Darkest Hour

by Phantom

Chapter Four

Alita's optics flew open in a panic. She was being carried somewhere -- where? -- by a Decepticon. She gazed up in horror, realizing that the one that held her was the one that freaked her out the most. While she had learned to read Prime's emotions despite the mask he wore, Soundwave was a complete enigma to her. His optics betrayed nothing, his voice held no inflection, no emotion. He seemed to have no emotions whatsoever -- something that gave Alita chills. Now more than ever, she yearned for Prime's comforting touch.

"Do not struggle." The words, not spoken as a command but sounding like one anyway, filled her with terror. She was positive that she was about to be interrogated in a most unpleasant way.

It was not until she entered a large, immaculate room that she was able to look around her and take in her surroundings. She was set down gently, and it was not until her guard reached above her and pulled down a ceiling-mounted diagnostic unit when she remembered her blackout.

Fearing that the unit was some sort of torture device, Alita tensed and prepared to bolt from the room. "Hold still," her captor admonished. Then, seemingly in a softer tone, "You will not be harmed." More confused than ever, Alita realized that she felt drained. It was all she could do to remain conscious as the unit performed its diagnostics.

Soundwave allowed himself to relax slightly as his patient sank back against the diagnostic table. Having Autobots in his repair bay made him nervous, to say the least, and this female's mysterious ailment only made him more so. He accepted all of this as Megatron's will -- after all, Megatron was their rightful leader and had just led them to victory -- but that didn't stop him from worrying. He silently hoped that whatever Megatron had planned would play itself out soon.

He glanced down at the readouts from the diagnostic briefly, than did a double-take. A cry of surprise escaped him, causing Alita to sit up abruptly. This was the first sign of emotion that she had seen from the Decepticon, and that frightened her more than anything that had occurred so far.

Shaking his head firmly, Soundwave gently forced his patient back on the bed and conducted his scans again. And again. He then performed a troubleshooting diagnostic on the machine, and then a diagnostic on the diagnostic machine. All the information pointed to one incredible, unbelievable result.

"What have you found, Soundwave?" Megatron demanded.

Soundwave turned to face his leader. Despite his intense preoccupation with his findings, he had still sensed Megatron's presence before he entered the medbay. "The results are... unconfirmed. I am not prepared to support the data that I have gathered."

Megatron shook his head impatiently. "You know I am not concerned with data, just results! What is ailing her? The last thing I need is a hopping-mad Optimus Prime with vengeance on his mind."

Soundwave sighed inwardly. While he respected Megatron more than any other being he had encountered, Megatron could stand to have a bit more patience. "I am unwilling to substantiate my findings just yet, but...."

Megatron tapped his foot impatiently.

"...it appears that Alita One is with child."

Chapter Five

"You can't be serious!"

Soundwave, taking this statement literally, looked rather insulted. Megatron tried to calm down. After all, Soundwave was not one to joke around, and if he said something, no matter how preposterous, it had to be the truth.

"How could this be?" Megatron inquired, showing that he was indeed taking his friend seriously.

"I -- I'm not sure," Soundwave confessed. He hated to admit it, but this time he was stumped. He had run across a phenomena that he could not fully explain. "Alita is carrying a life form within her, and it is maturing. It is as if...."

"As if she was pregnant," Megatron finished. Like the Earth creatures... how repugnant. Still, it was fascinating nonetheless, and it provided him with many options. Many indeed.

Soundwave continued, "I have run a diagnostic scan on its basic design. The genetic blueprints have shown that half of the information came from Alita One. The other half matches the schematics on file of Optimus Prime."

Megatron allowed a crafty smile to cross his face. "This information will prove very useful. You may go now, Soundwave," he added dismissively. "I can handle matters from here. Go examine the equipment that was taken from Autobase. The analysis team has more need of your talents."

Soundwave swallowed the protest rising in his throat. He would rather stay and run more scans on the female, but orders were orders (especially Megatron's orders), and he was needed. With a brisk nod to signal his affirmation, he left the room.

"Alone at last," Megatron chuckled.

Alita drew back in fear and revulsion. "You don't intimidate me, Decepticon," she said frostily.

"Oh, but I think I do," he said smoothly as he studied her tense body. Now she had not only her own life to fear for, but that of the unborn child as well. This only tipped the balance of power more in his favor. "Such a shame that your beauty is wasted on that self-righteous fool. A female of your delicate proportion should not be forced to soil her hands with war." He caressed the side of her head with his hand.

"What's the matter?" she laughed mockingly. "Can't score with your own kind any more? So now you're reduced to seducing Autobot femmes as well." She shook her head. "And I heard so much about your legendary track record."

Megatron's face darkened as his crimson eyes glowed dangerously. He didn't take such insults of his maleness lightly. He raised his hand to strike her, then lowered it slowly. She was his bargaining chip with Optimus Prime, and it wouldn't do to damage the goods before the proper price was set.

"Heh," he laughed mirthlessly. "You almost had me there, girly. But I won't let you provoke me that easily. Pink really isn't a favorite color of mine," he continued thoughtfully. "Too innocuous, too sickeningly sweet. You could do little to satisfy me. I like a strong woman, one that doesn't make demands or isn't too clingy. Whatever became of that lovely young Neutral I was seeing? In red and blue, carried herself proudly yet seductively -- what was her name again? Crystal, yes."

Alita barely stifled her gasp of horror, but luckily Megatron was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice. "I'll have to look her up sometime," he mused. "A lady like that should not elude me so easily."

A quiet rap on the door interrupted his train of thought. His head jerked towards the source angrily. Most of the anger faded when he saw who it was. "Enter, Soundwave," he said, still a bit cross at being interrupted. Any other soldier would have been cannon fodder on the spot, but Soundwave never disturbed him without a reason.

"I have found something that might interest you," Soundwave stated, holding out a data pad.

Megatron took it, barely glancing at the Autobot next to him. He activated it, noting that Soundwave had already broken the encryption code. What could it be -- top-secret battle plans. Or... something else?

Megatron's jaw dropped when the realization hit him. Noticing that the irritating pink form was still there, he ordered, "Soundwave, return this bit of fluff to her 'accommodations'."

Alita craned her neck to see the object in the robot's hands. It looked disturbingly, sickeningly familiar....

Megatron read on, feeling savage glee rising in him like bubbles in champagne. This was too good to be true! "And send for Optimus Prime."

Chapter Six

The first thing that Optimus Prime noticed as he entered Megatron's office (which the Decepticon leader thought would be more secure than the medbay), hands shackled behind him, prompted by the butt of Soundwave's weapon, was that Megatron was smiling. Not a good sign. The second thing he saw was the object clutched in his arch-enemy's hand.

"No," he whispered in subdued horror. "That *can't* be what I think it is!"

"It's not the Cybertronian Best-Seller, if that's what you mean," Megatron smirked, "but it's by far the best thing I've ever read."

He nodded toward one of the small, uncomfortable chairs seated across from the expansive desk with its plush seat. "Soundwave, show our guest some hospitality and offer him a seat." The blue Transformer complied, adding to the hospitality by shackling the prisoner's restraints to the chair. Soundwave looked questioningly at his leader, silently asking if it wouldn't be wiser for him to remain. A slight shake of Megatron's head was all the answer he needed. Soundwave gracefully exited the room, leaving Megatron to work out his plans.

"You won't get away with this, Megatron!" Prime growled threateningly.

Megatron allowed himself a small, amused smile. "Don't you think it's a bit late for that?" he asked mockingly. "Anyway, let's get down to business. You have information that I need. It's up to you how I will go about extracting the information."

The only reaction from his enemy was a defiant glare.

"Very well, then." Megatron thumbed a control on the data pad, scrolling through the entries. "Ah, here's one. This must be rather old, but it's still juicy enough for my tastes. Hmm.... 'I was shaking underneath my armor. I couldn't believe how nervous I was. Despite all our time together, I was still afraid she'd laugh at my inexperience. My greatest fear was that I'd be unable to satisfy her.' Indeed, this is best-seller material. Too bad I hold what I assume to be the only copy." Megatron shook his head with mock regret.

The look on Prime's face was absolutely priceless. His jaw worked, attempting to process speech and tell Megatron just what he thought of him. "You... you...!" he spluttered, unable to voice his thoughts.

Megatron threw back his head and laughed. This was better than any of his fantasies. He had to hand it to Soundwave -- psychological humiliation was more effective, and more pleasurable, than physical torture. He'd beaten Prime to within an inch of his life several times, and while that had been quite enjoyable, he hadn't come nearly as close to humiliating his enemy. He had envisioned this moment ever since the war began, and while nine million years was quite a long time, even by Transformer standards, it had been worth every moment of the wait.

"Shall I continue?" he asked innocently. Seeing that his foe was still incapable of coherent speech, he continued, "I'll take that as a yes. Let's see now, I think I'll skip ahead a bit.... Well, that seems rather boring.... Hmmm.... Why, what's this?" He looked up at Optimus with a mixture of shock and amusement in his optics. "Maximum-security restraints? I never thought a boring, straight-laced guy like you would be into such heavy stuff. I guess this means you were able to satisfy the lady after all. Care to tell me what it's like? I've never been fool enough to try it."

Prime had gone from painful embarrassment to utter humiliation. He felt absolutely, utterly violated -- the contents of his personal log were nobody's business but his own, and revealed his deepest feelings. The sight of his most private possession in the hands of his most hated enemy made him feel physically sick. He squeezed his optics shut and strained hard against the shackles, desperate to get away from that mocking voice as it read aloud his most personal thoughts.

Megatron laughed again as he watched his foe's futile struggles. "I didn't know about your personal tastes when I had Soundwave restrain you," he remarked. "I suppose it doesn't do much for you without your pretty girlfriend here, but you *do* seem to be struggling quite a lot. Makes me wonder."

Prime's head jerked up to meet Megatron's gaze. He had never felt so utterly ashamed in his life. He was utterly repulsed by Megatron's teasing inferences, and while he tried to find the air of implacable calm that normally surrounded him, even in dire situations, he feared that his composure had deserted him. "You'll... pay... for this!" he choked out, nearly overcome with emotion.

Megatron was quite fascinated -- he had never seen Optimus so worked up. He turned back to his reading. "There sure is a lot of explicit description in here," he remarked, "but mostly dispersed between dry periods of preoccupation with some army maneuver. I guess leadership will do that."

He skimmed over the description of tactical planning. While it would be a fascinating look into the cognitive processes of Optimus Prime, it did not suit his purpose of wearing down his enemy. "Hm, at it again, I see.... Perhaps that Alita isn't as much of a cream puff as I thought.... Say, what's this? Blah blah blah.... 'She removed my battle mask with gentle fingers and gave me a kiss hot enough to ignite energon.' She removed... what?!"

Prime cringed at Megatron's exclamation. 'Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse,' the Autobot leader groaned to himself.

Megatron stepped over to his captive slowly and thoughtfully, studying the lower part of Prime's face, which had always been concealed by a steel-gray battle mask. He had always assumed that the mask was a natural part of Prime's face, but once again it seemed as if Prime had been able to surprise him.

Prime began to tremble as his enemy approached. 'Primus, please spare me!' he thought fearfully. 'Not that!' He would gladly sit here helplessly and listen to Megatron read aloud his entire log, but this -- this was what woke him from deep recharge mode in the middle of the night, bathed in coolant, stifling a cry of horror.

Megatron reached out and grabbed Prime's head firmly, trying to keep his enemy from moving. Optimus tried without success to jerk out of his grasp. "No! Stop, please!" he cried, composure disintegrating in a plea for mercy. But Megatron was not about to be denied. Grasping the bottom edge of Prime's jaw, he pulled mightily, but the only thing he managed to pull free was an agonized cry from his victim. Trying again, he reached for the sides of the mask, pushing in along the pressure points that he detected. With a satisfying click, the sweetest sound he had ever heard, the mask popped free in his hands.

Optimus lowered his head, trying to hide from his adversary's piercing stare. But it was no use, for Megatron forced his head back up with one hand. To Prime, this was the ultimate degradation. He had worn that mask for nine million years, scarcely ever removing it. It has been one of his closely guarded secrets, and only Alita and Alpha Trion knew the truth. It had come to feel like a living extension of him, and without its comfort, he felt lost.

Megatron gaped at the sight before him. For the first time since their war had begun, Prime's face was exposed to him, clearly displaying every emotion. 'He looks so defenseless without it.' Prime's face was actually quite handsome, smooth features interrupted only by a firm mouth, which most ladies would probably describe as sensual. Megatron wondered briefly what would make him hide such good looks when they had such influence over the ladies, but then it became quite obvious -- Prime wasn't interested in other women, as far as he could tell, and the emotionlessness of the steel mask was a decisive advantage during battle. Megatron was quite glad that he'd never worn one. Still, it would make quite a nice trophy... next to Prime's head, if his tastes had run a bit more grizly.

Prime tried desperately to stop his trembling, but with all his defenses ripped away, he could do nothing but await Megatron's next whim. He feared that the Autobots' best-guarded secrets were Megatron's for the taking. He prayed that he would be able to salvage whatever dignity he had left and protect whatever had eluded the Decepticons' grasp.

Megatron savored the moment. Prime was almost broken, but not quite. He was quite sure that the Autobot would resist his will until the bitter end, unless he had an... incentive... to cooperate. In that lay Megatron's trump card.

"You know," he remarked off-handedly, "I can almost understand what Alita sees in you. Seems that you've been together for quite some time -- it would be a shame to lose her after all you've been through together."

Prime's trembling stopped abruptly. Curse him for a fool! All this time he'd been worrying about himself, and he'd completely forgotten that there was someone far more important to protect. "Megatron, if you dare to--"

Megatron continued, pretending not to notice that Optimus had spoken. "She's going to need you more than ever, now that she's pregnant. But a Decepticon prison is not the best place to raise a child, is it?"

Prime's expression of astonishment was plainly visible, as his mouth fell open in astonishment and his optics opened so widely that Megatron was sure that they would shatter. "What are you talking about?" He regained a bit of his self-composure. "I've never heard such a preposterous lie in my life. Transformers simply cannot biologically reproduce. This is even worse than the time that Hot Rod tried to convince me that the black tire marks on the walls of Metroplex were left by Perceptor. Come on, you can do better than that!"

Megatron ignored Prime's skepticism. "Really, Optimus, I thought you knew me better than that. I don't have to resort to making up stories; after all, Alita alone has been enough bait to, *ahem*, see things my way in the past. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to lie about something like this? Soundwave's tests are enough to convince me that, despite the preposterous nature of his conclusion, Alita One is nurturing a lifeform. And you are the father. Congratulations."

Optimus barely heard the sarcasm in Megatron's voice as he became lost in thought. Alita, pregnant -- with his child? It couldn't be possible! In the countless millions of years that their race has existed, never had they been able to self-replicate. What Megatron was suggesting was beyond ridiculous. He was a fool to even entertain such a possibility for a microsecond. And yet -- and yet -- there *had* been something different the last time they had pleasure-interfaced, he thought with a twinge of embarrassment. And a life-form placing a drain on her systems explained Alita's sudden drop in energy all too well. They had become so close over the years that they sensed things about each other instinctively. Prime had felt that something was different about her, but he hadn't had the opportunity to discuss it. And then this had happened....

"A baby?" he breathed incredulously.

Megatron grinned. Finally he was figuring it out. "Babies can be such fragile creatures, you know. They sometimes have... accidents. Their mothers, too."

Optimus stared deep into Megatron's optics, forgetting all about his former humiliation. "Cut to the chase, Megatron. What do you want from me?"

Ah yes, the words he was hoping for. "Oh, nothing much," Megatron said nonchalantly. "Just the command codes and passwords to every secure and encrypted area of all your installations."

"Never!" Prime cried defiantly. "I'd rather die!"

"I have no doubt of that. Are you so willing to condemn your girlfriend and unborn child to the same fate?"

Those words chilled Prime's life fluids. While he was prepared to sacrifice himself to keep the critical information safe, he could not answer for anyone else. He knew that Alita would gladly give her life for the cause, but he just couldn't sacrifice his lifemate to the 'Cons. Besides, he thought with a shudder, they might not kill her right away. Some of them were infamous for their sick ideas of fun. He'd do whatever it took to keep her safe. And besides, it was his fault that she was pregnant. It was up to him to make amends.

"I will honor your demands..."

A smug grin crossed Megatron's face.

"...but on *my* terms only."

"Terms?" Megatron snarled, seeing his victory slipping from his grasp. "What terms?"

"You must swear to keep Alita safe until her child is born. No, wait -- a Decepticon's word is worth less than the cheap fuel inside him. I have a better idea -- you will provide Alita with whatever treatment she needs until the child is carried to term. She will have proper medical attention and sufficient energon rations. In exchange, I will give you the information you desire bit by bit on a weekly basis. This will ensure that you won't suddenly decide that she is expendable after you gain what you seek."

Megatron bristled at the accusation. "I know how to keep my word, Optimus Prime. The Decepticon name is too glorious to sully with broken promises. You are thinking of less worthy Decepticons, most likely Starscream. Very well, your demands are acceptable."

"I'm not finished."

"What do you mean--?!!"

"I also demand that all female Autobots be treated decently during our, uh, stay. If one of your lecherous troops so much as lays one finger on one of my ladies without consent, the entire deal is off."

Megatron frowned. He knew the minds of his troops. "That is easier said than done."

Prime's mouth hardened into a thin line. "Can you control your troops or not?"

Megatron glared down at him. "They do not dare to defy me. Very well, it is agreed. I will provide what you request, at least until you provide me with what I ask for. After that, I will make no guarantees."

He made no effort to hide his satisfaction. "Soundwave," he spoke into his radio, "report to my office at once."

Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when the door slid open and the Decepticon communications officer entered. Megatron gave him a questioning look, but said nothing. "Take our guest," he sneered, "back to his cell. I'll be keeping a souvenir." He stroked Prime's battle mask.

Soundwave swiftly freed Prime from his restraint attached to the chair and ushered him back to the detention block. On the way he snuck sideways glances at the Autobot's exposed face. He was surprised that the mask was removable -- his own was a permanent part of his face.

"Prime!" Alita exclaimed as her lover was brought into the detention block and ushered into his cell. She stared at his exposed visage with dread. She had been right -- Megatron had discovered Prime's personal log. She knew where he kept it, and what it looked like, even the code to open it, but she had respected his privacy and never peeked. Well, maybe once.

Optimus gazed at her pleadingly, needing her now more than ever before. Soundwave looked at the pink female disdainfully, figuring that she would be a better bargaining chip if Optimus were allowed to be close to her. He stepped over and opened her cell, ushering her out. She hesitated for a second, scarcely believing, then hurried into Prime's cell across from her own. Soundwave activated the security bars on both cells the instant that she was secured. He stalked out of the prison block without a backward glance.

end of Chapters 4-6

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