Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Come ON Magnus- the show’s starting! Orion actually got like REALLY good seats! Sometimes apparently little flecks of energon splatter up high enough to hit us if we’re lucky! Orion calls it the splash zone!!”

“I knew you were bloodthirsty Ariel but slag!” The pair raced through the crowded stadium, pushing through bots and slowly making their way towards the front row.

“Orion! There you are!” Ariel pushed through farther, descending all the way to the first row of seats at the bottom.

They saw him- uncharacteristically still, staring out at what was soon to be a battlefield. Ariel wrenched a minicon out of her way, Magnus apologizing as he followed. They finally reached him, marveling at the front row view.

“Orion! Thanks for saving our seats” Ariel said, scooting her way next to Orion and slapping his back with her hand. Orion didn’t respond, staring intensely out, the noise of the crowd near deafening as the clock began to count down to the challenger’s arrival.

“Geez dude, if you weren’t gripping onto that railing so hard I’d think you’d powered down. You alright man?” Orion lifted a hand and pointed downwards. Ariel followed the line of sight and saw him. The champion. The undefeated. The one so powerful he had been given the gladiatorial name of a prime. Megatronus.

“I think he’s staring at me.” Orion said, lowering his hand. He spoke in an awestruck tone, barely moving an inch.

“Oh come on, how can you tell? He’s halfway across the arena” Magnus chided, but Ariel shot him a look.

“Maybe he does!” She said, encouragingly. “Wave hi or something!” Orion nodded, then gave a weak wave towards the gladiator. The gladiator didn’t acknowledge, and turned around to face the upcoming challenger, now slowly rising out of the pit as the crowd roared in excitement.

Orion watch intently. He knew the gladiator was looking at him. And he knew Ariel and Magnus didn’t believe him. But that second he knew something had shifted in himself. And maybe it had in the gladiator, too.

And he was going to figure out exactly what it was.

…

“That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen” Ariel squealed as the trio began to make their way out of the arena with the crowd. “I can’t believe we actually got sprayed with energon- I’m never washing my chassis”

“Oh please, there’s no way a goody two shoes like you goes to your fancy job covered in another mech’s guts.” Magnus grumbled, already attempting to wipe the dried energon he’d missed in his original preening off. “It’s barbaric, that’s what it is.”

“There’s something about him.” Orion said, placing a hand on his cheek, a large pink splatter resting there.

“Sheesh Pax, if I didn’t know better I’d say you have a crush on the bot that just ripped 3 others in half!” Ariel teased, poking Pax in the arm. His face went pink and he looked over defensively.

“What? NO no no- it’s just… I’ve never seen a gladiator so calm and collected, they usually are egging the crowd on. But he was just… staring. Like he was relishing in the people cheering him on but also judging them, too.” He looked away. “It’s just interesting okay.”

“Jeez- between your obsession with him and your sudden use of actual critical thinking skills now I’m beginning to think you really DO have a crush on that mech” Ariel and Magnus giggled, as they made their way into the main concourse. But before the trio could enter the crowded hallway, they were stopped by a pair of towering security bots.

“Are you the three that were sat in the front part of section 15, spots 26, 27, and 28?” Magnus shot a glare at Orion, and Elita blanched.

“What did you do, Pax?” Magnus said under his breath to orion.

“Nothing!” He shot back. He then addressed the guards. “Um… yes? Why, can we help you?” The guard on the left looked at a small data pad and then back at Orion.

“You’ve been summoned to the lower levels of the arena. Someone would like to have a word with you.” The bot pointed at Orion. “You were the one in the middle, correct? We were told to retrieve the short blue and red one in the middle seat.”

“That’s me? Am I in trouble or…” Orion said, voice box shaky.

“Just please come with us. Your friends can wait outside the arena in the guest area for you to return.”

“We can’t go with him? What?” Ariel said incredulously, stepping up to the security bot.

“I apologize, but the invitation was only extended to you.” He said, pointing at Orion Pax again.

“Fine… just. Be careful, okay?” Ariel said, giving Orion’s hand a quick squeeze. He looked back at her as he began to be excepted away.

“I promise!”

The two guards took him into a side corridor and they began to defend a set of stairs down further into the arena. The lighting became dim and the metal walls seemed older, more crudely put together and worn down. This was clearly not somewhere most bots had access to.

The two then stopped outside a large locked door, keying in a combination. They stood on either side of the door as it opened, and looked at Pax.

“He is waiting inside for you.”

Pax gulped, looking around. He could make a dash for it… but what use? He had no idea where he was, but it didn’t seem like the two guards were potentially interested in him. He stepped forward and into the room, the door sliding shut and locking behind him. It was dark, and his optics adjusted the light level as he finally saw…

“Hello there, Iaconian. That’s where you are from, correct? My name is Megatron, or D-16 as my official designation if you’d prefer. I wanted to talk to you.”

Orion was frozen in shock.

The gladiator was here

And he had invited him to his own place to talk.

D-16 stirred, waiting for a reaction.

“What would you like to talk to me about?”

…

“No way! I was a miner too!” Orion exclaimed, showing off a small red badge on his shoulder plate. D-16 chuckled.

“Not the kind I was.” He gestured to a similar, but significantly more scuffed logo. Orion could barely tell the color through all the scratch marks but made out a hint of indigo.

“I’ll say- I’ve never seen a designation mark that that. Which outpost mine were you stationed?” Orion asked, attempting to examine the logo more.

“I wasn’t. I was specially made for deep core mining. Something something rare minerals only found in partially molten layers.” He knocked his helmet with his digits, a solid clang ringing out. I can withstand up to 35 hundred degrees.” His expression darkened. “There were hundreds of cycles I would be underground on end. They figured it didn’t make sense to bring us up very often, just the materials.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s horrible!” Orion recoiled in horror. “I can’t imagine being trapped down there for that long. How are you not insane?”

“Well Orion” the gladiator chuckled “I kill bots for sport to make a living. Don’t think you see many sane transformers doing that”

“I guess” Orion nervously chuckled as well. “Well your heat tolerance explains why you can tolerate me so well. Since uh. You know. Im so hot.” He feigned a fanning motion and leaned on the table.

“Ew. Don’t be weird.” D rolled his optics and stuck his tounge out, faking a gag. “Are all clerks this cocky?”

“Says the one who constantly boasts about killing or incapacitating over a thousand bots in the arena.” Orion said, pouting slightly.

“Well I have the credibility to back it up. It’s not bragging if it’s just the facts, now is it.”

“I guess.”

“D-16?”

“Please, you can call me by my gladiatorial name. It is much more appropriate”

“Oh- alright. Megatron, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Pax.”

“How did you see me in the crowd of people? And why single me out?” Pax asked, finally addressing the elephant in the room.

“Honestly? You were the only one who seemed to be looking at me with more than just… bloodlust. I haven’t been stared at that hard since I told my boss I wanted to start fighting three mechs at once!” Megatron laughed heartily, slamming a hand down on the table, making a huge clank.

“Really? You can get all that from like a hundred meters away?” Pax said, lifting a brow.

“Well- you were the most still I’ve ever seen someone in the arena. And you learn to pick up strange behaviors in bots when so many people come after to assassinate you. Orion choked on his own mouth solvent, doing a double take.

“People try and assassinate you?? Why??” Megatron grimaced, and stood more upright.

“When your job is killing people’s champions you tend to make a couple enemies. You have to keep an eye out for saboteurs who lost a loved one to one of my battles.” He looked down slightly, picking up a glass that had knocked over during his laugh. “And sometimes someone bets heavily against me and sends someone to make sure they get a payout.”

Megatron crushes the glass in his hand, sending glass ricocheting against the two of them. “But I’m still here.” Pax thought for a second, and then stifled a giggle.

“You brought me here because you thought I may be plotting to kill you didn’t you.” Megatron stiffened, not reciprocating the humor.

“I have to take care of things that may be… problems. Whether that be to ensure they were never going to be, or make sure they can never become one.” The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before Megatron smiled. “I am glad this turned out to be the first option.” Pax returned the smile softly.

“You have a bit of my opponent’s energy on you, by the way. I must have really made a mess out there.” He pointed at pax’s chest and cheek, noticing the pink splatter.

“I mean- so do you. You’re practically more pink than grey at this point.” Pax chided, examining the extent of the energon splotched across the gladiator’s body. “I think the pink and grey go together. Imagine being the color of energon, now THAT would look good.” Pax said, placing his fingers together in a scheming manor.

“Are you saying I would look good in pink?” Megatron said, a baffled grin on his face. Once again, Orion’s face slightly flushed.

“No I meant it would look fearsome- I mean not that it would look good, I just… man I have to stop talking.” Pax put a hand to his forehead, too embarrassed to continue.

There was a long silence between the two. The gladiator paused, looking at the clerk in interest. He’d never known bots from the upper crust could have such fire. Sure, he started at the bottom and had worked his way up, but he wondered if he could convince some of the middle class to…

“Hey Orion. Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure Megatron, what’s up?”

“I have a proposition for you. How happy are you with the current state of Cybertron and the Functionalists running it?”