At Another's Mercy

Starscream's little scheme was perfectly clear to Megatron.

Starscream had calculated that Megatron currently lacked a capable aide at his side, so he deliberately used the excuse that building a new body for Megatron would consume vast quantities of rare metals to delay letting him replace his body, escape this life-support device, and regain his freedom.

At first, Megatron had never expected that he might one day lose his body.

But he had indeed made preparations in advance for what he might face after faking his death.

Megatron's most important pillars of support were his confidants, Soundwave and Shockwave.

Megatron had complete confidence in both Soundwave and Shockwave.

Soundwave had always been utterly loyal to Megatron. Though, like Starscream, he harbored certain complex ambitions, his strength was undeniable, and he centered everything around Megatron. Thus, Megatron had always been exceptionally tolerant of Soundwave.

As for Shockwave, it was more accurate to call him Megatron's ally than his subordinate.

During the era of Cybertron's Elder Council, the nobles' decadent lifestyles and blind struggle for power turned that technologically unprecedented society into the darkest period in all of Cybertronian civilization.

Slavery was still preserved, and the rigid social hierarchy ensured that the vast majority of Cybertron's resources were controlled by the nobility.

Yet rather than striving to improve themselves, they squandered and wasted resources extravagantly, arousing widespread dissatisfaction throughout every level of society.

Shockwave, a scholar by background and a great scientist, was one of the strongest voices among the people condemning Cybertron's nobility and the corrupt Elder Council system.

Faced with such a wise man, the nobles—rotten to their very cores—showed him not the slightest respect. Instead, they were both enraged by and resentful of him.

Finally, one day, they fabricated a groundless charge, arrested Shockwave, and brutally tortured and abused