Hailso was a manufacturing district. It was one of Iacon's bordering city-states and was right next to Kaon. Most raw products from Kaonian mines went directly to Hailso and turned into usable products.
That was, at least, their greatest source of income, according to the Hall of Records. Hailso was known also for it's many bars and parties. Bots in Hailso had a reputation for being overcharged just the same as bots in Kaon had a reputation for being murderers.
Orion reached the border between Iacon and Hailso ten minutes before midday, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that Megatronus was already there waiting for him.
After looking the large mech up and down for injuries, Orion nodded to himself and focused on the questions that had been gathering on his way here.
Unfortunately, Megatronus spoke first.
"Here," he pulled a thin cloak out and held it out to Orion, "I don't need you being recognized. Plenty of the gladiators come to Hailso in their freetime to wipe away their sorrows and take out their anger."
Orion gulped and quickly put the cloak on, "Thanks."
"Soundwave and Crashdrive will be waiting for us at Medicre in the back. We've bought off a room, but as long as we are in public, keep your gaze forward and pretend like you belong."
"Got i–"
"That does not mean you will make optics contact. Avoid contact at all costs. Keep your field pulled in tight. Don't look at the roof, there are cameras. Move out of people's paths and do not bump into anyone." Megatronus ordered, "And above all, do not speak. You have an incredibly strong Iaconian accent."
Orion blinked, trying to soak all of that in, "Wh–"
"And try to stand up straight as much as possible, you're short. Don't try too hard, or else you will look clumsy and that's worse. If someone does speak to you and I can't answer, just point to your voicebox and pretend you can't speak."
"You know plenty of Iaconians go to Hailso for high grade right?" Orion asked.
"Yes, but they don't go to Medicre and they don't walk around with me," Megatronus told him. "I'm well known in Kaon and Hailso."
Orion opened his intake to reply, but Megatronus held out his servo as they passed a group of laughing femmes, "This is when you stop speaking."
The archivist nodded and followed Megatronus into a building that clearly needed repairs. He resisted the urge to gag as the smell of vomit assaulted his systems.
"Hey, D-16, haven't seen you around here in a while!" A mech called out, waving a cube of high-grade, "Wanna join us?"
"Go frag yourself," Megatronus stated coldly as he passed.
Orion almost tripped in surprise. Despite the fact that nobody probably noticed, energon quickly rushed into his helm and his fans kicked on.
"Slagger," the mech sat back down and took a large gulp of his high grade as one of his friends patted him on the back. A loud burp erupted from his intake.
Megatron pushed into another section and was stopped by two large bots, one a femme and the other a mech.
"Password?" The femme asked in disinterest.
Megatronus equipped his sword and pointed it at her face. She ignored it and looked at Orion, who's optics were stretched.
"Password?"
"He has no blade," Megatronus informed her, "and he's with me."
"Then go on in," she stepped aside and Megatronus opened the door. Orion grabbed it after the gladiator passed through and strained to keep it open as he went through himself. It was heavy, and Megatronus had made it took like a featherweight.
Orion blinked a few times after the door closed, his optics adjusting to the dimly lit room. Two mechs were standing near the far wall, around a table. They had the same frames, but one was black and purple while the other was mostly purple with some black.
Megatronus looked at the mostly black one and grinned.
"Orion, you can get rid of the cloak now, this is Soundwave and Crashdrive."
"We've heard a lot about you," Soundwave said, holding out his slender digits.
Orion pulled off the cloak and shook the mech's hand with a smile, "Good things, I hope."
"You'd be surprised," Crashdrive cracked an amused grin. "Megatronus never spoke so hi–"
Soundwave elbowed the purple mech and shot him a glare, "Don't we have business to attend to?"
"Riiiight," Crashdrive pulled out a few data chips and tossed them onto the table. "Yeah, these have been totally screwed."
"Are these from the Hall of Records?" Orion asked, picking one up and examining it; he quickly spotted the small holes. "Did you stab them?"
"Don't worry, it's not like they're useful anyway. It's just a bundle of Iacon propaganda," Crashdrive smirked.
Soundwave stepped forward to explain for Orion could take that the wrong way, "What my brother means is that the data, when in the vicinity of the Hall of Records, are programmed to give out certain information. Your complains have only came in as malfunctioning lately because of the newly created protocals for wandering signals. The Hall of Records can't expand their signal very far anymore and instead of allowing datachips to transfer accurate information outside of range, they shut down functions."
"What do you mean, 'accurate information'?" Orion asked.
"The chips have two sets of data on them," Soundwave explained. "One is censored and the other is accurate."
Orion blinked in confusion, "But-"
"Why don't we just show ya?" Crashdrive suggested, pulling out a datapad and pulling in a chip, "This is the Kaonian mining information. When Soundwave simulated the frequency of the Hall of Records core..."
Information transferred into the datapad, pulling up a bunch of text.
"None of this information says anything about the fighting in the pits," Megatronus spoke up. "That's why you, and nobody else in Iacon knew about it."
Soundwave equipped his tentacles and inserted them into the datapad and chip. "When I hack into the chip and override it's security protocols, I find another set of data. This one, has a plethora of information about the real Pit."
Orion's optics widened and scanned over the new, unfamiliar text, which was detailing how the mining pits were ran... with information about the arena as well.
"We assume that whoever originally designed the chips created this, which would mean that Alpha Trion is the one behind the censoring." Soundwave explained.
Orion shook his head, "There's no way Alpha Trion did this... he-he's..."
Megatronus nodded to Soundwave and the mech pulled out another chip. This one was the programming chip that Alpha Trion had given Orion for malfunctioning datapads.
"We ran this as well. It's not meant to fix datapads, it's meant to install the Hall of Records frequency so the datachips can give out the censored texts."
For demonstration, Soundwave plugged it into the datapad, which had previously been displaying information about the pits. The screen glitched for a moment before switching to the other text.
There was a moment of silence as Orion stared at the screen, trying to comprehend the betrayal of his mentor. Of his beliefs.
After a long period, his servo curled inward angrily.
Megatronus put his hand on Orion's shoulderplate. "We are sorry, Orion, but it is the truth. And there are more lies and corruption in Cybertron's leadership. Many that we three have uncovered and many that we have yet to decipher."
"And thanks to you, we found another one!" Crashdrive grinned. "Now we can add Alpha Trion to our list of corrupt leaders."
"You have a list of them?"
Crashdrive nodded and pulled out the datachips. Soundwave quickly erased all tampering and progamming from his datapad before allowing Crashdrive to get out the list.
Megatronus turned to Orion as the two brothers worked, "I'm aware this must all be a lot to process for you, Orion. If you need some time–"
"No," Orion shook his helm, "I want to help. I want to know."
"Then this is the right business for you," Crashdrive remarked, handing over the datapad.
Orion's optics skimmed over the first few names before he frowned and started scrolling. And scrolling.
And scrolling.
"How many bots are on here?"
"Almost every bot in a position of power," Megatronus answered. "Unlike we thought before, the corruption isn't Iacon, it's a web of connected heritage across all of the city-states. Those who aren't corrupt have been facing energon shortages and power failures."
Orion set the datapad down, "So pretty much all of Cybertron is scrapped."
"Pretty much," Crashdrive jumped up and sat on the table, "so it's a good thing you're here now. We weren't very credible as just a few bots from Kaon."
Orion looked at Megatronus sharply, "Is that why you changed your mind all the sudden about me being able to help? Not because I'm useful, but simply because I'm from Iacon?"
Megatronus hesitated.
Orion scoffed and glared, turning away from them.
"No, no, that's not why–"
"All those things you said before, about it being too dangerous and me not being helpful enough, those never changed," Orion jabbed his finger at Megatronus. "But then you got the idea that it would be a political advantage for me to be in kahoots with you and you decided to bring me into the fold."
Megatronus looked down, "Orion, I... You are useful, we would have never found out about the datachips without you."
"And in the grand scheme of things, knowing about some censored data chips doesn't really make a difference compared to the assortment of evidence you found against countless bots in positions of power, does it?" Orion demanded.
"It doe-"
"No, it doesn't," Orion glared, grabbing the cloak and pulling it on. "But your scheming doesn't change the fact that Cybertron is corrupt. Tell me when you need my face, but otherwise, leave me alone."
And with that, Orion opened the door and stomped out of the building, leaving three shocked mechs in his wake.