71. Obsession

His lean shape was hanging upside down from the ceiling. The footsteps of guards every now and again would perk his attention as he counted the days. A breakout would be nice – but for that he lacked the energy. They’d drained him before securing him for obvious reasons, so the only thing he could do for now was to rest. To rest and dream.

Dreaming… it was all there was to do, whenever you were stuck on this boulder. And what he loved to dream about the most was revenge. Revenge furthered on by the hunger he experienced while lingering here. Hunger for the energy he’d need to break away from here, hunger for screams of terror and pain that only one robot could truly allay.

He closed his eyes and let his mind wander – preying on the frequency he used to corrupt so easily… but it was nowhere to be found… nowhere near. He wondered… imagined… wanted for it to be there… until it was. Without putting much thought on as to why it would suddenly appear his mind grasped for the frequency, calling to it, an unknown craving growing in his chest as he waited. Instead of distracting him from his hunger, it seemed to be resurfacing now, stronger than ever before. His tongue lashed violently in his mouth when his mind believed to catch the sound of treads – his treads.

Then the sound stopped.

His head reeled to find him standing just in front of his cell. His lively optics gleamed so brightly, so lively, the hum of his engine vibrated so loudly, the smell of electricity emitted from his charged self…
And he stared, the expression on his face shocked beyond belief – glued on the spot as his team was marching along ahead of him.
‘Yes’, a soundless whisper carried along the silent datastream, causing the little robot to flinch, ‘They won’t even know you’re gone.’
He cringed and fidgeted, looking around, and trying to catch up, but he was already in his head, had already grasped his mind, red eyes glowing feverishly with what little energy was left in this yearning body, blocking the insistent command that was being given to the robot’s treads. Don’t you see? It was useless…
‘Resist me not, Little One,’ his voice purred bar of any recognition from the outside world. You knew why – didn’t you? ‘For you are mine.’

Little One… he knew he had a name, yet despite his teammates calling it every now and again, he had never bothered to pay attention. ‘Little One’ was all he called him, and so long as it linked with his processor he had no need for things as pointless as names.

He closed his eyes and drank in the static. He had to get the Little One in here somehow; the hunger was driving him mad, nearly dizzying him, forcing him to writhe where he clung. Hating the thought of letting his food out of his eye-sight, hating to send the little robot away, he infiltrated and left a single commando in the robot’s data banks – one he wouldn’t remember knowing of until it was too late. With that he buried himself in his cape like a bat in its wings and hid from the world, encouraging the Little One to flee – as he would not watch.
But he’d feel his presence fading.

He’d be back later…

Breaking out had never been the initial problem so long as there was a guard around. But seeing how PC-7 was such a desolate planet, escaping from it hadn’t really ever had a point. Unless he’d manage to hijack a cruiser he wouldn’t be able to make the chase with only one or two guard-bots as his energy-supply. But now that the Little One had come to him things changed entirely. All he’d have to do was wait… be patient… and suppress this obstructing hunger for a little while longer…

His optics lit up the second he noticed the familiar sound of treads again, followed by additional energy signatures.

Lovely.

Like a marionette he played the Little One in its trance to get the guard-bot, in order to open up his cell; and he even went so far as to bring two. He made Little One make up a little fib about a much-needed relocation due to a grave ‘security risk’ or something equally ridiculous and after all the ‘security preparations’ had been taken care of (rubber gloves, I mean – come on) and the sound of his cell unlocking played in his mind like a teasing jingle, something inside the vampire snapped and with a feral howl he burst out of the cell, breaking past all of their precious ‘security’ and slamming right into one of the guard bots. He didn’t bother to drink much, just enough to put these bucket-heads out of order, nothing but an appetizer, for his main price was standing there, semi-conscious as he stared at the brutal murder before his eyes.

A cold smile played on his feature as he advanced eerily slow. Yes, Little One, gasp and gape. He didn’t bother to lay hand upon your mind given what was to come next, for he wanted you to be all there and scream, scream and cry his name in terror as you would slowly succumb to his mind-control; willingly, suppliantly even, to escape the pain of your protesting engine.

He wouldn’t let you.

He wanted to go slow about this, make it last but the hunger churning inside him made him pounce upon the robot instead, hauling him up all the way to the inside of his cell, where no one would be able to witness too easily. The force of the impact had been strong enough to leave a little crack on Little One’s helmet, but his eyes would merely stare, with that ignorant expression of disbelief. Every little spot on his body conducted the electricity sparking in the air as his breath hitched in anticipation and he arched to strike. He hadn’t even realized when his teeth had made the contact for he was already drawing the sweet energy, his head starting to spin with excitement.
But something was off… there were no screams… there were supposed to be screams… why where there no screams… he’d been expecting screams…

And then there were shouts – not exactly screams – and they were rather distant… coming closer… Only when he’d found his victim yanked away from his claws, did the fanged robot bother to open his eyes. A group of guard-bots had pulled one of their own away from him and glared at him, past the bars that kept him secured.
After a short moment of wonder Nos-4-A2 hovered away from the guards with a disdainful growl, creating some space. Space he’d be needing after this. Within the next few minutes now they’d be swarming all over the place and raise the security; take his robots and replace them with organics. Great.
And Nos-4-A2 would be able to do nothing but watch.
Watch… and dream.

Dreaming… it was all there was to do, whenever you were stuck on this boulder.