So I didn't get that many reviews in the last chapter , but that's okay. All I need is ONE to continue writing !
Chapter 21: Angel with a Shotgun
Instead of the pleasant sounds of nature being the first thing Optimus heard when he awoke, he instead heard the sound of heavy footfalls. That's not Leo…he thought to himself. He sat up confused, but then he remembered the previous night. Oh, yeah…he sighed. Silently stretching his sore body, he listened to his autobots residing outside his vine covered shelter. From what he could tell, Ironhide was doing a patrol of the area, Chromia was most likely sitting with her feet propped up at the stone table cleaning her already spotless weapons, and Ratchet sounded like he was grumbling to himself by the creak. Right…autobots, the war…responsibilities…Optimus moaned. He didn't want to leave his shelter yet; he was still processing the fact that his quiet life with the Ire family was going to take a drastic turn. How am I going to tell Leo? He groaned into his hands. His silent worrying started fading when he heard a new voice approaching the camouflaged shield.
"I am the Champion, my friends," it sang, "and I'll keep on fighting to the end, beo-neo-neon," the female voice imitated an electric guitar.
Optimus smiled as he relaxed, laying back down. Charlotte…the human who stole his distant spark. I'll never get tired of her cheerful voice.
"I am the Champion, I am the Champion! Gone is the loser, cause I am the Champion!" Charlotte sang loudly; she was imitating a scene from the movie Chicken Little. "Of the World!" she jumped into the camouflaged shield, landing in an excited, victory pose. At first she failed to notice the three new bots staring at her in surprise, but she looked up when she heard the sound of blasters powering up. There was a moment of silence as three different sets of guns aimed at an unyielding Charlotte. It was broken by the sound of Optimus tearing out of his shelter, sliding across the now vacant stone table, and landing between Charlotte and the deadly weapons.
"Hold your fire!" He ordered from his protective position. He was kneeling with one hand shielding Charlotte and he had the other held up to his autobots. They did as they were told, although they did so hesitantly. Ignoring his autobots, Optimus turned his back on them and gently picked up Charlotte. "Are you alright?" His rich voice was overflowing with concern.
"I am now," She replied, a little unnerved, from within his sheltering hands.
Leo decided that now was the perfect time to make his presence known. "What's going on?" He asked as he popped out of Charlotte's front pocket.
"He's not the only one wondering…" came a gruff voice that could only belong to Ironhide. He, along with the other two autobots, were trying to look over Optimus' shoulder to get a better look at what he was holding.
Introductions were needed, Optimus knew that, but he saw that Charlotte was hesitant to meet the bots who, moments ago, were ready to kill her. His back was still turned, so Optimus stroked Charlotte's back to reassure her that he was there and going to protect her. At his kind gesture, Charlotte shook off her childish fear. She nodded confidently at Optimus as a signal to continue on to the introductions. He smiled calmingly at her, then turned to his autobots with his game face on. "Autobots, this is Charlotte, my…" he paused for the briefest of seconds, trying to decide what he should call Charlotte since 'girlfriend' was out of the question, "charge." He continued to put Charlotte on his shoulder.
"Hello Autobots, thanks for not blasting me to smithereens." She smiled, trying to break the ice.
Before the bots could reply, Leo was already out of Charlotte's pocket and on her shoulder. "And I'm Leonardo, but my buddies call me Leo. I'm Optimus's apprentice/padawan! Who are you?" he titled his small head.
The three autobot warriors glanced between themselves, trying to decide who would talk first. Chromia, not being shy, spoke for all three of them. "My name is Chromia. This is my sparkmate Ironhide, the autobots' Second-in-Command and weapons specialist." She intertwined fingers with him, and then indicated to Ratchet with her other hand. "And this is the autobots' Chief Medical Officer, Ratchet."
Charlotte perked up in interest. "Hey! I know you guys, Optimus talks about you all the time."
"Funny, he hasn't mentioned anything about you." Ironhide said irritably. [Don't be a jerk.] Chromia warned through their bond. Ironhide suppressed an eye roll.
"Let me fix that then," Optimus smiled calmly, knowing that the autobots wanted to know what had happened to him in his time of absence. "But first let me bring Charlotte and Leo up to speed. It won't take long," he quickly added after seeing the impatient looks he was getting from his autobots. They looked really out of place with a forest background instead of decimated metal buildings. Optimus picked up Charlotte and Leo and set them both down on the stone table. He hastily explained to them the previous night's events. After that, Optimus addressed his autobots and told them of his adventures on Earth, with Leo and Charlotte butting in every once in a while for more elaboration.
Now that everyone was on the same page, the tense atmosphere faded. The autobots realized that Charlotte and Leo weren't threats and were eager to learn some more about humans and their customs. During their one night on Earth, Chromia, Ironhide, and Ratchet had already scanned Earth vehicles and learned some of Earth's other languages. They still weren't experts on humans or their ways, so Ironhide and Chromia got to know Charlotte and Leo better. While they got better acquainted, Ratchet pulled Optimus aside since he had some questions about Leo. Optimus briefly explained Leo's creation, but wanted to quickly change the subject since Ratchet would most likely want to study the IPod. Before Optimus gave Ratchet the chance, he distracted the medic with his holoform. This little creation greatly intrigued Ratchet, and it kept his mind off of Leo. While the medic was distracted, Optimus slipped away. He walked past Ironhide and Leo. They were talking about weapons or something, he didn't really catch much of their conversation, but it sounded like Ironhide was going to make something for Leo. Optimus continued on his way to Charlotte and Chromia. The two seemed to had already formed a bond since Charlotte was sitting on Chromia's shoulder and talking actively.
"So what you're telling me is that there is literally just a handful of femmes left?" Charlotte was asking, stunned.
"Yep." Chromia nodded affirmably, accidentally hitting a tree branch with her head and having leaves falling everywhere. She tried blowing them away with her breath, but the wind picked up and blew them back into her face. "Blah…nature," she spat, trying to get the leaves out of her mouth.
Charlotte ignored her troubles, "But how will your species survive without a means to repopulate? There aren't enough girls." Chromia lightly laughed. "What's so funny?"
"Oh Charlotte, I think you're forgetting that I'm part of an alien species. We don't do everything the same way as humans, despite our many similarities." The light blue femme reminded. She saw the confused look on Charlotte's face and turned to Optimus for the first time. "Don't tell me you never told her about our sexuality, Optimus?"
If his robot mode could blush, it would be doing so. "I never saw why I needed to tell her about it." He answered awkwardly.
Chromia rolled her optics and looked back to the human on her shoulder. "For your information, my race does not require a femme to make a sparkling. Two mechs could do it, or even two femmes, but they'll need a medic's help."
"Wait, what!" Charlotte wasn't prepared for this information, though she was curious. Optimus suddenly had a coughing fit. "Are you alright?" she asked, distracted.
"Uh, yes! Lottie look, your mom is calling." He pointed to her cell phone that was in her pocket. Sure enough, it was ringing.
She answered it. "Hey mama." She paused and listened to her mother. "Oh okay, I'll be right over." Charlotte hung up. "She wants me back at the house. You guys should come to, my folks already know you exists so no harm done."
Chromia liked the idea. "We would love to meet your family." Ironhide approached her with Leo dangling off the front of his head. "Won't we?" she asked sternly, putting Charlotte on the stone table.
"It's not like we have anything better to do," he shrugged. "We're stuck here until Jetfire sends a rescue party." Ironhide plucked Leo off his head and put him on the stone table next to Charlotte. Then he shouted over to Ratchet, "What do you think, Ratch? Wanna go meet some more humans?"
The medic picked up dirt and pine cones as he walked over excitedly. "Sure, and this is a perfect opportunity to test my new Holoform Program!"
"Holo-what?" Ironhide asked, arms crossed.
"It is a little invention of Optimus's," Ratchet informed as he gave Chromia and Ironhide the programming for the holoforms. "I've just perfected it, no offense Optimus. You did an excellent job, but it needed a few tweaks." He continued to give Optimus and Leo his version of the new and updated holoform programming.
"What was wrong with mine?" Optimus asked Ratchet, while Leo and Charlotte explained what a holoform was to Ironhide and Chromia in the background.
"Yours only had a general appearance feature. My version analyzes the Cybertronian's spark, downloading that specific bot's personality traits. The holoform is then created appearing exactly as that Cybertronian were to look if he or she was a human. I also added a sensory system, thus allowing the user to feel the pain of a stubbed toe or the wind on their face. This system also allows the user to taste what the humans call 'food'. With my updated version of your invention, we autobots can fully understand what it feels like to be human." Ratchet said with a triumphant smile on his face.
Optimus couldn't help but feel that Ratchet went a little overboard, but he didn't have the spark to tell him. "Oh, then thank you Ratchet. It will be interesting to feel all the things humans do."
All the autobots then activated their new holoform program. They all had their sparks scanned and analyzed, and then holoforms started to appear. Charlotte noticed Leo's new look first since he was standing next to her. The once short, lean kid was now taller than her, and standing at 5'5" with a lightly toned, muscled body. Leo had a light blue undercut hairstyle with a long white sash tied around his forehead, similar to the old fashioned ninjas. He wore a plain light blue muscle shirt and a pair of grey jeans with white padding strapped to the sides. The padding had light blue autobot insignias on them. Leo also had on white shoes with light blue straps for laces and white fingerless gloves. The only thing that looked unchanged were his mischievous, baby blue eyes.
Optimus also had some changes, but they weren't as drastic as Leo's. He still had his navy blue hair in a ponytail, it was only longer and he still wore his tight black shirt that outlined his wonderfully worked out abs. His red jacket was different since it now had more designs on it. The blue windshield markings were still there, but now there were autobot insignias on the sides of the shoulders. The cuffs of his jacket were now navy blue and there were a few grey designs on the jacket as well. His jeans had been replaced by grey cargo pants that were tucked into his dark blue armored boots that had knee pads attached. His hands were now protected by dark blue fingerless gloves that also had some armor on them. His face also looked a little older to Charlotte.
After Optimus, Charlotte noticed Chromia. She was easy to pick out since she was the only other female. Chromia, who looked like she worked out regularly, was a dirty blonde with light blue highlights. The sides of her hair were tightly braided back into the rest of her hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail. She wore a short black leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up, and a light blue, skin tight under shirt. Her black gothic punk pants fitted her form perfectly and her chained combat boots added a nice touch. To top it all off she had a light blue strap on her right arm with the autobot insignia, and she also wore spiked fingerless gloves. Her light blue eyes looked wild and ready for anything.
Right next to her was Ironhide. Charlotte's first thought when she saw him was that he looked like some type of space bounty hunter. He was wearing something similar to a black western duster coat that had his chest designs on the front and some grey military looking pants along with black combat boots. Like Optimus, he was also wearing armor. He had spiked shoulder guards and silver forearm guards over his black gloves. His autobot insignia was his belt buckle. He had short black hair and a stubble beard. He didn't look that friendly to Charlotte, but that was because his tanned skin was full of scars, the most notable being the one that covered his right eye.
Charlotte saw Ratchet last. The medic looked like he was ready for the zombie apocalypse. He had on a weathered shirt over a red undershirt and wore green cargo pants. His belt held an assortment of things and he had even more stuff strapped onto him on his legs, arms, and chest. He had some shoulder guards strapped on that had the Red Cross on them. His autobot insignias were on his elbow pads. His hair was brown, considered to be medium in length with one side brushed back, the other curled over the top half of his face, and a little goatee. Ratchet's new holoform program proved to be incredibly accurate since the CMO's holoform had a healing little scar on his chin, the injury caused by the previous night's encounter with the Timber Wolves. The cut was the result of when they were shooting at him and one of their bullets grazed his lower jaw.
Every single one of the autobots looked like they could be a god or goddess from Olympus dressed in modern clothing according to Charlotte. "Well, I guess I won't be getting any looks when I'm walking down the street from now on with you guys hanging around me. Everyone is going to be looking at you." She shrugged. "Whatevs...now that we got that situated, can we go now?" All the autobots nodded and followed her to her house. Once she was in the door, she shouted, "Mom! We have guests. They're some of Optimus's friends."
There was a simultaneous "What?" from three different directions as Anna, Robert, and Tony came into view. They all stopped in their tracks when they saw the strangers in their house. They guessed that one of them was Leo, even though he looked different, but the rest they did not know. Optimus quickly introduced everyone to each other. Conversation was started and Ironhide ended up talking with Anna.
"So you work with those humans who tried to capture us last night?" Ironhide's holoform towered over Anna, but she didn't seem fazed.
"Yes, but I wasn't on duty last night. Otherwise, we might have caught you," she joked, but then turned serious. "I recommend that you guys keep things on the down low for a while. One of my coworkers is obsessed with capturing one of you and right now things are probably on a hair-trigger."
"We'll be careful." He reassured. Ironhide was debating on telling her that he respected the type of woman she was for working in a male dominated field and performing well, but he was distracted by Tony. The young adult couldn't stop eyeing Chromia's holoform. "Oi! Keep your eyes off my gal!" Tony jumped at the outburst and was frozen in place as Ironhide stomped his way over to him.
Right when he was about to reach him, Chromia grabbed the back of his belt and dragged him back towards her. "Down boy." She smirked. Ironhide lightly growled in Tony's direction and pulled Chromia closer to him by the waist.
While all that was going on, Optimus snuck into the kitchen to have a silent discussion with Charlotte. "Lottie, my dear, you know we need to keep our relationship a secret around my autobots, right?" he whispered.
"Of course!" she whispered back. "I just don't know how we are going to relay that message to everyone else without making it obvious." She said worriedly, leaning into Optimus's holoform and feeling a spark beat for the first time. She silently thanked Ratchet for the upgrade. Right then, Leo zoomed around the corner and went straight for the fridge. The couple quickly broke apart. "Whatcha doing, Leo?" she asked as she saw him grab a cup, the milk, and the strawberry syrup from the pantry.
"I'm finally gonna try strawberry milk! I see you and Tony drinking it all the time, and now I can taste it!" Leo quickly made his drink and took a sip. His eyes widen and then he downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. "This is fantastic! Sensei, you must try this!" He hurriedly made another drink and shoved it into Optimus's hands. Leo waited patiently for him to finish. "So! What do you think?"
Optimus licked his lips. "I want more," he grinned.
"Mama, I think you're gonna have ta make a gourmet meal or something tonight. The bots have taste buds now." Charlotte laughed as she saw Leo and Optimus fight over the milk.
Not long after that, Anna quickly put together a small meal for the autobots to try. The kitchen table was full of various foods and happy people. The Ire family and the autobots got along really well, but during the meal, Ironhide couldn't help but notice the closeness between Charlotte and Optimus. Their actions would have gone unnoticed to the untrained eye, but Ironhide had been around for a very long time and he could tell when someone was hiding something. He didn't get the chance to question it though because everyone was getting up from their seats and heading outside.
"Ironhide? Are you coming?" Ratchet's holoform asked.
"Where are we going?"
"Outside. The humans want to see our robot forms. Come on," the medic started dragging him to the door.
"But we can't just waltz around with our real bodies. Satellites and passing planes will see us. Anna said we need to be careful." Ironhide objected.
"Calm down. Optimus is taking us to a bigger clearing that is also covered by a camouflaged shield. Apparently the coordinates that he sent us was leading us to this clearing. Weren't you listening?" Ratchet questioned irritably.
"No, my mind was somewhere else…" Ironhide followed Ratchet to a large meadow where Optimus and the others were waiting. Chromia had already been fawned over by the humans so now the attention was all on Ironhide and Ratchet. It wasn't long after that when the new arrivals were asked to transform. Chromia transformed into a light blue McLaren 12C Spider, Ironhide a black GMC Topkick, and Ratchet, ironically enough, transformed into a green Hummer H2 rescue vehicle.
"Mr. Ire, know any places where I can test how fast this Earth vehicle goes?" Chromia asked. Robert wasn't usually one for breaking the law, but he could always make an exception for the autobots. He told her of a nearby stretch of road where she could go as fast as she liked without the cops butting in. She thanked him and gave everyone the ride of their life.
As the day went on, Anna and Robert had to leave since they were behind on paperwork and Tony left because Ironhide kept giving him a hard time. So Charlotte was left with all the autobots in the meadow clearing. She was with Optimus on the far side, away from everyone, climbing a tree. Optimus was there in case she fell. The others were relaxing in the shade, waiting for Jetfire's rescue party.
"How long do you think it'll be until reinforcements arrive?" Chromia asked. She was leaning back on Ratchet who was also sitting.
The medic answered since Ironhide didn't look like he was paying attention. "I say by the end of this day or early tomorrow morning. What do you think, Hide?" Ratchet tried bringing him into the conversation.
Ironhide brushed off the medic's question. "I have an idea that will help pass the time." His statement confirmed that he hadn't been paying attention. Instead, Ironhide walked over to Optimus and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He and Charlotte looked at the black mech. "Lil Lette, mind if I steal him for a little while?" Ironhide used his own nickname for Charlotte.
"Go ahead, I'll just wait here." She sat in a secure spot high up in the tree she was in.
"What is it?" Optimus asked when he and Ironhide had reached the middle of the meadow.
"How about a little sparring match, eh? You're probably a little out of shape from the lack of practice." Ironhide smirked.
Optimus didn't like the glint in the other mech's optics. "Alright…"
All eyes were on them as they both took wider stances and put their arms up. Ironhide made the first move and advanced towards Optimus. In the beginning, it was a light sparring match, but things soon started to heat up. Optimus noticed Ironhide going harder and harder, getting to the point where it was really hurting Optimus's still healing body. He didn't understand why his Second-in-Command was going so hard until they were entangled really close to each other.
"You didn't think I would notice your little fling with Charlotte, did you?" Ironhide spoke loud enough only for Optimus to hear. The autobot leader narrowed his optics, understanding his opponent's intentions. Ironhide's laugh wasn't a heartfelt one. "I see the way you look at her; it's the same way I look at Chromia, but there is a slight difference. You look at Charlotte with longing since you know you can't have her in that way." Next thing Ironhide knew, his nose was broken and bleeding.
On the sidelines, Leo winced. "What did Ironhide say to Optimus?"
Chromia shrugged, "Whatever it was, it pissed Optimus off…"
The two titans continued their fight with Ironhide talking loud enough for only Optimus's auto-receptors to hear. "You're a Prime, Optimus! What gives you the right to break our ancient laws and traditions?!"
The spectators heard Optimus's fake laugh, it sent chills up their spines. "Those laws haven't been enforced since the days of the Council. And like you said, I am a Prime so I can do whatever I want since my word is law!" By now, everybody could hear their conversation. Optimus maneuvered around Ironhide and managed to give him a dead leg, making the black mech take a knee. Optimus paced back and forth, waiting for his opponent to rise again, and when he did, they both went back to their fighting stances. "Besides, it's not like you can enforce those restricting laws on me; you can't beat me."
It was Ironhide's turn to chuckle. "I think you forget that I helped raise you, youngling!" The older mech easily dodged Optimus's next attacks. This frustrated him and one of his punches was sloppier than he intended. Ironhide used this opportunity to his advantage and grabbed the younger bot's arm. He was able to pin Optimus with it and he pushed him to the ground. "Give up?" Ironhide twisted the arm. Pain shot through Optimus, but instead of weakening him, the pain ignited a spark in him. The little spark turned into a burning inferno that hadn't been this huge since his last encounter with Megatron. Using a wrestling move he learned on Earth, Optimus got out of the pin. "Hey!" Ironhide was shoved off and didn't have time to recover as Optimus came at him from all sides. The autobot leader moved with speed that should not have been possible for a mech his size. Before Ironhide could even comprehend that he lost, he was lying in the fetal position on the floor. Once he felt that he wasn't getting hit anymore, Ironhide peeked his head out from his arms and looked up at Optimus Prime's towering figure. In that moment, the weapons specialists could easily understand why some decepticons ran from the battlefield when they knew Optimus was going to be there.
"Ironhide, you are hereby demoted. You are no longer Second-in-Command of the autobot army." Optimus's authoritative voice rang out loud and clear over the meadow clearing. He then turned away from the defeated warrior and went straight to Charlotte who was still waiting anxiously in a tree.
"Oh slag…" Chromia and Ratchet came and helped Ironhide up. "What the hell was that all about?"
"I don't know if you two have noticed anything, but take a closer look at Optimus and Charlotte." Ironhide grunted, his body was aching. The other bots didn't really need to since they had also noticed, but chose not to say anything.
"Hide…we already know." Chromia was avoiding his optics by picking twigs out of his armor. She could feel his disbelief and anger spike through their bond. "Don't take it out on me!" She warned, "I'll whip your aft worse than Optimus did!"
He wasn't going to argue with her on that. "So what? You two were just going to let their little fling go on and see what happens? You guys know the laws-"
"Says a fellow law breaker," Ratchet reminded. "But the Council's laws never really made sense to me, and thanks to Megatron, all the Council members are dead so we can't ask them."
"Besides, I noticed that Charlotte looks at Optimus the same way I look at you, Ironhide." Chromia's soft touch grazed her mate's scarred optic. "It's the way you look at your soulmate." She gazed into his darker blue optics. "He looks at her the same way. He'd give up everything for her and not look back. He doesn't even care if he'll be shunned by his own kind."
"Chromia is right you know." Ratchet butt in, trying to make his presence known to them since they seemed to be getting lost in each other.
"I guess I owe Optimus an apology then, huh?" Ironhide sighed.
"You betcha!" Leo came out of nowhere. "Sensei is Lottie's angel with a shotgun." He winked, but the others didn't get his song reference. "Oh yeah," he face palmed, "Y'all are new here. Anyways, I recommend that song. I find that it is starting to describe their relationship pretty well."
Laserbeak had just flown past the dwarf planet, Pluto, when a small ship came into view. It was approaching the minicon so he stopped, unsure if the unknown vessel was a friend or foe. As it got closer, Laserbeak recognized the ship as the fastest ship in the decepticon fleet; he could also sense his master's presence onboard. The ship's doors opened and the minicon flew inside and landed on Soundwave's waiting shoulder.
Blackout was the one piloting the ship and turned around when he saw Laserbeak inside. He waited patiently while Laserbeak informed Soundwave of his discovery. "So? Did he find anything?" He asked. Scorponok, who was resting at his feet, looked up in interest. Soundwave turned toward Blackout, his visor showing Megatron from Laserbeak's point of view. Blackout was momentarily silent from shock, but then a sincere smile broke across his usually grumpy face. "Where?" He asked excitedly. Soundwave's visor displayed Jupiter, and then it zoomed in on one of its moons. "Got it." A little outline of dust was left as the ship took off at top speed.
Within no time the vessel was already landing on the volcanic moon, Lo, where Megatron was looking up in confusion. "That was fast…" The decepticon War Lord watched as some of his most loyal followers exited the ship.
Soundwave and Blackout appeared unfazed by the blistering heat as they approached Megatron, kneeling at his feet. "My Lord, apologies for taking so long to find you." Blackout spoke, but he was unable to look at his Master for all he felt was shame; he should have tried harder to find him. Soundwave, as usual, never said a word.
Megatron regarded his servants. Normally he would not accept failure lightly, but he was feeling unusually forgiving at the moment. Most likely due to the fact that he was just really happy to see them. "Apology accepted, but do not fail me again," he cautioned. The bots bowing before him rose. "Now, I have gathered a significant amount of energon from this planet and its surrounding moons. Load it on board quickly; I need to return to Cybertron." Blackout and Soundwave took off at once to follow his wishes, but Laserbeak remained behind. Megatron extended his arm and the bird bot landed on it. "Here is another treat for returning so fast." Laserbeak chirped in thanks. However, Megatron knew that even if the minicon flew at his fastest, there was no way he could have been back with help so early. "So how is it that I am being rescued earlier than I predicted?"
Blackout continued to work as he answered his master. "Laserbeak was following an autobot ship to this part of the galaxy. At first we thought nothing of it, but then Soundwave realized that this sector had been searched before. He didn't see it as a coincidence and followed Laserbeak. We saw him flying back and weren't sure if it was a false alarm or not, but it turns out he found you. All credit goes to Soundwave."
This news was interesting to Megatron. "This area was searched before?" This time Soundwave answered by showing a picture of Starscream and then a video of Laserbeak following the seeker to Earth. "Starscream," Megatron growled. Laserbeak felt his furious aura and flew off him and returned to Soundwave. "Work faster!" Megatron commanded, he wanted off this rock.
All of Soundwave's minicons were dispatched, along with Scorponok, so that the job would get done faster. Megatron was waiting inside the ship, seething. Once all the energon was on board, the decepticon ship took off at top speed. It was lucky for Blackout and Soundwave that it was the fastest ship because Megatron was as impatient as ever now that he got some of his old bloodlust back. Once Cybertron was in view, Megatron took control of the steering wheel. Instead of going straight to Kaon, like the other decepticons thought, he took them to the destroyed remains of Central City. The ship started descending and picking up a lot of dust. Soon, the bots couldn't see out the windows.
"Sir?" Blackout quietly questioned.
Ignoring him, Megatron landed the ship in the rubble of what was once the Council's meeting chamber. "Wait here," he ordered as he climbed out of the ship. Even though he was blind he made his way through the debris until he found what he was looking for, a secret entrance to another floor below. He entered an ancient room where there sat a half hidden bot. The dark individual looked at home from his seated position on the throne. Megatron bowed his horned head. "I have returned, my Master," and Megatron kneeled before his superior.
"Megatron...my disciple," the powerful voice purred. "I was beginning to worry about you." The hidden bot came into view. He was unlike any other Cybertronian of the age. His twisted black body had glowing orange designs all throughout it. His towering form approached Megatron and guided the younger mech to rise with his clawed finger under his chin. "Let me look at you." The far older mech examined Megatron's broken, turquoise optic, "tsk tsk tsk..." He saw how the top half of one of his horns was also broken off. Megatron's black, turquoise, purple, and gold armor was covered in soot and in need of many repairs. "I don't understand how you manage to get so banged up. You're wearing my gift, the armor of Unicron the Destroyer, and yet you are still greatly damaged. I thought I, and all of your years in the arena, taught you better."
"Forgive me, Master. It's just that my opponent knows all of my fighting techniques."
"And whose fault is that?!" The black and orange mech growled, his grip now hurting Megatron. "It is yours! You just had to be best friends with Optimus in the academy, didn't you? Taught him all that you knew! And now thanks to him, the war has lasted so long that our species is on the brink of extinction!" Megatron flinched at the outburst. "Sshhh," the scarred face of Megatron was suddenly caressed. "Now now, my adopted son, you will not show weakness."
"Yes...Fallen…" Megatron's face was neutral.
"Good," the Fallen smiled and sat back in his throne. "So, tell me of the outside world." Megatron told his Master of his experience of being lost in space, and of all the energon he had gathered. He told him of some of his future plans for the autobots as well. But the Fallen had heard enough. "Just finish it, Megatron. I'm tired of this war." The decepticon leader bowed again and was on his way out when the Fallen spoke up and mumbled Megatron's old, childhood name.
The departing mech stopped dead as unwanted memories from his youth came rushing to the surface. Those memories brought with them some of his old, childhood fury. He could never tell his caretaker that he hated it when his old nickname was used. It was precious to him and only a select few could use it, but all those bots were dead... Nevertheless, Megatron turned to the bot that had saved his life as a child. "Yes?" Megatron tried to ask as politely as possible.
"Make sure you actually kill Optimus this time."
Megatron bowed one last time, and left. When Soundwave saw the outline of his leader returning to the ship, he started activating all the controls so everything would be ready when he arrived. Once Megatron was inside they took off for Kaon, where the War Lord unleashed all his pent up anger. At first the decepticons thought the autobots had attacked with some mighty weapon, but then they realized it was something much worse. Megatron stormed his fortified city with ease, of course there wasn't much resistance after a while since word got around that the bot attacking was their leader. However, that news somehow failed to reach Starscream.
The command center's doors blasted open, scaring the slag out of the seeker. "Decepticons, open fire on the intruder!" Starscream shrieked his order as he made a run for it. No shots were fired. "What are you idiots doing?! Fire!"
"It is no mystery as to why my mighty Empire has fallen." The voice that had haunted Starscream's dreams fumed. The frightened seeker saw Megatron followed by a large number of his loyal followers enter the room.
"Lord Megatron...it...it is a miracle! You have returned to us!" Starscream instantly started praising, his voice obviously filled with panic.
"Yes, if that's what you want to call it." Megatron sneered. "You filthy, incompetent, worthless piece of trash!" Decepticons from all over the city could hear Starscream living up to his name as Megatron let him have it.
Afterwards, when he had calmed down, Megatron quickly organized a small group of decepticons to join him on his war ship that was to head for Earth. Coming with him were Soundwave, Blackout, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Barricade, Nightbird, Dreadwing, and Skyquake along with a large number of vehicons. Before their departure, Megatron made a visit to the medbay, not to see Starscream, but to have his own old injuries looked at. Eventually he was finally cleared to go. On his war ship, Megatron ordered his select few decepticons to their stations; they were heading for Earth. While they were traveling, the War Lord had a quiet moment to recall his earlier conversation with the Fallen. "Tronus…" he said his childhood nickname to himself. He had always been fond of the nickname his older brother had given him. Megatron assumed that his brother was too young at the time to say his full name, 'Megatronus'. When The Fallen found him, he had shortened his name to Megatron since he said it sounded more powerful, and that his old name was the name of a weak, beaten sparkling. According to the Fallen, Megatron needed to just forget his old life, but he couldn't; he would always remember his brother who died fighting for him…"Orion".
Follow Leo's advice and check out the song Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab if you haven't already heard it, and if you have heard of it, go check it out again. Also, if you didn't recognize Charlotte's Champion song from the movie "Chicken Little", watch that scene on YouTube.
Here is a quick thanks to Captain, my editor. She makes sure the chapters make sense before if give them to you ;)
I also think I can fix my review issue now that I think about it. I think I've been too nice to you guys, y'all need some cliff hangers. You Have Been Warned :D