Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 210 Reins

After leaving get off work, Vector sent Megatron a message: "Are you free?"

Megatron replied quickly: [Yes.]

She reasonably suspected that he had been waiting all along.

Come to me now.

Megatron arrived very quickly.

Just as Yin Vector put the documents on the table into the safe, the doorbell rang.

She opened the door and saw Megatron standing alone outside.

The chest monitor glowed quietly with a faint light, its red optical lens standing out starkly in the night.

"Come in."

Megatron entered the room and subconsciously looked around.

The new house is now filled with traces of her life.

The supply cabinet was piled with energy blocks delivered by different machines, BICk0 had organized a to-do list on the corner of the table, and there was a cushion next to the sofa that had been pushed and swayed by the rumble and chaos.

Megatron: "This place is starting to look more and more like your residence."

"Of course I bought it."

He chuckled softly.

Yin Xiang nestled into the corner of the sofa, finding a comfortable position, and looked up at him.

"sit."

Megatron sat down next to him.

His size was so large that even when he was just sitting, one side of the living room seemed to be shrouded in shadow.

Ignoring the vector, I opened the terminal.

"First, verify the implementation status."

Megatron looked at her.

"An appeal letter?" "Continue reading."

"How many?"

He gave her a number, more than she had expected.

"Compensation?" "The fourth batch has been submitted. The final batch of asset accounting will be carried out according to the cycle you provided."

"Monitor?"

The faint light on Megatron's chest flickered quietly, as if it had heard its name called: "Still here."

"A truce?"

Megatron's expression visibly turned cold: "...Signed."

The vector nodded: "Not bad."

Megatron said coldly, "Is that a compliment?"

"It applies to you."

The vector continues to scroll down, confirming the details of the Decepticons' cooperation with the judicial center.

She asked one question, and he answered one.

Appeals, compensation, apologies, monitoring devices, treaties.

Each of these items was something that the old Megatron would never have willingly handed over to others, but now he has made concessions.

After verifying the information, Megatron said in a low voice, "You didn't call me here for these reasons."

The vector extinguishing terminal: "Hmm."

He showed no surprise; the living room light shone on his outer armor, making its sharp edges appear even darker.

Megatron was silent for a moment, then unusually spoke first: "You want to talk about the part of you that I found back then."

She didn't say anything.

Megatron's voice was low and steady: "I didn't think about your age back then."

"I don't care."

Yin Vector leaned against the corner of the sofa, his elbows resting on the backrest.

"I picked you up."

"Eat my food, use my things, and live in my land."

"So you are mine."

He was extremely direct, which made Yin Xiang laugh. Perfect, tonight really is a game of truth.

"At least honest."

Megatron said, "You won't like how I phrase it."

"really."

She looked down at her ankle.

Megatron's hand had landed on it at some point.

His palms were large, and when he gripped that joint, it felt as if he could pull her into his domain at any moment.

The vector stared at it for two seconds, but didn't kick it away. Instead, it slowly raised its eyes.

"You want me to kick you out?"

Megatron didn't let go: "No."

"Then be careful."

His fingers loosened their grip a little.

The vector returned to its original position: "Ask away."

Megatron first confirmed with her, "You're still angry about the Civil War."

The vector replied without hesitation, "Of course."

Megatron's optical mirror was a bit heavy:

"I have done a lot as you requested: appeals, compensation, treaties, monitoring."

"I saw it."

His fingers tightened slightly around her ankle, then quickly loosened: "Then why are you still angry?"

Yin Xiang scoffed, "Just because I saw you doing it doesn't mean it's over."

The living room was quiet for a moment, and the night lights of Crystal City in the distance shone through the window cracks, forming an indistinct boundary between the two machines.

Megatron did not refute.

The vector tilted its head slightly: "You want to know what I think of you?"

Megatron remained silent, but did not look away.

Then the vector continued, "Megatron, you're not a very principled machine."

She thought about it:

"No, I should say your desires are too deep."

"Power, victory, control, possessions, followers—you want the world to run according to your will."

"You want too much."

She looked at him: "And once you've decided that something belongs to you, it's hard for you to accept that it has its own direction."

Megatron's optical mirror, a deep red, listened quietly.

Yin Xiang's voice was steady: "Even when you were still called Zhen Tianzun, you weren't a good person in the universal sense."

Megatron slightly raised his eyes.

"You have ideals, and you have sincerity," she said, "but you also have paranoia, a need for control, and madness."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Do you remember the first time I hibernated with you?"

Megatron remained silent; of course he remembered.

Back then, she was still a defective product, her body so broken it looked like it would fall apart at any moment, sleeping on a makeshift charging bed he had brought out.

After she fell asleep, he installed a listening device on her.

At the time, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

She was too weak, and it was dangerous outside, and she was someone he had taken in.

He should know where she is, what she is doing, whether she might be taken away by someone, or whether she might die somewhere he can't see.

Yin Xiang sneered: "You planted a listening device on me while I was asleep. From the moment I found out, I knew you were no safe or good person."

Megatron finally spoke: "You were too weak back then."

"So you installed a listening device on me?"

He did not answer.

The vector pointed slightly at him with its finger:

"See, this is the problem."

"My ideas back then weren't entirely false," Vector said. "You really wanted the underprivileged to be heard."

"You hate Parliament and the gladiatorial arena, truly."

"You want to change Cybertron, and that's true."

Megatron's hand didn't move, but something dark and viscous was churning deep within the red optical mirror.

"But it's also true that you've always wanted power."

The vector continued:

"You want to stand at the top and silence all your opponents. You want to make the revolution, the anger, the followers, and me yours."

Megatron finally reacted, his gaze towards her growing even darker.

The vector didn't dodge.

"I understand the allure of power. I'm not some pure, unambitious person."

She is now the Chief Justice, but she did not grow out of nothingness and holiness.

She crawled out of the garbage heap, survived on borrowed energy and the protection of a dangerous machine, killed machines and seized opportunities, and learned that resources, identity, and power could save lives.

But she clearly drew a line for herself.

Megatron, however, walked forward for many years, crossing the line and crushing it.

"I was willing to help you back then because you were genuinely sincere, and also because I understood your desire for power."

"But that doesn't mean I'll abandon all boundaries with you."

Megatron didn't speak, but she saw him clench his teeth.

Suddenly, Yin Xiang said, "When I returned the money to you back then, you were silent for a while."

Megatron's knuckles twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Your happiness probably stems from the fact that I remember your kindness, and that I even gave you more than you should have."

She looked at him.

"But you're also very unhappy."

"Because that means you can no longer use the idea that 'you owe me' to bind me."

Megatron remained silent; he was indeed displeased by this.

The money was returned, the favor was acknowledged, the debt was cleared, and she still lived with him, but her control was somewhat loosening.

He didn't like that feeling, but he disliked realizing the final point even more.

Even the vector image has seen this much of a thought.

"You probably thought it didn't matter back then, since I was still living with you and couldn't run away."

Megatron's fingers moved a little lighter.

"Later I said that I could never join the Decepticons."

This sentence was finally dragged out of the shadows again, along with the argument, the door she slammed shut back then, and the slumber that almost turned into a nightmare.

Megatron said in a low voice, "I remember."

"That wasn't out of spite."

"I know."

You probably didn't know that back then.

Megatron couldn't refute her; she was right.

He thought she was angry, but would calm down.

He thought that his home, his past, his feelings, and the roads he had walked together could at least keep her tied to him.

But she left without even looking back.

Many things only became clear after she fell into a deep sleep.

He had thought he had her in his grasp.

I provided her with shelter, energy, maintenance, and training, which was enough to bring her into my fold.

But her bottom line is stronger than any debt.

She is kind, loyal, and grateful.

But once she crosses that line, she will abandon her home, her debts, all the warmth of the past, and leave immediately.

He had always wanted to put a rein on her and hold her in his hand, but at that moment, Wei Zhentian belatedly realized that the rein had somehow become firmly tied around his own neck.

The vector does not intend to tame anyone.

She was so oblivious for a long time that she didn't realize that Megatron's gaze towards her was no longer that of an object.

She simply never tries to please anyone; how could a life-saving favor possibly buy her principles?

She would never move that line back for anyone; the human soul and family gave her an almost innate confidence.

So the beast that thought it could crush all chains suddenly found itself crawling at her feet one day.

If she takes one more step, she will walk.

This fact is etched into his brain modules.

Megatron's hand slowly left her ankle.

The vector looked down at his movements.

The hand moved up along the edge of the sofa and stopped beside her, almost blocking her escape route around the corner.

His other hand was on her waist, controlling the pressure, but its presence was obvious.

Once his body gets close, it's like a heavy shadow looming down.

Yin Vector leaned against the sofa, not backing down, but coldly reminded:

You'd better think this through.

Megatron paused for a moment: "I've thought it through very clearly."

He moved a little closer, but in the end, he didn't lock her completely inside the sofa.

The vector could still sense what was churning below.

Greed, possession, desire, and a rare restraint.

The presence of these factors simultaneously makes the situation even more dangerous.

Megatron looked at her and whispered, "I want you."

The vector didn't speak immediately, but calmly looked at him.

He continued, "It started a long time ago."

"Initially, it was ownership."

"No, it wasn't like that later."

"But I still want to possess you."

This isn't a pleasant thing to say, and it's not even safe.

But it's the truth.

Vector replied leisurely, "This isn't exactly a commendable act of honesty."

"I know."

She smiled, a smile that was neither cold nor gentle: "You've improved."

Megatron's hand stopped at her waist and didn't move forward.

I wouldn't say I've become a good person.

"Don't tell such outrageous jokes."

Megatron: "..."

The vector key replied seriously, "Even if you told me, I wouldn't believe you."

Megatron chuckled softly: "I won't become a machine like Optimus Prime."

You'd better not either.

Megatron paused for a moment this time.

"I already have one Optimus Prime to deal with, I don't need a second one."

A subtle hint of satisfaction flickered across Megatron's optical lens.

She was too lazy to expose him.

"I will listen to some of what you have to say," Megatron said.

The vector raises an eyebrow.

"This is already a huge concession."

She stared at him: "You speak of your own flaws with such confidence?"

"You've always known that."

"Yes," she said. "I've always known."

They were so close that the gravitational vector could see its own reflection in Megatron's optical lens.

She won't be swallowed up by that dark red.

Instead, she could clearly see her own silhouette.

Megatron won't develop a complete set of universal morals just because of a few appeals, compensation payments, and a word of appeasement.

He can learn to restrain himself, but his underlying logic remains dangerous.

He often knows what he wants to do, but doesn't judge whether it's possible to do it based on ordinary moral boundaries.

Those things have long been blurred by the mixture of desires and power, making them indistinguishable and difficult to retrieve.

Goals, victories, desires, losses, costs—these were clearer to him than "should or shouldn't."

However, you can't expect a vector to suddenly transform into another machine.

She just needs him to have limits.

Since he can't find it himself, then she should draw the line.

The vector looked up at him.

"From now on, you shall follow my rules."

Megatron's optical mirror dipped slightly.

"If you don't know where the border is, just ask me."

"If you want to do something but are unsure if it will cross the line, stop and look at me."

"You may not care, but I don't think it's okay, so it's not okay."

"You may not understand, but you must do it."

Megatron pondered. This was not simply obedience; it was almost tantamount to relinquishing a portion of his judgment.

But he has already given up a lot, and there are still a lot of things she forbids him to do.

Seeing his hesitation, Yin Xiang said calmly, "Anyway, you didn't have much useful stuff left to begin with."

Megatron: "..."

She was so blunt, yet he couldn't refute her.

Vector reached out and pressed down on the edge of his chest armor:

"But remember, if you make a mistake, you are still responsible."

"I'm giving you a bottom line. If you dare to cross it, I'll deal with you."

Megatron stared at her for a long time, his red optical mirror as dark as a fire that had been burning for too long, with a molten, dark metallic base.

Finally, he whispered, "Okay."

The vector didn't loosen up; instead, his tone became even colder and harder.

"I'm not joking."

Megatron lowered his head, his forehead armor almost touching hers.

"I know."

The vector looked at the red optical mirror that was so close to it.

Dangerous undercurrents surged within, accompanied by an almost tyrannical possessiveness.

But there was also a forced restraint; he finally admitted that there was a line he could not shatter.

Megatron bent down and lowered his head, his heavy shadow covering her, but it didn't hurt her.

A brief, light touch landed on the edge of the armor where her shoulder and neck met.

The fingertips of the vector paused for a moment, then the vector raised its hand and pressed down on the sharp helmet on the side of his cheek.

The reassurance came with a warning.

"Don't let me regret it."

Megatron's optical mirror was as dark as ink and blood.

"Won't."

Fortunately, at this moment, he was sincere.