I've Done It Again

Chapter 7: Fragile Partnership

The facts in this situation were quite simple: Optimus needed to find the matrix and his former teammates were not reliable. Of course, it was only a matter of time before they realized. There were the others who got trapped with them in the trailer where Megatron had fought off the slave traders. At that point, Megatron hadn't even thought of concealing their identities. No doubt those mecha would be questioned by the enforcers, who were hoping to catch said slave traders. Then there was Ultra Magnus. Optimus told him who they were straight to his face. Then Knockout. Megatron was the one spewing their identities to him, asking him to tell Bumblebee.

The important thing was that the right people knew Optimus was back. He'd need to go back to them eventually. Their reunion was important, but before that happened, Megatron has his own agendas to fulfill. Megatron did not need Optimus partnering with his old team yet. The reason he had for deeply desiring to keep Optimus as far away from the other Autobots as possible was complicated, but definitely tangible.

First and foremost, getting back his cannon and the matrix of leadership. Mostly the cannon because he was quite attached to it. It saw him through many, many battles, and Shockwave had designed it himself, specifically for Megatron. 

Of course, he didn't really care what happened to the matrix. As far as he was concerned, there didn't need to be another Prime. Primus seemed like an asshole to him, especially since he'd been the direct cause of Orion betraying him and allegedly kicked Optimus out of the Allspark. Not to mention the Primes of the Golden Age, who had allowed their government to fall into disarray and corruption.

For now, he wanted to keep Optimus at his side as he searched for their missing belongings, and hopefully he could figure out whatever that nagging feeling was in the back of his processor by the time they were done. Optimus and his fluid personality and frame type was clearly a problem, so maybe Megatron wanting to keep him out of capable servos was selfish, but selfishness had never been a deterrent to him before, so he wasn't going to let it stop him now.

Eventually, Megatron found the caves that they'd originally emerged from. He could do this without Optimus's help. When he was done, he'd come back to retrieve the intelligent hunk of ADHD and then deal with the robbers.

To the side of the opening of the cave, two enforcers were waiting, watching the cave alertly. He approached one pair of enforcers from the side before swiftly knowing them out. They were down before they even knew what hit them. He considered going into the tunnel, but it was a long tunnel that he couldn't navigate confidently. It would take him ages to traverse it and by then, these mechs would be awake.

Unless he killed them.

He didn't even know for sure if he would even run into the same robbers at all. He wouldn't be able to recognize them if he did. The problems kept piling up, so instead, Megatron reached down and searched the subspaces of the two enforcers. They had matching rudimentary data pads, which could possibly be associated with their employers. If there was anywhere they could find the information they needed, it would be from the database of the only law enforcement organization on Cybertron. It might also have other information that proved useful.

Megatron gave the entrance to the tunnels one last frown before heading back into the newborn city. Hopefully, Optimus was still licking his wounds inside the building, keeping a low profile, and for once in his life, not getting in the way of Megatron's plans.

As he made his way back to the shelter, Megatron onlined one of the datapads and frowned at it. He'd hoped that since everything on Cybertron was new and imperfect, the systems used to keep data on these pads would not be too heavily shielded. Megatron clicked through a few possible passwords that were known Autobot keys (at least to Decepticon high command) and was met with a disappointing lock over the device. Perhaps Optimus would have a better idea of what the passwords could be.

If that didn't go well, Megatron could always comm Soundwave. Sure, the mech was still stuck in the trap the Autobot pets had forced him into, but his communications were not disabled and neither was his mind. They'd spoke a few times before Megatron died, so asking for a favor would not be out of the question. If all went well, Optimus may even agree to let Soundwave free.

Megatron paused outside of the entrance to the shelter. In fact, it seemed as if using Soundwave as a bargaining chip would be more efficient. It was a better cover than pretending he needed Optimus's help to find his cannon.

Smirking, Megatron pushed the curtain aside and—

He was greeted by a large fist highlighted in red. Instinctually, Megatron braced himself and reached out to catch the fist, but it was only at the very last microsecond that Megatron was able to actually comprehend his new surroundings. The fist was not a fist, it was a round hammer with a large, red button on it. The mech using this weapon was none other than Lugnut.

The entire exchange lasted less than two seconds, giving Megatron no time to fall back. Megatron caught the hammer, his palm pressing the button inward, and the space between himself and his assailant exploded.