Mommy Megs and other difficulties
1. "Starscream."
"Yes, sir?"
"Start laughing already."
"With pleasure, sir."
2. There has been an old tradition once, becoming forgotten with the apparent loss of the Matrix.
It had been common for the current Prime to show the Matrix to the Cybertronian people, to let them see his right of leadership while at the same time letting the Matrix chose possible successors of himself, already marking them so there won't be a gap in leadership should anything happen to the current Prime.
Optimus decides that it's time to relive this tradition, and Megatron, pressured into agreeing to a ceasefire for the time by the more religious mechs of his army, agrees to come with his troops and watch.
The rituals all run smoothly, everybody "oohs" and "aahs" on all the right places, then the Matrix really chooses with it's holy light, in front of the awed Cybertronians, the next possible Prime: Starscream.
Everybody's happy and....
Wait!
WHAT?
3.Starscream is a telepath, too, and has been able to hide this fact for several thousand years - until now.
Wile once again watching how the Seeker is beaten up by Megatron, Soundwave suddenly notices an odd vibe. Using more than his usual 5% of telepathy, the TIC has to discover that the beating actually just an illusion created by Starscream. The same goes for the Seeker's stays in the medbay and most of his other misfortunes.
Soundwave is not amused.
There's only room for one telepath in the Decepticon army.
Let the war of minds begin and hilarity ensue, innocent bystanders being used either as "weapons" or ending up as collateral damage.
4. It was really no coincidence that Orion Pax was chosen to be Prime by Alpha Trion.
In fact, it was even planned for him to die at the attacks at the docks.
The Council had known that the young leader of the Decepticons had a lover called Orion Pax, working at the Iacon docks. They knew, too, that Megatron had planned an attack there, on a free day of Orion. They changed the schedule at the last moment, getting Orion caught up in the attack, hoping for him to be killed and for Megatron by getting crippled at the loss and being easily defeated afterwards.
When Orion survived, they had reformatted him as Optimus Prime by Alpha Trion, hoping, once again, to cripple Megatron by forcing him to fight against his own amnesiac lover.
They didn't succeed, Megatron became even more determined to bring the Council down and free Cybertron. But at the same time, they got what they wanted as well, Megs being unable to kill or even seriously harm Optimus and even now, thousands of years later, still letting him win whenever they meet on the battlefield. Because seriously, the Prime's fighting skills are above average but no match to Megatron's abilities and experiences as a gladiator.
a) One day, one mech, be it Autobot or Decepticon, notices that Megatron lets Optimus win every time.
b) Megatron was carrying when Orion "died" (Yes, you got that right. "Mommy Megs"!) and Starscream is their son. Does he know? And if, why does he behave that horribly?
c) How did Mommy Megs deal with raising a child, controlling an army and grieving for his lost lover while at the same time fighting against him?
5) Megatron is secretly as sick of the war as Optimus, but, being a proud, unapproachable Decepticon, he can't just com. his archenemy and say "Hey, Oppy, let's make peace. You agree? Good, now, have I ever told you that you're gorgeous? No? Then let's get a room, some highgrade and discuss that in length."
So the next mission for the Decepticons is "How to make peace without losing face."