Just Maybe...
I sit staring out the base's circular window at the Earth. You know, it's a pretty planet from here, all blue and green and shiny with white clouds floating around it. It looks like some sort of jewel, much like Cybertron does, except Cybertron is different, silvery, and it has no clouds. I like looking at it. It always makes me feel better, even after I've been punished. I shudder with remembered pain. I deserved it, yes, but it was not an experience that I care to repeat...
******************************************************************
As I stood before Megatron, I knew what was coming. I also knew I deserved it.
He asked, "Do you know why you're here, Minicon?"
"Yes, sir," I answered, and lowered my optics in shame. I had failed him, but, even worse I had betrayed him. Betrayed my leader. Betrayed my Master. He had assigned me to guard the human captives, and I had failed him by allowing them to escape. And later, in the battle, he'd ordered me to kill one of them, and I had betrayed him by disobeying him and not doing so.
"And do you know what is about to happen to you?" , he asked.
"Y-yes, s-sir," I answered, able to keep my body from betraying my fear, but not my voice. We are all given a small taste of punishment just after activation, so we all know what it feels like, and most of us have felt a normal punishment for some failure or other. And now I was likely to get a double dose.
He stood up, and I braced myself for what I knew was coming. "Then I need waste no time on explanations," he said and his horns began to spark with energy. The energy leapt from his horns and began to course through my body, bringing every circuit instantly to life with pain. I screamed in agony; it felt like I was being burned in the fires of the Inferno! In my mind, , I prayed, "Please... Primus...just let this end...please just let it end. I'm sorry! Please... just don't let him punish me anymore!'
Suddenly, I was freed from the paralyzing energy and fell to my knees, trembling as the pain receded. Punishment inflicted pain, but did no actual damage. The Decepticons did not want to risk losing such useful tools. "I-I'm sorry, sir," I manage to say as I get to my feet and begin backing out of the room. "I'll never disobey you again, never."
Seemingly satisfied with my apology, he said, "See that you don't," and dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I then turned and ran from the room, grateful that he had not simply scrapped me for my disobedience.
******************************************************************
After that I came here and to look out at the Earth. Earth, home of the humans. Humans... a curious species. Imagine, sentient life forms not made of metal! The idea seems almost laughable, I know, but still, it's true. The Autobots seem to care about them. I don't know why. They're obviously of a lesser class, like we Minicons are, and thus of little real value.
Now some might say, "Ah, but if you are so worthless then why do the Autobots and Decepticons fight so fiercely over you?" The answer to that is simple. We are useful tools. That gives us value. To serve our betters is our purpose, our reason for existing. That is what my programming says, at least. When the humans and their Minicons came to rescue the human prisoners, though, the humans' Minicons told me something different. Things that I should dismiss outright, but for some reason, can't...
******************************************************************
They dropped down in front of me. Three against one, I wouldn't have had much of a chance if I fought them head on. And anyway, this was the first chance I'd had to speak to any of them since we had come back online. Perhaps I could convince them of the error of their ways.
"Fellow Minicons," I said to them, "do you not see that it is pointless to resist the Decepticons? It is obvious to anyone with optical sensors that they are our superiors. Come back with me. Join the Decepticons. I am sure your addition to our forces would be a welcome one."
"What are you saying, Leader-1?", Highwire asked, seemingly shocked "You were one who always taught us that we were more than just tools! You were our people's voice in the Council! You were the one who originally proposed the Armada Project! Don"t you remember? Before, on Cybertron?"
I was confused. I didn't remember any of the things he spoke of. "There is no before...", I muttered what my programming told me. "I have always belonged to Megatron. He is my leader, my master..."
Then, to my surprise, they jumped on me, pinned me to the ground. "I can't believe I'm hearing this, Leader-1!" , Grindor shouted. "Not from you..." I could have sworn I heard his voice crack when he said this.
"Don't you remember what they did to you?", yelled Sureshock, sounding almost desperate. "Don't you know that you've been reprogrammed? Brainwashed? Don't you know that you're more than a just tool for the Decepticons? Don't you know that you deserve better?"
******************************************************************
I also remember how, before they arrived, one of the human prisoners offered me some of his food. I'm not even sure if Minicons can consume human food, but I was a bit hungry at the time. That's not what caught my attention though. It was how he talked to me. He talked *to* me, not down to me. He talked to me like I was an *equal*. Even if it did turn out to be merely a trick, I still... liked having someone talk to me like that.
And when the other humans arrived, they seemed to talk to their Minicons the same way, as equals. Like they were worth something. But... how could a Minicon be worth something?
Later, in the battle, when Megatron ordered me to kill the human, I remembered how he'd spoken to me. I remembered what Sureshock had said, and the treacherous thought entered my mind... "What if they were telling the truth?'. I tried to force the thought from my mind, to obey my leader's command, but couldn't. My hesitation, my disobedience, cost us the battle, and that is why I knew I deserved my punishment.
"Whatcha doin, Leader-1?", a familiar voice behind me asks.
"Nothing, Blackout. Just thinking."
Blackout chuckles. "Jeez, L-1, with all the thinking you do I'm surprised you don't pop a neuro-circuit or something. Anyway, c'mon. Megatron wants everybody to meet him in the briefing room."
I stand and being to follow him, but I turn back to take one last look at the Earth. As I look at it Sureshock's words come back to me... "Don't you know that you deserve better?". And treacherous though I know it is, I can't keep the lingering thought from my mind that maybe... just maybe... he's right.