Co-Authered by Kitra and Omicron

"Human spoken dialogue"
"~Human speaking rough Cybertronian dialogue~"
"Cybertronian spoken dialogue."
::Cybertronian communication/Comm. Line dialogue::
-Bumblebee's translation dialogue-

Atlantis

Discovery

It had taken a while for the entire mine to be filled with fresh air. Though it was still far away from smelling fresh like the forest above, it at least was breathable again. Wing was eyeing the entrance he and Bumblebee had taken, it was rather steep and he figured it would be easier to fly the humans down rather than have them try to climb. Blaster could jump, she wasn't that fragile and Wing couldn't help but lure her with the gold shavings he still had. "Come get your candy, I might even catch you." He teased, grinning and waving the gold like one would to lure a pet.

Blaster peered down, watching a moment before chuckling, "You two find something after all?"

Wing grinned. "A lot, yes. And either you come down to share the excitement or you can grow old up there alone." He mock-threatened.

"Not leaving the humans," The femme called down, letting the organics peer down half under her.

"How do we get there?" Jack asked, there wasn't even mecha stairs to rock climb.

"Jump?" Miko asked, though not just doing it as she didn't know Wing as well as Bulkhead. One arm dangling down to wave at the mech.

Wing snorted amused and eyed them, then used a single burst from his jet engines to fly the distance up and land next to them. "How about I take you lot down?"

"Here, have a cute wing!" Blaster scooped up Raphael and offered the boy like a present to the bigger mech.

The young teen giggled almost in time with Miko, "Um, I'm pocket size?" He offered himself, willing to play along and stealing the girl's line in a way that both older teens laughed from the ground.

Chuckling Wing gently took Raphael, tucking the youth against his chest in a way that made carrying a second human possible, "Very pocket sized and very adorable." The jet smiled. "So present me your second chosen one, Blaster." He intoned almost perfectly in a ritual cadence, if not for the laughter trying to escape.

"Oh, me next!" Milo jumped up from where she had been sitting on the edge with Jack, who was back to studying the opening, and looking down at a trilling Bumblebee. The girl held her arms out to let Blaster pick her up, but was looking up at the Knight, "Can I ride on your shoulder? Please Wing?"

"Yeah. If you hold on tightly I can take Jack along too." He lifted Miko up and shifted her so she was secure, then pointed to where she could hold onto his frame. Wing offered Jack his free arm, purring softly. "Or do you want a ride of your own?" He gave the largest teen an out, in case he felt uncomfortable with hanging onto Wing like that.

Jack looked up and strugged, but he said after looking at the younger male, "I'll ride with Raph." He said, getting up and thanking Blaster for the boost up to Wing, then let Raphael attach himself to the older teen's side. Having either picked up or just knowing his friend would be a bit nervous. If they were sparklings, it was likely Raphael would be purely a grounder, not unlike his guardian.

Blaster hummed and chittered before flipping down to Bumblebee's waiting arms, letting him spin her around as he excitedly explained the find of energon.

Wing lazily made his way down, gently flying to avoid scaring either of his passengers. He set down and waited patiently for the kids to hop down to the ground.

Miko didn't seem to want to get down, even settling to flopping over Wing's shoulder to stay close and stable. "So, are we going to have to do a lot of digging?" She asked, meaning not just the humans but including the Autobots in the 'we.'

"Quite a bit, yes." Wing chirred and reached up to rub across her back. "Which means you can't play pet forever." He teased, starting to move down the tunnel with the stash they had found first.

"Aw..." Miko pouted, hanging on, then propped herself up to look around. "Do we have to do the digging all today? It takes the Decepticons like, months..."

The knight snorted amused. "No, it would take too long and we still haven't explored everything, there's just a few uncovered things we want to take a better look at." He grinned and eyed Bumblebee for confirmation.

-Just a few,- Bumblebee agreed as he motioned Raphael and Blaster to come fallow him. His guard was back in place on the walk back to them. -And take a few crystals home after re-sealing that entrance, hide it better!-

Jack looked up at the mechs, then his attention on one wall again, almost being left behind as he slowly trailed after. He looked both confused and reminded of something as he walked, lagging just behind Wing's feet, and then stopped out right at the first of the stone carved doors in this stash place. The oldest of the teens didn't seem to realize that after a minute his flash light was the only source, as the mechs, and femme were farther along. For some reason he didn't call out, feeling for his Key despite it not being on his person, the energy coming off Jack because of that connection tickling at the Great Sword nearby, drawing attention on a subconscious level.

Wing almost stopped dead in his tracks when he felt the brush against his sword and his own field. He turned and moved back to the almost adult. "What is it?"

"Jack?" Miko called, after a slight scramble to stay put, pushing herself up. When there was no prompt response she grasped at Wing's neck cables and pushed to get him to move over there. "Does he have that Key on him? I thought he left it."

Bumblebee was looking back, giving a worried chirup, a wordless file transfer being sent to Wing. A memory from Arcee on Cybertron finding her charge transfixed much like that in the Sigma-Relay station.

The jet stooped, eyeing the file, then Jack. "No, he left it behind." Wing answered quietly. He shifted his attention to the wall that kept the boys attention, gently brushing his hand across the dusty surface.

"Did he call it?" Raphael's soft voice asked as he trotted over, reaching out to carefully touch the older boy's arm.

The teen blinked, shifted and shook his head, "Song?" He muttered lowly, looking up and blinking at the group. "What?" he asked, as if unaware of what he was doing, or not doing.

Wing froze as he felt Achat perk up with the boys muttering. The ancient presence becoming more pronounced in the back of his mind. The jet touched Jacks shoulder. "Your Key has influence even when you don't carry it with you. You were transfixed by a song?"

"I guess," Jack shook himself and scrubbed at his face and hair to help him 'wake up' again. "I've been hearing something, but its not like being around Optimus... or you."

Wing twitched after a particularly strong prod from Achat, he followed the elders demand, replaying a recording of Achat singing. Or at least the range of tones human ears could hear. "Something like this?"

Jack looked up sharply at the sounds, startled, paused and then shook his head, "Not that deep, it was...lighter. Lonely." Jack looked down, and rubbed the back of his head- a motion much like mecha would do. "I can still kind of hear it." He admitted looking at the other humans to see if they did too

It prompted Achat into offering another file over the bond, this time one from his mate. Wing obligingly played it, watching Jack closely. The songs of female Metrotitans were high but every femme was distinguishable. It was a small chance for Achat that maybe his mate was on that planet. If she was, there was no way the giant would heed Dai Atlas plea to stay hidden and wait for Wing to return on his own. The jet softly questioned Jack. "This voice?"

"Do you hear it too?" Jack asked, blinking dark eyes up at Wing. "That's not the same tone, not as sad I guess?" He could almost feel the Key humming in the back of his mind as if right on his spine, and looked between Wing and the stone carved door. "...Is this bad?" He worried, without Optimus to help him with the Key he was a bit unsure.

The white mech eyed Blaster, grinning. "My home was under the mountain, ten kliks south of the slaver camp. Achat just said the singing you hear is his mate, she's on this planet. It's bad for the human government; they can't keep two Metrotitans a secret. Achat is about as subtle as an exploding sun." Wing explained.

He bounced happily, eyeing the door again. Stepping closer he brushed the dust off it, revealing the Titan glyphs etched into it. "This was made by someone who lives with a Titan, it's their language."

-Should have looked.- Bumblebee said from the side, avoiding Blaster's victory dance. He peered at the carved stone and up at Wing's face. -Sure?- he chirped.

"Metrotitain?" Jack echoed.

"A mech the size of a city. They range between a few hundred feet to a few thousand feet tall when in root mode, I think you get the image of what a stretched out city mode looks like." Wing smiled as he explained. "I give Achat about an earth week to appear here. And that is him being slow about it."

"But...everyone would see him..." Jack worried, he knew his world wasn't quite ready for something like that. The he reached out to tug on Wing's nearer ankle for his attention. "Wing, is it possible for, um, Achat to do what the Decepicons do? They block our human scanners and radar?" He didn't want panic.

"Yeah, but he can't block your eyes. He's large enough to be visible in the sky, when he's in orbit. He'll be quick about landing if he gets coordinates. But how are you going to hide an entire city on the surface?" Wing sighed softly. Searching the human web for references. "It's like trying to remove New York from the map. He could land on the moon or a neighboring planet, but he's not happy about it." It would mean a lot of shuttle traffic, or they'd have to upgrade the ground bridge to a space bridge. Though Wing doubted his creators would wait long enough, both had the armor for space flight and hot atmosphere entries.

Wing sighed softly. "This is something Optimus will have to decide. Revealing our presence on the planet shouldn't have to wait much longer, specially not if Crystal City is here. She might've had contact with humans before. She is not going to be shy about reconnecting with them. And any humans giving us trouble will have to be careful with two Metrotitans and their inhabitants , they don't like being called invaders and conquerors. Most are simple civilians. The knights are as close to a military unit as you'll get. And that's like..." another quick web search, "Saying a shaolin monastery is a military force." Wing shrugged helplessly, but amused.

"What about the water?" Raphael asked innocently from where he was standing to the side with Miko after she was put down for now. As the mechs started to try and open the door, Bumblebee gently shooing Jack as well before pausing.

-Water?- He echoed, frowning and then slowly perking up, trilling at Wing to pay attention.

"Yeah, like...wouldn't the sea hide something that big?" Raphael asked as Miko made a thoughtful sound at this new idea, "My aunt said that cities have fallen in the sea and were lost."

"It might be a possibility. But the majority of Achats population are flyers. I wouldn't take living under water too well. Then again we've lived eons under a giant mountain inside a giant cave..." He mumbled thoughtfully, letting Achat mull the idea over. Wing shifted slightly, eyeing the door again, before wedging one of his daggers into the small gap for leverage. It did the trick as the slap of stone moved enough for the mechs to get their fingers in to grip it better.

"Careful," Blaster said as she helped brace the slab, she looked around and then chirped herself, "It won't retract, but we can roll it out and to the left." She said, noting the grooves in the floor.

Wing chirped and together they pulled and rolled the slab out of the way. "Who wants the honor of looking inside first?"

Bumblebee peered in, sniffing at the air and testing it as he scanned the floor on the other side. He looked back at the humans, buzzing a welcome for them to come as it seemed safe. Miko was first to run over, though paused at the edge of the new doorway, fallowed be Raphael and Jack walking after.

"Whoa... that looks like Ratchet's shiny collection!" She was shining in a flashlight, looking over the stacked boxes along her left hand side, likely filled minorals. But everything glittered from the micro sized energon crystals [human hand size] to larger ones the hand span of a mech, seeming to grow larger into the walls in the back.

The white jet followed last, enjoying the others happiness and excitement. He chirred confused, his optics drawn to a partially visible painting on the wall. "Hey, this is something better than the shinnies." He purred softly, finding the art more interesting than the crystals for once.

"What is it?" Jack asked as he came over, carefully touching blue colors at his level, testing if it was safe before smoothing it over a glyph at his scale, staring at it before he looked up, "This means 'Sea' right?"

Wing nodded. "It does." He brushed and blew more of the dust off, revealing the entire painting.

"Hey! Careful Wing." came a protest and cough from Wing's feet, Jack backing up and away from the new cloud of dirt and tiny crystals that had grown on the painting. He retreated back to a cluster of energon, pulling his shirt up to cover his mouth.

Bumblebee buzzed a warning, picking up Raphael and Miko off ground level.

Wing barely acknowledged them as he stepped back, mesmerized by the picture. "That... That is Crystal City. In all her glory and those are humans..." He pointed to the ancient style clothed humans. Egyptian, Aztec, ancient China, all mixed together at the side of the picture. He whined softly at Achats reaction, curling mentally into the giants outburst of hope and joy.

Blaster was there beside wing, wrapping her arms around the Metrotian consort as Bumblebee came over- after making sure their organic charges were all safe on the stacked bins. He clicked and murmured wordlessly, one hand on Wing's back the other griping his chest plate and helping Blaster force Wing to kneeling down, then sit as he wasn't all here mentally. Being a source of someone there.

"Crystal City... It does look like her... only not complete." Blaster said once the Knight was settled, looking at the painting. She winced, hoping the Titan's mate didn't take her words the wrong way through Wing, "In this image at least." She added.

Wing chittered softly, limply following the movements. He let Achat have control, his voice changing somewhat deeper, enough to be recognizable as not his. "It might be from the lack of my frame intertwined with hers. Or she lost parts of the non-frame city." Achat murmured, still eyeing the mural through Wings optics.

"Who's that?" Jack asked from the side by the cluster he still stood in front of, reaching mentally for his key, able to pick up somehow this wasn't Wing in front of him. That feeling of the Key was in turn picked up by To Pure For This World, and the great sword tugged on Achat for attention, feeling this was needed information.

A Key wasn't common, let alone a user that wasn't even Cybertronian.

The ancient presence that was Achat hummed softly, keeping Wing in the loop even if he made sure his consort was nestled safely into his presence and a happy purring ball there. "The Metrotitan Wing told you about, we're bonded." He gave the sword an amused snort over the three way bond. "He's surrendered control of his frame and voice to me, because the city in the painting is my mate, and now it's not speculation that she's here. It's a fact. You shouldn't leave your artifact at home, Key bearer. It would have kept you in the loop about us old ones." The giant rumbled thoroughly amused at the teen. Beckoning the human over with a movement of Wing's hand.

Bumblebee warbled, confused and not wanting his friend hurt, staring with wide optics at the change in Wing's field against his. Then gave a small set of sounds to Jack, daring to trust this once. He could see the boy was nervous, and slowly coming closer, almost ready to call the Key to him as Bumblebee knew Jack could do now.

Jack was quietly petted, the ancient field overlaying Wings pushing against the Key's presence on the boy. "There's another Key residing in my walls. It feels similar to the one you carry." Achat purred. "It's good to know at least one has a bearer again." He collected Jack into Wings lap and snuggled him much like a child. Then poked around Wings subspace, much to the indignant squawking of the young jet, producing an empty datapad to transfer memories and images. He held it out for Jack, letting the youth see things nobody in the room would have ever seen, memories older than all of them together, of the keys, some of their past users and their actual functioning. It was obvious they weren't only Achat's memories, but those of mechs who were once his residents, lovers, mates or other Metrotitans.

To the youth's credit, even though Jack didn't seem to much like being treated younger then he felt (as any teenager or sub-adult mech) he didn't try to get away. Putting up with the cuddle and pets, at least used to something similar from his new extended family, mostly from when Cliffjumper insisted on 'family time.'

The data pad, that was closer to his size, was grasped and examined. First confused and then wondering a bit, finally he rolled one shoulder to get it free of being stroked without looking up. The he froze at seeing a mech in the background of the offered memories. He knew how to pause on the un-translated data pad, and did so, staring.

It was one of Achat's memories, or a shared one with his mate before the war.

The jet's petting relented and Achat quietly watched for a while, eyeing the memory in question, he suspected what the reason was for the boy to stop it, but he still asked to get confirmation. "What made you pause?"

Jack pointed, "That's Optimus." He said, "Only...before."

The memory, replayed in the giant mech and Wing, it was when the Key was brought to Achat by the elder Alpha Trion. The once Prime himself bringing one of his archivists to meet the Knights of Light. Back then the young seeming mech had been nervous despite his abnormally large and broad shouldered build. With bright blue optics that were impossibly wide as he held the case holding the Key, almost tripping over his own pedes to bring it to the bigger Dai Atlas. This youth had been introduced as Orion Pax, one of the elder's chargers that he raised in his domain. Orion looked about to keel over from meeting someone he likely read about all his life in the Great Library.

Wing's namesakes twitched, a sure sign the jet still held some control over his frame. Though it was still Achat who spoke, "Ah, young Orion Pax. A humble fella, it was adorable how intimidated he was by Dai Atlas. I was busy exchanging teasing comments with my mate over his cuteness." Achat admitted shamelessly. "He was so naive and innocent all that time ago, it's sad to know what the war made of the young archivist."

"...Ratchet says that Jack is like Optimus was." Miko's voice piped up from behind, drawing attention and making the older teen flush and try and deny it.

That pulled a sly smirk onto Wings faceplate, untypical of him, very obviously fitting for Achat though. "Oh? Really? Why am I not surprised...?" Achat drawled, prodding the teen's side. "And the more you try to deny it, the more you sound like Orion. He was the same, always trying to deny he was adorable and cute."

"I'm small," Jack pushed at the fingers, "I understand that response, Optimus... Orion? Wasn't ever small like me... I think. I'm just... lucky." he wasn't about to say 'nobody,' not anymore with knowing the Autobots, helping to defend his world and even been giving a Key.

Achat laughed for a moment, grinning. "Oh you keep saying that boy. Just like my little jetling here was 'lucky' to have been caught up against his will with Blaster and Wheeljack, ending up uncovering the hideout of my mate... Keep trying to tell yourself fate doesn't have a plan for all of us."

The teen shrugged helplessly, giving up as he could see when he wasn't going to win, but didn't have that much confidence. Not unlike the quiet, awe-struck archivist that couldn't stop staring at the Knights around him in the past. Though unlike Orion, Jack wasn't going to be pushed into a sparring match by his elder guardian.

Achat chuckled and gave Jack's back a rub with one of Wing's fingers. "You'll be fine, kid. You'll see. You're doing great already." He eyed the others, then the painting of his mate again with a fond, longing expression. "I'll leave you lot alone with Wing again. Although I suggest you put a leash on him. He's full of energy again and ready to bounce on the spot from excitement. I have to get my residents all settled for the journey... And find a way to shut Dai up..." He muttered, then relinquished control to Wing again.

The next time the jet spoke it was the light tenor the others were used to from Wing. He spoke his reply out loud for the benefit of the audience. "Just lock him up with Axe or use stun bolts."

Jack blinked as nervous giggles came from the crates, and Blaster came closer to both human and flier-mech. "Um..." He wasn't sure about stun bolts really...

"Don't worry. My creator can take about 3 or 4 of those things before getting dizzy. Redline said it would take 6 or more to completely take him and his redundant systems out of commission. It's really just to avoid having Dai throw a tantrum about Achat leaving the safety of Aelios. And he wants to get me back into the safety of the citadel. Dai's highly protective of me." Wing explained, amused, hinting that he's seen that happen before firsthand. He smiled and ushered Jack out of the way as he picked himself up, proving Achats warning to be true that he was full of energy.

Bumblebee chirped and clicked, scooping up Jack away from the suddenly hyper mech.

"So the Crystal City is here, on earth..." Blaster examined the painting before pointing out, "But where?"

Wing eyed the humans. "They would have to know. Since she's nowhere on the surface... and the glyph says sea... She's buried under water." He concluded.

"At least when this was made," Jack couldn't help being practical, as he rested his arms on the larger yellow arm holding him.

Miko tilted her head and pitched in, "It wouldn't be that shallow either, that picture shows a lot of shiny things, and people like finding shiny things."

"Ah, but there's much of your world's seas that you humans don't know about." Blaster pointed out, paused and meeped in a cute, sheepish way. "But that's a lot for us to look through, and Depth Charge isn't in this world."

Wing hummed softly. "We'll wait until Achat is here. There's a few aquatic mechs there. He'll have to wait till they find her, unless we manage to find her before that." He chirped excited and practically bounced out of the room. "Let's explore the tunnels some more!"

"Heeey...!" Miko protested him leaving, "What about these things?" She jumped on the locked box she was on.

"But... There's soo much more! We gotta leave some fun for the others!" Wing half-heartedly protested, grinning and bouncing back in.

-We need to get some engeron back,- Bumblebee shook his head, -And reseal the entrance to keep anyone else finding it. Time for being a ninja Wing! Then play.-

"Awwww." Wing pouted but sauntered over, then plopped down on the floor with an adorable look. "So loot the treasure!"

"You're the one with the sharp pointy things." Blaster teased taking one of the smaller boxes down and using a dagger to start gently prying the box.

The jet blinked, giggled embarrassed and pulled two small daggers... short swords to the humans, out of their armor pockets then put them down. "Go for it. I want to exploooooorrreeeee!"

"I thought Miko was bad," Jack muttered, and then rolled his eyes as the slightly younger girl demanded to be taken along if Wing was 'skimping on the work!'