Rhythms and Night Beats

Day 4

Silence

That was how the entire tunnel was hours after Tailgate's death. After they had made sure the driller was gone, Ironhide had dragged the Decepticons out of the train cart and had placed Tailgate's body inside, since they were unable to make a proper burial for the mech, the train cart would serve as his grave until they got out of the tunnel.

If we even get out of here alive… Orion thought as he bowed his helm.

He was standing on the opposite side of the tunnel, far from the train cart but still facing towards it.

After a nightmare of Tailgate's dead frame coming out of the train cart trying to kill him, Orion had moved himself to the other side of the room to keep an optic on the Decepticons. They sat beside him, still in their stasis cuffs. Neither of them had spoken a word in hours.

No one spoke or moved, fearing that the driller would return and kill them all. No one had even bothered to recharge, not even the younglings.

Orion checked his internal clock, it was nearly the middle of the day yet the driller had still not bothered to attack. He wasn't sure if it was luck or the driller had simply lost interest in them. Orion guessed it was neither. The driller would be back, question was would they be able to kill it before it killed them?

How long would they be able to hold it back? How much longer would it be until the drillers destroyed them and the tunnel?

"So…" began Sunstreaker after hours of silence, "first you lock us up in these stasis cuffs, then you force us to sparkling sit for you and now you convert the train cart into a tomb. This day just gets better and better…" Sunstreaker muttered sarcastically.

Orion ignored him and closed his optics, deep in thought.

Things were bad now, and soon it would get even worse.

Orion opened his optics and was surprised to see Ironhide and Ratchet standing in front of him, Ironhide supporting Ratchet who has yet to receive any function to his lower frame.

"We need to talk." Ratchet said solemnly.

"There's nothing to talk about." Orion stated emotionlessly.

"Don't you give me that!" Ratchet hissed, "I know exactly what's going on in that processor of yours right now. You're blaming yourself for what happened to Tailgate." Ratchet said, his hushed tone sounding loud in the echoing silence.

Orion said nothing to this as he stared at the ground with darkened optics. His gaze shifted to the part of the tunnel everyone else had huddled up in.

"All that matters now is getting everyone out of here alive." Orion said,

"Any idea when the driller's coming back?" asked Ironhide.

"I don't know. It should have returned by now." said Orion.

"Sound like you want it to show up again." said Barricade.

"No, I know about drillers. They always stay underground during the day and never come up this close to the surface without reason." said Orion.

"So why is it still here instead of digging deeper underground?" asked Sunstreaker. Orion said nothing to this.

"Something's keeping it away." Orion said as his audio receptor twitched.

"Question is what." said Ratchet, "You know we have to talk about this eventually."

"I know, I'll tell them myself." said Orion.

"No, not that, about what happened to Tailgate. I know you're blaming yourself for what happened but it wasn't your fault." said Ratchet.

"Tailgate chose to sacrifice himself to save me," Arcee said, who had walked up to them with Sadie and Bumblebee. "It wasn't your fault for what happened."

"If it wasn't for me we all wouldn't be trapped down here in the first place." muttered Orion.

"It wasn't your fault!" snapped Ratchet. "None of this was your fault! Stop blaming yourself already!" Ratchet yelled, who appeared as if he were about to throw a wrench at him when the red and blue mech suddenly shushed him.

"What is it now?" Ratchet asked, clearly annoyed at the mech as Orion's attention was suddenly drawn away from them.

"Don't you hear that?" he asked as his audio receptor twitched.

"I hear it." said Override, who was sitting beside one of the train carts with Sideswipe. "Been hearing it for a while now."

"Hear what?" asked Sideswipe.

Orion began walking along the crumbled remains of debris and rumble that had formed after the driller had attacked.

"Looking for something?" asked Barricade.

"Mute it." Orion said before suddenly stopping.

Moments later they all heard what was unmistakably the muffled sound of music. Orion had heard it the night before. He ran up to the wall of rubble.

"Somebot's trapped in there." said Orion.

"In the wall?" Ironhide asked skeptically, "That's impossib-" Ironhide said moments before they could all clearly hear the music.

Now there's a feeling I get when I look to the left, but it should never be sensed, start searching for a sign!

"Help me with this," Orion said to Ironhide as he began pulling away rocks from the wall.

"Stand aside." He said as he loaded one of his cannons with his least explosive round. Orion did as he did so, moments before Ironhide fired at the wall, creating a large cloud of dust.

The music suddenly stopped as they heard two different screams before they heard something crash to the ground.

As the smoke began to clear, two mechs laid on the ground dazed but unharmed. The smaller mech was silver and black and wore a pair of visors over his optics while the larger one was red and gold and wore a golden visor. Both mechs had minor damage to their frames, most likely from battle. Other than that, they appeared unharmed.

"Ugh…what was that?" the red mech asked as the smoke and dust began to clear.

"Who cares? At least we're finally out of that damn wall." said the silver mech as he sat up.

"Where did they come from?" Override muttered.

Orion walked up to the red mech and offered a servo to him. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." The mech said before his optics met with Orion's. "Orion?" he asked confusion clear in his voice.

"What, no, Orion was on the train." the silver mech said. "Why would he be here in this dreary place?" the silver mech said before looking up. "Pax! Hide! Woo! We're saved!" he suddenly yelled before hugging Ironhide.

"Hey! Get off of me, runt!" Ironhide yelled in protest before pushing the silver mech away who pouted at his nickname. The silver mech seemed to pout at his pet name.

"Yep, same old Hide. What happened to you?" he said, noticing the damage to the weapon specialist. "Looks like you've been through pit."

"You have no idea…" muttered Override. "You're as cheery as ever, Jazz."

"Override! Good to see ya!" Jazz said cheerily before he caught sight of the train wreck. "Whoa, what happened here?" he asked, his smile completely faded.

"I'm assuming you guys aren't a rescue team?" the red mech asked Orion helped him up. Orion nodded.

"We've been here a while." explained Orion. "Shame you two had to be trapped with us, Blaster."

"Yeah, well it's better than being dead I suppose. Mind telling us what happened here?" asked Blaster.

Orion, Ratchet, and Ironhide had explained to Jazz and Blaster what had happened starting from the cave in to the driller attacking. Once and a while the others would add in things they might had forgotten. No one mentioned Tailgate's death.

"Scrap, and I thought we had it tough." Blaster said before shuttering. "Every time the ground shook we thought it was a rescue team. I assume it was the driller." He said as everyone huddled in a large group beside a crushed train cart.

"I see you got yourselves some Decepticon prisoners." Jazz said as he looked over at Sunstreaker and Barricade, who were still sitting on the other side of the tunnel. "What are you going to do with them when we get out?"

"We haven't decided. There is still a possibility that we may not get out of here at all." said Orion.

Jazz shook his helm and chuckled. "You're always the negative one, whatever happened to the positive Orion?" Jazz asked before taking a sip of energon.

Blaster shrugged and turned on his radio, which had begun playing the same song as it had been before as they spoke. Orion just stared at him blankly before speaking.

"This situation is worse than it seems." Orion said as he gazed down at his axe he had placed on his lap, which gave off a soft orange glow in the dimness of the tunnel. "No one but the three of us know. I had hoped we would not have to tell the others, but we've already lost one of our own. We can't lose anyone else." said Orion.

"What aren't you telling us?" Override asked, beside her sat Bumblebee who was looking at him with confused optics.

Orion sighed before looking at Ironhide, who nodded.

"We didn't want to cause a panic, but it appears that the driller is trapped in the tunnel with us." said Orion.

"What do you mean 'trapped'?" asked Sideswipe

"Thought this place was familiar… it's the tunnel that leads to the ground bridge that goes to Iacon right?"

"Yes." said Orion.

"Scrap…we're screwed…" Override muttered.

"Wait, how did the driller get in here in the first place?" asked Arcee. "This place was built to keep them and any Decepticons out."

"And yet here we are." Sunstreaker said.

"The driller came in before the gate could seal shut, when it did, the entire tunnel sealed up, even the tunnel that leads to the ground bridge. And with the mineral deposit that forms the mountain all around us, it will be impossible for anything or anyone to drill in or out of this tunnel." explained Orion.

"We're trapped in this tunnel; nothing is coming in or out. Rescue teams won't be able to reach us." said Ironhide.

"In other words,"

"We're on our own."

After what seemed like hours of silence, when in reality it had only been several cycles, Jazz finally spoke up.

"Uh…come again?"

"We're on our own," Orion repeated. "No one's coming, and if they do, there's no way that they'll be able to reach us."

"Nothing and no one can get in or out," Jazz said in a fake accent. "Gee thanks a lot Red…" Jazz muttered in his own voice.

"What about the gates?" asked Blaster. "They could have been damaged during the fight."

"There's a possibility the gates could have been weakened in the explosion, but there is also a possibility that it could have only made it even more difficult to get through." said Orion.

"Whatever, as long as there's a chance of getting out of here, I'm good." Jazz said as he leaned against a fallen rock.

"You seem awfully positive." said Override.

"That's cuz I am." Jazz said before Blaster brought out a silver and blue electric guitar.

"This coming from the mech who makes jokes in worst case scenarios." muttered Override.

"Whatever, I'm not gonna mope around being all negative, we've already got Orion for that." Jazz said as Blaster tuned his guitar.

"At least we don't have to worry about the driller," Blaster said before he strummed a few cords on guitar, which seemed to echo in the dim tunnel, startling nearly everyone.

"What are you doing?" Ironhide demanded as Blaster began to play a rather loud song. "The Driller's gonna hear it!"

Blaster ignored him and everyone else's complaints and continued to play.

"Are just going to sit there and watch him bring the driller back here?" Ironhide demanded.

"We are doing something." Jazz said calmly, "How do you think the driller never found us in the wall? Believe it or not, ol' Night Beat's tunes seem to scare off the driller."

"They're susceptible to loud noises other than their own." said Orion, remembering what little he had read about them long ago.

"Exactly, why do you think none ever hang around the Sonic Canyons?" said Jazz.

"But this isn't the Sonic Canyons!" Ironhide argued. "How do you even know that's what kept the driller away?"

"We're still alive, aren't we?" said Blaster. "Or are we all ghosts?"

"Chill, will ya? Now all we have to worry about is getting out of here alive."

"And soon," said Orion.

Sometime later everyone began to relax when it became clear that the drillers would not return.

For now, anyways... Orion thought as he leaned against one of the train carts.

Not too far off Blaster had stopped playing his guitar and was blasting music out of his radio up on top of the upturned train cart while Jazz was talking with everyone else about normal things, acting as if nothing was wrong with the fact that they were all trapped in a tunnel.

A few feet away from where he stood, Sideswipe, Bumblebee, and Sadie were recharging beside Sunstreaker, which seemed to greatly annoy him, as Orion kept an optic on them all. Barricade seemed to be recharging or had either withdrawn within himself in an attempt to recharge. Orion wasn't sure which. Sadie had recharged most of the day, this worried him.

Orion dimmed his optics as tried to block out the other's conversation when something Jazz said caught his attention.

"I used to know Orion, before he became all negative." at this Orion looked up at the silver music bot with mild shock.

"You knew Orion? What was he like before?" Override asked as she glanced at Orion.

Orion kept his helm bowed, trying to appear as if he were in recharge and not paying attention to what they were saying.

"Orion was different, a lot different than he is now. I hadn't seen him much after what happened." said Jazz. "He was a cool mech before." He said before chuckling, "Hard to believe he used to be the jealous type."

Everyone just stared at Jazz in disbelief for a few moments; even Orion stared down at the ground in disbelief.

He was the jealous type?

"No way…" Override said, breaking the silence.

"You don't believe me?" Jazz said with a smirk, "Just ask Arcee, she knew him just as well as I did."

At this everyone looked at Arcee.

"What? Jazz knew him longer than I did, he probably knows more about him than anyone else." said Arcee.

"How did you come to know Orion anyways?" asked Override.

"My sisters and I went to the same academy as Orion." Arcee said before pausing, "Ariel was into art and theater, that was how they met." she said before trailing off, "You never told us how you came to know Orion, Jazz." Arcee said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, well before the war I used to be a cultural investigator. I met Orion while he had been working in Iacon. I he worked there before he went to..." Jazz said, pausing, knowing Tagon Heights was still a sensitive subject, "Anyways, I knew Orion for a long time, after he left Iacon, I hadn't seen him until one of the Cyclical festivals, after that I saw him again while he was training to be an Autobot. He's really changed from the mech I knew back in Iacon. Thought his spark doesn't seem to have changed much, he still seems be the caring bot I knew before."

As they continued to talk more about other things, Orion began to ponder on what Jazz had said. He never recalled working in Iacon before the war. Then again he didn't remember much let alone what happened before the war. If he had worked in Iacon, what had his profession been? Orion vaguely remembered visiting Alpha Trion in the Hall of Records on numerous occasions. He hadn't seen the old inventor in ages. He never had the time to visit him and when he did, one of his acolytes would tell him that he wasn't available. Orion assumed he was too busy for visitors due to the war. His own life had become busier so he had stopped trying to visit.

Orion wondered if Alpha Trion knew he was trapped in the tunnel. Perhaps he did, after all he was the mech who raised him. The old him anyways…

Time had seemed to pass by quickly for when Orion looked up again, all but Blaster had gone to recharge.

Currently a rather sad song was echoing in the tunnel from the speakers on his shoulder.

There's so much left to learn,
and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

"Do you mind playing something a little more cheery?" Jazz said who was still awake and leaning against a fallen boulder. He looked up, somewhat annoyed at the red and gold mech, who simply shrugged and continued to play the song.

As the song continued to play for a few moments, each lyric seemed to stab Orion's spark.

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

You've gone away
You don't feel me here, anymore…

As the song ended, Orion stared at a small, almost tear drop shaped pendant in his servo. The death of Tailgate was still burned into his spark. Could he ever be the mech he used to be? How could he? He had watched Tailgate die, just as he had watched Ariel die in his arms.

Orion was tired, not physically, not even mentally, he was emotionally exhausted. For years he had lived emotionally withdrawn from everything and everyone he ever cared about. He had become a stranger to those who knew him and a loner to those who did not.

He did not care about himself, he never did. Nor had he ever found a reason living for other than saving others of pain he had gone through.

As he stared out at everyone in the tunnel, he realized that even if he could break free of his stasis depression, he would never be the same mech he had been before. Orion was alright with that. All he wanted was to feel again. The way he had before the stasis depression.

He didn't want to a loner anymore. He wanted to want other's help. He wanted reason to live again. As he stared out at everyone (well nearly everyone) recharging in the tunnel, he realized he already had reason to live again.

All that mattered to him was getting everyone out of there alive. Even if he himself could not get out, just being able to feel again would be enough to leave in peace.

He stared at the teardrop shaped pendant for a few more moments before gently closing his servo around it. Just then a new song began to blast out of Blaster's stereos.

When there's nothing left to loose,

Nothing is as it seems

There are those of us inside,

Willing to die

Just to live again…

A/N: BOOYAH! I FINALLY FINISHED CHAPTER 6! I HAD planned to have it up by Christmas or New Year but…I…er…got lazy XD whoops, ANYWHO! Orion wants to get out of his stasis depression, you got a TINY bit insight on Orion's past, you'll learn exactly what happened to him soon, one song here is Broken by Evanscene, the last set of lyrics I made up :3 oh and Night Beat is the name of Blaster's guitar :3

Next chapter Orion talks to Ratchet about a way to get him out of his stasis depression, Cortical Physic patch anyone? oh and it happens like in between day evening of 4 and 5?