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Who: Arcee and YOU!
Where: All around L.A.
When: THIS WEEK
What: Arcee's scouting out the city, gathering information and getting to know humankind.
Warnings: idk robots

Nothing about this mission has been easy. Not spending the terse weeks in the cramped Rod Pod with Rodimus, not trying to keep her troops in line, nothing to do with Optimus -- no, Orion now. It had been hard to let him go, to watch him walk away when she knows that she and the other Autobot pose the least threat to him. If he goes back to Megatron, Arcee's not sure what'll happen with the war. And the fact that Megatron's on this planet at all is cause for concern.

That, and the considerably more local threats. Orion's terrifying bout of mind control hadn't come at the hands of the Decepticons, but something Earth-based. Something deeply sinister. Arcee knows a bit about this planet, but not enough. It's starting to look like they might be here a while, so she decides it's time for some serious recon.

She has a holomatter avatar for precisely this reason -- blending in with the local populace, maintaining a low profile. It's a remote projection, solid enough to interact with its environment and relay data back to Arcee. She can learn a lot just by driving around, but certain information is a lot easier to come by when you get up close and personal. She can be found around the city either as her human avatar, who's gathering any information she might be able to find about Megatron's whereabouts and the strange happenings in L.A. of light, or as a sleek motorcycle on the city streets, either bearing a holographic rider when on the move (because a motorcycle moving on its own would definitely be cause for suspicion), or unattended while parked out of the way to watch passersby.

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Arcee feels a little foolish -- the question seems obvious in retrospect, and that Orion would want to know about anyone's relationship with Optimus beyond the command structure makes sense, even if he'd seemed to avoid the topic before.

"Optimus was..." She hesitates, trying to find a way to phrase it. It's hard to put it into words, exactly. To say they were friends doesn't feel entirely accurate, but it's a start, at least. "He wasn't just my commander, Orion, he was my friend. I've known him almost since the start of the war, and I've been under his command for most of that time. And when you serve with someone for that long, then...yeah, you could say there was a bond. He helped me through some very...difficult times. I trusted him more than most, and with good reason. He never gave me a reason to doubt his trust. I'm not saying I never disagreed with him -- trust me, I have -- but...there was never any doubt in my mind about his intentions. And I'd like to think he trusted me, too. At least, I don't think he'd have left me in command if he didn't."

She cycles air through her vents in a soft sigh, the weight of her machinery settling somewhat. "Optimus was always...difficult to get a read on. He didn't really open up very much. But we were close, in a way. And although I'm sure he wouldn't want me to, I'd lay my life down for him if it came to that."

He had already guessed that she was in command of this group, but the fact that she is in charge in more general terms in news to him. He's not at all surprised, given the way she acts, but it does make his worries of the situation more intense.

"He does not sound like the kind of bot one would give up easily," he says. "If you were to regain the Matrix..." He trails off.

Optimus not being one to open up sounds right, somehow. With Megatron having supposedly betrayed him as he did, Orion can easily imagine not wanting to behave so foolishly again.

Optimus had spoken of Megatron's betrayal before -- more than once, even -- but mostly it was just that...feelings had never seemed to enter the equation most of the time. But Arcee knows, even in the midst of all her doubt, that the fact that Optimus had chosen to share with her what he intended to do about Unicron, that he'd chosen her to lead in his stead...she knows that's significant. That it means something about the bond between her and Optimus, even if they never put it into words. And it makes her feel responsible too, somehow, for the bot he's reverted to without the Matrix -- for his protection.

"I wouldn't force you to take the Matrix, if that's what you're thinking." Arcee's voice is soft, but the words are hard, set with determination. "If you really never wanted to become Optimus Prime again -- if you wanted to stay Orion Pax -- I wouldn't make you. And I wouldn't let anyone else make you, either. I don't think that's what he'd have wanted."

Arcee's eyes sharpen with alarm. That sounds all too familiar -- dangerously so -- if she's landed on this planet, started terrorizing humans... Arcee crouches a little lower, quieting her voice a little so that only Matilda can hear. "Did she try to hurt you or your family? Are you all right? And -- did she say her name?"

It might not be her. This far out in the galaxy, there are dozens of possibilities. She can't just jump to conclusions. But deep down, Arcee can feel it in her spark -- she can feel it in her fuel tanks, heavy and dreading. She already knows the answer.

It says something that he's starting to feel like he can believe her on that point - that it is hard to feel like this could all be some ruse to trick him into coming back to them. If it was, he feels like she could have manipulated him much easier but expressing the importance of him taking back the role. He likely would have felt compelled to bend to it, if only she were to push.

But she hasn't. This entire time, she's never even suggested that it's the choice he should make. Considering everything Optimus Prime means to the Autobots, that is more meaningful than anything else she could do.

"But it is what you would want," he says. It's not a question - it's a statement of fact. There's no bitterness in his words, just a plead for truth. "Were I to decide to reclaim the Matrix on my own, it would be what you were most glad for, would it not?"

Arcee is finding it difficult to respond. He's almost begging her to answer, to give him some kind of confirmation, and it just makes her spark heave in her chassis. She supposes all she can really do is tell him the truth.

"Orion, it's...not that simple." She hesitates, her voice heavy. "If you decided you wanted to be Optimus Prime again -- all on your own -- and you wanted to take the Matrix back...yes, I'd be glad. There are a lot of people who'd like to see Optimus Prime back in command, and they'd all be glad. But it's not just about that."

She rolls forward a little, just to circle around a bit and inch a little closer to Orion. "This isn't just about the Matrix or Optimus Prime. It's about you, too. Because Optimus Prime was more than just the bearer of the Matrix."

"Which one do you think?" The words come out waspishly as Arcee's holomatter avatar grasps her alt mode and appears to pull it upright with a little grunt of effort. She wouldn't ordinarily be this peeved, but with everything that's happened recently, she's kind of on edge, and she's been wearing a little thin lately. So much has been heaped on her shoulders -- the responsibility almost too massive to bear -- she just doesn't have the patience for clumsy organics today.

"You know, if you're going to lie, the least you could do is pick a convincing one, kid."

He feels a surge of anxiety - he's not angry about anything she's saying, but a certain fire rises up in him all the same. He doesn't agree with her. He can't.

"But it is not about me!" he says more urgently. "It is about so much more than just me, than about Orion Pax. What makes a bot are their memories - and without them, the Optimus Prime you knew is dead. I have no right to end another bot's life for the sake of my own, nor do I have any inclination to do so. How can you claim that it is all the same when it simply is not?"

His mirrors tilt upwards as he finds himself gazing towards the evening sky.

"Our people have been scattered to the stars, and from the beginning, if everything you say is true, they have placed their hopes and faith in their Prime. I would only be one small part in something so much greater."

Matilda had always wished people would take her more seriously. She was young, yes, but she didn't think that age should really matter more than someone's words and actions. Sadly she hadn't come across many people who had taken her at face value, and just as few who had treated her kindly. There was a reason she had an innate distrust of adults. There was a reason that she wore clothing that covered her entire body.

So when Arcee crouched down to whisper to her, expression so serious and concerned she is taken back. It's only now that the memory of what happened between her and Airachnid comes back to her fully, with her frustration at the

"She," Matilda couldn't bring herself to keep eye contact, not wanting this person to see how frightened she really was, "she said her name was Airachnid. She said she wanted to make humans kill each other."

For one brilliant moment, it's like listening to Optimus again, so much that it's jarring. Arcee feels something like hope swell in her spark, but it burns too hot, hits too hard for that to really be it. It feels just as much like trepidation. The emotion in his voice -- the passion -- those belong to Orion, but the words...those are words that could just as easily have come from Optimus.

"Optimus Prime isn't dead, Orion," she says quietly, circling around slowly to come to a halt in front of him. "You're right -- this is bigger than you, because it's bigger than all of us. But I don't think you fully understand the part you've played in it so far. Optimus Prime isn't dead, no more than Orion Pax died when he accepted the Matrix. I've known Optimus for thousands of years, and having met you, having talked to you...I can see it now. Optimus wasn't just someone to carry the Matrix -- that was only part of what made him Optimus Prime, and you were every bit as much a part of that. The Matrix gave Optimus the wisdom of the Primes, but the clarity of purpose, the willingness to see the good in every spark, the sense of responsibility you feel toward making every decision count, the dedication to ensuring the decisions you make are the right ones -- all of the things that made you worthy of the Matrix in the first place...those were a part of Optimus, too, what inspired people to stand by him. They're why I followed him for seven thousand years, and they're why I'm here now, because even with the Matrix gone, Orion, I can see that in you. Your memories might be gone, but...you'd be surprised at how little Optimus changed over the course of the war. Those things about him...they never changed."

The guy isn't telling her much she doesn't already know, although he's been plenty infuriating while he's at it. If they weren't in public, she'd already be lunging at him -- she knows the avatars are just that, just stand-ins, but she's sure she can give him a nasty headache if she tries. But she can't risk it. So she's forced to stand there, seething, as he taunts her with that awfully smug grin on his face -- and then it hits her.

"Starscream," she hisses, her eyes flashing angrily. It has to be him. "I should've known. You think I'm going to tell you where Orion is, you can get fragged."

He looks extremely pleased to be recognized, and downright delighted to get that kind of hostile response. This is exactly the kind of return to normalcy that he needed. It would almost be enough to make him cry, if that were a thing he was actually physically capable of.

He shifts, straightening up and away from the wall and grinning menacingly. "Charming. I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage though." Seriously, that voice is nagging at him, it's so familiar but he really can't place it.

"No matter, I suppose," he shrugs. "You Autobots are all so painfully similar anyway."

Arcee's usually able to maintain a cool head in a crisis, but Starscream's exceptionally irritating manner and the tension of the situation -- all the mounting, balled up fury towards Megatron is starting to get the better of her. Her eyes narrow, burning, and she steps in close enough to close her hand around a fistful of his avatar's shirt, jerking him forward to pull him closer into the hall, where fewer passersby can see. He's no Megatron, but right now, he's close enough.

"This ends here, Starscream," she bites out, every word clearly enunciated and dripping with anger. "You run on back to Megatron and you tell him this ends here. Whatever he's planning to do with the Matrix -- I'll stop him if it kills me."

Annabel understands the need to investigate. It's what she's been doing or...pretty much the entire time she arrived. Which granted, has not been long and is more in line with a tourist than a scout but well.

At the moment, she and her mechanical cat, Bartholomew, are making their way down the street, a bag of groceries under one of her arms.

She doesn't actually have a place to live yet, she's squatting in a mostly abandoned building, but she's fine with that. Although she had lived quite well before her parents died and she had plenty of money, she couldn't seem to find a place she wanted to call home. Or a lab for that matter.

The lab mattered more.

She stops for a moment to admire the motorcycle, studying it's design. She has no interest in automotive of any kind but it's curious to see their deign and efficiency. Bartholomew is staring intently at it as we, tail flicking back and forth as he occasionally makes a small noise towards his mistress.

He looks down at her alt form as he pulls around to his front. Words like this are crushing and inspiring all at once. Orion has never considered himself to be anything extraordinary - just a conscientious citizen trying to do what was right.

The future described to him is one he's never foreseen. But even if he doubts the idea of his own greatness, these traits are not ones he can deny valuing a great deal.

"Then all the more reason I should inevitably make the same choice," he says softly. "That I should not put myself above something that means so much to so many."

Severa's expression almost immediately sours at being called a "kid" and also being snapped at. She was going to help. Now... okay, she's still going to help, because this was her fault and she is technically a hero. And PR is PR.

"I'm eighteen," she protests, heading to the first domino in the motorcycle chain. "I haven't had to lift one of these in a while," she says to herself, as though she's ever actually had to lift a motorcycle, like, in a professional environment. Still, it's what, 600 pounds or something like that? Not totally impossible. She stretches her arms straight up above her head. "If I can't do this myself, want to help?" It's not really a question.

If Arcee weren't in her alt mode right now, she might be smiling faintly in spite of herself. He's only proved her point -- it's just the sort of thing she'd expect from Optimus -- and though her spark is heavy still, she feels a sliver of hope peek through. Maybe she's gotten through to him, just a bit.

"I think you have to decide that for yourself," she says honestly. "I think that if you feel like you still need more information, some kind of confirmation, then you should find it. But I know that whatever choice you make, it'll be because you believed it was the right one. I believe in you, Orion -- I believed in Optimus Prime, too, and I guess I just...wanted you to know why."

Legion again. Arcee's been distracted lately, but she figured she'd her from them again eventually. And it doesn't sound like they're pleased.

"He hasn't been 'secured'. The mission got complicated."

The wait of the realization is heavy, because it occurs to him now that he's started to believe. He believes her words, he believes what the Autobots have been trying to accomplish. He doesn't know how, but he's just come to understand its truth deep in his spark, like something instinctive. He can't see any falsehood in her - in any of them.

And that leaves something even more painful to contend with.

He vents harshly, traces of exhaust escaping his pipes. His engine rolls uncomfortably, and he can't really think of what to say. He just feels so intensely miserable for a moment that it's overwhelming, and his frame shakes with idle rumbling.

The base wasn’t actually too far off from where he’d landed his ship. And now that he’s spotted the Rod Pod, he wonders how he’d missed it. Even if it was in hiding. It was certainly very…Rodimus.

The closer he gets to it, the more he can feel a nervousness building up in his spark. He’d promised Rodimus that he’d keep their plans to himself, and he would. He wasn’t too worried about that; some bots might write him off as an open book, but Drift could keep a secret if he needed to. Even so, he doesn’t like the idea of lying to his fellow Autobots.

If nothing else, it would be good to be among their ranks again…to actually do something instead of just sitting around and waiting for orders. As he walks up to the ship, he looks around to see if he can spot anyone.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

She really can't do any harm to him like this, with the entire situation playing out between their avatars, but the sudden move still catches him off guard and it takes a split second for him to remember that, which causes him to emit a short, strangled yelp.

He glosses right over that like it didn't even happen though, putting on a more serious face now and growling wordlessly. He's nettled by what he perceives as an implication that his rank puts him as some kind of messenger, some trained cur to be sent howling back to its master on command.

"Oh, I don't doubt that you'll give it a valiant try. Just as I doubt very much that you will succeed in any capacity. You Autobots haven't even the slightest notion of what is in motion here, you're fumbling around completely in the dark. And you honestly think that you can take Megatron on...?" He laughs, mocking, incredulous. "Without your Prime you stand little hope against him. You won't even get the chance to give him cause to lift a single finger, because I'll destroy you all myself before you even get close."

Arcee hadn't exactly been expecting a smile and a handshake, but she's not prepared for Orion's reaction all the same. She knows distress when she sees it, and she's at a loss for a moment, fumbling for something to say. Seeing Orion like this makes her feel like the bottom of her fuel tank's just dropped out. She can do the pep talks, she can rationalize and she can tell him what's in her spark, but seeing him upset like this...she has no idea what to say.

"Orion..." She inches closer, just enough to gently clink her front plating against his bumper. "Orion, it's -- it's okay."

He feels that touch, and his engine rumbles again, idly leaking exhaust. He's quick to try to pull himself together - this is the exact kind of emotional scene he's been avoiding making - but something about Arcee makes doing so feel less urgent than it might otherwise.

"The depth of such a betrayal," he explains, his voice strained with static, "is not a thing I am prepared for."

"Is that a promise, Starscream?" Arcee's fingers curl tighter around the fistful of Starscream's shirt she's holding onto, her eyes blazing. She doesn't look intimidated -- if anything, his taunting is only fueling the furnace of righteous anger she's been struggling to contain for days now. It's not just what Megatron's done, although even that would have been enough. But the fact that Starscream has the nerve to taunt her, to sneer in her face -- the fact that she'd owed him payback for a long, long time now...

"It had better be," she continues, all but snarling the words in low, measured tones. Her eyes are locked on his, dangerously intent. "Because if you don't, Starscream -- if there's even a shred of light left in my spark -- I'm coming for you. And once I'm through with you -- once you've gotten what you deserve -- Megatron's next in line. I'm going to say this one more time, so I know you hear me: I am taking back the Matrix, and if you think you can stop me, you're in for a nasty surprise."

"You want me to help you clean up your mess?" Arcee retorts, looking a little incredulous. Her real body back on its two tires, the avatar stands back, arms crossed as she looks Severa over. She doesn't look too weak, as far as humans go, but then again, she doesn't really know how strong they're supposed to be. And as agitated as she might be, Arcee doesn't really want to leave the other bikes in a heap. It just strikes her as sort of wrong.

"All right, all right. I'll lend you a hand -- but you really need to start watching where you're going. You could have actually hurt yourself, you know -- or someone else."

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