XXX

Vince at the base had been a nightmare.

Jack was grateful when Ratchet finally bridged him back home, wanting to do nothing more than flop on his bed and scream into a pillow. The crass senior had asked all sorts of questions, which was not a crime, but he did not bother to word them delicately. He wanted to know everything, and get caught up to speed on who the Autobots were, why they were on Earth, what was going on, etc. etc. Jack could tell Ratchet was considering tossing the boy through a bridge opened over a volcano, however the medic showed an immense amount of restraint.

Agent Fowler is going to have a field day with him.

Perhaps the most painful was Vince's grinding questions about Optimus. Why wasn't he here? Why did he go with the Decepticons? So he's a traitor? How can he be so great if he was duped so easily?

That had angered the 'bots the most, all of them volunteering to leave the base and continue scouting, unusually eager to escape before they committed a war crime. Jack knew the senior was just trying to figure out his place in the hierarchy, as he usually was at the top of the pecking order, however it was difficult when the competition was metallic titans.

As much as he wished to scream, however, he had other things to attend to.

He had two hours before his mom came home, which was surely enough time to get everything in order. Flipping his phone open he dialed the alien number which had most recently called him, a click the only indication Soundwave was listening.

"I'm home. Did Knock Out tell you what happened?"

Silence. Of course. Why did he expect any different?

"I'll need a Groundbridge, in the usual spot in my house. But, you can't keep me. The 'bots will get suspicious, and I don't think Megatron would appreciate having his cover blown. Or mine."

Silence.

A portal suddenly swirled to life in his room, making him jump so hard he thought he was going to smash his head into the ceiling. He sighed.

"Give me a couple minutes."

Hanging up on the mech, he moved around the portal and slipped into his closet. There, Megatron rested, remaining in the same position Jack had stuck him in a couple days ago.

"Come on, Megatron," he wrapped his arms under the mech's arms, craning his head so he did not stab himself on the dictator's massive pauldrons. "Let's go."

With a grunt he started dragging him out, carefully manipulating him through the closet door and towards the bridge. His back was starting to hurt, and he took a moment for a break and to pick off the clothes that had stuck to the mech. Last thing he needed was Megatron to discover a pair of boxers or a shirt accidentally stuffed in the kinks of his armor.

Soundwave doesn't have all day.

He continued his efforts, eventually making it through the bridge and onto the other side.

The darkness of the Nemesis sent chills down his spine, his eyes adjusting to the dimness as the Groundbridge closed, increasing his anxiety. He set Megatron down, looking around with apprehension. Movement in his peripheral vision made him jump again, whirling as the body of Soundwave seemed to fold down, towards him. The phantom was not shrinking like Megatron did, but rather kneeling down to his level.

"I-I don't know what happened," he stuttered, trying to explain himself before Soundwave became accusatory or angry. "I think he got low on energon, b-but I don't know for sure. He asked me to call you but I d-didn't have your number-"

"Energon- low-" Soundwave confirmed for him through a series of audio clips, standing back up to his full height and turning away without explanation. Jack stood there, not sure what to do, as the third in command briefly disappeared from sight, then returned with an energon cube in hand. He looked around, his eyes still adjusting to the darkness, not entirely certain where they could be. It was likely a private room, to preserve Megatron's dignity, but what kind?

Soundwave set the cube down in front of Jack, then stared at him. He stared back, his heart pounding in his chest as he felt like an idiot.

"Am I supposed to do something?"

"Megatron is- small. You must- feed- him."

Seriously?

Jack stared at the cube, then at the immobile Megatron, realizing he had never actually touched an energon cube before. Reaching out, his hand interfaced with the hard casing around the glowing blue substance, the cube cool against his skin. He glanced at Soundwave.

"I'm not really sure . . . how. Do you have a cup? Or something?"

Jack continued to feel increasingly stupid, but he also assumed Soundwave had no idea how humans . . . were. He might assume that his exposure to the Autobots made him well versed in their physiology and needs, however Jack realized he had no idea about what happened to energon once it entered the Cybertronian body. He did not even know how energon was taken in - he assumed they drank it, yet for all he knew that was incorrect. Not once had he seen any Autobot consume a cube for sustenance.

Soundwave seemed to stare at him, then a Groundbridge opened up right next to Jack. He internally cursed the mech, who once again startled him without warning. Jack correctly guessed that the Decepticon wanted him to find a cup to use, stepping through the bridge and arriving back into his home. He glanced around, as if paranoid someone was watching, quickly retrieving a large glass from the kitchen cupboard before returning. Soundwave still watched with complete silence, the bridge once again closing on him.

The mech cracked the cube to give him access, Jack able to stretch up and dip the glass into the lifeblood of Cybertronians, praying he did not accidentally drop the darn thing into the cube. Then Soundwave would definitely find him incompetent.

Kneeling down he propped Megatron up against the container, carefully working his thumb through the tyrant's sharp lips. He felt chills run down his arms as his delicate skin touched the jagged metal, not enjoying the sensation of putting his hand into the mech's mouth. It was almost . . . sensual, save for the fact Megatron was unconscious. Part of Jack suspected he would revel in such an action if given the chance - though it was more likely he would prefer to perform the action on his human instead of the vice versa.

The taste of sharp metal caressed his tongue as he thought about it, remembering how he felt after giving the tyrant a peck on the helm. He had a brief taste of his armor then, the metal very much how one would expect any sort of Earthen iron or copper to zing across taste buds. Jack could almost feel what the sharp thumb would feel like in his mouth, shaking his head with a quick jerk to repel the thought as his saliva glands reacted by increasing their production, filling his mouth as if he had just eaten a sour candy, or actually had the digit try to worm its way past his lips.

Get it together, Darby.

Taking a deep breath, he banished the thought and refocused on the task at hand. Jack hoped there was a minimal chance of Megatron choking on the energon, however the lack of ventilations made him feel a bit better - if Megatron was not breathing, then surely the energon would slide down the right pathway. He carefully poured the cup of energon into the tyrant's mouth, watching the bright blue substance run down his throat.

Megatron did not stir, Jack taking that as a sign he needed more, panicking just a little. How low was he? And how much energon would he require before he came back online?

Jack was unsure what he was truly worried about - the wellbeing of the mech, or the fact that his death put everyone he loved in jeopardy.

Halfway through the fourth cup sharp optics flickered, Jack jerking back a bit as crimson flared online in a flash of light.

Megatron immediately shuttered his optics with a soft groan, a sharp servo going to his helm as he hissed in displeasure. He looked up, vision slightly blurred, however he could distinguish Jack easily.

"How long . . .?" He croaked, though the demand was still very much present. "Where am I?"

"O-on the warship," Jack answered him, feeling the fingers around the glass weaken in fear. He was trembling, almost uncontrollably, afraid Megatron would lash out. "It's only been a couple of days-"

"Days?" Megatron snarled, moving to sit up, however he found the effort to be extremely taxing, his muscle cables sore.

"I didn't know how to find Soundwave!" Jack protested, his grip tightening as he was unsure whether to assist the Decepticon or let him flounder. "But Knock Out eventually found me."

"Did that fool bring you here?"

"No, Soundwave did," the human answered, quickly explaining what had happened in as much detail as he could. "-and then Soundwave bridged me here from my home. We- everything is fine. Nobody knows about . . . us."

Megatron vented heavily, having slowly worked himself back into an upright position. Soundwave made no effort to help, Jack at first wondering if he took sadistic delight in his master struggling, but that made no sense for the loyal third in command. More likely Soundwave did not interfere because it would tarnish his master's dignity, merely watching from a distance. If Megatron required his assistance, he would give it.

Jack refilled the cup, offering it to Megatron. The mech just stared at him, crimson optics not breaking eye contact.

"You're awake," Jack said flatly, assuming the tyrant deduced he had been the one to give him the energon. "You can drink by yourself."

"I will shatter the glass," the Decepticon said simply. "And I will not drink from the cube like an Earth canine."

Jack felt anger course through him, frustrated by his stubbornness. "I'm not your servant, Megatron. I won't feed you when you can clearly feed yourself. If you can hold me in your sleep, I think you can handle drinking from a glass."

The dictator's lip plates twitched, as if he was trying to stop himself from smiling. Jack took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Something told him he should not make a scene in front of Soundwave, or defy Megatron and tick him off so soon after his impromptu nap. Not to mention he doubted Megatron would let such insubordination slide.

I will tolerate him in my house. I'll tolerate him making snide remarks about the Autobots and my . . . affections. But I'm not feeding him like a King.

"Ah, so you finally show some backbone," it sounded like he was mocking him, "Good."

The comment did successfully insult Jack, however he wisely kept the slew of curses at bay. Megatron delicately took the cup from him, downing it in quick succession, handing it back to him to refill.

It was three more glasses before Megatron had enough strength to stand, helping himself to the energon a few more times before handing the glass back to Jack. Taking a few moments to compose himself, Megatron braved returning to his full height.

Soundwave stood very close to his master as he returned to his full size, Jack averting his gaze as Megatron teetered significantly, not wanting the Decepticon to think he saw the obvious weakness. The mech straightened, then spoke in an awful language.

Jack rarely heard the Autobots speak Cybertronian, which was a series of clicks and whirrs that sounded like a broken printer. However, when Megatron spoke, it was a horrendous scraping noise interlaced with crackles, growls, and what sounded like a terrible imitation of the Autobot clicks. It was ugly, and it terrified him - like a broken printer that learned how to imitate the Internet dial-up noise.

"Soundwave will return you to your home," Megatron switched to English, staring down at Jack. It had been a long time since he had seen the mech in his true height, and it was honestly less scary than his smaller form. At least a death by his gargantuan hand would be swift.

Jack nodded, the bridge opening as Megatron picked up the energon cube, which he could do easily with one servo.

"Will I see you tonight?" He asked, not sure how to sound hopeful, like he wanted to see the mech.

"No," the word sent a jolt of surprise through him. "I must catch up with the time I have lost in stasis."

Jack stared at him, nodding slowly. "O-okay . . ." he was unsure how to respond, pausing to see if Megatron would fill the silence with some kind of reassurance, or further explanation; but instead, the Decepticon turned around and left him, Soundwave waiting for him to go.

With nothing for him to do Jack walked through a newly-opened bridge, returning home. The portal closed behind him, significantly dimming the room and drawing his attention to the glass in his hands.

Within it was a bit of energon, a good couple of gulps which Megatron had neglected to finish off. He immediately considered pouring it down the drain, not wanting his mom to ask why there was a glass of the alien substance in their house. She was already peeved about the missing medicines, which still remained a mystery that would never be solved. Last thing Jack needed was for her to start asking more questions.

He paused, his hand on his door handle, as another thought came to mind. Megatron had told him how Amicus could drink energon, meaning it was probably safe for humans. Despite the risks involved, he was curious as to what it tasted like, what it felt like, to drink such a substance. The Autobots operated on the notion that energon was toxic to humans - a sound one, as it was supposed to be an alien substance from a planet hundreds of light years away. And yet it was dark energon which had infected Raf, and it was also dark energon from which humanity spawned.

Not an entirely accurate statement, he supposed. They evolved from Unicron, an entity within a similar league to Primus, from which the Cybertronians were born. They too were susceptible to the effects of dark energon, but that was to varying degrees. Bumblebee seemed to take it in stride, however Arcee and Bulkhead reported nauseating effects just from being close to it. And of course, there was Megatron . . .

Perhaps humans were the same way. There was nothing to indicate this, merely an assumption. Besides, if Jack was descended from a human that could tolerate energon . . .

He looked down at the cup, wondering if he truly wanted to test that theory. If something went wrong, he could end up in the hospital - or worse, in the Autobot base, where they would ask him what the scrap was he thinking?

One little sip couldn't hurt.

He brought the cup to his lips, gently tilting it back, watching as the surprisingly viscous liquid streamed down towards him. It pooled against his skin, and he carefully opened his mouth to take in a few drops.

His mouth flooded with sweetness, the taste so sugary he almost gagged. It was nearly revolting, and he spit some of it out, swallowing the rest that had made its way to the back of his throat.

"Ugh," he searched for a tissue, spatting into it. "What the frag?"

He wondered how the Cybertronians perceived the taste, not sure how to describe it outside of overwhelming. His nose burned and the back of his throat stung like he had tried to gulp down an entire Tequila bottle, making his eyes water uncontrollably. Coughing, he sat the glass down and took a moment to catch his breath.

Mistake.

Though he had no feeling to, Jack almost wanted to throw up. There was no way such a thing was good for him, or any creature outside of the average Cybertronian. He shook his head, regaining his sight back and striding into the kitchen, dumping it down the drain. He rinsed out the cup and set it in the drying rack, dipping his own head under the faucet and drinking large gulps of water.

Never again, he thought to himself as the burning of his throat died down. Never, ever again.

XXX

Megatron stood on the bridge of his ship, his servos folded behind his back as he absorbed all of the information heading his way. His processor was currently working at full capacity, and he would not allow any distractions to pull him away from his work.

He had been irrational, obsessing over Jack and ignoring the low energon warnings within himself. By the time he realized that his levels were too low, he had already slipped into emergency stasis. He barely remembered getting a message to Jack in time to contact Soundwave, however that had taken far too long on its own. It took days for the human to get in contact with his trusted TIC, and that was because he had been foolish to not foresee an emergency and give him the mech's personal hailing frequency.

Days. Days. What had happened during those hours he was offline? Though he wished he could trust Jack, the Decepticon knew his loyalties continued to align with that of the Autobots, and therefore he could not fully act as if the human had anything but their best interest in mind. A quick check of his systems had come back negative for any sort of foreign body or code; however, that did not mean there was not a Trojan horse waiting for him. Knock Out would have to perform a more thorough scan of his frame and coding later.

That was another thing. Now Knock Out was in on his little visitations, however the medic was smart enough to keep his intake shut and voicebox completely silent on the subject.

Jack would be questioned further on the events leading up to his onlinement once they met again, however for the time being Megatron had to catch up on everything he had missed. Hundreds of reports flooded him, his processor sorting through each one and categorizing them by priority, batting away most of the junk Airachnid sent his way, already irritated with the clearly traitorous spiderbot. Though he operated on the notion that he should keep his enemies closer than his friends, at least with Starscream his betrayal was predictable. He only made attempts when Megatron's guard was down, rare opportunities which were easily remedied by Soundwave watching his back. Airachnid, on the other servo, spun webs. The idea that Megatron could be walking into a trap, and not know it until the strands had already tightened around his frame, was unnerving.

Jack also had a history with her, which was why Megatron ensured only Soundwave had known of their trysts - and now Knock Out's every assurance he would not speak of it. She would most certainly try to take advantage of his fragile human state, and her agenda against Arcee would serve as further fuel to the fire. There was a guarantee she would kill Jack, something he could not allow to come to pass.

Then there was also the issue with Orion Pax. Soundwave had reported some painfully obvious snooping on the archivist's part, however he had been unsuccessful, and his research was innocent enough - he was attempting to learn more about the war, and what had happened during his apparent stasis. Still, too many questions and Pax would find himself in some hot water - Megatron was not willing to show his true colors just yet.

This whole thing was just a mess, one that could have been avoided . . .

Had the human not demanded his attentions.

Foolish as it was to blame Jack, Megatron tried. He tried to place the blame, however he could not rightfully accuse the organic for taking up processor space. His face always lingered in the back of the warlord's mind, blue eyes piercing into his very soul. It was obvious that Jack had no idea what kind of effect he had on him; if he had any sort of practice in deception and seduction, he would have Megatron wrapped around his fleshy finger. It was fortunate, then, that he was as resistant as he was. If he offered the opportunity for no self control . . .

Megatron grit his denta, pulling himself back to the present. There, it happened again. He was trying to get work done, and still the distraction was there, tugging at his processor. His claws itched to feel soft skin again, a perfect antithesis to his own metallic frame. He obsessed over the way soft hair brushed against his joints, leaving pleasant buzzes in their wake as he lulled Jack to sleep.

Enough.

He bared his denta in a silent snarl, almost tempted to punch something - or someone. Vicious red optics glanced at the Vehicons nearby, but even he was not delusional enough to just snap at an innocent officer, trying to do their duties. He had to focus.

His internal clock informed him it was approximately the 2200 hour in the Jasper, Nevada timezone; Jack would almost be asleep. He was tempted to have Soundwave check the neighborhood, ensure that the human was indeed safe and at home, however he refrained. There was no need to worry - surely his maternal unit or Autobot master would be present with him.

Megatron had considered the possibility of the Autobots being located close to their human charges - after all, it was a rather interesting coincidence that all three of them lived within the same town.

Jack saying "Raf" had tipped him off to the possibility of who they were. Yes, it took the scouring of hundreds of thousands of images, but within a few days Megatron had secured a match, and had Soundwave explore every nook and cranny of Rafael Jorge Gonzales Esquivel's online presence until he found what he wanted: Jack Darby. From there, it took quite a bit of digging, as June Darby had a habit of erasing her own paper trails and that of her online ones, but it was a minor speed bump in the TIC's operation. He located the young man, and sent Knock Out to visualize the human himself, so they could confirm Jasper, Nevada.

The Autobots had since Groundbridged around the town, not leading any direct trails to their base. This hardly bothered Megatron, as he had their leader - without Optimus Prime, he doubted they were a true threat. Besides, he had his servos full with Jack and Orion Pax. For the former, he did not want to ruin his chances by outright annihilating his friends - that would come once he had staked a full claim on his heart.

A ping once again pulled him from his work and thoughts, the Decepticon leader almost screaming in rage. Not at the sender, though he wished to curse Jack's persistent name. It was the fact he could not focus, and any chances of doing so were rendered completely null by the message:

I miss you.

Though he knew it was mostly disingenuous, a part of the game they were playing as he lured Jack further down the rabbit hole, just the mere idea of it being true drove him crazy. It was almost like he had whispered it directly into his audio receptor, tempting him away from his work.

It would kill him, but Megatron would wait - and make him wait. If Jack was honest, then this would make him crave their companionship more than if Megatron simply obliged him. Additionally, it would serve to remind the human this arrangement was not just for his benefit; it would be done on Megatron's time as well. He debated on what to reply, eventually settling on:

I will return tomorrow, at dark, as per our agreement.

Satisfied with his answer, yet absolutely vexed that he could not escape thoughts of his obsession so readily, he continued to work, diving deep into reports and attempting to shake Jack Darby from his mind.