A/N: Short I know, but it was important for me to end this where it did. If this were a TV show this would be the mid-season finale lol. I'll be working on this since I'm on quarantine and can't do anything else hah. Leave me comments, y'all know I'm always a slut for comments (plus I swear I write faster with comments I do its science).
QUICK BLURB THO:
If you are a fan of Supernatural or the Walking Dead or just my writing in general feel free to check out my new story 'Black'. It's a mash up of TWD and SPN and honestly you don't even need that much knowledge of either to read the story with the way I've written it. Just thought I'd let you know. This is my A/N so I'm allowed to shamelessly advertise my own shit eyyyyyy.
Chapter Nineteen:
Horizon Lights
"The devil whispered in my ear, 'You're not strong enough to withstand the storm.' Today I whispered in the devil's ear, 'I am the storm.'" –unknown
Despite being big ass aliens made of metal and God knows what else, the mechs and femmes were fairly good at being undetected if they wanted to be. Look at Jazz for example. If Jazz didn't want someone to see or hear him, they weren't going to see or hear him. Bumblebee was also surprisingly good at being sneaky, but I guess that came with the territory of being part of special ops. Sometimes I just forgot the cheerful mech was in the same avenue of work as Jazz. The twins were also good at not being noticed, but I was pretty sure that came from a past of avoiding Prowl rather than their gladiator roots.
Ratchet, unlike the others, was not sneaky.
In fact, the mech nearly went toe to toe with Grimlock when it came to trying to go unnoticed. My smile widened as Ratchet tip-toed toward us and I hoped the grin conveyed my thoughts of, 'You suck at this, doc bot.'
It must have because the glare he aimed at me was at glowering levels.
Sunstreaker had slipped into recharge while I laid on his chest. He had done so on and off for the multiple hours I had sat with him. Ratchet said it was part of his healing process. His body wanted to shut down and heal, but his spark pain wanted him awake to make sure he was still alive. It was an odd thing, comparable to a brain waking up its human body because the heart rate dropped and it thought it was dying, but it made sense to me.
It made Sunstreaker look like he had some alien version of narcolepsy though.
During this bout of 'Cybertronian narcolepsy', Ratchet had decided he wanted to give the mech some medication which would put him into full stasis. That way the mech could get some real rest without randomly waking up again. Sunstreaker had complained about it though on the argument that he wanted to be awake to feel the bond. I guess the shock of nearly dying made him want to stay awake and feel every ounce of his brother's conscious.
That also made sense to me.
Since both sides made sense overall that meant I was neutral in this war of Ratchet trying to sneak the yellow mech medicine and Sunstreaker batting away the worried medic any time he got close.
Ratchet put another foot down, one step closer, but his foot caught the edge of a metal tray by the bed and the tools on it rattled. Sunstreaker's eyes came back to life and Ratchet let out an ugly string of Cybertronian that I knew were curses.
"Frag off, Ratchet." Sunstreaker grumbled unhappily. The waves of pain came and went and when they were really bad the frontliner would get grumpy. He readjusted himself, grimacing, and pulled me closer to his chest, "I'm fine."
"You're not fine. Let me put you into stasis so your spark can get some real rest and heal properly." Ratchet argued. I could tell the medic was trying to avoid forcing his own way. Probably because forcing his own way in this case would mean wrestling the already broken mech.
I pushed myself up into a sitting position in Sunstreaker's hand, "You should let Ratchet give you the medicine."
"I don't want-"
"You take your medicine, get some rest, and while you do that I'll go talk to Sideswipe." I bartered. Sideswipe should be by his brother's side, but he must have been keeping his space since I was in here. Sunstreaker mentioned briefly that he wasn't upset at me specifically but wouldn't explain further. I'd have to find the red mech and beat it out of him myself. Which I was more than happy to do.
Sunstreaker paused before venting a puff of air, "Deal."
Ratchet mumbled more before scooping me away from Sunstreaker and onto his shoulder. It was only from practice that I managed to get my footing on his shoulder and not go toppling backwards. Ratchet stepped closer and quickly set about knocking Sunstreaker out with the medication.
"Night, Sunshine." I said softly as his eyes began to go dark.
"Thank Primus. You couldn't have done that hours ago?" Ratchet huffed and stepped out of the makeshift room with me.
I chuckled, "Me? Be helpful in a situation? Come on, get real. That's not my style."
He stopped halfway between the berth and his office, "Do you need help finding Sideswipe?"
"That would be ideal." I said and he turned to leave the medbay, "Although, I was just saying the other day that the idea to wander the depths of the Cybertronian hallways, getting hopelessly lost, is kinda starting to grow on me."
Ratchet lightly swatted me off his shoulder and into his hand, "Don't be annoying."
"That's difficult for me."
Before we could enter the hallway, the sound of pinging made Ratchet freeze. I stiffened and tried to look behind us at the very medical sounding noise. It almost sounded like one of the Cybertronian monitors. Could Sunstreaker be in trouble? Was the medicine having some sort of poor side effect?
Ratchet turned before I could ask any of my questions, but instead of going to Sunstreaker he stopped by Moonracer's prone body. He set me down on the berth beside her and began to mess with the monitor which was now flashing with different Cybertronian symbols.
The sounds and flashing stopped just as suddenly as they had begun and the medbay became its usual amount of quiet again. We waited a moment and I let go of a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. I opened my mouth to ask what had happened when Moonracer's eyes snapped to life. She threw herself off the berth shoving Ratchet toward me. I dove to the side into a roll just as Ratchet crashed into the berth and fell backwards over it.
"Moonracer! You're ok! You're safe! Izabella is safe!" I screamed. It was only at the sound of her human's name that her tense body froze and slowly started to relax.
Her eyes focused on me, burning a brilliant shade of blue, "You. You're the human with the Cybertronian signal."
"Yeah, my name is Aj. We brought you to the Autobot base. Izabella is here too and she's safe." I held my hands up to show her we meant no harm. Not that any part of me looked intimidating to this Autobot femme anyways. She relaxed more though at my words. In that moment I was so happy Sunstreaker was knocked the hell out. If he had been awake when this all happened the frontliner would've surely reacted and gotten himself more injured.
Ratchet stood up rubbing his lower back, but he still hadn't spoken yet. Moonracer tensed at the movement, ready to spring into action, but paused when her eyes focused on the medic behind me. Her face crumpled into confusion momentarily, but then melted into a warm smile, "Ratchet. You're Ratchet."
I glanced over my shoulder to see Ratchet's own face soften. He shook his head once then cleared his throat, "Moonracer. How do you feel?"
"I feel…good." She replied and glanced down at her hands. Moonracer moved her body and it reminded me of myself after a fight when I was stretching and trying to see if all my parts and limbs were still working. She didn't flinch or cry out in pain, so I assumed her body had passed the test. "Did you fix me?"
Ratchet stuttered, "Well I—uh, it was First Aid as well, also, he…" Ratchet added something in Cybertronian that Moonracer nodded at before continuing his ramble, "It was a group effort. Not nearly done though, there are more err—tests."
I blinked in shock. Holy shit. Ratchet was nervous. Like, stumble over his words, flustered nervous. It took every ounce of me not to chuckle out loud at the sight. This was his girlfriend after all. Couldn't be embarrassing my Guardian like that.
"Hey, dad. Can you put me down on the floor?" I called out. Well, I could afford to be a little embarrassing. I wouldn't be me otherwise. Ratchet shot me glare that I grinned at widely.
"Dad? That's the human word for sire, isn't it?"
"Ignore her. She's barely functional." Ratchet said quickly. He scooped me up, "Just have a seat, Moonracer. As soon as I get her upstairs, I'll return. I'd like to run you through a diagnostic checkup. Just in case."
Moonracer smiled softly, "Of course, Ratchet."
Ratchet turned the other way, to the elevator up into his top level medbay. I grinned up at him from his hands, "So she really did remember you. That's… exciting."
"Hush."
"So, does this make her like my step-mom or…?"
Ratchet tossed me into the elevator, from a safe height, and I landed on my feet with a laugh. He hit the button and muttered something in Cybertronian. I called out my last good-bye just as the doors shut. This was great though! Moonracer was up and functioning and she remembered Ratchet. Considering the shitty past 24 hours we had, this was a well needed victory.
The doors opened up into the top level medbay and I walked across the empty room towards the door that led into the hanger. My cell phone was in my apartment, and if I wanted to find Sideswipe on my own, I was going to need it. Would he even answer a call from me right now though?
Before I could leave the medbay, the doors swung open and a group of men stormed in. I took a few steps back with a narrowed look. The three military policemen were unrecognizable to me, but the guy leading the crowd of them was all too familiar.
"Well, well. Just the nuisance we were looking for." Galloway sung.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." I mumbled under my breath.
"Arrest her."
The three men walked around Galloway to approach me, but I took a leap back, "Whoa, whoa, for what!? I'm in training right now which means I have access to be on this base. You can't arrest me for that anymore." One of the guys tried to grab my wrist, but I slapped his hand away and kicked him with my braced leg sending him flying back, "Y'all try to touch me again and I'll do worse than that."
Galloway sneered at me, "I had hoped you'd be more like your mother. She was useful and civil!"
"She was a bitch just like you." I snapped, knowing he was referring to this universe's version of me, "Now what the hell do you want!?"
"To save the world! To protect innocent civilian lives!"
The hell was this guy smoking? I shook my head in confusion and took another step back as the MPs advanced on me. The guy I had kicked looked less than happy right now. I scoffed, "What the hell are you talking about, Galloway?"
Galloway crossed his arms, "Megatron's bargain." I blinked in more confusion, but this time the idiot politician seemed to get that we were not on the same page without me voicing it. He continued, "The Decepticon leader just got through to us offering a deal."
"Right, because Decepticon leaders are just the kind of people you wanna make deals with."
"You for a city." Galloway snapped and my entire body went slack in shock, "If we hand you over to him, he spares lives. If we continue to hide you from him… Megatron has threatened to level all of Los Angeles. He'll burn it to the ground with every human lost as a casualty to their fucking war."
Oh no.
It still didn't make sense to me when I tried to think about what Megatron was playing at. I couldn't tell if he was on our side or not. He'd save me from drones just to try and murder me himself. Now he was threatening to kill millions of humans just to get me? Why? What the hell was going on!?
"Waiting for Prime and Lennox to return from their patrol will do nothing but waste time." Galloway said. I had a feeling his decision was more based on the fact that Optimus and Lennox were not going to let me get willingly traded to Megatron. "Arrest her now."
"No need. I'll come willingly." I said quickly. One of the MPs grabbed me anyways to slap a pair of handcuffs on me, but I grabbed his arm and flipped him over me with ease. Without hesitation I snatched the fallen handcuffs off the ground and shoved them into Galloway's chest, "You really want to waste time trying to get these on me? Because I can guarantee you it'll take at least an hour and a half."
Galloway glared at me but, just like I knew he would, he caved. He took the handcuffs and tucked them into his inner coat pocket before motioning for me to leave the medbay. The thought of Optimus and Lennox showing up to stop this was too dangerous for him to waste time and I used that to my advantage. Plus, I knew if either of them were here they'd stop me too and I couldn't have that. I wasn't going to let all of LA die because of me. If Megatron wanted me so bad, he could have me. Knowing the only reason he wanted me was so he could turn me into a red blur on the desert ground was unsettling, but this was the better option of the two.
As they marched me into the hanger, towards a running Humvee that sat by the garage door, a bright red mech stepped into the hanger at the same time.
Of all the rotten luck.
"Aj?" Sideswipe questioned in surprise. He still looked defeated, his shoulders didn't sit as high as they normally do, but at seeing the crowd around me he tensed. "What's going on?"
"Everything is fine, Sides. I'm just… running an errand."
"With Galloway?"
Galloway glared at my mech, "This doesn't concern you."
I shot Galloway a glare of my own before stepping forward, "Seriously, Sideswipe. Don't worry about this. I gotta go."
Sideswipe's face morphed into anger, "if you think I'm letting you leave with this fragging piece of organic trash, you're wrong."
The ex-gladiator was not going to let me go. I knew that. He was too paranoid to believe my lie and he hated Galloway way too much to let him do anything he wanted. There was only one option that I thought might work, it was still a 50/50 shot, but it was horrendous. It would be one of the worst things I had ever done in my life, and God was that saying something. Sideswipe took a large step forwards, to grab me, and I squeezed my hands together into two tight fists.
"Sideswipe, just go away!" I snapped, pushing as much anger and venom into my words as I could, "You said you didn't want to be bonded to me so why don't you start acting like it? This has nothing to do with you and I don't want you here. Just get the hell out of my business."
Even though I knew I needed this sickening idea of mine to work, I was still devastated when I saw the look of pain flash across Sideswipe's features. He had been just vulnerable enough to take all my words to spark and seeing him suffer made me feel like someone had jammed their hand into my chest and crumpled my heart. Galloway tugged me to the van by the crook of my arm and I forced myself to look away from the anguish in Sideswipe's lilac eyes.
The Humvee took off into the desert night, and I didn't hear the sound of a Lamborghini chasing after us. My plan had worked, but God at what cost?
"That was clever of you." Galloway chuckled from the seat across from me.
"Go fuck yourself, Galloway."
::Jazz I need you now. Aj is gone.::
Jazz had been in recharge after looking through a ridiculous amount of datapads with Prowl, but never had he woken up so harshly from a ping. He was out his door and heading to the Hanger before he even replied.
"Sideswipe what is going on?" Jazz demanded over the comm unit.
"Galloway took Aj somewhere. She went… willingly, but I don't trust it."
"Did either of them say what for!?"
"No."
Jazz got to the elevator and the ascent was the slowest minute of his life. There was no telling what the aft of a liaison wanted with Aj. She was supposed to be safe from him now that she was a solider in training. It meant she was an essential member of the base. Still, Jazz trusted Galloway less than he trusted the Decepticons at this point.
"Are you in pursuit?"
"No, I'm getting Ratchet and Wheeljack."
Jazz spun out of the elevator, leaving black skid marks from his tires against the hanger floor, before taking off into the darkness. He didn't have the thought or time to even question what had happened or why Sideswipe hadn't followed himself. Jazz would have to ponder on that later. Right now, his only focus was catching up to Galloway and Aj.
Based off her signal, she wasn't too far ahead. He'd be able to catch up easy enough it seemed. They were about a mile away from being off base entirely. The nearest city of Las Vegas was still dozens of miles away, if that's where Galloway planned to take her, and Jazz was confident he would catch up to them way before they got close to what the humans had dubbed Sin City.
Jazz had felt good about where he was in this situation up until the point where her signal froze in the middle of the desert just a little way outside of the base's borders. There was nothing out there so Jazz wasn't sure why they decided to stop all of a sudden. Worry filled his tanks at the thought of them doing harm to Aj in the middle of the desert.
Pings were coming in from various mechs. He had a few from Ratchet, some from Wheeljack, and even Ironhide. There was one ping from Optimus Prime, but Jazz couldn't afford to divert any attention to the messages. He had to focus on speeding ahead. He was getting closer and closer. The hints of the new day were beginning to show in hues of color on the horizon, and Jazz could see the outlines of a Humvee and a few humans in the distance.
Relief filled him, but it was short lived. His systems were ringing loudly, warning him of a fast approaching enemy, and Jazz revved his engine trying to go faster than what was possible for him.
"Aj!" He roared.
Jazz watched Aj turn to look in his direction just as a dark, familiar aircraft dropped out of the sky and scooped the femme right off the desert ground. Galloway and the other human outside beside her flew backwards at the force. Jazz transformed and leaped up; his servo raked against a wing, but he couldn't find a grip. Megatron's alt form took off high into the sky while Jazz fell back to the ground with nothing in his servos but air.
A scream left me as I slammed my heel into the controls in front of me, but Megatron spun hard sending me flying. He then took a steep turn up and the forces made my brain stutter. My vision flickered out and I felt myself go limp in the seat. When my consciousness returned Megatron was closer to the ground.
Actually, he was way too close.
The seat beneath me disappeared and I hit the ground hard, rolling against the dry ground. I groaned in pain and tried to get my head to stop spinning. The sky was light purple and pink as the sun slowly rose up from the horizon. With a sharp breath, I pushed myself off the ground trying to get to my feet, but I stumbled back onto my ass as soon as I was upright.
"You…" I lifted a hand and shook off the last of my lingering pain, "You fragging piece of slag!"
Megatron stood not far from me in all his terrifying glory. His burning red eyes bore into me with no expression and I forced myself up. If he was going to murder me in the desert, I was going to at least annoy the shit out of him for it. Quickly, I ripped off one of my shoes and chucked it at him as hard as I could. It pathetically bounced off his broad chest.
"You're such an ass! Threatening all of LA just so you could get your hands on me!? Well here I am!" I yelled and motioned toward myself, "So now what!? You gonna try and murder me again, you dick!?"
Megatron's voice was low, like a grumble, "You talk too much."
My last moment on Earth was going to be spent listening to a commentary on my big mouth. I can't say I was surprised. Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? Absolutely not. I tore off my other shoe and chucked it at him too. Megatron lifted his hand and the shoe bounced off his palm rather than the side of his head.
The Decepticon sat down on the ground in front of me and I scrambled back on instinct alone. He seemed calm and collected and I did not like that at all. This had to be a trap of some kind. Megatron didn't angrily reach for me or bring out a weapon though. He just stared at the horizon looking more tired than I had ever seen him.
"I'm not going to kill you.
"Forgive me if I don't take you on your word alone." I scoffed.
Megatron shook his head, glancing my way, "If I were going to kill you, I would've done it as soon as you stepped out of the human vehicle."
That would've been a huge bummer. Jazz would've seen. My stomach flipped at the thought of how awful that would be. Quickly, I shook off the uneasiness and took a few steps toward him, "Wow. Just like that? You wouldn't have even given me the chance to say my last words? Curse you out or ask for you to not slaughter me for old times' sake?"
"I couldn't risk letting you speak."
There was something in his tone. I swallowed the last of my hesitance and marched the space between us until I was standing right in front of him with the rising sun to my back. Megatron's armor looked like it was glowing, the early morning light radiating off him, and his red eyes looked like he needed a long ass nap.
"What the hell is going on, Megsy?" I asked firmly. "And don't bullshit me. I want answers." Megatron stared at me blankly and it pissed me off, "Tell me what you know! I know you know more than I do on this!"
Megatron let out a short scoff, "And what do you know?"
"I know my life is a shitshow." I mumbled and Megatron snorted in amusement, "…and I know we're all in a lot of danger."
Megatron didn't immediately reply. He hummed, "Do you miss your old life? Before you met any of us?"
"I don't miss New York. I don't miss Boss or the Pit." I slowly sat down where I stood. My legs stretching out in front of me. "This is where I'm supposed to be. With the kids, with Aubrey, with all of you… I wouldn't have it any other way."
Megatron shook his head, "That opinion might change." I narrowed a glare at him, and he seemed to understand that I was still demanding answers. Megatron shifted slightly, "I tried to kill you in the Hive because you weren't entirely yourself. The presence of my… enemy was all over you. I assumed you'd still be that way, but… you're not. You are yourself."
I thought back to Austin and everything that had happened leading up to Megatron trying wreck me with his sword. A lot had happened in that Texas city, a whirlwind of danger, but I remembered feeling off. The entire time Cade and I had been looking for that weird alien object with the mysterious armored stranger following us, something in me felt disturbed. That was the only way I knew how to describe it. With everything else going on alongside it, I knew that feeling couldn't have just been a coincidence. All of this had to trace back to those two people who offered me deals in the skeleton of our home in the other universe.
"You thought I was being controlled by this… enemy?"
"You were being controlled. Whether you were aware of it or not."
I nodded once, "Which one?"
Megatron's eyes widened in surprise at my words, but I didn't let anything show on my features. He shifted again, moving closer to me, and tightened his jaw, "You know more than you let on."
"I met… these people. They were offering me deals and I had to take one in order to protect my sister."
"What deal did you take?!" Megatron roared and it took every ounce of my will to not flinch at his volume and desperation. "Who did you side with!?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and shook my head, "Him. The devil. At least that's what I call him."
"Your phrasing is more accurate than you think." Megatron mumbled. He still had shock written all over his face, "You didn't side with her? You told her no?"
I nodded, "She was going to hurt Aubrey. I wasn't gonna let that happen." Megatron nodded and I continued, "Who did you think had control over me?"
"The femme. Primus." Megatron replied. I sucked in a sharp breath at his phrasing. Primus. That was their god. I remembered Ratchet mentioning it. That meant my devil had to be the opposite. The devil had actually been Unicron. Shit.
I let my fingers dig into the dirt, "Are they really Primus and Unicron?"
"I don't know." Megatron sighed. "I don't know if they are true deities or pretenders or—or something else altogether. All I really know is that they are dangerous, and that they've had their hands in the war from the very beginning."
"The Civil War on Cybertron?"
"Yes."
I twisted my lips and tried to think of what I wanted to ask next. There were so many questions that they were all tangling up in my head and becoming less and less unclear. Finally, I spoke, "How do you know them? Did they offer you a deal?"
"She did yes." Megatron was no longer looking at me. He was staring beyond me again at the horizon. "I said yes, and she took everything from me. I was no longer myself. I was—I was a passenger watching my own hands commit atrocious crimes and destroy what I swore to protect."
"She was controlling you."
"For millenias."
"How did you get rid of her?"
Megatron's eyes snapped to me, "I didn't. When we were pushed into your universe, she just… disappeared. Her presence was gone and gradually I could feel my mind regain full control." That explained his personality switch halfway through living with us in the house. It also explained why he was being so weird toward the end. "I was unsure what was happening until you were… until you were shot."
I perked up, "Right. The holoform that I thought was you, but it turned out to not be a holoform at all… did you know—?"
"I knew it had to be Unicron. Which meant Primus was still lingering around." Megatron nodded. "Though I never expected them to be after you. I still don't understand it."
I understood the unasked question lingering at the end of his statement. I shrugged, "I don't have a full answer to that? Have you ever heard of… a Defender?" Megatron shook his head and I continued. "Unicron said that the Defenders were monitors of the universe. Apparently, my family line is that of the Defenders. My mom was one and she… she killed herself to try and end all this bullshit, but she didn't know my dad was a carrier of the gene and me and Aubrey could carry on the line. Primus wanted us dead. She wanted to end the line for some reason, and Unicron didn't want that? He promised to keep us alive."
"Interesting." Megatron drawled in thought.
"Not the word I would use to describe all this but yeah." I crossed my arms and brought my knees up so I could rest them on top of them, "You got any weird stories that might lead to an answer for us?"
Megatron shook his head, "I don't know what either of their plans are, but I do know Primus will stop at nothing to get what she wants. I have less experience with Unicron, but I don't expect him to be any more trustworthy."
"Yeah, no, my gut says he's a bastard."
"You have to be on guard. Don't allow either of them into your life again."
I nodded in agreement, he didn't have to tell me twice, "I got one more pretty important question. One that I kind of danced around, but hey… you tried to straight up murder me technically twice now…?"
"I can't risk the known universe. She may have wanted your death back in your universe, but now that you're here she's trying to gain control of you. For some reason, you are part of her plan now, and I can't allow that. If Primus has any hold over you, as much as I don't want to… I will have to put an end to her and you. She's vulnerable when controlling someone."
I paused in thought. His words didn't really stir anything up in me. That was probably because I agreed with him. If Primus took control of me terrible things would happen. The nightmare I had in the previous universe, the one of me hurting and killing the people I loved most in this world with my bare hands, came to mind. That was the future. That was a future of Primus controlling me and that couldn't happen.
I wouldn't let it.
Ever.
"It has to be you." I murmured sadly. Megatron seemed to understand my words. "The others won't be able to. Ratchet, the twins, Jazz, Optimus, Wheel—I…" I stopped talking and tried to imagine any of them having to make that decision. "They won't be able to. It has to be you. You have to kill me if that ever happens, Megatron."
Megatron offered his hand and I set my much smaller one on top of his, "I will, but I will take no pleasure in it."
I chuckled, "Never thought I'd be sitting in a desert making a murder pact with you of all people, Megatron." He nodded in agreement, and we sat in silence for a few moments before I spoke up again, "I need to ask you something else."
"And that is…?"
"Thundercracker." I clenched my jaw, an image of Sunstreaker laying in the medbay injured, "Did he hurt Sunstreaker?"
Megatron shook his head, "No. It was not him. The trine, Soundwave, and Barricade have been helping me track down unusual drone activity. Something is stirring them up. Something bad is occuring, and I am unsure how it connects to Primus and Unicorn, but I know it does."
"But he was there? Did he see what happened?"
"Thundercracker saw two drones, and they were with… someone." Megatron tilted his head, "We are still trying to figure out who, but they were definitely a human. A human with an unusual energy. One almost like a drone."
I rubbed the back of my neck, "A human with a drone like energy signal?"
"Yes."
"Nothing is ever easy for us, is it?" I groaned in confusion. "What should I do?" Megatron gave me a look of confusion and I elaborated, "I want to protect my people, but I don't know what to do. Talking to them about this just makes them worry I…"
"Fight." Megatron shrugged. "You seem to know how to do that. It's in your spark. Just keep fighting but fight smart."
"I'm training to be a soldier. I guess that's a good first step."
Megatron rolled his eyes, "You won't make a good soldier."
My back stiffened, "Ok, no need to be rude. We were having a nice moment here."
"It isn't in your nature to be a soldier. To be part of a working team. To take orders and trust blindly." He shook his head, "You can try, I know you will, but don't bet all your chips on that path." Megatron slowly stood up and I gave him a questioning look, "Your friends will be here soon for you. It is best if I don't linger around."
"But you're on our side? We have a common enemy. Wouldn't it be better if we worked together?"
Megatron shook his head, "It isn't that simple. I would not be welcomed with open arms." He chuckled and I stood up to tell him goodbye, "You know, we are very much alike. More so than I originally thought."
"Because we're both assholes?"
Megatron smirked, "Because we are both warriors, protectors, forced to be puppets to another's will yet desperately vying to right our past wrongdoings." He wasn't wrong. It was strange for me to be standing here in the middle of nowhere comparing myself to the ex-warlord, but he made a very solid point. Megatron nodded, "But also because we are both assholes."
I grinned at his words and watched him walk away. He got a good distance from me before transforming into his alt mode and taking off. Someone would be here soon. All I had to do was wait. I turned around to face the nearly risen sun and sat back down.
There was a storm coming, but today I could enjoy the sunrise.
