#megatron thinks optimus is cute but too young for now and mostly just keeps and eye on his progress and flirts

[mismagireve]

I would love to hear your tfa megaop au idea please

THE VAGUELY MEGAOP AU AKA THE AU WHERE MEGATRON GETS HIS SHIT TOGETHER AND BECOMES THE LEADER THE DECEPTICONS DESERVE

okay so

our story begins when three autobot academy students arrive not on archa seven in search of energon left behind on a decepticon ship that crashed during the war, but on vector, where legend has it the autobots suffered a crushing defeat.  supposedly, there’s a ship left on vector that the decepticons never found, still filled with weapons and emergency rations, waiting to be brought back to cybertron.  it’s a longer jaunt from cybertron than archa seven is, and it’s outside of the autobot commonwealth, but unlike the archa system it’s not expressly forbidden to go to, so they’ll probably get in less trouble if they get caught

so our three academy autobots, optimus, elita-1, and sentinel head on over to the strange organic world in search of their treasure

and are immediately beset by very angry decepticons wondering why the hell these autobots are on their planet

of the three autobots, elita-1 is shocked, sentinel is shocked and ready to start attacking, and optimus— optimus is not ready to cause an international incident and spark a second war between the autobots and the decepticons

so optimus, calmly and clearly, states that he was unaware that planet vector had come under decepticon ownership since the great war.  all of cybertron’s starcharts show that the system vector is in (a system comprised of vector, orga, and duke, all organic worlds the autobots suffered great losses on and don’t really like remembering) is unclaimed and uninhabited.  they had no idea that there was a decepticon outpost here, they had no desire to trespass, and if the decepticons would kindly allow them to go, they’ll be sure to update their charts so that something like this doesn’t happen again.

the decepticons don’t really believe that these three are the only autobots on vector, or that they won’t come back with a warship, so they end up “escorting” optimus, elita-1, and sentinel back to their ship, where optimus then contacts the first officials he can think of to basically say hey we got some angry decepticons here saying they’ve staked a claim on vector, mind updating the star charts so we don’t fucking die for unwittingly trespassing?

flash back circa 1000 years

the decepticons fought in the great war and fucking lost

they are demoralized.  they are damaged.  they are dwindling.  and they need a strong leader.

thankfully, megatron is an incredibly strong leader.  but this time, instead of focusing his efforts onto finding the allspark and undoing his humiliating defeat at autobot hands—he decides that in order to have even the slightest chance of combating the autobot menace once again, he needs to get his army thriving again.  and that means he needs to get his infrastructure on.

so he pumps what resources the decepticons have into rebuilding the few worlds they have left of their empire.  has them acquire more resources by mining or making factories, trading with other planets, getting the scientists and engineers to find new ways to use what they have.  as the decepticon forces become more and more versatile, the military command structure they used during the war becomes less and less suitable for maintaining order.  they create an actual government charter.

they become and empire in more than just name.  and they start looking to expand to other planets.

after the signing of the tyrest accord meaning the banishment of the decepticon race from cybertron, they largely haven’t interacted with the autobots.  as such, the autobots are largely completely ignorant of what the decepticons are doing.  the incident on vector is the first real contact that autobots and decepticons have had since the war.

and this gets the attention of megatron and ultra magnus both.

flash forward circa, like, a week

the autobot commonwealth is now aware of the renewed strength of the decepticon empire.  the decepticon empire is now aware that the autobots have noticed them.  and both of them are aware that, against all odds, first contact on vector went off without a hitch, thanks to the efforts of a young academy bot named optimus.

diplomatic talks are proposed between the two ruling bodies.  ultra magnus wants to know what the hell a decepticon outpost was doing on a planet so close to the autobot commonwealth.  megatron wants to know how strong the autobot commonwealth is these days.  before you know it, there’s a meeting scheduled.  for the first time in centuries, decepticons will be coming to cybertron.

optimus, probably still frazzled from meeting actual god damn decepticons for the first time in his life and getting tired of hearing shit about it from sentinel (who refuses to hear that going to vector was his idea, and that acting nice with the decepticons was better than getting murdered and sparking another war), gets a summons from ultra magnus.  as the bot who made the first peaceful contact with a decepticon in a millennia, he’s being invited to the summit along with several other important figures in autobot society.  ultra magnus believes this would be a good learning experience for his favored student—and more than that, megatron specifically requested that he be invited.

apparently he wants to know more about the bot that arrived on an alien world, outclassed and outgunned, and had the balls to look a group of decepticons in the optics and say “we come in peace.”

eventually, the day comes when the summit is to be held.  for the first time since the signing of the tyrest accord, decepticons will be setting foot on cybertron.  and optimus is part of the greeting party.  he, along with the rest of the autobots, watch as the decepticon flagship nemesis enters cybertronian airspace and descends to the ground just outside of the metroplex.  the doors open.  their guests have arrived.

optimus, or rather the newly promoted optimus minor, sees the decepticon leader for the first time.  megatron.  the bot that history books and propaganda alike have dubbed “the emperor of destruction”.  the bot that every academy student fights and dies against in simulated combat to test their skills.  the bot that rumors say eats protoforms for breakfast.

optimus shakes megatron’s hand on that day.  and he has one small, but infinitely significant realization:

megatron hot