Before we start, let me explain something. I once suffered a random bout of insomnia. I was awake for sixty eight hours, and it was honestly terrifying. So, when it comes to this chapter, I have some experience. Not much, but... hehe. ^^; I'll shut up now.
Disclaimer : I own nothing.
WARNING : Heavy subject matter ahead.
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Chapter Twenty Eight : Insomnia
Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking. ~Clifton Fadiman
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It had been two days, exactly forty eight hours Earth time, since Shockwave turned on the 'sleep tone'. Cole had asked him what the sound was, asking him to look for it. He had looked, if only to calm the terrified, frustrated, young human, convinced he was going crazy. A sound only he could hear, a sound that he could not block, even when he covered his ears and screamed. The double agent had shut off his audio receptors, just for a few minutes, to block said screaming. When he turned them back on, Cole was rolling his rosary, face blank, gray eyes reddened, and skin paler than before. He was stuck in a repetitious motion of rocking, back and forth, confused and unresting.
It was only two days, and it was working.
"Shockwave, what are you making?" Cole asked from the tank, head cocked.
The antlered con looked at him over a shoulder, and extended an arm to show him. "This is a flame grenade. An invention of my own creation." he watched the human look it over, then brought the device back, setting it down. He bumped a small box, and straightened it so it was flat to the wall. He had to be careful. The metal canister was sound and safe, but the chemicals that went into it were not. One wrong bump or jostle, and he could blow off his arm, or worse.
"Oh." Cole blinked, "What does it do?"
The antlered con bumped the box again, and he straightened it again, setting up a glass cylinder. "It's simple. I throw the grenade, and it collides with my target, coating them in a highly flammable fluid. There is a built in sparking device, which will then, once active, set the target on fire." he liked the device. It wasn't very fast, but it offered a distraction. A bot running about while on fire could give him, or others, the chance they need to escape. Seconds mattered in battle.
He filled the glass tube with the volatile fluid, placed a rubber plug in the end, and placed it into the canister. "Being set ablaze is extremely painful for our kind. Wire covers burnt, sensory nodes welded to armor, paint peeled, energon tubes burst in some cases." he said dully, sealing the metal canister. "Every move is excruciating, and not many last long enough for medics to save them. It's very effective." the box wasn't touched this time, but he made sure it was flat anyway. Just to make sure.
Cole blinked. Shockwave spoke about that awful thing like it were the weather. "...you're a sadist." the human said blankly. "And how many times are you gonna fix that stupid box?"
"I suppose, in some way, I am." he wasn't one for fighting, really. He would rip a bot to shreds if he had to, but only when he had to. He ignored the box question. He simply had to keep things in order.
"So, why haven't you hurt me yet?" Cole understood sadism, but he didn't understand Shockwave or Megatron, or Blitzwing or Lugnut. What was the game they played with him, and was there any way for him to win? He shook his head, then cocked it at the bot with that solo optic. "Well? Why not?"
That caught the double agent off guard. "Lord Megatron has plans for you. Harming you is not part of it." 'yet', there was always a 'yet' with this kind of thing. Food and sleep deprivation was one thing, breaking bones and parting flesh was another. If it reached that point, he wouldn't know what to do about it. He didn't want to harm the human, if only because it conflicted heavily with his primary order to keep him alive. Cole was an organic, he could only be pushed so far before going offline.
"Then what are his plans?" he said, pressing a pale hand to the tank barrier.
Shockwave placed the canister back at his hip, standing up, giving a careful, bleak glance at Cole. "You'll see." he took off the other one, and went to work on that. Doing one at a time decreased the chances of them going off. If he caught fire, Megatron would be furious. About an hour passed by as Shockwave prepared the mixture again, and, from behind, he heard,
"Shockwave, what are you making?"
He didn't answer. Only two days without sleep, and the humans short term memory was effected.
*
Why Megatron let Cole continue reading the Sacred Allspark Writings was lost to him. It didn't seem like he was actually absorbing the information. He had a data pad for note taking, and a stylus, also for note taking. Perhaps learning this kind of thing, the idea of a planet god and a planet eating devil, would push the human over the edge. Cole, as he was called, was obviously not that sound of mind.
The data pad was sitting a few feet away, face up and somewhere near the middle chapter. The notes pad was behind the human, turned upside down, stylus laying uselessly beside it. Megatron's attention wasn't on that, though, it was on the human. He hadn't moved in several minutes, staring in his direction. The silver Decepticon wasn't sure what he was looking at, though. There was nothing but walls made from stone.
Megatron's optics narrowed, staring at the human. "What is so interesting?"
The blond flinched at the question, but didn't look away. "Not sure, can't see, are my eyes open? I can't tell." he meant it. He wasn't sure what was going on, everything was kind of wavy and dull, like static or tiny rainbows that pulsated around the edges of objects. He wasn't sure what he was seeing, or if he was even alive anymore. His face had gone numb, and his fingers were cold.
The silver and red hellion frowned. "Have you tried blinking?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Cole looked at him, right at him, and blinked. Then, he did it again. Then, a third time. "Okay... I-I-I can see now..."
Megatron didn't move, optics narrowed at the teen. "Why have you stopped reading, human?"
"Can't keep it in my head. Head won't take it, says it's too confusing. Says you're going to kill me anyway."
So, the human was hearing voices? From what he knew, they weren't supposed to hear voices. "Ah... what do the voices tell you?"
Cole blinked at the robot, frowning. "Lots of things. Mostly Latin stuff. Old memories and sh-shit like that. The word f-f-fag pops up... Don't w-worry about it."
He blinked. "Fag?" how was that a slur?
Cole twitched. "Yeah, homophobic slur I got a l-lot when I came out."
"Came out?" what was a homophobic slur? What was homophobic, even? It was nothing the Internet couldn't answer. "Oh, you mean to say you are what's known as a homosexual?"
"Yup, gay as a three dollar bill!" he said, the rosary around his neck feeling cold against his skin.
Megatron didn't see the humor in that. "You have been a target for homophobia, then?"
The little blond shook his head hard, and closed his eyes. "Fag, queer, fairy, homo, and gay... humans suck sometimes. They treat you different even if they've known you forever."
Megatron smirked slyly at the human. That was nothing, really. "You would not believe the things others have called me."
"Huh?"
"Let me see," he said, looking at the rock walls as if he were in thought. "I have been called glitch head, psychopath, lunatic, maniac, and monster," he perched his helm on a curled fist, optics half open and glowing at the names. He had been called much worse, but those were the more common ones. Monster was extremely popular.
At that, the human sputtered, and stumbled to his feet. He floundered a bit as his legs gave, in but he managed to stand and shout, "Monster? No!" his hands shook, and he pointed back and forth between himself and the Decepticon. "I know what monsters are, Megatron. YOU... you are NOT a monster. N-n-no!"
"Hmm... how would you know what makes one a monster?" the human must be crazy, saying he wasn't a monster after what he was doing to him. What kind of twisted logic did he have to make such a bold statement?
Cole flinched, but made eye contact. He was scared to death of Megatron, but that didn't make him a monster. "Do you do whatever you want because you think God will forgive you? Do you think that God sent you to force people to s-s-some twisted way of life?" it came out in a rush of half heard gibberish.
That confused him. "I want the freedom of those who are oppressed by the flawed system that the Autobots think is so... superior." he snarled the word 'superior', optics narrowed.
"Then you are not a monster! Jake, and S-Sarah's father... they were. They were the worst humans on Earth... they were monsters."
He didn't know why he asked further, but he did. He chalked it up to boredom. "How so?"
"Sarah's father was s-schizophrenic, he went off his medication. He did things to her and her mother. That's what she t-t-told me. I didn't believe her, but I do now. N-n-ever gonna forget. He r-raped her. More th-than once." Cole flinched sharply, like a tic. He was shaking crazily, but he didn't seem to notice.
Megatron blinked, confused. Who was Sarah and why would Cole know that kind of thing? This was a difficult, but interesting, conversation.
"And do.. do you... do you know what he would say before he'd rape her? He had this... he was this sick, sick man! He thought he was some s-s-s-sort of messenger from God! He thought.. he thought... he did whatever he wanted! He would open the door and..." he gasped for air, and then continued, hands shaking and eyes darting wildly.
Cole lifted his hand, and pointed at the corner, "He'd point at her from the door and say... he'd say 'DAUGHTER! The day of atonement is due! There are three billion sinners out there, and that includes YOU!', and that... that sick! Ugh... I gotta sit down," instead of sitting, though, his legs gave out on him, and he fell to his side. He pushed himself up to sit, dazed.
Megatron stared at the human for a few moments. Such a horrific thing, to rape someone, let alone one's own creation. True, he had done, and had others do, terrible things, but rape was not one of them. Some would sink so low as to do such a thing, but not him. He was seducer, not a rapist. Besides, there were those in his ranks that were more than willing to satisfy him. "Why would she tell you about such a thing?"
Cole shook his head, and looked up at him. "She has nightmares, and screams and flails and begs for mercy from a dead man. Sh-sh-she told me once. I n-n-never forgot. He really f-f-f-fucked with her head...she thinks she's hideous, she's NOT... no, no, no she's not. She's plain... normal, average... and he fucked her up!"
The silver Decepticon quirked an eyebrow. He wasn't sure who the human was talking to; him or himself. "Dead man?"
"Yeah... he's dead. She... she killed him and ran... ran from Toronto all the way to Detroit. Police were t-t-too busy sorting things out with the wife... never found her, never gonna. She got taken away b-b-by a purple robot jet thingy..."
"Eh?" what in Primus name was a 'Purple Robot Jet Thingy'?
Cole blinked, looking up at the silver con, thin brows pinched. "She's dead. A robot... red eyed jet bot took her away... sh-she wasn't moving. So, she's dead," he shuddered, blinking slowly. "It was one of you," his voice didn't hold judgment or anger, only realization.
"How can you be certain she's dead?" Megatron said, frowning. He didn't care that the human was dead, but this was interesting. The way Cole described it, the 'purple robot jet thingy' was more likely than not, Starscream, who he assumed was offline, or at least out of the way. Apparently, this was not the case.
"I told the Autobots about her, I-I told that... that Prime everything. They stopped l-l-looking. They just... stopped looking. I couldn't get her back, so she's dead. I know she's dead." he muttered, pulling his knees to his chest. He couldn't do anything to help her, and the Autobots didn't do anything, either. They let her fall through the cracks when she might have been saved.
"The Autobots never have been reliable when it comes to finding the missing." how long had he been nothing but a legend before that faithful day with the Allspark? How long had he been a head and hand, before he had a body again? How long had he been in the mines? Or here, inside of a mountain?
"I gave her last rites and all, just because... she deserved them... more than deserved them."
The Decepticon blinked, optics narrowed. "Last rites?"
The blond blinked back at him, cocking his head. "You know... the prayer you say before someone dies? Or is dying... uh, l-l-lets see... Per istam sanctan unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam, indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid per. Amen. Latin. They say it when someone is sick or dying. S-s-since she's dead, I said it. Well... first it was crying, then the rites... and then more crying." he felt like crying now, thinking of Sarah being taken out of the world by a savage, robotic jet.
The silver Decepticon thought for a moment. He was never one for religious studies, but he remembered some things. "Yesha, Kenshendo meynra, luxunolo mexhar, kendar, kendar metyonr yesha. Yesha, ralno ta, ta meynra luxunolo. Vetanmoloq, doframon. Hevar, Hevar, Hevar. Kehtekek, marlon, yesha." it sounded beautiful, even if it sounded like a growled out deadpan that was said through a coffee can.
"Wow..." Megatron smirked at the human. They were so easily impressed. "What does that all mean?"
His smirked widened, "Well now, human, you'll just have to keep reading the Sacred Writings to figure that out, now won't you?" with that, Cole smiled, an excited, curious, normal smile, and was back to reading the chapter, scribbling notes. Good, now that the human was done staring at him, he could finish, and deliver, that speech of his.
He couldn't help but wonder, though, who that 'Jake' person was. He shrugged it off, it didn't matter.
*
"Lucky bastard." the blond muttered. Megatron was sleeping, apparently. He didn't look half as scary with his optics closed. He slept on his side, arm cannon to the door. Well, at least when he was laying down he looked calm. Cole had seen the silver beast of a robot sleeping sitting up, cannon at the door. He always had a cannon at they door when sleeping. "Paranoid bastard." he growled, flopping onto one side, then rolling away from Megatron to stare at a boring stone wall.
*
"Lord Megatron needs to discuss something with me. I was told to leave Cole under your watch." Shockwave set the human on the berth, and looked at the three faced Decepticon. "You are not to handle, squeeze, throw, shoot, or step on the human." what was so urgent that he had to leave Cole with Blitzwing, he didn't know. The human was in his fourth day without sleep, and wasn't saying much anymore.
Icy nodded. "Understood," his face spun to Random, who grinned, "Ooh! Does zhat mean I can poke him? Zhey are so much fun to poke!"
"Just... watch him." the double agent said, holding his claws up.
Angry spun out, and yelled at him. "You say zhat like I can't handle zhe human, you fragging mechanical reindeer!"
Shockwave sighed, and headed out. No one liked dealing with Angry Blitzwing. "Don't touch him. That is all I am asking. I should be done soon." he stepped out of the room, but looked back in, optic trained on the manic triple changer, "The same goes for Lugnut. No touching the human." and the cyclopean Con was off.
Blitzwing watched the slender con exit the room, then looked down at Cole. "Vell..." said Icy, looking down at Cole.
"Yeah?"
The two stared for a moment, when Random spun out. "Vant to hear a var story?"
The blond sat down, dumbfounded. "...okay?"
*
Megatron frowned as he passed Shockwave the data pad. "What is this?"
Shuttering his solo optic, he read. "These appear to be the humans notes on The... Sacred... writings..." it looked fine at the start, but at the end, the words overlapped. Letters grew huge and tiny, gibberish swallowing the normal words. "Oh dear."
The larger con crossed his arms, optics narrowed. "Can you decipher anything from that pile of gibberish?"
"Not much, my liege. At the most, a few words, but other than that..." he gave the pad back to Megatron. "He'll crack soon, my lord."
"Good. Now then-" he was getting a call from Lugnut. "What is it, Lugnut?"
The green and purple behemoth spoke loudly. "Blitzwing is malfunctioning, oh great one!"
"Really?" he said flatly. The con was a walking malfunction to begin with. "Shockwave, you left the human with Blitzwing, didn't you?"
"I did," he said, optic wide. "Oh my." and the shape shifter was out of the room and heading for the sound of crashing and yelling.
There was Blitzwing, switching faces and running around like... well, himself. "BOOM! Explosion!" he ran left. "Whee!" he fell over with a heavy clang. "Do a barrel roll!" he did an actual barrel role, and crashed into a wall. "Bring it on!" he then rolled onto his back, faces spinning rapidly, rump in the air, and ankles next to his head. "Bwahahahaaaaa..." Cole was backed into a corner, arms against the wall.
Shockwave looked at him, getting to his knees to check the dazed triple changer. "What happened?"
Cole shook his head. "I-I-I don't know. He started telling me a war story, and-"
"He what?" Shockwave looked down at the tan and purple con, and carefully stopped the spinning of the faces. It landed on Icy, his normal optic shut. "He knows he's not allowed to tell those. It makes him glitch, trying to reenact a battle. I'm supposing Random suggested it?"
Cole nodded, looking at Blitzwing. "Why would he do it if it'd do that to him?"
"It's Blitzwing. He never has been stable." said a familiar Decepticon Overlord.
"Eek! What are you, a wraith?" when did Megatron get there?
Lugnut raised an accusing claw at the blond. "You did this on purpose! You made Blitzwing glitch to sabotage Megatron's plans!"
"I can't sabotage what you don't tell me, asshole!"
The huge robot growled. "What did you call me?"
Cole's eye twitched. "Shut the hell up! Do you have any idea how loud you are?"
Lugnut glared down at him, snapping his pincers. "Do not raise your voice at me, fleshling!"
"I can yell too! See? See? I'm doing it right now! AHHHH!"
"Silence." the silver Decepticon said loudly.
Cole turned sharply, and snarled. "Fuck you!"
Megatron blinked, and grinned. Well now, this was interesting. "Quite the mouth you have, human." he then scooped the human into one hand, and walked out of the room. Funny, few were brave enough to yell at Lugnut, let alone him. With humans, though, it was hard to tell the difference between bravery and stupidity. He didn't hold the human near him like Shockwave did. He held the human at his side, walking as if holding a data pad.
He dropped the human into his room's tank, and smirked down at him. "I'll just put you in here until you learn to behave." the silver and red hellion didn't care about behavior. Shockwave said the human was close to cracking, he'd leave him alone for a while. Solitude did horrors on the mind, and, seeing that the human was fragile already. He'd break any moment now.
"Bite me, you son of a bitch!" he yelled, watching the door close. "You can't do this to me! You're worse than my mother! You hear me, Megatron?!" he panted, throat sore and vision blurring. "I'll do what you want! Just shut off the fucking buzz!" he yelled into the empty room, grabbing his hair and tugging. After a moment or so of standing frozen where he was, he backed up into the corner, eyes locked on the door. "Shut it off, dammit, shut it off..." he mumbled, arms around his legs. "You control everything, Megatron. I'll do anything you want, just shut it off!"
*
Day five came, and Megatron was back to his own work. Spell checking his speeches made the chance of error less likely when he read them aloud. He preffered doing them in one take. Cole sat in the tank, reading yet another chpater of the Sacred Writings. Pretty uneventful.
Then, without reason, Cole started touching the back of his neck. He would read a bit, then touch it again. Then, again. Then, he started to touch his left arm, pulling up his shirt to touch his ribs. He repeated this for well over twenty minutes, growing more frightened with each time he touched his skin.
Megatron cocked his head at the human, once again confused. "What are you doing?"
"Uh... ahh, ahhhh! AHHH! Oh my god, NO!" he said, thrashing about and looking at his arm. His eyes locked on his hands, then, slowly, he touched his head. "No... no... nonono!"
"Eh?" what in the pit was going on?
Cole twitched sharply, and yelled, "Sharks! Sharks! Fucking sharks!" Megatron blinked, optics narrowed. Sharks? What in Primus name were sharks? He had to do a search on the Internet to figure it out, but he was still confused. He saw no sharks. There was no possible way that there were sharks. Was the human seeing them? Was that the cause of his screaming? "Get them offa me! Get them OFF!" now, Cole was tearing at his arms and chest, trying to remove the sharks that only he could see. 'They're eating my head! They're eating my head!"
"Shockwave," the silver and red bot said, frowning.
"Yes, my Lord?"
Cole wasn't screaming about sharks anymore, but he was grabbing his hair and pulling. Humans weren't supposed to do that. Megatron winced, only slightly, and ground his teeth. This was getting out of hand. "Enough, human," he said lowly, teeth bared slightly. The blond didn't listen, and ran head first into the tank barrier, yelling with each impact. "Get them off! Get them off!" the Decepticon Lord grabbed Cole, squeezing him to still the terrified flailing. The blond had an arm free and was clawing at his neck with his nails, covering his flesh in red marks, blood seeping out of the deeper, fiercer ones.
Shockwave's voice came through the commlink again, curious. "Lord Megatron?"
"Get them out! Get them out! Make it stop! Make it stop!" a second later, he dug his teeth into the soft, pale flesh of his arm, shaking his head like a rabid dog. He let go, and screamed, "They're eating my brain! Get them off! They're trying to eat my brain!"
Oh, that did it. "Shut off the tone. The human is hurting himself." that seemed to him like an understatement. The human was done clawing his neck, but was now biting his arm again, covering it with red curves that swelled in moments. He was trying to break the humans spirit, not his skin.
"Yes, Lord Megatron." there was a click, the lights flickered, and the human stopped moving. His gray eyes were wide, seeming to vibrate. He looked like he had frozen, nails digging, jammed hard in his neck, mouth open, twitching in rhythm with his racing pulse.
"Human, what do you see?" he asked, opening his hand. The teen blinked, shook his head, and made eye contact. He didn't flinch anymore. "Talk, human. Do you see sharks? Are they eating you alive?"
Cole smiled at him, blinked slowly, and waved at him. "Night night Megatron..." and with that, the humans head fell back, asleep.
It was later decided that the human would be left alone for now. Let him get back into a normal sleep cycle, then think of something else to break the weakling of a creature into something useful.
But Megatron didn't want to do something else. He had underestimated the human to a degree. True, the sleep deprivation had broken him, but it had gotten out of hand. He had not expected the human would ram himself into things. Besides, he was pushed far enough. Give it some time, and he could use the little meat bag.
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Ah, Primus, this chapter felt rushed. I didn't rush it, but... crap, it is HARD to keep Megatron in character AND get him to do what I want. . He's hard to work with, and he knows it.
The thing about Megatron... that's a big issue with me. Megatron is almost ALWAYS a rapist or absolutely insane in a majority of stories I've read. Animated Megatron is... I don't know, he seems above rape to me. Too sophisticated, too laid back, too proper.
Okay, R&R.
