Chapter Text
D-16 charged forward, tackling Elita and pushing her out of the way as Orion came out behind him with Jazz. The tunnel slammed shut behind them and machinery went flying.
Elita scrambled back up as D goes to check on both Orion and Jazz, a furious expression etched across her features. “What the hell, Pax, I told you to evacuate,” she snarls as D helps Orion to stand.
Orion offers her one of his winning smiles and opens his mouth to reply, but instead, he falls forward, landing face-first on the hard ground.
“Pax!” D exclaims, crouched beside him immediately. Elita only gapes, but her surprise is short-lived, because not one klik later, Darkwing appears behind her, and D shrinks down, covering Orion’s frame with his own.
“Elita-1, you’re fired,” he says with no emotion.
“What?” she exclaims, turning to face him. “Why? I followed protocol to the letter! Darkwing, please, I’ve worked too hard for this, you can’t just-”
“You are no-cogged bots with limited options,” Darkwing scoffs in response. “Report to waste management immediately.”
Elita’s optics widened. “Waste management?” As Darkwing exits, she turns to look at Orion, still unconscious in D’s arms, and D sees a fury he’d never seen on anyone in her face. “And I don’t even have someone to yell at for it,” she mutters as she storms off, kicking various tools as she passes them.
D watches her go for a moment, then sighs, pulling one of Orion’s arms around his neck. “I guess you lucked out a little there,” he murmurs to him. He heaves Orion’s frame up, then catches Ironhide’s optics, who was supporting Jazz.
Ironhide tilts his helm down the tunnel to the medbay, and D nods in response, walking silently down the dimly lit corridor beside the older mech.
What happened to you, Pax? He finds himself thinking. You’ve never just… passed out on me like that before. Orion’s helm thunked against D’s chassis and D grimaces as he holds him closer. Not much farther, he thinks, seeing the light of the medbay up ahead.
Soon, the four of them are out of the tunnels, and one of the medics sighs as she sees Orion, comming Ratchet immediately.
“Your favorite patient is here,” she says dryly to the only doctor for the cogless, before she leads Ironhide and D-16 to a unit to wait.
D carefully lays Orion down on one of the berths as Ironhide gently eases Jazz down onto the other, and soon Ratchet appears in the doorway.
“What happened now?” he asks disapprovingly.
“The tunnel was collapsing,” D explains as Ratchet connects a cable to Jazz’s leg to numb the pain. “Pax went back for him, and then he passed out afterward.”
Ratchet sighs, shaking his helm. “It’s always something with that one.”
“I’m grateful,” Jazz pipes up. “He did save my aft. Will he be all right?”
“I’ll have to examine him to find out,” Ratchet replies. “Ironhide,” he says to the mech who had started to leave. “If you would assist me in finding a replacement part for Jazz?”
“Of course,” Ironhide says with a nod, then follows Ratchet out and leaves D-16, Jazz, and Orion alone.
“How’s your leg?” D asks Jazz after a klik of uncomfortable silence.
“It doesn’t hurt as much anymore,” Jazz answers. “I guess that was what this was for.” He tugs slightly on the cable attached to his thigh, then winces as energon drips from his severed leg onto the floor. “I could definitely be better, though.” He glances over at Orion’s still form. “What do you think happened to him?”
D sighs. “I don’t know,” he admits. “He was chased out of the archives again earlier. Maybe something happened there. Who knows? This is Orion Pax we’re talking about.”
Jazz chuckles softly. “Don’t I know it. Nice of him to wait to pass out until after we got out, though, huh?”
D scoffs, though he smiles. “I guess so.” His smile fades. “I just hope he’ll be okay.”
“Come on, mech, he’s Orion Pax! He’s always been going off and putting himself in danger. It’s how he lives. I’m afraid there’s not much we can do about that, but he’s always able to pick himself up, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.” D looks over Orion’s frame. There were a few new dents and scrapes from the mining accident, but nothing that looked too bad. There should have been no reason for him to just collapse like that unless he’d hit his helm and damaged any internal circuitry. Needless to say, D-16 was a little more than concerned.
Before he could voice his worries, however, there was a soft pinging playing over the speakers, and a voice saying, “ Attention, all sectors. Stand by for a live transmission from Sentinel Prime. ”
“He’s back?” D asks aloud as he stands suddenly. “He’s back already?” He takes a step forward, then halts, looking back at Jazz and his severed limb.
Jazz followed his gaze, then offered him a small smile. “Go ahead.”
“What about-”
“I’ll be fine, D, just go,” Jazz chuckles. “I’ll watch over Orion, too. Besides, I’ll be able to hear whatever Sentinel Prime is saying perfectly fine over the speakers.”
D nods, unable to stop the smile that spreads across his face. “All right. Thanks, Jazz.”
He hurries out, running down the corridor until he sees it: a large hologram of Sentinel Prime, talking to someone out of view.
“ Is it on? ” he asks them. “ Okay. Thank you. ” He turns to acknowledge his subjects with a smile. “ Hello, my friends. Hello, Iacon City! Hello to our saviors, the industrious miners who toil selflessly to maintain our energon reserves. I celebrate you! ”
D-16 couldn’t contain his excitement. Humility and presence! That’s leadership! Nobody does it better! He felt a pang in his spark as he wished for Orion’s company, but he pushed it aside as he listened to the rest of Sentinel Prime’s message.
“ Once again, I have narrowly returned with my fleet after another treacherous expedition across the desolate, dangerous surface of our planet, ” he begins. “ I departed with hopes of finding the Matrix of Leadership, the key to bringing balance to Cybertron. I regret to inform you that we’ve returned empty-handed. ”
D deflates, his previous excitement washing out like an electric charge from an unstable vein. Not again.
“ This is a setback, ” Sentinel Prime continues, “but not a failure. Rest assured, I will find the Matrix of Leadership so that energon can flow again. But that’s in the future. Right now, I think we all deserve a little fun! ” D perks up, knowing what’s coming next. “ Tomorrow there will be no work, all shifts off, because tomorrow is the Iacon 5000! ”
D, like the rest of the bots surrounding him, cheers, excitement flooding his frame. I can’t wait to tell Pax about this! I wonder if Jazz will be fixed up in time to be able to watch it tomorrow.
“ My favorite event! A high-octane race all across Iacon City. Let’s all see which competitor can prove they are truly more than meets the eye! ”
D cheers again as the transmission ends, the other miners around him also celebrating. He hurries back to the medbay, weaving his way through the crowd. When he reached the unit Orion and Jazz were in, Ratchet was already back, attaching a new leg to Jazz.
“Hey, D!” Jazz greets. “The Iacon 5000 tomorrow! Isn’t that exciting?”
“You bet it is,” D replies giddily, sitting back down beside Orion. His smile quickly fades. “Hopefully Pax will be awake to see it, too.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Jazz responds, waving a servo dismissively. “Like we’ve established, he’s Orion!”
“Shut it, you two, I’m working,” Ratchet snaps.
D huffs with mild annoyance, then looks back at Jazz. “Sentinel Prime will be there, too. That’ll definitely be cool! Even if he hasn’t found the Matrix yet, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time!”
Jazz chuckles. “I always thought Megatronus was your favorite Prime. What, are you getting a new favorite?”
“Definitely not,” D responds. “But, I mean, Sentinel is the last living Prime, and he’s the one trying to save us! It’s hard not to admire someone like that!” D hears Ratchet scoff and roll his optics, but before D can snap at him, he stands.
“There you go,” he says gruffly as he pulls the cable from Jazz’s leg. “Should be good as new. Why don’t you stand up and walk around a bit? Let it calibrate a little.”
Jazz beams and stands, taking a careful step forward. The new leg was a bit stiff, but it slowly loosened up as Jazz walked around. “This feels great! Thanks a lot, doc!”
“Don’t call me that,” Ratchet mutters, but it goes unnoticed, because in that moment, Orion stirs.
D-16 lurches up, rushing to his friend’s side. Orion’s optical ridges were furrowed and his optics seemed to have shut tighter. His servos clench into fists, and in that moment, Ratchet pushes D back to Jazz.
“Give him space,” he orders. “I still need to check his vitals.”
Huffing softly, D acquiesces, standing beside Jazz with his arms crossed as he watches Ratchet plug a cable into Orion’s arm.
“Everything seems stable,” Ratchet mutters. “No alerts for serious damage, normal fuel levels…” He trails off. “He needed to recharge,” he says simply. “Whatever he was doing last night must have used more battery than he’d bargained for, especially after what happened in the mines today.”
“So he’ll be okay?” Jazz asks, a hopeful expression on his face.
“He should be,” Ratchet huffs, crossing his arms over his chassis. “Assuming he stops wandering off to places he shouldn’t be venturing to.”
“I keep telling him not to,” D sighs, shaking his helm. “He never listens. You can’t force him to stay out of the archives if he knows a way to get in.”
Orion groans suddenly, squirming in the medical berth. His face shifts into a tight grimace for a brief moment, then relaxes again, his optics slowly flickering open. He smiles up at Ratchet once he sees him. “Hey, Ratch,” he greets, his voice slightly raspy. “Why do you look so irritated to see me?”
Ratchet huffs and takes a step back. “I see you more times in a single solar-cycle than I get hours of recharge,” he grumbles. “You really must stop doing such stupid things, especially if they’re going to keep knocking you out.”
“What are you…” Orion starts, but trails off as his helm tilts towards D-16 and Jazz. D offers him a relieved smile, but his spark goes cold as Orion’s face contorts, staring dead into his eyes with an expression of horror and possibly fear.
“Pax?” he asks softly, and Orion scrambles up with a gasp.
“Stay still,” Ratchet hisses. “Take it easy. You were just unconscious; take some time to-”
“Is he really okay?” Jazz asks, and Ratchet shoots him a death glare that shuts him up.
“Pax, are you-” D starts, placing a servo on Orion’s forearm, but Orion jerks away, recoiling as if he’d been struck. He was venting heavily now, his optics wild with terror.
“Back up!” Ratchet shouts at both of them. “Let me handle this. He’s clearly overwhelmed. Now either leave or sit down and shut up!”
Both Jazz and D hurriedly say down, bearing twin expressions of confusion and concern. D watches in silent fear as Ratchet holds Orion’s servo tight, trying to get him to listen, to take deep vents, telling him everything was fine and would be fine, and would he just fragging listen to him for once .
D-16 watches, thousands of questions flooding his processor. What’s happening with Pax? Why is this happening? Is he really going to be okay? What if Ratchet missed something, and there actually is something wrong with Pax we should be worried about? Will he still be able to watch the Iacon 5000 with me tomorrow? What if this is seen by a supervisor and he gets demoted? What if Ratchet can’t help him?
But one question rang above all, one that made D-16’s spark ache and his processor hurt.
Why did he look at me like that?