Chapter Text
A frantic beeping of his comm. link is ultimately what woke Orion up. He groaned and turned over, surprised to still see Megatron in recharge next to him. The Decepticon leader must have been more tired than he had let on.
As quietly as he could, Orion slipped off the recharge berth and left their room. As he made his way towards the fuel storage room, he finally answered his comm. link. An excited, high-pitched voice answered.
“Finally! I’ve been trying to call you for like.. An hour!” Sari shouted. Orion carefully rubbed his optics and picked up an energon cube.
“Sari, it’s very early. You’ve also only been calling for..” He paused to check the logs on his HUD. “About 5 minutes.”
“Same thing!” Sari defended. “But anyways, I’ve got something really important to tell you!”
“I’ve got no doubt you do.” Orion chuckled, walking into the main room. He noticed Lugnut, Blitzwing, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were also already awake. He raised his energon cube in greeting and received brief waves of acknowledgement.
“No, I’m serious!” Sari said, childishly. “The Autobots are planning to leave Earth!”
Orion froze and slowly blinked. “I’m sorry Sari, I think I misheard what you said, could you repeat it?”
“Yeah! The Autobots are planning to leave Earth! My dad got the notice from Elita a couple hours ago!” Sari restated.
“That’s incredible news!” Orion exclaimed before taking a sip of his energon, trying desperately to wake up enough for the news. “Do you know why?”
“Well, according to my dad, it was Ultra Magnus who made that decision. He wants the bots to leave since they never actually found evidence of any Decepticons on the planet!” Sari happily announced.
“Thank you for letting me know, Sari. I’m sure Bumblebee will be thrilled that he will be able to hang out with you more!” Orion said with a grin. He saw Bumblebee’s head glance in his direction confusedly when he heard his name.
“Yay! Can I tell him?!” Sari excitedly asked. Orion chuckled.
“Of course. I’m sure he’d be far more excited to hear it from you than from me.” Orion said, casting a still-confused Bumblebee a smile.
“Thank you thank you!” Sari said, hanging up without waiting for an answer. Orion shook his head with a smile. Ah, younglings.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Bumblebee get startled, likely by Sari’s call. He saw Bumblebee raise his hand to answer and say “hello?” There were a few moments of silence as Bumblebee listened to whatever Sari told him. Orion was amused as he watched Bumblebee’s smile grow larger and larger with every word.
“Yes!” The minibot shouted while pumping a fist in the air, startling the other three bots in the room. He didn’t even hang up before turning to Blitzwing and Bulkhead to relay the good news. He saw Blitzwing cast him a look for confirmation. When Orion nodded back with a small smile of his own, the triple-changer’s face quickly switched to the less stable face to share in his minibot’s enthusiasm.
“It is far too early for this energy.” A voice grumbled from the doorway.
“Oh glorious Lord Megatron! We have just learned information most vital to the Decepticon cause!” Lugnut proclaimed to the figure.
Orion swore he heard Megatron mutter “Primus, give me strength” before addressing his subordinate.
“Oh have we?” Megatron asked, raising an optic ridge.
“The young organic has just told us the Autobots will be leaving the planet!” Lugnut shouted. Megatron turned to look at Orion.
“Is that right?” Megatron asked, addressing Orion this time. Orion quickly swung back the rest of his energon before setting the cube to the side.
“It is. Sari called me first thing this morning. Apparently, Ultra Magnus ordered it because they never found real evidence that Decepticons were here. Go figure.” Orion snorted mischievously. Megatron made his way over to Orion and placed his hand on the other’s shoulder, being careful to not stab himself on his spikes.
“Well done, Orion. You managed to keep our existence hidden so well that the Autobots are now going to leave.” Megatron said with a smirk.
“Yeah, well. It doesn’t hurt that Sentinel is an idiot that others rarely listen to. Elita is the only one they probably took seriously. But since none of the Elite Guards saw us..” Orion trailed off.
“Not entirely true.” Prowl spoke up from where he had entered the room, now holding his own energon cube. Megatron hummed and removed his hand.
“Ah yes, this Jazz you mentioned. Curious how he still has not mentioned your presence.” Megatron said.
“Well, at least it seems like he told the truth that he would not inform the others.” Prowl said, taking a sip of energon.
“Oh! Orion, Lord Megatron!” Bulkhead called to the two leaders. Both of them turned to look at the bulky bot with curiosity.
“Yes, Bulkhead?” Orion asked, automatically taking point with a member of his crew.
“I was looking over the plans for the spacebridge again this morning and realized there was a large problem I’ve been overlooking!” Bulkhead exclaimed. He almost said “we”, but didn’t want to dare accuse Megatron of making a mistake.
“Another problem with this Primus-damned spacebridge?” Megatron asked with frustration. New problems with it seemed to arise every day.
“Yes sir. It’s too big.” Bulkhead said simply. Megatron furrowed his optic ridges.
“Explain.” He gruffly demanded.
“What I mean is, it’s too big for this base. A spacebridge, regardless of the materials we use, will be the same size as the one the Autobots use. The ones that are typically built on moons or even just out in free space. We have to find somewhere large enough to build it, but will keep the energy generated by it hidden. Even if the Autobots are leaving, the power surge it creates would alert any bots within a few galaxies of this one.” Bulkhead explained, trying to go as in-depth as he could.
“Oh! We might already have a solution to that problem, actually.” Orion piped up. “Prowl, come here for a moment.”
“How can I help you, Orion, Lord Megatron?” Prowl asked, walking over to the trio.
“That massive cave system you found when I first sent you here to find a suitable base. Would it be large enough to hold a spacebridge?” Orion asked. Prowl paused for a minute to think before responding.
“It.. should. Based on satellite data from the navigation applications the humans use, there is a large, open chamber in the heart of the mine. Likely from a collapsed section of the mine.” Prowl said.
“..And you said the cave system was built up of elements that would hide large signals.” Bulkhead finished.
“Excellent. Lugnut! Blitzwing!” Megatron called the two war-frames over, even though Lugnut was already near the group.
“Ja, my Lord Megatron?” Blitzwing, now with his blue faceplate, asked with a nod of his helm in respect and clasping his hands behind him.
“How can we serve you, oh glorious Lord Megatron?” Lugnut asked, eager as ever.
“I need both of you to begin moving the materials for the spacebridge to these coordinates.” Megatron said, transmitting the coordinates of the mine to the two generals.
“It vill be done, Lord Megatron.” Blitzwing said with a slight bow, turning to begin moving materials. He stopped by Bumblebee first. His faceplate switched to the black one for an instant. “Ich liebe dich, meine Biene!”
“Love ya too, Blitzy.” Bumblebee chuckled, giving Blitzwing a peck on his cheek. Blitzwing started giggling madly on his way out the garage door.
“We will not fail you, oh glorious Lord Megatron!” Lugnut said, turning to rush as quickly as he could out the door. Megatron’s eye twitched before he turned to the console with the blueprints.
While Megatron was focused on organizing everything for the material transfer, Orion made his way to the medbay. After all, Ratchet and Soundwave were the only two now missing from the main room. He opened the door slightly and called out.
“Ratchet, Soundwave, may I enter?” He asked.
“Orion: Does not need to ask for permission.” Soundwave responded.
“Like slag he doesn’t! He respects the medbay’s privacy! But yes, you can enter Orion.” Ratchet’s grumpy voice also responded. Orion chuckled and entered the medbay fully, letting the door shut behind him.
“How long have you two been awake?” Orion asked, crossing his arms.
“A few Earth hours now.” Ratchet responded, glancing between him, Soundwave, and one of his medical instruments.
“I’m surprised I haven’t seen either of you in the main room.” Orion said, raising an optical ridge in silent accusation.
“Ratchet: Would not let me.” Soundwave pouted.
“Because we still don’t know how your systems will react to energon. If you had grabbed the oil or gasoline instead of the energon, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Ratchet said, sending a glare to the young bot. Soundwave seemed to wilt under the old bot’s glare.
“Take it easy on him, Ratchet. He’s still learning.” Orion said calmly, laying a clawed hand carefully on Ratchet’s shoulder.
“Yeah, well, someone has to keep an eye on these young bots to make sure they won’t drop offline randomly for ingesting something they weren’t supposed to.” Ratchet grumbled.
“Soundwave isn’t Bumblebee. He’s not going to try human food just because he’s curious. Will he?” Orion said, looking at Soundwave expectantly. Soundwave quickly shook his head. He may not be that old, but he isn’t a fool.
“Fine! Fine! You can have him. Let me clean up here and I’ll join you in a bit.” Ratchet relented.
“Thank you, Ratchet.” Orion said, flashing his fangs in a grin. Ratchet just waved his hand dismissively. “Come along, Soundwave.”
Soundwave quickly jumped down from the medical berth, eager to leave the medbay and the angry medic. Many pairs of eyes greeted them as they entered the main room. While everyone else looked away as soon as they identified who it was, Megatron continued staring at the duo. Seeing that Megatron was staring at them, Orion quickly steered the younger to the older.
“Soundwave, good to see you function.” Megatron said neutrally. It wasn’t cold, just neutral due to him not usually initiating or engaging in small talk.
“Lord Megatron. Soundwave: Doing well.” Soundwave responded awkwardly. Orion glanced between the two of them, still sensing the awkwardness between them.
“Megatron, was there something you needed Soundwave for?” Orion asked, trying to clear the tension that had built up.
“Ah yes.” Megatron cleared his throat. “Soundwave, how do you feel about assisting with a rather important mission?” Soundwave visibly perked up.
“Soundwave: Eager to assist.” Soundwave affirmed.
“Lugnut and Blitzwing are currently transporting the gathered materials for the spacebridge to a new location. They could use some more assistance from another warframe. I will be heading to the new location myself in a moment.” Megatron said.
“Soundwave: Will help. Creator: Transmit coordinates?” Soundwave asked. Both Orion and Megatron noticed the slip in Megatron’s designation, but didn’t bother to correct it. Instead, Megatron just transmitted the coordinates to Soundwave’s HUD.
Soundwave eagerly headed to where the materials were stored, gathering some himself before transforming and taking off. The young bot seemed eager to prove himself or make himself useful. This was a safe assignment where they didn’t need to worry about anyone encountering the Autobots. Both because the Autobots were in the opposite direction they were heading and because they were potentially leaving soon.
“Speaking of. Do you want me to come with you as well?” Orion asked.
“That is entirely up to you. Just remember, it’s going to be myself, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Soundwave merely organizing materials.” Megatron reminded him.
“That’s.. true.. but I’m not exactly needed here right now.” Orion said, grasping his own chin carefully in his claws. Megatron looked over his shoulder and smirked.
“Are you sure about that?” He asked, pointing at something behind him. When Orion turned around, he was confused at first. Then he spotted the small, yellow bot trying to stealthily sneak away. Orion chuckled.
“Maybe I am needed here.” Orion said with a small shake of his head. “Call me if you need me, then.”
“Of course.” Megatron said.
The large gunmetal gray warframe left, almost amused by the yelp and whine of “come on, Bossbot!” he heard as he walked out.