Title: The Snag
Universe: G1 Cartoon-ish - not taking the events of "War Dawn" into account, instead using Megatron: Origin
Rating: T for some implied violence and swearing.
Summary: Starscream muses upon the one thing standing in the way of his fine self claiming Decepticon leadership. G1 Cartoon meets Megatron: Origins meets my own imagination. Rated T for violence and swearing.
A/N: This is just a quick piece written whilst I wait for some relatives to arrive for dinner, almost as a more serious companion piece to Lonely at the Top. As much as I love Galvatron, Megatron really is the only guy for the job of Decepticon leadership. Thanks to everybody who has been reading my fics so far. =)
Starscream had hit a snag.
Technically, he had hit several, but considering that all of them were interconnected by just one Decepticon he felt it was easier to think that there was just the one, and ignore the fact that all of the other little snags were now branching out into a series of full-sized knots.
The snag was designated Megatron, and he was a particularly bad snag because Starscream hadn't seen him coming. He had predicted the civil wars over Decepticon leadership, and the fact that the first few leaders would be assassinated by others so that he himself wouldn't have to bother with them, and the even more important fact that as reputation was everything to the ranks, the way to get his name around was to do almost anything, no matter how sordid or vile, just to get people talking. What he hadn't predicted was that just as he was ready to pounce on the Decepticon leadership as he had seen Ravage pounce on an unsuspecting Autobot, ripping its optics out through the back of its cranial capacity in a stunning display of Energon-splattered Decepticon glory, along came Megatron and put paid to all that.
Megatron was incorruptible. Starscream had offered him anything - sincerely, anything - for the chance to be Second in Command (all the better for becoming First in Command - only one guy in your way instead of a whole bunch, and Starscream liked those odds) and all he had received in response was a cruel smirk and an invitation to be the first target of a new fusion canon. Soundwave had instead claimed the honour, standing passively by as Megatron outlined his duties in front of the rapidly angering Seeker, before deflecting a Null Ray blow and sentencing said Seeker to the Brig of the newly constructed Victory on behalf of his newly crowned leader, where Starscream now sat and stewed.
The problem was that Decepticons were, by their very nature, a bunch of thick brutes who fought their petty smaller battles between themselves without the mental foresight to foresee the larger consequences. Many of them could be toppled by bribery or extortion; with so many dangerous creatures occupying such small, secluded spaces as Kaon, secrets were easy to buy and even easier to sell - and if there was one thing a Decepticon didn't need, it was to have their secrets bandied around their fellow men. He had once witnessed one 'Con beating another's face into slag for daring to accuse him of having a secret lover amongst the higher ranks (as if), marvelling at how one little lie made up by one little Seeker could cause so much trouble.
Megatron wasn't like that. He was smart - perhaps as smart as Starscream himself - but on top of that he also had the charisma, the wit, the courage and the...the stuff that makes good leaders into excellent leaders. When he started talking others started listening, and not only because he had a massive canon stuck to one arm which flexed with the strong cables that flowed underneath. He had been the most popular of the underground gladiators, tearing up and flattening anybody who came between him and glory, but also then pontificating about it afterwards in a way that made his audience feel involved. It's us versus him, and who are you going to root for? You're going to root for us, of course - but by us, I mean me, and with one clever speech I've fooled you into thinking it's one and the same. It wasn't, of course. Megatron was about as modest as Rumble and crowd-friendly as his own fusion canon, but oh, he could make you believe he was the most benevolent and good-spirited leader since Primus himself in one sentence, and then reduce you to a mass of quivering slag in the next as he outlined exactly what he was going to do to you should you fail him again. He was subterfuge personified. If Starscream didn't hate him so much, he could almost respect him.
And Megatron was not just incorruptible and charming - he also seemed tohave nosecrets. He was a bastard, a magnificent bastard who blasted everyone in his way and didn't stop by any of the local Energon holes to swap war stories or stare at lewd pornographs with his fellow troops. He was a killer, who lived to kill and lie about it afterwards. When he wasn't killing, he was thinking of new ways of doing it or recharging. And because he was the best at killing, then he was also coincidentally their leader, standing in the way of Starscream's ambitions in much the same way Iacon towered over Kaon. The Seeker had tried desperately to find something - anything - to incriminate their proud new war machine: a jilted ex-fragbot, a lover in the Decepticon ranks (as if), friends in the Autobot camps. There was nothing. Megatron had stepped into the gladiatorial ring, smacked down every single 'Bot or 'Con who tried to throw their weight his way, then used that exact same power to carve his symbol into the torsos, wings and backs of his followers. He had no interests outside of killing to gain power and gaining power, and somebody that uninteresting had no exoframes hiding under his recharge berth.
He was, in other words, the perfect leader for the Decepticon cause.
And Starscream really, really hated that.
He growled at the energy bars holding him in place. "One day, he'll make a mistake," he hissed. "One day, he'll do something stupid - just one little thing - and I'll be there. And I'll make sure he doesn't make another one."
Although he couldn't have known it, his words were already three Breems out of date - five decks above him, their new leader - impressed with the Seeker's no-slag attitude - was busy making him Third in Command whilst Soundwave stood with folded arms and foresaw Megatron's downfall.
A/N: I guess if you trace the roots of Megatron's downfall in Transformers: The Movie to his unwillingness of getting rid of Starscream during the series (who throws him out of Astrotrain to meet his doom with Unicron) then...it kinda makes him a Shakespearean tragic hero. Own fault + demise as a result of own fault = tragic hero. Huh. Pretty deep for a TV show about toys!