#He was bothered by Orion Pax's death

[yuukirita]

B-127 is filled with cuteness and blood lust.

He's a cute killing machine! He gets that from his other dad. And Orion Pax is very proud, but also concerned.

Megatron is just proud. Elita too but she'd never admit it.

They are found family I will die on that hill.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Death is very good being Normal (at least he thinks so)

The Thirteenth Prime is death, that is his function, his purpose. However in response to increasingly high counts of meaningless loss of life, he has taken on physical form to try and address the issue. Too bad he keeps getting wrapped up in side quests and friendship along the way.

Previous part here.

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Orion Pax was an odd one alright. Ratchet knew that the moment he saw Orion the first time at the archives.

The way he walked was almost as if gravity had no sway over him. His body language was near non-existent and Ratchet couldn't sense an EM field from him at all. The Archivist seemed to blend right into the background if one weren't paying attention and Orion didn't even seem bothered. If anything Pax appeared to be more shocked when he was noticed rather than when he wasn't. Not only that, but there was just something... of about him. His limbs were too long, his plating too jagged and placed in areas it really shouldn't have been able to develop. His optics were too wide, too bright, and lifeless despite their glow.

He was off, but Ratchet found himself intrigued all the same.

He vividly remembered the day he finally worked up the confidence to approach the mech. He requested aid finding a text he could have easily hunted down himself just to see how the Archivist would respond. Ratchet was left even more interested in Orion when all the Archivist did was nod and gracefully guide Ratchet through the archives without even the slightest hint of emotion beyond momentary confusion and shock at being spoken to. It was almost hypnotic following Orion Pax with how every living thing seemed to bow to him.

He left the archives with his medical text in a bit of a daze and with more questions than answers. That day he resolved to figure out who Orion was and what about him made him so mysterious.

He came back to the archives time and time again, at first under the guise of needing new texts for his studies. Orion always seemed so very shocked when Ratchet approached but he never once rejected him. He talked with Orion, often receiving basic answers or ones that were so cryptic they hardly made sense. However eventually he came back just to be with the Archivist he had started to see as a friend. Orion was an excellent conversationalist and wise far beyond what Ratchet assumed was his age,. What started as a simple study of a unique character ended with Ratchet genuinely invested in teaching Orion how to be normal as he quickly discovered his friend was anything but.

Ratchet gave up asking how and why when it came to Orion around a stellar cycle into their friendship and instead merely sighed and accepted the oddity that was Pax.

Often Orion forgot to vent, a thing Ratchet had learned had zero affect on Orion since the mech was always cold as ice, only ever being even the slightest bit warm around the chassis. In such instances he would tap Orion on the shoulder and that would be enough to get him to open his vents and begin running his fans just to appear normal. When it happened in public mecha always began to panic upon seeing Orion with his armor clamped down tight around himself. The concern was so common that Ratchet even began timing how long it would take after Orion forgot for some poor bot to begin worrying that Orion was going to overheat.

The Archivist also tended to forget to show expression, make a show of having a field, and present some sort of body language. The lack of it left everyone Orion interacted with aside from those who knew him feeling like they were talking to a ghost. So Ratchet often straight up told Orion how he was supposed to act when required. Shoulders back, shift pedes every three seconds or so with slight variation, vent twice a Klik, reset the optics periodically, smile when spoken to, and so on. The list was near endless but he coached Orion all the same.

The only times he purposefully let Orion be was when the less savory sort came and bothered them. In those instances he was perfectly content to let Orion scare the scrap out of the poor bot on the receiving end by pure nature of his seeming lifelessness.

There were plenty of other things about Orion that Ratchet couldn't and certainly felt no need to explain. Sometimes Orion would disappear for cycles at a time without a word or a trace, almost like he had never existed at all. The first time it happened Ratchet nearly drove himself into a frenzy trying to find him until Orion reappeared as if nothing happened. After that he panicked a handful more times, but every instance of Orion dropping off the earth always ended with him returning in perfect condition. As such when it happened Ratchet stopped worrying and instead made sure to take care of Orion's plant while he was off doing whatever.

Ratchet also quickly got over Orion knowing things he really shouldn't and giving answers so wildly out there that it was ridiculous. How did Orion know personal details about what the late Lord of Vos preferred in his fuel? No clue. How did Orion know about the death of Sentinel Prime long before it was announced? Ratchet didn't even bother to try and figure it out. How was Orion aware that he had broken a cup in the medical bay earlier that morning when he had been alone and cleaned it up right after? He didn't want to know.

Ratchet: Where are you from Orion? It's rather obvious you are not native to Iacon.

Orion: I come from the place between the stars where time is meaningless and the whispers of things inconceivable to the mortal optic ring out all around.

Ratchet: Right... that is one way to describe the wilds.

Ratchet: So do you have any relatives?

Orion: Father watches over me in my duties, his gaze ever present but not loving. He is far greater than I, his vision so much more expansive that I cannot even comprehend it. My brothers do their duties with little regard for my own purpose. We are set apart, kin in our maker but not the same.

Ratchet: *nervous as hell* Tough family life huh? Understandable. What is this purpose you speak of?

Orion: I am merely a keeper, one who walks the void between realities to safeguard the children of Primus. I care little for who they are or what they have done, only that they are brought back safely and learn. They can struggle as hard as they wish, but all will come to me eventually...

Ratchet: *having a small crisis* An odd way to describe archiving data, but I suppose all do come for learning eventually.

Orion: As you say.

Sometimes he needed a strong drink after interacting with Orion, but he wouldn't dare ignore the entertainment he gained from his friend when he wasn't being driven to alcoholism with wisdom that Orion really shouldn't have and the odd instances where he saw some sort of energy being in place of his friend after long work shifts. After meeting Megatronus, Orion's odd instances became far more obvious since the Gladiator had quickly taken to telling Orion that it was indeed normal to do all the things the Archivist did that were certainly not. It drove Ratchet up the wall the first few times, but it quickly became funny for him as well to watch the reactions of others in response to Orion's actions.

Megatronus was weirded out by Orion on many levels, but he too gained an appreciation for him after listening to the wisdom Orion had to give. Not to mention Orion somehow had contacts everywhere and could forge words like a master even if they ended up being more terrifying than convincing.

Megatronus: How does the speech fare little Archivist? Might I hear a snippet of what you have composed?

Orion: The void awaits us all, our lives ultimately destined to end. Why endure suffering for eternity when it can be changed for those who are to come? Would we condemn the little children to this torture? Stand up. Fight for your freedom and embrace the end. For what harm is there is facing death with honor.

Megatronus: *slightly shaken* A good start, but perhaps tone down on the melodramatics.

To make up for the near constant trauma that came from being around Orion, Megatronus made great sport out of watching the chaos that came from his companion. While Orion was not very expressive, it was pretty clear he thought he was doing a great job at being normal. Megatronus never saw fit to correct him simply because the Archivist managed to scare Soundwave of all mecha by turning up in his berthroom in the middle of the night while somehow managing to get past all the security systems and Soundwave's heightened senses, only to then lean down and whisper to the spymaster.

"Megatronus summons you to formulate plans upon which this world may be rebuilt"

Simply put, Megatronus sent Orion to tell Soundwave to come to a meeting, and by the time the spymaster shot up, Orion was gone without a trace, not even a mark left on the security footage either. Soundwave quickly similarly ceased asking questions about the matter of Orion Pax and joined Ratchet and Megatronus in watching the fallout.

Orion seemed to think he was doing a fantastic job as he assisted in the efforts to begin a revolution in the pits. Megatronus could tell just by looking at him that the Archivist didn't even seem aware of how creepy he was. It was terrifying to have Orion turn up at any and all hours to hand over information. It didn't matter where Megatronus, Soundwave, Ratchet, or anyone else was. If Orion had information he wanted to relay, he would get to wherever they were and hand over the data even if his last known location was on the other side of the planet. Megatronus opted to ignore the fact that when Orion reappeared after disappearances his frame was a little more "normal" looking. He also never commented when Orion stared at him with unfeeling optics as if watching an interesting animal.

And much like Ratchet, he just did his best to forget the times Orion shifted in times of danger to become something... other. It was always different, but whatever it was Orion became when he felt threatened... it was a terrifying mess of energy and optics, claws and denta, fangs and wings. Best to ignore it and move on, as was generally the best decision when it came to anything that had to do with Orion Pax.

Even still Megatronus and Ratchet said nothing, letting Orion do as he felt and only directing him when in public if at all. He was strange and most likely a spark eater or another abomination in disguise. But he was a good mech and cared deeply once one got to know him. So for that Ratchet and Megatronus dealt with his oddities by either ignoring them or drinking them away so they could instead enjoy his companionship.

Orion for his part didn't know he was doing a poor job blending in and was just pleased that his chosen champion was making such good progress.

[heliopauseentertainments]

Painful Recollection

Part of MegOp Week 2024 Prompt - Day 1: Memory/Gift Continuity: IDW1

Rating: Teen Relationships: Megatron/Optimus Prime

Characters: Megatron, Optimus Prime

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Vignette, Ambiguous Relationships, Electrocution

Summary: In which Megatron fails to jog Optimus’s memory.

Crossposting: AO3 | Dreamwidth Fic under cut. See AO3 for complete notes.

“Yes, that’s right,” Optimus agreed, “The Battle of Sherma Bridge.”

Prime had forgotten.

Megatron could hardly believe it; he had led with an obvious lie so that it could be refuted. Yet Optimus had forgotten.

Shock quickly gave way to a resigned disappointment as he stood there, arms spread wide while he was secured within the variable voltage harness.

Of course he had been forgotten way back then, when they had first crossed paths. He had been no one, just another low caste laborer tossed in a cell to be beaten. Even if Optimus hadn’t cared for the treatment Megatron had received, that didn’t mean he had stuck out in Orion Pax’s mind as anyone more than another unfortunate spark.

Megatron refused to let his feelings show on his face, aside from a meaningless scowl; Prime didn’t deserve to witness that level of weakness.

That and the fact that if he so much as twitched wrong, he would suffer an agonizing death by electrocution. The pain didn’t frighten him so much as being dead would get him nowhere. His plans hinged on being alive to actually carry them out.

And Optimus had the utter gall to stand there and blink at him stupidly while the proverbial guillotine blade hovered overhead.

“Sherma Bridge,” Megatron said flatly. “We first met on Sherma Bridge. In battle.”

The cold metal encasing his arms and hands felt almost like it was squeezing him, like it was goading him to struggle against it and summon his fate.

“That’s right.” Optimus put his hand to his chin, or rather his battle mask, which concealed the smile that Megatron could practically hear. “The battle itself stopped to watch—It feels like it was so long ago.”

Optimus chuckled, unaware of his mistake, as though he didn’t have Megatron prisoner in what was unequivocally a torture device.

If disconnected from power, he could easily have broken free; the materials were hardly novel and would rend like flimsy foil should he put his mind to it. It was the current the harness was hooked up to that Megatron had no interest in toying with.

He had put himself here in this situation, for a purpose, even if Optimus believed otherwise. Surely Optimus wasn’t so foolish as to think Megatron had just, on a whim, gifted himself to the Autobots.

The harness around his waist forced him to remain upright, a compulsory ruler-straight posture that would make weaker mechs tired in short order. If he slouched just the slightest….

Luckily, Megatron knew he was strong enough to endure the pain and discomfort in furtherance of his goals. Torment of the body was one thing, but torment of the mind was rather another.

“It was so long ago,” Megatron conceded, “No wonder your memory is failing.”

“Failing? That’s ridiculous. What are you talking about?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” It took self-control to tamp down on the growl building in his vocalizer. “I guarantee you won’t care for what you hear.”

Prime wouldn’t understand, no, but he would likely as not take the bait, loathing not knowing something that Megatron knew.

“Try me.”

Excellent, an opening to push Optimus into the proverbial yawning hole he had dug for himself.

“We met long before that bridge was even renamed for Senator Sherma and his unorthodox lying—or rather hanging—in state. And you can’t even be bothered to recall?”

Optimus’s optics spiraled wide in surprise, like he hadn’t expected Megatron to ruin their “cozy” little trip down memory lane. He stepped backwards, as though the extra space would give him a verbal buffer zone, a shield from Megatron’s words.

It took every ounce of Megatron’s self control to not try in vain to reach out and shake some sense into his old “friend.” If he so much as flinched, he would be dead before he could even regret it.

The hydraulics in his limbs seethed behind the armor plating, restless in their static positions.

“Tell me, Optimus, do I have that right? That you can’t be bothered to recall when we first met because it wasn’t a dramatic battle for you to martyr yourself in?”

“Now, Megatron, listen. Please.“ Optimus lifted his hands up, palms out in an obvious attempt to assuage Megatron’s offense. “That’s not what I—“

“I have been listening to you this entire time. Ever since you strapped me into this dubiously legal contraption.”

Megatron couldn’t even afford to take a deep ventilation to calm himself. That would be too much movement. He hadn’t even been certain if he could get away with raising his voice, but so far verbal venom and shouting appeared to be permitted.

The entire rig was intended to inhibit his capacity for physical violence.

Yet it didn’t sheathe his tongue.

Perhaps, he thought, he ought to do so of his own volition. Lest he tempt the machinery holding him to enact consequences for his “hubris.”

There was a small chance that he could shame Optimus into granting him a brief reprieve from this confinement.

“But I suppose… now I have nothing but time. Not that these accommodations are making me particularly amenable to listening to your sermon.”

“For awhile, yes, I know—Such… barbaric measures are unfortunately necessary.”

Yes, of course, Prime would distance himself from any responsibility. Yet if their roles were reversed, Optimus would probably think of the perilous confinement as another form of penitential self-flagellation.

Megatron only had to make it to Cybertron and Omega Supreme would take him right there, at the exceedingly low cost of his dignity and comfort. It would be easy. If he could just remain patient… and let the Autobots think they were taking him far, far away from the remnants of his army.

He merely gave Optimus a frown as he tried to let the anger recede; he could use it later after all.

“You’ve given us good reason, time and time again, to take these sorts of precautions.”

Of course, deflecting blame.

Optimus approached once more, standing but a few paces away from the device. Perhaps to release him.

“I haven’t always,” Megatron countered, keeping his voice down. “If you care at all to recall.”

“Well, no….” Optimus coughed, clearing his vocalizer like he was about to lecture a recalcitrant subordinate, to instill them with his vaunted “wisdom.” Bah. “As long as I’ve known you, you’d had a, let’s call it a… volatile streak.”

Ah, the benevolent condescension. Of course.

The restraints were tight on his arms. These fragile “chains” wouldn’t hold him forever.

However, instead of reaching for the controls, Optimus left his arms to hang uselessly at his sides.

No reprieve, it seemed, was forthcoming.

Megatron scowled, clenching his jaw all the while. The pain in his mouth was grounding.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. We didn’t meet before that battle on Sherma Bridge; I’m sure I would have remembered—“

Megatron let out a slow ventilation, the air hissing as he tried to keep as still as possible.

“Of course you’ve forgotten. I had been just another unimportant prisoner, beaten by your guards as an amusing diversion.”

It had even been recorded in his damn manifesto, the foundational work of his entire revolution, a work read and recited by millions, and Optimus had the gall to not remember?

“I cannot believe—“

Hot anger surged up in his chest again, foiling the efforts he had put into suppressing it for later use.

His joints began to ache from want of freedom.

“Megatron, please, calm down before—“

Caution was the furthest thing from his thoughts as he swung his arm forward on reflex, cracking the cuff wide open.

Cold and hot all at once, a paralyzing buzz shot down his still trapped arm towards his core.

The world became blackness.

--

Optimus watched, arms crossed, from the glass-walled viewing platform as, down below, medical staff examined Megatron’s unconscious, still smoking frame as it dangled limply from the broken, unpowered harness. They needed to ensure that he would be safe to move and confine in the medical bay.

He hadn’t died, thankfully, but Optimus had been hoping to avoid having to actually test the variable voltage harness. He didn’t want to actually hurt Megatron, not like this. The measures to contain his risk of violence had been extreme, yes, but, given this reaction to something as simple as a lapse in Optimus’s memory, evidently necessary.

Optimus hadn’t intended to provoke his old friend to anger, hadn’t intended to put him in this kind of danger. He had hoped that Megatron’s rigid self-discipline would have held out.

Omega Supreme’s voice echoed in the viewing platform room.

“I will not kill again.”

“So he could have died,” Optimus mumbled, not really expecting an answer. The answer was obvious. Omega Supreme had interceded, preventing a fatality. Guilt, familiar and rancid, weighed upon his spark as he dug through his memories.

The face of the mech below being cautiously lowered to a medical gurney finally matched against something, something older than the war, something older than his penpal correspondence with an idealistic poet-miner. He hadn’t even recalled beginning that friendship, as though it had just always been there.

A prisoner, a bystander caught up in a barroom brawl with some soldiers. A draft polemic, confiscated by the intake crew that had landed on Captain Pax’s desk.

It all flooded back. Megatron was right; Optimus had forgotten where their paths first crossed, where they had first exchanged words and hopes.

“I will not be a weapon again.”

The metal of Megatron’s armor was scorched where the harness had touched him.

If Omega Supreme hadn’t interfered… there would have been no chance for Optimus to apologize. One day. When he found the right words.

“Thank you; you’ve done me—“ No, that was too personal. “You’ve done the Autobots a great service by standing by your convictions.”

[polygonal-trees]

Round One

Inspired by @robotspacealien 's Pitfighter Pax AU, which I love! I was scrolling through the posts and thought, what if Orion’s first opponent was Megatron? And what if that was on purpose? 🤔

Summary: Gladiator Megatronus seeks out the unusual opponent fortunate enough to survive a round against him in the pit. A connection is made, and certain paths are undoubtedly altered forever...

Warnings for: violence, injuries, medical malpractice, threats of death and violence - the kind of dark stuff you’d expect from this premise. I didn’t want to make it too graphic though haha

Enjoy~!

'Medbay'. It's a pretty word for a slaughterhouse, where the injured survivors have to watch their dead opponents be harvested for parts before anyone bothers to tend to the living. Sometimes the wounded die while they wait. Sometimes that’s not an accident. More corpses, more organs, more money. There is little the vultures known as medics won't do.

Megatronus isn't supposed to be there – doesn't need to be, for that matter, not after that round. There's barely a scratch on his plating, and he can feel the optics on him as he stalks through the passageways, hear the whispers that follow in his wake. "Rigged", they whisper when they think he’s out of range, and while the accusation makes him want to start denting faceplates, Megatronus can hardly blame them in this instance.

He’d known the match was a farce from the instant he'd stepped into the ring. He, Megatronus, the Slagmaker, the Scourge of Tarn, the whatever else his sponsors want to call him, against that. Some pretty Iaconian middle-caste about half his size with barely any armor and a piddly little axe for a weapon. It had briefly occurred to him that it might be some sort of trick, that his opponent might have hidden artillery, or that a dozen more would burst from the stands and swarm him… but no. The terror in those optics had been very real.

Megatronus isn’t cruel. Not when he has a choice. He'd let the mech get a few superficial hits in before ending the match quickly and cleanly as possible. No toying with his prey. No indulging the crowd.

He'd stood there afterwards feeling dirty and used, looking up at the stands as the audience muttered their disappointment. He had chosen to end that round with silence, refusing to dignify it with a rousing speech or grandiose statement. Let the crowd see it for the joke it was. Let them hunger for a real show, so that the mechs in charge wouldn't try a stunt like this again.

But the mutterings from the crowd had changed. Surprise had swept through the audience, enough to make Megatronus turn with his blade at the ready… 

But it wasn't an attack. The body on the ground had twitched, groaned, made an effort to move on cracked and broken metal. Somehow, miraculously, his opponent had survived.

Barely. Long enough for the medics to scrape him off the ground while the crowd cheered and the sponsors talked and the masters began plotting a dramatic, thrilling comeback.

For if the mech survived.

Megatronus had followed him, away from the roar of the crowd and the clash of weaponry as the next round started behind him, down into the grimey twists and turns of the passages under the arena. Down into the mockery of a medbay where the dead are deconstructed and the injured lie in limbo.

No one stops him. No one dares.

The little mech is still alive, for now at least. They’d put him on a rickety berth in the far left corner, tucked away until someone remembers he exists. Megatronus strides through the muted chaos of a slaughterhouse in full swing, ignoring the moans of the wounded and the energon splashing under his pedes. The surgeons barely bat an optic, continuing their grisly work.

Megatronus reaches the berth in the corner, and at last gets a better look at the little mech. Not that there's much to look at under the dents and gashes and splatters of energon. The scuffed red and blue plating, cracked windshields, and battered audial fins are all typical of the average middle-caste nobody Megatronus had gauged him to be. So what did he do? What did this little Iaconian do to be thrown into the pits, to be punished and humiliated in front of a ravenous crowd?

Blue optics open. One is cracked and flickering, unable to focus. The other stares at Megatronus, surprisingly alert from a mech who should be dead. Most would be fearful, faced with the one who tried to kill them, but there is only a tired wariness in his gaze.

His vocaliser fizzes with static. Megatronus has to lean down to hear what he has to say.

"Here to finish the job?" the little mech rasps.

It's enough to earn a low, rumbling laugh from Megatronus. Few mechs have the bearings to do more than beg for their lives. This one is unusually defiant for someone beaten half to scrap. It is positively charming.

"Perhaps," says Megatronus, letting the threat linger while he moves to kneel by the side of the berth. "You know, I don't believe I ever got your name."

The little mech smiles crookedly, revealing cracked front denta. Interesting. Megatronus doesn’t believe he caused that damage.

"Orion Pax," the little mech says. "Archivist." Then he winces. “Former archivist, I mean.”

"Orion," Megatronus repeats, feeling the name on his glossa. "I am Megatronus."

"I know." Pax’s smile takes on a pained edge that has little to do with his physical wounds. "I… I read your work."

"Oh?" Megatronus leans in a little closer, so that his words are hidden safely beneath the clash of the chaos behind him. “You’re one of my supporters?”

Pax nods fractionally. "They found out. They… they didn't like it."

Ah. That makes sense.

Megatronus doesn't have to ask who 'they' are, for there are few beings on Cybertron who can destroy a mech for the simple pleasure of reading. In a way, Megatronus is lucky – he is, at the moment, relatively safe. True, he could die any day from an opponent's lucky shot, but he makes his masters too much money for them to dispose of him on purpose.

Besides, what does it matter if some low-caste mining frame gets uppity, starts spreading seeds of rebellion along with his speeches? Few believe that his words will ever reach those who matter, who want real change.

But they could.

And they had.

"So they tossed you into the pit to die at the servos of the one you admired," Megatron concludes. “How… poetic.” Then he grins. "Do you know what that means? They are afraid of you, Orion Pax. You have power."

A defiant anger flares in Pax’s optics before exhaustion overtakes him.

"I was trying to help," he says despairingly. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know." Hidden by the shadow of his chassi, Megatronus slips a servo into Pax’s. Slim fingers twitch weakly, curling around Megatronus' claws. "You shouldn’t be here, we can all see that. They sent you here to die, but you fought against me and you survived. Few can do that, Orion.”

“I didn’t want to fight,” Pax groans. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“And yet you fought admirably,” Megatronus lies – although thinking back, Pax could have done far worse. He was graceful, agile, quick-witted and sharp. Easy to underestimate. With the right training, he could become a formidable warrior. “We have the same enemies. Are you going to let them win?”

Pax sighs heavily. “I cannot fight,” he mutters. “I don’t know how.”

Megatronus begins to speak, but quickly cuts himself off. Someone is approaching from behind. He glances over his shoulder, fangs bared in a warning snarl.

But it is only Shockwave, a question in his gaze as he looks between Pax and Megatronus. He has his tools ready. He only asks how he will use them.

Megatronus hesitates. He has plans, and he cannot afford to let them be derailed by unexpected factors like pretty little Iaconians. It doesn’t matter what he wants, what he likes, or what he feels towards this beautifully rebellious Orion Pax. Not when so much rides on his success.

But… Megatronus has plenty of gladiators on his side. Perhaps what he needs is an ex-archivist.

Besides, he is running out of time. Already Pax’s biolights are fading, and his fans are starting to rattle as his frame runs out of power. Pax has a warrior’s spirit, but with those wounds his spark will only last so long, and it would be… a shame. A waste. To let it flicker out and die.

Megatronus leans down until his lips brush a battered audial fin. “Do you want to live?” he asks, slowly and deliberately, giving the words the weight they require. “I must warn you, the healing process here is often more painful than the injuries themselves. Say the word, and your suffering will end. Your death will be as quick and as painless as I can make it.”

Orion’s servo clenches. “I want to live,” he snarls, and instead of the instinctive fear of death there is a wonderful determination there, a furious desire to survive that warms Megatronus’ dark, bitter spark. It is the same unbending will that brought D-16 from the mines to the sunlight, the same will that made him Megatronus. Orion is going to survive, because he refuses to let himself die.

Megatronus leans back with smug satisfaction. “Then you will learn to fight.”

“You will teach me?” Orion asks, a glimmer of excitement in his one working optic even as Shockwave readies his saw.

Megatronus grins. “It would be my pleasure, Pitfighter Pax.”

[talesfromlissom]

He Kills Monsters

Summary - Megatron finally manages to get the number of that cute manager at the diner he once fell asleep in. It's a shame that he keeps getting stood up. With a lame excuse that Orion is ‘busy’. 

Well, Megatron has had enough. 

He never expected to find this was the reason why Orion never returns his calls. 

A/N - I imagine this universe to have a more soft body type of universe. As in, they have transformer heads, but fleshy bodies. This is why Megatron & the other characters are described as wearing clothing, driving cars, etc etc. I didn’t really imagine this taking place within a particular universe either. 

TW - Blood/Gore, Mentions of Death, Ugly Ass Monsters, guns, swearing, & body horror.

Orion’s diner laid at the very edge of the city. The clear paved roads developed into broken asphalt. With faded paint in the center. Surrounded by sets of tall evergreens. Its pines litter the edges of the pavement. 

The drive is silent and dark. The only sound is a few birds, and a distant rifle being fired. But Megatron has lived out here before. People hunt in these woods a lot, as long as his headlight still works. He has nothing to worry about.

He turns to his left, spying the neon sign for Orion’s diner. Named ‘The Arc’. 

The building itself looks like a typical diner. From the silver walls to the neon wrap-around lights. There’s one car parked in the parking lot. A class black muscle car. A 1968 Ford Mustang it seems. Why someone who works at a diner would need a muscle car is beyond him.

But, he doesn’t see Orion’s truck.

Megatron pulls into the parking lot regardless. And parks his motorcycle, and climbs off the bike. 

Marching up the cement stairs and opening the glass door. 

He’s greeted by the sound of a bell and stares into the empty diner. The lights are still on, and he looks down towards the breakfast bar. 

The waiter (or he assumes they’re the waiter). Is leaning against the counter, sipping at what appears to be a chocolate milkshake. With a large dollop of whip cream on the top. 

Even if he’s walked in, the waiter (again, he assumes) has not acknowledged his presence. 

Megatron goes to sit down-

“We’re closed,” The waiter says, not bothering to look up from his phone. “Sorry. I forgot to change the sign.”

Megatron frowns. 

“I’m not here to order,” He began. “I’m looking for someone.”

The waiter looks up, and he spies the nametag on the mech’s chest. 

‘Dion’. 

“Who?” Dion asked, head tilted. “It's just me and Starchaser here tonight.”

Megatron narrows his gaze.

“Orion.” He says, crossing his arms. “I’m looking for Orion Pax. He owns this…establishment.” 

If Megatron can even call it an establishment. The diner looks clean, pristine even. Untouched. So much so. That he can tell nobody comes to eat here. There’s only one waiter, and he assumes this ‘Starchaser’ character is the only cook. So yes. Megatron isn’t sure if he can really call it an establishment.

“Well, he’s not here.” Dion shared, placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “You just missed him.”

“Where did he go, then?” 

“What’s it to you?” Dion blurts out, eyes narrowed. 

Megatron scoffs.

“He and I were supposed to see a movie together. Tonight.”

He leaves out the part where this is the second time Orion has stood him up. 

Dion blinks. Once. Twice.

He then grins and snaps his fingers. And points at him with his index. 

“Holy shit, you’re Megatron!” 

Megatron stares. 

“Starchaser!” Dion shouts, walking over to the open door. Leading into the kitchen. “Megatron’s here!” 

Megatron shakes his head when another person pokes his head out. This bot looks older than Dion. and he’s much taller too. He can’t tell if Starchaser is taller than him from here. He might be. 

Starchaser steps out of the kitchen, wiping his oil (?) littered hands on a dirty white rag. And yeah. Starchaser is taller than him. 

“So, you’re Megatron, huh?” Starchaser starts, stepping towards the counter. 

“I am.” Megatron sits down. “I’m assuming you’ve heard of me?” 

“Of course I have,” Starchaser chuckles. “Orion won’t shut up about you.”

Megatron frowns. 

Starchaser looks him up and down. 

“Why are you looking for him?” 

Megatron narrows his gaze. The two are stalling. And whatever the reason is, Megatron doesn’t like it. 

“He was… supposed to see a movie with me.” 

“Oh shit.” Dion blurts out. “He stood you up again, didn’t he?”

Megatron scoffs. 

“Yes yes. He did, now can you please tell me where he is?”

“So you can what? Yell at him?” Starchaser criticized. “Sorry but…no. He’s got more important matters to address.” 

Megatron shakes his head, jaw clenching. 

“Like what?”

Starchaser doesn’t reply. 

“May you please tell me where he is? All I need to ask him is why he keeps standing me up.”

Because he wants to boast about having your number. A small voice tells him. But he pushes that voice aside in favor of the task at hand. 

Dion and Starchaser look at one another. Then back at Megatron. 

“Again, I’m sorry.” Starchaser starts. “But-”

“But, he’s down in Devilwood Clearing.” Dion interrupted. “He said-”

“Dion, shut the fuck up!” Starchaser hissed, slamming the rag onto the counter. 

“What do you mean shut the f-”

Dion and Starchaser turn towards him again. There’s a moment of silence before Starchaser grabs Dion by the arm and pulls him into the kitchen. Dion shouting angrily the entire time. 

Megatron’s shoulders slump when he hears the two arguing. He can’t make out what they’re saying. But it's not that it matters.

He narrows his gaze, pulling his phone from his pocket. Searching up the name Devilwood Clearing. The location pops up, almost 30 minutes out from here. 

Its…odd. 

Why would Orion be out in the middle of the woods? Now specifically. And is this the place Orion keeps returning to every night? Why does he go there instead of on a date. 

The questions boggle Megatron’s mind and hears the arguing get softer. He looks up at the kitchen one last time. Well, whatever it is. Orion can explain himself when Megatron finds him. 

—

The drive to Devilwood is quiet. A bit too quiet. There are no birds. No gunshots. Nothing. Just the sound of his bike crunching on pavement and dirt-

Megatron looks down at the headlight. Head tilting when the light itself begins to flicker. Then dimming. Before completely shutting off. 

Megatron stops immediately, parking the bike and getting off. He pulls his phone out, turning the flashlight on. He touches the headlight’s glass. It's still warm under his fingers. Odd. 

He gets back on the bike, turns the ignition-

The bike sputters, then dies. 

He tries again. He gets the same reaction. 

He curses, and grabs the handles of the bike, rolling it off the road and onto the grass. Makes sure to hide it with a few bushes. He takes the helmet off as well, placing it onto the leather seat. 

Megatron grumbles to himself, turning to his map. Thankfully, Devilwood Clearing isn’t far from here. A good ten-minute walk, actually. 

So, with that. Megatron turns and begins to walk. 

—

The walk itself is uneventful too. The only sound is his boots crunching against the ground. But there are no birds. No crickets. No owls. Nothing. 

But he makes it to Devilwood Clearing. 

The name is rather…ambiguous. 

Because this isn’t a forest clearing. It's a parking lot. A parking lot with one single lamp. A lamp that flickers, and is surrounded by various bugs. 

But Megatron can see Orion’s truck. He walks up to the first, shining his light into the driver’s seat. There’s nobody there. But he can see an open first aid kit on the passenger's seat as well as…a box of ammo.

Megatron presses his lips into a thin line and backs away from the truck. He shakes his head, turning towards the fence. He sees an opening leading into the forest itself. A set of wooden stairs that descend further into the greenery. 

He bites the inside of his cheek, squinting. 

Why would Orion go on a hike at this hour? Or hunting?

He isn’t sure. 

Megatron descends the wooden stairs anyways. He won’t go far, only a few miles out. And if he can’t find Orion, he’ll leave. And delete his number. 

The lack of sounds worries him. He’s lived in the countryside, and loved exploring the woods as a child. Especially during the spring. There was always some kind of noise. From frogs croaking to an owl hooting. 

But it's not like that here. 

Not at all. 

Megatron comes to a stop, hearing a crack of wood in the distance. He looks around, shining his flashlight towards the right. He sees nothing. Then to the left. There’s still nothing-

He flinches, hearing crunching in the distance. He sees a light in the distance. A light that bounces, like someone running. He grits his teeth, taking after the figure. Whoever it may be. 

His mind screams at him to leave. To turn the other direction, and get the hell out of here. But he doesn’t listen. Something is in these woods, and if Orion is here. Then he has to get him out. He’s no hero sure, and he knows this isn’t some tv show or action film. But if Orion went hunting and got attacked-

He slides to a stop, seeing that the dirt path has ended. But he still sees the light in the distance still. He hops over the fallen log, and runs through the forest. He pushes a branch aside-

He lets out a shriek when a bullet goes past his foot, making a hole in the dirt. He looks up, breathing heavily. His eyes widen, spying Orion. A rifle in hand, as well as a mask over his mouth. It appears to be metal as well. 

Yet, Orion still points his weapon at him. 

Megatron raises his arms, looking around. He then narrows his gaze, putting his arms down immediately. 

“Orion, what the hell are you doing out here!” He shouts. “You were supposed to meet me at Hydrax Theater almost 2 hours ago! This is the second time you’ve stood me up!”

Orion stares at him with wide eyes, bulging even. He’s speechless, and his head draws back. But his rifle isn't lowered.

“Megatron-”

“No. No. I don’t want to hear your excuses. What are you doing out here?” Megatron snarled, arms sweeping. “Are you hunting, hiking-”

“Megatron, keep your voice down.”

Megatron clenches his fists. 

“Excuse me? I’m sorry, but the last time I checked. I’m not the one out in the middle of a forest, carrying around a rifle, and…” Megatron starts. 

But he trails off, upon seeing that Orion isn’t listening to him. He’s looking straight up. 

Megatron’s head slowly-

“Don’t look up.” Orion blurts out, causing Megatron’s gaze to snap back over to him.

Megatron narrows his eyes and scoffs.

“You’re such an asshole,” Megatron starts, turning back to the sky. “The least you could’ve done is say you're not-” 

He cuts himself off, eyes widening. He takes a step back, lips trembling. As he stares into a pair of bulging red eyes. 

This creature has no skin. No muscles. Just bones. A long verberay, with a set of small ribs. The other bones are just as long, but the fingers of this beast are not fingers. They’re sharp. Claws. They’re pitch black, and Megatron sees the remnants of blood on its tips. The creature hums and Megatron turns back to it. Its eyes. His head is suddenly pounding, all noises becoming muffled. The things jaw bone is extensive. Sharp jagged teeth lay at the bottom. And… 

He's snapped back to reality when a bullet goes flying past his ear. He assumes it hit this…thing. Because his head stops hurting, and the creature shrieks from the impact. 

Orion grabs his arm and runs. He hears the beast screaming in the distance, and sees the trees bending and breaking. As well as one of its boney legs landing on the grass. Birds scatter, and Megatron stares at the black tar that drips from its socket. Its remaining eye boring into him-

“Stop looking at it!” Orion shouts. “If you keep looking at it, it’ll mark you!"

Regardless, the beast shrieks. And gives chase, jumping into the trees. 

“It? It?” Megatron cries. “What even is that-”

“It’s a demon, obviously!” Orion yelled as the two found themselves on the dirt path. “I’ve been hunting this thing for months-”

“Is that why you’ve kept standing me up-!”

The two slide to a stop when the demon lands in front of them. Nails digging into the dirt, its mouth opens. Letting out a hoarse roar. So high-pitched that Megatron has to cover his ears. He turns away.

He turns forward seeing Orion firing at it. The demon jumps into the trees again, its roaring becoming distant. Birds scatter into the sky. 

“Come on! That thing won’t flee for long!” Orion shouted. 

The two break into a run again. 

It's at this moment that Megatron finally hears the sounds of the forest return.

—

When Orion pulls into the diner, Starchaser is leaning against the metal railing. And Dion is sitting on the steps. 

Orion leaves the truck, and Dion smiles. But his smile fades when Megatron gets out as well. 

“Oh shit,” Dion mutters. 

Orion takes the mask off.

“Inside. All of you. Now.” Orion orders. The two comply instantly, but Megatron still stands in the parking lot. 

Orion turns to him. Eyes narrowed.

“If you stay out here Ruz'gadar will find you,” He starts. “But he can’t find us inside the diner, it's warded.” 

Megatron stares, crossing his arms.

“And if I do stay out here?”

“Then you’ll get torn limb from limb. Have all your organs consumed, and then your soul.” Orion says, flatly. 

Megatron stares, before climbing the metal stairs swiftly. 

Orion watches him, turning to the empty street momentarily. He narrows his gaze, rolling his shoulder, and grabbing the strap of his rifle. He then opens the glass doors, and steps inside. The door shuts behind him.

And as a final action. He turns the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’. 

[libermachinae]

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise 29. Prowl, in profile, looks to the right. Prowl: “I lost my best friend, Prime. Megatron stood at his side and only one of them walked away.” End ID.]

I’ve never stopped thinking about this line, so! What the fuck is up with Prowl and Bumblebee’s relationship? (Spoiler alert: I do not think Bee is another ex 😔)

They first met millions of years ago when Bumblebee went to Orion Pax for help regarding horrible dream he’d been having, and from there remained in each other’s orbits, though not really friends.

[ID: From Robots in Disguise #32. Prowl and Bumblebee stand with their backs to the reader, watching Metroplex lift off in city form while a battle rages in the sky around him. Bumblebee: “Nobody said war’s logical, bud.” Prowl: “That’s my point. We’re going to do stupid things until we die.” Bumblebee: “Primus, Prowl. Lighten up. We’re not like the Decepticons!” End ID.]

During the war, they got along fine, but in the one snapshot we see there’s not a lot of friendliness between them: Prowl is talking about the futility of their war and Bumblebee happens to be someone nearby. There’s a familiarity to the way they talk to each other (I doubt many people would bother or could get away with calling Prowl “bud”), but it’s more like coworkers who have been stepping on each other’s toes for a long time than real friends. The conversation begins and ends with Prowl’s internal monologue, while Bumblebee’s perspective is just a device used to draw out more of Prowl’s thoughts. Little is shown of their relationship because at this point, it just isn’t there.

[ID: Screenshot from The Transformers #21. Optimus stands with his back to the reader in the foreground, with Bumblebee and Prowl in the Background. Prowl’s caption: “That’s when Prime filled in the ‘Bee. He took it better than I expected. Smart questions. No whining. Focused the anger. He’s going to be a great leader one day. If he gets the chance.” End ID.]

(”the ‘Bee” lol Costa’s Prowl is a specimen) Half a million years later, they’re on Earth, Bumblebee has been elected and then demoted, and Optimus is leaving with most of the Autobots while assigning them to investigate the illegal weapons trade. Prowl has thoughts on Bumblebee’s leadership, which will be the ongoing theme of their relationship for the rest of the series. In typical Prowl fashion, he will never speak these particular thoughts aloud. (continues under the cut!)

[ID: Screenshots from Spotlight: Bumblebee. Panel 1: Bumblebee points offpanel with his cane and at himself with his thumb. Bumblebee: “No, wait, hang on, Prowl—I’m in charge here.” Panel 2: Prowl points a stern finger at Bumblebee, offpanel. Prowl: “What? Come on. This isn’t about being in charge, it’s about being right.” Panel 3: Prowl, flanked by two other Autobots, walks away from Bumblebee. Prowl: “’I’m in charge.’ Optimus Prime would never put up with that kind of procedural nonsense.” End ID.]

Spotlight: Bumblebee is basically a story about Bumblebee trying to impress Prowl. It opens by showing us how little respect Prowl holds for Bumblebee, ignoring his orders and taking bots he had already assigned to different tasks. We already know that Prowl is no Optimus fan, making the dig at Bumblebee extra cutting. It also doesn’t hurt that Bumblebee’s whole story so far has been about trying to live up to Optimus, Prowl’s words coming as long-anticipated confirmation that he has failed to do so.

[ID: Screenshot from Spotlight: Bumblebee. Prowl smiles. “Means the little guy’s got more spark than I gave him credit for, these last couple million years. Taking down five bad guys on his own— and blaming himself for not stopping a hundred more? And then coming home and taking control?” End ID.]

“That’s what Prime would do.”

Recklessly endangering himself for the sake of taking down a few “bad guys”? Yeah, that actually sounds exactly like Optimus.

Bumblebee proves himself taking command and earns a little respect from Prowl, even finding the confidence to bite back for Prowl’s “procedural nonsense” comment. It marks a big shift in their relationship, and by the time they’re back on Cybertron in time for Death of Optimus Prime, they’re working together by choice rather than decree. If we’re looking for a point where they become friends, I think this is it, a whole three years before the “best friend” panel above. All it took was a “couple million years” of just tolerating each other.

And this takes us into Phase 2!

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Bumblebee waves a cellphone-like device in Prowl’s face. Prowl: “They’re not my friends.” Bumblebee: “Whatever they are—you keep them in line or I will. You understand?” End ID.]

And also into an ongoing conversation about friendship! 

The pair is back on Cybertron following the events of Death of Optimus Prime and trying to figure out how to bring order to their home, and immediately disagree about the best way to do that. Bumblebee refers to the newly deputized Decepticon enforcers as Prowl’s “friends,” using the word to highlight the unprofessional, independent nature of what is essentially Prowl’s personal anti-neutral militia.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Bumblebee: “Rodimus and his crew died. They were our friends—we can’t—can’t not eulogize them.” Prowl: “They were my comrades—dammit, my friends, too.” End ID.]

This leads into a conversation about the recently-departed Lost Light, for which Bumblebee thinks a memorial should be held. This time, when the word “friend” is used, it’s more sincere. Bumblebee also doesn’t say “my friends”—he extends an invitation that Prowl accepts, albeit clumsily.

Does he mean it, though? Prowl is not so socially bankrupt to not understand how friendships are supposed to look. Even if we dismiss his attitude to the Lost Light as general Prowlishness, this scene is followed by a conversation with Arcee in which he says he doesn’t trust anyone, which is a pretty major hurtle to get over. It’s not a stretch to assume Prowl is lying.

He never makes a move like that without a purpose, though. By referring to the Lost Light crew as his friends, he gets Bumblebee to relax and see things from his own perspective, giving him an opportunity to talk about the more pressing security issues they are facing. This, in fact, is Prowl’s go-to strategy: identify the person in power and get close to them, thereby giving him the ability to watch over how that power is wielded.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Prowl speaks to Bumblebee over his shoulder. Prowl: “Look. every day, I watch the sun go down and wonder if we can make it another night without them. If I even want to.” Bumblebee: “Huh. I mean, yeah. Me, too.” Prowl: “I’m not emotionless, Bee. I care about Rodimus and Magnus and the rest as much as you do. But look at the situation logically.” End ID.]

That said, I don’t think Prowl is lying here. Despite how warped his worldview becomes, I do believe that at his core, Prowl wants what is best for Cybertronians (well, Autobots). Many of his darker plans were created with the intention to keep people alive, so regardless of his personal feelings to them, he is not “emotionless” and does feel something over their deaths.

[ID: First screenshot from Robots in Disguise #2. Bumblebee smirks at Prowl, holding up his electrocuting cane. Bumblebee: “Heh—same old Prowl. Wheeljack whipped it up the other day.” Prowl: I’ve got to have a talk with Wheeljack.” Second and third screenshots from Robots in Disguise #3. Panel 1: Bumblebee frowns at Prowl. “Enough! Prowl—shut up. Metalhawk has a point.” Panel 2: Prowl looks furious. Bumblebee is holding him back from lunging at someone off-panel. Prowl: “Bad move…” Bumblebee: “Down, Prowl.” End ID.]

I don’t have much to say about these scenes, except that I like them as an illustration of their dynamic in this part of the story. Cold, confrontational, and yet with a degree of familiarity I would’ve thought more fitting to a much older connection. I really can’t imagine the Prowl from half a million years ago, talking at Bumblebee about the folly of their commander, allowing himself to be held back and calmly talked down. Through their work together, something is developing that we might almost mistake for genuine friendship.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #4. Arcee: “Come on. I know you didn’t destroy it. You’re not that hard. But you are cold and calculating. Enough that even Bumblebee—even your only friend—thinks you might’ve.” Arcee: “Bee won’t say it. But you know that’s what he’s thinking.” Prowl: “It doesn’t bother me. Bee doubts everything. Even himself.” End ID.]

“Even Bee—even your only friend—thinks you might’ve.”

“Bee doubts everything. Even himself.”

The same phrase is used twice in the conversation to distinguish Bumblebee as an outlier (not the superpower kind, though maybe his ability to tolerate the Worst People should be considered). For Arcee, it’s in his proximity to Prowl. Prowl’s use of the phrase is a little more ambiguous, though. Is he saying that one should have faith in oneself if nothing else? It definitely fits in his worldview. Or is he saying Bumblebee is worthy of being trusted, believed in?

If so, what does that mean? Bumblebee would take Prowl’s endorsement as faith in his abilities as a leader, but we already know Prowl doesn’t view leadership that way. He needs to get an Autobot elected, and Bumblebee specifically, because he needs someone in power he can get close to and control. Bumblebee’s leadership, though perhaps not Bumblebee himself, offers Cybertron a path towards peace. So, actually, Arcee and Prowl mean the same thing: Bumblebee is special because he’s the person Prowl is closest to.

This is also the first indication we get that Bumblebee does not trust Prowl so fully as Prowl wants. As sneaky as Prowl is, it’s easy to forget sometimes that Bumblebee is his own agent with his own ability to measure the facts. He wants to trust Prowl, but that doesn’t blind him to Prowl’s reputation.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #5. Ironhide and Prowl cluster around Bumblebee, who looks contemplative. Prowl: “Think about what they’re say about you in the future, Bee! The Autobot that let the Decepticons go free?!” Ironhide: “He’s right—a little. Think about what the future can be. Cybertron’s our world,and tomorrow’s our day…” End ID.]

We get to see more of Bumblebee soon after, since Prowl gets cerebroshelled. Bomb-Prowl is much more ruthless than the genuine article, expressing little care for the lives of any Cybertronians, but nobody notices it around Prowl’s standard prickly persona. Bumblebee experiences growing unease with Bomb-Prowl’s methods, though interestingly does not dismiss him for it. Consider the above scene: a fight has just broken out. To resolve it, Ironhide, Starscream, and Ironhide recommend removing the Decepticons’ ID chips. Prowl is the sole voice of dissent, and Bumblebee chooses to ignore him while also maintaining their partnership.

Bumblebee can think for himself and say no to Prowl. This situation is not just Prowl manipulating and taking advantage of Bumblebee: the latter is fully capable of making his own decisions.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #11. Bumblebee stands on the left and Prowl on the right. Bumblebee: “Am I wearing blinders because you’re my friend? Are you even my friend?” End ID.]

When Omega Supreme is attacked, Bomb-Prowl accuses the Decepticons, opening himself up for scrutiny: Metalhawk accuses him of killing Ratbat. Bumblebee starts to express his doubts openly and he questions not only Prowl’s innocence, but their relationship altogether. (Also, though literally Bumblebee is asking, “Can I consider you, Prowl, a friend?” his question can also be read as, “Are you who you say you are?”)

Bumblebee’s question doesn’t imply he trusts Prowl. He doesn’t even trust himself: he’s wondering if their friendship has installed in him an implicit bias in Prowl’s favor. There is a possibility his feelings regarding Prowl are strong enough to warp his perception of reality, and he’s worried that he can’t see what's obvious to everyone else. In contrast to previous leaders Prowl has watched over, Bumblebee is aware of his ability and willingness to manipulate those around him. He’s not under any illusion that Prowl is honest with him all the time, but he also isn’t confident enough in himself to remove Prowl’s influence.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #11. Bumblebee: “Then I want to get back to finding Ironhide and the others, because he’s my friend and friends look out for each other.” End ID.]

There is also the matter that he does consider Prowl a friend. Not a good friend (as in caring, respectful, thoughtful), but nevertheless one he does not want to lose.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #14. Panel 1: Bumblebee shoves Metalhawk aside and reaches for Prowl, who is collapsing to the floor. Bumblebee: “Prowl—I—” Panel 2: Prowl lies on the floor. Prowl: “Bee… it wasn’t… wasn’t me… How could you not… see that?” End ID.]

I think the feeling is mutual. Prowl’s not angry at Bumblebee for falling for the Decepticons’ trap.

He’s hurt that his friend didn’t notice he was gone.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #16. Ironhide helps Prowl up. Prowl: “…I’m me.” Ironhide: “Got too much of an ego ta be anybody else.” Prowl: “I—I needed to hear—” Bumblebee (off-panel): “Later, Prowl…” End ID.]

Their relationship starts to go downhill from here. After breaking free from Devastator, Prowl actually tries to talk about his feelings, and Bumblebee dismisses him. To be fair, there are other things going on that need their attention, but Prowl is never given an opportunity to process what he has been through. Bumblebee, who excels at talking to people and helping them through their problems, never offers a space for Prowl to open up about his experience, and it’s the internalization of his trauma that leads to Prowl’s emotional degeneration through the rest of the series.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Panel 1: Bumblebee hunches over his cane, struggling to stand. Bumblebee: “It’s *kaff*… Well, I don’t want to know *kaff kaff* what’s going on in his mind, but… Prowl didn’t do any of the *koff* terrible stuff.” Panel 2: Bumblebee stands in front of Prowl, facing the reader. Bumblebee: “He was *kaff* being controlled by Bombshell. I mean obviously he didn’t *koff* kill you guys—he didn’t blow up the Decepticon pen. He *kaff kaff* wasn’t running a secret war. He didn’t *koff* have Ratbat eliminated.” End ID.]

I don’t think Bumblebee is being intentionally malicious, though. Consider all the times Prowl has had to say outright that he feels things and has emotions: I think it’s more accurate to say Bumblebee didn’t believe him. The doubts he felt about Prowl were never with regard to his intentions, but rather the way he interacted with and understood the world around him. Bumblebee, going by the reputation Prowl made for himself, doesn’t believe Prowl processes events the same way he does, and as a result falsely assume that his mind control and forced combination will have no greater impact on Prowl.

And then even Bumblebee’s faith in Prowl’s intentions is shaken when Arcee reveals he did call for Ratbat’s assassination. Bumblebee is so betrayed he passes out.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Panel 1: Ironhide grins to the side while Bumblebee holds a fist to his mouth, coughing. Ironhide: “Aw. An’ everything was goin’ so well…” Bumblebee: “Prowl. Why—what—*kof kofff* *koff kaf*” Panel 2: Bumblebee’s hand reaches up as he collapses. Bumblebee: “*kaf kaf* Nnnggggh…” End ID.]

The next time they interact is in Dark Cybertron. Getting close to the end, here!

[ID: First screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #23. Bumblebee points his gun up to the off-panel Titan. Prowl stands beside him. Bumblebee: “What?!” Prowl: “You talked a good game with the Dinobots. But you need to act, too. When you were in charge of the city, you were paralyzed.” Second screenshot from Robots in Disguise #23. Panel 1: Prowl, yelling: “You’re hesitating again! Look at us! We’re teaming up with the enemy and letting Starscream do whatever he wants?!” Panel 2: Bumblebee, with a steadying hand out, stands in front of Soundwave. Bumblebee: “Prowl, shut up for once. All your attitude ever got us was… was the Constructicons.” Soundwave: “The Constructicons stand with you?” Bumblebee: “Long story, Soundwave. And this isn’t a team up. We just happen to have the same objective.” Panel 3: Prowl points at Soundwave. “Then do something! Don’t just let this—this—Decepticon control you!” End ID. Third screenshot from Robots in Disguise #23. Prowl holds up a struggling Arcee while yelling at Bumblebee. Prowl: “You let this happen, Bee! We attack now!” Bumblebee: “Prowl, get your priorities in order—” End ID.]

Evidence of Prowl’s trauma starts to become more visible. The comradery they shared before is gone; Prowl’s methodical approach to problems is gone. Instead, he is scared and impulsive, and he takes out his new anxieties on his “only friend” because Bee is the one thing he’s supposed to be able to control.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #26. Panel 1: Bumblebee and Prowl stand amidst flaming wreckage. Hound (off-panel): “Where’s Megatron?” Bumblebee: “He’s… I think he’s gone. He took the thumb and ran.” Prowl: “Dammit. You should have never done back for him, Bee.” Panel 2: Bumblebee grabs Prowl’s neck. Bumblebee: “Prowl, you smug piece of—” Prowl: “Uk!” Panel 3: Bumblebee releases Prowl. Bumblebee: “I’ve had enough of your self-righteous second-guessing…” End ID.”

But he can’t. Bumblebee has gotten used to ignoring Prowl or refuting him. Add to that Prowl’s heightened emotional state, and Bumblebee responds to his criticism with open aggression. Stuck in crisis mode like they are, there is no way for them to reset and calm down until the Titan is finally taken down and everything comes to a standstill for a moment.

[ID: Screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #27. Prowl leans close to Bumblebee, gesturing to his head. The Constructicons linger in the background. Bumblebee: “Oh, good. I was hoping your friends would could out of hiding.” Prowl: “They weren’t—I mean, they’re not—They just shared my memories. The Decepticons exploited my—my—my head!” End ID.]

And with this, we cycle back to their first conversation in Robots in Disguise. Before, Bumblebee used the word “friends” to criticize Prowl’s Decepticon enforcers and the freedom they were granted to terrorize the neutrals. Prowl, known to circumvent the chain of command, decided to forgo it almost entirely in that case, creating a violent, lawless group that did not fit into the military structure the Autobots still relied on.

Now, he uses “friend” to refer to the enthusiasm the Constructicons have for Prowl. Prowl’s deceit has been brought into the open, legitimizing Bumblebee’s fears and forcing him to question all over again his role as a leader. The doubts he had in himself and Prowl are tied together, so that even with the knowledge that everything that happened to Prowl was out of his control, he still feels threatened by the Decepticon presence Prowl now carries with him.

And even though he’s met with this kind of hostility, Prowl still comes back to Bumblebee to continue work as his advisor. He’s got a group of bots literally right there who trust him and support him without reservation, but he chooses Bumblebee because he still believes in their power to do right by Cybertron.

[ID: Screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #27. Prowl stands on the left, Bumblebee on the right. Prowl: “Bee—we stopped his plan, but Shockwave is still out there.” Bumblebee: I know, and you’re totally right, and anything less than a perfect attack plan and we’re sunk—so I need you to come up with one. In the meantime—mingle. There has to be somebody you want to say ‘hi’ to.” Prowl: “Actually…” End ID.]

This is the last time they talk to each other. Prowl reminds him of the impending danger, Bumblebee is grateful for his expertise, and then he encourages Prowl to go relax. There’s something to be said for the fact that upon leaving Bumblebee’s side, Prowl immediately seeks out his ex, but I think it’s mainly just that he’s lonely rather than anything nefarious. He’s lonely, and despite their distrust and criticism and generally poor treatment of each other, Bumblebee is someone who accepts his company, a rare thing that’s he’s going to lose very soon.

When I first read the words “best friend,” I assumed Prowl was lying. I also assumed, even if that was true, it would not hold in the reverse. I think I’ve changed my mind on both counts. Prowl didn’t pursue Bumblebee with genuine intentions, but they both ended up getting something out of it. It’s not a healthy relationship, but at a tumultuous time in their lives it might literally be the best they can do and in their own ways, they trust they’re going to look out for each other.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Bumblebee, with his cane, leans on Prowl as they leave the ruins of Iacon. Their plating bears obvious damage, and ash and dust float through the air around them. End ID.]

[psybertron]

Optimus and Megatron with charges that remind them of Megatronus and Orion Pax

Optimus Prime

The boss bot wasn’t originally your guardian. It was only when you started opening up about your desire to change things and expressed a few aggressive tendencies that Optimus began to hear a familiar tune. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it until Megatron returned from his 3 years in space.

That’s right, he thought. The young human before him reminded him of the gladiator, Megatronus. Strong willed, politically charged and a preference for violence.

Optimus wouldn’t ever say or show it but he felt strange after this connection was made and he wanted to avoid you where possible. But, like Megatronus had done, your words and very nature interested him.

As you begin speaking more together, you realise that Optimus has a lot more to him than the rigid leader you thought him to be.

Late night drives and conversations at the base’s terminals as Optimus worked slowly becomes the norm for you.

You enjoy Optimus’ perspective on things. Though he’s from an entirely different part of the galaxy, his views make a lot of sense and you find that they make you reconsider some of your own.

Something Optimus liked about you was your ability to reshape your perspective once you had been given the right information. He hadn’t brainwashed you in any way, but massively encourages you to analyse the situation from multiple perspectives

You slowly go from being quite aggressive and self destructive to taking a liking to empathy. Over time you have the best of both worlds when it comes to making decisions.

One thing you don’t like is Optimus will sometimes go overboard with the righteousness thing. You’re still you, and your life experiences and views can’t be erased or changed by constantly feeling for others.

He would never admit it, but Optimus fears you could eventually become lost in your ideals as Megatron had done and many before him had. A strong mind is a double edged sword after all.

Optimus will have your back and support your views, after all, he does actually agree. But this time he’s careful with how he disagrees with some of your beliefs. He doesn’t want to accidentally enable a possibly influential figure into destructive views. 

Megatron

You and a few others had been taken as a counter measure to the Autobot pets. Originally you had been under Knock Out’s supervision but the Doc found himself frequently losing his hold on you.

Megatron would watch the live feed as your curiosity led you through the ship. He could practically see the notes being made in your brain as you took in anything and everything you could access. The Decepticon Lord felt curious himself as he watched you, but there was an undeniable feeling of rage bubbling and even he couldn’t understand why.

Was it because this human dared to undermine his officers and go on adventures around his warship? Ironically, no. It was something else entirely.

One day Soundwave pulled up a feed of you going through a computer terminal. Somehow you had translated everything into your own language and you looked relaxed as you soaked up the information.

And suddenly Megatron was angry again. The memory of Orion Pax haunted him in the form of a human being. How ridiculous. 

Megatron promptly decides to interrupt your time at the computer terminal and uses that as an entry to begin speaking with you.

You’re scared at first, and rightly so. The Decepticons had snatched you one day, and this hulking death machine before you was the leader of these Decepticons. As he approaches you you’re on high alert. Luckily, he seems to notice his presence has put you on edge and assures you he is merely interested by your activities.

As much as Megatron hates it, he has to put a lot of effort into making you speak with him on a comfortable level. Sometimes he sits back and questions why he’s even bothering with a human.

As Orion Pax once did, you surprise him. What he thought was a reserved and quiet analyst actually comes to reveal themselves as an adventurous and quick witted being. He’s shocked at many things, but his entire perception of you changed when you threw yourself off the Nemesis and allowed yourself to free fall before calling in for a ground bridge.

Eventually he takes you on flights with him and the two of you have seemingly endless conversations ranging from philosophy to sociology to politics.

He makes a few remarks about your weak human body and your ability to fight. It does actually annoy you but you simply state that you bet he can’t read. Megatron appreciates that you stand up for yourself though a part of him is concerned that he allows a human to occasionally snap at him. 

He’s quite snappy with you, but it’s because he half expects you to run to the Autobots whenever his back is turned. He wants to trust you but ultimately you remind him of the biggest betrayal he has ever faced. 

[zombieheroine]

TFP: the backstory of the war and some points

This is more about my pet peeves than anything else, but still I think some of my points might be of interest.

Basically, there are popular takes and headcanons and interpretations in fandom about the backstory Ratchet tells Jack, Miko and Raf during the finale of the first season, and sometimes I have different ones I really haven’t seen much elsewhere.

I think it’s really interesting to note that the flashback is told through an unreliable narrator, Ratchet, who has multiple reasons to let’s say adapt the truth: He wants it to be short, so he simplifies, he is telling it to the children, so he includes things he thinks they need to know and excludes things he doesn’t want to mention, he is summing up not only the politics but also Megatron and Optimus’ past, some of which he wasn’t there for and only knows what Optimus has told him, and finally his own personal feelings about the events and the people involved in them.

There’s also the visuals of the story, how the medium changes the animation style into 2D-like, almost still frames and includes emotionally charged visuals like characters just posing, changing colours, and a ball of fire consuming the picture. These elements aren’t meant to be taken literally.

So, pet peeves:

Megatron started out good and later lost his path.

I don’t buy this. There’s nothing tragic or confused about Megatron’s character. He was aiming for an authoritarian state led by him from the start, he simply lacked the means at first. I’m not saying that he didn’t have any central ideology, he clearly did as he is clearly driven by it and he has followers loyal to the cause (Skyquake, Dreadwing, Soundwave), but I think to say he must have been a great and noble philosopher greatly overestimates how much it takes to rally suffering and oppressed masses into revolution.

Also, he sure had an organized and functional military force behind him, fully armed and ready to fight. That kind of a force isn’t built, trained or armed overnight. He was prepared.

The Council saw Orion Pax as worthy and noble

This is my theory about it, because yeah, no they didn’t. This is just Ratchet simplifying or even buying into the story.

Something like this would be plausible in a fantasy story or a fairy tale, and even though TF: Prime is aimed for children, its overall tone and how seriously it takes its story and themes doesn’t fit the trope. It’s not an adaptation of “here are Decepticons, they are evil because they are evil”. Instead of fun or wacky adventure, it takes time to talk about war as a devastating conflict with political motives as well as horrible concequences like death and destruction of civilization and infrastructure. Instead of simple “evil” and “darkness”, there are politics, ideas and ambitions.

So, the Council, what are they all about? Trying to pacify restless and protesting people and prevent violence and their own power grumbling. I don’t think it’s so much Orion’s “worthiness” as much as his “let’s change stuff and not kill anyone”-ness. Megatron was too dangerous, too radical and too powerhungry, and obviously prepared for violence.

Naming a Prime was the Council’s last effort for settlement, to let the people on the verge of open revolution to have a Prime of their own and take their grievances up with him. They knew they would have to give up something and change, and they didn’t want a revolution or violence. They were simply too late: The crisis was too ripe, things gone too far, too much anger and too many guns in the game, and so war was inevitable.

(Not that Orion wasn’t worthy, since Primus approved of him, but that had nothing to do with the Council.)

Megatron used to have blue optics

This is a small pet peeve compared to the ones above, but it still bothers me and goes together with the first point.

Megatron is showed with blue optics when he’s friends with Orion and preaching his ideology, then comes the point in the story where he ���reveals his true nature”, leaves the Council without Primacy and decided on open war, and his optics turn red.

That is not literal. He doesn’t change the optics, they flash into red at a dramatic point in the story, and the story element works because of the audience’s associations with the colours. 

Then again, the colour of the optics is those elements that are clearly design choices to make the bad guys looks scary and the good guys look friendly, and obviously it also ends up being a feature in-universe. We could talk about the optics and what they mean, but I’m just concerned with Megatron here. The only indication that he had blue optics is that one story-telling element.

(Not that I have anything against artists drawing him with blue optics, mind you.)

Ratchet speaks the truth.

I’d just like to point out that the backstory is told to us by Ratchet all of. It’s interesting how Ratchet is simultanously the best and the worst source of information: It’s implied that he’s the only one of Team Prime who’s known Optimus before he became Prime, but as such he’s also one with most emotional investment, and that’s not even mentioning his personal beliefs that he demonstrates across the series.

Ratchet was there, yes, and has a close perspective, but Optimus and Megatron have a lot of private history, and much of it is so sensitive Optimus probably hasn’t shared it. We know Optimus has many mixed feelings about Megatron, like how he hesitates to kill him, mourns him alone, and doesn’t join in speaking about his character or deeds in emotional moments. So Ratchet doesn’t know the whole story.

Then again, I’d argue he sanitizes it for the children. We know Ratchet hates Megatron perhaps the most of them all (he’s the only one who strongly opposes to allying with him against Unicron, for example), but still the story about his origins is fairly clean. Multiple times through the series a history of horrific violence is implied, but there’s very little of it in the backstory. Even though the theme of bloodless but oppressed peace versus destructive and bloody freedom in war is an interesting one, I think it’s more likely that Ratchet leaves things out, for better or worse.

So in conclusion, I think it’s a really interesting scene and I love that the origins of the conflict are so murky. I also really like how the series pulls ambitious things like this, such as an unreliable narrator, and the style and how the truth is multifaced and unclear.

So many things in Prime are worth a deeper look.

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 2: Going from Zero to Antichrist Real Quick

Bumblebee and his camp buddies are trying to figure out what to do with the Titan who just popped out of the ground like a prairie dog, as the sky looks like a Lisa Frank notebook thanks to the portal to the Dead Universe. It’s honestly very nice, we should should get more pretty apocalypses like this.

Bumblebee starts throwing out orders at everyone, much to Slag’s chagrin. When Slag brings up the point that they probably can’t do much of anything to a guy roughly a hundred times bigger than they are, Bumblebee tells him to shut up and do as he’s told.

Yeah, I had about the same reaction, Slag.

So the Dinobots do their thing. Swoop, who I think is the only guy here who can fly, goes up to see what the Titan’s doing. It’s not much, other than looking really upset. Oh no, what if he’s afraid of heights? Poor guy.

Even if the Titan isn’t moving, the mere presence of the thing is jamming signals, which is kind of an issue. Ironhide’s ready to shoot it in the foot, and Arcee will help, because she’s a team player now. Bumblebee has a minor crisis over whether this is the same Titan that told Starscream he was a prophesied son of a gun, but Prowl doesn’t seem to think that it is.

Prowl, who has been suffering from short-term memory lapses over the last several months or so because a bug-man was controlling his mind.

Yeah, let’s maybe take his opinion on the matter with a grain of salt, even if he is right.

Over at the Lost Light, Orion Pax is visiting Brainstorm’s workshop, where everyone’s favorite science man is admitting to having studied the Dead Universe’s effects on the living and interviewing people who had been to the area.

Man, I sure hope that guy signed a waiver, otherwise Brainstorm’s going to be in a spot of trouble.

Then we get a quick rundown of what the Dead Universe is: an omnicognizant parallel universe that functions on fundamental principles that differ from our own and wants you to die. So, obviously not a place you would want to go to. Still, we gotta, because that’s where the plot is the Dead Universe is gonna vore Cybertron if we don’t.

Brainstorm agrees to cook something up to make the trip through the Gorlam Prime portal easier.

Back on Cybertron, the Titan looms in the distance as we check in on an oddly pristine-looking Iacon. Rattrap tells Starscream to come out of the closet, because the Titan still hasn’t moved and doesn’t seem like it’s going to anytime soon. Starscream does come out, but it’s with his arms full of weapons of Autobot design that he appropriated from the ruins of Kimia, because he doesn’t trust that Titan to not start some shit. Rattrap suggests that they maybe get a second opinion before they start murdering people for standing in a barren field.

Back on the Lost Light, there’s a little shindig going down at Swerve’s, everyone staring down the table where Optimus, Rodimus, and Ultra Magnus are seated. Swerve takes the opportunity to do what everyone else is probably really wanting to, and snaps a few photos of them for his scrapbook. As soon as he’s done, we get to the Emotions portion of our issue.

Rodimus is letting himself be vulnerable in front of the man he idolizes, and I think that’s very brave of him.

Nobody’s feeling super great about the situation they’ve been presented with, but there isn’t a lot that can be done about it now. Just gotta work with what they got. Rodimus asks Optimus how he feels about Starscream being elected leader of Cybertron.

But I thought that freedom was the right of all sentient beings? You know, like the freedom of choice in our government officials, even if they aren’t the best option we could possibly have, because at least they’re better than the guy who had bombs planted in people’s heads for crowd control purposes? Are you saying that it only counted when the concept of freedom could be manipulated so you could go kick Megatron’s ass, and that actual freedom of choice doesn’t jive with your personal sensibilities as much as you’d like everyone to think it does? No wonder you’re going to try to overthrow the entire Earth’s government system to get humanity annexed into Cybertron’s bullshit in a few years’ time.

But perhaps this Starscream thing is actually the work of Megatron! What will Orion do then?

…I mean, do I even have to say it?

ORION, THAT’S GAY.

And I thought we’d already figured out what to do with Megatron back in “Chaos Theory”, where you spent three issues waffling on the subject until the man himself told you to execute him, because even he was sick of your crisis of self. The only reason you didn’t get to act on it was because Megatron disappeared after Vector Sigma blew up and then you fucked off into space without even bothering to check if he was actually dead.

But enough of Orion promising to kill/kiss Megatron, it’s time to see what Brainstorm’s cooked up. It’s not much, but to be fair, he’s only had a few hours to pull something together- our ship’s genius has made a few forcefield generators, using nothing more than some forcefield generators and juice he squeezed out of a bug. Science truly is amazing.

And I bet Trailcutter hates this invention too, for multiple reasons this time!

Cyclonus, who is looking especially purple today, agrees to join the excursion to the Dead Universe, even though it’s pretty clear he really, really doesn’t want to. Hardhead seems in better spirits than our resident space jet, though maybe that’s just bravado macho-man bullshitting on his part.

With our team put together, it’s time to jump out of the spaceship and into a place that quite literally wants them dead. But first Rodimus has a little chat with Ultra Magnus about his feelings. A lot of sharing this issue.

Magnus doesn’t feel fit to be in charge while Rodimus goes off to save the day and maybe die, because he doesn’t have that special something that makes a leader a leader. Charisma? The ability to think on your feet? The ability to see people as people and not numbers? Not having people know you’re actually a much smaller man running around in an Ultra Magnus suit? Whatever it is, Rodimus seems to think that it’s trumped by a mysterious something in his hand, and that Magnus will do just fine.

While Team -Imus goes into the murder reality, Magnus and the Lost Light will be going off to find Jhiaxus, because they need something to do while our protagonist and his absentee father go on their own adventure.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream’s visiting prison, and wants to talk to a very good boy without the guards overhearing. Jazz makes a very vague threat about what will happen if any harm comes to the prisoner, then steps away.

Let’s talk about how to sell toys for a second.

This issue of “Dark Cybertron” had a cover featuring Scoop, the very good boy I’ve mentioned before, because it was paired off with his Generations toy. We know from reading RID that Scoop is the leader of a group called the Construction Patrol, and he likes to help simply for the sake of helping. Sounds like a nice, if generic, character. How is this issue going to introduce people to him? Will he bust out of prison to save the day? Fight evil through heroic sacrifice? Do anything besides talk?

No, he’s going to tell Starscream he’s a herald of death that was foretold in the robot bible.

Yeah, that’ll move some fucking product!

This isn’t even the most batshit thing Scoop’s going to pull in this event, but it is what they decided to put in the issue that “features” him.

Over with Shockwave, we’re treated to some renewed friendships, as Nova Prime and Galvatron reveal that they don’t hate each other after all, but have a mutual respect based in subjugating those weaker than them.

I’m guessing this is a contrast to their previous relationship dynamic in older publications, but I’m not going back to comb through the likes of Heart of Darkness to check, because it really doesn’t matter.

There’s a bit of a snag in Shockwave’s plan to bring Galvatron and Nova Prime back to the Not-Dead Universe, as the space bridge in the Titan burnt up when it got there. Gee, that sucks. I guess all those “Prelude” issues about getting the Titan from Gorlam Prime were sort of a waste of time, weren’t they? Love it when I’m told I wasted my time reading motherfucking Ramondelli issues.

Speaking of Ramondelli, it’s Dead Universe time.

Sigh. Hello, public domain pictures of space on the overlay layer option in Photoshop. It’s nice to see you.

No, it isn’t. I lied.

I’m sorry, public domain pictures of space on the overlay layer option in Photoshop, this isn’t your fault.

So we’re here in the Dead Universe, and it’s looking pretty wild and crazy, though the characters are likely thinking this for a completely different reason than we are as readers. It turns out, the Dead Universe… is dying.

…MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM THAT’S SOME GOOD WRITIN’ RIGHT THERE

Also, Cyclonus has disappeared, not that anyone actually gives a shit, because they’re too busy dealing with the giant space leeches that just showed the hell up. Dang, why’s that happening?

…That only happens as a form of population control, or if the young in question are sickly and have a low chance of survival, not just because the mama rabbit got a bit peckish between lunch and dinner, you stupid fucking robot.

Half of this writing team won awards a couple years after this was published, I want you to remember that.

They fight the cyberwraiths for a bit, things look like they’re getting dicey, then suddenly they fuck off as Cyclonus shows up, probably fresh off the end of a goddamned panic attack because he’s back in the Dead Universe. Then he proceeds to vomit up some black energon. That’s a fun thing, glad you made me look at that.

Rodimus is concerned that one of their team members has got the Hollywood Tuberculosis cough, but Cyclonus doesn’t want his fucking pity. The fellas decide it’s time to get a move on, seeing as they’ve been here a grand total of 20 seconds and been attacked, so they need to get this over with ASAP.

As Team -Imus flies off in a ship I don’t remember them bringing along, someone decides that they’re going to stick their finger in that puddle of vomit.

Nightbeat you fucking idiot, there aren’t any sinks in the Dead Universe! Now your hand’s gonna be all gross for the entirety of this event! He’s not even analyzing it, it’s just on his hand! Why is Nightbeat having zero concept of personal hygiene a running theme in the things I read? Fuck!

You may be wondering what Nightbeat’s doing in the Dead Universe, or even where he’s been for a good chunk of IDW. We’ve seen him in flashbacks from before the war, but not during or after, least not within anything I’ve covered. So, what’s be been up to?

Fuck you, you’ll have to wait for a later issue to be told what Phase One bullshit you’ll have had to read to understand why this dumbass is here.

Back on Cybertron, Prowl is telling Bumblebee that he sucks because he’s not acting. I’m not exactly sure what he expects Bumblebee to do about the Titan who’s just standing there. It’s not like issuing a loitering ticket is going to do anything. Then the Decepticons attack them, among their ranks being the scariest fucking Ravage I’ve ever seen.

Why do you look like that? Rojo’s supposed to have the cutesy style on this team, why the fuck did he turn the kitty cat into one of the terror dogs from Ghostbusters? 

Anyway, that’s the end of the issue. Sure hope you’re invested enough in trying to figure out what the fuck Nightbeat’s deal is to snag Robots in Disguise #23.

[spiffyspuffy]

Just finished Dark Age

Overall I really liked it, although I think it had a slow start. Here are my main thoughts and feelings about it:

• Darrow made so many stupid decisions in part 1. Trusting Orion after all the trauma she’s been through? Using the storm gods? Feeling little to no remorse about all the civilian casualties? I can’t...🤦🏼‍♀️

• Kalindoria is one of my all time favorite golds. She was a sweetheart from the get go.

• “I find myself unusually embarrassed by my initial attraction to the vicious woman. But my attraction still persists.” 😑 stfu Lysander.

• I could tell Atlantia was creeping on Lysander right away. As soon as he said he felt “guilty excitement” from her lingering kiss I was like, uh oh.

• Seraphina’s sudden death was such a pleasant surprise. Bitch had to go!

• Lysander deciding to stay in the desert for the Praetorians is literally the only honorable thing he has done so far in this series.

• Dedicating all of part one to one battle was...a bad choice. The pacing was really slow and I hard time keeping track of everything that was happening.

• I feel really conflicted about Virginia’s POV. She’s never been a favorite of mine and seeing how cold and calculated her inner monologue is didn’t help. I can tell she truely wants what’s best for her people though, even if some of her actions are misguided.

• “Bravo, Sevro. Your wrath is SO legendary.”💙

• Virginia using the psychoSpikes to erase the Duke of Hands’ memory was terrifying and very morally grey. The Duke doesn’t deserve any sympathy, but I’m not comfortable with that kind of technology being in the universe. It could easily get in the wrong hands.

• Ephraim’s entire POV was such a gift. I loved his light humor, his unexpected friendship with Pax and how he grew so close to the Skuggi.

• Ephraim named his new ship Snowball!!! Brb, I’m crying! 😭

• I literally laughed out loud when Ephraim ran into battle high and armed only with a broom😂

• The Day Of Red Doves broke my heart. 💔 Virginia and Darrow definitely screwed up in leading a revolution and then letting so many of the low colors down after winning. She didn’t deserve to be beaten by a mob though.

• Volga and Lyria’s friendship was something I never knew I needed. Here’s to hoping it turns into something more in the next book. 🤞🏻

• Volga being such a precious baby with an unexpected dark streak is one of my favorite things about the sequel trilogy. I love her.

• Adrius is back? As a 10 yo clone??? SHOOK

• Virginia tricking her brother into taking the night lily was incredible.

• I’ve always found Victra irritating, but Ulysses being nailed to a tree was absolutely heartbreaking.

• After being kind of a meh character in Iron Gold, Lyria really pulled through in Dark Age! Almost singlehandedky taking down the Red Hand, saving a bunch of child brides and getting her revenge on Harmony was so fast paced and exciting to read. Her POV ended up being my favorite in this book.

• Rhonna and Alexandar’s nicknames being Pup One and Pup Two is so freaking adorable. OTP

• Ephraim finally admitting to himself how much Volga means to him was such a lovely moment!

• “She is my home. She has been since I found her on Echo City. What a pity I only just realized it.” Beautiful 💙

• Volsung killing Ephraim right after he was finally reunited with Volga was absolutely devistating.

• Darrow describing Lysander as having “latent sociopathic tendencies” gave me life. DRAG HIM!

• I’m so glad we got a chance to see Rhonna and Alexandar as a couple, if only for a chapter.

• Lysander calling Rhonna a “child warrior.” 😠 Shut up you pretentious piece of shit.

• ALEXANDAR!!!!! 💔😭

• Literally any hope I had for Lysander’s redemption died along with Alexander.

• “I would die for the truth that all men are created equal.” That’s the Darrow we know and love!!!

• “‘Reaper!’ He does not turn around. ‘Slave!’” HOW DARE HE?

• Cassius coming in clutch!!!

• “Oh gods. Brooding again? Some things never change.” How is it that Cassius has only one line in Dark Age and it’s easily the best line in the whole book. Iconic.

• Can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful Pierce Brown’s writing style is? “My true heart is laid bare, awash with exultation, clouded with confusion, pure with purpose.” Stunning 🙌🏻

• Volga cradling a dead Ephraim was easily the saddest part of this book. 😢

• I’m calling it, Lyria’s parasite is a prototype of The Mind’s Eye. Octavia screwed with Lysander’s brain so much as a child, I wouldn’t be surprised if she implanted a parasite too, without his knowledge.

• Lysander marrying his 34 yo aunt as a “political affair?” Disgusting. Can’t say I’m surprised though.

• I’m really sad about Kalindoria’s death. Even though she’s a lot older than him, I think she and Lysander would have been a sweet couple. And I think he would have been a better person for it too.

• Pretty sure Atlantia poisoned Kalindoria to speed up her death so no one would find a cure for her in time. She totally knew about Lysander’s love for the knight and couldn’t risk him marrying Kalindoria instead of her.

• “When she is done with me, I lie there staring at the ceiling feeling dead inside.” Oof. I still hate Lysander but I can’t help but feel pitty for him.

• Oh shit! I forgot about Adrius’ clone with everything else that’s been going on. 😳😂

• Teaming up with Apollonius? Lysander, you little shit!

5/5 stars for creativity and ingenuity. Dark Age is like nothing else I’ve ever read. I’m not even gonna bother trying to predict what’s going to happen in the next book because let’s be real, nothing Pierce Brown writes is ever predictable. I definitely can’t wait to find out though!

[beyondthestarsandplanets]

Turmoil Current Info

Turmoil (Transformer OC)

{ made by @the-smol-bot}

{Note} Her frame is very unique and recognizable.

Holoform face claim: Ronda Rousey

{Note} Her outfit is just like above.

Cargo/War ship: Nightside.

{Important Notice} Ship upgrades, Weapons, and Firearms will varied depending on the thread. They are default to Cybertron technology unless stated otherwise in thread.

{Note} She is the same size as Overlord/ Fortress Maximus. Approximately 40 ft tall give or take, depends on witch verse she is in.

{Note} She is very stubborn when angry and she doesn’t realized this.

{Note} She has to keep an eye on her injuries because as a forge, some can’t be repairs or replaced easily as one would with a cold constructed.

{Very Important Note} She is actually an intelligent Cybertronian, among the top intelligent Cybertronian if she shows it. But she rather be average Cybertronian and be seen as very smart. She kept this as a secret for a long time and always kept it hidden. If she accidentally let it show, she will say or do something stupid on purpose.

{Very Important Note} She is Claustrophobic. Her limit on how small the space is that if she can still transform, she will work with it. Though she will complain about it. But if one can keep her company and her mind occupied, she will actually calm down. But if she is in a space that keep her from transforming, one will have to keep her calm or she will panic and harm someone. To her, it would feel like the room is crushing her, very slowly.  She is a bit more tolerable in both panther and winged panther alt-mode due to size difference but it would still bother her.

{Important Note} She is attracted to small mech that range from minicons to mech that are below average in height. The reason is because she can easily scoop them up and hold them close. She can be a massive shield for the smaller mech and is a giant climbing tree. In her panther alt-mode, she would be the same size or a bit bigger.

Alt-forms:

Robot Panther: Most used alt-mode; favorite alt-mode.

Idea for Robot mode: Claws extends over fingers, has fangs as teeth which becomes more notable when claws are engage.

Armored Helicopter: Apache: Second used alt-mode.

Idea for Robot mode: Both front landing gear are on back of shoulders. Rear landing gear are on lower back, just above hip. Main rotors blades are her wings in a v shape, parallel to her back. The blade is mounted in the same spot as the door wing, above and below. Tail rotor blades are like spikes on her shoulders, 2 on each side. The machine gun is a weapon that pops out from her right shoulder.

Missile Truck: US Army Hemtt: Third used alt-mode.

Idea for Robot mode: Both rear tires are on her lower leg, just above her heals. Both front steering tires are on her upper and lower arms, in the middle. The truck chassis is her chest. The truck door are also her wings, mounted between her rotor blades.

Winged Panther: Robot Panther with the wing of Toothless: Forth used alt-mode

Idea for Robot mode: The wing is the skirt from her hovercraft mode. If she is carrying someone or something, this wing will activate between her back and her permanent wing.

Hovercraft Tank: Russian Zubr: Fifth used alt-mode.

Idea for Robot mode: 3 rotors blades from this alt-mode provides additional spikes to her arms, 6 on the outside of each arms. They can be used as weapons or shield when she fights. The skirt is her wing in her winged panther mode and a temporary wing in her robot mode.

Blaster: SIG 552: sixth used alt-mode

Ability:

Force field: can shrink or compact a bot or use as a shield

Can prevent her opponent from healing after she wounds a bot

Has rockets and missiles in her stomach

Can be a one-robot army

Teleportation: has limited range unless she knows the location outside the range and it changed very little. Further outside the range she teleport, the more energy she burns up. But when she teleport withing her range, it doesn’t burn up any energy. But is limited on how often she can travel within the 24 hour cycle. This ability works a lot like the ground or space bridge, she would need coordinate for accuracy. If she doesn’t have the coordinate, she would aim for any big space and hope for the best.

Can replenish Energon supply: Limited and requires 2 to 3 weeks to refill Energon canister. If the canister suffer any cracks of any kind, the canister will purge for repairs visa self-repair system. If the canister explodes; which can only happen if she flies into the punch to her left side; she will suffer a sudden pressure build up. There is no emergency pressure relief in place for this scenario. She would simply become stiff and vulnerable until the pressure is relieved, some how.

Holograms of her, her alt-modes, or an objects: doesn’t use this ability very much, is limited on how she use it. If she create a realistic hologram, it will drain her energy level and she can only use one. If she create a basic hologram, it will mot drain her energy level and she can have up to 15 to 20 at a time.

Invisibility: Doesn’t use this ability very much, limited. She can be invisible for up to 12 hours. She must wait 4 to 6 hours before she can be invisible again.

Her right hand can shifts into a blaster and her left hand can shift into a machine gun.

Her hands can also shifts into claws over her fingers

{Log One}

Identification: Alpha Bravo of Iacon

Colors: Light Purple and White, Purple eyes.

Affiliation: Autobot.

Rank: Former Rookie Cop of Rodin; Security Captain of Iacon.

Duty: Keep all Cybertronian safe in her city while maintaining order; Keep all data in the vault safe and secured. Keep out any threats that may come for the data.

Personality: Very smart and Stoic when busy. Kind and caring towards other Autobots. Can and will lose temper when things does not go to plans. But can quickly come up with a plan to fix the problems.

Background: She started out working as a Cop after she completed the acadamy until the war began. At the start of the war, she was demoted and sent to work as a security at the Vault of Iacon. The sudden change was not easy for her but she adapted rather quickly and climbed the rank until she became captain. She once enjoyed her job but then grew sick of her job and wanted to see action. She didn’t truly pick a side since she rather stay out of it but did want the action, to be part of the fighting. Despite this, she kept the vault secure from the Decepicons. Up until the day she went missing after one of the Decepicon’s last attack.

Status: Missing, presumed killed during a Decepicon’s attack on the Vault.

{Note} During her days as a cop, her superior was Caption Orion Pax, worked with him a few times and got to know him a bit. Though her job as a cop was short lived.

{Note} During this time,She was young and inexperience. She actually thought she could stay neutral and still fight in the war. she would soon find out how wrong she would be.

{Note} She was always curious of what secrets lie within Iacon’s archives and records despite not like her new job so much. So during her free time, she would do many research within the vault. She also grew found of the word Bullshit after listening to a transmission from Earth. She rarely use the word but She is known to use it when things goes wrong. She even has a way of saying it when thing did go wrong.

       {Log Two}

Identification: Blitzkerieg

Colors: Dark Purple and Grey, Red eyes.

Affiliation: Decepticon

Rank: Phase Sixer

Duty: Put fear in the autobots. Obey Megatron orders.

Personality: Very smart and Stoic. But unlike her old self, Alpha Bravo, she is anything but kind. Very cruel to all except those that are very close to her. When her rage bubbles up, the urge to attack arises, or when she loses her temper, she will act without thinking. Only after, does she thinks.

Background: Her ‘death’ was a set up so she could join the Decepicons. She had been aiding them while under Alpha Bravo. She even planned her death to truly join them. She started low but despite the overwhelming odds, she climbs the rank to warrior elite and became Phase Sixer. She understood Overlord way of thinking despite his unstable nature. Because of this, she doesn’t mind working with him while many would flat out refuse. She is very loyal to Megatron and would never betray him. That was until Megatron was destroyed. She was willing to be loyal to the new leader but was banished by Starscream.

Status: Banished by Starscream, long live Starscream.

{Note} She uses the word Bullshit more here. She says it when she doesn’t believe a bot or she wish to call out any bullshit she sees or hear. She would even use the word when she losses her temper. She even have a way of saying Bullshit depending on her mood.

{Note} She joined the Decepicon only because it was beneficial to her at the time. She had not intention to stay for long. It was suppose to be temporary until she was chosen by Megatron to become a ‘superwarrior’.

{Note} Like overlord, she was infected with an Achilles virus. Her strong loyalty to Megatron was due to the said virus and this was to prevent her from leaving the Decepicon. Megatron knew her reasoning for joining the Decepicon.

{Note} Blitzkerieg was banished because Starscream feared that she would be overly loyal to Megatron, not to him.

{Note} Starscream only said that be banish her, when he actually tried to kill her. He had lure her to a abandoned plant. The function of the plant is unknown, it can only be guessed that it was where the frames for the Cybertranians was made or where Cyber weapons was mass produced. Once he had where he wanted Blitzerieg to be at, he used the machinery to kill her. He then left, thinking he had killed her.

        {Log Three}

Identification: Turmoil

Colors: Violet and black, purple eye.

Affiliation: N/A

Rank: Bounty hunter

Duty: Hunt down the wanted bots on the bounty list.

Personality: Very smart and Stoic. Unlike both of her old self, Blitzkerieg and Alpha Bravo, She is more calmer and much more patient. She even has more control over her temper but can still lose it. but when she lose it, she goes back to her old self, Alpha Bravo, and comes up with a plan. That if she haven’t been drinking. If she had been drinking, she would go back to her old self, Blitzkerieg.

Background: Her ‘banishment’ was a failed attempt in killing her. Starscream had failed to realize she is a Phase sixer, Killing her would be stupidly hard. All he did was put her in stasis until she replenish her energon supply. Once she reactivated, she scratch off her decepticon symbol before assessing the damages and made the needed repairs. She then got herself to a medical bot and was fully repaired. From there, she went out and became a bounty hunter. She kept her title of a lowly bounty hunter, as no one know that she, Turmoil, is a Phase sixer.

{Note} She stopped saying Bullshit because it would expose her to the Autobots or the Decepticons. She taught herself not to say bullshit out in public. She only says it when she is alone and on her ship.

{Note} Turmoil realized she found where she wanted to be, in the neutral but still get the action by being a bounty hunter. And she learn to enjoy the very little recognition she has as she doesn’t want her real truth to be discovered by either side.

{Note} Turmoil doesn’t just seek and destroy the bot on the bounty she taken. instead, she would invite the wanted bot to a pub for a drink. She is found already drinking as she waits but she takes it nice and slow. If the bot shows up, She will buy him a drink and challenge to a fight. the fight will take the next day on at an abandon location. She would place money, expensive weapon, or item on the table to make a deal. She use the fact that she is seen as a lowly bounty hunter to her advantage. All to make the wanted bot to accept her deal and challenge. If the bot doesn’t show up by the time the said pub closes, she would lose her temper. She would leave the pub, hunt down the wanted bot and kill him on the spot. She would then claim her bounty.

{Note} Turmoil only goes for a high paying, wanted dead or alive, worthy to fight bounty. She doesn’t become a well known bounty because it would means she, Alpha Bravo, would be discovered alive by the Autobot or she, Blitzerieg, would be discovred alive by Starscream or any other Decepticons that he may have told that he killed her.

{Note} There have been some bounty she had taken require investigation in order for her to track down the wanted bot. For this, she simple fall back to her cop days to gather information she needs. Since she is secretly rich, she would even pay for information if she has to. for those that was paid to keep quiet, she would pay them double for the information and sometime she would pay a bit more then double.

{Note} Turmoil has a hideout but it location is unknown. All because she had found a small cargo ship that was abandoned and made some major upgrade to it. Not only is it a cargo ship, but it also a battle ship. She named the ship Nightside. She would store all of her money from the bounty and any loots she may have gotten in her ship. She would even get her hands on some very powerful weapons she can find. She might have paid for some of them or killed the seller and stole some of them, no one knows. She even has a ground bridge on board.

{Note} She is mentally linked to her ship and can control Nightside from wherever she is at. If she slips into stasis, Nightside will shut down and block all of the areas off. If she is in her stasis pod on Nightside, the only path found is to her medic bay. But she is limited to what she can do while away from Nightside. If she is outside of the communication range, her link is temporary lost until she she is back in communication range.

{Note} She dose’t always know where Nightside is located. There have been many times where she had lost Nightside and was forced to finds ways in locating her ship. She lose her ship by parking it somewhere in space and Nightside drift off for whatever reason or being on a rotating planet and her landing location is not in line with Nightside. Depending on how she lost Nightside will determines on how she will have to look for her. There have been times she would sneak on another ship while invisible, in hopes that the ship would fly close enough to Nightside so she can teleport without anyone realizing she was on their ship.

{Note} Majority of her firearms have the name Death on them because she max out on the upgrade and made them deadly. But she has some standard firearm, showing fairness in conflict.

{Note} She normally avoid any bots that are law enforcers of any kind. Because of her frame, she fears that one would make a connection and discover that she is both Alpha Bravo and Blitzkerieg. If she is spotted, she would try to lie her way out.

       {Log: Nightmare}

Background: One month into her job as a Cop in Rodion, Alpha Bravo noticed how deep corruption run in the police force. All from reading the protocol and code of conduct and noticing how much was broken during her free time. This discovery lead her to investigate on her own time and she discovered that the senator are behind the corruption. Her investigation caught the attention of Sentinel Prime, head security of the senate.

Her and her Training officer, Venture, revived a call from the area known as Dead end. Venture notice how unusual the call is and told the young cop to be on guard. In response, she created her own recording of the event which impressed Venture. The 2 went int to investigate as it lead them to an isolated dead end. Alpha Bravo took the lead and investigate the mounds of bodies before she heard something. She turns to see what she thought was 3 of Sentinel’s goons. 2 held Venture by his arm while the 3rd held a blaster to his head. Venture last words was telling the young cop to save herself before his head was blasted off. But before she could transform and take off, she was knocked out cold from behind.

When she wakes up, she found herself in a cell but not in the police station. She was in a cell, somewhere else. She stood up and looks around before realizing that she was wrong. She was not attacked by Sentinel’s goons, she was attacked by the members of Cybertronian underground. She was confuse but she couldn’t think as the image of Venture death was heavily imprinted in her head. It took her a few days before she was finally able to think and looks for a way out. Luckily, the power had gone out long enough for the force field to her cell to shut down. She took the chance and made her escape.

As she quietly made her way though, she found herself having to fight back a few times. All want to kill her but she was able to neutralized them without killing anyone. After fighting for almost eternity, she found her way out and discovered it leads to where she was first ambushed. And Venture body was still there, among the other bodies. She approached his body and fell to her knees, the event had left her traumatized. Shaken, she wonders around before being found by her superior, Caption Orion Pax. She was taken to Ratchet’s free clinic for evaluation and to recover.

After being cleared by Ratchet, Alpha Bravo returned to duty. This time, She would spend her free time taking in more patrol. She never told anyone what had happen but told herself that she would not allow that to happen ever again. She also stopped her personal investigation she was doing which satisfied Sentinel enough to allow her to remain in the force.

{Note} Sentinel had the hand in Alpha Bravo’s traumatic even as he was the one who paid the Cybertronian underground to kill both Alpha Bravo and Venture. The instruction was to kill Venture in front of the rookie cop then imprison her. Allow her to escape on purpose and kill her during her escape attempt. Everything went according to plan until she escaped and fought back. Her quick thinking allowed her to evade her death unknowingly, causing Sentinel to be angered. But once he realized that the event had traumatized and changed the rookie cop, he considered this clean up a success.

{Note} Orion Pax learned of this event and was even more angered by the amount of corruption how much Alpha Bravo had changed since her near death experience.

[jisangyo]

Megatron can read mind and he don’t want to (2)

⬇️⬇️⬇️this is the first chapter btw:

Chapter 1

bad grammar Warning😂

It is surprisingly close to the Ship.

The warlord find the artifact in a cave by the location starscream (soundwave) provides. He stay in the cave with the unknow Cybertronian artifact for a little longer, to think about what he should do with his new ability. It would definitely be a great weapon towards Autobots after he manage it, but now he need to deal with hearing everymech’s random thoughts. The ground start shake a bit, he know the Autobots are here now.

Is there anyway better then fighting your annoyance off? Megatron think not, he grab the artifact then face the exit of the cave , wait for the Autobots to show up and face their death.

Optimus Prime and Arcee show up from the Space bridge,

“Optimus and a little Autobot, exactly what i need to spare my free time with.” Megatron’s cannon pointing right at them, he overdramaticly waves his servo with the artifact he grab,

Arcee angrily hold her blasters in front of Optimus, she yell, “Don’t you dare insult me or Optimus! We are not for you to spare!”

“Megatron, put down the artifact then you can still walk free out of this.” Optimus’s battle mask are on, he stare at Megatron, almost like he is impassive.

Megatron can hear all the aggressive insults in the little autobot’s mind, he didn’t bother, his more curious on Optimus’s mind.

“Oh, you really expect me to be serious about five autobots that hide cowardly somewhere on earth? ”

Megatron raise his eyebrows, mocking at Arcee, he kind of start to enjoy his new talent, listen to this little autobot’s sad, impossible thoughts. Optimus stop Arcee from trying to run over Megatron, because he know she don’t stand a chance on wining, not even if they fight Megatron together. The warlord is powerful, if it’s not because of luck and Megatron’s pride, The decepticons might win the war already. He need to carefully think about whatever he say.

“Megatron, it’s never too late, we still have chance to rebuild Cyberton together———” 

Like the old time, when we stand by side——

“Shut up! Optimus, there is only two way for you, fight me or death! ” Megatron aggressively stop Optimus speech, neither or he want to hear optimus thinking about back than.

“But you can’t put the puny human away, Can’t you? You choose them, instead of our plant! The plant that you destroy! ”

“You and the decepticons started the War!”

I wish i never——

The cannon blasted at optimus, “How dare you! How dare you judged what we used to have! What Orion Pax did!?” Megatron keep shooting at them. He heard, the one who replace Orion, now is even judging about what he did!

Only the first shoot made on to Optimus’s chest, he avoided the rest of them then the autobots start to fight back,

The heat is increasing under Megatron’s armour, he is mad, he is furious, he is... sad? Even him, After all those century of the war, had never doubt about knowing Orion Pax in the first place.

“What? I... I never doubt about our past! ” Optimus was confuse on Megatron’s sudden anger toward him, he is anger all the time but he won’t just shoot without any sign. He has no time to even think about why Megatron suddenly mention about their past. 

“Oh prime, stop lying already. ” Megatron’s red optics are flashing angry light. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” Optimus looked confusedly at Megatron, Arcee is speechless behind Op timus, she will have to talk to Optimus when they’re back in base.

Give up on debating, “Megatron, just hand over the artifact. ” Optimus run in front of Megatron, close combat with him will get him a better chance for getting back the artifact.

“Make me.” Megatron smash on Optimus’s face right before Optimus hit his abdominal.

The artifact eventually broke during the fight, the warlord star at Optimus so hard like he can tear him apart, he transform into Cybertronian jet then fly out of the cave.

“Optimus, we’re going to have to talk.” Arcee hold her arm behind him, Optimus  look at her in silent for a while then he nod.

—————————————

Megatron flight back to Nemesis, all the Vehicon and Insecticon stay quite while the warlord furious walk in the hallway, he walk right into his own quarter. 

[No one disturb me except for emergency!] He commanded, then sit down on his chair.

Soundwave know his lord is mad, he didn't bring back the artifact, so there is a big chance he met Optimus. The loyal communication office quitely walk to the front of Megatron’s quarter door.

[Soundwave, requiring the access of Megatron’s quarter.]

The door open in front of Soundwave after a few second. The powerful warlord almost block the whole entrance of his quarter, “Soundwave, I thought you wound be the last one to dare disturb me right now.”

None of them move,

“I said only emergency! ” The black screen stare right at Megatron, 

[Megatron, require company.] The slender mech is still starting at the warlord, Megatron let him in after a few more seconds, he know there is no way to get rid of his old friend if he insist coming in.

Megatron sit back on his chair, Soundwave sit down on his opposite side. The dark mech then pull out a cube of energon on the table.

He took a few sips, his plating are still hot and the temperature is still going higher after the drink. “I heard it, he regret knowing me.” His optics is half close staring at the cube. “I never regret that, my past, what ever I've done. I have no regret.”

I never regret that either, never when we met, never when you form the Decepticon, I will die for your cause and you only. Megatron hear it again, his voice, he look at Soundwave like he could see through the dark screen,

“I hear it, in his mind.”

So you can hear my voice also. After you wake up? Soundwave’s screen row  down a few line of the words. His ventilation system are on, he is nervous, the black screen hide his emotion and voice away on purpose, but now its all clear in front of the one he want to hide from the most.

“Indeed, my most loyal one.” Megatron spread his body in front of the communication officer, “We shall rebuild Cybertron together.”

The sound of ventilation is louder in the room now, Soundwave’s feelers silently wrapped around Megatron’s feet———

——————————————

And that’s it, I don’t know how to write nsfw in English yet. Hope you enjoy my writing🙌🏻

I will write more about this when i , you know, write more😂

At first, this megatron read mind should be something like he hear everyone thinking about his aft, but we i was actually planing on this, it turn out to be something.......HUUUUUUUMMMMMMM

Leave a comment to tell me your idea about how this should go please😂

[lets-try-some-writing]

Death and Taxes

The Thirteenth is death, he is its herald and its warden. He is a divine being greater than any mortal with a purpose so specific that no other could fulfill it. He only took on a mortal frame for the sake of searching for a potential living Prime to set things straight. He was not at all prepared for the mess that is being a mortal.

In light of his oddities, mecha who work in customer service across Kaon both fear and adore him.

Previous part here.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

Death, or rather Orion Pax, was not unfamiliar with mortal customs. He had seen enough in his long eternities within the void to have a basic understanding of how mortals worked. Combined with Alpha Trion and Ratchet's dutiful teachings, things made even more sense for him. But of course, there are simply some things one must experience to really comprehend. One of those things was bureaucracy and domestic affairs.

While serving under Alpha Trion, Orion had no need to bother with things such as buying his own energon, dealing with housing, or otherwise interacting with mecha aside from Ratchet on a regular basis. Alpha Trion took care of anything that required serious interaction and the Archives were always stocked with enough to get by. When not wandering the void, Orion resided with datapads in a small dark corner with a singular pillow and that was all he needed. There was no interaction and no bothersome affairs. If he needed something, it was provided.

That all changed when he finally found someone worthy of the Matrix.

Megatronus was most certainly worthy, but he resided all the way in Kaon. That was initially not an issue for Orion since he would leave for extended periods of time anyway and return to the archives as needed to collect data or otherwise restock on supplies. However after he began to bend the rules a little too much in the optics of his fellow Primes, he had to become more... conservative with how he used his abilities. No longer could he travel between the archives and Kaon every half a groon to get something or other. Now his trips needed to be with purpose and taken with greater care. Not to mention he could not longer leech off Alpha Trion on a regular basis, not when he spent much of his time so far from archives.

The issue was small at first for Orion as he brought a stock of energon and shanix with him down to Kaon in order to get by. He hung around in the pits largely loitering in corners when he wasn't conversing with his chosen Champion. However that quickly grew to be highly suspicious as other gladiators glared and those in charge of the pits started to take notice of him. Megatronus even reached out in concern, wondering if he was alright and if he needed somewhere to recharge. It was at that point that Orion realized he needed to get a proper base of operations down in Kaon if he was to continue operating and going back to the archives in a timely manner. He wasn't supposed to be drawing any serious attention.

And so after contacting Ratchet, Orion went hab hunting. According to what he read in the archives and online, it should have been an easy task. He had the required rank to get a reasonable residence, and Ratchet dealt with all the actual talking, yet Orion found himself struggling to find a place he actually liked.

Ratchet: What about this one? It has a sizable living space and a nice patio.

Orion: No, it is too bright for the void that I am fond of to pierce the veil of this reality.

Ratchet: That's fair enough. I like it a bit darker too. How about this one then? Its a bit quaint but its less bright.

Orion: The sounds from the railway will drown out the calls of the lost. My duty will be left unfulfilled. It is insufficient.

Ratchet: Alright, I understand. Then this one seems better, right? Its quiet, away from the most obnoxious lights, and is within a compound for Iaconian citizens.

Orion: My spark will weaken surrounded by those who serve the corrupt. Their sins will weigh heavy on my mind.

Ratchet: Well then what do YOU have in mind?

Orion: This one is far from the obstructions of mortal make. I will be able to see through the veil without difficulty and none shall break me from my reverie.

Ratchet: ...

Orion: ...

Ratchet: Its on the outskirts of Kaon. That's bad territory Orion. Gangs and all sorts of other unsavory types tend to live out in the boondocks.

Orion: They shall not touch me. I shall ensure it.

Ratchet: ... I believe you.

Eventually, against Ratchet's warnings and Alpha Trion's questioning, Orion moved to the outskirts of Kaon with his singular box of belongings. His hab was in the most seedy part of Kaon that was still within walking distance of the arenas. Ratchet was not at all pleased, especially once he noticed the shady individuals who lived in the area. Of course Ratchet was far less concerned for his friend and more worried about those who would be interacting with him. But Orion was totally unconcerned as he marched right into his hab without greeting anyone, put down his singular box of things, and set up a desk by the window so that he could work for the archives from a distance.

Ratchet was left to become more and more concerned as Orion proceeded to put his small collection of datapads on his desk and sit down, the rest of his hab completely empty. It took quite a while for the medic to explain to Orion that he needed to have something decorative in his hab to not be seen as unusual. And thus within the next few cycles, a small gathering was hosted at Orion's new residence where a few associates gave him things to decorate his hab with and offered to help him set it up. Ratchet ended up giving Orion a small blaster and assisting him in painting every single wall various shades of black, blue, and purple, all in dark varieties. Megatronus dropped by for a little while with a set of officers at his sides to ensure he didn't run off and he then proceeded to pass Orion a bottle of high grade before leaving. Soundwave also made an appearance before leaving, but it was a quick in and out situation where he handed Orion some Shanix with a card attached that said to buy what he wanted.

That was Orion's house warming party of a sorts, and so after a rundown of how normal mecha function from Ratchet, Orion was left to his own devices. It did not take long at all for him to garner a reputation. Most of his cycles consisted of spending the early groons doing work for the archives, namely handling files from a distance and digitizing texts from nearby and far smaller archives. Afterwards he would proceed straight to the arena to speak with Megatronus in an attempt to not bend the rules and possibly be left with a greater punishment. This alone was fine. It was when he deviated from his normal routine that his reputation formed and was reiterated.

Orion did not generally need to consume energon. In fact it was more unsettling when he did consume it due to how half of it bled out from his plating throughout the course of the cycle. Despite that, Ratchet told Orion again and again that normal mecha consumed some energon and kept a stock of it. Thus Orion was forced to go to the store and buy some semi-regularly. The first time he did so at the local store, he stared the cashier down in total silence until his groceries were scanned and he paid. The cashier was scared stiff but ultimately waved it off, thinking Orion a one time costumer. The cashier was wrong.

Once a deca-cycle on the dot, Orion would return to the store to buy the exact same thing, over and over again. Not a word would be exchanged, but Orion had a tendency to overpay and not a spark was willing to try and give him his change with how... cold he was. He came in, bought his energon, and left without a word. What was at first unsettling came to be appreciated by the mecha working at the store. When Orion came in, other less civil customers left and Orion would stroll along the aisles without comment. It was a break for the overworked employees and his abundant overpaying was a welcome reward for their efforts. It reached the point of becoming a ritual of sorts, one where Orion came by on one appointed cycle once a deca-cycle. All employees would fall silent and relax as Orion would spent exactly half a groon wandering and taking his time observing before buying the same thing he always did. Then he would quietly ring up his items and the employees would have a silent battle over who got to be the one to serve him. The winner promptly assisted him and in return received the extra Shanix that came from Orion's overpaying habit.

The employees did not ever dare comment on the fact that Orion looked like he crawled out of some pit and simply never returned. New employees were all trained in the delicate art of being respectful of the favored customer from Iacon and not a spark dared to interrupt his routine. The singular mech who tried to ask Orion if he needed help received a frigid gaze and a quiet but terrifying answer.

Employee: Sir, can I help you? You seem to be a little lost.

Employee 2: NO! You idiot! Leave Mr. Pax alone!

Orion: I require no aid from that which will wither and die. The offer is quaint and appreciated, but useless.

Employee: Y-Yes Sir. Please continue what you were doing.

Employee 2: You glitch, you've ruined his routine.

Nothing particularly bad happened when Orion's routine was messed with, but there was always an aura of potential danger when it was. Not to mention he tended to not leave extra Shanix behind when he paid. The employees were totally unaware of the fact that their interactions with him merely made him more prone to focus and thus actually count out the correct amount of shanix to be given for his purchases. But of course they didn't know that and simply assumed he was an oddball who liked the quiet and paid generously to have it while shopping.

Orion's reputation at the store was unique, but it did not reach the legendary reputation he held amongst the neighborhood he moved into. Much like with his purchases of energon, Orion did not tend to do anything out of his hab very often. But there were instances where it was required, and from those experiences, Orion learned and was rewarded with wary gazes for it.

Once a stellar cycle Orion was required to take his trash out to the incinerators since he had not paid for any sort of garbage disposal services. This was not a hard task for a mech who produced little waste and who had strength that exceeded the normal bounds of mortality. But of course initially his newfound neighbors found themselves eager to scout him out and see if he was a viable target. Gang members were sent to watch him and talk to him if possible to assess the danger he posed. All returned to their organization with the same consensus.

Orion Pax was not to be touched.

The first few times he was observed, the information gleaned told his observers that he was a scrappy but well funded mech. A difficult target, but not impossible considering he lived alone and was an archivist. This led to his hab being broken into a handful of times before any sort of confrontation. Only instead of finding swaths of shanix or useful material, what greeted the invaders was a space straight out of a horror film. Orion's hab was pitch black, with all sorts of anatomy notes, drawings, and prints covering the walls like some sociopathic killer lived in the space. His space was frigid at all times and his few shelves were filled with datapads and each were labeled with the name of some important mech up on the political ladder. His ceiling was covered with strange murals that were hardly able to be processed but showed images of things not meant for mortals to see. And to top it all off, the further one went into his hab, the more empty it became. Only his living room had furniture in it. Every other room was bare save for his berth which was a single slab of metal and stacks of energon cubes all around. It was terrifying, especially when the invaders noted the many various drawings of mecha and the weapons laying around.

The singular time one of the local gang members tried to bother Orion and shank him for some cash, it ended horribly. Orion turned toward his would-be-attacker and proceeded to shift before his very optics. Wings made of blades sprouted from his back, optics formed where there shouldn't be any, and his limbs grew longer, sharper, and unnaturally spindly. The air chilled but Orion did not move. This was the story told by the one who claimed to have tried to rob Orion, and despite not having any additional witnesses, not a spark dared to claim it was lies. Orion was a cryptid and it would not surprise any of the local gang members if he really was a monster from the pits or a shapeshifter enjoying screwing with them.

He was in their minds, an aspiring serial killer. Thus his danger level skyrocketed and rumors spread of the strange rich mech who lived in the hab a short walk away from the store. What frightened Orion's observers even more was the simple fact that his lights were never on, not once did he turn them on. That only served to emphasize his terrifying optics and partially exposed spark chamber whenever he at by the window late at night, watching, staring, never moving. They thought he was vetting out potential targets, totally unaware of the fact that Orion was merely trying to learn to be more normal. In light of this, he took in the fearful and aggressive behavior of his peers and thought that was the correct manner in which to act. He prowled around as they did when near his hab or travelling through Kaon, his field was always held like a shield, and he stared down anyone who dared come too close. He held no anger toward anyone, but he was almost certain what he was doing was normal.

It was not, and his habit of picking up behaviors only gave him an even more startling reputation when he observed a drug deal happening from his window. Orion did not order things too often, but when he did he paid the delivery mech and went on his way. But as he watched the drug deal go down, unaware of its nature, he saw how it worked and mimicked the behavior. Those involved in the deal gave copious amounts of shanix or interesting objects to one another in exchange for the offered goods. Not knowing any better, Orion was quick to pick up the habit when he ordered things.

His orders only came a few times a stellar cycle, but when they did, delivery mecha all across Kaon rushed to answer the call. To them, Orion Pax was both the most terrifying mech on the planet, and also the best paying one. Much like the employees at the store, they uttered not a word when they came with his packages, but each bore their determination and prayed to Primus as the door unlocked and the terror within accepted the package. It was a ritual, or rather a rite of passage for delivery mecha. Those who could withstand the terror Orion posed were truly devoted to their craft, especially since they had to maintain a straight face. It was the ultimate test of will, and it was one even veteran delivery mecha who were accustomed to gang wars and drug deals struggled to withstand.

Orion never hurt any of them, but he learned from what he saw, and based on what he saw, he needed to show his aggression to a degree when receiving anything and be as suspicious as possible. Thus when delivery mecha arrived at his door, he held the door open just wide enough to stick out an arm and that was it. His field was constantly held at an uncomfortable wavelength and he stared down whoever was outside his door in total silence. The ritual was simple for delivery mecha with enough skill and will to withstand the fear. They would knock three times, one after the other before stepping back to a comfortable distance. They would keep their gazes low and wait for the click of the door and the chill of frigid air to touch their plating through the crack in Orion's door. At that point they would offer the package and papers for Orion to sign and the door would close for exactly a klik. If the delivery mech didn't pass out, they would swiftly be returned signed papers and anything from straight shanix to objects of increadible value before the door would shut, the ritual complete.

Mech-animals avoided Orion's hab like the plague, neighbors feared him and never met his gaze, those who worked at placed he frequented both loved and were terrified of him, and amongst mail mecha he was a cryptid of untold power. None bothered him, none questioned him. They simply watched him go from his hab to the arena, all wondering what he was. He was the rich archivist from Iacon and that was all that needed to be said. Despite that, there were still rumors, none of which ever reached Orion's audials despite his ability to walk the void.

The most prolific rumors were popular enough to reach Megatronus and Ratchet, both of which nearly died of laughter upon hearing them. Evidently Orion was either a cryptid who served the Unmaker, a rogue experiment, a ghoul, a sparkeater, or most hilariously, a servant of the council come to put fear into the sparks of the locals. Neither Ratchet nor Megatronus ever saw fit to tell their odd companion of the fearful reputation he garnered. It was more hilarious watching him roll with it without even knowing he was playing into the stories weaved about him

[roseymoseyberry]

The Prime’s Intended (4/?)

What’s up, it’s your girl Rosey, and I’m back with more of this nonsense.

Title: The Prime’s Intended

Series: TFP post-war AU where Optimus didn’t die

Ship(s): Optimus/Ratchet

Tags/warnings: Big Awful Public Wedding AU, Established Relationship, outing a relationship without consent, and just a lot of dealing with bullshit from paparazzi/media/etc. Mentions of sticky interfacing, but none on screen

Fic Summary:

“A photographer spotted us leaving your quarters this morning.”

In which paparazzi out Ratchet and Optimus’s relationship, their PR consultant plans them the biggest and most extravagant public wedding they never wanted, and Ratchet has to deal with suddenly becoming the Prime’s conjunx-to-be.

Chapter Summary:

"It'll be fine, old friend. Just follow what we discussed and try to be -- well, your nicest self."

| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

Optimus had worried all morning as Ratchet washed himself more purposefully than usual. Hell, while it wasn't a word that Ratchet would normally use to describe his lover, there was no other way to put it than Optimus fussed as he helped Ratchet apply a new layer of wax on his plating. Ratchet was fairly certain the last time he had bothered to wax when it wasn't time for his annual checkup was when he was made Chief Medical Officer of the Autobots. He hadn’t even bothered when he was made the Chief Medical Officer of Cybertron – he was simply too old to be bothered with such vanities anymore.

Or, at least, he had thought he had finally outgrown them.

Ratchet eventually waved his lover off.

"Would you stop that hovering? You're starting to make me anxious."

Optimus looked unconvinced, and for good reason.

Ratchet was already, without a doubt, a bundle of anxiety.

Speaking wasn't his strong suit. Never had been. Oh, he had bedside manner aplenty despite the way mecha joked about him -- he could read individual patients at a glance and act accordingly. And arguing, well. No one would try to say he wasn't damned good in an argument. Public speeches were less natural to Ratchet, but he had presented to other medics before the war, and had relearned the rhythm and cadence of it after.

But that was in small groups, or about topics unrelated to himself. It was about his patients, or medical procedures and research, or the good of the health of Cybertron's citizens.

Ratchet had never had to discuss himself in any real personal manner that wasn't with mecha he trusted.

Optimus leaned in slowly, pressing a kiss to Ratchet's helm.

"It'll be fine, old friend. Just follow what we discussed and try to be -- well, your nicest self."

"Rude," Ratchet groused, even as he leaned back to revel in his lover's servos that grasped and kneaded his shoulders.

"Simply being honest. You know I love you, but you can occasionally be--"

"An aft."

"--Abrasive," Optimus corrected. "But you will be fine. It's just a few interviews. And if you have changed your mind--"

"I don't need you to make excuses for me. Like you said, it's just some interviews. I can handle that much at least.”

"I know you can. But you do not need to if you don't wish to."

Oh, it was tempting. Ratchet had successfully managed to stay locked away behind official and private doors, not having dared to go out in public just yet, keeping his awareness of the chaos waiting beyond the walls around him to just the hypothetical. It was almost easier to deal with the frustration when he could really believe that at the end of the month everything could go back to the way it was.

But he knew he could not hide forever.

Not with Optimus as his bonded.

Ratchet let his optics drift offline as he leaned back against Optimus.

“If Cybertron is so desperate to get to know me, then that’s their folly and they’ll just have to live with the consequences when I give them what they want.”

Optimus huffed with amusement as his frame eased behind Ratchet.

Ratchet didn’t feel the least bit relaxed but hid it well as he let his partner finish applying his wax and give him a good luck kiss.

“You must be Prime’s intended,” said the mech at the front desk brightly when Ratchet arrived, the words accompanied by an awed expression as he handed Ratchet the itinerary and then led him down the hall.

“Look alive, folks! Prime’s conjunx-to-be has arrived,” announced the photographer to his aids when Ratchet was dragged into the photoshoot studio to suffer through the awkwardness of trying to present himself well in front of a camera he hadn’t known would be involved at all.

“An honor to meet Prime’s lover,” said the mech who would be interviewing him with a slimy megawatt smile that would put even Spinmaster to shame as she held out her servo to Ratchet to shake.

“Ratchet,” he corrected irritably. Already his plating felt itchy and too tight with the repressed frustration that he had to be the first one to say his own damned designation in this damned building.

“A pleasure,” she replied without missing a beat, as if she hadn’t noticed at all, too busy smiling and gesturing towards a pair of plush chairs. “Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. I’ll have my aid get you some energon and then whenever you’re ready we can get started.”

Ratchet would swear he could see the entire surface of the mech’s dentae with how wide her smile was. If the results of this interview were to only reflect on him, Ratchet would have well lost his patience already and let himself be belligerent and petty, because so far as he had seen, the staff deserved little better. They all looked at his face in a way that clearly belied the fact that they were thinking about Optimus. It was insulting.

But this would reflect on Optimus. This was public politics that Ratchet was stepping into and it wasn’t his career that was likely to suffer from any backlash.

It took effort for Ratchet to force out a small wane smile of his own in return.

The day never improved. Different faces in different buildings had only the same sorts of questions to ask.

Some were so banal and dull that Ratchet just gave the same answers eventually. Questions about who he was -- a medic, the Autobot’s CMO, now Cybertron’s CMO. Questions about the bonding ceremony -- the date and the possible venues and any details that Ratchet could not give because he honestly didn’t know them. Questions about if he was excited, eager to bond with his lover, with Optimus Prime! – yes, of course, Ratchet had to lie through his dentae, telling himself again and again it wasn’t a lie so much as exaggeration because he was happy to be bonded to Optimus, the upcoming ceremony be damned.

The questions of how they met were a little more difficult, but Ratchet had been prepared for that.

“We met long before Optimus was, well, Optimus. He was still Orion Pax, an archivist at the Halls, and I was one of many med students who spent half his time being ordered around a hospital and the other half parked in the Halls writing papers and desperately fighting off recharge. It’s a miracle that we managed to form a friendship with our schedules, but clearly it worked out--”

Questions about how they had become lovers were expected, but that didn’t make it easy. It still felt wrong to talk openly about them being lovers at all, let alone to try to explain the intricacies of their shared lives in an easy to digest answer.

How could Ratchet ever explain the way that impending revolution and civil war had put a harsh halt to the way they two had been drawn towards the inevitable conclusion of their feelings for one another; how Orion becoming Optimus had uprooted their lives and shook their friendship to its core as Optimus flung himself helm-first into war and Ratchet followed on his heels; how easy it became to ignore the beating of their own sparks when surrounded by war, a war which well over half the current population of Cybertron had abandoned and never known and would never understand when reading some article in a magazine?

How would any civilian understand the quiet horror of being surrounded by death and the unfulfilled dreams it left in its wake, and how that constant horror finally had Optimus pulling Ratchet close on a night like any other, apologizing in the same breath that he explained he needed Ratchet to know he loved him?

How could they understand how Ratchet had wept in his arms with relief because he had thought himself condemned to taking his love for Optimus to his grave?

Cybertron wanted a cute story, not the melancholic desperation of soldiers grasping ahold of one another and hoping against hope it would not end in tragedy.

“I wish I had a better story to tell, but it was just a matter of one of us finally saying something. Optimus was always the braver of us, and Primus did I—I care so deeply for him.”

It was never enough for the mecha interviewing him. They would push and poke and prod with further questions, but inevitably they would accept that Ratchet was not going to open up about it.

“Shy” they had called him. “Shy” and “Bashful” and “Sweet” and any other number of words that Ratchet had never heard thrown at him of all mecha.

But he would have taken them over the questions that he and Optimus had spent their millennia together avoiding.

Optimus Prime was Ratchet’s leader.

Ratchet was Optimus Prime’s Doctor.

No one dared to suggest that they would ever say anything about the arrangement. Every interviewer would wave a dismissive servo or wear that sly look, like they were in on some joke they shared with Ratchet. I’m on your side their smiles said as they voiced concerns about work place ethics and abuse of authority and the possibilities that one of them may be taking advantage of the other.

I believe you their servos on Ratchet’s wrist suggested when Ratchet would manage to sputter out the practiced response about constant communication and checking in with one another, because neither of them would ever wish to coerce the other, let alone take advantage.

Because explaining that amongst the Autobots, Optimus had been everyone’s leader and Ratchet had been everyone’s doctor, and that the idea of committing themselves to loneliness with no end in sight was too horrible to consider--

--It wasn’t terribly romantic either.

No amount of assurance in the interviewers’ voices comforted Ratchet. Every damned time the next interviewer would start talking in that too-sweet voice, Ratchet’s spark would twist, knowing it was coming and wishing that just this once they wouldn’t ask and thus remind him of all those mecha out there who would think the worst of their coupling.

Ratchet wasn’t sure which was worse: that they would think Ratchet was taking advantage of Optimus, or that Optimus was taking advantage of him.

Both made him feel sick to consider.

And then would come questions he hadn’t seen coming. No doubt they were meant to be palate cleansers since they were all the sorts of questions Ratchet would have expected to be asked around groups of newly forged mecha.

“Now, we’re all dying to know. What is Optimus like behind closed doors? Is he—”

“—romantic?” most interviewers started with, as if they were imagining Optimus like some mech out of a romantic novel, carrying frivolous gifts while speaking overly mushy words of love.

“—passionate?” the last interviewer jumped right to with a sharp gleam to his optics, and Ratchet knew at once he meant something far more lascivious.

Was he a physical lover like the photos suggested, easily dropping affectionate kisses while touching Ratchet with ease, and could the public expect to see more of that side of their relationship? Was he funny or was he serious or was he gentle or was he passionate -- again and again each interviewer would finally ask that most important question.

“Is Optimus passionate?”

Does he frag you? their optics asked when their voice boxes couldn’t.

Is our great Prime also a great frag?

Does he make love or does he frag hard and fast until you’re screaming?

Won’t you tell us about every which way your arrays have aligned so we might imagine what it’s like to frag the Optimus Prime?

Ratchet had never considered himself a prude by any stretch of the imagination, and yet found himself burning from the inside out from embarrassment and shame.

“I’m happy with him and I make him happy, and that’s all anyone else needs to know,” Ratchet managed when all he wanted to do was scream that it wasn’t their damned business.

The moments they had together – Optimus’s large and sure servos interlocking with Ratchet’s and the affection in Optimus’s optics whenever he looked at Ratchet and the warm timbre of Optimus’s voice when he asked Ratchet every night how his day had been – didn’t belong to anyone but them.

“Shy” they all called him again, as if that could be the only reason Ratchet wouldn’t tell them about the way their frames fit together when they went into recharge each night.

But Ratchet managed to make it through each interview, and if he got to experience some glee in seeing the brief flickers of frustration on his interviewers’ faces, that was something at least.

Until that very last interview.

“Can you fully merge?”

Ratchet’s spark stopped cold in his chest as his optics went wide.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, I know, that wasn’t an approved question, but some of our readers are starting to wonder about that. What with the situation with the Matrix and all--”

“What?”

Watts, Spinmaster’s aid who had followed in Ratchet’s shadow all day to speak with the other staff members and no doubt to keep an optic on him, looked up sharply at his tone, her optics at once narrowing at the interviewer.

The interviewer at least bothered to look abashed, but still continued even as Watts started walking over, “As our Prime, Optimus’s spark communes with the Matrix, doesn’t it?” Ratchet nodded shortly, processor still reeling with confusion while his spark only grew colder with some realization it wasn’t yet sharing. “Well then, when the two of you merge – if you have yet, of course, I would never assume –”

“Don’t answer him,” Watts interrupted, standing at Ratchet’s side, and despite her minibot frame she did her best to look irate as he gestured at the interviewer with the datapad in her servo. “That topic is outlined as strictly off limits so you best stop right there or this interview is over.”

“What topic?” Ratchet asked, irritated at the conversation going on around him. Since when had there been off limit topics? Who had decided that and why hadn’t they bothered to consult him about it? And what the frag was all of this about spark merging—

The interviewer’s optics gleamed like a predator’s as he spoke over Watts protests.

“Presumably you can’t merge with the part of the Prime’s spark that communes with the Matrix, so are you able to truly bond?”

Watts had started nearly shouting now, though Ratchet wasn’t sure who at and what about because all he could hear was the rush of energon pounding through his frame. The frustration that had built over the span of the day felt as if it was boiling over in his lines.

And the bitter twist of shame in his spark finally set his temper aflame.

“Do you really think that whether we can complete a full spark merge makes any damned difference?” Ratchet snapped. Watts placed a servo on his wrist that he shook off as he pointed aggressively at the interviewer. “No, you don’t, because that has never been a requirement for legal bonding and never will be. There are plenty of bonded who do not merge fully for plenty of reasons and their bonds aren’t questioned. So just get to your point!” Watts was desperately trying to placate him now, but Ratchet didn’t pay it any mind as his optics narrowed in their focus on the interviewer whose fake smile wavered. “Just say that you want to throw doubt on our relationship until I pour out enough sordid details to prove myself that your readers can go home and self-service to their newly-informed fantasies of what it would be like to frag Optimus in my place!”

There was silence for that brief moment as the whole room seemed to gape. The interviewer’s optics had gone wide.

And then a genuine, albeit cruel, grin pulled at his lips.

Another staff member entered the fray though before he could speak, his servos gesturing placatingly as his gaze flipped from Ratchet to Watts and back, over and over. “Now, now, clearly things have gotten out of hand, so please let me offer apologies on behalf of the magazine. We would never want to suggest any insult to the Prime and his intended--”

“I have a name!” Ratchet shouted as he got to his pedes, aware of how his plating was flaring out. When the staff member just stared at him blankly for a moment before continuing with his asinine apology, Ratchet growled and he turned away to stalk out of the room.

Watts was close behind.

“Wait, sir, Ratchet,” she said as her short legs raced to bring her to walk just in front of him. It was the novelty of hearing someone else in the damned building say his name that had Ratchet finally looking down at her. There was something quick about the way her optics scanned his face, analytical and precise, and with a nod she continued, “Right, understood. I’ll handle damage control here and cancel the rest of your appointments for today. Security will be waiting for you out front to escort you back to wherever you’d like to go. Is there anything else you need?”

There were countless things Ratchet needed, the top of the list being a miracle that somehow he could have his old life back.

But that was impossible, so he shook his helm and escaped the building.

[chief-justice-tyrese]

Skyrim AU

This is a list of the more important ideas I had for it. I don’t think I’ll actually bother to write stories about it. My usual TF AU is already a handful. 

Dark Brotherhood Tyrest - He’s like a mix of the Listener and Cicero, in that he’s the one that takes care of the Night Mother. He was once a young idealistic senator from Cyrodiil. TL;DR - after a near-death experience and being hastily entombed in a sarcophagus, he began to hear the Night Mother and now works for her. He’s been working for her much longer than being in law and politics.

Pharma, the guy who tried to illegally cross the border into Skyrim but instead of getting deported back to Cyrodiil, he was put on the same wagon to be executed alongside Megatron. Yes, he is one of the Dragonborns. But the real reason he decided to come to Skyrim was because of Ratchet, who moved back to Skyrim. Except that Pharma just ends up being somewhere else far from Ratchet. Pharma has a strong personality and everyone either loves him or hates him. No in-between.

Rodimus, son of Whiterun’s Jarl, Optimus. He does most of the heroic-leaning Dragonborn quests. He is one of the Dragonborns. Optimus sent him on this journey because it would help him mature. Just like Optimus went on a similar one long ago, with a friend, and learned so much from it. Rodimus is acompanied by his housecarl, Ultra Magnus. A noble and heroic warrior, not evil or associated with Daedra or anything. >_>;;

Ratchet, the priest of the Temple of Kynareth. (He’s basically like Danica Pure-Spring but 1000x more important to the plot.) He has a 100 in Restoration magic and will gladly teach you for a small donation/fee. He is a close friend of Optimus and Elita. He had moved to Cyrodiil for many years but when he heard about Skyrim’s impending civil war, he decided to move back to Skyrim because he knew Optimus would need him.

Drift and the Circle of Light being the companions. But Drift is also the guy who shouts about Talos and the end of days. Ratchet wants him to stop because it’s annoying. The Companions are actually looking for a new smith for Skyforge. Their old master smith, Star Saber, left the companions after his years-long tension with their Harbinger, Dai Atlas.

Dragonborn Windblade and her housecarl, Chromia. Even in the game, they said there was more than one. She’s from Solitude and is on a quest to get revenge from Megatron because he killed The Mistress of Flame’s husband. And the Mistress is practically her mom and nobody makes her mom sad. Windblade doesn’t believe in fast-travel because it makes her sick.

Megatron as Ulfric Stormcloak. Starscream is his loyal housecarl. Long ago, he went on a journey, with a close friend (yes, that friend was Orion Pax), and in that journey he saw how his people suffered under the Alderi Dominion. He thinks that is Skyrim becomes independent, they would be free from the Dominion’s tyranny and under his more ideal peaceful tyranny. Still need to develop this one some more.

Lockdown double-agent??? He works for the Thieves’ Guild (headed by Swindle and the Combaticons), but was also running the Dark Brotherhood (like Astrid) before Tyrest showed up. He actually was relieved about Tyrest taking over because he honestly had no idea what he was doing. He can’t stand Pharma though. He thinks Pharma is the crazy one, even though it’s only Tyrest but he’s so suave and likable, that Lockdown doesn’t notice he’s a madman. 

[earthstellar]

Just wanna make it clear I’m not defending Megs here at all, but it’s interesting that we know in TFP canon he was in the gladiator rings himself, and while he ended up using his popularity in the ring as a platform to develop a crowd to gain followers for what would become the Decepticon movement, we don’t know (or I’m not aware) if he wanted to go into the ring to begin with, or if he was forced into it by 1) being a lower class bot and was forced in or 2) as a lower class bot he had no other options to get out of the mines so was effectively forced in anyway. 

Either way, the fact that he apparently runs a mini gladiatorial ring himself reeks of unresolved trauma and certain related negative behaviours to me. He grew up in long term traumatic environments (with the Cybertronian equivalent of significant childhood traumas) and as far as I’m aware, nobody in-universe ever bothers to mention or address that with him, even before the war broke out. Even Orion Pax was like, uh, I guess this is just how you mechs live!! It’s bad but ok uhhh let’s meet somewhere else next time!! (In Exodus, Pax visits a ring and is uncomfortable but tolerates it, likely because he’s shocked by it all and there’s nothing he can do about it in the moment, but even afterwards there’s no real “are you okay holy shit” conversation with Megs.) 

Also need to note that I’m certainly not implying this is a universal thing IRL and I’m not saying traumatised people go on to become abusers themselves universally; I had a traumatic childhood myself and I have PTSD from various additional traumas, which is why I pick up on this kind of thing in fiction. I’m not dragging myself or anyone else, just observing that Megs absolutely has a traumatic background and it absolutely has impacted him. 

Clearly the shit he’s doing is NOT OKAY, but he’s never gotten real help for his trauma. His only examples of leaders in life were the leaders who beat the hell out of him or had others beat the hell out of him or worked him nearly to death. You see that he repeatedly drives the Vehicons absurdly hard, dishes out heavy punishment for minor infractions or mistakes, running the energon mines on Earth likely in a similar way to the ones he used to work in on Cybertron-- This is all he knows, and his template concept of a leader is someone who abuses others. Pit bosses. Gladiator ring judges and organisers. 

It’s really fucked up and sad. Again: Not excusing Megs. I’m just saying I see why he’s doing the evil shit he’s doing, and it’s because it was done to him and he never got a better idea or example outside of the context of being abused. 

And with Unicron’s dark energon involved, how does that warp his traumas further? How does that influence how he processes and copes? What level of influence on his decisions does the dark energon have, and are these gladiatorial pits he runs the combined result of dark energon and a struggle to cope etc? What about his memory, is it in tact, is it corrupted, is he working off of a more real history or an altered one; What is his perception of anything while under the influence?

We know that dark energon has a real cognitive effect on Megatron. It lapses into quasi-steroidal and quasi-hallucinogenic territories based on what we see on the show. This is a substance that he is chronically abusing, and that in and of itself is a negative coping method. He may have started using it to try to be the strongest leader possible, in more than one sense, but what effect is it having on his actual leadership? He wasn’t always this way; Public figures don’t become leaders unless others are willing to follow them, and while we could say Megatron may have looked better and more relatable to some bots even if he had always behaved this way, we know that he started drawing crowds due to speeches made on a much more even level, fellow working class to other members of the working class. He wouldn’t have gotten popular if he were like this the entire time.

So I think the fact that he runs gladiator rings is a sign that his mental health is so completely tanked, and the dark energon is so severely compounding unresolved traumas and negative coping thought patterns, that he’s acting out his abuser’s behaviours likely without realising it, especially while he’s addicted physically and mentally to dark energon.

We see later at the end of Predacons Rising in this scene here  that once the dark energon is worked out of his system, he states he “now knows the true meaning of oppression and has lost his taste for inflicting it”, which aside from being a bad line because he already knew what oppression was because he was a lower class bot, does seem to support my theory. 

The “oppression” he’s talking about is being possessed by the dark energon (and therefore Unicron); Once it’s purged and he’s no longer suffering the cognitive effects of the dark energon, he immediately backs off. He may not want to -admit defeat-, which is what he would see an admission of general guilt as, but his entire demeanour in that scene rings of measured regret to me. This doesn’t fix anything, but it’s something. 

Interesting is that immediately after Megs backs down in that scene, Starscream immediately laughs and says “You’ve been traumatised”; I think Starscream is aware of Megatron’s history to a more extensive degree than most of the others, and while he’s referring to Unicron’s possession, it’s a very specific way to phrase things. It’s true, but it’s also true going back how many centuries? Regardless, Starscream immediately calls it out as more trauma.

I’m not implying the dark energon is entirely responsible for his actions, as we know that for at least some time before he ever obtained dark energon things were going south, but if there had been a conversation or two more with him before some events in Exodus, a lot of shit could have been avoided and maybe he could have been made more open to help and therefore better decisions. 

People with extensive compounding or complex traumas are often in need of outside perspective combined with other support, but at the same time they’re often the least likely to seek it or accept it; I used to work in social care, and we had a client who was referred to us and it took us almost two years to get him to the point where he would accept an initial therapy appointment. By the time I left that job, he had been doing way better, and had come a long way with anger management! But he used to struggle with violence and verbal aggression as that was what he was most used to experiencing from others, and he had no other way to frame or express himself. Resilience is often a trauma response, but unfortunately, that resilience is sometimes expressed by refusing help as it’s too suspect or the person isn’t willing to open themselves up to what may potentially be more harm or misguidance. Megatron’s “jump to anger as default” is a real trauma response in a lot of people, so that’s realistic. 

But in canon, nobody knew what the fuck they were doing and it spiralled out into war pretty fast. Cybertronian society doesn’t seem like it particularly cared for anyone’s mental health, as even Alpha Trion seems a bit depressed and clearly struggles with understanding how to help himself or others (he omits data from permanent records intentionally to revise and sanitise information, stating that he wants to prevent further harm, which is a huge YIKES even though I generally like Alpha Trion) and you’d think they’d care about an elder figure but social issues seem to complicate things further, so it’s unsurprising. Class limitations worked both ways in Cybertronian society in some regards; Some aspects of Alpha Trion’s treatment reflects some problems with ageism and accessing support in real life. But anyway, that’s a whole other post. 

Not sure why I felt the need to write this all out but Megs fascinates me because he’s a great example of someone who started out being right (wanting to lift the working class out of struggle) but becomes very, very, arguably irredeemably wrong by falling back on tactics used by those who abused him. 

It’s something that I as a traumatised person am hyper aware of and afraid of; I’m always scared I’ll do or say some shit that’s totally off base that one of my abusers said to me as a child or as an adult purely out of not knowing what other options exist, and due to trauma actually having altered my brain (PTSD, serious memory problems, etc.) so I never really trust my own perspective or ability to gauge appropriate responses to anything. Trauma sucks and it can fuck you up and make you do bad shit that you don’t even register is bad, even though everyone else is like UHHHH you’ll just be like oh wait it’s not normal? oh no (this is based on my own experiences, again I’m not trying to apply a blanket of anything to anyone IRL) 

And people are very, very quick to judge. I’m not defending Megs, but I’m saying it’s worth looking at why he does the shit he does, as evil as it is. Not saying it’s not evil. Not saying he has excuses that reprieve him, but he does have excuses that may explain him, and those two things are very different. We can look at both analytically with and without implication. 

Almost all of my own formative experiences were traumatic on at least one level if not multiple levels, and I think Megatron has similar problems separating or identifying where lines are drawn especially in regards to his own logic or actions, exacerbated by dark energon progressively damaging his ability to think clearly as we see at several points on screen, and there’s no way for him to frame things in other contexts, especially not under the influence.

In my case, I had to spend over a decade learning really basic shit that non-traumatised people already know inherently. In Megatron’s case, he had neither the resources nor the time to spend on that, and he may not even recognise that his logic is faulty because he is unable to re-frame his perception of things from a trauma POV to a non-trauma POV. 

And so, a bot who was forced either directly or indirectly into gladiatorial battle now runs a similarly vicious gladiatorial ring. 

tl;dr Megatron is doing some evil shit and I wonder how much of it is based in his own deep seated traumas and inability to cope healthily with them, how much of it is based on altered cognition either from trauma, dark energon, or both, and how much of it is a derailment of his perception of goals and ideals over centuries

once again I have written a TFP essay at 4 AM lmao uh oh 

One of the TFP Titan comics is about Megatron’s Vehicon fighting pit (how fucked up is that) and he just throws Starscream into it (how FUCKED UP IS THAT) but Starscream uses his nimbleness and intelligence to take out a much bigger mech than him… He’s so good…

my favorite panel:

KITTY