#tbh i love this au sm. i feel like im dying (flu? maybe?? idfk but god is trying to assassinate me) but this makes it a wee bit better

[brandwhorestarscream]

"When they wake up 🤭 ooh, it's gonna be fun."

You can't just leave it there! How is D reacting to the hive? What is Orion doing, is he trying to get to D, worried about him? Does D try to reassure Orion? (Does D want Orion to join the hive and be his favorite Sire when he matures?) What does Galvatron think about his lost little morphling and the morphling's friend?

What is going to happen in the hive?

Im gonna try so hard to answer these coherently but im sick as a dog and moderately dying so if this is nonsense...... im sorry

- Dee's reaction to the hivemind is... weird. He's unconscious for a long time, and when Orion asks, Queen Galvatron says he's "merging". His consciousness has been a lonely thread for so long, but now is being taken and woven into the large, forever expanding tapestry that is the hivemind. It happens while he's asleep, all of his memories broken down and assimilated, pieces of himself melting away and blending harmoniously with all the others. They come to know him, deeply and more intimately than anyone else ever could, and he comes to know each of them in turn, before he's even awake. When he finally rouses, there's a Presence in his head. Hundreds, thousands of others, all vibrating at the same frequency and hovering like a thin, flexible layer around his brain. They're there, inexplicably, so many people its dizzying. There you are, the hivemind rings with a thousand voices as one. Welcome home, we've missed you. Dee grabs at his helm, startled that he can not quite hear but know their intents, their feelings, their lives. Its overwhelming at first, and a soft trickle of warmth and comfort trickles in. We're safe here, don't be afraid.

- As for what Orion is doing? He's the first one to wake up in the throne room of the hive, laying on the floor before Galvatron. His first time seeing a cybermorph queen is so startling he screams, clumsily crabwalking backwards and trying to put distance between them as soon as he's awake. The queen looks monstrous, sitting upon his ovipositor and hanging from the ceiling, giant crest and four arms and a body covered in ridges and strange plates, giant dorsal tubes bigger than Orion's whole body jutting out of his back. Orion backs up til his back hits a wall, and he looks up to a find a grotesque sight: the walls are covered, strewn top to bottom with countless quintesson corpses. Each one trapped in a hardened, glistening resin, with a gaping, explosive hole in their chests where Galvatron's offspring have escaped.

"Relax, little one," he's not expecting the queen to speak, and quails under his attention. "I mean you no harm."

Upon closer inspection, he finds D-16 delicately cradled in the queen's secondary arms, being gently rocked as if he's just a sparkling. Elita and Bumblebee are nearby, still unconscious, restrained with resin. The coneheads that tried to abduct them are... he shudders in terror when he sees them on the wall, facehuggers wrapped snugly around their helms. He's terrified, but manages to squeak out the question: what is going on?!

Galvatron tells him the story, of how he and his first praetorians were born. These morphs don't have any beef with the cybertronians, no: their primary food source and incubators are the quintessons. He has no interest in hurting the bots. Why would he? They're scrawny and taste terrible compared to the quints.

Galvatron assures him that "the princess" is fine. Orion doesn't know what that means, and imagine his surprise when he finds out that D-16 isn't just a morph: he's an infant queen, specially conceived between Galvatron and one of his mates, who through a series of unfortunate circumstances ended up in Iacon. One day he'll grow to be just as big as his carrier, maybe even larger, mothering his own hive and exoanding the cybermorphs numbers to help defeat the quintessons once and for all

- When Dee wakes up, as I mentioned, he's very disoriented. Having another identity crisis because, with the hivemind, he's not even sure that he's himself anymore. Being a fully autonomous singularity isn't really possible with the hivemind: you will always carry a part of everyone with you, just as every single one of them will always carry a part of you with them. Being one with the hivemind is like a higher state of being, becoming infinitely more than you ever could be alone. If anything, I think Oriom actually ends up reassuring Dee, promising once again that he's still the D-16 they know and love, and they'll never just abandon him because of what species he is 🤭

- Dee isn't thinking about having Orion join the hive at this point, but in the future? Absolutely. Every Orion Pax is a grade A monsterfucker, and he's very eager to get his dick wet in tight alien cybermorph pussy 😌 he becomes Queen Megatron's favorite sire... and, perhaps, even his loyal King, commanding their forces of drones and warriors on the battlefield while his Queen lies below the surface, laying eggs to bolster their legions further.

- Galvatron is so relieved to have his morphling back. Megatron was the first royal egg he ever created with his beloved mate, and it breaks his spark + fills him with rage that he had to miss so much of his childhood. He vows to make up for lost time, to spend as much time as possible spoiling his son and showering him with love 💖 as for how he feels about Dee's friends... he quietly approves of Orion. His fierce protective spirit and dogged defense of D-16 speaks volumes, and in fact it reminds him a bit of how he and Terminus used to be, back in the day. Elita and Bee, he's not as sold on them, but he can't really fault them for being cautious. They're just kids. They're restrained but haven't been impregnated (unlike the coneheads, who get the harsh chestburster punishment for daring to hurt the princess and his companions).

- As for what's going to happen next... well 🤭 Megatron isn't allowed to leave. They just got him back, so he's not going anywhere. He doesn't know how to block out the hivemind yet, and even if he fights as hard as he can, the drones and warriors and praetors outnumber him 10,000:1 and can read his mind. There is -5 chance of escape.

The other 3, though? I'm not sure. I don't think Galvatron would force them to stay, nor be converted. He has very little interest in the cybertronians as a whole. Elita and Bee are very gung-ho about leaving as soon as possible--they still need to get the proof to Iacon, after all!--but Orion hesitates. He... He can't just leave Dee here all alone, right...?