What Have I Done?

Chapter 33: Both Shall Fall

"And we're gonna hide here!?" Orion demanded, "You do know we could hide in the cliffs right?"

"You want to hide in a hole when you're being chased by aerial bots?" Ratchet scoffed, "And do what when they find you?"

Orion grunted as they two of them laid against the wide expanse of the well, their plating shifting with the electrical buzz that came from their lifegiver. Shivering, the two of them turned their optics to the sky.

Multiple jets flew over them, and Orion glanced at the cliffs they'd turned down. They wouldn't have made it to the cliffs anyway.

The jets circled the area, and Orion noticed that they were all different models and colors. They weren't even travelling in organized patterns. It couldn't have been the Elite Guard, but rather some ragtag group of... A familiar color scheme in the sky caught his attention and Orion's optics widened. He'd never seen Megatron's alternative mode, but... he'd recognize that scratched silver and pointed curves in any frame.

His pede shifted, and Orion almost stepped out before he remembered that Megatron was no longer his friend. Or even his ally.

Orion was Megatron's enemy. Megatron was Orion's enemy.

Another pang echoed within his spark at the thought.

A roaring crowd cheered Megatron's designation as the silver mech himself appeared from their midst. His sharp, calculating optics fixed themselves on the window Orion was looking through as he approached.

Orion scrambled to the door and let him and Soundwave through before locking it behind them.

When he turned around, Megatron's servos were around Orion's waist and their dermas connected for a sweet, brief moment before the former gladiator pulled away.

"We were interrupted earlier," Megatron smirked.

Orion shuttered.

Would it really be so bad if he chose Megatron over the future of his planet? After all, what did the people of Cybertron ever do for him?

He could watch them burn. Would it really be so bad?

Cringing, Orion forced those thoughts out of his processor. Of course it would. He could never be reunited with Megatron in love, no matter what dark desires taunted him from the deeper reaches of his processor.

The sound of blaster fire drew his attention back into reality and Orion flinched in surprise.

Across the clearing, by the cliffs, a group of blue-plated mecha erupted forth, their blasters aimed skyward at Megatron's forces. The Decepticons quickly retaliated, scattering across the sky and raining fire on the Elite Guard.

"Scrap," Ratchet pulled Orion to his pedes, "we need to get out before this place becomes ground zero."

"What if they see us?" Orion demanded.

The unspoken question: What if Megatron saw him?

"Hopefully the distraction is enough," Ratchet replied quickly before running in the opposite direction.

Orion gritted his denta and followed suit, racing across the field of dark metal. His pedes with the ground with dull thuds that were easily covered by the sound of battle behind them.

Battle.

Orion grimaced. When had things gotten so far out of control?

They had barely gotten anywhere when they were seen. Orion scoffed at his foolish thought that they'd be able to get away unseen. A bright red mech and a white doctor running across an empty expanse? Of course they'd be spotted!