Location: Earth's orbit.
The die had been cast and it was done so in his favour. Megatron lurched forward against the opposing grip of the Prime before him, the two locked in epic battle. Below the mechs, the cybermatter of the Omega Lock churned, the machine on the verge of firing, ready to terraform the Earth beneath it.
Optimus grit his denta beneath his mask and willed himself to overpower the tyrant. If he couldn't do this, if he couldn't defeat Megatron here and now then all would be lost; billions dead, dreams destroyed and the message of peace through tyranny would reign supreme. A world defined by violent presidence was not one worth even imagining, lest living in.
Both factions' leaders smashed into a standing pillar on the border of the Omega Lock. Megatron grunted in pain; for the first time in his millions of years of life, his strength wasn't enough. The Prime demonstrated his superior power by tugging on Megatron's arms and then thrusting his weight back onto the silver mech, crushing him against the wall.
Energon seeped from the Decepticon leader's mouth. Looking into the Prime's optics, the silver mech saw desperation and hope. Anyone else would've assumed the hope in Optimus' optics to be hope for his enemy's defeat. Not Megatron. The hope that he saw was the same the day they met.
Optimus was hungry for knowledge and achievement, idealistic in that all could join each other in a new age of prosperity. Despite it all he couldn't do what needed to be done, he was stuck in the old ways, unable to accept that change did not come from peaceful reform. His negligence was responsible for the council ignoring his plea. His negligence extended the war beyond Cybertron and into the stars. Even now he refused to accept the new reality of Megatron's destiny. Optimus Prime was a monster born of contentment. He did not allow for things to truly change on Cybertron because he did not understand that asking nicely for others to do better would not make them do so. No, the only one way a mech could change his world was to make it change.
This was why Orion hadn't changed one bit in all these millions of years. Megatron had. Miner, Warrior, Poet, Politician, Leader, Warmonger, Necromancer. His ability to change, to transform into what he needed to be to get what was owed to him would be his defining ability.
Megatron would win because he demanded it. Optimus Prime and his Autobots would die at his feet and their precious Earth would burn before him. All would suffer while he indulged in his spoils the same way they had done he all those 4 million years ago.
A set of rambunctious beeps and boops sounded from atop the Omega Lock's facility. The faction leaders peered towards the sound's origin and saw the hastily approaching Bumblebee, Star Saber in hand.
Megatron's optics bulged in his helm after looking upon the scout he had once maimed. "The Star Saber?!" He screeched. The disrespectful black and yellow wretch dared to interfere in his final battle with Optimus and with a weapon to destroy him no less!
Summoning the strength hidden deep within his chassis, Megatron pushed the larger red and blue mech off of him and knocked his opponent off his feet with a roundhouse kick. Turning back to face his would-be assassin, Megatron aimed his fusion cannon with the intent to fully kill. The mech would not make the mistake of allowing the Autobot to live a second time. Bumblebee noticed the action and still persisted with the blade hauled on his back; he couldn't abandon Optimus during his time of need. Leaping into the air, Bumblebee prepared to plunge the blade deep into Megatron's chest if he had to.
As Megatron prepared to fire his blast at the Scout's head, Optimus had recovered and thrown his entire weight onto the Decepticon. Megatron grit his denta and yelled; the digits on his hand clenched into a fist, activating the mechanism residing in his arm. Optimus and Bumblebee's faces turned to shock, realisation on their faces.
Optimus was too late. Megatron had already gotten a blast off.
The next few moments felt like that of an eternity when the first shot collided with Bumblebee's chest. After a moment, Megatron shot once again, hitting Bumblebee in the same area.
The entire chamber fell silent as both Autobot and Decepticon witnessed the execution. Ratchet was on the verge of screaming; Starscream himself tried to hold in a laugh.
Bumblebee felt a fire in his chest, his entire body burning from the massive hole torn through his chest. The blasts just kept coming even as Optimus tried to wrestle Megatron's arm away. The scout could hardly see the fight anymore, his body had already turned lopsided mid air after the first blast connected. The grip of his digits weakened as the Star Saber fell loose. He was falling now, down towards the pool of cybermatter; the pool was the very thing Megatron was going to destroy his friend's home with and now, it would also be his tomb.
His misery came to an end as his consciousness began to fade, a sign of his existence ceasing. He would die a failure, plagued by the knowledge that all he had ever loved would be destroyed by Megatron.
His last sensation was the cold splash of cybermatter on his back, darkness enveloping him.
It was done. The scout was dead. Megatron could hardly pay attention to his nemesis wrestling with him. The satisfaction of the kill washing over him, the scout would serve as an exam-
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Optimus howled with anguish, filling the chamber with noise. This…this couldn't stand! he couldn't just stand by anymore and abide by conventional means of justice. Megatron had taken too much and not once shown even the slightest hint of remorse. Billions died on Cybertron and now his trusted scout had joined them. At what point would it end? When would his evil stop? Optimus had to force it to stop; the prime hurled his fist at Megatron, holding nothing back.
Megatron's faceplate quaked under the impact of Prime's blows. Not letting up, Optimus followed up with a left hook and then a right and so forth. Each blow rocked the silver mech's chassis like never before. The last time he had felt wrath like this was the time he struck the young human some time ago, the difference here was that his opponent had become much stronger since then.
All attempts at defense were quickly squashed and awarded with another savage blow. There was hardly any time for retaliation either, the wounds inflicted from the Prime's attacks had been grievous. If this kept up the battle would be quickly lost. Never! The Decepticon leader stood up again in defiance of injuries and was quickly met with a kick to the helm and another left hook.
The mech went flying backwards into the wall he had hit earlier. Keeling over and falling to the ground finally, Megatron vented his fumes and attempted to gain his bearings. His body was beginning to succumb to the internal and external wounds inflicted on him. Fighting to stay online, Megatron searched the chamber with his optics, praying for a solution.
The solution came in the form of the Dark Star Saber's hilt protruding from the cybermatter pool a few feet ahead of him. The Decepticon Leader grinned and clutched at the weapon.
Some few meters away Optimus Prime vented the fumes from his body. The fury boiling in his energon reserves had never been so intense before, the sensation was almost terrifying. After a few moments of hesitation Optimus convinced himself that the actions he took now and later were necessary. The Prime readied his blaster and slowly approached the face-down body of his enemy. He tried to stop himself from crossing the line but he couldn't help it; Megatron had to be stopped, no matter the cost.
The opportunity would not come however, as Megatron revealed the DSS and swung it at the Prime. The purple blade glowed intensely and released a powerful projection of dark energy that hit the red mech with extreme force, sending him off his peds and flying out of the starship. Optimus had only barely grabbed the edge before he fell into the void of space. As the Autobot hung there, he strained his optics to look above; Megatron stood over him.
The look on the Decepticon leader's face was completely insidious, crazed even. Brows twitched, optics wide, sword in hand and his mouth twisted into a horrid grin. A guttural laugh escaped his voice box. It had finally come, the time of his victory. With this he would subjugate both Cybertron and Earth for all eternity, a fitting destiny.
"Prepare to join your scout in the Allspark!" Megatron said with malicious glee. Optimus watched Megatron raise his blade into striking position, worried for his own fate.
The world stood still as everyone watched what was likely history in the making. Mere moments from victory, Megatron halted his blade, aware of the gentle thuds approaching him some paces back.
"Megatron!"
As soon as the Decepticon Leader turned to face the new threat a new sensation came from his chest. After a few moments a sense of intrusion ran through him, as if he was choking on something. Peering down at what had given his feeling, he saw it
The blade of the Star Saber, lodged deep into his chest and on the othet side of it stood Bumblebee, dented, scratched and freshly back from the dead. He couldn't believe his optics; Bumblebee had somehow miraculously returned from the dead? A new wave of pain washed over him as his thoughts began to spiral.
Bumblebee furrowed his brow, his face emblematic of pure fury. "...You took my voice…you will never rob anyone of anything ever again!" He spoke yet again, his voice overflowing with intense venom. In his optics burned a fire of rage and bravery.
Megatron, still hardly aware of the gravity of his situation, raised his blade once more. After some seconds he found that he couldn't support its weight and as a result, his grip weakened. The Dark Star Saber fell from Megatron's hand and onto the Earth miles below.
With some effort Bumblebee pushed the sword deeper into the Decepticon's chest, a thunderous crack of metal sounded as it pierced through his back. Now run all the way through, Megatron could no longer stand straight and fell to his knees. He couldn't tell if the weakness in his legs had come from the grievous wound or the discovery of the Autobot's recovered voice.
A tug could be felt from the end of the blade as Megatron gripped his hands around it. There was an attempt at pulling himself free, a last desperate action to survive. Despite it all, the blade would not budge; It became clear to Megatron that his fate had been sealed.
How could this have happened? He thought. The odds were simply implausible; where were all his Decepticons and why were they not helping him now in his time of need? It simply couldn't end this way-run all the way through by a bot far weaker than him and during the time of what was to be his greatest success.
Looking to the Omega Lock, Megatron longed for its firing. His Victory was right there, everything he had ever worked for and suffered in the name of was within arms reach and yet he couldn't have it. The tease hurt far more than the blade in his chest. It was as if the very universe itself was telling him no, denying him of his prize because his sins had already been so great.
The world began to disappear, the light transitioning into darkness. Megatron's optics had lost their power and turned into a deep black; the silver mech had become blind. From the very depths of the darkness there were noises, voices? Starscream was screaming his name, urging him to get up and swipe away the scout.
Megatron's body wouldn't respond, almost as if he was no longer attached to it. Finally everything had vanished, nothing had greeted the tyrant but silent darkness.
After a few moments, Megatron experienced sensation again, velocity, the feeling of movement. Soon after the velocity came heat all across his body, every surface chipped and shrivelled into rust. Megatron was literally on fire, burning to a molten mush, the sensation of burning was agonising; the Decepticon Leader continuously begged for death.
When the fire disappeared and his crumpled, liquidus metal cooled a cold pressure hit his back. The silver mech's descent decreased in speed and became a slow crawl, no longer was he free falling. He would've been grateful for the relief if the cold itself wasn't unbearable in its own right. To him, the cold represented death, the absence of life with no burning warmth of the spark.
Finally, Megatron came to rest on his back, enveloped in pressure. As a husk, the mech lay as an icon of depression. His hopes and aspirations were gone, the ideologies he carried with him forgotten and the burning vengeance he had once dreamt of now unanswered.
Megatron died alone, scared and hated by everyone who knew him. With his death, the Decepticon ideology would be forgotten and the 4 million years of war he had waged so passionately would be a wasteful legacy in his name.
xx
Location: Earth. Somewhere in the Atlantic.
"....Megatron…"
For what seemed like eons the mech rested in a sort of stasis-like state. In reality he had perished from his wounds while encompassed by the massive stretches of Earth's oceans. While in this new form of consciousness Megatron scoured his lifetime experiences. The mech did not question the purpose behind reliving his memories of times long past but instead, enjoyed the feelings that came with them.
In rejection of the cold reality his husk rested in now, Megatron dreamt of a time of warmth. The twilight hours of the golden age where he emerged from the well of Allsparks; he was a bot completely unlike that of the one whom rested in the ocean now.
What greeted him upon the time of his emergence was the brilliance of Cybertron's golden sun. The symbol of life and fertility that stretched over the horizon and across his freshly cooled metal, encasing him in warmth and lively comfort. His first memory, the first experience that gave him a longing to shine brightly even among a crowd of already intensely burning sparks.
"....Megatron….."
But like many things in his life, the universe or perhaps Primus, did not allow that fate for him. No, the bot without a name whom was born merely days earlier would be forced into labour of which he could not reject. The reason? He transformed into a form suitable for the job. To the council that had designed his fate: this was fair, this was how things were supposed to be. The bot did not want this. Despite his grievances, he obeyed and worked in the mines anyway like had been asked of him. He would do so as D-16 and While D-16 could live with the awful life forced onto him, the miner still wanted more.
Even when he found companionship in coworker Drixco, whom taught him the joys of youth, he still wanted more. His thoughts barely containable within his head had to be translated to writing and so he did for if someone could understand him conceptually then, perhaps he would feel whole again just as he did in the sun.
That time did come, if only for a moment, for Terminus- an older coworker read his writings. The memoirs, the poems and even the senseless ramblings, all of them; Terminus did not shy from a single thought. The miner's thoughts ranged from innocent questions of the world outside, wondering if he would ever be allowed outside again to see the sun. Other thoughts focused on other frustrations, criticisms of the society that had never allowed him to shine the way he wanted, reducing him to that of a Mindless machine.
To D-16, Terminus had helped him to discover that the bot simply wanted to not only be heard and given a pedestal to stand on but to simply be understood. He had thanked the older bot for being one of the few to simply sit down and listen to him ramble for if he didn't, no one would.
Like the sun that had once enveloped him, this would not last. Terminus would disappear after a run in with Mining security, some sort of disagreement. It would not go to trial, none would speak of it. The old mech was simply another name on a wall.
"...Megatron….."
Alone again, D-16 wanted more.
The bot sought answers. At times he spoke among his coworkers, demanding why they not seek more from life. No one listened; a ghost D-16 would remain. It was here that the miner decided to no longer stand by with his hands at his side, he would not neglect those who did not know to seek for themselves.
Megatronus learned that if he wanted the world to change, he had to make it change. The crowds would cheer his name in the pits of kaon, his enemies would dread the sight of him in battle and the counsellors would shiver at the mention of the gladiator whom dared to question their lead.
Even as he slaughtered mech after mech; when the people would stop and listen to his after-battle speeches or when news outlets would publish his word, Megatronus still wanted more.
It wasn't Soundwave, Shockwave or even Orion Pax's own belief in him that drove him to continue his campaign but the lust for more that dwelled inside him. He would be rewarded by the same people that subjugated him and his people their whole life.
Despite the social popularity he had garnered from the lower classes or the political support backing him from Soundwave and the like, it didn't matter. Like the universe had done so many times before, it pulled the ground out from beneath his peds.
"...Megatron"
Megatron's world would be shattered on the day the council had rejected his plea for equality and scoffed at the mention of reparations. To them, he was a lowly street rat begging for fame and a few street credits. He could live with the insults, suffer the humiliation they had brought onto him, for he had done so for more than a million years.
The true misery came when Orion Pax had spoken up during the gathering, mirroring his own beliefs and going so far as to even quote him. The council had been moved as they put it, granting him understanding and even the title of Prime.
Orion, the bot he had taught everything, who he had inspired to fight for freedom was the one to betray him and steal the spotlight away. Megatron's very existence had been proven completely unfruitful on that very day, for it had been shown that the rich would never listen to him not because his beliefs were flawed but because he was himself. Orion was the educated, middle-class cybertronian, closer to the council on the pecking order than he was, so he was worth listening to.
It had become clear that all those hundreds of years had meant nothing. All he had ever said had fallen on deaf ears and his followers whom believed in him, would not be given the equality they deserved.
More importantly, Megatron would not be given his prize, his riches and reparations for all that he had suffered. No one would truly understand him because none would truly listen.
They wouldn't, at least, unless he made them listen. War would be his message, the death of an individual would be symbolic of a single world in a memoir that was made up of billions.
The Decepticons would be named after the Deception he had told himself his entire life, that bots could be good, that he himself was good. No, none were good, for if they were then they would not allow the world they had lived in to exist.
"MEGATRON!"
Suddenly the void shifted, the voice that had subtly called his name became a massive screech. A few moments later his consciousness felt movement, like he was flying through the void.
Around the mech a wave of darkness formed and scooped his consciousness up, gliding him across it like a Sharkticon surfing the waves on Cybertron. Soon his velocity increased until he began flying across the void at an alarming speed, a thousand particles of light flew past him as he crashed through a stream of energy and finally into a new world.
Megatron wondered if this was what becoming one with the Allspark was like. With hesitance, he accepted his fate as a casualty of war.
xx
The Decepticon Leader slowly opened his optics and took in his surroundings. All around the mech pulsed an endless purple void, completely lacking anything other than himself. He was alone in the purple world.
Was he damned? There couldn't be any other explanation; where the mech stood now was a far cry from the legends told of what it was like to become one with the allspark. Usually they spoke of bright lights and comfort but here, the silver mech was alone and in a world that had left him with no answers.
He cursed himself before noticing his corporeal form. Analysing his digits, Megatron questioned his existence further. Perhaps the mech was not dead?
"Megatron!"
A powerful voice had rung out from the purple void. Megatron with wide optics peered his helm upwards towards its origin. What the mech saw made his energon reserves run cold.
"Unicron?!" He questioned after witnessing a colossal aberration of the Chaos Bringer emerge from the darkness. "I do not understand…why am I not one with the Allspark?! Do I yet live?" He continued, an expression of hope formed from his features.
Unicron gestured in a way that could be attributed to shaking his head. "You do not." The Chaos Bringer said matter-of-factly. Megatron's features dulled slightly after receiving confirmation of his death.
"...Yet you cannot join the Allspark because my lifeblood once flowed through your veins." The Chaos Bringer continued. Megatron focused his optics onto the deity, deep in thought before a look of realisation plastered itself on his features. "Dark Energon." He said confidently. "It binds you to my anti-spark" Unicron finished.
Megatron furrowed his brow, "Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership to imprison you in the Earth's core. So how is it that you speak to me now?!" Although it had been some time since the deity had once tried to emerge from the Earth's crust, Megatron had not forgotten his quest with the Autobots to defeat the being before him now.
Unicron almost looked offended at the question, perhaps he was not used to his power being in question. After a few moments the deity spoke: "The foolish Prime only rendered my material form dormant, but my energy form was roused from slumber when I sensed the awakening of an ancient rival across the cosmos."
Megatron's face turned into one of shock. "Primus!...So it would seem Optimus succeeded in restoring Cybertron…after my demise." The mech's energon began to boil once more after the realisation. Yet again the Prime had stolen another piece of his destiny, belittling his existence one more and continuing to justify it behind a thinly veil of morality. He cursed the universe for taking away the opportunity to wring the Prime's helm from his neck.
Unicron took a few moments, deciding not to comment on the Decepticon's self wallowing. "I now wish to finish what I began eons ago and for that, my anti-spark requires a vessel." The Chaos Bringer revealed, causing Megatron's brows to raise.
"So…I will live again?" He questioned, a tint of hope in his voice. In response to his question, Unicron scowled. "Only to serve me. Your husk will simply be an instrument of my will!"
The deity raised a massive hand and pointed one of its digits directly at Megatron, around both entities the purple glow continued as their forms combined. From Unicron's massive optics the faint purple glow grew into blinding lights that flashed all across the void, enveloping both.
xx
The water of the Atlantic ocean bubbled and a deep violet glow cut through the darkness. Megatron's husk stirred. the glow of Dark Energon ripped at Megatron's husk. With violent thrashes and a guttural scream, Megatron revived.
His body was washed with pain from the intense pressure of the ocean and the violent surge of dark energy in his body. Even experiencing the crash landing onto Earth was a minuscule amount of pain in comparison to his current plight. He expected some discomfort from coming back to life, he did have a gaping hole in his chest after all, but these moments now were misery.
Smashing his hand into the rocky surface below him, the purple energy flowed across his limbs at a more intense hue. After a few moments of shifting and stretching underneath the surface, Megatron noticed his body began to change. His digits split and extended twice fold into serrated edges, the same change occurred all across his rusted brown arms and shoulders until they were extended spiky masses as well.
The mech floated from the ground and extended in height, the same changes all cross his body. He couldn't help but scream a pathetic scream as the purple energy in his chest forced his wound closed, stretching and bending metal. The bot felt his head nearly burst open as two horns emblematic of Unicron extended from his helm.
After a few moments, the bot felt his T-cog activate once more as he took flight and exploded from the ocean at impossible speeds. The destination was, very likely, Cybertron.
Megatron was in too much agony to even notice the action that he had just taken was not his own.