Story:
Cyclonus was one of many seekers who found themselves drawn in by the fancy speeches and bold moves made by a fellow gladiator.

As a member of the ‘younger leagues’ of a gang of flying gladiators engaging in aerial battles, he knew where Megatron was coming from and was more than willing to follow this up and coming, new leader.

As such he often made flights around the ‘base’ of this building revolution, accepted into the ranks and made a part of the flying division, size and physical strength putting him in the high ranks immediately. Not only that he was very loyal and also had a strong sense of commitment that made him a mech of interest to Megatron.

It was during one of these flights near the headquarters that Cyclonus saw something bright purple falling from the sky!

Realising someone had managed to fall from the higher levels the Seeker dove forwards grabbing the mech mid-air and holding him tight until he calmed down enough to be moved.
Slowly Cyclonus lowered the now calmer mech to the floor.

He was surprised when the fellow thanked him with the biggest hug he’d ever had since he moved from his caretaker units house!

The duo introduced themselves and Cyclonus learnt this clumsy, affectionate guy was named Galvatron.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Cyclonus found himself invited to hang out with Galvatron’s friends at MacCadam’s where he met Galvatron’s other friends, Like Bumblebee.
It seemed great!
Being around Galvatron was like a welcome breath of fresh air from the stuffy Seeker trainees he was usually around. Even Bumblebee hit it off with him, jokingly calling each other “The Horn bro’s”, even then he still wound up talking to Galvatron more.

He always seemed to like making him laugh and when Cyclonus laughed, everyone knew about it, but Galvatron seemed to giggle and immediately try making him laugh again.

Megatron’s training regime got more and more strict and harsher, Cyclonus could hardly find time to hang with his friends so much anymore. Though that changed when he found Galvatron at the barracks window tapping for him to come outside, he and Bumblebee had snuck in to hang out with him, it had been Bumblebee’s idea but only prompted because he claimed Galvatron was worse than a wet cyber-cat without him around. It warmed his Spark to know they still cared for him.

Trying to find some way they could spend more time together Cyclonus invited them to his practices, it became easier to slip out with them and hang out.
Galvatron started greeting him with a hug each time.
He saw MacCadam’s more and more as they hung out, even if Maccadam himself was saying more and more strange things about him.
So what if Galvatron smiling made him smile? You’re always happy when a friend’s happy, duh.

Although… Galvatron was getting more withdrawn and quiet it… hurt in a way Cyclonus hadn’t felt before.

During one particularly intense bout of training; Cyclonus was part of a devastating crash, his wing was broken and practically hanging off.
He’d lose it if something wasn’t done quickly.

Bumblebee and the field medic rushed off to get a stretcher to take him away but Galvatron stayed by making a distressed warbling sound as he fussed over him.
It was at that point Galvatron turned green.

Cyclonus was shocked as the light bathed over him and the returning medic and yellow scout looked on as Galvatron’s new energy wrapped it’s way around his wing and through his body.
The energy surged through Cyclonus’s self-repair circuitry making them feel a thousand times stronger, his wing snapped and twisted in on itself, new filaments, wires and joints spread out.
Just like that Cyclonus’s wing was good as new.

He was too distracted at the pristine wing jutting from his back that he didn’t notice the warmth spreading through his chassis as a tired but happy Galvatron flopped over him in a big hug.

It was certainly strange but Cyclonus tried to push it out of his processor, it wasn’t until a couple cycles later when Bumblebee cornered him that he started to make sense out of the myriad of strange thoughts bustling through his processor.
The little yellow scout showed off a video on his device, Galvatron was hugging him after healing him and Cyclonus could see his own cheek plates brimming with a tinge of colour.

Bumblebee had a smug look on his face that only grew in intensity as Cyclonus desperately tried to deny the video evidence but it was no use the little scout was not leaving and was not going to let this go.

He fumbled shyly with his digits still trying to sidestep the issue when Bumblebee grabbed his arm and physically dragged him (to the best of his abilities) along, pushing him in front of a very confused Galvatron.

“I… date….. Us… me?” Came the eventual stunning question after Cyclonus spent forever umming and ahhing.

Bumblebee thankfully cleared it up when Galvatron had no idea what he was talking about.
Galvatron seemed just as shy as Cyclonus when he finally nodded a ‘yes’ in response.
What followed was what Bumblebee called “The most adorably awkward hug I’m surprised Primus himself didn’t rise up to yell at you two to kiss already”.

Everyone seemed to ‘aww’ at their relationship, they blushed when they held hands, which really was something as they held them constantly.
Maccadam cheered and gave everyone a free drink.
Bumblebee (badly) sang them a love song as they went out for a meal together (he managed to sneak in with an instrument just to play at their tableside) before being chased out by staff.
Even Soundwave seemed to quietly drop by and give them tickets to a Rosanna concert.

They hardly left each other's side and it filled Cyclonus’s spark to the brim with a warmth he hadn’t felt before.
Although, Galvatron seemed distant, there were days when Cyclonus wouldn’t find him where they agreed to meet, he’d just get a short message saying Megatron had made plans for the day.
That was fair, he was their leader so no big deal right?
Then Megatron showed up more taking Galvatron away mid-date and crashing their nights.

Tired of this Cyclonus waited in Galvatron’s room one night, waited for him to return.
When he did Cyclonus saw him covered in freshly welded gashes, his optics strained to the point of leaking and his own stabilizers so shot he was shaking like a leaf.

He hardly had the energy to deny Cyclonus when he bounded forth and wrapped him up in a hug. It was at this point Galvatron broke down and sobbed.

Megatron was hurting him, experimenting on him.
Tearing bits of him open and jamming energy rods inside, monitoring him, his energy, his power running haywire everytime it happened, how it hurt and burned. How Megatron furiously snapped and threw him around like a ragdoll when they were alone, how…
How he only saw darkness in the grey leaders spark whenever he touched him.

Cyclonus was dumbfounded, left to hug his boyfriend as he cried.
He didn’t want to believe that Megatron, for all his promises of a great Cybertron, his promises of a better, united world, would do all this.
But the scars and wounds didn’t lie.

He could not in good conscience allow the one who brought light to his life to suffer so, he wiped away his tears and promised him, as long as he functioned he will rescue him from this torment.

They shared a poignant kiss vowing to be free of the torture, to run away and be free together, but it would be difficult.

He knew there were rising tensions between the rising factions, the only way to fix this would be to crawl to the Autobots.
Knowing which side he stood on Cyclonus met up with Bumblebee and told him he had to get Galvatron out of there. He was shocked and a little nervous when Optimus Prime appeared alongside the scout.

Bumblebee had picked up on his odd behaviour and the not-always-well-hidden scars on his friend and had passed on this information. Optimus had agreed that it combined with certain qualities displayed by Galvatron lead him to be very concerned at the young mech staying in Megatron's care.

But Megatron was no fool, he noted his ‘weapons’ little friend acting concerned and knew that he had befriended those who sided with Optimus. As the tensions got higher the guards around Galvatron increased and as much as Cyclonus tried to argue, he was moved further and further away hardly able to see him at all.

He could only dread the things that were happening to Galvatron but knew he wouldn’t be able to get to him like this. It was an awful time but he pretended to be loyal to Megatron, doing anything and everything he said no matter how degrading.

Hope came to him when he saw a little yellow ally rushing about the base, but it was short-lived, the Autobots were raiding the base and Cyclonus knew why, but the fighting was not enough to cover up the screams. Pitifully Cyclonus made weak attempts to shoot at Bumblebee his shots arcing wide and always missing, he pinned the blame on the attack happening before his weekly calibrations and his aiming system had not been tuned up properly.

When the base near exploded in a flush of energy he took his escape, slipping away in the confusion he easily spotted Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.
It broke his spark like a thousand raging Predacons to see the state Galvatron was in, pale, broken, tortured. Little chunks of energon practically growing through his armour.

Bumblebee gave Cyclonus a pat on the shoulder, the seeker had ignored him and grabbed Galvatron’s hand.
“Come with us” Bumblebee urged, “they’ll know”
“Yes, in light of everything that’s happened you are fully welcome to our team” Optimus concurred.

He couldn’t he knew he couldn’t.
Cyclonus squeezed Galvatrons hand looking him in the optics once more before turning to Optimus.
“I can’t and you know it, they’ll send everyone after him, I know not what they were doing to him but they will not let you take him. They will find you and your Ark and you will be destroyed.”

Galvatron whined trying to get him to stay but Cyclonus squeezed his optics shut, knowing that if he looked into those pleading eyes he would crack.

“They think I’m loyal again, I must go back, I must tell them false information, claim you went the opposite way. It won’t be much but it’ll give you time!”

Galvatron struggled and weakly whined in Optimus’s arms he begged for Cyclonus to stay, the look on Optimus and Bee’s face told the same but they conceded they probably wouldn’t make it otherwise.

Galvatron still tugged on Cyclonus’s hand, his broken vocal unit had been buzzing constantly with pleas this whole time.

Cyclonus tried to pretend he wasn’t crying.

He cupped Galvatrons helm and pressed their foreheads together.
“Do not worry for me, I will find you again, nothing will stop me, I will flee as soon as I’ve lead them astray. We will be together again no matter what happens, nothing will stop me… because I love you”

Unable to take looking at him one more time lest he fail, Optimus told him the location of the Ark’s launch site and Cyclonus flew away.

He wiped his face and circled back to the base, he found a running group of cons and yelled to them that he saw a red figure moving off to the west and came for immediate back-up. Almost instantly everyone was flocking to the west side desperately searching for the fleeing Autobots but came back empty handed.

It was not fun listening to Megatron’s wrath at losing his most “prized possession”.
It made Cyclonus sick to hear those words used to describe another living being.

He took part in the repair efforts and kept his head down, he had to wait for the perfect time to slip away.

Except he didn’t, there was a sharp pain and then his systems went offline.

Drugged up and chained up was all Cyclonus could comprehend the few vague moments of consciousness he managed told him as such. Blurred figures stood nearby, he could make out colours. Megatron and Shockwave were shuffling about. Words were distant too.

“Drone… Spotted… Nowhere… Lied…”

“Traitor…”

“Location… Ark…”

“Tell… NOW...”

“Refused…

“Cortical… Patch…”

“Failure?…”

“Emergency… memory… gone…”

If he thought hard enough he could almost think of what they were saying but his vision was suddenly taken up by what looked like darkness. A blurry light began to shine and he realised Megatron had his cannon aimed point blank at his face.

He registered a moment of pain before going offline again.

When Cyclonus awoke again he was stood up and fully operational, sans one optic, but that didn’t matter, not like he always had two, did he? Cyclonus was his name right?.

“Cyclonus” Megatron strode in front of him and memories seemed to click into place, he thought.

“Yes my lord” He saluted in return to his glorious leader and master, yes this was right.

“Ah good, how wonderful to see you’re… back online after the Autobots attacked” He mused, “I have a task for you, just to… check, you’re still in ‘the right frame of mind’”

Megatron snapped his fingers and two nameless seekers brought a pair of femme’s in and threw them to the floor. One was small and had little horns on their head the other was tall and held her emotions better. Upon seeing him both of them seemed shocked and tears were falling down both their faces.

“Cyclonus!?” Their voices echoed deep within Cyclonus’s core but he didn’t know why.

“These two are traitors and are responsible for letting the Autobots in to our base” Megatron continued, ignoring protests from the two femmes, he then handed a gun to Cyclonus “You know what we do with traitors right? Execute them.”

Cyclonus cocked the gun, and looked at the two kneeling prisoners.
Traitors right? Execution? Not like he actually knew these two anyway.

BLAM
BLAM

Energon was smeared up the walls as two quick shots took the femme’s out. Megatron was delighted and seemed ecstatic with the outcome.

“Excellent! Excellent!” He praised rubbing his hands together, “You always were such a loyal and dependable soldier Cyclonus”

Cyclonus merely nodded in gratitude at his leader’s praise. He was allowed to leave to his barracks, though he didn’t understand why Soundwave told Megatron his actions were “sick”. It was all alright.

He excelled as a brutal and devastating force upon the Decepticon ranks and was soon allowed to head off to Earth in search of a vessel full of Autobots to be destroyed.

Notes/Extras:
• In reference to his Armada-self, Cyclonus has a loud distinctive cackle and is often unable to stop himself from laughing for a long time. (So is his colour scheme)
• He is physically a tank, he’s exceptionally strong and can take many a hit that’d be dangerous for a normal bot. His engines are even strong enough to break out of a planet's atmosphere if enough energy is available. However, while he can build up an impressive speed it takes a while for him to get going and he traded maneuverability for it.
• One of Shockwave’s drone’s saw that Cyclonus was never in the direction he claimed the Autobots to have gone and as such was giving false information.
• When torture methods didn’t work in getting Cyclonus to spill the information he knew of they tried a cortical psychic patch to get to his memories but Cyclonus deleted and destroyed the memory of the Ark’s location in a desperate attempt to prevent them from knowing.
• Megatron shot his eye out and his horns were clipped more for ‘symbolic’ reasons.
• His entire memory was wiped, all he remembers is being a aerial gladiator and following Megatron, he knows nothing else.
• He isn’t aware of it yet but Megatron made him kill his own parental/caretaker units as a test of loyalty.
• When he finds Bumblebee on Earth his distinctive appearance triggers a memory in the Autobot scout who immediately calls him his “Horn bro”.
• This is enough to give Cyclonus a tiny fragment of his old self back, enough to know that this little Autobot has/knows something important and needs to be kept alive/away from the rest of the Decepticons.
• He follows Bumblebee and Windblade at a distance too nervous to go near; Windblade calls him “Bumblebee’s amnesiac puppy” for his odd behaviour.
• Unfortunately Bumblebee doesn’t remember enough to be of more help other than knows he does trust this guy, for some reason, and there’s something important he’s forgetting.