Duty and Deceit
Chapter 22
Past and Future
'"The good doctor wishes to test a… theory."' As she drove down the corridors to the medical laboratory, she couldn't help but worry. Theories were iffy things, but medical theories were almost always lethal. Just what she needed to improve the orn. A visit to the medic… for an unelaborated experiment.
Straightening her struts, the small femme entered Knockout's lab, hoping beyond hope that she didn't look as anxious as she really was.
Makeshift was in the lab with the red medic, and the two mechs were discussing something. As soon as she walked in, they both instantly went silent. Knockout smiled at her, only increasing her anxiety. Smiles were never a good sign when it came to medics. "Hello Terabyte. Are you ready?"
Her jaw stiff, she glanced at her mentor for assurance. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Knockout clapped his hands together like an excited sparkling before quickly ushering her and her mentor to the closest medical berths. As soon as they were laid down, the Decepticon medic magnetized the berths, making it impossible for her or her mentor to get up.
She winced as a needle was pressed into the gap between two plates of armor on her forearm. Moments later a soft darkness enveloped her mind.
Blearily she felt her mind seep into consciousness, interrupting a pleasant dream. She wasn't sure what she'd been dreaming though. As her systems slowly whirred into life, the spy became aware of a foreign presence in her mind. The presence was poking around at a line of code that she didn't realize she possessed.
For some reason, these discoveries didn't bother her. In fact, she didn't care about anything at the moment. Waves of content were rolling through her processors from the foreign mental presence. Her logic processors lazily came to the conclusion that the mental intruder was Soundwave. He was empathically suppressing any negative thoughts that came to her mind, ensuring that she did not resist his presence.
'What'cha doin'?' She thought at him with a mental yawn. The combination of his empathic waves of contentedness and the medic's sleep-drugs made her mental processes slow and dulled, as if she'd overdosed on high grade.
The mech didn't respond other than to increase the intensity of his happy-waves. She sighed placidly, slipping into a sort of waking sleep.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but after a while Soundwave left her mind and she began to wake properly. Opening her optics, the femme bolted upright, rushing to examine her frame for any mutations or amputated limbs. Surprisingly, she found nothing amiss.
"Rise and shine, my little Byte. Time to check out your new upgrade."
She frowned at Makeshift. "Upgrade? What did Knockout do? Why was Soundwave in my helm?"
The charcoal mech chuckled. "You're a Shifter now."
Blinking several times, the Prussian blue two-wheeler processed that information. Instantly, she delved into her programming files and scanned through them until she found the abnormality. "They added a synthetic Shifter code to my systems, along with Shifter CNA… Will it work?"
Makeshift shrugged his spiked shoulders. "Let's go find out, shall we?"
"Focus, Terabyte, focus!" Makeshift repeated for the umpteenth time. "Capture the image of the drone in your mind's optic…"
She heaved a huge sigh and did as he said. When the image was successfully engraved in her mind, the femme nodded.
"Now, keep focusing on that image, and imagine that you are that drone." He paused until she nodded again. "Now transform. Not into your alt-mode, but make yourself transform into that drone."
Concentrating with all her mental capacity, the spy initiated her slightly altered transformation sequence. Her transformation cog ached and strained for a few seconds before she began to feel her frame shift. At the end of the transformation, she sighed deeply, revving her engine in frustration. There she sat… in her vehicle mode. Very much not having transformed into the drone.
Makeshift growled angrily, throwing his hands up and flaring his armor in and out. They had been trying for two groons with no other results than that. Everyone else that had been training had already gone to their quarters. Without saying a single word to her, the gray Shifter stormed out of the training area, leaving her alone with the lifeless training dummy.
The drone stood facing her. It's dull, artificially blue optics seemed to glow brighter than normal as she sat there in the silence.
The femme glared at the drone as it seemed to mock her attempts at Shifting. Finally she snapped, "What are you looking at, tin-helm?"
Tin-helm. Tin-helm. Tin-helm. The room echoed back at her rudely.
She snarled at the drone. This was really not her day.
Optimus sat in his office early in the morning, dawn just barely beginning. He sat in his comfortable chair and watched the screen on his desk with attentive optics. A thoughtful frown creased his faceplates. He pressed his servos together as he continued to watch the screen. To anyone else, the Prime appeared to be highly focused on the report typed out in front of him.
But he was not reading the report. In fact, his optics barely saw the screen. His thoughts were focused inward as he consulted his spark and the Matrix within him.
The wisdom of the ancients seemed to whisper to him. A thousand voices all speaking their thoughts together, resulting in an indecipherable murmuring. They seemed urgent, their message of greatest importance, though he knew not of what. All he could glean from it was that there was a battle raging.
Orion Pax, for that was how he still envisioned himself, didn't quite understand. A war between what? The Great War has raged for eons…
The voices grew louder, their urgency escalating. He didn't understand what the Matrix was trying to tell him. His thoughts were troubled with what to do with the Decepticon femme. She'd done nothing to make him doubt her; outright anyway. He had suspicions, but the voices of those before him seemed to point him away from those suspicions.
She seemed to follow the same ideals that he stood for, yet the femme practically radiated hate towards the Autobots. Orion didn't really blame her, given the childhood she'd had. But it made his spark ache to know that one could have been so misled regarding the nature of his people.
He sighed heavily, the responsibility of the Primes weighing down on his own spark. My brother has misled so many good mechs… Will this war ever end?
Instantly the voices began to fade. They repeated their unheard message to him, trying to make him understand. Finally his mind was silent aside from his own thoughts. It was a question he had asked many times since he was chosen to bear the Matrix of the Allspark. But the Matrix never answered that question. The future was not for mortal mechs to know.
Today, he'd take a leap of faith. Tomorrow, he would try to – to use the humans' term – plant his flag.
The scarlet and blue Prime shuttered his optics. Terabyte's journey to the truth would be long and difficult, but he would try to guide her on her way. The Matrix had never once misled him, he would trust its judgment.
0940. Training Room.
She missed her opportunities. Twice last night, she'd been given a chance to rid the universe of the Wrecker. Twice, she blew it. How could she have let such perfect chances slip past her? She ought to have terminated him.
Terabyte growled in frustration as she hacked furiously at the lead stand with her Energon blade. This was the second stand, and it was nearly sliced in half now. The other one lay on the concrete floor, evenly dissected into five chunks.
As she continued to stab, slash, and punch the post, Terabyte tried to let out her anger. Blow off some steam. At least, that had been the plan. It wasn't working very well. On the other side of the room, the floor was littered with charcoal splinters that were the only remaining evidence that the training arena had been fully stocked with thirty-five hardwood targets. She didn't particularly care at the moment if the Autobots got angry over her excessive use of their training supplies.
So focused on murdering the post in front of her, the spy never heard the whoosh of the automatic doors opening and closing. Finally the post snapped and the top half clattered to the floor with a loud clang. At the same moment a voice directly behind her grunted, impressed.
"Nice job. You look like you could take out an army."
Shocked by the sudden voice, Terabyte spun around with her blade, striking at the speaker before she could even recognize the mech.
The green Wrecker grabbed her wrist, instantly stopping the blow. Letting go of her wrist, the mech chuckled. "Not expecting anyone else to be here, eh?"
She didn't reply. Nor did she sheath her weapon. The femme simply stood there, vents heaving. She was pretty sure she couldn't trust her glossa in her current state of mind.
Bulkhead cocked his helm at her before cracking his servos loudly and walking off to do his own training. Terabyte was about to return to slaughtering lead posts when an idea struck her. She grinned savagely behind her battle mask, her gold optics sparkling in cold anticipation.
"Bulkhead…" The mech turned around to look at her curiously. "You up to a sparring match?"
The Wrecker, as she'd predicted, smiled and nodded eagerly. "Sure."
Getting into position, the two Cybertronians bowed respectfully, initiating the match. They started off circling each other slowly, judging their opponent, waiting for the first move. Terabyte waited for Bulkhead to make his move.
Finally, the Wrecker lunged with his wrecking ball raised. She easily slid under the larger mech's blow, reaching up to slice at the back of his arm as she did so. He dodged and jumped to the side, out of her reach. The exchange complete, they began circling once more. This time, she went for the element of surprise and leapt almost instantly, dagger poised to strike his spark.
Bulkhead blocked with his wrecking ball and, catching her partially unguarded, swung his other fist into her side. Terabyte fell back, winded, but not otherwise harmed. He was measuring his blows. She shoved that observation aside, unwilling to accept it. Once she'd recovered her balance, the spy went back to circling.
This continued for several breems, each getting in a blow here and there, but nothing substantial. Terabyte however, was losing her composure. Her attacks were less and less like sparring and were fuelled by her anger and lust for the Wrecker's life-En. She'd already planned to use the match as an excuse to try and offline him with an easy way out if she failed, but she was no longer concerned about that.
Duck in, strike, slip out. Dodge, counter, block. Feint, parry, circle.
All she was aware of was her own motions and the Wrecker in front of her. Her speed and smaller size was making it difficult for him to get any hits on her, though she'd laid many minor scrapes on him. She could hear both of their ventilation systems struggling to cool their frames.
Her mind was partially in the battle and partially emerged in the horrible memories of that rotation. The screams of femmes and younglings rang in her audials, the stinging scent of burning life-En hovered in her olfactory sensors.
Bulkhead lunged and Terabyte glimpsed an open opportunity. Rolling under his blow, the spy sliced into the gap behind his knee-joint, knocking the mech to his knees. With a roar of fury, she kicked Bulkhead over onto his back and jammed one knee-plate into his chest to keep him from moving. Her Energon dagger was pulled back as she prepared to plunge it into the Wrecker's spark.
"Bulk!" Miko screamed.
The sudden scream broke her concentration, forcibly interrupting the terrible replaying of her memories. Terabyte looked into the optics of the mech below her and saw only worry and confusion. No anger, no desire to harm her.
She sat there, unmoving; stunned by how easily she'd been consumed by her rage. Something was shoving her, pounding on her cannon-arm. Terabyte looked down slowly to see that her servos were still crushing Bulkhead's neck-plates and the vital Energon lines underneath. Miko was standing on her guardian's shoulder, relentlessly – albeit futilely – pounding her squishy fists into her arm in an attempt to make her release the girl's guardian.
Terabyte slowly removed her hand and stood up, still partially lost in her mind. She frowned. Why was she so intent on killing this mech? He wasn't at Protihex. He'd joined the Wrecker's after the destruction of her home. So had Wheeljack. The Wreckers responsible for Protihex were all – as far as she knew – offlined. This mech had done nothing to her but wear their symbol. Did she want vengeance so badly that she would terminate without reason? As a Decepticon, she ought to have been above such prejudice. That was an Autobot trait.
As she came to that conclusion, Terabyte didn't realize just how prejudiced that was. She never considered that she was using a prejudiced line of thought to conclude that she didn't have prejudice.
Extending a silver hand, Terabyte helped the Autobot to his pedes. As an Autobot, Terabyte would not hesitate to kill him if it meant progress for the Decepticon cause, but for the time being she also would not intentionally hunt the mech merely for the symbol on his chassis.
Bulkhead hesitated for a moment before warily taking her hand, not that she was really able to help the much larger mech. Tipping her helm to him, Terabyte tried to form an apology that would amend her actions, hopefully in such a way that her 'loyalty' to the Autobots would not be questioned too much.
The mech however did not allow her to speak. He rolled his neck a bit, several struts audibly popping back into alignment, and spoke gently, almost understandingly. "Get lost in some bad memories?"
She averted her gaze. "Yeah." An idea popped into her mind and she spoke it, carefully keeping the bite out of her tone. "How do the Wrecker's records portray Protihex? I'm curious."
"Whoa… um." The green Autobot blinked rapidly as he visibly struggled to process the sudden question. "The destruction of Protihex was a horrible accident…"
Terabyte's optics narrowed as her thoughts exploded into a raging tempest. Accident?! They considered it an accident? How could the deaths of so many innocents be call-
Her anger was interrupted as Bulkhead continued, "Magnus and his team'd sent in two of the Wreckers' best mechs. Their job was to set one charge in the two suites that the Decepticon trines were hiding in. The charges being used were specially designed so that they'd create a force-field around the room, only blowing up within their fields. The civilians wouldn't even know there'd been an explosion."
Yes, technology like that had been made and proven to work. Terabyte knew that. But Protihex was in ruins after the detonations. How did the Wrecker's story explain that? She growled, "Well, that obviously didn't work too well, did it?"
Miko interrupted with a question of her own. "What's Protihex?"
"It was my home city… Until the Wreckers blew it up. Hundreds of thousands just for six Seekers." Terabyte answered bitterly.
The green mech's sky blue eyes seemed to darken. "No. The charges worked just exactly like they were meant to. Force-fields and everything." Seeing her mouth open to protest, Bulkhead raised one hand placatingly. "Lemme finish. Magnus took in his crew afterwards, to try an' figure out what happened. They found a system of collapsed underground tunnels. Once they got 'em cleared out, the team found evidence of one of Shockwave's huge, secret laboratories. The twisted mech musta thought he'd been discovered and self-destructed the lab, igniting the whole Energon system which he'd tapped into for his experiments."
She gave him a flat stare. Did he really expect her to believe that? Sure, Shockwave was an evil mech with no moral character. She didn't consider the mech a Decepticon. He worked on his own, away from everyone, occasionally aiding the Decepticons for his own profit. But surely by now she'd have known if the one-eyed bot had been under her home. Terabyte vaguely remembered notices mentioning missing younglings and sparklings, but she quickly dismissed them as coincidental.
Elaborate pack of lies. That's all it was. The Autobots had built up an ornate deception to appease their guilty conscience.
Terabyte wondered just how thought out their cover story was and she decided to put it to the test. "Did they ever find out what Shockwave was experimenting on?"
Bulkhead's face-plates went tight and he looked about ready to purge. Slowly the mech nodded his helm. "Yeah… Magnus and the team found a room - several actually - full o' bodies. They were so mangled and mutated that you'd barely have recognized them as Cybertronian. Techno-organics, mech-made combiners, shatter-sparks... Sparklings and younglings mostly."
Her spark twinged painfully. Most of Shockwave's labs had similarly gruesome sights. But that still didn't mean the mech was telling the truth. Terabyte's mind was closed to the idea that it may not have been the Autobots' fault though. She wouldn't even consider the possibility.
Both Autobot and Decepticon spy's thoughts were interrupted by an incoming comm. from Prime. /Autobots, report to the bridge room immediately./
They shared a curious glance, past conversation momentarily forgotten. Transforming, Bulkhead waited long enough for his charge to get in before shooting off down the hall with a screech of rubber. Terabyte quickly followed suit.
Almost all the Autobots arrived in the bridge room simultaneously. With the exception of Cliffjumper, who came in just a little bit after everyone else. Grinning sheepishly, the mech stepped into the circle that had automatically formed around the Prime.
Arcee was the first to speak. "So, what's the emergency, Optimus?"
"There is no emergency." The Prime answered calmly. "I have gathered you together to witness a special event that has not occurred for many vorns."
"What sort of event?" Bumblebee whirred curiously. "Some sort of rare comet?"
Optimus smiled. "No Bumblebee, this event is of far more importance than a mere comet's passing."
Cliffjumper leaned forward, waving his hands impatiently. "So enough of the suspense… What's going on?"
"We are welcoming a new member into our ranks this day."
"So…" Jack started slowly. Where he stood on the catwalk put the boy at optic level with most of them. "Did some new 'Bot arrive that you guys didn't tell us about?"
Bulkhead shrugged at the boy. "It's news to me."
Finally Ratchet huffed. "Quit tippy-toeing around and get to the point, Prime."
Heeding the gruff words of his old friend, the scarlet and blue Autobot cleared his vocalizer and spoke with the formality used only on official occasions. "On this day, I, Optimus Prime, summon the ex-Decepticon femme, Terabyte."
Spark-beat doubling, the dark-armored spy stepped out of the loose circle around the Prime and stood before him with her helm bent respectfully. Jaws stiff, Terabyte was ever grateful for her mask. This was the day she would be branded with the insignia of the Autobots. Everything she'd ever hated; that was what that symbol represented. And now she would bear the disgrace of wearing it. Her armor was stiffly flared, but she still felt dwarfed by the mech. At her full height, she was only just over half his size. Terabyte couldn't but feel a tremor of fear shake her frame.
Unsure of how to proceed, she murmured in a neutral tone. "Great Prime."
He spoke equally quietly. "Following your decision three quartex past, I deem your spark ready to truly become an Autobot."
About a million rebellious retorts flitted through her mind, but she settled for the honest truth. She did however, use the opposite tone. Going with a duly awed, yet totally respectful tone, she replied. "I am not worthy of wearing your insignia, Prime."
"Good." Optimus' cobalt optics twinkled. "That is proof that you are."
Not being able to come up with an answer that wouldn't compromise her mission, Terabyte bit her glossa and remained silent. If her face were visible, her disgust would be plainly written on it.
"I would ask that you lower your battle-mask for the duration of this occasion." The Prime said softly.
She stifled a low growl from her engine and shook her helm minutely. She couldn't do that. There were some things in which she would allow no compromise. She'd do almost anything but that. Again, the femme didn't reply.
Optimus raised his voice a little more, putting a little more authority into it. "Terabyte, please lower your mask. It is standard procedure for all mechs attending this ceremony to lower their masks or visors."
"I-I ask that an exception be made in my case. I w-can't do that sir." She answered finally, refusing to meet the Matrix-bearer's piercing gaze.
If she'd been looking at him, she'd have seen the sadness in his optics as he spoke again, no longer requesting it of her, but ordering that she obey. "Terabyte. I can make no exceptions without a legitimate reason. Lower your battle mask now, or this ceremony cannot take place."
Meaning her mission would be good as scrapped. She had no choice. Carefully wiping all emotion from her face-plates, Terabyte slowly pulled the battle mask down, keeping her helm down. She could hear the almost inaudible sounds of the other Autobots, each of them shifting to get a better look at her face. She couldn't exactly blame them though. Had Soundwave one day decided to raise his visor, she most certainly would be among those unable to resist a curious glance.
She felt bare. Open. It felt to her as if she'd just opened a window to her spark and set up neon lights all around her that constantly announced how she felt. No one could be trusted with that. And now, for the first time since Protihex, she had lowered her mask for a group of mechs she didn't even know aside from their files. A slight shiver ran down her struts as she forced a nervous smile onto her face.
Optimus nodded and cleared his vocalizer again, returning everyone's attention to the matter at hand. "You have served alongside us in many battles now, and proved your honest desire to join our ranks and make amends for the wrongs done during your time as a Decepticon. Now we welcome you among us by giving you the Autobot symbol. Does anyone in this room object?"
The old medic looked ready to make his objection, but after locking optics with the Prime for a moment, Ratchet swallowed his protest.
The Autobot leader picked up the branding tool and turned to her. "By accepting this insignia, you are not only accepting a symbol, but you are also accepting the high moral standards which it represents. Do you swear on your life that you will uphold the weak, oppose all forms and embodiments of evil, and live to protect the innocent?"
So that's what they professed to stand for. The very things she believed in. "I swear by my spark that I will, to the best of my ability, protect the innocent, oppose evil, and uphold the weak." Terabyte replied solemnly, rearranging the vow to better apply.
"And will you submit to your authorities and stand loyal to the Autobots and our cause?"
Here, Terabyte hesitated. She would not swear her allegiance to a cause or to a mech. "I swear… that I will submit to my authorities and stand loyal to the Autobots and your cause… for as long as they uphold the moral standards to which I've sworn allegiance."
After a moment of tense silence, Optimus smiled and nodded. "A wise alteration."
With that, the mech pressed the branding tool to the blank belt-plate where her Decepticon insignia had been. Terabyte hissed as the red hot iron seared the symbol into her armor. A tiny amount of steam billowed up from where the branding tool touched.
When Optimus lifted the iron, she took a moment to inspect it. The Prime's hands had been perfectly steady, resulting in a flawless weld. There on her own chassis shone the Autobot insignia.
She had planned to visit Skyquake later that rotation, but now she wasn't so sure. Terabyte already felt guilty about leaving him alone there for so long. Yet how would he react to her now that she bore the sign of the enemy? There was also the matter of Soundwave's orders… would she really be able to keep such a big secret from him? Up until now, she'd – well, if she was honest, she'd been procrastinating a visit because of that fear.
From his point of view, she'd been loyal to the cause for vorns and vorns. They fought side by side and won and lost many battles together over the vorns. And then he left on a long mission. Upon awaking, the friend he'd left behind had now betrayed the cause that they'd worked so hard to defend.
A slightly sick feeling sunk into her tanks. Terabyte sincerely hoped that she didn't look as disgusted as she was. The very symbol that she'd spent her entire adult life fighting against was now seared into her armor. Her next words were a hundred percent honest, but the tone she used was utterly fake.
"I don't deserve this."
Cliffjumper stepped forward and clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "Don't pull yourself down, TB. You've been an Autobot for a long time."
'I sure hope not.' She thought, forcing an empty laugh from her vocalizer, quickly turning back to the Prime. "Permission to raise my mask sir."
Letting out a huge sigh, the mech nodded. "Granted." To himself, Optimus smiled sadly. Maybe one day, the femme would learn to trust them more.