Author's note. Written by me and the-writing-mew.
Enjoy and please review.
"Who...who said that?" Megatron demanded, spinning around to see who it was.
"I did," came the voice and he turned to see a Minicon standing there.
Megatron stared at him for a moment before demanding. "Who are you?"
"Dirt boss," the Minicon replied. "I've been searching for my brothers, do you know where they are?"
"Perhaps," Megatron said slowly. "Do you form the Skyboomshield?"
"Yes," Dirt Boss replied a little cautiously.
Megatron smiled and said. "I know where they are, I can take you to them. It was I who managed to reactivate them."
"Thank you," Dirt Boss said before asking. "Why were you sad?"
Megatron's smiled vanished and he looked away. "My children hate me," he muttered quietly but Dirt Boss still heard.
"They hate you?" he repeated. "Why?"
"Because...for many reasons," Megatron said dully. "I...I don't want to talk about it but I haven't been a good Sire to them. And now they'll never forgive me, even though I love them."
"I'm sorry," the Minicon said sympathetically. "Maybe you can fix things with them?"
The Decepticon leader snorted. How could he fix things when his two boys wouldn't speak to him and Alexis was with the Autobots...who would likely never let her go now and certainly not allow him near her. Perhaps they were right, maybe he wasn't cut out to be a father.
"I don't think things can be fixed... I think they were right and I 'suck' as a sire as one of my creations would have said...," He continued drinking another sip of his cube.
The Minicon tilted his head to the side. "Maybe there is a way, if you said you're a bad sire, then transform into a good sire, listen to them and give them time to recover after whatever you make to them, they cannot ignore the fact that they are yours and I'm pretty sure they don't want to hurt you or you hurt them. Just listen to your spark not your processor."
Megatron turned to the Minicon with a saddened and angry frown. "You don't think I haven't tried that?!" He barked but the Minicon didn't even flinched.
"You obviously haven't or you and your creations wouldn't be in this situation...right?"
With a scowl and a growl, Megatron turned again his back to the Minicon and opened another cube before drowning its content. The Minicon tilted his head to the other side and watched how he behaved.
"You know, the answer is not in the bottom of that cube..."
With a growing roar, Megatron turned to the staring minicon, "What do you know?! You know nothing!" and grabbed him.
He just looked at him sadly. "So, this is what happened between you and them?"
It was like a punch to his tanks, like him or not, this Minicon was right. He then let him go and covered his face with his hands feeling as a sob and tears fought to leave and run.
Meanwhile...
Autobot base, Earth...
Medbay...
Alexis could feel how her whole body felt lax... cold... and warm at the same time.
Memories of the last events filled her on what happened before she found herself in this state...Megatron...he was going to beat the boys...he'd lost his temper again.
But what happened after, what brought her into this state was still blurry and she couldn't quite catch what had happened. Had she passed out? Trying to online her optics she could hear machines... Beeping machines... Was she still in medbay? And why?
Finally when she was able... She also felt something against her hand... Someone had her hand in his and was petting her and caressing it. Re-calibrating her optics until they were able to make her see with clarity, she slowly turned her head to see who it was…
...and her optics widened at the sight of an unmasked Jetfire kissing her hand softly…
Her tanks twisted remembering what Scavenger and Starscream told her, plus her thoughts on this particular mech...she screamed her vocalizers out, yanking her hand away from him and continued screaming.
There was no way in the universe she will be talking about reproduction with anyone ever again!
"AHH!" Jetfire yelped, almost falling backwards as he jumped in shock. "My love, what's wrong, are you in pain?"
"Get away from me," she shrieked, worried about what he might try with her.
"She must be hallucinating," Jetfire muttered, his mouth set in a frown as he placed a finger against the side of his helm, obviously contacting someone. "Don't worry baby, I'll get you help."
She stared at him in amazement, was he for real? But before she could say anything else, Red Alert came rushing into the medbay and over to her.
"Alexis, are you alright?" he asked her gently, scanning her while shooting Jetfire a stern look.
"I'm fine," she said before exclaiming. "But what's he doing here?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Red Alert stated, giving the shuttle a very disapproving look.
"Hey, I was just making sure she was alright," the tall mech defended hotly. "She is alright, isn't she?"
"She will be...as long as she can relax and nothing stresses her," the medic said firmly before ordering him to get out.
"But Red...!" Jetfire protested before sighing as he received a glare for his troubles. "Fine."
Giving Alexis a winning smile, he said. "I'll be back soon, my love, don't fret."
He snapped his facemask back on before marching away. Red Alert sighed before checking her vitals.
"I'm sorry about him, I stepped out for a few breems and he must have sneaked back in. He's been keeping something of a vigil outside the medbay."
"He was kissing my hand," she said in confusion.
"Ah," he said in understanding. "I'll let Optimus know, he'll have a word with him."
She nodded before glancing around the med bay with a frown.
"How did I get here, Red?" she asked slowly. "The last thing I remember...Megatron about to beat the boys and then...nothing."
He paused before asking. "You don't remember anything?"
"No, how come I'm here?" she questioned before saying quickly. "Not that I'm not grateful, it's nice to be here again but..."
"Don't worry, your confusion is understandable," he assured her. "If you're up for it, Optimus and Starscream could come in to explain the situation."
Wide opticed she said: "Wait, wait...wait... did you said Optimus AND Starscream?"
"Yes, they'll fill you in with everything; just wait up a little until they come," The medic stated gently and commed the two to come into the medbay.
Minutes later, Optimus AND Starscream entered the medbay. It was not a dream!
"What happened? Don't tell me I overslept and the war is over! That would be too good to be true..," she added for herself.
Starscream smiled kindly at her. "Unfortunately no, but there are strong reasons for me to bring you here...," He trailed off.
"How are you feeling?" Optimus asked before the seeker could continue.
"I...feel sore...and heavy...and like my blood is not enough for my body... what happened? ...Star...did you say YOU brought me here?"
"Yes, Alexis, I'm more calmed now that you're awake-"
"And that fragging bastard hadn't killed her!" Jetfire interrupted him from the door. "Oh baby, thanks Primus you're okay," He added as she flinched away.
Optimus and Starscream frowned at him. Particularly the seeker who scowled showing his pointy fangs at him before hissing: "Don't you dare shuttle..."
"Dare?" The white Mech stepped forwards facing him. "I very much dare, especially if I have to take YOU out of my way. I don't think her sire approved you either," He hissed in front of the seeker's face.
"Jetfire, Starscream, enough!" Optimus stepped between them to separate them as Alexis watched in shock. It wasn't happening what she thought was happening, right?
"I am her caretaker, and if I must, I will protect her from perverts like you!" Starscream hissed back.
Alexis' optics widened after that statement. So, she was right. "She's a sparkling for Primus' sake!" He added.
"She won't be one forever!" The shuttle hissed and seemed he wanted to continue before Optimus grabbed him by the neck successfully silencing him.
"Remember, Jetfire, our conversation...I don't approve you either...," The Autobot leader hissed
"But... Optimus...," He tried.
"Stay away, Jetfire... and now...get out!" He half roared as he threw him to the ground. Luckily the shuttle understood and scrambled out of the medbay not before shooting a hateful glare to Starscream.
"Optimus...," Starscream pointed to a shell shocked Alexis.
"Oh, Alexis...I'm sorry about that...are you okay?" Worried, the leader asked.
"Was... Is...Is t-that... no-normal for y-your culture?" She stuttered. The witnessing of Optimus' rage was something she hadn't expected to see...or ever wanted to see again.
Starscream seemed worried and Optimus let out a sigh. "Yes... You will be a femme someday and as Megatron's daughter... There will be interested mechs...and femmes who will ask for you...or the boys to arrange a bond...it can be now or later, either way, you, as the daughter of the Decepticon leader can't escape the harassment of mechs or femmes fighting for you..."
"W-what?!" She gasped in shock. She only wanted to know why she ended up here...not...This!
"Think of it this way, Alexis, you're a Decepticon princess and with that comes...this..." Starscream added and the femmling seemed horrified.
"I don't believe this," she exclaimed, rubbing the sides of her head as she tried to process all of this information.
"I'm sorry you had to deal with this so soon," Starscream said, bending down. "None of us thought this would turn up in this system as we believed no one would ask for your hand or the boys. Until that fool of a shuttle got here that is," He added with a scowl.
"I'll talk to him...again," Optimus sighed heavily.
"Thanks," Alexis said gratefully before asking. "So how did I get here? I don't remember getting injured..."
"Good," Starscream stated flatly. "It wasn't a pleasant experience, Megatron..."
He broke off, unsure how to explain what had happened. But Alexis was looking very expectant, so he said softly.
"Do you remember Megatron getting angry at Rad and Carlos?"
"Yeah, he was going crazy," she said with a frown, remembering the rage her transformer father had been in. "He...he was yelling at them..."
"Yes," Starscream said with a grim look. "He...attempted to beat them but we managed to prevent him. And then he broke free and tried to attack them but you rushed forward to stop him and..."
He swallowed before saying very gently.
"And he punched you, badly injuring you. I had to bring you here; I didn't have the skill to treat you."
"Oh," she said, not sure what else to say. "Did he...mean to?"
"Probably not but I didn't really care," the seeker said ruefully. "I started to beat him and I don't regret it. Not only did he hurt you, he was trying to hurt the boys and it's not the first time. Scavenger told me he'd been forced to intervene when the boys mentioned your Earth parents, Megatron had gone crazy."
"Why?" she questioned. "Why would he get angry over that, does he know that we love them? They're our parents."
"That's why he gets mad, he doesn't want you to love them," Starscream growled. "He'd rather you forgot about them and focused on loving him only."
"That's insane," she burst out. "I'm not going to forget about my parents, why should I?"
"Sadly, that is Megatron for you," Optimus now stated as Red Alert prepared something for her to drink. "He is possessive and believes you won't care as much for him if you still love your parents. He doesn't realise that you can easily love both him and your parents equally strong."
"Of course I can," she stated with a frown. "And so can the boys...if they can forgive him for this."
"Pft, they shouldn't," Starscream muttered as Red Alert poured some minerals into the beaker.
"Here," the medic said, mixing it up. "This will help you regain your strength."
"Thank you..." She said drinking it all and once she was finished she added, "I just hope he's changed... Doesn't beats you," she pointed at Starscream "And... One more thing.. I think that what happened here with Jetfire must stay here... Or who knows what Megatron will do..."
"Knowing him, I can imagine him hiding you and the boys forever to never see the light of day again," Red Alert added and the other two Mechs frowned and nodded fully knowing that the tyrant was very much capable of doing just that.
Silence followed as the four agreed before she decided to speak again. "Does nobility or royalty exist in your culture?"
"Well..." The Prime really didn't know where to start.
"It's different from Autobots and Decepticons," Starscream added. "While for Autobots you are sparked with your rights, for the Decepticons you need to earn them, even if your creator is someone powerful, like in your case. You were born with your rights but you still need to earn them... I don't know if I'm explaining myself," He added once he caught the femling's confused glance.
"Not really..." She said shyly.
"Those in our culture," he started again. "Who are the strongest, the most skilled, the smartest; they are the ones with the most prestige. I've learned a little of your culture and there are those automatically given that prestige simply for being born to the right creators, right?"
"Yeah," she said with a nod. "So...you guys don't rely on that, you've got to...prove yourself worthy of that respect?"
"Exactly," he said with a smile. "By being born a Decepticon princess, you are expected to rise to the level of respect that position entitles. We are all expected to rise to a certain level but there is nothing to stop us surpassing that. For instance, that is what Megatron did, he surpassed all others and became Decepticon leader."
"I...I think I understand...sort of," she said slowly. "It's a bit like...how you need to earn the right to have more than one mate, right?"
"Yes, you've got it," Starscream said with a smile. "It's a little complicated since you haven't grown up with this but we will explain it. You and the boys will need to learn everything about the Decepticon and Autobot cultures, as well as the Neutral ones."
"Wow...that sounds interesting... especially if someone can ask for the boys' hands too...uhhh...poor boys...I think their brains will explode with everything that I will tell them!" She exclaimed.
And watching the other three mechs' faces she quickly added: "Except the reproductive parts..."
Red Alert nodded tightly. "Yes, I think they will have enough with knowing they can carry and now be courted by both mechs and femmes."
Alexis thought for a little bit. She and her friends will need to put up with their sire and other transformers so they will be strong enough to not be courted by just any low ranked mech or femme and then be able to do their own courting once they felt they were ready and found the love. "Honestly, I can't see the boys with mechs...or many femmes...our parents taught us that polygamy is bad...it will be hard to overcome that. If I marry...or bond, I will do it only once with the man...or mech I love. I don't think I will do it twice."
"Cyclonus told me there are some powerful femmes that have more than one mech... I don't think I can handle that... I do still wonder how you put up with that, Optimus?" She finished watching how her friend seemed uncomfortable and she could swear he was blushing under that mask.
"Well... Uhh... My Elita and Bumblebee are like sisters, they love each other like that and will never do anything against the other, they are not jealous as it happens with the humans which makes me hard to explain it to you. But one thing I can tell you, it was Elita who choose her for our third. Without her approval, I would have never taken another."
"I see... Well... Megatron said the same about his mate...He also said he had to fight a lot to get her...Was she so stunningly beautiful for your standards that she was so valued?"
"Silverblaze," Red Alert started. "She was indeed beautiful, but also came from a powerful family of powerful mechs and femmes, they would be nobility as you said, and she filled their standards and the Decepticons standards that kept her always a high ranked femme. She had always many suitors from all ranks, they often fought to death for her, and Megatron was one of her suitors...He got rid of many high ranked mechs AND femmes to get to her first and bond with her afterwards."
"Wow... I mean...wow!" She awed. "Honestly that sounds so... ehh...no offense but...so imperialist and primitive...but then again... she always had the right to choose whoever she wanted, right? She was never...Umm...arranged to marry someone? Does that happen in your culture, right?"
"It can," Optimus said gently. "If the creators find a worthy mate for their creation...and it is a bit more common among Autobots and Neutrals. Decepticons prefer to see what kind of a bot someone is when they reach maturity and by then, said bot tends to be too independent to submit to an arranged bond."
"Wow, there really are differences between you guys," Alexis said in amazement. "I...could never really see why you guys fight, after we got to know Megatron and the others a bit more. But you guys do obviously have different cultures and probably points of view."
"We do but that doesn't mean we don't have things in common," Optimus told her. "Like you humans have different cultures, so do we but in the end, we are the same species from the same planet."
"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I once told Megatron that you guys could have been best friends if you weren't enemies."
"Well, I don't know about that," Optimus chuckled. "I think we'd always end up arguing but it's a nice thought. Now on the subject of marriage, I highly doubt that Megatron will arrange a bond for any of you; he would view it as releasing his parental rights over you, even partially. When a bond is arranged, the child spends time with their intended and their family, in order to get to know them better."
"No, I can't imagine Megatron doing that," she said, feeling quite relieved. She would rather find someone when she was much older, not just randomly betrothed to someone.
A new thought suddenly occurred to her and she exclaimed.
"Wait a moment, what happened to the boys? Are they alright, I can't believe I forgot about them..."
"Their fine," Starscream said quickly. "I called a while ago, Cyclonus and Demolisher are looking after them, you have nothing to worry about."
"Okay," she said in relief before asking. "So...what's going to happen now?"
"I hope you can stay, if you feel better here," Optimus said.
"I don't think that's convenient," Starscream pointed out. "Megatron will go into a rampage, the boys are alone and... I don't think she wants to stay near that perv," He scowled remembering the white shuttle.
"I agree with Star... I cannot stay here when the boys are there at Megatron's mercy...perhaps if we were all together...," Alexis trailed off as if unsure.
Considering it, Optimus said: "Once you feel better we will see, so far I don't see you walking or flying around just yet."
"Prime's right," The medic added. "So far you're under medical care and bed rest."
She pouted at that. Never in her life had she enjoyed that...even when a high fever invaded her once with a terrible flu.
Later…
"Jetfire, we need to talk about your behaviour towards that femmling," Optimus said to the white shuttle who was with his back to him.
"She's not available for courting as you realised, so, please stop with those ideas; you will only gain to scare her."
"I want that femme, Optimus, and I will fight her sire if needed..." Jetfire said not giving him his face. "She's unique... Unlike any other I've ever met... I want her... I've been waiting for someone like her for eons!"
The Prime sighed. "I know, my friend. But you must wait then, wait for her to give you a chance, to grow and mature."
The shuttle turned at him quickly. "And allow another idiot to get near her and catch her attentions?! I don't think so, Optimus."
Optimus chuckled at that. "It is the first time I've see you so possessive of a femme, is it because she's out of your reach? She's from Decepticon culture and human over all others, she will never allow you near her so soon and will consider you a pedophile..."
"A what?" Jetfire frowned in confusion. That was a new word for him.
"A mech who likes sparklings for sexual favours," Watching the other's reaction, Optimus answered.
"Wha-w-what?! N-nno! I would never...I mean...that's disgusting! And horrible!" He truly seemed horrified.
"Then you understand why you need to give her time, and if time calls, you will fight for her with eventual suitors that will come around. Besides, her sire, Megatron, I cannot see him arranging a bond for her or any of her brothers."
Jetfire sighed and leaned against the wall, pensive. "I've had many femmes in my life... How did I come to fell in love with... Oh Primus..."
Optimus just shook his head. "I think it's just thing of time, it will pass...eventually once you met another femme."
"I hope so," he said ruefully. "Because right now, it feels very real."
...A forest a few hundred miles away…
"Are you ready to talk?" Dirtboss asked as Megatron paced back and forth, the large mech appeared to be more composed now.
"About what?" Megatron grumbled, not ceasing his pacing.
"About your creations," the minicon replied patiently. "You love them and want to be a proper sire to them, you just don't know how to do that."
"And you do?" the Decepticon leader asked grumpily.
"In part," Dirtboss chuckled. "For starters, you must talk to all three of them and find out what they want. It is likely they will want to be with their creators but you cannot get angry with them. Because apart from anything else, I do not think they can simply go home to their creators, not when they are transformers. One way or another, they will need your help even if they decide to remain on Earth."
"But I don't want them to stay here," Megatron exclaimed, that was the last thing he wanted. "I want them to come to Cybertron, learn to be proper Cybertronians."
"I do not think they will want to stay here indefinitely," Dirtboss said slowly. "Children are curious and eventually, they will want to see your home world. But right now, they're scared and want to return to the safety and security of their family. But as I said, you will need to work with those creators to ensure your children are safe and happy."
Megatron frowned, he wasn't sure of this at all. Then again, Dirtboss was right; the kids could not simply go back to their...creators and pretend nothing had happened, they were transformers now. And even though they did possess the ability to become human again, inside they would still be transformer. That wasn't going to change, especially the bond that existed between them, yes, they would surely need him.
"Perhaps...you are right," he said eventually. "I should talk to them...and their creators. I suppose I could set up a meeting, that is what the kids want?"
"I think it would do a lot to regaining their trust," Dirtboss agreed as Megatron smiled.
"Excellent, I'll contact that human detective or whatever he was called," he stated before establishing a connection. Dirtboss looked a little startled but couldn't do anything as Megatron was already calling.
"David Carling," the human answered, making Megatron smile before saying. "Hello Detective."
"You!" the man exclaimed before saying. "Why have you been silent for so long, where are the kids?"
"Their fine," Megatron lied. "I suppose you could say things have been...happening that distracted me for a while but I believe you'll want to hear what I have to say."
"I'm listening," The detective said thinking in all the anguish those kids' parents went through, but he won't go emotional now especially since this man was willing to let the kids see and talk to their parents now.
"I'm letting my cre- kids to talk to their parents...but by this media...no video calls; they will call their parents one of these days, so, be prepared," He said doing his best to hide his drunken accent...he almost called the kids his creations!
The detective seemed to frown and consider this. "Fine, but why not now?"
Megatron scowled. "Because!"
"Do you have any idea how much harm you caused those families? Those parents are destroyed because of this...please consider it and let those kids return home where they are loved," The detective couldn't help it anymore. "If you were a father you will know..." he whispered more to himself it seemed.
Megatron scowled at that. "I am a father, I consider those kids as mine, and now they are, I will not let them go so easily!"
"What? What you mean? That you want them to be your sons and daughter?"
"They are now... Be prepared, detective, one of those days they will call home...," Megatron hissed dangerously.
"What? Wait-!"
Before the detective can continue, Megatron cut the transmission. "What?!" He barked at the minicon who looked up at him shaking his head in a 'no' gesture.
"You shouldn't have said it like that," the minicon said quietly, making Megatron frown.
"What do you mean?" he demanded of the smaller robot.
"The human and the children's parents will not understand, you calling the children yours. From their point of view, you've stolen them and are now trying to forcibly adopt them."
"I'm doing nothing of the sort," Megatron scoffed. "They are my children, I sparked them with my mate, I am not forcibly adopting them."
"But they don't know any of that," Dirtboss explained patiently. "They don't even know you're a Transformer, they will believe you're a fellow human who has stolen these children for his own purposes. This will worry them even more and they'll probably bombard their children with questions, demanding explanations."
"They should be grateful I'm allowing this," Megatron grumbled. "But very well, I suppose I shouldn't have let that detail slip. I will inform my children to expect questions and they can deal with it."
He remembered the last time he allowed the children to call home, Primus the crying and wailing had been beyond the pale. And no doubt it would be even worse this time...because of course he would be monitoring the calls, making sure the children weren't letting slip anything they shouldn't. Speaking of the kids, he wondered if Rad and Carlos would allow him near them now. What about Alexis, she was hidden away in the Autobot base, how was he supposed to get hold of her there? Blasted Prime probably wouldn't let him talk to her…
"We'd better go back to the base," he said coldly. "I need to see about getting my daughter back...and checking the boys"
"You will be calm with them, won't you?" the Minicon asked anxiously. "You don't want to upset them again."
"Of course I'll be calm with them," Megatron stated, as if this had never been a problem. "Come along."
Dirtboss obeyed and they Warp to the Decepticon base. Megatron slowly stepped off the platform, wondering if his boys would be in their guardians quarters or elsewhere. Oh well, he'd just have to search for them.
Once back in the Moon, Megatron released Dirtboss and went after his sparklings. However, the Minicon went after him.
"Cyclonus! Demolisher! Where the frag are you?!" The drunken leader barked from the passageways to his soldiers.
"Megatron?" But none of them was the mech that answered him. "Are you okay?" Scavenger said examining his leader's state.
With a snarl, Megatron turned back and roared again ignoring the old bot. "Cyclonus, Demolisher, get your afts here now!"
"Megatron, calm down, you're drunk! This is not the right way of approaching the sparklings!" Scavenger insisted trying to make him see some reason.
But his reasoning fell on deaf audios as Megatron continued roaring and this time demanding to see his sons.
Couldn't Megatron imagine his terrified creations, crying in their caretaker's arms out of fear and begging them to not sell them out to him? Scavenger sighed.
"Didn't you say you would be calmer?" The Minicon beeped at him.
"I am calm!" He roared.
"No, you're not, you're acting like a brute, drunk aft, the same aft you claimed to be!" Dirtboss bit back and Scavenger looked down at him in half shock, amazement, amusement.
Megatron started before saying quietly. "What did you say?"
"You heard me," Dirtboss replied calmly. "Remember all you told me, how the children were scared of you because you were drunk and yelling at them? Well, you're drunk and yelling for them again, this will just make them even more scared. You must wait until you are not so drunk and calm before you approach them. I know this is not what you want to hear but you must listen if you are to repair the damage you've done."
Scavenger had only just got over his shock so he managed to say.
"He's right Megatron, the boys are terrified of you right now, if you go in angry, this will only make things worse."
"Then what do you suggest I do?" Megatron growled.
"Go and blow off some steam," the older mech suggested. "I'll even spar with you if that's what you want but you do need to cool off. Once your calm, you can speak to the boys."
"They are my boys," Megatron began to say but Scavenger interrupted. "No one disputes that Megatron but if you go in now, they will never forgive you. If you want them to love and respect you, then you must leave them be for now. Do you think Optimus will hand over Alexis while you're like this?"
"How should I know what that accursed Prime will do?" Megatron demanded but he appeared a little calmer than before. "Fine, I will do what you say this one time but I WILL be speaking to my children in due course."
Scavenger held up his hands, saying. "All we ask if that you give them some time. I'll talk to the boys if you want, make sure they're okay with seeing you later."
Megatron growled before stomping off outside.
"Damn," Scavenger sighed before glancing at the Minicon. "How did you do that?"
Dirtboss shrugged and said. "I dunno, I suppose I just listened and kept calm."
He paused before saying. "He is going to allow them to talk to their human creators."
"Oh?" Scavenger managed to say. Those were good news, he seemed to start understanding that they needed their human creators too. He smiled at that.
"Do you know where my brothers are?" The Minicon suddenly asked.
"Your...brothers?" The old Mech wondered what kind of Minicon this was? Maybe like Perceptor, a combinable one. "Uhh...sure...follow me," He said before walking, the Minicon following swiftly.
…
"That fragging bastard of Prime, taking my daughter...," Megatron cursed bit then stopped and trailed off. "... the one I've hurt... Frag! How can I stop this? I don't want them hurt... I just want to be happy with them... Is that asking too much?"
…
Without him noticing, Thrust watched him. Megatron's number on Alexis was perfect, now it was time to deepen those sparkling's feelings towards Megatron. Never leave them being able to reconciliation. The grey jet contemplated the idea of going there with his leader and giving him some ideas on how to treat his creations properly...how to show them their place…
But now that seemed too risky.. He was drunk, plus what that old annoyance and the Minicon told him was still fresh in his processor. But he will wait…
...and oh yes, those little spawns will pay for what they did to his armour and facemask... And making him bleed…
...soon he will make them bleed.
…
"Rad, may I talk to you," Scavenger said quietly as he entered the room the former human and his guardian were. Demolisher appeared to be reading from a data pad, it sounded like a sparkling story and Rad was listening intently.
"What's it about?" Rad asked, he was much calmer and it was probably thanks to Demolisher. Scavenger never would have believed it of the stoic Decepticons but a lot of things had surprised him recently.
Before Scavenger could speak, Rad suddenly asked with a frown. "Is it about Megatron?"
"Yes, it is," the old mech said with a nod. "He's realised his mistake and wants to talk to you...calmly."
"Yeah right," Rad scoffed, looking away. "He's probably raving drunk or something."
Scavenger grimaced, that was right. But he had to convince the boys to talk with Megatron or he wouldn't be able to keep the Decepticon leader calm.
"He's upset at what happened so he's cooling down right now. But he has apparently arranged for you to talk with your creators."
"What?" Rad exclaimed in shock. "Why...he went crazy just because we asked if we can speak with them. He tried to beat us and now you're telling me he's happy to let us see them?"
"I know," Scavenger sighed. "It seems ridiculous but he knows it's what you want and he's trying to make amends."
"Trying to get into our good books so we'll forgive him and then love him," Rad said in contempt. "Sorry, no deal."
"Megatron is impatient and impulsive," Scavenger said calmly as Demolisher held his charge. "He charges too fast into situations but beneath his bluster, I do believe he cares about you. He just doesn't know how to express it properly, not after his mate died and he was left alone for so long. He needs your help and the help of your siblings to get over everything that's happened."
Rad grimaced and looked away.
"Talking to your creators is the first step," Scavenger stated. "You all need to work through this, find out how you can all be a family."
"Just give him a chance, that's all he wants and sounds like a good idea if you want to give him an example of what love is," Cyclonus added once him and Carlos entered the room and everyone looked up at him. "What?
Rad grimaced and growled before shaking his head.
"What is it?" Scavenger asked him.
"Who knows what he will do to us next time he gets angry..." The boy hissed and Carlos worriedly nodded at the elder.
This sounded bad... The boys expected their sire to be this violent with them at all times and without warning that they didn't wanted to give him another chance.
Scavenger sighed. It seemed that not even speaking with their human parents will cheer them up or forgive Megatron.
…
Earth...
Autobot base…
"She's stable enough for you to take her back, but be careful, her body cannot manage too much stress," Red Alert instructed Starscream as he held a sleepy Alexis protectively in his arms who shrunk against his chest once her dim optics caught sight of Jetfire.
"I understand, I will make sure she's safe," The seeker said.
"You better!" Stepping forwards, Jetfire barked before Optimus could stop him.
Starscream frowned at him but didn't say anything. "Be safe, Alexis," The Prime then caressed her delicate helm and the seeker stood back activating the warp gate. "We trust you with her, Starscream..."
"I don't!" Jetfire added from behind him. And everyone frowned at him except Blurr who rolled his optics.
"Uhh..." Alexis tried. "Bye guys, bye Optimus... Thank you... I hope we see each other again soon...," She finished before disappearing with the seeker.
"She didn't say goodbye to me!" The white shuttle cried and everyone groaned before walking away from him.
…
The seeker and the femmling reached the decepticon moon base seconds later. Everything seemed to be just the way they left it.
"You think they are okay?" The little femme asked her guardian for her friends and he kindly smiled and nodded.
"I'll take you with them now..." He started before she stopped him.
"N-no... I... I want to see Megatron first..."
Starscream looked down at her in shock. "But... Alexis... He must be... He... I don't think is wise," He tried.
"I want to... I feel like I need to..." She insisted and somehow he felt he couldn't disobey her. That this is something she needed to resolve now.
It wasn't hard to find Megatron... He was outside lamenting his misery with lots of high grade...too much high grade...so much that Starscream could smell it long before they reached him. "Are you sure about this?" He tried again.
"Yes..." She said with decision before calling for her sire from the seeker's arms. "Megatron?"
He started and turned, staring at her in bleary eyed amazement.
"Alexis?" he questioned, his words slightly slurred. "I must be dreaming..."
"No, I'm back again," she corrected as she wrinkled her nose. "Are you drinking again?"
"Only a few cubes," he stated, apparently not believing that she was really here. "You hate me...so do your brothers."
"I don't...hate you," she said slowly. "But I am really annoyed with you, you need to sort yourself out. We can't carry on like this, not if we're going to be a family. You've got to realise that we won't forget our parents, our Earth parents, not when we love them."
"But...what about me?" he asked in almost a whine but not quite.
"Megatron, we can love you and them equally," she said in exasperation. "I don't get why you can't understand that."
She huffed before saying. "I know this is a weird situation...if you asked us when you first captured us if we could love you and our parents, we'd have probably said no. But we got to know you and we now know that we can love you all."
Starscream was watching his leader carefully, in case he made a violent or threatening move. But it seemed he was in a rather depressed mood and thus, wasn't doing anything but sitting there.
"You know...I think that's part of the problem," Alexis suddenly said. "You don't know our parents...at all and they obviously don't know you. I think you need to get to know each other in order to resolve this."
"What?" Starscream said in shock as Megatron looked at her in disbelief.
"That would never work," he stated firmly. "I am leader of the Decepticons and they are puny humans, they would be too afraid."
"We weren't afraid," Alexis defended hotly. "And we were even punier than them. I don't mind you being a part of my life Megatron but I'm not giving up my parents and neither are the boys. I'm sorry but either you accept our parents or you just forget about us completely. There's no other way, we're not abandoning them and if you truly want us to love and respect you, you are not going to try and force us away."
The leader looked at his femmling and the way she talked even when weak from his soldier's arms... He was amazed... She will be something…
...but that was not the problem, she wanted him to meet her parents and the boys' parents!
"Alexis... I can't do that now...not yet at least...but someday perhaps when we settle again as a family," Megatron said and her frown deepened.
"Then when?!" She demanded. "Tomorrow?"
"Uhh... no... tomorrow you and your brothers will talk to them... I will allow you to."
"I suppose that's a start... But then again.. You must know each other and I will insist on this... You owe me this... sire..." She said dangerously that even made him flinch.
"Yes... yes... anything my femmling wants...," Megatron said before lifting himself from the ground and walked towards them, very much intent on taking her from Starscream's arms.
Alexis wrinkled her nose before covering it. "Eww! Don't!" And the seeker stood back and away from his reach. "You stink! Once you don't and sober up we can talk about hugs, but not now."
"And what if I want to hug you now?"
"You should have thought on that before getting drunk...," She scowled in disgust.
"I'm sorry...," Megatron said uncharacteristically and both femmling and seeker thought they might glitch.
"Uhh... Sir.. How much high grade you consumed?" Starscream tried and Megatron looked at him drowsily.
"None of your businessss...Virrrrginnn!" Megatron snarled at him who looked back at his leader with indignation.
"I'm not a virgin!" Starscream started but decided to stop not wanting to play Megatron's game again. "Come on, Alexis... I'll take you to your brothers..." He turned and started walking away before she stopped him.
"Wait! I need to ask him one more question." She said and both mechs stared at her. "Two things... If Starscream was a virgin..." The seeker groaned. "He will be very valuable, don't you think?" She addressed her sire who smirked at the seeker and nodded at her, "And... What will you do if someone suddenly comes and ask for my hand now and tries to arrange a bond?"
Megatron's optics widened at that and he barked half roaring in his drunken state. "I will kill him! Who is he?! Who dares to ask for my femmling?!" Then looked up at Starscream. "I hope it is not you, virgin... Pretending to lose your virginity with my daughter?!"
Starscream's wings stiffened. "I am not a virgin! And I am not asking for her hand! I am not a perv!" he bit back.
"Yeah ssshure... Little virgin wants my virginal daughter to lose his virginity..."
"I'm not-...! You know what? Megatron... Sir... You're pathetic!" With that last word, the seeker walked away from him taking Alexis along.
"But at least I know how to please a femme!" Megatron yelled... However he hadn't expected his daughter yelling back from the distance: "And Mechs too!"
Megatron's optics widened in shock. "I'm definitely going to kill Cyclonus!" He hissed before sitting back on the dirt.
…
Starscream smirked at the dig Alexis had managed to get in but he was still really annoyed at his leader's goading. He was not a virgin, just because he didn't spend all his time fragging every hole presented to him...slagging Megatron.
"You okay?" Alexis asked anxiously. "Don't listen to Megatron, I think he's just a bit grumpy."
Starscream just grumbled to himself as he went in search of the boys. Alexis sighed, mechs could be so touchy sometimes. She decided to change the subject and said. "Do you think the boys will be okay?"
"They should be but I don't think they'll forgive Megatron so easily," he said grimly. "He really hurt them Alexis."
"I know," she sighed. "But the thing is Megatron isn't going to let us go and if the boys won't give him a chance, he might do something crazy like reprogram us. For our own sakes, we've got to make an effort with Megatron and see if we can work something out with our families."
Starscream grimaced, he could understand what she meant but he still didn't really feel ready to forgive his leader. And he was pretty sure the boys held the same view, they had a lot of anger in them after Megatron's actions towards them, and this wouldn't be easy to displace.
"Don't push too hard with Rad and Carlos," he now suggested to her. "I think it'll take time for them to give Megatron that chance. You can let them know what you're going to do but let them do their own things."
"Alright," she said with a nod as they approached Cyclonus' room.
Starscream knocked before going straight in.
"Aww," Alexis giggled when she saw Cyclonus on his berth recharging and holding Carlos in his arms who was also sleeping. Starscream managed a small smile at this before saying. "Perhaps we should let them recharge a little longer?"
"Uh...okay," Alexis agreed after a moment's hesitation.
They quietly left and headed for Demolisher's room who was awake.
"Huh?" he said as they came in but Rad's reaction was very different.
"Alexis, you're alright!" he exclaimed happily, running forward to hug her.
"Yeah, just a little stiff," she said with a smile as she received his gentle hug. "How are you doing?"
"Alright," he said with a shrug, sending Demolisher a small smile. "Demolisher's been looking after me." The beige Mech just nodded an affirmative.
"So...anything new?" Alexis asked and Rad said.
"Well...Scavenger said that Megatron will let us talk to our parents but I dunno if that's true."
"Oh that's what he told me, Megatron I mean," Alexis said.
"You saw him?" Rad asked with a frown. "How was he?"
"Drunk," was everything the femling said before Rad scowled in disgust and annoyance. "Rad..."
"No! I can't forgive him! He hurt us beyond forgiveness and God knows what he will do next once he got us with the guard down!" The blue opticed Mechling barked walking away from him. "I don't think he deserves another chance! We've been giving him chance after chance and he's the one who screw it up every time!"
Starscream and Demolisher frowned at that remark as if giving him the reason.
"Rad... Are you sure? He seems to really regret it for real this time; besides... If we don't 'forgive' him this time and he keep 'giving' us things, he might grow frustrated and then do something far worse than what we think...," Alexis tried.
"Then we will be prepared for it and will not wait for him to pretend to love us because we obey him!" Rad hissed. "I cannot forgive him, not after what he did to you... He was going to do the same to us! I... You should have seen what he did to you! He broke you in pieces!" Rad cried.
"We thought he killed you... He was going to do the same to us... And if it wasn't for Starscream... you...you would be dead!" He shook his head in denial. "No, Alexis... That cannot be forgiven... Or pretended that nothing happened..."
"We can pretend... Or... At least talk to him again... Rad... If we give him the cold shoulder he might go even crazier than what he is, please consider it." She tried.
He grumbled, looking away, he was really angry over what had happened. Alexis touched his arm and said.
"I don't want to pressure you Rad, I know you're angry at him and you've a right to be. Just please don't openly reject him, at least not yet. He's letting us talk to our parents, we don't want to spoil that. I'll see if he'll leave you in peace for a while and you can decide for yourself if you want to give him another chance. And I'm going to talk to him about drinking, he can't keep doing that, I'll do everything I can."
"But what if he hurts you?" Rad asked softly, turning back to look at her. "He went crazy cause we said the wrong thing, we were having fun before that. He's unpredictable and violent."
"I know," she said with a grimace. "That's why he needs to start thinking about making contact with our parents, if he can get it through that thick skull of his that their not a threat to him and he could become a co parent alongside them, then he won't go crazy. But that drinking is a real problem and I'm going to sort it out."
"You'd better wait until he's sober," muttered Starscream, he'd been listening intently.
"Can we get rid of the high grade?" Alexis asked. "Is there a way we could produce something other than high grade from the energon you use?"
"You could make sweets," Demolisher suggested. "Megatron might enjoy seeing you kids make some, I dunno."
"That sounds good," she said with an encouraging smile. "I'd love to learn how to do things like that." Wistfully, she added. "I used to love baking with my mom."
Rad sighed and said. "I wish we could be human again, everything was so much simpler then."
"Yeah," she admitted remembering she had lots of things to tell the boys about that fact; then looked up at Starscream. "Is...there any chance we could be human again?"
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like this but there's a chance," he said slowly. "There are beings known as pretenders, they transform into organic bodies, perhaps if we got hold of their technology, we could give you your human bodies back. If I talk to that Autobot medic, he might have some ideas."
"Please do it," Rad pleaded. "I don't know if I can face my mom or my dad like this."
"I'll do what I can," Starscream promised before saying. "Carlos was recharging when we saw him but is there anything you kids want to do?"
They glanced at each other and shrugged.
Starscream was really worried, the kids were truly depressed and it was not going away. "I'll go and check on Megatron, Alexis, you can stay here with Rad and Demolisher for a while." She looked up at him before walking towards him.
Knowing what she meant, he added; "You're still too weak to go walking around. Better stay here and rest..." The seeker trailed off before looking straight into her big, pleading shiny orbs. "Uhhh.. I..." He scratched the back of his neck before realizing he was being hypnotized. "Fine... You can come!" He finished before reaching for her and carried her up and walked away.
"Bye, Rad, Demolisher, see ya later!" The femling called before she and Starscream walked away, closing the door after them.
…
Minutes later they reached the place Megatron was... And said mech was recharging...loudly…
"Well... He does snores louder when drunk." Alexis pointed out watching the Decepticon leader leak saliva from his mouth. "Eww!"
"I need to take him to his quarters." Starscream said lowering her down on her pedes before reaching for his unconscious leader and taking his arm over his shoulder taking most of his weight and started walking towards Megatron's quarters, Alexis following suit slowly.
…
In a dark corner, Thrust cursed. He was interrupted again and this time it was that little spawn and that flying failure!
Deciding to do any move anyways, he walked stealthily behind them before taking the little femmling in his arms hearing her squeak and scream once she saw him.
"Put...Me...Down!" She demanded struggling weakly against his embrace.
"Leave her alone!" Starscream barked as he still held Megatron's big recharging maze over one of his shoulders.
"Oooh...but why should I? She shouldn't be walking alone, right?" The grey flier mused holding her tighter ignoring her protests that he was hurting her.
Starscream then dropped Megatron's unconscious form before transforming his wing in a deadly crimson sword. Immediately after, Thrust set her in front of him using her as a shield. "You fragging coward! Let her go!" The red seeker demanded imagining his colleague's smirk under that faceplate.
"I just want To Help!" He tightened her against himself still ignoring her now screams.
Then, there was a 'click' like sound just behind Thrust. "Let her go..." A deadly voice threatened pointing his gun at the back of the grey seeker's neck.
Thrust froze. "You wouldn't dare... Wheeljack... I've always suspected you, traitor... Megatron shouldn't have sav-"
"Shut up and release the sparkling or I will make you suffer!" Wheeljack interrupted him hearing him growl before lowering the pained femmling on the floor. "Now, get away..." He dangerously threatened him.
Thrust back away but his wings were hitched in an aggressive fashion.
"Why do you care?" he spat with contempt. "They are little more than worthless human coated in metal."
"They're more than that," Wheeljack declared. "Even if they weren't lord Megatron's children, I would still protect them from the likes of you. Now you'd better go before he wakes up and discovers you hurting his daughter."
"You can't watch them forever...," Thrust hissed as he backed away. "Or protect them from him."
As he disappeared, they didn't need to ask who he meant. Both Mechs glanced at each other before over at the prone form of Megatron. Wheeljack sighed and said.
"I'll help you take him."
As he bent to lift Megatron up with Starscream, the Seeker asked. "Are you alright Alexis?"
"I'm fine," she assured him with a slight wince. "He took me unawares but I'll be more careful next time," Regarding her unconscious sire, she said. "Can we please get rid of his high grade? I don't want him to keep drinking like this, it's affecting his behaviour. Even if he was grumpy, I want him to be more like when we first got here. At least he had his dignity then."
"That's true," Starscream muttered as they hauled the large mech to his quarters, Alexis following closely.
Once they were inside his quarters and were laying the Decepticon leader, Alexis started searching around, trying to find the high grade. The two Mechs watched her in bemusement as she managed to find a store of sweet smelling high grade and turned to them.
"Hey, I'll need a hand with this; I can't find and carry all of it."
Starscream couldn't help but smile wryly, he never thought he'd be helping Megatron's daughter search out his stash of high grade energon. Megatron wouldn't be happy but he was a lot easier to deal with sober than drunk.
"I wonder why he's acting this way?" Wheeljack murmured. "I've never seen him like this."
"Depression?" Alexis suggested but he shook his head. "No, I mean, this is so out of character for him, it's as though something is making him crazy..."
"What, like someone spiked his energon?" Starscream said rather snarkily before pausing. Could the former Autobot have a point, was some outside influence affecting Megatron's behaviour and actions. He had been blowing up so much over the smallest of things, could it really be the selfish bastard wasn't entirely to blame.
"You...may have a point," he said with a frown. "But who or what could be causing it?"
"It has to be one of us... Who else can it be?" Starscream quickly added thinking on Thrust.
"You think one of us could make it?" Wheeljack voiced his thoughts as he helped the little femme before opening one cube and examine it. "That's high treason!"
"But why any of you would do that to him?" she said. "I can't see any of you doing it..."
Both Mechs keep silence as Starscream set Megatron on his berth before helping the other two with the cubes. "I know he has another hiding place..." The seeker added before walking to a wall and opened a secret cabinet finding more cubes of high grade. Wheeljack and Alexis looked at him dumbfounded, then he took all the cubes and motioned them all to leave the room with the cubes not leaving a single one behind.
…
Later...
Medbay's lab…
"I can't believe it..." Starscream said worried before removing his optics from the microscope and the computer showed its results. "He was poisoned..."
The former Autobot and the femmling looked up at him in shock and worry. "His high grade was mixed with a powerful drug that will intensify his feelings, being this ones good or bad... Especially if those feelings are strong... Like the jealousy he feels towards your parents."
"What? But..that sounds ridiculous, Megatron being forced to hurt us? It sounds stupid...," Alexis said in disbelief.
"It is not stupid... He was programmed to do so... But somehow I believe we only are at the tip of the problem... Who would want Megatron to hurt you? His creations, the ones he loves the most... And with what purpose?" Starscream asked mild shocked and deep in thought.
…
Without them knowing, hiding in the shadows as it was usual for him, Thrust watched and listened everything and frowned in thought... Someone poisoned Megatron…
Well... he knew he didn't do it... and after his little scene with Alexis everyone will suspect of him…
But... If it wasn't him... Then who did it?
He decided to continue watching for a moment before that old rusted tin can of a Mech entered the medbay.
…
"Wow... Are we going to have a party?" Scavenger beamed once he set his optics on the great amounts of high grade.
"They are poisoned," Starscream said before the eldest had the chance of taking one. "Megatron's high grade... And we must get rid of it before he awakes and go for more... And realises he has no more."
"What?!" The old mech said in shock.
"The drug in it makes it addictive, he will feel he needs it more and more and his behaviour will become more unpredictable...violent or depressed... Who knows..!"
"Wait, slow down and explain to me," Scavenger commanded, he wanted all the facts before he acted.
Starscream quickly explained that all of Megatron's high grade had been tainted which explained his sudden violent behaviour to his own creations who they all knew he loved. All Megatron would have needed to do was have a single cube of that poisoned high grade and he would have been hooked. At first, he would have behaved fairly normal except for a few outbursts but as he continued to drink the addicting substance, these outbursts would have grown in their frequency and violence.
"And that's why he tried to beat the boys simply because they mentioned their parents," Starscream finished softly. "He already felt jealousy towards them but this drug amplified these feelings tenfold."
"Frag," Scavenger muttered. "This isn't good, we need to take action immediately."
"That's why we've got these," Starscream said, gesturing at the high grade. "We have to destroy them."
"You'd better keep a sample," Wheeljack suggested. "Megatron might not believe us otherwise."
"You're right," Starscream murmured, taking a decent sample from a cube and carefully storing it away. "Now, not only do we need to detox Megatron, we have to find out who did this."
"Anyone in mind?" Scavenger asked, he already knew who he'd be questioning first.
"Thrust," Starscream said grimly. "He's the only one I can see doing something like this, he hates the kids and has ambitions to become leader someday."
Hiding in the shadows, Thrust scowled, while both points were true, it had not been him who had spiked Megatron's energon. But honestly, he couldn't think who it could have been, the Decepticons here were all loyal to Megatron. Although Starscream's loyalty was clearly shifting closer to those miserable human brats and as for Scavenger...well, was he not Optimus Prime's teacher? Who knew where his real loyalties lay?
Nonetheless, he would need to keep his head down, present a defence as they were surely going to try and blame him. Perhaps if he gave his side of things to Megatron…
Quietly, the spy slipped away as Alexis said.
"How are you going to detox him? Will he just go cold turkey or something?"
They all stared at her so she quickly explained what that meant.
"It'll be something like that," Starscream agreed. "It's likely he'll purge if he start giving him real energon but he needs it, our systems don't like being overenergised repeatedly."
"But he'll be okay, right?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes... Now, we better hurry before he awakens and realizes he needs more..."
…
Later...
Megatron's personal quarters…
There was this familiar pain in his head he couldn't grab and it was only getting worse…
...hangover.
"Uhhh..." Megatron moaned in pain before sitting at the edge of his berth with his hands on his head.
His creations hated him... That hurts the most and he couldn't find a way of getting rid of the spark ache…
...maybe with more high grade to drown his misery.
He walked to his dispenser only to find it empty. That was odd... But then let it be, maybe he'd drunk it all, the question was when?
Then he reached for his secret compartment only to find it empty as well…
That did it... With the pain worsening and now his high grade gone his ire increased and with a low growl -that tried to be a roar- he stepped out of his quarters to the medbay while covering his optics and shooting at some lights to make it dark.
…
Medbay…
"What was that?" Alexis asked in worry as she helped the mechs in destroying the high grade and transforming it into fuel for the base.
"Someone is shooting?" Wheeljack wondered looking at Starscream in alarm.
"Hurry!" The seeker took more cubes and emptied them faster as panic invaded his processor.
Seconds later, Megatron entered the medbay and the first thing his optics greeted him was with piles and piles of HIS high grade.
Everyone stopped and froze at his arrival. "What the FRAG are you think you're doing?!" He half roared half groaned.
"M-megatron... S-sir... W-w...we j-just... W-we-" Wheeljack stuttered watching his angered leader loom over him.
"You'd better have a very good explanation for this," Megatron growled, stalking forward menacingly.
"We do dad," Alexis spoke up, seeing how worried her friends looked. "They're poisoned!"
Megatron halted, staring at her in disbelief as he exclaimed.
"Poisoned? Don't be ridiculous, how could they be poisoned?"
"But they have," she insisted earnestly," Starscream tested them and he found a foreign substance, I don't know exactly what it is but it's tainted your whole stock. We're destroying it before it does worse things to you."
"Worse things?" he repeated as Starscream cut in.
"They're the cause of your...actions towards your creations. Why you were so uncontrollably angry towards them and violent. If you keep drinking this energon, your behaviour will become worse and next time, you might actually kill them. Please sir, I know you want the high grade but you must resist."
"It's also addictive," Scavenger added quietly. "That's why you crave it so, even when you should be stopping."
Megatron stood there, he seemed unable to process the information just handed to him. Starscream sidestepped closer to Alexis, his leader never took attempts to take him down very well, especially if they were underhanded instead of an honest challenge on the battlefield. Sure enough, rage began to contort his features, his fists clenched and shook and his lips twisted into a snarl.
"WHO HAS DONE THIS!" he roared, making them all flinch. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM...!"
"We don't know sir," Wheeljack said earnestly. "But we will find them."
Megatron didn't reply, his optics were blazing and were focused on his high grade. Clearly, his rage was combining with his urge to consume the tainted energon was overtaking him. Just before he could stride forward, Alexis cried. "No Megatron, don't take it, it'll drive you crazy...please."
"I will do what I see fit," he snapped, coming forward as they tried to block the high grade from sight. "Now out of my way."
"No," she stated bravely. "If you take it, you'll end up hurting someone and then you'll feel like slag. Please, go outside and shoot something if you need to vent but don't take this energon."
"You don't tell me what to do!" He shoved her out of his way just the same way he did with the others. His hangover was getting worse just like his anger... Something told him he needed another cube even before the medicine for his pain.
"No, Megatron! Stop!" Scavenger tried but the leader managed to escape him with a cube and opened it…
...but just when he was about to drink it he dropped it to the ground where it shattered. He then took his head in his hands at the loud screech that assaulted his receptors... Actually everyone in the medbay was covering their receptors.
Feeling like his head was going to explode, he finally fainted again not before discovering the source of said horrible sound…
...Starscream.
With Megatron offlined again, the seeker stopped and looked down at everyone. "Are you ok?" He asked taking Alexis up and helping Scavenger as well.
Wheeljack looked up at him in shock. "Where did you learned to do that?"
Starscream didn't answer. "Let's hurry, Scavenger, help me up with Megatron, we will detox him now."
Wheeljack insisted as he watched the eldest and the seeker lay down Megatron on a berth, restrain him and attached some tubes to his main energon lines.
Finally Starscream surrendered. "I'm the youngest creation, it was common for me to scream for my carrier or sire when my brothers annoyed me... Even after when they become mechs and started getting drunk."
The race car smirked. "That would have been fun, to see Skywarp begging for his life with a hangover like that and you screeching like Unicron. Now I see why you're named Star-Scream."
The seeker turned to him and smiled. "It was not because of that...," Then leaves it there before addressing him again. "Hurry, you and Alexis, keep destroying the energon!"
Remembering his task, Wheeljack hurried before the femmling and Perceptor helped him.
"Right," Alexis said with a nod, hurrying to destroy the high grade and then convert it into fuel to power the base. Once it was in this form, Megatron wouldn't be able to drink it and the poison would not affect the machines it would power. She helped to mix the chemicals that combined with the high grade and broke it down into fuel while Wheeljack poured it into an inlet for the base's power systems. The upside of this was that the base would be fully powered for quite awhile, high grade made powerful fuel.
Meanwhile, Starscream and Scavengere were busy with Megatron, as his body filtered out the poison, his systems would react badly. Starscream attached a datareader to one of his leader's energon lines so that he could monitor the concentration of tainted energon and normal energon within Megatron's body.
"He'll have hell of a hangover after this," mused Scavenger as Megatron's unconscious body began to shudder.
"Yes but the urge to partake in high grade will be diminished," murmured Starscream. "That's the important thing but it won't be easy. His systems have to recalibrate back to normal and that means no sedatives or painkillers, nothing that can chemically change his system's energon."
"He'll work through it," Scavenger said grimly. "Once he's sober and knows what that stuff did to him, he'll want to return to normal. It'll help if the kids are there for them."
Starscream grimaced, while Alexis would be, he wasn't so sure about the boys. Even when the boys eventually found out about the tainted high grade, they might still be too angry and hurt to give their Sire another chance. He hoped that they would, his leader was a slagger but he didn't deserved to be poisoned in such a fashion, it was cowardly and dishonourable.
"We'll see," he murmured as Megatron jerked even more violently, groaning in pain even though he wasn't awake.
Alexis glanced anxiously back at him, who could have done this to him.
She just hoped the boys will forgive him for it...
…
Days later…
The boys found out that Megatron was poisoned and it was not his fault that he was so aggressive with them, but still they refused to be near him, poisoned Megatron or not he hurt them.
It wasn't easy for Megatron either as he continued calling his sparklings and even Alexis was hesitant on going to his call when he was agonizing in pain as the abstinence syndrome attacked him over and over again.
"Please...," The leader quietly in the darkness of the medbay cried to his femmling to come closer... The last sparkling left, his spark... He needed her. "Alexis..." his whole body ached and he felt like starving even when his tanks were full.
"I-I... I don't think is a good idea..." she stuttered watching him weakly fight his restraints. "Maybe I should call Starscream to come and see you, you've been purging a lot..."
"Please, my spark... Come closer..." He continued calling her. "I will never hurt you again, I swear... Please..."
The femmling hesitated before stepping closer to his berth and touched his hand, immediately after he smiled and tears rolled by the corner of his optics. "Let me hug you..." He motioned to his restraints.
"No! I can't do that!" She stepped back away from him and he alarmed trying to reach her back.
"Please..." With a broken voice he whispered. "I won't try anything... Just want you closer, you, the only one who has forgiven me... Please..." He tried again as she seemed to consider it.
"Swear it! For my life that you won't try anything!" She demanded.
He didn't even hesitate. "I swear, my princess."
Alexis flushed, she didn't like that title at all, especially after what Optimus and Starscream told her what come with said title. Then she came closer and released him.
Megatron smiled at her before weakly sitting on the medical berth, then he stood and took her in arms and started walking out of the medbay.
"Where are we going?" She looked down at him as they reached the throne room.
"To a more comfortable place," He said tiredly before sitting and positioned her better in his arms so she was laying like a baby against his spark, then he started rocking her and hummed a lullaby that somehow reached her spark and was starting to make her cry in silence as he continued and soon she was falling asleep.
"I love you and your brothers, never doubt it..." The leader whispered and kissed her nose bridge as he continued holding her against his spark.
Soon he fell asleep too feeling how his sparkling's presence strengthened his spark and will to get over this.
…
Later...
Medbay…
"Where is he?! ...and she?! Alexis!" Starscream cried in desperation no founding not just his leader but also his charge! "Damn it, I knew I should have kept a closer watch on him."
The past few cycles hadn't been easy, Megatron was extremely ill, purging and suffering hot and cold flushes. There were episodes where he turned angry and attempted to break free of his restraints, thankfully they held and the episodes never lasted very long. Unfortunately, the boys weren't willing to talk to or even see their sire no matter how much he asked for them.
Starscream understood their anger and knew that they just needed time, although whether or not Megatron gave it to them remained to be seen.
The cycle before, they'd asked when they could talk to their creators and Scavenger had arranged it so they could talk to them later this cycle. Starscream had heard the conversation between Scavenger and a member of the human law enforcement and it had been rather awkward.
"Detective Carling speaking."
"I'm calling about the kids, Rad, Carlos and Alexis."
"You are? What happened to the other guy?"
"He's...busy," Scavenger had replied simply. "He instructed me to arrange the call between the kids and their parents."
"And who are you?" the human had replied with no small amount of coldness. "One of his gang?"
"You could say that," Scavenger said with a shrug that the human could obviously not see.
"Well, maybe you could tell what all that bull your boss was spouting last time," the human said angrily. "Some crap about adopting those kids."
"He said that?" Scavenger said in mild surprise, he hadn't realised Megatron had spoken so freely.
"Yes he did," the human spat. "Just what is going on, is he abusing those kids and wants official power over them? No court in the world would give him guardianship over them; he kidnapped them from their parents and has been abusing them. Just what kind of sicko is he?"
"Hmm," Scavenger murmured, this couldn't get much worse. "I can't really discuss it, this is a complicated situation but the kids' parents will be told everything at some point."
"What is there to tell?" the human started to see but Scavenger said. "You'll understand but for now, I think we'd better talk about the call."
There was a pause and then the human had said. "Fine, when can they talk?"
So that had been arranged and the boys seemed a little happier but pensive. Same with Alexis, how could they pretend they hadn't been changed into robots and had a rather crazy transformer father who had previously been their captor. It was easy to see why the human law enforcement was so annoyed and frustrated at the situation he and the kids parents were in.
But right now, he wasn't concerned with that, he had to find Alexis, Megatron could be doing anything to her. Activating his comm, he called Leader-One and said urgently.
"Leader-One, have you seen Megatron or Alexis, they're both gone from the med bay!"
Silence followed and the seeker growled frustrated before finally the Minicon answered. "They're not with me...I don't know, why don't you check on his quarters?"
With a growl, Starscream cut the transmission with a short 'thank you' and walked out, but before he decided to take another path just in case…
...and he found them.
He gulped as he came closer and watched them sleep. Megatron held her tightly and securely in his arms... There was no way to release her from him and those huge arms that wrapped around her, after all, Megatron couldn't use any painkillers yet and electrocuting him wasn't a better choice.
Besides, he seemed rather calmed now and she didn't look like she was in pain. Maybe he should leave them... But then again, the call to their parents was in a few minutes; Ah well... Maybe Alexis can call later, the boys will have to call without her; they wouldn't mind, right?
Walking away he meet with Scavenger and the boys, everything was set for the calling.
Author's note. Will the boys ever forgive Megatron? How does the call to their parents go? Find out next time, until then.