re_alignment | [Broadcasting from just outside Megatronus Prime's Arena][Actionspam welcome]

[It was no surprise to him that his time on this new Cybertron was going better than his last three years on an ancient one. Parts for the portal were already being gathered and assembled, nobody was directly threatening to kill him, and he'd passed his schematics out to multiple individuals who had a shot at making it work. With nothing more to do on the project, himself, he'd decided to pursue a little...entertainment, and perhaps secure a bit of additional assistance on the way.]

[Besides, this arena was actually pretty nice.]

It's been almost a decacycle, and though little has changed in how these 'Firstforged' treat us, we've already managed to accomplish enough.

Of course, if we're to become monsters as I've heard claims we will be, then those of you who are marked should get a bit of practice in beforehand, hm?

[Without a further word, a bright purple glow illuminates the screen for a moment as Megatron unsheathes his energon mace from his hand-socket and gives it a whirl.]

I have a meeting with one or two already, so this message is for the rest...

Do you think you have what it takes, to go tread to tread with a Megatron?

[He'll be waiting.]

Locked to Overlord

This goes double, for you.

[Yes, he knows you are in a prison and all. However, he doesn't suspect that's going to stop you, if the rumors he has heard are true.]

Locked to Barricade and Ambulon

As it helps to be prepared, I could use the assistance of a medic. Willing to lend a hand?

[Although it's phrased as a question, he expects at least one of you to be there. Otherwise, he might get...cranky. You know. If there's no one to patch up the folks he's trying not to kill.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I believed what you claimed you wanted from me before.

[He looks down.] It should worry you. But you treat mechs always by what they can do for you, even now. Those seeds I don't think anyone can root out.

It's important.

[His engine kicks up a gear, almost a growl but just shy.] If it were 'for me,' Drift, I would simply return home and continue as I was, with no regards to the future. [He'd spend his time tormenting you, more, too, but he won't list that because he still enjoys it a bit.] This is about more.

Or is there something else you want from me? [Which...yes, it is a curiosity. He knows what he wants from Drift, but he does not know, entirely, how it works in reverse.]

[There's a long pause. He's never actually said this part to anyone before. Because of who he had been, and how they never let him forget it.]

Maybe you're meant to. Maybe, in the end it needs to happen.

Maybe you need to be what you become to end the war.

[He shakes his head.] I want nothing from anyone except peace.

[Megatron goes silent.]

[No one has ever suggested that before.]

No one wants that. [He says, quietly.] All that I am ever told, by Autobots and Decepticons alike, is how much is ruined.

That Cybertron dies.

That Cybertronians are hated, instead of revered as we once were.

[He shakes his head.]

With all that, how can anyone find peace?

Or are you looking for peace for yourself?

Cybertron is in ruins, but you weren't the only one responsible.

And in the end, when the Autobots were powerless, you fought. [He doesn't like admitting it, and he wonders if he'd say it to his own Megatron, the one who had been through as much as he had, but it didn't change that it was true.]

For myself? [A soft laugh.] I don't expect that much. [He doesn't deserve it, probably. ] But we can try to fix what is broken. And that's good work. And that's peace.

Then perhaps not everything of what I am is lost. [It's good to hear that much.]

I can't...I cannot do nothing Drift. Even if you do not return with me--even if Wing does not, I will do everything I can to alter the future. To keep the promises that I originally made.

[He's still passionate about this.]

I think it's something you understand.

Or perhaps the lesson is we make monsters only we can destroy.

[He shakes his head.] You don't, Megatron. You break your promises. Because it's so easy to get seduced by power, and violence. It was the problem of all the Primes.

[And Megatron.]

Then who do you have to destroy your monsters, Deadlock? [He says the name pointedly.] Is that why you stay so close to your knight?

[There might be bitterness, but he keeps it tightly beneath a lid. At this time, he had no one to fall back on. No Soundwave. No Starscream. No Blackout. No Wing.]

It will not be so with me. It will not be. No matter what you say, I will not repeat the same mistakes.

No one. But I was never as powerful or dangerous as you. [More than a little edge to the growl.] Wing is none of your business.

Megatron, you don't understand. You can't change what's happened. Because if you did, I wouldn't even exist as I am. Whatever you think you can do when you go back, you merely create a splinter of reality.

It doesn't change the reality I lived in. And all those who died in it.

Wing is my business. [Or, rather, he was.] And I do understand it, well enough. He gives you hope. [It was the same thing he'd given to Magnum, once, not that he'd ever let on to that.]

It will be a splinter of reality. It will not change your history, and it will not change your life, but that does not mean it is not worth doing and that does not mean I will take the blame for what happened to you. [He glares.]

Coming back with me will not change your past.

But it will make things better.

For all those who would have died.

Hope. [A laugh.] No. Not hope. You've got it wrong. He gives me something to look at so I don't have to look at myself.

[The same way the Knights of Cybertron and all their aura of ancient virtue do.]

[An almost bitter laugh.] So this is merely an elaborate and expensive way so you can dodge responsibility for what you've done, and give you what you think you deserve instead.

Maybe it makes me a coward.

You've mirrored yourself around him well enough. [White, sword...it all makes sense.] Do you think he can save you?

[Now, his engine practically roars in anger.]

Dodge responsibility?

In what way am I dodging responsibility? In what way is this cowardly?

Would you rather things proceed exactly as they did before?

[Because he doesn't. He wants to win.]

He died for me. What greater tribute could I give him? [He knows he's always followed those greater than himself. He knows he's not a leader. He is an unashamed of this as he was of his Decepticon badge in its time.] If he can't, none of us are salvageable.

Because you don't have to see. You don't get to look in the optics the mechs who died for you when you went too far.

No. Of course not. But there has to be a better way than attrition. There has to be a better way than becoming the terror of the galaxy.

[Broadcasting from just outside Megatronus Prime's Arena][Actionspam welcome]

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