Chapter 4: Rage
The next few weeks were uneventful. Megatron would mine, until his body could take no more, then write.
He couldn't hit send. Sending his teachings and manifestos out like that would alert Sentinel Prime and the government immediately.
Instead, Megatron's words would be copied, and smuggled off world with the help of Terminus, who had many connections.
He knew a shuttle pilot who brought supplies to Messatine regularly, and that mech smuggled the copies of Megatron's work out, and distributed them carefully on Cybertron.
Megatron was finally working out his fear, anger, and sadness over the death of Hauler, and his current predicament.
Today the drilling had commenced early. The day before had been largely a waste of time, as virtually no energon or minerals were recovered. As punishment, they started earlier. Today had to go well, otherwise the mine might get a visit.
Megatron was drilling, and doing a pretty good job. He was in his tank mode, trundling forward slowly and powering through the hard metals.
Terminus was across from him, with Brawl, using a drilling rig to plow through another section of metal.
Terminus let out a groan, as the drill began to shake.
"You alright boss?" Brawl asked.
In the background, Pounder gritted his teeth.
The miners had a habit of calling Terminus 'boss' and it made the already angry and insecure Pounder furious. But he merely stood back and continued to watch them work.
Terminus nodded. "I'll be alright lad."
Megatron looked over with concern, then eyed Pounder, knowing he would be reprimanded if he stopped for too long.
The mech continued drilling, frustration and anger building as he dug deeper.
Terminus let out a cough and collapsed off of the rig. He was grabbing at his chest.
Megatron and Brawl both ran over to the fallen mech, and the other miners quickly gathered around.
"Terminus are you all right?" Megatron asked frantically, optics wide. "What happened?"
"Just some...fatigue." Terminus muttered. "I'm fine lads, don't worry." He said, leaning up.
"Alright that's enough!" Pounder shouted. "He's fine! Get back to work!"
Megatron turned to Pounder. "He needs a moment." He snarled, more aggressively than he should have.
Pounder stormed over and shoved Megatron off.
"Who do you think you're speaking to?!" Pounder demanded. "GET THAT DRILL SPINNING AND GET BACK TO WORK!"
Megatron let out a growl and glared at Pounder.
Then he grabbed his drillbit, and unscrewed it, letting it drop to the cave floor.
Pounder's optics widened.
"You better put that back on." Pounder warned. "Miner, I will write you up if that drill isn't on your arm in 5 nanocycles."
"You'll have to do more than that." Megatron replied. "Terminus is hurt. I need time to ensure his well being."
"He's fine." Pounder stated, shoving past Megatron. "Get up!" He shouted, pulling Terminus to his pedes. "You've gotten enough rest..."
Megatron grabbed Pounder and yanked hard on his arm, spinning him, and then shoving him into the mine wall.
Pounder let out a groan and dropped, energon streaming from his face. He wiped it off then glared at Megatron.
"You spawn of a glitch." He said, standing up slowly. "I'm gonna peel you out of your chassis."
He punched Megatron across the face, but Megatron had had enough. He grabbed Pounder's helm, and brought it down hard on his kneecap, then began punching down on the mech's back and neck.
Megatron might not have fought much in his life. But his blows were ferocious. He'd been born with a point one percent spark, and he had more strength than the average cybertronian.
Pounder let out a roar, as the punches landed, and he straightened out, and punched the side of Megatron's helm, then shoved him back against a drill rig.
"Do you know who I am?" He demanded.
Megatron dodged a wild swipe, and then punched Pounder in the fuel tank. "You're nothing." He said, darkly. "A loud bot with nothing worthwhile to say. A waste."
The other miners grouped around, cheering, as Megatron and Pounder brawled.
But it was one sided. Megatron was untrained, unrefined. But his rage gave him such a strong advantage.
And rage was all Megatron could feel right now. It burned through his frame like poisoned energon. He grabbed a jagged chunk of metal out of the wall and brought it crashing down on Pounder's back.
The mech let out a groan of pain. He was down, and he was having trouble getting up.
Megatron knew he needed to stop. This was going too far. He kicked Pounder's helm, putting a large dent in it.
Pounder was shaking his helm. "Please...enough..."
Megatron paused. The rage was out of control. He tried to calm down but he couldn't. A voice in his helm was telling him no. It wasn't enough. Not yet. Pounder had to be taught.
So the miner turned, and tore a sheet of metal off the wall. He walked over to Pounder, hate in his optics. He lifted the sheet of metal over his helm.
"MEGATRON!" Terminus shouted. "ENOUGH!"
Megatron stopped. His anger frightened away instantly by the voice of the one mech who could ever tell him what to do.
He dropped the metal sheet on the ground, and then looked down at the battered, beaten Pounder.
"DAMN!" Brawl exclaimed. "You gonna talk slag now Pounder?!"
Megatron looked over at an angry looking Terminus, then back at a very frightened looking Pounder.
"Enough..." pounder whimpered.
Megatron turned and walked away from the foreman, and back over to his recharge slab.
Terminus, who must have been feeling better, stormed over and grabbed his shoulder, spinning the mech around to face him.
"Are you daft?!" He demanded. "Do you realize what you've done?"
"He pushed me too far." Megatron spat angrily.
"Oh?!" Terminus asked. "Did he? His quarrel is with me, not you, at least it was."
"You needed time. You were struggling, and he was mistreating you." Megatron stated.
"I'm old! It happens!" Terminus shouted. "This isn't about me, it never was! You're supposed to change the world and here you are, risking all of it over a silly brawl!"
"Huh?" Brawl asked.
"Not you!" Terminus shouted in annoyance. He turned back to Megatron. "You've put your entire future at risk with this stunt. What if you're arrested? It's difficult enough distributing here, it'll be even harder if you're in Garrus-9!"
Megatron took a long vent.
"I'm sorry. I...I haven't gotten that angry in a long time." Megatron said. "I lost control. Forgive me, Terminus."
The other miners had gone back to work. Pounder got up, glaring at Megatron, hate in his optics.
Then he hobbled away, swearing under his breath.
Terminus shook his helm slowly, looking all around the cavern, too angry to look at Megatron. He turned and started to walk away.
He stopped and turned around, jabbing a digit at Megatron.
"You damn well better keep it under control. I won't have any more of that silliness. You're more than a petty brawler. I want more for you than that." He walked away, irritably, huffing hard.
Megatron closed his optics and looked down, looking well and truly thrashed.
"Sorry Terminus."