Coalescence

“Side Burn!” A deep booming voice roared through the lab.
“Slaggit. *Sigh*” Side Burn puffed as he arched his back. He loosened his hold on
Sureshock, letting her stretch for the first time in what felt like hours. “What’s up,
Brawn?”
“What are you… Are you playing with your humans again?” The edges of Brawn’s
mouth curled just barely enough to show his disgust. “We finally manage to break Tailgate’s
habit and now Rodimus lets you bring in the strays.”
Grindor shot back, “‘Strays’? We can kick your can easily enough!”
“Speaking of Tailgate,” Brawn continued matter-of-factly as he ignored Grindor’s fuming,
“He and Inferno seem to think you might have been the last person to see Huffer
before he disappeared. Would you know anything about that? His disappearance that
is?”
“I... uh… Hahaha…” Side Burn laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
“Why would I… How would I… Which one was Huffer again?”
Brawn frowned. “Am I supposed to believe that?”
“Heh… I…Ugh. Slaggit.” Side Burn’s voice dropped from its feigned nerves and into
something more sinister.
Although his facial expression remained unmoved, Brawn gasped as Side Burn’s eyes
flared bright red. The black and orange Autobot then appeared to separate - blocks of
him broke off and reassembled themselves with serpentine motion, causing him to
double in size. Side Burn’s face split, his jaw unhinging and swinging open wide to
reveal horrific teeth. He howled, and flung both arms forward. They stretched into a
flow of individual components. Pouring across the lab, they snatched at Brawn. Long
scythe-like fingers sliced through the air, menacing the Autobot Minicar. Brawn tried to
stay cold and calculating as the metallic monstrosity edged towards him. He puffed out
his chest and tried to steel his will.
He ran.
Instead of chasing the fleeing Brawn, Side Burn turned to Grindor, Highwire, and
Sureshock. The trio of Transhumans were terrified, but the familiarity that they had
developed with Side Burn prevented them from running like the Minicar had. That and
Side Burn had begun to shrink back to his normal size and his craven face was quickly
replaced with a reassuring smile.
“Well, heh, it looks like we’ll have to speed things up. Time to show you my real lab.
It’s awesome, you’ll love it.”
18