-1What, you thought being back in the Hoover Dam AGAIN for a long period of time would be easy on him?
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Seeing how hard the next few hours were on his brother, Optimus would have urged him to leave his beloved's side for his sanity's sake if he hadn't already known what the response would be. Each passing moment seemed to see him holding her a little closer, curling up a little tighter, shivering a little more and whimpering a little louder. It had always been an accepted truth that all who were blessed with the ability to fly had that asset balanced out by the curse of claustrophobia, but Optimus had never once considered the possibility that even the seemingly fearless leader of the Decepticons was susceptible to such things. But now, watching Megatron shiver, he realized he was. And wasn't ten thousand years of imprisonment in ice enough to make anyone claustrophobic, especially when coupled with the near-constant torture of being experimented on?
Zephyr went from a deep sleep to a light doze, only to be awakened fully by the sensation of slight shaking. Opening her eyes, she looked up and realized that Megatron was holding her close and shuddering, actually shuddering. "For crying out loud," she said as she sat up, "Which of us is having a harder time of this?" Sputtering a little, as if finally realizing how utterly freaked-out he was acting, Megatron swiftly composed himself. "I… uh… well, that is…" Zephyr only smiled. It was nice to see that he didn't feel the need to put on a brave face for her. That boded well for her chances of getting out soon, in her mind. It would take a serious problem for him to be anything but honest with her. "You should be able to leave soon," he said after finally managing to compose himself. Pulling away from him a bit, she smiled brightly at the news, then frowned. "You don't have to stay here the whole time, you know. I'll be perfectly fine. After all, you guys trashed Sector Seven just by coming in here. Who can threaten me now?" His mind already made up, he shook his head. "I'm staying right here. I don't want to leave you again after so long apart. There'll be time enough for other concerns later. You're here, I'm here too, and right now that's good enough for me, claustrophobia or not." Zephyr shook her head with a sigh. "I see. Then I suppose I'll just have to distract you," she said as she moved closer, giving him a sweet little smile. It took him a moment to get it together enough to make a coherent reply. "I'll do it on one condition." Taken slightly aback by this, she gave him a confused look. "And just what would that condition be?" He grinned. "I get to do the same." She returned his grin and moved closer. "Fair enough. And now that we're in agreement…"
Off to the side, Optimus felt his jaw drop as he realized what he was about to witness. It took some mental screaming at himself to get his legs to work, but he managed to turn around and flat-out run out of the room like a frightened child. The thought crossed his mind that he, who had seen a thousand battles and faced them all without fear, was fleeing the scene of what most definitely wasn't a battle, but his main concern was getting out of that room as fast as his legs could take him. Practically tripping through the doorway in his haste, he flung the door shut with an almighty slam, then leaned against it as if trying to hold it shut, panting the whole time. A moment later he looked up and noticed Ratchet giving him what could only be described as the mother of all weird looks. "Do not go in there," he tried to explain. "Seriously, just don't." Ratchet didn't even pause. "Nonsense," he said. "Now scoot over. I've got a patient to check up on." Knowing better than to anger the medic, Optimus obediently moved aside. "I still think you shouldn't go in there…" Ratchet said nothing in reply, merely moving to the door and opening it wide. As Optimus watched, the medic simply stood and stared rather than stepping in. "I didn't even think that was possible, much less that she could do that," he murmured to himself. A long moment later, he closed the door and turned away. "…She's fine," he said.
It was roughly half an hour before Megatron emerged, armor steaming, chest covered with scratches, stumbling dizzily and wearing the biggest smile his brother had seen from him in quite some time. "You look like you've had a good time," Optimus said. Megatron nodded vehemently, leaning against the wall. "My beloved has… many talents." Shaking his head to get rid of any and all bad images that statement threatened to conjure up, the Autobot leader chuckled. "You two successfully managed to scare Ratchet off with your antics back there. I never thought I'd live to see the day that happened. Let me tell you, the look on his face…" Megatron laughed at that. "Thanks for the mental image, brother." A long moment of silence passed between them before Optimus dared what he saw as a sensitive question. "So does she… every time?" Megatron shook his head. "No, thank goodness. If she did, I'd fritz. Wouldn't even be able to stand up, let alone be Lord High Protector."
As luck would have it, Ironhide chose that moment to walk in. "Look who I found!" Holding out his hand for the two of them to see, he revealed that he was holding a very irate Agent Simmons. Megatron's good mood immediately vanished upon seeing him. "You…" His voice was low as he stepped forward to take the captive from Ironhide, curling his claws around him as he raised him up to his eye level. "I despise you for what you did to my mate, and I would very much like to crush you for the pain you have caused us both." Simmons gave an undignified yelp as Megatron's grip tightened slightly, and Optimus chose that moment to step forward in case his brother was planning on carrying out his threat. "Count yourself lucky that my days of doing such things are behind me." He relaxed his grip slightly. "My mate returned to your planet because she wanted to visit old friends, not because she wanted to cause any form of trouble. And you abducted her… imprisoned her just like you did to me. Well, know this: If you do this again, abduct any member of our species for experimentation, it will be taken as an act of war against our species as a whole, with all the… unpleasantness that entails. Do you understand?" The agent tried to voice a protest, only to have the angry former Decepticon cut him off. "I said, do you understand? Speak, human!" The last words were flat-out snarled. There was no hesitation as Simmons shut up and nodded rapidly. He understood perfectly. "Then I believe I've made my point," Megatron said dismissively as he handed the captive agent back to Ironhide and turned away, calmly walking back to where his brother stood.
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Seriously, HELP ME! I need something to span the two or three months between the end of this story and TF 2 coming out!
Read and review, please!