A Mute Friendship

You're Fighting For Your Life

Tegan stared up at the warlord, his mouth dropping open. He had absolutely no chance in defeating the warlord in a fight! Absolutely zero! He might as well just kiss life goodbye now.

All optics were turned on him, and Tegan shut his mouth, swallowing hard as he tried to speak, to say anything, but failed to... Not that it mattered anyways, it would happen whether he refused or not, but what he didn't know that his lack of pleading and trying to avoid the fight slightly impressed Megatron and shocked Starscream, who, had he been in the young boy's place, would've been trying every trick he could to avoid the fight.

Resigned to his fate, Tegan just didn't say anything, looking up at the warlord and hoping that it would go by quickly.

Soundwave spoke now, breaking the strained silence. "We must talk first." He told the warlord, who nodded, and the tall TIC picked Tegan up, carrying him to another corner of the room.

"What do I do now, Soundwave?" Tegan asked, nearly breaking down in tears. "He's gonna kill me! I can't fight him!"

The communications officer's helm shook once. "No, Orion has no chance in a fight against Lord Megatron." He told the boy.

Tegan glared up at him. "I sorta figured that." He answered, but Soundwave spoke again. "You didn't let me finish." He said, waiting for several moments to make sure that Tegan wouldn't speak again before continuing. "Orion cannot fight Lord Megatron, but he can still survive it."

Confused, Tegan looked up at the visored Decepticon. "Huh?" He asked, curious.

Glancing back at the warlord and his first lieutenant, Soundwave turned back to Tegan. "Orion must avoid as many blows as he possibly can. He should use his speed and intelligence against Lord Megatron's superior strength and knowledge... You do not need to defeat Lord Megatron to survive, you only need to impress him enough." He explained to the young boy, who nodded slowly.

"So if I can avoid him, and just appear intelligent and promising... then Megatron will let me live?" Tegan asked softly.

Soundwave nodded once before correcting him. "Lord Megatron." He stated firmly, making the young Techno-Organic nod.

Finally, Soundwave picked him up and gave him one last piece of instruction. "If it comes down to it, Orion must fight for his life... Even if there seems to be no hope left." He stated.

Looking up at the visored face, Tegan nodded again. "O-OK." He answered.

Soundwave turned to go back before pausing. "Orion should explore his upgrades... It is perfect circumstances." He stated softly before walking back and putting him on a console, Megatron shifting to his holographic form, which took Tegan by surprise.

Tegan looked at the holoform... It was huge. It stood at about 6'3 and was packed with muscle, black haired and red eyed as it smirked at him and approached.

Without even meaning to, Tegan began to calculate the other man. He had always been intelligent, but Soundwave's upgrading of his body, and then the downloading, little as it may be, of fighting techniques took over. Megatron's longer strides would make him able to cover more ground, and he was obviously much stronger that himself, and his core places as in head and neck, were too high for the younger boy to reach... And on top of that were millennia of battles that Megatron had fought, gaining unheard of battle experience.

Tegan himself was smaller, so he had less body mass to move around, his blows would be reinforced with the steel inside of him, his lower stature would make Megatron have to lean to strike him, and his core areas that Megatron would no doubt focus on, such as head and stomach, were reinforced with steel underneath the skin...

Before he could think anymore, Megatron was there and trying to punch him in the head, Tegan ducking it just in time and then ducking between his legs and running across the console in the opposite direction.

Looking back at him, Tegan saw him coming at a half run, which would enable him to change direction just as fast as Tegan could, without his body mass having too much momentum to carry him further than he wanted.

Tegan ran scared, trying to think of something to do... Megatron could easily just tire him out, his stamina was very obviously greater than his own.

After several minutes of just running over the consoles, Tegan had an idea... One that might surprise Megatron.

Turning, Tegan faced the warlord, who smirked and laughed, watching him carefully through red optics as he came closer, the Techno-Organic backpedalling slightly, waiting for the surprise attack he knew that Megatron would eventually give... He had downloaded a lot of Megatron's fighting techniques, and that might give him some sort of advantage.

Megatron smirked and jumped forward, punching Tegan really hard in the gut.

Tegan yelped in surprise when the impact sent him flying back several feet to land and slide across the console to the very edge, nearly falling off to what would've been his doom. He clutched his stomach, the blow having rattled him to his very core, but his plan had worked... Megatron hadn't expected the steel plating directly beneath his flesh, and he had heard the warlord snarl with pain... The warlord wasn't accustomed to the sensitivity of the human form of himself, having almost if not ever, used it.

Looking up, Tegan saw Megatron holding his wrist and glaring at him, which sort of made him scared... It looked more like Megatron was mad than impressed.

Hobbling back to his feet, Tegan was scared that he wouldn't be able to move as well anymore, and he took the chance to lift his shirt and look at his stomach, where a nasty bruise was already forming that made him cringe and drop the shirt back.

Megatron chuckled as he approached, and Tegan tried to move backwards quickly and out of reach, but the warlord darted forward again, punching him in the side of the left jaw, causing his neck to snap sideways and then upwards when the warlord followed up the first blow with an uppercut, causing Tegan to fall onto his back, bruised and bleeding.

As the shadow of the warlord loomed above him, Tegan lay still, tears streaming down his face. He had lost his glasses much earlier and looked at the warlord with red optics now. He had one last idea up his sleeve... Again, Megatron would not be used to the sensitivities of his human form... And wouldn't be protecting certain areas...

Smirking down at him, Megatron looked down at what he believed to be his opponent, lying in his defeat. He opened his mouth to speak when pain flashed through him and caused him to double over.

Tegan had waited until he was nearly over him before kicking him hard where a man should not be kicked, scrambling back to his feet and running away as fast as he could, stopping when he was near the edge, looking back at Megatron who still held himself, glaring at him with red optics as her growled and waited for the pain to subside.

Then, the warlord was approaching again in a full out charge, and Tegan tried to quickly find a way out of this predicament, just as the warlord was about to collide with him, Tegan got scared and ducked, taking the warlord's legs out from under him, surprising both.

Megatron was quick in recovering though and grabbed Tegan as he flipped, causing the boy to be tossed over him to land hard on his shoulder before flipping onto his stomach and sliding over the console... Then off the edge.

Tegan grabbed onto the edge of it just in time, yelping as his fall was caught on his left shoulder, the one he had landed on earlier.

Struggling desperately, Tegan tried to pull himself back up, but with a wounded arm, he was unable to, and could only watch helplessly as Megatron appeared above him with a wide smirk on his face.

"Well... If this isn't a turn of events." Megatron smirked as he moved the tip of his boot to Tegan's fingers, sliding them back so that he would slip and all his weight would be put on his weak arm.

Watching with large optics, Tegan felt tears in his optics as he thought about his grandmother... And how he wished that he could've said goodbye to her just one last time... And then, he lost his grip and fell.