Hammerhead.
Warnings: Violence, bad language, gore and possibly some sex.
"Through this doorway what's on the other side, never knowing exactly what I'll find, locked and loaded, voices screaming: let's go, come on do it, here we go!" – Hammerhead, the Offspring.
Timing: Post season 2 finale, set few weeks after Beauty of the Beast in my very own BotB Prime Timeline (due to the fact that season 3 – The Beast Hunters is about to be aired at the end of March).
Rating: M (alternative – if there will be any – or extended chapters will go MA and will be available on my Tumblr account, the address is available on my profile page).
Pairings: Megatron and June, Bumblebee and Miko, maybe some Shockwave and Arcee.
Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.
Stiff Upper Lip.
Like a dog in a howl I bite everything
And I'm big and I'm draw
And I'll ball your thing
I keep a stiff upper lip
And I shoot from the hip
I keep a stiff upper lip
And I shoot
And I shoot
Shoot from the hip– "Stiff Upper Lip" AC/DC
The awkward silence was just settling in when Ratchet entered the 'Infirmary'. June almost jumped while Megatron merely gave the Medic neutral stare.
"Nurse Darby, would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?" Ratchet reached to offer June his hand and allow her to the floor.
"No, let her stay." Megatron's voice was barely above whisper.
"I seriously doubt if this is a good idea."
June wanted to say something but Megatron was faster. "I want her to stay."
Ratchet blinked and stared in disbelief at the Decepticon, was he serious, what was that supposed to mean? "It may be rather personal…"
"I don't mind."
Ratchet watched Megatron for a moment and then he gave a good look to June. The woman looked surprised but calm. Then he looked at Megatron again, the Decepticon looked like a shadow of his previous self. That was intriguing, did Megatron wanted moral support? And if so, why from a human woman? Or perhaps he just wanted Ratchet to feel a bit shy? That was more probable, but it would be a failure as Ratchet knew June better and longer than Megatron did. If someone should feel shy around her it was Megatron. But he didn't look even a bit troubled by her presence. What in the Pit? What all of this could mean?
"Hrrnrrrhhh … as you wish, but only because she is a nurse." Ratchet finally agreed. There was no point in arguing, he knew that sooner or later he would understand what it all meant. For now all he could do was to observe.
June shot Megatron a quick glance and then sat at the edge of create she was standing on. She was curious why Megatron insisted on her staying here.
Ratchet opened his scanner and took a look at the reading while he proceeded with examination of Megatron's wound. He hummed quietly and then took another scan, this time with hand held scanner. It took a bit longer but Ratchet seemed rather pleased with what he saw. The he bend down a bit as simply stared at the wielding marks for a moment.
"The healing is progressing well. Your protoform is not aggravated and soon edges of the wound should smooth themselves enough so they could be closed."
Megatron nodded once, this was good news, if his protoform wound would have smooth edges it would heal better and the scarring would be far lesser. Torn edges could cause unpleasant consequences, make the protoform's outer layer too strained and cause pain. Or at very least make scars very large and painfully rubbing against the outer armour.
"Now, another thing." Ratchet reached into his subspace and took out a sterile box. He took out the content of the box and held it carefully in his servo. "When cleaning off your wound I removed this from your damaged T-Cog. I asked Starscream what it is, but he didn't want to tell. I was told that I could ask you." Ratchet moved the object closer to Megatron's face, its tubes and wired dangled freely. "What it is, what it does and what it was doing on your T-Cog?"
Megatron eyed the device with mixed feelings. Then he looked at June who was watching everything with polite curiosity. He stared at the ceiling for few more seconds and then he vented heavily as if he wanted to sigh exaggeratedly dramatically.
"It is a… modifier… I would like it re-installed if you don't mind."
"That much I already guessed. But what exactly it modifies? And there is no way I will install you some random device without knowing what it does."
Megatron furrowed his optic brows battling with his thoughts, he was weak and tired, and in no mood for explaining anything. At least not to Ratchet. But if he wanted his device re-installed he had to play along.
"It adds auxiliary transformation sequence to my T-Cog."
Ratchet fought the urge to rub his optics. He knew that Megatron could make it extremely difficult if he wanted and it looked like the old Warmonger did want to make it so.
"What transformation sequence. What it does to you? I need to know if it is safe to install this thing on your new T-Cog. We don't want any mishaps in here."
Megatron stared at the ceiling. "It was designed by Shockwave to lessen our energon consumption by reducing our fuel requirement."
"This is nonsense! You have plenty of energon, enough to fuel your ship." Ratchet gave Megatron angry look, he wasn't buying that.
The Decepticon rolled his optics. "It was designed before we arrived to Earth."
"Then why didn't you use it before? It would give you great advantage over us."
"Because the auxiliary transforming sequence is very energy-consuming, the process takes a lot of time to finish, is extremely unpleasant and we would have to do it all the time to fight with you." Megatron took break to vent through his mouth; he was really tired now and wanted to rest. "I just had it installed recently."
"And why?" Ratchet still had doubts. Sure, it was logical, if the device worked as it was supposed to, but according to what Megatron just said it didn't. It was crude prototype, so why Megatron had it installed? Why didn't he wait for working version?
"I say that I did it for rather personal reasons, which are none of your business and I don't want to discuss them. With you."
Ratchet stared for a moment, then huffed, then took a look at June who was desperately trying not to grin; then glared at Megatron. "I can respect that. But you can expect same question from Optimus, and he may insist that you answer it."
"And I may insist that you drop the subject."
"Hrrnrrrhhh… Fine." Ratchet was reaching the final frontier of his patience and was very close to pay Knockout some respect for dealing with patients like Megatron. "Can you at least tell me how it works, what is happening during the transformation?"
"Why? Are you planning on building a replica?" All Megatron received was a grim stare, so he sighed a heavy vent. "I never used it before nor have I witnessed such a particular transformation, but I was told that the mech or femme simply folds in until they reach the size they desire. Now if you would excuse me, I really would like to rest now."
"And rest you should. I will speak with Optimus about your modifier." Ratchet put the device back into the box and hid it in his subspace. "Come, Nurse Darby, let's go now."
"She may stay…"
"As much as for some reason you do enjoy her company Megatron, Nurse Darby has her own duties and she can't spend all the time sitting here with you." With this Ratchet reached and allowed June to climb on his servo.
"Ratchet's right, I have to go. But I may come again if you like."
Megatron gave her long and silent stare, as if he was considering her proposal. "Yes, I would greatly appreciate that. It is always good to have some favourable company."
June smiled and Ratchet just huffed and mumbled something about insolence. Megatron could hear Medic's steps as he disappeared behind the crate wall, then he allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness again.
TBC
Sorry for taking so long, but RL and other projects kept me busy and I had to prioritize (a promise made last year won, so everything else had to wait).
To Kaleia:
Megatron is a fallen hero and a villain. The war wasn't his doing but he did plenty of nasty things during the fights, for example he destroyed Bumblebee's voice box (in Prime verse, in other verses he did other nasty things). He is very complicated character, so it's hard to say the he is entirely evil, but he isn't by any means nice guy.
I always encourage people to see this war as something more than just good vs. evil. There were reasons why Decepticons were so successful and why so many followed them (as not all of them were criminals). I see both sides as victims of their own society that stuffed them in narrow frames, dividing them into castes and causing the society to split. With time each class got further away from others, system that was designed to preserve Cybertronian civilisation failed and cause its fall. And attentive observers will be able to notice the same thing happening in our own, modern society. We do not have castes, but those of lower classes, people that work hard for minimal wages get even poorer and those wealthy get wealthier and wealthier; many of them at the cost of those poor ones. Middle class degrades and splits into upper one, wealthier and lower one that slowly descents into poverty. Once again fiction preceded reality.
Be patient, at some point you'll get yourself equipment to read e-comics and e-books, you'll see.