Tag: asksmokescreen

 ask-smokescreen:

“Haha- yeah, that’s even longer than me- But if you stepped in there any later, I might’ve had to fight you! I’m lucky you didn’t, to be honest.

I would’ve thought you would have been in here for the initial reconstruction, though. Kinda surprising!” Smokescreen’s looking back to give a grin, before continuing his own look around, poking around wherever he could.

Smokescreen’s probably giving a friendly wave at any of the eradicons around, thinking they’re staring at him. It couldn’t have been that rare to see Megatron, right? … Well, he hoped so. Maybe he needed to bother Megatron about checking places out more.

The jump in his step fades some as he sees the state of the floor with Alpha Trion’s personal study. “Guess- guess they haven’t gotten the chance to do much up here, right?” It looked horrible, though. Is this what it was like here when he got captured?

Still, once he’s entering Alpha Trion’s study, he’s getting right to opening any drawers he can, partially because Alpha Trion wouldn’t have let him do that, but also because he needs to make sure that it was truly checked thoroughly- he’ll even pat the space underneath the desk, and under any drawers, in hopes of finding some kind of secret note or something.

There’s got to be something from Alpha Trion, right?

Megatron huffed but made no comment about his apparent reluctance to come back to the Hall. Anything he could have said was already written in the scars gouged into the city from his battalion’s cannons.

The living quarters had of course been searched. Once long ago when they had sought out the ancient mech hiding here, and again when reconstruction began. Nothing the vehicons turned up, apart from some old journals, held any sort of interest to Megatron. He’d read through them all, and the only passages that held special significance had been in regards to Alpha Trion’s disapproval of his apprentice’s violent new companion. Those at least had made him laugh, but there were no coordinates hidden in coded words.

Coming here was a formality at this point. If two of his squadrons couldn’t find anything, surely nothing would come of this search… but it would nag at him if he didn’t check himself. Smokescreen had been given one of the Omega Keys after all, so Alpha Trion may have-

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As soon as Smokescreen’s servo hit the desk, the former cadet’s badge began to flash red. The strobing Autobot symbol was mirrored on the old, cracked screen, eventually speeding up to a solid glow. Smokescreen’s name appeared below the image. Megatron ran to the console, gripping the cadet’s shoulder as he stared at the screen. This computer had been wiped when they’d checked it…

“What did you- try something else! What do you have access to?”

ask-smokescreen:

mightymegatron:

ask-smokescreen replied to your post:
Megatron, can I give you a gift?

It’s a present! Here- open it up! /And he’s offering a large box to Megatron. Inside, there’s a few different hats that he managed to make himself! There’s one large hats, and two tiny hats for Megatron’s eyebrows, as well as an oil cake he found a recipe for, and a formal request to spar with the other/

Well, nothing exploded, so that’s good. The helm coverings get a quizzical look, the cake seems passable… but the note draws a low laugh out of Megatron. “A gift I will make good use of. Your lessons must continue, after all.”

Smokescreen’s giving a little grin, hoping Megatron will try on the little hats in particular, and just the mention of lessons gets Smokescreen bobbing up and down. Fighting lessons! From Megatron!

“I’ve got more where that present came from, too, if you’re interested, Megatron!”

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“Really.” He picks up the fabric in his claws, plopping the large helm cover down overtop Smokescreen. “What do you mean by that?”

ask-smokescreen replied to your post:
Megatron, can I give you a gift?

It’s a present! Here- open it up! /And he’s offering a large box to Megatron. Inside, there’s a few different hats that he managed to make himself! There’s one large hats, and two tiny hats for Megatron’s eyebrows, as well as an oil cake he found a recipe for, and a formal request to spar with the other/

Well, nothing exploded, so that’s good. The helm coverings get a quizzical look, the cake seems passable… but the note draws a low laugh out of Megatron. “A gift I will make good use of. Your lessons must continue, after all.”

ask-smokescreen:

::I’m guessing not much of my own stuff has been recovered? I don’t think I left that much in there, but who knows?::

Smokescreen had chosen to drive over, himself, with the hall of records not being all that far. Still, Megatron will probably arrive a little before Smokescreen.

In all honesty, Iacon’s reconstruction was starting to look better than how he remembers the city, right before he had been taken off Cybertron. Granted, Iacon was in pretty terrible condition back then, but it was nice to see so many new standing buildings, and other Cybertronians around the city! Actually online and talking!

“It really has been! I’m guessing you haven’t been here in a while, either? I’ve been meaning to take a look. If nothing else- maybe this can be a new start for it?”

Smokescreen will start entering the halls, this time letting Megatron follow, unless he’s stopped. He knows this place like the back of his servo!

Megatron is content to let Smokescreen ahead of him. His strides were twice as long as the former cadet’s, so keeping up is little issue. Besides, now that sections of the building were being repaired, it was good to see just how far it had come from being in utter ruin mere months ago. He’d hated Iacon, but this building had been a marvelous tool for him in the beginning, despite the painful memories.

“I haven’t set foot here since the day I declared war.” He spoke as if the stated fact was a surprise to him, as if unaware that he’d avoided returning. When the Decepticons took Iacon, he had not been on the raid team to extract Alpha Trion, but had sent for him instead.

He’d even entrusted searching the ruins and rebuilding the structure to teams of soldiers and engineers.

When all ties had been severed, when there were no more rallying speeches to write, there had been no reason to personally return. That was what he told himself.

They made their way through the once-familiar halls, freshly cleaned of debris while a few eradicons worked at repairing the damaged roof overhead. A few stopped to stare, unused to the sight of their Lord amidst the construction. After a short elevator trip (they had only recently gotten it running again) Alpha Trion’s personal study revealed itself. Age and war had not been kind to the space, and the lighting still flickered as corroded wires sparked in the walls. Silently, Megatron took it all in, and let Smokescreen explore as he wished.

@ask-smokescreen continued from here

::An adjoined suite, huh? Wonder who that belonged to! Has that been checked out at all?:: He’s grinning a little, here.

::Yeah- maybe being there again might make me notice something missing? Probably not, but I’d like to lend a servo somehow. Meet you outside the site?::

::Of course.:: Was it Smokescreen’s goal to make his optics roll out of his head? Who else’s room could it have been but his own? Nevertheless, he agrees to meet there and downs a ration of fuel before heading out. 

Rather than a ground bridge, the warlord decides to fly to the Hall of Records, across the newly (mostly) rebuilt Iacon. The new skyline was far from it’s old glittering towers, but it had been built from cooperation and hope, not on the backs of those who could not occupy it. The sight filled him with pride, and when he touched down, he felt a little lighter.

“Come. It’s been too long.” 

Hey, Megs- mind if I see the excavation site for the Hall of Records myself? I’m guessing there’s not something there that I’d find that no one else would, but… It wouldn’t hurt to take a look, right? And I wanna see how much was restored.

Megatron looked around his quarters and realized that he hadn’t left them in a few days. 

::..Not at all. In several months we have not found anything vital based on the sites you pointed out, but the soldiers have located Alpha Trion’s living quarters and an adjoined suite. Give me a few kliks. I have yet to revisit there, myself.::

::Perhaps fresh optics will prove useful.::

Hey Megs, do you think a bot with the matrix could talk to ALL the past Primes? Like- can they chat up Alpha Trion whenever? Or are they just stuck talking to bots that had the matrix in the past? If it’s the second one, poor Optimus. I know I sure wouldn’t want to be stuck with talking to Sentinel.

ask-smokescreen:

mightymegatron:

Megatron bristles, optics narrowing.

“’The collective wisdom of the Primes’ is a vague statement, and I am not the one who would know, Smokescreen. I did not exactly discuss the experience at length with any Prime.”

And Smokescreen had a great slageating grin right here, “Yeah, if I were a Prime, I’d absolutely gonna stuff tons and tons of cheesy souvenirs in the matrix, and call them powerful relics so any bot who has it next thinks they’re super powerful. I mean, I already have a few small things stored in my chest. Why not more?” There is only one part of this phrase that isn’t a lie.

“Of course not, Megs! But seriously, you’re not denying that whatever bot has it could end up with a bunch of unwanted info from some of the worse Primes? As interesting as that’d be, it comes with enough downsides that I feel pretty bad for whoever gets stuck with it. Have you seen some of the documentaries from other universes?”

“I know- I got to hear some stories about Orion from Alpha Trion, but I would have loved to known him. I’m glad I got to meet him at all, but it was way too short.” He’s finally staying quiet for a klik.

“Still, if that’s all that the matrix changed about him- you sure you don’t have the matrix in you somehow? Maybe it’s just me, but you seem a lot wiser than you were in some of the stories about you I also heard. And wiser than when I first saw you in-person. You secretly Mega Trion or something?” That slag-eating grin is back.

A servo covered his face. The sheer ridiculousness of Smokescreen’s proposition at least distracted him for a moment from his darker thoughts. Using the Matrix as a storage compartment… And then he kept talking.

It was hard not to snap. He swore he could taste acid in the back of his intake as he in-part envied the cadet for knowing Optimus for so little time. …No. It wasn’t a regret to have known him at all. Orion had spurred him into action long before that fateful day, had inspired so much. He couldn’t help but separate them in his memory, despite understanding that they were the same mech. The terrible truth of it was that without Optimus, he would not be same mech, for better or worst.

The Matrix comment finally got him talking again, field drawn in tight. 

“I do not have a Matrix, nor will I ever! Any changes I have undergone have been through experience alone, not all of it willing.”

Hey Megs, do you think a bot with the matrix could talk to ALL the past Primes? Like- can they chat up Alpha Trion whenever? Or are they just stuck talking to bots that had the matrix in the past? If it’s the second one, poor Optimus. I know I sure wouldn’t want to be stuck with talking to Sentinel.

ask-smokescreen:

mightymegatron:

mightymegatron:

Megatron bristles, optics narrowing.

“’The collective wisdom of the Primes’ is a vague statement, and I am not the one who would know, Smokescreen. I did not exactly discuss the experience at length with any Prime.”

No point to argue his not wanting to try. It was an old disagreement by now, and if Megatron ever needed to ask such of Smokescreen, it would be only when a Prime was absolutely necessary. Hopefully that was a long ways off, but the universe had long ago taught Megatron to keep his expectations realistic, and to plan for the worst.

“They claimed that it gave knowledge to its Bearer, bestowing them with both literal and symbolic power. It is connected to Vector Sigma, so it stands to reason that anything stored there would be free for the Prime to access, including what was coded there by the Thirteen.”

“As for Optimus… wiser isn’t the word I would use. More confident in what he already knew. More… no. Orion was always stubborn.”

Thank Primus for that, honestly. Smokescreen can appreciate that! It gets a little terrifying with bots mentioning the idea. He’s keeping his fingers crossed that it won’t come to that. There must be someone better for it, Smokescreen hopes!

“Anything stored there? … Man, that really leaves a lot up in the air, though. If you end up being a Prime, do you end up with all of Sentinel’s dirty secrets? Although- being able to hear anything from Alpha Trion or Optimus again would be pretty nice. You think they could somehow get physical stuff in there, too?”

“More confident in what he knew? I guess there’s probably a lot of wisdom in there that backed him up? Haha- I’m glad to hear that, at least. I wouldn’t want Optimus to be any other way!”

It is physically impossible for Megatron not to roll his optics.

“Of course nothing physical! It’s an energy source, an ancient and powerful relic, not an extra subspace.” Perhaps it was wise not to stick him with the Matrix just yet. For all he knew, Smokescreen would attempt to stick his hand inside of it.

“You wouldn’t, would you?” A twinge of pain in his chamber forced Megatron to look away, to allow himself to vent for a moment. He cursed inwardly. Hadn’t he been growing past this?

“You only ever knew him as the mech he revealed himself to be.”