Shattered Trilogy

CHAPTER 4

Ultra Magnus sat on the ground in his holding cell, servos crossed and leaning back. His optics came online upon hearing someone coming down the hall. He wasn't surprised to see Jetfire walk into view, staring down at him, servos balled into fists at his sides. He had an emotionless expression and didn't talk. The Autobot military commander stood and padded to the energy barrier.

"You've returned to interrogate me, Decepticon?" Ultra Magnus asked, glaring at the Air Commander.

There was a moment of silence, both bots staring at each other.

"No." Jetfire spoke calmly, "I wanted to negotiate."

Before the Autobot could snap out of his surprise, the jet sat on the ground, legs crossed.

"Please, let's talk." He said.

The imprisoned bot hesitated for a moment, then joined the Air Commander in sitting on the ground.

"Well, let's begin, then." Ultra Magnus said.

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Megatron stood right inside the infirmary, arms behind his back, frowning. Flatline was speaking with two bots (a dark red and orange flier, Sunstorm, and a greenish-teal flier, Acidstorm) while Ionstorm sat on a berth.

"He'll be okay, just needs to recover." Flatline said.

"Will he be able to fly?" Acidstorm asked.

The medic looked at the tablet in their servo, then looked back at the two fliers.

"Not until it can get repaired, and that won't happen until we get more medical supplies and Energon." They said.

Megatron suppressed a sigh. Everything had to do with their dwindling supplies, especially Energon. The grounded flier chuckled.

"Damn. No patrols for a while." He said, "That's fine. I'm sure Megs an' Jetfire'll give me somethin' to do."

"You're correct." Megatron finally spoke.

The four bots all looked over at their leader, startled. Well, he had only just now made his presence known. He padded over to the group, who quickly recovered from the slight scare.

"Sir, you need to stop sneaking around and scaring us." Flatline deadpanned, "You'll make our Embers short-circuit."

Megatron chuckled. "My apologies, Flatline." He said to the medic, then looked to Ionstorm, "If you wouldn't mind, I'm sure Shockwave would appreciate a helping servo in his lab."

"Sounds fun." The injured flier said with a smirk.

"That doesn't mean you get to blow things up, Ion." Sunstorm said, tapping his brother's shoulder.

Ionstorm merely rolled his optics. He was dismissed, and the trine left the infirmary. Megatron stayed, however, and Flatline spoke.

"Sir," They said after the door closed, "we need to talk about our resources."

The leader turned to look at the medic, nodding.

"I'm well aware that we reach... dire circumstances." He said, "Shockwave estimates that we'll last a couple more mega-cycles with what we have, if we ration them perfectly."

Flatline looked at the tablet again. "Not our Energon. Our medical supplies. If one more of you returns gravely injured... I may not be able to save you." They said.

Megatron wasn't surprised to hear this, but the statement still saddened him immensely. He gave a solemn nod, turning to leave.

"I will alert Soundwave before he departs." He said.