The resulting four weeks were quite\u2026interesting to say the least. With Megatron as a prisoner, Optimus wasn\u2019t sure how to feel. He decided to visit him. He entered the cell and found Megatron restrained to the wall. \u201cMegatron,\u201d he greeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPrime.\u201d Megatron\u2019s return greeting left a silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo,\u201d asked Optimus, \u201chow\u2019s this gonna play out? Are we gonna spend the next hour posturing, or are we gonna rise to the occasion and have a civilized conversation?\u201d Megatron scoffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2018Rise to the occasion\u2019? What is this, a summit meeting? I\u2019m bolted to the wall, riddled with inhibitor chips, and all I need do is cross my fingers at you before I face termination by electric restraints! Hardly an ideal position to have a frank exchange of ideas!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFair point.\u201d Optimus then undid Megatron\u2019s restraints and pulled out a pair of chairs. \u201cTake a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo,\u201d said Megatron as he sat down, \u201cwhat does my little brother want to talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou surrendered after you made your proposal. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDidn\u2019t we just have this conversation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, we went through the motions. One provoked, the other reacted; same as always.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happened to the Decepticons? Who\u2019s taken my place for now?\u201d Megatron was deflecting the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMegatron\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t tell me it\u2019s Eggman!\u201d Genuine worry crossed the Decepticon Lord\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMegatronus! \u2026Look, forget the factions outside, all right? Right now, it\u2019s just you, me, and a conversation we\u2019ve put off for five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know about your end, but I\u2019ve been preoccupied enough to almost forget this. You know, what with the war, the continual keeping of my house in order, the pain I cause the fleshlings. Pit, sometimes I have to scrape blood off my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMegatron, do you even realize what you\u2019re saying?!\u201d protested Optimus. \u201cEverything, every word you\u2019re uttering, it\u2019s all steeped in hate!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned to hate when I was in my room while we grew up together. Oddly enough, I have an Autobot to thank for it, an Autobot with friends in high places who taught me all about violence and its application. Calm yourself, it isn\u2019t you. No\u2026it\u2019s our dear Dion. You\u2019ve heard him utter his usual Anti-Decepticon rhetoric, haven\u2019t you?\u201d Optimus looked away. \u201c\u2026Ashamed, are we? Well, after five years of conflict against a faction I once supported, I live to hate it! Hate sustains me! There are moments where I wonder if I feel anything else anymore. Lust, rage, ambition, I wonder if I\u2019ve moved beyond them. In fact, over the past five years, I\u2019ve realized there are two constants, hate\u2026and you.\u201d Optimus snorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m surprised you can find a difference between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOptimus, let me clarify something; I don\u2019t hate you. Don\u2019t get me wrong; I hate what you represent, and I hate the obstacles you\u2019ve put in my way; but I understand why you\u2019re trying to stop me. I forgive you that much. But there\u2019s a question I need answered. Do you hate me? I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever heard you say that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Yes\u2026No\u2026I don\u2019t know.\u201d Optimus ran his hands down his face. \u201cI don\u2019t know how I feel about you. Hate feels too simple for me, too\u2026easy. It might sustain you, Megatron, but makes me feel\u2026less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Were you always this sanctimonious and I was just blind,\u201d snarled Megatron, \u201cor was it something you worked at when you got the Matrix?! Behold, the infallible Optimus Prime! Wise for his age, charismatic for a guy who had others fill in for him during boring meetings, compassionate for a bot in his late adolescence! A red, white, and blue paragon of virtue! How tiring that must be! The insecurity, the loneliness, the agonizing self-doubt!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking like you know me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d be a pretty terrible brother if I didn\u2019t. I know you better than anyone else and it terrifies you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat terrifies me, Megatron,\u201d Optimus was in a correcting mood, \u201cis the sheer monotony of the past five years, even with Unicron thrown into the mix these past four weeks. It\u2019s just you and me, trading blows, making threats, going through the motions while everything we care about crumbles. And it isn\u2019t just today where you can find a similar situation. Our species\u2019 whole history is an exercise in galactic fratricide. A race-wide cry for help. Is it any wonder the Galactic Council turned its back on us during the climax of the previous war? Can you really look me in the optics and say that you\u2019re surprised that the universe, at large, still fears us? Entire civilizations rose and fell in the time it took us to get nowhere at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh, but the rules of the game are different now, Optimus\u201d replied Megatron. \u201cOur war is actually picking up speed where the previous one stagnated. I remember back in the day when whole centuries would go by without a single shot being fired. Both Autobots and Decepticons spent millennia preparing for battles that were over in a matter of minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd for what?!\u201d asked Optimus. \u201cReally, answer me, for what?! We\u2019re doing the exact same thing as our forefathers did from where I stand! Before this whole mess went down, I fought to stop you, simple as that! But you\u2026what IS it you\u2019re fighting for, Megatron? I thought I knew, but\u2026\u201d The Prime sighed. \u201c\u2026Okay, let\u2019s play \u2018What If\u2019 for a cycle here. What if you HADN\u2019T surrendered and Unicron wasn\u2019t part of the equation? Let\u2019s say the Decepticons won this war, what does victory look like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cControl over that which would destroy us. Optimus, trillions of races have learned about how our biology works. In victory, we wouldn\u2019t forget that there are races that want revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA mechanical master race. Technoism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomething along those lines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026No,\u201d denied Optimus, \u201cthat describes the Decepticons, not you. Let\u2019s still play \u2018What If\u2019. I\u2019m dead, the Autobots are no more, Cybertron is yours, countless planets are brought under your sway, the Decepticon Empire is resplendent, and you sit in the center of it all, what then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe real work begins. Repopulation, a true rebirth of the Cybertronian race! A new Golden Age, one that would put the previous one to shame! Imagine it, a civilization free of conflict, all needs are met! No want, no unhappiness, no dissent, peace through tyranny!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd autonomy, personal responsibility, and free will? Where are they in this brave new world of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a passing thought.\u201d Optimus considered his words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026You know, in some respects, we\u2019re the same. Peace, prosperity, happiness, I want them too, I just don\u2019t see them as something to be imposed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you DARE put yourself on my level!\u201d growled Megatron. \u201cI am a visionary! I spoke out! I resisted the weight of the police state Cybertron had become! Tell me, what were you doing outside of a few paltry speeches?! The High Council carved up the Decepticons according to rank! It felt like functionism, dictation of life at Xitran levels, the levels Shockwave and Soundwave experienced! It was social engineering of the losers in the most LITERAL sense! Someone had to say \u2018no\u2019! Someone had to say \u2018enough\u2019! and I was the only Autobot to have had the ball-bearings to do so! \u2018Freedom is the right of all sentient beings\u2019, where in the Pit were you as hundreds of Decepticons lost their jobs and thousands became Empties?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the Transformer I was before this war began,\u201d said Optimus. \u201cDo you remember when we first fought face to face alone?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Battle of Westopolis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWestopolis. G.U.N. lost 200 soldiers when they assisted the Autobots. You cost them an army, you cost me allies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou cost me an arm, you and that axe of yours,\u201d growled Megatron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn any case, no, it was Seaside Hill. It was just as the war was picking up.\u201d Megatron\u2019s optics flickered as confusion crossed his features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou either have a better memory than I do, or I made a bigger impression on you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for that battle, I wouldn\u2019t have taken you half as seriously as I do now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey all stopped to watch us, didn\u2019t they?\u201d asked Megatron. \u201cIn Westopolis. My Decepticons, your Autobots and G.U.N., they all stopped to watch us fight!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d More optic flickering from Megatron came from Optimus\u2019 question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Pardon?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhich arm did I take?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy cannon arm, you always go for that, not that I wouldn\u2019t have done the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll I remember is you throwing me into the air, then slamming your fist down onto me as I was over a tower spire,\u201d recalled Optimus. \u201cIt took Ratchet six weeks to fix me up and six more to get me fully resuscitated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t kill you though, nothing ever does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWestopolis was nothing compared to the beatings you\u2019ve given me over the past five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSuch as?\u201d invited Megatron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Battle of Green Hill Zone,\u201d replied Optimus. \u201cYou tore half my head off with your mace. Or the Sunset Park Zone Campaign when you\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I threw you onto the tracks with a rather large train highballing towards you,\u201d finished Megatron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey practically had to find all the pieces judging on the trajectories alone! And don\u2019t even get me started on Mazuri!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou want to play this game with me, Optimus?! The Red Mountain Offensive! You used a sharpened rock to split me in two from shoulder to crotch! Shoulder! To! Crotch! You missed my Spark by centimeters! And what about Emerald Coast?! The then base of operations for the Radniks?! That sentient explosive, aptly named \u2018Bomb\u2019, was powerful enough to reduce me to cinders! They had to shovel me into the CR Chamber! And on the subject of Green Hill Zone, you toppled at least three of those stone loops onto me while I was in alt-mode! My t-cog jammed, and my holo-form went offline! I was a normal tank for a full month!\u201d The two brothers then chuckled softly, recalling the battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can end it here,\u201d offered Optimus. \u201cSeriously, we could end it all here and now. I don\u2019t care what\u2019s going on outside this cell. What it all comes down to, Megatron, is us. We could end this war with a simple handshake.\u201d Megatron gave no response. \u201c\u2026They want to see you dead; you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat about you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just want to know why you\u2019ve surrendered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see, Optimus, we\u2019ll see.\u201d Megatron got up and allowed Optimus to fasten the restraints to the wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The resulting four weeks were quite\u2026interesting to say the least. With Megatron as a prisoner, Optimus wasn\u2019t sure how to feel. He decided to visit him. He entered the cell and found Megatron restrained to the wall. \u201cMegatron,\u201d he greeted. \u201cPrime.\u201d Megatron\u2019s return greeting left a silence. \u201cSo,\u201d asked Optimus, \u201chow\u2019s this gonna play out? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,650],"tags":[146,337],"class_list":["post-3940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transformers-mobian-chronicles","category-transformers-mobian-chronicles-arc-13-clearing-the-air","tag-sonic","tag-transformers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3941,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions\/3941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}