A Very Bad Day, Part 1

The first bad news I had was Starscream's broadcast: "Megatron is dead! I lead the Decepticons now!"

Yeah, tell me I hadn't heard that one before. Seriously. This time, though, it was real--rumor spread almost as fast as the broadcast: the Autobot City raid had been a disaster--Megatron was dead/the Autobot City raid had been a stunning triumph--Optimus Prime was dead! When Starscream announced his impending coronation and ordered all Decepticons to watch the broadcast--yeah, I could believe that Megatron was truly dead.
( I made the same mistake Starscream did. )