What Have I Done?

Chapter 18: The Extraction

"You know," a random mech popped up between them, holding an energon cube, "Megatron, you really should listen to this Iaconian. He knows what he's talking about. High grade is bad."

Orion looked at Megatron triumphantly.

"Here," the mech held out a cube to Orion, "normal energon for us smart bots."

"Thank you," Orion beamed.

The mech stepped closer to Megatron as Orion took a sip, and Megatron scanned the bot up and down suspiciously.

"Don't worry," the mech winked at Megatron, "when I heard your poor friend going on about the statistics of high grade, I knew I had to help."

Megatron frowned and glanced at Orion's cube, "You mean, that's not normal energon?"

"Oh, it is." The mech shrugged, "It's just drugged."

Megatron shot up, "YOU GAVE HIM DRUGS!?"

Both realizing his mistake and honestly fearing for his life, the mech bolted into the crowd before Megatron could termimate him.

"Calm down," Orion looked up at Megatron in disapproval. "Yelling can cause stress hormones, muscular tension, and damage to the voice box."

"Come on," Megatron grabbed Orion's arm. "We're going back."

"But I thought you wanted to be here."

Megatron scowled.

Orion paused, "Oh, this has something to do with the drugged energon, right? I didn't drink it."

Megatron looked at him in surprise, "You didn't?"

Orion shook his helm, "After the incident with Grassblade, did you really think I'd fall for the same trick twice?"

The silver mech grinned, "I knew you were smart, but I keep forgetting."

"Learn to keep up," Orion winked. "Now come on, if this is a celebration, we at least have to dance."

Megatron gestured toward some bots off to the side with a smirk, "Or we could make out in a corner."

Orion gave him a stern look and the larger mech relented, following Orion into the crowd. For a moment, they both just stood there, watching each other uncomfortably.

"I don't–"

"Do you–"

There was a pause.

Orion smiled, "Neither of us actually know how to dance, do we?"

"Nope."

Another pause.

"Welp, back to the high grade." Megatron decided, turning on a swivel and heading back toward the wall were he left his cube.

"Nooo!" Orion whined, "High grade is bad! Let me distract you!"

"I can multitask."

Orion huffed, sat down, and wrapped his arms around Megatron's leg, "No."

Megatron smirked, easily dragging his detained leg forward. The silver mech grabbed his cube, and Orion switched positions, now hanging off of Megatron's arm.

Orion was too busy trying to stop Megatron from drinking the over-synthesized substance that he didn't notice as Megatron stumbled out of the crowd, heading back toward the Pits where they had been living in the week since the initial attack.

When he did realize, Orion paused, "Where are we going?"

"Our quarters." Megatron told him simply, "I realized that neither of us are party animals."

Orion climbed off of Megatron, "Wow. You pulled out the puppy optics and everything, all for nothing."

"Not for nothing." Megatron replied, "I had fun."

"Back to learning how to be revolutionaries and take down the council?" Orion asked.

"We could do that," Megatron nodded, "or we could let the people of Cybertron take over. I'm sure there are more qualified bots than us to lead us into the future and I... I was wondering if maybe, we could– After everything calms down, we could– we could..."

Orion looked up, noticing that Megatron had grown incredibly flustered. The silver mech squirmed under the Iaconian's curious gaze.

After a moment, Megatron sighed and stopped walking, turning to look at Orion. He smiled softly and opened his mouth, about say whatever it was, but before he had the chance, someone suddenly tackled him.

Orion yelped, scrambling forward to help as Megatron was pinned down by a blue mech with red accents. His wrist yanked him away as something grabbed ahold.

"Hey! Get off of him!" Orion struggled in the mech's hold, "Get off of me too!"

"I can't– hold him much longer!" The mech on top of Megatron yelled.

Orion cried out and he was dragged backward, and somehow, despite Orion's intense struggling and thrashing, the mech kept ahold of him. Perks of having to deal with unruly patients.

"Orion, calm down!" Ratchet ordered, pulling him behind a corner.

"Ratchet!?" Orion exclaimed, "What are you doing!?"

Ratchet threw Orion against the side of a transport truck provided to them by Alpha Trion, "There is no time to explain. I'll tell you when we get back to Iacon."

"No!" Orion yelled, "Get–"

Ratchet covered the mech's intake, "Quiet, before someone heards you!"

Orion screamed louder.

Behind them, the mech that had tackled Megatron limped over, his left leg sparking and crooked. There was a shallow gash in his chassis.

Ratchet gaped, "Magnus!"

Orion used the distraction to slam his pede into Ratchet and the doctor fell over. The little mech prepared to take off, but he realized that they had him cornered. Orion backed up, pulling out his blaster and pointing it at Ratchet.

"Let me out," he ordered.

Magnus tensed, "Put the weapon down. We are here to help."

"Help?" Orion demanded breathlessly, "You kidnapped me!"

Ratchet held out his servos, "Orion, you're confused. If you would just let us take you back to Iacon, we can explain everything."

"You can explain now," Orion offered, "or you can explain never."

Magnus scowled, "We cannot divulge sensitive intel in an open area."

"Then I can't come with you." Orion started walking forward slowly, "Move."

Ratchet stepped into the mech's path, "You won't shoot me."

Orion stopped, "I can and I will. Move, Ratchet."

"No."

The two of them stared, and Magnus shifted closer, his optics trained on the blaster in Orion's servos.

Another voice sliced through the tension, originating from the end of the street.

"ORION!"

Orion's helm snapped to the side and he spotted Megatron just as Magnus jumped forward and ripped the blaster from his servos. His attention was yanked away from the silver mech who was running toward them as Ratchet and Magnus dragged him into the truck.

"MEGA–"

The doors slammed shut.