Everyone's attention was caught when Megatron reappeared after opening the automatic door, Soundwave noticing the angry expression that remained on his face, visibly disappointed, so it was easy to understand why.
"Looks like the meeting didn't go very well." Skyquake whispered to his twin, but it was quite obvious that Megatron heard his comment as his red eyes focused on him.
"My dealings with Orion are none of your concern." Megatron said seriously, causing Skyquake to tense up a bit as he looked seriously at the rest of his subordinates. "I will make it clear to everyone that Orion Pax is no threat to us, but any information about my future plans must not be shared with him, or you will have to deal with me."
"Sorry Lord Megatron, my brother did not mean to offend you." Dreadwing said, trying to clear up the misunderstanding. "I thought this Orion Pax was a trustworthy ally for you. But why should it be isolated from future planning?"
"As brilliant as Orion is, he is very pacifistic, his nature only partially matches my ideology." Megatron looked at the table, studying the holograms intently. "However, his mind can be excellent at giving me new ideas."
"What are you planning?" Skyquake asked.
"In order for me to have the full advantage when we crush the High Guard, I need to have a significant advantage not only in quantity of warriors, but also in quality, but the best fighters I can acquire at the moment are under the orders of profiteering worms, leeches to be exact." Megatron looked at the twin brothers, making it clear to both that they had a job to do. "I intend to finish off the rotten trees, but I still need some fruit to achieve the victory I envision. Dreadwing and Skyquake, you will gather the Mafia leaders of all the cities for a meeting."
"Everyone... Sir, that's impossible." Dreadwing said, knowing how the criminal world worked and that it wasn't easy to get everyone in one place.
Megatron looked at Dreadwing as if the solution were obvious. "The solution is quite obvious. If you want a flock of vultures to come after you, give them a corpse." He said this without hiding his sarcasm, in a slightly murderous tone. "Destroy one or two Mafia organizations for me, so that they will gather together in desperation, believing that someone is hunting them, so that it will be easier to get their attention. More specifically, you two get rid of the vermin that are in this city, if the message is not obvious, continue until the challenge is obvious."
"You intend to kill all of the criminal organizations at once when they gather." Skyquake praised, eager to get started, no matter how absurd or difficult it may be, it's a challenge he's willing to enjoy.
"No, Skyquake, I'll just finish off the king pieces, the remaining pawns will be mine." Megatron's eyes glowed red. His true intentions were clear to his subordinates: he would amass so much power, so much that he would be able to subdue even the military might of the High Guard, to erase it from the universe. "Soundwave, I will leave you three missions, one to find more wrecked military planes to restore, one to free the other gladiators so they can join us, and one to find Cybertronians with special abilities so they can join me next time, as quickly as possible. It won't be long before the High Guard begins to prepare for battle."
Soundwave nodded, he had no problem carrying a mission of this magnitude on his back, if it was for the freedom of Cybertron, then he could withstand pressure ten times worse.
"Our time is limited, we must arm ourselves as quickly as possible, it is time to fight in the darkness to bring light to our people." Megatron declared, knowing that the next few days would be filled with turmoil as he completed the first phase of his contingency plan. "It is time to play my cards."
"Master Megatron, what about the growing mass of followers who want to follow you?" Dreadwing asked, knowing that there was still the matter of managing a large number of bots.
"I will take care of it myself, my image and my voice are more than enough tools. In this political theater, the spotlight is on me." Megatron smiled, feeling a great anticipation in his Spark, as if it were on fire for his next performance. [Orion, even if you do not agree with my methods, I hope you understand that it is for the good of our planet, so I will be willing to be the first to fire if necessary, for in the end, the end justifies the means].
***
Orion watched the city of Kaon with a lost look, leaning on the railing because he didn't feel unable to stand. "What can I do to keep this from becoming a disaster? I feel like my hands are tied."
Despondency permeated his entire being, as if it had penetrated his armor to his spark. For a moment, his blue eyes imagined the imposing city before him covered in ashes, as if it had been dead for a long time, and then he returned to reality in an instant.
Orion knew that war was already inevitable, all factors pointed to it since his brother broke the last barrier to encourage the population to revolt. No matter how it starts, tensions are high, if D backs down, it will shake the morale of the people and the High Council would take advantage to prevent any future revolution, but if D continues to put pressure, war will break out in countless cities and many will die just from the side effect.
He knew that not everyone wanted to get involved in this dispute, it was everyone's right to remain neutral and live their own lives, as well as others who wanted to fight for their rights in the right way or not, a fine and delicate line. No matter how it happens, the population will always be the most negatively affected.
"He won't stop... I know it's naive to think this can be resolved peacefully, but is it so hard to ask?" Orion asked himself, his fists shaking with fear, knowing that there was nothing else he could do. "Even if D manages to resolve this through debate, the High Council would not bow to him... I'm sorry Elita, in the end not even I can stop this."
***
[ALLSPARK TEMPLE]
"You've been dormant for over 100 million years, what would make you wake up after such a long time?"
Allspark glowed in a blue light, its cyberglyphs glowing brightly, causing the Primes' paintings to glow in a blue light as well, except for Megatronus Prime's.
"I'm not complaining, but you rarely wake up fully like this, I'm used to you being in a state of unconsciousness or drowsiness as a routine since we met."
The Allspark glowed gold, then orange, covering the entire room with slightly more intensity.
"Hmm? You were awake decades ago? Then why haven't you contacted me before? Whenever you wake up, it's always a time when something bad could happen."
The Allspark glowed a light pink, then its characteristic sky blue, answering the question.
"A Cybertronian? Now I get it, that girl woke you up."
The Allspark glowed with a dark blue light, floating towards the image of Prima Prime, causing the image of the first Prime to glow even brighter.
"A candidate... after so long? Aren't you being reckless again?"
The Allspark glowed red, as if in anger, before turning bluish-white.
"Even though you have felt its spark, it is rash to hand over the Matrix of Leadership. But... now that you have awakened after so long, I believe it is time to create a new dynasty, a new heir to carry the power of the Matrix of Leadership."
The Allspark glowed with a green light, then a blue light, with small golden fragments floating in the air.
"I'll keep an eye on this boy, he managed to get your attention enough to suggest him as a candidate, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."
The Allspark glowed brightly, increasing its energy in response to his emotions.
"Okay, okay, now return to your dormant state, it would be unpleasant if you accidentally started creating life on an exponential scale like you did with the Titans or beings of scales outside of conventional standards, your fully awakened state is always difficult to deal with, besides, it would be disastrous if Unicron were to be awakened by his energy, as happened last time."
The Allspark suddenly stopped glowing, as if it had lost its life, only to float in the room as it always did, ignoring gravity, while the images on the wall stopped glowing. In its dormant mode, which kept its energy stable and less detectable, it could only be felt by those with a fraction of its true power in their spark.