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You Are Being Deceived, by Slamdance

The Rise of Megatron and Decepticonism

In this data log, I will show you the overview origins of the great slag maker himself. Megatron has brought ruination to so many worlds, cybertronian or otherwise, that recounting his early deeds seems an insult to those that he’s killed or subjugated. I type down his troubled past and good actions, not to give justification to the tyrant, but to simply tell the truths of the matter. It is unfortunately easy for us to dehumanize the black-hearted enemies of freedom and kindness. We call them monsters, separating them from ourselves because we don’t want to believe that we could do or allow all those terrible things. But if the cybertronian race is to heal and transform into something more than the war machines the galaxy perceives us to be, we must acknowledge these uncomfortable truths. It is a necessity to understand and even sympathize with those that choose to believe in decepticon philosophies if we are to dismantle the oppressive empire born from them.

Exact times and dates are unknown but recovered data shows that Megatron (Then known as D16) was forged in the well of all sparks on Cybertron during the latter half of the Age of Rust. Deseesus Industries had set up itself as the quintesson bastion of robotic servants. After examination by quintesson scientists, D16’s original alt mode was modified into a mining vehicle. While still debated to this day, those that were forged on the same day and survived to tell their stories claim that it was a stationary cannon, often compared to the alt mode of Straxus. The only proof of this claim is the fact that Deseesus Industries was remodeling heavy framed bots of all types into miners at the time, as the military hardware market was becoming over saturated.

D16 would be sold to a quintesson mining company and put to work on the desert planet of Zull. While not much is known about his time as a miner, as he has chosen not to go into intimate details about it, the troubled stories of other former mining slaves paint a picture of constant work abuse and little respect. When the cybertronian resistance against the quintessons found its way to Zull, the rebel forces were shocked at what it found. Deep in one of the excavation caves, there was evidence of a battle. Among the dead were cybertronian miners, quintesson guard drones, and the head quintesson who had a drill lodged into one of his five faces. The only survivor was D16. H was in a state of shock, on his knees and covered in the mixed blood of the fallen. Once he calmed down enough to speak, he kept muttering how it was his fault and repeated the phrase “my drill” over and over. D16 would sit out the remainder of the quintesson rebellion, his mental state making him unfit for significant contributions.

Once Deseesus Industries was taken down and the quintessons driven off the colony worlds, D16 became an iron apprentice to rebellion cofounder Termigax. While under her therapeutic care and firm teachings, he helped mine energon on Luna One under significantly better conditions. After two hundred years of this meager job, Termigax suggested that he should find either a hobby or a new career choice that could help him express his stunted emotions. D16’s choice would be as influential on him as it was surprising for her. Once she connected him to a fellow resistance veteran who had began working as a coach in Kaon’s gladiator pits, a new name would be burned into the brain modules of all cybertronians.

The following is an audio interview I conducted with said coach, Cy-kill:

Slamdance: State your name and tell me your background.

Cy-Kill: The name’s Cy-kill, short stuff. Before the quintessons took over, I was a security chief on the colony world of Gobotron. We got hit bad by the cosmic rust plague. Just when we thought we had a good quarantine plan going, the triple Fs showed up.

Slamdance: Triple Fs?

Cy-Kill: Five faced freaks. Tentacled terrors. Quintessons, you ignorant aft head!

Slamdance: No need for insults, just asking for clarification. When did you join the resistance against Deseesus Industries?

Cy-Kill: About when it first started. I was forced into hiding by my colleagues who wanted to play it safe. Hated every minute of it. So, when rumors started flying about cybertronians fighting back, you bet your T-Cog I joined up as soon as I could!

Slamdance: After their defeat, you became a coach at Kaon’s gladiator pits. Why not go back into security?

Cy-kill: That bucket of slag Sentinel Prime said I didn’t pass the mental evaluation. As if he didn’t do his own share of rough stuff back when he was U-Haul, leading the charge for our species’ freedom! Not my fault I found killing those triple Fs… heh, enjoyable.

Cy-kill: The gladiator pits were the perfect fit for me, you know? People needed the entertainment, to distract from the woes of rebuilding society and what not. Yeah, plenty of bots got charged up on those extreme sports from Velocitron or those artsy flics from Caminus, but nothing gets a crowd cheering like seeing a bunch of larger-than-life bots beating the scrap out of each other.

Slamdance: Let’s move on to the Titan in the field; Megatron entering the pits.

Cy-kill: Sweet Primus below, take the wheel… The day started out normal enough, shiny new recruits wanting to prove their metal. They give me their names, their personas, who they want to fight, what weapons they’ll use, you get the idea. My job was to organize and give the best advice I could to them. Eventually, this big dark grey bot steps up to me. Had those black and yellow markings you see on miners.

Slamdance: What were your first impressions of him.

Cy-kill: [Laughs] It’s crazy to think I thought… Let me explain something first. I was a coach for a good two hundred years. I saw bots of all walks of life go into those pits. When that miner from nowhere told me he wanted to be called Megatron, I felt energon waste bile up in my mouth. Naming yourself after one of the thirteen original primes?! That’s the fastest way of letting me know you think too highly of yourself. There was this other guy who called himself Onyx, said he would be the greatest beast of the pits. He didn’t last two minutes with a minicon!

Cy-kill: And the persona he wanted to do? A former quintesson slave who rose above his station, wanting to show his true might?! It was about as cliché as it got. Half the fun of these fights is the vibrant personalities, loud mouths with charismatic one-liners. No one wanted to remember when they were servants to organic losers!

Slamdance: And when Megatron said he wanted to challenge the champion, Overlord, to a fight?

Cy-kill: That… That’s when he started surprising me. What usually happens when I tell a new fighter no is them getting fussy. Bulking up their chests, telling me how their stone-cold killers, typical turbo revving anger. But Megatron, his anger was cold and patient. Didn’t insult me, didn’t raise his voice, just kept telling me he wanted to challenge Overlord. Even when I told him the champ had a growing reputation of circumventing the no killing rule by damaging spark chambers, causing fighters to go offline from spark failure after the match was over, Megatron still wanted to do it.

Slamdance: So, you allowed the fight to happen.

Cy-kill: I figured it’d be a formative experience, learn his limits and all that. Before he goes in, I coach him as best I can. Overlord’s favorite strategy is using his duoformer ability. Distracts you with one of his two alt modes so he can ram you with the other. Megatron nods, picks up a mace and a pickaxe, and goes in. Once the match started, everyone with a functioning brain module figured it would last a minute at most. But that Megatron, he’s actually holding his own! He’s dodging, getting a few hits in. Eventually, Overlord gets sick of him and splits in two.

Cy-kill: What happened next… By the Thirteen, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before then. Megatron leaps onto Overlords tank half and starts hacking at it with his pickaxe, screaming like a soldier running into battle. Overlord’s jet half comes flying in and Megatron swats it down with his mace! The champ starts to panic, tries to transform and bring his two halfs back together, but his legs have so many chunks of metal missing they can’t function properly. Two blows to the helm from the mace and the fight is over! The crowd. Was. BALLISTIC! You could here the cheers from space, the pits were so loud. And to top off the whole event, that miner got the microphone and was asked just who he was. He said, “I am Megatron. When I first emerged from the well, I felt in my spark that I was strong. But the quintessons just saw a miner. I came to these pits to test my strength against a worthy opponent… I am still waiting!” And that laugh he did at the end, pure maniacal brilliance!

Slamdance: That’s when you began coaching him full-time?

Cy-kill: I’d be a fool not too! Being Megatron’s coach was like printing my own shanix. The way he worked the crowd, the brutality in his fights, there’s never been a gladiator before or since that charged more life into the sport. Then, a few decades later… Ugh, he starts getting political. Megatron starts spouting Termagax’s ascenticon doctrine after winning his fights, saying that Sentinel is limiting our kind’s potential and all that other junk. Me, I’m not one for politics. Just so long as my shanix is high in number, I don’t care about who’s in charge or how they’re running things. I could tell things were escalating, so I packed up my things and space bridged to Charr. It was about time I retired anyway. Heh, I really lucked out on picking one of the few colony worlds that stayed neutral, didn’t I?

Slamdance: Yeah, lucked out. Looking back on those years coaching Megatron, do you think that you incidentally encouraged his violent worldview?

Cy-Kill: Oh boy, this song and dance again. So many people accuse me of creating the tyrant to end all tyrants, are you one of them?

Slamdance: Laying the blame on one person is reductive, not to mention simplistic. In the end, Megatron’s to blame for his actions. I’m just trying to get all the facts straight. There are those that think the gladiator pits warped his mind; I want to know your view on this.

Cy-kill: Huh, never met a bot who didn’t point a finger at me until now… Look, I ain’t a psychologist or whatever. I couldn’t read the guy’s brain module to see what was going on in there. But what I said about the pits being entertainment was true. We suffered, practically had to crawl our way back to civilization. The gladiator pits, they were an escape. Spectacles of clashing metals. The crowds loved it, and the fighters had a real companionship with each other. Did Megatron get twisted from it and expanded his personal gladiator pit to the whole of the galaxy? I don’t know. But I’m retired now, so that ain’t my problem. Are we done here?

The gladiator pits were just Megatron’s way of recruiting the people of Cybertron to join the ascenticons. At this point in time, Sentinel Prime’s insistence on security and galactic isolation had stagnated our society. Despite being urged by many senators and even the prime adviser, Alpha Trion, Sentinel was certain the Nominus Edict was keeping our kind safe. Some would argue that we were better off with Sentinel as Cybertron’s leader, but that is thankfully the minority opinion as of now. Not only was the number unjust arrests increased to justify the growing security forces, but other alien races that suffered because of the quintessons were being ignored. The ascenticons advocated for galactic aid for all species and societal advancement. Termigax spread her words through three sources; the librarian Orion Pax would socialize with the middle to upper class bots that frequented Iacon’s hall of records. Ariel, a rough and resourceful dock worker, mainly talked to those in manual labor. Megatron gave his speeches to the hardened and disillusioned masses of Kaon. Support for the ascenticon cause grew slowly but steadily, and even the colony worlds were taking a liking to this new direction. But Sentinel Prime was as stubborn as he was paranoid, using his status as Prime to veto any adequate change. Eventually, the blunt and uncompromising Termagax grew tired of the political back and forth. Her announcement that she would resign, leave cybertronian civilization and have Megatron take her place as leader shocked the ascenticon movement to its core.

Megatron’s would almost immediately go into self-isolation, saying that he needed to plan for what the ascenticon movement would do next. While this was a cause for concern among the ranks, Orion and Ariel assured them that he would be a good leader. As days turned to months, however, they noticed a change in his behavior. His temper flared up more and and outright refused suggestions for the ascenticons next course of action. The day eventually came where Megatron, christening a new purple insignia on his chest, broadcasted his first speech as leader. The following is an audio recording of the speech that changed Cybertron forever, which would later be named Peace Through Tyranny.

My ascenticon brothers and sisters, this is Megatron. As your new leader, I vow to finish what my mentor started so long ago. Termagax, may she find peace wherever she wanders, gave us our name because she wanted the cybertronian race to go beyond what Sentinel Prime allows. She wanted us to ascend from our colonies and share our technological achievements with the rest of the galaxy. She envisioned a resplendent and prosperous future. I come to you today to announce that our faction’s name is now the decepticons, effective immediately. For we were all deceived. We have deceived ourselves into fearing our own gifts, like we should not have pride in our power. If our previous leaders had an ounce of the ambition that I have for the decepticon empire, cybertronians would’ve been the dominant species of the galaxy by now. To those that ally themselves to Sentinel Prime, I say this… I do not hate Sentinel. Oh, I despise the direction that he has taken, but I agree with him on many things. Cybertron and the colony worlds lacked the strength needed to repel the quintesson invasions. There are most certainly other alien forces in deep space who would gladly steal our technology and still only see us as sparkless machines. But what has Sentinel done to counteract these potential threats? The Nominus Edict is archaic and restrictive, preventing us from colonizing new worlds in the name of safety. Yes, he increased the strength of the security forces, but all they have done is stop petty criminals. Sentinel would have us sit and wait for the next Deseesus to attack our planets, hoping that our security forces can handle them. If the people of Cybertron would allow me to be their next leader, I would show you our true potential. I would not build walls to protect, but construct weapons to destroy. The decepticons would be a true military force, an unparalleled army ready to crush our enemies under foot, wheel, and tread. No one will stand over us ever again. My empire would not isolate ourselves to the colony worlds but expand and ally with like-minded alien governments. And we would not show restraint to those that would refuse to join our glorious cause.

That is my promise to all cybertronians who join the decepticons. Advancement through technological might. Security through military conquest. Peace through tyranny. Rise up, my decepticon brothers and sisters, and claim what is rightfully ours!

Megatron’s speech, despite its totalitarian nature, came at the unfortunately right time for it to resonate. When Deseesus revealed his true intentions, Cybertron and the colony worlds severely lacked the defensive capabilities to push back. It was the main reason Sentinel’s authoritative rule still had support. But Megatron’s philosophy, later defined as decepticonism, enticed many. Veterans of the quintesson war relished the idea of fighting for their brethren again, corrupt security officers saw opportunity in a militaristic society with more freedom to exercise force, and much of a disillusioned populace saw simple solutions to complex problems. Most famously, four senators announced their full support for Megatron not long after his speech was broadcasted: Straxus of Kaon, Starscream of Vos, Ratbat of Helex, and Scorponok of Tesaurus. Most others who didn’t agree with Megatron were either too shocked to respond fully or refused to comment, but one voice of criticism was loud and clear. Hilltop of Tarn, known supporter of Sentinel Prime, claimed that Megatron had become unhinged and was outraged that he wanted to militarize all of Cybertron. She vowed as Tarn’s senator to make sure the decepticon empire would not become a reality. Two weeks later, Megatron gathered his new decepticon loyalists and invaded the city. The attack on Tarn was unprecedented in the history of cybertronian civil conflict, in both the size of the conflict and the ferocity of the attacking force. Tarn Security Forces were overwhelmed and slaughtered within minutes, civilians that didn’t pledge loyalty to the decepticons were driven away from their homes under threat of dismantling, and Hilltop was assassinated by her own bodyguard. Sentinel Prime was quick to act, ground bridging to Tarn and taking Megatron head on. The fight between the prime and the gladiator lasted for hours, neither side holding back. Sadly, to the horror and surprise of all not already aligned with Megatron, Sentinel was defeated. Whether he died in decepticon custody or still functions deep within Darkmount Prison, we do not know for certain.

Fifteen hours. That’s how long it took for Tarn, second largest city of Cybertron best known for its gifted musicians and alien ambassadors, to fall. After proving his strength against Sentinel Prime, and with five city states worth of followers at his command, Megatron had created an army like no other in our history. Things would never be the same for Cybertron ever again.

(Author's note: Not every fic will be this long, nor will all of them be You Are Being Deceived. I just have lots of thoughts on how i would write Megatron and the origins of the decepticons.)

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