[Megatron]
Following the group of femmes further into the ancient structure Megatron couldn't help but watch the one who had attacked him, Aria. From the way the others looked to her for commands and reassurance it was clear she was the undisputed leader of the little group.
Imagine his surprise when the first thing to meet him when entering the structure was not his greatest enemy, as he had suspected, but a fierce femme with the courage to take him head on. His jaw still ached from the powerful blow masterfully delivered from beneath his guard. The way she had ducked under his arm and swept his legs out from beneath him when he was off balance- it was safe to say she was a veteran warrior. Yet as he looked over her frame he had to frown at the unfamiliar design.
It was like a perfect blending of civilian and warrior. Her 'weapon' of choice was also quite fascinating. He had not seen a gladiatorial shield like that in quite some time and it seemed to have some hidden tricks as well, if the shimmer along its surface indicated what he thought it did.
A threat to his life was normally something he would not abide. He was the leader of the Decepticons, and very few had ever bested him in combat, but the sheer determination in her optics, the will to go through with her threat, had stalled his processor for a moment. There had been no hatred in her gaze, only purpose, and he wondered why such a femme would go so far.
Then he'd heard the wailing and it clicked into place.
A sparkling. And judging from how quickly the femme went from calm warrior to frantic femme the moment she saw the little bot he surmised that it was her sparkling.
The way she had stood in front of that hall, as if she and she alone could stop all of them if her companions failed… it had made something inside him flare with interest.
An interest he'd not felt in eons.
He came out of his contemplation as Aria looked to the femme flanking her on the left. "J-Jive," she seemed to hesitate, glancing back at him momentarily before turning back to the other femme, "please go on ahead and let them know we have a ceasefire. I don't want to scare the little ones."
The visored femme gave Aria a playful salute. "Ya got it, Bossbot." She said before disappearing down a different hall. The accent sounded Polyhexian, but it was buffered by something else. A kind of musical undertone that should have been familiar but wasn't.
Aria turned back to him and he put the information to the back of his processor, for the moment. "There are four others, besides those you see here, and twenty-three sparklings." She said calmly. "I ask that you are careful around them, some of them have… have been through a lot." Her shoulders drooped slightly and for a moment it looked as if all the weight of the cosmos rested upon her back. In the next moment her resolve and determination were back, shoulders squared and emotions set aside for later. "If I see anyone being the slightest bit rough with them, I will eject the perpetrator myself." Her optics flashed and Megatron knew she was serious about her threat.
"We would never seek to harm sparklings." Megatron stated simply. "Warframes care about our young just like any other frametype. If something occurs I can assure you; I will deal with it myself." And he meant every glyph of it.
Aria watched him warily for a moment before something in her frame relaxed. The way her optics shifted and softened he would bet any amount of shanix that she was smiling behind her battlemask.
He briefly wondered if he could convince her to drop the mask but discarded the idea immediately. None of the femmes trusted him and he would be a fool to think that would change any time soon.
They entered a large domed area and Megatron almost froze at the four femmes standing there, protectively hovering over the small swarm of unpainted sparklings.
Something inside his spark ached to see them without a splash of color, too close to the color of death for comfort. He noted that none of the femmes had any color either and wondered if they had all chosen to get rid of any distinguishing marks or if it was a side effect of something else.
The sparkling from before tried to run toward his caretaker but was stopped by a sharp eyed Praxian femme.
"You really brought the Slagmaker in Chief himself here, didn't you?" One of the femmes scoffed as she stomped forward. "Who's injured? I know one of you afthelms is, you always are."
"R-Rivet!" A particularly large femme stuttered, looking scandalized. "Not around young audials!" She looked down at the sparklings, who seemed more interested in the new bots than anything the snappy femme was saying.
Megatron let out a chuckle of amusement before catching Aria staring up at him. The moment their optics met she looked away again.
"I think it would be best for everyone to introduce themselves." She said as the waved off the femme medic with a gentle voice. "I'm fine, Rivet, check the others first."
The medical femme pursed her lips for a moment, obviously wanting to argue, but after a moment she let out a heavy vent and stalked toward the other femmes who had been part of the ambush.
"My designation is Pacer." The Praxian femme standing to Aria's right stated calmly.
The Carrier spoke next, giving them a jaunty wave, though she held her field in quite close. "Frequency." He noticed that she did not supply the names of her symbiotes.
The next femme smiled confidently. "Rebound."
The largest femme ducked her head a little, looking flustered at the sudden attention. "S-Skydancer."
The next femme let out a small tut as she crossed her arms. "Lectura."
The femme who had collected Aria's sparkling earlier shifted from pede to pede, as if trying to disperse her nervous energy. "Afterimage." It took him a moment to parse out her designation, she'd spoken almost too fast. By the look of her she was a speedster, potentially Velocitronian.
The sharp eyed Praxian gave them a polite nod, expression carefully neutral. "Mistveil."
The last femme just kind of shrugged. "I'm Uplift."
By the time the femmes were finished their introductions his Decepticons had gotten themselves into some kind of order, the shock finally beginning to wear off. At the same time Rivet, the medic, finished whatever repair the confident femme, Rebound, seemed to have and finally stepped away.
The medic glowered at him for a moment before letting out a heavy vent. "Well?" She asked, one hand on her hip and a tool in the other.
"Well what, femme?" Barricade asked in response.
"Well which one of you low processored idiots is injured?" She snapped.
"You… want to fix us?" Breakdown asked, looking from the medic to Barricade and back.
"I'm a medical professional. I won't leave any bot unattended if I can help it." She said firmly. "I swore an oath and I intend to keep it."
Megatron watched his mechs as they mulled over the information.
Finally Barricade shrugged and motioned to his arm. "I'm having trouble moving it."
Megatron's optic ridge rose slightly in surprise.
"Hmph. Let's see what the damage is." Rivet strode over to the warrior and immediately started running her digits over the appendage. She dug into the shoulder seam and Megatron's optic ridge rose further when the mech's face flushed slightly.
"Hey!" His attention was grabbed by a sharp shout and he turned just in time to see Aria's sparkling break free from the sharp eyed Praxian, Mistveil. The little bot bolted across the room and Aria let out a small fond huff before she knelt and opened her arms for them.
The sparkling let out a series of angry chirps before snuggling against the femme's chassis. "I know, little one, I'm sorry for scaring you." She said quietly, voice soft and filled with warmth.
Megatron burned with sudden desire at the sight. It was a future he knew he would never have, back when he was a gladiator, but one he had always craved.
"And who is this?" He asked, keeping his tone light. "I don't think we've been introduced yet."
Aria looked up at him, almost seeming startled, before she ran her digits over the sparkling's helm in a calming gesture. "…Hornet. His designation is Hornet, and he may look cute but he is a fierce little fighter." There was a sense of pride and adoration in her voice and the sparkling responded in kind, sitting up straighter and making happy little chirps.
Large blue optics landed on Megatron and the sparkling made a couple of clicking noises before pointing at him.
"No, little one, I think you should stay right where you are." Aria chided gently.
Wide blue optics stared up at her and it was only a matter of time before the femme caved under the absolutely devastating stare. She turned to look up at him, optics blazing with protective light. "If he receives even a single scratch…" She let out a harsh vent before stepping closer and holding out the sparkling to him.
The sparkling made more clicking and chirping noises, glancing back at his caretaker. She let out a small chuckle. "Yes, he is very big. No, I don't think you will be as big when you are older." The sparkling whined and Aria shook her head in amusement.
Without thinking about what he was doing Megatron held out his servo to the tiny bot. The sparkling reached out and patted his servo, looking fascinated. The little one tried to wriggle out of Aria's hold to get closer and she let out a low defensive sound, something bordering on a growl, before pulling her sparkling back and away.
"Mistveil, would you take Hornet for me? We should probably begin our discussion on what the… Decepticons might aid us with."
Without a word the Praxian femme came forward and took Aria's sparkling, who began to complain the moment he was not in contact with his caretaker.
"I think ah saw a meetin room nearby, Bossbot. We can take care o' these mechs." The Polyhexian femme said, pointing toward one of the arches that led down another hall. "Just through there an then turn left."
"Thank you, Jive." Aria turned and looked over her gathered femmes. She seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Lectura, with me. Pacer, you're in charge until I return."
As soon as the prim femme joined them Aria turned to him. "If you'll follow me, Megatron." She said as she turned away and began walking toward the archway.
His spark flared and his steps almost faltered.
When was the last time anyone had said his designation like that? As if he were an equal. And why, in the Smelter's name, did he not feel the need to correct her?
[Optimus]
By grace of her training, and long years at war, she was able to maintain a veneer of calm as she turned her back on her greatest enemy once again and led him further into the temple, their current temporary base. Intermittently she'd felt the Matrix give off pulses of warmth in a manner that felt like approval but otherwise the artifact in her chassis remained dormant.
It was odd, she thought, Megatron was acting far more subdued than she had ever seen him. Even during the tentative 'peace talks' of millennia ago the mech had always seemed to have this overwhelming presence that just screamed dominance. But at the moment whatever that presence was had been reigned in, leaving her reeling and confused.
Even Bumblebee, who had more reason than most to be terrified of Megatron, had only expressed a sparkling's curiosity over the 'big big mech.'
At least she had confirmation that those who had been reverted back to sparklinghood had no memories of their lives as adult frames. None of them had seemed to have a poor reaction to the Decepticons. Lacking the innate fear of warframes that older bots expressed.
Jazz's quick thinking in warning everyone else they would need to choose new designations was Primus sent. Optim-Aria only hoped the sparklings would take to their new designations as quickly, otherwise they could all be in grave danger.
Entering the room Jive had pointed them to she was glad to see there were chairs large enough for somebot of Megatron's size. Going around the table she took a seat, laying her servos flat on the table.
The mech's optics flicked down to her empty servos and a look of surprise came over him. Perhaps he had not expected someone like her to know anything about Warframes or their different cultures. The gesture itself was such a small thing and yet it seemed to have quite an impact on the large mech.
"Why don't we start this negotiation with what you're actually willing to provide immediately. Then, if we have further needs, I can bring those items to your attention." Her helm tilted slightly as she looked up at him. "Does that sound straight forward enough?"
Megatron leaned back in the chair, interlocking his digits and letting out a contemplative noise. "It is straight forward enough, however, I have one request." There was a gleam in his intelligent optics and Optim-Aria stiffened with wariness.
"No offense to you, Megatron, but I would like to hear it before I agree to anything."
The mech chuckled. "It is nothing sinister, I promise you. It is only; how do you expect me to trust your word when you won't even show your face?" His tone was mild but his optics bore into her intently. "You still look ready for battle with your mask and shield."
"I… suppose that is fair." With a simple motion she subspaced her shield before retracting her battlemask. "Is this better?"
"Quite." She looked up at the warlord and something in his presence seemed almost… pleased.
"Then please proceed. What sort of aid are you offering us?" She waved at Perceptor, now Lectura, and the other femme pulled out a pad to take notes on.
Megatron sat up straighter. "For starters, we can provide you with Energon."
New Designations
Femmes;
Aria/Aria Prime- Orion Pax/Optimus Prime
Rivet- Ratchet
Pacer- Prowl
Jive- Jazz
Rebound- Springer
Mistveil- Smokescreen
Frequency- Blaster
Uplift- Wheeljack
Lectura- Perceptor
Skydancer- Skyfire/Jetfire
Afterimage- Blurr
Sparklings;
Hornet- Bumblebee