The Female Of The Species.
Summary: When an unexpected discovery is made on the battlefield, it changes everything.
Continuity: Bay Movieverse/AU
Rating: M for safety.
Disclaimer: It's not mine, it belongs to Hasbro/Paramount, and no infringement of copyright is intended, and no profit is made by I or anyone else by the writing of this.
A/N: This is set after the first movie, and only part-way into the second. New Decepticons have arrived and revived Megatron, as per ROTF, but the rest of ROTF doesn't occur. Which I guess makes this an AU?
This is a request fic for MidNight 270 on this site.
The Treaty of Iacon is my creation.
The Female Of The Species.
Chapter One.
As the battle progressed, Optimus moved forwards, his optics fixed on his foe. The Twins had Megatron flanked, distracting him from the Prime's approach, at least for a short time. However, as a strategist who had survived many battles before, Megatron wasn't distracted for long, and fired at Sunstreaker, who managed to avoid the direct blast, but was sent flying by the shock wave. As Megatron swung around to line Optimus up in his sight, he was just a fraction too slow, the Twin's distraction having given Optimus the time he needed.
Optimus' cannon fired before the silver tyrant could focus on his foe, and Optimus was not holding back. The blast from Optimus' cannon blew Megatron onto his back, the hit breaking and partially melting the armour on his chest, causing tiny stress fractures to craze into and over the chestplates. Megatron looked up at Optimus, saw the Prime aim his cannon directly at the damaged area of his chest. There was a brief flicker of regret in Optimus' optics, but it was gone as swiftly as it came, replaced by determination. Megatron knew, with the damage to his chest, that the next blast from that cannon would be the sound of his own permanent deactivation.
Ratchet, standing a short distance behind Prime, and guessing that when Megatron died that the battle was likely to soon be ended, began running energy scans, seeking for damaged Autobots who would need retrieval and repair. He flinched as his scanners registered a most unexpected result.
"Impossible!" He muttered, but ran the scan again just to confirm, and then followed that with a more detailed scan, his legs beginning to move almost automatically, as his scans confirmed that the impossibility was, in fact, not only possible, but an actual situation. He changed his hurried rush into a full pelt run as Optimus steadied his cannon for the final, fatal shot.
"This ends now, Megatron, as it should have ended years ago," Optimus said, the regret and determination both audible in his voice. He sent the command to fire the cannon-
Which jerked upwards and blasted a beam up into the sky, almost clipping Starscream's wing, as Ratchet reached Optimus and shoved up on his arm, spoiling his aim. As the Seeker let out an outraged shriek at the near-miss, Ratchet launched himself at Megatron, his saw whirring, as he went first for Megatron's arms and then his knees, using his medical knowledge to immobilise the silver overlord. Coolant and energon washed over Ratchet's hands as Megatron howled in rage and pain, and Ratchet used his considerable weight to pin Megatron down as he sealed the leaking tubes before Megatron expired from fluid loss. Then, once he was sure Megatron could do nobody any harm, Ratchet turned around to glower at Optimus, who looked at the usually calm medic with obvious confusion. The rest of the Autobots, sensing something was up, formed a defensive circle around the trio, stopping the Decepticons from rushing to Megatron's aid and possibly taking out the medic and the Prime in the process.
"Ratchet, what are you doing? I would have rid the universe of his evil influence for good. Now we have to take him captive, and will have to watch our backs the whole time," Optimus said, confused.
"You would have regretted it, both morally and practically if you had," Ratchet shouted, to be heard over the general racket of battle from those who were still engaged in combat. "I can see you justifying destroying the last known remaining femme in the name of peace, but not the innocent Sparkling she is carrying!"
Ratchet's voice carried: Optimus was not the only one to first look around for the aforementioned femme, before realising that Ratchet was referring to Megatron, and lowering his weapon. All around them battles suddenly stopped as the immediate situation sank in to all present.
Every optic turned towards the little scene in the centre of the armed Autobot circle, all thoughts of battle put aside, as Optimus said "What? Ratchet, either I have an audio malfunction, or you need to explain that statement with a little more background data."
"Carrying?" Megatron said. He growled, looking at where Barricade was approaching. "I should never have assuaged our curiosity about each other and our size difference. Now I'm stuck with a sparkling I never wanted and certainly never planned!" Murmuring broke out amongst the Autobots and Decepticons alike, as they discussed with their comrades their own thoughts and reactions about the news.
"Why didn't you activate your contraceptive if you didn't want a sparkling?" Ratchet asked, ignoring Optimus and everyone else for the time being.
"I did!" Megatron said. "It must be broken."
"They are not 100 per cent effective, they can go offline briefly and yes, they can break quite often," Ratchet remarked.
"Or the medic who installed it was sloppy," Megatron said. "Makes me rather glad I eliminated him after installation to protect my secret."
"May I speak to him?" Barricade asked Ratchet. The medic noted that Barricade's weapons were powered down and told the circle to let him pass. Barricade approached the disabled silver tyrant.
"You're a femme? Carrying my sparkling?" Barricade asked. "Lord Megatron, I am honoured." He put one hand on his chest and bowed.
"It wasn't intentional, if it were possible to rid myself of it, without destroying my own Spark, I would!" Megatron growled at the black and white frontliner. "This is your fault for asking for a favour when I was in a good mood. Slag off and leave me alone!"
Barricade backed away, hands up. "I didn't hear you object or complain at the time, indeed, you confessed to a certain curiosity, even anticipation, when I suggested it," he grumbled, but then turned his back and walked away. He stopped just inside the Autobot circle, turning back, giving Megatron the space he wanted but refusing to leave him at the mercy of the Autobots.
A loud screech of thrusters announced Starscream's arrival on the scene, and the Seeker sauntered towards the knot of Autobots with a cocky arrogance to his gait that seemed out of place to Ratchet. Starscream stopped at arm's length from the Autobots, and asked in a concerned but not quite obsequious tone of voice "My lord Megatron, are you still functional? I would have expected the Autobots to try and finish you off when you are so helpless. Please, allow my wing brothers and I to fly you back to our base for repairs."
He was still looking at Megatron, so was the only one to catch the split-second look of fear that flickered across Megatron's features at the Seeker's words. Before Optimus or anyone else could reply, Ratchet said "Negative. He has been captured and disarmed, and we will take him back to our Base and repair him as set out under protocol 3 of the Treaty of Iacon. Then we can negotiate terms of his return." He shot a look at Optimus that brooked no argument: he'd explain later if need be.
"You just want to take her for yourself," Starscream said sulkily. "She's our femme and we should be allowed to care for her."
"And you shall be," Ratchet replied evenly, "once we have repaired the damage and made sure neither Megatron nor the sparkling he carries are seriously injured." Ratchet suspected that Megatron preferred the male pronoun despite now being known as a femme, so continued to use it. "At the moment, while he is our prisoner and helpless, we have an obligation to treat and protect him from any others who may seek to harm or oppress him." Ratchet ignored the Seeker's affronted expression at his insinuation.
He looked to Barricade who had opened his mouth to object. "As the sparkling's other Creator, Barricade, you are welcome to accompany us, or if Megatron wants any other mech to accompany him, he may ask. He will be returned to you before his sparkling emerges, except in dire emergency, or unless he requests to stay himself."
"Autobots, I am your prisoner and will come with you without a fight. Barricade is the mech I trust to be with me while I am repaired. Soundwave will be in charge until I return," Megatron said, comming to make sure the order about Soundwave was heard by all, ignoring Starscream, who gave him the stink-eye and looked about to call for an attack. The rest of the nearby Autobots did not miss the tension in Starscream's body language and all readied themselves to repel any aggressive moves. Starscream huffed and realised he was not going to get a chance to do anything without taking damage himself, and took off as Soundwave signalled a retreat and the rest of the Decepticons headed off, no doubt eager to discuss this new development back at their own Base.
"I'll bring my trailer, we can put Megatron on it and cover him - or her - with a tarpaulin," Optimus said.
"Lord Megatron, thank you for the show of confidence," Barricade said as he approached again.
"Don't make the mistake of thinking I chose you for your thoughts and feelings," Megatron growled at Barricade, showing his teeth. "I trust that you want this Sparkling to survive?" Barricade nodded, backing off a step or two.
"Yes, Lord Megatron, I would be pleased for it to survive."
"Then you are the logical choice to defend and attend me at this time, as your stake in this requires my own survival," Megatron explained. "I didn't trust that Seeker not to 'accidentally' drop me on the way back, so being a prisoner, with you to guard me against these Autobots, is the lesser of two evils when I am this incapacitated." He shot a glare at Ratchet, who just scowled right back.
"We would not seek to harm a carrying femme, or even a prisoner. We are not Sparkless monsters," Ratchet said.
"That is a matter of opinion, medic," Barricade said. "However, you did save Megatron's life and my sparkling's, so I cannot argue that your actions reflected your words." He shot a venomous look at Optimus, who had just drawn up with his trailer.
"The trailer has been cleared and is ready to carry Megatron," he said. As he was in truck form, his voice, although slightly muffled, was recognisable. "Megatron, I also would not seek to harm you as a carrying femme and our prisoner. That would contravene several sections of the Treaty of Iacon, - including Section Three, which covers the treatment of captives, - which we Autobots signed all parts of."
"Treaties are made to be broken, Prime, didn't Sentinel teach you that?" Megatron growled.
"I am now aware that several atrocities were committed under Sentinel's tenure," Optimus said. "However, I do not hold that view. We uphold treaties that we signed and are still current, as the Treaty of Iacon still is. I am not Sentinel."
"No, you're not, I'll give you that,'" Megatron said. Barricade suddenly moved in front of him, and Megatron looked up to find Ironhide and Ratchet approaching, the frontliner blocking their way and adopting a fighting stance.
"Barricade, I give you my word on my spark that we mean Megatron no harm, but as I have disabled his ability to ambulate even by crawling, he will need to be lifted on to the trailer," Ratchet said.
"You I trust, to a point," Barricade said. He glowered at Ironhide, who lowered his brow plates and glared right back. "It's him I don't trust."
"Megatron is large enough for even myself to require assistance. It's not so much weight as height. Megatron is twice my length, I would struggle to carry him unassisted," Ratchet said. He was about to ask Ironhide to help him uncouple Prime's trailers Prime could aid him instead, despite the issues that would cause, when Ironhide spoke.
"Even I would not execute a prisoner, with or without a treaty, despite whatever rumours circulate about me within your ranks. I believe in fighting fair. I also helped rear two sparklings before the war. To harm you would be to harm your sparkling, and that I would not do." He raised one hand to touch his chestplates. "I give you my word on my spark I will not intentionally cause you or allow you to come to harm while you are in my presence."
"Oh, here, drink energon on it," Ratchet said, taking a slim flask from one of his legs. He took a swig himself, poured a little into Optimus' fuel tank, then passing it to Ironhide, who also took a mouthful before passing it to Barricade. The frontliner took it and paused for a moment, before he first sniffed it, and then took a swig, before putting the neck of the flask to Megatron's mouth.
Megatron didn't hesitate, and Ratchet suspected that was because he had provided the energon, and Megatron trusted that Ratchet had not saved him only to kill him with poisoned energon. Once Megatron had drained the flask, Barricade handed it back and stood aside, allowing Ironhide and Ratchet to pass.
The two stooped to pick up the disabled mech, who eyed Ironhide and said "Watch where you put your hands." Ironhide paused for a millisecond, for the comment sounded almost like something a human female might say to a human male, and then shrugged it off as coincidence, and helped lift Megatron's legs as Ratchet supported his shoulders, his limp arms crossed over his body.
They managed to get him into the trailer, having to fold his legs right up to do so, and closed the door. Barricade transformed into his police car alt, pulled ahead, and put on his lights and sirens as the rest of the Autobots formed up behind Prime, except for Ratchet who pulled up before Optimus and after Barricade, and also activated his lights and sirens.
It was no secret that the two sides knew where the other's Base was located, so Ratchet didn't need to tell the black and white Decepticon the way to their Base. It was nice, he noted, to have Barricade escorting them, everyone got out of a Police car's way, the same courtesy was not always due an ambulance or search and rescue vehicle. In this fashion, it did not take them long to reach the Autobot Base.
Ratchet and Optimus had both commed ahead to warn whoever was in the gatehouse about the situation, so the gates opened as Barricade approached. He got in and then turned off to one side to allow the others in, but was back in robot form by the time Ratchet came to a stop himself. He stood nearby, tense, as Ratchet and Ironhide brought Megatron back out. Then Optimus transformed and took over from Ironhide, and they took Megatron into the medbay, Barricade following, and Ironhide following him. When they got in, Ratchet directed them to put Megatron on his work table, and Barricade came over to observe. Neither Megatron nor Barricade objected when Ironhide and Optimus also found places to discreetly observe from a distance, and Ratchet began his work, taking Megatron offline to begin his repairs.
He first ran a deep-level scan, a boring and somewhat long, but necessary procedure when planning to effect repairs in any patient, and more so with a carrying femme. Ratchet quickly found that Megatron was correct about the contraceptive device; it was broken, and if Ratchet was any judge, was in a condition suggesting it had broken not so recently, possibly before he crash-landed on Earth. Either Megatron had abstained since the break until now, or had been extremely lucky for this not to have happened before.
He scanned the Sparks next, and could take an educated guess, from the size and development of the sparkling, and how closely the two spark-signatures were in synch, that it was likely to have only been sparked in the last vorn or so. Unless Megatron had been with someone else since waking up at the Hoover Dam, the sparkling could only be Barricade's.
By now, the silence and seeming inactivity must have begun to unnerve the frontliner, for he spoke up.
"Well? Are you going to actually repair him, or scan him to within an inch of his spark?"
"It's his spark, and your sparkling's spark, that is the reason I am scanning so thoroughly," Ratchet said, in a much calmer tone of voice than he felt like using. "I have not yet lost a patient due to haste or sloppiness, and don't intend to start now." Barricade gave a curt nod of understanding, and Ratchet took it as permission to carry on.
He decided to leave removal and replacement of the contraceptive device until the sparkling was born, or at least recommend it to Megatron and give him one for his own medic to install. As with humans, carrying was a contraceptive in itself, and Ratchet didn't want to work so close to the two sparks in Megatron's chest. There was too much risk of something going wrong, and it wasn't essential.
Next he moved in to repair and replace the tubing and linkages he himself had damaged. He had learned early in the conflict how to incapacitate without needlessly killing, and had only severed Megatron's energon lines because he suspected some sort of back-up in or near the lines for the ambulatory cables. Megatron's body and spark were both unusual enough, in fact likely unique, that Ratchet had taken no chances. Barricade observed but made no remark this time, his swift movements obviously reassuring the frontliner that Ratchet knew what he was doing, which of course he did.
Once he had re-attached those, he turned his attention to checking and repairing minor injuries, not necessarily essential, but Ratchet prided himself on being thorough. "Do it properly or not at all" might have been a saying made for Ratchet.
"What are you doing?" Barricade asked.
"Repairing him," Ratchet said. "When I spoke of repairing him I did not mean just the injuries I inflicted. All those small bits of damage I found from other battles, or as a result of wear and tear, will be putting a small amount of strain on his systems, and several minor amounts of damage can add up to something that interferes with the function of any mech or femme. Carrying increases that strain, and anything I can do to reduce that strain will be helpful for the sparkling and the carrier. Maybe your medics believe in battle ready being adequate, but I believe in optimum function where and when possible."
"I insist on it from the medics who service me," Barricade said. "The more functional I am, the better I fight. And our current medic insists on it himself. However, Megatron has chosen not to visit him."
"I don't doubt it," Ratchet said. To himself it did answer one question: how Barricade could retreat having dished out and received serious and more minor injuries himself, but never seem to suffer in the long term. It seemed Barricade's medic and he himself had more in common than he realised. Megatron's reluctance to visit a medic - and his own admission to killing one - would also explain why he had kept his secret so long.
Throughout the whole procedure, Barricade had edged closer and closer, not aggressively, but cautiously, his desire to trust Ratchet warring with his experiences on Cybertron, and the propaganda he had likely heard over time. It was why Ratchet tolerated the queries he made, which he would have had little patience for from Optimus and Ironhide. The two Autobots in question, both of whom had stayed at a distance, had the sense to remain silent.
Ratchet finished up and said "Okay, I'm going to bring him back online. I don't know how he reacts coming back up from being temporarily offline, but some thrash or take a few seconds to get oriented, so I'm gong to lightly restrain him to stop him from falling or harming himself. It won't stop him if he really wants to get free, it's just to stop him harming himself or someone else in his confusion, if he experiences it." He had also disabled Megatron's ranged weapons for the time being, but didn't see any need to tell Barricade that. He suspected that the frontliner was probably expecting it, he must know that he would not arm Megatron's weapons until he was ready to go.
He pulled the flexible metal bands over the table, attaching them the other side, and then began to bring him around. He moved back behind the worktable himself, himself, motioning Optimus and Ironhide out of direct line of sight in case upon waking they were perceived as a threat. Ratchet wondered how long it would take Megatron to come around, some mechs could immediately get up, but some took several minutes to orient themselves. Most Cybertronians were somewhere in the middle, but Ratchet rather suspected that Megatron was one of those who could react immediately, which was why he wanted only Barricade to be visible. Hopefully, the presence of an ally upon waking would be reassuring to the silver Decepticon leader.
Ratchet's summation was correct: Megatron was with it immediately, or so Ratchet thought. However, he was forced to rethink this when Megatron ripped the bands from around himself with no effort, and then launched an attack.
None of the mechs in the room, much less the one who was attacked, expected the scenario that unfolded, as Megatron, with a roar of fury, took a flying leap, claws extended, and bore Barricade to the floor with a loud thud.