Chapter Text
Being dragged down into the darkness of the sublevels by Darkwing was decidedly not a fun experience.
Even less so when you were thrown onto a hard metal floor, with the one throwing you having every intention to make it hurt as much as possible.
Yes, it was definitely not what you wanted after having been promised a visit to the Sentinel Prime's personal suite; but it was exactly the treatment that Orion and D-16 were currently getting despite them both pleading and yelling that Sentinel had personally asked for them.
And sure, it wasn't the most believable thing to hear from a pair of miners - especially with one of them being a well known troublemaker- but still, surely Arachnid or Sentinel would have told Darkwing about their actual destination, right?
Well, regardless of if they did or not, the cogged bot didn't seem to really care as he launched the two of them at the floor; causing their yelling to descend into pained moans as their faceplates met dirty metal, silencing them for a good few seconds before D-16 managed to speak up, his indignation letting him ignore the pain in his jaw.
"W-Wait- You don't understand! We were supposed to go to Sentinel Prime's service pod!"
The miner's outburst caused Darkwing to scoff, the bigger bot clearly not wanting to hear any of what he probably perceived as lies. Which, once again, fair- but still; it definitely didn't warrant the threat that spilled from the mech's intake.
"You two dolts aren't going to see anyone ever again! I'll make sure of that!"
Darkwing wasted no time in flying back up the elevator, leaving D-16 to yell after him; though it was of course to no avail.
The miner got out one last plea for the bot to 'ask Sentinel' before the heavy metal door slammed shut in his face, leaving him with his arm dumbly stuck up in the air as he stared forwards blankly; his processor now flooding through all the different ways he was going to beat the life out of his best friend, Orion Pax.
The bot in question apparently didn't sense the danger he was in as he nonchalantly remained sat on the floor, huffing at the closed door and sounding only slightly bothered as he spoke; probably already devising a way to make their situation even worse.
"I hate that guy."
D-16 was fully about to give Orion another dent in his helm, but the crashing sound of metal on metal disrupted his more violent thoughts; the noise causing both bots to finally stand up and turn to look at the source of the racket, their current pain being ignored in favour of finally looking at where they were.
Both of them were less than thrilled to see that their new location was a dark, cramped and overwhelmingly hot room. With the occasional sound of what looked to be garbage hitting a conveyor belt, the assortment of items being led off and burnt as they entered a furnace at the end of the room.
Said fire created an unpleasant atmosphere as it covered the dark room in a rather unwelcoming red light.
There was barely any space to move, and the heat was becoming more unbearable the longer they were in there; causing both mechs to unconsciously activate their cooling fans to combat the humidity of the room as they stood in front of the door blocking their way out.
Or, their way out if they had the ability to fly .
It was of course Orion that made the first move, the blue and red bot slowly creeping a few steps further into the room as he looked around; fully aiming to find anything that could be an exit.
D-16 was more hesitant but still followed his friend, the grey bot speaking up after a few more seconds of them just looking around in silence- or as close to silence as they were getting in this place.
"I'm gonna kill you, Pax. I want you to know that."
Orion, who had been lost in his observation of the unwelcoming room, turned to face the grey mech with a small grin on his face; the usual sign that he was about to worm his way out of a beating that was well and truly deserved.
"Oh c'mon D, it's not that bad!"
His words earned him a glare that could easily kill a weaker bot, and Orion's grin turned into more of a shaky smile as he raised his servos, fully aware that he was one wrong word away from having another dent in his already battered frame.
The Iacon-5000 had already done enough damage to him, and Orion knew better than anyone as to just how hard his best friend could hit; so the new and most prevalent plan in his mind was to calm the clearly angry mech before him.
Fortunately, he had gotten in enough trouble many a time before to know how best to calm D-16 down, but unfortunately, he had never messed up on this grand of a scale; so this could really go either way for him.
Regardless of his uncertain fate, Orion quickly spoke up again in the most reassuring tone he could, finding it unsettlingly easy to spot the absolute murder that was appearing in D-16's golden optics.
"Okay, maybe it is that bad, but we should at least look for an exit first-"
He winced as the larger bot took a calculated step towards him, and D-16 secretly took pleasure in seeing Orion finally look actually regretful for once.
Which, he should, as the absolute idiot had gotten away with far too much as of late.
D-16 drew himself up to his full height as he glared at his moron of a friend, scowling deeper as he noticed the other mech looking for ways of escaping.
The grey bot's voice dipped into an angered tone as he slowly stalked toward the flighty mech, drawing his arm back as he prepared to create a new dent in Orion's helm.
Not that he was actually going to do that, but Orion didn't need to know that just yet.
"We'll look for an exit once I beat some sense into that broken processor of yours!"
Both mechs had a split second of tension between them, with D-16 scowling deeper and Orion moving to block the incoming punch with his servos, when both of them were then snapped out of their incoming brawl by a loud snap of static; the crackling noise being unexpected enough to snuff out D-16's irritation on the spot, the mech now more puzzled than angry as he froze, looking around for the source of the noise.
Orion was much the same, even lowering his servos as confusion ran through his frame. This was what he had assumed to be a furnace room, so surely there wouldn't be anything that caused static to happen, right?
He decided to speak up, loud enough to be heard over the noise, but quiet enough that only D-16 would hear him.
"...I'm gonna assume you heard that too?"
The grey mech nodded, his yellow optics narrowing as he scanned the room for the source of the noise. Both mechs stuck a little closer together now, their prior argument put on hold as they tried to find where in the tight space the static was spilling out from; though they only managed that for a minute or so before said static turned into something that sounded eerily similar to a voice.
"...Over here."
The room seemed to still for both cybertronians as their optics fell to where the voice had come from. A hidden door, one that they hadn't noticed before due to the darkness covering it and the argument they had been in having at the time.
Orion was the first to speak up, his frame tense as he eyed the door suspiciously.
"Uh, D...did that sound like a voice to you too?"
D-16's mouth was drawn into a thin line, the mech replying in a tone that was clearly aiming to be an unbothered one; but Orion knew his best friend well enough to see just how unsettled the other bot was.
"Nope, didn't sound like anything to me."
Anyone with working audials would be able to tell that the grey mech was lying. Primus, anyone with working optics could see that much, D-16 had never once been able to pull off a good poker face when lying; to the point where Orion was always amazed when the guards believed him when the mech misled them.
The temptation to call the bot out was a very strong one, and Orion very nearly did so, but was stopped by the aforementioned door before them rattling slightly; the noise being enough for both mechs to feel their frames go cold despite the hot temperature of the room.
The door had definitely moved, which meant that there was something, or someone, down there with them.
Great.
Neither of them knew what to do at that moment, but yet again it was Orion that decided to have the brilliant idea of calling out to whatever was beyond that door.
A decision that had D-16 really regretting his choice of friendship.
"Is someone there?!"
A few seconds passed where that same quiet buzz of static reigned, before there was a reply; the voice sounding oddly familiar to them both.
"Yes! come over here!"
Neither mech did as the voice asked. Instead, Orion turned to face his friend, confusion written all over his faceplate as he spoke.
"Does that sound like Sentinel to you too?"
There was a short pause as D-16 replayed the sound of the voice in his head, the mech taking a few seconds to compare his memory files of Sentinel's voice against the disembodied one down in the room with them. Eventually, and with an affirmative hum, he came to the conclusion that Orion was right.
It did sound a lot like Sentinel.
However, before D-16 could give a proper verbal response, the same voice spoke up again; though this time Orion could've sworn it sounded like there were two voices this time, so maybe there was a different bot in there too? Was there enough space for that?
"Don't- Come here!"
Once again, neither mech made any attempt to move from where they were stood, instead eyeing the door with suspicion. Doing so for long enough that the voice sounded out again, this time sounding far more stern than before.
"That's an order."
It really did sound like Sentinel, Orion decided. But the nagging question in his processor remained.
Why would the leader of Cybertron be down here with them? Surely he would be in a far nicer place than this, and surely he would have shown himself by now. Right?
The questions weighed heavy enough that the blue and red mech deemed to call out once again, choosing to risk doing so and potentially annoying the leader of Iacon; rather than blindly follow a voice that by all means really shouldn't be down here.
Plus, the voice sounded like it had that static to it, which set off enough alarm bells for Orion to be very content in his decision to not move.
"Sentinel?"
The reply was near instant this time, and yep, there was definitely static to it. Something that was decidedly not normal, especially as Orion vividly remembered Sentinel's voice being perfectly smooth and clear.
"That's right. Come here!"
The red and blue mech frowned, tilting his helm ever so slightly in confusion as his processor scrambled for any kind of explanation to this situation.
There was no reason for Sentinel to be down here, and there was doubly no reason for the leader of Iacon itself to have an injured voice box.
Something wasn't right.
D-16 did not seem to share Orion's thoughts, however, as the mech pushed past his friend; looking more fed up than anything else as he muttered to Orion, the taller bot's voice sounding exasperated as he did so.
"Let's just go."
Orion placed a servo on his friend's shoulder, looking uncharacteristically uncertain as he urged the grey mech to stop. And if D-16 had paid any further attention, he would have noticed the slight tinge of urgency to his friend's voice; something that was incredibly rare for the bot that was usually cocky and overconfident.
"Something isn't right, D!"
The feeling of D-16 yanking his arm away stung a bit, but the following words stung just that much more; even if they weren't entirely unfounded. It didn't help that the grey mech deemed fit to glare at Orion as he spoke, his voice being pointed as he stalked towards the door.
"You've gotten us in enough trouble already."
All the shorter bot could do was frown as he watched his friend walk over to the very door that was making his survival protocols go haywire; now fully aware that nothing he said was going to make D-16 stop.
And sure, the other bot had every reason to be mad at him right now, but everything Orion had done had been to show them that miners could be more than just miners! Even Sentinel had seemed intrigued about that idea before-
….Wait.
The leader of Iacon wasn't even supposed to be in the city right now, right? So…whoever was behind that door was not Sentinel Prime.
Orion bolted towards the grey mech, but it was futile.
He didn't get the chance to pull D-16 away in time as the other bot had already pried his digits through the door, calling out to Sentinel once more as he drew open the sliding metal parts to reveal a near impenetrable darkness; with not even the strong fire of the furnace doing anything to light the room within.
In fact, the room was cold, which shouldn't have been possible with how close the furnace was.
The shock of the darkness barely lasted for even a second before both miners optics' glued themselves to a glowing face that towered above D-16.
Two blue optics and a wide, cracked smile looked back at them, the static becoming ever prevalent as the thing spoke; sounding heavily amused as Sentinel's voice crackled to life from its sharp intake.
"Hello~"
It took less than a second for D-16 to slam the door closed again, the mech backing away in record time as Orion helped drag his friend back; both of them now fully, yet silently, panicking as they faced away from the living nightmare.
Neither of them knew what to do besides pray to Primus that what they saw had simply been a hallucination; because surely they hadn't just seen what could only be classified as a monster, right?
D-16's processor ran through all the horror stories of spark eaters and murderous bots he had heard as a sparkling, whilst Orion debated on trying to claw the elevator door open or find some kind of weapon.
However, both of their thoughts were disrupted as a manic laugh filled the room, followed by words no bot ever wants to hear from a potential spark eater. Alongside the fact that it now sounded like an unholy amalgamation of multiple voices all at once.
"Oh you're both so fun! Let's play! Winner gets to live~"
The two miners had enough time to give one another an alarmed stare before they launched themselves on the opposite side of the conveyor belt; desperate to put any amount of space between them and the monster as they watched the doors get dragged open once more by clawed digits.
That same smiling face cackled as it narrowed in on the two unarmed and unprepared bots; its intentions with them clearly being sinister in every which way, and the static pouring from it only helped amplify its already overwhelmingly threatening aura.
Both Orion and D-16 sent their final prayers to Primus as they came to the conclusion that they weren't going to be able to fight this monster off; and both of them inched just a bit closer together as the doors got wider, unanimously deciding that if they were going to be killed, then they would do that together.
But maybe Primus had decided that today was the day to take pity on them. As, out of nowhere, the grinning face stumbled back into the dark room; letting the doors slam shut behind it as Orion heard a whirring sound, followed by that same voice from before sounding out again.
"Stop it!-"
Silence followed after. Neither D-16 or Orion knew what to do next, both of their minds still racing and their frames still fully tensed to select between fight or flight. And whilst D-16's processor was now thinking about all the different things around them that could be used as potential weapons, Orion focused on that second voice he had heard; the red and blue bot unable to let it go.
Was there someone else in there? He definitely heard a second voice, and this one hadn't been laced with static, he was certain of that. But what if that was just another trick?
This was an unknown entity they were up against, so he was running off the assumption that anything was possible.
But if there was someone else in there, that meant they were in danger, right? It was really silent now so...maybe they were injured? Orion barely had time to debate the matter with himself before he called out, surprising even himself as he did so.
"Are you okay?!"
The look D-16 sent him could have cut glass, and the grey mech practically hissed at his friend as he debated just covering the dumb-aft’s mouth permanently; because doing something so idiotic just had to have some kind of reprimand.
"Don't attract it!"
Orion didn't even have the decency to look ashamed as he replied; his blue optics still fixed on the door as he replied quietly, voice full of a concern that D-16 very rarely saw.
"It sounded like there was someone else in there."
The grey mech gave his friend a blank stare, wondering deeply about how the other bot had possibly lived this long if that was his current concern.
D-16 couldn't help the callousness of his tone as he replied, but really, what use were they going to be for a bot that was probably already offline? Primus, he hadn't even heard the bot Orion was talking about!
"Well they're done for then."
Both bots frowned at one another, but before they could devolve into any type of moral argument, that static sounded out once more; though this time it called out in a voice that practically froze the energon in both miners' fuel lines, despite their close proximity to the furnace next to them.
"Awww come back! Come on, Pax ~"
With wide optics D-16 turned to face Orion, his voice sounding as shaky as his frame as he spoke.
"Pax....that's my voice."
Orion felt his processor race as he replied, feeling his frame shake alongside his friend's at the realisation that the thing could mimic them too.
"Fully aware of that, D."
Both of them felt like idiots for not considering this possibility sooner. If this thing could mimic Sentinel of all bots then of course it could mimic a pair of unimportant miners too. But that idea just wasn't something that anyone would ever be able to predict in a situation like this.
And that's probably because nobody else had ever been unlucky enough to have ended up in a situation like this!
Well, it probably wasn't luck based on Orion's end, but it definitely was on D-16's end.
Why had he been unlucky enough to get the worst troublemaker known to Cybertron as his best friend?! If he had just picked a normal bot with normal tendencies, none of this would be happening right now.
Maybe in the next life he would have the foresight to pick a better, more normal friend.
Or maybe he would once again see a dumb blue and red bot who had far too much charisma for his own good and end up blindly following the guy like an idiot, leading him to get stuck in Primus knows where with a mystery monster that D-16 would no doubt do his best to protect said dumb blue and red bot from.
Yes, he wanted to throttle Orion. But D-16 would be damned if he let some spark eater or whatever rip the idiot to shreds; and he knew full well the sentiment was returned with how Orion was glancing over at him, the mech not doing much to hide the fact that he was clearly aiming to push D-16 out of harm's way.
They were both absolute idiots, that much was clear. But they were idiots that remained huddled together as the metal door rattled once again, causing both of them to tense as they prepared for an attack to come; both ready and waiting to ensure that the other remained safe, regardless of if it cost them their own life or not.
However, when the door opened, both miners' optics narrowed in confusion when there was no smiling monster violently launching itself at them. Instead there was a rattling sound followed by a timid looking yellow bot who stuck his head out.
The mech's blue optics looked at them with a healthy amount of fear; which only served to confuse the two miners more as they all remained in an awkward silence; with Orion eventually being the one to break it.
At this point, his confusion outweighed his fear.
"Uh...who are you?"
D-16 must have felt the same way as the mech also chimed in, for once not scolding Orion for speaking to a stranger.
Or maybe it was just that the yellow bot looked so close to running away from them that D-16 felt a bit more at ease.
"Where's the monster?"
The latter's question caused a very noticeable wince from the half hidden bot, the rattling sound only increasing as the stranger replied; truly sounding like his spark was fully about to give out at any second out of sheer fear.
If Orion hadn't just had the absolute scare of his life, he would be doing his best to check up on the other bot; but right now he needed to be cautious.
"...P- please don't call us t-that."
It was then that both miners finally noticed that the rattling sound was the other mech's plating; and D-16 wondered if he and Orion were really scary enough to warrant such a terrified reaction. Surely they should be the scared ones, right?
The unhidden fear of the yellow bot made him feel bad for having asked what he had, but not bad enough for him to stop with his questions; being far too curious about the other’s choice of words.
"Huh? 'Us'?"
There was a noticeable hesitance as the stranger replied, and it was almost as if you could physically see the mech's desire to sprint away and never come back. But he held strong and managed to work up a reply, though it only served to confuse the other two more.
"Yes, u-us."
Orion opened his mouth to ask for an elaboration, but before he could get a single word out, there was that whirring noise he had heard before; and he watched in complete and utter shock as the wide-eyed and timid face turned into the sinister grinning one from before, with that same static spilling into the room as a multitude of voices chimed in.
"It's not singular if we share a body!"
Both miners stared open-mouthed and shocked as they watched the timid face from before spin itself back into position; the static leaving as the fearful rattling of the mech's plates returned.
The noise filled up the room as both parties stared at one another in silence; with one side being more confused than they had ever been, and the other looking very close to just giving out then and there.
The silence persisted long enough that it was the yellow mech who had to break it. Though the bot was looking absolutely anywhere but at the miners, clearly determined to make as little eye contact as possible.
Orion heard the clear sound of the other bot’s cooling fans clicking on; so clearly being calm and collected was not this strange mech's forte.
"Yeah, w-we have three faces. Now why a-are you d-down here?"
Neither D-16 or Orion knew what to do. Situations like these weren't exactly common so it took far longer than usual for either of them to work up a reply.
Orion eventually managed; readily admitting that the only reason he could was because the yellow mech just looked so....Innocent? Scared?
He didn't know, but he tried his best to be as friendly as possible despite the fact that D-16 was sending a downright hostile look towards the already terrified bot.
"We were supposed to meet Sentinel Prime, but we were thrown down here."
The yellow mech didn't reply, instead just cowering further into the darkness of the room he was in; so Orion tried again, even sending the guy a small but admittedly strained smile as he did so.
The blue and red mech also made sure to subtly elbow D-16 in order to stop the bot from glaring so much. The last thing they needed was to upset the very bot that had a nightmare for a faceplate.
"So, uh, how do we get out of here?"
This time the bot replied, still not actually looking at any of them, but progress was progress.
"T-this is sublevel 50, so...you d-don't get out."
Never mind, progress was dead.
The timid answer was enough to get D-16 to voice his rather loud opinion on the matter, which caused the yellow bot's plating to rattle even more as Orion now heard the mech's cooling fans kick up a notch.
"WHAT?!"
Shockingly, the strange bot actually replied to the outburst; albeit in a near wheeze as his frame no doubt struggled to keep up with his panic.
It was a very high possibility that the mech only managed to reply out of pure fear as D-16 pretty much always looked like a scary mech to those that didn't know him; though right now the grey bot did admittedly look very much like someone you would never want to approach.
"You're s-stuck here."
Whatever fear D-16 had felt had clearly been replaced with indignation and anger as he rounded on both mechs, a scowl fully present on his face as he targeted Orion; leading them both into a well overdue argument.
Both of them wanted to get out, and the grey mech was now fully blaming Orion for everything that led them up to this point; which was a correct accusation, sure, but Orion was nothing if not stubborn enough to fight back with some remarks of his own.
In fact, the miners were so busy arguing with each other, they had completely failed to notice that the yellow mech hidden in the shadows was having a conversation of his own; one started by the smiling faceplate that was practically drooling at the sight of the two newcomers before them. This plate had previously been aptly named as Mania, for obvious reasons.
He questioned the other's decision from before, feeling their tank seize at the thought of all that energon stood before them.
"You sure we can't just kill 'em?"
Another soft whirr brought the meek faceplate back, this one known by the other two as Apis; not that any of them remembered the reason why.
His shaking had failed to lessen as the strangers argued amongst themselves; something that sparked the ire of the third faceplate, but he was not allowed out just yet. Besides, at least the two miners were leaving the three of them out of their little spat. For now, anyway.
"They're j-just miners..."
The grinning faceplate spun back again, eyeing the grey mech greedily; knowing it would be such a simple and easy process to crack the bot's chest plate open and eat .
Oh and what a meal that would be! He really needed to convince Apis to agree to getting a good meal before they got too hungry again.
"But they're annoying!"
A whirr.
"They're i-innocent-"
A chuckle.
"So? We're hungry!"
And a scared rattle of their yellow plating, followed by a steadying vent.
"Not t-that hungry..."
Really, he hadn't wanted to hurt any of the other bots they had come across, but they had been starving...i-it had been survival!
And this time was different anyway! They weren't hungry enough to warrant hurting these two bots just yet, or at least that was his opinion on it.
He knew that Mania didn't have a single issue with hurting anyone...and there was never any point in asking the third one about whether to choose violence or not; but personally he didn't feel it was necessary to hurt anyone right now, even if the sentiment was clearly not shared.
"C'monnn! We ate the others!"
Before the more timid one could work up a reply, the third one finally chimed in; Fumes sounding as angry as ever, hence his namesake.
"CAN YOU TWO SHUT UP?!"
He left as soon as he arrived, their faceplates spinning to let the anxious one back in place; but it had been enough to keep Mania from speaking up again, with that one now sulking in the back of their mind.
At least for now anyway; he never tended to be silent for long.
Though apparently neither were the miners as a deep voice then called out to them, the grey mech having finally abandoned his argument with his friend to start up the questions again; and this only made the meek one all the more terrified as the miner's yellow optics zeroed in on him.
That bot was seriously scary, but if Apis slid out of place, then others would be in charge and the miners were definitely going to die; so he needed to remain in control.
The anxious bot focused as the stranger spoke, still hiding, but listening all the same to the question he was being given.
"If we're stuck here then explain the faces. Why do you have two?"
Orion scolded his friend for being rude, but the yellow mech replied anyway, not all that bothered by the miner's question as he knew that running into a mech like him was not something that happened to many bots....or any, for that matter.
"I don't know...f-forged like it I g-guess? And it's three f-faces, not two."
He had tried to answer as honestly as he could, but in truth it was a struggle to give more than a strained reply as his memory files were extremely damaged.
Even he didn't know why they had three faces, nor why their frame worked the way it did; or why they were down here in the first place!
It was difficult to answer a question when none of the faces themselves knew the truth.
Either way, the grey bot thankfully didn't seem too upset by the answer which was a relief, instead choosing to just accept it before asking yet another question; though this one was accompanied by a suspicious look. One that D-16 personally thought was definitely warranted, considering the situation.
"And the whole 'winner gets to live’ thing from earlier?"
Both miners watched as the yellow mech took a panicked vent, his wide optics living up to their description as he choked out a reply.
"U-uhm, we we're j-joking?"
Mania chimed up in the back of their mind at that, fortunately not spinning into place as he laughed; instead just inwardly calling out his scared side for lying. A sentiment that was clearly shared by the grey bot as he replied, eyeing the shaking mech with optics full of doubt.
Orion was much the same, though he chose to remain silent as the conversation continued.
"Somehow I don't believe you. But I'm more focused on if you're gonna try to attack us again or not."
An angry voice yelled in the yellow mech's scattered mind, and Apis just barely kept his faceplate in charge as the rage of the other built up in their frame.
"Yes if you don't SHUT IT!"
All that showed from the inner outburst was a wince on his current faceplate, but he managed to pull himself together enough to answer the question properly; trying to be as truthful as possible despite the fact that his answer might turn out to be a lie later on.
It was completely out of his servos if Fumes managed to get full control of their frame.
"N-no! Of course not!"
D-16 kept a suspicious glare fixed on the bot, watching every last nervous twitch the other made before finally speaking up; deciding that they were currently getting nowhere right now so he may as well step it up a bit.
"Then stop hiding behind the doors and introduce yourself."
It was very easy to tell that the strange bot did not want to do that, and as the silence stretched between them all, Orion began to wonder if the mech would just collapse on the spot if he left the safety of that dark room.
D-16 had less patience for the other's antics, his optics narrowing as the yellow mech continued to make no attempt to move, other than to quietly reply after a good minute or two.
"But you're scary-"
The grey bot couldn't help his outburst, cutting off the other as the absurdity of the situation finally overwhelmed him.
" YOU'RE THE SCARY ONE DAMMIT!"
His yelling caused the bot to jump, and for a second Orion thought he may witness the yellow mech finally visit the allspark right then and there. But instead the bot managed to hold strong, giving D-16 his desired response.
"F-Fine!..."
With that, they lost sight of the strange bot as he shuffled backward into the darkness; most likely hyping himself up for finally being unprotected by the doors and darkness that had sheltered him thus far.
Orion took the time they had to try and reassure his friend, having noticed that the other bot was not doing well in the slightest. Which was very understandable, considering the circumstances.
"Maybe he's not so bad?"
D-16 levelled him with an unimpressed stare.
"You have got to stop being so trusting."
Orion rolled his optics but didn't get the chance to reply as their newest acquaintance chose that moment to finally leave the safety of his hidden room; allowing the miners to see that the mech they had been talking to was a cogged bot. One that was very obviously supposed to be a flight build if the sleek frame and shaking wings were anything to go by.
But then again, neither D-16 or Orion were sure if flight builds were supposed to have wheels too.
Neither of them could contain their shock at the sight. It was one thing to have another miner down here, but a cogged bot?
They were supposed to all be up in the safety and comfort of Iacon's higher levels, not all alone in a sublevel that shouldn't actually exist, hidden away and terrified in the darkness.
The revelation was enough for both miners to have a shared outburst, their voices syncing up at the sight before them.
"YOU HAVE A COG?!"
