Charoite woke up to a now-dark sky, dozens more bots around her. Some were staring at her, others were conversing with each other, and a few were play-fighting.
Starscream and purple bot whose head was a wide hexagon with a light in the middle were the closest to her.
"Megatron!" Starscream shouted. "Our little patient is up again!"
The whole crowd froze and turned to Charoite. They rushed her and bombarded her with different questions and greetings.
"Hi! Heard Sentinel stranded you up here!
"What did you do to make him mad?"
"Were you his secretary?"
"Did you dream when you were in a coma?"
"Don't tell me you're still on Sentinel's side!" the purple hexagon light bot uttered irritably.
"Shut up!" Charoite screamed.
Megatron approached the quieted scene.
"She woke up again," the hexagon bot pointed at Charoite.
"I can see that, Shockwave," Megatron replied peevishly. "I was drawing up some plans when Starscream yelled about it."
Megatron grabbed Charoite's hand and helped her off the slab.
Her legs still felt weak, but she managed to bear up enough to allow Megatron to hold her arm.
"I'm going to speak to Charoite alone." Megatron lead her to a large cave.
Charoite was surprised by how high-tech the inside of the cave was. Desks with screens and buttons lined the cave, and a large screen took up about a fourth of the wall space.
"This is the Decepticon Base." Megatron sat Charoite down on one of the chairs in front of the desks. We've had a few battles with our enemies. We haven't defeated them yet, but when we do, we'll be ready! We're for sure not going to take as long as Starscream did when he was the leader of the High Guard. Fifty cycles 'fighting in the shadows' only to never get Sentinel. Unbelievable!"
Charoite heard of the Cybertronian High Guard a few times. She didn't know their names, however. Prestigious defenders, so she heard. Hard to believe the obnoxious guy being bossed around by Megatron was once highly respected.
What Starscream said before she passed out came flooding back to her.
"Megatron? Is Sentinel…"
"Dead. Yes," was Megatron's cold, simple answer. "I ripped that rotten betrayer in half in front of all of Iacon, then my former best friend gets the Matrix and thinks he can throw me out!" Megatron's voice grew increasingly louder before he banged his fists on a desk.
Charoite softly cried. She was nearly out of crying energy.
Megatron groaned and leaned his head back. "Why are you so grieving so much for that false Prime? I get you looked up to him like everyone did, but you were just his secretary!"
"No." Charoite lightly touched her Sentinel Prime decal.
Megatron's face slowly dropped. "No." He tensed his arms and again threw his head back. "Augh! Why?"
"Well, what do you care?" Charoite raised her voice. "You killed him, anyway!"
Megatron pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, Charoite. There's a reason I wanted to talk to you. I think you could really be useful to us. Now that I think about it, you having been…ugh…more than just Sentinel's secretary can be useful, too."
"Yeah, I'm in a real mood to be useful for you and your army." Charoite trembled as she stood up. "Look, I just want to go home, and if you or someone could lead me back when I'm strong enough, I'd be grateful. I'd also pay for the time." She walked towards the cave's opening.
Megatron blocked her way as he held up his hands. "Just hear me out. Our enemies, an army called the "Autobots," are being led by my former friend, Orion, now 'Optimus Prime.' I've drawn up some plans for you to work as a spy for us. You can infiltrate the Autobots and tell us about their battle plans and defensive strategies, where they'll be at what time, and so on."
Charoite was surprised by her interest being piqued. A spy? How exciting! And for this cool army of bots, most who were the High Guard, fighting for honesty! "Go on."
"You having been involved with Sentinel, in more ways than one, and then having been stranded by him will likely make you more sympathetic to at least some of those Autobots, probably Optimus and B. You would really have to stress that you knew nothing about Sentinel, and that he abandoned you on the surface, left you to die, and broke your spark."
Charoite hated hearing Megatron say these things out loud. She didn't yet feel like talking about what Sentinel did to her, since it was still quite fresh in her head. She however still wanted to help these well-meaning bots who nursed her back to health.
"Okay. I'll do it. I'm still feeling pretty weak, though. Could I wait a few days before I go?"
"Very well," replied Megatron, a hint of relief in his voice, "Wasn't planning on sending you today, anyway. Also, I don't see us having any battles anytime soon."
Starscream appeared at the entry. "Is she in?
Soundwave and Shockwave showed up as well.
Charoite gave them a small smile and held up a thumb.
Soundwave turned to the crowd. "She's in."
The rest of the Decepticons cheered.
Charoite's smile grew.