An eagle flew through the open sunroof in Elita's tinted glass office, deftly bypassing the forcefield that would hold a lesser robot away. Possessed of an immortal grace, he alighted onto a potted tree, at a spot near the Autobot's eye level.
Elita One approached the bird, locked gazes with him, and nodded once. Laserbeak dropped the holographic disguise, and cocked his head to the side.
"Hello, messenger," Elita addressed him. She offered him an energon treat, which he pecked from her hand. "Bringing more letters from home for me?"
Not exactly, ma'am, Laserbeak thought to himself, though his only response was to straighten his head, and blink. He didn't exactly resent being treated like a pet, but sometimes the lady forgot his actual purpose. When Elita stepped aside for him and opened a door in her computer, he transformed into his tape mode, and slipped inside. Elita took a step back, and watched the events he had recorded.
On screen, first, the new Megatron, addressing his new troops. Darkwave and his unit were among them, though it was the Predacon Swiftsting he was speaking to now. "...Take Upgrade and a few of your loyalists to the site of the Predacon Pit. Scout it out, examine, and report back to me, if you think it is...possible."
"Possible in what way?" asked the other commander.
"To take it over, of course."
There was a stunned pause from the collected.
Megatron's volume incremented as he began to speak again. "With the Matrix off-line, and the Pit at my command, I will have power over the sole means for populating and dominating the planet!!"
Elita winced. It was the move she'd hoped he'd try to make, but it was still disconcerting hearing him declare the intent.
The picture on-screen shifted, to that of Darkwave, only. He was giving orders to the bird: "Scout Shockwave's old tower. Report the best entrances, and how heavily they are guarded now."
A smart move on the agent's part, Elita realized. He would have Megatron set up a base the Magnaboss would have easy access to.
Last of the images on the reel. Rhinox's greenhouse, where a group of infamous Maximals were discussing the defection and their futures. Waspinator, the non-combative ex-Predacon, was perched on Optimus's shoulder, addressing him teasingly. "It so easy, even big monkey can figure it out."
Oh, no, Elita suddenly thought, Figure it out?
"Optimus think Decepticon in charge of Maximal Council. Optimus see Elita One working with Maximal Council. She-spider knew secret way before anybody else knew." Waspinator leaned into Optimus's face, and counted on his hands as he spoke: "Two plus two still equal four, monkey-bot."
Elita halted as the image continued to cycle, and, without taking her eyes off the screen, sat down in her chair. Certainly, there had been record of her demise. And Shockwave connected.
"Optimus...let's...take a walk," said the snake-female on the screen image, addressing an increasingly infuriated Maximal general. Elita waved a dismissive hand, signaling Laserbeak to cut the visuals. Laserbeak emerged from the computer and sat back on the tree, waiting for new instructions.
"So, he knows?" Elita asked the bird.
Laserbeak nodded once.
"Were you spotted?"
A pause, and Laserbeak nodded again, more emphatically. Elita blinked. ...Then, it dawned on her. With Magnaboss' cover broken, intimidating Primal into keeping in line had become suddenly more possible than trying to keep him in the dark.
"Clever Laserbeak."
I always am, he thought.
Elita sighed. "Oh... Optimus. What shall we do?" She looked away, at her hand tapping on the desk, then back to Laserbeak as he patiently waited. "Laserbeak, record a message. Do your edit, and deliver it to Primal."
Laserbeak prepared his camera, and Elita faced him as she sat, and began.
"Optimus Primal. You have new instructions."