Megatron's crimson optics bored into my emerald-green ones and I squirmed uncomfortably. His huge hands had my arms pinned partially by the shoulders and he was stood on my legs to stop me from running away.
"So, Emerald," he finally said, purring it out like a cat, "we meet at last!" I rolled my optics at him. "What?"
"That is so cliché! All the bad guys say that!" I couldn't help but point out. Arcee and Bumblebee nearly doubled up laughing; their battles had ceased but mine had only just begun.
"Uhhhh…" oh. WOW! I just confused the Decepticon leader AND made him speechless in a matter of seconds! I grabbed his arms, wormed my legs from under his feet, tucked them to my chest and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying away. I executed a Lara-Croft- style jump perfectly as Megatron landed with a hard crash into the dirt.
"And another one bites the dust!" Bumblebee sang as the rest of the Autobots, with the exception of Optimus, doubled up laughing. Megatron picked himself up from the floor, grumbling. He took one look at me, then at Optimus, then at me again and darted… but not for me. He shot Optimus in the abdomen, crippling him.
"OPTIMUS!" I yelled as he dropped to his knees; Megatron then hauled Optimus to his feet and pressed the point of his gun into Optimus' vulnerable neck cabling. I stared in horror as bright blue Energon trickled down his neck where the Energon fuel line had been punctured slightly. Optimus shifted in discomfort and tried to force Megatron away from him, failing dismally.
"Now, what shall it be, Emerald?" Megatron purred again, the words rolling from his glossa as slick as oil; it disgusted me to see him take pleasure at others' misfortune, "you can join the Decepticons and be given all the power and respect in the universe, OR, you can try to fight me, lose and watch Optimus Prime die"
"What if I stay with the Autobots? What do you think they can offer me?" I said, trying so hard to bide my time, looking for the terrible warlord's weakness.
"Well, if you stay with that drivelling mess of a team, hardly any Energon, no free reign over your actions, poor recharging conditions and, let's face it, a pretty scrap leader." I balled my fists in fury then I saw a space to make my move and unballed them again.
'So, this was what Megatron was up to in the dream,' I thought unhappily, 'he wanted to get to me through hurting Optimus, but why? How could he possibly get to me through Optimus?' I was thoroughly baffled; it made no sense.
"Why are you hurting Optimus? Release him!" I said with as much authority and calmness as I could muster. Megatron merely smiled a hyena's smile and laughed menacingly.
"Not a chance, I've seen the way you look at him; Knock Out and Breakdown are not as useless as they may seem. They reported back to me the way Optimus protects you but he doesn't protect you like any other person in this universe. No, he protects you like he loves you." I bristled with fury as he dared to say that, but then I stopped. I hated how malicious, how treacherous Megatron could be and I didn't understand the meaning of his dark words; then I realised after a minute or two of silence. It was true, Optimus had given me his jacket; he caught me when I felt sick in the alley; he protected me from Knock Out and Breakdown twice; he kept me warm when we were cats; he lifted me up and allowed me to rest on him as cats; he helped me in my new form; he told me the truth and he'd protected me from the second I saw him. The list was endless and I realised that he'd protected me and looked after me more than just another life form in the universe. I glanced at Optimus but he cast his optics downwards, dimming them slightly,
"So glad to see you've seen reason." Megatron took my silence for my understanding and agreement. I closed my optics and desperately tried to remember all those archery and self-defence lessons I'd taken once. I vented slowly and shifted into a battle-ish position. I fought the raging envy and hate that was rising like bile inside me and replaced it with inner peace. I thought of all the good times I'd had in my life and they outweighed the bad. I felt a click on my back as my bow, quiver and arrows came into place (I had the ability to create whatever I wanted from the elements around me, all a part of my battle programming) and quick as a flash, loaded the bow and fired at Megatron.
"What the-?" Megatron grunted as the arrow hit home, his shoulder plating. I loaded again and again and I managed to fire one straight into his optic, wrenching a guttural scream from the warlord. He dropped Optimus from his vice-like grip and charged towards me, firing his cannon rapidly and without care what he hit. He was a metre or two away and he came on coming like a charging bull that'd seen red. Megatron ran right up to me and…. hit the canyon wall.
"Well, I think its safe to say that you just fell for the oldest trick in the book!" I laughed almost hysterically as I picked up Optimus from the floor. Megatron had run straight through a hologram version of me!
"What? How did you-" Optimus started but he slumped into my arms as his energy levels dived hell-wards.
"A hologram." I said simply as Megatron peeled himself from the rock, my arrow piercing straight through his already bleeding optic. He turned and fell flat on his face. Starscream and Soundwave swooped down from their safe haven in the skies and picked up their obnoxious, hell-bent leader.
"DECEPTICONS! RETREAT!" Starscream screeched, they didn't call him Starscream for nothing then! The vehicons took off and all Cons left the battlefield.
"Ratchet! Optimus needs urgent medical assistance!" I said as the other Autobots came running over.
"But he doesn't look too badly injured." Ratchet said, checking Optimus over.
"He might not look badly injured but he took several shots for me when he pushed me out of the way. Plus he might've lost a lot of Energon too!" I replied haughtily as I gently wrapped an arm around Optimus' broad shoulders. Ratchet called for a ground bridge and Bumblebee helped me through said bridge. Although Autobots don't breath, I could hear Optimus' ragged vents scoring marks in the silent atmosphere around us. All I wanted so longingly to do was hold onto him and never let him go; I hated the fact that Megatron was right, I did have strong feelings for Optimus and I felt like I could so willingly go right up to the Nemesis and kick Megatron in his nether regions for what he said and did out there today. But I knew I couldn't, I would only let Optimus down and that would kill me.
We laid Optimus onto the Medbay berth and I retreated somewhat reluctantly to my quarters to think over what Megatron had said, thinking about his offer and his words.
"He loves you…"
