Dinobot awoke in the CR chamber, and for a moment briefly wondered why he was there. Then he remembered. Rhinox. Rhinox had beaten the unholy slag out of him while unconscious. The dishonor of such an act rankled his own sense of honor. The Rhino would pay. He smashed the button to open the CR chamber door. When the smoke cleared he saw Rattrap standing there.

Rattrap had been thinking since he'd woken up. At first he'd figured that it was Dinobot's business who he slept with but the idea rankled him something fierce. And that strange feeling seemed to tug at his very spark because of it. He wanted to know... he wanted it clarified. The thought had accrued to him that Megatron may have even been lying, but that was an excuse and he knew it. He wanted to know because for some strange reason it slagging mattered to him.

"Vermin..." Dinobot's voice was as cold as the void itself. "Move. I am going to kill that tech."

"Chopperface, we need to talk now," Rattrap said as though he hadn't heard Dinobot.

"Rodent!"

"Chopperface," Rattrap sounded weary. "t'ink dis through. If you kill Rhinox, an' believe me I don't blame yas," Rattrap waved his hands. "but if you kill horn head, Primal will eider have you locked up fer da rest of da Beast Wars, or he'll kick ya out. Oh sure ya could last a while out der. But after a month or so of battles and no way to really repair yerself you'll end up dead anyways." Rattrap looked at Dinobot's expression. "Eh don't worry too much. I tore him up one side an' down de other over dis." He shook his head. "We gotta talk. Some place quite..." Dinobot glared at him still royally pissed off. "Please Chopperface. It's important."

Dinobot looked at Rattrap. 'Whatever this is, it must be important for him to use that word to me,' Dinobot thought. "Very well Vermin. My quarters should suffice."

"Alright. Lead on Fossil Face." Rattrap followed Dinobot to his room.

As soon as the door shut behind Rattrap Dinobot turned to face him. "Now what is so important that you felt it necessary to say please," he drew the word out, dripping with sarcasm. "in my presence?"

Rattrap hesitated. He had no idea how to brioche the subject. Dinobot meanwhile sat down and started to clean his sword. "So eh... Look when I was ol' Mega-dunce's punchein' bag I heard a few tings..."

"Oh? Like what?" Dinobot was barely paying attention. He was too busy polishing his sword and imagining thrusting it into Rhinox's spark.

"Liiiiiiiike..." He paused for a moment then blurted the next part of his thought out in a rush. "like da fact dat you and Megs were an item..."

Dinobot's sword dropped to the floor with a clang. "Out," he said softly. "GET OUT! NOW!" he roared.

Rattrap scrambled out of the room and stood outside of the now closed door. He took a deep breath as he came to a conclusion. He then turned around and typed his master override code into the locking panel and the door slid open. "Chopperface..."

"Vermin... I told you to get out!"

Rattrap held up both of his hands in a calm-down gesture. "Chopperface I'm gonna talk at ya... an' I'm gonna say tings I ain't said ta nobody. Not even Rhino-hide. So just let me talk 'kay?"

Dinobot looked over at Rattrap. He looked scared out of his mind but determined as well. "Very well," he said after a time.

Rattrap wasn't sure about Dinobot's mood at the moment so he snagged a chair, turned it to face Dinobot sitting on the fur covered berth and sat. "I was twelve...walkin home from class. I should've been payin attention but six years of havein someone watch my tail pipe, add to dat I was wonderin what da crew was up ta... I wasn't watchin at all. I bumped inta a bunch of older guys... fourteen...maybe fifteen stellers... An' when I say bumped I mean I walked right inta one a dem. He told me ta watch were I was goin'. I've always been short...always... One guy said dat I needed ta be taught some manners..." Rattrap halted here and grabbed the chair under him with both hands as he started to shake and he stared at his lap. He would go on. He would tell this bot that seemed to mean so much to him for reasons he couldn't explain. He would tell him everything he could remember. "Dey... stared to work me over real bad...dunno how long...Den like I said... one a dem said he had a great idea... I really didn't t'ink it was so great...One minute I was lookin at da ground da next I couldn't see scrap...den day tied me up real good...couldn't move...hurt a lot... den...pain... Primus it hurt so bad..." Tears were now streaming into his lap and he was shaking harder. "When he was done da next guy took his turn... over and over... I could feel it running down my legs..." Dinobot watched as Rattrap grabbed both shoulders as if to hold himself together as he spoke. "...Day laughed...I remember dat... laughed... den I...I..."

Rattrap was trembling so bad Dinobot thought he would shake himself apart. Something rose up within him; a perverse desire to protect the rat. He snatched up the rodent and pulled him into a tight embrace, as though to hold the rat together himself. "Vermin..." His voice was softer then Rattrap ever heard it. Dinobot knew that once this flood gate was open there was no stopping it. As one draws poison from a wound, so too did Rattrap draw out this poison from his mind.

Those strong arms gave him comfort so he plowed on. "I...I..." He forced himself to tell Dinobot the one major thing he had never told even Rhinox. "Primus slag it... I got off!" He was sobbing now but he kept going as Dinobot's embrace became crushing, trying to hold him together. "Day...laughed harder...asked me if I was enjoyin' my self...shook my head...day said...didn't believe... Kept goin'...somehow...set me off again... and...just before da last guy...I...again...though I must be sick...enjoyed it... Primus da pain...hurt so bad...went off-line I tink...woke up... no one around... could see again... got my armor back on...went home... told my parents... shrink day said...told em where day could stick der shrink..." Rattrap stopped there. He had done it. The one thing he never thought he'd ever do. "You... must tink I'm sick...gettin' off...while day..."

Dinobot cut across him. "Vermin listen to me. There are certain points within any mech that trigger such things. Certain spots that when touched over and over cause that. It was not because you were enjoying it." Dinobot paused as Rattrap looked down. "Look at me!" Rattrap looked up. There was no pity in his optics, no disgust, just...concern. "I do not think you are sick Rodent." He gave a small grin. "At least not for that." Rattrap gave a watery chuckle.

"Chopperface...I'm sorry horn-head got ta ya... he had no right...none... ta do dat. Especially sneakin' up on ya like dat." Rattrap smiled. "Hey dats de only way I can figure he was able ta do dat much damage and not get a scratch on 'em. I tore him a new one fer it."

Dinobot continued to hold Rattrap for a time before he spoke. "Rodent, you wanted to hear about me and Megatron..."

"Ya...ya don't have ta Chopperface."

"Vermin. Do not insult my honor. You have told me things you have never told anyone. Why should I do less?"

"Dammit Dinobutt do ya have to be so slaggin' eloquent?"

Dinobot smiled. "Yes."

Rattrap settled himself down in Dinobot's lap. "Slaggin' Pred."

Dinobot chuckled. "To be clear Vermin, my relationship with Megatron ended years ago. But as his obsession with cloning me has shown, he wants me back. If I know him it's because I defied him." Dinobot took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy for him. He was embarrassed... some might called it ashamed... of his relationship with Megatron. "He found me as a sell sword. One of the best. And he needed the best. He had also done his research... we arranged to meet at my place..."

A knock on his door made the warrior grab his sword. His apartment wasn't the nicest on the planet but it sufficed. He opened the door and saw a purple mech standing there. Said mech was actually taller then he was. "Greetings I am Megatron. I was told to meet a mech named Dinobot here."

"I am he. Enter." Dinobot moved to allow Megatron to enter the room. Dinobot sat in one chair and offered the other to Megatron.

"If I may ask, the name 'Dinobot'..." Megatron started looking a bit confused. "You are a Predacon?"

Dinobot nodded. "From Hellios Prime, yes. My parents called me that to toughen me up some. It seems to have worked. But my parents eccentrics aside, you wanted to hire me." It was not a question but a statement of fact.

Megatron gave a short laugh. "Straight to the point I like that, yeeess." He seemed to be talking more to himself then to the warrior. "Yes I did, I wish you to join me in an endeavor that I am planning to undertake."

"And what endeavor would that be?"

Megatron chuckled slightly. "Tell me Dinobot. You have seen how Predacons are treated here." Dinobot nodded. "The Predacon alliance has done nothing for us since the war. I plan to change that. At the moment I am gathering a crew. More about my immediate plan I cannot say until I know whether or not you will be joining me, no." He lowered his voice and Dinobot had to lean in closer to hear him. "But this I can tell you. Think on this if you will. Cybertron ruled by Predacons. No more curfew for our kind, the arenas re-opened... And out ticket to such a thing, a war where we are not strapped for energon." His voice raised in excitement. "Ohhh yeeees, just imagine it Dinobot, such wondrous combat with us as the victors. Glorious conquest!" Dinobot felt a shiver of arousal as Megatron spoke. His voice was like silk and his honeyed words fired Dinobot's very spark.

Dinobot stood up and moved his chair closer to Megatron. "Tell me more..." he growled. He awoke the next morning to see Megatron next to him. The passions of the night before lingering in the room like a heavy fog.

"Good morning," Megatron said with a smile. He then let out a chuckle. "Shall I take that as a yes then?" Both bots began to laugh.

Time passed and even though Dinobot had his own room on Megatron's ship he had never actually used it for anything more then a place to work on his close quarters combat skills. Megatron's strange habit of talking to himself had never bothered him nor his strange need to say 'yes' or 'no' every so often. It always brought a smile to those normally cynical lips. Megatron had just hired a filer team one was annoying to listen to but seemed to be intrigued with Megatron's plan. His partner however was definitely odd and talked in the third person. "Are you sure about them?"

"My dear Dinobot. Do not underestimate them, no. They may be strange but from their records they are exactly what we need." Megatron caressed Dinobot's face.

"Can we afford to pay them?"

"You leave that to me, yes."

Dinobot smiled and kissed his lover. "As always..." Megatron grabbed the warrior's hand firmly nearly breaking it. He knew what the warrior liked. Dinobot let out a low growl of pleasure.

Several years passed before the next stage of Megatron's plan could be executed.

"Dinobot, darling, please come up to the bridge."

Dinobot arrived a few moments later. "What have I told you about calling me that over the PA?" he snarled.

Megatron gave a chuckle. "You love it and you know it." Megatron caressed Dinobot's arm, teasingly. Dinobot couldn't help but smile slightly. He couldn't resist him.

Dinobot was nearly running to his room. He had gotten lucky. He was a week early coming home, and he wanted to surprise Megatron not only with his success but with his early return. And he had to admit to himself he had grown weary of sleeping alone on a cold berth. Dinobot opened the door to see Megatron leaning against the head board of their elaborate bed, pleasuring himself. Dinobot shook his head with a low chuckle. Their bed was huge and easily accommodated both of them. It was topped with a foam like substance that contoured to their bodies and was covered by black sheets. The canopy, which actually was put there so Dinobot could put his sword within easy reach should something come up, was also draped in black. Megatron loved decadence and spared no expense to allow himself such. There was even a hot tub in their room.

Megatron looked up at what had let in light and saw Dinobot standing there. "Dinobot. I didn't expect you for another week at least..."

"It was easier to find the scientist then we expected..." He looked idly over at the screen, on it a bot was being tortured. "What the slag are you pleasuring yourself to?"

Megatron quickly turned off the screen, he look highly embarrassed. "I...it's something I found that arouses me...It's not something I'm proud of... but you were gone for six weeks and I was expecting at least another week... It's not something I'd actually do mind you...but..."

Dinobot interrupted him. "We all have guilty pleasures Megatron..."

"Indeed. Like that poetry you read... or that human Shakespeare literature..."

Dinobot nodded. "Just don't bring it into our bed with you."

"Oh no! Primus forbid!" Megatron said in a rush.

Dinobot climbed onto the bed and locked his sword onto the canopy. "Now I have something for you and I think you'll enjoy it..."

Several months after that Dinobot was going through Megatron's personal files. 'I swear if I didn't keep these organized he'd never find anything,' he thought to himself. He came across a file labeled 'for me'. "Hummm." Dinobot brought it up. He immediately saw that it was one of Megatron's vides. He went to turn it off but decided to watch, just to see what his lover liked. Less then 10 minuets into it he nearly threw up his lunch. That was no pornographic vide, it was a recording of Megatron! Pleasuring himself while torturing a mech for information. It made him physically ill as he watched the entire thing... after his body voided his lunch he went to find Megatron.

"What are you saying Dinobot?" Megatron asked.

"I'm saying that it's over between us. I SAW that vide of yours! All of it! I have never seen something so Dishonorable in all my life! And I grew up on Hellios Prime! I still believe in your cause Megatron. But I can no longer stay in your bed..."

Megatron swung his arm and flattened Dinobot against the wall. Dinobot looked up at Megatron. It wasn't the first time he'd been flung against a wall but this was something different. There was no passion in Megaton's optics just anger. Anger which quickly melted into concern. Megatron then moved over to help Dinobot up. "Forgive me Dinobot, but the idea of losing you..." He started to caress Dinobot's face again.

But Dinobot pulled away. "You disgust me."

However Megatron got more violent after that. "What do you mean, he got blown up again? I told you to watch him!" Megatron sent Dinobot to the floor with a punch. He then picked up the warrior and put his arm in a vice like grip. "What? No moans of pleasure?" Megatron smirked as he became aroused. "No passionate proclamations? I thought you liked it rough? But perhaps I'm not being rough enough... easily fixed..."

"How dare you question my orders!" He raised his hand again...

"I told you to handle that! Not him!" Megatron bellowed as he cracked Dinobot over the head.

Another time... "Never use the H-word in my presence!"

"What is this mess Dinobot? You were supposed to clean this up!" Megatron aimed his blaster...

"Gah! You are incompetent! One simple task and you can't even do that!" Megatron began to crush his arm...

Dinobot wondered briefly as he emerged from the CR tank again whether or not it was worth it all... no his honor wouldn't allow him to go crawling back to Megatron... especially after he had been forced to watch Megatron torture that mech into telling him where the Golden Disk was located...

"No, no, NO! It all wrong. This can not be earth! Megatron you failed. Not only did you fail to destroy the Maximals when you had the chance, you failed to bring us to the right planet. We stole the Golden Disk for nothing! You idiot!" Dinobot knew he no longer had the position to get away with talking to Megatron like that, he hadn't for years, but he was too pissed to care.

"I beg your pardon? What did you call me?"

"You heard. You are an idiot and an incompetent leader and I am taking over. Dinobot Terrorize." Dinobot transformed. "I challenge you to battle Megatron. The winner shall lead the Predacons, and the looser shall be destroyed."

"Ahh impulsive as the day we met Dinobot. Brave but misguided."

"Do you except my challenge?"

Megatron laughed. "There's more to being a leader then simple courage. Well there's cleverness and cunning as well isn't that right... Scorponok?"

Megatron's second in command shot a missile at Dinobot sending him flying...

"...And you know the rest," Dinobot said. The entire time he had been talking he had seemed to be looking into another time, as though reliving the memories as he spoke them.

"Yeeeeesh," was all Rattrap could manage. After a time of thinking he said, "Wait, a couple a tings don't add up heres."

"What might that be?"

"I really can't imagine Mega-jerk being dat sweet to ya..."

Dinobot cleared his throat, and Rattrap could have sworn he saw embarrassment written on Dinobot's face for a nano-click. "Vermin, he was acting. From the very start. As I said he'd done his research. He knew exactly what to say to me to get me on his side... I'm not sure he was expecting my rather, enthusiastic, reaction, but once he found out about my enjoyment of rougher sex..." Dinobot trailed off here. "And the other..."

"Well Orchid told me dat Preds don't put much stake in words..."

"If I had to make a guess she was referring to the flattering words Maximals have a tendency to speak to females Vermin. Much like some of the poetry I happen to prefer."

"How did ya get inta dat anyways?" Rattrap yawned.

"Another time Rodent. We could both use some rest."

"Chopperface?" Rattrap looked up into Dinobot's optics.

Dinobot looked down into Rattrap's own optics and wasn't thrilled with the dead look that was in them. It was a look he had seen many times and what it led to was never good. "Yes Cheese-eater?"

"Can...can I stay here tanight? I'm kinda sick of my own company... an' well I don't wanna be alone."

"A wise move Vermin. Yes you may stay." Rattrap curled up on the bed. "Do you wish me to move?"

Rattrap started to shake again and Dinobot realized that Rattrap was still reeling from recounting his attack. "No..." he whispered.

Dinobot stretched out and laid one arm across Rattrap's body. "Rest Vermin. I shall guard your sleep tonight."

"Tanks Chopperface..." Rattrap said sleepily.