The doors slammed open with a hiss. “SOUNDWAVE!” Megatron’s roar shook the room. He struck the console with his fist, sending sparks across the floor. Everything—everything—had gone wrong today.

But as the smoke cleared, he realized he wasn’t alone. Soundwave was already there—standing utterly still, cables hovering in that eerie calm, visor glowing with steady, wordless patience.

Megatron froze. The fury drained out of him like energon through cracked plating. A long pause. Then, quietly, he straightened. “…Good.”

A flicker of an optic pulse on Soundwave’s visor—acknowledgment. And that was all.

The warlord exhaled and returned to his console, muttering under his breath. “Always one step ahead of me, aren’t you…”