TFP: The Human Prime chapter 30

The Human Prime
Chapter 30: Six Lasers
"Megatron was able to gather so many followers because of who he was. He was a gladiator
in which millions of bots came to see. He could spread the word easily and because he wins,
the words he says sticks in their neronets. I figured I could use the same principal." Artemis
explained as she weaved through the exiting crowd of the arena.
"Megatron has been doing it for much longer than you have. What makes you think that
they'll listen to you more than him?" Arcee frowned.
"Because I have one key difference." Artemis looked back at Arcee. "I don't kill my
opponents. My words mean something. It shows that, unlike Megatron, I really do fight for
every sentient being."
"Yeah, the bosses don't really like that." Soulseeker pointed out.
"They won't do anything about it. I'm winning, I'm filling seats. That's all they care about."
Artemis shook her head. What corruption this world was under.
"Congratulations, Phoenix." Artemis stopped at the voice and looked behind her, past her
friends. "Councilman, it is an honor." Ratbat, she only know bad things about this bot. His
own corruption was something that kept Cybertron under.
"The honor is all mine." Ratbat walked through the others, heading straight for Phoenix.
"That was a magnificent battle."
"I am glad you enjoyed it. I can't deny that I am surprised to see a Councilman at an illegal
gladiator match." She struggled to keep her voice level. She wanted nothing more than to snap
his body in two. He had no idea of the suffering he caused his fellow Cybertronians.
Soulseeker signaled her to calm down, that she was dancing on a fine line.
"I'm here to give you a gift. As a thanks for putting on a rather enjoyable performance." He
handed her a gold pass. She looked at it for a long time. "For Six Lasers, bring all your
friends! And enjoy yourself."
"You are generous Councilman." She paused for a second then looked at him. "How many of
my friends?"
"As many as you like, all of them if you wish. Anyways, I better be off. Have a pleasant solar
cycle." He walked past her leaving her with a hidden smirk.
"You're lucky you didn't just get sentenced to the scrap heap." Soulseeker yelled.
"You heard that right?"
"Huh?"
"I can bring as many friends as I want."
"Artemis, whatever you're thinking, stop. It can't be good."
"Too late." Artemis looked around. "Drexel, do you think you can hook me up to the Data
Net?"
>Artemis POV<
I stood in front of long steps and a crowd of my viewers. Drexel, hooked up to the DataNet,
was recording me. Against my trainer's request, I told everyone I was making an important
announcement. I knew what I was about to do would put a big target on my head, but I knew
it would be the right thing to do. I looked at Optimus, his face curious. He would never know
that it was he who put this idea into my head. Well, Orion anyway.
"Iacon! I have interesting news!" My crowd listened intently, eager to hear anything I had to
say. "I was just invited to Six Lasers over Cybertron." I saw the disappointment grow on the
faces of my crowd, but it only made me feel more pleased about what I was doing. "And I
was thinking."
"Here we go." SoulSeeker put a servo to her face, covering it.
"I must not be the only low caste who hasn't been to this amusement park. You want to go
too. Don't you Iacon?" I heard the crowd's echoes.
"Yeah!"
"Do you want to go to Six Lasers with me?!"
"YEAH!"
"I am inviting all of Iacon to come with me! No! I am inviting all of Cybertron! Anyone who
hears me! Anyone who hears this invitation! Come to Six Lasers with me! We deserve it,
don't we?!"
"YEAH!" The crowd of bots rumbled, raising their hands in the air.
"In three solar cycles, I will meet you at the gates of Six Lasers!" I could see the bots in the
crowd break out into cheerful screams. I walked down from where I stood in front of them.
"Do you really think you'll get away with this?" Bulkhead brought up a good question.
"No, but does it really matter if I succeed?"
>Hall of Records<
Artemis bit her lip, walking towards her work station. She was going to do this and not sound
like a total idiot. She was going to! She stopped at Orion's station, watching him work. She
smiled when she saw him listening to one of her matches. Good, he heard her too. She finally
went and tapped on his shoulder. He flinched and looked over at her. He eased when he saw it
was her.
"I did it." Artemis said, smiling.
"Did what?"
"Found a way to get you to six lasers."
"Really?" Orion looked surprised, utterly dumbfounded. "How?"
"Phoenix is inviting everyone to go with her."
"That was you're doing?"
"You'll go right?" She felt her heart sink a little when he didn't respond right away.
"I-I did promise didn't I?" He looked down at his keys. "But work-"
"I already got permission from the Archivist." Artemis paused for only a moment. "You
should walk with her tomorrow."
"She's walking?"
"I think she wants to pick up anyone along the way, but still. You should go and walk with
her."
"Are you going to walk with her?"
"I'm not going, at least, not right away. I have work to finish here before I go."
"Then I'll wait-"
"No, no, I really want you to go with her. Please?" Again he didn't answer right away. Then
he hid his face from her.
"Alright."
"She'll be at the north gates leaving Iacon when the sun first rises."
>Northern Gate<
"Why the frag are we walking? It's much faster to drive! Or to take the train!" Sam and
Soulseeker complained at her heels. Artemis laughed as they finally left the apartment district
and headed for the gates.
"Come on boss, you need the exercise."
"You're the gladiator! Not me." Soulseeker snapped.
"Walking would make you a rather open target." Optimus said. Artemis looked at him and
found a sense of enjoyment. He never got to go Six Lasers before it was blown up. While she
knew he'd never be able to enjoy it now, she was sure that he thought she was doing a good
thing, even if it was extremely reckless. Artemis stopped at the gate, waiting.
"Come on, we gotta get going if we're going to get there in time."
"I'm waiting for someone." Phoenix looked so intimidating when she folded her arms and just
stayed silence.
"Who?"
"Excuse me." Everyone looked around Phoenix at the patient Orion. Optimus and Ratchet
gave her a stern look. As if to say, 'what have you done?'
"Yes?"
"Are you, Phoenix?" Orion asked and watched her nod once. "May I, walk with you?"
"My friend told me you were coming. I would enjoy your company Orion." Phoenix was
inwardly laughing. He had no idea that Artemis and Phoenix were one of the same. "Let's get
moving then, shall we?" Phoenix walked past the others, Orion pausing briefly to give a sigh
of relief. Optimus got close to Phoenix and whispered low enough that Orion could not hear.
"Why did you invite him to come with us?" Optimus sounded uncharacteristically angry.
Phoenix sighed and whispered back.
"Because he needs one who speaks pure words, not someone like Megatron. Besides, he told
me he always wanted to go to Six Lasers."  She noticed Optimus taken back. He realized how
close Orion and Artemis had become in the past few weeks.
The group moved quickly and still Orion kept up. There was a silence that lingered making
Artemis wonder if bring Orion was a good idea. No one wanted to talk in fear that it would
give something away. Surprisingly, it was Orion who broke the silence. Unsurprisingly, it was
to ask Phoenix many questions.
"Do you know Megatronus?" One of Orion's questions finally led to.
"I have never talked to him personally, but I have watched many of his matches on the
screens." Phoenix said as honestly as possible.
"What do you think of him?" He waited for an answer, but she only stared at him for a while.
"I," Phoenix saw everyone look at her intensely. She had to pick her words wisely. "I believe
that his true intentions are unclear."
"What do you mean?"
"We speak of the same things, Megatronus and I. However, no matter how inspirational his
words seem to be, they are deceiving. You can draw many conclusions from them. Some are
not as appealing as others."
"You accuse Megatronus of deception?"
"I suspect his intentions are not as pure as many bots believe." Phoenix paused, wondering
whether she should say the next thing that had popped into her mind. She did anyways. "I
believe his true ideas will destroy Cybertron."
The silence grew again. While Orion knew not the truth of her words, everyone else did. She
hoped that what she said would draw him away from Megatronus, or at least make him more
cautious. Before Orion could even think of continuing his questions, more bots came almost
out of nowhere to join them in the walk.
"Your words reached far." Orion said.
"I hoped they would."
>Night<
"This is going to be so much fun!" Sam said as she sat in the circle with everyone else.
"I have to admit, I'm a bit excited about getting there." Arcee smiled.
"I hope we do get to get in." Bulkhead felt Sam shake him slightly.
"Positive thinking Bulk, positive." Sam looked over and saw Orion sitting by himself. She felt
bad; they haven't talked to him the whole day, not even the new bots joining them talked to
him. Artemis was busy looking out for more followers. "Hey, Orion, why don't you come sit
with us?"
Orion looked at her and, with a few minutes to think about it, came over and sat with them.
Still there was an awkward silence. They couldn't seem to bring anything up to say. Sam went
out on a ledge. She asked him about the Hall of Records and how his work was like. Then she
managed to branch off of that into other subjects.
"What do you do for fun?" Sam was lying on her stomach, watching him think and answer.
"I usually go and talk with Jazz."
"Jazz your buddy?"
"Buddy?"
"Your friend."
"Oh, then yes."
"I wonder if Jazz came along for the fun." Sam sat up and nudged Bulkhead.
"I doubt it." Orion went on. "He wouldn't get involved in something like this."
"And you would?"
"I made a promise to someone that I would."
Their conversation was interrupted when Phoenix came over and sat with them. Orion asked
how she thought tomorrow would go, but she never answered. She wasn't sure. She wanted to
say that it would be the best day in Cybertron history, but how could one guarantee that. She
only hoped that whatever happened, that bots of all caste would be closer to one another.
>Artemis POV<
We approached Six Lasers and boy was I surprised. It was like a sea of Cybertronians from all
over Cybertron. We passed bots from Altihex, Vos, Polyhex, and even Kaon. It was
unbelievable. I could feel their servos graze on my armor as I passed them by. They all
wanted to meet my eye, to see who was helping them. I finally got to the gates and found a
single worker waiting for me, blocking the gate.
"Y-you all can't come in here. W-we're closed." It was obvious he was scared to death. I was
a gladiator after all. I walked closer to him and looked passed him.
"That's funny because, I can see plenty of bots in there." I said back to him and again he
flinched.
"The gates are closed."
"Well open them up."
"I can't."
"Can't be that hard." I walked past him and he went back to get in front of me.
"Now they can't be opened." He said again and again I brushed past him. I grabbed onto the
bars of the gate and it seemed to be locked. That wasn't going to stop me. I pushed on the
gates and felt the lock keep them together. I pushed again, harder this time. I pushed them so
hard that they bent before they flew open.
"By the Allspark-"
"See, wasn't that hard." I turned to the anxious awaiting Cybertronians and with my loud
voice, announced to them all. "Femme and bots alike, Six Lasers over Cybertron is now open
for business."
They ran past me as fast as they could muster. Though the numbers were insane and their
excitement was high, they all paid their respects to the park staff. They waited in lines, they
didn't push or shove. In fact, they were more behaved then the stuck up high caste member
that did find their way here. Sure it was filled to the brim, but at the same time it functioned
like it did every other day.
We walked through the park, going on rides (well they did) and all sorts of activates. I don't
think I've ever seen Optimus, or in this case Orion Pax, smile so wide and so long. Sam
practically dragged him onto all the rides. She probably made him ride the Plasma Curve
about five times. Bulkhead was lucky he fit on some of the rides. As for Optimus and I, we
stood by and watched the people pass us, all of their happy faces.
"I don't think I've seen so many smiles." Optimus said to me when everyone was on a ride.
"I'm glad you got to see it Optimus. You need it more than I." I lowered my head and let out a
heavy sigh.
"Something wrong?"
"I'm just tired." I noticed the group getting of their ride and led them toward a place to sit and
rest. I sat on the bench, feeling instant relief. I haven't stopped moving since my match in the
arena. I felt Orion join me on the bench, sharing a similar heavy sigh. I wanted to smile at
him, but my helm showed no emotion.
I stood up and began walking again, wanting to fetch them something to drink. I found myself
shocked when two familiar bots blocked the path. They were brutes, meant to beat down the
Cybertronians that caused trouble, very secret and very illegal, yet another example of
corruption.
"Do you really want to fight me?" I reached back towards my sword.
"No, we really want to scrap you." They approached me and for a second I was exhausted. I
didn't want to hurt anyone today. I withdrew my hand and exposed myself. One, two, three,
no, dozens of bots stepped between us. Many even went so far as to hold onto my arms. They
were protecting me. They wanted to keep my safe. I was their hope.
"Go ahead and shoot me officer. You'll have many angry Cybertronians after you." I
threatened. They hesitated then lowered their arms. They left without saying a word which
made me guess that it wasn't over. It didn't matter however, I won this day. With my special
salute spreading through different hands, I won. They wanted to follow the cause I fought for.
Now all there was left to do was having them follow the right leader. I looked briefly over at
Orion. They need to follow him.
>Night<
Sam walked with Optimus a few steps behind the others. She wanted to bring up something,
but wasn't sure how. Finally, she let out a little cough. When Optimus didn't respond she
coughed again. He finally looked over at her. She smiled slight and looked towards the others.
"I always knew Artemis to be a great leader."
"Yes, she had the qualities of one."
"Artemis once told me that she would dream of Cybertron's people under one spark, one
entity that seemed to strive toward a similar goal." Optimus didn't answer to her words
quickly. "I think today, I finally saw one of her dreams realized."
"I think your right Sam."
Artemis stood in front of the gates. The group agreed to walk Orion around the park once or
twice to give her the chance to transform into Artemis. She told Orion that "Phoenix" was
going to fly home alone. Artemis waited at the gate until she finally saw Orion. She waved
him down and surprisingly, he ran to her.
"You came!"
"I told you I would, but I guess I missed the real party. But, I found you in enough time to
ride with you home."
"The train?" Soulseeker interrupted.
"Yes, the train."
>Artemis POV<
I sat next to Orion on the train. I stared out the window, watching the colors dash across my
vision. Cybertron, you are so beautiful. It was tragic to know that in my dimension it was all,
but dust. I felt fingers slip through my hand. I looked down and saw someone holding my
hand. I followed the hand to Orion's face.
"Is this okay?" Orion whispered, I'm sure it was so Ratchet and Optimus couldn't hear. I
looked back down at out clasped hands.
"Yes." I mumbled and looked away. I hoped that the hotness in my face plate was an illness. I
hoped that I was doing what I thought I was doing. I hoped and prayed to Primus that I wasn't
falling for Orion Pax.
I fell into recharge and for the first time since arriving here, I heard voices. The Primes were
talking, but whispering amongst themselves. They would not allow me to hear, but they
would allow me to know they were talking.
I opened my optics and it was still night. I saw Soulseeker return to her seat and I wondered
what she was doing. I felt my face against someone's shoulder and a head resting on my own.
How could I fall asleep on his shoulder? IN FRONT OF OPTIMUS!
It was a mistake I would correct later, I hoped. I looked at Soulseeker and gave her a stern
look. She knew I wanted to know what happened. I saw her face was grim and cold.
Something bad I thought. I went to open my mouth to ask, but she shook her head.
"I went and checked a secure network."
"Yeah, so?"
"Someone wants to see you."
"Oh? Who?"
"Megatronus."