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When Ultra Magnus finally emerged from stasis, he found himself bound to an examination table, surrounded by Megatron, Shockwave, and a red mech who he presumed was Knock Out. He struggled against the multiple shackles that kept him in place, but his attempts were in vain as the bonds would not break or even crack when put up against his brute strength.
"Get comfortable, Ultra Magnus. "Megatron smirked as he turned to the table opposite of Magnus.
The Autobot continued trying to break the shackles around his limbs as Shockwave and Knock Out prepped the cortical psychic patch. Each inserted a cable to the back of the table where each bot lied, and the monitor adjacent to the both of them began humming as it booted up.
"So, what will we be searching for today, my Lord? "purred Knock Out as he double-checked the cable to make sure it was securely fastened.
"The oldest memories of Ultra Magnus, back when he was only known as the construction bot, Magnum. " his red optics stared at the Autobot with that smirk still etched on his faceplate, as if mocking Magnus from afar.
"Impossible! "thundered Ultra Magnus, "You know as well as I do that this 'Magnum' is long gone! He died as a result of your civil war. And you know - you know and everyone else on Cybertron and beyond knows that you can't bring back the dead! "
"That's where you may be wrong, Ultra Magnus. Knock Out, let us begin shall we? "
"Right away, Lord Megatron. "said Megatron's minion.
Magnus couldn't fight the cortical psychic patch as he became an open book to his enemies. All of his memories, battle strategies, Wrecker battles, and much more had been chronicled within his processor, most of which had been long locked away. Could it been feasible for the Decepticons to uncover his young self from his war-torn mind?
For a while, nothing but darkness engulfed the Autobot and he felt as though he were hanging immobilized in the depths of subspace. However, he became to hear whispering in his audios which begged him to turn and see what was going on, and when he did, the most amazing thing appeared right before his azure optics – The Iacon Hall of Records in all its glory.
It was beautiful and pristine, as though untouched by the war that blazed on outside. When Ultra Magnus turned yet again, he faced an enormous window which gave him a clear view of the outside horizon of Cybertron. The whole of Iacon was lied out in front of him, yet there was no war. No smoke rising into the atmosphere, no Seeker engines screaming through the air shooting missiles, nothing. There was only peace and quiet.
Was this a dream or was it reality? He found it hard to think it either of those things.
But soon, the reality of everything began to settle in as a familiar rasping voice punctured the deafening silence of the Hall. It was Megatron and a young Orion Pax walking alongside one another as they entered the Hall. Neither of them looked acknowledged Ultra Magnus' presence as they strode right by him.
The Autobot reached out his servo to touch his little brother's shoulder, but alas, his white digits simply passed right through him. For he, and everything around Magnus was nothing more than a memory.
"This place is impressive, Orion Pax. So this is where you preform the tasks of your caste every day? " the young Megatron asked.
"Yes, this is the place. I love it here by the windows especially. There's nothing better than watching the horizon of Cybertron as the sun sets over the distant mountains. "Orion was smiling brightly at Megatron as he showed him around.
Orion Pax then stared with bright optics filled with such golden innocence, looking towards the entrance of the establishment. He seemed to be expecting someone without actually getting a transmission from them via comm link.
Mere seconds past before another figure rushed in to greet Orion. A bot jut about the size Orion Pax was at the time, with those some bright optics and young faceplate. His blue, white, and red frame looked a little small, but strong at the same time. This little bot shared many features to that of Ultra Magnus only on a smaller scale. He still had those antennae that sprung out from his audios - in fact, much of his armour was similar to that of Magnus' current plating, only not as heavy and it was missing the white Autobot insignia that had been printed on his frame.
Magnum rushed over to Orion and pulled him into a brotherly hug, each of them laughing in sync. At first, the Commander could only think of how uncharacteristic it felt to see his past-self laugh with such euphoria, it was just unimaginable for him to fathom. However, the look upon the two brothers' faces softened his Spark, and then began to make it ache.
This ache that emanated from his Spark was a sense of grief that was eating away at him. The scene that played before him clearly depicted himself and Orion as two caring brothers, a virtual image of the past, and yet he himself could not find this moment of pure happiness within any part of his CPU. Granted, the scene felt familiar to him as he watched the two of them talk among one another. Yet, the memories just weren't there - they'd been taken away from him long ago.
"Magnum, have you anything to report? "Orion asked when their laughter calmed.
"Oh yes! The project in the southernmost point of Iacon has been completed. Everything went exactly according to plan, as I told you it would. "Magnum told Orion with bright blue optics looking over everything he was doing.
Orion crossed behind Magnum and went over to where Megatron had been standing and observing them close by. Magnum followed Orion with a hint of childlike curiosity and fascination for the large bot in front of him.
"Magnum, "He began introducing, "This is Megatron. Megatron, this is my brother, Magnum. "
For a moment, Magnum seemed to be hesitating on what to make of this Megatron character. Soon however, Magnum's bright smile returned to his faceplate.
"So, you're the gladiator from Kaon that Orion always talks to me about? I'm very impressed. It's Kaon's manufactured materials that keep my very caste functional. Thank you, it's an honor to meet you in person. "The young Magnum said warmly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Magnum, I don't recall Orion Pax ever mentioning a brother to me before. Nonetheless, your gratefulness is very much appreciated. "Megatron acknowledged.
Then something strange happened. The scene in the Iacon Hall of Records seemed to be melting away before Ultra Magnus' optics. All that was left around him was that darkness of what felt like subspace again, left to wait for whatever memory that Megatron would throw at him next.
The next memory appeared in the form of the horrid stench of dried energon, toxic fumes, and many other unpleasant things. Heat blasted at him from all sides, yet the darkness still engulfed the Autobot with blackness far more impenetrable than the night itself. This, from what his memory could recall, was the Decepticon capital city, Kaon.
With that prelude of where he was, figures began to appear as the darkness parted away to reveal a fairly large-sized room. Seated at the far end of the room was the proud leader of the gladiators enslaved in Kaon – Megatron. Beside him stood Soundwave who made no movements or sounds, almost as if he were a Guardian of older times. From the look on Megatron's faceplate, and from the constant drumming of his clawed digits against the arm of his chair, it seemed as though he was waiting impatiently for something to happen, or for someone to show up.
The leader of the Decepticons would get his wish as Orion Pax burst through the overwhelming strangulating darkness that Kaon had been submerged in. Something was wrong, Magnus could feel it as he listened to the sounds that Orion was making beside him – it sounded as if he was crying. He was.
"Megatron, something terrible has happened! There has been a series of explosions on the surface of Cybertron! "He sobbed.
"I have indeed heard this grave news, Orion. There have been countless transmissions about these attacks for several joors. News such as this troubles me, my friend. They will surely place the blame on me for this. "Megatron's optics stared with a hint of his own sadness as Soundwave played one of the many news reports of the bombings.
"I have further news, "Orion Pax tried keeping himself calm so he could further speak, "There was one explosion in particular that rang out in Polyhex. The bomb was placed in a building that was in its early stages of construction. When it went off, there were bots stationed there. At that site, there are currently ten known casualties. Dion and Magnum are a part of those ten, Megatron. Magnum is dead. "
Ultra Magnus felt his Spark writhing from the utter agony of hearing his brother speak with such anguish that he couldn't soothe. He wanted to reach out and touch his brother's shoulder, but then he remembered that everything here was nothing more than a memory, one that he had no control over.
"Your brother perished? "He echoed with an iota of shock, "Orion Pax, rest assured that I will root out the one responsible for Magnum's death and I will bring them to justice. You have my word. "
"You have my thanks, Megatron, but I think it's not wise to bring about more violence right now. I wish that you and Magnum could have seen each other again, but fate has been very cruel as of late. I'll be meeting with you again, Megatron, we still have much to discuss. It's just…I need time. "Orion said sadly before turning away from the Decepticon leader and walked back into the consuming darkness. Magnus could only reach for Orion, still knowing that he couldn't ever hope to touch him.
"I will mourn him, Soundwave. Magnum would have made an excellent addition to our cause alongside Orion Pax. "
The darkness began enveloping itself around the scene once more, swallowing the Autobot Commander whole and placing him into the still, quietness of his own mind. On the outside, Knock Out and Shockwave were still working diligently in search of Magnus' old memories.
"My, this one has quite a broken processor now, doesn't he? I'll be surprised if we find anything in this wreck of a CPU. "Knock Out chuckled to himself.
"Keep working. There's got to be something lodged in here that might provide some kind of clue. We must keep looking. "Shockwave said flatly towards the red Decepticon as he continued his work.
Back in New Mexico, the other Autobots were busy gathering up whatever supplies they could find in preparation for their departure from Area 51. Ratchet had been eyeing the ship that Ultra Magnus arrived in, checking every single square inch of it in search of any damage.
Luckily, there were no such damaged on the outside of the ship which pleased the medic. When he moved to the inside of the spacecraft, he came to discover something that gave him a bit of a shock.
"Optimus, "Ratchet called over his comm link, "You might want to have a look at this. "
The Prime had been preoccupied in the work effort in loading military vehicles, as well as keeping an optic on the still-recovering Smokescreen. Whenever he took a moment to vent, he tried reaching out to Magnus through their bond - however he was getting no response. This was beginning to worry him, at least until Ratchet snapped him back into reality.
"On my way, Ratchet. "Optimus replied.
Within the ship, both Ratchet and the Prime were looking upon the console that was still alight and humming with power. A single red light blinked against the blue screen, the glyphs beside it described it as an emergency communication system. Ultra Magnus had sent an SOS to someone, but to whom?
"Ultra Magnus, do you copy? "A voice was transmitted through the console, "This is Springer, requesting permission to land. "