#and then he stops using dark energon completely

[ravennevermore12]

I personally love the idea of Unicron being the creator of humanity, purely for the sheer thought of the Prime versions of the autobots and the Decepticon's reaction to the information and the possibility that dark energon may be beneficial to humans in some way because they're Unicron made.

To some it might make sense in hindsight, to others it would come as a complete surprise, and both to some degree would be disturbed by the implications, especially since in human religion there have been numerous accounts of being able to communicate with their gods and messengers across civilizations as recently as medieval times.

How they treat humans after knowing this information would be very interesting to see, especially the autobots who have been allied with them for such a long time.

[mskenway97]

I had this in mind for some time and some ideas made me think about this story. It takes place during the course of the 'Alpha/Omega' episode of transformers prime after Optimus lost the Star Saber.

Tfp Optimus Prime x Fem!human!reader

I will stay

Words: 1,576

Summary: You haven't heard from your guardian for days, when you got the news from Jack that a new weapon had been discovered. You decided to stop by to see why he wasn't talking to you like before to discover a side of him you didn't know.

Warning: angst, sorrow, g/t content, g/t confort fluff

You knew something wasn't right, ever since he came back with his memory restored. Something was keeping you upset, you felt that he had put up a wall that you couldn't get through. That didn't happen before. You met him by chance bad timing, a detour home several Vehicons and a big robot of almost 30 ft. Since then he had taken care of you, as Ratchet refused to be the guardian, plus you were older than the children on the base to your surprise. You befriended them, but you were always intrigued by Prime, and little by little you were able to talk about various things. Seeing what caught his attention… Apart from the popular culture books of Earth and what I was dedicated to. Partly little by little you began to fall in love with this metallic giant, his kindness, his concern, his dedication to the Earth. To feel safe among his servos, or to sit on his shoulder while he worked, little details that mattered a lot to you. But at the same time they made you feel helpless, helping Miko and Raf was easy. Engaging Ratchet in conversation was a challenge. Understanding Bumblebee was a challenge. But you tried because you wanted to get to know them better. Everything started to change since Unicron showed up, the day Optimus left… Those were the worst days for you, you didn't know how much you needed him… the sound of his voice, the touch of his finger when he stroked your hair…

He came back to you but interactions started to be more limited, he would pick you up from work: Arcee or Bulkhead. Only Ratchet stayed at the base…. That made you feel partly miserable, you knew he had great work, great responsibility but at the same time you wanted to help him. That he just didn't show that stoic side to all the people. But you were only a small human, between a war of enormous titans. You could only stand by and watch, you wished you could do more, could help more. But you were just an ant in comparison…. You wished at least to see him smile, at least just once… If only you could comfort him, do something. You would do anything. This was eating you up more and more. Until the deadline came when Jack started telling you about a new weapon the autobots had found: Star Saber, it seemed they had an advantage to win, at least something that looked like they would win the war once and for all. That day you left work late at night, but you knew Optimus would be at the base, so you called Ratchet for a groundbridge. You watched with all the joy in the world. Until you saw Ratchet's long faces, the others were patrolling. You didn't understand what was going on until you saw a weapon completely destroyed.

-Ratchet, what happened? - you asked as you climbed the stairs. Ratchet sighed as he looked at the command center - Star Saber was destroyed, Megatron found a way to create his own Star Saber with Dark Energon.

-How is this possible? Solus Prime's forge can only be used by one.

-Megatron found a way… Optimus fought against him, with some injury but he will be

-Damage?! - you said as Ratchet tried to calm you down.

-He's fine. You should go home… Something in you jumped, you were sick of having to leave, of having to be pulled back - No, not this time. I'm going to talk to him. Don't even think of stopping me - you said seriously as you walked down the hallway without listening to Ratchet's words to reason with you. You moved quickly down the long hallway to get to Optimus' room, you didn't think, you acted on pure instinct and emotion. You wanted to know how he was doing, he didn't care if he tried to kick you out, he wasn't going to back down too. you weren't going to leave him behind, you weren't going to give up anymore. You tried knocking on the huge door to see that it wasn't locked, which surprised you since Optimus was always careful with his room and his secrets. He hadn't let you in either due to various reasons that the autobot leader always made an excuse for. Then you walked in to see around a room that had a huge desk, next to a bed, what appeared to be a pile of datapads on the desk table. You stood admiring the place, as you looked like a little doll or toy as you walked around. The door behind you closed, you jumped in fright. Then you saw Optimus, he seemed to be leaning on his bed. At least you had a fix on him, the problem was how to get to him.

It was not easy for you to get to the bed but with a lot of patience you climbed up one of the bed spreads, you approached carefully so that he would not crush you when he moved, you were in front of his face about to wake him up but you noticed on his face in his optics rather, there was something blue liquid. Biologically, humans and cybetronians were not so different… He was crying… You approached him carefully as you touched his faceplate, it felt cold but at the same time you heard a small engine noise, you saw that he opened the optics slowly to see your face so close to him. You thought he was going to refuse or push you away, you were about to respond but contrary to what you thought, his servo grabbed you to pull you to his chest and place you close to his spark. He was stroking your back with his other servo, feeling a great warmth but you shook your head at what you initially came for. This bot had great skill in reading your mind, he already knew why you were here.

-You were worried about me… I am sorry for my absence these days, little one. Matters have led me into situations to keep you and the rest safe. You clenched your fist, a little clenched your jaw, I was doing it again….

-Don't do it… Optimus was confused to hear you - Pardon?

-Don't you dare hide how you feel in front of me, I know you're trying to protect me…. But what matters to me is how you feel, don't you dare say it's not important, war is important. You are distancing yourself from everyone…

-Little girl, I…

-Don't you dare do this alone… When Unicron arrived you disappeared. I thought you really left - you said trying to keep your tone of voice without tears - You walked away, I don't care if it's for my protection, I don't care how many times you try to push me away, I will stay… I will not leave here - you said determinedly as you looked at the optics. There was a deafening silence between the two of you, you looked at each other with determination that your words, then you felt his arms around you squeezing you a little you felt him leaning you to his chassis. You looked at his optics to see the tears coming back to him.

The burdens of a leader are something I must keep, I stayed away for your protection. I may win some battles others I may lose them with quite a few consequences: the Star Saber, Raf's life was close too…. If it hadn't been Raf… - he said as he lifted me up to look at you better - and if it had been you, I wouldn't have forgiven myself…. The words the giant had said had hit hard in your heart, as he wrapped his servos around you as if to protect you from the world -… I can't lose you like that - he said in a low voice. That made a little more of a dent in you, but you moved closer to his face, leaned gently to his cheek as you saw that his optics were focused on you.

-I know, that's how I've been feeling these days too…. I don't want to lose you like this either.

You gave her a soft kiss on her cheek, which had the effect of sounding her engines a little as she squeezed you a little closer in her servos, you felt her nuzzle to you. You had missed these interactions so much, you had missed her too much.

-Next time, try talking to me. I know I can't share your burden, but I'll listen to you as long as it takes - you said as she put you back closer to her chassis but closer to her spark.

-I will try for you. And I will never leave you alone again - he said as you felt a big pulse of sparkle warm you up a little. That was all you needed to hear, you stayed like that for a while longer as words were not needed at that moment. Maybe when things calmed down you would tell him how you really felt about him. Just feeling his company, though, was all you needed. Maybe one day you would manage to get a smile out of him. But little by little, you felt him close your eyes to fall asleep near his chassis. Feeling at peace at last… Next to him.

[my-writings-and-musings]

hello! i loved the recent earthspark bee story so much, can i request something similar but with earthspark megatron? anything involving robot babies works honestly, such a cute concept

(i apologize if this is too vague, thank you regardless!)

I was totally hoping to get asks for more yes EXCELLENT I have been so utterly swamped I needed something self indulgent to keep my writing going!

Here's the original with Bee for those curious!!

Please enjoy some Megatron being a brand new dad and having some feelings about it.

"Shouldn't you be getting something for yourself?"

Megatron was stopped in his tracks by the almost startling sound of another's voice, having been in such a fog he'd walked right by Optimus and hadn't even realized it. Turning to find his old friend standing beside the base of the Dugout stairs, he noticed a cube of energon in his outstretched servo, and though he couldn't deny being a tad bit hungry he didn't feel ready to take the time to refuel. 

"Later, perhaps." he declined politely, looking down at the human sized tray of food cupped in his palm. Between his massive size and the elaborate spread of steaming food across the tiny surface, he didn't dare make any sudden movements, lest his mate be left without nourishment even a minute longer than necessary. With all you'd been through, he didn't feel right delaying as long as he already had. Ignoring his desire for the cube, he turned to head off for the medical bay. "Y/N needs food far more than I do."

"Is there some kind of rule that new creators can't eat at the same time?" Optimus replied with a touch of playful sass as he walked in step with his friend. Megatron would have rolled his optics at the quip and shot one back, but with his lack of fuel and sleep combined with the jubilant celebration of the past few hours, he couldn't manage anything more than an amused sigh. There was simply too much to celebrate to bother being cross, no matter how hungry or exhausted he may have become with the increasingly late hour. Optimus followed him to the medical bay, stepping as quietly as their massive frames allowed so as not to wake the Terrans sleeping in their respective rooms.

"You need to take care of yourself if you want to take care of others, old friend." the Prime advised as they left the main area, smiling all the while. Megatron sighed again, this time because he couldn't think of a rebuttal to the wisdom his friend had to offer. 

"Fair enough..." he sighed as he secured the tray in one servo and used the other to take the cube. He'd thank his friend in time, but for now there was just too much to be done, enough that he completely forgot he'd need a second limb to open the door until he realized both were now occupied.

Thankfully Optimus showed him mercy, helpfully stepping in to enter the code and command the doors to open. "Here, allow me to get the door." he offered before doing so and stepping aside. Megatron smiled himself at the gesture, grateful to have such reliable friends when he needed them most. Nodding in acknowledgement, he entered the medical bay and allowed his optics to adjust to the dimmer light as the doors sealed shut behind him, finding that little had changed in his brief absence. You were still comfortably seated on the nest of blankets he'd arranged on the padded berth in the corner of the room, your tiny form looking exhausted but not quite ready to sleep as you raised your head in response to his entrance. He caught a hint of a smile through the darkness.

"Are they sleeping?" he asked quietly as he approached, unable to completely subdue the sounds of his footsteps despite all of his efforts. 

"Sort of, he keeps slipping in and out of consciousness." you answered as you adjusted the swaddled bitlet in your arms, earning a tiny coo in the process. Megatron swiftly deposited his cube on a nearby table when you weren't looking, intending to eat later but wanting his full attention on you for the moment. Granted, his attention hadn't really left you at all in the past few hours, but that seemed fitting for a new sire performing his many duties. You caught the tray in his servo when he came to the edge of the bed, and perked up at the smell of something delicious. "Is that for me?"

"Alex insisted on preparing something fresh once I mentioned you were hungry. I'm not sure what he made, but I believe it's to your specifications." Megatron explained, trying not to chuckle at how Dorothy's husband had jumped into action the second he'd requested nourishment on your behalf. It had taken some time to prepare, but he'd trusted the Maltos to have a much better idea of what a human needed to recover from labor, even if he'd assured them you'd only asked for a snack so no one had to trouble themself. Alex hadn't even been bothered by the fact that it was the dead of night, and judging by your reaction, his cooking skills hadn't been at all diminished by a lack of sleep.

"Oh wow, he really went all out." you marveled as you beheld the impressive spread, uncertain how you'd finish it all. The sparkling in your arms reacted to the scent of food with a sleepy but curious trill, scarlet optics cracking open as he yawned and nommed on the edge of his blankets without a care in the world. Hunger and affection stirred within your stomach and heart, leaving you briefly unsure of how to proceed.

"I can bring over the bassinet, to free up your hands." Megatron offered quickly, setting the tray down a short distance from you before he turned to search for the human sized infant carrier that Dorothy had gifted the both of you. Before he could spot it amongst the piles of supplies, you shifted in your nest and spoke up to get his attention.

"Actually, do you want to hold him?"

The question, innocent as it may have been, dropped an icy chunk of fear into his stomach. Words briefly failed him as he got a hold of himself before turning around. 

"Should I?" he asked with open hesitation, looking to the sparkling and feeling a fresh burst of terror at the prospect. Though he'd been there when your little one was born, allowing you to hold his servo as he cradled you from behind and coached you through it, he hadn't yet had any more physical contact with the newborn than a brush of his digits against their tiny frame. Even that had felt wrong, as if he'd taken an unacceptable risk for his own selfish gain.

You smiled and carefully sat up, angling the bitlet so his sire had a better view. Megatron calmed a little at the confidence in your voice, the affection he had for both of you building as you reminded him of a simple fact. "I think so, he's your son, after all."

His son. That certainly was going to take a while to get used to, along with the explosive mix of emotions his newfound parenthood was stirring up every time he confronted his new reality. Returning to the berth, he pulled up a chair and sat down, looking down at the sparkling in your arms and feeling a fresh lurch of fear. His long and storied history aside, the little one was simply miniscule compared to him, and despite his natural dexterity and ease handling your own fragile form, he was worried that taking them into his grasp could be dangerous. "That is true, but are you... sure it's safe?"

"He'll be safer with you than anywhere else. Here, let me show you." you offered, encouraging him to hold out his cupped servos. As hungry as you were, you didn't rush him when he did as you asked with considerable hesitation. A brief flinch of discomfort across your face compelled him to move more confidently for your sake, his servos moving close enough to save you from any additional discomfort as you lifted the sparkling to hand him over. The bitlet cooed in confusion as he was laid down in his sire's servos, and though the sound and the weight of the tiny being sent a wave of emotion over Megatron he remained still as a statue for your instructions. "Just keep him here, like this. What's most important is supporting his helm."

Megatron nodded, but was otherwise motionless as you sat back against your pillows, the edges of his vision fading as everything beyond the sparkling briefly slipped away. The little one didn't seem at all perturbed by the move, merely curious as he blinked upwards at the massive figure looking down on him before yawning and deciding he was too sleepy to care. Bringing tiny servos to his chubby cheeks, they rubbed their bleary optics before settling back down to snooze, swaddled blankets rising and falling from their peaceful ventilations. The sight nearly sent his spark into a supernova, and he brought the tiny being to his chassis to keep them warm and protected. Pure adoration was tinted by guilt as he looked between the resting sparkling and you contentedly enjoying your meal.

After all the horrors he'd brought to Earth, all the harm he'd caused this world, it had given him you, and by extension, this little being the two of you had made together. It was an honor he could never deserve, and yet, here he was. Perhaps fate had thought fit to offer him a chance to add something to the world for a change.

He brought the little one closer to his helm, his optics stinging with tears he refused to shed as he took his first real look at his son. As hard as it was to believe he'd grow into a properly sized Cybertronian, the new sire had no trouble identifying his own features, from the crimson optics that were currently closed in rest to the shiny silver of his soft mesh. Your own features were mixed in as well, their Cybertronian equivalents expressing themselves beautifully. 

"I'll eat as fast I can, then I can take him back." you said suddenly, breaking him out of the stupor. 

"Take your time, love." he requested gently, smiling down just as the newborn worked a thumb into his mouth to suckle. All hunger and exhaustion completely forgotten, Megatron settled more comfortably in his chair, basking in the moment and forgetting all about the world beyond. His words were soft yet certain when he spoke next. "I have him, and I have you."

[rawmeknockout]

can I please have the lost light’s resident old married couple cdrw taking a hot young bot under their wing as a third? even better if said bot is a complete and total brat that’s still woefully unprepared for whatever those two cook up in the berth

You didn't know them that well, have only heard of them in passing or seen them chatting with their friends at the bar. There are whispers among the crew, large as it is, about their lives. Perhaps not all of it is true, but it made you feel sorry for them. You probably shouldn't have judged based off rumors, but they made you feel... Normal. Like you're grateful you are not as messed up as them. Althought, perhaps that's because you're not nearly as old as them. It may be terribly judgmental, as you are sometimes wont to be, but you didn't know them. It had been fine to feel that way in private.

It was fine until you were trapped with the small one on some abandoned mining planet.

The mission had been to search for the person or persons who sent out a distress signal, but from the start it was a bust. The planet had been left for centuries, once bustling with an entire enslaved population of aliens who worked and died mining for precious jewels. Even with the countless atrocities the war brought, Cybertronians certainly didn't have a monopoly on committing crimes against nature.

It was only terrible luck and unfortunate timing that led the ground to caving in under you two, a result of the failing infrastructure, as one of the expansive tunnels caved in beneath your feet. Perhaps Primus took mercy on you by letting you survive the drop down several stories of crumbling rock. It certainly didn't feel like mercy when you came to with nothing but oppressive dark and one terribly banged up companion. You knew it was impossible to send a message underground, but you attempted to anyway. It, unsurprisingly, failed not a half-second after.

There was only one path even marginally open in the caved in tunnel, so after getting your bearings and checking on your companion (one leg crushed, the other snapped clean off, would make it hard for him to go anywhere alone), you picked up and set off the only way you could. Although not without a bit of whining and complaining on your part. He wasn't much to carry, despite being one of the larger minibots, and his playful banter, although uneasy, had filled the quiet with something to keep your mind off the dreariness of your circumstances. You tried not to waste energy checking your chronometer, but you must have been walking for days. You stopped when you were tired, feet aching and scuffed beyond mere polishing, and simply kept going when you knew you had to. It was impossible to tell if you even made any progress. It was only a day before your companion, chipper as he could be, suggested you leave him behind and try to use your energy to save yourself.

Despite the logic, you wouldn't hear of it. You weren't just going to leave another mech, older and already unable to walk, to waste away in the dark, buried under hundreds of feet of dirt and rock. You almost had to force him to take even a single nip off your energy rations, of mediocre quality and already half-eaten before you had been caved in. He tried to use every rationale he could: he was a memory stick, he had recently saved a copy of his most important historical archives, he was unable to get anywhere without you and would simply increase your energon usage than if you traveled alone. Self-sacrificing as he tried to be, Rewind at least didn't physically fight back when you would pick him up and continue walking. If you simply let him die, left him behind to save yourself, you would lose a part of yourself that you had fought for so long to keep alive. You didn't fight a stupid war so you could forsake your beliefs in a fucking tunnel on a shitty planet. His banter, your playful teasing, kept you from losing your processor to despair.

Your joints ached terribly by the time you found it, Rewind becoming less and less responsive. Perhaps Primus had been looking out for you after all. The light was blinding, much too bright after spending cycles in pitch black, but you climbed for it anyway. Energon leaked from your pedes and fingertips as you clawed your way out of what ended up being a sliver of a cave entrance. Nothing but an overlooked hole in the ground and rock. If you'd had the energy you would have laughed, letting Rewind slide off your backplates onto the ground as you flipped over and let the twin stars beat their rays into your chassis. You reached for Rewind's servo beside you, try to coax his digits into squeezing yours back, but get nothing in return. If he was close to gone, you were not far behind. Your HUD alerted you that your message, finally, got sent off.

You only caught the distant sound of engines as you slipped into what may be stasis-lock.

The Well of All Sparks is, annoyingly, quite loud and clinical. The sound of a spark monitor is clear in your audials, and you wish he wouldn't fiddle with metal instruments so loudly. His voice sounds like Ratchet's, although low in volume it's still gruff and not-so-soothing to the recently awakened. Your optics reboot after a long moment of trying to decide if you want to wake up back on the Lost Light.

Your processor is fuzzy and not moving as quickly as you would like it to, but you are, thankfully, still alive. Ratchet's demeanor has never looked so gentle, certainly not at you directly, as he leans over you for a thorough investigation. He fusses at you about your memories, most notably about who you are, and checks for what you have to assume is any extensive processor damage or pain. You don't know how long you lay there, looking up at fluorescent lights under Ratchet's gentle interrogation, but you don't notice Rewind or Chromedome beside your bed until several moments later.

"You almost went into permanent stasis-lock," Rewind informs you, relief clear in his voice, "Thankfully Magnus got your message as soon as we were out."

Chromedome doesn't say much other than letting you know Rewind has been unrelentingly insistent on staying by your bedside, not letting anyone forget how heroic or brave you were. It makes you clam up, faceplates heating, as he outs Rewind for telling anyone and everyone about how you risked your life for him. The pair that you had heard so many rumors about, who had seemed like mere caricatures of a tragic love story, have become so much more... Real. Their reactions and feelings rational. Like any other Cybertronian.

With just a few days of being forced into each others company, you have firmly and unwittingly enmeshed yourself into Rewind's inner circle. You make a point to tell him you don't need him to 'repay' you or something, but Rewind insists on inviting you for drinks and carrying on conversations. He comes to see you while you're working, introduces you to his friends, tells everyone about his 'life debt' to you. When you loudly, boldly declare your opinions like they are mere facts of life, your new friend agrees eagerly or laughs at your overzealous behavior. If Rewind is grateful, you don't know how to describe Chromedome. He's quieter than his companion, you knew that before actually talking to him, but his attachment to you is no less apparent. Despite his aversion to most people, you find yourself as a rare exception. They always seem to find you in a crowd. Despite your bravado and self-aggrandizing, it feels nice to actually be seen by others, to be wanted and looked for. It was nice that, in spite of your ability to be rather loud and opinionated, mechs still wanted to be around you. It starts a very conflicting conundrum of whether you should indulge this feeling or try to keep it down.

Perhaps it was more obvious to those around you what was happening. It certainly seemed that way to those like Brainstorm and Tailgate, who were under the impression you were 'not like them'. When you even insinuated you were merely in the same category as all of their friends, Brainstorm would give you a puzzled look, investigative even. Something was clear to everyone but you.

It finally dawns on you one night, laying on their shared berth as Rewind replays the battle against Galvatron for the fiftieth time, that perhaps this is what they meant. Chromedome's thigh is pressed into the side of your chassis, a weighty presence warm against your armor, as Rewind tucks himself against your other side, his helm resting on your pauldron as he holds the holovid for you to see. You don't voice your thoughts, far too prideful to make a fool of yourself by stating something that others surely were caught up on, but the realization does send heat up your neck cables to the tips of your audials. Your EM field pushes experimentally against Chromedome's, a brushing of gentle electric energy that mingles in the back of your intake. He doesn't hesitate to push back readily, focus still entirely on his own datapad.

It's a realization that, in hindsight, only goes to your head. You strut around the ship with an ego boosted through the roof, a fact others make not so playful comments about. But you remain unfazed by their ribbing. You let your knee brush and press against Rewind's when you sit at your designated table in Swerve's, lean in to rest against Chromedome's side when there's a ship-wide meeting, make yourself comfortable by leaving your things here and there strewn across their habsuite. It's not long before you find yourself being annoyingly, obnoxiously clingy, arms wrapped around one or both of your partners in any public situation, a fact which leads Whirl to, several times, make gagging noises as if he has a mouth with which to gag. Your partners, ever loving and ever indulgent, don't push you off or attempt any 'face-saving'. Rewind seems all the happier to have you draped across him like another layer of armor.

All of your teasing and physical touch is a mistake you merely rack up in interest, Chromedome's EM field pleased and well-charged but never allowed to disperse. No relief found from your fleeting servos or coiling arms. It is a slow torturous build to an intimate joining in their berth, one you have unwittingly drawn out for months.

It is with Chromedome's derma that you reach his tipping point, his blast mask thrown aside in favor of kissing you passionately and a tad too enthusiastically. Despite all your touching and loving, Chromedome is not liberal with his mouth and prefers to keep his face covered when possible. You throw your arms around his neck, letting him push you back onto the berth with his larger frame. Your well aware of Rewind at your side, eager to record your intimate moments in graphic detail, a thought that sends charge zipping through your frame. His servos find the curve of your frame from shoulder to chest, pet along seams leading to your spark chamber, trail down where they converge at your pelvic armor. He's not so kind as to even lay a digit on it, though, opting to grab your thighs and hoist them around his hips.

For such a cold and aloof mech, gloomy in even the best situations, his kiss, his touch, is unbearably hot. His chassis only growing warmer where you meet, your legs tighten around his back to pull him closer to your codpiece where you need him desperately. He's also an infuriating person who doesn't relent to your wishes so easily, pulling away to smile impishly.

"What do you want, huh?" Rewind lets out a stifled laugh beside you at Chromedome's prodding. Clearly you're surrounded by villains.

"Come on, you know what I want!" You try to reel him back in with your arms and legs wrapped around him like a coiling cyberconda. He's undeterred by your grappling and whining.

"Patience, young Padawan," You wrinkle your nasal ridge at Rewind invoking one of Swerve's nerdy movies, "Good things come to those who wait."

You scoff, ready to give him a piece of your mind for not banging your bolts loose already, before Chromedome interrupts you.

"By the time we're done, you're going to wish you hadn't been so insistent," That... Gives you pause. You know they're pretty amorous, passionate in their interpersonal relationships, but they're still just a couple of old geezers, right? You almost laugh at the notion they could have anything in store that would surprise you. If they frag too hard they might die of spark failure.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The amusement must be far too clear in your voice, because Chromedome leers at you in a way that makes you feel wholly unprepared. Perhaps it's not too late to salvage some sort of mercy from them.

"Have you ever tried edging?"

[tfp-enthusiast]

Autobots w gn cybertonian reader where they go, "Ah shit, it's my ex." In the middle of the battlefield and on cue fucking Megatron appears

How do they know? They can sense the presence of that warlord for miles away from how much his vibe reeks of dark energon, tyranny, and a fucking mess in general

They weren't his lover for nothing. Despite being exes, reader still has that Megatron radar attached to themselves

Bot's X Bot!GN!Reader who is the ex of Megatron

[lmao, this made me laugh out loud while imagining it]

[Btw. I just threw (almost) everyone in one scenario and then this came out]

[For info, I saw the message that said that it should be scenarios a little later but I hope it still works out okay]

[And don't worry anon, I'm forgetful too]

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

You where on a mission with Wheeljack, Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen because you got an signal of a large energon source but expected there would be some Cons waiting there.

Those assumptions where, as expected, completely right and there where so many troops who transported the energon towards the entry of the cave so they could bring everything to the Nemesis when their groundbridge opened.

Normally Optimus doesn't take the chances with situations like this, an huge cave that has a lot of energon and vehicons that can result in a soldier getting heavy injured, but the last cycles where stressful and hard for everyone. You where running low on energon, like everyone, and somehow you managed to persuade the prime into sending some out to get at least some of the energon back to base.

It went pretty well, aside from a little bickering between Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack, and you and Smokescreen where told to get as much energon as possible while the others fought so you could leave as soon as possible.

But somehow the fight escalated and Smokescreen joined the fight while you still tried to save some energon cubes for everyone though after getting pulled back by Bulkhead you decided that it was not worth the risk and hoped that it would be enough for a little while.

Now all you had to do was beat the remaining vehicons and then you could get back to base so you could enjoy some energon without feeling bad about it thinking you stole rations from others.

You all expected that there would be coming backup for a mine of this size and prepared yourself that this could go on a little longer then usually but shortly after the third wave came you felt an unusual presence, not really a presence but it felt like something was coming towards your location, after a few nanokliks you recognized the feeling, it felt almost like an instinct to you, you prepared yourself mentally for what, or rather who, was coming.

You soon thought that it would be the best choice to tell the others about it but couldn't help but be afraid that they would find out that something was going on between the Megatron and you.

You realized that there weren't any troops incoming and knew now was the best moment to warn them. Though you couldn't stop the fear that nagged in the back of your processor.

'Frag it, I can regret it later'

"Guys, we should try and retreat, Megatron's coming!"

It seemed like only Wheeljack and Bulkhead heard you and you feared they didn't understand but seeing the way Bulkhead looked at you let you know they heard it.

"How are you so sure about that?"

You could nearly feel Megatron because of the dark energon and almost lost consciousness because the feeling felt so overwhelming which was wierd because you thought you would get used to it considering it was this way for centuries.

Soon enough you could see Megatron land, in a way that seemed a little like a show off to you, and you felt your spark stop when he looked at you in a way you knew from back where he wasn't a war criminal.

It seems like everything was too much for you because the last thing you remember was Megatron starting to talk with.. Ultra Magnus, you think? But then you collapsed to the ground. The damage you took, the fact that you where running on the absolute minimum of energon and being near Megatron was overwhelming and caused you to go into a more or less forced stasis.

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

You woke up in the medbay of the base and saw that only Ratchet, Optimus and Wheeljack where there.

Almost immediately Ratchet's helm turned to you when you opened your optics and reached for your helm out of instinct.

"Optimus, they woke up.."

Unlike Ratchet Optimus' movements where slower and more calm, probably because he knew that once, at the start of the war, you where in a relationship with Megatron, but Wheeljack stayed where he was and just looked at you in a confused/maybe even angry way, chances where high he and Bulkhead told everyone that you knew Megatron was coming before he was in line of sight.

"You passed out because of overheating and because your injuries where too much for you while on that less energon."

Ratchet was acting like always, stern and caring in a way only he was able to, which made you think that maybe everything was forgotten in the heat of the moment back there.

But as soon as you heard Wheeljack walk towards you you knew that those thoughts where wrong.

To your luck you could see Smokescreen and Bulkhead join to hear what was going on.

"So uh.. Care to explain how you knew that bucket head was coming?"

Your processor was a warzone itself after hearing that question and you hoped for a moment that you would once again drift into unconsciousness but you got saved by Optimus speaking up for you.

You just gave him a nod after he asked you for permission to explain it instead of you doing it so Ratchet could look you over while Optimus told the reason of you knowing that Megatron was approaching.

"WAIT A MOMENT- you did it with Megatron?!"

You almost passed out once again at Smokescreen's response to your backstory with Megatron but thankfully Ratchet gave him a glare which made him mutter a small 'sorry'.

You knew and saw that the others had a relatively hard time understanding that but you and Optimus already knew that, they didn't know what Megatron was like before the war, they only knew him as the bot he's become.

"Are you going to pass out every time you get near him? Cause that would be pretty uncomfortable when we're together on a mission."

You vented out of relief after hearing that sentence from Wheeljack, you knew he would've acted entirely different if he didn't like what he heard, and considering that none of the others said anything you assumed that it was more or less accepted.

"Give them time. When they have some time to think about it then they will probably understand your situation."

Nodding you agreed with Optimus and when you looked towards Ratchet you saw him smile for a nanoklik before telling you that you are stable enough to go recharge in your berth.

'Thank Primus that I have such a nice team'

[melishade]

What’s was founder Ymir perspective with energon was introduce to the path? What changes did she go through whats her reaction with dark energon in the paths?

Pretty sure that I answered this somewhat at the beginning of chapter 91:

Ymir trudged through the sand, holding her pail of water from the handle. She had felt through her connection that another one of her subjects had been harmed. She had no other choice but to go and repair. It’s what she was tasked to do. If she stopped, what else would she have?

She reached the injury: a lost arm. She reached out towards it to repair, but it stung her. She recoiled her hand back. It…it hurt her. She tried again, but it didn’t work. It burned her skin and caused her pain. She…she couldn’t fulfill her task. How…how would she complete her task? How would she serve the king? If she didn’t, she would be punished. She had to-!

Searing pain shot throughout her veins, causing her to fall to the ground and writhe in agony. The pain started from her back and spread throughout her arms, legs, in her eyes. It was pain! Agonizing pain! She…she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take it anymore! She wanted it all to stop! She did all that she was asked to, but it wasn’t enough! It hurts! It hurts so much!

Ymir raised her hands to her throat, trying her best to not speak. She knew what would happen if she did, but…she couldn’t help it. She let out a strangled, painful, cry. It crawled its way out of her throat, followed by a series of dry coughs. She tried not to let the tears escape her eyes, but she couldn’t help it. They fell down her cheeks and stung her face so much. She managed to catch glimpses of the tears that stained the sand, and saw that they were blue.

Ymir’s hands went from her throat to the sand under her. She dug her fingers into the space, trying to distract herself from the pain. It didn’t help her. Her cries only got worse. Please. Please! Someone! Anyone! Help her! Save her! Why wasn’t her task enough?! She wanted it to end! Someone please just make it stop!

The pain subsided, but it still lingered. It still caused her pain all over her body. She looked down at her arms, and saw that her veins were so blue. She then grinded her teeth so hard when she heard an order: create more titan bodies to conquer the lands. She…she had no choice. She had to serve, or else she would be nothing. Ymir forced herself to stand up, limping over to the pail that fell out of her hands and spilled all the water. She then limped back towards the tree to follow her commands, unaware that the stars in the sky shone just a little bit brighter.

But I'll elaborate.

Energon is what had an integral effect on her body and regeneration as a whole. The energon is forcing her body to work overtime when it comes to regeneration. If she stops or slows down at any moment, the incomplete task would cause her pain in her body, forcing her to finish, which is why the titan shifters have gain faster regeneration. It's just the additional torture she's enduring.

Dark energon is different since it only affected the Colossal Titan, even so, Ymir couldn't touch a user with dark energon to help repair the body. Because touching dark energon caused her ten times more pain than normal energon, which is why she isn't able to repair a user infected with dark energon and the body slowly decays overtime.

Formatting the titan body infected with dark energon is an entirely different story, because she's not really formatting the body. She can't do her complete work without hurting herself, but dark energon is known to format bodies on command so long as it has a body to use.

Dark energon in the power of the titans would have gotten worse if given the time, or if it actually got to the Founder, it would have been over. But because Reiner killed Porco, he prevented the power of the titans from falling to dark energon and possibly creating something worse. Additionally, if given more time, Ymir wouldn't have been able to get the Colossal Titan to reincarnate because of the dark energon barring the power and the memories from her. Dark energon doesn't allow for reincarnation. It's just death and destruction.

I suppose I could've expanded on it in the main story instead of implying it or alluding to it, but here we are.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Got any Optimus angst? Cause I love Optimus angst

Here I am once again disregarding my request order because I felt inspired. I really can't help it, Optimus angst lives in my head rent free. I always have more of it for anybody interested. So here you go, a whole AU designed specifically to cause Optimus pain.

The Secret of the Primacy AU

Origins

The Primacy has kept many secrets, some for good reason and others to cover up the dark truth. One of the darkest secrets they keep is the truth regarding the Primes and those chosen to become one.

The general public and even the government think that Primes are reforged by the Matrix, those chosen being made into a greater version of themselves. This is a belief that the Primacy has fostered and carefully controlled since the earliest days of Cybertron. Those who lived long enough to witness the truth were eliminated or silenced with blackmail, contracts, and every other conceivable form of threat. Any who question the process of becoming a Prime are quickly silenced in a similar manner.

Propaganda, lies, deceit, and intense education, all to ensure that the purity of the Primes is maintained.

As such when Orion Pax was led to Primus's spark by Alpha Trion and a the few members of the Primacy still alive and aware of the truth, he had no idea what awaited him. The Archivist did what was required of him and stopped the spread of dark energon before being told to stand before Primus. He was confused but obliged, perhaps expecting some speech or a message from the dormant god. Instead two of his escorts held him in place as the Matrix of leadership was presented to him.

He had no choice in the matter as the Matrix was forced into his spark chamber and quickly began the process of making its new Prime.

The Matrix slowly tore Orion Pax to pieces, ripping apart his mind, scouring it for his desirable traits and taking all his knowledge. It burned his very CNA, scanning it and taking every resource his frame held that it could use in the construction of its Prime. And lastly it ate away at Orion's spark, taking every shard and piece of pure identity that is could manage without obliterating his spark entirely.

All the while Orion screamed in agony, completely aware throughout the whole process of having his being destroyed. The whole process took hours, and eventually, Orion Pax stopped screaming, only able to endure the torment in silence. Once all was said and done, the Matrix at last finished draining Orion for all he was worth, allowing the Archivist to finally attain the sweet release of death.

The Matrix then abandoned Orion's lifeless frame, and using the resources it had taken from him, started to build its Prime. It began by creating a newspark, one largely forged from the pieces of Orion's spark which the Matrix had taken. The rest of the spark being forged from the collective spark signatures from previous Primes within the Matrix. The newspark was then altered, changed on a fundamental level to suit the role before it, becoming something more divine. The process of creating the newspark and changing it to be more like the original thirteen in power and intelligence was relatively quick. After which the body for it was then created.

The process would normally take weeks if not months, but Alpha Trion and the Primacy members fed the Matrix the highest quality materials available, hastening the creation of the Prime's frame. After a few short days, the newly forged Prime at last woke, his armor not yet formed and his frame still developing, but functional enough to begin his education. The young Prime was then taught how to act normal, how to hide the truth of his birth, and given a refresher on all the information needed to run the Autobot army.

At the time the new born Optimus Prime did not understand why he needed to pretend to be another version of Orion Pax, the mech who was for all intents and purposes, his Sire. In his mind, while still sad that he never got to meet the mech who fueled his creation, Orion Pax's sacrifice to birth him was noble and something to be met with joy by those who knew him. If anything Optimus believed that his Sire should be praised and held in high regard for his undying devotion and the will it must have taken to give his life to create Optimus.

However at the time Optimus was young, barely a day old and still adjusting to his Prime programming, his still rapidly changing frame, his Sire's memories and, the memories contained within the Matrix. He simply did as he was directed by Alpha Trion, a mech he knew he could trust from his Sire's memories and the familiar feel of a fellow Prime. He was taken to the Autobots after his frame had finished most of its development and he quickly adjusted to life with the Autobots using his Sire's memories. And despite not being fond of telling half truths, he pretended to be Orion Pax given a new form as he was directed, even going so far as to maintain the relationships his Sire had.

He was not made aware of the truth of Orion Pax's death until nearly a vorn after he was born and the memories had finally settled enough for him to sift through them with some degree of proficiency. Optimus was devastated to discover that his Sire was taken advantage of, Orion having given no consent and having been forced to endure pure agony for hours before dying. With this knowledge he quickly came to understand why secrecy was needed. No bot could know what had become of Orion Pax, for if they knew the truth, the life Optimus unknowingly built on lies and the energon of the innocent would come tumbling down. The Autobot army would crumble and Optimus would not have any support or any allies to help him in his inherited mission of defeating the Decepticons.

And so Optimus remained silent. Despite every interaction with Ratchet, Jazz, and Orion's other close friends being painful to endure, he kept up the ruse. Despite the voice in his mind screaming at him, telling him he is slandering the name of his Sire every time he uses Orion's memories to push the war initiative forward or to comfort his Sire's old friends, Optimus simply hid it all behind his stoic persona. Despite Megatron's constant accusations making Optimus feel like an imposter in his own body, one far too reminiscent of his Sire's, he ignored the urge to break down and tell the warlord the truth.

The war raged on, and Optimus never told a spark his darkest secret. Instead playing along with the lie that he is Orion Pax deep down inside. Even after taking in Bumblebee, he still did not allow himself to lower the façade for even a moment.

Of course upon arriving to earth, everything would begin to unravel.

Eventually, after relinquishing the power of the Matrix in order to send Unicron back into stasis, the truth would start to come out. Only inklings would be revealed at first, but both Autobots and Decepticons would begin to doubt Optimus's identity after the event.

Optimus being left with no memories save the ones he inherited from his Sire and the Matrix meant that he would have no inhibitions about the circumstances of his creation. He would fight against Megatron in response to the memories Orion left him and go to the mechs who Orion trusted instead. Upon arriving to base again, he would act like he always had, save perhaps having less practical experience in his normal primely duties.

But when asked about his lack of memory and after some casual conversation, things that Optimus had always kept secret or hidden behind a veil of lies would start to crumble under the weight of contradiction. When Ratchet would try to talk with Optimus with a level of familiarity he reserved for Orion, the Prime would quickly react by acting as though he was meeting Ratchet for the first time, still getting to know him. The other bots would receive similar treatment, and random offhanded comments about a "Sire" and "Orion" alongside a few smaller things would start to arouse suspicion. But for the most part it would be chalked up to the oddities of the Matrix having lost its power.

But of course, the newly forged will be the newly forged, and Orion not knowing any better would eventually straight up state something implying Orion's death. Something along the lines of how he missed his Sire, or how "Orion really liked you Ratchet, so I think I will like you too" or even "Orion was a very noble mech, if it weren't for him I wouldn't have ever been created. I hope I can make him proud".

Sooner or later, likely at some point after his memories are restored, the truth would be pried out from Optimus's clutches and both Autobots and Decepticons would be thrown into complete and utter chaos.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Ideas for AUs quality not tested:

Batman(guano-man edition aka DC comics recent cannon) gets Adopted by IDW Prowl!AU Suspicious Bastard off 12d chess

Faeformer!AU -The bots meet Fae? The bots are the fae? There are fae species of cybetronians?

G1: The Musical!AU Aka why are we singing and how do we stop?!

TFA Bots discover all the Matrices!AU

Missfire is Starscream's longlost heir!AU

TFP Megatron discovers High Magik instead of Dark Energon!AU

Optimus' TFP resurection instead was him getin possessed by Prima.

Gladator Orion Pax Rizzes Aprentice archivist Megatronus

Ok I can't possibly expand on all of these so lemme just grab my favorites!

1. When you say TFA bots discovering multiple matrices, what exactly did you have in mind?

2. Role reversal megop YES

But most importantly: holy shit I love the idea of Prima possessing Optimus! The gods have been watching in silence for millions near billions of years, and they are completely fed up with their mortals creations' bs. When Prima sees his brother on the verge of death with the tainted Matrix, he finally decides that enough is enough.

When "Optimus" returns, he's very clearly not himself. Where he was gentle, reserved, and emotionless, Prima is incredibly strict, haughty, and full of righteous, thunderous anger. The God of Order and Divine Judgement has every intention to clean up the mortals mess, and he'll be as heavy handed as he pleases. He cares for cybertronians as a species, not so much as individuals. Each of the individuals on earth are deeply flawed and rife with putrid sin, and he'll cleanse and correct every single one of them without mercy

Tbh this has been playing on repeat in my mind ever since I first read it. I can already hear his judgements and punishments for a few of them! But we'll first go with Megatron, because now that Optimus has been dealt with, he's at the top of the list.

He beholds Megatron with intense disdain and disappointment: "You've fallen so far from grace, you've forgotten everything you originally fought for! Where is the freedom you promised? Where is the fairness, where is the justice? You dared to seek solace in Unicron, and for that you shall lose all that you've worked for!"

The punishment he gives Megatron is rather sinister: he peels away all of his progress, takes away everything that makes him who he is today. He erases all of his gladiator experience, turns back time on his body and reinstates the way he was when he was still just Disposable #16. He warps and winds back his personality, putting him back into the mindset of that softspoken, hopeful little poet who used to dream of a free utopia, while still leaving him all of his memories of all the atrocities he's committed, how many lives he's snuffed and how many worlds have burned over the course of the fighting. He is once again D-16 in mind, body, and soul, but now haunted by all the horrific things he did and witnessed as Lord Megatron. His suffering will be his penance 😌

I really really really love this AU so please for the love of god let this pick up!!

[smokescreenstuff]

Unicron being Smokescreens dad is very interesting and since Smokescreen had dark energon in his system how would his body react when Megatron uses it or summon bots

When unicron posses Megatron how would he react to seeing smokescreen on cybertron

Also what was some of the deceptions and autobots reactions to smokescreen having dark energon in his system.

Not only that did the cons or autobots ever find out that Unicron raised Smokescreen before predacons rising if so what did they think

And even after predacons raising how did they feel about it.

Quick note: Smokescreen wears a holo-chip (not sure if they actually exist or if I made them up) to make him look "normal." Basically it has one programed disguise to make someone look different. From little as making a scar disappear, to making someone look like someone else.

- When Smokescreen gets hit by the Dark Saber he's still thrown back, but he didn't need to worry about getting hurt. He still had the Phase Shifter though so it seems the same to everyone else. Smokescreen has been connected to dark energon for so long that he can mask his presence making it so Megatron can't sense him.

- I'll awnser what happens to Smokescreen and Unicron during PR last because it's probably going to be long.

- The Decepticons would find out when they captured Smokescreen for the last Omega Key. Soundwave wouldn't react much, cause he's just like that. Knockout would be extremely shocked and instinctually back away. And Megatron would be more intrigued than anything. Though they'd never have a chance to reveal Smokescreen's secret to the Autobots before PR.

- Only Soundwave, Megatron, and Knockout know before Predacons Rising.

- Now here's the big awnser, during Predacons Rising...

Smokescreen is with the group on Darkmount when Unicron arrives. Smokescreen immediately hides behind the throne as to not be seen. When the group (Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen) get out from behind the throne they all transform into their alt-modes. Due to Smokescreen's new paint job Unicron doesn't recognize him as he drives past.

When they get to the smelting pit Unicron still manages to knock Arcee and Smokescreen over the edge. Being unseen by Unicron nearly the entire time. When they get back to base Smokescreen stays completely quiet, which does cause a bit of worry do to the fact that Smokescreen's rarely ever quiet.

...

When Unicron makes the army of undead Predacons Smokescreen can feel it in his spark. Bulkhead is the one who goes to retrieve the relics due to Smokescreen being lost in thought. After Starscream's defeat and Knockout being told what's going on he immediately looks at Smokescreen. Smokescreen ends up going with Knockout to get Bulkhead out of the wall, which gives them an opportunity to talk in private.

Knockout knows Smokescreen has dark energon in him, but he doesn't know why. It takes a bit of poking around but Smokescreen admits to be Unicron's son, which causes problems. Knockout immediately stops what he's doing and just stares at Smokescreen for a moment. Finally he goes ahead and flat out asks Smokescreen if he's spying on them for Unicron. Which Smokescreen denies, but Knockout still feels uneasy about Smokescreen now. Knockout doesn't reveal anything to the Autobots though.

...

During the first half of the fight at the All-Spark, Smokescreen is too far away to be noticed by Unicron. Smokescreen is very great full he changed his paint job at the moment. But when Unicron is about to hit Optimus with his hammer, Smokescreen finally steps in...

(This is getting really long, so I'm leaving it as a cliffhanger that I will finish later. I promise I won't wait too long to finish though.) >:)

[sketchy-galaxy]

Oh hey its Halloween let me tell yall about the 🕷️🦋 Vampire au

It was a dark and stormy night...

And in this AU the war is over! Meridian is saved from the attack in the Bay but still loses an arm and continues to work with GHOST. Starheart is also a part of GHOST and unfortunately for both of them they find out that Starscream and Croft are creating a blood-spark serum that is very much not complete. They are infected by their respective parallels, Starheart turns into a blood drinking vampire and Meridian craves energon!

So the two flee the scene and work together. Starheart hunts Cybertronians, Meridian uses his arachnimechs to hunt humans. They have 'heightened senses' so they smell blood/hear heart beats. But other than that, they're relatively normal.

This au is funnnn. Cause their relationship is GOOD, they genuinely are trying to work together as a team and it works! They're fighting with each other not against one another so they work with each other's weaknesses. Starheart is very much the brawn while Meridian is the brains of their operation.

Actually, speaking of which, their dynamic is very much two 'types' of vampires. Starheart is the Hunting Vampire, she goes out at night and stalks her victims before lunging. She's in the action. Meridian is the Stay-at-home Vampire. He doesn't really leave his lair and sends his thralls (the arachnimechs) out to do his bidding. Obviously they're very effective at what they do. The goal for these two is to take over GHOST, once they do Meridian would have access to energon and Starheart could hunt to her spark's content in Witwicky.

They win, obviously, and it's really up to the Maltos to stop them. But yeah, i love this au its so much fun to write and imagine these two in a positive light. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but I will say Meridian places a hand on Starheart's wing and she does Not flinch. So there is some trust there.

[nevis-the-skeleton]

 Anonymous : What if TFP Autobot Starscream (who helped Miko), saw Raf dying from Megatron’s Dark Energon blast + Starscream gets super ANGRY, and almost destroys Megatron in a battle + Soundwave had to rescue Megatron!... How would Optimus, Autobots, Raf, Miko + Jack all feel about Star attacking Megatron for Raf? 💜💙❤️ 

Oh nice ^^! Starscream will not remain weak, and despite the fear will have courage >:)! Thank you for your request sweety anon X3!

(Yes I'm doing it like this, because my ask box had another glitch, and kinda suppress (?) made diseapear(?) this ask… Sorry for that. But it's will not stop me of posting ;3 I have a files with all your resquests ^^)

~~~

Bumblebee's hands were shaking as he held Raf as best he could. The child was unconscious, and extremely pale, seeming already dead. Ratchet was the most reactive, and asked the scout:

"What happened?!"

The yellow car only gave the doctor a panicked and distressed look, unable to answer the question at all. The ambulance motioned for Bumblebee to come with him to the medical bay, while no one spoke.

Starscream couldn't take his eyes off Raf, as his energon radar alarmed, having detected a noxious source of Dark Energon! The Seeker clutched his wings behind his back, as he couldn't stop them from shaking. He knew what the child was suffering from… He had already seen it on his Seekers…! Evil seeped into the circuitry, devouring its host from within in mortal pain!

Everyone had a horrified look, unable to know what had happened to Raf to end up in this state. They were all in extreme worry, the silence becoming overwhelmingly heavy. Jack took out his phone, and Miko asked:

" What are you doing ?

- I'm calling my mother, surely she can help us!" replied the teenager.

Starscream entered the medical bay, while Ratchet continued to try to run scans on the bespectacled boy's tiny body. The Seeker moved closer, and the doctor saw that the jet had a truly panicked expression.

“He'll be fine, I won't let him die… tried to reassure the doctor.

- No… I… I know what he has…”

The ambulance gave the jet a surprised look, like the rest of the team, but the flyer's anxious expression didn't really reassure them. Ratchet turned completely to Starscream, and questioned:

"Tell me then...! What's wrong with him…?!

- He… he was infected by Dark Energon…!"

The doctor couldn't suppress a gasp of horror, as Bumblebee began beeping frantically, pleading for a solution, a possible way to save his friend. Optimus remained calm, and approached the pair in the medical bay, before asking:

"How do you know that, Starscream?"

The Seeker looked away, not seeming to want to answer, but the ambulance insisted:

“If you know, tell us.

- … My radar detected it…

- But not only, right…? Prime understood easily.

- … No… it's true… but it's not important…

- …

- In any case, what I can't understand is how Raf managed to get infected!"

The scout meanwhile was horrified upon hearing such a thing, as it didn't take him long to figure out how Raf had been infected! He had never expected Megatron to attack them with a Dark Energon weapon! It was because of his recklessness that the boy with glasses was dying! He had to face the facts, his friend had little chance of getting out of it!

“Megatron attacked us! He's the one who infected Raf! the yellow car beeped in panic.

- What?! Ratchet exclaimed in shock and anger.

- Oh! Please Ratchet, you have to save him!!"

Miko then saw Starscream's wings slowly lift, in a clear sign of anger at Bumblebee's announcement. The Seeker frowned, and hissed:

“He did this?!"

The scout simply nodded sadly, and the jet in no way concealed his rage.

“Even to a child…?! He dared do that to a child…!"

Optimus was strangely disturbed by this sentence, as he suspected that Raf's condition was serious, but it seemed that the flyer really knew what it meant, more than anyone else in this room. Starscream quickly moved away from the others, and left for a while in the direction of the bedrooms and the docs. Eventually he came back, then headed for the elevator, and Fowler called out to him:

"You better stay! Megatron might attack you too!

- … I hope so!" coldly replied the Seeker.

He quickly entered the elevator, under the shocked gaze of the team. Arcee knew well what he was about to do, when she saw the look of the jet, it was the same as she had with Airachnid. The motorcycle rushed to the elevator, but when it got to the roof, the flyer was already gone.

~

Soundwave had detected Starscream's signal, and quickly informed his leader. The Communications Commander offered to send a team to retrieve it, but Megatron had another plan:

"I'll get him myself!"

~

Starscream soon saw a portal open, and knew perfectly who was going to come out! It was perfect like that. The leader of the Decepticons strode confidently towards the Seeker, who glared at him with hatred. The ex-gladiator did not fail to notice this, and growled:

“You have the audacity to look at me like that?! The Autobots aren't here to help you this time!"

The jet lowered his head and clenched his fists, but not out of fear!

“Anyway, if they came it wouldn't be to help me. Starscream glared deathly at Megatron, before hissing. But to stop me!"

The Seeker drew a detonator, and pressed a button! The leader of the Decepticons saw the ground light up below him, and quickly realized that the entire terrain was trapped! The ex-gladiator reacted quickly, and jumped to avoid the explosion of the bomb, before firing a cannon in the direction of the jet, which dodged without problem!

Megatron couldn't hide a certain surprise at the audacity of the attack! He was convinced that the jet intended to return to his ranks, or that he was once again a renegade, that was the only reason that could have explained why he was alone. But it seemed like it was actually for something else.

The flyer struggled against his trembling hands, as fear and anger mixed like a hurricane in his Spark. He gritted his teeth and exclaimed angrily:

“How dare you put such a fate on a child?!!"

He fired a missile at the leader of the Decepticons, who sliced ​​it with his sword! The explosion still sent the ex-gladiator back, but it had been less devastating than if he had taken the projectile head-on. The ex-gladiator got up easily, and gave a disdainful look at Starscream, before saying coldly:

"So your anger is for a human?"

The Seeker raised his wings, preventing them from lowering in front of Megatron's gaze! He had no intention of being afraid! Not now! He couldn't let this go! He would no longer let fear prevent him from acting and defending! Because of that… he couldn't protect those he loved… He couldn't save them from the devastating hands of death… But, this time, it was different! This time, hatred was stronger than fear!

“The Dark Energon is evil in itself. growled the jet. But you, you are worse, because you allow it to spread! he pulled out his detonator. And I fully intend to kill this propagation at the source!"

New bombs activated around Megatron, who transformed into his alternate mode to avoid the explosions! It was then that he heard the sound of a transformation, then of a powerful motor coming in his direction! He was brutally hit in the wing by the flyer, who continued his race, before coming back!

The leader of the Decepticons went back into his root mode, hovered, and aimed his cannon at that damned traitor! He quickly noticed that Starscream was gaining speed, and the flyer managed to dodge the ex-gladiator's attack!

The Seeker quickly passed the sound barrier, without changing his trajectory, still heading straight for Megatron! The jet returned to his root mode, and the leader of the Decepticons had no time to dodge, being hit at full speed by the flyer! The ex-gladiator crashed brutally on the ground, while Starscream landed thanks to his reactor!

He slid on the floor, while Megatron tried to stop his rolls! The Seeker took out his detonator, and activated a new bomb, where the leader of the Decepticons was, who this time could not dodge the explosion!

The ex-gladiator got up, with more difficulty this time, and threw a death stare at the jet! This disturbed the flyer long enough to give Megatron time to rush at him! Starscream couldn't conquer his fear overnight, deep down inside it was always there...

The leader of the Decepticons brutally grabbed the Seeker by the throat, before crushing him against the ground! The jet coughed in pain, and clawed at his opponent's hands, trying to free himself from the grip, but to no avail…! The ex-gladiator lifted him up, only to smash him against the ground again, and those several time!

"Did you really think you could defeat me with your pathetic little plan, Starscream?" Megatron growled, as the flyer was paralyzed with fear and pain.

Starscream felt himself leave the ground again, and he quickly lost his bearings when the leader of the Decepticons launched him into the air, sending him forcefully into a rock! The Seeker broke it a bit, and crashed behind it!

The ex-gladiator felt his arm throw him, as he could feel the damage from the explosion run through him like electric shocks. This only increased his anger against the jet. The flyer ended up getting up, his wings lowered to protect them from the wind. The damage on them hurt too much for him to expose them to the gusts that were beginning to surround them.

"Usually you would have thrown me harder. Starscream said with a hint of disdain and mockery. I see that my bombs have affected you more than you let on."

He looked determinedly at his former leader, and the latter wasted no time in threatening him with his cannon! It was then that the Seeker quickly pulled something out from behind the rock, pointing the Immobilizer at the ex-gladiator, who couldn't hide some surprise!

“It's crazy how predictable you've become." smiled the jet, mirthlessly.

He fired a blast of that dangerous beam at Megatron, who dodged, but his arm was caught in it, paralyzing it! The flyer came out from behind the rock, and still approached with the relic in hand.

"This time, your cannon won't be able to hurt me anymore! He won't hurt anyone anymore!"

He paralyzed the legs of the leader of the Decepticons, to prevent him from dodging his future attacks, and gained height thanks to his reactor, remaining in robot mode. He aimed one of his missiles at the ex-gladiator, and hissed:

"Optimus was always hesitant to kill you! But you already know that has never been the case for me!"

Starscream's eyes burned with hatred as he continued:

“You always considered that you were showing 'pity' to me! But, know one thing, I would never have pity for you!"

The Seeker fired a first missile, which brutally sent Megatron back, shattering part of his armor! The jet transformed into his alternate mode, and fired his second missile, at his opponent's back this time!

The leader of the Decepticons did not let himself be done, the flyer could say what he wanted, his enemy was fragging resistant! The ex-gladiator threw a huge rock at Starscream, who dodged it with no problem!

The Seeker fired in bursts of his blasters, forcing Megatron to protect himself as best he could with his only good arm! The jet passed behind the leader of the Decepticons again, and hit him hard in the back, at Mach 1, sending him where he wanted!

He returned to his alternate mode, and quickly regained height, before returning to robot mode, and pulling out his detonator! He lifted his wings with confidence and courage, despite the fear that made his hands tremble, then exclaimed:

"I may not be as strong as you, Megatron! But, this lack of "strength", I easily compensate it!"

Starscream pressed the detonator, and the floor below the Decepticon leader lit up a deadly orange-white!

“You were stupid enough to come confident, and to give me time to prepare the battle! You always claimed to know me, but it's easy to see that you never did!"

All the bombs exploded at the same time, creating a huge black and orange flame! The red mixed in a detonating howl, with shades of blue! The dust rose, like a huge beast that had just woken up, before falling back with all its weight, crashing down brutally among the dead earth!

Starscream landed, and closed in on Megatron, who no longer had the strength to get up. His gaze, however, was still full of determination, and the Seeker could swear that this sheer willpower would get him back on his feet.

"It's time you paid for your crimes, I should never have waited so long!

- Do you think you're innocent, Starscream? scoffed the leader of the Decepticons.

- …

- Do you want me to remind you who chose the Seekers who would be the first to experience the Dark Energon?

- …”

The ex-gladiator said nothing, contenting himself with pointing a mocking finger at the jet. The flyer raised his wings angrily, and yelled:

"You made me do this! If I hadn't chosen you would have killed them all!

- So you preferred to give some people an ignoble death! What a good leader you were!

- Shut up! Frag! Shut the frag up!"

He scratched the face of the leader of the Decepticons, who had enough energy to retaliate with a punch! But this time, instead of remaining frozen in fear, the Seeker found an unknown force, and answered in turn with a punch! The jet looked at his aching hand in surprise, before returning a determined gaze to the ex-gladiator, without an ounce of fear, just hatred! An all-consuming thing that would probably never leave him...

“You condemned a child to this despicable death, you monster!" growled the flyer.

He aimed his missile at Megatron, who looked at him defiantly. Starscream stopped his shaking hands, standing straight in front of the one he had remained most bent in front of, being eternally crushed by a fear that was still trying to sink him. But, this time, his courage was stronger than it!

The Seeker was about to fire, when he heard the sound of a portal opening, then a violent discharge in the back! The jet screamed in pain, as he felt what had electrocuted him lifting him off the ground, before slamming him away from Megatron!

Starscream turned angrily to face Soundwave, who was standing in a defensive position in front of his friend! The two robots faced each other, and the Seeker tried to ignore the messages warning him of his low energon reserves and multiple damage.

The Communications Commander looked between Megatron and then the jet, indicating hesitation between getting his friend to safety and fighting the flyer. But, he didn't have to make that choice, as blaster blasts began coming in the direction of the two Decepticons, indicating the arrival of the Autobots!

The spy plane helped Megatron through the portal, and Starscream wanted to stop them from leaving, but by the time he fired his missile, the ground bridge had already closed. The Seeker couldn't contain a scream of rage, and kicked into the dead earth, before a comforting hand landed on his shoulder.

The jet turned his head towards Optimus, who had a calm look, though mixed with concern, and some form of disappointment. The flyer looked away, wings lowered, and Bulkhead approached in turn, before asking:

"Everything's fine?

- …Yeah…it's fine …" Starscream replied evasively, fists clenched.

Arcee came over to them, and gave the Seeker a certain understanding look. The jet understood that they had probably been there for a while...

"You heard it all... didn't you...? huffed the flyer.

- …We are sorry for your losses, Starscream… simply replied the leader of the Autobots.

- Sorry or not… it won't bring them back… like it won't save Raf…”

The motorbike took Starscream's hand, who looked at her with a hint of surprise. The warrior simply motioned for him to follow her, and the two crossed the ground bridge opened by Fowler.

The Seeker avoided looking at Bumblebee as he entered the base, and continued to follow Arcee, who directed him to the medical bay. The jet lifted his wings, and couldn't suppress a look of shock at seeing Raf, alive and well. Miko was animated around him, ceasing to hug him, while Jack, though more reserved, also showed clear joy.

Fowler was discussing some points with June, while the latter kept insisting that events had shown that it was too dangerous for the children to stay here.

Ratchet was the first to see Starscream, and he couldn't suppress a cry of horror, seeing the state the Seeker was in. The doctor moved closer angrily, and was about to scold him, but the jet completely ignored him, focusing his gaze only on Raf.

The boy with glasses saw him approaching, like the other children, and they could not hide a certain concern when they saw the wounds of the flyer. Starscream pretended to ignore their stares, and knelt in front of the medical table, before stammering:

"Are you… are you okay…?

- Starscream… you're hurt… Raf answered.

- Are you okay…? for real…?" insisted the Seeker.

The child smiled softly, before nodding his head, then saying:

"Yes I'm okay."

The jet tried his best to contain his tears, but to no avail, which surprised Raf. He moved closer, and hugged one of the flyer's claws, who pulled him a little closer, catching him gently. Miko and Jack eventually joined them, and Bumblebee joined in, hugging Starscream, then came Bulkhead. Fowler and June joined, along with Arcee, and eventually Optimus and Ratchet. Time stood still around them, taking on a bittersweet flavor among tears and relief, a fine fullness surrounding them.

[ivycorp]

Riot's TFP AU: Megatron as a patient, or how Soundwave tries to not go insane with his leader's unfortunate addiction to a certain Prime

From the moment Megatron left his quarters knowing that Soundwave was really cross with him, he knew there would be more consequences than just the communication blackout. Walking to the bridge he was barred from entering by the TIC, who simply pointed him in the direction of the medbay.

There were battles to be picked in one's life - and usually the warlord picked them all - but this time the guilt from disappointing his most loyal friend (beyond acceptable parameters) could not be stopped. It flooded his circuitry, making him flinch away and nod; he turned away from the door and followed the path to Knock Out's domain. Soundwave followed him like a shadow, most likely to ensure he reached the medic and stayed there for whatever reason he deemed necessary.

Megatron doubted he would like the outcome, but he knew that the blue mech was not actually plotting his demise - if Soundwave wanted him dead, he would already be melted down for the Cause before he stepped out of his room.

He wouldn't even blame him - TIC did not wish to lead, so it would not even be a selfish decision to climb rank. If Megatron ever became unsalvageable, Soundwave would put him down, simple as that. But before that ever happened, he would exhaust all the other options first.

Which, apparently, included getting the warlord examined. 

Knock Out turned towards the opening door, unsurprised to see their leader sulk inside, nor to see the company. He gestured towards the berth the warlord was repaired on just a day prior.

"Hop on, my Lord, I have been informed you require a full physical," the medic began, as he took a relevant datapad in his servo to take notes on.

Megatron shot a look at his TIC, and upon seeing a small motion of the helm indicating the direction of the berth, he crossed over and laid down his tired frame. When he felt a gentle tap and heard a firm but polite 'please open the mediport for me, sir', he allowed a rarely used panel to reveal the port entrance, feeling oddly vulnerable. He didn't have to worry about Knock Out doing anything dangerous in Soundwave's presence, but the multitudes of professionals had taken a look at him and either gave up at once, or did the same just after a short while - when they realized how uncooperative of a patient he was.

The silver mech didn't really mean to be so difficult - but nearly every piece of medication tasted so bad to him that he would end up throwing it up or away instead of taking it. His body was in a permanent state of screaming, and his coding had not been updated in eons. Because of this, there was a limited patience to explain to yet another doctor that:

Yes, he couldn't recharge regularly;

Yes, he was very sensitive to the bright lights, and it made his helm feel like it was splitting apart at times; 

Yes, he was aware his optics were no longer working as before.

No, he was having enough exercise;

No, he was not trying to off-line himself from lack of maintenance;

No, he would most certainly not discuss his self service schedule.

Meds, injections, operations - and, of course, therapy. The standard result. 

This only meant he would be purging his tanks for a month trying to follow any instruction and fail from the distasteful residue from the medicine - all of this causing him to lose hope of the diagnosis being correct. He would feel let down at the lack of effect, get angry, and the cycle continued. There were periodic attempts to get this addressed - until he finally went out to get Dark Energon and was under nobody's care for a couple of years.

Not that he needed somebody to take care of-

An image of smiling Optimus crossed his mind, and he scratched out that last thought.

Knock Out used his distraction to plug into the exposed port, completing handshakes with his old programming and starting the check-up procedure. He raised the datapad, frowned at it, and took a look at the warlord.

"My Lord, when was your last full frame medical check-up?" Knock Out inquired, tapping the empty log on the patient file.

Megatron muttered something quietly. 

"I didn't catch that, sir, you need to speak up, please," he asked again, a bit less patiently.

"I think it was before we left Cybertron," the mech answered without looking at the medic. He knew what to expect by then - a huff of anger, an exasperated sigh, or a combination of both.

Instead, Knock Out grew silent. 

The red bot turned towards Soundwave, clearing his intake to catch his attention. TIC flashed a questioning glyph on his visor, as the medic asked:

"Is there any upcoming operation that requires Lord Megatron's presence or particular skill set?" 

The blue mech paused, visor flashing with a flurry of images as he cycled through the upcoming plans and schedules. When the screen blanked once again, Soundwave shook his helm negative.

"Lord Megatron: not critical to operations before next rota generation," he added in a short burst of combined recordings. Knock Out nodded thoughtfully, still connected to the silver mech, and reached out to another datapad, filling it up and passing it to the TIC.

"That would be probably enough, if we don't take too many breaks," the mech said matter-of-factly, as the blue mech read up the contents of the form - before adding his own signature. 

"Splendid, that's taken care of," the red mech smiled, and added as an afterthought prompted by the newfound professional concern:

"Some of the tests will take a while, so I believe we could turn this into an opportunity to check up on the entire staff," Knock Out observed the TIC for a moment, and after receiving a tired nod, waved the mech politely away.

"Fantastic, I will send over the list for the worst offenders and for the necessary shopping - or specialists to start looking for," he added, as he already was opening up a call to his conjunx to get cracking on the personnel's files.

Megatron was slightly confused at the odd exchange, but when the form was passed back to the medic, pieces fell together. 

The rota is generated every six Earth's weeks. He could vaguely recall seeing the update warning a few days prior. The fact that the TIC signed anything the medic gave him, meant he was officially approving something.

They benched him.

As Soundwave turned to leave, Megatron blurted out a short chirp of distress, but remained in place when the visor turned to look at him one last time. 

If it had been anger, he would have understood, possibly tried to overwrite the signature with his own - but he knew his loyal friend for a long time, and this was not that. 

No, Soundwave was trying to hold onto hope. That Megatron could still be 'fixed'. The door slid shut, and the warlord felt hollow as his CPU supplied him with a number estimate of that happening. 

It was depressingly low.

"Well, My Lord, your file is currently very patchy, I will need to check everything," the medic's voice drew his attention back, as he stared at the smaller mech blankly. He tilted his helm curiously, but his silence was taken as a permission to speak more. Knock Out started explaining the details, the plan of a lengthy cycle of checks and possible treatments, when Megatron raised his servo to cut him off.

"Why do you bother telling me this?"

The implied 'it's not like I can disagree and leave' hung in the air. 

The red Con looked at him with a mix of worry and hesitation; putting the data pad he was holding on the side table, he decided to respond:

"Because you are not a subject to be studied, sir; you deserve to know what am I going to ask you about and why, especially since I would rather we worked together instead of me having to fight you on providing you medical care," said the medic, looking Megatron straight in the optics. Normally, it would make the bigger mech tense up, sensing competition - this time, he felt it was more of a look of careful wish for cordiality. 

He sometimes forgot that Knock Out was an actual medic that could do his job well. And apparently, for some inexplicable reason, decided to employ his skill fully in his case.

Megatron nodded his helm, and tried to focus on what his old-new doctor was saying. It seems he would be in for a long haul. 

*****

The check-up took a long time. As the warlord and medic were cooperating to help get a complete picture of what was out of the acceptable norm, Knock Out cursed not being able to discuss this with another professional - he was sure even Ratchet would not scoff at the multitude of issues he kept on adding to the file.

Lord Megatron was a medical disaster. 

The silver mech had been riddled with pain that became such a norm that only the strongest pain relief would have made any difference. He did admit that the Dark Energon provided a dampening effect, and the medic immediately pushed the internal fluid check to highest priority. 

Contamination from the use of the mysterious substance was spread out across the frame, lingering despite lack of external exposure at surprisingly active levels. Knock Out noted with alarm that the normal Energon digested was being tainted, most likely keeping the warlord sedated without his knowledge. 

To remove the influence of the Unmaker would be to remove the only relief - and Megatron was still in a lot of pain despite its presence. 

The red bot called for Soundwave's support when he had to share this particular piece of diagnosis, afraid of a possible lapse in the arrangement he managed to turn this situation into - worried it would cause the warlord to lash out. In an unlikely turn of events, Megatron's face blanked out, before he tersely agreed to get the flushing procedure started.

When he woke up afterwards, he stared at the ceiling of the medbay for a long time and turned to Knock Out:

"I severely underestimated just how much the Dark Energon numbed the pain," he said, gritting his denta, and the medic took the hint, excusing himself for a moment.

The low wail of pain could be heard through the walls. When it stopped, the red Con let a couple of short, measured in-vents out, before he got back. The silver mech was back to his stoic expression, but the curled servos indicated he was still struggling to get back to living with the actual amount of pain he knew he managed to suffer in silence before.

The return to the prior state of things was way harder than he expected.

Knock Out did not hold any viable alternative that could have rivaled or surpassed the effects of the substance they just purged from Megatron, but he was going to try to get one - or possibly get some of his patient's aches away. 

One of the easier identifiable issues came to when the red bot examined the warlord's optics. When the silver mech flinched away at the passing light, Knock Out nearly dropped his tool - he knew there were going to be problems connected with them, the medic himself left some notes with a string suggestion for corrective action, but it never went beyond a temporary measure in form of shaded corrective visor.

Mostly because Megatron kept on 'forgetting' to wear it. 

This time around, however, the access to mediport allowed the smaller mech to see the intense flare of pain, suggesting a helmache forming. He hummed before reaching out and deactivating the light, and ordering the other lights to dim. 

The ache receded, systems noting lower strain.

"My Liege, I know we talked about this, but you really should be wearing the shaded visor we prepared for you," Knock Out mentioned, putting the tool away on a prepared tray table. Megatron grumbled a bit, but the medic had grown to know by then that it did not mean he reached the end of his tether, but that the mech was reluctantly listening. 

The warlord not doing some sort of token protest usually meant he tuned the conversation out. Knock Out learned to sense those moments, usually waiting for the mech to get out of this particular tactic from sheer boredom.

"Do you still have the old one we made you?" asked the doctor, and seeing the shake of the silver helm, sighed. 

Another thing to make. 

"I will get one more done for you, sir, but if you don't use it, I'll have to wield the next onto your frame - your optics are set for much darker surroundings and no matter how many times I fix it, it shifts to pre-sets every time, causing you helmaches," he promised, putting a note down on the file. The medic could see Megatron was observing him, trying to gauge the seriousness of the threat; and at that point, Knock Out was very serious.

His momentary suggestion to check out the entire ship had ended up with way more work on his servos than he expected - worse yet, the mechs he was treating needed help beyond his skill. 

Soundwave was updating him daily on the procurement and negotiations, but the millennia of war effort meant there were not many who would be willing to provide help to Decepticons - unless, of course, they paid a hefty fee.

Starscream was handling the budgeting, and seeing this supplied his recommendation: they needed to call Swindle. He would be most likely to get the results despite the cut he would be taking, so they allowed the mech to search the markets for their targets. 

The shopping list grew every day. 

Swindle was ecstatic.

Knock Out additional concern was the odd disposition of their supreme commander - namely, the distaste for one of the most common additives there existed. It was nearly in all of the medications as a stabilizer, and it was very rare to have any perception of it in the Cybertronian population.

Obviously, Megatron had an extreme case of it.

At first, when the medic realized his patient was very reluctant to take the meds, he tried hiding it in refueling rations.

It was also the last attempt of this solution pathway.

Megatron was able to feel the slightest presence of it in whichever substance he consumed, making it impossible to hide. Knock Out had to go apologize to the SIC who got accused of trying to poison the warlord that day.

For some reason, however, when the medic found colored glass in a similar pattern as the meds, the warlord ended up loving them - crunching on the marbles happily. Bribing the mech into taking more medicine became slightly easier with the promise of getting more of these in return.

Luckily, this time around the oddities of the Decepticon commander's frame came in handy - the glass didn't cause any issues, instead processing them easily. Knock Out checked a few times for possible residue buildup which occurred in some mechs with foreign substances, and noted with relief no adverse effects. For all he cared, Megatron could eat as many as he wanted, if it meant he would take the medicine. 

Especially that they were still battling his insomnia… 

The silver mech's recharge logs were all over the place - with no rhyme or reason, and an alarmingly low average time of rest. 

There were, of course, exceptions - but the analysis of those, run in tandem with the known occurrences of loud music being played in particular quarters made it clear why that would be. 

Knock Out cringed inwardly; since they were trying to solve this problem too, that was not the answer they could utilize. 

*****

Solar cycles passed, and the life on Nemesis carried on. 

With the warlord confined to a rigid schedule and the SIC at the helm, everyone seemed to lose some of the tension that came with Megatron's return from space.

Dark Energon was now fully isolated in Shockwave's lab, behind three different access codes held between Starscream, Soundwave, and Knock Out - their commander was banned from approaching the substance under threat of getting Tarn as a round-the-clock minder. As the DJD's leader volunteered readily to do it, the warlord kept far away from the lab.

The peaceful time was met with enthusiasm: the Vehicons were thrilled to have time to indulge in their hobbies and getting slagged less, thus the sense of community grew. The trinkets that got collected from around the Earth started showing up in shared spaces, colors and soft lights getting incorporated into spartan decor of the Nemesis. The dimness remained, as per Knock Out's insistence, but the variety of the glittering points strewn across the halls provided enough coverage in a pleasant manner that even the officers found appealing.

As the majority of the crew had been either dragged or came in willingly for a check-up at the medbay, the morale improved; who knew that showing concern for the troops would make them feel better?

The communication blackout was still in effect, but there were exceptions added to the list, allowing the troops to be contacted on operations outside of the ship; the ongoing income streams have been re-opened too, due to the increased spending estimates.

The Nemesis has changed - but none of its inhabitants could say anything negative about it.

*****

After the first three weeks, both Soundwave and Knock Out were satisfied with Megatron's progress - to the point they found it fitting to provide positive reinforcement. 

Namely, returning the access to his private room for recharging.

Releasing the warlord from the all-cycle supervision was done on a condition that he would still show up at scheduled times so the medication could be monitored, but the privacy of own berth and trinkets was to help facilitate a gradual adjustment back to the normal daily routine. They couldn't shut him in medbay forever. 

Though it seemed Soundwave wouldn’t mind this idea, if it kept him away from Optimus.

For a while, it worked as intended - Megatron followed up on their agreement, coming on his own volition to see Knock Out before he would be escorted by Soundwave to the office, where he would be finishing up on the reports back-log. He was not yet allowed back on the bridge, but there was not so much happening with the operations schedule keeping things on the down low for at least another couple of weeks. Starscream had a good hold of matters, so he couldn’t even have an excuse to be more involved - it was annoying, but as the medication went on, he appreciated having time to deal with the most irritating of side-effects at his own pace, without multiple witnesses.

Coming back to his own quarters was odd, at first - he didn’t miss the sounds of resident medical staff getting it on, but that was mostly because he couldn’t reach the same level of completion in his own self-servicing due to his odd arrangement with Optimus; not to mention that he couldn't deny the couple their happiness when one of them was his direct physician which could (and would) leave Nemesis at the mere suggestion of this sort.

He got used to the red mech, and would rather avoid having to lose the one medic they have around - or at least the only one they had that did not look at every patient as a science experiment.

As he closed the door and started getting on the berth to rest, he sighed, feeling the buzz under his plating come to the forefront of his mind yet again. In the medbay, it was easier to avoid the temptation, but in the privacy of his room, it came back in full force. The warlord was trying to wait the desire out, already sensing that he was fighting a losing battle. He could not allow himself to overload, his mind reminded, indulging into it would only drive the frustration higher.

Megatron managed to wait it out for the entire three days.

As his systems reported increasing signs of struggle, on the fourth day he found himself stepping over the threshold and going automatically to the interior sound controls.

He didn't think consciously about what he was doing - his servos moved in a well-known pattern, familiar music filling the space, as he turned to resign himself to losing himself for a bit in another fantasy. 

A small explosion rocked the ship, stopping him from arranging himself in a preferred position on his knees. Momentarily distracted, he went to check it out, his combat systems greedily hoping for something to punch. When it turned out to be nothing major, he took off back to the room, where he was stopped by Soundwave standing by the door.

The music was still playing, only fractionally muted by the walls.

Megatron's plating tightened defensively, but when the TIC pointed him away with an air of disappointment, the silver mech sagged and obediently dragged himself to the medbay.

*****

The Decepticon leader had known payment for his relapse was due - the reinstated ban of his quarters was proof of that, but even he couldn't expect what his friend would choose as a revenge tactic.

When he heard the news of Autobots showing up to Starscream's operation, he was understandably curious, but as the fighting occurred during his scheduled medbay visit, he didn't pay it much thought.

Until the message arrived later on with two attachments. No words. Just the files.

But they came from Soundwave.

Megatron braced himself, and opened the first one.

The recording opened to his quarters, quickly led towards the storage compartment. The silver mech was mortified when a slim servo reached inside the closet and pulled the box with interfacing toys out. There was no looking around - Soundwave knew where it was and came for it directly. 

As he watched the path of the TIC lead to the incinerator in Shockwave's lab, he started to panic. 

The warlord was in denial the entire time, until he saw the box get tossed inside, opened slightly to allow the heat to reach the interior. The blue digits turned the settings lower - the container would not incinerate completely, but it would be greatly damaged nonetheless.

As the fire raged, Megatron's spark filled with anguish so visceral, he let out a noiseless cry the entire time the box burned. When its charred remains were moved into another container, his throat hurt despite him not uttering even a whimper. 

The recording ended.

He didn't want to see the other one, but he knew that if he didn't see it, Soundwave would force him to watch it the next day in the office. He resigned himself to being mortified beyond what he already felt.

Megatron was not disappointed in that regard.

It must have been the fight earlier this cycle, as they didn't get to face the Autobots in the meantime; he could see that the TIC emerged from the ground bridge carrying the same box he saw on the previous file. 

The warlord was initially alarmed that the blue mech would just give it to the Prime, but instead a fight broke out, the box forgotten.

Seeing Optimus struggling against his top lieutenants was difficult, but he could not stop feeling proud of his crew - he knew they were capable, and seeing it was always fantastic to witness. As much as he didn't want the Prime dead, he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of Starscream and Soundwave partnering up. 

At least if they off-lined him in the end, he knew that they could take on anything. 

He was surprised to notice the newcomers to the field, recognising the frames easily from memory - nearly forgetting what this all was about.

When a sharp order to retreat came, he noticed Soundwave pointed towards something, prompting Starscream's goading towards the Prime, who was barely holding himself from overheating from exhaustion.

The box. 

The TIC stepped through the portal, but he looked back towards Optimus one more time.

Megatron knew he saw it too.

The wide blue optics filled with dread.

Optimus suspected what was inside - and if the warlord knew his lover as well as he hoped, he would have confirmed his guess. 

Prime knew their collection was gone.

The silver mech curled in on himself, his spark pulsing with sadness and humiliation.

*****

Megatron was devastated - and it showed.

The progress made with Knock Out, the changes to Nemesis, the general improvement of morale, even increasing the rate of victories - all of this didn't matter.

Their box was destroyed. There was no fixing it. 

And Optimus knew about it. They gave it to him, after all. Like a cursed gift.

The warlord felt unmoored - carried only by the routine he had complied with so far, missing at least a solar or two from his memory. He was mostly staring into nothingness, barely acknowledging anyone. 

At least Soundwave did not act like he didn't know why he behaved like this. The TIC was waiting him out, as the silver mech would not even speak to his friend, communicating in nods instead. Megatron still followed the schedule they set up for him, but the balance has shifted - the repetitiveness of his days was grating, instead of grounding. 

He felt trapped inside his frame.

Lying down on the slab in the medbay, he idly noted Knock Out's presence - he opened the medical port without prompting, and the red bot plugged in while maintaining a bit more distance than before. 

The warlord couldn't explain why it bothered him, so he kept his mouth shut; with the other monitoring his systems, it was hard to avoid confrontation.

"There was an odd spike across your multiple processes right now, my Lord - would you be able to tell me why that happened?" Knock Out asked tentatively, more carefully than he used to. Megatron didn't think he actually needed to provide an answer, but something in the medic's posture prompted him to say:

"You are acting differently."

The red mech startled at the reply, expecting another session of complete silence. He weighed his options, and sighed.

"Lord Megatron, your recent behavior led me to believe you wish to be left alone - as your physician I am unable to comply with this preference, but I will not force my presence on you more than necessary," Knock Out explained, tapping idly on the pad in hand. 

"I do wish to be left alone, but this has nothing to do with you, doctor," Megatron's words sounded perplexed, but honest. The title had been slipping into their conversations before, so the medic was pleasantly surprised it was not rescinded.

"I will take that as a vote of confidence in my skills then," Knock Out smiled, letting himself slide back into a more relaxed stance, as he pulled closer the tray with assorted meds for his patient. The frown on the warlord's faceplates did not go unnoticed, but there was little to be done there.

He needed to get the alternative medications soon, the rate at which they were going through the marbles collection was concerning.

Megatron took every pill into his servo and as fast as possible swallowed them in one go - the taste was dreadful and the quicker it went down, the less suffering would be there to experience afterwards. The worst was when something got stuck and he could not flush it down - he would rather claw his throat out at times like that then let it stay there to dissolve on its own.

The silver mech started to power down, knowing he should try to allow the new concoction from the Pit to do its job. Knock Out let out a quiet sound of relief, as the evening routine went by the easy way this time around. He bid his commander a quiet farewell and locked the door to the medbay behind.

*****

Megatron didn't realize when recharge claimed him, but an undefined time after he laid down, he found himself being shaken awake by a pair of familiar servos. 

He scoffed, unwilling to wake up, because he must still be asleep.

There was no way it was actually Optimus - he wouldn't do something as stupid as come onto Nemesis, so he must be dreaming.

The touch became more insistent, so he lazily on-lined his optics.

Red and blue filled his vision.

"Hello, love - you're finally awake, I was worried I wouldn't have a chance to talk to you," said Optimus with a smile, as he stood right by Megatron's shoulder like this situation was completely normal for them.

"What are you doing here?" Megatron hissed out, starting to get up, when a servo on his chest pushed him down. 

"No, don't get up - I need to leave soon, it took me a while to get around the lock and I'm expecting alarm to be raised pretty soon," rushed the Prime, patting the silver plating pacifyingly, placing a kiss onto the other's helm. 

Right as the warlord was about to say something, the shrill sound of intruder alert sounded out throughout the ship.

The Autobot cursed, as he fumbled around some item in his servo, before he pushed it into Megatron's hold. 

"Here, I got you something - I had some time and well… couldn't stop thinking about you, and suspected I was not the only one like that," Optimus chuckled right over his audial, so he could be heard over the sharp sounds filling the medbay. 

Megatron, who could not comprehend this surreal situation while still fighting off the effects of interrupted recharge, just nodded and curled his digits around the gift. He was rewarded with another kiss, and a thrilling purr of "thank you, darling," as Optimus stepped away, watching the door to the medbay.

The warlord sat numb, observing as lights of a ground bridge flickered in the dim room, and loud shouts were heard through the walls in the corridor. 

Prime lunged into the barely formed portal right as at least ten Vehicons, Breakdown and Starscream burst into the medbay, nearly falling over Knock Out's short frame as he keyed the entrance open. The shots they sent towards the source of light never reached the mech going through it, instead leaving scorch marks on the walls. 

"Lord Megatron, have you been injured?" Starscream inquired after it became obvious they came too late. The silver bot shook his helm negative, as he kept his field tucked in tightly. 

"Move the ship and check how he had been able to pinpoint our location," he ordered, shifting focus away from himself towards the security of the Nemesis. The seeker shot a suspicious look towards his leader, but nothing seemed out of order - and the concern raised by the mech was valid. They needed to understand how the Prime was able to get onto the ship and so far inside before the alert went out. 

They couldn't let it happen again.

Decepticon SIC nodded, offering an acknowledgement of the order back to the warlord, and waved everyone out. The seeker had to find and talk to Soundwave - the TIC would be most likely the only one who would be able to trace Optimus's path, and who could counter it.

Megatron watched them all go away, and when the doors closed with a soft whoosh, his field unwound itself, spreading around the space like an explosion.

He was filled with so many contrasting emotions, there was no way he would be able to recharge again.

Curling his digits around the small item in his servo, he pondered:

Perhaps he could spend the time on something more… pleasurable.

******************************

Another ficlet inspired by @transingthoseformers's TFP AU, a direct follow-up to this and running parallel to this - and fleshed out by these posts about Nemesis time wth Megs as a patient.

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, people, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 15: Shadowzone

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:12 - parallel between Megatron in the last episodes and Starscream now.

00:46 - Megatron noticed the parallel too.

01:10 - one of those moments where being a smexy bicth comes second to his job as a doctor.

01:19 - honestly, Knockout not pushing it shows just how well he knows Starscream.

01:33 - I thought the dark energon was necessary because Megatron needed energon, but his body was no longer comparable to accept anything other than dark.

~intro~

03:04 - I hardly even noticed Bee was there.

03:10 - the thinker.

03:16 - But Megatron was dead during the Skyquake episode. He wouldn’t know that Skyquake would require dark energon. Understandable why they’d assume it’s Megatron, but why would they assume Megatron’s there for Skyquake?

04:03 - this girl is on fiiiireeeeee + giving off ‘friends on the other side’ rn

04:18 - shut up, the way way Bee looks at Optimus and the cheetah meme have the same energy.

04:22 - so they truly are skipping over that angst? It appears I have a future project.

04:23 - Ratchet is the only one who doesn’t put on a game face when he’s addressed. We know why, but it’s nice to note.

04:30 - there’s something so perfect about the way Optimus jumps straight to explaining his decision and turns around to face Ratchet while doing so rather than pulling a classic ‘yes, because we need you’

04:35 - Once again, refreshing to see a character assigned to a position they’re not traditionally assigned to, but still showing passion and respect.

04:39 - How did Bulkhead not realise Miko was up to something?

04:42 - She’s drawing Optimus fighting Megatron.

04:46 - Glad to know someone’s paying attention.

04:52 - I love the way the bots walk, especially Optimus and Bee. There’s something so proper and powerful about it.

05:06 - LMAO

05:14 - Let’s pretend that Arcee couldn’t hear them.. why wouldn’t they yell out to her so she could stop Miko or close the ground bridge before Miko got there?

05:22 - Miko, Miko, Miko… frustrating af.

05:44 - they all have similar walk cycles, but none sync up.

05:53 - Bee dropping back as they walk along could be multiple things, him getting protected, acting as rear support, could also be because he’s the smallest but is walking at a similar pace to the others, meaning he’s covering less ground. Obviously I could be overthinking it too, but if we go that route these notes are completely useless.

05:55 - If you pause it at the right time Ratchet’s head makes it look like Optimus has a huge ass. (Unfortunately I did not screenshot it at the right time)

06:06 - my dude didn’t think to even ONCE call out to the bots and go ‘just so you know, we’re here’

06:18 - that would be my worst nightmare. Don’t have FOMO, just care about my phone.

06:25 - HO MAMMA

06:34 - the fading between the red and purple is so seemless and a nice detail

06:41 - I just need this screenshot to be witnessed. Why is he standing like that?? WHY DOES HE STAND LIKE THAT FOR SO LONG?

06:52 - this line’s so confusing when you forget that his arms are apart of his wings when he’s in his vehicle mode.

07:16 - AHHH THE HEAD TILT!!! Seeing that we’re looking at them from an angle, Bee’s most likely behind Bulkhead, meaning he cannot actually see the humans, but can hear them. + everyone else’s reactions tooooo!

07:27 - While everyone else looks at the ground bridge, Bee looks at the others before the bridge.

07:30 - Ratchet looking fabulous rn.

07:33 - 1. The way his voice echos is a really nice touch. 2. Ratchet using the same tone a parent would rn has me cryin.

08:06 - Starscream went into the ground bridge around the same time the kids did. Why wasn’t he caught?

08:14 - the longer that shot went for, the more I laughed.

08:26 - As soon as Starscream pulls out the dark energon it plays Arcee screaming ‘Tailgate’. Starscream has nothing to do with what happened to Tailgate. I think they were just reusing the sound from when Airachnid killed Tailgate and forgot to edit out the voice line. Upon evaluation, I do believe they’re different sounds. I don’t know why her voice line plays.

08:51 - Bee’s so cute until he breaks the fourth wall. + height difference my beloved.

09:03 - I don’t understand how the bots weren’t affected. Let’s say Starscream got to the otherside, but they kids didn’t, fine. But the bots were still caught in the explosion?

09:26 - You know that would be absolutely traumatising.

10:09 - … what was the point of insulting him?

10:14 - This is what makes it really confusing. How did Skyquake get caught in the shadow zone, but the other bots didn’t??

11:16 - Karma’s a bicth, ain’t she? Jack and Raf didn’t deserve it, but Miko totally did.

12:00 - God do I hate Miko rn. + Aw, Raf’s reaction

12:45 - Yes. In the rocks that are apparently not with you in the Shadowzone.

12:51 - you can hear Optimus trying not to show his panic and worry… and failing.

12:56 - Father and Son right here.

12:58 - with mild Confidence ‘what if you (or we) call them?’

13:35 - Not ‘nothing’. He picked up. He’s alive. It’s that there was no response.

14:05 - kinda disappointed that they didn’t have any other way to message the bots. Feels like there should be a way for the bots to message them and they message the bots, especially for situations where silence is necessary or Bee has to tell Miko or Jack something.

15:38 - Decepticons have parts to spare.

16:10 - Starscream’s arm is enormous compared to the kids.

17:23 - how does he get it open??

17:27 - *mwah* beautiful line delivery.

17:40 - god these line deliveries are stunning.

17:44 - It’s like the shot at the start.

17:46 - why does Starscream have the Crystal out?? What if Knockout saw?

18:35 - Love how either thought the other would be able to tell what Ratchet was saying.

18:47 - saying that as if common sense wouldn’t tell us that if they changed any part of it something would go wrong.

19:02 - aren’t they in a canyon? Isn’t that like one long strip??

19:31 - why would it be yours??

20:15 - glad the plan worked so seamlessly.

20:18 - Why wasn’t Bee sent? He’s Raf’s guardian after all.

20:31 - HOLY SCRAP LOOK AT HOW PRETTY IT IS!

20:34 - There’s literally no reason for Bee not to be(e) present.

20:39 - agreed. Repeat that and also apologise.

20:45 - Optimus smilinggggg

21:04 - a logical assumption.

21:10 - hc is that Knockout promotes self care for everyone (autobots included, but he’s careful when he does it.)

21:18 - I know Skyquake’s a zombie and all, but I feel bad for him.

———————

And that was Shadowzone!

It was alright. I’m not one for the human focused episodes, but it’s alright and a good way to introduce the Shadow Realm (despite how confusing it may have been.)

I thought the way Optimus was portrayed in the episode was good, showing how he cared for the children despite not really being allowed to express worry for their safety. I will admit that Bulkhead, Arcee and especially Bumblebee’s reactions to their charge’s going missing were too weak from any standpoint.

I thought that the Starscream plot line was quite weak as well and I don’t really understand what they were going for.

[lifetimeshipper]

Stolen Spark

A Beautiful Distraction

~~~~~~~~~~

Strongarm is different in this, instead of a "by-the-book cop" she's a criminal and loves that lifestyle. Also, a big thank you to my friends who helped me with this.

Also, if you're reading this without reading my The Wolf-Con and the Cadet series, or are reading this before reading that, the other Wolf-Cons that are with Steeljaw are OCs my, now ex, friend and I came up with for that series. They appear in book three of that series.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~

Nighttime fell over Cybertron and all you could hear and see were the lights of the planet and bots bustling around. But this night was special, for this night a masquerade party was being held at the Cybertronian Historian Museum to celebrate a special finding. They have been using so much they learned from the humans so they figured why not take one of their types of parties. In all the mining they did on Earth and other planets they came across crystalized Red and Dark Energon, they had been sitting for so long that they crystalized and are now like rare, expensive crystals. They're putting it in the museum as a reminder of their encounters, along with all sorts of stuff from the war.

Steeljaw and his pack were outside, watching the bots flood into the museum, they were planning on stealing the crystal Energon to make some big credits off it. Steeljaw put on his mask as he got ready to go in, he was going in alone so as not to raise suspicion. He had a plan all set out for this and he was certain he wouldn't fail. 

He wore a cat-like mask that covered his snout a bit to conceal his identity so as not to let on to who he was, he was one of the most wanted criminals on Cybertron and every bot knew of him, so he had to be careful not to let his identity be known or this heist would be a complete fail. 

He began heading over to the entrance when he was grabbed by the arm. He looked back and saw the Wolf-Con femme, Quickshadow, holding his arm and looking at him with love in her optics. She had been in love with him since she first met him. Her optics roamed over his face with admiration, "You look hot in that mask," she said in a seductive tone as she rubbed his arm.

"Quickshadow, quit trying to seduce our boss," her brother Voltstrike said trying to get her off Steeljaw. 

Quickshadow growled at him as she continued to hang onto Steeljaw, "We're in love and we plan on being together, now stop bugging us!" She says as she wraps her tail around Steeljaw's.

Steeljaw rolled his optics and sighed as he pulled his tail away and free of hers, but he looked at her with his signature smirk. "Thank you, babe, I appreciate the compliment. But if you could let me go now so I can get to work that would be nice."

Quickshadow grinned as she released his arm, but before he could leave she grabbed him and tried to kiss him on the lips, he saw it coming and he moved his helm so she kissed his cheek instead. She pouted and he chuckled, "No kissing on the lips, babe, not until after mating," he tells her as he gets free and heads to the museum, quickly. He shivered in disgust as he walked to the doors, he couldn't stand that femme. 

He'll admit she is decent looking but there's just something about her that he just hates, he can't stand being by her, he can't stand the way she throws herself at him and he can't stand her kissing him, and saying they're in love and will be mates. He honestly doesn't want any of that, not with any femme and certainly not with her. 

He only puts up with her being around because of her three brothers, he wants them in his pack so he puts up with their sister. But he will never love her or mate with her, mating just isn't in his plan for his future. If he can find a femme that can win him over and steal his spark he will make an exception, but there has been no such femme so far.

He enters the museum and is amazed by the magnificence of the place, he never stepped inside this museum before due to the fact he hates this kind of place, he only made an exception for tonight to steal the crystal Energon. He looked around in amazement at all the artifacts and gems, if he had known there were such treasures in here he would have looked into robbing this place beforehand. 

He saw red and purple metal streamers line the walls and across over the ceiling which had specially made lights planted all across. Steeljaw looked at the many different artifacts that sat on pedestals along the hallways and throughout rooms, all artifacts from the war used by both Autobots and Decepticons. 

There was, of course, a protective layer of glass and laser beams surrounding all the artifacts and gems, all valuables, but Steeljaw knew how to get past that stuff so he could easily get past that security and get the items if he really wanted to. But he's only here for one thing tonight, he'll just have to come back another time for the rest.

He makes it to the room where they're holding the crystal Energon, he goes in and takes a look just like all the other guests. It's beautiful, more beautiful than he imagined it to be. He sees it's guarded by two guards but has a heavy layer of protective glass around it, as he figured, but he had a way to get past the guards and the protective glass. First, he's gonna use the charms he's highly known for. He noticed one of the guards was a femme, score. 

He begins to make his way over to her, keeping his optics on his prey, when he bumps into something. On instinct he reaches out to grab whatever he bumped into as he notices it falling back, he looks at what he bumped into and sees it wasn't something but someone.  

A femme with blue and white armor, a slim body with big breastplates and pump blue lips that looked kissable. He also noticed she had big audio receptors like that Wrecker Wheeljack had. She also had on a cat mask but the nose part was smaller and it had feathers and gems around it while his mask just had little designs. Because of the mask, he couldn't see her face, all he could see was her optics, her beautiful blue optics that seemed to mesmerize him. There was just something about them, and her, that was drawing him in, making him want to know who she was.

He snapped out of his trance when the femme started speaking, "Pardon me, sir. I didn't mean to bump into you."

"No, it was my fault. I should have watched where I was going." Wait, what!? I never take the blame for anything! I need to get away from this femme.

"I'm pretty sure I'm safe now, you can let me go."

Steeljaw smirked, since he was in this situation he might as well flirt and make this femme melt, "Why? Don't you like being held?" He asked in his charming, seductive tone he always uses to charm the metal off a femme. "I like to hold a beautiful femme like you."

The femme raised an optic ridge and slightly cocked her helm, "Oh? And what makes you think I want to be held by you? What you said was flattering but not that flattering. Now if you would be so kind as to let me go."

Steeljaw was taken aback, no femme has ever refused him or not melted to his charms. His smirk returned, even wider than before, this was getting interesting. "You like to play hard to get, huh? No femme has ever refused me and all femmes melt to my touch and charms."

"So you're that type, you think you can get any femme you want with just a smirk and a sweet word. You're very cocky and arrogant," she says as she removes his arms. She sees his surprised and speechless look and smiles as she leans in close to his audio receptor, "If you want to make me melt you'll have to try harder than that, big boy," she says in a slightly seductive tone as a tease. She grazes her fingers over his stomach, to add to the tease, as she walks off.

Steeljaw stands there in bewilderment, still trying to grasp what just happened, starting to come out of it when he feels her fingers grazing his stomach. He looks over to the guard he was about to charm then back to the femme that just left him speechless for the first time ever, he never gets distracted from his goals, he always follows his plans to the last. But this femme, she's making him want to divert from his plans, to talk to her and try to get to know her. 

Distraction. That's the word for her, a beautiful distraction. 

He growls to himself as he takes off in the direction she went, he looks all throughout the room and through the crowd until he spots her heading towards a hallway. He goes to follow her as she walks down the hallway, looking at artifacts and stuff along the way. He gets closer to her and once they pass a door he gets to her and grabs her servo to pull her into the room that was there, which turned out to be another showroom but was empty since everyone was in the other room looking at the crystal Energon. 

Steeljaw closes the door and looks over at the femme who looked at him in shock, "You're a tease. I never met a femme that was such a tease and certainly never been rendered speechless by one, not by any bot but definitely not by a femme," he says as he pulls her close to him and slowly pushes her up against the wall.

"There's a first time for everything. And that's rich you're calling me a tease when you're a player," the femme said as she noticed what he was doing and tried to get away, but no luck. She soon finds herself up against the wall with the mech in front of her, blocking her escape.

"What makes you think I'm a player? I could just be a mech that's looking for the right femme and hasn't found her yet." He's not lying, he hasn't found the right femme yet so he's playing the field until he does.

The femme scoffs, "So you're just playing around until you find the femme you want? Nice excuse, but not all that believable."

Steeljaw sets himself on his forearms as he leans in closer to her, he is becoming more and more intrigued by this femme. "You doubt me? And what is your excuse for being a tease?"

The femme places her servos behind her back as she tries to look innocent, "I don't know, maybe I wanted to see what your reaction would be. Maybe I wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine."

Steeljaw gave her a questioning look, "A taste of my own medicine?"

"Yeah. You're so flirtatious and teasing, leading femmes on to thinking they will have a chance with you only to be disappointed when you leave them."

Steeljaw looked at her in surprise, "How exactly do you know that?"

The femme smirked as she leaned in closer to his face, "You'll never know because I'm not telling."

Steeljaw looks into her optics before glancing down to her lips, he finds himself leaning further in to kiss her but when he gets inches away from her lips he feels his feet going from underneath him and he suddenly finds himself on the floor. He looks up and sees the femme standing over him, he realizes she swept his feet before slamming him to the floor. He looks at her in surprise then admiration, "Sorry, but I don't kiss on the first date," she said jokingly with a wink. He couldn't see the wink that well behind the mask but he still could tell she did it.

He watched her as she walked out of the room and back into the hallway, "What just happened?" He asked himself as he once again tried to grasp what just occurred. Once again this femme left him speechless and bewildered. She knocked him off his feet, she actually caught him off guard and knocked him off his feet. He shook his helm to bring himself back to reality and got up to walk out of the room. 

The first thing he did when he walked out was look to see where the femme had gone, but no sign of her, so he went to get back to his objective. He growled and cursed himself for letting himself get distracted by the femme. On top of that, he tried to kiss her, he never tried to kiss any femme before. He knows what kissing a mech or a femme on the lips means for Wolf-Cons, it's a sign you want them as your mate. 

That's another reason why he wouldn't let Quickshadow kiss him on the lips because it would have meant he wanted to mate with her and he doesn't. Why did he try to kiss that femme? Surely he doesn't want to mate with her, does he? Steeljaw was brought out of his thoughts when the lights went out. Screams could be heard as officials try to calm down everyone. Perfect. Steeljaw thought as he made his way to where the crystal Energon was. 

But before he could get there the lights came back on and more screams rang out as they saw the two guards that were guarding the crystal Energon lying on the floor dead, and the crystal Energon was gone. Who took it? 

Steeljaw looked around to see who could have taken it and saw a figure running away, heading out of the museum. He went after them, he was gonna get that crystal Energon even if it meant killing the bot. He chased the bot out of the museum and out into the streets, they soon found themselves in an alleyway far from the other bots including his pack. 

Once they got to a bridge that was placed over a lake the bot stopped and turned to face Steeljaw who came to a stop and looked at them in shock as he realized who the bot was. It was the femme from earlier, "You? You stole the crystal Energon?"

The femme chuckled at his reaction, "Why so surprised?"

"Not sure, you just don't seem like the type. Were you the one who killed the guards as well?"

"Yep," the femme said as she beamed with pride like what she did was a good thing.

"Didn't think an Autobot would do such a thing. Impressive."

"Why thank you, Steeljaw," she says with a smirk.

Steeljaw growled at her, "How do you know who I am?"

"You have a great reputation. You're highly known throughout the police academy."

Steeljaw glared at her and let out a vicious growl, "You're a cop!?" He asks as he starts looking around for other cops. I can't believe I fell for a trap!

"Calm down, I'm not a cop anymore. Now I only pretend to be one to get out of situations. Don't worry, it's not a trap."

Steeljaw started settling down but kept his guard up, "What made you switch?"

"A friend from the academy, she decided to try a criminal life and she took me down with her. I found myself enjoying the criminal life more than the cop life," she replied before an idea popped into her processor. "I tell you what, to prove I'm on your side and mean you no harm I'll give you the crystal Energon," she said as she held out the case that was holding the crystal Energon with her hip cocked out.

Steeljaw carefully moved towards her and grabbed the case, but as he did he grabbed her servo and pulled her closer to him. He carefully placed the case on the ground as he looked at her, "You know who I am..." He began as he reached to take off his mask, after putting the mask away he reached to take off hers. "...but I don't know who you are."

She grabbed his servo before he could remove her mask, "It's for the best."

Steeljaw looked at her a bit confused, "How come?"

"I'm a cop who turned into a criminal, it's best if I stay a mystery. Besides, you'll forget me anyways, as you do with all the femmes you toy with so what's the point."

"Not even gonna tell me your name?"

"What's in a name?"

"What?" Steeljaw asked as he looked at her in confusion.

The femme giggled, "It's a human saying, something from a play of theirs. From what I understand it means there's nothing about a name, it's just another word to use, should focus more on the person."

"That's... rather a good point. I never considered that. You're smart." Steeljaw places his free servo on her back and pulls her closer, "But not smart enough, for you shouldn't refuse to tell me what I want to know. I'll take that as a challenge and one way or another I will find the answers I'm looking for. I'll find out who you are."

"Then do so."

Steeljaw smirked as he got closer to her face, "Challenge accepted," he said as he got closer to her lips. Something came over him, some kind of animalistic desire that caused him to take his next action, and he kissed her, very passionately. The femme hesitated for a moment before kissing him back as she placed a servo on his chest. Steeljaw's processor was suddenly consumed with one thought.

Mate.

He will make this femme his mate no matter what, and nothing will stop him.

Steeljaw was forced to break the kiss when he heard the howls of the other Wolf-Cons that were in his pack, they were all looking for him. He looked in the direction the howls came from and growled slightly, not realizing his grip on the femme's servo was loosening. Once he felt her pull her servo away from him he looked back to her to see her walking off towards the bridge. "Wait, why don't you come with me and join my pack? I could use a bot like you."

The femme stopped and looked back at him, "Afraid I can't, I'm leaving the city to go to another where I'm not known. This heist was my last in this city and was supposed to be like a parting gift for myself. But I got even more than I planned on, I had a lot of fun, Steeljaw."

"Will I see you again?" The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, but he really did want to see her again which was strange for him.

She looked at him for a moment before responding, "Do you believe in fate, Steeljaw?"

Steeljaw raised an optic ridge to her question, "Not really. Why?"

"I do, and I believe if fate will allow it we will meet again one day." She turned around and transformed before driving off.

Steeljaw stood there watching her drive off before he turned to pick up the case with the crystal Energon. He examined it closely and saw it was all there completely intact, he then looked back in the direction the femme had left. "I don't believe in fate because I make my own and I assure you, my dear, we will meet again because you now have something of mine I want back."

Steeljaw heard the running of feet and he looked back to see his pack running toward him, "Steeljaw, baby! Are you alright?" Quickshadow shouted as she threw herself on him hugging him tightly.

"I'm fine," Steeljaw responded as he tried to push her off of him.

"You gave us quite the scare, boss," Razorclaw, one of Quickshadow's brothers, said.

"Not too scared, we knew you could handle yourself," Saborfang, the other brother, added.

"You're right, I can handle myself," Steeljaw responded as Quickshadow clung to his arm and looked at him all dreamy-like.

"I see you got the crystal Energon," she spoke up.

"Sure did," Steeljaw responded with a wide grin.

"But what youse doin' out here?" Asked Thunderhoof who was standing with the Wolf-Cons. He works with Steeljaw and his pack on mutual grounds with an agreement that he gets a share of anything they steal.

"I had to get out of there and I decided to go this way," he lied because he didn't want to tell them about the femme. Especially in front of Quickshadow, "Let's head home before the cops catch onto us."

They all nodded and transformed before heading home. All the while, Steeljaw thought about the mysterious femme that's stolen his spark, and he was filled with a feeling he was quite familiar with. 

Want. 

But not like wanting an expensive artifact or gems or credits. He wants to see her again. He wants to hold her and kiss her again. He wants to know her. He wants her. He's now determined to find out all he can about her and meet up with her again so he can steal her spark like she stole his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

Part 2 of The Gods have found us (Megatron help us all.)

Repost, because I didn't know how Tumblr worked the first time I posted this.

Cody woke up and dug himself out of the towel, looking around at his new surroundings. He shrugged off his coat and pants, taking off the t-shirt and undershirt. He put the t-shirt back on, and found that his other clothes, along with some rags and the bag that he had been offered earlier, had been used to stuff the old datapad cover that made up the makeshift sleeping pad underneath him.

The tank was about the size of the tray, maybe a bit smaller. The toilet was in one corner, and there was a shade that reminded him of the little hides you can buy for some reptiles above his head, pushed flat against the wall with a little rounded knob that lowered it down, casting the area in shadow and making it dark enough that he could sleep even with the lights on. Cody heard Tarn chuckle, the sound making him giddy. He reached into the tank and pulled a little ring on the top of the shade, and Cody watched the knob rotate as the shade was pulled up.

"Oh, don't say you are sleepy yet? The last time you were out for twelve hours. That's no fun. How about you eat something? You haven't had much more than water and a swallow or two of the cleanser."

Cody heard a bell ring, and a packaged bar of… something came out of a dispenser. It was in a language he didn't understand. He opened the orange package, and the bell rang again. A packet with one clear side, showing that it was filled with a white paste with a symbol Cody recognized as a cybertronian medical emblem, was stamped on the corner. The bar looked like a blocky granola bar, with what looked like bits of cured meat and grain embedded into it. He opened the packet too, the sweet artificial medicine smell making him wrinkle his nose.

He looked up at Tarn, who was watching him intently. He knew that one way or another, he would end up eating both packages. Whether it was by force or not was up to him.

He popped the corner of the clear packet and stuck it in his mouth, expecting it to taste horrible. Surprisingly, it tasted a bit like cheap, too sugary frosting. He set the packet aside to finish with some water and bit into the bar. It tasted like beef jerky and cheap trail mix without the candy. Willing to try something, Cody spread a little bit of the paste on the bar. Yep, that was good. He knew it would get old quickly, but at least he wouldn't bechoking down the alien equivalent of dog kibble. He moved away from the dispensers and to the water spout, washing down the rest of the food with it.

Tarn directed him to throw the garbage into the waste disposal as if he had used it normally. Feeling tired, he turned the shade back over his bed and fell asleep to the sounds of Nickel and Tarn talking in a language he didn't understand.

Tarn had to hide his amusement as Cody discovered that Nickel had sweetened the mix of dietary supplements and growth blockers she had added to a flavorless edible paste. The individually wrapped treats, meant for much bigger omnivorous pets, were the perfect size and calorie content to be the base of Cody's diet. Just enough for his minimal activity level and daily needs while also keeping him pleasantly full.

"When did Swindle say he would be stopping by to make the deal?" Nickel said, rummaging through her storage closet. "We are getting low on some things, and if you are serious about keeping the little monkey in its organic state, we will need more than a couple weeks' worth of supplies. I am talking about buying multiple years' worth in advance if we are serious about it. Cyber formation of an organic organism is not an exact science, and I am not entirely sure about how reliant on energon he will be after it's complete.

"A few weeks, in earth rotations, of course. Worst case scenario, I make a vehicon use an online grocery shopping service, and you have to defrost a few meals in the heat scanner."

He left, and Nickel shut down the medbay for the night and curled up on one of the medical beds.

The next morning, Tarn woke up to a call from Megatron. He answered it, willing himself to act a lot more awake than he actually was.

"Tarn, I have wonderful news. We captured the helicopter and the female human alive, and the fire truck is on borrowed time, seen ranting and raving while shooting at anything that moves. Knockout tells me that the kid likely caused his parental coding to go haywire and caused him to lash out when he was suddenly taken away. The same could be said about the other human pets and their guardians. The helicopter is timid and very submissive, and the female is rowdy but is easily reasoned with. The plans have changed, and I don't intend on reuniting the two humans. Do with the kid as you will, but procure four vials of liquid cyber metal for me. The human's short lifespan is a weakness I can't afford, not until the helicopter has been fully indoctrinated. As soon as supplies are secured, I want your ship out of range of earth for as long as the human stays alive."

"Understood. Are their plans to capture and cyber form the human that learned cybex? I know Soundwave had an interest in him."

"Unfortunately, yes. My third in command is quite insistent on taking it with us."

"So four vials of cyber metal, along with space stable supplies for all of them? I assume you will be partially covering the cost?"

"Yes, but any materials sourced for the human in your possession is out of your funds. The drugs you use to arrest the human's natural aging process are expensive."

"Affirmative. I will amend the order with Swindle at the soonest convenience." Megatron ended the call, and Tarn called Swindle and increased the order, informing him that the Decepticons will be footing the bill for the cyber metal, so be generous with his pricing. Swindle agreed, hearing the threat in his voice. No price gouging or convenience fees would be tolerated this time.

As directed, Tarn had the ship duck behind Saturn to make the deal.

Swindle's ship docked with Tarn's, and he had his workers load up the decepticon purchased supplies while he haggled the price of the goods bought with Tesarus's funds. As much as he owed Tarn way more than the contents of his savings account, Tarn still didn't want to set a precedent.

"Yeah, you got a deal." Swindle said, barely tamping down the irritation in his voice as he was forced to sell four vials of cyber matter, two water tanks with filtering attachments, and two decades worth of organic pet treats for much lower margins than he would have liked. Well, time to see if he can upsell a little bit. "I also have a few options for if the organic you're buying these supplies for gets a bit too rowdy. Non addictive, fairly mild, and doesn't have the rather … smelly drawbacks of some of the more conventional products. Just keeps them nice and cuddly, with an entertaining high that wears off quickly and transitions to nice, drowsy, affectionate organic that will stay still for medical exams, stay calm around loud noises, and makes them all around easier to handle."

"Appreciate the offer, but he has warmed up beautifully to the ship. I have seen what high humans do, and I do not find it entertaining to see its intelligence drop to nothing but its bare instincts. Besides, it's too young. Mind altering substances can curb its remarkable brain function."

"Oh? Do tell? Do you think it might be an outlier of its own species?"

"Perhaps. It caught Lord Megatron's attention by effortlessly charming and commanding bots many times its size without a single threat or controlling device." Tarn said, just a hit of his Voice leaking into his speech, threatening death if Swindle got any ideas on who owned Cody. Cody was Tarn's, in every way he wanted to own him, until he decided that he wasn't. He doubted he would get bored of such an interesting creature, especially once the cyber-forming process starts and he gets to watch Cody change.

He heard rumors about how cuddly and malleable the cyber forming process makes the affected organic. How pure and strong the spark bond is, how vulnerable it makes it as it dampens the victim's memories but keeps its personality and core traits whole and untouched.

Tarn had already made the arrangements with Nickel to open up the hold that was installed to secure Cody against the outer walls of his spark chamber during his retrieval. As it stood, the space was too small to be useful while out on the hunt, with no way for Cody to see outside. He would have to acclimatize Cody to the glory of the List and to worship Megatron slowly, in order to make sure he became a true believer, not just a scared pet.

The first step was to get a strong spark bond established after the cyber formation, in order for Tarn to use it to sooth and prime Cody to associate the noises of the hunts with good things, like attention and the gentle, warm embrace of a parent bond.

Swindle's men finished unloading the supplies and loaded themselves back onto the merchant ship, Swindle following behind them.

Tarn closed the cargo bay's inner door before Swindle's ship detached from the dock and flew off.

Tarn looked through the supplies that were dropped off, splitting up what was for Cody and what was going to the Nemesis. The two orders had been separated by the intended location as usual, but Tarn still liked to snoop sometimes. He set aside two boxes of a different flavor of the treats he had been feeding Cody, this one in a light pink box instead of an orange one, certain that he could introduce them to him as a reward for cooperating with Tarn.

He put an emergency bottle of oxygen in his subspace, knowing that even if Cody never needed it before he was cyber-formed, it would make a good makeshift grenade. He picked up the boxes and opened the door to leave, ordering Vos and Helex to put away the stuff meant for the Peaceful Tyranny as he walked to the medbay.

He set down the boxes of food and went over to the tank. Cody was laying under the sun lamp, enjoying the warmth on his skin, pretending that he was still on Griffin Rock. Nickel thought he looked pale, and Cody was curious about what the skinny light bulb mounted on a swivel join on one side of the tank was. She turned it on when he asked about it, setting a twenty minute timer so he didn't burn.

Those delusions were shattered when Tarn turned off the lamp, swore in cybex when he melted his paint off one finger on the hot bulb, then yelled at Nickel when she made him treat and cool his hand down before picking up Cody.

Cody scrambled to stand up, getting a drink of water before standing out in the open for when Tarn eventually picked him up. He heard a hiss and a grunt as Nickel cooled off Tarn's hand and a grinder as she removed the melted paint. He swore again when Nickel activated the berth restraints, pulling him flat against the table, and, by the sounds of it, started to do something painful to his chest.

Finally, after Nickel finished up and cooled his hand again, Tarn scooped up Cody and held him against his chest. Cody squirmed a bit but got into a more comfortable position on his back and stayed still, not knowing what Tarn intended to do.

Tarn opened the middle section of his chest plate, and the pocket expanded to be a rather cozy size. Cody guessed that was what Nickel was doing when she forced him onto the table.

He showed it to the human, pointing out the little vid screen he had installed on the inside of the space, wirelessly connected to multiple cameras and microphones he could stick in the gaps of his plating, along with access to some simple children's programming to decompress after a successful hunt.

After showing him how to turn the screen off and on and what each button did, he closed his chest back up and decided to get some cuddles in. What's the point of kidnapping an adorably soft organic if you aren't going to pet it?

Remembering the few times he had seen an organic with its young, he put Cody against his chest, making sure that his arms and legs weren't being squished by his body. He hummed happily as the youngling's instincts took over and curled up its body, his knees covering up his vulnerable organs while his hands reached up to be by his face. His delicate spine was just barely visible through his skin, and the big, oversized garment he had worn without fail for days sagged off his back. Tarn took a breath, increased the temperature of his hands a little above human room temperature, and tried something. He rubbed circles into Cody's upper back, encouraged by the way his muscles relaxed farther than he had ever before.

Tarn's treatment of Cody reminded himself of the rare times when his siblings and dad were out of the house or upstairs and Heatwave had gently plucked him from the couch or wherever he had sat down with a few toys or a game and held him in one of his hands, sometimes gently rubbing or tapping his back, as if he was a stubborn infant refusing a nap.

The first couple times, he had struggled, but it was one of those rare times that none of his family was in the house but him. Heatwave just did something to warm up his hands and held him until Cody hit that temperature where he felt sleepy and content, even despite the fact he hadn't taken regular afternoon naps since he was six and was very uncomfortable pressed against the hard glass of Heatwave's chest. He then set Cody back on the red couch, his parental coding satisfied.As time wore on and Chief got a bit more comfortable with having the bots babysit and touch Cody, Heatwave picked him up more often, sometimes shifting around a few panels in the back of his cab and letting Cody nap to the sound of his spark beat, careful to never let the light of his spark peak through. That wasn't his place, and he wasn't sure that humans could bond platonically anyway, being organic.

He was almost found out a few times, when Cody fell asleep in his cab after a mission, or relaxed a little too fast reflexively into his hands the few times he had picked him up to get him out of harm's way. The other bots covered for him that time, trusting that he would never do anything inappropriate to the little human.

Cody didn't say anything either, not knowing if his family would even believe him. He knew Heatwave had left a child behind on Cybertron, and Heatwave didn't hurt him or touch him anywhere he wasn't supposed to, so he just let the bot pick him up to get it over with.

Tarn was different, a little more detached with him, but seemed to care a little more about him each time Cody saw him. And boy, was he fighting the urge to stretch out and take a nap. Oh, what the heck, he would probably just put him down if he didn't like Cody moving.

Tarn reflexively tilted his arm to support the human, who had stretched his arms backwards, his joints and spine releasing a chorus of soft pops before it yawned and curled back up.

Nickel had a disgusted look on her face. "I could have gone my entire life without hearing the sound of that fleshy popping its spine." She said in cybex, examining the chrome cyber metal in its glass vial before locking it in storage. "You sure you want to wait on cyber forming it? It will throw off the order of the List."

"Hmm." Tarn replied, also in cybex. "The List does outweigh my own priorities, but I would like to have a bit more time to introduce Cody to the rest of the crew, and lay down some ground rules. He hasn't even been to the shrine yet, but I would rather he be introduced to that when his mind is fresh and open to suggestion. By the way, I, of course, will be acting as his Sire. It's only fair, he is most comfortable with me." Tarn removed a bulky plate from the door of his chest compartment, a purple tinted window showing the inside of his chest pocket.

He opened the door and slid Cody inside it, turning on the screen for him and putting the plate into his subspace. He smirked as he got a popup notification that Cody had picked a cutesy animated movie to watch as Tarn made sure he wouldn't go squish.

"All crew to the bridge." He barked into his comm link, sitting in his captain's chair. He could feel Cody's head pressed against the back wall of the pocket and felt glee at the idea that he was so close to his spark.

Soon.

Soon, he will have an apprentice, a backup vocalist to his kills to make the hunt that much sweeter.

All he needed to do was give him the tools to sing.

[melishade]

Number 87?

This ask game

asked so far.

So this was an old draft that I had written for something that was never going to pass. I wanted to write it for fun at the time. But I think this would be a good draft to use on how to end the Revenge Timeline. I have nothing in between, but I think this would be a great way to have an ending.

(But the events that do happen prior to this, the Survey Corps and the Autobots do have a final confrontation with Starscream and his bounty hunters. And during the scuffle, I don't know how yet, Eren ends up protecting Optimus from a strike of the Dark Star Saber, killing him and destroying the power of the titan permanently because of the dark energon. As Optimus is grieving over Eren, Megatron survives and has one final moment with Starscream.)

The Dark Star Saber fell out of Starscream’s grasp as he crashed into the ground. The others watched to blade in freefall…and Megatron grabbed it by the handle. The sword began glowing under his touch, but Megatron ignored it before walking over to Starscream.

The Decepticon groaned in pain as he held his side. He saw that he was leaking energon from his wound and didn’t know what to do. He tensed in fear when Megatron held the tip of the blade against his neck.

The Survey Corps grew worried in regards to Megatron’s situation while the Arcee and Wheeljack weren’t sure on what to do.

Starscream chuckled nervously. “Well, even when I had the upper hand, you still managed to best me. But I guess you never took me seriously. Even after everything I did for the Decepticon cause, you did nothing but belittle me, abandoned me. You never once took me seriously.”

Megatron didn’t respond as the blade continued to glow brightly.

“Well, what are you waiting for ‘O high and mighty Megatron’!” Starscream challenged, “Are you going to kill him?! Cut me down like you should’ve done instead of sparing me from Dreadwing?! No matter what you say, you’ll always be the psychotic warlord you’ve always been! Like you would know anything about oppression!”

Arcee saw that Megatron didn’t waver to Starscream’s word. She picked up a soft ‘click’ and looked over to see the Survey Corps aiming their weapons…at Megatron. Arcee grew concerned as she looked over at Armin, but she could see the hesitation in his eyes as his fingers moved towards the trigger.

Megatron raised the Dark Star Saber in the air as the Survey Corps prepared to fire. Instead of swinging at Starscream, he swung the sword at Starscream's fallen ship. A purple beam was released and it cut through the base, cutting through energon lines and blowing it up. The Survey Corps and the Autobots covered their faces from the explosion as smoke rose into the air.

Starscream was in complete shock as Megatron lowered his arm and let the Saber fall to the ground. Megatron raised his foot and stomped on the blade hard, shattering it to pieces. The Dark Star Saber stopped glowing, and the remnants of the blade faded until the handle remained.

“W-why?” Starscream stuttered.

“The path I walk, no longer leads there,” Megatron declared.

Megatron walked away from Starscream, allowing the Survey Corps to breathe a sigh of relief. Starscream; however, was pissed off. That was it. That was it?! How dare he?! How dare Megatron turn his back on him?! How dare Megatron change?! How dare Megatron find peace and contentment?! Tormentor! Liar! He doesn't deserve to live! He forced himself to stand up and held his side from his wound.

“YOU DON’T GET TO MOVE ON!” Starscream shouted, and in an act of desperation and fury, he leapt towards Megatron to rip out his spark.

Megatron turned to see Starscream charging at him while the Survey Corps flew to his defense. Megatron was ready to let Starscream cut him down, but the seeker was kicked in the face by Optimus. The Prime tackled him to the ground and punched Starscream in the face twice.

“Optimus?!” Hanji shouted.

“Prime, stop!” Megatron shouted as he bolted towards Optimus.

Optimus clasped his servos together and smashed them in Starscream’s face. “GIVE HIM BACK! GIVE EREN BACK!”

Optimus transformed his servo into his blade and rammed it at Starscream's face. Starscream lifted his servo in defense, and the blade pierced through his servo and struck his optic. Starscream cried out in pain as Megatron pulled Optimus off of the ‘Con.

“Optimus, enough!” Megatron shouted as he struggled to keep Optimus back.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Optimus roared, “I’LL DESTROY YOU!”

Megatron thought fast and placed immense pressure on two vital energon veins in the back of his neck. Optimus’ systems immediately shut down and he fell into stasis. Megatron quickly caught Optimus’ body before it hit the ground. Arcee and Wheeljack ran over to the distressed Starscream and quickly handcuffed him before he could do anything else. Hanji and the others rushed over to Optimus as Megatron carried him in his arms.

“He’s-,”

“In stasis,” Megatron explained to Hanji before turning to Arcee and Wheeljack, "Check if those bounty hunters survived!"

"We killed two of them! Shadelock's still at large!" Wheeljack informed.

"Locate him!" Megatron barked at him.

“Can someone do something about my optic!” Starscream demanded.

Levi aimed his energon spear at the ‘Con. “Gladly.”

Mikasa, realizing that the threat was neutralized, quickly flew over to where she last saw Eren, but nothing of his body remained. Not even dust. It was if he never existed at all. He was gone.

"Mikasa." Armin flew over to her side. He had also tried to find Eren with his own eyes, but...there was nothing left. Armin heard whimpers beside her and turned to see Mikasa crying, clinging to her scarf before falling to her knees. Armin couldn't help it as he started crying as well. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around Mikasa in comfort, the two grieving over the loss of their childhood friend.

(That was the idea. I'll definitely need to do some clean up when I get around to it. Whatever is left is free game.)