Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

I would like to give an extra-big thanks to Middernacht for the wonderful picture she drew of Bumblebee for me. I am still stunned by the positive responses I have received towards my stories & I greatly appreciate any works of art someone is willing to take their time to do. If anyone would like to see it, just go to her account on Deviantart. And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.

Youngling - Chapter XVI - Megatron

The towering double doors that led to the main antechamber of the Decepticon’s underground base opened with a resounding echo and the forms of numerous mechs were cast in shadow as they exited the expansive room. Light filtered throughout the musty air as the large terminals that lined the walls shifted from picture to picture, their titanic screens ever-changing as surveillance footage from the surface was fed to them. However, it was the beast-like form that sat upon one of the computer chairs that demanded the attention of all who entered the room.

“Seal all entrances to the surface and place guards around the perimeter,” snarled Megatron, his blood red optics watching the screens with a shrewd attentiveness, “Turn the power down to minimum levels. If he has not already, my brother will be sending a party of scouts out to search for our base.”

Megatron reached out a jagged claw and tapped a button on a nearby computer terminal. One of the screens to his right flashed light green and a series of large turbines and converters appeared on the monitor.

“We do not need for them to discover the location of our main generator,” said the Decepticon Lord, “So we must take further precautions in order to maintain and guarantee our obscurity.” He turned hard red optics on his subordinates. “Is that understood?”

“Of course, my Lord,” said Blackout, “We will not fail you.”

The Decepticon Lord’s red optics scrutinized every mech and femme who stood before him, his hard glare enough to freeze their sparks. He didn’t need to tell them what the punishment would be if they failed him again.

Megatron was not a compassionate fool like his soft-sparked older brother. And speaking of his brother…

“You know the consequences that failure entails,” warned Megatron as he turned back toward the monitors and waved a dismissive claw, “Now leave me. I have important matters to attend to than your driveling excuses.”

The insult was blatantly directed toward his second-in-command who was left seething at the back of the room.

“As you wish, Lord Megatron.”

"Of course, my Lord."

The room soon descended into silence as the remaining Decepticons filed out. Not even Starscream was stupid enough to continue his earlier argument with his commander, who seemed to be in a rather foul mood at the moment.

And when Megatron was irritated, well, heads tended to roll. Literally.

The Decepticon Lord remained silent for almost a breem, his optics watching the screens intently before finally shifting down to the small figure who lay curled within one of his monstrous hands. Despite the sudden confusion and terror that the young Autobot mech obviously felt at the situation, it seemed that the turmoil and chaos of the past few joors had finally caught up with the youngling and had forced him into a restless recharge.

It had surprised Megatron when he had felt the youngling’s small frame curl into a tight little ball, his tiny fingers capturing one of the Decepticon’s wicked claws. Megatron had simply stared in disbelief as the youngling had released a quiet whine, squirming for a few astroseconds as he tucked the sharp digit against his thin chest armor and pressed his small head against Megatron’s rough palm.

Megatron stared down at the slumbering youngling, stunned by this sudden turn of events. The youngling was not supposed to trust him, but fear him.

But it appeared that the little microchip was out to prove the Decepticon Lord wrong, and when the youngling squeaked quietly and curled Megatron’s claw even closer to his chest…well…the beast-like ‘Con could do nothing more than stare in sheer disbelief.

What was wrong with this thing?!

Then again, Megatron was pretty sure that he knew the reasoning behind the small bot’s relaxed disposition when he was in the demon-mech’s presence. And he was sure that the youngling would not have acted like this if he was just any mech. No, the youngling would be screaming his vocal capacitor out if Megatron had not employed his own natural advantage to the situation. And despite his brother’s beliefs…

The Decepticon Lord was no fool.

He was well aware of his relation to this little Autobot mech.

Megatron did not understand why his brother had even thought that he could hide the youngling from him. It had been obvious to the Decepticon Lord from the very astrosecond he had laid optics on the little yellow minibot. After all, there was no mistaking the sibling-bond that flowed between their two sparks.

The bond between Megatron and the youngling had a slightly different feel than the one between Optimus and Megatron, but those little differences could have been caused by a variety of reasons.

Truthfully, Megatron did not quite know what to make of the youngling. It was obviously a mech (and thank Primus for that) and very young, maybe no more than a few hundred vorns old. And that meant that he was created after the destruction of the Youth Sectors.

Frustration began to cloud Megatron’s processor. No matter how much he thought about it, he simply could not figure out how the youngling had been created. He and Optimus’s creators had been dead for many thousands of vorns. Megatron himself had seen to it that their foolish mech-creator did not interfere with his aspirations. And their femme-creator, the eternally headstrong yet compassionate Artemis, had not lasted long after the death of her beloved Sentinel Prime.

It simply was not possible.

Then again, the proof of that impossibility was lying curled up in the palm of his demon-like claws at that very moment.

He could simply kill the youngling right here and now.

It would be simple. After all, it was not like the youngling could defend himself in any way against the massive Decepticon Lord. All it would take would be a swift curling of his claws into a tight fist…

And the youngling would be no more.

Megatron himself had very little reason to keep the youngling activated for reasons other than odd curiosity and vague interest. But, despite trying to convince himself otherwise, there was something stopping him from tightening his claws and sending the young spark before him into the Matrix.

It was a side of himself he had thought long dead. And although that side was not strong enough to affect any of his other feelings, it was potent enough to keep him from committing fratricide. At least in regards to this brother…

He would still gladly rip his older brother’s spark out of its casing if he was ever given the chance. But it would seem that the youngest brother was safe. For now, that is.

“My Lord,” hissed the familiar voice of Ravage, his feline form slinking through the shadows and toward the sitting Decepticon, “What would you have me do?”

Megatron stared down at the tiny yellow form he held in his hand, his processor working through the numerous situations the youngling’s presence would surely generate amongst his less-than-sympathetic troops. Thankfully, most of his soldiers were either indifferent to the small mech or were too loyal to their lord to voice their objections. Nevertheless, a few certain mechs had already voiced their opposition to the youngling’s presence.

“Keep a close optic on Starscream and his Seekers,” ordered Megatron, locking optics with the jaguar-mech as he came to stand beside him, “I do not want him coming near the youngling without me being present in the room.”

Ravage growled an affirmative, “Of course, my Lord.”

The Decepticon saboteur assumed his time-honored position to the right side of his lord, lying down to rest for a few breems before his recon shift was scheduled to begin. He was Megatron’s finest scout hands-down and the towering Decepticon Lord had no doubt that Ravage would know about and inform him of the Autobots' approach long before any of his other subordinates.

And Megatron knew that anything spoken or seen in that room between himself and the youngling would never be repeated by the saboteur. Ravage was without a doubt his most loyal soldier and Megatron knew that the youngling would be safe in the feline- mech’s presence.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

The Decepticon Lord shifted his gaze down to the youngling who had turned in his slumber and curled even deeper into Megatron’s hand. Now that he had the youngling, he was not quite sure what to do with him. The obsession with taking what belonged to his brother had clouded over all thoughts of what he would do once he had the youngling in his possession. And the thrill of having taken what was obviously so precious to Prime had prevented him from thinking about such things during the mission.

Now, however, this was a very real problem.

What was he, the ruthless and cold-sparked leader of the Decepticons, going to do with a very young and both emotionally and physically fragile youngling?

It was already very obvious that his second-in-command viewed the youngling as a threat to his position. Megatron did not understand why such a feeling of animosity would manifest in the other mech’s spark considering the Seeker could not possibly know of their true relation. It was impossible for anyone besides himself to know that the tiny mech was in fact his younger brother.

However, if Starscream ever did discover the truth behind the youngling’s fraternal relations, then Megatron was positive that the egotistical Seeker would view the tiny mech as a very real threat. Knowing Starscream, he would probably assume that Megatron was grooming the youngling to be his successor as Decepticon Lord. And yet again, his second-in-command would have overlooked one vital detail…

The youngling was far too small and soft to ever become a powerful Decepticon leader.

Megatron could tell just by looking at the youngling that he was very small for his age and that his tiny frame design was centered around an equally tiny spark. Not that the spark was weak in essence—oh no, Megatron could feel the strong pulls of that tiny spark tugging incessantly at his own dark core—it would simply never be able to power a frame of any significant size.

The youngling would probably never be able to accommodate a frame any thicker or taller than Megatron’s thigh unit.

To say the least, Megatron could tell without a shred of doubt that the youngling would never achieve even half the mass or height as either of his two older brothers. He would not be surprised if the youngling became a scout or recon specialist. Such areas of expertise would certainly fit the mech’s small design very well.

In blunt terms, the youngling definitely did not possess a frame that was expected of a Decepticon Lord.

Which yet again brought him back to the baffling question of how the youngling had been created. He just could not seem to figure out how—

“My Lord,” hissed Ravage, his red feline optics gazing up at the Decepticon Lord from the shadows beside his chair, “I believe the little one has awoken.”

Megatron felt the tell-tale stirring of the youngling through their bond before he even turned his optics downward, the persistent tendrils tugging at his cold spark as the youngling drifted out of recharge. Well, he certainly was a stubborn little microchip and Megatron dearly wondered what in the galaxy possessed his brother—or whoever it was who had created the youngling—to paint his frame the most loud and obnoxious shade of yellow in the universe.

It was a complete and utter optic-sore.

And if it was his brother who had chosen such a loathsome color, well, then all the more reason for Megatron to deactivate him.

“Why’s it so cold?” whispered the youngling groggily, his smalls hands rubbing at his optics as he fought off the last remnants of slumber. “Where’s ’Hide?”

“They are not here, young one,” rumbled Megatron, his jagged claws moving up to form a make-shift barrier as the youngling awkwardly sat up, “You are no longer amongst the Autobot army.”

The youngling looked around for a moment before turning to gaze up at the titanic Decepticon Lord with bewildered optics, shakily asking, “When can I go home?”

Megatron leaned further back into the chair and stared down at the youngling, his stony optics assessing the little mech’s reactions as he responded, “You may return to the Autobot ranks when I see fit.”

“That’s not fair!” cried the youngling.

The little mech stood up and glared at the Decepticon, his tiny hands balling into fists as he pushed one of Megatron’s wicked claws aside in his fit of rage. His baby blue optics met Megatron’s own blood red ones, the youngling’s normally adorable features contorting into an irritated grimace. If there was one thing that Bumblebee did not like, it was being told no by someone who was a big, mean slag-head!

And Megatron definitely fell into that category.

“I believe it is plenty fair, young one,” snapped Megatron, one of his claws tapping the youngling in the side in warning when he tried to climb off, “And you should be thankful that I do not punish you for taking such a disrespectful tone.”

“I’m only respectful to people who’re respectful to me,” Bumblebee argued with a firm stomp of his foot and his hands on his hips, “An' you haven’t been!”

Megatron’s optics narrowed, his back straightening as he glared down at the sassy little mech, “I have been lenient thus far, but if you show one more sign of—”

The Decepticon Lord never got to finish his sentence before the double doors that led to the room burst open with a resounding thud. Starscream stood in the entrance with his fellow Seekers beside him, his bird-like form looming in the dim light. Despite the fact that Starscream usually preferred subtlety and deception, he had obviously concluded that this situation required a more direct approach.

“Lord Megatron, the other Decepticons and I agree that this was a foolish—”

“If you do not have anything worthwhile to report, Starscream,” Megatron growled, his claws subconsciously curling around the youngling, “Then I suggest you return to your assigned post immediately.”

“The rodent is useless to our cause and will be another drawback when we—”

“Silence!!”

The Decepticon Lord bared his serrated teeth at the Seekers who immediately took a step back when the towering mech rose from his seat in rage. Ravage snarled at his side, slinking around beside his commander in a clear display as to where his loyalties lie. Such an outburst and daring confrontation from Megatron’s second-in-command had been building up for many vorns.

And it seemed that Bumblebee would be the catalyst for the inevitable altercation between the two egotistical mechs.

“I will not tolerate insubordination from you any longer, Starscream,” snarled the larger Decepticon as he lowered the youngling into Ravage’s waiting jaws, “And it would appear that the only time that you know your place is when I put you in it!”

Bumblebee squeaked in terror when he saw the two colossal Decepticons collide, his spark instinctively reaching out to Megatron when the larger mech left him behind with the feline-mech. The youngling felt scared and alone in this dark underground abyss that the ‘Cons called a base, and he did not want the only source of familiarity and comfort he had in this yawning darkness to leave him too.

And despite what all of the other Autobots continually told him, Bumblebee simply did not find Megatron to be all that scary. His rumbling voice, demon-like frame, towering height, and penchant for ripping things apart was quite intimidating, even Bumblebee had to admit that; but, there was just something that kept the youngling from ever being truly afraid of the cruel Decepticon Lord.

The little mech could not quite put his finger on it. And to say the least, it was beginning to drive him fritzy!

BBBOOOMMM!!

The Decepticon Lord ruthlessly slammed his smaller subordinate down onto the ground and twisted one of his arms into a painful position. Off to the side stood at least thirteen Decepticons, their optics fixed on the two larger ‘Cons as they fought a battle of brute force. Unfortunately, it was clear to every being present in the room who was the stronger of the two in this battle.

“I grow tired of these foolish games, Starscream,” hissed Megatron, his jagged claws sinking into the outer layer of the other mech’s armor as he pressed his massive weight down into the Seeker's frame, “And I would suggest that you stop trying my patience or else I may have to do more than humiliate you in front of your peers. Do you understand?”

Starscream blatantly ignored the larger mech and continued to struggle beneath his captor’s crushing weight.

“I said,” snarled Megatron, pressing his elbows sharply down into the other mech’s back panels whilst nearly crushing his vent system with his knees, “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” whispered the other mech.

“What was that?” goaded Megatron.

“Yes, Lord Megatron!” conceded Starscream, his vocals taking on a high note before fading into a deep and prolonged wheeze. “I understand.”

“Good,” said Megatron as he stood up and walked back over to Ravage, “Then I do believe that this meeting is over. Return to your posts immediately.”

The temporarily mutinous mechs filed out of the room at a break-neck pace, their optics frantically drifting over to the arrogant form of their commander. Megatron had yet again proved who was the superior mech in battle and the Seekers were quick to help their fellow aerial mech make a hasty exit from the room. None of them wished to incur the wrath of their leader at that moment because they all knew that the next mech or femme to defy Megatron so blatantly would not escape with their life.

Megatron actually enjoyed being questioned once so that he could show the rest of the galaxy just how powerful he was by beating the questioner into a twitching pile of circuits. But to be questioned a second time was simply stupid and suicidal in every sense of the word.

Not even Starscream was so bold as to question his superior twice in a vorn. If the Seeker had been so bold, he would have joined the Matrix long ago.

“That,” drawled Megatron as Ravage gently placed the youngling into the palm of his hand once again, “Is what happens to those who defy me.”

Bumblebee simply gazed at the spot where Megatron had ruthlessly beaten his own second-in-command into submission, shocked by the beast-like brutality that he had just witnessed from this being who was obviously bonded to him in some meaningful way. The youngling stared numbly at the small pool of bright blue energon that had accumulated on the floor during the fight.

The Decepticon Lord simply stared at the youngling with emotionless optics, his claws curling around the tiny mech as Megatron brought him up to lean against his upper chassis. He had business to attend to outside of the main terminal room and the last thing Megatron needed was for one of his less-than-trustworthy subordinates to discover that he had left the youngling unattended for more than a few astroseconds.

That was a death wish waiting to happen.

The youngling whimpered and buried his head in Megatron’s impenetrable chest armor, his small fingers curling around the outer layers as tears started to stream silently down his cheekplates. Both of the Decepticons chose to ignore the quiet hiccups that they could faintly hear coming from the youngling. However, in a moment of peculiarity and recollection of a time long past, Megatron positioned the youngling just a few scant meters higher against his chest armor.

To the untrained optic, this adjustment would have simply appeared to be the older mech’s attempt to move his arm into a more comfortable position. But to Bumblebee, it was the most soothing movement he had felt the entire orn.

And the youngling tasted for the first time the powerful spark of his dark older brother.

I am terribly sorry that it has taken me so long to update. Yet again. My surgery was a lot more complicated & long-lasting than I had anticipated. I am actually going to need to undergo two more within the next few months & I am now partially deaf in one of my ears as a result of the birth defect. But that is beside the point. I really don't know about this chapter & if I portrayed Megatron right. He is so hard to write, especially when you're trying make him seem remotely empathetic. If I need to revise, just tell me & I'll gladly do it. I really hope this lives up to your expectations & I hope you enjoyed reading!!