Despite the villagers' best efforts, the battle was over almost before it had begun.
Liege Megatron walked through the devastation of what was once a quaint little village, for all it was hidden in the great caverns of Cybertron's lower levels. Soundwave was at his back as always, and his mental touch kept the roiling of his tanks low, though he could not stop Megatron's scowl at the memory of what he once would have felt looking over it all.
Mecha lay in the street, most in energon pools and with some type of crude or ancient weapon near them. All were dead, or would be soon enough, once Scalpel's drones came through. Around him, he could hear the sounds of his mechs looting, cheers and squabbles over particularly valuable items, mixed with the cries and sobs of their captives. The lucky ones would be put to work in the public services, the unlucky in the brothels and mines. He ignored the dark irony of just who was sentencing them to those fates.
He finally reached his destination, a small hut in the back of the village, almost touching the wall of the cavern. Onslaught had expressed concern that there might be an escape tunnel, but Megatron was familiar with the metal of the cavern walls, and it was near impossible to crack through without industrial equipment, equipment a settlement of rebel scholars and mid-caste labourers would not have.
Outside the hut's door, he stopped for a moment and vented deeply, refocusing on his mission. "Remain here, Soundwave. Send your team to collect as many datapads as they can."
"Acknowledged," Soundwave said, taking position to the left of the door, so he could be on Megatron's right when he reemerged. He sent out his deployers, as Megatron stepped into the hut.
It was as small inside as it was out, only one room with a door that likely led to washracks. At the back of the room, where the outer wall made a slight depression, stood the mech he was looking for.
"I half-expected Megatronus to come himself," Alpha Trion said, keeping his back to Megatron, so all he could see of him was his back, clad in a familiar purple cloak.
"The Arisen has far more important matters to deal with than the execution of a weak old mech like you," Megatron said, flexing his digits. The Arisen would want proof of the deed, but which would be more believable, a false helm, or would a bloodied cloak be enough? Perhaps with a damaged servo or T-cog to go with it-
"You can't fake this one like you have the others," Alpha said, pulling Megatron from his thoughts. "My brother can sense me, just as I can sense him. Even at the ends of the universe, we would know the other still lives. But he can't see us here, you can speak and act freely."
Megatron shook his helm. "I'd forgotten how annoying your mind reading is." Even so, the tension in his frame eased slightly, as he let go of the Liege, and became much more the miner-turned-archivist who had been taken under the Head Archivist's wing.
"Not mind reading, you know I'm not telepathic like your friend outside. I just know you, Decimus." It was then that Alpha finally turned around, and Megatron's vents hitched.
His old mentor was cradling a sparkling. Not a terribly young one, but they certainly had some time before their first youngling upgrade. A blue helm and pedes peeked out of purple cloth, another of Alpha's cloaks wrapped around them like a blanket. Their vents were soft and slow, deep in recharge.
"I dosed him with zyquidramine before the battle," Alpha explained. "He shouldn't wake for another three joor, unless given the counter-medicine."
Almost unwillingly, Megatron found himself approaching the pair, his unarmed servo extending to touch the sparkling's helm. The sparkling leaned into it just the slightest, and his EM field flared with affection, in memory of another helm that fit in his servo. But confusion quickly followed.
"Why him? There are at least two dozen sparklings in this village. Why spare him specifically?"
"Because he's my grandson."
Megatron's helm snapped up to look at his mentor, and Alpha chuckled, mirth in his blue optics. "You know I have a sparking. Is this such a surprise?"
"Had." Megatron stepped back, shame filling his spark and EM field. "I was sent after Artemis and their bondmate soon after…."
"After the fall of the Guilds." That was probably the worst part, Alpha's voice and field held no anger or recrimination. "Artemis inherited my gift of foresight, they saw your coming. So they sent Orion to me for protection."
Megatron couldn't help a snort. "Should have placed him on a ship and sent him as far away as he could get."
"But then he never would have made it to you."
Alpha stepped forward, grabbing Megatron's free arm, and with casual efficiency, he transferred the sparkling into Megatron's arms. Once Megatron realized it, he tried to step back, then forward, but Alpha retreated from him.
"He is your charge now, Decimus."
"What?" Megatron looked from the sparkling to Alpha and back and forth again. "No. No! You can not be serious!"
"I have never been more serious in my life. And it is no mistake. I have seen Orion's paths, and the only ones where he has a chance of fulfilling his destiny are the ones where he goes with you."
"To the Pit with prophecy; I slaughtered his creators! I have hunted down and destroyed every descendant of the Primes, even sparklings younger than him! Why would you ever entrust him to me?"
"Because I know your spark, Decimus." Alpha's gaze pierced him as his EM field flared, holding Megatron in place as it always did when his mentor let that hint of his true nature through. "It is what led you to start your writings, to question the system that my brothers put in place. And it remained unchanged, even when your mind was warped by Megatronus. It is what let you loosen the chains my brother bound you in, even if you cannot yet break them. It is what drives you to resist and defy in any way possible, to save those you can. It is what gives you the strength to bear the weight of all you've done and all you will do in the days to come until you return to the Well.
"And every day you look at Orion, at your own sparklings, they will be a reminder of why you are doing it. A reminder that it is for them, for Cybertron's future. For the day that a true leader can bring true peace and prosperity to our world."
The surety in Alpha's words, gaze, and field wrapped around Megatron's spark, and he looked down on Orion's sleeping face. Everything about him was so small, so young, so innocent. He leaned into Megatron's chestplate, little sleepy grunts as he resettled himself. Would he be so willing, if he knew the servos that held him had been coated with his family's energon?
"My dream had once been to remove the rule of the Primes," he said.
"Life is full of great ironies." Megatron looked up to Alpha once more. "Will you accept this charge, Megatron Decimus D-16? Will you raise Orion Pax in safety and security? Will you teach him all you know, and enlist others to teach what you cannot? Will you protect him, even at the risk of your own life?"
Megatron did not need to consider or ponder or even think. "I accept Orion Pax as my charge. I will raise him in safety and security. I will teach him all I know and more. I will protect him at the risk of my own life. I will see him overthrow The Arisen The Fallen Megatronus Prime, even if it is the last thing I do before my spark rejoins the Well."
Alpha smiled at him, his EM field filling with peace. "Thank you. Now…." He shifted his stance, spreading his arms slightly. "I am ready to rejoin my brothers."
Megatron's own field roiled, but he pulled it close, to not disturb Orion's rest. "There is still so much unsaid."
"We will have time for that when the work is done. But if you want answers now, search the hut before you leave. What you find will answer some of them."
Megatron nodded, and raised his arm, fusion cannon charging up. "Goodbye, Alpha."
"Goodbye, Decimus."
Megatron couldn't watch, so he ducked his helm against Orion's as he fired. The smell of plasma and melted metal, and the crash of a fallen body filled the small hut, even as the weight of the Alpha's EM field dissipated. Amazingly, Orion was not disturbed in the slightest, simply nuzzling against Megatron's face like an affectionate turbofox kit.
"He definitely gave you a heavy dose." On instinct, he placed a light kiss to the top of Orion's helm. And like that, he knew the sparkling had just carved out a place in his spark, next to another little mechling and a tiny newspark not yet emerged.
He finally looked to Alpha, skimming past the fatal wound to his mentor's face. His optics were closed, and his mouth was curled just the slightest at the corners, and above all else, he looked calm, almost serene. Like he knew it would all work out in the end.
"If only I could have your confidence, old mech." Still, he knelt, and rearranged his servos to rest over his chassis, and said a prayer in the Primal Vernacular. "May Solus, Onyx, and Micronus guide your spark to rest, that you may join those who left before, and watch over those you've left behind."
He stood, and took in the hut properly for the first time. Simple but comfortable, the busiest area was the corner holding a desk, which was covered in datapads and even a few sheets of flimsiplast. He walked over, and immediately found what he was looking for; a heavy duty datapad with a piece of flimsiplast tucked in the front, a note written in Second Revival Middle Kaonite.
To Answer Your Questions.
Megatron smiled slightly as he read it, before tucking the datapad into his subspace, along with the rest of the pads and flimsi on the desk. Then he straightened, and slipped once more into the mask Liege Megatron.
As he walked out the door, he could just read Soundwave's surprise in his field, before it snapped back to perfect control. Megatron replayed the events inside for his companion as they walked back to the others, and when it was done, they spoke over the link.
'What will Ebonspark think when you bring home a little sparkling?'
Megatron couldn't help a smirk, even as he also looked towards where the captive villagers were held. 'She knows I've always wanted a big family.'