optimus knew that he must do something soon, because he would not be able to stand the heat apart from his mate but among other mechs; it was the farthest thing from his mind to mate with any other mech than Megatron, but as the pain grew with it the temptation grew too to ask their help – the yellow one, Sunstreaker was looking his way with optics that showed that he would not hesitate to help him out. He decided to set out the next orn to find a place where he could suffer through it without them knowing – he should tell them why he was going away, only he kept putting it off for some reason.

It was that last evening when he went to the med-bay again, to tell Ratchet about it, as he was the one who understood most how their bodies worked; Optimus Prime was also there, talking with his friend. Before he could start his explanation though, a siren started to wail, and Lennox warned the Autobots about an incoming intruder; a big one, his voice shouted frantically, bigger than any of their fighter jets.

Optimus couldn't believe his senses as the bond with his mate suddenly erupted with emotions ::find-worry-protect-love:: and he knew it was his mate. Shouting to the Autobots who it was he literally flew outside, searching the darkness and was promptly blinded again with the human reflectors that danced around the base, trying to find the intruder. He wasn't that hard to find, diving towards the ground with a breakneck speed, wings swept back, roaring fire ahead – the huge silver-black body was hidden by the night, and reflectors lost it as soon as they found it, as he speeded along the ground now, beating dark wings big enough to cover a hangar with them, casually breaking the sniper tower with his bulk itself…

Optimus was now pouring his musical notes freely and loudly, dancing towards him, catching air with his wings as soon as he was out of the hangar, sending ::love-safe-calm-happy:: to him through the bond and following it up with a few, hurried words to explain things. It made Megatron slow down, as he trusted his mate to assess the situation, seeing that he was not a prisoner, not harmed, and not wishing to cause damage to this place if it was not needed. He landed in front of Optimus, and promptly brought the huge blood-red wings forward to pull him close and cover him from any danger… at the same time looking around over the clawed wingtips, and seeing the wingless mechs, frozen in place and the running humans. But Optimus was his first concern…

Optimus Prime knew who he must be from his alterego's descriptions, and he really couldn't decide what to do or order his Autobots to do in this situation. The dragon-Megatron was quite a lot bigger than this world's counterpart while his silver-black colors with the red accents almost the same; and he came at them like an attacking aircraft, spewing fire from his mouth, but when he found his mate, he calmed down considerably, and was answering to Optimus's wordless musical laugh with his deep grumbling that sounded almost like… verbal caressing if he guessed right. And he would not be ordering fire on a couple who was from a different world and finding each other after an enforced separation. Actually, he was not even that sure what their weapons would cause to their magic-imbued armor-plates…

It took a force of will to step closer towards Megatron, and order the Autobots to stand down but he managed it, and at he started to speak, Megatron furled back his wings reluctantly, stepped back and dropped a small figure onto the ground from his hand, where it was enclosed among the huge and dangerous-looking claws. It was a human in a strange robe, terrified too if he saw well; and from Optimus's wings coming up threateningly, and his claws flaring towards it, he guessed that it must be the wizard responsible for them being here.

Then Megatron's menacingly big, smoldering red optics flickered to him, and he saw amusement dancing in them, the huge, fanged mouthplates laughing out a small flame, obviously at the similarity to his mate; Optimus Prime swallowed his astonishment of seeing such emotion in his arch-enemy's optics, he proceeded to introduce himself and the others. Megatron answered in a strut-shaking deep, rumbling voice that clearly had fire burning and hissing in it, although clearly not with a negative intent; it sounded natural, coming from him.

"I came in peace Tribe Leader Optimus Prime, and I acknowledge your authority over your tribe called Autobots." It was the closest he could come to answering to what Optimus was trilling to him in his rapid-fire voice that he always used when he was upset or emotionally moved. "Our being here is the responsibility of this wizard who caused it but swore to set matters right as soon as he can. Until that we have to stay on your world."

He sounds by far saner than 'our' Megatron, thought Optimus Prime as he answered in what he hoped was suitably formal to his address: "I greet you on our world and as far as you remain peaceful towards us you are welcome here. I trust your mate has enlightened you on matters here?"

Megatron transformed into his slightly smaller mech form before answering, hoping to not intimidate them so much, but got the opposite reaction; in this form he was simply too much like 'their' Megatron to be comfortable around. He smelled Optimus's heat too, noting that they soon have to do something about it – he sure hoped his mate found a suitable cave where they can be… private from the obviously curious Autobots. Wingless grounders… strange world.

The two dragons excused themselves as soon as they could – it was obvious from their caresses and smiles that they very much wanted to be alone, and not really caring about Autobots, negotiations, parallel worlds or cultural diversities at the moment. Optimus surprised them by creating a small energy cage around the wizard, crackling with lightning – they remembered his choice of weapon when he first saw a Human; apparently his magic was lightning just as Megatron's was the fire he breathed and which was hotter than plasma.

Optimus Prime came around later to their main hangar when he caught both pairs of twins and Ironhide crowding around the monitors, and stepping closer behind them he was shocked to see that they were watching the two dragons, albeit currently in mech form mating enthusiastically on it. "This video-feed should have been closed down earlier." He said in his most disapproving voice that promised little good for them. "That hangar now is their private sphere and not entertainment!" They were quite chastised when he shut the thing down and proceeded to give them a through lesson in courtesy... what he didn't know – and nobody would ever tell him - was that they've been watching the feed with avid attention for almost a joor and secretly they were all starting to envy Megatron for both his mate and their stamina…

In the dragons' heads there was no suspicion or even a single thought of being watched; the place was closed and they never developed anything like the video-monitors or really other kinds of technology either. So, when the hangar door was closed Megatron completely forget about the Autobots, and picked up his mate who was smelling strongly of heat and wanting him as much as the bigger dragon wanted him. He nuzzled Optimus, purring and caressing his armor, his wings and kissing him hungrily while he put him down by one wall, where his mate managed to create a makeshift nest from some shredded metal sheets. It was not really comfortable, but after a bit of fire softening and melting it together he pronounced it to be acceptable. Megatron was all but happy to satisfy his mate in his heat after the separation and the emptiness of their bond that hurt him on a very deep level, until they both fell into a satisfied recharge.

"Fraggitall we have a Decepticon attack! Bumblebee, alert the Humans for incoming fliers and ask them to send up some jets, we are target practice for the Seekers without air support!" - Ironhide shouted at the comm, alerting everyone to the incoming blips on the monitors. - "I wonder where those dragons are and what will they do in this situation…?" - Ironhide continued to swear at the slagging human government that didn't let them build a proper base; in these flimsy hangars they had no chance at all for cover.

Thundercracker almost fell from the sky, he was so shocked. He cycled his optics a few times, but it didn't help; the scene in front of him remained the same. Just ahead of the Coneheads an actual dragon was flying erratically, trying to avoid their fire; a mech-dragon for sure, as big as the jets themselves, only more organic-looking and… and something that should not exist, that do not exist… slaggitall was he going mad now? But then Thrust and Dirge was going mad too, to fire on something that by and large was flat out impossible. Especially since the dragon – still a dragon? – turned and twisted every which way, seemingly defying the laws of gravity and movement in air with those impossible wings. He was slower than the jets, it was obvious, but somehow he kept avoiding them with great skill in the air. He threw lightning bolts at Ramjet, which sizzled all across the body of the flier who started to fall, apparently every system going haywire. Lightning bolts. Yeah. Sure.

Thundercracker tried to pick up what he was doing, not usually a problem for him, but right now he felt about as stupid as Skywarp, who by a swift glance at him probably hasn't even noticed the slagging dragon yet and dived towards the Autobot compound, firing missiles gleefully at the pitiful hangars. Thrust was screaming something over the comm about Dirge, but he wasn't really listening, because Starscream too was screeching in it and it was usually wise to listen to him more. He wanted them to pay attention to the Human jet squadron approaching, yeah, it really pays to listen to the glitch sometimes. Still, he kept a wary optic on the dragon still flying, apart from the single scorch-mark on its side apparently avoiding almost every missile and gunfire that the remaining Coneheads threw at … it? him? Whichever. If it was a new Autobot drone it was sure clever.

Thundercracker made a low pass over the puny hangar that the Autobots called their command center and shot a few missiles into it, hoping to catch a few of them in the explosion too. He pulled up sharply to avoid its fireball that tried to reach out for him, banked hard when he saw Ironhide lifting his Pit-accursed pulse cannons towards him; apparently they woke up and tried to fight back. Too bad they have no fliers, Thundercracker always felt it unfair somehow, it was too easy to just strafe them, leave the destruction behind, and have no real dogfight that he could enjoy, as the Human jets were… well, they had courage but their systems and reflexes were just not up to the task. Now, a dragon… he turned towards it where it was still trying to escape from the remaining Coneheads, still lobbing lightning bolts at them but now those two were more careful too, and so it was something getting close to an aerial battle.

Thundercracker lazily shot down a Human jet that didn't react to him fast enough, made a swift roll to avoid its wingmates – and he was thunderstruck again, as something enormous, mostly silvery black but with huge, blood-red wings came down on the Coneheads, spewing… holy Primus, that fire simply melted Thrust's left wing to slag in an astrosecond, he was screaming in Starscream's pitch almost as he fell, and the other dragon, yes it was another dragon, just a slagging Pit bigger than the other one, was already turning on Dirge who stopped shooting at anything, fired his afterburners instead, rolled and looped madly and tried to escape as fast as he could. The huge dragon twisted around in mid-flight and letting Dirge escape, he turned his blood-red optics towards Thundercracker, who looking into them quaked and somehow… impossible, yes, but… he knew. He had looked into those optics far too many times, even if they were not in a draconic body. He couldn't bear a weapon on it, he couldn't answer Starscream's or Skywarp's shouting in the comm, he had to land because he couldn't fight this… it… him… Megatron. It was a huge relief to sense Skywarp's frightened, confused thoughts beside him, he was their way out if it came to that. He was less happy to see a very much subdued Starscream landing beside them, he was still upset and angry, cussing them out in rage, but – just like them – he couldn't deny what he saw with his own optics.

Starscream cursed Thundercracker for a thousand kinds of a fool, but he couldn't leave him and that idiot mate of his; he was shocked like all of them at the sight of the huge dragon that forced them to land while remaining in flight above them, circling angrily, rumbling at the smaller dragon that came back and trilled musical notes – of all things – at him, while the Seekers watched them from the ground with totally frozen processors. They didn't even noticed the Autobots coming towards them from the ruins of their base with loaded and charged weapons; Thundercracker just gaped at the huge shape that landed in front of them, transformed, and… yes, it was Megatron standing there, big as life and twice as mad; only with a pair of huge, dark red but awesome-looking wings.

All right, he thought, it must be some kind of a trick. Prank. The Autobot version of the human Candid Camera that Skywarp showed them once. Somebody ended the war and was making them laughingstock. Anything BUT a real dragon-Megatron. Anything but a very much pissed off and angry dragon-Megatron breathing plasma-hot fire at them. The plasma cannon was bad enough, but this… he ducked instinctly, pulling Skywarp down with him, heard Starscream yelp as the iridescent flame just touched his wing and it was enough to melt the edge and set him too cowering beside his wingmates. Thundercracker saw the smaller dragon land beside the silver-black one and had a crazy idea – the dragon's colouring was just like Optimus Prime's and the form not that different; he also noticed the angry burn on his side already healed, and envied him for the speed of it too. If his Lord can be a dragon, why not their Prime…? It made as much sense as everything else today – none.

Megatron landed opposite to the fliers with the stupid little wings, still angry by the other three attacking Optimus, but not wanting to create troubles for the Autobots, so he didn't just blew them to oblivion. Besides one of them looked familiar, save the puny little flaps for wings…

"Winglord Starscream?"

Starscream looked at the dragonformer amazed. It was millenias since he has last been called by that title… yes he was the last winglord of Vos, but not many knew it, and certainly not Megatron. Who was this dragon?

"I am Starscream, yes… who are you? Or rather what?"

"It was explained to me as parallel universes" came the dragon's answer "It seems we have much in common, except the forms we take – and I suspect the timelines that seem to be moving differently here. In my world, we have just met, less than a vorn ago."

Parallel universes… Thundercracker picked up his jaw from the floor and tried to collect his wits. However interesting it was, they should get away and fast before the Autobots caught them here, on the ground.

"Uhh… Screamer… the Autobots…" – they were already closing on them and he had no idea of their alliance or the measure of cooperation with the dragons.

"Why have you attacked my mate?" – The dragon-Megatron was looming over the three of them, looking far more menacing than their Lord ever could. It might have had something to do with the small lick of that terrible flame that was still clinging to his mouth, ready to be unleashed at any klik. It was far more terrifying than the fusion cannon and that one was already off the scale. Fortunately Starscream was well-versed in begging to him for mercy…

"We didn't know mighty Megatron that he was your mate! We were ordered by this world's Megatron, our Commander to attack the Autobots' base! Didn't know you would be here! We beg forgiveness!"

"I see. So you followed my counterpart's orders."

"Y-yes my Lord."

"I am not your Lord then. You are not even a dragon." – he turned towards the approaching Autobots, measuring the situation, not really wanting to interfere with this world's tribes and warfare. Optimus was not harmed seriously, the slight burn is already healed and the two of them were victorious over these strange fliers. – "Begone." – he growled, the voice hissing with menacing fire. Starscream and his Trine scrambled to transform and fly away as fast as they could, collecting the demoralized and scattered Coneheads on their way. How could they explain it to Megatron – their own one – not even Starscream knew yet.

The Autobots weren't happy that he let the Seekers go but couldn't really do anything about it, besides Ironhide glowering which the dragons promptly ignored. They started to salvage their base from the ruins while the two dragons picked up the wizard who promised them to return to their dimension to save his life. By midday he told them he would have enough magical energy to make the transition again, to return them into their world.