The tunnels echoed with pounding pedesteps.
D-16 grunted as he shoved a hover-dolly full of worn mining gear down the corridor, servos whining from overuse and dust clogging the joints.
The loud clanging of pedes echoed through the tunnels, too loud and frantic to be miners. D-16 didn't need to look up to know the Enforcers were close. He just kept pushing the hover-dolly full of rusted gear through the narrow corridor, its wheels whining under the weight.
"Fellas," a familiar voice gasped from around the bend. "Thanks for the head start! Wanna give me another one?"
D-16's optics twitched. Orion.
"You're dead!" one of the guards snapped.
"I'll take that as a no," Orion huffed.
The pedesteps got louder—too loud. D-16 braced himself and adjusted the position of his hover-dolly just slightly and then—
The guards slammed into the edge of the hover-dolly with a loud clang, nearly tipping it, sending tools and scanners skittering across the floor like startled scrap-mice.
"Hey, watch where you're going—!" D-16 snapped, irritation bleeding into his voice before he could stop it.
And then he looked up and really saw them. The Enforcers. Fully armed, big, brutish, and already snarling.
Oh, right. Authority.
One guard stepped forward and loomed over him, plating bristling and optics narrowed. "What did you say, no-cog?"
D-16 froze for half a nanoklik, cooling his vents. "Sorry, sir," he said smoothly, bowing his head just slightly, just enough. "Didn't mean you. Was referring to the bot behind you."
The guards turned instinctively. Predictable.
Orion was already gone.
"Wha—where'd he go?!" the first one barked.
D-16 bent low, making a show of shoving scattered tools back into the dolly, keeping his tone deliberately casual. "You mean the filthy red and blue bot? Big mouth, squeaky joints, smells like rusted piping?" He didn't look up.
"Where is he?!"
He jerked his helm to the left. "Went that way."
They bolted, heavy metal pedesteps fading down the tunnel. D-16 waited only a few kliks before pushing the hover-dolly toward the loading platform. He slipped into the back of the departing transport just before the doors sealed shut.
The rickety miner's train rattled as it began descending. D-16 parked the cart toward the rear of the narrow commuter train, away from the few other miners stuffed into the shadows. He took a moment to lean quietly against the wall beside it, watching the doorway.
The ride vibrated beneath his pedes, engines humming low like the steady breathing of some subterranean beast.
"All right," he muttered under his vents, glancing at the sealed compartment. "All clear."
A panel on the hover-dolly creaked open as Orion Pax unfolded himself from the mess of gear, covered in grime and looking way too pleased with himself for someone who just barely evaded capture.
"Okay, Dee." Orion said, brushing off dust, "I may be a little dirty, but 'corroded' ? That's just rude."
D-16 gave him a flat look. "Let me guess—chased out of the archives. Again."
Orion chuckled, not even trying to look sorry. "Yeah. Had to jump out a window this time. Nearly cracked my energon tank—it was wild."
D-16 groaned. "And digging through ancient data is worth dying for?"
"Yes!" Orion replied instantly, optics alight with something too bright for a miner. Hope, maybe. Or something more dangerous.
D-16 vented, rubbing his optics. "I need a new best friend."
"If there are clues in our recorded history that can help locate the Matrix of Leadership, they're in the archives. Trust me—"
D-16 scoffed and stepped forward, brushing grime off Orion's shoulder plating with the back of his servo. Their armor scraped faintly together. He didn't say anything for a moment.
This was routine now. Orion ran headfirst into danger, and D-16 pulled him out of the wreckage.
But sometimes D-16 wished Orion would stop putting himself in danger.
"Sentinel Prime—THE Sentinel Prime—is up there on the surface right now risking his life to find the Matrix," he said carefully, watching Orion's faceplates carefully.
And there it was again. He saw it again—that flicker behind Orion's optics. Not awe. Not pride.
D-16 didn't know which feeling it was, couldn't identify it but it was something that he saw in no other miner bot when it comes to their leader.
It happened every time Sentinel Prime's name came up. Every time his holo played during those speeches. That slight tightening in Orion's jaw, the way he flinched like an abused drone when the hologram moved too suddenly.
D-16 didn't understand it. But he suspected.
Something happened between Sentinel and Orion. Something no one talked about. Something buried. Maybe it was why Orion—brilliant, burning, once living among the Elite Orion—was now working in the mines with those who were forgotten.
Whatever it was, Orion never spoke of it. D-16 had asked once. Orion had smiled and changed the subject.
But D-16 remembered the scars beneath the plating. He remembers the scars on vital cables that should have never been torn into in the first place.
Orion forced a smile. "That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm trying to help him."
D-16 didn't respond right away. It was a lie, Orion was lying. D-16 just kept staring, trying to read more between the lines.
"We're miners," D-16 said now, a little softer. "We mine. That's all."
"There's gotta be something more I can do," Orion said softly, looking out the window. "I can feel it."
"Oh yeah?" D-16 arched a brow. "Like the time you felt you could transform without a cog?" He teased, trying to lift Orion's sour mood.
It worked, somewhat.
Orion winced. "You said you'd never bring that up again."
"Took me three days to pry you open."
Orion gave him a half-laugh. "Yeah, yeah—"
"Just trust in Sentinel Prime," D-16 said, reluctantly.
"I do," Orion said. Too quickly. D-16 gave him a look. Orion didn't meet it.
Then, with a forced grin: "Hey, if we did have cogs—"
"I'd transform into a shovel and beat you with it.
"I don't like how fast you said that," Orion muttered, then grinned slyly, digging into his subspace. "But it's fine, I was going to give those trinkets I found to you, but I'll find someone else—"
D-16 immediately straightened. "What?"
"This." Orion held up a pristine decal, shining with untouched silver-purple lines: the sigil of Megatronus Prime. "Mint condition. First edition. From the Pre-Fall Era. Only one in the entire lower quadrant."
D-16's jaw nearly unhinged.
"What?!"
"I mean, if you don't want it, I can toss it in the smelter—"
"Don't you dare!" D-16 growled, lunging forward.
"Careful!" Orion said, smirking as he carefully applied the decal to D-16's shoulder plating. "You'll crease it."
D-16 stared at it like it was a divine artifact.
"Wait, you said 'those'. What more do you have?" D-16 eagerly asked.
"This two little beauties here" Orion said flashing a data ship and an holo projector. "A data ship that contains some deeper knowledge into Magatronus life during the pre-Fall era and an intact holo projection of Megatronus dueling against Prima"
D-16's eyes sparkled in wonder. "How did you find those?" He asked as he gently took them from Orion like they were the most precious cargo ever.
"You know, found them while I was searching for information on the Matrix of Leadership, thought you would like them." Orion shrugged, suddenly sheepish.
"Orion you are the best." D-16 muttered in wonder as he stored the items on his subspace.
"You know how historical data says Megatronus was—"
Orion said it at the same time as D-16.
"—the strongest Prime to ever live."
Orion's smile softened. "Looks good on you." he said mentioning the Megatronus emblem now on his shoulder plating.
D-16 also admired it quietly for a moment. "It's... really cool. Thanks."
"Always got your back," Orion said.
"No matter what," D-16 echoed.
Even if it meant chasing Orion out of trouble.
Even if it meant watching him stare at Sentinel's holo like a cornered glitch-rat.
Even if it meant that one cycle, D-16 could be too late to protect him.
D-16 worst fear was being too late to save Orion.
The overhead buzzer snapped D-16 from his thoughts.
TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT:
Approaching sublevel station.
Stand clear of doors.
Mining teams, prepare to unload.
The train rumbled to a stop, and the doors hissed open into the harsh white light of the processing zone.
They disembark into the flickering gloom of the Energon caverns. Miners were already hard at work, pushing carts toward the processor, sparks flying, the stench of raw Energon sharp in the air.
Miners filtered around, shoulder plates hunched, pushing rusting energon carts toward the processors like clockwork. D-16 followed, Orion by his side.
But as D-16 grabbed his tools and stepped into the routine, his thoughts lingered on that look on Orion's face when Sentinel Prime's designation came up.
He'd seen terror before. Usually in the optics of bots about to be scrapped by his own servos on the arena.
But this kind of fear? This kind of terror was deeper. Well Hidden. D-16 only knew about it because he has known Orion for seven stellar cycles, almost eight.
And this kind of fear didn't belong on the face of a bot who claimed he trusted Sentinel with his life. Or at least it shouldn't.
He didn't understand it.
But something told D-16 that whatever had happened between Orion and Sentinel... it was the reason Orion had no rank and the reason he was treated the way he was by the Elite who recognized him.
And maybe one day, it would be the reason everything fell apart.
For now it didn't matter, whatever came next, they had each other.
For now.