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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Noticing Orion's sudden twitchiness, Megatron tilted his helm, listening... But whatever might have made the noise was conspicuously silent for now. If anything had made that noise.

"As far as I know, we should be yes." But he was frowning. "If there's anything else down here, it's not something I've met before."

Standing up, he clapped Orion on his shoulder.

"Want to look at that wall more or continue on?"

Noises or not, even if there was something down here with them, Megatron was confident he'd be able to handle it.

"...we can move on. For now. I'll want to come back later, but... Just let me get a complete scan." Casting another wary glance around, Orion got back to his feet and held the translation device back from the wall relief. A soft buzz, and the lasercam on the device was scanning the wall as Orion slowly walked the breadth of it.

"I can translate more thoroughly later-" something it was taking a great deal of restraint to manage- "I just don't want to pass by without a record."

And he would download a copy to his own internal storage as well, just in case.

"We're coming back this way unless something really unforeseen happens," Megatron said, waving a hand in dismissal, "since we came in this way, and while I don't mind exploring, it's safer and easier to get out the same way you get in."

But he was pleased Orion wouldn't need to stay right here to do the translation, both because they didn't have all the time in the world and wouldn't see much by stopping here, and also because he had wanted to show Orion more than just this.

Even if Orion had liked this very much.

He walked down to the end of the etchings, waiting for Orion to finish his recording and catch up with him before he started walking, now with one hand ready to pull out his sword out of subspace if it was needed to.

"...Right then," Orion grumbled dryly. He didn't want to know what Megatron considered 'unforseen' Finishing up with the scan in good time. The light of the scanner flickered out only a few moments later, data safe and sound on the device.

"Well. We better get moving." Clutching the scanner (and socketing the device with on of his own cables to download,) Orion nodded in Megatron's direction...even if his audials remained tilted and turned up, listing for further noise.

He really, really did not want to leave the find behind them, but for now he would tolerate it.

"This wall has been here for the last several ten thousands of years, at the least, it's not going to go away anytime soon, Orion," Megatron said, dryly amused, and held out a hand for the mech.

It was more than just a few ten thousands of years, they both knew that, but, details.

The corridor, curving slightly downwards as they walked away from the etchings was still lit by that same indistinct golden light, and for now it was quiet.

Too quiet, in Megatron's opinion. Usually there were quiet shifting of metal heard down here, the natural settling of differences between differently heated metal, or a mech shifting to set their armour in place.

"Tell me if you see something you want to check, Orion," he said and glanced over at the shorter mech, "I know what I want to show you, but I might not have noticed everything there is to see here."

Which was partly why he'd taken Orion here to show him this.

Orion gave Megatron an incredulous glance as he finished up, striding over to his side.

"Right. When we get out of here, remind me to tell you about the original Prime Grand Library, the First Hall of Records, and the Codex Mechanix Archive, and why they all don't exist any more."

He may have accepted the offered palm, but he waggled the scanner up toward Megatron's chest plates with his free hand, brows furrowed and field thick with determination.

"Data and records can vanish in less than a day. I won't be taking anything down here for granted like I'll be able to return at any time. It might not be here to come back to."

Megatron hummed, absolutely undaunted by Orion's scolding, though he dipped his helm in acknowledgement.

"Of course. But all of those disappeared because people willed them to. The only thing that has been done so far about this, if the people responsible even know about these deeper parts, is restrict access to the underground in certain places."

Of course, they probably knew. These etchings and the other things Megatron had found down here were probably the explicit reason for the 'forbidden zones' for the 'safety of the pubic'.

But they hadn't tried to destroy this, and it was perfectly possible, as Megatron well knew, to get underground with only a bit of ingenuity and exploring.

You could even end up in places like this by accident.

"Societal disasters are as bad as natural disasters when it comes to the loss of data and knowledge," Orion said, grimly acknowledging Megatrons' point. "But still. Not taking chances. The people responsible for keeping this place hidden could well decide it is not worth the risk of keeping it intact."

He bristled at the very idea, field fluctuating.

"Anyway. Show me something else - though if it is as groundbreaking as the last one, I might not survive the trip," he managed a laugh.

"I would hope you do," Megatron chuckled, rubbing his thumb over the metal of Orion's hand, "as I would be very disappointed if you offlined from this. Though I suppose you would, at least, offline happy."

He put a little weight into the word and let his grin sharpen a bit, implicating what he was actually talking about... even if Orion no doubt could offline happily from all this hidden information.

"But, I'm not sure if what I'm showing you next will be as interesting as the wall. But even if it isn't, we may find other things."

THe corridor curved around, nearly whimsically as they walked, the walls having stopped being flat and straight and instead undulating gently, composed of cables twined together instead of flat metal plates.

"Haha," Orion grumbled, even as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Happily maybe, but I'd rather not." He gave Megatron's hand a squeeze, before focusing on their surroundings as they walked ever-deeper. Orion frowned, reaching out to gently brush the nearest wall, free of any interesting glyphs.

"Huh. I feel like we're in the maintenance corridors of a Metro-titan."

A pause.

"...We're not, right?" He asked doubtfully, eying the floor.

"We shouldn't be," Megatron said, eyeing their surroundings as well, curiosity suddenly sparked, "unless you know anything about Iacon that I don't? Though we are, of course, far enough at the edge that a metro-titan for Iacon wouldn't be here..."

This... was curious. He hadn't thought about this at all, how the corridors looked. But, thinking about it, he doubted it was a metro-titan; he remembered now that the passages underneath Kaon, both the city-proper and further out, had looked like this as well when he delved deep enough.

So what, then, did that mean?

"Not as far as I know," Orion said, optics widening, startled. "But then again, considering how so few people even know what is down here..."

He trailed off again, glancing around. He gave Megatron's hand a squeeze.

"Well. We should treat it as though it was. Just in case."

"I guess, though if it is one, I doubt they are aware," Megatron said, eyeing the walls around them speculatively as he compared what he'd seen on earlier excursions and this.

And needing more exploration before he started to attempt to draw conclusions, but this had very, very interesting suggestions.

"But I suppose it would hardly hurt to be courteous as much as possible." Megatron tilted his helm into a nod, while reserving the right to be as non-courteous as necessary if it came to fighting...

Hm. It wasn't like there was anything down here, now was it? And yet his threat-assessment was working quietly away...

"Doubtful," Orion agreed, some of the tension leaving his frame. Megatron had a point, after all. If it was aware of them, it probably would have made them aware of it sooner.

"But aware or not, courtesy never hurt anyone." Orion said with the start of a smirk, giving Megatron a pointed nudge.

"So what is the next artifact we're looking for look like?"

"As much as possible," Megatron allowed, arching an optic ridge when Orion nudged him, and then shrugged, "not so much an artifact, unless you'd call everything down here that, as a piece of history, I believe."

Frowning thoughtfully at the corridor and the two branches they were presented with, Megatron took them left, and soon it started to go sharply downwards in a sort of spiralling ramp.

A fair distance below them the ramp ended in an open area with at least one open doorway, light spilling through it invitingly.

Beyond was a huge hall, the floor's octagonal plates etched with some pattern, and in the center stood two positively giant statues. Of course, with the way their metal was coloured and the way they'd been made, they really did seem like two giant cybertronians posing together, each with one arm raised and nearly touching the other's hand.

Once, there'd been a data depository in the form of a disc in that joint grip. Megatron had removed it on his first visit here, and wasn't about to - yet - show it to Orion.

"Every item and wall mural down here could be correctly called an 'artifact', my dear," Orion corrected as they walked. Especially if everything was as significant as that last find...

When they reached the large entryway, Orion couldn't help but gape in surprise as he stared up at the grand hall.

"...oh."

He took a hesitant step inside, gaze no leaving the giant statues.

"...You are certainly full of surprises, Megatron," he managed faintly.

Chuckling and once again pleased at Orion's reaction, Megatron shrugged.

"I make it my business to be. That way, no one will know what to expect in a fight."

Or, in this case, this part of their relationship and this expedition, even if he was as surprised as Orion was now when he first found them.

"I haven't manage to figure out who they were, but they must have been important, once."

"I'm afraid I can't really help there," Orion said, slowly approaching the giant statues. "One of them looks familiar - I've probably seen him somewhere before, in the archives - but I can't recall his name. And the other is even more of a mystery..."

Eying the statues and overcoming his awe, Orion made his way to the base of the nearest one, searching the pedestal for something that might actually tell them the name of the giants.

"Might not be important," Megatron said, clearly dismissive, after a moment. They probably were, but not in the sense the etchings Orion had been interpreted were. They'd been holding the item Megatron had removed and tucked elsewhere, after all.

"And I don't think there are any plaques or anything; didn't find any the first time I was here." But if Orin had sharper optics than he did, all the better, since with names they could go searching through the archives for any mention that hadn't been scraped out already.

Because Megatron was pretty sure it'd been. The age, if he could judge them, both alone and by the item they'd been 'guarding', implied pre-Golden Age, and their history did not stretch coherently further back.

Due to 'unprecedented catastrophe' his aft.

"'Might not be important'?!" Orion sputtered, turning back long enough to give Megatron a incredulous stare. "Don't be insulting. If someone bothered to make two giant fragging statues of these mechs, I highly doubt they are 'unimportant'!"

Shaking his helm, Orion approached properly, circling around the first statue.

"We'll find out who these mechs are, if I have to go back and search the entire archives for the matching image from my memory."

He could see any name plates at first glance, but that didn't mean anything. Dust and fine debris coated the pedestals and blurred the finely-crafted lines of the statues themselves - a name, date, or even maker's-mark could be hidden anywhere. Slowly, he ran his hands along the most likely edges, searching for precious information buried in the silt.

"Did you find anything else the last time you were here that might give us further clues?" he finally asked.

He shouldn't laugh at Orion's reaction, but that was what Megatron did, waving a placating hand in the air while Orion walked around the statues, trying, in vain, to find anything that would help identify them.

"If there's any scraps of data left of them, I'm sure you'll find it that way. You could also use your recorder to take additional images," Megatron pointed out, remembering the thing he'd used earlier on the wall.

The last question had Megatron pausing, leaning against the foot of the one with a more animal-like helmet design.

"No. I didn't. Though it seems to me as if they were holding something, once," Megatron said, offering up what he knew for a truth blandly, pointing up at the hands held aloft, that didn't quite touch.

"Of course I will," Orion murmured, already focused on his task.

"But I'll search around here before I have to resort to scans and a long archive-dive with only the picture of a rusting statue to work off of."

Orin paused, hands resting up against the pedestals, glancing up from between the statues.

"...Huh. Megatron, I think you're right." He glanced back down around his feet with a vaguely hopeful air, but it was quickly obvious even with the thick coating on the floor that whatever might have been up there wasn't lying where it might have fallen.

"Drat! Whatever it was must be long gone, if it existed at all.:

"Looks like that, yes," Megatron murmured, nodding seriously. He should know, after all. He'd removed the casing that had contained a golden data-repository disk inside, himself.

"Neither of these are particularly rusty, however, Orion," he said with a smirk, glancing up at the statues again; they were nearly pristine in both lines and colour, if not polished any longer.

When something that almosy seemed like an earlier echo but sounded just slightly off came on the tailend of the last echo, Megatron glanced towards the opening they'd come from and frowned.

... Was there something down here?

"Oh I know," he said flippantly, "But they might as well be. This grime is getting everywhere, but I think I found a spot where someone removed a name plate or plaque under it..."

He trailed off, noticing Megatron's tension at the same time he realized his larger partner was not the one making noises. Orion froze in place, audial nubs twitching as he cautiously turned his helm around toward different parts of the room.

"Megatron, what is that?"

Turning around, Megatron scowled, pulling his sword out of subspace.

"It seems that we aren't alone down here," he remarked even as he backed up slowly, gesturing for Orion to come over to him while his optics stayed locked on the trio of beings that shuffled in.

They looked... awkward, whatever they were. As much bare protoform as armour, everything seemed slightly off and twisted, their faces lopsided and jagged blades sticking out at both awkward and inconvenient places and angles.

"Back up slowly, towards the wall, but not into the doorway."

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