Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I couldn't help but laugh as I ran. THAT was life!
“Get her!”, was shouted after me, and when I turned around, I could see them following me still, but they were too slow. I knew my way around, especially here. Grinning, and clutching the cube of energon I had taken securely to my chest, I sped through the groups that were on the streets.
Those that had been following me for a while now were finally falling back more and more, just as I reached the apartment building I lived in. They were too far away to see me slipping through the door.
Still grinning, but also venting quite heavily, I pressed myself close to the dirty wall on the left side of the door, and froze. A few kliks passed in silence, but just as I was about to take a step forwards, I heard something through the door. My pursuers, probably. For that short moment while they passed, I stopped venting altogether. It just simply wouldn't do if they were to catch me now, after all.
Kliks turned into breems, until finally, the search for me was called off with a resigned: “We won't find her now, she's probably already in a completely different part of the city... Let's get back to work.”
“Or we'll have to steal like her, too!”, another voice called out, but no one commented on it. The one that had said it was right, though. I was mostly stealing because even with what I managed to get in my 'job', we were still only barely scraping by. But it was fun, too. I was good at stealing.
Now simply smiling, I began to climb the stairs. The elevator was out of function, and had been that way long before I came here. Not that practical, if you lived in one of the apartments that were a little higher up. (Not like they were better, the way up was just longer...) Especially if you came home tired and it was already late. I really wondered whether I would be alone today.
“Hey, hello, anyone home?”, I yelled once I had reached our small apartment. I hoped they were home, but it was highly unlikely, actually.
Therefore, I almost jumped in shock as a familiar voice called back: “We're both home!” I couldn't help but smile happily at that. They really were home! That had been the voice of Orion, the younger of the two brothers I lived with. He was a dock worker, a straining job, but quite well-paid in comparison to what I could earn, being a youngling. His older brother Megatronus was a miner. They had taken me in when they found me on the streets one orn.
If I was honest, I had to admit that... well, they had actually caught me trying to steal from them. I still sometimes wondered why they hadn't just given me to the next enforcer.
“I got us a cube of energon!”, I shouted upon entering. Maybe that was a reason? I was quite a good thief, if one didn't count my recklessness sometimes. But maybe it was just the fact that Orion was really kind, and I mean really, really, really kind.
“Great.”, Megatronus answered whe he saw me entering the kitchen/living room, where they sat on the only couch we had.
“But wasn't the orn where you got your pay just two orns ago?”, Orion questioned. I would have laughed at that, had it been someone else. But it was Orion who had asked. He knew that I tended to steal, and he understood that it was necessary to keep the three of us fueled, but that didn't mean that he had to like it.
I sighed. “I stole it. Don't worry, no one saw me coming here, I don't make mistakes like that anymore, I promise. Come on, that cube's one whole meal for all three of us, and it was nearly completely unsupervised. Do you know how tempting that was?” I had no idea why I always felt the need to explain myself to him, to explain what I did and why I did it. As if I had to justify what I did.
“Very tempting apparently, since you took it.”, he answered, resigned. He was never happy about it, but he accepted it.
Before the discussion could start again, Megatronus interjected: “It is time to eat anyways. Better if the evidence just disappears. There could be another control coming for all we know.”
He was right. Those random controls for anything illegal were really annoying, but no one could do a thing against them, not without being convicted of a crime, and be it just 'resisting the authorities'. That in itself was dangerous already. It was better to simply hide everything, or just consume what was stolen as soon as you could. There were a few very useful tricks that circulated among the poorer people.
My tanks already gurgled at the mere thought of fresh, high quality energon, even if it was just one third of a cube, as always. There were stories of how in the past, everyone could afford having at least a full cube each per meal, but those were just stories, probably fictional.
I was the one to drink first, as I was the one who had gotten the cube for us. It was pure bliss, the quality higher than anything I had tasted over the last vorn at least. But my third of the cube still passed way too soon, and I handed it over to Orion, who took it without hesitation. He was as hungry as I had been, probably even more so.
Once Megatronus had finished the cube, he crushed the remains and threw it into the waste bin. Now it was just some unrecognizable scrap, nothing interesting. If a control came, it would be completely unconspicous.
I didn't even realize that this thought must have somehow jinxed it, until someone banged on the door and shouted: “Open up, for a control!”

Chapter Text

“Open up, for a control!”
We had heard those few words way too often already. The poorer parts of the city were controlled way more often then the others. That was just how it was. When I'd been on the streets, with no place to go (at least most of the time), I had seen them coming and going. There was no rhythm to it, so no one could learn how to avoid them.
Sighing, I stood up, yelling: “I'm coming!” Meanwhile, Orion quickly hid those of the forbidden items that were out in the open, and Megatronus took up a datapad, feigning to read something as to not arouse any suspicion.
The short time I needed to get to the door and open it was all that was needed. We were really good at this by now, things like these come with experience, after all. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but make a face at the backs of the mechs that had entered as soon as I had disengaged the lock. Rude, all of them. But it was not as if anyone could do a thing against it. We had to keep quiet, for our and our friends' sakes.
Just like that, they roamed through our possessions, throwing out of they way what they'd checked, turning over boxes, and generally being aftholes. By now, I'd at least learned to keep my temper under wraps, there was no point in getting angry, quite the contrary. If I ever gave in to my temper, they'd arrest me without a second thought. Not a good idea.
This time, they didn't find anything, thankfully.
Once they had left, I turned to Orion and asked: “Can I go out after helping clean up?” I really loved to just explore the outer areas of the city, but there were always things to do.
“Alright.”, he replied, smiling. “But please be back before the curfew starts, this time.” I grinned ruefully as I remembered what happened the last time I'd been out that late: Losing track of time, I'd returned way past curfew, which had resulted in me nearly getting caught by a nighttime patrol, and them worrying constantly until I turned up. (Megatronus hadn't shown it, but I knew he'd been worried, too...)
“Don't worry, this time I'll be more careful, I promise.”, I replied, fully intending to keep this promise. It had been a mistake last time, unintentional. This time, it would be different, I was going to make sure of that.
The klik we were finished with cleaning up (or at least reasonably far), I went out, only calling back a: “No curfew-breaking by me this time, I promise!” It wasn't that I didn't like our apartment, but it was so pit-damn small! And I had no entertainment-pads to keep myself occupied when I wasn't working or recharging or outside.
Exiting the building, I looked left and right. Where would I go this time? There was an area nearby that had been abandoned recently, due to the buildings going unstable. That was probably a good place to start, and maybe someone even left something useful there. The chance was slim, but there was no fault in trying.
However, halfway there, someone called out to me: “Hey, 'Ria! Where are you going?” A grin spread over my faceplates as I turned around. I knew that voice. It belonged to Sideswipe, or Sides, as most called him. He was an orphan, too, along with his twin, Sunny.
Speaking of Sunny, he looked even more angry than he usually did.
“Hey, guys!”, I called out nonetheless, waving. Sides readily waved back, dragging his brother with him as he ran to catch up with me. “What's up with Sunny?”, I asked when they were finally stopping next to me.
“Well, you know him. Fell, scratched his paint...”, Sides replied, laughing. “Ow!”, he muttered not even a klik later, rubbing his shoulder where Sunny hit him. Thankfully, he didn't hit him back this time.
To (hopefully) get them to forget it, I suggested: “Do you want to come with me? I'm planning to explore the buildings they abandoned last. Remember what we found last time? The old energon? Those cubes we shared?” While I was talking, my voice had gotten more and more quiet, after all it wouldn't be good if someone else found out.
And, just as quiet, Sides said: “We're in. Now?”
“Now.”, I confirmed, and turned to Sunny, who hadn't said a single word yet. “Come on, if we're as successful this time as we were last time, I'll get you a new cleaning cloth, I promise.” He immediately perked up at that. Bribing him was always a good idea if you wanted him to do something with you in which he could end up scraping his paintjob... like searching through abandoned buildings.
The way to our destination was short, but we had to be very, very careful. There were patrols controlling the borders, and it would stay that way until the area could be secured and rebuilt. But that might take some time, they weren't that fast when it came to securing living space for the poorer people.
Looking left and right, I slowly made my way over to the nearest empty building. We probably weren't alone, even though there were no patrols in sight. Turning back, I motioned for the twins to come over and follow me into the building. Neither my audios nor my sensors managed to pick up anything or anyone besides them, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.
Treading carefully, they made their way over to me, stopping as soon as they'd reached the door, standing there, only a few steps away from me. But why did they hesitate in the first place? It wasn't as if they were scared or anything, right? We'd done this so often already...
Only then did I register a soft 'sirr'ing noise coming nearer and nearer. Why hadn't I heard that before? 'Frag!', I couldn't help but curse mentally. I knew what that specific noise meant, and my suspicions were only confirmed when the darkness suddenly lit up a bit, revealing hundreds upon hundreds of small, glowing dots. And they were moving...

Chapter Text

“Back!”, I shouted, completely forgetting about the patrols. Slightly panicky, I turned on my heels and ran. Away, just away. These little pests wouldn't follow us too far into inhabited areas. What I was talking about? Scraplets. It seemed like we had just discovered why exactly this area had been evacuated...
Only when we had put a reasonable distance between us and the danger did we stop.
“Okay, that didn't really go as planned...”, Sides finally commented, looking around for patrols. We were out of the area, but not that far. They could still see us here and decide that we had come too near.
“You sure there?”, I replied angrily. Stating the obvious there, was he? That wasn't funny. Really. But it didn't matter now, anyways. Sighing, I asked: “Do you want to try a different building? I mean, we still have some time until the curfew.”
“Why not.”, Sides agreed, shrugging. Sunny just grunted. He wasn't in a good mood right now, which I could understand. Sometimes, things just didn't go as planned, quite often actually, when you were poor around here.
Some time ago, long before Orion and Megatronus found me, I used to go near the richer parts of the city, dreaming about what couldn't be. By now, however, I had accepted reality. It made life easier, certainly.
Despite the fact that Sunny had not really agreed, we went on to another building in that area. It wasn't disagreement when there was no outright 'no', was it?
The only problem: The next ten or so buildings we decided to take a closer look at were scraplet-infested as well, causing us to flee every time. It was tiring, not to mention annoying. We were actually close to giving it up for the orn when we finally found a place where we weren't directly attacked upon entering.
“Hey, come on in!”, I quietly called out to the twins when nothing happened. “This place seems to be scraplet-free!” Grinning and looking at each other excitedly, we ventured further in.
The light inside was very dim, but we could still see enough. Actually, it looked just like every other apartment building around here, even though it was creepily quiet. Metal dust floated around and had already coated the ground a bit, so we left footprints. But at least we could see that we were the first to come here.
“I think we'll be really lucky this time around.”, I whispered, smiling. “There might still be some things left from when the area was abandoned.”
“Yeah...”, Sides agreed just as quietly. “They never give enough time to pack.” After a short pause, he then added: “Maybe we should look a few levels up. The evacuations always start there, don't they?” Nodding, I led them towards the stairs. We weren't that dumb to try and use the elevator in a building like this, after all.
Well, Sides had had the right idea obviously. Further up, everything started to look a bit disorganized, even though we found nothing of value on the stairs. Five levels up, we decided to leave the stairs and enter the hallway leading to the apartments.
Turning towards the first door, I told them: “I bet there are at least a few things in here.” Before they could answer, I opened the door... and a grin spread over my faceplates. “We hit the jackpot!”, I laughed triumphantly, and moved a bit aside so they could have a look, too.
It seemed like whoever had lived here had had to leave in such a hurry that they hadn't had time to take anything. Sure, things were knocked over and so on, but it looked more or less as if the inhabitants would return any breem. What caught my optic immediately was the energon left on the table. A full cube! And still sealed!
“Anyone hungry?”, I asked, still grinning happily.
“You bet!”, Sunny said, abandoning his bad mood in favor of mirroring the happy expressions on Sides and my faceplates. Oh yes, we were always hungry. And even if we hadn't been, we would have still used that energon. After all, one had to take the chance when it was there.
This one apartment was great already, and about ten breems later, we left the building again, subspace pockets stuffed full with everything we had found in there. It was rare that we were so fortunate, really rare.
Now, as for what to do with it...

Chapter Text

The most obvious possibility was still the best: The black market. Situated a long, long way down from even the poorer, less high parts of Iacon, the black market was THE place to go if you wanted to sell something, or needed to get rid of something without any traceable transactions. We were regulars down there, even if it sometimes was only because the energon was cheaper. No taxes and all that.
The way there went through several fake dead ends and fake 'Danger. Don't cross.' tapes. No one who didn't know its location or had a guide who knew could ever hope to find it. The actual entry was small, near claustrophobic for larger mechs and femmes, but we fit through quite well.
The sight was something no one would expect down here: A labyrinth of stands, and the free space left filled with mechs, femmes and younglings. It wasn't really loud, but had an almost... free feeling to it.
“Come on!”, I told the twins, pulling them after me. I already knew where to go. There were always some who only sold things, but we needed someone who bought the things we wanted to sell. And a good friend had his stand around here somewhere. Now, the only question was whether he was there, since he divided his time between his mate, the black market, and stealing.
We were lucky, though. His black and white frame was easily visible, even from a distance.
“Hey, Jazz!”, I called out to him, waving, while still pulling the twins along.
He turned to us, smiling. “Hey there, lil' lady.” I didn't mind him calling me that.
“I got a few things you might be interested in.”, I told him, smiling back at him. “We can't tell you where we found it, or it'll be a free-for-all, and we still want to return, but...” I trailed off, deciding instead on just getting everything out. His visor got brighter and brighter the more I got out of subspace, his equivalent to widening his optics.
“Whoa...”, he finally said. “Didja rob a whole household?!” Even though I understood his surprise, I just had to laugh.
“Something like that, yes.”, I finally forced out between the giggles that still escaped me. “And that's not even all we've got... Sunny and Sides got even more.” That left him speechless, a very rare occurrence. Grinning, I turned to Sides, and quietly asked: “Can you take over the whole credit business again?” It was obvious to me that Jazz would take at least some of what we got, if not all, so my part was done. Sides was better at transactions, and Sunny was guarding our stuff, since he was the scariest of us when he was angry.
“Sure.”, Sides answered, and when Jazz found his words again, they were soon occupied with bargaining, leaving Sunny and me out of it.
“You know, when we're finished here, I'm gonna find you the polishing cloth...”, I said to him, but to my surprise, he responded: “Don't bother, I already got three new ones.”
That did confuse me, so I dug a little deeper: “They're from the apartment, aren't they?”
He smirked at me, obviously very pleased. “And they're really good, too. They'll hold at least quarter a vorn each!” Well, I trusted his judgment on that, because I really didn't know anything at all about things like these. But that gave me an idea...
“You don't need three, do you? Can I have one of them? Mine is about to fall apart.”
“Again?”, he questioned incredulously, and I just nodded. Sighing, he gave in. “Okay... but I won't give any of my supplies away next time.” The look on his faceplates just slightly sour, he handed me a polishing cloth.
“Mhm, sure.”, I said skeptically. I knew he just pretended, because he told me the same thing every time I asked him for something like this. But before we could discuss this further, Sides turned to us.
“The transaction's finished. He bought everything.”, he told us, and a huge grin split my faceplates. That was great!
While Sunny was busy getting everything out of his subspace, I turned to Jazz, asking him: “How long are you going to stay here this orn? Maybe we can come by again before leaving.”
“Ah'm not sure.”, he said, shrugging. “Prowler was gonna come home sooner this time...” I nodded, understanding, even though I always had to suppress my amusement at the thought how a thief and black market dealer like him could be the mate of someone working at an enforcer station...
“See you round then.” I smiled at him.
“See ya!”, he answered, just as Sunny was finished sorting through his subspace pockets. Exchanging a few 'Goodbye!'s with him, we went on.
The amount of credits we'd gotten was huge for our standards, even divided through three, as usual. We spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around, looking at the stands, and just before we left, I bought a few energon cubes, cheap, but not too low quality. I wasn't hungry, not yet, but these cubes would make a good reserve for Orion, Megatronus and me.
I didn't really want to leave when curfew approached, but I'd promised. We passed Jazz's stand again, which was already closed, and left the same way we'd come. The way back to my home was made in record time, so that the twins would still have enough time to find some shelter. At the entrance to the building, we parted ways.
“Tomorrow, same place, same time?”, I asked hopefully.
“Sure.”, Sides agreed immediately, and Sunny nodded. “Night!”
“Good night!” With that, and a wave, I disappeared into the hallway, smiling. It'd been a good orn.

Chapter Text

Waking up in the morning was rough, as per usual. Not because someone woke me up, but rather because I rarely got enough recharge, even if I just went to recharge at the beginning of curfew. It was simply fragging early, but I couldn't just sleep in, since we needed every bit of energon and credits we could get, and that included my job...
Yawning, I sat up on my berth, deactivating the internal alarm that had woken me up. I knew I should be happy that I did have a job that helped supporting us, something like that was rare after all, but in all honesty, I wasn't. Every orn, save for those way too few and way too short free orns, I had to get up this early, only to spend the whole morning and a part of the afternoon cleaning and running errands for one of the larger firms that could afford employing a few younglings for things like these, where other firms just had their other employees doing it in shifts.
I sneaked through the apartment quietly, since I knew Orion wouldn't be up yet, having a late shift this orn at the docks. When I came to the kitchen, I was surprised to see Megatronus standing there, sipping his morning energon.
“Good morning.”, I whispered, grinning and taking some energon for myself. “You got an early shift?”
“Yes.” He nodded, but before I could say something more, he added: “A full orn shift, actually, so you will be alone this evening.”
“No problem.”, I answered. “I'm used to it. But I'll be out with Sunny and Sides again until curfew, we found this really good place last afternoon, you know?” I hadn't told him or Orion about what happened yet, it'd been late, and we'd all been quite tired, as always.
“How often?”, he immediately asked, interested. I knew what he meant: How often would I return to that place and get something out of it?
“Pretty often.”, I replied, proud. “We hit the jackpot, as far as I can tell. Yesterorns profit came from just one apartment in there, and as long as nothing goes wrong... The other places we checked out were infested with scraplets, so others will likely give up before they find it, but one can't be too sure.”
“Then be careful that no one else finds out about it.”, he told me, and I just laughed quietly before downing what was left of my breakfast and turning to leave with a grin and a wave back. I needed to hurry now, or I'd arrive too late, which would definitely get me fired, and that would be nothing short of a catastrophe, even though I really didn't like that job.
Since I lacked an Alt Mode (too expensive and I was too young still) and really didn't want to needlessly spend credits on a ticket for a public transport, I had to run, though that in itself was nothing new to me.
Weaving through the crowds (all on their way to their jobs, too) and taking a few shortcuts gained me just enough time to enter the building I worked in a few kliks early. Nonetheless, the greeting was rude.
“There you are. Finally!”, the mech behind the reception desk called out to me. “Get these up to the top, and for Primus' sake, hurry this time!” With that, he dumped an armful of datapads on the desk in front of him. And thus, my orn began...
The job required running around and physical labor, without as much as a lunch break in the middle, but this time, I was somewhat lucky.
I was just passing by a conference room when one of the business mechs shouted after me: “Hey, you! Get us some drinks!” That was it, no information on how many drinks or which, but not unusual. I'd just get a few more than they'd likely need. The thought made me smile. Here it was, my opportunity for having a lunch break! Sure, normally I could as well go without, but if the chance presented itself...
Just a few breems later, I was on my way back again, carrying a tray with the ordered drinks on it. I'd hurried deliberately, and when there was no one in sight, I quickly downed a small glass of energon, hiding the empty glass in my subspace pockets. I even managed to repeat it once more!
Feeling quite full already, I arrived at the conference room again, just in time, smiling to myself as I knocked. However, they didn't even let me enter, they just took the tray and shooed me away again. Probably should be used to that by now...
The time afterwards went on and on, stretching until I was reasonably sure it wasn't going to end, this orn. And all the time, I just couldn't help but think about all the treasures just waiting to be discovered this evening.
I must have spaced out completely, because I honestly at first didn't even notice my internal alarm telling me work was over. When I noticed, however, I just dropped everything (I'd just been cleaning one of the lesser used hallways) and took off, already impatient to be home again, if only to say 'hi!' and leave again. If I was really lucky, Orion would still be there, but it was unlikely. Well, one could hope.
I wasn't that lucky though. Coming home to a quiet, empty apartment as I did that often was another reason I didn't stay inside that much. It was just... boring, and kind of lonely. Who wouldn't prefer going somewhere with friends over being alone?
Well, speaking of friends, Sunny and Sides wouldn't be here for a short while yet. And I had nothing left to do... Finally, I just settled down in my little room on the berth, and resigned myself to waiting. I certainly hadn't intended to, but I fell into recharge as soon as I had halfway settled down anyways.

Chapter Text

Over the next few orns, we kept going back there. It certainly was enough to build up some savings for when we weren't so lucky, it wouldn't last forever, after all. From about the fifth orn on, Jazz started getting a bit suspicious (he couldn't hide it completely, that he thought we'd found a really profitable place) but since he always had first choice and the best deals, he couldn't really complain. It was certainly profitable for all of us...
And it never really went wrong, either. Sure, sometimes, we had to stop earlier or hide ourselves for a while, because of the enforcers patrolling the area, but we were never caught.
The first time something actually exiting happened, was ten orns later...

Sunny and Sides were already there when I came home from work. Just as I was a little late, they were a bit too early. I didn't mind, really. That just meant we were able to spend more time searching the deserted buildings for something of value.
I would have been home alone that afternoon, so when I saw them standing outside, probably waiting for me, I decided not to bother with entering the apartment.
They seemed to be having some muted discussion, which I quickly interrupted with a cheerful: “Hi! I'm back!” When they turned around, I grinned at them. “Sorry I'm late, got held up at work. Don't want to be fired...”
“We're still early, anyways.” Sides grinned back, then added: “Are we taking a look at the basement levels this time? There should be storage rooms down there.” After looking at Sunny for confirmation (no sense in trying something when only two of us three were okay with it) I nodded. It made sense, certainly.
The way there was luckily uneventful this time around. I really didn't want to deal with problems now, after trouble at work. And it even seemed like my luck would hold... at least at first.
We started at the deepest basement level. It was one of those already built into the planets' surface, a sign that this building was truly old. None of the newer buildings were built that deep anymore, and rumor had it that there had to be still some structures down there that predated even the current rule. As far as I knew, that was just scrap, legends and superstitions.
The floor creaked ominously beneath our steps, but we paid it no mind. Just the usual background noise we'd already gotten used to long ago. On second thought, however, we should've probably been a bit more careful...
Just as I entered a small storage room, I heard the shrieking sound of metal on metal, directly beneath me. I froze immediately, only my head still moving, half turning around.
“Sunny? Sides? You see anything?”, I asked, or more like whispered, fervently hoping that it hadn't been what I thought it was.
“Don't. Move.” Sides sounded tense. There was another creaking sound beneath me, and I nearly jumped when a servo touched my arm. “Careful! Take my servo...”, Sides added, but the moment I moved my arm, just trying to get a grip on his servo, the floor disappeared completely.
While falling, I had the most absurd thought: 'Maybe I'll reach the core that way...', and honestly, it seemed like it. I fell further and further...

Until my fall was stopped short as I hit the ground which, thankfully, didn't collapse. As I tried to get venting again, a voice, coming from seemingly everywhere at the same time, shook me from my thoughts.
“Welcome. I am Teletran, keeper of knowledge. How may I assist you?” I raised my head, searching, and then decided: 'What the pit, I may as well just ask.'
“Where am I here?” My voice sounded scratchy, probably a few wires knocked loose in my vocalizer from the fall.
“You have found the Iacon Hall of Records, buried at the beginning of the tyrants' reign.”, was the answer. The Hall of Records! Orion loved talking (and probably secretly dreaming) about this near mythological place, where all historic (and other) records were kept, safe from corruption or deletion. And wasn't there something else he had told me about it? I thought about it for a moment, and then remembered: There shouldn't be only records here, but also artifacts, from the time before. Oh, that was big! Maybe even too big for just the three of us... I definitely had to tell Orion!
A bit dazed from the possible ramifications of this, I ventured further into the structure that was even lit, though not brightly. Amazing... It was absolutely huge! I saw rows upon rows of terminals, shelves full of datapads, old displays...
Finally, after running into dead ends twice, I stood in front of an ornately decorated door. There had to be something of value in there, I just knew it! And that wasn't the thief inside me talking, at least, not only anyways...
Various unsuccessful attempts of opening it later, I remembered the AI that had spoken to me before.
“Teletran, can you open this door for me?”, I asked softly, feeling slightly ridiculous for talking to thin air. After all, every normal AI nowadays had some sort of screen or something to talk to.
“Of course.”, came the almost immediate reply, and before I could say anything else, the door began to shift slowly. It was rusty, and creaking horribly, but in the end, it was so very much worth it. What was inside the room on display was absolutely beautiful...

Chapter Text

I couldn't believe it. All around me, there were pedestals and cabinets, the items placed on and in them long since believed to be only legends, wishful thinking. Yet here they were, as real as anything.
For a moment, I entertained the thought that I'd hit my head when landing here, and that it was all a dream. But that couldn't be true. My imagination wasn't that vivid. It was just too crazy not to be real. Carefully, even though I didn't know exactly why, I took a few steps into the room, towards the first artifact. I didn't really know which one it was, after all, I'd never seen them before, but it had to be important. Stopping just short of touching, I examined it carefully.
I didn't get very far though, as Teletrans voice surprised me only a few kliks later: “Someone followed you down here. They seem to be searching for you.” That had to be Sunny and Sides! I had to show them what I'd found!
Grinning, and already imagining the looks on their faces once I showed them, I left the room, calling out to Teletran: “Keep the door open, okay?” I didn't even wait for an answer, racing through the corridors as fast as I could, back to where I'd fallen. And sure, they were there, looking around curiously, but not yet calling for me. It seemed as if they were just as stunned by what was down here as I'd been. If only they knew...
“Looking for me?”, I called out, laughing as they quickly turned towards me, surprised. “Don't worry, I'm alright, but there is something I need to show you.”
“What did you find?”, Sides asked, immediately switching from worried to curios. “Something we could use?”
“I'm not sure yet.”, I replied, shrugging. “But you won't believe me until you see it, so come on!” That said, I went back the way I'd come, with them following after me. On the way to the room, I asked: “Have you ever heard of the Hall of Records?”
“Just a myth.”, Sunny declared, sceptical. I couldn't help but laugh.
“Well then, how come that we're currently walking through it?” At their incredulous looks, I suppressed another laugh, explaining instead: “No, I didn't hit my head. This really is the Hall of Records. Just look around. All these ancient datapads... And once you see what I wanted to show you, you'll know for sure. It's just around that corner.” I pointed forwards, as we were nearly there by then.
“Are you really sure of that?” Sunny apparently hadn't been convinced. I wasn't about to blame him for that though... It was just that side of unbelievable.
“You trust me, don't you?”, I said, but instead of waiting for an answer (since I already knew what it would be), I just went around the corner, entering the room once more. Only a few kliks later, I heard them reach the door.
“So, what did...” Sides didn't get much further, trailing off, just as stunned as I'd been upon seeing the artifacts. The next vocalization coming from him after that was a quiet: “Whoa...”
“That's way too big for just the three of us, I know.”, I said quietly. “We need to get some others in on this as well. Besides, I have no idea what to do with this, anyways.” That got matching nods from them, but nothing more. Still too stunned to speak, then...
“I would not recommend moving any of these artifacts.” I nearly jumped in surprise as Teletran spoke again.
“Don't worry, that's just Teletran.”, I told the twins, before replying: “We weren't planning on taking any of them away. But you're alright with us bringing others down here, aren't you?” In the short while it took for Teletran to decide, I had to quell my excitement, as at least the beginning of a plan was forming.
“As long as they show no destructive tendencies, I can even provide you with a safer entry. All I ask of you is to be careful, and to never lead the tyrant or his mechs down here.”, was the eventual decision.
“We can definitely do that.” Grinning, I turned towards the twins. “This is the discovery we've been waiting for. Now, we only need some others... What do you think of showing this to Orion and Megatronus? I won't be able to keep this a secret for any length of time, anyways.”
“You're right.”, Sides replied, having obviously recovered form the surprises I'd sprung onto them. “But we'll take someone who's more like us, too. What do you think about involving Jazz? He's trustworthy, and he can keep quiet.” On that, I agreed with him, but there was something else to be considered there...
“Okay, but you do know that his mate will become involved, as well? After all, there are no secrets in a bond, at least not for long. I'm not saying he isn't trustworthy, or that he can't keep quiet as well, or Jazz would've been in trouble long ago already, but we've only met him once, and that was a coincidence...”
“Yeah, we know, but who else could we involve, besides Jazz?”, Sunny spoke up. I knew he was right, I just wanted to say it to make sure we all knew about it.
“Then it's settled. We'll bring them down here together, to minimize the risk of getting caught. In three orns, in the evening again? That'll give us some time to find Jazz if he isn't at the black market.”, I decided, letting my excitement show. No matter how this would turn out, it would change things, I was sure of that.