The return ping she gets is relieved and thankful. It’s not marked as urgent, so she may answer when she’s able. Whatever transpired, it can’t have been easy. ::He’s home. Did they put up a fight?::

heligooddeals:

Blackguard hums softly, running her thumb over Redstrike’s hand as she opens a line with Megatron. His ping might not have been urgent or needing an immediate answer, but she definitely needed to decompress through sharing.

«A little bit.» She mumbles, reaching up to rub at her face tiredly, only to realize that her mask was still off – and lost on that Cybertron. Scrap.

«Manus– Ruka– He tried to shoot me down after he caught me taking Rigel back, but Crossfire dealt with that before anything could happen.»

It brings a satisfied, proud smirk to his face to hear that she’s the one who went and got him back. He knew she would.

::I’ll assume he’s dead, then. Good. Mechs like that make the multiverse a darker place for everyone.:: And now, whether or not she’s the one who actually did it, they’re both responsible for killing corrupt Senators. He feels a certain pride in that. Out of all the things he’s done, that’s one he doesn’t regret.

::…He was right, Blackguard. To trust you with him.::

ask-smokescreen replied to your post:
Am I weak, Megs?

But- but I should’ve been able to defend myself in the first place, right? I should’ve been smart enough to keep myself out of that kind of situation.

Enough. You were taken control of by creatures with absurd and cruel power. It happened to you. Tell me Smokescreen, how exactly were you supposed to defend yourself? Let me guess, you don’t know? Well neither do I! So stop trying to blame yourself for something that happened to you because of monstrous sadists and allow yourself to recover. It happened. You’re safe.

You would be weak if you let this define you. 

Megatron squints at the ping for a moment, before his optics widened in disbelief. Rigel. He had always reaffirmed that the youngling had to still be alive, that he had to be safe because his captors wouldn’t steal him if they could have just ended his life right there… But seeing that little notification, not an S.O.S. signal, Megatron felt as if the air had cooled around him. It was one thing to believe he was alive and another to have proof. Checking the signal’s origin, he confirms that it came from his own universe, and smiles.

There is relief in his return ping that he doesn’t bother concealing. He doesn’t expect an answer, he’ll contact Blackguard for the details and he still expects Rigel to be cold with him. Their last talk hadn’t ended well, largely on his part. That doesn’t stop him from replying:

::I’m glad to hear you safe, Rigel.::

He wants to ask more, did they hurt you, are they still after you, what did they want, but all that could wait. Rigel was alive.