When justice was dished out, quick and ruthless as was the Decepticon custom, Megatron found himself musing over the illusions that his failing mind had conjured up for him. Had there been some base under those? Were they random? Was it his subconscious trying to tell him something important?

He weighted chances and decided it was worth asking.

So on one particularly uneventful shift he approached his Third in Command.

Soundwave did not move, though he undoubtedly noticed the warlord's presence and focused on him. However, dark manipulators continued their intricate dance across the console buttons as the spy was avidly searching through terabytes of data.

Megatron studied the console display over his shoulder for a while then asked as nonchalantly as he could master:

"Soundwave, tell me about the space program".

The clicking stopped completely. For a click the spy turned into a statue, then Megatron heard a sound he nearly forgot over time - the click of Soundwave's visor folding. He half expected the spy to ask what he meant, but Soundwave turned to him slowly, as if a rash movement could scare the warlord off.

Violet optic were wider and brighter than Megatron remembered, but a hesitant, uneasy smile that was threatening to appear on the navy con's faceplates was just the same. The spy whispered incredulously "You... remember?"

And Megatron found himself grinning back.