secretlystephaniebrown - Tumblr blog

secretlystephaniebrown · 17 hours ago

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so @youkaiyume talked with me about a fury road/transformers crossover partly because bayverse megatron looked a whole fucking lot like the war rig for a while there, and now there’s this bizarre thing that lives in my head where megatron is like……. the weird homicidal yet affable uncle of the new citadel i don’t know okay

it’s not unusual at all for people to talk to their cars, even to give them names, especially not now that vehicles define the difference between life and death for so many

“bumblebee” might be a bit cutesy for max’s tastes, but the car in question and the woman coaxing it with quiet words seem to fit the name, anyway. it’s a rounded buggy thing with traces of yellow paint clinging to the metal in between the rust and welded-on reinforcements, and she’s young, probably in her twenties, surprisingly clean and healthy looking for this far out in the wastes

max is going to shrug and keep moving- he’s got the guzz he came to this trade outpost for- except that with the trunk lid lifted for the woman to get at the buggy’s rear-mounted engine block, he can see a very distinctive blue glow glimmering from inside the car’s mechanics. it’s rare but not entirely out of the question for this woman to have modded her car to include a light for decoration, but it’s the exact same color that he’s seen elsewhere, and the engine components are suspiciously clean for something that must have driven thousands of kilometers over the sand

seeing the imprint of a blocky face-like emblem welded deep-set on the bonnet, just barely smudged with traces of red paint, seals it in max’s mind

he sighs, and moves to slowly approach the pair

“nice car,” he calls out from a few paces away, carefully keeping his body language nonthreatening

the girl looks at him over her shoulder, sizes him up, and then smiles. “thanks.” back in the days before the world went to shit he’d have said she was cute, hair a dark wavy chop and nose kind of snubbed, eyes sparkling. nowadays he notices the gun slung around her waist- heavy, but probably not too big for her to have a problem handling- and the jewelry on her fingers, thick rings that look like they’d hurt to get punched by

max nods, and gestures to the emblem on the front of the buggy. “interesting logo. your tribe?”

the woman stiffens immediately, slamming the lid of the trunk down and twisting herself protectively in front of the car, one hand reaching for the butt of her gun

at the same time, the car shudders on its wheels despite clearly not having anyone inside of it. it could just be from the force of the lid slamming, but…

max holds up his hands, palm-out and placating. “hey, s’okay,” he says, “i’ve uh, got a… friend with the same logo”

which is stretching the truth somewhat, but is still close enough for him to commit to it out loud

the woman puts one of her hands on the rounded wheel-arch of the buggy, patting it like a spooked animal. “that so,” she says. her eyes are suspicious, as he would expect of anyone’s this far past the fall, but she doesn’t pull her gun on him which is about as good as he can hope for

max nods. “your, uh, car,” he says, pitching his voice so it won’t carry far, “i’ve got a bit of energon, if you want”

the girl’s eyes widen, darting past max to scan the area. they’re in an out-of-the-way spot, but not completely hidden

it takes a good bit more coaxing, and explaining, but eventually max has the girl- charlie, she says- agreeing to stop by the citadel with bumblebee, who is indeed a transforming autobot and not just a buggy with a cute name. max does his best to not mention megatron by name, hedging details about who exactly he’s talking about (arcee doesn’t technically live at the citadel, but it’s clear the pair recognize the name, and max isn’t above using subterfuge to convince them of his [honest] intentions)

it’s three weeks before charlie and bumblebee actually show up at the citadel, unfortunately on a day when arcee is well away, scouting the sands with valkyrie. at the lift they’re used to the strays max lures in from time to time, so when charlie gives his name and steadfastly refuses to let her car be stored in the ground-level garage, the lift leader just shrugs and brings them both up

megatron is, unfortunately, already in robot mode when charlie and bumblebee drive into the garage bay. it might have bought max a few more seconds of peace if they hadn’t recognized him right away

charlie seems merely surprised, but bumblebee instantly transforms- and max should probably have guessed that a car as round and compact as a buggy would make for a round and compact robot as well, but after megatron and even arcee’s pointy features he hadn’t been prepared for it in reality- and levels some kind of weapon at megatron, buzzing angrily like his namesake

“ah, bumblebee,” megatron says drolly, casually (and yet with a level of care that still seems strange even now) dislodging the numerous war pups who like using his hulking frame as a climbing structure, “how good to see you again”

“wow,” charlie says, “i guess the rumors were true for once”

megatron inclines his head in her direction, which is more deference than most humans get from him

static spits out from bumblebee’s direction, his weapon starting to glow a threatening, powered-up blue

max doesn’t regret bringing them here (yet) but he does regret being in the garage to see the showdown. thankfully furiosa appears in one of the doorways before things come to blows, and he lets out a breath of relief

“megatron,” she calls to the massive robot as if he’s just another of her crew, her voice even and calm, “we talked about fighting inside”

megatron smirks a little, amused as always by the way furiosa talks to him- any other human and he would have killed them long ago, max knows, but furiosa he lets get away with it. “merely greeting an old friend,” he says

“hi,” charlie says to furiosa, one hand on bumblebee’s leg but not really doing much to restrain him. “did you know you have a genocidal warlord in your garage?”

megatron actually chuckles at that, but doesn’t refute the accusation

“i’ve been informed,” furiosa says drily. “is he going to shoot?” she nods in bumblebee’s direction. “we have structural integrity concerns”

“bee,” charlie says, and proceeds to get surprisingly hands-on in calming down the giant (well, big compared to a human anyway. compared to megatron, bumblebee is honestly rather small) robot. max shifts his weight back on his heels as he watches, trying not to wonder exactly what sort their relationship is

“come, scout,” megatron says, slowly rising up to his feet- and no, max doesn’t think he’ll ever be fully used to how large the guy is when he’s not a truck. “let’s catch up on old times in a less fragile location”

bumblebee buzzes like a tin can full of hornets, but after a few quiet words from charlie, begrudgingly transforms back into a car and follows megatron, likewise folding himself into his truck form, out of the garage

max remembers back to the blissful years he’d had before megatron had revealed himself on the fury road, shattering max’s illusions about the sanctity of cars being just machinery (he’s still not sure if it was a relief or a disappointment to conclusively rule out his interceptor as being anything but an ordinary car). life was so much simpler back then

“so,” charlie says, and folds her arms over her chest, chin set. “how did you end up working for megatron?”

furiosa raises an eyebrow, mouth quirking in amusement, but max can see the tension at the corners of her eyes. “i don’t work for him,” she says. “he’s at the citadel for the same reasons as anyone else”

charlie hums thoughtfully. “he doesn’t have the decepticon insignia anymore”

furiosa shakes her head. “i know the full story; their civil war, megatron’s role in it. even the loss of the matrix. he removed his brand like we removed ours.” she doesn’t turn around and show off the thick slash of scar tissue through the brand on the back of her neck, but most at the citadel bear the same mark. he’d be surprised if charlie doesn’t catch the reference

the war pups dislodged from climbing megatron’s frame finally overcome their shyness of strangers to approach charlie, one of them warily pushed into the front of the pack. “you’re friends with a robot too?”

charlie flashes a smile. “i sure am,” she says

one of the war pups claps their hands eagerly, and charlie is immediately swamped with questions

max sidles over to furiosa, brushing his shoulder against hers

“you know arcee said she was looking for a bot called bumblebee,” furiosa says

he hums, and shrugs. he’s got a knack for finding people and things, for being in the right place at the right time (or the very wrong place and time, as several misadventures can attest). he certainly hadn’t planned to find the pair, but that’s just how things work out for him sometimes

“radio working yet?” max asks

she shakes her head. “still just short-range”

which means arcee isn’t gonna know about her comrade-slash-family’s visit, and if bumblebee and megatron really get to scrapping, there might not be enough left of the bug for her to see when she does get in next. it’s not really his problem, though, not unless furiosa and the girls decide to send him out looking for the motorcycle-robot

megatron and bumblebee return to the citadel near dark, the smaller car still visibly unhappy- and how max knows a car is unhappy is something he’s not going to dwell on, because that way lies madness

“are you still fit for the trade run tomorrow?” furiosa asks megatron, eyeing the scorched areas of his metal exterior pointedly. apparently the two robots really had come to blows out there

the intakes on megatron’s superchargers flare open and closed, as close to an affronted huff as he can manage when still a truck. “the cycle i can’t handle a trade run,” he says with derision, “you may have me dismantled for parts”

max is tempted, but doesn’t point out that there have, actually, been times where megatron wasn’t able to go on outings. like that time another decepticon (this one not so much reformed) had ‘visited’ and the two nearly killed each other. or the one where megatron got a virus from trying to connect to one of the satellites floating by. or blew out three tires on a buzzard trap and refused to accept “inferior earth rubbish” as a replacement and instead waited a painfully long time for his self-repair to fix the issue

furiosa’s eyes meet max’s, exchanging a look that assures him they’re on the same page re: megatron’s dramatics

“it’s strange seeing you in this alt-mode,” charlie says. when max glances at her, bumblebee is back to being a robot and also is cradling her against himself, a position she seems completely comfortable with. alright then. “if you changed your paint scheme, you’d remind me of-“

megatron rocks ever so slightly on his wheels. “spare me your comparisons,” he says, cutting her off. “this vehicle is practical, and nothing more”

charlie hums, clearly not convinced by what he’s said. max feels left out of the loop, though he’s established after talking with charlie some that she’s much older than she looks, having been a friend of the autobots (and “friend” to bumblebee in particular, apparently) since before the end. it stands to reason that people who know each other for that long of a time have conversations that don’t always make sense from the outside

max scratches at the growth of hair on his jaw and says, “ah, you need to refuel?”

which kicks off a round of questions about their energon supply, and how charlie and bumblebee hadn’t picked up traces of it before (the answer: you can hide a lot behind several thick meters of solid stone), and what exactly the citadel is charging to take some of it

“if you’re out for peace, it’s free,” furiosa says

“and if we’re not?” charlie replies, leaning against bumblebee’s leg, one of his hands curling carefully around her shoulder

“then i’d offline you,” megatron says casually, stretching himself like a languid cat as he unfolds from his truck form

bumblebee buzzes at that, looking like he’d enjoy testing megatron’s ability to do as he says

max watches this with slight apprehension; it has the atmosphere of an incipit brawl, despite their earlier go at “catching up”. furiosa’s gaze remains calm and cool, completely unruffled by the large deadly robots they have in their garage

“we haven’t heard of you making trouble,” she says, “so your word would suffice”

charlie reaches up and grabs bumblebee’s hand briefly, then smiles. “it’s been ages since we found any unpolluted energon”

which is how the citadel gains its third giant transforming robot affiliate. then arcee finally gets back, and they’re nearly back to just the two after she has a go at pummeling bumblebee into the dust

“it’s fine,” charlie says over arcee’s shouts and the sound of various weapons powering up with an unconcerned smile, “they’ll work it out”

(max takes the opportunity to check through his interceptor’s mechanics again, and is either reassured or disappointed to see that it remains perfectly ordinary earth machinery)

#something about queue and I #oh man I love this #fanfic recs #Transformers #Mad Max: Fury Road

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