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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"Maybe you can," Megatron said with a faint smile, and then snorted, "half-sentient? Honestly, Orion. At best it's been encoded with an algorithm for a range of suitable systems to respond to when it's near, to activate the installation process and mine happened to fall within that."

Folding out the spiked ball on its chain and then away again, easy as thinking, Megatron arched an optic ridge and glanced down at Orion.

"At the worst, or rather, simplest, it simply reacted to the next touch, and the forcefield was there to keep it in place and anyone who would earlier have wandered in would've known not to touch it if they weren't looking for a weapon."

Privately, Megatron thought that if the orange crystal was a weapon encoded in the crystalline matrix, then Orion could well do with a weapon that could not be easily (or at all) removed from his person, and only responded to his own thoughts to activate.

"Uh huh. Or, half-sentient," he muttered, only half joking. Sighing, he glanced between Megatron's fist where the weapon continued to retract-engage to the display for it's 'sister' crystal. There was no real reason to think Orion would be able to get at it, or even that it would do the exact same thing as the purple crystal had.

But he still could not deny his strange - for lack of a better word - attraction to the thing.

Orion backfired his engines, snorting. "Ugh. Fine," he growled, before reaching over and pressing a palm against the force field.

He was only fractionally surprised when his hand went right through, field dissipating under his touch. But the sudden lack of resistance did keep his hand from stopping, and he ended up with warm, orange crystal right up against his palm.

"Oh, frag me."

"You've read too many cheap thrillers," Megatron said with a roll of his optics, waiting for Orion to give in - which he did, because it was obvious he was being sort of... pulled.

Which, maybe, a better person would've made sure Orion didn't give in, consciously or subconsciously to said pull. Megatron wasn't that good of a person, however, and he was also rather convinced it was safe - and would only mean an advantage for Orion if he did it.

So he didn't try to lunge forward to snatch the crystal away when the force field disappeared and the crystal fell, for a brief moment, into Orion's hand.

And then, of course, it melted, like the purple one had.

Orion hissed as the crystal dissolved into it's amorphous form, sinking right down through the gaps in his armor and fusing to his circuits. It fragging hurt and it was all he could do to keep his reaction down to a choked wheeze of pain. Megatron had far more practice than him when it came to dealing with discomfort.

Then it was abruptly over, tension from pain and something undefinable left behind. Some instinct had him turn his arm away from both Megatron and himself- before before releasing that tension with a thought.

"Oh."

An orange energon-axe blade formed where his hand once was, wicked and sharp and far more terrifying than sort of mod or weapons he had ever planned on acquiring.

And yet it still felt oddly right.

Maybe the issue was that Orion wasn't configured to carry weapons - to Megatron, the crystal dissolving and the coding installing itself hadn't hurt at all.

With a quiet grunt at Orion's exclamation, he reached out and took Orion's wrist in hand, pulling his arm up a little to get a better look at the axe.

"A weapon no one can remove from you. Useful." For what, he didn't say, and maybe (perhaps hopefully), Orion would never get the chance to use it, regardless of what Megatron planned to do himself.

"I wonder about the pattern, why these and the book, and nothing else," Megatron said with a frown as he glanced around the room and let go of Orion's wrist.

"I suppose. I might have preferred a stylus," he said blandly.

He fought the urge to twitch when Megatron handed his arm this way and that. There was no reason to pull away from Megatron, after all - there was no reason for Megatron's touch to make him twitchy. And if he did, the blade could easily slice one of them.

"I don't know. Have you finished checking everything already?"

He hadn't, but at this rate, they'd have half the room in their pockets when they finally left.

"Not yet," he admitted easily, shrugging, "we'll do that now, of course, but I'm pretty sure that if there's anything left that will be... ah, shall we say, gifted, to us it certainly won't be all the rest that either of us haven't touched yet."

Megatron was utterly certain about that, and while he was interesting in looking at why, that could wait until they were out of here and he could go through the events and properly analyze them.

"Want to do the honours?" Megatron said with a smirk and a little half-bow around the room. He'd follow behind Orion and touch the rest of the force fields he hadn't yet as well, of course.

It took Orion a moment, but once he figured it out the axe retracted with a simple thought. It felt strange, despite how easily his hand had reappeared once more.

"I suppose," he agreed. After a conclusion like that, ending with a relic embedded in his own arm, it was mildly difficult to work up the previous level of excitement about the others. Which was ridiculous, considering how important of a discovery they all still were.

Approaching the minicon-scaled relic, Orion paused and turned to look back at Megatron.

"Just so you know, if I come out of here looking like I absorbed half a mod factory, I'm blaming you."

"If they all end up internal unless in use, you won't end up looking like you absorbed a mod factory, but you're welcome to blame me. I did take you down here, after all." Of course, Orion didn't actually have to touch the force fields and risk anything, and in the interest of showing that he didn't expect Orion to go first with each of these, he walked up beside the smaller mech and reached a hand out.

The force field hummed against his hand, spitting angry static that prickled needles of energy into the metal, but it didn't disappear. Lifting his hand off, he shook it out and shrugged.

"But if you do come out looking like one, I'll wonder what it is about you that attracts it."

Because it must be something in that case.

If it happened.

"I don't think they are attracted to me."

Orion was surprised and somewhat relieved that the field didn't dissolve - and then feeling immediately guilty - when it didn't dissipate under Megatron's hand.

"If they end up internal," Orion agreed, before touching the barrier around the minicon-scaled relic himself. The jolt was familiar and he backed away, moving on to the next. Solus' tool got the same result, though he was either getting used to the pain or the shock wasn't as strong. He wasn't entirely sure.

"So what do you think they're attracted to, then?" It was an honest question, asked while Megatron watched Orion touched the force field and nothing happened. Strangely enough, Megatron had had the faint knowledge that nothing would happen, either, the same for Solus' tool and he touched that with a similar sort of conviction about himself, too.

Frowning at the next one, something that was some sort of datarepository, Megatron... wasn't sure whether he could get it or not, or if Orion could, but he wanted to. Wanted it. He was, instantly, so very interested of what might be inside.

And was, he admitted, rather disappointed when he couldn't get the force field to disappear.

"What's this supposed to be?"

"Just. Weird chance," Orion grumbled. "Perhaps just the fact that I have the book. I don't even know."

He didn't have a real answer, after all. He wasn't sure what was going on for real, but any solution was more likely that him being 'special' somehow.

That was just silly.

"...hmm?" He paused, glancing over. "Which one? The data-repository?"

"And what allowed you to get the book to start with, hm?" Megatron smiled sharply and didn't add that he didn't think anything from having gotten into one of these locked corridors and this room had to do with weird chance.

Orion didn't seem willing to speculate, especially not when it came to something that could be tied to him.

"That one, yes. The ball with the changing substance over there is very interesting, I'm sure, but a data-repository is more than just its own thing." It contained information, and it was rather taunting him to see it beyond their (his) reach.

"A weakening force field," Orion replied, without any real conviction or effort.

"'The Tertiary Sphere of Micronus Prime'," He noted pointedly as he passed, giving it and Solus Prime's tool a scan. "Whatever that means. But a data-repository is probably something very interesting..."

Finished with the current field, Orion immediately approached the one Megatron was indicating - weapons and mysterious tools were fascinating enough, but something with data...

Orion leaned over, translating with a growing expression of wonder.

"'The Star-Map of Quintus Prime'."

"Ah, yes, a weakening in the force field, when none others, aside from three in total, have disappeared on us." Megatron refrained from pointing out how, since they were all presumably the same age, the mechanisms ought to be equally worn out and all, or none, ought to be disappearing, especially in such an untouched environment.

"... Hm. Can you breach it?" Megatron asked, having a feeling that no, Orion wouldn't be able to, as little as he had.

He almost rather considered taking his new energon morningstar to the force field, but, with a glance around the room, decided it was probably better to be prudent.

For once.

The curiosity, the need to know what was on that data-repository was pulling at him, however.

"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.

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taking a educated guess :V

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