capitalh | ROBOT DANCE OFF

What?

Orion stares at the Matrix, completely dumbfounded. Almost unbelieving. The what with...the what? He doesn't know what to be more offended about - the fact that the very idea of doing that is extremely sacrilegious, or that he did in fact have the Matrix this entire time, and had stolen it from him. He's stolen an enormous part of who he was, and put him through so much pain.

"That is impossible," he breathes.

Megatron only spares Rodimus a brief, irritated glance. Obviously he had it in there the entire time. He glowers at Orion more prolongedly, baring his fangs in impatience. He has been waiting for this for months. "I will not repeat my command, Pax."

He can't even start counting the ways that this could go wrong. Who is to say that something as powerful as the Matrix could even be changed by the Forge? What could result from an artifact that powerful being disrupted? For all they know, the reaction could destroy all of them and even the entire local population. And if it did work...what would that mean, to have such an important feature of their culture be destroyed? What would happen to Optimus Prime, and the memories that were locked away inside of it?

Orion can feel it coming, even before the music slowly starts to form in the background. It starts as a soft, formless chant and slowly starts to grow into something bolder - ancient Cybertronian words that he can't understand. Part of him wants to just break down, to give up completely.

But instead of collapsing inward, his overwhelming emotions are forced out as words unbidden.

"Once I called you brother," he sings, his voice still frail. "Once I thought the chance to sooth your wrath was all I ever wanted."

He grips the Forge more firmly in his hands, staring at the helplessly.

“Even now I wish that they had chose another – serving as your foe on their behalf, was the last thing that I wanted...” He takes a step towards him, his expression mournful but with an anger beneath it that is becoming more prominent as his voice grows bolder.

“It was our home! These years of war and devastation, how they torture me inside...” He glares up at Megatron, the next words spat in frustration: “All the innocents who suffer from your stubbornness and pride!”

Disbelief upon disbelief, Rodimus gapes at Orion. So it's not just a Decepticon thing, after all. But then....what the hell is going on?. Where's this music coming from?

Orion's singing is earnest with more than a bit of anger creeping in, but maybe it'll confuse the others just as much. The longer it goes on the more natural it feels - like singing your feelings out in a moment of life or death is the most obvious thing in the world. Rodimus is wary of, having experienced first hand, the way these moments can suck you in, make it impossible - unthinkable! - to commit any action contrary to the music. Nonetheless, Rodimus turns his attention to their captors, watching them out of the corner of an optic. He doesn't know what he expects, but at this point is open to any opportunity to sabotage this crazy endeavor.

Oh no. Not this again. Megatron's last experience with this music nonsense was extremely embarrassing, and he's very, very grateful nobody witnessed him singing about how he had so many feelings about Orion Pax that it was necessary to kill him, and if Orion's words now are any indication this is an emotional number – if he's going to get roped into this, Megatron has the feeling he's going to end up baring more than he'd like. He can already feel the music humming through his frame. He wants to reply, to snarl that Orion is a fool and if he knows what's good for him – or for Rodimus – he'll stop this idiocy and do as he's told – but it's not his turn. This isn't his verse. He can't interrupt.

He tells himself he's keeping his mouth shut on purpose because he doesn't want to be caught up in more singing, but it's coming. He knows it is.

The bright side is that singing seems to give one the protection of the spotlight - as long as it is Orion's turn, Megatron can't stop him, and it buys them just a little bit more time. But at the same time, Orion finds himself incapable of doing anything but bearing his spark, no matter how painful his own anger is. Some part of him wishes that this had any chance of changing things, but even as he tries, his hope is diminishing.

"You, who I called brother: why must you call down another blow? Let our people go!"

His words are joined by another sourceless chorus, and it feels like it's build up to something. However, he now grimly realizes that he has run out of lines.

Fuck.

What. Where is this music coming from? Chanting? Were the Autobots here? Soundwave has so many questions but no answers. He draws a weapon, but there is no one in sight in the empty desert. He looks down at Rodimus, who looks just as bemused as he is. So its not the Autobots coming to Rescue their compatriots?

And then Orion starts singing at Megatron. About his feelings.

Ugh.

Sorry Soundwave, it's universal – the lull in the music does give Megatron the chance to step forward and grab Orion by the throat, roughly dragging him and the Forge a couple of paces closer. Around them the chanting intensifies, and Megatron bares his fangs, but whatever he was about to snarl out – unsurprisingly – comes out in verse.

"You, who I called brother – surely you have seen enough to know, this power was all I ever wanted," he growls, almost mocking.

He's uncomfortably close to Orion's face, but now he lowers him slightly, his free hand clenching into a fist. (That's the one with the gun he was pointing at Rodimus, mind you, but now he's singing there are more important concerns. It doesn't even cross his mind.) "I will rule all of Cybertron; my goals are worth whatever I must throw beneath war's bloody engines! Orion, this is all I ever wanted..."

He looks a little uneasy, as if he's trying to convince himself above all else. With a growl, he releases Orion, singing almost under his breath at first but rising to a roar of anger, "Let my spark be hardened, and never mind how high the cost has grown... Until I will it so – I will never let our people go!"

Orion falls back, collapsing down to his knees when Megatron lets go of his throat. His hands are shaking around the handle of the Forge, and his spark is pulsing tightly in his chest. He's scared, and more than anything, Megatron's words hurt. Even if he should have already known.

Something about the way they are said now just makes it seem so much more inevitable.

His body creaks with injury as he tries to right himself, but gradually stops as his optics fall on the sight of the Matrix laid out on its sacrificial stone in front of him. The thing that holds everything about himself that he's lost, and his only chance to take back control.

He can't do this.

Megatron. NO.

The moment Megatron's attention (and gun) is off of Rodimus completely he's sees his opportunity. These musical moments may be absurd beyond any degree of imagination, but they are all-encompassing to those directly involved...and at least in this case, a particuarly excellent distraction. Rodimus turns his attention to the nearby Soundwave who is uncharacteristically distracted himself...if he didn't know any better, Rodimus would say he almost looked positively horrified.

It only takes Rodimus a split second to formulate and put to action a really shitty plan - injured and slower than he'd like to be, Rodimus is amazed Soundwave doesn't see him move, and takes the opportunity to kick the phenomenally distracted Decepticon with as much force as possible in the lower legs. Mr. Miyagi would not be proud. He doesn't stop to make sure Soundwave goes down, but bolts past him, already channelling energy into super-heating the blaster chamber on his arms. He may not be able to fire while handcuffed but there are plenty of other uses for that energy. He's only got a half-formulated, and less-so-by-the-second plan in his head as he makes a move toward Orion and Megatron's hopefully-complete duet.

The chanting is only just beginning to die down as Rodimus assaults Soundwave, and with his attention occupied by gazing furiously at Orion it's a few long moments before Megatron notices. But the fact that Rodimus is able to make this move at all, rather than being inexplicably prevented from interrupting, is the proof of the musical number being over, and soon there's nothing stopping Megatron from turning to roar in indignation at this disruption of his grand plan – but he's a good few seconds too late.

This...okay, Orion doesn't know what to do with this. Rodimus is running and he's almost certainly going to get killed. He's been trying to think of how to protect him in this, but with how angry Megatron is, him getting hurt suddenly seems like an inevitability.

If Orion doesn't do anything, anyway.

Driven primarily out of panic, Orion stumbles up to his feet. Though his limbs shake painfully with the effort, he clenches his hands around the Forge, and manages to raise it just enough to swing it at the back of Megatron's head.

Edited 2014-08-18 02:03 (UTC)

Soundwave is horrified. This is a train wreck and he finds himself unable to look away from the scene unfolding before him.

The next thing he knows his legs are out from underneath him and he is falling into a pile of flailing limbs. His head shoots up onto to see Rodimus' back as he sprints toward Megatron and Orion.

Aw, hell no. He is up and after Rodimus in a matter of seconds.

Aw, hell, yes.

Rodimus is close enough to feel Megatron's enraged roar reverberate in his spark chamber. He doesn't miss a beat, however, and as Orion is raising the hammer behind him, Rodimus ducks past Megatron, skidding and nearly losing his footing completely as he does so. Single minded in his goal now, he ignores everything else, and grabs the Matrix, bigger than he expected, and vaults over the stone it's laid on. Even as he does so he realises this is a bad idea, his chassis protesting his activity with a surge of pain.

His spark pulses painfully in his chest as he runs. What now, he doesn't know; he's got the Matrix and he's running away from the person he knows in his spark he needs to get it to. Getting Orion the Matrix is the most important thing. Just slightly ahead of keeping it out of Megatron's clutches.

Rodimus spares only the briefest glance over his shoul - slag.

Soundwave.

Orion might not have it in him to swing the Forge extremely hard, but it's a very heavy hammer, and getting attacked by his prisoner is the last thing Megatron is anticipating – it crashes into the back of his helm with a ringing clang just as Rodimus seizes the Matrix, and he staggers forward with a snarl of rage, optics flickering. He clutches his head as he tries to regain his bearings – in a moment or two he'll be rounding on Orion (or the space where Orion was, if he's had the good sense to move), full of fire and fury, but that move has bought the Autobots a valuable sliver of time.

ROBOT DANCE OFF

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