Orion woke up later, lying on a large berth in a small room. He groaned as he tried to sit up. That was when Chromia came running in worriedly.
"Hey hey Orion. Lie back down. You were really exerting yourself last night. You passed out right after you finished...um..." Chromia's voice trailed off as she tried to find the words to describe what had happened the previous night.
"Went Super Cybertronian and completely destroyed those Sharkticons and that other guy." Dion offered as his helm appeared from around the door.
He walked into the room slowly, his hand on his now medical plate covered back.
"Hey, Dion. You should be resting." Chromia told him.
Dion shrugged. "Nah, lying down makes my back sore even more."
Chromia shook her helm as Ariel and Megatronus walked in.
"Orion!" Ariel exclaimed happily. "You're awake!"
"Yeah." Orion replied.
"What was that last night kid?" Megatronus demanded.
"Megatronus leave him be." Chromia snapped.
"No. He's got explaining to do." Megatronus replied.
The larger mech walked up to Orion.
"What the frag was that last night?" Megatronus repeated.
Orion looked down at his pedes.
"We're all waiting for an answer kid." Megatronus spoke.
"Orion." Ariel spoke softly. "What haven't you been telling us?"
Orion sighed and buried his helm in his servos.
"I'm sorry guys. I-I...fine." Orion decided as he sat up straight.
"You're right, I haven't been completely honest with you." Orion began. "Honest about my...origins."
The other younglings watched Orion closely as he began to tell his tale.
"My creators...I was created by the Quintessons." Orion started. He looked up at Megatronus.
"Um..."
Megatronus waved him off. "Your friends told me everything already."
Orion nodded as he continued.
"I was created by the Quintessons as a weapon. I started off as an emotionless killing machine to serve the Quintessons." Orion explained. "They built my body and using some of the Mystics taken from the Knights of Cybertron, they gave me all of those powers that any other, normal Cybertronian couldn't even dream of having. Heightened speed, strength, intelligence-"
"I'd argue against that." Megatronus interrupted.
Ariel punched his shoulder.
"-and the cords that came out of my back. Those are sharp as any blades and as strong as a Guardian Robot."
"Cool." Dion whispered.
"When I was...turned online, the Quintessons had pre programmed me with knowledge and directives. Serve the Quintessons, and aid them in their conquest of Cybertron. That was my main objective." Orion continued. "However, by then the Quintessons were already on the other side of the galaxy, and were slowly making their way across it towards the Knights. During that time, they trained me properly. How to fight with my powers and I aided them in their 'trials'."
Orion used air quotes on the last word.
"What do you mean, 'trials'?" Dion wondered.
"The Quintessons held trials for anyone who dared to trespass on their land. More often than not every trial ended with the person being tried getting executed. The Quintessons left it to me to lure those people to the courthouse...and I would usually be the one to execute them as well."
Orion pulled his knees close to his face.
"I didn't care about it back then either. The Quintessons didn't give me any emotions. I didn't care about who I killed as long as I was following my programming. The most I could do was simulate actual emotions."
Orion thought back to those times. He could rip out a mech's spark, watch the life fade from their optics, and not even blink. The emotionless expression on his face would never change.
"Then how is it that you have emotions now?" Chromia wondered.
Orion smiled as he looked towards Ariel.
"One day, a Cybertronian ship crashed all the way on the opposite side of Quintessa. Like every time, I went over to lure whoever it was to the courthouse so the Quintessons could judge them. The person who crashed, it-it was a girl."
"What about this girl?" Ariel asked. "What was her name?"
"Elita." Orion replied.
No one noticed, but Ariel's unseeing optics slightly widened at this information.
"At first, she was like every other being I had met before. Then, she began to converse with me. I normally tried to avoid conversations with them but she was so stubborn and persistent. She spoke of her home back on Cybertron, but how she had left because she had the choice to do so. She was the one who had introduced that concept to me. Choice. She talked about it constantly...it soon got to me. I began talking back, and got to know her. And before I knew it, I was feeling warmth within my spark. I was feeling emotion."
Orion's face plates were slowly turning blue as he revealed his story.
"Then what happened? To this girl?" Ariel asked.
Orion's smile disappeared at this question.
"At that point, we had returned to the courthouse." Orion answered. "The Bailiffs took her away and the trial began. By then, my feelings for her had become so strong and I rebelled against the Quintessons. I got Elita out of there. We spent the next few days living together on the parts of Quintessa where the Quintessons couldn't find us. And then I suggested that we-that we leave Quintessa together. So I lead her to the one operational ship that the Quintessons had, but they detected us gave chase. We were almost there too. We...we were almost there."
"What happened Orion?" Chromia asked.
"...she sacrificed herself so I go on. Go on to make my own choices she said." Orion answered. "And so I turned my back and left her. The ship took off and put me in stasis. I later woke up with the Knights. After some intense interrogation, they allowed me to stay. They used their Mystics to give me this new body form, suppressing my power and the rest is history." Orion concluded. "However, I never forgot who gave me this chance."
"Okay. Orion, why didn't you ever tell us before?" Chromia asked.
"Well, I thought that you guys knowing that I was a created for the sole purpose of killing people and conquering Cybertron, the very thing I previously told you that I was working to stop, I just assumed that you would doubt my credibility on saying that I was dedicated to stopping my own creators...er, sorry for making assumptions." Orion replied.
Chromia blinked before sinking back and nodding.
"Yeeeah. Good point." The femme agreed quietly.
Orion nodded. "So uh...what do you guys think? Are you guys mad?"
Dion shrugged. "No of course not Orion! After everything we've been through, you're more than trustworthy!"
"Yeah! We never would've gotten this far without you!" Ariel agreed.
"Well, you wouldn't be here in the first place if it wasn't for me." Orion retorted.
Dion waved him off and wrapped one arm around his friend's shoulders and with the other he pointed out into the distance.
"Details schmetails. We're gonna save the world Orion Pax!" He exclaimed happily.
Chromia and Ariel quickly got up and joined the two mechs and it became a full out group hug. The younglings looked over at Megatronus, who had been listening and watching the scene from a distance.
"Hey. Why don't you come on in?" Chromia offered.
Megatronus shook his helm in reply.
"I don't do hugs." He spoke simply.
The others shook their helms as they smiled at each other.
"Hey, quick question. If you can do that, why not use it all the time?" Megatronus questioned.
"I risk completely losing control. When I'm like that, the power is overwhelming. That's part of the reason why I was originally programmed with no emotions, it gives me better control over all that power. Now that I have emotions, I can barely hear myself think when I go, er, Super Cybertronian."
Dion's face lit up when Orion used the term.
"I could end up destroying and killing a lot more than just the enemies before me." Orion explained.
Megatronus nodded, signifying that he was satisfied with the answer he got.
"Listen guys. This is also a part of the reason why I never told you all about this earlier. I-I don't want you all to be afraid of me. I want to save Cybertron just as much as you do."
Ariel reached out and put her servo on top of his.
"Yeah, we know Orion. We all know. Now, let's get to that next tool." Ariel told him softly.
"C'mon guys!" Orion said happily. "On to the next tool!"
The younglings all cheered (except for the down in the dumps gladiator) as they rushed out of the Kaon apartment.
Orion looked around at his friends, gratefully. It was times like these that he would silently send thanks to the winds, hoping that Elita could somehow hear his gratitude to her for giving him this chance for freedom.
As they all got onto Foneques, the warm and gentle breeze that disappeared as soon as it came that blew over them almost went un noticed.
Kudos to Engineer of Epicness. So that's Orion Pax's backstory. What do you all think?
Let me know what you think! Comment and review!