Megatron never recharged that off cycle. He stayed wide awake and aware of every sound outside. Every so often their transporter would stop, and then continue driving. Megatron wondered if they were crossing city lines, and if they were he wondered how far across Cybertron their captor intended to take them. Megatron rubbed his tired optics. 'It must be early on cycle by now.' He thought. A ghost of Sentinel Prime's voice echoed in Megatron's mind, reminding him that today was the day Sentinel was supposed to introduce Megatron and Optimus to the Lord High Protector and his kin. Not that Megatron had been particularly excited about the occasion. But he really did wish he could be where ever Sentinel had intended to take the younglings that day; so long as it was anywhere free from the caged net.
"Put them down below...", "Make sure they're secure..." voices mumbled outside the cage. Megatron tried to listen to them, but he was too tired to focus. He was starting to nod off when a high pitched scream from a sparkling (or a starving cybercat, Megatron guessed) blasted through his audio receptors at volumes the mechling didn't know were possible to reach! Megatron pressed his servos over his audio receptors and cringed at the awful noise. Another shriek sounded behind Megatron, making him nearly jump out of his frame in fear. He looked over his shoulder to see Optimus awake, sitting up, and looking just as bewildered as his brother. The two mechlings stared at each other and listened to the screaming fit someone or something was throwing outside. Soon the screams' volumes began to drop significantly, but they never stopped. Optimus, who really had no chance of getting back to recharge now, was becoming very concerned for whatever was suffering just a few feet away from them. Megatron however was just grateful it was someone else suffering and not he or his brother. As if Optimus could see the selfish thought hatching in Megatron's processor, the blue mechling scowled and folded his arms. Megatron had the feeling Optimus was upset that Megatron didn't show the least bit of concern for the unseen victim. But in Megatron's defense, he justified to himself that in putting Optimus' safety before everything else, he wasn't being selfish at all. He had one thing to protect, and that was Optimus. So Megatron refused to let charity distract him from his brother.
"Megatron?" Optimus asked, once the screaming died down enough for him to hear his own thoughts. "Are we flying?" Megatron gave Optimus a strange look, before agreeing with him. Their ride was bumpy, but not like a road. It was turbulence, Megatron realized. 'Now that you mention it...' Megatron's thoughts trailed off. He had no doubt now that they were in some sort of an aircraft.
"Try to go back to recharge." Megatron instructed. He put a servo on Optimus' shoulder and tried to coax him into laying down again. But Optimus wouldn't budge.
"I can't." Optimus said bluntly with one nod in the direction the screams were coming from.
"Just try anyway." Megatron sighed. This time Optimus complied, and laid down on his side. Megatron watched Optimus and silently thanked Primus that Optimus was too tired to care about the danger they were still in.
Some time during the off-cycle, the aircraft took a nosedive and threw Megatron's and Optimus' cage clear across the cargo space. Optimus leapt into Megatron's arms and Megatron gladly shielded his little brother from the harsh impact of the cage walls when they rolled over. Megatron assumed they had landed. While there was some relief in knowing their flight was finally over, it quickly shattered when the sounds of slamming doors and booming voices surrounded the younglings. The familiar sparkling scream reached its max again and wailed like the Pit! Three klicks of screaming resulted in a harsh 'Mute it!' from an angry captor. A continuous seven klicks of screaming resulted in crude insults and three kicks to the sparkling's cage. Eleven klicks of screaming later, Megatron heard a quick 'bang', a thud, and then there was nothing left of the sparkling, except his haunting silence.
Megatron would admit it now. He was afraid to die, and because of what he assumed transpired to the sparkling he had every reason to be. At the beginning of the flight, though he knew the trouble they were in, the possibility of death hadn't completely sunken in yet. Now he could almost see Death coming for Optimus and him. As Optimus clung tighter to his brother, Megatron thought of saying some final words. For all Megatron knew, he and Optimus could be kept captive for orns or they could be killed the instant they were ripped from their net and dragged from their cage.
"Optimus..." Megatron whispered. Optimus' fearful optics were glistening with coolant again. One look at him, and Megatron fell apart. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell his little brother how close they were to being killed, and he couldn't force himself to say goodbye. Megatron massaged Optimus' back soothingly and waited for the strangers outside to close in. Everything was getting louder, faster, closer... CRRRRAAACKK! Megatron instinctively looked in every direction for the source of the noise. But he was still blind to everything beyond the net. He listened to meches tear their cage apart. Suddenly the net bulged where meches were grabbing hold of it and lifting them up. Optimus couldn't take it anymore. He threw his head back and screamed almost as loud as the sparkling!
The net tore open and servos flew in. They latched onto the Optimus by the legs and scruff bar. Megatron tried to pull him back, but a massive servo slipped between the two and scooped Optimus up. The world outside the net was still very dark. Optimus couldn't see anything beyond the strangers' glowing faces, lit by the light of their red and blue optics. The blue youngling tried to curl up into a ball and shield himself somehow. But when more servos grabbed at Optimus and shook him around, the youngling became petrified with fear and froze up in a hunched over broken looking pose. On the floor, the net had been discarded and Megatron was forgotten. The silver youngling darted out of the net after his brother. When he found Optimus, Megatron froze up as well. He watched helplessly as the meches prodded and teased his brother's limp body. Luckily it only took an astrosecond or two of witnessing the horror for Megatron to snap. His denta plating grinded and his red optics turned two tones darker. Megatron was furious and he did not hesitate any longer to let those slaggers have it! Though Megatron only measured up to the mid-arm of the average adult framed mech, when he stood up he faced the meches like they were puny ant-droids.
"Put him down!" Megatron barked. He prepared to jump kick, when a door hissed open behind him. The response from the meches distracted Megatron, and his attempt of an attack turned into a clumsy stumble. The shadowy meches all quivered as the one Megatron assumed was their leader stepped into the shuttle. His strides were agonizingly slow and careful. It gave Megatron surges, watching him creep up to the others. The mech's armor was dark turquoise that shifted between blue and green as he walked, Megatron noticed. That kind of paint was rare and expensive. In his young life, Megatron had only seen one other Cybertronian with this special paint.
Said Cybertronian was a Vossian femme. Her special paint changed between purple and indigo as she walked by. Walked. That was what made her so unusual. She was a native Vossian, so naturally she had a flying alt. mode. But she never used it. From Sentinel Prime's gossiping cohorts, Megatron learned that the femme never flew when others could see her and she never held her wings high like any other proud Vossian. Megatron wished he could have officially met the femme or at least learned what made her so important to Sentinel Prime. If he only knew, maybe he would have some sort of defense against the turquoise high class predator that stood directly in front of him. Megatron snapped out of his deep thoughts and bravely looked the mech directly in the optics. It made Megatron flinch, the way the mech stared back with lust.