MEGATRON

Ancient concrete, broken by a hundred years of howling, irradiated wind, cracked and groaned as he knelt and sighed, looking up at the towering monument. A dedication to those lost to the great destroyer, Unicron, the somber silence broken only by the howling wind and the hum of his engines. He sighed and laid a hand on the heavy, rusted iron that made up its base - a simple thing, but one that he knew they would have appreciated.

"I… Always expected to end you." Megatron frowned, "Or end by you. I never suspected our war would end so… Anticlimactically. But then, our goals had ever been so very close to one another. Perhaps… Perhaps unity for the end was fate's humor?"

For a while, he was quiet, before he laid a hand on the symbol on his chest. The Autobot symbol, "I suppose, in the end, we both won. Or, that is what you would say if you were here. Isn't it, my old friend?"

Optimus, of course, did not speak.

Simple stone and steel could not, after all.

The red symbol on his chest itched…

His musings were dragged to a halt as stone cracked and fell, scattering across the ground in an echo that was as gunshots in the silence of the dead world. Megatron frowned and rose, but did not turn, instead of clasping his hands behind his back and growling lowly.

"I certainly hope you came to pay your respects." He said, "For any other reason can only end one way. And that would be quite badly, for you.

The machine was taller than him, but no Cybertronian - nothing about it matched any other kind or ken he had ever seen. It came to a stop maybe thirty feet from him and came down to rest on its narrow feet, green eyes watching Megatron impassively. Megatron's optics ran along with the sword in its hand and the tall shield affixed to its other arm before he turned back to it, frown always deepening. Always hardening.

SETSUNA

"I'm here to eliminate a potential threat to peace."

MEGATRON

"And that would be me, I suppose?"

Megatron ducked to the side and down as the other machine pivoted at its waist, sword whistling through the air just above his head, and frowned. The other machine twisted at the waist and spun, sending a foot up towards Megatron's face that he blocked with a raised arm and then kicking off of that and spinning back the other way to thrust the sword down towards Megatron's chest. He turned to let that pass him and stomped away, frowning deeply and watching the machine turn towards him and bring its sword back and down readily.

"Fine then." He sighed and raised his fists, "But this wasn't my choice."

Megatron surged forward and brought his fist around in a powerful right hook that slammed into the opposing 'bot's shield with enough force to drive the machine back and draw a loud thrum from the two engines hanging to either side of its shoulders. He stepped in and brought a lightning fast blow up and into its gut hard enough to chip at the armor and the machine leapt up and roared away on those engines, bringing its shield between them as it came to a stop.

And then it shot forward with both of them, using the shield like a battering ram to slam into him and drive him down onto a knee. Then its knee came up and into his face and Megatron snarled as he staggered away and the machine spaun, slamming its footing his chest and forcing him back another step. It spun the other way and brought its other foot around but Megatron ducked it and snapped a fist up, into the side of its knee.

Metal groaned and shards of armor fell as the machine leapt up and flipped, turning to face him and peppering his with minute, light fire that did little more than make it hard to see. He shielded himself with his arm but that only fed into the other machine's plans and let it blast down towards him with its thruster system, using its shield as a battering ram. Megatron's back slammed into the old, dilapidated building behind him with enough force to shatter steel and concrete.

MEGATRON

"Enough." He snarled, bringing both fists up and down with titanic, steel-cracking force that left his own joints aching for it.

The enemy machine retreated from the blow and Megatron raised his cannon and snapped off three shots in rapid succession. Two went wide to either side, but forced the machine into the path of the third. Still, it brought its shield around, projecting some sort of… Energy field that took the blast well enough.

Until two more slammed into it, at which point the shield failed in a spectacular display of fire and shrapnel.

Megatron used the cover it offered and charged, great metal feet ripping up chunks of aged, abused concrete as he went. He roared through the smoke and brought his shoulder up and into the other machine's stomach, driving it off of its feet and throwing it back a step. As it staggered Megatron turned, pivoting at the waist and bringing his left around in a devastating hook that slammed into the side of its head and crushed armor and glass both.

Megatron watched half of its golden chevron hit the ground with a frown and a sigh.

MEGATRON

"I will give one more chance." He warned lowly, "Leave. I'm done with war, and done with you, whoever - whatever - you are."

Even as he spoke - hoped - he rolled his shoulders and prepared himself. He knew all too well, had millennia of experience, to tell him that sometimes rationality failed. Even as powerful as he was, the damn fool might decide to fight. Pride, most likely, or fear of whoever he served. Megatron couldn't be sure.

But then he wasn't sure that mattered.

SETSUNA

"Does it matter?"

MEGATRON

"To me? Definitely." Megatron smiled - talking was preferable to fighting. So he asked, "Who are you, then? Who do you serve?"

"I serve no one." The machine said as it straightened and turned to regard him fully once more and slid into a fighting stance. It did not move, though, and so, neither did Megatron. Instead, it spoke, "I am a part of an organization - Celestial Being. We are the guardians of peace among the stars."

MEGATRON

"Admirable." He admitted, "But where do I come into that? Where does this battle come into it?"

SETSUNA

"And we have heard more than enough about you," it said with finality, slowly pacing to the side while Megatron circled to his right, matching the machine's circling, "to know you are a threat to the very concept of peace."

MEGATRON

"Not anymore."

SETSUNA

"My allies believe otherwise." The machine countered, its engines thrumming to life once more, "Regardless, I intend to remove that threat once and for all."

MEGATRON

"Why?" He demanded, raising his cannon and letting it warm - its glow meaning as ever. "I only wish for peace."

The machine suddenly sank and charged, engines trailing heat and exhaust as the frame began to glow. Megatron's shot sailed high, annihilated a building beyond it, and then he stepped in, swinging a powerful fist around towards the machine. It kept coming, and for a moment, Megatron worried for the force of the blow - he had not held back so much, and it was coming at seemingly full speed.

SETSUNA

"Trans-Am!"

Then, suddenly, it flashed bright hues of red and orange -

And was gone.

MEGATRON

"What- Ah!"

He staggered forward as fury ripped up his back and he turned, looking at the machine standing behind him, now - sword raised high. As it came down Megatron retreated and turned, watching the blade snap down and back, laying under its grip as the machine brought the new weapon up, level on the surprised Cybertronia.

SETSUNA

"You asked why." It said, "Because my objective is peace - at any cost."

He opened fire on him, peppering Megatron with semi-automatic, high heat fire that melted his armor and seared his servos as his arms came up to shield him. The ancient warrior ducked and bobbed, advanced and retreated, but Setsuna matched him, buzzing up and down and back and to the sides to evade his attempts to close with him and his return fire both, and with his Trans-Am burning, he was too fast for Megatron.

He could only endure the blasts, dodging what he could and warding off the others to his best effect.

Megatron had to admit it -

Whoever this was, they were good. Good enough he wished that he'd found them during the war - or at the least, during the battle against Unicron. But that time had passed, and the machine wouldn't simply let Megatron be.

So he would have to force it to.

As he withstood the barrage, he studied - watching his opponent. The way he moved, the way he held himself, the way he fought. War, the arena, so many other… Unspeakable things had taught him timing and patience. So when it turned its firearm aside and spread its arms to unleash a volley of missiles, he was watching.

And waiting.

The machine used the missiles for cover, hiding in their smoke and shrapnel the same way Megatron had done earlier and vanishing in a glint of orange barely visible through the murk. Barely, but still there.

Megatron ducked to the side as the sword appeared, cleaving through the air where he'd been, and then he turned and swung with all the speed and force he could manage. The blow caught the machine in the chest and forced it back as Megatron rose, cannon snapping up.

A lance of violet seared through the air and took the machine at one of its massive engines, which detonated with a fury Megatron did not expect, throwing the machine aside and even forced him back a step. Still, he pressed on, lunging in and catching the machine by its damaged shoulder, where the engine had gone off, and yanked it down.

His armored head met its as it camne, shattering the front of it in a spray of metal, glass and wiring. He let it stagger back and snarled.

MEGATRON

"Peace…. Once upon a time, those words sickened me, you know. War, violence, the domination of those below me - that was my path, I believed. My way of being. The way of being." He brought his hand up to the mark on his chest once more and went on, "Now, peace is all my hopes rely upon."

"You are a fool, if you think killing me will ensure peace." Megatron went on, "It will not. Those who follow me will only come for you. And yours will, in turn, come for them. An endless cycle I have seen - have caused - more times than many can comprehend."

SETSUNA

"Time will heal the wound left by your death."

MEGATRON

"I have tested that idea for five million years and more." He countered, "All that came of it was tragedy, te briefests gasps of peace, and more war."

SETSUNA

"I have no choice."

MEGATRON

"There is always a choice." Megatron countered, "And I will give you one."

With that, Megatron charged the machine once again. Its engine whined as it leapt, the single unit struggling to lift it away, but too slowly. Megatron's hand closed around its ankle and he turned, spinning in a full circle and hurling it across the rest of the plaza and into a building. As it broke free of the falling rubble he closed with it, snarling as the sword lanced up and carved into his shoulder. As it tried to withdraw the blade, Megatron took it by the wrist and squeezed.

Metal, ceramics and wires flooded with oil and ichor flowed between his hands as the machine's joint came undone.

As it failed he twisted and pulled, taking it and the sword-gun-thing away and hurling it over his damaged shoulder. He reached for the machine's face with a hand and it leapt, its knee snapping up to catch him in the face. He staggered back in surprise as much as force and machine tucked its legs in, turning the stunt into a flip and landing on the pile and reaching for a capsule on its waist.

A capsule that flared to life - a long sword of energy crackling as the machine leapt for Megatron once again.

Megatron dodged to the side side and turned, watching the machine slam into the concrete and leap up, using its one thruster to turn back to him and rose on its damaged legs. As it leapt, engine flaring, Megatron brought his fusion cannon up and sent a shot straight into its shoulder. The blast ripped through the armor and frame and beyond, severing the engine and sending the machine sprawling, damaged, but still armed.

It forced itself up with a hand and stood, drawing another sword in its left hand, and Megatron smirked.

MEGATRON

"I've ripped you apart, blown you apart… Yet not a sound." He observed, flicking a look to its ruined face - even he would have reacted to that kind of damage, "You're no 'bot after all. Are you?"

SETSUNA

"Did I say I was?"

MEGATRON

"Fair enough." He nodded and regarded the machine - the human, rather, or so he suspected - with a small smile. "You're young. Too young to know how the world - the universe - works. No matter how good a fighter you are, that doesn't change."

SETSUNA

"There's nothing you can say that will convince me of anything."

MEGATRON

"I see…" He frowned. He did see, too - so much of himself in the pathetic creature… He flicked a look to Optimus, regarding it all with an impassive face of stone, and then turned back to the broken machine. Slowly, he raised his hands and beckoned it forward, "Come, then."

The machine rose and charged, and Megatron matched it.

He didn't need to worry about killing the human within the machine, no matter how much he damaged it… So long as he didn't destroy its cockpit. Which could only be in its chest or stomach, the head was too small and the arms or legs made little sense.

As they closed he brought his foot down and turned, raising his fusion cannon and ripping off shot after shot. Even damaged, the machine dodged and ducked valiantly, closing with him as quickly as it could. But a single well-placed shot slammed into its neck and ripped its head free as it reached him and Megatron stepped in and brought his foot up to catch it in the chest and threw it onto its back.

It rolled as he stepped around it and leveled his cannon on its chest, missiles streaking out from its chest and ripping into his cannon - one shot breached its housing and it detonated in a violent flash of violet and scarlet that ripped away layers of armor beneath it and and drew a ragged scream from him as he staggered away. The machine was up before he recovered and turned, slamming its shoulder into him and throwing him onto his back. The damaged machine leapt onto him as it did and brought its glowing saber up.

SETSUNA

"This fight is over."

As the saber came down, thrusting for his chest - his Spark - Megatron's hand snapped up. Metal boiled away as the bright heat scorched through his hand and he caught it by its fingers. Roaring, Megatron wrenched the machine off of him and rolled on top of it, slamming his free hand into the hilt of the weapon to kill it and taking it by the shoulder and waist as it punched his side viciously.

MEGATRON

"You're right," he snarled lowly, "it is."

He punctuated the words by burying his hand up to the wist in its innards just below its waist and then pulled and stood, raising the thing over his head. Metal scream, joints protested, and then finally, the machine ripped apart, trailing wires, cables, and spraying oil and lubricant. It was like something out of his arena days.

Primus help him - it felt glorious.

He hurled the mangled pieces into the ground to either side of himself and turned, bringing a foot down to crush its shoulder - just in case.

Finally, he stood, looking down at the machine for a long moment.

Finally, he asked, "Are you alive in there?"

SETSUNA

"...I am." The response came after almost a minute of quiet, but the voice of it held no fear - only something akin to disappointment. Its chest hissed, air and steam fliting out to be stolen by the breeze as the cockpit opened and the Human stood and looked up at him, a pitifully small handgun in his hands, leveled on the gargantuan machine looking down on him.

He did not fire, though.

He merely asked, "Why?"

MEGATRON

"Because the me you came to kill, the one that would have gladly extinguished your Spark, is already dead. An existence ended by time. By thought." He answered simply, scratching at the scarlet symbol on his chest. "The me you see is one that merely desires peace, as I said. To be worthy of this symbol not my own. That you live is my proof."

SETSUNA

"I see…"

They both looked up as as a single dot ripped through the toxic clouds above, angling towards them and trailing smoke and vapor.

"My friend is coming to recover my mobile suit and I."

MEGATRON

"Go in peace." Megatron nodded, turning and gazing up at the statue once more. "And in honor of my oldest friend. And his older hope for peace."

With that, Megatron turned, stalking away and into the city - lest the rescuer attack him in his efforts and he had to rip another machine apart.