[ INTRO LOG ]

[robotsatan]

You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

Comments

THE CITY

[towardspeace]

Having left the human who's been following him around to examine what appears to be plant life (this entire situation gets more and more suspicious), Megatron is making his own inspections of the ruins they've been drawn to. He's uncomfortably aware of the fact that the impulse to come here has not been wholly his own, and he's determined to work out where it did come from.

The broken-down terminal standing silent in the centre of the forum draws his suspicion most keenly, but closer inspection yields no more clues than peering at it from a distance did – it certainly doesn't seem functional. One of Megatron's hands curls into a fist with the impulse to take out his frustration on the piece of antiquated machinery, but he dissuades himself with a heavy hiss of air from his vents. With the fuel he's being dosed with, he thinks bitterly, he probably wouldn't be able to make a dent in the blasted thing.

[luckyfaceplate]

"I've heard humans use a similar tactic to make technology work."

Guess who can recognize you a mile away, Megatron. This guy. And he can't say he blames him (for once) on his frustration. It's been quite a journey of patience and confusion for him too. And Megatron being here is one of the more normal parts of this little field trip.

Because wherever Optimus seems to go, Megatron is always there to follow. You can't have one without the other.

The Prime approaches, his ear pieces swiveling ever so slightly as he takes in the ex-warlord, gaze as even as ever. Eventually, his arms fold over his chest as he looks at it as well, trying to make some sense of it.

[towardspeace]

He turns slowly, surprised to hear a voice he recognises... but not that surprised, really. It's with equal parts wry amusement and private disgust that he notes his old enemy's presence comes as a relief, and a simpler relief than it usually might be: if only to himself, he has to admit that he's been slightly concerned that running into whichever Autobots the human June knows before anyone from his own universe would end poorly for him. He's not exactly worried, and he's definitely not afraid, but he's... aware of potential risks, especially drugged and weak as he is.

He pushes those thoughts aside; they're hardly relevant, now.

"Optimus." Megatron acknowledges him, but not his remark about the terminal. "What a typical coincidence."

[kitrite]

Giant buildings, giant people made of metal, and endless banks of machines that he doesn't understand. Vanadi is pretty sure he's got the gist of this place by now. And since none of these overly large, clanking people have tried to murder him here, he's starting to feel more comfortable.

So he picks one, the large, broody one over there, and approaches. He looks terribly casual about it, with hands pocketed and a quirked smile in place, but he takes care not to place himself into what he assumes is easily-squished range.

"Lovely weather here, isn't it?" comes the voice from knee-high. Ah, a classic opener. Never gets old. "A bit less green than I'm used to, but I'll happily take it."

[towardspeace]

More humans, exactly what Megatron likes to see. His favourite. Awesome. Not, of course, that this guy is a human, but Megatron doesn't know that – it's pretty much only the ears that distinguish this one, and it's a difference so minimal compared to the natural variation between Cybertronians that he barely registers it.

He looks down at this new flesh creature with what would be a raised eyebrow if he actually had eyebrows. His multi layered helmet arrangement moves in some improbable fashion that gives the impression of a raised eyebrow sort of expression, anyway. "Do you usually greet strangers with trite sarcasm?" He looks kind of offended, actually – what is it with humans and thinking they can just approach him for a chat?

[d_17nolonger]

"I don't suppose you're one of the residents."

The fact that this stranger bears an odd resemblance of frame to himself clearly isn't unnerving enough to draw Megatronus away from his inquiry; he does keep his distance, though, as a precaution. His gaze is briefly drawn to the terminal Megatron was examining.

"Broken, just as everything else is, I assume."

[towardspeace]

"It certainly seems to be," he replies, looking over this newcomer with narrowed optics. The specific physical similarities are few – he's never favoured spikes in such quantities himself, after all, and the stranger seems to have put all his nose points into eyebrows instead – but there's something about the sum of his parts, his demeanour, his voice...

"I take it you, too, have found yourself transported here unexpectedly," he says, not bothering to hide his curiosity – or his suspicion.

[awwblammo]

Quiet introspection and progressive investigation is for suckers, apparently, because it becomes immediately apparent that this Autobot is, well...on the warpath. Immediately. Mostly do to the cannon fire that suddenly starts hailing around Megatron with seemingly no provocation.

The only key piece of evidence left in the immediate area are distant cries of "YAHOO!" and "KABLOOIE!"

[towardspeace]

Megatron raises an arm in defence, casting around for some sign of the perpetrator – some trigger-happy Autobot who hasn't got the memo, he assumes... or some bitter Decepticon who has.

He grits his teeth. He has no time for this.

"Stand down, you fool!" he barks in the vague direction of the cannonfire and the yelling – he's hoping for some kind of response, since going by the yelling whoever this is isn't prioritising stealth.

[starscheme]

Now this is interesting...

Starscream stares down this stranger from the shadows. This is the first sentient creature he's found so far since his arrival, but he is leery about approaching for a multitude of reasons, first and foremost being that there's an Autobot symbol displayed proudly across the stranger's chest. A pity; he'd felt a brief thrill of relief upon catching a glimpse of that helm, but it was swiftly quashed once more. Aside from the bucket head and the primarily grey color scheme, there is little similarity to the bot that he has looking for.

He does need some answers, though... perhaps if he catches this Autobot unawares, he can make him talk. He starts to circle around to try and take this guy from the behind, missiles at the ready.

[towardspeace]

The abandoned city is almost silent, and it's not long before Megatron picks up on the quiet sound of footsteps and realises he's being stalked. What he wouldn't give for his fusion cannon back, he muses – but he can settle for turning suddenly and pulling a pistol on his would-be assailant.

A Decepticon, he notes, but not one he recognises. His optics narrow. "Must we," he growls. "I'm sure you're as lost here as I am, do you really have anything to gain by attempting to destroy me?"

[nerdica]

Nautica is as lost as anyone else, although her inability to probably orient herself is something she's decided has more to do with her unfamiliarity with Cybertron rather than it being any different than the planet she was only briefly on. With that in mind, however, she's taken to following the direction her feet want to go - cataloging everything from the suspicious spots of organic life to the architecture in the hopes it'll come in use later while concurrently cross-referencing it with what she does know about.

The terminal grabs her interest first, not fitting in with the rest of the city, but then the individual currently standing at it demands more of her attention than anything else.

"Megatron?" Er, formality, Nautica. "Captain."

There you go, much better.

[towardspeace]

He looks slightly relieved to see someone from the Lost Light – but he does look her up and down first, as though to confirm everything about her is as he expects it to be. It is, as far as he can tell, so he nods, a little curtly, and replies, "Nautica. How long have you been here?"

[aminerproblem]

A piece of the city's landscape is disturbed as Megatron's younger self brushes past the crumbling walls of a column near the forum. The metal plate clangs as it slides off the decrepit piece of architecture and crashes to the ground, but the perpetrator is stuck in a moment of surprise.

Despite all he'd stomached on his way to this point, including question of time travel and alternate dimensional planes, nothing could quite prepare him to actually come into contact with a near mirror image of himself. Was he staring into the future?

The other one was clearly older - and wearing an Autobrand, of all things, but still unmistakably the same person.

What the hell was this place?

[towardspeace]

He turns immediately he hears that sound, as alert as he can be with drugged energon lurching through his fuel lines, but he stops dead as well, as soon as he sees the face of... his younger self? It can't be. Wherever they are now, that has to be impossible.

"Who are you," he demands, despite the fact that he knows what the answer is. The memories might be distant, but every feature of the mech before him is all too familiar.

look at all these nauticas

[quantumechanic]

Nautica was still trying to decide if the strange quasi-organic plants should count as a life sign for the purposes of her survey when she wandered into range of a much bigger, unambiguous life sign. Prior experience with young, angry Megatron had made her slightly more cautious than was her normal inclination, and so she approached by keeping a large column between her and the location of the blinking indicator on her wrench's readout. Still not the stealthiest, but it was an improvement on her usual nonexistent tactical sense. Face covered in the dirt she still hadn't washed off after Megatron sat on her, Nautica poked her head around the column--then blinked a few times. "Oh, wow. Reality is messing with us."

She emerged from her not-very-hidden spot, waving her wrench in greeting, since her other hand was occupied with Brainstorm's briefcase. "Captain!"

theyre so beautiful. so purple

[towardspeace]

"Nautica." He frowns. Wasn't he just speaking to Nautica? He takes stock of the dirt all over her face, and frowns a little more – "What happened to you?"

im sorry bout this overdramatic anime tool

[auramatic]

Drift hasn't really had a chance to check out the terminal yet, though he'd glanced at it and noted how old and out of place it looked. Of course, now that he's come around to squint at it, there's someone else having a look, seems like. He starts to draw nearer, thinking that maybe two heads might be better than one, but he doesn't get more than a few paces before he stops in his tracks. Even at a distance from behind, he recognizes that frame without a shadow of a doubt.

Drift's optics narrow, his mind hurdling through the possibilities all at once. They all come to a dead end, though, because Megatron's supposed to be dead. Not that that had never been said about the leader of the Decepticons before, but -- the war's over. And this time, Drift had really thought he was dead for good this time.

He doesn't say anything, just unsheathes both swords at his hips with an audible slide of metal.

never apologise for this overdramatic anime tool

[towardspeace]

Megatron is really, really done with people coming up behind him with weapons. At least when this kind of thing happened on the Lost Light people tended to be up front about it. He vents a weary sigh as he turns around, his paltry pistol drawn, and then stops and frowns in faint surprise.

(The camera zooms dramatically in on the symbol on his chest. An improbable anime gleam glints over it, in case you missed what was being drawn attention to here. The view of the Autobrand is interrupted by a cutaway to Drift's expression of Dull Surprise as he emits a shocked anime sound)

"... Drift, isn't it?" By this point the surprise at the sight of someone unexpected is extremely short-lived; Megatron is already anticipating the explaining he's going to have to do. Again.

megatron totally wanted more humans up in his sad old man business rite

[smarterthandad]

Valeria, sitting on the far side of the fountain and taking some notes on her datapad, heard Megatron's heavy footsteps as he entered the forum. Peeking over the low edge of the fountain (low by Cybertronian standards--it was taller than she was involved something resembling a chin-up for her) she spotted the Autobrand. More than smart enough to know that what people said and what people did rarely coincided, Val had listened to Optimus' speech about freedom for all sentient beings, but didn't entirely buy it. Still, given her genius' arrogance and child's poor awareness of risk, it was enough of a guarantee to send her trotting around the fountain to say hello. Which took a while on those little legs.

"There's no power, so even percussive maintenance isn't going to do it."

If Megatron thought he was free of humans, he was wrong. So very, very wrong. This one was tiny even for them, probably half an adult's size, and wearing a black and glowing green outfit that, frankly, didn't look all that out of place on Cybertron. She also wasn't even slightly uneasy.

"Hi."

damn straight. just fucking loves em

[towardspeace]

He looks down at her, frowning.

"You are a human child," he says, as if pointing this fact out will cause the universe to acknowledge how monumentally absurd it is, and correct it.

[thanksoptimus]

"Is your name Megatron?"

It seems to come from nowhere. In reality, the words are shyly uttered by a smaller bot standing several paces behind the old warlord - apparently just having come upon him. His blue optics are settled on the other intently at first, but as soon as Megatron turns to him he will divert his gaze uncertainly.

"...I'm sorry, if I am wrong." He shakes his head, looking down. "I seem to be seeing pieces of him everywhere."

[towardspeace]

The voice is familiar, but not exactly; Megatron turns slowly, and his optics widen a little when he sees the bot who addressed him. He doesn't look surprised for long, though, not after everything else, just... curious, as though this a puzzle to solve.

"... You aren't wrong," he says. "I am Megatron. And you..." He doesn't look exactly like, or carry himself anything like Megatron's own nemesis, but the resemblance is unmistakable. "Orion Pax, I take it – or someone like him."

[phase6kindofbot]

Well, if Megatron was having a shortage of problems to deal with, he certainly wasn't about to start running out of them anytime soon. This particular problem came on four legs and looked just a little like a building-sized dog.

"Lord Megatron?"

A building sized dog that was currently sitting back on its hindquarters and giving his master a quiet, inquisitive and somewhat expectant look.

[towardspeace]

Ah.

Megatron is almost beginning to miss the Lost Light.

"... Sixshot."

He's pretty wary, after what happened with Tarn, but he takes care not to let that show too much – he looks Sixshot up and down with calm, curt acknowledgement and nothing more. If anybody here is going to draw attention to his Autobrand it sure as hell ain't gonna be Megatron