#rid01

‘We know we are undeserving of your forgiveness and trust after all we’ve done under Galvatron’s command. But if you would still have us, we will do everything in our power to atone for our actions.’

Scourge’s proposal echoed through Optimus Prime’s mind as he watched the Decepticons go about the tasks they’d been assigned. After the battle with Galvatron had ended in Galvatron’s death and everyone had been about to go back to base for repairs, the question of what to do with the remains of Galvatron’s army came up.

At first, the Predacons and Decepticons had been put in cells until Optimus could spare a moment to give it some genuine deep thought. All except for Sky-Byte, who’d somehow managed to slip away undetected.

While he healed from his extensive wounds, Optimus Prime ran the possibilities of their futures through his head, churning over several options over and over, but never quite knowing which one to take. Once he’d healed enough that he could stand, he went to pay their prisoners a visit, just to talk and figure out their dispositions. It was through the Predacons that Optimus had his suspicions confirmed. That Galvatron had reformatted the Decepticons to blindly follow him after Scourge’s betrayal.

The Autobot leader couldn’t have left them in such a state. War crimes aside, they were still sentient beings, deserving of freedom of mind. And so, he had T.A.I. work to reformat them once more. To remove the programming of blind obedience and allow them to think for themselves. It had been after that final reprogramming that Scourge and Team Ruination had expressed their desires to atone.

Optimus had been hesitant. They had, after all, tricked him once before. Led him to believe they were changing when in reality they were simply trying to infiltrate the base. But… perhaps he was too sentimental, because he found himself offering them another olive branch. That said, they weren’t allowed to just waltz around as they pleased, and they weren’t officially back in the Autobot fold yet.

Under the Autobot Brothers’ and Build Team’s watchful optics, the Decepticons worked with them on rebuilding efforts. Reconstructing destroyed buildings, fixing roughed up roads, cleaning up the ecosystems they’d wrecked. Team Ruination grumbled amongst themselves, but never spoke up against it to the Autobots outright. Optimus supposed that was a start. Before, they’d tried so hard to convince him that they had changed by making frequent remarks about how much they enjoyed the labor. This was much more honest.

But were they actually atoning? Or were they just biding their time until everyone lowered their guards again?

Optimus’ optics flicked over to Scourge. The Decepticon leader was discussing renovation plans with Mega-Octane and X-Brawn, hashing out details before getting back to the manual labor. Out of the bunch, he was one of the more headstrong. Last time, it had been Scourge whom had blown their cover. Time would tell if they were genuine or not. Scourge would blow their facade again in a spark pulse if they weren’t.

Days. Weeks. Months went by… and no anticipated double-cross. The Decepticons stayed the course and continued dutifully serving their sentence. Scourge showed no signs of frustration despite their limited access and constant supervision. In their downtime, he mainly kept to himself while Team Ruination would unwind with cards or baths.

Dared Prime hope that they had actually moved on from their desires for universal domination and power? He couldn’t just wait anymore. Standing by idly and anxiously wondering was doing him no favors. He had to be sure.

And so one particular day, he approached the Decepticon leader in the mess hall during their downtime, striding past the table of Autobot Brothers that sat not too far in supervision. “Scourge? Would you take a walk with me, please?” he invited gently, wanting to indicate that while he would prefer the company, Scourge had the ability to decline.

Those sharp, red optics met his soft, blue gaze and, for a quiet moment, the Decepticon seemed to consider it. Eventually, he slid out of his chair and straightened up. “As you wish,” he grunted.

And so, together they walked, Optimus silently leading Scourge through the halls of the base. Then out into the Global Space Bridge. And finally after a short drive, they arrived at a coastal cliffside that supplied a stunning view of the evening sun’s beams reflected off the sea’s surface.

The Decepticon following him hadn’t said a word the whole time they’d been traveling, but it was while Optimus was enjoying this view that Scourge finally spoke up. “You did not bring me out here simply because you thought I’m good company, Optimus Prime.”

Optimus had to quirk a smile. There it was. His usual blunt and straightforward nature. “No,” the Prime agreed, turning to face his darker counterpart. “I wanted to talk with you. Check in and see how you’re doing. We do not often get to engage like this.”

“I do what is asked of me,” Scourge stated brusquely, proceeding to fold his arms and fix the Prime with a hard look.

“I’ve seen. But that’s not what I’m asking for,” the Autobot leader elaborated patiently. “I want to hear your thoughts and feelings. Grievances, critiques, requests. Or anything else you feel like getting off your chest piece.”

“I may share a portion of your coding, Optimus Prime, but I am not as eager as you to join in such vulnerable practices,” the Decepticon leader declared firmly.

Optimus stared at him with a slightly stunned silence. He hadn’t expected that. Perhaps a rant. A fervent ramble about how he resented the work or Optimus himself. But the refusal to talk at all? “I see…” he eventually uttered once he shook himself from his stupor. “I… apologize. I suppose that was too much to ask. But… in future, if you ever find yourself wanting to talk, you can come to me. I will listen.”

Scourge was silent for a somewhat tense moment, his sharp optics revealing none of the thoughts running through his processor. And then, ever so slightly, so slight Optimus almost missed it, the sharp gaze softened. “I will bear that in mind,” he rumbled, the usual edge to his tone missing.

The Autobot leader had been tempted to make some sort of remark about it, but that train of thought disappeared when the ground suddenly and violently began to quake beneath them. From that point, everything happened in a blur. Optimus and Scourge had tensed and swiftly stepped away from the cliffside, thinking it was the rock-face that had decided to erode and fall, but instead the ground they now stood on closer inland cracked open, large fissures developing beneath their feet.

“Get to safety!” Optimus had shouted, though the order came too late, as the ground collapsed underneath them and sent them plummeting into the depths of the earth, swallowing them in darkness and rubble.

Prime wasn’t sure just how long he’d gone offline for, but when he came back online, his HUD was screaming at him. Multiple damage reports presented themselves, as if the sharp pain coursing through Optimus’ body wasn’t anything to go off of. Setting that knowledge aside for the moment, the Autobot leader began surveying his immediate surroundings.

He was sprawled out, face-down on the ground, piles of boulders and other debris pinning him down. Light shone down from above, though it was quickly eaten by the darkness of the cavern he now found himself in, thus only providing a thread of light. He couldn’t see Scourge in all this mess. Was he buried in this like Optimus was…?

Grunting and ventilating heavily, Optimus strained to try and free himself. Or an arm or leg. Anything. But he was met with no success. “Scourge…!” he called out desperately with a rasp. “Are you alright…?! Scourge!”

A low, wheezy groan sounded from somewhere behind him, followed by the moving of metal joints and shuffling of rocky debris. “Optimus Prime…?” Scourge responded, sounding disoriented while he tried to get his bearings. “Where are you?”

“Buried,” the Autobot commander answered, twisting his head slightly as if to look behind him at the source of the voice. As if the debris piled on top of him wasn’t blocking his view. “Are you alright?”

“My arm has seen better days,” the Decepticon leader grunted in return. “But I still function.”

So he wasn’t mortally wounded or anything. This news at least brought the Autobot some relief. “I’m glad to hear it isn’t worse,” Optimus said. “Could I bother you to call Team Ruination to our position?”

“Why?” Without waiting for a response, there was the sound of footsteps drawing closer, rounding the debris piled atop the Prime, and then Scourge came into view, eying the Autobot leader and the pile he was stuck under. “Mm… I see…” he rumbled with a contemplative tone.

Optimus took one look at Scourge’s arm and grimaced. It wasn’t just injured. It was severed. Rather uncleanly, as well, with wires dangling and sparking from its crushed stump of a bicep and energon trickling out of its tubing.

While Scourge took his time examining the pile and Optimus’ condition, the Prime couldn’t help a small tug of doubt in the back of his mind. If the Decepticon was going to betray him, now was certainly going to be the time to do it. He was pinned. Injured and vulnerable. Scourge could have easily taken Optimus out and no one would have been any the wiser.

But, much to Optimus Prime’s pleasant and relieved surprise, after sizing up the situation, the Decepticon leader pulled out a long-distance comms radio from his subspace and spoke into it. “Mega-Octane, this is Scourge. Do you copy?”

There was silence for a moment, earning an impatient squint from Scourge, before the commando’s voice crackled quietly in reply through the radio speaker. “This is Mega-Octane, sir. I copy, but you’re very faint. Where are you?”

Scourge fed his second-in-command their coordinates, then began dishing out orders. “Your team is to come to our location and assist.”

“You expect the Autobots to just let us waltz over there?” Mega-Octane stated pointedly.

“Then tell them Optimus Prime is injured and have them come with you!” the Decepticon leader snapped with exasperation. “Just get over here!”

“Easy, Scourge,” Optimus softly soothed.

“Copy. I’ll do what I can. Over,” was the reply the Decepticon got before the radio went silent again.

With a huff, Scourge tucked the radio away again, then drew his blade. “They will be a while,” he grunted decidedly, letting his sharp gaze run over the debris pile again. “I will do what I can until they get here.”

“Don’t push yourself, Scourge. I don’t want you making your condition worse,” Optimus implored, the worry of betrayal coming back for a brief moment, though the Autobot leader quietly fought it off. If Scourge wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t have put in that radio call to his team.

“It’s just an arm,” the younger bot scoffed, finding a spot to start and reeling his good arm back, sword clutched tightly. “SWORD OF FURY!” he then shouted before slashing at the pile.

Optimus Prime felt some of the weight atop him shift and heard some of the rocks tumble… and then a rather large boulder slammed itself into Scourge and bowled him over. “Scourge!” the Prime exclaimed frantically.

Blessedly, the boulder hadn’t stopped on top of the Decepticon leader. He just laid flat on the ground in front of Optimus while the debris pile settled again. He let out another groan, though this time with a hint of a growl, then pushed himself to an upright position, glowering darkly. “I. Hate. My. Luck,” he bit out quietly. “Or the lack thereof. I had carefully calculated how the rocks would fall, and that one just decided to shift course.”

“Are you alright?” Optimus checked, peering at him with concern.

“Fine,” Scourge huffed in a pouty sort of way. “Just missing the days when my luck didn’t seem to be such a scrapshoot.”

The Autobot leader blinked and stared. Was he…? No, but that couldn’t be so… “Your days… spent on Cybertron…?” he uttered in shock.

The Decepticon leader hesitated a moment before nodding. “Yes. Back when I was still a loyal Autobot.”

“You remember those days?” Optimus pressed with a budding hope building in his spark.

“Not much. Not right now,” Scourge reluctantly admitted. It was apparent he was stepping out of his comfort zone. He refused to look Optimus in the optics and he was slightly hunched as he sat. But at least he was talking. At least he was letting Prime in. Even just a little bit. “There are sparse memories that flicker in my subconscious. Triggered by small things. Places. Words. Actions. And it’s never clear. Just this… vague sense that I’ve been in a situation related to the trigger before. The biggest memory jog I ever received was when we all first found Fortress Maximus. Ever since then, it’s been… smaller things.”

Optimus listened attentively, watching Scourge’s body language and making note of his vocal tones. Maybe… Maybe this time it was real… Maybe the Decepticons really were trying to redeem themselves. Trying to get in touch with their Autobot roots. Make things right. “I see…” he murmured gently. “Thank you for sharing this with me. It was insightful.”

“I don’t see how,” Scourge muttered incredulously, flicking his gaze toward Optimus Prime to squint at him. “It’s not like I shared anything specific.”

“Maybe not. But it was something I had been longing to hear,” the Prime admitted softly. “Genuinely. Thank you. Perhaps in future, when you have more solid memories, we can recount them over some drinks.”

The younger mech stared at him silently for a minute. Then eventually, he looked away again and muttered, “Perhaps…”

A smile spread underneath Optimus Prime’s faceplate. It wasn’t a “no”.