Double Bind

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a proper lemon fanfic. I desperately need to overcome embarrassment at writing such scenes out and was finally coxed into posting this in exchange for an ending to 'Prisoner' by Tennoda here on fanfiction. Her stuff is incredible and I highly suggest reading her fanfics!

The time line for this universe is based immediately after Resonance. The idea for the background for this story centers around an issue that comes to light in the later chapters of Resonance, but an issue that, the more and more I write Resonance, just can't see panning out in this direction anymore due to certain Autobot replicating devices. So, this is an alternate history to an alternate history.

Chapter 1,

Alone together in the war room of the Ark, Optimus Prime and Megatron stood poised on opposite ends of the holomatter table, the cool blue hologram of the Sol System an irritable optic sore for the Decepticon Commander. The imposing mech's black hands gripped and flexed around the edge of the table, staring blindly at the display as Megatron tried desperately to contain his rising frustrations. "I will excuse your presumptuous arrogance this time, Optimus Prime." Rumbled Megatron's gravel-tone voice pass flashing denta. "Perhaps you have forgotten, or it is the lack of Cybertonium in your system, but I was a miner before a warlord. I know the conditions for which most minerals are to grow and where to be found. Yet you continue to argue with me."

"We tried your way." Optimus's speech was as clipped and constrained as Megatron felt, which was to say as tightly compressed as a coil ready to spring.

"No-" Megatron bit back, nearly growling the word as he dragged his response out. His fingers dug into the metallic edge and squeezed, shoulder struts rolling as he rocked forward and then back onto his pedes. He desperately wanted to lash out, physically, vocally, violently. Optimus Prime's behavior was going to get everyone terminated if he did not start listening to him. "I told you the specific conditions for which Cybertonium needs to grow and you compromised my intel by demanding we explore Venus and then Mercury because of their volcanic activity and neglected that neither planet was ever large enough to collect the necessary minerals during planetary formation and undergo the seismic stresses required for Cybertonium's very foundation."

"My logic was sound, Megatron. Increased volcanic activity-"

"Does not equate the crystalline formations that we need!" That metaphorical coil finally snapped under the tension as Megatron gave in to his temper and cut Prime off as he yelled back, denta flashing as his fist slammed down on the holomatter table. As abruptly as the mood had taken him he suddenly did an about face as he pulled his fist aside, glancing between it and the indentation he had left in the table. In the tense but brief quiet between the two, the Decepticon Commander inhaled sharply and exhaled with equal force through his external vents. "Do you even care that your conjunx endura was nearly terminated by your faulty logic?"

The sudden quiet inquiry and 180-degree turn in conversation struck Optimus hard. The Autobot Commander jerked off the holomatter table and straightened to his full towering height. "Phage understood there would be risks exploring uncharted worlds."

"Say what you really mean, Prime. I can practically hear the subliminal message."

Optimus Prime's battlemask clicked as it shifted downwards and held. A gradual narrowing of his liberty blue optics belied the Autobot Commander's irritability with the conversation. "There is nothing subliminal about what I said."

"Of course there was. It goes like this: the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. Sound familiar? It certainly does to me. Same old speech tressed up in a different format." Before Optimus could even form one syllable Megatron pressed on. "Has she become such a liability to you, Prime? And so soon. What would she think if she heard you just now?" Optimus glared across the holomatter table. Megatron just took the heat head on. Realizing Optimus was not going to rise to take his bait he set his jaw. "That was always a key difference between you and I, Optimus. You believe in false illusionary concepts of justification for your suffering and those around you."

The Autobot Commander may not have made a disparaging noise, but the sharp narrowing of his optics to mere vibrant slits of liberty blue light reinforced his shortening patience. "And you are strictly for the needs of the one." the Prime fired back.

"You misunderstand me, Optimus. You always have."

"I know I understand you perfectly."

Straightening to his full impressive height, Megatron began his counter. "If you fail to focus on yourself you will get nowhere. Not everyone is so lucky as to be chosen by a higher power for a greater purpose. Most everyone else has to struggle to better ourselves to get what we want and double to keep it."

"Where is this conversation leading, Megatron?" said Optimus Prime suddenly, tone dry as he glanced aside as if to check the wall for a clock that just was not there. "I have other appointments to keep."

Megatron sneered. "None could be more important than with me—Discussing. Our. Direction!"

"What direction is that, may I ask? The direction of our Quest or the direction of this invasive conversation?"

"If you think that this has been invasive..." Before he could finish his sentence, Megatron left it to trail off as Optimus crossed his arms over his chassis. The whole of the Autobot Commander's figure radiated a lack of tolerance for further shenanigans.

Gauging Prime as if in battle, Megatron began working on roundabouts to throw Prime off from his true target. Always a spot of turbofoxing. In the past, Megatron had spent entire days and longer devising elaborate and pointless red herring ploys just to draw Optimus off on some useless matter here while the real threat was elsewhere. Every little minute had always mattered. To that end Megatron knew he had to approach this subject carefully. The counter production to his own better judgment was that he felt rushed, his very wants, usually so clear, were undefined. More defined than urges, but still an intangible desire. He was not use to it.

Reevaluating his stratagem, frustrated and livid, Megatron stormed away from the holomatter table but went no where. "Optimus, I have come to the conclusion that this..." his black hand gesticulated to nothing in-particular as he spoke, "delicate alliance will fall apart before our Quest is even achieved unless you and I find something constructive to fight over."

Over the holographic display of the Sol System, Optimus's optics widened but remained narrowed. "Your logic is nonsensical."

"That!" Megatron cried triumphantly, pointing across the table at Prime. "That right there is exactly what I am talking about."

The Prime glared.

Megatron tried for a disarming smirk but it only served to set Optimus further on edge. "Think about it, Prime. We need to find either a new source of Cybertonium or Cybertron itself. As much as I prefer the latter, locating a dead rogue world free spinning through the cosmos uncharted for four million Earth years is a task best left to astrophysicists and luck. It could take the better half of a vorn and we only have two Earth years at best."

"Your point, Megatron?"

"I have already stated my point. You and I need to fight over something—anything rather than our Quest." It was out of long hard habit as Megatron tracked Optimus Prime's every movement with the keen interest of a starving cyberwaste-wolf. Noting and logging every subtle shift and the agitated restless twitch of Optimus's trigger finger. "It seems to me that we have spent so long fighting each other that it is interfering with what matters most. Namely, if we continue to bicker and argue with each other over a mere direction to search for Cybertonium, we will get nowhere. Then, we will all terminate. Well," he corrected, "everyone but the new generation forged on Earth. The Constructicons, Combaticons, Stunticons, Aerialbots, Dinobots...Phage. Surely you noted how many more Decepticons there are in that list."

"What do you suggest, Megatron?" There was a thread of laconic humor in his voice even as he tossed aside the subtle threat. Optimus's tone was at the very least similar to what he would use when they were taunting each other in the midst of combat. Like an old nervous tick, Megatron set his jaw. An eon old urge rose up in the silver, black and red trimmed mech to wipe the timbre right out from Optimus Prime's voice. Fighting back the urge took an impressive feat of willpower of Megatron's own. "We engage in friendly competitive challenges? Such as taking out our grievances out in the shooting range?"

Megatron gave in to his temperamental urges, if but a little. Just enough to jostle Optimus Prime off his proverbial high chair as Megatron strung him along, choosing to gradually turn over breadcrumb trails to perk his interest. "I was thinking something more...recreational. For the both of us."

The Prime's optics narrowed suspiciously, but a contradicted easing of the tension in his muscle cables belied his curiosity. "I do not follow."

"Phage."

The internal machinery of Optimus's systems whirled and settled into place as he jerked back as if Megatron had struck a physical blow. "What?"

As the conversation dragged on, Megatron became more and more certain of his own desires. Naming Phage the was root of it. Discovering that allowed everything else to start clicking into place and Megatron just went with the flow of it. Deciding to turn over all of his cards, he quickly followed it up with a second metaphorical punch. "I want her."

With all of Optimus Prime's natural strength magnified by the power of the Matrix coursing through his system, he was more than capable of ripping the holomatter table out of the floor and flinging it across the room to get at Megatron on the opposite end. The very act of which was exactly what it seemed that Prime's body tensed to do. It was only Optimus's infallible iron will that held him back, poised on a knife's edge. Optimus began to splutter. Outrage won out over good will. The inevitable dark tremor of his deep resonate vocals was the only predictable course of action left. "You what!?" Prime yelled.

"You heard me." Megatron pressed infuriatingly cool and even toned, continuing to needle. "I. Want. Her."

"Where on Cybertron did this come from?" Prime demanded with a menacing growl of his engine.

That was a very good question. It would be a cold day in the Pitt when he opened his tangled emotions and thoughts to Optimus Prime, especially when Megatron was struggling to understand everything himself. After everything that had happened in the last few years on Earth he should hate the femme. On more than one occasion Phage's wily temperament had blinded Megatron to her true intentions and left him open to her trickery. The small femme had managed to deceive him, of all beings. Him. Lord Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. She had made a fool of him and yet he could not hate her. The opposite, in fact. He had become intrigued with the femme. He refused to name the emotion as an infatuation. Perhaps it was the same emotions that kept him from terminating Starscream outright, a curiosity to see what she could do next.

And still standing across the war room awaiting an answer that Megatron felt was complex and undefined, stood an Optimus Prime who he had only just told that he wanted his femme, as broad as that could be. Megatron decided to be as terse as he was known for. "I have missed her company. The cave-in on Mercury made that apparent to me."

That was not a lie. Trapped alone with the femme for hours after Windcharger had blundered his metal bending outlier power to extract minerals for sampling in the cave had left them little else to do—except talk, when the mood struck them. Mostly Phage had remained resolutely quiet, but the little they had discussed when they did had reminded him when she had gone by another name and wore his badge. If the cave-in had taught Megatron anything it was that beneath Phage's new visor her optics were still standard Decepticon red. Translation—Ratchet was having a hard time of scrubbing the Decepticon coding from her systems.

As expected, Optimus had not liked the answer. Any answer, Megatron knew, would have displeased the Prime.

"You stay away from Phage!" This time Optimus found the compromise to his inaction. The tension across his body snapped. Fists clenched, the Autobot Commander started around the table for him. On the other end Megatron did not flinch, merely coolly observed his long time adversary as he circled around the table and stormed down on his position. "Have you not done enough to hurt her!"

"If I was to stay away," Megatron began infuriatingly calm and deadpan, managing to give off an aura of one of Kaon's scheming pit dragons of legend, "she would be terminated right now, despite her regenerative capabilities. I saved her on Venus, Prime. And again on Mercury after the cave-in. Where were you? Up here on the Ark where it was safe."

"And here is the loop." Muttered Optimus Prime darkly and more to himself than Megatron just as he closed the gap between them. Once on his position, Prime addressed Megatron loud and clear as they stood pede to pede. Two towering mechs that stood poised to their full height. It was an ancient dance of theirs as they began to slowly circle one another, every trade of barbs a heated exchange of tug of war. "First, we agreed previously that one of us had to remain on the Ark at all times. Secondly, as you have just stated your expertise in locating Cybertonium made you the best candidate to lead the ground forces. So do not try and pin cowardice on me. Thirdly, Phage is capable of looking after herself."

"Helping herself straight down a loose gravel cliff into an acid lake you mean." Megatron was quick to shoot back.

"She was only down there as part of Huffer's team."

"Really?" Needled Megatron. "I thought perhaps your young conjunx endura wanted to take her first step off world." Lazily Megatron eyed the thin trails of smoke that began to pour from Prime's smokestacks and could not help the smug grimace that stole across his mouth at Optimus's darkening thundercloud glare. "Is the age difference a sensitive topic for you, Prime? I wondered but, is it that you took her because you were feeling your own age and needed to live vicariously through her?"

"You want to talk age Megatron? You should look in a mirror."

It was a pitiful comeback and Megatron knew it.

"The two of you are still resonated correct? What was it like feeling the rush of her emotions? Exploring new worlds has become such a dull affair for myself after reaping countless for five million years."

"Can it, Megatron."

"Can it? Really? Are you a protoform now, Optimus Prime?" Megatron's head inclined marginally to one side and smirked. "It is her, isn't it? When Elita-One was still functioning you had more patience. And prose."

After eons standing as each others arch nemesis, both balancing as polar opposites on a perfectly balanced scale, each could say they knew exactly the right kind of wrong thing to say to set the other off. Megatron's final needle was the last punch to set Optimus on the attack. All at once Optimus's fist was drawn back and ready to fly.

"Strike me," Megatron began suddenly, his tone inciting the gravity of his latest threat. The Decepticon Commander's visage was nothing but droll as he idly observed Prime's fist freeze within inches of his face. "And I will send out a communique over the Inter Decepticon channels that the Alliance is annul and to seize the Ark."

The joints of his fingers whined and quaked under the protest of the force with which Optimus was restraining himself. "You would not dare." Optimus said after a long length, "You need us as much as we need you."

"At the rate we are going I could disagree all day."

Flustered, Optimus jerked his fist back to his side and snapped off, "We will not fight over Phage, Megatron!"

"You do not have a choice in the matter, Prime. I have already decided we will. And, " he added, "we already are."

"This is ludicrous!"

"Ludicrous has been your action's. Not mine. You pushed me to this."

"I did no such thing!"

"Compromising my intel has made me look bad in front of everyone, but not you. You have been sitting around in the captains chair giving orders while I have been pedes to the ground aiding the Constructicons and your pathetic excuse of a surveillance team seek out Cybertonium! Every set back we have had falls back to me directly!"

"Huffer, Perceptor, Beachcomber and Windcharger are the best in their fields."

"Certainly." Megatron's heated gravel vernacular was dripping sarcasm. "Huffer's reliable as long as his depression does not seize him up. Perceptor is the best at wandering off. I had to set the Seeker's to track him back down on Venus. After that blunder I again had to assign Starscream to tail him on Mercury! The damn mech needs a tracking chip, a babysitter, or best yet a pen to keep him safe! Beachcomber completely disappeared at the first sign of trouble on Mercury and Windcharger is only so handy as causing cave-ins! Some fine picks, Prime. I noticed that you left Phage out of your rooster, even though she was there. But at near a third of a vorn she certainly is not a master of any field."

Optimus broke off their engagement and stepped back, fists trembling at his sides. Mirroring his actions, Megatron drew back but the smirk on his mouth gave away his sense of a winning streak. It was Optimus who was the first to break the tense silence between them. "This meeting is over."

"It is over when you stop ignoring my input. You are going to get everyone terminated. What is next, Prime? We return back to the Grand Central Station in the Asteroid Belt and scour over the markets for Cybertonium again? And allow Smokescreen and Swindle to get everyone in trouble—again? You need to quit compromising and do as I say. We need to find a Saturn-sized terra or cyber planet and that means we have to leave the Sol System."

"And where exactly are we suppose to start looking for that, Megatron? How about I spin in a circle and pick a random direction."

"That would be more productive than what we have been doing for the last quartex!"

Optimus squeezed his optics shut and rubbed at them. "We require proper provisioning for long distance voyages. Even if we were to acquire the supplies that we need we would have to risk stasis to prolong our condition and thereby leave the entire crew open to hostile forces."

"Are you trying to tell me the Ark would not reactivate us if a threat was detected?"

"I am only stating that there are risks."

"The Earth Generation can remain functioning while the remainder of us enter stasis if that is what it will take." Before Megatron had even finished Optimus was shaking his head in the negative. He could already perceive why Optimus Prime would be opposed to the very idea and it had to do with what he had stated before—there were more Earth Generation Decepticons than there were Autobots. And if the Alliance should fail with them, there was no telling what would become of Phage.

As if sensing that he was onto his trail of thought, Optimus was careful in selecting his next few words. "In any event Megatron, we would have to make another stop off at the Grand Central Station or return to Earth and ask the United Nations for additional supplies and energon."

"You know they-" the Decepticon Commander cut himself off and tried again, fastly becoming weary of the rapid back-and-forth. "This. This arguing. This is what I was talking about. You refuse to leave the Sol System because you are scared. You are hoping Cybertonium will magically appear somewhere and it will not, Prime. It. Will. Not. We need to leave. You need to listen to me. We are wasting precious and valuable time."

"The Grand Central Station is our best option to search. Perhaps something has come up that we missed last time. Or there could be new leads..."

"This is going nowhere. We are flying in circles-literally!" Megatron dragged his hand down his face slowly, uncovering first his weary crimson sun optics and then his disapproving frown. "I will contact her." Then immediately proceeded to do just that.

"For the last time," Optimus warned, "you leave her out of this."

"No." came his inevitable harsh response as he traced a smooth silvery scar along the right side of his neck cables. The action had quickly become a new nervous tick for him over the last Earth year. "Never."

"I will not allow you to make her an objective in some petty vengeance scheme of yours, Megatron!"

"Petty vengeance?" Megatron scoffed and his hand quickly dropped from his neck back to his side. "This goes well beyond that. Secondly, you do not have a choice. The needs of the many, remember Prime? Strike me and I will give the order to the Decepticons. You will allow this to happen because you and I need to fight each other and the least…destructive course of action that will not destroy the Ark and all aboard is through Phage." He grinned crookedly. "She can take the hits, after all."

Optimus's hands curled into fists and unfurled, then repeated the action. "You cannot interface with my conjunx endura."

Megatron's face lit up. "She is then!" He had only been making an educated guess before. Since her capture and inevitable rescue, his espionage team had reported that Phage was always at Optimus's side-or at other times, behind. A quiet shadow that had an annoying tendency to disappear and reappear for long range snipping or an opportune stab at the back. The Autobots could call her whatever they pleased: saboteur, sharpshooter, tracker...all nicer words than for what she really was and always would be- an assassin.

His assassin, to be correct. It had been Megatron that oversaw the phaser receive the body modifications that best suited her capabilities whether she had liked it or not.

And since the Quest for Cybertonium had begun Megatron had seen that his information had been accurate. Optimus Prime and Phage were always within a shadow fall of each other and spent most of their down time together. It didn't matter to Megatron if they had undergone the ceremony or not to take on the mantle of conjunx endurea's, the evidence stood up for itself that they were lovers. That they had taken the title upon themselves was just a treat.

Optimus's face scrunched up into a rare self disparaging glare at his slip. "She will not agree to anything you say."

"Of course she will. Deep down Phage thinks like you, Optimus. The needs of the many. She will come around." He paused half a second, glancing in irritation at his comm-link. "What is taking her so long to answer?"

"Megatron—" growled Optimus in warning but was suddenly cut off by abrupt laughter that boomed from Megatron's comm-link, breaking the tension in the war room like a grenade blast. Both mechs stared at the open comm-line. Laughter seemed such an impossible expression of self. That it was happening anywhere aboard the Ark was a shock.

{Phage here!}