Chapter two: A New Unwelcome Face
It had been less than a cycle since she'd returned from the temple with Hymnal's reassurance that all would be fixed soon in regards to her citizenship.
But Luna was, at present, less worried about the potential bots trying to hunt her like a wild thing, and more concerned about the massive silver and red mech one of her betas, Orion Pax, was leading around.
Currently she was observing the scene from one of the upper levels, leaning against the glass wall as blue soothing light bled down on her and all things in the hall from multiple different angles, despite the calm aura however, her defected spark was still twisting and churning uncomfortably within her chamber, after a moment she clutched at the armour around it, rubbing it as she let off a strained hiss.
She had to calm her spark down, but the dark and potentially murderous aura the massive Kaonian mech radiated in her home, made it clear she would find no peace until he left.
Her audios hitched up behind her when careful, calculated pede steps came behind her. She did not need to look to know it was her Alpha, the leader of her unofficial herd which resided within the halls, Alpha Trion. It was kind of ironic how well his designation fit her title for him.
"You are distressed young one." She let him call her that, he was of such an impossible age that no matter how old she became, she would be nothing but equivalent to a youngling, if anyone else had declared her as that title since she matured to adulthood… well, her spark never had problems when she was mad, and when mad, her hooves where weapons even the elite guard soldiers didn't dare trifle with.
"It is the mech below, his aura… it's not… it's not healthy… it is concerning to me how close one of my betas is to him, evidently he sees him as a friend, but I do not know if it is equally reciprocated…" She tried to explain, turning to the ancient mech who'd taken in the tiny foal an unknown and still undiscovered femme had left in the at the time empty lobby, the foal barely joors old and too shaken by something to even try to stand for the first time.
She'd long since forgotten what had scared her, who birthed her, and anything else about her origin. Her memory files did not falter though, when remembering how she, once on her pedes, froliced around the hall without a care in the world, mostly staying close to his pedes, her foalhood was something she held close, especially the look on her Alphas faceplates when she transformed for the first time.
He hummed in the back of his neck cables, stepping to her left side to get a better look of the mech causing such distress to his unofficial daughter.
Unofficial because, despite being given citizenship all those vorns ago when she'd showed her ability to transform and communicate. The Council had refused to allow him to officially adopt the young femme.
Didn't mean he didn't raise her any differently, despite his age, Luna had been a breeze to manage, her adolescent years being far calmer than full Cybertronians, she'd always been docile in nature, even when having fun she was careful.
The data clerks she was now in charge of, often joked that she'd missed that stage of rebellion outright and had been a fully matured femme from the start.
None of them were there when she dumped a bowl of Energon over her helm to see if it would make her glow too.
Holding in the chuckle the memory almost called he spoke. "It would seem that this mech is a gladiator." Her reaction was obvious, tucking back, optics narrowing and clawed digits clutching the rail tight. "If my memory does not fail me, I believe this is the one who's developing quite the following due to his speeches about removing the council and starting Cybertron again so that all are equal… a noble vision, if he didn't want to do it by force if he is denied."
"If he becomes violent, he must go, no questions asked." She hissed through clenched denta.
He nodded, wrapping an arm over her shoulder plates, she was so much smaller than him, thin yet well tuned, he knew personally when she once threw on of their larger guards through a glass wall when he'd tried to have a bout with her on one of the non glass walls.
It had been quite a sight as he and a good few of her data clerks were rushing to help pull him off, when she grabbed his arm, kicked off the floor, yanking him into the air with the force, spun mid air and slung him over their helms.
There had been no hesitation in firing him once he woke back up from the stasis lock the impact had put him in.
Luna was jolted when her designation was called, helm snapping down she realised Orion was waving her down. "Miss Luna! My friend wants to meet you!"
Trion's arm shifted off her as she ran the pros and cons, with a sigh she heated herself up I ti a crouch on the railing, before pushing off and allowing her frame to plummet straight down towards the ground level, from over ten floors up.
The powerful shock absorbers in her legs took the brunt of the impact, but her servos were still needed to brace herself for a moment before she pushed herself upright and brushed the non existent dust from her, more a thing to reassure her nothing had fallen off, her paranoia now peeking as she took account of how this mech was easily twice her height, Orion was almost as tall, but he was a loveable innocent soul who got distracted by crystalflies if they were even dull in colour.
This mech however, sent her anxiety to borderline dangerous levels, and her spark was practically screaming at her to get away, her servo returned to her chassis trying to calm it as she etched the other out to the mech, shaking heavily as Orion introduced the two of them, before silencing himself when he took not of how unnerved his boss was, taking stock of the scene realisation dawned on him. He was a moment from leading the gladiator away from the hybrid femme when he spoke cutting off any attempt with his voice. "Your the data clerk there's so many rumours about? A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Orion here speaks fondly of you. And the rumours do not do your beauty justice."
There was a long beat of silence when the area around them seemed to vanish.
It took a moment for Luna to actually acknowledged what had been said, to which she quickly pulled her servo away and tried to hide the blue rising on her faceplates, partially out of embarrassment, and the rest out of irritation that this mech had the audacity to make such an assumption about her own appearance after no more than a glance.
"Flattery has no effect, I merely came down to enquire if the friend of one of my workers wished to learn from the near endless wealth of knowledge we hold within these walls." She announced with a less than discreet hint of venom.
The gladiator evidently picked up on this, and Orion quickly leaned over and whispered, forgetting her advanced hearing capability. "She's not fond of new faces, took two orns for her to open up, her only friend is the high priest!"
She didn't rebuke the mech for his lack of decorum when speaking, but she made sure her glare remained level, intensifying when she spotted the gears starting to turn at the mention of Hymnal, if he was planning something…
Luna's armor bristled, her hairs standing on end as she glared angrily at the mech, a fire entering her optics.
Orion looked at Luna, his optics widening when he realized what she was feeling.
"Uh, let me show you around" Orion said quickly, steering his friend away as fast as he could. Luna let her anger get the best of her for just a moment, and stomped one of her hoofs on the ground, making it shake slightly.
Practically seething she stalks away, sending a ping to the guards to keep a close optic on the gladiator. She didn't trust, like or want him anywhere near the hall, but until he did something wrong there were no grounds to extradite him from the hall.
Alpha Trion does not speak to her as she jumps up again, this time traveling past the level he was on in mere astroseconds despite the height of each data stacked level, he knew it was best to leave her be, a mad Luna was a dangerous cocktail of emotions and kicks able to end many a far more armoured bot, despite her size and lack of armour in comparison to others.
Landing on her private floor, she strode into her own room, her three digit servo pressed against the specialised scanner so that the doors could slide open and reveal her expansive berth room.
The view had been rated as one of the most scenic in the Upper hemisphere of Cybertron, and something she often basked in.
Her desk was an expansive sprawl of shelves, raised areas and small trinkets her data clerks has gotten for her from the rarely if ever traversed outside world.
The rest of the space, was covered in a good three to four layers of data pads, some read entirely, their information stored away in her helm for later use, others were partially complete, waiting to be finished.
She had a system, take five new data pads every few cycles when she felt like reading, and return five or more whenever her desk got too cluttered to function properly, at present, there was no such need, instead her attention was focused solely on the holoscreen which hovered just above, once her aft had found her favourite position which prevented her short tail from getting trapped, she waved her servo in an impatient flick, the screen picked up on the motion, turning on with a cheerful ping, despite its owners current mood.
Luna sighed, slumping back into the soft and welcoming material of her chair, servo reaching up so that her digits could slide under her visor and rub her suddenly irritated optics as the call pinged, the ringing stopping and Hymnal appearing on screen. "Luna? What's wrong? Was another one of those requests made?"
"No, no, it's not to do with those idiots… One of my clerks brought a friend to the hall... a Gladiator." Luna rubbed her optics again before moving to try and massage a kink in her neck cables which was often prominent after a long night of improving her own wealth of knowledge, which she'd been doing the lunar cycle before. "There was something... unsettling about him, a dark aura I guess."
"Not to mention he tried to flirt with me!" She exclaimed, throwing her servo wildly in the air in exasperation.
Hymnal made a slightly disgusted look before they wiped if off their face, but a frown remaining.
"You say he was with one of your clerks? Do you know why he brought him to the hall?" Hymnal inquired, looking concerned. "While i trust your judgment in your clerks, I'm unsure of the company this one keeps. I know you know this, Luna, but there is many precious things in the Hall, information only a few are privy to."
Luna nodded. "That's what first set the alarm bells off in me, it's that gladiator who's doing all those speeches about recreating Cybertron right after slaughtering a competitor! And to think Orion of all mechs brought him in! I fear he's using my clerk for his own advancement." The growl was something she didn't bother to try and hold in, that mech had rubbed her fur the wrong way since he set pede in her sanctuary. "I have ordered the guards to go on full alert and keep close watch, he tries anything, I'll know... I'm pulling up the security cameras now."
The feeds were crisp and clear as she zoomed in on the combat section, Orion was speaking animatedly about something whilst he was looking through a data pad, a few taps later and she found it was a data pad about how to take out a foe without offlining them, in other words, how to cripple them, leaving them online to suffer for the rest of their living lives.
"So he is the mech that has the other Preists on edge." Hymnal said.
"What is it?" Hymnal asked, taking note of Luna's grim look. "What is he doing?"
Luna growled again, grinding her flat denta together. "Information on how to permanently cripple their enemy, they're in the back archives of the combat sector... Primus he's looking into how to make his competitors suffer for the rest of their cycles! As if killing wasn't barbaric enough already! How is Orion not noticing this!?"
Hymnal's frown deepened, "You should send the guards to remove him. A gladiator has no business learning such things."
Luna shook her helm. "Can't without starting a fight, and a mech like that could easily offline some of our guards. Our servos are tied... but I can call the Enforcers, but he's technically not done anything illegal... yet... Primus, what is with everybot suddenly deciding to digit the line!?" She hissed, rubbing the sides of her helm, before rubbing her raised pointed audios, which remained as they did in her beast form.
Hymnal hummed, "I know you are not happy with his presence, but try not to let it stress you. It's not good for your spark. When i come up I'll bring some of my crystals, drinking them will help your spark a bit. The crystals stem from Primus's spark itself, the energy within should help a bit." Hymnal continued at Luna's rarely seen confused look. "I'm sure if you take even doses for the rest of your life it could help more. I don't know the extent of it's healing abilities, but it can only do good" Hymnal said, their servos folding in their lap.
Luna paused, lifting her servo and raising a digit to ask for a moment before standing up and bolting towards a data shelf out of Hymnal's view her optics lighting up that bit brighter as her visor activated, streaming data constantly as she ran her digits over the sides, before snatching one out with such practice it did not even disturb the fine coating of dust which was forming on the top edge. Activating it, her digits worked fast, the three pointed tips calling upon a bounty of information as she began to mumble, before sharply turning it off and nearly slamming it back into the tight space it had come from, she practically bolted back to her chair, sliding into it with practiced ease before her digits were flying over the holographic keyboard, still mumbling uninterrupted at a rate which lost Hymnal, the data was still streaming down the femmes optics as tab after tab lit up on the screen, more data, all of it being scanned by the hybrid femme before shutting it all down so that she could stare at Hymnal, visor finally slowing down, but the data didn't stop entirely. "2.95674 micronites, that's the maximum daily dose before it does my spark harm due to over energisation, Hymnal I swear you are the ultimate lifesaver and, the greatest of friends. And now, I'm going to crash for a few breeds because I just gave myself a pounding helm ache!" Without another moment passing, her helm fell down to rest on her moderately endowed chassis, optics closed and visor blacked out. Meaning she didn't see Megatronus slip a data pad into into a hidden subspace whilst distracting Orion so the young data clerk remained unaware.
Hymnal laughed softly, shaking their helm. They turned off the holofeed, sending a message to Luna to call them if they needed anything further.
Hymnal turned away from their console, and stood, their wings folding neatly behind them as they moved deeper into the temple. The glow from the crystals bounced off their armor, making it look like they themselves were glowing. It took a few minutes before Hymnal reached the deepest part of the temple. The crystals there pulsed brighter than any other and seemed to humm with energy. They placed their servo on one of the walls and watched as it folded back to reveal the true treasure of Cybertron.
Primus' spark in the the Well of Allsparks.
Hymnal looked up as they entered the the area, seeing a small dot of light high above them where the Well opened to the Surface. Crystals lined the whole Well, thick veins of energon stemming from Primus' spark and traveling throughout Cybertron to feed Primus' creations. Hymnal moved closer to Primus' spark and kneeled before it. They spoke, their words flowing out in a soft chant as they spoke in one of the few sacred languages.
Hymnal asked for guidance and hope, for the well being of all and the strength they needed before asking if they could have some of the energon from the Well. Hymnal waited for a moment, silent and still, listening to a voice only they seemed to hear. They stood and went to the side of the Well and lightly pulled on one small crystal. The crystal gave way easily in their servo, and Hymnal was careful to wrap it in mesh cloth before storing it in their subspace. They thanked Primus once more before stepping out of the Well.
It was only a few breems later that the alarm went off, not one to wake the hybrid up, although it did that in process. It's main priority was to alert that sensitive information had been 's optics snapped open, visor lighting deep blue as the alarm's title blared across her screen.
It took less than three astroseconds for Luna to, in a lower caste mech or femmes words, flip the scrap out and go into a rage mode which would of sent the unmaker himself to the deepest recesses of space.
It took even less time for her to order a complete shut down of the hall, the massive blast proof walls which were normally hidden away in both the upper levels and lowest underground levels, roaring to meet one another as they unfolded, locking tight in the middle and blocking all external light, sealing the entire Hall within its protective cocoon.
The internal lights shone a startling red as those in the levels below, who'd been previously minding their own business, jolted with exclamations and queries as to what was going on.
Alpha Trion practically sprinted into Luna's room, the only other bot with access to her sanctuary within her sanctuary, despite his age, he was able to reach the level the Hybrid resided on. "Luna! What is the meaning of this?! The emergency lock down is for only the most serious of emergencies!' His age seemingly forgotten, the ancient mech stood tall, confused and at an increasing rate, more and more alarmed as Luna snarled at her now multi panel screen, optics darting and jarring in their sockets as data streamed in a constant and torrential pace down her visor.
Realisation hit him hard. Something was wrong, horribly, terribly wrong.
Luna was a femme who only did things when there was a reason.
And for such a serious and massive action to be warranted, then there was a legitimate and potentially life changing situation developing.
The femme he considered his daughter suddenly snapped her helm to him, the pale acid and emerald fusion green glow coming from under her visor was the only thing he could make out of her optics, the rest swamped in the data which flowed fast and heavy down her narrow and sweeping visor.
"The data pad carrying the collective knowledge of all cyber viruses and chemicals of mass destruction has been stolen from the red band zone. By the Gladiator Megatronus, the shutdown is following protocol, until the data is received, or in worst case scenario destroyed, along with the perpetrator and potential aids dealt with, the hall will remain on lockdown… I am sorry Alpha, I overworked my processor… and as a result I did not see the crime take place, Orion I know for a fact, was an innocent and unwilling pawn, in this, he does not deserve punishment… and now… I do believe it's time I go on the warpath."
She was out the door in a seething rage before he could so much as utter the first letter of her designation.
Within a few joors, the entire upper caste area of Iacon was under lockdown, Enforcers prowling the streets in their called in hundreds, searching for the Gladiator who'd somehow managed to vanish in a puff of smoke.
At this point as well, Luna was about ready to kick her pede straight through a wall, her knee joints on her right leg bouncing at a rate almost a blur as she glared at the Enforcer Chief who currently found himself under the murderous stare.
"You mean… to tell me… that seven hundred and sixty nine fully trained Enforcers, can't find one bloody mech big enough to step on a mini con without noticing, and rip your helm off with his smallest digit!" She finally declared, slamming bot servos into the table they were sat at.
The Chief stumbled a bit, cursing his luck at having to deal with the Head data clerk on his own, her reputation of having emotions as volatile as a high grade explosive cocktail was proven to him fully, despite her small stature, she was a femme scorned, and his carrier had pounded into his helm, that that was a thing even Unicron feared with a vengeance.
"Ma'am understand…. We have all of upper Iacon to search! Lower Iacon is in the middle of being locked down! We're doing our very best!" He tried to respond, his normally calm and calculating demeanour thrown out that glass window a little way behind him and down the halls murderously steep steps. Now replaced with a genuine fear for his life as the emerald and acid green optics burned into his cerulean blue from behind that deceptively calm blue visor, which even now seemed overrun with data he couldn't believe she could keep track of, her gaze however continued to rage with a fury he swore he never wished to see again.
The sight of one of the femmes data clerks tentatively walking up behind him gave him a shred of hope he'd be able to escape and pull himself back together before the demon femme noticed, hopefully this mech knew how to calm their boss down.
"Err… Mrs Luna? I just got done with being questioned… thank you for supporting…" He placed a servo on the tensed exposed protoform of her unarmoured shoulderplates.
The chief could only watch in sheer awe as the femme seemed to slip into a different reality where the laws of physics where putty to mould, at least that's what came to his helm when the femme spun, throwing herself into the air with the momentum, grabbed the back of the chair with one three digit servo, spun upside down, and delivered two kicks in such immediate succession and speed not only where they a blur, but it sent the poor clerk hurting across the open ground level, crashing into the ground, skipping a few times before rolling into a tumble and coming to rest a few pedes away from the glass wall of the building.
His jaw was nearly unhinged as the femme landed in a squat facing the mech who'd just been sent hurtling across the room by a femme two thirds his size who honestly looked like some experiment gone wrong, not that that thought really mattered as his processor shorted out and he keeled over, crashing to the floor glitched, overwhelmed by the vast number of impossibilities which had just occurred before him.
Luna sat perched for a good breed panting and trying to calm her spark down before she focused in on the one who'd given her the scare.
It was Orion.
He was still laying dazed strewn across the floor, with one of the guards poking his side to see if he would twitch.
An omega…. Messing with the vulnerable frame of one of her betas…
The fact he'd snuck up on her was all but forgotten as she leapt from the chair, sending it crashing to the ground as she transformed mid air, steam erupting from her olfactory sensors as she bounded across the hall like a mad femme, her hooves echoing through the still dead silent hall as she let off a bellow which broke the silence like a thunder clap.
The guard, already aware he'd accidentally crossed a serious line, tried to run, but there was no way his heavily armoured frame was escaping an Ion deer on the warpath.
The moment she was in range of the fleeing guard, she threw herself into a transformation mid bound, and slammed her hooved pede into his heavily armoured back strut, not enough to severely harm, only enough to get the point across.
Didn't mean he wasn't still sent flying a good distance.
She landed on all fours, crouched for a moment before back flipping a few times until she landed next to the now coming too data clerk. "Orion! What were you thinking?! I could've offlined you then!"
The dazed mech chuckled. "I know… I read the warning pamphlet." Before slumping down. "Ow…"
She winced and stepped back to allow the team of medics to check him over. They didn't give her any negative looks though, only sympathetic for both parties, they'd dealt with Luna her entire life cycle, they knew how her flight and fight was something she couldn't fight… it just took over… it was why she was kept primarily in the hall. For everyone's safety and sanity.
Stepping back over to the table she'd been previously sitting at, she took note of the glitched mech. "Great… just great…" She grumbled, moving over to the energon cafe they had on the ground floor, pulling a jug out from behind the counter, which the fem behind the bar let her do without question, Serius was used to it. Jug in servo she then strode over to the large fountain they had as centrepiece for the hall, constantly flowing from the ornately carved imported stone was a seemingly endless supply of coolant. What most didn't know, was after the hall was closed for the lunar cycle, the coolant was replaced with energon, a feature which gave Luna the option of drinking in her beast form more easily if she so felt the urge, which happened from time to time.
Scooping up some of the coolant from the jug she strode back over to the glitched mech, and simply splashed it in his faceplates.
He came round with a startled splutter, optics wide before he turned his attention sharply on the femme above him. "Ma'am, that is not the accurate method if rousing a mech." He finally got out once she'd helped him upright.
Luna just huffed and placed one servo on a jerked out hipplate. "Chief Prowl, that method was the quickest method at present, now I must…" She was cut off when she spotted Alpha Trion gesturing to her to come to him, doing as told she excused herself and quickly reached her Alphas side. "I apologise for the inconvenience sir, I will keep better stock of my surroundings from now on." She declared, having rehearsed the statement quite a few times since she'd inadvertently turned Orion into a giant skipping stone across the hall.
Once again, the ancient mech surprised her by instead placing a comforting servo on her exposed shoulder protoform, giving her a sympathetic look. "Luna, I of all mechs know how difficult it is for you to control that part of you, do not apologise for something out of your control. Including that kick you just gave out newest recruit. Now, what I called you over for, was to alert you to the fact that Hymnal is waiting on the seeker arrival balcony." He couldn't stop the chuckle that left him as the still young silver and blue femme rocketed into the air, landing on one of the pillars for a moment around the thirty fifth floor area before leaping up again, and again, before disappearing onto the ninety seventh floor, where the emergency seeker entrance was.
Moving over to Orion he clapped his eon old servo onto the youthful mechs shoulderplate. "Nothing damaged I hope?"
Orion shook his helm. "No sir, well… besides a concussion and a need to get repainted… I was the at fault party though, I had forgotten to give her warning of my arrival… erm… if I may ask sir? Where did she just go off to?"
Alpha Trion shot the mech a smile before striding away, his armour seeming to glow slightly as he declared. "To see her best friend, who in my opinion, has impeccable timing!"
The statement just left Orion tilting his helm to the side. "Wait… she knows some bot outside those who work in the hall? Who?! She never goes anywhere!"
It was only after the question was out that he realised Alpha Trion hadn't heard him, he knew the mechs hearing was going a bit, but he figured selective hearing was also playing a factor.
Sighing the red blue and silver mech made his way back towards the lift which would take him back to his work station, internally deciding that the moment the lockdown was over, he was taking Jazz up on the offer of going out and relax at one of the nearby night clubs, despite it not normally being his scene, after what his 'friend' had just caused, he needed a stiff drink.
He didn't doubt it was likely the general consensus of most bots working at the Hall and surrounding area at present.
Or it could just be the fact his processor was still being bounced around his helm like like a turbo puppy.
Taking note of the still moderately shell shocked enforcer, he walked over to the Praxian mech. "You must excuse Luna, she's very… passionate about her data, and she can become quite volatile if she's too stressed… it's bad for her spark and so she physically lashes out to protect herself." He tried to explain, finally getting the black and white mechs attention. "I'm Orion, Orion Pax, one of the data clerks here who works under Luna, and you are?" He enquired, extending his servo out to shake.
Still partially dazed, the mech shook back. "Prowl, just Prowl, Chief Enforcer of Upper Iacon, I was promoted an orn ago… This was not in the job description." He lightly joked.
Orion chuckled. "It had been in mine 'Must be willing to sustain potential harm.' At the time I thought it had been a joke, moment I get the job and get out into the main lobby, and first thing I see? A metroplexian sliding across the floor, faceplates down along the floor. Turns out he'd groped her! He was lucky to get out of there with only stasis lock!"
Prowl frowned. "That should be looked into, that is assault."
Orion shook his helm. "Nope, self defense, any significant rise in stress or fear can offline her, she has a spark defect, that grope? Put her in intensive care for three cycles because her spark almost gave out. She doesn't really appreciate it, but she's fragile, and some of the guards we get? Not the brightest about following the rule 'No startling the one who can kick you in two!"
Prowl just stared at the chipper mech. "You're acting like she didn't just send you flying across this level like an empty cube!"
"Yep. Now, I need to get back to work, just because the halls on lockdown doesn't mean we can slack of, right Chief Prowl? You do still have my ex friend to catch… speaking of which, I may have an idea on how we can get the data back..."
(AN: (Silver) yoo new chapter :3 yay.
(Moon) too much fun is being had here, but I doubt either us give a damn at this point!
(Silver) even more fun is happening in the RPs ;D
(Moon) Don't give too much away!
(Silver): 'evil laughter'
(Moon) You're as bad as Hymnal I swear
JPrime11: Thanks :D we are enjoying this story so we will continue!
Till all are one!
(Moon) And Silver here stops trying to hint at stuff which is supposed to be saved for later!
(Silver) ;D ;D ;D
(Luna) Will you two pipe down?! Some of us are trying to recharge!
(Hymnal) that's not what you said last night~
(Moon) We leave the context of that to you readers!
Till all are one! (for real this time)