"Over and over the only truth,
Everything comes back to you"

»«

Once again, Megatron's patience was tested as Ratchet carefully and painstakingly began to buff away the scratches the filing had left behind.

"Knock Out would be much more proficient at this task, I think." He threw over his shoulder while the medic slowly moved the buffer along his shoulder plate.

"I will not allow a second Decepticon to reside in this base." Ratchet immediately shut down the idea. "Knock Out may have defected, but I don't trust him enough in the presence of his former master."

"Yet if it was an Autobot, you would be more than willing to allow them into the base," Megatron accused. "There would be no second thought to my safety."

Ratchet frowned, not saying anything for some time. He was right, unfortunately, and that was a problem. The medic thought for some time, trying to find an excuse to not allow any more former Decepticons into the base.

"Decepticons have always been the aggressors when it comes to Earth's safety," he finally said, "so forgive me if I am reluctant to allow any sort of former or current Decepticon here at base."

Megatron seethed, ready to say a similar statement regarding his comfort with allowing Autobots in the base, when Dana interrupted the two of them.

"Why not a compromise?" She proposed. "For every former Autobot in the base, there will be a former Decepticon. That way the numbers will be even."

Ratchet sighed. "I doubt any Autobot would want to return here to Earth," he reasoned, "not with so much reconstruction going on and new life being given to the planet. Not many would want to pass up the chance to remain on Cybertron and rebuild the life they had before the war."

"And I'm sure there are plenty of Decepticons who wouldn't mind taking over here, and trying to rule Earth." Agent Fowler crossed his arms as he glared at Megatron.

"There's gotta be someone," Dana argued, "and if there are aggressors here on Earth, there has to be counter-aggressors."

"That would be us." Ratchet replied, finishing Megatron's shoulder plates and moving down to his arms, the warlord noticeably shinier with each pass of the buffer. "Unless we called for help. But as of right now, we are not in need of any assistance."

"I am most certain that no Cybertronian, be they Decepticon or Autobot, would attempt to take Earth while I reside here." Megatron spoke confidently.

"Unless you've got a bounty on your head," Agent Fowler pointed out, leaning over the railing as he gripped the cold metal, looking very displeased, "in which case, who knows what kind of trouble you could be bringing to this planet."

Megatron gave the Agent an equally displeased look. "I have been in exile for approximately half of an Earth year, according to you and her," he gestured to Dana, "and I have not run into even the best of bounty hunters that could potentially be searching for me. Therefore, I find it safe to assume they have no idea where I am, or have no interest in attempting to collect the prize."

"You better hope to the Allspark that is the case." Ratchet muttered, continuing on the other arm as he finished up between Megatron's claws. He carefully cleaned up around the now exposed fusion canon, and even had Megatron's massive sword deployed so he could smooth it out as well. It made him incredibly uncomfortable to be near such a massive and deadly weapon, but if this was not a test to Megatron's willingness to cooperate, he didn't know what was.

"But," Megatron spoke thoughtfully, "there are a few things I think would draw even rookie hunters to this planet."

"And that is?" Fowler didn't like the sound of where this conversation was going.

"The remainder of the Iacon relics." Megatron said. "The ones we found, though immensely important, are not the last of the archived items that Alpha Trion blasted off into space. I know you have the Iacon database, that is the only explanation for how you managed to keep up with us. The other relics should be decoded and retrieved before a hunter comes to collect them for themselves."

"There are more potential weapons of mass destruction?!" Agent Fowler gaped.

"Naturally." Megatron replied almost lazily. "At least every one of the Thirteen Primes had something. The Forge of Solus Prime, the Star Saber of Prima, our transformation cognitions actually hail from Amalgamous Prime. The Apex Armour is one of two which we have no known creator of."

"So, there are what? Ten more relics we should be looking for?" Fowler demanded.

"At most." Ratchet frowned. "It really is hard telling where the relics may have ended up; we don't know for certain if all of them made it to Earth. Some could have been jettisoned to other planets."

"But to find those relics we need to decode the database," Dana bit her lip. "And the only one we knew to do that . . . Was Optimus." She said the name quietly, wondering if it would evoke a reaction from Ratchet. The medic was good, though, and kept his emotions in check. Losing Optimus Prime had taken a heavy toll on the medic's spark, and he didn't enjoy reminiscing on "what ifs". His charge knew this, and thus was gentle on the name.

"There is another," Megatron offered.

"No. No way." Ratchet snapped. "We already had this conversation, and I am even more reluctant to bring Soundwave here than Knock Out. If I had to choose, I would bring the latter. Any day." The medic made up his mind, in that he would he steadfast and never allow Soundwave and Megatron to be in the same place, ever, until he had a reliable Autobot at his side.

"Could you try to decode the database, Ratchet?" Dana asked.

"Possibly. Without prior knowledge to such a thing it will be difficult, but I could learn." The medic sighed. "I suppose since we are not racing against any sort of clock, I have the time to do such a thing."

"The pods gave off a signal though, didn't they?" Fowler posited. "That could draw any 'bot to it if they decided to check it out!"

"They would have to be in Earth's atmosphere, however." Ratchet explained. "The signal can only travel so far, and with such a heavy amount of gases in the air, its range is limited. Not to mention the relics must be unearthed before they begin giving off a signal."

"As far as we know, no Cybertronian save for the two of us are present on this planet." Megatron assured. "Unless a cloaked ship is flying around, which is highly unlikely. Surely they would have made contact, friendly or otherwise."

"Why make contact if they're unfriendly?" Agent Fowler asked.

"Intimidation purposes." The warlord suggested. "Taunting. Most hunters enjoy watching their prey squirm. The others, well," he looked a little grim, "we will have to anticipate as best we can."

»«

The profile of D-16, Megatronus, Megatron remained illuminated on the screen as Lockdown carefully guided his ship along the curvature of the planet, carefully staying high enough that the primitive flying beings below could not reach him, but low enough that their communication devices wouldn't run afoul against his ship. The Death's Head had taken some heavy water damage due to the high atmospheric content of the substance - which at least gathered up in visible entities, making it easier to avoid - but the hunter could adapt, and he adapted well.

Another screen beeped every so often as it traced the path of an incoming Autobot pod, the ship having intercepted its distress signal and, by mimicking the frequency of an Autobot ship,  managed to successfully draw it in. There was still some time before the pod would reach the planet's surface and crash, giving him the opportunity to set his trap.

Megatron's life signal had become increasingly hard to track, mostly due to Fracture tampering with his tracking systems, Lockdown still finding all the bugs and nuances the blasted hunter had stuck in his ship. But, unfortunately for the Decepticon bounty hunter, his days were numbered, if he hadn't already tripped Lockdown's device.

The dark energon, Lockdown suspected, was also making it difficult to find the ex-warlord. According to the High Council, Unicron had taken over Megatron for some time, filling his systems with the nasty substance and nearly destroying Cybertron. For that reason, they thought it necessary to give the job of his assassination to the best of the best.

Lockdown was no idiot, he wasn't the only one they had hired; Blastwave was certainly another candidate, as was Axor. The former because he was an Autobot, and though unconventional to say the least, he was trustworthy to them. The latter, well, because if anyone knew Lockdown best, it was his former protegé. But, Lockdown didn't expect any betrayal from the Council; not if he did the job and was paid what they promised. They knew the consequences if he didn't get what he wanted.

His scanners remained silent as they searched for the target's life signal. When Megatron had exited deep space, he had set off every bounty hunter's scanners within a five-hundred klik radius, and Lockdown had been able to follow him right to Earth, where his signal suddenly disappeared. How he managed to hide it, Lockdown could only guess. He assumed it was due to a shielded base of some sort, by why such a thing would exist on this planet was beyond him.

He just needed to bring back a body, the Council didn't want to get their hands dirty by executing the Decepticon. So, less work for him, should the lack of a life signal actually mean death.

But a thorough search of the site where he had disappeared revealed there to be no body, or even signs of a scuffle or battle. So, Lockdown settled on the notion that Megatron was alive, and in hiding.

The Autobot pod was a stroke of luck. Should Megatron have a means of locating it, he would need to reveal himself in order to find the pod and check it out. Surely he would show some interest in the arrival of an enemy, one currently trapped in stasis lock at that. Lockdown would not let this one chance of a surprise attack go to waste.

The bays of his hounds brought a cruel smile to his lips. They could sense their master's thirst for blood, and the excitement as their prey drew ever closer. He considered allowing them to mangle and tear apart Megatron as they pleased, but Lockdown did not want to waste any moment while the Decepticon was in his sights. So far he had the element of surprise; failure would result in Megatron knowing what to expect, who to expect, when he exited the base.

If Lockdown wanted this to be quick and easy, he had to seize the chance while he could.

The pod's tracker beeped to indicate it had entered the star's orbit, now beginning its slow spiral to the planet, essentially slingshotting itself around the star multiple times in order to arrive to its destination faster, saving fuel by going with the orbital pull instead of fighting it as it tried to traverse in a straight line. He estimated it would take at least two of this planet's rotational cycles before the pod would arrive. He would have to move quickly, as the location of the pod would not be determined until it nearly reached the planet's atmosphere.

After that, it would only be a matter of time before his quarry walked straight into the sights of his gun.