Ep0 - 'High Noon' - Open

Making sure EM Field was close and wings lower and back Starscream walked into the control room. Megatron looked annoyed. The main thought in the Seeker’s processor was he was going to have to do something big soon to get in a better secure spot with Megatron. Really how did the Autobots get so annoying in the first place?

Starscream stopped that line of thought fast. It would go into his EMF and that would bad, very, very, bad.

Coming up to Megatron was a slow but even process. Starscream did not to be to close or far and moving fast would have the ex-gladiator attacking before thinking. “Lord Megatron. How go the preparations. Speeding them up was a smart move. The faster the Autobot are scrap the better.” There was a pause. Starscream always wanted to know. “But may I ask why we are speeding up?”

“Megatron.”

The monitor screen went live and Optimus’ flat blue stare flickered across the holo uplink. His surroundings in the live feed were ambiguous enough that he must have moved to some empty section of the Autobot Base for the purpose of answering the call. If he was surprised to be addressing the direct control room of the Nemesis, he did not show it, though his optics did briefly flick to the retreating figure of Starscream and narrow slightly.

He looked back to Megatron and, in a tone so even it could have leveled cities, spoke.

“What is it you want?”

The subsonics and context glyphs expressed in the coldest terms that he had not forgotten that Megatron’s soldiers were responsible for the deaths of some twenty-three human causalities. It was very clear that he had intentions for their next meeting.

In truth Starscream had not thought he would be told the real reason behind the acceleration. But Megatron’s words were very nice. At the speech Megatron gave the Seeker could not hide the smirk and joy it gave him to think of this planet in ruins and gone. With a nod Starscream turned to leave. Excitement in his EMF.

However the monitor showed Optimus Prime. Staying back Starscream waited to hear. He wanted to see how Prime looked at his last moments.

Megatron cocked his head a little, though didn't allow the frown to linger on his features. What Optimus had proposed made absolutely no sense - not tactically, and not with any regard for self-preservation. The warship could destroy the Autobot Commander the moment he stepped through the groundbridge, and then his team would be leaderless anyway. Demanding that the warship already be there with him was a demand to be the first death.

Not that Megatron would grant it quickly. The shock of the attack on Barricade had passed now, and he was certain he could go into direct combat with the Prime and emerge victorious this time. There were some... side effects, it seemed, but nothing affecting his physical strength or stamina. They would fight, Optimus would be killed by his servo as he had always intended, and then Fairwinds would decimate his body with the warship.

Apparently his subconscious, or whatever was behind this new figment, had decided he'd been deliberating too long. The lithe mech rolled his optics and took a swaggered step forward, cocking an optic ridge. Let him play the Selfless Saviour and have Windy there, or he'll throw a tantrum and lock himself in his room. He's going to die, either way.

Megatron growled a note of assent, crimson stare flicking back to the screen. "Much as I find your trite attempts to gain leverage over this meeting, I shall pander to your apparent desire for self-destruction. I accept your terms, and I will send the exact co-ordinates once I arrive and am satisfied that you haven't arranged an ambush."

Barricade barked a dark chuckle, arranging his arms as if aiming a long-range gun. Megatron didn't miss the meaning, and indulged his sparkmate's gleeful sadism by twisting the energon blade. "Though of course, your sniper is likely still out of action, so I needn't worry about such a cowardly maneuver."