Link Up

State your name.

You already know my name. In fact, you already know all about me. This whole thing is just plain stupid.

It's for the record.

Oh, this is being recorded. Of course. I'm famous now, aren't I?

Well, for the record, my name is Surgebreaker. I'm a single neutral male, and I'm three point eight thousand eons young. Anything else?

Why you are here?

You mean, what's my crime? I don't have one. Maybe, yeah, I did something wrong, but I'm not sorry for it. I liked it.

What did you do?

You sure you want me to tell you? I can see your friend over there shuddering. Heh, all right, if you're sure.

The first time…well, it was maybe about a year ago. Kickstart and I had had a few drinks, we were messing about downtown and the topic of powerlinking came up. See, Kickstart used to be with the Decepticons before he escaped and he was talking about how they used him and the other minicons to power themselves up. And I said it must feel pretty good for them if they did it so much, and he said he didn't know but it sure hurt like slag for him.

So we dropped the issue until a bit later when I got in an argument with him. He said he was stronger then me, that he'd been through a lot more and I should respect him. And he punched me, and I punched him back, and I told him that he was just lucky that he wasn't back with the Decepticons, getting…

It all kinda happened pretty quickly after that, I didn't really have time to think about what I was doing. Or to enjoy the process; I figured that out later on. I remember he was screaming a lot.

I always hear the screaming in my head when I link. It doesn't really bother me anymore, but that first time it really freaked me out. I felt what he was feeling, how scared and in pain he was. But there was also that intense rush of all his energy coming into my systems, all that strength. I can't explain it, you'd have to try it yourself to believe it. Maybe then you'd see it wasn't such a bad thing I did after all.

Anyway, next thing I know after that is he's lying on the floor out cold and drained and I'm sitting on top of him and…wow.

It felt great, all that power inside me. I could've taken on Megatron and Optimus Prime at once, and I think I would've won. I was hyped like you wouldn't believe. I spent a megacycle just laying there enjoying the surge, in absolute paradise. I guess I sorta came to my senses and decided I should probably go. All day I was like that, so powered up, so full of life. Felt like I was dreaming, almost, because it was that damn good.

You're shaking again.

Never mind. Continue.

Eventually someone found Kickstart and he got up enough strength to tell them what had happened. I got run out of the village the next day with a full entourage of laser pistols. They didn't even like Kickstart that much, all they cared about was that I was doing something that bothered them. Fragging squeakers.

So I moved on to the next village over. Thought maybe if no one knew me I wouldn't have any problems. But I missed that rush so much. Needed it. Had to have it. It was like getting wings and then getting stuffed into a pit, except better and worse respectively.

And it was a dark night, and a dark alleyway, and he was just there…

I mean, you would have done the same in my place, right? And I was right back up at the top, full of all that energy.

Except the other minicon died.

Hey, that wasn't my fault. Not directly, anyway. He just couldn't handle the drain, didn't have enough power in him. I got better over time at doing it, and I didn't overload that many people. I'm no sadist; it's not like I go out there intending to hurt people. It's not my fault if they're not strong enough to take it.

How many times did you force a link with another minicon?

I've lost count, actually. After the first couple of times I just kept going. I didn't need to refuel, didn't need to recharge, just had to keep the juice flowing. Running on an endless high, oh, it was incredible as long as it lasted.

The comedowns were awful, though, seems like they got worse and worse each time the power-up wore off. Felt like I was dying, falling apart right where I stood. So I had to keep finding new targets.

I learned what to look for. Someone who wouldn't be missed, someone with enough power not to cut me off halfway through but not strong enough to fight me off. And I knew where to find the places where no one could hear us, where I could stash the body if I made a mistake.

Had it down to a science. Just grab a guy from behind, link with him and get what I need, and he wakes up a couple days later with no idea what happened. Perfect little formula.

I guess I got too careless after so many successes. My last link-up snapped out of it faster then I thought he would; that's why I got caught. Knocked me for a loop, that bastard did.

High Wire.

What?

His name was High Wire.

Oh, a friend of yours? No, wait, I get it. He's your third, that's it. Should have known, looking at you two.

We're a gestalt.

Oh… That explains why he took it so well. He was used to linking up with other minicons. How's he doing? I know he's still alive. At least, he was when I left him.

None of your business. Keep going.

Why should I? I'm in here strapped to this chair and I can see the autogun you've got up on the ceiling. You've got it behind me, but I know it's there, I saw it when you brought me in here. One little push of a button and I'm Surgebreaker the headless minicon. And you're going to do it anyway, as soon as you're done playing around.

Well, you and your friend and your poor drained third can just--

The opaque plastisteel barrier slammed down between Surgebreaker and his questioners as Sureshock turned to glare at Grindor angrily.

"I can't take any more of this. I feel sick just talking to him."

Grindor put a calming hand on Sureshock's wrist. His gestalt-mate grasped it and crushed it in his frustrated grip and Grindor let him. He had been just as shocked and angry as Sureshock when they heard High Wire weakly calling for help over the com and rushed to find his drained body lying next to a powered up and obviously deranged minicon. It had taken ten people just to hold Surgebreaker down long enough to put the restraints on him; he had been that strong and that crazed.

"They want us to get the information on him for research purposes. To find out what happened, so we can make sure no minicon does anything like this again."

Grindor winced as Sureshock squeezed his hand harder then pushed his arm away, only slightly reassured. Sureshock's voice became harder, almost as if it was a weapon he could somehow use to destroy the depravity sitting on the other side of the barrier.

"High Wire was in a coma for two days because of that psychopath and he's still too weak to do more then just take in some diluted energon. This guy's forced a link with over 30 minicons and killed at least five, and those are just the cases we know about. Research nothing, you know what we have to do."

"Sureshock…"

"He's a demented monster, pure and simple. Let's stop stalling."

Sureshock brought his voice back to a normal tone and turned away from Grindor and the barrier.

"Let's get this over with."

Grindor looked down at the floor, silently agreeing. He slowly followed his gestalt-mate out. As they left, Sureshock gave one sharp nod to the guard, who nodded back as the door shut behind the two-thirds of Perceptor.

A button was pushed.

A shot was fired.

And a maintenance drone was sent to clean up the mess.