red_diode_district | Everybody learns from *somebody*

Everybody learns from somebody

Passing the doors into the library, Megatron was pleased he had gotten the schedule correct as he saw who was sitting at the desk. If it had been completely necessary due to his own schedule, he'd have come here when he could. But since he didn't have to...

Ignoring the faint itch interfacing hadn't properly gotten rid off, Megatron approached the librarian at a lazy, casual walk. It was a pity he hadn't seen any signs at all that the surprisingly fine-lined truck-alted mech had the inclination he was looking for. Things would have been a lot easier (and, really, pleasing) if he had.

As it was, since there was no one left in the current arena circuit that he trusted with what he had to hand over, perhaps he would have to avail himself of one of the clubs. It made an irritable twitch slither down the treads on his shoulders, the thought that he'd have to do that.

It was ages since he'd had to go to an open venue like that to simply get his needs properly taken care of.

And he really would have preferred the librarian. Orion Pax - it hadn't taken anything to find out the designation when to found the schedule - was witty, somehow diplomatically argumentative and didn't give in if he knew he was right or wanted to stand for his opinion, actually had some smarts to go with said use of words and Megatron wanted to know more.

More, and more personally (most of the earlier he'd simply learned over the few times he'd been in the library when the mech was, but hadn't actually approached him). So this time, he decided to actually use the librarian's assistance in what he was looking for... and perhaps get something more out of it.

"Excuse me?"

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"Exactly," he agreed dryly, "pure chance."

Carefully, Orion placed his hand on the force field- only to receive the same shock as before. Much to his disappointment.

"...no," he sighed, pulling away reluctantly. Even he was willing to believe in Megatron's theory for access to something like that. Too bad whatever magical 'touch' Orion had did not carry over to something of Quintus'.

"But I have the book, at least," he shrugged, attempting to reassure himself. "Whatever is inside it has to be at least as good as such a map."

Even if a map would be more immediately useful. Different levels of useful.

"Depending on what is in it, probably, yes," Megatron agreed, but couldn't quite suppress his disappointment that neither of them had been able to get past the force field. Arching an eyebrow, Megatron leaned in towards Orion, close enough his lips almost brushed his audial.

"What do you think would happen if I used the morningstar?"

He wasn't, and he couldn't hide his smirk, but he couldn't help teasing Orion either.

"...I think I would be irritated to see you vandalize the place," Orion grumbled, the pleasure of Megatron's mouth near his audial muted by the mental picture of the purple energy weapon smashing through priceless displays.

He could tell Megatron was teasing, but Orion still flicked his short audial, giving Megatron a nudge away with his shoulder so he could turn and give him a look.

"If it did work, you could end up damaging it. And if it didn't work, given the state of the force fields, I wouldn't be surprise if this place had some sort of defenses for such an attempt."

"True," Megatron allowed with a nod, but still gave the force field a considering look before he shook his head, "ah well. Another time, perhaps." He made sure to smirk at Orion before he walked over to one of the other force fields and the item contained within, a curious five-part, interlocking mechanism that shifted between a state of looking like a single, seamless tool of some sort (almost, but not quite a standard transformation cog) and its component parts.

"Interesting. Never seen a transformation cog look like this." Eyeing it, optics narrowing, Megatron wondered if, even if they couldn't get to it, such an idea might be worth exploring.

Brushing his fingers against the crackling field did nothing, of course.

"We could always come back with more tools to properly attempt a extraction, since you are so confident that no one else will be coming down here."

Orion rolled his optics at Megatron's look, but he didn't bother stopping his lips from twitching up in a grin. Then he moved, following the larger mech's gaze.

"Huh."

He paused long enough to watch the shifting cycle through a rotation - though it never seemed to land on the same place twice.

"'The...omnitool? omnicog? of Amalgamous Prime?' The glyph is unclear. Seems like even they might not have been sure of what, exactly, it is."

"Hmm. That's an idea," Megatron murmured, if they had the time. But he quietly harboured suspicions that they wouldn't find this exact room again, even if everything else was where it was right now.

"Amalgamous Prime?" frowning, Megatron leaned closer over the force field again, couldn't quite remember what that particular mech of the First Twelve... ah, Thirteen, was for or who they were, even from what little was known.

He'd researched, yes, but he'd glossed over some in favour of diving deeper about the others. He recognised the designation, but that was it.

"It is," Orion agreed, relieved that Megatron appeared to have relented, no matter the reason. He would hate to watch the attempt.

Even if he didn't suspect their possible inability to return.

"The Shifter-prime. A master of transformation and disguise. Not very well known - and it is implied that he would have prefered it that way."

"Useful abilities," Megatron murmured, but, while he was interested, it wouldn't be for himself - he could do subtlety when it was necessary, but he wasn't much for disguises, really.

With a shake of his head, he left that display, still thinking about the possibilities in the applications of the artifact within. But with no way to get to it easily...

"And this one?" He'd intended to go to one of the other displays, but he'd veered off and ended up in for of something that vaguely looked like a key and almost seemed to glow with its own light, irrespective of the light from the force field.

"Indeed," He agreed, moving with Megatron to the next one with a glancing pass of his palm over the field and another scan from his recorder. A brief glance at the display - the glyphs were getting easier to decipher - was all it took. The plaque was noticeably larger than the others.

"Oh," Orion breathed, glancing up at Megatron with a grin.

"'Prima's Key'. Nothing descriptive in the glyph use, so who knows what it is a key to, but still..."

"Hm." Eyeing it with even more interest, Megatron leaned a bit closer and wondered what, exactly, this key was for. "No relevant gossip---, ah, myth surrounding it?" He grinned as he cut himself off and changed term, knowing that his first choice of word would still annoy Orion.

Though, 'gossip' was correct, of course, though since Orion hadn't said anything much about any of these artifacts so far, they might all be unknown.

He leaned a little closer, frowning, but neither his chest nor his hand accidentally touched the force field just yet.

"None at all. Can't say I've ever heard or read about any sort of key."

At least, not one connected to Prima. And Megatron may not have touched it - but Orion had no problems reaching out and getting the lack-of-reaction over with. Which went as he expected.

Not that it wasn't sometimes a disappointment, but well.

"But then again, it could have gone under another name easily enough, given what it is." He shrugged. "I would have to reread a lot of texts to see if it came up in another way."

"Which you're going to do either way, to check for all of these, hm, Orion?" Megatron said, amused, and leaned in a bit closer; far more than was necessary, as he was now leaning over the force field, and then brushed his hand against it.

The force field flickered and then disappeared, but while Megatron twitched his hand towards catching this 'key' he didn't actually move.

Instead, the light flared around the key for a very brief moment, his chestplates unfolded and then...

Well, he couldn't rightly see from the angle he had, but Megatron staggered back with a rather embarrassing gasp.

"Of course I will-"

Orion would have laughed at that gasp if he were not so busy suddenly gaping in surprise himself. Then, of course, came the concern - if the weapons had melted down into their circuits, then what would a 'key' do inside Megatron's chest?!

The key had lodged itself under Megatron's spark chamber, slotting in like it belonged there and made itself at home. But it had happened too quick - without having seen inside Megatron's chest before now, he had no comparison to know if the various lights and ports he could see were normal for him.

And wasn't this an akward way to see him for the first time...

"Megatron...? Ah. Are you- How do you- what is it doing?"

Waving one hand both in a dismissive motion and to lay it on Orion's shoulder to steady himself, Megatron grimaced. Felt unaccountably... exposed, which could only partly be explained by the fact that while his spark chamber was still closed, it was now bared for all too see.

Luckily, 'all', here, was only Orion.

"Fine," he snaped, resisting the urge to close everything up just to alleviate the feeling of being bared, "I'm fine." Instead he used his other hand to feel around inside his open chest, frowning at the end of the key sticking out slightly.

That it'd disappeared as far in as it had, however, was worrying enough, because as far as he knew, there shouldn't have been any space.

There might also, maybe, be more ports than he remembered from last, but he was honestly not sure - he hadn't looked at himself that closely very often, and remembering what things felt like when explored with his hands only was harder.

"I have no idea what it did, but..." and here Megatron paused, took a deep vent in, flooded his systems with additional energy, and carefully grabbed the end of the key and pulled.

Or tried to.

Didn't get very far before he ended up gasping, gritting his teeth on the pain and the key not budging.

"It seems it's staying where it is."

He straightened up and let go of Orion, closing his chestplating up.

"Yes. 'Fine'. Right."

Wincing, Orion wanted to try and bat Megatron's hands away from the awful looking tugging, but managed to refrain, doing his best to stay steady for the mech.

"...Of course it is," he muttered, finally reaching up to squeeze Megatron's arm in support.

"We should probably leave and get you looked at, at least. Who knows what it could do?"

He smiled tightly at Orion's disbelief, but didn't change or add anything to his assessment, though ended up snorting.

"And what would I say about where it came from, Orion?" he shook his helm, arching an optic ridge, "I can't even claim we hit something curious while mining, because it was a very long time since I was engaged in that sort of work, and any irregularities are logged... You didn't forget we're not supposed to be down here, did you?"

Shaking his helm again, Megatron took a deeper vent and shifted his shoulders.

"I will simply have to gamble that it's harmless." It wasn't like he'd not done such a thing before.

"I know, I know," Orion growled, frame shaking with frustration.

He reached up, laying gentle hands over Megatron's now-closed chest plates.

"Surely we can think of a better excuse that that? I just don't like the idea of just leaving it there if you don't know what it does."

"There's no medic I trust to show it to," Megatron said, shaking his helm and gesturing with a hand sharply, but he didn't step away from Orion, "particularly as that thing is obviously not a random piece of metal that got lodged in the wrong place during some unfortunate berthplay."

Pausing, he resisted the urge to open up again and try to have a look - it'd have to wait until he had access to a proper mirror.

"That thing is clearly some sort of machinery, Orion, and not recent. That will draw attention, and I don't need that."

On any level. Wouldn't need or want it even if he wasn't quietly staging what it was he was staging.

Orion sputtered, slapping the hand on Megatron's chest down with a horrified laugh.

"Not even funny! If something happens, we should at least be prepared. I should have someplace to take you if it comes down between revealing it and your life."

"And I...might have one. A medic, that is," Orion said, thinking of Ratchet, though he shook his head and didn't push the point any further. For the moment - they still mad to make it out of there, after all.

"No, it's not," Megatron agreed, soberly, but there was a smirk behind the seriousness. Then he shook his helm. "If you do have one that you trust, I'll consider it. But only if something actually happens."

Not before that, and only if Megatron was sure the issue wasn't something else... in which case he would of course go, since if it was just a regular medical issue and nothing that would leave him with needing to bare the spark chamber, going to a medic wouldn't matter.

"Let's check the last ones and then move on," Megatron said, gesturing to the rest of the room. He was rather convinced that they wouldn't actually get into any of the other force fields, but he refused to not try.

"Ratchet is a friend of mine," Orion said slowly, honestly giving the idea proper consideration. "And he isn't one to trust in authority much, either. I don't think he would turn anyone in. Think about it."

He shrugged and nodded, moving on to the next relic.

"Though I hope we don't get any more surprises like the last one. 'Mod factory', remember?"

"Perhaps," was Megatron's non-committal response, before he snorted, brushing his hand over the force-field of the next artifact with absolutely no hint of wariness or caution, "and in that case, I am one ahead of you."

Of course, that force-field didn't react, and he moved onwards, starting to feel impatient - and perhaps a bit agitated from what seemed like a very real weight from the key settled underneath his spark chamber.

"For some reason, though, I doubt any of the others will react. Want to bet?" He smirked at Orion, paused over one of the other force-fields that neither of them had yet to touch.

"I-" Orion paused after brushing his hand over the field, slowly glancing between Megatron's smirk and the remaining protective fields.

"...No bet. Not at all."

He wasn't sure if it was Megatron's slag-eating expression, or a lack of any mysterious 'draw' to the others, but- Megatron's slag-eating grin was never to be trusted.

Laughing, he shook his head.

"No sport in you, Orion."

But he didn't say any more about that and went around the room, checking the others and stopped in the doorway to wait for Orion to do the same. He was rather sure that Orion didn't feel anything from the rest either.

And Megatron was absolutely sure that, for both of the two - four, in total - force fields they'd breached and picked an artefact from, there had been a sort of... pull. And there was none such present in the room now.

It was merely a room.

Megatron still ended up eyeing the force field that protected the data repository, once again contemplating the risk of attempting to attack the force field with his new mace.

Probably not worth it.

"Nope," Orion grinned, shameless. "I don't want to be subject to whatever penalty you'd demand of me."

Even with his sudden certainty that taking Megatron's bet was a stupid move, Orion carefully continued taking his readings, scans, and notes as he passed up each relic. No additional shields vanished under his hand, and that strange, half-recognised pull from the weapon case never returned for any of them.

He glanced toward the larger mech when he finished; silently forced to admit that Megatron clearly had a 'feel' for this room, and the items inside.

Everybody learns from somebody

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taking a educated guess :V

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