"You're being stupid again."
He turned his head to glare at the speaker. Starscream ignored it and approached, sitting on the guard rail of the balcony and swinging his legs over the side with the casual grace of a creature who did not know the fear of falling.
Megatron felt the urge to push him anyway.
"Well?" the nuisance prompted. "Aren't you going to ask what you've done now?"
"You'll tell me regardless."
"That's very true," Starscream retorted, watching his feet kick back and forth over the empty air. "But you disappoint me, Megatron. I thought you'd show more intiative."
"I disappoint myself every time I choose not to end you."
Starscream threw his head back with delighted, mocking laughter. Megatron's hands clenched on the guard rail. The seeker paused, red optics bright and still amused, but he was suddenly serious.
"You," he said slowly, in a way that made Megatron think of the mine supervisors, talking to every mech below them as if they had the intelligence of a drone, "Have forgotten what you're fighting for."
"Victory, naturally," was Megatron's dismissive response. Starscream sneered.
"Stupid," was his insult of choice. "Short-sighted, war-mongering, lying pile of scrap!"
"You flatter me." Megatron looked out on the horizon, voice bland with boredom. His attention was pulled away from the vista by Starscream's fist denting the guard rail they both leaned upon. The seeker's plating was flared outward – an aggressive stance, Megatron knew, that made the slighter, more fragile seekers look larger and more intimidating.
"Cybertron!" Starscream screeched. Megatron's blank look only infuriated his warrior further. "You always forget!" the seeker accused. "In the midst of your insatiable battle lust, you forget! Our home, Megatron! None of us want to be stuck wandering the universe forever!"
Megatron's hand gripping his arm made Starscream squawk in protest and try to pull back, only succeeding in nearly losing his balance off the edge. It wouldn't have injured him any, but Megatron's firm, almost painful grip kept him from falling. The sneer on Starscream's face fell as his commander leaned in closer.
For his part, Megatron enjoyed the way the arrogant glitch looked when he felt threatened. The façade fell away and left a coward with wide optics staring at his death. Only then, did Megatron consider what Starscream said.
"Cybertron," Megatron repeated slowly. "Cybertron does not need us." When Starscream opened his mouth to protest, Megatron shook him and continued. "Our war is not pointless, Starscream. We are purging the universe and allowing for the beginnings of a new civilization to build from the ruined frames of the old. Do not forget that."
Starscream rubbed at his arm when Megatron released him, pouting. "One day," the seeker warned, "You will want to return home. What will you do then, oh mighty one?"
"Why, Starscream," he rumbled, smirking. "That's what I have you for. To remind me."