Chapter 2 - Something New

Perpetrator looked around the apartment he was now in, taking in its size and decor. At first, he thought she lived on the top floor, and she did, but he didn't expect it to be a smaller apartment on the building's actual roof. The elevator to the ground floor was outside the front door on the other side of the roof.

Turning back to Phoenix, he watched as she dug through a compartment against the living room's wall, looking for something. The apartment itself was smaller than the temporary one he had, only sporting a master bedroom, guest bedroom, then living space.

She finally turned back around, sporting a shoulder mounted camera. Walking forward, she set it down on a table next to him and said, "This will be yours while we work. Most use camera drones to do all the handiwork these days, so I was able to get this from the company's storage. I prefer the personal touch."

Gesturing to her place, she then said, "I know it's not as big or fancy as wherever you probably stayed back on Iacon, but it's perfect for me. I prefer to spend my free time out there then cooped up in here. Plus, the place just being on a roof might seem sketchy to some, but I love it. Direct access to jumping off the roof and flying off."

Turning back to him with a giggle, she said, "And that also makes it a great place for lessons. There's something I wanna show you outside for a sec."

Patting his arm, she led him out her front door and onto the roof. Walking to the edge of the roof, she pointed out and away from the city, Perpetrator taking in the view of large flatland of metal. He found the view a bit strange, having never seen outside a city until now.

Noticing his amazement at it, Phoenix chuckled and said, "That area actually used to have sparse city structures too, but that's where the Cosmic Rust made landfall on Cybertron. After Shockwave had developed a cure and killed it off, the whole area that was infected got demolished. The plague is dead, never coming back, but officials are still a bit afraid of ever building something over there again. I prefer it that way."

Guiding his eyes with her finger, she pointed to very small but noticeable ringed patterns along trenches in the ground, then said, "See those? Underground highways. Those go on for miles and are now exposed thanks to the demolishing of the area. Perfect for stunt flying, so much fun. I've been using those for years, and I still haven't explored it all."

Looking out at the barren landscape, Perpetrator asked in her head, "Is most of Cybertron barren like this?"

Bobbing her head a bit, Phoenix said, "Not most, but a good bit. Cybertron is a pretty big world for something not made of gas, but it's also generally… hollower. So, its gravity isn't as intense as one would expect for a planet of its size. But that hollowness means that there are actually cities not on the surface. Kaon is a good example. It has a surface city area, which is a neat place, but the majority of it sits under the surface. That's why that place has so many mines. On some parts of the surface, you can even stand on a crevice to a massive drop, like a cliff, look down, and see bustling cities down below. We have such an amazing home."

After asking if they'd ever visit Kaon, Phoenix nodded her head enthusiastically and said, "Oh Primus yes! I love that place! They have such a cool culture over there, and a gladiatorial arena. Those fights are such a blast!"

The idea of a gladiator fight intrigued him. Bots choosing to fight and harm one another for the sake of other's entertainment seemed like a strange concept.

Clapping her metal hands together, Phoenix cleared her pipes and said, "Anyway, first things first! Lesson time! Alright Perp, listen well. I have no idea how to teach someone to fly, but I'm an expert at flying, so it should be a breeze. First, show me you can transform, no using any thrusters yet!"

Perpetrator turned and nodded, taking a few steps back before transforming into his jet mode, parked on the roof. Walking a circle around him, Phoenix nodded and said, "Just go back and forth a few times, and then we'll move on."

Perpetrator nodded, doing as she said. He had already done this himself before taking the first leap when he crashed into her, but more practice could never hurt.

After transforming back and forth a few more times, he returned to robot mode and watched as Phoenix clapped her hands again. Watching him rise and stretch, she said, "Okay, next, we're gonna practice in place hovering. You got these nice twin thrusters on your back, use them, nothing too strong though."

She activates her back thruster and hovers circles around him with ease, spinning around to give him a view of her backside and the thruster. "Like this, should be simple, just gotta work out the thrust to weight ratio."

Nodding, he activated his thrusters like he did before, but didn't put enough power in them, his feet not even lifting off. Looking backwards, he put more power into his thrusters, suddenly shooting upward with a silent cry. Before he could launch too far upward, Phoenix grabbed onto his legs and kept him in place.

Giggling softly and making sure they stayed put in the air, she called out, "A little too much power, big guy! Do less and less 'til we start going down! You'll find the sweet spot!"

Nodding, Perpetrator calmed himself and slowly drained more and more power from his thrusters until they both slowly began hovering down to the ground. Once Phoenix's feet touched the ground, she said, "Now just add a tad more to stay up."

Once she let go of his legs, he did as she told him, finally finding himself hovering in place above the ground. Unfortunately, he could not control where he hovered yet, simply hovering off towards the left.

Chuckling, Phoenix quickly grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him away from the ledge, "Good, now just use your upper body to aim them. Wanna move left, lean a bit left. Wanna move right, lean a bit right. Same for any other way, you can even use the control surfaces on your wings when you're flying straight ahead in this form. We'll worry about that another day though."

He nods, slowly getting used to hovering around the roof, Phoenix running around him to keep him from flying off the edge. At first, he thought she'd find it annoying, but realized after hearing her let out another laugh as she yanked him away from the ledge again that she was just having a good time.

Once he had the hang of it, he shut his thrusters off and landed on his feet. Patting his shoulder, Phoenix said, "You got control of your thrusters now? The rest should come naturally, but we'll be taking it slow. It shouldn't actually take long for you to be proficient at flying normally. But flying like me? Now that'll take years of practice."

Running her hand across his wing again and making him shiver, she toyed with his control surfaces and said, "They're a good size too, large control surfaces means more air manipulation, which means better turns. In time, you could be good. Though most of the power in turns comes from our thrusters."

Looking out at the horizon, the sun was slowly beginning to set, making her let go of his wing, "We'll continue later, when it isn't getting dark. For now, let's head inside and discuss work."

Leading him back into her apartment, she showed him to her holo-computer in the corner of her living room next to the large window overlooking the city. Turning it on and typing away, she said, "I still gotta do some research first. Tracking down wellborns isn't exactly easy."

Perpetrator stood behind her, watching over her shoulder as she scrolled through pictures and text. Titling his head, he asked what she was looking for, prompting her to lean back a bit. As she settled back, she said, "Public records, last sightings, those kinds of things. Right now, the easiest wellborn to find other than you would be the one born before you. They would have the shortest paper trail."

After breezing through more pictures and walls of texts, she said, "That bot being Orian Pax. He was born before even me, to give you an idea of how long it's been since the last wellborn. Since the popularity of being a wellborn doesn't linger as long as one would expect, people took less photos or paid less attention to him. Last popular records show he was schooling at a historical academy in Halet, a city outside Iacon."

Gazing upon the holographic computer screen, Perpetrator looked over the photo of this Orian Pax that was displayed. Pointing at it, he spoke in her head, "I think I've seen him before."

Spinning her head back to him, she asked, "You? In Iacon?"

He nodded, making her stand up, "Where? Last sighting said Halet, though that was solar cycles ago. But most bots who leave Iacon do it for a reason and stay out. Why would he go back?"

Perpetrator answered, "It was when I first was born. A bot named Kup showed me some important places and helped me get set up officially. One of the places we visited was called the Iacon Archives. I remember a cybertronian who looked just like that there. He was a clerk."

Phoenix whooped and quickly turned her computer off before jumping up for a stretch. Perpetrator took a step back at her sudden display, then she spun around and said, "That makes sense! How did I not think of it?! Orian Pax was never interviewed, only observed, but he was never described as simple minded. He wanted to learn at an academy outside of Iacon, he wanted to know more than just what was in the box he's always known! And you need to be an academic to actually get a job at a place as important as the Iacon Archives!"

Rubbing her metal chin, Phoenix softly chuckled and said, "I probably should have blabbered about Orian while we were still in Iacon."

Turning back around and rolling her shoulders, her wings jittering about for a moment, she said, "Welp, he won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Not like I'm in a hurry either. We won't leave for Iacon for a few days at least, still got a few things to take care of here, including you, big guy. Tomorrow morning, we're heading out to that demolished city and practicing in those abandoned freeway tunnels. Then, we're running errands. You're my assistant after all, an errand bot."

Perpetrator wished he had optics to roll, then asked if he would power down there tonight. Gesturing towards the hall, Phoenix said, "The door on the right down there will be your room, at least until you have the money to have a place of your own, if you want that. I wouldn't be surprised if you became too infatuated with having someone who knows how to do housework living with you."

He could only shrug in response, not completely sure what she meant by that. Turning and walking down the hall, the door to the room slid open for him to peek inside. Like all bedrooms, a small power station sat on the ground like a capsule. Perpetrator found the average sized one like the one back at his temporary apartment to be a tight fit, but tight fits weren't a problem when he was powered down.

The capsules acted like a bed that would passively recharge a cybertronian with energon indirectly, basically giving off the bare minimum required to avoid death if they were low enough. The concept seemed scary to Perpetrator. Sure, he knew from the beginning how his own body worked, mostly, but it didn't stop him from wondering about it. Stasis can be induced either manually or by empty energon reserves. In the case of the former, the body basically uses no energon, so they can stay that way for centuries without any fear of consequences. In the case of the latter, one could only stay in stasis for so long before their spark finally flickers out.

Most building and homeowners have to pay for continuous amounts of energon to run through for these purposes, like the power bills. While needing to pay for such an essential felt barbaric, it also made sense.

Perpetrator shook his head before he got lost in thought. He wasn't a politician nor a philosopher, no need to get lost in such pointless thoughts. Turning his head to face Phoenix, who was still in the living space, she waved at him and said, "You can go ahead and power down for the night if you want, Perp. I'll give ya a wakeup call when it's time."

Nodding, Perpetrator walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He didn't have much else to do or say right now, so why not get a good power down in before training tomorrow? Opening the capsule, Perpetrator shifted the wings on his back into a downward position so he could fit before laying in it and shutting the lid. The capsule softly lit up blue, then Perpetrator silently sighed to himself before he powered down, his yellow glowing visor shutting off and his head sagged back.

#

Phoenix crossed her arms as she watched a wobbly jet slowly fly through the abandoned freeway. She had to admit, she really liked his colors, such a clean white with golden trimmings. Not that he looked particularly favorable in his current state, barely able to fly in a straight line. Still, he had to start somewhere.

Light shone through the cut-up surface level above the underground highway, giving ample lighting for Perpetrator to keep his eyes on his old and rusted surroundings. Flying in such a tight space would force him to get good at the small movements, keeping himself straight. The place was very off-putting though. It felt like it could all collapse at any moment, and knowing what exactly transpired there made it worse for him. As Phoenix told him, a lot of bots died from the rust plague when it made landfall there. Their bodies were turned to rust and were so brittle that when the city was demolished, they all withered into nothing but rustful dust.

Another chill went down his metallic body as he kept himself straight and thought about it. Every bit of dust he kicked up could be all that remained of their lost shells. Phoenix, obviously, wasn't affected at all by this. If anything, the creepiness may make her enjoy her treks here more. At least, that's the image of her he got.

After making another slow and rocky lap around the wrecked highway, Perpetrator came to a stop and transformed in front of Phoenix, stumbling a little before catching his footing.

She chuckled softly and patted his back as she walked forward, "Gotta work on your landings, big guy. It's not a good idea for someone as tall as you to fall over on your mug. Such a hard fall."

Stretching a bit, Phoenix suddenly leaped upwards, hovering for a bit with her thruster as she faced him, before shouting, "I'm gonna get a good few laps in before we leave! Don't run off!"

With that, she suddenly transformed and shot off through the highway. Dust flew up and wafted around Perpetrator as he covered his visor, watching the light of her thruster disappear down the darkened highway. He gazed upwards at the highway's broken and rusted ring structure, admiring the sight of sunlight beaming in from the fractured surface above.

Phoenix screamed past him in jet form a few times as she made her way around the highways a few times. Before leaving in the morning, Perpetrator had taken some time to look up jet racing. The sport was exceptionally thrilling to watch, and probably even more so to take part in. He even found a local circuit that Phoenix occasionally took part in. They had a large amount of footage of her demolishing her competition, so he felt quite privileged to learn from her. Maybe one day he could even take part alongside her.

Soon enough, Phoenix came to a halt before him, transforming and stretching. After her stretch, she gestured towards him with a chuckle, "Alright, time to run some errands. We're gonna head to the marketplace downtown, I want some new equipment, and to check out any new accessories."

Tilting his head, Perpetrator asked what she meant by accessories. With a giggle, she walked backwards to face him and pointed at her wings, "These babies aren't one hundred percent original. This place is where I found better ones, more aerodynamic ones. Little bits and bobs like that to give me any extra boosts in a race. You could use a couple; I can already tell."

As she turned back around with a hum, he pointed to her wings gently, asking if she knows where her original wings are. She laughed at the question, waving her hand as she calmed herself down for a moment, then said, "Oh, no, that's not how it works, usually at least. It's… uh…"

She trails off quietly, before leaning in a bit and asking, "You won't snitch on me or anything, yeah?"

Perpetrator simply shook his head, then she lightened up again and said, "Okay, so… these accessories aren't exactly illegal, per se. But the market they come from is chalk full of illegal things… it'll be easier to show you then explain. Come on."

As they reached the surface, she jumped up and transformed, waiting patiently as Perpetrator carefully copied her, then the pair flew off at a modest pace towards the city.

#

Perpetrator tried his best to navigate down a busy street. Luckily, he was a tad taller than the average bot, so he was able to keep his optic visor on Pheonix as she expertly weaved around the traffic, very used to it all.

The street they walked down was also something new for him. It was very different from the shiny streets of Iacon, being quite a bit grimier, as well as far narrower. He wondered if certain cities on Cybertron looked even worse.

Suddenly, Phoenix took his hand and pulled him into an alley and out of the traffic. Now with breathing room, Perpetrator refocused on Phoenix, who gestured down the alley and said, "Follow me. And when we go in… stay close and don't draw any attention."

Before she could drag him along by the hand, he asked if they'd recognize him as the wellborn. She softly chuckled, then said, "As it seems, your new form has disguised you well from the populace. Even if people have started catching on to your new look, these bots aren't the type to care about those kinds of things. So just follow me, okay?"

Perpetrator nodded, Phoenix pulling him along by the hand down the alley. They soon stopped before a door in the building. Pheonix checked down the alley for any onlookers before knocking on the door. A slot in the door slid opened up, a pair of optics meeting Phoenix's visor.

The bot on the other side chuckled, "Phoenix! It's been a little while. Another story kept you busy?"

Phoenix nodded with a stretch, "Yep, digging deep as usual for my best work. I've come for a bit of shopping, brought a friend."

The optics shifted and gazed Perpetrator's white and golden form up and down. Their optics hardened a bit, then the bot asked, "You sure about him. He looks like a cop."

Putting a hand on his chest with a chuckle, Phoenix said, "He's actually my official assistant, Perpetrator. And he's… well… that new wellborn. Way too green for that."

Their optics once again softened, but their voice now had a touch of concern as they said, "Are you sure you should be bringing an innocent spark like his in here? Not saying it's not a welcoming place and all… just…"

Leaning towards the slit in the door, Phoenix said, "We'll be fine, trust me. He's a very tough flyer. Plus, if he's gonna be working with me, he'll need to get used to this kinda stuff anyway."

After a few seconds of contemplation, the slit was shut, and the door unlocked. Phoenix checked the alley once again before gently pushing Perpetrator in before following. As they stepped in, the bot at the door shut and locked it.

Perpetrator gazed down at the bot, finally getting a good look at them. They were a very boxy, strong looking bot, chips across their grey body indicating they've been in a few scraps.

Gently nudging Perpetrator with an elbow, Phoenix garnered his attention and said, "Perpetrator, this is The Door. No one actually knows her real name, and she likes it that way, don't you?"

With the roll of her eyes, The Door simply gestured towards a long staircase heading deep down, then said, "Be careful, Perpetrator. I trust Phoenix, so stay close to her."

Phoenix gently took his arm and said, "I already told him. He'll be on his best behavior. And it's not like the guy can provoke anyone with harsh words, since…"

"Yeah, yeah. Guess he's gotta get his ball bearings somehow."

With a chuckle, Phoenix began leading him down the stairwell, "Yep! Glad you understand! Have a good day!"

Perpetrator looked back at The Door for a moment as they descended before observing the stairs. They seemed to be walking down a tunnel of some kind, and the sound of music and noise got louder and louder the further down they went.

Phoenix gently rubbed some of his golden accents and said, "Oh, these'll shine in some of the lights down there. You got nice stock colors, Perp."

He dipped his head a bit and gave her a thank you, and raised his head again as they reached the bottom of the staircase. His visor was met with quite the vibrant spectacle before him. They were in what seemed to be massive, long abandoned sewer tunnel of some sort. But now, it was filled with tent shops and roaming bots of all shapes and sizes. Music was playing, lights of many colors shined around, screens projected high on the walls showing multiple channels.

Chuckling softly, Phoenix stepped forward and said, "If you've ever heard of the black market, this is the liveliest one around. Here, I see my favorite bot, keep close."

Taking a hold of his arm, Phoenix led him carefully through the place. As Perpetrator walked and looked around, he noticed a lot of gazes turning towards him as he passed. He was astounded by seeing so many different bots. Some small, some large, some dark colored, some spattered in bright paint jobs, some sharp and some round. The only consistent factor was that they all seemed equally dangerous. He could see it in their optics and visors as they gazed at him. These bots have scrapped a lot.

Phoenix soon came to a stop before a stall and turned Perpetrator towards it. Gazing at the stall, Perpetrator was perplexed to find that there seemed to be no real merchandise set up. Instead, there was a plethora of holograms showing off images with descriptions and prices.

Sitting up from their seat in the stall, a blue and black, wiry bot stepped forward with a grin on their face plate. Their eyes were covered by what seemed to be quite intricate multi-eyed goggles, their right forearm having quite a peculiar attachment to it as well.

Leaning over their stand a bit, the bot smiled and said, "Pheonix! Good to see you! Who's your new friend?"

Gesturing to him, Phoenix said, "This is Perpetrator! Perp, this is Savvy. He's one of the best code techies around."

Laughing, Savvy said, "You exaggerate! Anyway, you've come by to check for any new accessory drops?"

Phoenix nodded, looking over the holograms, "Yes. Plus, was hoping to show Perpetrator what this stuff was. But… seems nothing good is in."

Savvy shook his head with a saddened sigh, "Unfortunately, business is a bit slow for those. Not enough innovation! But I might have something more… dangerous."

Shaking her head, Phoenix said, "I'm not buying any gun codes."

Savvy laughed and shook his head, "You misunderstand. No guns, I know. But… I some blades I think will do you well for self-defense only."

He gestures to one of the holograms, both Perpetrator and Phoenix leaning in to gaze at it. He watched as Phoenix stroked her chin, pondering the thought. She began tapping her foot and mumbling quietly, then said, "This line of work does get dodgy sometimes…"

After a few more seconds, she sighed and said, "Fine, I'll get myself some blades."

Savvy chuckled and pressed down on the hologram, the hologram itself disappearing from its spot on the table. In its place, a small tube suddenly rose up, Savvy pulling it out and attaching a cord to its end. Perpetrator watched as Phoenix walked into the stall, Savvy pulling up the chair he sat in for her.

As she took a seat, Savvy gestured Perpetrator in and said, "Watch closely. And I promise, what I do does your friend here no harm."

Perpetrator nodded, walking in and watching closely as Savvy's peculiar forearm attachment protruded a cord of its own. He attached the cord to the other side of the cylinder, then held Phoenix's head straight. Opening up a panel on the side of her head, he attached the cord onto her. The attachment on his arm began showing a few colors, indicating a loading process of some sort.

After about a minute, his arm attachment glowed green. Savvy removed the cord from her head and tossed the used cylinder into a bin in his stall, Phoenix soon stirring and rising with a stretch. As she stood up, she said, "Nothing beats a quick refresh cycle."

Savvy chuckled, then turned to Perpetrator and said, "See, she's all good. Now, show us the goods!"

Giggling, Phoenix raised both her arms and they quickly transformed, her hand disappearing. Her forearms shifted a bit and razor-like blades shot out them both. Perpetrator gazed in awe, the whole process still a mystery for him.

Gesturing to the blades, Savvy explained, "Basically, you already know, we cybertronians are capable of transforming. Coders, if they're good enough, got smart enough to figure out how to tap into that ability. They stuff those data tubes with coded blueprints of, really, whatever. Guns, blades, hammers, accessories of any kind, really. The popular term for these is 'scripts'. Bots like me learn to download them properly into the cybertronian mainframe, and we distribute them. These kinda weapons mods are pretty illegal though. The council decided they're too dangerous, yada yada. Now, only them and their cops and military can legally have these. Oppressive tailpipes, I swear…"

Turning to Phoenix, Perpetrator asked about the weapons he saw police wearing on their waists. She put her blades away, then said, "I don't think most cops have scripts. Using individual weapons is still a lot more popular. The Council just doesn't like how these scripts can be completely concealed. They'll never know I have these blades unless I show them. That's kinda the problem. Though… yeah. Them hogging it to themselves legally speaking is scummy stuff."

A hand suddenly slapped Perpetrator in the back, and a voice said, "Yeah, real scum! You know who isn't scum?!"

Spinning around to meet the owner of the voice, Perpetrator looked down to see a smug, yellow and purple bot chuckle and say, "Me! This whole tunnel, filled with scum. Scum oozes from the panels here! But me? I'm the cleanest vendor around! All my stuff is as legit as the stuff in Iacon gift shops! You seem just as squeaky clean as me, tall flyer fellow! Why not take a gander at my many items?"

Putting a hand between Perpetrator and the new bot, Phoenix grunted and said, "Beat it, Swindle, he's with me."

Perpetrator looked on at the new bot, now knowing his name. The name simply confused him more as this interaction continued on.

With an exacerbated sigh, Swindle asked, "What will it take for you to trust my business doings, Phoenix? Yes, I may deal with shady bots, but that's because they know I do the best, straightest work!"

Phoenix simply shook her head, "He's not interested, trust me. And even if he was, the bot's broke. Don't let the gold trim fool you."

Swindle's shoulders sank as he groaned with defeat before sauntering off down the tunnel. Rubbing her head, Phoenix looked up at Perpetrator and said, "Yeah, sorry about him. Whatever you do, Perp, don't trust that guy."

With a tilted head, Perpetrator asked why anyone would do business with a bot named Swindle. She softly laughed at his question, then said, "Beats me, but to be fair, you aren't the one who should be asking that kind of question, Perpetrator."

He could only bob his head in amusement, agreeing with her. Phoenix turned around and gazed a bit at the many channels being played along the walls, then became affixed to one specifically. Leaning back against Savvy's display, she asked, "Hey, Savvy, did you know the arena was having events?"

Looking up from his work, Savvy said, "Oh, yeah. They'll be going for a couple weeks. I thought you of all bots would've known. Work been that investing?"

Phoenix nodded, Perpetrator watching the screen now too. It displayed quite the acrobatic fight between two spindly bots, a roaring crowd surrounding them in the coliseum. Phoenix then asked, "You know if Megatronis is fighting today?"

Savvy laughed in reply, "Of course! They have him scheduled all week! Tonight, he'll be doing the final fights! You best head there now to catch them in person!"

She suddenly got off the display, Perpetrator taking note of the giddy pep in her step. Quickly grasping his hand, Phoenix said, "Change of plans, Perp! No more errands. Today, we're heading to Kaon! Let's go!"

Before he could ask any questions, she dragged him back through the tunnel towards the stairs. He could only chuckle in his head, picking up his pace and following his gleeful friend.