Orion woke up from his stasis nap as he heard the announcer say, "Now arriving at Crystal City." He rubbed his helm as his processor was still aching from his nap. He got up and walked out of the train doors and he exited the train station.

Orion Pax, a bot who had once worked in the Iacon City archives, was taken aback as he witnessed the magnificence of Crystal City's architecture. While he had only heard rumors and read about how the city was Cybertron's most treasured place on the planet, seeing it in person was an entirely different thing altogether. He wasn't here as a tourist, though.

"Shouldn't be that far from here," Orion mumbled to himself as he walked into the streets of the famed city. It was then that he noticed an unusual app on his datapad. It had a black background with a face that reminded him of the description of what the Titans would have claimed to be the face of Primus himself. This wasn't the first time it had happened, though. It first appeared after the "incident…."

I'll have to contact Perceptor and have him fix it. Orion thought as he deleted the app. After he did that, he transformed into his alt-mode and followed the signs that directed him to the streets of Halogen. If Orion had to be honest with himself, he prefered the rather quiet appeal of the small city to that of Crystal City. It'd make it a hell of a lot easier for me to find my soon to be guardian. It was then that he realized that his GPS would be of no use here, being it a small town.

"Excuse me," Orion asked as he gained the attention of a police-bot, "Could you please help me find Maccadam's place of residence, sir?"

"Sure thing," the Police-bot replied, "just go down this way for three blocks, then take a right." He pointed toward the direction Orion was facing.

"Thanks" Orion thanked as he waved the officer goodbye and did exactly as he was told. After he had reached the house, he had realized that the bot in question wasn't there. He then remembered that Maccadam had a small shop not too far away from his house. He'll probably be there Orion thought as he walked there.

Sure enough, Orion was right. In front of the former archivist was a small cafe called, "Maccadam's Oil Grill" Orion took a deep breath and walked inside to find that the interior of the cafe was rustic and retro, not unlike his old mentor Alpha Trion's office back in Iacon. It had small booths and a bar area but instead of Engex, it was rich with the smell of Oil. Petroleum, Tar, Gasoline, Grease- you name the type, it was there. From a quick scan of the room, there were only 3 occupants inside the cafe: an old male Velocitronian with an elderly female Eukarian, married, judging by the rings made from steel with crystallized Protodermis on top of both.

Then there was the barista himself, he was an old bot, maybe as old as Alpha Trion himself. He had a set of blue goggles on his face with that of a stocky build, His frame reminded Orion that of Bulkhead, except unlike the construction worker back home, he had a bright color scheme with bits of orange and greenish-grey on his frame. His helm was similar to that of Orion's own helm. However, unlike Orion, his antennae were somewhat short and had a beige color to them. His face had a short orange beard plate that stuck out from his face placeplate His mustache also reminded Orion of Alpha Trion.

"Let's see," the Barista muttered to himself as he was doing the crossword, "an eight-lettered word for a four servo pest that terrorizes young protoforms…" Orion's presence suddenly alerted the barista who then put the crossword down before approaching the young bot.

"Are you Maccadam, sir?" Orion asked nicely, hoping he got it right.

"I am he," the bot replied with a thick Halogenian accent. "Alpha Trion called earlier," Maccadam mumbled as he folded the paper. At that moment, the old couple got up and gave Maccadam their tip.

"We'll be heading home right now, Maccadam," the Velocitronian said, "It's nice not to have anyone crash here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maccadam inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"The psychotic breakdowns," the Velocitronian said, "they've been showing up on the news lately."

Come to think of it, Orion remembered hearing about that on the train on his way here. Now that he thought about it, that thought was enough to send multiple shivers down his endo-spine.

"It ain't any of my concern." Maccadam replied with a calm voice.

"Does anything concern you, Maccadam?" The old Velocitronian asked. "Have a nice day, anyways." With that, the couple left.

"Four Mega-cycles for only one cup of Smelting Grease," Maccadam muttered before turning toward Orion. "I'm your new guardian by the way, I'm Maccadam, the owner."

"Nice to meet you sir," Orio replied, careful as not to come off as disrespectful.

"No need to call me sir," The old bot chuckled, "Just call me Maccadam."

"Yes, sir-Maccadam," Orion corrected himself.

"You don't seem like the delinquent type to me," Maccadam spoke as he observed Orion. "Alpha Trion spoke very highly of you, said that the worst you ever did before this was accidentally placed a book on the 13 Primes in the Fiction section." Maccadam chuckled as he talked about. "Let me guess, you were trying to play the hero when you saw someone in trouble and the offender sued had you filed for assault am, I right?"

"Yeah…" Orion replied.

"I don't blame you for what you were trying to do, but remember: there's a thin line between being a hero and a memory." Maccadam advised as they went up to the attic of the Cafe. It was empty with a berth on it, signifying that it was a place to recharge.

"It's not much," Orion commented, "but it's better than nothing."

"I'm about to lock up right now," Maccadam said, "So it's best if you recharged right now for the time being." He then took off his lenses and clean them. "If you're hungry, I have some energon in the fridge that you can have."

"Thank you," Orion replied.

"Just don't touch anything while I'm gone." He then snapped his fingers."Before I forget, I'm supposed to tell you that we're heading to your new school tomorrow, You know, Datsun Academy? We're supposed to get your class schedule and meet your principal as well."

Orion nodded in complete understanding before Maccadam left the cafe. Orion sat down on his recharge berth before taking a look at his datapad. Damn app. He thought Just go away already! He thought as he deleted the app again. He then proceeded to put himself in recharge mode as sleep overcame him…..

….Only for him to wake up in a cell. Orion's optics opened up as an unusually uneasy feeling overcame him. Something's not right. Orion thought as he stood up only to feel stasis cuffs on his wrists. He got up and tried to approach the cell front only to find that a sphere made of hardened ununtrium was chained to his left leg. Before him was a large room with beautiful singing coming from nowhere while two minicons dressed as Wardens with one yellow optic stood in front of his cell. The most striking thing about this place though was the color. It was in every shade of blue, from Sapphire to Aqua.

"Get up, Inmate!" The minicon with an eyepatch on her right optic exclaimed as she hit the cell door with her baton.

.

"Our master wishes to have a word with you." The minicon with an eypatch on her left optic said calmly.

In the middle of the room was a mech who was sitting at a desk with a quill in an ink bottle and an open book before him. The mech himself was greyish-white with tank-like appearance. He had a bucket shaped helm on his head with his torso being a rectangular red optics glowed with what seemed to be some form of intent in them. Whether that intent was malicious or benevolent was unknown to Orion. His back had a barrel on his right side while his right arm had a black fusion cannon attached to it. Judging from his appearance, Orion could only guess that he turned into a mining tank. The most unnerving thing about the mech was not in his appearance, but rather his smile.

"Hero," the mech spoke in a deep, malicious sounding voice, "Welcome to my Titanium Room."

Orion could only look in confusion as he grabbed the bars while a million questions ran through his processor.