A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for sticking around this far. However, because I have been busy lately with work and school this chapter is going to be a bit different. Instead of one major long chapter I've decided turn to this and the next one or two chapters into a bit of a mini-arc. I wanted to give Elita One her ability to momentarily stop time and I think I found an interesting way to do that, that corresponds with her being an archeologist in this story. Thank you for your continued patience and enjoy.
God bless and have a good Yom Teruah!
Jacob (James) 5:7
"So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it until it receives the early and late rain."
Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers franchise.
Chapter Four: The Dagger of Vector Prime Part I
It was not long after their initial meeting that Megatronus and Orion Pax began corresponding with each other and working together to fight for equal rights for all Cybertronians. Whenever they could they would go around and try to rally as many bots as they could to their cause, with Megatronus delivering speeches that Orion would help him write. Soon they even became friends.
However, even though they were beginning to make tremendous strides, there were still obstacles that they needed to overcome. One of the main ones being that even though there were those who were willing to join the cause, a majority of bots were either too afraid to stand up against the High Council or just flat out refused to listen thinking that it might be nothing but a fool's errand in the end.
This caused Megatronus to one day groan and say to Orion, "You'd think that they would be more willing to listen to me if I were Prime."
Mulling this over and remembering what Ariel told him, Orion came to the realization that if Sentinel Prime's son and heir was truly alive then he may be able to help them. With him supporting Megatronus and the cause, then the citizens might be more willing to stand with them and fight. And, so, Orion has been trying to find the prince in secret in hopes of not drawing the council's attention to what he was doing. However, if they ever did catch wind to what he was trying to do, then no one else could get into trouble no since one else was aware to what he was doing; not Alpha Trion, not Megatronus, not even Ariel knew about it.
In fact, that is what he was doing that morning.
In hopes of accomplishing his goal and finding a clue to the price's whereabouts, Orion tried to learn everything he could about the royal family; including the raid on the palace which ultimately resulted in their assassinations. Unfortunately, while what he did learn about their deaths was startling, it turned out to be a dead end. There was no mention of what happened to the prince at all, other than that he was missing; just like what Ariel said.
But what he did find out was just as shocking. Along with reading about the deaths of Sentinel Prime and Queen Seraphina, Orion also read the obituaries of everyone else who were killed in the raid. It turns out that the Captain of the Royal Guard and a femme, who was also the intelligence officer that was killed, were sparkmates. Their names were Longshadow and Silverstream; and, if he remembered correctly from what he was told, those were also the same names as Ariel's parents. Could it be? Could it be that these two were Ariel's parents? It would would explain how they would know Alpha Trion. But what if the two couples just shared the same names? Whatever the case, it just felt too convenient to be a coincidence.
Orion then decided that instead of jumping to conclusions, he would just ask Ariel when he went to go see her at the dig. Alpha Trion was supposed to go there today to get a progress report and a tour of the excavation site that she was currently working at. But because Alpha Trion had an emergency meeting with the High Council due to the civil unrest, Orion volunteered to go in his stead. And since Ariel was unaware of the change of plans he decided that he would surprise her.
However, it was with that train of thought that caused him to snap his head up as he just came to the realization that he was running late; if he didn't leave right now he would miss the terminal. So, in a hurry, he cleared his work station of his research, hid it in his desk, and then left the Hall of Records.
But just before he could enter the transport station he heard someone call out to him. "Orion!"
Upon recognizing whose voice it was Orion couldn't help but silently pray, "Lord, please help me." He then turned around to face his friend and asked, "Megatronus? What are you doing here?"
"To discuss ways on how we can persuade others to join our cause. We agreed to meet up and try to come up with a solution," Megatronus answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You said that since things were slow down at the Hall of Records I could drop by whenever I had the time. But when I got there I saw you launching yourself out of the building, not even seeing me as you passed by."
Orion groaned, recalling that he indeed told him that. "I did say that. I am sorry, Megatronus, but I can't right now. I promised Alpha Trion I would take his place in an important meeting for him and I am already running late," he told his friend as he gestured to the transport station behind him while taking a few steps backwards.
"This is also important!", the gladiator argued. "Our very future depends on us succeeding, and we can't do that if we do not find a way to overcome this obstacle!"
Orion sighed as he took a look at his internal chromometer and realized that his ride was about to leave without him. "Fine," he relented. "But we will have to discuss this on the way to my meeting because the terminal is about to leave."
"Very well," Megatronus told him with a nod of acceptance. The two friends then rushed to the transport station and were able to make it onto the terminal with only a second to spare before the terminal doors closed and left the station. Once they were seated and Orion's systems cooled down from all the running, since Megatronus was used to pushing his body its limits from his time down in the energon mines and fighting in the gladiatorial pits, the silver mech asked his friend a question. "So, what is this meeting about anyway?"
Orion sighed before answering. "There is an excavation taking place where some ruins were recently uncovered. I am to meet up with Ariel at the station where she will, in turn, escort me to the ruins and give me a tour of the dig site as well as a progress report on the excavation. Alpha Trion then wants me to report back to him on how it went."
"Ariel?", Megatronus questioned.
"She is an archeologist who acts as the liaison between the Institute and the the Hall of Records," Orion clarified, unaware of the smile that he had on his face.
"Uh-huh," the gladiator replied sarcastically with a raised optic ridge. He then had a smug look on his face as he leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms, and asked his friend a question. "And who exactly is she to you?"
Not expecting that kind of question, the clerk snapped his head towards him in surprise. "What?"
"Oh, come on, Orion; I am not blind you know. It's obvious."
"What are you taking about?", Orion chuckled slightly nervous, trying to deflect Megatrous' question.
"Just now," the silver mech said pointing an accusing finger at him, "when you were talking about this Ariel femme, you had the face of a love sick cyber-puppy."
Orion Pax groaned and shook his head in embarrassment as well as in defeat. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Oh, yeah," the gladiator nodded with a slight snicker.
Orion just groaned again as he leaned back in his seat and let the back of his head slam against the window that was behind him. "She is my girlfriend."
Megatronus' optics went wide when he heard that. "Girlfriend?! Since when did you get a girlfriend?"
Upon noticing his friend's almost out burst, Orion quickly made sure no one was paying any more attention to them than they already were, considering that they most likely recognized the famous gladiator. "Keep it down, would you? It is not something I'd exactly like broadcast to the whole planet."
Still surprised by the revelation, the gladiator stuttered a bit when he asked, "I'm sorry, it's just that h-h-how did I not know about this?"
"You never asked me if I was seeing anyone and the subject never came up in any of our conversations," Orion shrugged as he answered.
Megatronus just shook his head realizing what the young archivist had said was true and asked, "Does anyone else know besides me?"
"Just our friends."
"Oh, so, I am the last to know," the silver mech accused.
Sheepishly, Orion replied with, "Well, not exactly. The only one we are trying prevent from finding out about our relationship is Ariel's grandfather."
"Why?", the his friends couldn't help but ask; furrowing his optic ridges to show his confusion.
"It's complicated and none of your business," Orion Pax told him firmly. "You agreed to come with me so that we can discuss how we can draw bots' attention ad get them to join the cause, not to talk about my love life."
"Alright, alright. I'll stop asking," Megatronus chuckled, raising his arms in mock surrender.
"Thank you," Orion sighed. "Now we won't reach the station until this afternoon, so we have until then to hopefully come up with a solution."
"Alright then," Megatronus nodded.
And, so, as the hours passed and the terminal continued on its route to their intended destination, the two friends tried came up with a solution to their dilemma. Unfortunately, whatever suggestions they came up with would either not work or just result in them being as bad as the corrupt Cybertronians they trying to put a stop to. In the end, when the terminal came to a stop at their destination, they couldn't come up with anything that could help.
"I don't believe this! We spent all morning trying to come up with a solution and we came up with nothing!" Megatronus kept on ranting as he and Orion stepped foot out of the station and into they courtyard where they were supposed to meet Ariel.
"Calm down, Megatronus," Orion tried to soothe his friend. "This is just a bump in the road, a large bump at that, but non the less a bump. We'll overcome it; and if we are patient enough I am sure will come up with a solution."
"Yeah, right," the gladiator scoffed. "Where is your girlfriend, anyway? You said that she was supposed to be here."
"I don't know," Orion answered surveying the courtyard for the purple femme. "Alpha Trion said that this is where they- There she is!", he pointed to her as he spotted her looking over the crowd, presumably searching for Alpha Trion. "Ariel!"
Upon hearing her name, Ariel look up to see that it was Orion who had an arm up in the air, waving at her. Surprised and curious, she walked the distance, over to him.
"Orion?", a stunned Ariel inquired. "What are you doing here? Where's Alpha Trion?" She then noticed the large mech standing next to her boyfriend. "And why is Kaon's very own Megatronus with you?"
Orion Pax chuckled as he gently clutched her upper arms in his hands. "It's ok, Ariel. Alpha Trion had to attend an emergency meeting with the High Council, so I volunteered to come instead. I figured this way I could surprise you."
"Well, considered me surprised." She smiled as she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek just before hugging him. "It is so good to see you; I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Ariel," the young archivist told her as he held her close to him.
The two bots were so wrapped up in each other that they forgot that there someone else was there, watching them, until they heard a voice box clear up. This startled them out of their bliss and turned to see Megatronus staring at them with an impatient look on his face and his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Oh, right, sorry," Orion apologized as he shook his head slightly in embarrassment and amusement. He then cleared his throat begore he began introductions. "Megatronus, this is my girlfriend Ariel. She is an archeologist that acts as the liaison between the Institute and the Hall of Records; like I told you earlier. And, Ariel, this is my friend Megatronus. We've been working together on Megatronus' campaign for equal rights."
The silver mech and violet femme shook hands as Ariel said jokingly, "So, you're the mech who has stolen Orion's time away from me."
"Ariel, please," Orion groaned as he covered his optics with his hand as if that would prevent bots from seeing his embarrassment.
This just caused the gladiator to chuckle. "Apologies, my dear Ariel, it was never my intention to rob Orion of his time with such a beautiful femme such as yourself. However, if it helps, your Orion here has been a tremendous help to me and my cause. And, while I just found out that about your and Orion's relationship, I must say that he is a lucky mech to have been blessed to have someone like you in his life," he told her as he bowed slightly and kissed the back of her hand.
"Thank you. That's very kind of you, Megatronus," she replied.
Orion just groaned again while Ariel giggled as she came over and clutched his right arm with both of hers. "Orion, you never said that your friend was such a sweet talker," she told him.
"Well, he'd have to be to all have all those screaming fans after him," he joked to try and get all of the attention off of him. And it worked.
"Hey!", Megatronus protested.
This just caused the couple to laugh.
"Well, either way, it is nice to see you here, Orion; and meet you, Megatronus," she told them. "But, now, we really must head over to the dig site if we want to stay on schedule."
"Of course," Orion Pax replied with a nod.
Following Ariel's example, the three of them transformed into their Cybertronian vehicular alt. modes and headed over to the ruins where the excavation was taking place.
When they arrived just outside of the entrance to the ruins and transformed back into bot mode, the ground beneath them began to shake. They tried to steady themselves to prevent themselves from falling over until the shaking ceased.
After a minute or two it finally did stop with Ariel releasing a sigh of relief. "It was just a slight tremor."
"How long have these tremors been going on for?," Orion asked his girlfriend after they regained their balance.
"A couple of days now," she answered. "Actually, these tremors are why the reason why Alpha Trion wanted a progress report as soon as possible."
"Great," Megatronus said sarcastically. "Just what I need; the possibility of the ground caving under me."
"What are you complaining about?," challenged Orion. "You're a flier, remember? All you have to is transform and fly away."
Megtronus just waved off his comment.
This caused Ariel to chuckle a bit nervously. "Well," she clapped her hands, "here we are. We better get a move on; there is a lot of ground to cover if we want to finish before dark." She pointed over her shoulder to the entrance behind her and began to walk a few steps backwards as an indication that it was time to go in.
As the two mechs followed her into the ruins, they couldn't help but marvel at the scenery that was being unveiled to them.
To Be Continued...