System returned online one by one, booting up slowly, and the first thing he registered was a soft thrum of someone else's systems in close proximity. Before the battle protocols activated, memory kicked in and the warlord relaxed. Files surfaced in a flash. Soundwave was smiling his broad and somewhat unsettling smile and drowsily saluting him with a cube when his guess 'Blitzwing' finally hit home. Once he got hang of it, the rest was easy. Mecha, unusual for their function. Mecha with heavy armored frames and sparks strong enough to power twice the periphery they had. Mecha he was inclined to trust despite no reasons to. Misfits. His perfect rebel recruits.

'Shockwave?'
'Yes and no. Professional area: space engineering. Part of program, not part of space crew'. Megatron nodded. Figures. What an irony, reverse engineer something he had invented in the past. And.. Astrotrain. And Blast Off. Shuttles. Jets.

'Starscream?'
Soundwave shook his helm 'This one: new'

Megatron couldn't recall all names that were said, his logs full of omissions and timeline loopholes the high-grade created. Neither did he register when the game turned into something else. He wrecked his processor, straining to catch and decrypt loose pieces of information left in the stacks. A flashback memory of dragging his third through the door to his room, enjoying the overcharged whirl of Soundwave's uncovered optics as he whispered that he was going to 'face the spy into the recharge platform... Did he force-feed him more high-grade too?

It was one pit of a celebration.

Megatron smiled and onlined his optics. He was looking at an unusually high ceiling. Did they make it to the berth eventually? Looks like it.

'Soundwave?' he spoke softly, checking if his third was awake.
'I must say, you didn't lie when you said this would be an experience I never had before. It's the first time I've been called another mech's name in my own berth!'

The slag?!

Megatron jumped up, battle protocols kicking in. As he landed on his peds, battle ready and cannon powered up, he realized that everything was off. He wasn't in Darkmount anymore. And the mech, looking at him in indecision whether he should take offense or turn it all into a joke, was...

'Starscream'.
The seeker looked... different. More sleek and shiny than last night, or in fact, much better than he remembered in a long time, and they were... he threw a glance at the window – tall angular towers crowded the horizon in rare abundance. In this city, up and down was more important than wide and broad. There was no other place like this: 'In Vos? We're in Vos?'

Starscream's optics narrowed 'why, did you expect to be somewhere else?'
The jet rose from the platform in one smooth motion, wings moving up in irritation. He made an annoyed gesture, as if asking 'What now?!' and Megatron stared at his arms. There were no missiles. As there was no trace of the decepticon brand on his polished chest plates.
The cannon powered down. He remembered it all: this room, this mech, this gloomy lilac morning. It wasn't a dream. It was reminiscence.

Long ago, the seeker sneaked the dawning decepticon leader into his room in one of Vos towers. Megatron didn't fear to be captured and surrendered to enforcers - Vos rationes had just been cut thirty percent and there was little love lost between vosians and the Senate. So he took an offer of a temporary stay and possible alliance discussion. He remembered every word from this fateful talk about their mutual use and the future of Cybertron without the Senate. They talked, they reached an agreement, they sealed it as was the vosian custom. What was Soundwave trying to tell him by bringing this memory up now? Was he still asleep?

/I do not enjoy being toyed with, Soundwave/ - he tried to comm but the commlink was dead.
Megatron turned around searching for anything that would give away Soundwave's presence 'Get out of my processor!' he hissed.

Starscream tilted his head aside and a familiar sneer distorted his face plates. 'You are delusional' - he said in a way of accusation, 'and here I thought you have a chance to beat the system'
There were no signs. Megatron regained his composure. Soundwave wanted him to re-live this moment? Fine. He would. And then he would make sure his third gets a proper punishment for invading his processor. Now… back to the script.

'I will beat the system, if you join me. I will kill every single Senator, disband their enforcers and build an empire that Cybertron had never seen before. A society, where everyone gets the respect they deserve, where courage, strength and loyalty get rewarded. I will put an end to endless lies and deception. There will be no oppression. There will be justice, equal for towers and mines. Look out, Starscream' - Megatron gestured toward the high window and the jet's head jerked to look there involuntarily – the morning was grim and gloomy, Towers barely shining with occasional lights, as the energon crisis affected even the mightiest of the aerial city.

Starscream avoided looking out lately.

'What you see is a world on a verge of dying, brought here by greed and cruelty and lies. This needs to change. It cries out, Starscream. It calls for those strong enough take the power over it and make things right. And this I will do. The only question is: will you stand beside me? Do you have what it takes to wield this power?

There is the deep voice filled this spacious room and reverberated against Starscream's sensitive wings. As Megatron spoke, each word cut deep into the seeker's mind and imprinted there in chiseled glyphs. Megatron never once said the word 'glory' but it was printed all over his vision. Like a glitchmouse in front of a wyrm, frozen and mesmerized, the seeker jet made a careful step forward, then one more. He had to reset his vocalizer before his voice sounded clear: 'I..I will join you'

Triumph flashed in Megatron's optics. Everything was as it already had been. An unwanted memory surfaced:
'Starscream?'
Soundwave shook his helm 'This one: new'

Did this strange conversation really happen? Was it all just part of the dream?
With a half-smile that could send an enforcer squad into "a strategic retreat", the soon-to-be-Lord Megatron pulled his soon-to-be-air-commander closer. The jet trembled at the touch, and didn't resist. Soundwave wanted a show? Let him watch!