Chapter Text
Megatron's back plates made a screeching sound as he slid down the wall to sit on his aft.
“Fragging Quints. I can't wait to get my servos on them.”
“If we ever get out of here.”
Optimus Prime was feeling less and less assured they would any time soon.
“Do you have any contact with anyone?” Optimus asked.
“None."
Megatron raised his optic ridges questioningly.
Prime just shook his head.
“I'm not even sure how they overran all of us so fast! It's like they had an off switch. My mecha never stood a chance..”
“I know, Shockwave would be able to build us some defense mechanism, I am sure. However, I have the bad feeling that they have caught too many of us off guard already for that to be of any use.”
“Well, that does leave that plan you mentioned earlier..”
“Look Prime, I am not even sure if this is going to work. All I know is that Orion Pax had quite the knack for getting into and out of places he shouldn't have been able to.”
“Megatron, I am not Orion Pax.”
“I know.”
“The Matrix.. Megatron, I don't think...”
“Do you want to attempt this, or don't you?”
Optimus took a moment to cycle a few vents.
“Okay, I can't think of anything else we haven't tried yet. What should I do?”
“Oh you'll love this. Step one: take that bauble out of your chest.”
“I can't. Not by myself.”
“Well, that's why I'm here.” Megatron grinned. To be fair he'd managed to remove the blasted jewel before, and on the battlefield no less. He pried it out smoothly.
Optimus watched him suspiciously until Megatron simply set it on the cell floor.
“Now then, let's go find Orion Pax. Retract the battle mask. It will help me gage your reactions more easily."
Megatron scooted over to him and put the flat of his palm against Optimus' forehead. Then he told him to “just follow” leaving Optimus still with no idea what he should be doing so he just sat there with Megatron's servo on his forehead, feeling a little awkward without the mask and with Megatron's servo on his head, so he just waited.
“Let's make this a game, Prime. You start counting down from 100, and I will just start talking to you. Focus on counting. If you miss a number I will tell you the correct number and you will start up again one number higher, deal?”
He wanted to say that he didn't need any help counting but thought it would just start another argument. He wanted to get this over with. He didn't hold high hopes for this working, and he needed Megatron on board coming up with a better idea.. so Optimus began counting.
“100.”
“That's right.”
“99, should I say anything back?”
“Just focus on counting and relax.”
“Okay. 98.”
“Good, let every number relax you a little bit more.”
“97.”
“Nice and even, no rush.”
“96.”
“Feeling heavier as you keep counting further and further..”
“95.”
“Down.”
Megatron let his voice slowly drop in pitch.
“Look, I keep thinking about things.. I'm not sure if..”
“That's alright Optimus, just focus and count for me.”
The use of “Optimus” threw him a little. It was always “Prime” or occasionally “Optimus Prime” but he'd never just called him “Optimus” before..
“Do you remember where you left of?” Megatron interrupted his train of thought.
“Um.. no..” Optimus felt his cheeks glow. This was ridiculous! This whole situation was ridiculous! He had one job..
“You were at 95, so now you say..?” Megatron said with a perfectly straight mien.
“96?”
“That's right, now just keep going down.”
“95.”
“Nice and even.”
“94.”
Optimus' optics flickered a few times before dropping offline.
“93.”
“Let every strut settle down.”
“92.”
“Just relax and concentrate”
“91.”
“The deeper you go, the better you feel..”
“90.”
“and the better you feel, the deeper you go..”
“90.”
“Relax..”
“..90.”
“How do you feel?”
“ 'M okay..”
“That's good.”
“Heavy..”
“Okay good, stay with this nice and heavy feeling as you online your optics. Can you do that?”
Optimus' optics lit back up slowly.
“Very good, go ahead and offline them again as you sink even deeper.”
As their luminescence faded Megatron dropped his voice to an even lower register and slowed his voice syntheses to 93.4% his normal rate.
“Let your frame feel heavier and heavier.”
Prime's forehead on his palm felt like a lead weight in his servo.
“That's right.” Megatron said huskily, “anytime and every time I suggest relaxation to you three times in a row you will find you can easily get back to this level of relaxation and continue to relax more and more deeply.
Now, I want you to imagine a hallway, can you imagine it?”
“Yes..”
“It is brightly lit, feel the texture of the walls, feel the brush of the cool air, hear the faint echo of our footsteps. The hallway is lined with doors. On the doors are shiny brass name plates. Can you see them?”
Optimus nodded so faintly that he could only feel the change in pressure on his palm.
“The door we are standing in front of is open. It says “Optimus Prime.” inside the room is all you know to be true about Optimus Prime. It is perfectly safe there. I would like you to reach out and pull that door shut for now. It's not locked. Can you hear it latch though?”
He didn't answer that time. He was only heavily slumped against Megatron. Megatron grinned.
“You'll find it even more relaxing if you answer my questions. Don't worry I won't pry. You could just wake back up if I did that, couldn't you? So, the door.. can you hear it close?”
“Yes.” came the faint reply. The voice a little higher than Optimus's usual deep rumble.
“Very good.” Megatron has slowed his voice to 84.7% at this point.
“Let's go a bit further down the hall. Here is another door. It says “Orion Pax.” Open it for me. Can you tell me what's inside?”
“I- I don't.. I don't know.. It's dark!”
Megatron couldn't quite keep a quick flash of victory off his dermas. YES!
“That's okay, just stay calm while I find some emergency lighting. Here is a flashlight. What can you see now?”
“Just.. white walls.. there is nothing here.. well nothing except an old data access point..”
“That's alright, Orion can do quite a bit with an old computer console..”
He made a thoughtful noise.
“Orion,” He addressed him directly, “I would like to ask you to online your optics. We need your help. Can you hear me?”
This time as his optics online the shade of blue was subtly softer with a slight shift from the usual hard sky blue to a more viridian hue. It would take superior color vision to spot the difference but Megatron felt his spark flip in it's casing. He knew that color.
Orion!
“Megatronus?”
It is I, Librarian.
He looked like he had so long ago. Like he'd looked maybe on a night when Orion had lost track of time working until an exasperated Megatron had come to collect him. Finding him slumped over his console and barely awake, he'd picked him up and carried him over to the berth where he'd tucked him in with a grin. He couldn't pick Optimus up like that, of course but he guided him over to the cell's control panel. The slow shuffle felt very familiar.
“Right here, Orion. See this lock? We.. seem to have forgotten our keys. Can you open it for us?”
He stared at the little panel blandly long enough for Megatron to start to wonder if he'd fallen asleep but then his servo lifted slowly, and Orion began to type..
“..99, aaand 100. Welcome back, Prime. How do you feel?”
Optimus reset his optics.
A sharp smile and twinkling garnet optics greeted him as he onlined his optics.
“I.. feel fine...” To his surprise, he was actually telling the truth. He felt wonderful in fact.
“Without checking your chronometer, can you estimate how long our little exercise lasted?”
“Um.. a few minutes?” Optimus tried.
“Try 45 of them.”
“What? It can't have been.. did.. did it work?”
Megatron shot him a sharp grin as he pushed the cell door open. Unoiled hinges squeak softly in protest.
Optimus gathered the Matrix off the floor and put it into his subspace for now. Huh. He'd half expected to have to fight to get it back. When had Megatron lost interest in it?
“Relax, relax, relax.” Megatron murmured into a sleek blue audial expectantly as they stepped out of the cell, and back into the hallway together