The Predacon ship is eerie, somehow. Even for a ghost.
However, due to the need to stay at a certain distance from Starscream to keep his spark alight, Dinobot can't go anywhere else.
Well, yes, he could go outside, but…
He doesn't know if it's him feeling like he has to return the favor for all those times the Seeker did something he didn't want to so that the Predacon could be with the Maximals and such, or if he's starting to care for the older ghost, but…
No, scratch that, he's just repaying the debt, that's it, he's not worried about the absent-looking Flier or the guilt radiating so strongly off him that is impossible not to feel it, of course not.
And, most important of all, he's not concerned about why all those feelings seem to be related to the black and silver Decepticon.
So, no, Dinobot doesn't care at all, he's just in the ship because someone has to keep an optic on Megatron.
So, while the Seeker haunts the Covert Agent, the deactivated Predacon follows carefully—not that the other ghost seems to even notice his presence—and glares and snarls at his former leader as the Decepticon enters the brig.
Force field and energy shackles and all, Dinobot still doesn't trust Megatron doesn't have something under his plating, he's tricky like that.
And look at this, judging by the dangerous snarl, Starscream doesn't believe the Predacon leader is as inoffensive and neutralized as he seems.
That, or he's overtly-protective of the active Decepticon.
Since Dinobot can't make head or tails of that, he decides to take the first possibility and disregard the second.
"So, the Tri-Predacus Council still smooches the skid plates of the Maximal Elders. Is it any wonder I rebelled?" Megatron asks, as slick and calm as always.
"You didn't rebel, you made a bid for your own glory!" The ghost warrior hisses, for once not wishing he could be heard or seen.
After all, Primal is already aware of the situation, so there should be nothing to worry about now.
"The Predacons will have their moment. But you…" Ravage answers nonchalantly, chuckling at the end. "I served under the original Megatron. You have his name… but not his army." And if that isn't a pitiful look, Dinobot hasn't seen one in his whole function—and after it.
It's quite amusing, actually, to see a mech barely more than half the Predacon's size look at him as if he was a newspark that didn't even know the game he was supposed to be playing.
"Slagging right he doesn't. The only real soldier he had, he drove away with his idiocy." Starscream snorts, startling the Raptor, who turns to him in surprise.
But the Seeker doesn't pay him attention, more busy scowling at Megatron, and thus leaves the other ghost feeling… flattered, actually.
After all, Starscream also served under the Decepticon warlord.
"Perhaps." The Tyrannosaurus acknowledges, but immediately puts up his business-mech smile again. "But what does it matter if your ship is too Energon depleted by battle to return to Cybertron?"
Touché.
"The Maximals—"
"Have nothing. They were expecting rescue."
And… touché again.
"I, on the other hand, have a secret store of Energon cubes, yes." The Predacon adds, plastering an almost amiable smile on his faceplate. "Release me and it is yours."
He may not know Ravage as well as Starscream does, but when the Seeker lets out a bark of laughter, Dinobot joins him with a snort.
"I think I will take it anyway." The black and silver mech purrs, a mocking smirk on his snout and servos up and open in a 'watch me' gesture that only makes the deactivated Decepticon straighten proudly.
"Its location is encrypted, and my minions have fled." Megatron points out, but he looks serious now, almost uncertain, as his captor moves to a screen showing the symbol of the Decepticons proudly, albeit in red.
"Remember the defense shutdown that triggered your capture?" He asks almost conversationally, and the instant it takes him to speak is effectively used by the Predacon to put himself together.
"Yes. How did you…?"
Dinobot looks at Starscream, but the Flier shakes his helm in a negative.
So, it was Ravage after all. However, the how is something both ghosts would really like to know too, so they turn to the black and silver mech.
"Permit me to introduce Lieutenant Tarantulas, of the Predacon Secret Police." And the screen flickers to reveal the Spider himself, to his ghostly former comrade's disbelief.
"What?! Tarantulas was a mole all along?!"
"That's some covert mission, letting himself be ordered around by such an idiot. But I must say it was quite pathetic. Megatron never really trusted him in the first place, how are you supposed to do things as they should when you're a nuisance rather than an asset?"
Not knowing if he should feel like slapping the Flier or himself, Dinobot turns to look at the unimpressed Seeker.
"Aren't you one to talk."
But Starscream smirks, a gesture that makes the younger mech shiver and take a step back, because the glint in those optics speaks louder than if the words had been voiced.
If only you knew…
He doesn't know. And that is dangerous.
"A mole. Within my own organization all this time. And I never suspected." Megatron grumbles, stiff in indignation that he can't release due to his shackles.
"Idiot." Starscream answers almost cheerfully, and Dinobot can just give him yet another disbelieving look.
Tarantulas wasn't the very picture of loyalty, sure, but from treacherous opportunist to agent of the Predacon Secret Police there's a long stretch.
Though, now that he thinks about that, the mech seemed to know quite some things that did make no sense at the time…
"Energon cash located, Covert Agent Ravage." The Spider reports once his laughter has died, and the Decepticon turns around looking the most regal kind of smug the Raptor has ever seen.
"I'll have the Maximals retrieve it right away."
Ah, that's why. Not only does Ravage have a functioning ship, the Predacons dispersed, their leader captured and their scientist under his command, but he can order the Maximals around too.
Dinobot can almost hear Megatron's ego writhing in pain.
"Yes, you do that." The Tyrannosaurus hisses darkly, and the Raptor's alarms go off.
"He's planning something. Megatron is planning something." He whispers, tensing, as he whirls around to face Starscream. "The Maximals can't be sent there, it's a trap!"
"Of course it's a trap, no matter how encrypted and hidden a location is, there will always be extra security measures." The Seeker answers nonchalantly, shrugging the Predacon's worry aside. "Primal will know that too, and they'll be careful, so no need to be so scared all of a—"
A soft tremble, and while Ravage seems to pay it no mind, turning the screen off and walking out of the brig without worry, both ghosts phase through the hull to see just what is going on.
Only to see a hole in the Axalon's side and Silverbolt flying away, evading the Maximal auto-guns expertly.
"Now, that is a well hidden mole." The Decepticon whistles, sitting on the ship's dark exterior as if he was watching a movie.
"Silverbolt isn't a mole. He has neither the disposition nor the ability to be one." Dinobot hisses, preferring to stay standing on the metal, arms crossed against his chest plate. "Should we follow?"
"What for? I'd rather stay to see Megatron's deactivation. Oh, and he can be a mole, he just needs to have a split personality and no one would ever suspect him of—"
"What?!" The Predacon exclaims, cutting the older ghost, as he whirls around to stare at him with wide optics.
"A split personality. There were a couple of double agents like that during the war, they—"
"No, no that. Megatron's deactivation?"
"Oh, that. Of course. Did you really think he would be pardoned just like that? It's either this or have the Maximals argue with the Tri-Predacus Council to hand him over to them for the offenses committed. Or something like that. It'll be easier to just get rid of him, after extracting all useful data from his processor, of course." The Seeker explains, gesturing with a servo, and Dinobot sits down.
"That… would explain why Ravage said the Predacons would have their moment."
"See? Not so hard to understand, is it?"
"I just wish I had been the one to deal the blow. A war is not what Cybertron needs." He grumbles, looking at the distance, no longer able to see the Fuzor's characteristic silhouette.
"And yet, that is exactly what both sides have been preparing for ever since the Great War ended. And don't you dare tell me I'm wrong."
He doesn't.
Because, after all, Starscream is right.
Secretly developed transwarp vessels with cloaking and weaponry as Ravage's, Protoform X's creation, the military forces trained in plain sight but that no side wants to acknowledge so that they don't have to explain why they have theirs too…
Tensions all around. And Megatron's return could very well make them explode into another war.
"You really don't want that. You're a warrior, a soldier, born and bred, as the humans would say. Why wouldn't you want war?" The Decepticon asks calmly after a moment, and Dinobot finds himself turning his helm around to avoid meeting those curious red optics.
"What good would it do me now? I can't be part of it."
"And the other reason?"
"There's no other reason."
There's no answer, but the Predacon shivers as he feels the glare drilling into the side of his helm, almost as if the Flier could look straight into his processor and see—
"You're worried for the Maximals?"
—that.
"Not… really worried."
"Please, do tell." The Raptor snarls, turning to glare at the other ghost.
"They're explorers! They're not warriors, or soldiers, and they've been dealing with enough battle here. They…"
"Deserve a break, a chance to live a real life." The Decepticon finishes, surprisingly without mockery in his voice. "Yes, I can see why you wouldn't want another war."
"You can?"
"I'm not spark-less, as you very well know. Seekers may be warmechs, but we also provided Cybertron with Energon, a task completely unrelated to fighting. And, like you, I wasn't always a soldier."
They stay silent for a while, both of them staring at Earth's blue sky, and simply enjoy the faint heat from the sun's rays, a fairly normal yet different experience as it seems to brush Dinobot's very spark.
It's a very relaxing feeling, like the caress of his carrier's spark when he was barely more than a newspark—
"What the—"
"You're nothing but spark now, so it is to be expected that spark-memory is far clearer than it ever was during your function." Starscream explains without need to ask, lying on his back and soaking the sunlight with a tiny relaxed smile on his faceplate. "Even though I managed to record your processor-memory into your spark too, there's no changing the fact that you are a spark first and foremost, thus those memories have priority."
"You… recorded my memory into my spark?"
"It's not naturally done, so I have to do it manually. Well, not natural for all of you, I'm the exception to all the rules." He adds with a purring chuckle, optics black as he stretches on the ship's hull. "Now, stop thinking and relax, you're making me think and I'd rather enjoy the chance at peace for as long as it lasts."
For once, the Predacon obeys happily, lying on the dark fuselage with a content sigh as he feels the warm plating, yet more memories of being in his carrier's spark chamber coming up.
Stray thoughts try to pop up, but he concentrates on the warm, almost charged metal and the caresses of the sunlight, and everything else vanishes.
Until a servo is shaking his arm, bringing his surroundings back into focus as he onlines his optics again.
"Ravage is back in the brig. I'm going." Starscream explains, getting a simple nod in answer before both of them phase through the wall once more.
The room feels cold and almost dead in contrast, but the feeling quickly vanishes as the Seeker takes a step closer to the Predacon, the warmth from his spark washing over Dinobot.
Unsure if the move has been intentional or coincidental, the Raptor stays silent and observes.
"So. It was a trap." Ravage rumbles softly, somehow menacingly, and Megatron smirks.
"Oh, no. Really?"
"Told you." Dinobot hisses, and Starscream scowls.
"Must've been a bad trap—or a good one, mind you—if they didn't get the Energon."
"Probably moved it someplace else and didn't log it."
"Probably."
"You are a piece of work." Ravage speaks again, ending their unheard chat, as he presses something on the console that makes security guns drop from the ceiling to point at the Predacon leader. "Even imprisoned you still operate your own agenda."
"I am not naïve. You have no intention of returning me, or any of us, to Cybertron alive."
Dinobot tenses at his former leader's words, giving the Seeker a quick look, as they observe the active Decepticon position himself behind one of the guns.
"Us? Any of us? What does that 'us' mean? Does it include the Maximals?"
"I have no idea." The Flier whispers, as tense as the other ghost, but none of them move.
No, it can't be. Surely it must be just the Predacons, right?
But… the Maximals know about Megatron's plans too…
"That is true." The black and silver mech rumbles, and the Raptor feels his spark clench almost painfully. "But your crew is scattered. And I want no witnesses."
No witnesses of Megatron's deactivation or of all that happened on Earth?
"Is he really…?"
"I have no idea." The older ghost hisses once more, the gun being angled to aim at the Predacon's head—
But the Tyrannosaurus just smiles.
"Still. Why should I tolerate your existence any longer?" Ravage asks almost conversationally, and Megatron chuckles.
"Did you ever wonder why I stole the Golden Disk in the first place?"
"No…" Dinobot whispers, but Starscream is the one looking almost alarmed now as he clasps the Raptor's arm, none of them looking away from the active mechs, watching as one would a crash, unable to turn away.
"What does he mean? What does he mean?!" The Seeker hisses, his grip tightening a bit.
"You were looking for Energon." Ravage answers, though he steps away from the weapon, curiosity picked.
"That was a bonus." Megatron answers, once more his powerful self despite the guns and shackles and force fields. "It allowed me to recruit a crew, and gain potential for power. But the real reason was this…"
"You were tools?" Strascream hisses, starting to shake, and Dinobot growls.
"From the very beginning, yes. And it took me far too long to realize it."
"The Golden Disk was launched from Earth aboard the Voyager's space craft just as the secret war between Autobots and Decepticons began."
"I know that ship. I know that human contraption, I brought Megatron there myself to install a so called spy camera that was supposedly destroyed by radiation or space debris or whatever other excuse!" The Seeker snarls, letting go of the Predacon to clench his servos into fists.
"The original Megatron, your commander, had every intention of winning. But, like myself, he covered his bets. He inscribed a secret message into the Golden Disk. A message which I myself discovered, and decoded."
"The glitch!" Starscream shrieks, trembling harshly. "What did he do?!"
"It gets worse." Dinobot whispers, earning a worried look from the Flier.
"Am I expected to believe you? You said yourself the Disk was destroyed." Ravage returns, unimpressed, as he walks up to be just before the force field.
"Right… Right… Good, Ravage."
"I was the one to destroy the Disk."
"But he's the one not to fall for that mockery's words."
As soon as he has the Predacon's attention, Megatron points at his restraints.
"Oh, no… Please, don't tell me he'll be stupid enough to—"
"Arm auto-guns. Target the prisoner." The black and silver mech orders, and Starscream smirks.
"He's Ravage." The Flier answers simply, as if that was more than enough answer, and Dinobot concedes the point with a nod.
And smirks, almost with a bit too much smugness, as Megatron's faceplate twists with disbelief and… is that fear?
Oh, yes, it is.
Starscream chuckles, and if he wasn't smirking so widely, the Raptor would join.
Ravage snarls…
And his ears straighten and teeth are covered again as he looks almost… curious?
"Release the power bonds."
Both ghosts freeze.
He can't be serious…
The shackles fall to the ground, energy no longer keeping the prisoner immobile, and Megatron uses the chance to straighten his arms… and un-subspace a large shard of the Golden Disk.
"No… No! I destroyed it!"
"The Disk was destroyed. But a fragment remains." The Tyrannosaurus explains unnecessarily, his tail arm modifying into the projector mode so that the piece may be inserted and made to spin like the whole Relic once was. "And I'm not expecting you to believe me." He adds, signaling to the turning shard, before pointing it to the wall—
And a gray helm and faceplate with burning red optics is projected on it.
Ravage's disbelief and surprise are so much that his mouth falls open slowly, ears prickling forward, while Starscream tenses, optics flaring almost white.
"This is Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, and if you are hearing this, it means I failed… This time." The record speaks, a dangerous smirk appearing on a faceplate out of history pads as he chuckles darkly. "But I know that transwarp technology is being developed, and so I leave this message to any Decepticon descendants that may find—may find—may fwoo—"
"Lord Megatron?" Starscream whispers, still staring in shock at the wall where the projection is no longer on, and Dinobot whirls around in surprise to shake him out of whatever has fallen on him.
"Don't you dare get on Megatron's side, Old Relic! You don't know yet what this faux is planning!" He shouts, and the Seeker snaps out of it almost instantly, pushing him away.
As one, they turn to the other Decepticon… and find Ravage staring pensively, almost skeptically, at the ground.
But then, optics bright, he turns to look at the Tyrannosaurus with an obvious choice made.
"Auto-guns offline. Retract bars." And the computer complies, neither of the mechs in the room hearing the ghosts' startled cries. "Now… let us talk."
"No!" Starscream shouts, though he immediately rounds on Dinobot as the other two walk out of the brig. "What is that glitched walking scrap-heap planning?! What is he going to do?!"
"He wants to deactivate Optimus Prime!" The Raptor quickly answers, startled and maybe a bit scared by the white optics drilling into his.
Though surprise makes them pale red once more.
"He what?!"
"He knows where the Ark is, and he's going to go there and deactivate Optimus Prime so that the Decepticons win as soon as they online, on 1984." He explains more calmly, but the Flier immediately starts shaking with rage once more, wings rising threateningly.
"That—That—"
In the end, instead of choosing one insult, he just shrieks, and all lights and electronic devices flicker while Dinobot curls into himself with a pained wince.
"First the thing with the humans and now this?! He's going to destroy Cybertron with his stupidity!"
"What? What do you mean?" The Predacon asks as he finally recovers, watching the Seeker pace.
"Have any of you even the smallest knowledge of the war? Yes, destroy Optimus Prime and the Autobots would be in disarray for, oh, a klik or two. He had his Second and Third in Command with him, and the only reason Prowl didn't obliterate us all was because Prime would never condone an attack able to cause that much damage because the humans would suffer the consequences too, or some Autobot would have to sacrifice himself. And Jazz! That mech had been a professional spark-extinguisher before the war! He would've deactivated us all in recharge without Prime ordering him not to! And what of the Matrix?! What if it had chosen a much ruthless Prime? What of Unicron?!" And Dinobot's optics widen, the possibilities starting to dawn on him and make him tremble in fear. "The only reason Unicron was defeated was because the Matrix ended in the servos of Hot Rod instead of Ultra Magnus', and that's where it would be had Prime never reactivated on Earth! Cybertron, the universe itself would be devoured by the Unmaker!"
"That's… But…"
"Oh, and that's not all. Let's imagine Megatron had succeeded in destroying those proto-humans you gave your spark to protect. Does nobody know that the Victory was built with human-made materials?! Does anyone know just how hard it is to extract basic materials from an unpopulated planet when you have nothing?! And let's not even begin with how we would have made anything from those materials! The only thing on Earth would be the Ark and the Nemesis, and we didn't even know whether the Nemesis had survived the crash! And the Ark was full of Autobots! By the time we realized we had nothing, they would already be online and prepared! We would have been forced to flee the planet to go back to Cybertron flying, and who knows how long we could've gone until we found a useful enough energy source to refuel! We didn't even have an Energon converter!"
"Primus…" The Raptor whispers, falling to sit cross-legged on the floor as he holds his helm with his servos. "We… The Decepticons and the Autobots would have…"
"Those on Earth… The Autobots perhaps would have been able to use the Ark and their tools to find some way to build a shuttle, or something, and who knows if us Decepticons would have made it back, but those on Cybertron… At that point in the war, they only survived thanks to what we managed to send." Starscream adds more calmly, and, undignified or not, Dinobot whimpers.
"This plan… We would have condemned ourselves…"
"Yes. But we may be able to stop it yet."
Startled but hopeful, the Predacon looks up, and the Seeker smiles ruefully as he offers him a servo to help him back to his pedes.
"What are you planning?" He asks softly, but accepts the offer by clasping his servo around the Flier's, and thus finds himself standing after a tug.
"I have an old friend to talk to."
AN: Starscream likes to ramble. A lot. And I just noticed it. Huh.