Your personal Tumblr library awaits
Ykw Archivist Orion Pax is not gonna be innocent/naïve in this other AU I have. Like, idk why, but the mech has to have seen some shit that not even Megatronus has seen.
This mech would have access to some of the most fucked up shit known to Cybertron. I'm talking murders, conspiracies, acts committed by the Council and against them, unethical projects / research, empurata / shadowplay victims, etc. etc.
Orion Pax is NOT fine. It's quite the opposite, actually.
He is meant to be a puppet for the council. He is meant to allow them to do whatever they want with him, whether it being an assassin, Archivist, or something else.
But, sure, OP may play the part of an oblivious, naïve middle-caste who doesn't know the terrible side of life. But, in fact, he does know--he just couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't help them get justice. He could only send them Ratchet's way to have them repaired, giving them energon, providing them with basic necessities, and trying to educate them.
Though, when he met Megatronus, that's when he realized he could finally be able to help the victims by getting rid of the Caste system (imma say that in this AU, OP not agreeing with Megatronus' methods is still there. Probably a bit toned down as he can see where he's coming from), and he knows what they have done.)
Soundwave, of course, eventually finds out all of this. That OP has access to everything they could think of since he is the most trusted mech there in the Archives. That OP has interacted with the most terrifying creatures to exist and has done many things, albeit unwillingly, for the council. That OP has tried to help the less fortunate with varying degrees of success.
(Imma go a bit OOC with Soundwave here so sorry)
Soundwave suddenly tells Orion that he knows.
Orion is shocked. He thought that nobody would ever know what he had done outside of his family. He thought that he could manage to keep all of this from them, from Soundwave and Megatronus specifically. But it's Soundwave. He will always find a way.
What he didn't know was that Soundwave already told Megatronus when he found out.
-------
The next time that he met up with Megs, he is attending a meeting with the others in Kaon. They were talking and laughing, but he could feel that something was wrong, that something was about to happen.
At the end, he is met with Megatronus' anger and a load of questions.
"Why haven't you told us, told me? Were you so confident in your abilities to trick us that you didn't think we would find out eventually? Is that why, for many stellar cycles, you weren't here in Kaon with us? You were playing for the council?"
"Megatronus, if I can expla--"
"What is there to explain? You were tricking us into believing that you would fight with us against the caste system!"
"I'm sorry--"
"Sorry for what? Sorry for not being good enough to keep it a secret--"
"MEGATRONUS, PLEASE!"
All went silent.
Orion never begged, Megatronus duly noted.
"Leave Kaon, Orion." He said with finality.
"Megatronus, please, if you would just listen to me--"
"Leave, Orion Pax." He commanded.
Orion stopped trying. He left the room without saying another word.
(Later on, when Orion Pax died and Optimus arose, Megatron would think to himself, "Why didn't I try to listen to him? Why did I do that?")
(As he was leaving, OP was so heartbroken that he couldn't do anything else other than what he had to do for them. He will then regret his decision of keeping it a secret and fall in on himself as the Matrix burns through every part of him, leaving a husk of what he once was.)
(May the galaxies know that they will forever regret and forget what they once stood for. What they could have had. And maybe Primus will have mercy on their sparks, for they were driven to betrayal and insanity. May Primus forgive their sins and start anew with the eternity they now have with each other in a void of boundless, endless joy.)