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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Orion's neck creaked when he turned from gawking at the horrors far too quickly, giving Megatron a look. Monsters and beings of the dark deeps were not part of Orion's expertise.

"But...what? They can't- People live down here?"

And were apparently so addled by injury or mutation that they gave no sign that they had heard Megatron's words, making no apparent attempts to block their optics.

::Er. Alright?:: He agreed, tensely readying himself.

"I doubt they count as people, Orion," Megatron said with a snort, slowly weaving his sword in front of him in warning, though the creatures didn't seem to take notice.

::I don't think we need to bother to talk over radio, Orion. While they probably understand speech, I'm wondering if they have a proper causal understanding and a sense of future events.::

It was, at least, Megatron's assumption. He raised his sword as he cast a glance behind him, noting how close they were to the wall.

::Now.::

::I'll stick with it just in case, thank you.::

Orion really wanted to argue the 'not people' part of the conversation, but this probably wasn't the time.

And he didn't want to distract Megatron from a fight, not even for the sake of (potentially) ill Cybertronians.

So he lit up his headlights on cue at their brightest setting, and was startled to see the visceral reaction the pitiful- people? creatures? - had at the light.

Someone else might have hesitated to strike down opponents who jerked and shied away from the light, twisting and then freezing in the same movement, clearly startled and blinded both.

Not Megatron.

He leaped forward, swinging his sword and cleanly chopping one of them in half and driving a deep groove in a second, kicking the third and sending it sprawling for a moment.

That was the only free action he got, however, as the injured one suddenly lunged with a speed completely contrary to the earlier shuffling, wielding its body like the weapon it was with all the odd blades and twisted angles.

Megatron ducked, kicked at its knees, and thrust his sword out at the thing he'd kicked to the ground earlier as it picked itself up and made to jump on Orion behind Megatron's back.

Orion flinched at Megatron's explosive reaction, ruthlessly taking advantage of the beings moment of weakness. He couldn't help but think that hacking one right in half was a bit much... But the creatures own surge of motion conflicted with their earlier shuffle, and Orion's moral dilemma was shunted to the back of his processor when his own survival was suddenly at stake.

Megatron's sword tore through the oncoming creature, but even with a chunk gouged out of it's side, it still had enough momentum to go colliding with the smaller mech. Orion didn't have much of anything in the way of in-built weaponry- but activating his hard-light energon display in a panic and shoving was enough to clothesline the being in the neck and send it tumbling back down, gagging. Orion nearly toppled over himself, but it was worth the sudden energy drain to avoid it's claws and armor.

Annoyed he'd only scraped its back as it managed to pass him to jump at Orion, at least Orion wasn't entirely useless and reacted commendably fast. Catching the wrist of the creature he was facing, Megatron didn't look back as he reached out and steadied Orion, then kicked the downed creature away, sending it clattering across the floor before it could get up again.

It'd come back, but this gave him a moment to twist out of the way as the one in front of him clawed after him, and then he thrust again, burying his sword in the thing's chest, watching a wavering white glare flare and fade.

Yanking his sword out, he moved to face the last one left - unless more joined them - casting a glance back at Orion.

"You're all right?"

Regaining his balance and staring between at the twitching corpses on the floor, Megatron, and the last advancing being, Orion burst into a quiet, brief bout of near-hysterical laughter. He checked over his limbs, and despite a tremble in them it was clear that he had managed to escape unscathed.

"Ah. Ha. Yes? I think so?"

He made a face as the creature lunged, relatively unconcerned with Megatron's protective bulk between them.

"That...was not an approved use of my holo-display," he said dryly, bursting into renewed chuckles that were a great deal more controlled than the last.

"Almost anything can be made into a weapon when the need strikes, Orion," Megatron said as he leaped forwards to meet the creature's lunge, swiping with his sword but allowing the thing to block it.

Allowing it to block it because he thrust his hand out, ignoring the spikes and blades along the creature's other arm and up on its shoulder, grabbed it by the faceplate and twisted.

It scrabbled against his arm and there was a loud crack of optic glass shattering right before it couldn't withstand his strength and he broke its neck.

Dropping the thing, Megatron stepped back, letting out a slow, hot vent. He felt good. Fighting in the arena was nothing like this, was nothing like killing something that was all wrong.

"So noted," Orion agreed dryly. His field fliched when Megatron started using his hands - the pop of shattering optics and helm casing making his shakes return with a vengeance.

"...urgh."

He turned away, tanks churning, optics dimming as he blocked out the view and tried not to be ill. The violence of the kill was bad enough; the strange satisfaction he suddenly felt at it's death repulsed him even more.

What sort of thought was that to have?

Distracted for several moments by his combat high and the threat assessment running through several scans and finding nothing, Megatron took a short while to notice Orion's reaction.

Glancing over, he grunted softly and kicked the creature at his feet, sending it clattering away to the base of one of the statues while he gathered the other two corpses and pulled all three of them behind one of the statues before he came back. He walked back while pulling out a mesh cloth out of his subspace that usually was for his sword, though using it for his hand now.

"Your instinct's good, by the way. If you'd frozen up it could've been worse," he said as he patted Orion's shoulder, then trailed his hands down Orion's sides to make sure he hadn't actually be injured.

He hadn't, which Megatron had already known, but something demanded he'd check.

"If you say so."

Orion jumped slightly at the unexpected pat-down, before immediately relaxing again. He shook his head slowly, trying to clear his processor. He was rather grateful that Megatron had removed the corpses.

"It was more of a...blind panic than anything else," he shrugged, eyeballing Megatron's own, somewhat splattered form in turn.

"You are well?"

"Of course I am," Megatron snorted, then shook his head, waving a hand in the air, "and 'blind panic' is precisely why I say your instinct's good, Orion. You didn't think, and you still acted in a way that got you a momentary respite."

Pausing, he tilted his helm and arched an optic ridge.

"If you'd frozen up, that thing would've gotten to you before I got there. It wouldn't have had any time to deal any real damage, but that's not the point," Megatron smirked and scraped off some liquid that had splashed on his forearm, "I'm impressed somebody who doesn't come configured with personal weapons has any such instinct at all... makes my job easier."

Since he was still fully intending on getting Orion well-acquainted with self-defense.

"I can want to make sure you're okay too, thank you very much," Orion huffed, swatting at Megatron's unsplattered side.

"Just because you're the umpteeth-time arena champion doesn't mean you can't be injured by...by whatever those things were."

It wasn't easy to admit, mostly because the idea was so horrific, but Orion had to agree that those beings had not been normal people. Not anymore, if they ever were at all.

"But ah. Thank you? For both saving us and, well..." He gestured vaguely with the arm he'd used to block the creature, oddly pleased that Megatron thought his flailing was worth compliment.

Megatron made no apologetic noises over his dismissal of Orion's concern, just smirked - though he did dip his helm briefly in what could be an acknowledgement.

"If I were, you would have noticed," he finally added before throwing a frown over at the statue he'd dumped the corpses behind, "it's curious, however, that for all the times I've been down here I haven't come across anything like this before..."

Looking back at Orion, Megatron arched an optic ridge.

"Either we were simply unlucky this time, or you and your poking around maybe triggered something." Megatron didn't really care; he'd get all he could out of this, but it was an interesting thought, that, maybe, the creatures had been called to them by Orion's presence.

He didn't think it was the scanning of the text or anything; he had done about as much elsewhere, if not here, exactly. And he was the one who'd taken the disc and not been stopped in any way.

Considering the amount of splatter, he might have missed something - but Orion didn't press the point. Instead, he winced guiltily, glancing back toward the statues in question.

"I certainly hope not... I didn't sense or feel any sort of pressure plates or booby traps, but there could be something beyond my ability to detect. This place was built so long ago..."

Well, if he'd already triggered it once...

He stepped toward the statues again, scanning far more intently and watching where he placed his feet. The dust and debris was so thick in place it could possibly be hiding a sensor on the ground somewhere perhaps?

"I've been down here before myself and moving around. I doubt there's any sensors or anything else of that sort. It might just be you," Megatron said, amusement clear in his voice, "who knows, maybe you've just got a bright and special spark."

The smirk Megatron gave Orion was very toothy, though he waved a dismissive hand in the air. It didn't matter. Even if they were ambushed by a few more of those things Megatron felt secure in his ability to keep them both unharmed, if not necessarily safe.

"Me?"

Orion started, peering back around the leg of the spikier statute with an indignant look on his face.

"How could I even- 'Special spark' my aft!" He huffed, vents flaring with a rev.

"You seem to be trying to come up with every possible reason this could be my doing. Maybe it's your fault - you've been here before, after all. Maybe that were waiting for you to return. Or, maybe, its no one's fault?"

Really. Flinging blame around was hardly productive.

Laughing, Megatron shook his head.

"Calm down, Orion. It doesn't really matter which it is, does it?" He still couldn't help being far too amused at Orion's indignation at his suggestion that he had a special spark.

Though to be honest, if there was anyone Megatron knew that he'd guess would be something special, it'd be Orion. Call it a hunch.

"And even if it is your fault, it's hardly your fault, is it?" he said with a grin, waving another placating hand in the air, "I didn't know, you could hardly know, and none of us are injured."

"Um, yes, actually. It does! Especially now that you've gone and got me worried about it."

Orion's hands left the careful examination of the statue's lower leg, flying into the air in exasperation.

"We could trigger more of those things - or something worse! If there is a trap for this, who knows what other booby traps could be waiting for us?"

"Orion," Megatron snorted, voice flat as he spoke, "I have been quite thorough visiting this room and the path we took here; if there were booby traps or similar obstacles, I would've triggered them the first time I was here."

Especially considering what he'd taken. Them just walking around touching things would hardly do it; in that case Megatron would still have been the one to trigger something.

"So, whichever other reason might have cause those things to come up from the depths, it certainly wasn't some sort of booby trap or alarm that we triggered."

"Then it doesn't make any sense, unless they planned for your return or-" Orion snorted, engine revving in worried irritation. But he left off his reexamination of the statue, grudgingly returning to Megatron's side.

"I can't exactly say that the idea of me being some sort of lure to these things makes me very comfortable," he grumbled under his breath.

"Let's just. Move on, shall we?"

"I thought being special would've been anyone's dream," Megatron said with a smirk, patting Orion's shoulder and pointing back the way they'd come, "if we backtrack out, we can follow the hall outside... I'm sure we can find more interesting things."

Megatron was sure - even more so now with the entrance of these things, that there was at least one other door in this... display hall or whatever it was, but he had, so far, been unable to find it.

The corridor outside, where the winding walkway they'd taken down to get here ended, did have doors, both open and closed. Megatron was, privately, hoping that with Orion's optic and... what might be a coincidence, what might not, that he might be able to open the closed doors.

"Hrmph. I just want to find special things, not be a special thing, thank you. Especially if it somehow involves being a magnet for...forgotten, underground hunter-creatures."

Orion huffed, nudging Megatron back with his pat shoulder.

"I'm not sure how much 'more interesting' we can survive," he teased, easing back into his study of their path. The corridor had obviously once been very grand; it's size and scale where undiminished, but the colors had long since been lost, and Orion could see signs of scraping damage. Where precious metal gilding had been forcibly pulled away, perhaps?

He paused at the doorways ahead, considering.

"Which way?" he asked, though he quickly had no intentions of heading forward immediately - the carvings and glyphs on said doors invited examination.

"We don't always get to choose if we are or not, Orion," Megatron said, mock-seriously, and then shrugged, waving a hand at the doorways spread along the corridor.

"Any of them, for whatever reason, that attracts your interest?" If Orion chose one of the rooms he'd already explored, he could probably steer him away reasonably quickly. What he wanted was to see what Orion chose... if he was seeing something Megatron wasn't, or if, maybe, there'd be something down here that would pull him towards a particular door.

Much like Megatron had felt drawn to the golden disc the giant statues had been holding.

Orion didn't bother to dignify that with a response, rolling his optics without turning from the doors.

"Oh, both of course," he said, hands tracing glyphs as he dispatched his scanner, recording the markings in glorious full-rendering. He peered down the corridor through the open doorway, naturall - curiosity and all that - but when the view proved to be more of the same worn-down halls... Well.

The still-closed and tempting door perked his audials more.

"Hmm, all of this is a good deal more worn down than the first rooms- pity, it must have been quite nice back when it was still in use. But that also makes it a bit more difficult to make out. Something about the hall with those statues. 'Doom-something'? No, no, 'Death,' perhaps? Something about a ceremony, in vague glowing terms." His engine snorted, and he continued fussing for several moments.

"I'm sure some of this is just supposed to contain directions, but it's all wrapped up in formal enough verbal-gilding to give a Towerling a headache- Hmm... Ah, here we go."

And Orion calmly stepped through the now open doorway, headlights guiding the way as he passed into unexplored territory.

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I don't THINK he's had any weapons before...?

I would think no.

Seems about right :V

an archivist who's a civilian and not a gladiator doesn't get weapons!

aw lame! 8V

/patpat patience, Orion

neverrrr

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gone and worried him now

haha :V

:VVV

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