Time passed. Ironhide, when he wasn't staring at the silent Barricade with open hostility or spending a huge amount of time with Captain Lennox, had taken to teaching Karr how to handle the weapon systems of his robot form, as well as defend himself the Cybertronian way. Nick watched the two robots with silent amusement when they butted heads, sometimes joined by either Bumblebee and Sam.
Karr's temper was easily matched by Ironhide's trigger-happy responses, and the two actually got along quite fine. His partner was now eager to learn about his new form, to employ all he could to protect his human partner and defend them. The change of mind had been brought on by Barricade and his threat to Nick and with it to Karr himself. Nick in turn tried out the new implant to log himself into Karr's evolving CPU.
He felt little impulses come back, felt them tingle along his spine or nervous system. It was like learning about himself anew. Actually, he was just doing that.
Nick knew that the Autobots would never trust Barricade. Not that he ever would be able to either. As far as trust went, he could count on the Decepticon not killing him, but that was about it.
Barricade was a cold-blooded killer. A merciless hunter. A creature only driven by self-preservation and no regard for other life. Barricade was not Karr and had never been, and he was an alien mind with alien concepts.
… which had logged itself onto Nick.
The history between Autobots and Decepticons had been too violent, filled with pain and death for Prime to give the thought of Barricade's freedom even a second of his time. That Barricade was now latching onto a human mind to make up for the missing interface to Frenzy was puzzling for them, but no reason to let their guard down. So while Nick was with them, learning about himself and Karr's new form, he also spent whatever time he had with Barricade – either in person or in his mind.
Karr was viciously jealous, always hovering, always close, always making sure that Barricade understood that one wrong step would have him terminated.
In a way they were alike, Nick mused, Both dark and angry artificial intelligences, both ready to kill to survive, both sharp-edged representations in his mind. But where Karr had been angry at his successor, and at Wilton Knight for terminating him before he even had a chance to live, Barricade saw others beneath him. He was convinced of Decepticon superiority. Karr's anger had been tamed, though his temper had remained, and the fury had dissipated enough for him to exist with those he had hated so fiercely. Hatred had been revealed as jealously and fear, and Nick's influence had quieted him down.
Barricade… Barricade was…
//Brainwashed// Karr muttered. //By their leader. He needs a reprogramming//
//He changed his alliance, he thought he was following the stronger of the two parties// Nick argued, watching the tiny, silver light at the end of the still unrepaired connection. //Now he was defeated, is probably the last of his faction on this planet, and while he hates humans, he also needs to rely on them//
//On you// Karr sounded rather pissed-off.
Nick still heard the possessive echo of 'mine!'. Karr growled, tightening his hold on the link.
//He's not replacing you// he soothed.
//He never will// was the confident reply.
Nothing could. Karr and Nick were one, made for each other, part of the same whole.
//But you won't cut the connection// the AI added, sounding miffed.
//That would be cruel, Karr//
The AI huffed, loosening his hold, glaring at the silver spark. He could live with such cruelty because Barricade was threatening his driver, and through Nick Karr. He made that clear to his partner and Nick just smiled.
+
Barricade himself was more or less reluctant to talk. He sometimes twitched in his hold when Nick got too close, when something hit home, and Nick took note of each and every reaction. He had Ratchet give him whatever the Autobots had on the Decepticon, then used the interface connection to link up and see what else he could glean from the dark mind.
"This is too dangerous, Nick," Ratchet worried.
"No more than linking with Karr in the beginning. Now I have the defenses and the experience, Ratchet. Your minds are different, granted, but the implant has changed and I know how to move on a cyberspace level."
"Nick, your mind is primitive compared to our brains."
"Before it might have been. Now I've got enhancements."
"Neither you nor I know what these enhancements allow you to do. They might make you even more vulnerable. You now have hybrid Cybertronian technology inside you."
"Only one way to find out."
Ratchet looked very unhappy, but he couldn't stop the human. No one could. Nick had made it clear that he would work it his way, no one else's.
Barricade didn't know why he was trying so hard to be on good terms with the human. He didn't understand the need to be connected to the cool, almost cold mind of a man who should be nothing but an unimportant insect, a worm. A man who he should have no problem destroying with a single thought.
But he didn't.
He wanted this, he needed this, and his mimicry circuits were burning with desire each time the human initiated a contact. He didn't care about Karr, about the harsh presence that fiercely guarded what belonged to the AI: Barricade needed the soft pulses of the other mind.
Trying to contact the AI had been met with icy silence, barriers, shields and blocks. Barricade hadn't given up and after an eternity in electronic terms, Karr finally deigned him worthy talking to.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Barricade noted the cold, cruel voice, how inflectionless it was, how utterly flat.
"What is it that binds you to the human?" Barricade asked.
Karr rumbled darkly. "None of your business."
"The human connects us," the Decepticon added quickly.
"I am not connected to you, Decepticon. You are an intruder."
"I need him."
"He is not yours!" Karr hissed furiously.
"I need him," Barricade repeated.
"And I could remove your presence from him in a moment!"
"That would hurt him," he pointed out.
The darkness that represented Karr swelled and crackled dangerously.
"You love him," Barricade suddenly said.
Karr gave the other entity a sharp look, full of warning.
"But not like a human would love another human," Barricade went on.
"I'm not human."
"But you were constructed by them."
"It doesn't make me human."
Barricade was silent for a moment. "You would die for him." He sounded like this was a new concept.
"He is my driver and partner."
"There is no honor in dying for a weaker race."
Karr bristled, hissing. "Nick is not weaker, machine!"
"He is easily killed."
The AI laughed darkly. "Not so easily."
Barricade contemplated this. "Still, you would die for someone who is not your equal."
Karr snarled. "And you attached yourself to my driver for the same reason. You are fixated on what you call inferior and weak!"
Barricade shivered. "I need the echo."
"You need a human," the AI taunted.
Silence greeted that statement.
"Nick is mine to protect," Karr warned. "Keep away from him. Hurt him and I'll kill you."
"I wouldn't harm him."
"Your true colors are emblazoned on your skin, Decepticon!"
To punish and enslave. Karr felt a dark hatred rise. As much as there were parallels between them, Barricade was an alien mind, not made by humans, and his thought processes were dominated by power and destruction. Karr would do everything to keep Nick from falling for the trap he knew the Decepticon was laying with his neediness.
"No trap," Barricade rumbled. "I won't ever hurt him. He is strong. I need him."
"Pure self-preservation."
"Something you know only too well. You didn't kill him because it would have killed you," the Cybertronian snapped.
"He is my partner. We were chosen for one another," Karr argued.
"And you despised and hated him."
"Like you do."
Barricade hissed. "Humans are insects. As a race, they are inferior."
"They kicked your asses. They destroyed your leader."
That got Karr a low rumble. He grinned maliciously.
"They are stronger, some of them, than they appear," Barricade finally said.
"Yes."
At least something they agreed upon.
"I do need him," the Decepticon went on. "I need the link to quiet the interface. If I had had a choice, I would not have chosen him."
Fleshling. Weak. Despicable. Worm.
Karr bristled again, his presence darkening, a glint of danger around its edges.
"You want our cooperation, but you insult my partner," the AI growled. "Either you clean up your act and behave with respect or you cut those ties and learn to suffer, before I do it for you!"
Barricade growled. Millennia of believes and behavior weren't easily shed. "I can't be who you want. I'm not some trained, docile pet!"
Karr laughed cruelly. "You're also the last of your kind on this planet, dependent on good will and a human being. The Autobots would have no trouble killing you."
"It might hurt the human. They would never risk it."
"It won't hurt him, trust me. I'll make sure of the separation before your death myself!"
Barricade shivered a little at the thought. Just severing one tendril had been excruciatingly painful. It was what he had gotten for interfacing with a human. With a fellow Cybertronian separation was a matter of closing down circuits. Nick's mind was a mesh of both organic matter and an implant. The hybrid system had made Barricade vulnerable.
"Cooperate," Karr said coldly. "Interfere and I'll deal with you before I let Ironhide terminate your existence."
"I'm a prisoner. Cooperation only goes so far."
"What would freedom give you? Run all you want. You can never escape the interface. You're broken, Barricade. You are faulty," Karr icily drove his point across. "None of your old buddies will ever accept you with a human interface. And you can't cut your ties to Nick, you said so."
Barricade fell silent, only too much aware of it. Even if Frenzy or another possible candidate for a new link ever came to him, the organic mind was forever with him. Smooth and rocky in one, an interface both craved and despised, and something that had him marvel at the strength of these humans. Karr was right. He knew that deep down in his processors. He would never be able to return to Cybertron and to the Decepticons as he was, and Nick's death would drive him insane – something he and Karr shared.
He was trapped.
Karr retreated, sliding a shield into place, and Barricade turned to contemplate his link to MacKenzie.
+++++
Ironhide had insisted on reviewing base security and it had all ended in a huge change to Barricade's little corner of the old hangar. By now the Decepticon was under such heavy guard, his com channels permanently scrambled, wheels clamped down and his chassis more or less bolted to the floor, that Nick wondered what Ironhide expected of the shock trooper. Barricade was far from the most powerful Decepticon. He was enduring and fast, but not strong enough to make it out of this prison, but Ironhide was still paranoid about him being here.
Prime's arguments with his weapons specialist were a daily routine by now and Nick listened in, shook his head, and then strolled over to the enemy in question.
::We seem to have reached an impasse::
Barricade was silent.
::You are the enemy. You hate them, they hate you. I'm one of those you hate, but you need me. You won't be released, you won't be destroyed::
Still silence. Nick waited.
You trust the Autobots the cold, cruel voice finally stated.
::No::
You let them teach you. You let them tell you lies
::About you? I doubt they made all of this up, Barricade. Your file reads like mine:: Nick smirked. ::What do you think would they tell me that could possibly change my opinion in any way?::
Barricade snorted, the silver spark shifting a little. They lie to protect their own
::Like you would::
You trust them to help you with the changed implant
::I trust no one. I take what I can get. Things have changed. I need to know all there is about what Karr and I have become::
Barricade pulsed softly. You know nothing about your hybrid nervous system, human
::But you do?::
Unlike their medic, I am connected to you on a different level. I can see and feel the changes
Karr flowed closer, sending a warning rumble. Barricade gave him an amused look.
Don't worry, hybrid. I wouldn't harm him. But he is right that to survive, one needs to know all his strengths and weaknesses. You know little about what you can do
Nick regarded him warily. ::How would you know more about me?::
You are part Cybertronian now. That part of you is familiar. The Allspark gave you life. The way we talk, it's like communicating with my own kind. You are like us, human. And you are dangerous. You are developing powers that aren't for your kind Barricade's presence was chilling, but it wasn't attacking.
Nick drew back, sliding a block into place, and Karr readily pulled him out of the connection. Inhaling deeply, MacKenzie reentered the real world, feeling a bit shaky. Barricade was growing stronger and each contact was showing that. His spark was stabilizing and while Nick knew the Decepticon wouldn't kill him, touching the cold mind was freaking him out a little.
//He's trying to manipulate you// Karr muttered, fury rising. //Stop touching him like this, Nick//
A sound advice. But Barricade wouldn't talk to him any other way and Nick still refused to just keep the block there forever. Barricade could be an advantage as well as a menace to him, but he had to handle both sides. And to handle them, he needed exposure.
//Not like this!// Karr insisted.
And maybe he had to get out of here. Maybe he had to turn closeness to distance. Maybe he had to start facing something he and Karr had avoided for a long time now.
Michael and Kitt.
Karr sent reluctance to initiate contact with his younger brother. He wasn't ready to reveal what had happened to them.
//I know// Nick murmured. //Neither am I, but we have to one day//
And that day was coming.