Chapter three: Deception and Decepticons

Shockwave took me down to the Decepticon training facility, it was filled with Decepticon trainees brawling against each other; if you lost, the victor could strip you for parts and leave you to die. Only the best survived down here, and Megatron kept it that way as a way of knowing which bot was worthy of becoming an honorary Decepticon. Megatron didn't just look for brute strength alone, he had plenty of Decepticons with that, Megatron would pick out the most clever and sharp-witted Decepticons instead, but also being cautious on who to choose, because he knew that if he didn't play his cards right, well he'd probably end up with another Starscream.

Shockwave first had me taken to the beginners platform, a place where new Cybertronians go to learn their basic functions such as transforming and basic combat.

"Seeing as you were severely underdeveloped when I examined you, you likely have little to no understanding on transformation, plus the sustained damage to your T-cog suggests that you could never practice either."

Shockwave showed me a diagram of Cybertronian biology.

"This is your Transformation cog, it is what allows Cybertronians to transform into other forms, if one's T-cog is damaged, as was yours, transformation becomes impossible for the Cybertronian to achieve, however I managed to repair most of the damage sustained to it, and it should be fully operational."

I took a closer look at the diagram, then I grabbed my side where my T-cog was.

"Yes, that is where your T-cog is located. Basic pattern recognition is nominal to say the least."

Shockwave brought me over to a platform, in which multiple blueprints were laid out on a nearby table.

"Even though I hard-wired an alternative form Into your body before, your Cybertronian endo-skeleton happened to be too underdeveloped from your-"

Shockwave paused for a moment, trying to think of something else to say.

"-Accidental awakening, your body was unable to accept said blueprint, therefore I'll have to resort to a more simple approach."

Shockwave led me to the table with the blueprints.

"Now, scan one of these blueprints."

I looked at him confused, I had no idea what he was talking about.

"This has proven far more difficult than I thought, however with a little bit of time, this should work. Just focus on this blueprint right here."

I looked at the blueprints, and I noticed a pattern within them. I went to take a closer look when all of a sudden everything went bright, and all I could see was the blueprint in front of me.

When my vision returned, I felt itchy all over.

"Optic scanner condition: nominal. Look at your arms."

I remember pulling my arms up and saw them change shape, the metal twisted and bent to form new shapes. I looked down at the rest of me, and it was happening all over me, I was horrified and collapsed to the ground.

"Calm down, there is no reason for you to be scared, this is a fundamental part of Cybertronian biology."

When the itching stopped, I slowly regained my thoughts and got back up, then looked again at my body; I was completely different than before, I felt around and I noticed some loose pieces of metal hanging off my back, I was going to remove them when Shockwave intercepted.

"Stop. That is a part of your exo-skeletal frame, removing it will only damage you."

I quickly retracted my hand, then I actually noticed my hand. When I first woke up, my hand was bare and grey with visible servos sticking out, now though most of my hands and fingers were plated with jet-black metal parts, same with my arms and legs, everything was covered in them."

"I see you have came to actually recognize your exo-skeletal shell, this shell is the subconscious image of what you look like in your mind, every Cybertronian you have came across has this shell, including me. The shell can heal itself with proper maintenance, damage to your endo-skeleton however, will require much more advanced maintenance if you wish for a proper recovery."

I felt everything on me, I was shiny and reflective a bit, and I noticed that I could move some of these plates as well.

"I see that you're beginning to learn how to control your exo-skeleton, come with me."

Shockwave led me off the platform, then walked me down to another one.

"All Cybertronians need to learn how to transform, it is a fundamental step to becoming a full Cybertronian. Now that you have a blueprint hard-wired into your endo-skeleton, and your body has developed its respective exo-skeleton, you are no longer a protoform, all you need to do now, is transform, like so."

Shockwave then went to stand on the long platform in front of me, then he began to transform into something else. Shockwave transformed into a tank, then he transformed back into his original shape.

"Now, step onto the platform and transform."

I stepped onto the platform, then I tried transform like he did, the metal plates on my body overlapped each other and clanked together and ground against my servos and pistons, it felt horrible.

"Don't copy how I did it specifically, focus on the blueprint within your mind and have your body move on its own, eventually you won't have to focus on the blueprint and your body will remember it for you. Now, try again and transform."

I pictured the blueprint in my mind and I followed along the pattern I saw before, and then I could feel my endo-skeleton follow along the pattern on the blueprint as well. I felt parts detach and reconnect to other part across my whole body.

I had finally transformed.

"Transformation capability: nominal. Now, move."

I had transformed into a Cybertronian ground vehicle, though had no idea how to move.

"Those four appendages on your endo-skeleton are called wheels, they should be considered your legs in this form. Now, try to make them spin."

I focused on the wheels and I had and managed to make a slight twitch.

"Again."

I got the wheels to spin, but I just ended up going nowhere.

"Stop. This time focus on a single direction you want to move in."

I felt the motors in my joints hum to life, and in a split second, I was off. I felt the ground beneath me turn into a smooth plane, and the soft hum of my new engine powering the motors making my wheels spin, it felt amazing.

"Alright, now turn around and drive back to me."

Once I was finally moving, it felt like my wheels were actually my legs. I had spent cycles running from Cybertronians, so I knew how to move my body around to get into and around places that most Cybertronians couldnt. In just seconds I turned my wheels and forced them to stop, I felt the ground grind against me as my wheels whistled a screech while I turned to face Shockwave.

"Reflexes: above average. Steering condition: nominal. Brake condition: nominal. Now return to me and transform back into your original shape."

I drove back down the platform to Shockwave and I stopped in front of him. I tried to return back to my original shape, but I got stuck like before.

"Just like how you followed the pattern in your mind to transform, picture what your subconscious mind sees you as, and follow that pattern instead."

I did as Shockwave ordered and followed the pattern of my subconscious image in my head, and just like before, my endo-skeleton followed along, transforming me back to my original body.

"Overall performance: moderate. Follow me."

My mind was racing, after so many cycles of running and being completely disadvantaged against other Cybertronians, I was finally at an even playing field.

"Enough congratulating yourself, you preformed a basic Cybertronian function."

I quickly regained composure and cleared my head while Shockwave walked me over to a weapon platform.

"All Decepticons should have a moderate understanding of utilizing a weapon. Pick up the gun in front of you."

I looked over and saw a standard combat blaster sitting on a table, I picked it up and held it as you would with one.

"Interesting, it seems you have retained some recollection of the data I had hard-wired into your mind during your incubation period, so you should know what to do from here then."

I looked up and saw a target, at which point my mind already knew what to do from here, I raised the weapon towards the target and fired it, it made a very loud noise, but my focus didn't waver. The shot hit the target dead on, knocking it down. Shockwave ordered me to hit another much further target, I shot and hit the target, although not dead on like the other one.

"Weapon accuracy: nominal. Now, follow me.

I hopped off the platform when Shockwave abruptly stopped me, I could feel fear in him but I didn't know what was wrong, his single optic light was narrow, he wasn't focusing on me, but on my hand instead.

"Put. Down. The. Gun."

I looked down and saw that my hand had the gun directly pointed at Shockwave's spark, my hand began to shake when Shockwave quickly knocked the gun out of my hand. Shockwave grabbed me by my neck joints and pulled me close.

"Whatever that was, I promise you it will never happen again, do you understand?..."

I nodded in agreement.

"I will have to examine your brain module later for any sustained damage, as for right now, I need you to follow me."

Shockwave walked me down to the fighting pit with the other Decepticon rookies fighting over positions within the Decepticon ranks, Shockwave then stopped suddenly, as if something just clicked in his head.

"Why haven't you spoken at all during this interaction or any previous ones?"

He turned back around to look at me, his single optic staring straight through me, I recoiled a bit.

"You are capable of speech, are you not?.."

I stood there with a guilty expression, I felt like I did something wrong even though I couldn't do anything about it anyway, but then Shockwave corrected himself.

"Of course. I disabled your speech synthesis during your development stage to prevent you from provoking a response from the Decepticon-"

Shockwave stopped again, rethinking his words.

"-It doesn't matter, you are useless to me without your speech synthesizer re-engaged, follow me."

Shockwave and I walked back to his lab where he sat me onto a table and hooked up a device to my neck.

"Hold still, this will hurt if you move."

Shockwave then walked over to a data pad and imputed a sequence of Cybertronian characters into the device, at which point it began to whirl and hum a little, then I felt a long jab into my neck, and I yelped in pain.

"Speech synthesizer: operational. Pain receptors: nominal. Speak."

The pain in my neck was almost as bad as a rust infection, I remember telling Shockwace off for that, then I just realized that I just spoke, for the first time ever I could hear my own voice, I spoke words like any other Cybertronian could; my voice had a low tone to it, like I was involuntarily keeping my voice down.

"Speech pattern recognition: moderate. Now tell me, why did you aim that weapon at me?.."

Shockwave walked in front of me and looked me dead in the optics waiting for a response, I didn't have an answer to give him so I just stayed quiet even though I really wanted to tell him something of use.

"Even with your voice back you still refuse to answer, very well, we'll do this the easy way then."

Shockwave slammed me down onto the table and cuffs clamped down onto my limbs, preventing me from moving.

"If you won't give me a straight answer, then I'll just have to get them myself, this will hurt."

I tried to struggle but it was no use, the clamps held down my limbs.

"The more you struggle, the more damage you might cause to your brain module."

Shockwave pressed a button and a spike attached to a long cord flew out of an opening in the ceiling. I tried to move but I could only observe in horror as shockwave walked over to my head.

"This device will allow me to examine and your data core and rewrite any unnecessary code."

I begged him to stop but he didn't listen, his cold emotionless single yellow optic staring straight through me, he placed the tip of the device on my head.

"Your mind has hidden emotions within it that poses a threat to both myself and the Decepticon cause, therefore the only logical option to prevent any further disobedience and unwanted collateral damage, is to find them and remove them."

I kept trying to move but I could do anything.

"Hold still, this will terminate you if I'm even a micrometer off."

I stopped struggling and stayed perfectly still, the fear of death etched much farther into my spark than the fear of pain, I could feel Shockwave line up the spike to the center of my forehead, my mind began to race as Shockwave prepared to insert it directly into my brain module.

"Commencing neural reprogramming in... 3..."

I felt like my spark was about to explode, my entire body was locked in absolute fear, I kept pleading, but my words only fell into empty ears.

"2..."

Even though he was incapable of it, I could feel Shockwave's rage, his fingers twitching at the handle, I still begged him to stop, I said I would tell him everything I could, but he simply didn't care.

"1..."

I closed my optics and my servos locked in place, I prepared for the worst.

...

After a couple seconds of nothing, Shockwave broke the silence.

"Obedience training complete."

Shockwave let go of the spike and it retracted back into the ceiling, my spark was pulsing faster than even during the Insecticon attack I suffered Astro cycles ago, I was still paralyzed in fear, my servos twitched and my optics could barely focus on anything in the room.

"This was a test, you passed. Get up."

The cuffs holding me unclamped and retracted into the table, I was still shaking.

"I already know you wouldn't know how to answer the question, getting it was never my original intention, plus it would be extremely counter productive to neurologically reprogram and possibly damage your preprogrammed perimeters."

"I got off the table and almost collapsed to the ground, my legs were just barely functioning from the fear, Shockwave looked mildly concerned for a bot with no feelings.

"It seems this test may have been more damaging than I had originally calculated..."

Shockwave walked over to me and told me to sit back down, I was reluctant at first for obvious reasons, but I listened anyway.

Shockwave examined my optics closely, it was like he was looking for something, or maybe even a response from me, I didn't move.

"As I thought, this test was designed by me to correct subjects into full cooperation, if they failed, then I would reprogram their brain module into full submission regardless, however for those that passed I wouldn't have too resort to such methods. I already calculated that there would be a 96.87% chance you would become completely obedient to any command I or lord Megatron give after this operation, though my calculations on how well you would handle after the operation seems to have been off by 47.68% instead of the intended 97.98% I had originally calculated."

Shockwave grabbed something off his table and handed it to me.

"Consume this, it will relax your servos."

"I looked at it first, it was a round glowing disk, I reluctantly put it in my mouth and ate it like he ordered, it tasted awful, but I could feel my servos stop shaking."

"I had just given you an... aphrodisiac, it will help with the servo malfunctioning, but it will make you feel uncoordinated for a couple of hours."

My head began to feel light, and my circuits buzzed a light hum that plagued my ears, I think the human term for it is that Shockwave drugged me.

I remember getting up and trying to walk out of the lab, but everything was spinning in all directions.

"Your mind is currently hallucinating, and your body can't tell the difference. Trying to walk now is impossible."

I remember falling to the floor and giggling, Shockwave stood above me, I saw his single optic turn into two optics, and his head swirl like a melting pit.

"In time you will get used to it, but f..or n..ow.. you...'ll hav...e t...o..."

At that point I completely passed out.

"Shockwave, how is the project coming along, any positive results?"

"Negative lord Megatron, subject 1, 2, 3, and 5 all failed, subject A instantly attacked and eviscerated two Decepticon sentries before being terminated by it's built in kill switch. Subject 2 failed to cultivate properly and promptly died upon exposure outside of its tank. Subject 3 ended up tearing out its own brain module after detecting the kill switch within its head. And subject 5 was simply incompatible with any of the sparks on hand."

"And what about subject 4?..."

"Still cultivating, vital signs are normal and cognitive readings suggest-"

"Shockwave, I'm sorry to inform you of this but I have decided to cancel the project, we simply do not have enough resources to continue, plus this technology is heavily untested, I cannot risk Decepticon lives for an army that could very well turn on us at any given moment, even with the kill switch in place, they still have the capacity to remove it."

"Lord Megatron, please recon-"

"I've made my decision, now see it through that all remaining evidence of this project is properly disposed of."

"...Yes, lord Megatron..."

I couldn't see, but I could hear.

I heard footsteps walking towards my vat, the fluid kept me warm but something else outside made me feel cold and weary. I heard buzzing and whirling of a machine, then the pain hit.

"Deconstruction procedures in progress lord Megatron."

The fluid began to burn my endo-skeleton and my circuits felt like they were frying, I could feel the corrosive fluid eat it's way to my spark, then almost as fast as it began, it began to simmer down.

"Deconstruction procedures complete, lord Megatron."

"The remaining subject has been terminated?"

"...Yes..."

"Excellent Shockwave, make sure any remaining evidence of this project is destroyed, I do not wish for any Autobot scouts to uncover this operation."

"Of course lord Megatron."

I had just barely stayed conscious, my servos ached and I felt dizzy.

"...We'll meet again... very soon..."

I heard the flip of a switch, then explosions around me, the mysterious figure walked off, and then it all went silent.

Then I woke up.

I was on Shockwave's lab table, my head ached horribly and my servos felt heavy.

"Interesting, so you were awake for that experience..."

I was still dazed from the drug, and I could just barely make out what was happening.

"That memory could prove as a burden towards your training regime, however it also has its benefits as well..."

I felt something attached to my head, it was the spike, I began to panic again.

"Enough, I already told you you're too valuable to damage, so stop it with such pointless emotions."

I snapped out of that daze in seconds after I realized what was happening, I was cuffed again to the table.

"This was the only way I could properly examine your memory drives without triggering an unwanted reaction. I built your brain module personally, I designed it in a way that makes it extremely unique from other Cybertronians, your mind is capable of recognizing and inhibiting probing equipment, however with a strong enough hallucinogenic, your mind wouldn't be able to tell said difference between probing equipment and a regular shut-down."

My head ached so bad that I wished he would just terminate me now.

"My calculations were correct, your brain module took far longer to succumb to the affects of the hallucinogen, but the after results appear to have proven conclusive; your brain module will automatically wake you up once it detects any probing equipment interfaced within it, regardless of your condition, however because you were under a hallucinogen, your brain module received too many signals at once and overloaded your systems, that's why you're having that headache."

I really didn't care what Shockwave was saying at the moment, I was still struggling to stay conscious from the pain of this headache.

"Give me a few seconds and I'll return your systems to normal."

After what felt like actual eons of pure pain, my head slowly cleared from it.

At this point I was completely exhausted from the amount of stress Shockwave forced me to suffer through, the transformation, the obedience test, the drug, my optics felt burned out as my pistons quivered in exhaustion.

"Energon readings are lower than what I had originally calculated, I suppose you could rest for a few cycles while I run more tests on you."

I didn't care what else he had planned for me, I just wanted to power-down, Shockwave walked over to a terminal and pressed a button, at which point everything slowly went dark again, and before I knew it I was out like an exposed spark.

I was very careful on what information I actually gave to the Pentagon about this experience, making sure to be vague about most of it, why do you think Optimus scrubbed teletran 1 of any information about me in the first place?..

End of Chapter three