Megatron Side Story
Staring blankly at the lights on the walls of the Autobot base, Megatron was unusually lost in thought. Now just a torso, he could do nothing but lie on the operating table, staring at the light bulbs. His limbs seemed still connected to his body; Megatron imagined he could still lift his arms or legs, stand up and fight Optimus Prime, or fly back to the Decepticon warship to avenge himself on that Angel who had brought him to this state—surely one of the many weapons stored on the ship could defeat her. But the pain radiating from his limbs constantly reminded him that it was all just a fantasy.
The Autobots' base was rudimentary, and Megatron felt uncomfortable lying on the operating table. Life is unpredictable, and at this moment he could only rely on the Autobots. His disability brought helplessness, and his powerlessness only brought powerless anger.
His limbs lay piled on the ground nearby, the Autobots not yet having dealt with them. Could he repair himself and reattach his limbs on his own? Once he was repaired, he would personally seek revenge on the Angel, letting the sharp blade pierce deep into her body. He knew which parts of a Cybertronian were the most painful and damaging to stab.
He strained his waist, attempting to sit up. Using the slight protrusion on the edge of the operating table, he raised his chest and back a small distance before quickly falling back down. Not yet fully adapted to his new physical state, Megatron's first attempt failed. He immediately followed up with a second strain of his waist, trying to rotate his lower body to the side and flip his entire torso. He succeeded in flipping over, his visor facing down and his back up, half of his torso detached from the edge of the operating table. Gravity slowly moved his entire torso before quickly falling to the ground. With a heavy thud as metal slabs struck the metal floor, another wave of excruciating pain surged through Megatron's badly injured limbs. Energy fluid seeped from the IV tubing, dust settled on the severed cables, the CPU struggled to process the sudden surge of signals, and the ventilation fans roared through the base.
His limbs were still so far away, and the hope of recovery seemed endless. His machine had been ravaged by the enemy, he had been captured, and he was now crawling on the floor like a half-slaughtered oil rabbit. Megatron felt utterly humiliated.
...
"I absolutely will not treat him!" Despite saying this, the ambulance still treated the wounds to prevent Megatron from dying from excessive loss of energy fluid. As for reattaching his arms and legs and restoring his mobility, that was not something he would agree to, even though it wouldn't be difficult for a Cybertronian.
Optimus Prime also disagreed with restoring Megatron's mobility, as it could pose a danger to the Autobots.
Therefore, after Megatron was brought back to the base, the Autobots temporarily placed him on the operating table in the ambulance. Firstly, there were no extra rooms for him at the base, and secondly, he was in a condition where he could not run or jump, just like a paralyzed patient.
Ratchet hated Megatron; his angry magnetic field enveloped the Autobots. The panel glanced at Ratchet, who was silently tidying up medical equipment, then at the leader, whose body was covered in energy fluid, as he led the Divine Child on patrol. Bumblebee and Arcee followed closely behind, leaving the base in his exhaust fumes.
If personal emotions always dictate work, Ratchet can hardly be considered the Autobots' best healer. He finally sighed and compromised with the Autobot leader's decision to retrieve Megatron and bring him back to base. He said, "Get your machine cleaned up already!"
Lying on the operating table beside him, Megatron watched silently, almost blankly, as the Autobots left the hall one by one. At that moment, his brain modules were still being disrupted by a large number of signals, and his severed nerves kept sending painful messages to his CPU, his consciousness chaotic with pain. Only when Megatron was alone in the hall did he slowly regain consciousness, then stared futilely at the ceiling.
...
Back to the present, the loud crash of Megatron hitting the ground attracted an ambulance. The bluish-purple energy fluid seeping from the silver-white body caused the Autobot's only medic, Spark, to instinctively contract. Anger then overwhelmed him; he knew Megatron wouldn't be so docile!
Now that Optimus Prime had brought Megatron back to the base, he must have his reasons. The ambulance couldn't just dump Megatron out of the base. He sighed deeply and resignedly went to get the medical supplies.
"Medic?" A searing pain shot through him, forcing Megatron to speak up and alert the ambulance, which had been fixed on his wound, lest it worsen his injury. If it were before, when the ambulance had been knocked down like this, he would have shoved it away and cursed it out. But now… Megatron suddenly realized that the ambulance, which he could have half-killed with a single punch, could now easily kill him. His life was no longer in his own hands. At least not now.
"The welding torch burned me, it hurts a bit..."
"Huh?" The ambulance driver, realizing what was happening, glanced at Megatron's expression. "The leader of the Decepticons is actually afraid of pain?"
Megatron forced a grin, revealing half of his shark teeth.
The ambulance driver put the welding torch back down, then rubbed his temples and said sarcastically, "Did you expect me to be gentle with your repairs?"
However, he still moved the welding torch away and became more careful, since it wasn't his style to leave patients without effective treatment.
With the basic treatment nearly complete and only some follow-up work remaining, Optimus Prime entered the lobby. His body was now clean. He walked to the ambulance and said, "You've been working too hard lately, old man. I'll take care of the rest."
The medical officer instinctively retorted, "Optimus Prime, you need to rest!"
“I think I’ve rested enough.” Optimus Prime’s voice was gentle but undeniable, and his optical glasses shone with a steady and resolute blue light.
The ambulance opened its mouth, but ultimately said nothing, only letting out a dissatisfied snort before driving away angrily.
For a moment, only the sound of the ventilation fans running in the base's main hall remained. The patient was lifted onto the operating table, and Optimus Prime used gel to cover the minor crack in the IV tubing, stopping the leakage of the energy fluid. The IV tubing was not entirely made of metal, so the crack could not be repaired by welding.
Megatron stared at the light bulb on the ceiling once more, but his CPU was churning with unease. "Optimus Prime... why did you save me?"
Optimus Prime lifted the patient's severed leg to examine the injury without pausing, his voice steady and calm: "You have been in contact with Unicron's blood and can sense Unicron. The Decepticons are under your leadership. To defeat Unicron's apostles, we need to unite. Therefore, I must save you."
The freshly applied gel wasn't completely dry, its surface scattering light. Optimus Prime saw the scattered stars in the future universe, and their Cybertron. A crisis was brewing; if they couldn't defeat Unicron, their homeworld would be destroyed once more. This was also an opportunity for the Cybertronians to unite.
"Haha, look at me like this," Megatron raised one of his remaining arms, trying to bend his fingers, the bare half of the metal rod mocking his failure, "What can I do to help you?"
The repairs were largely complete. Optimus Prime looked up and stared directly at Megatron's visor. The raging hatred reflected in the red optics was as ever-present as ever, yet different from before. But as his old adversary, Optimus Prime saw more: beneath the endless brutality lay a bottomless weariness, washed away by endless war and the helplessness of the moment.
"We need to form an alliance, Megatron. Stop being so stubborn and lead the Decepticons to defeat Unicron and rebuild Cybertron."
The current situation seems to leave Megatron with no right to refuse.
...
Megatron actually remembered several of the Autobots' worm-like creatures: the larger, gray one was called Jake; the pink one was female; the smaller one was a larva… and there was also a black one that had been captured by Starscream. He disliked the Earth's worm-like creatures, finding them weak and cunning, and he disdained to understand them.
Now he hates those worms even more, because they crawl all over him and his body, preventing him from charging in peace. They're just as annoying as disgusting maggots.
Optimus Prime and humans have a cooperative relationship, even without hands and feet.
Megatron could crush them with a single roll, and the resulting sticky red liquid, containing a massive amount of organic bacteria, would cover most of his remaining body. The Autobots, including Optimus Prime, would be even more dissatisfied with him, putting him in an even more disadvantageous position.
Megatron, who quickly realized this, didn't move. He turned up the power of his voice transmitter, hoping that the sudden high-decibel sound would scare away the flesh worms: "What are you doing?"
Unfortunately, Jack, the Divine Child, and Raffi already knew Megatron's identity. When the Divine Child proposed the plan and successfully pushed the other two onto the operating table, the three were fully prepared. They weren't intimidated. The Divine Child picked up and turned on the specially prepared car polisher for humans, and with the sound of the engine starting, said, "The partitions have been very tired lately and haven't had time to play with us, so I wanted to give them a spa treatment to relax. But we haven't done much car maintenance, so we've come to you to practice."
"You guys are really thinking of the Autobots, but the Autobots don't need you. Get out of my way and don't bother me."
"Who wants to hear your opinion? What are you complaining about? If you're not happy, then shut up!"
"You've gone too far!"
Raffi, who was holding polishing wax, said, "Are you deliberately communicating with us in our Earth language? Cybertronians and humans are very different physiologically. You can't use 'human' to refer to Cybertronians, or are you not referring to Cybertronians at all?"
Megatron choked, his chest heaving violently, then he turned off the optical glasses and relaxed, continuing to lie down.
"Whatever you want."
He heard Jack whisper, "Well done, Lafite!"
The optical mirror was turned off so that no one could see him roll his eyes.
A damp, soft fabric wiped across the armor's surface. Large particles of dirt had already been removed when the ambulance treated the wounds, leaving only the dust in the crevices to be carefully wiped away—a task perfectly suited to a human's small size. Waiting for the air to dry the water droplets on the armor, Jack, wearing non-slip rubber boots and holding a polishing machine, stood on Megatron's slightly raised, smooth chest plate and began polishing the surface, removing minor scratches and oxide layers of paint. Since it was just practice, a full-body maintenance wasn't necessary, and Megatron didn't roll over to allow the human to touch his back.
Cleaning, polishing, and then waxing. The wax is applied evenly to the armor surface with gentle pressure, leaving a thin film that reveals a smooth, glossy finish. Aside from the initial slight stinging sensation caused by applying too much pressure during polishing due to inexperience, human paint maintenance is actually...quite comfortable?
They were still somewhat useful. With that thought in mind, Megatron relaxed amidst the grinding of the polishing machine and the squeaking of wax against the metal surface.
...
Cybertronians are mechanical life forms that look very much like robots. They are, of course, living beings. Their spark is composed of a cluster of cells that store energy and can help build their original bodies through energy fluids, while their memories are stored in brain modules.
They do indeed share similarities with robots. For example, they can easily replace parts inside their own bodies using forged metal materials, and with the exception of a few special parts, they almost never experience rejection. Their self-repair mechanisms are not very active, so the medical procedures performed by ambulances typically involve reconnecting severed limbs, removing foreign objects, and welding broken metal. In this sense, a large part of the work of Cybertronian medical and maintenance personnel actually overlaps.
After reaching a verbal agreement with Optimus Prime, Megatron did not remain in his limbless state for long; they had to find a way to defeat the Angels as soon as possible. Cybertron's core was too weak to withstand another instance of contamination from Unicron.
After the ambulance reattached his limbs, he rotated his wrists to move his body, and the first thing he said was, "I must get back to the Decepticons as soon as possible."
One of the reasons this male robot said this was not because he was mistreated or the Autobots didn't give him energy cubes, but because the Autobots, due to their limited resources, could only produce a small number of energy cubes of poor quality.
Why so little? The Decepticons have seized most of the Earth's mineral veins, and the Autobots are essentially snatching food from the jaws of death every time they go out, so naturally they can't bring back much energy.
So why is the quality poor? Aren't the Decepticons the cause of the Autobots' lack of resources and personnel? What he did in the past has become a boomerang that hits Megatron now. He has to retract the question that was about to be uttered, which was mixed with complaints. He silently swallows the coarse-tasting energy and thinks about relaxing the security of the mines a bit in the future.
But more importantly, a strong sense of unease burned within him. Optimus Prime's statement that "the Decepticons are unusually well-behaved," coupled with the presence of the Angel, pointed to only one possibility: the Decepticons had completely fallen under her control.
Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons.
The Decepticons must be his.
He vanished suddenly from the Decepticons' sight. Starscream might have already reached his position and mastered high-level magic, not to mention the presence of Unicron's apostle. He couldn't accept that the army he had built no longer obeyed his leadership. As the leader of the Decepticons, a champion who fought his way up from the arena, he couldn't accept hiding like a coward in the Autobot base. The worst-case scenario was death, joining Unicron; the dark super-energy within him destined him to never return to the AllSpark.
The Decepticon leader (questionable) says he wants to return to the Decepticons, and Optimus Prime has no reason to object. Ratchet locates the Land Bridge's coordinates near a Decepticon mine in the distance, witnessing his companions and Megatron entering a time vortex.
Before leaving, the ambulance warned Megatron, "I've planted a tracker and a bomb inside your machine. Optimus Prime has control, so don't try anything funny."
Ratchet finally found an opportunity to let him take revenge on Megatron, and he was very satisfied with his methods.
Unexpected, yet perfectly logical. Megatron glanced at Optimus Prime, feigning indifference, and the latter nodded almost imperceptibly.
Megatron chuckled smugly: "Optimus Prime, you've become despicable."
"I can't compare to you."
...
The Autobots' objective in this operation was to gather intelligence on the Decepticons and acquire some resources, while Megatron's objective was to gather intelligence on the Decepticons and return to be their leader.
The Decepticon soldiers, suddenly seeing Megatron appear, were momentarily unsure whether they should fire. They quickly parted to make way for Megatron and the Autobots following behind him.
Autobot: This feels amazing.
Megatron grabbed a soldier at random and asked, "Where are Soundwave, Shockwave, and Starscream?"
"Reporting to Lord Megatron. Soundwave has been locked in a cell by the Angels, Starscream is still having a party, and I don't know anything about Shockwave."
"I'm here." News of Megatron's return to the Nemesis spread quickly, and Shockwave rushed over as soon as he heard the news.
"Lord Megatron, I haven't found a way to deal with the Angels yet. Please leave as soon as possible." Shockwave's voice was as calm and reliable as ever; it would be better if he wasn't giving him the boot.
Megatron raised an eyebrow. "This is Decepticon territory. It's that apostle who should leave!"
The red light bulb-shaped optical lens revealed no emotion. The former Megatron would praise his subordinates for their hidden talents, but now he utterly despises this head sculpt without a faceplate.
Megatron heard Shockwave say, "The Decepticons have always ruled by the strong. The Angels are stronger than you, so it makes perfect sense for you to be the leader of the Decepticons now."
Subordinates turn their backs on you. What does that feel like? It's anger. Anger drives Megatron to clench his fist. He raises his powerful fist and hears Shockwave's next words:
"However, the Angel's goal is to corrupt the Cybertronian core. I judge that she is incapable of leading the Decepticons and has become our enemy. Based on my analysis of the current situation, we must keep her on Earth until we find a way to defeat her. We need to conceal our hostility and lie low. The first-in-line Angel is untrustworthy, Lord Megatron. You are our second-in-line leader, please keep in touch with me, and also with the Autobots. From my observation, the Angel is very tolerant of me, and I am able to preserve myself in her presence."
This was more like the behavior of a subordinate. Megatron lowered his fist and nodded slightly to confirm Shockwave's meaning. The Autobots were still behind him; it seemed they would likely be working with them for a long time. He asked, "Has there been any change to the energy storage room?"
Shockwave replied, "No, the Apostle doesn't need to ingest super-energy bodies; she has never been to the energy storage room."
"Very good, Autobots, let's go."
Led by their Decepticon leader, they quickly arrived at the energy storage room. Crystalline energy cubes were stacked high, their fluorescent glow illuminating the room, where lights were never needed.
The door to the storeroom opened again after the group entered, revealing a figure no one wanted to see—an apostle.
"I never expected to see you here!" the apostle exclaimed in surprise.
The powerful fusion cannonballs, upon approaching the Apostles, melted and dissipated like snowballs encountering fire.
The light was blocked from the back of the apostle, making her appear as a shadow. The purple optical mirrors gleamed eerily, and Megatron seemed to see shark teeth on her visor, as if he saw his former self.
A hand landed on his shoulder armor, and Optimus Prime tried to pull him away. Megatron brushed the arm away, grinned, and his sharp shark teeth gleamed coldly in the eerie light of his energy reservoir. His arm blades shot out with a clang. He faced the Angels and said to those behind him, "You leave, I'll stay."
He suddenly realized how much the Angel resembled his former tyrant—himself, the powerless weakling he had once despised. Megatron had always believed in the survival of the fittest, but now that he was the weaker party, he was unwilling to accept defeat. Besides, he wouldn't be weak; he would defeat the Angel, he would plunge his blade into her machine, otherwise, he wouldn't be the champion of the arena.
Is this what it feels like for the weak to face "oppression" and be unable to resist?
Megatron chuckled twice. He might never fully agree with Optimus Prime's ridiculous ideas, but at this moment, he truly felt the weight behind them.
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