Optimus Prime looked shocked and confused as the optics and eyes of the ones around him locked onto him. He was used to attention, but something about this made him uneasy, especially since it was a follow up with what Amal had said.
"Me?"
For the first time since Orion Pax, Optimus was confused, unsure of what to say or do. He was sitting the med-bay berth, glancing at Amal nervously.
Amal huffed before turning and storming down the hallway, not wanting any of them to see the Energon tears that threatened to spill. Everyone watched her, Miko starting to reach out to run after her but Jack stopped her, shaking his head to tell her it wasn't a good idea.
Starscream practically snarled at them as he glared and turned and followed Amal's path after her. Soundwave looked wordlessly at them before following suite as well, not wanting to show her secret anger.
The optics of the Autobots drifted to Megatron, who crossed his arms and looked away angrily. Optimus looked into his holoform's eyes, seeing the familiar anger and annoyance he usually saw, but for the first time since the start of the war...he saw hurt.
The Prime saw the secret hurt that the warlord was harvesting to himself, and he knew it took much more than a question to get something like that to be admitted by Megatron.
But something told him that because of the topic at hand, he could get something out of the warlord.
"Amalgamous has never done anything wrong." Megatron broke the silence, glaring at the wall next to him. "Has never stolen, has never lied to you for my sake, or has done anything to help the Decepticon cause of the war other than fetch Energon." The warlord told them, his face expressionless for a second.
"She's never engaged an Autobot in physical combat, or done anything to permanently harm one either." Megatron told them before glancing up to meet their optics. "Because I wouldn't let her."
"Naturally, when we found her, we had ideas of using her to our advantage. But soon, she proved to us she was far more useful in other ways than for this war." The Decepticon leader explained while shifting nervously. "She became useful to keep us happy, to keep us sane, to keep us—" Megatron paused, huffing angrily.
"—Cybertronian still." He finished, unfolding his arms and glancing down the hallway where the other Decepticons had disappeared to. "What we didn't think of when she was growing up, were consequences of being on the Decepticon side."
"Megatron..."
"Nope, shut it. I just...need you to listen." Megatron stopped the Prime, wanting to glare but couldn't bring himself to when he saw a brief moment of his old friend Orion in the Prime's optics, calling out for him to stop the madness of war.
"It was supposed to be a simple Energon raid, which the Vehicons were collecting it, and I was sending Amal to make sure everything was going smoothly. Who would've known a 8 year old would be so good at Energon operations? Let alone being human." The warlord paused for a second, biting back the emotions of Megatronus.
"And then you showed up." The Decepticon looked up at the Autobots, who were taken back by what he was telling them. None of them expected him to open up like this.
"No big deal, I ordered Amal back while the Vehicons were distracting, but she never got the message. Her com-link glitched. So, I sent a Vehicon in to fetch her. He followed orders and went quickly as I came through for a better distraction than the Vehicons."
"And some Autobot fired at the Vehicon going after her while Amal was running toward the exit of the cave to see what was happening. But, apparently that shot missed its designated target." Megatron paused once again, his finger of his holoform digging into its own flesh angrily.
"You thought that Dark Energon that hit Rafael was bad, that didn't even compare to what happened to Amal."
Raf's eyes widened as he looked up at Jack, who looked glum at the story he was hearing, suddenly feeling bad for not trusting the human girl and for assuming she was something else then what she claimed to be.
For the first time since the start of the war, the Autobots were looking back on what they had done. To ensure they're survival, who's did they have to ruin? What families did they tear apart? The Decepticons weren't the only ones capable of it, and it was just now dawning on them.
Optimus looked at his old friend he once called brother and his optics were filled with hurt. Megatron was willingly telling them Amal's story, because he truly cared about her. Now, he regretted ever doubting what Megatron really did with Amal, thinking she was some slave to him. But now he knew it was total opposite.
He knew that Megatron had found someone he called family.
"Shockwave found her and took her back to the ship, and if it wasn't for her constantly nagging Shockwave before that about studying the human body, then he wouldn't have been able to save her, but not without a price." Megatron snapped Optimus out of his thoughts and the Prime listened to his brother.
"Before of the Energon blast effects on her body, her bones couldn't handle the Energon, and while we could save some, it was very few, and Shockwave took it upon himself to replace those with Cybertronian metal, and give her Cybertronian prosthetics. This enabled her to have the same strength as any full grown Cybertronian. Sometimes ever stronger."
"And because she has Cybertronian metal in her, that means she needed Energon, so we gave her an extra tank, that allowed her to consume Energon to allow her pipes to fully function." Megatron came to a stop and vented angrily. He crossed his arms and looked up at the Autobots.
"And this was all because of that one Energon blast." The warlord told them, seeming to almost snark the words. And his optics locked with the last Prime, who looked surprised.
"From you."
And with that, the Decepticon leader stormed down the hallway where the others had went, leaving the Autobots and humans confused, shocked, and for once guilty of their actions they never once reflected upon themselves.