Duty and Deceit
Chapter 24
The Doubleminded
Alone in the dead of the night, the small femme laid on her berth, seeming to sleep peacefully. The faint golden glow of her bio-lights illuminated the room, casting elongated shadows across the violet walls around her as she recharged.
She bolted upright as if burnt, wide optics fearfully scanning the room. Her spark was pounding, vents blowing hard to cool her overheated systems. The femme's frame had overheated so rapidly that beads of condensation were forming on her armor.
As she stared at the shadows dancing on her walls, the femme shuddered, unable to banish the nightmarish images from her mind.
The faces of so many mechs that she'd terminated in the war floated through her processor, their final cries ringing in her helm. Behind them scrolled endless lists of names, body counts, conquered cities… The cries of the dead growing louder and louder, creating a mentally deafening roar.
She grabbed her helm in her hands, as if she could hold it together. Rocking back and forth the femme whispered over and over like a mantra, "Go away, go away, go away!"
Louder than any of the other voices rang Seaspray's, just before she let him go that rotation she'd met him for the second time since Protihex. Those words had been the only reason she hadn't offlined the Wrecker right then and there. She found out that Dreadwing offlined the mech less than a quartex afterwards.
"Terabyte… are you proud of what the Decepticons have made you? Are you proud of who you've become?"
Relentlessly his watery voice echoed through her mind over the roar of the others, numbers and faces still scrolling before her optics. For the rest of the night cycle the femme sat awake, with only their voices for company.
"Terabyte… Are you proud of who you've become?"
Previously on Duty and Deceit…
"It's Megatron… He's alive."
/Megatron may be Optimus' only hope for survival… You must enter his processor…/
Megatron straightened, having recognized her. "Ah yes, the little femme with the Decepticon mind, but sickeningly Autobot spark… One day, the choice will come, Lieutenant Terabyte, second in command of Communicatons and Intelligence. The day will come when you must choose: My cause or theirs."
Megatron smirked, no doubt at her widened optics. "Oh yes, you've worn both insignias now. But the symbol on your chassis means little either way, Lieutenant... What matters is whose side you are on in spark."
This was bad. This was very bad. She had told the Autobots that she was a low rank. The Lord Protector just called her bluff. In front of all of Team Prime. Not to mention that he was openly discussing her inner conflict for all to hear.
The Autobots were supposed to think she had that all figured out. That was why they'd given her their symbol. As physical proof that she had joined them and accepted their standards. Now Megatron was telling them that she was still trying to decide. And since their minds were currently merged, there was no logical way for her to deny it.
"Now, how goes the battle for Iacon?" Megatron asked her suddenly, completely changing the topic. "I trust it is going well. It is the last Autobot city left standing."
Sputtering for a moment, Terabyte tried to track the rapid subject change. "Uh... m-my lord, Cybertron has been dead for several vorns now... There has been no battle for Iacon."
The mech's silver optic ridges fell into a deep scowl. "How can this be?!"
Terabyte looked around as if she might see something to help her situation. She was about to attempt to answer her leader when she caught sight of Soundwave... and herself.
Phantom-her followed the silent head of communications dutifully. Terabyte couldn't help but notice just how she looked to others. Each step was perfectly measured, her posture stiffly straight. She looked strong, unfeeling... Though she supposed that was the point.
Unknowingly, Terabyte approached her phantom self. The raised mask mirrored her own, revealing only a small part of her face; the golden optics were nearly unreadable. The femme was only barely aware of Megatron's calculating gaze. Phantom-her walked straight through her and bowed slightly to the Lord Protector.
Terabyte watched as the phantom handed him a datapad before returning to her place behind Soundwave. Was that what she looked like from behind? She shrugged. She could look worse. Phantom's voice was stiffly formal, totally inflectionless. "The reports requested, my lord?"
The Lord Protector growled angrily, slashing through the phantom of Soundwave and herself. "You are real. They were not." She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued, chuckling lightly as he began to pace around her. "A cortical psychic patch, how unexpected..."
"I came for ans-"
Megatron cut her off, paying no attention to her. His tone grew dangerous. "If this is my subconscious... What are you doing in my head?!"
The two-wheeler shrank away from the angry mech, who'd bent down so close she could feel each furious exvent. Her armor clamped down tightly to her frame, her automatic response to avoid punishment. She felt every proximity alarm in her mind and body screaming for personal space.
"They sen-"
Again, the warlord spoke over the top of her, paying no heed to her. "The only way you could have entered my mind to this extent is via cortical psychic patch." Megatron stepped away to begin pacing once more. "But the question remains: what happened to me?"
"The Autobots destroyed the space bridge." Terabyte explained quietly, fearful of invoking his wrath. She needed to hurry up. She needed to get out of his head before her cover was totally scrapped. If it wasn't already too late. "You were at ground zero."
"And yet, you are in my head. So I am not yet one with the Allspark..." He frowned, humming thoughtfully to himself. "Tell me then, femme, do I still function?"
The two-wheeler nodded, but rushed on before the warlord could interrupt her again. "But there is someone you know who will not be for much longer without your help. He has been infected with Cybonic plague."
She failed to mention that someone's name, knowing that Megatron would much rather that the Prime died.
"Cybonic plague..." His tone grew more concerned than she'd ever heard it before. "Someone besides myself is- is unwell?"
Unable to leave the obvious question unanswered, Terabyte quietly said, "The Prime was infected during the investigation of an Autobot distress."
"Optimus!" Megatron roared, laughing cruelly. "Such irony! But after eons of endless battle, the mighty Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from the distant past."
"I came to request that you give me the cure." She said, her voice sounding much braver than she felt.
He cocked an optic ridge, his voice flat. "What makes you think I would save the life of my oldest enemy?"
As if on cue, a phantom of the Prime appeared. "Megatron, your treachery ends-"
With a disgusted grunt, the warlord cut the phantom in half, dissolving the interruption.
Inspiration struck her, and Terabyte pounced on the small bargaining chip she now held. "Because. If you do not, you will never get what you want more than anything."
"Oh, and just what is it you think I want most, femme?" He challenged, his tone very clearly indicating his skepticism.
"To kill Optimus Prime." She said it as if it were the most obvious thing. Somehow, she managed to hide her fear.
Megatron chuckled lightly. "Did you not see? I do slay Optimus by my own hand at will, whenever I please."
"'You are real, they were not.' Lord Megatron, you are only killing ghosts. The real Optimus is now dying by 'a simple virus from the distant past'. You cannot slay the dead." She countered, using his own words against him.
"After our deep history together: to not watch the spark ebb from his optics with my own..." The warlord murmured thoughtfully.
She nodded. "It would be a shame, to fight so long for the great cause, only for – to use the human term – Mother Nature to take the glory..."
Turning his back to her for a moment, Megatron spun around with the formula in his hand. "Well played, spy. Here is the chemical formula for the cure you seek. Not that I expect you to know how to read it."
Analyzing the cure, Terabyte made no indication that she understood the cure. She reached out to take the offered cure, but Megatron closed his fist around it, removing it from her mental reach. Hoping those listening would understand, she said, "I am ready to leave your processor."
He grinned, enjoying taunting her. The warlord didn't realize she had the cure already. "Not yet."
"I thought we had an agreement, Lord Megatron."
"Oh yes, but how am I to accomplish terminating Optimus, as you propose, while I am trapped here in a perpetual daydream?" He shook his helm, holding his hands and the cure behind his back. Megatron's manner was confident, she had played her part and now he was coming out with a trump card of his own. "You must guarantee my recovery or Optimus fades to gunmetal gray - the real Optimus."
Terabyte felt herself beginning to drain away from his mind and she whispered, "I needed to prove myself." She didn't want to lose her standing with the Decepticons. For the moment, she had a foothold in both factions. Megatron was right though... One day she would have to choose, but that was not today.
Megatron's face contorted in anger as, in her optics, the image of Kaon crumbled around them. "You were watching." He shouted, knowing the Autobots could hear him. "You tricked me! No! Take me with you! Take me!"
Terabyte's optics flew open, in her own frame, to be greeted with chaos. Vehicons were shooting at herself and Cliffjumper. Starscream was shrieking at the Vehicons to shoot them, while not even raising his own weapons.
She saw Soundwave and locked her optics on his visor, hoping he got the message. In a moment's notice, she inscribed her report on a tiny microchip – leaving out the coordinates to the base – which she then slipped into a small crevice blown in the wall as she stood and turned to the ground bridge portal behind them.
"C'mon, Short Stuff! Rise and shine, time to go!" Cliffjumper hollered as he backed towards the bridge, guns blazing as he covered her exit. Running through the portal, Terabyte looked back to make sure the red warrior made it through before continuing to the other side.
The bridge room was empty, but they could hear the others in the med-bay. Glancing at each other, the two Cybertronians walked into the med-bay to find everyone gathered. While she and Cliffjumper had been getting back out, Ratchet had been able to synthesize and distribute the cure.
"Steady..." Ratchet warned as he helped Optimus stand.
As soon as the medic let go, everyone broke into cheers and applause. Terabyte merely watched, her mind busy analyzing and re-analyzing her actions, wondering when the interrogation would begin. After all, they now knew that she'd lied to them.
"Please," Optimus said, weakly raising one hand to silence them. "Reserve the hero's welcome for my physician, and my lieutenant."
All around her, the Autobots and children cheered for her, but she didn't hear them. Her jaw dropped behind her mask and her golden optics blinked rapidly. In loose, shocked glyphs, Terabyte privately commed the Prime. /You knew?/
/Indeed. You need not have tried to deceive me, Terabyte./ He smiled at her sadly. /You were already of higher rank than you claimed that day I met you the first time in battle. I would have given you the same chance had you simply been honest. I ask that from n-/
The rest of the Prime's message was lost to her as a warning appeared on her HUD. Until then, she wasn't even aware that such an error was possible in a Cybertronian's processor.
Warning: Intruder Alert.
Warning: Intruder Alert.
Her optics grew wide in sheer terror as a far too familiar voice spoke in a singsong tone in her helm. I'm out... or should I say, in?
As Megatron's laugh echoed through her mind, Terabyte panicked. Lord Megatron was in her helm. She could feel his every thought, and he could feel hers. Opening her mouth to stutter a response, her armor shrank slightly as her mouth closed against her will.
Foolish femme! Be silent!
M-my lord... How-? She was so afraid that even her thought processes stuttered.
You know well enough. Megatron replied smugly. I see the answer in your mind. Do not waste my time with pointless queries.
With that, the warlord retreated to the back of her mind, closing himself off to bide his time. For what? Terabyte wondered too late. All she could sense through his barrier was a dark, scheming aura. Whatever he was planning would be very painful for the Autobots.
Of that much, she was sure.
One Orn Later
The past orn had passed painfully slow for Terabyte. Every waking moment she was aware of her leader's presence in her mind, each passing klick a struggle to maintain her cover, the ruse of normality, and her own mental stability.
All the while the dark, inaccessible portion of her mind grew, and with it her anxiety. Her leader was slowly but surely taking control of her mind and frame and she was helpless to stop him. The idea of being manipulated was unpleasant enough, but to be manipulated in such a physical sense... scared her.
"-was our newest Autobot who braved the mind of her betrayed leader to obtain the cure." Ratchet said, modestly passing an unheard praise off to her.
Terabyte returned her thoughts to reality at the mention of her. In the dark side of her mind, she felt a wave of anger roll over Megatron's barrier; restraining a shudder, the two-wheeler shook her helm. "Just doing my part. Earning my keep."
"Lucky for us, Megatron was still alive." Arcee commented, making Terabyte flinch away involuntarily. She hadn't noticed the blue and pink femme's approach.
"Did you just-" Terabyte started slowly, not believing her audio receptors.
Arcee laughed lightly. It amazed her just how relaxed the normally hostile femme was acting towards her since her branding. "Yeah. I actually said that."
Ratchet looked at Optimus, who'd just walked out of the CR chamber. "What matters is that you are on the mend, Optimus, while Megatron is-"
"Cliffjumper tried his best to off him. But we were... evicted before we could see the end." She could feel the warlord carefully monitoring her every word, prepared and able to silence her if he so wished.
'I sincerely hope Knockout saved the body...' The spy thought as she left the med-bay to return to her quarters, knowing that Megatron's body would be her only chance to regain her mental freedom.
It is only a matter of time before Optimus discovers that all is not right with you, femme. Megatron spoke for the first time in the orn since he arrived in her mind. In order for me to escape your conflicted mind, I must reclaim my body... by taking total control over yours!
My lord? She asked respectfully, certain that she didn't want another in control of her frame.
Your mind disgusts me, femme. Megatron snarled, waves of negative feeling radiating from him. You wear the frame and manner of an adult, yet your mind is that of a lost youngling crying for her parents.
Have you never cried for your parents, Lord Megatron?
A small, quickly repressed wave of sorrow snuck through his mental wall, along with a brief image of a charred and twisted frame. My parents were weak. The warlord continued with all the strong, perfect conviction she remembered from his great speeches - the very few she'd been able to hear. The weak must perish to make way for the strong. Such is the way of life.
Before she could stop the rebellious thought, Terabyte made the mental retort, I'm not sure I want to live your kind of 'life'.
You claim loyalty to my cause, yet you know very little of what it is. Megatron spat. Peace through tyranny has little to do with justice and mercy, lieutenant. I do not know how you have lived among us blindly for so long.
I fought for what I thought we believed... She replied, laying down on her berth for the night cycle. Now I question the foundation of the cause for which I've fought my whole life.
Next Rotation
"Okay, Cliffjumper, you're with 'Bee. TB, you can be with Bulk." Miko said firmly.
She shared a look with Bulkhead. "Don't you think the teams would be better balanced a little differently? Maybe with me and Cliff' on one team… Bulkhead and Bumblebee on the other?"
The pink-haired girl grinned morbidly and shook her head, her hair flopping around with the motion. "Nope! The referee has spoken."
Bulkhead groaned, remembering the girl's first rule for the game. "And the referee's word is law."
Terabyte stared at the Lobbing ball in her hands. Then she glanced over at the large green Wrecker who was to be her team mate. Her mind was not really interested in the game, but she didn't want to arouse suspicions.
Miko had just finished explaining the last few rules of basketball to deaf audios. "Basketball by way of Cybertron." The girl announced happily. "Let the games begin!"
Bulkhead passed the ball to her, Terabyte's hands only catching it by reflex. She needed to focus.
The spy locked optics with Cliffjumper and Bumblebee on the third round, judging her opponents' plans, before making a run for the hoop. She didn't 'dribble', but they had agreed to skip this particular part of the game, seeing as their ball was heavy scrap-metal rather than rubber. She'd scored first by sheer luck, but she wasn't very good at the game.
Before she was close enough to shoot, the grinning red Autobot relieved her of the ball with extreme ease due to her lack of concentration. He and Bumblebee passed it back and forth, keeping it away from her and Bulkhead before easily getting the ball through the hoop. At the blow of the whistle, their audience of Jack and Raf started clapping and cheering, Cliffjumper meanwhile doing a little victory dance, whilst Bumblebee did the 'robot'.
"Woohoo, oh yeah! Who's the best?" Cliffjumper sang in an annoyingly smug tone.
"Best two out of three!" Miko, their 'referee' hollered.
Cliffjumper grabbed the ball and passed it to the yellow scout, but Terabyte managed to intercept, the force of his pass making her slide backwards a few feet. Attempting to focus better this round, Terabyte passed the ball over Bumblebee to Bulkhead and had a clear run to the hoop.
Her suspicion that the other team was going easy on her was confirmed when Cliffjumper called from where he stood, "C'mon, TB... Get in the game!"
She kept running, hearing Raf cheer her on. "TB, you're in the clear! Dunk it!"
Bulkhead – fumbling the ball a little bit first - passed the ball to her and she caught it, finishing the run to the hoop and poising herself to score.
Just as she reached the hoop, her frame went stiff. A memory flooded into her mind, her yellow optics widening as she realized it was not her own.
He was so close! His Terrorcon army was so close, he could almost touch the first one's servos. Curse Optimus and his buffoons, he was so close!
A furious roar burst from his vocalizer as all around him, so many quartex of work now literally exploded in his faceplates. For a brief moment, amongst the fiery agony burning through his whole frame, the warlord saw beauty in the purple, green, and blue explosions. Such marvelous beauty, working hand in hand with destruction...
"Yo, Terabyte! Quit hogging the ball!" Cliffjumper called impatiently, shattering Megatron's memory.
She felt Megatron's fury, and before she knew what was happening, her arm was moving back and throwing the Lobbing ball straight at the mech's head with all the strength she had. The warlord quickly raised the mental barrier again, smoldering wrath filling her mind.
Bumblebee picked up the ball and examined a helm-shaped dent in it, whirring and buzzing in amusement. "Hard to tell which was dented more…" He snickered as he teased Cliffjumper, grinning widely. "You or the ball?"
Bulkhead looked like he couldn't decide if he should be scolding his team mate or teasing his opponent. "Uh… Is that allowed in 'basketball'?"
"Whoa!" Miko shouted, blowing hard on her whistle as she climbed down the ladder. "Eh... No. Flagrant foul!"
She heard Jack muffling a laugh as he muttered to Raf, "Dodgeball by way of Cybertron."
"Not funny." Cliffjumper snapped good-naturedly at Bumblebee as he rubbed his helm, which was now sporting several new scuffmarks and a crushed horn. "Uh, Terabyte? This," he gestured to his helm, "this isn't the hoop."
The two-wheeler groaned. "Sorry?" She asked tentatively, "I don't know what got into me..."
He cocked his helm at her curiously, moving towards her slowly, cautiously. "Hey, you okay?"
"I think I'm going to call it a game... maybe you could get Arcee or Ratchet to take my place… What's the score?"
Cliffjumper frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer. "Yeah, sure. Two to three in our favor... You sure you're okay?"
She nodded stiffly. "I'm fine, Cliff. Really. Just worn out."
Leaving before he, or anyone else, could ask any more questions, Terabyte was halfway to the mess hall when her frame went stiff again, Megatron keeping her still.
Now, if I am to return to my own frame, I must first restore it. How did I escape high emission? Megatron asked himself thoughtfully.
The icy touch of void space licked at his aching, battered frame. He was barely alive. Opening his violet optics, the Lord Protector was greeted by the disgusting sight of his sniveling Second in Command.
Pain wracked his frame as the Seeker tore a shard of purple crystal from his chassis; Starscream's lip-plates were curled into a smug grin. He felt the darkness of unconsciousness gripping his mind once more and with a static filled groan, blackness embraced his unwilling mind.
Megatron snarled, his murderous rage boiling in her helm. Hundreds of various prolonged, agonizing, cruelly torturous ways to kill Starscream filled her processors as the warlord fumed. So much pure hate rolled off him, Terabyte felt her morning Energon rising in her tanks. Such desire to torture and kill his own second in command…
Of course. Dark Energon. Starscream.
One Orn, Two Rotations Since Megatron's Escape
Terabyte stared blankly at the roof above her. Her energy levels were at twenty-eight percent - Autobot Energon was not nearly so refined as Decepticon, making it's effects wear off much quicker - and she hadn't recharged last night cycle because of the warlord within. The scheming, fuming darkness that she'd come to know as Megatron now filled more than half of her processor.
Getting up off her berth, the femme began making her way to the mess hall for fuel. Once she reached the hall however, her pedes stopped. Terabyte felt herself turn and walk to the main chamber. It was as if she was merely an observer, watching a strange holovid in first person view.
Megatron was controlling her movements. Instinctively, the spy resisted each step, sensing the warlord's furious determination. Anyone or thing that dared get in his way would have a lifetime guarantee that it would never do so again.
She had a feeling that that unfortunate fellow wouldn't be needing that guarantee for very long.
A wise conclusion, femme. Megatron praised, even his mental tone unreadable. Growing slightly annoyed as he continued, And yet you resist me. Why?
She looked down at the medical instrument that he had stopped in front of. I could dispose of you just as easily as any other. The warlord threatened. Once I have my body back, yours will have served its purpose.
A flicker of fear passed through her and she forced herself into submission. She now knew that the mech would have no qualms against off-lining her on a whim. F-forgive me, my lord. A momentary lapse of judgment that will not happen again, Lord Megatron.
Yes... obey my will, femme... The unspoken threat hung in her mind. Obey, or suffer the wrath of Megatron.
As he spoke, Terabyte felt her servos wrap around the instrument, crushing it loudly. She winced as the bent metal dug into her hand.
Ratchet stomped out of his office, yelling, "Bulkh- Terabyte!?" He seemed surprised that the green Wrecker was not actually responsible. "I needed that!"
Not knowing what else to do, Terabyte put the ruined tool down, the warlord having relinquished his control over her for the time being. "Sorry."
"Sorry? What has gotten into you?" The medic growled.
"I am having... visions. Memories not my own." She explained carefully. For the moment, she couldn't have cared less about her mission or her duty. She had had the angry warlord in her helm long enough.
"Hmm... odd." Frowning for a moment, the medic steered her to med-bay, sitting her down on one of the berths. His optics dimmed as he commed someone, then the medic began running several scans over her.
"Well?" Terabyte asked impatiently, struggling to maintain in control of herself. She could feel the warlord's frustration and his angry roars were making it difficult to concentrate.
Ratchet hummed, but didn't answer, instead saying, "Lay down, I need to run a deeper scan."
She complied, and instantly the Autobot medic plugged several wires into her frame. Her finials twitched. Pede-falls and human footsteps were rapidly approaching the med-bay.
"Ratchet, what is the situation?"
The Prime's regal tone instantly brought Terabyte into an upright position, painfully jerking out several of the medic's cords in the process. Ratchet, with his wonderful berth-side manners, roughly shoved her back into the berth with a grunt.
"Stay put." Turning to the Prime, the medic answered his question, "Terabyte is complaining of intermittent visions… Waking nightmares, if you will."
Raf clambered up onto the berth to stare into her optics with his own worried eyes. "But you said Tera was fine when you checked her over last week."
Terabyte flinched slightly at the shortened version of her name, but decided to let it pass with the youngling. It was strange, really, the way she'd come to trust the squishy so quickly. It had hardly even been four quartex since she met him. Yet she trusted him completely. Then again, he was only a human child… no past angers to smooth over first.
"Physically, but the experience she endured seems to be having a temporary effect on her psyche." Ratchet explained patiently. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought he cared… The strange thing was, that even though she did know better, she still couldn't shake the feeling that they were all genuinely concerned for her – a Decepticon defector's – wellbeing. "This induced power-down should force Terabyte's mind to rest and recover."
Cliffjumper, whose horn was still crushed from their basketball game earlier, scowled impatiently at the medic. "Well? If it's gonna fix her, why haven't you done it yet?"
She sat up slowly, for the second time tearing the attached wires from her frame. "I don-"
"Ah-ah-ah! I said stay put!" Ratchet interrupted her, once again shoving her back into the berth and reattaching the wiring. "Move another micron and I'll weld you to that berth."
Behind her somewhere, Terabyte heard an embarrassed chuckle from Cliffjumper. "I think you better listen to the Doc this time, TB… He's not kidding."
The two-wheeler laughed, hoping she wasn't moving too much… just in case. "Advice from experience, I take it?"
She took his awkward silence for a 'yes'.
"Initiating forced power-down." Ratchet said, very pointedly ignoring everyone in the room.
As Terabyte felt her systems shutting down, she heard a darkly pleased laugh from the Megatron-filled side of her processor. Yes… Force your mind to rest and recover… Allowing mine total control!
Panic struck her in her last moment of consciousness. She screamed, trying to tear out the cords before it was too late, feeling the void engulfing her. "Wait! Stop! This is what Megat-"
Her vocalizer shut off with a hiss of static, and the Prussian blue frame fell limp against the berth as darkness swallowed her mind.