Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     He observes… That’s what he’s always done, whether for a hobby or work, they have always watched other bots run around frantic, manic, hysterically, happily, angrily, blankly, lovingly… Since they were created they’ve done this. It’s a natural response.

     And they have been observing until (and will be after) this very moment. They pause from their absent-processer typing and stand up straight. Rolling his shoulders back in hopes to help ease a growing ache in his shoulders, he takes a moment to observe the others in the control room...

     Megatron; the Decepticon’s (as described by him) mighty leader… sat on a throne of sorts doing nothing short of recharging with his optics open. Megatron had praised Soundwave’s borderline dangerous work ethic before but seemed to not take those ideas to heart. Soundwave couldn’t say he was disappointed in his leader, lest they upset him. They will keep that thought to themselves.

     Starscream; the cowardly second in command, and currently MIA… Soundwave expected as much. Cameras had shown about an hour ago that Starscream headed off to the flight bridge, so he was most certainly doing something he shouldn’t. They just wish Starscream would pull more weight, rather than attempt to kill Megatron every month or so. 

     Shockwave; is another productive bot, a secondary much more logical SIC, and the local crazy scientist. Currently? Working away in his lab. Soundwave had no hard opinion of Shockwave other than that he needed a break desperately (and perhaps to be locked in a room to make him take a break). They refuse to acknowledge Lazerbeak's point that they also need a break.

     Knockout; their artful head medic, currently attending to a mind-numbingly empty medbay. And an endlessly helpful bot, but endlessly concerned with his paint. Otherwise, one of the kindest and most sassy bots to Soundwave and Lazerbeak.

     Breakdown; oh poor Breakdown, a great soldier and assistant medic when online… He was quite nice to Lazerbeak. Therefore was positively swell in Soundwave’s datapad. Soundwave felt bad Breakdown ended the way he did.

     Lazerbeak; their beloved creation, and Megatron's smallest spy. All but three bots on the Nemesis think she is nothing but a drone (and likely think he is one as well), but she is his life. If it weren't for the Decepticon cause, Soundwave would solely focus on Lazerbeak. He will always be willing to give his life for hers.

     And Soundwave; themselves, the third in command and Megatron's best spy. Not to mention, by far the most productive and loyal of the Decepticon not only high command, but the whole 'con army. He is half convinced that if he left the cause it would certainly fall apart at the seams— not that they would ever leave the cause!

     The Veihcons? Soundwave couldn’t tell anybot, most of the Veihcons were scared into submission and those who weren’t were made examples. They, as a collective, at least have the decency to steer clear of Soundwave (and by extension Lazerbeak).

     They sighed, work isn’t going to finish itself… Soundwave turns back to their console, resuming their endless search for relics and the like.

Chapter Text

     It has only been a half-cycle. He is fine, everything is fine. This high-command meeting has been going on for half a cycle, 6 Earth hours. The overhead lights aren’t buzzing, they aren’t too bright, Megatron’s voice isn’t that loud, Knockout's paint job isn't that brightly colored, Starscream’s tapping isn’t morphing into scraping, Shockwave isn’t standing too close to him, and he isn’t noticing all of this. They are fine, everything is fine. 

     “Soundwave, the numbers in our energon stores.” Megatron demands. It's borderline yelling at him... he thinks. Megatron’s voice isn’t that loud… They try to convince themselves of it. Then, they nod, presenting the requested information on their visor. 

     Megatron nods back, continuing to talk about something Soundwave will have to listen back to later. Starscream starts speaking, but they aren’t listening. All Soundwave hears is the raspy and grating sound of Starscream's vocalizer. The voices change again and Soundwave is honestly not sure who is talking at this point.

     They aren’t sure how much time has passed when Megatrons loudly announces the end of the meeting. Soundwave is grateful that the other high command are quick with leaving. They silently stop the recording and begin to leave the meeting room. 

     “Soundwave.”

     Of course, they’re only stopped when they have an urgent need to leave this Primus damned room. Sending a short prayer to Primus (or Unicron, really whichever would listen to him), he turns back to face Megatron.

     “I expect the meeting report back by the end of the next cycle. Be quick about it.” Megatron appears annoyed… probably because of something they didn’t hear over the offensive cacophony of noise beforehand. They opt to simply nod and walk out of the room. 

     Walking down the hall to their (thankfully well-hidden) hab suite, they take stock of their well-being. Stress? At an all-time high.  Audials? Upsettingly sensitive to every sound he’s ever heard.  Physically? They’re bound to unexpectedly collapse at any moment… at least they feel like it. There are no HUD notifications warning of such. Optics? Also, upsettingly sensitive. 

     Somehow, the usually dimly lit and quietly humming halls he stays in are annoyingly bright and loud. The humming from the engines of the ship, although usually quiet, seems way too loud to be correct. Soundwave quickly slips into his hab suit. He takes a seat on the floor in the unlit and soundproofed room with a sigh. He, himself has no idea why his processor is like this… Everything and everybot are fine then suddenly everything becomes too much...

     Soundwave pushes themselves up off the ground. They can’t react like a sparkling to this, so they’re going to deal with it like a fully upgraded mech. Which (in the Decepticon world) means; they’re going to take these feelings, shove them to the back of their processor and promptly forget about them. Then, they are going to get back to work and make up for the two breems of work lost.  

...And with that last thought, Soundwave forced himself back out into the halls of the Nemesis.

Chapter Text

     What a stupid, miss-calculated, absurd, horrifyingly botched mission! Lazerbeak is on a spy mission, right? Guess what Soundwave onlines from his recharge from?! The information that Megatron decided to send some Veihcons out as well to another separate mission, and those very Veihcons had shot down Lazerbeak because they thought she was one of the human’s drones!

     “-the Veihcons were not aware Lazerbeak was out at the same time as them. She is currently in medbay.” Megatron finished his long-winded explanation of what happened, that Soundwave had tuned out of almost a breem ago. Shouldn’t he have informed them? He wasn’t told these Decepticons were being sent out! Invent and outvent, Soundwave. They needed to calm down. Nothing is going to be solved running around in a panic… 

     But then again this is Lazerbeak he’s talking about. Promptly sending an unseen glare and a multitude of silent curses in various Cybertornian dialects at Megatron, they spun on their heel and rushed off to the medbay. Uncharacisticly ignoring all his work for the day in favor of his minibot. 

     Soundwave did not need to announce that he was coming to medbay. Knockout knew that if Lazerbeak was there her creator wouldn’t be too far behind. But it never ceased to amaze Knockout how a normally quiet and very reserved mech like Soundwave could become so noticeably upset with his concern for Lazerbeak.

     On that note, Soundwave walks into the medbay. Knockout waits for Soundwave to make their way over to Lazerbeak before addressing them.

     Knockout nods to Soundwave. Greeting them with, “A pleasure, Soundwave.” And his expected smile.

     They greet him with a nod. Their most important question scrolling across their visor; Is she okay?

     Knockout answers with another nod. “As stable as stable can be.” He gestures towards the minibot on the medical berth. “She should wake within one to four cycles.”

     Soundwave appeared to deflate at that information, and the tense energy left their frame. A single word appears on their visor next; Thanks. Then an emoticon pooped up; (^-^)

     “It’s my job,” Knockout shrugs. Turning away from the two-bot family. He began to walk out of the medbay, pausing to say, “Comm me if you need anything, and when she wakes up.” KO doesn’t need to look back to know Soundwave heard him.

     About an orbital cycle after the initial injury, Lazerbeak is beginning her reduced duty shifts. Thank Primus she’s healing fine, but Soundwave, being her creator and all, still insisted on checking her systems every few cycles. A nervous habit he developed long before Lazerbeak was created, back when Megatron was known as Megatronus and still an up-and-coming gladiator. Lazerbeak never got annoyed with her creator’s anxiety about her well-being. Her being mostly raised shortly before and during the war is enough of a reason.

     And that’s where she found herself now, held close to Soundwave’s chassis, sitting on Soundwave’s berth, in their hab suite, while he checked her systems in case something had changed from the last cycle he did this. And she's content with this. 

     Then, came Soundwave’s voice, “Lazerbeak: status: functional.” Mostly static and nothing but a whisper from disuse because of his vow of silence. But she could make out Soundwave’s words just fine. He only ever broke the vow when speaking to her, and no one knew and would never know.

     She chirps at her creator, and he sets her down on the berth. He in turn flashes a simple smiley emoji on his visor. She nods and flies out of the hab suite.

     Once she was gone, Soundwave sits there for longer than he should have… Silently worrying about her. Soon enough, Megatron comms them about needing them to look at a new possible energon mine. No breaks can be afforded during a war, right? They stand up to get back to work and subconsciously tally everything Megatron has done with complete disregard for Lazerbeak.

Chapter Text

     Soundwave had been called to speak with Megatron, one-on-one. It doesn't sound too bad but with Megatron's current infinity for dark energon... He's entirely unpredictable, adding that on top of the fact that they don't have any idea what this meeting is about... Let's say Soundwave is very much less than comfortable.

     Soundwave is a spy, a soldier, a creator, a communications specialist, and a Decepticon. He is loyal to a fault, he shouldn't be scared to face his leader. The leader that they have considered a friend for vorns. They shouldn't be afraid of Megatron. Even if this friend-- this leader has become what would be called a 'drug addict'... That is if dark energon is considered a drug by local Earth standards.

     But they should stay on task. Arrive, attend, and finish this unexpected meeting. Soundwave looks at the door lock, suspicion inching further to the front of their processor by the nano-cycle. A silent sigh escaped them as they unlocked the door, and made their way into the empty meeting room.

     "Ah, Soundwave! It's great to see you well." Megatron ...cheerfully..? greets Soundwave.

     They simply nod back, coupled with a questioning servo-gesture. They elect to ignore the questionable undertones of Megatron's voice... they've never been able to tell the difference well anyway.

     And the loud leader continues with a firm voice, "You must be wondering why you're here. I've called upon you, Soundwave, to advise me on a critical choice. I've already gotten opinions from all the other high officers. I've been waiting for yours."

    Soundwave nods again. A question mark appears on his visor, coupled with a slight head tilt.

     Megatorn's smile crosses his face... No, the Decepticon top commander's smile... They've been told it looks unsettling and sinister, and they can only assume that's what this smile means. "Now, I must ask, how are the energon storages?"

     They present the stats on their visor. The stored energon is placed at an all-time low, and consumption at an all-time high... an unsustainable input and output rate.

     And the leader continues speaking at them. His sight drifts away to something else and not the bot he is speaking to. "Ah.. the same as the last time I checked then... Well, I'll assume you know what I'm going to talk about then; cutting rations. I wanted your opinion on which group of bots can take a minor ration cut." 

     Soundwave stands straighter, officially agitated... just great. More ration cutting. Judging from their past conversations about this, everybot below high command is likely to have the rations cut. They vocalize this with chopped-up recordings, "--High Command--rations--cut--" They raise a servo to make it clear they aren't done yet. They pause shortly as they search their memory files for more recordings, "Ration cuts for--everybot else--not recommended--"

     Megatron's dead stare was... unexpected. He looks upset..? Angry? Bothered? Something that should scare them, or at least would scare Starscream... or anybot else with a sense of self-preservation greater than anybot working under Optimus Prime. Megatron lets a heavy sigh out, appearing to collect his thoughts. Then, he speaks again, "Soundwave. I would like a detailed explanation as to why you think this is the correct course of action."

     Megatron sounds stern, but the sternness doesn't put off Soundwave... he's just asking for reasons. Only an explanation. Instead of vocalizing via recordings, or scrolling text across his visor, Soundwave forwards a private message to Megatron explaining his reasoning;

Everybot lower than High Command has had their rations cut at least twice. Anymore will put some of those bots on dangerously low amounts of energon. For the rest of them, it will decrease the energy they have available, thus further reducing the productivity rate of the Decepticons.

High Command has not had their rations sustainably cut yet. Therefore, we, as High Command have the responsibility to take the cut. If not for the health of those below then for the betterment of the Decepticons as a group.

     Megatron makes a face when he receives and reads the comm. Soundwave, no matter how hard they try, can't tell whether it's positive or negative. 

     There was an uncomfortably long pause before Megatron spoke again, "Now, tell me Soundwave, are any of these opinions of yours influenced by the life of your little drone? Or does it keep its opinions to itself?"

     It? What is he talking about? Drone..? Lazerbeak. He's talking about Lazerbeak. Soundwave shook their head at their leader. And before they could evaluate the risk properly they spoke out with their neglected voice box, "Megatron: desist. Lazerbeak: a bot: She not 'it'." Their voice was full of loud static and nothing but a murmur. Their words sliced through the room, leaving a heavy tension in the air.

     Megatron stared dumbly at Soundwave for a second... slowly processing Soundwave's actions and words. Then, his faceplates morphed into an unreadable expression. Sternly he said, "You are dismissed," and turned away from Soundwave.

     Soundwave, rarely one to disobey, turned and left the room. As they walked back to their workstation secretly hoped that they wouldn't see the rations cut from everyone under high command, and wouldn't have to start sneaking extra rations just to make sure Lazerbeak would be fully energized... They'll figure it out. Just like they used to back on Cybertron, they just need to trust themself...

Chapter Text

     Lazerbeak watched her creator from her perch on top of a monitor a ways away from them. Soundwave has been standing there, connected and typing away at the console for groons. Every time Lazerbeak attempted to drag Soundwave away from the console, Soundwave would make an excuse about the Decepticons not being able to afford a break and something else Lazerbeak tuned out of. 

     Now that Lazerbeak thinks about it, Soundwave is something of what a human would call a 'workaholic'. Maybe they should be put under the definition of 'workaholic'.  Oh well, time to channel her inner Autobot and foil some plans...

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     Now... this may not be the best plan... Does she care? No, not really. Plus, Watching the rest of the high command scramble to figure out the problem would be hilarious! Soundwave might be mad that she pulled the fire alarm on the ship, but they need a break ASAP. So, this is for a good cause. 

     And thus with that reasoning under her mental tool belt, she activates the fire alarm. Said alarm goes off, sending nearly everybot (minus her creator and Shockwave) into a panic. Most bots on the ship completely abandoned the evacuation plan and just beelined for the closest exit. A few others clumsily followed the usual plan with little success, and others (Starscream) weren't even there to begin with. 

     As she quietly laughs to herself, she gets a comm from Soundwave.

     SW > Lazerbeak: pulled alarm?

     The message is in their simple speaking pattern. Lazerbeak, if she had any servos to count on, could count the number of times she'd heard Soundwave speak in complete sentences.

     LB > You needed a break, you workaholic! >:(

      A few seconds of silence, presumably for Soundwave to look up what 'workaholic' means.

     SW > Soundwave: not a workaholic. 

     LB > No! You are!

     SW > Soundwave: a hard worker. Lazerbeak: a child.

     LB > Gasp, how you hurt me, father. (˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

     More radio silence... was calling them father weird? Lazerbeak worried silently.

     SW > Soundwave: finding: Lazerbeak. (`･︿´･ )

     LB > ˚▱˚

     She's definitely in trouble now... She better get flying then... yikes. And with that, she flies off out of the ship. Soundwave tailing close behind her. And soon the two were out flying in the sky. Soundwave continued to chase her, but more for play than to actually reprimand her. Besides, both bots couldn't be happier with this.

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     The Autobots; Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and even the human kids, all stared silently at the distant Decepticon ship. Pouring out of it was the whole Decepticon army, accompanied by a distant blaring alarm. They all looked at each other, vocalizing their disbelief. 

     Only one watch noticed how two black bots, one much smaller than the other, zoomed out at the far end of the ship. The bots looked as if they were racing each other for fun, or were alarming bad at fighting. Ratchet couldn't tell and didn't want to know either, but he did note this under his information about Soundwave...

Chapter Text

     A lot of bots spend their free time talking to their friends, recharging, planning outings, or simply relaxing. But with Soundwave and Lazerbeak? Soundwave considered his forced breaks (primarily enforced by Lazerbeak) his free time. Lazerbeak, though, considered any of her time not doing anything explicitly ordered for her to do her free time.

     Thus this is where they're found. They were standing in a cafeteria waiting to grab Lazerbeak her ration and get the frag out. While Lazerbeak enjoyed the room's loud, energetic aura, Soundwave could barely stand it. Lazerbeak understood this and went ahead to get her portion.

     Soundwave was livid when she returned with a cube filled an 8th of the way. They took the cube away from her and without a word briskly stormed off to have a chat with Megatron. Lazerbeak quietly followed after Soundwave, mostly because she was the Cybertorian equivalent of hungry and she wanted to see how this played out.

     With the slam of a forcefully opened door and a replay of Optimus screaming "Megatron!", the whole room was now wholly aware of Soundwave's presence and anger.

     "Soundwave— what in the—" Megatron fumbled, knowing exactly what he did.

Soundwave puts up a servo before walking up to their leader. Then, wordlessly holds up the empty ration as if to say 'Mind explaining?'

     "Ah! You're wondering about the rations? Well, we decided to ahead with the plan since you were one of the few that objected." The fumbling giant of a leader attempted to explain. Lying to the faceplate of one of his most loyal and hardworking bots.

     Sound wave knew for a fact there were at least 3 other high command who disagreed. The medic, the scientist, and the no-longer-practicing scientist. Despite personal desires, those three bots would still say the same as they did. Soundwave presented an unimpressed emoji on their visor.

     Megatron seemed to get the message. "I should have informed you of the change. But it is done."

     It took everything in Soundwave's metal body not to throw the ration at the gladiator in front of him. Instead, they slammed the container on the nearest flat surface and walked out without another word. After all, they have a young Cybertorian to take care of.

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     Soundwave looked away from the console for a nano-cycle to check for any other bots for the umpteenth time that night. They made the decision to reprogram all the ration dispensers on the ship before somebot died from Megatron's irresponsible and inconsiderate behavior. Soundwave would let Optimus take over the Nemesis before he let any of the younger bots on the ship starve. He'd be damned by the All Spark if any of those bots died because of the ration cuts. They'd even give up all the information on and about the Nemesis to the Autobots before they let another bot die from currently preventable starvation.

     Soundwave audibly sighed as they stepped away from the console, the ship-wide update now pending upload. Being able to manipulate the whole ship with no one ever noticing had its perks.

     They stood by the console until the system finally took the update and then erased all evidence of their late-night presence.  Eventually, they turned away to sort out a few other things before returning to their habsuite... if it wasn't light by then. After all, Soundwave never stops working for the Decepticon cause, even if its leader did... a very long time ago it seemed.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

SW > Laserbeak: desist!

LB > Nope :)

Soundwave gently shook their head at their creation. Lazerbeak zipped and zagged in front of them. Lazerbeak had again dragged Soundwave out to the middle of the desert so she could fly around. Not that they mind much.
     Looking down from the cliff they see a yellow car, a blue and pink motorcycle, and a green truck... followed by a small-looking ambulance and semi-truck. Soundwave decides to watch the approaching Autobot group from afar. They'd much prefer not to get into a fight with these bots.

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     Bumblebee sped ahead of the group with Raf inside giggling at Bee's antics. Raf jumps out before Bee transforms, Miko and Bulkhead not far behind the two youngest. The humans loudly laughed as the two comparatively large Cybertronians wrestled each other for a moment. Arcee and Jack passively watched from the side.

     The two oldest bots decided to stay a few miles out, watching the younger group interact with a fondness for the youth they still happen to hold. Though one, the much quieter and passive of the two appeared to notice something in the distance, altering the other in tandem. Optimus and Ratchet stared at the black and purple bot, mutually agreeing to not engage unless the other engaged them first.

     "What is Soundwave doing out here?" The semi whispered to the ambulance.

     It took Ratchet but a second to answer, "Not sure. Probably some type of scouting mission for information."

     "No... There's nothing out here to scout for... Not even any energon diposites. Maybe they're out here for the same reason we are?" Optimus speculated.

     "But they have no kids to watch or even any young bots." Ratchet fired back with a sense of confusion. 

     Optimus started again with a sense of nostalgia, "They used to, I remember seeing them with young bots back on Cybertron... Maybe Lazerbeak?"

     "Lazerbeaks is just a drone, though!" Ratchet began, though soon his temper waned at Optimus's response.

     "We have never known for sure. There's been odder-looking sparklings before... who's to say."

     Ratchet sighed, "Whatever you say, Orion."

     Optimus offered Ratchet a smile before walking off to join the shenanigans the humans and other bots got themselves into. Ratchet shook his head at the old and kind leader before following after him. 

     The Autobot group continued to enjoy their day off. The younger wrestled with each other and made up fun challenges to try and complete, while the older watched and occasionally advised them not to do something completely stupid.

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     Soundwave watched the Autobots interact, a certain softness behind their actions with each other. The green one and the yellow one's short wrestling match ended with loud laughter... nothing like the Decepticons, somebot always ended up in the medbay with KnockOut-- if they lived long enough to transport their body. And those... old bots... Optimus and Ratchet. They stood there talking... like equals-- like friends. (Had their friendship really lasted that long? Soundwave couldn't find a memory file of them where they weren't friends.) The Autobot group presented itself as a family, a family that knits some humans into itself as if it were nothing...

     Absently he wondered if he they would ever be fall apart... 

     Ever the observations, Soundwave continued to watch the group run a play. Noting that the two youngest boys would play with the two youngest humans, running about and occasionally toppling over their size match. They noted the way the young blue and pink bot-- Arcee, they believed-- and her human companion stood slightly off to the side cheering the other on and getting into nonphysical fights.  They found interest in the way the two oldest bots sat themselves a ways away from the chaos of youth and peacefully watched, only saying something if they feared the younger ones would hurt themselves...

     They stared suddenly reminded of... ravage,rumble,frenzy,buzzsaw A simpler time..! when they were much younger and the opposing factions of their friends were not quite in their infancy yet. Soundwave shook their head, no point in remising... these are his enemies after all. 

     They took one final look at the Autobots before turning away and signaling for Laserbeak to return to them. The Autobot's joy and the simple moment was a lie.. a ruse... it had to be... because then-- then-- then... It just had to be! They reasoned with themselves, that the Autobots couldn't be anything more than rebellious bots who looked "a gift horse in the mouth" as humans would say. Right-? R-... right? Uncertainty ran through Soundwave's head... they didn't know what to make of the Autobots all because of one chance sight of them.

     Were they always that kind to each other? Would they sacrifice a child each other?

     They weren't cycling air to cool their systems... Overheated was certain if this continued. They just needed to think about their work. That's all and that'll be like that until their faction wins.

They hoped that win wasn't too far in the future...

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

"—And please, Soundwave, remember you are integral to the cause." The Viehcon repeated  Megatron's words nervously. They definitely did not want to be in the middle of whatever was going on between the two bots recently. "That's what Lord Megatron said."

They nodded and pivoted away from the poor bot before they were scared even further. They played a recording they filed under the Shockwave, "--dismissed--" The bot quickly ran off to continue their regular duties. 

Soundwave looked over their list of things to do... which seemed impossible to complete by their deadline, even if they stayed online the whole time to complete the tasks. An internal sigh and some quick prayers later began the work assigned to them. It's not like it's going to finish by itself, right? The least they can do is try to finish it for the cause.

Definitely. Totally.

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Four cycles... Four. They aren't even a quarter of the way through this work and they're expected to finish it all in the next two. When did these deadlines become so, so short? They had no idea. Soundwave stares blankly at their work... the stress of the deadline getting to them. Focous? What's that? Because here, Soundwave is completely and utterly unfamiliar with the strange idea. They may be the best spy and information specialist on this damned ship! And they can't even finish this task! 

The fumbling and silent panicking of bots are heard distantly by them and they try to read and understand what they are looking at--it's blurry and unclear, and none of the wording makes sense and-- They miss the thumps and clanks of the intimidatingly familiar Megatron.

His words break into their distraction, "Soundwave! My favorite spy-bot. How is the assignment going along, friend?" Cheery, too much so... another batch of purple energon?

They turn around and blankly stare at the silver bot.

 Nonetheless, Megatron continues filling their silence. "You've completed all I've asked, correct?"

They blink dumbly at their leader, saying nothing... not even moving. What are they supposed to say? No?! That'd just get them beat up, Starscream was a good example of that.

"Soundwave, are you alright?"

Their visor displays a scribble ball, betraying their composed front. Their body betraying them. Though it still refused to say anything or move.

This display angered more than it confused Megatron. "Officer Soundwave, do I need to get Knockout to come check your processor?"

They do not need that flirty medic in their helm! Absolutely not! Plus this silver bot wouldn't like what he would find in there.

"Officer Soundwave!" The silver bot that mimicked a friend of theirs from so, so long ago grew angrier... Their apprehension only infuriated the bot who looked to be itching for a Starscream to throw around.

This wasn't right-- This wasn't his friend from so, so long ago... They wanted-- needed to run, or fight, or-

Megatron snatched the upper parts of their servo, painfully half-crushing the parts there. "Somebot go get Knockout! Now!" The tyrant demanded at the forming crowd of bots. Bots panicked at the address, half scrabbling to actually follow the order and the other half trying desperately to get out of the blast radius of Lord Megatron.

There buzzing feeling at the touch... their sensors felt like they were fried. Their voice box working faster than their filter fizzled to life in panic, "...Megatron: desist. Soundwave: requests release..!" They were barely audible. But visibly distressed at the interaction that felt like an interrogation.

Megatron raised an optic ridge. Challenging them it seemed, to shatter the vow, throw it on the ground, and shoot at it.

Their servos felt weak like they were just a sparkling desperately trying to learn how to move their body. Though that didn't rule over their body, they shoved Megatron off with surprising strength, the silver tyrant almost falling on a few other bots. Megatron took a few steps back from the push, surprised at the retaliation. 

They continued using their voice box, the initial alarm now rooted deep in their spark. "Suggestion: Megatron does not touch Soundwave." Although the static ruled over their vocalizer they spoke confidently, much louder than before. UNfortanly though, their voice still quivered and wavered at Megatron's deep-cutting glare. 

Bots could be heard whispering amongst themselves around the two, some gasped, and some egged the two on.

Megatron looked at Soundwave with his sharp glare, "The assignment, Communications Officer Soundwave?" He asked with a harshness previously unknown to Soundwave.

"Assignment: Status: Unfinished! Reason: Insufficient time!" Their volume grew, their distress bleeding into their unused voice box. This wasn't right. This shouldn't be happening. This happened to Starscream, not him! Starscream was supposed to be the treacherous one, the one at the brunt of Megatron's anger. They should've stayed quiet.

Megatron lunged and reached to seize their servos again, nearly succeeding. Not a noise escaped them as they fell with a clang on the ground to avoid the touch. However, it was a futile attempt as the tyrant clutched their helm with the newfound advantage. 

They stayed there, bracing for the worst. Megatron prepared to swing, almost like Soundwave was Starscream. Maybe Megatron even saw them as Starscream as he prepared his hit... They were ready for the hit. The few minutes seemed like hours, landing a hit near their chest-- or somewhere--everywhere? They weren't sure anymore. They made no sound. Enemy torture was better than this. 

Knockout then seized the room, yelling at bots to "get the frag out of here", and catching  Megatron's fist before he could strike the much more delicate bot in front of him anymore. The medic handed a very pissed-off Megatron to an unseen and unheard Shockwave. 

Soundwave breathed heavily, fans cycling as fast as they could. He almost passed out right then and there. Whether from their own fear or their bleeding, they didn't know. Knockout kneeled before them, not saying a word- his worried expression was enough.

The red car carefully patched Soundwave the best he could there. Once done, He let the other bot pull away and move farther away from him. 

Soundwave turned away from the medic. Though still asking, "Query: May Soundwave leave?"

Knockout's faceplate grew concerned at their voice. He had never heard them speak using it before, it was odd to the bot, "Soundwave. I need to bring you to the medbay. Even if it's just to properly fix you up. You may not be bleeding anymore, but this is..." He gestured to the crumpled and crushed parts of his thin body, "It's... not normal for you. All of this." He sighed looking away at the doorway, hovering and listening Starscream peering in.

The Second in Command looked nervous at the sight he was looking at... Almost as if he was suddenly hit with a slap to the face about something. Starscream jumped at something down the hall and disappeared the other way.

"Soundwave: aware. Soundwave: insists." They look back at the medic, wanting nothing more than the safety of their hab suit as soon as possible. They needed to make sure Laserbeak was okay. 

Knockout looks back at Soundwave, "Look I can't force you to come to medbay unless you're actively dying..." He sighed at the beaten bot sitting almost pitifully on the ground, "Just-- As long as you come later. No excuses." The red medic stands. "You are allowed to leave, Soundwave. Be careful."

Soundwave nodded slowly rising from the ground and heading off. He did his best to ignore the slight limp he was walking with or how his frame screamed at him to get it fixed. He needed quiet, he needed dark, and he needed to know Laserbeak was safe in their habsuite. And none of those were anywhere else on this ship.

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They lay on the ground, Laserbeak resting atop them. Their injured body refused to move even if they wanted it too.  Laserbeak rested, though worried about her creator and she wanted to get Knockout for them. But she stayed there with them. 

Shoudwave sighed, frustrated and upset processor wandering... When had their leader become so demanding? When did the others start calling him "Lord"? When did he get the right to hurt them? When had he started that with Starscream? It wasn't always like this- he was sure of it! They had been friends once, Megatron wouldn't have hurt them then... so why now? Was the purple energon causing this, or was it just enabling the leader? When had things changed?

They didn't know. That was terrifying. Not knowing... Who thought the esteemed and feared Decepticon spy Soundwave would not know something? And be scared of not knowing it! It was almost funny... 

They broke their vow-- that was probably why Megatron reacted like that. They did the unforgivable-- But they were scared before that before Megatron even entered the room. Why were they scared of him? Was it because of the way he treats Starscream--the drones--the Vehicons--their creations?  No... it couldn't be. Sure they've never liked nor supported the way Megatron dealt with Starscream-- or any unruly Decetipcon for that matter-- but that's just their creator programming speaking, right? 

They rested their servos on top of Laserbeak to ground themselves. What in the name of the All Spark were they supposed to do now? Were they safe? Where could they go with Laserbeak? Did the Autobots ever have to worry about Optimus? 

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Soundwave had been desperately trying to avoid Knockout... and really every other bot that would dare to say anything about their condition to them-- other than Laserbeak of course. Megatron-- had attacked them... Their friend, one of their oldest friends had hurt them, and thus successfully scared the absolute frag out of them. And they didn't know how to dissect the feelings that came with that fear... Would Megatron do it again? Would he deny it even happened? They didn't know...

And so, they ended up out in the middle of the Nevada desert with only Laserbeak guiding their lightly limping form. She suggested they go out, to calm their nerves a bit and to think! Laserbeak squawked and messaged them as the two wandered, talking to them about the things she enjoyed. They didn't mind her excitement, even welcoming it, it helped them calm themselves a bit.

Although, while she talked, Soundwave still thought. Thought about Megatron-- Megatronous, the cause of the Decepticons, where they went wrong, and the like. 

They didn't notice the red and blue truck tailed by the pink and blue motorcycle in the distance.

Chapter Text

Optimus and Arcee raced on the road, there was an urgent siting they needed to check out. Ratchet found reports of a black robot with a purple glow. They knew this was Soundwave, and they weren't taking chances on him. After all, Soundwave could be as unpredictable as Starscream. The two hit their brakes sharply, tires squeaking with the strain.

There was Soundwave sitting on a rock watching Laserbeak zip around them. They were doing nothing... Just sitting there. Soundwave moved to stand, avoiding using one of their arms. They looked unstable on their legs, leaning on one over the other. Almost as if they were beaten like Optimus had seen done to Starscream so many times before. And the thinnest parts of their frame looked almost crumpled-- almost like the paper he'd seen Miko play with... 

Laserbeak made a sharp turn towards Soundwave. Laserbeak squawked at its deployer, and Soundwave shook their head at it like Laserbeak were a child. A static jumble of words was returned to the drone. But held strong with the speaking pattern the leader was so familiar with this bot using.

Optimus gestured for Acree to back off and leave the two alone. He continued to watch the two Decepticons.

Soundwave continued to somewhat limp after their squawking deployee. Returning the squawks with their own words. The two seemingly enjoying themselves.

"...what happened to them?" Arcee looked dumbfounded at her leader.

Optimus shook his head, "I'm not sure, Arcee."

The two Purple bots continued their break, the squawking and static filling the air.

"Arcee, stay here. Only come out if Soundwave attempts anything."

Arcee stared at Optimus, "Optimus you can't-" He was off, slowly walking towards the parent and child duo.

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At the sound of steps coming into earshot, Soundwave's helm shot up an exclamation point visible to Optimus. They took a few shaky steps back, doing their best to remain looking intimidating. Then they waved off Laserbeak, and the drone flew off somewhere else.

Optimus stopped at Soundwave's reaction, keeping himself a safe distance away for both their sakes. "Soundwave, no need for the unease. I'm not here to fight."

The broken bot nodded, though still appeared apprehensive.

The righteous leader in front of the bot continued, "I just have a few questions if you don't mind answering them."

Instead of their own voice, out came the voice of a long-gone scientist, "-that depends-" They tilt their head at the Prime. Desperately they tried to keep their intimidation factor up but not to their knowledge was falling miserably.

"I understand your unease," Optimus Prime spoke again, keeping his calm tone and cadence. "Did something happen with the Decepticons we're not aware of? I'm no medic, but your stance and the way you were moving... It didn't look right."

They froze. Was this it? This outing was a stupid idea-- Optimus was going to take them and take them to the Au-- ... wha-- what is he doing? Is he just standing there? Waiting for them to respond? They shake their helm at Optimus, disbelief filling their processor. A shrill word from Starscream spoke for them before they could themselves, "--unbelievable!--" 

Optimus nodded his head with a familiar fondness, "Yes, I know. It seems odd that an Autobot is asking if a Decepticon is okay. You haven't changed much have you, Soundwave?"

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Acree stared in disbelief at the two older bots-- who were talking civilly. Hell, Soundwave even looked scared! Though she couldn't understand what they were saying, they were speaking in an old localized version of Cybertronian-- she couldn't even remember what Optimus had called the language when Bee had asked. She could only pick up a few off-chance words like understand and medic. Just what in the world are they talking about? Though Soundwave's burst of Starscream speaking in English was unexpected and Optimus's own response seemed out of character.

The two said a few more things in English but then comfortably transitioned back into the other language--wasitkaon?no... that didn't sound right-- they were speaking, Optimus seeming to have forgotten Acree was there.

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"Though, Soundwave, I would like an answer. Even if it's just for my peace of mind..." Optimus began again, "Is there something going on in the Nemesis? Do you need help?"

Soundwave let another scribble ball play on their visor... Letting it say more than they were comfortable at the moment. They were falling into old habits from before they were Leader and Spy... 

Optimus, instinctively reached out for the other bot while speaking in a whisper. An odd time when an emotion was invoked deep within him. "Soundwave..."

Soundwave flinched away and quickly backed up away from Optimus. They shook their head again, displaying an X across their screen to silently say no.

Optimus listened nodding, "I apologize." The leader backed up to give Soundwave room to relax. "But, before I leave... if you ever need shelter from whatever is going on over there, you can come to us. I know you know where our base is."

Soundwave let their posture relax, deciding on making a decision they may regret. "Soundwave: appreciates offer. Decsion... unsure..."  Their voice scratched at their vocalizer, a new unnamed fear surfacing while they looked at the red and blue bot in front of them.

The righteous leader raised his optic ridges with a bit of surprise at Soundwave's voice. He sighed and offered a calm expression to Soundwave's distress, "It's good to hear you talking again, Soundwave. And the offer still stands, even if you don't accept it now."

They give a curt nod to Optimus, "Soundwave: considering offer." A smiley emoji was displayed on their visor before they turned and waved Laserbeak back to leave. 

"I hope to see you again on peaceful terms, my old friend." The Prime gave the last good by turning and audibly making his way back to Arcee.

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Acree stared at Optimus. "Are you crazy? Soundwave's a Decepticon, they've attacked us! And you invited him into our base?"

Optimus nodded, "I did."

"What's Ratchet going to think?" Arcee asked, disbelief still filled her speech.

The leader shrugged, "I'm not quite sure. But if I know anything about him, he'll agree."

Acree lightly laughed, mostly to calm her own nerves. "He agrees only with you, Optimus."

Optimus took the joke in stride, transforming and rolling off while speaking. Acree rolled her optics and followed suit, ready to see the conversation that would follow their arrival.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

Work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, assignment, assignment, report. work, work, assignment, assignment, report...

Laserbeak has counted, it's been a deca-cycle, and almost 252 cycles since she'd seen Soundwave take a proper break. She sat perched above her creator watching them type away at their terminal.

Her creator has been effectively swamped with work and assignments and reports since 'the indecent', as she had dubbed it when Soundwave explained it (though in little detail) to her.

But Soundwave needs a break! They can't stay online running solely off loads and loads of information! They'd barely even had a chance to go get themselves energon and to visit Knockout! The next time Laserbeak sees Megatron she is going to scold him. Soundwave, not even the worst Decepticon or Autobot deserved this! She so gonna–

Stomps. Loud metallic stomps. They rang out first before the door slid open. Laserbeak noted how Soundwave froze for a moment, assumedly panicking at the sound. Which had been very common to hear recently. The sight of Megatron followed quite the click of the door locking open. As Megatron stomped into the room, everybot could feel the tension rise and thicken.

Rushed thruster heel clicks and light clacks sounded from down the halls. Soundwave didn't notice, glancing around the room for Laserbeak. She tucked herself into a little hiding spot, sending a little confirmation of her spot to soothe her creator. They calmed at this but stayed visibly tense.

Megatron turned, looking head-on at Soundwave. His tone came out loud and irate. "Soundwave!"

Soundwave wiped around to look at Megatron, a terrified bot concealed beneath a shattering mask of composure.

"Have you finished the report?" Megatron asked with an accusatory tone.

Distantly, Starscream and Knockout fell through the doorway desperately trying to catch up with Megatron. Hopefully, get him before a repeat incident happens involving him and Soundwave.

Soundwave glanced back at their terminal, lifting their servo and doing a so-so motion.

Megatron continued his interrogation, "Is it suitable to read?"

Knockout was the first of the two officers to stand, composing himself the best he could and approaching Megatron.

Soundwave nodded, having learned better than to say no at this point. And they were honestly kind of afraid to say it to Megatron now. Nonetheless, they turned and sent the report off to Megatron.

"My lord! I was just about to get Soundwave for a check-up on how their frame is healing." Knockout interrupted before Megatron could even speak. "I apologize, but for the good of the cause... I have to take Soundwave for a moment."

Megatron put his sharp glare onto Knockout, who stared back with only the confidence a doctor could have. "Not right now, Knockout. I have to speak with Soundwave." He gestured to Soundwave as if they were some type of terminal to make reports and do research on... which they weren't sure if they weren't such a thing.

"But– Megatron!" Starscream inserted himself into the conversation. "Knockout should be able to see Soundwave! After all, how are they supposed to finish their reports and missions when they're unwell?" Starscream scratchy and abrasive tone vouched for the car framed medic.

"I don't need your opinion, Starscream." Megatron shot back at his second in command.

Knockout gave a smirk to Soundwave, doing his best to assure the spy of their method to get Megatron off their back. Soundwave in turn, silently prayed that the SIC and medic's plan would work.

Starscream put on his best smirk, "I can help debrief you on the report, after all, I was the one you had supervise their work." Starscream began to talk about the report without being prompted. He also gave Knockout a disregarded servo gesture to tell him to get out of there with Soundwave.

Knockout then slyly grabbed Soundwave's servo and slinked both of them out of the main control room. Laserbeak then tailed after the two older bots, squawking quietly at her distressed parent. Soundwave simply let a few relived words slip from their mouth to Knockout's audials.

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"You're appearing to be fine on all my tests." Knockout pointed at some medical graphs. Soundwave though had no idea what they meant or had the words to ask about them. The medic continued talking about something or another.

What was happening here? What was happening to Megatron-- to them?! They used to be a gladiator, they've fought and beaten bots twice times Megatron's size! They can fight back-- easily at that too! Why weren't they? Why did they feel so helpless against this-- this-- this...

They don't want to harm him-- Megatronous... They know.]-- They know that old friend is still there... just unreachable to them-- He has to be! Because then--  then when had Megatronous become Megatron? When had that change taken root so deep within Megatronous that he was no longer quite himself to anyone? Not even with them or Orion? And when had that Megatron transitioned into whatever this-- this crazed tyrannical leader was?

Megatron had put his servos on them... and hurt them with them. He's kept doing it... slowly escalating back to the first outburst into more and more violent ones. To the point, Starscream has started to put himself in the line of danger to give Soundwave a break between the beatings. They both have been Knockout's sole patients for about a deca-cycle now-- When had one victim become two? When had one visit turned into 2, then 3, then 4, then 5? When had the neglect of the silent morphed into the abuse of them?

They didn't know... and they needed to get it to stop. Urgently. But how? How where they too leave? Of course, they could go the the Autobots. They knew that, Optimus invited them regardless. But they couldn't just fly out of the Nemesis, they'd been seen and followed-- they may be hunted for or bargained for or shot down or botnapped back-- 

No, no, no! Now is not the time for overthinking. A plan, they needed a plan of escape.  A plan that allowed for them to not be seen, have the time to get out, and get to the Autobot base. The problem wasn't the being seen, they could easily shut off all the cameras on base and then use all the back hallways to get out. They're the Decepticon Spy, it was their nature. The time was the problem. They knew they could get out before somebot noticed the cameras, but getting to the Autobot base? Definitely not. It almost guaranteed they'd know what's up by the time they were halfway there... But it could be a good enough of a shot to--

"--ave? Officer Soundwave!" Knockout practically yelled in their face, making them jump. "You're good to go, Soundwave. You've checked all boxes to be let to get back to work."

They nodded and stood, waving as they left. Meeting a, surprisingly, not that beaten Starscream on their way out. They simply nodded at him and continued on. They had a 'party' to plan for after all.

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Ratchet blankly blinked at Optimus. He sighed heavily before rubbing his nose bridge. "Now, before I start pulling out my good wrenches... Explain."

Acree, Bulkhead, Bee, Jack, Miko, and Rafeal all intently watched the eldest bots present speak to each other. Arcee, Jack, and Miko making bets on whether or not Optimus will get slammed with a wrench.

Optimus sounded both pleased and sad at the question, "Well, when you sent Acree and I out to look into where Soundwave was spotted by humans, I talked to them." Optimus paused and glanced at the younger bots and children before switching to speaking in Kaon, for their sake. After all, they were still kids in his and Ratchet's optics. "The children shouldn't hear this...but... Soundwave--" The leader paused, doing his best to keep his composer with the expressive language he was now speaking with. "Sounds... looked like they had been beaten. Recently..."

Ratchet let a lot of Cybertron curses slip out as he pressed his hands into his faceplate. Taking the switch in language in stride and responding in it, "Oh dear All Spark... what is Unicron doing over there?!"

Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee all glanced at each other. They all recognized the curses and now knew enough to infer something wasn't well with Soundwave, whether positive or negative. The human children present all gave confused looks at their Cybertronian counterparts. Bee beeped out an explanation to Raf, who then went to relay it to the two other humans present.

Ratchet took a breath in and continued in the language they all had in common, "Did they agree to your offer? And do they know where to come?"

Optimus focused back on Ratchet, "They know where to come, yes. But I do not know for sure if they will ever come. They kept their responses vague."

The medic nodded, "That's Sounds for you--"

Miko ran up to the old friends before they could finish. Screaming in excitement at them, "Wait, wait, wait--! You both know Soundwave personally?!" The child looked at the bots with curiosity and excitement. Said bots glanced at each other, both sharing barely contained sighs and looks. The other Cybertorians and humans followed suit asking their own questions. They weren't getting out of this explanation, huh?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

About half a deca-cycle ago, Soundwave had happened to be in the radius of Megatron when a couple of Veohcons had royally messed up... needless to say Megatron-- instead of going for the Vehicons themselves, like he usually would-- He went for Soundwave. Using them as some sort of indirect punishment, they hoped. 

That event further proved their need to escape. They hadn't told Lazerbeak yet. But they're leaving tonight. Soundwave just needs her to dock for a few groons and they'll have them out of there before anyone even notices the cameras are off.

SW - Laserbeak: Dock!

LB - Why?

SW - Reason: Secret. Secret: revealed after creation docks.

LB - It's going to take a couple of nano-cycles to get back.

SW - Arival time: not priotorty. Laserbeak: priotorty. :)

LB - I got, I got. I'll be there soon! :)

And now Laserbeak was on her way, they needed to set up the cameras to be disabled in the next groon. So they can get out as soon as servalience shift is officially turned over to them. They were able to get the shift schedule changed without that much trouble, everybot not wanting to work the night. They turned to get moving, but the terminal next to them caught their optic. An idea popped into their helm, along with a smiley face on their visor.

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Perhaps Megatron should have never given them unrestricted access to the entire database. For as much as this was a very petty move from them, they didn't care all that much. They had deleted and completely wiped as much sensitive information from the Decepticon database as they could while guaranteeing that it wouldn't be noticed right away. Most of it was about Laserbeak, the Autobots, some select reports about themselves, and miscellanies reports about this and that. They made sure that all the medical reports about everyone on the ship were still available. They may be a Decepticon, but they're not evil. They even had time to leave a little hidden note for Knockout and Starscream, they prayed they're combined efforts would help them find it.

But back to their main task... Laserbeak had docked herself a little bit ago, so now to take down the cameras.

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They stood at the edge of the landing platform. Almost scared to fly off. They glanced around the Nemisis, torn between hoping to and not to see it again... This dark place, all purple, and shadowy, had been a place of many good things in their life. Laserbeak was made here, and when they couldn't fight, they sheltered here. This was where they learned to fly properly after vorns of neglecting it, this was their first proper home outside of the provided homes they were given as Gladiortors. But now? It felt wrong to stay... Even if Lasebeak was created here, she was in danger here. Even though they sheltered here, they were safe in the ship halls anymore. They learned to fly here, and now they're using that skill to get away from it. This was their home for a bit, but now it wasn't... And they had to go make themselves a new one, that was safe for Laserbeak and themselves, and had the room for them both to grow and learn how not to be Decepticons.

They put a servo to their chest, just to make sure Laserbeak was there. They took a calming fan cycle before taking the jump off the platform, transforming, and zipping off to what they hoped was safety. Their last look at their old home rang clear through their processor as they quickly put miles, and miles between them and the ship.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You guys know Soundwave personally?!" Miko repeated her question-shout at the two bots.

Optimus and Ratchet looked at each other, exchanging a look and thinking the same thing. They weren't getting out of this. And their thoughts were confirmed when the rest approached with their own unspoken questions.

"We did. We knew Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave as well." Optimus supplied an answer to Miko.

Bee's questioning beeps came in after Miko's shocked gasp. 

Ratchet nods, "Yes, Bee. We were friends. Sounwace was similar to how they are now. The only difference was that they were a lot more expressive then."

Mikos's mouth gaped, "Soundwave and expressive! Those are like-- complete opposites!"

Optimus almost laughed at her shock, and he let Ratchet take over, "Well, not when we were younger. They used to sneak up behind us and blast music, only to get us to jump our get our attention. They also talked a lot when prompted, they could go on for hours about different types of communications and the pros and cons of each." Ratchet let fondness slip into his tone.

"How'd they end up a Decepticon, then?" Raf asked innocently, "They were friends with you two after all."

Optimus knew more about this than Ratchet, "Well, Soundwave had--- Well, what would translate to kids, and had known Megatron much longer than we had known them. They trusted Megatron more than us, so their loyalties lay more strongly with him."

The human children nodded in understanding. The Cybertorian ones on the other hand looked surprised about this information.

Acree jumped in now, "So you mean, the spy that has attacked us and you two... is a parent!?"

Ratchet nodded. "Yes, though I haven't seen their creations for a long time. We've assumed they grew old enough to drift away from their creator--"

"What about the little drone Soundwave has?" Raf abruptly asked, "Could they be a creation of Soundwaves?"

Ratchet put his hands to his face. Sudden realization hit him hard, "Why in the All Spark did I not think about that?" He dropped his servos and looked at Optimus, "When could they have had another? I mean I had  my suspicions, but-- We've been completely disregarding their creation!"

Optimus patted Ratchet on the back, quietly assuring his friend. "I'm sure us assuming that their creation was a drone was intentional. They were always so proud of their creations, I don't think they wouldn't not talk about their own without good reason."

Arcee finally asked, "How and why does Soundwave know where our base is?" Jack perked up at the question, wondering a similar thing. 

Ratchet, and more so Optimus felt like they'd been caught 'eating from the cookie jar', as humans would say.

Optimus tried to begin, "Well--" Optimus looked at Ratchet, hoping and praying the other would take over the explanations.

Ratchet shook his head and rolled his optics. But still took the reins from the Prime "Soundwave, when we were much younger and had recently met,  gave each bot in our friend group a small tracker. And in their own words was for 'them to keep track of them just in case someone got lost', " Ratchet pulled an old hidden tracker from his around his wrist to show them. "I had turned mine off vorns ago, but Optimus," Ratchet sent a pointed glare at the said bot, "Forgot to ever turn his off. Which means Soundwave has been able to see, at the very least, his location since our different factions became official."

Arcee and Jack gave the same disappointed look at Optimus. Both of their voices overlap into a jumble of disappointment and disbelief. Bee and Bulkhead in turn did their best to hold their composer, which Miko failed at and was laughing histarically. Raf just glanced around, and eventually took the deactivated tracker from Ratchet to look at.

The questions continued the answers being provided. The group of Cybertroinans and Humans talked for hours on end about the past of two of them, eventually with the adult humans joining the talk. 

This continued until the group of human children were forced to leave, school being the main reason. The bots ended their day as well, 3 letting themselves relax and the other two quietly preparing for the arrival of another.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They landed for a breather. Well-- sort of, they somewhat tumbled down instead of sticking a proper landing. Which was probably going to make them feel terrible later but that didn't matter. They were out.

They still needed to disable their tracker, which would be easy considering they were the one to set it up in the first place. Turing over their wrist, they pulled off a relatively small quietly blinking circle. They gently pressed the tracker off and chucked it out into the desert somewhere. 

A faint scurrying made them turn, a small earth creature was busy trying to climb a lone tree and was awful at accomplishing its goal. But then another of the same type joined it, quietly showing the first one how to climb the tree. The original creature followed.

And it felt pleasant to watch... Not like they were spying at all, like they had been for so, so long. It was more like they were witnessing something grow and change... like seeing Laserbeak fly for the first time by herself...

 They shook their head at themselves, they were already getting sappy and they hadn't even seen the Autobots yet. Audibly sighing, they continued their way to the Autobots... and more importantly two old friends...

●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●

A loud banging sounded on the base's door, everyone freezing and glancing at each other.

Ratchet and Optimus were the first to act. Ratchet turned to check the computer and see who in the All Spark was banging on the outside of what looked like a giant rock. Optimus made his way to the opening and waited for Ratchet's go-ahead.

Ratchet, already having an inkling of who was out there, gave to go-ahead once he saw the slender black and purple bot awkwardly standing on the outside of the desquised sliding door.

Optimus let the door open before staring at the bot in front of him. A small part of him wasn't convinced Soundwave would actually be there, but here they were blank visor and eerily quiet running and all. They somehow looked better and worse than the last time he saw them, ragged and tired looking even without an expressive faceplate visible to see. Though, still appeared relaxed and pleased to be there. Fear still radiated clear from the bot.

Soundwave slumped at seeing Optimus and took a few steps towards Optimus before dropping their helm onto Optimus's chassis with a soft clank. A silent expression of the exhaustion and relief they felt at seeing the Prime.

Ratchet appeared beside the two, worry radiating off of the medic. Who almost immediately gently grabbed the Decepticon and led them to the makeshift medbay to seat them down and check up on their health.

Optimus trailed after the two, though stopping when he saw Arcee, Bulkhead, Raf, and Miko staring at Soundwave. The four watching the spy get scolded by their medic for showing up with no warning with certain nervousness and curiosity that Optimus didn't know how to address.

- - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - -

Soundwave watched Ratchet move about them, feeling distressed by the amount of things going on. Ratchet took their vitals and attempted to get their running baseline down in their system. Optimus, on the other servo, tried to corral the others away from the area, the others staring and whispering to each other with words they couldn't recognize.

Ratchet turned to them saying something that didn't quite make sense to their processor, eventually, Ratchet came through to them, "Soundwave? Are you okay?" he asked them in Kaon.

Soundwave looked directly at Ratchet this time, slowly nodding. Mumbling out in the same language, "Soundwave: Satus Fine."

Ratchet nodded, "Would talking be easier in Kaonian for the moment? You weren't responding when I was talking to you in English." He looked questioningly at the spy.

Soundwave paused-- they knew both languages, but-- They didn't need to dwell on that and nodded. They needed to focus on something.

Rachet nodded, "Well, then. How about that little one you have? Would it be okay if I check them too?"

Soundwave put their servos to their chest where Laserbeak rested... feeling skeptical about it. Fear still lay deep within them about her well-being. Making their decision, they shook their head.

Ratchet nodded in understanding, "That's alright. We can--"

Soundwave unknowingly tuned out, glancing around the base. It felt bright and warm like some type of care was baked into the walls and steel that made the shelter. Lived in and full. Not as empty and cold as the Nemesis was. It was overwhelming to them, almost claustrophobic, further panic setting deep in their frame like an old friend in the foreign environment.

They glanced at Ratchet who still stood talking to them. They stood up from where they had been sat down. Ratchet continued to talk to them, questioning them about what they were doing. Soundwave just shook their head and left the area, distress radiating off of them as they left the main room in search of a hiding spot.

Ratchet glanced at Optimus, both of them unsure what to do with the distressed bot.

Meanwhile, Soundwave found a dim, corner nook they could sit in. And that's what they did, panic developing into unregulated cooling fans, venting, and quietly tapping at the floor to attempt to calm themselves.

- - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - -

Ratchet and Optimus Stood together nervously thinking. Soundwave hadn't come out yet, and they didn't want to risk distressing them further. They themselves weren't sure what happened with Soundwave.

Optimus eventually came up with an idea, sharing it with Ratchet. Ratchet agreed and let Optimus go find Soundwave. And soon, the Prime did.

Seeing the spy curled up between some storage containers and a wall hurt Optimus deeply. "Soundwave? Are you alright?"

Soundwave jumped at Optimus's voice, their servos moving almost immediately to cover their audials. 

"Ah, apologies, friend..." Optimus made the effort to speak softer, at a much lower volume at the reaction. He kneeled down in front of Soundwave, "Is everything okay?"

Soundwave didn't know how to respond, their still newly rediscovered voice refusing to work with them. They tired and tired again to say something-- anything-- but nothing happened... They instead opted to shake their helm.

Optimus slowly nodded their struggle to communicate shining through and becoming readable by the leader. "Well, is there anything we can do?"

They paused, not knowing, no bot had offered before. Sure, they sat with them until they found the ability to move and speak again, but never tried to do anything to help them. They didn't know how to respond... eventually letting a question mark pop up on their visor.

Optimus nodded again, "Hmm... Unsure then?"

They nodded in response.

"That's okay, we can figure it out," Optimus assured the bot in front of him. "Do you think you could move back to the medbay area?"

Soundwave shook their head violently. It was too bright and too warm for them.

"Okay, we can work with that." Optimus continued with assuring them and asking questions to them. "Would it be okay if I got Ratchet to come over here and check on you?"

They nodded slowly, okay with Ratchet but somewhat unsure about what would come next.

Optimus stood and left to grab Ratchet for Soundwave. Ratchet soon came by himself and sat himself in front of Soundwave.

"Sound-" Ratchet stopped, quieting himself before continuing, "Sorry, Soundwave. How do you feel, rating it from 1 through 10? 1 being the worst and 10 being the best."

Soundwave took a moment to think, not sure how to rate the way they feel... they decided on a 3. They displayed it on their visor as their answer.

Ratchet nodded, "Okay," He had to think for a moment, super sure how to help. "What do you usually do when this happens? If this has happened before..."

Soundwave thought, what do they do? They usually just sit there for some time before getting back to whatever they were doing before. They did their best to shrug.

Ratchet sighed. "That's okay, we can figure this out." The medic tapped at the floor idly for a moment.

Soundwave copied the action, somehow making a louder noise from the tapping.

This gave Ratchet an idea, sending it to Optimus to look up and send back information on. The two kept on tapping for the next few minutes. Soon, Ratchet's request was met with an answer. Something that was dubbed stimming by humans. A self-stimulatory behavior, usually repetitive or unusual body movements or sounds. 

He could work with this. "Soundwave?"

The aforementioned bot looked up at the medic, the tapping pausing for just a moment.

"Are there any repetitive motions you do? For example, like rocking or doing something with your servos."

Their helm tilted at that-- they quickly looked it up through the networking built into them. Eventually, they both nodded and shook their head.

Ratchet was both relieved and confused, "What do you mean by yes and no?"

They tapped on their creation resting on their chassis.

"Something to do with the youngling?" Ratchet enquired.

They nodded, pausing for a moment before slowly detaching creation. Who started squawking and chipping at their creator, no doubt able to understand the distress they were in. They looked back at Ratchet, unsure whether to continue... The chirps at them gave them fuel to press on. Then they laid themselves on the ground, placing the somehow loud and quiet creation on top of their chassis. The tight space barely allowed for this, but the bot looked more comfortable than they did before.

Ratchet smiled at the sight, similar memories popping up in his head. "Okay, I'm going to go to the main area, when you're ready you can come out. But, if you don't I'm coming to check on you." 

Soundwave played a confetti sound at Ratchet's words.

Ratchet rolled his eyes at them and took the sound as an okay to leave. Doing just that, Ratchet found Optimus talking to Arcee... An Acree who was upset... very upset.

Arcee was almost yelling, "Why are we letting them go around the base unmonitored? This could be a trick! They could be--"

Optimus sighed, "Arcee... They aren't anywhere we don't know of. They just needed a moment away from all this--"

"From what? They just got here!"

Ratchet sighed heavily, "I'm going to stop you there, Arcee." Optimus looked relieved at the intervention.

Arcee looked like she wanted to continue, "But--!"

"No. I'm going to explain to you something, okay?"

"Fine."

Ratchet took a breath in preparing for something he never wanted to talk about without Soundwave present, but also deemed necessary in this moment. "So, you know how Bee communicates differently from us? And how Raf sometimes needs to take breaks from others?"

"Yes... where are you going with this?"

"Well, Soundwave also has differing needs. They sometimes get overwhelmed easily and need a quiet and calm space to collect themselves. And because they don't speak much, they can't communicate their distress as well as we can. Make sense?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Soundwave was distressed and had the need for a quiet area. They're currently sitting in the quiet space calming down and collecting themselves. They aren't doing anything that could harm us or them."

Arcee nodded, "Oh." 

Ratchet nodded and had a feeling he would have to do a lot of explaining for Soundwave over the next few days.

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Soundwave spent the next day sitting quietly watching the bots and humans move about the room. They all, seldom Ratchet and Optimus, avoided them and Laserbeak.

That was until today apparently, when the yellow scout came up to them. Beeping out a question.

They tilted their head, silently asking for him to repeat and he did. They nodded slowly, they may regret this but-- "Soundwave: is fine now. Query: Appreciated." They responded verbally to the yellow race car, their odd way of speaking clear even through the ambient noise, and their soft-spoken voice.

Bumblebee appeared to be beaming when they spoke to him. Almost like it was a seal of approval from them... and maybe it kind of was. They looked away from the excitedly beeping bot and at the nearby Ratchet for help. Ratchet rolled his optics at Soundwave and smiled, leaving them to stew in the younger bot's enthusiasm. 

So, they started answering more questions. All ranging from how are you to how did you meet Megatron, and they were happy to tell some stories of their own. About how they happened to stumble upon Megatron in the Arena, how they became a duo from there, and then further how they were introduced to Ratchet and Optimus. They and Bee continued on this question-answer-repeat cycle for many breems, both enjoying it thoroughly.

Ratchet and Optimus enjoyed watching the two chat, banking on the fact that Bee's enthusiasm to interact with Soundwave would bleed into the others.

- - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - -

The next Autobot to bother Soundwave was Bulkhead. 

Bulkhead who, with no setup whatsoever, asked, "Why'd you quit bein' a 'con?"

Soundwave, although the other couldn't see it, blinked blankly at the green bot. And out of instinct playing a recording loudly at the other, "--pardon?--" 

The younger bot pressed on, determined for an answer, "I said; Why'd you quit bein' a 'con?"

Soundwave paused, deciding to leave out the more graphic details. "Laserbeak: Unsafe. Laserbeak: A priority to Soundwave... Soundwave: Also unsafe. Answer: Sufficient?"

The green bot nodded, dumbfounded at hearing the silent 'con speak to him. He then walked away but then came back later to chat them up again. They indulged the wrecker, talking about the Arena when the bot asked.

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The next Autobot confidante that bothered them was Raf, the youngest of the human children that hung about the base.

Ref began, "Soundwave? How do you and Laserbeak work?"

They turned to look at the kid, confused. "Raf: Should Elaborate."

Raf nodded understanding the request, "I mean, how was Laserbeak created? And how does she attach to you?"

Soundwave nodded, not minding the question at all. Their quiet voice came with an explanation, "Laserbeak: Creation was by Soundwave's own spark. Their spark: produces too much energy. Overflow: funneled into making smaller sparks. Smaller Sparks: Become Smybiotes otherwise known as Creations." They hoped their explanation was sufficient for the boy.

The boy now looked completely and utterly fascinated. "Wait- So, can another one just develop at any time?"

Soundwave made a so-so motion with their servo. They distantly noted how Ratchet was, and very obviously so, listening and watching the conversation.

"Then, when was Laserbeak created?"

"Laserbeak: considered Cybertronian Child." Soundwave looked at Raf for a while before continuing, "Laserbeak: Developmental age similar to Raf and Miko."

Raf took the answer as acceptable and continued to ask some questions to Soundwve, though eventually left them alone to bother Laserbeak. Soundwave didn't worry much about Laserbeak's safety within the walls of the base.

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Ratchet was the next one to catch them and sit them down. All the while saying, "We need to finish your medical record."

And so, that's where Soundwave was sat on a somewhat makeshift medical berth, Laserbeak in their lap and Ratchet talking at them.

"I heard you mention a spark condition to Raf a while ago?" Racteth prompted them.

They nodded, "Spark condition: Not serious."

Ratchet sighed, "I'd say a spark being able to produce enough energy to create a whole new bot is serious. Especially with all the issues that can come with carrying them."

Soundwave nodded, "Soundwave: has been fine."

Ratchet passed to look at the black and purple bot, not sure if he wanted to unpack what they meant. "Do I want to know what you mean by 'has been fine'?" The sentence implied a lot he wasn't sure how to feel about.

"Soundwave: Fine carrying. With or without care." They said again but elaborated more this time.

Ratchet took a deep calming breath. "Soundwave, you're my friend but-- Do you mean you've gone through carrying by yourself and never saw anybot or even told anybot until right now?"

Soundwave slowly nodded, unsure whether to lie to the medic at this point or not. 

"That explains some of your weird baselines." Ratchet pressed his hands to his face in exasperation. "Just--" He sighed, removing his hands from his face. "If your spark decided to start making another again, just tell us?"

Soundwave wasn't sure if they'd actually do it, but nodded anyway.

"Okay," Ratchet put some quick notes on the medical file for them and then continued. "Anyways, we need to..."

Soundwave followed along with Ratchet's basic checkup and baseline tests. This time not being so overwhelmed by it. They even helped with Laserbeak, who squirmed and squawked at Ratchet the whole time.

- - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - - • - - - - - - -

Jack glanced back and forth at the beams holding up the roof of the base and the game he was playing. Everyone was out except for him, Ratchet, Arcee... and Soundwave. Ratchet was busy watching the computer and monitoring the rest of the team's vitals and coordinates as they underwent a shorter mission. Arcee was either out on a drive or sleeping. And Soundwave... Well, they had taken up a spot up in the beams in the roof to hang out when they didn't want to interact with the others. 

And Jack kept seeing their visor light up and then shut back off. It was odd, but he did his best to ignore it. And he was back to his game, which was an older copy of Call of Duty. He spent his time virtually fighting and killing military zombies for a while. 

Then a loud sound played, coupled with the quick light up and shut off of the Soundwave visor. The sound was over in the same time it played but Ratchet had heard it too. The two on the ground looked up at Soundwave's preferred hiding spot, both trying to spot the mech. The two could faintly hear the overstrain of delicate cooling fans and the sounds of Soundwave trying to get down from their little spot.

Which, they did and it was surprisingly loud for the quiet bot. Who landed on the concrete ground with a clank. The bot looked from the other bot and the human in the room, eventually deciding to take a seat in between the two. 

Jack stood up. He sent a questioning look at Ratchet, who shook his head gesturing at the mointier, and went back to monitoring the team. Jack sighed and walked down to check up on Soundwave because as much as he didn't want to talk to them, they looked shaken up and he wasn't going to leave them like that... mostly because Ratchet was busy.

"Soundwave?" He approached the bot cautiously.

Soundwave looked at the boy, a small exclamation point popping up on their visor.

Jack shifted on his feet, nervous at the bot's stare. "Uh-- Are you okay, we heard a loud sound and weren't sure if you were okay or not--"

The spy in front of the child gently patted him on the head with a spindly finger. A smiley emoji appearing. "Request: Do not worry. Soundwave: Will be fine."

Jack felt an odd comfort in Sonudwave's action, eventually just nodding and running off back to the little human rec area.

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Soundwave stood next to Optimus, almost trying to hide themselves behind the Prime. Optimus was now forcing them to meet Agent Fowler... who--admitly-- they may or may not have had tried to kill him... So, this was going to be awkward, but they also had the need to apologize. 

They scooted themselves behind the Prime even more as their audials picked up the whirring from the elevator. They sent an unseen glare at Ratchet who was quietly laughing at their predicament.

And then Fowler stepped out of the elevator, "Optimus! Where in the world are the Decepticons? We've gotten no updates from you or our own scouting the areas. What in the world are you doing down here?!" ... He was just as loud as the spy remembered.

"Agent Fowler, it's nice to hear from you. We've been busy with internal issues for the moment. Though, I'm sure the Decepticons are having trouble coordinating themselves recently." Optimus explained to the military agent and stepped aside. Especially chucking Soundwave into an interaction with the agent.

Fowler stared at Soundwave, taking several minutes to make eye contact with the ex-con. Then he turned around slowly, "Optimus, I swear--! If that creepy, spindly, silent deception is still there when I turn around again-!"

Optimus and Soundwave glanced at each other... Both were unsure what the agent meant. They both looked back at the agent.

Fowler turned back around and looked at Soundwave again. "My dearest-- It's still here--"

"--they--" Soundwave interrupted the agent with a recording. They didn't trust their own voice to work.

Fowler took a deep breath, "Why are they here?" He looked head-on at Optimus and gestured widely at the spindly bot.

Soundwave looked at Optimus, gesturing back at the human.

Optimus did his best to hold back a sigh, "Soundwave is here because they needed refuge from the Decepticon faction."

"And you trust them?!"

"Yes, they haven't given us any further reasons to not trust them." Optimus vouched for Soundwave.

Agent Fowler sighed heavily, "My dear god-- It's fine. I'll have to deal with this later. We have business to do..."

Soundwave tuned out at the point, simply watching the others run about the base doing various things.

"Ahem--"

They wondered how Knockout and Starscream were doing.

"AHEM--"

They jumped at the agent's voice being directed at them. They tilted their head in response.

"So--... no longer a 'con, eh?" The agent awkwardly asked.

They nodded and wondered where Optimus had gone and when he had left.

Fowler nodded as well, continuing, "Hmph... Interesting. Not going back anytime soon?" 

"--they--pray not--" The cut recordings played in response. Their uneasiness at even the implactation of going back leaking into their body language.

The agent looked at them quizzically, continuing his impromptu investigation, "Planning on doing anything to redeem yourself?" Fowler crossed his arms and stood challenging a response.

Soundwave made up their mind to use their voice this time, "Soundwave: Working on it." They paused unsure how the next thing they were going to say would go, "Soundwave: Apologizes for their actions. Atcions: Against Agent Fowler."

Fowler look dumbfoundedly at them, shocked at their apology having not expected it. "Who knew a 'con could apologize? Ha!" The agent laughed in his confused state. Eventually, come to terms with the comment and shrugging, "I guess it just comes with the job."

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Jack explained the situation with Soundwave to Mrs. Darby before she arrived at the base. So, their presence wasn't a surprise to her. However, the mother did immediately drill into them; scolding them for all their actions since Jack had started telling her about the spy. 

Soundwave soon gave the mother their soft-spoken apology. Explaining some of their actions to her. And soon, much to Jack and Laserbeak's dismay, the two started to bond while gushing about their kids.

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The next to harass Sounwave was Miko, just as loud and abrasive as always.

"Hey, spy-bot!" Miko yelled out at them.

They lowered their helm from their spot in the roof beams to look at the human child, tilting their head to make it clear they were listening.

Miko glanced at Ratchet, who looked like he regretted something, and then back at them, "Do you like music?!" A chittering-like laughter echoed from Laserbeak, who already knew the answer. Ratchet looked at the Cybertorian youngling with a glare.

Soundwave nodded, letting themselves down from the beam. "Query: What is Miko planning?"

Miko grinned with an air of teenage rebellion radiating off of her. "Would you wanna, like, play some with me?"

They glanced around, the other Autobots and human charges staring back at them with an air of uncertainty. The rebellion radiating off of the child became infectious, and they nodded... much to the dismay of everyone else in the base.

And so the two played some music together, ranging from quieter light music to heavy death metal. Soundwave's enthusiasm for playing the heavy metal surprised everybot and everyone except for Ratchet and Optimus... They were expecting this to happen since they started planning for Soundwave to show up.

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The last of the younger bots was Arcee, who waited for everyone else to get comfortable with Soundwave before properly interacting with them. And when she did, Soundwave was watching Ratchet work on something.

She stood awkwardly to the side before Ratchet looked to the side and asked, "Do you need something, Arcee?"

"Oh--, uhm- not really. I just wanted to talk to Soundwave." She shrugged vaguely gesturing at the mentioned bot.

Ratchet looked at Soundwave who shrugged, Ratchet looked back at her and responded, "Go ahead. I don't need them for anything."

Arcee nodded and walked off to the side, Soundwave followed the younger bot.

Acree started, "So..." She glanced around at everyone hanging about the base. Then she continued, "I'm going to be honest; I don't trust you... But they do." She gestured at the others. She thought for a moment before continuing again, "I'm not sure what to say, but I still don't like you because of what you've done to us and others." She finished. 

Soundwave nodded in understanding, and responded, "Soundwave: Understands. Acree: Does not have to trust Soundwave." Then they added, "Soundwave: Apologizes for actions. Apology: Is not required to be accepted."

Acree sighed, and turned away, "You're surprisingly kind for a Decepticon." 

She walked away leaving the short interaction at that. They didn't mind, Arcee was allowed her own opinions and none had to be in favor of them. They could live with that information.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chapter Text

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The morning shift surveillance burst into the room, "L- Lord Megatron! The surveillance footage from the last shift is missing! An- And Officer Soundwave is as well!!"

Knockout looked up from the meeting table, perking up at the statement. They left! They had to have done that! Knockout glanced at Starscream and Shockwave, all three coming to the same conclusion.

Megatron stood, his anger becoming obnoxious. "What?!" He slammed his clunky loud servos on the table.

The three officers glanced at Megatron, all three certain that none of them wanted to be in the way of that.

Knockout decided to take over damage control, "My liege," His elegance and sweet talk filled the air. Knockout's relaxed energy directly contrasting with Megatron's. "I'm sure we can find a solution to this. It's always possible Soundwave went out on a research mission."

Megatron sat back down with a loud clank, "This better be solved before the next cycle. The Decepiticon's need Soundwave." A rare moment of clarity in Megatron's thinking shone through.

Knockout smiled at the dictator, "Of course my liege. We'll get this solved as soon as possible." Knockout turned to leave the room, gesturing for the other two to follow him.

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"It's only logical Soundwave escaped," Shockwave said as the small group of officers stood in his lab.

"That's the 15th time you've said 'logical', but you are correct." Starscream stood to Shockwave's right, servo on his cocked hip the other held up to examine the ends of his fingers.

Standing to Shockwave's left and Starscream's right to create a small circle, Knockout sighed. "What in the All Spark are we supposed to do then? We can't bring them back, I refuse to do so. And they're likely either long gone by now, or under the Autobot's protection."

Starscream shrugged, "Watch it all burn down in a horrible dumpster fire?" He half-joked. "It's going to be a dumpster fire either way."

Shockwave sighed, "Perhaps we could pretend to be looking for Soundwave? At least for a few cycles, after all, there's only so much land a search party can look at. It would allow us time to come up with a plan."

Starscream nodded, "I could run the reach parties, being the only seeker in power... minus our leader of course."

Knockout nodded, liking the current idea, "That could work, and with Megatron so regularly hopped up on Dark Energon it's unlikely he'd pay attention to how the search parties are working."

Shockwave interrupted, "However, who should take over Soundwave's work for now? After all, communications, research, and surveillance all still need to be kept up. It is only logical."

"16 'logical's,"

"We could split it up between the three of us. I could monitor communications, you could watch surveillance, Shockwave... and Starscream could take over research?"

"I like your thinking, Knockout." The nonpracticing scientist spoke up. He smiled at the thought of researching Earth's geology freely.

Knockout nodded at Starscream, "Any other ideas, Shockwave?"

"Not at the moment. It should be good enough for now." Shockwave nodded using his one servo to give an awkward thumbs up.

"It's a plan then. Operation; Safeguard Soundwave's escape is a go!" Knockout turned to leave the lab, Starscream following soon after.

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A cycle, it'd been a single cycle. The Nemesis had spiraled into a series of brawls breaking out between 'cons and them having to be sent to Knockout. A Knockout who was now swamped by patients and couldn't hold up the communications, so it was pushed off to Shockwave with many, many apologies.

The next was Starscream who had to take up 10 currently ongoing research projects. Starscream didn't mind the projects at all, but Starscream was about to lose his processor with search parties. Most of the search parties ended before starting because the bots involved would start fighting each other.

Aracnihd... even though none of them really liked her, was nowhere to be found. So that was concerning enough.

Megatron was experiencing withdrawals somewhere on the ship... All three officers could hear the faint sound of some poor Veihcon getting in the way of the tyrant. 

And then Shockwave. The scientist was holding up pretty well, having elected to stay within his lab and not focus on his own projects at the moment. So communications and surveillance were all going well.

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"Megatron's getting antsy," Starscream stated blandly.

Shockwave nodded, "Yes, and the Decepticons are in a deplorable condition."

Knockout sighed sitting down for the first time in a few cycles, "And I need a nap. Was this how Soundwave felt holding up everything on this ship?"

Starscream shrugged, "Probably, but you never know what's going through their helm." He sighed, "The reach parties are cooperating and are becoming your patients. I've stopped trying to put them together."

Shockwave looked back and forth between the two, unsure about sharing his idea, but going for it anyway, "I know it sounds illogical---"

"35."

"But we could let it fall apart? I don't think there's any saving to be done for the Decepticon cause... I believe Soundwave took the little stability we had with them."

Knockout looked at the bot, looking for anything at all that would imply he knew how to joke. "Yikes. If we do that-- where are we supposed to go? We all know the others will be at each other throats in a sparkbeat."

Starscream hummed then answered, "Maybe the Autobots. I know they wouldn't be too against our appearance with Soundwave there."

"So we disappear as well and make Megatron hold it together?" Knockout looked at Starscream, questioning what the seeker meant.

"Pretty much, he's done it before hasn't he?" The screamer asked, before answering his own question, "Actually, not really. Soundwave was helping him even in the beginning."

Shockwave interrupted the second in command's lamenting, "So, we leave and abandon the Nemesis?"

"What other plausible options do we have?" The medic sat up. "We could leave the same way Soundwave did, and send a comm out to them."

Shockwave and Starscream looked at each other, both had no better ideas. They both nodded.

"Then plan B is a go." The medic stood. "I'm still going to attend to the medbay, tell me when you have everything set up." The medic left to go deal with the new patients he already knew were there.

Shockwave turned and set to setting up the surveillance and communications to aid their disappearance. Starscream helped Shockwave for a little bit, before having to go back and babysit the other 'cons.

The three officers would get through this and join their coworker, whether or not the Decepticons survived their defection.

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Chapter Text

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Soundwave sat quietly, watching the others work in the base as they have been for at least a good few Earth days now. Suddenly, Laserbeak flew straight into them squawking and chirping enthusiastically to them. They scooped her up in their servos, nodding along to her squawks completely understanding what she meant by each one. Eventually, they started responding to her with their own whirs and chirps being just as soft-spoken as they are normally.

Laserbeak continued to excitedly chat with her parent. She goes on and on about the things she did with the human children and Bumblebee earlier. And despite, the length of her ramblings Soundwave still listened intently to her and responded just as enthusiastically.

Different Autobots watched the interaction from a distance. Optimus with a fondness for the memories of Soundwave's past and current pride in their own. Ratchet was similarly happy for them. Bumblebee just thought it was adorable, and rooting for his newly-made cybertorian bird friend. Raf thought the same as Bee, just a much calmer version of the joy. Bulkhead was pumped Laserbeak had a great relationship with Soundwave. Jack found similarities between his mom and Soundwave, the nostalgia of his young childhood hitting him like a truck. Miko took blackmail photos of the two, knowing full well none would actually work as blackmail. Even Arcee found the interaction endearing.

The Autobots left the creator-creation duo to their own devices for a while. All appreciating the happy air the small family brought to the base.

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"Soundwave?"

The spy glanced at the excitable human near them. They tilted their head at her.

"Why do you treat us like we're your children? I know Laserbeak is, but why us?" The girl gestured towards the just adjacent and oblivious group of children and young bots.

They paused unsure how to continue the conversation... Tell the truth and risk traumatizing this poor child beyond the point she probably is now. Absolutely not, this human didn't need that. They hadn't even explained their whole past to Laserbeak for that very reason! Tell a lie? They felt wrong doing that... So a simplistic explanation was en route.

They nodded and spoke quietly to the girl. "Soundwave: Will share. Conditionally. Miko: Must Promise. Promise: Do not tell others." 

Miko grinned wildly at them, her excitement and suspense growing. "Challenge accepted!"

They would have smiled warmly at the girl if she could see it. Instead, they presented a silly little smiley face on their visor. "Soundwave: Assured." They nodded and began the explanation, "Younger Humans and Bots: fit Soundwave's programming parameters. Programming: in place to take care of younger sparks." 

She tilted her head at them, something they noticed she'd been doing more often the more time she spent talking to them and Laserbeak, and asked. "That can't be it can it?"

They shook their helm, "Answer: Not finished." 

Miko leaned in, resting her elbows on their leg. Her interest shown bright in her eyes.

"Soundwave: Enjoys the company."

"Awww! You like us!" Miko jumped up off them and dashed towards the rest of her friends shouting about Soundwave. "Guys! Guys! Guys! Guess What! Guess What!! Soundwave likes having us around! They told me so--!!"

Soundwave shook their head fondly at Miko, not upset at her bursting from excitement and breaking what she previously promised.

"You know. You're never going to hear the end of that." Ratchet chimed in from his workbench.

"Ratchet: Should shut his intake. Soundwave: will soder it closed." They whispered an empty threat at the medic, who in turn laughed at Soundwave's lack of embarrassment.

Ratchet sighed, "You really are similar to a certain human mother-- Without all that flirting of course."

"Soundwave: Could." Ratchet could hear the smirk in their voice as Soundwave spoke.

Ratchet let out a half-laugh-half-cackle at the suggestion, "I suggest you don't, might get a wrench to your helm-- And a Prime's fatherly disappointment."  

The two bots continued to jab at each other playfully as the other group of youths watched on in wonder. Some were processing the new confirmation of Soundwave's fondness of them, some watching the silly interaction between the stonecold yet angry medic and scarily quiet yet expressive spy with glee, others simply ignoring the current going ons in favor of games they were in the middle of. 

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For the first time in what felt like forever, Soundwave exited the base. The sightings of Decepticons were low and both Ratchet and Optimus had some spare time. 

So, this is where they found themselves; staring blankly at the desert in front of them and the sound of their longtime friends and ex-enemies shuffling about near them. A notification pooped up in the side of their vision... a memory file! From a few orbital cycles after they met the medic and prime.

Laughter sounded coming from a future doctor doubled over begging the mech to stop, "Soundwave--! Please--!"

Megatronous whipped around and glared at them accusatorily, catching them in the act of mimicking him. "Soundwave! How dare you-- I've been betrayed by one of my most loyal friends!" The warrior feigned offense and dramatized his reaction.

Orion leaned against the closest wall, failing miserably at hiding his laughter.

Soundwave laughed and gently pushed the silver mech away from them. "Megs: Often Predictable."

"Oh really, now?" The mech looked at the other challenging.

Rathcet, a now much more composed mech, slid a servo down his face mumbling, "Oh primus..."

Megs lunged at Soundwave, and the two play fought for a bit. Eventually, Soundwave ended up on the ground.

"Megatronous: Cheats."

The winner huffed, "I beat you fair and square 'Mr. Secret DJ,"

Soundwave gasped with mock offense.

Orion finally chimed in, "Okay, okay, calm down you two. Let's not have Racht use his training today..." The archivist trailed off the two fighters already up and ready to tackle him. 

"Please don't-!"

Soundwave blinked away the memory the best they could... it was nice to remember, but... They glanced back at Optimus and Ratchet, the two were no longer the young bots they used to be. The whole group had changed... Two were merely shadows of who they used to be, and the other two had grown into their roles...

Later that very day, the four friends huddled together at one of their living quarters, most likely Orion's, they didn't bother to check. Megatronous lay with his back plating against the wall, Orion deep in recharge leaning against his shoulder, Rachet quietly studying on the other side of the warrior. Meanwhile, Soundwave sat just adjacent to the pile, a small silent purple and gray protoform in their servos.

"There's two of them right?"

Soundwave nodded, materializing the second red and grey youngling from wherever they fit on their frame.

Megatronous nodded, "They're quite precious. Have you come up with any designations?"

They shrugged, eventually shaking their helm. 

"Hmm... maybe something like Fritzy? For the purple one?"

They deadpanned at Megs.

"Maybe Ripple for the other one?"

"Positively not."

He shrugged, "I don't know. I've never been good at naming things."

Ratchet chimed, "Clearly."

Soundwave let out a sigh. Laying themselves and the younglings on top of the bot-pile's pedes to join them properly. "Soundwave: will figure it out later. Soundwave: Needs recharge."

"Uh-huh. You do that." Megatronous hummed, turning his head to talk to Ratchet.

Megatron... was kind, caring even... But what happened? He was changing even before the purple energon... where had Megatronous gone? Had Megatron and Megatronous ever been the same bot?

Soundwave sighed heavily, turning to their friends. They wave to two down.

"What's wrong, Soundwave?" Ratchet was the first to ask.

Their voice box struggled to get the sounds out, their question being asked in half English and Kaonian. "Query... What happened-- to Megatronous..? What went wrong?"

Optimus took a sharp breath in at the question, "Soundwave-" He assumed the worst at the question, had Megatron done more than they thought? Oh dear--

"No." Soundwave interrupted the Prime. "Query: Somewhat Rhetorical. "

He nodded, "Ah. Then... I wouldn't know"

Ratchet spoke, "We can never really be sure what's going on in that-- that--..." He paused taking a breath to keep his own anger at the sliver bot at bay, "In his helm. But it's very unlikely he will ever be the same."

Soundwave nodded, "Megatron's outcome: Inevitable."

"I would hope to primus not, but we can't be sure." Ratchet sighed, and Optimus patted the bot on the shoulder. Then the medic continued, "Soundwave, what brought this question on?"

Soundwave just shook their helm at the two bots, "Source: Does not matter." Soundwave glanced behind the two at the now-setting sun, remembering the nights the four would race each other around the Kaon streets. 

The two bots followed Soundwave, assumed line of sight,  spotting the setting sun. Similar nostalgic feelings emerge in them as well.

"Query: Race?"

"Got nothing better to do."

"I don't see why not."

The three transformed and took themselves on a short race around the desert, the three yelling back and forth at each other. For a moment they could take a break from the war they had been engaged in for so, so long, and take back some of the youth they lost to it. They returned to base that night joking and laughing, with the smallest hint of a somber tone to some comments.

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Chapter Text

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Megatron was frantic now that he properly noticed Soundwave's absence. The panic of having his faction's collective babysitter missing surely setting in now that it had been about 3 cycles since Soundwave was confirmed to be nowhere in nor near the ship. Or locatable in any sense of the word.

To complement Megatron's stress was his officer's uneasiness. Starscream was nowhere to be seen, around the warlord at least, he was surely hiding away to avoid any beating. Knockout was busying himself with fixing the injuries that whatever poor viehcon who got in Megatron's way sustained. Shockwave managed to both plan an escape plan from the crumbling faction and pretended to be focusing on whatever project Megatron assigned to him.

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As nano-cycles turned into groons, two of the three officers waited. This time however it happened to be Shockwave who was the late one, he had unfortunately gotten caught in Megatron's angry path and was stuck talking him down from his dark energon-induced state.

Knockout and Starscream stared at each other nervously. They knew, logically, that Shockwave would be fine. He could protect himself after all! But they couldn't negate the nervousness surrounding Megatron, after all, it was first Starscream, then the viehcons, then Soundwave, who would be next? They couldn't truly know that with the warlord's erratic behavior.

The door to the lab managed to be slammed open and closed with a might that neither bot from the high command thought was possible; both because the door slid open and closed, but also had no fast-opening function.

"Illogical." Shockwave vented out heavily, it was the closest to seething they ever thought they would hear the scientist's vocals go.

Knockout sighed sinking further into his slouched position on one of the, now three, stools in the lab. "Oh, Primus-"

"Just what did that brute do now?" Starscream spoke in a tone that matched Shockwave's vacantness in expressiveness.

"Megatron believed it was a productive idea to stop me in the halls to speak to me about the Predacon Project... and complain about the state of the Nemesis." Shockwave aired his grievances with the silver-clad lord.

Starscream made his thoughts known with a few insulting profanities at the one bot not present.

"Ah... I hate to change the topic so quickly, but," Knockout started.

Shockwave nodded, "Of course," he quickly continued after pulling up a map of Nevada with multiple purple and blue blinking dots on it. "This is a map of Nevada, the purple blinking lights are life signals. Specifically signals of you, Starscream, and I." He pointed at two dots placed much farther away from the others, "I was able to, using some old tracking devices Soundwave used, pick up signals from Soundwave and one other. They are the blue dots."

Knockout asked politely, "So we've found them?"

"Correct."

"Why?" Starscream was utterly confused.

"And the plan out?" Knockout prompted again.

"We're going to leave during the Earth's night cycle, but one by one. Starscream will leave first. He will leave through the Landing bridge, while I monitor the security footage. Once Starscream is safely out of the Nemesis, you, Knockout will leave next via the same way. You both will travel to the rendezvous point and I will follow soon after." Shockwave did his best to explain his plan.

"So most at risk to least at risk?"

"It's only logical to do so. If we are caught, Starscream should already be out of the Nemesis. Therefore, Starscream will not be in danger of being seriously injured."

"Are you saying I'm weak?" Starscream accused Shockwave, though it quickly lost its bite. "That's incredibly thoughtful of you, Shockwave, for a bot who barely expresses anything." Though sarcasm dominated the second in command's vocalizer, a sense of his genuineness somehow carried over.

"I appreciated the sentiment, Starscream." Shockwave acknowledged the Second in Command's words. "I plan for this to happen within the next cycle, but first I should explain how to turn off your trackers."

The three continued their secret meeting until they were thoroughly briefed on the plan. Two departed the lab, nervousness brewing within their chassises at the potentially lethal escape.

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Thus the escape began, Starscream was halfway out already. Shockwave watching the cameras much like Soundwave would searching for anybot on course to bump into Starscream. Meanwhile, Knockout waited idly in the medbay for his own signal to get the frag out of there. Quietly tapping away at the medical berth in front of him.

Their shared comms cracked to life with a sense of panic further unknown from Shockwave, "Starscream! Megatron coming from your North."

Starscream irritated scream-whispering came from the other side of the comms. "What?! He's not supposed to--"

Starscream quieted and halted as Megatron came strolling out in front of him. 

Megatron looked at him before bursting into a cheery tone, "Starscream! How Lovely it is to see you!"

Starscream hesitated at Megatron's tone, what the frag is he supposed to do? Talk to him? Absolutely not! 

"What're you doin' up so late..?" Megatron spoke to him, slurring his every word and almost guaranteeing that he was both overcharged on some form of high grade and pumped full of his most recent dose of Dark Energon.

"Ah- Uh-"

Shockwave advised him from the other side of the comms, but even Shockwave had to fail at some point.

"Megatron! I could ask you the same." All types of fondness failed to find Starscream's tone.

This, as humans would put it, drunk Megatron slung his arm around Starscream. The seeker somehow became even more tense, about ready to shoot Megatron and fly out of this damn ship with no concern for how loud and noticeable it may be.

Megatron started babbling at Starscream, though the bot could only focus on Shockwave's best attempt at instructions for this situation.

"Starscream, you need to get away from Megatron. Attempt to get him out of the way for Knockout as well."

Starscream would have scoffed and said something back to Shockwave, but the bot currently getting dangerously close to groping him is preventing that.

Starscream interuppted the tyrant, "My lord!"

"What's it Starscream?" said the tyrant responding just as intoxicated as before.

And it's time for him to use manipulation at its finest... er, close to finest. "It's essential we have a capable leader, yes?"

"I suppose."

"And a leader can't function on low recharge, correct?"

The bulkier bot nodded along like he understood what Starscream was saying.

"Then, you should head off to your berth now. The Decepticons need a well-rest leader now, don't we?" He felt like he was attempting to persuade a sparkling to go take their scheduled nap.

"...you speak sense."

Starscream held back a grimace at the deplorable condition of Megatron both mentally and physically; instead deciding to gently push the mech off him under the guise of taking him to go lay down. "You should go then. Your processor won't work the same by the day cycle, my lord."

Without warning the silver mech, stubbornly holding his grip on Starscream, started to drunkly walk in the direction of his own berth. Starscream--mentally scoring this interaction around the usual hastily bumped it up to a near-death experience-- was panicked. He couldn't predict Megatron, the only thing he expected to get from the terrible leader was a harsh beating. Megatron began to ramble on about something or another, but his second-in-command was too distracted to understand it.

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Oblivious to what the seeker may ultimately end up doing, Shockwave watched on from the many, many cameras, he--for as omnipotent he may seem-- was unsure what to do. Along with Knockout pacing in the medbay, only picking up Shockwave's silent uncertainty and Starscream's silent terror from the other end of the comm.

Starscream's comm crackled to life, though only the distant and garbled sound of Megatron got through. Clicking came in response from Shockwave's comm. 

Knockout sighed on his end, "Starscream, I'm coming to get you."

Silence from the screamer.

Shockwave sputtered at his end, struggling to put his words together, "Knockout! That is going to ruin--"

Knockout, for as much as he didn't mind Shockwave's structure, ignored the purple bot's words. He quietly exited the medbay, determined to get that damned seeker before Megatron did anything worse than he already has.

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"--and that's how I--"

Knockout could hear that silver tyrant's vocalizer the closer he got.

"--but Optimus--"

He wished he shut off Megatron's life support when he could have. They wouldn't be here then.

"--Megatron, please--"

Starscream! Knockout is going to kill that bot if he gets himself hurt.

Knockout turned the corner sharply. He stopped to take in the sense.

Starscream holding his servos out in front of him holding Megatron a distance away from him. Then... Megatron... was practically trying to crush Starscream with how much he was leaning on the poor seeker. 

He was relieved to see the seeker before anything worse happened. "Starscream!"

Starscream perked, looking ready to beg Knckout to get Megatron away from him. Megatron paused, but then otherwise disregarded Knockout's presence.

"Starscream, I'm--" Knockout quickly fake-coughed and readjusted what he was saying to cover for themselves. "I require your help in the medbay for a moment. A quick test for treatment for sick fliers, if you're not busy?"

Starscream followed Knockout's excuse surprisingly well, "Ah! Of course, I was on my way just a moment ago. Lord Megatron interrupted me."

Knockout hummed, pretending to have not known before this, "Of course. My liege, if I may?" He gestured vaguely at Starscream.

Megatron nodded, and his speech completely devolved into overcharged gibberish. Knockout took this as a yes and gently removed Starscream from the lord's grip. He guided himself and Starscream away from Megatron and reported back to Shockwave, who immediately set to telling them his new plan of action.

Soon the two officers were running down the halls of the Nemesis to make up for their lost escape time, and practically jumping out the back of the ship with little preparation. They knew Shockwave was close behind them and would surely be at the rendezvous spot.

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Chapter Text

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Knockout and Starscream made it to the planned rendezvous point... Shockwave hasn't shown up and it's been groons since he said he should be there--Shockwave has never been known to be late. 

Knockout sighed, "Starscream, your tracker is turned off, correct?"

Starscream raised an optic ridge at him and began with a scoff, "Of course, we turned off our trackers as soon as we got off that prmius-dammed ship."

"Good, remember where those other trackers were located?"

"Yes..?" Starscream was confused, and then the cogs in his processor clicked into place, "You don't mean--"

Knockout nodded, swiftly transforming while speaking, "We're getting Soundwave." Then Knockout swerved off to the nearest road to get the TIC as soon as possible.  Starscream transformed himself and tailed after Knockout, yelling about this and that. 

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Ratchet stood at the Autobot head console, listening to all the background noise. Soundwave's whispered stories, Opitmus's clanking steps, Miko's excited cheers, Jake's disappointed groans, Bee's beeping, Bulkhead talking about something or another, Arcee commenting every few minutes to the green bot, Rafeal's clicking laptop, and Laserbeak's occasionally squeaking.

Today was planned to be a simple day,  two rounds of patrolling within the next few hours, then everyone returning and ending the day with as much domesticity as a bunch of Cybertorians eons away from home can get.

Ratchet looked away from the console to check on everyone, the kids minding their business in the recreational area, Soundwave, Bee, and Opitmus now talking together, and Bulkhead and Arcee playfully fighting.

Beeping broke up the moment, Ratchet looked back at the console. Two blinking nearly-white-blue dots advanced steadily towards their base, one running circles around another that seemed to be following the paved roads of Nevada. The dots had to just be an off-chance reading on something human-related, they were no factions of groups of Cybertorians using the pale blue showing on the monitor. Ratchet decided to disregard the readings since they didn't appear to be a problem--despite their strangeness--went back to watching the others.n

Then the beeping began again, somehow more insistent this time. Ratchet looked back at the console. He glanced back at the blinking dots, they were traveling in the same direction they were before... which was on a collision course with their base.

Ratchet held back a string of curses and called the Autobot leader, "Optimus, come over here!"

The leader paused speaking with his fellow Cybertorians, looking to the medic. "What is it, Ratchet?" He moved away from where he was to the medic. Soundwave slowly followed after Optimus, basing their actions on their interpretation of the medic's tone.

"There's odd signal readings, and they're headed towards the base." Ratchet pointed at the readings that were steadily approaching the base.

The leader attempted to reason with the medic, "Are you certain they are heading to our base? It could just be a coincidence."

Soundwave took a short moment of silence to point out the direct path the dots seemed to be making. 

"Thank you, Soundwave." The medic thanked them and then continued voting his concerns, "I'm concerned that these readings are from either unknown Cybertorians,  something from Cybertron itself, or--what I think is the most likely-- Decepticons who have disguised their signals."

"All fair points," Optimus responded thoughtfully, and then asked, "Do you have any ideas on what we should do then?"

Ratchet let out a disgruntled sigh, "Nothing better than what you're already planning, Optimus."

Soundwave took their chance to step in at Rathcet's absence of a suggestion, "Suggestion: Soundwave. Idea: Soundwave's Alt form can fly. Soundwave can scout safely in case of dangers."

Ratchet cast his judgment at the suggestion, bluntness always being one of the medic specialties, "That's an awful idea." he appeared to be thinking of ways to deny Soundwave's suggestion before Optimus could accept it. "It is what I suspect, I'm sure the Decepticons are more than ready to rip you into scrap--"

"Ratchet, please." Optimus butted in to stop the ambulance from saying anything further, "I believe Soundwave is fully capable to do this themselves. They would suggest it if they did not believe they had the abilities to succeed." The leader looked to Soundwave to back him up on his statements, which Soundwave simply nodded along with.

"Soundwave: Insists."

Ratchet sighed, "Okay, fine! You can go scout out this, but if anything is there beyond humans, you have to report back immediately." The medic sighed and feigned carelessness about his friend, "I don't want to patch up your needlessly complicated frame."

A smiley emoji materialized on Soundwave's visor coupled with a, about as eager looking as they could appear, nod before they all but transformed and flew out of the base. 

Optimus laughed light-heartedly at the notorious spy, knowing that they held an infinity for all things research and communication. Ratchet shook his helm and turned back to track the bot as they went to check out the readings, worry built deep into his frame for the bot. The rest of the base was mildly confused to outright yelling questions across the base at Optimus and Ratchet. 

They'd find out what was going on soon.

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Chapter Text

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Soundwave fly their way over to the coordinates they were given for the readings. They first noticed the silver jet running in circles, much like the vultures they'd seen before. The second thing they noticed was that this jet was that A; was not a human jet but instead a Decepticon, and B; the jet was Starscream. 

Keeping their distance from the flying second in command, they looked to find what the silver bot was circling.  Through this they found their 2nd most trusted medic Knockout speeding down the Nevada road at a dangerous speed, even in Cybertorian standards.

Going against their best judgment, and Ratchet's requests, they made their presence known to the two by cutting Starscream's circling off abruptly in the air.

The resulting scream from the notorious screamer didn't fail to get a silent giggle out of the spy. Starscream soon landed on the desert rock yelling at Soundwave, this made Knockout halt in his tracks as well. 

Soundwave took their time to land on the ground next to the other Decepticons.

"Soundwave! That was idiotic! We could've crashed into each other and ended up scrapped!" Starscream was still screaming, albeit with some reasoning behind it, "What in the name of Primus did those Autobots do to your processor?!"

Soundwave held back a laugh, "Soundwave is unsure."

Starscream gawked at the bot's response pointing an accusatory finger at them, "Since when were you not talking full-time?"

"Soundwave: speaking is not a new development." They managed to say this falter than they ever thought possible.

Knockout soon butted into the conversation with the anxiousness of a human teenager, "Soundwave, you don't know how relieved we are to see you!"

Starscream and Soundwave both raised silent questions at that.

Knockout continued, explaining their current situation, "The Nemesis is in a terrible condition! 'Cons are fighting each other in the halls, Megatron is doing everything he can not to help, we were tasked with hunting you down--"

"Soundwave: Not returning. Exceptions: do not exist." Soundwave interrupted the red medic's stressed ramblings before he could finish.

"We thought much." Knockout nodded to their words, "But that's not what we're here for. We're done with the Decepticons."

"Knockout and Starscream: Defecting?" Soundwave queried the bots, who both nodded in turn to the question. They continued their questioning, "Do Knockout and Starscream have a plan?"

Knockout paused his attempt to answer looking to Starscream who shrugged as his answer.

Soundwave aided the awkward silence with an unimpressed emoji presenting itself on their visor.

"Shockwave was the one who made the original plan," Knckout attempted to relieve the tense air with his words, "He's... Well, stuck on the ship."

Soundwave audibly sighed at this turning away from the other two for a moment to think. The two bots subjected to the spy's disappointment, stood awkwardly one kicking at the dirt below with a scowl and the other basking in his poorly worded sentences.

Soundwave turned back to face the two, surprisingly still alive, bots. "Soundwave has a plan." They began their explanation without being prompted, "Autobots: trust Soundwave currently. Soundwave can attempt to get Knockout and Starscream in the base. Then Knockout, Starscream, and Soundwave: Plan to get Shockwave."

Starscream followed the spy's words, "So, you're saying you're going to use their trust in you to get us into the Autobot base... And I'm assuming this will involve us apologizing for our actions and learning from them like in some adolescent human's TV show?"

They nodded, "Autobots: Will check for sincerity in Starscream's words."

The jet sighed accepting his fate in sincerity, Knockout simply let the jet wallow in his misery and asked his questions, "Are you sure they'll let us in?"

"No." Soundwave gave their very blunt response with no sugar coating.

"That's fair," The medic sighed and gestured to the road, "Should we get going then?"

Starscream took that as his cue to jettison off into the air before Soundwave could stop him. They quickly followed him off into the air, and Knockout trailing behind them on the roads. The Autobot base ahead patiently waiting for their arrival.

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The three stood outside the apparent base quietly as Soundwave assumedly messaged the bots inside. They shut the two up every time they tried to say something thus far so the jet and car resigned themselves to glancing between each other, the base, and Soundwave.

The sound of the large door on the front of the base opening startled two bots who weren't expecting it. From the door out came Optimus, an unreadable expression laid on his faceplates.

Only a question surfaced from the prime's voice box, "Soundwave, friend, what is going on?"

Soundwave gestured to the two Decepticons standing next to them as if was obvious.

Optimus held in a sigh and turned to address the 'cons. "Starscream. Knockout. Could you explain?"

Simple questions, hard answers. Knockout began, "I'm sure you know what's going on on the Nemesis due to our third in command here. And it's only gotten more tense since they've left--"

Starscream decided to make himself known and continued the explanation, "Megatron has been attempting to find Soundwave since they left, everybot has decided brawling and nearly killing each other is the best course of action, and what remains of High Command has been tasked with soldering the unfixable pieces together again."

Knockout sighed and let Starscream sew their case together, praying to Primus the jet would do a good job at it.

And he continued, adding a few vague gestures as well, "Originally we planned to leave the Nemesis quickly and quietly, which included Shockwave. But Megatron interrupted those plans and we had to leave as quickly as possible." Starscream paused briefly to check his audience's receptiveness, then began again, "Shockwave is still stuck on the ship and we intend to get him off of it, or--"

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"Shockwave! Open this damn door now!" Shouting came from the other side of the armored and locked door behind him. The banging on the mentioned door was constant and unending, the perpetrator of such actions? Why, Megatron of course.

Shockwave had hidden himself away in this lab long before Megatron came looking for him, not that it made the scientist feel any better about being stuck on this ship with that tyrant and any of the other staff and soldiers still present.

His hope for escape though dwindled with each passing Earth minute. He, logically, knew that he would be fine and would be able to run sufficiently for a few orbital cycles. But emotions were never his forte and forever an enigma to him, thus his own feelings about this confused him. Everything going about on the ship felt bleak, if bleak was even a feeling to be identified, but not matter.

The banging was wanted and returned with the same incoherent ramblings as before. Shockwave couldn't help but wonder how well Knockout and Starscream were fairing. Hopefully much better than him.

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Starscream loudly complained, as well as Arcee. The prior bot being restrained, and the latter being vocal about her opinion on the Prime's decision.

Soundwave stood next to Ratchet, both unimpressed by their colleges' actions.

"He killed Cliffjumper! This is nowhere near safe having three of them in here!" Acree spoke out accusatorily. 

Starscream instead lived up to his name, complaining about the restraints and reasoning that it was humiliating.

The Prime was moved by neither of the bots, instead intently listening to Knockout's inside knowledge on the Nemesis and the bot's belief on what may still be going on.

Ratchet decided to try and get the two vocal bots to shut up, mostly for his and Soundwave audials. Soundwave simply watched his actions play out. The sudden change from simply wandering the base as a guest and friend to now being a part of the small group of mixed factions intending to try and end the crumbling war jarred their thought process.

The next few cycles passed in what felt like a blur to Soundwave. Talks of infiltrating the Nemesis and potentially jailing Megatron flowing through their processor as a stream, archived, but yet to be processed properly.

Soon enough the group was readying the plan of action. Not that Soundwave was ready for any of it, not to be anywhere near that ship, and definitely not near that ghost of a bot.

They weren't ready for this. They couldn't do this, not now, and likely never. Their fr--Megatron was liable to beat anyone in his path out of it, and anyone in that path was likely to be themselves, or their current friends and colleagues. 

Throughout this time Lazerbeak tried to assure them, Optimus attempted to do so, and even Ratchet tried to comfort them. 

Nothing helped calm their silent nerves, their abrupt silence putting everyone in the base off—the humans who learned of how talkative Soundwave could be found it concerning. The young Autobots who saw them break down on multiple occasions before this, glanced between each other worry laid deep within for their fellow Cybertorian. Optimus and Ratchet, who knew them and their behavior for so many vorns, watched them making sure they were physically okay at any given moment. The two Decepticons, who had only recently learned of Soundwave's true presentation of themselves, grew more and more perturbed from the behavior in every passing moment.

Beyond their terror, they wanted this to end-- to have some sort of peace beyond themselves. No more war, no more abuse, no need to hide themselves under Autobot protection. They wanted to be able to leave freely without worry. They wanted this all to end, if not for themselves, then for everyone else. For Lazerbeak. For those who would never get to see the end of the war, not anymore. 

So they resigned their terror and determination to work out the plans. They redirected their emotions to work as they'd been doing for the past Primus knows how long.

Soon, the plans were in action. Starscream, Soundwave, Bumblebee, and Lazerbeak were assigned to scout out the Nemesis before the others boarded it, and hopefully find Shockwave.

Soundwave had the suspensions on where that purple tank could be, and soon Lazerbeak confirmed as much having snuck into the ventilation system and the scientist's lab.

Chaos erupted on the ship as soon as the Autobot forces and the missing High Command were spotted. They ignored the fighting instead of focusing on getting Shockwave out to add to their firepower.

Turning the corner they froze, completely halting in their steps and self-imposed mission. Their previously pushed-down terror quickly reignited into treacherous flames.

Megatron stood mid-hit on the dented door standing in front of him. He stared back at them like they were some ghost, back from the All Spark to haunt him for his miss deeds. 

They sucked down their panic, steeling their resolve to deal with this.

"Soundwave." Their name fell from the tyrant's vocalizer. It felt sour to them.

They returned the favor in their own voice. Their disdain reigning defiantly in it, "Megatron." 

Megatron looked ready to explode or hit a wall through but made no move. So, neither did they. The silver bot appeared to be thinking, and thinking hard. So, they let him. Megatron bot seemed to conclude his thinking. So, they gave him the ground to make his thoughts known.

Megatron took the challenge up with vigor, "Soundwave! Never thought you would be back as the traitor you are!" 

They continued to let the bot dig his verbal grave, "I would have assumed you offlined by now, but here you are! Here with the Autobots and my other traitorous Officers." He made an advance towards Soundwave.

Soundwave stood their ground, "Soundwave: Will shoot."

"Go right ahead! One shot won't kill me!" Megatron tempted fate aloud, "Never has, never will!"

"Megatron: Willing to test theory?" Soundwave asked the slowly approaching leader.

He lunged for Soundwave, shouting at them about this and that. They made use of their thin frame and stepped away from the bot's reach. 

With little hesitation, they utilized the blaster given to them by the Autobots, and not quite sure where they were pointing they shot Megatron. The bot that was so confident that being fired at wouldn't halt him in his tracks had ended up so, so wrong. Soundwave had ended up shooting the silver mech to what would be considered his knee. This ended with Megatron half-clattering to the ground, his now semi-useless leg failing to work with his other as he attempted to attack them.

Soundwave inwardly cringed at this luckily and poorly placed shot. It surely hurt and they felt bad for whatever was left of their friend in the pitiful bot scrambling to regain his advantage. 

They stared at the leader, they weren't sure what to think of it... any of it. Sure, they didn't want to be anywhere near the leader as he was now. But they didn't want to leave what was left of their beloved and trusted friend here either. They knew that they wouldn't be able to be near the bot comfortably for vorns... They knew that all their emotions directly conflicted with each other in the same manner as all the others. Their safety mattered, but so did his. Their processor state matters as much as anyone else's, and so does his. Their crimes mattered and the way they made up for them did as well, and it was the same for him. Their spark mattered just as much as his did. After all, a bot took another's life, who was punished with death, only ended with another as their killer. What did that historical human figure say? An eye for an eye and blindness..?

"Soundwave!" 

A voice shouted from behind them. Their helm shot up and around to see who or what it was. Ratchet was steadily and quickly making his way down the hall of the Nemesis towards Soundwave, they could vaguely see a few more trailing behind the medic.

Ratchet grumbled at the sight of Megatron, before addressing the spy again, "Nothing broken?"

They silently shook their head at the medic, who nodded and headed toward the door Shockwave was assumedly behind.

The hallway was soon crowded with the Autobots and defected Decepticons who weren't currently dealing with what was left of the Decepticon army. They duly noted the things going on around them, Ratceht and Starscream both shouting at Shockwave through the dented and beaten door. Bulkhead attempting to force the aforementioned door open. Knockout, reluctantly and at the request of Optimus,  preventing Megatron from any major energon loss. Optimus was speaking mostly to Megatron about where he would be going from here.

They, however, just stayed where they were. They were trying to fully take in what this all meant, the war was, for all intents and purposes, over from here. They didn't have to be a defected Decepticon, they didn't have to be a spy, they didn't have to be the third in command, Lazerbeak didn't need to be adjacent to a drone, they didn't have to stay if they didn't want to.

Soundwave sighed and turned to help their fellow Cybertorians clean up what was--hopefully-- the last mess this long war made.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───