Chapter Text
——
The air was cool and crisp.. and eerily silent. The only sound that reached Megatron’s audio receptors was the ragged cycling of his intakes as he drew yet another ventful of the cold mountain air and flushed the feverish heat from his chassis with a deep rumbling sigh. The hot exhaust turned briefly into a hazy fog as it left him and met with the cooler mountain air.
He released another heated intake as he shifted his weight and leaned heavily against the narrow trunk of a conifer tree, listening absently to the organic creak as it strained against his bulk. He had only stopped to rest for a brief moment, just long enough to regain some of his strength.
Sharpened digits scraped against his lower chassis with a soft metallic shriek as he clenched his servo tighter over the gaping wound in his side, trying to stem the flow of energon that poured heavily from his mangled fuel lines. The indelicate action provoked a strangled groan from the warlord as every sensor in his frame flared in pain, and he ground his sharpened fangs together tightly in an agonized snarl, optics shuttered tightly. As the pain slowly eased, he opened his optics and vented shallowly.
Frag , that HURT!!
The Decepticon Lord scowled in anger, seething at the pain as he silently cursed his hated rival to the Pit! That blasted Prime had somehow managed to land a critical blow against him, both physically and strategically. With another of their largest energon mines reduced to a smoldering crater by the Autobots, the Decepticon army would be forced to further ration their precious resource.
But that was hardly his biggest concern at the moment. No, what concerned Megatron the most... was this PRIMUS-DAMNED HOLE IN HIS SIDE! How in the Pits of Kaon had OPTIMUS PRIME managed to pierce his armor with that pathetic little blaster of his, of all things?!
Megatron vented heavily, curbing his anger for the moment as he briefly recalled the final moments of the battle. The Autobot leader had fought valiantly, as always, continuing to keep pace with his own skills in combat, but rarely—if ever—managing to surpass him. Clearly , the Prime had gotten lucky.. Perhaps by somehow striking a tiny flaw in his armor.
Of course, it was a lucky shot! But one that Optimus had quickly taken advantage of. Were it not for his own finely-honed instincts and cunningly quick thinking, he was almost certain the Prime would’ve ended him there and then. Optimus had grown considerably more ruthless in battle over their millenia-long war. If he didn’t despise the Prime with every ounce of his spark, he would’ve found it quite admirable.
However, with his escape far from over and the Autobots no doubt in pursuit, he had little time to pause and reminisce. Although, one other detail of the preceding battle now bubbled to the surface of his memory.
Right.. There was a reason he had been forced to flee into the dense cover of the surrounding forest.
Starscream!
That treacherous little Seeker had wasted little time in seizing command of his forces and ordering their immediate retreat the moment Megatron had fallen. That slagger was most likely counting on the Autobots to finish him off! Oh, he was going to enjoy beating that traitorous coward into scrap when he returned to the warship!
A savage smile stretched across his scarred faceplates as he savored the thought, the image of the Seeker’s broken and battered frame filling his spark with a dark satisfaction. Ohh, yes… It was only a matter of time, Starscream.
Megatron heaved himself back to his feet with a low groan from his actuators, a renewed vigor in his heavy steps. He would survive this, as he always had. No one could fell the mighty Lord Megatron!
Not Optimus...
And certainly not Starscream!
——
“Hm..”
The Autobot medic hummed softly in thought as he knelt down to examine the underbrush more closely, while Optimus and the others looked on from behind. There were signs of disturbance in the forest floor; crushed vegetation and loose soil. Clear signs that something large and heavy had moved through the area quite recently, but it was the small puddles of dark energon that had caught Ratchet’s attention.
“What have you found, old friend?” Optimus inquired gently, peering over the medic’s shoulder in curiosity.
“Megatron was, indeed, wounded in the battle…” Ratchet replied, scooping up a bit of the energon-soaked soil for closer inspection, “Quite severely, in fact...” he added, “And judging by his energon trail, I’d say he went this way...”
“Good work, Ratchet. We cannot allow Megatron to escape and rejoin his army. We MUST find him,” Optimus declared grimly, moving ahead to lead his team through the dense vegetation in pursuit of the wounded warlord.
——
Megatron tromped heavily through the undergrowth, stubbornly moving forward despite the waning strength in his struts. He was acutely aware of the steady loss of energon and what it meant for his survival if he did not get it repaired soon. But he would not be defeated so easily. This was not the first time he'd found himself on the brink of termination. The Pits of Kaon could not claim his spark and neither would this wretched planet! He was a survivor! He would find a way back to his ship, even if he had to draw on every last drop of energon he had left.
He pushed forward, clawing his way through the thick vegetation with a snarl, his heavy armor scraping against the tightly packed trees and leaving deep gouges in his wake... until the forest fell away abruptly into a narrow clearing just beyond the fenced backyard of a human residence.
Megatron stopped short and his strength faltered as he grasped at a tree for support. He drew back into the shadow of the forest, his intakes cycling rapidly as he struggled to remain upright. This sudden obstacle had caught him off-guard and he growled in annoyance.
It would seem he had stumbled upon a small human settlement. This was certainly a setback. In his current condition, it was unwise to engage with the natives. While, normally, they wouldn't have posed a threat to him, there was too much risk of attracting unwanted attention.
He staggered back into the forest, grasping the trees for support as he held a clawed hand over the leaking wound in his chassis. His actuators whirred and whined under the strain of his own weight, his strength draining as quickly as his spilled energon.
He limped further into the cover of the trees, far enough from the human residence as he could manage, before he allowed himself to collapse against the trunk of a larger tree. He cycled his intakes deeply, pulling crisp, cold mountain air into his chassis to cool his strained actuators and regain his strength.
His strength... which was rapidly dwindling with each liter of energon he lost. He needed to plug the leak... or he wouldn't make it another solar cycle.