Duty and Deceit
Chapter 4
Captivity
She followed Skyquake to the armory on the far side of the training area. Opening the doors, she saw more varieties of weaponry than she'd ever imagined. Energon prods, daggers, long swords, clubs, maces, flails… Not to mention every model of cannon, blaster, and energy ray invented.
She shut her mouth upon realizing that it had dropped open in shock. Not that Skyquake could have seen it anyway. She looked up at the jet questioningly.
"How on Cybertron am I going to find a weapon I like? Sir. There's so many."
"It won't be so hard as you might think. Your frame and function narrow your selection substantially." He had seemed rather bemused by her awe.
"So… where shall I begin?"
He bent down and handed the small femme a blaster and ordered her to go outside and try it. After several tries, he called her back in. The drone she had fired at had sustained very little damage, although she had succeeded in hitting it once or twice.
"It doesn't do enough. I wouldn't be able to hurt an Autobot if I shot him in the face at point-blank range." She had complained heatedly.
"You want a weapon that will hurt. One that will make the Autobots fear you, perhaps?" His eyes glinted now in poorly hidden amusement. She supposed that Skyquake took pleasure in matching a mech to their perfect weapon. In his position, he probably got to do that a lot.
"Yes and no. I want a weapon that will make them pay. For Protihex."
His face had turned grim at the mention of her home city. He looked into her optics for a moment and nodded, reaching towards a mini fusion cannon near the back of the armory. Like all the other weapons, it was a plain steely gray, unpainted and unpersonalized. But for some reason, unknown to her, it seemed to be screaming her name, as if it had been made for her.
Again he simply passed it to her and sent her out to test it. Somehow feeling as if this test would determine who she became, she took aim carefully. Imagining that the target drone ahead of her was the Autobot who had led the attack that killed her creators, destroying her home and family, she fired.
It was a beautiful hit, right where the drone's spark would have been.
Vital systems damaged, the drone collapsed, the hole in its chassis smoking. Her golden optics gleaming with hope and determination, she spoke her original purpose for coming.
"Skyquake, sir? It would be a great honor to train under you, if you would accept me."
The Prime walked ahead of her in silence. It was only a short distance to the brig, but time slowed for Terabyte. Prime's very frame seemed to radiate a gentle authority that made her almost want to trust the mech.
Almost.
But he was the leader of the Autobots. All the terrible things the Autobots had ever done had been done in his name. The scarlet and blue mech that towered before her, in his name her home was destroyed; in his name her family was killed. That could never be forgiven, even if the Prime himself had never wanted it.
Terabyte didn't notice when they arrived at the brig. Instead, she simply continued to study the Autobot leader, lost in her thoughts until he turned to her and motioned for her to go into the cell. She obeyed and sat down in the chair on the far side of the cell. Raising the force-field, Optimus followed and seated himself across from her, resting his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands.
Respectfully, she waited for Prime to begin the interrogation. She wasn't sure what methods he would use, but Terabyte began to carefully deactivate the majority of her pain relays in preparation. But he made no moves, just sat there, watching her intently, almost expectantly.
"Mighty Prime. Will you be performing the interrogation? Like I said before, I don't have much intel, but I will willingly answer your questions to the best of my ability." Terabyte said, shifting her armor nervously. If Optimus decided to get answers by force, she wouldn't last more than one Earth hour, if even that. Especially since the nature of her mission gave her no room for defense.
"I was hoping that you might volunteer some of what you know. It would make it much more pleasant for all involved."
Terabyte blinked, her frame relaxing of its own accord. Relief and panic rolled over her simultaneously. Soundwave had given her coding to hide parts of her processor from discovery so that a processor scan could be performed without revealing the more sensitive secrets of the Decepticons. She had prepared herself for all the traditional methods of interrogation, but this… Nothing could have prepared her for this.
She racked her processor for anything to offer in response, her mind suddenly blank from her initial surprise. Finally Optimus, apparently deciding that she wasn't going to provide answers on her own, began the questioning.
"What exactly was your rank and function in the Decepticon ranks?" His optics held a hint of sadness, though his voice was now firm and commanding.
"I worked under Soundwave in Communications. Low-rank. Main function was as a messenger." Terabyte answered instantly, finial faintly twitching. Half-truths were more becoming of her honor, at least compared to outright lies.
"Where are the Decepticons' headquarters?"
"Unknown: the base is mobile. They are flying the Nemesis, which is in a slight state of disrepair. Weapons and defensive systems are fully functional. The ship lands often for repairs and energon stock-piling."
The interrogation continued in that manner for just over two hours, Earth time. Terabyte answered truthfully for the most part, only lying when absolutely necessary and only if the subject was one that was very unlikely that the Autobots would ever find out for themselves. Many questions she simply answered by claiming ignorance. Getting up to leave, Optimus turned around and asked one final question.
"Is there anything else we ought to know about?"
She was about to shake her helm when the idea hit her. The Dark Energon. It was vitally important to the Autobots and, knowing the Lord Protector, Megatron would likely wish to show off its power to the Autobots as soon as possible anyway. Perfect!
"There is one thing Cliffjumper and I overheard Lord Megatron telling Starscream. Upon his return, he had brought back a large sample of a crystalline substance." Terabyte glanced up at the Prime, gauging his response. He nodded for her to continue, "It was Dark Energon. Many believe it to have near mystical powers, including the reanimation of the dead."
"Dark Energon… If this is true, our situation may be more dire than I believed…" Optimus said quietly, as if to himself. "The information you have provided will be very helpful to our cause. I will send someone down later with fuel."
Terabyte was still trying to work out why the Prime hadn't hurt her at all during the interrogation when, true to his word, later that rotation Energon was brought to her by Cliffjumper.
"How's our local Decepticon doing?" He asked upon entering. Then he winced, as if just realizing how rudely that came across. In an ever-so-slightly more subdued tone, he continued, "I brought some Energon for you."
Terabyte took the cube, glaring at it suspiciously. It was much larger than her usual ration, but her tanks were also far lower than usual. However, now that she'd spilled 'all' she knew, there was no reason for them to keep her; she would only be a drain on their resources. She ran a scan on the energy, but the read out on her HUD detected no threats or foreign substances in it. Unconvinced, she refused to refuel, in spite of her fuel tank violently informing her of its emptiness.
"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're worried about." As if to prove his point, the mech raised the cube to his own lip-plates and took a sip.
When he failed to keel over in agony, Terabyte picked it up and drained half the cube, her optics never leaving Cliffjumper's face.
"Why did Prime send you?" She asked finally, taking another long sip of her Energon.
"Is there something wrong with me?" He asked in mock hurt. "No, I volunteered."
"Why?"
"You were pretty good to me back there with the 'Cons… I just wanted to, I dunno, return the favor." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, you good? Need anything?"
Terabyte shook her helm. It was a prison cell, it wasn't exactly designed for comfort, but it was fine.
"Uh well, I need to disable your weapons, long-range communications and subspace systems… Standard procedure and whatnot."
"I'm not much of a threat to you, weapons or no… I really don't see why that's necessary…" She pulled away from him, putting one hand over the control panel on her neck defensively. The idea of leaving herself that vulnerable sent a shiver crawling down her spinal struts.
"Don't make me hurt you to do this… I feel bad enough about this as is."
Terabyte studied Cliffjumper carefully; he did seem rather reluctant… She didn't move from her position, and continued to shield the panel. She shook her helm stubbornly, vulnerability simply wasn't an option, she couldn't afford to trust the Autobots; they'd only stab her in the back when she wasn't looking. Terabyte ignored the small voice in her processor that wondered; how would she ever gain their trust if she never showed some first?
"We want to help you, really. We'll even give you a chance to defect. But we can't let you out if you refuse to be disarmed." His voice was sad and resigned, but he didn't push the matter further. "I'll bring more Energon in the morning."
With that, the red, horned mech left her alone in the brig. After she'd finished the last of the Energon, Terabyte settled down on the hard prison berth to recharge. No one checked in on her for the rest of the night.
Hearing an unearthly screech, followed by the worst sounds she'd ever heard, Terabyte bolted awake, looking around at her surroundings blearily. With the intent of investigating the cause of the audio-shredding racket, Terabyte ran straight into the force-field only to bounce off and fall to the floor. Her whole frame tingled from the electric discharge of the field. Slightly dazed, but now fully awake, she remembered her situation.
What she wanted to know now, was what in the world that hideous noise was. Terabyte's processor throbbed as her sensitive audials were assaulted. It had a vague beat, like some horrible attempt at music. Abruptly the sound ceased, leaving only the proximity alert that had been ringing in the background.
Curious, but having no way to ease that curiosity, Terabyte noticed the cube of Energon that had been left on the table. Vaguely she guessed that Cliffjumper had brought it for her while she was still recharging. A minute stab of fear ran through her, but after running a self-diagnostic, Terabyte realized with a start that even though that would have been a perfect chance to disable her weapons and other systems, Cliffjumper had honored her wish to leave them online and remain in the cell. He hadn't taken advantage of finding her undefended, and neither had the others.
As she slowly drank her morning fuel, Terabyte ran this revelation through her logic centers multiple times, but each time the results were the same: The Autobots were not the evil brutes she had thought them to be.
But that wasn't possible, her spark screamed defiantly. The Autobots destroyed Protihex, killing thousands neutrals. Only someone truly despicable could have done that, which meant, logically, that the Autobots were despicable. Her processors slid back into harmony; the Autobots must be destroyed before more innocents suffer.
A couple of breems after the proximity alerts went silent, a new alarm sounded, this time a distress beacon. It was only a short time after that that Terabyte heard the ground bridge open. Then the base was wrapped in a thick blanket of silence. She figured that she was now the only person left at the Autobot HQ. Occasionally she heard Arcee's faint voice as she commed for a ground bridge, but there was nobody to answer.
Terabyte sat in her cell bored for quite a while before occupying her mind with the humans' internet. She researched human culture, military, and science. She even went so far as to watch a few of their shorter movies through her holo-projector, which helped to pass a significant amount of time.
She was just about to start another movie when Terabyte heard the ground bridge open up again. From the sound of it, all the Autobots – and humans – were back. Not too happy either. Terabyte tried to listen in on what they were saying, but the brig was too far away and though she could hear their voices, she couldn't pick out the words.
Frustrated, immensely bored and still worried about what the Autobots would end up doing to her, Terabyte got up and started pacing along the front wall of the cramped cell. Maybe she ought to have let Cliffjumper disable her systems. At least then she wouldn't be stuck in this empty, uncomfortable and tiny cell, if the mech had even been telling the truth about that.
As she heard the ground bridge open up yet again, Terabyte wondered for the millionth time what was going on, and where the Autobots were getting enough power to use the bridge so often.
Once, Arcee passed by her cell on her way to somewhere. Terabyte looked up at the femme hopefully, but Arcee's only response was a low growl of her engine before continuing on her way. After that Terabyte stopped pacing and sat down again and stared at the floor, walls, and roof.
She really should have asked Cliffjumper for a datapad, or a book to read when he'd asked if she needed anything. Something to keep herself busy hadn't been on the list of things she'd considered at the time.
A.N. Not much action here, but as a prisoner that is to be expected. Things will look up for Terabyte eventually! Until then, keep reading, reviewing, etc!