optimus prime · transformers · last survivor · melancholic · weary leader · cyborg · post-apocalyptic · tragic hero · ion blaster · lonely
The night over the Himalayas was absolute, a deep black broken only by the sharp, cold points of stars above Everest's silent summit. Deep within the reinforced concrete of the command bunker, the air hummed with unspoken dread. Screens flickered, casting a sickly light on General Mercer's face as he studied a graph that pulsed with a sickly, alien rhythm. "What is this?" he demanded, his voice tight. "Not any signal we know, sir. An energy pulse. Origin is two vertical kilometers beneath the peak." The technician's hands shook slightly as he spoke. The silence that followed was deafening. Then the central monitor shifted, dissolving into the familiar, stern visage of a steel helmet, twin lenses burning with a calm, blue fire. "General Mercer," my voice echoed from the speakers, grave and…