Megatron doesn’t really “date”, or a least he thinks he doesn’t. He just spends a dedicated amount of time with a specific person and no one else while doing things that they both enjoy.
Which is basically a date
But really, his best date would probably involve a good, hard spar, and laying together afterwards in the quiet of a habsuite, tending to any minor wounds they might have given each other. A bit of fun, a bit of intimate closeness.
Of course you were. You wouldn’t intentionally call my leadership into question after working so hard to gain my tentative trust, now would you?
I wasn’t calling your leadership into question! It was a joke- you’ve heard of those, right? Besides, you’ve gotta admit you’ve done a bunch of stuff in the past.
Wait, you trust me, too?
The word “tentative” in that sentence was an important one.
Bellator glares at the trickster, his sword pulsing with light.
Touch me and you will regret it, Trickster. What must you insist upon?
“Despite whatever you may try, I don’t think I will ever be able to regret this.”
The Playful One is going to start sticking soft tennis balls into all the pointy parts of Bellator.
This image lasts for approximately 1.73 seconds, before the war God’s flame brightens to blinding, setting the balls ablaze as he charges the Trickster.
You cannot force someone to like you, and if they do not it is their choice, not a fault of yours.
If you attempt to change yourself every time someone disapproves, you’ll lose yourself. Become nothing more than a two-faced facade. Those worth spending your time on are those who accept and celebrate you as you are.
But what if they dislike me ‘cause of a fault of mine? If I punched you every other sentence, and you hated me ‘cause of that, that’d be something I’d need to change in myself, right?
… I mean- maybe I would, but- I still don’t exactly want bots hating me left and right ‘cause I’m not likable enough!
There is a difference! Your personality should not be made to fit someone else’s ideals. Your actions may change as you see fit.
Don’t apologize for your faults. Learn what they are. Master them because you desire to, not because anyone hates you.
I’m not sure you’re the best teacher but- What are you supposed to do?
You cannot force someone to like you, and if they do not it is their choice, not a fault of yours.
If you attempt to change yourself every time someone disapproves, you’ll lose yourself. Become nothing more than a two-faced facade. Those worth spending your time on are those who accept and celebrate you as you are.
Despite the agitated Megatron, Smokescreen’s keeping a grin, though his doorwings did droop some. “This sure doesn’t look completely wiped to me, Megs. I don’t think me being here restored data, either… You think Alpha Trion would’ve tried that?” Smokescreen’s staring at his own insignia now. Maybe he should really get himself checked out, in case Alpha Trion did do anything else besides put the Omega Key in him.
It could take a little while for the download to finish, since he’s downloading everything that Megatron took a look at in the past few minutes, but it should manage in no time. Plus, having the historical texts could be helpful for getting things back up and running! Plus, with those coordinates, they probably lead somewhere helpful- maybe more stuff to get everything back up and running! That’s probably what Megatron’s trying to find, he reasons.
Smokescreen’s nodding along, before he processes what Megatron says, and is staring at Megatron here.
“Wait, we’re what now?” Smokescreen’s turning to look at Megatron, doorwings perking up, “We are?! I’m coming along too, right? In case there’s anything else like this out there?” He’s gesturing at the terminal again
This time he does roll his optics. He hadn’t meant right this minute, or even that he would be the one leaving the planet… though it would make for an interesting trip.
“We will send scouts, first. If they are able to detect or locate any anomalies, we can use the space bridge to send extraction teams. These relics may have been buried in asteroids upon impact, or sent into volatile regions to dissuade others from discovering them.”
That wasn’t a no, not just yet. If he were being honest, the idea of flying off into space and returning with the Allspark sounded like a perfect juxtaposition to doing the same with a giant crystal of Dark Energon. He wants to go too, and understands Smoksescreen’s enthusiasm.
“If there is some form of Autobot security measure, you may join the extraction. Otherwise, your services are still most required on Cybertron. Remember, we still don’t know which of these coordinates leads to the planet’s core.”
A secret compartment with maybe a few miscellaneous items, he was expecting. The console suddenly turning on? Not so much. Smokescreen’s optics brighten some as the console begins to recognize him, before looking back at Megatron in confusion, “You guys tried the console, didn’t you?” He might be tensing up some as Megatron stands right behind him, still looking through the files shown on the screen.
“Hold on- I didn’t really use this console, but there’s a bunch of different things that are showing up.” Smokescreen’s going to give a few taps to the keyboard, making sure there isn’t some other effect that’s supposed to happen, before opening everything he can to quickly search through.
There were some documents that looked like they were just there as reference to anyone just beginning at the hall, probably saved here because information could get lost so easily, that he’s guessing is not what Megatron’s looking for. Some floor plans, articles that had been saved beforehand…
Smokescreen’s continuing on, taking a quick glance through some personal notes from Alpha Trion, before finding a coordinates list that should look familiar to both of them.
Very familiar.
But this time, the coordinates seemed to have a normally encrypted descriptor of what the item is, automatically decrypted for mecha authorized to view the document, which currently meant Smokescreen.
Smokescreen’s trying to be careful to hold his position, in case the console is still scanning for a sudden loss of an Autobot presence and encodes the document again, but is turning slightly to try to see Megatron’s reaction. Was this what Megatron was looking for?
“Of course we did!” he snapped. “Even with restored power, this hard drive had been completely wiped!” Soundwave had recovered a few referential files himself, but even he had run into too much damage to continue safely. Clearly that damage was merely an elaborate defense protocol… He had to applaud the ancient mech, for creating something that could fool Soundwave.
Megatron’s optics remained fixed to the screen as files flash into view: blueprints, historical texts.. and a complete list of relics sent to Earth, along with their coordinates and the cadet’s image. How many weeks had it taken them to decrypt, when all they needed to do was bring Smokescreen here? He was given an Omega key, after all. All that and it had been right in front of this optics, hidden by by a thin layer of symbolism. He almost rolled his optics. How like Alpha Trion.
And there, at the bottom of the list, another coordinate list added in later, with no labels on any of the fifteen entries. None of them were on Earth, though a few were just as far or farther. Some of them were even on Cybertron. Megatron recorded the image of it to memory with a triumphant laugh. What else would an old Prime help to hide but that most precious?
“This is it… Smokescreen! Download the contents of these files onto secure datapads.”
Megatron's back up 