It beat at him, day after day, night after night. Not physically, although that did add to the problem, but mentally. Steady pulses, like little electric shocks, that never ended. Whispers in the darkness that never relented.

"Give in to me," the crab whispered to him. "Let me be whole again."

But he resisted. He knew what would happen if he didn’t, and anything was better than that. To set the crab’s spark free in his body would be to give in to the murderous impulses that clamored inside it. It would be victory for the crab and death for all that faced them.

"Would that be so bad? Let that idiotic saurian and his pathetic troops suffer!"

But the Maximals? They, too, would die.

"Again, would that be bad?"

But he knew them, had been a fellow fighter by their sides, had even been...friends...with them; Rattrap, Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Cheetor, and Silverbolt.

"So?"

He could not betray their lives. It would be against his honor.

"You are Megatron’s drone!"

True. The programming Megatron had placed in his new body controlled him, but he knew that he could break through if he needed to. Why didn’t he, then? If his mind and honor were intact, why did he submit to the Predacon commander’s rule? Why follow orders that placed his former comrades in danger? Why did he not free himself?

"Yes, why don’t you?"

Because in reality he was NOT strong enough to resist the eternal, immortal pulse of the spark in his chest. The constant whispers would wear him down, confuse him until he would only be able to side with Rampage. His spark wasn’t really present; his mind was merely borrowing the one placed in his chest. Had Megatron realized what he had done by cloning a new form from his old enemy, he would have destroyed him and put Rampage’s spark back in the controlling box.

But he didn’t know that anything but a drone was inside this serrated body. He didn’t know about the endless whispers or the honorable mind. Why? Because it suited this mind better to remain captured by the obedient programming, even though he had the strength to overcome it. Because the whispers would overcome HIM once he was free, and he would be helpless to resist this enemy inside him. It was no shame on his memory that he follow the orders of the mad tyrant; he was thwarting the plans of someone much more dangerous by staying this way. A subtle plan, but it suited him.

"You are clever, but still a fool. You cannot remain like this forever! I can wait longer than you can; you will have to break the programming some day to save your precious future if Megatron continues with his plots. Give in to me, and you feel the glorious fear we can cause together..."

The whisperer still tried to drive him mad, but the whispered lies would not succeed. Perhaps he WOULD be forced to live again, but not now. And Rampage might someday die. That may kill the piece of spark within his own chest, but...that did not matter. He had died once. There was nothing to fear. He might be free if the crab died. Then he would fight Megatron again.

But for now he was content to stay behind the walls of the programming, safe from the whispers. The obedience programs restricted Rampage, too, as long as he held the crab’s spark. In the future, the whispers might end. For now, he would keep the crab from being free. Maybe he might live again, honorable and free.

"I will never die, Dinobot!"

Was that a flicker of doubt he felt from Rampage..?

A clawed hand touched a silvery chest, and Dinobot looked across the control room at the massive form of his half-brother. Rampage didn’t say a word, but Megatron could have sworn something passed between them. The crab turned back to his console with a glare and a muttered curse at the Transmetal 2. With his face locked in a snarl, Megatron couldn’t tell what the raptor was feeling as Dinobot gazed at the huge crab.

But, for a moment, it almost looked like he smiled.

Until death do us part, Rampage...

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