Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Set in IDW's "Megatron Origins".
There will be slash in later chapters, as a warning, but none in this chapter.

When Rumble and Frenzy had suggested "going underground", Megatron didn't think they had meant it quite so literally.

The journey to Kaon from the mines had been difficult enough with the officials still after them. Getting into the city had required some fast talking and quick thinking from the two small brothers, and Megatron was sure that he'd seen credits being handed over stealthily out of the corner of his optics, but now, at least, they were in. Deep, down at the very bases of the towering skyscrapers that made up the shabby vertical city, where the crooks and criminals felt safe in the dim, smoky lights, the three felt oddly at home.

Now Rumble and Frenzy were gesturing excitedly at a run down bolts shop with a crooked and sooty sign plastered above it, at the base of one of the more suburban skyscrapers. The two ran in happily, while Megatron walked in somewhat more cautiously.

"What can I get y - oh," the femme behind the counter's expression fell as soon as she saw Rumble and Frenzy, "it's you two. You come for my basement again, ain't ya." The twins nodded happily, chattering up at her with mockingly overblown greetings and praises. Her plating was green and bulky, and in bad need of repair - not a pretty Cybertronian at all, Megatron mused to himself, and he wondered if that was rust at the corner of her foot. She ignored them, and instead eyed Megatron warily.

"Who's this?" she grunted, nodding her head at him.

"My name is Megatron," he replied impassively, staring at her coldly.

"You sharing the room with these runts?" she said. The silver miner nodded. "Pity ya, I really do," she chuckled, then picked up at a metal crate filled with rags from the corner of the room and gestured to follow her back outside. She led them into a small, dank alley at the side of the shop, and kicked a dusty grate away to the side, revealing some haphazard steps going down into the ground and under the building. Beckoning to follow her, the twins skipped down the steps lightly, while Megatron hung back again. The steps led to a narrow corridor, lit by a flickering light-bulb in dire need of replacement. At the end were two doors - the left covered by a shabby brown curtain, the right with its grey curtain drawn back.

"You'll be taking the right one this time, boys," she said to the two smaller mechs, then handed them the metal crate filled with rags. "Only one berth, so you two will have to go back to sharing this box, m'afraid. Big guy like Megatron here ain't gonna fit in a crate." The mech in question had wandered into the room and was inspecting it with vague distaste - the berth looked wobbly, the walls were covered in concrete (a sure sign the metal behind had rusted to the point of being a health hazard), and there was barely enough room to stretch. And underground, again. Megatron had at least hoped that after leaving the mines he'd get a chance to live above the ground.

The landlady seemed to notice his disgusted expression. "Get what you pay for, see. Only a credit a week. Pay slag, get slag. Heh…" In the dank light, Megatron noticed how old she was as she rubbed at her tired joints - her paint was peeling and cracked in several places, and her face plates were worn and dented. At this point, she left them to unpack their few possessions and limped back upstairs to her shop, muttering to herself about nothing in particular.

"So whatcha think boss?" Rumble brought Megatron's attention back to the present again, smacking the larger's knee joints amicably.

"It'll do for now," he replied to the tiny mech. Then, he made his way over to his berth in one stride, tucking his small sack of possessions underneath it. Megatron sat down on the berth slowly, exhausted from playing hide and seek with officials and watched Rumble and Frenzy bicker about whose possessions were whose, where to put their makeshift-bed, and a million other trivialities that amused him for the moment. His optics drifted around the room for a while, past the door, and to the brown grey covering the room opposite theirs. A slight shuffling noise came from behind it.

He interrupted the brawling twins suddenly in his clear, powerful voice. "Who are our neighbours?"

"Eh…I dunno, we used to be in that room, last time we was here," Frenzy said, releasing his grip around Rumble's neck and letting him fall to the floor. Rumble kicked him violently, then picked up where his twin left off. "There was this crazy couple in this room. Always yellin' and slag. I can tell it ain't them in that room, cause we haven't heard anythin' bein' smashed yet."

As if in answer to Megatron's question, the curtain of the left room opened just enough to make way for a cloaked figure to pass through it soundlessly. The cloak was tatty and old, like everything else in this part of Kaon, but it covered the mech enough that the three could not see its face or body, or even its gender - only white feet peeking out at the bottom with high, blue turbine heels, bright, clean and a huge contrast to the dirt around them. It paused for a moment, as if in greeting or by way of introducing itself, then turned quickly and strode down the hall purposefully to the stairs leading to the street above.

The three mechs peered around their doorway to watch after it, full of curiosity. Frenzy and Rumble stood open mouthed for a moment, while Megatron frowned deeply. They were silent for a while as they heard the grate being shoved back over the top of the stairs, and heard the turbine heels clicking down the alley into the evening.

"Primus and the pit! Did you see those shoulders? Wider than Megatron's!" Frenzy sniggered to himself, earning a rough shove from Rumble for being too loud.

"Where the pit are they going this time anyway? It's nearly the night cycle!" Rumble said, more quietly and cautiously than his brother in case there were other residents in the left room.

"They weren't shoulders," Megatron said suddenly, and the twins looked up to see him rubbing at his chin in thought, red optics wide as if he had suddenly had an idea. "They were wings."