Thanksgiving was as pleasant as ever. Almost.
"MEGATRON!"
Heavy footsteps flew down the hall before sliding to turn a corner. He stumbled slightly but recovered, with a turkey in his jaws. A cruel smile played on his face as Vehicons, who were carrying Thanksgiving necessities, looked at him in confusion.
"MEGATRON!"
He passed Knockout and Breakdown quickly, leaving the duo bewildered. The blue brute pointed to their leader while raising a brow, but the medic shrugged with little concern. He resumed carrying Fall-based paint he was going to dress designs with on the crew members for the holiday. He himself already had an orange-yellow swirled design of his own on his red scheme and he planned on making a tribal one for his partner.
Carefully avoiding spinning anyone off balance, the warlord streaked down the halls happily until he reached his own chambers. The smell of victory and dinner was divine. It was foolish for Mrs. Darby to think he wouldn't attempt to take it; he was Decepticon leader after all, and the original one at that. He placed the size-altered turkey in his servos while smirking smugly.
All of those wretched Autobots and humans should have known by now, he wasn't one to share. Thanks to Ratchet's and Shockwave's new size-shifter, capable of sizing anything to the user's needs like a comfy couch for Cybertronians to lounge about on, the human food had been reformed to feed a lot of Cybertronians and humans alike. Too bad Megatron had a horrible habit of stealing, hence the angered voice of Jack's mom pursuing him earlier.
"Happy Thanksgiving to me indeed," he muttered calmly.
As he sat on his berth and began to sink his sharp teeth into the meat, a voice interrupted him, "Are you going to eat that all by yourself?" It was Arcee.
He turned towards her with the turkey still latched in his jaws, ready to continue their diabolical plan on consuming the cooked beast. "Uh…yuf wat sone?" He muffled any other words, for it made him sound like he had a speech impediment.
Arcee chuckled and walked over to the stuffed warlord, grabbing the hole where the neck used to be and the right drumstick. Since part of the side of the turkey was being bitten down upon, the femme gave a stern look and merely said, "Megatron, let go…NOW."
His eyes wandered everywhere, occasionally meeting her ocean blue ones before finally, he released the ill-fated meat. Some cyber-matter drool dripped from it which made Arcee cringe between a look of disgust and a look of "really?" Megatron simply wiped any remaining drool off his mouth and twirled his fingers as innocent as possible. It wasn't working.
"I should probably mention…some of us also are a little greedy at times. I thank you for your hospitality and contribution."
Not a second later, she was out the door, sprinting to her own chambers with the turkey in both hands. It was almost the same size as her. Megatron just sat there with a confused expression before her words dawned on him. They all wanted to eat the turkey for themselves, and Arcee was one of the players in this new game. His face grew menacing with a deadly smile.
Arcee fled through many corridors until two Insecticons were blocking her path, both hungrily eying the turkey. They snapped their jaws at her as she failed to stop but missed as she threw the turkey over the pair and slid under one's legs. Before the bug-like Transformers could turn and grab her, she caught the turkey and resumed her flee.
Laughing, she turned another corner but was hit from the side and sent skidding across the floor. The turkey flew up once more and as she peered up, someone grasped it. She growled at him while he just whistled as he strode away.
"BUMBLEBEE!" Arcee hissed.
Bumblebee then ran his own way until Bulkhead snatched the cooked bird from him heading the opposite direction. The scout gave a look of fear as he realized the turkey was no longer in his servos and scowled as the big Wrecker plowed his way through Vehicons who also wanted the meat for themselves.
The green mech almost got away but as always, the chase never ceased with Dreadwing seizing it from his form as he tripped over one of the blue seeker's traps. Each time someone had it, someone else would snatch it from the other hoping to get far away enough to eat it without having to worry about unwanted company. It was a madhouse on the Nemesis and the teenagers even participated by letting Miko use the Apex Armor to take it from Predaking.
Of course, Starscream transformed and took it as he soared through the halls at high speeds. Most of the ground-based Cybertronians snarled at the scandalous move, but other flyers trailed behind him until a larger grey one hit them out of the way. The mech's appearance scared the seeker into panicking and losing control of his own self. He crashed soon after at the feet of an Eradicon, who was crushed as Megatron landed on him.
"Thanks for returning my meal, Starscream. I very much appreciate it," he purred as he grabbed the turkey out of the seeker's trembling hands.
His victory was short-lived once again as the crew of Decepticons and Autobots chased after him. Those who got too close wound up getting smashed against the wall. Others were tripped and almost stepped on by the crowd behind the warlord. But the mob eventually caught up to him which forced him to lift the turkey up so they'd have to jump to reach it.
Suddenly, Megatron tumbled face first and faltered the rest of them along with him. A chaotic scene of wrecks was visible as they all slid into a corridor intersection. The Decepticon leader still rolled a bit before stopping on his front and groaning with his face still embedded on the ground. His legs were covered by bodies of his crew and some even beside him, struggling to free their arms from under their own figures.
As soon as everyone recovered, they all peered in front of them to see the turkey lying scar-free on the metal floor. It was right in front of Megatron's face and on the right side of Arcee's and the left side of Wheeljack's. The warlord narrowed his optics at both Autobots beside him suspiciously. He growled as the femme began reaching for it, baring his teeth while staring at her as if to warn her that the turkey was his property.
The others slowly crawled over the three in an attempt to reach it too but felt sore as they tried. All now had their hands out trying to grab the bird. Before Megatron's talons even clipped a part of the beast, A hand snatched it away from theirs, lifting it upward with a clusters of optics slowly following it to meet the hand's owner. Anybody who had smiled was now open-mouthed sad. The grey mech even let out a whimper at his lost chance to grab it.
"Stealing the turkey for yourselves? You should know better…all of you," the mech said as he bent down to Megatron's lifted eye level.
Not knowing what else to do, the warlord lowered his head while still keeping eye contact to rest it on the floor in defeat and guilt. "I apologize, Optimus."
Optimus didn't respond, only turning his back on them. While walking down the halls that lead to the recently installed kitchen, he finally replied, "I hope to see you all at the table in two hours. If not, we'll be choosing a new turkey to present. Let us hope the someone I know will make it on that silver platter can feed all the crew."
Everybody laid on one another speechless. Never before had they heard Optimus say that and for once, all of them cowered in fear of the statement's meaning, especially Megatron who began crawling backwards to hide in the pile of bots. Some looked at him like he was crazy until all formed an idea to save their skins, so to speak.
Arriving in the kitchen, Optimus presented the slightly altered turkey to June who formed a semi-smirk on her face. "You actually retrieved it whole?"
The Autobot leader nodded and bowed. "Say, do you think it was wrong for me to threaten Megatron of being bound and put on a silver platter for the feast?"
June didn't know how to respond to that but shrugged.
Instantly, shouting erupted from the dining room and Optimus quickly opened the doors leading to it to see what the ruckus was. He froze to see the sight before him which he replied with a raised brow.
Dreadwing, Predaking, and Bulkhead held up a large plate with a bound, gagged, and angry Megatron on it. The poor mech's hands were strapped behind his back with a rope that also coiled around his legs, keeping them positioned over his aft. Several ropes kept his body from moving that were wrapped around the plate and him. His chin was on the tray while his mouth was muzzled with a super-sized apple too big for him to chomp down on; his jaws were stuck stretched as far as they would go. Surrounding his tied-up form, medium size-altered turkeys were lined around him on salad and fruit mixed padding.
Optimus could tell Megatron was not pleased with his predicament, nor was he overjoyed he was near food. He saw the warlord glance at him like he was to blame, but he didn't doubt that since he spoke the idea out loud previously.
"Why is he on an actual plate?" The red and blue mech questioned as he received more of Megatron's anger.
Arcee was the first to answer, "We thought since he's the one who started this problem, he should be the one sacrificed. It's only fair."
"First off, I said AFTER two hours IF you weren't here on time. It's been only ten minutes since I said that, and how you managed to do that to Megatron in that amount of time baffles me. Secondly, I didn't mean it; I was exaggerating the point of the threat, so no, we aren't eating him!"
A colorful wave of disappointment sounded from the bots which made the gagged warlord become increasingly concerned about his crew's loyalty and sanity. He muttered something that Optimus guessed was: "Something's wrong with you bots!"
Arcee raised her hand to speak which the leader acknowledged immediately, "Optimus, can I have him then?"
The crew looked at her strangely before Optimus asked why.
"Well, I think I could teach him never to steal food again. It's possible and I'm willing to try."
Bumblebee could tell what she wanted to do and it made him jealous. Trying to hide it, he peered down to the floor even when Optimus answered with "That's fine."
The femme smirked and locked eye contact with Megatron who muttered sarcastically, "That's just great." She nodded to Dreadwing who helped the other two carry the bound Decepticon leader to her chambers. Smirking evilly, she followed.
Optimus raised a brow at her cocky attitude and caught Bumblebee doing a hand motion of "Why?"
The feast was ready and quite honestly, many of the bots were starving since they wasted their energy on Grab 'N' Go with the turkey. Arcee and Megatron did join them, but the warlord seemed off, almost too happy for someone who had been recently tied to a platter against his will and almost eaten by an ostensibly cannibalistic crew.
The bots had designs inscribed on their armor with Knockout's paint. Each pattern was unique for each Cybertronian and human. The Decepticons had a more tribal look to them while the Autobots maintained a more cultural, complex appearance. The humans had random.
During the course of their dinner, Megatron, Predaking, and Miko occasionally tried to steal more food but Arcee always lifted her hand towards the grey mech as a warning which he obliged every time. He seemed to respect her demands though she never said them verbally; that was an impressive triumph. Knockout got Ratchet to laugh as well as Shockwave so another accomplishment was completed that day. And Optimus for once stole something. This shocked everybody, except Ratchet.
How that happened was simple. Mrs. Darby had turned her head away from her plate to converse with Agent Fowler, and the big guy saw the opportunity to do something he had never truly done willingly. Using his tongue, which extended, as his head hovered silently beside hers, he wrapped around her plate's contents and dragged them back to his awaiting mouth. When June picked up her fork and found nothing to stab it in, she looked frantically around but never grew suspicious of Optimus.
The thing Agent Fowler and the kids found out about the Transformers was that their tongue could change sizes from a normal human-like state to a giraffe's, most likely for prehistoric purposes for when they weren't entirely dependent on weapons to get items like Energon sap from cracks and hard to reach places. When June figured out it was the Autobot leader, she looked as if she was about to have a heart attack from such a surprise.
Afterwards, some bots began bombarding others with different types of pie. The chocolate hit Arcee, pumpkin snagged Skyquake, apple nailed Soundwave, and soon a pie fight broke out. Nobody chose sides, only hit those closest to them.
Finally, all the chaos ended for the night. The humans went to the chambers modified for them and the Cybertronians nestled themselves into their berths. Some had roommates so there were two berths in one chamber which at least gave some the ability to talk out any feelings or problems one might have.
Megatron lay on his own bed chewing on a leftover turkey which made Arcee, who was checking on him, face palm. She never got how the warlord managed to do such things and still seem the most intelligent, fearsome officer on Cybertron, with the exception of Soundwave. His antics were childish but at the same time hilarious, though that could be arguable with his past actions before he made peace with the Autobots.
He purred as the femme rubbed his back, but whined when she snatched the turkey from him again. "You've had enough for tonight. I'm placing it in the other room and since there's a camera, I'll have Soundwave monitor you to make sure you don't eat it. Got it?"
The warlord slumped forward to set his chin once more on the berth. He grumbled to himself before asking, "What are the consequences for taking the turkey from that spot?"
"You don't get any of the pie I saved for tomorrow. Fair enough?"
"Fine."
"Good," Arcee smiled triumphantly, "now goodnight, Megatron."
"Sweet dreams, my dear."
Arcee closed the chamber doors, leaving a still fully awake Megatron to stare into darkness. As the footsteps faded, he reached under his berth and pulled out a blueberry pie that he had hidden away as a treat for later. Smirking while checking the door to make sure Arcee didn't come back, he said, "If only you truly knew me, Sweetspark."
AN: Gobble! It's Thanksgiving! Sorry I didn't post anything between the day I uploaded Return Home 7 and now. I had to deal with family matters. Here's the Transformers trying to take a turkey. It's stupid but it's reality since I highly doubt the Cybertronians are just going to stand around staring at something that could be edible to them.