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 ending of the series and because the first chapter was posted before the last season was aired).
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.
Spellcheck performed by Monstrous-hourglass of dA.
I Stand Alone.
I've told you this once before
Can't control me
If you try to take me down
You're gonna break
I feel your every nothing that you're doing for me
I'm thinking you ought to make your own way
I stand alone
Inside
I stand alone
You're always hiding behind your so-called goddess
So what
You don't think that we can see your face
Resurrected back before the final falling
I'll never rest until I can make my own way
I'm not afraid of fading
I stand alone
Feeling your sting down inside me
I'm not dying for it
I stand alone
Everything that I believe is fading
I stand alone
Inside
I stand alone
And now it's my time
(Now it's my time)
It's my time to dream
(It's my time to dream)
Dream of the skies
(Dream of the skies)
Make me believe that this place isn't plagued by the poison in me
Help me decide if my fire will burn out before you can breathe
Breathe into me – "I Stand Alone" Godsmack
oOo
New Kaon, Dark Mount (formerly Jasper), west of Valley of Fire, Clark County Nevada, USA. Thursday afternoon.
Megatron walked the dark corridor of New Kaon with perplexity firmly plastered to his face. He couldn't remember why on Earth he demanded for everyone to fill written reports on everything (he settled for blaming Shockwave) but he regretted it greatly at the moment. He was reading a report from one of the Vehicons and was wondering just how it was possible for his soldiers to create 'masterpieces' of the kind he just read. He just finished reading a report from a Vehicon with tendency for ballistic punctuation.
'I, was flying over, the desert in search, of source of strong energon, reading…'
And it wasn't the worst that Megatron had to read. In fact it was quite mild case. Apart from the random punctuation it was clear and manageable. The worst case was the one that the Warlord was reading at the moment. It was pure torture. The large grey mech's optics narrowed and were threatening to leak optical lubricants due to the strain that their owner was subduing them to.
'(…) Energon deposit waz lardge enouh tu main. The energon veyn waz thik and led vericalli doun wif multiple branches speding in al direcsions. Estimated amont of energon is tuenty and wif possibiliti ov more veynz in direct procsimiti ov the one discouvered (…)'
"Dear Primus." Megatron whispered as he rubbed his optics with his thumb and index digit. "This is torture that even Unicron wouldn't think of."
The Decepticon Warlord entered the Command Centre and tossed the reports to Starscream.
"Dispose of this abuse of Neocybex." He said calmly. "It is crime against our culture. If Tarn would see that he would execute authors under charges of profanation of Cybertronian culture."
"That bad?" Starscream opened the latest report, the one that almost made Megatron's optics to leak. "Oh, dear Primus! If this is how they handle Neocybex, what would they do to Primal Vernacular?"
"I believe that perhaps a tutoring would be in order." Shockwave said from where he worked at one of the consoles.
"After this whole M.E.C.H. situation is solved, I'm going to order an obligatory language course." Starscream declared solemnly. "With an exam at the end."
"Are you going to be the one leading the course or will you find a linguist?" Shockwave turned from his work station and looked at Starscream. It was impossible to tell if he asked honestly or it was sarcasm because his voice was even, he had no face to betray his intentions and Soundwave was on board of Nemesis in the upper atmosphere. The only way to read the mech was his antennae, but they only betrayed his Spark's emotional activity; and the moment they were idle.
"I planned to coax you to do it." Starscream answered. He assumed that the faceless Decepticon was sarcastic, just in case. "After all, you were a scholar in your Academy."
Shockwave glared as always. It was unnerving but the mech had no other choice as he couldn't even blink. "I will consider your offer." He said and this time it was certain that he wasn't sarcastic. "After our dealings with M.E.C.H. will find fortunate conclusion."
Megatron watched the exchange in slightly amused silence. Starscream and Shockwave were both scientists but none of them was culture study adept. Both dealt in hard science, though their respective fields of interests differed in most part. Not to mention that Starscream's hazardous approach to experiments earned him a ban from science labs with the exception of maintenance of his own weapons, and even that under supervision of Megatron or Soundwave.
And then they've heard it. It was low at first but then the noise grew, similar to some sort of swish as if something cut through the air. Then they heard the loud boom and the citadel shook slightly with the explosion's force. Luckily New Kaon had solid foundations and strong construction. Then more tremors followed, as if the tower was hit by a heavy artillery salvo. The entire Decepticon citadel felt silent, only sounds of explosion could been heard. And then the alert claxon started to honk.
Megatron quickly regained his composure. He knew that it could happen but would never guess that it would be so fast.
"All hands to the battle stations! We are under attack!" He roared while Shockwave displayed images from security cameras that Soundwave insisted on installing.
There were several helicopters and armoured vehicles in shooting distance from the New Kaon. It couldn't be anyone else but M.E.C.H. The transporters quickly emptied their launchers sending missiles at the tower then retrieved beyond shooting distance where they were relatively safe.
Helicopters were more agile, they were in constant motion ducking shots of the Decepticon troopers while shooting back with their own launchers, sending a nasty mix of various kinds of ammunition, starting with penetrating and ending with incendiary rounds.
Megatron took closer look and decided that they looked like military machines, most probably 'borrowed' from some US Army base that M.E.C.H. agents had access to.
One of the loads had to hit the camera that Shockwave used to display the situation because the video feed was cut and the screen went blank. The mono-optic Decepticon quickly found a new camera set at a slightly different angle. This caused them to miss the transporters returning to the effective fire range, packing new sets of massive missiles.
"What are you aiming at?" Starscream screeched at his troopers. "Shoot them!"
oOo
Outside of New Kaon.
Silia observed the attack from the command helicopter hovering beyond Decepticon range. The assault was progressing according to the plan and she was pleased. Missiles were hitting lower levels of the tower, its metal walls were resistant but they could take only so much before their integrity would be breached. And all she had to do was to weaken them enough and the weight of entire citadel would crush them. They wouldn't be able to support the mass of entire tower, she was basically playing lumberjack as the tower would juts fall like a tree. If someone would cry 'timber' during the tower's fall, it wouldn't be out of place. At least that was the plan.
"The second round of rockets is ready for launch." Said Moriarty from above his tablet.
"Fire." Silia ordered and almost instantly multiple missiles jetted toward New Kaon's lower levels.
It was just a few seconds later when explosions bloomed around the base of the tower. It didn't fall, but no one expected it to just topple immediately down. This round was meant only to weaken the construction even more. The whole plan was to just cause the tower with Decepticons still inside to crash on the ground. The fall would kill many of them and then M.E.C.H. would only have to finish off few survivors.
oOo
New Kaon.
Another wave of tremors shook the entire construction sending couple of Vehicons to the floor. It was clear that the construction suffered heavy damage. Not critical, at least not yet, but serious enough to consider evacuation. Megatron growled with fury. He knew that there would be an attack, but it still made him angry, it was his base after all, his home away from home.
"I am receiving alerts about structural damage." Shockwave reported. "They are concentrating their fire on our lower levels. They are trying to collapse the tower by inducing damage to construction in the place where it is subdued to the most extreme strain."
"And they're succeeding." Starscream added. "We will fall like an organic tree."
Megatron glared at his two officers. It was a rare occurrence that the two of them agreed on something just like that. For a moment Starscream and Shockwave sounded like two scientists that can actually cooperate with each other.
But the graveness of the situation prevented the Warmonger to smirk at their odd behaviour. They couldn't just give up and allow M.E.C.H. to win. This wasn't simply the matter of M.E.C.H. being humans but about what these humans would do with Decepticons' remains and unlucky survivors (if there be any). In this moment the species of the attackers was irrelevant, what counted was the fate of the attacked. Autobots would also worry about human kind as a whole as M.E.C.H. domination didn't seem as a desirable end result. Megatron didn't care about the whole of humanity, he only cared for June and her son, but only because Jack was hers. The rest of humans weren't his problem at least as long they didn't attack him.
"Every ground based frame will gather in the mess hall and evacuate to the Nemesis." He commanded through the intercom system of New Kaon. "Follow the fixed evacuation procedures." Then he reached to his comm. link activating it. "Soundwave! Send a groundbridge to New Kaon's mess hall and prepare to take in all ground based soldiers."
There was no other reply on Soundwave's end than short, polite ping of acknowledgement. Megatron was now sure that his order will be followed, Soundwave never failed.
"All fliers! Prepare for take off!" Megatron roared through intercom. "Report your battle readiness to Commander Starscream." The Warlord glared at said Air Commander who only smiled in turn and jetted out of the command room. Then the Warmongers stare rested on Shockwave who never moved from his place at computer console. "Shockwave, what are you still doing here?"
"My Liege, it is only logical that I should remain here." The Tarnian noble answered calmly.
"You're ground based, you need to evacuate." Megatron forced himself to remain calm; this was no time and place to have a fit. "I know that you used to be a flier, but now you need to leave."
"I am also a war frame; my alternative form is a tank." Shockwave stated. "It is logical that as such I should take part in battle."
"You can't fly and this place may fall any moment, you won't be able to fly away and end up buried under the rubble." Megatron took a deep intake of air and began to calmly explain his own logic to the most logical 'Con that walked the face of Earth and Cybertron. "I need you and Knockout to prepare the Nemesis' med. bay for the injured and you won't able to do that when you will be wounded yourself. And we will have plenty of casualties if M.E.C.H. has more of those weapons that I've been shot with."
Shockwave stared at Megatron for few seconds, analysing everything. "You argument is… logical, my Liege. I will depart immediately and take command over the preparation of the Casualty Room."
With that Shockwave turned around and stalked away. Megatron only rolled his optics. That was the problem with Shockwave. Soundwave always followed orders, making sure that not only they would be performed but also that the end result would be a desired one. Starscream tended to do things his way and/or betray (though not lately) but if he put his Spark to it, he also managed to obtain decent results. Shockwave had to see logic in every order; otherwise he would ask all those irritating questions making Megatron want to just snap his neck strut.
oOo
Outside of New Kaon.
Silia observed the base of the tower with her powerful binoculars and it looked mangled enough in her opinion. It was time to proceed with the second phase.
"Proceed with Enhanced Hot Plasma Cannon fire. Let's see if the new battery cells will perform as they should." 1] The woman said with a nasty smile.
Moriarty didn't say a thing as he ordered the HPC's to open fire.
oOo
New Kaon.
Megatron transformed in the last moment to fly from the falling tower. He scanned the area for his troopers and Starscream only to find them airborne and returning fire at M.E.C.H. helicopters. The human made machines were more stationary and couldn't reach speeds of an aircraft of any kind, be that human made or Cybertronian.
The Warmonger then scanned the remains of his citadel. The tower laid on the ground, broken, crushed, in ruins. He knew that it could be rebuilt, but now it was a mangled mess of metal. Megatron was livid, how dared they destroy his treasured base, his reminder of Cybertron, the home world that he loved so much! He transformed in mid-flight just above the place where his throne room used to be and landed on top of the debris that was the top of his tower. His plating shifted to its final shape as he straightened to his full height. Anger was boiling inside of him, his Spark fluttered with rage, his fuel pump was sending his energon through his veins in double of the normal speed, the Dark Energon transferring to his systems along with the regular one.
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE LAURA BISHOP – WESTENRA!" He roared. "SPAWN OF SILAS!" He added. He wanted her to know that he knew. "ANSWER ME, FEMALE! OR ARE YOU A COWARD?"
"I know you as well!" Came a disembodied voice. It was low but very womanly, it held strange tone to it, almost erotic but lacking the heat that was replaced with fury. "Megatron, leader of Decepticons. Murderer! I am coming for you!"
And at the very moment a helicopter appeared. It took a full minute for it come close enough to the Decepticon Warlord. The machine turned and the side door opened revealing the petite form of a woman. Megatron focused his red stare on the figure. She was slim but not too much, had blonde curls floating around her head and pair of black eyes filled with hate. Megatron had no doubt that the hate was directed at him. He would call her beautiful if not for the fact that he hated her, and that her father ordered kidnapping the female he cared so much for.
"We do have unsettled business alright." He said, his voice loud enough for her to hear, but he wasn't shouting anymore. "And it is very personal."
"Yes, it is." Silia agreed. "You are responsible for my father's demise. You are responsible for M.E.C.H. setbacks. And you should be dead already."
"M.E.C.H. abducted one of my generals because you wanted new technology." Megatron replied and decided to omit June and her kidnapping, he needed to keep his femme safe. "You cooperated with my SIC when he went rouge only to steal his inner mechanism and used it to battle my personal enemy, that only I have the right to defeat. And you, you have shot me. Time to face consequences of your actions."
"We have our goals that I will not excuse for, especially to you." Silia growled, wrinkling her nose. "I have nothing to say to you other than I want you dead. We're done!"
And the helicopter flew away leaving Megatron behind. The mech bared his denta and aimed his cannon at the helicopter. "Yes, we are." He murmured activating his fusion cannon. He didn't care if how his action would be seen by others. This organic femme was dangerous and thus had to die. Period.
oOo
Silia's command helicopter.
Silia felt her heard pounding in her chest. She didn't expect that meeting Megatron face to face would affect her so much. The mech was indeed a behemoth, he was massive and she could feel his power. The air was filled with dust but she could almost smell him: metal and polishing wax. She clenched her fists to hide the trembling. His blood red optics were piercing and the snarl predatory. She didn't saw that back then on the desert, he was walking away with his confident gait, and even if he would turn to look back, he would have been too far for her to take such a close look. That machine was intimidating. She wanted him destroyed. She needed him destroyed.
"Moriarty, order the thermobaric warhead to launch." She said with all the calmness she could muster. She sighed heavily. "Time to end this."
Moriarty took one glance at her and gave the order. He agreed with her, it was about time to finish this business here. They tested the new energon power cells, which performed flawlessly. They had four HPCs, one had its coils burned out, second's operating systems failed, remaining two were operational and still shooting at the cluster of fliers that were attacking their helicopters that were sent to search for remains of dead Decepticons.
At that moment the pilot took sharp turn and evaded an energy blast. They saw light purple ball of light passing them by.
"Time to bolt." The pilot stated and begun evasive manoeuvres.
oOo
Ruins of New Kaon.
Megatron cursed when his shots missed their target, Silia had a good pilot. He stopped shooting the moment one of M.E.C.H.'s cannons sent a ball of plasma at him, he ducked but his stance wasn't stable and he tripped falling into the metallic remains of his used to proud tower. It was the fall that saved his life.
oOo
Helicopters started to move away and Starscream wasn't sure why. It could've been anything but he felt in his struts that it wasn't anything he would like. If M.E.C.H. ordered their own to leave it could only mean that they were ready to pull some really nasty move. He quickly ordered his troops to leave direct proximity of their fallen base, then he commed his One True Lord and Master.
"Master! Master!" He urged not sure if Megatron could hear him. "M.E.C.H. is leaving the area they're up to something. You must leave. Now!"
There was static but then Megatron's voice rang through the link. ::Slagers! I'm stuck in the tower's remains. Evacuate the area and wait for further instructions, I will join you as soon as I untangle myself.::
If Starscream were in his robot form he would have pulled a face, but in his jet form he only wobbled a bit, turn and left.
oOo
Autobot temporary base.
Fowler's phone rung loudly in the silence of the Autobot base. Smokescreen was recharging quietly in a corner. Other humans, Jack was in his job, having the afternoon shift, Miko was preparing to leave to visit her parents. She was about to fly home the next week and spend half of the summer break with them back in Tokyo only to return later due to her scholarship. Raf was silently typing on his laptop. Arcee reading some data pad while sitting on top of her favourite pile of crates. Bumblebee was patrolling with Bulkhead. Wheeljack was making himself few spare grenades. Ratchet was maintaining his tools while Optimus was observing monitors.
"This is Fowler…" The Special Agent answered the persistent call. "WHAT! Yeah, thanks!"
"What is it Agent Fowler?" Optimus looked back at the human.
"Our boys report that M.E.C.H. attacked. You won't believe what they attacked!" Fowler was slowly turning pale.
"Hah!" Ratchet puffed not pausing spraying his durabillium drill with WD – 40 2]. "Pentagon?"
"They're attacking New Kaon!" Fowler dropped the news. "And they're winning!"
"What? Impossible." Ratchet put his tool and the miracle making lubricant away.
"Doc is right." Wheeljack closed the last grenade and earned himself 'don't call me doc' from Ratchet. "New Kaon is a Cybertronian stronghold, quite tough place to bust. And I'm speaking from experience."
"And M.E.C.H. is close to topple the place down like a timber." Fowler said with his usual tone. "They're firing at the base of the tower…"
"They're trying to damage its construction in its weakest point." Optimus stated with serious tone. "They want to kill as many Decepticons as possible in the process because the falling construction will kill those inside of it."
"Clever." Arcee swallowed her last sip of liquefied energon. "The question is, should we intervene or allow M.E.C.H. to do the dirty job for us?"
"Arcee, we have an agreement with Megatron." Optimus reminded. He omitted the fact that he was also worried about the Cybertronian race as a whole. He was thinking about it more and more often lately, their genetic pool was shrinking, with every dead Cybertronian the threat of extinction grew. There was no telling when they would be able to breed with use of the Allspark as the life giving energy was away from Cybertron, heading further and further into space in its never ending journey. 3] There was also possibility of cross – breeding, but not every Cybertronian would choose to find themselves non-Cybertronian mate.
"So, what should we do?" Arcee interrupted Prime's musings.
"Prepare to roll out." Optimus decided. "We will aid Megatron in his battle with our common enemy. Ratchet, stay here and be prepared that we may have wounded. Raf, contact Bumblebee and Bulkhead, they're to return and join us as soon as possible. Autobots, follow me."
Ratchet vented deeply and opened the groundbridge. He didn't like it, but Optimus was right, they had an agreement with the Decepticons and the Medic was just as aware as the Prime of the genetic pool of their species shrinking. The longer the war lasted the more sacred every single life was. Even Decepticon ones.
oOo
Ruins of New Kaon.
Megatron started to remove his left leg from the mess of cables that it stuck in when he fell into in caved and torn piece of a wall. He sat and reached with his servos to pull the multi coloured cables. It looked easy enough that he decided that cutting them wouldn't be necessary. Then he heard strange noise. Something like 'Plop' of a cork popping out of a bottle. He looked up to see that one of the cars was abandoned when the rest speeding away.
The sound came from a device mounted on the car's open back. It ejected large object that went quite high in the air thanks to its own small jet engine. Then it beeped and exploded.
Megatron saw flash and knew that he needed to take cover. But it was too late, he couldn't move faster than the shockwave that the bomb generated. He threw himself back to duck into the hole in the wall that he stuck in but he was too slow. He felt a hit and then everything went black.
oOo
Above Dark Mount (previously Jasper).
Starscream observed the device igniting and blowing. It was very large warhead that instead of being dropped from the air was jetted up. When it reached presumably intended height it went off producing explosion and shockwave. Starscream knew what it was. A thermobaric weapon. A large enough could produce damage similar to nuclear weapon only without the radiation. This one wasn't large enough to level a large area but it was large enough to cause heavy damage. The grey Seeker concluded that it wasn't meant to produce much damage itself; instead it was meant to send all the debris flying turning it into shrapnel.
"Clever." He purred to himself.
"Commander, what should we do now?" One of his fliers asked.
Starscream pondered for a moment and then opened his comm. link to give an order. "Cautiously approach the ruins and seek for Lord Megatron."
One Earth year before he would have hoped to find a Sparkles shell, but now he wanted to find Megatron alive. He was still power hungry, but after his time as a rouge he could appreciate the safety of Decepticons ranks and strangely enough, the strong leadership of Megatron. He was still reluctant to allow himself to depend on anyone, least of all Megatron, but he appreciated the fact that for once he wasn't on his own and could afford relax every now and then, being sure that he didn't have to count only on his own wits to have anything to digest and keep himself safe.
oOo
Ruins of New Kaon.
A green and blue swirl appeared just above the ground and a group of Autobots emerged. They immediately transformed and pulled out their weapons but there was nothing to aim at. Then they noted Decepticon fliers approaching slowly.
The place was in ruins, everything was bent, burned and/or torn. The ground looked like it was ploughed.
"Looks like we're too late." Wheeljack summarised the landscape.
"But who won?" Smokescreen asked pointing at the remains of New Kaon. "I can't see any M.E.C.H. goons around here. If they won they would be looking for corpses, right? But I don't see Decepticons either, expect for those flier there. But no grounders.
"I believe it is Starscream there, we will ask him." Optimus pointed at the approaching shapes of Decepticon air forces.
"Or he will try to shoot us." Arcee allowed venom to seep into her voice. She counted on Starscream to shoot them, it would give her an excuse to try and end him for good, for what he did to Cliffjumper.
Unfortunately for Arcee, Starscream transformed and landed in front of them instead of attacking. Behind him the rest of his fliers landed in the remains of the tower and started to search for their leader.
"You're too late." Starscream pointed out. "M.E.C.H. launched their attack and retreated. They'll be back; I don't think they finished yet."
"We came as soon as we learned that you're being attacked. " Optimus replied. "What happened here?"
"Hey hit us with everything they had, destroyed the citadel and then used some sort of thermobaric bomb. It turned all the debris into shrapnel from what I can see here." Starscream looked around. "I've seen bigger though. Even on this planet."
"Casualties?" The Prime asked in a firm voice. He would offer help though he was sure that Starscream would decline.
"No. Lord Megatron ordered evacuation of ground pounders." The Seeker flapped his wings is seeker equivalent of shrug. "We were airborne during the attack, fighting off their helicopters. I don't know about Lord Megatron, I've lost the sight of him at some point. But I heard him calling Silia's birth name." Seeker turned to face the metallic rubble. "He's probably buried there…"
"Commander!" One of the Vehicons ran toward the group, clutching something in his servos.
When he approached they could see his wings being held stiffly, tensed or scared, maybe both. He reached and presented his finding. It was almost undamaged helm of Megatron, the only part that was broken was one of his sharp cheek guards. The piece was dented with its tip broken clear off.
"Ah… I would like to accept your offer, Optimus Prime." Starscream said after he regained his ability to speak. "We may need it."
Optimus never moved his stare from the helmet. Long ago Megatronus told him that the helmet was welded to his head and that it couldn't be easily removed. It would take considerate force to just rip the helmet off, or smaller force but at the right angle.
The Prime reached his comm. link and tapped it while his optics were glued to the helmet. "Ratchet, please take your medical kit and 'bridge to my current location."
There was no answer but merely second later Groundbridge opened and puzzled looking Ratchet emerged from it.
"So fast?" He asked with amusement.
"No, old friend. We came after the battle." Optimus answered with his usual seriousness and moved a bit allowing Ratchet to see the Vehicon and his finding.
"Good Primus!" Ratchet glared at the helmet. "I though he couldn't take it off."
"Because he couldn't." Starscream spat. "And yet it's here, empty."
"He's somewhere there." Ratchet said with grim face. He hated Decepticons but his medical programming was stronger than his hatred, at least at the moment. He internally recalled all the injuries that could occur in situation like this.
oOo
Near remains of New Kaon.
Silia cursed and put her binoculars away. These damn Autobots. She knew that US military can't be far away if Autobots were involved. That Fowler individual was always in contact with them and would send them back up in case they would be attacked.
"Again! This is outraging!" She said out loud.
"At least we haven't lost a single soldier." Moriarty pointed out. "The thermobaric load works. The energon power cells are working. The Decepticon base lies in ruins."
"But I don't have Megatron's head."
"All in its good time." Moriarty shrugged. He didn't care about Megatron and his head, it was Silia's obsession. "We should lay low for some time. Gather more information. For now they will look for us, we need some time for things to settle down a bit, let them lower their guard."
Silia's only answer was angry growl.
"We will strike when they won't be expecting us. For now they're alerted of our presence." He said in calming voice. "We can use this time to search for our enemies' weak points."
Silia casted one last glance at the destruction she caused and beckoned Moriarty to follow. They had nothing to do there anymore, they could as well return to their new base.
oOo
Ruins of New Kaon.
It took ten minutes for Vehicons to find Megatron and another fifteen to uncover him. The Warmonger laid flat on his back in a hole in the wall, various construction elements supporting his unconscious body, holding his arms and legs in place. One of his pedes was still wrapped in cables. He was lucky, no shrapnel hit him due to the fact that he was mostly hidden and the rubble that would otherwise act like shrapnel just flied above him leaving some debris to cover him as it tumbled.
Ratchet knelt beside the unconscious Decepticon and scanned him with his in build scanner. Then he took closer look at his patient. The gun metal plating was covered in desert dust but seemed fine. Then Ratchet glanced at the head of the Warlord. The facial plating was slightly torn in the place where the damaged cheek guard have been before. The slim, angular face was now revealed. Megatron had high check struts, strong chin and large optics. The terrible scarring was ruining the effect but Megatron was a handsome mech.
Then Ratchet looked at what the helmet was covering before. Megatron's forehead was shaped flat with angular lines that went smoothly to their halt when it was connected by some sort of hinge with a panel. On each side of Megatron's head were circular audials, just like every other mech's or femme's. Each audial was fitted into another panel, like the one connected to the forehead but there were no hinges there. Each panel was connected with a small hinge to a slim fin, with the forehead panel being connected to two fins, giving four delicate looking fins wrapped tightly around Megatron's head. Each fin was ornamented with bio – lights and paint, each having additional hinge in the middle that allowed them to fold around their owner's head. Unfolded they would form a crest without a doubt, and by the look of them, it would be magnificent one too. 4]
Ratchet performed a more detailed scan of Megatron's cranium. The mech was hit in his head and therefore could suffer from brain module damage. The Medic read his scans and almost jumped up seeing Megatron's fins' wiring, but there was no serious damage safe for cracked cheek strut and probable concussion that the hit had to result in.
"He will live." Ratchet said getting up. "And is in no immediate danger. But you should take him to Knockout as soon as possible. My scans showed cracked cheek strut and I guess he has to have concussion. Other than that, he's just out and with little luck he shouldn't be suffering from any lasting effects of this hit."
"His helmet." Starscream took the piece of metal from Vehicon's servo and took a close look. "It was welded to his head."
Ratchet took the helmet from Starscream and examined it. On Megatron's panels were matching marks to those he could see inside of the helmet. It had to hurt like Pit when it was attached and it couldn't be comfortable, at least at first. Later the mech had to just get used to it.
"I wouldn't recommend it." Finally Ratchet said handing back the helmet. "You would have to find new points of attachment for the helmet because the old ones won't do anymore. Such panels are very sensitive and prone to damage. Another attempt at welding something to them would end up with them being burned through. The fins are out of the question, they're too delicate. I suggest fixing the helmet and letting Megatron wear it like that, without attaching it permanently. It should hold on his head fine as it is."
"If you do not require our further assistance, Starscream, we will take our leave. "Optimus approached the Seeker.
"No, I am grateful for your… assistance." The Air Commander bowed his head slightly. "And, just so you would know, the cease fire is in still in place. And it will remain so until Lord Megatron will say otherwise."
"Thank you." The Prime nodded and then connected with the Autobot base. "Rafael, send us a 'bridge."
TBC
1] Enhanced Hot Plasma Cannon is version of the cannon that Megatron was shot with (it was Hot Plasma Cannon). HPC 2 is powered by energon battery cells. The weapon is called Hot Plasma Cannon due to its "projectile" which is plasma ball. There are two kinds of plasma – cold plasma and hot plasma. Cold plasma is the kind you can find in a thunder, it has temperature close to 10 000 Kelvins. Hot plasma is one with the temperature of 1 000 000 Kelvins.
The cannon itself can only be fired at objects that conduct electricity, metal for example. It created a ball of hot plasma; similar to spherical thunder (a rare phenomenon) only made of hot plasma instead of cold one, and sent it to its target. The ball of 1 000 000 Kelvin hot ionized gas simply burns through metal.
Remember – it's not real science, I just base on what I know about electricity and allow my imagination to run wild.
2] WD – 40, it's brilliant! It's a miracle making substance! It will un-rust anything. It will lubricate any mechanism! It's a life saver. You can use it on anything, from a car's suspension to computer fans!
3] In my fic the Allspark wasn't sent to some fixed place where it would be hard to capture – like in Beast Hunters movie; but it was sent flying. And only Optimus knows the direction.
4] Based on what we could see underneath of Megatron's helm in IDW's Megatron: Origin vol 2, and More than Meets the Eye, vol 14 (was it). Also Dreamwave's "War and Peace" shows Megatron helmless. Links to snapshots of helmless Megatron below, to make them work remove spaces (to view pictures, click at the thumbnails):
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