Tw: Suggestive? Yumeship!(Doubles int!)

[Read from the beginning]

Chapter word count: 5k. Total word count: 11k. Chapters 2/12

Summary: Megatron is set to be executed by the Galactic Council, but Rodimus won’t stand for this. Luckily Optimus Prime is just enough of a bastard to secretly intervene and save Megatron, giving them a new identity and body for a life on Cybertron as a medic. They now have to exist within the context of the new Cybertronian society that is being created in the aftermath of the war. They can no longer avoid the constant reminder of their sins and be on the other side of the galaxy from those for whom what they have done is far more personal- like Starscream. They also cannot avoid answering the open question of the nature and future of their relationship with Minimus Ambus. (Basically having Megatron interact with characters and concepts from the RID etc side of IDW phase 2/3, as well as more of a bottom-up view of new Cybertron than we really see in canon. Plus more follow-up with the Starscream dysphoria plot point than we really got in canon.)

Chapter Summary: Megatron- now Rung- wakes up in their new body.

Relationships: Megatron/Minimus Ambus (Transformers), past Megatron/functionist universe!Orion Pax

Characters: Megatron (Transformers), Nautica (Transformers), Clicker (Transformers), Optimus Prime, Rodimus | Rodimus Prime, Skids (Transformers), Damus | Glitch | Tarn, Other Character Tags to Be Added, As those chapters are written obviously Minimus and Starscream are going to be major characters

Additional tags: Angst, no unicron au (see notes), Post-Canon, Worldbuilding focus, non-binary!Megatron, Transgender themes, both literal and allegorical, passive suicidal ideation of pov character throughout, transformers doesn’t have consistent terminology the way star wars does and that almost killed me, Rung is haunting the narrative, extremely nuanced exploration of abuse, to the point its kind of a content warning, this will be attempting to reconcile on a thematic level how megatron is depicted in mtmte/ll with how he's used in taao

What is justice?, Why are you allowed to punish?, What if the worst person in the world really did change?

Stimuli overwhelmed Megatron’s processors, causing their optics to unfocus. Joining the deluge of light and the incomprehensible sound of someone’s speech was the cause- sensation. Circuit dampeners blocked all sensation, not just pain. And it was extremely common for a bot to be completely overwhelmed after total suppression was disabled. This analysis was provided as Megatron’s higher processes reestablished themselves after the latest round of stasis lock. They were in the same circuit slab as before, now laying flat. Megatron had actually been conscious for a lot of the rebuilding process, giving advice where they could.

But their skills tended much more towards that of a medic than a blacksmith or an engineer. Once Anode was crafting new limbs from the donated material instead of Velocity hooking scavenged organs into their system, they hadn’t had anything constructive to add. The last step: full neural alignment with the body was a program best administered to an unconscious bot. As much as it disturbed Megatron, it was best for their limbs and outermost layer to be affixed while they were in stasis lock.

“Rung, Rung, you can hear me, right?” A frantic Velocity’s voice was finally understandable. Right, they remembered, their name was Rung now- not Megatron. They needed to start thinking of themselves that way.

“I can,” Rung replied, their vocal synthesizer sounding the same. “How long have I taken to regain consciousness?”

Velocity told him.

“That isn’t that long considering the amount of neural realignment I’ve just undergone.”

“I know- it’s just, I was worried we had messed up.”

“Their neural activity readings are fine,” Anode reported. She was standing on the other side of Rung’s slab, reading from a datapad synced to the monitoring equipment Rung was plugged into. “I told you we didn’t have to worry.”

“Alright,” Nautica said from in front of the foot of the slab, reading directly from her own datapad. “You shouldn’t try to move too much right away, start by moving each finger individually and flexing your feet…oh you’re already doing it.”

After finishing a survey of all of their sensors, Rung had started putting themselves through the now already very familiar protocol for extreme reconstruction. Dexterity and proprioception was moderately impaired, but it was typical for a brand new body. They wouldn’t be performing surgery with these hands anytime soon, however nothing indicated any problems. That said, integration disorders could usually only be noticed in the weeks and months later, when a patient didn’t recover on schedule.

“It should be safe to remove the neural monitoring leads and energon tube,” Velocity said, “hold still.” Velocity’s nimble fingers pulled the monitoring equipment's wires from where they snaked into Rung’s nervous system. There were a few attached to their skull, and the rest monitored the integration of their limbs and various major servos. As Velocity undid the seal on the energon tube, Rung mused that this was one of the most tender ministrations they had received after a major surgery. It was so different from the mercenary approach of the medics who had tended to Megatron in the arena, Shockwave’s overwhelming indifference, or Ratchet’s barely concealed hatred (later on Necroworld, Ratchet’s care was less begrudging. But the bot had a baseline level of surliness that was heightened when treating them). Rung usually didn’t appreciate gentle touch, but there was something about still receiving this kindness, here at the end, that filled them with anticipatory grief. Velocity was a bright young woman who already had the hardest part of being a medic mastered (bedside manner was something Rung wasn’t accomplished at themselves, and they had no idea how to teach it). She had become self-conscious interacting with Rung since their return, and they ached with the desire to take Velocity under their wing and nurture her skills.

It was ironic, wasn’t it? When facing their death, Rung hadn’t despaired nearly this much at the prospect of being separated from their friends forever. But now that they would live, they were feeling grief at a strength they had previously only ever felt anger.

Liars A to D

Who's Afraid of The DJD?

An Intimate Beheading

World, Shut Your Mouth

slaughterhouse

Some Of My Best Friends Are Autobots

This Machine Kills Fascists