[Open Log - One last time]

[megaton]

Who: Open
What: Megatron has calmed down enough to say a few last words.
Where: Megatronus Prime's Arena
When: Today
Notes: This follows Megatron's rampage around the Haven. After being subdued, he asks that he be allowed to die fighting Optimus Prime. He's unstable, but he will talk to any who approach. You may also act as one of his bodyguards if you think your character would be so inclined.




It shouldn't have ended this way.

One of the few pieces of his mind that was still intact could not let go of that idea, thinking on all the Megatrons he had met, and their wars, and how far they'd gone and how it never stopped because they were too stubborn to die.

He'd been too stubborn to die, himself, once or twice.

The transtechs had seen to the rest.

Now, he was here, choosing death.

He found it preferable to the thought of losing himself completely, gone long past where anything he'd stood for might still reside. He owed that much to Soundwave--for breaking his mind and mending it all at once, letting him remember who he was even as he lost control of himself. Now, he was only holding on by threads.

If he could fight, then he was still real. If he could fight Optimus...

...well, then, something was still right in the multiverse.

There was no better way to go.

Still, he paced restlessly at the edge of the Arena, uncertain how long he could hold himself together or how long the Firstforged that owned this place would permit him to remain. There was only one way this could end.

He just wished he could look forward to that ending, once and for all.

Comments

[ichooseboth]

Eventually, Optimus got the message, and despite the inherent wrongness of the situation, cautiously stepped into the arena.

Despite all of Megatron's hostility and occasional treachery, and the very nature of who he was, they had managed a peaceful accord. The anticlimactic progress on the portal was evidence enough. Megatron didn't deserve this. None of the glyphless did. Optimus had genuinely hoped that this was an end they could have avoided.

'Magnum' was not yet the mech he should be...putting down. After everything that had happened here and back in the Nexus, he might never be.

But the past week had done nothing but prove the Firstforged and their dire predictions about the glyphless correct, and Megatron had already spiraled out of control.

So now he never could be that mech. ...And it wasn't exactly the happy thought it should have been.


"...Megatron." He nodded at the gladiator, noting the damage already present on his frame. For the moment, he kept his weapons in subspace, ready to allow Megatron the first move; the choice of how he wanted the battle to go.

The least he could do was let the mech go out with some dignity left.

[megaton]

"Optimus."

Like this, with the soil of the arena beneath his treads, he felt almost at home. He was strong--fully powered and more thanks to the gifts of the Lambda. He had a worthy adversary, one who he'd been longing to meet in battle for some time. He even had a good day for it--the sky, open above, and allies who had come to cheer him on.

The time he had to savor it was small, however. Already, he could feel the rage beneath his circuits, the taint that granted him superior power and whispered how he ought to use it.

That power, at least, he could quell.

With a single flourish he pulled off his cannon, and smirked. "You came."

It was the only phrase he uttered before he planted his feet firmly, tossed the cannon aside, and charged, a punch already prepared.

[ichooseboth]

No long speech, then. He almost wished Megatron could still give him that.

"Of course." He tilted his helm in acknowledgement, briefly watching that cannon fly to the ground- and Megatron is already charging at him. He's gotten faster.

This will be no easy battle, even without the presence of the fusion cannon. Whatever darkness is at work in the Glyphless, it is clearly already in play. But Optimus has been speaking the language of battle with variations of this mech for eons. He's rather fluent in it at this point.

Hopefully, he'll still have a chance.

Optimus charges in turn, guns and energon weapons left in their holsters as he tries to feint past Megatron's lunge, swinging a sharp uppercut toward his midsection.

He can let it be a brawl, until the monster comes back out. Then he can put him down without regret.

[inferiordude]

He thought about running and never looking back. It'd been a serious consideration anyway, and then immediately he'd felt horrid at his own cowardliness. There's a lot of complications as always with Megatron, and now? Now he isn't sure what to do or say.

But it's not right to keep his back turned on this. Not with how things are going to go.

So, here Soundwave is, cradling his injured hand that Megatron had essentially crushed and staring into the arena. Slowly, he steps inside, keeping a wary step in him.

What the frag can he say?

[megaton]

The whispers in his mind have been growing, teasing him as he paces, tempting him to toss aside his guards and rend their metal from their frames. The taste of it, earlier...it had been heady, to give in.

It had felt right.

There had been an interruption then, however, just as there was an interruption, now: a presence, both calming and inciting.

Before, Soundwave had managed to remind Megatron of who he was and what he'd stood for by attacking his mind, prompting him to retaliate by reliving the past. It had worsened the taint.

It had also spared him from succumbing to it, entirely.

He knew he wouldn't last forever, but it had granted him this much reprieve. He, as much as he hated to admit it--owed the inverse Soundwave.

"Come here," he spoke, calling out to where the other waited, obviously unsure. "I will not harm you, now."

He reached a hand into his subspace, and pulled something out.

[inferiordude]

Briefly, Megatron earns a wary look. Soundwave tilts his helm just so, visor dimming as he peers at him before he seems satisfied that the other is telling the truth. No, he can see that.

All right then.

He slowly steps forward to approach the other mech, tugging anxiously at the ends of his headband as he does so.

"Megatron, I... um."

There's a lot he wants to say. But in the end, he knows, no matter what it is, he can't make what was done right. Those memories are going to stay with him.

"Smelt, I'm usually good at this sort of thing..."

[winged_knight]

He would have liked it to be different. So very different. He never thought it would turn on it's head so easily. One day he's talking with Drift about going back to their world, with Megatron, trying to make their world a better place together. To make a difference.

And now... The portal, unfinished and unusable. Drift, dead. Megatron, going insane and choosing death over corruption.

Wing can respect that choice, and it seems poetically fitting for one such as he to end in violence, but it still pains Wing regardless.

But life is pain right now for Wing, save the rest of him that's numb, which is what makes it possible to him to be here, in the arena, a place where violence makes itself at home. He chooses then, to feel the grit of the arena floor under his footplates, as if he might gleen some understanding of the mechs who choose to fight and die in a place like this.

Including Megatron.

[megaton]

::If you're going to stand there without saying goodbye,:: Megatron sent, on a private frequency, ::Then I'm just going to have to send my zombified remains after you.::

It's as close to a joke as he can come, but right now he needs the humor. Right now, he knows what's coming.

He's glad to see Wing, nevertheless. The knight had been a beacon to him, once, standing for a Cybertron that remained untouched and uncorrupted, a place he'd wanted to see. To recreate, in his own way. To live in, someday, when his own war ended and he'd had the chance to make the world as it should be.

It's not going to happen, now.

It isn't, and he can't keep the bitterness from his transmission as he asks one last thing.

::Come here.::

A pause.

::Please.::

[winged_knight]

It snaps him out of his reverie, the communication, as he stares at the gritty floor before him, doing little to control the jumble of thoughts through his processor. The reference to 'remains' makes him twitch a little; hadn't he just left Drift's behind in the temple to come here?

Still, the dry sort of morbid humor has its effect, shedding some of the fog from his processor. He shakes himself, moving to stand near the Decepticon leader.

His own loss is pale compared to the task of facing one's own, so he marshals some of his brighter side. He can't hide the thin quality of his voice, but the effort is there.

"You're learning already, I see."

[rstlsslegsyndrm]

It was more a medical desire that brought him here. He had sensed Megatron's descent, and maybe, just somehow, could provide help. Though, of course, Ambulon knew there was nothing he could do. Still, the inherent urge to save pushed him forward. Though running was driven by something else.

Things could change. Megatron had seen at least some of the errors of his ways, Ambulon hoped. And he hoped these lessons would return with him. That the war would make a brutal turn for the worst - for not only the Autobots, but the Decepticons, and Cybertron itself. He hoped Tarn had been an example of the byproduct of this twisted, cruel fate, and if he could stop the DJD from ever rising in a different universe...

He had three words for the future leader of the Decepticons. Just three. Maybe they'd make an impact; maybe not. He was one of millions, nothing special, a failed experiment, a traitor. But he had to try, and he had to tell him.

Ambulon's vents cycled air and coolant through his chassis when he finally arrived. He almost thought it was too late. Running on foot tended to make things a bit difficult, after all.

Maybe it's not to save Megatron. Maybe it's to save what could be.

[megaton]

Megatron is still there, it is not too late yet. He is still pacing, sometimes looking up with intense focus toward one of the mechs milling around, his fingers gripping emptily at nothing.

He wants to tear them apart with his bare hands.

He wants this, and he knows he has to clamp it down tightly lest he lose out on the one thing that he has left: his last wish. His chance to die, as he saw fit.

Nevertheless, his optics find Ambulon and one of his bodyguards has to place a firm grip on his arm to keep him from moving towards the medic, danger flashing brightly in the dual red glows. It's a few moments before that fades, and control returns to him.

"Ambulon," he says, simply, and wills the other to approach.

[rstlsslegsyndrm]

Ambulon stayed put a safe distance away. He could sense the madness rippling through Megatron's EM field. He was doing a miraculous job, holding it back. Then again, given who was, it wasn't much of a surprise.

Though for a moment he stayed quiet. The words he wanted to say suddenly stuck in his throat. There was fear, definitely. That wasn't illogical, however. Ambulon took one very careful step forward, raising his hands, as if this show of harmlessness would somehow cull the growing psychosis.

"There's not much I have to say that I haven't all ready said," he replied. "I guess I just wanted to see you one last time before you... return home." A little bit of apprehension, there. Home via portal, or "home" via the Badlands, it... No, best not to say anything.

"I guess, basically," and he found the courage again to speak those three words, "please don't forget." What he learned here, what he saw, what he could do to change the course of history.

[rednotbluethx]

Frenzy's never been the smartest of Decepticons, but at least he's been pretty damn loyal. He knows, at least, something's up with Megatron, but the idea he'd go insane like the other glyphless? Nah, not Megatron.

When he arrived at the edge of the arena, he could see the future tyrant uneasily pace about. "Lord Megatron!" he shouted, and held up some rusty looking device. "Hey, I think dis matches somethin' on yer list!" He's probably too late by now, but, well, Hell! "Found it in some mud, actually, so dunno if it'll work..."

[megaton]

If Frenzy is late, Megatron could care less. The portal has been his obsession for too long for it to stop mattering to him now.

"Show me," he says, looking down from between two guards, reaching for the object that Frenzy has.

"It might work," is his only assessment, not being as keen on mechanics as the mechs he hired were, but still turning it over and over in his hands, feeling it from a distance. His portal had worked, once. It could still work, again.

"Do you know who Barricade is?" He asks, after a moment, handing the part back.

[rednotbluethx]

Frenzy smiled. Approval! "Well, if it don't, I'm sure someone 'round here knows how t'fix it." He shrugged, figuratively blinking. "Barricade?" Frenzy tilted his head. "Yea... I met 'im once. Why?"

[namesnotprowl]

Everything's gone wrong again. It shouldn't surprise him - and really it doesn't - but that doesn't make it any better. And the half-shredded gears in his knees are acting up again, protesting all of this standing and running. He ignores the pain.

Convoy had disappeared into Liege Maximo's temple. Another one that just vanished. Like Blackout. Like Bonecrusher. Like Frenzy. Megatron is the last one left, the last mech that had meant something more to Barricade, and he's chosen death. The medic can respect that, at least. And he's here. Of course; he isn't going to miss this, now that he's been given the opportunity to be here. To finally get something like closure, on at least one mech. Keep one from just slipping into the shadows like so many others had.

Fitting, then, that it's Megatron.

He's staying close by, keeping an optic on the area with one of his rifles rotated out. Discourage anyone from trying to mess with this. He can't save his Sparrow, but he can make certain that he gets the end he's picked.

As for what comes after... he'll figure something out.

[megaton]

If there was anyone he'd want guarding him, Barricade made the perfect choice. There were few he trusted so much, and few who had made so big an impact on his last few stellar cycles.

His...last.

It was hardly fair, with as much as he still had to do. It was hardly fair, but it was not over yet.

Reaching out, he lightly touched Barricade on the shoulder, being careful to make sure he sounded...together...for this. It was hard enough to keep together, right now, but this was important.

"I've given my portal schematics to both Shockwaves, and to Starscream and Jetfire as well. I'll need you to...ah...remind them now and again of how pivotal the project is."

That was hardly all, but it was the best place he could start. Still moving slowly, ponderously making sure each action was under his control, he reached into his subspace and pulled a data-stick out. "This, however, is for you."

[namesnotprowl]

Barricade has always been the stubbornly loyal type, when given a chance. He's warded off a lot of people for a lot of mechs he's been close to. Just that now, it might be the last time.

It wasn't right. Any of it, but it's something he can offer one last time.

Besides, it's the most closeness he can offer to anybot. 'This is mine, so back off.' Like Bonecrusher trying to shield him in combat.

Barricade's attention is caught quickly enough with that touch, his wings flicking once. He nods at the information and request. Easy enough; he'll hardly have to keep his Shockwave on-task, he's certain. The rest... well. Seems like he's got a few mechs he needs to get to know now.

The data-stick earns a rapid shuttering of optics - the ones focused on it, anyway - and he looks to Megatron again, bringing one hand up with deliberate slowly. No need to spook him on accident. "Now you've got me all curious, Sparrow. What's on it?"

[raceme]

[Blurr had been too busy trying to keep chaos at bay, and obviously failing to find a way to actually help the glyphless, to talk with Megatron sooner. Now, he had found a moment and he wanted to say goodbye. Strange as it was, he came to respect Megatron and his intentions.

Being the head of the Police Force meant that he could talk to the bodyguards into leaving him get closer to Megatron. He approached the bigger mech, Holding two large cubes of energon with his right hand and arm.]

Ey.

[megaton]

Megatron spent some time pacing, and some time standing very, very still. Occasionally, he felt almost normal. Occasionally, the situation seemed ridiculous, as if he weren't about to die, or fight Optimus Prime, or say farewell to everything he'd been trying to build.

Then, the whispers would return, and he'd spend so much energy trying to fight them that he didn't want to move, and didn't want to wait for his death anymore.

When his vision cleared, this time, Blurr was standing before him with a pair of energon cubes, and as much as he wants to be angry and caution the other mech to not come so close, he cannot help but smile.

"So. A parting gift, is it?"

[raceme]

"I could _{give you a} hug but I thought you would appreciate THIS more."

Blurr gives him a small smile. He can only imagine how the other mech is feeling and he doesn't want to make it worse treating like some sort of monster. His speed gives him some reassurance too. He takes a step forward and offers the cube to the Decepticon.

[showboater]

Marvelous had been content to keep an eye on the network, Link open for a message from Ultra Magnus, and stay out of this whole mess, but seeing Megatron choose death--like his own captain had chosen, like he would choose--spurs him to follow along with Megatron's movements. The Galleon throws a shadow over the Arena as he curls his hand in chains and, with a swift twist of his Ranger Key in his Mobirates, he's dropping down.

Man, these robots really were pretty big. He has to look way, way up as he crosses his arms across his chest and speaks into the microphone on his helmet.

"Too bad you didn't get to see her in action," he says, in lieu of 'hello' or 'I'm sorry to see you go like this'.

[megaton]

The shadow overhead would be enough reason to look up, without the sudden movement coming down.

He'd only seen the ship in person once or twice, passing by it as he headed to his stronghold in the mountains. The cave there had been precious to him--precious enough to enter into contract with a human to keep his portal secure inside.

"It's good to see her running," he comments, understanding the greeting for what it is: one warrior to another. "I was not wrong, to chose you."

so late

[noparachutes]

He wasn't the right Megatron, and even after the fight with him when he'd just arrived he still wasn't quite good enough for Shockwave to truly feel anything toward. Not that the rather large Decepticon was emotional, but there was no loyalty there, no spark for him to even think of looking to a new Megatron.

This young one was not his, and despite the fact that before arriving here he'd been questioning his own, his loyalty was not about to sway. This one was quite the good fighter, he'd give him that at the very least.

So when the Driller had informed him of Megatron's state and location he had to see for himself. The glyphless were all loosing it, what a shame that this Megatron was one.

"Considering all that has happened, do you think it wise to be idling around here?"

I'm later!

[megaton]

"Considering all that has happened, there is nowhere else I'd rather be."

He'd not yet gotten to meet Shockwave in his own universe, and it was a shame. It was a shame, that every time he'd met one, he'd had little time for interaction before fate whisked him inexorably away.

This one had been different. More focused on fighting, less focused on science, but with both still present. Megatron had been able to appreciate that, easier. To understand it.

Now, it was one of the few things he could hold onto.

"Or would you chose some other way to die?"