[TFA] Revelations
a/n: Little undercurrents of plot running through here. This would have been up a lot sooner if I had posted it when I thought I posted it two weeks ago. I just realized today that, oops, I never actually posted it. Sorry!
Title: Revelations
Universe: TFA, Art of Self Destruction
Characters: Megatron, Optimus, Onslaught
Rating: T
Warning: Mild violence
Description: Megatron is always watching and Onslaught pays for taking liberties.
For dellessa's April flash fiction prompt of Megatron/Optimus, stalking
There is no such thing as privacy on a Decepticon warship. Megatron does not feel guilty as he watches Optimus in his room. The Autobot is a prisoner after all and if not watched in his assigned quarters, he would have been under observation in his cell. But nevertheless, something always nags at him whenever Megatron pulls up the visual feed.
It isn't as though he spends every moment watching the Prime. But Optimus' behavior does give him a few clues as to how best to approach him.
Today's viewing has an important purpose. Because Megatron had given Optimus a datacube and whether or not the Prime views it is key to Optimus' future.
Curiosity ensures that Optimus will at least look at the information. Whether or not he believes it, is the true challenge.
Megatron watches as Optimus curls on his berth and stares at the datacube. He turns it over and over in his fingers, examining it from all angles. His reluctance is understandable. He probably fears a virus, not that Megatron needs such a cheap means of victory. If he'd wanted a mindless drone, he'd have turned Optimus over to Trepan long before now.
Finally, Optimus seems to make a choice. He pops a panel in his forearm and inserts the tiny cube, accessing the information. He could have used the console but for some reason, he does not. It is curious, but not a concern.
The information contained will be an even more unpleasant surprise now that he views it with direct access. Megatron himself had been shocked to learn much of it.
After learning that Optimus had never been in the Elite Guard and poking more into the Prime's history, Megatron had made it a personal mission to find as much as possible about Optimus. He wanted to know why Ultra Magnus would abandon one of his precious Primes and all but exile him. Especially given the effort he'd put forth to reclaim Rodimus, the one Strika had taken.
The Magnus' Autobots failed, of course, and now Megatron has even more Autobot prisoners, but the fact remains that Ultra Magnus tried to reclaim Rodimus but had done nothing about Optimus' plight. Instead, he'd disbanded Optimus' team, sent them to different corners of Cybertron, and now his agents crawl all over Earth, looking for the pieces of the Allspark Ultra had not bothered to protect the first time around.
It is all so baffling.
Ultra Magnus had not tried to aid Optimus after the disastrous event that led to Elita One's demise. But he'd pulled strings to get Optimus a small team of miscreants and a rundown shuttle, only to then banish Optimus to the furthest reaches of Autobot space. And Optimus had taken his punishment like the good soldier he was, his own guilt a more effective castigation than any words Ultra Magnus could have spoken.
Sentinel, meanwhile, has climbed quickly through the ranks until it became known that he is Ultra's favored Prime and one of several considered a possible successor to the title of Magnus. Rodimus, for that matter, is another one of those considered. 'The Chosen One' they call the flame-painted Prime.
Megatron snorts. Chosen, his aft. Rodimus hadn't put up much of a fight against Strika. Optimus had done far better and he'd never completed his training.
All of this means that there is a reason Ultra Magnus wants to be rid of Optimus, but doesn't want to kill him. Killing, of course, isn't the Autobot way. But if they can somehow keep Optimus cowed and still useful, that is more their modus operandi, as the humans would say.
It took digging. It took a lot of digging, delving into records that had been double and triple-sealed. There was bribery and blackmail and much hacking on Shockwave's part before Megatron could find some kind of information that wasn't a blatant lie.
What he found disturbed him.
Optimus is one of several protoforms who had originally been sparked as Decepticons. Which means, physically, Optimus is old, older than the first war. But he'd only been brought online after the end of the war, part of a series of protoforms the Autobots had kept in reserve and were forced to bring into service after Megatron had taken the protoforms they'd earmarked for eventual inclusion in the Elite Guard.
Megatron had not known those protoforms existed otherwise he would have rescued them as well. They would not become cannon fodder like the ones he'd had Lockdown take from Yoketron.
Optimus is not the only one either, there are others scattered throughout the Autobot population. Stripped of their original, military coding and replaced by a preferable, more civilian Autobot coding. All of these mechs have been kept under observation. Most of them have blended just fine into the population, usually taking up roles as lawkeepers or laborers. Some have joined the Autobot Elite Guard, albeit none of them have been allowed command stations.
Fewer still have been executed under what Megatron suspects are false accusations and planted evidence. If Optimus had not had such a heavy well of personal guilt, that might have been his fate. But the damned fool is so humble that it may very well have saved his spark.
Of course the Autobots would make no attempt to retrieve him. They have already written him off as a loss. Whether Optimus joins the Decepticons or not, he is already considered a traitor to the Autobots. He has nowhere to return.
No wonder Optimus' instincts are so on point. He has the frame of a Decepticon! Albeit one that has been stripped down to better fit into the Autobot aesthetic.
The truth disturbs Megatron, but it also convinces him. Optimus belongs here, at his side. He deserves to be the leader the Autobots won't allow him to become.
There werew many things Megatron expected to find that could explain Ultra Magnus' behavior toward Optimus, but this truth had not been one of them. But he has made mental note of the other Autobots, the ones who also belong with their Decepticon brethren. He's ordered Shockwave to discreetly contact them, see if there is anything left of that greatness within them.
On screen, Optimus must have finished skimming the database because he suddenly jerks, sitting up straight. He fumbles the cube from his port and he glares at it in great offense. His hands shake as he stares at it, hot enough to burn. His face goes through a series of expressions, disbelief mixed with fury mixed with outrage, and then he jerks his arm, the datacube flying across the room. It hits the opposing wall, shattering into pieces.
Optimus' hands clench into fists. He stares after it, and then he curls into himself on the berth, burying his helm in his arms.
A pang of something ripples through Megatron's spark. He can sympathize. There is no comfort, no feeling quite like realizing you've been betrayed by everything you ever trusted.
Megatron watches Optimus for a few minutes more before he decides to leave the Autobot to his grief. He shuts off the feed and turns his attention to the other issue that needs handling. Optimus' reaction to the cube is far more pressing, but now, there is someone else who requires his attention.
Megatron swivels his chair around, bracing his elbows on the arm of it, and lacing his fingers together. He stares at the mech kneeling on his floor, attempting to look small and failing. Onslaught has planted something like apology on his faceplate, but Megatron is not fooled.
“I do not like repeating myself,” Megatron says, unsurprised when Onslaught meets his gaze evenly. “I seem to remember telling you to keep your hands to yourself.”
“Training is a bit hard to do if I can't touch the Prime.”
Megatron is off his chair, and across the floor before the last word leaves Onslaught's vocalizer. He backhands Onslaught, taking no small satisfaction in the cracking of the mech's optical visor. That petulantly condescending tone is unacceptable.
Onslaught's helm rolls with the blow. His frame rocks, but he doesn't fall. He slowly turns back toward Megatron, one optic glaring balefully at him from behind the fractured transsteel.
“This was, as I recall, your idea, my lord,” Onslaught snaps.
“The plan was to gain his trust, not an invitation to his berth,” Megatron hisses, looming over the kneeling mech.
Onslaught is and has always been a source of frustration for Megatron. He is useful, one of the best strategists Megatron has ever used, but he does not bear the same loyalty to Megatron or the cause that Strika does. He also has a weakness for Autobots that makes him more susceptible to their charms.
And he'd been foolish enough to let one of them convince him to try and lead a mutiny against Megatron. He also suspects that Starscream had a hand in it, but couldn't find any proof. Which is why Starscream escaped punishment and Onslaught's team had been dispersed to opposite corners of Decepticon territory.
Swindle had taken it upon himself to desert completely. Only he never called it that because, as he claimed, he was a merchant. He followed the money, not the cause.
“Of course not, that was a charming bonus,” Onslaught retorts.
Megatron's engine revs with warning. Onslaught clamps his mouth shut, but there's no submission in his frame. If anything, he's even more stubborn.
Megatron draws himself up straight. “I am finding myself struggling to justify your continued functioning, Onslaught. You may be less trouble to me offline.”
“And how, my lord, will you explain my sudden absence to your pet Autobot.” Onslaught tilts his helm, something calculating behind that baleful stare. “I suspect he'd frown upon my death no matter how you spin it. Autobots tend to care about that sort of thing.”
Megatron frowns. Much as it pains him to admit, Onslaught is correct. Right now, with Optimus no doubt teetering on the edge of his loyalty, Megatron does not need something that might tip him in the wrong direction. Optimus will not understand the delicate balance of Decepticon politics, and there is too much complicated history for him to explain in such a way for Optimus to understand. Nor can Megatron be certain Optimus will both listen and believe.
He narrows his optics. “Do you actually think the Prime will be more inclined to join you?”
“I am only performing as my lord and master commands,” Onslaught says, not at all answering the question. “I am gaining the Autobot's trust.”
Megatron grinds his denta.
“You might also keep in mind, Lord Megatron, that Optimus is free to make whatever choices he wishes to make,” Onslaught continues, something in his tone sly and condescending. “And who am I to deny a lonely mech some comfort in these dark times.”
Anger swells up within Megatron and he strikes Onslaught again. The sound of his knuckles striking across Onslaught's faceplate eases the fury, but only by a fraction. Looking down at the commander's defiant stare makes him bristle. He should have killed Onslaught at the first betrayal. If not for that damned Autobot...
Megatron clenches his denta.
There is nothing he can do that won't sabotage his current efforts with Optimus. Megatron would have to wait to be rid of Onslaught until Optimus and Cybertron belonged to him.
Worse that Onslaught knows it. Worse still that Megatron could beat him into so much scrap, and Optimus would find out and offer the commander sympathy.
The very taste of it is vile on Megatron's glossa.
Very well. Onslaught has just become Strika's problem. Optimus has other friends and Megatron is certain there's a way he can spin this that won't upset the Prime.
“Return to your quarters,” Megatron says, spinning on a heel away from the commander, who is now radiating confusion. “Pack your belongings.”
“Beg pardon?”
He lowers himself back to his chair. “You're leaving. Strika has need of another commander and I've decided to offer her you.”
Onslaught looks up, a mixture of surprise and poorly hidden pleasure in his expression. Megatron lets him linger in it for a moment before he adds, “I will, of course, be transferring Swindle here.”
The satisfaction of watching that happiness melt to anger and then a surly disdain is almost as good as giving Onslaught a thrashing.
Maybe next time Onslaught will think twice about touching what doesn't belong to him.
****
a/n: So there ya have it. A bit of plot. Answers to some questions but then more questions cropping up. I was most nervous about this chapter because this series was only ever meant to be not-serious, but then it grew plot, and here is the plot, and yeah. There it goes.
Feedback, as always, is welcome and appreciated. I finally know where this is going and I have the next five chapters mapped out, all leading up to the dun-dun-dun, end of part one. Yep. This is now, at the very least, a two stage fic.
This entry was originally posted at http://dracoqueen22.dreamwidth.org/288365.html. Feel free to comment wherever you find most convenient.
Title: Revelations
Universe: TFA, Art of Self Destruction
Characters: Megatron, Optimus, Onslaught
Rating: T
Warning: Mild violence
Description: Megatron is always watching and Onslaught pays for taking liberties.
For dellessa's April flash fiction prompt of Megatron/Optimus, stalking
There is no such thing as privacy on a Decepticon warship. Megatron does not feel guilty as he watches Optimus in his room. The Autobot is a prisoner after all and if not watched in his assigned quarters, he would have been under observation in his cell. But nevertheless, something always nags at him whenever Megatron pulls up the visual feed.
It isn't as though he spends every moment watching the Prime. But Optimus' behavior does give him a few clues as to how best to approach him.
Today's viewing has an important purpose. Because Megatron had given Optimus a datacube and whether or not the Prime views it is key to Optimus' future.
Curiosity ensures that Optimus will at least look at the information. Whether or not he believes it, is the true challenge.
Megatron watches as Optimus curls on his berth and stares at the datacube. He turns it over and over in his fingers, examining it from all angles. His reluctance is understandable. He probably fears a virus, not that Megatron needs such a cheap means of victory. If he'd wanted a mindless drone, he'd have turned Optimus over to Trepan long before now.
Finally, Optimus seems to make a choice. He pops a panel in his forearm and inserts the tiny cube, accessing the information. He could have used the console but for some reason, he does not. It is curious, but not a concern.
The information contained will be an even more unpleasant surprise now that he views it with direct access. Megatron himself had been shocked to learn much of it.
After learning that Optimus had never been in the Elite Guard and poking more into the Prime's history, Megatron had made it a personal mission to find as much as possible about Optimus. He wanted to know why Ultra Magnus would abandon one of his precious Primes and all but exile him. Especially given the effort he'd put forth to reclaim Rodimus, the one Strika had taken.
The Magnus' Autobots failed, of course, and now Megatron has even more Autobot prisoners, but the fact remains that Ultra Magnus tried to reclaim Rodimus but had done nothing about Optimus' plight. Instead, he'd disbanded Optimus' team, sent them to different corners of Cybertron, and now his agents crawl all over Earth, looking for the pieces of the Allspark Ultra had not bothered to protect the first time around.
It is all so baffling.
Ultra Magnus had not tried to aid Optimus after the disastrous event that led to Elita One's demise. But he'd pulled strings to get Optimus a small team of miscreants and a rundown shuttle, only to then banish Optimus to the furthest reaches of Autobot space. And Optimus had taken his punishment like the good soldier he was, his own guilt a more effective castigation than any words Ultra Magnus could have spoken.
Sentinel, meanwhile, has climbed quickly through the ranks until it became known that he is Ultra's favored Prime and one of several considered a possible successor to the title of Magnus. Rodimus, for that matter, is another one of those considered. 'The Chosen One' they call the flame-painted Prime.
Megatron snorts. Chosen, his aft. Rodimus hadn't put up much of a fight against Strika. Optimus had done far better and he'd never completed his training.
All of this means that there is a reason Ultra Magnus wants to be rid of Optimus, but doesn't want to kill him. Killing, of course, isn't the Autobot way. But if they can somehow keep Optimus cowed and still useful, that is more their modus operandi, as the humans would say.
It took digging. It took a lot of digging, delving into records that had been double and triple-sealed. There was bribery and blackmail and much hacking on Shockwave's part before Megatron could find some kind of information that wasn't a blatant lie.
What he found disturbed him.
Optimus is one of several protoforms who had originally been sparked as Decepticons. Which means, physically, Optimus is old, older than the first war. But he'd only been brought online after the end of the war, part of a series of protoforms the Autobots had kept in reserve and were forced to bring into service after Megatron had taken the protoforms they'd earmarked for eventual inclusion in the Elite Guard.
Megatron had not known those protoforms existed otherwise he would have rescued them as well. They would not become cannon fodder like the ones he'd had Lockdown take from Yoketron.
Optimus is not the only one either, there are others scattered throughout the Autobot population. Stripped of their original, military coding and replaced by a preferable, more civilian Autobot coding. All of these mechs have been kept under observation. Most of them have blended just fine into the population, usually taking up roles as lawkeepers or laborers. Some have joined the Autobot Elite Guard, albeit none of them have been allowed command stations.
Fewer still have been executed under what Megatron suspects are false accusations and planted evidence. If Optimus had not had such a heavy well of personal guilt, that might have been his fate. But the damned fool is so humble that it may very well have saved his spark.
Of course the Autobots would make no attempt to retrieve him. They have already written him off as a loss. Whether Optimus joins the Decepticons or not, he is already considered a traitor to the Autobots. He has nowhere to return.
No wonder Optimus' instincts are so on point. He has the frame of a Decepticon! Albeit one that has been stripped down to better fit into the Autobot aesthetic.
The truth disturbs Megatron, but it also convinces him. Optimus belongs here, at his side. He deserves to be the leader the Autobots won't allow him to become.
There werew many things Megatron expected to find that could explain Ultra Magnus' behavior toward Optimus, but this truth had not been one of them. But he has made mental note of the other Autobots, the ones who also belong with their Decepticon brethren. He's ordered Shockwave to discreetly contact them, see if there is anything left of that greatness within them.
On screen, Optimus must have finished skimming the database because he suddenly jerks, sitting up straight. He fumbles the cube from his port and he glares at it in great offense. His hands shake as he stares at it, hot enough to burn. His face goes through a series of expressions, disbelief mixed with fury mixed with outrage, and then he jerks his arm, the datacube flying across the room. It hits the opposing wall, shattering into pieces.
Optimus' hands clench into fists. He stares after it, and then he curls into himself on the berth, burying his helm in his arms.
A pang of something ripples through Megatron's spark. He can sympathize. There is no comfort, no feeling quite like realizing you've been betrayed by everything you ever trusted.
Megatron watches Optimus for a few minutes more before he decides to leave the Autobot to his grief. He shuts off the feed and turns his attention to the other issue that needs handling. Optimus' reaction to the cube is far more pressing, but now, there is someone else who requires his attention.
Megatron swivels his chair around, bracing his elbows on the arm of it, and lacing his fingers together. He stares at the mech kneeling on his floor, attempting to look small and failing. Onslaught has planted something like apology on his faceplate, but Megatron is not fooled.
“I do not like repeating myself,” Megatron says, unsurprised when Onslaught meets his gaze evenly. “I seem to remember telling you to keep your hands to yourself.”
“Training is a bit hard to do if I can't touch the Prime.”
Megatron is off his chair, and across the floor before the last word leaves Onslaught's vocalizer. He backhands Onslaught, taking no small satisfaction in the cracking of the mech's optical visor. That petulantly condescending tone is unacceptable.
Onslaught's helm rolls with the blow. His frame rocks, but he doesn't fall. He slowly turns back toward Megatron, one optic glaring balefully at him from behind the fractured transsteel.
“This was, as I recall, your idea, my lord,” Onslaught snaps.
“The plan was to gain his trust, not an invitation to his berth,” Megatron hisses, looming over the kneeling mech.
Onslaught is and has always been a source of frustration for Megatron. He is useful, one of the best strategists Megatron has ever used, but he does not bear the same loyalty to Megatron or the cause that Strika does. He also has a weakness for Autobots that makes him more susceptible to their charms.
And he'd been foolish enough to let one of them convince him to try and lead a mutiny against Megatron. He also suspects that Starscream had a hand in it, but couldn't find any proof. Which is why Starscream escaped punishment and Onslaught's team had been dispersed to opposite corners of Decepticon territory.
Swindle had taken it upon himself to desert completely. Only he never called it that because, as he claimed, he was a merchant. He followed the money, not the cause.
“Of course not, that was a charming bonus,” Onslaught retorts.
Megatron's engine revs with warning. Onslaught clamps his mouth shut, but there's no submission in his frame. If anything, he's even more stubborn.
Megatron draws himself up straight. “I am finding myself struggling to justify your continued functioning, Onslaught. You may be less trouble to me offline.”
“And how, my lord, will you explain my sudden absence to your pet Autobot.” Onslaught tilts his helm, something calculating behind that baleful stare. “I suspect he'd frown upon my death no matter how you spin it. Autobots tend to care about that sort of thing.”
Megatron frowns. Much as it pains him to admit, Onslaught is correct. Right now, with Optimus no doubt teetering on the edge of his loyalty, Megatron does not need something that might tip him in the wrong direction. Optimus will not understand the delicate balance of Decepticon politics, and there is too much complicated history for him to explain in such a way for Optimus to understand. Nor can Megatron be certain Optimus will both listen and believe.
He narrows his optics. “Do you actually think the Prime will be more inclined to join you?”
“I am only performing as my lord and master commands,” Onslaught says, not at all answering the question. “I am gaining the Autobot's trust.”
Megatron grinds his denta.
“You might also keep in mind, Lord Megatron, that Optimus is free to make whatever choices he wishes to make,” Onslaught continues, something in his tone sly and condescending. “And who am I to deny a lonely mech some comfort in these dark times.”
Anger swells up within Megatron and he strikes Onslaught again. The sound of his knuckles striking across Onslaught's faceplate eases the fury, but only by a fraction. Looking down at the commander's defiant stare makes him bristle. He should have killed Onslaught at the first betrayal. If not for that damned Autobot...
Megatron clenches his denta.
There is nothing he can do that won't sabotage his current efforts with Optimus. Megatron would have to wait to be rid of Onslaught until Optimus and Cybertron belonged to him.
Worse that Onslaught knows it. Worse still that Megatron could beat him into so much scrap, and Optimus would find out and offer the commander sympathy.
The very taste of it is vile on Megatron's glossa.
Very well. Onslaught has just become Strika's problem. Optimus has other friends and Megatron is certain there's a way he can spin this that won't upset the Prime.
“Return to your quarters,” Megatron says, spinning on a heel away from the commander, who is now radiating confusion. “Pack your belongings.”
“Beg pardon?”
He lowers himself back to his chair. “You're leaving. Strika has need of another commander and I've decided to offer her you.”
Onslaught looks up, a mixture of surprise and poorly hidden pleasure in his expression. Megatron lets him linger in it for a moment before he adds, “I will, of course, be transferring Swindle here.”
The satisfaction of watching that happiness melt to anger and then a surly disdain is almost as good as giving Onslaught a thrashing.
Maybe next time Onslaught will think twice about touching what doesn't belong to him.
****
a/n: So there ya have it. A bit of plot. Answers to some questions but then more questions cropping up. I was most nervous about this chapter because this series was only ever meant to be not-serious, but then it grew plot, and here is the plot, and yeah. There it goes.
Feedback, as always, is welcome and appreciated. I finally know where this is going and I have the next five chapters mapped out, all leading up to the dun-dun-dun, end of part one. Yep. This is now, at the very least, a two stage fic.
This entry was originally posted at http://dracoqueen22.dreamwidth.org/288365.html. Feel free to comment wherever you find most convenient.