Chapter Text
If your life was a show, it would be a slice-of-life one. You know, the one that gets cancelled right after one season because of low ratings?
"See ya soon! Take a little overtime for me? Me and my fiance are going out tonight, okay?"
"But I already-"
"Great, thanks, (Y/N)!"
You were ordinary, painfully ordinary. Working an ordinary corporate job, ate ordinary convenience store food. You were the corporate fixer, the person they called when the ship was sinking and the captain was incompetent. You lived on caffeine, spite, and the sheer refusal to let idiocy win. Though your obsession with sentient robots seemed to be on another level.. It seems. It was your escape, a world where 'Freedom' and 'Hope' weren't just words in another meeting and hopeless campaigns. It was something genuinely made you have hope for yourself, and maybe your life too. You remember the cold light of your smartphone screen illuminating your face, even with your computer open in front of you, you were busy scrolling through several sites on your break.
Your fingers flew across the glass screen. You were too busy arguing with a stranger named 'StarScreamValveplug101' about the socio-economics of pre-war Cybertron. You were dissecting the inevitable collapse of the caste system.
Too focused, you failed to notice the stinging pain on your chest. It worsened with each type and breath you took, it slowly became unbearable.
Your hands reached.. Well, attempted to, for the telephone. You were clutching the device that could save you, yet your panicked brain sought the outdated relic on the table. It didn't take long before you found yourself lurching over the chair, hitting the floor with a dull thud, and keening in agony. The carpet scratched your cheek. The forum argument on your screen was the last thing you saw.
‘I’m dying,’ the realization hit you with a bitter, cynical clarity. ‘I’m dying of a heart attack while arguing about alien robot politics..!'
[ SYSTEM INITIALIZING... ]
[ ERROR: USER VITALS: 0. ] [ SOUL INTEGRITY: 100% ] [ ANALYZING INTERESTS... MATCH FOUND. ]
[ TARGET: CYBERTRON. ] [ CASTE: ARISTOCRACY. ] [ FRAME TYPE: ?? ]
The darkness wasn't empty.. In fact, it was filled with scrolling blue text. You tried to scoff, to roll your eyes at the sheer absurdity of the Gamer interface appearing before you, but you had no eyes to roll. Too dead to do so.
[ WELCOME, USER! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ]
[ PLEASE WAIT FOR A MOMENT AS WE ARE TRANSFERRING CONSCIOUSNESS... ]
What?
Why were they using emoticons at this situation???????
When you woke up, it wasn't with a groggy grunt, instead, it was with a small click and hiss of your body. Wow, it sounded.. Expensive. It felt like standing beside a generator, except the generator was inside of you! It all felt new and refreshing, you felt like you could run laps around several football fields with how energetic you felt.
'..Highness [Y/N]? Have you awoken yet?'
The voice was timid, making you spring into action, but realizing you were made of metal, you didn't realize the amount of noise you had made. You didn't recognize your name, no maybe you kind of did, it sounded similar to your.. Human? Name?.. Whatever.
'Y-Yes, I.. Am well.'
You managed to sputter out hesitantly. It was quiet before the door slowly slid open with a hiss.
'..Highness! Master! Are you not well?'
The servant asked, a tiny bot who skittered it's way over to you. Before you could speak, a screen popped up in front of your eyes. HUD..? Didn't you just say you were well? Whatever it was.
[ SPEECH LOCK ENABLED. ]
[ CHOOSE YOUR WORDS UNTIL YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY DISABLED THE SPEECH LOCK! ]
Option A: 'Get away! Who told you to come inside of my habsuite so easily?! Get out!'
Option B: 'Do you think I am so weak? Do not underestimate your Master.'
Option C: 'Hmph. Leave. I have no need for dire attention.'
What the hell were these choices?! You decided to pick the 'safest' option.
"Take your leave. I have no need for attention so dire from a processor-dead bot meant to serve me."
?!
That was NOT what was said in the options.
The tiny servant bot didn’t just leave. It flinched so hard its optics shuttered, a high-pitched whine of terror escaping its vocalizer, it basically scrambled backward, its metal feet skidding on the polished floor, before bowing frantically.
"F-forgive me! Forgive this unit's intrusion! I will go recharge immediately! Please do not recycle me!"
The door hissed shut behind it, leaving you in silence.
Recycle? You froze, your hand?? Servo? A sleek, terrifyingly sharp one. It hovered in the air, I just wanted to tell him to leave. I didn't want to threaten his life!
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ AUTO-CORRECTION COMPLETE! (˘³˘)♥ ]
[ SKILL ACTIVATED: 'Noblesse Oblige' (Passive) ]
[ EFFECT: Lower caste dialogue is automatically filtered to match your Status. Why speak politely when you can speak with Authority? ]
[NOTE: This passive only takes effect when SPEECH LOCK is yet to be disabled.]
"You have got to be kidding me!" you hissed, frantic. You didn't even know which continuity you were in! This time, the words came out normally, likely because there was no one around to hear them. "I'm not living a life, it's like I'm playing a PR nightmare!.." You turned your head, which felt heavier than you were used to, you scanned the room, It was opulent. Ridiculously so. The walls were lined with shifting geometric art, and the berth you had woken up on was large enough to nest a Combiner. Yikes.
You found a reflective surface, deciding to take a look at your bod..frame?.. Whatever you were still calling it a body.
"Oh."
The breath left your intake vents. You were... magnificent, and terrifying. You hummed, watching yourself proudly pose in front of the surface before a Ding! caught your attention.
[ CHARACTER PROFILE LOADED ]
Designation: [Y/N]
Class: High Caste Aristocrat / Senatorial Aide
Affiliation: Neutral (So far! >3<)
Reputation: -500
Current Wealth: [∞]
You stood there, baffled. You scanned through, over and over.. Senatorial Aide??? Oh your life was.. Done, to say the least. You feared slightly for your future, an aristocrat meant bad, especially before the war. You decided to continue scanning through, maybe the stats were better! It had to be!
[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Strength: 2/10 (Don't lift things, have servants do it! Hehe!)
Speed: 9/10 (Engineered for fleeing responsibility! You might like that since you were so tired in your previous life! ♡)
Charisma: 10/10 (Intimidation focused..mostly?)
Empathy: [LOCKED]
You stared at the stats. Strength 2? Was this thing actually serious?? A human toddler could probably tip you over if they caught you off balance, at this point You were built of glass and money.
Suddenly, a loud chime echoed through the room, making you jump. A notification appeared in red text, vibrating with urgency it almost made you slip on your pedes.
[ MAIN QUEST: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM ]
[ TIME REMAINING: 2 HOURS ]
Objective: Attend the Gala hosted by Senator [REDACTED].
Mission Requirement: Do not get assassinated.
Bonus Objective: Make contact with the gladiator known as Megatronus without triggering his [REDACTED].
[ SYSTEM GLITCH DETECTED! CLOSING WINDOW TO FIX! ]
You panicked, not being able to fully even finish reading it. Oh, Oh what were you gonna do? You did see the objective briefly. Not.. Get assassinated? It seems this world had it out for you.