Megatron's claws curl into fists, fangs bared. Orion's presence is a reminder, and it is not one that he likes in the leas. Freedom has indeed dropped a very long way down his list of priorities indeed – at least for anyone other than himself – but hearing Orion chastise him over it does nothing to make the idea of changing that in any way seem palatable. His has not been a wholly unselfconscious descent into tyranny, and he has spent a long time convincing himself it is justified. If anything can shake that it won't be getting scolded by someone he still considers naive.

It's what Orion says next that's the last straw, though, combined with the way he draws himself up, unafraid. He should be afraid. "How dare you?" With a roar of fury, Megatron seizes him by the windscreen and hauls him closer, with no regard for his injuries; "How dare you compare the necessities of war to what we endured under Cybertron's old rule?"