Warning: This is a missing scene from the G1-episode "Cosmic Rust", so please be prepared for a rather abrupt ending. Contains some violence.
Author's note: Many, many thanks to my beta reader Dinogrrl, who pointed out to me that pain may 'struck', but definitely not 'stroke'. Yes, this is what comes from not learning your irregular verbs properly! Thank God for beta readers ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Transformers, and I do not make any money with this.
Fighter
A fresh wave of pain pinned him down onto his berth.
Megatron's fingers left dents in the metal when the pain surged through his systems. He could feel the alloys of his outer armor disintegrate, as if corroded by highly aggressive acids...
And then it was over, and he slumped down, panting through his intakes, half a dozen warnings flashing across his HUD. Where, by Unicron, where those damned Stunticons?
--*--
Hook had put the room in quarantine and had surrounded himself with a medical force field to be protected against a possible contagion. He felt a little less out of place this way, for aside from these measures, he couldn't do anything but stare at the monitors that were displaying his patient's condition in various graphs and figures. He was an engineer. A severed fuel line, a damaged microchip, dented armor plating? No problem, that was his daily bread, so to speak. But this...
With a mixture of exasperation and fascination he watched the monitor readouts shoot up, nearly exceeding the scale as Megatron struggled through another bout of pain. But as before, it didn't take long for the data to return to normal range - or at least to a range that could be considered normal under these circumstances.
Hook tapped his fingers on his console nervously. He didn't like it, but he was at his wits' end here. Where were those good-for-nothing Stunticons?
--*--
It would pass. Just a few astroseconds more, and it would be over.
Megatron stubbornly clung to his consciousness while every single strut and wire in his body literally groaned with tension. Thank goodness he had offlined his vocal processor a fair while ago. Hook, who was messing around with the monitors somewhere behind him, would not get the pleasure of hearing him moan...
The pain subsided, and he sank back, completely limp. Suddenly everything seemed strangely slow and sluggish. Dazed as he was, it took him a moment to understand that this last fit had apparently overtaxed his systems to the point at which an automated security program had engaged: His CPU had initiated an emergency stasis lock. One after the other, his systems were shut down, and he couldn't find the strength anymore to issue the appropriate denial codes. Unconsciousness was beckoning him, dark and peaceful, and before he got a chance to gather his thoughts, he had slipped into merciful oblivion.
--*--
"Slag it!"
Hook jumped up from his seat when Megatron's vital signs dropped as abruptly as if a plug had been pulled. He rushed over to the berth his commander was lying on and hastily started running scans.
"Megatron, can you hear me?"
The first results he got had been expected - emergency stasis lock. Nothing unusual, given the circumstances. Though the abruptness it had happened with did not exactly help to put him at ease...
"Well, this is looking promising", said a taunting voice behind him.
Hook glared over his shoulder. "Does the word 'quarantine' mean something to you, Starscream?" he hissed.
The Seeker leaned against the door frame, completely unimpressed. "Oh, I thought that only applied to those who are not in possession of one of these cute little things here", he cooed, lifting something Hook recognized as one of his force field generating devices. Starscream must have bribed Scrapper into giving one to him - or threatened him, more likely.
"What do you want?" he asked angrily. "I don't need spectators here, so back off!"
The door closed with a hiss when Starscream finally entered the room. "No, I think I'd rather stay", he said calmly, taking the seat Hook had abandoned. His optics were glowing a deep red. "If our glorious leader is really going to meet his maker, I want to witness the event first-hand."
--*--
The first thing he saw when his systems came slowly back online was static, and the first thing he felt was pain. His body was fraught with it, and he groaned in distress. Strange. He'd been sure to have offlined his vocal processor, but perhaps the reboot had annulled this command.
The next thing he realized was that he was lying face-down on cold metal. Had he fallen off the berth? That would indeed be embarrassing.
And then his audio receptors resumed their work, and Megatron winced at the flood of data that crashed into his CPU.
The noise was beyond belief, a wild jumble of screaming voices and unintelligible speaking choirs. The uproar sounded strangely familiar, he thought, it sounded like...
His vision cleared.
He recognized the place at once. This was the arena of Kaon, where, as a young gladiator, he'd given some of his most spectacular fights. How had he come here? What, in Primus' name, was going on?
With some effort he managed to at least get up on his knees to look around. The tiers were crowded to overflowing, and three heavily armored figures were standing on the other side of the ring, each carrying a different short-range weapon. Their faces lay hidden in unnatural shadows, the only visible part being their glowing optics.
"Give up", one of them said. "You have no chance."
"We can make this quick and easy", said the second.
"If you cease to resist us", said the third.
Megatron staggered to his feet. He had no idea what was going on, if all this was really happening or if it was some kind of weird dream, but ultimately, it didn't make any difference. Obviously he had a battle to fight.
And fight he would.
--*--
"He's burning up", Starscream said, glancing at the monitors.
"No, really?" Hook grumbled. Of course he had noticed that Megatron's core temperature was dangerously high. His armor plating was ticking ominously with heat.
"And do you intend to do something about it?" the Seeker asked pointedly. "Before he's reduced to a puddle of slag?"
"I thought that's what you're waiting for", Hook snapped.
Starscream's optics flashed dangerously. "I asked you a question, soldier!" he hissed, threat clear in his voice.
Right now, Hook felt not up to dealing with Starscream's mood swings.
"His auto-repair system's operating at full capacity to contain the infection", he answered. "Just as his anti-virus programming. That's what's generating the excess heat. Unless I completely suppress both reactions, there's not much I can do about it."
Starscream sat in silence for a while, thoughtfully gazing at their commander.
"Alright", he said suddenly, standing. "From the outside, then, if not from the inside."
"What do you mean, from the outside?" Hook asked, alarmed, but Starscream had already activated an internal comm link.
"Rumble, Frenzy, where are you? You two can make yourselves useful for a change!"
--*--
He hit the ground. Hard.
The crowd cheered enthusiastically when he convulsed with the pain of the impact. Slag it, that hurt... and it hadn't even been a particularly hard blow he had taken.
Panting, he managed to drag himself to his feet. His head was swimming; it took him some effort to gather his thoughts.
And then there was this unbearable heat that had taken hold of him. It seemed to suck every ounce of strength right out of his body, making each movement twice as exhausting. He had to support himself on one of the ring's side posts to stay on his feet.
"Why are you doing this?" one of his opponents asked, shaking his head. "You know you're not strong enough to defeat us. Why make this any harder than it has to be? Give up."
Megatron clung to the post. It surely wasn't a very elegant position, but at least he managed to stand upright. "You'd... like that... wouldn't you?" he said through clenched denta.
They exchanged glances.
"Alright", said the one who was obviously their spokesman. "You asked for it."
--*--
"And who's going to mop this up?" Hook asked surly as Starscream poured the third bucket of iced water over their still unconscious commander. The floor was swimming.
"We'll just leave it to dry, shall we?" the Seeker answered cheekily.
Hook had his doubts about the advisability of drenching Megatron's already rusty exoskeleton in water, but the somewhat unorthodox treatment seemed to work: Megatron's core temperature had actually dropped by some degrees.
He leaned against his console and watched thoughtfully as the Seeker deliberately emptied bucket after bucket.
"Starscream, what are you doing?" he asked abruptly.
"Your work, I'd say", Starscream taunted, not looking up from his task. Hook frowned.
"I don't consider it my work to get into water fights", he answered in the same tone. "Nor do I consider it your work, for that matter. If you're really out to see Megatron 'meet his maker', as you so eloquently put it, then what you are doing there is rather counterproductive, don't you think? So, why are you here?"
Starscream lifted his head and gazed at him in silence, for so long that Hook began to feel slightly uneasy. He'd preferred the Seeker to simply throw one of his infamous tantrums.
"Shut up", Starscream said eventually, as calmly as if talking about the latest weather report. "And grab a bucket, will you?"
--*--
Something strange happened.
The stifling heat subsided, just enough for the dizziness to become bearable. And then Megatron had the strange impression of being on two realities at once.
He was still in the arena, but at the same time he was lying in a half-lit room with metal walls. Shadows were moving close by, and he could clearly make out two voices speaking:
"...work, I'd say..." ... "...for that matter... rather counterproductive, don't you think..." ... "...shut up..."
They sounded strangely familiar, especially the last one. Somewhere in his memory banks, a sub-file was triggered, a picture began to form...
The pain struck again. Groaning, he sank to the floor and laid motionless.
--*--
"He's online", Starscream said.
Hook glanced at Megatron, then at his monitors, but could not detect any change. "No", he said.
"Yes, he is", the Seeker insisted. He leaned over their commander and grabbed his shoulder. "Megatron. Megatron, can you hear me?"
"Get your hands off my patient!" Hook spat, finally loosing his temper. "He's in stasis lock; a blind retro-rat could see that!" He tried to force the Seeker away from the berth, but Starscream was too much of a soldier to not realize his intentions. Before he knew what was going on, one of the Seeker's null ray guns pointed directly at Hook's spark.
"I am in charge here, Constructicon!" Starscream hissed threateningly.
--*--
This was it.
For the first time in his life he was not planning a strategic flight or a feigned retreat to lure his enemy into a trap. When the pain of the last blow cascaded through his body, he was ready to admit his defeat, with all the consequences involved. Let them disassemble him and scatter the pieces across the universe; he didn't care as long as it took away the pain, the deadly exhaustion...
"Get up."
The Pit he would.
"Get up, you pathetic wimp."
He realized in a flash that the voice was familiar.
Amongst all the blurred faces around him, one figure suddenly became clearly visible: dark face plates, blue and red armor plating, silver wings...
Starscream.
The Seeker was leaning against one of the ring posts nonchalantly and smirked at him. "So what now, my great leader? You're tired already?"
Megatron's sluggish CPU took some time to process these words. When it finally did, they sparked such a violent rage within him that for a moment he forgot anything else. That treacherous, good-for-nothing little slagger, how did he dare!
He got up to his feet. He wasn't quite sure how he managed it, but it seemed that his ire had given him strength. Ignoring the pain, he took two, three steps towards the Seeker. "You!" he spat.
Starscream tilted his head back to look up at him. The smirk had left his face, but he showed no sign of fear. "Behind you", he said quietly.
Megatron spun around.
The movement most likely saved his life, for the blade of his opponent's energon axe missed him by mere inches. He staggered backwards. Starscream gave a shrill laugh.
There was one great advantage to the Seeker's presence: It gave him something to focus on, something other than pain or exhaustion. First he had to get rid of those three nuisances on the other side of the ring. And once this was done, he'd abandon himself to the sensuous pleasure of slowly taking Starscream apart, piece - by - piece.
His old gladiatorial instincts had finally woken. The pain was still present, but quickly lost its relevance when his body easily settled into the familiar rhythm of jab, punch, dodge, punch and kick - Primus, it was so simple. Had he actually thought about giving up? What nonsense!
And finally he got his chance. Megatron dodged a punch, and his hands quickly and accurately found the main fuel line at the opponent's neck.
He did not have to use much force. Dark purple energon splattered onto the floor, his victim fell down, jerking and twitching, and then stilled, and the light in his optics faded away.
The crowd went wild with excitement. Megatron took a step back and stared down at the remains of his opponent. It had been a long time since he'd last killed like this, with his bare hands...
"There was a time when you'd finished off all three of them simultaneously", Starscream commented scornfully. "You've become weak, Megatron."
"Oh, yeah?" he snarled. "Then watch this!"
He dodged another energon blade and grabbed the hand holding it. A forceful tug and a quick spin, and his opponent kissed the dust, pulling his partner to the ground in the process.
Megatron did not give them time to recover. Coming out of his spin, it took him one single, fluent movement to transform into his weapon mode.
A blinding flash of light, a sound like distant thunder, and a deep vibration that shook the very air around him. And then silence.
He fell down, having changed back into his natural form, and laid motionless, dazed. Maybe transforming hadn't been such a good idea after all, for it seemed this action had finally taken it out of him. The murderous frenzy had been short-lived; the pain was returning, and his limbs felt like liquid slag.
Slowly, he propped himself up on his elbows to look around.
The arena was empty. The tiers were deserted, his opponents had vanished, and not the slightest sign of Starscream, either.
He sank back and stayed were he was, simply because he couldn't muster the strength anymore to move or to wonder about anything. Primus, he wanted to recharge for the rest of his life.
Without warning, something very powerful tore through his body, followed by a surge of tingly heat, jolting him out of the light doze he had slipped into. It wasn't painful, but it was not a very pleasant feeling, either.
He didn't even get the chance to sit up. A second wave took hold of him and swept him away, into impenetrable darkness.
--*--
"All systems ready for reboot", Starscream said saucily.
Hook ignored him, trying to make sense of the confusing data his monitors were displaying.
For some reason, Megatron's CPU had terminated the stasis lock, but had set all systems to standby mode rather than rebooting them, which would have been the standard procedure in such a case. Hook ventured a guess.
"His energy levels are at 38 percent", he said while surveying the screens. "That's most likely not enough for a complete reboot."
"Okay", Starscream said. "If he needs assistance, he shall have it. Give him ten thousand volts DC."
Hook, having already grabbed the electric chargers, froze in mid-movement to check if his audio receptors might be glitched.
"Ten thousand volts, in his condition? Have you lost your processor?"
"Do it", Starscream ordered, "or I'll arrange for you to get acquainted with some of my instruments."
Hook considered his options. If he disobeyed a direct order from a senior officer, Starscream would have his head. If he obeyed and in the process took Megatron permanently offline, the rest of the crew would have his head. If he obeyed and thus saved Megatron's life, Starscream would claim all the glory, but at least he, Hook, would keep his head.
"Alright", he snarled. "On your head be it!" He brought the chargers into position.
The monitor readouts skyrocketed with the first power surge, but dropped almost as rapidly. Only one data set did not return to its original status.
"Energy levels at 45 percent", Starscream commented. "Again."
The very air seemed to crackle as Hook released the second charge. Electric blue flamelets danced along the edges of the berth, sparks died on the wet floor.
The red light in Megatron's eyes flashed up as abruptly as if a fire had been lit. His engines, being forced into a cold start, gave a protesting stutter as his body tensed and jerked and half a dozen shrill alerts went off. After some moments, however, the monitor readouts started to one by one drop to normal range.
Megatron slumped down on his berth, looking dazedly from one of his officers to the other.
Starscream straightened his back. "There you go", he said dryly.
--*--
The abruptness with which Megatron found himself back in the med bay made his head swim. A confusing mixture of sensations surged through his body; heat, cold, pain and an incredible energy that strained every single wire to the breaking point. Instinctively he mustered all the strength he could find to fight back, and suddenly, some kind of borderline seemed to have been crossed. He fell back, and the warning messages that were frantically flickering across his HUD began to slowly disappear.
Starscream and Hook were standing on either side of the berth, the Seeker with a half smug, half taunting smile on his faceplates, the Constructicon with two electrical chargers in his hands. Both were watching him expectantly.
Gently, Megatron pushed himself up into a sitting position.
The floor at his SIC's and his CMO's feet was a mess of water and crushed ice. Ice was melting on the berth, and small rivulets of water were running down his rusty armor plating.
"For your sake I... hope that you have a... damn good explanation." He had to pause twice to get these few word out properly; his voice was laden with static and vibrated painfully in his chest.
Starscream's mouth twitched, but he didn't get the chance to answer.
A crack like a jet plane breaking the sound barrier shook the walls, and Skywarp recklessly materialized right in the middle of the room. "Quarantine!" Hook hissed angrily, but was boldly ignored by the Seeker.
"Starscream, the Stunticons are here, and they have..."
He was interrupted by his Air Commander turning on his heels and sweeping past him with his head held high like a diva on her way to the stage.
"…brought Perceptor", Skywarp concluded perplexed.
"Well, it's about time", Starscream snapped when the door slid open for him. "Oh, Skywarp..." he turned and gestured aimlessly into the room. "Mop this up, will you?" And with that he was gone.
"Uhh", Skywarp said, apparently confused. "Okay... should the guys bring the Autobot in, or...?"
Megatron, being convulsed with a fresh wave of pain, desperately clung to the edges of the berth to keep his balance. "No, they shall use him as a decoration, you moron!" he spat. "Of course they shall bring him in, and make it snappy!"
Skywarp departed quickly, hopefully with a mind to sending in some working drones to take care of the messy floor.
Carefully, Megatron straightened his back when the pain subsided. He was not quite sure yet if he was really here or if he was still lying in the arena, unconscious.
He turned to look at his CMO. "What's been going on here?"
Hook was busy tucking away the electric chargers. "I'm going to hand in a complete report once you're out of danger", he answered. "But I have to admit the better part of this whole incident eludes me, too."
Right now, Megatron had no patience for such nonsense. He indicated the door with a sharp nod. "Get out", he ordered angrily.
Hook seemed hesitant for a moment, but then he saluted and left the room without protest.
The door closed with a soft hiss. Finally alone, Megatron allowed himself the luxury to relax ever so slightly. To the Pit with them all. He was going to find out what had happened, and if this included the disassembling of some of his soldiers - preferably one with wings - then so be it.
But not now. Right now, as the door opened again and the Stunticons led a very reluctant Perceptor into the room, he had more important things to take care of.