THIS IS CO-WRITTEN BY WOLFSRAINRULES
A/N: OKAY. So wolfsrainrules did a thing. A VERY AWESOME THING.
It's called Songs of Earth. It's set in this Universe, feature Sam/Janus. HERE IS THE LINK - s/12314026/1/
TIME MEASUREMENTS:
Astrosecond: .5 seconds
Nano-klik: 1 second
Klik: 1 minute
Breem: 8 minutes
Cycle: 1 hour 15minutes
Solar-Cycle: One day (20 hours)
Lunar-Cycle: One night (20 hours)
Deca-cycle: 4 weeks (one month)
Mega-cycle: 96 hours (four days)
Meta-cycle: 12 months (one year)
Stellar Cycle: 6 months
Vorn: 83 years
Mega-vorn: 83,000 years (1000 vorns)
60 mega-vorns: 4,980,000 years
Janus is still for a klik as he scans the faces of those around him. The future is most certainly changed. This is the start of a new beginning. He has done his part in this. Now...he turned to Optimus dipping his helm so that he did not have to look upon his face as he spoke,
"(disgraced-nameless-betrayer) Nameless has been Judged, and while I am sorry you had to see your mentor this way, you are the Ruler of Cybertron. You must sentence him, Optimus Prime."
And Sam was sorry about this. He knew- remembered- how important Sentinel was- had been- to his Optimus. He remembered how happy Optimus had been, on that day when he discovered that Sentinel could be revived. That he would no longer be the last Prime, even if Sentinel decided that he would retake leadership. The sheer heartbreak and disbelief that Sam had witnessed in Ironhide as Sentinel dismissed him from service? What that had done to Optimus, Sam was almost grateful he was not there to see or hear it.
To an Optimus that had undeniable proof that Sentinel would murder anyone who stood in his way, to reach his own ends, justice was a burden he bore and did not hesitate in delivering. Not matter how his Spark must have hurt. To this Optimus, who held Sentinel in high esteem, the mech who guided him into adulthood, taught him valuable lessons and would have been a father-figure a step down from his mentor Alpha Trion in the days of Orion Pax...
It would be agony.
Yet, no matter the time, Optimus was still the same, wearing his determination and dignity about his frame. With Megatron a steady presence by his side, Janus watched with pride and sadness as the Prime stood over the prone frame of his once teacher.
"(disgraced-nameless-betrayer) Nameless, once Sentinel Prime, by the laws of our Society, you have been found guilty of seeking to seize the sparkling, designated (one-who-is-determined-and-brave) Ironwill, the ward of (beginnings-and-endings-past-and-future-of-gateways) Janus Prime. Additional charges include but are not limited to: attempted murder of your fellow Cybertronian for their decision to follow protocol and uphold our Laws, abuse of your power and authority and failing to Declare (one-who-will-fight-to-defend-favorable-outcomes) Optimus as an acknowledged Prime as your duty demanded."
Optimus paused, steeling himself before he carried out his verdict, thankful for his spark-brother silently offering his own support, for the silent support of all those he called his own around him.
"I carry out your sentencing. Due your your previous rank, you will not be allowed a chance of exile. The judgement of the AllSpark has left you branded for the rest of your life, thus there is only one option."
There was a muffled sound as Nameless attempted to move, but his frame only twitched once, before falling still.
"Imprisonment." Optimus spoke, the word heavy and final, tineged with an edge of disappointment and sorrow.
He motioned for his Enforcers and they came without pause, reaching down to grip the mech by his arms and haul him to an upstanding position. They quickly dragged him away, the gathered mechs and femmes clearing a path for the disgraced bot to be moved through.
Optimus watched them leave with a heavy spark. His stood tall, yet stooped and burdened down with emotion. Megatron was at his back plates, silently offering comfort even as satisfaction shone in his optics as he stared briefly at the once-Prime as he was dragged away.
In the silence, Janus' soft voice was welcome distraction, echoing loudly in the silence as he called for his Apprentice.
"Songbird. Come. There is one who still wishes to speak with you."
Songbird froze, her optics wide in disbelief as all attention turned her way. She had come up the stairs and was cradling Ironwill in her arms after she had sensed her Prime's protective-rage-defensive calm and settle to satisfied-sadness-settled. She had thought her entrance had gone unnoticed, but it seemed that her Prime had sensed her arrival.
She remained still and staring for an instant as the crowd inside the Temple parted before her, leaving a clear walkway leading to her Prime who stood at the base of the steps leading up to the Allspark. Sh was used to attention in the general sense, she was an Apprentice, but at the moment she was the center of everyone's focus.
She dipped her helm to him, striding forward and trying not to project how nervous she was to be the center of everyone's attentions as well as whatever her Prime was planning. She trusted him of course, knew he would not harm her, but she was nervous all the same.
As she approached her Prime, Janus watching her with warm optics, he reached out to her, his attention shifting to his sparkling. She handed Ironwill over to him without pause, even as he projected trust-safety-pride through a brief encouraging touch on her shoulder plates in support. He angled his frame to shield her from the weight of the stares aimed her way and walked beside her, escorting her up the stairs to stop in front of the Allspark. She realized an astro-second later as he arranged and gentle cradled Ironwill in his arms, before he brushed a servo over her shoulders and scanned over her form that he was checking them both over even as he escorted her up the stairs.
It left her feeling touched that her Prime tended to them both- Ironwill and herself- even as the Allspark asked to see her. That he made sure they were both alright, ignoring the audience they had when most bots expected Primes to project a sense of distant calm, unchallenged authority and power radiating from their frame.
Granted, Janus had this and he wore the mantle of Prime comfortably and seemingly with ease, but he was unlike an Prime Songbird had never heard of. Optimus came close, but due to the fact that no one really knew if he was a true Prime or not, his oddities were ignored or written off. That this mech was without question a Prime, a powerful and ancient one, who could not even be compared to the acknowledged behaviors of Primes. Janus did as he pleased when his feelings moved him. He was guided by this force that she could barely comprehend.
Perhaps it was the AllSpark, maybe Primus himself, Songbird did not know and wasn't concerned with the details. Janus Prime was in a league all his own and he had accepted her, chosen her. Just as she had chosen him. So despite her uncertainty and the panic that she was doing her best to suppress, she projected reassurance-confidence-trust his way even as they climbed the stairs towards the Allspark.
Songbird trembled just slightly as they came to a stop in servo-reach of the artifact. She'd never communicated with the the Allspark directly before. Where she was the focus of the ancient artifact, and where she was focused entirely on the Allspark in turn. Communication like this was usually done by Primes or multiple Apprentices at the same time usually with a High Priestess or two leading the effort.
Janus remained still and silent beside her, allowing her the time she needed as she stared and the pulsing Allspark in front her. She vented deeply, straightening sharply, and unflinchingly reached a servo forward. She was (echoes-of-song-and-soaring-in-freedom-air) Songbird, she had found her Prime, and he trusted that she was ready for this...she would not waver nor would she falter.
Her servo lifted, a smooth movement despite the near invisible tremor in her digits, as she reached forward and placed it confidently against the Allspark. For barely an astrosecond, there was only the sound of silence and several flares of intense displeasure that a lowly Apprentice as her would dare to lay unworthy digits on their most precious and priceless treasure.
There was barely any time left to do anything in that astrosecond of time before her attenion was rather forcefully drawn away and her intake went slack and her optics wide as she stared at the AllSpark.
For an instant, an eternity came and went as she burned, every part of her was consumed with fire and she could not move. There was so much and it was pressing into her processor and it was overwhelming-going to crush her under the weight-burning her inside-
The sudden absence of those feelings almost sent her reeling as the ice chased away the heat and curled around her servos. She felt as if her optics had been shut her entire life, and now, right this moment, she opened them for the first time, to see what she had been missing for her entire life.
And there was only blue.
For a single instant in time, Songbird could comprehend the turns of the universe, time stretching on and on for innumerable vorns, she could feel every precious and unique life ever gifted from the thumming Cube beneath her digits.
For an instant, she was everywhere. And then it settled in her processor. It took Songbird several nano-kliks to recognise that there was in fact a...presence...an entity, in her helm. An Ancient-and-Forever presence that was watching her and felt welcoming-encompassing-amused.
The Allspark.
She thought for an klik she might actually glitch.
"You-who-are-(echoes-of-song-and-soaring-in-freedom-air). Welcome."
She was totally going to glitch.
The Allspark was talking to her. It had said her name. She had always loved her name, but coming from the Allspark itself, it seemed to carry a weight she had never heard before. As if there was another meaning that she couldn't quite grasp, but it was there. And she had never heard her name spoken like that before.
"(echoes-of-song-and-soaring-in-freedom-air)-you-who-follow-he-who-is-(beginnings-and-endings-past-and-future-of-gateways)-he-who-is-Ours."
Songbird could hear a background Song as she listened to the Allspark speak, a Song of freedom-flying-happiness-laughter-on-wind and it took her a good klik to realize she was hearing the Allspark say her name. It was Singing of her. Of who she was, who she had been...who she could be as it focused its attentions directly and overwhelmingly on her and her alone. There were no words, no pictures of images or even sounds, just feelings. Like wind and light and indescribable emotions that she could barely grasp.
And she was ventless.
"We-have-watched-(beginnings-and-endings-past-and-future-of-gateways)-since-his-beginnings-and you-who-are-(echoes-of-song-and-soaring-in-freedom-air)-will-watch-him-for-Us-now."
Songbird felt her spark stutter. The Allspark...wanted her to watch her Prime?
For what?
Why her?
"You-are-trusted-tried-and-proved. Your-desire-to-help-is-not-shadowed-by-hidden-motives."
Songbird felt as if she had abruptly been entrusted with a task of great importance. A responsibility the likes of which she had never been given, nor even dreamed of. She was a simply Apprentice, only chosen for the Temple because of the potential she might one day have. A Prime, of extraordinary strength and knowledge, unbearably sad and kind in equal measures, and she was given the duty- from the AllSpark itself- to watch him.
The word 'watch' meant so much more when the AllSpark said it, with undertones of keeping-safe, guarding-and-caring-for and edges of worry coming from the Cube. She was supposed to actually watch for...for something that she would see and recognize and...do what exactly?
There was a firm impression, a glimpse of understanding and a deep, profound faith.
"Always-are-there-choices-to-be-made."
Before Songbird could continue her questions, she felt a gentle release of the grip the energy held over her as the AllSpark withdrew from her processors. Or was it she who pulled from the Cube? Songbird wasn't sure, but even as she pulled away, she could hear the echoes and whispers of the Song of her Name from the Allspark, a Song she heard much more clearly than she had ever heard before.
She wavered on her pedes, and Janus was there instantly, a servo pressed against her back-plates to keep her steady even as he projected concern-pride her way.
"That…" she whispered, optics turning to Janus and wide with a sort of awe she couldn't put into words.
Janus' dermas twitched up at the ends, his optics bright as he agreed with her unvoiced attempts at explanation.
"It is rather...much, the first time isn't it?" He turned her around, his servo a steady support on her back-plates-and it was only then that Songbird realized the entire temple was still and silent and staring at her. In disbelief, in awe, like she was someone they've never seen before. It was...disconcerting.
She wished they would stop.
And for an instant- just an instant- she felt the urge to cringe back, make herself smaller. It passed when the Song she could now hear so clearly rose in volume, the Allspark speaking-yet-not with authority that You-are-Ours-now-and bow-to-no-one. Do-not-pull-back. Stand-tall-beside-your-Prime.
Songbird instantly stilled, her back-stut snapping straight and tall as she lifted her head.
She was (echoes-of-song-and-soaring-in-freedom-air), she had spoken to the Allspark, and it had seen her as worthy. She would not cower, especially while she was beside her Prime. None had any right to judge her, none save her Prime and he had already looked at at and found her worthy.
She descended the stairs leading to the Cube with a grace she never knew she possessed, wrapping that certainty, that confidence in her own self around her frame like armor. She tried to ignore the distracting spikes of almost overwhelming emotion from the bots crowding in the Temple and in front of her. Some of jealousy-anger and others of reverence-awe.
She was different, she understood this, but it wasn't that she had changed, it was that the world had changed around her. Not that she would be able to explain that to anyone who had never heard nor felt the AllSpark in the manner she had. She tried not to think about how this event would change how she was seen and treated.
Of course, that was ruining barely a nano-klick later, when in the complete silence of the temple, Bumblebee's voice shattered the moment.
"Primus, femme! Talk about an upgrade!"
Songbird halted, her optics swinging to meet the yellow Cybertronian's. His tone wasn't awed or angry, but touched with an ease and an understanding. His tone was that of a friend making a joke, as one might shove another in the shoulder in play. She tilted her helm in confusion at his words.
"Upgrade?"
Bee shuttered his optics in faint surprise before he gestured to her frame like the answer was obvious.
"An upgrade. Those are some impressive Sigils you have now."
Songbird froze instantly. Sigils? What had happened to her Sigils? She turned her optics to Janus, asking a silent question of him.
"The Allspark...promoted you, as it were."
He tipped his head to her frame, something like amusement briefly brushing against her spark before he quickly provided her a projection of her own form as he saw it.
Songbird''s optics shuttered sharply, staring intently at Bumblebee and Janus, as if the bots had stuttered. She turned her attention to the projection Janus had provided, looking at the 'upgrades' the mechs had mentioned.
She had always had the Sigils on her frame that told those at a glance that she was Sensitive of some power and was chosen as an Apprentice to the Temple.
These Sigils were not those.
They were so much different.
For one, they trailed over her shoulders, winding around her arms, down her back-strut and curling delicately around her outer thighs to stop just above her knee joints. They were longer, more detailed, intricate in a way that her Apprentice Sigils had not been, nor would ever have been.
They were the marks of a High Priestess.
Oh. Oh.
Upgrade.
Very much a significant upgrade.
Songbird was...this was too much all at once. She turned to her Prime, projecting across their Bond instinctively overwhelmed-beginning to panic-help me-information overload.
The reaction was immediate, his amusement vanished as Janus straightened sharply, the servo at her back-strut pressing tighter, as he let his presence fill the air around him, a nonverbal que to those around him that he, and those with him, would be given space. Now.
The reaction was instantaneous as every bot that had been brave or uncaring enough to go closer, immediately backed off, those behind him following their example.
Janus began to move, guiding Songbird towards the stairs leading to the rooms below, ignoring those who lingered too long only to scramble out of his way when he drew closer. Songbird was thankful when they descended the stairs. She was even more thankful when her Prime spoke, his voice soft, a request that could be denied, but with an edge of this-would-please-me.
"Would you like to sit in my rooms for a while or would you prefer solitude in your own?"
Songbird only took a moment to respond, leaning into the servo still pressed against her backplate.
"If I wouldn't be intruding?"
"Never. You are always welcome. Come along then."
Janus led his Apprentice- now High Priestess- towards his rooms, opening the door and immediately scanning the room for threats without a thought before he stepped aside for Songbird to enter. He strolled into the room on the femme's heels and settled into one of the chairs, absently reaching out and preparing a meal for the sparkling. He hadn't had the chance to feed the little one in the incidents that required his attention.
First it had been Optimus and his pack that had come in, which he was slammed with memories both happy and sad, then the whole Songbird incident, and shortly after that Sentinel had come in. There had been no time. He would busy himself with feeding the Ironwill and allow Songbird the chance to settle herself.
For a breem, the only sounds in his room were the clicks and coos of a sparkling eating happily and the soft sounds Janus made in return. He could feel her gaze on him, but he didn't mind. He was tracing his optics over the fine features of his little one's face. He had seen many different Cybertronians in his life as Sam Witwicky, yet he had only glimpsed the bodies of the sparklings Megatron had tried to raise.
The sparkling in his arms was beautiful, healthy and strong in a way he had never seen Cybertronian children before. The sheer heartbreak that had been so predominate in Optimus posture, in his voice when he spoke of the days before the War, of the sparklings that had all died, had almost made Sam cry. Now, as Janus holding onto Ironwill, he was grateful that Optimus would never have need to speak of such death to a naive human teenager so many years into the future.
If he had anything to say about it.
He ending his line of thought, just as Songbird spoke up, her voice soft and hesitant.
"...I don't think I am ready."
Janus pulled his optics from the content face of his sparkling, shifting the mechling into a more comfortable position, as he questioned her, keeping his tone mild.
"For what?"
Songbird gestured, an all-encompassing movement.
"This. Any of it. I don't think I'm ready for this kind of...of responsibility. What if I mess up? What if the Allspark was wrong? What if I-"
"Songbird," Janus' tone was stern but kind as cut her off, "The Allspark would not have chosen you as it did, if it did not feel you could handle it."
"But I…"
"Sometimes things may seem...overwhelming, but it is our actions under pressure that exemplify who we are, not those when times are easy."
"But I do not feel...I was just an Apprentice, and now I am a High Priestess. I was not prepared for this. I was not- I do not feel that I am prepared for a position of that prestige."
Sam went still. He knew this feeling. He remembered the crushing weight of the Autobots standing in front of him and declaring Samuel Witwicky, you hold the key to Earth's survival. He remembered the Fallen, being at the top of every Most Wanted list, the horror when Optimus died, and everyone looked to him.
"Sometimes," Janus' voice was thick with remembered experiences, "We are thrust into a situation we do not expect. When we are at our lowest, when we feel that we cannot possibly take another step, sometimes the world will add more weight. We think that we are going to break. That we can't bear this burden that is asked of us."
His optics shuttered, focusing on her form as he remembered Sector Seven chasing him, of choosing to step out of the dam and into the city, his mad dash, of staring at a dying Optimus, and even as an Allspark that had no idea how to Speak to organic life drove him slowly mad, choosing to save him. He remembered seeing the Fallen, the Sun Harvester and declaring 'no more'. Years and events long gone and never to come to pass. There was only him left to remember a future that he was trying to destroy.
"But instead we soldier on. With hope for the future and a determination to do all that we can do. It's not easy and the memories are things we live with until our dying day. But still, perhaps you weren't asked, your permission sought, but there is something in you that another saw and knew 'this one'. 'This one will not fail.'"
Janus paused and leveled a heavy stare into Songbird's wide optics.
"The only one higher in status than you is Primus. High Priests and Priestesses are the equals of a Prime. You may feel now that it is overwhelming, that you are sacrificing your life, your individuality, even your peace of mind as you shoulder new responsibilities...but in sacrifice there is always a victory."
Sam thinks of the choice he made to take out the Control Matrix in the Once-Future. He thinks of the sacrifice he had made, and the victory in saving the world- his parents, the Autobots. He thinks of the sacrifice of all that he had known, his world, his home, his species...and the victory that he is standing here now, able to help all of Cybertron as Janus Prime.
"Even if we do not see it," Janus continued his thought, "there are people that will look to us and we have the opportunity to help them. You now have the opportunity to help them. Those of us that come into power like this from the bottom, we know better how to use the power we given, where best we can help."
There is silence before Songbird speaks up.
"From the bottom?" she asks quietly, curiously, ever so cautiously with surprise ringing in her tones.
Sam hums in agreement.
"The bottom," he agrees.
He remembers where he started, where he came from. A nobody nerd in highschool who only had one friend, no goals beyond the present day. No power. No money. No influence. Nobody important and nothing special.
"I was what would be considered a Gamma in my youngling-hood. This would make me a mid-class rank...but those I called my friends, were Deltas and Omegas. The bottom of the social ladder. I was not accepted among those of my Class- I was rejected and scorned for my views and actions. I knew what the problems of those below my Class were. Walked their streets, shared their homes, saw their struggles. For all that I was mid-class I fit better with those of lower station than myself. I was welcomed by them. Helped. Appreciated."
Another pause as Songbird leaned forward, curiosity radiating from her spark, before Janus continued.
"And then an Alpha and his pack found me. Asked for my help in a way that benefitted me more than them, the way I first saw it. I agreed and we worked together to accomplish our goal. They could have left me, done it themselves, but they were right next to me when the battle started and I did everything I could to help. In the end, he- they- saw something in me that was worth something. I was nobody important, nothing special with no great talents...but he saw potential in me. Believed in me. He...he was the Prime to make me who I am today. My Alpha. I would have followed him and his pack into the Pit. "
Sam closed his optics in memory, ignoring with practiced ease the pain that came with remembering. He continued as faces flashed across his processor.
"I was introduced to many of Alpha Class who were set on helping those below them. This Alpha's pack had no Class lines. Alpha...Beta..Gamma...Delta...Omega...none of that mattered to him nor the others, and so his pack was made of many Classes. All of them equal to one another, no matter their talents or strength. They all had a voice, and he listened to each equally. "
Sam focused on Songbird again, mentally shutting the door to his past and the Future-That-No-Longer-Was.
"So I understand the feelings you are experiencing now. I understand how overwhelmed you feel, how uncertain...but in this sacrifice you will find victory. I will not leave you to flounder."
Songbird vented slowly, keeping her gaze fixated on the floor. A klik later, she raised her optics, snagging Janus's own and holding them.
"I do not think that I am ready, but, regardless of this, the AllSpark has granted me this new station. So I will do my very best and I will do all that I can."
Sam smiled, emitting a warm approval at the determination that Songbird radiated, before he inclined his helm.
"That is all anyone can ask of you."
The moment was broken when Ironwill clicked and whirred up at them, happily full now and radiating joy-playful-want.
The two bots in the room smiled at each other before obeying the little mechling's demands, willing to play with him. It was a good reminder of what they would fight for. Janus scooped the little bot in his servos and gently tossed him into the air. Ironwill shrieked with momentary fear before abruptly landing in his caretaker's servos again. The sparkling blinked in surprise, his optics lighting up in pleasure as Janus carefully repeated his actions several more times, then handed the little one over to Songbird. The newly made High Priestess encouraged Ironwill to climb over her frame, teaching him the best pede-holds and niches to hold on to.
After a few kliks spent playing with the sparkling Janus pulsed his emotional-field in a request for attention.
Songbird looked up immediately as Ironwill froze with one servo reaching for her helm. They both looked at him expectantly and Janus suppressed a smile.
"I have business across Cybertron," Janus spoke softly "and would ask if you should like to accompany me?"
Songbird blinked, not hesitating in the least, her answer immediate.
"I will follow you Janus Prime."
Janus smiled, vaguely pleased.
"We shall be leaving shortly- I do not wish to be stopped, and the less time they have to do so the better. I know the location of the items I seek, but not what obstacles may be in the way. So I ask you to prepare for a deca-cycle of of travel. This does not mean we will be absent from the City for the entire deca-cycle, but I have found it is better to be prepared and have no need, then have a need and not be prepared."
Songbird nodded in understanding, hesitating a moment, before noticing Janus's curiosity aimed at her.
"Is there a specific purpose for your journey? Something or someone you are going to see?"
Janus thought about the way Sentinel had invaded his rooms, how he had attacked and Janus had only really had his sword. He thought of the lessons learned on the shoulder of Ironhide on his Earth. The insistence of the mech that there was never enough weapons on hand, that 'you never know when the next battle will happen, or what situation you would eventually find yourself in'. He remembered the War Stories Ironhide had shared, about how even when injured sometimes all it took to win was the right weapon in the right circumstances, and about Ironhide's insistence that everyone have at least three weapons of varying purpose and size on their person no matter the time or place.
He thought of the memories he now had. The Allspark, Sam was sure, that remembered.
"I am acquiring a few weapons for protection purposes." His voice was mild, but his conviction strong.
A few.
Right. Compared to Ironhide. His Ironhide who had been at war longer than Earth had been inhabited. On a bad day.
Or would that be classified as a good day?
Regardless Janus would not see himself so woefully underprepared again.
Especially not now, when he had so much to do. So much to change. So much to lose.
Now for the really difficult part.
Getting out of the temple. Full of bots. Curious and interested bots. Who wanted to meet their new Prime. Influential people who wanted to make a good impression on the Prime that no one knew a thing about. A substantial number of Cybertronians that would absolutely wonder what, exactly, Janus was doing if he just got up and left especially after making such a lasting impression.
He really, really, hoped those lessons from his Bee about sneaking around without getting caught had stuck. Granted the lessons had to be modified to his human self, but Bee had first taught him as a bot, what someone his size would do, what Jazz and various other bots had done. He vented hard, rubbing a servo over his face-plates as he contemplated his situation.
"Do you happen to know how to exit the temple discreetly?"
He asked Songbird hoping against hope that there would be an easy way out of this mess. He was sure there were ways in and out of the tower that were not the front entrance. He was just as certain they would be hidden and guarded when the Allspark rested in the walls of this temple. Escape routes and emergency exits in case of attack.
Songbird shook her helm slowly, confirming what Janus already thought.
"None that we may access. We would need to leave out the front."
"I thought that would be the case."
Janus fell silent, casting his mind back as he ran different scenarios through his processor. His Bee's voice- scratchy, broken, with clips of various songs and talk shows scattered throughout his words as he struggled to explain his lessons- came back to him.
Sometimes it isn't hiding that gets you in and out of a place. Sometimes, it's being in plain sight. It's belonging somewhere, having an actual reason to be out and about. No one questions anybody with an alibi. Especially if it's a partly true one.
Sam smirked to himself at the memory and the stories the spy-scout had shared with him once upon a time.
Sometimes you can walk right out the front door.
So he needed an alibi. Something to get him into the temple rooms without pulling too much attention to himself. He had to make it out the entrance of the temple, and do it in such a way no one questioned him, or attempted to stop his progress outside.
The question then, was not what he had to do- it was how to go about it.
Unbidden, memories that were not his-perhaps recorded by the Allspark?- came to the forefront of his processor.
Blend in they whispered, flashes of doing just that, sliding through the crowds easily, happily chatting to mechs and femmes alike, sliding across his optics. Mingle they continued don't stride with purpose to any destination. Let the crowd move you.
Bee's voice overlapped in his helm as the two thoughts completed each other: sometimes you can walk right out the front door.
"Songbird."
His voice was firm, but not demanding, catching her attention instantly.
"If we were to walk among the people in the temple, could you provide information on those within it?"
"...Yes?" her voice was questioning but steady, "Not all of them of course, but a large amount of them"
"And could you do so in such a way that we just happened to drift through the crowd towards the entrance? Without making it look purposeful?"
Janus knew he could, but he wanted Songbird to come with him, so this plan depended on her ability to manage it. Songbird fell silent as she thought about her answer and if she had the ability to do such a thing. Comprehension dawned as she figured out his plan. She nodded decisively.
"...I believe so, yes."
Janus grinned. "Good. Go- gather what you would need for yourself and Ironwill for a deca-cycle of travel, and return here when you are finished. We will go upstairs afterwards."
Songbird nodded, rising to her pedes with Ironwill in her arms and strode out the door, leaving Janus to patiently wait for her return.
Janus kept pace with Songbird as they meandered around the temple room, listening as she pointed out various mechs and femmes, providing bits and pieces about them as they went. Ironwill was quiet, even as he looked around in curiosity from his hiding place in the sparkling hold Janus was delighted to discover he had. It was partially open to allow the curious sparkling to look around without being obvious, and it would be easily shut in the event someone tried to attack him, or started looking too closely at his frame.
They were casually working their way through the crowd with surprising success. There was no patterns to their movements, no rhythm or rhyme, each step or turn they made was decided by those around them, allowing the crowd to move them wherever it pleased so long as it eventually lead to the doors.
Janus had carefully bundled the 'presence' that would announce him as a Prime away, letting it rest deep in his spark. He couldn't allow any of the bots in the room to sense him, otherwise he would never manage to slip out of the temple simply because that 'presence' pulled people in and Janus would never make it out without an entourage. It was difficult, almost-but-not-quite painful, but Sam refused to bend to the instinctive urge to let go.
"...he has an unhealthy addiction to oil cake…"
Songbird's voice was washing over his audials, a hint of amusement in her tone, and Sam absently wondered what oil cake even tasted like as they slid ever closer towards the exit. When Songbird leaned closer to him, Janus automatically leaned down a little to better be on her level, carefully shutting his sparkling hold a little more, so that Ironwill would not fall out when Sam leaned down.
"That one there- you see him, the green one with white detailing- he has a rod up his aft, but once you get some high grade into him, he's actually pretty funny. He tells the best stories, and in such a way that no one actually knows if they're true or not."
Sam just barely controlled a bark of laughter.
"And he-" she nodded to their left and Janus automatically turned to see who Songbird was indicating only to almost freeze in shock, "Is (one-who-is-perceived-to-prevent-deterioration) Ratchet. He's a politician, technically, but he has a talent for being a medic as well."
Sam had a moment where he reeled both at the grouchy medic's sudden appearance and at the idea of a politician Ratchet. Straight-forward, wrench-tossing, Ratchet...as a politician? It didn't really fit in Sam's mind, but he could vaguely remember a mention of the Autobot medic in a high-class setting. No-nonsense, intimidating Ratchet would have fit well into the role of a diplomat. Sam almost laughed at the image of Ratchet throwing a wrench at just the right angle to hit four different mechs at once, as the wrench bounced off helms and walls just so, in the middle of a diplomatic meeting. Sam had seen his Ratchet do that exact thing with both sets of twins once before after they fought about following his medical advice.
"He's brilliant, and I heard he's followed Optimus for vorns…" Ratchet must have caught the tail-end of Songbird's praise or noticed their optics on him, he absently but politely dipped his helm even as he strode over to Optimus, most of his attention fixated on the still form of the Prime. Sam almost wanted to smile. Even if Ratchet was a politician at the moment, Sam knew that stride, the angle of his shoulders, the glint in his optics.
Optimus was about to get what the Gladiator Twins had coined a 'Ratchet the Hatchet Lecture'.
Sam let Songbird's voice become a bit of a background noise even as he listened, forcibly drawing his attention away from Ratchet lest his continued attention drew noticed to himself. He was casually keeping an eye on those who were most likely to stop him if they caught onto his plans to leave, temporary as they may be.
Jazz noticed a flicker, just barely, in the edges of his vision. Easily dismissed and ignored. It was for that very reason that Jazz gave that little detail the very fullest of his attention. The sight of two bots blending in so thoroughly with the crowd, even though one towered over practically everyone and the other was simply a youngling , was of great interest and fascination to him.
They looked remarkably similar to one Janus Prime and his newly acquired High Priestess. The technique the Prime was employing to escape notice was beautiful and flawless in a way that made Jazz want sing with the desire to stare. That level of causal blending in was something that Jazz himself would have to prepare to do. It would take effort, but in the end he would be able to accomplish something with similar results. Regardless of the fact that he was remarkable good with blending in period, for a Prime to pull that off? Jazz almost wanted to steal him. Keep him close, observe, learn from the Prime.
The Prime who currently did not feel like a Prime either. Who had used his color-nanites to change his frame's appearance enough that most of the crowd wouldn't immediately peg him as Janus Prime. Added with his ability to hide his Presence and it was no wonder the other bots hadn't pegged him for the Prime they were so excitedly discussing.
Curious thin'..
Several nano-kliks of almost blatant staring and steadily following their every movement revealed something very curious. The Prime was moving in a distinct way, one that Jazz himself could recognize as a style almost identical to his own. It was clearly adapted to his size, and more advanced than what Jazz could do at the moment without a long prep and research period. Janus was just...doing it. On the move, without thought, though there were odd hints of shifting out of synch for just an instant or two, as if hiding an injury.
Ah, no, not an injury. A sparkling carried in his hold? Yes, that was a factor, but there was something more.
The Prime couldn't be sensed as a Prime at the moment. Janus appeared as an ordinary mech, yes one with considerable height, yet exuding none of the every sense that lit up in acknowledgement of a Prime. He was holding in the very presence that defined him as a Prime. Added to the way Janus had changed his coloring with his nanites, and hidden his Sigils via hologram and no one was looking at him too long. The odd out-of-step moments, the instant where Janus almost seemed to limp...it was him struggling with his Presence.
It was jarring and distinctively unpleasant for Jazz to look closer at him and not hear the symphony that had accompanied his every movement. To not see the beautiful patterns that had trailed in his pede-steps. It was like listening to a Song, and three notes in the flow being discordant, like the screech of metal on metal.
A Prime's Presence instinctively wanted to wash over all around them. For Janus Prime to be not only hiding it, but managing it thoroughly enough he could walk in the middle of a crowd? No wonder he was struggling. Jazz was still completely impressed.
Even if it was wrong to hear those three discordant notes, even if it grated against him to see it happening.
He was absolutely and utterly curious.
What was the mech doing?
He had to know. It was his duty, his job, his responsibility and he wanted to know.
Jazz easily slipped away from Optimus and the others, slinking into the crowds, and quickly trailing after the Prime, making a note of Ratchet striding powerfully towards Optimus. It was the work of less than a klik for Jazz to catch up to the Prime and his Priestess thanks to his smaller size.
"An' where do ya thin' yer goin'?"
Janus didn't tense, or jerk around. Admirable of him, keeping his reactions smooth and fluid, controlled.
Reactions would have given him away, drawn attention, when he didn't want to do that. Instead he slid easily around, as if greeting an old friend he had just heard call his designation. Jazz couldn't stop himself from staring even if he wanted to. What the old Prime was doing was a work of art.
"I have some things to do."
There was a moment when Jazz visibly took in the words he said. There was no lie in his voice, yet it was completely void of details and practically any information.
Hm. Deflectin'. A reluct'nce ta lie ta meh. A hint'a respect in his tone. As if he knows meh...perhaps Ah remind 'im of someone?
Janus wouldn't lie to Jazz. He remembered that Jazz had been Optimus' acting Second on Earth, and he had learned later on from Bumblebee that Jazz had been head of Special Ops, the one that taught Bumblebee everything he knew. Lying outright to the mech would be a bad idea. Not to mention that he had been a mentor to Bee, a close friend to most of the Autobots and he was sorely missed.
Still, one fact about Jazz that Bee had managed to convey was that once something captured his attention, he was reluctant to let go. Going by that shiney spark in his optics and the beeline he took straight to them moments after they caught his attention, Janus was positive that he had invoked Jazz's curiosity.
"An' those things would beh?"
"I have belongings that were left in various places before I came here," Janus explained, simply stating a fact yet offering no other information.
It was the truth, after all. He had never said they were his belongings, though they soon would be. Jazz could draw whatever conclusions from that simple sentence that he wanted to.
Jazz knew, as sure as he had known Optimus was a Prime, that Janus was not telling him everything. He didn't expect the mech to- he barely knew Jazz after all, had no reason to trust him other than his connection to Optimus. That would change with time, and Jazz was certainly making plans to give Janus the time to know him. The Prime was fascinating. He hummed as he posed another question.
"An' when ya're done? Wha' ya gonna do then?"
Janus tilted his helm, not hesitating to answer with a simple reply.
"I will come back here. I did promise to share our history after all, and I do not break my word."
"Do ya have an estimate on when yer goin' ta beh back?"
"A deca-cycle at the latest. Sooner if I can manage it."
Jazz stared at them for a klik before he nodded. He had spent vorns upon vorns reading Cybertronians, he knew when he was lied to. Janus wasn't lying. He wasn't sharing everything, but he wasn't lying. And Jazz didn't really think he could stop Janus from doing anything anyway.
Curious thin'...
He nodded decisively.
"Ya come back. Ah will hunt ya down if yah don'."
Jazz paused deliberately, holding Janus' gaze before letting his optics drift back towards Optimus and the others. He spoke his next words deliberately, with weight and meaning.
"Ya Declared 'im. Ah… appreciate it. Th' others do ta...bu' ya can't leave 'im ta flounder ya 'ear?"
Janus bowed his helm in acknowledgement, warm and approving, making sure that he brushed the emotion against Jazz's emotion-field so he would know.
"There will be no need. I will return. I will not leave him," the 'or any of you' wasn't voiced, but Janus thought it all the same, "to flounder."
There was a note of power that slipped into his words that gave the words the edge of an Oath, a promise. Jazz was briefly taken aback, before he relaxed and grinned at the Prime.
"Good."